[00:00:00] Speaker A: The other thing that was interesting and a little challenging was also knowing what currency to tip in because if someone brings you room service, for example, we don't have us dollars.
So it's like, do I tip you in Australian? Even though I have to tip you like three times as much because our dollar is so poor.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL duo podcast, brought to you by my path, unwinding travel. And Sam, we got another review for you.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: Do I love me some reviews.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: I think you're going to know who sent this one in. And it's short, but to the point. It is from cute Le t who writes, so excited to see more episodes. Sam and Brian are so good at explaining how everything works and being kind to their guests. So Sam, I think you know who that one's from.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: I do. She is a ten year old listener who listens with her family. And thank you for the review, Ellie. We love it.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Yes. And we will see you on board again very soon. Actually. Well, in June, I guess. Not very soon, but in June. Yes. Thank you for the review, Ellie.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: Actually, we'll see her on board Royal Caribbean in May.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Oh, that's right. Royal Caribbean first. Yes, that's correct. That's correct. But Sam, do you want to introduce our guest today?
[00:01:27] Speaker C: Yes, I am super excited because we have a guest that is coming to us all the way from Western Australia.
We're recording. It's 130 in the afternoon, Seattle time, and she is an entire day in the future, but at like 530 in the morning.
So, Shannon, welcome to the show and thank you so much for getting up so early in the morning to record with us.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Good morning. Thank you very much for having me.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: It is so nice to have folks from other parts of the world on our show and who love Disney as much as we do. Who love Disney Cruise line as much as we do in particular. Now, Shannon, we know that this cruise that we're about to talk about, which was on the Disney wonder, sailing out of Australia, was your very first cruise. But of course, we know you have some Disney background, Disney experience. Why don't you tell our audience what your background with Disney is and where your love of Disney comes from?
[00:02:27] Speaker A: Sure. So growing up in Australia in the. Nobody went to Disneyland. It just wasn't a thing. It was this faraway, magical place that no one ever went to. But my grandparents were quite well traveled and they had actually been to Disneyland. And one of my favorite things to do as a child was to look at my grandmother's photos of her Disneyland trip and for her to talk about that to me. So I loved listening to her stories of the jungle cruise and how the animals came to life and the elephants would shoot water at you. I just loved those stories. So it wasn't until my early 20s that I actually had the opportunity to go to a Disney park. And my first Disney park was actually Disneyland Paris. So my husband, my now husband and I went backpacking around Europe, and we were in Paris, and just on a whim, I said, hey, let's go to Disneyland. So we went to Disneyland, and I absolutely fell in love with it. And all of those memories that I shared with my grandmother all came back to me, and he was equally enthralled. Loved it, too. And as part of that particular travel, we ended up in the US on the way home, and our very last stop was Disneyland, where we spent three days, spent all our money, because we were very poor, spent all our money, stayed at the Disneyland hotel, and we were absolutely hooked. So then we came back to Australia, and we got married. We bought a house. He went back to uni, and so we were very, very poor, had no money, and we didn't even know Disneyland is so just not heard of in Australia that we didn't even know there was this other park called Disney World. And we found out there was this other park called Disney World, and we ended up getting a copy of a travel Disneyland. It was like a Disney World promotional video. That's how old I am. It was a video.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: I remember those. I remember those. Shannon, Brian, and I are old enough to remember the VHS tapes that were the promotional videos for.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Wow. And, you know, we just had that on repeat, and we just were dreaming of this wonderful place called Disney World that we would get to one day when he graduated from. You know, we had some money. So, yeah, we watched that tape over and over, and eventually we did get to Disney World, and it was everything we thought it would be. Absolutely loved it. And joined up with DVC there and then on that very first trip, and then went back to Disney World every two to three years until around 2019, just before the pandemic we sold, which was probably good timing in hindsight.
[00:05:14] Speaker C: Yeah. Now, which resort did you guys buy your points at, specifically?
[00:05:19] Speaker A: With DVC, we bought into Saratoga Springs, which was the resort that was being offered at the.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. Wow. That's kind of. I mean, that's. That's a big purchase when you live all the way on the other side of the Pacific and you're choosing to buy at Disney World in particular. I mean, that's about as far away as you can go.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Yeah, it used to take us. So it was 5 hours to the east coast of Australia. So say we went from Perth to Sydney, and then it would be 15 hours from Sydney to LA, and then you've got the LA to Orlando leg, which is like another four to 5 hours. So it would be like three plane trips, 23 hours. It was a very big undertaking, particularly when you're taking like a nine month old and a two year old as well.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness. So, Shannon, who was in your sailing party for this cruise?
[00:06:16] Speaker A: So it was myself, my husband, and our 15 year old son.
[00:06:21] Speaker C: Amazing. Now, you had mentioned to us, and I mentioned at the top of the show, that this was your very first cruise.
You weren't a family that was cruising before. What made you decide to book a cruise and obviously book it on Disney cruise line, specifically.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: So I was never a cruise person, ever. The idea of cruising, to me, was not appealing. I'm not a great sailor. I get seasick. So when the email came through to my husband about Disney cruise line is coming to Australia, he sent it to me and I was like, that's so exciting. I love Disney, but I hate cruising.
So it took some time for me to actually get comfortable with the idea of going on a Disney cruise, because at one end I had the whole Disney pool. Like, I can't believe that Disney is going to be in our pocket of the world. That is so exciting. Like, it's the first time we've ever had any bit of Disney in Australia. But on the other side, it was this. Oh, my goodness, a cruise that's just not for me. But in the end, Disney won and we booked the.
You have.
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Were you looking at multiple itineraries or. Obviously, there wasn't a cruise leaving out of Perth. There were cruises leaving out of Sydney. But was there a specific reason why you chose the itinerary? You chose, and why don't you tell our audience what itinerary you ended up sailing?
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Sure. So because we live in Perth and it's basically a three to four hour plane trip from anywhere on the east coast, we could choose from cruises that left from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne. So the reason that we chose the cruise we did was for a number of reasons. So we chose the cruise that left from Brisbane and it was a four night. So one of the reasons we chose that was because it was a four night itinerary, and we figured that four nights would be just the right amount of time. So three nights, from what I had researched, could be a little bit too short, and I didn't necessarily want to go on one of the longer ones. So the longest ones here this time around were six nights. I didn't want to do six nights just in case I didn't like it. I got right. So four nights seemed just about right. The Brisbane cruise was also good in terms of the school year, so my son only missed one week of school, so that worked out well. And another reason was I didn't want to leave from the bottom half of Australia. So there's this particular patch of water in Australia called the Bass Strait, and it separates mainland Australia from Tasmania. And many of the cruisers were leaving from Sydney or Melbourne and going down to Tasmania, which meant they had to cross the Bass strait. Now, the Bass strait is known as one of the roughest seas in the world.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: This is like going through the Drake passage or something.
