[00:00:00] Speaker A: Can I add one more thing that I thought of that I think would be really cool? Think about, like, flight of passage or even like, soren with all that space. Obviously, probably not that big, but could they figure out a way to do.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Some kind of VR version? Right, like kind of VR, yeah. I don't think you'd be on a lift thing, but you would be on, like, a vehicle type thing with VR glasses.
[00:00:22] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: Especially with all the technology with. With VR right now incorporating some sort.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Of ride like that, I just worry Disney's listening.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: We're giving them gold gold ideas right now for free, you guys.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to another live episode of the DCL duo podcast. Thanks for joining us live. And Sam, what do we decide? We got the multiverse action going tonight.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: That's right. We are bringing you the multiverse. The DCL multiverse, rather than the of us or those of our listeners who listen to the DCL dude know exactly what I'm talking about. We were on Wes's show not too long ago, and so we had to invite him back, not just for a show, but for a live show. Welcome to the show, Wes. The DCL dude.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: I love. Thanks. Thanks, Sam. Thanks, Brian, for having me on. I'm really excited. I was saying to you before the show, I don't know if I've ever been a part of a live broadcast. You know, I talk to people all the time on podcasts, but you can sort of hide behind the fact that you can edit all this stuff out.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: If you have to.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: So I'm a little nervous here, to be honest. But thank you for having me, man. I'm always up for a MCU DCL crossover.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: We love it.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: That works for me.
[00:01:59] Speaker C: Well, we are excited to have you. And I know a number of our listeners were excited to see that you are our guest this evening. So we are super excited to have you. We're going to kick off the show by letting everyone know. Welcome to season five of the DCL duo podcast. I couldn't imagine a more fun episode to do for the start of season five. So. All right. Can't believe we have been podcasting for four full years now.
And. Yeah, so this is the marker. This is when we started this thing right around the anniversary of a pandemic. Four years know.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: And I thought we might last, like, four months generously.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: Oh, Brian will get off this thing in a couple of weeks. Well, here we are. Here we are. And you're, like, wearing DCl duo branded jackets now.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: So there you am. I am wearing branded jacket.
[00:02:54] Speaker C: That's, there you are. Well, we're going to start tonight. We had a listener question come in. So before we dive into the show, we had a listener question come in. Speaking of which, by the way, throw your comments wherever you're watching. They will show up for us and we will try to address them throughout the show so you can ask us questions kind of live. We can benefit from like three DCL enthusiasts here and get your questions answered. But for now, the question we had that came into email came from Bethany, who writes, I was curious your thoughts on when DCl will sail the Panama Canal again. And since we're here to kind of prognosticate on Disney cruise line, I thought, why not kick off with prognosticating on the Panama Canal cruise? Wes, what do you think? When is DCl going to bring it back, if at all?
[00:03:39] Speaker A: That's a great question. And actually, this was one thing that I was going to talk to you guys about on this show, because I don't know is the short answer, unfortunately, and I'm not sure if anybody actually knows, maybe you guys have some insider information. But one thing I will say is I'm really sad that the Panama Canal cruise has kind of disappeared from the schedule, and I think it's an extremely popular cruise. I think a lot of people are interested in that.
I would be shocked if it went away for good.
My gut says that it's going to come back at some point.
We wouldn't expect to see it traditionally in this summer itinerary release.
Maybe we see something later on this year for the fall itinerary release for 2025. Who knows? I hope it's not gone. I wanted to do a Panama canal while they were still on the schedule. We never got a chance to. So I would love to do it someday.
I don't know if I really answered the question, but I hope it's not gone and I hope it's coming back at some.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I'm going to say I predict it is going to come back. I don't know when it's going to come back. I know that Linda is hoping that the magic heads back west when the fantasy comes back from Europe. So she's saying that in the comments, Brian, if you want to bring that one up. But I know she's hoping they'll bring the magic west, which would be in the fall. So that would be after, I guess, like around October or so. I do think that's possible. I think it's possible because then we would see the magic do maybe some maritime cruises on the west coast, which is definitely possible. They did that this past year, actually, in 2023. So it's possible for 2025. I'm going to say, though, maybe it won't be until 2026, but I think the a ship is coming back. I can't say for sure that it will be the magic, although that would be my suspicion. Yeah. What do you think, Brian?
[00:05:39] Speaker C: I kind of agree with your timing. I do think it will be back.
I would love to see them get the wonder back to New Orleans. I'm just going to put the stake in the ground. Like, I really want that ship to do the Panama Canal crossing and get back to New Orleans. Kind of. I don't know. I know nothing. But if I had my druthers, I'm kind of wondering, do they sail the adventure full time in Asia or might she kind of do some of that? I mean, we'll get into this maybe a little bit more, but might she kind of do some of that Asia sailing, head down to Australia, come over here, cover the west coast. It'd be really interesting to see that size of ship sailing the west coast. She might be too big for that, but that would free the wonder up to kind of head back to the Panama Canal. Yeah.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: So, Brian, we're seeing that they're sending the fantasy over to Europe. I think one of the reasons is because the synergy on the fantasy was sort of tailor made for Europe. Right. With the Europa kind of section on that. So maybe they're looking at what do we have on the ships that can fit in these destinations where we're sending them? So maybe they think the wonder has the New Orleans theming on it. I don't know. Maybe they flip flop them a little bit. Although the wonder is they kind of tailored it for the Alaska cruises, so I don't think it would stay there permanently. But maybe. Yeah, maybe they bring the wonder over. That would be nice.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be really nice.
[00:07:04] Speaker C: We had one question here. Can the larger ships fit the Panama Canal? I mean, I think there was something.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yes, there was some question about that.
[00:07:11] Speaker C: Some issue about height. Yeah, I know. They had to install a retractable mast on the wonder for Australia because she couldn't fit under the. I don't think she could fit under the bridge in Sydney harbor without the mast retracting.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: I love that change that they made, though. They just made it so that it can bend.
That's so genius. Right? It's so brilliant that they could just.
[00:07:36] Speaker C: They do that on river cruises. We found out because I was up on top deck as we were sailing, and the whole mash just kind of suddenly started going down. And they sailed on the bridge. Yeah. And then it comes back up. Yeah. It was really cool. It was really cool.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:07:48] Speaker C: All right.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: There's a question about that, but I would actually like to see them swap the wonder and the magic. I think that would be a good solution. You know, those Kiwis and the Aussies, they probably want a different ship after a couple of years, so maybe they could do that swap just like they did with the fantasy and the dream in Europe. Or they're about to do with the fantasy and the dream in like. And just like you said, wes, the theming, when the theming fits a location, it's kind of perfect. You're sailing out of Barcelona. You can go to the bathroom in Barcelona on the ship, on the fantasy.
Those are literally my favorite bathrooms on all of the DCL fleet. If anyone wants to know what bathrooms are, it's Barcelona.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: I can't wait to hear the european feedback on the european styling of the fantasy. Let's be fair. Let's be fair.
All right, we got a couple of comments to roll through here. Just want us. Good evening, DCL duo and DCL dude from Bridget. Thanks, Bridget.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Hello, Bridget.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: Linda's all about the crossover multiverse this evening.
Amanda, excited to catch us live. We're excited to have you here.
Thanks. Thanks, Ashley, for the double exclamation point on season five there.
Yeah. And then we had a couple of. What else do we have here to go through?
