Getting out of the House Part I: That Time We Talked About Cruises

This is episode number 76 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're glad that you could join us today in the festivities on The Homeowner Show.

Festivities, that's right. Okay.

Having a party.

Oh, it's always a party.

It's always a party.

Yeah.

So yeah, we're glad you could join us. If you haven't yet, hit the subscribe button, click on the bird, the heart, the moose, the whatever it is. There's apps out there with moosen, right? Moosen. Moosen. A flock of moosen.

I'm sure there are. I'm sure. Yes.

There's a podcast app that has the moose on the Yeah, I don't think so. No, is that not what the, the mascot is of the one that you use?

No, Pocket Cast?

Yeah.

No, they should— no, they're, they're, they don't stoop to moosen level.

To moosen.

Yeah. So what's up, man? How's it going?

It's going good. Yeah, I know, it's been a, it's been an eventful week.

Yeah, in, in what way?

People have, people have been impeached, people have been tried.

Well, one person.

Witnesses haven't been called.

It's true.

Speeches have been made.

Yes.

Retaliation has been planned.

And torn up as well. America.

America.

Yes, it takes a really cool person to make a speech. It takes another type of person to tear up the speech.

That's right.

Just saying.

Oh man, there's so much bizarre and just weird with American politics right now. Which, which, by the way, man, I've seen this thing going around, uh, the, the interwebs, uh, about how she may have like broken the law.

Really?

By tearing the, tearing the speech up, because apparently it's like official government document that like if you intentionally damage or deface— yeah, I saw that. You can, you can look it up there. Nothing will probably come of it, but like there's— it's floating around out there that like, yeah, whatever she did, it may have been against the law. Well, I also saw some that someone was gonna sue We're talking about Nancy Pelosi ripping up the State of the Union speech, by the way, if you don't know what's going on.

Right. I also heard that someone was going to sue the NFL for inappropriate halftime shows. None of this is actually going to happen. No.

None of it's going to happen.

No, it's not going to happen.

That being said, for my business, I made a post. A lot of people don't realize this, but contracts in Texas are basically meaningless. Really, all they're used for is to browbeat customers into remaining loyal to whatever service they signed up for, particularly in our industry. Like, they have no weight whatsoever. You can get out of whatever contract you're in.

You're not going to be able to hold me to that, really.

Like, if you, if you sign like an annual contract with a service company, like, it's basically meaningless.

Sure.

Um, that being said, I created this meme that had the picture of Nancy ripping the speech up, and all it really said was, when customers realize that they don't need a complicated contract to kill roaches.

Yeah.

That was it.

Yeah.

Man, I've never gotten so much hate in my life.

Well, people thought you were talking about her being a roach.

No, like, the, the hate was coming from people like, how dare you support what she did? And I'm like, what? I'm not supporting what she did. I'm making fun of what happened.

I'm actually not supporting or not supporting. I'm just—

Not supporting anything. You know, talking about what happened in the moment.

And so people are funny.

Yeah.

And so like, it was like, there was pages and pages of comments and like people, you know, saying how ridiculous, what a communist I was. And then people saying, you know, y'all are ridiculous and people fighting and it got ugly. And so where the group that I had posted this this particular— I posted it in several places, but this group that I posted in, whoever manages it just took it down.

They were like, I'm done with this.

It got too— got a little too frictiony.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

So, man, I tell you, one of the things that— I don't really care where you fall on political lines, um, once you start talking about that on a platform that people have no recourse of their comments, right? That you're gonna get all kinds of stuff because, I mean, there's literally things that I might say to you right now, uh, because I'm in your presence that I would probably not say.

Yeah.

Um, but if it was over social media, I might say it because the likelihood of you being able to punch me through my computer screen is a lot less, right?

People tend to be a little bolder.

Yeah, they do.

And this is sort of like a weird experiment that we're running because this is pretty new. I mean, Facebook's been around for 12, 13 years now. And I heard somebody describe it like this. You essentially have your public life, you have your private life, and then you have your public-private life. And that public-private life, you can sort of create whatever persona you want. Now, it could be real, it could be fake, and you can doctor your photos and say whatever you want. It may be something completely different than what you might say when you and I are sitting down and having a conversation, right? But like, there's, there's no like responsibility to that other than people

calling you out for things that you say. But like, again, like, like you said, there's no recourse, right? Technically, no.

I mean, other than people possibly removing your post, right? If you put it on a page.

And that's even becoming an issue with people getting upset about their stuff being taken down, and they're saying, you know, you're infringing on my, my free speech rights. And All sorts of stuff.

Well, I'll tell you what this isn't. This isn't a political, uh, you know, show. And so, sure. Yeah, I mean, here's the deal.

We can make some political statements.

We are for freedom. Yeah, exactly. There's a lot of things Craig and I are for, and we've talked about it before, even on our Final Four, which is, you know, love your family, you know, that kind of stuff. Uh, but you know, it, it— I, I guess the point is, I mean, there's just a lot of, a lot of stuff out there right now that, that people have huge opinions on. And, and it's just an interesting— it's an interesting world where we know everybody's opinion.

Yeah.

We used to not know everyone's opinion, but now we know everyone's opinion. Yeah.

And they're not shy about I can tell you where there is little disagreement in this country. Everyone loves vacations.

Absolutely! One of my favorite things in the world is a vacation.

Vacations. So, we've decided to start this new series that we're going to do called Getting Out of the House. Because as much as we are in favor of the home here at The Homeowners Show, and your home is a wonderful place, sometimes you just got to get out of it. Well, yeah, you got to go visit someplace else. Sometimes you got to go see something else, and that's when it's time to take a trip, take a little vacay.

That's right.

A little siesta.

Yes.

Am I missing a— uh, I need my thesaurus.

Well, I'm not the right guy for holiday getting away, uh, things to say on holiday. Yeah, yeah.

But, uh, so, so this week we're gonna kick it off with, with JJ. Over at Cruise Planners. Yeah, we're gonna be talking about vacationing. Well, you need to guess, Kev.

If she's from Cruise Planners, we're probably going to be talking about, uh, Disney, right? No, no. Well, hey, no, now Disney's definitely involved in this industry.

Disney Cruise. Okay, okay, fair enough.

I'm not wrong, people. But we're gonna be talking about cruises. Yes, yes.

Yeah.

Specifically, we got JJ on the show. How you doing, JJ?

I'm good, thank you. Thank you for having me, and I am so glad this isn't— I'm not talking about politics.

Good.

Yeah, that is not my deal. I'm all about the fun side of life.

We saw you fuming when you came in, listening to talk radio when you came in, so we wanted to calm you down before we— we're not going to say what show you were listening to, but—

Okay, good.

But yeah, no, no politics on— especially not on the cruise.

Correct. Yeah, it's, it's all about fun, right?

And there's no fun in politics.

No. And anybody that wants to talk about politics on the cruise, they just need to go get another drink, get by the pool. That's right, chill out. Yes, give it up.

There's medicine for that.

Now I have to, I have to tell you just right off the bat that I've been on one cruise in my life, only one.

I can fix that.

Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure you can. I'm sure you can. Here's the thing though, I'm afraid I spoiled myself. Because not soiled myself, spoiled myself.

