[00:00:00] Speaker A: I went out there and it was like one of those moments you see in the movies where like you walk in and like there's like two people in the restaurant and all the tables are empty and you're like, oh, do you have room for one? And they're like, I'm sorry. We're all.
Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. And it's listener review time. We have a listener review from October of 2023. We're still like a year behind here, Sam.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: We gotta catch up. Brian, maybe we gotta read two on the evening.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Oh no, I don't ever wanna catch up. I wanna be a year. I wanna have so many reviews. We're always like a year behind because if we catch up and we have nothing to then I lose my whole segment at the top of the show. So here we go. Leave us a listener review. G.B. colleen writes one stop resource. My whole family is planning a multi generational Disney cruise on the Dream for a Marvel Day at Sea cruise and we can't wait. Started listening when I found the episode with Kaylee about concierge cruising and she just helped us score the grand family cabana. It's been extremely helpful to have all the information about cruising for every passenger in our group. For my parents who are looking for an upscale experience to my family who needs all the info on the kids clubs and meet and greets and everything in between. Thank you. With three exclamation points.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: Well, I love that.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: What makes me so happy about that review is that she mentions Kaylee who is our travel agent. And love Kaylee. Lots of love to you, Kaylee. Thank you for all the help you give us. Thank you GB Colleen for that review. And as I said, head over to Apple podcast, hit those five stars. Leave us a written review. We will read it on the air at the top of one of our episodes. And with that, Sam, we got a fun guest. I'm throwing it over to you to introduce our guest, David and what we're going to be talking about.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Well, you just stole my thunder. You just did his name already.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Much like you keep stealing my outros. So there you go.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: This is what it's like co hosting a podcast with your spouse by the way, for those listening.
So if you ever think about it, think twice. Okay.
Anyway, I'm excited to welcome first time guest to our show. David, welcome to the show.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks for joining us and thanks for Reaching out to us. I love today's show topic. Before I tell people what our show topic is going to be, let's start with how many Disney cruises have you been on? Or how many cruises have you been on? And I want to hear what time period, because this is a little bit out of the ordinary, I would say. And it sounds like maybe you are, I don't know, similar to Brian.
[00:02:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I always tell people like that there's like, I don't have, like, a middle on the dial. I'm either like, I hate something, I don't do anything, or I go full throttle. But I've been on 17 cruises.
Seven of those have been on Disney, 10 on other lines. And my first cruise was the Return to Sailing on the Dream in August of 2021. So it's been. It's been an average of five cruises a year. Although I've only actually been on one cruise so far this year, so really was 16 over three years. But I'm fixing the number the back half of this year.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: That's crazy. And I would say, yes, full throttle is the best way to describe that type of. I don't know, I'll call it obsession. And like I said, you're just like Brian. He is one of those people, is the same way when he gets into something he likes dives in headfirst. I mean, like Disney cruising. He decided obviously we should start a podcast. I mean, this is so crazy, but I love that you've done so many in such a short time period. But the thing we wanted to talk about today was solo cruising, and you've done solo cruising quite a bit of your 17 cruises. How many of those have been on your own?
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Yeah, I think about 10 of them have been on my own, and a couple of them, Disney, have been on my own as well.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: That's amazing. Now tell. Tell us what. What actually got you started in cruising in general? And was your first. Was your first cruise a Disney cruise?
[00:04:06] Speaker C: Yeah, so, yeah, the first cruise was a Disney cruise. It was that first sailing on the Dream. And I think a couple of things. One, I always knew what cruising was and, like, but I always thought it was for old people. And then during, like, during COVID I don't know, somehow Cruise YouTube became like, the hole that I ended up going down. And so that was what filled up, like, most of those first nine months of COVID We were all stuck at home, which I have forgotten was a thing that we all did. But I remember it every now and again, and I think it was a combination of a couple of things. One, a couple of my other really close Disney friends had also never been on any cruise. And by virtue of we couldn't do cruises, it was like a thing of like, man, I can't wait to get on a cruise. Like, this sounds really fun. And so, yeah, that period of time of just not being able to get on a cruise is what got me really excited. Excited about it. And so like, the. I had. I was previously planning on doing a cruise in 2021 to Alaska, which got canceled because I think, yeah, it was the second year of Alaska cruises that got canceled. But then as soon as kind of they announced that the dream was coming back, I booked that first one and that one. I did it with a friend, but I was kind of, I was hooked. And for me it was just the being in the middle of the ocean and seeing nothing but water that. That got me hooked.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. Now, have you always been a Disney person? I think you told me you, you're from LA originally, even though you don't live there right now, but obviously super close to Disneyland. The original, the original park. But yeah. Have you always been a Disney lover? And is that what drew you to Disney cruising specifically?
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I've always been a Disney lover. I didn't actually grow up going to the parks much. I went once when I was five and we went once with summer camp when I was like 12. I ended up becoming a parks fan a lot more as an adult. Once I had my own money, I could do my own thing. But yeah, when I turned 18, I got an annual pass at Disneyland that was basically there like every Saturday and Sunday because it was a, you know, it was a 30 minute drive, so why not? Yeah, so, yeah, so I, I grew up with Disney with, you know, like with all the films and whatnot. Became a parks fan. And then when I moved to Texas, I realized I was halfway between both Disneyland and Disney World. And so I got the premier passport when it was still a thing. Before COVID I kind of. Yeah, I was like a lot of weekend trips and then I still go to the parks. But cruising kind of became the thing for a bit, you know, at the point I discovered it.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Wow, that's awesome. I love that you are like equidistant to both from Texas. That's like, amazing. Tell us, like, for solo cruising, which lines have you done? Solo, you mentioned Disney, of course, but which other cruise lines have you done and which. I guess actually, which, which other cruise lines have you done? Let's start with that.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Yeah. So I've done. So I've done seven Disney cruises. I've done one Carnival Cruise, which I actually liked a lot more than I thought I would. And then the remaining nine were split between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. And I've been that one Carnival Cruise with Solo. I've done Disney solo, I've done Royal Solo, and I've done Celebrity Solo.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Oh, nice. Wow. That's like a good array and variety of cruise lines.
What made you decide you had been on obviously, a Disney cruise. First you mentioned what made you decide to veer into some of these other cruise lines? Because obviously you mentioned Disney sort of, you know, the combination of the, the YouTube rabbit hole during COVID and the love for Disney got you on Disney Cruise Line. But what got you to those other cruise lines?
