Ep. 536 - Repositioned and Relaxed: Sailing the Wonder to Hawaii

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Tell us, what were, what was your typical day like? Or was there a typical day? Did you do different stuff each day? What kind of stuff did you get up to? [00:00:07] Speaker B: Well, I mean, apparently we had five glasses of wine by the middle of the day, so there you go. Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and Sam Review time, mail call, all that fun stuff. This, this week's review comes from Donner Party 11. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Oh, the Donner Party. That's kind of. [00:00:41] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a little, it's a little morbid, murderous. I'm hoping their last name is just Donner. Okay. You know, that is what it is. So there you go. They write converting parks fans to future cruisers. As longtime Parks lovers, we never imagined that cruising was for us. After many road trips listening to Brian and Sam, we are ready to book our first cruise. Well, thank you for that. The, the influence that we exercise to get you to book a cruise. I suppose I'm using my like, you know, Carnac, you know. Yeah. Methodology here, but hey, let us down our party 11. I'd love to know if you booked your first cruise. So, you know, reach out, let us know. I'd love to know how that went and if you actually enjoyed it or if you just decided, you know what, we're renewing the APS and take them at the park. So let us know. But thank you for that review. We really appreciate it. And for all of you out there listening, one of the easiest ways to support our show is head over to Apple Podcast, hit the five stars. If you leave us a written review over there. A written five star review over there. Because we don't love the haters, leave us a written five star review over there. We will read it on the air at the top of one of our shows just as we did for Donner Party 11. So thank you for that review. Sam. Got a great guest, got a fun topic, super excited. [00:01:48] Speaker A: As Sarah told me before the show, she's a longtime listener, first time caller, and so this is her first time on our show. But we're super excited to have you on here. Sarah, welcome. [00:02:01] Speaker C: Hi. I'm so glad to be here and talk about this, like once in a lifetime cruise that I had the opportunity to try. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Yeah, you had like a really unique itinerary. So we're going to talk about really what it's like to, you know, cross the part of the Pacific Ocean, spend a lot of time at sea, sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii but before we dive into that topic, we've got to ask you your Disney background, your cruising credentials. Sarah. What? Where did your love of Disney come from? And, you know, how many cruises have you been on? All that good stuff. [00:02:36] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, you hear a lot of people say that they grew up going to Disney, and that was not me. We never really had the opportunity growing up, and we went for the first time as a family when my kids were 5 and 7 in 2018 and really fell in love with Disney World. And we joined Disney Vacation Club sight unseen after one trip that was totally bizarre. The most random thing I've ever done. We hadn't even visited any deluxe resorts. We just were like, this is a great idea. Kevin calls. My husband's name is Kevin, and he calls it Vacation Mode, Sarah, Where I'm just, like, loving everything, loving the sunshine. I'm from the Midwest originally, so we'd love to travel when it's cold here and warm there. And so we've been big fans of Disney World, but decided just last March for the kids spring break, that we wanted to maybe try something that might be a little bit more relaxing and maybe not on our feet so much. So we took our first cruise on the Disney Dream, and I really enjoyed it a lot. [00:03:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. [00:03:44] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:03:44] Speaker A: How old were the kids for their first cruise then? [00:03:47] Speaker C: It was. Yep, it was everyone's first cruise. [00:03:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And. But how old were the kids when you. When you first sailed? [00:03:52] Speaker C: So let me see if I can. They were. I should know. They were 12 and 10. [00:03:58] Speaker A: Oh, perfect. Yeah. [00:04:00] Speaker C: And so. And they had a blast. We did Marble Day at Sea, which was perfect for their ages. And we had fun, too. And let's see, what. What else was so great? Oh, and we. We cruised out of Forever Port Everglades for that one, which we found really convenient. And so fast forward to this almost random cruise that I had this opportunity to take. I was exploring sort of great deals for cruises, and we sometimes like to travel in September because it's a slower time for me at work. And sometimes, you know, during that less heavy travel, heavy season, you can get some good deals. And I came across a great rate for this Vancouver to Hawaii repositioning cruise. And of course, Disney math. You know, you save money when you only fly to Hawaii one way instead of both ways. [00:04:57] Speaker A: You save hundreds of dollars, Sarah. Right, Right. [00:05:00] Speaker C: But my kids are getting a little bit old now to pull out of school, and so my husband and I were talking about it, and he's like, well, you should go no matter what. And I was like, really? And he's like, yes, do it. And he sort of floated the idea by his mom, I think, kind of hoping that she would offer to watch the kids for us. But instead she said, I'll go with Sarah. [00:05:26] Speaker A: This is. [00:05:27] Speaker C: My mother in law and me are now on our way to Hawaii. And I thought, okay, I love my mother in law. I've always said that we have hit the. I won the in law lottery. They are just such great people. And so then we asked his sister to join us too. So it ended up being myself, my sister in law and my mother in law traveling from the Midwest to Vancouver and to Hawaii. And then we ended up adding on just a couple nights at Aulani at the end. [00:05:57] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. Now that, that is a trip of a lifetime. Yeah, that is absolutely a trip of a lifetime. We try to tell people like these longer cruises, whether it's Panama Canal or Vancouver to Hawaii or Hawaii to Vancouver, of course, or the trans, you know, or the Trans Pacific or transatlantic cruises, like on a per night basis, those are the best deals out there for sure. And it's really, I think you hit the nail on the head. It's really because these cruises, one, they're one way. So like people have to deal with, you know, a flight, well, at least one flight on one end, perhaps flights, you know, to or from two different cities which can be, you know, a little bit more expensive or at least harder to come by. And then of course the other part is that so school is in session in the United States and so, you know, the, we're not talking about prime tourist season, at least not sailing out of the US or, or Canada I guess as well. So yeah, deals to be had. Now I want to talk about this, this decision to go with mother in law. Was sister in law invited to help as like a bit of a buffer? [00:07:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I thought, I mean my mother in law is in wonderful health and she's, she is like just as active as me. But we did think it was going to be maybe a little bit easier to have a couple of extra people and then that way if, you know, with three adult women. Oh, by the way, I've never taken a trip that wasn't a family trip like this before unless it was for work. So this is like my first like me time vacation that I've had basically since we got married and started having kids. So that was extra fun. And yeah, so it turned out to be a great group because we could Kind of if somebody wanted to go back to the room, they could and somebody else would still have a friend or, you know, sometimes folks would explore a little bit and they were a lot more into. They're both very artistic and that's not my thing. So, like, I snuck off to watch the diaper dash while they were making wind chimes or something. So, I mean, we definitely could do our own thing a little bit and not feel like you're letting anybody down. It was really fun. [00:08:00] Speaker A: I think that's one of the great things about adult only cruising with like. I mean, of course, if you go with your spouse, you can do those things as well. But if you're going with your spouse, there's sort of like this expectation that you're going to, like, spend a lot of time together and it's going to be like, romantic and all that. But if you're just with like friends or other family members. Right. You can really do those, like, solo activities and sort of do that, choose your own adventure thing a lot more without anybody feeling any kind of way about it, which is, you know, super nice. Super nice. I think it's a. Yeah. Well, let's rewind to the planning stages then. So you are a Silver Castaway Club member and. And were a Silver Castaway Club member when you booked this cruise. Did you book it kind of last minute as far as, you know, deals go? Okay, you're nodding your head yes. And so when you booked, like, did you have any difficulty with like, onboard booking stuff? Because obviously I'm guessing by the time you booked, a lot of the stuff was already open and maybe some stuff already fully booked. [00:09:03] Speaker C: That's a really great question. Okay, so we booked in. Oh, gosh, I think it was May for a September cruise. So we still hit all the booking deadlines, but we weren't planning, you know, 18 months in advance. Like, we booked an opening day for spring break of 2026 already. So we have our 2026 cruise book that we did on