Ep. 316 - Bonus - Bring on the Fun Ships: A Carnival vs Disney Cruise Line Throw Down

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's bonus episode of the Dc L Duo Podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and Sam it's fun ship time and that used to call Carnival Cruise lines it was the carnival fun ships I think I think I got that right? but. 00:08.97 Jonathan Hile Yeah. 00:09.48 Sam Fun ship time. What does that mean. 00:16.83 Sam Oh I I had no idea of that No moniker. 00:19.53 dclduo Yeah, let's ask our guest Jonathan who is joining us a many time repeat guest welcome back Jonathan. 00:26.16 Jonathan Hile Thanks for having me on yet again I appreciate it so much. 00:30.79 dclduo So Emma Emma 00:30.84 Sam Yeah, we love having you on. Ah, you've become obviously a friend of ours through the the show and we've talked to you about many different Disney cruises talk to you about al lani. Um, we've even talked to you once before about carnival but we not talked to you about carnival panorama so this is an exciting show topic Today. We're gonna do a compare and contrast carnival panorama with Disney Cruise line of course. 00:47.41 Jonathan Hile Listen. 01:02.47 dclduo Yes, yes, and I do believe it was they were called the fun ships at 1 point and now they've got shaq is they're like mascot and all kinds of bizarre phrases that they're trying to do with ah with Shaq. So um. 01:13.25 Jonathan Hile And yeah, ah. 01:13.75 Sam You can't say mascot for a person but ah. 01:16.53 dclduo I Don't know I think they treat chichi o'neal like a mascot. So so ah yeah, exactly. 01:19.58 Jonathan Hile I don't think you're wrong about that Bryan I believe his official title is chief fun officer if I recall correctly. 01:27.29 Sam Oh I said that's funny I like it. 01:29.76 dclduo Ah I need that title at my job can I be president of fun and he can be the chief fun officer there you go? Well Jonathan before we dive into your amazing Carnival Cruise why don't you remind folks but your cruising creds and your Disney Cruise line creds too. 01:35.68 Jonathan Hile Um. 01:44.42 Jonathan Hile Sure so um, with this cruise that was our thirteenth total cruise um ten with dcl and this was our third with carnival. 01:53.87 dclduo Nice, nice. 01:56.80 Sam Wow! So you're really at this point I think committed to 2 ships now are 2 2 lines now. Ah now that you've cruised 3 times in carnival unless this change something of course and we'll ask you that question at the end. But. Um, yeah I mean you've you've sailed now 10 is a lot. You're platinum welcome to platinum next time you cruise I guess right. 02:16.66 Jonathan Hile I mean yeah next time well no well yeah I guess that would be our first cruise is platinum. Yeah, and then you're fast approaching pearl if you're not there already right. 02:24.70 Sam Um, yeah, we're not there yet, but we to be there. 02:25.35 dclduo Um, nice, not there yet not hear that we. We did book another cruise on our last cruise and so we will now be pearl this year if everything goes according to plan. So yes. 02:35.64 Sam Yeah, we we planned on 2024 but now it's looking like it might be 2023 but I don't want to I don't want to jinx anything so I'm still going to say 2024 is when we're gonna hit pearl but we'll we shall see. 02:49.69 dclduo We shall see yes, we shall see all right? Well, let's talk about Carnival Cruise line you have a bit of a reputation in the cruising community. Ah, some people think that they are booze cruises but we of course know I think it very much depends on the ceiling that you're on the experience that you get with carnival. Ah, and Jonathan you were on a bit of a unique sailing for us. Ah you were sailing out of the port of long beach on a seven night mexican Riviera Cruise aboard the carnival panorama um which I would expect would not be the booze Cruise crowd given the length of the cruise but let me start by asking the panorama. 03:08.86 Jonathan Hile And. 03:23.25 dclduo Ah, where does that fall in the list of Carnival ships in terms of size and amenities and age. 03:28.63 Jonathan Hile So I believe the total guest capacity is about forty six hundred forty five forty six hundred so it's ah it's a medium size ship on on around the same size as the disney dream or Disney fantasy. 03:43.18 Sam Yeah, or the wish. Yeah. 03:46.55 dclduo Yeah, all right, all right? And do you remember how old the ship is or is it is It is it an aging ship or is it a newership. 03:46.59 Jonathan Hile Or the wish correct. Yeah. 03:54.31 Jonathan Hile So that's a little murky because I believe the carnival panorama used to be a different ship but she was um, basically dry you know in in dry dog. She was gutted so much that they rechristened her as Carnival Panorama so I believe that that rechristening year is 2021 Twenty Twenty two maybe 04:17.53 dclduo Okay, well all right? Well let me back up a step and ask you've booked Disney cruises you've booked carnival cruises. What's your impression of the the booking process I mean 1 big difference I would suspect is. 04:17.78 Sam Oh wow. 04:34.60 dclduo Carnival probably has cruises available out past 2024 at this point and Disney's still struggling struggling to get us the winter itineraries. But but what's the booking process like for for carnival. 04:39.12 Jonathan Hile So the 1 thing about the booking process that I noticed that might turn some guess off and and this is probably more in line with other cruise lines like royal and and princess. Where Disney when they give you a price. It's the total price for however, many guests inclusive of taxes and fees when carnival you know you have to go all the way through the checkout process to know what the taxes and fees and port expenses are going to be and that's on top of the advertise rate. So if it says. Average nine ninety per person. Well then you're going to add approximately the 2 50 in taxes and fees on top of that. So really, it's you know it's closer to 1300. 05:26.46 Sam Oh interesting I didn't know that they advertised their pricing different than than disney does I didn't realize Disney was an outlier in in that. Um, in that case obviously we know and you know full disclosure to whoever's listening if you don't know this that carnival. Is going to be a less expensive cruise than a Disney Cruise of comparable length. Um and comparable itinerary. Um, but of course one of the things we always like to find out is what are sort of the hidden costs so these are the kinds of things that Jonathan is is helping highlight for us because. There is going to be that price disparity. Even after you I think include all of the addins and things like that on carnival versus Disney Cruise line um but it's helpful to know when you're budgeting your crewise right? What you're going to have to what's what's going to come out of your pocket in the end. 06:16.96 Jonathan Hile Right. 06:20.22 Sam Um, both before you sail and then and then while you're sailing. Um, why did you pick this itinerary in particular why Carnival What were the sort of the factors that went into deciding this cruise. 06:29.96 Jonathan Hile So so to try to summarize this story. This was actually a very first carnival cruise that we booked it was supposed to be on the mardi gras which was supposed to be around. You know I think that was supposed to sail in 2020 initially but 06:47.50 Sam Right. 06:49.43 Jonathan Hile Of course the pandemic pushed that aside so we ended up pushing this cruise back initially to 2022 to the same itinerary or on the panorama plans changed and we moved it to 2023 but we had decided to go on this cruise because we had not cruised out of. California off of the west coast and wanted to do something a little different than you know your your typical western caribbean we wanted to see yeah the the riviera side of Mexico so and it seemed like a fun fun itinerary and and you know we. Being that the crews kind of sailed out of long beach. We could add on a couple days at Disneyland if we wanted to. 07:31.22 Sam Yeah I was going to ask that very question. Ah knowing you Jonathan as we do and actually knowing that we were supposed to see you at Disney Land right um I think it's right. After you cruise on this sailing. We ended up canceling our trip because I was under the weather. Um, but yeah, how many days did you plan to go to Disneyland and did you end up going to disneyland. 07:58.26 Jonathan Hile I think initially we wanted to do 3 or 4 days but just with vacation availability and such we had to cut it to two days essentially was an overnight stay at at grand cow and we went to grand cow or I'm sorry. We went to Dca the first day and then Disneyland the second day that we were there. 