Ep. 516 - Did Someone Say Bluey Onboard?: Sailing the Disney Wonder in Australia!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: But a couple of the. The jokes and soundtrack and they've obviously adjusted it to the Australian crowd, which. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Oh, that's nice. [00:00:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:00:10] Speaker B: They probably learned from last year when people didn't laugh at certain things because there are certain things that don't translate. I mean, it's English, but there's still things that don't translate. [00:00:21] Speaker A: 100%. Yeah. [00:00:22] Speaker B: Ye. [00:00:34] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path unwinding, travel and SAMGs. I almost screwed up the intro there because it's been so long since we've actually recorded a show for everyone out there. We are just back about a week in from being back from our big Christmas vacation. We went dark for a week. Didn't even think about the podcast I've been working on non stop today. But we're super excited for our guest. I am not going to read a review at the top of the show today, primarily because we want to dive right in with our guest. Sam has a hard stop that we have today for our recording. So I want to make sure we maximize that time. And I've also just lost track where we are. Let's be honest, Brian, and figure that out. Yes, I will be honest, transparent, vulnerable with you, our listeners. All right, so Sam, why don't you intro our fabulous guest. We are going across the Pacific, down under the wonder down under, as Disney likes to say. So why don't you introduce our fabulous guest today? [00:01:33] Speaker B: I'm super excited. We have a brand new guest to our show. She's been listening to our show though, so she was telling me she was excited to meet us for the first time, which was kind of fun. That made me feel like a celebrity for about a second and then I came down to earth. But anyway, really excited to introduce you all to Sarah. Welcome to the show, Sarah. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Thank you so much. As you said, I've been listening for a while and I love your podcast. I've. There's a lot of things that I will listen to and go, nope, they don't know what they're talking about. But I feel like you guys always have interesting but well supported things to say. So honored to be here. [00:02:15] Speaker C: Well, you know, it's a problem. It's two lawyers. We can tell you the wrong thing, but we can do it with confidence. [00:02:22] Speaker B: No, I want to piggyback on. Brian is saying we are actually really careful. We really try not to give you wrong information if we're not sure about something. We try and tell you that upfront that we're not sure and then try and follow up with getting it. Yeah, yeah, definitely tell. Yeah, we hate, we hate it when we have made a mistake and realize it later. We like are agonizing over it. But anyway, let's dive in. Sarah, you live in Australia. Tell us where in Australia do you live and then tell us where does your love for Disney, for Disney come from? Because obviously you didn't grow up probably going to Disneyland or Disney World. [00:03:00] Speaker A: A little bit different. Yeah. So I live in Canberra, which is the capital of Australia, about three hours drive south of Sydney. I mean probably like a lot of people of my generation grew up with Sunday night Disney movies and Saturday morning Disney cartoons. The era of like the Little Mermaid and Aladdin and Winnie the Pooh. DuckTales. Very lucky. [00:03:29] Speaker B: Sorry. Anytime anyone says DuckTales, I have to do the Woohoo. [00:03:34] Speaker A: It was going in my head. [00:03:35] Speaker B: It's just the thing. [00:03:38] Speaker A: And my. I still have family in Europe. So in the early 90s we did a big family trip, Mom, dad and three girls to Europe to see family. And back in those days it was cheaper to do a round the world ticket. Then Australia to Europe return. So that meant we had to do a stop in the Americas and mum chose to stop at Disneyland. [00:04:08] Speaker B: Wow. [00:04:09] Speaker A: And it was absolutely magical. And the whole family became a little bit obsessed and lucky enough to go to both American parks a few times. Kind of in the 90s, early 2000s, I was loved the parks, loved everything about the parks. Kind of the escape from reality. Seeing all these stories that you grew up with come to life. Like it's magic. Absolutely. And I like talking to cast members, knew that there were international people who worked in the park. At the time, Australia did not not have a suitable visa agreement. But literally the year I was graduating from university, a visa went through that allowed me to participate in the international college program. [00:05:07] Speaker B: Oh my goodness, that's amazing. [00:05:11] Speaker A: Spent 12 months working at Walt Disney World, which was a dream come true. And during that time I did my first DCL cruise which was a three night. In those days the wonder was doing the three four Bohemian Cruises. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Oh wow. Yeah, I was doing what the Wish is doing now. [00:05:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that was my introduction to dcl. But I have to blame my family. It's kind of funny whenever friends come over to my family house and like see the classic pieces and the DVD collection and they're like, oh, it's not just you, it's your whole family. Definitely something the family share. And because of that, a lot of our whole family vacations tend to revolve around a Disney trip. So we've been lucky enough to do quite a few different cruises with DCL. Our first was in 2010. We did a seven night Mediterranean on the Magic. It was a really big deal to convince my family that this is something they wanted to do. We knew it was Disney, but no one else in my family was really keen on the idea of being on a big boat for a period of time. Yeah, my mum actually immigrated from Europe on a boat so has some not great memories of that. Dad gets travel sick. Turns out Disney Cruise Line ships are big enough that that's not a problem. But I've got this very clear memory in Barcelona. As you know, it's not a Disney terminal, it's very temporary looking. Our boarding group got called and I like I'm leading the group around the corner and Minnie is there in her cruise gear and I turn around and none of my family is there. Oh no, they're all still sitting going, what on earth are we doing? But when I told the Minnie Mouses around the corner, I think that it encouraged everyone to get on. And yeah, we had a great time. We then did Alaska in 2012 and then in 2014 did a seven night, I think it was Western Caribbean on the Fantasy, which was a Halloween on the high seas cruise as well. So got to take my family to Castaway because what I haven't mentioned is then 2012 to 2015 I was a crew member working in youth activities. [00:07:50] Speaker B: No way. Yeah. Were you, were you in Oceaneers club or Lab or were you in Edge or Vibe? Where were you at? [00:07:59] Speaker A: My first contract was mainly Oceaneer Club and then I was Oceaneer Lab on the Magic. So super lucky. Like during that era I got to do the first summer in New York. [00:08:12] Speaker B: Oh amazing. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Which was magical. Like breakfast in Times Square every Saturday. And then second summer got to do the Mediterranean as a crew member. And then third summer had actually done the Transatlantic back to do last contract in the Med and because of crew numbers needed to fly over to Vancouver and actually got to spend my last summer on the Wonder doing Alaska. [00:08:38] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. [00:08:39] Speaker A: So like I could not have got it better if I'd tried. Like I was so lucky. [00:08:45] Speaker B: Wow. So you, I mean you, you would be. If those counted as a crew member, you'd be well above pearl status. [00:08:54] Speaker A: They do not count. [00:08:55] Speaker B: They do not count. I know, but so how many, how many cruises with DCL have you been on as a passenger? Not as a passenger. [00:09:03] Speaker A: Yep. So like From a castaway perspective, I am platinum now. [00:09:07] Speaker B: Nice. So that's amazing. As for somebody who lives all the way over in Australia to be platinum. [00:09:14] Speaker A: I have to admit the Australian cruises, particularly those ridiculous two nights last year did help. [00:09:20] Speaker B: Nice, nice. How many did you do last year? So when the, when the Wonders, the Wonder had its first season over in Australia and New Zealand across the Pacific from us last year, how many cruises did you do? I know there are short cruises, but. [00:09:35] Speaker A: How many managed to fit four in? So there was one booked on opening. My parents were on the first cruise. My sisters were able to join them. I'm a high school teacher now, so a little bit less flexibility and timing. But there was one that fell over the weekend so I joined them for that third cruise. And then so in that first season I managed to do one from Melbourne, one from Brisbane and two from Sydney. [00:10:01] Speaker B: Oh wow. So you have a lot of port experience now from, from the Australia. [00:10:06] Speaker A: For all the Australian. [00:10:10] Speaker B: Now this season. And we're, we're going to talk about your. I'm going to call it a mega cruise because you did a back to. Back to back. So three in a row. What, what did you end up booking for. For this cruise that we're going to talk about today? [00:10:23] Speaker A: Yeah. So it actually happened in backwards order booking wise. So the family had agreed that we were all going to do a four night from Sydney in early January. So that was booked like on release date. Then my husband and I decided that we were going to book the New Year's cruise as our Christmas gift to each other. And there were three days in between that we originally were going to do a Sydney staycation type thing. But then as you probably have heard, the Australian dollars not doing too great at the moment. The, the cruise sales have not been what Disney were hoping for. I guess there's a lot of discounts. [00:11:11] Speaker B: Yeah. And we actually heard that the ship's really not at full capacity. [00:11:16] Speaker A: No, no. Which has been lovely I have to admit as a guest. Like I. [00:11:20] Speaker B: Right, of course. Right. I mean you get a little bit. Right. A discounted cruise and you get a ship that's like half full. I mean sign me up. [00:11:28] Speaker A: It was amazing. Yeah, I, I was very jeal. The like post pandemic cruises going oh, isn't that lovely. But yeah, like the, the last cruise there was one of the late dining rotations didn't go so there. Oh wow. It was significantly below capacity. [00:11:48] Speaker B: Wow, that's crazy. [00:11:50] Speaker A: But yeah. So ended up spending 13 nights on board. [00:11:55] Speaker B: Oh my God. Magical. [00:11:57] Speaker A: And meant we got to do the New Year's six night longer itinerary, extra entertainment options and then the three night offering and four night offering. [00:12:07] Speaker B: Okay, so six, three, four. Wow, that's amazing. Okay, so were all of these in and out of Sydney then? [00:12:15] Speaker A: Yes. So there are two terminals in Sydney. One is that classic circular key. Like we had a porthole room. You could literally see the Opera House. It was amazing. [00:12:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:27] Speaker A: The other one's called White Bay Terminal. It's only a 10, 15 minute drive, but it's kind of in the more industrial area. Can't access by public transport yet, which is extremely annoying. But it is coming. So we boarded from White Bay for the first cruise. It ended in Circular Quay. Second cruise started and ended in Circular Quay, which was lovely. And then final cruise started in Circular Quay but ended at White Bay. [00:13:01] Speaker B: Nice. Now you said you live about three hours drive south of Sydney, I imagine. Did you drive to the port or do you take the train? Like, what's the best form of transportation to get from where you live to Sydney? [00:13:15] Speaker A: Parking in Sydney is a bit of a nightmare. [00:13:17] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [00:13:18] Speaker A: So we bust up pretty regular buses that if you book in ahead can be very cheap. But have to admit we did splurge and fly home, which is one of those ridiculous like up and down. [00:13:31] Speaker B: Yeah. 35 minute flights that's like between Seattle and Vancouver, BC or Seattle and Portland, Oregon. So like we know that's, I mean people do it on the east coast of the US People do it all the time because traffic is so bad that you're actually better off flying on the west coast. It's, it's not, you know, not too much of a difference. But that's, that's a nice, that is a nice splurge. Now I imagine you didn't get to Sydney the day of your cruise, although you could have because you do live close enough. But what did you guys do? [00:14:04] Speaker A: We could have. My sister did. They flew in the morning. Having said that, their luggage didn't make their flight. So there was jumping ahead in the timeline. There was very stressful communication happening with the terminal team and oh, I bet Qantas, the like baggage people. But Gary, who isn't a, like not a Disney employee, but definitely took on the Disney spirit and he gave Kate his personal phone number so that she could call him as soon as she heard from Qantas and he organized to get the bags on because originally she was told she wasn't going to be able to board until she was there to receive her bags. [00:14:49] Speaker B: Oh my Goodness. [00:14:50] Speaker A: So that was a bit dramatic. So yes, I. Even when you think you're close enough, maybe flying in on the day is not advised. [00:14:58] Speaker B: Yes, it's not. Honestly, that's one of the reasons. One of the reasons is not just flight delays, but baggage delays. Right. Your baggage goes missing. Like at least if your, your cruise is leaving the next day, there's a better chance of the baggage catching up with you before you board. And, and to be fair, we actually heard of. There are people who were on one of our cruises who, whose luggage didn' and Disney like really took care of them and helped them with getting, you know, clothing and items that they needed, you know, toiletries. So there, I mean it can work still. But I wouldn't really love that. I wouldn't have any of my clothes. [00:15:39] Speaker A: That would definitely an extra stress to start at all, isn't it? [00:15:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh my goodness. [00:15:45] Speaker A: But no, to answer your question, I did head up the day before and we actually took the opportunity to see Six the Musical. [00:15:54] Speaker B: Love that. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Finishing up Sydney that week. [00:15:57] Speaker B: So yeah. Oh my God. The best show. For those who don't know if you haven't seen it, this is about the six wives of Henry viii. It's fabulous. It is such a good show. And it's a one act show with no intermission. So it's like a shorter show. I don't know, it's like perfect. It's like. Yeah. So good. And like, like with DCL where you have like a show that is short enough that you don't have to have an intermission. I love that. It's, it's kind of my favorite style of show. Anyway, sorry, tangent. But it's a great tangent. This is a great show. Yeah, no, not at all. All right, well let's talk about this cruise. Sarah, your family has been on Disney cruises before, but who was with you this time when you first boarded obviously for the first leg of your mega cruise. [00:16:43] Speaker A: So for the six night New Year's Eve cruise it was myself and my husband. We did have two groups of friends who also happened to book on the cruise. So a couple of girlfriends of mine, one of whom also had previously worked on Disney Cruise line. So we had organized to be on a dining rotation together and spent a lot of time together. But then I also had a family cruising so used to work with the mum, but they now have a five year old daughter. So that was also really sweet to be able to experience like a family cruising for the first time, seeing that Disney magic for the first time and especially through the eyes of a little person. It was pretty awesome. [00:17:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh my God, I love that. How did it feel to be getting onto the Wonder as a passenger when you had been a crew member? Now I know you had the year before been on as a passenger, but is, is it weird going on and like having them announce your name when you used to do all that stuff? Like. [00:17:56] Speaker A: Sometimes I think I might be a little bit too critical. Like, come on. [00:18:00] Speaker C: I was just going to say, did you get on and think I could have done that better? [00:18:03] Speaker B: More clapping. [00:18:06] Speaker A: This, this year was just exciting to