opening day for our castaway club, but this one was kind of the opposite, where we kind of came across a great GTY deal and so picked it up that way, which is almost kind of freeing for us too, because we picked our category of room, but we didn't have to stress about which room were we going to be in. And for the value, we were like, well, we're going to Hawaii, so, you know, we're going to try hard to not stay in our room very much. And so that turned out fine. We were in an ocean view on deck two. And I know a lot of people aren't fans of Deck 2, but it worked out great for us because we were so close. Oh, and this was on the Wonder, by the way. [00:10:07] Speaker A: So a smaller ship, the best ship. [00:10:10] Speaker C: Oh, we, I loved it and I think it was a great. My mother in law had only been on one cruise ship before and it was like 30 years ago. And I do want to say too that this was a trip of a lifetime for her. Her, my father in law got to go on a Tiger cruise from Hawaii before, which is when, if you have somebody who serves the military, sometimes when they're coming back, they'll invite their family to join them in Hawaii and then they'll cruise back on the submarine and they actually get to see and learn about the submarine. And so my brother in law was in the military and so my father in law has already been to Hawaii but my mother in law has never been to Hawaii. So that was another reason why she was like, yes, I'm going with Sarah. You know, I'm going to go with my daughter in law. So I get to go to Hawaii too. And so anyway, we were on like we didn't get to pick our room. We were on deck two. We loved it because it was so close to all of the dining venues and a lot of the adult lounges, which was really nice. Like if we were rushing to get to dinner, it was right there. We didn't have to wait on for an elevator. It was super convenient. And compared to our other bookings, it was kind of nice to just let Disney take the wheel and just let them put us wherever for the value. [00:11:29] Speaker A: So I think, you know, if you are booking for a deal, that is a fantastic way to go. Right? I think that there, there's, I mean there's no, I shouldn't say there's no bad rooms. I'm sure there are some bad rooms and I can think of like one location I wouldn't want to be which is right underneath the kids clubs. But really honestly that to me would be like the worst case scenario or right next to the kids clubs. But other than that I feel like generally speaking like the rooms are really nice, especially if you're able to pick a category at least. And obviously, you know, some people really like those inside staterooms because they're dark. Other people like us like at least a window, right? So we like an ocean view or a veranda. And so I think it's, it's really nice if you can sort of at least pick your category, which the GTY allows you to do. What about booking activities? Like were you guys able to book things? You know, this is a longer cruise. Remind us how many, how many nights is this sailing? [00:12:28] Speaker C: Okay. It was a 10 night cruise and something that I found really unique about it too is that, you know, all the sea days were up front and, and then all the port days were in the back. And so, you know, to your question about like booking things, probably the hardest thing for me, and this is what was made it really hard for me to be patient is the excursions. And because you can go on Disney's website and kind of get an idea of what they were and because these are three different families with three different budgets, I did basically made a list for them of what it could be and asked them to kind of rank order them because I wanted to make sure that nobody was feeling. We only wanted to do things that we all wanted to do and we needed to stay in everybody's budget. And so, you know, they kind of got to start with the rankings. And then some of the things that we picked turned out to not be available when we went to book, which I knew was going to happen. But there wasn't anything like, like that sometimes and I think because it was a repositioning cruise, it's not super common. I would have liked to have seen Disney offer a few more excursion options and my mother in law in particular really wanted to stick with Disney excursions. Like she, it really made her more comfortable. You know, she didn't want to miss the boat like she wanted like a trusted vendor. I would have been probably comfortable with Viator or something else and she just really wanted to stick with Disney. So that was totally fine with us and we got everything but one that we wanted by the time our booking window opened and then we didn't do. [00:14:05] Speaker A: Did you join the Facebook group and was. Were you able to get some information at least a little bit ahead of your booking on what was actually available for your cruise at least? [00:14:15] Speaker C: Yes, we did. And it was a super fun group too. It was super active, really friendly people. Our cruise. So gosh, is the wonder like 2500 or so? 20. So there was only 1800 on our cruise. [00:14:28] Speaker A: Oh, nice. [00:14:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So it was not full by any means and people were super friendly and it was. But it was a very adult heavy cruise, which isn't a surprise for the time of year. It was, we saw a lot of like friend groups like ours. We were probably, I just recently celebrated my 15th 29th birthday. And so if that kind of gives you an idea of our aircraft range. Yes, and but we were like some of the younger. [00:15:00] Speaker A: I did too by the way. I celebrated the same, the same birthday in October. Yeah, yeah. [00:15:06] Speaker C: And so we were some of the younger people on the cruise. There were a lot of older friend groups on the cruise. They were absolutely amazing to meet and hang out with. There were a lot of singles on the cruise, people on their own. I loved seeing so many. There were a lot of people cruising with their like adult disabled children. And we also saw a lot of people cruising with their young like toddler children. And so there was kind of that missing school age group which made a lot of sense for September. It's not always a great time to take your kids out of school for two weeks. [00:15:38] Speaker A: Right, right. Yeah, that makes sense because you could take a, you know, either a preschool age child or, or a baby or toddler. Well, I think they had, you had to. They probably mandated. They were probably one. Most cruises the minimum age is 6 months old but for the ones that tend to cross an ocean they usually like or like Panama Canal, they, they usually make I believe one year old. So my guess is that this one probably was a one year old minimum. But yeah, that's kind of the, the perfect age if you, if you have kids to go on one of these cruises. Because like for us and for you too, Sarah, if you were going your whole family, this would not, obviously this would not be the right cruise for your family. Unless you're homeschool which then you do whatever you want. [00:16:23] Speaker C: I'm sure there were some family groups like that that, that were part of the cruise too. It just wasn't a very kid heavy cruise. And the only other thing that was the stem to stern wine tasting and everyone loved that. That was right in line with everybody's interest. The sommelier was so great and so kind and all the servers that came around and it was just like a lovely experience. We just had so much fun there and we were laughing. It. The only thing that was a little bit funny to us is it was at 2 o' clock in the afternoon and we were definitely toasty at the end of it. Like we were all like laughing and giggling and having a good time down the hallways at like 3:30 because I mean I think we had close to five pours of wine each by the time we were done. And it was, but it was a really great experience. They even gave us a little pin, like a little commemorative pin for participating and yeah that was one of my favorite experiences. [00:17:16] Speaker A: I haven't seen a pin for any of the tastings before, other than stem to stern. [00:17:23] Speaker B: I know it's a tasting, but it's been around for a little while longer, and I think it's. I think it's just, like, slightly different in the repertoire of tasting. So I wouldn't be surprised they had a pin for that and not the others. But, you know, they also. They added a pin for pin. They added a pin for Prima note now. And so maybe they're going to start doing pins for the different drink tastings as a way to get you to come back. [00:17:46] Speaker A: Yeah, that would be cool. I like that. I think that's a good warning, though, Sarah, to people like they. They do all of the drink tastings, you are getting quite a bit of alcohol. And so, you know, pace yourself or. Or not as however, you know, however you see fit. But, yeah, if you got an afternoon tasting, you might want to take a nap after. And, you know, that's okay. You're on a cruise. It's perfect. Choose your own adventure. [00:18:10] Speaker C: I'm guilty as charged. I definitely took a nap afterwards. I would say, too, that it didn't surprise us, but there was some pretty. It was very rocky, like it was. And it was to the point where they were coming off on over the loudspeaker and telling people where to get sour apples and to drink ginger tea, and they're making it available at the meals and everything. And we'd be walking into the theater and, like, falling over. Like, we'd be grabbing the wall on the way in. And so that happened to be on our wine tasting day, which made it extra fun walking out of there. But we still had a great experience, and it really didn't bother us that much. We definitely wore the patches behind our ears and everything, and that was good enough for us. [00:18:58] Speaker A: That's also another great warning for people. In fact, we