Cruising Special 2024 - new ports of call in a changing world

from the latest on Caribbean cruises to kosher safaris pilgrimages to Jewish Eastern Europe and award-winning wines and international cuisine in sundrenched Tel Aviv sit back and enjoy the trip with the travel edition of the Jerusalem Post podcast [Music] waterl I don't know any more the ryrics actually well you can say waterl several times however it's very interesting that you mentioned that because here in Israel I went to my first concert since October 7 and I was like you know is it appropriate to go you know people here are down and whatever I went and it was a tribute to Abba for an hour and a tribute to Queen for an hour the place was packed and rocking and I absolutely loved it it was great and they finished off the first set with the Eurovision winner that launched the career big time of ABBA waterl so how many words do you know cuz I get stuck on watero if you listen to the words it's all about the relationship between two people I'm assuming in the good old days it was a man and a woman and they're talking about it their relationship being their waterl and that Napoleon surrendered and it's about I guess relationships and and you know who has to give way in the Modern Age was Napoleon on a ship at the time do you know what that is an extremely good point and very clever so why have I said that and why are we talking about Eurovision and waterl well it's our cruising special the 2024 cruising special I am very excited about our cruising special but before we get into who the guests are on tonight's pod there is actually a connection between the whole Eurovision thing waterl and cruising one of our favorite cruise lines that we have featured in the past on our podcast raw Caribbean have decided to Splash the cash a bit and have taken out two very large sponsorship deals recently one of them is with inter Miami football club ooh because they've launched their latest ship icon of the seas in Miami so they've decided to sponsor Lionel Messi and all of his soccer friends Lionel Messi was the ship's Fairy Godmother or whatever they call them and smash the bottle of champagne on the ship the other sponsorship deal is with Israel's favorite Eurovision which this year is in Malmo in Sweden Malmo Malmo what Royal Caribbean are doing in addition to that sponsorship is they are at the same weekend having four sailings around Europe all the way from Turkey to Southampton in the UK okay that are going to be Eurovision themed now they're not giving away too many details but I'm assuming for example we might see some Euro styled cocktails and Eurovision karaoke now that sounds great but you're going to have to learn the words to watero to start with but more importantly for the final of Eurovision and the semi-finals I think you will be able to watch them all live while cruising the Mediterranean enough promo of Royal Caribbean and as they always say at this point of course there are many other wonderful cruise lines as well and we're going to be discussing several of those over the next 30 to 60 Minutes one of those Cruise Lines is msse which stands for Mediterranean shipping company and we'll be talking to their Israeli CEO Al we'll be hearing a couple of times from two women we'll give you more details on their business a little bit later on they work very closely with Hyer Port amongst other places and they'll be chipping in right at the end of this podcast with something rather special and talking of two ladies we'll be talking about two Royal ladies card and their ships the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mary and a new ship and Princess Cruisers so all of that to come after a little jingly thing this is the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Mark davidp pod or mail us at Mark davidp pod gmail.com [Music] Dora the Explorer my God what was that oh I'm waiting for the next interview so I thought I'd just sing something which later on might prove to be slightly relevant in the most obscure weird David way possible well I I had an idea how to ince I think you've killed that now I said you can make fun of me yours is so much better than mine because you're a man of the internet so why Dora the Explorer oh I got you now I'm with you you really didn't understand no later on it'll become clear with our guest we might delete this bit we might leave it in I'll leave it in whenever I make something really awful happened you leave it in so that is staying in okay here's Mark G I was watching a TV show you and I we both love of the Explorer not that one you and I we both love a good detective story don't we murder mysteries are the best I was watching one called The Good Ship murder oo it's about a cruise and at each Port someone gets murdered sounds great and the singer on the ship is a detective or a retired detective so he goes and solves the murder why are you telling us this now apparently it's filmed on board the MSC virtuosa which is one of MC's new ships MC has been sailing out of Israel for a good few years now mhm and is one of the bigger companies is in his realm let's find out a little bit more about MSC and how we Cruise without being murdered and who's going to tell us all about this have you got the singing detective along no we've got better than that we've got Al Attias who is the general manager for Israel of MSC cruises we have I think the newest ships in the market Last 5 Years we manufacture about 10 ships and we're talking about huge ships approximately 160,000 tons and above reaching 215 tons with the new models and we are manufacturing simultaneously three different models of ships most of the new ships are also very environmental they run with LG they save on gas emissions carbon dioxide one of our ships the usest one which was launched Christen in May 23 made an historical event by cruising