[00:00:00] Speaker A: Another ship with a lack of an enclosed adult fun music dancing location. These are the two we want everyone in bed by 09:00 p.m. Ships.
Welcome back, everybody, to this week's bonus episode of the DCL Duo Podcast, brought to you by My Path Unwinding Travel. And Sam. We're doing a little listener feedback session. We've got some voicemails. We've got a bunch of posts on our Facebook page. We wanted to bring you the reactions to the big Disney Treasure announcements that happened a few weeks ago now, but solicited our Facebook group for feedback and ended up with a couple of fun voicemails and a bunch of feedback from the Facebook group. Wanted to start by playing you a voicemail from a listener who called in unrelated to the treasure and loved her voicemail, so wanted to play it for you on air.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Hi DC. Aldu. This is Lisa from Missouri. My family and I just recently got back from our first ever Disney Cruise to Alaska. We had a fabulous time and I love your podcast.
I used it as my how to and looked up all the episodes you had done with families about planning, how to get reservations, what to prepare for on Disney Cruises, all the activities, and I'm so thankful that you guys put this content out because it's very helpful. And also it helped us have a fabulous vacation and so I really appreciate you guys. Thank you so much for what you do. I love listening to your show and love catching up with all the new Disney Cruise line information and news. So thanks for what you do. I really appreciate it. Okay, have a great day. Bye.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: Thanks so much, Lisa. We're so happy to receive listener feedback and we're so excited that we could help you and your family enjoy your first Disney Cruise. Welcome to the Castaway club. If you have any additional questions that come up as you're sailing on your next cruise or planning your next cruise, please let us know and we're happy to answer them on the air or in our Facebook group.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Thanks, Lisa. We super appreciate you calling in and leaving us a voicemail. It's always great to hear from our listeners. And so if you are a listener out there and you want to leave us a voicemail, just call us on our voicemail line. That's 4024-1355-9040-2413.
Don't worry, we will not pick up live, but we will get your voicemail and we will take a look at it, and if it's family friendly and we want to put it on the air, we will and we'll respond to it here. So thanks, Lisa, so much for calling in and to all of you out there, if you want to call in, feel free with that. I want to head over to our Facebook comments because the voicemails we got on the treasure came from some friends of ours and they're a lot of fun. So I want to save them till the end. But let's head over to Facebook, Sam, and take a look at some of the feedback that we got on the treasure. I'm going to read these in no particular order and just give Sam a chance to respond, and then I'll respond after her. And let's start with Brandon Peters wrote Skipper Society. I hope it has nods to Trader Sam's and a menu of tiki drinks. What do you think, Sam?
[00:03:13] Speaker C: Yes, that's what we're hoping for, too. We want all the tiki drinks from Trader Sam's. We want all the punny jokes from the Jungle Cruise theme park ride. We want Disney to really do a good job with this theming. This has really great potential as long as the execution is proper. What do you think, Brian?
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's a no brainer for them to have tiki drinks because then they can sell the tiki mugs. Yeah, I think they've got to have the tiki drinks. And 100% agree this is only going to work if they lean into the theming of the ride and actually train the cast members to have some fun with it. So excited about the Skipper Society. Can't wait to see what they do and just hope they execute it well. So looking forward to that. Next up, we got a comment from Daniel johnny writes, I like the overall look of the interior over the interior of the Wish. I hear many people saying it reminds him of a funeral home, but I feel that the atrium of the Wish feels sterile, if that makes sense. Looking forward to the darker tones, and it really does say adventure to me. The theming of the Skipper Society and also the Periscope Pub sounds like great places if they use them to their potential. Looking forward to the possible Haunted Mansion edition if it comes to fruition. Lastly, hope they do have those waffles Arthur was eating. My son loves waffles, so, yes, waffles. I predict definitely some waffles on board. I can't see a reason why there wouldn't be waffles. And if you haven't had a Churro waffle yet, definitely get that to the list. Sam, what do you think about the overall kind of interior design, color scheme, that sort of stuff? It is dark. It's much darker than on the Wish.
[00:04:45] Speaker C: It is dark. I will say I was a little skeptical at first when I first saw that rendering of the Grand Hall. I think that was sort of the first thing they released. But the more I have seen of it in the most recent press release, I feel like it's not too dark. I don't believe it fits the funeral home theme that you're concerned about or that others were concerned about. I think it's going to be really pretty with this dark jewel tones in certain areas and then lighter tones in other areas. I do find the Wish Grand Hall to be really beautiful and really elegant and I think this Grand Hall should be just as beautiful, but maybe a little less elegant and more obviously leaning into that adventure theming. So I like it. Is it my favorite aesthetic in that, particularly the Grand Atrium or the Grand Hall? Probably not, but I think it's going to be really beautiful in the end, and I'm trusting that Disney will do it right so it won't be too dark.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: I don't know if I can trust Disney, Sam, because they did not execute fully on The Wish, but I'm hopeful. Fingers crossed. I do like the color scheme. I do like the Adventure Theming, and I do think it's going to be fun because it'll, I think, connect better with our son's interests. I think the Wish is princess themed and so pretty excited for the Treasure to have kind of that adventure Theming that will connect more broadly with folks, hopefully. So looking forward to it, for sure. The funeral home comment is funny. We have heard from some folks who did the VR tour within the atrium on board the Wish, which is where they did some of the early press announcements for the Treasure that it looked like they were trying to use some faux tile work on some of the columns and things like that. So I think it could be really good if executed well. And so really, really hoping they do that also. Totally looking forward to the Haunted Mansion if it makes an appearance on the Treasure, which we fully expect that it will, based on all of the lead up announcements about the treasure. And I am super excited about the Periscope pub. I worry a bit that that's going to be a place where they cut corners on the execution a little bit, but hopeful that the renderings, they stay true to the renderings and we see some fun stuff there as well. Next up, we got a comment from Lynn Rasmussen, who writes, I am not at all excited about the Treasure or the Wish. It's unlikely, but not impossible that I will ever sail on either. We cruise concierge and I still believe they overexpanded those areas in a money grab. So they no longer appealed to me. I'd rather be on the Dream or Fantasy. Sam, what do you think? Do you think they overexpanded concierge on The Treasure and the Wish?
