[00:00:00] Speaker A: I was so excited because of all of your hype about Beauty and the Beast. We went in with the highest of expectations because of it and it was still better than I thought. Oh, my God. It was absolutely phenomenal. Absolutely.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DC CL Duo podcast, brought to you by my path Unwinding Travel. And I'm going to head straight into our listener review because we got a tight recording timeframe today so we can keep Sam engaged here before she runs into a hard stop that she has. So this week's listener review comes from 1971 Disney 50. Who writes best Disney Cruise Podcast. Such a great podcast. Love the topics, guests and host interactions. Thanks for helping me enjoy cruising vicariously until my next trip. Well, you are welcome, 1971 Disney 50. Thank you for leaving that review. And to all of you out there, remember those reviews really help us out over on Apple podcast. So head over there, hit those five stars, and if you leave us a written review, we will read it at.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: The top of the.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: At the top of our show on the air. At the top of our show. One of our main episodes here, so. Well, that was mouthful. All right, Sam, I'm throwing it over to you because we got a really fun cruise. It's a cruise I've been interested in. It's on my bucket list for a long time. So take it away. Take it away.
[00:01:22] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, well, thanks, Brian, and thanks to that listener review. Love it. Well, we have a great show today. We are going to be talking with Alicia. Not a first time cruiser, but first time on our show to talk about an amazing European itinerary. The itinerary that goes to Iceland, which is one that we really want to do. Obviously you guys have heard we did Norway itinerary back two years ago. Gosh, I can't believe it was two years ago now. But we really have been dying to get to Iceland, so we're super excited to welcome to the show. Alicia, welcome.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: I thank you guys. I'm so excited to be here. This has basically been a dream, so.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Oh my God, you're gonna make me tear up.
[00:02:04] Speaker A: I love a long time. So you're kind of like celebrities for me.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: That cracks me up, by the way, the thought of us as celebrities. But that's like hilarious. But anyway, I appreciate that. Thank you. Alicia, tell us. We know this wasn't your first cruise. This was only your second cruise, though. Tell us where your love of Disney comes from and why you decided to take your first Disney cruise, which was like What? A year before this one, two years before this one.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: I was deprived of Disney as a child. So for parents who are questioning taking their kids as a child, you should or they end up with a really expensive addiction.
I finally went to Disney World as a teenager with our high school band and that was my first touch on that. Started visiting Disney World. I am an east coaster, so obviously Disney World as opposed to Disneyland. We went on our first cruise, we tried Carnival. It wasn't ready for Disney prices. If it wasn't gonna work out. It ended up being a good experience overall. Not so happy with the cruise line. We switched to trying Disney. I had our first one booked in January of 2021. So we all love how that went.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: So that one, that one got canceled.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Yeah, we switched that to a Disney World trip and then our first official one was Alaska in summer of 2022. And now. Holy wow.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: So you have done like two cooler weather cruises. That's an unusual choice. I mean you did obviously your Carnival cruise I'm assuming was probably like Caribbean, Bahamas or something like that. Warm weather. Yeah. But that's so interesting that you chose one. Both cooler weather cruises and two kind of longer cruises for your first and your second Disney cruise, right?
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Yeah, both bucket list things. So I guess that's probably where that stems from. Was just. Might as well go for it and go all out.
[00:03:55] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I have to say shout out to all the band, choir and orchestra performers who have performed at Disney World over the years. I myself am a former choir kid and former orchestra kid and I got to perform at Epcot and Walt Disney World as well back when I was in high school. That was one of my very few trips to Disney World as a, as a teenager was because of, because of performing with my high school choir. Um, but let's, let's dive in and talk about who is in your sailing party. And I think this might be interesting for folks as well.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: So it is just myself and my 8 year old son, which we also. Everything that we have done travel wise has just been us.
[00:04:37] Speaker C: Awesome. And would you say he's a good traveler and are you like a more adventurous traveler or are you like a more timid traveler? What would you say the more that.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: We travel, the more adventurous I am getting. And I would say that I trained him well from a young age.
[00:04:54] Speaker C: I love that.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Very apt in how to travel, how to behave in an airport, how to handle a plane. He knows jet lag is a thing and it sucks and he's prepared for it. So we've been traveling enough that he gets how to do it now. And the more I do it, the more comfortable I am. Mm.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: Do you, you have his like, sort of favorite, like airplane snacks and things like that all like ready to go and his like travel backpack always ready and packed. Like that's what we do with Nathan, to be perfectly honest.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yep. There's the travel backpack. He carries his own backpack, has all the fun stuff in it. Um, the snacks have reduced now, obviously when he was younger. You need lots more.
[00:05:33] Speaker C: Yes, all the, all the, and all the snacks and lots of variety of snacks. I feel like the younger they are and then now, now like, I feel like with Nathan, he's, you know, at 10 and you' son at 8, like you can buy some snacks on the way, so you have to pack a little bit less, right?
[00:05:50] Speaker A: That's exactly it.
[00:05:51] Speaker C: Love that. Well, what made you choose the, this Iceland itinerary and how many, how many nights was it?
[00:05:57] Speaker A: It was 12 nights. Iceland and Norway. So Iceland being the bucket list item here. And I was real excited to get Norway with that, but Iceland was the feature.
[00:06:07] Speaker C: That's awesome. Now what, what made you choose it? Was it just that it was someplace you had always wanted to go? Did it like, did the timing work out? Were you waiting for your son to like reach a certain age before, you know, traveling to Europe? Like, what were the sort of the decision factors that went into choosing this itinerary?
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Specifically the Iceland bucket list. It's the only one for Disney that went. I wasn't willing to travel on a different line, so the only one that Disney offered was the one that was going to make happen. The timing was that it was. I had finished my master's degree last year, so it was my celebratory trip of the completion of that.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: Oh, congrats. That's awesome. That's fantastic. Now you did this during the summer months then when your son was out of school, I presume?
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Yeah. So it was July.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: Awesome. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, it's really hard to do a longer itinerary with a school age kid that doesn't fall on summer holiday. Right. Like, I mean you can do like over Christmas. Cause everybody's got like, you know, two weeks. But other than over Christmas, it's really hard to do a longer, longer vacation. Now you say you're coming from the east coast. How far in advance of the cruise did you fly over to Europe and did you go out of Southampton? Is that where you were embarking from or a different port?
