Did We Just Become Best Friends?

Two Healthcare Pros Explain How They Built An Honest, No-Hype Cruise Channel

• Lydia Stutesman

Share episode

Send us a text

Swap TSA lines for sea breeze and five-star meals you don’t have to overthink. We sit down with Ryan and John—two healthcare pros turned cruise creators—to unpack how Virgin Voyages converted them from city breaks to sail days, what “adults only” really feels like onboard, and why food quality can be the biggest surprise at sea. If you’ve wondered whether the cruise hype is real, their candid, no-sponsorship takes cut through the noise with practical, money-saving detail.

We trace their origin story from YouTube research to a full-blown review channel built on authenticity and useful tips. They explain the true time cost of a polished 25-minute video, how long-form and short-form content serve different needs, and why cross-posting the same clip can tank on one platform and explode on another. Tools like CapCut (desktop) and a simple repeatable workflow keep them sane, while off-the-cuff moments routinely outperform clips that took hours to craft. It’s a creator playbook you can actually follow.

Then we get into the good stuff: midship vs aft cabins, balcony loyalty, late shows, sea days, and the casino pull that turns a good night into the next booking. We compare private islands—Bimini’s unplugged calm, CocoCay’s choose-your-own-adventure, and the serenity of Great Stirrup Cay—plus the value math that makes a three-night Royal weekend feel smarter than a week of flights and hotels. The mythbusting is fun too: no, Virgin isn’t a secret swingers cruise; yes, the dining really is that good, with balanced dishes that don’t leave you bloated.

Looking ahead, Ryan and John map out Scarlet Lady over Christmas, Grand Turk in March, Alaska in July, and a first sail on the new Celebrity Excel with creator friends. They’re expanding beyond Virgin to help you pick the right line for your style—upscale vibes, fewer kids, genuine food, and entertainment that rivals a night in New York. Want to link up on a sailing? Use Shipmate to see where our trips overlap and say hi onboard.

If you enjoyed this conversation, follow Ryan and John Review It on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, and hit subscribe to catch future episodes. Share this with a cruise-curious friend and tell us: which ship should we review next?

Support the show

SPEAKER_00:

Did we just become best friends, Ryan and John, review it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I think we did. Oh yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, we totally did. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today. Thank you so much for making time for me.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for making time for us.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so what I normally do is I just caught that you're wearing a verge of voyage a shirt. Oh my god, now I'm getting distracted. What I normally do is I tell the listeners around the globe because believe it or not, we have listeners everywhere. That's crazy. I tell our listeners how we met. And we didn't meet yet. So this is this this podcast today is a product of my cyber stalking abilities, which are impeccable. And okay, so just so everybody knows, I'm an avid cruiser. And you guys caught my attention on the gram on the Instagram. And I don't remember which voyage you were on or if it was it was one of Christine Lozada's posts, but I was like, oh my god, I love those guys. We have to be best friends, and we have to be on the podcast together, and you're my people, and I just loved your energy. And I was like, okay, that's it. They have to be on the podcast. So thank you for making time for me today.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, thanks for having us. Yeah, definitely. We love your energy as well. It matches ours. So uh yeah, we definitely and when you mentioned the cyber stalking part, now we definitely became best friends.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. We have a few things in common. A few things in common we'll get to. All right, so let's start up first and foremost. I would like to know because um Ryan and John review it. It's relatively new, right? Your account.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we just really started about like two years ago. We really just started on YouTube and we use YouTube, we used and used YouTube to really find out what our experiences are that we want to do when we're traveling. And that's how we found Christine and the whole Virgin Voyages thing, which I'll let John tell you about. But we just thought, you know, like, hey, like if we find YouTube helpful to get the latest reviews and updates on people's experiences and how they're spending their money, maybe our trips and travels will be helpful for people and they'll be able to understand what the latest experience looks like, how much it costs, and so on and so forth. So we really started on YouTube about two years ago, and then just this last like real six months, we just started really putting effort into the other platforms.

SPEAKER_00:

I love it. Yeah, and it's funny because I was a high school teacher and I taught TV production and broadcast journalism. And I've done all the things, I've made the videos, I've edited content, I did everything, you know, like professionally, but I never did it as a personal project. So the podcast is like a passion project. And anytime I'm out there and I do a video or I go live, everybody comments, why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you an influencer? Why aren't you making more content? I'm like, because people don't realize it's work.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh. I this man right here, John, like literally, he that's his full-time job. Is like our editing, like he is our like editor cameraman. I mean, like, listen, I mean, uh you you well, yeah, at the end of the day, that's what I try to explain to people.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm like, listen, we absolutely love making content, but until we really started doing it like full time, people don't understand that. A lot goes into it. I mean, it is full time. I mean, it's not just yeah, you know, going on trips and having cruisers on those trips, you know, we're working and getting content put together and really trying to find good, useful information that we can give to our subscribers. Because that's the last thing we want to do, is just I don't want to be a talking head. We just don't want to be on camera to be on camera. I like Ryan, you know, was saying earlier, we actually started YouTube because I was on YouTube all the time. I would always go there. I'm a self-learner, I love learning how to do stuff, and as you know, being a homeowner, there's always something to fix. Yeah, we really use it.