If you want to go to a specific spot, you might have to go through it, but if you can avoid it, maybe not the best for a pleasure.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. So I wasn't going to go on any cruise that was going know, traverse the Bass strait. So our particular cruise, Brisbane, it also had quite a nice itinerary as well. So it was four nights and we did actually spend a whole day in Sydney. So our son had never been to Sydney, so we figured, know it was a really nice opportunity to show him two cities in Australia that he'd never been to. And it also just worked out really well because you had two nights at sea, a whole day in Sydney, and then you were back.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Is that right?
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Three, four. Yeah. And then another two nights you were.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: Wow, that's, that's really cool that this was his first time in Brisbane and his first time in Sydney, two of the, obviously the bigger cities in Australia. So that's really. It's funny. I guess I just kind of assume, of course, you've been there before, but it's like New York and know it's like almost that far away from each other. Just because you grew up in California doesn't mean you've ever been to New York or vice versa. So that kind of thing for you all.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: Well, tell us about Shannon. I'm curious about, we've talked to other people who've sailed in Australia and they've mentioned, know Disney has a following there, but it's nowhere near as big as what it might be in the US. So I'm curious. I always like to ask folks, so when you told your friends and family you were going on a Disney cruise in Australia. Did they think you were a bit crazy?
[00:11:09] Speaker A: They already think crazy, Brian. They already know that I'm crazy with my multiple Disney trips. So, yeah, you're right. It really just doesn't have the following in Australia that it does in the US. So people very much perceive the Disney product as something for kids and.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: Yeah, they don't understand, Shannon. They don't.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Don't. They don't get. I have. I have, like, one or two friends that have actually been to Disneyland, and they get it. It was funny. I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago who's considering going on a Disney cruise next season, and she was talking about her husband who doesn't have Disney in his heart, and I was like, I get you. That's right. Disney in your heart.
[00:11:57] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, maybe he will gain Disney in his heart after going on the cruise. I do think some of the experience for adults does happen with a connection with mean, it can happen with a connection with a particular movie or a particular character, but going to the parks, going on a cruise, that can actually establish or reestablish, I think, that Disney connection. I mean, I'm curious.
We're huge bluey fans in this family, and it's actually shown on Disney plus here. That's how we get to watch it. Or it's on the Disney Channel, on TV here. And we are fans of Bluey, and we're like, is it the same in Australia or is it just for kids?
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Bluey is very, very popular. And I have to say, bluey's parenting puts all parents to shame.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: Right?
[00:12:48] Speaker A: So, bingo and chili, best parents ever. Every time I see them problem solve the problems of their children, I'm like, I'm such a bad parent.
I need to take my advice.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: And they're willing to play with their kids, like, so much and engage in all this imaginative play. Sorry, I digress on topics here, but I'm always super impressed. And like I said, we're obsessed with it. So I kind of think of it as, like, with Disney.
Like, with Bluey, there's something for the adults and there's something for the kids always. So hopefully more people around the world will understand.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Yeah. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised on the cruise with how many Disney fans there actually like, I don't know if we'll talk about this later, but on embarkation day, I said to my know, we have to get really dressed. You know, I've got to wear my ears and I've got to wear my Mickey mouse shirt, and I've got to take my.
You know, and he's like, shannon, it's Australia. You're going to look like a fool. Like, no one is going to be dressed up. And I'm like, I don't care.
[00:13:58] Speaker C: Is he wrong?
I bet your husband is 100% wrong on this one.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: Yeah. So when we got there and there were ears and there were shirts, I was like, oh, these are my people. I found my people.
[00:14:14] Speaker C: I love it. And it is the same in the United States. And honestly, I would have guessed it would be the same. The only place where it's a little bit understated and it's still there, especially because it's still a lot of american passengers. But in Europe, that's the only place. Mean, on board, you'll see people dressed in the ears and the shirts and everything, but when they're going out to port for the day, they'll kind of keep the Disney stuff a little more understated because it's know, going to tour like the pantheon or something. They're not wearing their ears usually.
Well, anyway, let's. Let's dive into your travel to Brisbane. So, you mentioned you have to fly there when you arrive. Are you arriving the day of or are you arriving the night before? What was sort of your plan?
[00:15:05] Speaker A: So our cruise left on Monday morning, and we caught a flight to Brisbane on Saturday morning. So we arrived in Brisbane Saturday evening, and then we had a whole day in Brisbane just to have a look around and do a really quick tour of the sites because my son had never been there before.
[00:15:23] Speaker C: Yeah, nice. And where did you decide to stay, and what did you think of the accommodations? We always love to ask people for embarkation ports, and I will tell you, neither of us have ever been to Brisbane, so I wouldn't know the first thing about where to stay there and if it's near the port or convenient to the sites.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: Sure. So we just stayed in an airport hotel because by the time we arrived in Brisbane, it was about 06:00 p.m. So we hired a car from the airport, just drove to our airport hotel. Can't remember the name of it, but it was very good. I think I used tripadvisor or something to get the lowdown on whether it was good or not. And then the next day, because we had our higher car, we went down to the Gold coast hinterland, which was beautiful. We did a treetop walk, and we went to some glow worm caves, which was amazing.
And then we came back to Brisbane and my son is a massive NBA fan and they happened to have an NBA exhibition in Brisbane. So we randomly did an NBA exhibition in Brisbane, which he loves, and then just spent the rest of the afternoon looking around Brisbane City. Cool.
[00:16:31] Speaker C: Very nice. That's awesome. Now, your next day was embarkation day. How did you all get to the port? Did you keep that rental car? Did you return it and take a taxi? How did that work out?
[00:16:44] Speaker A: So we still had our car, but we had to return our car to the airport. So we drove to the airport to return the car. And the actual port is quite close to the airport. I think it's only around a 20 minutes drive. The actual Brisbane port is lovely because it's new. However, it is in the middle of nowhere and it's in the middle of this industrial area. So I think if you were an international visitor getting off the port in Brisbane, it's not a lovely, welcoming introduction to Brisbane because you just drive through all this industrial area. It's really not very nice. So we dropped our car off, and then, because I had done quite a lot of reading and listened to your podcast, of course, about embarkation, I was saying to everybody, we can't get there too early. We have to just get there at our embarkation time. So we just hung around the airport, had some coffee, and then we were just standing around aimlessly. And my husband's like, I don't care. We just got to go.