[00:07:09] Speaker C: Yes. I have to agree with that part of your comment, Lynn. I don't agree with the never go on it because I think the Wish and the treasure well, I would think the Wish has a lot to offer. I think the treasure will also have a lot to offer. But I do agree with you on the expansion of the concierge offerings. There are too many concierge rooms on The Wish. The lounge is fantastic. We've talked about this on some other shows. That lounge is probably the nicest lounge in the fleet. But you do not get the same level of personal service that we've come to expect on the other ships in Concierge because of the number of rooms. However, that money grab is not going to really help you, Lynn, because we have heard that the Dream and the Fantasy are going to have additional concierge rooms on those ships after their next dry docks and that the lounges will be expanded as well. However, who knows if they will expand the lounges enough to compensate for those additional concierge rooms. So be forewarned that you may not get what you're really looking for on the Fantasy and the Dream, and it might be worthwhile to check out the Wish or the Treasure. We'll see.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: I was going to say the problem that we're facing is Disney's constantly expanding Concierge now. And that's tough. I think it compromises the experience a bit in the lounge. They're not always adding the amount of staff that they need for the number of concierge guests who are sailing. So I think the experience is getting compromised. I suspect we'll see some comments later on about price, but I just pause here to say that the price they're charging for Concierge on the treasure, in my opinion, is just not worth what Disney currently offers for the Concierge experience.
We thought long and hard about whether we wanted to book Concierge on the treasure and opted not to for the two sailings that we booked the maiden voyage and one over spring break. And for me, it's not even a close call when you compare what some of the other cruise lines are offering in their kind of sweet class experience to what Disney is. I think Disney is behind. I think they've fallen behind and I think they have a lot of catch up to do. It will be interesting if they try to address that or if they just kind of stick to their guns and say, well, people will pay whatever we ask them to. I don't think that has worked out for them on the treasure. Last I checked, the maiden voyage concierge was still available as well as concierge across many of the other sailings. So yeah, so I think it's going to be tough for them. They got a little catch up to do and I think they got to up their game on the Concierge experience. But let's move on to a comment from Melinda Greenie writes, I like the theming a lot more than the Wish, but still reluctant to try one of the bigger ships and not excited by the itineraries. I'm hoping they can add a permanent ship out on the West Coast with more San Diego sailings once treasure launches. Well, on that last part, Melinda, I just want to say it does not look good for you because the San Diego cruises are dwindling out here, not expanding. I think that that could change, not after the treasure comes out, but after the next Wish class ship comes out, potentially after the adventure comes out, I'm not sure, but I think that we will see more San Diego cruising once we have another ship in the fleet beyond the treasure. More likely once we have another Wish class ship in the fleet beyond the treasure. Disney has just really made a ton of commitments in places like Nassau, Galveston and Port Canaveral, and to fulfill those commitments, I think we're going to see a lot more sailings out of those destinations.
[00:10:40] Speaker C: Right. And with the addition of New Zealand and Australia on the Wonders Itineraries, that's really taking away our West Coast ship. So Brian and I absolutely sympathize with you, Melinda, because obviously as West Coasters ourselves, we love having the Wonder ported out of San Diego or even the Magic ported out of San Diego, but as Brian said, it's just not looking too good.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Yeah, and Chris Kidder responded here on the point about the larger ships, and it's a good point to make. These Wish class ships are not that much larger than the Fantasy and the Dream, and in fact, our passenger counts, I think, are near identical or identical. The ships themselves are slightly larger, but primarily to accommodate the apparatus they need for the liquid natural gas fuel on board. So I wouldn't say that these ships are much larger than the Dream or the Fantasy and reality, and in some ways they feel a little smaller because the spaces are chopped up and a little smaller on board. So you may not love the layout. On the itinerary side of things, I'll say I'm stoked for the Itineraries. I mean, look, would I love for this ship to be sailing some super unique Itineraries? Sure. But ships of this size can't get into, like, small ports or go into normal regular cruise ports. Fully expected the ship would be sailing the Caribbean, because that's where you put the newest ship in your fleet, is sailing the Caribbean. But what I'm most excited about is Seven Night Itineraries, which you can't get on the Wish right now and you won't get in the foreseeable future. So, Sam, I think you're pretty stoked about Seven night itineraries too.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: Absolutely.
While I totally understand it's not going to have any unique itineraries, it's not going to Lighthouse Point. That was all, I think, to be expected from the standpoint of you never send your newest ship to a really unique Itinerary schedule because the ship itself becomes the destination and will attract people to cruise. You send your older, more known ships to those more unique itineraries like going to Lighthouse Point to attract people onto those older ships that might not have as many amenities. So it's more about the destination, not the ship. So that's clearly just sort of a marketing decision and it's a smart one by Disney. And like I said, while it's a little bit disappointing, it's not going to Lighthouse Point. We had plenty of time to sort of stomach that disappointment because we fully expected this to happen. So I'm excited because we love the seven night itinerary that the Fantasy is currently doing. And so it will be nice to be on a new ship on that fantastic itinerary. Whether you do the eastern or the western Caribbean, both are really fantastic. Itinerary all right.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Next up we got our friend Tracy Sam tracy Andreko who writes I'm so excited about the Cocoa Restaurant. I have been wondering why they haven't done that before, especially since many itineraries go to Mexico. I'm also hopeful for tiki drink menu and can't wait to check out the Zootopia Sweet Shop. I think everyone Tracy is excited about the Cocoa Restaurant. I think the only thing that will mute the excitement is if they don't take advantage of the opportunity for chip salsa and guacamole as the bread service. If that doesn't happen, I think that people will revolt, take over the ship and we will all sail someplace where they make guacamole. The zootopia sweet shop. Sam, are you excited about the Zootopia themed Sweet Shop or is it kind of a meth for you?
