Ep. 375 - Bonus - Was it a Fun Ship?: Disney Cruise Line vs. Carnival Cruise Line

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's bonus episode of the Dc L Duo Podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and Sam we got a guest back a repeat guest will he guess we love chatting with. 00:12.16 Sam I know I'm so excited we have had this guest on I don't even know how many times he might be the most repeated guest on this show. Um, in fact, so much so that he gave us shout out on his own podcast. Um. Mentioning that you know if he you don't want to listen to him there. You can listen to him a bunch of times on our show. So welcome Jonathan who is the co-host of Captain's logs and light saers on the Geek News network and longtime guest and obviously friend of our show. Welcome Jonathan. 00:47.20 Jonathan Hile Hey thanks for having me for I don't know Yeah I don't know what episode this is but it's it's been a lot and we still haven't met in person. Um, so one ah very soon less than a year and we can make that possible that we can make that happen. 00:54.10 Sam Ah I know. 01:04.40 Sam That's right, that's right, we were supposed to meet up at Disneyland but unfortunately we ended up last minute canceling that trip. Um I don't even remember which one of us was sick but one of us was sick at the time and so it just didn't make sense for us to go but it was like your first time. 01:04.23 Jonathan Hile Ah. 01:21.87 Sam Or first time in a long time at Disneyland I remember because we had been talking about sort of how things worked and how things operated at Disneyland but anyway we're not going to talk about Disneyland today and we're going to talk about Disney Cruise line but we're going to do a compare contrast show. 01:22.94 Jonathan Hile Is. 01:36.94 Sam Again to Carnival Cruise line um Jonathan's been on a couple times to do some compare and contrast with carnival as he's sailed on both many times with Jonathan why don't you give our our listeners a refresher on how many cruises you've been on and what various lines you've been on and. 01:54.57 Jonathan Hile Yeah, so I've been on 14 total cruises 4 with carnival ten with Disney so I've got that platinum status. Um, you know I got that right? as they introduce pearl so I feel a little slighted but hey, ah. 02:07.27 Sam I. 02:12.46 Jonathan Hile But you know you you shoot for platinum for so long and then they they yeah pull the rug out from under you right now. It's it's all it's all in good fun. Um now and so yeah, 14 total cruises 4 with carnival ten with Disney. Yeah. 02:26.50 Sam It nice. Um, so let's talk about ah what itineraries. Ah, you've done. Um, because I know we're talking about this cruise that you just went on was on carnival and it was an eastern caribbe an Eastern Caribbean have you ever been on an eastern caribbean on Disney Cruise line 02:45.13 Jonathan Hile We've been on to Eastern Caribbean with Disney and one western caribbean I had to think how many times we've been on the fantasy but yet it's been 3 times. So yes, um. And then this is the first time we ever did ah an eastern caribbean with carnival. 03:01.83 Sam Nice so pretty good. Um, you know head to head comparison. Um, let's talk a little bit. Um I think Brian unless you think differently I'm thinking we start talking a little bit about the booking process and shore excursions in particular I know we've talked. About booking and comparing booking for carnival and Disney Cruise line before but I'm I'm curious as to you know booking shore excursions and what you sort of saw that was similar or maybe different between. Disney and carnival for this Eastern Caribbean itinerary 03:36.25 Jonathan Hile So ah, as far as so the ports that we went to on this carnival eastern caribbean were amberove in the dominican republic ah then we went to San Juan Puerto Rico and then. 03:52.81 Jonathan Hile St martin so and you know so yeah, those are the 3 the 3 ports that we visited so all 3 of those ports were not ports that I visited on either of my fantasy eastern caribbean voyages. So um, the the short excursions were. I mean I don't I don't have an answer to compare Disney's offerings in those ports compared to carnival's offerings. But I imagine you know at least for st martin you have your typical ah tours that hit both sides of the island. That's one that is the tour that we took we took a little bus tour got a history of. 04:23.20 Sam Is a. 04:31.25 Jonathan Hile Both the french and dutch sides of the island and actually got some time to shop and take in some local food on the french side on that excursion. So um, yeah I would imagine Disney has something similar. Um it was it was ah it was ah an interesting day. That day in st martin because there was a fire at the airport. Um, yeah, it was. It was quite the experience because you know our our drive back to the port actually took us right past the airport. 04:51.45 Sam Oh my gosh. 05:05.17 Jonathan Hile And you could see people standing outside with bags trying to get in the airport people trying to get out of the airport because they evacuated um and the St Martin airport is right practically on the beach. So you have a lot of you had a lot of people like looking um. 05:07.18 dclduo Are. 05:21.10 Sam Wow Yeah, that's crazy now for the other um for the other excursions or the other ports. Um, what did you end up booking for excursions I'm just sort of curious as to. 05:23.77 Jonathan Hile From the beach trying to see what was going on at the airport. 05:33.62 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah. 05:36.66 Sam What the what the options are obviously we mentioned Disney doesn't go to these same ports. So that's I think interesting in and of itself. But I wonder was there anything sort of highlights from these in particular ports that were like oh I've got to do that and and that's something I've never seen available before. 05:39.59 Jonathan Hile Are. 05:52.30 Jonathan Hile Yeah, um, so what we didn't do anything crazy this time. Um, because this this cruise unlike unlike any of our previous cruises. We took our nephews with us on this one. So our nephews are 11 and 15 none of the family. Ah, joined us on the cruise. So their parents their grandparents. It was just the the 4 of us together. Um, you know on a cruise and so you know when we went we were looking at family-friendly activities. You know stuff that you know of course would appeal to them so we didn't book anything in San Juan 06:21.14 Sam Right. 06:29.65 Jonathan Hile Um, our plan initially was to take a taxi once we got off the ship to um, the fort. That's right along the ah the the beachef line there I can't think of the name. It's the San Felipe do Castillo I believe is is is that one. 06:37.65 Sam Easy. 06:44.89 Sam Something like that that sounds right. 06:49.28 Jonathan Hile So our plan was to take a taxi there and then walk the 10 minutes from that fort to the other fort that's close to the cruise port um, we had trouble finding a taxi so it almost like it almost seemed like um they didn't want to take us that short distance like. 06:56.63 Sam Um, really. 