So we ended up getting there. Our port arrival time was twelve and I think we ended up getting there about 1145. And when we got there, they had already started to form the three lines since 1140, 512, 45, and so we got into 1145 line and it was really quick.
[00:18:10] Speaker C: Oh, that's great. I love that. I love when it's efficient and it runs how it's supposed to and it's organized with the lines and the know. We find that to be very hit or miss, except for at Port Canaveral is of very well organized and Miami is pretty well organized, but a lot of the other ports are not very well organized, so it's nice to hear when they are. So it sounds like a pretty smooth check in procedure.
What did you all think when you entered the beautiful atrium of the best ship in the Disney fleet? The Disney wonder?
[00:18:46] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I was so overwhelmed because this had been such a long time coming. It was very surreal. Yeah, I just remember they call your name and then there's Mickey up there. I was saying to my husband, look, there's Mickey, there's Mickey, he's like, what do you expect? We're on a Disney cruise.
[00:19:08] Speaker C: I'm imagining your husband with that reaction. What did your son think? I mean, he's 15, so he's not Disney's prime target audience, which I would say is more like the elementary school kid or the young middle schooler, which for us is grades like one through, I don't know, maybe six. So he's certainly older than that. But what were his impressions? Was he as excited as you are, or was he maybe more like your husband? Like, oh, of course, there's Mickey.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So he's grown up with Disney, so he loves Disney. So he was really excited about this cruise. He certainly wasn't going to dress up like his mum and dad because he's 15 and.
[00:19:54] Speaker C: Right. He's too cool for that.
[00:19:56] Speaker A: You're not going to do that. But, yeah, he was excited. I have to say, though, even though my husband and son love Disney, they don't love the characters as much as I do. So I didn't do any character meet and greets because I would have been standing in the line by myself, which I could have, but I've also done it before, so I lift that to other people. But no, he certainly was really excited to be on the cruise.
[00:20:19] Speaker C: Yeah, well, we have heard from other folks who've been on the cruises out of Australia and New Zealand that the lines for character meet and greets were actually quite long and probably longer than what we expect and we experience on the average sailings out of the US. And that would make sense because obviously we've got a lot more availability of character meet and greets in multiple Disney parks and whatnot. But did you sort of. I know you didn't wait in line for them, but when you were sort of passing them around the ship, did the line seem particularly long to you? I mean, you've seen what they can be in the parks. I imagine they're probably still shorter than the parks.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it was because it was such a novelty factor for people to have the opportunity to meet with the characters. So there's one incident I remember where I was on the top deck and Minnie came out and it was know, coincidence. I happened to be on the top deck just looking at the ocean, drinking coffee. I'm not sure what I was doing. And Minnie came out for a character greed. And honestly, I feel like I was mobbed, like I was pushed out the way. There's Minnie. Everyone came up the stairs and I was just, like, left flying.
Yeah, there was definitely a lot of enthusiasm for the characters, which is know.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I would love to know for. So you had one port stop, which was, as you mentioned, in Sydney. What did you all plan for Sydney? Did you do an excursion? I mean, I'm sure Disney offered excursions, but I know that a lot of people don't want to pay the upcharge for a Disney excursion. And as I would sort of think if I was, for example, stopping in New York City for the day, I probably wouldn't book an excursion. I'd probably just decide, I'm going to venture off on my own. I speak the language. It's much more easy to get around in that circumstance. What was your plan for your port day in Sydney?
[00:22:18] Speaker A: Yeah, so with the port adventures, you're right, there certainly was an upcharge. And what was also really interesting was that it was in US dollars. So not only were we paying for an upcharge, but we were also paying the really poor exchange rate to do an excursion with Disney. So, yeah, that just wasn't on our radar. So we decided to venture out on our own. And it was interesting because my husband was like, but I'm paying all this money for a Disney cruise. I should just stay on the ship. I can come to Sydney anytime. So we had that real tension. So in the end, we did this happy compromise where we ventured out on our own, did some of the main sights, and spent the afternoon in the ship. But where we docked in Sydney was absolutely beautiful. So we docked at Circular Quay. So I remember waking up in the morning and on one side was the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and on the other side was the opera house. It was the most stunning vista. It was so beautiful. So in the afternoon, even though we were on the ship, we were on the pool deck. We're in the hot tub. Harbor bridge one side, opera house the other. It was so beautiful and it was the most perfect day. So can't complain.
[00:23:39] Speaker C: I love that. So, like an iconic docking spot, iconic views while you're sitting enjoying yourself in a hot tub. I mean, it doesn't really get much better than that. Well, I feel like we need to talk some of the onboard activities that you all got up to. You mentioned in some notes to us ahead of time that your son had a really wonderful time at vibe. Tell us about that experience for him and what he liked about it. And did you ever get to see him if he was the whole time.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: He loved vibe. And no, we barely got to see him. So he would leave in the morning and then he would come back at midnight, of course, we saw him for meals, so we saw him at dinner and occasionally he did some activities with us, but he had the best time. Absolutely loved it. And I think that's something that's so positive about Disney is that they really cater, know, obviously they're good with kids, but also that teen group, I think the leaders in the teen group just knew how to interact with teens and make it a place that they want to go to. And if you think about your average 15 year old, I mean, they're a tough audience.
[00:24:54] Speaker C: Oh, they're the toughest audience. Absolutely. Oh, my.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Totally. So to have the 14 to 17 year olds really wanting to go to that place, to vibe, I think they must do an amazing job. So, yeah, he had a great time. He told me that they did lots of scavenger hunts and I sometimes saw him around the ship with his new mates doing things. He's a bit of a singer, so he just loved karaoke. They did karaoke a bit.
[00:25:23] Speaker C: I love karaoke myself.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And they played basketball and. Yeah, he was so in his element. Loved it.
[00:25:33] Speaker C: Awesome. Well, now, while he was at vibe, what did you and your husband get up to? Did you get some time in the adults only areas of the ship? Were you into the trivias or the family game shows? What kinds of things were you all enjoying?
[00:25:49] Speaker A: So I have to say we were very busy.
Yeah, it's amazing how busy you can be on a cruise ship. I was doing stuff all the time, so we did lots of trivias, did a drawing class.