[00:07:22] Speaker A: We were out of Southampton. Our cruise left on a Wednesday. We flew Friday night into Saturday into Paris and we actually spent three days in Paris and Disneyland Paris. Of course.
[00:07:32] Speaker C: Of course you did.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: I mean that far you have to. So when we did Alaska, we also stopped at Disneyland. It was our first trip to Disneyland because if we're flying to that coast, we might as well. And then the day before our cruise, we flew from Paris to London. So we were there the day before.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great.
Yeah, that's a fantastic way of doing it. I think that's really smart. I mean, like you said, once you're traveling all the way to Europe and London and Paris are not that far apart, you can take a short flight or you can take the train. That's another option for people. You know that it makes a lot of sense if you got the time in your schedule. Of course, that's that be the hard part. Well, let's talk about the pre planning process. You were Silver Castaway club member and so you are not the very last booking window, but the second to last booking window for onboard activities and for excursions. How did that play out with, you know, for your planning for your cruise? Were there things that you really wanted to get that you had difficulty getting and if so, what were they?
[00:08:36] Speaker A: I had obviously been doing research. I am a type A personality, do lots of pre planning and heard everyone complaining from the year prior about the issue with the larger ship going there and missing those excursions. I booked a bunch of stuff outside of Disney to start and surprisingly when it came time to book, there were still a lot of options and a lot of stuff. So I did go back and switch over to a bunch of Disney stuff. I still had some that were not one in Norway and we had one in Iceland that ended up canceled due to weather. But I just wanted to be prepared and have options in case that happened. I did see that a lot of things were rolling opening. There weren't a lot to start. And then more things started opening as we moved along and got closer.
[00:09:25] Speaker C: Interesting. Yeah, I have heard sometimes and it's not that Disney is trying to dole out the excursions at different times. I think it's more just an issue of the vendors. Don't let them know at all at the same time as to whether or not they're going to be able to offer a particular excursion and so or sometimes they're looking for more. As you said, there was definitely a big issue last year when the Dream first went to Europe. Right. Because the. The Magic had been the trip that the ship that had been going to Europe for years. A lot smaller number of passengers and there just weren't enough excursions. And I wouldn't be surprised if Disney was contacting vendors, you know, to see if they could open up more excursions and offer more things so that enough passengers were sort of covered. Well, any other things you were looking to book ahead of time? Obviously it's just you and your son, but did you want to, you know, book any spa appointments or book Apollo brunch or anything like that? You had, you know, 12, a 12 day cruise or 12 night cruise actually. So you had a couple of CDs. Certainly that would probably allow many cruisers to book those kinds of things. But you know, curious if you were trying to book any of those things.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: We didn't. I did consider it, especially with the spa stuff. The only thing that I was worried about was accidentally booking something at a time that then we would miss something else we wanted to do. I had that issue in Alaska. There was something we wanted to do and the only time that it was happening was the time that we had already booked the Princess Royal Tea event. So obviously I was going to cancel that to do the other one. So I tried to avoid that this time. And because we'd already done that, I wasn't looking to do that either or do any adult dining on my own, so.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: Totally, totally. Yeah. I honestly think that's a smart call, especially in both Europe and Alaska where the ports are really the stars and you're going to be out like really doing. You're going to have long days out touring places and when you're on board you might just want to do like more relaxing stuff or you know, or jump to a trivia or something like that. And so I actually think that's a smart. I don't think it's a smart idea to overbook yourself in the Caribbean. And you can kind of overbook yourself because you're just going to have like beach days. But in Europe it's a different, different vibe for sure. Well, let's talk about the logistics of, you know, getting to the port and, and boarding and how all that went. So you said you flew to London. Did you immediately go to Southampton from London or did you spend the night in London before heading to Southampton?
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Yeah, we spent the night in London. We took early afternoon flight the day before. We stayed at the airport, the Sofitel Heathrow airport. So we were right there. We just had to take a taxi from our terminal to the Airport and that, or sorry, to the hotel. And that's one of the ones that Disney books with for transportation. So we stayed there overnight, we got there, the Disney people were there, gave us all the information for the busing the next morning and took the Disney transportation from there in the morning.
[00:12:29] Speaker C: Yeah, that's very smart because it's, it's a couple hours drive between London and Southampton. And so if you're not going to arrange or if you're not sure about arranging, you know, private transportation from a hotel or whatnot, the Disney transportation is a really great option because they take care of that all for you.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: Especially, especially overseas. Like it's like in the US I feel like I can find a private car service pretty easily, but I've struggled in the past to find, you know, good car service outside the U.S. so yeah, it's makes life much easier I.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: Would say, especially if you're traveling alone with a kid. That's one of the really nice, good peace of mind is that Disney will take care of you. You are on the bus and you are covered. You're not trying to lug all of your luggage yourself while your kid has his book bag or anything like that.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: Navigating, yeah. Navigating public transportation with a young child and lots of luggage is not the easiest thing. Yeah. And if they are not able to lug their own luggage, then you're the one stuck lugging all of it. So it's. Nathan will pull his own like carry on suitcase. But even that, like where there's places where it's like bumpy. Right. Like I gotta help him for a second. Right. Or helped it. If it's like lifting it onto a luggage rack, I've got to do that. He can't do that himself. He's just not quite tall enough yet. Yeah. So. Well, let's talk about. You get to the port, you know, you take the Disney bus, you get to the port. How does your security process and check in process go at the port?
[00:13:56] Speaker A: It was so easy. And I did hear other people did not have this experience either. Non Disney. As well as some other buses that were coming from inside London. They actually held us on the bus for probably another 15 or 20 minutes. They were waiting for space to clear inside. There was a huge line of people waiting outside the port to get in. We had basically walked through. We went up to security, they checked us in, they got our bands, everything was great. We were also essentially given fast passes for boarding. We were originally boarding group 4, which was still a great group to Get. But we had fast passes basically to get past. Right after group two we walked upstairs and were just ushered right through. So I'm not sure what group they were actually on when we got up.