Linda saying, on the Panama Canal cruise, I'd book a solo inside state room if it fits my schedule, if they do bring it back. Yeah. And actually, those repositioning cruises are very affordable. That's, like, one of the reasons that Panama Canal cruise, I think, was pretty popular. I know Tracy commented in here, somewhere amongst the comments that she would take that cruise again in a heartbeat. So, yeah, lots of good feedback on the Panama Canal cruises, so we hope they bring it back before we dive into the further prognostications here, of which, by the way, I just wanted to say Chris out there said, love DCL prognostication, especially with a duo and a dude who know a lot about the subject. So, yes, we're excited here, Chris. I'm excited. Before we dive into the prognostication, today was Pearl booking day, and I know Wes first. Thank you for taking time over what must have been a busy day, and it's going to be a busy week for you. Insane.
I'm curious. I wanted to let our listeners know, so we did book something today. Thank you. Shout out to Kaylee over at my path unwinding for taking care of us today. I think we've talked about on the show now a couple of times that we were like, wrestling back and forth over which cruise to book. And we did book the seven night Alaska cruise on the wonder, August 25, Roy Disney suite. We're super excited. It's a lot of first for us. So we're really excited for that bucket list cruise.
[00:10:29] Speaker B: If anyone wants to say a bucket list cruise. That was for years, that's been my bucket list cruise. I'm so excited that we'll be able to check it off.
[00:10:36] Speaker C: How's the demand been for you today, Wes? Has it been a decent.
It's been.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: It's been Pearl. Pearl day is.
There are a lot fewer Pearl castaway club cruisers.
[00:10:49] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: Than there are the other ones. But the rest of this week is just absolutely insane. And traditionally, the summer releases are, I think, some of the more popular ones. The kids are on vacation and I think people are sick of winter by that point. So they're just like, get me on a cruise or let me get a cruise booked. But, yeah, tons of demand. I think Europe's really popular. Alaska is really popular. Despite the fact that. I don't know if you guys have looked at kind of general pricing on those Alaska cruises. Yeah, it is getting up there, let me tell you. But the treasure is now in a first full summer season, so lots of exciting itineraries that were released. The fantasy, going to the Europe. Going to Europe for the first time. So, yeah, demand pretty high.
We're still platinum, so we haven't booked yet. We're kind of on the fence about what our plans are for 2025 at this point. But there's a few itineraries that we have our eye on. One of my bucket list itineraries is Norway. And I know you guys have done Norway before, and I'm dying to get over there.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: And I like Wes.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: It's so, yeah, there's. I think it's an eight night Norwegian, and it has, like, four norwegian port.
Think that's one we're really looking at hard.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: Yeah, I was going to say a lot of people have commented that the summer release is a little uninspiring. I want to call that one out as a unique gym.
We went on the Norway cruise in 2022, Sam, is that right?
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:25] Speaker C: And it was great. And then the Norway cruise in 2023 was. And then I think in 2024, it was kind of the same. And that 2025 itinerary actually looks like, that looks like an amazing itinerary.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought the same exact thing.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Brian, to your point, the other ones, they've been norwegian cruises, but they've had like, two stops in Norway.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:47] Speaker A: This one is a very heavily cruise.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: So, yeah. The only negative is there's no Iceland real itinerary, whereas there has been in the past, and we didn't get to do one with Iceland. But we've heard those itineraries are also really fantastic. So that's the only thing.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I was really surprised about that one. And the midnight sun on those Iceland cruises that people talk about just sounds like a really cool experience.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: Yeah. I hope they bring that. I hope they bring that one. Yeah.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:16] Speaker C: All right, well, let's pull out the crystal ball, dust it off, and do some prognosticating here. We've got some good questions rolling in, in the chat. I want to start with this one, actually. I think it's a good one, which is a certain amount of questions. I hope they bring New Orleans back, but the speculation is will they? Will New Orleans back? I remember when they announced that, and I remember all of the sort of fanfare around it, and it was all tied to the wonder, and the wonder is not there to go to New Orleans anymore. And I haven't sleuthed around to look at, like, did their port agreement expire? That sort of stuff.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: I think they have a port agreement for 2026, so I'm going to jump in right on this one. I'm pretty sure that they're going back to New Orleans in 2026, which will be.
[00:13:59] Speaker C: You're putting a lot of pressure on 2026, Sam.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: A lot of things are coming in 2026.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: I don't know what ship it's going to be that's going there. I really don't know what ship is going there, but one ship is going to be there for, I don't know if it'll probably be around February. It could bleed into March. But there's going to be a ship there because I believe their port agreement is that they're going back there again. It's a part time, it's a short, a few cruises. I don't know how long it will be. I haven't paid enough attention to do the deep dive to see if they've put know the list of times and days and all of that kind of stuff, but I am pretty confident they're going back to New Orleans. What do you think, Wes?
[00:14:42] Speaker A: I'm with you. I'm thinking that they're not going to sunset New Orleans quite yet. I think it'll be back, although I have heard the rumblings that maybe it's on its way out or is out at this point. So I don't know. It's another one of those places where I know there was a ton of excitement when it was first announced that they would be leaving from New Orleans. And people have said they really enjoy the experience. Cruising down the Mississippi river is a unique experience that you can get on those cruises. So I'd like to see it come back. It's hard to say what the plans are for that.
[00:15:19] Speaker C: Yeah, well, what's interesting to me is they've slowly shortened and shortened and shortened that season over time in New Orleans. I think it was only about a month this year. Yeah. And I agree with you. Sailing down the Mississippi or up the Mississippi was fantastic. But the only way you get to see it that time of year is that they do it in the day and they're always doing it at really? We had it haphazardly because of a medical issue on the ship. We got to sail up the river during the day, and then we docked overnight in New Orleans s for one night when we were supposed to be. And it was COOL. It was really cool to see the river scenery and the river traffic and all that stuff. So I do hope they bring it back. New Orleans is a fantastic, iconic American city. I really think Disney should be sailing out of there, especially with all the. They just did a whole thing with Tiana, the re theme for splash mountain that they had like, a local artisan make a windmill or a wind vein for the. So, like, I just feel like they need to maintain that connection with. Yeah, yeah. Uh, all right, so that covers New Orleans.
Josh McHenry, I see you've got some questions in here. We will get to those at the end of the show, so don't worry. I haven't forgotten about, uh, let's talk the two things we know the most about. Let's start with lighthouse point. I mean, there's no SPECULATION. We know when it's coming. We know what it's going to look like.
I just want to ask the question, are we excited? Do we feel sufficiently pumped about Lighthouse Point, or do we wish that Disney would have done a little bit different there? Wes, why don't you start us off on that one?
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. Well, first of all, I would say yes. I am very excited because it's a new private destination for Disney cruise line. I'm still very curious about what it means where they're going to sort of allow locals into the space and stuff. I'm very curious what all that's going to mean. But for all intents and purposes, it's a private destination and obviously I love Castaway key and what they did there. I think from what we know of Lighthouse Point, it sort of feels like they've taken what they did at Caswicky and did it again at one of the themes, Brian, that you had mentioned discussing on the show and maybe we'll get into later is where is Disney have opportunities for improvement. I thought this was really a great place to sort of jump off and say, well, look at what royal Caribbean has done with perfect day at Cococay and all of the fun and excitement that they have on that island and maybe not necessarily going all out like they have with the water slides and the pools and all that stuff, but just to have something like that at a Disney destination I thought would have been really exciting.
I am excited for Lighthouse Point. Absolutely. I'm excited for something new as it relates to Disney cruise line. But could they have gone a little above and beyond? I think that they could have. Very curious to hear what your guys thoughts are here.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:32] Speaker C: What do you think, Sam?
