[00:00:00] Speaker A: Yeah, thanks for playing, Beth. I know Brian's gonna. I'm gonna let Brian ask the next question. Cause I know he always wants to ask.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Okay, where's the nearest bathroom? I'm kidding.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: You are just beating this dead horse, Brian.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: I'm beating the dead horse. Oh, my gosh.
Welcome back everybody to this week's Epis of the DCL Duo podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and Sam Review time yet once again. We're back.
We have migrated all of our show information into a database. I've incorporated automations. Now we're moving. We're moving into the 19th century from where we were before.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: Right?
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Yeah. The computers are taking over.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: These newfangled computers are amazing.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: I for one, welcome our future computer overlords.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: So we have an actual human review coming to us today though from Rotari Senator, Rotary Senator who writes love the show. Brian and Sam provide a great podcast on all things Disney cruise line. I especially appreciate the pragmatic comparisons between Disney and other cruise lines when comparing other cruise lines. I would love to hear more detail on how kids clubs, kids club care hours available, shore care and experience stack up to Disney. Thanks, John. So John, happy to provide that info for you. We do try to to do those comparisons in some detail but we happy to provide that info for you but thank you for that review.
And as always, if you are out there listening and you want to help support the show, one of the easiest ways to do it is head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars and if you leave us a written review, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes for the week. So Sam, we got a fun returning guest.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: We do. We are so excited to welcome Beth back onto the show. Welcome back, Beth.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: Thank you. I'm so happy to be here again.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it's so nice to have you back. It's always like nice to have returning faces, people we know and interact with quite a bit. Especially on in our Facebook group. We interact with you a lot, Beth. You're super active in our group and we always appreciate that. We love your contributions before we jump in and talking about your cruise that you just went on, which was a fantasy four night sailing, adults only, which we of course always love to talk about. Adults only. Sorry to Rotary senator. Well, we are not going to be talking about kids club hours on this show but as Brian said, our closing.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: Hours are totally on the table today.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: But yeah, we could talk about that for sure but. Well, you know, we have some other episodes where we talk about that, but we can talk about that more. For sure. But we're, yeah, super happy to have you on, Beth, to talk about your adults only selling. Why don't you remind folks your background with Disney and Disney Cruise Line in particular.
[00:02:54] Speaker C: Okay. My Disney background is kind of like, I had that one big Disney World family trip as a teenager, and that was it until 2015.
We decided to do a family Disney cruise with my daughter, who was only four at the time.
And then that was kind of a difficult venture, which is what I talked about the last time I was on. And so we kind of waited maybe, like, almost 10 years before we dipped our toe back in.
And so I kind of got back into Disney by doing a big, like, Orlando, Disney World and Universal trip. Then we did Disneyland, and then we got back on a cruise on the Dream last spring break.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: So.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Right. About a year ago.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's when we talked about that sailing and sort of the. The differences over the. Over time and also how your daughter did on that cruise. I know that, you know, one of the things we talked about was sort of prepping an anxious kiddo for. For a sailing and how that can go and what kinds of ways you can prep. Now, this sailing that you recently went on, it was just you and your husband. How did that all happen?
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Okay, that happened starting because we were supposed to do another cruise for Thanksgiving break last Thanksgiving, and it was supposed to be out of Galveston on the Magic.
But my daughter, like, she didn't super love the spring break cruise. And then she kind of started having a lot of anxiety again, like when school started in the fall.
And so she, like, got really nervous about flying again, really nervous about travel in general.
And she was having, like, a lot of stomach aches with her anxiety. And then that kind of, like, makes her afraid to fly, afraid of the ship, all of this stuff. And so we were just like, oh, my gosh, like, our pay in full day was coming up, you know, And I was like, oh, my gosh, if she's gonna, like, be hesitant at all, I think we should cancel it.
So sadly, we canceled it. We changed it into a Disneyland trip, but still she refused to fly.
This is, like, in November. Like, we had already paid for it, all the stuff, and we, like, talk. We tried everything to be like, well, maybe just Ron and I go by ourselves.
She did not want to stay with my parents. It was like all of this stuff at once. And so we're like, okay, we moved that to this Thanksgiving coming up 20, 25, like as far out as we could to like try and like work on her therapy, you know, all of that stuff for another year.
And.
But I was like, I didn't get my Disney fakes that I had planned, you know, And I was waiting and waiting. I was like, oh my gosh.
So like, we were just like, we have got to do something, get out of here. Because we like switched our plans to just visiting my parents for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which we drive to.
And we were just like, this is not good. And so she had her a four day weekend for President's Day.