[00:13:57] Speaker C: I'm excited because you and I both love the Zootopia movie and the theming in general. So while it's not someplace that I will probably spend a lot of time in or a lot of money know, I'd be happy to share one of those jumbo pops with you, Tracy, on the maiden voyage. Let's make a date.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: That's right. Jumbo. J-U-M-B-E-A-U-X. Though. That's how they're spelling it for Jumbo sweet shop. So there you go. Beth writes beth Gentry writes it looks beautiful. Definitely won't be sailing on the first few months. We're doing Thanksgiving 2024 on the magic. I might consider spring break if it lines up or the end of May 1 or June of sailing. So Beth, I think you are in good company. I think there's lots of people kind of waiting to see what happens with future itineraries on the Treasure. And the good news for you and the bad news for Disney is plenty of availability still remains on the Treasure in just about every category of room, including the Tower Suite, which Sam, I think it boggles my mind that's crazy. Tower Suite is not sold out on all sailings. It's sold out almost instantly for the inaugural season of the Wish.
[00:14:59] Speaker C: That's crazy. But you know what, Beth? I don't blame you for booking Thanksgiving on the Magic. We're doing Thanksgiving on the Magic this year. You'll be on it exactly a year.
Just, you know, a fantastic ship. And what's better than spending a holiday on a Disney ship? Just about nothing.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Angela Small Taylor wrote in and says, I was meh about a lot of it, but I'm very stoked about the Coco MDR. We agree with you as we just said and curious about what the stage show will be, I'm happy that she's doing seven day itineraries. I am a super fan of The Wish and didn't see anything to kick it out of its spot as my favorite ship. The decor color scheme isn't my favorite personal taste, but I'm sure it'll be pretty, just not my style. Well, Angela, let me respond on that last point, then I'm going to kick it over to Sam for the show speculation because that's Sam's Arena forte, whatever you want to describe it as. But the great thing about them differentiating the color schemes and decor on these ships a little bit more than what they did on, like, Fantasy Dream and the Magic and the wonder is you get to pick the ship that you like the best. Now you get to pick if you want to go on something that is more princess themed or more adventure. I'm really excited to see what they do with the last ship in the Wish series or presumably the last ship in the Wish series here. But that's the beauty of it, is they're really differentiating, these ships, at least in terms of decor, not so much in terms of restaurant theming and some other things. But that's the great thing about it, I think, is that they're really differentiating the decor of the ship. So, Sam, I'm throwing it over to you. What's the stage show going to be inquiring Minds. Inquiring minds.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: We have speculated this so many times at this point, Brian, I'm still hoping it's going to be to it's certainly going to be a new show. We already know that. So it's obviously not going to be Little Mermaid that we have on the Wish. I'm just really hoping yeah, I'm really hoping at this point for Moana, I.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Think that that is a good bet. So hopefully they will announce that soon, along with whatever they're doing with the Haunted Mansion on board and a few of the other venues that they have not released yet. So looking forward to those announcements. Craig Morrell our friend Craig Morrell writes in Loved Skipper Society and Cocoa Restaurant meh on a few things like same adult areas on the Maiden. I wanted to wait until the prices came out. Now I am in shock. Well, I, too, am excited for Skipper Society. We talked about that a minute ago. And of course, we're excited about the Cocoa Restaurant. Sam, we didn't talk about the show in Coco. Is that a draw for you?
[00:17:27] Speaker C: Absolutely.
I mean, you're going to have Miguel singing. We're probably going to know his ancestors singing. We might have mariachi band. At least that's what the artwork showed, a mariachi band in that think, you know, one of the draws for me for Arendale is, of course, the show. And here we're going to have, well, hopefully two shows. One on the first night that you're in Plaza de Coco and one in the second night you're in Plaza de Coco. So, yeah, I mean, more disney shows. We know Disney knows how to do those.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And Craig, we feel your pain on the pricing. As you know, it was a difficult pill to swallow on the Maiden, but hey, we'll see you there, buddy. All right. Tim Presley writes, it was matt and nothing too exciting for the Periscope Pub. It would be cool if the giant squid they referenced in the video popped up on the ceiling windows shown in the rendering. So a live window similar to the interior portholes or skyline just thought would be a cool feature. Tim, I agree. I think there's a lot that you can do with that Periscope pub. Kudos to Disney, in my opinion, for breaking from the Irish sports Bar pub tradition here across all the rest of the fleet and trying something a little bit new. I think it's all going to come down to execution. And so I 100% agree. Lots of cool stuff they could do with the Periscope pub. I just hope they follow through on it. All right, Doug Young's got a pretty big comment here, Sam, so bear with me. He writes, I've got to admit, I was excited leading into the announcement, but the more I research, my excitement is fading, mainly because of the pricing and itineraries. I really want to experience the new ship, but comparing pricing to the Fantasy, I'm not sure I want to pay the extra premium. A Western on the Fantasy for January 24 is over 30% cheaper than on the Treasure in January 25. I know the new ships can get a premium price, but I wonder for how long. I have sailed on the Wish and paid the premium, but mainly because I can fit in a quick cruise on a weekend. My kids have school break that doesn't line up with a holiday, resulting in a lower price than over the summer or a holiday break. Since the Treasure has longer itineraries, we would need to schedule a cruise over a longer school break, which are usually over a holiday or close to spring break or in the summer, resulting in the higher costs. My family prefers to cruise to experience new locations. We've done the Eastern and Western on the Fantasy, so we'll probably wait and see if they offer the one off unique cruises like the Fantasy currently does. If we did book one of the regular sailings, then the draw would be to experience the Treasure. But since the main difference to the Wish is only rethemed areas, it wouldn't feel that much different to me. I really wanted to try and do the Maiden for the experience, but between Maiden and the holiday week pricing, it will cost my family of four over $20,000 to get a family ocean view or veranda. So out of this comment, Sam, I want to talk about the pricing for a second.
