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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at b.

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Speaker 2: Mike Hardley is our travel correspondent, killed of Mike Killer Jack.

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Speaker 1: I think it's the Canes against the chief Ah.

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Speaker 2: I was wondering if you were even going to mention

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Speaker 2: Super Rugby because it is a weird thing being a

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Speaker 2: Crusaders fan getting to the business end of the season

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Speaker 2: seeing lots of New Zealand teams and not seeing the

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Speaker 2: red and black one. But that's all right. I'm you

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Speaker 2: know what, if I had to pick up the three,

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Speaker 2: I would say, I would say Canes, but heat and Hart.

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Speaker 2: I want the Canes to win, and I think that

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Speaker 2: they will win. Yeah, Canes, but you know what, the Chiefs.

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Speaker 2: The Chiefs have been kind of flying under the radar

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Speaker 2: a little bit this season, so you never know, you

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Speaker 2: never know, but yes, very much looking forward to that

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Speaker 2: this afternoon, and awesome afternoon of sport lined up from

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Speaker 2: all anyway. This morning, we are focusing on the Sun Princess,

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Speaker 2: the world's newest cruise ship, and you have been fortunate

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Speaker 2: enough to go for a bit of a sales for

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Speaker 2: how big is the shiny new flagship.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's not the biggest in the world Jack, which

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Speaker 1: is the domain of Icon of the Seas at last report,

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Speaker 1: but for Princess Cruises, the Sun as the biggest ship

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Speaker 1: they have ever launched into their fleet. It carries four

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Speaker 1: three hundred passengers sixteen hundred crew, She's twenty decks high,

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Speaker 1: and she weighs in at one hundred and seventy seventy

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Speaker 1: thousand ton. That's a lot of elephants. The whopper, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: is that a mega ship?

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Speaker 2: Does it make an a mega shout?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely is a megash Yeah. The thing which

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Speaker 1: really stands out though about what they call as their

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Speaker 1: next level love boat is the fact that it's environmental

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Speaker 1: footprint is just so lot, so much lighter than all

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Speaker 1: of its predecessors. That's really where the changes have been made.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So how much of a step change is the ship? Then?

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Speaker 2: To talk to us about some of those nges that

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Speaker 2: kind of distinguish.

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Speaker 1: It, Yeah, Well, I think the big takeaway festival Jack

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Speaker 1: is the fuel source. It is not diesel, It is

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Speaker 1: not dirty, dirty diesel. So they've switched to liquor fied

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Speaker 1: natural gas for some Princess and what constantly struck me

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Speaker 1: is particularly when you're maneuvering in and out of ports.

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Speaker 1: It's silent. The ship is silent, you know. It's sort

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Speaker 1: of like an ev on the seas. Yeah right, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: compared to the familiar rumble of a diesel powered engine.

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Speaker 1: You just don't get that. And you don't see any fumes,

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Speaker 1: any black smoke from its funnel. Yeah, so I think

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Speaker 1: that's fabulous. Ultimately, though, I think this is just sort

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Speaker 1: of a step along the way. Ultimately, I reckon you

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Speaker 1: will see cruise ships pivot to hydrogen in the medium term,

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Speaker 1: but across all departments. Aboard Some Princess, I just saw

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Speaker 1: so many changes being made to lower the footprint. For example,

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Speaker 1: they've got twenty six bio digesters on board this ship,

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Speaker 1: so that breaks down and liquifies all of the uneaten

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Speaker 1: food and returns it to nature in liquid form to

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Speaker 1: feed the very happy fish below. So I don't know

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Speaker 1: if that's giving back or paying it forward, but the

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Speaker 1: fish are happy. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's interesting. Okay. Has the buffet survived the covid

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Speaker 2: age on Princess?

