Ep. 335 - West Coast, Best Coast: A West Coast Repositioning Cruise on DCL

00:00.93 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the Dc L Duo Podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and Sam Your Arch nemesis returns 00:10.48 Sam I know I'm just waiting for this I've been waiting for the show all week um I had to rearrange my schedule I want to let you know Josh that I had to rearrange my schedule to be here because um I thought I had a I had a conflict and rejiggered things because. Brian and I talked about it and it was like there was no way that I can't be here if we're having Josh Wilson back on the show and and so here we are Josh welcome back to the show and I hope you have some ah fun controversial hot takes for me today. 00:36.73 Josh Um. 00:44.10 Josh I I feel so honored that you would adjust your schedule and I realized in like the disney universe everyone loves villains and so I'll be the dcl villain and everybody will love me and the love to hate me and I'll just I'll just own it. So thank you so much. It's it's always a joy. I I was telling Brian and saying beforehand. It's like part of the fun of cruising is knowing after I'm done I get to talk about it all over again with like 2 friends now and then listen to everybody else. Talk about it on the show. It's great. 01:11.80 dclduo Yes, we kid with Josh Ingest we are all friendly. Off air. There is no animosity here I'm sure we would all enjoy a drinker didter together at some point which we should actually make happen because we live too close not to. But anyway we'll take Joshhu a great restaurant here that serves black truffle presets and hilarity will ensue. Um. 01:20.33 Josh I know. 01:25.87 Sam And see what he thinks or maybe s cargo. Maybe we should just go to a French bitro and order some s cargo. 01:29.18 dclduo Yeah, there you go ah there we go all right? Well Josh what is ah you she sit back. So Josh let's start by reminding folks about your Disney cruising background. You were a. 01:34.56 Josh I'm in I'm in. 01:45.78 dclduo Recent convert over to cruising but have embraced it ah fully and so remind folks about your cruising experience. 01:50.86 Josh Absolutely I went on my first cruise in October Twenty Twenty one since then I've been on a handful of cruises I think 5 or 6 now and I'm basically only I only want a cruise for all my vacations from here on out. My wife rolls her eyes at me for it I'm like we could just go on a cruise everything now like my currency is now cruises. It's like yeah we could go to that restaurant and show for a night or that's like half a cruise. So I'm just like weigh it out and so yeah now I love Disney Cruise line I've dabbled in royal Caribbean Cruise line as well. But Disney is. 02:16.20 Sam Um, that's right. 02:27.53 Sam Yeah, yeah. 02:27.80 Josh It's Disney's disney you can't go wrong. 02:28.72 dclduo And now this is going to be a fun conversation for a couple reasons but the biggest of which is it was your first time taking your son and daughter on a Disney Cruise and so as a parent myself I remember the joy. Well actually our first experience with Nathan on a cruise was not joyful. 02:44.85 Sam Yes. 02:48.53 dclduo Ah, but we now love taking him on the cruise and seeing Disney through his eyes and so what was it like first tell folks who your sailing party was and what did you do in the lead up to the cruise where the kids excited. 02:59.81 Josh Yeah, so the sailing party is me and my wife and then we have two kids our son eli is 6 our daughter macy is 3 and so we went on a seven night Alaskan Cruise on royal caribbean in August and the kids loved it and then we told them. What a couple months after that hey we're gonna do this relocation cruise on Disney until for them. We told them hey this is the Mickey Mouse Cruise and they they've heard about Mickey Mouse cruises because whenever we've gone on 1 We went on one and I think it was October again or end of September we said hey we're going on a mickey mouse Cruise. And remember we're going to do this as a family soon and so they love the idea and what we did to prepare which I highly encourage anybody um, it's it's funny. It's like I highly encourage it for kids but in reality as human beings. We really like to see where we're going to go and so go on Youtube. 03:55.79 Sam Ah. 03:56.77 Josh Watch ship tours. Um go and look at if you want to the shows that they put on and so for our kids they had already seen the pool Deck. They'd walked through the ship they knew what the theater was going to look like and so for them, they're walking into what they already knew and so the excitement just continued to build and I can only Watch. Um, so many people ah show that dory's wreath splash pad with my daughter just can we see dory again I'm like well we can go in real life. No I Want to see it on the video. Okay, okay. 04:24.99 Sam I Love that. Ah. 04:25.94 dclduo Ah, now you took a repositioning Cruise Josh which um, I'm curious first. Why did you land on the repositioning cruise and typically those cruises come at a. Bit of a discount in the Disney world and I'm wondering if ah, the price kind of drove some decision making for you or not. 04:40.60 Josh They can come at a discount and I've noticed that they're not as discounted as some other cruise lines for us. It really was the price was right for a four night cruise and then it went from San Diego to Vancouver British Columbia and we live in Bellingham Washington 04:46.17 Sam Yes. 04:58.47 Josh Which is an hour and 10 minute drive to the Vancouver port and so for us it made a ton of sense to only have a 1 way ticket to San Diego and then drive home the day getting off the cruise so that was that was the reason why. 05:00.54 Sam Yeah. 05:10.11 dclduo Yeah, and now this crews had no port stops. It was basically San Diego see days. Oh Victoria did you stop in Victoria yeah, but it's like it. But it's like a late night port stop right? Oh ok. 05:19.62 Josh Um, yes, so no Victoria was all day actually. 05:23.43 Sam Yeah, because it's so close. It's like a half hour from Vancouver you don't really needs even go out to see. 05:29.90 dclduo Yeah, but I've seen repositioning cruises on Disney in the past where that Victoria stop is like a technical stop. They like get in at like seven o'clock at night and they depart you know at 11 and you're not getting off the ship kind of thing so that I've seen that before so it's nice to hear you got the day in Victoria um. 05:47.89 dclduo Let's talk about San Diego so itineraries released this week that we're recording the show and no more San Diego it looks like at least for late next year late twenty twenty four um you had to direct down to San Diego from Everett I'm like super curious Josh personally. Everett airport here in the seattle area. What was that like of flying to San Diego 06:10.78 Josh For anybody who's flown in a first class or stopped at a first class lounge before you've gone on a flight. They're delightful. It's like comfy seating. There's not a lot of people you get free drinks in there. The everett airport is like a first class lounge minus the free food and drinks. It is amazing. Um, and. 06:23.49 Sam Wow. 06:27.85 Josh There's only a handful of flights out a day. You know it's a good airport when all of the staff in the tsa agents are like delightful happy people and like if you love your job. There's something good going on here. So it was it's I've flown out there probably like 4 times now. It's amazing every time. 06:37.15 Sam Yeah. 06:42.66 dclduo Nice. 06:42.68 Sam Yeah, we have not yet had the good fortune to book a flight out of painfield yet. 06:49.59 dclduo Well I'm due I'm due I'm due to for a flight down to San Francisco I have next month so I'm going to try pay field and I was researching and it was like parking. What's parking like and you know all this sort of stuff. So yeah, it looks. It's ah it for everyone out there. Payfield is North of Seattle. 06:55.20 Sam That's right. 07:05.45 dclduo It's associated with a boeing facility up there that used to build the 7 4 7 s and still they still manufacture some planes up there. Yeah and ah but it is a very very small airport and I think it's only serviced by alask airlines. Maybe maybe? yeah yeah so anyway, small airport. 07:08.43 Sam And triple 7 s I think. 07:10.49 Josh Car. 07:16.98 Josh Yes, that's correct currently. 07:18.12 Sam Yeah, but they do have like and they do have maybe 1 flight a day to Santa Anna's John Wayne airport I just want to put that out there Brian oh too. Yeah. 07:28.25 dclduo 2 they have 2 flights a day but they're like really early in the morning or really late at night. There's nothing in between. So yeah and you're on small regional jets not the big bad 7 triple 7 So yeah, um, anyway, all right. San Diego Josh um, yeah, you've sailed out of San Diego 07:30.77 Josh Um, ah. 07:39.23 Sam Yeah. 07:46.76 dclduo Before anything different with the experience this time around but especially with the kiddos. 07:49.29 Josh Yeah, last time we flew in the day before this time we flew in three days before so we made it kind of an extended vacation so we went up to Disneyland for a day so that was fun just a quick side note Disneyland's way busier than it was ten years ago which is a surprise to no one but we haven't been in a while and. 07:56.12 Sam Um, oh wow. 08:03.50 Sam Oh yeah. 08:08.85 Josh It's ah it's a whole different animal but that's not cruising. That's why I love cruising and going to Disneyland reminded me Disney cruising is superior in every single way. Ah. 08:14.40 Sam Ah, yes, but it's a perfect like I feel like it's a perfect, um, preamble to going on a cruise right? being at the parks because it's all go go go and then you get on the cruising. You're ensconced, you're still in the Disney bubble but you don't have to like. Hey for things and you can have a much more relaxing atmosphere and the lines of our characters are shorter and so all of the things that you have in the parks just better on the ship in my opinion. 08:41.80 Josh Yeah, which is why we may be taking another Disney Cruise coming up down the line and out of Florida and I kind of told I haven't told my wife yet. But I said if we're gonna go to Disney World we have to go before going before to me is way better because then you get to relax and recover. After the stressful days of going nonstop. 09:00.14 dclduo You know we did just have a guest recently I was editing the show earlier today who mentioned the one benefit of going to the parks after is that his family was so full they spent less on money or less money on food. So so yeah, ah, ah. 09:00.39 Sam Yes. 09:12.94 Sam Yeah, less money. Um food true. That's true. You listen I think however you can fit it in you fit it in right? because if you've got an itinerary that you don't have a lot of flexibility just because of the dates then you do it after if you have to but I agree if you have the choice. 09:15.16 Josh Ah wise. Yeah. 09:30.48 Sam You do the park days first but you know we don't you don't always have the choice with like a seven day cruise or something like that or school vacation schedules. All that's good stuff. 09:41.19 Josh Yeah, and yeah, so we went to Disneyland for a day and then we had like two and a half days in San Diego and just went to the beach enjoyed the food funny thing about the beach. Um, all of them were closed due to bacterial levels in the water and. 09:55.22 Sam Oh. 09:57.68 Josh It's an ongoing issue in San Diego and currently half of them are closed. So before you go just double check and make sure that things are good and ah, fun facts for anybody who's interested. The reason is for because of human waste and it's from ah homelessness from sewage tank runoffs. 09:59.73 dclduo How well. 10:11.99 Sam L. 10:17.65 Josh And I learned something fascinating the way they check the waters for if there is human waste in it or not is they look for 2 substances that only humans consume one is beautiful thing that we all enjoy because we live in Seattle caffeine and the second is ah artificial sweeteners. So the more you know. 10:35.86 Sam Oh my gosh. Well I feel like this happens a lot. Ah on Lake Washington like you see signs telling you not to go into the water because the bacteria levels are too high. So I don't know if it's the same reasoning behind it. But I wouldn't be surprised if if that was it. Yeah. 10:50.90 dclduo Lots of cold brew floating around out in Lake Washington apparently ah lots of cold brew. Well so Josh what did you get up to in San Diego then before the cruise. 