Ep. 396 - It's a Grudge Match: Disney v. Celebrity v. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back. Everyone to another bonus episode of the dcl duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel as you can tell from my voice doing the show intro instead of Brian I am solo today Brian is unfortunately ill and unable to join me for this recording. However, I'm not by myself I have a lovely guest joining me today to talk about some compare contrast Disney Cruise line with a couple of other cruise lines. So I want to welcome to the show First time guest jen welcome Jen yeah I'm I'm excited to have you on with me. 00:31.56 Jen Thanks so much for having me I'm excited to be here. 00:37.92 dclduo You have a ton of Cruise experience. Um, need I say you know as much as Brian and I have but you actually have more varied cruise line experience I would say than than we do meaning on multiple lines. Why don't you tell our audience. Um, how many cruises you've been on total. And on which lines. 00:58.71 Jen Sure so I've been on about 25 cruises. Um, we have mostly cruised before kids we cruise celebrity princess and a couple on Holland america and since kids we've. Cruised celebrity royal and Disney. 01:14.56 dclduo This is awesome now when you say since kids how old are your kids and who is in your traveling or sailing party current day. 01:22.89 Jen Yes, so there's ah 4 of us myself my husband and then we have 2 little boys who are currently 4 and 6 so our oldest. Yeah, so our oldest one has been cruising since he was nine months old and our little guy has ah. 01:30.98 dclduo Oh so little ones. 01:37.20 dclduo Oh wow. 01:42.23 Jen Missed a few. Ah you know with covered kind of screwing us up there. But yeah, he's he's definitely been on a few as well. Since in his 4 years 01:49.65 dclduo Wow, that's quite a bit of a sailing experience for all of you especially since nine months we didn't take Nathan on his first cruise until he was 4 I think so yeah, what? What made you guys decide to start. Ah, cruising with them so young like was that sort of a difficult decision and sort of what played into that. 02:11.92 Jen Yeah, so we had cruised a ton um before we had kids we were married for about 10 years before we had kids so we had lots of time to do some traveling and so it was just how we went on vacation and at first we were like it's not going to be worth it. It's going to be too much work. We're not going to do it till they're older. But then we just missed it so much. Um, and so we just jumped right back in basically as soon as we could because you have to be six months old um and so we ah we ah our first cruise with um, our oldest. 02:38.45 dclduo Right. 02:46.52 Jen When he was nine months old was on celebrity because that's what we had cruised the most without kids and and we did a couple with him on celebrity and then when I was pregnant. We did our first Disney Cruise is kind of like a little family baby moon before our other guy was born. 02:50.96 dclduo Um, yeah, um. 03:00.42 dclduo Ah, oh wow. Yeah, that would have been an interesting way to cruising well pregnant I'm not sure I'd really want to cruise while I'm pregnant. But. 03:12.31 Jen Um, yeah I mean going on vacation. Um, um, you know when you can't have a cocktail kind of isn't that much fun either. But yeah. 03:17.81 dclduo Yeah, as a bit of a bummer. Well I I love your varied experience I would love to kind of focus on some of the the cruises that you've taken in the past year because in the past like twelve months you've been on 3 different cruise lines. Why don't you tell us which cruise lines you've sailed just in the past. 03:36.27 Jen Yeah, so it's actually a year ago from this week we were on the disney fantasy for a Pixar day at sea so a seven night western itinerary then in may of 2023 we were on a back to back on royal caribbean freedom of the seas. 03:37.18 dclduo Twelve months 03:55.75 Jen Um, out of Miami so just like Bahamas's perfect day back to back itineraries in July we were in Alaska and the celebrity millennium for a seven night itinerary one way from Anchorage to Vancouver. And then we just got off the celebrity beyond 6 nights western caribbean um. 04:18.32 dclduo That's a lot of cruising that's ah, that's as much as the duo does in a year je so kudos to you and this is is it. 04:22.47 Jen Yeah, it it all kind of fell together. We're normally like 2 3 if we're lucky for in a year was was a little much for us, but not much like too much cruising much like too much spending money on vacation. But. 04:37.20 dclduo Sure, ah, right? and time off work and all that too is hard as well. So I think a great topic for today's show is comparing and contrasting. 04:41.91 Jen Yeah, that way. Yeah. 04:49.31 dclduo These different cruise lines and of course we have to do you know some focus on on the kids because I think a lot of people's hesitation with for example, celebrity not with royal caribbean because royal's obviously known as being sort of the primary competitor Disney Cruise line is. Bringing kids onto a celebrity cruise because it it sort of has the reputation for skewing older. So I definitely want to talk about that. But before we get there I want to start with some of the sort of basic compare contrast which is like the booking process. For example. 05:21.37 Jen Yeah, so. 05:23.61 dclduo Does the booking process differ between and let's take it with all 3 right? We've got Disney. We know we can do the online booking or through a travel agent or calling Disney Cruise line um is the booking process similar and if it's not does it in what ways does it differ when you're booking with royal. And celebrity. 05:45.30 Jen So it's similar. You can book online. You can call. Um I don't use a travel agent I do everything myself because I always end up making tweaks or this or that and I just kind of like to play around with it. Vacation research is kind of like a little hobby. So um. But the biggest difference is that the other cruise lines do not have all of these tiered. Um, you know timelines for when you can book your excursions book your rival time. Um, the only thing is when you're doing celebrity or royal you book your arrival time. Either 30 or forty five days out but it is not the dramatic experience that it is with Disney so like right? yeah. 06:27.71 dclduo Ah, it's not the port the thirty day port arrival time everyone's online at midnight or now it's teaered obviously but where where the whole system crashes because everybody's trying to get online at once. 06:36.80 Jen Exactly like we were traveling both of our cruises on celebrity this year with family and you know I was like telling them like you have to get because before Covid on all these other cruise lines. There was no port arrival time like you know they'd be like for low. 06:53.10 dclduo Gotcha. 06:55.50 Jen Crowds arrive after two p m but like you know there was no like pick your slot so that was kind of new to us when we started cruising with Disney and then we saw everybody else following suit after covid and so I was telling my brother and sister in law like you know you've got to get your port arrival time and they were like what are you talking about. 06:55.35 dclduo E. 07:13.77 Jen Um, and so I like jump on of course and like all the early puerto arrival times are available because people that cruise other cruise lines don't have this like crazy Disney man and mentality now. 07:25.22 dclduo Um, oh my goodness So they're not rope drop culture right? That's the yeah Wow. Yeah. 07:29.97 Jen Exactly In fact, I've started saying things like rope drop culture and other people are like what what does that mean? What do you talking about that right. 