be back on last year, boarding for that first time. Like it was the ship that I had walked off knowing that I was going home and to walk back on and be able to share it with my husband. Like to share that chapter of my life with him on one of the ships that I actually worked on. There were a lot of tears. [00:18:32] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. Did you go to open house at Oceaneers Club and Lab? I feel like you have to. Of course I love it. I mean it's the first day, right on the first day. Like we, I love to go to the open houses and I never worked on any of the ships and so I can only imagine like that was your workspace, you know, and, and it's a little bit different. Like the ship has obviously been through dry dock since, since you, since you worked on it in particular. Tiana's being on the ship is. [00:19:03] Speaker A: Oh my gosh, best makeover ever. [00:19:05] Speaker B: Right? What was it, what was the restaurant there when you worked on her? I don't even remember. [00:19:13] Speaker A: Still Parrot K. I did. See karaoke is on the magic. [00:19:18] Speaker B: Okay, nice. So funny. Isn't that just funny that you know, you can, I mean, like you said, best makeover ever. I love that. All right, well let, let's, let's dive in and talk about. I would love to hear about the New Year's Eve cruise. Let's start with New Year's Eve because obviously Disney always does something special for New Year's Eve. You had a six night cruise, so you're going to have your, you know, two standard rotational at each of the restauran on board. But did they do something special for New Year's Eve either in the dining room? And did you do it? Did they do any kind of New Year's Eve deck party? [00:19:53] Speaker A: Yeah. So bit of background is probably needed there. The New Year's cruise was originally meant to be going to New Caledonia. [00:20:01] Speaker B: Okay. [00:20:02] Speaker A: I had done that cruise last year in the first Australian season and it was a very typical DCL New Year's, like the Atrium Countdown Party at about 9. No, it wouldn't have been 9. 10 o'clock is it? And then fireworks on deck with like everyone on deck at midnight. Because of the civil unrest in New Caledonia, our itinerary was changed. So we ended up being in Hobart for New Year's Eve. And I'm sure the port of Hobart has got some fabulous publicity shots from this as well. But we actually stayed in port for fireworks. So all aboard time was 5:30. So we were all on board. But Hobart, Hobart City were doing two fireworks shows and we were invited to stay for them. So you know, as Matthew the cruise director pointed out, we are a cruise ship, we have limited storage. Our fireworks display would be three minutes. We got two eight minute shows, nice pontoon that they were blowing them off from. Did not look like it was far enough away, like we could seriously feel it. It was amazing. So. [00:21:29] Speaker B: Oh, that's so cool. [00:21:30] Speaker A: Unfortunately the one not fabulous thing was that Hobart is a quiet port. So like that meant during the day like Funnel Vision was on, but it was all subtitles, there was no sound, no background music. [00:21:46] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:47] Speaker A: So when we did have the atrium party at 10pm and that had all of the characters and dancing and the normal confetti type countdown, full volume. But then when we were up on deck it was silent so they had to count down on screen. But like there were no microphones, it was just us counting down with the numbers. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Interesting. Wow, that's so odd. That would be so strange because you're expecting at least somebody on the microphone leading the countdown, usually the cruise director. And that's what we had on the fantasy for New Year's Eve. But of course we were in the Caribbean. So it's completely you. There's no restrictions out in the Caribbean, but you're not docked out, you know, at a port. Of course most, most ports will have, would probably have some noise restrictions that they would apply. But that's really interesting. [00:22:41] Speaker A: Like it makes total sense. But yeah, it was really interesting. Like it was amazing. The fireworks were incredible. But it didn't feel quite right that Mickey wasn't there with us. [00:22:53] Speaker B: Right, right. I love that they still did the indoor, you know, the indoor countdown because we had that on the fantasy as well. They did it. Ours was I 8:00pm for, you know, in between the dining rotations. It's really the countdown for the kids. And funny enough, Sarah, our cruise director Stephen actually said, you know, our friends on the Wonder already celebrated New Year's Eve. So they were talking about you all because you were on. Because you were on the Wonder while we were on the Fantasy. Of course, it was a good 20 hours ahead that you were celebrating New Year's Eve and us, but actually it would have been a little bit less because we were on the east coast, so it was. And we were on Atlantic time, so maybe 16 hours ahead or something. [00:23:38] Speaker A: Still a big difference. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Still a big difference. But, yeah. Oh, my gosh, that's so funny. Okay, well, that's cool. I like that they at least were able to get, you know, get you some. Some firework displays. Now, did they do a pirate Night and. And were you out at sea and did you have fireworks for Pirate Night? [00:23:55] Speaker A: So all of the Australian itineraries are having the Marvel Unite deck party. [00:24:05] Speaker B: Oh, Heroes Unite. [00:24:06] Speaker A: Yeah, Heroes unite. Yep. And that includes Pyro as part of the story. And then cruises that are four nights or more get Pirate Night. So got to see it twice on our back to. Back to back. And yes, because the New Year's fireworks were supplied by Hobart, it meant that we got Pyro for both with pirate knights as well. It actually felt very weird. I know you guys mentioned this, talking about Pyro in one of your recent episodes, how you can see all of the other ships on the horizon. Kind of. It's really weird. In Australia, there's no other ships. Like, you're looking out at blackness and it took me a while to figure out what's different. Yeah, there's no ships glowing on the horizon. [00:24:54] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really funny. It's very common for Disney, if you're on a DCL ship on a pirate night or on a New Year's Eve or something like that, to see other ships in the distance. Kind of watching your fireworks display, it's just very. [00:25:08] Speaker A: I mean, you can see. [00:25:09] Speaker B: It is pretty cool. Yeah, it is pretty cool. Yeah. You can't see the people. They're far enough away. But, like, you do see other ship. You'll see, like the lights of another ship or. Or sometimes you'll see a barge or something like that, of course, but. Well, that's really awesome. I love that you had the. The Heroes Unite on. On all your sailings. What did you think of Heroes Unite? Obviously that is a newer addition to DCL of the last couple of years, but. And we've great things, but we ourselves have not seen it. So curious as to how you liked it. [00:25:37] Speaker A: It's a great show, I have to admit. Marvel always feels like a bit of an add on to the Disney family for me. [00:25:48] Speaker B: So it's not classic Disney, for sure. [00:25:51] Speaker A: It's not classic Disney. I mean, I did watch it three times, so, you know, it's not exhausted enough to do something else, but just the stunts and like, it's so well choreographed. And they have made a couple of. I mean, I haven't. I've only seen it in Australia, obviously, but a couple of the, the jokes and soundtrack and they've obviously adjusted it to the Australian crowd, which. [00:26:20] Speaker B: Oh, that's nice. [00:26:21] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. [00:26:23] Speaker B: They probably learned from last year when people didn't laugh at certain things, because there are certain things that don't translate. I mean, it's English, but there's still things that don't transl. [00:26:33] Speaker A: 100%. Yeah, yeah. [00:26:35] Speaker C: Well, it's a cultural context that you have to have. Such as the mastery of the language. [00:26:40] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. It's. And while it's, I mean, we have the, you know, there's certain jokes that are told, for example, in Aladdin on, you know, because GENIE updates. The genie's part is updated on every. Probably