[00:00:00] Speaker A: You. You went on the Star cruiser. You went on the halcyon.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: I didn't overnight. It was a preview.
Yeah.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Do you think we see anything at D 23 about what they're going to do with the halcyon moving forward?
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Maybe that could be interesting. I mean, they're kind of do something with it, right? Like it's just sitting there.
[00:00:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Spirit Halloween store.
[00:00:21] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:00:22] Speaker C: That is the best thing.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: Welcome back, everybody, to another live edition of the DCL duo podcast, brought to you by my path. Unwinding travel. And I'm rocking the Steely Dan tonight. No. Or not Steely Dan?
[00:00:47] Speaker D: The.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Steely the Grateful Dead. Steely. For. I just got back from Vegas yesterday evening from watching the Grateful Dead at the sphere. Pretty excited about that.
[00:00:55] Speaker D: And I'm rocking the hardcore marvel t shirt today, so.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: And we got some great guests with us. We've got Jason and Heidi. Jason has been on before from popular cruising. And this is Heidi's first time. We love.
[00:01:10] Speaker D: No, no. Heidi came on once before.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Is Heidi on? No, no.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Audio one.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Right?
[00:01:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So. Yes, that's right. Heidi was on with you the last time we had you on. I think Jason.
Jason's rocking the. I can tell the wish.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Exactly. All Disney cruise line, even the t shirt. So, you know.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: I gotta go with the classic, right?
[00:01:32] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Always a classic. Always great to have you. Great to have you both. Thank you for joining us. For all of you out there in the community, you know, we like to start with news, and there's only one big news item, I think, out right now, which is that the treasure floated out over the weekend. So.
[00:01:46] Speaker D: All right.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: She floats. She floats.
[00:01:50] Speaker D: And there were fireworks and Voyager mini was there, too for the sort of ceremony of it all. Yeah.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: And much rejoicing was that.
[00:01:59] Speaker D: Yes. Much rejoicing.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. So now begins the process of they complete some things there at the yard as she floats, and then they float her down the EMS. Well, the m. I forget how you say. Emshafen river.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: Ems river. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Out to sea for sea trials. And then assuming she passes her sea trials, they will hand over delivery to Disney. So she is on her way for us for December. We're looking forward to being on her at Christmas time, so. Yeah. But we're not going to be talking treasure tonight. We know so much about the treasure. We know more about the destiny than we did a week ago, as last week was just all destiny all the time. And we wanted to have Jason and Heidi on to talk about a bunch of stuff Disney cruise line related. But let's start with the destiny, since it's the most recent thing that happened.
I assume, Brian, you got to get.
[00:02:50] Speaker D: Them an opportunity to give their cruise.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: I do. I do. Straight ahead. I promise I wouldn't. And I did. So here we go.
[00:02:57] Speaker D: Been a while since you guys have been on the show. So for our, for new maybe audience who haven't heard of you guys on our show before, why don't you tell our audience your cruising background, your connection to Disney? Obviously, Jason, you are popular cruising and Heidi is misses popular cruising. Right, right.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: He was there first.
[00:03:20] Speaker D: So why don't you tell our audience your cruising background and sort of what you do because you do it for a living.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Well, as the story goes, I was, I wasn't a, I even, I was not even two years old before I went on my first cruise. And I've been cruising ever since, not professionally, but that's been since 2011 that I've been doing it professionally. But I've been on over 200 cruises. In fact, the 200 cruise was my 40th birthday celebrated on the Disney wish. So that was in December and I've been on another four since then. So now we're looking at 205 coming up, but we'll be on together, so.
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:52] Speaker B: An exciting journey. It's been quite a ride.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: Do you know how many nights you've been on a cruise?
[00:03:57] Speaker B: I broke it down one time and it was like, I spent, you know, years at sea and like, it was like a percentage of my life that's been spent at sea, you know?
[00:04:05] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: It's pretty amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: And I'll never catch up. I'm getting close to 40, but he's way ahead of me.
[00:04:12] Speaker D: You gotta just take a few without him, Heidi, you know?
[00:04:14] Speaker C: I know, right?
[00:04:16] Speaker A: How many. Wait, how many Disney cruises have you done now, Jason?
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Oh, it's been probably ever 20 or.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: Yeah, probably getting close to 20.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:24] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: All right.
[00:04:25] Speaker D: So a few behind us. I have to say, as far as Disney cruising, you have much, much more cruise line experience on all of the other cruise lines. And obviously, and we know you sail on, you know, larger cruise lines, but you've also sailed on some of the smaller cruise lines as well.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: So you've been on something as small as a twelve passenger tugboat, believe it or not.
[00:04:44] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: That is.
[00:04:47] Speaker D: Yeah. Well, I will tell you, we have a few people in the audience saying that they want your job. Both. Tracy says, I want his job, professional cruiser and then ct tinfall mouse ears is saying, preach, Tracy. So, yeah, you have some folks who are, who are a little envious, but you don't just go on cruises. You write about cruising for a bunch of different publications like tell us, tell folks where they can find you if they want to read all your stuff.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: So my main outlet is, I'm the cruise editor at Travel age West. It's a publication that's primarily for travel agents. And then, of course, I have my popular cruising YouTube channel with the signs back here. And that's what I do. All my video reviews for surveyship that I go on. I do a video review. I'm very comprehensive. And whenever Heidi is there along with me, she, she chimes in and tells me what she thinks we do a little he said, she said banter.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: So it's a lot of fun.
[00:05:39] Speaker D: I love that. And then popular cruising is now a travel advisor, is that correct?
[00:05:44] Speaker C: It's true. Yes. Misses popularcruising.com. i can now book all your cruises for you, Disney and otherwise. So hit me up. Let's talk cruise.
[00:05:52] Speaker D: Love it. Love it.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: Nice. Well, we, we love having you both on because you have so much cruising experience. And the last time, I remember at least one of the times we had Jason on, you sent us some photos of, like, the top deck of the, I forget what ship it was that you were on for the crossing and it was like covered in snow. And you're just able to situate, and you're both Disney fans, so you're able to kind of situate, you'll bring us back into the kind of a down to earth with cruising and where Disney sits in the kind of cruising portfolio. So always excited to chat with you about that. Yeah, sure.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Yeah. All right.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Well, let's, let's. Now we can talk Destiny. Now we can talk Destiny.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: So big announcements. Last week, most of the ship, I think, was revealed. I think we're really just missing whether there's a third stage show, which we're all kind of expecting, not whether there.
[00:06:34] Speaker D: Is going to be. I'm going to, don't even say weather like, don't put that out in the universe. The idea that there wouldn't be a third stage show is blasphemy.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: I think D 23 Expo, they're saving that one for.
[00:06:45] Speaker D: I think so, too. Jason, I'm with you. I think they're saving that. It's going to be a big reveal. And like I've said before, I'm hoping for Hercules the musical.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: Oh, I would love that. The music's so good. Yeah.
[00:06:57] Speaker D: So good, right? Yeah.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: What did you think when they announced, like, the whole theming of the ship around heroes and villains? It's kind of a.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: But it was different because I know that they always talked about doing that for a theme park, you know, having, like, a villain's land. So I'm thinking, okay, so maybe they're not going to do the land as much and they're going to try to do it on a cruise ship instead.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:14] Speaker B: That's the first thing that came to mind.
Yeah. But I think it's cool. I think the, you know, the stern character for, you know, Spider man with the spider bots.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: With the little.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: The goggles on. Spider bots.
[00:07:24] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:07:24] Speaker C: Snorkel goggles.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Yeah, those are. Those pretty. So I will say the most divisive announcement. Yeah. Divisive announcement they had was the atrium character in the stern character. It's like the people are either loving it or hating it.
[00:07:37] Speaker D: I think the stern character is more divisive. I actually think the atrium. I think the grand hall statue. I saw less commentary online about that. I know what you guys. Yeah.