for 3 days with zero emission of carbon dioxide using a bio LG which is rare and very difficult to purchase and also expensive but it showed that you know it can be done the design of the ship is very special it's a European Italian design which is different than our competitors a little bit which have huge and wide models we are more like a narrow silhouette very Hydro dnamic a little bit sometimes also aerodynamic the second thing maybe for some people the first thing is the culinary experience we have 22 hours a day an open buffet or you can choose our alakat restaurants to eat breakfast lunch or dinner or both you can do both as well and it doesn't matter everything is included in price and you eat as much as you want but also the quality of the food is exquis it in the alakat restaurants we are providing various menus and you can choose from a few courses or take all the courses in your main and very special and very tasty dishes the main meal is dinner where you have your own personal weight that knows you from the beginning of the cruise to the end of the cruise with your you know your private table and you can see you know with yourself and your spouse or or your family and have a nice quiet dinner that lasts at least two hours and you have the waiter knows your names you know what you like to eat what you like to drink what kind of wine to offer you Etc entertainment we have a different production every night with maybe more than 30 artists on each production Broadway style production in our theaters most of our theaters are more than 1,6 it's an experience it's a show in other places during the afternoon and evening and late evening we have maybe 10 other shows running around you know like a Pianist the saxophonist vist or some Trio or Duo things or a cabaret and you know you can wander around the ship which is like three football fields long and maybe two wide and experience from one bar to one lounge and a lot of things to do most important issue is the prices because msc's concept of prices is a little bit different than other Cruise Lines especially because of the family concept the children with MSE first are not 12 years old they are up to 18 and they all get a reduction of approximately 60% from the adult rate which is not the case with the other Alliance which they pay full price can I just send my kids and I stay at home your kids are over 18 they have to be more than 18 but yes if they open the 18 they can get an extra discount for being two young people at the same C between 18 to 19 it's a specific even if you're more than 65 you have also a good discount oh that's good for David he looks 50 now that is funny it's a good job this is a podcast and not video Mark over to you last year we spoke to Angelo Koro on our cruising podcast and we were talking about music sailing from hia and we were talking about the launch of the MSC UIA what are the plans for Hyer in 2024 well we had big plans for hia you know that 22 was the starting year for us in hia with the lria class being so successful we introduced the music class which is 3,000 passengers here was also very very successful because the demand exceeded the supply and we had you know for each cabin we had the two candidates or two customers asking for the same cabin and we had big plans for 24 but then s of October happened and we waited for about two months to think what to do with 24 Cruisers the mus at the end of the day because it's a mixed nationality Cruise it's like onethird Israelis and two3 of maybe 30 40 nationes it was decided not to push it too long and and we cancel the 2024 operation 24 we don't have good news for hia but we are back in 25 with the orchestra we had some sales today that's more than one year in advance we'll get on to Orchestra in a minute but before that looking at 2024 and given that really as far as We Know only the local Mano cruising company are going to be offering sailings hopefully out of hper does that mean we're going to see a really big shift of Israelis going to cruise from overseas departure points which I know Cruise companies have been trying to head in that direction anyway given that everybody realizes just how much Israelis enjoyed cruising you know David that the MC in Israel is here more than 15 years and 22 was the year starting Year from high before we had quite a lot of passengers traveling from Israel to Ports outside Israel International cruising actually 23 more than 45% of our production out of Israel was not from hi having said that it is a challenge to sell more International cruises outside Israel it's not always the same people who prefer to cruise from highi and those who prefer to cruise from outside Israel but hope hopefully we will get there we will probably introduce a flying Cruise program pretty soon that we can also include a flight in the package we have increased our inventory of ships in the last year and we have a lot of ships a lot of destinations and routes to sell before you mentioned Orchestra replacing Musa in 2025 any differences between the ships anything that listeners who might want to book should know about Orchestra the actually sister vessels they were built almost together pretty much the same models called the Musa class there are four of them Musa was the first one and the name came from the first ship second one it's a little bit newer Orchestra but it's pretty much the same it is however the largest vessel taking Israel is on a fixed rotation from Israel ever to introduce cruises out of H you it's a 3,000 passenger ship still I think it will be huge demand for the orchestra it's a great ship and of course not only the ship is important all also the service that we provide regarding yell with MSC Cru everything is also implemented on the uh on the orchestra last year MSC launched another brand called Explorer what makes that different from a