every few weeks, I would imagine, with whatever locally is very current. Yes, yes, exactly. And so if you're doing it based on like US News, for example, that wouldn't necessarily translate. Not that we are not. We all have the same international news, but our focus is definitely different. Well, let's, let's dive in and talk about some of the other stuff you, you all did on board. You mentioned you went to Hobart on this first cruise. Did you go to Hobart then on all three of the cruises? And what. Let's actually, let's talk about what ports you went to. [00:27:24] Speaker A: Yeah. So the six night was originally just meant to be a New Caledonia port day. And then sea day, two sea days either side of that. It turned into a full day in Eden on the first day. Sea day, Hobart, two sea days. The second cruise was one port day at Eden and then the third cruise was one port day in Hobart. [00:27:52] Speaker B: Oh, nice. So you got to go to each of these ports then twice. Tell us, I mean, tell us, us like about the ports. We know nothing about Hobart or Eden. Like, are they, are they beach towns? Are they cities or are they. I mean, I have literally no context for what either either of them are. Sarah. [00:28:10] Speaker A: Yes. So Hobart is the capital city of Tasmania, which is that little island at the bottom of Australia. It is a beautiful state. My husband and I actually spent our honeymoon in Tasmania, mainly because that was 2021 and that was literally the only place in the world that we were able to travel to. But that's a whole other story, isn't it? But so it was lovely to get back to Tasmania. Hobart, it's the capital city. So it's the biggest city that you'll find in Tassie. But it's very small on capital city standards. Tasmania was established as a convict settlement and I guess because it's so far away from Sydney, they never had the money, I guess Sydney and Melbourne had. So there is a lot of colonial buildings that didn't get knocked down in the 50s, 60s and rebuilt. So it's actually a very heritage looking town. Like even the residential houses. So it's just beautiful to wander around. The port is, is like literally on the waterfront that then you're going into the cbd so it was really easy to walk around. There's a free museum that's like a 10 minute walk from port. There's. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome. I love when a port is right at the central business district. Like that's the best. Like that's what it is in like New Orleans. That's what it is in. There's obviously. Well, of course in New York it's. You're right there. You know, there's certain ports where you're just like right there. Even Key west is like that. You're just. [00:29:48] Speaker A: I was gonna say it felt a little bit like west when you're not at the military port that. Yeah, you could just walk off and there's restaurants and shops and there was a really nice market set up like in the terminal. So yeah, it was, was a lovely port. We were really lucky. The weather was great both days. I know a lot of guests did the hop on, hop off bus. Like again, there's a stop right there. [00:30:14] Speaker B: Did they have excursions for you to book through Disney Cruise Line? And if so, did, did. I mean, I'm, I'm getting the sense that you didn't book one through Disney Cruise Line, but did you get the sense whether other people did use the, the Disney Cruise Line excursions? [00:30:29] Speaker A: Yeah, there were excursions. There were definitely people on the excursions. Like you saw the paddles, you saw the stickers. I think, you know, this is a massive generalization, but I think it tended to be the international guests who booked those. And I'd say that's for two reasons. One, Australians were comfortable to get off and explore themselves and you know, your cards are gonna work and whatever. But I think again, that exchange rate is really hurting and like we know that Disney, Disney Port adventures are expensive at the best of times. Like translate that into Australian dollars at the moment and it's just there's a lot more you could spend that money on. [00:31:15] Speaker C: When you purchased the cruise, was there any sort of. Because Disney started, I think, discounting some of these cruises. Now when you purchase it, was there any discount or, or no. [00:31:23] Speaker A: So I had used a placeholder for the New Year's cruise with the logic that I have never ever seen a New Year's cruise go to discount. So what's the point of waiting? Turns out there's first for everything. All of the Australian season they've been running a promotion that's 30 off. It's only on guaranteed stateroom, so you can't pick your room. So yeah, you know, obviously that's something that you want to take into consideration. [00:31:55] Speaker B: And that's what made you book that. That middle cruise you had said you planned. Yeah, so. So the, the first and the third one you were, you had sort of planned and then the middle one, instead of doing vacation, if. [00:32:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow. And again, it was only a three night. Didn't really care where we were on the ship. We weren't traveling with anyone for that one. [00:32:17] Speaker B: So now I take it then you had to move staterooms with each. We did with each cruise. Because you, if you do any kind of discount with a guarantee, obviously you don't have a choice of rooms. And it's pretty hard for Disney sort of if you're booking later to be able to get you into the same room. It's, it's. The likelihood is just really low. So putting this out there for people did each time you. So with the back to back. I do want to talk a little bit about the back to back aspect of it, but each time I assume you had to pack up your stuff, except maybe you're hanging stuff they would move for you on the hangers. If I'm making assumptions, but correct me if I'm wrong, Sarah, but everything else you have to pack up and then they'll move your stuff from one room to another. [00:33:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I didn't ask about the hanging things, to be honest. We just packed. So we got instructions kind of saying thank you for sailing back to back. These, these are the instructions. And we were told to pack our luggage and leave it in our existing stateroom and it will be moved to our new stateroom for us. Which was great because we then like, you know how normally on, on that debark morning you've kind of got your hand luggage, but then you've also Got the pajamas and the toiletries and the, all those things that you couldn't put out at 10pm whereas we were able to leave all of that and literally just take our hand luggage off. [00:33:42] Speaker B: Now tell me, did you have to? I'm actually curious about how back to back works in Australia because we've only done it in the US And I don't know if it's any different. As far as, you know, the process typically in the US if you're doing a back to back sailing, you have to get off the ship, but you don't get off until after pretty much everybody else gets off. So they'll tell you go to, let's say D Lounge or to Azure and wait there or go be there by 9:30am Right. And everybody else really has to be off the ship by 9:30am and so you go and you sit and you wait and then as a group you get taken off the ship. You sit in the port terminal. Well, actually you go through customs, you sit in the port terminal until they're ready to put you back on the ship. And then you board before everybody else, except for maybe some Disney vendors that are coming on and off the ship. And you even get on before spoiler the family of the day gets on and before concierge get, get on. But it usually takes, you know, an hour, maybe two hours that you're sitting in the port terminal waiting because customs has to fully clear the ship and let you know and say to Disney, okay, you're okay to reboard. I'm curious, Sarah, is it any different or is it similar to how it works in the US Pretty similar. [00:35:00] Speaker A: So we actually did both options. So the first cruise we decided to get off in Sydney. We had a couple of things that we needed to do in the real world, so figured that was a good window. And in our instructions we had a little pink card that they said bring back when you're ready to board. And we didn't have to like wait in the, the normal line. So we were off the ship. I, I think it cleared like for guests to start debarking at about 7. We were off 7:30. We were back probably 10:30. So it was before any of this cruise had started boarding, but showed the little pink