[00:00:00] Speaker A: Oh, I was just thinking in terms of activities, if you do get up earlier, they do have a lot of exercise classes and things like that in the mornings.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Yeah, Ryan, some people like to exercise it in the morning.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: Oh no, it's just that I'm not a morning person.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: I'm on vacation.
[00:00:16] Speaker C: I don't want to get up at 7am for yoga.
[00:00:17] Speaker D: Yeah. I want to listen to my record player and have them deliver breakfast in my series.
[00:00:20] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Thank you. Yeah.
[00:00:35] Speaker D: Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and Sam Listener Review time in this one comes from a friend. She she not only her username is also not only known or knowable, but she signed a review. So there you go. So this one comes from Rachel Krause, a friend of ours over at Kraus Mouse Adventures. Her and her husband Alan have a fun YouTube channel. Chris Cross Mouse Adventures. I've been on the show several times. So Rachel, I'm just already going to thank you for this wonderful review that says entertaining and informative. I don't typically write reviews, but have been meaning to leave one for a while. Just love this podcast. Brian and Sam produce a very entertaining and informative podcast. I look forward to each episode and daydream about my next cruise. It is one of the highlights of my week. I have learned useful knowledge along the way to help plan my trips. Please keep providing us with more fun episodes. I appreciate and thank you for all your hard work. Rachel Krause so thank you, Rachel. We really appreciate that review and it's been great meeting and getting to know you guys whenever we head down to Disneyland. Hope to see you guys again in the future. And thank you for that review.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: We're sailing with them, Brian. We're sailing with them next year on the Treasure over spring break.
[00:01:39] Speaker D: Sam I can't keep track of all the people that we're sailing with. So like you have them listed in your mind. And I'm focused on the next sailing, which by chance for us is Virgin Voyages, which is our topic for today.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: So yes. So, but to be fair, we are sailing with a number of people in December for for our sailings on the Treasure and the Fantasy. And then we're sailing on the Treasure again in April with a whole bunch of other people as well. So oddly enough, we have. Oddly enough, I guess it's not that odd anymore. We know a lot of people on most of our sailings nowadays.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: It's odd we have to go on like Virgin Royal celebrities. So we get away from people that we know if we ever want a vacation on our own these days. So. Yeah.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Or if we want to meet new people. Brian McNew, cruise friends.
[00:02:22] Speaker D: Why would I want to meet non Disney people?
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Well, anyway, as Brian mentioned, we, as we're recording this episode today, we're going on a Virgin Voyages cruise. And it's about a week and a half away actually. Technically. Yeah, technically.
[00:02:36] Speaker D: This episode will come out weeks after we've been on the show. I know people have heard our review, but.
[00:02:41] Speaker B: I know, I know, but I'm. But I'm really excited to make some new cruise friends today. We have not had them on the show before. They have lots of Disney experience and they now have a couple of Virgin Voyages cruises under their belts. And so super excited to welcome to the show Ryan and Alex. Welcome, guys.
[00:03:01] Speaker C: Hi. Thank you for having us.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you. Really excited.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah, we're excited to have you guys on. Let's start with your, of course, Disney cruising background. But let's start with where did your love of Disney come from? And of course, what was like your first cruise. And then we'll sort of dive deeper into your cruising background. Let's start with you, Ryan. Or actually no, let's start with Alex because I know Alex is a former cast member, so I gotta hit Alex first on this one. Yeah.
[00:03:29] Speaker A: Yes. So my family went to Disney for the first time when I was like 14.
Absolutely loved it. And then didn't really have a chance to go back until I was in college. Went back again. Absolutely loved it. So right after I graduated, I decided to do the Disney college program.
So I was at the. Sadly no longer there DisneyQuest. And then. Right.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Oh my God, DisneyQuest. I went to DisneyQuest. Yeah.
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Deep cut. Because not a lot of people go to Disney Quest when they came to Disney.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: But yeah, I was like, I designed my own roller coaster. Alex.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yes. So much fun. That was the best part about Disney Quest for sure.
And then I decided to move back in 2019 and worked at Galaxy's Edge when it first opened.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Oh, cool. So what kind of role did you have at Galaxy's Edge?
[00:04:24] Speaker A: I worked at Docking Bay 7, which is food and beverage.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I have to say I have have a strong preference for Ronto roasters over docking base oven.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: That's fair.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: That's fair.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: I do too.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: But that must have been really cool to work in Galaxy's Edge. We love it. We were there for opening weekend for Galaxy's. I can't remember if it was I think it was Disneyland, right, Brian? Not Disney World.
[00:04:50] Speaker D: It was Disneyland. We did the last day of previews and the first day of full openings.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. But we, of course, love Galaxy's Edge at both parts. Okay, well, tell us. We'll start with you, Ryan. Then where? Well, first, where did your love of Disney come from? And then tell us, like, what sort of. Or when you started cruising.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: So my love of Disney, I'm not gonna say it wasn't my choice, but it was definitely my mother's. I've been going to Disney World since I was three years old, and I used to go kind of every couple of years with my family. I will tell you that my father's not terribly fond of it, and I don't know if want to use this, but he does call it Rat World.
He's not a big fan of a lot of different aspects to it. He enjoys the movies. The parks have always been, I think, quite overwhelming for him. So it's a lot of my mom taking me as a kid and just going pretty much until I went to college, and then I got away for several years. I was overseas for several years, and then when I came back, I kind of was like, I don't really know where I want to live. And I was like, oh, I always really enjoyed Disney World. So I moved to Orlando, and I just. Because I work from home, so why not?
And I just. I've been here about five years, and we're, you know, annual pass holders for DVC members, and I just. We go all the time. But I will give my mom credit, that is where it started. But because I was three, I don't really remember.
[00:06:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:15] Speaker C: I will also confess I am old enough that when I first went, there was only Magic Kingdom and Epcot, but.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Funnily enough, same, same.
[00:06:23] Speaker C: So, yeah, she was such a stickler for it that I never went to Disneyland. And to this day, I still haven't been to Disneyland, nor when I lived overseas did I go to what was Disneyland, Paris, Euro Disney, et cetera. But that was more. So I was living in London for on and off for seven years of my life. And that was more just. I genuinely didn't have anybody to go with that weren't interested. So my background is very much kind of the standard. I went to Disney World as a kid. That was our holiday every couple of years. That's what we did. And then I really enjoyed the cartoons because I guess we're close in age, so the Renaissance, if you will.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. I know exactly what you're talking about. We're talking about Little Mermaid. We're talking about Aladdin, Lion King. Right. These are. Yeah, these are. These are the movies of our childhood. Yeah.
[00:07:09] Speaker C: Yes. Yes. Can't really remember them first time, but definitely, like, stuck in my brain somewhere. So, yeah, it's. Old love of Disney. Definitely. I'm a theme park person anyway.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Mm.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: So anything with roller coasters and rides, even if I. If other people find it repetitive, I'm always very excited to go because I just find it fun.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I have to tell you, my. My dad also has always referred to Mickey Mouse as the rat. Um, and so we have that in common. Um, my dad also. Yeah, my dad definitely not. We're gonna have to start a support group for this. But, yeah, definitely was not a. Not a Disney person. I wouldn't say my mom's really a Disney person either, to.
I think they both appreciate the movies, but neither of them are really theme park people. So we only went. We only went a couple times. That was more about just affordability than anything. But tell us, when did each of you start going on cruises? And was that together or separately? And what was your first cruise line? Was it Disney?
[00:08:15] Speaker C: So I'll start because it's a yes to both, but not so. We actually met in September of 2019, and the first cruise I ever took was actually December of 2019. I had already booked it long in advance, so I spent a lot of time in St. Louis, Missouri, and I had this huge group of friends, literally about 17 people. And we were all going just because there were some deals that had popped up, because, of course, it's not Covid yet. So a deal is a deal. And I was like, I've never been on a cruise ship before. And I genuinely thought box tick just something to do once and whatever. It was a lovely seven night. I was on the Regal Princess and it was perfectly fine. Went to some really nice locations. I got to do that cool beach where the airplanes come in, you know, right over your head and, you know, throw everybody against the fence.
[00:09:04] Speaker D: Queen Alia Airport, I think it is, or something along those lines.
[00:09:07] Speaker C: This one is in St. Maarten, which I think is Moha Airport, because there's a couple of them. But it was really fun. My friends were. They're all engineers. They're very, like, logical, technical people. So it was quite fun to watch them struggle, if I'm honest. But anyway, so when I got off, I kind of didn't really think about it. And then we started dating a little While later, but Covid hit and we got to spend a lot of time with each other.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: It speeds up our relationship with COVID.
[00:09:42] Speaker C: But we also got to a point where we were like everybody else. You get just really antsy. And we were able to go to Disney. We were able to go back to the parks and do certain things, but travel was still kind of iffy. And then one day, magically, we got an email. And I had only ever really heard about the big red boat when I was a kid. And my mom was absolutely not. My dad also doesn't really like ships. That's a different story. But she didn't want to go. And I didn't actually know about DCL genuinely, until I got this random email. And it was because they had Florida resident discounts. And so I emailed, I forwarded it to him slightly as a kind of tongue in cheek, like, you know, whatever. And he ran with it, which is where I'm going to let him pick up the story.
[00:10:28] Speaker B: Love it. Love it. Alex, tell us what happens next.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Yeah, so, I mean, it was like, hey, this was early 2022 and they were offering like 35% off for Florida residents. So we just started like crunching some numbers and playing around with PTO and stuff. And I was like, oh, we could actually make this happen. So we did the five night Marvel Day at Sea on the Disney Magic in March of 2022 and absolutely fell in love with it.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Awesome. And now how many Disney cruises have you done since then? So you did the first one in 2022. We're recording. It's only September of 2024.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah. So we have done four Disney cruises at this point and then four non Disney cruises.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Wow, that's a. I mean, so you didn't just get the Disney cruising bug. You caught the cruising bug too.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: We did. We did, yeah. And then a couple other Disney cruises booked.