So we were just kind of like in January, just like, we've got to get out of town, you know, got that cabin fever with like, we had some snowstorms and it's pretty miserable. I live in Tulsa, so the winter, it can get super cold. And so anyway, I started like looking at the cruise as well. I'm like continuously looking at cruises, but I was like, seriously, like, okay, are there any that fit on that weekend?
And she was doing better with her anxiety as far as like able to stay with my parents.
And then she has a cousin up there the same age that could come over. So I was like trying to set up all this stuff, like, okay, your cousin's going to be here these nights. You know, you have schoolwork for these days. Like trying to work it out. I couldn't find the exact, you know, cruise to fit on the weekend because we did not want to do a three day or three night and so forth. Four was kind of like the lowest we would go.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah, best you could come up with that kind of schedule. Yeah, no, that, that, that totally makes sense. Listen, like, I know and we, we had a lot of years of struggle when Nathan, for us, when Nathan was younger, he's gotten easier over time, but, you know, that may change. You never sort of know how things go.
But we had like a, a very difficult time for several years and, and our only escape was taking. I mean it's. I know it sounds funny, but we, we talked about how our first couple of cruises were without Nathan. And that was because we needed that time to recharge. And it was like our parent coach gave us like a prescription. She was like, you need time away. I love that as adults like to recharge your batteries because in order to be the parent you want to be, you also need time to relax and recharge. And in a situation like yours, bet, where your daughter is having a lot of anxiety related to travel, so you can't get, you know, you can't have your chosen vacation with her. Sometimes that means taking a vacation without your kid. And I just want to like, I want to like say kudos to you for doing that because I really think a lot of parents, especially of kids with any kind of like higher need, and I say that, I mean like whether that's, you know, anxiety, whether that's a disability, like autism, you know, kids who are those higher needs kids take a lot out of their parents, take a lot of energy and a lot of dedication. And so it is, you know, important to, to make sure you have time to recharge. So like I said, kudos to you and your husband for doing that. Tell us how, what, how did the plans work out as far as like when were you leaving? Because this was over like a three day weekend. Three day weekend was near this, right? So this was like around President's Day weekend, right?
[00:09:39] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
When. So what day did you. Obviously you got to take your, your daughter to the parents house, right, and drop her off and then you guys fly out. But when did you fly out? Like what day of the week?
[00:09:52] Speaker C: Okay, so the cruise was February 12th to 16th, so we flew out on the 11th and we had to take my daughter on the 10th because my parents live in Topeka. So it was like four hour drive and then we had to fly out of Kansas City instead of Tulsa.
So that was like all new. Like we don't use that airport a ton, but they have more direct flights from there. So that was nice.
But so we decided to do the MCO Hyatt for the night before, which we hadn't tried before.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah. What did you think?
[00:10:34] Speaker C: We thought it was awesome. It was like, you don't have to like rush around, get your luggage, try to get an Uber, you know, all of that stuff.
And then since it was kind of last minute and we found out our travel agent had booked it as like we told her we wanted to do the DCL transport, but she had booked it just from the airport, not from the hotel at the airport, which is different.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Oh, it is different. Yes.
This is really, this is a good pro tip, right? If you are staying at the MCO Hyatt, you need to like book the transportation and the hotel sort of together through Disney or even if you book them separately. When you book your, your transportation through Disney Cruise Line, you need to make sure you're clear that you're not just getting transportation from the airport. Because if transportation from the airport is down by luggage claim area versus Transportation from the MCO Hyatt is you are, you meet in the hotel and then you go down all sort of as a group to your buses and they're separate buses. So that's a really good, really good distinction.
Yeah. So, so tell us, how did it end up working out? I mean did you, did you figure out the way that, that it had been booked technically, correctly or.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: Well, I kept waiting for like an email that said what time to meet and stuff and I never got it. So I'm like Te texting my TA like I haven't gotten the info.
And so I went and talked to the front desk and they were like, we don't see you on the list. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Panicking, texting my ta like help. And so she called for us thankfully and made the switch. And so then I went back to the front desk and I asked him because we didn't get our luggage tags because we booked on January 27. I went back to look for my email and I was, it was oh.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Like two weeks before. Yeah, that's two weeks before the cruise. Yeah, yeah.
[00:12:44] Speaker C: And so they didn't have time to send the tags. And like all of this, we had never done the DCL transport before either because we hadn't sailed from Port Canaveral before.
So yeah, we got all that figured out. And then I got the information of like which, what time to go down and, and I think like it was kind of like the earliest time was like maybe 8:30.