SPEAKER_00:

Controlling everybody else's content, right? Learning.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. So I thought, well, you know what, if we can kind of contribute to that, and a lot of our friends would always ask about our trips and stuff like that. So we would say, you know, why don't we just start making YouTube videos and putting it up there and see what happens. So yeah, again, to just kind of bring it back. Yeah, it is definitely work because we are always trying to find useful stuff to give to the uh you know our subscribers.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And I think what always holds me back, and Mel Robbins talks about this a lot, because I'm like a huge fan of her podcast. Um, I always, and Christine and I talked about that because Christine was on my podcast as well. I don't know if you've listened to that episode. She I said, Does the world really need another travel influencer? Does the world need another YouTube channel? Like it always holds me back because I feel like the market is so saturated. And she goes, But Lydia, no, you're the only you.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And so you're gonna bring something to it. And she's like, why not? She was like a thousand percent yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And honestly, like, you know, I mean, uh, if people want to say, like, you know, we're we're just like a small channel, we're just like literally, we're just two guys who are like literally just capturing our travels, and hopefully, like we can give helpful tips and insights to other people who find it helpful. Like, we really don't like consider like ourselves like influencers, and like even like you know, Christine has kind of said, like, oh, you should kind of change that frame of mind. But like, we're just kind of like, we're just we're just people capturing our travels and like what we learn and helping others along the way. So that's really what it's about. We'd be doing it either way.

SPEAKER_03:

So if we weren't recording it on YouTube or Instagram, we'd still be doing the trips and stuff like that. So none of this is done really to Ryan's point for any kind of show.

SPEAKER_01:

We've been traveling for 16 years, you know. So travel, you know, for 16 years, we're like, okay, let's do this. So yeah, I mean, exactly to that point.

SPEAKER_03:

And plus being creative helps too. You you said you're a creative person. I'm super creative. I love painting and just doing anything creative. So this really just gives me a creative outlet as far as editing, filming. Just gives me somewhere to drive my energy to as I'm getting a little older now.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, absolutely. So now, do either of you also work full-time?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we both we both do. We both have like full-time jobs um, you know, that are very flexible and allow us to do this as well. But we were we basically both have two full-time jobs. Yeah. So between just our regular daytime jobs and then just like, yeah, the content. I mean, it takes John a full week to put together, you know, a good quality 25-minute YouTube video. And that's not, you know, all the shorts and the reels and everything else. And so, yeah, I mean, it's we basically both work two full-time jobs. Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, two and jobs.

SPEAKER_00:

So now I'm curious. I have to know.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, we're actually both in healthcare. We're both in we're both in health insurance. So I work um for uh uh insurer that helps to try to provide low-cost health care to all of Americans, whether it's Medicare, Medicaid, ACA. So yeah, I do that.

SPEAKER_03:

And then I'm I'm actually on an insurance agency. I'm an insurance agent. Uh, and I actually just got into that uh about two years ago before that I spent 27 years in hospitality operations. Oh, wow. So I came from a very high-paced, moving, pivoting, kind of always staying busy. So that's why kind of this content creation kind of fell into place for me and works so easily because I'm used to always kind of being on a on a swivel. So it works out great. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It's funny because I actually come from a very vast healthcare revenue cycle management background. I used to do um billing and manage the whole, you know, cycle. Yeah. Worked for a huge entity, and then I kind of took a like a hiatus and I went into education and became a teacher for like the last 10 years.

SPEAKER_02:

Nice.

SPEAKER_00:

And then I just left education this summer. I just made the shift.

SPEAKER_02:

And now I'm still about it so far.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh God, it's I'm I have no regrets leaving education. I just wish I didn't have to leave education. I wet I wish it paid better.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's a whole other podcast episode.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

But let's keep it light, let's keep it moving because one of the perks of being in in education is having your summer off, and that's when I started traveling a lot. And about three years ago, I'm really relatively new to cruising.

SPEAKER_01:

Same.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and I, you know, I went on one cruise, I won an NCL, and then I was like, oh my god, this is fabulous. Why why why am I not doing this all the time? It's like so great, right? It's like that all-inclusive feel. And then for my 50th birthday, my girlfriend who's like a mega gambler, she gets casino comps all over the world. Um, she's like, What do you want to do for your 50th birthday? And I said, I want to go on virgin voyages. And that's where really the love and fascination for virgins started because I said, I want to go on that cruise. She's like, Okay, done. I'm gonna book it for us, whatever. And when you're a gambler, you go on casino comp, it's you only play pay like four charges and taxes.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00:

And it was like 200 bucks to go on my first four-night virgin voyages cruise.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

In an XLC terrace. So I was like, I'm on, but yeah, like yeah. So spoiled. I am so spoiled. And um, you know, I definitely want to talk about Virgin, but I want to talk talk about other travels. So, did you guys mostly take like my husband and I before the pandemic, we used to travel to like cities. Different cities were like walking cities, and we would go to a game or we'd go to New York, go to Broadway shows, you know, all the things. And then kind of after the pandemic, that like really slowed down for us any kind of air travel, and then we started cruising. So, how about you guys?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, for us, it started as uh we we always have traveled. Yeah, again, a lot of city travel and stuff like that, up until the pandemic, and actually when the pandemic came in 2020, we actually lived in Manhattan. So we had did a lot of travel up there. Yeah, we spent a couple years up in the city. My drinking when the pandemic came, you know, obviously everything changed. We came back to Florida. And I'd been trying to get this one on cruises for we've been we're going on our 17th year, so it's been about 16 years of trying to get him to like, hey, we should try a cruise. And he just really was not much of you know a fan of hearing about it.