card and we were allowed to go straight through. So it was kind of fun because like obviously the terminal staff were like doing their briefings and, and security had to stop their briefing to put us through, but we were able to walk straight back onto the ship. So obviously the rest of the back to backs had already been processed and then we had a ticket for a complimentary beverage at Cove for that morning as well, which was lovely. The second time we were staying on board so like you said, we had to be in Azure, I think it was 9:15. They had difficulty getting everyone else off the ship that day. There were, there were a lot of announcements we were hearing. But then eventually we were escorted into terminal by some of the terminal team and we were probably waiting there for a good hour. We did get a couple of apologies that they're having technical difficulties rolling the cruise. So that, that definitely took us longer to get back on board. Like they'd started checking in concierge guests before we were taken back on board. But we were able to go through before them, which there were some confused looking faces. [00:37:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Now do you have to go through immigration each time you or border patrol? I don't know what they call it. Obviously we call it customs and border patrol in the US So when, whenever we come back from a cruise to a US port, even if you're back to back, you have to go through that little process. Now it's actually fantastic because it's just facial recognition and, and if, if you get a green like check mark, you don't need to talk to anyone, whereas you used to have to actually talk and show your passport. Do you guys have that process happening as well? [00:37:35] Speaker A: Because these were all domestic cruises. No, we just had to clear like kind of airport security going back onto the ship. Having said that, I did notice that there were customs officials there. So I, I suspect if there were international guests then they would have had to. But as Australians, we didn't leave Australia. We didn't have to. [00:38:00] Speaker B: Interesting. That's so interesting. [00:38:03] Speaker C: 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 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 My path on Wednesday. Unwinding.com forward/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. [00:39:01] Speaker B: Okay, well, tell us about the other port. I forgot. We jumped. I jumped back and forth. My apologies for to you and to our audience if I've confused people. Eden. Tell us about Eden. What's Eden like? Obviously you know Hobart is a city, but a smaller, a capital city of a state, but a smaller city. But what, what's Eden like? [00:39:23] Speaker A: Eden is a little coastal town. It's the south coast. So it's, it's very close to the Victorian New South Wales border on the northern New South Wales side. I have to admit that when I saw Disney Cruise Line was going to Eden, I was totally confused. Used because it's, it's very much for nothing. Like it'll be a big town for the month of summer. A lot of people from Canberra will drive down or people from Melbourne will drive up. But it's not known for a whole lot. But it was an absolutely fabulous port day. Like I've been trying to think what can I compare it to? And I really don't have anything. It was kind of best of both worlds. The, the, the town of Eden have done a really great job actually. I've got to go a little bit back history wise. So probably the thing Eden is known for is as a whaling town. That's the reason the European town was established there. It's a very deep natural harbor. And there's this amazing story the, that the indigenous people of the area would work with the killer whales and the killer whales would push other whales or fish into the bay to allow them to hunt and they would let the killer whales eat as well. And, and there was just this relationship that when the Europeans arrived, they thank goodness, chose to work with the indigenous people in the area as opposed to what happened in some other places. And the killer whale started helping the whalers. So there are these stories where the killer whale pod would like herd a larger whale into the bay and then one of the killer whales would go over to the lighthouse and like splash around until they woke the team up and, and like literally led them back to where the whale is. Yeah. [00:41:29] Speaker B: Oh my God. We've got a whale for you to kill and eat. [00:41:32] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:41:33] Speaker B: That's crazy. [00:41:35] Speaker A: So obviously no longer whaling, but it is still a massive fishing town. But the town is obviously putting a lot of effort into tourism. I'm not sure if they were paid or volunteer, but there was a very large team of people wearing very visible red shirts at port and kind of in main places around town they were running a free shuttle bus. So the port is right at the bottom of quite a steep hill. So free shuttle bus to go up onto the main street and then it's also doing a loop. So there's also a drop off at a beautiful beach area. Disney were doing the normal, like you're handing out pool towels if you'd like to take them. So I did see a lot of families kind of doing that and then, yeah, like it's a town that you could, you could walk the Main street in 15 minutes easily. But a lot of really cute antique shops, cafes, old pubs sort of thing. And there is a whale museum there which I have memories of visiting as, I don't know, an 8 year old. So I, I dragged my husband like. [00:42:47] Speaker B: On a school trip or something. [00:42:49] Speaker A: Yeah, a family trip in summer. Yeah. Yeah. [00:42:52] Speaker B: That's awesome. [00:42:53] Speaker A: So that, that was really nice to see. And I mean it's, it's not a flashbang, very modern museum, but it was really cool seeing the kind of traditional, you know, 60s exhibition styles with some of the more updated displays around it. So. And it's just a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful area. We actually walked back down to port. So we found a kind of bush trail going down from the whale museum back down to port and got some beautiful photos of like the Disney ship with gum trees. And it was a really beautiful day. [00:43:33] Speaker B: I love that. Well, let's hop back on to the beautiful Disney wonder and talk about some of the things you got up to onboard the ship. [00:43:43] Speaker C: I want to ask a specific question here. I want to ask this. So I know because. And Sarah and I traded a little bit about this before the show. And so I don't know what you'll have to say necessarily, but Bluey was on board your sailing along with Bingo. Is that right? [00:43:57] Speaker A: Yes. So Bluey and Bingo were officially advertised to be starting from the 10th of Jan. So that was the day we were debarking. But Bluey on her own was on the Navigator twice. And I believe I'm dying. [00:44:14] Speaker B: Sarah dying. [00:44:16] Speaker A: She. I can't remember the name of the show but like the Guess who's behind the curtain go in D labs apparently. [00:44:22] Speaker B: Bluey behind the curtain. Oh my God, I'm Jealous. Yes. But I am so jealous. [00:44:33] Speaker A: It's really funny because Bluey doesn't like. Bluey is massively popular in Australia obviously, but does not have any connection to Disney here. [00:44:44] Speaker B: Right. Because it wasn't a Disney. Disney didn't create Bluey. The Australian broadcasting Company, I think it is right, is who created Bluey. And now, now Bluey is only part of the Disney family through like licensing or something. [00:44:57] Speaker A: I think BBC have the rights in the UK but Disney have the rights to Bluey in the US So obviously there's that. It makes a lot of sense to American audiences. But I think there were a few confused Australians, although who were very happy to line up and meet her because. Because it's very exciting. [00:45:21] Speaker C: Just what does Bluey do? Meet and greets. Like I wouldn't know if there's someplace else that they could do that in Australia. [00:45:27] Speaker B: Oh yeah, yeah. Do they do any kind of like Bluey on Ice or, or any kinds of shows? [00:45:33] Speaker A: Oh my gosh, that would be adorable. The first I've seen it is in Brisbane. I think it was only advertised like for the summer holidays this year. So last year, now end of 2024 that Louis and Bingo were doing some appearances like in the large shopping malls in the Brisbane area, which is actually where the show