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Money. So, yeah, if, if, if money was no object, I think it would be like, unless it was an itinerary, I wanted to do that Disney didn't do. I think I would be on Disney every cruise. But, like, I have my fixed budget for, you know, for vacation. And I would rather, as much as I love Disney and Disney cruising, I would rather cruise more than just cruise on Disney. And so that's kind of how the diversity of lines kind of began. And sometimes Disney isn't that much more expensive. But, like, there are a lot of times where, like, it's, it's a pretty big difference. And so especially if, like, I'm more focused on where I'm going and I'm not going to be on the ship that much, I'd rather save the money and just go on another line, which in many ways I like some other lines, something the lines have I like more, and some on Disney I like more. So just kind of a mix.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: I sense a rapid fire coming on. Sam.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Yeah, but I mean, it makes sense. Like, when the price difference isn't huge, you might choose Disney. Right. When it's a couple hundred dollars. Right. But when it's in the magnitudes of thousands of dollars and you're going someplace where, like you said, you're going to be off the ship a huge amount of the time, you're going to see particular ports. Like, in that situation, of course, it makes sense to take whatever cruise line is giving you the best deal. Now tell us, would you, would you normally choose to cruise, like, solo or, like, do you like to vacation on your own? Has it been cruising solo because, you know, none of your friends or your fiance available to cruise with you at that particular time? Like, what's sort of the driving force behind when you have cruise solo because you've done it, you said 10 out of 17 times.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think it's a couple of things. Like my preference actually would be like, if I had it my way, I would cruise once a year solo because I do really like the time of being on vacation by yourself. You can do whatever you want whenever you want. I do think I have as long as the right people. I do have more fun on cruises with friends, although even on the solo cruises, I've made friends on the ship. So you're cruising solo, but you're never really alone. But yeah, I think it was a combination of things. When I first started cruising during. When I first started cruising during COVID I had some friends that either weren't comfortable, they weren't comfortable with the idea of a cruise yet, or they didn't want to fly just to test positive and then not be able to on the ship. But I think, yeah, I kind of like, I basically decide that I want to go on a cruise and if someone wants to come with, amazing, but if not, like, it's not going to stop me. I'm going to go.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: I love that. I love that. That's like, I feel like that kind of like planner independent streak is like so common in the cruising community too, because it's like, I want to do this thing and I love it if my friends can join me, but if they can't, that's not going to stop me. Right. Like, that's a great, it's a great philosophy to have. Now tell us, like, from the logistical standpoint, what, what's the, what's sort of the best to cruise on from a price point value, you know, perspective for a solo cruiser? Because, right. You've got different, these different cruise lines that you've taken. And we know Disney's the most expensive. We know Disney charge you double occupancy for every room that you stay on. Are the other cruise lines different in that way or there are other ones where you can get a deal going solo?
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Yeah, so there's, there's a range and you have to be really careful because they like to play a lot of games. So this is like where having a travel agent helps a lot. So there, there are some cruise lines, so both Celebrity and Royal on a lot of their newer ships actually have solo cabins kind of. They have solo cabins across the entire variety of like of cabin types. And for those they don't charge double occupancy. However, it really only is a value if you book it the day that the itinerary goes on sale. What I've noticed an overwhelming majority of the time is that the solo cabin will be more expensive than just paying for two people in a normal cabin. And I think it's just because the way the algorithm is set is as a certain category gets filled, the price starts going up. The solo cabins, I've done them a couple of times and on Celebrity, they have solo balconies and they're a little bit smaller, but the bathroom is always the same size of the full size bathroom. So, like, I really like those. Sometimes some cruise lines will charge like 250 or 300% if you're solo. And so the trick I've done a lot of the time is you just book it with two people and then the second person doesn't show up. And so, yeah, so you just have to play games. Like, you have to play their own game and just like try different combinations, see what works out the cheapest and then go from there. Because, like, especially on Royal Caribbean, a lot of the time they'll have a promotion where like the second guest is 60% off, but it's. If you put it that you're one guest, you'll pay the full 100% price for each guest. If you put your two guests. Yeah. So you just got to. If you have a travel agent, which I do like, you just have them figure it out and they'll just pick an itinerary and they'll figure out what the kind of the best way to do it is. And so how I played it.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So then you just put like your fiance's information in there, even if she's not coming with you.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: Exactly, yeah. And so that is one thing I will say about Disney, like, as much as like they are the most expensive most of the time, like, at least they don't play games with their price. Like the price is the price and you know what you're getting for the price.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: And whether you have somebody in the room or not in the room with you, it's going to cost the same. Right. When it's, when it's a one versus two, it doesn't matter. You are going to pay the two person, you're paying, as I mentioned, double occupancy, regardless of whether you're one person or two people. It's only when you get to the third or fourth passenger where you get there is a discount. I mean, it's, it's, it's a lower price whether it's a kid or not a kid. It's a lower price.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Hey, David, I'm curious, have you thought about Sailing Virgin Voyages? Because they offer some solo traveler stuff. It's, I think, you know, one of the things they're trying to do with their disrupt the cruise, you know, experience industry was like, be a little bit more friendly to solo travelers. Have you, have you thought about sailing Virgin?
[00:13:38] Speaker C: Yeah, so I have actually. I have a Virgin cruise booked. It's June of next year, I think June 15th or 16th of next year. I'm not going solo with my fiance because that was one that she was excited for too. But yeah, I am very excited to try Virgin. I wanted to do it sooner. Just it's, it didn't work out for whatever reason. But yeah, I am very excited for that.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: What's. So you're not going solo, you're going with your fiance? Is that what you.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:01] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah. But if it goes the way most of them go, I'll like it and we'll book another one before we get off.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. Well, okay. So logistically it sounds like you've got to really pay attention to what the pricing looks like. And your recommendation definitely makes sense to me. Using a travel, a travel advisor to help you figure out whether it makes sense to book it as a solo or makes sense to book it as a double. And then the other person just no shows. Is there any, any consequence that you're aware of if the person's obviously paid in full right to no showing.
[00:14:35] Speaker C: The only consequence is like so on, on Royal Caribbean, if you're cruising solo, you get double points in their crown and anchor society, you won't get the double point.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: Ah, okay.
[00:14:46] Speaker C: But yeah, that's really the only, that's the only consequence. And then even like so you will have double paid for port fees as well. But when that person fails to check in, you'll basically receive a refund of the port fees too. So yeah, there's, there's, there's no consequence of anyone get the double points.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense. So if you're trying to get to Pinnacle really, really fast on Royal, maybe you just want to go with solo and pay even if it costs more. I don't know. I guess up to that person.
[00:15:15] Speaker C: Well, exactly, yeah.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Let's talk about the onboard experience, obviously, because I'm sure that's what people most, you know, wonder about when you're sail, when you're selling solo. Let's talk about dining like first. How, how does Dining work when you're solo, are you. I mean, it probably depends if you're a, you know, specialty dining person versus a main dining person and all of that. But how do you sort of decide what you're going to do on any of these cruise lines as far as dining goes? And. And do you want to sit by yourself? Do you want to sit with other people? And what's been your experience as far as how that sort of shakes out?