[00:18:33] Speaker B: So first I want to say thank you to Jackie out there for telling me my mic volume was too low. I hope it's better now. I turned up the gain on my mic, so thank you. But I'm going to agree with think and also with the Kraus mass adventures folks who are asking, will it be too similar to castaway? I'm going to say yes. Now there's good and bad as Wes points out. Right? I love castaway, so having a castaway 2.0 is not a bad thing.
But I kind of wish that they did a couple of pools. I don't need like a humongous pool, like one largest pool in the world, like at Coco key or whatever. But yeah, if they had put a couple of. Maybe.
[00:19:17] Speaker C: Hold on, hold on. It's not the largest pool in the world.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: I know.
Whatever. The largest pool in the world I think is actually in Dubai. But anyway, probably. If not, I'm probably guessing correctly, but I just think it would be nice if they had a couple of pools. I don't need like a water park. Yeah, I'm okay with no water park or just a couple of water slides. In the water, like pelican plunge or even something or even a very small on land water park type thing. I don't need that. But a couple of pools would be, I think, nice.
That's my only complaint, really. I think the rest of it, I think it looks beautiful. I like that it's going to kind of blend into the bahamian scenery just like it does at castaway. I did hear that the locals are only going to be able to access a different part of the beach.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: That's kind of what I assumed.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So the part of the beach that guests will access is truly still a private island experience. But they are creating beachfront that will be local, accessible, but that will be in another part of the strip of land that they're basically going to control. So it will still be that private island experience.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: I agree. I wish they had done a freshwater pool. I think that was an opportunity they could have executed well. I wish they would have done some more of the kind of the over the water cabanas that Royal Caribbean has done. I think the standard kind of cabana deployment that they're doing looks suspiciously key. That said, I think it's probably the right move, what they did because I feel like people who cruise Disney expect a certain kind of private island experience. They want that relaxing kind of experience, which frankly, I don't think I got that anywhere near a relaxing island experience on Coco Key. Nathan had a blast. I had a fun time. But it's totally different. I think, you know, Disney did it right by sort of saying we're going to stick to kind of our experience and promote that kind of an experience. The only question I have is really, I think going to castaway key is great. I think going to Lighthouse point is going to be great. But these like, what are we calling duo dips? Duo dips was the phrase.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: That's right.
Karen said duo dip. I love. I'm going to trademark that. By the way, Wes.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: I had a listener called a split double dip.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: A split double dip. I like that too.
[00:21:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:21:43] Speaker A: Both of them are good.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: They're a double dip split. Like. Yeah, banana split. I like that too.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: I wonder if that's going to be too much. But then I think people love those actual double dips to castaway key. So I think it's be great. I think it's a nice, relaxing bahamian experience that we've come to know and love and so I think it will be good.
Yeah. So I'm all in.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: I'm totally with you guys. I think the pool was a slam dunk. That would have been really nice to have. And I definitely wasn't saying I wanted a cocoa key. Yeah, totally.
It would have been nice to have something that is distinctly lighthouse point and something that's distinctly castle key. And maybe it will be that and maybe it will feel like that. It just from what we've scene, maybe it sort of feels like they're kind of like a copy of each for sure.
[00:22:38] Speaker C: All right, well, Disney treasure, she's coming out. She's going to be here in December. Hopefully sooner than that. So we don't experience the same issues we did with the wish.
[00:22:47] Speaker B: No delays in the.
[00:22:49] Speaker C: Hopefully she's a little better put together. Yeah, hopefully all her shows are ready.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: To go and the uncharted adventure is up and running.
[00:22:57] Speaker C: Dear Disney, build your own stateroom is not a shore excursion I'm looking for.
We have some indication it seems like she's going to New York after her crossing, which was interesting. I don't remember the timing of that. But there's some indication she will be in New York, docked in New York for some period of time. If that's true, I'll say not surprising from the standpoint know Good Morning America is sitting in New York and they can bring the camera crews on board.
Yeah, it can bring all that stuff on board. The know that would tell me they're hoping to have her pretty fully ready and ready to go if they're going to start touring camera crews around the ship at that point. Interesting decision to be in New York for potentially preview cruises at that time of year. That's a pretty cold climate.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: Exactly what I thought. And the fantasy had her christening out of New York as well. But I believe that was in the early part of the year, which also would have been cold. So I had the same was I was kind of wondering are they going to do cruises out of New York? But it's really not a great time of year to be cruising from New York on a brand new ship in my opinion.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: Yeah, well, and that's a rough sailing down the coast potentially that time of year too, which is a little odd. I fully thought, let's get that ship to port Canaveral as fast as possible. Because if for whatever reason it's not ready, they're at their main home port terminal. Like they ought to be able to get stuff there to finish things up. So interesting choice. If it happens, let me do this. Scale of one to ten, how excited are we about the treasure? And then I have one more question for us. Around the treasure. One remaining goodie that we just don't know yet. So scale of one to ten, Sam, you're going first this time.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Oh, I'm going first.
I'm going to give it.
I'm deciding between a six and a seven.
[00:24:56] Speaker C: Wow. I didn't think this is going to be a tough question. The hard hitting journalism here.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: I'm going to give it a seven. I'm going to give it a seven. I am excited about it, but I'm not like a ten because I know that she's going to be so similar to the wish and she's just going to be decorated differently in her spaces. Right. So it's not like I feel like I'm really going to see something totally new. If you're asking me about the Moana show, I'm going to give it a ten. Right. So it really depends kind of what we're talking about. And of course, the cocoa restaurant brings it on the higher side. But then the fact that the Luna is now just like the Sarabi lounge and it's going to be exactly the same is make me like a two.
Moana adds two points better than the wish, right? Yeah. I think the wish is a beautiful ship, but I feel like the treasure is going to be so similar. But I'm really excited about seven night itineraries. That's really what I'm excited about.
Yeah. So seven I have to land on. Yeah.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: Where do you land? West.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm a ten.
I am really excited for the treasure. And the Moana state show is, like, giddy about that. I'm so excited for that. But I connect so much more with the adventure theme than I did with enchantment on the wish. And I love the characters that they've incorporated. And some of the new spaces, like the haunted mansion parlor, I think is going to be super cool. And from what they've showed us, it seems like it's going to be much more immersive than the hyperspace lounge is on the wish, which one can only hope.
The jungle cruise.
[00:26:48] Speaker C: Skippers. Skippers. Skippers canteen.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: I keep wanting to call.
[00:26:51] Speaker C: No, it's.
[00:26:56] Speaker A: I think that's going to be.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that'll be cool.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: I love everything that they've released about the treasure. I wish.
[00:27:06] Speaker C: The bar.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: That's the 20,000 leagues under the sea theme.
[00:27:10] Speaker B: The periscope pub.
[00:27:11] Speaker C: Yeah. Thank you.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: The periscope pub. I wish it had been pirates of the Caribbean themed because it just seems to fit perfectly in all respects.
But it is what it is. But I'm really excited for the treasure. And the seven night itineraries is kind of the icing on the cake.
[00:27:29] Speaker C: I am squarely a ten if not like an eleven. I think the treasure is an upgrade to the wish and it keeps a lot of the best pieces of the wish. And then I think it kind of steps up the game for a couple of spaces. So I'm with you, Wes. That haunted mansion bar looks great. I love that they went away from just the irish pub theming or going for a periscope pub experience.