is set just for listeners out there. [00:45:57] Speaker C: I mean this is coming out, this show will be out long after the Disney announcement. But just for anyone who isn't aware, Disney basically announced that starting on January 10, Bluey and Bingo would be doing meet and greets on select Wonder down under sailing. So Select Australia Sailing. So not guaranteed on every sailing. No plans that we've heard to bring them to the the US which is just interesting to me based on this conversation because they're, they're having them on the ship in Australia where they don't really own the rights to them, but not in the US where they do own the rights. And I think, I think the audience here would go crazy to have Bluey. [00:46:32] Speaker B: But they are, they have said they're coming to Walt Disney World. They just haven't said in what capacity and they haven't given I don't think even any specific timing. So they are, I believe that no. [00:46:45] Speaker C: Plans to put them on Disney ships that we've heard that we've heard as of yet. [00:46:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm crossing my fingers because I want pictures with Bluey and Bingo. In fact, Nathan has a button up shirt that's like a short sleeve button up shirt that is a Bluey shirt that he wears on Disney Cruise line cruises. Because in our minds, they're part of the Disney family. Even though to you all, they're not part of the Disney family. Yeah. Because we watch them on Disney. [00:47:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it makes total sense. Yeah, yeah. No, I. She was definitely very well received. So there were a few very excited crew members as well. [00:47:21] Speaker B: No, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah, I bet plenty of excited, like UK and American crew members too. [00:47:30] Speaker A: It is amazing. [00:47:33] Speaker C: I'd love it if they came out and the cruise director was on stage, like, can we get a quick selfie? Just. [00:47:39] Speaker B: Matthew was like, come on. I love it. Well, let's talk about some other stuff on board. I mean, you, Sarah, Sarah, have met all of the characters. You don't probably have to wait in line to meet characters any longer since you work with them, but you do. Okay. I was curious. You do. Okay. So. Yeah. How. What were the cues like? Of course, we. We expect that they are generally longer on the Australian sailings, but you had low capacity on your. On your. Low. Low number of people sailing on your. On your sailings. Yeah. What were the cues like for the characters? [00:48:16] Speaker A: So Disney obviously really thought about what happened last season because I am very happy to line up for 45 minutes to see my former boss. But I have to admit, last year I just didn't bother. Like, the lines were ridiculous. This year there is definitely a larger than normal character team on board there where we noticed a lot more characters strolling. So you didn't necessarily have to line up to have those character interactions. And just the way they were organizing, I guess the character lines was a little bit different to what I've seen previously. So we had pairs of characters the majority of the time. So Mickey and Goofy would be meeting together and Minnie and Pluto were greeting together. [00:49:09] Speaker B: Oh, fantastic. [00:49:10] Speaker A: So yes, it was probably still a 30 to 40 minute line, but you got two characters at the end of it. [00:49:18] Speaker B: Yep. [00:49:19] Speaker A: They did do pirate costumes for the two cruises on the day that was Pirate Day and they did start. I'm pretty sure both times characters were in pirate costumes from the beginning of the day, whereas. [00:49:34] Speaker B: Oh, wow. They normally do it at night. Yeah. Three in the afternoon. Yeah. [00:49:39] Speaker A: But they were in pirate costumes for the whole day. For the New Year's cruise, the characters were in their formal outfits. So we don't, we don't have any official formal nights on any of the Australian cruises because none of them are seven days or more. But they were wearing what I will recognize as their formal outfits for New Year's Eve. And again, that Started very early. Like, I think we have a photo from about 1pm with chip and Dale already in their tuxes, which was adorable. So, yeah, they've definitely the. The one thing that I was a little disappointed about, character wise, was there were not as many princesses sailing as last year. So our royal gathering only had Belle, Cinderella, and Tiana on the first cruise. Actually, Tiana wasn't able to be part of that royal gathering. And ironically, they put Moana in, which I find hilarious considering the she's not a princess line. But they did set it up. So we had Belle and Cinderella kind of in front of the stairs in the atrium proper, and then Moana was to the side with the backdrop. So it was part of the royal gathering line. Yeah. But, yeah, she was still not too princessy. [00:51:08] Speaker B: Right. Right. She's the. She's the. The daughter of the chief of the tribe. So it's a little bit. Yes. A little bit different. She's not like her title isn't a princess, but she is a princess in the all. You know, all the sort of. In the Disney sense. Yeah. Love that. Well, that's. That's awesome. I mean, it's great that they had extra characters because that was something we. We heard about a lot last year. When we. When we talk fellow country men and women, that the lines were just out of control. Let's. Let's talk about some of the other stuff you guys got up to on board. What were some. What were some favorite activities that you're. You're a Disney Cruise Line veteran, you know, not just as a. As a passenger, but obviously as a former crew member. So are there, like, specific, you know, events that you sort of seek out because, you know, what all the offerings are? They haven't changed. Changed that that much. Of course, they've been updated over the years. But the kinds of offerings are the same as, you know, they used to have trivias. They still have trivias. Right? What kinds of stuff did you seek out? [00:52:09] Speaker A: A lot of trivias. So my husband is a big trivia fan, like in the real world, so that's definitely something we did together on the cruise line. We did notice the general knowledge trivia for our first cruise cruise was definitely the American general trivia. Luckily, my husband is very interested in American presidents, so we were able to get a couple of questions still. But a lot of it was like, I. I can tell this is referring to a TV advertisement, but I've got no idea what's going on here. Whereas on the last cruise that started getting some Australian questions in the general knowledge. So I'm not sure if they've been doing that all season, but because the sixth night had a lot more international guests, they reverted to the American one. Or if that's just something that has happened in January, I'm not sure. But that was kind of interesting. Although I do wish they had an Australian kind of proofread the questions because there was some weird ones. I'm a big fan of of Disney tunes trivia, particularly live, and that was offered at least once on every cruise, which was fantastic. I will still go and see all the main stage shows. Yeah. There's an iPad in Disney Dreams now. [00:53:41] Speaker B: There is an iPad in Disney Dreams. That's true. I'm sure that didn't exist back in 2012. No, it didn't. [00:53:52] Speaker A: But, yeah, I will happily go watch those shows. I was thinking, like, I'm on board for 13 nights. Like, am I really going to see these shows three times? Unfortunately, Dreams was cancelled in our middle cruise due to technical difficulties, but I was in the Walt Disney Theater every other night still. [00:54:14] Speaker B: I love it. So you saw Frozen three times. You saw Dreams twice. [00:54:19] Speaker A: And Golden Mickeys. [00:54:21] Speaker B: Golden Mickeys, Yeah. Brian's favorite. Three times. I mean, wow. Yeah. [00:54:25] Speaker A: And Golden Mickey's. Like, I had not seen. Oh, goodness. Since I think 2012. Like. [00:54:33] Speaker B: Yeah. And it was the same, right? [00:54:35] Speaker A: There were a few different. Different parts, so. [00:54:38] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:54:39] Speaker A: Rapunzel was new to what I'd seen. And then I know Mulan had definitely been removed. The last time I saw it, it had Mulan. And I was so happy that Quasimodo's song is still in it. Like, I was so nervous. [00:54:55] Speaker B: I mean, who doesn't love Out There, right? [00:54:58] Speaker