were just talking about this on a different show that we recorded. And I was saying, actually, I think we were guests on somebody else's show. And I was telling the person, if you're someone who has motion sickness or somebody in your family has motion sickness, and you're going on your first cruise and you're trying to figure out, like, what cruise that's going to be. I tell them, don't book something, one, that traverses an ocean. But two, don't book a Pacific Ocean cruise, because the Pacific does tend to be a little bit rougher when you're out at sea than the Atlantic. And so I tell people like, you know, pick the Caribbean, the Bahamas, but not in hurricane season, of course. So you know, but it's just one of those things that like the Pacific Ocean, she can be no joke. Right. And so the one time I got really bad seasickness on a cruise and this wasn't. We have a video of this one cruise in Nassau that was really rough. But I actually got seasick on a celebrity cruise going to Hawaii. Yeah. And it was because it was in the, again in the middle of the Pacific. We were coming, we left from San Diego, but it was like, you know, a couple days in and oh yeah, the boat was, we were moving fast and we were rocking and it was just. Yeah, it was rough. Well, let's, let's rewind. So the beginning of your cruise, you fly to Vancouver. Of course. I'm imagining you being an avid listener of our show and a travel agent yourself. I'm imagining you're not getting into Vancouver the day of your cruise. I don't even know that you could get there in the morning of your cruise from the Midwest. [00:20:37] Speaker C: Yeah. So my mother in law and I were coming from Iowa and then my sister in law lives in Kansas City and we had way better airfare out of Kansas City. So we drove a different two days before to Kansas City and then we flew out. I think our wake up call was at 2:30 in the morning to get to the Kansas City airport. I know, yes. It's like, why do we live in the Midwest? We always have to make connecting flights. But then we flew from Kansas City to Seattle, Seattle to Vancouver. And it was a really simple. I mean everything went fine for the flights and then we got in and we ended up staying. We chose to stay at the airport, the Fairmont in the airport in Vancouver. We just thought that that would be convenient. And they, that one even has a guaranteed room ready available for at 10 in the morning. And so we paid $30 extra I think to have a guaranteed room available for us because I think our flight got in at like 11 or something like that in the morning. And so we had these grand plans. I watched all these YouTube videos about if you have one day in Vancouver, what do you do? We decided not to do the bridge because two of us are afraid of heights. But we were going to go downtown and check out all the fun things. We ended up taking a nap and watching the Kansas City Chiefs game in the hotel room. But the funny thing was is we went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner and they had the Game on there and there were all sorts of Kansas City fans there and a lot of people that ended up being on our cruise. So it already sort of got the vibe going and we met people that we were going to end up being cruise, end up cruising with. So that was pretty fun and convenient. Even though I do feel like, oh man, I wish we would have done something in Vancouver because it's such a beautiful place. But we were really wiped out from our 2:30 wake up call. [00:22:30] Speaker A: And it's a long travel day for sure. [00:22:33] Speaker C: It is what it is. [00:22:34] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Well and then you know, with the changing planes it's only, I mean it's a real short flight between Seattle and Vancouver. People probably don't know this but we can drive to Vancouver in like three and a half hours hours from the Seattle area. [00:22:45] Speaker B: It's like plenty of people know this if they've listened to our show. [00:22:48] Speaker A: Well, I mean, I just mean people who are not from the Northwest don't like necessarily know that. You know, it's, we're not that far away from Vancouver but like if you want to fly it's like yeah, yeah, it's like a 45 minute flight because it's, it's just the amount of time it takes to go. [00:23:04] Speaker B: Probably Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air, one of those. [00:23:06] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, probably, yeah. Well so let's, let's jump in then to Cruise day arrives. Embarkation day. Happy embarkation day to those who celebrate. Great. Embarkation day arrives. How did you guys get to the port and tell us about the boarding process? [00:23:23] Speaker C: We decided to take Disney transportation. And so kind of just a fun fact about me is that I've had two back surgeries. Definitely always like working on my health now but like carrying my 10 day my suitcase, 10 days of clothes in it was not super easy. Same thing for my mother in law. And so we just wanted to some convenience and so we took Disney transportation. We loved that they, you know, you get there at the port and they just make sure you get to go right through the lines and you get started. So that was really great. And we, we went right to Tiana's for a sit down lunch and already having never cruised before, my mother in law and my sister in law were like blown away by the food for lunch and everybody was ordering like they were just treating, I mean everybody treated us like queens like the entire time. And I wanted to say, you know, we didn't book any of the special adult dining on this trip and you know I was kind of worried that, that would feel like repetitive, but it felt so good to be on vacation and to, you know, we are like the caregivers, the people that take care of our families. We didn't have to cook, we didn't have to clean, we didn't have to think about what was for dinner. We didn't have to grocery shop for two weeks. I mean, it was insane. I mean, it was just the trip of a lifetime. And I think, you know, both my sister in law and my mother in law were especially grateful. There are people that don't go out to eat a lot, even they cook a lot at home. And so just to have the Disney menu was amazing for them and yeah, it was really great. So we, you know, embarrassing day. [00:25:04] Speaker A: Let me, let me, let me stop you there. I just want to back up to the transportation issue because I haven't heard of people using Disney transportation in Vancouver before. I think because a lot of people end up staying right there downtown, like at the, at the, what is it? The Pacific. Pan Pacific. Thank you. I couldn't think of the name. So I'm, I'm curious. Was, did you, did you book the hotel then through Disney or was that hotel just happened to be where Disney did the transportation from? Because it was the airport hotel. I know, okay. [00:25:35] Speaker C: So I booked it on my own because it was actually quite a bit cheaper than the rate that they gave me through Disney. [00:25:42] Speaker A: Good call. [00:25:43] Speaker C: But then I booked the transportation as if we were coming in on a flight. But the one thing that, the only small glitch that happened is they never gave me any communication. We called, we booked it, but then they never said how to do it. And they said, well, if you were like staying through Disney then we would have gotten given it to you when you checked into your hotel. But since I wasn't linked through Disney, I had to call on my own to find out where to meet them. And then once I met them, it was not a problem, but I definitely had to be a little bit more organized since I sort of did my own hybrid version of it. [00:26:20] Speaker A: Yeah, well, that's a good, I mean, that's good to know. It's a good tip because there is that issue. I mean, the communication about pickup from pickup generally hasn't been great. I think no matter where you're sailing from, I think that's kind of an issue is that oftentimes the communication, it doesn't come at all or it comes really, really last minute. And so we're hearing that from a lot of people. But in particular it makes sense. I mean, it's annoying, but it makes sense that if you don't book it through them, they sort of haven't connected the dots, I guess is the issue. [00:26:54] Speaker C: The instructions that they gave me on the phone were perfect. I mean, they were just what I needed to do. But you just never know when do I call to get that information? So. So that part was a little bit bizarre. And then we took Disney transportation again to go to Aulani, and I'm sure we're going to talk about that later in the show, but that was kind of a little bit awkward too, because so many people on the Facebook page wanted to take this excursion where you take Disney transportation to Pearl harbor and then to Aulani. And that one had been on the website and everybody was hoping for it and people were calling in and they said, tell people to keep calling, maybe we'll add it. Find out on the ship, if we'll add it. And I was like, really? You know, I'm like raising my eyebrow, like, really? And so we did wait to book transportation to get off the boat. Oh, wait, ship to get off the ship. [00:27:48] Speaker A: And we don't correct people when they say book because we know what you mean. We know what you mean. It's okay. [00:27:54] Speaker C: So we waited and then we ended up booking it on the ship. There was no Pearl harbor excursion and there were tons of people going to Aulani. Like three entire coach buses full were going from the ship to Aulani and it ended up being like really hectic in the waiting area and oh, I'm. [00:28:14] Speaker A: Sure we got there crazy at Aulani too. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. All right, well, sorry, back to, back to on, on board the ship. I'm curious about when you, when you walk onto the ship, your sister in law, your mother in law have never been on a cruise before and never been on a Disney cruise before. And of course ask you for your family name, you get welcomed on. People are clapping. Maybe Mickey or some other character of the Fab Five is in the, in the atrium. But what was that? I mean, did they have a reaction to that? I mean, they obviously had a reaction to lunch and Tiana's. I'm, I'm glad you took them to sit down lunch. I think that's a great way, especially with all adults to start a, you know, a wonderful, relaxing cruise. But yeah, did they have a reaction to that or reaction to the, the atrium or how the ship was looked? [00:29:00] Speaker C: Well, you know, it's interesting. My mother in law is from a smaller town and so I think she was honestly a little overwhelmed in the port, like the, the noise and everything. So like once we got on to the wonder though, it was like night and day and she was ready to relax and have fun and take it all in. And so yes, we absolutely loved the atrium and, and we were really hungry so we pretty quickly went to Tiana's after that. And so, you know, I think if I, you know, if I'm being honest, I think my travel companions were a little stressed out all the way until we got access to our room. You know, they're just not. I travel a lot. I love to travel. I'm willing to put up with Disney crowds and all that. And I think they were kind of feeling a little anxious at first because it was crowded in the atrium, it was crowded in the poor. It was, was crowded. The mustard drill. We were at one of the outdoor locations and somebody from our area was late. So it was taking a long time. And you know, once we got through that part and got to our room, it was like the sun came out and everybody was happy and everybody was ready to feel like they were on vacation. I don't know if they felt like they were really on vacation until then. [00:30:15] Speaker A: That makes sense. I mean, I do think there's something about when you get to your room, you see how pretty it is. You're able to put your purse down or whatever carry on bag you've got down, right. Like, and then you feel like you can really, you can get your key to the World card and then you don't need to carry anything on you. Right. Like maybe you carry your phone and your key to the world card, but that's really it. And so that you can really like start that vacation. But it is, I mean that check in process is a little stressful not getting your room right away for new cruise for like you said, for those of us who are like seasoned cruisers or familiar with travel, like it not that big of a deal where you're like, okay, I can wait till 2:30 or whatever to get into my room. But for, for newer folks it's, it can be a little, a little stressful. Yeah. Brian doesn't get relaxed until all of his luggage is unpacked and then he. [00:31:02] Speaker B: Gets, everything needs to be put away because then I feel like I've, I've moved into the room I have. You know, it's like my room now, not Disney's room, but yeah. [00:31:10] Speaker C: Yes. I think that is so how they felt too. I mean they really wanted to kind of get spread out and get the lay of the land. And we had five sea days to do it. [00:31:19] Speaker B: So, you know, can I. I wanted to go back, I thought Sam a few minutes ago was going to go a different direction with her comment and I wanted to go back to something you said early on because we get this question a ton about the food and main dining and if I go on a longer cruise, are the menus just going to get repetitive? And I just wanted to underscore something you said, which is they change the menu every night. You're not getting the same food every night. And on these longer sailings, what they tend to do is they just like they pull out every menu they've ever had. They bring back some old menus you haven't seen a long time. You get the global menu, the, you might even get a holiday menu thrown in or something close to it. You know, you'll get the tastes of Alaska menu like, like all of these different theme menus they have, they bring them all together on these longer cruises because they need to keep the food different every night. So yeah, it sounds like you didn't experience that. And I just kind of wanted to underscore for folks out there because we do, we do get this question a lot. Do they? Is it the same food over and over again? No, the rotational dining is different every night of the cruise. So yeah. [00:32:23] Speaker C: Yes. Okay. So we had, let's see. So we were in every restaurant three times and then one of the restaurants four times. And every night they had different activities in every restaurant. And you know, it's like sometimes we felt like having the dessert, sometimes we didn't. And it was nice for me because I love steak, but you know, it encouraged me to not try steak every night, you know, so to try the fish or to try, you know, something that I wouldn't normally have. And our servers, you know, we always talk about Disney servers getting to know you, but our servers were Zenzani from South Africa and Laura from the UK and they were a blast. They were a hoot together. Laura was like super young and hip and fun and Zanzani, you could tell he was experienced and had been on ships, on ships for a while. And you know, like, I'm not a big dessert person but you know, sometimes I wouldn't get the app so I had room for the dessert. And yeah, so we had, I mean, and my mother in law was blown away every night by the menu. I mean, she just thought it was wonderful. There was plenty of things they would bring you Know, they would tell us, make suggestions, just like everybody always talks about. And if you didn't like the suggestion, they would fix it. They bring something else. And they. They ran out of Diet Coke on day eight, which I. You know, I'm not a big coffee drinker. I. You know, we would, like. I don't typically order, like, wine or beer with my meal, and so, like. But I need my caffeine. And Laura would have it waiting for me. She would go find it somewhere else on the ship and then bring it to me for dinner, which it was just so, so great. But I think I tried every single cut of steak there is and still had lobster and different. Different type of fish. The apps were so good. The different appetizers were so good. Sometimes I was like, there it was a lot of food. Like, eating like that for 10 days in a row is not something I would do at home. And so sometimes, you know, it's like, I would have appetizer and dessert, or I'd skip the desserts. It was just too much food. And towards the. Like, later in the cruise, we started having. We would kind of be sleeping in, and so we kind of have a brunch. We'd kind of skip lunch and then just, like, go right to dinner. Because, honestly, we were. We had had plenty of good food. There was no. [00:34:56] Speaker A: There's no shortage. There's no shortage of food. Food on a Disney cruise, or on any cruise for that matter, frankly, all. You know, every. Whatever cruise line you go on, there is just a surplus of food everywhere, I feel like. And, yes, they're pushing courses like you are. You know, you're encouraged to order an appetizer, a super salad, or both, you know, and a main and a dessert or any combination thereof, or multiple, like you said. I mean, there are times where I like to just order, you know, multiple entrees, because I don't know if I'm gonna like that one and I want to try the other one or the table wants a taste of the other one, Right? [00:35:35] Speaker C: So, you know, Zinzani was, like, threatening me. He's like, if you don't order dessert, I'm gonna bring you one. And I'm like, I don't. I'm so full. I just had this gorgeous steak, and I don't need to eat anymore. So sometimes I'd have him just bring me one little scoop of ice cream. I'd say, is there, like, even on the child's menu, is there, like, can I just have, like, a fresh scoop of ice cream? Because I don't want anything, but. And then he would bring me like a ridiculous sundae with caramel on it and whatever and I'm like, thanks. Three bites. [00:36:05] Speaker A: I felt so bad, but too funny. [00:36:07] Speaker C: Yeah, the food was delicious. Everybody was a big fan. [00:36:10] Speaker A: I love that your mother in law really liked the food, I have to say. We took my mom on a cruise a couple of years back. It was actually like one of the earlier cruises we took and maybe like a year after we started cruising. Right, Brian? And she loved all the food. [00:36:25] Speaker B: Yeah, 2019, so almost. [00:36:27] Speaker A: Yeah, so about a year after we started cruising with Disney. And yeah, she loved all the food too. She thought like everything was really good quality. Like she, she's not like a. I wouldn't call her like a super adventurous eater, but she's not a picky eater. She's less picky than I am for sure. And she. Yeah, but she always, you know, pretty much always liked the food. So that was really nice. I think, I think you're right. Especially on a longer cruise. There's just a ton of variety and not too much to complain about there. And it's kind of nice when you have a lower number of guests because the food quality does tend to be better on those cruises where there's, you know, the wait staff are just not oversubscribed. Right. And the dining, you know, room. The cooks are not oversubscribed either because they just don't have quite as many people to serve. Well, let's talk about some onboard activities. We know this was five days at sea before you hit any, you know, any ports. And I do want to spend a little bit of time talking about the ports. But tell us, what was your typical day like? Or was there a typical day? Did you do different stuff each day? What kind of stuff did you get up to? [00:37:33] Speaker B: Well, I mean, apparently they had five glasses of wine by the middle of the day, so there you go. [00:37:39] Speaker