Gotta enunciate, Kevin.

Those are completely different things.

My goodness, yeah.

So when my wife graduated with her master's degree, she wanted to go to Alaska. That was kind of what she wanted for her graduation gift. And so we took a cruise to Alaska.

Did you see that flock of moose?

Well, we saw a few, yes. Yes, we also saw a herd of eagles. It was awesome. And so we— It's a gag. Sorry, excuse me. I gotta get my, my terms right.

Definitely not a herd.

Definitely not a herd. Okay, so, uh, we, we went on Celebrity and we stayed in a balcony room on a great cruise line going to Alaska. So I'm afraid that I, that I spoiled myself a little bit, but, um, I'm, I'm really interested to hear a lot about cruises that I'm sure I don't know near enough about. So I guess as we get into this a little bit, tell us about you a little bit, how you got started in this industry and how many years you've been doing it, all, you know, whatever we need to know about all that.

Okay. Well, uh, you probably did spoil yourself. Celebrity is an amazing cruise line.

Yeah.

Alaska, amazing destination, the most beautiful place. Um, And a balcony. You cannot go to Alaska on a cruise and have an inside cabin. You just can't, because there's nothing like stepping out on that balcony and viewing the glaciers as you're doing a 360-degree rotation in Glacier Bay, right, or Hubbard Glacier. So yeah, you're spoiled.

Yeah, man, I knew it when we did it. I knew, I was like, this, we're not going to be able to go back. Like, you know, having, having a balcony room in and of itself, we're probably never ever going to really want an inside room. No, you won't. And so, and, and, you know, there's categories here. Yes, we're getting into the higher category for sure. Yeah.

But anyway, anyway, I'm, I'm JJ Kuykendall, and I've been, uh, I purchased my franchise with Cruise Planners, uh, back in 2004. Okay, so I'm 15 years in the business.

Okay.

And, um, I did not know I loved travel as much as I do until I got into this industry. It's the most amazing, fun, challenging business I've ever been involved in, and I absolutely love it. So, yeah. Go ahead.

You said it's challenging. That's the one word that I wouldn't have expected you to say when you said challenging. What about it's challenging?

Well, challenging is when And you are doing the research and there is a sort of a pressure on me to make sure that I fit my clients with the right vacation.

Hmm.

And so, that's the challenge is to be able to interview, so to speak, and ask a lot of questions of my clients to know what they want, what they like, what they expect. out of their vacation. And so it can be challenging, especially if it's a complicated itinerary that's maybe land-based or it's a pre- and post-package for a cruise, you know, pre-cruise or post-cruise package like in Europe, whatever.

Yeah.

And so that's the challenge in just making sure that everything, all the details are worked out before they ever step foot on that airplane or that That boat, the ship.

Do most people— I mean, when you talk about like fulfilling people's expectations, do you find that most people come to you have a pretty good idea of what they want, or are they kind of coming to you going, what's available?

Uh, no. In, in this world of technology, really, you don't have to sit down, walk into a, an office and sit down face to face with the travel agent anymore. And most people already have an idea of what they want to do, right? So the internet's a beautiful thing, right? Um, but my slogan is, the internet's for looking, but call JJ for booking.

Yeah, so that's a, that's a really good point. And because, and, and I, and I've, I've dealt with this on a number of different levels with, you know, booking, booking trips to Disney and, and other things. So talk to us a little bit about why, why should— I mean, in the age of whenever all I got to do is open up my phone app and go to TripAdvisor or Expedia or wherever, um, and book a cruise right there, it's easy. Um, why, why would I, why should I book through, uh, a cruise planner like you?

Um, well, it's a win-win situation because you have a professional like me that's used to you know, research. I know the vendors. I know who to trust. I know the resorts. I know the cruise lines. I've done a lot of travel, so I can offer my personal experience and opinions. Whereas if you're on the computer, on the internet, you don't get that. The, the, the win-win situation is that it doesn't cost you any more To use me and my expertise than it does if you just go online, go direct to the cruise line or whatever, because we're not in competition with each other.

We're partners. That sounds unbelievable to me. So explain that.

Yeah, we're, we're partners with all the cruise lines. So they pay me a commission for taking care of you as my client. So it's a partnership. It's not a competition.

So, so I'm not paying—

No.

I'm not paying you.

No.

the cruise line or the vacation that you're booking, whatever that looks like, they're paying you a commission. But is it cheaper for me to buy somewhere else than to buy through you?

No, because, um, where— if it's apple, it could be just apples to apples, exactly the same price. But at Cruise Planners, we have hundreds and hundreds of group space blocked on different ships and sail dates. And so if you come to me saying, I want an Alaska cruise, then I can narrow down to say, hey, you know, we've got some group rates on this date. If you're flexible to go, we can do that. You may get some extra amenities like wine in the cabin or shipboard credit or free photos, things like that that, um, that you don't get by going direct.

Okay, so it's actually a better deal to go because I'm paying the same price.

Correct.

And there may be some perks, but beyond that, I'm getting you, right? Versus getting an email, right?

Right. Or calling into a call center where you have, you know, you have to tell your story 6 times or wait on hold and press 1 and 5 and click, you've been disconnected.

I hate that.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a good situation. Why not use— Yeah.

And one of the things that I know to be a fact, and again, I keep bringing Disney up just because I've booked a lot of Disney in my life, is that if you call into a place like Disney, for example, and you say, I want to go on a Disney Cruise Line, I want to go DCL and I want You know, this, this, this, this, and this. They've already done their research. What most people don't realize is the person that you're calling is getting a commission from, from Disney, just like I would if I were going through you or if I was going through any number of travel agents. Disney is still required to pay a commission to the person who

books that reservation, no matter what.

Mm-hmm.

So you're not getting a better price by calling or by going online than I would if I went directly Correct. Okay.

Yeah, and, and not only, not only that, but, um, we're able to be your advocate. So should something go wrong with your vacation, heaven forbid, and things happen, they do, um, you know, you're— I'm your first point of contact. I know what your, your reservation looks like. I know everything that you're doing. So I'm going to go to the cruise line on your behalf and make sure that you get the best And try to reconcile the problem, whatever that might be.

Yeah, that's really helpful. I know that we had a resort vacation at an all-inclusive in Cozumel one year. And we got there and the room that we got was not what we had paid for. And so, we went back up to the desk and the problem is, and we were in Mexico and I don't speak Spanish, and so, there was a communication barrier. And so I immediately just called my travel agent and we got it taken care of pretty quickly. So I, I wasn't able to do it there very easily, and my travel agent was able to do it pretty quickly and easily.

Yes, and that's, and that's our job. That's what we do. So if you have a good travel agent, they're the ones that's going to go to bat for you. They're the ones that's stepping in on your behalf and helping you through these issues.

Okay. Cool. I guess the other thing that I'm really curious about is, talk us through the process of going on a cruise. If I've never gone on a cruise before— for me, I've only done it once and it's been a long time ago at this point— what is that process like? Should I be nervous about being on a boat in the middle of the ocean? There are so many different cruise lines. Talk to me about the process of, how do I go about booking something? finding a cruise to go on vacation with?

