Ep. 314 - Bonus - Slight of Hand: The Magic Gets an Upgrade, Maybe?

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back. Everyone to another bonus episode of the Dc L Duo Podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel I am your host today. Brian is unable to join me but I am super excited to talk to our guest today. Jen welcome to the show of course. Thank you for reaching out to us. We connected on social media. You just just got off the magic after her first sailing post dry dock. 00:17.22 Jen Filling Thank you so much I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me. 00:33.53 dclduo And you've been sharing with us pictures and information about what was going on on the magic and we thought this would be perfect to have you come on right? after your crews give us all the details about the good the bad the ugly that went on on this sailing which I think there was a lot of each. Um, so I'm really excited to talk to you. But first before we dive into our show topic I'd love to hear your Disney Cruise and Disney experience. Um I know you're a travel agent so you probably have a lot a lot more than our average. Um, listener or average guest. So yeah, tell us your Disney creds. 01:10.98 Jen Filling Okay, so with Disney Cruise line this was my twelfth sailing my third time on the magic I've been on all 5 ships and um I wanted to probably say the dream I've sailed the most. Um, but like I said this is the third time on the magic. My first time was prior to the dry dock change with Rapunzel. So I've seen it the oh the original way and then of course I've I've sailed it with the with the modifications and then now of course the new dry dock. 01:32.11 dclduo Yeah, yeah, so. 01:40.28 Jen Filling And this was my first time sailing after dry dock. 01:40.81 dclduo That's ah that well that's perfect. So you've seen the magic in 3 different stages. Essentially it's sort of its original um configuration or close to its original configuration than poster puzzles and now I'll call it post soul cat lounge because I think that's. The biggest change that I think most people are aware of ah through social media and through um, other communications from the on the disney parks blog and things like that. So awesome. You've got great experience and I assume you are a Disney Park go where I see you have a bunch of run disney medals behind you that I can see on the video chat we're talking on right now. 02:18.46 Jen Filling Yes, we're annual passholders too and we're Florida residents. So it's easy for us to get to the parks and we've we're also Disney Vacation Club members so we we frequent the Disney destinations quite often. Definitely. 02:31.40 dclduo Of course you are a hundred you are a hundred percent in on Disney sounds kind of familiar. 02:38.20 Jen Filling I took I know I told a ah guy in the shop when they try to apply your discounts and he said what discount do you have I said name. Um I have them all I said don't worry. 02:47.92 dclduo Yeah, that's what we always have we always have I always say yeah yeah I always say like okay wait which one's the best 1 again because I have a ball. Ah. 02:53.20 Jen Filling I said I drank that kool-aid a long time ago. 03:02.60 dclduo All right? So let's talk about this sailing on the magic. Um, how many nights was the sailing and where did it leave from. 03:10.28 Jen Filling Okay, so this was an eight night sailing it was Southern Caribbean and it left from Sam Juan this was my first time actually leaving out of San Juan we normally of course leave out of Florida because we live here in Florida but leaving out of San Juan this was a first and I believe. Um, and correct me if I'm wrong. But I believe this was the first sailing out of San Juan for the magic for this season. Um, so we that was all new. Um, this particular departure port was new for me anytime I've ever docked in Sam Juan we've always been in old Sam Juan um 03:40.39 dclduo And. 03:46.96 Jen Filling That's where normally the ship docks and this one actually there's 2 ports. So this one was a little farther down we did fly in the day before we stayed at a hotel right by that t-mobile convention center area which was across the street from where the ship is located and the ship was actually already there when we got there the day before. 03:57.29 dclduo So. 04:04.77 dclduo Nice. 04:06.51 Jen Filling And so we stayed at a hotel across from there and then just took an uber. It was really simple the area that where we stayed was very nice as well. Again, that was my first time staying in that area and again it was my first time going out to the San Juan Port leaving from the Sam Juan port 04:21.52 dclduo Right? right? Yeah, this was um, post dry dock is the dry dock took place in free port in the Bahamas and so I think that she sailed to. San Juan maybe the day before you're sailing in order to be ready for probably reloading the ship with supplies and sort of turnover before the sailing. So I I think that you know we want to focus today on the upgrades and and how this sailing was. Post dry dock. So let's talk about some of the things that were different that you probably saw pretty much immediately after boarding I'm sure there's a lot of buzz as to you know everybody was expecting upgrades particularly to the promenade lounge um and concierge. And so I'm curious as to what you what you notice initially after boarding. Yeah. 05:12.30 Jen Filling Well, if first the embarkation process was delayed. We actually took us 2 hours to get on the ship there were I t system issues which no surprise when the guy said that they couldn't. 05:16.59 dclduo Oh Wow yeah. 05:26.23 dclduo Ah, no surprise Disney Oh my goodness. Oh. 05:30.65 Jen Filling Check people in because there was an I t I was like wait. Let me get my surprise face on here. But so that and of course it's hot. You're in Sam one? Um, so that was a 2 hour delay there. So when we when you get on the ship. Um, it actually you enter. 05:38.97 dclduo Right. 05:49.53 Jen Filling You don't enter in you know how normally when you come in, you come in right at the atrium area. We were 1 deck above which was kind of weird. So you you walk in the door and you have to walk down the the deck and when you turn the corner. That's where they announce you. It's not the announcement right? as you open and come into that atrium. 05:51.66 dclduo Yes, I okay. 06:02.96 dclduo He. 06:09.00 Jen Filling Um, so that was a little different but the characters and all the lobby pretty much looked the same. You know the little atrium area. All of that looked the same I do believe there's certain areas that had new carpet right? away you could tell definitely it was brighter. You could also see the transition between the old carpet and the new carpet so that was noticeable as well. 06:12.63 dclduo So. 06:26.53 dclduo Ah, funny. Yeah. 06:28.10 Jen Filling Um, but yeah soulcat was probably the first thing that was that was exactly fact to put there first because I knew I knew I was hoping you know for herunsel themed I think a lot of other people were too. Um, yeah, so it's very pretty. 06:38.24 dclduo Yeah, yes, snugly duckling. Yep. 06:45.55 Jen Filling I mean don't get me wrong. It is really pretty and we talked to a crew member and he said it took three days to tear down and then it took the fifteen days to build up so they did a nice job in that short period of time I like that they have the coffee there that's similar to the cove then that way you have another option. Ah, we actually went to the soulcat lounge every night and um, there was a crew member there behind the bar we thought he was great. We got to know him very well by the time we walked in every day he had our drinks drinks there on table so it was it was a good meeting space before dinner before and after dinner. 07:13.76 dclduo I Love it. So. Yeah, yeah. 07:21.94 Jen Filling So we met some people that had we had early seating. They had late seating and every night we seemed to meet there after we would get at after dinner cocktail before the show and they would be getting a pre dinner cocktail. You know so it it was a nice meeting point. Um I did read in some areas that some people were having issues. There's. 07:41.10 dclduo Yes. 07:42.40 Jen Filling Booths that are along the way. Um some people the leather. The color came off on their clothing I particularly did not sit in the booth. So I didn't have that experience. We always sat in the tables. Um, but I I there was a couple of people that we had met that the coloring of the. 07:48.64 dclduo Oh no, she asked. 