10:53.39 Josh Ah, ah, well, we're traveling with a three year old and a six year old so the club scene wasn't really for us this trip around ah we went to we yeah and and that's where we. 10:53.40 Sam But that's right. 11:02.22 Sam Right? right? The parks you got to go to parks. 11:09.63 Josh Went to Disneyland the full day we we flew in Monday went to Disneyland all day Tuesday cruising out on Thursday so Wednesday we played in the pool at the hotel and we went to some amazing kids parks look online and do a quick search San Diego is full of epic kids parks and we I think we went to 2 or 3 and all of them. 11:18.67 Sam Um, yeah, yeah. 11:29.20 Josh Our kids could have played out for hours. 11:30.84 Sam Yeah, okay, so you got to give us the tips on which ones you went to the one that we love is the 1 right across the street from the ship on the waterfront um, and the San Diego Waterfront and every time we go to San Diego and you can see it in our Facebook group. There are pictures of Nathan at that park. Anytime we're sailing out of San Diego and it's usually the morning of the day before whenever we are going to that park. We just love it. It's a fantastic Kidss Park I have no idea the name of it. Um, other than it's like something waterfront park. Yeah, but I'm curious as to which ones you guys went to because you know we're sailing out of San Diego again this year and um, unfortunately not in 2024 because of the itinra release that just came out. But yeah I'm sure other folks would love to hear. 12:15.76 Josh Yeah, the 1 park that was the biggest highlight. It's called the pink park is what everybody calls it. But it's marruta gar gardener I don't know forgive me for butchering that. But it's ah, right by mission beach say of mission beach you have like the little ah I don't I wouldn't call it a carnival but whatever you call it fair area. 12:25.20 dclduo Um. 12:32.90 Josh And there's like this I can't I can't even explain. It's like a big huge jungle gym that also has a slide on it and then they have a bunch of structures. It's very unique and unlike any park we had seen before and so our kids were just going up this structure in order to slide down do a Google search pink park san diego absolutely stellar. So we were. 12:50.27 Sam Um, awesome. That's amazing. 12:52.15 Josh We were probably there for like 3 hours it was great. We stayed at the Marriott I think it was Marriott Vacation Club Pulse which is downtown so we were like a mile up from the water like where the cruise ship was. 12:52.44 dclduo Where where did you stay Josh in San Diego 13:01.94 dclduo Okay. Okay. 13:08.39 Josh So and I know that because I returned our rental car the morning of the cruise and ran to go watch the Disney wonder come in and then ran back to our hotel. So. 13:15.14 dclduo Well yeah, you must have been up early then because the wonder usually does get in on the early side in San Diego what what time did she sail in. 13:23.76 Josh We'll get. We'll get there Brian we'll get there. 13:26.32 Sam Um, he's going too far I want to hear about the other parks Brian's jumping ahead come on Brian slow down. Um, ok, fair enough all right. 13:28.19 dclduo Ah. 13:29.85 Josh We we checked out that park by the Waterfront I can't remember what other one we did but the pink park was the highlight. 13:38.15 dclduo And that you said you spent a day up in Disneyland with the kids. 13:44.27 Josh Yes, and my our son had been to Disneyland a couple times pre covered but it was our daughter's first time our son finally hit that height mark to go on all the rides that he so chose to and so um, he he's six years old so he went on. Um. 13:54.20 Sam Um, oh. 14:00.60 Josh Didn't go on smugglers run he went on rise of the resistance we did Mickey Minnie's runaway railway he did Indiana Jones and ah, he's still a little young for the scary rides but he enjoyed being with mom and dad on those. So yeah. 14:03.40 Sam Um, oh wow. 14:12.80 Sam Oh yeah, Indiana Jones is intense I would say I I'm not sure I at six years old I definitely would not have done well on that ride I mean I was hiding my head in my parents lap on um pirates of the caribbean when I was maybe like 8 So. 14:18.59 dclduo Now. 14:25.77 Josh Yeah, and and splash mountain and it was funny I have a memory as a seven year old my mom forcing me to go on splash mountain this is pre fast pass Pre Genie garbage whatever it's called and i. 14:27.38 Sam If that tells you I was really chicken. 14:42.80 Josh Cried and complained the whole time for an hour straight and everybody around us is like cheering me on I go down splash mountain and at the end I look at my mom and I go that was amazing. Can we go again and so take my six year old son I was like it's time for payback. Yeah, but he was stoked about it. We had we had Genie plus we went right to the front. 14:56.83 Sam Um. 15:00.28 Josh Um, and I told them I said one day you're going to realize how special this is because this thing's now closed and you're going to remember you went on Splash Mountain which is which was probably my favorite right? So ah but I'm bummed it's gone but it'll come back. 15:03.24 Sam Yeah. Oh yeah. 15:10.33 dclduo Well so the reason I asked about your Disneyland time is that's you know it's not a short commute from San Diego up to Anaheim especially you know, wrong time of day in California traffic. So. Make for a pretty long day especially with younger kids did you find it like worthwhile to take the day trip up from San Diego to Disneyland or would you do something else next time. 15:30.74 Josh Being that we don't get down to Disneyland or Southern California very often for us. It was worth the day trip. Yeah, you're waking up at 6 you're driving an hour 20 minutes we were. 15:37.31 Sam You. 15:45.11 Josh Lucky that we didn't hit traffic. But for us it was worth it I mean definitely you're tired and exhausted the kids are passed out with their mouthuse open and you know all sort the next twisted around ah but for us we think it's worth it if you live closer. Obviously it's it's not worth the drive. So everybody's different. 15:55.41 Sam Ah. 16:00.28 dclduo Yeah, did did you give any consideration to Lego land. That's the other park that we hear people going to a lot down there. 16:02.62 Sam Yeah. 16:03.10 Josh For us. It was definitely worth it. 16:09.70 Josh We did and when we ah typed it into you know I was going to say Mapquest who says Mapquest anymore we typed? Yeah yeah, we faxed the mapquest to the hotel so they had it ready for us anyway, I was like well. 16:15.87 Sam Ah, does that even exist. So ah. 16:15.95 dclduo Josh let me go get my Thomas guide out of my trunk and we'll ah yeah, but. 16:24.63 Josh If if blao land it said I think like 40 minutes maybe we did it during traffic I was like if we're driving 40 minutes we might as well go an extra 40 to go to Disneyland it's like you know 6 in one hand half dozen in the other ah to us. But now next time we if if I win again knowing what I know now. 16:27.17 Sam Meaning. 16:32.12 dclduo Yeah. 16:42.16 Josh How busy Disneyland is we would have gone to Legoland and our kids being as young they would have enjoyed that probably as much. 16:43.27 Sam Yeah, yeah. 16:45.11 dclduo Yeah, no, all right? Any ah, any favorite spots there in San Diego to grab dinner with the kids kind of family friendly spots or did you just kind of you know he found some spots that were good but nothing. You'd recommend. 16:58.46 Josh Um, yeah, that's that's about we found spots that were good in and out. It's obviously a big win. Ah my mind was just on cruise ship food. So it was really ah what's going to be good. We I'm a big 1 bite pizza review fan I'm a huge pizza fan if some people listening are like I know exactly what that is. 17:01.59 dclduo Yeah. 17:05.11 Sam Yes. 17:15.94 Josh And so we found the highest rated pizza in downtown San Diego and I think we ended up getting like four slices. They were pretty sizable. You know in a refinanced home later. It was delicious pizza. But for some reason my 6 and 3 year old didn't care that the cheese was fancy. You know what I mean. So. Okay. 17:34.46 Sam Ah, are well I am I'm going to have to try that pizza then when we go to San Diego because I am also a pizza connoisseur. Of course you know being from New York I have I'm also a pizza snob but i. 17:42.44 dclduo Well well and you and Josh have such aligned tastes you know? Yeah, he's he's about dreaming about k cruiseche food. He's having nightmares about truffle persets. Ah yeah, so Josh let's get a day of here. So you mentioned returning the rental car I want to rewind back to your very early morning so you. 17:51.18 Sam Ah. 18:02.12 dclduo You ran along the waterfront to see the wonder come in what time the morning was that exactly. 18:05.51 Josh Yeah I love running I love waking up early I love seeing the sun rise and I was like oh I'm going to I'm going to drop the running car at like I don't know I don't remember but let's say five thirty and it's only it's only like less than two miles away so by you know, five fifty I'll be there and I can watch a ship come in. 18:13.91 Sam Um, yeah. 18:25.28 Josh So I'm running over and no disney wonder and you can kind of see far off in in the bay I guess you'd call it a bay so I kept I ran a little further found a really cool like statue of a sailor next to that I forget with the u it's uss midway there's like a cool statue there and then I run back and I'm like it's like 6 18:38.40 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 18:44.28 Josh 30 where's the ship and so I open up my app and I think Brian I think you turned me into like you can find where all the Disney Ships are and I looked at I'm like oh this thing is still a ways out and so finally 7 15 is when the ship pulled in and I know that because I filmed a video and sent it to Brian and at that point I'm like 7 15 18:49.68 dclduo Yeah. 19:02.96 Josh That seems like suspiciously late that it might affect us later getting on the ship and sure enough it absolutely did so it was very late that day. 19:06.85 Sam Um, live. 19:09.23 dclduo Yeah I was I say normally in San Diego if I wake up at 6 the ship is already sitting out there. It's already parked and I've I've had a gopro we we stay at a hotel right across from the port and sometimes they'll give us a room that looks onto the port and I'll put a gopro up to sort of film the ship coming in and it's like. Four am m four thirty five am so yeah I that's late so I'm not surprised that it sort of impacted your departure. So what did? Well so let me ask this, you're a mile away. We're used to. We stay at like a spring hill suites and just walk across the street with our luggage. Ah. Sometimes with extraordinary circumstances if we have a lot of luggage for whatever reason we'll get an uber to run us around the block. But how did you get from where you were staying down to the port. Okay, okay. 19:51.64 Josh Just jumped into uber put all of our stuff in strapped the kids in and went to mile drive. 19:59.30 dclduo And so you get to the port. What time did you? What was your port arrival time like and when did you show up and what was the crowd that was developing kind of like at the port. 20:07.18 Josh Yeah, so this was before the updated when you can get a boarding time. So this was the thirty day chaos everybody can apply even nubs like me. So I cracked my fingers I never have typed that fast putting in passport numbers and pictures I was ready to go and got the coveted. Ah, boarding group number 2 which is the 11 am boarding time. Yep, only the concierge folks ah got before us and so 11 am we showed up in the uber I told my wife last time because we were out of San Diego back in what october. So I said last time we didn't need to show up as early as we did. 20:24.86 dclduo Nice, well done. 20:26.19 Sam Um, Wow That's great. 