Well, when you first call me, you know, I find out exactly what it is you're looking for. If you want Caribbean, if you want— do you want to fly to Florida, you know, or do you want to just go out of Galveston, drive to the pier? What kind of dates are you looking at? What's your preferences? Those sorts of things. Then I will put together like a cruise comparison. for you and shoot it over to you in an email. You can see all the details of the ship, the itinerary, the day-to-day itinerary, and all that. And then, um, that will help you narrow down what— as well as the, like, the lead-in price of all the different categories. So,

you know, considering your budget, your time constraints, and how, how long you can be gone, uh, then we can narrow that down. And then I can get exact prices, check any extra amenities, do all that legwork for you and give it to you on a silver platter.

Okay.

Here it is.

Yeah.

Then, you know, the cruise lines require a deposit, that sort of thing. Final payments about 90 days prior to your departure. I help you keep up with all that. I also offer something I call layaway to sail away. So in between those 2 payment dates, you can make equal monthly payments. So it's all about planning. A lot of people say, you know, I just can't afford to go. If you want to plan your vacation a year and a half in advance, we can make it happen with small monthly payments so you can have that dream vacation. Hmm.

Okay.

And, um, so, um, how far out do people need to start planning probably to before their sale date? What's a good—

A good is about 6 months.

6 months. Okay.

Yeah, probably about 6 months.

Um, is that in order to get the room that you want, the rate that you want, or what, what, what does 6 months give us planning-wise?

At least 6, you know, 6 to 8 months out, you have more choices on your cabin locations and things like that. Now, as far as pricing goes, You know, we know sometimes the cruise lines, you know, they fluctuate on their pricing.

Right.

And so in my system, I— once I have a reservation plugged into my system, it monitors the cruise line pricing. So if it detects a lower rate on that balcony cabin on that ship than you have, I get an alert. So I call the cruise line and say, hey, Um, check out this lower rate for my client, all that. And, and then we— they will honor a lower rate.

Oh, okay.

Anytime up until final payment of the cruise.

So, um, so if 6 to 8 months is a good time to start planning, how far out can I plan?

Oh, you can— we're probably— we're booking into, I think, uh, the spring of '22.

Oh, really?

Yes. So, um, so 2 years out? Most of the major cruise lines are— we have inventory far, far in advance like that. So yeah, you can plan. It's all about planning. Cruise planners.

Yeah.

So does that, does that take into account like, you know, when they change boats, when they bring in new ships into different ports and all that kind of stuff? I'd imagine.

Yeah, yeah, because they'll reposition a ship, um, like take one of ours out of Galveston, and then we get a different ship for a new, a different experience and stuff. So they do reposition all the time. And, and as far out, they know what ships will be here in early '22.

Yeah. So yeah, that's incredible that they know 2 years out, kind of like—

I know, that's, that's— it is, it is crazy.

I can't look into next week without getting a little stressed.

Yeah, no, I understand what you mean on that. So So talk me through some of the different options that I've got on a cruise. And I guess let's start with rooms. Well, that's the thing that I think most people are most interested in is what type of room categories am I looking at? And can you explain that just a little bit?

Uh, well, there's inside cabins. Those are small cabins, twin beds or king bed. Some of those will accommodate up to 4 people, sometimes 5, but Really, that's sardine city. You don't want that. There's too many people in an inside cabin.

It's really just for 2.

Yeah, it really is. I mean, any of them are, you know. So, um, but it's, um, so the inside cabin has no window or anything like that. It's the lead-in price. Ocean views either typically have a porthole, a small porthole, or they have a large picture window.

Okay.

And so, and a balcony like you had in Alaska where you have a private balcony, usually it's big enough to have a couple of chairs and a little table.

Okay.

So that's a much nicer accommodation. The square footage is larger as well.

Right.

Then you can move up to suites.

Okay.

And there's, there's different levels of suites too, you know, the lead-in suite, larger All the way up to owner's suite, family suites, all that.

Yeah, and they even have— some ships would even have corner suites that are huge, right?

Yes, wraparound balconies.

Yeah, big massive ones. And there's only maybe 4 or 8 of them on the entire ship sometimes. Is that right?

Yes, yes. They're usually either aft or forward on the corners where they have the big wraparound balconies. Baby grands in the living room. Um, some, some are 2-story. Wow. Um, lofts, loft suites on Royal Caribbean.

Have you ever booked one of those?

Oh yeah, I've never stayed in one.

Well, they're, they're not like cheap.

No, they're not cheap. No. Yeah, but you know, interestingly enough though, the ships sell out from the top down. So the suites and the higher-end cabins sell first before the lower inside staterooms.

You can probably set sail without the rest of the—

Oh, they'll sell too. But if you're wanting a suite, a nice suite on a ship, you need to book it well in advance, a year in advance, because those will sell out.

You probably need a year to pay it off anyway.

Yeah, and you can do that.

Yeah, okay, so I guess the next question is, um, what, what types of— I mean, different ships offer different things, and one of the things I've really noticed is that different, different ships kind of accommodate a different type of person on, on some level. Uh, like for instance, I know whenever we were, uh, booking Alaska, I, I mentioned to someone, I was like, yeah, I was looking at this Holland America cruise, and someone said, well, that's for old people. And I was like, oh, I had no clue. I was like, well, what about Carnival? They're like, well, that's the party ship. So, and I don't know if those stereotypes are accurate or not, but that's just what I've heard. So

could you speak into, I guess, just some of the amenities of the ships, and are there different ones that are, you know, more suitable for different types of personalities? Yeah, exactly.

Well, it's hard to pigeonhole You know, uh, exactly what kind of person. But, um, you know, Carnival, they are— their, their reputation used to be that, but really not anymore because the average person sailing on Carnival is like 45 or 50.

Okay.

Um, so, um, Carnival is very competitive in their pricing because they have the largest fleet in the industry. They've got more ships. So, um, They're really, um, Carnival really speaks to families and multi-gen, um, sailings, you know, uh, because there's something for everybody no matter what your age, uh, on Carnival and all of them really, you know. You can, um, you know, every cruise line when they build a new ship is the newest the most fun, what's new, what new thing can we put on the ship. So we have rock climbing walls, of course, water slides, bowling alleys, escape rooms.

Wow.

Are these some of the newest things that they're starting to put on boats now? I mean, I know some of those are already on some ships.

Yeah. Carnival has the SkyRide, which is a bicycle track, so to speak, that you're on a pedal thing and you're going around the top deck, you know, around, pedaling around above everything.

Wow.

So it's incredible. You know, cruises used to be, you know, for the newlyweds or the nearly dead. And now cruises are for everybody. Yeah, seriously, everybody.

Yeah, I know there's some that are really trying to appeal to like the, the the family and the kids, right? And so, like, are there— kind of speaking into Kevin's question— are there ones that are doing a better job of that from your perspective that are appealing to, like, the younger families and the kids?

Well, you know, Disney cruises are phenomenal and they really are geared— they're geared— Disney is, you know, the quality of Disney, everything Disney is fantastic. But really all the cruise lines, they have their kids programs. So it's like going to camp for a kid when they're on a cruise, and it's like a vacation for the family, the adults, because the kids are in the kids club having a great time and the, the adults are laying by the pool having a good time, you know, doing their thing and relaxing. So, um, but all the cruise lines do that.