[00:15:51] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a great question, and I'll give a very. I give a different answer for Disney versus all the other lines, just because Disney really your only dinner option unless you're going to specialty as you're sitting in the main dining room. And so for Disney, I've had two different experiences. I did the four night on the Wish after marathon weekend, and on that cruise, there was a large amount of solos on board. And so in main dining, they basically had a table of 25 of us.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: Yeah. And so it's basically one giant table with all the solos. And so that trip was a blast in many ways, but especially from, like, especially from a dining perspective, I would say that's rare. Like, I've never been on another Disney cruise that had that many solos on it before. And then I had another Disney cruise that it was during COVID so they still weren't seating you together. And that one I sat alone, and that one was great. I feel like the waitstaff treated me like royalty, so that was a lot of fun. They were very attentive. They were always there.
Yeah, that was a blast. And then the other couple of times, like, I like main dining, and unless you're eating Apollo every night, you're going to end up at main dining. And I've been seated with the variety of, like, it's been one or two other solos or I've been put with, like, with a family or two. But it's like, whoever picks how they seat people has always done a good job. So I've, like, when I sat alone, it was great, and when I sat with other folks, it was also great. So, yeah, I think from a dining perspective, like, if you're comfortable sitting alone and you want to sit alone, you can always ask them and they'll like the same way. They would, you know, skate a couple at a tube top if they want.
They'll try and accommodate it. But I, like, I'm very much a extrovert, and I like sitting with other people, and so I've always enjoyed that. Palo Solo was also Amazing. And like, they sat me. I did Palo on the Wish solo, and they sat me at one of like the giant round booths. And it was just me and it was a lot of fun. So I very much enjoyed that experience.
And nothing was rushed because I was solo. So I really enjoyed that on other cruise lines, what I've always done. So if you book one of the. If you book one of the main dining times, they will seat you at a table with other solos if there are other solos. But what the other cruise lines do, and I don't know of any other of other than Disney because they don't have that many solos on board. Every other cruise line I've seen does this on the first night in one of the bars, they'll have a solo travel, like a solo travel get together. The cruise director will essentially host it. It'll release like hour and a half or so. And the whole idea of it is like, make friends. And those are your friends for the whole cruise.
Yeah. And so what I've always done on the other cruises is I will book the anytime dining option. And then based on whoever I make fresh friends with on that, on that first night, we'll basically go eat, you know, our meals that way. And so that. That's kind of been my preferred way to do it on those cruises.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's super smart. I didn't even think about, like an official solo cruise get together because I feel like I see so in Disney Facebook groups, I think you're absolutely right. Like, there are usually some solo cruisers. Not a ton on Disney, but there are some. And if there are, I tend to see somebody making a post in a Facebook group group saying, hey, any other solo cruisers you want to get together on the first night at, you know, a particular bar to meet up and make friends so that, you know, you make some friends to go do activities with. I've also seen a lot of single parents do that as well. Like to try and meet up with other single parents, you know, to. For the same reason, to socialize, maybe introduce their kids, whatnot, that. That sort of a thing. I think that's a really. A really smart way of doing it. On the other cruise lines, I have noticed there's not as much Facebooking, although Royal seems to have, you know, there are Royal Facebook groups that we're actually in a Virgin Voyages Facebook group for the Virgin Voyages cruise we're taking. Have you found, you know, meeting people through cruise Facebook groups other than on Disney? Because I know on Disney it's really easy because There always is a Facebook group, but on other cruise lines, have you found that that's another way to kind of connect with people, to, you know, make plans to meet up on board or something?
[00:20:05] Speaker C: Yeah, so I'm the wrong person to ask this to because I got rid of my Facebook account like two years ago and I haven't looked back, but. Yeah, but when I had Facebook, I, yeah, I would say I had definitely good luck on Disney, some good luck on Royal. My celebrity cruise is like, if I could find a group, great. If there were more than five people in it, like, I think it'd be once. Yeah. So I don't know. But yeah, I kind of. I got rid of all my social media, so I'm the wrong person to ask that too, but.
[00:20:32] Speaker B: Okay, fair enough. Well, I'm curious demographics wise, right? We, we know, we talk about, you know, celebrity, we talk about Royal, we talk not much, but a little bit about Carnival. What has been your experience as far as who are the solo cruisers? Right? Like, are they, are they older single people? Are they young adult single people? Are they middle aged single people? Like, what, what are they sort of. What would you say is the most common? And, and does that change depending upon which cruise line you're on?
[00:21:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I would say definitely changes depending on the cruise line. On Disney, it was mostly younger adults. Like, I'm in my late 20s, I would say most of them were in their late 20s. On celebrity, it's a mix. So like 20s, 30s, 40s, and then like grandma or grandpa who lost their partner, like, is probably like a, you know, a good amount of the mix too. And then. Yeah, and then on Royal and Carnival, I would say it's like, it doesn't go like quite as old as like 60s, 70s, 80s, but it's, it's a pretty diverse mix. And the one thing I will say, because I feel like most people feel like weird about going on like a Disney cruise alone. Like, you talk about it all the time for all the other cruise lines. And I was very apprehensive. Like the first time I did a Disney cruise line, I was like, this is gonna be the weirdest thing in the world. Didn't stop me from doing it, but it was actually like, it really wasn't a big deal at all. Because I feel like when you're on a cruise with people you like, you are alone a lot of the time. Like, there are stuff you want to do that other people don't want to do. And I feel like the self conscious side of folks and Myself included, will be like, oh, I wonder if they think I'm going to be alone. Or, you know, I'm alone or things like that. No one really cares. Like, you get to do your own thing and it's not weird. And I've loved every solo Disney cruise.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: I love that. I love that. I think, you know, it's funny you say that about how on the cruises, you know, people are alone, whether, even when you're with people. And I think, I think you're 100% right because I think about the way that we cruise as a family, right. There's three of us and we split up a lot of the time. I mean, I will routinely go to the theater by myself. I have no discomfort in going and watching a show in the Walt Disney Theater by myself.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: And I have no discomfort in sitting by the pool all day.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Right. Or going or going again.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: Or in Brian's camp. Yeah.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Or Brian will go get his old fashioned by himself and sit in a, you know, sit in the COVID Cafe, sit in a car, you know, no big deal. Nathan is off doing whatever he's doing at the kids club or running around looking for lollipops in lollipop holders on the doors. Right. Like, things like that. And then I'll go, I'll even run around to like the family game shows, especially if it's, you know, one I haven't, when I haven't seen before. So. Yeah, I mean, you're right. There's a lot of time that is sort of solo anyway. I think the biggest, and I'm glad you answered this question about dining because I think that's the biggest, biggest concern for people. Like, I think that's where people tend to feel the most uncomfortable is the eating alone. I'll be honest, I love to eat alone sometimes, you know, it's a lovely experience. Or eating with new, you know, new made friends, I think is also really fun. I'd love to hear, like what. Yeah. What do you do in terms of your, your daytime activities, whether it's on Disney or on these other cruise lines? What are your sort of best, you know, activities for the solo cruiser?