20:42.98 Josh We'll show up 15 minutes early so we show up 15 minutes early and our uber had to drop us off in front of where they normally drive in because people were still getting picked up and our uber driver is like this is weird I've never seen this happen before and there's like loads of people on the curb. 20:52.15 Sam Oh Wow yeah. 20:59.49 Josh Loads of people waiting to get picked up from uber and it was because the ship came in so late and I later figured out at 1130 when we got into the terminal there were still people walking off the ship to go through customs and you can see panic and the Disney. 21:10.83 Sam Wow! yeah. 21:15.86 Josh Ah, the Disney Wonder staff of like we've got to get this turned over faster than this and and yeah it was not not typical. 21:21.52 Sam Yeah, well I mean they have to not just get like the rooms turned over but they got to be out of port by a certain time or they pay you know fees to San Diego and I'm sure that's quite expensive. It's not a cheap port to sail in and out of so it's kind of a big deal and then they get a bunch of angry people. 21:32.35 dclduo Yeah. 21:39.50 Sam Who are you know, expecting to get on the ship by Midday and instead are getting on in you know, late afternoon if it's really delayed. 21:46.71 dclduo Yeah I mean my problem with these like delayed port departures is you're paying for that time I mean like if you have an 11 am m port arrival time and you know look provide some flex a shipboard sometime between 1130 and 1 depending on what the coast guard needs to do but you know you're paying for that. That's included. They. Do it by night because that counts as one of your days on board. so so yeah so I you know don't know what delayed them or whatnot so what time did you end up getting on the shipper mass what time did the port open up and then I assume they had people sitting in the terminal for quite a while and what time did you finally get on the ship. 22:09.38 Sam Um, yeah, that's day one. 22:21.50 Josh Yeah, so the terminal opened up at 11151120 and it was chaos outside because one there was just a huge long line to even get baggage tags and we didn't get them because we booked a guaranteed room. 22:26.16 dclduo M. 22:37.68 Josh And I was like oh this is fine. You show up and tell you need them so that line was long and then you have people who are like where's where's the eleven thirty line and the and the the port workers are like oh we're not even near that you just come back in like a half hour it's terrible and so we get in it like I said Eleven Twenty and then yeah we sat in the terminal for an hour 22:42.35 Sam If. 22:49.84 Sam With ah. 22:56.75 Josh And then eventually finally walked on the ship at 1225 and being the nerd that I am knowing I'm going to be talking to you guys I like take pictures right as I'm like walking on so I can go back and see the time. It's like oh cool 11 or 1225 yeah 23:06.40 Sam I I love it I love it. That's not bad I mean considering how late the ship was coming in and with disembarkation that's actually not bad I was expecting you to say you didn't get on until you know 31 or something like that I mean obviously you're still your group 2 So. 23:07.76 dclduo Love it. Love it. 23:25.64 Sam Everybody's delayed till you know, almost twelve thirty but that's that's actually pretty good considering the circumstances. So good job Disney Crew for getting the ship turned over and cleaned. Yeah. 23:35.40 Josh Yeah, and I and I will say I'm the I'm the rope drop type so I was we were the first people in group 2 we were we were sitting there and I was like kids we're getting on this ship and getting some cabananas because we need this I need this? yeah. 23:50.50 dclduo So so before we get to the chicken fingers in cabanas I got to ask ah 1 more question leading into the cruise which is you know lots of people reporting lots of difficulty with the online check in and the activity booking processes. Precruise. How did those go for you were you able to book things that you wanted I mean I don't know if you were really looking for short excursions or adult dining that sort of stuff were you able to book things that you wanted and yeah, how to go. 24:12.54 Josh I felt like this cruise was going to be less filled because everything was so easy to get pallo brunch easy drink tastings up until like the week before all of them were available I kid you not and I think we had what two C days and then. 24:26.90 dclduo Wow. 24:32.32 Josh Ah, the San Diego day and so no issues whatsoever. We even canceled some drink tastings and you could still get mixology like a couple weeks out which I was like ah that's not normal so it was it was really easy and excursions too in Victoria were not not too tapped out so there was options. 24:48.91 dclduo Yeah, what remind me the dates of the cruise again Josh or when it when it sets Hill yeah, so kids are in school which drives down the crowds usually um, set up upfront the repositioning cruises tend to be less oversubscribed than some of the other cruises. So. 24:52.62 Josh Um, it was may I believe eleventh to the fifteenth. 25:06.46 dclduo Did you get a sense of how many people were on board. 25:06.75 Josh Yeah, someone told me the ship was at 90% 95% capacity for some reason I think like nineteen hundred or two thousand people I mean it was it was full. 25:11.36 dclduo No, That's the sheep. Okay, yeah, all right? Well interesting, interesting all right? So you get on Board. You head to Cabbanas. How is well actually how was the boarding process in the atium for your kids were they blown away with the clapping and the family name stuff or were they kind of like how quickly can I get a chicken finger in my mouth. 25:22.11 Josh Oh yeah, of course we we. 25:33.51 Josh All right guys. So for first hot take of the day and people are going to hate me I'm the villain so just deal with it I don't get why people make such a big deal about them saying your name in the atrium I'm sorry but it's it's like. 25:36.19 dclduo Ah, so. 25:39.31 dclduo And. 25:51.66 Josh You walk in and they're like ah what's your name and I could tell him like ah Harry Potters and introducing the harry potters family and I'm like and then here's the thing if it feels special at all anytime you walk by the atrium for 4 hours the Hernandez family the flock family and I'm like It's not special I'm sorry it's not special all they're doing is saying let's put speakers in here to make people think it's special when in reality it's yeah again, hot take. 26:18.56 dclduo Ah, so this one I'm going to have to disagree with you on because ah that that whole moment is what sold me initially on Disney Cruise line and now having finally kind of reconnected with another cruise line royal caribbean and just like. Boarding onto a deck and being shoved into an atrium like 0 kind of like orientations to where I am in this ship all this sort of stuff like that little moment I think makes such a big difference and I remember when we first went back to cruising after the restart that was the moment I choked up a little bit where I'm like oh my god like this is this is truly Disney no other cruise line. Does this so I really appreciate it. Yeah, go ahead, see it. 26:50.97 Sam so so I I'm going to agree with both of you. Um, yeah I'm actually not going to I'm not I'm not in complete disagreement with Josh on this I will say especially on the wish because on the wish there's no clapping. They just. 27:02.73 dclduo But on the wish there's nothing on the wish. There's nothing. Yeah. 27:06.16 Sam Yeah, they they announce your name but they there's no clapping because and it's just a little weird I find it really kind of awkward actually the way they do it on the wish. Um, but I do love the way you know you enter into the atrium I think that's an experience and i. Have to say my first time cruising and like Brian said the time. The first time we got to cruise after the shutdown both those times I felt like a really I loved that moment and probably the first time we cruised with Nathan I loved that moment but now I could take it or leave it to be perfectly. Honest. So. I'm kind of with you in the sense of it's not that it's I don't need it. Um I do think there are a lot of people who really enjoy it and so I think they should continue doing it I just think the way they do it on the wish is awkward because there's no clapping. 27:50.70 Josh Um, and I and I don't bring it up to being negative I just Brian I've heard so many people like you who say like that moment felt so amazing and um, and for for me I'm just like but it like to me it doesn't to me. It's like oh thank. Thanks. 27:58.80 Sam Yeah. 28:05.10 Sam Um, yeah I'm with you on that. 28:06.87 Josh You know it's It's like giving me a breath butt at the end of a meal I'm like ah yeah, my breath stinks a little bit I don't care like and and when we went on for right? The post- pandemic cruises. They said your name you sat in the atrium they put on a little show for my kids that would've been great and for us. But now it's like. 28:18.98 Sam Yeah. 28:25.24 Josh Introducing the wilson family clap clap clack 2 steps hey take a right? you need to go over here now and it's like very quickly ushering you through and so that quickly took away from that magical feeling I felt like so anyway we got on um and we debated between sit down or cabanas. 28:28.61 Sam Yeah. 28:34.75 Sam Yeah. 28:40.10 dclduo M. 28:43.70 Josh My wife and I really were craving those empanaas but because of our 2 children we wanted to quickly get some chicken some mac and cheese and some cheeseburgers and their little bellies and then go out to the pools which is exactly what we did. 28:44.49 Sam Oh yeah, yeah. 28:52.44 Sam Yeah I and I I think that's wait wait one second I want to I just want to comment and say I think that's the right choice with young kids because as much as I love the sit down lunch and getting those empan notas and getting my Oreo cheesecake. 28:54.37 dclduo And how was the crowd at the pools and then and how is. 29:08.72 Sam Um, it is long and for little kids I mean Nathan can sit through it. But for little kids it's it's probably a little too long and getting to the getting the food and getting to the pool deck is probably a smarter way to go all right pool deck. 29:19.61 Josh And for us our kids we we don't go out to eat with our kids a ton like we enjoy going out to eat on dates. But for them. It's just not that enjoyable and and we're a family that tries they know not to put devices in front of them while we're out and about and so. We were already a little concerned over dinner being as long as it was and we didn't want to add to our experience or hour and a half sit down experiences in one Day so I agree with you Sam I think that's wise crowds Crowdswise again, we were first people on boarding group two we went directly to cabanas i. 29:39.93 Sam Um. 29:44.94 Sam Yeah. 29:53.72 Josh I Know the ship because we've been on the wonders so we quickly went up there I mean there was it was a ghost town and then getting out on the pools. There was hardly anybody there and it was crowd crowd wise it was great. The first day. 30:05.43 Sam Awesome now. What did the kids think of the pool deck. Of course they you there was of course dory splash pad and you've got the pools and you've got the water slide. Um I forget what they call it twist. There's twist and spout on the. That's kind of the bigger one but I'm not sure if that's too big for them I'm thinking maybe your 6 year old could do it though. 30:25.21 Josh Yeah I realized my kids are probably a little jaded towards like what's cool only because we went on the quantumma of the seas which is Royal Caribbean and they have a kid's wave pool and a little kid splash pad area and they have like multiple pools so to them. 30:33.25 Sam Right? Yeah right. 30:42.91 Josh It was like just it was cool. It was another kids area but they liked the little kitty. Um, it's not Donald's pool it's his 3 nephews I forget their name so they love that little pool. Yeah they they had Dorri's splash reef which is what my daughter ended up loving on like days I think 2 and 3 30:49.78 Sam You E dewey and louis. 