08:01.50 Jen Filling I Guess the leather was coming off. Um, so that was a little bit. Ah, ah. 08:02.50 dclduo Ah, Wow was it. You remember if it was brown orange or red I feel like it's in that color scheme I Just can't remember which from the pictures. Yeah yeah. 08:10.59 Jen Filling It is. It's more of an orangey more of an arm on the orange side I do like the ah barsols that are on the outside. So if you want to sit out there and look in you can they did have music of course playing they did have 1 gentleman that played the most. 08:17.61 dclduo No. 08:28.29 Jen Filling The piano the most but then they asked they also filled in with other people and they also held crafts in there and of course trivia and stuff like that. It was a great meeting point. 08:30.20 dclduo Here. Yeah, so real. So yeah, so real similar to how they've used the french quarter lounge with having you know musicians performers in that space and having the craft activities in the mornings there now I have to ask you know they have a new menu there. Um, new drink menu and there's also ah zepa leave on the menu which spoiler alert they're basically just a different name for beers. Um, so instead of a New Orleans ah beer you're having a New York zeppely um but I think that in the end they're actually the same pastry but I'm curious as to what you thought of the menu and whether or not you had a chance to taste one of the I'll call it new. But I'm putting that in quotation marks zeppey's. 09:19.96 Jen Filling We did. We did order them. Um and I'll pre I'll start this that I'm dairy free. So there are certain parts of them I could not eat but my husband did I'll tell you his opinion. 09:30.13 dclduo Um, yeah, oh yu. 09:30.53 Jen Filling Um, they do sprinkle them with um like cinnamon sugar instead of powdered sugar. Um, that makes them different and they pour um Nutella pretty much tell like overtop the he's a which I can't have because that has milk in it. Um, but they were they were they were hot. They were nice. Um they were a big hit. 09:43.53 dclduo Yep, yeah. 09:50.00 Jen Filling Ah, we wanted to try the my husband wanted to try the beer. That's one tap because it's unique beer to that particular bar. But unfortunately it wasn't ready. Um, so we couldn't try that um and you know we did try a couple of the cocktails and they were good. Um. 09:56.91 dclduo So bummer. Yeah. 10:06.22 Jen Filling And then of course they had some different kind of ciders and other normal beers like Blue Moon all that kind of stuff they were all there. Um, and actually I was at o o gill's and one of the siders I wanted was at that they actually walked over and got it because I think somehow their bar connects in the back so they were able they were able to walk over and get. 10:09.64 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 10:22.16 dclduo Ah, so. 10:25.70 Jen Filling My drink from there and take it over to ogill's which is nice. 10:26.39 dclduo Oh that's awesome. Yeah I have to say I think that sort of brings up one 1 issue. The fact that they didn't have the beer sort of ready to go is and I want our audience to really understand this if you are doing any kind of. Maiden voyage or post dry dock sailing or some kind of post upgrade. Just be warned that not everything is often ready to go. So even when there were any kind of upgrades just because um. You know Disney says oh we're you know we're coming out of dry act and we're ready to go um spoiler they're not ready to go half the time or at least not everything is ready to go so and speaking of that jen um I I heard um. 11:09.81 Jen Filling Ah. 11:16.66 dclduo From you and from others through social media that there was actually a lot of construction sort of still or a lot of vendors contractors still on board while you all were sailing. Can you tell us what kinds of things you saw them up to around the ship. 11:34.31 Jen Filling So to go back to embarkation I Always check for you know an upgrade at the port they were sold out as soon as we got in there they were sold out. Um, they said their ship was completely full but then talking to to crew members. The ship was not full at all and um. 11:44.80 dclduo Yeah, yep. 11:52.39 Jen Filling So what was going on was a lot of third party contractors were staying on the ship which then ah ultimately made it full our we were on deck five aft. We had a navigator's veranda and across the hall from us. 11:58.94 dclduo I. 12:07.10 Jen Filling Um, were actually crew that stayed there but I think they were more officer level because they were with the white um uniforms. Um, and every day their laundry was hanging outside their door. So we knew that that that's who they were and where they were because they were you know we saw them quite often. 12:19.51 dclduo Um, ah. 12:25.40 Jen Filling At first I thought they had family members on board and that's why they were going in that room. But then we realized that they had a lot of crew there and our particular server. This was her first sailing back from her break and she was bunked between a bunch of other servers because her room wasn't ready because it was filled with contractors. 12:34.56 dclduo So. 12:42.90 dclduo Oh interesting. 12:44.16 Jen Filling So yes, there were a lot of contractors on board. There was a lot of painting going on board they were upgrading. We personally saw them upgrading the Cameras sound systems. Um Kant they were constantly walking around. Um you know with just doing little odds and end updates um painting on the outside. 12:51.56 dclduo So. 12:58.54 dclduo And. 13:03.63 Jen Filling As well as on the inside throughout the ship changing some things doors stuff like that. So definitely things that you I would think you would normally see when you're at ports like I usually do those kind of things at port. But on this particular sailing. We had five port days and two sea days. 13:13.12 dclduo So. 13:21.79 Jen Filling Pretty much every day there was something going on construction wise on the ship and of course we did have um which I know you know that the soda machines were broken for at least I think two days they were broken and then we were down to just two and the the third one was broken and then the softser of ice cream. 13:23.61 dclduo Wow. 13:41.23 Jen Filling Was broken for two days and again I don't know if a lot had to do with um the cooling system. You know with the machines and stuff. Um because I do understand that they did replace the air conditioning which of course was broken in a lot of places on the ship as well. So. 13:46.45 dclduo I. 13:59.89 Jen Filling Again, The contractors were there. They were visible. You could definitely see. Um, they were making changes. They were doing updates throughout the whole cruise. 14:07.81 dclduo Yeah, now we we had heard that there maybe was some a flooding issue during the dry dock that maybe was ah shorted out the ice cream machines and maybe the soda machines or so had something to do with that with that issue on board. Did you hear any of that and. 14:22.57 Jen Filling Now I didn't 1 thing that we did the adult pool normally so you know it's it's filled like there's a little bit of water that goes on the the part that you can walk around if that makes sense if everybody understands that pool. Yes. 14:26.49 dclduo So. 14:37.30 dclduo Yeah, there's like a rim. So yeah, if we're picking the pool. There is like let's think of it with a rectangle within a rectangle and so the rectangle in the middle is ah a deeper pool maybe five feet 14:42.59 Jen Filling Yes. 14:49.90 dclduo And then the surrounding area there is about I'll say two or it's probably about three feet um wide and it is maybe just a few inches deep of water so that you can sort of wade in that part and you can even sit in there with your feet dangling in the deeper part but a lot of in the yeah, the adult. 15:03.12 Jen Filling Um, yes. 15:06.74 dclduo Pool is is a little bit. It looks actually bigger than it is because of that. But it's really actually a nice comfortable place to to sit and you know cool off if you don't want to immerse yourself completely in the water. So. 15:18.46 Jen Filling So the first day it was filled like normal. You know like it normally is um, later on in the day. The water was very refreshing in the morning but by the evening it was like a hot tub like hot hot. It was very uncomfortable. It was not good. 15:20.40 dclduo And. 15:28.70 dclduo Oh oh oh. 15:35.45 Jen Filling Um, then while we were there all of a sudden a bunch of contractors started going towards signals. You know the bar That's right there and of course if you remember like the ice cream is like off like behind that area. So the the pool was leaking into the bar area. 15:41.99 dclduo Yeah. 15:53.72 dclduo Oh no, Oh yeah, oh Wow! yes. 15:55.34 Jen Filling And like going forward on the one I'm going forward right? Yeah forward on the ship. So it's it just like it. It just kept doing that. So then then there was no water on that ledge. It was only in the deep end there was no water on the ledge at all because apparently that's where somehow it was leaking. 