What do you guys think about the choice of going with a non animated, really, for. I mean, both. I mean, Spider man is also an animated character, but in the MCU, he's not. And so. Or generally, there is a Spidey and friends show, I guess, but that's like a young little kid.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: They're ultimately both somewhat animated because they're comic book characters to start, but. Yes. Point taken. Point taken.
[00:08:11] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: No, I think it's really cool, and I think it's fun. Not that girls don't like Black Panther, because they totally do. But I think it's fun to have a character that a lot of boys connect with and really like, because there's so much, you know, girly princess stuff in Disney. I think it's. I think it's kind of a fun departure.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just really hope they lean a little bit more into the Wakanda architecture, because I'm looking at the graphic of it right here on my monitor, and it looks a little.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: It's a little blind, right?
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yeah, they need to have a. A little bit more darker. Yeah, exactly.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't know what you thought, but when I first saw it, I was like, oh, yeah. And then I sort of looked at it a little bit harder. I'm like, this looks like something someone literally sketched in a sketchbook, like 20 minutes.
[00:08:50] Speaker D: It's very plain. Yes.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:52] Speaker C: And that's what I'm hoping is maybe it's just more preliminary, but you would think that with all the, like, beautiful patterns in, like, african fabrics and stuff, that they could do some really cool stuff there. So hopefully they'll boost it up a little bit.
[00:09:03] Speaker D: Yes, definitely. We've got a comment from. Come on, son, saying, I agree with Heidi. I have an eight year old son who will be so excited about. I think you're. I think you're totally right. I think this leans more, like, into, you know, the folks who are into superheroes and less into the, you know, folks who are into princesses. It tends to go along gender lines a little bit, but not completely, obviously. What did you think about the choice of putting Frozen as a stage show? Because that goes the exact opposite way, obviously, sees the adventure and frozen are the stage shows now that you're two of the three stage shows.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think it's always balancing out the different, you know, like, the princesses and the princes and now you have. Frozen is always super popular. Like, they always go for the ips and they're trying to, like, get, you know, the most attention and they get.
And the frozen show is just great. Like, the whole transformation with the costume, it's like. It's impressive.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: Spoiler alert.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Well.
[00:10:03] Speaker D: Listen, anyone who's seen the Broadway show or the Disney Cruise line version knows, obviously. I even mentioned the puppetry. The puppetry spectacular. Yeah, we love the puppetry.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:13] Speaker D: It's just such a. Such a great production. Do you have a prediction about what the third show is going to be, do you think? I mean, obviously, I've already spoiled what I think it's going to be, and DCl Dan is saying he saw the original Hercules the musical on the wonder back in 2007. And so this would be a revival, essentially. So it's. It would be new, but not 100%. Right, but, yeah. What, do you have any thoughts or Hercules fits?
[00:10:40] Speaker B: I mean, there's been a lot of artwork, even in the stateroom shown that's Hercules. And other than that, it hasn't been really represented. So I'm thinking it might be that the state show.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: So I think that's a good prediction.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: Yeah. We have seen some people who've been. Who've been wanting to see them bring back villains tonight, which kind of be a no brainer, too, for this ship, if I'm honest. But I agree. I mean, I think it's gonna be Hercules, but that's kind of an interesting option as well. Yeah. Right.
[00:11:02] Speaker D: What did you features Hades, I think, very prominently, if my memory is correct. I've seen it. I've only seen it on YouTube. I never saw it on the ship. But I think Hades is the prominent villain, or one of the prominent villains, actually.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Do you remember seeing that when it was still available? I know it was on the magic of the wonderland, and it was interesting. It was a little campy. Like, I think if they brought it back, they would need to revise it a little bit, but it was still pretty fun. Yeah.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: What did you think of the. I'm curious to step back for a second. What did you think about the way they announced? Because I think we've gotten so trained. Like, we have like 1 hour long, maybe 90 minutes. There's a video, you know, all that sort of stuff. And this was very much kind of like some art. Not every, like, not everything. We got art for. And then we're still waiting for three days. Yeah.
[00:11:45] Speaker B: You know? Yeah. I was surprised that there weren't full renderings for everything yet. Think it's interesting how they're holding? They went all out on some things, but holding back on others. I think you're right about that. And spreading it out over three days was interesting. You know, different marketing technique, I suppose. Yeah.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I thought for sure on the last day we might just get. Okay, now here's the full video. And you can see everything.
[00:12:05] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: They didn't do that. I was like, it's just interesting that there's, like, some spaces being announced and we didn't get any artwork on.
[00:12:11] Speaker D: I was kind of bummed by that. I did really like the. The sort of comic book animations that they did. I thought those were really fun. And. And I like how it connected back with the one that they had released several months ago. And so it was like each one was in the same style. But I was kind of bummed that they didn't do, like, a longer video reveal.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: And again, they might be saving that for the expo. So true expo. It's just D 23, right? It was in there, like, no expo.
[00:12:40] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:41] Speaker D: I love this comment.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Elizabeth saying Hercules and the muses will perform a D 23. That'd be great. That'd be great.
[00:12:48] Speaker D: We would love that, Elizabeth. That's a great. That's a great thought. I hope that's true. And if it happens, it better happen during the 90 Minutes panel, the 90 minutes presentation for Horizons, because that's what we're going to be watching. I'm not watching the rest of it, and I don't think the rest of it is all going to be streaming, so.
[00:13:05] Speaker A: No, sure. It won't be.
What spaces in particular kind of caught your eye?
Anything that stood out that you're like, well, that's really cool. I'm glad they're doing that.
[00:13:15] Speaker D: Or really in the opposite. Yeah.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: Oh, sure. But I'll go for you because you're interested in the restaurant specifically.
[00:13:20] Speaker C: Oh, the Lion King. I think that's going to be so fun. I mean, it's classic, right? This is like our era from our childhood. For anyone who's seen the Lion King Broadway show, it just. It's going to translate so well into that space. So I'm really looking forward to that. And Deville's lounge. I'm pumped for that. I think that's a really cool theme.
[00:13:39] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: I'm really. I'm really excited.
[00:13:43] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Specifically the pride lands. I'm kind of thinking. Okay, so you had Olaf as an animatronic. Right on the wish. Now I really would love there to be like a baby simba situation where somebody's carrying him and it's like, powered by backpack battery, you know. Okay. You know, behind the scenes a little bit there, but.
[00:13:57] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: And it's just like.
[00:13:58] Speaker D: Yeah, but they don't even have to. They could do a puppet, right?
[00:14:01] Speaker B: They could.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Right.
[00:14:02] Speaker D: Because I feel like, you know, the trolls, the. So, yeah, so, like, the trolls puppets, they do those. Not just in the show frozen, but they also do it at Olaf's picnic, right?
[00:14:12] Speaker A: Oh, sure.
[00:14:13] Speaker D: So I don't know if you guys have been to Olaf's picnic, Brian, because you have to have a kid with you. Right? So you gotta have a kid, man. Get in. Yeah.
[00:14:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:22] Speaker D: You gotta. You gotta borrow a kid ages three to twelve. Right. So I. So I. Thankfully, I have, you know, I have one on, you know, on staff. And so Nathan and I went with some friends. Brian didn't go because it's. It's really quite expensive. It's the royalty or the. Olaf's. Olaf's picnic. I think they call it Olaf's royal picnic. But the picnic one, I haven't been to the royalty one. The picnic one has like a whole, like, frozen performance. And it has, like, the trolls featured very prominently. And there's all these performers using the troll puppets. And I was thinking. Yeah, I was thinking the same as you about a baby simba. But I was thinking. Cause, you know, all these issues with the animatronic of Olaf in the wish.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: His arm keeps falling off and he's.
[00:15:08] Speaker D: Like, broken down like, it feels like it felt like every other. Like, half the times we cruised on the wish we saw Olaf in the. In Arendelle, and half the time we didn't see Olaf in Arendelle.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: So keep the right.