Pretty excited for cocoa, mexican food at sea. Oh, yes.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: I didn't even bring that one up.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: Yeah. I'm super excited for Moana. It's one of my favorite Disney movies. So really excited to see the stage show.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: You guys are hyping me up. I'm getting more excited. I'm getting more excited. My seven is like creeping up to an eight.
[00:28:09] Speaker C: I am pumped for the treasure with one little asterisk. It's all going to come down to execution because Disney promised a lot for the wish.
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Great point.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: And then it kind of underwhelmed on execution. I'm hoping that that was really just a product of the pandemic and supply chain and cost cutting.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: And it was the first of its kind, too. That makes it a little harder.
[00:28:31] Speaker C: Yeah. So it makes me really excited for that. Here's the question mark we still have on the wish. And actually, before we do that, we've.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: Got a lot of people giving their own.
[00:28:39] Speaker C: I want to. I want to do that before I give their ratings, though. We got to throw this comment up for Wes. Chris.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:28:44] Speaker C: Out there. Thank you, Chris. Concierge lounge. Hoping Wes gets his chicken sandwiches on Lighthouse Point. Yes, please.
All right.
[00:28:52] Speaker A: Lookout key.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: So we got some ratings here. I think Tracy is saying she's a 7.5 because I'm wary of. It's actually going to happen on time.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Wish maiden cruise victim.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: I have said this before. I'm going to go on record with it right now. There will not be a delay of this ship. Disney cannot burn that capital, especially when people are counting on it for their Christmas vacations.
It will be an absolute riot. They will burn Disney cruise line to the ground if that happens. And like a 50% off a future cruise ain't going to cut it. People can't rebook a Christmas vacation, right. I think it will be on time. Linda says she's an eight, but knowing.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: She'S sailing with us in April of 2025 puts her in eleven.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you, Linda.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: We can't wait to sail with you either.
[00:29:38] Speaker C: Maybe. This is Tracy, actually, so I'm close to ten, too. It's so much more theming all around. I think it will be great.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: It could be Kaylee, too. I know.
[00:29:45] Speaker C: She's watching Facebook. Yeah.
Josh McHenry says we'd love to see some sea tie ins to the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. I agree. I think that was a miss on this ship that they could have easily incorporated. We've got a real Disney fan. Wants to be a jungle cruise skipper.
[00:30:00] Speaker B: That's right. And they want to pun all the time. I'm all about the puns.
[00:30:04] Speaker C: Nice. All right, well, so we're pretty excited about the treasure here, it seems like. Final question on the treasure. There's still one venue yet to have been announced, which is what is Nightingale's today on the wish? Any guesses as to what they're going to theme that out to be?
Who wants to go first?
Neither of you.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: I don't have a.
[00:30:31] Speaker C: I'll.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: I'll throw in a pirates of the.
[00:30:37] Speaker C: A.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: It's a, you know, pirates of the treasure.
[00:30:43] Speaker C: It's.
[00:30:43] Speaker A: The name is the treasure. It's adventure themed. Like, why is pirates of the Caribbean not a central theme of the ship? I don't.
[00:30:52] Speaker B: I mean, the only thing that's pirate is the hooks Barbary and that's Peter Pan, not Pirates of the Caribbean. I don't know what it's going to be because it needs to be a piano bar. Right. Regardless of what it looks like, it needs to be a piano bar. So I have no idea what theming they're going to use because it has to have theming that goes with a piano bar.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: You don't think pirates and pianos go together?
[00:31:18] Speaker B: No, pirates and pianos don't go together.
[00:31:20] Speaker C: Listen, one of those beat up stand up.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: No, if they were going to do that, then it needs to be the snuggly duckling. Right. So my dream scenario, of course, would have been the snuggly duckling on the magic. But I feel like if we could put a snugly duckling piano bar. I mean, that works for a piano bar because obviously we had the thug playing the piano, but. Yeah, honestly, I have no idea what the theming is going to be for that bar, except that it needs to be something that fits with pianos, which means it's not the haunted mansion. I don't think is going to mix with the piano bar.
It's going to be its own.
[00:31:58] Speaker C: Any. They don't have any piano in the concept art. It'd be better as an organ bar, I guess.
Rainey's saying treasure looks absolutely amazing.
All right, let's get some guesses here because I've got a favorite.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: I like this one.
[00:32:12] Speaker C: Oh, Chris is asking about the Christmas tree. We'll get to you in 1 second here. Chris. Ct saying tony's alley from lady and the Tramp. Romantic movies and cocktails.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:32:22] Speaker C: I like it. My favorite answer here, which I think is on theme, is an Aladdin theme with magic lamp cups. I think they're going to get really cool. I feel like Nightingale's today is kind of continuation of the theme of the grand hall. I have a feeling it's going to be the same with the treasure.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: It could be like an excellent prognostication. Brian, what a great guess.
[00:32:42] Speaker C: My crystal ball is polished off here. Yeah.
So that's what I'm guessing. I do like Chris's question here about what the Christmas tree is going to be themed like, because I think universally no one has liked the wishes Christmas tree. The golden monstrosity I think it is.
I'm going to suspect they do the same thing on the treasure.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: Although with the color it's not going to be golden.
I'm going to say it's going to be like a bluish green with shells and trinkets like Treasure island type trinket. Things like what they just released with the new merchandise. That's how the tree is going to be decorated. I'm going to say. It's going to say it's going to have like a very nautical adventure themed tree.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: I think that's a good guess.
[00:33:28] Speaker C: Interesting. The real question is what are the gingerbread houses going to look like?
[00:33:31] Speaker B: It's not going to have a gingerbread house. Remember, the maiden voyage is a Christmas voyage, but it hasn't been announced as a maritime cruise. I don't think it's going to be an official maritime cruise. This is a prediction. I don't think it's going to be official maritime cruise. But I think they have to do something for Christmas. But I think it'll be like a toned down Christmas.
[00:33:51] Speaker C: 100% real. Have decorations. They will have decorations.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: There will be decorations. But I don't think we're going to have like. I'm not going to expect they're going to load for one cruise all of the Christmas stuff. Right. I just don't think that makes sense.
[00:34:06] Speaker C: Chris, I got to throw your comment up here. Hopefully the treasure has more storage in staterooms for seven days. Amen. Amen, brother.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: I'm going to say agree, but I'm going to say, no, it's not.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: It is going to be the exact same as the wish.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: Exactly. Cookie cutter. They ordered everything.
[00:34:22] Speaker C: I think I described it the other day when we were recording a show as curio cabinet storage for your underwear, which was just fantastic, by the way.
[00:34:29] Speaker B: I love Ct's comment. The Christmas tree will be adventurous, and the adventurous tree will have treasures.
[00:34:36] Speaker C: 100% ct.
All right, let's move on from the treasure.
Let's talk about the ship we know is coming. It's not the ship we know the least about, because there's one more, but almost the least the adventure. We know she'll be home ported in Singapore. We know she will be massive.
[00:34:57] Speaker B: We don't know if she'll be on nothing else.
[00:34:59] Speaker C: Well, we don't know if she'll be on. We know she'll run on green fuel, green ethanol, because that's how I ferreted out that it was probably Singapore as her home port. But other than that, we don't know itineraries. We don't know when she's sailing. We don't know anything.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: We don't know casino. We don't know roller coaster. We don't know rotational dining. We don't know nothing.