[00:14:42] Speaker C: There, but we were told to just go, that's awesome. Now you had only been on the Disney Wonder before. This is your first time on a Dream Class ship. On the Disney Dream specifically, you know, what was that like boarding and what was your impression of the ship? It's obviously bigger than the Wonder, but curious how you thought it compared to the Disney Wonder overall.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: I still think I preferred the Wonder.
It might have been skewed because it was post Covid times. There was definitely less people on the ship. It definitely had a more intimate feel to it. I did like that the Dream had a lot going on. There was a lot of activities. We did use the pool space one day in when we were in Alaska. We did not. So I can't really fairly compare, but it felt like it was a larger space there definitely.
[00:15:31] Speaker C: Well, let's talk about the ports because that's obviously the star when you're going to Norway and Iceland. You're obviously you started in Southampton. I'm sure you had a sea day as like your first day. But let's talk. What was your first port of call?
[00:15:44] Speaker A: Our first port was Stavanger, Norway.
[00:15:47] Speaker C: Ah, we've been there.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Yeah, it was great.
There was some issue with docking. We were originally supposed to dock I guess just outside of the city and then we were moved over shortly before we were supposed to leave. We got the information that we would be switching where we were actually docking. So for people doing private stuff, I guess that mattered a lot. We did book through Disney so it was easily taken care of for us.
[00:16:12] Speaker C: But yeah. So did you end up docking right in the city then? That's where we had docked. That's what I'm curious.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Yep, right. Right in the city.
[00:16:19] Speaker C: And what did you book for? Cause it sounds like you for every port you booked something, whether through Disney or privately. What did you book first of Auger.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: We this is one of the ones that I did switch out. So I did have something booked originally privately as just in case and then once Disney stuff opened up, we booked the Science Factory Museum.
[00:16:39] Speaker C: Oh cool.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: I would say overall was awesome for a kid, except especially it's very hands on. Lots of great stuff to play with and interact with. We easily could have spent many more hours there. We did stop on the way back at a beach. Not long enough to really like fully enjoy the beach, but Enough to say that you got to go dip your toes in. And we did. We took our shoes off. We got all sandy. It was a. It was great. The only downside, I would say, is that it didn't feel very Norwegian. It definitely felt more like something we probably could have found, like a really cool place here to do. It was great for kids, though. I would say he had a great time.
[00:17:18] Speaker C: Awesome. How long was the museum portion of the excursion then?
[00:17:23] Speaker A: We were probably there. I would say about two and a half to three hours that we were actually in the museum. They gave us a presentation, a pretty quick, easy presentation. Maybe 15 minutes to start. And then we were all given tickets for the planetarium, which was great. We were in two different groups for that and the rest was just free time at the museum. They did include free little cake type treats with it and drinks for us to have at some point as refreshments for lunch.
[00:17:50] Speaker C: Awesome. Now, did you have any time after the excursion to walk around the city or did you. Or was it a shorter, you know, day in port?
[00:18:00] Speaker A: We were there. Total 7am to 4pm by the time. Oh, nice. Yeah. By the time that we got back, though, it was pretty close to the end. We probably could have run down the street if we wanted to, to see a shop or two, but I was not feeling that adventurous by that point in the day. I figured we were okay. We had seen a good amount of stuff. We had our souvenirs from. From the museum and we were good.
[00:18:20] Speaker C: Awesome. What was your second port of call?
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Our second was Olden.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: Olden. Okay.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: That was not one we went to.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: That was not one.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: What'd you get up to? An Olden.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: So Olden was one that I booked a private tour for. I looked and found a company that I'm pretty sure was the exact same one Disney was using. And it was a limited price difference. I mean, I think we saved like 20 bucks booking it ourselves.
They took us out on a bus to a boat to take us through some fjord like areas and to a glacier and some Norwegian waffles. I do want to caution anybody who has either anxiety or motion sickness. The roads were pretty intense for a bus. There were many times where cars were backing up because the roadway only fits one vehicle.
[00:19:08] Speaker C: Oh, my God, that's terrifying.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: It really is. And I am not somebody who is prone to motion sickness or anxiety. And I was definitely terrified. You probably could have reached out the window and touched the mountain next to you. It was so tight. So they took us on the boat. The boat Had a top area that was open, which was great. They also had the lower area, gave us some information, the tour guides. While we were going through there, we docked at the end of the fjord there and the group was split. So half of us took a bus maybe 10 minutes up to another area that you hiked for probably about maybe 10 minutes to see the glacier. We were not up there long and so it did feel a little rushed in terms of being pushed back to the little base restaurant there where they did serve us. We had the Norwegian waffles, which were pretty good. That was pretty nice and awesome. And then we had the boat to our back. On the way back, we had the option to add on the Leon Skylift. We did do that. I didn't do that originally because of the time, but they adjusted the times and by that point we had a lot, a lot more to spare. That was fantastic. So they dropped us off there, took the skylift up again. Pretty terrifying in terms of the cliffs that you were going up in the heights. So consider that when booking, once you.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: Get up top, is it like a ski lift kind of a. The chair?
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Yeah, no, it's. It's definitely like a glass.
[00:20:29] Speaker C: Oh, like a gondola.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: Yeah, like a gondola, yeah.
[00:20:32] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: So they take us up there. There's like a restaurant, a souvenir shop, and lots of areas to do looking. You could see the Disney dream look like a little miniature way, way, way down in there. I think they also had zip lining up there, so I think that might have been a separate excursion to be able to go up and just do that. We took in the views. It was great. It was a nice, nice place to see. Definitely. Glad we added it on. And then they had a shuttle bus that took you right back to the port.
[00:20:59] Speaker C: Awesome. Awesome. Now, did you have time to walk around the port at the end after that excursion?
[00:21:06] Speaker A: We had enough time. We would have had more time. We were there from 10am to 7pm so we did have plenty of time after. I wasn't somebody who really wanted to miss dinner, so, I mean, why would.
[00:21:17] Speaker C: You want to miss dinner? You've got like awesome shows and awesome good food and you got to see your wait staff. Come on, you know.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. So we did stop. There are some shops right across from where the ship is docked. We did stop and check those out. Got some souvenirs. But to actually go into town, it would have required another shuttle to actually get into the main part of town.
