Ep. 370 - Bonus - Hayley Tries HAL: Holland America Cruise Line vs. Disney Cruise Line in Alaska

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back. Everybody to another bonus episode of the dcl duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel as you can tell I am not Brian I am your host solo today. It's Sam. And I am excited although I don't have Brian with me I have a wonderful for and I am excited because although I don't have Brian with me I have a wonderful friend who we've made through this cruising community I'm going to welcome Haley to the show. Welcome Haley. 00:29.30 Hayley So thank you Sam it's good to be here. 00:32.81 dclduo Yeah, it's actually really nice to have it just the 2 of us because we usually have Brian and Drew with us. But today neither of them are feeling well so we're just leaving the boys at home and it's going to be girl talk today. That's right, that's right? So before we. 00:43.33 Hayley Yes, it's ah we're the new Dcl duo just this problem. 00:51.85 dclduo Get into the topic of today's show which I'm not going to spoil for our audience I want to get your cruising credentials. Obviously you've been on the show many times at this point so people should be pretty familiar with you. They know that you did cruise with us in the norwegian fjords. Back in September of last year but why don't you tell folks or remind folks of your cruising credentials. 01:13.50 Hayley Sure so we have been on I say we my husband Drew and I but we've been on 5 Disney Cruises we've been on all 5 of the ships that are currently in the Disney fleet and we are booked on the treasure for January Twenty Twenty five so we'll have thoughts about that. Um, on down the line so had been on 5 cruises before the cruise that we are going to talk about which was my sixth and first without it being a Disney Cruise 01:40.10 dclduo That is awesome now I know the answer to a lot of the questions that I'm going to ask today because I'm going to spoil this for folks that Haley and Drew and myself and Brian actually met up right before they all went on this cruise because they sailed out of the beautiful port of Seattle. But why don't you tell us Haley what was this cruise destination. What was its itinerary and what cruise line did you sail on. 02:05.27 Hayley So yeah, so we sailed on fallen America line that was actually not my decision. It just sort of happened that way because it was um I'm in sales and it was a client incentive trip. Um, and I got to go and hang out with some of my awesome clients many of whom are probably going to be listening to this so shout out to all of you. You know who you are um, but yeah, so it was ah an Alaska Cruise out of Seattle on hell America line on the the eurodam is the ship. And we cruised to Juno Sitka catch a can icy straight point glacier bay national park and Victoria british columbia. 02:42.42 dclduo Awesome! So obviously slightly different itinerary than itineraries that Disney Cruise line takes because 1 you're starting in Seattle so you're always going to hit Victoria typically on those cruises. 02:55.10 Hayley Sure. 02:57.51 dclduo Since you're not sailing out of Vancouver like Disney Cruise line does you got to make that stop in canada to comply with international maritime law or or Us maritime law I'm not sure which but what have you anyway, you you mentioned this was a client incentive trip. So. Let me put this out there and and tell me if I'm wrong, but this trip was then free for you? yes. 03:19.83 Hayley It was so that's the best kind of cruise is a free cruise so we had 2 excursions that were included as a part of the the organized group trip. We did buy um an excursion on our own and we had 1 credit to use. It was like up to $50 to use in 1 of the specialty dining restaurants on the ship but anything beyond that was any any other specialty dining or or excursions were at our own expense but you know we got the flights and the trip for free. So yeah. 03:49.23 dclduo Pretty nice. Yeah now because of the the arrangement of this trip. Did you have to pay for Drew's excursions or any of that or passage fair. Everything was included. 03:51.18 Hayley You know you're going to come out ahead. 03:57.37 Hayley Oh I mean his yeah because he was my guest everybody that was on the trip whether they were a client or an employee got to have 1 guest so Drew's cruise Faire Drew's airfare and Drew's to included excursions and his specialty dining credit were all. Also free. So it's a pretty good life I'm not going along. 04:18.63 dclduo Awesome Ah yeah, so the 1 thing we're not going to cover here. We're going to. So for folks who haven't guessed it yet. We are going to do a compare contrast between hall and America and Disney Cruise line on this show since. Haley's got obviously a good bit of Disney Cruise line experience and this is her first experience on Holland America line and you know, but 1 thing we're really not going to talk about to any large degree is value because it's really hard to of course a free cruise is always going to be. You know. I don't want to say better than a cruise you have to pay for. You might still have more enjoyment but it's hard to sort of compare value when you don't actually have to pay the price tag. 04:59.90 Hayley Yeah, like I go't actually know what the value was of what we like our stateroom and that kind of thing so I'm just going to pretend like money isn't real I guess even though it very much was as a person who often sails in the cheapest room possible. Um. I am not a highroer by any stretch of the imagination. But for the purposes of this It's going to be more of ah, a qualitative What do I prefer analysis compared to Disney. 05:22.51 dclduo Yeah, absolutely awesome. Well let's talk about from the beginning which is booking now booking I know this might be a little bit different for you than your normal the way you booked Disney Cruise line because this cruise was I assume booked. 05:37.20 Hayley Yeah, yeah, the company I used like a business travel agency to to do this but we were able to use the Holland America app before the cruise to book like spa or excursions that kind of thing. 05:38.42 dclduo For you through maybe a travel agent. 05:55.10 Hayley And it unlike the Disney Cruise line middle of the night rope drop experience. It is very relaxed and chill on Helen America line. There is not the same level of competition to get on things I've at least in my experience with this time around. 06:08.69 dclduo Interesting now tell me was there a particular date or time that you could start booking excursions or as soon as you booked were you able to start booking things. 06:19.53 Hayley Um I believe it was as soon as we were booked like as soon as we got our confirmation from the company on what our booking number was that we could put into the app and get logged in. We were able to book things right away. 06:32.70 dclduo That awesome. Well let's talk about excursions. What? um what things were included like you had said that there were some you know there were a couple of excursions that were included were those chosen for you or were you were you still able to select those excursions. 06:44.75 Hayley They were both chosen for us by by the company so we had a whale watching and Mindden Hall Glacier excursion in Juno which was honestly fabulous would not hesitated to do that again or to recommend it to someone and then in sitica we had one called bears barnacles and. 06:53.86 dclduo No awesome. 07:04.39 Hayley Birds I might have gotten them in the wrong order. But I'm honestly just trying not to say beats bears and Battlestar Galactica yes so so Sitka was I think it was bears birds and birds bears and barnacles like I said it's one of those. 07:10.50 dclduo Yeah, ah from the office spoiler for those you don't know. 07:22.90 Hayley Those those are worth 3 words the order I'm not positive on but it was the there was a raptor center so that was the bird's part. A fortress of the bear and which was the bears and then an Aquarium Slash Salmon Hatchery was the barnacles part of that. They were just going for alliteration Obviously like salmon don't have barnacles. Don't worry. 