We went to the rainforest room as well. We got a bit sucked in. We did the spa tour. When you first got on the ship on embarkation day, you know how they have the spa tour. So we did the tour, got sucked in by the upsell, went to the rainforest room. So I bought a rainforest room pass, which was actually quite nice. Not sure if I'd do it again, but it was nice. So we did that a couple of times. Did game shows. Yeah. Basically just did everything apart from character meet and greets.
[00:26:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that. I feel like one of the things people don't understand about cruising, and this is true for other cruise lines as well, but I think most people just assume, oh, you're just sitting on a lounger all day and you might be like sitting in a theater and it's like, no, not on Disney and not on most of the, at least not most of the american cruise lines. You have all of these activities that if you want to do them and keep your schedule completely busy. I mean, I often have like three or four things I want to do at once and I have to figure out what I'm going to have to miss. Right. So, yeah, there's so much.
What was your favorite trivia? I feel like we always have people who love the Disney trivia, people who love music trivia. What was the trivia category that you all were maybe the best at or maybe just terrible at, but like to go to.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: I am so competitive, Sam. So competitive. So when the Disney Parks trivia came up, I said to my husband, we've got this. We're going to win this. We've been to Disney World seven times. We've been to Disneyland. We've been to Disneyland Paris. We've got this.
So we went there. No, we didn't have mean.
[00:27:47] Speaker C: I will tell Shannon, like, we don't win even Disney cruise line trivia. There are people who have hardcore knowledge who know how many rooms are on the Disney magic or how tall is the tower suite on the Disney wish like kinds of things that I have no idea and I would never probably even care to know, even though I absolutely love and obsessed with Disney cruise line lines. So I feel your.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Yeah, our lack of knowledge about Disneyland, Tokyo and Hong Kong ruled us out. Obviously people were much better traveled than us and they'd been to everywhere.
[00:28:29] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:31] Speaker C: Now I imagine that most of the people on the cruise, well, one. Do you know how if the cruise was full, full capacity for the magic and the wonder is about 2400, I think people. But did you have an impression of whether or not the ship was full and then was it mostly australians on the ship? I'm imagining that, yes. But I bet there were some Americans, maybe some folks from Europe, maybe probably some Kiwis as well.
[00:28:59] Speaker A: So the captain announced that there was 2200 people on the ship, so relatively full. Mostly people were from Australia and mostly people were from Brisbane.
[00:29:11] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Yeah. So when we went to some of the game shows, you know how they always ask, hi, what's your name? Where you from? Over and over, it was like, hi, I'm so and so, I'm from Brisbane. So, yeah, it was really very local. I didn't see too many people at all from other countries or even from local.
[00:29:34] Speaker C: Yeah. I wonder if people just took that opportunity because it's, know, Disney's right in their hometown, know, walk onto the ship. I know we keep talking about how it's so funny. We've never sailed out of Seattle and we live in a suburb of Seattle. And so it's just odd that we fly, know, California or we fly to Florida to take cruises all the time. It's very silly. Okay, well, I have to ask you about shows because I know you're a fan of shows. I'm a fan of shows, obviously.
Did you have all three shows? When I say all three shows, meaning the three main stage shows in the Walt Disney Theater, the Broadway style shows on your cruise.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Yes. So we had the golden Mickey's frozen and Disney dreams. And I have to say I went to some of them solo because my husband and son, he was off in vibe, having an amazing time and not really wanting to go the shows with his mum. And my husband's not really a show person either. So the first night I went to the Golden Mickey's alone, but I loved it. It just reminded me so much of.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: It's just.
[00:30:48] Speaker A: I don't know what it is, but it's got that real Disney bent to it. It just really reminded me of all my time at, you know, the shows they produce at Disney World. I just loved it. I just couldn't stop smiling the whole time because it was my first night. I was so happy to be on a Disney cruise and I was. Is this is home. This is Disney. It's so Disney.
[00:31:07] Speaker C: I loved it.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: I loved the golden Mickeys.
[00:31:09] Speaker C: It is so Disney. That show in particular is also like, so Disney. Yeah. What did you think about Frozen and Disney dreams as well? And did either of them come with you for either of those?
[00:31:21] Speaker A: So I managed to drag my husband to Frozen, which again, that was an amazing show. I'd seen the Frozen Broadway show. It came to Perth the year before, so I feel like I'd already seen a sort of Broadway production of Frozen, but even so, I mean, the way they do it on a ship, it's so amazing. I loved just, it was a great show. And then Disney dreams, we didn't quite make it to the theater. I'm not sure. I think we were just so exhausted from all of our game shows, trivia, everything we were doing that I didn't have the capacity to actually get dressed and go to the theater. But we watched it on the TV, so he was there. He watched it on the TV with me. So we saw it. We just didn't see it live. But that was a great show as well.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: Definitely.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: If I went on another cruise, I would see that in person in the theater.
[00:32:09] Speaker C: It was really good. I find that's like, plot wise, it's not as strong of a show, but the musical numbers are really fantastic in that show, and particularly the Lion King musical number is fantastic. So I always tell people, if you're looking for the great story and music together, like Frozen is obviously amazing. And I personally like the Disney Cruise line version of Frozen better than the Broadway show Frozen. I've seen three different versions on the stage, one at Disneyland. They used to have in the Hyperion theater, the one that was the Broadway production that came and toured here in Seattle. And then of course the Disney cruise line. And I think of the three, the Disney cruise line production to me is the best of the nice length.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: Isn't exactly, because I think sometimes when you go to see a Broadway show, particularly if you're taking kids, they can be quite long. I remember when I went to see the Broadway show Frozen, like obviously lots of people took their little girls. There was a lot of restlessness in the audience, whereas I think the cruise line show is just the right amount of time to capture attention.
[00:33:18] Speaker C: Absolutely. An hour to an hour and 15 minutes is perfectly long enough.
Two and a half hours is too long for most children. There are some that are the exception, but for most children to sit through live theater, I love the Disney Cruise line productions. I think they do a great job.
