[00:00:00] Speaker A: The ring was in the back of this backpack and I found she was harassing me to help carry it and I finally turned it over to her to carry for a little, you know, wear for a little bit. Oh, my God. Are you freaking out, Starbucks? No, but I took a picture.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Where's the chapstick again? Is it in here?
You know, that intro just doesn't feel right for tonight's show. So I'm. I'm going to do an extra special intro for this show. So here, here we go. Here's our. Here's a better intro.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: Love, exciting and new.
Come aboard.
We' expecting you.
And love life's sweetest reward.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Let it flow.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: It floats back to you.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: The Love Boat, you guys.
Love Boat. We'll get copyrighted for that, but I really don't care.
I just, it was. I couldn't resist. I could not resist. But hey, welcome back everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and the great folks over at DCL magazine. We are going to have their float out issue here later this month. So if you want to get notice of the fabulous new DCL magazine coming soon, head over to dcl-magazine.com to sign up for their wait list and you'll get noticed when they put their float out issue out for subscription. You can buy a copy of that, read a fabulous article from us in it, get a lot of great high quality photos, high quality articles. It's going to be great. So head over to dcl-magazine.com while you're there. Show them some love. Grab something out of the WDW magazine store and use code DC L DUO, all caps, DCL DUO, 10% off anything over there. But we're here to talk about the Love Boat, baby. The Love Boat. Yeah, the Love Boat. Yeah. We got our friend Tenfoilmouse here. Ct. Welcome back, man.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much. It's so great being on the show, man. You guys have had some like, just absolute great episodes both on the vlog side and on the podcast side. So thanks for all the work you guys put into it.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: Aw, thanks.
What's your favorite recent one that we've done?
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Ooh, I'm halfway through the young lady who brought her father. Oh yeah, Laura. And to be. And that one speaks to me a little bit because I'm thinking a lot about, you know, how do I get my mom on another cruise. So, yeah, kind of hearing that one and hearing some ideas. But I'll tell you, you Know a lot of these things that we're going to talk about tonight. The things you get from listening to shows, like, you know, a lot of these are things I picked up from either here or, you know, or a friend that told me a story. So, like talking about cruising, getting and just, you know, love it on dcl. That's a great way to. To get some of these great tips. So we're already doing the right thing.
[00:03:30] Speaker C: Love that. Love that. Yeah, I definitely think hearing what other people do, I mean, I have heard, I feel like some great stories on the family cruising side of, like, how to surprise kids with the Disney cruise, which we have never done to. With our Nathan because it's. I don't know that that kind of surprise would work well for him. But I do think that there are plenty of tips and TR for families and for couples. And I love that we're gonna do an episode today about bringing a little romance to a Disney cruise because I think most people think of Disney cruise line cruises as being a family experience. I wanna be clear. Families come in all shapes and sizes, and so a family can be a couple. That is a family unit. But I think most people think of, you know, Disney cruising with. As cruising with kids. So we're going to talk tonight about cruising. You might not only be sailing with adults, but special things to do for your partner on a Disney cruise.
And let's remind folks c. T. Remind folks of your Disney Cruise Line credentials. Obviously, you're writing for our blog. Your tinfoil mouse years all over social media now. But tell folks your cruising background.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: We're eight cruises in since 2014 was our first one. And then obviously with COVID it had to take a little bit of a break, but we're back at it again. Unfortunately. I'm trying to figure out the next cruise, but we are. We're missing your guys's ABD window, but I think that's our next cruise, so.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: And I'm. I'm still so sad about this.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: You know what? We're gonna find one soon, Brian. We really are. I'm like, I'm on it now. Like, we're gonna find one soon. So. Yeah, timing just doesn't work out.
But it does work out for some things I have planned. And we'll tease some of that tonight, so.
[00:05:28] Speaker C: Ooh, love that. Well, for those who haven't heard, if you didn't listen to our episodes that we did late last week, and if you're not in our Facebook group, then you might not know this already, but we are now booked, meaning the DCL duo plus Nathan. We are booked on an Adventures by Disney river cruise. It's going to be our podcast Cruise Version 2.0. We are going in July 4, 2026. We're going to be going Adventures by Disney to Holland and Belgium. It starts and ends in Amsterdam. It's going to be a fantastic week long. Or actually it's eight, eight days. I think seven nights, something like that.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a seven night river cruise. It's eight, eight days including embark and disembark. But yeah, it's a, it's a seven night sailing. Now we're just trying to decide, do we go straight to Amsterdam, do we stop in London, do we go to Paris, do we try to hit up Disneyland Paris? We just don't. We don't know. We don't know what to do. So send us some suggestions and ideas our way.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: If you stop in London, my money's on afternoon tea at Fortnum.
That's another really good idea I got from this show.
[00:06:43] Speaker C: That is not even a question.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: I am definitely on the go to London train after the cruise so we can fly home from Heathrow. But yeah, we'll see where Sam lands. I've put the decision in her capable hands as to what we do and then I will execute her vision.
[00:06:57] Speaker C: Tracy's already jumping in the chat to say, let's hit Disney Disneyland Paris.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: You know those shirts that say most expensive day ever. It would be literal for that trip to.
Because I think we'd have one day there. But yeah, yeah, I actually want to. Before we dive into the topic, I just want to bring up Tracy said that I should have changed the names on the opening credits of the Love Boat, which makes me want to ask, like, so who would you be in the Love Boat? Who would you be in the Love Boat? I don't even know if Sam is old enough to have ever watched an episode of the Love Boat.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: I'm going to be honest. I know like the song and I know like, I know the. I definitely have like caught moments of it in reruns, but I don't think I actually ever watched an episode.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: So you're young enough to. So you'll have to be Vicki Stubing, Captain Stubing's daughter on board and ct. And I will probably have to fight over Gopher. I have a feeling.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: No, I'm the bartender. Matchmaking.
[00:07:53] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. I love that.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Oh, Isaac. Isaac Washington.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah, There you go. There you go. All right, all right. Let's dive in. CT has predictably and quite helpfully brought a slide deck with him. And so I'm going to put that up now.
There it is.
And this is just fantastic. Every time I see it, I'm going to see if I can put it into present.
[00:08:17] Speaker C: And by the way, I gotta put a shout out. I gotta put a shout out for this artwork that Brian did for the episode CT mentioned online. Like, Brian does incredible thumbnails for every single one of these live episodes. He does great thumbnails for our recorded episodes as well. But this one is just really cool. If you notice, behind the words Love Boat, there's like a rose. There's always artwork. It's artwork upon artwork. And Brian just says, cool job of layering it all, so.
Oh, Kelly saying I would be Julie, I don't know, on the Love Boat.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: All right, well, there you go. We'll take her word for it. All right. I cannot figure out how to. I'm going to just do that. And we're going to. And we're going to go with this. All right, so here we are. Romance at sea. Tips and tricks for sailing with your couple, you know, as a couple here. And cc, you do quite a bit of sailing as a. As a couple with your. With your partner, so you are most knowledgeable. Sam and I have done how many. How many couples only sailings have we done, Sam?
[00:09:19] Speaker C: One, two, three? I think four.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: Only four.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: We've got twice as many as you guys have.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: We're like gold and CT's platinum here. All right, all right, well, let's. Let's see how.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: Actually, we're silver in. I think we're silver in. In a couple cruises. And he's platinum in a couple gold.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: So I wanted to start with this slide. I love this picture. My wife and I actually, these are. We're dressed up. These are.
We wanted to look like Mickey and Minnie for a Halloween on the high seas formal night, so. And that was the cruise that got away from us, so we wore these when we went to Europe anyway. And so the piece here is you got to have someone that you just absolutely love and want to go through the work for.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: No, I love that.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: That's step one. Gotta have that. And, you know, I was in a bunch of modes leading up to this week. Next slide. And last week I was watching some psych and I came across the episode called Dead Air where the radio host gets murdered. And during the investigation, I think the radio studio manager makes the moves on Gus and then, you know, pulls him off, puts him on the show over his. His good friend there. And uh, anyway, uh, but that's not what we're doing tonight. We're not doing Gus. We're not doing, you know, the. What is it? A Player Named Gus.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Ah.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: We'Re not doing that tonight. But I had to get psych in before anybody else on a slide in the DCL duo.