C: Oh, that's too funny. Well, you know, I sort of say like this vacation almost felt like three separate vacations in one. Because we had the first half, which was all sea days and it was all staying on the boat. And then the second half was all about Hawaii. And then. Well, now I have three halves, but the, the last third was. [00:37:56] Speaker B: That's what happens when you day drink for, for five. [00:38:00] Speaker C: More Disney math. Right, but. And so, you know, we, we folded all the things. We folded towels, we folded napkins, we folded origami. Yeah, we have so much fun. [00:38:16] Speaker A: By the way, that's Nathan's like Dream vacation. Like, he loves folding origami and so. And like towel folding and napkin folding. Totally. Like our wait staff on our last cruise, like taught him how to fold a few of the napkins because he was just like, like, ooh, that's so cool. I want to know how to fold that. [00:38:31] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:38:32] Speaker C: And you know, it's so interesting because my mother in law in general is kind of a quiet person, but she's still very like emotive. And so wherever she went, people would be like coming out of the woodwork to help her. I mean, she was just. She made friends with the people who were folding the towels and teaching us how to do it. And our servers just took to my mother in law, like they would walk arm in arm with. Her name's Betty. So they would walk arm in arm with Betty when she would come into the dining hall. He got her to do the limbo with. There was this parade, there was a New Orleans parade in Tiana's for dinner. And so he got her to do the limbo with her with him. I mean, it was just. I don't know. And so she was just a hoot to experience all these things with too. A couple of things that were unique about the cruise I thought were super great is Bruce Kimbrell was on board and he is like a Disney legend, historian. And he gave these talks and so he did one about. And he did one almost every C day. Well, he did one every C day. We didn't go to them every C day, but they would. He would have like kind of a PowerPoint up and it would be in the theater. And he would. He did one about the meaning of all the Main street windows. He did some about the history of Walt Disney. He. He did one about all the famous people he's met and showed pictures of that. And he had a lot of like, like pictures and he even. He had like a piece of carpet with him so you could like see what the original carpet was like in Walt Disney's apartment that was above. That was on Main Street. And so that was super fun. We would. Yeah, so. And that was kind of a surprise. They had the, they had cast members from Aulani on board and they did Lei making and they taught hula lessons and they did ukulele lessons. So we kind of held off on some of that because we were going to Aulani. But we really liked the lay making. It was like the folded ribbon type of lay making. And I could never get it. And my mother in law and my sister in law are both super artistic, and so they're, like, whipping through them and making all the lays. And so we ended up. They took more of that ribbon, and. And they did that while I went to trivia. So they sat with me because I'm like, I. Like I said crafts and me do not mix. I just like to watch other people do crafts. And so I did the. The Disney trivia while they. [00:41:01] Speaker A: Well, they did ribbon lays. I love that. That's perfect. [00:41:04] Speaker C: It was really fun. And then you could, you know, wear them on the cruise, which was fun, too. We went to two different. Anyone could cooks. So. And that was super cool, too. They had the executive chef from the Riviera was on board, and so he was the one that was doing it. And that was super cool because they had a screen where you could see down from the ceiling what he was doing, and then another one that was coming in off the side. So we went to one about flank steak with chimichurri and crepes. And I didn't know this either, but you get a pour of wine with it. And of course, this is all complimentary and included, so I don't know that either. Yeah, I know if I knew they were giving me wine, maybe I would have gone to the one about Bronzino, But I had no interest in trying the Bronzino, so I didn't go to that one. But. And that was really interesting because one of the things that I think maybe they didn't quite account for was how many adults were on the cruise. So basically every single sea anyone can cook was full. They also did a cheese tasting, and every single seat was full. And they ran out of cheese. And so you could tell because they, like, ran away and then came back with, like, some cheese. And so we got, like, a third of the cheese to try while the presentation was going on. And I ended up talking to somebody later. And one of the things I like to do on the cruise is I like to get to know the cast members, and I kind of ask them what their experiences are like on the ship and how did they come to do this? And so I ended up running into the person that played plans for the cheese tasting, and she's like, I had. I never would have expected so many people were interested in this. And so she's like, I'm so flustered. And I said, you did a great job. I mean, it was absolutely fine, and it was still a great experience. And so we saw her. [00:42:55] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:42:55] Speaker C: I gotta. [00:42:56] Speaker A: I gotta say, that's poor Planning, Sarah, because who doesn't like cheese? I mean, come on. I'm just teasing, but like, but I'm kind of not teasing because I love cheese. And so I would be like, super popular. [00:43:11] Speaker C: Yeah, super popular. [00:43:12] Speaker A: I think in general though, I think they, they sometimes forget when. Because when they plan for any activities, they sort of plan based on the number of guests they normally have or the ratio of guests they normally have. And even though they have a smaller number of guests overall, right? Even though they have 1800 instead of the, you know, 2500 or 1. Not that they would have it like full capacity Even with that 1800, they probably have more adults than they have when they have a full ship. Right? And so if they're planning activities based on their normal numbers, like, they're gonna get that wrong, right? [00:43:49] Speaker D: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. [00:43:52] Speaker B: Great news. [00:43:53] Speaker D: 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 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 DCLDUOYpathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding, for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode. [00:44:48] Speaker A: Okay, so setting aside that there wasn't enough cheese, I want to ask about some other fun stuff that they did on board, often on these longer itineraries. I know you mentioned how they had had people from Aulani doing ukulele lessons and laymaking and whatnot. I'm curious if they had any special performers on board to do any of the kind of main stage acts because you've got 10 nights on a cruise and so obviously they've got their three shows that they're going to do and probably some variety acts, but oftentimes I don't know. Did you get any Broadway performers or anybody else special? [00:45:22] Speaker C: So we went to the show almost every night or at least two of us did. And that was something we were all really looking forward to. And so we saw there was a Carol King review. My mother in law and sister in law loved that. There was one Buckets and Boards which was like a comedy percussion act and they did crowd interaction with that one and they pulled up some kids on stage for that one. And the little six year old boy that they pulled out could is going to be. Is going to be in their show in the future. I mean he was just perfect. I mean everybody was just clapping for him and enjoying that whole performance. That was really fun. That little boy like made the whole show. [00:46:06] Speaker B: Did you like buckets? The number of people who have recommended Buckets and Boards and said how amazing it is. And we have been on 30 cruises on Disney Cruise Line and we have never been on a sailing with them. And in fact they just released their schedule and we're going to miss them again by like a week or two too. We hear from people it's like the one of the best variety or the best variety act they've seen on Disney Cruise Line. [00:46:26] Speaker C: They were like over the top at first. So I wasn't really sure if I was going to like it because it's kind of like slapstick humor, you know. And my son loves all that stuff so we do a lot of that stuff when we're around him. But they really, once they got in with the crowd and the crowd started playing along with them, I mean it was, it really was fun and it was different. I mean it was just really engaging and they were pretty funny and, and it was 100% worth that hour. We went to all the Broadway shows which were absolutely fabulous. We did go to a rock violin show and that sounds cool. It was cool. She had this visual going behind her with all these different colors, making you think about what she was playing, resembled the colors. It was a little bit loud where we were sitting and so it was almost too loud. And my sister in law, my. Well my niece is in the youth symphony. So we were all like really excited for that one and we're glad we tried it. But it was definitely like super loud. But you know, like I'm down for trying anything. Like I'll try anything once. And it was, I mean the nighttime shows were super fun. And we also really got into the lounge. The French Quarter Lounge was like our spot. So we would go to Dinner and then we would go to the French Quarter Lounge and we got into the habit of playing cards. And we would play cards, we would like have a beverage. He'd