[00:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah, we had three more cruises. One that is already booked and is next month. Well, October. And then we are actually going on the Treasure. But I. And I think we emailed about this. We're going late April, early May. So I think we're about a week off of each other.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Yeah, you're probably, you're probably a week behind us. So we're. We're kind of. We're mid April on the Treasure. Yeah.
[00:11:48] Speaker C: And then we booked the destiny.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah, nice.
[00:11:51] Speaker C: February 2026.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Awesome. Awesome. Well, tell us, what are the other cruise lines you decided to check out? So this is, I mean, eight cruises in just over two or about two Years, Right. Two years and maybe a month or two. Right. But yeah. What are the other cruise lines that you decided to take?
[00:12:11] Speaker C: So we did actually just go on Princess for our Alaskan cruise. We did that in May. It was absolutely amazing. As a slight funny story, we booked it so long ago that when we got to it, we were kind of meh about it. And then we went and he's like, I want to go back very forcefully. And that was my second Princess cruise, but his first. So I kind of already knew, like, what I was expecting. And et cetera. Virgin was similar to the Magic. We got an email that was offering Florida resident discounts. So our first one was less expensive by far. Through that, we have some other friends that have done some cruises. Some people were talking about Norwegian. We found one that just worked out for our schedules because that's what most of it is. You know, you want to go on vacation, but what works for your timing? And we did a seven night in the Caribbean. And since we live in Florida, of course, most of the time we're in the Caribbean.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: I know this. I have to say, like, this is the only thing that ever makes me consider moving to Florida. Let me just be perfectly honest there. Because I can't deal with the weather and the mosquitoes. I'm like, the mosquitoes love me. And so especially when I go to Florida in the summer, I literally have to douse myself and deet or I. And I still end up with bites.
[00:13:24] Speaker C: Just be those snowbirds that come down. Right.
[00:13:27] Speaker B: I need to be. I do. That's the one thing. Because in the winter in Florida is when it's beautiful. Like basically like December, January, February is like the best three months of the year. Yeah.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: This last spring was gorgeous. Like, I mean, probably all the way until maybe even mid to late April was extremely beautiful.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: We had sea breezes, we had cooler weather. And when I say I can wear like a long sleeve shirt or a sweater, like that means it's cold.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:53] Speaker C: And I'm from the Midwest, so I'm used to much cooler temperatures even after being down here, but it was absolutely beautiful. Now the summer.
Kill me.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: Yeah. I can't. I can't do. Yeah, the Florida summer is just. I can't do it. I'm just. I melt. I just. It's. Yeah. Anyway, well, let's. Let's. Let's chat about this. This last Virgin cruise that you guys went on, because it happens to be the same itinerary that Brian and I are sailing on in just a week. And a few days. And I'd love to sort of talk about your cruise and hear sort of some of the compare contrast to how things are on Disney. We love to, of course, tie things back to Disney Cruise Line because that's our main passion and we know that that's what folks are listening to us to hear about.
[00:14:40] Speaker D: Actually, before we get there, Sam, can I just. I want to ask one question, which is of the cruise lines, not Disney. Oh, yeah. What has been your favorite?
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Virgin.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Virgin.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:14:51] Speaker D: All right.
[00:14:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Well, that's good then. It's good that we chose that as the topic then, Brian.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: Yeah, but like when. When we give our answers because we have slightly different opinions, as most people do about certain aspects. But like, that is something we absolutely agree on and we did not have a bad time on any of our cruises. But there is no comparison really for any of the other brands that are out there that we've done are like Disney and Virgin. And yes, I've taken copious notes on your previous episodes, so I know a lot of people said the same thing, but it is, it is genuinely true. I think we even had somebody recently who said it was like Disney for adults.
That is so true. My favorite thing about Virgin for us and. Or well, for me, he can say what he thinks, but you can make it whatever you want. If you want to have a party and find an upside down pineapple, be my guest.
If you want to chill and relax, like the most relaxing vacations we've had together, we're on Virgin voyages.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:49] Speaker C: That's what we wanted to get out of it. And even though we did shore excursions one time and we didn't another, we were still comfortably busy.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: And it's all about how you want to pace it, what you want to do. And like, we love Virgin Cruises, which we'll go into more when you start to ask the more specific questions.
[00:16:07] Speaker D: But I do want to ask one more question before we dive into Virgin, which is just about Princess, because that's another great. That we've been eyeing. And I'm curious just about your overall experience with Princess. We were supposed to sail on Princess next Thanksgiving on one of the new ships. I will say one the Destiny's coming out and we're prioritizing getting on that ship. Given the name of our podcast, I think that was the smart decision.
But the other thing was I was really excited to go until they removed this big thing off the top deck that seemed like a real fun family activity. What was your overall impression of Princess. Is it a cruise line you'd sail again or.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: What was your overall impression for?
[00:16:47] Speaker A: We did Princess in Alaska, which I think is a little different because they have been in Alaska for forever, which is why we did them. So. Absolutely amazing Alaskan cruise. I wouldn't probably do them in the Caribbean or somewhere where there was another better option because as a cruise line, it wasn't a bad cruise. But I just wasn't super thrilled with them.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: We had lots of ups and downs, some of which we knew like, were big trivia people. Disney's really good at that. Even Virgin's really good at that. Princess has a couple, but it's not a lot. The best thing about our ship is we had a forward facing balcony room, so it's like an L shaped balcony. So we were directly in front of the ship. Had like a couple of rooms. We had a sitting room, bedroom, bathroom. That really made that experience that much more. Because you're going to Alaska, going through the glaciers and you're on your own balcony watching everything. You can see it from multiple viewpoints. We had great service from some people, one lady in particular, whose name was Betelgeuse, after the star, was a star. And then we had some specialty restaurant people where we're like, okay, are you ignoring us for a particular reason or you're just too busy? So it was very choppy. Yeah, the ship was clean. The ship was beautiful. Most people we ran into perfectly nice, particularly the staff, obviously. But we went specifically to go to Alaska and the first one I went on was because that's what everybody else had booked.
I cared not. At that juncture, we did a lovely Caribbean cruise. I was happy to go with all those people. And like I said, initially I thought it was a box tick. I'm done. Disney changed my mind. So that's kind of my answer. It's a great cruise line if you know what you're getting into and they're going to a place where they have expertise. Not my first choice.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I've heard that about Princess. With Alaska in. In general, that they have been going for a really long time. They go to a lot of great ports. They have a lot of really varied itineraries, more so than some of the other cruise lines. And, and they're known for, you know, some food and service. Well known. But also you're. You're not really worried about, like, onboard activities because you're doing so much like off the ship in Alaska and the days are really long and so you don't necessarily need as much entertainment on the, on the vessel do you know, in like a Caribbean itinerary, for example. So I think that that's a, that's a super good point. Well, let's, let's talk about why. Why did you choose Virgin? I know this was your second cruise on Virgin, but why did you choose to try at Virgin in the first place? Like, did somebody recommend it to you? Oh, no, you said you got an email, right?
[00:19:25] Speaker C: It was a good deal.
[00:19:26] Speaker B: It's a good deal. See, like I said, this is the Florida thing. Okay, so you got a good deal. But what made you say, okay, I'm going to click on this good deal and book it? Right. Like it's just a good deal, you know, I don't know if that's always enticing enough.
[00:19:39] Speaker A: Yeah, we, once we got bit by the cruising bug, I mean we started down the rabbit hole in terms of watching copious amounts of YouTube videos and everything. So we were, so we're looking at different itineraries and stuff, but then also looking at different ships.
You know, if we're gonna spend this money and our precious time off, like, we wanna have the best time possible. And there were just a lot of really good things that people were saying about Virgin. I loved their like food concept. Getting rid of the buffet is probably one of my favorite things.
[00:20:22] Speaker C: Just as a quick aside, we're both quite introverted. So the reputation that Virgin has about the party ship, just to cut that in half is only, like I said, if you want it to be, you know. But this particular aspect for Introvert is just amazing. The galley, sit down, tables, service, not huge crowds.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: So it just seemed really enticing. So we're like, well, we'll give it a shot and really enjoyed it.
[00:20:49] Speaker B: Nice. So now you've done a five night itinerary and a four night itinerary on Virgin. The first one you said was the one that went to Dominica, Right. And then did it also go to Bimini as the second port? Okay, so that one had just two port stops and then an extra sea day essentially. And then the one you just did not too long ago was the one that we're going on that goes to Key west and Bimini. It's only a four night itinerary. Did you have a specific reason for choosing those itineraries or was it just that's what worked in your schedule or did you really want to go to Bimini? I mean a lot of people want to go to the beach club at Bimini for the first one, I don't.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Think we were too picky. It was only our second cruise. We just wanted something that didn't go to Cozumel just because that's where our first cruise went. And that one just worked. For the second one we got stuck. We. We did a little bit just because we bought the like the placeholder on the first cruise and it expired at the end of September of this year. And so we really had to like find something that fit before that expired.
[00:22:00] Speaker B: Now does. Is there a placeholder similar to Disney's in that it gets refunded or. No, it's non refundable.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: No.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Also changed. So the thing that kind of makes me feel like when somebody says, what do you think of Virgin? That we've got like some room to talk is because we actually did it two years apart.
So the first time we went, they were genuinely a brand new company. We went on the Scarlet lady, we went in a seriously suite, which is gorgeous and we do not have the ability to do the mega rock stars. So kudos. But for an entry level class week, it was amazing. We had this wonderful attendant named Mila who was from the Ukraine and I mean she was just so attentive. She was so nice, she was so kind. And you know, you see them on the ship and you see them at the Bimini Beach Club and it was just, it was equivalent to sometimes better than what you get on Disney for that level of service.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: But the ship was new and the layout was different. The way they conducted themselves was different. They had a tattoo parlor, they had a barber, which I've gone to twice, once on each ship, highly recommend them and just, I don't know, it was just really friendly, kind people. So like sometimes he's like, are you really going to get another cruise thing? Do we have to do this? He was actually very supportive.