[00:15:20] Speaker D: So, like. So, like a puppet. It, you know, doesn't break down the same way that Olaf does.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: What do you think of it? So you mentioned. You mentioned Devilles, but obviously, we got some other bar spaces, too. We got the Doctor strange sanctum that we haven't seen any artwork for, but kind of imagine what they're going for. And then cask and cannon. Yeah. And I don't think we've talked to you since the treasure announced, so we'll focus on the destiny for a second. But I'd love to get your thoughts on, like, parasite.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: A little prop here of minautilus. So I'm a very big fan of 20,000 leagues under the sea.
[00:15:53] Speaker C: We just watched it, like, two weeks ago.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: We did the original on.
[00:15:55] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: So I have to say, the one that's coming on treasure first is the one that has me the most excited. Yes. Beyond that, of course. A pirates bar. You can't go wrong with that.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: No, that's gonna be really cool.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: Especially since magic kingdom sounds like they're getting something similar. So I imagine maybe the development of these two bars will maybe go a little hand in hand.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: And we like that space on the ship, too, where they put, like, the Kegon compass. And we're gonna put the pirates.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: You can get some food. Extra snacks there.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: It's a nice place to hang out.
[00:16:19] Speaker D: Yes. I love the snacks there. Actually, for those who haven't tried, they have, like, awesome tachos. They have really good wings.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: They can't call them tater tots are called potato puffs.
[00:16:31] Speaker D: Whatever. They're tatchos. They're tatchos. Right. They're trademark. Yeah.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Bioreida. Yeah.
[00:16:41] Speaker D: But anyway, there are tatchos in the keg and compass and so. And the wings are really good. And then they also have, like, one of those big pretzels. I will say the big pretzel is good. It's not. It's no Mickey pretzel. Let me just. Oh, I agree.
[00:16:53] Speaker C: It was okay. They also have moe champagne with, like, fruit in it and ice, which I guess how it's supposed to be served. That was my jam.
[00:17:02] Speaker D: Yes. That is. I love that. The moe ice with the. Yeah, with the ice and the fruit. Sometimes on the pool deck, if you get the right bartender on the pool deck. They will make you moe ice that way. And that's the way it's supposed to be made. But they don't always have the fruit. I think that's the hot tip right there. Yeah, yeah. Just gotta find the right bartender.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: I'm curious. So I love that they moved away from the irish theming, like, to try something new with the periscope hub and now the casking cannon. Like, do you think they'll really like, how hard do you think they'll lean in here? Because the renderings of the periscope pub, for example, are pretty stunning. They didn't give us anything on cask and canon, but, like, it. Like, I want them to lean into it, but I'm a little worried they'll.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Much as they did on a mansion parlor. I think they have to go equally. So with pirates, the fans are not going to be happy. Like, you got to go deep.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: Yeah, but I think they should do it in a way they. That's just a little, like, more grown up. Right. Instead of making it kind of like a campy space, like on the wish. I love how they have all those little hidden carvings, you know, along the wall, whip and stuff. So it would be cool if they had some. I mean, I don't want it to be too subtle. Right? Like, it definitely needs to be pirates, but just have some of those subtle nods. That would be kind of fun.
[00:18:16] Speaker D: I wonder how it's going to be as far as, like, kid access, because so keg encompass is fully adult all the time and wherever, but hyperspace lounge is not. It doesn't turns adult after a certain time of day. And so you can bring your kid to hyperspace, which can't bring your kid to k and compass. I mean, sure, they could probably walk in and chat with you and then leave. It's, you know. But I'm wondering what you guys think, because periscope pub and then, of course, cask and canon will be more themed and that's in the same space that Kagan compass will be. I'm wondering if you think they will change sort of the way they do the access and make it more like hyper space and have, you know, anyone's welcome during the day, but not after a certain time of night.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I think that's what's interesting. Cause on the wish, that was really the first time that there wasn't a dedicated district.
[00:19:07] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: Like the wing, kind of the individual venues that are just kind of individually, you know, access was based on.
[00:19:15] Speaker C: Yeah. And on the wish, it's like right next to the big, like, the two story multi purpose venue.
[00:19:19] Speaker D: Right.
[00:19:20] Speaker C: So that's kind of a bummer that it's not, like, separated. So if I'm a kid, I probably would think I would be able to go in there. So I kind of hope even though we do, like, the only spaces because. Because we are a childless couple.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: But we went just for, like, trivia. Like, trivia we had in Kangan compass.
[00:19:33] Speaker C: In Kangan compass. I think it'd be fun if they. If they let kids in those. In those spaces during certain hours.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: But if they let kids in those spaces, they should let adults, right?
[00:19:42] Speaker D: Yes. I'm with you, Jason. It's only fair. Like, that Star wars space, you can go see it during open house hours, but, like, you can't do the game with the tablet, like, in the non, you know, in the open house hours. And same with. They even have these cool, like, frozen games in a different part of the club where you, like, throw snowballs and stuff, but you need the kids magic band to use it. I don't know, maybe it'll work now with a regular magic band during open house hours. I haven't been on. We haven't been back on the wish, I think, since the. Well, actually, they had magic bands anyway. We haven't tried it, but I'm, like, kind of pissed. I'm gonna be honest. They have some really cool stuff in the kids club on the wish, but.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: If they let us in, it would be crowded with adults.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Or if they wanted to get more money out of it, they could make it like, a concierge level only perk for adults to access, maybe. Just saying fancy. Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: All right.
[00:20:42] Speaker D: So like an adult takeover, right?
[00:20:44] Speaker A: So we've got a, um. We've got a cool question. I had a question along these lines, but, uh, not this direct, which is just throw this up here. So our friend CT is asking, do we think hyperspace lounge goes away during the wishes first dry dock if haunted mansion parlor gets better feedback. But the question I wanted to understand was, what do you think of them? So the haunted mansion parlors coming? I think universally, like, most people are excited. They're just waiting to see again the execution of it. But what do you think about them putting it onto the destiny as opposed to something else? And I do sort of like, this is the natural extension. The next thing is like, well, if hyperspace isn't doing so well, do they retheme it? So now you have, like, haunted mansion parlor on three ships. Like, yeah. What do you think?
[00:21:25] Speaker B: I mean, I know, historically, Disney has always tried to do something different in each of those spaces to have it be a differentiator that you can say, I want to, like, basically collect all the cruise ships. Say, I've been on that one, because it says this, and only this is available there. Same thing with Disneyland. Like, we're the only ones that have the Matterhorn. Hey, so it's like, you gotta go to Disneyland if you want that.
[00:21:42] Speaker C: So if you wanna get your back adjusted.
[00:21:44] Speaker D: Right. If you wanna. Yeah. If you wanna forget going to the chiropractor, or maybe you don't need to go to the chiropractor after. I don't know.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: So I think the fact that it's actually been repeated on destiny is actually surprising. I think.
[00:21:55] Speaker C: Yeah, we were a little bummed.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: I think it could have been, like, a good marvel bar. Granted, we have the sanctum, but I think that could have been maybe, like, a really cool Ironman bar or something like that.
[00:22:02] Speaker C: No, it's gonna be cool. But we like visiting the new venues on each ship. So it's just like, okay, well, we already would have seen that. I would be sad if they got rid of hyperspace. I mean, hyperspace is really cool, but.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Like, also the place where you can see the.
[00:22:17] Speaker C: What's it called? You know.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Oh, the. I'm totally drawing a blank on the.
[00:22:21] Speaker A: Oh, the halcyon.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: Halcyon. Thank you.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:22:25] Speaker D: The only place where you can remember Shandrila star line. Yeah.