I also thought it would be good to talk about the difference between pricing on the fantasy And The Treasure. Look, Doug, I feel your pain. And we've mentioned here in the show even that the pricing is out of hand. I think Disney overreached on the pricing for the treasure. Lots of sailings with lots of availability still out there for the inaugural season, which is not the experience we have at the wish. I Suppose. Disney's hoping it will sell out over time. Although with new itineraries coming out soon for the rest of the fleet, I don't know how they're going to attract cruisers to the itineraries on the treasure. If they haven't been snapped up already. I frankly wouldn't be surprised for the non maiden voyage. The maiden voyage has a non refundable discount, so I wouldn't be surprised for those who booked on the other sailings. They might actually rebook over to some of the other itineraries that are coming out and the next set of releases, which should coincide with the months that the treasure has available. And those ships don't. So I'm going to be really interested to see what happens here. I don't know how Disney walks themselves back from the pricing in a way that doesn't seem unfair to others. I think they're going to stick to their guns. And this ship may not be sailing full for a while. I don't know. Sam. What do you think?
[00:21:22] Speaker C: Yeah, so I have a slightly different take on it in that we haven't seen the Itinerary release for 2025 for the other ships yet. Am I correct with that?
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Yeah. And that was my comment. I think my comment is when those ships come out, people may jump ship from the treasure to those ships.
[00:21:41] Speaker C: They're not going to, though, because we haven't seen 2025 pricing for any of those four ships.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: I don't think Disney will have lost its mind at this point if it tries to price those cruises.
[00:21:52] Speaker C: I'm not saying it will price them equivalent to the treasure, but we're going to see a price hike. We see one every single year. So I don't think it's a great comparison to look at 2024 pricing on the fantasy for a seven night to 2025 pricing for the treasure on a seven night.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: But, Sam, it's 30% more on the treasure. They can't jump the fantasy pricing 15 or 20%. Not in the current economic environment we're in and not with the treasure not selling out.
Disney will be in rough shape, in my opinion, if they try to make a 15 or 20% pricing jump on the fantasy. I mean, I will eat my hat when the itineraries come out. If that happens, I think they're going to have to stay pretty close to the pricing they have for 2024. Heading into 2025. They might adjust upwards. They always do. But I don't think they can make that kind of a jump. And the other thing I think the treasure doesn't have working in its favor is today you book a seven night on the Fantasy. You're paying less on a per night basis than booking on the Dream doing three and four night sailings. But with the Treasure, you're actually paying a premium on top of what the Wish sells for. And so that is unusual. You should usually be able to book a week long cruise for less than cobbling together a back to back on the three, four night sailings.
[00:23:12] Speaker C: I'm just going to say I'm going to wait and see you eat your hat.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: All right, well, there you have it. There you have it. All right, let's move on. Sarah Olsen writes in the atrium, winds, hands down, the darker tones and Aladdin vibes are perfect. Cocoa Restaurant was the other fist pump moment for me. Otherwise it was just a few variations on the Wish featuring Beauty and the Beast and saving the new stage show was a bummer. I was also a little personally bummed that the staterooms didn't carry more of the darker vibes from the Atrium. I want to pick up on something that Sarah said and that I think was Doug said either expressly or implicitly. The new ship is kind of a variation on the Wish, and I just want to emphasize I agree that's what Disney has been saying now post announcement is basically and what the press was sort of advised was if we don't tell you, something's changed, it's exactly the same. And so it is a cookie cutter of the Wish. I really wish they had done a little bit more to differentiate some more of the spaces on the Treasure. I think it's really weird that the adult area is just cookie cuttered over. I think it's really weird that the kids club appears to have been fully cookie cuttered over. I don't understand why they didn't make some adjustments there. I'll disagree with you, Sarah, on the Stateroom vibes. I don't think you want those dark color schemes carrying into the staterooms because it'll make them feel super small and cavern like. I think you want to keep staterooms kind of light area and open to enhance and kind of make it feel more spacious than it is. Sam, what do you think about that?
[00:24:45] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree with you, Brian, 100% on both aspects. One, the issue of the Wish and the Treasure really being I mean, they really are sister ships, right? So we kind of knew they were going to be very similar, but they're maybe a little too similar for my taste. And then agree with you on the color tones in the Staterooms. As much as we want them to be somewhat themed, disney always takes a light touch with the theming in the rooms in general, I think, so as not to overwhelm the guest with that theming, but also to keep those light tones to make the room feel more spacious and really sort of maximize your eyelines to the windows or to the veranda, that sort of a thing. And I think dark tones really makes a room, particularly a smaller room, feel closed in. It doesn't have that same effect when you're in a big space like you are in the grand hall.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: All right, well, next up, we've got a comment from Andrew McDonald, who writes, overall, they took the wish and changed a few things, but really nothing that gives it any more appeal than the wish. Coco at Beauty and the Beast will be nice. Hopefully a moana show disappointed with Marvel. It's basically a glorified TV dinner and our least favorite restaurant. No interesting changes on the pool deck. Still a few unknowns around the ship, like the haunted mansion tie in, but that alone isn't enough to get me on the ship. I get that they are building on the same foundation and frame as the wish, so I really wasn't expecting much. Will we sail on the treasure? Absolutely. But we won't be some of the first people. Well, Andrew, your last sentiment there, I think, is shared by many in the community. There are some who refuse to set foot on the treasure or the wish, and I think there's many out there who are looking to hear what it will be like before they get on themselves.
Marvel. Andrew's, the first one to comment on Marvel here. Sam, what do you think? Are you disappointed that they carried Marvel over? Are you excited for a second version of the show? What do you know?
[00:26:34] Speaker C: I lean towards being more excited for a second version of the show than disappointed. While it would be nice to have a fully new restaurant, I actually really like the show in Marvel. And the first time we saw it, we said, oh, this is not really repeatable. Now that I've seen it several times, I actually do think it's fun each time we've seen it. But I am really, as I said, really excited about a new show in Worlds of Marvel. So if they get some good characters and a good storyline like they have for the original show, I think I'll really enjoy it.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: All right. Sarah Olsen wrote in one more time to say, week long maiden voyage over Christmas. I can't imagine justifying that cost. What do you think about the decision about putting the maiden voyage over Christmas week?
