January 14, 2025

01:13:59

Ep. 500 - Live Bonus Show - 500 Shows, No Regrets: Celebrating a Milestone for The DCL Duo

Hosted by

Brian Sam
Ep. 500 - Live Bonus Show - 500 Shows, No Regrets: Celebrating a Milestone for The DCL Duo
DCL Duo Podcast: A Disney Cruise Line Fan Podcast
Ep. 500 - Live Bonus Show - 500 Shows, No Regrets: Celebrating a Milestone for The DCL Duo

Jan 14 2025 | 01:13:59

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Show Notes

This week we're celebrating a very special milestone for the DCL Duo - our 500th episode! From listener voicemails, to reflecting on the last 5 years of the show, and even an audience-led Rapid Fire round, we've got a special show this week. Of course, we also took some time to discuss the recent announcements from Disney Cruise Line (DCL) revealing more details about the four new ships the company announced at D23.

If you are looking to book your next Disney Cruise, then head over to My Path Unwinding Travel so Karen and her team of expert travel professionals can help you find the perfect vacation for you and your family. Or reach out by emailing [email protected] 

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The views in this podcast are our own, and are not those of the Walt Disney family of companies, Disney Cruise Line or the Walt Disney theme parks or resorts. 

We're listed alongside some other great Disney podcasts at:  Top 100 Disney Podcasts, Top 20 Cruise Podcasts, Top 30 Disney Cruise Line Podcasts

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Was. It was a guest services crew member who told us that on embarkation day, I know that you got a phone call from a family in their stateroom and they were very, very upset because they had asked for an ocean view. They had bought an ocean view stateroom and they had a view of the parking lot. Welcome back, everybody, to an extra special live episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by My Path Unwinding Travel and our friends over at W DW magazine. DCL magazine. This is episode 500. [00:00:44] Speaker B: 500. Holy cow, Brian. This is amazing. [00:00:49] Speaker A: I don't think Sam thought we would make it to. To episode 50. So. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure I thought we'd make it to episode like 15. So 500 is. Yeah. Much less 50. So 500 is kind of a big number here. We've got lots of friends joining us watching right now. We've got Linda saying, hey, hey, DCL Duo fam. Ready for another great live show. We've got Tinfoil Mouse here, CT saying hi to Linda and to us. And he is saying, it's going to be a banger. As the kids say this crack. [00:01:26] Speaker A: I think they actually. I think they actually now say, it slaps. It's going to slap. [00:01:29] Speaker B: I don't know. I. I don't know. [00:01:31] Speaker A: I may have just said something bad. [00:01:33] Speaker B: Isn't it, Riz? That's a good thing, I think. We've got Craig from Cruising DCL Family joining us from Airplane. We've got AJ joining saying, Happy 500th. We've got Lindsay joining halfway to 1000. I like the way you think, Lindsay. Very nice. We don't think we. We are the glass half full kind of a people. [00:01:57] Speaker A: That's like those signs I hate at marathons that say, you're almost there, you're. [00:02:00] Speaker B: Almost there, you're almost there. And then C. T saying, Happy 500. Michael saying, Congratulations on a major accomplishment. Thank you to all of you who have. Some of you have been with us from the very beginning. Some of you have joined us somewhere along the journey, but at whatever point you joined us on, we so appreciate you. Brian made a nice statement on Facebook today, but I'll let folks know that what he said was essentially without you all, meaning you all who watch us, who listen to us, and you all who come onto the show to join us as guests, we'd just be two weirdos talking into some microphones. So I still think we're just two weirdos talking into some microphones. But, you know, there's some of you with us along the way. [00:02:49] Speaker A: But they're high end microphones. So you know, there's that, there's at least there's that, there's that. We do need to pause at the beginning to meet our commitments to our show sponsor. So I want to thank DCL magazine for sponsoring these live and bonus episodes. And if you are interested in getting your hands on the first edition of DCL magazine, which I can now confirm will have a very good article, I think from the DCL duo in it. [00:03:14] Speaker B: Well, really from Brian Flock of the DCL Duo. I, I just, I just edited. Brian wrote it. So it has his byline, not mine. [00:03:22] Speaker A: Lyrics and music by and so yeah, if you want to get your hands on that, head over to dcl-magazine.com Sign up for the wait list. You can also subscribe to their other publications, the WDW Magaz, the DLR Disneyland Resort Magazine. And yeah, we're hearing that in the first issue of the DCL magazine is going to happen anytime soon. So head over there, sign up if you want. You can use code DCLDUO ALL CAPS DCL DUO in their store for 10% off everything over there. I still owe Sam a calendar. [00:03:57] Speaker B: A calendar that he totally forgot to order it. [00:04:00] Speaker A: I'm sorry. [00:04:00] Speaker B: Yeah, thanks Brian. [00:04:02] Speaker A: How will you know what day it is without your, without your calendar? With that, I don't know. Sam, what do you want to do first? You want to hear some listener voicemails? Some folks left us some messages to say thanks and congratulations on the show. Or we can head over and talk about some news. [00:04:20] Speaker B: Let's talk about some news, especially since you're breaking up a little bit or at least we're breaking up in my years, Brian. So I don't know if that's some Internet issues or whatnot, but let's talk about news first before we do those voicemails and kind of get to the meat of our show, which if you haven't noticed, it's our 500th episode. So we're going to be talking our favorites and we're going to do kind of a non rapid rapid fire. So before we get into the news and the voicemails, if you are interested in asking us a question about favorites, it doesn't have to be a standard rapid fire question. Put it in the comments and we will try and get to as many questions as possible. And as I said, it's going to be like a non rapid rapid fire episode tonight. So we're going to talk favorite episodes, favorite memories, things like that. We'll even give you updates on our favorite ships and of course, favorite Disney stage shows on the wall in the Walt Disney Theater. So yeah, with that, let's, let's jump to the news, Brian. [00:05:22] Speaker A: News it is. Well, I mean, there's only one piece of news we can talk about this. [00:05:25] Speaker B: Week, which is a big piece, though. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Disney has offered additional details on its four new ships that it announced at D23. So we now know that one of those ships will indeed be an additional Wish class ship taking delivery. I think we said setting sail, but I think the news release said taking delivery in 2027. So we don't know exactly when like a maiden voyage will be, but taking delivery in 2027. And then we got three new, three new ships, new class of ship sitting somewhere between the Dream class and the Magic class. So not going bigger, going a little smaller this time. About 3,000 passengers apiece. No word on name, no word on where they'll be sailing, anything like that. Just teasing us with the smaller ships, slightly bigger than the Magic and the Wonder, slightly smaller than the Dream and the fate. [00:06:19] Speaker B: 100,000 gross tons approximately each of these three ships. And they'll set sail in 2029, 2030 or sorry, delivery ish will be 2029, 2030 and 2031. Right. So, so one that means the first of, of that, that new class of ships is going to come out the same year or at least take delivery the same year as when the olc, meaning the Japan Wish class ship. So there will be five Wish class ships we know now, which we didn't know before. We knew there were going to be at least four, but we didn't know that the fifth. And then of course there's going to be this new class and Tinfoil Mouse Ears is saying prognostication coming tomorrow to the sub stack on the what he's calling the Meridian class. And he. And there's a great guest Tinfoil Mouse here, Mouseketeer, so he's super excited. I don't even know who the guest Mouseketeer is. [00:07:11] Speaker A: That's going to be great. I'm, I'm looking forward to it. Every time CT releases a new blog post, I, well, I get an email about it, so I get to read it first, but it's great. So I'm looking forward to that. Meridian Class, I suspect is what we've heard is the internal code code name for the project I'm a stickler for. The class of ship is always the name of the first ship in the class. That's why we have the Magic class, the Dream class and the Wish class. But the Wish class we know had an internal project name of Triton. So there you go. So Meridian. Meridian class is probably the project name. And we will wait with bated breath probably for a future D23 announcement of the name of the first ship in the Meridian class. So there you go. [00:07:51] Speaker B: We have a great comment. Let's take bets on how many elevator banks they have. I'm going to take guess it's going to have two banks. It's going to have a forward and an aft. I'm going to say they're going to model that one issue. I think they're going to model after the Wish class even though it's going to be a smaller ship. [00:08:07] Speaker A: So I saw, I mean I've seen this before, but I saw again recently on some social media the. Have you seen the continuous elevator, Sam, where it's just like a constant revolving like elevator. Yeah. And then you just, you step in and it just, it keeps going. It's like an escalator for elevators. Is the. [00:08:23] Speaker B: Describe it fun and scary. [00:08:25] Speaker A: Let's get one of those on the ship. Then you just never have to