08:21.74 Sam Awesome! Awesome now since this isn't a Disney Parks theme show. We won't belabor the park talk too much. 08:29.10 dclduo except except I want to ask Jonathan how did you get from Disneyland to the port of long beach and what was that port like. 08:41.43 Jonathan Hile Ah, so we actually did our stay at Disneyland after the cruise. So our travel plan we fully flew in on March Third the day before the cruise we flew into lax and we stayed at a hotel right on the main. Dregs was its is it century boulevard that lax is on so we stayed at one of the hotels right along there and then the next morning we got on the hotel shuttle back to the airport picked up carnival transportation from lax and they took us to the port of long beach. 09:00.44 dclduo Seems right. 09:15.73 Sam Oh very smart. 09:17.69 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah, yeah, it was it was convenient. It worked out. Um and then so the the the port at long beach is a it's a domed building. It's a a very high ceiling dome building kind of in the style of. Spaceship earth you know it's it's got the geometric shapes on it. Um, but it's ah it's a huge terminal building. Ah the the boarding process was definitely not as smooth as Disney um, for sure and I mean even sailing disney out of um. Other ports was not nearly as as much of a a hassle as this was there were we had to wait in multiple lines then they kind of once we had presented all of our documentation and got checked into the ship. Um, we just kind of sat in this terminal building for. Over an hour until they started even boarding the first group of people. Um I think it took us probably a total of two and a half hours from the arrival at the port to get on the ship. So. It's a bit of a drawn out process. 10:27.41 dclduo What and I should I should ask we should back up for a second because 1 thing we missed is the you know pre-cruise activity booking process at Disney that's a very regimented process but I'm curious for carnival. What's it like trying to book your pre-cruise activities and do they have anything approaching the. 10:27.61 Sam Wow. 10:46.30 dclduo Port arrival time that everyone has to get for Disney Cruise 10:49.83 Jonathan Hile So yeah, So the the activity booking process for Carnival was pretty simple I mean I Never really ran it any major issues because you can start booking activities Essentially as soon as you're you've booked your cruise and made your deposit. Um. You know you don't have to wait until pay and full to book activities and the way that Carnival kind of gets around that so you know instead of whenever you book an excursion if you book a dinner or anything like that pre-cruise you actually pay for it upfront it doesn't get reserved and then added to your stateroom folio. Once you're on board. 11:26.95 dclduo It doesn't so they don't prechharge. You're saying Disney Rank 11:29.67 Jonathan Hile They Disney doesn't Prechharge Carnival does precharge for excursions booked and dinners at specialty restaurants and and drink packages and any other add-ons. 11:39.82 dclduo And then and then what does it mean if you end up canceling or moving your cruise. Do they refund those things back to you or are you are you out of luck. 11:42.24 Sam Um. 11:46.97 Jonathan Hile No, they would refund those back to you on the original form of payment. So if you use a carnival gift card they would instead of crediting back the gift card like Disney tends to do they send you a new gift card if you pay on a credit card or. You know with ah with your bank card then of course it would get credited back to that original payment method. 12:07.87 dclduo Gotcha and do they have any what I'll call skip the line. Add-ons that you can purchase pre-cruise. So the example I'll give is going on a royal caribbean cruise next month and there was something I could pre-purchae called the key that gave me some of the equivalent to first aboard. Kind of access or like what concierge would be on Disney Cruise line where you board first ahead of everybody else. Do they do anything like that on carnival. 12:32.50 Jonathan Hile They do. It's called faster to the fun and it includes priority boarding at the Cruise Terminal Faster Check in. Um, it includes Priority Water Shuttle Axis If you're at a tender port It Priority debarcation on port days. 12:44.27 dclduo He. 12:49.50 Jonathan Hile Um, it there are some other perks that I can't think of I can't think of all of them. But that does exist? Yeah, um and I think they get to board right around. They're maybe the third or fourth group that's called people with status and people in suites of course get the first. 13:09.16 Jonathan Hile Um, they're first aboard the ship. 13:09.53 dclduo Got it and what are their kinds of what other kinds of things you book precruise on carnival I mean that you wouldn't be booking on Disney like I'm thinking about drink packages or restaurant add ons those sorts of thing. 13:10.28 Sam Right? I like the name I have to say. 13:22.87 Jonathan Hile Um, correct so you can book your drink packages and with carnival they have 2 different options. They have the bottomless bubbles which is your canned canned soda products. Ah, they have no soda fountains on board. The ship at all everything is served in cans right? I agree I think it's a. 13:41.54 Sam What that's terrible I'm sorry that's yeah fountain So fountain soda always beats ah can soda. But. 13:52.19 Jonathan Hile Yeah I've always questioned that myself and it yeah it doesn't seem like it makes a whole lot of sense and that's a lot of aluminum waste right? Um, so the other option is their cheers package which is their premium beverage package which includes. 13:58.47 dclduo Yeah. 13:58.59 Sam Yeah. 14:09.32 Jonathan Hile Up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day up to $20 in value so you can get I think and this this carnival I think is an outlier as well with that because there are some cruise liness where it is truly unlimited. 14:14.80 dclduo Ah, but. 14:24.36 Jonathan Hile You know, of course if you're visibly intoxicated I believe they can exercise the right not to serve you but carnival has a hard and fast 15 limit per day and that I think that periodry runs 6 am to 6 a m something like that. 14:27.24 Sam Right. 14:37.79 dclduo God if I ever hit 15 drinks in a day I would be in trouble I'd be one of those stories that we hear about carnival people going overboard. Ah so I hope that drink package comes with a priority search and rescue as well. Um, so okay, so drink packages and then what about like. 14:47.28 Jonathan Hile Um. 14:50.56 Sam Um. 14:54.65 dclduo Dining on board. Ah, how's that What let's just ask? what's the dining setup I'm assuming they have some specialty restaurants and offerings on board that you could probably prepay for or or purchase a package for but how does that work. 15:04.13 Jonathan Hile Correct so you have 2 main dining rooms on every carnival ship. You have the dining room for the set dining times of I think five forty five and eight thirty and then you have a second dining room for your time dining which is the flexible dining time where you can basically. Check in on the app and you can show up anytime between five thirty and I think ninepm to start your meal. Service. Um, oh. 15:31.14 Sam And do you have to do you have to choose any time versus regular traditional dining before you board or how is that decided. 15:40.47 Jonathan Hile You typically do that when you book your cruise you choose your dining time and if available you can change it throughout the process as you're waiting for your cruise you can make changes if you'd like. 15:52.44 Sam Cool. 15:53.53 dclduo Anything else. We've missed Jonathan in terms of like having to prebook like I you know I think about the waterslides on a Disney Cruise I know carnival is going to have a lot more activities up on that top deck but are there things that you would prepay to get special access to from an activity standpoint on board. The ship. 16:11.80 Jonathan Hile Um, to my knowledge. No because I think the only premium activities are oh actually the Carnival Panorama I believe is the only ship in its class that has a sky Zone Trampoline park on board. 16:27.14 Sam Ah, ooh that looks that sounds fun. 16:28.77 Jonathan Hile So that is something that is a an upcharge experience but you can you can pre-book that in advance so you can book that once you get on the ship and you can reserve a time. 16:38.84 Sam Awesome. 16:40.10 dclduo Got it. Got it all right? Well you make it through the morass that is boarding at Port Long beach or perhaps that is just a problem for Carnival in general ah people should feel free to be screaming at their radios and writing into us if I'm getting this all wrong. 16:55.42 Jonathan Hile Um. 16:55.94 dclduo If you're a huge carnival enthusiast we want to hear from you because we do love to hear from folks who like to say all other cruise lines so feel free to send those emails dcl duo at Gmail.com but you get on board. What's the you know what's the panorama like in terms of you know the experience for Disney is you board into a grand atrium they call your name. Lots of theming what's it like getting on board the carnival panorama. 