07:06.73 Sam Um. 07:07.16 Jonathan Hile It almost seemed like they were prioritizing other people over us because they kept trying to get us to walk which um, probably in ninety degree heat was not the best idea. That's what we ended up doing ah we had lots of water. We had lots of fluids we took care. We made sure of that of course. But um. 07:10.86 Sam New. 07:25.35 Jonathan Hile Yeah I I kind of wish we were just stuck to our guns and let them or you know ah had them put us in a taxi rather than listening to them and and walking that distance. Um that was a little bit for future reference I will never do that again because. 07:33.47 Sam In. 07:43.36 Jonathan Hile Yeah, the the end of July in San Juan is not pretty. 07:43.37 Sam Ah, yeah, oh yeah I mean any place in like the in the frankly in the Caribbean is is rough that time of year. It's quite quite warm. Yeah. 07:55.10 Jonathan Hile Yep. 07:55.48 Sam What were your plans and we how old are your nephews that you took with you. Ok so they're preteen and Teen What were the other um types of or what the other excursions that you were looking at or or. 07:59.49 Jonathan Hile Ah, they are 11 and 15 08:11.90 Sam Or actually booked in the in the other ports. 08:11.78 Jonathan Hile So what we had originally booked for ah for the dominican republic for amber cove we had booked a it was ah it was a tour with a local tour guide but 1 of the stops that we would have went to was a local orphanage. Where you get to meet the kids talk to the kids um find out about them and their lives and and they um, they'll ah like make you like a little crash for you and tell you about the history of the orphanage and that kind of stuff it I thought it would be a great experience for both of them to kind of see. 08:34.40 Sam Wow. 08:47.62 Jonathan Hile What that experience is like um and carnival canceled the tour or the tour operator canceled the tour ah roughly three weeks before sailing so from what I hear is that has to be there has to be a certain number of people booked on that. 08:53.25 Sam Oh. 08:53.85 dclduo Um. 09:07.54 Jonathan Hile For the to go. So if they don't receive the required number then they cancel it. So unfortunately we were probably the only four that booked it if I had ah. 09:11.93 Sam Ah, what a bummer. Ah. 09:19.73 Sam Ah, what did you. 09:20.80 Jonathan Hile And I yeah I tried to get people in a cruise group to to book it but it never it just never happened. Unfortunately. 09:25.82 Sam Yeah, well, it's interesting I wonder I mean I can understand you know that folks might not want to do that as a part of you know vacation. It's It's a little heavy. Um, but I but I also understand like. 09:37.12 Jonathan Hile It is. 09:41.69 Sam I Think that's such a valuable experience to have when you're on a vacation. Um to you know to do something like that. What did you all end up doing then. 09:51.73 Jonathan Hile So um, because carnival just recently had that amberove port built for their ships. Um, they basically have a dedicated area much like you know when you step on to casaway key you've got. Ah, they have a pool area. They have cabanas. They have all kinds of stuff in this at the at the cruise terminal where the the ship docks. Um, they had a giant pool where it was just if you were on the cruise you got to utilize the pool facilities at no charge. Um. They had a zip line there that you could ride repeatedly it was it was like all you could ride for I think Twenty five bucks um yeah you could go as many times as you wanted to. They had a waters slide. Um, they had all kinds of stuff there that you could just enjoy for for no cost. Yeah, you have your typical. 10:29.26 dclduo Who. 10:31.36 Sam Um, wow. 10:44.49 Jonathan Hile Port shopping areas and duty free and jewelry stores galore in in the shopping area. Um, but yeah, so we just we just spent a few hours of the pool and got back on the ship and went about our day. 10:59.21 Sam Awesome! What was there 1 other port that you mentioned that I've missed. 11:06.77 Jonathan Hile Ah, so there was San Juan st martin and Amber Cove I think that's it yeah because we had three days at sea. 11:10.60 Sam Okay, so the 3 nice nice up. Yeah. 11:12.20 dclduo So Jonathan I'm yeah so Jonathan I'm curious for the since you had your nephews with you this time. What was the registration process like leading up to the cruise for carnival in terms of both. You're not the parents or guardians. So what did you have to do to deal with that on carnival and then. 11:26.37 Jonathan Hile E. 11:31.53 dclduo You know Disney you preregister for like kids club access kind of thing did carnival do something similar or did you just have to do it when you got on board. 11:32.54 Jonathan Hile E. So Yes I was able to pre-register both of the boys for the kids clubs through the it was through the check-in Process. So once they were once we did the check-in process I was able to sign them up and pre-register them for the clubs which neither of them took advantage of but. 11:56.45 Sam Ah. 11:56.69 Jonathan Hile Ah, that's okay, I'd rather them have you know the opportunity to be registered and not do it than yeah, the other way around. Um So as far as the the legality of everything. Um, so Carnival has a form that I did some digging on their website and found it's like um, a temporary guardianship form that. You know you can fill out and have signed by the family and then we signed it as well. But we went an extra step further and decided to essentially draw up a temporary guardianship agreement. Um and have it notarized So that. 12:31.31 Sam And. 12:34.81 Jonathan Hile In the event that there was any kind of need for them to have medical attention that we could get it for them and not have to just call their parents First you know we could prioritize getting them seen. 12:39.27 dclduo Whoa. 12:44.19 Sam Um, yeah. 12:46.80 Jonathan Hile And then what depending on what was wrong. We could inform the parents so we wanted to make sure that all of that we had everything that we needed to take care of any possible need that they you know that they could have um. 12:55.57 Sam Yeah, so Carnival's form. It sounds like didn't require you to have it notarized but you did that extra paper. Yeah, so that's that's a really smart thing to do Obviously you know. 13:00.75 Jonathan Hile Correct correct. 13:10.26 Sam You never know what's going to be recognized in another country or even in other states as far as you know forms but you certainly have a ah better chance if you've got something notarized. Um I will say when we leave when we have left the country um and left. 13:19.29 Jonathan Hile Mean. 13:27.34 Sam Um, and left Nathan with family. We have done the same thing we have like sort of written up an authorization for you know temporary guardianship for the person to be able to get any kind of medical care. So that if we can't be reached. 13:39.34 Jonathan Hile Um. 13:42.77 Sam Um, or it's an emergency. We're not delaying any emergency care for Nathan so I think that's really really really smart 13:48.38 dclduo So so Jonathan your nephews didn't use the kids club it sounds like what what did do they think they wouldn't enjoy it or did was there just enough activity on the ship that they didn't need it like what was the reason they didn't go to the kids club I'm curious. 