[00:22:30] Speaker C: With hyperspace. And this is probably just my, like, personal preferences. Like, I don't love a lot of the drinks in there, so it's like, I like hanging out in there, and I like the bubbles and the smoke and all that stuff, but I just don't printed the. Printed. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I just don't like a lot of the ingredients in the drink. So if you can maybe update the menu, I think people. It might draw more people.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: What do you think of the haunted mansion drinks that they've shown?
[00:22:52] Speaker C: What? What are they? I don't know.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Well, same kind of idea with the ripples drink and, you know, the black.
[00:22:56] Speaker C: Oh, wait, didn't it have a lot of, like, the. What's that purple yam or something called, like, ube or something like that? Yeah. Kind of interesting ingredients that maybe doesn't appeal.
[00:23:09] Speaker D: Heidi loves blue curacao. Listen, I like blue curacao, but I'm with you, Heidi, on the hyperspace lounge drinks. I'm not into most of those drinks. I hope they'll do something a little different. And you know, they can be still inventive. I just want, like, some kind of less weird drinks.
[00:23:27] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:23:27] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Well, they have a mo. I mean, so it was interesting to me. So, like, the. The idea that they could do a doctor, like, put the sanctum into, you know, make that the tech bar basically on board. Like, they already have some of that stuff built because they have it in the kids clubs. They have the doors that change. Would you, like, turn the things. Interesting to me that it felt like they're sort of doing it maybe to save, cut some costs, save some money, but didn't feel like there was a stretch to get there from where they are. And the drink thing is interesting, too, because if I think about hyperspace lounge and the drinks that you could get on the star cruiser, the drinks are far beyond and way better than get the hyperspace lounge. So it's like, just bring that menu over Orlando hard. Yeah. And they bring up the world. They do that villains lair stuff now with really cool drinks and cups and all that sort of stuff, but just bring that home to the ship.
[00:24:14] Speaker D: My prediction, Brian? I don't think they're gonna. To answer Cc's question, I don't think that they're going to take away hyperspace lounge anytime soon because it still hits the Star wars.
That's what I hope. I hope that they'll go into dry dock and maybe add some stuff to it so that it's a little bit more themed because the screen is great, but, like, like, the rest of it needs a little bit more theming. And if they tweak it, it could be even better. It could be, well, much better than it is. So, yeah, one thing I noticed. So Bridget is telling us in the comments that she thought kegging compass was open for kids during the day because she definitely took her kid there for a learn to draw Ursula and didn't get slightly kicked out. So that's good. I mean, it might be that it's just for certain events that are family friendly. I don't know. But I will be honest and say that I know they do adult trivias in there. They don't do family trivias in there, at least on any sailing that we've been on, on the wish. And so I have never one trivia.
[00:25:14] Speaker A: Where the kids came and they played and they were basically, was adult trivia, but they let the kids play and basically said, you're disqualified, you can't win. And I was like, I don't care if they take the medal, so let me wrap up the destiny discussion with the question. There was a core question here.
Do you all plan on booking the Destiny? When bookings open, it sounds like you both are kind of interested in going. So.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: Yeah, any Disney ship that's new, we're going to go on.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: And that's why we love having you as guests on the show because, and.
[00:25:50] Speaker D: If the question is directed towards the duo, the answer is an emphatic yes. It's a matter of timing with a.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: With a little asterisk, he says. Would like to see itineraries and pricing first. So.
[00:26:00] Speaker D: Of course. Of course. Well, you know, but that's really the timing issue. Right. Like, it's, I would love to be able to go on the maiden, but I don't know if the timing is going to work out right. So they've just, all we know is November 2025. I have said that my prediction or my hope is that they would be doing Thanksgiving week, but I don't know that. And it's, we know it's four and five night sailing, so I don't know what that itinerary is going to look like. So definitely going to book it. It's just a matter of, like, what we're going to book. Exactly.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: This is a good question for both of you.
I think before I would have emphatically said, yeah, I'm booking it. But now after the treasure and the pricing and the timing and all that sort of stuff, now I hedge a little bit and say, well, I kind of want to see what they're doing.
Jason, you cover across the cruise industry and kind of have a sense of where Disney's trying to fit into the marketplace. Like, what do you think about their pricing these days? Because it's always been high and it's always going up. So I don't know how unrealistic it's become. But what do you think in comparison to what you're seeing out there?
[00:27:00] Speaker B: It's interesting. It's high, but if you look at, like, even Royal Caribbean, what they're doing with it, whenever they have a new ship that comes out, it's very high, too. Maybe not quite by any means, but it is always the thing of, like, the newest, you know, the shiniest toy is going to get is going to be the most expensive. Right.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: But what I always tell people when I'm, like, booking people on Disney cruises or they're interested in it is you cannot compare it to booking another cruise. You have to compare it to the cost of a theme park vacation. And when you look at that it's actually a decent value when you add up. Like, if you were staying on property, you're buying food for everyone, you're buying tickets. That seriously adds up. And it might make Disney look like.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: A more, just your access to the characters. Like, you don't.
[00:27:39] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. And then like lightning lanes and all of that. Like all the add ons.
[00:27:44] Speaker C: Lightning lane, multi pass and lightning.
I don't even know. I can't keep up.
[00:27:49] Speaker D: Yes. Like individual lightning lane and light multi pass. Lightning lane. Right. I think that's what they're called. Yeah, I is right. But, yeah, it's, it's, it becomes very expensive. And if you're bigger eaters like we are, um, and if you've got, you know, maybe, I don't know, like teenage boys who are bigger eaters, maybe, like the cruise value starts looking pretty good because the cruise is all you can eat and the park's food is very expensive.
[00:28:14] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: We just included soft drinks, I think goes a long way.
[00:28:18] Speaker C: Yeah, that's something a lot of.
[00:28:19] Speaker D: Oh, my God. Five, $5.25. I think the last time we were at Disneyland, I was like, oh, my God, I cannot believe I'm paying that for a.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: And the fireworks at sea. I mean, that's just.
[00:28:28] Speaker C: Nobody else does that.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Norwegian tried it for a couple of years. Didn't really work out too well for him. So. Yeah, it's Disney only now, so.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I want to shift gears for a second. I'm going to throw up Linda's comment here and see if we get to talking about the asian ships. Think they'll ever have, I don't know what Halo, Halo on the ship is. I don't know.
[00:28:46] Speaker D: I don't know what halo, Halo is.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: Linda, if you want to comment, you can let us know, but I do want to shift us over to talk about the Asia ships. Is that, that is a big departure for Disney from what theyve traditionally done. We now know theyre going to have two the adventure coming out in 25 at some point, and Japan, Tokyo Disney, the oriental land company launching their own ship and partnership with Disney Cruise Line in 2029. I think it is.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: I think 2028.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Its like fiscal year something and actual year something else, so. Yeah, but yes. And so what do you think about, about that move from your vantage point?
[00:29:22] Speaker B: I think it's interesting because in the case of the adventure, it's one that was not purpose built for Disney, which is the first time they've ever done that. So my original response to that was kind of surprised, really, because that's one thing about Disney Cruise line is like, every little detail has always been designed specifically for the cruise line. You are taking a ship that was partially built. And I mean, from all indications, point to the fact that it's going to be completely revamped and almost like the fact that they're doing the split bathrooms. Like, I think they've really gone through.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Oh, they are.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: I think they are. So I think they're going in and gutting all the cabins and reading that.
[00:29:55] Speaker D: So, you know, that's a huge undertaking and that's a ton of money, right? Yeah, sure. Oh, Linda's saying halo. Halo or halo. Halo is a filipino dessert with shaved ice ice cream, ube, jello and flan.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:30:10] Speaker D: Listen, I'm all about the shave ice, so I would just get mine with just shave ice.
[00:30:14] Speaker C: So maybe condensed milk if you're going to go hawaiian, right?
[00:30:17] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:30:19] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:30:20] Speaker C: Well, the adventure, when I first heard about it, I started calling it Bruno, and I don't talk about Bruno.