regular MSC Cruise it's not only a different brand it's also um subsidiary it's not MC cruises it's a different company it is however branded as MC if you look at the logo of the Mandela inside you will see the MC small logo inside and this is I think a natural development for a company that has been in the market for the last 40 50 years as a regular Cruise Line course all of our cruises are luxurious but the Explorer or more exactly the Explorer journey is the brand is a very special luxury brand one of the reason is the spacious cabins if you take the same ship which will occupy 2,500 passengers in same magnitude of a ship this one will have maybe 800 passengers all of the cabins are luxurious suits about 40 m square a regular cabin between 12 M to 19 M you have here 39 to 40 Metter the smallest cabin up to 150 square meters which is huge you have a one: one ratio from crew to passengers which is rare you know usually on a cre GP you will have three to one let's not forget the culinary concept because you don't have a buffet you have only five restaurants from different Cuisines Asia alart restaurant or French restaurant or Mediterranean as well you have a Michelin Chef cooking periodically every two months they're changing the chefs from famous chef Michelin restaurants in Europe so he's coming into the ship cooking his menu it's all inclusive concept even champagne is included in the price premium champagne single mut whiskies Etc you have Rolex and Cartier shops on board you have a very open and the Freestyle Entertainment when the entertainers and the artists they are reacting or including their crowd or the audience within the show and also the main concept of the cruise is flower more immersive Cruise everybody takes the time you have you spend more time in very specific or special destination and the main thing is that these destinations are of the biten path it's not the regular destinations that you go to so everything about the Explorer is more special is more luxurious where can people get more details on how to book an MSC cruise and any special offers you may have in Israel we have a fully customized website in Hebrew and in English of course that is customized to the Israeli Travelers because there are different rules and different conditions you can get the full information regarding our ships with videos and pictures and the destination and anything you need to have another way to reach us is of course through our dedicated call centers here locally in Israel just nine asri 2019 reach our multil linguistic team which speaks English Hebrew and Russian and of course you can call any of the preferred Cruise agencies in Israel we are working with the agencies we respect the agencies and they are the most important customers for us so these are the free ways you can contact us and make a booking that's MC crises. co. aaas general manager Israel for MSC thank you so much for joining us on the podcast thank you very much Mark and David was a pleasure to be here [Applause] [Music] so Mark let me put my coffee down I think you're stuffing your face with something but I gave you potato chips and you did actually just put one in your mouth as I turned on the microphone do you know what flavor that potato chip is it's salsa mesit that direction it's sriracha and honey oo nice or is it Scara I think it's Sriracha it's like scaramanga or scratcher yes in the world of cruising and the broader world of travel there are many companies that the public never really gets to hear about to meet because they're the logistics companies they're the facilitators they help Market they help advise the ports that you board that you Embark your ships from and we're going to talk to one of those companies right now if you've listened to our previous cruising special you all have heard us talk to the head of cruising at Hyer Port Zohar ROM he introduced us to two people with years of experience and expertise in the cruising industry and they founded a company to help advise others the company is called access Cruise Inc and we are talking to Shannon mcke who is the founder and president and Linda Vasquez who is the vice president of account development in a moment we'll hear all about their vision for Hyer its future and how they can rebuild the port after everything that's happened over the last few months but first let's hear from Shannon as she explains a little bit about the [Music] company so access Cruise was Rec created as a sales and marketing firm that supports destinations tour operators basically anybody trying to connect with the cruise industry my history is is I've been in the cruise industry 30 plus years now and after 30 plus years in which 20 of them were spent on the side of working within a cruise line including an ex executive roles I found that a lot of people come to you saying oh my God I would love to work with the cruise ships how do I make that happen and so that's really how it started I had been working at Norwegian Cruise line for almost 20 years there was a transition and I took a step back from my role and people just started coming to me saying we need your help we need your help and so I started the company and a few years later I brought Linda on in fact that the time that Linda came on was the reason we brought hia and signed hia on as a client is when Linda joined me so it's been a glorious as she says eight years of working together but the company's been in existence since 2010 Linda we'll get on to hither in a minute but what types of people do you work with who are your clients I think our sweet spot is destination marketing I think that you know at when I started to work with Shannon this is what I call the fun and sexy side of the business I was on the unfun and unsexy side of the business which dealt with human resources and humans are messy so I was quite happy to get out of