[00:23:19] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:23:19] Speaker C: But it did end up being that we went on this particular cruise because of time constraints. We, we couldn't get a refund, which is fine. We overdid it on other cruises.
Our options became a little limited.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: Gotcha.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: But we did think this would be a fun one and it was a different ship. Of course, the qualification I will make is that my biggest ding against Virgin, all the ships are identical. Now having said that, I have heard on your podcast that they may be making some changes to some upcoming ships, which I very much applaud. That's my one thing is like, you don't go for the ship in Disney. You go for the ship.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Yep, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:23:58] Speaker C: You go for the crew in both cases, I will say that they were absolutely outstanding.
Probably some of the most interesting conversations we've had is with Virgin crew because of course they all come from somewhere else. Celebrity Norwegian Princess. I don't remember if we ran into anybody who had been on Disney, but they love it. And that's the best thing when you go on a cruise is to hear the people who work there genuinely enjoy it.
[00:24:25] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome to hear. Well, so that's an interesting distinction though, that their placeholder is a non refundable placeholder. But I think that's helpful for people to know that. And it's, you know, sounds like it's a two year expiration, which that part is similar to Disney but not two year for sailing. Meaning you have to actually complete your sailing within two years of when you book the placeholder. And it gives you like onboard credit or discount on the cruise, that sort of a thing. So let's dive into talking about some of the activities you mentioned. You're both big into trivia and that you also like relaxing. Tell me, what are the best.
[00:25:02] Speaker D: Sam, before we go there, can we talk about the booking, the book, the pre cruise booking process? Not the booking, the cruise itself, but how did it work for you? Because one of the things that's most jarring to me as a big Disney cruiser is how haphazard the pre booking process feels like on Virgin. For activities, restaurants, you can't even book the spa until you set foot on board the ship. Everything kind of rolls out at different times. There is booking for some shows on board, it seems like, or at least you want to add them and favorite them or something. But how did you find that experience? Having sailed Disney and so many other CRU cruise lines?
[00:25:37] Speaker C: It's easy. I let him do it.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean I kind of just. Whenever we book, just pay attention to the like specific date and then plan to like come back for that. The biggest thing is just dining because you do have to like make all of your dining reservations ahead of time. So that's something, you know, whatever. I don't even remember what the date out is but midnight you just get on and make the dining reservations.
Everything else was, wasn't too bad.
Even if you waited, there was usually a lot of availability. But it is interesting for like the spa and stuff. If that's something you're, you're keen on doing that you can't do that ahead of time.
[00:26:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I couldn't book my haircuts ahead of time the first time was completely random. I just was like, I'd really like to get a haircut. The barber was cool. And that's nice area. The second time, like I knew I needed, as soon as I got on the ship, I needed to go down, say hi and get a booking. And I couldn't do it on the app, which is a different bucket we will get into later. But there are some frustrations, particularly as he said with the dining, because something will look like it's available, you'll start to book it, which is like some other apps, and then all of a sudden your app crashes or it's not available and you're kind of stuck with all these great options, but you only have like two or three you can go to. And if you're on a five night, there's all those restaurants, you don't want to do the same one twice unless you've already done it. You know, you love it. You want, you want different experiences. And some of them will be like, you can go to this one. And we're like, we've already got that one I want to go to.
So best part of course is that they are all included. But when you're booking, I do think it is a pain and I'm not the most patient person, which is why I do say, are you okay to book for us is I get very frustrated when I'm trying to do something repeatedly and the app isn't working or the website's not helping or whatever. And I kind of just, I need to walk away. Yeah, he's much more patient. He's like, I'll just give it a minute and I'll try again.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm the same way. I. That frustration just gets to me. And to be fair, Brian does most of our vacation planning anyway, like 90 some percent of it. And you're pointing. Alex does too. Yeah. And so I just kind of, I'm just like, okay, I'm going to roll with the punches and if, you know, if I might have booked something a little bit differently. But I can't complain because I didn't have to actually do the legwork. So I, so I, yeah, so I've generally learned like, just like not. Yeah, don't complain. And if there's something I really, really want, I will try and tell him ahead of time. Okay, this is what I want. The hard thing for me has been figuring out like, I don't even know what, what to do on Virgin as far as like shows and, and restaurants and all of that because it's Completely new to me. And. And unlike you guys, I did not have not gone down the YouTube rabbit hole to figure it out because I'm just like, it just kind of overwhelms me. But I was lucky, you know, in our first Disney Cruise experience, I was lucky to have a really good friend of ours who was super experienced cruiser, sort of take us under his wing and so we didn't have to do any of it. And then we could learn. And then by the time our second cruise came around, we were like pros, right? We knew what we were. I mean, to be fair, we weren't pros at that point, but we had a better idea of what we were doing.
We're like pros when it comes to Disney Cruise Line, but really nothing else, so. Well, I'd love to hear about the activities or actually, let's talk about the app, because you mentioned the app, Ryan, I'd love to hear what you think because this is something obviously you use ahead of time and then you also use on board. I think it's similar to the Disney Cruise Line app. Correct me if I'm wrong as far as figuring out what activities are going on when I haven't seen that side of the app yet because. Because we're only at the, you know, before we're on board. And I'm sure it changes once you're on board as to what you can see. But, you know, Alex, what would you say are the, you know, the good and the bad about the Virgin Voyages app?
[00:29:36] Speaker A: The good. It does show everything. It's fairly easy to figure out, like, what your agenda is for the day. If you've favorited something, it'll show up. The bad, it doesn't work great all the time.
It gets a little bit better once you're on the ship and you're out to sea. But it's not as reliable as some other apps, which is unfortunate. It can be hard sometimes to. You'll be like, oh, I see that there is a trivia at X Place. Where is X Place? And there's. You can't like immediately click on it. You have to like go out and try to. But I mean that, you know, that's not a huge deal. But yeah, the biggest thing is just the app crashes a lot.
[00:30:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:23] Speaker B: Yeah. What kinds of stuff can you. What kind of stuff can you. And do you book when you're on board through the app? Like, are there activities that you. 1. I mean, other than dining? Right. We know you have to book dining in advance. I think there's like one place raising there, the galley or whatever that you can go in, then you don't have to book. And that's kind of like. I don't want to call it mean dining because it's not. But it's like the, it's your default right place of where you can eat if you don't have a reservation substitution for the buffet. Right. Okay.
[00:30:51] Speaker C: So it's, it's really well laid out and not everything is like, like all smashed together, which makes it great. But yeah, if you just decide you don't want to, which because everything's included, why wouldn't you? But right. You know, like we did a lot of breakfast there because it's just the easiest place to go to. But yeah, you can do pretty much everything with regards to your food. You can do a few things like there's some afternoon teas at the Sip, which is the champagne bar.
There are some venues with shows that you can book once you're on board, but others are first come, first serve.
So I always get them confused if it's the Red Room or if it's the mansion. But there is, it's. I think it's the one with the glass that kind of has that cool sparkly reflection when you walk through it.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: Right. That people take their picture on red night in.
[00:31:38] Speaker C: Yes, that one. I think in the evening as the club is a first come, first serve.
But when you want to do like the Red Room or something like that, it depends on what show you're going for. Like in our case, our cruise I believe was at max capacity. So I think that's about 3,200 people. So just as an FYI, we put in bids for other rooms and none of them were even looked at because they were all booked. Like there was nothing available except for the class we booked which we will get into later. But the venues are one thing I will kind of tell people if you're like ourselves, they might be a little smaller than you expect. The ship itself is fantastic. There's a lot of great outdoor spaces. Interior wise, I do think it feels like a small.
And while that's really fun for a lot of different aspects like the trivia, restaurants and the bars are very cozy. The venues with the shows in the nightclub I like, we don't really go. It's too small for us. Yeah, very claustrophobic, shockingly enough, which is why I don't do like inside rooms. But it's, it's smaller than you might think. And I'm 6 foot 2 and it still kind of weirds me out. Uh, he's a little smaller than I am, but it's just, it's. It's crowded. And when the ship was full, conversely.
[00:32:53] Speaker D: I've heard they don't even have, like. They don't even have, like, an atrium on board. Like, it's not like, there's not like, essential. Like you're sort of like boarding into, like, a hotel lobby from what I've heard. Is that right?
[00:33:04] Speaker C: Yeah, kind of our first experience, because it was Covid, the ship was only about half capacity. So we have two very different experiences. But when you go in, don't ask me the deck number because I will get it wrong. But you are just on, you know, the regular level, which has the record store and the DJ to your right. There is a bar slash coffee shop at the back, and then there's a spiral staircase that until you're up against it, you can't see what it is. But when you're there, you can see down one more floor, one more deck. Excuse me. That's as good as it gets for an atrium.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:33:40] Speaker C: So you are on each deck separately, and only on one one to two decks. Can you see another deck from the inside. Does that make sense?
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:50] Speaker D: So wait, but you just. You just. You just said something I want to follow up on a record store. I haven't.
[00:33:55] Speaker C: Oh, yes.
[00:33:55] Speaker D: Yeah, I have a record store.
[00:33:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:57] Speaker D: Because I have a record player.
[00:33:59] Speaker C: So, like, just because I'm yakety yakity, I'll tell you a very quick cute story. So I always liked records. Record players. Never had one for whatever reason. First cruise we went on, they give you a record player in your school. We had a couple of records, and I happened to quite like some. Well, I would call it older music. I think you would agree with me. Fleetwood Mac. It's actually before all of our times.
[00:34:21] Speaker D: Enjoy some Fleetwood Mac myself. Yeah, yeah.