[00:10:51] Speaker C: This is. You just like created a new benchmark ct.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: If I gave my Player Named CT advice in the, you know, in the era of Guster, it would be your tie matches your pants, not your shirt, or else it looks like you bought it in a box together. And number two is you don't buy her flowers when you mess up. Otherwise there's a two week reminder that you were an idiot sitting on the kitchen table. You'll buy her chocolates when you mess up. Flowers are. When you think about it, just because. So, all right, we're off to Player Named Gus.
[00:11:23] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: All right, all right. So before cruises, right? There's some great ways before and after cruises, you can do things that are just absolutely romantic. And it's part of that's knowing you know who you're planning for and what you're doing. So one of the first things I do whenever I plan a trip is I hop into Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, and just see what's happening in those debarkation towns that look like they're. And for my wife, like, music is. I'm not sure music is an official love language, but we'll say it is.
[00:11:54] Speaker C: It's an. It's an official love language. I love this. What a great idea. I would not have thought of doing that, like, because I'm always thinking, oh, you get there and you just like rest in the hotel. But I love the idea of like going to see a show. I mean, for me, it wouldn't probably be a music concert. For me it would be like a Broadway show, obviously, or national tour. But like, I love the idea of seeing a show in a, in a different city.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Well, and we. So, Sam, we've also done some of that. Like, you know, when we went to. Well, we didn't go on a cruise after, but we could have easily done that when we went to London that one time. We'd, you know, look around for those, like, private, fun little experiences. It just kind of like up level, I think, whatever you're already doing. So we wanted to go on the London Eye, and I figured out that they have a, like, private capsule experience you can do on the London Eye and was it price super memorable. And it was like just Sam and I in a capsule with someone's there with you and make sure you don't I think get it up to anything. Any shenanigans that they wouldn't want you to get up to. But they were like serving champagne and chocolates and stuff. And we just got to go on a rotation. London I just the two of us when we went to see Back to the Future, the musical recently in London.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:02] Speaker B: So I got the. I forget what they called it, but it was like a VIP kind of, you know, lounge experience that we could go sit and have drinks in and then go to our seats.
[00:13:11] Speaker C: I mean we did do the Harry Potter tour coming back from Norway. Right. Like that after we docked it. I don't even remember the Port Dover. Yeah. So I mean, I guess like. Yeah, those are to me that's my love language. Like a show or a Harry Potter museum.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: That also is an official love language.
[00:13:30] Speaker C: It is absolutely Gryffindor in particular.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: So for my wife it worked out that I bought the Andrea Bocelli tickets for her for her birthday that year. And like I don't know if you know, but like he only does like four or five years. Yeah, right. Like because his health and his, his vision and stuff like that. So. And trying to maintain his voice for as long as he can. So that just a great, great concert. And then we also done one Republic need to breathe train all of these. Sometimes it's in route as we're going, sometimes it's in the debarkation embarkation city. So just a great, great something to look at. Something like, like I said, for me it's the shows but you know, if you're trying to plan something for your partner that's in the sports. Right. Like there's. There's other things you can do.
It's really about knowing that person and knowing what's the right thing. And those have worked out good for me.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: Dennis has a great comment. To book a winery tour before. After you your cruise, like particularly in Europe. I think that's a great idea.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: Upgrade. Upgrade your partner's plane tickets to first international first class for business class.
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Right. I mean whatever.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Some of these have happened already. I can hear some good examples coming out. So. But moving on to the next slide, another one is like a nice romantic dinner. Like some of the best dinners we've had are ones that I kind of research up front. And you know, it's easy to just walk through the city and there's something great about just taking the city in and picking a spot and stopping. But you know, for one was Aquaviva. Unfortunately it's not there. I think they in Covid, their small restaurant didn't survive. But the rest, the menu there was amazing in San Juan and my wife absolutely loved the seafood there and it was was all of her favorites were on the menu. So it was perfect.
In the other one where you see the Roman Coliseum in the background, that one was on the rooftop of the Royal Art Cafe, which I recommend as soon as I hear someone's in Rome, you know, because all my, you know, fellow like veterans or folks only still know her active duty. When I hear they're over in Europe and hopping over to Rome, I'll text them right away like, hey, this is the spot you gotta go. This is what you tell them and they will put you up on the rooftop and you just a beautiful view.
[00:15:46] Speaker C: What a great view of the Coliseum. Yeah.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: And a great picture, right?
[00:15:50] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh my goodness.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: If you're getting a lot of glare and having trouble control the light, try holding a menu off on the right as you're snapping the picture. It helps. So.
[00:15:58] Speaker C: Ooh.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Pro tip.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: I love it, love it. One for all of you, like Disney fans going out of Orlando, like don't feel like you have to go to some far flung city. You could always get a little dinner at Victoria and Albert's going the night before your cruise. So there you go.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And I will say that while all the fancy places are sometimes the ones we think of for romantic, sometimes it's not the fancy place, it's the right place.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: So like no one like knowing what they're like. The Aquaviva wasn't the fanciest place in San Juan, but it was the perfect place because it showed I paid attention. Right. Like paying attention. Listening.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Anyway, yeah. Morimoto, Asia is speaking Sam's love language.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: That is actually the sticky ribs at Morimoto Asia. That's. That is my food love language. Like really, really any like, well, Asian food in general is my love language basically for food. Yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: Yeah. Love it. I love this comment from Kenton. They did Tuscany as a post eastbound transatlantic trip. So they did cooking classes, wine tastings.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:17:03] Speaker C: Cortona, Rome. Oh, those cities. Cortona, Rome and Florence. Yeah. Listen to episode 457 for more. Yes, exactly.
[00:17:10] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:17:11] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: I may have to go back to that one because I'm thinking about that area.
[00:17:13] Speaker C: So yeah, so I mean really great, great pre planning and post planning. For stuff to do before and after your cruise. I love that.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yep. On the next one I included one more and that's on the next slide. And that's. And I'm bringing this up because the magic and the wonder, you know, we just got great exciting news for 26 that they're going. There's a restaurant called the Observatory that's up on top of Grouse Mountain in Vancouver and you can watch the sunset and kind of the, the city lights light up. It's. It's up at the top of the mountain. Very romantic. Great menu, great food. This was recommended to me from a. I have a friend at work, goes out to Vancouver every year. Shout out to Pam. She's super awesome and she, she recommended this and this was a, a great, great experience for us.
[00:18:00] Speaker C: I wouldn't go there.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Don't rush you.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: So, yeah, I am, I am writing it down on my.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: I'll send you a link. Brian. I got the link still.
[00:18:07] Speaker C: Yeah. I love that. It still looks gorgeous. And we're, I mean, we're going to be up in Vancouver obviously because we're going on Alaska this summer. Going on a cruise to Alaska, but we can hop up to Vancouver. It's only like a three and a half hour drive in general. So. Yeah. Dennis is saying Grass Mountain is just a fantastic place.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: Take the gondola.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay.
Just take the gondola. Okay.
[00:18:30] Speaker B: I would say hiking up seems less than romantic, but. Yes.
[00:18:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
Yeah. You don't want to be all sweaty by the time you get up there for dinner. I'm guessing it looks kind of nice.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Perfect.
[00:18:41] Speaker C: At least not without a change of clothes.
Dennis.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: It's humid. It's humid. So yeah, lots of trees.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Love that.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: So now we're going to transition a little bit to some of the smaller things and then we'll get bigger and bigger. So small things you could do on a cruise if you did not know this. One of my favorites. I'll go get her favorite drink from the COVID Cafe.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:01] Speaker A: She's getting ready in the morning and bring it back or meet her with it or while she's going to get her breakfast. Instead of getting my breakfast, I'll hop over. If you did not know. You can get on some of. For sure. The Dream class ships, there's a spot where you can get coffees on the backside of cabanas.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: You don't have to go all the way down to the COVID Cafe. So sometimes I'll hit that spot or like I said, I'll go all the way down to the COVID if it's one of the classic ships, and I'll grab her coffee. And, you know, sometimes it's just the little things you do where they said bringing it down to the room.