14:03.67 Jonathan Hile So the 11 year old nephew went to the kids club for about 5 minutes and it was just really loud. Um, he has hearing devices. So I think everything is just amplified and you know when you get you know any kids between. 14:12.37 dclduo Okay. 14:21.80 Jonathan Hile 3 and 11 it gets a little loud and screamy. So I think that was the time that he happened to walk into the kids club and he was like nope I'm done. So ah, he was there for 5 minutes and then texted sent a text to my wife and said come come get me. So um. Yeah, so he was he was not a fan of that the older nephew the fifteen year old ah has a girlfriend so he was busy talking and chatting and you know, um, virtually hanging out with her. Instead of going to the clubs and socializing with other kids now I mean he did have his time you know he did have fun. He you know he? um you know he he was with us for all the meals he um took advantage of a lot of the onship activities. The water areas the pools, the slides. Everything like that so he still got to have fun but as far as. Any downtime when he wasn't at the pools. It was usually spent talking to the girlfriend so it exactly exactly and that's why we didn't say much because let him have it. Let him have that. 15:19.37 Sam I That's funny. That's really,. But yeah, you know he's 15 He's a fifteen year old boy you know what he expelund. Yeah, he's yeah yeah. Speaking of the pool deck since you brought it up I'd love to hear your thoughts which ship was this um ah for on Carnival Obviously you've been on now several Carnival ships but which ship was this and. 15:39.23 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah. 15:43.93 Sam And how would you compare its pool deck offerings to that on Disney and you know does it have more or less or about the same because I know there's a lot of variety within the carnival fleet. So. 15:50.94 Jonathan Hile Sure so we were on carnival celebration which is part of their excel class which is their current largest class of ship. It's also their newest set of ships. It shall be a class of 3 so. There's the carnival mardi gras which came before. Celebration then the cele then then the ship we were on and then the carnival jubilee which is going to sail exclusively from Galveston um, so we we were on the celebration. So it's their largest class of ship holds just south of 6000 total passengers. 16:27.33 Jonathan Hile At at full occupancy. Um, so yes, it's ah it's a very large ship I think there were 19 total decks. No maybe there were 21 total decks. Um, um, it was yeah I think I want to say there were 19 or 21 total decks now of course decks nineteen and 20 16:37.79 Sam Wow, That's big I. 16:47.62 Jonathan Hile Um, they were just there for certain activities like to access the the water slides that was on I think 19 or 20 and then there was there's the there's a couple other activities that we can talk about um in a little bit so as far as the pools. Um. So they had 1 main pool on the on the pole deck. They had a pool on the after the ship. Um, then there was a pool on deck six and then there's an adults only area called Serenity Ah yeah, they call it serenity there too. Um. On carnival and I can't remember exactly where that was but we never went because we pretty much always had the boys with us. So at least one of them so could not really get to the adult areas. Um as far as other activities up on deck. There's a mini golf course. Ah, there is a ropes course and there and the the carnival excel class ships all have a have the first roller coaster at sea which which is called bolt it is. It's the exact same. 17:57.21 Sam I Ah yeah, yeah, so this is that the same one as is on the Mardi Gras. Ok, nice, nice. Well I mean I have to know did you ride the roller coaster at sea and what did you think of it. Yeah. 18:05.62 Jonathan Hile Correct. 18:13.21 Jonathan Hile We did. Ah so let's see my wife myself and our 15 year old nephew wanted to ride it. Um, the the 11 year old wanted nothing to do with it. But um. 18:24.30 Sam I. 18:28.42 Jonathan Hile He spent he spent all his time on the water slides that was his thing. Ah so yeah, so the 3 of us rode the roller coaster. It was $15 per person. But if you yes. 18:39.85 Sam And oh wait wait. So this I didn't know this um like so the roller coaster is extra money is like the mini golf extra money and what was the other on the ropes course Ok is the rope course. Ok, interesting. 18:47.16 Jonathan Hile No no the ropes course and the mini golfer are included in your cruise faire the roller coaster at sea was $15 now if you booked if you book through the app and you book 3 you got it was basically buy 2 get one free. So 3 people in your stateroom could ride for $30 instead of 45 so we took advantage of that. Yes, so we did take advantage of that so one of us got to ride for free. Um, it's it's kind of what you to expect a roller coaster at sea to be like it doesn't go very fast. There's no. 19:09.36 Sam I okay so by my 2 get 1 free, but. 19:25.67 Jonathan Hile Um, inversions or anything like that I think the maximum speed is forty five miles per hour and you just have some pretty steep banked turns and some ah some some steep curves that kind of give you a little bit of ah. Hold on to your seat. Yeah hold on tight kind of vibe a thing and then ah not really any weightlessness sections that I can remember I think maybe one towards the end where you yeah, it's like a rabbit hill where you kind of get bumped out of your seat a little bit but I mean for a roller coaster in the ocean. 19:58.82 Sam Um, yeah. 20:01.95 Sam Yeah I mean I feel like anything is impressive to be you know on the top deck of a pool on a roller coaster. 20:02.60 Jonathan Hile It was pretty impressive. 20:09.52 dclduo Was there a long wait for it. Jonathan. 20:13.52 Jonathan Hile Ah, so when you booked your time through the ride you you booked a time slot. It was a 15 minute window and the 2 times. So yeah, when when the 3 of us rode we showed up right at our return time we were on the ride within 10 minutes 20:29.52 dclduo Ok, that's not bad. Actually wish they'd implement that kind of a system with the ah the aqueduct or the Aqua mouse. Um, and sorry if I miss this was there is costs a ride or was it included. Yeah ok all right? What was I'm just here I missed it. What was the cost. Oh. 20:36.95 Sam Yes, he already he already we already covered that was $15 a person but there was 2 but but by to get one free. Yeah yeah, sorry Brian got an email from work. He says that he is answering. 20:47.68 dclduo ah ah yeah um so let me transition that so Jonathan you mentioned the cost for the roller coaster I'm curious I know we've talked to you before about carnival cruise lines but like what other kinds of costs did you incur on board for. 20:49.40 Jonathan Hile Hey. 21:06.30 dclduo Like activities not like drinks and things like that that we'd all expect or the spa but activities you wanted to do what else cost extra. 