16:07.79 dclduo Oh. 16:14.95 Jen Filling Um, so that went on for a couple days and then they finally did fix it and we did have water in that part. Um, but it definitely was different because we knew it wasn't supposed to be that way. But so the bar kept getting flooded if that made sense. 16:24.39 dclduo Um, right? Hello Yeah yeah. 16:29.98 Jen Filling So I don't know So maybe that's the flooding that then ultimately went to the ice cream I don't know I mean they never said um but it makes sense because it's all sort of in that in that close area. But ah. 16:33.34 dclduo No no. Yeah, could a short. It'd be shorting out the whatever the breakers or whatever that are over there then connect to the ice cream machines and maybe even the soda machines that are further down Wow Yeah craziness. Yeah. 16:45.15 Jen Filling Yes. 16:51.77 Jen Filling And they said that they kept running out of the mickey bars because I guess they were doing the mickey bars instead of the ice cream. Um, so they kept running out of those um and then you had to go into cabannis to fill up your soda. They had that open the whole time because the soda machines of course were were closed. 17:02.25 dclduo Here. 17:09.29 dclduo Right? Which is unusual unusual. They don't normally have cabanas open I mean you can ah you can go through cabanas. Ah, usually on one side even though it's sort of typically closed. 17:09.65 Jen Filling For a good part. 17:21.40 dclduo But the doors will be closed. Um, when it's not a meal time or you know after lunch in particular after what is it like about 3 p m but it makes sense. They would have to keep it open so that everybody could get something to drink if there's no. If. There's no soda available on the pool deck otherwise or just 1 machine because obviously that will create huge lines. Um, but that's interesting that you know people of course want their ice cream I feel like that's a softser of ice cream on a particular in the magic and the wonder where you don't have an ice cream shop. 17:44.69 Jen Filling Yes. 17:54.45 dclduo That you can even purchase ice cream from like you do on the dream the fantasy and the wish um so interesting that the mickey bars were like getting eaten like they're going out of style I love ah I mean I love a good make Mark probably probably so ah. 18:06.41 Jen Filling I'm sure they probably ran out of them. Well and that the big inconvenience for me is I like soda water that's like what I like to drink and if you remember in cabanas only 1 machine has soda water in cabanas. Not all the machines. 18:13.43 dclduo I. 18:23.30 dclduo Ah, ah. 18:23.42 Jen Filling So the machine that they kept open was not the one with the soda water. So every time I would go into cabanas Thankfully I became good friends with this nice gentleman hey he was like I I'll go get it for you and he would turn the other machine on so that he could give me soda water so it was nice. It just. 18:34.46 dclduo Ah. 18:40.92 dclduo Yeah, ah story right? right? Yeah I'm sure yeah soda machine it you know as long as you can still get soda. 18:42.21 Jen Filling It was fine. It did not ruin my vacation. It did not ruin our crewise but it definitely was not normal first sneak crus. So um, that was something that we had to get used to. 18:57.30 dclduo It It becomes a minor inconvenience right? It's not a it shouldn't be a make or break on the cruise from my opinion either. But let's let's talk about um other upgrades I know you weren't staying concierge. But I I know you could see that there was a difference to the concierge lounge makeup from just from that that pool deck. Tell us what? what? of course you observed and if you heard anything good or bad about those upgrades. Okay. 19:23.89 Jen Filling Well I did hear that their lounge had good Ac I did hear that sits there sits there with a lot of spaces with no ac I did hear that um there there are from what I could tell from the pool deck and I tried. 19:31.90 dclduo That's important. 19:37.47 Jen Filling I tried so hard to go in there and look at that lounge and not 1 person was budgeting for me. Um, but they have an outside area now like it's an open area and then they have another way. It's 2 wings that they built and they're on both sides I do have to say I particularly did I was not fond. 19:42.43 dclduo Ah. 19:57.38 Jen Filling Ah, the wings because it took up a lot of deck space in my opinion that walkway going down both sections of that is much smaller now and I don't know about you but I like to take pictures in front of the stacks with the mickey emblem. Of course. 19:57.81 dclduo Yes, yes, yes. 20:06.26 dclduo Yeah, so. Oh yeah. 20:14.40 Jen Filling And that's kind of like an eyesore now because it just sticks right there where that is located so that's just my personal opinion. It took to me. It took up a lot of space I don't know do they have that many people that go into that lounge that they needed to add 2 wings I don't know. Um. 20:17.45 dclduo Oh yeah. 20:28.50 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 20:31.40 Jen Filling But they do say that it's beautiful. They said it made a big difference. Um, again it was locked I tried to sweet talk people and they just wouldn't let me see it. But. 20:39.67 dclduo Ah, yes, they said no yeah so I will tell you it's actually um, it's It's actually now like it's sistership or similar to the Wonder. So The wonder does have the 2 wings. In fact, the wonders is even I think a little bit. It might even be a little bit bigger on the one on one of the sides because it doesn't have the Aqua dunk that the magic has um, but what we've heard is that this is sort of phase one of the upgrade to the concierge space. Um, they have so the outdoor deck space was already that was already there. They've just sort of semi enclosed it. Um, because that is eventually going to become indoor space and then there will be a new sundeck on Top. That's what we've Heard. We don't know if this is this is not um, this is more rumor and talk. Then it is actual fact, but it if it mirrors the wonder. That's what it will eventually look like but that will have to wait ah presumably till the next dry dock to occur. But I think the answer to your question about this. How much space they need. They upgraded several or a lot of rooms on Deck Eight that were non concierge to conciers so because of that upgrade The answer is absolutely yes, they need that extra space now in the concierge lounge again to make it mirror the Wonder. So The wonder already had those upgrades in its. 22:03.91 dclduo Dry dock years ago and so but ah it does take up deck space and particular on the magic where you have the aqua dunk that does take up that additional space I do think it makes more of an impact than it does on the wonder where you don't have that extra water slide I mean people don't people forget this. But the wonder. Has 1 less water slide than all of the other ships because it does not have it only has the what is it called the twist and spout or whatever. It's yeah yet and that anyone can go on. It's adults and kids but it is more of a probably more kid kid friendly. Slide. Um, but. 22:30.60 Jen Filling Um, right. 