SPEAKER_00:

My husband wasn't either, and you know why? Because he was a germophobe. He is a germophobe. My husband knows this, something I wouldn't say to his face. But and I kept trying to tell him that's the safest trip for you right now because they're testing everybody before you get on the ship, and then you're in an area that they're constantly sanitizing, like it is the safest thing, but he still wasn't buying it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he was and he he was kind of the same way. And I actually, like I said, always being a YouTube person, a self-learner, I always watch YouTube, and I actually was watching Christine's videos and I was like, you know what? I like her, I just like her vibe. She's kind of like kind of like us. If I can get him to start watching her, maybe he'll buy into like going on a cruise. So one day I was in there watching one of her videos, and he's like, Who is this you keep watching? And I kind of introduced him to Christine and all about Virgin. He was like, You know, she seems kind of fun, and those cruises seem like it's kind of fun. It seems like it's really good food. There's no buffets, you know, we get to kind of travel to go other places as well. Other part, no children, so that's a plus. Oh my god. So that's kind of how it all started. And yeah, we booked our first cruise, got out on our first cruise, honestly, organically, boarded the ship, and I just happened to look over, and Christine was on that cruise. Like, oh, there's Christine, the one that's like, when did you guys go for the first time?

SPEAKER_01:

Sorry, May of Sailing? May of 25, yeah, was our first one. And that was to Cozumel and uh Bimini. And that was really fun. Um, and so that was the first like time I experienced cruising, and I was like, Oh, okay, I get it, I get it. This is a really good time. And we actually had other plans a couple months later in August for John's birthday, and we were like, scratch it, let's like get another, let's do another cruise. We were gonna go to New York, we're gonna see Lady Gaga, go to MSG, a Broadway show. And he was like, No, I want to go on another cruise. I was like, Well, to your birthday, okay. And so now we're going on our fifth one this year. So we've just fell fallen in love with it.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, to your point, like traveling, city travel after we kind of saw the ease of being here in the Tampa area and then going down to Miami. So much easier versus you know, sitting in the airport getting there three hours ahead of time, going through TSD and sitting in the lamp.

SPEAKER_01:

Lydia, I'll actually tell you what pushed me over the edge to try cruising.

SPEAKER_00:

Tell me what pushed you over the edge.

SPEAKER_01:

In February of this year in 2025, we went to Costa Rica for a very good friend's wedding. Our good friends got married there. And Costa Rica was beautiful. I loved being where we were once we got there. But the travel to get where we needed to end up, not just like the flight, but once, you know, fly from Tampa to San Jose, and then you got to take a three-hour trek to the resort to La Fortuna, you know, after all that travel, it's beautiful and it's awesome. But like the travel to and from, I was like, how can I have these kind of experiences, even if it's a quick like in and out, without having all of this travel? And then like the whole cruise conversation came up again with this one. And so I was like, and then the Christine, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try it. And that's really honestly that experience of just kind of like amazing travel, but like, why do we have to take such a long trek to get where we're going? Right.

SPEAKER_00:

You know, so yeah, for me, I just I felt like when I got on that ship, first of all, I loved everything about the vibe. If you've ever flown like virgin air, you know, you know like that everything like that's on the list. Well, listen, I just took one flight to LA one time and the whole inside of the cabin was purple and they had all the music. It was like fabulous. You know, Richard does it right.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

So when I went on that trip and I came back and I said to my husband, everything that you said, now I have children, but I don't necessarily want a vacation with them all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

She's got children, he's got grandchildren, and we just love them, but we don't have to be a good one.

SPEAKER_00:

First of all, they had me at adults only. Yeah. Next, they had me at no buffet because my husband, again, he doesn't like when our all the kids are running around, everybody's touching everything, everybody's eating when they're not even seated yet. He and he gets so disgusted by people. Yeah. So I said, There's no buffets, we can sit in the galley, they'll serve you, or you can go up and get it yourself. And I'm telling you, I said, we have to go. So the minute we got back, um, and one thing, one of the things I love that Virgin does is they rate you on your whole cabin place. So my girlfriend's like a high roller. So I was getting offers, and I didn't even really gamble that much on that trip.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Then I got an offer and I said, We're going. I said, We are going. You're going on this trip with me. And then after we went, he was like, Oh my god, this is really fabulous. Like we loved the entire experience. I think there's definitely some pros and cons. There's a little some things that I like about other cruise lines, like regarding the entertainment.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And there's, you know, there's variables, but overall, like five-star experience, and I just loved it. So I took my husband and now he was hooked.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I've been on I've been on four sailings. The sailing that I took my husband on, that's how I met Christine, because we were sitting at Pinkagade and we were having dinner, and we were next to her and Meatball at the time.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And um, she had this 360 camera. This I saw the stick sticking up like in her lap, and I saw the camera, and I'm like, what is she doing with the 360? Like, that's not a normal thing you see unless you're a creator. And of course, I worked worked in broadcasting, so it's like, okay, and I go, I go, is that a 360? I'm like, are you a content creator? She's like, yeah. And and next thing you know, we were taking a picture and we were talking about everything. And I said, I'll follow you on the channel. And I was like, You gotta be on my podcast, and the rest was history. And we've actually been coincidentally on many sailings together.

SPEAKER_01:

I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's just so much fun.