[00:34:24] Speaker C: And I was just so excited to have the soccer player. And then for Christmas, he got me one, and he got me the Fleetwood Mac album that we had had in the suite.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Aw.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: He tried to find it on the ship. They didn't actually have that one for sale, so it was kind of strange. But there is a very cute. You have to guess when it's open because it's not very clear. The very cute little record store that is just to the right when you enter the ship, just to the right of the main stairwell. And I would say they have a reasonable selection from Michael Jackson, Britney Spears. I think this time they had Fleetwood Mac and what I would think of as very classic. So like 70s through probably early 2000s. If you want to get something like Taylor Swift. I didn't see it. Yeah, wouldn't be surprised if it was there.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Yeah, well, I mean it's, it's sort of like if you think about the demographics that they're, that they market to. Right. I'm not saying that like 20 somethings are not going to enjoy the Virgin. I'm sure they absolutely would. But like I would say, I think.
[00:35:30] Speaker D: They'Re actually marketing to that. Sam, I actually disagree with you here. I think, I think they're trying to market to that 18 to 25 year old crowd with the like the single rooms that are like more like dormitory style solo cruising.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Like yes, they're trying to, but their main demographic is older than that. Not now. When I say older than that, I don't mean 60s or anything like that. I mean like, I think that the shift, like from what I hear it's like a lot of 30s, 40s and 50s. Right. Like that's the vast majority.
[00:35:58] Speaker C: First one we went on was like a really good spectrum. I'm sure we saw people who were in their early 20s, but it really starts in 30s and then goes up and I actually was at Richard's rooftop, which I'm sure everybody knows by now is the suite section that you get to go to. And it is amazing, by the way. It's like so comfortable.
But I was in a hot tub randomly chatting with people. And of course they had all had different cruise experiences. One of them had been Royal Caribbean, one had been Disney. And then there was a lady who was in her 70s. She's like, yeah. My husband and I started cruising as soon as this opened. We're never going to go on any other cruise lines.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:36:33] Speaker C: And I mean, she was that type of person who like, she did look like 10 to 20 years younger, but she's like, oh no. My husband and I were like 74 or you know, first time cruisers, but we're never going on another one. I was like, all right. And like I said, Virgin is what you want it to be. Yeah, Chatty Cathy, introvert, whatever you want to be.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: I love it. Love it. Well, let's, let's talk about some of the onboard experiences and sort of how that compares to Disney Cruise line. Alex, why don't you tell us like what kinds of stuff could you get up to on board? Let's say like middle of the day type stuff. Not, we'll talk about some nightlife stuff in a little bit, but what kinds of stuff is available in the middle of the day?
[00:37:12] Speaker A: They had some various trivias. I think they had some.
A couple of crafts that you could do. Some of them were paid crafts, which was interesting.
[00:37:24] Speaker C: There are some. I wouldn't say they're mixology classes, but you can definitely go for, like, sets of drinks. Like, you can. I. I also want to get at some point into the credit you can get on the ship because we have a very funny story to tell you. There are. Are also very strange seahorse races. It's not the diaper dash, but it's like putting out the mat, and then they have people bet on the seahorses, and then somebody just moves the seahorses based on, like, the audience participation.
[00:37:54] Speaker D: What?
[00:37:55] Speaker C: It's very cute. Or at least that's what I think most people would say when they've had something to drink.
The other thing is that.
[00:38:02] Speaker B: Wait, are these real seahorses?
[00:38:04] Speaker C: Oh, no. They're like little.
[00:38:05] Speaker D: No, no, no.
[00:38:06] Speaker B: Oh, okay, okay.
[00:38:07] Speaker D: Did you just ask that, Sam? Like, they're. It's just that they put them out on the floor.
[00:38:12] Speaker B: Oh, I don't know. I wasn't like. I wasn't. I couldn't figure out how to picture this. It wasn't like, popping into my head, like, what you were talking about.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: That would make that way more interesting, though, right?
[00:38:23] Speaker D: How long will they survive out of.
[00:38:25] Speaker C: Water, only binoculars or telescopes, just to see the poor little guys.
I think during the day, though, there is. There's just not as many planned activities as you might think, because they are. Like, be free, go to the bars. So much is included.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:38:44] Speaker C: That from the time one of the restaurants open maybe a couple of hours here and there during the day, somebody's eating. The bars are open pretty much as soon as you get up, Whatever time that may be. No judgment. And you've got that huge outdoor area. So if you're not familiar, the entrance deck of the ship has a kind of promenade that goes pretty much three quarters of the way around. So the back part's the only part that's kind of sealed off, but there is a deck that has a. The dock bar where we watch our sailing ways. Just go out, get one of the big, padded, cushiony chairs, and just like, bye, bye, Miami.
[00:39:21] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:39:22] Speaker C: There's so many places to sit outside, though, that I think they just expect you to be out there a lot. Yeah. Sorry.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: Oh, I was just thinking in terms of activities, if you do get up earlier, they do have a Lot of exercise classes and things like that. In the mornings.
[00:39:39] Speaker B: Yeah, Ryan, some people like to exercise it in the morning.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: Oh, no, it's just I'm not a morning person.
I don't want to get up at 7am for yoga. Yeah.
[00:39:48] Speaker D: I want to listen to my record player and have them deliver breakfast in my series.
[00:39:50] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Thank you.
Well, you mentioned something about onboard credit. Ryan, tell us what you can about that.
What is this magical thing of onboard credit?
[00:40:05] Speaker A: Can you tell the story?
[00:40:06] Speaker C: I was going to say I was going to start off and then I'm going to let him go.
[00:40:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:40:10] Speaker C: So we had these very interesting experiences of the first time we went was in a suite with just a little onboard credit and kind of really nothing else. The second time we went in a sea terrace, which is kind of your entry level balcony with $1,800 for booze and loot.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: Wow, that's a. That's a big credit that.
[00:40:30] Speaker C: I don't drink alcohol.
[00:40:32] Speaker B: Oh, no, take it away, Alex.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: Okay. So part of the credit came from our original placeholder, which is one of the reasons that we were not keen on losing that. Also, pro tip, if you haven't done it already, Virgin does do status match matching, so definitely do that because you get bar credit included. So we ended up with 600 sailor loot, which you can use anywhere on board, on merchandise, if you want to do shore excursions, stuff like that. And then a thousand dollars for bar.
[00:41:09] Speaker C: Tab for four days.
[00:41:10] Speaker A: For four days for essentially one person.
[00:41:13] Speaker D: So you basically had an unlimited bar tab?
[00:41:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: But that's crazy because one person, I mean, I don't know, I guess unless you're like drinking like Cristal or something. Like, I don't know how one in like that much.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: We had this ongoing conversation with two friends of ours who have been debating going on Virgin since we started. And I've been really trying to convince them, tried to get them to go on this cruise because we needed help. And they. They're like, he's a whiskey and bourbon drinker. Like, he could have nailed this in a couple.
[00:41:40] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, yeah, you could. You can rack up the bill pretty quickly with expensive whiskeys and bourbons.
[00:41:46] Speaker C: We tried alcohol to people we were sitting next to and we could. The best we got was like two tequila shots and we're like, we're giving you free drinks. So this guy right here went through $850 of a bar tab on his own. I paid about 85 in mixtails. That was my contribution.
[00:42:06] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:42:07] Speaker C: In four days.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Wow. Good job, Alex.
[00:42:10] Speaker D: We know that people trust Disney for their vacations and it can sometimes be a little nerve wracking to think about trying something new. Right, Sam?
[00:42:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Whether you're considering branching out to a new cruise line, an all inclusive resort, or exploring Europe, the team at My Path Unwinding Travel has the expertise and connections across the globe to plan almost any vacation. They can even help with the Universal Parks. They've helped us plan our vacations beyond Disney, including Royal Caribbean Princess Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages.
[00:42:35] Speaker D: Their team of travel professionals all understand the needs of a Disney traveler, can help you decide if another option is right for you, and then guide you through every step of your new vacation experience. Whether you are dreaming of a fun getaway to an all inclusive resort, a river cruise in Europe, or an adventure in Costa Rica, the folks at MyPath Unwinding are ready to help. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your next vacation even more amazing.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: If you want to learn more and take advantage of the amazing team at MyPath Unwinding Travel, then head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email
[email protected] to let them know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:43:16] Speaker D: How did you. I want to. How did you get this onboard credit?
[00:43:19] Speaker A: So some of it, various things. I think $200 bar tab was for us just being repeat sailors. $100 per person. I think at one point he had received a survey that he filled out that was some of the credit. And then as part of our original placeholder it was was X amount of credit. And then that was the $600 thing. And then I think the promo that we booked was also like and I.
[00:43:48] Speaker C: Do want to say unfortunately that the, the, the booking thing has changed since we first did it. So just to say we did not get a, a booking credit for this last Virgin trip because they had changed it so substantially. It was a, a different offer depending on the cruise length. Whereas the first one was regardless of the cruise length, you went on, you got a certain amount off and you got a certain amount of credit and now it's stratified.
So we were like but yeah, I did a survey and I ended up getting like 200, 300 extra wow for it in credit. So when we went on I was like, you're gonna have to figure out a way to just drink yourself some.
[00:44:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:31] Speaker D: So. And so this Was this was bar credit. They're not giving you just straight up on credit.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Yeah, you can get both. But remember, he said some of it was just straight up bar credit, and some of it was you could use for, like, excursions and other things.
[00:44:45] Speaker C: And they're very particular about it. So when you get loot that will only be available for stuff or food. Like, for example, although all the restaurants are included, you could add turf to your surf or surf to your turf. They'll upcharge you 35 to $45, depending on the item. You can use part of your loot for that.
We ended up just buying, like, a bunch of T shirts. We bought one of those hammocks that are made by.
Yeah, thank you. And so we. We did pretty well with the loot. It was somewhat hard to spend at the end because you're trying to think, like, get gifts for people.
[00:45:17] Speaker B: Right.
[00:45:18] Speaker C: But the alcohol was truly the challenge. So we. We kept texting our friends, like, he went through $165 today. He only got 300 left. Can he do it? Dun, dun, dun, dun. You know?
[00:45:28] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:45:29] Speaker C: That was very exciting for me.