wait. You just kind of get in and just go. So I'm sure that was any safety challenge. [00:08:31] Speaker B: How about the smart elevators where you tell it what floor you want it to go to and then it actually tells you which elevator to go into and it programs it really well. I bet it won't be because people will just kind of ignore those things and not understand it. That's the problem with those elevators. But you know, that's, that's another. [00:08:46] Speaker A: So I did, I did want to point out from the announcements that. So they did. They, they made kind of a. Well, a couple of things. One, they made a very specific reference that the Wish new Wish class ship will indeed be LNG again, liquid natural gas. [00:08:59] Speaker B: Oh, they did. [00:09:00] Speaker A: As the, as the specific as the other Wish class ships are. But notably absent from the announcement which they have said for the, they said for the adventure that she'd be green ethanol. They've touted the LNG for the new ships. They have not touted some brand new oh super environmentally friendly fuel which someone pointed out to us. I think it might have been Craig from DCL Cruising pointed out at least a lot of possibilities open for some ports because LNG isn't available everywhere. Green ethanol is assuredly available in fewer places for the adventure. So you know, they're leaving that it's going to be exciting. I think going smaller means new ports, new home ports, some new things coming down the pipe. So I'm really excited to see what happens with those ships because of that, because of this announcement. So. Yeah. [00:09:49] Speaker B: So Linda's saying she's still holding out for the Disney Imagination to be the first ship of the imagination class. Brian. I think that's a great one. [00:09:56] Speaker A: Well, I. [00:09:58] Speaker B: You think it's going to be new Magic class. [00:10:00] Speaker A: Well, okay, so something else has come up is a lot of people are saying, well, this just means they're going to replace the Magic and the Wonder. And I just, I want to put on the table again, every time they make an announcement about these ships, they say for a fleet of 13 by 2031. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Right. [00:10:16] Speaker A: So if they're going to have a fleet of 13, then the magic and the Wonder would have to actually be replaced. [00:10:22] Speaker B: Sailing. Right. [00:10:23] Speaker A: Or still sailing. And if they're going to be replaced, they haven't announced a ship order big enough to replace those two ships and maintain the size of 13. [00:10:31] Speaker B: Right. [00:10:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:10:32] Speaker B: Which makes me think that we'll have the Magic and the Wonder at least through 2031 or 20. You know, like they wouldn't retire one until at least 2032 because then they would never have a fleet of 13. Right. So that's what I think. I don't think it means they're going to have them for much longer than that, but I do think it means they will have the sell that one. [00:10:53] Speaker A: So what I've heard so Nathan saying, Sure, 13, but for how long? I think the new fleet size is going to be 13, and my suspicion is we're going to get the build out through 2031 and we're going to get an announcement before 2031 that they are in fact building even more. [00:11:06] Speaker B: Right. [00:11:07] Speaker A: Ships. [00:11:07] Speaker B: I think maybe that class even. [00:11:09] Speaker A: I think if Disney, I think if things are going well at the cruise line, we're going to hear about even more. Like, I think they want to rapidly increase their, their fleet size if they can. Now, the key indicator there is if it's going well. They keep charging these prices for all these ships. I don't know if there's enough money out in the world to fill those ships 365 days a year. But we will see. We will certainly see. [00:11:31] Speaker B: And I think we agree with Vanessa and that they will make a surprise announcement of two new ships. The issue is when. Right. So for us, we think that that's probably a couple years down the road before they make that kind of Announcement. Nathan, by the way, saying from Brian's mouth to Iger's ears of. Yeah, right, we are, we are getting lots of comments about people being excited for the size of ship. We've got Vanessa saying that. We've got Matthew saying, so happy to hear that they're going to be offering a smaller class. We've got. Oh, Nathan saying he saw something, saying that the three new ones would be multi fuel capable, including ethanol. I've not seen any on that, but if you, if you have Nathan, please pass along wherever it was that you saw that because that would be super interesting and I do think that that would be smart because we know that ships of about 3,000 passengers are ships that can go to places like Alaska. Right. Are ships that can maybe go to the Norwegian fjords or go to ports like Key West. Right. So these smaller ports or these ports who have limited the ship size or just by virtue of how big the ports or small the ports are really can only take these kind of small, smaller, the still large, large ship cr but smaller end of large ship cruising. So yeah, I think that's, that's definitely on the horizon. I think that's why they've leaned towards ships that are bigger than the Magic class or than the Dream class. [00:13:10] Speaker A: Nathan's right. I missed this in the press release. So it said they will have the capability and flexibility to operate on a variety of fuels including hydro treated vegetable oil. Oh and renewable methanol fuels. [00:13:23] Speaker B: So fryer oil, they can well smell. [00:13:25] Speaker A: Like french fries while while remaining adaptable to additional fuel options that become available. So, so they are going to run on a clean energy but they're not being super specific right now. I don't know too many. Yes, they did say that they'll be able to plug into shore power technology which is, which is also good to see. So. Yeah. [00:13:42] Speaker B: And CT is telling me that unfortunately Key west and Bar harbor will still be off limits based on the passenger capacities of the new class. That's a bummer. [00:13:50] Speaker A: How is that possible? Isn't the Virgin Voyage bigger? No, I guess it's the same size as the Magic and the Wonder. Yeah. [00:13:56] Speaker B: So it must be like, must be 2500 or less or something like that. Yeah. And. And Kelly's saying she's hoping for more diverse itineraries with a bigger fleet. We are as well. Yeah, definitely. I, we also have Ashley commenting on my ears. Yes. These are actually Nathan's ears that are son Nathan's ears that the ones that come on the headband and come off so he's got. He's got Chip here and Sam has. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Them attached to her headphones. [00:14:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I have them attached to my headphones and this was actually Tracy's idea. So thanks. Shout out to Tracy of DCLDO Senior for the idea of doing this to my headphones. I might have to buy some more of these characters to get them on my. [00:14:42] Speaker A: I want to go back to the. For a second to the ship name conversation. Because where I was headed when I originally started talking was. Oh, sorry. No, no, you're. I really hope that they rename the first two ships in the fleet Magic. And if they're going to retire them, then Magic and Wonder, they'd have to announce that they're retiring those ships. But Carnival does this all the time. They bring back names of ships or they replace ships and name them the same. I really don't want to lose the magic. Like, let's not retire the jersey. Let's give them new life and maybe actually get some of the stuff off of those ships and put them on the new ships. You know, some of the decor and things like that. I think it could be really fun for them to do that, so. Well, anything else? [00:15:20] Speaker B: Magic, maybe, like magic or 1 magic 2 or wonder 2. Right. They could also do that if they didn't want to. If they didn't want to give them the exact same name. Like, you have the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Elizabeth too. So that would be really fun. [00:15:33] Speaker A: All right, I'm going to. I'm going to repeat Sam's call to action at the front. So we are going to do a special DCL duo, Rapid Fire amongst the two of us. So if you have questions that you want to submit in for Rapid Fire, throw them in the comments. We're watching the comments. We'll favorite them and try to get to as many of them as we can with that. Sam? I think. I think we should. Some people left us some messages and I think we should listen to those because they took the time to do that. [00:16:00] Speaker B: So I don't want to cry, though. I'm going to put myself on mute so in case I make weird noises. [00:16:04] Speaker A: So only if you're just ugly crying, then people have to see, but they. [00:16:08] Speaker B: Don'T have to hear. [00:16:09] Speaker A: There you go. There you go. All right, well, I got a. I got to get the actual audio tracks up here. All right, here we go. I was going to play an annoying ringing and voicemail sound. We won't do that. We're going to dive right in. I have no idea which Particular order, these are coming on. So here is the first one. [00:16:23] Speaker C: Hey, DCL duo. It's Ashley from Charlotte, North Carolina. Just so excited for y'all's 500th episode coming up and all the great coverage you've had lately, your Monday Night Live YouTubes and just all of the fun podcasts you release. It's one of the only ones that our family listens to on road trips that we can listen to together and enjoy it. It's like having friends that we hear from on a regular basis. We're so excited about your success and all the new ships that are coming to Disney's fleet means that we'll just continue to enjoy your content for years ahead. Can't wait to sail with y'all in the future. Thanks. [00:17:03] Speaker B: Bye. Oh, I love. [00:17:06] Speaker A: Oh, I gotta stop it. There