[00:19:36] Speaker C: And I want to tell you that in. In this story, I'm CT and. And Brian is Kelsey, because I am. I am the one who brings him his coffee. And that's his love language. Right. Like, so I. Me bringing him coffee in the morning is like, there's nothing probably more romantic than that for Brian.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Well, it's also to render Brian functional in the night.
[00:19:58] Speaker C: That's true. I mean, let's be.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: Coffee is all of our love languages.
[00:20:03] Speaker C: But I. I have, like, some natural caffeination, so, like, I can function a little before I have my caffeine for a little while. Ryan not functional until he has his caffeine whatsoever.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: Very grumpy. Very, very grumpy.
Before we dive into the onboard, though, like, what about pre. Like, not the pre stay, but some stuff that you can book in advance or.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: We're gonna. We'll talk about that. We'll talk.
[00:20:30] Speaker B: All right.
[00:20:30] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, we're gonna get there.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: All right.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: All right. I wanted to cover the stuff on the cruise from small to medium to large. Yeah. So, Paulo, if you did not know, you can go up to Palo before a reservation and let them know what you're planning on celebrating. If you want to leave something for them to bring to the table or give them any information up front, you can do all of that. And they take such good notes in the system, and they do such a good job. Now here's what I'll say. When they take really good care of you at Palo, please take really good care of them back. Right. But I will tell you, on the last cruise we were on there, absolutely amazing when I stopped by and told them what I was planning on doing in Palo. And we'll get to that, because that's a little bigger than just the small things. Yes, but they will. They will. Palo does a great job as you're walking in Laska, if you're celebrating anything today. Most fancy restaurants do, it's when they don't ask and you've already done the work that just that little bit of extra work goes a long way. When you have a chance to stop by there and they do such a good job of taking care of, you know, both the hostesses, the wait staff, you know, the. If you don't know, it's the manager that's usually up there at the desk that's making sure people are getting taken care of and asking questions. And don't be afraid that the best time that I'm able to do it, sometimes I can't get all the way up to follow. On embarkation day, while we're having embarkation launch, I'll, hey, I gotta go to the restroom. And I'll stop by where they're adjusting reservations.
They're on the kind of the main decks, 3 and 4. And then I'll let them know what's going on and then hop back into the restaurant.
[00:22:01] Speaker C: So I want, I want to, I want to give an additional tip if you want to do something special in main dining. If you're on either the dream class or the wish class, if you want to have a special dessert delivered from the sweet shop, you can actually pre order and have them deliver, you know, either some crazy ice cream, sundae, cupcakes, whatever, any of the things that they have in the sweet shop, you can. They don't have one on the magic or the wonder. So that's why it's not available on the magic or the wonder. But you can have, you can prepay for the thing and then it'll be delivered at your dining table for your dessert on a particular night. So if you're celebrating a birthday, an anniversary, and you just want to level up, you want to do something a little bit more special than whatever the dining room desserts happen to be, you can prearrange that as well. So another kind of small, small thing to do.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Here's a fun tip. Room service Coffee the night before. Then you can drink together in your PJs without having to be decent for the room surface.
Yes, yes, that is a good trick, actually, because the pot will keep it hot most of the night.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: But that's only if you're willing to drink that Joffrey's regular coffee. And I can't do that. I'm sorry, Kenton, but I like your tip. If I could drink that stuff that they call coffee.
[00:23:17] Speaker A: All right, what's next slide is a couple of other small things.
Sorry, the picture makes me laugh. We'll cover it. But the first one is just sneaking off to a quiet corner of the ship. You know, there's times where the ship is busy and you can be predict pretty well where everyone's going to be. And some of the most romantic moments I think we've had on the ship is when we. That little outdoor area that's next to Meridian. Oh, yeah, on the backside. Apollo there. We've gone back There quite a few times and just, you know, we'll sit outside and the wind's going a little bit, but like it's, you know, it's, it's, it's a beautiful moment off the back of the ship. We always take a great picture back there. Some of those are my favorite pictures that we have together. Like that one there.
[00:24:03] Speaker C: So that's a really cute picture. I, I love even just like taking a walk on the promenade deck. Right? On, on.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:11] Speaker C: On either the magic class or the dream class, because obviously which class. You got all the stairs and stuff and stuff. Yeah. But I think, you know, just taking a nice little walk, just the two of you or, or relaxing by the, you know, maybe adult quiet cove pool, something like that. Those little moments I think are.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: And the, you know, the goal of that too is like, listen, there's a lot of great things you can do on a cruise ship, and this goes for any cruise, right. Because there's activities of plenty everywhere. But when you decide your activity just wants to be investing back in your, you know, your relationship or your partner, like, I think that's a, a good romantic thing to do. The next one is a total blunder, but came across as romantic. And I'm looking at the Facebook group and I see Christmas wear and I'm like, I, I think they're all wearing Christmas sweaters that night. So what do I do? I hop on, I buy a couple of u Christmas sweaters and yeah, throw them in the bags and bring them. And we're the only ones wearing Christmas sweaters in the middle of the Caribbean on Christmas day on the Disney magic.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: You would not have been alone with us. Ct we had we packed Christmas jerseys and sweaters. Yeah, yeah, we were.
[00:25:18] Speaker C: Yeah, we were. And there were tons of people wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. I will, I want to add to this though, taking pictures. You might have a partner who really loves to take pictures.
[00:25:28] Speaker B: I'm thinking aimed directly at me.
[00:25:30] Speaker C: I'm thinking like someone like me who loves to take pictures, my friend Tracy loves to take pictures. Right. You might have a kid who loves to take pictures, but if your person loves to take pictures, especially magic shots, just indulge them. Get in that line, take that magic shot, put on that ugly sweater, put on that, you know, tie or button down shirt or whatnot and take those pictures. Because what you have after these trips, right, are the memories of the trips. And one of the best way to relive those memories is through the pictures. So please take photo.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: PhotoPass is the first thing I always budget for when I'm. Yeah. After the cruise. First thing is we always get the photo pass where we live. And probably because we don't have kids, we don't do portraits at all, you know, back at home. So that's a great opportunity for us to do it and take advantage of it. And I'll tell you that the. The Christmas sweaters, I. I think we were, like, four pictures in because they move you from the Christmas tree to another spot to another spot. And we're on the fourth picture, and Kelsey looks at me, and she's like, oh, my God, are you okay? And I was so red because I was like, I was dying in the sweater. I think that sweater lasted about maybe 45 minutes that night for pictures. And then I was like, we gotta go back to there. Am I gonna change?
[00:26:44] Speaker C: I'm dying.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Dying. She's like, you bought the sweater. You're the one that picked it out. And I'm like, yep, I'm. I'm dying.
[00:26:49] Speaker C: I. I will give you a pro tip, which is wear a different shirt that you like underneath the Christmas sweater. So you could take a few pictures in the Christmas sweater and then take off the Christmas sweater to take the rest of the pictures in, like, a normal shirt. So you don't have all of your pictures in the Christmas sweater.
[00:27:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it was rough. It was rough. So. But when we look back at these pictures of some of our favorites from the trip and ended up being, you know, some of the cutest, so.
[00:27:14] Speaker B: So a couple.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: She's also told me I'm not allowed to plan what we're wearing at night.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: Fair couple.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Good comments here. Dennis is saying the sunset on the promenade deck can be very romantic. Yes. That's a great.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Love that. Deck 4.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: I actually love the quiet moments. Not embarkation, sail away, because that's just a zoo pretty much everywhere. But, like, sailing out of the different ports of call can be just a very nice, relaxing, quiet time because most people are getting ready for dinner. They're still at the pool. So that's another good option. And then. And then Craig is saying, go to character greetings with your partner's favorite character. And yes, get a photo.
And Kenton is saying photos of the golden arrow on the deck outside Meridian. Yes. Those are all good suggestions.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: We went to the front of the ship for the sail away party this year.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:00] Speaker A: And it was nice and quiet up there. It was great.
[00:28:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: I love those.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: I probably made a Titanic joke.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: I love those bars on the dream class ships that are kind of on the wings up above the adult pool. I don't forget what they call it. But this is not the promise.