[00:23:57] Speaker C: Yeah, so I would say like the one, the ultimate activity is the fact that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want and no one can tell you what to do. So like that, you know, other than like a dining time, if you have an assigned time, like, that's basically the only thing you have to do that day. So like, for me it's definitely like sleep in, you know, I will not set an alarm. I'll wake up. Whatever time I wake up, I will have to get breakfast, preferably at, you know, the omelet bar. And so since, you know, I. I've actually found the omelette bar and the buffets on Disney to be much better than the main dining room. So I'll be at Marceline Market or Cabanas, and then I'll lounge by the pool for the majority of the day and just like, yeah, just do random things. I'll read, I'll meet people, talk to people, and then I'll just kind of browse the activities ad hoc. And if there's a movie playing on the Funnel Vision or there's a movie playing in a theater or some arts and crafts thing I want to do, I'll just kind of go do it. And if not, I'll just hang out by the pool.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Love that. Love that. Do you do trivia at all? And if you do, do you. When you do that, do you join other, you know, teams? You find. You can always find people who have less than four people and say, hey, can I join your team for trivia? I feel like that's actually pretty Disney. Fairly common.
[00:25:09] Speaker C: Yeah, very common. I do. I do like the trivias. And yes, if I could hold my own, I think I would do it solo. But there's like a. I'll end up with negative points if I do it on my own. So I would join other groups. And depending on the topic, I will try and look at people and, like, judge them if I think they look like they would know anything about this topic. And so if it's Marvel trivia and they're wearing Marvel T shirts, like, I'll be like, okay, there's a decent chance here. And I would try to win the winning. Join the winning group. It has not worked yet, but I'm adapting my algorithm and getting better at picking people.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Yeah, so, like, if you see, like, three little old ladies sitting together at Marvel Trivia, you're probably not joining them.
[00:25:51] Speaker C: It depends on how badass the old ladies look.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: Right. Well, I mean, if they're wearing what's her face, the red witch, like, you know, ears, then of course you join them. Right.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: Or, like, if she has, like, Thor's hammer taped to her walker, like, I'm. I'm all about it.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: I love it. I love it, I love it. That's awesome. What about on other cruise lines? Are there, like, specific activities that you find are, you know, more friendly to solo cruisers, or is it just more of The I go to do whatever I want to do kind of a thing.
[00:26:24] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's definitely more of the same, I would say, like, for me, like, my favorite thing about cruising is the fact that it's just like, you're in the middle of the ocean. It's pretty easy to disconnect. And it's the one place where I think I can actually kind of, like, unplug and relax. And so when I'm on the ship, regardless of cruise line, it's a pretty easygoing day. I'll do some activities, especially a unique activity. So on celebrity, I did a dance class one time. They had archery. And that seemed like a lot of fun. So I did archery. But, like, for the most part, like, it'll just be very, very easygoing. Yeah. I'm either sitting by the pool or sitting in the coffee shop. The days that we're in port, like, I'm all about port. So Port. And so, like, I will be the first one off the ship, and I'll be the last one on the ship. And there was one. There's. Yeah. And like, to demonstrate this, there was one time. So we were in Alaska and we were in Skagway.
I still have issues with this, but I met the captain that day. But it was. The return time was 6pm okay. And so they say. And that. So 6pm Means they want you back on the ship by 6pm it should not mean they want to sail away at 6pm if that's the case, say, be back at 5:45. At 5:30, my phone starts ringing, and it's like the security guard said, like, where are you? We want to leave. And I was like, got half an hour. I'm still walking downtown. I got half an hour. And Skagway, like, downtown is five minutes from, you know, over Disney parks. And so. But anyways, so that was that. Like, every five minutes, I keep getting a call. I started ignoring it. They send out one of the.
With a van. I will send you a picture of this to back this up. And Disney was the last ship in port that day. So it was like, pretty easy. Like, find the one guy in town. They sent a longshoreman at 5:45 to come find me and take me back to the ship. And I even told her, I was like, I'll walk back. I have 15 minutes. And she was like, no, the captain wants to leave. It's time to go. Get in the van. We have to go. And so they had dismantled the security thing. They had already started taking the ropes off off and the captain and the head of security were waiting for me when I walked back on the ship. Of like we were waiting for you. So we can go. But yeah, I will always be the last one back on the ship because I just love being in port, especially unique ports like Alaska or Europe.
[00:28:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that's crazy, David. Like that's.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: I will send you a picture to back this up.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: I believe you but like, I know I do want the picture but I believe you but that's crazy because. Because if they say I'm with you, I think if they say, you know, all aboard is 6pm that means I could walk on at 5:59pm Right. Like that means that I'm okay as long as I get back before 6pm and that's when the. At 6pm is when they're lifting the gangway and starting to deal with the ropes and whatnot. That doesn't mean that they're doing that at 5:30, which is what it sounds like. They were doing that.
[00:29:19] Speaker C: Exactly. And that was my whole thing. Like I will like you should leave at 6 if I'm not on board. Like I deserve to be left behind. But like if that's the time, that's the time.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Right? Exactly, exactly. Yeah, that's great. And unless there's like some weather like, or emergency reason they need to leave. Right. And then to me it's like, why are you calling? Maybe he just wants to head start.
[00:29:40] Speaker C: Yeah, I just wanted to get out of there.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. That's crazy.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: We know that people trust Disney for their vacations and it can sometimes be a little nerve wracking to think about trying something new.
[00:29:49] Speaker C: Right?
[00:29:50] Speaker A: Say yeah.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: 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.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: 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.
[00:30:30] 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 DCLDUOYpathunwinding.com to let them know we sent you their way. Thanks my Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
Well, let's talk about ports. Do you like, do you have sort of a strategy as to, you know, do you like to do organized, you know, port excursions? Do you like to venture out on your own? Is it a combination of both? Right, you're going out before your port excursion starts and going or going out after your port excursion ends on your own. But like what is sort of your. I mean there are a lot of people with travel, they like the safety of group. Right. In order when they travel. Like how do you feel about that, particularly when you're cruising on your own?
[00:31:22] Speaker C: Yeah, so I think for me it's been less about, I guess, yeah, it's been less about safety and more just about what the port is, what there is to do. And kind of my laziness from a planning perspective. There was one cruise I took to Europe and on that, on that cruise I booked excursions for every single port because it was a situation where like everything I wanted to do was at least a 90 minute ride from the port to their actual city. Um, and so I just didn't want to mess with anything then what I. And like that ended up being like very, very long days. So like I think like there was one day in Florence, it was like a, it was a 12 hour day. Cause it was a two and a half hour bus ride there, it was seven hours there and then two and a half hour bus ride back. And so if there was an option of like, like my perfect excursion for places like that would be like, just sell me the bus ticket there and back and like I'll meet you back at the bus but like let me do my own thing once we get there. But I've been to Cozumel probably like five or six times.