07:39.31 dclduo Awesome! Ah nice I like it ah now for choosing you. You said you, you chose to book a third excursion. Um, tell tell me what for the third excursion. What did you end up booking. And um, what were sort of the options you were looking at. 07:58.10 Hayley Yeah, so we made actually we did 2 different excursions separate from the 2 group excursions so we did one in icy straight point which we were only there for like 4 hours kind of strange we got in at 6 pm and left at 10 pm so we just did the gondola which is. 08:19.42 Hayley Ah, very high gondola and we just were thinking about the skyliner at Wal Disney World the whole time then we got a cool timelapse video of that. But other people in our group did an atv excursion in ic straight point another group went whale watching and they said it was actually their best whale watching of the trip. Um. They were in a smaller boat than what we had in Juno so they were able to I think get closer to the whales and saw quite a few of them which was great for for them and then we did in what's my other oh catch a cam. We did the misty fjoords and wilderness explorer crews and I like. The idea of fjords because we've been in Norway we like the fjords there and the scenery was really lovely. We were on the boat the entire time we were in Catchcha can we were only in port for like 6 hours so we did. We went through the misty fjords which John Muir has compared to. The yosemite of Alaska so like these sheer granite faces and lots of mist and all these cool sea stars starfish that were like orange and purple colored which was fun. The boat was like basically the same as the one we took in Juneau. Um, but there was not as much wildlife to be seen. So I don't know if I would do that 1 again necessarily but it was it was relaxing. It was nice but I didn't get to walk around catch a can more than like 15 minutes so that was the downside there that was a lot of people's favorite port actually. 09:45.25 dclduo Yeah, yeah, I've heard really great things about catch can so let's talk about you know, obviously this show is ah more of a comparative contrast than and then an Alaska trip report. 09:56.62 Hayley So. 09:58.76 dclduo So that's how we're going to focus it. So let's talk about more of the onboard experience. It's nice to understand like sort of what the offerings are it sounds like the offerings for excursions are pretty similar to what you get through Disney Cruise line in Alaska. Um, yeah I mean it seems it seems like most of the cruise lines have some you know. 10:10.15 Hayley I'd say so. 10:15.21 dclduo They might not do the exact same excursions but they have similar offerings so I'd love yeah I'd love to focus on the onboard experience for a little bit. Um, we talked a little bit about booking. How was there. How was their app as far as you know an onboard experience and the and the ahead of cruising I guess the. Pre Cruise experience would you know is it better than the Disney Cruise line app about equal worse. 10:37.61 Hayley Yeah, oh man I wish Drew was not under the weather because this is like tail made for him. This is like literally what he does for a living is user experience. So I mean there are some quirks to the hall in America app. But I think there are also some quirks to the Disney Cruise line app. You kind of have to get used to the navigation and where to find things. Um, but you know once I got the hang of it I was able to see like the dining room menus and you could even see like what they had at dinner in the lito market which is their version of cabanas for those of us who speak dcl which is. Pretty much everyone listening to this show I'm assuming. So yeah, it's the the buffet restaurant if you will so you could even see what they had for dinner there and I found out in many cases that what they had in the main dining room most of that would also be served in the lido market. 11:18.45 dclduo Ah, for the most part. 11:33.94 Hayley Just wouldn't have to like sit through the whole plated meal situation which was kind of lengthy at that times when we only did the remaining dining room the first 2 nights actually but I'm getting ahead of myself I know food is on your list. So back to the question about the app it was fine I like I said I wish Drew could have. 11:36.99 dclduo Oh. 11:53.10 Hayley Contributed because I think he would have had more insightful things to say about it. But I got you get the hang of it. 11:59.63 dclduo And yeah, so I mean most of these things are they're not made for um, they're not made to be real complicated. They're made to be pretty user. Friendly. Um, they want anyone who can use an Iphone which is you know a baby pretty much to be able to use their apps. 12:12.21 Hayley Who won what. 12:16.73 dclduo And at least find the different activities or book the different different things on board. Let's talk about onboard amenities of this ship and how it sort of compares to the onboard amenities on a Disney Cruise line and I know you've been on all 5 of the ships. I would say there are some differences between them but overall dcl the dcl fleet is pretty similar. You know across the fleet as far as what's on board with some variations but with midship detective agency and and variations in water slides. But what would you say about this ship. 12:38.49 Hayley So sure. So. 12:49.67 Hayley So a couple of the unique features compared to Disney Cruise line the pool deck actually has a retractable roof for one of the pools so that comes in handy in Alaska and Holland america has been sailing to Alaska for all. Like 100 years or more so they have were kind of one of the first to do it. Maybe the first to do it so a lot of their fleet is built with Alaska in mind and knowing they're going to be going to these cold weather climates so that was. A difference and so you don't have this situation of like do I want to get in the pool because I'm gonna be freezing when I come out. Um I would say that there what on Disney Cruise line is referred to as the rainforest room the the fancy shower and sauna experience on. The eurodam is called the thermal suite and if it's working properly which it was not on this trip. But if it's working properly I think it beats the rainforest room because they've got this thing called the hydro pool which is supposed to be like warm jets of water that will give you like a shoulder massage or leg massage and we were very excited for that. 13:55.92 dclduo Yes, and they're like a bed. It's kind of like ah like a like a lounge or bed that you kind of sit in I think yeah yeah. 14:03.85 Hayley Yeah, and it'll like massage different parts of your body and we were very excited about that that was like 1 of the first things we booked before the crewise um, only to find when we got on board that the the heater wasn't working on the hydropool. So the pool was rigid. 14:17.40 dclduo Oh no, yeah. 14:21.80 Hayley I put like one foot in and was like nope and 1 of the saunas was kind of only somewhat working so I overheard one of the spa crew members telling another plat passenger that they could get a refund within 24 hours of the cruise beginning and I turned to Drew and I said. We can save like $200 by not doing this if we're not going to use it then we shouldn't be paying for it so we end up canceling it which I think is I don't know if you can do that on dcl I haven't really tried to cancel this Bob appointment. 14:42.99 dclduo Yeah, absolutely. 