07:34.40 dclduo What is right? right? Those of us that are inside the disney bubble know exactly what that means because it's obviously all started at the parks. but but I think as you know it's extended to like every other area of the Disney portfolio between Cruise line adventures by Disney. Run Disney is actually even worse. But and then of course all of the holiday parties or moonlight magic or any of the like specialty stuff. Everything is rope job culture. You have to be online or ready to book. Ah or you have to be first in line for the character or whatever right? like and no matter what part of the disney bubble you're ah. 08:07.97 Jen You think once. 08:13.61 dclduo Hilarious now. What about booking you know excursions um and the like I know there's it's not tiered. Um but is there like a specific date by which you can start booking excursions and other onboard amenities when you're doing a royal and a celebrity like there is for Disney. Or is it just more of a free-for all. Yeah. 08:36.30 Jen Um, so it depends on how far like if you book a cruise on opening day and it's like not for twenty three months I don't think everything's available the book but they slowly start rolling it out. So when we booked our Alaska Cruise for example we booked it in January we went in July and all specialty dining all excursions all of that stuff was up and available to book when we booked you your reservation and then you're just like. 08:58.60 dclduo Oh Wow! wow. 09:05.20 Jen I'm going to grab my specialty dining reservations and so yes, stuff gets booked up, especially as you get closer to the crews but you just you don't have that same feeling of like you're not going to be able to get as much stuff. Especially if you're. 09:19.60 dclduo Um, yeah. 09:21.30 Jen You know, maybe on a last minute cruise you might log in and be like oh a lot stuff's taken, but not so much if you're booking like further in advance. 09:27.41 dclduo Yeah, what about onboard booking. Did you have you found that if there was you know something that you sort of changed your mind about you decide. You hadn't booked it in advance but you wanted to book it. We know with Disney Cruise line there are certain things that are really difficult to right? like for example, pollo brunch. Especially on a shorter cruise if there's only one C day or nassau day. It's very difficult to get polllo brunch without you know, having high castaway club status or concierge or something like that did you find anything on either royal or celebrity that was sort of that similar like coveted experience that. Is really difficult to book if you don't book it in advance. 10:08.60 Jen I Think that there's a couple of specialty dining restaurants and both on the various ships on both cruise lines that book up in advance and especially on celebrity I Think there's a few of the nicer restaurants that have smaller capacities. That definitely book up and even on board can be difficult to get into. Um I know on the newerships like the edge class series on celebrity. They have um like eden and another one on the newerships that's by a celebrity chef that are small capacity and are typically. Booked in advance and like you'd really just have to check back continuously for a cancellation I I didn't see I didn't get the feeling that they might maybe if you're in a high level suite I'm sure there's a way to get in. But. I didn't get the feeling that they're like holding back a percentage for like just onboard booking. 11:04.70 dclduo Gotcha that makes sense so moving on to the ship. Let's talk a little bit about ah boarding embarkation procedures right? We've all talked obviously at length about what it's like on Disney and how depending upon which port you're going to It can be relatively smooth like at Port Canaveral it could be sometimes you know delays in boarding because of usually customs right in San Diego is a good example. Sometimes Miami is a good example where customs sometimes takes a while to clear. Um, did you find that the embarkation process on um, you know. Royal and celebrity were they similar different. How do they compare to disney. 11:45.65 Jen Yeah, so it just depends like where you're at. So if you're at a main port if you're if you're on royal or picking celebrity out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami they have these like insane new terminals with like face recognition technology. And they're very super smooth processes. Um, when we were in Alaska you're like it's kind of like a barn shed type situation and you just go in and um, that is I think it's similar can be similar in Europe. 12:12.82 dclduo That right? yeah. 12:20.50 Jen And Alaska people are arriving from like so many different pre cruise activities that I think it staggers it out and kind of cancels out some of the chaos. Ah we have only up until now sailed Disney out of Port Canaveral so aside from like you know trying to get there a little earlier than you're scheduled port time. You know we've just only ever had that port canalal experience which has always been very smooth. 12:44.15 dclduo Yeah, well interesting. The facial recognition technology that's pretty Cool. So Do you have to like do they have to scan your passport ahead of time. How does that How does that part play in to I know it. I Know it plays into debarkation and makes debarkation really really smooth. 13:00.56 Jen Yeah, well yeah, it's I guess it's debarkation where you just basically walk off and they yeah um, embarkcation you go. You know you register everything in advance your photos similar to Disney um, but again like there's not. 13:06.21 dclduo That's amazing. Yeah. 13:17.75 Jen As much of that rope drop culture. So yes, there's kind of those like that initial crowd of people who get there like right when the door is open but other than that like the boarding process is a little smoother I think because like there's not as much like I have to get on right? This second. 13:35.39 dclduo Yeah, yeah, that makes sense all right? Well, let's shift to to onboard and onboard experience. Um, first I think we need to talk a little bit about stateroom. Obviously there's going to be a lot of variety depending upon what category you pick? um. And you know what your budget is of course on any Cruise line if you're sailing in a suite class versus a regular class but are there some like major differences that you notice between the cruise lines on you know state room either size layout anything of that nature. 14:08.44 Jen Ah, yes, those are the biggest thing I noticed is that Disney I just assumed that every cruise line cabin that slept for people had like the pullman bunk situation because I'm like obviously if you're putting 4 people in a cabin. It's probably kids. You know I don't know I just kind of thought that we cruise Disney a bunch. That's what they had it was great then when we started like maybe we should check out royal just for like price. You know they're a little less expensive. Um royal except for I think maybe on the oasis of the seas almost exclusively has. Just the couch bed that folds out is like a double bed and you know maybe for a party of 3 that might be fine. Um, our kids are small so it's okay, but then you know they're like rolling around and touching each other and like not settling down for bedtime. 