we go. Apparently it will just repeat. We're sitting here, Ashley, all night. There you go. [00:17:12] Speaker B: Oh, thank you, Ashley. Ashley's here in the comments, of course, and we're so excited we're going to get to sail with Ashley again. Not for the. This will be our. The third time we've sailed with Ashley and Daniel and Catherine this April. So super fun for our spring break trip. [00:17:30] Speaker A: One of the best outcomes of doing this is so I'll just be clear and upfront. We ain't in it for the fame, and we certainly aren't in it for the sweet, sweet podcasting money, because there ain't any to speak of. We did it to sort of, you know, have some time to spend together and to build a fun and positive community around Disney Cruise Line. And to everyone watching this show, I know you're part of that positive community. To those of you in our Facebook group, absolutely a part of that community. And to those of you who listen week to week, you're part of that community. And some of the best moments we've had are meeting many, so many of you out in the parks, out cruising. It's hard for us to get on a ship now where we don't know somebody on there and end up, you know, we end up having dinner, drinks, doing Palo, whatever it is. And it's. It's always the most rewarding aspect of this, even for me as an introvert, to, to meet all of you out there. So thank you for coming up to us at the parks or pinging us online and finding us. We, we. We truly love to meet all of you, so thank you for that. [00:18:25] Speaker B: And, and thanks for telling us in the Facebook groups when you listen that you, you know, if you See us post and you say, hey, I listen to your show and, like, I try to make sure that I at least deliver, you know, extra sprinkle of pixie dust for people who listen to our show. So if you tell if I'm, you know, delivering magnets around the ship, which I love to do anyway, I will always try and pack some extra ones. You know, like, I'm so fancy, my presets are truffled. You know, that's one of my. That's one of my favorite magnets that Brian designed. And so I love delivering, like, those or DCL duo logo magnets to folks who listen to the show. But I love that Nathan's laughing at podcast money. Yes, there is. There is no podcast money to be had. [00:19:08] Speaker A: That's sweet. Sweet. Mail chip money. All right, all right, let's play the next one here. [00:19:13] Speaker B: Cereal. You know that. [00:19:15] Speaker A: Here we go. [00:19:17] Speaker B: Hi, Sam and Brian. [00:19:18] Speaker A: This is Tracy and Michael, the DCL duo senior, you know, fan number one. [00:19:24] Speaker B: And the number one fan. [00:19:26] Speaker A: We just wanted to say congratulations on your 500th podcast. [00:19:30] Speaker B: We are so grateful to be just a small part of your journey to tonight, but even more importantly, we are grateful for your friendship. [00:19:38] Speaker A: We have seen firsthand how passionate you. [00:19:40] Speaker D: Are about the work on the podcast, and we see how much work goes on behind the scenes. [00:19:45] Speaker B: So congratulations on 500 fantastic episodes. We wish you nothing but more success and many, many more years of loving. [00:19:53] Speaker A: Disney Cruise Line, preferably with us, our next cruise. [00:19:58] Speaker B: Anyway, much love from the DCL duo senior. Our next cruise with you guys is not soon enough. It's in November, so you need. [00:20:08] Speaker A: No, we're working. We're working. I'm working on Michael. I know you're working on working on Michael. Michael, if you're. I know you're watching. Book it. Virgin Voyages. We're gonna go. Come on. Yeah. It's gonna be fun. Yeah. So Tracy, Michael. So Tracy affectionately says she's our number one fan, probably our very first listener, because she left us our very first review and she refuses to change it or update it so that it's always the first review on the show. So we still. [00:20:34] Speaker B: All the way down on Apple Podcasts. You will find her review and love. [00:20:38] Speaker A: Sailing with you and Michael and can't wait to get out there again. So you may know Tracy and Michael from. They did the maiden voyage with us on the wish on the Treasure. We've done so many cruises with them. [00:20:49] Speaker B: They were security on our podcast cruise. Yeah. [00:20:51] Speaker A: And we met them, actually, in 2018, 19. I was in 19 on an 11 night Southern Caribbean sailing. And I always say that was one of my favorite sailings on Disney Cruise Line. And if they ever offer it again, I am booking it. And I can all but guarantee Tracy and Michael will be there. [00:21:08] Speaker B: So. Yeah. [00:21:10] Speaker A: All right, let's listen to one more here. [00:21:13] Speaker C: Hi, Brian and Sam, it's Hailey and drew. Congrats on 500 episodes. [00:21:17] Speaker A: Yes, congratulations. [00:21:19] Speaker C: It's crazy. You've been on quite the journey since you started the show in 2020. And, you know, we're. [00:21:26] Speaker A: We're OGs. [00:21:26] Speaker C: We've been around a long time. We've. We were on episode 56 and have been on several times since then, of course, but just really impressed with all that y'all have done over the last four years and can't wait to see what happens with the next 500. And also wanted to say we've really enjoyed becoming friends with you through the show as well. [00:21:45] Speaker A: Yes. Well, I'm so glad that I found you during COVID when I was bored missing the cruise line, missing the parks and everything. Searched up Disney Cruise Line, found your podcast, and it's led us to a beautiful friendship and to getting to actually sail together at least once. My personal favorite episode is that episode that covered the Norway cruise where we were a small part of it, but it was a lot of fun getting to sail with you all and really getting to know you all better. [00:22:17] Speaker C: So once again, congratulations on 500 episodes and here's to the next 500. [00:22:21] Speaker B: Bye. Oh, I love that. We, we loved. I mean, we. We felt like we knew Haley and Drew before we actually met them in person because obviously they had been on our show times. And then we sailed with them on our cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. And actually Haley's parents were on the cruise as well, and so it was really fun to, like, actually get to know them more in person. And of course, we have gotten to see them when they've come to Seattle and when they've sailed to Alaska on. On other cruise lines. Ooh. But anyway, yeah, as Brian mentioned, that's one of the. One of the best things that's happened from this podcast is just the friends that we've made. Wow. You guys are sending in tons of questions, so I am. I am favoriting all of them as they come in just so that we can get back to them. [00:23:09] Speaker A: So you're saying, settle in. It's going to be a long show. Pop the popcorn, Michael. Pop the popcorn. [00:23:13] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. That's right. [00:23:14] Speaker A: All right, we've got A couple more here, Sam. Here we go. Here's the next one. [00:23:18] Speaker D: Hey, Sam and Brian, this is CT from Tinfoil Mile series and I just wanted to congratulate you both on 500 episodes and thank you guys for all you do. This show is about more than just cruising for my family. It's about family, it's about friends, it's about accepting and loving one another the way that we're all meant to love one another. And not only has this show been a place to help me plan trips for my wife, but it's been a place where I could daydream about better times through Covid and find comfort through the loss of a family member and be absolutely ridiculous in prognosticating of what Disney will do next. And I just want to thank you guys and congratulate you once again on episode 500. So thank you. You. [00:24:06] Speaker B: Somebody was bound to make me cry. [00:24:10] Speaker A: Big heart for. Big heart for you, ct. We love you, man. We. I, I hope that you are one of the people we get to sail with this year. I would love to see out there sailing. Made so many great friends and I know we would have, we would have great conversations over, over drinks in one of the lounges. So I'm hoping we can make that happen this year. But regardless, have loved getting to know you. And thanks for, thanks for sending that one in. Sam. [00:24:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I just can't say anything. I'm gonna cry. [00:24:38] Speaker A: All right, all right, I'll move on. Just know, ct, you're the one who made her cry. [00:24:42] Speaker B: I know. Sorry. He already in the comments. Yeah. [00:24:46] Speaker A: All right, here we go. Hey, DCL duos AJ and Erica, we're calling from the Wall marathon. We're in the final stretch of the marathon, but we had to call. [00:24:55] Speaker B: And congratulations, Congrats on your 500th episode, Sam. [00:24:58] Speaker A: Good luck on the Disney life next week. [00:25:02] Speaker B: Oh, that's hilarious. That was them in the marathon actually running and calling us and leaving us a voicemail. [00:25:10] Speaker A: That's exactly what it was. And did you notice? So I noticed a couple of things because I, I was following them on Instagram for the run weekend. One, they were not out of breath. And two, they looked fabulous in their post race photos. Like, like fresh at the finish line. They looked like they didn't sweat at all, Brian. [00:25:27] Speaker B: They put us all to shame. They always like look amazing after the races. They did the goofy. So they did the the half and the full back to back. They are amazing. And they crossed that marathon finish line together, Brian, just like we did in our half Last year, my first half, they crossed the finish line together. So I love that. [00:25:47] Speaker A: Yes. All right, we got two more. Two more. [00:25:48] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. [00:25:49] Speaker C: Brian, this is jen from Washington D.C. congratulations on 500 episodes. What an amazing accomplishment. My