bring us out our bar snacks and then we would go to the evening performance. It was super great. And we had like a running card game going and they oftentimes had live music in the French Quarter Lounge too. We had three different sets of performers that were rotating through the different spots. And so we really loved it was. That was actually a violinist too, but she was a vocalist violinist and she played with somebody who was playing on the piano. And it was just a great vibe. And that one was a lot just more chill. Like you could be talking kind of when you're in there and kind of funny. But they had Alaskan beer because they had just come from Alaska. So I was having like Alaskan beer on my way to Hawaii. [00:48:41] Speaker A: Love it. [00:48:42] Speaker C: It was like super fun to try. [00:48:44] Speaker A: Yeah. By the way, there were so many. [00:48:45] Speaker C: People on our cruise that had come from Alaska. How co would that be to go from Alaska to Vancouver to Hawaii and then if you were really rich, you could keep going to Australia. [00:48:57] Speaker A: Yeah, there are definitely, yeah, there definitely are people who do well. And you know, to be fair, like, Vancouver is not that far from Alaska. It's the closest port for anyone who lives in Alaska. If you're going to sail on Disney, the closest port you can sail out of by far is Vancouver. Well, let's jump to talking about some of these, some of these ports then you know where. What was the, the when you, you have your five sea days and then you hit Hawaii, right? You're, you're, you're there. What was your first port of call in Hawaii? [00:49:27] Speaker C: Well, also another cool thing that they did was they moved us back an hour every day on the sea days, so we actually gained an hour. And then by the time we got to Hawaii, we were kind of adjusted at the time zone difference, which is also super fun. [00:49:41] Speaker A: It's a three hour difference from the West Coast. Yeah, it's three hour different time difference from the west coast to be out in Hawaii. [00:49:47] Speaker C: Yeah, we were coming from Kansas City, so I mean it was like five hours differ for us. And so we definitely, I definitely recommend to. If you're ever on one of these long cruises and you. We didn't get the Internet package, so definitely get WhatsApp so you can like stay in touch with what is happening in the real world. And then we would like send questions to our significant others back in the real world. So, like, we were watching. On those really rocky days, we were watching the tv, and it would say, you know, it's like five Beaumonts. And so we're like, what's a Beaumont? And so we would text, like, our loved ones and be like, what is a Beaumont? And what does that mean? And so they would, like, text us back what Wikipedia would tell us about it. But basically it was like, one step down from a tropical storm is what we sailed through. But yes. Okay, so we. This was such a great way to see so many different parts of Hawaii. And I purposely didn't do a lot of research on Hawaii before I went because I thought there was going to be a naturalist on board. Well, there wasn't, but that was okay. So then again, kind of going back to the, like, searching and asking and trying to learn more. But we went to. Throughout this entire experience, we went to multiple different Hawaiian islands, and I learned how different and what a different personality each island was. So we started off in Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai. And there's only 70,000 people who live on the island of Kauai. And the buildings are only allowed to be built as tall as the tallest coconut tree. So, yes, I know, because they wanted to keep it very natural. Like, they didn't want the big, like, resorts coming in to, like, change the landscape. And we were there our first. Our first day we were there, and you didn't even have to get back on the ship, so it was optional for you if you wanted to. They said you either need to be back on the ship at 11:59 or you need to stay out till the morning. But we're not doing bed checks. So they actually stayed overnight there. And then we had another. Another day in Niwili Willy. So we did an excursion called the Movie Adventure Tour, which was on a bus. And then he would be showing us, like, shows and, like, a movie clip. And then he would show us that location and where it was filmed and going in. This was actually excursion. What's that? [00:52:16] Speaker B: Which movies did they. Did they. [00:52:18] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. Jurassic park one with. Oh, I knew you were gonna ask me this, and I didn't, like, write it down, but I would say, oh, like, a lot of times whenever they were feeling. Filming movies about Vietnam, like, and, like, the rice patties. That was actually filmed in Hawaii. And. And that was so interesting to learn about. And he'd say, like, are you in Cuba? Actually, you're in Hawaii, you know, and he would, like, show, like, the movie clip. [00:52:46] Speaker A: And then some other tropical location and then you'd be. Yeah, filming in Hawaii. Well, Lost. I know a lot of Lost was filmed in Hawaii, but I don't remember where. Yeah. [00:52:55] Speaker C: So I think going into it, this one I was the most excited about and it ended up actually being my least favorite one simply because we were on the bus almost for all of it. So we were looking through a bus window and then because there was three of us, one of us would sit by ourselves and like, you might not have the best view if you weren't sitting right by the window. And so it was a great experience. Still very glad we did it. We always chose some of the most affordable ones and some of the least high adventure ones because of like my mother in law, we didn't go, you know, hiking through mountains and. But there were definitely lots of options and a lot of people did stay out. Like we actually came back for dining and everything this night night because we were like the. It was the right amount of being gone for us. But the dining room was practically empty that night. So a lot of people did eat out in Hawaii that night. [00:53:49] Speaker A: That's cool. I mean, it's cool to have that opportunity. But I also understand, like, it's really, also really nice to get back to the ship and it be empty and you've got your dining staff who know your Diet Coke order and you know, who are going to recommend, you know, your. The food. And so there is some sort of comfort level of going back to the ship as well. So what was your next port? Because I know they're all consecutive ports. Because you've got. There's like. No, this is the funny thing about Hawaii. Right? Like all the islands are pretty close together. There's not like distance between them. So they're actually like floating around during the night and then, you know, getting slow. [00:54:25] Speaker C: You could tell we were just like kind of bobbing around. [00:54:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:29] Speaker C: So the second port day, we did the Waialua river and Fern grotto tour. And I love that one more than I thought I would. [00:54:37] Speaker A: So. [00:54:37] Speaker C: So on our way in on the riverboat, like through this grotto, we learned all about the mountains and their names and their history. And Hawaii has such a wonderful culture of like, naming and really thinking about why things exist and like coexisting with the nature. That was so fun to learn about. And then on the way back. Oh, and then we got to this like, place that a lot of folks would come to starting in the 70s to get married and. And they sang us a traditional wedding Song. So some folks from Hawaii were there and they sang us this wedding song. And then on the way back they taught us about hula and some of the different meanings of some of the different. Like, you know, I didn't know how different movements of your body meant different things when you were doing hula. And so that was so fun and they were just really great. And then we shopped around and just looked at some of the local shops and went to a place called Duke's for lunch and that was like super great. And then we got back on the boat. [00:55:38] Speaker A: Dukes is by the way, Duke's is on, I think all of the Hawaiian islands we've been to Dukes. [00:55:43] Speaker B: That's really good. It's really good. [00:55:45] Speaker A: It's really good. Yeah. Okay, so that's both, those are both. Sorry, those were both on Kauai. Right? Okay, so then you've got, then you finally debark from Kauai as I mentioned, as we mentioned, you're floating around during the night really slow. What's your next port of call? [00:56:00] Speaker C: So then we went to. And please, I'm going to do my best with pronunciation but I, and I really tried to do my best here. But then we went to Kahului in, on the island of Maui and this one was interesting. We didn't book any of the excursions because they were pretty spendy. Like, like $300 a person or something if you booked one through Disney. And so we had looked up different things to do and a lot of people on this one like to do the Road to Hana but the departure time was cutting it too close that Disney didn't make it available. So people were either trying to do it on their own, rent a car or you know, skip it. So we had looked up this place called Garden of Eden and that's where we wanted to go. My sister in law is a florist by the way, and so she like loves flowers. So she's like literally in paradise, you know, in Hawaii. And so we got, we got off the ship and we get into a cab and the nicest guy ever is like, I'll take you wherever you want to go. I haven't heard of that place. We had the address, we started going there and he's like, if I see places that I think you'd enjoy on the way, can I stop there for you? And we said absolutely. So he ended up taking us. Oh, it was Joseph. So