Especially because when you live in Texas and you leave from Galveston, that's like the place to go on a short cruise. It's the only place to go on a short cruise. I was just my fiance and we wanted to do snorkeling once. And so for snorkeling, just because it was easier that way, we booked it through the cruise line. But then every other time we just kind of have kind of gone out on our own. So I think more times I've gone on my own than I booked an excursion. But, but if it's either super complicated to like figure out how to book it on your own or because I'm one person, it's a lot more expensive to book it on my own or it's complicated from a logistical standpoint. Yeah, I'll go through the route of just kind of booking an excursion through the cruise line.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: That's actually really smart. I hadn't thought about the idea of like booking something on your own might actually be more expensive because you might have to be paying for like a private excursion versus splitting it amongst a group of people.
But it may also. And from the logistical standpoint it can of course be easier. You just get on the bus or to wherever and then, and then you're taken there and you don't have to worry about that part. Well, let's talk about like nightlife on the cruises. 1 Do you like to do the, you know, the evening activities planned for like adults on Disney Cruise Line? Do you and do you go to sort of the similar types of activities on other cruise lines?
[00:33:33] Speaker C: Yeah, so on Disney I mean I would say what nightlife. But the. Yeah, yeah, I do like the evening activities. Like I will always do match roommate that like that's always, that's always fun and kind of like anything adult oriented like that in the evenings I definitely like I have closed the Cadillac Lounge done you know down many times but like by close it down it's like in 8:30 and I've been the last one in there. But my like my favorite thing in the evening like is those types of venues where like it's a bar and there's some sort of live music. And so I will normally end up there whether it's on Disney or on another line. And so yeah, I normally have like my favorite spot I'll find on the ship and I'll just kind of end up there each night on the other cruise lines, like especially on Royal, like at night there's like five or six different venues that are a bar and some sort of live music. So there's a lot of diversity in terms of where to go. But yeah, whether it's on Disney and there's just a couple of us or you know, it's on Royal or Celebrity, I will do kind of some sort of stuff in the evening. Not much. Like I'm not like the nightclub person so I'll never go to the nightclubs. But if they have like silent disco, like that's usually a lot of fun.
[00:34:46] Speaker A: It would Perhaps defeat one of the sort of the pros of solo cruising that you mentioned earlier, which is, you know, being able to do whatever you want whenever you want. Maybe not. But like, do you often like you mentioned pairing up with groups of trivia and stuff, but do you ever like meet other solo cruisers on board or meet other people on board and then like turn them into like, you know, oh, let's go have, we can have dinner together or we can, you know, hang out.
[00:35:10] Speaker C: I've done that. I've done that a couple of times and I've turned some of them into like people that I've met out in the real world like off of a cruise ship before too. So that for sure, like especially like on a, on a cruise out of Galveston. I want to argue, I'd argue like easily like 80% of the people on the ship are from Texas. And like there's really only a couple of big cities in Texas. And so like there's a, you know, there's like a 1 in 3 chance the person that you're on the cruise ship like lives in the same city as you. And so, so I've definitely met a lot of friends who have become good friends with that way. But yeah, especially solo meetups that occur on the first night. I've met a lot of folks there where we won't do dinner every night. Cause that defeats the purpose a little bit. And also you don't know if they're weird and then you committed to being stuck with them. And I'm sure I'm the weird person, I'm sure I'm the weird person that people have regretted being stuck with too. So it goes both ways.
But yeah, I will try and make friends and hang out with them that way. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Do you do time at the casino when you're on like other obviously non Disney lines? We have a good friend of ours who tends to cruise with his son and he gets these like casino offers to go on cruises because he spends a lot of time in the casino. And so I mean for him it's a little different. He's a, he's a single, well he's not a single parent but he cruises.
But he has a wife who's actually a close friend of ours, but she doesn't really like to cruise and she'll only, she'll only cruise on Disney and she's not a big cruiser in general. But like, so he will like kid will go to kids club and then he spends like hours in the casino and he's also Very outgoing, very friendly. And so he will chat with anyone while sitting at the car table or a craps table or whatever. Do you find that that's a place that you end up? And if so, is that a decent place to kind of make friends as well?
[00:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I do like the casino. And I. But I like. There's kind of two reasons why I like the casino. One is like, the games that like, should, like, they belong in Chuck E. Cheese's, but they're in a casino.
[00:37:14] Speaker B: Like skeeball.
[00:37:16] Speaker C: Well, there's like, you know, like the last celebrity cruise I was on, they had a. It was a slot machine, but it was a Wheel of Fortune slot machine. And like, it was really more of like a Wheel of Fortune style game with like slots built into it. And so that was like just pouring my money into an arcade game or. But like, I do like a deal. So, like, yeah, I have played the. I have played the casino comp game quite a bit. But I'll do like, really stupid, boring things because, like, it's pretty. For the most part, you can figure out like, what the. What the criteria is of how they're trying to figure out the amount of money that flows through. And so there's always a risk. But like, I will, like, the stupidest way I can just to get enough points to get a free cruise and then I'll call it a day. So like, I'll play roulette and I'll just keep like alternating small amounts between like black and red for like an hour and a half or to just so enough money can flush through the system so that I can get a free cruise offer. Or like, I'll play the one slot machine until I get enough points. And then maybe I'm down 100 or 200 bucks or something, sometimes more. But as long as it's kind of like worked its way out where it costs less than the free cruise I booked, and then I'll call it a day. So I do like gambling, but as a method of getting future cruises for cheaper than buying it cash.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: That's hilarious.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: That's supposed to be my mistake, Sam. I actually win while I'm in the casino. So don't give that guy a free cruise.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: He's not well. Also, Brian, you're playing like card tables. And I think it's harder to get. I think. I think playing the machine actually it's. I think a little easier because then they try. They're tracking your. The money easier. And so I think it's easier to get those car those casino offers by playing any machine based game. But I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.
[00:38:53] Speaker C: From what I've heard, like, and like I read about this a little bit. But like most people that I've talked to, I've said like the pit bosses on cruise lines are like a lot stingier than the ones on land. And so, you know, like, they'll watch you and like the lowest bet that you make is what they'll basically count you as the entire game. And I've heard they're kind of stingy with it. But yeah, if you're playing on royal, you get one point for every $2 that you cycle through the slot machine. And so you can just kind of like do the math in the back of your head and figure out when you've hit enough points. And then if you get a free cruise, you got it and if not, you didn't. But that's. Yeah, I've spent too much time trying to figure this out, but love it.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: We're going to put you in touch with our friend Josh Wilson, who the DCL villain because he I think did the same thing on his last couple of cruises. But I would, I would like to know, you know, what your thoughts are on if somebody is, you know, considering, maybe they're a Disney fan considering cruising solo, but they don't want to pay that double occupancy rate for Disney and they can get a better rate on another cruise line. What would be your recommendation as far as what is, what's the best cruise line one for you, but also for someone specifically who is going to be sailing by themselves.