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Speaker 1: Well this was my biggest fascination as I jumped on

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Speaker 1: board Some Princess, because I reckon it was an even

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Speaker 1: bent whether the ship buffet would see the light of

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Speaker 1: day again. But on some princess they have gone with

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Speaker 1: a different sort of buffet. The self serve is gone Burger, right,

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Speaker 1: so instead their buffet restaurant consists of a whole lot

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Speaker 1: of food stations with glassed off serving areas, so you

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Speaker 1: just pick and point at what you want the staff

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Speaker 1: to plate up for you. But interestingly, it has triggered

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Speaker 1: a very welcome plunge in daily food waste. So that

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Speaker 1: is a very mindful buffet, I think, Jack.

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Speaker 2: So just to explain that to me, So you you

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Speaker 2: arrive at the restaurant and what happens.

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Speaker 1: Yep, you walk a way around all the various food

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Speaker 1: stations thinking, oh, yeah, like one of those, one of those,

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Speaker 1: one of those. So you just picking point and the

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Speaker 1: staff will place it up for you. So you're not

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Speaker 1: actually handling it yourself. Sure, so for example, you won't

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Speaker 1: have one hundred and fifty grubby myths using the same

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Speaker 1: food utensils all that sort of stuff.

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Speaker 2: I mean that makes also, yeah.

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Speaker 1: It does, yeah, but it has also seem to have

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Speaker 1: curbed gluttony to the point where you know you'll pile

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Speaker 1: your own plate up with heaps of stuff and end

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Speaker 1: up biffing half of it. That is not happening now,

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Speaker 1: So that's very good.

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Speaker 2: That is really interesting. That's sort I was wondering about.

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Speaker 2: It sort of says a lot about human psychology, right

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Speaker 2: that you can you can still technically eat as much

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Speaker 2: as you want, but when it's someone else serving it

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Speaker 2: to you, and you're going back to the eleventh time

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Speaker 2: for your twenty fourth piece of bread pudding or whatever,

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Speaker 2: then they're going, actually, maybe maybe there's something in that.

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Speaker 2: This says the you know, some party, this is maybe

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Speaker 2: that's enough. So how many bars and restaurants are actually

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Speaker 2: on board?

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Speaker 1: Well, you've got thirty thirty choices, that's your disposal, Jack.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, if you're the sort of cruiser who doesn't

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Speaker 1: want to eat at the same place twice, Son Princess

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Speaker 1: is for you, absolutely. And I've really rammed up destination

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Speaker 1: dining offerings. So there's lots of celebrity collaborations. One that

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Speaker 1: really impressed me. It was a place called the Butcher's

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Speaker 1: Block by Dario and that's curated by that celebrity Tuscan butcher,

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Speaker 1: Dario Caccini. And if you've seen Netflix's chef's table he

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Speaker 1: features on that. By the way, on the snacks front,

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Speaker 1: I was very impressed by the agilitaria Jack. And the

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Speaker 1: thing about this is it's the real deal gelato on

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Speaker 1: board the ship, certified by the Italian government, no less.

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Speaker 2: Very good with that kind of elastic quality that we love.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, indeed, okay, So what was your favorite experience?

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Speaker 1: Well, the most theres morizing experience for me would have

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Speaker 1: been Spellbound by Magic Castle, and as the name suggests,

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Speaker 1: it was created in partnership with that famed Hollywood venue,

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Speaker 1: Magic Castle, which is the exclusive academy for aspiring magicians

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Speaker 1: in the world. And the thing about Spellbound on the

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Speaker 1: Shipjack is you get really good dining, amazing mixology, but

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Speaker 1: the live magic is performed in this beautifully designed Victorian

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Speaker 1: theme to venue, complete with a piano playing ghost and

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Speaker 1: the close up intimate cabaret magic just left me dumbfounded.

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Speaker 1: I felt like a judge on Britain's Got Talent and

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Speaker 1: I was just totally blown away by the wizardry of

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Speaker 1: the tricks. In fact, there were a couple of magicians

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Speaker 1: on Britain's Got Talent last night and it was very,

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Speaker 1: very similar the tricks they were doing really so I'm

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Speaker 1: totally really interesting. I'm still scratching my head over how

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Speaker 1: they did what they did. It was absol extraordinary.

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Speaker 2: So she is a big ship? Is she a beautiful ship?