A: Beautiful. The staging is just beautiful and. But I know it's not a very popular film, so I can understand if. [00:55:08] Speaker B: You ever get a chance to see the stage version of it. It's. They did it in a few theaters in the US and Brian and I got to see it in a fantastic theater, actually in Utah, which was like a few hours away from Las Vegas. And it's incredible. Yeah, I love Hunchback. Yeah. It's just amazing. Yeah. [00:55:33] Speaker A: I love that you're really, really hoping that show. I feel like it's nearly happened so many times and. And I'm really hoping it does. Like a proper Broadway world touring. [00:55:46] Speaker B: One day we're going to cross our fingers. We'll make it happen. We're going to manifest it. [00:55:52] Speaker A: Please, please. [00:55:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I'm trying to think what we haven't talked about. Let's talk. I'm not going to talk about all the tipping stuff because we have talked about that with a few other guests from Australia. And you as a former cast member were expect this. So it's not something that would be foreign to you, even though it's foreign to most Aussies. But let's talk about food. What did you think? Yeah, Brian loves. Exactly. Let's talk about food and then we'll transition to rapid fire because as Brian mentioned, I got a hard stop. But what did you think about the dining? You obviously had. Had dined in these restaurants last year, but any. Any big changes, anything different about the shows or about the dining experience. Experience. [00:56:43] Speaker A: So without wanting to give everything away, I know that Triton's has the reputation as being the most boring dinner rotation. I personally love it. Like, I'd say that's probably my favorite menu. Fried brie and French onion soup. [00:57:05] Speaker C: Like, I actually agree with you like that menu. That French inspired menu is actually one of my favorites on board. [00:57:13] Speaker A: And it's actually kind of nice having a slightly more relaxed dining. Like you can tell in Animators or Tiana's or Pirate Night. Like, the team is so stressed about meeting those time deadlines that, like, you. You pick up that pressure. Whereas that doesn't usually exist in Tritons. Obviously. Another guests have said something that there is now a character appearance in Tritons before dessert. [00:57:43] Speaker B: Okay. [00:57:45] Speaker A: I did some research when we got home and they've re. It's so all I could find was that it was a song that was used for Disneyland Paris's 25th that they've tweaked a couple of lines on. I'm not sure if it's something that exists on other ships. I haven't been able to sail on any of the other ships since the pandemic. [00:58:07] Speaker C: So there was no. There was no character appearance that I'm aware of. Salmon. Royal Court. Royal palace or 1923 on the wish class ships this past. Yes. [00:58:18] Speaker B: Or. Yeah, the Dream class. Wish Class. I haven't heard anything on the magic either. So. [00:58:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it might be for the Australians. [00:58:25] Speaker B: Yeah. You guys, who are the characters? Unique stuff. Sarah. I'm jealous here. Yeah. Fab Five characters. [00:58:31] Speaker C: Was it like a cavalcade through the restaurant? Like they. They played music and kind of marched. [00:58:35] Speaker A: Through kind of, but a bit more of a song and dance. So they were. They were in there for probably five minutes. It was really lovely. It felt a little deck partyish. I. I'm not sure if they're reusing something. But it was really lovely. [00:58:51] Speaker C: And yeah, I'm wondering if there might be reusing because on the. The ships, when they restarted, they did kind of like a cavalcade to a song and then they'd all come to the center and kind of do a little dance. And it was the Fab Five. It was because the ships were so low capacity at the time, it was kind of easy for them to add that. And they didn't have a ton of character appearances either. [00:59:11] Speaker B: Well, yeah. And you couldn't get close to the characters, right. Because of COVID restrictions. So we couldn't get close to the characters. So there was a way for you to like see characters without being able to interact with them, like face to face, right? Yeah, exactly. Oh, fantastic. I love that. [00:59:26] Speaker A: But back to dining. I felt like this season they. They have upped everything. Last season it was. It was magical to be back on board. It was a dream come true to see a Disney ship in Sydney Harbor. Like, it was so wonderful. But I think we did walk off going, it's not quite right. Whereas this season, I think a big part of it is there. There are still a couple of two day sailings, but they're the exception as opposed to the majority. You just had the time to interact with your dining team for them to get to know you. They were automatically bringing your drink orders. We had time for like little crayon riddles and things like that that you just didn't see last. And you know, if you didn't know, you wouldn't have missed it. But when, when you know you're like, something's not quite right. [01:00:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:00:33] Speaker A: Whereas I feel like they were able to get that extra level of magic back this year. [01:00:40] Speaker C: I have one important question before we move into rapid fire. Because last year I recall one of the big misses is they ran out of Mickey bars and they had moved to like a local Australian ice cream bar. [01:00:53] Speaker B: Brian, with the hard heading questions. [01:00:55] Speaker C: Well, no, we heard it from multiple. Multiple people. [01:00:57] Speaker B: Right. [01:00:57] Speaker C: They were like, they ran out of Mickey bars. And I thought that was just like completely ridiculous. Right. For them to run out of Mickey bars on a Disney. Did they have Mickey bars? [01:01:06] Speaker A: The short answer is no by the time I got on board. But just. Just to defend, we used to run out in the med all the time. Like we. We can't import. Disney can't import them. [01:01:21] Speaker B: Right. [01:01:22] Speaker A: I would love that they get a local producer to make them and we can buy them from the supermarkets as well. Which I know you gu now, which I'm very jealous about. [01:01:29] Speaker B: They're smaller though, and they're. Yeah, they're not as magical. [01:01:34] Speaker A: So no, they, they had run out of, I guess the perishable products. So there were not Mickey bars on board. There was not. The cloth and blue had run out and had obviously it all been replaced with local. [01:01:53] Speaker C: The. [01:01:54] Speaker A: So sodas on deck were Australian sodas as opposed to American sodas. [01:01:59] Speaker B: Interesting. [01:02:00] Speaker A: Although they did still have like. It is very hard for us to get an American style lemonade in Australia. Like that's not something you would expect to have. And same with iced tea. You could still get them in the dining rooms. So I don't know if they'd kept some syrup for that or if they'd found some way to import it. I'm not sure. Sure. [01:02:22] Speaker C: Yeah. Because, because lemonade here is like, we think of it as like a juice. A juice drink. But lemonade. [01:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it's busy. [01:02:29] Speaker A: Like a Sprite. Yeah, yeah. Like if an Australian orders lemonade, you'd expect a Sprite, which the dining team had obviously been briefed on. But I like the American style lemonade. [01:02:40] Speaker B: So you like a flat lemonade like we like. [01:02:42] Speaker A: Yeah, like and, and it's something that I can't get at home very easily. So when I'm on a Disney ship. [01:02:47] Speaker C: Like that's my go to last, last question I have. And then I will transition us to rapid fire and Sam will have to keep it rapid. Was merchandise. So last season we heard a lot about like sticker shock on the merchandise because Disney had not even bothered to change the price tags and it was all in American dollars. How was the merch situation on board the ship? [01:03:10] Speaker A: It's still all in American dollars, which again I was expecting, I was prepared for. I think they do need to be much more. More. I think Disney need to improve their communication on these cruises about tipping. As we mentioned before, there is a rumor that drink prices are automatically including a tip and therefore you don't need to tip. However, the crew members I spoke to were not aware of that. So I'm not sure where it's come from. But