favorite episode was the one where Brian did the live interviews that looked okay and spoke to one of the local artists. I'm sorry, I forget the artist's all the media coverage talked about how proud the Bahamian people were of the art and the design of Lookout Tay. But for you all to give so much time during an episode for us to hear from one artist directly about the thought process, that was really special. And my runner up favorite episode was the one with the family with two young girls. I believe they did a seven night cruise on the Fantasy and just the ups and downs of traveling with two very young kids. There was a story about where she picked out nice clothes for the photo shoot that never got used. And then they eventually did these memorable photos and just Disney T shirts. It was just a classic and also very validating for all of parents traveling with young kids that were all going through this age and stage together. So congratulations again. Here's to 500 more episodes and thank you for making us feel like we are still on the DCL pool deck every time we listen to the podcast. All the best. [00:27:01] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. Jen, thank you so much. And Jen, thank you for being a guest on our show too. We, we so enjoyed having you on. [00:27:09] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I, I, I, the episode where we got to do the, or I got to do the interviews at Lookout is that was probably one of my favorites as well. Getting to hear directly from and, and we will have here next week, this, later this week or next week. Sam had the chance to sit down with some PR folks on board the Treasure and hear from them directly. And I was just listening through to her interviews that she did and they are, they're short but they're sweet and they're, they're fun. And so we're going to put those out for everybody. Even though it's been a few weeks since the preview cruise. I thought you guys would like to hear them. So we're going to be putting those, excuse me, putting those out as a separate episode on the podcast channel. So look out for that. Look out for that. All right, last one. And then we got to spend the last half hour of the show answering all of the questions that have come in for our Rapid fire Sam. [00:27:53] Speaker B: All right, not so rapid. Rapid fire. That's what it's going to be called. [00:27:57] Speaker A: Last one. [00:27:58] Speaker C: Congratulations, Brian and Sam, for the DCL duo's episode number 500. This is Cindy Leichner from Vancouver, Washington. I've been listening since the beginning and appreciated getting my cruise fixed during COVID when none of us could cruise. I love listening to shows that will cover places I will travel next to learn about them in advance. One of my favorite memories was being a part of the live episode on the DCL Duo podcast cruise and getting to meet so many of the wonderful people who are part of the great community that you have built together. Here's to 500 more. [00:28:37] Speaker B: Love that. Cindy, you are such an incredible person. We have loved getting to know you through the podcast, getting to meet you in person and spend time with you both at Disneyland and of course, on our podcast cruise. You are just amazing. Cindy always reaches out to me whenever she's headed to, like, Aulani or to the parks and, you know, do you need any pins? Is there anything I can get you? Like, she's just such an incredible person. So sweet and just. I mean, she made all those, like, all those bracelets for us that say I have worn them and taken lots of pictures in them. But the DCL Duo podcast, they say, I love truffle presets. I love churro waffles. Like, all of my favorite things. And those have come from Cindy because she's just such an incredibly thoughtful person. So super, super, super love meeting you through this podcast as well. [00:29:30] Speaker A: I don't know if someone has asked this question for the rapid fire, but I just want to say that episode that Cindy called out, where we did the live episode in Animators, that's my favorite record. That is, like. Well, I don't. I want to say that we have done some truly, like, I think, fun episodes. That one was the most fun I've had. Sort of. Well, actually, it's the most stressful I've had recording because there was, like, live audience there, and I was, like, doing one of, like, shielding my eyes from them the whole time, and I screwed up. People who don't know this, I screwed up. The recorder wasn't recording the first, like, five minutes that we were recording, so we had to, like, redo it, which was just. We were so bummed because we were like, oh, my gosh. We had just perfect five minutes there, and then we had to, like, redo it. But that was just such. It's such a memorable episode for me. I think that one. I think the one we did with Kevin recently about the Coast Guard. Oh, man, that was just. It Was so cool to get to talk to him about what that's like, and it's just not something I hear all that often on, like, some of the other, like, Cruising podcasts I listen to. [00:30:28] Speaker B: And it's a totally different, like, I mean, the topic is obviously related to Cruising, but it's such, like, a different side of Cruising. I. I've loved when we've gotten to interview cast members and former cast members. I loved when we got to interview Kevin. But then I have favorite episodes like the one we did with Ashley on Alaska. Right. Like, I. There's just. There are so many, like, great episodes in our. [00:30:53] Speaker A: The episode. The episode we got to do with Lynn Testa about the Star Cruiser. [00:30:57] Speaker B: Oh, the Star Cruiser. [00:30:58] Speaker A: I always still got the Star Cruiser. I still got l picture pinned up on a board in front of me from when he was Hank lonely. And he signed. He signed a photo and sent it to me. So, yeah, there are so many great episodes I can't pick. I don't want to say. That's why I said I don't want to pick a favorite because they're all. They're all good in their own way. [00:31:17] Speaker B: I only say, well, my. I have to still give my favorite. Like, if I had to pick one favorite, I would pick the one that we recorded in Animators because just the location, right. That we got to record in Animator's palace it on the Disney Magic. So it's. It's the iconic restaurant on Disney's first ship. And to me, there's something, like, so special. And it was on our podcast cruise, right? So, like, we had a. As we have said on this show before, we, like, can't fathom that people want to listen to us every week, like, twice or sometimes three times a week. But then the fact that, like, people want to sail with us, like, you know, take their. Their precious, like, time and resources to come on a cruise with us. Us, and they were all there to listen to us record an episode that was just super, super cool. Yeah. [00:32:04] Speaker A: Very special. Very special. All right, we got to dig into some listener questions here, Sam. [00:32:08] Speaker B: All right, before we dig into some listener questions, can I get a little mushy for a second? Can I just say, Brian, that the best thing about doing this podcast is the fact that we have gotten to do this together for the past. Oh, my God, the past four years since. I mean, it's almost four. [00:32:28] Speaker A: Almost five years. March will be five years. [00:32:31] Speaker B: No, because, oh, my gosh, we started. [00:32:34] Speaker A: It in March of 20. [00:32:35] Speaker B: 21, 22, 23. 24. Oh, my God. Okay. But, you know, there are probably people who watch us and are like, oh, my God, those people interrupt each other all the time. Those people tell each other what to do or talk about all the time. [00:32:49] Speaker A: Like, that's just homeless life, right? [00:32:51] Speaker B: Like, you are. You all are getting to see us. Like, this is really us. Like, what we do on this show is not like some Persona. This is like really who we are. And so when you see us bicker live on a live show, or even maybe interrupt each other in a. In a recorded show or tell each other to be quiet, like, that's because that's really us. Like, this is our real relationship, our real marriage. And, and I know that, like, on social media, we all try to present, like, the best, you know, side of ourselves, the best version of ourselves, this sort of sanitized version. This is really us. And so when you see our interaction, this is how we interact with each other in real life. And this podcast gave us an opportunity to really spend more time together. And I so appreciate that. And I so appreciate how much time and work and effort that you put into this, Brian. Like, people probably don't really understand when we joke that I'm the on air talent. It's because it's true in the sense that, like, I don't do all of the production stuff that Brian does. Like, Brian does most of almost all of the. Before CT came on and started writing blog posts for us, Brian was doing all of that himself. Brian does all of the editing of our podcast himself. Any videos that we put out, he does all of the video editing for. He sets up all of the production stuff that goes on behind the scenes. He sets up our calendar to make sure when we book a guest that we actually have it on our calendar and the guest has, you know, the link for the recording. All of, like, that administrative stuff and all of the creative and all of our logos and our magnets and every. Everything that you see is designed and created by Brian. Right? So when we joke that I'm the on air talent, that's because I show up for. To record a show and I don't really have to do that much. I help here and there with, you know, posts on social media and things like that. But. But like, like 90% of this show happens because Brian does it. So I just need to acknowledge that and make sure that people know that, because I don't think people really have an understanding of what it's like and how much work and passion and creativity you put into this show every. Not just every week, like, every day of our