001[Music] hi and welcome to another edition of all politics is local I'm your host John featherson joined by longtime former host of all politicses local my friend Peter Chisum Peter welcome to all politicses local thank you John it's good to be here it's great to see you again how's your summer been going pretty good thanks yep busy but uh going well we were just talking uh Peter works Framingham State students are eventually coming back so we wanted to do a quick all politics is local because Summer unfortunately is winding down we wanted to kind of talk about Peter recently went on a cruise and wanted to talk a little bit about the cruise ship business and so maybe educate some people that are looking to get away and you know an early fall trip and
002uh for uh you know for a cruise yeah sure thanks John I actually um am a representative for uh Expedia Travel cruises we're headquarted in wber I'll give my phone number at the end of the show sure but an email but they um in J in January uh my wife and I went on a cruise online called MSC it's a new line uh to the United States it's just been here the last few years it's primarily was a European uh freight line they have any number of freight Freighters that go around the world and they started in the United States slowly and they uh last year they opened up started selling out of Brooklyn to the Caribbean and we were able to U we went down the second week in January after new years's on
003a ship called the meraviglia the meraviglia was built around 2017 it's pretty new ship and it's um little over th000 feet long it holds up to 5,000 people wow but plus crew but um on I guess the New Year's week we before on we went on it had just about the 5,000 but when we went on there only around 2500 and it was a lot easier to move around it wasn't crowded and it was a beautiful ship I had a lot of you know mon conveniences uh on the um one of the decks where most of the stores are located they had the ceiling if you looked up two or three decks it changed colors it be uh you know was about 300 feet long and it would just be one color and it would
004change to a different design and you know people would love watching that they had um a lot of entertainment on the ship all kinds of entertainment uh shows in the nightclub they had they had a theater that would that seated probably a thousand people and they had cut two they on cruise ships they do two shows a night one around 7:30 one at 9:30 so people are able if you have any early dinner the late dinner you can you go um and see the uh the show and uh so that works out well for people and uh and the entertainment is very good the uh performers rehearsal lot and they broad their Broadway Type shows um they family shows too um and they also have when night they don't have shows they have uh we
005saw a couple comedians we saw a couple singers um very very entertaining and um we sailed out of Brooklyn uh you know it was kind of a rough passage uh going down to um South you know you drove to Brooklyn flew yeah we had taken a train down Amtrak the day before and we stayed overnight at a hotel in Brooklyn nice yeah and uh it was amazing really funny story there was a restaurant next door we got that we had an Ethan my wife said there was an aali restaurant next to a hotel uh CU they had been in that area before for a conference and we went in it turned out it was an Asian restaurant and we got it we went took the elev like 30 stories to the top was a rooftop
006restaurant and they um they call it what they call it um when you smoke from a pipe you know not a pipe oh like a vaping yeah vaping yeah you know with a container oh right okay I forget what the term was I know what you're talking about but I'm telling you I thought when I said I said what's this place what is this but the people sat there and they had the hook yeah that's H I start looking when I first went there hook what is this place but uh then I figured what it was but they had the uh this the vases with the pipes you know coming out of them and the uh people were lighting up and smoking and um they uh and then they there was a party near us
007they were celebrated a birthday about 8 10 people they actually got it at one time near when we were getting ready to leave 10 bottles of champagne wow yeah we brought out one good night a good night for everyone I knew someone was going to have some serious angle was but um but it was just in the food was very good you know and uh and it was like I said next to the hotel so it was easy to get back well let's talk a little bit about about the cruise because a couple years ago I got told by my boss at home that I was going on a cruise and I was like I don't want to go on a cruise uh because I had a misconception that it was ridiculously expensive and it
008wasn't going to be a lot of fun and one dollar for dollar is probably the best way to do any vacation oh today um the specials out there are tremendous you can get a cruise today um depending if you want an interior cabin Ocean View balcony from two people like $1,500 a couple up to about 3,000 a couple more if you want for a week yeah for a week you can't go to Framingham for that kind of money for a week exactly tell people all the time I said if you pay $1,500 one per first person pay ,500 that's a seven nights hotel right right it's it's like $200 a night which is compared to what hotday it's a deal then you're spending $1,00 for All You Can Eat Your Entertainment it's amazing yeah I
009mean you you put pencil to paper there like I said let's just say a hotel is $200 a night like you said you know times s that's 1,400 right there exactly and you haven't eaten you haven't had any entertainment you haven't had any fun or anything like that so yeah so dollar for dollar it's a very good value tremendous deal and when you go to a port somewhere you don't have to go sightseeing you could just go and walk yourself and spend no money you know just walking around locally um you you want to take a a tour CU you can you can uh do that as well um and of course on the ship the entertainment's free you know the night club shows the comedians all that the uh only entertainment on the ship
010that cost a gambling the casino and uh and here's the tip don't ever play slot machines on ships you never win but the tables are fair and um you know you can gamble if you want and the casino at the uh on the maraviglia that we were on was a you know was a good siiz casino and it was very entertaining need a passport for the ship yeah you do you need a passport um are there any ships out of Boston or New York that don't require a passport uh only they're going to say United States Sports okay yeah g I'm not sure about Bermuda but if you go to Canada by ship you have to have a passport okay you if you fly to can interesting enough you have a passport God but um
