[00:00:00] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. At 9, she was confident and ready to do the Aqua Dunk. That's intense. How did that go?
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Well, she only. I think the only reason why she really was that adamant about it was because she's been dying to go back to Walt Disney World. And after the last time where she was pretty scared of rides, I've kind of been hesitant to go back. And so she's trying to prove a point that she's good enough. So, I mean, it's good. It's courage. She has the courage, but that was really where this was coming from.
[00:00:39] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo Podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding travel. And Sam, gonna head straight into a short but sweet listener review. This one comes from Cruise Fav. Cruise Fave, I think is what they're going for. But they left off the E. So Cruise Fav. And it is titled DCL Duo Cruise Podcast. Love listening to this podcast. Informative and fun.
[00:01:03] Speaker D: Great energy.
[00:01:04] Speaker C: So there we go. Great energy, Sam. Good energy. All that Topo Chico makes you an effervescent personality.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: It does. And you know, actually we're recording this episode in the morning, so I'm actually still drinking my iced coffee for the day, so I haven't switched yet to Topo Chico. That comes later. Don't worry, folks. That always happens. It just comes later.
[00:01:24] Speaker C: There you go.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: Well, Sam, do you want to introduce our guest and our topic for the show today?
[00:01:29] Speaker A: I would love to.
For those listening. You know, I love first timer Cruise episodes and I've got one of those for you today. Super excited to welcome to the show Carrie, who is a first time guest but longtime listener of the show. She even wrote in that she thinks she's listened to every single episode. How is that possible, Carrie?
[00:01:50] Speaker B: No, no, you know, actually, I will tell you why. So I was training for a half marathon.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Ah, there you go.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: I couldn't listen to music anymore and so I started listening to podcasts and yours like, took me away from my running and I could just dive into Disney things. And so that's probably how all my hours of running.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: I love that. Awesome. I, you know, I can't listen to podcasts when I run. I need the beat of the music to kind of like motivate me. So. But kudos to you. I wish I could listen to podcasts when I. When I ran. I just need. Yeah, I need that movement. I run a lot faster when I have music on than if I'm. If I'M not listening to anything. Right. Like if it's just, wow, awesome. Well. But welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us today. Of course, we have to talk your Disney background. As I mentioned at the top of the show, this is a first time cruiser episode, so first time on Disney Cruise Line. To be fair, you do have a cruise in your history prior to Disney Cruise Line. But let's start with your Disney history and then let's throw in the cruise and tell us which cruise line you went on and when.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Sure, yeah. So Disney background. I grew up going to Disney World in Florida almost every year as a kid. My parents had a timeshare at a Sheraton, you know, nearby the park. So we would go there every year. And then as we got older, we kind of moved over to Universal Studios and the bigger rides and things. But we always loved Disney and we went on our first cruise as a family on a Carnival cruise when I was about 10. So it would have been the same time as when the magic was doing their first maiden voyage, like 1988. Ish. And I remember wanting to go on a Disney cruise so bad. But my parents, I don't. It was probably the cost, honestly, it was just, you know, more expensive or whatnot. And they were like, nope, we're not doing Disney Cruise Line. So we did a Carnival, which was still fun. But I always, always dreamed of going on a Disney cruise since I was 10 years old. So that's.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Wow, since you were 10 and you. And you finally made it happen. That's pretty awesome. I love that. You know, I didn't ever go on a cruise when I was a kid at all. I had friends who, their families went on cruise cruises all the time. And I don't know, my parents were just like, the idea of a cruise did not appeal to them. And if we had gone on a cruise, it would have been a Carnival Cruise because that would have been the only kind of cruise we could have afforded at the time. Well, let's, let's talk about the planning for the cruise that you said you always had wanted to do a Disney cruise. What made you finally pull the trigger and actually book a Disney cruise?
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Yeah, so I have two girls and we brought them to Disney World in. It would have been 2022, March of 2022, when things were, you know, starting to open up. Travel was coming back and my youngest was almost two years old. And while it was really fun, it was just overwhelming. It was so hot there. My daughter, my older daughter, I thought was going to love rides, and she was actually pretty scared. And I left there thinking, I want the Disney because my. My kids love Disney and I love Disney, but I can't do the rides in the park. So I thought the cruise would be. Would be perfect. And it just took a little convincing of my husband to pull that trigger with the dollar amount. But once I finally convinced him, then we. We could. We could go on one and start planning.
[00:05:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, this part, I think, is actually kind of funny. You actually booked a different cruise than the one we're going to talk about today. Right. So tell us what you actually. What you booked and then what happened thereafter.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Yes. So knowing that to get the best prices, I needed to book earlier. So, like, it was a year and a half that they were coming out right. For the itineraries. So we ended up booking one a year and a half later, which would be November of this year. But I just couldn't wait that long. I started listening to your podcast and just diving into planning it, and I just couldn't wait. So I somehow, again, convinced my lovely husband to agree to doing an earlier one, and we invited some friends along. So we ended up booking this. I think we knew we were going to book it maybe in the fall of last year, but probably didn't pull the trigger till January. And this, this cruise was May of 2024 this year.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Nice. So you ended up booking like five months in. Well, you booked one cruise 18 months in advance, and then you booked another cruise five months in advance. So you still haven't been on the first cruise you booked. You haven't been on yet. Right, because it's.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: I have not. But it is happening. We're still going. We're going with different friends on that one. Um, so this was just like a really great taste of Disney. And I knew that, you know, I had this other one in November coming up, so I could really, like, just focus on learning about the cruise when I was on it. So it actually was really n. Nice having the next one booked.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're like, I don't need to plan the next one. It's already. It's already planned. It's already on the calendar. Love it. I mean, you could still, of course, buy a placeholder. We'll talk about that at the end. But let's. Let's start with what did you end up booking when. So when you booked this January ish, what did you end up booking for this cruise that we're going to talk about today?
[00:06:56] Speaker B: Yep. So we chose going on the Magic out of Puerto Rico. It was a Five Nights and it stopped in St. Thomas. NASA, of course, and Castaway Key.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Oh, awesome.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: And it ended in Fort Lauderdale. Sorry.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Oh, awesome, that's great. And then. So you said five nights, is that right?
[00:07:14] Speaker B: Yes, five nights.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: Five nights. Okay. So it's a. It was. It's essentially a repositioning cruise. Cause you're coming from San Juan and ending in Fort Lauderdale.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Yep, exactly.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: Awesome. Okay, well, so that logistically is a little more complicated obviously when you're not coming, going in and out of the same port because you got to travel probably a little bit further. Let's talk about before we get into sort of the details of getting there because I do want to cover that a little bit. How did things work as far as the booking process and the onboard booking when your window opened because you're in the first time cruiser group so you have the last opportunity to book onboard activities, which is. What is it? I can't even remember. 45 days in advance, something like that.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: 75.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Oh, 75, that's right. Okay, thank you. 75 days in advance. How did that go? Did you have difficulty, you know, booking, you know, excursions or onboard activities that you had, you know, considered booking or were just able to book what you wanted because you were strategic or booking things outside of the cruise line?
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Yeah, good question. The only thing I absolutely wanted to do that I didn't want to miss was Paulo dinner. So I knew I would never get brunch. It just wasn't even on my radar. I just knew I couldn't get that. So went for dinner. Maybe someday I'll do brunch. But that was the only thing we actually ended up booking. And I did have a travel agent and so she booked it for us. We didn't do excursions. We did things on our own a little bit. But the odd thing about this cruise was the ports times were really short. Like we were only there for maybe five hours, four or five hours. Except of course Castaway, that was a whole day. St. Thomas and Nassau were really short hour wise.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Interesting. I wonder if it's just because of the distance that you had to go because those. So St. Thomas and Nassau aren't typically on the same itineraries. Right. Nassau and Castaway are on the same itineraries, but those are usually Those like shorter three, four night cruises and then. Or occasionally a five night cruise. But then St. Thomas is often on the seven night Eastern Caribbean itinerary on the fantasy. And so that's what will soon to be the treasure. So I think it's just a bigger distance because you're going from essentially eastern Caribbean to Bahamas. So I wonder if that's why the port stops were a little bit shorter, you know, because of that sort of repositioning. But I actually think for these ports, not booking port excursions is actually a very good strategy. And like you mentioned, the ones that you had were St. Thomas, Nassau and Castaway. And so I think all three of those are ones you can absolutely do on your own or walk around or, you know, things like that. But let's, let's dive into the. I want to talk a little bit just about the travel agent situation. How did you decide who was going to do the onboard booking? Because I know that, I know for us we like to do our own. Right? We like to do. I know it's midnight on the east coast for us, it's only 9pm on the west coast, so it's really not late for us. But how did you sort of decide? Did you discuss. Because I think this is a really important tip for people who, whether you book through travel agent, you book on your own. You got to figure out like who's, what's the game plan for who's going to do that booking?
Yeah. How did you kind of work that out for sure?
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Yes, I, I knew I wanted her to do it. I am on the east coast, so midnight was not my favorite or midnight was not my favorite time. So I thought, well, at least then I don't have to get up and, and do it or stay up super late. So that was one consideration for sure. And then secondly, I guess I was just not as familiar with the app itself and wasn't sure if I would know how to do it or if that would waste time. And I really wanted Paulo dinner and I was, you know, going to be a first time cruiser, having kind of bottom of the barrel when it came to leftovers, which was totally fine. But that's kind of why I decided just to let her do it.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that's smart. I do think it's. The app is easy to use. I think you'll be fine for your second time. You'll sort of know what the app is, you know, fairly easy to book things in. As long as it's when things are working, they're fine. But also you have a better idea of like what's available now. Right. So I think that that helps a lot too. But always good to have that conversation. For those who book through a travel agent, always Good to have that conversation early on to figure out who is going to do those things so that they, you know, those dates don't slip through and pass you by and you realize, oh no, my onboard booking happened already and I thought she was doing it and she thought I was doing it or whatever. Yes.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: And you know, I actually forgot I did do two tastings now that I now that I'm thinking about what else we cooked. We did do two drink tastings too.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Nice, Nice. Now you mentioned.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah. We did the Mojito and Capernia and then we did the Martini tasting.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Awesome.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: They were both really fun.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Cool. All right, well let's, let's back up. And you mentioned you were sailing your family and you were sailing with another family. Tell us the ages of your kids at the time of sailing and then the other family, what was their makeup? Like how many people, that sort of a thing.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Yep. So it was my family, so me and my husband. And then we have two girls, a four year old, she had just turned four, and then a nine year old and then our friends, the husband, wife, and then they have two boys, a five year old and three year old.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Awesome. Okay. So all Oceaneers, club age kids. Nice. All right.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Well that was really nice.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And were they first time cruisers or had they sailed before on Disney?
[00:12:54] Speaker B: So they've done cruises before, but this was their first Disney cruise as well.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: Oh, nice. So you're all newbies together, all trying to learn Disney's version of cruising. Absolutely. Exactly.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: Yes. Learning about booking windows and what we want to do and all the things.
[00:13:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Well, so let's talk about the travel down because you guys were going, heading to San Juan for embarkation. When did you get to San Juan? Like how far in advance of the. Of embarkation day? A day before. Two days before the day of. Please tell me not the day of.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: No, absolutely not. I could never do that. After listening to almost all of your episodes, I. We decided to go two days before. So we flew down Thursday afternoon and this cruise left on a Saturday so we could have Friday to explore San Juan a little bit. I'd been there before, but my kids hadn't been and my husband had been a while. So we just wanted to explore a little bit of San Juan for a day.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Awesome. And where did you all stay and were you happy with where you stayed?
[00:13:51] Speaker B: Yes, I loved where we stayed. We used points and we stayed at a Hyatt place, I believe. And it was walking distance, not to the port Entrance. But you know, we walked over and could actually see the ship on Saturday morning. It was really inexpensive point wise. It had like a great pool for the kids that they enjoyed Saturday morning when we kind of had to, you know, wait for our port arrival time. So it worked great. I loved the location.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Awesome. Now the port that you sailed out of, I understand there's two locations where cruise ships dock in San Juan. Was this the port that's in like right in the middle of Old Town or is this the main like shipping port?
[00:14:28] Speaker B: That's a good question. I think it maybe was. It wasn't in Old San Juan because from our hotel we still would have had to take like a 10 minute Uber drive over to Old San Juan.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Okay, gotcha. Yes, yes. So you were at like sort of the main port terminal sometimes. So that's usually I think where they embark or debark from in San Juan. But if they're just stopping at San Juan, they tend to just stop at the port by Old Town. I think that's at least that seems to be what I've, what I've heard sort of based on just, you know, this is anecdotal, not, not actual, not scientific evidence just so to put that out there. But.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: No, that makes sense. Yeah.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, well, let's talk about you. You take an Uber ride to the port in the, in the morning. Let's talk about the boarding process or the check in process. How did that check in process go?
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Yep, so exactly. We took an Uber over with our luggage and it went super smoothly. I have no complaints.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: I.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: We had a 12:15 port arrival time, but I think we got on maybe 20 minutes before like we could go in the line.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: You know, we dropped off our luggage with the port attendance, got in line. It was, it was super simple. I had magic bands for my kids for the first time. So they checked those to make sure that they were, you know, working and linked up to our room and then told us our rooms would be ready at 1:30. And everyone's just so friendly with the Mickey hands and high fiving the kids and it's such a good, good way to start vacation.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: Oh yeah, absolutely. Now I know you were leaving from a US port and going to another US port and actually you were only hitting the Bahamas in between. Did you guys travel on passports or birth certificates? And really the question is really for the kids, most of the time the adults have passports.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yes, we all have passports. But I always travel with my kids birth certificates as well.
My family has Done a lot of traveling and I have been asked in other countries for their birth certificates. Not that I thought I would need that on this trip by any means, but I just always travel with both.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: Oh, interesting. I wouldn't have thought to do that, but that's probably smart. Yeah, there are probably some places who do. The Bahamas won't ask you, but I always wonder if I'll get any kind of weirdness because Nathan and I have different last names. And so I don't know if that's, you know, if that's, if that would ever be a thing. I know Brian will say, well, that's all the more reason you should just change your name.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Such a pain though.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: I know.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: I don't think I would do it again.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have, yeah. I have never changed my name. So.
[00:17:05] Speaker B: Yes. You know, I didn't think about that, but I've had them look just to make sure that like both parents are there before. And then my sister used to live in Africa, so we've been to Africa a few times. And in those countries they are doing it for like safety of the kids to make sure that you're both.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: They're with their parents. Yeah, exactly. You're not human trafficking children. Right, Exactly.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: That's exactly right. So yes. So if you travel to Africa, just make sure you bring, just make sure.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: You bring a person. That's good. Good tip. Thank you. That's a good tip. We do want to go to, but maybe in a few years do that South Africa abd hopefully and do that safari. That'd be amazing. All right, well, let's, let's dive into the boarding process. You obviously you said the check in was easy. You get in the line even before your, your actual port arrival time, which is awesome that that can happen if the ship, you know, ship, ship got through customs quickly and all of that. Tell us, did you watch videos? I mean, you had listened to our show, but did you like show the kids videos beforehand? Did you keep it all kind of under wraps as to what was going to happen, what they were going to experience on board? Like what sort of level of preparation did you do with your 4 year old and 9 year old?