22:40.30 dclduo Yeah, it does not have an Aqua duck or an Aqua dunk or an Aqua mouse. So ah. 22:43.38 Jen Filling Well I was just on the wonder in March and to be honest I didn't notice that the deck was that much shorter like you know now it didn't seem to be as much as it was on the magic and the last time I was on the magic was. 22:45.94 dclduo Me. 22:54.50 dclduo Yep. 23:00.59 Jen Filling Probably November of 2 that 2021 so I mean for it to stick out like that I would if I was on the one I was just going the wonder in March. So yeah I didn't notice it as much. Yes, it did. Yeah. 23:01.68 dclduo Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that makes the bigger difference. Yeah yeah, yeah, well and like you say I like I said it might be because of the shape is a little different than they I think that it's a little bit different than they had to do it on the wonder because of the awkward dunk and so it probably does make that. 23:20.88 Jen Filling Yes. 23:25.47 dclduo That walkway even even tighter. But that's interesting to hear. Yes, it does definitely take some more of that deck space that was for everyone away and now make it exclusive which is it seems to be ah you know a lot of the direction with the new ships at least what we saw with the wish is is. Is that right giving more exclusive space to sort of the concierge to match the ship within a ship concept that other cruise lines are doing because other cruise lines have way better concierge pools and sundexs from what we hear obviously not having personal experience on them quite yet. But yeah. Curious to hear about upgrades to some activities I heard there were upgrades to the trivia maybe to make it more in line with what's going on on the wish. But I don't know if you experienced that jen. 24:12.81 Jen Filling I did not I did not go to the trivia I did talk to somebody that went to the animation and apparently that changed it was more of a video like you watched the video which I was told was similar to what they're doing on the wish. Um. 24:16.13 dclduo Oh okay I. 24:27.24 dclduo Yes, that is. 24:30.43 Jen Filling Yeah, so a lot of people I don't want to say complained but they weren't happy about that because they liked the way it was before um so that was that I did not go to any of the trivia. Um, but the biggest entertainment change that. 24:36.20 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 24:46.50 Jen Filling I Know you're aware of um was the new meet and greet which I did actually love and I did attend that. So um, that was a lot of fun. 24:48.36 dclduo Yeah, so. 24:55.60 dclduo Um, yeah, yeah, tell us about the enconto meet Andre and conto celebration. What it included. We've seen I've ah of course shared some pictures on social media that some other folks sent but we haven't gotten to talk to anybody about this yet. So I'd love for our listeners to know. What what it is where it's held and whether or not it costs more and you have to make reservations I know the answer to these questions but I'd love for you to answer them Jen first. 25:18.31 Jen Filling Right? So you do not need to make reservations. They do put the times in the app. Our particular sailing. It was on our last seaday. It was at two o'clock and four o'clock but then I also heard that they did have it the day before while we were in port. Ah, but I think that was more of a drive run and that's probably why they did it that way. So the two o'clock celebration is the one that we attended. You could definitely tell they were nervous about it. There was a lot of higher up people in the back filming and paying attention. 25:40.35 dclduo Yep. 25:54.85 Jen Filling I thought it was adorable I loved it I was my husband and I were probably the only adults in the line but it was an hour and it was a full hour. Um, you walk in this is the only negative thing I have to say about it. It's a craft you do a craft so when you walk in, there's a table. 25:58.60 dclduo I Love it. 26:11.19 dclduo And. 26:13.25 Jen Filling And you're supposed to pick your crafts. So for instance, you make a butterfly so it's the tissue paper and the the um pipe cleaners. Yeah, so you said there was a there was a big like stop right? there at the table because people are picking colors I think Disney would do a better job if they had them prepackaged. 26:18.18 dclduo Pipe. 26:31.60 Jen Filling Like if you want to make a butterfly here's a butterfly if you want to make a flower here's a flower. Um, but by letting people pick their colors and their tissue. It kind of held up that line at the table. Um, so we kind of bypass that I did take ah ah a paper that showed the different the instructions for the craft. 26:32.25 dclduo Um. 26:43.74 dclduo Um. 26:48.40 dclduo Here. 26:50.76 Jen Filling Um, but I didn't pick the crafts I left them for the kids but we did go and sit down they cover the round tables. Um, and it's like with a cloth and they're decorative and they had to um moroccos great moroc yeah, okay, yeah, so they had 2 of those but they. 27:02.53 dclduo Yeah, Morocca's yeah. 27:08.56 Jen Filling Transform the whole D lounge there were garlands up on the ceiling with flowers. They had beautiful flower arrangements on the bar. Of course they had the stuff on the stage. It was beautiful I was totally transformed in my opinion and of course they kept. 27:12.10 dclduo So how fun. So. 27:25.63 Jen Filling Telling the parents that you know the bars open the bars open. So definitely. That was the dad space. There were dads all lined up at the bar so that definitely was the dad space. So what they did was they did a trivia. So if you know the movie you will do. 27:33.40 dclduo Ah, ah. 27:40.85 Jen Filling You know, very well on the trivia because they they asked questions about the trivia they did have 2 cast members that sort of led the whole thing. Um and they were great. They sang they danced um and they talked you know went through all the trivia stuff they went over the crafts and then it was sort of like a sing along. They brought the kids up on stage. And they would you know the bruno song you know they would sing all of that so it was a lot of fun and the kids you know they seemed to really like it and I was highly impressed that they knew more spanish than I did because they could answer their questions a lot easier than I could um I guess from the movie but ah. 28:01.48 dclduo Yes. 28:14.99 dclduo And a wow. 28:19.33 Jen Filling Um, and then they did a little like conga line that went all the way around and at the end of the line like they came up from the center and and here she comes right up in the center of the stage and. 28:21.14 dclduo Oh pun. 28:30.11 dclduo Ah, mirabel. 28:31.55 Jen Filling Her and her and Bruno and um it was beautiful and they sat up with stage and of course all the kids went crazy and and they did a little like talk and dance and then you had time for pictures. It was great I loved it. 28:41.30 dclduo Oh that's awesome. That sounds so fun I love Mirabelle and I love bruno even though I I will say it's not my favorite like Disney movie. Um, I think the music is fantastic and I actually really enjoy the characters except for the grandmother I hate the grandmother I won't even talk about it. Ah, um, but I'm glad she's not a character for the meet and greet I'm curious. Did you I hear there were some special drinks. 29:03.60 Jen Filling Um, now. 29:11.20 dclduo So um, including maybe there was like a ah a certain kind of beer available and there were some cocktails and I'm curious if you guys got to try any of those or ah, yeah, yeah. 29:19.38 Jen Filling No, they didn't mention now that I'm curious I should have gone to the bar they didn't they didn't mention they just said the bar was open. They didn't mention that there was special now I'm disappointed I should've went to the bar. 29:30.60 dclduo Ah, yeah. 29:35.59 Jen Filling Um, they didn't mention anything about special cocktails. They just said to definitely go to the to the bar that it was open. Um, it was fun I think that kids really enjoyed it I really do and they even even Bruno he was like. 29:40.86 dclduo Okay, yes. 29:51.44 Jen Filling You know where are you from I told him from Florida he said how's your insulation there like can I have a good spot to stay I mean very it was they were super super nice and um, yes, they were and even it was funny because um. 29:54.53 dclduo And. Oh really good in character then I love that. So. 30:08.32 Jen Filling I said I hope that one day you know I'll see them in Orlando because you know she said that Mirabelle said she'd been to Orlando and I said oh I hope one day I'll get to see you in Orlando and she said it might be soon. So she just said she was really cute about it and um, like I said the 2 cast members that like ran the whole thing. They were great. 30:19.53 dclduo Ah I like it. 30:28.19 Jen Filling Um, they were really good with the kids and I think it was overall I mean I I laughed like during the songs they would hold up little sticks behind the kids like with little rats on it or like the umbrella when that part of the song comes across and I thought that was really cute I mean I don't know I I thought I would have gone to the four o'clock I thought it was super cute. 30:36.52 dclduo Oh. 30:47.30 Jen Filling It did line up very early and it did line up on the side D lounge not the part that faces the atrium it was on the side. Yeah, so they did tell everybody. 