[00:33:40] Speaker B: 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 Dclduo. The folks over at Mypath Unwinding provide an amazing service. They are so knowledgeable and so friendly. We rely 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 DCl duo, so they know we sent you their way. Thanks, Mypath unwinding, for sponsoring the show. And with that, back to our episode.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: All right, well, we have to talk adult activities. Did you all spend any time in any of the adult venues, and did you go see match your mate or any of the other adult game shows? I feel like these are classics we talk about. We don't always get to go to them. Full disclosure, because we've got a ten year old, but your kiddo was not coming back until midnight himself, so it gives you the opportunity to stay out a little late.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we most definitely did. This was one of my favorite parts of the cruise, actually. So we had late dining, and after dinner every night, my husband and I would head off to the Azure lounge where they would have the adult activities. So we saw match your mate. We saw another game show, I think it was called heard that or something. They just had lots of stuff going on there after.
It was a lot of fun.
[00:35:45] Speaker C: Awesome. Did he volunteer for a match your mate?
[00:35:48] Speaker A: No, I'm married to a complete introvert, so there was no way that he was getting anywhere. That was one of the conditions that he came along, because I said to him, let's go this game show be really fun. And he's like, you're not going to drag me up on stage, are you?
I said, no, I promise.
[00:36:06] Speaker C: Yeah. For those who haven't heard us talk about match your mate before, it's been a while since we've talked about it, but it's essentially a newlywed game show where they ask one of the spouses a question and then they bring the other spouse and ask them the same question to see if they get a matching answer. And some of them are a little bit more risque for the Disney audience. So it's an adult only crowd, but it's quite fun to watch and cheer for the participants. And often the participants in the show become, I'll call them cruise line famous. Right? Like, they're not going to be famous in the outside world, but when you'll see them aboard the ship the rest of the cruise, everyone is like, oh, those are the people who went to the drive in movie or something like that.
[00:36:53] Speaker A: That's so true. We actually bumped into them in the hot tub when we're in Sydney and we were like, oh, hi. We knew their names.
We had a great old chat after that. We were friends. Knew lots about them.
[00:37:07] Speaker C: Lots about them. I love it. I love it.
[00:37:10] Speaker B: I have to ask about food because you can't go on a Disney cruise without food. And I know you have some food allergies to contend with. And you mentioned in your note to us ahead of the recording that you thought Disney did a good job with that. So you want to sort of let folks know kind of what you're dealing with and then how the food experience was overall for you.
[00:37:29] Speaker A: Sure. So my son has multiple food allergies, so that includes all nuts, dairy, wheat. So eating out as a family is really challenging for us, and it's not something that we actually do a lot of because it's just so hard to meet all of his food allergies. So traveling to Disney in the past, the parks always did a really great job with his food allergies. So I was hopeful that Disney cruise line would be similar and it's a place where he would feel safe, he'd be able to eat, and it wouldn't be the anxiety that sometimes comes with when you go out and you're not quite sure whether people understand the extent.
[00:38:12] Speaker C: Of the food allergies.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: So Disney were amazing on the cruise for him. So he went into the cruise thinking, oh, here we go again. I'm not going to be able to eat anything. There's going to be all this amazing food and I won't be able to eat any of it, which is often what it's like for him. And I remember we went there for lunch the first day and that was so great. They gave him stuff. He had this amazing steak and he's like, yeah, I can get used to this. But probably what really sealed it for us was the second day we had lunch on the pool deck. And lunch on the pool deck is typically your burgers and your pizzas and all of that fast food stuff that doesn't really cater well to food allergies. And you said to me, oh, mum, I just really want some pizza, but I can't have it because it's gluten and it's cheese.
Yeah. I said, well, let's just see what they can do. So we went up to the cast member and I said to them, oh, look, my son has food allergies. Is there any way we might be able to get some type of pizza that he could eat? And they said, leave it with us. Just wait there. And this person comes over with a pink slip and they ask him, what are your food allergies? And they took the notes and then they said, where are you sitting? Just wait there for 15 minutes and we'll be back. And they came back with this gluten free, dairy free pizza. It was just amazing. Like it was all made to order and he loved it and that was just how it was. So basically they made anything on the cruise for him, gluten dairy free. So yeah, it was great. And just to have feel safe because that's the big thing when you got multiple food allergies, you're living with this level of anxiety where you're not sure if food is safe. Is it going to cause a really bad reaction? He has an Epipen, so we have to be really cautious. And yeah, it was great. So he loved it. He was able to eat a really wide variety of foods and they would say to him, our dining team the night before, initially they would just cater to what was on the menu, so he'd choose something from the menu and they'd make it safe for him. But they got to know him over the cruise and they would say to him, hey, what do you want for dinner next night? And he'd go, I really feel like some pasta. And so then they would make sure that he had a pasta the next night. So yeah, they really went above and beyond.
[00:40:39] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. Okay, I have to ask with the pizza because most dairy free cheeses are made from nuts, but he has a nut allergy.
Do you know what the cheese. I'm putting the cheese in air quotes for those of you who obviously are listening. You can't see me, but what was the cheese topping made of?
[00:40:59] Speaker A: I don't know. We've been through many dairy free cheeses, Sam. So some are made from soy, some are made from coconut as well.
So you can get dairy free cheese that doesn't have nuts.
[00:41:13] Speaker C: Oh, OK, cool. I forgot about soy cheese. I have actually had soy cheese before and that wasn't bad. I don't have any food allergies, but I've just tried some of the dairy free stuff and some of it's pretty good. So yeah, that's awesome. I love that, especially for a teenager because all they want to do is just be a regular kid and just.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: Like everybody else I know because it's so hard for know his mates go to McDonald's and he can't eat at McDonald's. So this was really nice.
[00:41:42] Speaker C: Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad he got to just enjoy. Now, what did you all think of the food? I mean, what was your impression? Not just obviously of the service and taking care of your son and making sure he had food that was safe, but what about sort of the overall quality of the food? And service.
[00:42:00] Speaker A: We really enjoyed the food. It was great. I have no complaints. I had lots of great food and service. Of course, Disney, it was amazing. Our serving team was fantastic.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: I was curious, what did you think of the show aspects of the dining experience on the cruise line? Was that an added bonus? Some people find it a little loud, so difficult to have like a family dinner at times. So I'm curious what you thought about the show aspects.
[00:42:26] Speaker A: So loved the shows. My son and I are less introverted than my husband, so we got right into, you know, Indiana's we're up, we're dancing, we're joining in and animators was great. I sort of knew what to expect in regards to the shows because I am a planner and a researcher and I had watched lots of YouTube about what will happen. So I knew that when I was presented with this person to draw that it would then be animated and up on the screen. So I made sure to do my very best drawing. But in terms of the theater aspect of the dining, I mean, it's pure Disney. Everything is a production. Everything has thematic storytelling. They just do it so well. And I think it's what makes the dining experience much more enjoyable. It's not just having a meal, it's actually a whole production and a whole story. So we really enjoyed that part of it as well.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: And did you do any of the specialty dining on board or did you just stick to the included dining?