[00:18:15] Speaker B: Yeah, we did, we did a lot of preparation. Like I showed them YouTube videos and got them really excited and I, especially for the four year old, I wanted to make sure she was familiar with like Rapunzel and Tangled since they have Rapunzel's table. So we watched Tangled and she course fell in love with Rapunzel and we watched it A million times. And I just wanted them to be familiar with the different things on the ship, especially my four year old because she, she was into Disney for sure, but she was still little and I wanted just to make sure she knew everything going into it.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I think that's. I think that's very smart. Some kids just are able to get comfortable really, really quickly and other kids need more preparation. And we are. We have always done lots of preparation with Nathan, but I've always wished that we could do the whole big surprise thing and that's just never going to be our life. And that's okay. So how was the. You know, you walk across the gangway, you enter the beautiful Disney magic. Your family name is announced. Tell us about that moment.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. That was so amazing. My friend and I, the other mom of my friend, we both were tearing up, totally crying. It was so magical. And I did not know it was gonna smell that amazing. That smell is.
We will bottle it and keep it in my house so I can always remember that moment. So it was so magical.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: I love that there are people who say that I forget which scent it is, but there's one of the scents at. What is it? Magic Candle Company, Brian, that people swear is like the Disney.
[00:19:43] Speaker C: Yeah, they have a few. I don't know that they actually. I don't know if they're actually the same as the ones on the ship, but yeah, they have a few.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, there is something different about the Disney Cruise Line smell that. It's different from the park smell and it's just. Yeah, it's wonderful. The wish actually has its own smell, so also a wonderful. Yeah, So, I mean, I think the other. The other ships all smell the same, but I think the wish is different. I know that sounds strange, but I believe that to be true.
[00:20:13] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome. I wonder if the treasure will be the same then if they'll.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good question. Will it be original? Will it be wish? Will it have its own treasure smell? Who knows? We'll let you know. We'll let you know when we get on board in December. All right, well. Well, what do you guys decide to do first at this point? You've gotten on the ship, your family name's announced, you're tearing up.
You get the app set up hopefully in the port or shortly after getting on the ship. But where did you guys go? Do you want to explore first? You go to the pool deck first. Did you go get lunch first? What was your sort of game plan.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Yes. So I did get the app, and I knew once I was on board, I could see my dining rotation. And I was really worried that our Palo dinner that we had booked might interfere with Rapunzel. That was like, the one we.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, exactly.
[00:21:02] Speaker B: It did. It did, but it was fine. So I went over to the Soul Cat Lounge. That's where they had people set up to do changing, and it wasn't busy at all. They were so accommodating and nice and was super easy just to change it to a different day so it didn't. Didn't cause a problem.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: Awesome. Now, the other family that was traveling with you, did you guys link for dining so that you would all be eating and sitting together?
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Good question. We did, because we wanted to set the same table, of course, for our rotational dining, but they didn't want to do Paulo. They didn't do the drink tastings either. So that was just my husband and I for all of that.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Nice, Nice. But so they got their dining rotation switched also so that they were all sitting together. Nice. Okay, so pro tip out there. You can link up with your sailing with another party. You or your travel agent can call in to Disney Cruise Line or email. If you're saying concierge, you can email shortside concierge and let them know that you want to link your reservation so that you would dine together. And that way you'll be placed at the same table, same dining rotation, all that good stuff. And you can actually request a specific dining rotation if you want. So when you booked. So this is. This is something that you could do for the future so that you don't have to do it on board when you decide, hey, I'm booking Paulo for night three, but I know I don't want to be at Rapunzel's on night three, but I'm happy. I'm okay with missing, let's say, Tritons or Lumiere's on the. On the magic. Yeah, Lumiere's. So you can call and tell them I want to be in whatever dining rotation goes to Lumieres on night three. Yeah. And then they'll. Yeah. And they'll put that request in for you. And it's better to do it, like, after the onboard booking has opened, because that's when they have set the dining rotations super, super early. They might not have even set the dining rotation. So. Yeah. So you can do that. And then they say it's not guaranteed, but they never. That never seems to be an issue, because most people don't do that. Most people don't call in to request a specific dining rotation. So they just get randomly put. So it's super easy to do ahead of time. Also relatively easy to do on board. The only issue might be, is if you're in, you know, main dining and it's full and it's more difficult for them to move, particularly a larger party. So.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Yeah, I have a feeling the sailing wasn't full. I didn't ask any of the crew, but it just seemed like it wasn't a hundred percent full. So that. And it was made. Kids are in school. It's repositioning. Had a lot of things.
[00:23:26] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And. And I'd say repositioning cruises don't tend to fill up either, so. Yeah.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Yes, I agree.
[00:23:32] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: But that's a really good tip for our next one because that one I'm not as convinced won't be full. So I'm going to do that now. Thank you.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no problem. And if you. You have. If you have a specific, you know, if you know which night, I mean, you can even put that request in earlier. If you know which night you're going to be, you know, trying for Apollo Din or whatever. Right. Or Remy or whatever, you're going to be booking, it's just once, you know, what you've actually been able to book, you can call in and do it then, too, and they'll just, like I said, put a note in your file so that when they do assign dining, you'll get assigned whichever one. And oftentimes folks in the Facebook group will have requested what are the dining rotations and will post like a screenshot of, you know, what night, what options there are. So anyway.
[00:24:17] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Yeah, you change your dining. What do you do at this point?
[00:24:21] Speaker B: Yeah, so we go change our dining. And then we wanted to check out the kids club and make sure we knew how to get them in and out and things like that. So we went and checked out Oceaneers Club, Oceaneers Lab. But we didn't look at the other ones just for time's sake. And then we went up and had lunch at Cabanas.
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Nice. What do you think?
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Oh, I mean, I loved all the options. My kids, of course, were super excited for the Mac and Mickey's Mac and Cheese and the chicken fingers, or, I.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: Don'T know, chicken fingers, fingers, nuggets, whatever. They. Yeah, they sometimes have the smaller ones, but sometimes. But mostly chicken fingers. Yeah.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Yes. And then my husband and I were just really excited to have Shrimp and crab legs. That was awesome. So, so we ate away there and then we had prepared and had our swimsuits on underneath our clothes. So we went. And my daughter was adamant about. My 9 year old was adamant about being the first of all of us in our group to go on the Aqua Dunk. So that's where we went next.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. At nine she was confident and ready to do the Aqua Dunk. That's intense. How did that go?
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Well, she only. I think the only reason why she really was that adamant about it was because she's been dying to go back to Walt Disney World. And after the last time where she was pretty scared of rides, I've kind of been hesitant to go back. And so she's trying to prove a point that she. Enough.
I mean it's good. It's courage. She has the courage. But that was really where this was coming from.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's so cute. She's trying to prove that she's brave. I love that.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: Good. First she was the first one. So her and I went over there and she was the first one down and then I went down and you know, I didn't realize which sillily enough I have you know my apple watch on and like a necklace and they make you take all that off and hold it.
[00:26:03] Speaker A: Yes. It's a really annoying. Yeah, everything. Yeah, all the, like the only. I mean I think if you have like studs, earrings or something like the. Those you can keep in. But if you, if you've got like big hoops, anything like that, they'll make you take. Yeah, they'll make you take off pretty much all the jewelry and yeah. Watches even as you mentioned.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Well that's awesome. Did she, did she like the AquaDunk? That's really the important question.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Really good question. I don't think she really loved it. She could go on it one more time. Yeah. With my husband, you know, with. At this not the same time. Obviously it's one slide right before him or something. But other than that. No, she didn't go back. She loved the twist and spout. Of course that was the real fun slide. I think the Aqua Dunk was really just to prove a point.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: So good though. She, I mean listen, she was brave. That does show that she can go on other rides that she's willing to be brave to do that because Aqua Dunk is way more intense than most Disney World rides I would say other than like a couple of the roller coasters which you know, there aren't that Many of.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: So yeah, it was one and done for me. It was, you know, I wanted to do it, but that is, that is really intense.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's talk about the kids club because I know that was kind of a big thing for you guys in, in the fact that you have a four year old and a nine year old and spoiler alert, for those who haven't heard us talk about this before, we've just mentioned it. This will be the first time we're actually going to have somebody really talk about it. But in the Oceaneers Club and lab, they sort of separate the 3 and 4 year olds now from the rest of the group and keep them in like a cohort. So they're not mingling with the 5 through 9 year olds or 5 through 10 year olds rather. Tell us like how did that go? Did you hear about that ahead of time and was there any sort of prep you did for that as well?
[00:27:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. I was definitely disappointed when that announcement came just because of my kids age groups. I totally understand that they have their reasons for doing it and some parents are probably really glad that their littler ones are together and I probably would if I only had one child. But my, my youngest is pretty shy. She's a Covid baby. She's born March of 2020. She is just a little more hesitant. And my older one and her are best friends. Like you know, my little Lila, that's her best friend is Aria, my older one. So. Oh yes. So I was, I was a little worried about it. So when you go there, they check them in like normal and then they put this sticker on the back of the littler one and it had. I don't remember what it said, but it said something kind of like indicating that she was in that three, four year old group. And then they have more another counselor there who's going to be with that little group and they can be in like the Pixie Hollow area and then the Andes Room, but that's really where they're supposed to stay. And then my 9 year old obviously is wanting to go over to the area with the video games. Like that's probably where she hung out the most besides the lab. So Aria told me the first night that we dropped them off that Lila just kept leaving and they just kept following her and like trying to shuffle her back to her section. And I don't think she really like understood like that's her sister, she just wants to go be with her sister.
And I always do tell Aria like if Lila Needs anything. Like if she needs help going to the bathroom.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: Right. You're the big sister, you gotta help her.
[00:29:19] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Yes. And they go to. We have like a parents night out in our neighborhood that we can drop them off on. So Lila's really used to going away from us for a couple hours, but she always has Aria and I do think she leans on Aria a lot. So it was hard for Lila to stay with the group and then it was kind of hard for Aria because she didn't know, like, you know, how to handle it. And so eventually I went and talked to them, just kind of asked to figure out exactly the rules. And they said, well, the older child can join the little group, but the little child cannot join the.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Ah, yeah. Never.
[00:29:51] Speaker B: Yeah. So of course my 9 year old's not gonna go hang out with the 3 and 4 year olds unless she absolutely asked. So it was just like a little bit of a struggle. And I don't even think even after 5 days Lila really was following the rules and staying in her group. But yeah, so that was like my only kind of issue with it.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah. Now you have your cruise in November. Is, is Lila still gonna be four at the time or is she gonna have turned five before then?
[00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah, no, she'll be four. She just born March. And even more hard because we're going with a family where they have a five year old daughter.
Those two are really close, they live in our neighborhood. They play, you know, they play chalk outside together, go to the park, whatever. They're really good friends. But I think, I think the five year old will inevitably just join the three, four year old group.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: You know, that's, that's probably a. Yeah, that, that might work better than. Because you're, you're nine year old obviously will not at all want to do probably what the 3 and 4 year olds are going to do.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Absolutely not.
And yeah, so it was just a little learning that we did. And of course like I understand Disney's policy and that's totally fine, but it was kind of hard and I think just going into it knowing that that's the way it's going to be is helpful. And maybe, maybe I should have talked to Lila more if I had realized how strict it was.
[00:31:04] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, it's always hard to know though because I would say that there's always some variation in enforcement of policies. Right. They may have like a policy or a rule and then there are times where some cast members don't really enforce the rules. So it's hard to Know you know how to set those expectations when they're not necessarily equally enforced across different ships or even different sailings. If you have. Because you have, you know, different cast members and managers rotate in and out on these ships as well. So interesting. Okay, well that's. Listen, it's helpful information to share this with our audience so we definitely appreciate it. It's not ideal circumstance I would say, but at least people know what to expect if they've got a three or four year old that they might have to sort of be in this cohort rather than amongst the 5 to 10 year olds.
[00:31:58] Speaker D: 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 My Path Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. My Path 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 Aulani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if 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 My Path unwinding or email dclduomypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: Let's, let's switch over to ports. You didn't. You mentioned we talked that you didn't book port excursions, but obviously you went to St. Thomas. You went to Nassau, you went to Castaway. Let's start with St. Thomas since that would have been your first port of call. Did you guys get off the ship? Did you book anything privately? What did you end up doing?
[00:33:15] Speaker B: Yep. So we went to St Thomas. We did get off and we were there only in the morning, I think. I don't remember the exact time, so maybe like 8 to 12:30 or something like that. And it was on a Sunday so there were things that were closed. Like you could tell things weren't open. But we decided to go kind of just walk around a little bit to some shops and then we went to they have like a sky ride thing.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Oh yeah, you can go up and.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Then a pirate museum.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: So we were gonna do the sky ride part and the pirate museum, but the skyride was, I don't know, just didn't seem worth it for the price, to be honest. So we just did the pirate museum and I'm a nurse and they have a nurse discount. So if anyone goes there and you tell them you're a healthcare worker, I got like a discount on our tickets, which was interesting. And the kids had a good time. It was fun. It was maybe like 45 minutes that they were, we were there. They had some interactive things to do. So good way to get out of the heat and just learn about pirates. A little bit about St. Thomas.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: Awesome. And great tip about the discount. I love it. Always love a discount. Always love one of those. Yeah, exactly, yeah. Healthcare workers, I wonder if they have a government discount. That might also worth asking at least if they have, if they have a healthcare worker discount, they might have government or military discounts or things like that as well. Of course, St. Thomas is a US port, so yeah, so that would actually potentially work for US military. Well, okay, so let's talk about you. Your next port of call was Nassau. Did you get off the ship and if so, what did you do?
[00:34:43] Speaker B: Yeah, so NASA was an afternoon port, that would make sense, right? Because St. Thomas is so far from NASA, so we didn't get in until 12:30ish. And maybe you stayed until 6:00 or something like that. And the Wish was actually right next to us, so that was really fun.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: Oh nice.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: We got to see the Wish and the Magic by each other and they do like a little horn battle at the end when the Wish was leaving, I think before us. So that was fun to hear. And I actually didn't end up getting off because my 4 year old still naps and so I stayed on in our room with her while she napped and my husband got off though, and all of our friends and my daughter and they went to like a brewery that they walked to. So nothing too exciting, but yeah, but.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Still nice to just get off the ship and walk around. We're hearing like really good things actually about the updates to the port and that it's actually much nicer than it used to be and that it, you know, might be worth a walk around at least. There is a new Junkanoo museum as well in the area, in the port, like terminal area. And so there's stuff you can actually do without really. Ever. Like, even leaving the port area. All right, well. Well, we've got to talk, of course, about Castaway. I mean, not to say that a Disney cruise can be complete without a stop at Castaway, but obviously a Disney cruise is always made better by a stop at Castaway. Or, of course, Lookout Cay. How was Castaway?
[00:36:04] Speaker B: For sure? Yes, that was the one we were definitely the most excited about going to. And we did have a full day there, so it was wonderful. And because we're the magic, we were the smaller ship, and I don't think it was full there. Really didn't seem very crowded at all.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: At all.