lives. So thank you for that and thank you for being my life partner and doing this crazy thing with me, even though I never thought it would last. Last past maybe 15 episodes. [00:35:20] Speaker A: And thank you for indulging my crazy idea and showing up, because it could just be an empty box over there with no one else, and then people be in real trouble because it'd be. It just be me. And let me tell you. [00:35:32] Speaker B: Sorry, I'm getting all red. I'm getting all red from my, like, emotions. [00:35:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I appreciate you and I love you, sweetie. Thank you for doing this with me every week. So there is your moment of mushiness from the DCL duo. All right, see, we really gotta answer these questions. There's, like, so many of them. [00:35:49] Speaker B: Sorry, sorry. You're right. [00:35:50] Speaker A: Going to have to be rapid fire, because there's probably one per every minute of show we have left. All right, Okay. I bet some of them are repeats, but we'll find out. We're gonna start with Elizabeth. What is your favorite stateroom theme? Sam. [00:36:04] Speaker B: Ooh. So on the Magic and the Wonder, they have in. In concierge, they actually have rooms that are themed to different imagineers. And so I personally, while I love, like, you know, a Lion King theming or Aladdin theming, like, I love the Aladdin theming on the Wish, or sorry, not the wish on the Treasure, but I really love those concierge staterooms that have imagineer theming. And one of them. We got to stay in one that was a Mary Blair. Who is it does It's a Small World. And so I have to say, the. That's probably was my favorite. I mean, I just love, like, that kind of nod to the parks and particularly the nod to the Imagineers. [00:36:52] Speaker A: So I was getting ready. I was going to say, I bet Sam's favorite stateroom theme is a one bedroom concierge, but. Well, yeah, in fact, true. But I really. So I think we had a Tiana's themed room on the Wish, if I'm remembering correctly. I really love. So I love the stateroom theming on both the Wish and the Treasure. I really enjoyed. We had a. Was an encanto themed room this time around on the Treasure. Yes. And the mural on the back of the bed was just gorgeous. I really love. I love all things Tiana theming because I'm a big fan of New Orleans and the traditions there and all that sort of stuff. So I'm gonna go with Tiana. Really enjoyed it. Yeah. [00:37:31] Speaker B: Love that. [00:37:32] Speaker A: All right, next up from Lindsay, we've got most memorable character encounter in all of your sailings. You want me to tell the story or do you want to tell the story? [00:37:41] Speaker B: You tell the story. You tell this story. Great. You'll tell it faster than I will. [00:37:45] Speaker A: All right, so this happened, I think it was on our podcast cruise, or the cruise that happened immediately before the podcast cruise. But we were sitting with, I believe, Tracy and Michael and the morals. [00:37:57] Speaker B: Yes. [00:37:57] Speaker A: And we were in the. The Soul Cat Lounge on the Magic. [00:38:02] Speaker B: I thought you were going to tell the one about Nathan, but this is a great one. One. [00:38:05] Speaker A: Oh, well, then you can do that one. We were seeing the Soul Cat Lounge on the Magic, and it was formal night, and so Donald was walking by in his tuxedo, and it was his 90th birthday, and we were all waving. I'm a big fan of Donald, number one. He's my spirit animal. And Sam yelled at Donald, you don't look a day over 90. [00:38:24] Speaker B: No, no. I said, donald, you're looking a little old. [00:38:26] Speaker A: Oh, you're looking old. You're looking A little 90. [00:38:28] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:38:28] Speaker A: And so Donald had already passed us, and so we thought. Whatever. [00:38:31] Speaker B: He didn't. We thought. He didn't hear us. [00:38:33] Speaker A: He. He. He kind of came. He peeked over the railing of our booth and just did, like, the. The two fingers pointed at his eyes and then right back at Sam. And Sam was in some real trouble with Donald that night. And we were all. We were all, you're number one, Donald. We love you. We love you. Well, the next. This character encounter continues. The next day, we got off the ship at Castaway, and Donald was doing the meet and greet by the post office. And we walked up and Sam just said, I'm sorry for what I said last night, Donald. And Donald looked at her and immediately did the same thing. Two fingers to the eyes, two at her. And then he was like, pout. He wouldn't let her come near her to shake his hand. Gave me a big hug. Gave Nathan a big hug. So it was just whoever that. Whoever friends with Donald on the Magic in June. Back in June. Bravo. Bravo. It's so good. It was so good. We had almost as good an interaction with Donald on the Treasure recently. It was a really. I had a really fun interaction with him, but nothing. Nothing tops that one for me. Sam, what's yours? What's yours? [00:39:40] Speaker B: Well, I. That one's my favorite. But I would say there was a great one with Nathan when we were on a Star wars day at sea. Early on in our sailings with DCL where we went to the meet and greetings with C3PO and R2D2 and then with Chewbacca. And Nathan looked at us when we were. We were just waiting in line. We hadn't even interacted with any of the characters yet because it was C3PO and R2D2 were at one meet and greet and Chewbacca was another. And he said to us, mommy, Daddy, Chewbacca is real. And he was like adamant because, like, Chewbacca was so tall and the way his eyes and the noises that he was making. And same with R2D2 and C3PO. Like there was nobody small enough to fit into those. To those things to be costumes. Like they were real robots and Chewbacca was real. And I'll just leave it at that because he. It was the cutest thing ever just to see that. You know, we've had great interactions though, like walking down the hallway and stuff. But those are the two that kind of stick out in my. In my mind as some of the best. [00:40:48] Speaker A: All right, our next one is coming from our friend CT who says, best drink from each class of ship. I'm going to roll through this rapid fire style. I'm going to do. I'm going to do mine. [00:40:56] Speaker B: Really f. Okay. I was going to say whatever. Espresso martini in any of the bars. [00:41:01] Speaker A: Anything for anything from the bin. So my favorite. So magic class, I love the Palo Limoncello martini at dinner. I think that's so good. Dream class, it has got to be the Paris 75 in Skyline Lounge. Wish class, if you've listened to this show even for two episodes, you probably know my answer. It is. It is going to be the smoked old fashioned from Hooks Barbary. Love it, love it, love it. And on the Treasure, if you missed it in our episode, I now have a challenge coin with a high end bourbon on one side and on the back. The Disney Treasure is kind of on the back of it. And that was from Hooks Barbary. They're giving out challenge coins if you order high end bourbon. And I will carry. [00:41:45] Speaker B: Expensive. [00:41:46] Speaker A: Expensive. I will carry that with me everywhere. [00:41:48] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:49] Speaker A: All right. [00:41:49] Speaker B: For me, it's literally just an espresso Martini on whatever ship I am. I'm on. Or bubbles on whatever ship I'm on. On. Yeah. [00:41:56] Speaker A: All right. Favorite interaction with a crew member. This is. [00:42:01] Speaker B: Oh, this is so hard. I love so many. I'm gonna. I. I love. Okay, we just had Boris as our. As our waiter on. As our Head our server. Not head server. On. On the treasure and not on the treasure. Sorry. On the fantasy. And he was just fantastic telling us like really cheesy jokes at the end of every dining. Yeah. At the end of every dinner. So I don't know that that's like a favorite one. I. I have to say some of the interactions we had with Sage and coriander on the treasure were incredible. I don't know. There's so many. I can't pick one. Some of our favorite bartenders, like Miguel and Nuna, who used to both be on the wish. Nuna's still on the wish. Miguel is now on the treasure, usually in the rose. Yeah, just. There's so many great interactions. [00:42:54] Speaker A: I got. I know Karen's watching, so I got to put up Chad's comment because we need to sail with Chad again. So, Karen, you've got a. You've got a client in. In on aisle three here who he wants to book. He wants to book a cruise. So there you go, Chad. We gotta sail together again, buddy. We gotta sail together again. Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. Great news. The fabulous team over at MyPath Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. My Path unwinding travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner, which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, relaxed at Alani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation, or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks my path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode. Next next one here. Oh, it was favorite interaction. I got to get my favorite interaction with the crew member. I will carry this one with me forever. It was that just really simple, funny interaction with Pete. Pete Gordon from Jamaica. [00:44:22] Speaker B: I know. [00:44:23] Speaker A: Our first server on the fantasy who we loved, loved, loved. He was on the Fantasy. We're just finding him. It was like playing Where's Waldo. We couldn't find him. So he one night came over. He had an assistant server, Alex, who's since become a main dining server himself. And Alex would do all of these fun tricks and stuff. Pete was a very kind of no nonsense server, but really good dry humor. Just nice guy. Guy always gave great food recommendations. Anyway, Pete came over and I said, pete, you know Alex, he's got all kinds of great magic tricks, buddy. Like, what do you bring into the. Bring into the party? And he said, you want a magic trick? I got a really great magic trick. I said, sure. What Pete? And it was on the last night of the cruise. And he said, tomorrow, I'm going to make you all disappear. And so it's just right up my alley in terms of humor. I loved it. So, Pete, I hope we get to see Pete again one day. But anyway. [00:45:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:45:12] Speaker A: All right, next up from Chris. Hey, Chris. He says, of all the sailing, what was your favorite stateroom you ever stayed in and why? So we won't do theme. I'll say my favorite stateroom that we stayed in has been a one bedroom in concierge. I mean, there's just. There's not. There is not. There is not much. [00:45:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:45:29] Speaker A: No. We will be in the Roy Suite for Alaska, our probably first and only time. And that may become my new favorite stateroom. But I love the one bedroom concierge. And I especially love it, I should say on the. The wonder. I really love the one bedroom concierge set up on the wonder. [00:45:44] Speaker B: I agree, I think on the magic or the wonder. The one, Ben. The one bedroom concierge. But I will give an honorable mention to on the Wish and on the Treasure. There are these front ocean view concierge staterooms that are. They're not one bedroom. They're just. They're called an ocean view. But the front, it's literally you're looking out of the front of the ship. So you have the same view as basically the bridge has. And it's this amazing view. If you get one of the center rooms, you can have this amazing. I mean, your entire wall is. Is window. You don't have a veranda, but the room is also huge. So that's also a concierge stateroom. But I'm sorry, I can't. The concierge staterooms, they're. They're too expensive, but they are just nicer. So I can't really. It's hard to pick like a regular stateroom. Over a concierge stateroom. [00:46:32] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. We've got. Who is your favorite cruise director? [00:46:38] Speaker B: Ooh, I like Ashley. I think she's great. She opened. She. She was the. The opener for the Wish. Right. So the Wish maiden voyage. But I also really like Leslie, who was on the Magic when we were on the Magic just this year. I like. I guess I have a thing for female cruise directors there. Most of them. Most of the cruise directors are male, but I. I like the women the best. [00:47:05] Speaker A: Oh. Keep it family friendly. [00:47:08] Speaker B: Not that kind of thing. [00:47:09] Speaker A: I know, I know. So. So I agree with you about Ashley. I really liked her. I was gonna say I missed my favorite entertainment director, which was Chris from the uk. He was on the Fantasy when we first started sailing, and he would always say, hi, I'm Chris. What's my name? Chris. So I liked him a lot. [00:47:25] Speaker B: Yeah, he was. [00:47:26] Speaker A: Let's see here. So now we've got from Magically, Vanessa, favorite live theater show, Sam, Take It. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Away, Disney, tale of Moana, Period. End of sentence. [00:47:38] Speaker A: Same, same. Yeah. I mean, I don't even really love Broadway theater, and I will probably go back and see Moana anytime around. [00:47:46] Speaker B: Well, I would go see it twice if I didn't. If it didn't mean missing dinner in, like, cocoa or something. Yeah. [00:47:53] Speaker A: All right, question. You've been on several. This one's coming from Chris Kidder. Again, several themes. Christmas, New Year's Eve, Halloween, Marvel, et cetera. We have not done Marvel. [00:48:00] Speaker B: We've not done Marvel. That's the one. [00:48:02] Speaker A: We've done Star wars, though, which is your favorite themed cruise you've been on. [00:48:07] Speaker B: Ooh, that's hard. I'm gonna say Christmas because I'm not a big Halloween person in general. Like, I'm not. Like, I don't love dressing up for Halloween, but I do love me a good ugly sweater, and I do love a Christmas tree and Christmas garlands and that's. And I do love Christmas music and Christmas carolers. So, yes, I'm Jewish, but I. I'm. I'm a Jew who loves Christmas. So, yeah, I'm gonna say Christmas, Christmas, Maritime themed cruises or sailing on Christmas is even better. And I'm just as happy to, you know, get my picture taken with Santa in front of that tree. So, yeah, I would say Christmas. [00:48:48] Speaker A: I. I equate Disney and Christmas because when I was a kid growing up, we would go to Disney World for Christmas a few. We did that a few years in a row. And so for me, there's sort of a connection and I think nobody does Christ Christmas better than Disney. So I love Christmas. I love the getting up in the. Like when we did the one where we were at sea the morning that Santa, you know, after Christmas in Santa and we got to get up early, we get to get pictures with Santa. There was hot cocoa and cookies. It was just great. So I love a good Christmas sailing on Disney Cruise Line. I think it's. I think it's fabulous. As long as it's. I just want to put the wish I don't think I would enjoy as much because of the weird tree and the tiny gingerbread house. So I'll say that hashtag the treasures doing it right. They got the nice big green Christmas. [00:49:34] Speaker B: Tree on board, so they didn't have a gingerbread house. But we didn't expect one, so they did not. [00:49:40] Speaker A: All right, what's your favorite most memory wildest story you've heard from a guest from the show? I'm going to let Sam percolate on this for a second. I, I am not going with a guest story. I'll just say the story I heard from a crew member on board that still gets me to this day and is hilarious was it was a guest services crew member member who told us that on embarkation day, I know that she got a phone call from a family in their stateroom and they were very, very upset because they had asked for an ocean view. They had bought an ocean view stateroom and they had a view of the. [00:50:12] Speaker B: Parking lot because they hadn't left the port yet. [00:50:16] Speaker A: Because that was the thing Guest Services had to explain. When we leave the port, you will have a lovely view of the ocean. So anyway, could not to this day, I'm not sure if it's real or made up, but if that I. She was telling it like it was real. So I, I. Wow. Just wow. All right. [00:50:30] Speaker B: Okay. I mean, the wildest that I can think of is one of our guests who won like thousands of dollars in bingo. I don't even remember which guest it was, but we've had actually a couple of guests who have won bingo. But one of them, it was like, it was like four or five thousand dollars. It basically paid for their entire cruise. So I mean, I just. It to me, that's just kind of crazy. The other one is, is when people get chosen for Match your Mate or their parents get chosen for Match your Mate. And like you're there there watching their parents being interviewed for Match youh Mate or, or their children being interviewed for Match youh Mate. Like, that seems Traumatic. I would not do that. I'm just gonna put that out there. Like, if my parents were on the ship with me. Yeah. We would not be up there answering questions on Match youh Mate. Yeah. [00:51:21] Speaker A: Yep. All right. We've got from Cruising DCL family, what's your favorite excursion you have done in any port? [00:51:28] Speaker B: Ooh, I have a couple of favorites. I have to say, I love parasailing. Now in cast at Castaway, I. You know, it took some convincing to get me to do parasailing, but I absolutely loved it. But I've also really loved when we did ziplining in St. Kitts. We did that. That, like, rainforest canopy ziplining where we had to go on, like four different zip lines. And I was terrified. And the guy had to like. What was it he said? He, like, didn't tell me. [00:51:59] Speaker A: He didn't let go. [00:52:00] Speaker B: No. [00:52:01] Speaker A: You were just sitting there harnessed in and. And he had to, like, pull a lever for you to go. And we were. She. You were kind of freaking out. And he was like, it's going to be. It's going to be okay. Goodbye. And then he just. [00:52:11] Speaker B: He's just letting me go. And then I was like. Because it was so much fun. So, yeah, they were like. It was. We also did a zip line in. I can't remember. I think it was St. Martin, that really long one, the Flying Dutchman. And I was terrified to do that when I did it. We got to the bottom and I was like, let's do that again. [00:52:28] Speaker A: Sam was like, what do you think about doing it again? After she'd been like, the whole day she's been like, this is going to be terrible. I hate. I'm going to hate this. I'm going to terrify. [00:52:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:37] Speaker A: I will say, honestly. So I. My. One of my favorite. Some of my favorite excursions have been things where we have just done things on our own. So. So I loved when we got off in Olesand in Norway. I mean, we did an excursion, but then we just got to walk through the town and up the hill and get some great photos of the ship. Or in. I forget the name of the other town. It was Njord Fjordeijd. And I'd. Fjord. I forget which one, but I think Eidfjordeid. I love just walking around and looking at the town. We stumbled into that fun little secondhand store and bought some souvenirs that were actual things made in Norway as opposed to things made in China that were being sold in a curio shop. Um, I will say my Favorite port. One of my favorite ports, I guess, is Catalina. I love the day that we got to spend in Catalina, which includes. [00:53:24] Speaker B: You got to parasail. [00:53:25] Speaker A: I got to parasail there, which is. Which was just a ton. [00:53:27] Speaker B: That was before I started my parasailing journey. [00:53:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I love that hike that we did at Pulpit Rock. As hard as it. [00:53:33] Speaker B: Oh, as hard as it was, actually. That has to be on my list of top ones, too. I can't believe I didn't include that. [00:53:38] Speaker A: And the helicopter tour that we did of the. Of the. The. The iceberg or not the iceberg. The. I'm forgetting the name of the glacier. Sorry. The glacier in Norway. Sorry. So I. Norway, as you can tell, is a theme. Really love Norway. One of my favorite cruises. But yeah, Catalina on the west coast was also just a lot of fun. So. Yeah. And I actually would say I also love that choice. Here's. We just did the private boat shore excursion to Joe's Van Dyke and the other places that we just did on the Treasure. That was fantastic as well. So. Yeah. All right, question. On the best night with the best possible food, warm, speedy service, what's your favorite rotational dining venue? Take into account food, menu, entertainment, Except. Etc. Sam. [00:54:18] Speaker B: Oh, this is so hard. Okay. Taking into account all of those things. [00:54:26] Speaker A: And I should say. I should also say this. Emma also wants to know from the morals. Favorite main dining restaurants. [00:54:31] Speaker B: Favorite. This is so hard because I. I love so many of them. I'm gonna have to go with the so I Animators package palette is what. I'm gonna have to go with the Night one menu. And that means either the Crush show or the classic where you get Sorcerer Mickey in there. Sorry, Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey. If I say Sorcerer Mickey, Nathan will correct me if he watches this show later. Yeah. [00:55:04] Speaker A: You know my answer. I think you know my answer. [00:55:08] Speaker B: You're going to say Coco, probably. No, no, you're going to. Sorry. You're going to say Tiana. You're going to say Tiana's Night One Mardi Gras show. [00:55:16] Speaker A: Yeah, Sorry. Yes. [00:55:17] Speaker B: Sorry. Yeah, you're going to say. Because it's the. Yours is the classic New Orleans menu. Mine is the classic truffle per sets menu. And I also get the pork chop and I also get the pasta. So I get two main dishes. Always when I have that, I should. [00:55:32] Speaker A: Put a plug in for like. Okay, so now that we've been on the Treasure and we were on the Fantasy again, I think we have some of our least favorite menus ever. Ever. [00:55:38] Speaker B: Okay. [00:55:38] Speaker A: So we Spent our favorite and our least favorite. We spent one night on each of those ships just in the pub eating wings and loaded tater tots with our friends because we were so unimpressed with these menus that they had on was the second night of 1923 and the second night of enchanted Garden. I think it was like white onion soup on it. That someone was trying to convince us was just the. It's just the same as French onion soup. Well, then just call it French onion soup then. Because white onion soup, it had a bunch of stuff on it. So yeah, I. I hope that Disney some. Tracy sent us a photo of a menu from 2019. Yeah, 2019. Was it animators 2019? [00:56:19] Speaker B: I can't remember. [00:56:20] Speaker A: Anyway, it is the exact same menu. Nothing has changed. I really hope they change up those menus. All right. Okay. What is your favorite beverage tasting from? [00:56:33] Speaker B: Okay, I think the champagne tasting for me. [00:56:36] Speaker A: Me kickstart your day. I love the kickstart your day beverage tasting because it was not all alcohol. I loved it. And yeah, close second was the old fashioned tasting and hooks. But yeah, that was really fun too. So. Yeah. [00:56:49] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, Lindsay's. We hit this in a different question, but I'm going to. But I'm going to add an honorable mention. I said an espresso martini on all the ships. But I also love my old school answer. Used to be the banana carib, which is basically a pina colada with banana added in. It is not on the menu anymore, but the bartenders will still usually make it for you. [00:57:11] Speaker A: Yep. All right. When you first get on a ship, where's the first place you like to go? All right, well, Sam loves to do the sit down lunch, so I like to. [00:57:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I like sit down lunch. I think it's more relaxing and I really want my Oreo cheesecake at the end of that sit down lunch. And the. The cabanas or Marceline market version is different. It's not quite as. It's good. It's just not quite as good. But of course I feel like we always have to take care of stuff at like guest services or the spa or something. So there's usually other places we do actually go first before we head to the sit down restaurant. Wherever they're having sit down lunch. Different. You know, it's different depending upon which ship you're on. But yeah, I would say yeah, that's sit down lunch is probably number one. If we're. If we're on a new ship, we've got to explore a little bit before we go eat though. [00:58:02] Speaker A: So here, here's my problem with the question. I am not really on vacation until the luggage has arrived and I'm able to unpack it. So the first I go is wherever Sam's going because I'm just like, let's, I want to get my luggage, I want to get unpacked. Once I'm unpacked, I will tell you my favorite, favorite spot to go is I like to get. So if it's a wish class and we're in concierge, it's the lounge, but outside, yeah, it's on the other ships. I want to get up to a high level deck where there's a bar so I can get a drink and sit outside. I love to watch the sail away. [00:58:35] Speaker B: Yes. [00:58:36] Speaker A: From the front of the perspective of the front of the ship. The ship. And my absolute favorite port to do that in is St. Thomas because usually you're parked in a way that you're kind of exiting around this big island. It's just I love listening to the horns. I love having a drink. I love just feeling the ship start to move. Like that's my favorite. I have not gotten to do that on any of our recent cruises. So I'm hoping on our next one I might be able to sit outside and just enjoy the sail away. But I like to do it quietly. [00:59:02] Speaker B: So yeah, CT and Tracy are both saying the adult pool is where it's at and I, I, I totally agree. If you're on a back to back especially, that's a great place to go. But you know, we can't always go to the adult pool right away because we've got that pesky 11 year old who likes to come with us wherever we go. [00:59:21] Speaker A: Come on now. I mean the last cruise we were on, I think we saw some total of 90 minutes. [00:59:25] Speaker B: Well, but on embarkation day, you know, the kids clubs are in open house mode and so Nathan is with us really on embarkation day. So we don't get to do a lot of, of adult pool time until later on embarcation day or the, or the first full day of the cruise. So. [00:59:41] Speaker A: All right, Andrew's asking us what our favorite magnets. [00:59:44] Speaker B: Oh, I like this question. I mentioned it earlier on the show. Brian designed this mad this magnet that says I'm so fancy my presets are truffled and I just thought it was the most hilarious magnet out there. There's another one that he made, made that's, that says popularity is easy when you're sailing Concierge So those ones are like, they're, they're just clever and funny. We have, I mean, I love our logo, so I love our logo magnet as well. And I love the, the different ship magnets that we have that Brian, you know, all of their magnets Brian designed. I love our ship magnets as well. So yeah, all of them are great. But I'm so fancy. My presets are truffled. Is probably number one in, in my heart. Brian is your favorite lookout key, which. [01:00:31] Speaker A: Oh, you mean safe from. Yeah. So I made a tongue in cheek magnet of Mark safe from the lookout key pier. So I, I, I do enjoy that magnet. I also enjoy my rope, my end rope drop culture magnet. Cut the rope. Yeah. So those, those are my two favorites. If you don't have these in your repertoire, just reach out. We are happy to send them out. People always ask us, where can I buy your magnets? You can't. We just give them out Because I don't, Yeah, I, I don't, I don't need to deal with the hassle of, of, of a storefront. So. [01:01:01] Speaker B: And by the way, Connecticut is giving you credit. The tinfoil mouse ears magnet. That is a roll of aluminum foil. Brian is the one who designs that magnet and it is a fantastic, fantastic magnet. [01:01:15] Speaker A: All right, next up, what was your favorite moment that came from hosting the podcast? I mean, I think we've both probably said the recording that happened in animator's palette. I will just say also deep cut here. When we got to do the show with David Koenig, who is a Disneyland, I was like fanboying out because I read his books. I was like, I can't believe this guy is on our podcast. And it was like episode like it was under, it had to be under 100. Like, I mean, like we had no one listening except for Tracy. I'm not even sure Michael and Cindy, Cindy Likener out there. But like, but he came on the show and we just, he sent us all these books that he signed. It was just fantastic and so, so loved having him on. Also, I fanboyed out a little when we had Mike Raman on. I mean, he is the OG Disney podcaster. Nobody does it better than Mike Raman. He's got live call in shows. I can barely get the voicemail to work. [01:02:15] Speaker B: So, yeah, a lot of call in shows. Yeah, well, yeah, I think the animators palette recording. I actually loved the recording where Josh Wilson came to our house. The DCL duo villain where he came to our house and recorded which anniversary Was that Brian was. It was our. It was an anniversary episode. [01:02:36] Speaker A: I thought it was maybe episode three. Oh, no, maybe it was our fourth year of podcasting. I can't remember. [01:02:41] Speaker B: I can't remember which anniversary it was. But anyway, he came and did our origin story episode, but he did it in our house. And because he only lives, like, you know, an hour, hour and a half north of us, and it was just really fun. It was one of the first times we did, like, an. A record, like a live again recording where we had, you know, the person in the same room as usual, us. But yeah, it was a really. That was a really fun one to. To record and. And also fun to. You know, I think that was the first time we. I think that was the first time we met him in person. [01:03:09] Speaker A: It was. It was. And Josh, if you're out there listening, we miss you. You need to go on a cruise so that we can talk again soon. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. There you go. All right. What destination would you like DCL to sail to in the future that they don't already sail to today? [01:03:23] Speaker B: Ooh, that's a good question. I mean, I've really. I really. I mean, they're. They have plans to do this, but Japan. I want. I really want to go. I haven't been to Japan ever. I really want to go to Tokyo. I really want to go to Tokyo. Disneyland, Tokyo, Disneysea. I also want to go to, you know, the. Maybe the Nintendo park. Should I say that out loud on this show? So, yeah, so I feel like that's. That's a. I've been looking forward to that. I would, of course, love to do some cruise that went to all the Asian parks, but I don't think that's in the anytime future for Disney because they're all kind of far apart from one another. But, yeah, that's probably. That's probably. Tokyo is probably the big one on my. On my radar. [01:04:09] Speaker A: I'm going to stick a little closer to home. I would love for them to do real west coast cruises, like, you know, stopping in Astoria, stopping in San Francisco, like, stopping in some of these, like, iconic cities along the West Coast. I know they got to make the foreign port stop, and traditionally that's done more as a repositioning sailing than. Than. Than a real sailing. But they do these west coast repositions now that just go like, basically straight from, you know, San Diego to Vancouver. Vancouver. And I just. I would love for them to stop in these, like, just iconic ports. I want to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. You know, I want to see Astoria from, from the perspective of the coastline. I've been to Astoria, but I just think it'd be fun to sort of see that happen. So many far flung places. I would wish they would also travel or sail, but that's. That's one I just love to do at Disney Cruise Line. All right, which trivias have you guys won and how many medals so far? [01:05:05] Speaker B: I don't know how many. [01:05:06] Speaker A: Pretty little secret of the DCL duo. [01:05:09] Speaker B: We don't know trivia when we're selling. [01:05:13] Speaker A: We. [01:05:14] Speaker B: We had Southern Caribbean night. Southern Caribbean. We sailed with my friend who at the time was not a Disney Cruise Line cast member, but is now a Disney Cruise Line cast member and is a huge Disney person. Like knows everything about everything. And so we won a lot of trivias, but not because Brian and I contributed anything to the equation. It was all him. So we actually have a lot of medals from that sailing specifically. The only trivia is that we have won like the. Or that we have contributed to. And one are really brain teasers and I think like 80s and 90s music trivia. When we were on the Norway cruise with Haley and Drew and Haley's parents and actually Chris Vorbeck and his husband Sam too by the way, is his husband. He'll. Chris will enjoy that reference. But when we sail with. With Haley and Drew, Haley's dad is like this music trivia phenom. And so I would say we actually did help in 80s and 90s because we have a little bit of particularly our 90s hip hop knowledge is probably a little stronger than some of the other folks in our group. But yeah, that those are the only ones that I think we are actually decent at brain teasers really being our. Oh, and you did general Knowledge. [01:06:37] Speaker A: I won General Chris, our friend Chris out down in the Bay Area, he and I did general Knowledge trivia. I forget which ship it was on. And we killed it. So people. People making fun of the two old guys in the booth and we just, you know, swept the whole thing. So. [01:06:55] Speaker B: So those are the kinds we don't win. Like parks trivia. We won't win. Oh, we did win 25th anniversary Disney Cruise Line trivia. We did win that one time. It was a group of us. Spoiler group of us. We were with. We were with some other folks that were really, really, really good. [01:07:11] Speaker A: Tell the whole story. They had done it before and they knew the answer. [01:07:14] Speaker B: They only knew. So no, they had only knew. They only knew a couple of the answers. Brian, remember they do change up the questions, but anyway, so those are the ones that we have won and. Or contributed to winning. But I would say we're not really good trivia people. [01:07:30] Speaker A: All right, Chris Kidder's asking, favorite city you've ever sailed away from. I like iconic sail aways, so it ain't poor Canaveral. It's not. San Diego is actually. San Diego is a lot of fun to sail out of because you cruise right by the middle military base. You can watch the helicopter. [01:07:44] Speaker B: New Orleans, right? [01:07:46] Speaker A: New Orleans is probably my favorite. Miami is a close second, I will tell you that, because Miami has a really iconic sail away up that catwalk alley. So, yeah, it is a cool sail. [01:07:55] Speaker B: Away, but I would say New Orleans probably. [01:07:57] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, one more from Chris. Favorite WDW resort to stay up before a cruise. We got the same answer here. I think, Sam. [01:08:03] Speaker B: Gotta be Riviera. [01:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:05] Speaker B: Yeah. It's our homework. [01:08:06] Speaker A: We own where we stay. So we love Riviera. We just. We love that resort a lot. We love the skyliner, love the music, love the theming. So Riviera is our favorite resort to stay out before a cruise. So I want to pop this comment up because Tracy thinks we should do match your mate sometime. We. We won't. We tried. [01:08:22] Speaker B: We tried once and then. [01:08:24] Speaker A: And I could not shake my booty enough to get up to match your mate. So we won't. But maybe, Sam, maybe if we. If we hit, like, you know, I don't know, the next hundred episodes, maybe the 606. [01:08:35] Speaker B: Maybe thousand. I think we should be a thousand. [01:08:38] Speaker A: We'll have Tracy host an episode of Match. Or me. Oh, no. [01:08:41] Speaker B: Because we can't answer those questions. This is a family show, Brian. We can't answer questions on this show if. If we did match your mate. Whatever happens and match your mate stays at match your mate. That's what we have to do. Lynn is saying you can try and match your mate in 30 years. I like that. I like that. When we're old and people can laugh at us and it's fine. [01:09:03] Speaker A: Sam's on her second husband and I'm. I'm in the ground. So there you go. That sounds fantastic. All right, well, we're gonna wrap it up there. Thank you to everyone who. Who called in and left us a voicemail. Thank you to all of you who've hung with us through the episode. Thank you for everyone who's been listening since episode one or episode 499. I don't care. Thank you for being a part of our Community. I will plug that. Our next show will be next Monday night, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern. And Sam, who are we having on? [01:09:35] Speaker B: I am so excited. We're going to have magically Vanessa and Andrew from Accessible Adventures with Andrew to talk to us and to you all about accessibility on Disney Cruise Line. We know that that's been a hot topic, particularly with the Wish class, but we want to talk about on the ship and also off the ship at Disney's two private island locations. So we'll talk about Castaway Cay and we'll talk about Lookout Cay and what are the good, the bad, the challenges with accessibility on the ships and accessibility on the private island locations and of course, communication with special services and any sort of of things, tips and tricks you might need to know for planning a cruise when you when you are sailing, either yourself in a wheelchair or with somebody who sails in a wheelchair. [01:10:27] Speaker A: And we have one other person to thank. And Karen, I was going to thank you even before you sent this message, but I do want to send a special thanks to Karen. She's been supporting and her agency has been sponsoring our show now for going on almost three years. Almost. Well, it's two and a half years because we started like June. So yeah, it'll be almost three years in the same summer. Karen, you've just been such a gift to us both your agency, your agents and we appreciate you. Yeah, well, of course. Yes. And so I hope we can sail with you again. Hoping for fun Group cruise in 2026. [01:11:00] Speaker B: With lots of espresso martinis for us, Karen and for Leia of course. So this the Karen and Leia and I sailed on the preview cruise together on the Treasure. And I confess there were lots of espresso martinis ordered and consumed on that trip. So awesome. [01:11:18] Speaker A: Well, with that, thank you everyone out there for watching as always. We will be back next week and here's to another 500ish episodes, I suppose. Have a great night everybody. We'll see you later. Well, thanks everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out if you want help, support the show. Be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts and if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top 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 DCLD Duo or email them at DCLDuo mypathunwinding.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 all of our things. Full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast. Links off to our vlog a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCL Duo 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 Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflect the views the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. The other questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.

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