[00:28:14] Speaker C: Signals.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Signals. Yeah, signals. I approach, sit on the right, not the left, because the left is the smoking section, but on the right. If you, you can sit up there, you can have a drink, you can watch the sail away. It's great, just fantastic.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: All right, next up.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
All right.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Ah, this is what I was thinking.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: This is a little bigger. A little bigger, right? So a little bigger can be packing decorations from home, which is what you see off on the left there. That's a Christmas tree I picked up off the Disney store years ago, maybe 10, 15 years ago. And is we've taken it a few times to Disney with us to set up as a Christmas tree in our, you know, in our, our villa or.
And then, you know, I packed it and took it on the cruise. So sometimes it's just the extra effort. The problem is, is between this and the decorating goals for the stateroom door, I had a whole bag that was just decorations for the trip.
[00:29:09] Speaker C: And then that's always Christmas especially.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And then as Brian was alluding to.
Go to the onboard gifts and amenities site and check it out. A couple of my favorite things are like obviously decorating the room for a birthday or an anniversary of the holidays. You can't see the holiday ones now because they clean that stuff out right away and they start reassigning ports for the different designs as they get into next year. Another one I pointed out that I've done before is the romance for two, which is item 1242. I'll say it again, 1242. If someone's taking notes at home, that's the, the Disney Cruise line branded robes, a bottle of Savoy and the box of chocolates with beautiful rose. So that is their kind of their, their quintessential romantic item that's off there. Keep in mind that if you also do like some of the flowers, which can be a really nice touch, really beautiful, especially depending on some of the ports. Sometimes the floral arrangements or the small Christmas trees that they do that are real are not allowed off the ship.
[00:30:17] Speaker C: Right.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: Your mileage kind of varies on those things. So just know that if you're gonna drop the money on that, it's to enjoy it in your stateroom and then stays there forever.
[00:30:28] Speaker B: People love those robes, by the way. And actually I just saw that they've changed the robes.
[00:30:32] Speaker C: Brian, there was a comment from Kenton. I, I, I have scrolled back to get it to Find it. Yeah. Did the romance package on their Eastbound transatlantic in 2024. Then had to L.
Awesome ropes to Italy for the next week. Just booked the Westbound transatlantic for 2025. Will not be getting that package. So this is the balance. Right. Like people love those robes and they say they're fantastic. But remember, you're gonna. Those robes are to keep and you're gonna want to keep them because you spent a good amount of money for the robes. But they are gonna take up quite a bit of room in the luggage.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: I wonder if you could just bring one of those. Those air. You know, like the bags where you shove them in and then either roll them up to get the air out or just have the stateroom. Said it. Ask if you can borrow their vacuum for a second. Just. Just flatten them out. You know what I'm talking about? The space saver bags.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Or we always bring a collapsible duffel bag.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: Yeah, we do that too. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:31:23] Speaker C: I just think you gotta have room in your luggage and know if you're gonna buy that. But it usually it comes with a champagne or. Or Cloudum non alcoholic cider or whatnot. Right. So it.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: We like the Cloudam. I think I tried it once and it was like.
[00:31:37] Speaker C: It. It. It's fine. I. I'm fine with it in a mixed drink. I don't know that I want to drink it on its own, but the kids.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: It's kind of like sugar.
[00:31:46] Speaker C: Yeah. It's kind of sweet.
But I mean. But it's for the. You know, for the. For the people who don't drink alcohol. The Cloudam is a great option. But yeah, you can get with. It usually comes with. I want to call it a sparkling wine. I don't. I think they're a Prosecco. I don't know that it's actually a champagne that it comes with, but it comes with a bubbly and two robes. There is actually like a.
Another package that comes with a single robe, I think as well.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Romance for one.
[00:32:14] Speaker C: Yeah. So if you wanted to get it just for your partner and you didn't want like one for yourself. Right. You could do that as well. If you don't want to lug two robes and my two robes might be one too many. Yeah. So. But I do think a lot of people like that package. And you're right about the flowers and plants and whatnot. Something to think about.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: I'm trying to find the. One of my favorite amenity packages. I can't find the photo. I'VE got to find the photo of you, Sam was the one that we did for your birthday and it had the big birthday tie on it that we still have. Have.
[00:32:43] Speaker C: I still have.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: And we made you wear, we made you, we, we insisted that you wear it around the ship. And you got so many happy birthdays.
[00:32:51] Speaker C: It was like a ginormous. I swear I think I still have it in the closet in this room right here. It's like a ginormous birthday tie. And it says, I don't remember if it says Happy Birthday or it says it's my birthday. I can't remember. But it's awesome. And it came with this fun like Disney cruise line box that's actually sitting in the same room that I'm in also. So, yeah, they usually come with a few fun things. I think that, yeah, the onboard amenities, these are things pre order, by the way. So you're going to want to, yes, you're going to want to check the app to see what's available in sort of the months before your cruise. Sometimes they add stuff and sometimes things run out. These on the, the packages that have like Christmas trees in them tend to go pretty fast, as do some of the holiday sort of blanket packages. But the birthday ones and the romance ones, those seem to be, be fairly available throughout. And you can, I think, I think you can order them up until just a couple days before your cruise.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: I also, along with this, you can, you know, for the, the romance for two, don't feel like you have to get the one with the ropes. Don't be afraid to just order a bottle of wine that you really like. It'll come with a couple of glasses. And then maybe you bring a small gift from home that you've packed in your bag and you kind of make your own. You know, if the robes are too much and not the right pace for, for you or your partner, like you can always bring something else. That's a small token to put with it right away when you get in the room. And it, you know, it goes just as well. And you know, for the, in the case here with the holiday decorations in the room, you know, that was all a surprise for my wife. When we got there, she had no idea I'd done that in the room.
[00:34:32] Speaker C: So love that.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: Just to make it a little special.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: So I love Alicia's comment too. This is like, this is for the Lego lover. Nathan and Alicia built a Lego Christma wreath together on the Fantasy during a very maritime cruise in 2024. And he just found, found A nice spot in the atrium area by the cafe. So kind of, you know, spot off to the side where there's couches and maybe a little coffee table and just. Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great idea. Oh, and Dennis is saying the C and CT clearly stands for Cupid.
[00:35:05] Speaker B: All right, so hold on. I have found the photo.
There it is.
The birthday tie. She hated this tie. She hated that we made her wear it around the ship. But it was.
[00:35:15] Speaker C: I kind of loved it and hated it at the same time, if that makes sense.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: It was fantastic.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: That's amazing. I loved it.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: It was so.
[00:35:22] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:35:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:35:24] Speaker B: All right, let me get back to.
[00:35:25] Speaker C: The ct that was in Covet Times. I saw Nathan in the background.
Yes.
[00:35:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that was Covid. That was definitely Covid. There we go.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: Go.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: Here we go.
[00:35:34] Speaker A: Which imagine how full it would have been had there been lots of people on the ship, right?
[00:35:38] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: So. So these are a couple ones that I think are good. And to go back to the photos.
[00:35:44] Speaker C: Ct, I love these pictures.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: So, like your vibe and the vibe you give. Right. If you look like you're frustrated with your partner the whole time. Listen, the photo people don't want to spend a lot of time with you either then. So if you're fun with the photo people, you will have a fund. They will make sure you have a fun time back, if that makes sense. So we're always. You know, I usually have a couple of the photo people that end up making my survey at the end of a trip because they usually do such a good job and we build such good relationships with them. But the vibe you give. Right. Like that all matters when you're doing the photopass thing off on the other side. Here's my other recommendation is do a private tour. Do a private tour where there's just one person taking you around, and they will. You can reach out to them beforehand if you're not booking through Disney, and you can tell them, you know, hey, this is a romantic trip for us and whatever, and they will. So, like, if you see there's love Roma on the plate there in olive oil, you know, for us as we're having dinner or lunch together, this was a little pasta stop at little restaurant between.
Man. It was between probably the. Is it the Pantheon? Is it the first church in Rome? Like, old building, right?