It's just a little confusing. But I'm excited to see what they do. And like we were talking about earlier, how it's, I think it's going to be cruises to nowhere, which is fun because a lot of times when we're on Disney ships, we don't get off the ship because we're there for the ship. We're not necessarily there for the destination.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: Well, that's the thing. It's going to be the largest cruise ship that they've ever had. So it's going to be a lot to see. And I'm curious to see. I mean, they've announced, like, all the districts that are going to be on board and everything. Ip heavy.
[00:30:50] Speaker D: Oh, super. Do you think, I mean, is it similar size to icon? Right. Because icon is humongous.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: Not quite to that size.
[00:30:59] Speaker D: That's bigger than icon.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: That's kind of hilarious, you know, vicinity, because it's one of those, like, split hole designs where, like, down the center you have, like, the opening.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Opening.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: So it's definitely in that size.
[00:31:12] Speaker D: So it's bigger than oasis but smaller than icon.
[00:31:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: I feel like from a park standpoint, they have sometimes used the asian parks as a way to, I don't want to say test things. I think they're building things for Asia that then become very popular and they're like, let's like, you know, bring them to the Tron. Tron came over the ride vehicles for Baymax, I think started, you know, in Asia, then came over to tow maters and I think I might have that.
[00:31:37] Speaker D: Wrong, but I feel like there's these little alien saucers.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I wonder if maybe they'll use the ship for some of that. Like, makes sense. See what happens if we put a roller coaster on the back of a ship. Let's just see what happens.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: The Holland America line has the Wester dam, and in house they sometimes call that the tester dam because they do the same kind of thing with that ship where they test different programs and then if it works a little, roll it out. So maybe this will be Disney's tester down. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: Well, the burning question everyone always asks us is casino or no casino. So do you have any casino? Do you have any thoughts on.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: No, it did originally. It was originally on the plan because it was originally going to be the global dream for dream cruises and it was a part of that plan. But I think it's going to be more kids facility essentially that we might, which is good.
[00:32:19] Speaker C: That's their brand.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: Stick to it.
[00:32:21] Speaker A: Yes, I agree. I agree. Yeah. You're never going to see Donald Duck slot machines. I don't think so.
[00:32:26] Speaker D: Yeah.
No, it'd have to be Scrooge McDuck slot machines.
That's true.
It would have him like swimming through the money. You know that image. So I love it.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. Great news. The fabulous team over at Mypath Unwinding travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and excellent experienced. Its why we use them to book our own travel. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, relaxed at Alani and so much more. Whether its a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation, or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, Mypath Unwinding travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com dclduo or email dclduoypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks my path unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
Do you think Disney's right? I know their parks are popular over there. It feels like there's a lot of competition for them over there, though, too. With other cruise lines, I just have no sense, and I mean, you may not either, but of how big a deal cruising is in that market, you know, if that's the kind of vacation people really like to do.
I don't know if you have any predictions. We had, we had one person tell us their prediction was that that ship will be in Miami within the next five years.
[00:34:07] Speaker D: Oh, the adventure. Yeah.
[00:34:10] Speaker B: It's interesting because the chinese market, as far as the industry as a whole is concerned, was really something that they were targeting.
[00:34:17] Speaker C: Yeah. Like back in like 2019, 2020.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: It didn't quite pan out for them and they kinda of pulled back on that, but now it's kind of like reversing. And I think they're trying to go back again. And, like, I know Carnival is basically creating a whole new line for that market. So I think there's an opportunity so long as they don't oversaturate it. And Disney's never oversaturated the market until maybe now, because only having the four ships for so many years now, you're nearly doubling that to nine. I think it's going to be a whole different ballgame. But I think, yeah, China, I think, still has a lot of potential for them. And then the other is Japan. Then I think, I kind of think. I kind of think the opposite for that ship. I think they're going to put a lot more money into that one because if it's oriental land company and, you know, you think about how much they basically built Tokyo Disney resort with, you know, sparing no expense, essentially. So I could see them. It went all out going to the shipyard and saying like, yes, this is going to be a wish class ship, but we're like, we want it to be the best wish class ship. And I think that's definitely going to happen.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:16] Speaker D: That was so cool. I have to say. That's like, though, I mean, the adventure is, it piques my interest just because it's going to be different. It's going to have so much ip on and it's going to be huge. Right. But, but it doesn't feel the same as the other ships. Right. And so, and I'm not, I don't trust them to completely do it. Right. Even though it's really, it is Disney cruise line doing it, but because it's such a big ship and it's so different and it didn't start with the Disney design like you were talking about Jason, I'm more worried about that. The OLC ship. I actually like that. That really excites me because I love Duffy and friends.
[00:35:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:35:52] Speaker D: I want to get to Tokyo Disney.
I feel like this is an opportunity to make a big trip over to Tokyo, you know, one summer for, you know, I don't know, like, hit Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disneysea, hit the cruise, maybe see a little super Nintendo. I don't know. You know, like, yeah, there's just a huge opportunity there.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: Spend a whole month.
[00:36:17] Speaker C: I know. And then add on. Abd has adventures by Disney, has a really good China itinerary over there, and it hits both the parks, the Shanghai and Hong Kong parks.
[00:36:28] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:36:28] Speaker C: Just spend a whole month.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: She can book that for you.
[00:36:30] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:36:31] Speaker D: Yeah, sure. I love it.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: But here's the thing, because I think as the ship, as the fleet grows, I think you're eventually going to have one of the original ships, the magic of the wonder on the west coast year round. And I think you're going to have that ship periodically going Hawaii like it has done in the past. And then if you have the ships that are in Asia doing the same thing, maybe they will eventually come to Hawaii. Maybe they'll, like, both meet in the middle. They can do, like, a swap thing.
[00:36:55] Speaker D: Like, oh, that would be awesome. That would be awesome. And then they don't need to go through the canal. They just stay on the west coast around the Pacific.
[00:37:02] Speaker B: Yeah, they'll stay there and just go to Alaska seasonally and come back down.
[00:37:05] Speaker C: Cool.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: Heidi, I'm curious, you know, as you think about these, with the adventures coming soon. Right. Like, are you, you know, in your travel agency business, are you seeing people who want to do that ship? Who want to book that ship?
[00:37:19] Speaker C: I haven't heard too much talk about it, honestly.
[00:37:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:24] Speaker C: So we'll see. I feel like once more information is released and maybe once people start going on it, like, once the really, like, hardcore fans go over there and go on it.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: Word of mouth.
[00:37:33] Speaker C: Yeah, word of mouth. If really cool stuff, because it is a big trip, right, to fly over to Asia.
So we'll see kind of what the word of mouth press is on that ship.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: It's like a full court press of advertising over there. I mean, I think I said off air maybe that, like, every day we're getting new. Like, here's the subway ads someone sent us from photo and Singapore Billboard for the adventure as she was driving by it. And then we see videos that are kind of released but not released. And so it just feels like the entire push over there. It's like in the US. Look at the destiny. Look at the destiny. And outside the US, it's like, okay, we got the adventure over here in Asia.
[00:38:20] Speaker C: It just feels like a mystery to me right now because we know Disney's formula for their ships here. And so this is just, I actually just thought of the best stern characters for the adventure because this is kind of a step child of a ship. So we could put the stepsisters from Cinderella on.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: Nice. That's funny.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: That'd be a great Easter egg.
[00:38:39] Speaker D: I wonder if you think, Heidi, if you think that american travel advisors are going to be able to book both these ships, both adventure, and also I'm just going to call it the OLC ship because we don't know what it's going to be called.
[00:38:54] Speaker C: I'm guessing. No, to be honest. We'll see. But, like, right now, we can't book a lot of international Disney stuff. So my prediction is. No.