[00:36:20] Speaker B: We walked to the family beach. We found a place, no problem. The kids played in the sand. We took some pictures with the characters on the island, and then we rented snorkel equipment. So my older daughter and my husband went out snorkeling while I stayed with the little one. And they had a great time. Like, Aria loved finding the statues and seeing the same.
And we did the 5k run as well. I wasn't going to bring my littlest, but our friends, they wanted to. And you can actually find strollers, jogging strollers or sand strollers or whatever on. On the island. So we just found one of those and pushed the little ones with us on our run.
[00:37:01] Speaker A: It was like, oh, very smart. I didn't realize that you could borrow a stroller for that. That's awesome. That's actually really, really smart to do. That way you can. Yeah. That way you. You can still get in your 5K without, you know, figuring out who's gonna watch the kids and. Or, like, rotating who's watching the kids. Awesome. Awesome. How did. How did you, like doing the 5k? Did you get like. I know that I was. The last time we talked to somebody about this, they actually were like, oh, I think I only ended up doing, like, you know, two miles because they didn't realize about the going around the loop twice. Did you find the signage sufficient and all that? Because I do think now that it's not really an organized race, it can be a little bit of. Of, you know, not. Not. Not always the best experience. Yeah.
[00:37:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, like, I don't think we actually did the whole thing now that you, like, we didn't twice. So I don't know. I don't know where you're talking about exactly that. I don't think we did. I was like, this doesn't feel long enough to be three miles. But, yeah, went with it. And we had the kids with us.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: So there you Go. So, yeah, so it's. It's just you're supposed to do that. The loop part that you do. The loop that goes around like the. There's just. It's like literally a circle, a loop. Right. They're supposed to do that a second time.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: Oh, like past the lighthouse or. Yes, that stairway thing. Okay. Yeah. No, we did not. We did it one time. So we did half a five game, got our medals.
[00:38:21] Speaker A: Anyways, you still did more than half of a 5k, because the rest of it is. It's. It's probably like, I don't know, a half mile that you didn't do or something like that. It's not. Yeah, it's not. It's definitely not half of it, but there is. But I do think that's. It's kind of funny because I think it now that it's not. Not an organized race. I think a lot of people, if they actually track it with their watch, realize, oh, wait, I must have screwed up something here because I don't think the signage is that. The signage is not that good. So.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: No, that definitely wasn't very obvious. And I will say about the stroller too, just to talk about that for one more second. They're not super well maintained. It took us a couple strollers to find one that the front wheel would lock and things like that. So if you do use them, make sure you test them out before you put all of your stuff in it. Unlike us, where we were just moving all of our stuff to multiple ones.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: Whoa.
[00:39:11] Speaker B: You know, I think they're. They're used a lot and there's not that many of them. So just approach pro tip there.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Good, good point. And if you really want a good stroller, bring your. Run your jogging stroller from home, I guess, which is a pain.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: Oh, that's a lot.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: No, I know it's a lot. It's a lot. But you know, to schlep on and off the ship. Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: They're not the best jogging strollers in the world, but they do the job and it's really nice they have it as an option, so.
[00:39:36] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All right, well, did you guys spend the whole time, the whole day on the island and, you know, obviously do lunch and all that?
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Yep, yep. So we did lunch like pretty much right when it opened. I mean, my kids are super early birds. They're up at 5:30 every day. So. Yeah. And then we did lunch and then afterwards we never got over to the adult only side. We just didn't make it. But we did put the kids in Scuttles Cove. Right. For a little bit.
[00:40:03] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:40:04] Speaker B: I also didn't realize that they had a water play area in there. So I had already changed Lila out of her swimsuit because I knew that her and I at least were going to go back and she was going to nap on the ship and she just, you know, came out wet in her dress, which is totally fine. But I also, I didn't realize that. So just another thing for your listeners. Thank you.
[00:40:21] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah. That is a great. That is a great tip. Yeah, they do. They don't have like a pool in there and they don't let them go into like, like the ocean, but they do a lot of water play activities in there. They do like water balloon fights and buckets and things like that. They do all kinds of water play type activities in there because otherwise it's just really hot and so. Yeah. So good to keep your kiddo in their swim gear if they're going in there and they're going to want to participate in. Because most of the activities there because they don't have like the video games and stuff that they have on ships. Yeah.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: Yes. I think there's like a sand area. Ari said they played it and then. Yes. The water play thing. So she came out completely drenched with water, which again, totally fine. Glad she had fun. And then when they were in Scuttle's Cove, then all four of us adults, we actually did the snorkel so I could go in and snorkel because I hadn't yet.
[00:41:11] Speaker A: Oh, nice. What did you think?
[00:41:13] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. It was really fun. It's farther out than I thought it was going to be. Like, it takes a while to get out to where it drops off and there's actual. The statues and more fish and things like that. But yeah, it was fun. I. I'm not a huge snorkeler. I don't usually swim that much in the ocean, to be honest. So that was, that was about all, like all I wanted to do.
[00:41:33] Speaker A: I totally understand it. I think it's quite far. I don't usually do it because it's like just a longer swim than I want to do in the ocean. I like snorkeling, though, but I like snorkeling from like a catamaran where it's like you get off and it's right there.
I'm a lazy snorkeler helping us out.
[00:41:51] Speaker B: Yeah, I just get a little freaked out from the fish after a while. And like we saw manatee Those things are humongous.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: I'm sorry. A manta ray.
[00:42:02] Speaker A: Oh, a manta ray. Okay. I was like a manatee. Those are like, you know, humongous. Like seal, sea lion things. Yeah.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Yes. No, no, sorry.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: Manta. Yeah. Those are big too. Those are. Those scare me. I don't want to touch them or be near them either. They're huge.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: Yeah. So I was like, that's enough fish action for me. I'd like to go back to land. So.
Yeah. So I took Lila back onto the ship to nap. And then my husband and Aria did some of the slides. I forgot. What? That's false.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Pelican Plunge. Yeah. What is. What was their. What was their review of Pelican Plunge?
[00:42:36] Speaker B: Well, part of it wasn't open, I guess, because it was low tide, so they couldn't go on. I don't know. Did they have like obstacle course type thing or something like that?
[00:42:44] Speaker A: Yes. So there's. There's pelican. So there's like two structures. One of them is the water slides and then the other structure is like a. Basically like a. Ropes, kind of like monkey bars, that kind of a thing. And so they might have that. I wouldn't be surprised if they had that closed for. For low tide because it's. It is pretty close in. Yeah.
[00:43:05] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah. So it sounds like that part was closed, but then the water slides weren't. But they said it was a pretty big drop, which also probably was because it was low tide or something. But yeah, they had fun. They liked the slides. And then they came in and we got ready. We had main seating, main time seating for the dining. So 5:30 comes pretty quick.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Um, yes, absolutely. Absolutely. All right, well, let's. Let's jump back onto the ship and talk about what kinds of things you all got up to on. What kinds of family activities did you guys do while on the ship, either on sea days or in the mornings, whenever you were on board and not at port.
[00:43:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep. So we used the pool a decent amount. My daughter loved the slide and the other family's kids too. The twist and spout slide. And then even my daughter loved the little round one that's close to that slide where they come out. I don't know what the name is. She didn't really like the. What is it like the little ducks where they squirt water out?
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. The like splash pad thing. Yeah.
[00:44:03] Speaker B: Yes. She wasn't really into that, but she just liked hanging out in the pool with, you know, 20 other kids and that deck is so hot. Like you have to wear your shoes walking over there.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. It just, I mean, it gets hot in the sun. It's the same actually at Lookout Key. The. And frankly, Kenneth Castaway too, like, just spots that are out in the sun just get really, really hot from that Caribbean and Bahamian sun is no joke at all.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: Yes, it is not. It is not a joke. Which is fine. But there was tons of shoes. You know, clearly people figured that out quickly, but I did not realize that at first. So like your 4 year old's like, oh, it's so hot on my feet. Anyway, so. Yeah, so we did the pool a decent amount. We did go to some trivia, some family trivia.