30:47.35 dclduo Yeah, yeah, okay, thanks am that makes that that makes sense because they probably still have character meet and greets going on near. Kind of on that side on the atrium side where oftentimes Mickey or mini or somebody is waiting for pictures and so they tend to if there's a line for d lounge they tend to make it that side entrance instead of that front entrance. Yeah, so that yeah, ah. 31:13.97 Jen Filling Yeah, and that's what they did and that's where they had the table and everything like that it was cute. It was super cute I Would highly recommend it. Um, for your children, especially if they like the movie and to brush up on their trivia about the movie because that's how they pulled. 31:25.17 dclduo I Love it. So. 31:28.49 Jen Filling They pulled the kids up on stage. It was really cute and everybody sang everybody knew all of it and it was a lot of fun. 31:32.78 dclduo Awesome! Well I will say with regard to the drinks I so I heard there was I don't know if it's 1 or 2 beers. But I think they may be like they may have a spot like a columbian beer on board for that that you can purchase and then there are a couple of. Special cocktails that they have also for purchase but somebody was posting or it sent me a picture and I posted it on our Instagram and it's supposedly unnamed drink number three meaning it doesn't actually even have a name yet. So I think. 32:05.26 Jen Filling Ah, that's funny. 32:08.43 dclduo Yeah, so who knows but I heard I've been hearing great things I love to hear that you enjoyed it jen even sailing without children I I think that's you know it's it tells you when that Disney gets it right when they create a meet and greet and sing along. That is clearly geared particularly to kids but that adults adults love it too and and you're not the only one I've heard that from so I love I love to hear that from multiple sources. It's fantastic. So good job Disney on that. Um on that. 32:27.30 Jen Filling Yes. 32:40.64 Jen Filling Ah. 32:41.53 dclduo Love to hear if there are any other um you know it sounds like there were some you know, but but there was the soda obviously in the ice cream and the Ac issues going on I'm curious if you heard of any other sort of issues and 1 when I said earlier was trivia I heard was they upgraded the system. But. Because they upgraded the system to the nose more trivia consistent with what they've got on the wish they were having issues with with accessing I think it was like the music trivia or something like that and so there was some issues with that. But I'm curious as if you saw or heard any other issues going on on the ship that were things were particularly not. 33:08.32 Jen Filling O. 33:19.56 dclduo Either ready or or not working as they normally do or should but. 33:25.85 Jen Filling There were the Ac was the biggest thing I have to say um and it a lot of staterooms were without Ac Ours was cool but not cold. We asked for a fan and all the fans were ah taken for people had that had no Ac which I understand I mean we were in the Southern Caribbean it was hot. 33:27.32 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 33:33.20 dclduo And he. Right? yeah. 33:43.36 Jen Filling Um, so that was an issue but it was certain areas like six seven and eight those hallways. You could definitely tell were really bad. Um, and then like the movie when we were in the main theater I've always worn a sweater. 33:50.90 dclduo Ah, ah. 33:55.32 dclduo So okay, so. 33:57.80 Jen Filling always I'm always cold it was not. It was hot and you know it definitely it again. It did not brewen my vacation by any means. Um I do understand that they upgraded the ac system or they added a new one I don't know what they did but they did something to the Ac system and it definitely. Was not working properly and they knew it they were they were trying to fix it so that was a big issue but then there were certain areas because the Ac was working on overdrive. So the condensation was leaking from the ceiling in a lot of areas. Um, so you had that a lot of the new carpet especially whereunzels. 34:15.57 dclduo Yeah, so. 34:24.19 dclduo Oh. 34:33.10 Jen Filling Was located So if you come down the aft stairs and you go towards repunzel that was all new carpet but it was very discolored. Um I believe because of um, the flooding that they had had um in certain areas like in front of the theater. There were certain spots where the carpet was a little damp. 34:39.82 dclduo How interesting Oh okay. 34:52.50 Jen Filling Again I think it's from I don't know if it's from the Ac unit work in overdrive with Nick the condensation was coming down. Um, so there were areas like that. Um, and then there was a lot of new sound systems added so in a lot of areas the music and the sound was really loud and I don't know if it's because. 34:54.58 dclduo Right? with the condensation. 35:07.75 dclduo So. 35:11.49 Jen Filling It Maybe they were used to the old system and they had to turn it up over. They weren't used to how to work this system I don't know but a lot of areas it was It was too loud in in certain areas so they did have that um those concerns I'm trying to go through all my notes because it was there were so many things Um, that. 35:14.75 dclduo I. 35:31.28 Jen Filling Like the the adult pool was the big one I feel like um and of course the soda machines and the Ac but again they tried their best. They really did um in trying to to make everybody happy and to fix things. Um. 35:31.90 dclduo Yeah, yeah, yeah. 35:39.88 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 35:46.71 Jen Filling Another big thing and I I don't know if you were going to mention this or not were they castaway gifts. Um. 35:49.39 dclduo Oh yeah I forgot no I forgot we talked about this before we started recording the show. Yeah, tell tell our listeners What a debacle that was because that sounds crazy to me. 36:00.14 Jen Filling So this I believe this was one of the first sailings because they start in may first right? So I don't know how many sailings were by no, not on the magic but you know we're prior with the castaway gifts so we had a note in our room that told us that we had. 36:05.51 dclduo Right. 36:17.22 Jen Filling Um, what we were supposed to get. We are platinum. So according to the video we're supposed to have the lanyards the castaway bag the dry wet bag and the um beach tail. Yes, that's what we're supposed to have. 36:29.21 dclduo This towel? yeah. 36:33.76 Jen Filling And then of course Pearl has the little champagne flutes and then the big bag that everything goes in so when we got into our room. We had the note that says we were getting it but there were no gifts so we talked to our cabin Stewart and she was new. She just got on the ship with same as us. So I don't. Blame her in any way she'd literally just got on the ship like we did and she said you'll have to go to guest services to let them know I'll let my manager know but you need to let guest services now. There were a lot of people that did not have the gifts in their room and that's not normal. We know that's not normal. They are there when we come in so I went to guest services. 37:05.29 dclduo Right. 37:10.86 Jen Filling And again I I mentioned this to you earlier I I've never been to get services I think maybe what back in the day when you had to sign up for mix ologies. Maybe that's the only time I've ever I've ever been there, but ah so I go down and I talked to the gentleman and. 37:21.00 dclduo Ah, yeah. 37:27.60 Jen Filling He wrote it down. He said well'll have somebody bring it to you then nothing happened that night so then the next day I went back down again and I mentioned it again and then we received that night. We received the castaway bag and one lanyard and I so I give back down again and I said you know it he they. 37:38.39 dclduo The. 37:46.20 Jen Filling The guy said well we don't handle it dining and beverages handles you know handles it now so we'll have to get them to get it to you but we don't know we don't have them here but you know they just everything every excuse you can think of so then finally I was like okay can I speak to a supervisor because clearly there's an issue here. 37:57.33 dclduo Yeah. 38:04.26 Jen Filling And after speaking to a supervisor she said oh no, it's 1 lanyard per state room and I said no, it's not 1 lander first day room. 38:06.69 dclduo Oh my goodness. No, it's how does this? How does a supervisor on a guest services. Not know what the nor I mean even even if they didn't sort of weren't familiar with the new Castaway Club gifts it has 38:16.17 Jen Filling Um, yes. 38:25.10 dclduo Always been that every person who is a returning cruiser. So as long as it's not your first time cruising gets a lanyd. You might maybe you get the wrong color I could understand if they don't you know it ran out of platinum one. So here's a gold one or whatever. But how do they get that. How does a supervisor not even know the like the cardinal rule. Everyone gets a laardrd who is a returning cruiser other gifts are all per state room land nerds are always per person crazy right? yeah. 38:52.38 Jen Filling And meanwhile there are tons of people around me all wearing landers like I know that little kid's not a room by himself like you know so I spoke to her she said she would talk to shoreside services and we had to go over again I went to the video on Instagram. 