21:07.70 Jonathan Hile Um, a. 21:13.25 Jonathan Hile So the the roller coaster was the only activity that I can recall the cost money. Um, as far as pool deck activities. Everything else was included. Um there were you know there were. 21:28.57 Jonathan Hile Geez I'm lost my train of thought I'm sorry um, no as far as other activities on the ship that cost money you've got bingo you've got dealer no deal which is a game show that they play on board that didn't cost any money. Um. 1 of the shows. One night was family feud live and there was an audition process but it didn't cost money to participate in that if you got selected. Yes, yeah. 21:51.88 Sam And we in audition process. That's how so fun. Did you did you try and get into family feud. 22:00.69 Jonathan Hile We wanted to but you had to have ah a party of 5 and we were a party of 4 and we didn't know that going in so we were just standing there. So yeah, we didn't just find a random fifth person. Um. 22:03.40 dclduo Um, will. 22:05.26 Sam Um, ah. 22:10.94 Sam Yeah, yeah. 22:15.70 Jonathan Hile Yeah, but now we know for future reference that you have to have a group of 5 to audition. So um. 22:17.43 Sam Yeah, basically so we'll never get it because we're always 3 22:20.20 dclduo And and you said dealer No deal was a game show. They do that doesn't cost anything extra. What's the prize though. No ok, ok. 22:27.62 Jonathan Hile Oh oh, no, no, no deal and no deal does cost extra. It's it's priced. Price is probably similar to Bingo You know you buy game cards and um, but yeah, there are prizes and the audience can play but then somebody else somebody is up on stage opening cases. It's. 22:43.43 dclduo Ah. 22:44.51 Jonathan Hile It's an interactive gambling activity. That's you know, um, that's outside of the casino. Generally yeah. 22:49.18 Sam Interesting. So more similar to a Bingo game huh I've never seen that I mean I've seen the Tv show deal or no deal. But I've never seen this version. Obviously. 22:51.70 dclduo Gotcha. 22:55.79 dclduo What what were the? Ah what were the. 23:02.19 dclduo Um, what were the shows on board Jonathan. 23:05.21 Jonathan Hile So on on this class of ship. There were generally two shows a night so on on Carnival's excel class this entire class of ships they have um. But if you if you think Lunna on the wish is Ill Conceived. Go go on go on one of the Carnival exile class Ships. So So they have a center stage theater which in theory is an amazing idea. It's a multipurpose space. It has led screens that are on. 23:22.18 Sam Um, says it. 23:37.29 Jonathan Hile Um, rotating and and moving arms so they can kind of move screens around as needed to create an image or you know to create an aesthetic. Um it. It looks really cool, but it spread out over three decks and the sightlines are awful. So unless you're down on the on the main deck on deck I believe it was deck 6 which was more of a club atmosphere kind of like the lower level of Luna. You know you've got tables and you've got some chairs and and seats spread throughout. But then you've got seating on deck 7 and deck 8. 24:01.59 dclduo Who. 24:11.80 Jonathan Hile And the sightlines were just awful. So I we rarely saw shows there because you know if you didn't get there an hour early. You didn't get a good seat. Yes, it was. It was bad. 24:18.54 dclduo An hour early. Wow what? What? What? What? What kind of shows did they have on board is it the typical kind of like broadway review style or or Duke Jubox kind of shows or yeah. 24:19.92 Sam Um, wow. 24:33.68 Jonathan Hile Yes, yeah, these these are all very much jukebox style shows they were high concept. You know the 1 show was circus themed so they had performers up in the route in the ah um. 24:47.45 dclduo 1 24:47.74 Jonathan Hile Like in rings suspended from the floor and trapeze and you know that kind of stuff. Ah, yeah, similar but not I mean obviously because they're in and around people. It's not as death deying as as Cerc can be ah. 24:51.16 Sam Um, like cir to sole style. 25:05.24 Jonathan Hile Again in in concept in theory. It's really cool just in execution. It's it's not a good place to watch shows. Um, so then they have a lounge or theater um in the front of the ship which spans two decks just like ah the Walt Disney Theater does on the Disney Ships 25:09.75 Sam Yeah. 25:23.97 Jonathan Hile And it is much more of a ah traditional theater atmosphere. So that's where they did the broadway style reviews and the Jukebox shows the ones in centersage were a lot more high concept. 25:32.63 Sam How did they compare quality wise to what we see on Disney. Yeah. 25:33.37 dclduo Okay. 25:39.18 Jonathan Hile There is no comparison. It's I mean and and that's not to take anything away from those performers because they do a phenomenal job and I and but it's It's very much um, fitting. 25:41.20 dclduo With. 25:54.87 Jonathan Hile Fitting songs fitting ah popular songs into a theme and sometimes the theme is a little shoehorned in um, it doesn't always mesh well but I mean the performances are never terrible. I mean the the singers and the performers are are are yeah they're singing and dancing their hearts out. Yeah, they're high quality. It's just. 25:59.60 Sam This is it. 26:11.32 Sam They're high quality. Yeah. 26:13.99 Jonathan Hile It doesn't have the theatrical presentation or the the memorable I p that Disney shows. Do. 26:18.95 Sam Right? So you're not you don't get Disney storytelling but you get excellent performers. Yeah, that makes sense. 26:23.62 Jonathan Hile Right. 26:27.12 dclduo Touch touch me about food Jonathan did you um, did you eat mostly a main dining and I'm I'm curious to know how your nephews found the food as well. 26:35.13 Jonathan Hile Sure, ah, so the older nephew the 15 year old discovered shrimp cocktail. Um, then that was his he he there were times where he would order 3 orders of shrimp cocktail a night. Um, ah. 26:37.76 Sam Yeah. 26:43.91 Sam I Love it. Smart kid. 26:50.87 Jonathan Hile Yeah, that was yeah, very smart. He enjoyed that very much um, the older or the younger nephew. Um, we or so we thought you know get him a kids menu. He'll find stuff. Unfortunately, the kids menu was the same every night so that is one major difference from disney. 27:04.12 Sam A. 27:04.85 dclduo Oh. 27:08.63 Jonathan Hile They don't have the the different choices every night so he ordered more often than not from the adult menu. He tried things like butternut squash soup and liked it. He tried a few other things that that we were impressed that he enjoyed um so on this class of ship. 27:19.23 Sam Um, go. 27:24.85 Sam That's great. 27:27.35 Jonathan Hile They have the main dining and I guess they discovered that the main dining rooms weren't enough to hold ah all guests that wanted to go to the main rotating the main dining every night so they started allowing you to visit 3 of the specialty restaurants. Um, and you could visit them throughout your cruise as many times as you wanted now. They have since changed that and made some tweaks. Um, but we had the option to eat at the italian restaurant. Um, we had the option to eat at guys pig and anchor barbecue. 