[00:45:30] Speaker B: Well, and the hammocks. The hammocks every everybody raves about and the fact that you can buy them on board, that's actually, I think, a cool souvenir, if you like the hat. I mean, I don't know. I hope I like it, but I. It's like a cool souvenir to take with you.
[00:45:43] Speaker C: I have to pry him out of it. I think if it had been cooler weather this time around, he might have slept out in it. I just give him a pillow and just wish him well.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:45:54] Speaker C: The first time in particular, I think I had to be like, can I sit in the hammock, please?
Nice.
[00:46:01] Speaker B: Well, let's talk some evening activities. We know when we've heard, of course, that Scarlet night, which is the night everybody wears red, is like the big party night on the ship. Tell us your impressions of that, and then we'll talk about some of the other offerings.
[00:46:16] Speaker C: We didn't really go because, again, we're not very comfortable with crowds in some cases. But it is not the insanity that I think everybody thinks it will be. Like, you don't hear it in your room regardless, unless you're directly under it and you've got your balcony door open. You know, we've been at the front, we've been in the middle. We've kind of been around when the party's been going, and it's been fine. So if you're worried about being disturbed because you're old people like us. It's not a problem. Having said that, like we do dress up for it and you know, like I'm wearing a virgin voyager shirt and it's got the red and the white in it and you know all that stuff and it's just, it's fun. But the party is pretty much throughout the ship. But the main one is obviously up on the deck. I'm sure you've heard the pools are a little. Tiny. Tiny. But that does mean there's a lot of deck space.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:02] Speaker C: So there's plenty of room for people to mash up against each other but yet have like a little bit of space and then people jumping into the pools with or without their clothes on. Depends.
You watch out for the pineapples and because I know you know about that.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: We have heard about that. We heard about the pineapple.
[00:47:23] Speaker D: I'm leaving my pineapple branded swim trunks at home. He is Old Navy. I remember Old Navy. Maybe this comes from some like weird specialty store or anything for everyone listening out there.
[00:47:33] Speaker C: But yes, we got a friend who wears a lot of those button up shirts that, you know, with the short sleeves and he's got a pineapple one. If he ever goes, I think I'm going to tell him to bring it because I listen to this.
[00:47:43] Speaker D: Make sure to wear it on scarlet night.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: Yeah, hilarious.
[00:47:47] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
It feels like a party atmosphere but not in the sense of like everybody's drunk.
[00:47:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:47:54] Speaker C: Which is one of the concerns we've come across with other people is like, is everybody going to be drinking? Are they going to like, you know, be doing various things and we're like, actually no. People really do drink really responsibly. They're very friendly and I don't know, it's just like a surprisingly good experience.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And you didn't feel any like drinking pressure as a non drinker, I presume?
[00:48:18] Speaker C: I used to live in the uk.
[00:48:20] Speaker B: I can drink it.
[00:48:22] Speaker C: No, not at all.
[00:48:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:25] Speaker A: That's the only thing that I guess would be slightly disappointing for somebody that doesn't drink is for like when you win a trivia, your prize is an alcoholic drink.
[00:48:36] Speaker B: Ah, okay.
[00:48:37] Speaker C: We lost on purpose a lot.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Maybe that would be a reason to at least something to be aware of. Right. That you might not want to win trivia if you are a non drinker. Yeah. Or just donate it to somebody else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:48:54] Speaker C: And if people aren't aware, much like Disney, your soft drinks Are actually included. So you can't use. If you have a tremendous amount to spend at a bar tap. Your sodas don't count. You do really have to get one of the specialty mocktails, Many of which are very good. But you are quite limited in choice because they're pretty much repeated at each of the venues.
And I did find a couple I really loved. But, you know, you're trying to be different. And I don't remember what it was, but I had bacon salt on the outside.
[00:49:22] Speaker D: Oh, yes. Actually you have a friend who's. Whose friend is the founder and creator of bacon salt.
[00:49:29] Speaker C: Yes, the bacon salt was tasty. It did not go with the drink, but that's fine. We had all the money to spend and it was all about experimenting with your drinks.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Exactly. You got to try something new. What about the other. What about the other nighttime entertainment? Let's say shows. Tell us what you think of their evening shows and how do they compare? I know we're not talking broad Broadway style theater productions. It's a different type style of entertainment. But what did you think about the shows and tell us a little bit about them.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: We actually didn't go to any.
[00:50:03] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:50:04] Speaker A: So don't really have much to say on that. We do go to shows like on Disney. Absolutely love those. But didn't have a lot of interest in their. Venues are kind of cramped and so we just chose to kind of go to dinner and then just chill afterwards.
[00:50:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:20] Speaker C: Which I realize sounds boring, but like I said, I can be very claustrophobic and those are environments. And we had been in the venues to see if we wanted to go and we'd seen a lot of videos on YouTube about the shows and it was like, that's really tight.
[00:50:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, well. And I can understand that. I mean, there are like. There are large theater spaces that are more comfortable to be in than like, I'm thinking like the, for example, Broadway shows. On Broadway in New York City, the theaters are very tight and cramped and you are very close to your companion sitting next to you. If you go to see a Broadway show here at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, it's a lovely, beautiful, very large venue. Much bigger than any of the Broadway venues. They will have the national tours, same show, a lot less even. I mean, there are a lot of people, but it's a lot less cramped environment. So if it's about sort of the cramped feeling versus necessarily how many people are present, it's a very different. It's a completely different environment. So I totally, totally Understand that. Well, it sounds like this is a more relaxing style of cruising than perhaps on Disney. As far as bouncing from activity to activity, would you say that, like, where are the best places to relax on board a Virgin? I mean, you said the ships are really the same, Right.
[00:51:40] Speaker D: It sounds like Richard's rooftop is one.
[00:51:42] Speaker B: Well, one that's. But if you're sailing. Only if you're sailing in the suite class. So that's Rockstar or Mega Rockstar. You can go to Richard's rooftop. But where are some of the other places on board that are great for relaxing? Other than the spa, obviously, which you have to pay for services?
[00:51:56] Speaker A: The social club is really cool. They've got a bunch of, like, board games and stuff that you can play. There's a little arcade all included, so that's fun. If you want to be inside, the sip lounge, which is like, the champagne lounge, is probably one of my favorites. It's just more like chill piano music instead of, like, louder party music. But if you're outside, right outside, like the pizza place, there's some lovely little couches out by the dock, which is.
[00:52:26] Speaker C: The back part of the ship. Yeah, there's a bar there. Yeah, I think deck seven.
[00:52:29] Speaker A: But, yeah, we didn't really spend much time by the pool because everybody else did.
[00:52:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:52:34] Speaker A: Because there's. It's very tiny pool, very crowded. But, yeah, lots of love. There's so much seating. So if. Whether you want to be in the shade or in the sun, there's plenty of room to sit down.
[00:52:46] Speaker C: They definitely got that part right. Because I want to say deck seven, but I could be wrong, is the one that's got that outdoor promenade I was kind of mentioning, where you can kind of walk along the sides, and then it's got the dock, and then when you're up top, there is a little track you can walk around. Oh, by the way, for the people who are returning cruisers or have gotten status, there's a really fun little reception. For anybody who's deep blue and up, it's just a champagne reception that they do. It's not in Richard's rooftop, but it is at one of the back upper decks, which is right off of the walking track. So it's a fun little thing to go do.
We did socialize, actually. We got out.
[00:53:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it.
[00:53:27] Speaker C: There are also these on ship cabanas that are along each side of the ship that you can rent. Some of them are just the kind of daybed situation. Others are a daybed with a little refrigerator. We don't know if you can use your loot towards it, but we wouldn't see why not. But the prices do vary depending on the day and the cruise.
[00:53:49] Speaker D: Do you remember the range? I'm just curious.
[00:53:51] Speaker C: I want to say the cheapest we saw. Actually you probably know better than I do.
[00:53:55] Speaker A: I was going to say the cheapest was probably like 200.
[00:53:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: Up to 6. 7.
[00:53:59] Speaker C: Yeah. And again, if you're at a sea day, more expensive. If you're in port it's cheaper. So those. But they are comfy. Like we got to see them and kind of like explore them our first time because they like show you around and everything. But as you said there's, there's for 3200 people on a ship there is a spot outside for almost everyone. You know, five people sit inside and that's about it. But I love being on the top deck. They've got these rope swings so these kind of almost like a tire swing, you know.
[00:54:27] Speaker B: Oh cool.
[00:54:28] Speaker C: It gets it two people if you're smaller than me.
But they're really fun. There is a rope at the back of the ship on 12th deck maybe that you can climb out onto and you can look straight down to the.
[00:54:40] Speaker A: Dock bar the catamaran neck.
[00:54:42] Speaker C: Catamaran net. Yeah. Yeah. That's fun to crawl out and get some good pictures of yourselves kind of floating over the ocean.
[00:54:52] Speaker D: Let me ask this since you mentioned so kind of at the beginning you said for Disney the ship is the experience, but for some of these other cruise lines it's the ports or the experience. And so I'm curious with the way Virgin has their ship set up and their onboard activities and everything. You know, if you had, if you were going to take a seven night cruise on Virgin, do you think, you know, you would still have a good time or is it really about getting off at the ports? Because the ship is not a place to hang out.
[00:55:17] Speaker C: If it's your first time, I think you're going to love it regardless.
[00:55:20] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:55:20] Speaker C: If it's your second time. So we've been on two different ships. I couldn't tell you because there aren't any differences. There's nothing to tell you. Like, oh, if you go to Scarlet lady, you need to go to this venue. If you go to the Valiant lady, go to this venue. It's identical. It doesn't mean the ship's bad, but it's not what's going to draw you back.
You need to want to go where they're going to go. Like Turks and Caicos. Not always Offered by everybody else. Bimini, which we can talk about a little bit, is gorgeous and is very specialized for them, obviously. I think literally they're the only cruise ship that goes to Bimini and then.
[00:55:53] Speaker B: Actually Celebrity goes there too.
[00:55:55] Speaker C: Is it the same dock though?