[00:35:18] Speaker C: Well, let's do this. Let's each of us do just, like, two things that we want to see on this ship. This ship is really kind of almost a clean slate for Disney to do something really thing. Actually, let's just do one each, and then we'll come back around. Wes, one thing you really want to see on the adventure. Yeah.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: So when I was thinking about the adventure, I was thinking, how is this going to be different? And one of the things that popped into my head was, this ship wasn't designed by, like, all the people who had ever been involved in designing the Disney ships didn't have kind of input into the original construction of this ship.
[00:36:03] Speaker C: Right.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: So this was sort of designed with, presumably, some of the things in mind that these other modern cruise ships are doing. So there's probably lots of space for big things. So I would love to see some sort of dark ride incorporated somehow.
I think it'd be cool to do, like, a Disney themed escape room somewhere.
[00:36:29] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: I think those would be really fun new ideas that I think Disney could really knock out of the park. And I really like the idea on some of these royal caribbean ships where their waterslides go from higher decks to lower decks. If they could do some sort of attraction or ride where they're going between decks. I think that would be really cool.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:36:56] Speaker C: I agree. And that escape room idea is killer. We've done the escape room on. I did the escape room on the independence of the seas, and it was really well done. I was impressed at how much effort they put into. And it's actually, I know it's a company here in Seattle area that does those, and we've been to their escape rooms here locally, and they are themed.
I think if Disney could partner with a company like that, they could kill.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: It and use their stories and their characters and their. How. How cool could that?
[00:37:26] Speaker C: And what's one thing you're hoping to see on the adventure?
[00:37:29] Speaker B: Okay, I'm going to say lots of different dining options, right?
I think they might still go with rotational dining. I don't know for sure if they will, but I think even if they have rotational dining, they're going to have, like, five or six different rotational dining restaurants because it's a huge ship with lots of passengers, and it just makes more sense to kind of split up the dining rooms. But I also think we'll see more specialty dining on this ship because that's what's expected on these mega ships. Right. You need to have a sushi place, and maybe they'll even have, like, an omakasi. Like sushi, right? Like, fancy sushi.
You'll have hibachi place. You'll have a burger place. You'll have a mexican place. You'll have an italian place. So you won't have just a palo and a remy or Enchante. I bet you'll have one of each of those, too. But you might have, I think, some other. Yeah. So lots of different dining options. What about.
[00:38:30] Speaker C: I think I'd love to see them do something more with the dining, as you just suggested.
I'd actually like to see them go a little bit further with the shows. So if I think about, like, royal Caribbean and stuff where you've got ICE shows, you've got the water, right, like all that sort of stuff, they got to have a main stage show. Don't get me wrong. They got to have a mainstay show. But I'd love to see them add, like, an element of entertainment that has just something more to it. Right. I think it'd be really interesting to couple Disney storytelling with some of these other kinds of show experiences. You can get on these cruise lines and just see what's possible. So I'd love to see, maybe just go a little further than the shows. And along those lines, I'd love to see more venues with live music on board for the adults. Right.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: I'd just love to be able to.
[00:39:23] Speaker C: Pop into a bar. Don't get me wrong, the wish of the treasure. Have some good venues for live music, but I think the other cruise lines do a better job of sort of diversifying. Like you've got a jazz bar, you've got a bar playing whatever hits. You've got a dedicated bar for karaoke or things like that. I'd love to see Disney kind of provide a few more offerings in that vein for the nightlife aspect. So I'm hoping that will come.
Let me change it up. Oh, actually, this leads to my question.
Chris out there saying there will be a casino, exclamation point. Let me ask this question. What's one thing you don't want to see on the adventure? And I'm going to put my answer as a casino. Sorry. I don't want to see a casino on the adventure. I actually don't think it's going to happen that way. But we will find out. We will find out. So, Sam, Wes. Let me start with Wes this time. What's one thing you're hoping. Oh, for the love of God, please don't put this on the adventure.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: That's a hard one. I'm with you, Brian. I don't want to see a casino on it either. And I'd be pretty surprised if they did. Can I say that I would be offended if they did to the adult pool deck on the adventure, what they did with the adult pull deck on the wish and presumably the treasure. I would expect a massive adult pool space on the adventure. So I'll say I don't want some small space for the adults on the upper deck on the treasure. Does that count for.
Why did not even think of that? 100%. I don't want to see basketball courts.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: You don't want basketball courts.
[00:41:06] Speaker C: CT is saying no basketball courts, which I will say that. Well, I agree that's wasted space. And I know all the arguments from having watched them unfold on Twitter in the past about. But the kids need. I love what they did with the multipurpose space on the wish where they're able to, like, you do have a place to play basketball, but we can use it for other things that I appreciate.
[00:41:28] Speaker B: And it doesn't take up like prime deck space. Right? Like where people can sit and to, I'm going to say, lots of shopping. And actually I was thinking this and then I saw Craig Morrell's comment, he doesn't want to see a huge shopping mall area like on Royal. And that's exactly what I was thinking. I don't want there to be a shopping mall on board. Now, I will say I don't like on the wish that they have all this space and even on the other ships, frankly, now too, all of this space for the luxury goods shopping and hardly any space for the Mickey's main sale type.
So. But I'm going to also predict that they're going to do exactly what I don't want them to do and they're going to throw a ton more of luxury shopping on this ship. And there is going to be like a shopping mall on this ship because the market that they're going to, it's kind of expected. And so even though it's not what I want, I think it's actually going to.
[00:42:34] Speaker C: 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 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 dclduo so they know we sent you their way. Thanks Mypath unwinding for sponsoring the show. And with that, back to our episode.
Well, so we got a couple of comments here I want to roll through as we wrap up our discussion of the adventure a bit. So Chris, CT saying three, four night and five night for the adventures to start. Serious market building near Singapore and Hong Kong I agree.
The trend with Disney seems to be send a ship, do really short cruises, get people on board, build some excitement, then send the ship back. It's interesting for Europe this year. They seem to have reverted that strategy. They seem to have gone to a lot of five night cruises in Europe to build some more excitement in the market for those cruises. So I do think that's a strategy we'll see Disney employing, especially as the prices continue to tick up. I think it's like an artificial way to make the overall cruise feel like it costs less when.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: Well, and they did that in Australia and New Zealand too. Right.
They really skewed short sailings there. And even on the new releases, we're starting to see that as well.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: Where is the adventure being built?
Is it in Germany?
[00:44:45] Speaker C: I think it's at the same shipyard that was building it. And I don't remember which shipyard that was.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: It's not in Asia, though, right?
[00:44:53] Speaker B: I don't think so.
[00:44:55] Speaker A: My thought was I would love to see the adventure come east after she's built and do, like, world tour.
Let some of the US folks experience the adventure. See, like, you have this big, exciting reveal, and then I don't know how you'd get it over to Singapore from there, but just go on this grand.
[00:45:19] Speaker C: World tour before you could pull a royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean has experienced a huge uptick in interest on that world cruise because of all the social media having. And it was brilliant how they did it. They sold some of the rooms as, like, full world cruise rooms, and then a lot of the ship was legs where he could do the european leg.
That's a really good idea. I love that idea of bringing her this direction.
[00:45:47] Speaker B: Craig is saying that it's being finished in Germany. It's at the shipyard that went bankrupt. But it is Meyer wharf that's doing that. But I knew it wasn't at.
[00:45:59] Speaker C: Tracy. Tracy, you finally. You got your name to work. I love it. Okay, so Tracy is saying, I'd love to see more active things to do. Rock climbing wall, full running track, more nighttime places. Yeah, I think we agree, Tracy. All of that is great stuff. I love this comment from CT who said he'd like to see a Star wars themed escape room. Brilliant.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: Great idea.