011but if you're going to go by a ship you have to have a passport it's always good just to have a passport sure it's amazing the last couple weeks I've got calls I got a call from a family there sailing to Alaska for Vancouver and they were told you need a passport the son only had a passport card he found out that day the day that they were going to fly out to Vancouver and the woman called me and I made a couple calls and then we found out she could go to Portsmouth New Hampshire from Baba main he drive down to Portsmouth New Hampshire with the kid they brought the card and his father he was going with his father they got the passport a couple hours later they made reservations to fly out
012of Boston she drove them to Boston dropped them Logan air and they were flying in Vancouver that night to catch so Portsmith New Hampshire has a exped big a passport center there yeah oh okay I didn't I did not know that I learned something new that yeah and I'm also working with the family now uh the fellow called me and they want to go on the Canada New England in September and uh and then he called me said geez he said one of the guys doesn't have a passport it expired and what he said he he's he's applied for expedited passport takes three four week we or whatever I said look here's another thing you have him go to his Congress person's uh office Monday morning 9:00 can they help hey let me tell you
013something about government you know they can help they can help yeah where there's a will there's a way yeah so he uh he I've been contacting he was away last week but we communicated my email and he's just waiting for everyone to get the passport squared away for the life of me I don't if you have a passport check 6 months before it expires apply for a new passport I don't know what people late wait so long or they forget about it you might know somebody that happened to You' got cuz I let mine expire dur well it was during Co yeah oh yeah and I just kind of let it expire and then I went and renewed it and it was I had to spend money I shouldn't have had to spend because I
014needed to get it renewed yeah so yeah people don't do it but um but that's one big thing you know but um out of Boston there are several lines now that war it's becoming larger U it mostly uh in the summer you've got a couple lines to go to Bermuda ncl's the big one they out of Boston yeah they they're going to have a a a ship here dock next year too the noan where do they dock next to the World Trade in the World Trade Center and at the Flyn Cru port and um and then there's a um Can people park there or or yeah there's a parking garage across the street probably better to Uber or take a taxi there though yeah you can take the train in the sou station take a
015cab down yeah you know and um I actually sailed out of there 25 years ago the first cruise I ever went on um it was a a rush bucket but it was a weekend getaway you know Cruis in nowhere and um and I bought tickets Barber and I and then that was the weekend the USS Jonah Kennedy was coming to Boston oh nice yeah so she and her cameraman Paul were invited to go down to sail up on the Kennedy so I went on the cruise by myself and just to see I want to see I could do a cruise and for two nights you know it was a good way to try and I met people on Bo had nice time so you went on a cruise by yourself for two days yeah oh
016wow and uh talk about the ultimate Hall Pass yeah there were a bunch of nurses on about eight or 10 nurses they kind of adopted me and uh we a lot of fun you know just all right we won't tell your wife no no I'm just sitting there having drinks you know sitting by the pool or whatever yeah and uh and you know not to be rude but I mean what was how much did that cost two night gotot money in those days probably $3 the whole thing so you can't beat it you can't beat it and um but now it's it's it's really really booming um there's a ship coming in in fact now in the fall they have uh cruises from Boston up to Canada New England some go up to Quebec and
017drop you off and come back others round trip uh to Boston and NCL does them rural Caribbean does it h American has how many days cruise is that like it's like or Eight Days Seven Nights oh eight oh is that long okay yeah they'll go up to four or five ports okay and you know a couple in Maine couple in Canada New Finland um and uh some other places and come back and and pretty reasonably priced and um they uh and they're very popular I've this fellow I told you over the past with that wants to go September there I mean people call me sometimes so late they try to get on a cruise and uh you know I've got a battle you know try to find a cabin they um they don't realize how
018popular cruising is let's talk a little bit about if somebody is watching this program and says you know what hey honey let's let's let's go on a cruise what what like what type of time frame when should you start looking before you want to go and if they want to go their price drops and there's times of the year when it's better more reasonable they like in February their prices are good but right now they're not going to be much cheaper February than they are now okay in January and February they are and right now if you want to take a cruise in January or Holiday Cruise you want to book now because the it gives you time it gives the travel consultant time to look through different Cruise Lines find the best deal for
019you um you know if if you I mean if you want to go in November there's still time but the look for this September it's get it's awfully tight and um you recommend them going through a travel expert versus like like when I go to BJs I see that BJ sells Yeah by all means and I'll tell you why I wouldn't buy a cruise from BJ yeah if you have if you run into an issue and you call the cruise line you're calling hey this is Jimmy Smith you know nice you know take a little note but if you calling behalf of um you know Expedia the company's going to listen and um in fact I had that's all they're going to do is listen well they'll they act to I had a okay I