17:18.47 Jonathan Hile So the carnival panorama was a unique voting process compared to the other carnival chips and of course Disney. Um, so when we boarded we actually were on I believe it was deck five so we were kind of. 17:34.72 Jonathan Hile We were led over you know across from the the terminal building to the ship. Ah via the gangway but then they used the the walkway out on the outside of Deck 5 to kind of lead you in and we ended up. Ah, when we boarded it was right in front of the main lounge where they had a lot of the shows so it was kind of it was kind of unique because you didn't walk into a Grand Atrium. You didn't even walk into an atrium of any kind you kind of walked to it, you entered. Um, the forwarde of the ship and right there was a lounge.. It's kind of a unique process and I wonder I Almost wonder if the the ship was kind of purpose built for that to you know to make the boarding process a little easier because it's a set pathway. Um. 18:12.25 dclduo Gotcha gotcha. 18:26.75 Jonathan Hile Rather than being you know, having to I guess add more to the terminal building. Perhaps. 18:32.87 dclduo Um, yeah, what what kind of room did you book on board Jonathan. 18:36.89 Jonathan Hile We had booked a spa category room which was a higher deck room I think we were on Deck ten or Deck Eleven um and it and it was so the room was a little bit. 18:40.95 dclduo Um. 18:52.36 Jonathan Hile Differently decorated than the other rooms on board. We had upgraded elementlamos ah toiletries in the shower so we had shampoo and body wash that were elements brand versus whatever brand they use on chip in in the other state rooms. Um and the other thing and I know. 18:58.93 Sam No nice. 19:11.66 Jonathan Hile Brian I think I had tease you with this. It was that the the spa act this ballroom actually comes with access cruise long to the thermal suites which is very similar to the rainforest room on Disney ships. 19:20.80 dclduo Oh and are you positioned close to the spa. So it's like easy to get to the thermal suites or the ship those spa rooms just spread throughout the ship. 19:34.13 Jonathan Hile Nope they are right close to the Spa. You can either like where our rooms situated there is a we could go around to our rooms kind of I think our room is the last room on the corridor so we could walk around the corner and walk down a ramp into the Spa. Um, or you could access the spa from the elevators which were not too far in the other direction from our state room. 19:54.77 dclduo Nice say I'm pausing in case you want to want to ask anything. 20:02.43 Sam No sorry I I'm dealing with child care things. So that's I'm um my I'm like here but I'm like have not here I'm sorry Jonathan. 20:07.47 dclduo Oh okay, I'll keep going I'll keep going I'll keep going all right? Um, well Jonathan after you get settled well back up. 20:11.73 Jonathan Hile Um, it's so good. 20:18.74 dclduo So after you get on board is your stateroom ready pretty close in time or is it like Disney where you have to wait until you know one two o'clock in the afternoon before staterooms are ready. Okay. 20:24.20 Jonathan Hile By the time we got on board and got lunch. Our stay room was ready so it was It was very much we we just took our you know book bags into the dining area with us I. I Can't remember I think we had just eaten on the pull deck that morning or of embarkation I Don't think we went to a dining room to sit down. No. 20:45.66 dclduo What yeah, it's going to ask what are your options once you get on board for food obviously on Disney Cruise line you've got like a sit down lunch or cabanas ah similar on carnival or what what's what's available. 20:56.78 Jonathan Hile See you had all the po deck food which on carnival ships is typically a burger place which is guy Fierri um, it's I think it's guy. Guy's burger joint is what it's called so you know it has that that guy Fieri flair. Um. 21:01.65 dclduo If. 21:08.16 dclduo Yep. 21:12.74 Jonathan Hile Decorated with license license plates and car memorabilia and stuff. Um, then you have a cantina where there's tacos Burritos Taco salads and such you have the buffet of course the lito Market they call it Lito Marketplace on Carnival Um, so you could eat there and I. Do not know if there was a sit down restaurant if you know or rather um, you know one of the main dining rooms was available I'm not sure of that. 21:37.92 dclduo Okay, and what's the what's the crowd like on board this sailing in terms of you know demographics Lots of families young couples like what what was the crowd like. 21:50.18 Jonathan Hile It was a nice mixture actually um, all ages I mean there weren't too many young kids but there were kids there were teenagers. There were families. Um, Carnival seems to get a lot of big groups that travel together like a lot of people will you know. 22:01.51 Sam That means. 22:06.69 Jonathan Hile Book a group of 10 fifteen twenty staterooms. 22:09.34 dclduo Well. 22:10.30 Sam Oh wow I wonder why that is I wonder if they have um group if they do group pricing or if they do special you know offerings for group cruises that sort of a thing. Um, you know we hear you hear a lot about themed cruising on carnival I know they do a lot of the ah the themed group cruises. We've talked with Paul Thornton about those. But yeah, any insight on the group situation. Jonathan. 22:37.93 Jonathan Hile Ah I imagine they they must have some pretty attractive group rates I don't know specifics because I've never booked 1 but yeah I imagine they have to have some kind of you know good group rate or at the very least because of the lower. Entry costs. You know to to get your cruise ticket. Perhaps that's just a more attractive option for larger groups. 23:01.79 dclduo Well, let's unpack some of the amenities on board. The ship here Jonathan so what kinds of things can you get up to on board and perhaps let me caveat the question with you know what's the differences between a Carnival Cruise and a Disney Cruise line from an activity standpoint. Obviously they're both can have bars. Bos you know that sort of stuff. But what? what sets carnival apart from Disney in terms of the onboard amenities and things you can get up to. 23:27.10 Jonathan Hile Sure so I think one of the biggest things that separates carnival from Disney of course you know the the level of production on the shows and and the fact that you know whenever you go see one of their shows that they advertise as kind of their signature entertainment. It's more of in a lounge setting. It's not in a a theater with stadium style seating like the Walt Disney theater offers. You know it's very much a lounge setting so you've got a lot of just um, basic chairs and then you've got ah at least on the carnival panorama. Um. 23:49.13 Sam So. 24:02.77 Jonathan Hile The lounge was 2 floors kind of like Luna on the wish. Ah so you had seating on both floors and along the ah along the sides of the lounge you had more of your theater style seating which you know was the the seats that fold down you know and. 24:20.21 Sam Um. 24:21.47 Jonathan Hile Automatically Rise back up after you stand up but the the rest of the lounge was just chairs kind of arranged in in very even uniform rows. 24:31.40 Sam Oh interesting, not like not like tables and chairs like a jazz club or anything like that interesting. Interesting. 24:38.94 Jonathan Hile Right? right? Just just rows and rows of chairs. Um, as far as other entertainment so you've got you've got a club that's almost always featuring a comedian. There's a piano bar which is. 24:41.38 dclduo Interesting. 24:56.51 Jonathan Hile Popular in the evenings. It's only open I think starting at six P M seven p M something like that. Um, and they usually run to about 11 am you've got some of the ships have a club like a dance club that you can go to? um. Now up on the pool deck as far as activities you've got every ship is different. So I mean you've got your so you know you've got your water slides your your wet play areas your pools. Um, you've got some adult exclusive areas and pools. Um. Up on the I guess the sports deck is I believe it's called sports and spa deck on carnival um, you've got your mini golf course. You've got table tennis you've got ah cornhole um games you've got foozeball. Um. 25:32.87 dclduo E. 25:46.92 Jonathan Hile But at least on the carnival panorama. There were 2 activities. There was a ropes course which is free to participate I thought it might be and 1 of those things that that's an upcharge but it wasn't it was free to participate. Um, and then there's it's called sky ride. It's. 25:51.16 dclduo He. 25:53.28 Sam Um, oh cool. 26:05.76 Jonathan Hile Basically like an elevated bike that goes around you know completes the circuit of the ship and you can look over. Um your kind of law. It's like it's a pedal bike on an elevated track. Yes, of course. 26:15.32 Sam Oh that's fun and yeah and and is that is that one an extra caused that was oh. 26:18.41 dclduo Are you strapped in I I suppose Ah right all right? Otherwise you might explain some of the news articles. We've seen all right keep going. 