14:59.84 dclduo And kicking each right right? Yeah yeah. 15:05.22 Jen Um, the biggest problem for us is that on Royal they've gone to service once a day so they don't They don't put the bed away so it's in the sense. They've worn. Yes, yeah. 15:09.74 dclduo Oh interesting. Oh so the beds out the entire day. So if they don't come and do service until it's like turndown service or cleaning service or whatever. They're not putting right like on Disney. In the morning you get a morning service that would then they stow the bed even if it's a bunk bed which really the bunk bed's really not in the way. Um, they stow the bunk bed and they fold the couch bed which is right under the bunk bed for those who haven't been on Disney and are listening. You know to this show. Maybe for the first time you've got. 15:31.13 Jen Um, yeah. 15:45.50 dclduo In most state rooms The bunk bed that sleep for the bunk bed and then a couch that opens it's not opening like a an open sort of sideways if I I Hope that's a good explanation. It's not a as not a yeah like a more. 15:56.91 Jen Um, like Sweats over yeah. 16:00.22 dclduo Ah, Futon and sort of it like flips upside down but like kind of like a futon but it doesn't open like a sofa bed right? Um, which it's more comfortable than your average sofa bed. But it sleeps only one person and so that's sort of the the difference there but they but the state your the room Steward comes. Usually while you're either at breakfast or you're at whatever day's activities or if you're if it's a port day while you're off at your port excursion and they make up your room such that the beds are all put away and you've got use of the couch. Um, but Wow so on Royal that bed is staying out. So. 16:30.40 Jen Um, yes. 16:32.45 Jen Um, yeah, yeah, so we did like I'm like a little you know, research crazy person. So when we were on Royal we were they occasionally will like add or subtract cabins when they do dry docks. 16:34.26 dclduo Is that taking up like entire your entire like living room space. 16:48.87 Jen So we actually had an ocean view cabin that was kind of like extra wide. Um, so it was actually fine for us. But this is like 10 cabins on the whole ship if you were in a standard balcony or a standard ocean view. You would have like. You know that six inches or a foot to like sneak by the edge of the bed in the dresser or the wall or whatever it is and so with little kids to me that's kind of you know, stressful because there's 0 floor space that and for them to be anywhere in the cabin. Um, so we did not. 17:18.18 dclduo Right? right. 17:22.76 Jen We didn't like service once a day and we didn't like the bed staying out. Um, after cruising on I don't know let's say we've been on some ships twice but let's say roughly Twenty Cruise ships um that Disney is ships are like spotlessly clean. 17:26.27 dclduo Okay. 17:40.68 dclduo E. 17:42.69 Jen And I'm not saying these other cruise lines aren't clean or and 30 or whatever but like not to the level of Disney um, the other thing I would say about Disney is the furniture and linens and towels and everything is like a very nice quality. Um, definitely not on royal I wouldn't say um and on celebrity. Um also pretty nice. But I would say maybe not quite as nice as the the amenities you have on Disney I'm not like a. 18:13.44 dclduo Interesting. What about. 18:17.30 Jen Real I don't really care that much about the split bathroom because we have little little kids that can't do well right? They're not showered by themselves but I can see when you have older kids that it would be very helpful to have two separate bathroom spaces. 18:20.31 dclduo Yeah I was going to ask that the split bathroom they they're not going to the bathroom by themselves. Yeah. 18:35.67 dclduo Yeah, now on yeah now, do you get a state room typically that has a tub on all of the cruise lines because your kids are are pretty young. Um, not that a six year old and a 4 year old can't shower but they are more likely bathers rather than showers I will tell you. 18:36.58 Jen Which is very unique only to Disney. 18:53.54 dclduo Nathan started showering like pretty young and he now he only showers now at 10 Um I can't remember the last time he took a bath. But yeah. 18:57.46 Jen Yeah, and then I will say we did something that's probably unique before we ever went on our first cruise when our oldest was nine months old. We were just at home and I was like what if we just practiced. Like you taking him in the shower and like we need to buy a blue bathtub and do all these things like all these tips and tricks I've heard and so we just like I just put him in the shower with my husband I like washed him up while he was holding them and it like he didn't cry or anything so we were like cool. 19:15.73 dclduo Yeah. Right. 19:28.91 dclduo Yep. 19:34.21 Jen Shower and then that's just what we did so they've just always taken showers. They think it's kind of fun and then on Disney I think on every ship we've been on anyways like the shower head is like adjustable so you can actually like. 19:34.35 dclduo Oh wow. 19:47.51 dclduo Yeah. 19:51.47 Jen Kind of bring it down to their level and make kind of like a mini shower which they thought was just really funny. So they just always showered. Um maybe these might have problem with that but like but you know. 19:59.80 dclduo Oh wow ok well, that's a good tip actually teacher kid to shower early and it won't be a problem. Um, but right right right? I love that? Yeah like I said Nathan started showering pretty young too. So. 20:10.71 Jen Toddleler and older throw him in the shower. 20:17.26 Jen Um, yeah. 20:17.34 dclduo Um, you know he did probably our first couple cruises. He probably bathed in the bathtub. But after I can't like I can't remember the last time he took a bath. Um, it's been definitely a while interesting that the split bathroom you mentioned though is not a big deal when you have little kids and I really don't think about that because I love having it. Even just for Brian and I I kind of love that like 1 we can get ready in different places but also like when somebody's using the shower. It doesn't make well I mean of course you can go to the bathroom on the toilet when somebody else is in the bathroom using the shower but I prefer not to I like a little mis green my relationship but not. 20:52.28 Jen Yeah, you know. 20:57.14 dclduo I always have preferred. Um, we don't have ah well we have sort of a a door for where our our toilet and our shower are actually behind a door and the sink is actually on the other side of the door like a pocket door I'm I'm describing our house too much for you all now. But um. 21:12.93 Jen Miss that. What. 21:16.27 dclduo I've always loved the idea of a toilet closet like I I love when the toilet is separate from the rest of the bathroom I Just think that's where it should be but. 21:21.86 Jen Yeah, um, um, yeah, and so we so it does work out like it's nice to have and I like like we we kind of do like 1 is for like bathroom and handwashing and then the other one is like flowering and teeth brushing and that's like kind of how we set up the 2 separate bathrooms. 21:30.64 dclduo Right. 21:39.56 Jen Um, we were lucky this year on both of our celebrity cruises to do connecting cabins and as celebrity does not depending on what promotions they're running. You know it's all always kind of a guessing game. That's other thing I'll say about Disney is like it's not inexpensive, but like there's not. 21:43.39 dclduo Oh nice. 21:59.50 Jen All these different crazy promotions that don't really necessarily change the price but like maybe think like there's a deal or something out there. It just is right right? You're just not kidding. There's no. 22:04.58 dclduo Right? right? They don't trick you into right? They don't trick you into thinking you're getting a deal. You're just not getting a deal. You're like for anyone is listening. You're just you're not, you're never getting a deal on Disney. I shouldn't say never there was that um that deal they did that Disney plus deal that they did um last year there you go? Yeah so that and that was a deal um on us unlimited number of cruises. Yeah yeah. 22:23.67 Jen Yeah, which we did. Yes, yes, but I will say um, real quick on that. No. Yes, if you go to Disney Cruise we have little kids. There's going to be a million kids. But. There's never going to be more kids than when there's a kid sale free promotion and somehow that just like did not really register to me I was like this is great. We're seeing money we're going to go on this cruise anyways, um, there was like all close to 1200 kids on our sailing. 22:49.49 dclduo Ho and royal. 23:00.93 Jen Which was no on our Disney Pixar day at sea sailing. Yes, um because it was that like third and fourth passenger free. So like the ship was at capacity like every third and fourth birth was full like. 23:01.21 dclduo Oh my God This is on Royal then right? oh on that sailing. Oh my goodness. Wow. Um. 23:13.94 dclduo Wow. 23:19.70 Jen It was too much like and we have little kids so I was like not prepared for that. Um, but on celebrity depending on what kind of crazy promotion. They may or may not have running. They don't discount the third and fourth passenger very much. 23:21.47 dclduo Um, yeah, ah yeah, oh interesting. 23:35.80 dclduo Okay. 23:37.70 Jen Hello for not a lot more money you can usually do connecting cabins. 23:43.87 dclduo Yeah, that's really nice now. Royal I know very often does they the kids sail free promotion um have you sailed using that promotion and did you find the the royal ship kind of overrun with kids like the Disney one was. 23:57.83 Jen Um, so we did on our royal cruises this year there it was kids self free promotion. Um, no because they run it a ton and like you know, but it'll but go run it and we'll be like except maybe over summer break in like winter break. 24:07.36 dclduo So it kind of spreads out. Yeah. 24:17.26 Jen Every single cruise and sail free. It's when they do their promotion sometimes so I didn't notice it actually we cruised the first week in may. Um I mean we this year my son was in or left in this. 24:17.66 dclduo Adding. 24:32.80 Jen Year We cruise my son was in Kindergarten My other son's just in daycare. So we just pulled him out and went it was my Fortieth birthday. Um, and so it wasn't too many kids. It was like kids but like a normal amount of kids. Um. 24:41.60 dclduo No good. 24:49.60 Jen Yeah, so that that was okay and then celebrity obviously like not very many kids. 24:53.22 dclduo Yeah, so while we're on the topic of kids I feel like this is the perfect transition to talking about the kids clubs. Um, and we'll talk about other kid. Friendly activities. Um, after we talk about the kids clubs but tell me 1 do. Did the royal and celebrity ships you sail on all have kids clubs because we know that this is like obviously on all of Disney's ships have kids clubs and what was the structure meaning sort of age ranges that they had and and what did you all think of of their versions of. Ocean Ears Club and lab I guess. 25:27.55 Jen Yeah, so we're really lucky. Our kids will love the kids clubs. Um, they doubtt. They're not afraid to go. They do go to day care full time but I've heard plenty of people on here that have kids that go to day care full time that are still not super into the clubs. Um, so the biggest difference is that Disney's clubs are open from the morning until the night no closing hours royal and celebrity have the same and I think like princess in Holland all follow suit with this. They're open from 9 to twelve two to 5 and 7 to 10 so lunch. And like your main dinner hours. They're closed. Um, so for us like that's the maybe the thing I like the least because I love like on Disney I love to let them kind of like go run around before dinner and we can have ah you know a cocktail before dinner by ourselves. 26:02.29 dclduo Interesting. 26:13.93 dclduo You hear. 26:20.52 Jen And so that's 1 thing that goes out the window when the kids club is not open for those hours. Yeah yeah, right? Um, so that's that's to me is like 1 of the biggest differences. Um, obviously both clubs are smaller so royal is. 26:21.90 dclduo Right? Unless you're going for an early cocktail I Guess right. 26:39.28 Jen Bigger than celebrity but nowhere near as much real estate dedicated as disney um royal has um some structured activities some free time they kind of I feel like crall the kids maybe a little bit more into doing structured activities than they do on Disney um, and then their age groups. 26:42.53 dclduo E. 26:58.88 Jen Are um, 3 to six seven to 10 and then like you know the tween teen ones celebrity is same age ranges. Um I think they switch to 3 to 5 because my son is 6 now so he was in the like 6 to 9 27:05.72 dclduo E. 27:16.20 dclduo Oh interesting. Okay. 27:18.11 Jen And then um, they do very structured programming so they have like so you say you drop off at 9 right? when they open they have like half an hour free time where like people are kind of getting dropped off then they do kind of 2 hours of kind of. Structured like they have like art time game time you know, did all different kinds of activities that they do switch through and then they go back to kind of free time at sort of the end of the session. 27:49.10 dclduo Gotcha now when you when you I guess are dropping your kids off. Are you having to like pre-book these sessions both for royal and for celebrity because and the reason I ask is it sounds like there are sort of more set sessions like more set 3 hour sessions right? so. Are you booking a session and if so how are you booking that and could you just drop off and pick up at like different times or shorter times. 28:15.86 Jen Yes, so you can't you do not have to prebook anything. It's all just drop off. Um at the the 1 thing I don't know is so celebrity does not have a nursery but on most royal ships. They have a nursery. Um, or at least on the newer ones and the ones that have been refurbished so I don't know if you have to book time on those or if you can just drop off. But once you're over 3 and you're in the club just drop off, you can go anytime. So if you show up at eleven just for the last hour. They just kind of stick in wherever your group is. Um, but for some reason well I guess the reason is like especially for the night session like that seven o'clock is rough because everybody's like I'm trying to drop my kids off to go to specialty dining or go to a show and so like sometimes it can be like 20 minutes 29:08.70 Jen On royal to do that drop off at set. Yeah, people are lining up because they're like I'm trying to get to a seven o'clock reservation and they you know you ought to be first in line. So that's that's definitely a downside as having that like bottleneck um, and then the kids are all like you know. 29:09.24 dclduo Oh yeah, yeah. 29:23.36 dclduo Yeah. 29:27.99 Jen Jumping around scroll around. They just want to get in there and they're like why are we waiting in line. Um though, yeah, that's definitely downside celebrity. There's just not enough kids to um, like have it we would drop off pretty much like at 7 Um for the night and they you know they're. 29:30.60 dclduo Yeah. 29:46.12 Jen There'd be a couple other people dropping off but it wasn't like the kind of same bottleneck rush. 29:51.20 dclduo Yeah I will say I have found on the wish um of of the Disney ships. The wish does have that bottleneck and I think it's because it's a shorter cruise right is a three night or a four night cruise and so people are trying to get sort of. The the most out of their crews and dropping off their kids more often and it might be dropping them off for like the very first time which you know or if they have to do the registration at the beginning of the cruise that sort of a thing so I find that the wish sometimes has that that bottleneck with drop off and pickup particularly. 30:11.53 Jen Um, we have 200 30:27.44 dclduo Um, after dinner that end because people want to go to yeah people but adults want to go to the shows is right? The adult only shows and so um, yeah, that can be but on the other ships I don't know that I've experienced more than you know, maybe a 5 minute wait to do drop off or pickup is usually pretty smooth. 