[00:36:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: And so between there and going to the Vatican, we stopped at this little spot and had some really good pasta and. And a Bolognese. And it was a beautiful little stop. Carbonara. The Food was amazing and she did a good job. Michaela from Can't Be Missed Tours they still do tours in Italy. Can't Be Missed is definitely one I highly recommend. A good tip I picked up from another somebody in the influencer world here for dc.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Also, 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. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, Relaxed at Aulani and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation or adventures by Disney or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email 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.
I, I also I want to put a plug in for the private tour. So I've always used Viator or why am I blanking on the name Trip Advisor. Thank you. I want to say tour or something but TripAdvisor because for one reason I, I, I don't go on looking for the city tours and stuff. I go on looking for like what is the weirdest tour I can find on here. And so Sam and I have done we did a walking tour of Harry Potter in London one time that took you to all these places.
[00:38:52] Speaker C: Unofficial, unofficial because it was all to sort of like inspired.
[00:38:56] Speaker B: Yeah, inspired it, right? Like Borough Market. We did a food walking tour of Borough Market which was fantastical. I think that was a small group tour but we did two tours that are really memorable to me. One is we did a private black cab tour in London one time that was awesome. Which was just a great way to see the city. But it was also just the two of us. We got to really pick what we wanted to see, what we wanted to skip, you know, all that sort of.
[00:39:18] Speaker C: Stuff and how much time to spend in each place.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: It was great. And. And actually we also loved the. That bus tea tour that we did in London that one time, which is a lot of. Which was a lot of fun and just the two of us. But the one that I remember the most is we go to New York quite often, so unrelated to cruising, we go to New York quite often because that's where Sam's family's from. And I decided we would do a graffiti tour of the skyline. And so, like, a local, you know, tag or graffiti artist shows up and walks around and points out all of the different kinds of graffiti and all this stuff. And at the end, he gave us, like, a sticker and he's like, all right, now go add to the New York graffiti scene.
[00:39:54] Speaker C: Right?
[00:39:54] Speaker B: And so we went to this. This restaurant that we love to go to, this Chinese place again, speaking Sam's love language called. It was Wo Hop. There's these two Chinese restaurants that battle one another, and it's Hop Key and Wo Hop. They're on Mott street in Chinatown in New York. And we're Wohop people. And there we went down there. And I was like, the walls here are covered with stuff like, we should.
[00:40:18] Speaker C: Stick our sticker up.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: And so we, like, were like, I'll be in covert. They didn't care. We put our sticker up on the wall. So anyway, it was just a fun little memory that I. I carry with me now of a fun little tour we did and a fun little activity we did after. So it was great. Yeah, I love it.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: Yeah, that's super great. But the private tours, you're. You hit it on the head. Like, you get to spend as much time as you want in places. You always have someone to take pictures of you because they're along with it for the tour. Right. Like, and they really do. I've. I've.
I have one out of the more than 10 that we've done with a private tour guide that I was disappointed in. The rest of them have been absolutely great. So I. I would say that one is the. The. The odd one out. You. You'll. You won't be disappointed in the.
The money is worth it. So.
[00:41:04] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh, and Kenton is jumping in. I remember talking to him about this. The romantic Tuk Tuk tour he did in. They did in Lisbo. That was. That one sounds like. Sounded like an amazing one. Also, of course, it's just the two of you with one, you know, with your driver guide. So, yeah, there's great opportunities for. For private tours. I love These pictures, by the way, of you guys in particular, with these plain backdrops.
My one of our. For people who may not recognize the white backdrop, but like, if you look at our thumbnail for the podcast, that picture is a picture taken of Brian and I on Disney Cruise Line.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: And I remember. I remember the guy said, get on the floor. And I was like, wearing this super nice suit that I had bought. And he's like, get on. I was like, I am. Are you kidding me right now? I'm gonna roll around on the floor. And we did. And it turned out to be a great picture.
[00:41:54] Speaker C: It's like our best picture. And it is literally our podcast picture.
[00:41:58] Speaker A: You're better than me. I'm not worried about the suit coat on the floor or the pants. I'm more worried about who's gonna help me get back up after. Like, I'm not made for getting on and off the floor anymore. It's just.
[00:42:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I already. I already said yeah. Yeah, that's the one we talked to him about. Yeah, yeah, love that.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: All right, let's head. Let's keep going here.
[00:42:20] Speaker A: All right.
All right. So this one is. So we're getting a little bigger now. So we actually.
[00:42:26] Speaker C: Baby in this picture. Ct, there's a what? You're such a baby in this picture.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
So this is. This is an Easter cruise in the southern Caribbean. We got on Easter Day and they had the white rabbit, which was. Was amazing because anytime we can get like a rare to see character. Of course, the white rabbit didn't stand still for the picture because he was late. Of course. Of course he was late. That's why the picture didn't turn out good. Anyway, you know, I brought just a simple gift on this cruise that I gave to her when we got on the ship. It was her first Apple watch.
She was closing. The rings began. And I don't think. Sounds like that worked out.
[00:43:08] Speaker B: Sounds like that worked out better for you than Sam's first iPhone.
[00:43:12] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: But you're right. It brought a little surprise to bring with. On the. On the trip. And it was a small gift, not a big deal, but. And we'll talk a little bit more about packing gifts when we get into the next one.
[00:43:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I love this. Tracy's comment. He was just hopping in ct. Yeah, Yeah, I love it. But Ching love it. By the way, somebody asked me in our Facebook group just the other day about Easter or in actually was in our April cruise group about Easter on board Disney Cruise Line. And I want to be clear, like they used to do stuff pre pandemic on Easter day only and post pandemic. From what I have heard, nobody has seen any Easter activities or any Easter, you know, bunny appearances and things like that. So just be warned that they might not do a.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Things I want to say. I've seen the chocolate eggs still.
[00:44:04] Speaker C: Maybe, but that's.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: I mean, for a lot of people, Easter is about something totally different than that. I get it.
[00:44:09] Speaker C: Right. Not about chocolate eggs.
[00:44:10] Speaker A: It's not about choc. Chocolate eggs. Although that is my wife's love language.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Easter candy right there. There's an alternative. Cream filled eggs. I totally.
[00:44:18] Speaker C: It's cream filled eggs.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: Right. There's. There's Easter candy, there's Halloween candy and Christmas candy, and there's constantly a discussion in this house about which one is better.
[00:44:26] Speaker C: Oh, my. As long as there's a peanut butter cup. As long as there is a peanut butter. A Reese's peanut butter cup. That is not a regular shape like it is. That is a special one. That's the one. That is the one.
[00:44:38] Speaker A: Whatever. That paste is not made out of anything.
[00:44:40] Speaker B: That is absolutely. My love language is the odd sh. Peanut butter cups.
[00:44:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Whether it's an egg, a heart tree.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: Re.
[00:44:47] Speaker A: Bunnies. Reer bunnies.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Oh, love it, Love it. I mean, look, our. Our son is. Is Jewish, but he rocked the egg hunt at the zoo the first year we took him.
[00:44:58] Speaker C: So yeah, that kid, he knows how to hunt frags. All right, let's grab.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: So this one was a little bit bigger one. So these are some older pictures, but I got to tell the story before I get to it.
So I went out. I went all out this trip with. As a matter of fact, I talked to Sam a couple of times because I was looking for some tips or to have someone vet my thoughts with the process. So just to start out 20 years ago this Christmas, this one that just passed, I deployed Dirac on Christmas morning, early in the morning, about 1:00 in the morning. And while I was gone for those eight months, some friends of mine who knew Kelsey were telling her about me lying to her in church, saying that I was a great guy and they were trying to fix us up. We met when I returned and we didn't really hit it off at first, but after a few months, we kind of found our way in our own time. Right?
And I was. I'll tell you, when I got back, I was really angry at the world and I couldn't quite figure it out. And I. I realized shortly after we started. Started getting that man, God Sent me an angel and just like, the mercy that to call me, to, like, bring me back to who I was.
That's why she's. I'm convinced that's why God put her in my life. So she's my best friend. The key for any man is to find a woman that will roll her eyes, not hit him in the back of the head.
[00:46:29] Speaker C: How about a little bit of both?
[00:46:31] Speaker A: I feel that this is.