31:01.36 Josh Um, and the twist and spout my son was nervous at first. But absolutely loved it and insider trading insider tips the twist and spout is as low-key and cool as a cucumber as you want it to be and yet it is deadly if you would like it to be as well. So ah, word to the wise. 31:03.70 Sam M. 31:15.67 Sam Yes. 31:19.45 Josh If You want to go as fast as you can lay down put those shoulder blades back and go on your heels and you will get at the end of that slide to make the biggest splash and get water in places you didn't know could go. But if you but if you sit up and if you spread your legs a little bit think about like a Ski pizza pose but the opposite. That thing goes as slow as a snail and it's like you know So my wife loved that because she wanted to go slow and my son loved that he could go fast and then slow down so he we probably me and him on the cold sea day probably did that 20 times in a row we became best friends with all the lifeguards at the twist and spout. It was great. Fun. 31:43.22 Sam Um, right. 31:49.42 Sam Wow Oh I Love that. So awesome. 31:56.88 dclduo Nice and ah, what kind of room did you end up booking on board Josh. 31:59.20 Josh We were in a veranda so we originally I believe booked a normal veranda booked it and then I think a month later I noticed oh the guaranteed verandas are like I think it was like $1000 less and so we rebooked into a guaranteed veranda but it was just a standard. Um, it wasn't the one with the Murphy bed. It was just the standard bunk beds and bed and that worked great for us. Our kids love their bunk beds I think that age 3 and 6 it's the room I think to them staying at a hotel is like magical and to have the divider curtain. 32:32.10 Sam Here. 32:36.41 Josh Have the bunks to have the ability to sneak out and go onto the veranda for a family of 4 was such a big win. 32:43.71 Sam Oh that's awesome. Well we got to talk about the kids club I imagine you went to the kids club on opening or on the first day during open open house time. Um, what did the kids think I mean I think the kids club on the wonder and the magic. Is better than the one on the fantasy and the dream of course not up to the par of the wish but that's because nothing beats the kids club on the wish. Um, but they've got that Andy's room with the slide I mean what did they think of that space and and did it entice them to come back. Perhaps later on the cruise without parents. 33:18.14 Josh Great questions and I think it's good to give a little background of my kids. Um, my kids are very social like my son is the most extroverted person I know he is in Kindergarten now. Ah, both of my kids at like extracurricular events. Yeah, exactly exactly. 33:31.99 Sam So he takes after your wife not you right? ah. 33:35.53 Josh Ah, but both of my kids like they they've grown up like going to a church and being dropped off in kids areas and then we even went on the royal Caribbean Cruise and it's interesting on the royal caribbean cruise my daughter really loved the kids club because she was in the nursery and she could just say a handful of words and all she said was mojuana and they played it for and she's like this is amazing I love this um. But my son was a little more hesitant at that one which was surprising to us going into the wonder we went and did the tour with the kids with our 3 year old daughter. It was like hey let's walk through using the bathroom because it's the kind of thing that it's like normally mom or dad's around if they need anything but hey if you're in here you got to figure that out and so they saw it. 33:55.23 Sam Ah. 34:07.61 Sam Um, yeah. 34:14.72 Josh Got comfortable with it and then after at the end of dinner. It's like okay you guys are going into kids club and it's that well my son? Well no no no I don't know if I want to and we're we're lovingly direct you are going to spend 30 minutes in the kids club and we will take you out. But at that point you can choose to go in longer. 34:28.54 Sam Um, right. 34:33.34 Josh And we had apollo brunch the next day so we knew they got to figure out the kids club ah in the first night. My friend's like ah my friend my son's like hey I made a friend this is so great I you know I like it and my daughter had a good time too. She made some friends which we found out later on. Um. 34:36.19 Sam Right? You got to get them comfortable that first night yeah 34:52.46 Josh We we were talking to some girls and 1 of them says what's your name and these girls were probably six years old and she goes I'm macy and they both look at each other with like that face of like we found her and I was like do you guys know macy they're like yeah we helped her find her brother in the kids club and we thought she was the cutest girl in the world then our daughter just like blushes and. 35:09.94 Sam Ah. 35:11.52 Josh and and I was like Macy You Didn't even tell us she made friends and she's just yep, they're my friends. So anyway, ah they they had a good time but they they wanted to spend time with mom and dad more than be in the kids club. So. 35:15.58 Sam Ah, that's the cutest thing. Sure sure that's that's fair at least they liked it and work comfortable enough I assume to spend you know some time in there while you could have Paulo brunch the next day because that's really the important part. 35:34.89 Josh Yes, and ah and ah jumping to that we. We learned that when you put your kids in the kids club and I think this is important I wish I would have known this. Um, we'd let them know hey we're going to brunch. We didn't say that kids don't know what brunch is we're going to go eat a meal. And we made sure that they had room service beforehand they were full of food and we told them you're going to be in here for an hour and a half it's going to be a good time and we told our 6 year old son don't ask for us because we know he's gonna I want I want my parents I want to get up. Well we got a text message through the app hey your daughter your 3 year old is. 36:08.84 Sam A. 36:09.63 Josh Asking for you and this at this point, the kids club's drop off was awful I mean it probably took like 15 minutes there's a line out into the elevators. Um, and it's like not great and so I go back down. It was like 20 minutes in in that line's there and I'm like ah and so I'm like my daughter's asking him for me. Do I have to wait in line. He's like. 36:16.54 Sam Um, ah. 36:24.93 Sam Um, oh god. 36:29.49 Josh Ah, you can kind of peek in and see if you can see her. Well it turns out. Ah, anytime your child asks for the parent they have to call the parents. So so like I know my kids and my daughter she she'll be at home and if I say something she doesn't like she'll want to be like I want mom and so. 36:38.37 Sam Um, right. 36:46.84 Josh In that situation if they're encouraging your kid to do something fun and they complain I want Mom or dad they have to call you and so come to find out my daughter then got whisked away and was having fun and they're like do you want us to bring her over I'm like no let her be and they said okay just so you know if she asked for you again. We We have to page you so I was like that's good to know. And I think no if I would have known that I would have let them know hey if you ask for us right? where we may not come and if you're know in down our heads if you ask for us twice. We're for sure going to be there but they don't tell you your kids whining because they are hungry or your kid had an accident.. They just say you need to come down to the kids Club. So. 37:13.79 Sam Right. 37:23.88 Sam Yeah, now that's a that is a really good tip. Um, and to your point you don't have to come down unless they tell you to come down but you can message them back and say. You know hey can you tell them I will be down in 15 minutes or something like that. So. There are some. There is some ability to message them back if they have messaged you. There is not the ability to just to start a message with them unfortunately, um, but that's definitely something to be aware of. We used to get that all the time when Nathan would go to the kids club and now he could not care less about us coming down. He does not ask for us. Well now he does but even before even before he had checkout privileges when he was on the wish. 38:00.35 dclduo Well, he can Also he can also check himself out of the kids club now right? So yeah. 38:12.17 Sam Ah, during the Maiden voyage when we would come to pick him up. He'd say. Can you come back in like maybe an hour like ok see ah no it. It was not and he's older and it. 38:16.90 dclduo Yeah, but that that will always that was not always the case that was not always the case. 38:24.71 Sam It has changed I would say when we first started cruising with him. It was more similar to your experience Josh for sure. 38:29.84 Josh And that's good to know like I didn't know you could message back. So it's like I wish I would have known that because I would have been like what's the severity of the situation you know and seen what they say. 38:37.26 Sam Right? absolutely. 38:40.89 dclduo Yeah, yeah, so what kind of so stuff did you get up to on board with the kids Josh did you do any of the family activities I mean you've got a 3 year old which you know maybe a little younger than than some of the activities would really be interesting to them. But I'm curious what kind of stuff you got up to with them. 38:54.89 Josh Yeah, so oh man, the activities were great and a reminder to somebody who hasn't curves before there's so much to do and we had two C days back to back and to me I Knew that was gonna be great and it was my kids love the saile away saile a wave party. We didn't do the pirate. 39:10.21 Sam And here. 39:14.70 Josh Deck party because that was at I think like ten o'clock at night it was very late and our kids were asleep. But ah when we went just the 2 of us my wife and I back in October I was like man these parties are all hype. It really's just an excuse to dance and then they're like kind of make you stick around and tell Mickey and Minnie come out. And I thought to myself my kids will probably love this and sure enough they loved those parties more than that they did like a fab fab 5 dance party and the adrium one day and it was that was so cool I think it was actually 6 of them Daisy was there too and they would just have like 6 little ah like. 39:36.33 Sam Yep. 39:40.45 Sam Oh fun. 39:50.62 Josh Dance circles kind of like the person at a wedding who's like move back. Everybody's about to get real and um, every 5 minutes then the characters would rotate so you could say in the same spot and then have a character come and dance with you and my kids love that. 39:59.36 Sam Ah. 40:01.96 Sam Was so fun. 40:06.42 Josh Me my my wife went in had a spa treatment I can talk about that in a second but my kids and I went and did Bingo They they were down with Bingo They were all about that so they had a good time doing that. Ah yeah, I'm trying to think what else we did that we had a great time doing the Royal gathering. 40:13.74 Sam Um, open yeah. 40:18.28 Sam Did you any of the family did you have any family game shows. 40:23.50 Josh We didn't we didn't do the family game shows we did did we do any drawing I think I went to 1 or 2 trivia I went to the Disney Cruise line trivia and you know me being so shy partnered up with some lovely folks who ended up winning the $4000 jackpot at bingo. Yeah. 40:40.30 Sam Um, holy Cow at Bingo Wow amazing. 40:42.72 Josh Um, and we got we got destroyed in trivia. But no, we didn't do any family game shows. Um, the kids would rather be at the pool and relax or go swimming So that's kind of what we spent our time doing. 40:54.88 Sam Yeah, nice you say you did the Royal gathering. So the princess meet and greet did Macy Love the princesses ah was she all about them. 41:01.10 Josh All about them she she was like feeling their dresses and she just like kept feeling all the things on their dresses and talking to them and so Tiana she loves Tiana we had watched princess and the frog to be ready for Tiana's restaurant and so yeah, her her heart was filled. 