SPEAKER_01:

And I just think we love about Virgin is the people. Like you just like you just said you meet great people, and that's why we love doing things like gun bay the first night, grog walk. We just like meeting new people and just getting to like see who's on the ship and it's different every time. And it's it's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we had a great time. And the first time I took my husband, like we had gone out to dinner, and then I was in the casino for a little bit, and I had a jackpot. I won like five thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh, that's awesome!

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I had a mega jackpot, and my husband was like, Oh my god, even better.

SPEAKER_01:

That's paying for the next one, rock star level, baby. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh god, you know, it's so funny. I have not done the rock star experience just because, like, you know, I go on casino comp and I don't I could upgrade. Yeah, but and I probably should. Yeah, I haven't done it yet, but I I will put it on the list to try because we you know, because I cruise so cheap, I really could afford to spend the money and just you know do the upgrade. So maybe for like a special anniversary or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So large.

SPEAKER_00:

I have some questions for you guys. All right. So for anyone new to your content, like how would you describe your style as like a cruise creator? Because you know, you my husband actually showed me, he didn't know that I knew who you were and he didn't know that I followed you. He showed me your last one of your last little shorts that came up on Instagram. I think it was a reel about um I don't know if it was in the galley. I don't know, it was very recent.

SPEAKER_01:

The flag in the galley?

SPEAKER_00:

I think so, yes. He goes, see, honey, you could do that, like they're doing. Yeah, he's he's trying to get me to continue doing it. I haven't I haven't decided if I'm taking the leap or not, but I'm like, I don't know. If I can figure out a way to monetize it, maybe, but I don't know. Yeah right now it's just for fun. But tell me, so how would you describe like your style? Because there's so many creators out there.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Well, I just think we're really two authentic people, like I guess that that would be doing this either way, and we're really just trying to add some value to people that really do take the time to subscribe and watch our content. Because that's a lot too. There's a lot of stuff that gets put in front of us every day on social media.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm I'm just subject to it as well, being a consummate scroller. So, yeah, we really just try to give people something that's gonna stop you a really quick good tip. And then when we do a long form videos too, it's really just adding value and being authentic. If we don't like something, we're gonna tell you we don't like it. Yeah. We do very few sponsorships. Uh everything we do is kind of on our dime, like Ryan said. It's like a full-time job. We're paying for things, we don't get a lot of things comped or anything like that. So we're just very honest and very upright when it comes to doing our reviews and talking about the experiences that we do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but we're also we're pretty generally like, you know, easygoing people. We're not really like, you know, hard to please or anything like that. So some people may think like, oh, you, you know, you're always positive or everything's always like, you know, some form of like acceptable or good or great. And it's like, well, you know, very time very few times is there something egregious that like makes it be like, you know, we really don't like this experience or whatever. So we're just honestly like two genuine people who just want to give people helpful tips that we find helpful and we learn, we're like, oh, if we've learned it, we're like, oh, that's super helpful to know. Let's make a quick short reel on it just so we can get out there and other people know. And that's the feedback. We love that feedback on our comments, like, oh, great tip. This is so helpful. And like when we see people like add it to their favorites to remember it, like, oh, that was a valuable tip. That was a good one that people are gonna remember and be like, that was helpful to me. So really just a balance of like helpful, informative. Our long forms are a little bit more of like kind of a vlog style with tips and just reviews of stuff. So we just take people along and be like, hey, if you want to experience this, this might be what your experience looks like. And like you said, with so many people out there, everybody's point of view is different. Everybody's experience is different, everybody just does different things. Some people might do the grog walk, some people might not, some people might do the afternoon tea, might not. So there's just so many different experiences out there. That's another reason we love virgin. Is that the place? Yeah, you it's like you make it, you do what you want, you make it your own. You want to party, you party, you don't, you don't. It's that's why we love it.

SPEAKER_00:

So, my favorite question I always get when I talk about how much I love virgin voyages, and I don't know which ship you went on first. Which one did you sail?

SPEAKER_01:

Valiant. Yeah, Valiant.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, I went on Scarlet Lady first. Oh, I love this, I love the OG. She's my girl.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But um, a lot of people say, Oh, Virgin, that's the swingers cruise. Blah, blah, blah, blah. I go, are you kidding me? Let me tell you, not once. Now, I don't care. That's that's your thing, go for it. But not once have I ever seen an upside down pineapple magnet on the Virgin Voyages cruise door.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you know, let me let me let me let me expand on that a second because this is actually really it's funny as hell that you brought this on. So last time we were on a cruise, I bought my daughter a virgin jacket, right? So she works in the medical field and uh she was going to work, and it's uh here in Florida, I guess the 60 degrees, it's cold. So she's like, I gotta wear my jacket to, you know, I'm gonna take this jacket and wear it to work. So uh she said something along the lines of uh, yeah, last time I wore this jacket to work, some people were like, Oh, virgin, who goes on virgin? She was like, Oh, my dad and Ryan go all the time. Like, oh I guess they don't tell you the stories about those. And I was like, What are you talking about? And she's like, Well, they were saying like it's like a swingers cruise, and everybody's like, I go, do you know? Like, so Seriously, like you think you would know like if we were like into that lifestyle after you know 17 years? So she joked about it too. But yeah, that really is sometimes to your point.