[00:39:03] Speaker D: Interesting. Yeah.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: And the OLC ship is interesting, too, because we don't even know for sure that that's going to be Disney cruise line branded. They specifically said that it's just going to be OLC built and operated. I think, as far as they went.
[00:39:15] Speaker D: Right. It's a partnership. And so I'm sure that, that. I'm sure Disney cruise line will train them and be heavily involved. But, yeah, once the sort of transition happens and they start operating it, like. Yeah, how much? I agree. And we don't know about, you know, castaway status and things like that, I'm guessing. I mean, even the adventure might be on a different sort of.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: I'm still trying to get them to give me castaway club status for my trip on the halcyon. So, you know, that'd be awesome. Yeah. All right, so we got one comment here saying how soon is the adventure coming? So it should be online by the end of 2025. So she should have her maiden voyage by the end of 2025, which is maybe.
[00:39:56] Speaker D: We don't know all that.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: We're interesting.
[00:39:58] Speaker D: Yeah.
We have heard that coming out destiny. We know the destiny was originally announced December 2025, and then the literature changed just as of last week to November 2025. So, like we talked about on last week's show, she got moved up. But we, we've heard adventures coming out first, but we don't know what that means.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: This is interesting, too, that they're marketing the adventure in Australia. That makes me wonder how much longer the, like.
[00:40:29] Speaker D: Well, Singapore to Australia. Yeah.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: Yeah. But makes me wonder if maybe the magic and the wonder will stop going over there and they'll just use the adventure to kind of service that market during part of the year. So that's kind of interesting because it's not a short trip between Australia and Singapore and anywhere.
[00:40:44] Speaker C: Really anywhere.
[00:40:45] Speaker D: I mean.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:40:47] Speaker B: I think like a five year contract with Singapore at least. So before it departs from that as their home port, they at least have that locked in.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: So they could have an alternative port though, right? I mean, like they could move it, I guess. I don't know. Like the magic moves around the most. Right. So they have a home port. Yeah.
[00:41:02] Speaker B: I think the adventure is actually home ported in Singapore for like five years.
[00:41:06] Speaker A: Or four years, I figured.
[00:41:07] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:41:07] Speaker A: Oh, and it has to be because of the fuel they're using. That.
[00:41:10] Speaker D: The other issue though, is like, it's going to be able to probably run on other fuels like for short term. Right. But like it's, it's primary fuel will be that. What is it? Green ethanol. But, but maybe. But maybe there'll be some other ports that are going to be converting to or allow for fueling of green ethanol all in, you know, after sometime in that five year period. So it'd be very interesting to see what happens there.
[00:41:36] Speaker A: Well, I'd like to round out kind of our chat here. D 23 is we're days away from.
[00:41:43] Speaker D: The kickoff actually happened. They threw out. Mickey was there for throwing out the pitch at the Anaheim Angels.
[00:41:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the horizons presentation, the biggest, big 90 minutes all out. Everyone's hoping to not hear the words blue sky thinking anywhere in that presentation.
[00:42:03] Speaker D: Or Mary Poppins maybe. Yeah.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. From a cruise line standpoint with everything going on. Jason, do you see, like, let's. I assume they're going to announce like a Hercules stage show with this thing. Although my, I'll say my viewpoint on the presentation they're doing is it's high stakes. It's a high stakes 90 minutes because they've gone for a couple of years now with presentations and lots of, like, we could do this, we could do that. They've got epic universe. They announced the Disneyland forward has been approved. They've got the 60 billion that they're going to spend over the next ten years. And so for me, it feels like this is, they're at a moment where they need to come out and for 90 minutes explain how they're going to spend that. Yeah, well, how are you going to spend the $60 billion? Right. Like, we need details.
So if I look at that and I try to figure out, like, how does cruise line situate into that? Like, I have my own guess, which are probably wildly wrong and inaccurate, but what do you think? They say anything about the cruise line beyond, like, a Hercules show?
[00:43:04] Speaker B: I mean, I think they will probably do the show. Cause that's the one, you know, blank space that we haven't filled yet. But I think Disney Cruise line is the surest thing that Disney has, and they realize that. So I think they really want to put the attention of that 90 minutes to various, like, the parks and things like that that are maybe a little more questionable at this point. So I think we might hear a little bit, not a whole lot.
[00:43:25] Speaker D: What do you think, Heidi?
[00:43:27] Speaker C: Yeah, I think I agree with you. I think we've heard, like, a lot already. So I think they probably will.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: I think they specifically released what they did for Destiny ahead of time, just kind of as a bit of a primer. And, like, this is what you're going to get. Get the conversation started.
[00:43:39] Speaker D: What about artwork? What about that artwork that has on the. On the poster? We feel like that's, like, gotta be a hint because they love to throw in these little Easter, like we saw in the comic book stuff. Right. For the destiny, you saw, like, different, you know, characters, and they all turned out to be spaces. We saw the different patches with folks who got those packages, a lot of the influencers and tas that got those packages. Right. So I feel like they love these. Yeah. Like, could, could they be, I mean, Tracy saying maybe the two other ships, meaning she's. I think she's. Meaning the adventure and the OlC ship, like, could they be representative of those ships or could they be some.
[00:44:20] Speaker A: I think that. I think they're. I will say on the adventure side, I think they're wasting their powder if they talk of anything about the adventure at D 23, just because it's not aimed at this market. Well, OlC is way too far out to be talking about.
[00:44:34] Speaker D: That's what I think. Yeah, but what do you guys think? Did you, do you think that that was just like, we're going to talk cruise line, and so there's. There's cruise lines in the picture. Like, there are all the parks represented in the picture, or do you think that that's a purposeful east?
[00:44:47] Speaker B: As much as I would love to say, I think it's going to be another two ships, I think it's going to just be representative of the ones that have already announced. Because for them to already nearly be doubling the fleet by 2028. 2029 I think that's already going to be a lot for them to manage.
[00:45:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: So anything beyond that? Yeah, I think they need to kind of, like, make sure that they have enough time dedicated to itinerary planning and where they're going to do with magic and wonder and dial that in and get people on the west coast excited.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: So that's my question, though, is could these two ships just be the replacement ship because the magic and the wonder are going to hit 30 soon. Right.
[00:45:19] Speaker D: Like they're old ladies. That's our, our prediction is they are the announcement for the replacements of the magic and the wonder and then those.
I know, but they're still, you know, they're still. They have to dry dock them now where the magic has to be dry docked, like every two years now at 25 years old.
[00:45:37] Speaker C: What do you think? Because you're such a hardware?
[00:45:39] Speaker B: Well, that's the thing. So the thing about hardware is that usually have, you know, secondary and tertiary markets for existing hardware.
[00:45:44] Speaker D: Right, right.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: And, you know, most companies like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, will only hold on to their ship for maybe 20 years tops, and maybe send it off maybe a little longer than that. But then they're going to be, like, to other markets from there. And then maybe like after a career, 40 or 50 years, then they would go to the break and be torn up and sold for scrap.
[00:46:01] Speaker C: Right.
[00:46:01] Speaker B: I think Disney can't sell their ships to any other company.
[00:46:04] Speaker C: Imagine them going to a second.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: I think they're going to hold on to as long as they possibly can because they wouldn't want that branding out there.
[00:46:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:46:12] Speaker C: Yeah. It's like the Mickey Mouse in Times Square just doesn't look quite right.
[00:46:15] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: Oh, I saw one in. I saw one in Vegas. That will haunt me for a while.
[00:46:21] Speaker D: We saw one at a kid's birthday party. Don't you remember that, Brian? Just in, like, literally in the mall near us, there was a kid's birthday party and there was a Mickey Mouse. And I'm giving air quotes for those who are not watching and just listening to this because it did not look like Mickey Mouse and he was scary. Yeah.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:37] Speaker C: Not right.
[00:46:37] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. Not right. I agree. There is only one.