Yeah.

They have, they have really good Programs like that.

Well, and I know on the last cruise that I went on, uh, one I'd never really— I've been on several, but I'd never really had one where I'd been on a lot of excursions. Um, and I had a really good time this last time doing some really fun excursions, some stuff I'd never done before.

Like what?

Uh, well, I, I did a, um, I got to swim with some dolphins in, uh, in Cozumel. Uh, we did some cenote swimming, like a whole, like, Cave swim that was 4 or 5 hours long, um, and some cave diving with that. And then we did a cooking class at one of them things. And then I forget what we did in one of the other— it was a longer cruise, so we got to do some— we got to do a lot of neat stuff. Uh, you know, the dolphin one in particular was really, really fun. Um, but I'm just curious as to whether or not different— Does the cruise line that you're on change the availability of certain kinds of excursions? Do they Are there

partnerships that they have at docks to do different things, or are they all pretty much offering the same kind of experiences on those?

They do offer pretty much the same kinds of experiences, whether it be water experiences or adventure or touring the islands and things like that, because they do partner with the locals, the tour operators on the ground. On the islands that lead these excursions. So they do. They have similar experiences.

Okay.

Yeah.

And so, I've only ever done Caribbean. I've never done Alaska or Mediterranean, or I don't even know what the other ones that are available. I mean, do ones in Alaska, do ones in, I don't know, Mediterranean River and all this, do they have excursions like they do in the Caribbean? I mean, obviously, they're not the same kind of experiences, but do they have ports where they have those kinds of excursions to do those things?

Absolutely. Like in Alaska, one of the things that I did was so much fun was we took a helicopter and flew to the glacier and landed on the glacier. When we're up in the air, you see these little bitty cracks in the glacier. When you get on the ground, they're This wide, you know, there's crevasses and you're like, wow, those look like cracks from the sky.

Yeah.

And I could fall in that and die, you know. But, but we did a, um, a glacier trek and rappel. And so we put on the crampons and, and there were only 3 of us and the guide.

Just learned a new word, Kev.

Oh yeah.

What?

I've never— what's a crampon?

Well, it's, it's— I mean, mostly women wear them.

Oh, Kevin.

I think— no, is that different, JJ?

It's a little different. It's a little different. Okay. A crampon is where you— it's the ice spikes that go on the bottom of your shoes, on your boots.

Okay.

They fit on the bottom.

It's like you strap it on your shoes?

Yes. And it has spikes in the toes as well.

So you might use these on like If you're going in the Rockies or somewhere like that to go snow hiking, but specifically for ice, if you're doing ice stuff, that's what they're primarily for, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

And so we trekked on the glacier and we did a little glacier climbing, right? Not very much. And then we rappelled from the glacier.

That's amazing.

So it was, it was an experience, let me tell you.

I bet.

And I have it on video. I was hanging upside down like an icicle from the glacier because I was off the side and my spikes were into the side of the ice. And so, as my bottom went down, I couldn't get my feet out of the ice. So, my feet just stayed where they were and everything else kept going down.

Oh, no.

So, anyway, I was laughing so hard by the time I got myself upright again that it was a blast. So, depending on where you're going, they have amazing experiences that you can do from— and we took a float plane over to another island in Alaska and did a bear watch. And that was like being National Geographic right there, just yards away from me.

What are those, grizzlies?

Yeah.

Wow.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

Big scary bears.

Yeah, exactly. I guess the next question— when we went on our Alaskan cruise, one of the things that we were told by the people on the ship, and I want to see if you have an opinion on this, because my wife and I were kind of like, okay, surely that's marketing on some level. And that's that they were saying, hey, book the excursions through us. And they were more expensive by sometimes $100 per person more expensive to book them through the cruise line than to book them just on your own, which you can do. You can book cruises— I mean, uh, excursions on your own, or you can book them through the cruise line. And their, their reasoning for that was they said, we have certain guarantees that we put in

place, we have certain partnerships that we know, um, we're going to keep you safe, and, and those sorts of things. But also they said, if you book an excursion through us, we will guarantee that if the excursion's running late, we won't leave you. So I'm just curious, do you have a— and let me just make a comment there because a cruise ship will leave you.

Yes, they will.

Okay. Yes.

And then you have a choice, right? You can either fly home or fly to the next port, right? Yes. So what are your thoughts on that?

I would never recommend that anybody book an excursion in a foreign country by just stepping off and going— gather, you know, somebody's coming up to them, hey, we'll take you here, we'll take you there, um, or booking an excursion online with a company that you don't know because you don't know how reliable they are. So my recommendation, we have a company that we partner with, it's called Shore Trips. They have the guarantee of, listen, we have backups to all of our equipment. We will get you back on time to the ship. We're going to take care of you on time.

Okay.

So my recommendation is, I recommend to my clients that look and see what the cruise line offers, look and see what ShoreTrips offers, and decide for yourself because they're both great companies. But just randomly going out there and finding somebody to take you somewhere, not real smart.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't do that.

No, I, I agree with, with that. And we, and we ultimately didn't, we didn't do that, but they kind of made a scare tactic on that saying, yeah, listen, you know, we, we're the only thing that you can trust, you know. And, and by the time, I mean, you're on the ship at that point, you're going, well, man, I want to do an excursion, but I don't really know what to do at this point. So that's good advice.

And another, and another thing about booking excursions, I don't recommend that you wait till you get on the ship to book. Yeah, because the excursions The excursion desk is open and it usually has a line with people waiting, and you've got better things to do on the ship than stand in a line waiting to book an excursion. So if you book, you know, your excursion before you ever leave the house, that's the best thing to do.

Yeah, well, and, and one of the things that I've come up against occasionally is like, let's not do an excursion, and I think there's probably pluses to that as well. I mean, part of it being like you kind of have the boat to yourself, you know, and some of the amenities that they have there that, you know, might be crowded usually.

Yes.

So like, you know, you can do that.

Absolutely.

It'll feel a little bit like a ghost town, but you have that option to stay there and eat as much as you want.

Right. Yeah, all the services are still available. The waiters, everybody's still on duty. You can get some really good discounts at the spa on port days.

Okay.

Um, so yeah, there's specials to be had there.

I hadn't thought about that one.

That actually brings up something I wanted to ask you about, is just amenities on the boat in general. What, what are some amenities? Because I think everybody goes into a cruise and there's like, well, there's going to be a pool, there's probably going to be a buffet, there's going to be lots of food, there's probably going to be some shows and some different things like that, there's the casino. But like, what are some amenities on the ship that Hmm.

Well, other than—

I mean, I can tell you one that I came across on my last trip. I didn't realize that most boats have a library.

Oh yeah.

You know, and like, they're actually pretty nice. Like, I mean, they're not like, you know, you know, Library of Congress or anything like that. They're nice quiet places to go hang out usually.

Yeah.

Or, you know, find a deck of cards. It's just a different place to go on the boat that's kind of off to the side. Well, I guess one of the things for me that was really interesting is that for us that we found surprising, and we wound up shopping there, was—

is shopping, first of all.

Yes.