41:13.20 Sam I'll make that. 41:19.17 Sam Slow more. 41:20.80 Josh Of course she's she's 3 and loves princesses. So my wife took her to bibbbyty bopti boutique and that was a stellar experience. My wife like she my wife like today I was like you remember bibbty boti she's like I was so impressed. She's like I went in with high expectations and. 41:26.64 Sam Um, oh of course I. 41:39.91 Josh The people kind of talk down of like why would you spend so much money on your kids for addressing some makeup but it really is the experience of talking with your child telling them what you're doing talking about magical fairy godmother and training and it it was such a good time. Um. 41:47.89 Sam Um, a. 41:56.21 Sam I Love that. 41:59.15 Josh And I encourage you if you're on the fence and like yeah it is an expensive experience What we did is our daughter has her Disney Princess dress as she wears all the time. So We encourage her to bring her own dress because she's already comfortable with it. Um, the the least expensive package at this point in time is $100 And you get a little nightgown that you leave with a backpack like a little mini mouse pink eared backpack full of the makeup and um nail polish and everything they use and so like she went away with a whole kit to do it at home which she promptly did the day after and looked hilariously amazing. 42:34.44 Josh But overall 10 out of 10 experience that one was. 42:34.94 Sam Ah, amazing. That's what we hear now I'm I'm kind of sad that Nathan's not at all interested in doing one of these experiences now to be fair I I want him to do the Captain Mickey one that they have. Um, which I I'm not sure if it's only on the wish but the outfit is so freaking cute and I just I mean but he he is not at all his sensory issues make it so he does he probably didn't want anybody touching him and no gel in his hair and no sparkles on his face or his hair. But I would love it and from everything I've heard from. Folks who have done it either on the cruise or in the parks that it is just a fantastic experience like the child feels so pampered and like all of the attention is focused on them. Yeah I've heard amazing things and I've heard amazing things about them doing the entire. Princess treatment with boys as well with boys who want want that and I think that's fantastic. 43:31.21 Josh Yeah, and and every child is going to be different on if they're into it or not you know I'm like Nathan if if you told me that I'm going to go get and someone's going to mess with my hair or give me a back massage I'm like no I'm going to karate chop your hands away and run like that's just you know and so some people are going to be totally into that. 43:43.71 Sam You know? yeah. 43:45.98 dclduo Um, well Josh I got to ask about beyond activities for the kids did it sounds like you you and your wife got some you know adult time a little bit did you do any adult dining or any adult. Activities or was it really just if the kids were in the kids club maybe sit by the pool for a little bit and relax. 44:03.64 Josh Yes, we did do adults just a couple things so one we did paulllo brunch which you've you've heard Brian and sam talk about it. You've heard everybody talk about it. It's the best meal just go do apollo brunch. Um, we had it was a great experience. All the food was 10 out of 10 44:08.62 Sam Here. 44:15.53 Sam Just do it. 44:21.79 Josh 2 it 2 3 highlights number 1 if you don't like the seat you're in and you happen to accidentally spill a drink all over the table they will move you to a new seat. Ask my wife how that happened when she it was so funny. She like got ah I don't know what it was. It was like 1 of the first dishes. The ah. 44:41.59 Sam E. 44:42.11 Josh Charcuttery board meats plates and she like took a bite of a pepper and didn't like it and like went to put it on my plate I was like don't put that on my plate and I kind of like pulled my plate back a little bit and she reached over to put it on and then a drink knocked over and I was like I was like this is why we don't have nice things Kristen so she she's like laughing. 44:50.41 Sam Um. 45:01.13 Sam Ah, this is why I don't take this is why I don't take you anywhere. Ah. 45:01.37 Josh The waiters like I it's fine. It's yeah yeah, he's like oh it's fine. It's fine. We'll just move you over here and we like the new spot that he moved this to so fun fact, don't do that on purpose please that would be terrible so that was one fun thing at number 2 um Sasha was there. But. 45:16.69 Sam Ah, love him. there's 2 sashas Yes there's 2 sasha yes yeah manager. Whatever yeah. 45:18.48 Josh There's actually 2 sasha there is the manager or or whatever the the manager would be at that's there's probably yeah better title. But he's an old he you know he's probably in his late 40 s or 50 s he's a little bit on the older side and his name was Sasha which looks like s essay s a because in. Croatian that's how you say Sasha um, and I was like oh we used to have a waiter that's who we've had twice now named Sasha and he's great too. But I didn't know there's 2 of them. So fun fact for you and then last but not last but not least, um, we were pretty close to the kitchen and the chef in the kitchen he was. 45:46.36 Sam Yes, there's 2 smashes. 45:57.35 Josh Like so Italian and he just seemed so ticked off the whole time and in the the waiter was like I'm I'm so sorry you have to be next to the kitchen I'm so sorry you have to like listen to this like I watch him like Reprimand like a sous chef. And then like he picked up the phone and I'm wondering if it was like a 1 ne-edroom concierge because he's like taking notes and he's like U Huh U and you want okay, okay so you want and he has ah Italian accent so you want this dish and you want risotto on the side. Well risotto comes with this dish and he and he's like ah no, Okay, so you want these 2 dishes. 46:17.85 Sam Um, and oh. 46:31.55 Josh Okay, you're not listening to me and he's like so mad on the phone and I hear I hear another woman who's kind of frustrated one of the other cruisers who's dining and she's like this is not the normal Chef This is not the normal experience and I'm like I know and I am eating this up as I'm enjoying my lasagna and like Chicken Parmesan I was like this is like. 46:33.11 Sam Ah. 46:45.20 Sam The drama. 46:50.42 Josh Um, hell's kitchen but on a cruise ship. It was great. Ah. 46:54.47 Sam Ah, that's hilarious. So I want to tell you it was not the 1 bedroom concier suite that they were talking to. They had to be talking to either the Roy or the Walt because you can only get Paulo in room. 47:01.89 Josh Oh. 47:08.30 Sam On the wonder and the magic in the royer. The Walt suite you can't you can get hot breakfast in your room in a 1 bedroom but not Apollo yeah so I'm sure it was the Roy of the Walt. But yeah, you can get as much as you want. It's just like just like pallo brunch if you're eating there as much as you want? yeah. 47:15.38 Josh Oh. 47:23.38 Josh Well I I might have to book the royer the Walt I'm just saying I it sounds like a good idea. 47:25.69 Sam I know. 47:26.65 dclduo No. 47:28.33 Sam Ah, ah so we'll be there. Ok, we'll be. We'll be there with you. We'll we'll just we can sleep in Bunk Beds We're fine with it. But. 47:35.18 Josh Oh yeah, absolutely absolutely. But yeah, overall Paulo Brunch was great and then it was mother's day so we're cruising over mother's day and so my my wife I signed her up kind of surprise for it's called alone time and she loved it. 47:41.55 Sam All nice. 47:49.66 Sam Um, me. 47:51.61 Josh Um, you get your own little room with your own shower your own little jacuzzi. They did my why wife said that they did a foot rub and then she got like 20 minutes in the jacuzzi they came and did a massage for like an hour and then they brought her like the full tea service like the box of choose your own tea which she loves teas. 48:01.96 Sam Um, oh nice. 48:08.22 Sam I Love that? yeah. 48:10.67 Josh And she was like I couldn't have picked a better experience in the spa. It was she loved it. The whole thing. 48:16.32 Sam I'm going to have to book that I've never done that before we did though couples 1 one time where we got like we had couples massage and then we had like time in the jacuzian in the room ourselves. But I've never done the alone time one and that sounds pretty awesome I you know I mean who doesn't love. Some alone time especially when you have children I love it. 48:35.32 Josh Yeah. 48:35.59 dclduo Yeah I saw someone mention the alone time thing and that that seems relatively new and I was I was curious So I'm glad you could sort of share what that experience was all about. 48:44.35 Sam Yeah now I'm curious as to what you got up to in the evenings. Um, in particular you said the first night you dropped the kids off at the kids club so that they would you know, get comfortable before paulo brunch the next day but did they have did they do any time in the kids clubs in the evening so that you all could check out some of the adult venues and perhaps have a cocktail. 49:07.26 Josh Um, no, not not together and our our kids they go to bed usually around eight o'clock and when they're going hard all day. They're super tired and so for us we went to the frozen show with the kids which we we had main dining. 49:14.12 Sam Um, yeah, yeah. 49:23.79 Josh I believe the show starts around like eight fifteen it's about an hour so you're at 9 fifteen yeah, and so for us we put them in their pajamas took under the shows they loved it. But after the kids went down one of us would go out and so um I I think my wife might have sat in on match your mate for a little bit or check out like the pirate party. 49:24.34 Sam Yeah, it's late. 49:43.61 Josh I'd probably go I I think most nights I just went to the pub and had a beer I would like to walk around or see what's going on I wouldn't watch the guardians volume 3 some of that movie in the movie theater one night so we just traded off watching the kids and enjoying join this show. 49:45.60 Sam Um, you had. 49:51.17 Sam Oh nice. 49:57.18 Sam Awesome! Well I got to ask you about the food because you know we've had a lot of discussions you and I Josh about the food and what you like and what you don't like and as we mentioned at the top of the show. You know we might have to torture you with truffle persettes I don't know. 49:58.27 dclduo Nice. 50:16.52 Sam Um, but I'm curious as to what you know were there any highlights for you and were there any low lights for you on the food you've been on the wonder before so you've experienced all 3 of the restaurants previously but did you try anything new that maybe struck your fancy or maybe didn't. 50:30.97 Josh Yeah, great. Great question. Wow same you should be a podcaster. You're you're good at this flattery flattery always comes before the letdown anyway. So before we go to the main dining a couple of noteworthy things and Brian you brought this up when you were talking about your royal caribbean experience. 50:38.80 Sam Ah, yeah. 50:41.10 dclduo Ah. 50:49.14 Josh Kind of like I find it odd that on Disney you can get free soda but drinks are only available at the one soda bar up on the pool deck or in Kabaanas or at your table service but you can't go to a bar you know over in the adults pool area and ask for a coke to me I'm like that doesn't make sense. 51:06.61 Sam Yeah I know it's annoying. 51:08.73 Josh And what came up and what came it is annoying and here's the other annoying thing as an aside is you have to go all the way up to the pool deck to get water or like to get a coffee and to me I'm like how how in all of these Disney ships including the wish it sounds like. Do they not have an atrium or something off the atrium of a simple drink station or a cup of coffee to me. That's that's bonkers and we go well, you can go to the french lounge or you know the french quarter you can go to cove cafe but I'm like come on make it a little easier but where that came most. 51:28.84 Sam Yeah, yeah, yeah. 51:29.63 dclduo In. 51:36.21 Sam Right. 51:43.80 Josh Ah, was most notable to us with was with our kids and so if our son wanted a cheeseburger and our daughter wanted a hot dog. Oh hey, welcome to cabbanas go outside and go to the pool deck I'm like okay like that that there's the same on both sides you can figure out how to squeeze in some cheeseburgers or or hot dogs so that was like 1 interesting note. Um. 51:47.30 Sam Um. 52:02.78 Josh Second food- related thing we traveled from Seattle and of course we're like oh gotta pack the popcorn bucket because then you get the cheap refills on popcorn I'm all about saving a few bucks here and there we go up to the movie theater at the movie theater. The theater popcorn station and I was like yeah 1 popcorn and they're like oh sorry. 