Fourth of July Special: Fireworks, Fin Whales, and Ports for Little Kids

The Golden Crew is back and dangerously patriotic for a Fourth of July special. Trevor, Tom, and Jenn open with holiday plans that range from "community band concert, then maybe the casino" to "stay home and make sure the neighbors don't burn the house down," before digging into what Carnival's got cooking for America's birthday: seven ships meeting up near Celebration Key for a celebration at sea, patriotic deck parties, and the full America 250 program running all week.

We break down Carnival's new Milestone rewards — 5,000 points at 50 days, 10,000 and a gift every 100 after that, plus a coin that apparently has nowhere to go now that the coin pusher machines have vanished from the fleet. Then Jenn brings a genuinely heavy one: Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas and the endangered pregnant fin whale it struck off Alaska, and what the speed questions could mean going forward. Plus a full stack of SpeakPipes — Tim checks in from Australia (twice), a listener needs kid-friendly port picks for a February sailing with a 5- and 7-year-old, and someone's after everything Aruba. Spoiler: it's a desert with a beach and a suspicious amount of cactus.

Got a question, a hot take, or a cruise story? Leave us a voicemail at speakpipe.com/carnivalcruisingpodcastaways and we'll play it on the show. Come hang out in our Facebook group, The Podcastaways, where the party never really slows down.

And remember: anything you do or say on a ship will remain forever.