But when we were younger, we got engaged. I was a young staff sergeant, didn't make a whole lot. And I bought her the modest ring I could afford at the time.
So when I tell you she has been amazing in the last couple of years around Covid, I got really sick with an autoimmune disorder that really kind of shook up my life and changed my life. And she was a rock through me not having the energy to get across the house for.
I think the worst of it was like, three weeks straight.
I've been better for about a year now, which is great.
I finally found the healing plan there, and she was just. She was by my side through all of it. So, you know, with that happening and then some of the other things with me being. I'm on the road so much for work. Those that see me on Twitter, see I'm constantly checking into an airport and talking about a flight and taking. Taking a selfie with Snoopy or some obscure statue of something in some airport somewhere. So I'm gone all the time. And I just decided this year I wanted to invest back in our marriage the best way I knew how to. So I bought her a new wedding ring.
[00:47:46] Speaker C: Yeah, diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?
[00:47:50] Speaker A: You know, she would never ask me. Of course she wouldn't. But it was something that I like. God, just put it on my heart to do that for this year. And I did it. So.
So let's talk a little bit about logistics before we get to the rest of it.
Packing a gift can be super complicated. With TSA and airport security, I can't speak to a lot. Apple Watch was still in its traditional packing and didn't create an issue in a carry on. So for someone who's thinking about a gift like that, all that recyclable material goes well through. Through a TSA check and. And does well for the ring. I was going to let a gift like that out of my sight, so it wasn't going in the bag, you know, just too expensive. So I put it. You can go to the next slide. I think I put it in a small Pill container, like the day night pill container. And it was in the top pouch of this bag that I carried around with me after we got to Galveston, and we went out to the beach that morning, and we'll talk more about that. I, I, I'm catching up with you guys in, like, two weeks to do a trip report with you guys. But the ring was in the back of this backpack, and I found. She was harassing me to help carry it, and I finally turned it over to her to carry for a little, you know, wear for a little bit.
[00:49:08] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:49:09] Speaker A: Starbucks? No. But I took a picture again.
[00:49:13] Speaker B: Is it in here?
[00:49:16] Speaker A: The funny, ironic part is she's walking around carrying the ring and had no idea I took the picture of her because I thought it would be funny for later. And then she turned at me with this stern look, like, why are you taking a picture of me? Why I'm walking like, what are you taking a picture of my butt for? Right, like, anyway, so that, that's the, that, that's the funny behind that picture. And I would say the, the pill container worked really well. If they see something, they, the TSA is, they, they know what's going on when they see something like that. You're carrying it like that. So that went well. And then, so the day Dennis is digging your story.
[00:49:51] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:49:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:49:52] Speaker A: So the day of, I, I decided to give her the ring. I was going to leave it under the tree, but my dad was a big fan of me giving it to her at brunch, so I went with that.
It was good advice. And it went out, it went across perfectly. I, we kind of sat down and I kind of talked her through what I talking to you guys about, you.
[00:50:12] Speaker C: Know, just how awesome she is.
[00:50:14] Speaker A: Good, good love stories don't start when you say I do. Right. Have you ever seen a movie that starts with I do do? No, not often. I think just the last.
[00:50:23] Speaker C: Except when you watch gets murdered. Married at first sight. Married at first sight starts with idea.
[00:50:29] Speaker B: None of those are good love stories.
[00:50:32] Speaker C: Most of the time they're not good love stories, but once in a while there's like one or two.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: If it's on TV.
[00:50:38] Speaker C: The new season starts on the 14th.
[00:50:40] Speaker B: By the way, if it's on TV, it's going to be a train wreck. That's what they're going.
[00:50:45] Speaker C: It's reality TV.
[00:50:46] Speaker B: What I love, too, about this photo of so CT's, for those of you listening later, we've been going through a whole slide deck. CT's got a photo of the, the ring up here. And you also managed to capture the apple watch. So there you go.
[00:51:00] Speaker C: It's a two for one.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: That one's been upgraded a few times. That watch more often than the ring. She seems to go through the batteries.
But, you know, I, I, they didn't quite understand it wasn't our 20 year anniversary, but it was the 20 year anniversary of our love story beginning. So love it that I decided to celebrate. And it was. And then that was palo brunch, so. Plus, it's palo brunch. Like, you can't go wrong. I know there's no souffle, Tracy, but Paulo brunch is pretty good.
[00:51:33] Speaker B: See, I was waiting for this to get into a comedy of errors. Like, can you put the ring into a souffle?
[00:51:38] Speaker C: No, you don't want to put it into a souffle. Somebody's going to get choked. Listen, don't put nervous jewelry into food or drink, okay? Let's just. I'm going to put that rule out there for your romance 101. Don't put the ring or any piece of jewelry into the food or drink. There's too much of a choking hazard. Okay? We don't want to be doing the Heimlich. We want to gift the jewelry next to maybe the souffle not in the sule or the.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: I did it very simply. I just kind of started talking to her about the last 20 years and how much she means to me and then had the box in my pocket and pulled it out, just set it on the table nicely and finished talking. And she was in tears. Then I was in tears. And then the waitress was in tears. It was, it was all.
[00:52:23] Speaker C: But I'm sorry, I'm laughing, laughing because this is so sweet. I, like, love it.
[00:52:28] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, it was good. We had a great time. And it was, it was good. It was, it was a good moment for us.
[00:52:35] Speaker B: I'm chuckling because I'm like, don't give Sam any, any ideas over here because.
[00:52:38] Speaker C: You know, listen, I'm, I'm.
[00:52:40] Speaker B: She only, she only, she only wears Tiffany jewelry as it is. So, like, this is like a.
[00:52:46] Speaker C: No. Brian actually did bring me a bracelet. It was a Tiffany bracelet, but he brought me a bracelet on, for, for Christmas on our most recent cruise as well. And so he had to, he had to figure out where he was gonna pack it and hide it and all that. And so to be fair, I kind of knew it was coming because I gave him my Christmas list and it was on it. And so I thought it was, it was likely I'm not allowed to surprise.
[00:53:10] Speaker B: With jewelry anymore because I will get it wrong. My privileges have been revoked.
[00:53:15] Speaker C: It's not. I'm real picky about the bruise on.
[00:53:18] Speaker B: The back of my head. CT starts to tingle a little bit. Yeah, there you go.
[00:53:24] Speaker C: Listen, I think this is a lovely, lovely gift and a lovely justice.
I really do. I will say for me, I need to be the one to pick out my jewelry. So I don't want to be surprised with jewelry, but I'll pick out something and then he can surprise me with it. So I don't know when it's coming.
[00:53:43] Speaker A: We did go on a date night the week before this last Friday, and she picked out the new wedding band to go with it because the old wedding band isn't going to fit around the new rock that's on there. So, yeah, we picked out a new wedding badge. We're gonna take the old ring and turn it into a necklace or something that.
[00:54:01] Speaker C: Oh, I love that.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Well, well, I'm working with. I, I, I always recommend people jewelry. Tiffany's is a thing. Like, I get, I get it. But go to your local shop. Don't go to the. Oh, yeah, the Zales or the K's. And I don't mean to take anything away from anybody that, if that's where they work or that's what they do. But, but for me, if I'm making this kind of investment, I want to make sure it goes to a small business and because that makes the difference for them, right? For the season. And there's one that supports the orchestra and one of the bassoonist in the orchestra also works at the jeweler. It was. So the funny part is the lady sits next to my wife in the orchestra. Has known since September when I picked out the ring and picked it up because that's how long ago I'd been playing getting it.
[00:54:47] Speaker C: Oh, I love that.
[00:54:48] Speaker A: She knew the whole time what Kelsey was getting for Christmas and Kelsey didn't know.
[00:54:51] Speaker C: So that's awesome.
[00:54:52] Speaker A: Thursday night.
[00:54:53] Speaker C: But that's the other part is you have a reliable, helpful person to pick out something and the person who knows your spouse. Right? Like, that's another good, that's another good tip. Because like, so I will say my engagement ring, my wedding band, they're not Tiffany.
But like, I. People have certain tastes, right? You have certain tastes, and you got to know if you're, if your partner likes, you know, white gold or yellow gold or silver or platinum. Right? Like there are people who have different tastes and Knowing that taste is really important for if you're going to surprise them with. With a big gift like this. So I love it. I love it.