[00:40:11] Speaker C: Everyone knows this, but like there's a cruiser cruise line for everyone. And so I think it does. Like, I don't, I think the answer of like, what cruise line would I recommend you go solo on is the same answer is like, what cruise line is best for you? Um, I don't, I don't actually think it makes that much of a difference if you're going, if you're going solo or not. For me, I would say celebrity. I do enjoy Royal a lot, but like, I think I'm an old soul when it comes to like, not everything, but when it comes to cruising. Like, you know, I like that like celebrity has like a really nice fancy sit down coffee shop and like the core is a little bit, you know, elevated. Like there's kids but like, I don't know where they hide them. Like, I think like the kids club is in the basement or something.
You know, I think with celebrity it's.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: Actually all the way up on the top deck.
[00:40:57] Speaker C: Is it okay? Well, it's the same thing.
They hide them somewhere on the ship. But yeah, like, I like for what I want to do on a cruise, which is just like hang out different spots and relax. I like celebrity the best. Yeah. So I think for me, I would pick celebrity. For everyone else, I would just say like whatever the normal cruise line is that you would want to go on, I think whether it's solo or with family, it's a lot closer to the. Or friends or whoever, it's more or less the same experience. Not. Yeah, I don't think the answer changes when you're solo, at least for me.
[00:41:28] Speaker B: Well, you. You mentioned a great tip, I think early on in the show, which was to go to the solo cruiser activity, you know, on board, which meet up usually the first night of the cruise. Any other tips you would give to somebody who is maybe sailing by themselves for the. For the very first time?
[00:41:47] Speaker C: Yes. And actually, sorry, I want to amend one thing to my previous answer. The one. Okay. The one cruise line that like caters to solos like nobody else is Norwegian. You have to like inside staterooms to like actually take advantage of this. But they basically have an entire wing of the ship that's like a solo. They call them like solo cabins or solo studios, depending on the ship. I forget which one. But like they have an entire wing. All the solar rooms are next to each other. It's kind of like college dorms, but you have a bathroom in your room. And then they have like a dedicated solo lounge with like free coffee and hosted events and social stuff. And you could only get into to it if you like. It's kind of like the suite areas on certain ships. It's like a ship within a ship. It's locked down. You have to have your own heart and whatnot. Did they cater to solos like nobody else does? I haven't done it myself yet. I have one booked next year. Just a quick three night just to try it. Yeah, A. Just do it. Don't even think about it twice. Just do it. That'll be number one tip. A number two tip, which I already said is just do whatever you want.
That is by far the best part of it and you should enjoy every second of it. Don't worry about whatever other people are thinking because I guarantee they're not even looking at you or thinking about you or like care about you. Like they're having their own crews doing their own thing and no one has noticed that that you're alone or not alone, just solo. And I think like if you find like, find like your spot on the ship where you want to hang out and nine times out of ten the crew will notice that you're solo and they'll like, not they don't already take care of everyone, but like they'll take care of you like you know, a degree that you haven't scene. And I think like as much as you can become friends with the other passengers, you can very easily become friends with friends with the crew as well. Like there's this one random guy I met who was, he was wiping the floors in the adults only area on the wonder. We spent like as he was wiping the floors, he was spending like an hour and a half telling me about like all the health tips that he's, that he's learned from all the different cruisers on the ships and like just like very, very random but like very interesting conversations from like these crew members that like have like seen and heard every random thing that has ever happened on one of these ships. So I think yeah, there's, there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of fun you can have with your other passengers, but also with the crew.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: I find the only time so I've had to travel, you know, solo primarily for like work. Like you know, they'll send me to some place that I try to bring Sam with me to some of this stuff and but you know, a lot of times it'll be like I gotta go to Europe for like, you know, a week or two weeks and so I'll bring Sam along for a long weekend and then we split off and I'm going to these far flung places I haven't been to before and, and I find the only time it gets awkward. And I know you talked about like main dining, but is it is like it's like booking reservations for dinner, right? Or like, you know, going to dinner and you show up and it's like.
[00:44:32] Speaker B: Like specialty dining kind of.
[00:44:34] Speaker A: Well not. Yeah, I mean, but it's like I'm talking about like, you know, land based restaurants and it's a little different at sea. But like you show up and they're like, oh, you're a single person.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: Like my tip, where do I put you?
[00:44:44] Speaker A: Yeah, where do I, where do I put you? And like my tip's gonna get cut in half now. And so I'm just really not sure I want you here kind of thing. And so that's, it gets awkward. I can imagine it would Be awkward at the booking stage on a cruise. Like I'm trying to think, does Disney have a dropdown menu for like the times I've gone to the theme parks, for instance, you can't book a restaurant for one, you have to book it for two. And it's not a big deal because you just show up and you're like, as long as one party shows up, everything's fine. But it gets a little awkward.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I would say, yeah. That has been my one complaint about Disney. It's never been like, it's never a complaint on the cruise ship. But yeah, especially when you're going to the parks. You just always have to put two or you won't get the good times. I've noticed there are a bunch of like land based restaurants on OpenTable that it's the same thing. Like they will, you have to put two. They won't let you book it solo and they get really annoyed when you show up because. Yeah, but I mean it is what it is. Like I want to eat too. But yeah, I've definitely had a much better, I got, I, I've had a much better experience cruising and like vacationing solo than I have work trips solo. For sure.
[00:45:50] Speaker A: I have a vivid memory in, I think it was Prague. I booked this restaurant that it was like a 30 minute train, like a tram ride out of the city basically to get to. It was a monastery that had like, they supposedly had really great beer, really great food. And so I went and the first night, no problem. But it was so fantastic. Like later in the trip I was like, I really want to go back to that place. I just don't have a reservation. I'll just go out there. And it didn't seem really busy and it's kind of early in the day. I went out there and it was like one of those moments you see in the movies where like you walk in and like there's like two people in the restaurant and all the tables are empty and you're like, oh, do you have room for one? And they're like, I'm sorry, we're all booked.
Yeah, all right, I'll walk back to the tram for my half hour ride back to the city. Yeah.
[00:46:30] Speaker B: Well, David, I love the idea of spending time also getting to know the crew. I do think that you get probably more of that experience. One, if you're a smaller group in general gets that experience versus a large group. If you're a large group sailing on Disney or on, you know, any other line, the crew kind of assumes that you're just wanting to spend time with your group. And if you're a one or a two top table, they do, I think, tend to spend more time. I mean, Brian and I have seen this, you know, even in Paulo, for example, we have more conversation and get to know our server and the other staff in the restaurant when it's just the two of us than when we're in, you know, with a group of six or in the large, you know, room with 12 or something like that. It's just a completely different interaction. So. So I imagine one of the benefits of cruising on your own is that you really can make more of those connections. Like the one you did with the guy on the wonder who's cleaning the pool deck. I love that, I love that I.