30:29.79 Jen Um, yeah. 30:41.78 Jen Yeah I think like for Usan Disney Pickups like usually like slightly longer because they have to like locate your kid and then like lure them out and um, you know like I'm slow. Yeah. 30:53.86 dclduo And that's a good sign though. Jen that means the kid doesn't want to leave. Yeah. 30:57.90 Jen Exactly Yeah, how I'm slow. Yeah, right? where you're just like um, that's my kid over there like you know trying to get him to come out So right? so that sometimes takes a while and the wish it's cool because they like you know, look him up and they're like. Get leo out of the marble room. 31:16.30 dclduo Right? And I love that? Yeah now, do you find that your kids enjoy all of the clubs equally I will say for those who haven't listened to our episode on royal caribbean that Brian and Nathan went without me were going to go on royal again actually well me for the first time them again. 31:24.12 Jen Um. 31:32.37 Jen Is. 31:35.29 dclduo Um, later this year. Um, but Nathan seemed to enjoy I mean I think the difference was like the club was not as interesting but he liked the activities because they were engaging and it was a smaller age range so he liked the kids club's um activities maybe even more even though the kids. 31:37.79 Jen Are. 31:54.85 dclduo Club itself like they didn't have the cool technology so it was sort of like a wash because of those things. 31:58.50 Jen Yeah I think and that's very accurate for our kids as well like they are just like we want to play and they still have video games and art and all the things but like I think maybe it's almost like as an adult you walk in there and you're like it's. Fine like you know it's not like so like it looks like a really super nice daycare right? like it's not like you're like wow look at all that Marvel stuff or princess stuff you know, um in yours. Yes, um I will say on freedom of the sea is. 32:21.43 dclduo Right. 32:26.87 dclduo Right? Or I can build a roller coaster. Yeah. 32:35.20 Jen Um, one of the reasons we went on it is because the ship was really recently renovated and they had totally redone their kids club so you know while it's not like character themed. It was like a lot more like lots more colors and comfy seats and all kinds of you know, different things that made it. Seem like a little more homey. 32:55.30 dclduo So awesome. All right? Well, let's stick with talking about the kids and talking about onboard activities. So let's talk daytime onboard activities that are family friendly. Um, what did you think of the offerings on celebrity and royal as compared to. What we get on Disney and on Disney for those who don't know mostly we're talking family style game shows. Um, of course we've got character meet and greets and interactions. Um, and then we've got family focused trivia. Um, and that's you. So that's sort of the bulk of the daytime activities if obviously there's pool deck and water slides and all of that as well. Yeah, how did you find the offerings on celebrity and royal and and how they compare to what dcl offers. Yeah. 33:40.73 Jen Yeah, so the biggest thing like you know where we like just the kids like to swim and do the watersides and all of that and for me on Disney that gets crazy um with the size of the pools. You know kids soup all all the stories are true. Um, the kids. Jump in there like the kids don't actually seem to mind I think it's like the grownups that are like maybe that's I don't know um, but right? Yeah, we're like finally on this pixar day at Sea Cruise like we'd get out there early and then you know by like 11 we'd be like. 34:02.19 dclduo I Yep Absolutely absolutely I don't want to get in the middle of the kid's soup but my kid doesn't mind being in the middle of the kid's soup I. 34:18.72 Jen That's enough like that's just too many kids on Royal They have a pretty big pool. Um, they have like bigger water slides. They have a not every ship but on a lot of the ships they have like. 34:19.75 dclduo I Love that That's hilarious. Yeah. 34:36.60 Jen Calling it a splash pad would be like a disservice. It's like a water park. Um, and that was very cool like it's it's enclosed so you know that's nice like there's not like a bunch of Escape routes. Ah, for your kid. Um, it's pretty Big. You know. So even that never really seemed to get overcrowded so we did really like those um for me on Royal like knowing what they offer across all their ships bumper cars Rock Climbing. You know all of that kind of stuff. It's not. Like available to unlimitedly, right? like so it has certain hours and you know now royals so complicated like sweet guests can go at this time if you've paid for the key you can go at this time you know so it's like. 35:18.26 dclduo Like. 35:21.69 Jen It's complicated to schedule it in your day. So to me, it's like those things exist but like you're probably going to do them each once per cruise you know you're not going to be like rock climbing all day or bumper carring all day. Um and I didn't find that there were like any. There's not like Disney where yes, there's lots. You could go do but there's not. 35:27.88 dclduo Right. 35:41.31 Jen Activities specifically for families. You know there's not family trivia. There's not midship detective agency. You know things like that celebrity through the kids club does I'm going to say like 3 to 4 family activities per week so you would have like a sparinger hunt. 35:42.19 dclduo E. 35:56.21 dclduo Oh. 36:00.19 Jen Family silent disco. Um, maybe like 2 other ones I forget what the ones were on this cruise they liked it line up with our schedule so we didn't end up doing them but they are like designated for you to do with your kids run through the kids club so that's kind of nice. That they like set aside a few activities couple are during the day and a couple are at night so you can kind of like spread. You know you could you could hit them all if you wanted to and they're all in different days. Um, so we we although we didn't do them like I like the presence of them if they did fit into our schedule. We could. 36:35.23 dclduo Yeah. 36:37.41 Jen Get our kid better The kids club on the Beyond like it was like it would be closing and they would be crying and I'm like you literally cannot stay here. You have to come this right? So really fine. 36:46.12 dclduo Um, ah, yeah, you can't sleep. They don't have any beds in here. Ah well that's a really good that's that's a really good sign. Yeah um, what? ah. About ah the nighttime activities and I'm not talking for kids really anymore I'm talking adult activities. What did you think I would say this is the area where maybe Disney is the weakest um on the not on show is obviously and shows there at the top. But as far as. 37:09.72 Jen Um, yeah. 37:14.25 dclduo Evening activities in the bars and whatnot they do have you know some trivia and they always do an adult like sort of game show. But there's really just one spot on the ship on any of the ships right? that you can go and do that and then there might be a bar that you can listen to a piano player or something like that and my my impression is some of these other cruise lines have. 37:22.38 Jen Right. 37:30.70 Jen Um, yeah. 37:34.23 dclduo More nightlife going on. Um, what was your impression on Royal and then on celebrity as well. 37:40.71 Jen I think yes that there's always on royal and celebrity going to be multiple live music opportunities happening and usually simultaneously so it's not like. From 7 be here at 8 be here like they overlap and there's different options available to depending on your tastes There's also the theater shows which are which I would say like Cruise theater shows are really good and. You know all of that until I had seen the ones end dizzy of course and now I always like we don't even go most of the time because I'm just like it's fine. Fine. 38:17.40 dclduo You're spoiled but listen those of us who've been on Disney Cruise line are just totally spoiled from you know Disney Disney level productions that are you know Broadway style they call them there I will say they are not Broadway. 