14:54.74 dclduo You you can? um so there's a couple of different rules one if you had booked the rainforest room ahead of time if you go to the spa before you've used it so on the usually the first day sometimes even the second day. 15:10.55 Hayley I. 15:12.78 dclduo You tell them I haven't used it I changed my mind. They sometimes it depends on the manager who's there but they will sometimes refund you. Um, if you cancel a spa appointment as long as you do it I think it's a camera 48 hours or 24 hours in advance but you can cancel a spa appointment in advance. Um. By a certain time and so even on board or you can move it. That's actually ah a little bit of a secret if you let's say you have a spa appointment on day one or day 2 and you think you don't want to have that spa appointment and you've got like a seven day cruise move it to the end of the cruise and then. 15:50.80 Hayley And then cancel it Aha I see there you go. 15:50.98 dclduo The next day call and cancel it. Ah so so here's a tip for your you all out there. Um, yeah, but it's not something you should you know use all the time because otherwise they'll catch on. But if you really do check right? Don't abuse the privilege exactly. But if you really decide. It's something you know you. 16:02.29 Hayley Don't you don't use the privilege. Yeah. 16:10.86 dclduo Booked and you really don't think you're going to enjoy it and certainly if something is broken I mean Disney Cruise line will always refund you if there's something that is not fully functioning. In fact, um, we did have we did this float on air massage couples massage thing on our last cruise on. 16:16.92 Hayley No sure. 16:30.90 dclduo Disney or baby the actually not on the last cruise we went on the Disney wish and previously had booked that like twice before and each time we had booked it the machine. The beds were not operable. They had issues and so. Both times they tried to rebook us automatically just to a regular couple's massage and we said no, that's not what we booked we wanted to try out this 0 gravity thing and so they let us completely you know cancel for refund. So it's good to know that there are other cruise lines who will do. You know the right thing in that situation because a freezing cold thermal lounger. Um. 17:02.63 Hayley Oh sure. Yeah, and they had already given us a discount before we just straight up canceled it so we could have done like the heated loungers and the saunas but the heated loungers. They only had maybe 5 or 6 of them and you were only supposed to be on them for 15 minutes at a time. So the whole time you're like monitoring your timen and then you're like. Not really relaxing at that point because you want to be a considerate guest. So it just wasn't really for us. But back to the ship and the amenities I will say it's very different from Disney Cruise line and that there are not really themed spaces like the spaces are there. 17:23.51 dclduo Right. 17:36.36 dclduo I. 17:40.20 Hayley But they don't really have a theme besides like generally nice I would say so you do feel I mean I was going to use like a I guess maybe like a nice convention hotel or something. It's like I think Vegas would even be too generous because a lot of those hotels are themed to something. 17:50.80 dclduo Right. 17:55.41 dclduo Yeah, now do they have like is there a movie theater I know I'm sure there are bars was there a casino on board like what kinds of yeah. 17:58.40 Hayley Um. 18:03.31 Hayley There's a casino there were there were bars. The bars were not really themed in particular they were just like there I mean the drinks that we had were pretty good. We did have a drink package which is something that you don't have available to you on Disney Cruise line so would say I probably utilized that more than I would if I was paying for them out of pocket on a Disney Cruise um but there are a couple of like themed performing venues like there's what they call billboard onboard which is like a dueling piano bar. So that's kind of fun. 18:36.57 dclduo Oh cool. 18:40.34 Hayley Um, it's right across from the casino and then there's bb king's music club and so they've got lot live band performing in there. Um, you can go in and dance to the live music which is fun. You don't really get that like dancing to live music on Disney Cruise line 18:55.70 dclduo Yeah. 18:58.76 Hayley There's not really an equivalent space to the atrium on Disney Cruise line that's like the hub of all activity and energy on the ship so that was something different that I I missed. We don't have children but it's just kind of fun to go walk through the atrium on Disney Cruise line with like kids meeting characters and dancing and there's like music and it's just kind of like a party. Going on all the time and there's not really an equivalent to that on hellen america or at least on on the eurodam I should say there was no movie theater and there was a main stage but it is not the Walt Disney theater or that's for sure they've got. Lectures in there and then they've got like they'll have a comedian or some kind of variety act like that and then we had um, a singing group that I thought was going to be accapella but they were like singing along to like prerecorded tracks. That's what they were doing. Yeah, so definitely. 19:49.32 dclduo Oh interesting, interesting. 19:55.17 Hayley Definitely different types of spaces than you find on Disney Cruise line and like I said if you're used to being able to go into like oh this is the pub that feels like I'm in you know a british pub and now I'm in the champagne bar like there's not really that difference when you go from one bar space to another on the eurodam. 20:09.65 dclduo Yeah, let's talk a little bit about onboard activities. What kinds of things were available for you to do now you mentioned lectures this is a thing that Disney Cruise line does also in Alaska they don't do it in a lot of the other. 20:23.73 Hayley Okay, so. 20:27.93 dclduo Locations but they do bring on guest lecturers to talk often about like the wildlife or um, the horard or the flora the the floor and the fauna basically in the you know in Alaska. And so I imagine it sounds like the lecture where the lecture is kind of of that ilk. 20:44.79 Hayley They were so there were lectures about wildlife. There were also lectures about alaskan culture like the the natives peoples of Alaska like the clinket there was one about the I did Arod there was one called breaking the ice ceiling which was just about pioneering women of Alaska which was cool. 21:00.37 dclduo Oh cool. 21:03.21 Hayley Like women who are Bush Pilots or um, you know dog mushers or just different professions that are traditionally dominated by men so that was neat and all of these were actually led by Valerie who was the. 21:19.80 Hayley She's your traveling Cruise director so she's your crewise director but also does these lectures? Um, yeah that I was yeah we we did have ah like a naturalist kind of person on board to like the wildlife expert and she did one. You know. 21:23.95 dclduo And oh interesting, not like a guest naturalist but actually the Cruise director interesting. So. 21:38.70 Hayley Kind of wildlife talk on the first day where she talked about what you might see and what to look for and then she had like dedicated wildlife viewing times where she would be out on deck three I think it was with her binoculars and she would help you look for wills spouting and that kind of thing. Um, but yeah, so these were done by Valerie and they were really interesting I mean I'm the kind of person who would go to college if they would if you would pay me to be a college student I would do that just because they like to learn so I'm just I'm nerdy like that. So I really enjoyed that and thought that that was a unique feature that you know I had not experienced on Disney Cruise lineme 22:04.66 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 22:16.70 Hayley Um, even though I've been to like the Mediterranean where I would have definitely gone to a lecture about ancient rome if they had had 1 with you know, not really the the target demographic people are not trying to bring their seven year old to is a lecture about the roman emperors. 22:19.87 dclduo Yeah, absolutely. 22:28.77 dclduo Yeah, yes I will tell you Nathan at 9 would not sit through that kind of a lecture but I I would I'm I'm like you I would sit through that. Let's talk about other you know activities did they have things like trivia game shows. 