28:01.23 Sam A. 28:03.51 Jonathan Hile Ah, or we had the option to eat at a restaurant called Chibang and that is um, they have a Chinese food menu and a Mexican food menu. Yeah. 28:09.27 dclduo Oh yeah I remember this one the last time we talked because I think you yeah you mentioned that it was it. So just so I understand was it that they gave you 1 kind of floating night to go eat at one of these restaurants or every night you had a choice like what? Yeah, what's the setup here. 28:13.10 Sam Ah. 28:26.96 Jonathan Hile We could have gone to main dining or either of those 3 restaurants any night of the crews. Um, so. 28:30.32 Sam Oh wow. 28:31.26 dclduo All only once or all or like you could go to all could you have gone to all specialty dining instead of eating in the main dining room if you wanted. Ok, yeah yeah. 28:38.82 Sam But just these but just these restaurants there are other ones that are additional cost right? yeah. 28:39.77 Jonathan Hile Yes, yes, we could have right correct correct now Carnival has since changed it where I think you can eat at you can eat at guys as many nights as you want. Um. On the Mardi Gras and the celebration. But if you wanted to eat at Chabang or the Italian Restaurant. You can only eat there once per cruise but that didn't go into effect until after hours. 29:03.50 dclduo It is Carnival the one who also recently instituted the charge if you want it like additional food and additional entree I think it was in main dining. 29:04.76 Sam Ah, okay. 29:12.48 Jonathan Hile So if you want you so you can order as many appetizers as many desserts as you want main dining you are allowed you are permitted to order 2 entrees at no additional cost if you want a third entree it's $5 fourth entree $5 29:27.27 Sam Oh interesting. 29:28.40 dclduo What were the portion sizes like in main dining comparable to what Disney serves are yeah ok yeah, yeah, that's so I if it was like tapest plates or something that I could understand people wanting to order three. But I think 2 is about. 29:33.53 Sam Throw us a decent side. 29:34.30 Jonathan Hile Yes, yeah I mean you're you're not going hungry with with um with 2 entrees that's for sure. 29:38.99 Sam Yeah. 29:47.16 dclduo My limit probably once per Cruise when sam orders something for the quote unquote table which is really I want to bite of it and then someone everyone else will eat the rest of it. Um. 29:52.78 Sam Yeah, well. Also I think part of that is like what if you aren't sure if you're going to like something right? like so you might order you might order 2 entrees at some point because you're like oh I'm going to try this thing that I've never eaten before but if I don't like it I'd really want to have this other thing right? so. I'm glad they don't charge you for your second entree. It's only if you're ordering a third that seems that seems imminently reasonable to me. 30:14.23 Jonathan Hile Yeah, and I would think it's also at the serving team's discretion like if you order something that you don't like and then that would say that was your second entree but you wanted a different second entree I think they might be a little more reasonable I think it's more it. 30:30.50 Sam You had. 30:34.50 Jonathan Hile Primarily I think it's to cut down on food waste to prevent people from ordering way too much and then eating 1 or two bites I think that's why they instituted the charge. But yeah I think in special circumstances or you know you order something that you just don't like I don't think they would charge you that $5 for that. Third entree. 30:35.60 Sam Right? right. 30:35.16 dclduo Yeah. 30:48.70 Sam Yeah, that makes sense. 30:50.17 dclduo No makes sense makes sense. So did your nephews like the food. Overall it sounds like 1 of your nephews. Love the shrimp cocktail but it was was the food over and how did you find the food this time around you know, good bad otherwise. 30:59.23 Jonathan Hile Um. 31:03.68 Jonathan Hile Yeah I thought the food was really good overall it was ah carnival's menus are a lot more. Um, a lot more nights you have american ah or continental you know, um, dining. You have a couple nights like formal night where you have you know prime rib and lobster tail and that kind of stuff. Um, but yeah, the the menu overall is a lot more accessible a lot more um, like one night one of those ah main entrees is a cornmeal dusted chicken breast. Another night they have fried chicken and it's fried on the bone chicken um other nights they'll have chicken parer jean like as as the the highlighted entree for the night and yeah it was. It's all it's all good. It's all accessible. But as far as the presentation at Disney. 31:38.75 Sam Within. 31:46.30 Sam A. 31:55.22 Jonathan Hile Has gets high remarks on the presentation. You know they they make the entrees look a little more um, the presentation is there's a lot more focus on the presentation with Disney's entrees than than carnival places on it now now if you go oh. 32:05.24 Sam Sounds like sounds like a little bit simpler food and a little bit less fancy the way it looks. 32:13.50 Jonathan Hile Yeah now and now if you go to one of the ups. You know the the upcharge restaurants the the premium restaurants of course presentation is going to take center stage. 32:25.18 Sam Did you all end up ah doing any of that premium dining or no because you already had those you know three sort of included semi premium dining. 32:34.19 Jonathan Hile Yeah, Ah so we ate in the main dining room 4 nights and then we ate at each of those included specialty restaurants Once. So no, we did not get to. We did not enjoy any of the other premium restaurants so they have. Ah, they have sushi which and um, they have sushi and other ah um, they have like noodle bowls and stuff like that. That's an upcharge. That's an all a cart option so you kind of piece together your entree. Um. 33:04.16 Sam Um, in you. 33:09.34 Jonathan Hile I do like that that restaurant has the option for omakasi so you just let the chef decide um and you pay a flat price for omakasi. There's a teanakchi restaurant that I think is $28 a person so you get the full tepa yaki experience there at sea. 33:12.78 Sam Um, me yeah. 33:27.52 Jonathan Hile There are a couple. There's um, an upscale seafood restaurant. Ah it's Rudy Sodoman um is the celebrity chef that sponsors that restaurant. So it's upscale seafood. Um, there's an emeralds. 33:37.91 Sam Are. 33:45.99 Jonathan Hile Ah, Bistro which is you know your Emeralds Signature Cri Cjun creole options. There's a fresh I know I know. 33:49.35 Sam Even though he's from New Jersey by the way. Yeah I mean to be fair, he has the same you know restaurant in New Orleans so he he does know I know listen listen. 33:56.35 dclduo Um, yeah. 33:59.80 dclduo But but Sam he says it bam bam. 34:05.78 Sam But I know listen emiral does actually know cajun cuisine but it's just I always think it's funny because yeah, well, but it it is funny that the guy from New Jersey has made his career on New Orleans cooking 34:05.88 Jonathan Hile Um. 34:07.40 dclduo Yeah, don't you don't you see it every time we're New Orleans everyone's just walking around the streets going ba hey no now you don't see it all right? So so Jonathan yeah Jonathan I'm curious with these other specialty. 34:23.96 Jonathan Hile Um. 34:25.76 dclduo Offerings outside of the 3 that you could kind of go to any time. Do you pre-book them. Do you book them on board and is it like a set cost or are you paying like menu prices like what's what's the setup for these other restaurants. 