[00:55:57] Speaker B: No, I don't believe so. I think they go to a different part of the island and they don't have the same beach club, but they do go to Bimini.
[00:56:04] Speaker D: Well, let's talk about Bimini for a second then. So what was that experience like? It looks a lot more like cause Castaway Cay than it does Coco Cay. Although I think they have a freshwater pool, which is something Castaway Cay does not have. I've also heard that Virgin stays later into the evening, at least on some sailings, to do some more nighttime or early evening activities on the island. So how was the stay in Bimini across the two cruises that you were on?
[00:56:32] Speaker A: Our first time had terrible weather. It rained the entire time.
So it was fun to be there, but we didn't really get to enjoy the beach or anything.
[00:56:41] Speaker C: We were in the suite section though.
[00:56:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Just kind of, you know, hung out for a couple hours, laid around and then went back to the ship. I think that one was only there from like 1 to 7 or 8. On our last cruise we were there from 7am to 8pm so it was there all day. Very crowded. But it started out pretty crowded. I think we didn't get there until like 11. But then even by one it started to thin out because it was very sunny, very hot. So people kind of kept leaving and going, going back. But yeah, the pool is huge, gorgeous. Lots of room to swim.
[00:57:20] Speaker C: There's actually two of them. There's a little bridge that kind of goes over, but it does separate them. I would say, if you will, when you're walking into the club, the right pool is the party pool because that's actually where the DJ is. That was at one point for about two, three hours, wall to wall people.
[00:57:35] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:57:35] Speaker C: The pool to the left, where you can certainly still hear the music was, I would even say almost swimmable. And they've both got the swim up bars. So it's really comfortable and it's really cool. They do have those freshwater pools and it is amazing. Like it's, it's so beautiful. Uh, but sorry.
[00:57:52] Speaker B: And you're, you're, you're purchasing things at the beach club with your whatever, your band, your card. I forget what they use. Yeah, it's wristband. Wristband, that's right. Um, so similar to, like, at Castaway or at Coco Key. You are. Yeah, you're. You're still part of, like, the. In the ship's bubble. It's not like it's a. A separate port of call, if there's a bad way of describing it, but you're basically in the ship bubble.
[00:58:21] Speaker C: Do you take a little minute, a little bit, to get there? Because your tram ride is from Virgin's own port, which is depending on how you want to look at the island. It's a bit of an L shape. You kind of dock slightly where the elbow of the L is, and then you kind of go up one arm of the island. I'd say about a quarter halfway up. So it does take you a few minutes to get there. You do actually have the option of going to other places on that tram. You can get off at a different hotel. You can also get off at the casino, which is not Virgin affiliated, but they will drop you off there. You can rent golf carts and you can tour the island yourself. And then they will. The last stop is the Bimini Beach Club. Just like any place else, they'll check you in because the rest of the island is not Virgin's Island. And then when you go in, the bigger pool section and the main beach are all in front of you, that's everybody. And then Richard's rooftop, or whatever that section is called, the Rockstar Suite section is just off to your left, and that has fewer seats, more shade.
It's kind of like table service type of a thing.
And they do have, I think, very good food.
Even at the beach, they don't always have a lot of variety, for obvious reasons. They've got to kind of do everything right there. But it's really tasty, like, you know, jerk chicken, yams, and. What was the other thing I eat? I'm terrible at this, by the way. I have to ask him, what? Did I do this? And I'm like, did I? That sounds great, but yeah. Sorry.
[01:00:00] Speaker D: Let's talk. Speaking of food, let's talk about food really fast. And then I need to get us onto Rapid Fire because Sam's getting a little itchy, I think, to ask you some questions. But how would you say the food quality is on Virgin as compared to some of the other lines, especially Disney, that you've been on? You noted they don't have the traditional main dining model. It's really a bunch of smaller restaurants that you make reservations at. I suppose you can do walkups on different styles of food across those restaurants. But how Would you say the food was on board? Was it pretty consistent throughout the different experiences?
Any must dos and any places that you'd say skip that and just have. How was it overall?
[01:00:38] Speaker A: Overall, very good. Our first cruise was slightly hit or miss with temperature, but everything tasted great. Second cruise, no issues. I think my favorite restaurant overall is probably Pink Agave, which is the Mexican. And yours.
[01:00:57] Speaker C: I fluctuate. I tend to like the wake for the atmosphere, but I like extra virgin for the Italian food.
[01:01:03] Speaker B: Nice. Awesome. Well, we have all of those booked, so I was like, just thinking, as you're saying that I'm like checking off in my mental list. Yes, we were booked at all of those.
[01:01:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I was going to say we tried gun by this time because our first time, despite having five nights, we could not get a booking and we were just very interested to go. That was probably the loudest indoor venue because they're all doing the drinking game, which I think you've heard of at this point.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: Yes, the soju.
[01:01:30] Speaker C: So again, highly entertaining for me, being the sober observer. Very good food. But you are packed in with a lot of. Of people. So it really depends on if you're very extroverted and you can chat with everybody or if everybody, like, at our table was pretty introverted. And so we sat here in lovely, awkward silence.
[01:01:53] Speaker D: Wow.
[01:01:53] Speaker C: Wow. But could you say the food, everybody.
[01:01:55] Speaker D: The food quality is good. Did you try? So the one restaurant we have booked that we've heard mixed things about is Test Kitchen. Did you try that?
[01:02:02] Speaker A: No, we did not.
[01:02:03] Speaker C: And I would like to qualify. It's because. And I'm not being mean, but he. It won't go.
[01:02:07] Speaker B: Ah, Alex, are you a picky. Are you a little bit of a picky eater?
[01:02:11] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:02:12] Speaker C: He's cautious.
[01:02:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And I've seen videos of the menu and it doesn't really appeal to me. I would go if he really wanted to and then maybe go up to the galley and get something.
[01:02:22] Speaker C: But.
[01:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it doesn't look like my cup of tea.
[01:02:26] Speaker B: Yeah. What. What are the best places to, like, grab food in the middle of the day? Like, or breakfast? Like, where. Where would you say, like, breakfast and lunch? Like, where should. Where should we go? Cause obviously we're not. We haven't. We don't have reservation. I should say ob. We haven't made reservations for brunch anywhere. If we should. To tell us that. But also, like, where. If we're not going to make a reservation for breakfast or lunch on a particular day, where should we go to eat? Where are the sort of the best spots for that more casual or quick service type food.
[01:02:55] Speaker A: Yeah, for brunch, Razzle Dazzle and the Wake have both have brunch. On our first cruise, I think we preferred Brazil Dazzle brunch. The second one was the Wake, So both delicious. Other wise, if you want like a quick lunch, there's the pizza place, which makes fresh pizzas, like made to order, which are delicious.
And then the galley for breakfast or lunch is great. And they have one or two places that are open 24 hours a day. So no matter what time you're hungry, you can go up there and find something to eat.
[01:03:30] Speaker C: The galley does have a couple of options which are the literal grab and goes. So they pre prepare salads or sandwiches and they just put them in a little plastic thing. And you know, they're very good about the whole ship being in environmentally conscious. So everything's like recyclable.
If you go to the galley, it doesn't matter where you sit. You can order from any of the kiosks, if you will, and they'll bring it to your table. Or you can equally just go up and order something. I tend to really like the one that's like the American style breakfast, you know, sausage, scrambled eggs, et cetera. They've got little stools out front you can sit on or you can just sit at a table. So it's really cute.
There's a little coffee shop where you can get teas and coffees. Of course now those are extra pay coffee, but with your deep blue and up frequent sailor, you can actually get a free coffee or tea per person, I think each day.
[01:04:23] Speaker A: Two per day.
[01:04:24] Speaker C: Two per day.
[01:04:25] Speaker B: Oh, wow, that's great. I don't know. Have we. I know, Brian. I know you took care of the status match for yourself. Did. Did we do a status match for me or do I still need to do that? I have no idea.
[01:04:36] Speaker D: I don't know. And frankly it doesn't matter because once you're mega rock star, like, all of the benefits of a status match are basically included in the cruise fare.
[01:04:43] Speaker C: So it's like your status is irrelevant.
[01:04:47] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[01:04:47] Speaker D: Everything is included at that point.
[01:04:49] Speaker A: Anyone listening? That's not going. Mega Rockstar, the Schwabs and the Sea terrace.
[01:04:55] Speaker B: Okay, all right, all right. I know we're bougie. We know about. We know it, we know it. We admit it.
[01:05:00] Speaker C: We totally. I live so vicariously through you guys with so many different things because we hope to get to that stratosphere, but we're not there yet.
[01:05:08] Speaker D: So Does. So does the hitman from American Express that's coming after me.
I want to ask one last. I want to ask one last question before we shift over to Rapid Fire. The onboard technologies we've heard about. Shake for Champagne. You mentioned the app. It seems like they use kind of like some sort of wristband kind of setup. Did that all work pretty well?
[01:05:29] Speaker C: The app is my most frustrating thing about Virgin, because for me, and I don't know if I don't think I am that technologically impaired. However, my. My phone must not like me when I am on cruise ships because I tend to be the one that has the app issues. However, this time we could not use the in app messaging feature, which is not a huge problem because they do have excellent WiFi. It is really good. And if you've got iMessage or something or WhatsApp, you're perfectly fine. But sometimes you just want to do something in the app. And I had so many crashes, I had so many errors. And as I said before, I kind of take a breath, put my phone down and turn to him and say, would you mind?
So, yeah, I will.
[01:06:14] Speaker D: I will. I will give a quick tip for folks out there who have that problem, because I have that problem with my phone a lot. And the two things I end up having to do when I go on a cruise. One, I have a enforced corporate VPN on my phone, so I have to turn that off. And the second thing is I have to turn off. I use private relay for iOS and I have to turn that off. And then that, like, the. For a long time, I would go to log into the ship's wifi and it would give me all of this garbage on a page, and I was like, what is going? And they turned off Private Relay and that fixed it, but yeah, Private. Sorry, Alex. You were going to say something wild, but.
