Ep. 384 - Theres a First Time for Everything: Mallory Shares Her Experience Sailing Disney Cruise Line for the First Time

00:02.47 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and Sam Mail Time mail call review time. Yay yay! ah. 00:12.55 Sam Yay! Love it Review time. My favorite time of year. Ah, or my favorite time of day. We whatever? That's right. 00:18.74 dclduo We we are recording this shortly before the Christmas holiday hanukkah for Sam she has a size ten night Southern Caribbean for anyone looking for a last minute gift for her ah conciers preferably but she'll take a veranda she has to so I'll take an inside cabin. 00:29.20 Sam That's right listen I'll even I'll take an ocean view. You know, ah fair fair. You know what I would take an inside cabin too. If it's free. So. 00:37.61 dclduo All right there you go there, you go all right? This review comes from Sarah followed by just a ton of sevens eights and seven so we're just going to call you Sarah Sarah and it says a fun and relaxing show. It's always nice to pop the dcl duo n and drive around with a nice mental vacation on a Disney Cruise ship sam and brian do a great job making their guests feel welcome and also doing compare contrast with other cruise lines. They have good critiques of the cruise lines and it always makes you want to book another vacation. Well thank you Sarah for that review sam you want to say? Thank you. 01:09.73 Sam Yes, yes, thanks. Sarah I never thought of myself as relaxing to listen to but I'll take it. You know I'll take whatever I can get. 01:16.22 dclduo I I can sympathize with the putting on a podcast and driving around I actually during the pandemic would do a virtual commute by driving my car around in circles near our neighborhood just so I could feel like I got my podcast listening time in. So. 01:29.41 Sam This is true. He definitely did that I think it was just enough reason to like stay away from me for a while. But. 01:35.20 dclduo I can either confirm her tonight. But with that we have a fabulous guest this evening with a fun topic. 1 of our favorites First time cruising right? Sam. 01:45.50 Sam That's right I am so excited to welcome Mallory to the show she went on her first cruise just like a little over a week ago on the disney fantasy so welcome to the show mallory. 01:56.85 Mallory Nguyen And hi Thank you for having me. It's so great to like be on here talking to you guys and not just listening. 02:03.33 Sam Yeah, we are excited to have you I feel like first time cruising as as our listeners know first time cruising is a topic that is so near and dear to my heart because I I love like reliving that first time experience through other people because I can never relive it myself again and so. It's just like a really fun thing for for us to do and and fun for us to talk to and I feel like it gives us a chance to give a lot of information to people who perhaps are listening and have never been on a cruise before because I don't even remember anymore what I don't remember right like I don't know what I don't know if that makes sense. Um, or what I didn't know back when we first started cruising but before we dive into today's topic we of course have to get your Disney credentials and you have super impressive Disney Credentials so why don't you tell our audience what your background is with Disney. 02:54.46 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, so we I grew up in a Disney through and through family. Um, when we lived in Colorado until I was 11 we would take periodic vacations down to Walt Disney world and we would like stay on property and my mom was really great about making that like. The thing that we all looked forward to every year um and then while we were living in Colorado one of the big things that kind of kicked off our disney love was a little known or very few and far between remembered thing called club disney. Um, which was like Disney's weird take on chuck e cheese but like way better. Um, it was wonderful. Ah so we did that all the time we practically lived there for the I think year and a half that it was opened um in Colorado and then when they closed the year 03:46.90 Sam Um, it's amazing. 03:47.14 Mallory Nguyen Later we moved to celebration Florida which is like the Disney town next to Disney World um so I grew up there throughout middle school and high school I worked at Walt Disney world as a lifeguard at type of lagoon so goonies. Um. Um, my friends worked at Disney World so we had like a very strange upbringing. We would be like hey we've finished our homework. Let's go watch the fireworks or let's catch Spectro or something. It's just a very strange but like kind of wonderful way to grow up. 04:17.50 Sam I love that I feel like Brian had a similar experience in high school. Um at Disneyland because he was in Orange County California with Disneyland so close like he could just pop in for the day I on the other hand never had that experience I wish I could. We did have a little amusement park near my house. It still exists called adventure land and yes, the movie adventure land is supposed to be about this little tiny theme park on long island where I grew up so it's just like a couple towns over but it was not the same as living like next to Disney World or disneyland obviously so I am highly jealous of that fact and highly jealous that you were a cast member. Um I that is something I wish I did now I know you didn't have any cruise experience. However, you did say. So on a boat for an entire semester in college. Why don't you tell our audience a little bit about that. 05:11.12 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, so I've never done like a traditional cruise. My only cruising experience is a program called semester at sea. So when I was a junior in college I boarded a ship for the very first time I had never been on a cruise ship before. Um, and we circumnavigated the globe which was really cool. Um, so I guess going into our Disney Cruise I knew I wasn't I don't get seasick I think I got seasick once in the middle of the pacific ocean during a thunderstorm. Um, but like yeah living on a cruise ship and like working and it's very different than a. Traditional cruise experience just because the food. It's nothing to write home about we called it. The three pas pasta pork and potatoes of increasing sadness and the occasional peanut butter and jelly like not good food but like you're in college. So who cares. 05:58.90 Sam Ah, but oh my God I Love that. 06:05.10 Sam I That's amazing I Like that is the best I love that I will tell you I I kind of wish I had done semester at sea but only because I remember the real world season where they did semester. Its yeah. 06:17.73 Mallory Nguyen Wait What I didn't know that was a thing I'm going to have to go back and find this. 06:24.75 Sam Yeah, so mallory you're not as old as Brian or I are I can tell from looking at you. But um I yeah back in the day when the real world was really big. Um and it wasn't like the first couple seasons it but it wasn't like the last obviously I wrote. 06:37.54 dclduo Wait wait wait the real world's not a thing anymore they kids I can't want I know I'm joking I'm joking they've all they've all parlayed their success into reality game shows now. Yeah. 06:43.63 Sam No, the real world doesn't exist anymore now the challenge still exists. You know that? yeah. 06:52.39 Sam Yes, exactly and that's what so the challenge still exists which still has some people who were on the real world on it but the mostly later seasons of the real world. But yeah, there was a season of the real world that was semester at sea. So it was very very very different of course. Um. Then the other seasons of the role. But I digress I feel like we should yeah but that was I was so jealous of the gas that got to go in semester at sea. So when I saw that in your in your message to us. Mallory I was like I have to ask you as semester at sea. So I love that you did that I think that's awesome. 07:12.10 dclduo Ah, you think you think just a little bit tiny bit. 07:23.90 Mallory Nguyen I Never saw the real world one but I can't say enough good things about semester. It seemed like you have the opportunity anybody out there. Do it. It's wonderful. 07:27.00 Sam Anyway, yeah, yeah, that sounds awesome and of course not as luxurious as as a cruise but you have you know at least some experience of. What it's like to live on the boat and sail around seeing different places. So let's talk about the cruise though and why you decided to book Disney Cruise line why you decided to book this particular sailing on the fantasy the week before Thanksgiving so merrytime cruise eastern caribbean. Um, and ah, why like why you chose Disney Cruise line as a couple with no kids. 08:07.98 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, so um, my husband is from Vietnam he is not a Disney person or at least he wasn't when he met me. It's kind of like Stockholm syndrome now like he's learned to love it because it's not going anywhere. Um, so he's slowly morphed into a Disney person. Um, and that's really the big reason we chose Disney as just I've heard such wonderful things about Disney Disney Cruise line is one of the few facets of Disney that I have had like not touched um but had always kind of dreamed of doing there was shout out to Kirby this guy I had a crush on in high school his family went on disney cruises every year multiple cruises a year and I was just like someday um and so it was like I was I've always wanted to do one. Um, we booked the merry time cruise you can't tell I love Christmas um, and it was a bonus. We decided to go for our 10 year wedding anniversary. So we got married November Fifteenth and 2013 and decided to try and get dates that aligned as close as possible to our anniversary and it just so happened that a really fantastic sailing and we booked late so we got a really good price. Um, and all just kind of the stars aligned and. And it worked out. 09:24.21 Sam Oh that's awesome. Well I think you must have gotten married when you were like twelve years old but ah. 09:28.57 Mallory Nguyen Ah, thank you, You're my new favorite person now. 09:35.14 Sam Um, but anyway so you booked this cruise you you had told me earlier before we started recording. You didn't really do any of the sort of planning or research before you booked the cruise what kinds of research did you do after you had booked the cruise but I assume before your like booking window opened. 