52:10.86 Sam Yeah, yeah. 52:22.57 Josh We We we don't take any buckets anymore except the Cruise Ship buckets and I was like and and and and I public service announcement I don't know if that's true if but I never and I was like this is a popcorn bucket. 52:25.30 dclduo Oh that's fail. 52:26.49 Sam Um, what That's really an that's that's terrible I think it's probably dependent on the bartender. 52:42.52 Josh He's like sorry you have to buy another one and I was just like I was very very frustrated. So of course we ended up getting another popcorn bucket and the new in the and the one that they gave us of course is like a little bit smaller than the old one we got from the parks but that was pretty frustrating to me and so I'm hoping that's not a new thing because I just. 52:49.86 Sam Um, yeah. 52:55.64 Sam Yeah. 53:01.80 Sam Yeah I I've heard I've heard people say that that's happened to them too I think it is the more rare experience I don't think it's a new policy I think it's just dependent on if you're lucky enough to get. 53:01.23 Josh This doesn't make any sense to me so that was like oh go ahead. 53:16.23 Sam A nice bartender versus one that's kind of maybe going by the strict rules but a lot of the time the buckets are the same like they when they have like the special star wars ones or whatever they 10 or the Hundredth anniversary ones is another good example that I'm looking right now at a mickey hundredth anniversary bucket. They had the same exact ones on the ship as they did at the parks and so there was no way that anyone would have even known where I bought it. So I wonder if it's yeah I wonder if it's just that. It's so annoying. 53:46.45 Josh And and the the tough part for me is like in those moments. Yeah I'm not an angry I'm not an um, upset person. But I'm like that's weird I've I've been on multiple Disney cruises I've bought I've brought this bucket I was on 1 in October it's popcorn. 54:01.60 Sam Um, now. 54:02.12 Josh Disney's not losing money they they could give everyone popcorn. The reason they charge for it is so that there isn't crazy high demand in a small area right? It's like ah to me I'm just like can you please like would you please do this and they're like sorry it's our it's our policy and now it's just it's it's touches like that that. And this this might be another hot take that make Disney feel like royal caribbean that's like I paid a premium not to get chastised over a different colored popcorn bucket. Please you know? Yeah It's just those little things that are frustrating. Yeah. 54:24.40 Sam Ah, here. 54:24.64 dclduo Mean. 54:31.48 Sam I'm I'm with you I think there's 2 reasons though, why they don't give free popcorn one being the demand and the other one that we've heard and I think is probably true is because it cuts down on the mess in the theater in between shows right? because when you have everyone eating popcorn in the theater. There is popcorn everywhere on the floor whereas if you only have you know if if you have that barrier to entry right? There is less popcorn less mess. So I think it's a combination. 54:56.73 Josh Well, that's if if they deny me my popcorn bucket next time I'll just go throw popcorn all over the theater and then say you could just give me the refill prize. It would be a little cheaper anyway and then one one other noteworthy or 2 other noteworthy food things before talking about main dining that I found interesting. The first one is hilarious is my wife her favorite thing in the morning they did a happy hour at the french quarter lounge where you can get a coffee drink in two beers with the chocolate sauce if for like the cost of a drink so her alone time if she'd go down there by herself and so it's mother's day and I was like all right? kids. 55:21.32 Sam Oh yes. 55:34.60 Josh We're already on a cruise Mom already did her her massage but we've got to get her her happy hour and we got to kind of be quiet and bring it back to her and so so me and my son go down to the French Quarter lounge. Of course we see pluto on the way which is like great and I was like yeah here's the coffee drink she wants and the biigners can we get those to go? Yeah, no problem at all. It was kind of busy. 55:39.90 Sam Oh. 55:47.66 Sam Ah. 55:53.71 Josh You could tell the server felt bad that we were waiting so long. But finally the beigners come and me and my wife's favorite thing about the bigners at the french quarter lounge is they come with a chocolate sauce now Brian and same do not answer. But do you know the secret recipe to the chocolate sauce. Okay, so here's the thing. 56:02.42 Sam Um, yeah. 56:09.52 Sam Um, no. 56:13.63 Josh My wife like kept talking about I don't know what it is this chocolate sauce is just so good. It makes these beiers like it's amazing. So he hands me the plate and it doesn't have the chocolate sauce and I was like I'm so sorry it's mother's day. That's my wife's favorite thing can I get that to go and he goes oh yeah. No worries at all and so I follow him and he goes around the bar and he picks up a thing of Hershey's chocolate soup turns it over and puts it in a little cup and hands it to me and I just look at him and I was I will not forget I look at him and I go is is that the chocolate sauce and he's like yeah. 56:34.41 Sam Oh no, right here. 56:43.81 Sam Ah. 56:49.96 Josh And I kind of give them that look like buddy if this ain't the right sauce me and you both of our butts are on the line here. So you better make sure this is the real deal. So I bring that up to my wife and I was like oh happy you know happy mother's day and of course I got eat the sauce and so she's like eating it. She's like oh this sauce is so good. This is so amazing and I was like. 56:57.89 Sam Ah. 56:58.10 dclduo Ah. 57:07.96 Josh Well I asked the bartender the secret ingredient. He told me how to make it at home and her eyes light up and I said you just have a lukewarm bottle or hershey syrup and it's just melts. She's like you have got to be kidding me. So now you know you can have that chocolate sauce at home anytime. 57:17.69 Sam I. 57:23.10 dclduo Nice. 57:23.54 Sam Um, ah, but you don't have the beass to go with it. Ah oh my God As so as soon as you said you followed the bartender I knew you were going to say it was just a bottle of her shes and ah. 57:25.56 Josh Yeah, twoche twoche. That's the best part. 57:36.55 Josh Yeah, yeah, of course and and then the only the only other noteworthy food item is ah in the in the pub I forget what it's called if it's 5 7 6 or whatever. Um, oh yeah, that one or is it anyway at. 57:47.80 Sam Um, you know O gills that one's oh gills. Yeah yeah, um. 57:52.28 Josh Ten thirty they put out appetizers which I noticed during covid but I don't know if they put them out during the covid cruises. So I was like stoked about this I was like on our last cruise who went on I was second dining so we'd like do second dining. Then you go get a drink afterwards. You're like my stomach is so full and I'd see these appetizers and I was like I can't eat these but this time I was like oh I'm on first dining then I go to a show and then I'm ready for second you know second dinner. Um, but I found it odd they they would put the appetizers out wrapped up like a half hour early and just leave them in those heater trays. 58:15.60 Sam Um I have room. Ah. 58:22.93 Sam No. 58:24.76 Josh And then they just unwrap them and so Brian you and I have connected on how good the room service chicken wings are but you put those room service chicken wings in a tray and leave them for a half hour and then open up a buffet for an hour and never replenish them. They got really gross and it was it was another one of those things that's like. 58:36.87 Sam Your. 58:43.20 Josh If you're going to put out appetizers if you're going to put out little fried things like you can't leave a cheese you know a cheesetick a motzzarella stick out for an hour a heating tray. It was gross and so I was I was ah I was a little disappointed by that. So anyway, that's all my. 58:52.25 Sam Um, ah, gross and soggy. Oh. 58:58.57 Josh My food thoughts outside of the main dining areas. 59:00.57 Sam Oh my goodness. Yeah, the appetizers that sounds disgusting to me if they're sitting there for a long time I will say after I've had a couple maybe too many drinks anything like that taste delicious. Maybe the people and oh gills are not as discerning. Um, after they've had a few drinks. 59:00.81 dclduo Wow. 59:17.47 Josh Oh yeah I mean I was going to say that's why I ate all of those appetizers and still was like these aren't good. But I'm hungry anyway. So sorry. 59:19.39 Sam All right? Well, we've got a. Yeah, I'm so hungry all right? Well, we've got to hear about mean dining. We've got to hear if you tried anything New. What was Good. What was not good. Tell us. 59:33.45 Josh Yes, so main dining I have to say this is our third Disney Cruise and every cruise we've been on are waiting and it's hit or miss on your waiters and your wait staff. Our waiting service service every cruise has gotten exponentially better in the food. 59:51.56 Sam Um, ah wow tell me more Josh. 59:52.36 Josh I feel like keeps getting better and I I realize it might I realized it might it might be because we were traveling with our kids and so we're more tired at on the ball and when someone hands you a hot plate of food and you don't have to do the dishes. You're like this tastes like a million dollars this is great. Um, but now we're adventurous in the sense of like my wife and I will each order a different entree. We're not afraid to try something new or split something on the cruise and all the options by now we figured out what we'd like you know the grouper at 1 restaurant the wasabi filett at. Ah, animators or the escart go my wife loves the black truffle presettes and all those things like it was just really good and the 1 thing that I really enjoyed was our our main waiter said hey if there's anything you need if there's anything that you didn't get in a previous cruise because they heard we'd been on a couple times. Let us know. And I had made mention hey I I have gotten you know lukewarm appetizers on both of the last 2 cruises and he he stops and he goes well thank you so much for telling me that now I can make sure every appetizer is going to be very hot I'm was like I love this man. This is amazing. So honestly, overall like my my like feedback on the main dining rooms is. 01:01:01.30 Sam Oh that's awesome. Yeah. 01:01:09.64 Josh To me. The food hasn't necessarily changed but the service was top notch. All of our food was very warm. Our steaks were prepared properly I always order them rare even though I'm a medium rare guy because they always overcook them and it was perfectly medium rare when I ordered rare so that was great. Um, and then the black truffle Presettes. 01:01:22.18 Sam Um. 01:01:27.79 Sam Yes. 01:01:28.76 Josh Sam I gotta tell you this is the warmest. They've been. He assured me that he goes I grabbed the freshest one. They just put on there I said this is amazing and I took a bite and I still thought to myself I don't know what the big deal is it's like the atrium welcome I'm just like. 01:01:36.10 Sam Oh no. 01:01:45.81 Josh And my wife's like this is the best one I've had and I was like I it is the best one I've had too and it's just and and and so we had a long conversation and she's like maybe you just don't like stuffed pasta and I was like you know, looking out. 01:01:51.52 Sam Um, it's just not you something you love. 01:01:59.84 Josh You know my figure and how much I eat and how much I love food I'm pretty sure I love Pasta This is just mediocre you know and this is the best mediocre I've ever had. But it's still mediocre. So nothing's changed I'm still the villain I'm going to custom order my black travel perset costume. So I can wear that at the castaway key Five k. 01:02:03.88 dclduo And. 01:02:16.52 Sam Oh my god oh my god you do not even know how much that would make my year like I and I feel like people if they saw you in a trouble per set costume like everyone would want to take their picture with you like no question, no question, you would be like like Princess Tiana 01:02:18.13 Josh And take a picture for you. Sam. 01:02:29.37 Josh Um, yeah I. 01:02:36.27 Sam I Mean the way that people would be flocking to you Seriously I it. It's like that. Yeah, the didn't Ty fung dumpling. Yeah, it looks like that. Yeah it it looks like kind of like an upside down Jaolong Bow Yeah, that's what I'm imagining. 