Press play
Listen to this episode
Plays here stream straight from our feed. Prefer your own app? Hit “Listen on Spotify,” or find us wherever you get your podcasts.In this episode
Just Trevor and Tom, a research doc, and a whole fleet's worth of hidden slides, secret bars, and one-of-a-kind rides — a nerdy, affectionate tour of everything that makes each Carnival ship a little bit weird and a lot of fun.
What they covered
Topics on deck
One-of-a-kind Carnival experiences
The Luminosa hybrid class
Ship-specific slides & thrill rides
Panorama trampoline park
One-off bars
David's Steakhouse
IMAX, Emeril's & SoulPlay
Red Frog brewery at sea
Don’t miss
Moments worth the wait
- Happy birthday, John — The show opens with a birthday serenade for Carnival brand ambassador John Heald, since recording day landed on his birthday.
“Happy birthday, John.”
- The hybrid-ship discovery — Trevor's big research find is a ship that refuses to pick a lane.
“The carnival luminosa is a hybrid ship. And it is a hybrid between two different classes. And it's the spirit class and the vista class.”
- Slide-completionist math — Trevor turns hitting every Carnival slide into a full-blown Facebook checklist project.
“I believe it is nine cruises if you want to hit every slide efficiently.”
- The SkyRide heartbreak — The weight-limit saga that ended one man's thrill-ride dreams in real time.
“I stood on the thing. It went green… And it went red. And it went green. And it went red. And he goes, nah, nah, you're done.”
- The statue that sailed away — On the retired two-deck David's Steakhouse and its famous namesake.
“The, the famous statue of David, done by Michelangelo,”
possibly removed because “people got offended by it.” - First brewery at sea — A genuine Red Frog Pub bragging right aboard the Vista.
“you'll find North America's first ever Brewery… Brewery at sea that's right inside the pub.”
Golden nuggets
Running bits & lore born here
- The Golden Mermaid mystery — The running gag about the bar Tom supposedly isn't allowed in (Trevor: “a bar Tom is not allowed in”; Tom: “I was not kicked out”; Trevor: “You snuck in”).
- Reese in the basement — A Season 1 callback resurfaces, with the missing co-hosts joked to be locked “in the basement with Reese.”
- “I quit” / “my internet quit” — Gary's absence gets the affectionate treatment when his dropped-connection text reads like a resignation letter.
- Camping vs. cruising — The cold-open flub lives on: “Well, this isn't camping podcast ways. This is carnival cruising podcast ways.”
- Breakfast-burrito countdown — Tom keeps the running clock ticking toward Dudes' Cruise: “three million hours until I have that breakfast burrito.”
- The sign-off — “you are unique, you're special, and you are love. And remember, I forget.”