That there's a fair amount of shopping on a lot of these cruises. Um, but jewelry stores, and we, we, we had, uh, some, some pretty awesome, uh, opportunities. I mean, they, they have some pretty good deals on, on jewelry on, on some of these things as well. We bought my wife this really beautiful yellow uh, Jim for, for a ring that we had made later. Um, but you know, some, some shopping I think is something that a lot of people don't expect to, to have. I mean, that's one of those things like, oh, I forgot this. Well, you can probably just go buy it, right?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And, and the shopping is— and it's duty-free, so you're saving the taxes and things like that. Um, and every, uh, typically every, every cruise will have a shopping show as part of that. And, and they, and they will tell you where to go when you get to this port. Okay, these are the places that you need to go. If you go do this, you'll get a free little charm. And, you know, they kind of advise you on getting off the ship and going shopping depending on what you're looking for.

Could you explain to people how that works, the duty, the whole duty-free? Because I think people just take that as making a booze run.

You know, it can be. Sure.

You know.

Yeah. But like, but how does that work?

I mean, because we don't want to, we don't want to encourage people to be unethical with their taxes and things like that. But how does that actually work?

Well, I mean, unless you're buying a large, large dollar item, you know, you, you really don't have to claim it as far as your taxes for taxing when you get back into the US. But large sums of sales tax, sales tax.

Okay.

Yeah. Large sums of alcohol or cigarettes. Yes, you got to— you need to claim that, you know, jewelry, things like that.

But I mean, like, people take that as an opportunity sometimes to kind of stuff that in the old suitcase.

And I don't know about that.

I'm not saying you do that.

No, I'm just saying, like, I'm sure there's people that—

I'm sure there is.

Think that they can do that. Yeah.

But, but even, you know, it's just a way to be able to buy things. And not have sales tax attached to it. So, you know, you're gonna save that at least.

Yeah, because I think anybody that's been on a cruise has walked through, when they're at a port of call, like this long hallway of just stuff that they're like, hey, duty-free, duty-free. And like, and then most people have no idea what that even means.

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All right guys, it's hard to forget a name like Paul the Plumber. Give him a call. And now back to the show. Okay, another question.

Okay.

So, um, this is a deal right now, and, and I don't want to scare people in any way, and I don't want to get people not to call you, but like like people are getting sick on, on ships.

And— Oh, there's one, there's one right now that's like on quarantine, right?

Exactly. Yeah. Yes, there is.

Yes, the coronavirus.

The coronavirus is on one of the ships. And, um, that— this is a big deal. It's a problem. And so, and, and we, and we've heard of other times whenever, you know, people come back, and a lot of times they're just national, national type news, right? Whenever large groups of people come off of a ship with illnesses. Um, what— can you speak into that a little bit? Like, what types of things should I be concerned about, and, um, is there something I can do to help myself with that?

Um, yes. I mean, it's just common sense cleanliness. And whether you're on a ship or you're in a plane or you're in a hotel, you know, On the cruise ships, they have hand sanitizers in all the public areas. So making sure you're washing good, you're using the hand sanitizers when they're available and where they're available, you know, is just good practice anyway. And that's going to help keep down whether it's, you know, coronavirus or somebody has got a cold on the cruise. Right.

Right.

And, um, you know, I, I try not to touch rails going up and down the stairs much and things like that. Just, um, yeah, so kind of protecting yourself.

One of the things that I find really interesting is I was listening to a, uh, another podcast, uh, the other day, a Disney podcast, and, uh, they were talking about the Disney Cruise Line. And I, I know that, that all, all cruise lines are regulated by, you know, the whoever regulates them. I actually don't know who, but, but, um, what was interesting to me that I didn't realize is that the CDC rates them based on their cleanliness. And like, they have, they have groups, you know, like from the CDC that will come in and they will go through every nook and cranny of that place and, and test it and find out, you know, how clean it is.

Mm-hmm.

And they were saying that the Disney Cruise Line regularly is at the very top of that list of, of the most clean ships available. In fact, regularly will get 100 scores, scores of 100 or very close to it. So, um, is there— is that something that I should be concerned about, like going on certain cruises based on their CDC grading? Or is that just kind of a— No, why don't you just keep yourself You know, smart, washing your hands a lot, those types of things.

Yeah, that's— I mean, that's what I do. I'm, you know, I'm not gonna only sail Disney, right? You know, um, well, that really limits you anyway. Yeah, it does. So, um, so I just try to be smart about it.

Okay, that's good.

Take a bath.

Take a bath.

Really, it makes a lot of sense to just— wherever you're at, if you're around large groups of people, just You know, the only person you can control is you, right?

That's exactly right.

So take care of your own self, clean up, those sorts of things. So now, okay, what has been maybe one of the greatest experiences that you've ever had on a cruise?

Wow, that is a tough question because I just told you of one. Yeah, uh, in Alaska. Yeah, um, or crampons. My crampons. And, uh, I have swam with dolphins, and that was incredible.

And where did you do that at?

I did it in Cozumel. Cozumel. And then you're at the same place I did? Probably in Chankanaab. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.

And, uh, did you get in with the manatees?

I didn't, no. I haven't done that yet.

That was awesome.

I bet, but I will.

Yeah.

Yeah, I like swimming with things.

Yeah. Yeah.

But in Hawaii, we swam with the sea turtles and just— we took a Zodiac out and it's— they're not in a pen like the dolphins are.

Right.

And the guide—

Which sounds kind of mean. I mean, it's a massive area that they're—

It is a massive area.

I mean, like, it's— I mean, that pen, we're talking like probably like almost 4 to 5 acre pen that these dolphins are in.

Yeah. And they're happy. They're fat and happy.

Oh, yeah.

But the turtles, it was amazing because he said, just act like a turtle. I'm like, how do you act like a turtle? I don't know how to do that.

Be really slow.

So, we got the snorkel thing on and you just float because the sea turtles, they just go to the bottom and then they come up for air. eventually. So, and there's so many of them, and they are— I was just floating, waiting, and here comes this turtle. I see the shell, the shadow coming up, and he came up right in front of my face. We were this far, inches away from each other when he came up face to face, and I went, oh, don't eat me! So I'm like being really still, like a dead turtle or something. Because I didn't want him to, you know, do anything crazy. And so, so he looked at me, I looked at him, and then he turned and just

did a—

kind of went on his way, huh?

Yeah, away. And, uh, he, um, it was just incredible. Um, peaceful. Yeah, you know. But then I've, I've been to the Galápagos Islands.

Oh man. Oh, I, I saw, I saw you live tweeting and live, like, live Facebook book. I was seriously jealous while you were over there. I was like, the things that you were seeing, the things that I'm seeing you see, I can't imagine what your eyes are seeing.

Oh, it's like, it's like God has put this out here for our enjoyment. It's like, how come you did that, God? That is so incredible. I'm not even, you know, it's like, it's so unbelievable. Yeah. And I'm, I've got my GoPro. And we're swimming in the Galápagos, right? And I'm— I have my GoPro out and I see 2 sea lions ahead of me. And so, I start swimming toward them. You know, we're not supposed to touch them or do anything. So, I'm swimming toward them and one— and then they start coming toward me. So, you cannot— just so you know, you cannot swim backwards in fins.