26:29.63 Jonathan Hile Ah, no, that one was included as well. Yeah yeah I think the only premium activity that cost anything was the trampoline park that I mentioned earlier. 26:31.88 Sam So that's really nice. Yeah trampoline. Yeah yeah. 26:37.12 dclduo It But what was the line like for that kind of stuff was it a long wait to get on those things or were the pretty easy. 26:43.41 Jonathan Hile On c days is a little busier on port days. You know much like the the pull deck entertainment options on Disney cruises. You know your your c days are going to be busy or your port days are going to be less busy. 26:56.12 dclduo Know and the other question I have for you on the pool deck side of things Jonathan so I I've seen the videos of of a carnival pool deck with the cannonball competitions. Lots of party time vibes. 26:56.19 Sam Yeah, yeah. 27:09.81 Jonathan Hile To. 27:12.27 dclduo But I don't know if those are coming off the shorter cruises. You know out of you know places like Miami port canaveral that sort of thing. Um, how was the pool deck on this sailing was it approachable you know were there are quiet spots where you could find chairs or was it super crowded. Super party time like what was it like. 27:25.47 Sam Yeah, give us it give us a vibe check on this. 27:30.64 Jonathan Hile Um, a vibe check on the it was actually very calm very organized. It was. It was not a party atmosphere. Um I mean. 27:40.74 Jonathan Hile It's it's hard to tell because the pool deck is always busy because there's so much going on. Of course you've got your pool deck food. You've got multiple bars and and areas that you can explore. Um, that's where the the buffet and Lito Marketplace is so it's ah it's always busy. But yeah, it wasn't really a party. Atmosphere. It didn't feel like you know like ah just a ah boat full of alcoholics. 28:04.60 Sam Ah, well, that's good to hear. Um, what about um, inside type activities. We've talked about some of the nighttime activities. But I'm wondering about you know what folks are getting up to during the day is there I don't know movie theater is there trivia going on what kinds of. 28:07.87 dclduo Ah. 28:23.59 Sam Things can you get up to particularly on in sea days because obviously on port days. Most people are getting off the ship in the Mexican rivier. 28:31.84 Jonathan Hile Um, there's there's trivia constant pretty much constantly happening somewhere on the ship. Um there sometimes there's board game like ah competition games. There's scavenger hunts. There's ah, you've got there is no movie theater. At least on on the carnival panorama. It's not something that's common on every ship I believe a very small percentage of the of the fleet have movie theaters that show first run movies carnival tends to do pool deck movie nights where. 28:51.96 Sam E. 29:03.30 Sam Right? so. 29:05.10 Jonathan Hile You know you'll you'll go up in the pool deck and they'll show a recent um blockbuster film or a classic film that everybody can enjoy and they do offer free popcorn. So. 29:13.00 Sam Oh well, they have a one up on Disney on the free popcorn. You only get free popcorn on Disney and concierge and that's it everybody else has pay for although I will say for those of you listening you have to buy the the popcorn the first time because if you if you buy 1 of the reusable buckets. 29:23.84 Jonathan Hile Um. 29:32.92 Sam And then they will sell you just the refills and it's only like $2 for a refill. So that's the pro tip on the popcorn at Disney Cruise line but free popcorn sends lovely I'm a sucker for some popcorn but I know Brian's laughing at me. 29:42.24 Jonathan Hile Um. 29:46.50 dclduo Yeah, wait. 29:49.62 Jonathan Hile Um, there's shopping presentations. There's bingo on board. There's a casino of course that is a a big thing on on most lines other than Disney is the casino. So. 30:00.39 Sam How how big or prominent is the casino and you know is it going all day is it really only a nighttime activity and what kinds of things do they have in their casino is it. You know. 30:14.32 Jonathan Hile Um, and. 30:14.78 Sam Majority Slot machines, Majority table games sort of what does it look like. 30:19.42 Jonathan Hile So the casino is typically open on sea days from pretty early until I think 2 or 3 am on port days. It is not open while you're in port just like the shops on board not open while you're in port. Um. 30:26.30 Sam Oh Wow right. 30:35.11 Jonathan Hile As far as the the amount of games. It's it's a healthy mixture I would say it leans it definitely leans more heavily towards slots towards slots I would say probably 8020 um slot machines versus table games. 30:48.41 Sam Um. 30:50.35 Jonathan Hile You've got tournaments that go on in the casino. You've got you've got some other games of skill that aren't um, just you know hitting the button on the slot machine. There might be a claw game where you can try to grab a stack of cash or you know something like that. 31:00.21 Sam Um, right? Oh our son would go crazy for that. He like he always wants to play those claw machines and I'm always telling them that they're rigged and they're really hard to win. 31:05.46 dclduo Yeah. 31:16.37 dclduo Oh yeah, because they'll be because they'll be less rigged in a casino see. But. 31:18.64 Sam And of course no no I know they'll be like worse in a casino but like but he he 1 time went to the family fund center here in Renton Washington and he actually won like this multicolor like bouncy. Ball um or like outdoor kind of ball. Um and he was so thrilled and from then on he thought like he could basically beat every claw machine. So I feel like he would he would see that wad of cash and he'd be like a mull over that mom I mean of course. 31:49.66 dclduo Well, he wouldn't even be allowed. He wouldn't even me allowed in that space. So ah. 31:53.29 Jonathan Hile Well believe it or not you I believe the casino on the panorama was on Deck five and it was right through the the main promenade like you you basically had to walk through the casino to get from. 31:54.81 Sam I Know I know I know. 32:06.66 Sam So you walked? Yeah yeah I think that's that's that's the case on a lot of ships you have to at least walk through the casino is it um, did they do smoking indoors in the casino there though. 32:11.80 Jonathan Hile Forward to aft. 32:11.53 dclduo Amazing. 32:21.55 Jonathan Hile That is the downside. Yeah, you are allowed to smoke in the casino. The the rule is supposed to be. You must be actively playing at a slot machine in order to you know at a machine or a table to be able to smoke like you can't just go stand in and. 32:23.23 dclduo No. 32:23.80 Sam Yeah, yeah. 32:32.60 Sam Stand and smoke. Yeah yeah, but I'm I'm guessing. They're not great at enforcing I mean in general that casinos aren't great at enforcing things like smoking right? because. 32:37.71 Jonathan Hile Smoke right? That's what the the smoking areas are for. 32:52.19 Jonathan Hile Um, ah right right. 32:52.49 Sam They want people to stay in play right? That's that's the whole point. Yeah. 32:55.29 dclduo I want to ask about 2 kind of special populations. So one is aside from the casino where they're dedicated like adults only spaces on board like you find on Disney Cruise line let's start there and then I'll go to my second special population. 33:11.39 Jonathan Hile Sure yeah, so carnival offers an area called serenity. It's usually on one of the higher decks and it consists of an adult pool or adults only lounge and pool area and there's typically a bar of course available for for cocktails. Um. Yeah, you, you kind of have to go out of your way to get to it so it's it's very secluded. It's honestly serenity reminds me a lot of how ah the cove area is on the Disney wish because it's so far out of the way like if you have to purposely go to that area. You're not going to have a lot of kids wandering through. 33:45.17 Sam Um, yeah, yeah. 33:47.00 Jonathan Hile Like you do on the classic ships. Ah yeah I think it's I think it's fair to say it's a lot bigger. Ah they had 2 circular hot tubs in a pool in that area. 33:49.14 dclduo Gotcha but is it a bigger size What we found on the wish. 33:57.87 dclduo Um. 34:00.72 dclduo Nice, nice. What about kids? Do they have a kids club on board and do they have any sort of open house. We might have gone to check it out and see what it's like. 34:14.18 Jonathan Hile So they do have multiple kids clubs on board just like Disney it's organized by age groups. So you've got your um I believe you've got you like your 3 to 9 or 3 to 11 then you got your 12 to about. 34:29.48 Jonathan Hile I think it's 3 to 9 Ah 10 to 12 and then 12 and up I believe is how they they organize and it's three separate spaces so you know much like ocean ears club lab and vibe and edge on on Disney Ships 34:33.22 Sam Mean. 34:44.90 Sam Yeah, yeah. 34:45.20 dclduo And did you get a chance to peek inside. 