09:52.80 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, we had I think maybe two weeks between when we booked the cruise and when our booking window opened and those two weeks were a flurry of guidebooks and podcast listening I think I went back and I listened to every single dcl duo episode that mentioned the fantasy or mary time. 09:54.83 Sam For the crews and. 10:12.19 Mallory Nguyen Or like Eastern Caribbean was just like anything and then when I got through those I was like okay what other itineraries might I be interested in and just listening to everything. Um, so it was definitely like throw everything at the wall and see what sticks methodology. Um, so it was just kind of a flurry of everything. Also for me my husband's definitely not this way. But for me I love the planning aspect. Um, so jumping in kind of feet first into reading and listening to everything I could get my hands on about Disney Cruise line was like super fun for me. My husband would hate that. But I love it. So. 10:52.11 Sam And Brian loves that part as well. I would say um I I I mean I'll be a part of the planning but Brian likes to do I would say the the bulk of the planning with 1 exception I think I do more of the dining planning. So if there's like. I want a specific dining rotation because I want to do adult dining or a particular night or something like that I will be the one to like figure out when you know what are the different rotations or contact whoever I need to contact to find that stuff out. But yeah, there is a lot to learn and a lot to plan. Now your booking window. You say you only have like a couple weeks so you did some research when your booking window opened were you even able to dare I say book anything because you're a first time cruiser so you have the latest booking window of course. Um, and at that point that means. A lot of other people have been able to book excursions and adult dining and whatever else spa treatments those kinds of things on board already. Um, yeah, what were you? what were you hoping to book and what were you able to book. 11:54.30 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, there were a couple of things that I had kind of in my mind that I really wanted to try to book. Um, one of the shore excursions was full I was able to get into it at a later date though. Um, just by checking advice I learned on the podcast checking back. Kind of obsessively until what I wanted opened up. We actually ended up canceling it and doing it on our own though. Um, which I guess we can get into later. Um, we were able to book the couple's choice spa package which um, sold out pretty quickly. Ah, and yeah, mostly everything I wanted. I did stay up till midnight. Um I was actually at Disney world that weekend. So my friend and I were like walking around the board walk and I'm like obsessively scrolling and like trying to get in on the app and um, but because I think I did it right at midnight when the booking window opened I was able to get almost everything we wanted. And then everything we eventually did get everything we wanted. Um between just checking back and then when we got on the ship we were able to snag apollo brunch. 12:57.54 Sam It is awesome that you followed all the right tips. So so good on you I love that? Ok so let's talk about you know, getting down to Orlando you're coming from Atlanta did you fly? Did you drive. And did you have you know a park stay when did sort of when did you arrive relative to the cruise. Yeah. 13:19.22 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, so we drove down our crews debbarked on a Saturday so we drove down Friday afternoon. Um I'm in a bit of an over packer so we chose to drive just so that we didn't have to pay any like overweight luckage fees. But. 13:33.90 Sam I Love I Love that I'm I'm also an overpacker I've gotten better over time. But I'm notoriously still an overpacker. Yeah. 13:34.87 Mallory Nguyen Ah. 13:43.32 Mallory Nguyen I'm also a big shopper so I was like fully intending on going crazy in the gift shops and so we just thought it would be easier for us to drive. Um, we left the day before my husband works in hospitality. So we got a good rate at a local Marriott and then. Showed up the next day 14:02.80 Sam It is awesome now. Did you stay in coco key area or coke what is it not coco key sorry did you say in? um coco beach that's I'm like mixing up the private island of royal caribbean and the location you seeing the coco beach area just stay in the Orlando area. 14:17.18 Mallory Nguyen We stayed in Titusville ah, we stayed in Orlando that when we got back. We did a day at downtown Disney or Disney Springs I guess now um for shopping and Christmas present purposes. Um, so we stayed there. After but we did titus fill before. 14:33.26 Sam Nice, ok so you you get up on Saturday morning and you drive to the to the port port canaveral. What are you feeling when you see the beautiful disney fantasy sitting at port canaveral for the very first time. 14:49.50 Mallory Nguyen Well I So I always joke with everybody that I know that all my emotions go through my eyeballs whether it's like Anger sadness joy they all go right through my eyes So pretty immediately I start crying I'm just because I'm like so excited and so overjoyed and my husband's like. 15:03.15 Sam Ah, ah. 15:07.20 Mallory Nguyen He's very even keel we balance each other out in that way I guess um so I was just so excited. Um, we had talked about doing a Disney Cruise for a long time and I don't think I ever actually believed. We would do one because we talk about doing a lot of things and most of them don't end up happening so actually getting there seeing the ship like. Parking the cars giving our luggage to the men in the red shirts and like like going like doing the thing it was pretty overwhelming for me I spent a lot of time that first day just like happy crying. 15:42.59 Sam Yeah, all right? Well I Well I mean I love that because I'm the same kind of person. Um I Totally wear my heart on my sleeve but ok so you get into the terminal how does check in process go was it uneventful I'm hoping I'm crossing my fingers an uneventful boarding process. Um, but yeah, how was it. 16:00.55 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, it all went very smoothly. Um I was expecting that just because Disney is pretty good most of it although our our disembarkation was not very smooth. Um, but our embarkation was very smooth. We showed up maybe 30 minutes before our port arrival time. Um and they had already started. Like boarding our group so we just basically were like we're here. Where do we go and they pointed us in the right direction and I'm like excitedly bouncing off the walls. My husband is like calm down. Um, we did. My husband did forget to take a pocket knife out of his little like man satchel that he carries with him. Ah, so we did have we get did get diverted to the nice man at the little window on the side saying hey you can't take this on the ship we're gonna babysit it for you and make sure it stays out of trouble and you can pick it up when you come back. 16:52.51 Sam I I love that? Yeah, that's a really great reminder for folks that you know if you do end up bringing something that's not allowed on board. Um, the great thing about Port Canaveral is probably the best place for this to happen if you're doing an an open loop. 17:01.45 Mallory Nguyen 6 17:07.60 Sam Cruise where you're departing from a different place than you're getting to I'm not sure how this works. But if you're doing a closed loop like you do at at port canaveral and probably even some of the other ports even where disney doesn't have a dedicated terminal they will confiscate your item give you a claim tag for it. Take down. You know your name. Um, and then you will be able to pick that up when you debbark the ship just don't forget it because nobody will track you down to give you back your things. So if you forget it, you will have to figure out tracking it down. Um, but yeah, it's a kind of a nice thing. Yeah, wish that the airport you could do that right? because at the airport. 17:41.26 dclduo Or even. 17:44.32 Sam I Know there have been times I see people you know with pocket knives in particular I feel like this is a common thing right? men who carry pocket knife. They end up having to like throw out their pocket knife or if they have you know because they've already checked their luggage by the time they realized it's happened. So yeah, but ok, you get? ah. 17:57.89 dclduo Know they provide those nice little mailing stations at the airport we can go like you can just mail it right there back to yourself. 