34:37.42 Jonathan Hile Sure each restaurant is different. So I think the tepa yaki was a flat charge of $28 and you got the full experience Rudy's was $48 and it was a 4 course experience. Um, ah the emeralds location was a la cart. 34:49.88 Sam Um, a. 34:54.40 Jonathan Hile Ah, seafood shack which was fresh seafood on pool deck that was all a cart as well of the sushi um restaurant. It was also all a cart ah and many and. 35:00.92 Sam Yeah. 35:05.52 Jonathan Hile Ah, now as far as booking you could book online prior to the cruise or you could book through the Carnival hub app. Once you were on board the ship or you could go to the restaurant. Um, if they weren't busy like I know that the the emeralds is just a counter where you go up, you order your food and then they seat you. 35:23.70 Sam Oh in for saying. 35:24.94 Jonathan Hile That you don't make a reservation for that. But Rudy's the steakhouse tepan yaki all of that you needed reservations for. So yeah, you can either do that on the app or prebook. 35:32.48 Sam Um, in. 35:36.51 Sam Speaking of the app any thoughts about how carnival's app works. Um, obviously you've got a lot of experience with Disney's app you have a decent amount of experience with carnival's app. How would you compare the 2 obviously ah think on carnival you can sort of pre-book. More things than you can with Disney but as far as functionality and sort of user friendliness. What would you say about them. 36:00.57 Jonathan Hile I would say that they're pretty similar overall um, very you know you can you can view your folio for your spending through the app you can view the activity calendar you can Mark activities as favorites. You can book reser. Ah reservations for restaurants the roller coaster and other experiences. Ah if you wanted to? Oh um, so carnival and a lot of the other cruise lines that aren't Disney offer a flexible dining option where you kind of get a range of times. Ah. 36:26.57 Sam In normal. 36:32.71 Jonathan Hile So with with that option. Um, you have you are the idea what you have to do is you have to book. Um, let me start that over. So. 36:42.80 Sam Sure. 36:46.70 Jonathan Hile If you choose the flexible dining option for your dining while on Carnival you have to basically go on the app and request your table and check into de so you check into Dyne it tells you Okay, it's going to be X number of minutes. We'll give you a push notification when your table is ready. 36:54.81 Sam A. 37:04.40 Jonathan Hile Please do not head to the restaurant until you get the table ready notification and. 37:06.79 Sam Oh that's nice. So you're not just like standing there in the hallway blocking people from entering or something like that. That's actually really convenient. 37:14.52 Jonathan Hile Yes, yeah, but of course just like Disney um, everybody wants to rope drop the restaurants so you still get that. 37:18.44 dclduo Know end with the inanity end the insanity everyone have a drink the show doesn't start without you long. You're there in the first 20 to 30 minutes you're fine so yeah 37:32.52 Jonathan Hile So you always get that bottleneck at the restaurant people waiting for their table to be ready or or getting instruction from the crew members on how to check in to dine right? So ah yeah, so that that that is the same on both cruise lines. 37:37.50 Sam Um, even. 37:42.12 Sam Um, yeah. 37:44.73 Sam I Rope drop culture. It's it's. 37:45.74 dclduo Nothing. 37:48.72 Jonathan Hile Yes, so that is 1 thing we never did we always checked in on the app and did not go to the dining room until it was our time right. 37:55.89 Sam That's because you know better because it's not if things you know a watch pot doesn't boil faster right? It's ah it's it's going to take the same time whether you're standing there and bothering people or relaxing in your stateroom speaking of staterooms. 38:10.73 Jonathan Hile Um, even get. 38:12.67 Sam Um, we haven't talked about what your stateroom was in comparison to what you what you usually have on Disney what kind of stateroom did you get and if you can do in sort of closest. You can apples apples comparison to what you get on Disney. 38:21.39 Jonathan Hile Um. 38:29.77 Jonathan Hile Ah, so we booked a balcony stateroom or veranda in Disney nomenclature. Um, this is the first balcony room we had ever booked so it was it was a treat to ourselves. It's not something we normally do. We usually go for ocean view. 38:37.90 Sam Are ah. 38:46.82 Jonathan Hile Sometimes inside depending so this is a nice street for us and yeah, we so we spend a little bit of time on the balcony probably not as much as we normally would with you know, 2 other tra you know kids with us are 2 You know, um. 38:58.76 Sam Here. 39:02.69 Jonathan Hile So like my wife and I didn't really get much time on the balcony to enjoy it. Um, because we were worried you know taking care of them. Um, so in the stateroom it was a. 39:05.30 Sam Sure. 39:16.78 Jonathan Hile It was 2 twin beds that can convert to a king so that's the option on carnival so of course we opted for the king conversion and then there was a pull out sofa bed. Um and an upper berth that came down from the ceiling so that was the sleeping arrangement. Um. 39:17.80 Sam Okay. 39:27.90 Sam Here. 39:34.78 Jonathan Hile I will tell you 1 thing I loved about the staterooms on on the carnival celebration is there were 310 volt standard outlets and there were probably 6 usb ports scattered about the room some by the some by the bed. 39:51.24 Sam Um, nights. 39:53.29 Jonathan Hile Ah, by the by the little reading light somewhere on the main vanity. But yeah, we were never um, never lacking for but ways to charge our our stuff. 40:02.39 Sam Yeah I will say that the wish is done a really, they've done a really good job on the wish of doing that as well and even the upgrades to the magic post dry dock at least in the room that we were in had been one of the rooms that had been updated in concierge. 40:15.76 Jonathan Hile Are. 40:19.20 Sam And they also outlets everywhere like it was fantastic, but some but on the regular rooms and the older ships and even on the dream and the fantasy there's just not enough outlets to charge all of your stuff, especially now that they're you know, putting magic band and stuff on the ships is like I need more. I need more Usb plugs everywhere now. Well um, talk to me a little bit about the the beds and um I guess what my question really is about the sofa bed and the upper birth or bunk bed did your nephews find them comfortable because that's you know the sofa beds are not. 40:40.18 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah. 40:58.50 Sam Known for being the most comfortable things and those bunk beds you know, depending upon how big the kid is can be more or less comfortable. 40:59.23 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah. 41:08.17 Jonathan Hile Um, our nephew neither of them had any complaints about the beds. They both were comfortable every night. Um, my wife and I were comfortable in the bed but the temperature in the room. We could never get quite right? It was always a little too warm for our liking. Um and we could never get it to. To to work quite as cold as we wanted it to but our nephews were Comfortable. So I Guess that's the most important thing. 