020had a i three people take a river cruise this past spring oh really yeah one of the woman got sick um the last couple days the ship itself wasn't very helpful uh in helping her um get medical assistance they say well there's a doctor down the street she walked down there you know her friends said go s see and I'll catch up the doctor's office closed 6 months earlier they she stopped their drug St they told her that back to the ship some you know wrote a me put over the account of medications she felt lousy but she made it home okay she told me about it I wrote uh the cruise line it was a river cruise and the guy called me up the next day said they you know I mentioned you know
021some the roommate the two of them I he said I'll give you each of them $200 Credit in next GRS just like that you know they uh they're always trying to be accommodating but because we're calling with the speed and the guy knows that if you know we could you know see people through other the cruise lines and um they uh so in that sense um you know the company slipped up I know they're going to make a ROV they said that some people going to be checking and see what the hell went wrong you know they they were very pleased good you're watching all politics is local we're taking a break tonight not talking about politics we're talking about something more important a mental health break a vacation a well-deserved we've got Cruise expert
022Peter Chisum here tonight talking about cruises and what we should do so Peter tell people you know like you're thinking about a cruise what's the first step what do they do go online no call me call call Peter to my phone number is 508 294 0421 you can reach me via email P Chism c i h l m at Expedia cruises.com and I'll be glad to help you tell me what you want I got a call today or sometimes when people call Expedia the the way Electronics Works they bounce the call to a local office if no picks it up there then it goes through the employees whoever picks it up and then it comes they um came to me I picked up this lady uh wants to go de sum 5th uh five days
023four nights uh from Florida on the uh Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas and um and I'm putting it together for her and her husband's in the military so she gets a military discount nice they have discounts for senior citizens but military Public Safety PR pass Crews passengers a variety of discounts that are teach teachers no teachers yeah but um they uh in most cruises the cabins will hold up to four people so sometimes people you know children come mother father and two kids um some a few you can find five but most of them they limited to four are you're going to have more than that the last you get two cabins as an expert in the cruise ship business and somebody's watching this program what what do you recommend let's give me a
024recommendation of a of a three-day cruise and a and a 10day cruise give me some recommendations think stimulate some people thinking out there um a shot crw you know I take if you want to just go out a Boston I say a week you go to Bermuda and back you know Eight Days Seven Nights um some of us work so we can't get away they really aren't any like three-day crew no there's not okay no um those like getaway cruises you might find some down south out of Florida okay them all the time but they're not big around here so you got to travel to Florida you might find a couple going out of Liberty New Jersey B on New Jersey okay or New York City I'd have to you know check there but um
025so basically you need a you need a week week days okay and uh but for 10day cruise you know you can get some good crues out of Boston particularly um if you get on a repositioning Cruise that's when the ship the season's over and the ship leaves and they'll stop a different down south going down south want the they'll stop at various Islands then they'll talk maybe Florida new home Bo he could fly home from the and those are very cheap because it's um so you take the cruise down to Florida you just fly home yeah okay and those are that's an idea I have never thought of yeah you can always get bargin there okay because um and even coming back from Europe you know a lot of cruise ships go over Europe in
026the summit of the mediteranian come back in the winter and if you on the last Cruise sailing the Atlantic South Atlantic you get some very good deals and you get off and just fly home of course you got to fly over there too the begin with but right you save a ton of money you can save a lot money that way um but um you know and then if or if you take a cruise out of Florida you want 10day Cruise um or best for 10 days you can leave from New York uh they have the Queen Mary too sails out of New York two or three times in Winter and November December and then it's a tremendous it's an ocean line it's not a cruise ship it's an ocean lineer Canad and it sails
027down to the Caribbean stops at about six or seven islands it sails bad and it's a beautiful beautiful ship um we've been on it twice the white Club service that they talk about um the first time I was on it I was doing a story about it which the Metro was Daily News published and um we got to sit at the Captain's Table we were invited up to the the deck the um what do you call Jesus prominade deck no with with the steering wheel the pilot right up there for tea with the uh Commodore and his wife and they they showed us little could the Titan whe on an ocean line it's like this big about 2 in in diameter and the guy said you the r see that over there that says this
028is the name of the ship this is what it's carrying this is where it's going nice they watch everything and they had this little table set up and there were two or three English people there Al we sat down and come's wife said to me Peter you don't want any tea I said I don't drink it what do you drink diet coke she didn't even say anything she looked at somebody and the guy's back with the case of diet C 15 seconds like and Peter was in heaven after that yeah this is St this a service it's a beautiful ship tremendous ship we always run out of time faster on all politics local look into the camera tell people how they can learn more about the cruise industry and how they can get in touch
029with it sure please um if you're interested you can email me at P Chism CH i h LM at Expedia cruises.com or you can call me 508 294 0421 or you can text me at 508 294 0421 and I guarantee if you book a cruise you're going to enjoy it yeah so you know surprise your loved one book a cruise call Peter he'll get you a good deal don't forget to vote in the primary on September 3rd and then take your cruise in between and come back and vote in the November election you've been watching all politics is local he's Peter Chism I'm John featherson we'll talk again real soon thanks for watching thank you [Music]