[00:43:36] Speaker A: No, we made the decision not to do any specialty dining, mainly because it was our first cruise. We were only there for four nights. So initially we did have a payload brunch booking, but after discussing it, we decided to cancel it just because we felt like it might be too rushed to try and fit that in. When it was our first time on a cruise and we had so many other things that we needed to experience as well. I think that was the right decision because we were so busy the whole time on the cruise, we couldn't have fitted that in. Anyway, I don't think.
[00:44:08] Speaker C: Yeah, that's generally our recommendation, particularly for a shorter cruise. And I consider a four night still on the shorter end as opposed to like a seven night, for example. But there's so many activities and Palo, it's wonderful and we love Palo brunch especially, but it is going to several, at least a two hour, really meal. And so there's so much to do on board and you might miss those Mickey churro waffles in the main dining, so you don't want to miss those churro waffles.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: One thing I will say about dining is that given my son's food allergies, we actually didn't really venture into cabanas because buffets are like, this is too hard to try and figure out what's safe, what's not safe. So we didn't really eat a lot at cabanas. We did go in there one day when we're in Sydney, we decided to come back for lunch and have lunch in cabanas because we just couldn't beat the views. I mean, harbor Bridge, opera house and cabanas. So we decided to be brave, go in there. But they were great. Luckily, our head server was on shift at Cabana's that particular time, and she saw us and we just went up to her and said, hey, is there anything that you could provide for us? And, yeah, she just bought out something special for him. So he didn't actually have to eat at the buffet, she just bought him out of bowl of pasta. But mainly we stuck to the sit down restaurants or the pool deck just because it was a little bit easier with all of his allergies.
[00:45:45] Speaker C: Yeah. And that's a really good recommendation in general because you can certainly order allergy friendly food in cabanas, but you do have to find a supervisor and make place an order, and then. So if you got one person in your family with a food allergy, they're going to be waiting for their food for a while, whereas everybody else is just going to be going to the buffet and eating already. So it's a little bit of you won't be all eating together, whereas in Maine dining, you're all going to be ordering off a menu or ordering something special. And so everybody will have their food brought at the same time. You'll all be eating together.
The person who has the food allergy won't feel left out or singled out, whereas I think in cabanas, even though they absolutely can accommodate you, it just won't feel the same as eating all together in a sit down dining room.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: So it's a different experience.
[00:46:36] Speaker C: Yeah. So one thing I was curious about, Shannon, is this was your first time going on a cruise, your first time, obviously, on a Disney cruise specifically. But was there anything that really surprised you or you weren't expecting to see or was maybe a bit of a cultural shock to you? Because this is an american cruise line and it is very american, obviously, even though most of the crew is not.
[00:47:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Look, in regards to cultural differences, I think one of the big things that the australian audience probably found different was the tipping culture. So obviously, my husband and I were very familiar with that because we've traveled to the US a few times and we know how it works. But for a lot of Australians, it's just such a unique concept. We don't tip over here at all. And I do feel that that's probably an area that Disney could have done. What's the word?
[00:47:40] Speaker C: Like education?
[00:47:41] Speaker A: Community education. Yeah, Disney could have done better education for the australian audience around.
I mean, I genuinely believe people want to do the right thing, but if you don't know what the right thing is, you can't do the right thing. So you have your prepaid gratuities, that's all fine. But I think where it got a bit murky was if you ordered a coffee or you ordered a drink from the bar, people, unless they'd gone out of their way to research the protocols, didn't necessarily know that you then had to additional to the person that makes your coffee or to the person at the bar. And it's not because they didn't want to, it's just because they actually didn't know. So I feel like Disney probably could have provided some more education.
Know, hey, this is an american cruise. And typically what we do is just something like that so that people would be aware because no one wants the cast members to be short changed. They do such an amazing job. So I think that was an area that was really challenging to navigate around the tipping. The other thing that was interesting and a little challenging was also knowing what currency to tip in, because if someone brings you room service, for example, we don't have US dollars.
So it's like, do I tip you in Australian, even though I have to tip you like three times as much because our dollar is so poor.
But can you actually use these australian dollars? And even that was really challenging. It was like, I don't know whether I need to go and get some US dollars before I jump on this. Careers. And some people had got us dollars, and we were lucky we still had some US dollars floating around from one of our last trips. But again, that was also really hard to know. What currency do we tip people in if we're tipping them in cash? And same with the envelopes. You get the envelopes at the end.
[00:49:48] Speaker C: And I guess with no explanation.
[00:49:50] Speaker A: No explanation.
[00:49:52] Speaker C: I will tell you that the envelope confusion is not uniquely confusing. That is confusing to Americans as well. And so what we like to tell people is if you've paid your prepaid gratuities, the envelopes are optional. Like they give you the envelopes. The envelopes are if you want to leave a tip above and beyond what the prepaid gratuities are. And that's typically to your stateroom attendant and your serving team. Right. And you don't have to give them cash. You can actually just go to guest services and have your prepaid gratuities adjusted up so that you pay through your credit card or however you paid for the cruise. It's very easy to do. It just takes an extra step. And you don't have to use the envelopes to do that. And your serving team will know that you've done that and they won't be shocked that you didn't give them the envelopes. But as far as the envelopes go, or tipping in cash, I will say, Shannon, it does not matter what currency you tip in. They will take it and they will be able to exchange it on board the ship. The ship pursers will exchange it for them. So I mean, they might have to pay an exchange rate, right. But if all you have is your local currency, they are perfectly happy to take that as opposed to nothing.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: I've also heard that they correctly prefer to get it on their shipboard account because then they don't have to go through the hassle of exchanging it and converting directly for purchases on board because they don't use cash on board. They use their key to the world card, kind of.
[00:51:26] Speaker C: Yeah. But I think they appreciate whatever they.