And I think we were supposed to go down at 9:30, something like that.
And so, and then they were supposed to get our luggage from the room for us which was awesome.
And they hadn't gotten it by the time we went down, but we just left it in the room, which is so scary.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: Totally scary. Terrifying.
I think they do tend to pick it up earlier, but it isn't something to worry about if they haven't picked it up. Like it will get picked up. I mean if anything the Hyatt's going to be doing their room cleaning and room turnover. So they're going to make sure that that luggage dcl. But it is definitely something that's scary.
[00:13:58] Speaker C: Well how we checked in. They also asked us like, is your luggage still up there?
And I said yes.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: So now you did the whole check in process then at the Hyatt, you didn't even have to do the check in at the port then, right?
[00:14:12] Speaker C: Yes, we showed them our passports and they gave us a boarding group for the shuttle. So we were in the second group and they were running a little bit late. Like, I think we ended up leaving at 10:00am or 10:30, something like that.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: Now, when you get to the port, were you able to go like right through security? Because you obviously have, you can bypass at that point because you've already done your check in, you've got your boarding group, you, you, I presume you bypass, check in and just go right through security to go into the terminal.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Yes, they dropped us off. Like, it felt like it was like a back door or something, but it was like under kind of like portico thing.
And then, yeah, there was security, like as soon as you walk in.
And then we went up the escalator to the big waiting area in the terminal.
And so since we booked it super late, our port arrival time was 1:30.
And then since we took the DCL transportation, we boarded. I think it was actually like 11:40.
About 11:30, 11:40.
So it was like, you know, two hours before we would have gotten on.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: It's a huge benefit. I mean, I think a lot of people are starting to realize now, like, if you want to get on the ship earlier, that the Disney transportation is a really, really good option. Well, let's, let's talk about some of the stuff. Well, this was, was this your first time on the Fantasy? Remind me, I know you had been on the Dream before, right? Okay. What was your first ship? I can't remember.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: The Wonder.
[00:16:01] Speaker A: The Wonder. Okay, so wonder, dream, and now fantasy. First impressions of the Fantasy. I mean, I know she's the sister ship of the Dream, but her decor is different. Did you have any, any specific thoughts about the Fantasy or, you know, think she was better or not better than the dream?
[00:16:21] Speaker C: I mean, I thought it was really pretty. The chandelier, of course, was really neat. And the mini statue is kind of fun in the atrium. And then, I don't know, I, I, it was kind of nice because we had just recently been on the dream, so we didn't have to like, learn a new layout and where all the restaurants and lounges and stuff were. So that was cool. I did like, the theming a little bit better of like the Europa area.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Yes, the adult areas, definitely. I think the superior theming is on the Fantasy for sure. Like, you get, you have, of course you have Barcelona. The bathrooms. I always talk about the bathrooms. I love those. But not even including Barcelona, you still have like each bar space in that in Europa is themed to a different country. And it's just really fun. They just do a really Nice job with it.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: I think I'm going to have to start soliciting, like if you have your favorite bathrooms on board Disney Cruise Line, can you please send them to us? We'll do a whole show dedicated to. There's entire blogs dedicated to best bathrooms at Disney World.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Yes, there's ones about there. Mostly they're about the coolest bathrooms because there are some bathrooms that have pretty cool decor and stuff. And on those lists. Kid you not. I have seen Barcelona on some of those lists. Yeah. Because it's the only cruise ship one you'll, you will see on the list. But you know, I. Listen, I've. We've been inside some of the suites like to. I've been on, you know, some of the treasure guys to tour some of the suites.
There were some really nice bathrooms like in, like the. What is it? The Bagheera. And what's the other lion on. In, in Aladdin. But the, the. Anyway, so the lions, like the lion and the Jaguar. I can't remember the names. But anyway, those suites are like, the bathrooms are incredible, like with the standing tub and all of that. But anyway, I digress. On bathroom talk.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: You think, you think.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: Sorry, sorry to our audience who's like, what the heck is she talking about? Why is she talking about bathrooms?
[00:18:34] Speaker C: You use it more than any other room.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. Thank you, Beth. Thank you for the support.
Well, let's, let's talk about some of the stuff you guys got to do on the ship because obviously this is a four night cruise. But I know you told us you guys packed a lot into that four night.
Let's start with ports because we know you went to Lookout, but what were your other. You went to. Was it NASA on Lookout on this cruise?
[00:19:00] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:19:00] Speaker A: Okay, so did you do anything at Nassau? Let's like off the ship. I mean, let's start there.
[00:19:07] Speaker C: No, we did not.