22:37.16 Hayley Yeah. 22:45.45 dclduo Bingo you did mention they had a casino did they have things to kind of occupy you when you're on the ship because obviously this isn't a tropical climate. You did mention the pool and it's nice to hear they have the retractable roof because and you can really go swimming in Alaska. Um. But were there other things to occupy you all while you were on board. The ship. So. 23:07.30 Hayley And there were so they they had Trivia we won trivia 3 times so we just tried to dominate like we do, um. 23:13.87 dclduo Woohoo Woohoo tell us what kinds of trivia you what kinds did you do and which ones did you win I. 23:17.94 Hayley So they had like kind of general trivia unlike disney they weren't really like themed either. They were a music trivia or they weren't that was basically the 2 categories so we won 2 music trivias that were they weren't even like themed to a particular decade or anything like that. 23:34.81 dclduo Wow Broad Music knowledge. 23:37.20 Hayley Were just like kind of kind of random. Yeah so shout out to my clients for helping out with with 2 of those like I I knew a bunch of them. But then the ones that I didn't know you know we kind of had ah a variety of generations represented so we were able to. Get contributions from several different people which was really helpful and then we won just Drew and I by ourselves one like a general trivia one day so that was fun. The prizes. 23:56.41 dclduo Yeah. 24:05.12 dclduo I will tell you I I give you great kudos for winning a music trivia without your dad shot out to shout shout out to Scott who is the king of all decades of of music trivia. 24:11.10 Hayley The no. 24:22.50 dclduo And we did it on Dcl together as a group and with without him we would not have one you know a couple of the trivia and you all won several more that we we were not present for. But yeah, he's He's like the human shazam. So. 24:35.24 Hayley He is. He's we would have dominated the disco music trivia if he had been there and as it was we decidedly did not dominate. We were like oh I've heard this song but like who is it by and what is it called? No idea no ideas. I mean I wasn't around for the disco era so that was on what they call orange night or the orange party. So Holland America likes to celebrate their dutch heritage and orange is like one like the color of the netherlands of Holland and so the idea behind the orange party is that you wear. 24:59.66 dclduo Oh. 25:13.59 Hayley Like orange and they dance to disco music. We didn't really participate much in that I think we were just like really tired that day and I also don't really own any orange. 25:15.68 dclduo Interesting. 25:23.48 dclduo Yeah, was going to say did you wear anything orange like did you have did you bring anything orange to drew bring anything. 25:29.26 Hayley I I didn't because I don't really own anything and I wasn't going to go buy something orange. It's Drew's favorite color so he brought his orange shirt to wear. Um, it's just like an orange like pfg you know shirt. So. 25:35.76 dclduo Yeah I Love that. 25:42.38 Hayley That was fine for him. They had an Alaska roadhouse night one night which is like country music and they had country music trivia that went along with that. We just opted out of that because that is not my genre and I would not have been very good at it. But so that they did things like that. Um. Will say unlike Disney Cruise line it seemed like there was only 1 person who was the entertainment host and she was lovely. Her name is Jay C. she was great. We enjoyed her a lot but like every activity was led by her. She also did like some of the game shows the the audience participation. 26:11.53 dclduo Oh wow. 26:19.61 Hayley Was not nearly as enthusiastic as it was on dcl but they also don't have as good of a space for it as your azure or the tube or you know even Luna like the equivalence of that on Disney Cruise line we did it. We did a lot of them in billboard onboard. 26:21.30 dclduo I. 26:36.90 Hayley But like there's not really like a stage and there's like some columns in it. So like the line of sight can be a little bit weird. Um, but it's not her fault. She was doing great. She was wonderful, but unlike on Disney there's not like multiple trivias going on at 1 time like I definitely didn't feel like there was. Enough to do for what we like to do like we're not casino people. We almost played bingo one time out of desperation which is saying something because we don't play bingo on Disney like ever we did it once and we were like that was $75 I'll never get back. It's just not for me like I'm glad people enjoy it. 27:12.70 dclduo Sure. 27:15.50 Hayley But it just was not my jam I guess I'm just not much of a gambler I'm like if I spend money I want to like enjoy what I'm doing not like hope that I get more money later but maybe I don't know like I said yeah. 27:24.29 dclduo I right? Yeah no I understand I understand that sentiment I don't think bingo is for everyone I think there are people who love it and people who are just like what did I just spend my money on so I I totally understand that. But that's really interesting to hear the comparison of on Disney Cruise line I I 27:32.76 Hayley Yes, yes. 27:42.23 dclduo I think you and I have the same mind about this and that there's often more than 1 thing I want to do at any given time and I'm having to decide or they're 15 minutes apart but they're each 30 minutes long and so I can't actually make both activities and so I'm having to choose and prioritize what activities I want to do. 27:46.68 Hayley Yes. 28:00.43 Hayley Yep. 28:00.75 dclduo So it's interesting to hear that that not only was that not the case on Holland America but at times there was nothing or no activity. That was you know available to do. 28:11.13 Hayley Yeah, or that or or that was appealing to me I mean they had different like shopping events and like art auctions and things like that that are more your traditional cruise activities and I mean keep in mind the target for Holland America is not 32 year olds so you know they're they're. Primary market is is an older demographic. So I think some of these things are what appeals to their core audience which is again fine their world does not revolve around me and my preferences but it definitely confirmed for me that I like a little more activity. And didn't mention this yet but hol in America on on the eurodam does have an excellent library. Um with like books that you would actually want to read. It's not like you know harloquin romances from 1982 like it's all like current books that are you know. 28:52.58 dclduo Oh oh. 29:02.36 dclduo Ah, oh nice. 29:07.20 Hayley Actively being sold in bookstores and permitted so they had a really great selection. Actually if I do say so myself. So I picked up like and it's all on the honor system. So I just grabbed like 4 books in the first day because as soon as we get on a new ship. We like to just wander around and learn our way around and see. 29:07.60 dclduo Wow! yeah. 29:25.83 Hayley See what's there. So I found my way there pretty early on day one and like I said took 4 books with me and the room was ready a lot earlier I think than it is on dcl typically like I feel like we didn't really have to wait for our state room. We were able to get in pretty much immediately when we got on board which was nice. 29:42.60 dclduo So awesome. 29:43.77 Hayley Um, so I did read like 2 books over the course of the week and in the library they had the New York Times crossword puzzle printed out for you every day so we we enjoyed that every day we had like a little routine and we I would go like and we would try to. 29:52.74 dclduo Oh that's awesome. That's a but that's a bonus. Ah. 29:59.59 Hayley Get it like a warm beverage up in the crow's nest which is like on the top deck. It's kind of a coffee bar sort of like the cove cafe. They've got the screens in there. It's a lot larger of a space but they've got screens there that tell you kind of your position in the world and how many knots you're going and all that. Those fun things that they display in the cove cafe on on dcl so we go get the get a warm beverage there and then go settle settle in somewhere with the crossword and enjoy that for twenty or thirty minutes and it's very relaxing. 