[00:21:39] Speaker C: Gotcha. That makes sense. Well, what was your third Actually, how many ports do you have on this. This cruise? Because it is a 12 night, so it's a longer one.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Yeah. We had three ports in Norway. We had an overnight in Reykjavik and we were supposed to have another night in Iceland in Isa Fjordur, but that was switched to a port in England.
[00:22:03] Speaker C: Okay, all right, Interesting. Okay, so let. We'll get there. Let's. Where was your. What was your third port of call in Norway then?
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Ollison?
[00:22:13] Speaker C: Ah, we went there. Yeah. Lovely.
[00:22:15] Speaker B: Love, Olsen.
[00:22:16] Speaker C: Yeah. What did you guys get up to there?
[00:22:18] Speaker A: So we had booked through Disney for this one. This was again another one. I had booked outside of Disney and was able to switch over when I found a more secure option with Disney was still available. It was basically a smaller boat out to look for puffins and seals and see the fjords.
[00:22:33] Speaker C: Oh, fun.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: Yeah, we didn't see as much as I liked, so the seas were really rough. We were actually given the option to cancel the night before. Disney sent everyone a message on the app saying and giving the warning that the seas were expected to be pretty rough and if you were prone to seasickness, they were going to refund you and allow you to cancel. We felt like, let's go for it. Like, I'm not about to cancel and miss out. Let's see what happens. And there it was rough. So there was lots of people falling down, lots of people sitting with their seasick bags. Thankfully, we were fine. You know, stomach of steel. We were good. Puffins were limited. We did see a lot of birds there, but there was limited puffins and we did not see any seals. But the scenery was great. I will say, like, for me, it was awesome to get to see it. It is probably a little hard to get a young child who is able to continue to look at the fjords and enjoy it. I heard a lot of like, this looks just like at home. I'm good.
[00:23:38] Speaker C: All right, so maybe not the best excursion for the. For the younger crowd, but sounds like pretty enjoyable for you all. That's interesting about Disney offering people to cancel. I think that's a very. I mean, that's generous of them, I think, because there are. If I was someone signed up for that excursion, I would probably opt to cancel and probably send. And actually probably cancel Nathan as well. But send Brian along on it because Brian is the one with the stomach of deal and Nathan and I. Nathan actually is pretty good, except he has gotten seasick on a. On a catamaran once. But I don't know if it was the heat Though, or the movement or the combination. So maybe he. Maybe he would be fine. All right, well. And in Olson, did you have time to. It's such a cute little town. Did you have time to walk around after your excursion?
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Yeah, we did. So we went into the town. We checked out some of the shops. It was. It was great. It was a nice easy walk in there. They even have the path painted on the ground for you to get into the main area of the town, which was really nice. So we did. We didn't spend too much time there, but maybe like an hour or so just walking around the town and enjoying the area.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: Yeah, that's perfect. That's absolutely perfect. All right. Well, your next port of call was in Iceland then. Was this Reykjavik?
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Yes, it was. We did get in late because of the rough seas. So those rough seas that we were told about in Norway continued. And it was pretty harsh from what I've heard from other people saying that it was probably the worst they have, you know, Pearl Cruiser saying it's the worst they have ever experienced. Oh, wow. We ended up being okay. Lots of people missing from dinner.
[00:25:13] Speaker C: So such a bummer when that happens.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yeah, we said it before.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: You can always, you can always tell things are bad when they put the seasickness bags out in the bathrooms.
[00:25:20] Speaker A: The public restrooms. Yeah, everyone. We had an awesome WhatsApp group and everyone was going back and forth, where can I get the meds? Where can I get the meds? Who has this? Who has that? So we were lucky. We were okay. But it was definitely something that was a big issue.
[00:25:34] Speaker C: Yeah, what a. Such a, such a bummer. So you get to Reykjavik. Did you get there during the day then? Because you said you had. You were overnighting in Reykjavik. Did you have like full, two, like essentially full days in Reykjavik?
[00:25:47] Speaker A: Pretty close to it. We were supposed to arrive there at noon. We didn't get there till about 1:00, which, yeah, still gave us pretty much the same amount of time. And then the following night, we were there until 7:00 at night.
[00:26:00] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
Now, were they letting people sort of come back and forth on and off, like at whatever time of day they wanted to? Like, could you have. Obviously not. You wouldn't have done this because you had an 8 year old with you, but could you have gone out to the bars drinking and come back at 2:00 in the morning?
[00:26:16] Speaker A: Yep. And there was lots of conversation about that beforehand in the Facebook group about, can we do this? Is this, Is this option? And yes, we were Able to get on and off at all times throughout the evening.
[00:26:26] Speaker C: Wow. Well, what did you guys do your first afternoon, I would say in Reykjavik then?
[00:26:31] Speaker A: So we got there and we had a Golden Circle tour booked through Disney. Again, this is something I had booked outside of Disney and switched it when that was still available. That was something that was my must do list for this trip and I didn't want to risk it. So I got it booked outside and I'm actually glad we switched over. I heard a lot of talk of people who booked tours outside of Disney on the Reykjavik day, that first day. And when we got in late, they were not holding the tours.
[00:26:59] Speaker C: Oh wow.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: I was very surprised. I don't know exactly which group tour groups it was that was not holding, but I am glad that we went through Disney and we were able to do the Golden Circle tour.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a, that's actually a really good like piece of information for people to know. Because tour groups outside of Disney may not just be catering their tours to cruise passengers. They may have other like land based passengers. Right. Coming on their tours. And so unless it's really a private excursion that you've booked with a tour operator that will, you know, maybe be able to adjust. Like a lot of tour groups who are private are not going to adjust. Whereas if they have a contract with Disney Cruise Line, they're going to adjust or they're going to cancel and you'll get a full refund. Right. Like, I mean, would it be annoying to have, you know, your excursion canceled? Of course. But that's better than missing the excursion and still having to pay full price for it, I guess.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Yeah, that's exactly what I was worried about. So we lucked out on that. Um, the tour was long. We hit all the big stuff though. We went to the geothermal power plant, which, cool. Was really cool, but it was also really rushed. There were a lot of tour buses in there at the same time and it definitely made it hard to maneuver around.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: How did your, how did your kiddo like the. That the geothermal.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Well, they had a kids area set up so he pretty much hung out there. I was like, all right, well you stay here. I'm going to go check out and read all the stuff and everything else. So I mean he was more excited going in and the anticipation and then once he got in there, he's like, I'm just going to stay over here.
[00:28:32] Speaker C: Okay, sounds good.
Awesome.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: We then stopped at the geyser.
[00:28:38] Speaker C: Cool.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: The geyser was great. We got see it. You Know, go off a couple times, and it's very regular and frequent. That was great. I will say it felt rushed. This, probably this whole tour in general felt rushed. We had enough time to watch the geyser go off probably three, four times, take some pictures. We ran to the bathroom at their shop, grabbed an item or two at the souvenir shop, and back on the bus.
[00:29:01] Speaker C: Oh, wow. Yeah, that was.
[00:29:02] Speaker B: That was kind of like the tour that we did in Norway, Sam, where they took us. That waterfall, right?
[00:29:07] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: It was like, get off that you had literally 15 minutes to get a couple of pictures, use the bathroom and get back on the bus. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:29:14] Speaker A: That's how it felt. And I understand because it's a lot of driving between these locations. It's right. Long driving, but it definitely felt pretty rushed. We then went to the waterfall. So speaking of the waterfall, there's Gulf Cross waterfall. That was awesome. There is. I don't know how it would work for anybody with mobility issues, though. It was definitely a lot of stairs, and there was areas where you were just climbing on rock where there was not stairs to get to certain areas. So you could probably easily get to the top and overlook it, but you probably would not be able to get nearly as close.
Um, so if that's important to you, I. I would consider that we did have a lot longer there because they were serving us dinner.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: Oh, cool.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: Yeah. In the restaurant, they had area set up for the bus. Our tour group, they had a salmon dinner with rice, vegetables, tomato soup, which was fantastic. They didn't have other options available for us though. So picky eating children, that was a concern.
[00:30:14] Speaker C: You mean there was no Mickey Mac and Cheese?
[00:30:16] Speaker A: There was not Mickey Mac and Cheese, and that was a serious issue. It was the one night there was no Mickey Mac and Cheese to be eaten. I ended up buying him a banana and at least he had something to go off of.
[00:30:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: And then finally we stopped at the thing Valer, which is the national park, which is where the plates are separating, and we were able to walk through there. We had a little bit more time there, you know, for the walk. We started the top parking lot, higher elevation area. We were able to walk down through, get picked up after at the lower end of the walk.
[00:30:51] Speaker B: 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 mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email
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[00:31:50] Speaker C: Now for this this day. Obviously you missed dinner at the, you know, on the ship. Had you? When you had planned this excursion, did you kind of did did that occur to you that you were going to be missing dinner on the ship and you were just like, well you know, it's the one overnight, we'll just miss dinner and probably the show or whatever on the ship and that'll be fine.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: That is exactly what it is. I just accepted it was a must do for me and it was definitely a 9ish 9 and a half hour tour. I knew it was going to happen when we were coming back. There were massive amounts of other people coming back around the same time. I had no intention to go to dinner. I had spoke to our serving team the night prior, told them I wasn't going to be there. So they knew our table mates knew we weren't going to be there. They said if we could make it there before a certain time they could still serve us with the second round of dinner. Is it great? We did not make that either but when we were getting on we were all being asked if they had had dinner and being people being sent to the dining room.
[00:32:50] Speaker C: Oh, interesting.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: There was a lot of Talk on the WhatsApp group chat. We did not go. We had stuff to do in the morning. So we're like we're going to bed, we're okay. There's a lot of conversation about some servers knew, some did not know and were kind of being ambushed with a late night seating and it could have been an issue of trying to avoid room service, being overwhelmed.
[00:33:10] Speaker C: Oh, I bet that's what it is. Yeah. Because the Dining room can probably deal with it easier than room service. I mean, they'll end up with like 3 hour waits for room service if you have everybody ordering at the same time, which is super. Obviously inefficient. Interesting. I was cur. I was going to ask if you stopped like to get pizza on the pool deck or anything for a kiddo who just ate a banana or he just, you know, he just eat a big breakfast the next morning.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, he was okay. He wasn't complaining. I offered it. He's like, no, I'm okay. So we went to bed. We had things to attend to to in the morning.
[00:33:43] Speaker C: Nice. Well, what was planned for the next morning, speaking of things to attend in the morning.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: Well, unfortunately my must do excursion for the entire trip was canceled and now I have to go back to Iceland. We had booked outside of Disney the Inside the Volcano tour.
And if you have not heard of it, look it up, it looks fantastic. They take you in in like an open air elevator and take you down inside a dormant volcano.
[00:34:08] Speaker C: Oh my God, that sounds so cool. I have never heard of this, but that. Yeah, yeah. So how come it got canceled?
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Whether we were warned the day before we were all sent, there were other people on our ship that were on the same tour and we had all gotten emails saying that the weather is not looking good and it is likely going to be canceled because of the wind.
It requires 2 kilometer walk out on lava fields and I'm guessing with the wind and then climbing up around the ledges to get in, it was probably too risky. I do know that the day prior our first day in Reykjavik, people were able to go on the tour. So unfortunately we were not able to reschedule because they also had the Golden Circle tour booked.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: Right, right. I mean, if you had done that, then you would have just lost your money on the Golden Circle and maybe not been able to book that for the next day. So it's sort of a risk. You never know which you know what you're going to do. Now that you had booked that privately.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: You said yes and we did get refunded because again, it was on them canceling versus us. So we did get that back. Thankfully, Disney did have an opening. At least we did. The Fontana Spa and Geothermal Taste.
[00:35:16] Speaker C: Oh, cool.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: So probably not wouldn't be my first pick, but it was a good alternative to try out the geothermal stuff we had. It was a geothermal spa and then there was a bakery there which was a pretty cool experience. They bake the bread and Then dig a hole and heat it in the ground from the geothermal energy.
[00:35:35] Speaker C: Oh, that's cool.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: Yeah, that was pretty great. I was the only. Again, being rushed seemed to be a theme with everything. I think we only ended up with just over an hour to actually be in the spa area.