SPEAKER_00:

Like it's funny because the only pineapple magnets I've ever seen are always on Royal Caribbean. And they're always on deck six. They're always on deck six. It's so funny. I'm like, is deck six the swingers' deck or what?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know. Yeah. I mean, we've seen we have we've seen one time, actually, it was on our first cruise, the like rooms next to us, or there's a group of rooms next to us that was a group of ladies that had some really funny, cheeky things on their doors, and like little like right, right like this with like a little whiteboard, and like they had some pineapple, but like that we saw it one time, and honestly, like like anything, I'm sure like you cheer pointing it goes on anywhere, it doesn't have to be on the absolutely that's what I always say. I'm like I don't talk people are like propositioning you, like hey yeah, I mean it's like it's like things that it's like people are like yeah, like honestly, like proposition people like flattered if I was proposition, I would be like so flattered.

SPEAKER_00:

Like, where nobody has ever approached me.

SPEAKER_01:

But again, like to your point, like if no judgment, if that's your thing and that's what you want to do, like absolutely well.

SPEAKER_00:

The reason I say that is because you've obviously seen my Instagram. I have lost 160 pounds and I'm looking like better than ever. And I'm like, where is the person trying to flirt with me? I'm happily here. Like nobody tries to flirt with me. Like, where are these people?

SPEAKER_01:

Congratulations, amazing. You look you look awesome. That's definitely an achievement. That's a that's really an achievement to be honest. As two people on weight loss journeys ourselves, we totally understand that.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's a it's a lifelong battle, but we're winning the war. Um, okay, so what are your like upcoming trips? Like, are you doing more virgin sailings? I know that you said you have another one coming up. Yeah, I actually have a couple coming up as well, and I'm now I'm bummed because like we have to get on one together. We we have to do it.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, I know. I I feel like next year we'll definitely we will have we'll cross paths on a ship for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

I and it doesn't have to be virgin because you know I have status on all the cruise lines and I don't discriminate because it was funny, the first Royal Caribbean I ever went on, I blasted it and I was like, I'm never going again. And then now I'm like, I've been on 21 cruises in the last like two years.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And now I love Royal, but there's certain things I love about Royal, certain things I love about Virgin.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and that's the thing. We we definitely want to expand our horizons. Now that we realize that we do really enjoy cruising, we're like, okay, where else can we go? What else can we try? So we are excited to announce that we will be trying Celebrity for the first time in February. The new Celebrity Excel, the week of February 8th. So now were you invited?

SPEAKER_00:

Were you invited to do that, or is it something you just booked personally?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, it was something we booked alongside Christine and JC so we can all experience the ship together. Um, when is this?

SPEAKER_00:

When is this? I'm writing it down.

SPEAKER_01:

It's the week of February 8th.

SPEAKER_03:

So that'll be Yeah, we just actually confirmed it, and we were excited too because we were all talking about wanting to just try something different. Yeah. From a total like outsiders' perspective that have never been on there, don't know much about them. So it's gonna be super.

SPEAKER_00:

Very good things about celebrity, very good things about celebrity. It's like the more upscale version of Royal because it's not as many kids and it's a more upscale feel.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what we were like, we were talking with Christine and kind of saying, okay, like if we wanted a similar virgin experience, what is another line or ship that would be that like, you know, not again, we'll try that the Royal Caribbean icon of the seas or something, you know, one day. But what's that next step that's closest to virgin with a similar feeling clientele? And sure, there will probably be some some kids, some older kids maybe, but it doesn't have like the water side, it's not geared towards families.

SPEAKER_03:

So um, yeah, we're gonna try the Excel and plus we want to try, I mean, to be fair too. We want to try, I mean, just like we don't just fly one airline or go to one place on vacation. We definitely wanna expand and see what other you know options are another line or so. Yeah, just to really and again to create that content to again add value to our subscribers' lives by watching our videos to show them other options too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think it's very smart. I'm sure you guys got a good deal through um JC's travel connections.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, but uh listen, uh, we love booking with JC and Christine. They're just they're so communicative, they're so informed on what's going on. They help you book reservations and give you all the best advice and something that you actually I just love, love, love them. Um, but to finish off that question before we move on, that's that's coming up in February. But before that, we are actually, to your point about Scarlet, that's the one ship we haven't been on yet. So we are actually finally getting to go on that one this month. We're going over Christmas. We're gonna take the holiday Christmas cruise and kind of see what Christmas on a cruise is like. So we're gonna take it on. I love that for you. Yeah. Um, and then we've got a couple other virgin ships uh scheduled for next year. We've got uh Grand Turk in March and then Alaska in July next year. So we have that on the docket so far. I'm sure more to come. Like I said, we do want to try probably a royal, one of the bigger ships just again to get that comparison to what we're also trying.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm gonna tell you the one that you must go on for royal that I've been on seven times, which sounds like obsessive, but it is that good.

SPEAKER_01:

We all have our favorites, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

The Utopia of the Seas. Okay, it's right out of Canaveral. You have to go. The cruise director is amazing, and it is just a quick three-nighter.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Or four nighter. Um, I am obsessed. I love Utopia, the 80s vibe, the nostalgia, the water stream.

SPEAKER_01:

Maybe we'll have to line that one up. Maybe we'll have to line that one up together.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Any weekend, I'm I will drive to Canaveral. I'd rather go out of Canaveral than Miami, and I live in Fort Lauderdale. So if that tells you anything, oh, I love cruising out of Canaveral.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome. Yeah, that's cool. I didn't realize you were in Lauderdale. That's so great. You're so close.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, plus, we want to, to your point, we live in a in a port city as well. So we want to see what a one going out of Tampa would be like as well to only travel, you know, 40 minutes instead of you know two and a half, three hours to South Florida.