30:25.21 dclduo That's awesome. Yeah, that sounds like a great way to start the morning. Um, yeah, let's talk a little bit about your cabin since you mentioned your cabin being ready early or earlier than typically is on. 30:36.62 Hayley You. 30:41.45 dclduo On Disney Cruise line which I think is normally 1 30 p m on most sailings. Let's say sailings out of port canaveral typically or out of Miami typically your room's going to be ready at one thirty I don't know if there's a difference if you're sailing out of Vancouver because I have not sailed in Alaska yet. Um, but. What was your state room like and what kind of state room did you have and and how would you compare it to what you get on Disney Cruise line so 31:09.60 Hayley Yeah, good question so we had a veranda stateroom which I'm glad that we had 1 on Disney when we were in the mediterranean in may so that I could give you a good comparison. Um I think that the veranda itself was maybe a tad. Larger and they had like the the chairs had like a little separate stool that slid up under the chair and then you could pull that out which was kind of nice for for relaxing on. We had. We don't have it. There's no split bathrooms on hall in America that's kind of a Disney Cruise line yeah hallmark thing but for just the 2 of us that was fine. The the storage in closet space I feel like was was pretty good. Disney's is probably slightly better but overall good. What else is. You know there's not really like a theme to it. It's just sort of there but the the pillows were pretty uncomfy by my standards like the memory foam type pillows at home. So we were not especially enthused about the pillows. There was. 32:17.76 dclduo Um. 32:23.29 Hayley Interestingly they can split your king bed up into 2 separate twin size beds which is convenient if you're in the case of some of our travelers like you might have somebody bring a friend instead of a romantic partner in which case maybe you don't want to cuddle. So for you're traveling as a party of adults who don't want to. 32:34.84 dclduo That right? good point. 32:42.79 Hayley Sleep in the same bed that that flexibility is nice I'm not really sure that you would have that on Disney I think where I think it's a queen so you can't they can't be taken apart like that and there's a speaker right? above your head and I and we were woken up the next to last night of the cruise. 32:46.32 dclduo Yeah, you don't have it on Disney. Yeah. 33:01.44 Hayley And about 2 in the morning with the captain coming on and saying that emergency personnel needed to go to the engine room a little bit and I was like okay well he hasn't like they haven't blown the the alarm for the muster and like I do pay attention in the muster drill which we did have to do. 33:07.18 dclduo And oh that's kind of terrifying. 33:21.43 Hayley Um, in person but you just like went and you scanned a Qr code and that's they'd like scanned you and that was pretty much it so you didn't have to stand there and wait for the whole thing like you do um on yes. 33:30.65 dclduo Oh that's nice. That's like they did during the pandemic times for Disney Cruise line before we went. Yeah. 33:36.95 Hayley They're still doing that on Holland America which is helpful so you like went and you found your spot but you're not having to like as long as I'm not misremembering cause I've been on now 3 cruises this year but as far as I recall you're not having to like stand there forever like you do on Disney Cruise line but anyway so the captain mics this up at like. 33:47.15 dclduo I. 33:56.72 Hayley The entire ship at like 1 or 2 in the morning and is like emergency personnel go to the engine room and I'm like what is happening some of my poor clients are like really freaked out and they're like trying to get their life jacket together and like figure out going to put on warm clothing and I'm still laying there like well. They haven't blown the whistle yet to say to like get to your muster station and the Captain's voice did not sound panicked so I'm like until he's panicking I'm not going to panic and it transpired. He came on a few minutes later and was like so there was a small fire in the engine room but we're good. The fire has been put out and. 34:18.84 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 34:25.40 dclduo Yeah. 34:35.55 Hayley Go back to sleep everybody and I'll tell you about it tomorrow and I I told my clients the next day I'm like I've been on 5 cruises and I've never had such a thing happen but apparently like every crew member is trained also to fight fires which makes sense I mean you don't want to like well the 3 people who can fight this fire are. 34:36.34 dclduo Oh wow. 34:47.59 dclduo That yeah that makes sense. Yeah. 34:55.51 Hayley You know, sick or whatever like they can't go right? So like they responded very quickly and the the crew on Holland america I think was you know as good as the crew on Disney as far as like trying to make sure you had a good experience and service and. 34:56.26 dclduo And right or they're too far away or something like that. Yeah. 35:15.26 Hayley They took a lot of pride in it. They had a session actually on the last full day of the cruise where they like talked about life on board. They called it a city at sea so that was one of the lectures where you could like learn about and some of the things that you learn on the art of the theme show tour on Disney Cruise line about you know how much. 35:25.89 dclduo Um, oh cool. 35:33.23 Hayley Much butter and how much eggs and how much coffee and all of that that you go through in a week but also they had like interviews with different crew members and it was all like pre-filmed but they had different crew members who were interviewed about like different aspects of life on board or you know what's the craziest amount of luggage you've ever seen a guest pack. And so it's kind of fun and at the end people from all the different departments if you will came out on stage and were all you know, just kind of talking about how proud they were to be a Holland America Cruise line member and so that's really cool and we don't really get that on Disney which. 36:06.74 dclduo That is really cool. 36:11.58 Hayley So I enjoyed that a lot because you try to remember that these are like real people with real lives of their own. They don't just not. They're not just there to do what you want and make your bed and leave you towel animals. 36:19.62 dclduo Yeah, yeah, so I think you know yeah if you're on Disney Cruise line and you want to get that kind of experience you have to seek it out right? You've got to go and actually you know ask people about their lives outside of the ship or about their life frankly on the ship. 36:31.19 Hayley Sure. 36:37.17 dclduo And it it definitely takes some some effort but it's I think one of the most rewarding parts about sailing on on any cruise line right is just sort of finding out about the the people who live on the ship because they have they live such interesting. Lives from you know and so it's so different from what we live on land for sure. 36:55.27 Hayley Absolutely absolutely. Um I'll say too that I some and I'm sort of digressing a little bit but I did miss the bonding with your server that you get on Disney Cruise line we were not assigned a particular dining time. So you could either like call a make a reservation which I did the first night for a group of clients and the 2 of us to go because we had a group of like 8 so we wanted to make sure we get all set together. So I did that. First night but realized that unless you had like a really big group or were very particular about what time you wanted to go. You could just show up but after the first 2 nights we were like main dining takes a long time and it's a lot of the same food as in the lito buffet and Lito Market so we just 37:32.30 dclduo I. 37:40.71 Hayley Ended up doing that more often than not and then we did do 2 of the specialty dining restaurants as well. But I really missed having that person who is your server every night at dinner but without that I didn't feel like I was going to like let someone down if I didn't go to the dining room like they didn't. 37:53.20 dclduo Um, yeah. 37:58.76 Hayley Wouldn't miss me so it's like I could do what I wanted but as a person with food allergies. It was nice. It's nice on Disney to only have to give that spiel once whereas with hell in America it was like every time I went to the dining room I felt like I needed to like save my allergies and. 38:07.21 dclduo I yeah. 38:15.90 Hayley You know, make sure that what I was ordering was not going to poison me and so. 38:20.22 dclduo good point. good point so one other you know before we get to food because I and I know we're going to get there real soon. Haley I know we're both dying to talk about food but I've got to ask you about kid stuff I know it will so let me say that again. But I've got to ask you about kid stuff I know you don't have kids. But I'm curious as to whether or not you saw kids on board and if so did you notice any activities or kids club when you walked around the ship and or you know stuff for them to do besides just like the pool deck and maybe a water slide. 