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Speaker 1: So many architectural flourishes, and I just loved the fact

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Speaker 1: that you end up feeling like you are floating on

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Speaker 1: a giant glasshouse. So at the top of the ship,

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Speaker 1: I've got this amazing structure called the dome, and it's

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Speaker 1: this multi level glass enclosed structure and it actually drew

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Speaker 1: its inspiration from the terraces of Centerini. So by day

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Speaker 1: it's this terrorist porm space and then it transforms at

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Speaker 1: night into a show stage under the stars. Another star

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Speaker 1: feature is the Sphere, which is this gigantic glass bubble

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Speaker 1: protruding beyond the sides of the ship sort of midship,

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Speaker 1: and it spans ten decks, this bubble, but it very

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Speaker 1: much is all about this embracing, you know, those ocean views.

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Speaker 1: It really is quite amazing.

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Speaker 2: And where is she sailing.

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Speaker 1: In the Mediterranean for the European summer, and then she'll

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Speaker 1: be off to the carab In for the northern winter

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Speaker 1: and her sister ship, the Star Princess is going to

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Speaker 1: be launched next year, very much the same sort of specimen,

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Speaker 1: you know, in terms of design. But the thing which

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Speaker 1: really was the takeaway for me jacks as a venue

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Speaker 1: pecked ship. And because of that, even though it had

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Speaker 1: four thousand guests or more on board, I never actually

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Speaker 1: felt like I was competing for space. Surprisingly, that was

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Speaker 1: the thing I wondered about. Yeah, and yeah, those those funnels,

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Speaker 1: no diesel fumes, very very welcome.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh, that's really good that there's enough. You feel

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Speaker 2: like there's enough space. You're not all sort of sardined

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Speaker 2: in there together.

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Speaker 1: So annoy.

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Speaker 2: So just I don't know if you can go, if

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Speaker 2: you still got it handy Again, how heavy did you say?

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Speaker 1: She was one hundred and seventy seven thousand.

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Speaker 2: One hundred and seventy seven thousand. So someone's just inflected

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Speaker 2: in and I've quickly googled it to double check at

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Speaker 2: Mark says the Titanic was fifty two thousand tons, So

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Speaker 2: there you go. The Sun princesses more than three times

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Speaker 2: the size.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes. By the way, the icon of which I

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Speaker 1: believe is the biggest chip in the world at the moment,

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Speaker 1: is two hundred and thirty thousand tons.

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Speaker 2: Wow, goshns I just I mean, I know, necessarily, but

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Speaker 2: I just find it amazing these things float. It's just

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Speaker 2: I know. Yeah, O Cathos flick there's a note turn

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Speaker 2: and says, don't forget to mention the lifts. Does that

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Speaker 2: make the listing? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Yes, very cool. It's all very technology aboard some princess.

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Speaker 1: So you're wear these medallions and they have all sorts

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Speaker 1: of wayfinding functionality and whatnot. But when you approach the lists,

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Speaker 1: you select what level you want to go to before

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Speaker 1: you actually go and oh yeah yeah, so it will

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Speaker 1: choose a lift for you and get you up to

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Speaker 1: where you want to go way faster.

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Speaker 2: I love that they have that in kind of some

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Speaker 2: modern office buildings now as well. Right, So yeah, and

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Speaker 2: so you press the thing first and then it actually

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Speaker 2: works out the most efficient way to do it. I'm

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Speaker 2: all for that. Yeah, yeah, no, it sounds great. Thank

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Speaker 2: you so much, Mike. I'm glad you had a good time.

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Speaker 2: It sounds yes, it sounds like a very enviable trip. Indeed,

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Speaker 2: So that is the son Princess. And you can find

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Speaker 2: more of Mike's tips and insights on sailing Aboard the

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Speaker 2: Sun Princess at newstalk s HEDB dot co dot inz

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Speaker 2: Ford Slash Lifestyle for more.

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Speaker 1: From Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live to newstalks

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Speaker 1: hed B from nine am Saturday, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio