[00:00:00] Speaker A: So, yeah, the lunch was incredible, and they had extra lobster, so I had double lobster. So I definitely got my money's worth.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: I mean, who wouldn't say yes to double lobster?
[00:00:11] Speaker A: He came round and he was like, this is spare. Do you want. It's.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the DCL duo podcast, brought to you by my path, unwinding travel, as you can tell by the fact that I'm the one doing the show. Intro. Brian is not with me today, so I, Sam, am hosting solo today. However, I'm not alone, of course. I have a wonderful guest, a repeat guest on the show. Laura is all the way across the pond, and so I want to welcome Laura. Thanks for traveling so far to be on our show.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Well, thank you for having me, Sam. It's so nice to be here.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Yeah, it's so nice to have you back. Now, I know we talked to you before, but I want our audience to remember your cruise credentials because you are very close to platinum, I will point out. But tell people your experience with Disney Cruise line and the Disney parks, because you've visited more of the Disney parks than I have, I think.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Well, yeah, so I guess Disney background. I live in the UK, if you can't tell from the accent.
So first ever experience was in Disneyland, Paris.
I went there twice as a teenager, but however much I loved Disney and however much I begged, I didn't actually make it to Florida until I was 19. Really grateful to have been able to do that. And that whole trip encompassed our first Disney cruise as well. I think we actually only did one day at the parks that time, but, yeah, so one Disney cruise that was back in 2012, this cruise that we're going to talk about today was my eigth.
So a little over ten years to get to eight, but we've actually done mostly itineraries out of Port Canaveral in the US. We've done eastern, western, now southern Caribbean. Also lucky enough to have done transatlantic, and we did the not so northern Europe in last. Was it a year before last now? So 2022. So it was supposed to be northern Europe, but unfortunately, we couldn't go to northern Europe.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: But it was still a great cruise. And then we've done Panama Canal as well. So we like the longer cruises, definitely. If we're going to be traveling and spending that much time, we love the longer cruises. And as of this trip, I've now done four out of the five ships. So just the wish to go for now. Not for long. Then I'll have to do the treasure, but I'm in no rush. Do you have anything booked on the wish we've got? I've got a cruise with my dad booked for this summer out of Southampton, so that will also be on the dream. And then I also have Sydney to Hawaii booked for February 2025. So a bit more of a waste from that one. But that'll be the wonder which makes my heart happy.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: Yes, because the wonder is the best.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: And I guess I missed off my Disney rundown. We have also been to Tokyo Disney, so that was really cool experience. And I could spend probably a whole podcast talking to you about that.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Okay, so we're actually tied for a number of Disney parks that we've been to then, because I haven't been to Tokyo, but I have been to Disneyland Disney World and Disneyland Paris. But I will admit I've only been to Disneyland Paris for one day, and it was just several hours. It was 20 years ago before there was even a second park. Yeah. So it was just like the Magic kingdom park. There was no studios at the time. And like I said, I don't remember it. I was traveling Europe, and I was done with churches and museums at that point. I was like, I need to go to Disneyland Disney. I miss it. Anyway. But I digress. So this trip was your first cruise on the dream, and you mentioned it was southern Caribbean, so out of Port Canaveral or was it out of Miami?
[00:04:24] Speaker A: This one was out of San Juan.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Out of San Juan, that's right. Amazing. Such a great. Such a great port. How many days and what were the other ports of call on this itinerary?
[00:04:36] Speaker A: So I've written them down because I always forget the order of them did them. So, yeah, so out of San Juan, which. Interesting. You say it's a great port. We got the not so great port side of it. Unfortunately, we were not right in the bay.
We were around the other side, which I can get on to telling you about. That was an experience.
Yeah. So San Juan, we then went to St. Kitts, Antigua, a day at sea, Aruba, curacao, finishing with a day at sea and back into.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: Amazing. So this, I say amazing because these are ports that Disney only goes to a couple times a year. These are not their regular eastern western ports. And so they do have several cruises that go to San Juan either by stopping there or embark or disembark from San Juan. But these other ports really might only get on one or two itineraries across the entire. So really, really unique. Is that why you chose this itinerary?
[00:05:36] Speaker A: In particular, two main reasons for this itinerary. Kind of three, because I wanted to try the dream, but it probably wasn't necessarily a driving force. The main driver for this, one of how we picked it out from the website was price. Price on it was insane.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Brilliantly priced. When we booked it, it was top of the kind of. They come up in price order. And when we looked for seven night cruises, it was the cheapest seven night cruise on there. So that was a huge driver. And then we saw the itinerary. We just.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Absolutely. You know, I wonder if the reason it's less expensive than like a seven night from Port Canaveral or Miami or now Fort Lauderdale. I wonder if that's just because for most Americans there's going to be an added expense of flying to San Juan. And not that there aren't tons of Americans like us who have to still fly to Florida, but it's a more expensive flight to go to San Juan. Even though it's part of the US, it's obviously further away.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: It wouldn't surprise me because for us, again, it was an added cost because we connected through the US, so we had to buy those separate kind of flights to get through. But, yeah, I guess that's probably a driving factor in what pulls the price down a little bit. Maybe. But, yeah, we absolutely loved it. We loved the itinerary. I would go back and do this cruise again.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: It was great. Awesome. So tell everyone who's in your sailing party, who do you travel with?
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Short and sweet? Just me and my husband. They're just the two of us.
Yeah. So myself and my husband. We don't have any kids yet, but we love our Disney cruises.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, let's talk about the booking process. Sounds like it was probably pretty easy. But there's one thing that sort of complicates it for your husband, at least. I know you mentioned before we started recording you have dual citizenship, so you have a us passport and so you don't have to deal with any visas because all of those ports for us passport holders, there's no visa issues. But you had to get like a visa for your husband, is that right?
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Yeah. So the Esther program from the UK is how we navigate that. Thankfully, we didn't actually have to do it for this cruise because he had one that was still valid from previous travel to the US. I think they're good for two years. But when we kind of went online to check, is it still valid? He was good. So thankfully we didn't have to navigate any of that this time. But it is a very easy process and I think ends up costing about $14. And they say to do it, the further out the better, because it can take some time to come through. But in our experience, it's always been fairly fast to kind of come through and be approved.
We've never had any problems with it. And it does make customs. I've noticed the difference in customs from. I mean, estes have been around for years, but I've certainly noticed the difference pre and post.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Oh, good. Yeah. Well, we. I know that. I believe soon we're going to have to start getting.
I don't know if it's through that program or if it's something else, but we're going to have to start getting visas or approval now to come over to the. That's. It's like a reciprocal thing now. Yeah.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Although they've been talking about that for several years and it never keeps getting pushed.
[00:09:04] Speaker B: So I hope so, because Brian and I obviously love coming over to the love. We love London. That's where we've obviously spent the majority of our time in the UK, and love that we don't have to deal with any kind of visa situation. And it's relatively easy to book and come over there. And especially if we were going to come over for another Disney cruise, which I'm hoping at some point in the next few years, we'll be coming back over to sail out of somewhere in Europe, but hopefully the UK, like when we sailed out of Dover to Norway, which was awesome. We haven't sailed out of Southampton, which I know you have, and you are going to be sailing out of Southampton. But, yeah, let's talk about. You mentioned Puerto Rico being maybe not the best embarkation port, or at least from the port that you all left from. I didn't realize you weren't at the sort of. So when Disney sails to Puerto Rico, typically there's this port, as I understand it, because I actually haven't been myself. Right in the sort of heart of old town, right near where the fort is.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: You can walk right up to it.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: So central. So brilliant. From where we went and stayed, I think two, I want to say two nights beforehand, and from where our hotel was, it was less than five minutes walk to that port. We knew we weren't going to be at that port, but when we got there, we were like, if we had been, this would have a lot easier.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Because you could just walk with your luggage to the ship.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: You have to get an Uber, a taxi, something of that nature to the port that we were at. I forget the name of it, but it was a drive all the way around to the other side. You could just about see it from the main port. And when we got on board, we could see the two cruise ships that were in for the day just about kind of from the top decks, but, yeah, it is, I would say, a good 15 minutes drive. So that was fun in itself. Unfortunately, the organization at that port was less than ideal. The queues to get into the terminal when we got there were crazy, and there was nobody outside direct.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Oh, directing.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: But then the hilarious thing was that guests seemed to be making up their own rules and just telling people, you need to stand in this line.
And so we were like, right. And I just sort of, like, followed it round, kind of went down to the front and did find a person and just said, where are we supposed to stand? And she went, what's your port arrival time? And I was like, now? And showed her my little apple wallet thing that I have popped up. And she went, oh, join this line. Go straight in.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: And I almost wanted to say, you really need somebody about around the block, 70 meters down that way to tell people what they're supposed to be doing. Because honestly, there must have been hundreds of people just standing in a line that had been made up, that didn't really go anywhere.
There were a lot of frustrated people. We did leave late. We didn't leave till after sunset that night, so it was much, much later. We had the deck party, but sail.
[00:12:18] Speaker B: Away, and then you just sat.
We've had that happen, too, and it's just the funniest thing. It's very odd. And then first seating dinner starts and you still haven't moved.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: I want to say it was gone 06:00 p.m. Before we went anywhere. And I don't know whether that was just because it was havoc getting on or whether they were just still loading supplies or whatever else was going on.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Or hadn't been cleared or. Yeah, who knows? Who knows?
[00:12:51] Speaker A: Don't know why. But we ended up sailing out in the dark, which was an interesting experience in itself. I was a little bit gutted because you go right past the fort, and I was really hoping we'd been in it the day before, and I was really hoping to see it from the sea. We saw the lights. It was nice. By that point, we'd gone and got changed and got in the hot tubs that are on in kind of the adults only deck and watch sail away from a hot tub. So you got complete.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I'm assuming then you must have had late seating dinner.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Late dinner people, yes.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Well, I think in general, I try to tell people, particularly if you're sailing with older kids or if you're sailing without kids, that you should take advantage of that late dinner seating, which tends to have less little kids in it, which means the early show has less little kids in it. But also, I feel like you maximize your day better. And I know there are people who know wedded to early dinner, and that's fine. I have no qualms with them. When Nathan was young, we really needed to do that early dinner seating, but we very much prefer that late seating. And part of the reason is exactly that. You can actually go into the pools or the hot tub or get on one of the water slides, the aqueduct on the dream without any lines.
Or you can be in the pool and the pool is empty because most people or most families are at that early dinner.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah, no, completely. And I get that. I think when we hopefully get to that point of bringing our children onto the cruises, there was the sweetest little boy at the table next to us, but he could not stay awake. Almost every night. He was asleep on his mother's lap, and she was eating the food over his head, bless her.
It was the sweetest thing. But, yeah, he couldn't keep his eyes open at that point. So, yeah, I completely get it. Different things work for different people. It's like different staterooms work for different people.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Exactly. Well, that's a great segue. Thank you for that, Laura. Let's talk stateroom. What kind of stateroom did you book? Is it different than what you normally book? And what did you think of it?
[00:14:59] Speaker A: Same old inside stateroom, but with the split bath.
Oh, don't quote me. I want to say eight a. No. Is it ten a? No, it's ten a. I think it's ten a. Could be wrong.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: I'll trust you. That's one of those things where people say room categories to me all the time, and I just kind of nod my head because I honestly don't pay attention to.
I know some of the names of different types of rooms, but I can never remember what has what number and what letter.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Inside stateroom, split bath.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: Which is what we pretty much now always choose. We've done inside stateroom, porthole staterooms, balcony staterooms in varying capacities. I think I've only had a balcony once. For me personally, it's just not worth it. My parents absolutely love it because they sit on it and they use it. I'm just not in the room enough for it to warrant spending more money. And then equally, the portholes, we had one for our european not to northern Europe and wished we didn't have it. We thought that we would want to sit and watch us go in and out of the ports. We were on deck and we actually really love that. The inside staterooms, it is pitch black when you sleep and I need that. I have a blackout. Proper built in blackout. Like, I've put the wooden things around the side of my window to stop any light getting in because I just need darkness to sleep with my life on the creases.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Well, and that actually is, I think, really smart, especially with the time difference. Right. So whenever you're coming and sailing out of the US, you're going to have a significant time difference from at home. And so it's always easier to force yourself to get on whatever the sleep schedule is of where you're going immediately. Yeah. And I feel like having a blackout curtain situation.
Well, you don't even need curtains because there is no light coming in. In. An inside stateroom is actually a really probably helpful way to get on the time zone pretty quickly.
So I want to ask about the dream specifically because this was your last of the four. We'll call them the classics. Right. So what did you think about the dream? How does she compare to you? To the fantasy? And I guess a little bit to the magic and the wonder. But did you feel like she exceeded your expectations? Did she wow you? Did she underwhelm you? And what were your thoughts.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Off, and preface this with I am a magic class ship.
I much prefer the smaller ships, not because of size, not because of how busy they are. Anything like that. Just for me, the layout and some of the. I guess.
I don't know if I'm going to call them design choices, but venue choices, I prefer. So, yeah, I'll preface with that dream to fantasy. I think, to be honest, the only real difference, the restaurants are the same. They have different names.
I couldn't have told you which one I was sat in versus the other.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Royal court versus royal palace. I will tell you, I never remember which one is on which ship because they are identical.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: And I still can't tell you that right now.
I think my biggest kind of, I guess, unfortunate disappointment with the dream was the adults only area being a couple, we're both 30, so we spend a fair amount of time in there in the evenings and it doesn't flow as well on the dream as it does on the fantasy. I'm not the biggest fan of either of them, but I probably would pick the fantasy for the layout reasons. It felt very separate and we'd still go round a corner on the dream and go, oh, we haven't been in here yet.
Fantasy. I think it kind of more leads you through. Kind of get to see all the venues and go, oh, okay, I can pick which one I want to.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: The little more central hub with the carousel bar thinged one. Yeah. The italian bar theme. Yeah, that one sort of like makes like a hub.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And then everything kind of spokes off of it all. Kind of like you go around to ogils and that's where it is. But, yeah. So that was a little bit for me. I just didn't care for the layout.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: Right. And there's no Barcelona. I mean, I always love to use the bathrooms in Barcelona on the fantasy. And there is no Barcelona on the dream for some reason.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: No, but they still have the weird mirrors in the ceilings of the toilets. Yes.
They just don't need to be there.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And did you notice that skyline lounge is actually smaller on the dream than on the fantasy because they have that little outdoor space that, I don't know, nobody really uses.
Yeah, it cuts into it. Yeah.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: I never saw anyone in that space.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: I think we even walked past it and went, what's that?
[00:20:24] Speaker B: The first time we were on the dream, we did the same.
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Yeah. That's the only real difference that I noticed that I can draw between the two. And probably, if I had to pick between the two, I'd choose the fantasy. Would it stop me going on the dream? No, I'm still going to go in August cruise that's booked. But, yeah, I still do prefer the original. I'm going to call them original magic.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, that totally makes sense to me. I feel the same way about the dream. If I'm choosing between the dream and the fantasy, I'm going to choose the fantasy just based on ship. But if I have to choose based on timing or itinerary, I'm perfectly happy to go in the dream. Nothing wrong with it. It's just a slight preference because the exact thing you said, the adult area is just slightly better both in theming and in layout on the fantasy. Even though they're not, like, super duper different. They're enough different to make that little bit of a difference.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: We've got to talk shows, and I do want to talk ports a little bit because obviously these are great ports, but I want to hear your thoughts on the shows, because this was your first time on the dream, and so your first opportunity to see, of course, beauty and the beast. And so I have to hear what you thought of the shows on board. And did you go see them all? Obviously, there's some overlap with some of the other ships.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: No. So we did go see all of the main stage shows with the Walt Disney theater cast. So all of the Disney led shows we went to. Beauty and the beast, absolutely lived up to expectations. We loved.
Like, there was part of me that nearly skipped dinner to go watch it again.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: That is a dilemma. That's something I would do, Laura.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Yeah, it was brilliant. Absolutely loved it. It lived up to everything you told me the last time we spoke. So. Yeah, no, we absolutely loved that. The other two mesay shows were equally good. It was Aladdin and I forget which.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Is it believe or dreams? I can't remember which one believe, because.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: It always struck me as weird that it wasn't dreams. On the dream.
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Oh, on the dream. That's right.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: They were great. The main stage cast were really strong, really brilliant. And in particular, we did have a guest Broadway performer, which most of the time they have. I know, not always. He was Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, and he did a solo show, and I did not write down his name, and I wish I had, but I love that.
Oh, my goodness. He was just gassed on, personified.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: He was brilliant. And then actually, in his show, is it evolution?
[00:23:17] Speaker B: Yes. Evolution.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: He actually did some really off brand songs. I call off Branders. That's a not evil villain.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Right. Not Gaston. Right.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: And he did do Scar's song from the Lion King.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: Be prepared.
[00:23:32] Speaker A: I was just like, play the Disney villain, dude.
But he did do some off character type songs, and they were also great. When the music started, I went, oh, how is this going to.
This is going to go after seeing you.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: Right?
[00:23:49] Speaker A: He was very good.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Like doing like a love ballad or something like that. When you're like, I feel like he.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Did something in tarzan, but really wonderful performer.
I genuinely would say to everyone, whether you love musical theater or not. I do. My husband is take it or leave it. He'll go occasionally for my sake. He went with me to this because I said, no, this is a non negotiable. Honey, we're going. I'm sorry.
But even he was sat there going, his voice is you. If you were ever on a cruise, that there is a guest Broadway performer and you have the opportunity, please go listen to them.
[00:24:33] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:24:34] Speaker A: Just incredible.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: Yeah, and they do that. I haven't seen them do it on the wish, probably because of the three and four night itineraries, but they have usually a Broadway guest performer on the other ships, and on seven night sailings, they will tend to do one of those shows. They don't always do them on the shorter sailings again, because the itinerary is just so packed with stuff. But I always go when I have the opportunity to, because those Broadway visiting performers who are folks who have been in a cast of either Broadway shows or West End shows or national tours, they're just fantastic. They're so talented. And I have seen several different mother gothels from on the.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Nail it.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Yeah, they nail. Exactly. Exactly. All right, well, I feel like we have to talk about the ports because this is a unique sailing that you went on. You mentioned you spent a couple of days in San Juan at the beginning to kind of tour around and see the fort. But let's talk about your port stops. What was the first one that you went to?
[00:25:42] Speaker A: So we started off at St. Kitts, and so we opted not to book anything through Disney for this one. We decided to choose. There were four port decided. Well, we decided to choose two slightly more expensive options through Disney for two of the stops, and then either book something ourselves that was maybe a little bit cheaper through Tripadvisor via to those sorts of websites, or just not book anything and get off and have a walk. So that was kind of how we structured kind of our budget for doing things in ports. We did have a food tour that I booked. I want to say it was through Vieta, but I can't remember. But I just did my research, figured it out, had it booked, unfortunately. Got a message, like the day before, I think when we were leaving San Juan in the evening, saying, I'm so sorry, I've double booked, and this tour is actually not going ahead.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: And the woman that was running it said, you're welcome to join the tour that is going ahead. It's like a driving tour of the island. But for us, that was just not something that we wanted to do. What we had was an eating tour walking around.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: Right. Completely different.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: It was basically how we were going to do lunch. We wanted to see some more local food places. My husband and I absolutely love trying anything that's like local food that we would never get back at home. And so, yeah, we had agreed prior to the trip that we did not want to be sat on a bus for four or 5 hours at any stage. During this trip, it was supposed to be relaxing and chills.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: So we just said thank you, but no thank you. Could you recommend anywhere for us to go? And she did send us a list of a couple of places.
She did. We went and found one or two of them. But unfortunately, the port area itself, I don't know what it was like before COVID but I don't think it's really recovered.
I hate to say it, but it was quite dilapidated. There wasn't very much stuff that was actually open. And I think probably the best way to enjoy St. Kitts would have been to have gone on a bus tour around the island, or whether they can take you and go out on a boat somewhere or whatever it was.
Because that immediate kind of walking area around the port just. It wasn't that great, and there wasn't all that much even open. So we had a little bit of a walk around. We found one of the places that she'd recommended, tried some sort of pastries and other little bits and pieces that she'd kind of given us the things to have a look at, but just decided that we would head back to the port area. We ended up having a drink. There's a bar, like, right as you get off. And we were like, why not? It's like $5 drinks. Let's have a drink. We're on holiday. It's the first kind of proper day, I think we sat and had a couple of drinks. I got talking with the bartenders and stuff and just had a nice time for an hour or so. And then it was probably about like 1230, 01:00 and we sort of looked at the time and went, let's go back to cabanas before it shuts. I always forget what time it's going to shut. And obviously my app is not working at this point. And I was like, it's still before 01:00 let's go.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: So we got back on board, went to cabanas, got a really lovely lunch. I am a massive fan of cabanas for lunch. Just absolutely love it.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: There's so much variety. And I would say cabanas for lunch is better than cabanas for breakfast.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Agree. Because the breakfast food just doesn't sit out as well. Yeah.
And my husband is exactly the same. If we have the opportunity for a sit down lunch in royal court, Royal palace, whichever it is, we'll do that. Always lunch at cabanas or on deck or something.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: Yeah. You mean breakfast. You said lunch, but you meant breakfast.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: Sorry.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: So always sit down breakfast and then.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: If you can, if you have time, lunch.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Yeah, if we have time.
[00:29:45] Speaker B: Yeah. I feel like on those port days, the sit down breakfast is a little bit difficult because you might have an early meeting time.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: It depends what you're trying to do and when it opens, because it varies.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: Exactly. Well, I will say in St. Kitts we went in 2019, I don't know if it's changed. Obviously. You mentioned that the port area seems maybe quite impacted by Covid and hasn't maybe come back. We did an excursion to what was a former sugar plantation and it was a zip line excursion. It was fantastic. So just putting out there that if you go back to St. Kitts or for anyone who's going to St. Kitts, if we did it through Disney, but if Disney is offering the sugar plantation zipline excursion, which is like a canopy one where we went on, I feel.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: Like they are still offering it. It's ringing a bell. But, yeah, that was quite good. Hadn't signed up for anything.
[00:30:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: But no, I think if we wouldn't necessarily not go back to St. Kitts, I think we would just hope that we had a better plan or a plan that worked out next year.
[00:30:53] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and obviously you did have a good plan. It's just your tour operator screwed up, frankly. I mean, that's a bummer. Know, we do always recommend, like Tripadvisor and Vitor are usually the best sources know outside of Disney excursions because you can get a lot of feedback and reviews. There's a ton of information out there of people like this tour guide. They don't like this tour guide. This was a good excursion. This was not a good excursion. That sort of feedback is really helpful, but not if your tour gets double or your tour guide gets double booked and doesn't realize it.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Unless she was a great liar. It sounded like a genuine mistake.
The tour that we booked onto should never have been available to book was they gave us a refund. It landed almost immediately.
It was no harm, no foul, just sad because I wanted to try all the local food.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Yeah, well, what was your second port of four ports?
[00:31:52] Speaker A: So the second one we did was Antigua and this was where we booked. It was a catamaran tour with lobster lunch that we did through Disney. It was $125 a person. So it was not cheap, but 110% worth it. I was talking to my husband before I came up to talk to you and I was like, is there kind of any highlights that I need to tell Sam and Brian about? And he was like the catamara.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: It was really brilliant. The staff on the boat were just incredible to start with. As soon as we got on, it was the sort of classic catamaran with the trampoline like nets on. So we immediately grabbed a little spot in the corner of one of those. And there was a really good mix of families and just adults on their own, and then some kind of older teenage kids, too. So, like, full mix of. I think there were a couple of babies.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: Kind of all ages. So, yeah, the lunch was incredible. And they had extra lobster, so I had double lobster, so I definitely got my money's worth.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Who wouldn't say yes to double lobster?
[00:33:10] Speaker A: He came round and he was like, this is fair. Do you want it?
[00:33:14] Speaker B: I mean, unless you have a shellfish allergy, which if you do, you shouldn't go on this excursion in the first place. Just from the contact, they had chicken.
[00:33:23] Speaker A: As an option, and I believe they had some sort of vegetarian, maybe corn or some sort of, like, corn type burger thing available. So it was kind of still in the barbecue vibe, but the barbecue was literally on the back of the catamaran, which was also very cool. And then from kind of, I would say when we got to. I think it was when we got to the first beach, maybe a little bit before there was an open bar, so there was rum punch and prosecco and beer.
[00:33:55] Speaker B: And they were very attentive, so everyone was happy, or at least all the adults were happy. And they probably had a fruit punch for the kids or juices for the kids.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: They tend to have.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: Yeah. They had everything to suit everybody. And even we were swimming at the beach and they'd look over the side and be like, does anyone need a beer? And throw them down to people. They wouldn't obviously throw down glasses of rum punch or anything, but the old containers, they would give down to you. And then they were very conscious about making sure that they collected everything in.
[00:34:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:31] Speaker A: So that had two beach.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Was there snorkeling with this, or was it just swimming?
[00:34:36] Speaker A: No, I think some people had their own snorkel equipment that they brought, but both of the stops that we made were pull up to a beach so you could get off, sit on the beach, go into the water. It was not a snorkeling right out in the ocean type of excursion.
Any snorkeling gear?
[00:34:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, and that's a good thing to look for for folks who. Well, if you like snorkeling or you don't like snorkeling or you want a beach versus you want to be out in the water looking at fish, right? There are variations of different catamaran excursions that Disney offers at different ports, both in the eastern, western and southern caribbean itineraries. They exist in all of those itineraries, but they definitely vary. There are some that are snorkeling ones and others that are more beach focused. Yeah, sounds like a great excursion. I will say I don't know how Disney finds these tour providers in particular, but it seems like on the catamaran excursion side of things, we have only had really good experiences and like you mentioned, really good food and service on board these catamarans too, with a crew of like three or four people. But somehow they're able to be super attentive to everyone and even to the point.
[00:35:53] Speaker A: So as soon as you got on, they said it's a lobster lunch. But we appreciate. Not everyone wants that. Who wants chicken? Who's vegetarian? They took orders in and actually I think some people just didn't listen. So they didn't have the right amount of chicken on the catamaran. But there was another catamaran. We were just split into two groups and randomly put onto two catamarans to the point where they went and found the other catamaran to get extra chicken.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: To get more chicken.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: These guys were like, no one is going, no, no, we're not having it. So they were brilliant. Honestly, couldn't hold them.
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Well, that's fantastic. I mean, I would not turn down lobster like you. I would be the one saying, I'll take the spare, but I will tell you, Nathan won't eat lobster. And it's not like I don't think he's ever even tried lobster.
He would go for the chicken over the lobster, but he's a kid and kids are weird, so they haven't figured out life yet.
[00:36:53] Speaker C: Hey, DCl duo fans, you know, we get the question all the time. Should I use a travel agent to book my next Disney cruise or should I just book with Disney directly? And I'm going to tell you, if you have that question in the back of your mind right now, you should stop what you're doing and head over to mypathunwinding.com slash DCl duo. The folks over at mypath unwinding provide an amazing service. They are so knowledgeable and so friendly. We remy on them ourselves to book our family vacations and they provide an amazing service. And the best part is you don't pay anything extra for it. Disney, other tour providers and other cruise lines have built the cost of their commission into their pricing. So if you're booking directly, you are just paying that money back to the provider when you could be spending it on the kind of service you would get from mypath unwinding travel. You've heard from their agents on our show. They are so knowledgeable, so giving of their time. They know so much about Disney cruise line, sailing concierge, other cruise lines, other all inclusive vacations and adventures by Disney that if you have a vacation in mind, they are the ones to book it for you. So again, head over to mypathunwinding.com slash dclduo so they know we sent you their way. Thanks, mypath unwinding, for sponsoring the show. And with that, back to our episode.
[00:38:04] Speaker B: What was your third port stop? I know your last one was Curacao, but I'm forgetting which one was your third?
[00:38:09] Speaker A: We had Antigua. We had a day at sea the next day and then we went to Antigua.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Oh, I thought that was.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: Did what have I said? Aruba. Oh, Aruba. Okay, I told you, sam, I have them written down and as soon as I don't look, I get it wrong.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: Okay, so Aruba was catamaran. So what was Antigua? Sorry.
[00:38:28] Speaker A: No, I had it right. It was antigua with the catamaran. It was Aruba.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: All right, what did you. They all start with a. And they end with Aruba. Antigua.
I'm with you there, Laura.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: Yeah. What did we do at Aruba and then onto Aruba? And I will say the layout of this cruise in terms of two port days, sea day, two port day, sea day. I would actually seek that out again. Oh, yeah, great.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: Yeah, because you get that rest in the middle with that sea day, and that's like a perfect palo brunch day, I would say.
[00:39:09] Speaker A: But yes, it's just a great kind of like mid cruise reset and then having the day at the end.
I always hate that, rushing around like a headless chicken because you either get back from port or whatever on the last night and you feel like you don't enjoy your last dinner as much.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Because you're like, I'm not packed, especially if it's castaway. I feel like there's a lot of itineraries where your last day is a full day at castaway. And I feel like I end up cutting my day short at Castaway so that I can get back and pack, so that I don't have to rush out of dinner or if I want to go see the show or if I want to hit a bar. I want to get all packed and.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: You just feel like you lose that whole last evening because it feels like you want the time in the day, but you don't want to give up the day that you've.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: Yeah, you don't want to give up the day.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: You don't want to give up the evening. It's this.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: Yes, I agree. A sea day is your last day whenever possible. I mean, it's not shorter itineraries. It's not generally.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: I would. It's definitely become a decision point in kind of future decision making of looking for other cruises, I think. So we had Aruba. This was the second one that we booked through Disney. We did just a trip to a beach club, equally kind of similarly to the catamaran, all inclusive food and drinks. So we just wanted it to be turn up, lay on a beach. Read my book.
[00:40:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:35] Speaker A: You could just grab a drink and not need to worry.
I need to go pay for this. I need to pay for that. It was a buffet lunch, which was also delicious.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: Was this a beach club that you had to take a bus to or a beach club that you had to take a boat?
[00:40:51] Speaker A: Both. So you had to take a bus to the kind of little outer area and then you took a little taxi boat that was run by the island beach club?
[00:41:03] Speaker B: Yes. Was it maybe paradise beach or something like that? I can't.
[00:41:08] Speaker A: Maybe the name?
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm trying to remember because this is from, like I said, from 2019. But we did that. I remember because we did this excursion. It was like a private beach club, but we had to take a bus and then a boat. So it took a little bit to get there, but we were there, like a good amount of the day.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: I think we were there a good five plus hours. So it was well worth it.
And, yeah, lunch was delicious.
We managed to be on a fairly. I mean, I think everyone pretty much left for it at the same time, but we got there and headed straight to the beach. I'll tell you what did happen. We booked the Snooba. Oh, de Palm Island.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: Depalm island. That's it. That's where we went. I'm so glad it came to you because as soon as you said it, I'm like, yes, that's it. That's where we went.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: So we had booked to do the Snooba de Palm island. I remember the whole name of the excursion. That's why, unfortunately, the sea was insanely rough that day. So literally, we'd had the safety briefing. We were stood there the tanks were in the water and the guys, like, the way the waves were crashing up at the dock, you could tell he was like battling with, like, do I take these people out there? And he kind of initially said to people, is there anyone that doesn't want to do this? Looking at the sea, and I've scuba dived before and my husband has, he's not qualified, but he's done discovery scuba dives. And we know that the second you get down under the water, nine times out of ten, it doesn't matter what's going on at the top. If you're in an enclosed bay, it looks worse than it is at the surface. I think the complicating factor with this is with snuba. You have the scuba tanks on the little dinghies on the surface.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: Yes, up at the surface. So those are moving around and they might pull you because you're on a line. Right. Yeah.
[00:43:02] Speaker A: We were kind of like, if he's going to let us go in, we'll go in, right? He thinks it's fine, we'll go. But there were people that were going, no, not for me, thank you. And then literally, just as I think we were about to kind of go, he went, no, we can't do it.
[00:43:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:18] Speaker A: For us to do the sea trek helmet dive instead, because it was on the opposite side of the island, which was more protected, so the waves were not smashing up against it. But we just decided we're just going to go lay on the beach. It was too much faffing around. Did they discount, did they refund with Disney? It was a little bit, it was.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: A partial because you still got the Palo island. Right.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: They couldn't tell us what kind of refund we were going to get.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: They needed to negotiate it with Disney because you booked it through.
[00:43:52] Speaker A: So we. Nothing appeared on our account for a couple of days. And it did take us going to the port adventures desk and saying, hello. Yeah, what's happening? And then very shortly after that, it did get sorted out. I forget again how much the refund was, but I don't think it was an awful lot. But you still had the full day there. We joined all the same.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And to be fair, that excursion, even without the snuba add on part, because when we did to Palm island, we didn't do it with the snuba, we just did the. Actually, I think we did it with a cabana at Palm island. And so there were different prices depending upon if you just wanted to do Palm island, to Palm island with Snuba de Palm island with the ocean walk, de Palm island with the cabana. Right. So there were a bunch of different options. And so even just the De Palm island one was a significant cost, if I remember per.
[00:44:48] Speaker A: I want to say it was again, around that hundred to.
I want to say, like 130 with the snooper.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: Again, I can't remember how much we got back, but for the amount of time we spent there, there were beach chairs, as much food as you wanted, all the drinks you wanted, they had, obviously, upsells on the drinks, so you could get kind of top shelf stuff if you wanted to pay. But we kind of just, again, stuck with the rum punch. Because you're in the Caribbean.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: Yes. When in the Caribbean, that's what you drink. Absolutely. Well, it sounds like a good day at Palm island and a good day in Aruba. Your last port stop was Kirasau. The very next.
Guys, I know you didn't do a Disney excursion because you mentioned up done. You'd planned on these two Disney excursions, and then the other two were either booked excursions outside or just time on your own. What did you plan for Kirasau and how did that work out?
[00:45:46] Speaker A: Just to wander around? And this was the best decision, I think. I think it largely came down to there wasn't anything in particular that struck us that we wanted to do from either the Disney list or from me doing my own kind of research. So we just decided it all looks fairly compact, like, and walkable. Let's just go have a go. And so, yeah, we just went and had a wander around. We ended up just finding a place to grab some coffee. They have a curacao kind of letter sign. And we just wandered up and down. And it really was crazy how much it reminded me of the Netherlands.
[00:46:29] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:46:30] Speaker A: It is like a dutch influenced island, even. There was this very cool, and I've never seen anything like it, this bridge that swings on dunes rather than lifting up or separating in the middle. The entire bridge from the far, I guess, the town side, we were coming from the port side, and we just got across it in time. We had no idea that this was like a thing. And we just got off it and started hearing sirens. We were like, oh, what's happening?
And then these gates closed down and we sort of just turned around and staring at it. And the bridge literally swung on an axis from.
[00:47:16] Speaker B: Oh, wow. So it detaches and then swings open.
[00:47:20] Speaker A: The sticky side and swings around to be in line with to the side that it's swinging from to let the big ships through and then swings back closed again.
[00:47:33] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:47:34] Speaker A: It was so interesting to watch.
We did see, we didn't notice on the side we walked from, but when we were stood there, there is a sign that says a bridge can be opened up for up to an hour depending on. And obviously the process of opening and closing it isn't quite takes time. Yeah, it takes some time. And they did it with people standing on it too. Even clear it. So you sort of get this ride. We didn't obviously do it, but then they have a free ferry, that little taxi ferry thing that shuttles people in that.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: So if you get stuck on one side and you want to get to.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: The other, my first thought was, what happens if we need to get back to the shopping? What? No, there was a way around it. We didn't need it, but, yeah, so we didn't really have a plan. We just wandered up and down, like I said, stopped for some coffees, just did a little bit of shopping, bought some presents for people to bring home. We always anywhere my husband and I go, we get little trinket things to remember the place. So we had to go and find something that had curacao either written on it or that would remind us where it was. We do this in every port. So we found a little craft market and managed to get something there. Yeah. And then again wandered back to the ship for lunch. Hadn't really come across a particular place that we were like, yes, we want to eat here. So we went cabanas.
[00:48:55] Speaker B: Cabanas.
[00:48:57] Speaker A: And I had actually thought to look at what time it was open till that day. So we just managed to slip in when the half side was one side.
[00:49:07] Speaker B: Shut down and the other side was still open.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: So just managed to grab a plate of food before they closed. We did have to hot foot it back down the port a little bit to make sure we got there in time, but it was worth it.
[00:49:20] Speaker B: Nice. Well, sounds like some great port stops. Let's talk a little bit more about your onboard experience. What kinds of stuff do you and your husband like to get up to on board? I know you mentioned obviously you spend more time in the adult only areas than probably parents with young kids do, but what kinds of stuff do you guys like to do on a sea day? Are you sitting out by the pool? Are you doing trivia? Are you doing animation? Are you folding towel animals? What are you all up to?
[00:49:48] Speaker A: For sure, we're definitely deck people, kind of front and center, especially if it's a whole day. We'll go and kind of set up camp, find somewhere, read books, sunbathe.
That's most of the time where you're going to find us. We love to throw in at least one, maybe two, but normally only one kind of mixology or tasting or something like that. So we'd done that. We actually did that on a port day time, but it was at like 04:00 p.m. And all aboard was like 430. So I was like, this makes sense.
[00:50:20] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:50:21] Speaker A: So we had done that. I've done towel folding before and I vaguely remember enough that I like to play games with my stateroom host and surprise them by making towel animals for them. I love.
Which I have photos of some of the ones that made. So I also have to shout out, Giselle, our stateroom host. Just the best stateroom host ever had. She was so wonderful. I think she's been with Disney since the beginning, so she was just phenomenal. Just so brilliant.
[00:51:00] Speaker B: I bet she loved your tall animals, though.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I'll do it. Like, I would put my baseball cap on it or my sunglasses, but she had her own props she would bring in. I've never had a room attendant that had their own props. I've had them use my things.
[00:51:17] Speaker B: Yes, I've had them use my sunglasses.
[00:51:19] Speaker A: Or had all her own stuff. But it did have sneaky, like, her name written inside them. But yeah, she would make something and I would try and turn it into something else. Most.
I don't know. I like surprising.
We've always loved our room attendance, but she was just eleven out of ten.
I say, she was so accommodating. It's not like we need tons of accommodation. But she just twigged on to our kind of schedule and she took the time to ask us. We would see her every day as well because last year, a cruise that I went on, I think we saw our room attendant twice the whole time, which just depends on their schedule and what's going on. And I completely get that. But it was really wonderful that she just seemed to always be there. Whenever we went out, she was around and she would ask us, are you going to the show or are you out today? So she just knew and we'd always come back and she'd always been through there. She was just wonderful.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: I love that too. I feel like when they ask you your schedule, are you headed to breakfast? Or it'll usually be like, oh, are Brian and Nathan still sleeping? Or something like that. Right? Because they're trying to figure out when is the best time for them to clean or make up your room. Right. Especially in the morning, if they're having to put away one of the beds for a kid or just get through everybody's rooms, they're trying to sort of figure out how they're going to tackle their day. And so it helps, but it's also like a friendly conversation starter.
[00:52:55] Speaker A: It was so lovely, even to the point where I said to her, can you request rumor, like stateroom post? She's like, no, I have a section.
[00:53:05] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.
I mean, if you know that person's going to be on board, but they do get moved. They have a section.
[00:53:16] Speaker A: I was like, how can we have you again? She was like, it's really hard, really impossible.
[00:53:20] Speaker B: Yeah. The only way I would say that it might work out is if you're sailing in concierge because there are certain room attendants that are like. They're assigned as concierge. Yeah, it's a smaller section. Exactly. So we had the benefit of having on the magic, our last two cruises on the magic, because we were sailing in concierge, we were sailing in different rooms each time, but in the same, they're all in the same area. They're all on one deck. They're all on deck eight on the magic.
But there are more than one stateroom attendance. But we just happened to get the same one, two cruises and they weren't back to back cruises. They were separated by several months. But we had the same stateroom attendant, also our favorite stateroom attendant we've ever had, too. So, yeah, it's really wonderful when you do end up with the same person, but it's really, as you mentioned, really hard.
It would have to be just a coincidence, frankly, I think.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: Exactly. But she did say to us, she was like, because obviously I said, I am cruising with my dad in August of this year. And she said, well, whoever your room attendant is, just ask them and they can tell you what floor I'm on.
Absolutely. Well, because she was just so lovely.
[00:54:37] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and bring her chocolate or something. I feel like they don't get to get off the ship that much. I mean, they do get it to get off the ship, but not as much as you would think.
[00:54:47] Speaker A: I think every day, morning, they're working so hard that time in the middle, haven't they?
[00:54:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And they work so hard every day with all of the making up the room and then the turndown service and a lot of other cruise lines only do making up the room or cleaning the room once a day. They do once a day service, and Disney still does twice a day service, no matter what category room you're in. And frankly, if you need something, they'll come more than know, especially if you've know, sort of a nap set up for kids or something like that. So, yeah, they're so amazing.
I love when you have cast member who just really impacts your vacation in a positive way and you can shout.
[00:55:31] Speaker A: Out to them, even though we actually had two. Well, I say two instances of that this cruise, because our dining team were also phenomenal. And a hilarious story about this is that on the cruise that I went on with Lindsay, which we came and spoke to you about from last summer, main server had said we'd been talking about previous cruises and stuff, and I said, oh, we had this really amazing serving team when we did Panama Canal.
It was Manish and Sheldon, and we absolutely loved them. And this that, and he goes, oh, I know Manish. He's on the dream now. And I was dream. So, of course, I don't know his last name because I have not been smart enough to save the little piece of paper which, top tip, if you like your service, if you like any of your servers, save that little piece of paper because it keeps paying for you.
[00:56:24] Speaker B: Yes. Or take a picture of it. Right.
[00:56:26] Speaker A: So I had contacted my travel agent and said, can you put in a request? Because I've heard that the server that we really love is on the dream. It was a different Manish. Oh, no. But we had Manish and ajus, and they were just wonderful.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: Oh, good.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: Such a great pairing. So much fun.
We always get given a hard time by our service team at dinner because they'll say, what do you want for dessert? And we'll go, nothing, thank you. We're just not dessert people. We generally, unless it's something I really, really like, we just don't tend to eat it.
So we tend to have a starter and a main, and that's enough for us. But it got to a point where James, again, said, nothing, thank you. But I had ordered something one night, and so I just brought him a plate that said, nothing.
[00:57:21] Speaker B: Nothing in chocolate.
[00:57:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Manisha's magic tricks were great, and they were just so brilliant. And I'm going to request them again for the cruise later this year because why wouldn't you?
[00:57:36] Speaker B: Oh, my God. All right. I love it. That's awesome. Like I said, those cast experiences and those relationships are so special. And when you get a great team, that really makes your vacation. Even just the stars have aligned.
[00:57:51] Speaker A: I love going to find, we would say, where are you for breakfast? And they didn't, we'd go and find them.
[00:57:59] Speaker B: Now, you mentioned you went to Palo for dinner on this cruise and you guys have been to Palo before, but did it live up to your expectations? Did you find any differences since this was your first time doing Palo on the dream?
[00:58:16] Speaker A: So this was my first time doing Paolo since they had the ala carte menu because I don't think I have done it since my first cruise, actually. So I've done Paolo now twice and also Remy now twice. I did Remy last summer and I had done Remy many years back, pre pandemic. And also, I think Paolo was what we did the first cruise.
And, yeah, we went ala carte, which I think was definitely the right choice for us just because there were different things on there that we wanted. Our server was also wonderful. Would I do it again next time? Probably not. Not that it was bad. Not that there was anything wrong with it for me. It just didn't stand up as I had hoped. And I don't know if it's that Remy's ruined it.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: Or maybe your main dining was just so good.
[00:59:14] Speaker A: Main dining was great. And I almost felt sad that we weren't with Manisha and just that night.
[00:59:19] Speaker B: Right.
[00:59:19] Speaker A: Maybe it's that as food, it was good. We got a few different things to share, but I think also the cost on top, I was a bit like.
[00:59:29] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and the carte does end up being quite a bit more expensive than how it used to be, where it was all just a fixed price. Or if you go with the fixed price menu, I totally understand not going with the fixed price menu. Brian never goes with the fixed price menu in palo for dinner because the main dishes that he likes are not on there. Right.
[00:59:51] Speaker A: I'll say. James had the.
[00:59:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:59:54] Speaker A: And it was the food. There was nothing wrong with the was. It was delicious food. It was not that we didn't like it. It was not that we didn't have a good experience.
Would I do it for maybe a special occasion, like if I was on board for my birthday or an anniversary or something? Yeah, probably. Maybe I'd love to go and try the brunch. I'm not put off to the point where I wouldn't go and try the brunch again. I haven't done the brunch in years.
I would have preferred, I think, to have done a brunch reservation. We just couldn't get one.
[01:00:28] Speaker B: Yeah. The brunch is fantastic. It is a massive amount of food because you can order however much you want of everything. Yeah. They don't do the buffet anymore, but you can order whatever you want off the menu. And so it's a massive amount of food. You got to go in with an empty stomach. Definitely.
[01:00:47] Speaker A: And equally, we thought about doing Remy. We had a booking for both, and we said, we will only do one of the two. And James kind of said, well, you did do Remy with Lindsay last, like in the summer. Do you want to do it again? And I said, actually, probably not, because it's an experience in itself. And James is also. He. Has he done it before? I feel like, yeah, I think he has done it before. And so we were kind of like, well, let's do the thing that you haven't.
[01:01:13] Speaker B: Sure. Sure. Plus, Remy is a longer experience.
[01:01:21] Speaker A: That is a lot of money.
[01:01:24] Speaker B: It definitely is worth it.
[01:01:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. It is phenomenal food. But you are preparing to spend a good chunk of money that.
[01:01:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Well, Laura, before I subject you to some arbitrary rules, some arbitrary questions and a dash of judgment, is there anything I haven't asked you about that we've missed or any highlights that you wanted to tell our audience about?
[01:01:50] Speaker A: I think the only other thing that I haven't talked about that we did was we actually spent most. I guess I kind of mentioned that the adult only area didn't really work for us. What we ended up doing was spending most evenings up in Meridian with the team up there, and we really enjoyed that. So what we tended to do was we didn't go to any of the non Disney performers, either because we'd seen them before, or they just didn't strike a chord with us that we wanted to go and see them. So we'd go and sit up and actually had a really, it was just such perfect weather for sitting out on the deck there. So they actually did have cognac, whiskey, et cetera, tastings, and every night they had spare spaces. And Gabriel would say, do you want to join in? And we were like, no, it's okay.
[01:02:41] Speaker B: We'll just sit and have our cocktail.
[01:02:43] Speaker A: But they would not necessarily kick you out. You could go and sit on the deck. And they still had one of the service team coming out and serving on the deck.
[01:02:54] Speaker B: Oh, that's great.