34:48.15 Jonathan Hile Not really because I didn't notice an open house like I did with Disney through the app. So I'm not I have no idea what their spaces include. 34:56.69 dclduo Interesting, interesting. 34:59.38 Sam Ah, Spoiler Jonathan doesn't have children. So and of course on Disney he absolutely did check out the space on the wish because he is a crazy. Ah, star wars and star trek actually person so he had to check out the ah the space of the the star wars cargo. What do they call it the cargo something or other cargo cargo bay thank you cargo bay yeah on the wish. Yeah. 35:24.60 Jonathan Hile Cargo bay. 35:28.55 dclduo Well so it's a not a let me see this again. So should before we go there. So what ports did you stop at on this cruise Jonathan and did you do any carnival port excursions. 35:42.82 Jonathan Hile We did we so our ports were Puertovayarta Masetlan and cavas and Lucas which I know is a dc ah dcl duo favorite. 35:52.69 Sam Yes, absolutely. 35:57.68 dclduo Um, how are the how are the short excursion offerings for those ports from carnival. 36:02.54 Jonathan Hile They were all very I mean there was a range of activities. You know everything from if you wanted to be really active and do hiking biking if you wanted ah like ah a higher adventure like an Atv tour. You know it. It definitely ran the the spectrum of activities and then. You know plenty of activities for exposure to local culture through food or drink or anything like that. Um, and then you you know you you have your other excursions you have catamaran sales and whale watching and parissaling and and you know other other. Ah, higher energy activities as well. So it. It definitely ran the the spectrum of of offerings. 36:43.64 dclduo And how is it in terms of pricing ah gcs short excursions can be pretty expensive and I'm wondering if Carnival is just on par that that's one of sort of the quote unquote Hidden costs. You might find on board or were they a little less expensive. 36:56.15 Jonathan Hile I Believe they were quite reasonably priced at Carnival's Carnival actually states if you find a lower price from a ah provider they will match it. Yeah. 37:05.71 Sam Wow, That's incredible. That's I mean. 37:07.62 dclduo Know ah, ah Disney to be Disney short searches be out of business if they did to see like ah oh wow. 37:13.50 Jonathan Hile So we did we did 2 excursions we did whale watching in Puerto Val Artta and salsa and salsa and moet lawn and i. 37:24.83 Sam Oh late. 37:27.70 Jonathan Hile I believe the whale watching was a hundred twenty nine per person and the salsa was maybe eighty nine per person. 37:30.48 Sam Oh that's good. Yeah. 37:37.40 Sam Yeah, that sounds kind of on par with actually it doesn't like it sounds pretty on par with what our salsa and salsa excursion was which was in Cabo not in Mast law. But it was it sounds like so spoiler. We've talked offline no novel recording. 37:49.79 Jonathan Hile Um, this is. 37:56.64 Sam Ah, over over Messenger and um, it sounds like your salsa and salsa excursion was really like the same model as what our salsa and salsa excursion where you made salsa. You danced a little salsa. They give you some tokitos and lots of margarita. Ah. 38:11.34 Jonathan Hile Um, exactly the same I I would I would venture to say it's probably the same tour operator that does both because I mean Maatlan and Kabo are not that far apart. 38:22.14 Sam Yeah, yeah, well and was it at a resort like a local resort or something that hosted. Yeah, okay, that's I kind of assumed but I realized we had never actually asked you that question. So yeah, so what would what did you? So what did you think about? yeah. 38:22.80 dclduo Yeah. 38:29.17 Jonathan Hile Um, yep. 38:35.80 dclduo Well I actually hold him on say so I will say I'm looking at the Disney Cruise line website and Jonathan did get a deal because the salsa and salsa tour that we did in Cabo was one hundred and nine dollars a person and $79 for child so $89 38:48.25 Sam Oh. 38:53.72 dclduo That's forty bucks for a couple. So yeah, that's a little less expensive. So there you go if Disney Cruise line had to honor the short excursion prices of other cruise lines then we would have saved $40 on our short excursion. 39:05.81 Sam Yeah, well and I I want to? um I want to ask you 1 question that I already know the answer because I saw your video on Facebook but tell us about the whale watching that you did um I'll say it looked like. You got a pretty incredible view. 39:21.60 Jonathan Hile Yeah, So the the short excursion was called Whale watching up close and you know I'm thinking. Okay, we're going to be On. You know a smaller boat. Um, you know something with with higher. You know, like just a higher um platform to stand On. No This this boat was basically a motorboat with a steel motorboat that you would find you know on a lake somewhere and it had these inflatable um sides to you know that that you know ah adjusted the height so that. When you were in the when you were in the Boat. You were basically um, no more than a foot from the surface of the ocean it it was yeah it was exactly as advertised and kind of kind of scary at first if I'm being perfectly. Honest, um, you know. 40:05.49 Sam Um, yeah. 40:15.79 Jonathan Hile They were. They were going through the ocean at a pretty fast rate and it felt it felt uncomfortable at first. But then you get used to it because just just being that close to the surface of the water I think you you really get a better sense of the speed that you're going. 40:34.26 Sam Oh yeah, yeah, and you got some amazing ah you got some amazing video of whales I mean that where I I I think there were humpback whales am I right? That's usually what you see in Mexico um, in the at least the mexican riviera these gray humpback whales but you guys. 40:43.13 Jonathan Hile And. 40:48.51 Jonathan Hile Are. 40:51.59 Sam Had a couple that were really quite close tell us about that. 40:55.41 Jonathan Hile Yeah, they were. They were surprisingly active. Um our our guides for the excursion had no idea that we were going to see as much action as we did because it is at the time that we went it was kind of towards the end of. Birthing season for the humpbacks so they were getting ready to migrate back up North a little bit but what we happened to come upon a mother and her child and I can't remember the term they called it but more like an escort basically to protect them. 41:12.86 Sam Um. 41:30.15 Jonathan Hile To protect to protect the mother and child but it is not the sire of the child. It's just yeah. 41:32.83 Sam Oh Wow, It's just like somebody else from their pod another whale in their pod. Oh cool. Well, That's the cool thing about whales right? They have these um pods that they travel with that aren't necessarily familiarly related to them. They can be. They can be aunts and Uncles and things like that. But like. They travel in these groups I know this because this is how orcas travel in the Pacific Northwest as well. But like it's That's just so cool. Yeah you you got some great video like I said um, we'll have to share it ah with when we promote this show. We'll have to wear it out because. 42:02.22 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah. 42:08.97 Sam I Thought it was really really fantastic. But you got you got lucky for sure. 42:11.49 Jonathan Hile Yeah, the the baby was definitely showing off because he was yeah he was learning the behaviors. You know he was learning the breach behaviors he was learning all of that stuff. You know Mom was teaching him and letting him so he was kind of at that point where you know he's like. 42:17.57 Sam Me. 42:29.59 Jonathan Hile I've got this mom I'm going to show off now. Yep. 42:31.41 Sam He's showing off a little bit but love it. 42:31.71 dclduo Um. 42:34.67 dclduo Nice. Well, we've talked should be back up so what have we missed here Jonathan I'm I'm going to have some specific questions around some comparisons here around like food and entertainment and things like that. But in terms of the ship. The short excursion. The. 42:48.88 Jonathan Hile Are. 42:53.59 dclduo Activities on board have we hit the big differences in your mind or is there anything we're missing. 42:58.23 Jonathan Hile I think the one thing that we didn't really talk about is the amount of premium restaurants on board carnival and the amount of options that you have so yeah on Disney ships. You've got Palo and in pao only on the the magic class then you've got pao and remy or pao and on chante. 43:03.82 Sam E. 43:17.73 Jonathan Hile Um, but carnival has ah a much broader selection. So the panorama for example, had a tepan yaki place a steakhouse. Um, they have an italian restaurant they have. It's called Gigi Asian kitchen 43:28.27 Sam Um. 43:36.86 Jonathan Hile Um, they had a seafood shack a sushi place and a chef's table so quite a few options available for um, anywhere from $18 at the italian restaurant and gigi up to I think. 43:42.85 Sam Oh nice. Thanks. 