01:02:37.99 dclduo I'm just trying to imagine what a truffle per set cost and would look like maybe it's from that dump a dump that happy happy dumping place that we go to that has a little mascot out front. Maybe that's a area. 01:02:47.17 Josh Oh yeah. 01:02:51.98 dclduo Yeah. 01:02:52.80 Josh Well I do have a talko costume and I could assume I could I can't change that one but I was like I think I understand what I would do and you put the little carrots on top and the little like black pepper crushed on there. Yeah, a little green sliver. Yeah I'll get all I'll work it out. Don't worry. 01:02:56.00 Sam Like me. 01:03:03.80 Sam Um, yes, little green. Yeah I love it up. 01:03:09.86 dclduo But all right pictures forthcoming I've got to ask Josh overall how was it being on a repositioning cruise. 01:03:20.32 Josh Such a good question. the the I think the thing we are most unsure about was we had friends who had done the repositioning before from San Diego to Vancouver and they had really bad seasickness really turbulent waters. We. Also had a different group of friends who just did a ah cabo san Lucas Cruise on the wonder and they have done 6 Disney cruises and they said they had the worst water they've ever had on coming back from kabo and so we're like a little nervous but we had smooth sailings the whole way. And so for us we didn't we didn't notice any difference from being on a sea day when we were in the caribbean or being in the inside passage in Alaska to to us the the ships ref fine the temperatures. What's funny is this was mother's day weekend Brian same if you remember living in the pacific northwest it was like ° on that. 01:04:15.30 Sam Was super nice. Yeah, oh. 01:04:15.75 Josh Sunday of mother's day. That's the day we docked in Victoria which to us is just a boat right away so we were like an eighty some degree day on a Disney Cruise ship in the pacific northwest we're not going anywhere. Um so the coldest day was actually probably in San Diego the day we left. 01:04:27.78 Sam Oh my God amazing. 01:04:35.47 Josh And on on C was about the same temperatures but with some wind but overall great weather. We as Pacific northwesterners. We loved it. 01:04:35.63 Sam Um, yeah, ah. 01:04:42.47 Sam Oh that's amazing. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me that you didn't get off the ship in Victoria Victoria is a beautiful city for those who haven't been. There's you know the bouchard gardens. There's this beautiful waterfront. There's the empress hotel where you can have high tea and. 01:04:44.48 dclduo Rice. 01:04:58.10 Sam It's all really lovely Chinatown's walking distance as Well. I mean there's there. It's a wonderful city. Um, but of course people who live in the Pacific Northwest have probably been and maybe been but multiple times and of course with younger kids on the Cruise ship. It's just easier to stay on and enjoy the ship. So question. 01:05:17.10 dclduo Yep, for sure for sure Sam anything we haven't covered about this cruise or Josh anything from your notes that we haven't hit on that you wanted to to cover. 01:05:17.44 Josh Ah. 01:05:28.93 Josh I would say the shows were that was one thing we went to 2 of the shows with our kids we went to dreams and we went to of course frozen we did not go to Golden Mickey's because I can only watch 1999 Bob Iger so much and get tired of it. Um. 01:05:43.56 Sam Um. 01:05:46.66 Josh I thought my kids were going to love frozen because my daughter loves frozen my son does to more than dreams but they really enjoyed the variety shows and I think what they enjoyed was having the different characters that from movies. They recognize it dawned on me I'm like to me a show experience of beauty in the beast or frozen or you know a latin or whatever. 1 singular storyline as an adult I really like but it it dawned on me which is like I should know this. But for the kids they love the variety. Um, so that was a good thing and the other thing even though we're on the wonder in October um, almost all the cast on the show was was different. The main singers because those are the ones you recognize and I felt like the the show the actors who were not as good and singers were not as good as our toperc crewise but still very very good overall. So just again, it's kind of like your dining staff. Your dining staff's always gonna be good. Some are gonna be amazing and some are just gonna be pretty good. Um. 01:06:25.48 Sam Um, right. 01:06:44.77 Josh I Felt like for the shows it was just it was pretty good. It wasn't wasn't bad. 01:06:46.59 Sam Yeah, every once in a while I feel like there's like a standout and of course the visiting Broadway Performer is usually that standout and maybe 1 or 2 others. But you know they're all as you said good, they're all you know at least as good as the performers that are in the parks when you see some of those you know shows in the parks. And but every once in a while you have someone who's really really special who's playing you know elsa or on a or one of the other sort of main characters. Yeah. 01:07:15.41 Josh And then the last thing I'll say is like ending the cruise in Vancouver I'm familiar with Vancouver driven through it a ton. The cruise ship is right downtown and so that's a pretty cool place to like cruise out of or into finding. 01:07:25.20 Sam It has. 01:07:29.51 dclduo Oh. 01:07:32.66 Josh Finding my dad picked us up finding a personal transit or an uber even the parking garage I mean I can only explain it of the I think it's what the second it's one of the biggest metro cities in Canada and it's just like engulfed in like skyscrapers and you're right there on the water. It's pretty amazing and as we cruised in there's like. 01:07:45.48 Sam Um, yeah. 01:07:52.59 Josh Multiple sea planes planes landing. There's like an eagle in the distance. It's easy to forget how picturesque that place is. 01:07:56.84 Sam Um, ah I love Vancouver. Yeah, so and so many great things to do there. We've of course talked about it on other shows but great dim sum in Vancouver great asian food in general. Um. 01:07:58.30 dclduo Nice, nice. 01:08:11.43 Sam And then you know the wonderful Stanley park. There's an aquarium there just ah yeah, it's ah a fantastic city to visit absolutely and so nice that it's so close that you only have a short drive home that makes it really nice and easy. 01:08:22.34 Josh Yes I know which makes me want to go do a seven or eight night Alaskan Cruise out of there that sounds delightful right now. 01:08:30.46 dclduo Nice, nice. Well I have one last question Josh but I'm going to save it till the end of the show and instead I'm going to hand you over to Sam for. 01:08:30.64 Sam Yeah. 01:08:41.28 dclduo Arbitrary questions arbitrary rules and a dash of judgment are the round. We know as rapid fire so sam I don't know what you've got cooked up for Josh today but take it away. 01:08:48.49 Sam So Josh you've done our regular rapid fire and we've done some compare contrast with the royal caribbean but I want to know your favorites from this cruise in particular right? So we're going to be talking about the wonder we'll be talking food shows all that good stuff. 01:08:51.18 Josh Who. 01:09:06.26 Sam And so we're going to limit your answers though to the wonder. So I want to know what was your favorite show that you got to see on board this cruise. 01:09:07.71 Josh Okay. 01:09:14.35 Josh Yeah, favorite show would have to be frozen seeing my daughter dancing in the aisle to let it go That's in having having snope fall on you if you get soap snow. Ah it was delightful frozen. 01:09:21.41 Sam Yeah. 01:09:24.80 dclduo 4 01:09:27.14 Sam I Love that Nope I never heard that before but it's a a perfect description of what falls from the sky. That's awesome. All right? What was your favorite rotational dining. 01:09:35.10 Josh Um, yep. 01:09:42.20 Josh I would have to say Tiana's Tiana's the show is so cool. The food is really good as well. Um, fun fact I got to hang out with the main singer in Tiana's at the pub one night and I learned his work schedule is the dream for pun intended for a Disney ship. 01:09:52.54 Sam Oh fun. 01:09:59.39 Josh Ah, he just sings the 2 seatings in the evening and then he gets the rest of the crews off I was like I want that guy's job if I'm going to work on a Disney ship. Yeah. 01:10:03.33 Sam Wow I Wonder about I Wonder if the rest of the Crawish crooners. Get the the night off or if they are doing the other performances in the other venues. Wow It's awesome. 01:10:13.83 Josh I I don't know but it was cool because him and the other performers with him um were at the pub to support one of the artists who was playing there so it was really it was really cool to see them like cheering on and the banter between them and the live performing artists. It was. It was really cool. 01:10:26.35 Sam Oh awesome. All right favorite bar space that you got to visit on this cruise. 01:10:35.67 Josh I would say yeah I loved I Love the pub but I think more than that I really like signals like I Love the adult only area that that it's connected to cove Cafe Those three are are my favorite but I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with Signals. My wife would be the French Quarter line. She loves the French Quarter I know tell me tell me something she doesn't remind me of Daily. It's great. 01:10:56.89 dclduo Yeah. 01:10:57.13 Sam Well because your wife knows what she's talking about because that's the right answer. That's the right? Ah all right I Want to know what your favorite place to relax was a non bar space on the cruise. 01:11:11.19 Josh My favorite place to relax is the adult's pool like the cove pool like sitting there with a drink in the padded lounger hands down my favorite spots to relax and my wife's as well and so we did some. 01:11:19.40 Sam Yeah. 01:11:29.60 Sam Yeah, that's the best. That's what you have to do it's It's about you know tag team work. It's that's it's amazing That way you can get some alone relaxing time versus watching funnel vision. So all right I Want to know what your favorite savory. 01:11:29.91 Josh Shifts with the kids at the pool trading off to go over there. 01:11:45.52 Josh Ah. 01:11:49.25 Sam Thing that you ate and I'm also going to be asking you sweet but let's go savory first. 01:11:53.90 Josh Oh savory, my my wife might say the Euros at the Ah Ershwarma at the the Strama station make sure to ask for the pita. Not the tortilla the tortilla not great. The pita delicious. 01:12:07.80 Sam Um, yes. 01:12:10.55 Josh I am probably it's so sad, but it just it never disappoints Room service, Buffalo Chicken wings and the Blt in room service are so good. They're just so good every time So I'm a simpleton. It doesn't take much. 01:12:20.44 Sam Um, so good. So good I Love it all right? Well what about your suite item. 01:12:26.00 Josh Oh gosh I would probably say the Mickey Paddle bar those things are so good. 01:12:34.75 dclduo Ah. 01:12:36.46 Josh Like yeah people people at this point who have heard me on the show before they're like Josh can critique everything and he likes the most garbage basic food I'm like welcome to my life like maybe that's the issue. 