41:29.34 Sam Um, yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Um, let's talk a little bit about onboard activities. We talked a bunch about the pool deck and we talked about some of the sort of um. Gambling ah type activities that were available. But what? Ah what about other activities that are on board. Um, you know, let's say during a C day What kinds of stuff. Did you all get up to and was available for you to get up to. 41:54.27 Jonathan Hile Um, so throughout the day there's structured activities. There's lots of trivias of course just like any Cruise line has lots of trivia. There's bingo. There's um. They have some game shows in the evening that were offered in place of shows and performances I know I had previously mentioned family feud live um and it is a full production of family feud like they have the licensing and everything it is a fully structured game. 42:12.66 Sam Here. 42:18.00 Sam Oh wow. 42:21.88 Jonathan Hile Um, they have the podiums the sounds the music all of it. It feels like you're watching a true family feud episode of the game show Minus Steve Harvey of course. But um I would say our Cruise director could give Steve a run for his money though because I mean I mean now. 42:27.44 Sam No fun risk. 42:38.12 Sam Um, wow. 42:40.87 Jonathan Hile Steve Harvey is Steve Harvey but just just the the amount of engagement that our cruise director had with the the contestants. He was very good at the witty banter and you know and making it feel like it was an episode of the show. So yeah I definitely feel like you know he he. 42:51.98 Sam Me yeah. 42:58.70 Jonathan Hile Did his ah homework and and has studied game tape of of family feud game shows in the past. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was ah it was ah it was a fun experience watching. We watched 2 of the 3 shows that night because the third one was eighteen plus so. 43:03.24 Sam Love it. 43:17.59 Sam Um, yeah, curious. Um, you know on Disney we have usually an entire team of people who do those sort of game show type things. 43:18.59 Jonathan Hile Course we couldn't bring the nephews to that one. 43:28.48 Jonathan Hile Um, me. 43:29.85 Sam On carnival is there a similar team or is it really the Cruise director that does sort of all of those entertainment things I know that varies Cruiseland Cruise line 43:37.19 Jonathan Hile Yeah, yeah, so as far as there is a fun squad and they do a lot of the trivias and the little game competitions. But as far as the main entertainment for the evening that was always the Cruise director. Um. 43:50.76 Sam Well interesting. 43:53.75 Jonathan Hile Yes, so the the 1 thing about the Cruise director on carnival it is a much more guest- focusedcused experience. Um, we actually attended a q and a with the cruise director the last night at the last c day the last day of the cruise and he was saying that he was a cruise director for another line and he took. 43:58.75 Sam Yeah. 44:05.48 Sam How cool. 44:13.63 Jonathan Hile When he went with car when he left that line and went to carnival um, he he said he never wanted to be a Cruise director again because it was 90% paperwork 10% guest interaction. He wanted something that was you know much more guest facing. 44:23.80 dclduo Oh. 44:23.10 Sam Yeah here. Here. 44:30.25 Jonathan Hile And when they explain that that's how things are with Carnival that you will be much more involved with the guests that you know he is like okay I'll I'll do what it takes to become a cruise director because I want to spend my time with the guests. They're the reason I'm here. 44:44.86 Sam Yeah, and I feel like that's very different than the Disney model because and not saying the cruise director doesn't interact with the guests but the Cruise director definitely has a supervisory role that a management role that is um, less guest facing. And I would say the Assistant Cruise director and then the entertainment team but beneath them are sort of the more guest facing role. So that's definitely a big difference in the in the sort of the way things operate. 45:06.18 Jonathan Hile Um, yeah. 45:09.85 Jonathan Hile The the best comparison I can think of is the Cruise director on carnival is more like the club host on disney. 45:16.21 Sam And funny enough. They don't actually have that position anymore. The club host it now rotates So it's like the entire entertainment staff. They rotate who sort of does those evening activities but there used to be. 45:16.34 dclduo Oh. Here. 45:32.72 Sam A dedicated person that was part of the entertainment staff that was the club host and and for those listening and don't know what I'm talking about it would be the person who would host like match your mate majority rules. All of the adult game shows. Yeah, all the adult game shows and then even the adult. Um. 45:41.44 dclduo All the adult all the activity all world activities. Yeah. 45:50.14 Sam Ah, some of the adult music trivia that is held in sort of the larger venues. Um, not all of the not all of the trivia or all of the adult trivia or all the adult music trivia. But the ones that were sort of marquee which were usually like 80 s ninety s and two thousand s music trivia. 45:53.29 Jonathan Hile Are. 46:06.80 dclduo Hi my name is Chris what's my name there you go 1 of our favorite club hosts. Yeah. 46:10.23 Sam Chris ah yeah, he was a club host. He's still with the cruise line but he's not a club host anymore I'm not sure if he I think he might be an assistant cruise director and teasa who's still with the entertainment staff on Disney she was one of the club hosts as well. There was a few others. Yeah. 46:13.35 Jonathan Hile Um. 46:24.11 Jonathan Hile I Love teaser. She. 46:28.30 dclduo I don't I don't remember the name of the there was one from woman from the Uk who was really fun to remember she was the one who did like the 80 s dancing and stuff like she came out. Yes I can't remember who she was. But anyway Jonathan I'm I'm curious as we wind down here for a second just to know see I mean you sailed carnival quite a bit. 46:28.57 Sam She's still with the cruise line. She's um. 46:35.61 Sam Yes I Just yeah yeah, yeah. 46:36.74 Jonathan Hile Is in. 46:47.85 dclduo Lately? Um, what keeps what keeps attracting you back. Is it just it's more affordable than Disney or is it something more than that. 46:59.65 Jonathan Hile Ah I mean yeah I mean we we've seen with the the pricing on the treasure. How Disney is getting much more difficult to you know to afford in the cruise space. And yeah I would. I would much rather do 2 or 3 cruises than 1 cruise you know so and I and you know we still get our Disney fix I know we're doing. You know we do plan to sail on the ah on the Disney magic when she visits lighthouse point we are. 47:20.50 Sam Um, when. 47:32.43 Sam Um, hey. 47:33.79 Jonathan Hile Planning to book the treasure for summer of 2025 when that becomes available. So you know we'll still get our Disney Cruise line fixed but it will be we yeah, we will try other lines and and I don't carnival is just a different atmosphere. It's a different level of cruise it kind of it's. You know it's for us when we want to be adults. It's there right? That's kind of you know when we want to have an adult um cruise experience. You know where we want when we want to you know, hang out in the clubs hang out in the the lounges. Um, ah you know we. 47:57.89 Sam Um, a. 48:10.65 Jonathan Hile When we cruise carnival we spend a lot more time in the lounges talking to the staff and talking to the the crew members than we do on Disney um, you know Disney is where we get to be big kids right? So you know we're right seeing the shows meeting the characters. 