[00:27:18] Speaker C: Sam, you know, this is a tough call because you're going to turn off or turn away a lot of people, but you're also going to turn on a lot of people. So you and I, Brian, we like to travel over the holidays. We don't tend to celebrate Christmas with sort of extended family, as people know. I'm Jewish, my family is Jewish, but we don't celebrate Christmas. So it's really whether we're with Brian's family or not. And they tend to not really travel on Christmas, nor do they make their plans that far in advance like Brian and I do. So we like traveling on Christmas. We don't have a problem with that. But I do understand there are folks who spend Christmas with an extended family, and that price tag for the Know Week and on the treasure, of course, is really expensive and you might not be able to convince all of your family and maybe you have some non Disney lovers in your family. And so it's kind of a hard sell. So I totally understand that disappointment. But I do think there's enough people in the community to sort of balance out demand. And if Disney was trying to lower demand, which was on the Wish maiden voyage, I think this was actually not a bad way to do it. So it's kind of a mixed bag for me, but in the end, I'm fine with it.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: All right, sarah Brahm Holland wrote in and said, I just hope they learn from Hyperspace Lounge and made whatever goes there actually well themed, we suspect that's where anything Haunted Mansion themed is headed.
I fully agree. I hope that they execute that really well if that's what they decide. I'm not quite clear on how they'd use the screen for that. Theming I mean, lots of different ideas there, but hope they execute it well.
[00:28:59] Speaker C: It's actually the thing that concerns me most about their execution of Skipper Society, is how they did.
[00:29:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I agree. All right, Cindy Leichner, who we know well, wrote in, glad it will be seven night itineraries. I prefer longer cruises. I like the Cocoa themed dining room. I can see roaming mariachi bands as entertainment, too. We haven't sailed on the Wish yet, so not sure what to expect. I like the Skipper Society idea. Cindy, I like your idea of roaming mariachi bands, but I'll just say this, like, the wish is super loud. So I'm hopeful that maybe Disney dials the noise level back a little bit in the main dining restaurants focuses more on kind of the show aspect of it because it's really hard to carry a conversation in Frozen and Marvel at times. So hoping they address that feedback a little.
[00:29:49] Speaker C: Now, the renderings do show a mariachi band, but they show a mariachi band on stage. So I'm going to hope with you, Brian, that they actually keep mariachi band on stage because otherwise the noise is really going to be magnified.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: I think it will be virtually impossible for them to have a roaming band if the table set up. So the way they are on The Wish, it's too tight, it'll interfere too much with the food service, I think everything will end up being on stage to that point. So, yeah.
Would you like a chance to sail with the DCL Duo? Well, we have an opportunity for you. That's right. Next June is going to be our first ever inaugural DCL Duo Podcast Cruise, and we have a fun lineup of stuff on its way for that sailing. We're going to be on the Magic for a three night Bahamian sailing out of Fort Lauderdale on June 19, next year 2024, with a stop at Lighthouse .1 of the first sailings to go to Lighthouse Point. We are so excited to welcome all of you, our listeners and fans out there to join us on this sailing. We've got some special things we want to do, including potentially an onboard recording of the podcast, which will just be so much fun. If you are interested in sailing with us, we would love to meet you. We always love to meet and interact with our listeners. So if you're interested, head over to mypathunwinding.com Slash Dclduo that's mypathunwinding.com Slash DCL duo. Let them know you're interested in this sailing. We have a room block reserved, which means we've got opening day pricing locked in for some of our remaining rooms. So head over there, check it out. We'd love to see you on board with that. Thanks to my path Unwinding Travel for sponsoring the show. And now back to the episode.
All right. Jake Anthony wrote in, I love that Beauty and the Beast is being extended to the new ship. So does Sam.
[00:31:38] Speaker C: Well, Jake and I are you know, we are friends in theater. We love all the shows, and we are big fans of Beauty and the Beast.
[00:31:45] Speaker A: Yes. And he also wrote, It's currently my favorite main stage show fleetwide. Also really excited about the Cocoa Restaurant, as are we. Heather Warby wrote, we'll let them get all the kinks out before we think of dropping that kind of money. Sam, what do you think? Are they going to deliver on time? Is it going to be fully operational on maiden voyage?
[00:32:03] Speaker C: They better. I mean, I wouldn't say fully.
We might I wouldn't be shocked if there were some things that are delayed, but are they going to be more operational than they were and more ready than they were on the Wish? I'm going to bank on that.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I think the other thing they have going for them is they have a crew that's trained on the Wish that we know is being solicited to move over to the Treasure for opening. So they've got their sea leg, so to speak, with the Wish. Now, she is really operating on all cylinders at this point, so I think bringing that crew over to the Treasure will accelerate a lot of the Kinks that they had on the Wish. So I think they'll be pretty good to go. I'd be surprised if they weren't 99% show ready for the maiden voyage personally. All right. Daniel David writes in sorry, the unpopular meh reaction. Well, Daniel, your ma reaction is not unpopular as compared to some of the comments that we've had here. It seems to be just about on par. Nothing really new here. Same itineraries with basically the same ship as the Wish. More excited for my triple dip, two castaway key days and one Lighthouse Point day. We should amend that to say lighthouse. What is it?
[00:33:07] Speaker C: Sam lookout key at lighthouse point TM.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: On the Fantasy in November 2024. Probably sail on the treasure once and then go back on the Disney Dream Fantasy for a lot less money. Well, I mean, that's the nice thing about differentiating the fleet again. You can kind of pick your poison now in terms of the ship. So good luck out there. I think that triple dip sounds amazing.