38:55.68 Hayley So um, there was not a water slide. So yeah, no waterslide just pools. Um I would say maybe I saw 10 kids like very different vibes than Disney Cruise line 38:57.17 dclduo Oh Wow yeah. 39:03.50 dclduo Wow. 39:09.62 Hayley And maybe people are like why would 2 adults in their 30 s without children go on Disney Cruise line when you have all the other options but you know we really enjoy Disney we enjoy Disney entertainment and I and I enjoy like the atmosphere of other people's kids at some of the events on Disney Cruise line you know like you go on a not. Ah. 39:29.30 Hayley A Halloween on the high seas sailing like all the kids in their costumes and stuff. It's just fun like ah you don't have to. 39:33.39 dclduo Yeah, well and I I think to your point the age demographic does still skew younger on Disney Cruise line you know you do you do have plenty of folks in their twenty s and 30 s sailing without children and then you've got. 39:41.24 Hayley True. 39:50.17 Hayley Definitely. 39:51.11 dclduo Plenty of folks in their twenty s thirty s forty s fifty s sailing with children right? So and then you you do have some older adults who are either. You know, sailing on their own or sailing with you know with generations of family. Um, so it's certainly a mix I think on Disney Cruise line versus other cruise lines. That do for the most part not all, but ah, you know several of them that skew older like Holland America obviously royal skews more family carnival is more has ah the entire range but definitely skews more family. Um, yeah, and really itineraries. But you all sailed also in. 40:14.39 Hayley Yeah, they are sure. 40:29.94 Hayley True. Yeah, we were August Twenty sixth through September Second so that's definitely could be a part of it. They did have a kids club of some sort that I remember seeing or seeing something about it on the app but they didn't have like open houses and. 40:30.61 dclduo The end of August if I'm remembering the dates right. 40:40.13 dclduo So. 40:48.65 Hayley And don't really it since there wasn't it's like they themed spaces like they are on Disney it's like on Disney Cruise line where you can go play around with the millennium falcon at open house time like there wasn't really a reason that I would want to go to the open house on this ship that be kind of weird I think that's what i. 40:54.23 dclduo And right sure Yeah, just kind of like an empty community room type of a a deal. 41:07.83 Hayley Picturing I mean they might have had like I'm I'm sure they had things to do there and I'm sure they had insors there I Just don't know what that consisted of because like like I said we didn't really have a reason to to visit it but I do know they have it but it's definitely not. 41:10.34 dclduo Sure. 41:20.50 dclduo What. 41:23.49 Hayley The first thing I'd recommend if you are trying to sail to Alaska with children. There would probably be better options for you than just Paul America 41:26.56 dclduo Yeah, good point. Good point. Yeah, okay, so now before we get to food is just 1 more topic which is shows you did mention some of the kinds of activities they had on board right? I want to. Um, know from you since you and I are both. You know, big broadway show fans. Um, what would you say about the type of performers and the quality of performers and how they compare to what the offerings are on Disney Cruise line 42:00.87 Hayley It's almost apples to oranges like I just deeply missed the broadway style shows and you know if you're not really into those then your mileage may vary on that. But for me, that's one of the things I love the most about Disney Cruise line and I really don't miss any of the the main. 42:06.49 dclduo Um. 42:17.93 Hayley Musical productions when we sail Disney Cruise line even the golden mickeys I think maybe we've skipped them like once just they they don't have a plot. It's not It's it's their fault. But yeah, um, I really did miss that like I said the lectures were cool. Um I missed being able to like go to watch a movie whenever especially having been on the wish earlier this year and we didn't even see a movie on the wish because we had a three night sailing but if you were on a ship like that for seven days like it'd be nice to go to see a movie sometime sparkly. We're just exactly there's 2 different movies with. 42:47.16 dclduo So yeah and you have 2 movie theaters ste it in. 42:53.23 Hayley Playing at any given time on on the wish and I'm sure the treasure will be the same way because they have the same Cinema set up there. Um, the musical group that we saw they were like I said there was ah it was a singing quartet I think there were 4 of them. There was one one woman and then 3 men and the woman was massively more talented than the men I think she was really good. The the guys weren't bad but she really I would say dominated and was just more morempressed the whole. She's told the show. Yes, That's a good way of putting it. 43:22.74 dclduo She stole the show. 43:27.88 Hayley So they had like prerecorded tracks that they were singing along to and they had like some choreography but it was like okay that was fine. You know, um. 43:40.80 dclduo Yeah, well, that's that's kind of a bummer when they've got don't have a live band backing a singing group um or or have it be accapella right? because that's kind of I mean we've seen. Yeah, we've seen acappella groups on Disney Cruise line on certain. Um. 43:44.97 Hayley Yeah, yeah, it's like 1 or the other. Yes. 43:57.66 dclduo Particular so and certain particular sailings which are great. Um, but yeah, at least when you have when you have those singing acts usually on at least on Disney you've got you know some instruments backing them for the most part. 44:10.28 Hayley And yeah, and especially considering that they had the Bb King Band in the Bb King's like Blues Club area of the ship and they were really good like they had you know a whole set of instruments and vocalists and that place was fun. You know I didn't spend. 44:17.80 dclduo E. 44:30.25 Hayley Tons and tons of time in there. But when I was around and they were performing. They were always good. You know they had a good variety going on. They'd be. It wasn't like just blues like it was you know Motown or disco or whatever the goal of the their goal was I think just to get you up at dancing so it was a good variety for that. 44:44.25 dclduo Yeah. 44:48.31 Hayley Um, so it was like a little bit of a bummer to not like I said not have like you were saying not have that musical accompaniment for the the singers and then there's a comedian and we missed his his family friendly show as it were where he was doing jokes about cruising. 44:54.98 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 45:07.41 Hayley And maybe that would been more my speed we did go to the adult show but it was like weird jokes about like giving kids weed and things like that like it it was I mean it was definitely kind of raunchy. But I mean there's like I said 10 kids on the whole ship. So it was like at. 45:14.21 dclduo Oh Wow So Kind of raunchy. Yeah, interesting. 