[01:06:43] Speaker C: No, it's okay.
[01:06:43] Speaker A: I was just going to compare it to Disney.
Disney. We have had great experience, well, particularly me, with the app. Whereas WiFi, not so great. Virgin's kind of the opposite. WiFi is amazing. App has some difficulties at times, but.
[01:07:00] Speaker C: The bracelets work just like the Magic plus bands. So I have no issues with them. They're a little funky to put on. The way that you kind of like attach the loop is with this little anchor. So it's very cute, but it's not the easiest to get on and off, but it works all the time. So wherever you're scanning into your room, wherever you're scanning in, if you need to pay for something or if they need to check, you know, your ID or something getting on, off the ship. It works perfectly fine. You don't need to charge it.
[01:07:28] Speaker B: Oh, that's a plus.
[01:07:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:07:30] Speaker C: They've even instigated a recycling service. So we keep our bands just because it's like a symbol of going on our cruise. But they do actually have a drop off kiosk for you so that they will reuse the bands for future sailings, which I think is actually really cool.
[01:07:44] Speaker B: Now can you wear them? I'm imagining the answer is yes. But can you wear them in the pool?
[01:07:48] Speaker D: Yes.
[01:07:49] Speaker C: Ocean as well. They are safe for all types of water. Water and swimming. You could shower with it. That just depends on the temperature.
[01:07:57] Speaker D: Which are they plastic or what are they made from? Do you know?
[01:08:00] Speaker A: So the.
[01:08:01] Speaker C: I should have grabbed one.
[01:08:01] Speaker A: There's like the medallion has. Is plastic and then it's like rope. Rope around the band.
[01:08:09] Speaker B: Yeah. I went to an all inclusive down in Mexico and I had one of what appears to be. I've seen a picture of the Virgin Voyages one and it looks pretty similar where it's got just. Yeah, just a medallion like on a rope. And the medallion is the RFID or whatever technology they're using. Yeah.
[01:08:29] Speaker C: So I know you want to get to Rapid Fire, but I do want to talk about the rooms very briefly.
[01:08:33] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[01:08:34] Speaker C: Because when I've listened to you guys and when I've seen. So we watch Brian and David on YouTube all the time. Ben and David, of course I was going to do that.
[01:08:44] Speaker B: Sorry.
[01:08:44] Speaker C: If you're listening, we find you guys and them to be like really the people who inform me the most. So one of the things is, however, when Ben and David went, I think they were in an XLC terrace and we weren't able to get one. We had to do a regular sea terrace. Now I only mentioned my height because I'm not huge, but I am six foot two and I do notice small spaces. Quite.
[01:09:06] Speaker B: And the shower, right. I mean showers are a big thing. You have to, you have to have a shower that can actually like get water over your head.
[01:09:13] Speaker C: Do a limbo anyway.
[01:09:14] Speaker B: Right.
[01:09:15] Speaker C: So this seriously sweet. Which you guys are going to have the, you know, extra, extra rockstar version of is amazing. The bed is amazing. The view is amazing because your bed actually looks out onto the balcony and then therefore out onto the ocean or whatever your view is. So you're pointed exactly where you want to be.
It's roomy, it's comfortable. It is a shower where if anybody's using it they will be able to see you from the room. So there's that. The bathroom is accommodating for two people to be in at once. Brushing your teeth, doing whatever you need to. Very nice desk, record player, bar, all that fun stuff. Suites are amazing. Highly recommend them. Sea terrace. So my claustrophobia is kind of kicked in a little bit, particularly in the bathroom. So when I say I walk into the bathroom, I don't move in the bathroom. I pivot.
I walk in and there's a sink. I pivot to my right. There's the toilet. I pivot and move about 5 inches to my left. And there's the shower.
[01:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's really tight.
[01:10:14] Speaker C: Yeah. The shower is tall enough for me to not be a problem, but it's that kind of move cramped. And the only upside is the door swings out both ways. And when I say that he said the bathroom was small, I was like, ah, problem.
[01:10:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:10:29] Speaker C: But we also found the room quite tight. So the bed and the wall where the TV is and the desk have like a little meeting spot that they don't like to tell you about. And in the middle of the evening, if you need to get up for various reasons, you will find one of them a kn.
[01:10:46] Speaker B: You'll end up with a bruise. Yeah, yeah, that's. That's what would happen to me.
[01:10:50] Speaker D: I remember, I remember when Emma Latisse from who does Emma cruises, when she sailed virgin the first time a. She had a just scathing review of the ship overall. But she highlighted, I think, some questionable decisions they'd made around the staterooms. And it was really like a stateroom not designed by anyone who had ever sailed on a cruise ship before. You know, so I've heard that. I was going to say for the shower. I have heard from folks, you can ask, ask them. They have like some sort of insert or something they can put up on the window between the stateroom and the shower so that you're not like you're out watching your partner shower all the time. I always, I will say this. I remember there was like the. The fancy hotel, like dynamic for the longest time was we'll have the bed and then we'll have this like window with sliding, sliding like shutters or something so you can peek into the. I'm like, why would you want. I. I like. No, you don't want that. Like, no one wants to see into the bathroom from the bedroom.
[01:11:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:11:39] Speaker C: That is for the movies and people who are models, right?
[01:11:43] Speaker B: Us normal people. Yeah, yeah. As normal people want privacy when we're showering and when we're pooping. Okay.
[01:11:50] Speaker D: Yes.
[01:11:51] Speaker C: And you don't get that in the suite either because the door is see through.
[01:11:53] Speaker B: Right, Right. Yeah, yeah.
[01:11:55] Speaker C: But yeah. So the sea terrace, not my favorite. Now that isn't to say that I wouldn't try the XL or something with more room, but like you only have the bed and a stool.
You don't even get a chair in the room. As an extra thing, there's this kind of table you can slide over the bed and then you can kind of use. And then there's the desk. And that's pretty much it. You do get a fridge, of course, which is nice. The balcony is kind of weird in the sense of it's actually quite large and spacious. You've got the two chairs and a table and you've got your hammock. And again, for my height, I can stretch out in the hammock as long as I'm kind of diagonal and it's comfortable. But the interior and the bed is low. That's the other thing. So I get up and my knees are where my nose is.
[01:12:36] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[01:12:38] Speaker C: And the one thing I will say, which is something that everybody complained about, they do not automatically give you the couch and then make the bed. You just tell them what you want. Like we left the bed that way the whole time. The couch was pointless. And for everyone we've ever talked to, listened to, seen on YouTube channels, that's like their biggest, like, why did you do this? Yeah, give me a chair, give me a seat, give me a bed. Don't make them the same thing. Yeah, I talked a lot. So. Anything else?
[01:13:07] Speaker B: Sorry, no, no, it makes sense. I mean, I think, you know, Disney is known for having, you know, one larger state rooms. Sort of the best design of staterooms, I think in the industry. And I think that's true. I mean, that's like. We have limited experience on other cruise lines, but some. And that's been our experience. Not to say that other state rooms haven't been beautiful. Of course, the higher the class you're staying in, they'll be beautiful regardless of what cruise line you go on. And you'll find, you know, you can have a lot of space if you pay for the space, but it really matters. And the way that they, you know, deal with smaller spaces is really, really key. And I have been inside some inside staterooms on Disney and they're doing it the best. I mean, they really just know how to make the best use out of the space. The storage might not Be great on every ship. It's not great on the wish class ships, in our opinion. But that being said, they do a really good job of arranging things so that you maybe don't hit your knee on the edge of the. Of the, you know, armoire or the coffee as you're getting out of bed to go pee in the middle of the night. So that's really important.
[01:14:12] Speaker C: You can't beat that split bathroom.
[01:14:14] Speaker B: Yes, yes, of course.
[01:14:16] Speaker C: The few cruises we've been on, you cannot beat that. That is just amazing.
[01:14:20] Speaker D: Well, I think we have reached that point in the show where I need to subject you to Sam's arbitrary questions, arbitrary rules, and more than a heaping dash of judgment of the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sam, take it on.
[01:14:34] Speaker B: All right, thank you, Brian. So we're going to do a verses here. We're going to do not the classic rapid fire because we talked. We're talking dis versus Virgin. So I gotta give you sort of categories and you're gonna tell me who's doing it better. And then I'm gonna. I'm gonna add on a favorite restaurant at the end. Not a who's doing it better but favorite restaurant between all of them. So let's start with booking. Like ease of booking. This can be like app or website or sort of combination of the sort of stuff that you're doing from home, not. Not the it on board. So let's talk. Yeah. Who's doing booking better?
Can be joint answers if you want or these can be. If you have different answers, that's okay too. So, Alex, let's start with you. Who's doing booking better or easier for the cruise itself?
[01:15:25] Speaker A: Virgin. Because if you have a placeholder, you can do it online. You don't have to call.
[01:15:30] Speaker B: Oh, that's really nice.
[01:15:32] Speaker A: Yeah, that's super helpful for the rest of it. For your onboard stuff. Disney.
[01:15:37] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. Okay, so split decision there, Ryan. Any additional Are different thoughts or no, because you didn't do it.
[01:15:45] Speaker C: I was going to say I kind of like, oh, this crew sounds neat. Swipe over. You know, one thing I will give Virgin credit for again is also so far they've had the best embarkation and debarkation experiences.
We've done Disney at the old Miami and the Port Canaveral.
Got those.
[01:16:05] Speaker B: Well, you get the late. The late debarkation, I think. Sounds really nice. I'm really, I'm super looking forward to that. All right, well, let's.
At the airport, let's talk it.
And when I say It. Let's talk onboard, onboard technology. So this can be the app, the wifi sort of combination.
Ryan, who's doing it better?
[01:16:28] Speaker C: Virgin. The wifi is exceptional because it's included.
So even if your app really annoys you, you still have your email, you still have your WhatsApp, you still have your messaging services, provided it's not like a tech service. But they also have those tablets in each of the rooms and it's irrelevant to the level that you're staying. So you could be in an inside cabin, solo cabin. You could be in the mega Rockstar suite. Everybody gets a tablet. It controls your lights, your curtains, your entertainment and stuff. And it just, it's super handy.