So, and then as far as for those listening who are not in the US and so are not as familiar with our tipping culture, if you are getting drinks at the bar, you're going to a restaurant, anything like that, it's customary. If you're getting a couple of coffees, it's customary to tip like a US dollar on top of that coffee, that might be like 20%. If you're $5 coffee, you're tipping an extra dollar. That's kind of the customary is about 20%. At a restaurant, it's probably more between 20% to 25%. But sometimes restaurants will have an automatic 18% gratuity and then you might tip a little bit above that if you wanted to. So it's really sort of a range, but I'd say like just a good guideline, 20% and you won't insult anybody is essentially. But that's a good tip. But it also means you have to think about, oh, wow, okay, everything is actually 20% more expensive if you're sort of calculating your expenses in your head. Yeah, but it is confusing. I think not just for folks outside the US, but as I said, the envelopes, I think, are quite confusing. I really think they should be giving out a communication with a little piece of paper with the envelopes that explains if you've already prepaid your gratuities, this is just if you want to leave anything extra, and there's no obligation to.
[00:52:55] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. So we knew the process, obviously, because I'd done all the research that you go down to guest services and you add an additional amount, all of that. But, yeah, it was really confusing, those envelopes.
I do think some education would be really helpful and maybe they'll learn. I did actually read in Facebook, and I don't know how true this is or not, but with subsequent sailings, Disney had apparently adjusted some of the prices of the drinks and the coffee to counter the fact that Australians weren't necessarily knowing they had to tip. I don't know if that's true, but that's just something that. But again, if you're going to do that, tell us. Right.
[00:53:42] Speaker C: Tell everyone.
[00:53:43] Speaker A: I don't know. Have you already put in 20%? Are they getting the right.
It was really challenging.
[00:53:49] Speaker C: Interesting. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Now, one question I thought of as we're talking, you mentioned Facebook. Were there Facebook groups for your individual sailings? This is a very common thing in the US for not just Disney cruise line Facebook groups. There's a ton of those. Of course, if you're listening to this podcast, come along and join our DCL duo podcast Facebook group. A great place to ask questions and help answer questions. But the cruises, the specific sailings, right. Like you're, let's say, July 4 out of Port Canaveral on the Disney wish there'll be a cruise group. Were there cruise groups for your sailing?
[00:54:31] Speaker A: Yeah, there was a Facebook cruise group for our particular sailing, along with hundreds of other variations of Disney Cruise line Australia. Things that people had made up. So there was a lot of information out there if you knew where to look.
[00:54:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I always think that's a great resource, particularly for local information, information, for example, where to stay in Brisbane or what transportation is like to the port where the port's located, those kinds of things. All of those questions, there's usually experienced cruisers know running those groups or in those groups and helping to answer some of those questions.
[00:55:11] Speaker A: I guess the hardest thing about the Facebook groups from Australia is that no one had ever been on a Disney cruise before. So there was a lot of speculation, there was a lot of theories, there was a lot of hypothesizing, and no one actually knew anything. So even though I can imagine they would be helpful in some contexts, I'm not really sure how helpful they were in this context.
[00:55:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, you'd need to have probably some experienced american cruisers in those groups to be like, hey, this is how it usually works. And to be fair, I'm sure they adjusted some things for the cruises in thing. You know, you mentioned to us previously was a new deck party that was on the Disney wonder and the sailings in Australia, which was heroes unite. What did you think? Know, we didn't talk about the deck party. I know you had mentioned, unfortunately, you didn't have fireworks due to high wind conditions. But how was the heroes unite deck party?
[00:56:13] Speaker A: Yeah, so heroes unite was fantastic. It was very Disney. So it had a story. So basically, the story was something along the lines of Iron man was testing out some new something, or rather that he'd designed, and then all the villains managed to hear about it, and they took over the Disney wonder. And then there were fights, and we had people absailing from the funnels down to save the day. And then we had a fight scene, and there were shots out into the ocean, which turned into fireworks. It was just so well done. It was pure Disney. They interviewed people as part of the know. What do you think about Iron Man's new design? Are you here to see it? And then they would have, on the screen, they'd have these fight scenes that were in the lobby or on deck six or whatever. And, yeah, it was really well done. It was a lot of fun.
[00:57:12] Speaker C: A lot of fun. That's awesome. So you got fireworks in the Heroes Unite deck party. You just didn't get fireworks in the pirate deck party. Is that what had happened?
[00:57:22] Speaker A: Yes. So it seems like we were destined to have two lots of fireworks because there were fireworks as part of Heroes Unite and then fireworks as part of the pirate deck party. So I was quite surprised when they said, your fireworks will be canceled tonight, because I was like, but haven't we already had them? We had them last night with.
So anyway, the pirate fireworks never happened. So there was high winds when we came back from Sydney, so they tried to do the pirate night one night. It was too windy, and then. So they said, we'll do them the following night. But then the following night was just as bad. So we didn't have a pirate deck party at all. What they did instead is they put the pirate party in the lobby and had the pirate party in the lobby. So I briefly went down and it was chaos.
People there. It's a small area compared to the deck, so I'm not quite sure how that worked, but I didn't go.
[00:58:18] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a bummer when that happens because it is chaotic and that atrium is just not big enough to hold all of the passengers that would normally be up on the deck, as you mentioned, for a big deck party. But when they do it in the atrium, they really just turn it into kind of a dance party. So it's not really the same show that you get on deck anyway. So I will tell you, the deck party is fun, but you're not missing much by not attending it. If it got moved to the atrium.
Well, I'm trying to think, are there any topics that we missed or things that you did?
[00:58:57] Speaker B: I want to ask, are you going to go back? Would you take another cruise again, even if it wasn't Disney? Or are you looking to go to a Disney cruise, maybe come this way stateside for a Disney cruise? What do you think?
[00:59:07] Speaker A: I would love to, Brian. So we got the placeholder on board because I was, you know, how can you not? How can you not? And we were home for about five days, I think, before we booked our next cruise.
[00:59:23] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness.
[00:59:25] Speaker A: So we decided to go on a Disney cruise to New Zealand, and we figured that it's not as far we can have a holiday in New Zealand as. Yeah. So we planned another one.
[00:59:38] Speaker C: Awesome. So you'll be on the Disney wonder. This. Is it going to be later this year or is it going to be in early next year?
[00:59:46] Speaker A: So it's later this year. It's in December again.
[00:59:48] Speaker C: Oh, awesome. That sounds great. Well, you'll have to come back and talk to us about it after you have all that extra time to even explore the Disney wonder even more. I love it. I love it.
[01:00:01] Speaker B: Well, this sounds like an amazing adventure for your family. And we have to have you back, by the way, to hear about the next one. So I hope you'll come back and share with us all that you learn on your next sailing. But for now, it's time for me to hand you back to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules and a dash of judgment or the round we know as rapid fire. So, sam, take it away.