that business and find something new so what I've learned in the eight years in working with Shannon is that we don't focus on any one particular part of the world we're careful to make sure that our clients there's no conflict with each other in terms of where they are in the world and who they appeal to in that region of the world but correct me if I'm wrong Shannon in general we are focused on Destin marketing that is our superpower yeah I think that we really try to play into our strengths as humans and former Cruise Line Executives I spent a lot of time in entertainment in the side on board Revenue as well as on the shore Excursion side I know Linda just said she was in Human Resources but over the years as we've transformed and evolved I think Linda goes back into it The Sweet Spot is really destination marketing although I do do a lot of work on the entertainment and short Excursion side as well it would be remiss of us especially since Hyer is one of your clients and we've had zoha from the port on several times on the Pod we must mention what's going on in Israel at the moment and obviously the last few months have been incredibly difficult for the whole country and the cruising industry that was doing so well with Hyer a support it's all just gone how do you get Hyer back where it should be so there's The $64,000 loaded question isn't it you know Linda I think it goes back to some of our very first conversations when absolutely with Zohar you're reading my mind because I you know I really don't know where else to start other than back at the beginning Shannon and I have talked about this a few times when I think about the amount of work that we did as a team not just her and I but the team and hop Port was very much a part of everything that we did you know when I think about all of the time and energy and effort that was spent in getting us to the point that we reached and then to find where we're at now the only thing I can think of is we have to go back to square one and start all over again and I really don't think without getting into a broader discussion we can start until things settle down over there there's really nothing you can do until things start to level off and there seems to be maybe a path forward for people to move in a Direction but you can't do that until that dust settles yeah I mean I think it goes back to also that even when we started hypa was coming out of a geopolitical situation when we first started with them and I remember I was hesitant to even think about taking on hypa and I had to do a lot more research around it make a lot more questions to some of the cruise line Executives but what I say in the cruise industry it's persistence and persistence beats resistance every time it's continuing to keep that dialogue going being open and clear about what's happening and then at the same time you know with persistence beats resistance we are one of our very first meetings and Linda will remember this there's a gentleman his name is Gora Israel who's from Israel he was one of the you know senior Executives at carnival Corporation and we sat down and had a meeting with him and he 2017 yeah and he just smiled at us and he said Shannon this is a long-term play and it is going to be a roller coaster ride so get ready you know he wasn't wrong right he was he wasn't wrong he wasn't wrong with that understanding you know when we first started we got a lot of NOS you know a lot of not yets but we kept moving forward and asking the questions and keeping the dialogue moving and keeping those channels of communication open and in the M beginning everybody told us no that we would never be able to bring a ship in that would do turnaround ports in in hyper port that that was impossible everybody told us no and then look what happened we managed to bring you know not only Royal Caribbean in but Norwegian was doing some turns we've seen turns from a lot of different ships you know we did have to take a step back obviously with the turmoil that is happening today but those lines of communications are they are open and we still are talking to the cruise line Executives every day and they're asking the questions because they want to come back yeah they absolutely want want to come back it's just a question of when and in the meantime Hyer is still building its new terminal thankfully and they're really excited about that and you know one of the the great things about Zohar in particular and the port in general is that you know they've been really open with those plans and they have asked The Architects to share those plans with the cruise lines because a lot of times what will happen is there will be an expansion project like this and things will get built and the cruise line will say well that's not going to work and this is why and it's after the fact so this is happening you know in real time where they can provide feedback and input and suggestions and so it Still Remains even in that sense very much a partnership you know there's still communication happening cruising fact file the world's largest cruise ship Royal Caribbean's icon of the Seas set sail from Miami in January 2024 soccer Superstar Lionel Messi conducted the ceremonial bottle breaking and naming of the ship later in the summer Utopia of the Seas will also join the fleet Viva Norwegian Cruise Lin's second Prima class ship was launched in December 2023 it'll spend the winter in San Juan Puerto Rico before arriving in the Mediterranean in April two of Costa Cruz's newest ships vansia and fenzi have transferred to Carnival Cruise Line under the concept fun Italian style celebrity Ascent which Celebrity Cruises launched in Fort Lauderdale in November 23 is the first Ocean Cruise Line to earn the prestigious Forbes travel guide fourstar award Disney Cruise Line's sixth ship for Disney treasure will launch at the end of 