Joseph was like the bomb. He ended up being our private tour guide for like three hours. And like we just Rented Joseph. And he took us all over Maui. And we ended up. He took us to see sea turtles on Ho. Oh, my goodness. On Ho' Okipa Beach. And that was like, my jam. I. My. This isn't what I do anymore. But I was a seasonal zookeeper for six years of my life. And so I know seeing. Seeing like all of this beautiful wildlife in its natural habitat, like, I was just loving it. So seeing sea turtles was just amazing. And then there was like a docent there or like a. Like a park ranger there that kind of explained to us, like, what was going on. It also is kind of weird, though, because you jump out of a taxi, like in a parking lot, and then you just like walk a little bit and there are sea turtles. So it's like, you know, it was kind of blows your mind a little bit, like we're jumping a fence. But I guess it's okay, you know, so as long as we don't touch the sea turtles. And then he also took us to a, like, wildlife preserve or a park where you could like, walk right up to waterfalls. So a lot of the other waterfalls that we were viewing were from quite a distance. And so this is like one that locals know about. So he took us to this local one. There were people swimming. There are people, like, like locals jumping off of the rock cliffs, like, into the waterfall. And we obviously did not do that, but we did enjoy kind of experiencing that. He took us to his favorite shaved ice place. And like, they. They talked. [00:59:01] Speaker A: I mean, you got to get shaved ice when you're in Hawaii. Yeah, yeah. [00:59:04] Speaker C: And like, they told us about, like, the different seasonings and like, it. That. That was super great. That was a really nice treat. And then we gave up on finding the Garden of Eden. While we were at the. While we were at the park, he actually was trying to figure out. He was asking all the other cab drivers, like, how to get there. And he's like, it's going to be, you know, this many more miles. Are you sure you want to do this? I will take you there if you want to go there. But we ended up, like, shifting gears. And we went to a place called the Maui Tropical Plantation. And while we were. Yeah, it was so great. And there was a restaurant on site, and then there was a tram tour. And the tram tour, they did like, a coconut husking demonstration and showed us, like, they basically talked about, like, what fruits and vegetables were native to Hawaii, what they grow there now, and why. And so that was. That was super great too. And at the end of that day, we were, were like ready to call it a day. And we gave Joseph like a huge tip because he was so fun and really kind of made our day because we went into this not having a great plan. [01:00:14] Speaker A: That's amazing because honestly, like, it sounds like what you got was basically a private tour, right? I mean, obviously with, with each location having their own, like tour guides and docents and whatnot, but still like, yeah, a sort of create your own plan last minute that just kind of worked out. So that's fantastic. Well, shout out to Joseph. Joseph, if you're listening, we'll try and find you in Hawaii in Maui. Okay, so your, your next. What was your next port day? [01:00:43] Speaker C: So then we went to Hilo on the island of Hawaii, which they like call the big island here. We took a tour. Kama was our guide and he was so great. So on this one we had like a tour guide on the bus with us, sort of explaining things as we were driving and then somebody else driving. And Kama participates in professional hula competitions. And he was talking about it too, and just how like spiritual it is and how much like giving of yourself it is to be doing these hula competitions. So he even drove us by like where the, where the competition happens. And he taught like, I did not realize that there are two different styles of hula. And a big part of it is what makes the sound. If it's your body or like things you could make in nature is like a traditional hula dance. But then if you're using music that is like recorded or played by modern instruments, that's the second type of hula dance which really turned out great because when we did the luau at Aulani, we knew so much more about what we were seeing, which was so cool. So this was just like this bonus that our tour guide just happened to be like, have this experience with hula. And he wasn't. I mean, he was quite a bit younger than me too, by the way. Like, he was definitely not bad to look at. [01:02:08] Speaker A: You wouldn't mind watching him compete doing his hula competition. [01:02:11] Speaker B: Easy on the eyes. Easy on the eyes. [01:02:16] Speaker C: So that was just like a fun bonus. And then we went to a place called Liliookalani Gardens, which is a Japanese garden that the last king of Hawaii was gifted by Japan. And so we saw these like decades old banyan trees and took pictures in front of them. You know, it was a Japanese garden, but it was just so beautiful. The view was just amazing. And then you saw all these trees that were gifted when different celebrities came to visit the garden. So that was really neat. And then, and we started there, then we got to go downtown Hilo to a farmer's market. And that was super fun too. I tried strawberry papaya for the first time. That was absolutely delicious. It was fun to just, you know, we went into some local shops, we tried to shop local and we tried to try some foods that we wouldn't have eaten otherwise, which was fun. And then we ended well, gosh. Then we went to a rainforest, the Hana Iwa Rainforest Gardens at Zoo, which is mostly rescue animals, which is really fan, like fascinating because it was a lot of birds that needed to be like rehabilitated or just have like a place to live because otherwise they wouldn't have made it. And like I said, I'm a big animal lover. So it was both like heartwarming and hard to see that, you know, these, they, they're these injured animals. Like you're glad that they have a place to be and then like weird things that people think that they should keep as pets and then they realize that, that like, you know, Komodo dragon was not a really great pet and they end up donating it to the zoo. So that was a funky zoo. It was, yeah, it was funky. I'm glad we saw it. Also, right before we left, my son taught me this trick that when you take a picture of something like on your iPhone and then you scroll up it'll tell you the species of, of like plant or animal it is. Which was really fun because we were. [01:04:16] Speaker A: That's cool. [01:04:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I know. And we were doing that as we went because I'm really into bird watching and other things like that. And so I'd say like, well, what bird is this? You know, and so you'd be able to kind of like teach yourself a little bit if you saw something kind of out in the wild. [01:04:30] Speaker A: Boy, that AI technology is just crazy these days, right? [01:04:33] Speaker C: Thanks 11 year old for teaching me how to identify birds using my iPhone. But. And then we ended up at Akaka Falls. [01:04:45] Speaker A: Oh yeah, that's so. I feel like people go to Hilo, like they go see the, the, the waterfalls and Akaka Falls is like the big one there. Yeah. [01:04:53] Speaker C: Yes. So this one was, we still saw it from a distance and it ended up being quite the hike. It was a little bit harder for my mother in law than she thought it was going to be. It was beautiful walking down into it, but it was, I mean it was a good like 20 minutes of strenuous hiking down and up each way. Definitely worth it. I did, I did write into Disney about that particular excursion because we were a little bit worried about her for a minute and there definitely was nobody to help us. And then a lot of the people bailed out. Like, a lot. Like, probably half of the people that were on our bus with us gave up and didn't make it to the waterfall and had to walk back, back up. So maybe not, like, rated correctly on the app in terms of activity. Definitely worth it if you could make it super fun. We got some great pictures and we met some. We were all in it together on this hike. Like, everybody was, like rooting for everybody else to try to finish this hike. So that was super great. And then our last. That was our, like, last day on the ship. That was, I think, also our Frozen night. So that was the night that we got to see the Frozen show and have like our big, big ending with the Broadway show. [01:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great way to end. Okay, so the next morning you debarked. You mentioned you took transportation to Aulani. Disney transportation. And so. And obviously didn't get to do the Pearl harbor thing. We're not going to spend time talking about Aulani because as much as we love Aulani, this is a cruise focused show and we've talked about Aulani before. Needless. I am sure your trip to Aulani was fantastic. [01:06:35] Speaker C: It was definitely put that on your list if you ever have a chance. [01:06:38] Speaker A: Yeah. But before we wrap up, I feel like I need to subject you to a little rapid fire. What do you say? [01:06:44] Speaker B: Have I reached that time? [01:06:45] Speaker A: I think so. I think it's time for sure. [01:06:47] Speaker B: Did you check your watch? [01:06:48] Speaker A: I'm ready. I'm ready. Sarah, are you ready? [01:06:51] Speaker C: Let's do it. [01:06:52] Speaker B: You're stretched in limber. You're ready to go. All right, well, we have reached that point in the show where it is time to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment for the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sam, actually, before you take it away, I got to say, you know, I've recorded a couple shows here recently on my own and I've done a little bit of my own rapid fire. And I