[00:47:34] Speaker C: Forget his name, but he was fun. I found it very funny. He was lecturing me on health and I swear he was missing half his teeth, but I didn't.
I think he made a joke about it though. So he was very self aware. But it was a lot of fun. Yeah.
[00:47:48] Speaker B: Brian, do you think it's that time?
[00:47:50] Speaker A: I do think it's that time and I know exactly the kind of rapid fire you're going to do and I'm excited to hear this. So we have reached that point in our show where Sam is going to ask you some arbitrary questions, apply some arbitrary rules, and then I guess also give you more than a dash of judgment or the round we know is rapid fire. So Sam, take it away.
[00:48:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to give you verses, but I'm not good. But I'm going to leave the answer open because I want to, I want to hear like, who's doing different things. Things. Well, and you kind of, Brian, kind of clued into this early on in the show. You said something about one of, you know, some lines do certain things better than others. In particular, somebody does something better than Disney. And so I, I want to know in different, I'm going to give you different categories and I want to know which cruise line you think that you've been on that you think is, is doing the best job in that area. So we're going to start with, with booking, like ease of booking, whether that's through a travel agent, through the website, your book, but yeah. Which. What's the easiest to spend your money on? I guess.
Who makes it easiest?
[00:48:53] Speaker C: I very much, I very much think like they're all the same at this point. The only, like, if I had to give one a slight edge, I would say celebrity Or Royal only because it auto fills all your information when you log in with your account. So like it saves, it saves everything. You don't have to put all your information in every time, but like that's an extra like 15 seconds worth of work. So I think at this point, at least in my experience, they've all been kind of equally easy to book.
[00:49:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I will. I'm going to give the caveat reminder from early on in the show though that the booking, the cost can be a little bit deceiving. And so you need to do. Yes, you need to do your research on the cost side of things.
[00:49:31] Speaker C: There's the one thing I will say and they're not. There's this website called cruiseplum.com it's like an aggregate search engine across like all of the cruise line websites. And they actually have like a solo cruising tab you can press.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Oh, cool.
[00:49:45] Speaker C: And so they will actually like do all the.
Will basically automatically find for you all of the crew, like any crews that you want. And then it will put them in order of price, but it can figure out what the supplement actually is, whether it's the 200% or 125% or whatever. So I always use that as a way to find cheap cruise options and then you can basically contact your own travel agent at that point. But that's become a good resource to find the prices in a cheaper manor.
[00:50:15] Speaker B: I love that. Okay, I didn't, I had never heard of that website. Love that. That sounds like an awesome tool. Let's talk about on board. Well, we'll talk about, I want to talk about booking activities, activity booking. So we always talk, call this onboard booking on Disney. But generally speaking, booking activities, excursions in advance of the cruise, who does that? The best, the easiest.
[00:50:39] Speaker C: Okay, it's a, it's a toss up, I will say I, I give it to Royal and Celebrity and I put them together because their websites are exactly the same. Basically I would, if I had to pick, if I had to pick one to win, I would pick Royal and Celebrity. But I think it's a toss up because I like Royal and Celebrity better for no other reason than I don't have to. Like, it's not a fight to get whatever you want. You just book your cruise, then you book whatever you want. But I do like that on Disney you don't have to pay for anything until you actually get on the ship. And so that way you're not booking, you know, you're not paying for all your excursions and everything. 18 months or two years ahead of time.
[00:51:10] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense. So they win for different reasons. Yeah. So it's easier on Royal and Celebrity and you don't have to stay up till midnight and fight to get your things, but you have to pay for everything right away. That's. That's a really good point. Yeah. Okay, let's go to shows. Shows.
Okay. There you go.
[00:51:29] Speaker C: Yeah, it's easily Disney. And I feel like most people are like, think like Disney wins because like it's Disney characters or whatnot, but like take all the Disney characters out of it. Production quality. Like you can't. I'm not a huge show person, but like there's just such a clear difference between every. Every other cruise line and Disney.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: Preach, David. People. That's why I try and tell too that it's not necessarily. I mean you don't have to necessarily be like a fan of the Disney characters. It's not about that. It's not that you have to be obsessed with Frozen. It's like, are. Do you like quality theater? Do you like Broadway level theater? Then you want to be on Disney Cruise Line and generally speaking you don't want to be on the other lines. I mean, I'm not saying they don't have their exceptions to every rule. You know, Royal has a couple of Broadway shows and they also have that Aqua 80 show is fantastic on the Oasis.
[00:52:21] Speaker C: But Disney also has the Golden Mickeys.
[00:52:24] Speaker B: But Disney has the Golden Mickeys. Right, and has. Yeah. So. Exactly, exactly. All right, well, let's talk other activities. Onboard activities. You know, it's a diversity of offerings and you know, offerings that appeal to you. Who's doing it better as far as, you know, activities?
[00:52:44] Speaker C: Yeah. For. For me, I would say it's celebrity and it's for no other reason. Yeah. And it's for no other reason than there's like a lot of live music and things to do like after dinner that are attended by other people.
[00:52:57] Speaker B: That. That makes sense. All right, what about food and food. I'm going to leave this to you as to whether it's like food quality, food options because I think different people judge food differently. But what, what do you think as far as who's doing food better?
[00:53:11] Speaker C: Sort of over overall, Carnival is the absolute worst with. With. With one exception for guys. Burgers. Their burger. Like that's the one thing they've gotten like spot on. Really, really good. But that's like, you know, that, that. Yeah, that's like the only good venue. So Carnival, Carnival worst then Royal then I would say the dis. Disney. Disney ships. Minus the Wish. Yeah. Then Celebrity and then the Wish. And I've.
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. Yeah.
[00:53:39] Speaker C: And I've been on the Wish three times, so I feel pretty like, I feel pretty confident of it being early on, but I think that's how I would rank it. But if we're talking specialty dining, on all the ships I've been on, I've done most of the specialty dining. I still think Paulo kind of beats all of them.
[00:53:56] Speaker B: Wow. Fantastic. Awesome. Have you been to Remy?
[00:54:00] Speaker C: I have been to Remy. I loved Remy, but I don't love wearing a suit. So it wasn't a one and done, but like it'll take a special occasion to go back to Remy.
[00:54:08] Speaker A: So I was just gonna say you don't have to wear a suit any longer at Remy. They've relaxed their dress code. So I don't think jackets require even jackets.
[00:54:16] Speaker B: Pants. Yes, pants. And. And like what do they call them?
Lifestyle shoes now. So you have to wear pants and not shorts and lifestyle shoes. But you can wear, you could wear even I think a polo shirt now. They've. Yeah, they've relaxed it. Yeah.
[00:54:31] Speaker C: What is a lifestyle shoe?
[00:54:33] Speaker B: It's basically a non sneaker. Anything that's not. Not a sneaker, not a flip flop.