SPEAKER_00:

I promised myself that I was gonna slow down in 2026 and not have any cruises booked, and I have six booked, so I don't think I kept that promise to myself very well.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't think they'll be actually we do have to travel by air to do a wedding in in 2026, but other than that, I probably think cruising will be the way we travel mostly in 2026.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm dying to do the Mediterranean, and I think that's probably gonna be on the docket for me in 2027. It's my 10-year wedding anniversary, so I think we're gonna go overseas. Congrats. But um, I don't know, I just can't get away from it because it's like when I think about, and my husband has asked me, you know, let's go somewhere. And I'm like, the flight, the hotels, the meals, I'm like, it's so expensive when you think about everything you get on the cruise. Yeah, I just can't, I'm addicted.

SPEAKER_01:

That's another thing we keep talking about, is just the value. Like even if it's just like virgin or we're looking at some of these other ships, we're just like just cruising in general.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, when you talk about just hotel prices and just food. I mean, it definitely, yeah, the food and just when you're in again, New York, just what it costs to eat to a hotel. I mean, it's you can take sometimes two or three cruises for what you would spend for a good week in New York.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and we like to see Broadway shows and certain things. So it's like that's one thing that we love about cruising that we realize. I realized because he was, I think, trying to tell me the whole time. Like, it is like a little floating New York City, Las Vegas, like we like those options of like go and do a dinner and a show, like we'll go do our own happy hour, just the amount of things, the different combinations you can make up in your day and the things you can do, and it's all right there. You don't have to go anywhere. I just love it. I know.

SPEAKER_00:

So, this this is what started my fascination with Royal, actually, because I also love Broadway and I love Mamma Mia. And it it closed on Broadway and it wasn't touring. And I always try to go see everything when it tours. And I found out that the Allure of the Seas plays Mamma Mia. So I literally booked that ship for Mamma Mia. That's it. I fell, then I fell, I know, I'm on I'm a nut job. So then I fell in love with that ship, and it just went overseas this past year for a hundred million dollar amplification. Oh, it's an Oasis class, it has Mamma Mia, and now it got all the other bells and whistles of the Oasis class ship. So it's coming back, but now it's doing like six and eight nighters, and I like the shorties because I like to show on the weekends and get away. Um, but it has one three night sailing out of Fort Lauderdale at the end of April. And I booked it.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, there you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Nice, and I feel like you guys have to come on that cruise now.

SPEAKER_01:

Send us the details. You might have to squeeze it in. You might have to squeeze it.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, but yeah, to your point, like the Broadway shows, you know, a lot of the good ones, like um Star of the Seas is doing Back to the Future, the musical.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, there's fantastic again. That's my favorite movie.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm telling you, I I have Star on the list, but it's kind of moving down the list because I gotta go on icon and then I gotta go on Star, and then I gotta go on Legend, you know, like just so many, so many ships, so little time.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, I know, right? Can we just find annual pass hopper, park hopper, uh ship hopper? Yeah, right. Can we make one of those? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god, if that was a thing, can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02:

Forget it.

SPEAKER_00:

So I want to do a little rapid fire round real quick.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, so ten questions, rapid fire. First thing that comes to your mind, you can take turns answering, it doesn't matter or disagree. All right, aft, midship, or forward?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh midship, midship.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, definitely, definitely. Even though I have to tell you I love the aft, um the seven, the deck seven aft on the utopia because you can like go out this little sneaky door at the end and like watch the water show rehearsals.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh fine.

SPEAKER_00:

Or like sit up on the balcony and watch the water show without like having to go in the ticket line. Yeah, little little tips and tricks. Okay. Ocean view, balcony, or interior.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, balcony. Yeah, balcony for sure.

SPEAKER_00:

For me, it's always ocean view balcony. But I heard like if you like to sleep and you don't like the light coming in so early in the morning, I heard the interior rooms give you great sleep. Oh, I'm always a balcony. I'm a snob, I'm a snob. I've never stayed in an interior, but I would take it.

SPEAKER_03:

No, when we go on this sixth style, we are gonna stay on in an interior room just so we can kind of experience it. And again, to and he's so like oh, I think you have to do it for your viewers. The viewers we want to do it just to give the experience of like listen, we give real reviews. Sometimes you get an interior room. That's how the ball rolls.

SPEAKER_00:

Main dining room, buffet, or specialty dining.

SPEAKER_01:

So I mean, I get we've only been on virgin so far, so I guess I would say specialty. Yeah, I would say a specialty too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, because like I'm weird, I like the main dining room on Royal, but I don't eat that much, so I'm not gonna pay$70 to have a steak when I can add this, add the filet mignon for 20 bucks and then the main dining room.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm interested to see what that experience is like since we've only been on Virgin and it's an all more all-inclusive. I will be interested to see what our opinion is of about.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, yeah, for me, the food part of it is too, because like I uh said earlier, I spent 27 years in hospitality operations, so I I know food, that's my thing. Uh so I love to kind of just see the specialty dishes, and and that's one thing about virgin we love.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, so we'll we'll see. All right. Um early shows or late shows?

SPEAKER_03:

Um, I like late shows. I like late shows.