[01:00:23] Speaker C: Why, thank you. Brian Shannon, you are a listener of this show. You knew this was coming. I am going to ask you some of your Disney favorites, and now I'm going to ask you some of your Disney Cruise line favorites as well. Of course, they were going to limit your answers to things that exist on the Disney wonder I'm going to check off right now. Your favorite Disney cruise ship is the Disney Wonder. So I will not be asking you that question.
But we have to start with who is your favorite Disney character? And when I say Disney, that means anything Disney owns. I mean, you could even include Bluey in that at this point because, well, I guess Disney doesn't own it, but we license it or something.
[01:01:01] Speaker A: Pluto. I love dogs. I love Pluto.
[01:01:05] Speaker C: I love all the Disney dogs. And we are big fans of Pluto and this family as well. All right, what is your favorite Disney movie?
[01:01:14] Speaker A: It would have to be the Lion King.
[01:01:16] Speaker C: Oh, yes, such a good one. What is your favorite Disney song?
[01:01:21] Speaker A: It would have to be circles of life from the Lion King.
[01:01:26] Speaker C: So you need to go see the show Disney dreams when you're back on the wonder in December because that is the song that they do in the show. And it is so well done. Very similar to the Broadway. I mean, they don't have all the puppetry that they have on the Broadway version, but it is fantastic. All right, now we're going to move on to the ship. Tell me, what was your favorite adult bar space on the beautiful Disney wonder?
[01:01:54] Speaker A: See, this is something that I wish we had more opportunity to do. Despite the fact that we actually didn't really have a child with us. We didn't spend that much time in the bars as I would have liked. That can be for the next trip because they looked amazing. But, yeah, we just were too busy to really sit down, relax and have a drink. So I don't think I can really comment about my favorite bar space.
[01:02:17] Speaker C: All right, fair enough. I'm going to highly recommend you spend some time in the french quarter lounge when you're back on the ship as well as the Cadillac lounge. Those are, I would say, are probably two favorites on the wonder. All right, favorite onboard activity. So favorite. I know you went to the rainforest room. You did a bunch of trivias. What would you say was your favorite thing or sort of category of things you did?
[01:02:44] Speaker A: Sure.
There were so many. That's such a tricky question. Oh, look, I am a bit of a sucker for game shows and trivia. I have to say trivia, but it's closely followed by the adults area.
That was also a lovely place to be.
[01:03:04] Speaker C: Awesome. All right, I love that. Okay, favorite rotational dining restaurant animators palette. Oh, yes. That is awesome. I mean, Tiana's is wonderful too, because you've got the whole Mardi gras thing going on, but animators is like it tugs at the Disney fan heartstrings. And for you, a classic Disney fan, I feel like that's the right answer. All right, we got to talk food a little bit. I want a favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item on board the Disney wonder. So we'll start with the sweet because my favorite is the.
[01:03:41] Speaker A: I. This might not be popular opinion, but I actually really liked the fruit cobbler on the pirate night menu.
[01:03:50] Speaker C: Oh, okay. Well, we might have to add that to our list of things we have to try or we haven't. I don't know if we've ever tried it, to be perfectly honest.
We don't tend to eat the pirate night menu.
All right, what about a favorite savory item? What was a favorite savory item on board?
[01:04:07] Speaker A: I did like the truffle percetes.
[01:04:09] Speaker C: Yes, that is an excellent answer, Shannon. And eat your heart out. Josh, if you're listening, we have one more in the column of truffle percepts. All right, give me another favorite space on the ship. Like just a space you felt was really beautiful or really relaxing. Really great place to hang out on the ship.
[01:04:30] Speaker A: I loved the top deck. Like, just hanging out on the top deck, looking at the ocean walking around.
I loved it there. We had some really lovely weather. Not so much coming back from Sydney, but going to Sydney. It was just perfect. Glassy ocean, sunny. It was such a lovely place to be up there.
[01:04:50] Speaker C: Yeah, love that. All right, favorite show on Disney cruise line. You saw two of the main stage shows. You saw, of course, a deck party as well. But let's stick to the main stage shows. Which one was your favorite?
[01:05:04] Speaker A: Definitely golden Mickey's.
[01:05:06] Speaker C: Oh, you're a brian column on this one, I have to tell you.
I know. It's just good, clean family fun.
[01:05:14] Speaker B: Sam, it's good clean family.
[01:05:17] Speaker C: Listen, I'm going to have to disagree with you both on that one. But it's okay. I understand the know Mickey draw there and the sort know classic Disney style, but no, to me, it's frozen on the Disney wonder. All right, now the last question, Shannon, is a bucket list cruise. We know you're not going to be sailing anywhere. That's rough seas. But if you were going to sail anywhere in the world, someplace you really would like to go, but you'd also really like to do it on Disney cruise line. Line ship. Where would that.
[01:05:47] Speaker A: Alaska.
[01:05:48] Speaker C: Oh, yes. Yes. All right, well, we're going to be going there in about a year and a half, so we'll report back to you but of course, we have plenty of episodes on Alaska cruising with Disney. We'll have some more coming out this summer after the Alaska season or during the Alaska season. But yeah. Thank you for coming and thank you for playing. I will say you did really well for the first time, or you did really well.
[01:06:16] Speaker B: We're going to have to start like, we're going to have to give you a grading system of some gold medal. We'll align it to the Disney cruise Line castaway club. Did she achieve pearl status? Platinum, gold, silver or total newbie? Right?
[01:06:33] Speaker C: I'm going to give you a gold, Shannon.
Yeah, you would have gotten a platinum if you chose frozen correctly, but thank you very much.
[01:06:43] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. Well, speaking of the castaway club, Shannon, welcome to the castaway club, one of the newest members of the castaway club. So you're now a nice silver castaway status. So enjoy and we'll keep our fingers crossed you make it to gold someday soon. But for now, we just appreciate you taking time out of your day to come on the show and share your fabulous vacation with all of our listeners. So thank you for coming to us so early in the morning all the way from Perth, Australia. Thanks, Shannon.
[01:07:08] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me.
[01:07:14] Speaker B: 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 dcl.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, my path 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
[email protected] if you'd like to connect with us, or you can call our voicemail line if you'd like to leave us a message. We love to include the voices of our listeners in our show. Just dial 402-413-5590 that's 402-413-5590 and that will head straight to our Google voice voicemail line. The DCL duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company, or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective views of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or a Disney vacation, please contact Disney directly or your own travel agent or the great folks over at my path unwinding travel. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous Disney adventure with the DCL duo. Good night.