[00:55:28] Speaker A: Okay, real quick. You know, I included a couple slides talking about virtual cruise.
[00:55:33] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:55:34] Speaker C: Yes, the virtual cruise. This is awesome. This is the best Covid. This is the best Covid cruise ever.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: This is one of my favorite episodes of the show, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:55:45] Speaker A: So we did a virtual cruise cruise when Covid happened. Now, I will say it doesn't have to be Covid for this if you have. Maybe someone, dare I say, hurts their ankle and you're stuck at home for a while or your cruise gets canceled for. For another reason. Right. A family member. You can't plan the trip because.
[00:56:06] Speaker B: Or.
[00:56:06] Speaker A: Or you just can't plan the trip because sometimes times are tough. Right?
[00:56:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:56:10] Speaker A: This is a great way. Now I spend some money, but you don't have to.
And I will pop this.
This picture up on. Maybe I'll do a trip report of it and put it either up on the sub stack or we'll move it to the. We'll put it on the Facebook page, something like that. But what you're seeing here, this was the kind of the backbone of what I built for the. So I had different themed nights. We even had a formal night. We had a pirate night because it's not a Disney cruise unless there's a pirate night. Yeah.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: I mean, it's. It's only. Unless you're in Alaska and then it's a frozen night night. But yes, generally speaking, I had the.
[00:56:45] Speaker A: Towel animal for every night and looked on YouTube on how to fold the towel animals. I even had the little Ghirardelli chocolates like they used to have on the cruise ship. Rip. I'd miss those. Those are better than whatever the dove. Yeah, whatever's in the room. Now. We had excursions, so I did like, we went and watched Christmas lights or did a. Like a treasure hunt slash amazing race around town where we were going to different spots and guessing where we had to go next or whatever that I put together.
We went and watched, you know, looked at Christmas lights on the base. We walked in Oak park where they have lights all set up, different activities I had set up. We were into overcooked during COVID if anyone knows what overcooked is. It's like a zany party game on the switch where you're trying to cook stuff together. And so I had every. Anyone could cook except my wife. Wife in Overcook.
Then we actually. I had a. Do I Have it here. Oh, I have it here. I bought her. Go to the next slide. Do you like the social Disneying shirts, by the way?
[00:57:50] Speaker C: Yes, by the way. I was going to say. Did that say Social Disneying? I love that.
[00:57:53] Speaker A: So I set up a little gift shop for her downstairs that had some. Some of the merch. We already had like the ships. But like the shirts. I had a friend make the stateroom door. I did 2020 since that was the year Covid. I ordered some H products from online.
I. I love the swans.
[00:58:13] Speaker C: The Swan heart with the chocolates off.
[00:58:16] Speaker A: On the side there. I actually bought her a dooney, one of those Dooney and Burke bags from the parks and had that as well there as part of the gift shop. She could go to downstairs. But another one of the items was this. This delicious Disney. And she actually made a couple of the recipes out of here for the. Anyone can cook. I had the stuff set aside so she could. She made lobster Mac from Lucilia Year and this peanut butter chocolate pretzel cake that used to be at the yacht club. Anyway, I had the YouTube links for different deck parties. I had YouTube links for the Frozen musical because Disney had actually posted that one deliberately through Covid for people to watch if they wanted to watch on YouTube. But then I found ones that people had like held their cell phone.
[00:59:01] Speaker C: Bootleg ones.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: Bootleg villains. Tonight, Hercules the musical, which we had never seen otherwise wise because it was gone. I think Tangled, they also did portions of. And then Trans Siberian Orchestra did a virtual concert. So we. That was one of the nights as well. So that was our variety act.
[00:59:19] Speaker C: That was your variety.
[00:59:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Which would never fit on a cruise ship.
[00:59:23] Speaker C: Too big. There are too many of them.
[00:59:25] Speaker A: I love that slide. Next one.
Then there was the food because. Right. Just like you guys talk about. The Rose Regal is our favorite sweet wine on a. On the cruise. That's a. That would be my recommendation. If you're looking for sweet to go after your dinner.
[00:59:41] Speaker C: I gotta say this food looks. Looks better than main dining.
[00:59:44] Speaker B: I want to know off air. I want to know more about the famous crab cakes. I saw that on the menu.
[00:59:48] Speaker A: Oh, Jimmy's. So those are actually on their way. Those get here day after tomorrow. Because I've turned into doing that every year for Valentine's Day. I'll order the crab. The jumbo lump crab cakes from Jimmy's. And they come in like a tub. Like potato salad.
[01:00:01] Speaker B: Does.
[01:00:01] Speaker A: Does. And I'll shape them like hearts and make the crab cake.
[01:00:06] Speaker B: So they're heart.
[01:00:07] Speaker C: I love it. I love it.
[01:00:09] Speaker A: But that's kind of turned into a tradition in our house. So that's that peanut butter chocolate pretzel thing.
[01:00:15] Speaker C: Yum.
[01:00:16] Speaker A: Delicious. She hasn't made it in a while. It's probably good for me that she hasn't, but, I mean, we, we made some nice meals that week. While we were. Yeah.
[01:00:25] Speaker C: While other people were baking sourdough bread, you were making. You were making Apollo quality meals. Clearly.
[01:00:32] Speaker A: Yeah. The, like, the lamb chops I had shipped here because I couldn't find a spot to get the. The lollipop style, which was kind of. Once I had the idea in my head, I was running with it. Right.
[01:00:41] Speaker C: So let's be honest. You could do this for probably a little less expensive by sourcing some things a little differently locally. Yeah. So you don't have to go this level of, of romantic.
[01:00:55] Speaker A: But you, you know, during COVID she was, you know, we had planned on seeing our parents.
[01:01:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:01:02] Speaker A: Of course, we thought we had done a good job of like, being at home with just the two of us for like, seven days beforehand. And then we heard about somebody who, like, got sick, who got their parents sick. And we just, like, had the tough time of calling our parents and telling them, hey, like, we've got a plan, but we don't want to get you sick. And I threw this together in like, the three weeks beforehand before Christmas. I was, you know, ordering things online. And that was back when shipping times were really good.
[01:01:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:01:30] Speaker A: You could get anything in two days. So. Yeah. All right. That doesn't happen anymore. It's like a week if I'm lucky.
These are some of the excursions. There's a formal night out, taking pictures in the park with the Christmas nights.
[01:01:46] Speaker B: And they're frozen.
[01:01:47] Speaker C: I love it.
[01:01:48] Speaker A: On our Christmas tree. Yeah. So that's it. That's what I got.
[01:01:51] Speaker B: So, you know, you know, one thing that we didn't cover that I just, I want to highlight that maybe goes in the. You know, you've, you've, you've helpfully done the little to big to bigger.
The biggest, if you really want to go all out, is to do some sort of like VAL renewal on val.
[01:02:08] Speaker A: So I looked at that for our Rome trip.
[01:02:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:02:11] Speaker A: And Disney has a one size fits all for that.
[01:02:14] Speaker C: It is basically a wedding. Yeah. You are paying the same what a wedding is.
[01:02:17] Speaker B: It is and it is not true.
[01:02:18] Speaker A: Something else where we just had like dinner for us and, you know, like, the captain would just give us the 10 minutes even, you know, I would pay.
I'd figure out how to separate myself from the five to six grand for even that experience that I just described because it would be worth it.
Unfortunately, the one size fits all is going to keep us from doing it on a crew, at least for us. Like she's a teacher and yeah, I know it on the news makes it sound like governor workers make so much right now that's not necessarily the case.
[01:02:50] Speaker C: Sorry I'm laughing.
[01:02:51] Speaker B: I, I'm married to a government worker and I can tell you that's not the case. Yeah. So.
[01:02:56] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:02:57] Speaker C: But yeah, no, there's, I mean there are val renewals of course. You can always surprise your partner with a cruise as a gift. Right. I mean I always tell people, you know, I'm a size seven plus night Disney cruise.
[01:03:09] Speaker B: You're a size four night cruise Atlantic or something.