38:25.84 Jen Um, yes. 38:34.43 dclduo Caliber across the board but there are definitely several of them that are Broadway caliber and the casts are um, usually a few of the folks in the cast are Broadway Caliibber and the rest of them are probably like. Off-broadway or very high level. You know, big city local theater caliber kind of you know folks. So they're very talented individuals. Yeah, so we're we're definitely spoiled, but it's really the storytelling that we're spoiled by. Yeah. 38:58.30 Jen Exactly and like these shoes are good. The the singers and dancers are good. Um I think it's the storytelling nos you're like what is this up about like what's like you're just like there's no real story and I like as much as the next. Person like I forget what they're called, but you know where it's just like a collection of songs like yeah, you get little songs or Oldton John songs like I like that like that's fun. Um, my kids don't though. So my kid was yeah my kids love going to the show end isie and we'll set through them. So. 39:18.39 dclduo Um, you know like a variety or jukebox. Oh yeah. 39:25.85 dclduo Right? Not engaging for them. Wow at 4 and 6 I am so jealous Jen because Nathan he will not sit through the shows with me. He has bit hill he can sit through a show but he. 39:37.88 Jen And never um. 39:45.80 dclduo If given the choice he he doesn't um and it's certainly harder for him to sit through something that's like longer than a half hour show yeah 39:51.17 Jen Yeah, my my little dad too like when he was maybe too little. He would just fall asleep. Um, which is crazy because is loud. But um, yeah, my oldness has always loved them. Um, and so that's always really fun. Even if. 39:59.85 dclduo Ah, yeah. 40:08.28 Jen Occasionally my husband and youngest son won't go and I'll just go with my six year old but um I miss that a lot in the thing I miss the most um because like our last 3 cruises were not on Disney and sometimes I get like Disney's too expensive and. 40:24.55 dclduo Sure. 40:27.20 Jen There's certain things I don't like which we can talk about when we get to dining. Um, but I miss like I Miss being able to like do some of those family activities together like it's awesome. The kids like to go the kids club. Um, but on Disney I. 40:37.90 dclduo Sure. 40:42.99 Jen Find that we end up pulling them out sometimes because it's like we want to go do this thing that we've come here to do right like see the characters go to the shows do the art crafts. Whatever you know? So I do miss that. 40:48.42 dclduo Right. 40:57.77 dclduo Yeah, you know that's a good point I forgot about family crafts I feel like I love family crafts as well. I love like whether it's making something to go on your door or an ornament or whatever I feel like they always have. 40:58.60 Jen From the other cruise lines like that opportunity to do some of those more family activities. 41:15.16 dclduo Fun stuff. Um, oftentimes you don't even have to like go and stay you can just like pick up the crafts and take them with you and do them in your room if you want to do them in a quieter space. But yeah I Really enjoy that as well. Yeah, so this is I I think a perfect point though you mentioned dining which is a perfect perfect segue. Um. 41:19.27 Jen Now. 41:25.74 Jen Yeah, simply. 41:34.72 Jen Um, 1990 41:35.00 dclduo Dining is a big thing on all cruise lines and um I think other cruise lines are known for having way more variety than Disney I think that's sort of the the biggest thing I hear right? a buffet that's just bigger that's open all the time. Having all these specialty dining restaurants um, having more flexibility with like any time my time. Whatever they call that on the other cruise lines. What? What would you say are um, you know the things you like about Disney Cruise line dining and the things you don't like about Disney Cruise lines and then we'll sort of. Do the compare to the other the other lines as well. 42:13.65 Jen Um, yeah, so 1 thing I love one thing I love about it is that you don't have to get dressed up like I think it's so fun to do like our family t-shirts and. Like you know you can wear those to dinner and everyone's doing it and you know so I think that's so fun and it's so nice when you have little kids to be like you can wear your spider man shirt to to dinner and that's like perfectly what else is doing. Um, yeah yeah. 42:34.71 dclduo Right? Yeah, you can wear your jammies to dinner frankly nobody as long as you're wearing clothes you it's pretty much anything goes. 42:42.91 Jen Yeah, and he did like that Halloween on the high seas cruise once and they just wore their Halloween costumes every single day like you know so you know they just they love it. It's fun. You know it's fun to you know, get them matching shirts and do all that kind of stuff. So I love that hands down. 42:48.55 dclduo I Love it. 43:01.40 Jen Obviously some of their cruise lines are more casual but it's not the same um like vibe. It's like some people are wearing tuxes and some people are wearing shorts like it's not this kind of fun themed environment. Um, ah ah I think the food is really good for. Cruise food. Um, but it's loud and we kind of like dinner always on cruise's dinners kind of unlike you know, have your wine and talk and relax and I think it's very on relaxing on Disney because it's loud. There's stuff going on. Um, we haven't been on the magic and wonder but we've been on the wish and while I appreciate the show. They're so loud and I I just hate how loud it is um so that's like I just don't like that. It's not a relaxing dining. 43:48.97 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 43:57.00 Jen Experience. Um, the other thing I would say is on Royal the foods mediocre. It's fine. It's not I've you know so heard they've done a lot of changes and it's inedible. It's not. It's fine. Um, celebrity is very good food but when you're. 43:58.39 dclduo Um. 44:14.70 Jen In an environment where there's not as many kids I I think some people would be concerned like is their kids menu like are you know? are we going to get like all the things we need for our kids at dinner and we have found on so our so older son has been on 5 celebrity cruises. And we have had like insane service in the dining room with relation to our kids like whatever we could possibly want like we're like all we need is some fruit and like a cheeseburger and you know we're good to go but they are like constantly. What can we do? What can we do? and. 44:42.16 dclduo Well well. 44:53.63 Jen I think it has a little bit to do with like through talking with some of the staff like they don't see kids as much they kind of miss their kids like they're excited to interact with kids and the Disney staff is amazing but I have found on a lot of our Disney cruises that they just. 45:02.98 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 45:12.70 Jen Seem overstretched to me and that it's it's like everybody has kids so it's like we're trying to get all the right? you're trying to get all the things for all these kids right? So it's like can their food come out first and they're like sure but like everybody wants their kids. 45:13.46 dclduo Right? You're not a novelty. Yeah. 45:31.52 Jen Food to come out first and so I just while they're doing it I feel like we've found like we feel like we're kind of taxing them in some of these like pretty minor requests. And yeah, we've always had very pleasant service. Um, but I don't know I