[00:44:49] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Oh, we did.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: We did.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: Terrible.
I mean, we. I don't, I don't remember how many points we got, but we tried.
[00:44:59] Speaker A: That's. They are tough. They are tough. Did you do any Bibbidi bobbidi?
[00:45:05] Speaker B: We did not. We did not do any Bibbidi bobbidi. We did do the royal gathering though.
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Oh, nice. What did the girls think about the. It's a. For those who haven't heard us talk about, this is a princess meet and greet. It's actually a something you reserve ahead of time. Usually it's like at the 30 day mark through the app and then it's free, but you have to. But you have to have a reservation. So it's like a ticketed event.
But it's a free ticketed event where you meet usually three princesses, sometimes four.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: Maybe there was four princesses. Yep. So four. I mean they have that down to a science. Like you just walk in and we had an autograph picture frame that we were getting from all the characters autographs. So they, they take that and they're so nice to the kids, but they really have it very organized. Like it just one princess after the other. But the kids loved it. I was surprised. My older daughter how into taking pictures with the characters she got. She loved it.
[00:46:00] Speaker A: Oh, really? That's awesome. Did you get. Did you end up doing the picture package then?
[00:46:06] Speaker B: I didn't. I didn't. I kind of am thinking about it for the next one. I cannot decide if it's worth it or not. But I ended up just purchasing two photos. It was like a family one with us and Mickey Mouse and I think one with my daughter and Donald Duck or something. So I kind of wish I ahead because even though they do let you use your own phone, it's just not the same.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: Yeah, the Pictures aren't as good as usually with the professional camera and the light and all of that kind of stuff because they have that lighting down to a science. I feel like. Well, one, I will give one pro tip on the picture package. It has been our experience and we've seen this like repeatedly confirmed from people in different Facebook groups that if you book the unlimited photo package ahead of time and then you find that you really didn't take a lot of pictures and it's not worth it for you to, to, you know, get all those pictures. If you go to shutters on board, they will usually refer you as long.
[00:47:00] Speaker C: As you have not downloaded any of the pictures.
[00:47:03] Speaker A: Right. If you've downloaded the pictures.
[00:47:04] Speaker C: If you've downloaded any of them, you're posting. Downloaded them.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yes, you can look at them. But if you start down, if you download them, you're committed, right? You've committed to paying for that. Yeah. But if you haven't downloaded any yet, you can usually get it refunded or if you want to refund it and then purchase like, I don't know, 10 picture package or 20 picture package. We have found once you're over that, that 20, once you're to that 30 pack, 30 picture package, you might as well have bought the unlimited picture package because it's like a 5 or $10 difference or something. So it's definitely something you can always book and then cancel either ahead of time or, you know, or like we said, we have found, in our experience, we have found that you can cancel on board. And we've done that ourselves, I think, one time. And I definitely know people who have other people who've done that and they've always, always allowed people to do that. So that's good.
[00:47:55] Speaker B: Maybe I would do that.
[00:47:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, let's. I feel like we got to talk about the shows. This is your first time on Disney Cruise Line. Your kids first time, of course, on Disney Cruise Line. You had mentioned you had watched Tangled several times ahead of time to introduce your daughter to Rapunzel and that story and the character. Did you go see the one, did you have all three shows, which would be Tangled Twice, Charmed and Disney Dreams. And two, did you go to the shows on board?
[00:48:28] Speaker B: Yes, yes, we did. I love going to shows and I've brought my oldest one to a few Off Broadway ones locally. So we were excited to go. We, we didn't go on the off nights. They had all three shows, but we didn't go on the other two nights when they had like a magician and Things like that. We just focused on the. The actual.
Yes, yes. And they were all amazing. Amazing.
[00:48:50] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. And the kids, could they sit. Did they sit through them? Well, I mean, Nathan won't really sit through them, but a lot of other. I find a lot of other kids will.
[00:48:59] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, we had the popcorn bucket, and so as long as there's popcorn, little ones would sit through it. But no, even my youngest, she. She loved it. Absolutely loved it. And I didn't really know much about Disney dreams. Like, I wasn't really familiar with what that would be. And my little one loves Frozen. It's her absolute favorite, favorite show. She loves Elsa. She dressed up as Elsa like almost every day on the cruise.
Let it go every night for bed. And I didn't think that we would see Elsa at all. Cause I knew she wasn't on the ship, but she was in the show. And that was such an amazing surprise.
[00:49:36] Speaker A: Oh, good. I'm so glad. Yeah. Cause they do that. They do that. The scene from Frozen. Yeah. And they do let it go. It's such a good coming down and.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: Yes. So my daughter, like, lit up when she saw Elsa.
We couldn't take a picture with her, but.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, it's. You know, it's. Well, I'm trying to think on the fantasy, if she's on the fantasy sometimes. Well, you'll see Frozen, the show on the fantasy. Yeah. Which is fabulous. You'll. She'll love it. She will. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I don't know if they. They have at times done like the ticketed meet and greet and Anna and Elsa one on the fantasy, but I don't know if they're currently doing that. It's been. It's been actually such a long time since we've been on the fantasy. But look, that would be. Yeah, you'll have to keep. Keep an eye out for that. But I don't. Yeah, like I said, I don't know if the. They still have that. Well, let's. Let's talk about. I know Brian's gonna want to talk about dining. Brian, is. Is now the time we should talk about dining?
[00:50:36] Speaker C: I mean, is anytime a bad time to talk about dining?
[00:50:39] Speaker A: No, no, actually, before we get to dining, I want to ask. No, before, because. No, I just asked. Chose. I want to ask if they did any other. Outside of Paulo, were you able to do any adult only activities or stuff on board? Like were you able to spend time at the Quiet Cove pool or do any adult trivias or even adult game shows? At night. I mean, you have young kids, so I'm going to gather that's unlikely. But I, I feel like I should ask that question because some people figure out a way to fit it in. Yeah.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: Yes. No, we did a little. We didn't get to do any of the late evening adult shows. I really wish we could have. And maybe on the next one, like we'll just split up and one of us will go. But like I said, my kids get up so early that by 9:00 after the shows they were just done and we went pretty much straight to bed. But we did go to other places because we went to the adult only pool one morning when the kids went to Kids Club.
[00:51:32] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:51:32] Speaker B: That pool is amazing, right? Yes. Oh my gosh. I don't know what the fantasy one is like, but I loved that little ledge and I just sat there and read a book in the water and that was amazing, even if it was only an hour.
[00:51:44] Speaker A: But yeah, the one. Okay, so I will tell you, the Magic and the Wonder have the better quiet Cove pool. But Fantasy and Dream have this other area up one deck called Satellite Falls. That is lovely. That's also like a nice quiet, quiet spot. So different.
But I still, I like the pool better on the Magic and Wonder. But the. But I do. You'll enjoy Satellite Fall, so make sure you check that out on the. On the Fantasy for sure. Okay, now I'm going to pass to Brian and let him talk to you all about food and about, you know, dining and all that stuff.
[00:52:16] Speaker C: What'd you think about the rotational dining and you know, the shows and dining and how the kids like the dining?
[00:52:22] Speaker B: Yes. I mean I love the shows. The Rapunzel's table was, was amazing. I mean the amount of detail that they have, even down to the plates and the glassware is just unbelievable. And yeah, my kids loved, loved the shows.