39:01.29 dclduo Of Maids right. 39:12.40 Jen Filling Disney Cruise lines Instagram page and I showed her I said look this is what pla I was supposed to get and I told her I said I'm I'm really sorry I don't I don't you mean to argue with me about it. It's it's a lanyard. It's not you know? Ah, but I know. 39:12.11 dclduo Right. 39:21.72 dclduo Right? We're not asking for like a $500 gift I'm asking for a lanyard. Yeah oh my god so. 39:29.88 Jen Filling So anyway, so she ah she said I'll check with your side services and we'll get back to you so then the next day we had the extra lanyard and the dry wet bag. So then we finally had everything we were supposed to get but after talking to other people on the ship and then even on the airplane on the flight home. Talking to people there and a couple people in the Facebook group that I'm in for the cruise a lot of platinum people did not get the dry wet bag. Um that because that's gold level and I guess they didn't understand that we're supposed to get everything from silver to platinum so there were a lot of people that were missing that the lanyardds were a big issue. Um. 39:55.26 dclduo How interesting. So. 40:09.18 Jen Filling And then just side note on the lanyards I don't know if there's any other platinum people out there. But I find that the platinum color to me personally, it looks like Silver it looks like the silver lanyards and I mean I don't want to sound rude about it or anything but I I prefer the black ones I felt like they stood out a little bit more. Um. 40:16.16 dclduo Yeah, so. 40:25.36 dclduo Yeah, yeah, yeah. 40:28.16 Jen Filling I think if you've gone on more than 10 cruises. You know you I don't know the gold was very obvious like you could tell the gold the most out of everybody. Um, but the platinum definitely looked a lot like the silver and I personally didn't care for that at all. But. 40:32.61 dclduo Yes, yes, yes, yes. 40:42.59 dclduo Agreed I I don't understand why they didn't do the same pouch for everyone like they could have they could have actually like probably saved some money by ordering like 1 set of the Disney like the mickey pouch and then just doing you know. Different color landnyard right? like everybody gets the same pouch but the Lanyrd attached to it is a different color because I don't know to me. It's like the thing that always differentiates was the the lanyard not the pouch. Um, but I yeah and I actually think that the clear plastic pouch is probably easier from a user friendly standpoint. So. 41:04.72 Jen Filling Right. 41:20.47 dclduo What I'm going to do on my next cruise is I'm going to bring one of my old lanyards with me so that I can I'm going to keep that mickey pouch because it's cute, right? But I'm going to use probably the plastic pouch. But. I agree I'm ah we're also Platinum and I like the black lanyard I haven't seen them in person Of course I've only seen pictures of them but I like the black lanyard I'm not sure why they didn't stick with why they went with a they went with more of a I'll call it a titanium color. 41:35.70 Jen Filling Is it. 41:44.80 Jen Filling Yes. 41:47.55 dclduo Which looks very similar to the silver. It's darker. It's a darker gray. But it's still um, it's closer to the silver than what it was before which was ah clearly black. But. 41:58.75 Jen Filling Yeah, if you unless you're standing right next to a silver person. You don't notice if you if we were just walking down the hall. It would you? You would think that it was silver across the board. Um, so definitely my husband did that the he we had. 42:06.46 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 42:12.29 Jen Filling We're Dvc members so we got the Dvc Landards of course we used those at first because we didn't have the castaway laards so we took the little plastic off of the dvc lanyard and he used it because it is bulky the little makey one is it's it's bulky. It's bigger. It's much bigger. Um. 42:19.70 dclduo Ah. 42:26.41 dclduo Yeah. 42:29.80 Jen Filling So he didn't care for that on his at all so he used the little plastic one for himself and um yeah I I hardly ever wore it I honestly because if I kept it in my purse mainly because I just I just didn't care for it I did. 42:33.85 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 42:40.79 dclduo Yeah I I hear you on that now. 1 thing that you did mention before we started recording was also they said oh if you don't end up getting one. They can you can call shoreside and they'll mail you on or something like that and I want to tell people. No. 42:49.57 Jen Filling Yes. 42:58.69 dclduo Do not take that as an answer and I and I don't say that because the cast member isn't well-meaning the cast member I'm sure is well-meaning but we had something similar happened to us. Um, maybe our second or third cruise where Brian wanted a particular t-shirt they didn't have it in the size that we wanted which was just. You know size large men's which is always like the most common size and they said oh you can call shoreside and you can get 1 they'll order you one and send it to you at home. And the answer to that is no, they will not um, shoreside does not always have access to the things that are on the ship. In fact, often they they don't um and they will not send you one after I'm not saying they won't it's possible. They will but I would not take that as an answer because oftentimes. 43:41.48 Jen Filling 6 43:49.49 dclduo That will just not be able to. They won't be able to make it happen even if they wanted to and so if there is a castamate club gift that you're supposed to get on board. Um, be nice but be persistent and that's what I think it took with you Jen was being nice but being persistent and going back to guest services like 3 or 4 times and. 43:59.55 Jen Filling Um, yes, yeah, well after the third time I walked away and I just I was walking down the hall and I just thought this is not normal like I've been on enough cruises to know. 44:07.95 dclduo Um. 44:14.36 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 44:18.93 Jen Filling This is not normal like we we are not normally treated this way like these are things that normally don't happen so that I turned around and that's when I went back and I said to the to that's when I asked to talk to a supervisor she came out and we talked and I said to her look I I know this is not normal like I don't want to argue with you over a lanyard. 44:33.13 dclduo Yeah, yeah, exactly exactly just make it happen. Yeah, oh. 44:38.16 Jen Filling Can we just get a landard just one So so that night that's what we had some other things that I wanted to touch on broke quick changes wise um I don't know I think I sent you a picture the carpet and luminirs changed. 44:53.76 dclduo Oh yeah, oh. 44:57.20 Jen Filling So I don't remember what the old carpet looked like my server told me it had bubbles on it. Okay soon it. 44:59.44 dclduo Oh yeah, it did yeah as you're supposed to be under on oh way, Actually no i' I'm not sure if it did now that I'm thinking tritons because that's under the sea but does mesh as the one in I don't I Honestly don't remember what the carpet in lumieres looks like but. 45:08.20 Jen Filling Yeah, yeah I don't normally take pictures of carpet. So I know but now it has a rose that mirrors the rose of course it comes down in the center so that was new. The Dvc lounge. 45:27.71 dclduo Oh yes and you got some great pictures of that too. Yeah, yeah. 45:28.45 Jen Filling The Dvc office was new. Um, it was very pretty. They have ah off to the side. They have a secret door. Ah for the children to play and it has like interactive. It's a screen kind of looks like the the um em bell the door and bell. 45:38.46 dclduo Um. 45:40.45 dclduo Oh thin. Yeah, yeah. 45:47.73 Jen Filling It's what it sort of looks like but it's an interactive screen for the children to play with I guess while their mom and dad are buying Dbc. So it's really cute. It's a cute little room. Their office is very pretty I I I don't know if you notice the office on the wish I think it's actually nicer than the one on the wish personally. 