43:55.91 Jonathan Hile 48 for the steakhouse and I think the tepa yaaki was somewhere in between and about $25 a person and I want ah right I would say that was you know. 44:03.75 Sam Interesting. Yeah I Wonder what? Ah what the Chef's table was ah what that cost was because you expect to be a fine dining meal. 44:14.23 Jonathan Hile Probably 1 25 to 51 44:18.23 Sam Which is still I mean better than you're going to get on Land. You know you're giving up your main dining. But um, what did you guys do as far as dining when on the ship did you choose to? you know, eat main dining did you? um. Ah, and and if so did you do the anytime or the set dining schedules and then what if any of the specialty dining. Did you do. 44:41.31 Jonathan Hile Sure so we did do the the your time dining so we had a lot more flexibility and when we chose to sat down ah, of course the you know the downside to that is you're never in the same section. You know you you don't have the same serving team like you would on Disney. 44:53.25 Sam Right. 44:59.90 Jonathan Hile Um, now I've never done a set dining time with carnival so I don't know if you still have the same table assignment every night if you're in the the you know the the the set dining times I am not sure. 45:14.83 Jonathan Hile We're doing a cruise in July on carnival where we're taking our nephews and we're doing the the set dining time. We're not doing the your time. So um I can I can let you know after that. Um and then so then one night we did choose so it was. 45:21.43 Sam Um, will have to report back after that. Yeah yeah. 45:33.53 Jonathan Hile Cruise with my wife and I of course and then we cruise with her parents. They came along with us. Um, and it was her dad's Seventieth birthday while we were on board so we ate at the italian restaurant which is called cacina del capitanno on on carnival at least on the carnival panorama that was the name of it. Um. 45:36.60 Sam Oh nice. 45:53.37 Jonathan Hile And it was really good. It was a really good meal experience I had probably some of the best pasta in my entire life. Ah on that chip. Um, it was ah it was a pesto with I can't remember everything that was in it. There were I think there was. 46:01.88 Sam Um, wow. 46:13.37 Jonathan Hile I am I'm at a loss for what was in it if I'm being perfectly. Honest, okay there were shrimp um green beans in a pesto cream sauce and what what was unique about. 46:18.74 Sam Ah, that's all right. 46:19.50 dclduo Um. 46:31.80 Jonathan Hile Carnivalship is every single carnival ship's italian restaurant has a a unique dish that's only available on that ship at that restaurant and it's typically ah it's a dish that typically is created in honor of the first captain of that ship. 46:38.52 Sam How nice. 46:47.64 Sam Oh cool. 46:50.57 Jonathan Hile And and the vast majority of carnival's captains come from italy so that's why every ship has an italian restaurant and almost every and every first captain has a dish named after them or or created in their honor. 47:03.71 Sam Oh that's awesome. Did it did everybody enjoy the the food that they had gotten I know your wife is a bit of a picky eater right? And so I'm curious as to how she does with the food on Carnival Um I. 47:11.42 Jonathan Hile She is. 47:21.30 Sam I imagine they've got you know, simple food like they do for you know on the kids menu on Disney I'm sure they've got some simple food. Um, when I say simple food I mean not ah exotic or spicy or you know, ah not for the for the non-adventurous eater. Let me put it that way. 47:29.80 Jonathan Hile Um. 47:41.20 Jonathan Hile Yeah, so every at least in the main dining room every night they have pretty accessible dining options. You know, entree options. Um, they have typically 2 soups, 2 hot soups sometimes they'll have a cold soup. They have your salads but then. 47:41.25 Sam Ah. 47:57.75 Jonathan Hile Ah, they have shrimp cocktail and it's kind of ah you kind of have shrimp cocktail every night you have 1 or 2 hot soups every night but they kind of rotate through and then you've got a special couple special appetizers that are only available that night and then occasionally they'll have like what they call a rare find where. 48:06.26 Sam I mean. 48:16.97 Jonathan Hile You know that's going to be something like escargo or alligator is something they have one night um they have you know they have some you know some more adventurous palette options. Um, the mains are typically themed to that night so 48:20.00 Sam Um, oh nice. Yeah. 48:34.50 Jonathan Hile Ah, like often there was like say american men unite or um, yeah, basically she almost you know she found something pretty much every night that she would have you know that she enjoyed. Ah, actually the the night that we decided to eat at the italian restaurant was the one night where she was like I don't know if there's anything on this menu. So let's go for the italian restaurant. So um I will say the 1 thing about carnival's main dining room that is different than Disney is they have. 48:58.72 Sam Well that works. 49:10.23 Jonathan Hile Upcharge entrees on the menu every single night so like some nights where yeah, it's basically you're ordering food from the steakhouse and it's you know there's surf and turf. There's fileet maybe like a New York strip you know that's anywhere I think that's. 49:11.41 Sam Oh interesting. 49:28.38 Jonathan Hile $20 for an upcharge entree. 49:31.32 Sam Ah, wow, Do they have like ah just ah I don't know a strip steak or a hangar steak or some some you know base level steak on the menu every night and then it's just if you're getting a finer cut or or is it really if you want steak you're going to be stuck. With that up charge stop. 49:47.76 Jonathan Hile No so much like Disney every night there's you know there's the the lighter appetite or the you know the the less seasoned foods. They always have like a fish um ah a grill chicken breast and and write. 49:56.53 Sam Um, right a plain stak a grilled chicken breast and a kind of planar fish. Yeah, and whether it be a salmon or ah or a cod or something like that. Yeah. 50:04.50 Jonathan Hile Typically yeah yeah, typically serve with like a baked potato or rice and and steam vegetables. So yeah, that's always ah, that's always an option as well. 50:11.82 Sam Right? red. 50:18.46 dclduo Well I know this is a bonus episode but I feel remiss and not doing a bit of I can't call it rapid fire because Sam has that trademarked apparently and I owe her royalties if I use it in the form of Topo Chico but ah, just kind of a quick takes here on. Carnival Cruise line so just across a couple of of categories now that you've experienced the panorama as compared to you know some of your Disney Cruise line experience or you pretty prolific Disney Cruzline experience so I was just going to throw out a couple categories and you tell me who wins Jonathan. So ah, let's go with. Cruise booking experience. 50:57.59 Jonathan Hile Disney is definitely more. Um, user, friendly for sure. 51:00.16 Sam Wow even onboard activities and stuff I feel like that's just a pain in the butt with Disney. Okay, okay, never mind this is the second question then. 51:00.26 dclduo All right. Well I asked booking I didn't ask activity booking So That's that's that's where I'm headed which is the pre cruise booking experience in terms of the activities on board and port arrival and all of that sort of stuff. 51:17.56 Jonathan Hile Yeah, so because you can book your activities pretty much the moment that you put your deposit down on the cruise I have to give that advantage to Carnival you're not, You're not trying to beat out. You know two Thousand families. 51:28.32 dclduo Yep. Yeah, well and an outdated I T Infrastructure right? Yeah so along these lines Jonathann and we we didn't ask about the check in process itself for carnival. 51:34.95 Sam Ah, sorry, sorry kids I'm going to that royalty screw you? ah. 51:48.60 dclduo And I feel like some cruise lines edge out Disney in terms of their check-in experience because by the time you show up to port it really is just like scan scan scan and you're just moving through whereas Disney still feels like in some ways has to stop you and check a bunch of stuff and things like that. But how was the. Online check-in experience who wins there Disney or carnival. 52:05.00 Jonathan Hile I would say it's a tie as far as the actual check-in process now with I believe it was fifteen days out as when we could check in for this cruise and that's when you know you chose your port arrival time and and you now the 1 thing that. Ah, carnival does and I think a lot of other cruise lines as well. Besides Disney is the the luggage tags. Those are you print those out yourself. Um online and then you attach them to your bags you you don't get Mickey mail. Unfortunately. 52:31.60 dclduo He. 52:40.61 dclduo Gotcha gotcha. 