48:14.91 Sam Here. 48:21.91 Sam Yeah, you're going to be spend all your time seeing all the shows and stuff. Obviously yeah. 48:23.91 dclduo Um, removal. 48:30.60 Jonathan Hile Um, you know we'll yeah I'll go to the lounge and get a drink as a nightcap but we won't spend a lot of time in there on Disney ship. So it's kind of you know when we want to have ah like is that a little bit more of a um, an adult experience. We we prefer carnival. 48:36.85 Sam Um, everyone. 48:46.96 Sam Interesting. Are you considering any other cruise lines or checking out any other cruise lines because now you've you've done 10 on Disney you've done 4 on carnival but you haven't branched out to something else. Um, if you know if you were. But 1 are you going to branch out and 2 if you were to branch out where do you think you would sort of head next. 49:06.83 Jonathan Hile Ah I think I know we definitely want to try Virgin Voyages where we have some friends who have sailed on Virgin quite a few times and have had amazing experiences every single time. Um. 49:10.49 Sam Me. 49:18.49 Sam In here. 49:21.55 Jonathan Hile I would I would I would want to try royal just to see what they're like um I do not think I could get on 1 of their icon class ships or 1 of their um those class of ships I think that's just a little bit too large and intimidating for me. Um, so I would go with one of their smaller ships I think. Um, to start I I wouldn't mind trying princess I hear princess is a very good cruise line if for Alaska I hear they do very good things in Alaska and they they just the way that just some of the offerings that they have I guess are better than even Disney. 49:46.83 Sam Here. 49:55.10 Sam Yeah I've heard that too and my actually my aunt and cousin did a princess cruise to Alaska and and thought it was fabulous. 50:04.16 Jonathan Hile Yeah I don't think we would ever try Msc I just don't think that's our style. Um I don't know if we would try Holland America um I know my wife's parents have sailed them a few times and love it. But I just don't think that's our style either I don't think we're old enough quite yet. 50:08.96 Sam Um, and you. 50:18.89 Sam Yeah. 50:19.63 dclduo Yeah, but. 50:22.70 Jonathan Hile To get the full benefit out of Holland America but you know yeah I'm not averse to trying other cruise lines and I do have a plan to try several others over the next. However, many years 50:33.50 Sam Awesome. 50:35.71 dclduo Let me ask 1 direct question of you Jonathan before we let you go which is just I think carnival gets a wrap is like the booze cruise line ah doesn't sound like it's necessarily your experience but how different is the crowd in your experience from the crowd on board a Disney Cruise 50:51.20 Jonathan Hile I've noticed that the carnival is a lot more friendly for groups I Believe they're group rates. They tend to get really good group rates. Um. 50:55.21 Sam Me. 51:03.78 Jonathan Hile and and I think it because the the cruise ticket itself is so affordable I think that attracts a lot of people. So I mean it's not unusual to see groups of twenty thirty people multiple groups. Um, multiple weddings on board. 51:15.66 Sam Oh wow. 51:17.78 Jonathan Hile Ah, it's it's very much a an atmosphere that is friendly to first time cruisers um and and big cruise groups I I mean I would imagine yeah and now we don't like short cruises so we rarely do anything. 51:22.44 Sam Listen in. 51:36.42 Jonathan Hile Less than 4 nights I would imagine that your 3 and four night carnival cruises are probably going to be the booze cruises that you hear so much about because they're weekend getaways they're you know they're the ones that attract college students or young adults I think more so than the longer itineraries. So i. 51:45.90 Sam Um, we did. 51:54.98 Jonathan Hile I think the reputation is earned for the short sailings I don't think it's nearly as much of a problem on the seven day and up sailings. 52:02.56 dclduo Fair enough. Well Jonathan as always and I I took the time mid show I looked it up. This is ah Jonathan's seventh appearance on the show I believe unless we unless we have one that's pending that I'm just forgetting about that hasn't gone out yet. But. 52:11.95 Sam I Love it. 52:19.60 dclduo I think this is Jonathan's seventh appearance on the show. So Jonathan thank you for coming on yet once again to share your experiences with our audience. We really, really appreciate it. 52:20.98 Sam Love it. 52:28.76 Jonathan Hile You know I love being on the show and I appreciate you guys being so accommodating. Always yeah I appreciate it all I I never would be on this show as many times as I was if it hadn't been for you guys just being such awesome people. So. 52:44.00 Sam No thanks. Well why don't you tell folks where they can find you on all things. Yeah, where can they find your podcast. 52:46.51 dclduo Ah, Captain's logs and lightsabers Captain's logs and life saers. Yeah. 52:56.12 Jonathan Hile Yeah, so my podcast is Captain's logs and lightsabers. We talk about star trek star wars and other geeky things from time to time. Um, we are available on every major podcast platform. We have a dedicated feed where you get our show. 53:01.82 Sam Okay. 53:12.98 Jonathan Hile But we're also part of geek news now which is a fandriven we we call ourselves fueled by the fans because we integrate the fan opinion into everything that we do um so we actually are our upcoming episode. Ah, that we have of the show is going to be talking about Captain Benjamin Cisco from deep space 9 um so geek news now posted ah on star trek day a little graphic to pick your favorite captain and notably absent was Cisco and. 53:31.97 Sam Oh my goodness. 53:44.37 Sam Um, Wow. Ah. 53:46.50 Jonathan Hile Our fans let us know that they were not happy with that decision. So we are capitalizing on that and we spent an hour and fifteen minute hour 15 minutes talking about how awesome captain Cisco is. 53:56.50 Sam I love that I love it and for those of you out there who are star trek fans or star wars fans or both this is the podcast you want to listen to they know everything about everything in the star trek universe and the star wars universe. I mean things that I have no idea what they're talking about as a casual star wars and star trek fan myself. Um I will I do know who Captain Cisco is I'll put that out there. 54:13.30 dclduo Now. 54:23.26 Sam But um, anyway, this is definitely a show for you If you are one of those if you are a big fan of either or both Star Wars and Star trek. 54:31.20 dclduo Well, thanks again Jonathan and we we can't wait to have you back again soon. 54:34.95 Jonathan Hile All right? Thank you very much.