think people, people are. I've given you a run. Run for the money here. [01:07:14] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. [01:07:15] Speaker B: That is true judgment. So you know, that is true. [01:07:18] Speaker A: The last two recorded shows, I actually couldn't. I had conflicts and so I was unable to be on those shows. And so Brian had to the listeners. [01:07:26] Speaker B: Vote who's rapid fire. You like that? There you go. All right, Sam, take it away. [01:07:31] Speaker A: Whatever. All right, Sarah, I'm going to start with your favorite Disney character. Who is your favorite Disney character? [01:07:38] Speaker C: Okay, I can't choose one. I'm going to go with Chip and Dale. [01:07:41] Speaker A: Well, they're the pair. You can't choose one without the other. That's like peanut butter and jelly. Okay. [01:07:47] Speaker C: They do really remind me of my kiddos, and they're wacky antics. And I did get to meet them on the cruise, so that was fun. [01:07:53] Speaker A: Even better. All right, what is your favorite Disney movie? [01:07:57] Speaker C: Okay. Moana. [01:07:59] Speaker A: Yes. Excellent choice. Okay, what's your favorite Disney song? [01:08:03] Speaker C: Okay, so I love the kind of funky songs. So in thinking about this one, I'm gonna go with either into the woods from Frozen 2 or Shiny from Into the Unknown. [01:08:18] Speaker A: You mean, right? Oh, yes, yes. [01:08:20] Speaker C: No, no. Into the Wood. Or wait. [01:08:21] Speaker A: Oh, oh, it's not. I know what. You're halfway through the woods. It's. Isn't it called. What is it called? I know what you're talking. Yes, yes. [01:08:29] Speaker C: The one where Kristoff is singing to Anna the 80s ballad. [01:08:33] Speaker A: I know. I'm trying to think that it's not into the Woods. What is it called? Because into the woods is a musical, but I know what song you're talking about. I just. Yeah, I can't think of the name of it. Yes, but the ballad. The 80s ballad that he sings. Love that. Okay. All right, well, let's jump onto the ships because I want to ask you some Disney Cruise line favorites. Now, knowing you've been on the Dream and the Wonder. So we have. Sally. Limitations. You can only answer with things that are on the Dream or the Wonder. Let's start with which one is. What is your favorite Disney cruise line stage show, Main stage show. Oh, you have to go. [01:09:07] Speaker C: That would be Beauty and the Beast. [01:09:08] Speaker A: That is the right answer. Thank you very much. We can end right now. [01:09:11] Speaker C: It was a great show starting with that one. It makes it a hard act to follow. [01:09:15] Speaker A: Right. And Frozen is fantastic, But Beauty and the Beast is such a hard act. Hard act to. [01:09:20] Speaker C: We did speak on the wonder for 10 days. It was really interesting because we met a lot of the performers, and so I would see them around. And there was one. We actually were the first. It was this set of performers, like, first show. And so he was like, were we any good? Like, I met the. I met the. The. The cast member that was Tarzan, and he was actually dangling from the ceiling and doing acrobatics when we Were having that night that we could barely stand up on the way into the theater. But you did great. [01:09:56] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. Love that, though. All right, what is your favorite rotational dining restaurant across those two ships? [01:10:05] Speaker C: This is a hard one. But we got to do the animation show on Animator's palette, and that was just so fun. I mean, it was so Disney. We had so much fun. [01:10:17] Speaker A: Such. [01:10:18] Speaker C: So not necessarily for the food, but just for the experience. That one was really great. [01:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, favorite onboard activity. [01:10:26] Speaker C: Well, we won bingo once, so that one. You know, it doesn't hurt to win. [01:10:32] Speaker B: That's hard not to be your favorite if they pay you well. [01:10:37] Speaker C: They just got that money right back, but. [01:10:39] Speaker A: Right. Of course, of course, of course. I love that. [01:10:42] Speaker C: I think. I think the music. I really do think the theater is a big. Such a win. [01:10:48] Speaker A: Yeah, totally agree. All right, favorite place to relax on board. Disney cruise lunch. [01:10:54] Speaker C: We really. So I think it would be a tie between the French Quarter Lounge, but when it's nice out, we'd love to go up on the adult deck and just read a book for. For an hour or so. That was just lovely. [01:11:07] Speaker A: Both great answers. Okay. And I gotta ask you a food question. A favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item. We're gonna save the best for last. So tell me, what's a fav. Favorite sweet item that you had? Well, across both of your cruises. [01:11:20] Speaker C: We. I love creme brulee. So we had. I had like a delicious creme brulee. I can't even. It was like a. Like a caramel coconut. I think that was super good. And the favorite savory item that I liked, we had. I mean, I have to go with the filet. [01:11:41] Speaker A: Nice. Well, yeah. You're such a girl. I get it. Absolutely. [01:11:44] Speaker C: I mean, just so perfect. [01:11:47] Speaker A: All right, this is obviously the most controversial of the questions, but which one is your favorite? The dream or the wonder? [01:11:56] Speaker C: I would go back on either one in a second. No doubt. And I'm going to say the wonder partially because it just felt like a family too. We just really got to know people and it was so easy to navigate the ship. And, you know, if you're ever. I think sometimes first time cruisers, they're like afraid to pick an older ship because they think it won't be as fancy or they want all the new stuff, which I am dying to go on, the Treasure and the Destiny, but it just was so. It was such a wonderful vacation for everybody and so easy to navigate while still being, like, having all The Disney Magic. Magic. [01:12:33] Speaker A: Love that. Totally agree. Can't go wrong. I tell people all the time, like, nothing wrong with going on one of the two older ships for your first cruise. It is. They're intimate and warm and there's just something really inviting about. [01:12:46] Speaker B: Well maintained and well maintained. [01:12:48] Speaker A: Absolutely. [01:12:49] Speaker C: For sure. [01:12:50] Speaker A: Okay, the last question of every rapid fire is what is your bucket list cruise? Sarah, if you could go anywhere in the world and it's going to be on a Disney Cruise Line ship, it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney Cruise Line currently goes. Where would you go? [01:13:05] Speaker C: Okay, so someday when I never have to go to work again, I really do. This would be. I was joking about it earlier, but to go from Alaska to Hawaii and then Hawaii to Australia would just be a dream. I mean, to experience all the different cultures and weather and just to be on the ship and have people taking care of you the whole time. Count me in. [01:13:29] Speaker A: Sounds great. I'm there. I love it. All right, well, thank you so much, Sarah. Thanks for playing. Just for Beauty and the Beast, you get an A plus plus and I guess the Wonder, you get an extra plus. [01:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah, that's high praise. That's high praise. Well, Sarah, I know that you yourself are a travel agent, and so I wanted to give you a chance to let people know where they can find you if they want to book Fabulous Disney Cruise Line Vacation. [01:13:56] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. You can reach out to me by email@sarah merrillmvagent.com you can also find me on Facebook in the same way. So thanks, Brian. [01:14:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we will. We'll make sure to include that in the show notes as well if people want to contact you. But yeah, thanks so much, Sarah, for coming. We really appreciate it. We appreciate that you are a longtime listener, first time caller, you've been a great guest and we'd love to have you come back on the show. I know Brian's gonna ask you what is is next. [01:14:28] Speaker C: Yeah, well, we're actually, we're taking our family vacation to Disney World here in just a couple weeks, so that'll be great. Leave the. It's, it's kind of cooler weather here right now, so leave the cool weather behind. And then our next vacation after that, we will be on the fantasy, meeting up with some old college friends and their family and checking out Lookout Key and Castaway. [01:14:52] Speaker A: Awesome. You'll definitely have to come back and tell us all about that. [01:14:56] Speaker B: Yeah, reach back out. We'd love to have you back. But for now, Sarah will just say thank you so much for coming on and spending some time with our audience and sharing your fabulous cruise from Vancouver to Hawaii with everyone out there. We really appreciate it. [01:15:09] Speaker C: Thanks. [01:15:14] Speaker D: Well thanks everyone out there for listening this week. We really, 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. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top 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. If you want to book your next Disney vacation, head over to mypathunwinding.com dclduo or email them at dclduomypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is 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. [01:16:24] Speaker B: And every month, just head over to. [01:16:25] Speaker D: The website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least released on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email [email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney Family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way 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. Good night. [01:17:24] Speaker A: Sam.