[00:33:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:30] Speaker A: Patricia Lewis wrote in, I'm excited for the new ship. I'm not excited for the maiden voyages over Christmas. Maybe a way for Disney to keep demand low for the first voyage. Yeah, that Christmas holiday sailing is going to be tough for many people. We've heard that feedback from several folks. Our friend John Marone wrote in Sam, who likes I like cocoa over frozen Skipper is a fun theme. Repeating marvel is met, especially with one night being the same as the Wish. Sweet Shop is no big deal. Would like for them to think outside of Paolo and Ashante Remy, another ship with a lack of an enclosed adult fun music dancing location. These are the two we want. Everyone in bed by 09:00 p.m. Ships.
[00:34:09] Speaker C: I love that comment, and I think you're right. I think it's true.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: I think you're right. What do you think about them not.
[00:34:14] Speaker C: Enclosing Sarabi sam it's mistake. I understand they couldn't really structurally change that, but change the space? I mean, but that just enclosing it fully would not have changed the space. It would have made it better usable as sort of a dance venue. Silent disco would work better in that space. All the adult game shows would work better in that space. Yeah, I think that was a mistake. And the other thing we've mentioned a couple of times is perhaps adding an internal staircase or even just sort of banking the floor so that it's more theater like instead of being completely flat. So, yeah, I think there's a couple of problems with that space as it is in Luna. And I'm excited about the theming, though, if that has anything to do with the question.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. All right. Sean Burns, who we've sailed with before, writes, I like the Wish, okay, but the short itineraries are a killjoy. Treasure. Fixes that. The prices are a little crazy, though. Sean, we could not agree with you more. Chris Miller writes, the overall theming and decor looks a lot better than the Wish to us. Excited about Coco, the Skipper Society Lounge, the Periscope Pub, and I wish I could say more, but they didn't include details we were hoping for. We're sailing on the Wish for the first time in two weeks. So getting excited about the treasure will depend on how much we like the layout of the Wish, the price of itineraries on the treasure deeper into 2025, and the itineraries. The Fantasy will end up sailing. I'm actually more curious about the Fantasy's new Itineraries post Treasure in 2025. Any ideas into what that will look like from anyone? That might actually make for some really good conversation on the podcast. Well, here we are. Chris conversing on the podcast about your comment. Sam, any ideas on where the fantasy is headed? My personal opinion is she's eventually headed.
[00:36:01] Speaker C: Down to I mean, I think based on the commitments that Disney Cruise line has made to Fort Lauderdale, I think we can most likely count on the fantasy going down there right now. Essentially the Dream and the Magic are both ported out of there a lot of the time, not 100% of the time, but I would not be surprised if we see the fantasy move down there at least part of the time. So I'm going to guess that it's going to do something similar to what the Dream has been recently doing, which is that five five four itinerary schedule into the Caribbean. So we'll see. She might get to do some unique itineraries as well, but it's kind of hard to say. Until we know the next round of itinerary release comes out. We won't really know what, frankly, any of the ships are going to be doing other than the Wonder because we know she'll continue at least for another season doing the New Zealand and Australia sailings which tells us she'll be west.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: Coast and doing I agree, I agree. Our speculation is in sync on that. Sam. Kevin Cleary writes in it looks like such a fun ship. I got my Cocoa Restaurant wish and Periscope Pub. Looks awesome. Can't wait for the new show. Can't wait to book. Well Kevin, I hope you got out there and booked. I hope the prices didn't scare you away, but if you did, we'd love to hear from you about what sailings you booked and maybe have you on the show after you sail. Sarah Torch writes I like the theming in the atrium looks beautiful. The adult spaces look like fun updates. The original tease had haunted Mansion. I haven't seen anything else about that. If those coffee shops are the only Moana theming, I'll be very disappointed. I'm holding out hope that the new stage show is Moana. That's our hope as well.
[00:37:49] Speaker C: Yes, Sarah. Preach, girl.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: I know the rooms are still just renderings, but it certainly doesn't seem like they have addressed the lack of storage. We kept hearing that the Wish staterooms were specifically designed for short itineraries, but it doesn't look like anything has improved. Even though the Treasure will do longer voyages, we are hoping to get on board for spring break 2025. I'm always up for trying something new, but shelling out five figures for an inside cabin on the Maiden is not something I'll consider. Yeah, Sarah, that one was painful. And depending on when your spring break is, maybe we'll see you and Amelia on board of the ship. But Sam storage in the staterooms.
[00:38:24] Speaker C: What do you want? It's obvious that Disney has not addressed that issue.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: I don't know that it's obvious. All we have are renderings. We don't know what the staterooms actually.
[00:38:36] Speaker C: Look like right now in the renderings. The furniture looks like the same furniture as on the Wish. Let me just say that. Okay. So if the actual ship matches the renderings, which they sometimes do and sometimes don't, to be 100% fair yeah. Then I'm going to be disappointed, because they did. I think that's the R1 big negative about the staterooms on the Wish is just the storage space. And despite that, it's going to be on a longer itinerary. I am not confident that Disney really cares that much to fix that issue.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's really bizarre from the standpoint that they said the Wish was purpose built for three, four night sailings, so the storage might make sense there. Although I think it was a little short sighted on their part because a lot of folks come from the parks, they've got luggage with them.
[00:39:24] Speaker C: Well, and eventually she will change itineraries. We don't know how many years it'll be, but eventually they'll switch up the itineraries.
[00:39:31] Speaker A: Yeah, one would hope so. Yeah. I'm really disappointed. There's no way the storage capacity will be sufficient for a seven night sailing. So, yeah, it was tough for us on a three, four night, which just is a family of three, so hopefully they address some of that in some meaningful way, not just kind of a bandaid fix. Sam linda Eve, who you met over the weekend, wrote in to say hope they have a party hosted by Ernesto de la Cruz. Ernesto at the Oogie Boogie party is incredible. I agree. I think that could be really fun.
[00:40:04] Speaker C: What do you think, sam I totally agree. And Linda actually sent me the video she took of Ernesto performing at Oogie Boogie, and it's fantastic. I'm totally with you, Linda, and it was great seeing you this weekend. Watching the Scarrelers from Downtown Disney.