18:06.30 Sam That's true that is an option but generally speaking. It's a pain in the butt. Um. 18:07.63 dclduo 1 and one of these days I'm going to get a nice photo of the confiscated items table at pork and averal after we disembark because the things I've seen on that table fascinating. There are things on the table I'm like what does that do even so you know. 18:19.62 Sam Very strange. Yeah yeah, the the thing that I saw the most when we debbarked um in San Diego because I did notice the table in San Diego um that I hadn't noticed before I've always noticed it in port canaver because it's really right? there. But this time this is the first time last week I noticed it in in San Diego it was lots of steamers. Lots of um, you know like clothing steamers like I feel like a people want their clothes to not be wrinkly which I totally get. But it's just yeah, you're not allowed to bring that on. Um and they. Unfortunately, they don't really have steamers on board. They do just have iron so you could use an iron to steam. But I don't know. It's not the best way to steam your clothes so you'll have to wear wrinkly clothes. Sorry folks. Um, everybody else will be wrinkly too. So don't worry about it. Okay, so you get through security you get on. 19:12.49 Mallory Nguyen But. 19:14.94 Sam Ah, through the boarding you get through the boarding process quickly and you go across the gangway and you are in the beautiful fantasy atrium and cast member asks you for your name and they say. Welcome Nwin family to the disney fantasy. What are you feeling at that point. Are there tears there. 19:37.76 Mallory Nguyen And yeah, there's a lot of tears there. Um, just so like so excited and the fantasies Atrium or lobby I'm not sure the precise terminology is really beautiful. Um, and it's hard to like I don't know in the ship you're just. 19:48.49 Sam Atrium. 19:54.73 Mallory Nguyen It's 3 60 right? It's kind of like the parks. But it's even closer because it's kind of a confined space. Um, so it it feels like you're living in this like little like you've just stepped into this little weird disney snow globe almost and and it's it's very like kind of over I believe. For me overwhelming feeling and we've had a couple of really hard years like medical wise so it was just like wow we're here we get to relax. Everything is taken care of. We don't have to worry about anything for 7 whole bays. 20:27.54 Sam I ah I love that picture like the idea of it being a snow globe I've never heard somebody describe it that way. But it's perfect. It's literally a perfect description mallory like especially with the Christmas decorations up for maritime cruises. It. I can just imagine it as a snow globe like it it really it really is um, what did you think of the decorations of the ship. What did you think of the decor of the ship. Obviously it's when you get on you probably didn't realize like how big it's actually going to be. But yeah, what did you? What did you think of the the spaces and the decor for Christmas. Yeah. 20:57.94 Mallory Nguyen I loved that is the Christmas decorations. 1 of the reasons we had chosen the fantasy over the wish we had like briefly talked about maybe doing like a three or four night on the wish and some park days. Um, well partially that's because I love really traditional Christmas decorations like I'm a. Um, a red and green and gold kind of gal. Um the cheesier and kitschier your Christmas decorations are the more I'm going to love it. True child of the late 80 s and 90 s um and I just thought like disney decorations aren't cheesy or kitschy really, but they're I mean it's just so traditional and beautiful and. To me. It really felt like they had every corner of the ship. There was something so like even in the hallways where it was. People's doors. It wasn't like official Disney stuff. They had the music very loud in the hallways like really blast in that Christmas music and like all of the. Dining spaces had um, subtle or not so subtle Christmas decorations and then of course the atrium. It's just like completely beautiful with the enormous 3 or 4 deck tall Christmas tree. It was dark when we came on which was. I like knew there was a Christmas lighting that night. But my brain had not connected that like you can't have lit Christmas tree until Christmas tree lighting so that was a little strange. 22:19.65 Sam I right? Niki and the mickey and the fab 5 have to light the tree before it I can have lights ah right? Yeah I know I love that um, let's ah, let's shift gears a bit and talk a little bit about the ports that you all visited and then we'll go back. 22:22.71 Mallory Nguyen Um, yeah. 22:35.22 Sam Um, to talking about some of the onboard activities and in particular some of the maritime activities of course. Um, but you you were on an Eastern Caribbean What were your ports I know obviously cast away and I'm I'm guessing what your other ports were but I'm going to let you tell us. 22:49.32 Mallory Nguyen Our first port was Tortola british virgin islands and then st martin in the us virgin islands and then Casta away. Sorry I said st martin I met st thomas. 22:58.26 Sam Nice, ok, so not St Thomas Tortola and st martin those are oh St Thomas okay yeah sometimes they they have they do switch it up so that's why I asked because the traditionally it's Tortola and St Thomas but there are some variations for Eastern Caribbean um okay so what were your what were your plans as far as port excursions. We'll start with Tortola. 23:22.73 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, so because of my experience with semester at sea um, doing kind of world travel on a very broke college student budget. Um I've gotten really comfortable with planning things and like I have some experience with you know onboard time and. Be there or get left behind. Um so I felt pretty comfortable with doing things on our own we had initially wanted to book one of the excursions to the baths. Um, and then the more research I did the more I was like we can do this on our own for half the price. Um and probably half the people. Um, and so that's what we ended up doing so we got off the ship in Tortola as early as possible. We were a little bit late coming in I think um and so we got off as soon as possible caught the seven forty five ferry from tortola to the um to Virgin Gorda and then the ferry had a taxi included or like a taxi bus open air bus ride included to the national parks of the baths. Um, we were there. We were the first people to set foot on the beach that morning and it was just like truly incredible. Um, if you have the opportunity to go there and do that and you're interested in doing the baths. Um, they have this great hiking trail through this beautiful kind of cave system I totally recommend doing it on your own It's very easy. Um, and we were. We did the whole thing hiked through it. 24:52.32 Mallory Nguyen Ah, it took maybe two two and a half hours and then just as we were leaving all the tours were showing up so it was like 200 people all at once and we had had the beaches to basically to ourselves all morning. 25:01.70 Sam Yes, yeah. 25:04.49 dclduo So as you're describing this I'm like flashing over to the scene in Dodge Ball where Jason Bateman says bold strategy cotton let's see if it pays off for them because it is bold to just on your first cruise just get out there and do the excursion on your own. I applaud I applaud that strategy. Um, you made it back to the ship obviously on time um, did you did you feel like you. You know you had a good day there in you know Tortola. Ah you know on your own or would you next time say maybe I would check out 1 of the disney excursions. 25:29.23 Mallory Nguyen Um, yes. 25:42.50 Mallory Nguyen I Loved doing it on our own. Um, it worked out so well and like I said my husband's recovering from some health issues so we had like a really active morning. Um, and we're both fairly active people I would put the caveat to the baths that like if you are not an active person. The hike they say is moderate I would say it's only moderate to an active person if you are not active I would classify that hike as strenuous. No not at all. 26:08.40 Sam Yeah, and and it's also not handicapped accessible at all right? Yeah I've heard that that area I've heard the baths in general are not really accessible. Um, and so that's not 1 for someone who. Uses crutches or wheelchair or something like that to really check out. Yeah. 26:25.47 Mallory Nguyen And Footwear was a big thing too. We wore hiking Sandals. We both like to I don't like to hike like my husband does I like to go for walks and then sit down somewhere and read um but I do have hiking sandals and that's what we wore. And you would need something with like grippy bottoms because you're walking up and down kind of slick rocks while holding onto a rope. Um, so having some like proper footwear I Would even say you want something a little more substantial than a water shoe just because you're you want something your feet aren't going to slip around in. 26:55.70 Sam I got. 26:56.36 Mallory Nguyen But I love doing it on our own I would totally recommend doing it. We talk to some people we did a Disney Excursion in St Thomas and we were talking with some people on that excursion who had done the baths with Disney and they were saying that the crowds like they felt like the excursion was just too many people and. 27:11.51 Sam Easy. 27:13.51 Mallory Nguyen Traveling through the baths through that cave system. You basically have to go single file and if you are get stuck behind somebody with kids or somebody who's moving kind of slowly or struggling with the terrain. It's really going to impact the amount of time you have at either of the beaches. Um, on either side of the baths. So. 27:27.17 Sam E. 27:31.62 Mallory Nguyen I Thought doing it on our own was the way to go but like I said I'm a I have some experience with planning travel on my own. Um and I was fairly confident that I could corral my chronically late husband to get back on time. 27:46.57 Sam Ah, love it well and the great thing or the easy thing about the caribbean is that everybody speaks english let me just put that out there. So of course this Tortola is a British Virgin island so obviously their language is english but even still even at other places in the caribbean. Pretty much everyone speaks english that is the main language spoken even on even in places that are um that were territories of of other countries. It's mostly an english speaking area. So it's it's easier than maybe other parts of the world. Um, did did you get some time then at the beach there um either before or after the or probably after the hike. 28:23.27 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, we did um some sorkeelling and beach time at the way the baths are is you get in and you can go to Devil's Bay which was my favorite part other than the hike through the baths. It's just beautiful and pristine. Um, and so we did some snorkeling there and then kind of. You will get wet on the hike through the baths so we just kind of strapped on our sandals tossed our stuff in our backpacks and walked through the caves. Um, and then when we got to the other side. There's um I think it's called poor man's pub. It's like a drink shack with some food. And we kind of sat there and did some more snorkeling and took pictures and just kind of marveled at the beauty. 