[00:35:49] Speaker C: So when you say geothermal spa, you're talking about like natural hot springs basically. Right. So you're like in your bathing suit, like in a hot tub, but it's a natural hot spring. It's not a, it's not like a. Plugged into a wall.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly like that. And many of them actually had like the natural rock underlay and walls. So there was probably, I think five different pool areas to be. And they all had signs with their different temperatures on them. Some were hotter, some were a little bit, I don't say cooler, but they were cooler than the hot ones, the red hot ones.
[00:36:20] Speaker C: Did they have different smells, like sulfury, like different minerally smells and things like that too?
[00:36:25] Speaker A: They weren't different, they just all smelled like sulfur.
So they all had that scent going on.
[00:36:31] Speaker C: All right, well, let's. So how, I guess was that a full day tour then in, in Reykjavik or did you have time, you know, on your own after, after the geothermal spa and the bakery visit?
[00:36:43] Speaker A: We probably could have, but it would have been cutting it close. We got back just in time for dinner. Nice for early feeding for dinner.
[00:36:51] Speaker C: Yeah. And then you said the ship left Reykjavik around 7 that night? Something like that, yeah.
[00:36:56] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:36:57] Speaker C: All right, well, let's, let's talk what your next, your next port was or was supposed to be, I can't remember which one if it was because I know we've got basically two more ports to talk about, right. Am I or am I or just one.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: One left. We were supposed to have ISA fjordur ice and we found out that was going to be canceled probably less than a month before sailing. We all got emails saying that due to issues at the port, which are the same issues that canceled the ship docking there the prior year, we were not going to be able to stop there. Luckily we were able to switch over to Liverpool, England to at least hit a. I know the summer prior they did not. They just got an extra sea day and that would have left us with four sea days in a row at the end.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Yeah, I definitely think you got the better end of the stick there. And you know, a lot of people go like go on the British Isles cruise just to go to Liverpool. I mean, obviously, you know, the home of the Beatles. A Lot of people want to go there. What did you have booked or what did you book for that? Obviously you would have booked that later because that was as you said, maybe a month before the cruise sale that.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: Was switched yeah it was definitely a mad rush on excursions with that Everyone was hawking the website to see when this was going to be open People were calling to be able to get them even though they weren't open on it so major disaster.
We ended up booking A Taste of Chester so they bus you out into Chester instead of just staying in Liverpool There wasn't we're not huge Beatles people so other than that there was pretty limited stuff especially trying to get the kid excited about something Chester was nice. It was a really nice small area it's got the walls around it, the stone walls around it so we did walk on the wall it included a small walking tour to start of the wall and the cathedral and then you were given time on your own to explore the city oh cool, that sounds.
[00:38:56] Speaker C: Like a. I mean that sounds like a nice tour and a good alternative if like you said, you're not a big Beatles fan and the kid's not that excited, be honest, I love the Beatles I'm not sure Nathan would be that excited to go on a tour that was all about the Beatles but I would just drag him and make him do it well how. Yeah, how. So how long was was your day there in between Chester and Liverpool then?
[00:39:22] Speaker A: It was pretty much the whole time we were in Port from 9:30 to almost 7:00 at night and our tour was about 7 and a half hours so from again we basically walked into going to dinner yeah, these are all.
[00:39:35] Speaker C: I mean these are all long days. Did. Did you feel like you had enough recovery time given the sea days that you had like because you didn't have sea days in between every port though you had obviously more towards the end but did you feel like you had enough recovery time? I mean these kinds of intensive touring days take a lot out of you and particularly take a lot out of your eight year old yeah, I think.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: It was a perfect balance we started with a sea day to get acclimated to the ship we had three port days so probably by that third day we were feeling a little bit exhausted especially being on the smaller boat with the rough seas we had a sea day and almost a sea day and a half between before going to Iceland Iceland was pretty aggressive because we had such a late night that first time after the Golden Circle tour.
[00:40:25] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:40:25] Speaker A: But then we had two Sea days before going to Chester, which was a long day, but fairly leisurely. We were able to nicely stroll around the city. It was a great weather day. And then we had another sea day to end before coming into Southampton. So I think the staggering of it was nice.
[00:40:44] Speaker C: Yeah, that makes sense.
Let's talk about some of the stuff you got up to on board.
You did obviously, have some c days to sort of catch up on your relaxation or do some onboard activities. As we talked about at the beginning, you had been on the Wonder before. You hadn't been on the Dream before. What kinds of activities did you get up to? And I got to know, did you do the Midship Detective Agency, which is literally my favorite thing to do on the Dream or the Fantasy?
[00:41:10] Speaker A: See, we definitely did and we loved it. It was our must do list for the ship because we didn't have it on the Wonder.
[00:41:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: And so excited to try it. And it was fantastic.
[00:41:21] Speaker C: Awesome. I'm glad it lives up to the way I hyped it because I love it.
[00:41:27] Speaker A: Yes. That's why I was like, I have to try this. Everyone says it's great. So, yeah, we also did. We did some trivias that was good. We never won, but it was still good to. Good to go and a good time. We did the family game show. Like, not your mate, but family. Yeah. We got to participate in that. We did not win, but it was a good time.
We did win bingo. So while I thought that was like. Yes. And I thought that, I mean, no one ever wins bingo. Right. But I've listened in probably the last few episodes, you've had people that have won. So we have.
[00:42:05] Speaker C: We've had people on the show who have won, like, big jackpots on bingo. We ourselves have never won a big jackpot on bingo. In fact, we've never won bingo on Disney. To be fair, we don't usually play bingo on Disney, but we used to play bingo on Celebrity and we never. I don't even think. I don't know that we. Even if we won once, it was like a tiny bit, you know, like. And we spent more than we won, but nothing significant. But yeah, it's crazy. So, okay, so how much did you win on bingo?
[00:42:33] Speaker A: It was just over $800.
[00:42:36] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:42:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I have no complaints about that. That is fantastic.
[00:42:41] Speaker C: Well, that's amazing.
Let's. Let's talk about some other things that you guys got up to on board. Did you go see the shows? I mean, obviously the shows were new to you also because they have different Shows between different ships. And if so, what did you. What did you think of the three shows? You would have had Beauty and the Beast, obviously. And then what are the other two? Is it a Golden Mickey's and Dreams?
[00:43:06] Speaker A: The one with the dad and the little girl.