45:25.40 Hayley 10 p m or something like it was late so the odds of a child wandering in and being scarred for life weren't very high. Um, but I there definitely was not like I I found the entertainment lacking and I feel bad saying like everybody was trying their best. But. 45:40.67 dclduo Um, yeah. 45:42.98 Hayley If I'm just saying what what? What are my preferences. This is an easy one for Disney to win easy easy. 45:47.22 dclduo Now it it sounds like there were then things to do in the evening as far as Ben used to go to for music or to watch something so it wasn't a lack of options just the quality it sounds to me the quality and the type of options were not to your liking. 46:02.31 Hayley No, no, they weren't I'm I'm definitely more of like if I can go to a Broadway style anything or I can watch a comedian I'm going to pick the Broadway style thing. That's just what I end important. 46:12.79 dclduo I yeah I get the hey now. Yeah I'm with you there I'm with you there all right? Well we have to talk about food I promised we would get there and it's time for us to get there. You mentioned main dining taking quite a long amount of time I have noticed that on Disney Cruise line 46:32.10 Hayley The indicators. 46:32.53 dclduo Main dining can also take quite a long bit of time. Um, so I'm not going to focus on that. But I'd I'd love to hear about the food quality because I know you have you know, been on Disney Cruise line a bunch and you've dined in apollo on. Ah, Disney Cruise line so you you have a comparison for the you know the upcharge dining I'll call it and you did have um you did decide to do some of the I don't know what they call it there but up I'll call it upchared dining. So um, how was the food quality. First in main dining and how does it compare. 46:53.17 Hayley Yes, yes. 47:08.33 dclduo To Disney Cruise line 47:10.82 Hayley Definitely Disney Cruise line is better from a food quality standpoint. Um I think I mean I've had the Disney Cruise line menus a bunch of times at this point but you know I was like looking at the that's. Part of the reason why we didn't go to the main dining room because it was like if the food quality is kind of like meh anyway then and it's going to take a long time like and I'm Goingnna have to sit with strangers and make small talk most likely because if you don't have like a prereserved table then you. Just kind of get seated with whoever and so if you had like a if you had a a large group like when we went with as the 8 of us I'd called and made a reservation. Um, and then the second night I think we just went the 2 of us and then after that we just didn't go um, but but but on the second night we were seated with two other couples. 47:43.20 dclduo So oh even if you have a larger group. 47:52.52 dclduo Um. 47:55.76 dclduo No. 48:02.79 Hayley And they were I think like all retired um like there's not like any effort to see you with people who you might have things in common with it's just like this table has space for you go? um and so it's different whereas like on Disney Cruise line like. 48:03.61 dclduo Oh interesting. Yeah. 48:12.85 dclduo Right? so. 48:19.79 Hayley Our previous sailings when we weren't with my parents. We were seated with other you know, young adult couples without children so they kind of try to match make you with people that you might become friends with um which you don't have that on holiday America. So like I said. 48:30.97 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 48:39.56 Hayley Dining vening room food quality. Definitely Disney would be better. The lido market I think was not as good as cabana's either. Um. 48:45.67 dclduo What about the variety at the Lito market though and obviously cabba is now is not open for dinner and hasn't been since before the pandemic and I know there are some people who are disappointed by that because if you don't want to sit in main dining. There's not a you know a ton of options you get pool Deck food. You get room service but there's not a buffet open. What about? So What about the variety I mean obviously this lito um buffet was open for dinner but what how would you compare the variety to that of cabanas. 49:13.39 Hayley I think you have more variety on on Disney Cruz line in cabannas so in I think I I think I'm like trying to remember now but like you got so and maybe you can tell me if I'm if I'm misremembering this. But. 49:20.22 dclduo And oh wow that surprises me. Yeah. 49:33.30 Hayley In the Lito market. There's like a salad bar station. There's kind of the main station which is like the american food. Basically that's where you have the greatest number of we'll say hot vegetables for example. So like if I just want some veggies then I've got to wait on this long line of people that also want like prime rib or whatever. Um. 49:51.54 dclduo Ah, okay. 49:52.68 Hayley And then there's like ah what they call the international station which is I'll pretty much always tacos some pasta and then there is a an Asian area where they've got kind of your Asian noodles and fried rices and that kind of thing and then they've usually got sushi over there so that. 50:07.99 dclduo And. 50:11.96 Hayley Those are kind of the the main stations. There's a dessert station on but on each side and then oddly enough at dinner time part of the Lito Market gets sectioned off and becomes an italian specialty dining restaurant but it's like not actually separate. It's just like a. 50:24.90 dclduo Oh interesting. 50:30.67 Hayley Part of the lito market that turns into that. 50:32.20 dclduo Oh and so you have to pay extra for that. But you're just sitting in the same kind of tables as everybody else. Oh that's that's very odd sure. 50:38.49 Hayley Yes, yeah, but you're like it's like off on its own like section of it so you're not being seated with people that are coming and going from the buffet but it is. It's like a ah multipurpose space and they did have. Um, a few different things in Alito market at dinner time that you could pay like an extra $35 or something for to be like doing a seafood boil instead of the normal buffet food but you could still get the normal buffet food. So it's just kind of kind of interesting. So from that standpoint they did have a greater. Variety of ways that you could eat things than Disney because like you said at after at dinner time if you're not in the main dining room your options are like you said pool deck food or room service and that's pretty much it so there was like a lot more flexibility I'll say I just tend to prefer. What they have at cabanas and the fact that like there's like vegetables kind of spread throughout. So. It's not like the only place to get veggies is this 1 line and then you got to wait for all the other things and then. 51:39.68 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 51:45.77 Hayley I would go and just like want some vegetables. They would think that was all I was eating and then I would get an enormous plate of vegetables I think you didn't want me to starve and not knowing that I already have like a whole bowl of fosa somewhere my my table um I will say breakfast in Alito market was really good because they had to build their own omeette station. Um, they had 2 of those like 1 on each side of the ship and then they also had build your own crepes. So I would kind of get into a routine of like having an omelet and a crepe because hopefully if you're going to be going in port for a while that day and you might miss lunchtime. It was a good opportunity for that. 52:05.14 dclduo Oh nice. Thanks. 52:23.93 Hayley Um, I will say one night we actually did eat food in 1 of actually 2 different nights we had food in port which I never do on Disney Because I'm like I've already paid for food I don't want to have to have to pay twice for food but number one I didn't pay for the cruise so that kind of helped in this case but we got these russian dumplings in Juneau. 