[00:54:38] Speaker C: But sneakers can be a lifestyle, I think.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: Here's the, here's the verbiage from the site. Adult exclusive restaurants aboard Disney cruise liner. Elegant dining experiences. Guests are requested to dress in a manner consistent with the restaurant's atmosphere. Formal or semi formal attire is recommended.
Some people are also permitted is dressed casual attire with a polished look such as dress pants, jeans in good conditions, collared shirts, dressy tops and lifestyle shoes. For brunch at Palo and Palo Steakhouse, dress shorts are access.
[00:55:09] Speaker B: Yeah, we wear shorts for. For brunch. Yeah. Okay. Well. Okay, I've got just. I've just got two more questions. Um, we didn't talk cabins really. Well you did. You mentioned about the bathroom being the same size. Regardless of whether you're in the smaller cabin or the regular cabin. Tell me whose cabins are the best across the cruise lines that you've been on.
[00:55:33] Speaker C: We're just going off the cabin. So like nothing else that comes. If we're going just off the pure cabin, I would say Disney and I think it's just, it's appointed the nicest and like even like I've sailed in a suite twice on Celebrity and I. And I've done concierge on Disney once and I would say. Yeah, I would say easily. Disney has the Best cabins.
[00:55:54] Speaker B: Okay, my last versus question is service. Who is doing service better? And I know that, like, I know that this is a tough one because I hear really good things about the service on Celebrity. And we sailed on Celebrity many years ago and had wonderful service. So I'm curious what your thoughts are, David.
[00:56:12] Speaker C: I would say it's Disney, but only, only by a very small margin. But the one place I think of, so my fiance has a lot of food allergies and the way Disney deals with it, still no one can come close. And I would say Disney is the only one that not only takes care of it, but doesn't make you seem like you're being a burden on them in any way, shape or form. Whereas other cruise lines, depending on who you get, they'll make you feel like you're being a pain in the neck to. So yeah, I would say like across the board, Celebrity and Disney are pretty tied and pretty above the rest. But Disney kind of edges it out for me just based on my own experience with them.
[00:56:53] Speaker B: Love it. Well, it's awesome that you've had such a variety of experiences. Thank you for indulging me, David. I have no judgment on any of your answers. They all make sense to me. You mentioned you're going on. You have a booked cruise on Norwegian. You have a booked cruise on Virgin Voyages. How many cruise do you have booked right now?
[00:57:16] Speaker C: Okay, so I want to give one caveat of like the fact that I will always have plenty of Disney cruises booked because the deposits refundable. Other cruise lines are more stingy since they're really not, they're not refundable. But I think I have seven or eight booked right now. But what I'm, what I'm, what I'm excited for. I have to take a work trip to Singapore next year. I'm supposed to be there for a conference the week of June 15th. And so I'm very, I'm very much hoping that something happens then I can visit Disney Cruise to be taken around that work trip. If so, that will be another one booked. But yeah, right now I think we're at 6 or 7 booked for next year.
[00:57:51] Speaker B: Wow, that's awesome. Well, 6 or 7 for 20, 25. Wow.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: If you go, let us know because we have no, we have no plans to go on the adventure. I'd like to go, but we have no plans to go on the adventure at this point.
[00:58:02] Speaker C: There is a nonstop flight out of Seattle. Oh, I was going to say it is a 19 hour nonstop flight, but there is a non Stop flight for Seattle.
[00:58:12] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:58:12] Speaker A: I have, I have one more question for you. As a solo cruiser, if you had to give one piece of feedback to the cruise lines in general about solo cruising, something that you wish they did differently and you know, I know that the pricing of the cabin is, is an area, but let me just add, what would you give? What's your biggest point of contention around something they should do better for solo cruise?
[00:58:33] Speaker C: Yeah. So taking the pricing one out of the equation, I, I think the biggest thing, especially from like a hosted events for solos, some of the cruise lines don't seem to understand the difference between solo and single and solo does not necessarily equal single. And so a lot of the events are like, it has like a, doesn't have like a meat market vibe but like it's very, it's very obvious. Like they're trying to like get people.
[00:58:56] Speaker B: To like, like a singles dating vibe.
[00:58:58] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Which is great for the people that want a singles dating vibe. But there are plenty of people that are cruising so solo that are just cruising solo for. Yeah, everything from their spouse doesn't want to come to. They have a cruising addiction and they can't always find someone to come with them.
[00:59:11] Speaker A: But yeah, you know, and I had one other logistics question for you as I, as I was thinking about, dude, how does tipping work? I mean, so if you've booked a two person stateroom, the other person doesn't show up, do their tip still get charged back to the stateroom?
[00:59:22] Speaker C: Yes, they. Yeah, they. I'm trying to think so Disney, Disney, I have no idea because Disney's the one where I've never had to play that game. And so you do just pay the tips for one person and I usually tip, I'll just put, you know, cash in the envelope or whatever for forever on the other cruise lines. I'm trying to think, yeah, I'm pretty sure that they do, they do still get charged. You can very easily remove it if you, if you wanted to it like these are shortage cruises and we're talking like 15 bucks a day. Like, you know, like there's never been a case where I've been like, you know, I want to take the tips off. I might not tip that much extra if I'm already paying the double tip.
I find tipping culture on the other cruise lines very weird though. For no other reason than my first cruise was Disney. So I thought every cruise will give you the little envelope and that's how you do it. And I know some people find Disney really weird because it's their first time on Disney. And so, but yeah, if you have two people in the room, I think you will pay the double tip. But unless you want to go down and have them take it off. But it is what it is.
[01:00:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it is funny, your comment because I've, I've seen so many people who are like, God, what are these envelopes for? It makes me feel so pressured and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm going to be really interested because when we're on Virgin, all the tips are just in like included. Like, you just don't, like, you don't tip people. I think we'll have to tip our, like, you know, whatever the equivalent, our rockstar agent who's our concierge host essentially, which, that makes sense. But like, they're like, yeah, you don't tip dining room servers and that kind of stuff. I'm like, it's just, it's weird to me to your point, not to what, what if I, I'm assuming, sure, you can slip them some extra cash, but like, there's no mechanism, you know, for it. Yeah. So that's interesting. Yeah. Well, David, thank you so much for taking some time out of your Saturday to spend with us and our audience. It's been fascinating hearing more about the world of, of solo cruising. And as I said, if you stay on the adventure, we absolutely want to hear about it. Please come back. And, and with that, I'll just say thanks. Thanks for spending some time with us. We really, really appreciate it.
[01:01:23] Speaker C: Thank you so much. It was fun being here.
[01:01:29] Speaker A: 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 mypathunwinding.com dclduo or email them at dclduomypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things. Full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also has a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email
[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Dual Podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney Family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective views the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listen and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL duo.
[01:03:31] Speaker C: Good night.