29:03.89 Sam This awesome sounds like a great day. What did you guys? Ah, oh yeah, yeah, Suns Green that's very important actually very important tip for folks like. 29:04.39 Mallory Nguyen We napped hard though when we got back, we were Wow. It's been a while since we've been in the sun like this. 29:09.70 dclduo Um, yeah. 29:19.31 Sam The caribbean sun is no joke. Um, and if you're out in it for even a short period of time you might get sunburned but it it will take the the it will. It will take the energy out of you real real fast just from especially a strenuous hike as well. What did you guys get up to then in St Thomas you said you did book a disney excursion there. 29:37.75 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, we did a snokeling to shipwreck cove in St Thomas I really loved that one. My husband got a little seasick on the catamaran ride out to the shipwreck cove area. Um I didn't but and but we both had a great time. The people who led the excursion I'm trying to remember who did it I think it's called castaway girl was the catamaran crew. Um, and they were really knowledgeable. Somebody was in the water with us. Um, kind of pointing out. Like there was a sea turtle at one point or the stingray and so when they they knew where the wildlife would be and they could point it out to us. Um, and then on the way back there was an open bar so it was a good time. It was wonderful. I had a great experience. There. 30:24.34 dclduo I got of say Sam that casta away girl sounds familiar to me I'm wondering if we did an excursion with them at some point as well. 30:25.36 Sam Yeah that's yes I think we did and I don't know if it was at St Thomas or if it was at one of the other ports but I believe that they are. They are around that area. So it might have been actually in st thomas because we've done several um catamaran excursions over the years depending upon you know where we were at. But um, yeah st thomas is a great place. Wonderful snorkeling. We love it. There. It's one of our favorite one of our favorite ports of call for sure. All right? Well the star of course though it well I don't know if it was the star but the probably one of the things that drew you to this cruise that draws a lot of people to these itineraries at least to the caribbean or the bohemian but itineraries is cast away key Disney's private island what did what did you guys get up to on castaway did you book anything in advance. Um I always tell people not to but sometimes people don't listen to me unless it's parasaling um or cabana. Um with those 2 caveats but I just think you don't have to because there's so much to do without. You know having to book anything but what did you guys get up to and cast away. Yeah. 31:36.67 Mallory Nguyen So we had initially booked a banana boat ride in my like Youtube rabbit hole research I had somehow just found so it looked like somebody's home video of their family doing a banana boat ride in Castaway key and like the first couple minutes were like oh this looks so lame. This looks really lame. And then they like start flying off the banana boat. We're like okay this looks really fun. Um, but the winds were very high when we pulled into castaway it was raining. We were all kind of like we had had really great weather up until that point and so we were like oh so everything got canceled except I think the stingray stuff. But pretty immediately upon like getting off the ship and cast away the sun came out it. It cleared up. It was breezy. It was definitely windier. Um, but it was like a perfect beach day. So you know we rallied pretty quickly. It's hard to feel down in Castaway key. Um, so we ah 1 thing I forgot to mention with our Disney experience both my husband and I have a pretty extensive history with run disney so we've done a lot of the run disney races so we did the castway key five k castway k five k I guess um. 32:35.48 Sam And absolutely okay. 32:52.39 Mallory Nguyen In the morning when we got off the ship and then like just as we were finishing and I was like really red and disgusting. Um, the sun came out and we were able to jump in the water which was great. 33:05.24 Sam I I love that? Yeah that's and that is always a highlight I don't know when it's really hot I can't run the cast to a five k I I only do it in like fall spring winter months I will not do it in the summer because the caribbean is just way too hot for me. Um, but. I love doing the the 5 k and I love getting my rubber metal at the end to. 33:26.42 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, we did dopey in 2020 like right before the world fell apart and one of our big regrets was that we didn't just book the crews and do the castaway key challenge that year because I'll never to dope again. No thank you? um. 33:30.98 Sam Um, yeah. 33:38.83 dclduo That was that was our last cruise on Disney Cruise line yep that was our last cruise before the pandemic. 33:40.62 Sam But that was the one. Yeah and that yeah, that was the one and it was the first time we had ever done a run Disney event. We did marathon weekend. So Brian did the goofy that weekend so he did the half and the full. 33:43.67 Mallory Nguyen Ah. 33:55.68 Mallory Nguyen Um, ah, kudos to you. 33:58.50 Sam Not the nope because he wasn't he wasn't as crazy as you are um in doing the 5 the ten the half and the full and I just ran the the 10 k and then we both ran the 5 k on um, on castaway so we did that was a great opportunity and now they at least have not done it this past year they have they are this current coming year I should say. They are not doing the the castaway challenge with run disney weekend. So we'll see maybe it'll come back in the future. But. 34:24.34 Mallory Nguyen I Hope it does that might be the only way I ever do Dopey again is to get all all those metals lined up. 34:30.30 Sam Yeah, yeah, I hear. Yeah, but I think one of the great things about castaway there that you mentioned yeah, it's a perfect beach day. You don't you know like I tell people you really don't have to book Anything. You can just enjoy your time on the island If you want to? of course there are things to do. Um, and certain things like um, riding bicycles and renting the floaties I Always tell people and Snorkels. You don't need to book that in advance you can do that day of it doesn't cost you any more than if you were to book in in Advance. Um, because I have heard from. 00:00.00 Sam I have heard from many people who pre-book the bicycles and floaties historical combination thing and then they never use it and it doesn't cost any more to book on the island as as opposed to booking in advance and so I. 00:00.56 dclduo You're good. 00:18.40 Sam Feel for like for that one. There's no reason to book in advance the other things you do have to book in advance or they fill up. So um, just my little piece of advice to folks out there. You can have an awesome day castaway without a cabana and without booking anything so but ah well it sounds like you had a great day castaway. Despite. You know some cancellations from wind which is not unusual as people who have listened to this podcast know Brian has booked paraselling an ungodly number of times and most of the time although not the last few times it gets canceled. So. 00:51.48 dclduo Well and can can I just take a minute here because this has come up more than once now to go off on a side tangent for one second which is just if if you book it to like so I've seen this more and more recently where people are extraordinarily upset that they didn't go to cast a a key on their ceiling because of weather. 00:57.82 Sam Sure it's our show. 01:11.11 dclduo Mechanical issue. Whatever it is totally get being upset I'd be bummed too but can we please stop the insanity of demanding that Disney Crews compensate you for that missed port especially if it's weather related like Disney Controls a lot in this world. Don't control the weather and you'd probably be surprised how often they miss that port stop because Castaway key is a tricky port to get into the ship is super exposed ah to the wind as it's trying to dock the island is flat. There's nothing to block the wind unlike coming into like a st thomas. There's mountain ranges and things so I just just my personal plug if you Miss Castaway key because of weather like please be kind to the cast members on board. It happens a lot I'm sorry if it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for you but they can't they. Like they can't compromise the safety of the ship to get it in the casta waki if the weather is really really bad if it's a mechanical issue I do think disney needs to own up to that and you know make that right? But if it's just a weather related issue I've just seen so many calls recently where people are like well we mis cast away and blah blah and it's like I get it. It stinks. Um. I saw one recently where people upset that they arrived at Castaway late because a passenger on board had a medical emergency and they had to turn back to Fort Lauderdale and I'm like come on like put yourself in their shoes for one second like if someone needs medical attention. Let's get them the help they need and then and. 02:26.78 Sam Oh yeah. 02:40.13 Sam Um, yeah, yeah. 02:40.28 dclduo Still got to cast away and they stayed later than they were supposed to so like it's I understand it's it's not great when there's disruptions to your crews but let's all be kind to 1 another and be especially kind to our cast members so end of rant back to our regularly scheduled programming. 