[01:02:54] Speaker A: Really lovely. So if you are either without kids or the kids are in, the kids hire, I think Meridian is something that people don't find, and we are big lovers of keys and Cadillac lounge on the smaller ships, and that is where we spend all our time in the evenings on the smaller ships. And so I think Meridian is kind of the substitute for that for us, yes.
[01:03:20] Speaker B: And even smaller.
[01:03:22] Speaker A: Yeah. But equally, we'd talk to people on the deck in the day and be like, oh, have you been up to watch the sunset at Meridian? Because it's stunning to sit and watch. And they'd be like, what's Meridian?
[01:03:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I feel like people only find out about it if they go to Palo or Remy. Right. Because it's right.
Right in between Palo and Remy on the dream and the fantasy. But if you don't go to dinner or brunch over at one of those restaurants, it's totally tucked away. Right, exactly. And there is a reason to go up there. Meridian is a great bar and it's generally pretty quiet. I didn't know that they were letting people stay even during the drink tastings on the deck because on the other ships you can't. Right. Like there isn't.
Right. So when they're doing a drink tasting or drink seminar in one of the bars, that bar is shut down. Right.
[01:04:18] Speaker A: It's the case for most of the others. So Skyline O'Gills. Whenever there was a sign outside that was like beverage seminar in progress.
[01:04:27] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. So that's lovely that you could do that.
I will have to take advantage of that next time we're on the fantasy, which will be, thankfully, in December of this year. We have not been on the fantasy in way too long and same with the dream. Frankly, we haven't been on the dream in way too long as well. But I'm excited to get back on. I mean, like you, the classic ships have my heart, but my first ship was the fantasy. So the fantasy also has that special place. Okay. So we're going to do a shortened rapid fire because we did rapid fire with you the last time you were on the show, I believe if my memory is right. But I want to ask you Disney Cruise line favorites, because now that you've been on the dream, you have more options. Right. The last time we talked to you, your only options were the magic, the wonder or the fantasy. And so I have to ask you now, what is your favorite bar?
[01:05:31] Speaker A: I think keys is still going to have it.
Cavalier lounge, I don't mind.
[01:05:38] Speaker B: Awesome. All right. Favorite onboard activity. Has that changed?
[01:05:43] Speaker A: Still laying on the deck. Favorite thing to do. I mean, I guess probably in Europe less so.
[01:05:48] Speaker B: But the weather's not as.
That's right. Yeah. That's why you guys come over so much to the states because that weather is just kind of a thing.
[01:05:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I can't get it over here.
[01:06:02] Speaker B: All right, favorite rotational dining.
[01:06:05] Speaker A: Got to be tritons.
[01:06:08] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. All right, what was the favorite space on the Disney dream?
[01:06:15] Speaker A: Meridian.
[01:06:16] Speaker B: Oh, awesome.
What's your favorite port? And let's set aside castaway. Let's not include castaway.
[01:06:24] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, Sam.
[01:06:26] Speaker B: I know.
[01:06:26] Speaker A: What's my favorite port? Oh, my goodness.
[01:06:29] Speaker B: Of all the ones you've been to. So you can include stuff from this trip and from previous think.
[01:06:34] Speaker A: I think Antigua has it.
[01:06:37] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[01:06:38] Speaker A: Really lovely. The welcome when we got there in port, even though we pretty much did go straight onto the Catherine, but then we did go and have a little walk around after.
I think that excursion takes was. Yeah. James and I have both said that was probably the best excursion we've ever done.
[01:06:56] Speaker B: I love that. Awesome.
[01:06:57] Speaker A: I think that wins it for Antigua.
[01:06:59] Speaker B: Awesome. Okay, this is a really important question, Laura, favorite Disney cruise line stage show.
[01:07:06] Speaker A: Beauty and the Beast. Yes.
[01:07:10] Speaker B: That'S the right answer. You've already won, but I'm still going to ask you a couple of more questions. All right. Remy versus Palo Remy. All right. Aqua duck versus aqua dunk.
[01:07:23] Speaker A: Aqua dunk.
[01:07:25] Speaker B: Yes. Absolutely. Favorite ship now.
[01:07:28] Speaker A: Still the wonder.
[01:07:29] Speaker B: Still the wonder. Absolutely. Good job, Laura. All right, and my last question, bucket list cruise. Where are you going in the world if you could sail tomorrow on a Disney cruise line ship anywhere?
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Well, when you asked me this last time, I cheated and said I would go around the world. That is still true. But I would love to do Asia, maybe out of Singapore and see some different ports around that area.
[01:07:58] Speaker B: You might be able to do that on a Disney ship in a couple of years.
[01:08:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think that it's that far away. And it's definitely something I would love to really, really looking forward to. The South Pacific. I think that also comes of the cruises available.
Just the opportunity to go to some of those islands that you just really wouldn't go to otherwise. I don't think so. To have that opportunity to experience that culture, I'm incredibly excited and grateful for.
[01:08:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Well, Laura, I have to say thank you for coming on the show again. We absolutely love having you on. We'd love to have you come back on, perhaps to talk about your Sydney to Honolulu Cruise, February of 2025. That sounds amazing. Are you going to get to spend some time in Australia before that cruise plan?
[01:08:51] Speaker A: We don't have fleshed out plans yet because obviously way too early for flights and kind of other things. But we have an idea you can't go all that way. We want to try and do New Zealand, Australia.
[01:09:04] Speaker B: That is going to be a long holiday I'm taking.
[01:09:08] Speaker A: I do not know how it's going to work, but we're going to find a way.
[01:09:13] Speaker B: Where there's a will, there's a way. Laura.
[01:09:15] Speaker A: I love it. We'll make it work.
[01:09:17] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, thank you again. And like I said, we love hearing about your travels and we hope to have you on to talk about that cruise. And thanks again for coming.
[01:09:27] Speaker A: Thank you so much, Sam.
[01:09:32] Speaker C: Well, a big thank you to all of you out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Please be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you can keep getting great content from the DCL duo each week. We'd also love it if you'd head over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a five star review. If you hit those five stars, that's great. If you leave us a written review along with a five star review, we will be sure to read it on the air at the end of one of our main episodes. If you're hovering over anything less than five stars, we really want you to reach out to us so we can take your feedback. Best way to do that? Head to dclduo.com to find all the ways to connect with us. It links to our podcast, our vlog. Our blog has all the ways you can connect with us on social media, has our Etsy store where you can find our fun beach bags and magnets that we designed as enthusiasts of each of the Disney Cruise line ships. Has a link off to our Patreon if you'd like to help support the show. We really, truly appreciate each and every one of our patreons for helping to support the show. Each and every month has a link off to our show sponsor, Mypath Unwinding, where you can get more information about booking a fabulous vacation, which also really helps to support our show. All the things are there, including a way you can sign up to be a guest on the show if you'd like to share your Disney Cruise line experience. Most importantly, you can always email us at
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