SPEAKER_00:

Me too. I like to eat early and I like to go to the shows, and then I like to go to the casino and it's staying late.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god, we're gonna have a great time the other day. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00:

Are you guys gamblers?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I'd love to. Yeah, are you kidding? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01:

Not big, not big, but we love some slots and we love to, you know, sit and hang out and ching, ching, ching. This one works.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm a bad influence, so we're gonna be getting along just fine. Oh yeah. All right. C Day or port day?

SPEAKER_01:

I love a C Day. Yeah, C Day is good. Depending on the portal spa. I love a C Day.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh had have you done the Virgin Spa?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, the thermospa.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_00:

It's so good. Those those therapists are this big around and they're the best hands. Oh, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know how they do it. All right. Um, what's your been your favorite private island so far that you visited?

SPEAKER_01:

Bimini is heaven on earth to me. Like the Virgin Voyages Beach Club, like it's like Heaven on Earth.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, well, the one we just went to too, uh, Malachon 21 was really nice as well. But uh, and I mean that wasn't private, it was a resort, but yeah, I think Bimini, and I even said it in our upcoming video that's gonna be released on Sunday, that I think Bimini is the one place I really feel like um you can I just unplug there. I could literally just unplug and not care about anything for hours.

SPEAKER_00:

I have to tell you, my favorite private island, this is gonna probably shock you, is NCL's great star peak. Oh the problem is you have to tinder there. They're building a dock, but it's not gonna be ready for uh quite some time. And I didn't like having to wait on the tinder for 45 minutes for it to fill up to take me back. So that was not good. But their actual private island is so serene and calm, and I just loved it.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, but I love Coco K too because then you can have the wild or you can have the calm. But Bimini is by far, they do it right. And I think celebrity does share that if it does stop in Bimini.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Something to look into.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. Um best cruise line for food. I think we all know what that's about. I mean, it's gotta be Virgin. Yeah, no, Virgin. The food is fantastic. Did you like the food though? You said you came from the hospitality industry.

SPEAKER_03:

So yeah, definitely. And I've said it in some of our videos listen, you can take like crappy food and dress it up and try to make it look good and it's it's it's hard to pass. But everything on Virgin I've gotten. I mean, we've gotten uh I got one of the best ribeyes. We went to one of the top-rated steakhouses in Sedona for our anniversary a couple years ago. And uh the steak I actually got on Virgin uh was better than the$110 steak I got in Sedona. So yeah, that speaks volumes. And if it wasn't that good, I would just be like, no, it's good. But uh that's the other thing too. When you come off of a Virgin Cruise, you know when you've eaten salt-laden food. You know, you feel like a balloon for a week afterwards. Uh, but every time I come off a virgin, I literally am like, I I get on the scale. Uh I usually lose a pound or two because I said last time I got back, I said to him, How the hell did I lose three pounds the way I ate? But then you forget just all the walking and just all the again, you know, creating content. I'm a wanderer, so you know I mean, yeah, but uh the food, yeah, definitely spot on on virgin. Oh my gosh, quality food.

SPEAKER_00:

So funny. Yeah, my husband and I were taking a walk. I told this story on one of my episodes, and we were on um deck 16, I think, you know, and then you have deck 17 where there's that little end part where it's topless optional. And my husband, so my husband and I are on the walking track and we're coming around the bed and he goes, Honey, he goes, I think I just saw boobies, and I went, Oh, that's deck 17. I'm like, it's optional. It's a topless optional. He goes, You didn't tell me that. I said, Well, when we go around again, pay attention.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00:

We'll count how many boobies you see. But none of them were good. They were not like anything like to get excited about.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah, right, right, right, right. They weren't cookies on the perch.

SPEAKER_00:

They were gonna be like, honey, you never told me. I was like, I forgot. I don't know, I forgot. Anyway, all right. Um, first thing you do when you're bored.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, uh, first thing we do. Well, I mean, in all honesty, probably grab a glass of champagne.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm gonna say you're drinking them away.

SPEAKER_03:

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01:

Go to sip is usually what we do first.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, so I don't have any other questions for the rapid fire, but we wanna give because I do like a transcription, so all the show notes will be there and everything. So, what is the name of the channel for everybody to subscribe on YouTube? And I'm guilty, I gotta go on YouTube and subscribe too because I'm working out we're on there.

SPEAKER_01:

No worries, no worries. Um, on all platforms, it's Ryan and John Review It. So you can go on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, um, all the same. Ryan and on the talk?

SPEAKER_00:

You're on the talk?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So this this I think where it gets overwhelming, especially for me as somebody who knows how to edit and make the content and knows what's engaging. And I mean, anybody can chat GPT a content plan and really get to it. But yeah, all the platforms. I mean, it's just like I gotta put myself. I mean, I don't even do Snapchat, I can't even get into that because it's just I kind of like to call by the way. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and then is it reels? Is it shorts? Now TikTok has stories. I'm like, I can't keep up with it all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

How do you think it is hard and it's overwhelming, but honestly, like we just come to the conclusion that like we are just going to whatever we post for that day is basically gonna go across all platforms. And you know, sometimes it does really well on one and not well on the other. I mean, TikTok, some things we have anywhere from 10, 20, 30. I think our redemption spa thermal suite TikTok has like 75,000 views. Amazing! You know, the same thing on Instagram gets like 500, and then vice versa, or you know, something will blow up on Facebook. On Facebook, the the little reel about the uh hoy flag in the galley, 85,000 views on like the one my husband showed me. Yeah, so can you even believe it?