[00:46:41] Speaker A: You think the ships have another maybe 20 years on them before they have to break them up? Basically.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: I think with Disney, at least another ten, honestly.
[00:46:48] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: Yeah. I think we will see that happen. Yeah. That's my prediction.
[00:46:54] Speaker C: There you go. You heard it here first.
[00:46:55] Speaker D: You heard it here first. That's Jason.
Popular cruise thing.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: And the great thing is we're probably all wrong.
[00:47:03] Speaker B: So, yeah, I'll be surprised by something, I'm sure.
If nothing else, maybe we'll have more concept art released because we haven't seen the pirates art yet for the pirates bar or the sanctum bar. So I think that'll be something that's maybe on the exhibit floor on display and that's maybe why they've held back.
[00:47:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:47:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I would announce Disney Airline and we'll have to start a whole new spin off podcast. So. Yeah, there you go.
[00:47:25] Speaker B: Well, that's the other one. Adventures by Disneyland. Right. You take the.
[00:47:27] Speaker C: Oh, the private jet to all the.
[00:47:29] Speaker B: Properties around the world.
[00:47:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
You know, but that's a good point. I wonder if we'll see any announcements, focus on ABD. Cause ABD is still is under signature experiences as well. And so it could be part of the Horizons panel. I mean, it is obviously a niche brand, but it's very.
[00:47:49] Speaker A: I don't think it has enough appeal for them to spend time on it in that panel. I just don't think it is.
[00:47:54] Speaker C: Have you guys done an ABD trip?
[00:47:56] Speaker D: We did river cruise on a. Yeah. And we loved it.
[00:48:00] Speaker C: Great products.
[00:48:00] Speaker B: Yeah. The other partnership with Emma Waterways was great. If anything, I could see them doing an adventures by Disney branded River Cruise line. I could see, you know, there's not a whole lot you would have to spend to invest in your own river line.
[00:48:13] Speaker A: Well, that's what, that's what Erin Foster, we talked to her, like, right after the pandemic had kind of started to wind down. And she, her thing was like, look, if you'd asked me pre all of this, I would have told you Disney Cruise line was probably looking for a way to get into the river cruising market. But now, you know, I think that probably got set back. So, you know, that's, that's also an interesting direction for them to head because I think those river cruises are wildly popular.
[00:48:39] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:48:39] Speaker C: And I think it would be fun to get more and more younger people into river cruising because it is such a great, great way to travel. And I think if they themed one towards Disney, then that would be a good way to get people into the market.
[00:48:51] Speaker D: Yeah. And make cabins. Yeah. And make cabins even more accessible for families because. Right. I mean, the, the ones that abd uses with Ama waterways are, are good. They can sleep three people, but the third person has to be like a kid, a small, very small person. And so. And it was tight. I will tell you, it was tight in our room. And he was, it was on like, it was like a pull out chair right so it was a chair that turned into a bed. It wasn't even the twin. It was like a cot size bed. So he could fit on it at, you know, at nine or ten years old. Um, but, you know, he's not going to. Even at like 15, he's not going to fit on that thing.
[00:49:28] Speaker C: That's the challenge because the space is such a premium on the. On the riverboats, you know, but it would be really fun for families to be able to do that together more often.
[00:49:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:49:37] Speaker A: Like a riverboat.
[00:49:38] Speaker B: Like Emma waterways, I think, does a fantastic job of bringing it on and doing an overlay. But just to see the Disney designs on a rivership would be really cool. Obviously, you can do rotational dining, but.
[00:49:49] Speaker C: Right.
[00:49:50] Speaker D: They'll still be one dining room.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: Although Amma tried with the Magna. The tonight.
[00:49:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: That huge.
[00:49:59] Speaker B: I've been on that ship. It's actually really nice.
[00:50:00] Speaker C: Yeah, we don't mean that in a bad way.
[00:50:02] Speaker B: No, we don't.
[00:50:02] Speaker A: No, no. That's the ship that I. We were looking at doing a river cruise next summer, and I was like, I really want to go on that ship just to see what it's like.
[00:50:10] Speaker D: So, yeah, it looks really nice, but that plan is. Is on hold because we need to wait and see destiny pricing and with all, you know, between the treasure and we're going on the fantasy and then we're going on the treasure again, and then we want to get on the destiny. Like, we got to save our pennies. Disney like, his is getting expensive. And we're not even talking sailing concierge, except for when we go to Alaska. But, yeah, it's just. Yeah, it's. I forget that one, too.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: So I've got two more quick topics. Just one is just my own personal interest because you. You went on the Star cruiser. You went on the halcyon.
[00:50:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I didn't overnight. It was a preview.
Yeah.
[00:50:50] Speaker A: Do you think we see anything at D 23 about what they're going to do with the halcyon moving forward?
[00:50:54] Speaker B: Maybe that could be interesting. I mean, they're kind of do something with it, right. Like, it's just sitting there.
[00:50:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Spirit Halloween store.
[00:51:03] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:51:04] Speaker C: That is the best thing.
[00:51:10] Speaker D: Listen, they could sell Star wars costumes, right?
[00:51:14] Speaker A: They did. It didn't work out for them.
[00:51:16] Speaker D: They were selling them at the. One of the outlet stores. That Disney outlet store.
[00:51:20] Speaker B: I know. Yeah, we saw the stuff even at Disney studios, and we were at Disney World. They were selling it.
[00:51:24] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: We bought some of the house somewhere. Yeah, right there.
[00:51:29] Speaker C: Got our little keychain all of our props.
[00:51:35] Speaker D: Oh, my God.
[00:51:36] Speaker A: Okay, last question that I've got for you is just, you've sailed so many other lines. If you were talking to someone who was thinking about sailing Disney or had sailed Disney for a long time, actually, and was looking to try something different, what's the line that you would steer people to? And maybe it's. Let me put it this way. There's probably the. There's probably a good answer for. I'm, you know, don't have kids. It's just adults who enjoy Disney cruise line, who want to experience.
[00:52:04] Speaker D: I want to hear both of your answers, by the way.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:52:07] Speaker C: Might be different.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:52:09] Speaker D: Because. Right. I mean, Heidi does this actually. Right. With clients, so. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: I would say for family, royal Caribbean International is probably the closest as far as, like, pushing the boundaries of what cruising can be.
Entertainment stuff that's available for adults and for children. Um, do you agree with me?
[00:52:30] Speaker C: Yes, I do think so. I think that if you want to be in a little bit, like, nicer category, I think princess and some of the new ships that princess is coming out with are really cool, so.
[00:52:41] Speaker B: But also really, like, norwegian and Carnival.
[00:52:44] Speaker D: Carnival.
[00:52:45] Speaker C: We like Carnival. Yeah.
[00:52:46] Speaker B: Carnival is one of those that has a reputation for being a booze cruise. That reputation is not accurate any longer. They have a great product, I think, really a fantastic value.
[00:52:55] Speaker C: Yeah. They know who they are, and they're not trying to, like, be everything for everybody, and they're really good at. They do.
[00:53:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: But, yeah, I think kind of just like the level, because you would consider Disney more of, like, a premium.
[00:53:06] Speaker B: So that's the thing. So, like, royal Caribbean traditionally is kind of more of, like, a standard mainstream, whereas with the value that you get with Disney, I consider them more of a premium, which would be kind of comparable to Holland America line celebrity or princess. So in that regard. Yeah, princess would be a good alternative. Yeah.
[00:53:23] Speaker D: What about.
What would you say for, like, you know, Disney adults? Where would you send them? Would you send them to virgin? Would you send them to princess? Like, yeah.
[00:53:33] Speaker C: We're in the midst of booking a virgin cruise right now.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: Virgin's really fun. Have you guys been on virgin?
[00:53:37] Speaker D: We're going October. Yeah.