02:55.80 Sam Ah, thank you. 02:56.35 Mallory Nguyen I did hear somewhere that the the wish coming in to cast away the day after us couldn't dock um because of weather. 03:03.77 Sam Um, oh yeah, yeah. 03:03.96 dclduo Yeah, it happens it happens a lot like that is a windy area and again it's just a flat land mass. The ship is gigantic and so if the wind is whipping. There's no way they can protect it right? So yeah, yeah. 03:09.60 Sam Oh yeah. 03:15.21 Sam Oh yeah, well and on the wish it's like I think even tougher because you might only you know you're only going to have usually 2 port stops right? And and 1 of them is cast away and so people. Are like really well. It's a lot of first time cruisers of course and they get really really mad if they don't get to go to castaway which you know it happens. Oh yeah. 03:34.40 dclduo Yeah, well in the and and we know the captains make herculean efforts to get that ship doctic guest because they know what's coming if they don't so so just rest. Yeah yeah, rest assured it wasn't like someone like you know, walked up on deck and. 03:44.47 Sam Yeah, they know the the barrage of complaints. 03:51.56 dclduo You know, stuck their finger out and was like feels a little windy. Let's just keep going like they really, they'll try 3 4 times get that ship docked. So yeah, just be kind be kind. Ah. 03:55.78 Sam Um, Ah, yeah, yeah, all right? Well so we've covered your port Stops. We've got to cover you know maritime activities since you know this is. This is a ah hard show to cover because you've got first time cruiser who also got to do maritime Activities. So I got to talk about maritime activities. 04:16.14 dclduo Well and well we got to say like if if anyone's going to talk about mar time activities mallory right now for those of you listening in your car is sitting in front of her Christmas tree and what appears to be either flannel Pajamas or flannel shirt as she looks so Christmas ready right now. 04:30.86 Sam She looks so christmasy right now. Yeah yeah, so so tell us you the tree lighting you mentioned the first night tell us what you thought of the tree lighting and then we'll talk about some of the other onboard maritime activities. Yeah. 04:33.24 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, yeah, so oh go ahead. 04:34.96 dclduo Let's talk about very merry time. So yes. 04:49.79 Mallory Nguyen I thought the tree lighting was really nice. Um, the show I was a little worried especially like the atrium shows I've heard can feel a little cramped feel a little short I did not I don't know. Maybe I'm I'm a Disney person so like and I don't love crowds. So like my idea of both heaven and hell is sit is like waiting for happily ever after in the cat in like that area in front of the castle where I'm like so excited also like oh my god there are so many people around me. Um, so it felt. Way less overwhelming than the parks like as a parks person I was expecting parks and I got like not parks which was great. Um, so I loved the show itself was great like the moment when micy comes out and then santa comes out and I'm just like oh oh my god it's so mad film. It was great. Like the whole thing was wonderful. it was and it was pretty traditional. Um Disney has made weird forays into like pop songs for Christmas time on their stage shows in the parks I was really happy. None of that seemed to have made it onto the ship because I don't like that very much. Um. 05:42.31 Sam So. 05:56.38 Sam Ah. 05:57.64 Mallory Nguyen It was just like very traditional Christmas disney magic and it was wonderful. 06:00.00 Sam Oh I Love that? Yeah and then of course when that tree is lit up. It's like a beautiful moment because it's as you mentioned this just humongous tree. That's like multiple stories tall. You know you can see where it's sort of anchored to the walls or to the railings on the upper decks. And yeah, it's just it's just gorgeous. 06:17.14 dclduo I will say if you're into traditional Christmas decorations. Do not do a very merry time on the wish at least this current state. You get gold Christmas tree on the wish so very modern take on the Christmas tree. 06:19.52 Sam Um. 06:23.17 Sam Yes. 06:30.36 Sam Yes, and not a traditional gingerbread house and and I think that that's what mallory was alluding to in doing her research about which ship to go on for maritime and and definitely um, if you if you really want to go on the wish. Um the wish is great. But it definitely has a more modern take on Christmas decorations than the other 4 ships all right? So tell us what other maritime activities did you get up to did you do story time with Mrs Clause did you take get your picture taken with Santa I mean what stuff did you get up to. 07:01.20 Mallory Nguyen So we don't have any kids so we were very often, um, kind of mindful. We wanted to make sure that the kids around us had chances to do things like story time with Mrs Claus so we usually would stop by. Um I think we hit up every merry time offering that they had even if we didn't like actively participate so like um it was never in the navigator or announced but when they when Santo or Mrs Claus comes out in the atrium. They also put out hot chocolate and cookies and you do not need to say hello to santa to partake of the hot chocolate and cookies. You can just like drive by. 07:33.38 Sam Um, absolutely. 07:36.80 Mallory Nguyen Get your hot chocolate and cookies wave it Santa and piece out. Um, so we did a lot of that. Um we did kind of very briefly come by story time with Mrs Claus 1 of the times it was offered um but it conflicted and now I can't remember what it conflicted with it conflicted with something else. We wanted to do? um so we like. Like oh this is great. Okay, bye um, and went off to whatever else we were doing. Um, yeah I I know some people we had talked to talked about how they felt that there wasn't enough Christmas I honestly as a Christmas enthusiast I felt like Disney really hit the Mark. Um, if you've wanted something Christmas there was almost always a craft or a movie. They showed um Muppet Christmas Carol which is my favorite of the Christmas Carol adaptations on Funnel vision. Um, like there was always something Christmas I felt going on if you wanted to do that. But if you didn't. 08:24.63 Sam Yes, yes I. 08:34.94 Mallory Nguyen Want Christmas stuff like my husband is vietnamese Christmas is not really his bag. Um, so he could be like I'm going to go do this other thing that is not Christmas related and that would be fine. He really didn't have that option because it's our anniversary crews. But. 08:49.23 Sam But love it. Yeah as you mentioned Christmas crafts they had on board and I think there was at least one Christmas or holiday trivia that they had at least on our cruise. Do they have the carolerss on your cruise. 09:02.14 Mallory Nguyen They did have the carolers but they weren't like announced in the navigator they were just before one of the other events I think it might have been one of the santa things that we saw or the story time with Mrs Claus where the carolers came out and sang beautifully and then kind of went away in the rest of the show. So. 09:20.41 Sam And. 09:21.82 Mallory Nguyen Started um with I don't know it felt nice because it was like a little Christmas secret but you did have to search out those things a little bit sometimes because they weren't all in the navigator like every detail wasn't listed there. 09:35.75 Sam You? Yeah yeah, what did you think of the new um well new new it was new to us even but new to you I guess ah, anyway because you're a new cruiser but the the deck party Mickey and Minnie's holiday party. 09:50.83 Mallory Nguyen I so I had mixed feelings I didn't love the songs I thought they were yeah it was definitely more popular modern um, but goofy is my favorite character and so the whole storyline of like goofy spoilers goofy being like funmed that next might not make it home for christmas. 09:52.13 Sam I was very more poppy and modern. Definitely so. 10:09.40 Mallory Nguyen Like pleased my goofy movie heart to no end. 10:12.83 Sam I oh I love that it was I thought that was really heartwarming too I I enjoyed the pop music. Um, it was definitely a little less traditional than other holiday stuff that Disney has done on the ships. But I I liked it because I felt like it was. You know we had the traditional tree lighting and so we could have a more modern deck party but I too ah enjoyed the the heartwarming family theme of of the deck party so that was really nice. Ah. 10:37.75 dclduo Hey St Louis pauses for one second mallory I think your Mike is rubbing so we're getting like this staticky sound. Yes yes. 10:44.11 Mallory Nguyen Is that better. Okay, it's the flannel. 10:47.23 Sam Ah, yes, it's the fun ha um, where should I go next Bri sorry I just lost my train tomorrow. Ah show. Yeah yeah, okay so all right? So mallory I know that you told me. 10:52.41 dclduo We haven't talked about shows or food I can say. 11:02.62 Sam Before we started recording that you are a recovering theater kid as obviously folks know I am as well and you know I I imagine that as a recovering theater kid you had to go see some shows on the Walt Disney Theater Stage so tell us you know what you did which shows did you see you were on a seven night sailing store. You had 3 of the main stage shows and maybe some variety acts. Um, what? What did you see and what did you think. 