How do you know?

Because I tried. And so, I'm trying to swim backwards, but it's not working. So, I'm just sitting there. And he came directly at the GoPro and got right to the lens and then just went, shoo, and just—

Yeah.

And then here he comes again for a second time. He was just playing with me. It was incredible. And he just came to me and just went right to the GoPro lens and then took a nosedive and went away. And I came up out of that water going, did y'all see that? Did y'all see that? Oh my God, that was so crazy. It was great. It was so great.

I would flip out.

I would love that.

Oh, not, not— I mean, there are not very many things in this world that—

Were they seals or were they sea lions?

Uh, they were seals. What'd I say? I, I don't— oh, seals. Yeah.

I don't know, I was just asking.

Yeah, yeah, it was a seal.

Because sea lions are massive.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, and, and can be, can be kind of aggressive, but like seals tend to be, you know.

Yeah, seals. It was seals. It was like, oh my goodness. And, uh, in the Galápagos Yes. And in the Galápagos too, we had, um, penguins. That was a surprise. I didn't know there were penguins there.

Yeah.

And you could get right up on them with my GoPro. I've got some incredible video. Unbelievable.

That's amazing.

Yeah. Wow.

So, okay, so the next question is, where is somewhere that you haven't been that you're— it's on your list?

Oh, wow. Everywhere is on my bucket list.

I'll tell you—

A place called everywhere. Yeah.

I'll tell you a place that I really want to go, and I'm not even joking about this. I know some people have done this. I want to go to Antarctica. I have seen some of the most unbelievable 2-week excursion things that they do. I mean, it's, it's like you go with typically with like a group of about 15 to 20 people. And you go out on these boats. I mean, they're, they're just boats. They're not necessarily massive cruise lines like you would think about a cruise ship because you really can't do that down there. Um, and you know, they're the, the things that they see that nobody—

Yeah.

Gets to see. Yeah, I think that's one of the most amazing things about, about going on cruises and going on vacations where, where people say, Look, we have found this place that is unusual. It's different. It's something that you need to do. I would say that about Alaska. Like, you need to go. It is one of the most unbelievable, beautiful places that I've ever seen with my own two eyes. And so, um, you know, take the time, save your money.

Yes.

Do what you have to do. Uh, work a side hustle, do what you have to do to be able to go and experience some of the things that are out there in the world.

Which for me, I think, I think raises a question. What, what are some places that are available for cruises that most people don't think of? Because I think most people immediately go to the Caribbean, maybe Alaska, maybe the Gulf of Mexico. What are some other places? Because you've done a river cruise in Europe, right?

Yes, river. River in Asia, Europe. River cruises are amazing because they are very— they're way different than an ocean cruise. 'Cause there's no casino on board and all that. There's no can-can dancers or anything like that for entertainment. And it's all about the culture in the city that you're visiting every day. And in the evening for entertainment, they may— they will bring on the locals.

Hmm.

So if you're in Hungary, there may be Hungarian dancers, or in Austria, a, um, a, um, Um, I just lost my words.

Um, I've not been there.

Orchestra, orchestra, you know. Uh, so it, it's very, it's very neat because you can, you can learn about the cultures and the— and be more local visiting. You're not doing zip lines and things like that, but you're visiting castles and you're, you're talking to the locals and learning about the culture and seeing the cathedrals, the beautiful buildings, and, and all Wow.

So are there— I'm just trying to think of places. I mean, are there ones in Australia?

Uh, yes, Australia, New Zealand.

Um, and then that would probably go into like the Polynesian Islands, I guess.

Yep, Bora Bora, um, all that.

What about like Africa?

Africa? Uh, there are, um, some cruises. Wait a second. I'm not sure.

I would guess, I would guess South Africa would probably have some.

Um, to me, I'm thinking, you know, it— for Africa, we went last, last year and we did a safari, but it was not a cruise, it was a land-based vacation. Right.

A lot of people, that's what they go to Africa to go do, is the land-based stuff anyway.

But so, because when, you know, wherever the destination is for the, for the Cruises, you don't get very far inland, right? So in a lot of places like that, you need to do it by land to experience all that it's worth.

Yeah.

Well, I would even say that for our Alaska cruise. Those land cruises are unbelievable because we didn't get to do that. We really just— you sail around the outskirts of Alaska. Don't get me wrong, you need to do it and it's beautiful. Oh, but I know there's things that you can't do because you're just on the coast the whole time. You know, you can't go far, very far in.

Well, with, with, uh, the Alaska cruises, you can do what's called a cruise tour. And so you can take, you know, the train, motorcoach into as far inland as Fairbanks, going to Denali National Park. Seeing Mount McKinley, that you can do that by land before or after your cruise.

Yeah. And there are also some opportunities where you can do that in the middle of your cruise as well, isn't there? Where you go to certain places and— or am I wrong about that completely?

Uh, not— no, I don't think so.

Okay, so it's typically before or after, right?

And it's just— you may do an excursion like in Skagway. There's the narrow gauge rail and the train.

Yeah.

Yes, the train that goes into the tip of Canada. Yeah, it's beautiful.

And, or you could just, you know, have one cruise, get off, go do a long trip, and then come back and do another one, right?

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Back to back.

That's another thing that I was going to talk about. I'm glad you brought that up because there are people out there who have retired and they don't own a home anymore, and they have decided, I'm not going to go into an old folks home, whatever you want to call those things.

Retirement village.

Yeah, and I'm just gonna cruise hop. And there are people that do this, aren't there? Yes.

I mean, do you have those? I don't have one, but I do have clients on a regular basis that do back to back or back to back to back. So, um, if you're looking to retire, JJ will hook you up.

That's right.

Nobody wants an old folks home. So, I mean, because you think about it.

You got full room and board, you got as much food as you want, there is a hospital basically on ship, there is, you know, all the entertainment that you could possibly want. You get to travel around and see places that you've desired your entire life to go see.

And honestly, people waiting on you hand and foot.

That's right. Yeah. And, and when you think about like the amount of money that some of these cruises cost versus the amount of money you at some of these retirement villages. It's, it's unbelievable. I mean, you could actually maybe save money by just cruise hopping.

I think we're probably just a hop, skip, and a jump away from like that actually being like, here's the retirement boat.

A thing. Yes.

Yeah.

One dedicated—

Yeah, one dedicated cruise ship.

Yeah, that way you don't have to get off.

That's a great idea.

Yeah, maybe go buy me a little boat.

New business venture. All right, I'm gonna look up the, uh, the URL. You know, for like, what is it called, retirement cruise. There you go. We're gonna, we're gonna go—

We need to see if that's available.

See if it's available. We're gonna go book it right now. We're gonna, we're gonna buy a ship.

We'll start negotiating with these lines.

Yeah, I, I'm, I'm already halfway there, Craig.

Yeah.

Well, cool.

That's awesome.

What else have we not talked about that you think we should hit on?

Wow. How about travel insurance?

Oh yeah, that's a good one.

Everybody's always not sure about travel insurance.

I don't want to spend that extra money.

Exactly, exactly.

Nothing's going to go wrong.