The dining staff, they're just so engaging with the kids. They did little like puzzles with them and by the second night they had all their drink orders just waiting for them. It was just, it's just amazing the level of, of service and detail that Disney goes into with everything that they do. And then animators palette was really neat. We got to see that show. We were in there twice. So I think it was just the second time we were in there that they had that show.
[00:53:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Did you, you had the Mickey. Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey, right. Yeah, that one. Just to be clear on the magic, for those listening, if you want to have animation magic, you have to be on A seven night or longer. So animation magic on it does not happen on the magic unless it's a longer sailing. And same for the wonder.
[00:53:27] Speaker B: Okay. Yep. No, so we didn't have that one. We just had the other. I think it's like black and white and then turns to color and then Sorcerer Mickey comes out. And that's really fun. I kind of wish that I had brought more activities for my youngest one. I thought that just the entertainment that was basically, you know, provided by Disney, just the look of everything and the pictures and the little show and Rapunzel's would be enough for her. But that's a long dining experience and she got pretty restless and needed like a coloring book or even her tablet or something to get through. So that was a little bit of a challenge for us. Even on the last night, we ended up putting her in Kids club because we just wanted to have some peace during dinner. So I definitely will change dinner next time for us. And I don't even think I would go every single night. Night. You know, we went every night except for Paula. We did our adult only one and we got room service for the kids, which they loved. And even today, my daughter and I were talking about our cruise, my oldest, and she said, I wish we could have just gone to Funnel the Funnel Vision and had pizza. Yeah, like up there and sat in the pool and watched a movie one night instead of dinner. I think it's just kind of was a lot for their ages.
[00:54:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think that that's. That will. You'll be able to do that more on the fantasy because. Well, so on the fantasy, you will only have shows in Animator's palette. You will have two shows. So you will not want to miss. I would say you will not want to miss either show at Animators because they'll have Crush and you'll have animation magic.
And so. Yeah, so don't miss Animators.
[00:55:01] Speaker B: Good to know.
[00:55:02] Speaker A: Okay. But if you're going to miss Enchanted Garden or Royal, I never remember which one's Royal Court, which one's Royal Palace. But it's basically the exact same dining experience as Lumiere's on the magic. So you can definitely miss. Miss, you know, nights in those ones. So, yeah. So, yeah, feel free to do room service. Feel free to eat pizza on the pool deck or whatever. Yeah, I think that that's very, very smart. Okay, well, did you guys eat at Cabanas other times, like breakfast or lunches on other days?
[00:55:35] Speaker B: Yep, we did. We did all of our breakfasts and Lunches there. Unless we did room service or sometimes we would just eat at the pool deck. Food for lunch, that was great. And they had like the Daisies Delights, which has more healthy options. And like the bowls there, that was really good. So we would do that for lunch sometimes over cabanas. But we never really did the sit down except on the debarkation day. Then we did go and sit down in Animator's palette. That's where ours was. And that was really nice. I kind of wish we had done breakfast once or twice sitting down, honestly.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a nice experience for sure. What did you think about food quality and food options?
[00:56:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, so many options. Like there is something for everyone. And they do that rotational part of cabanas. Right. With different food. They like Indian one day and then they had something else another day. So there always, always was options for us. We did get to have the Mickey waffles, the churro Mickey waffles. Those were a big hit.
[00:56:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:31] Speaker B: Especially my kids. I thought they were a little sugary for me, to be honest. But they. But my kids absolutely love them. They still talk about them to this day.
[00:56:38] Speaker C: Do not add syrup. Everyone out there listening. Never add syrup to those. Oh my gosh. They turn into total sugar bobs at that point. Yes, I've made the mistake. Don't do it.
[00:56:48] Speaker B: Yes, that is fair. They are really sugary. I mean, they're good. They do taste like a churro. But for breakfast I was like, man, this is. This is dessert for breakfast. But that's okay. That's why you're on vacation. Right. And but the food quality was. Was really good. I mean, Paula was. I mean, unbelievable. So it's hard to compete after we had Paula.
[00:57:05] Speaker C: So what did you think about Paula? What did you have? And. Yeah, what did you think about Paulo?
[00:57:10] Speaker B: Oh, I loved it. We didn't. Do they have a set menu?
[00:57:12] Speaker A: Right?
[00:57:12] Speaker B: We didn't do that. We did a la carte and we had. I remember what we had. We had the burrata caprese salad, which was so good. We had the scallops and then the papa deli with lobster we shared. And then the chocolate souffle of course for dessert. And it was all just amazing.
[00:57:30] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:57:30] Speaker B: No complaints.
[00:57:31] Speaker C: Nice. Anything we've missed that you wanted to be sure to highlight from the. From the sailing?
[00:57:36] Speaker B: I don't know. I don't think so. The drink tastings were really fun. I'm glad that we did them. I think two in a five night sailings was maybe a Little too much. Probably just could have done one. But they're so knowledgeable. They make it so engaging, and, you know, learn some things that you can take home if you're into that. Yeah, that's all I can think of. And then the placeholder. We did do a placeholder. Even though we have one booked this November, we still did another placeholder.
[00:58:01] Speaker C: Okay, well, we'll ask you what's next here at the end, so don't spoil the surprise for everyone listening out there, but. Well, I think we've reached that point in the show where Sam gets to ask you some arbitrary questions, apply some arbitrary rules, and a whole heap of judgments, or the round we know is rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away.
[00:58:18] Speaker A: All right. Okay, Carrie, I'm gonna ask you your favorites. First. We're gonna start with general Disney favorites, and then I'm gonna ask you your Disney cruise line favorites. Obviously, right now your favorite ship is the Disney Magic, so that question will not be asked. And I can' Rescue the Aqua Dunk versus the Aqua Duck because you haven't been on the Aqueduct yet. So we'll do that maybe next time. But let's start with. Who is your favorite Disney character?
[00:58:44] Speaker B: Moana. I love Moana.
[00:58:46] Speaker A: Ooh, I love that. All right, what is your favorite Disney movie?
[00:58:51] Speaker B: I hate to be repetitive, but I have to say Moana again.
[00:58:54] Speaker A: No, there's nothing. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a fantastic answer. Okay, well, what is your favorite Disney song?
[00:59:03] Speaker B: Really repetitive, but shiny. From with the Crab. I love the lyrics. I think they're just so clever. So that's my favorite. That's the reason I like that song.
[00:59:13] Speaker A: Yeah, Brian loves that song, and he loves Tamatoa. So I. That's why I laughed there, because it's like one of. He loves that scene. I feel like you, Brian, you would watch that scene, like, over and over again, probably.
[00:59:25] Speaker C: I don't know that I go that far. I enjoy the scene, but I don't think I'd sit there watching it over and over again.
[00:59:30] Speaker A: All right, okay, well, let's talk. Let's move on to the ship. What was your favorite show on the Disney Magic?
[00:59:38] Speaker B: Oh, I've been thinking about this.
I want to say Tangled because it was the best show, 100%, but I kind of want to say Dreams just because of Elsa and, like, seeing my daughter's face light up and how amazing that was. I don't think the show was really that amazing, but having Elsa there for her was.
[00:59:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's that's the right answer is Tangled. Just to be clear here. The right. But I do, like, honorable mention to Disney Dreams for that scene. And that's like. So that's the thing. Like, there's a difference between what's the best or the ones that you like the most. Right. And what's the one that, like, makes the biggest impact on your vacation or on your kids. Right. Like, because seeing that. Having that special moment of seeing your child's face light up at seeing Elsa on stage is like. That's, like, a moment you'll never forget. Right. Like, so you might forget one of the numbers Entangled, though, but you won't forget the look on little Lila's face when she saw Elsa on the stage. Yeah.
[01:00:34] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. The show itself in the beginning is pretty. It's kind of boring in the beginning, to be honest. So once they get into the show a little bit more and, like, bring out the other characters, it's better.