46:03.15 dclduo Oh wow. Yeah yeah. 46:06.38 Jen Filling Um, it's it's it's bigger, but that again had a like the locks weren't finished on the doors. Um, there were some things even like the handles on the cabinets and stuff like that so they were still working on that as well because when you. 46:17.84 dclduo Oh interesting. 46:21.23 Jen Filling It's on deck two and it's right between the elevators so sort of like the laundry on the witch you know how it's in between the elevators. It's sort of the same so there are 2 big wooden doors that are normally supposed to stay open because there's french doors behind it that will look into the Dvc office but because the locks were not finished. 46:24.22 dclduo He. 46:35.42 dclduo Okay, okay. 46:40.00 Jen Filling The main doors were closed. So eventually I think their concept is to keep those big doors open so that when people walk by. They see the beautiful French doors that look at this beautiful office with the big welcome home sign. Um, and so they're going to get to that hopefully soon. But it's very pretty. 46:51.73 dclduo Right? Yeah with ah with those doors closed it would it would sort of take that extra effort right to go in and you want a Dvc wants to lure people in for their sales now. Do they still have the desk. 46:58.81 Jen Filling In here. 47:06.85 dclduo On Um, what is that deck for just above the atrium. Do they still have the desk there where you can go and get your your dvc gifts and sort of do that little check in there. Okay. 47:07.49 Jen Filling Um, for in here. 47:18.70 Jen Filling Yes, they do. They have the the desk on Deck for um, but then it's an easy walk down just to the stairs because it's on deck too for the office So most of the people were meeting their guide there and then just walking down the stairs so it was very nice. 47:28.60 dclduo That's right. So nice. Yeah. 47:34.55 Jen Filling Yeah, if the if the main doors are closed on that office. It kind of makes you think the crew goes back there that you're not supposed to go back there. So yeah, having those doors open with the french doors will definitely be more appealing to people coming in to buy Dvc for sure. Um. 47:38.25 dclduo Right done. 47:50.20 dclduo Sounds very similar now to how they set it up on the wish where you've got the desk and the office both um as opposed to the other ships which all just have ah the dvc desk. Yeah yeah. 47:52.66 Jen Filling Yes. 48:00.79 Jen Filling Yeah, yeah, they said that I I believe the gentlemen said that they do ah a lot of business on the cruise ships. So that's why they wanted to have um I know that the offers are always better on the cruise so they wanted to have a nicer space and it is. there's there's 3 offices 48:04.86 dclduo They do so. 48:17.30 Jen Filling They can go into and there's a waiting room out in the area and then there's that little kid room with that door The magic door sits definitely going to be nice once it's finished I mean it looked nice now. But once it's complete. It'll be really nice. 48:26.54 dclduo Yeah, yeah, ah I'll be I'm so I'm excited to check out Actually the magic door myself for the for the the kids space I Always love those spaces I feel like they do a great job with all those little touches for the for the kids. Any any other upgrades or changes that we haven't talked about Jen. Oh yeah. 48:43.41 Jen Filling Um, the gym. The gym received all new equipment. Um, and you could definitely tell um somebody I don't know if it was you that told me or somebody told me that the floor was new I didn't notice. It didn't look. It didn't look overly new but it could have been I don't I don't. 48:55.25 dclduo Okay, so. 49:01.17 Jen Filling Necessarily look at the floor when I care to the gym but the equipment was definitely nice nicer and it was definitely new. Um, and they had like a lot of spin cycles and stuff all lined up so that you could definitely tell the gym had an upgrade for sure. 49:09.50 dclduo Um. 49:16.29 dclduo Yeah, and we did hear that those machines like the treadmills and whatnot are now set up so that you can watch um your Disney movies and whatnot on the screens right there so you can. It's essentially the the same system. That you have have in your state room is available now on those treadmills which is a huge upgrade I mean you know if you're if you're on training for a marathon or something and you need to get some time hit on the treadmill. It's. 49:44.54 Jen Filling Um, yeah. 49:45.32 dclduo Quite hard to do it when you have nothing to watch um or when you I mean looking out at the ocean is beautiful, but it's it's easier when you've got ah you know Rat tatooi playing in front of you or something. So. 49:52.24 Jen Filling Um, yeah, very true, very true, but other than that I mean I'm going through all my list they did say the concierre rooms which you know we talked about they were upgraded um which they did a couple people had some issues with those some of them were missing closet doors. Um, some were leaking. Some didn't have hay yet. Um, so the crew member did tell us that some of the suites had minor changes to them. You know the Roy suite and the you know those I didn't I just a crew member happened to tell us that but I didn't hear any rumors of those changing. 50:10.50 dclduo Yes, yes. 50:19.10 dclduo So oh yeah, yeah. 50:29.26 Jen Filling Um, and I didn't meet anybody that were staying in that room we did walk down there just to see and everything looked the same you know from the outside. So I don't know if that if that was true or not um, but the biggest thing of course is the soul cat and like I said earlier. 50:29.29 dclduo Yeah, yeah, ah. 50:37.93 dclduo Um, from the outside. So. 50:48.90 Jen Filling We really enjoyed it personally. Um, you know we kept going back there all the time. Normally we go to ogills which is usually our favorite. Um, ogills had some flooding issues at 1 point and some of their ceiling was missing. Ah so there was definitely to me I'm just sensitive to mold smell. 50:53.90 dclduo And and. 51:06.60 dclduo Ah, yeah. 51:06.70 Jen Filling So there is just descent in that area. So that's why we I just avoided that one and the soul cat was new So my are out there. Yeah. 51:11.60 dclduo Yeah, of course of course now it's curious to me that you know well I guess this is sort of always the case we were on the maiden voyage for the wish she wasn't 100 % show ready I will say we still had a fantastic time. And there are a million things that were you know, beautiful and done. But of course there were little touches missing like signage near elevators and things like that and it sounds like this post dry dock. Um, this was ah very similar in that. Not everything was done and not everything was really completely show ready as they say. And I'm curious as to you know I'm curious. Why Disney didn't delay. Um, you know or cancel that first cruise not that you didn't have a good time sounds like you had a fabulous time. But of course you know there? Um, you know we're hearing that there are people who got. 51:54.49 Jen Filling Um, bright. 52:03.17 dclduo Partial refunds onboard credits things like that because they had specific issues with their room like the Ac not working or leaking in their room and things like that. So we'll have um. i' going to be recording a show soon with some other folks who are on your sailing who were staying in concierge who had lots of issues with their room and so I will be able to report a little bit more on that. But I'm curious if you heard any murmurs about you know. Did they consider canceling or delaying or anything like that. Yeah. 52:34.83 Jen Filling Yeah, a couple of the crew members did say that they um they were considering canceling the sailing because ah, there were so many I I think they needed a good another week or two weeks for sure. Um, and they were saying that they were going to cancel up at a course headquarters. You know. 52:44.17 dclduo Yeah. 52:52.16 Jen Filling Said no on that on that matter and again it wasn't the crew's fault. They were really trying their best. There were a lot of crew that came in on that one. Um I think which hurt too because they weren't there during dry dock because apparently my understanding as they only keep so many crew So many people during dry dock. 52:57.78 dclduo Yep, yes. 53:07.50 dclduo Right. 53:11.25 Jen Filling So there's a lot of people that were coming in and even when we went to the Gold Platinum Pearl event that they had. We actually got to see one of the scenes from dreams and they they showed us how it was made. 53:21.19 dclduo Oh nice. Oh. 53:25.55 Jen Filling And in that presentation they went through each of the backstage people and at some points there were 2 people and she explained because one was came on and one's going off. So yes, so we had a lot of double crew in in that. 53:31.22 dclduo Um. 53:35.27 dclduo Right? They're transitioning. Yep. 53:43.41 Jen Filling And that area as well. Which again could be why that they said the ship was full but it wasn't full like it definitely wasn't it was full of contractors but not full of people. Um, there was also we met a lot of entertainment staff families. 