Yeah, I'm going to get on that boat no matter what. It's no matter what that will get you every time. It is an extra expense, okay? You buy it and you hope you don't need it. And it will cover, you know, covers things like, um, you know, you've got your investment in your vacation, and what happens if you get sick or hurt or a family member dies suddenly and you can't go?

Yeah.

You know, you can lose all that money. So you want to protect your investment, number one, but more importantly, number two, you want to protect yourself While you're out of the U.S., because most people's health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, does not cover out of the U.S. So if you're in a foreign port and you fall and break a leg, or you get really sick, you have to go to the hospital, you know, it could be financially devastating to you if you don't have travel insurance.

So you're, you're telling me the travel insurance doesn't just protect me from I'm losing my investment on not being able to go, right? So what all— what all— I mean, you mentioned medical. That's huge. I didn't know it covered that.

Yes, absolutely. Because if something happens, say you did break your leg, you are in Mexico, you go to the hospital, you have to pay that bill before they're going to let you go, okay? Or if If you've maybe had a heart attack or something and you have to stay there, the ship is gone. It leaves you. So you need travel insurance that will cover your medical expenses plus your expenses to get back home, to help you with the airfare and cover those expenses when you get out of the hospital.

So if I— let's say, heaven forbid, let's say that I'm out on a cruise, I have a heart attack, and the cruise leaves me, so I've got all of these medical bills. at this crazy place I didn't know I was going to be at by these doctors that I've never— you know, they don't even speak the same language maybe. Now the cruise is gone, I've got to fly home. Travel insurance covers all of that?

Yes, depending on the insurance that you purchase. So you just make sure you're purchasing the policy that's going to cover you for that.

So there's different policies?

Well, there is. Most of them will cover those things. It's just the limits. Like, some policies may only cover $10,000. Some policies may say, you know, we're going to cover $10,000, but you have to pay it out of your pocket before, and then you can file it when you get home and get reimbursed. And get reimbursed. Okay. You know, there's policies that are better than that, that will say, you know, we're covering up to $50,000, and we step in and start guaranteeing your care when you're When you're going to the hospital, so they know you're covered for whatever you need.

Okay. So what are we talking about? Let's just say we're doing a 5-day cruise, just a regular Caribbean 5-day cruise. I know this is going to be relative because maybe you're listening to this a long time from now, which is February 2020, but what type of cost am I looking at on a I don't know, let's say it's a— for me and my wife, let's say it's a $3,000 cruise. What am I looking at for travel insurance?

Okay, so the insurance company that we partner with is Allianz Global Assistance. They're one of the largest insurance carriers in the world. And so it's based on your age and the cost of the trip.

Okay.

So it's a percentage. So say it's, uh, 6.5% if you're between the ages of, just an example, uh, 35 to 55 or 60, you know, it may be 6.5% of the cost of your trip.

Okay.

Um, 60 to 70, like 8.25%.

Okay. But you're— but even then, like, if let's say that it's a, it's a $3,000 cruise I mean, they really— I mean, you're talking what, like $150, $200?

Yeah, not probably—

yeah, yeah, that's not that much.

No, it's not even—

Whenever you consider— when you consider what all that actually covers, that's a— that's probably— it's a protect your investment type of thing. So, you know, not a bad idea for sure.

Yeah.

Is it something you recommend all the time?

I do, I do. And, um, it's, it's my It's my job to offer it to all my clients. You know, it's my duty because, uh, like, maybe you've never even considered, you didn't even know what it would cover. So that's my job, is to educate you on that, and then you decide what you want.

Yeah. And if I'm just booking this online, I see that as another line item that says, oh, by the way, don't forget to protect your investment. It's gonna cost this much money. And I, most of the time I'm scrolling right past that.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And most, and most people probably do.

Yeah.

So, uh, but another thing about a travel agent, having a travel agent, a travel agent can explain to you what, what these, this insurance covers and, and things like that. So.

Okay, cool.

And any other, any other tricks that people need to be aware of when they're getting ready to go on their, on their trips? What tricks, things they can, they can do that maybe they're not aware of? Are you allowed to bring alcohol on the boat?

Um, it depends on the cruise line. Like, uh, Carnival allows you to bring 1 bottle of wine or champagne per adult. So, uh, and a small, like, 6-pack of soda, um, cans only, because those are expensive on They are.

Yeah.

Uh, and, um, but one good thing about Carnival— well, they were only Coke products, now they're Pepsi, but they have Dr Pepper. So I'm like, yes, Kevin, they have Dr Pepper.

I am— man, just hook me up to an IV. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that stuff. Yeah, more than I should.

Yeah, right.

Okay, what about this? Are there better days? I mean, because you're— I mean, especially if people are flying to their port, are there better days to book flights?

Are there?

Because I've heard stories and I don't know if any of them are true.

Yeah. You know, if I could crack the code to the airlines, I would be so rich. You know, to figure out how they do things. I've never I've never figured out if one day is any better than the next.

It's not the second Tuesday of the month.

Right, right. And so, you know, for me personally, I just go with my gut. If I think, okay, I'm thinking I may watch a flight for a little while and see what it's doing, if it goes up or down or whatever. And then if I think, okay, I can live with that price, I'm buying it and I'm not looking back.

No.

Yeah, because that's—

if it went down, then you'll be mad.

Yeah, because that's not something That you can call into the airline and be like, look, I've got a client that wants a better price, right?

Yeah, right. They don't play that game. No.

The cruise lines do.

Yes. And the airlines don't. Yeah. And the airlines are— they're— if, if the lower price comes around, they're not going to lower it either.

So, um, you can't return that ticket either. Yeah, they're fun like that.

Yep.

Yeah.

Well, cool. Well, uh, man, I, I, it's been awesome. Awesome. Thank you. You've answered a lot of questions, and I'm sure that some of our listeners have some questions that we haven't even considered. So if you have those, send them to us to info@homeownershow.com, and we will ask the person, the expert sitting right over here, who can help with all that. But we absolutely cannot let you get away without doing the most important part of our show, the thing that everybody looks forward to more than anything else.

Yep. You're scaring me.

The Final Four.

The Final Four.

That's right. All right, so the final 4 questions we ask all of our guests. You are prepared. We know that you have the best answers of any person that has ever come on the show. Now, in all fairness, we have to let our listeners know that your husband was on this show early, early, early, and so your answers just have to be better than his. That's all that really matters, right?

Absolutely. I don't even know what he— how he answered, but he didn't Did he talk about JJ? Oh, that—

I, I don't, I don't remember. Yes, of course he did.

We want to make her go download that.

Yes, Jimmy talked about how awesome and amazing of a wife you are.

That's right.

And he's right.

He is so right.

Never has he been as right.

That's right.

That's right.

No.

All right, well, here are the final 4 questions, starting with number What is the must-have tool you won't leave your house without?

The must-have tool?

Yep.

I think that would be my cell phone.

Yep.

That's probably a common answer, right?

It is the most common.

Yes, it is the most common.

Because if I can't fix it, whatever tool I need to fix something, I can call somebody to come do it.

Yeah.

Or order it on Amazon. Yeah, that's right, it'll be here tomorrow.