[01:00:43] Speaker A: Yes. Once they get to all the musical numbers, it's better. Absolutely. Yeah. All right. Favorite onboard activity on the Disney Magic.
[01:00:51] Speaker B: I think doing trivia. It was really fun, even though we were pretty terrible at it. We all worked together as a group, and that was fun. And the kids were into it, and we were all thinking about the different movies at, like, level one. Like, we were. We need to study harder, clearly. But listen, it's just.
[01:01:07] Speaker A: There's just. Even if you study harder, there's going to be these, like, I want to call them crazy people. They're not crazy people, but they're like, hardcore Disney trivia people who know, like, everything, who know how many seats or how many cars there are on Space Mountain and, like, just, you know, ridiculous pieces of knowledge. So, you know, good luck. I'm not even going to try to win on those kinds of. Those kinds of troubles. They're just too hard. Yeah.
[01:01:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:01:35] Speaker A: All right. A favorite space on the ship. How about. Let's do a favorite space to relax on the ship?
[01:01:42] Speaker B: Definitely the COVID pool. That area.
[01:01:45] Speaker A: 100%.
[01:01:46] Speaker B: Love it.
[01:01:46] Speaker A: Love it. Favorite rotational dining restaurant.
[01:01:50] Speaker B: Rapunzel table.
[01:01:51] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, definitely.
[01:01:53] Speaker B: Just amazing. It's such. Well, like, are unbelievable.
[01:01:57] Speaker A: Absolutely. And like you said, the attention to detail is just. Just fabulous in that space. It's. Yeah, yeah. I'm excited for when someday, hopefully, you get on the Wonder, because Tiana's has that kind of feel, too. It's just so well done. Equally as well done as Rapunzel's is. All right, let's go. Favorite food item. I need a favorite sweet Item. And then a favorite savory item. We'll start with the sweet, because I like the savories the best.
[01:02:25] Speaker B: Yes. That would be the sticky date pudding.
[01:02:28] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:02:29] Speaker B: Best dessert.
[01:02:30] Speaker A: Like, I want.
[01:02:32] Speaker B: I'm gonna order, like, three of them next time. It was that good?
[01:02:35] Speaker A: It's so good. I want you to try the Oreo cheesecake on embarkation day. They have it in cabanas. You can in, like, small bite size if you don't wanna do sit down lunch on embarkation day. But I'm gonna challenge you to try that because that is also a top dessert on Disney Cruise line.
[01:02:52] Speaker B: Yeah, Dio. I love cheesecake too, so I. I will have to find that one.
[01:02:56] Speaker A: Perfect. All right. A favorite savory item on Disney Cruise Line.
[01:03:01] Speaker B: I'm gonna say on Pirates Night, they had this shrimp that was, like, marinated in some kind of lime sauce.
[01:03:08] Speaker A: Ooh. Yeah.
[01:03:10] Speaker B: I loved it. I think we ended up getting a few of them. My oldest daughter was into it. I think even Lila had a shrimp. Like, it was probably nothing really that special, but my whole family liked it, so.
[01:03:21] Speaker A: Ooh. All right. That might be a reason to go back to Pirate night dinner. I do love me some lime shrimp. All right.
[01:03:28] Speaker B: It was really good.
[01:03:29] Speaker A: Okay, now my final question since I mentioned we already know your favorite ship is now the Disney Magic. Although I'm excited for you to try the dream class, and then you'll get to compare the two classes. But tell us, what is your bucket list? Cruise. If you could go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise Line ship, where would it be?
[01:03:46] Speaker B: Oh, man, I want to go everywhere. It's a really hard question, but I'm going to say New Zealand, because I looked at that 10 night. New Zealand.
[01:03:56] Speaker A: Right. The Christmas one. Oh, my gosh.
[01:03:58] Speaker B: Like, we almost booked it. I was very close to doing it, but yeah, I did it.
[01:04:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:04] Speaker B: I thought my youngest probably need to get a little older, but. Oh, my gosh.
[01:04:07] Speaker A: Well, and it's quite expensive of a cruise, but then it's also expensive to get over there. And then you want to spend, like, time actually seeing the country too. So it's. Yeah, I feel the same way. I want to do that, but it's like, that's a really big trip, and making sure you have enough time to do it is. Is kind of hard as well.
[01:04:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:04:24] Speaker A: Well, thank you for. Thank you for playing.
You won. You did great.
Your answer about the shows was perfect, so. Yeah. So good job. Congratulations.
[01:04:37] Speaker B: Thank you.
[01:04:37] Speaker A: And now I'll let Brian jump in.
[01:04:39] Speaker C: Yeah. What is Next. So you mentioned you had a placeholder and actually you mentioned you had something else booked, so.
[01:04:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:46] Speaker C: What's next?
[01:04:47] Speaker B: Yes. Yep. So we have booked from almost a year and a half ago now. That fantasy, the seven nights on the fantasy, it's Western Caribbean. It's the week before Thanksgiving, so that one we're already planning. Yep. And then I did get a placeholder and we booked the Treasure in January of 2026.
[01:05:06] Speaker C: Oh, nice. Nice.
[01:05:08] Speaker A: Awesome. Awesome. So you're gonna, you are jumping right into the seven night itineraries there. Okay, so five nights wasn't long enough for you? I. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you. Carrie. You're gonna do. Yeah, you're gonna love a seven night itinerary. You get an extra port, you get extra sea day. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. You might get an Apollo brunch. Go for it. For the fantasy. Try for Apollo brunch.
Yeah. Well, and if you don't get it in the pre booking, never fear, you know, go on board on day one to whatever the designated location is for like dining changes and you can, and you can book it then.
[01:05:46] Speaker B: Okay. Do they leave some open?
[01:05:48] Speaker A: They do they leave some, they hold back some itinerary or some.
We think, yeah, I'm pretty confident that they hold back. Not everything do they hold back. I don't think they hold back port excursions for onboard booking, but there are quite a few things like spa appointments, other things that they hold back. And I'm pretty sure they hold back some of that adult dining for onboard booking.
[01:06:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll have to check. I would love to do brunch. Palo brunch.
[01:06:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, just check it out when you get on board, as Sam said. And also just stalk the app because a lot of times people will. We just did this for the Treasure Maid and we booked a bunch of stuff and because we're Pearl and we figured better to have it and hold it and then we can figure out what we're going to do with it and you know, release it. So, you know, we've got, I think some shore excursions book that we plan to do some private non Disney excursions. So we'll, we'll release those at some point so that others can go grab them. But yeah, you just have to, have to stalk the app, I guess, a little bit.
[01:06:46] Speaker A: But yeah, yeah, absolutely. And as Brian said, like, so, you know, for example, we've got an excursion that we booked at Tortola, but we're trying to find and settle on A private torch Hola excursion. And so we booked the Disney one as a backup. If we don't find one that we like private, then we will do the Disney one. But there's a good chance we will end up canceling the Disney one. So yeah, there's definitely things that get booked and then people decide, oh, I've got too much on my schedule, I just need to free up some time.
[01:07:17] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense. It's easy to overbook yourself for sure.
[01:07:21] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely.
[01:07:23] Speaker C: Well, Carrie, we certainly appreciate you taking some time out of your weekend to come spend with us and our listeners and to share your fabulous experience with Disney Cruise Line. So just really want to say thank you so much. We really, really appreciate it.
[01:07:35] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It was really fun to reminisce about my trip and I look forward to my future Disney Cruise Line vacations.
[01:07:48] Speaker D: Well, thanks 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 alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want 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 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, My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypath unwinding.com DCLDUO or email them at DCLDUO@mypath unwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things. Full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast, links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon. If you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also, of course, email
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