[00:46:17] Speaker C: Brilliant theming for that. I love it.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: Or they could bring back that virtual reality thing that they used to do at the void at Disney Springs and Disney downtown Disney as. Yeah.
[00:46:27] Speaker C: Yep. Bridget wants a marvel themed zip line.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: Or incredibles, I think would be a good zip line.
[00:46:32] Speaker C: That's a good one.
[00:46:33] Speaker A: Can I add one more thing that I thought of that I think would be really cool. Think about flight of passage, or even like, soren with all that space, obviously, probably not that big, but could they.
[00:46:45] Speaker B: Figure out a way to do some kind of VR version? Right.
I don't think you'd be on a lift thing, but you would be on, like, a vehicle type thing with a VR glass.
[00:46:56] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: Especially with all the technology with VR right now incorporating some sort of ride like that.
[00:47:06] Speaker C: I just worry Disney's listening.
[00:47:08] Speaker B: We're giving them gold gold ideas right now. For free, you guys.
[00:47:13] Speaker A: For free.
I love all the ships that we have right now. And I love that it's sort of that classic ocean liner.
We have a blank slate where we can just do anything we want with it.
[00:47:28] Speaker C: Right.
[00:47:28] Speaker A: Why not, I don't know, pack it out with some fun things.
[00:47:33] Speaker B: I'm totally with you, s. I mean, if we're abandoning the classic QE two look, right, we just need to go off the deep end with putting crazy stuff on this ship. I love it.
[00:47:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I will say this every time you mention the VR stuff, Sam, I just think about. I forget what Lynn from the sweet spot called it, what the code was.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: For people or something like that.
I can't remember what it was called.
[00:48:03] Speaker C: The ship at sea with, you know, the VR headset they would call the code.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: I can't remember what it was over the radio, but it was different codes for different bodily fluids.
And all of the bodily fluids we're.
[00:48:17] Speaker C: Talking about, CT is saying Zootopia slam dunk puppetry show in the main theater in Asia market. Big hero six.
I'd love to see a big hero six show.
[00:48:29] Speaker A: Chris always has amazing ideas. He's very creative, and.
[00:48:36] Speaker C: He should be.
[00:48:37] Speaker A: Submitting a bunch of his ideas to Disney.
[00:48:40] Speaker C: The problem is all these companies, he's.
[00:48:42] Speaker B: Wasting his talents with military.
[00:48:45] Speaker C: But the problem is, I saw on a website the other day, a company, they've started doing these unsolicited idea policies because there's this issue of like, well, if I take your idea, you're going.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: To pay for it.
[00:48:57] Speaker C: Disney. Here's the deal.
[00:48:58] Speaker A: I didn't say any of this.
[00:49:00] Speaker C: The idea is coming from us.
I offer you a license, free. You can have perpetuity.
It's all yours. It's all yours. All right.
[00:49:10] Speaker B: Can you give me a free cruise, though? Maybe just one.
[00:49:13] Speaker C: Taryn wanted to say, shout out to you, Wes, and that the adult pool area is, in fact, a travesty on the wish and the treasure. Yes.
And last one. Here, Larry saying, sorry, adventure fans, you're going to need to learn some baccarat.
[00:49:27] Speaker A: So there you go.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: So he comes down on the casino. I am so curious. When they announce this, I will eat my words, but I really don't think they're going to have a casino on there. I think it's tougher to. It took them forever to get to alcohol beverages in the know. So I think that's where we are. All right, last question. Last. Actually not the last topic, but the second to last topic here to tee up. I wanted to find the comment that did it, which is what's next for DCL after the adventure and the third Triton class ship. So I want to pause for a second and say, I think we talked on your show, Wes, about possible names for the last Triton class ship. So I won't rehash that here. I guess maybe we could all just say really fast, I think Sam and I are aligned.
[00:50:09] Speaker B: We're imagine our imagination.
[00:50:13] Speaker A: That's what I would guess.
Think.
[00:50:16] Speaker B: Hasn't there been like believe could be another one? Believe could be like the same kind of category.
[00:50:22] Speaker A: Wasn't there some like handbag or something somewhere? There was a picture release had all like the name imagine was one of the names on there.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: It was. Believe was one of the names. But adventure, yes.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: Adventure was on there, so I don't know. But imagine has been my guess from, I think, when they originally announced the three Triton class ship. So I'll stick with that one.
[00:50:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
I don't want to prognosticate on that ship because I just feel like we just don't know enough about it right now. But I do like this question of. All right, we get the last ship in the fleet, the known announced last ship in the fleet. What's next?
That's a tough question. That's a tough question. I think the first thing I would go after is the magic and the wonder.
They're getting up there. They're getting old. We're hearing feedback. They're starting to show their age a little bit. The wonder, I think a little less so than the magic, which is not surprising given that the wonder came out after the magic.
I don't know. I want to say that maybe Disney will be smart enough to replace the magic and the wonder with ships of similar size. But I think the reality of the cruise business right now is keep getting bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger.
What do you think, Wes?
[00:51:36] Speaker A: It's a great question. I think there are certainly some markets that would be great to be tapped into. I said on my show earlier this week, I would love to some Central America cruises. I know that there's some places there that are sort of tough to visit right now, just with the state of things going on in the world, but to be able to send one of the ships somewhere and sort of do that permanently, I think there are other markets that could be served. But the other interesting thing was, and I don't know if you guys saw this kind of circulated on social media, but Bob Iger actually touched on fleet expansion in a recent Q A on one of the earnings announcements.
He basically not, I forget exactly how he said it, but basically we're leaving the door open for fleet expansion beyond Triton number. You know, I thought that was interesting to hear it from him, especially that at least it's on their minds and that it's something that they're thinking about. I love the idea, Brian, of making a new ship kind of the size of the magic of the wonder. I can't imagine that that is something that they would be interested in at this point. But it's a great question and I wish I had more ideas or more thoughts, but I think there are certainly more markets that could be explored and tapped into.
And more ships, I think, is not out of the question.
[00:53:12] Speaker C: And I remember we had Aaron Foster on the show a couple of years ago now, and we were sort of talking about sort of future of Disney Cruise line, and she commented, and at the time I agreed with her, but I don't know that it's still on the know. She was know two years ago, I would have been shocked to know DCL expand into like river cruising. Right. As a partner for adventures by Disney moving forward. Right. Because there was so much interest in river cruising. It's a little tougher for them now, especially a new entrance into that market and all the issues with fluctuating river levels. And is it going to happen? Is it not going to happen? That's a tough business to be in, in my opinion right now. Although fabulous fun trips, highly recommend taking river cruise. And the other idea that she sort of floated that might be under consideration is would Disney peel off the concierge experience and do like we're going to do like a know Seaborne has done these, like we're going to do these small yacht experiences that you can get into some smaller ports and that sort of thing. But it's going to be expensive to get on board now. Yeah, but I want to say I don't know how much more expensive it can be to get.
[00:54:22] Speaker B: That's the thing. I think if anything, they're just going to expand concierge offerings within the current model, right? So within Disney cruise line, maybe the next class of ships will have a couple of different even levels of concierge like you have on royal, which with sky class or a haven or a.
[00:54:45] Speaker C: Haven experience where you have a pool that's private to concierge. You got a couple of know, that sort of thing.