11:34.55 Mallory Nguyen So we saw all of the broadway style musicals I am a musical theater person. Um, so we actually rearranged one of our dining nights we had a spa appointment that that ran late so we decided to like skip dinner that night to make sure we could go see the show that was like 1 of my priorities and that was aladdin. Um, which was amazing. So the shows on our voyage were Aladdin frozen and believe and I loved them all. They were all very good. Um, frozen was my favorite though which surprised me because I'm not a frozen person I taught english in Vietnam when frozen came out so I've heard let it go like a billion million times 12:07.98 dclduo Yeah. 12:10.42 Mallory Nguyen Um, and I was just like super super over frozen Love frozen too. But the original I'm like kind of over but I still I cried twice. It's just it was amazing. They were all great. 12:21.10 Sam And yeah, it's really well done I think that on Disney Cruise line that production and both on the fantasy and on the wonder it's just a fantastic production I think um. What about a variety acts. Did you go see any of the variety acts on the Walt Disney stage or and or and or did you see a movie on the Walt Disney stage and. 12:40.64 Mallory Nguyen We wanted to see the marvels because it came out the week that we sailed but we had there are so many things to do that we were like we don't want to spend our time doing things that we can only do on the ship see doing something we can do at home or on Disney plus in like three months um so we ended up not seeing the marvels. Even though we had kind of planned on doing that. Um, we did see the vantriloquist whose name I have forgotten. We saw her both on the main stage and her like adult only act in the tube. Um, she was wonderful. Her dull only act was better. It was really great. Um, but we had missed the juggler and the comedian just by virtue of there's too many things to do and it was my takeaway from a Disney Cruise like I want to go back on a non-mar time sailing because I felt like there was taking out the merry time stuff. Maybe we could have gotten a lot more ground covered but there was just so much to do. 13:39.78 Sam On it Honestly mallory even on a Non-mari Time. There's still too many things to do you still have to pick and choose your your your activities I think you make a great point about the movies we had the same aim to see. Either Marvels or wish on our crew since we wish came out the week after you sailed and came out while we were sailing and um, we didn't go see either of them because we're just like it's. 14:05.68 dclduo Well I in part I refuse to spend time in a movie theater when I'm on a crash like yeah, no yeah well I I have a li. 14:11.70 Sam And I do not I have we and we have seen movies on board in the past, but there's just yeah, there's just so much to do It's yeah yeah. 14:20.74 dclduo I've eliminated the problem of too much to do on a Disney Cruise by just not doing anything other than sitting by the pool and I'm perfectly happy pool spa rainforest room I'm good I don't need the rest so old fashions I love the bars in the music I yeah I don't need organized activities. Yeah. 14:30.60 Sam That's true and old fashions at whatever bars on board. Yeah, so um, that's true. That's true I I on the other hand run around to all of that You were not all of but a lot of work. Nice activities. 14:40.53 dclduo No, all of them. You try to do them all. You're like yeah yeah, if you if you could bring like a telepresence robot on board. You'd go to 2 activities at once I think so yeah there you go. 14:44.74 Sam I Try to do a lot of them a lot of them. Okay, so. 14:51.82 Sam Probably so yeah, so now before we turn to food mallory um, because obviously we have to talk about food because it's Disney um, and because we love food. Um, were there any other activities on board that you got up to that. You. 14:52.77 Mallory Nguyen That's me too. 15:07.15 Sam Either surprised you or that you particularly enjoyed. 15:10.94 Mallory Nguyen Um, so we spend a lot of time at the spa. We got the couples choice massage. So that's like the 75 minute massage with the private jacui and the foot scrub thing which was wonderful and they end your couple's massage. It's only couples massage I've ever had where they end it this way where they like ring a bell and they put your hands to it so you're like holding hands. 15:15.90 Sam So nice. 15:28.91 Mallory Nguyen I just thought that was the sweetest thing ever. Um, and then we also had the week long pass for the rainforest room which ten out of 10 Can't recommend that enough if for no nothing else. The Jacuzi is are less human soupy than the other ones. So like. 15:43.99 Sam But yeah, yeah. 15:46.45 Mallory Nguyen Anytime we went in. We had a jacuzzi to ourselves. Um and that was like our favorite thing to do after port we would drop our bags in the walkers usually in the at the spa and then hightail it to the jacuzzi and then watch us leave the port from the jacuzzi. Um. 16:00.24 Sam You Oh That's awesome and that's the I want want to point out that is like a fantastic thing to do on the dream or the fantasy You can't do that on the wonder or the magic there are no jacuz in the rainforest room on the wonder and the magic you can do it on the wish but you can't see outside because you're kind of down in a. You You can sit in a jacuzzi you can see up but you can't really see out to sea sail away. But yeah I think the the fantasy and the dream have the best rainforest room because of that fact that you that you just mentioned so that sounds like a fantastic thing to to do. Any other activities on board that you particularly enjoyed or or surprised you maybe in even a negative way I don't know. 16:43.73 Mallory Nguyen Um, we also did 2 of the drink tasting so we did the mixology class because Brian had like sung its praises in some of the podcasts I heard before so we did that we did that on embarcation day and it was a really nice way to kind of kick off our vacation. 16:47.80 Sam Um, how nice. 16:54.19 Sam He. 17:01.14 Mallory Nguyen I Mean we were kind of tipsy walking to our muster station and all of the like families. We were on an outside muster station so they were all like the kids are crying and everybody is sweating because we're on the sunny side and we're just like this is great. Um, so ah. 17:12.33 Sam And you're happy. Ah. 17:16.69 dclduo Hashtag Hashtag cocktails before muster there you go. Ah. 17:17.39 Sam I Love it. 17:19.85 Mallory Nguyen They yeah like the way to do it. Um, and we also did the tequila margarita tasting on one of the other days I can't remember now which was also great. They were both led by Marco in the skyline lounge and he was fantastic. Great dry sense of humor and made the only old fashion I've ever had that actually I enjoyed. So yeah, yeah, if you get up back on the fantasy go see Marco and ask for an old fashioned number 3 that's. 17:39.64 Sam Oh wow, that's high praise I love it. Yeah, we'll shout it. Yeah old fashioned yet the it was one of the the cocktails. Ah what is it called the the Paris. 17:42.52 dclduo What what was our favorite drink there Sam We there was that blue drink that I'm to remember the name of. 17:56.78 dclduo Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 17:57.23 Sam Paris 75 or it's not a french yeah, it's it's kind of a take on the french 75 but it's a yeah, it's anyway in we love skyline lounge like I said like I mentioned to you before the show mallory we haven't been on the fantasy now. It's been like 2 years We've got a trip on the fantasy in about a year and we're so excited because we have we just we haven't been to skyline and forever. 18:16.57 dclduo I tried to convince you to do a trip on the fantasy next. Ah July but and Sam said no sam said no. 18:22.75 Sam We've got too many. We've got 2 cruises in June I can't do one in July also my work will fire me probably so ah anyway, okay so we got awesome cocktails. We've got awesome spa appointments and rainforest room. 18:28.45 dclduo Um, oh. 18:40.66 Sam Before we hit food I feel like I got to ask you about characters because I know you're a parks girl. What did you think about the character interactions and how were like the lines because I know we're we're hearing more and more and experiencing ourself. Unfortunately the lines seem to be getting longer for the characters on the cruises. 18:58.52 Mallory Nguyen Yeah, we did. We didn't do all the characters partially because of the lines we didn't do as many as we wanted. Um, so we kind of prioritized I mentioned I love goofy so we saw goofy a couple of times we also dressed up as Mr Smee and Captain hook. For pirate nights so we wanted to get our picture with Captain hook and Mr Smith on pirate night and that was maybe the longest line we waited in um and but it wasn't too bad. We we got there pretty early before they even officially opened the line and maybe waited Twenty Twenty five minutes 19:33.25 Mallory Nguyen Um, we still made it up to the deck for the deck show. We still had a decent spot like it wasn't bad but they were a little bit lengthier I was surprised we did like just run into characters wandering around and their like handler was following. Um, so we ran into goofy in his tucks just like. Randomly walking around Deck 5 we ran into aunzel so like we ran into people our characters. Um, which was pretty magical still on the I I heard that they have sleep walking goofy on some of the ships and that is it's like now my life's mission. 20:06.83 dclduo Yes, um, we I think we've seen him I think we've seen him once on our Southern Caribbean cruise which is a longer sailing. We saw him once wandering the hallways and it was just super cute. Super cute. 20:10.24 Mallory Nguyen To find sleepwalking goofy. 