[01:16:56] Speaker B: That sounds awesome.
[01:16:57] Speaker C: We've also, we've never had any problems on Mat on. It's magic on Disney or Virgin with our bands, but we have sailed with Disney before they implemented that technology.
[01:17:07] Speaker B: Sure, sure.
[01:17:08] Speaker C: So if you will, Virgin kind of wins because they've had it for the longest.
[01:17:12] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense.
[01:17:14] Speaker C: Definitely works.
[01:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Any different or additional thoughts, Alex?
[01:17:18] Speaker A: I would still just give Disney credit for their app, but I would probably agree with everything you said overall.
[01:17:26] Speaker C: All right, got it on tape.
[01:17:30] Speaker B: Okay. What about onboard activities? You know, I know there's a lot of relaxing on the cruising and general. Right. But you know, is there enough to do for you guys that doesn't mean for everybody, but for you guys, is there enough to do and who's doing those onboard activities better? Alex, we'll start with you this time. What about you, Ryan?
[01:17:50] Speaker C: Oh, I agree. Yeah.
[01:17:51] Speaker B: All right. Okay. So we need more trivias. Virgin, you gotta. I hope they're listening. Maybe they're. Maybe they'll call you and ask for ideas. All right, let's. Let's talk evening entertainment.
And it doesn't necessarily, obviously have to be Broadway style shows, but is there stuff to do in the evenings that is entertaining enough for you? Ryan, let's start with you. Who's doing that better?
[01:18:17] Speaker C: So I am not a Broadway person or a theater person. I have enjoyed Disney shows, but honestly, I am the person who can go out on deck at night and just like watch everything sail by. I can be in the pool. I can be at a party. I'm pretty happy to just be beyond the cruise. But because of the style of shows and because even I was impressed by them, Disney does do it better.
[01:18:38] Speaker B: Wow. All right, Alex, what about you?
[01:18:41] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely Disney for the shows.
[01:18:43] Speaker B: Awesome. Okay, what about food? This is a hard one because obviously it's a different style of eating, but let's do sort of an overall, obviously. And so that includes the style, but also the food quality. Quality. Alex, we'll start with you very hard.
[01:19:02] Speaker A: But I'm going to go Virgin.
[01:19:03] Speaker B: Wow.
Now, what's the tipping point? Is it the food quality is better or is it just you really prefer the style of sort of choose your own dining over rotational dining?
[01:19:14] Speaker A: Some of it is just the fact that there's no buffet.
And I do like the variety of having your specialty restaurants that you don't really pay for.
[01:19:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. What about you, Ryan?
[01:19:29] Speaker C: Actually, the same as much as. So for Disney when we go, we're just so happy to be on the Disney cruises because we do love them, and I do like Palo, and we've gone to Remy and we've had good experiences. But for everything that's included in what you're getting, Virgin's food quality across the board is, to me, better.
[01:19:48] Speaker B: Wow.
[01:19:49] Speaker C: I also am not a huge fan of the buffet because it's just. It's so crowded when you need it, and Virgins is just not. And there. There is a better variety of food as well.
[01:19:58] Speaker B: Interesting. All right, well, let's talk service, then. Both really well known, I think, for service. Right. Both a really high level of service. So this is not to ding either cruise line. Want to be very clear with that. Like, I'm not saying I. I can't imagine either one of them being really terrible. But, Ryan, who's doing service better?
[01:20:18] Speaker C: Oh, I really want to say it's tied.
[01:20:20] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. I mean, that's okay. You could say it's tied. It's.
[01:20:24] Speaker C: It's. So the people do really seem happy on both ships when we've talked to them about working for those companies, and you know how everything goes for them. And I take that as kind of like, okay, you guys give us great service, but are you happy as well? And when you get all that positive feedback, you're kind of like, okay, so you both treat your employees really well. You treat us amazingly well. So I got to call Ty for me.
[01:20:49] Speaker B: Oh, wow. All right. Alex, can you break the tie? I don't have to.
[01:20:53] Speaker A: I mean, so, like, you know, we've done four Disney cruises. I think we've had three with absolutely exceptional service, and then two Virgin cruises with exceptional service.
[01:21:04] Speaker B: Okay, all right. So, yeah, I guess you got to call it a tie then there. Okay, well, you already said the cabins on Disney are better, so I'm not even going to ask you that question, but I'm going to ask you across your Disney Cruises, your Virgin cruises, your Norwegian cruise, your Princess cruise. What was the best restaurant? I mean, it could include a rotational dining restaurant. It could be Apollo or Remy. It could be a gun Bay or, you know, one of the wake. Whatever. What is like for each of you? So I'm expecting this answer could be different between the two of you. What is like single best restaurant across all your cruises? Ryan, let's start with you.
[01:21:43] Speaker C: I don't know. I'm just hungry now.
Oh, that is a tough one.
[01:21:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's meant to be.
[01:21:51] Speaker C: If, you know, it's like we were separating it earlier with the service. Like, it would still be between Disney and Virgin because they're just so amazing and yet also one of the nicest people we had was on Princess. But I think food wise for a restaurant. Oh, do you have an answer?
[01:22:06] Speaker A: I was actually gonna say there's a hibachi restaurant on Norwegian.
[01:22:13] Speaker B: Ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. I mean, listen, we. We loved the hibachi restaurant on Royal, so I totally. I totally get that. Okay, so the hibachi restaurant for Alex. Ryan, do you agree or you have a different one?
[01:22:24] Speaker C: I. It was delicious, but when you're talking about it, I think I actually might go to your heart, which was Palo.
[01:22:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right.
[01:22:33] Speaker C: So, by the way, I wrote out all my answers for the traditional restaurant.
[01:22:36] Speaker B: And I flipped the script on you. I love it.
[01:22:39] Speaker C: So they actually had a dish that he got, which was the.
Which I ended up eating most of because it was huge. And I think that was probably one of my favorite meals ever.
[01:22:50] Speaker B: Yeah, Brian loves the osso buco there, too, although he has switched it up and started going back to the Dover Soul the last couple times. I think the ossobuco just got too big at some point. All right. Okay. My last question of rapid fire is going to be different. I'm not going to ask you the bucket list cruise. I'm going to ask you if you are jumping on a cruise ship tomorrow. Let's say, like, you. You're just, you know, any cruise doesn't. Doesn't matter if you have to choose to go on a cruise tomorrow. And. And. And money's not, you know, a consideration. Let's say they're, you know, equal in price at similar C class between, you know, rooms and whatnot.
Other than, of course, the bathrooms being very different.
Tell me, are you going on a Disney cruise tomorrow or are you going on a Virgin voyages cruise tomorrow? Alex, let's start with you going on a Disney cruise.
I kind of knew you were going to pick that. What about you, Ryan?
[01:23:42] Speaker C: Same.
[01:23:43] Speaker B: I love it. After all this praise for Virgin and, you know, all that, still, there's something about Disney that just pulls the heartstrings off.
[01:23:51] Speaker C: We have three Disney cruises, books, and nobody else.
[01:23:55] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, there you go.
[01:23:56] Speaker A: We do love Virgin, but, you know, we keep telling people, like, Disney is still our favorite. Virgin is just the second, which is not a knock on Virgin. It just.
[01:24:08] Speaker B: And, and, and that says something. And it says something, especially because you're not sailing with kids and you're still choosing Disney. So that, I mean, I think people are, you know, always interested to hear about other cruise lines and what's out there. And I do think there are different cruise lines that, you know, different people will like. But I also think it's important to let people know that Disney is not just about sailing with young children. And we have enjoyed our cruises, just the two of us, just as much, actually, if not more than sailing family. So, yeah, I think that's an important message, and I think that people should know that. And I think you guys are proof positive that is true, that that remains true, that Disney can be where your heart is. Well, thank you for playing. Thank you for giving us your honest and answers, even if they weren't Disney. I totally understand and I appreciate the feedback and we're very excited for our Virgin Voyages cruise.
[01:25:05] Speaker C: I really hope you guys will love it. I will be listening to your episode about it when it comes out, as I do all of yours, but I think. I really. I don't know if I think. I really hope you're going to be as excited and thrilled about it as we were, but I will say, like, I really want to get your opinion on the Mega Rockstar suite.
[01:25:24] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:25:24] Speaker C: Are you guys getting the ones with the guitars?
[01:25:26] Speaker D: I don't know off the top of.
[01:25:28] Speaker C: My head, because I'm expecting a jam session as part of your podcast.
[01:25:33] Speaker B: Well, here's the problem. I don't actually. I don't play guitar. And Brian hasn't taken lessons now in a few years, and he only played for a little bit.
[01:25:40] Speaker C: So most people I know, that has been completely irrelevant.
[01:25:48] Speaker B: You know, I can pretend it's a ukulele and try. So try.
[01:25:52] Speaker D: There you go. Well, Ryan, Alex, thank you so much for taking time out of your weekend to come share your experience with Virgin Voyages with our listeners. And we look forward to sharing our own experience here soon after. Before this episode comes out, we will have shared our experience, but hope that this adds to the arsenal of folks out there who we always like to we get some complaints sometimes. You guys don't always cover Disney. That's because Disney's not the only cruise line out there and we love to make sure people know what else is out there as they think about sharing or spending their vacation dollars just because Disney is, you know, not the least expensive cruise line out there either. And I think sometimes us Disney fans get a little too much in the bubble and don't try other experiences. So we love doing these kinds of shows. And Ryan and Alex, thank you so much for coming on, being a part of this episode and sharing your experience with Virgin, with all of our listeners out there.
[01:26:38] Speaker C: Thank you guys for letting us talk to you.
[01:26:40] Speaker A: Yes, thanks for having us.
[01:26:41] Speaker C: Appreciate it.
[01:26:46] 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 to help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at 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 My Path Unwinding or email
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