52:41.26 Sam Is ah. 52:42.10 Jonathan Hile With you know with the the nice um pre you know, ah adhesive luggage tags. You essentially ah you print them out on your own paper and then essentially wrap them around the handle and staple or tape. So very very inelegant. 52:57.17 dclduo Um, got it. Ah, let's ask about Well I think I know the answer to this one off the batch is based on our discussion upfront boarding process there you go all right? Yeah I've heard that. 53:08.36 Jonathan Hile Disney is much smoother. 53:08.58 Sam This is. 53:11.92 dclduo Actually heard from someone in the u k that Disney has a much more regimented boarding process than any of the other cruise lines that were going out of Dover. So it's not surprising um all right? The spaces on board the ship cleanliness. You know I'll say theming you know recognizing carnivals obviously not going to have like a heavy disney theming or anything like that. But who wins in terms of just the spaces on the ship. 53:35.74 Jonathan Hile I definitely think disney has the advantage because you know you've got that Disney magic at every to every everything is purposefully thought out everything is purposefully executed on a Disney ship. Everything has a story. 53:53.27 dclduo Got it? What yeah what about onboard amenities. So as you think about spa things like that. Um you know who who wins there. Okay so unless you really want to. 53:53.64 Jonathan Hile A yeah. 54:04.76 Jonathan Hile Um, I would say that's a tie. 54:08.10 Sam Mm. 54:10.85 dclduo Casino on Board you're probably going to find something fun to do regardless of which ship you're sailing is essentially where how I interpret that Okay, um, onboard casino a must have or a must lose. 54:17.34 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah, correct. 54:24.50 Jonathan Hile I I would say I mean for me, it's definitely a must lose I am not a gambler I mean do I do I occasionally go and throw some money in a slot machine and lose it all Of course. 54:26.32 Sam Ah. 54:39.94 dclduo Why not? why? not? Um, oh we forgot to ask about the rainforest room equivalent on Carnival So let me ask rainforest room or the spa area that you experience in carnival. 54:40.19 Sam Um. 54:54.48 Jonathan Hile Um, I would say that's probably a tie I think the rainforest room and the the thermal suite on board. The Carnival ship is very similar and in quality and offering. 55:04.37 dclduo How packed was the thermal suite on the carnival versus the Disney Rainforest room 55:11.98 Jonathan Hile Surprisingly it wasn't that bad. There was very rarely a time where we couldn't get a heated lounger or find room in the hot tub or find one of the ah the you know the saunas to go into that or or 1 of you know? ah. It seemed like the showers. The aromatherapy showers were almost always available too. 55:28.95 Sam No wow. 55:30.25 dclduo Okay, entertainment onboard entertainment who wins. 55:34.75 Jonathan Hile As much as I enjoyed the shows on carnival panorama including the Broadway one. There's nothing like a show on disney. 55:45.19 dclduo If you layer let me ask you this if you layer in the um nonstage entertainment that's available so thinking about like the piano bar things like that. Yeah, do you do you think that adds a little edge to Carnival all. 55:50.97 Sam Comedy show. 55:56.67 Jonathan Hile I think if you you know the the piano bar typically had two shows a night and one was more all ages and 1 was eighteen plus so you know if you wanted a little bit more adult-oriented antics from your piano player. Ah, you know the the 11 or the 10 p m show was definitely a good time I mean it definitely was a lot more. Ah you know, unbuttoned collar ah kind of a little more body of an experience. 56:31.58 dclduo Food actually no for some stateroom Disney Cruise line or carnival how do they compare. 56:42.47 Jonathan Hile Disney Cruise line staterooms tend to be even the even this you know, even the smaller staterooms tend to be larger on Disney Cruise line I will say that carnival still has the elevated platform bed so you can still put your suitcases underneath the bed that is not. That's not a Disney only innovation at least at this point in in cruises. Um closet space is about the same as the classic ships ah drawer space definitely nowhere near as many drawers available on at least on the panorama as there were. 56:59.63 Sam So. 57:17.88 Jonathan Hile On Disney ship. So there were times where we had to kind of keep our unpacked clothes just in open sight. You know it wasn't behind a drawer. It was just kind of on a shelf. 57:27.73 Sam Um. 57:29.85 dclduo What about do they have so do they have split bathrooms on carnival or is it 1 bathroom. 57:35.22 Jonathan Hile Some staterooms have split bathrooms. So the the stateroom that my wife's parents were in did have a split bathroom but ours was a single door much you know, kind of like the standard inside state room on a Disney ship. 57:50.91 dclduo Got it got it and comfortableness of the bed Disney versus Carnival cruisline. 57:58.73 Sam Yeah, and we're getting to the nitty gritty here. 58:00.40 Jonathan Hile Right? right? I I would say it's pretty equivalent I definite I think I sleep better on a Disney ship than I do on a carnival but I wasn't uncomfortable. You know I slept well pretty much every night. But. 58:11.73 Sam Yeah, you just like being ensconced in Mickey's warm arms. Yeah, her warm embrace plus you can like watch you know rat tatooy as you're going and sleeps. 58:15.58 Jonathan Hile Wow I mean no lie. Yes. 58:25.69 Jonathan Hile Right. 58:29.32 dclduo All right? The tough one food. Ah who's winning in terms of the let's start with the main dining offering. 58:36.43 Jonathan Hile I think the quality on Disney is death is better. Um I think carnival has a bigger selection of entrees every night as far as in the main dining but the the quality on Disney is better. 58:50.78 dclduo Specialty dining I mean that this one's tough because carnival has more options and Disney but I'm just curious. You know who's going to win Palo brunch or carnival cruise. 58:53.38 Jonathan Hile It. 58:59.62 Jonathan Hile So yeah, you could pretty much throw palo brunch against everything on carnival and Palo brunch would still win. 59:04.20 Sam Um. 59:07.97 dclduo Sure sure. 59:10.00 Sam Okay, so the quality So the quantity ah certainly is is larger on Carnival but you would say in general quality better. Of course I mean I'm not comparing Obviously the Chef's table. Um, but what would you say. 59:23.39 Jonathan Hile Right? I mean I wouldn't say that any of the food in the ah you know the premium restaurants is bad. It's just the you know the experience of Palo is definitely much much more elegant than than anything on the carnival ships. Um, so food quality was on par. It's just. 59:29.99 Sam Right. 59:42.26 Jonathan Hile You know the experience of Pallo Outweighs you know that just elevates the food experience. 59:47.55 Sam Gotcha gotcha that makes sense. 59:48.30 dclduo All right? The big category here Service and crew interaction who's going to win Dcl or ccl. 59:59.41 Jonathan Hile Overall Disney definitely has better crew interaction now I have I have had no issues finding some incredible staff on carnival chips I mean we had a great stateroom host. Ah there was I would find myself. Preferring to go to 1 particular bar location because of but of a bartender that was on that ship in that bar so you know everyone has their favorite bartender right? Sometimes you know sometimes you find them day one sometimes it takes a little longer. But. 01:00:24.10 Sam Um, absolutely. 01:00:33.48 Sam But that's right. 01:00:35.36 Jonathan Hile Um, you know? Yeah, absolutely ah it depends on. Yeah, you can definitely find some awesome crew members on carnival. 01:00:44.47 dclduo Nice all right all right last question to round out the show actually before I do my ultimate question Sam anything that we've missed that you wanted to ask about. 01:00:44.87 Sam Nice. 01:00:55.88 Sam No I think you've covered everything I I like your extra food questions Brian actually so ah. 01:01:02.43 dclduo Well, you know we get. We get called out I'm the menu guys. So there you go um my last question then Jonathan for you I'm not going to ask who wins on price because that's an easy answer carnival wins every other cruise line wins. Ah I want to know about value. 01:01:10.91 Jonathan Hile Are. 01:01:18.90 dclduo Value for the dollar because carnival is a much lower cost option I think to your point some of that gets eroded as you do all of the add-ins. Ah, but you know it's possible to get on a carnival cruise for much much less than a Disney Cruise as long as you don't want to spend any additional money. Um, but I'm curious just the value. For what you paid? Do you think that carnival wins in terms of value for dollar paid or Disney. 