20:18.16 Mallory Nguyen So I saw a picture and now I'm like it is my life's goal to find you. 20:24.42 Sam I know so cute, really cute all right? Well that brings us to food I've got to ask you mallory first? Um, what you thought of cabanas and then we'll turn to mean dining. 20:37.42 Mallory Nguyen Um, so my husband is a string being of a man who loves to eat and I'm like the opposite I'm like a short I'm like a mrs pots type. Um who loves to eat maybe too much. Um, so we found we found cavander is really good and my only gripe would. For like all of the food on the ship would be that my husband's asian the asian offerings are few and far between and what is there is not great. Um, so like having maybe a little bit more variety at cabanas with. Like 1 or 2 more asian offerings would be or like just rice like I think we saw rice twice and it wasn't it was a little dry looking but um, but other than that we really couldn't complain I think he ate 2 entrees every day and I had 2 desserts every day and. 21:13.69 Sam Yeah, yep. Oh yeah. 21:30.55 dclduo Did you did you ask? did you ask yourself because I think they will make Asian food and main dining if you request it and I think they serve it family style and I've seen them bring out white rice for exactly the reason that you're mentioning. So did you ask it all I mean dining about that. 21:30.82 Mallory Nguyen Um, yeah, we. 21:48.55 Mallory Nguyen We didn't ask about asian food in general but we were talking with our um, it wasn't our head server but like the middle our dedicated server. Um and he was from India so he was telling us we had talked like we I have been to India and we were talking about. 21:56.23 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 22:06.53 Mallory Nguyen Um, asian food in general and he did tell us that if you request it the night before they'll make you indian food. Um, but he didn't say anything about asian food in general and I don't know if that's just because we weren't specific in asking or if it's just indian food. 22:11.80 dclduo Yes. 22:18.55 Sam No I think generally speaking it. It is it is generally indian food I have seen them bring white rice without the curries but generally speaking it is indian food and the reason is because they've got a ton of that in the crew mess. So they're making it every night because there's a lot of indian and indonesian um, ah cat ah cast or crew. Whatever you want to call them and so they are making curries in the dining room every night but I don't think that they have um. You know vietnamese food or thai food or chinese food. Really I mean they will have some stirfry things as you mentioned so occasionally in the buffet at cabanas. But yeah, it's not It's definitely not as much of a thing as. The indian food that's offered on board. Um, it to for the crew for the most part and occasionally in cabananas. What did you think of the quality of the food in main dining. 23:14.40 Mallory Nguyen I thought the quality was great. Um, we enjoyed pretty much everything we ate. Um, there was especially there was a grouper dish and now I can't remember this the like specific dish it was but is in the enchanted garden on our first night it was like a grouper and risotto dish that was. Really like maybe 1 of the favorite things we ate and it was like first night um yeah like we enjoyed all of the food. Um my husband struggled a little bit. We had Palo brunch and the food I thought was incredible. My husband doesn't like cheese if you don't like cheese. 23:35.18 Sam Wow! yeah. 23:50.20 Sam I Ah yeah, there's a lot of use I think there's I think there's a good fish like a snapper dish um on the menu in um, in Pollo for brunch that. 23:50.53 Mallory Nguyen Italian food on a Disney ship. Probably not for you. There's a lot of cheese there. Um I thought it was amazing. But. 24:06.79 Sam Would be fine. Note obviously no cheese with fish. That's generally speaking cheese and fish don't mix. Um, but yeah, you'd have to kind of stay towards the pescatarian side to get to stay away from cheese. Oddly enough. Yeah, so yeah, and they're probably not the best for somebody who's not not real into cheese. But. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Paulo Brunch did you guys? do um, remy at all or did you do dinner Apollo. 24:31.49 Mallory Nguyen Nope We just did the paow brunch. Um, we thought about doing Pao dinner as well. But we were enjoying our main dining so much that we were like why why rock the boat. Yeah. 24:38.92 Sam Yeah, yeah, if it isn't broke right? I love that and I kind of I try to tell people especially for a first cruise like you don't really want to miss main dining because there's a lot of different. You're going to have a different menu every night. Of course you're going to have you know the pirate. Ah menu and all of that. So yeah I think that's great. Oh I thought I had turned on. Do not disturb. Oh you know why? because you can you break through? Um I do not disturb Brian yeah I don't know how to do that. 24:56.96 dclduo Wait Sam your your ding just went off. 25:06.33 dclduo Oh we'll turn the volume down then and say turn the volume to oh oh on your computer Oh close the messaging app on your computer close that and then and then read and then. 25:14.50 Sam On my computer I don't know okay sorry that was Brian texting. 25:23.20 dclduo And then resay what you just said because there was a big ding right in the middle. 25:25.92 Sam Yes, um, and the answer to your question Brian is yes you can order chipbola ah. 25:29.11 dclduo Okay, sorry we're trying to I'm trying to figure out. We're both starving So I want to make sure we get dinner I know I know I know I know I know I know all right. 25:33.35 Sam Well I already I had turned on the oven to to put? Yeah yeah, um, ah anyway, um I forgot what I was saying. 25:44.55 dclduo We were talking about Asian food in the dining room she had said she talked to her servers they said he could make Indian food Oh cheese you had said fish and cheeses. 25:48.79 Sam No I know but no, we were talking about cheese. No, but we were talking about cheese. But no, but then no, but then we got to we were talking about right? Oh I was saying oh now I know what I'm saying yeah I I tend to tell first time cruisers not to book you know adult dining at least not for dinner because. There are so many you know different things to try in main dining and you have you know a different menu every night including you know the 3 the 3 main rotational menus the 3 alternative rotational menus and then a pirate night menu which would probably be what you got on your cruise. Um, so I think that's ah ah, a good strategy. Um, I'm trying to now that we've talked about dining. We've talked about ah character interactions. We've talked about shows is there anything that we've missed mallory that we haven't talked about yet because we've obviously we talked about the maritime activities. Um, but anything in particular that you know was special or. Surprising on on this maritime first cruise. 26:51.81 Mallory Nguyen Um, one of the things that I was surprised that we enjoyed so much we had an inside. We had the smallest room like on the ship we were in a standard inside room. Um for two people we felt like it was very comfortable. Ah. And the bathroom wasn't an issue for us. Um, we really surprising when I was on semester at sea I had an inside stateroom that was smaller than the standard inside stateroom on the Disney Cruise and I shared it with two girls instead of just my husband so I knew to expect a smaller room. Um. I loved the addition of the porthole with the characters like it. It was just really cute and we would almost um, especially for a caribbean cruise where the outside is pretty but it's like we spent hardly any time in our in our room. Um. 27:25.66 Sam Oh yeah, the magic port hole. 27:39.96 Sam E. 27:43.56 Mallory Nguyen Like the addition of the characters was just something we really enjoyed and would I think we would bump up to the deluxe inside next time but until we do something like Alaska or I'm trying to believe my husband in doing the ice in Norway um itinerary we would be totally happy inside. Ah just because. 27:48.93 Sam Yeah. 27:54.40 Sam Oh yeah. 27:55.75 dclduo Nice. 28:03.50 Mallory Nguyen There's not that much you're looking at and if you really want to look at it. You can go to the 4 you can go to the pool like there's so many other places and the characters just kind of tickled our little hearts. Yes, at the the very best sleep I've had in like last. 28:06.15 Sam Sure and I hear that you get the best sleep in those inside cabins actually because it's so dark like so so dark. 28:23.35 Mallory Nguyen Several years on the sixth night we had really rocky seas so we had the ship rocking and the pitch black. It was like the best night sleep ever. Waking up is real hard though. 