[00:54:50] Speaker B: I think the ship within a ship concept is more likely, but I think they're going to order more ships after the third Triton class comes out. I think the demand is still there and as I've said, they're going to have to retire. The magic and the wonder. I'm saying within, like about, well, not the wonder maybe, but the magic within ten years. And so I think they've got to have new ships on order. I don't think they're going to be the same size as the magic and the wonder. I'm going to predict they're either going to be in between the size of magic and wonder and dream and fantasy, or they're just going to be the same size as dream fantasy, which they're going to be similar size to Triton class. I don't think we're going to see mega ships like the adventure, but I do think we could have more of the ship within a ship concierge concept coming at multiple levels. Even.
[00:55:44] Speaker C: CT is gold. I agree. Lahar as a land French for like years. I can't. Lahar as a land and seaport for Disneyland. Paris needs to happen. Hong Kong. Disney has the adventure. Florida has ships like the wish. I'll take that one step further. I really think they need to put a ship in Long beach so you can go from Disneyland to a cruise. A lot easier than trying to drive down to San Diego. I would love to see that happen. That's a great idea. Ct. And then it says, larry here is saying if they made another small ship where they put it under a luxury brand, golden oaks of the sea, 1200 per person per night.
[00:56:21] Speaker B: It's not that far off.
[00:56:23] Speaker C: 1200 per person per night is almost what concierge was costing for Alaska season, summer season this year. So we're getting pretty close. We're getting pretty close.
[00:56:32] Speaker A: Can I just add one other think? I think, Sam, I think you were really onto something. So the magic and the wonder. If you think about it, the offerings on those ships are very similar between the two in terms of their main dining restaurants.
I think the whole fleet could use a revamp of just the IP and the characters and the stories that are on board. I just feel like a company with Disney's resources and stories and characters and all that stuff that they have access to for their ships not to be completely different from one another, I think is wrong. And maybe they could go and build out these spaces to have unique offerings on each one. I think the types of offerings that they do on each ship can be the same, but.
[00:57:18] Speaker B: Right. They could have different theories. Yeah, agreed. Exactly.
[00:57:22] Speaker A: So maybe that's something that they could look at for the dream and the fantasy and then the wish eventually.
[00:57:28] Speaker C: Yeah. I loved, for instance, between the magic and the dream class with animators palette. I know a lot of people were like, why don't they put animators palate on the wish? I'm like, I actually love that they didn't because it gives me a reason to go sail those other ships where I really love that animator's palate experience. And I guess, speaking of my question about the adventure man, I hope they don't put marvel restaurant on the adventure man. I guess I'm excited to see what they do with it on the treasure, but I'm a little skeptical about what they do.
[00:58:00] Speaker A: Again, I don't know why it had to be the same.
And if it was a timing thing and they didn't have enough time to develop something, well, maybe don't rush the ship out as fast until they have everything lined up to where it was something new.
[00:58:16] Speaker C: Yeah. All right. I promised we would do the opportunity for Disney, so let's each one opportunity that you think Disney cruise line has to really set itself apart, I'll start this time because I know mine is never going to come true.
Please bring your pricing to be a little bit more competitive with your competitors.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: This is just a funny one, Brian.
[00:58:43] Speaker C: I keep saying this. I keep hoping someone will hear my. My concern is because I love Disney. I think it's pricing itself out of the market, and the easiest customer to keep is the customer you already have. And as you're pricing people out of the product, right, you got to go spend more money to bring new people in. And I think if those people then go off to sail a royal suite class as compared to a Disney cruise line concierge, they're going to find a lot more benefits there. Like, it's going to wet the appetite and then they're going to lose them again. Right? So either bring your pricing in line with the offering or improve the offering to justify the price. I just don't think the balance is right right now. And I say that as someone who, we did 25 Disney cruises between 2018 and today.
We have spent a lot of money with the cruise line.
[00:59:40] Speaker B: We're crazy.
[00:59:42] Speaker C: We're crazy. We have spent a lot of money with the cruise line. And they are becoming like, I'm like, I don't know if I can keep spending money on this cruise line. It's too expensive. So, Disney, your opportunity, I think, is to really assess your pricing. And I really hope someone at corporate is taking a look at how full these ships really are. And when I say, like, dig behind the occupancy number and ask the question, how many of these rooms are being sold on discounts? Right. To cast members to Florida resident. I know that hasn't really been a huge thing, but are you filling rooms with discounts that you could have gotten full price for if you just lowered your pricing a little? That's. Anyway, that's my plea, my plea to Disney cruise line. Do some research. Let's make sure you're actually in line with the pricing that you want to pay. So, Wes, what's your opportunity for Disney Cruise line?
[01:00:32] Speaker A: I think you made a lot of great points there, Brian, and I think they'd be wise to take you up on that. I'm going to go with one that I don't know if you guys are going to necessarily agree with me or not, but I want to say stateroom innovation.
Disney Cruise Line has a great idea for a long time, boasted like, we have the largest staterooms at sea and we're geared toward families and we have all this storage space.
And then you're starting to see these new ships come on and just how amazing their staterooms are. And you've sailed concierge staterooms on both Disney and with other cruise lines, right. Or concierge type.
[01:01:14] Speaker B: Yeah, we have on.
[01:01:18] Speaker A: I've, I've worked with lots of people who have done both as well. And they're just saying that the staterooms on these other cruise lines are just nicer. And I feel like, again, could Disney come up with something, could the imagineers come up with something that is new and innovative and exciting for these staterooms to make them stand out from other cruise lines? And I don't have any specific ideas on what that would be like, but it just feels like they designed the staterooms at the very beginning, way back in 1999, and that was the gold standard. And have they changed much since? I don't think that they have. I don't know if that they've other than just painting the walls different, have they really changed much in terms of the stateroom?
[01:02:11] Speaker B: Why didn't they put magic portholes on the wish for those inside staterooms? Right. That was like a no brainer too, because.
[01:02:17] Speaker A: Or split just.
[01:02:20] Speaker B: Yeah, there's just certain amendments, but I.
[01:02:22] Speaker C: Feel like that's a theme. I just want to say with Disney cruise line, but Disney more specifically, they innovate, but then they don't innovate again, and everybody kind of catches up with them and it's like, okay, great that you innovated. Before you had large staterooms at sea families, but now so does royal. Now so does celebrity. All these other cruise lines have these things now. So what are you going to do next? Right, because now celebrities doing those infinite.
[01:02:44] Speaker B: Balconies, what do you have that's new lately?
[01:02:49] Speaker C: Exactly.
[01:02:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay, well, you're going to come to me now, and I'm going to say something that's actually really similar to what Wes talked about on the adventure, which is why do we still not really have an attraction at sea? Because the aquamouse is a waterslide. It is not an attraction at sea. I enjoy the aquamouse. I'm not complaining that it's, know, significantly worse than the aqueduct. I actually think they're pretty equal. Like, they're both good rides. The aqueduct is a little longer with the waterslide part. The mouse has your little video part. They're both cute, I enjoy them, but neither of them is an attraction at sea for the company that does the best attractions in the world, with the exception of roller coasters, generally speaking.
[01:03:38] Speaker C: Hey, Guardians of the Galaxy is a.
[01:03:41] Speaker B: Great roller coaster, but we all know that universal, they're not thrill rides, right? But we all know that universal has, like the most and the fastest and the biggest roller coasters. Let's not kid ourselves. But for the company that does the best attractions in the world, why do we not have an attraction at sea? I'm okay if it's a VR attraction. If it's a dark ride, there's lots of opportunities of what you're going to do. Even an escape room is an attraction, right? If it's themed appropriately.