[00:43:09] Speaker C: Oh, the believe, then, yes. I couldn't remember.
[00:43:11] Speaker B: Yeah, Old man in the flower.
[00:43:13] Speaker C: Yeah, he's not actually old. I always call it the old man in the Flower, but he's not actually old. He's just like a regular dad age.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: But anyway, I was so excited because of all of your hype about Beauty and the Beast. We went in with the highest of expectations because of it. And it was still better than I thought. Oh, my God. It was absolutely phenomenal. Absolutely.
[00:43:38] Speaker C: Okay. I was. I was a little bit afraid there, Alicia. You had me, like, you had me nervous for a second because I have really hyped it because I think it's.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: So production, and I was expecting absolute amazement, and it did not disappoint at all. Hands down, the best.
[00:43:52] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. I love that.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: That makes sense to all of our future guests. You gotta stop giving Sam all of this for positive feedback, because then she never trusts any of my recommendations. She's like, no, I got it right. I'm the right one.
[00:44:03] Speaker C: Yeah, between. Between Beauty and the Beast and the Midship Detective Agency, I'm just knocking it. I'm. I'm batting a thousand today, so I'm loving it. I'm absolutely loving it. What about. What about main dining? We got to talk. You know how you guys. You know, you had. Again, Wonder has Animator's Palette, has Tiana's Place. And why am I blanking on the third? Oh, Tritons or Lumiere's. Whatever, Tritons, I think. Yeah. And then on, obviously on the dream, you've got Enchanted Garden, animators and Royal Whatever Court Palace. I can never remember which one's which. They're the same between this fantasy and the Dream, but they call them different things. Yeah. What did you think of Main dining? And you did have both shows in Animator's Palette, meaning Crush and animation Magic. And I don't know if you had. Well, you probably had animation magic on the Wonder. Right. But a little bit different, but not hugely different. But yeah. What did you think of Main Dining on the Disney dream?
[00:45:05] Speaker A: It was different than the Wonder for sure. We only spent two nights in Royal palace or Royal Court. Our third night would have been the night that we were in Reykjavik, so we missed out on that one. The Enchanted Garden. I can Definitely see what everybody's saying about the need for the refurb, which is probably coming. But it was still fine. It was still enjoyable. And animators. I had actually put the request in to have the. The rotation that allowed us the most amount of nights in animators. And while I still love animators and I did request to be near a screen, we still didn't actually get to talk to Crush, which is a little bit of a disappointment.
[00:45:41] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:45:42] Speaker A: But the animation magic was awesome, just as it was on the Wonder. I would say. I just. I really loved the theming in the Wonder with Tiana's. Yes. So this was a little bit of a letdown compared to that.
[00:45:54] Speaker C: Yeah, you're gonna. You're gonna need to go on the Magic because Rapunzel's is, like, very similar to Tiana's. Of course, it's, you know, themed Rapunzel, but it has a real show, you know, element to it. And you got to go into seven Night on the Magic. That's what I'm going to tell you. Because that's because. Because the Wonder, I mean, I love the Wonder and the Magic, but that way you can see, like, its sister has the same. The same vibe. Right. You get the full animation magic show in animators, but then you also get this, like, two great shows in Rapunzel's like they do in Tiana's on the Wonder. So, yeah, fantastic.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: Don't worry, I've already taken your advice. We have the 10 night booked for next summer on the Magic.
[00:46:39] Speaker C: God. Oh, okay. Well, you're coming back, Alicia, to talk to us about that tonight on the Magic. Next summer. I love that. I love that. Did we miss any other, you know, activities? I actually, I would love to hear if you have any, like, tips and tricks out there for, you know, single parents sailing with their kids and. And, you know, what you sort of feel about how Disney handles things. I mean, did you get any sort of break time? Did Kiddo go to the, you know, the kids club, any of that?
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah, he definitely went to the kids club and he went for short stints. He was not one of those kids that you drop him in the morning and don't see them till dinner. He'd go for an hour or two if they were doing an activity that he really liked. He's very arts and crafts oriented, so he loves stitches, space, goo, those type of craft stuff. Building forky. I always recommend everyone who's considered traveling alone with a child for Disney Cruise Line because of the way that they take care of you, you don't have to worry. You don't have to be paranoid. The kids clubs are fantastic and you get really nice balance. Your kid can go for an hour and you get to lay down, relax, read a book, do your adult thing and you have a safe place for them to be that they're enjoying themselves. Disney excursions, they're covered. They have everything. They think of everything for kids in the dining room. One of my biggest comparison factors when I talk about the Carnival Cruise switching to Disney was that the Carnival Cruise had my three year old drinking out of a glass, wine glass.
[00:48:06] Speaker C: Oh my God. They didn't even bring like a cup with a lid or anything for a three year old. Yeah, because you can. An eight year old. Yeah, an eight year old can drink out of a glass without a cover on it. They might appreciate drinking out of a kid's cup with a lid on it. But they can drink out of the glass but not a three year old. That's crazy.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: Alicia.
Kind of Disney difference. You don't have to worry. They think of it all. They have it all. So you're in a good setting. If you're thinking about starting to travel alone, the easiest way to do it is Disney.
[00:48:37] Speaker B: Well, Alicia, I think we have reached that point in the show where I need to subject you to Sam's arbitrary judgment, arbitrary rules and random questions. That's arbitrary questions, arbitrary judgments and arbitrary rules or the round we know is rapid fire. So Sam, take it away.
[00:48:53] Speaker C: Thank you, Brian. Alicia, you knew this was coming. We are going to talk first your Disney favorites and then we will talk your Disney cruise line favorites and you can choose. Your answers can be from your cruise to Alaska on the Wonder or your cruise to Iceland and Norway on the Disney Dream. I mean, you got like two bucket list cruises to choose from. But let's start first with your favorite Disney character.
[00:49:17] Speaker A: So can I first just say that I've been dreading this part because I struggle to pick favorites and every time I listen, I try to come up with an answer and I'm like, I can't make a decision. So I have prepared and the best I'm going to say my favorite character is going to be Rafiki.
[00:49:33] Speaker C: Oh, I love Rafiki. What a great one. Asante sana Squash banana. All right, what's your favorite movie then? And why is it the Lion King?