52:29.67 dclduo Oh wow. 52:42.40 dclduo So. 52:43.85 Hayley As kind of like an appetizer and they were they have like a rice wine vinegar and like curry powder and you can get them in beef or potato. We got 1 order of each and then they've got cilantro in there and they were really unique and different. Um, so we had that and then we had the New York pizza back on board as like our main course. 52:54.32 dclduo Oh interesting, cool. 53:03.46 Hayley Um, it's it's open pretty late now that is better pizza than Disney Cruise line even even compared to the wish I think that this is better. They have like no. 53:06.99 dclduo Oh interesting, What about the specialty. What about the specialty dining. What were the options and where did you all go. 53:17.54 Hayley So they had 3 options they had Canaletto which was the italian one that was in part of alio market. That's the one we did not experience and I think it's the cheapest one actually and then we had tamarind which is asian and we did that actually on Drew's birthday 1 of my clients was. Ah, invited us to have dinner with her and her friend that night and it was Likeruth birthday. Well's let's go. Let's do it so that was probably my favorite meal I think that we had on board and then we went to the pinnacle grill which is supposed to be there I mean it is a steakhouse that's supposed to be like the. 53:39.53 dclduo So nice. 53:54.61 Hayley You know pun intended the pinnacle of of dining on the ship and maybe part of this is that Drew's become so good at making stak at home that I'm kind of a snob about it now but I was like just the whole time going like you can make food with more flavor than this at our house, especially for fifty bucks a person. Um. 54:01.81 dclduo Yeah. 54:09.82 dclduo That's interesting. Yeah. 54:14.16 Hayley You know and the side choices like they didn't have any macaroni and cheese like your options were like big potato mashed potato asparagus and there might be 1 or 2 other things. But I'm I'm usually like a what's the cheesiest side dish I can have first. And they didn't really have a cheesy side did which was ah somewhat disappointing to me but we did so we did the pinnacle grill and we had tammaine and I like I thought I preferred Tama and and not none of that hold the candle apollo in the old. 54:46.46 dclduo Yeah that's not surprising. That's not surprising I guess so you know I want to kind of wrap this up by hold on you. We've getting some static here I don't know if it's me or you um I want to. And wrap this up by by asking you I think what is the ultimate question which is you know if you had to pay for a cruise would you pay to go on Holland America because I would say you know. Ah, my guess is you would say yes if I asked you would you take another free cruise on Holland America. Yeah, okay, so but would you pay? Do you think to go on ah another cruise on Holland america I don't know to Alaska or someplace else. 55:17.31 Hayley Of course. 55:27.68 Hayley My gut reaction is no because I know what? what? Disney Cruise line is like and you know if it's the same price to have an inside stateroom on Disney Cruise line and a veranda stateroom on hall in America I'm going to go with the Disney Cruise line just for all of the. Activities I will say if you're looking at Alaska and you like the educational content. You know that might be a plus for you and the ability to go to Glacier Bay national park so it's only Holland America princess and norwegian that go there and that was one of our highlights of our trip was. 55:49.20 dclduo Um. 55:57.54 dclduo A. 56:07.14 Hayley Sailing through Glacier Bay National park and doing an extended glacier viewing experience. They brought out like what do they call it dutch Pea soup to eat while you're what while you're like looking at the glacier and they brought out like wine and cheese platter things for you to partake of. 56:20.60 dclduo Oh awesome. 56:25.64 Hayley You still had to pay for the wine if you didn't have a drink package but like that was and they had hot chocolate which was I think also in up charge. But again drink package so I didn't really care but that we love National Parks So That was a really cool experience. They brought like park rangers on Board. For that and they had a running commentary from one of the park rangers and then the other one was stationed up there in the crow's nest area where the the coffee shop was and they had like a bunch of board games and puzzles and things up there too So you could talk to the park Ranger and look for wildlife and we'd saw like whole raft. 57:02.70 dclduo Oh cool. 57:02.78 Hayley Sea Otters and all kinds of of fun wildlife in Glacier Bay national park so I think that there are pros to it, especially for Alaska I mean if you're going to the caribbean I would basically never do Holland America but. Alaska I think that there's some things they do really well that would make me you know ponder it for half a second and if you like the casino you know scene and you don't think that you're going to miss some of these things that I'm just really into about Disney Cruise line I think it can be pretty. You know a good option and a good value for you. But if it's me and it's my money I'm spending it with Dizzy Cruise line between the 2. 57:41.74 dclduo Awesome Well thank you for that summary. That's super helpful I think you know folks out there should know what the competition is doing sounds like the itinerary was a really fantastic one and that in and of itself might make it worthwhile to look at for other people. But. Um, certainly is an individual choice I think there is a cruise line for everyone who likes to Cruise. So I think this is help. 58:04.80 Hayley So absolutely and I feel like no shade to hell in America no shade to my company for this I we still have we had an amazing time. It was an experience of a lifetime to be there and I'm so lucky because so many of my clients have become friends of mine now you know so. Getting to spend that time with them in such a beautiful incredible place was great I just you know have a little bit of a mouse fixation. That's all. 58:30.74 dclduo Yeah, well thanks again. Haley tell me what is next for you and Drew where are you off to next? what's your next cruise. 58:39.46 Hayley Ooh so my next cruise is actually the celebrity silhouette next March with some of my best friends from high school. So it's a girls trip and I would be happy to come back and give my rundown on that comparatively as the. 58:50.73 dclduo Yeah. 58:55.66 Hayley Resident 30 something childless correspondent of the dcl demo um, and then right now we're scheduled to go on the one on the Disney wonder in Alaska for the same dates next year with my parents but we were last night just thinking about. 58:57.75 dclduo I Love it. 59:12.72 Hayley Possibly postponing that by a few years and doing something that's more physically intense while my mom can still do physically intensive activities so we might pivot entirely and go to Switzerland I go hiking? Um, which. 59:26.72 dclduo That's awesome. That sounds great. 59:29.80 Hayley You know would not involve a cruise at all. We looked at some of the other Disney Cruise line itineraries for Europe next year but we just did the Mediterranean Drew and I did this year so we weren't necessarily wanting to repeat that. Even though there's plenty to do in Rome and Florence and all these places. Showed my dad a 20 minute Youtube video of Switzerland in like every 2 minutes he was just like wow that's incredible like every place in Switzerland is stunningly gorgeous and we really like hiking. So I think we might be leaning in that direction now. So perhaps by the time this episode actually airs. We will have made that pivot. 59:50.54 dclduo Yeah, ah well. 01:00:04.71 Hayley Um, and then we're booked on the treasure. The disney treasure for January Twenty Twenty five which will be fun. 01:00:08.99 dclduo Awesome! Well keep us updated on your adventures and obviously we'd love to have you back with or without Drew and again, thanks for coming on the show. 01:00:18.59 Hayley Thanks for having me. It's pleasure to be here. Thank you.