But why do we have none of this and other ships? Carnival has a freaking roller coaster on board, right? Carnival has a roller coaster.
[01:04:24] Speaker C: Disney should be offended that carnival beats.
[01:04:28] Speaker B: Them to a roller coaster, right?
And then royal has all the escape rooms. And then they also have these cool zip line things hanging off their ship, and so does celebrity and norwegian and princess. I mean, they all have these cool attractions hanging off the sides of their ship and Disney has none.
[01:04:46] Speaker A: Sam, I think you forgot about the incredibles and creditors on the witch.
[01:04:52] Speaker B: Which is a cool bouncy house, but that's what it is.
[01:04:55] Speaker C: They're going to pull out a little red flyer wagon and attach it to a rope and pull you through as fast as they can with a VR headset.
[01:05:07] Speaker A: I actually laughed when they announced being credit course with the wish it was a standalone announcement. I don't know if you remember.
It's a bouncy house.
[01:05:19] Speaker B: Listen, it's a fun bouncy house course, but it's not an attraction at sea. It's just a fun event.
[01:05:28] Speaker C: I got to put this comment up from Josh, self proclaimed DCL villain. But Josh, you're 100% right again. We were recording a show the other day and we were talking about this issue and someone said it'd be like princess. For those of you out there, Josh's comment is Disney has an easy opportunity to update their tech princess medallions with the magic band is a no brainer. So for those of you who don't know, princess has these sea medallions that actually can track where you are on the ship. And so it enables things like you can order a drink and they will bring it to you where you are on the ship. You can find your shipmates around the ship so you can meet up with them. Right.
[01:06:02] Speaker B: They'll bring you up here wherever you are.
[01:06:04] Speaker C: It is a no brainer. But I did say, here's the problem. They got to get the magic band to just work first on the ship and then we can.
[01:06:10] Speaker B: And then we can talk about upgrading it. Absolutely.
[01:06:14] Speaker C: All right. So I promised Josh McHenry would answer two questions that he threw up in the beginning. So let me just put those up. His first question is, he's totally selfish for you. Any opinion on going on your own to the baths on virgin Gorda versus the organized shore excursion? We don't have experience with that one, Josh. I don't know, Wes. Have you done that excursion at all?
[01:06:34] Speaker A: I don't have any experience with it, except for everyone says if you're visiting there, you got to go to the baths. And whether that be with an organized excursion through the cruise line or private, the only thing I would say about private excursions, they can be great. They could save you some money. They can give you more time at wherever it is that you want to go and just make sure that they are committed to getting you back to the ship in time for all aboard because that's the only risk.
Third party.
[01:07:07] Speaker B: We did talk to some folks who did it on their own. They didn't even do it with a third party excursion like they did it just themselves. And they said it was actually pretty easy to do the ferry ride over and then did the hike on their own. And they actually had a significant amount of time at the hidden beach and a significant amount of time at the baths that they felt they wouldn't have had if they were with a tour group because they got there way early. So I would say if you're going to go on your own, go early and then you'll leave yourself plenty of time to do it on your own.
[01:07:39] Speaker C: All right, last question here. Before we wrap up the show, Josh is asking any guesses? This goes with the theme of the show, prognostication. Any guesses on any upgrades or changes coming to the dreamer fantasy on the dry dock after Europe? I have a prediction that is 100% going to come true. More concierge staterooms done.
[01:07:58] Speaker B: We all know that we've actually been told that by some of the concierge hosts on board that there's going to be some kind of expansion to the lounge.
I don't know what part of what they're going to be taking over, but there's going to be some kind of expansion to the lounge and they're going to change over some of the regular staterooms. I think it would be on maybe deck, I don't know, ten or eleven, I can't remember. That will change over from regular staterooms to concierge. But they'll just be probably like family. Veranda, stateroom, concierge rooms. They're not going to be one bedrooms. Yeah. I have heard a lot of people want enchanted garden. So Taryn is saying, I think enchanted garden will be changed into a theme style show.
I don't think it's going to happen. I want it to happen. I don't think it's going to.
[01:08:50] Speaker A: Now. I think it should be on the cards for the future. And I also think the lobby atrium restaurants need to be.
I'd rather them do something in the lobby atrium restaurants than enchanted garden because I think having those restaurants in the lobby atrium, that's a very central, obviously prime spot, central part of the ship, obviously. And to have a big ticket restaurant with an awesome facade or something out there would be pretty cool. And the royal palace and the royal court just do nothing for me. I don't know if you guys feel the same way.
[01:09:33] Speaker B: Yeah. I like the menu, the french menu. But other than that, yeah, I would agree. I don't think they're that special.
But yeah, I think it would be nice to see a refresh of either enchanted garden or royal court royal palace. But I just don't think that's coming. Yeah. So I'll be honest, I don't think we're going to see a whole lot of big changes that are going know, be guest noticeable. I'm just not sure. I mean, I'm sure they'll change out some of the carpets and things like that, but yeah, I don't know that we're going to see re theming or Major Chris Braga is saying that the lounge is taking over part of the spa area. So that's where the concierge lounge, that's going to be.
[01:10:16] Speaker C: I will say of all the ships in the fleet that need a little something extra for their concierge lounge, like those two ships, because the lounge itself is completely kind of enclosed like the other ships. It's like kind of sealed.
Think. I think that lounge could stand for an upgrade. But with that, I got it. Wes, thank you so much for spending some time with us this evening. We had such a blast. I want to go on the record and say we need to do this again.
We need to do this again at some point in the future, maybe around the time of the treasure sailing or something, but yeah, let's do this again. It was so much fun. We had so much fun with you, Wes. Thanks for taking the time and for coming on the show.
[01:10:52] Speaker A: My pleasure. I really appreciate you guys inviting me on. This was a ton of fun. I really enjoyed this. So. Yes, absolutely. Anytime you want to do it, I'm in.
[01:11:02] Speaker B: Awesome. And for those who don't know Wes or follow him already, I know a.
[01:11:06] Speaker C: Lot of you do.
[01:11:08] Speaker B: Wes is the DCL dude. But Wes, why don't you tell folks where they can find you on social media, on podcast platforms, all of the good stuff.
[01:11:16] Speaker A: I appreciate that. I host the DCL dude podcast. You can find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, pretty much anywhere. Where you find podcasts, you'll find me there. I'm on Instagram at the DCL dude. Same with Twitter or X, whichever you want to call it. Yeah, find me in those places and don't be shy.
[01:11:38] Speaker C: You're a vacation planner. We don't discriminate on this show. So if folks want to book a cruise with you, how do they find you? Just through those channels or you guys.
[01:11:47] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I mean, I have an email address it's
[email protected]. Thanks for letting me throw that out.
Like Disney cruising is my passion. I absolutely, absolutely love it. It's all, I think it's, I'm sure you guys are the same love, I love talking about it and I really appreciate you guys letting me come on and chat with you and with your audience anytime.
[01:12:16] Speaker C: And we will be back next week. Everyone watching. We'll be back next week. 05:30 p.m. Pacific Pacific 08:30 p.m. Eastern and we will have Leslie harvey from trips with tykes coming on to talk to us about all of her tips and tricks for sailing with kids on Disney cruise line. So a show you will not want to miss. Leslie is a wealth of information on that topic. So thanks everybody out there for watching. We really appreciate it and we will see you next time.
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, my path unwinding where you can get more information about booking a fabulous vacation, which also really helps to support for 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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