I, I, I think, think it's a really hard itinerary for the crew to work and I don't think it's any. I think the fault lies like with an upper level of communication. [01:03:57] Speaker B: We've heard that, we've heard that there are people who opt out of sailing on the one crew members who opt out of sailing on the Wonder. They do the same with Europe. Whichever ship is going to Europe, they opt out of doing those, or they ask to transfer to a different ship because they know that their tips are gonna go down for that season. [01:04:14] Speaker A: I had a really heartbreaking int. Interaction with guest services on my middle cruise because it was a guaranteed room. Tips were prepaid, and I was lining up at guest services, and I kind of had my sheet. I'm like, I want to change my tips. And just. And the cast member was very apologetic that you. You can't decrease them. I'm like, no, no, I want to increase them. But obviously, a number of Australians have been choosing to remove them or decide decrease, which, like, it's, as you said, it's not our culture. But, like, for the crew, it's. Yeah, Disney have to do better with the communication about that. [01:04:54] Speaker C: I'd love to see them just. I mean, I know it's potentially difficult. I always think it's easy, and I know it's difficult with their systems and all that stuff. I'd love to see them move in the places in the world where tipping is not expected or natural. Just build it into the price of the crew so that the. The, you know, the. The crew still gets things. It's interesting on the drinks because here in the U.S. what they do is they add an aut percent gratuity to the bill when you order the drink, but it's called out as a line item. It's not build, you know, it's not built into the price itself. And then there's a line where you can add, like, you know, an additional dollar or two if you feel like the crew's gone above and beyond. A lot of times, too. Like, that 18% is getting split across, like, everyone in a particular area. And then if you add a few extra dollars, it's going specifically to the crew member who served you kind of thing. [01:05:38] Speaker A: So, yeah, yeah, I was surprised that was missing. And, yeah, anyway, it's. I hope Disney work on improving that for the crew, because I know how hard they're working. And, like, I think for a lot of Australians, it's not a. It's not a vicious thing. It's. It's just a genuine, total lack of awareness. [01:06:01] Speaker C: All right, well, we have reached that point in the show where I need to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment, or the round we know as rapid fire. Sam, this may be the most rapid, rapid fire in rapid fire history. Take it away. You have. I feel like I should have a clock up. You have three minutes. [01:06:19] Speaker B: All right. Sarah, who is your favorite Disney character? And it can be Bluey if you want. [01:06:25] Speaker A: I think it has to be Mickey Mouse just for everything he represents. [01:06:30] Speaker B: What is your favorite Disney movie? [01:06:32] Speaker A: Beauty and the Beast. The original animators. [01:06:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, obviously. I mean, yeah. No, to the live action as the best. Okay, favorite Disney song. [01:06:43] Speaker A: I'm gonna go a bit weird here. Remember the Magic? I think it was originally written for the Millennium Celebration, but used to be part of Cruise Line. [01:06:51] Speaker B: Love that. That's a great one. Okay, favorite DCL stage show. Walt Disney Theater show. [01:07:01] Speaker A: Whichever one is performing that night. If I have to pick one, I think it has to be Disney Dreams. Just because. [01:07:07] Speaker B: Wow. [01:07:07] Speaker A: I, I. It was the one show that we were allowed to watch at our end of contract and just so many memories associated with it. [01:07:16] Speaker B: Oh, okay. You can. That's fair. Because of your memories. That's fair for you to pick that. Otherwise, I would have judgment. Okay, favorite onboard activity. [01:07:26] Speaker A: The random character interactions. Like when you're just walking down a hallway and suddenly Goofy's doing a dance with you. [01:07:34] Speaker B: I love it. Absolutely. Okay, favorite Rotational. Dining so hard. [01:07:40] Speaker A: Like I said, Tiana's makeover is, like, absolutely amazing. But I think I have to pick animators. Like, yeah, it's just classic love. [01:07:47] Speaker B: Right? [01:07:48] Speaker A: Dining on Disney Cruise Line. P.S. something I was really annoyed about is their default show in Australia is the Animation Magic, which I get is an amazing show and. [01:07:59] Speaker B: But not crushed. [01:08:00] Speaker A: The. I don't think they can do Crush on the classic. [01:08:04] Speaker B: Oh. [01:08:05] Speaker A: Oh, that's the original show. [01:08:07] Speaker B: Yes. But not the original with Sorcerer Mickey. [01:08:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:08:11] Speaker A: I feel like most guests don't even realize what that restaurant can do. [01:08:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. All right, favorite space to relax on the ship. [01:08:22] Speaker A: Deck 4. [01:08:23] Speaker B: Yes. Promenade. Perfect answer. Favorite ship. I mean, you've been on. You've been on most of them. Not all of them, but most of them. Which one's your favorite? [01:08:34] Speaker A: Definitely not all of them anymore. I. If you'd asked me three years ago, I would have said the Magic. But I think the fact that she has come to Australia and allowed so many dreams to come through means the wonder has jumped ahead. [01:08:48] Speaker B: Of course. Of course. She's amazing. All right, bucket list. Cruise. Sarah, if you could go anywhere in the world and it was on a Disney Cruise Line ship, and it doesn't have to be someplace that Disney Cruise Line currently sits sales. Where are you going? [01:09:00] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. So tricky. I know this is something that you have mentioned before, but I love the idea of being able to do particularly the Asian theme parks. From a Disney cruise. Like, I'm. I'm remembering the New York cruises we did that included a day in Walt Disney World. And I'm like that to be able to tick off the Asian theme parks would be amazing. [01:09:23] Speaker B: That is awesome. All right, well, thank you for playing. As I mentioned, you would have gotten judgment, but no judgment on your show choice because of the reason behind it. [01:09:34] Speaker C: I'm glad you didn't judge someone else's feelings and memories. Way to go. Way to hold back. Way to hold back. Sarah, I just quickly want to ask, what's next? What do you have next on the calendar with any sort of Disney flair? Do you have any plans to be back on a cruise booked? [01:09:50] Speaker A: We do have another Disney Wonder down under cruise for next year booked with the whole family. Nice. I. We are also planning hopefully a family trip to Europe in 2026, which obviously hasn't been announced yet, but we're really hoping it'll be the dream because we have not sailed her as a family before. So that would be very magical. [01:10:18] Speaker B: We will cross our fingers for you. [01:10:20] Speaker A: Yes. [01:10:20] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. Regardless of what you do, we want to hear about your next experience Down Under. We want to hear about your. We love having folks on who aren't in the US to share their experience because we love the different perspective on, on the cruise line, on Disney, on the expectations, all that stuff. It's just fabulous. So we just say, sir, thank you so much for taking the time all the way from Australia to share your experience with our audience. [01:10:43] Speaker B: All the way from the future, actually. Yeah, it's. [01:10:45] Speaker C: It's. It is. And I always say it's going well. Yeah. Future. And I want to say to all of our international fans, listeners out there, we love having you on. It's such a privilege to be able to tell your story. So thank you for trusting us with them. And Sarah, thank you so much for spending some time with us today. We really appreciate it. [01:11:00] Speaker A: Thank you so much. And thank you for sharing the magic for those of us who can't access it quite as easily as you guys can. [01:11:13] Speaker C: Well, thanks everyone out there for listening this way 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 live, 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. 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