01:01:44.49 Jonathan Hile I Think this is this is a difficult question to answer because really, it's all about your expectations. Ah for each cruise line you know going on Carnival you you know? yeah with ah with ah with a minimal amount of research you know that. 01:01:51.90 Sam Um. 01:02:02.12 Jonathan Hile Almost everything is considered an upcharge you know? Um, so yeah, your your cruise ticket is going to be relatively low in cost. But it's going to be the extras on board that really can help you you know make you rack up the charges or you know if if. 01:02:19.22 Jonathan Hile If onboard spending isn't your thing if you're happy with main dining and and you don't want to go anywhere else. You know you don't want to eat at Premium restaurants. You don't drink a lot I mean the value is definitely there in Carnival's favor. Um I would say that if you want the the. 01:02:32.30 Sam Me. 01:02:38.55 Jonathan Hile Least Confusing Cruise experience as far as what's included and what isn't Disney Cruise Line definitely has the you know the better um setup with with that respect and you the 1 thing I notice about Disney as well is you can see. The value you you can see what you pay in the presentation of the ship and everything like that. You know you don't see the maintenance workers constantly. Um, working on stuff on the carnival ships. You know it's more like if if something. Is to the point where it needs to be fixed because it's not functional. That's when maintenance gets deployed more frequently. You know they're not painting the ship in port. They're not you know coming and spraying the windows every single day or multiple times a day. You know you definitely see. How you know the Disney is putting the money that they're charging back into the appearance of the ship. 01:03:38.96 Sam Yeah. 01:03:40.86 dclduo Yeah I mean I think it's fascinating to me so we were just in pork and averil we were parked next to I forget which one it was the carnival freedom that had the fire in its smokestack. Ah, and it was still sitting there with its non whale tail. Smokestack and somebody made the comment to me, you know the original fire was because they had soot build up in the smokestack and then you're staring at the existing smokestack and it's covered. It's so you're just yeah, do they with you think they would at least clean it right? I mean much less for me. It was like if the one of the funnels. Disney Cruise line was inoperble. They would immediately I would think want to correct that because it's so iconic to the ship like the whaletail funnel on a carwa Cruise line. So it's baffling to me that months and months later that ship just hasn't gone in to have its funnel replaced and perhaps perhaps cleaned I'll just say that. So anyway, Jonathan. 01:04:22.40 Jonathan Hile Um, is it. 01:04:30.30 Jonathan Hile So. 01:04:33.67 Sam Ah, but I think I think it's great though. Jonathan that you um, are able to share with us and compare and contrast the value because I think there really is value on both. 01:04:36.60 dclduo Ah, go ahead soon. 01:04:46.29 Sam If I may say I think that I think that's what you've really expressed is it's it's more about your expectations than it is about 1 having you know higher value or more value than the other you you know what? you're spending with Disney but you also know what you're getting with Disney right? and you know what you're. 01:04:51.93 dclduo E. 01:05:04.12 Sam And with Carnival and you know what you're getting right? So you're you're getting more for more you're getting less for less and that's okay, everybody's got to make the Calculus of what works for them and how they want to spend their precious vacation dollars right. 01:05:17.47 Jonathan Hile Yeah, absolutely and I if this was my first well I didn't know if I wanted to go on another carnival cruise after the first time that we were on one because it was it was a very old ship I think I think right we were on. 01:05:29.54 Sam E. 01:05:38.29 Jonathan Hile Ah, a carnival ship for the first time in 2018 and if we hadn't already had this one book because we had to move it so many times we probably never would have cruised them again I am very happy that I decided to give them another try because they it was an enjoyable experience. Um. 01:05:48.55 Sam Um. 01:05:55.29 Jonathan Hile And knowing that and knowing exactly what you're getting going into it really helps kind of soften the blow you know and and temper your expectations. 01:06:02.92 dclduo Yeah I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that I'm beating up on Carnival Cruise line it does does have a bit of reputation for some quarters of the cruising community but look folks like Paul Thornton he loves sailing. 01:06:05.90 Sam Um. 01:06:17.68 dclduo On Carnival Cruise line and we've seen many photos of him on carnival and royal and and others and maybe as we wrap up the show. What I will just say is I'll borrow a line from one of our other favorite cruise influencers out there Emma cruises and just say. There's a cruise line out there for everyone but not every cruise line is for everyone. So just you know we love to do these shows to let you know what? what you can experience on board other cruise lines you might give them a try. You could sell carnival 4 times in a year for the price that it costs to sale Disney once or twice depending on your room category. So. Jonathan let me just say. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with the carnival panorama and I know you've got your own podcast out there that has ah I know it took a little hyenas but has started back up. You want to let folks know about that and where they can find you? yeah I got to take them I got to take some influencer. 01:07:01.83 Jonathan Hile Yeah. 01:07:03.49 Sam Um, and your tikokck which you're on fire on Tiktok. Ah you gonna take some Tiktok lessons from from you. 01:07:10.66 dclduo Mentorship. Yeah I've been posting tiktoks I'm not blowing up I'm not blowing up. 01:07:13.22 Jonathan Hile I don't know what it is if it's the content that's blowing up or the hashtags that I'm using. But yeah I'm I'm consistently getting you know in a brand new Tiktok I'm consistently getting well over five hundred views on every video that I post. So. I don't know what the secret is I wish I could tell you I'm just ah, ah, but my but but my podcast is called Captain's logs and light sabers. So we are a podcast that discusses both star trek and star wars on the same show. Ah. 01:07:33.43 Sam Ah, Jonathan's got it whatever it is Jonathan's got it. 01:07:46.56 Sam Okay, to like both. 01:07:47.62 Jonathan Hile My my co-host Chris yes, absolutely don't let the movie fanboys tell you otherwise um, so yeah, my co-host Chris and I went to college together he was. He's been a trekky for his entire life. Um, ever since he was 5 or 6 01:07:52.22 Sam Yeah. 01:08:05.70 Jonathan Hile And I've been a casual star trek fan and and you know I keep up with all the stuff. But as far as the star wars side of things Chris and I are the exact opposite I'm the one that's totally immersed in star wars I know the lore I know the background stuff I know the easter eggs and we just compliment each other so very well in our discussions. I think it's you know it's it's a fun podcast. It's it's ah it's just a little side project that I enjoy. We're not I mean we're we're trying to get back into releasing bi-weekly episodes. But yeah, there were there was a time where we were maybe releasing 1 episode a month just because of of availability and and subject material. But. I mean with all of the star wars and star trek content that we've got coming this year and there's there's plenty. 01:08:48.46 Sam You've got a ton. Yeah, you've got a ton to talk about ah and you know speaking of that after the show we got to I want to ask you about mandalorian Brian and I are way behind. We haven't watched the season but I've got to I got to hear if it's worth it. So. 01:09:03.53 dclduo Well Jonathan thank you as always for joining us on the show. Love having you on I'm sure you will be back again soon I guess we didn't ask what's next anything booked. 01:09:15.70 Jonathan Hile Sure so the next thing that we have booked is carnival celebration which is their newest ship. Um, well at least until their New York ship deploy ah 01:09:26.43 Sam Until the next one comes out. But. 01:09:29.49 Jonathan Hile Right? right? until the next 1 right? it's it's their. It's their newest ship as of right now so we have that in late july and after that it we just booked the the dc earth depth. We just booked the dvc exclusive charter to lighthouse point in early june of 2024. So yes, absolutely and and we can try this meeting in person thing again. 01:09:47.96 Sam Right? So you'll be on with us. 01:09:54.16 Sam Yeah, we have a read we need but have a do over on that. 01:09:58.42 dclduo Well Jonathan thank you once again for coming on the show sharing your experience with the carnival panorama we just really really appreciate it. 01:10:07.25 Jonathan Hile Um, of course thanks for having me again. 01:10:09.45 dclduo Sort have to peer over my hold on I have to peer over my ipad and find the stop record. 01:10:09.93 Sam Awesome! Oh you haven't hit okay.