2024 it'll have a 1270 seat theater a big top Cinema inspir by Dumbo and a haunted mansion themed bar other launches in 2024 include silver sea cruises silver Ray two e cruises M shift 7 and virgin voyages brilliant [Music] lady so Mark are you feeling Regal I am feeling royally ready for an interview well why don't we get to it then Queens and princesses princes and kings actually that's a very interesting thing why are ships female and some of them have godmothers as well it is interesting that we refer to ships and boats as she is it cuz they're strong tough reliable and steer us through choppy Waters love it that is so nice the reason we're talking Royal and Regal is because our next guest basically represents royalty here in Israel our next guest is going to tell us about two of the largest cruise lines out there Princess Cruises and Cunard which names all of its ships after queens and our guest is Marcy Goldstein she is the cruise department supervisor and groups manager with the israel-based med Cruisers Med cruises has been around for about 30 years originally our CEO and owner got the rights to represent Carnival Cru line here in Israel about 30 years ago and over time the Carnival Cruise has become a corporation and has now a number of different brands we sell six different cruise lines that all belong to the carnival Corporation and we're the you know we're the official representative and and for some of them we're the sole representative as well here in Israel it's been a tough few months in Israel towards the end of 2023 how do you see 2020 4 for the Israeli Cruise Market it's been very difficult for everyone you know it's kind a little bit hard to say with 2024 things are still unfolding things are still happening on one hand people are hesitant to travel either because of what's Happening Here people have people in the Army on the other hand people are at the point maybe where they want to get away a little bit and and have a bit of relief we have seen in the last few weeks an upswing in calls and in people booking either for later this year or for next year you know it depends on a lot of factors it's certainly picking up again from where it was a couple of months ago we're waiting for flights to commence again you know and since there are fewer flights now that also affects our business hopefully more and more Airlines will come back people are anxious to go they just a little bit are still hesitant and waiting to see but what people are doing now maybe even more so than in the past because of what's Happening is getting cancellation Insurance whether from the cruise lines themselves we have one cruise line that actually does offer it or privately just to have that added kind of cushion of of comfort level that if something happens I can cancel and I won't just lose all my money here's a change of pace my late great Infamous Aunt Tilly swore and she swore regularly but that's not what we're talking about on the podcast she SW she was a character and a half my God the amount of money she lost playing bridge you're getting the character she swore by card and she swore by the QE to they were her go-to and you know anything less than that and she'd start complaining so I've grown up with the names the Q2 the Queen Mary in in my background is card still that classic brand now in 2024 on the one hand absolutely it's still kind of very Reg Al and and the ships themselves are beautiful and the design is very much Regal I would say but they've also made a real effort to make it more modern so it's not as formal it's not as stiff so you can find the luxury you can find the British afternoon tea all kinds of cultural events and and lectures and things that are offered but on the other hand there you know there are parties and there are certainly many more young people than I think would have been on cart in the past um families certainly during the summer months I've sailed on the Queen Mary too and it is an absolutely beautiful ship that Cunard ships are a bit different than other cruise ships because they are built as ocean liners the structure and the design is a little bit different than other ships they're they're kind of more long and narrow than wide but they're designed so that people feel comfortable even when they're on a ship say for five or six or seven days at a time crossing the Atlantic there are all kinds of features that are specifically catered to that to make you not feel claustrophobic and to just give a really amazing feeling Mark before you ask the next question and talking of English afternoon teas and my eccentric great aunt Mark I just want to make a public thank you to you because Mark came here straight from an English style t- room in Jerusalem and bought me a big bag of scones or scon so thank you Mark very much indeed a pleasure there were six there were only four now it was a long drive so you mentioned the Queen Mary 2 What ships are you operating now and are their plans for a queen Camila good question that I couldn't tell you right now but card is actually very excited after having three ships in their Fleet for many many years the new Queen an will be launched this spring so she'll be the fourth card chip now in the fleet with all kinds of modern twists but again keeping it kind of classic in feel modern as well she'll be 113,000 tons 14 decks she'll be really very very worthwhile N9 Hole Golf Course nine holes I'm sorry they couldn't fit them all in you also represent Princess Cruises it's another very popular brand how would you describe their offering in 2024 princess is very popular with our customers we we've got a very large base of loyal princess customers who sale again and again and again on princess I myself have sailed on maybe five or six different ships of theirs and it's really a wonderful company there are sailings basically all over the world for