just feel like they bet. Maybe they have more tables than they used to. Um, it's just like I I'm shocked every time we go on celebrity like how accommodating they are to our kids like. 45:58.64 dclduo Yeah. 46:00.96 Jen My littlest guy occasionally will fall asleep at dinner you know because he refuses to nap but really still needs a nap and then like on two separate cruises. Totally different cruises. Totally different staff the next night they had like a pillow in his chair like a pillow like. 46:05.28 dclduo If. 46:16.65 dclduo Ah, ah. 46:17.71 Jen Like a bad pillow but like a pillow from like a couch or something you know like they're just like so paying attention that it it just is like it's kind of a lot of people will say cruising has changed over the years and it reminds me of like when we first started cruising and it was like a little more. Formal and fancy and like you just really felt like every little single thing was like perfectly taken care of for you. So at Disney I do feel like that in a lot of ways like we're talking about the cabins. They're so accommodating like do you want when do you want your room service when is your nap time. 46:53.90 dclduo Right. 46:55.86 Jen Do you want your beds you know like we're talking about the beds. Do you want them down up. You know, like because sometimes depending on if our kids are napping. They leave the bed. They make the beds but like leave them out. Um you know Diaper Genie bottle warmers like you name it, you can get it. So. Amazing in that regard. But um I Just when you everybody has a table full of kids it I just feel like it can get kind of chaotic. 47:13.91 dclduo Um, yeah. 47:23.45 dclduo Yeah, no I would absolutely agree and on the wish in particular the loudness in in the Marvel restaurant and in aarendale are yeah I mean it's it's it's unbelievable. How loud they get um of course 1923 is is. 47:37.57 Jen Um, yeah, you. 47:38.60 dclduo Generally fine I think the it's a little. It's tight, but it's um, but it's fine as far as volume I will say if you go on the magic and the wonder ah Rapunzels and Tianas are very very loud. Um on the nights that they do the shows. If you are there. Ah if you're on one of those ships on a longer cruise and you you know you're there. You're in there a second or a third time on the night that they don't have a show. It's not It's it's generally okay, um, but then you also have animator's palette which animator. 47:53.99 Jen Um, more. 48:08.62 dclduo Palette I don't know for some people. It's loud for me. It's not too loud. Um, but it's it's certainly louder than ah the third dining room meaning tritons or lumieres. Yeah. 48:18.70 Jen Yes, yeah, um, that's the thing My husband dislikes the most is like the loudest of the dining and so our next cruise is on the dream and I was like but. 48:22.24 dclduo Yeah. 48:29.65 Jen I was like none you know you've got animators. But you know you've also gotten in Chanon Garden and royal palace so it's like no show restaurants. Although the dream is going into a month long dry dock before we go on and I'm like are they going to get a show restaurant now. 48:41.70 dclduo Yep. 48:45.67 dclduo Um, well, it's it's certainly possible I mean there has been chatter for years about updating enchanted garden on the dream and the fantasy and the dream's going to go as you mentioned into it's a long dry dock and then the year after the fantasy is going to go in. It's into its long dry dock and if there was a time. To update that restaurant the time is now like that restaurant needs an update not not because it's not beautiful. It's very pretty but it doesn't really have the theming that other Disney Cruise line restaurants have it doesn't I mean even royal court and royal palace are more themed than enchanted garden in my opinion. 49:07.15 Jen Um, yeah. 49:21.80 dclduo And most people don't even notice those flowers opening up in the ceiling. Um I would say um. 49:27.64 Jen Um, I'm I'm like pay attention to the flowers and I just always forget and never notice. Yeah. 49:30.23 dclduo Like right? Yeah and then you end up just seeing like they're closed at the beginning they're open at the end and that's it. Yeah so I would say that that restaurant I I don't have any. This is one thing I have I have no inside information as to this This is just my conjecture like. This They should update that restaurant and if they do There's plenty of opportunity for adding you know some I p because there is none in enchanted Garden Currently so we'll see Yeah, we'll see what they do with that hopeful I'm in a knock on wouldn't hope that they do some theming but that they make the ah. 50:00.29 Jen And. 50:05.32 dclduo Maybe a short show or just a cavalcade where the characters come in I Kind of like that I like when they just do a little one song and the characters kind of do a little you know dance around the restaurant. 50:12.97 Jen Yeah, we um, we did 2 cruises like were right after the reopening in ko and they were doing it an enchanted garden or a bit which was really fun because like everybody came kind of right by your table and even though I staff for pictures like. 50:21.94 dclduo Yep, yes. 50:30.97 dclduo Yeah I like that too I Like a you know I like a show at dinner but a short show not something that necessarily takes over your whole dinner and you can't talk to your dining companions. So you know we talked a lot about um service in in the concept of of. 50:31.49 Jen But still fun. 50:41.23 Jen Yeah, for sure. 50:49.66 dclduo Really celebrity versus Disney I'm curious what you think about royal in its level of service because um, you know you mentioned stateroom attendant obviously on the on Disney and and you mentioned dining a lot for both Disney and celebrity. But yeah. What do? What would you say as far as the service is on royal caribbean and how does it compare to the other two lines which I think in the scheme of things are considered a little bit higher in the level of luxury. 51:18.49 Jen Yeah, um, so I we did not have like the most amazing experience on royal it was real and maybe it was because it was a 3 and four night back to back I'm not sure like we've never done a three night cruise before but it was very chaotic um like lots like dining room. Service was okay, like pretty decently we had a good server but shipwide like the people. The employees did not seem happy like they were not friendly like they weren't. Rude to you but they were like don't talk to me like don't make eye contact like um, it was I just felt like there was like dishes everywhere and um bottles everywhere and you know just like not. Nobody cleaning anything anywhere like carpets need to be vacuumed and especially at a cruise I think that for me anyways makes me like a little anxious because you know you're always hearing about different crews you know neurovirus and this and covid and all that stuff. So I just. 52:27.70 dclduo Oh yeah, yeah. 52:31.50 Jen We didn't love it and especially like you said I think like to me even on celebrity like I think it's clean I think they do a great job maintaining their ships like they've got nothing on Disney like the amount of people you see cleaning doing maintenance. 52:42.72 dclduo Yeah. 52:48.67 Jen Um, like all of that stuff like these ships are just so incredibly well-maintained like it's There's no comparison I don't think so for me like that kind of like wasn't my favorite part of Royal Um, you know like the ship was recently renovated but like it still looks like a little.. It's fine but like wear and tear a lot more. Um, so again, it was fine but like we're probably not rushing to go Back. Let's say. 53:21.16 dclduo Yeah, that makes sense all right? Well you know I think we've reached that point in the show where I'm going to subject you to a little bit of ah question and answers. You know it's some some judgment I'll try to help withhold judgment since Brian is not here to temper my judginess. Um, but we're going to do a little. We're gonna do special rapid fire since this is a compar contrast episode and I'm going to give you a category and you're going to tell me which cruise line is doing it the best and we're in your choices are always going to be Disney Royal and celebrity. 