28:25.61 Sam E e. 28:35.31 Sam Ah, yeah, oh yeah without the sunton for sure I love it now. Um Brian is there anything that I've missed that you want to ask before I subject to mallory to rapid fire. 28:46.17 dclduo I will save my final question for the end. Um I just want to pause as an aside no adult dining. We just talk about Paul ok sorry um, let me say that again then. 28:49.98 Sam Would know we already talking about Paulo Brunch yeah 28:58.53 dclduo No I'm going to save my last question for the end Sam so I do think we've reached that point in the show where I need to subject mallory to Sam's arbitrary judgment arbitrary rules and arbitrary questions of the round. We know as rapid fire so sam take it away. 29:11.30 Sam Why thank you Brian for that lovely introduction mallory you know what is about to happen I'm going to ask you your Disney favorites and your Disney Cruise line favorites now. Of course you've only been on the Disney fantasy. So your favorite chip is now the disney fantasy I will make that question already checked off the box but we're going to start with. 29:28.97 dclduo You never know Sam she might have had such a horrible experience. Her favorite ship is the carnival mardi gras we don't we don't know I mean. 29:30.94 Sam Your feet but I'm I listen I'm pretty sure from this questioning from this conversation. We've had that she is hooked and is already. She's already talking trying to convince. She's trying to. 29:42.66 dclduo The the suspense is the suspense is killing me. So just I know I know all right all right all right favorite Disney character favorite to. Ah. 29:45.91 Sam Convince her husband to go on Iceland Norway which is a longer cruise. So come on and we know we can. Yeah yes Brian stop taking my questions. This is my job. Okay, the rapid fire is my show. 29:50.20 Mallory Nguyen Um. 30:00.14 Sam All right mallory who is your favorite Disney character and Disney means anything that Disney owns the universe love it all right? What is your favorite Disney movie. 30:06.81 Mallory Nguyen Um, for sure goofy all the way. 30:14.23 Mallory Nguyen Um, who that's a tough one I I really like I'm going to go the goofy movie just because it's like fresh on my head. But if you ask me next week it'll be something different but the I two I renaissance that's going on right now I'm like totally here for it. 30:25.80 Sam Ah. 30:27.80 Sam I love it. Love it. Ok favorite Disney song and if it's not something by power line I'm going to be surprised. 30:35.48 Mallory Nguyen So it's almost the power line song. But I'm going to go when you wish upon a star. 30:40.65 Sam Oh I love that awesome all right? What is your favorite disney stage show on Disney Cruise line 30:54.33 Mallory Nguyen I'm going to go frozen even though it's not my favorite show the staging and they did it that night with all the rocking. It was just so impressive and so wonderful. Love it. 31:02.40 Sam Well I love that you gave that answer because that is the right answer if you're on the Disney fantasy. The only right answer to this question on the Disney Fantasy is frozen. Not to say that Aladdin can't be wonderful and that believe can't be wonderful, but. 31:06.58 dclduo Yeah. 31:19.41 Sam Clearly um, clearly frozen is the right answer? Ok what is your favorite bar on the Disney fantasy. 31:29.69 Mallory Nguyen Um I wish I could take the bartender from skyline and plop him in the meridian because that would be my favorite I loved the meridian bar but man Marco makes everything taste amazing. 31:33.64 Sam Um, who I love. 31:35.21 dclduo Ooh. 31:40.27 Sam Yeah I I Love that answer because the drinks at skyline are probably better than and then the drinks at Meridian but I love Meridian Also I Love the the atmosphere there. So great answer that is also you getting bonus points for that mallory Actually all right. Favorite onboard activity. 32:03.15 Mallory Nguyen Oh my gosh um favorite onboard activity anything Christmas was amazing. Yeah, anything christmas. 32:08.50 Sam Love it! Awesome! Okay, favorite rotational dining. 32:17.15 Mallory Nguyen Animator's palette. The the enviance is just amazing. 32:18.73 Sam Love that.. It's so fun. All right Favorite. We're going to do favorite food items I Want to know your favorite sweet item and then your favorite savory Item. We always start with sweets because favorite savory are my Favorites. So What was your favorite suite item on board. 32:38.28 Mallory Nguyen Um, definitely the it was like a chocolate lava cake at palo brunch oh wait or or the Mickey Chira waffle it's hard to pick one or the other. 32:43.84 Sam Um, who yes. 32:49.50 Sam You know what I would agree with you. Those are hard to pick I would go with the true off myself. But you know eat to each his own. Um all right favorite savory item on board. 32:58.29 Mallory Nguyen Who I think my favorite savory item was the samosa appetizer on Pirate night I Really liked it. 33:05.64 dclduo Oh you know we got, We got to go back into a pyranite Sam We have to do it. 33:07.75 Sam oh oh wow interesting I guess we're going to have to yeah I guess we Brian loves us samossa. So that's ah I feel like that's something we've we've got to go back to are I love it. 33:17.58 Mallory Nguyen I would get to next time just because I wanted more they were so good. 33:23.90 Sam I Have to ask I didn't ask this earlier. Did you try the truffle per sets in animator's palette and what was your verdict. 33:26.53 Mallory Nguyen We did I loved them and I was lucky because there's a lot of cheese like texture in there. So I got to eat my husband's too. 33:36.88 Sam I love it. Awesome! Awesome! Ah, okay now my final question because we we already established your favorite chip as the fantasy. What is your bucket list. Cruise if you could go anywhere in the world on Disney Cruise line where are you going. 33:53.25 Mallory Nguyen Um, asia I want to do like park hopping in Asia. 33:58.22 Sam Awesome! Yeah, ah that is a big ship that is a big ship. Well thank you for playing mallory you obviously I told you you you were going to win as soon as you picked frozen. 33:58.33 dclduo Park hopping in asia nice well, you might get your chance with the Disney adventure. Ah. 34:00.77 Mallory Nguyen Oh I don't know that's a big that's a big shift. 34:13.19 Mallory Nguyen This is. 34:14.89 Sam Um, and then you got bonus points for coming up with the best idea for favorite bar. So yeah, you you didn't just win you like knocked it out of the park. No judgment on anything that you picked and you know what I'm going to give you extra bonus points for picking Mickey Chiro waffles as one of your sweet items as well. so yeah so they 34:20.64 Mallory Nguyen Um, yes. 34:31.99 Mallory Nguyen Ah, so good. 34:33.63 Sam Yeah, so there you go and now I know Brian has a question for you. So I'll let him. But in now. 34:39.24 dclduo Well so so my question is so it means sounds like you want to go back on Disney Cruise line sounds like you want to go to Iceland so did you did you find the experience. Ah, did you find the experience had value is the wrong word meet well value is the right word. Did you. Did you find that like the price you paid for the cruise versus the experience you got is something that you'd be willing to pay in the future for a similar experience and you know are you hooked solely on Disney Cruise line or now are you like I kind of want to look at some other cruise lines out there because I like cruising. 35:08.66 Mallory Nguyen So value wise I think a Disney Cruise has a ton like I felt that it was worth every penny and then some of what we paid. Um, and we did this like I said it was a 10 year anniversary. We didn't we eloped so I was like you owe me a wedding sir. Um, so we did like anything that I was like I want to do this. He was like ok, we're going to do it. Um, so we kind of went all out in a lot of ways. 35:28.90 dclduo Ah. 35:29.90 Sam Um, ah. 35:34.60 Sam Ah. 35:38.40 Sam I. 35:40.20 Mallory Nguyen And I felt like everything was worth the price. The service that you get my husband works in hospitality. So even he was like this is unparalleled. This is such a we got such dedicated service from all of the service team. Um from all of the crew on the ship. Um, and then. 35:46.84 Sam Yeah, yeah. 35:58.16 Mallory Nguyen Like I I brought it up a couple of times. My husband had a stroke a couple of years ago and so this was our first like foray back into international travel even though I feel like the caribbean is like international light diet international. Um. 36:00.35 dclduo Evening. 36:00.55 Sam Who. 36:08.18 Sam Um, he done it. International I like that. 36:14.36 Mallory Nguyen But it was like our first foray into leaving the us and trying to feel comfortable and I felt like the ship really catered to both of our needs. So when he needed to go take a nap because snorkelling really took it out of him and I wanted to go read in the jacuzzi we could do that? um. 36:14.46 dclduo Ah. 36:15.78 Sam No nothing. 36:28.45 Sam Um, yep. 36:32.80 Mallory Nguyen And so like for the different activity levels and for the different needs. We all had I felt like it was so much easier to cater to that than something like the parks are where if you need to go take a nap. You got a schlep yourself all the way back to your hotel room whereas like down three decks is not that hard. 36:37.82 Sam I miss. 36:40.45 dclduo You know. 36:48.25 dclduo Yeah, yep. 36:50.50 Sam Yep, Absolutely well and and to your point of of it being international Travel light I think is ah is a great One. You know the fact that you all of your stuff stays on board. The ship you're going to go back to the ship and have at least breakfast and dinner on the ship you might eat lunch often. Ah you know a foreign port. But it it just it is a very easy way to do international travel now. Are you going to get to go in depth to you know some port and spend lots and lots of time. No of course not it's it. It is ah it is international Travel light I think you know, um, but. It is a great way to get to go to some places that you might not otherwise go to and particularly for people who are ah you are not scared of international travel. Obviously you did the semester at sea your well Traveled. Um. But it I think it isn't a nice and easy way for folks who maybe are a little bit more wary about International travel. 37:42.90 dclduo Yeah, well mallory we can't thank you enough for taking the time to come on the show and share your experience. We love sharing first time cruising experiences. It's just so much fun. Um, so I'll just say thank you for taking that time to spend with our listeners and us today. We really, really appreciate it. 37:43.13 Mallory Nguyen Um, yeah. 37:58.65 Mallory Nguyen No thank you. This is wonderful. 38:02.58 Sam Yay! awesome.