our customer base there's a lot of Europe either northern Europe or the Mediterranean as well as farther place you know we have a lot who go to to Alaska Japan Australia and Princess is also going to have a new ship actually launching later this month called the sun princess what does the sun princess have to offer Sun princess is is a new class of ships she's larger than the last five or six princess ships that have been launched with all kinds of new features a very large Atrium called The Dome all kinds of new things and it will have different than other princess ships there's going to be a family Zone it's much more family oriented with water slides and it's much more kind of geared to to families and children which princess was a little bit less so in the past so we're looking very much forward to that trip and then the Star Princess which will be her sistership is coming out next year what's your thinking on the whole family versus maybe older people who want a quieter time well that's exactly the thing it depends what you're looking for certainly in our Market you know the Israeli Market is a lot of families going on vacation and that is certainly something that families are interested in doing it's a wonderful vacation for families multigenerational families even where you have the grandparents and the parents and the grandchildren and everyone finds their own kind of niche of what they want to do on the ship and and so it's a really excellent way to travel for families traditionally I think cruising was thought of maybe as more for older people for couples and that is certainly also an option part of that I think also has to do with the destinations there are some destinations that are possibly a little bit less geared towards children and if they're longer sailings maybe that's you know people who have a little bit more time people who can do that you know or want to go somewhere that's more about the views and nature and maybe less so if you've got children there's something for everyone it just depends what you're looking for they the different brands different destinations different times of Year everyone can find something that works for them if people want to book with Med cruises and find out about special offers how do they do that firstly of course you can always call our office we have Representatives who are all very well trained and and versed in in what we do and that's you know easy to do 03927 22727 let me just say that's an Israeli number yes that's number here in Israel we have a website that was actually just completely redone and revamped meden cruises.com where we show all of our Brands all of The Fleets and the ships of each brand you can see deck plans you can see virtual tours there are FAQ sections with a lot of information a lot lot about destinations and special offers there as well that's very good resource and is the website in Hebrew and English it's mostly in Hebrew but some of it would be in English or as I say you know you can certainly call our office and any of our Representatives Converse in English so Marcy Goldstein Cruise department supervisor and groups manager at Med crues thank you very much for coming on the podcast was my pleasure hopefully we'll see you on a cruise soon hi this is David Harris from the Jerusalem Post podcast travel Edition find us on Facebook Instagram and Twitter at Mark davidp pod or mailers at Mark davidp pod [Music] gmail.com and now for something slightly different completely different now this is not Monti python this is our cruising special I'm very very excited about this bit we record the interviews ahead of time and then we stitch it all together so we know what's coming ahead of time and I am looking forward to listening to this podcast right now cuz this is going to be a lot of fun we decided to do a quick fire round and some of you may say I wish David and Mark would talk less and ask very short questions I've actually edited out most of the long questions and I am Mia Cula it's me I didn't get the concept that when you do quick fire it has to be quick yes there were one or two times when we did this when I was going David five words go and when I answered the questions for them I've edited all of that out as well so hopefully now you've edited this this should sound actually quite I should edit this intro as well that's too much editing we are going to go back to Linda and Shannon from access Cruise Inc and ask them a lot of very quick fire questions we'll start with Linda and ask her when was her first crew when I signed on to the SS Norway in June of 1980 yes I'm that old I didn't realize 1980 was the first time she was on a ship well when was yours shot in it was in January of 1993 on the sunward your most recent Cruise Shannon I just got off a river cruise on tal where we sailed from Munich to Budapest on uh down the danu next question Shannon favorite ship you know I don't know I I don't I've been on so many different ships I can't really say I can say size I I prefer a smaller ship rather than a larger ship is what I can tell you based on my days of working on board ships I enjoy getting to meet the other people on board and when you're on a large ship you might meet somebody on the first day and you never see them again so for me it's about the connection to the people and I really enjoy that part of cruising so small ships for me I can only speak from the perspective of a crew member I think and maybe not just a crew member there's been a lot of passengers or guests I should say who have an affinity and a great affection for one particular ship for whatever reason that is I have a particular affection for the Norway because you never forget your first and she was my first and there was a whole like Cult of people that cruised on the Norway year after year after year for 20 years so if I was going to name a favorite