[00:53:39] Speaker B: You're gonna like. It's something. It's a whole different animal. It's. It's like, more like Vegas than a regular cruise. The fact that basically it's all specialty dining, but it's all included.
[00:53:49] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: Makes all the difference.
[00:53:50] Speaker C: They have so many good inclusions. Like, I feel like they're looking at the business practice of cruising and being like, okay, what is dumb and how can we change that? So, like, Wi Fi is included, sodas are included, gratuities are included. They give the price of the cabin instead of giving a per person price, which drives me nuts when it's like, here, the cruise is $1600, but you can't book it for $1600. It's like, just give the full thing. So virgin. I think virgin is for people who kind of enjoy that, like, Vegas style. I think virgin would be a good choice.
[00:54:17] Speaker B: They're coming to the west coast.
[00:54:19] Speaker C: They are. Spring 2026. We're very excited. We don't get a lot of new ship love on the west coast.
The brilliant lady, right?
[00:54:26] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:54:27] Speaker A: Well, they've got that cool from. They're going all the way from New York, all the way around. You can, like, book the whole trip. That's really cool. Yeah, exactly.
[00:54:34] Speaker D: We've got a question about thoughts on celebrity. Somebody's. Alicia's doing them in Alaska next summer.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:54:42] Speaker C: I think the edge is going to be in Alaska. So we like celebrity a lot. And the new edge class. Right. I really like the infinite Veranda. I know it's kind of a divisive thing, but in Alaska, that might. Might be really nice. Celebrity has really good food. Their stage shows are really great.
[00:54:58] Speaker B: The sound system.
[00:54:59] Speaker C: Yeah, you love the sound system.
[00:55:00] Speaker B: I was filming. I was filming the production show with my camera and I went back and looked at my footage and you could literally see the camera shaking for each beat because the subwoofer was so loud. It was amazing.
[00:55:11] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:55:12] Speaker C: We're a fan of celebrity and you've been cruising celebrity for years.
[00:55:16] Speaker B: Yeah. That's a long way.
[00:55:18] Speaker C: Good line.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: She mentioned princess. We were supposed to do princess in November. Probably going to take that.
[00:55:23] Speaker D: Not this November. Next November, probably.
[00:55:26] Speaker A: And take it off the table because of the Destiny now and go on that. But I was actually, I. Heidi, I had your viewpoint on it. I was really, really excited to go on some of these new ships until recently when they basically announced that whole thing that they were going to put on the top deck is now just like a non starter.
[00:55:43] Speaker D: Like, they're scrapped it. The whole ropes thing.
[00:55:46] Speaker A: Yeah, right. That was so disappointing. I don't know how you felt about that, but I felt like it was like, what a great activity for families and kids. And now it's just gone.
[00:55:54] Speaker B: I've actually been on that ship and I actually had a chance to walk underneath it.
[00:55:58] Speaker C: And we're talking about the sun.
[00:55:59] Speaker B: The sun princess. Yeah.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:00] Speaker B: And it looks really cool. Like, I had kind of, like. I think they call it like a roguelite or something. Like where you hung from the track and all that.
[00:56:06] Speaker D: But somehow kind of like a zip line thingy.
[00:56:08] Speaker B: Right. I'm sure it comes down to insurance. Like, somehow something wasn't signed off on and the specs weren't right. And they just, like.
[00:56:14] Speaker C: That's such a. But they have spellbound on that ship, which is magic castle at sea. It's probably adults only, right?
[00:56:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:56:21] Speaker C: That's really cool. Yeah, I really want to try that.
[00:56:23] Speaker A: Is that. Is that, like, the secret? There's, like, the restaurant that was like a.
Yeah, that did look really cool. That did look really cool. Yeah.
[00:56:31] Speaker B: Again, maybe we'll move the interactive touches in there. Very Disney esque. So. Yeah, very cool.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: I will move our princess cruise and try them.
[00:56:39] Speaker D: Yeah, maybe we'll. Yeah.
[00:56:40] Speaker B: Were you looking at some princess for that one or.
[00:56:42] Speaker A: We were gonna be on star.
[00:56:44] Speaker B: There's great. Yep.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I was. And I was like. I saw somebody did, like a. Like, they did. Like, they walked through the entire ship. They went from top to bottom in just one video. And I was like, I couldn't keep up with all the restaurants that they kept.
[00:56:59] Speaker D: Yeah, it looked pretty on that thing.
[00:57:01] Speaker B: Like they have the regular chopstick house but they have this other one that's by this italian guy. And my gosh, they kept on bringing food and, like, no, that's meat overload. I mean, I'm a meat lover.
[00:57:10] Speaker D: I'm a meat lover too. I'm with you.
[00:57:12] Speaker B: The meat sweats like.
[00:57:13] Speaker D: Joey, listen, I have experienced the meat sweats myself.
It's no fun. It's fun going in. It's not fun after the meat sweatshirt.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: Well, we always love to wrap up with guests and ask kind of what's next. Where are you headed next?
[00:57:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So the cruise that I have going next is actually the one you get to come with me on. So where are we going?
[00:57:34] Speaker C: Well, we were supposed to be going to Italy and that fell through. So we were going on a Mississippi river cruise.
We're really excited. It's on the Viking, Mississippi. We're going to five states that neither of us have been to before. Outside of the airport, probably. So it starts in St. Louis, Missouri and goes all the way up to Minnesota. And it's just gonna be a different experience. And we love Viking. We love everything that Viking does. So it'll be really fun. Yeah.
[00:57:59] Speaker D: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:58:00] Speaker A: Honestly, didn't even know Viking had river cruises in the US. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've always wanted to do. I want to go the opposite direction. I want to end in New Orleans because I think.
[00:58:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I think they have that too. They have the entire upper and lower Mississippi.
[00:58:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Very cool. Very, very cool. Well, we'll follow along with interest. Uh, why don't you both remind folks just where they can find you, uh, if they join the show late. And, uh, yeah, go for it.
[00:58:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:58:24] Speaker B: So popular cruising.com and also, uh, popular cruising on YouTube. Yeah.
[00:58:28] Speaker C: And misses popularcruising.com and you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, X, all the places. Misses popular cruising.
[00:58:35] Speaker A: Yeah, I gotta put it just a personal plug in love following along with your travels. Uh, love all the stuff over at popular cruising. So just great resource if you're out there, I mean, for Disney Cruise or if you're just thinking about, I want to try something different. If we've coaxed you into one of our compare contrast shows and you're like, I want to go try this other cruise line. Head over there because it's great. It's just great.
[00:58:55] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. And all the ship reviews and ship tour stuff that Jason's got on there. Super helpful. So much. So much stuff over there.
[00:59:02] Speaker B: Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: Well, just want to thank you both for taking some time. I know you're incredibly busy. We really appreciate you coming on and spending some time with folks.
[00:59:10] Speaker C: And thank you guys for having us.
[00:59:11] Speaker D: Yeah. Next week, we will live once again our usual time. 530 Pacific, 830 eastern. I notice how I always say the Pacific time first because west coast, best coast. But we will be back. We will have Alicia and Nathan from adventures and Mouska pads on.
[00:59:29] Speaker A: You've been watching along tonight.
[00:59:31] Speaker D: Yeah. To talk about D 23 because they will be there. And so they will be our roving reporters and help us report to you everything that happened at D 23 that was about Disney Cruise line or, you know, Disney Cruise line adjacent. If we hear anything about adventures by Disney or anything similar to that. So please join us. And thanks again for watching. We'll see you. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube.
[01:00:01] Speaker A: Well, thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows, so be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us live, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 05:30 p.m. pacific 08:30 p.m. eastern over on YouTube.com dclduo so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want to help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course, you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor, mypath unwinding travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com dclduo or email
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[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590 that's 4024-135-5590 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 reflect the views the Disney Company or Disney Cruise line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or a Disney vacation, please contact the great folks over at mypath unwinding travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL duo. Good night.