[00:40:22] Speaker A: There you go. There you go. All right. Dennis keithley wrote in, I'm very excited for the treasure. I can't wait to sail on her. I won't pay Maiden Voyager New Year's cruise prices, though. I'll likely book a sailing for summer 2025, and it will likely be an Eastern Caribbean. Of all the things announced so far, I'm most excited about the Skipper Society Lounge and the Periscope Pub. Those spaces just seem really cool. 100% agree. Dennis and we managed to book two sailings for Eastern Caribbean. That is our preferred itinerary as well. I think we are done with the Western Caribbean for the time being, although we haven't made it to Jamaica yet.
[00:40:56] Speaker C: Sam we haven't made it to Jamaica or Grand Cayman. So when we have done the Western Caribbean, itinerary, it was during the Pandemic Times or Reopening, rather. And so we always did Costa Maya and Cozumel. And Costa. Maya and cozumel. Are sometimes on the Western Caribbean. Itinerary but Disney's regular Western Caribbean, itinerary actually is a little different. And so we haven't done its regular one. So I think we've got to do it at some point.
[00:41:24] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. We'll get on it, I'm sure. I mean, the sailings don't always line up for us for Eastern Caribbean, so we'll have to do a Western at some point, I'm positive. All right, last up on the written comments comes from Daniel Lee, who writes, I love the theming on this ship a lot, and I think I like it more than the wish. I'm sad to see Disney and all its power didn't redesign some of the spaces. I'm sad for my three kids that the Oceaneers Club is exactly the same. My kiddos love the slight changes between ships. My son loves the slides in the kids Club on the Magic and Wonder. And then we love the Star Wars Millennium Falcon space on the fantasy. I think they should vary spaces in the kids clubs just like they do the adult spaces. Just my two cent, Daniel. We 100% agree. We're really disappointed to see them just cookie cutter the Kids Club over between the two ships. I think that was a missed opportunity on Disney's part to theme the kids club a little bit more towards the adventure side of things, if that's the way that they wanted to go.
[00:42:21] Speaker C: The one exception I would say is I really think that that sort of Mickey and Minnie captain area was a really great fit for those sort of younger kids, and they use that a lot as sort of a flex space for open house times for the toddlers. That space is probably the one I would say didn't need to be changed, but yeah, I agree. It would have been nice to see just some more variation. They could still do a Star Wars themed room and a Marvel themed room and a princess themed room, but give us some differences in those.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: Sure. For sure. Yeah. And Daniel, I'll just say this. I don't think Disney was in a position to redesign portions of the ship because, frankly, I think they had already started building some of the blocks, the building blocks for the know shortly after the wish probably started.
You know, Disney's got a time schedule to keep, and so I think they have the least ability to make significant structural or design changes on the treasure. There's still some hope for the last ship, but I'll be honest and saying, I wouldn't expect them to change it much. I think they've committed themselves some of these design decisions they made, even if they've been unpopular in the community, the running track being one the size of the adult space on the back of the ship. So I don't know that they'll actually make any changes for ship number three either. But that's the one where they actually have the ability to take the guest feedback and address it in the design stage.
[00:43:46] Speaker C: Although they can change theming, that is.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: One thing that well, they can always change theming. That's just the core. Right? They can't change structure and layout. Yeah. All right, well, we have a fun voicemail coming in from our friends Ashley and Catherine, her daughter. And so going to play that for you now. And then we'll chat about it a little bit.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: Hey, DCL duo. This is Ashley and Catherine. We have some thoughts after watching your recap of the Treasure. Catherine, what do you think? From the pictures I saw, I thought in the atrium it was going to be really dark, but it's really pretty, so I don't know how it's going to look if you actually go on it.
Some other things are I thought the rooms would look really classy because some things could be navy, since there's lions a lot in the rooms. I thought there would be orange and navy mixed together and that wouldn't be very pretty or interesting, but it actually looks really good and more cooler colors. What do you think about the jasmine and aladdin statue? It's so amazing. They literally put, like, I feel like plant flair because underneath the statue and it also is like a floating statue. I've never seen that type of thing before. And then the kids club, which I'm going to mention a lot if I ever go on the cruise, the kids club is, like, really big.
Well, it has a lot of brown in it. And I also thought that there were going to be more princesses than there were in the pictures we saw. There wasn't a slide, but my mom just said that there was going to be a slide or something, a slide in the atrium to the kids. But we didn't see that picture and we're really hoping that the slide is still there. Yes. What about the restaurant?
Actually, let me ask you tape pictures of the restaurant just like, on the width. The tables are so close together and it's really crowded and sort of annoying if you're trying to get around. If you need to use the bathroom, there's going to be just so many things, like obstacles to get through. So, Catherine, what do you think about the frozen restaurant going away on the Treasure? I mean, I really like the frozen restaurant a lot, but the replacement is Coco I'm really excited about because there's going to be really good songs. And from one of the pictures I saw, there was someone dressed up as Coco. So I'm really excited. Yeah. Miguel looks pretty neat. And they better have salsa and guacamole, right? Yes. Because Coco is like Mexico is. So that's Mexico food.
Any other final thoughts on the treasure? Do you want to sail on the Treasure? I need a few more pictures or maybe some more dots from the DCL duo on it. If you guys go on it. And then.
[00:47:27] Speaker C: I think we also want.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: To find out what the next stage show is going to be that they yeah. What do you think the stage show should be? I was hoping for Moana. I feel like what are the two that are already having, which I love? Beauty and the Beast. Okay. Third one.
I think since they replaced the Frozen restaurant, I feel like they should do a Frozen play. So we got some Frozen in it. We already have Frozen on two ships. I think they should do a Moana spaceship Moana or maybe, like, Encounter. Oh, yeah, that'd be nice. All right.
I don't know how they would do the house moving around. Disney's amazing. They can figure it out going in.
Thanks, DCL duo. Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
[00:48:23] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you so much, Ashley, and especially Catherine, for sharing your thoughts all about the Disney treasure. It's great to get the kiddos perspective about the announcement, I think we've covered a few things that Catherine raised. The decor and color scheme. The kids club. I did want to say on the kids club point. Catherine we do fully expect there will be a slide in the atrium. I'm still hopeful, based on the treasure map, that it will be the entrance to the Cave of Wonders that takes you down to the kids club. So you'd be getting into, like, the jaws of what is that? A puma or what is that? I don't even know what that is.