ship I don't know if it's a favorite but I have a special affection for the Norway which no longer exists and if you're going to ask me about a large or a small ship honestly I'd prefer a small ship Linda favorite destination well my favorite destination is a personal little destination it's a tiny little island in the Bahamas where I can escape every year and I go diving for conch and fishing for lobster and I run around in short s and a T-shirt and Barefoot for a week or two weeks or a month or for however long I can get away you're not going to tell us the name of that little island are you it's your secret I'm almost afraid to tell you because the secret has already gotten out and it's been crazy but the name of the island is Spanish wells and it is part of elra but it is not on the island of uthra Shannon the best cruise Excursion you've been on that's an unfair question I don't know that there is a best shore Excursion that that I've been on a lot of shore excursions I have a Shore Excursion company that I've built they're all so different it really just depends on what it is that you want to do I think about the time that I took Linda with me to Hawaii and uh we did a a flight over Kawai around the island of kawhai look at her she's already laughing right she's over there laughing because she knows what I'm gonna say and you know I've been in the shore Excursion side of the business for 30 plus years so we get off and she's crying crying and I'm like oh my god what happened are you okay are you okay and she's like it just brought me to tears the beauty of the island and the shore excursions I've never been on a helicopter it's really quite overwhelming it's hard to describe what it is to sit in a helicopter hovering over these ancient volcanoes that have formed the island of kawaii and it looks like mother nature and God and whoever you believe in took this giant you know buckets of paint and spill these buckets of paint over these mountains and cra it's just breathtaking in ways I Can't Describe let's go Shannon again best specialty Restaurant please we were on the Seaborn Ovation I think two or three years ago and I was with my son and my mother-in-law and I think we kept going to the sushi restaurant on board I think we were there like every day either for lunch or dinner so that was probably one of my favorites but the other ones there's always great restaurants on board I think back to when I was first on board Norwegian the the big thing was to go to the beastro all the time before the all look at Linda she's shaking her head yes because our experiences both with Norwegian Cruise line but that was a big deal go to get to go to the alternative restaurant the beastro and I have such fun memories of always going to the beastro too Linda the worst sort of cruise passenger oh gosh I think it's just the one that just does not respect the fact that they're not alone in that cruise experience you know the one that just Lacks basic respect and kindness and there are I guess you encounter those people everywhere but it's just the person who doesn't consider the fact that they are sharing the space and the experience with many other people yeah I think that sometimes you get the complainers on board I I mean I remember I always felt bad I mean these people but no matter what you do you couldn't make them happy they it was just something in them that you could roll out the red carpet for them and they would say well I see a little spot there they would find something right and those are the ones but it's more so that those are the ones that sometimes can ruin others vacations just because they don't keep it to themselves right they want to share those are the ones that are the most challenging I would say and someone who is disrespectful and unkind to a crew member that is the one that like that's the deal breaker for me that would be Mark I'm very well behaved moving swiftly on okay uh Linda River Cru is or nay I have not been on one I am dying to go on one because it speaks to all of the things that I love the smaller sort of ship experience the destination that's off the beaten path it's on my bucket list so I can't speak to it but Shannon was just on a river cruise and she could probably give you some I'm a big yay I loved it I it's completely different than ocean cruising but I loved every minute of it I led that it was only a hundred people I love the intimacy of it I loved getting to know all the passengers on board it was a really wonderful experience where were you Munich to Budapest I was listen did she say itay attention I didn't hear I really didn't hear soorry I apologize for my colleague who doesn't actually listen I was waiting to hear the meong or something you know he was directing traffic wasn't he Mark he's one of those Cruise passengers that's just all about himself you want me to leave this bit in don't you we did the holiday cruise markets from from Munich down to Budapest was fabulous somewhere you've not been you still want to visit Shannon Australia New Zealand in the old days people would show up in the tuck and bow tie and the ladies would come in gorgeous cocktail or evening dresses is that what you like you enjoy or or you think that the informal is is where it is you're not getting this quickfire thing are you it's six words okay five words formal or casual dress codes and then a name six words come on formal or casual dress codes and then a name which name well exactly I don't know he told me to say that okay I will move this convo forward how's that go for it I am I am for classy casual I like a good formal night just one the rest of the time casual I find it fun makes it special one thing you want to change about cruising Linda I would really love for the media to understand and maybe not be quite so bias biased about the industry you know as a whole as it relates to