53:38.78 Jen Um. 53:55.34 dclduo But before we do that I have to ask you your favorite Disney character and then your favorite Disney movie. So who is your favorite Disney character. 54:03.11 Jen Um, I think that's really hard but in our house we're all about milwaana so I'm goingnna say Mawanna and milwaana that' oh um I just I really love the whole mojuana soundtrack. 54:10.30 dclduo Oh I love it. You're welcome Everyone you're welcome. Ah, what's your favorite song Actually then. 54:19.98 Jen Um, but like I might you know grew up in the 80 s and ninety s so I'm like beauty the beast little mermaid Aladdin like you know that kind of Disney kid so any of those. 54:28.55 dclduo Um, awesome. all right? ok all right well let's talk then booking who's doing it. Best Disney royal or celebrity and booking I mean the booking process. 54:41.60 Jen Yeah, um I would say like Royal and celebrity are tied because I like being able to book excursions and dining like throughout and not like have the crazy rush and they're owned by this. 54:53.49 dclduo That totally makes sense all right? ah. 54:56.22 Jen Companies So like their websites are like very similar. Yeah. 54:58.40 dclduo And right that makes sense all right cabins who has the best cabins Disney Royal or celebrity. 55:06.12 Jen I really like the celebrity cabins. We just stateed in and I beyond were beautiful but I love the deluxe family veranda on I haven't been on the magic wonder but on the dream in the fantasy like size wise and like layout wise that those are. Probably my favorite Cruise cabins. 55:24.55 dclduo Awesome! Who has the best entertainment Disney Royal or celebrity. 55:29.87 Jen Oh I'll yeah I'll say theater shows Disney I'll say like maybe like standard musicians like throughout the ship I'll probably say celebrity. 55:41.62 dclduo Oh interesting, all right? Well I like that differentiation who has the best bars. 55:49.49 Jen Who um, I mean I'm going to say celebrity. Um I what I don't like about Disney bars is well I don't like everything being like corralled in the 1 adults area because like we will go get a drink or do things and like. Bring our kids I guess and I don't like how that's not so much of an option on Disney and I don't like that. There's not a lot of windows like it's like dark kind of you know, cavernous back in those areas and on. 56:13.30 dclduo Um, oh interesting. Yeah. 56:22.63 Jen Celebrity especially on the edge class ships I mean these spaces are very beautiful, very like integrated with like the ocean lots of glass. Um, so I'll say celebrity probably is the best bar spaces. 56:33.40 dclduo Awesome! Who has the best kids clubs. 56:36.96 Jen Oh I would say disney my kids say like they want their cruises they cried when they left the kids club but will you ask them as soon as you leave and they say they want to go back on Mickey Ship 56:47.81 dclduo I Love it who has the best family activities who has the best food and we're not talking service yet. Just the food. 56:54.39 Jen Definitely Disney hands down. 57:00.93 Jen Yeah I'm celebrity celebrity definitely is the best food and we didn't touch on this but real quick. Um on a Royal and celebrity. There's not an age limit on specialty dining. 57:14.21 dclduo Ah. 57:14.31 Jen So yeah, like there's some restaurants we wouldn't take our kids to there's certainly some that we have and would and they have kids menus and it's like ten bucks for the kids to eat there so it doesn't especially when you're traveling with family. It doesn't have to like be a. Big thing you can just make reservation and go with your whole family and they specialty restaurants. Yeah more variety. 57:32.51 dclduo Yeah, all right? My yeah yeah, so we just made more variety. It seems up so who's doing it. Best service wise. 57:49.43 Jen I I'm definitely give service. Um, probably to Disney I think like the staff members are just like seem the happiest I'll say on you know seem the warmest to seem like the happy you know, happiest to be there. Um. 58:04.25 dclduo Me. 58:07.17 Jen So that kind of makes you you know that kind of like elevates your experience. 58:09.68 dclduo Yeah, all right? if price is not an object and of course that's you know that's a big if right if price is not an object and you could sail tomorrow. Are you sailing and just anywhere in the world. Let's say. 58:15.66 Jen Um. 58:26.62 dclduo Are you sailing on Disney are you sailing on royal or you sailing on celebrity. Let me let's even just take this out. You're not sailing on royal that's clear. So are you sailing on Disney or celebrity if price is not an object. 58:33.95 Jen We more I that's a really hard. Um I I think they just both have the right place and time like we ah have started taking these family cruises with my brother and sister in law and. So we're always going to go on celebrity with them and then we're always going to at least consider Disney for the time being while our kids are young and we're sailing by ourselves as a family. So I think we're going to you know, try to get on both every year. But. 58:53.52 dclduo Gotcha. 59:05.47 dclduo Um, awesome. Ah, well that listen that's great I mean we talk about how there are other cruise lines that do different things than Disney and different itineraries is obviously a big part of that and sometimes will be better pricewise. 59:08.14 Jen When. 59:19.57 dclduo Um, and it's it's I think it's great to find out what other lines are out there and that work for your family and and I will say I think this is super helpful because I'm guessing there are a lot of people listening who have kids around the ages of 4 and 6 who have never thought to go on a celebrity cruise. and and I want to put this out there. You sailed regular. You didn't sail concierge or suite class I know we have an episode in our back catalog comparing celebrity I think it was the celebrity edge which as you mentioned is a great class of ship. Um, but say but comparing the concierge experience to the sweet class experience and and and that's um. 59:52.79 Jen Are. 59:57.31 dclduo Ah, great comparison too. But ah, but most people are not sailing in the sweet class or the concierge class. Um on any cruise line. So um, thank you so much jen this was great to ah I think great information for for those out there in the community who are considering other lines. Especially with young kids because we always talk about royal as being the comparator and to me it sounds like celebrity maybe coming up you know in in that sense. Um I will tell you and you probably heard me say this on the show before we sailed celebrity twice before we ever had Nathan and had a lovely time. 01:00:28.80 Jen Um, yeah. 01:00:33.59 dclduo Ah, but they were on way older ships and we were like the youngest people on board and we were in our um I think it was in my late 20 s early 30 s at the time. So um, we haven't sailed celebrity since but it's certainly back on my list of place of ah cruise lines to sail On. So. Thanks again for reaching out and and agreeing to come on and talk about your experience. Um I mean you don't have like any kind of podcast or social media stuff right? Okay, okay, so thank you so much for yeah I just wanted that. 01:01:00.20 Jen No I don't. 01:01:07.15 dclduo Um, so thanks again for joining me Jen and we hope to have you back on the show and keep sailing awesome. 01:01:10.92 Jen Yeah, thanks so much for having me.