[00:48:57] Speaker C: The Cave of Jaguar.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: Jaguar. Makes sense. Yeah. So I fully expect there will be a slide, so don't worry there. They'd be fools not to continue that slide because everybody loves it, including the adults. Sam one of the things that Catherine raised was the lack of princesses. I actually think that's intentional. This isn't the princess ship. The Wish is the princess ship.
[00:49:20] Speaker C: Yeah. I think that's a valid know. We are going to see pocahontas on this ship. So there's one princess that we didn't really get on The Wish, but that seems to be kind of the only one that maybe we didn't see anything for. On the Wish that we're going to see on this ship, we do have, of course, your mom mentioned Moana, and we don't want Moana to just be in the coffee shops. I think Sarah mentioned that in her comments, as well. So we're hoping that Moana is going to be the stage show. So we may have a couple more princesses, but I think you're right. There are less princesses that are being featured on this ship than were featured on The Wish.
As for your suggestion about Frozen being the stage show, the Frozen show, I'm going to say I think your mom is right about this one. We've got Frozen already on two different ships, so I think we're going to get something new. But I love your idea for an encounter show. If we don't get moana. I think that's a great idea. I also agree with you on your comments about the restaurants, about the tables being so close together and it being kind of annoying, especially if you have to get up and go use the bathroom in the middle of dinner. So it is hard. I bet you're right. It looks like from the renderings that those tables are probably going to be similarly spaced, and particularly in Plaza de Coco. But I think it's great that we are going to get Plaza de Coco. And I agree that Miguel looks like he'll be a really fun face character in that stage show.
[00:50:53] Speaker A: Yeah. On the show side of things, I'm excited that they've brought CZ Adventure over to the Treasure. I think that's a great way to start the cruise from a show experience standpoint. So I'm really excited to see that. I personally like it because it's a shorter show, so I like seeing that show on the first night. I'm interested, Catherine, in your comments about Marvel, that you really like the restaurant. I'd love to hear more about that if you want to leave us another message in the future, because Marvel's not one of my top favorites and I'm not sure how I don't know how Nathan feels about it in terms of where it ranks for him. But I think that quantum core show, I'm a little disappointed they're bringing it back, and I'm really hoping that they don't have kind of the same gimmick for the second show, that it's not more quantum core stuff, that they do something different to really break it up in the way that they do with an animator's palette on the other ships. That there really is kind of a unique experience between Turtle Talk with Crush and animation magic. So, Sam, about 1923, catherine commented she was excited to see 1923 back. What do you think about that?
[00:51:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm excited to see 1923 back. I think it's a beautiful restaurant. I hope we get to see different animation featured around the restaurant in the display cases than what we have on The Wish. I hope that that carries through with the adventure theming so that we'll see maybe some details from Peter Pan or from up, from some other movies that are being featured on this ship, as opposed to like Beauty and the Beast and Tangled and the ones that we see in 1923 on The Wish. So I think there is a way to differentiate a little bit there.
But I agree with you on marvel. I think Marvel is really fun. And actually, Nathan really does like Marvel a lot more than Arendale. He finds Arendale to be too loud and he doesn't seem to make the same comment about so well, I just.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: Want to thank everyone for leaving comments in our Facebook group. And thanks to Catherine and Ashley for calling.
Really, really appreciate it. Really love hearing the feedback from. Our listeners about the treasure. Hope you enjoyed the show. Hope you enjoyed hearing our responses and thoughts about the treasure. We got so many more shows I'm sure coming over the next year, year and a half about the treasure. So really looking forward to learning more about her, talking more about her with Sam, with other guests that we've got lined up here in the near future. And of course excited to start hearing some of the feedback as people start sailing on the treasure and their impressions of the ship.
[00:53:29] Speaker C: Yeah, but don't worry, we'll still be talking about all five of the current ships.
[00:53:34] Speaker A: Yeah, we can't fill two shows a week for the next year. Just about the yeah, we got a lot of other great content coming as.
[00:53:41] Speaker C: Well and a lot of you would be saying meh, apparently.
[00:53:44] Speaker A: Yeah, but super excited to add a 6th ship into the fleet here to talk about in addition to the current five. So with that, just thanks everybody out there for leaving your comments. Thanks for calling in and we will see you next time.
[00:53:57] Speaker C: See you real soon.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: Well, a big thank you to all of you out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you keep getting great content from the DCL duo each week. We'd also love it if you'd head over to Apple podcasts and leave us a five star review. If you hit those five stars, that's great. If you leave us a written review along with a five star review, we will be sure to read it on the air at the end of one of our main episodes. If you're hovering over anything less than five stars, we really want you to reach out to us so we can take your feedback. Best way to do that, head to Dcldo.com to find all the ways to connect with us. It links to our podcast, our Vlog our blog has all the ways you can connect with us on social media, has our Etsy store where you can find our fun beach bags and magnets that we designed as enthusiasts of each of the Disney Cruise Line ships. Has a link off to our Patreon if you'd like to help support the show. We really, truly appreciate each and every one of our Patreons for helping to support the show. Each and every month has a link off to our show sponsor, My Path Unwinding, where you can get more information about booking a fabulous vacation, which also really helps to support our show. All the things are there, including a way you can sign up to be a guest on the show if you'd like to share your Disney Cruise Line experience. Most importantly, you can always email us at
[email protected] if you'd like to connect with us. Or you can call our voicemail line if you'd like to leave us a message. We love to include the voices of our listeners in our show, just dial 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590, and that will head straight to our Google Voice voicemail line. The DCL Dual Podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney Family of Theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflect the views of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or a Disney Vacation, please contact Disney directly or your own travel agent or the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel. Thanks again, again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous Disney Adventure with the DCL duo. Good night.