[01:03:12] Speaker C: Seven plus seven plus seven nights or more. Right?
[01:03:15] Speaker A: Tracy, tell him. She's an 11 night Southern cruise.
[01:03:21] Speaker C: 11 nights specifically. No more. No.
[01:03:23] Speaker A: Hey, real quick before we go, what were your guys's favorite? You guys never said what your favorite ones were from the 26 summer itinerary offerings.
[01:03:33] Speaker C: Oh, that's because, that's because we're booking.
[01:03:38] Speaker A: That doesn't mean you don't. That doesn't mean you want.
[01:03:41] Speaker B: We did not. So if, if, if our ABD had been a little bit different we would probably book that 10 night Southern Caribbean or at least look at it. But because it's like a, it's. It would end up virtually being a back to back three week tr. That's just not going to happen. So we actually have not booked anything out of the current release and I am waiting. I actually we didn't say this on the release show but I thought Disney had moved to twice a year.
[01:04:08] Speaker C: We did say it on the.
[01:04:09] Speaker B: We did twice your releases and so I was expecting to see November and December in this release of which we will probably.
[01:04:15] Speaker C: October too. October.
[01:04:16] Speaker B: Well October, but I'm. For us, I think our next Disney cruise after the ABD will be be 2026 is an off year for us on Thanksgiving and so usually we book a cruise for Thanksgiving and then December. I'm sure we'll look at booking something for either Christmas or, or New Year's Eve that year and just have to sort of figure it out because we're doing, we're doing off years alternating years now between. So on Thanksgiving one year we go to Sam's family and one year we usually take a cruise and then for Alani we own Christmas week. But we've decided, decided it's really nice to like bank one week forward and then do two weeks in Hawaii around the holidays so that we can sort of like just maximize our time and the warmth in the sun. So. So, yeah, I'm assuming we will book something at Christmas and then it's just a question of whether we're just booking like a cruise or we're gonna like go to, you know, Disney for around the holidays and then, you know, hop on a cruise. But yeah, we're waiting for November, December 2026, which at this point I guess is another three, four, five, six months off. So.
[01:05:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:05:22] Speaker B: But, but what did you, what did you book ct? Did you book anything today?
[01:05:26] Speaker A: So I, I'll book tomorrow because of my, my status.
We are going to book. We're booking June 11th on the Rhine from Switzerland to Amsterdam.
[01:05:42] Speaker C: Oh, you'll be there right after us. Yeah, Yep.
[01:05:45] Speaker A: Kelsey's birthday will be the second day we're on the boat, so. So they could be returning for that.
[01:05:51] Speaker B: We disembark in Amsterdam on the day.
[01:05:54] Speaker A: There may be a way to catch up. Yeah, there may be. Anyway, so. And then we are looking at, we are looking at.
I'm looking at four or five days in Switzerland beforehand. Nice. There's a Glacier Express. That is a train that goes around the mountains there.
[01:06:13] Speaker C: Oh, cool.
[01:06:14] Speaker A: All glass ceiling.
[01:06:15] Speaker C: Train.
[01:06:15] Speaker A: Train with some tablet to give you like some augmented reality virtual data of the mountains and the areas as you pass them and then they feed you twice on the train for the trip, for the day. So I'm looking into that. I'm looking into a few other things, but it does. Yeah, so. But I, I don't know what I'm telling her yet. So I'm, I'm making moves and talking to my travel agent and getting everything lined up.
[01:06:43] Speaker B: So just convince her you booked like a five night out of Galveston and then.
[01:06:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Ye. Problem is at some point it's going to pop up in her Delta app. That's the tricky part of hiding a whole trip.
[01:06:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:06:54] Speaker A: So. But I'll figure it out.
[01:06:55] Speaker B: See, it's easy because Sam doesn't check her. Her travel app. She just relies on me to tell.
[01:07:00] Speaker A: Her, well, my wife is a travel princess. There's times where she just shows up and it's a magic porthole that gets her there.
[01:07:07] Speaker C: I check my trip it. I check. We have all of our stuff is tracked and trip it. And I checked, I check our trip it all the time to see I.
[01:07:14] Speaker B: Can mark a trip what he has.
[01:07:15] Speaker C: Yeah. But I also, I check it to see what he's booked and like. Because sometimes we have like the cruise book but we don't have the flights booked yet. Right. So I'm when it's usually because I'm arranging for our house sitting. House sitter slash dog sitter. That's what I'm looking like. When do we leave? When do we come back? So I kind of have to know.
[01:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:07:32] Speaker C: Anyway.
[01:07:32] Speaker B: All right, well, Connecticut, as always been fantastic, man.
And now that I know that you're going to be on Amsterdam in the. In Amsterdam on the 11th. We are. Tracy's going to be there too. Like, we are going to find a way day to at least say hello to you.
[01:07:48] Speaker A: Well, wait, the 11th of June. No.
[01:07:50] Speaker B: Oh, 11th of July.
[01:07:52] Speaker A: Oh, you're on the 11th of June. I'm before.
[01:07:54] Speaker C: Oh, you're the month before.
[01:07:56] Speaker A: We'll figure it out. I'm also looking at. So I'm also planning a trip for my. This is. Doesn't need for everybody else, but I'm we're. I'm gonna take my mom to Washington and Oregon. She wants to go to Washington and Oregon. Like I took her to New England last year. So you're gonna come see us sometime in May of 26 and I will let you know.
[01:08:14] Speaker C: Perfect. We'll be here.
Here.
[01:08:18] Speaker B: We'll walk the entire month, man.
[01:08:20] Speaker C: We're not going anywhere. We're going to be here.
[01:08:22] Speaker B: We'll take you to a nice dinner in town, you and your mom.
[01:08:24] Speaker A: So. Yeah.
[01:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Awesome. Well, ct, thank you for sharing this. You've shared some fabulous stories, some very personal stories, which I always appreciate it. Always the best.
[01:08:33] Speaker A: I appreciate it.
[01:08:34] Speaker B: So we love having you on. Can't wait to have you back, it sounds like in a few weeks here and to talk about your trip report. And yeah, just thank you for sharing with our audience. We always appreciate it.
[01:08:45] Speaker A: No, no problem. Thanks for having me. And guys, seriously, like, a lot of these ideas come from listening to the great content you guys have been putting together for, you know, 500 plus episodes now. So thank you guys so much and thanks for giving me a spotlight. To be honest, like, I'm loving just hanging out in the substack and the folks that are commenting there. Get over to the substack because we're going to start the Tinfoil Mouseketeer Club is going to be coming from the substack more often than any more often than anywhere else. So comment on our article there. That's how you get picked up for talking or being a guest in a future piece about prognostication coming to Disney.
[01:09:24] Speaker B: Nice. All right. And for all of you out there watching, just as a reminder, we are we back next week?
[01:09:30] Speaker C: We are not back next week because it is President's Day. We were supposed to be away. We're not going to be away, but we're still taking the Monday off.
[01:09:37] Speaker B: I mean, I'm still hoping Disney will send me the president of the cruise line and we can have a president stay up. No, that's not going to happen. So we will be back week from two weeks from today. So what is that? 24th February. We will be back and we will be back with a vengeance because we are going to have a cast member on Danny, an Adventures by Disney Guide. I cannot wait to catch up with him about all the happenings with him and, and to just. He's got great stories, he's got great enthusiasm for Disney. He's got great enthusiasm for Adventures by Disney. So can't wait to chat with him and catch him up with him.
[01:10:12] Speaker C: Super fun.
[01:10:13] Speaker B: Stay tuned for that.
[01:10:14] Speaker A: I mean, with the upcoming trips and.
[01:10:16] Speaker B: The I'm hoping to get Danny to bid on our cruise. So, like, you know, if he can finagle his schedule like, I want Danny back on board with us.
[01:10:24] Speaker C: One of our guides, he was so.
[01:10:26] Speaker B: Fabulous with Nathan and, and just a great, great adventure guide. So can't wait to have him back. So February 24, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern. We will see you then. For now, we will just say good night and we'll see you and like and subs.
Well, thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want 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 forward/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 Substitute Stack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here at least, and 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 express on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective views of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.