the environment as it relates to its health and sanitation standards I mean you know if I didn't know anything about the industry I'd say GH you remember the whole covid thing like oh God everybody's in this petri dish and everybody's getting sick well we didn't know what we were dealing with back then but I have to tell you Shannon and I that whole thing with covid wash your hands that is an old thing for us we have had drilled in our heads wash your hands wash your hands wash your hands and sanitize from the day we walked on ships all those years ago so I'd love for the media perception to change I know that wasn't a quick answer but I agree you can finish off David four words and a name go a funny Cruise story first Shannon then Linda oh my goodness I'll give you two examples that happened I remember in Bermuda we had a couple that got into a giant fight and started throwing each other's suitcases overboard and then on another ship when a man showed up with his wife and his mistress on the same cruise on his honeymoon that turned out really interesting too so that's awesome I've have not come across that one yet y yeah and we were out of Boston did you do it by accident he forgot it was not it was not my room as a cruise director was right next to the front desk so when I came out of my room the gentleman that was at the front desk it was known to be a ladies man and so I said to him as This Woman's throwing things around the lobby I said what'd you do this time and he kind of looked at me and gave me the eye roll and he said well she wants the cabin number of her husband's mistress who's on board because he didn't show up last night and she's here on her honeymoon Linda beat that I don't know that I can beat that but I remember when I was on one of the we used to call the white ships and my next door neighbor was the sh Excursion manager and he funny enough was from Australia and he used to entertain ladies on a regular basis and and I would have to get up very early in the morning because I was the crew Purser which is essentially the HR Manager on board the ship you know I'd be sound asleep and I'd hear all kinds of noise and terrible terrible music through the wall that are very thin and this went on for two or three nights and when I went to work the next day and he was behind the shore Excursion desk with his eyes really red at half masked I threw back in those days it was a tape right a cassette tape back in those days I threw a cassette tape on the shx desk and I said listen if you're going to do that till two or three o'clock in the morning at least play some good music and I gave him a tape and that was probably one of the last times he did that until 2 or three in the morning it wasn't the last time he did it but I think he I think he curbed his hours how's that for a good one at least while you were next door neighbors at least while I was next door neighbors once I transferred to another ship I washed my hands of it how was that for a good one will you keep that one in it out definitely keeping in definitely oh good stuff [Laughter] I think we better end because we could go on all day I mean there there were that's what she was thinking about I'm sure we'll find a lot exactly maybe we should do a special going forward a Cru special next year just fun these stories all for it all for it where can people find out more about access Cruise Shannon just contact Shannon or Linda of course you can go to our website which is access Cru inc.com but Linda and I are easily accessible and so we would love to hear from anybody our emails or just our first name at access Cru inc.com we're also on LinkedIn and I have to also say that shanon you do amazing videos about the industry as well and folks you can find those on LinkedIn as well oh thank you our take on cruise and the videos on YouTube they are about to go public we have just loaded over about 150 videos from the last three years that we've been doing so we've got all the content there so we're about to make it public and then start yes loading our videos there every week also our take on cruise Shannon mck and Linda Vasquez from access Cruise Inc thank you so much for entertaining us thank you this has been fun lots of [Music] fun I think Mark at some point you and I should try the quickfire round maybe if a guest cancels on a we could actually fill that space with doing uh quickfire you know you ask five questions of me and I'll ask five questions of you or is this a really bad idea can you do quick fire Dave I mean it's a lovely idea but you don't have go on we can give it a go but before Mark and I record any quick fire with ourselves we owe a great debt of thank you to all of our guests on this week's pod to Al to Marcy to Shannon and to Linda you made it a wonderful podcast this our annual cruising podcast each year gets amongst the biggest listens likes and shares talking of which if you enjoyed this podcast or even if you didn't enjoy this podcast please share it with your friends please review it give it a very positive view give it five stars and just generally put the word out there that Mark and David's podcast on the Jerusalem Post podcast section is great and of course you can find it not just on jpost.com but on your favorite podcast provider and that means you can also follow and like if you want to write to us our email is Mark davidp pod gmail.com and you can also contact us through our Facebook page Mark and David travels and through Instagram but I don't think we're on Tik Tok are we because we're too old for Tik Tok just look for Mark David pod across social media Mark before we make any more mistakes fart or say anything else that we might regret beyond what we've already said should we say goodbye you got that wrong can I just say you of no more mistakes what oh yeah oh Lord let's just say goodbye goodbye goodbye [Music]