[00:49:42] Speaker A: It's the Lion King. You can't come out with the Lion King. The worst part is Paris is now getting their Lion King land. And now I have to go back to Paris.
[00:49:50] Speaker C: Oh, my God. You have to. And you are going to have to sail on the Disney. Sorry. Treasure. Destiny to the. The. The Pridelands restaurant. Oh, my God. Yeah. Okay. What's your favorite Disney song?
[00:50:03] Speaker A: Oh, so this is one of the hard ones because it really depends on the mood and what kind of feeling you're going for, but I probably going to have to go with the first 45 seconds of circle of Life without. No matter what mood you are in. That one is good.
[00:50:17] Speaker C: I love that. I will tell you. That is the one.
The one song or one scene in the mo. In not the movie. In the stage show Disney Dreams. That is on some of the ships that they do Circle of Life, and that's the best musical number, like, hands down. I'd say that's the best musical number on the ships, period. But it's not the best in the best show, so. All right. Yeah, that's a great. It's a great song. Okay. Even though we like to sing, Brian and I like to sing Pink pajamas, Penguins on the bottom.
All right, let's. Let's talk. Let's move on to the ships.
Now, I know what your favorite show was on the Disney Dream, but I need to ask the overall question, because now that you've been on the Wonder and you've been on the Dreams, you have multiple shows to choose from. There's really only one right answer to this question, but what's your favorite Disney Cruise Line stage show? Brian's rolling his eyes at me. For those who can't, who are just.
[00:51:19] Speaker A: Listening, that's the right answer. The right answer is definitely Beauty and the Beast without question.
[00:51:24] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you. Now, I will give an honorable mention, though, to Frozen, both on the Wonder and the Fantasy. It's a fantastic show, but it's no Beauty and the Beast.
[00:51:34] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:51:35] Speaker C: Okay. What is your favorite onboard activity? Bingo. Because you won.
[00:51:42] Speaker A: Probably.
[00:51:43] Speaker C: Probably.
[00:51:43] Speaker A: Bingo's a close second. Other than that, I would have to say just being able to relax. I don't get a lot of time for that and real everyday life. So to be able to just sit there for an hour or two and read a book is fantastic.
[00:51:55] Speaker C: Love that. That's so good and so important, I think, for any parent. Right. Like, you need some time to, like, especially if you're. I mean, a working parent. Like, it's usually time to, like, decompress and get away from your kid or kids sometimes. All right, what's your favorite rotational dining room?
[00:52:13] Speaker A: I'm going to have to go with Tiana's. As much as I love animators. I just. Tiana's. It felt like walking into the movie.
[00:52:20] Speaker C: Yeah. It is immersive. It's like, you know, like we talk about when you go to Cars Land in Disneyland. Right. It's a California adventure and it's immersive. Like, there are other lands that are awesome. Like, Fantasyland is great. It's the original. Right. Like, but it's. But Cars Land. When you walk in, you feel like you're in the movie. In Tiana's, you feel like you're in the movie. Animators is awesome, but it's different. All right, well, let's. Let's talk food a little bit here. I want to hear what a favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item on a Disney cruise line ship. We'll start with the sweet, because I love the Savory is the best.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: We went to Vanellope's and we had some really good unicorn ice cream.
[00:53:02] Speaker C: Oh, interesting.
[00:53:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:53:04] Speaker C: We might have to try this. Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna have to try some. Some unicorn ice cream maybe on the fantasy over. Over Christmas. Okay. Or actually over New Year's. So tell me, what is a favorite savory item on board?
[00:53:17] Speaker A: So I had to try the black truffle brissettes.
It was a absolute must do, and it was really good.
[00:53:26] Speaker C: Yay.
[00:53:27] Speaker A: Definitely an honorable mention. Other than that, I would say they had awesome empanadas as an appetizer.
[00:53:32] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:53:33] Speaker A: Which were.
[00:53:33] Speaker C: The empanadas are delicious. That's a good shout out as well. All right, well, you already gave us your favorite ship, so your favorite ship's clearly the Disney Wonder. Right.
The Dream is a wonderful ship, but it's really hard to beat the Wonder. But I gotta ask you, what's your bucket list cruise? Because you've already done two bucket list cruises. You've done Alaska, you've done Iceland, Norway. You're signed up for a ten night Southern Caribbean. So we can't. You can't even put that on your bucket list because you've already booked it. But if you could go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise line ship, and it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney Cruise line currently goes. Alicia, where are you going? And will you take me with you?
[00:54:17] Speaker A: So I've thought about this a lot. I'm probably gonna have to default to the one to all the parks.
[00:54:22] Speaker C: Yeah, I think that's. Yeah, that's a great one. Yeah. I'm gonna come with you. Smart one.
Yeah. I'll bring Nathan, you bring Your kiddo. We'll hit all the parks. I love it. I love it.
[00:54:33] Speaker B: All right, well, Alicia, I always like to ask at the end of the show, what's next? So you got anything booked? You eyeing anything? Did you get a placeholder off of your Iceland cruise?
[00:54:43] Speaker A: So we did get a placeholder. We already had the 10 Night Magic book to the Caribbean next summer. And that placeholder is waiting for the summer following either Destiny or Treasure. I have not committed to which one we're going to try out.
[00:54:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I am going to predict that you're going to book the Destiny because your kiddo might be into Marvel by then because it's going to have the Lion King restaurant. That's why. That's my prediction. That's my prediction.
[00:55:13] Speaker A: Serious draw right now to that way. Like we're going to wait and see the itineraries.
[00:55:17] Speaker C: But yeah, and both ships are going to be amazing. I mean, we're excited obviously to get on the Treasure this year and that has all the great park theming. Right. So it's just a matter of like, which theming speaks to you more? To me, the Destiny speaks to me more. But I love the itinerary of the treasure better. So, like, that's the hard call, I think. But I think you'll have an amazing time wherever you go. Please join us again, Alicia, to talk to us about your tonight cruise next summer. But thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it and really love having you on.
[00:55:48] Speaker A: I loved being here, so thank you so much.
[00:55:55] Speaker B: 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 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 or email them at DCLDuyPath 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 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 in 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 us@info dclduo.com or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. 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 of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path 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.
[00:57:56] Speaker A: BOX.