01:12:36.82 Sam Ah, ah. 01:12:43.60 Sam Ah I know you have I know it's funny you. You're not even you know you didn't bring up anything you ate it Paulo. You didn't bring up the chocolates who fly or anything I mean this is yeah, it's ah the bikey bar. Ok fair enough. What I mean for me I I mean I like the soft serve on deck better than the mickey bar. So you know it. 01:12:43.32 dclduo And. 01:12:56.71 Josh Um, yeah. 01:13:01.93 Josh Um, yeah. 01:13:02.85 Sam It is what it is all right now I feel like we need to hear favorites of for your kids so from your perspective of course because the kids aren't on on right now. But um, tell me what do you think each of them loved the most about cruising on Mickey's boat 01:13:21.70 Josh Yeah, my my daughter would say bibbity boy boutique and meeting the characters she they did coloring in the french quarter lounge um in the mornings and so they had coloring sheets and a big box of crayola. You know, markers and crayons and. She would to go over to the coloring table look at all the characters and be like okay I want to meet mickey today and so she'd grab the mickey thing color it and then be like okay now I have to give it to Mickey and so then we would find the character so that she could meet them. 01:13:44.78 Sam Oh oh. 01:13:53.23 Josh And so every character Mawanna repunzel the princesses. They all got a picture drawn from our daughter so bar none that was her favorite thing that she did. 01:14:03.50 Sam I Love that because I will tell you I bet that that actually made each cast members day when they received that picture. You know it's just like a memory for that day. Ah, that's so sweet. 01:14:10.90 Josh Yeah, it and and a friendly reminder. The cast members who are the handlers for the characters Most of the times are the ones doing the show in the evenings and the shows and so when you acknowledge that. 01:14:24.25 Sam Here. 01:14:30.60 Josh And thank them for their performance. Talk about making someone's day when a six year old boy I go eli do you recognize who that is that's that's the girl who was singing last night and you know she was the main character so I have a six year old boy go up and we go you did great last night in that show I mean her face it was like she's like like these poor actors and actresses like. Nobody like it's weird. It's like everyone's waiting for milwaana but you don't realize like she's the lead of the show that's going on tonight and you. 01:14:54.00 Sam Right? You're Elsa standing right next to you and you haven't even realized it because she's not in her costume so she looks a little different. Yeah, no absolutely. 01:15:02.00 Josh Yeah, and so just yeah, yeah, and ah yeah, so that was like a highly oh and by the way my and my daughter at Bibbity-boity boutique. The thing that made the cast member just die laughing me and my son went and visited her halfway through to see her transformation and I was like. 01:15:16.81 Sam No. 01:15:18.85 Josh Wow, You are so beautiful. What's your favorite part and she just looks up with these little eyes and she goes I Love the Pig dust and the cast member just started So that's a joke at our house is like oh just add a little pig dust to it that'll make it way better. 01:15:31.37 Sam Ah, name does. 01:15:36.20 dclduo No, ah. 01:15:37.36 Sam Ah, make it better. Oh my goodness all right? Well your son your son's favorite memory or favorite moment. Yeah yeah. 01:15:40.60 Josh Ah, yeah, and oh good, Probably the twist and spout. He loved the pool area. He he would stay there all day. 01:15:51.50 Sam Now I need to know your favorite moment or moments as a parent watching your kids on a Disney Cruise for the first time because obviously you know seeing it through their eyes and seeing what their favorites are is 1 thing but what is like what was the moment where you're like it just tugged at your heart and you probably would've. Cried like a baby if somebody had started talking to you about it. 01:16:10.14 Josh Oh my my daughter during the show's dancing in the iowaway just spinning and twirling you know as as the snope is falling that was like melt melt your heart and just my son just loved interacting with the characters and meeting them. 01:16:14.60 Sam Move. 01:16:30.90 Josh And you know getting off the twists and spout dad. Can we do it again and you're like we can do it as many times as you want and meaning it in his eyes just lighting up and just going for it like the reason I love cruising so much compared to the parks compared to any other vacations is because of that. Those moments. Whatever you want to do as much as you want. We're in this is a family I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat next I already paid for this vacation. So I don't have to worry about the bill at the end of it like we're just in this as a family. It's it. If Disney if you need a spokesperson I will take free cruises to get other people on board your ships there you go. 01:17:07.66 Sam Love it all right? So the last question of rapid fire same question I ask every time what is your bucket list. Cruise. 01:17:17.68 Josh Who every my in-laws are going on a med cruise coming up this September not on Disney they're doing one of the fancy ones I don't even know what it is in regents or I don't know but I would say a ah. twoweek med cruise sounds pretty great or the repositioning cruise going from vancouver to hawaii and then hawaii to australia. Um, yeah, so if I had to pick one. Okay, my one relocation cruise I would I would pay for and do in a heartbeat. 01:17:36.60 Sam Um, yeah. 01:17:40.71 Sam Yeah. 01:17:51.58 Josh If it popped up and it was the right timing and everything panama canal final answer Panama canal. 01:17:54.29 Sam Okay, all right I love it I mean those are all bucket list cruises. So it sounds pretty amazing to me I want to do all of those as well. Although we've done Panama canal but I would do it again like that's how much of a bucket list. It is I would do it again. Well thank you for playing Josh I appreciate it. You know. 01:18:07.83 Josh Yeah. 01:18:13.77 Sam Even though of course your wife is the winner of today's rapid fire around. Not you but you know all fair and love and marriage. You know. 01:18:19.41 Josh Oh yeah, yeah, she is always the winner. 01:18:23.41 dclduo Well Josh I had 1 last question. So now you've sailed Disney yourself. You've sailed on royal you've sailed Disney with your kids not where are you headed next? but are you going to stick with Disney because you know I think people could could listen to you talk about Disney and say. And seems like you have some complaints. Ah you know about your experience on board. Are you going to stick with Disney or do you feel like you're going to try some other cruise lines. But what's your what's your opinion. 01:18:53.51 Josh Ah, such a such a good question. It's such a deep question and we can. We can have a little counseling session. It's like why do I why do I critique why do I critique things especially Disney so much and to answer your question I'll start there i. 01:18:59.60 Sam Yes. 01:19:02.36 dclduo Ah. 01:19:10.40 Josh Am always willing to pay a premium to have a more premium experience and I'm not somebody who like makes buko bucks. But I just enjoy being able to unwind and ah relax in in in the busy World. We live in and so for me I Love Disney. Like I said about the parks I briefly mentioned the parks are just so filled with people and it feels like when you go in the parks you get nickeled and dimed for everything I mentioned on the cruise you know I hate getting on and getting nickelled and dimed for more things. So for me, the critique really comes out of I love. 01:19:34.92 Sam He. 01:19:44.66 Josh I love the Disney Company I love the magic they create I love the details that they think about that do have impacts on people even if they don't on me. So for me I love disney and the reason I critique it is because I want it to be better because I love so much about it and I feel like there's small ways that they can improve in order to make it even more amazing. So for me. 01:19:57.17 Sam Um. 01:20:04.45 Josh Absolutely do I already have a seven night caribbean cruise booked on the fantasy coming up in February with my family. My kids my parents and my in-laws of course I do and so that's coming up. Um, and that's going to be ah Eastern Caribbean Cruise so yes but along with that. 01:20:14.74 Sam Yes, ah. 01:20:17.97 Sam Oh the best. 01:20:23.70 Josh I'm also trying to convince my wife for my birthday which is in September to do a little cruise on a different cruise line. Maybe a three nider. There's a relocation. It's a really far distance I don't know I don't know if you guys can comprehend how far this is from Vancouver british columbia to Seattle so I'm I'm debating. 01:20:43.42 Sam Ah, so you're basically an hour in each direction. Ah. 01:20:43.62 Josh Um, I'm trying to get her to show. Yeah yeah, and I'm trying to show her like hey the price for a three night cruise on this little jaunt is like one night on Disney and you know drinks are included so we should really try out this other cruise line so that might be in the works if my wife says yes, we'll see. 01:20:55.37 dclduo Nice, nice. Well Josh to put you on the spot or but or we can be able to coax you into our podcast crews. Some folks might actually like to meet the villain in person and ask a few questions. 01:20:58.35 Sam I Love that. 01:21:08.70 Josh I I'm so saddened to say I'm not going to be going on the podcast cruise and since you asked on air I can answer very honestly on air that we live in one of the most beautiful amazing places in the whole world. But only for three months out of the year and so to book a cruise and be from the pacific northwest during 1 of those three months you're crazy so to me if you booked it any other time except for June July and August one hundred percent in there. The fact you booked it in June I go come on guys and and. 01:21:34.85 Sam Yeah. 01:21:42.87 dclduo Row it. 01:21:43.10 Sam I know. 01:21:46.60 Josh Ah, threenyder come on guys. We should have done a week or ten days that's ah that's there so that no I'm not and I wish I was there because hearing like all the guests that come on your show I think about conciiers Chris and. Think about you know Willie and Rebecca and like all these people that I'm like I feel like I know these people there are awesome people like cruising like I do like of course I want to meet all of them. But no sadly I'm not doing that. 01:22:07.91 dclduo Well. 01:22:09.19 Sam Yeah, listen, we understand ah to give a fair explanation. You know if if we could have picked a time that wasn't during the best three months of the year we absolutely would. But obviously dealing with school schedules. That's what we were trying to avoid. We're trying to avoid the school year and pretty much across the country. You know June is probably the best time we could do and then the the allure of the lighthouse point cruises was another factor and then the the last factor. Just. Being a shorter cruise we picked that to make it accessible to as many people at different price points as possible. So we knew that that was going to probably cut out a lot of west coasters because we're going all the way to the East Coast for a three night cruise but to be fair, we're also doing the dvc charter that. Butts into that. So right before so I understand your reasoning I forgive you for not coming Josh um, and and and I'll eat some s cargo for your wife as well. 01:23:02.41 Josh But let. 01:23:03.13 dclduo And she will eat. She'll eat plates of truffle persets for days in your honor while she's a. 01:23:09.85 Josh Let me just put it out there if if somebody wanted to start a gofund me I will pay for my flights and bring my black truffle perset costume to run the castaway key Five K and so it might be worth it for you people you start the gofund me dcl duo villain goes to. 01:23:16.92 Sam Ah. 01:23:24.59 Sam Um, yeah, yeah, and remember it'll it'll probably hopefully be the lighthouse point Five K That's what I'm hoping for that would be yeah that would be awesome. 01:23:27.99 Josh The cruise there you go oh that I who knows if they're going to do that that would be that'd be pretty neat. 01:23:30.53 dclduo Now. Yeah, well Josh is always we really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share your cruising experience. It's always fun to chat with you. We want to hear all about this seven night cruise you have and if you end up taking a cruise from Vancouver to Seattle. Ah, we want to hear about that too. But for now we'll just say yeah yeah, but for now just thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate. It. 01:23:51.30 Josh Deal. 01:23:51.43 Sam We'll meet you at the port All right? ah. 01:23:56.32 Josh Thanks guys.