53:48.41 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 54:00.30 Jen Filling There were a lot of families on board for the entertainment staff and they had mentioned that they hadn't had the opportunity to see their children you know or their family members perform in the entertainment and they were given an opportunity to come on this cruise to see them. So I think they were all given an opportunity so there was like a lot of them. Um. 54:16.52 dclduo Right? Yeah yeah. 54:19.82 Jen Filling So maybe that's why they didn't cancel it because it wasn't full of a lot of guests. There were family and friends of get you know of of crew members on it. 54:26.30 dclduo Like right right? who who are yeah who and those folks are not just to be clear. Those folks are typically not paying a full passenger fare. That's not to say that they're getting a free cruise. They're usually not getting a free cruise. 54:39.91 Jen Filling Um, yes. 54:43.57 dclduo Um, but they are getting usually significant discounted crews if they are a family member not just family member of a Disney cast member but family member of a onboard a dcl cast member that's actually the the best discounts that you can get for dcl are if you are. Ah, related to a cast member that's on Dcl that's sort of the deepest level discount. So I wouldn't be surprised if if there were a lot of those. It might have played and and in particular actually the the Bruno and Marrabel are marbel event. Um the oncanto celebration that happened the day before while you all were in port. 55:04.14 Jen Filling Um, right. 55:20.31 dclduo I'm going to guess and this is a total guess because we did see some pictures and we did receive a picture from somebody who saw that event the day before the actual official event. But I I wonder if that was a 1 not publicized in the app purposely because but 2 55:36.77 Jen Filling Um. 55:37.40 dclduo If they invited the family members of the entertainment staff to come to that event specifically so that they could do a dry run because Disney is very well known for doing um, dry runs in front of family and friends before they do it in front of full full passenger fare passengers. Um, just so that they get there sort of it's not really a dress rehearsal. It's still they've got to be doing it. You know it's still a full um ah performance. But it's a little bit more of a friendly audience yelp. 56:08.10 Jen Filling Well, it's st and they do it in the parks too. My son in law is a cast member in entertainment at Hollywood Studios and we were invited to like the fantastic preview. Um, and they do it on purpose the whole point to it is to do previews so that they can work their kinks out. 56:18.97 dclduo So ah, yeah, yep. 56:23.59 dclduo Exactly right. 56:25.47 Jen Filling But in front of cast members and not in front of the guest. So um, it's like 2 sided it gives the cast members a chance to see something that they might not be able to see if they're working. But then it gives the people performing a chance to practice through things and in case there is a little glitcher. Kink in the in the process. It can be fixed then because nobody a cast member is not going to complain you know having when we went when we did the tron preview with him that you know it broke down in the middle and we're like well this is the point to this this is why we do this, you know we're supposed to practice breaking down. 56:44.40 dclduo Exactly. Right? right? right. 56:56.73 dclduo Right? Exactly exactly exactly. 57:02.31 Jen Filling So um, those are the things that and to be honest I think that um you know as a mother-in-law to a cast member that's an entertainment. It's it means so much more when you can see your child you know perform and I I felt for every single one of these family members that were there that could see their children. They hadn't seen them in four months 57:13.79 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 57:22.50 Jen Filling You know and their contracts getting ready to end in a couple months and this gave them an opportunity to really see their children shine and and it just warmed my heart because I get it I understand you know and my son in law changes his entertainment friend. 57:31.18 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 57:37.84 Jen Filling I like the first one in line to go see the the new one and um I get it and it meant a lot and we and we did meet a couple because of that then some of the crew members were able you saw them throughout the ship because they were with their family. Um, and you got to know them a little bit more too as well and to me it made it. 57:38.26 dclduo Ah. 57:56.85 Jen Filling I don't know when I watched the show like in dreams and I knew a couple of the people that I had met throughout the ship were in the show. It was more meaningful to me and I've seen dreams I I mean I mean how long's I've been around for 25 years right I think they said that was the first show. Um. 58:03.63 dclduo Absolutely a million times right? A million times. 58:14.70 Jen Filling So I just feel it just meant more I don't know because they because I knew like you know who they are and um I think that's another reason and they they probably did it because it was a port day. It was a popular fort. So I don't think there was as many people on the ship. You know. 58:15.50 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 58:28.79 dclduo Yep. 58:28.97 Jen Filling Um, so maybe that's why it wasn't a port that they normally go to you know Southern Caribbean is definitely their port to call or ones that are not. You know they're a little unique to Disney because they're more. Yeah, they're more eastern western and then of course not you know Bahamas and stuff. So. 58:36.61 dclduo Yeah, they're not to be missed. Yeah, so. 58:44.91 Jen Filling They're definitely unique and and a lot of people said they picked this particular sailing because of that because of the Southern Caribbean which is why we did there were 2 ports of call. We've never been to and that's why we picked it. Um, and of course it went out to San Juan the last time we did this itinerary we went out of poor canaver one it was 11 nights I I can't do 11 nights anymore. 58:53.98 dclduo Yeah, so. 58:59.62 dclduo Yes, oh were you on the twenty was that 2019 because we were on that cruise if it was oh okay, yeah, we were on the we were on the twenty nineteen eleven night cruise but they they have changed it. 59:04.23 Jen Filling That was I was thinking it was twenty seventeen on the fantasy I think it was 2017 we were the first sailing. 59:19.50 dclduo Different years. It's been 10 nights nine nights eleven nights so it it depends on the year but oh nice. 59:22.59 Jen Filling We were when the first one that they went to Kira Sal for the first time and Mickey went out on the port and they gave him a plaque. It was really nice. It was sweet I want to say it was twenty seventeen I don't know they all run together now. 59:32.26 dclduo Awesome! Cool. You know? Well Jen thank you so much for being on the show I really appreciate it. This is super helpful to hear feedback from what happened on the magic on this on its first sailing post dried up. Now I know you're a travel agent so I would love to for you to be able to share your information with our listeners if they are looking to book their next Disney Cruise or Disney vacation with you. How can they reach you. 01:00:04.30 Jen Filling Great. Thank you so much so I actually own about the memories travel. It's a small travel agency and ah you can reach me, you know via the website um or my Instagram is travel with underscore jen you can definitely message me there as well. Um I have a great team and we're always so happy to help others plan such magical vacations that is that is why we got into this and we and we do love it and again this cruise was not normal and I know that um it was definitely different. It's not normal for Disney and i. I would definitely and I I have trips booked already I would definitely book again. I might not book a dry dock again. But I definitely will be booking my next disney crew. So we would love to help anybody plan a magical vacation and thank you so much for this opportunity to talk to you today. 01:00:50.84 dclduo Thanks so much jen.