SPEAKER_03:

I think it's it really is really to your point, is like how do we do it? It's really about just staying kind of regimen and getting into a routine because again, yeah, uh just keeping it realistic. Like, I mean, we got real lies. I mean, he's got a full-time job he has to do every day. Uh two grandsons that I take care of uh throughout the course of the day. So we have things going on, but it's just really about just really staying dedicated to the cause. Uh, and that's why it's just like I'm kind of in the insurance business, a lot of people fail because it's a lot of hard work, and just like content creation, YouTube channels and all this, all the work that goes into it. A lot of people just fail at it because they don't really understand that it takes a lot of work. So yeah, just staying organized and we stay at each other and we're always checking each other and stuff like that. So yeah, it's just and it's a tag team, we work as a team. Yeah. I mean, that has to be.

SPEAKER_00:

One of the things we also have in common is I think it's maybe a little bit of a love for Wicked the musical. Yeah, just throwing that out there because I have my wicked nails on still because I haven't done the Christmas nails yet.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, those are fantastic.

SPEAKER_00:

So um, my daughter had posted like last year when the movie first came out, just the squishmallows were in Walmart.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00:

And she just took a like a little 30-second video of the squishmallows and put the wicked music on it, and it's like has almost 600,000 views on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I was like, oh my God, this is crazy. So I loved that for her.

SPEAKER_01:

One thing we've learned is the stuff that we like, you know, just kind of do like whatever, like, oh, that's that's a good one. Let's get that real quick or whatever, and just kind of do it real quick. Like, sometimes those just do better. I don't know why than like when you're like, okay, I'm gonna do this clip and this clip and then edit this. Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03:

It's just when you do something off the cuff. Well, and I think it's just more natural. I mean, again, people people know authenticity when they see it. Yeah, yeah. And I think when we just do stuff like that off the cuff, where we do the silly things about like uh, you know, the ones about drinking, just funny stuff, and we'll be surprised when we're like, how the hell is that at 150,000 views? And then we did this really like serious short, and it got like you know, 8,000 views.

SPEAKER_00:

Right, and then the stuff you put all the effort into is like, oh, nobody really watched that one. I worked really hard on that.

SPEAKER_03:

So true.

SPEAKER_00:

The feelings.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

What do you guys editing? What do you guys what platform?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I've been using Capca and I was doing a little Da Vincent. I had some other programs I was using, and honestly, Capca was just really out of convenience, is really what it is. Because I can really run it on the go and uh easy for home to learn too. I have no problem with like learning the programs, the editing software. Um, but you know, you as you know, too, those can be a bear to learn. Oh, yeah, just get familiar with one thing and then just you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I love I love Final Cut Pro, and I'm like, you know, I use that in the studio at school, and then it's like but Capcot is pretty easy, but I like to like see it on the laptop and like chop things. Right. But yeah, it's what I use.

SPEAKER_03:

I use everything. Uh I use do all my editing on the laptop, even though I use even though it's Capcut, I use Capcot, the desk desktop version of it. Smart. I'm O C D whenever. comes to editing sometimes I'll be like, oh my god, I've been looking at the same video for a day.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Well, listen, this has been a pleasure. I have had so much fun having you guys on the show.

SPEAKER_01:

Same.

SPEAKER_00:

We have my mind, I've had this huge podcast. You know, it's global entity, but you know, it's it's growing slowly and organically, but you know that's that's a matter of really about consistency, the content creation. I'm just I'm not consistent, so I need to get more consistent. But I'm so happy that you guys came today. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03:

No, we're happy that you had us yeah yeah I mean I mean same like us. We're small. I mean we're just doing our thing. Like I said we're we're at least the three of us are doing it and a lot of people just sit and talk about it.

SPEAKER_00:

Well we're gonna go live together on a cruise ship at some point. I I have no doubt.

SPEAKER_01:

I can't wait for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Well there's an app that I use it's called Shipmate. Oh okay and I like I don't get paid or sponsored by it but one of my friends was like are you on Shipmate? Because then you can add all your upcoming cruises and people can see them. Oh and then you know when people are on certain sailings. So I went in and put all my past sailings in and then I put all my upcoming sailings and then I realized I'm an addict.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god yeah well I'll be probably not far behind you so we'll download that and we'll stay connected to make sure we know when we can get on a sailing together.

SPEAKER_00:

All right and then we'll I'll publish this episode and I'll tag you guys and I'll do some little clips and stuff and I'll share it to stories and all that. And then everybody out there listening you have to follow Ryan and John renew uh review it.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you Lydia Ryan and John review it right yes you got Ryan how did you get the first billing on the name you know here this was a originally it was going to be John and Ryan review it.

SPEAKER_01:

He was so adamant that people were going to get confused between Ryan I thought Ryan review I thought it was I thought John and Ryan review it versus Ryan and John review it was easier to say the other way because the Ryan review it can get tongue twisty I think.

SPEAKER_03:

I don't know and as you know we pick and choose our battles and our relationships and I said sure you could have top billing I'll expect banana that's okay. You're the straight manetization starts coming in how about that yeah exactly right exactly well I told him he's just straight man and I'm kind of the the the the the funny one so I love it all right well thank you for being with me today and we'll be cruising together soon enough I'm sure absolutely thank you Lydia appreciate you