Yeah, and, and honestly, there's a lot of just— I mean, we interview a lot of business people, we interview a lot of people that own their own businesses, and for them, that's, that's the bread and butter, right? Being able to communicate with other people, it makes a lot of sense. And not to mention the fact that there's a lot of tools actually on your phone, like the Measure app. Yeah, yeah, you know, things like that that are, that are really helpful.

So, and, and I have an app as well Oh, a cruise planner app. Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, so you can, uh, track— you can look at all your past vacations, you can book your next vacation through the app. It has a counter.

What's the app called?

Cruise Planner app.

Cruise Planner app.

Yep.

Is it available Apple and iOS?

Nice.

Yep, yep.

Okay, great.

Let's link that up.

I will definitely link that up.

Yay!

So that'll be a good Okay, cool. All right, second question. You ready for a second question? Question number 2, here it is. What's a job you've walked away from? We've already told you the caveat. Everybody listens to the show knows the caveat. We wrote it one way, everybody hears it the other way. So which— what is it, a job that you've walked away from? Take it however you want to. That's a big lead-in.

It is a big, big loaded question. So I'm really never— I'm not one to walk away from a job.

Okay.

But I did walk away from a job in college that I had for like 2 days. I worked at a chicken place.

Okay.

And I couldn't stand the way I smelled when I came home. I smelled like one big fried chicken leg. So I said, okay. Enough. I can't, I can't do this. I can't do this job.

Nice.

Was it any particular chicken place that we're willing to mention?

No.

No?

Okay.

No.

I, I would mention it, but I would never. I would too.

I'd totally throw them in the bus.

Honestly, it wasn't like, uh, one of them, uh, it wasn't one of the big ones, you know. It's a local-owned little chicken shack or whatever.

Is it still there?

I don't know. It was in Tyler, Texas. That's where I was at the time. So, okay, so I don't know if it's still there or not. Probably not, because once I quit, you know, They just had to go out of business.

They had a rare opportunity.

They did.

It's gone, squandered. Actually, this is an interesting thing. I actually heard a story the other day about a chicken that had his head cut off and lived for another 18 months.

18 months?

Yeah, it's a— I don't remember the name of the chicken all of a sudden. They named this chicken.

The head was alive or the body was alive?

The chicken lived. for another 18 months.

That's freaky.

That's an answer to the question.

The chicken was still alive.

Okay, which part was the chicken?

The egg, right? Is this the chicken or the egg question?

No.

Oh.

The head survived.

Which part was chopped off?

Did the head survive or did the body survive?

The body survived.

Okay, okay.

That's all I wanted to know. Yeah, so the body survived. They took this thing on tour. This was like way back in, in, I don't know, like the '40s or '50s. And they made tons and tons of money showcasing and this chicken around. And anyway, it's a whole thing. I'll try to find information on it and let people know. It's the weirdest thing.

Is this like a Wikipedia article you wrote?

No, it was a— so what I heard it on was a podcast called Stuff You Should Know.

Oh, okay.

There was an episode called Amazing Animals.

Yeah.

And it was one of the animals they—

That's a good podcast. I like that podcast.

Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, they do a good job.

I don't think I wanted to know that though. I just not— no.

That visual is not—

Not, not—

no, they fed it with like a syringe because it just had an esophagus. And so they, uh, anyways, okay, next question. The weirdest thing ever. Uh, anyway, all right, 3rd question: how do you wind down at the end of a long day?

Okay, so I spend most of my time, all my days, in front of the computer and on the Yeah.

Talking.

So I unwind at the end of the day as I sit in my recliner and not talk, not look at my phone, not do any of that, and just watch mindless TV. And it just totally relaxes me. And, and I, I have to tell you, I'm an Andy Griffith fan.

Okay. I was about to ask, what is your go-to?

Big time. So every night I watch an episode of—

Talking about like the old sitcom that he did, right?

Yeah, Andy Griffith Show.

Yeah.

And I go back to Mayberry and it just totally— all the politics are gone, all the— everything is gone. It's, it's a wonderful thing.

Okay, so I grew up with Andy Griffith. My dad, big Andy Griffith fan. And so I've seen all the episodes multiple times. You have to have a favorite. What's your favorite episode of Andy Griffith?

Oh man, there's so many. Judy, Judy, Judy. Oh God. Oh my, anything. You know, Don Knotts makes that show.

Oh yeah, he does.

And his humor is just over the top. I love it. I love it. So just to say one episode is tough. Like, it is tough. It is tough.

I mean, oh man.

Yeah, put me on the spot.

But, um, I'm actually a big fan of like his, um, it's not really stand-up, but he like does, he tells stories. Oh yeah, Andy Griffith does.

Yeah.

And I don't know, I don't know, I guess he used to do that on the radio or something like that.

Yeah, I don't know exactly, but he has like the story of, of like the first person that ever watched a football game. Yeah, like watching the football game for the first time. And him explaining what that is, it's pretty hilarious.

He was an incredible storyteller.

Yeah, he is. Yeah, he really is.

Okay.

All right.

Last questions. You're in the homestretch here. What is one of the best pieces of wisdom or advice you've ever received?

Well, a philosophy, I guess, is, um, I work like it's up to me and I pray like it's up to God, because everything I can I can work really hard and do my part, but honestly, the success of my business and my family and my world is totally God-controlled.

Good.

That's good.

I love it.

Now, we have the 5th secret question.

Yeah.

What?

So, it's actually the most important one. If people want to reach out to you and contact you and book a cruise or really any vacation, How they get a hold of you?

Well, my website is www.fun cruises for you dot com, and it's the number four.

Okay.

Fun cruises the number four y o u dot com, or give me a call at two eight one two nine two seven zero two two, or toll free eight six six seven one four. Sail. S-A-I-L.

There you go.

There you go.

That's a song. Sail!

That's it.

All right.

You on Facebook?

I am.

People can find you there?

Yes. JJ Cruise Planners. I'm on Facebook. Like it. Like me. You know, it's, um—

We all like you, JJ.

Oh, you're so sweet.

I just want to get all those— we're going to get all those links up in the show notes for you so people can do the clickety-clickety.

That's right.

Yeah. Get out of the house. Isn't that what this show is about? Get out of the house.

Call.

Call me, I'll help you. Go away.

Go away. Get out of here. Get out of here.

Yeah.

All right, Craig, what else we got?

That's it, man. I'm ready to go on vacation. All right, well, uh, listen, you know, my wife is leaving this Saturday and leaving me in the home.

But she's— here's the thing, man, like, she just got off a cruise.

I know.

Yeah.

Now she's about to leave you again.

Yeah.

And how is it that she gets to have all the fun?

Hey, you know how Jimmy and I work this thing out is that I say, you know, I get—he says, "What do I get to do when you get to do all this fun stuff?" I say, "Well, you get to say you let me." Uh huh. So you let her. I let her have these things. Some reason I don't think you let her do anything. Yeah, you—you yeah, you believe that.

That's awesome. Well, listen, thank you for for coming on the show. Thank you for taking the time. time, and I hope this has been a good episode for all those listening. Thank you for downloading this episode. Continue to, to, you know, support us in any way you can. Share it on Facebook, talk to your friends about it, subscribe, leave us a review. That would be awesome. A rating and review on iTunes, that would be fantastic. But as always, thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next time. See ya!

Thank you.