Like on our last one, we did get off and do like a whole island tour and stuff, like one of those jeep tours. And we were like, okay, we've seen enough of this place.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: Never again. All right.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: No offense, but we were, we were. Since it was only four nights, we were like, we need the ship time.
[00:19:29] Speaker A: You need the ship time? Absolutely. Let's talk about lookout first and then we'll talk about the ship time. Was this your first time to Lookout Key?
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:19:37] Speaker A: Oh, that makes me so excited.
Well, I mean, let's start with the pier. Okay. You get off the ship and you see the pier.
Impressions? Thoughts? Were you dreading this 10 minute pier walk?
Were you marked safe from the pier.
[00:19:58] Speaker C: I mean, it is daunting. Just when you just look out, you're like, wow, that looks so far. But, yeah, I mean, I timed it on my watch, and I think it was 12 minutes for us, and we were not walking super fast.
And, yeah, the only thing was it was really, really windy.
It was really sunny.
So I could see how it's, like, not a comfortable situation. And then I was sure to wear my tennis shoes and bring my sandals in the bag just in case. And then we had water and all that, so we were safe. But, yeah, it's just funny because you think about how much you walk. Like, I was thinking of comparing it to Castaway, and I'm like, this seems to be the same distance. Like, if you don't take the tram and you just walk to the beach.
[00:20:49] Speaker A: Yes. If you don't take the tram and you walk to, like, family beach one, I think it would. I think that. No question it would be the same. The same distance. Now. It. Is it longer than, you know, the walk to just the tram at Castaway? Yes, it definitely is. And if it's windy and if it's sunny. Yeah, I mean, those are conditions you're going to have to deal with. You know, as we've said, like, people with mobility challenges, it's going to be a harder situation. They should use the golf carts if, you know, if they're able to, because that's. That's really key, I think, for. For anyone who is going to have a harder time. I do think, you know, the wind can. Can whip that pier and the sun can beat down on you. So just, you know, be comfortable. You know, comfortable shoes are great. I mean, I personally, the first time we were there, I think I used my. My sneakers. And then every time thereafter, I used my. I wore my flip flops. I was like, I don't actually need. I'm okay. If you have comfortable flip flops. If you're wearing, like, flip flops for the first time, like, yeah, that's not a good idea. So that's just not a good idea in general. Right. Like, breaking in flip flops is, like, the worst.
Well, what did you. You get, obviously, to the tram to take over to the family beach area and the adult beach area.
What did you think of the island? Like, what did you think of? I mean, I know there's quite a bit of construction, you know, still undergoing or still ongoing, and so it's not quite finished. Although I would say the main area, the main, you know, family beach and Serenity Bay are finished. But. Yeah. What did you think of those areas?
[00:22:24] Speaker C: I mean, it was really pretty as far as, like, the sand is really nice and fine and the water was gorgeous.
It still looks kind of rough as far as, like, foliage. And then you can kind of see some of the, like, construction stuff when you're taking the tram.
But I mean, I thought they had a lot of signage and the foliage I could tell was, you know, better than it was on the preview cruises and stuff like that.
So, I mean, I thought it looked nice. The structures were really neat and the bathrooms were nice.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: The bathrooms are really nice. That's actually a really good. But the bathrooms are way nicer on Lookout than they are in Castle.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Oh, my God. The title of this episode is going to be the bathrooms are really nice.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: The bathrooms are really nice. But then the other thing that I also want to point out, we had a great episode on accessibility on the ships. And one of the great things at Lookout is they do have like adult size changing table areas in the accessible bathrooms. And so that's really. Yeah, it's super key for, for, for folks with. With accessibility issues. And so nice to sort of see them do that kind of stuff. I think the structures are. Yeah. Really nice. I agree. The. The only sort of. I wouldn't call it unpleasant, but the only area where it's like not so nice is, you know what, what you're watching when you're sitting on the tram, right. Because you're still. You can tell there's still stuff under construction. And you're right, the foliage is not. It hasn't filled in yet. You can tell it's still on its way. And it's, it's, you know, that's why there are places that are not well shaded. Right. Because the trees are not tall enough yet. Right.
And, you know, castaways had a lot more time for all that.
Now, did you guys hang out at Serenity Bay or did you hang out at the family beach? I know they're next to each other, but which. Where did you decide to go?
[00:24:15] Speaker C: Let's see. So my husband went to get a spot and he kind of went to like the closest place he could. I think I had to go to the restroom first. So he went to find us a beach chair and stuff. And so he ended up going, I think, to the one that's right by the water park.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:41] Speaker C: Rush out, gush out area.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: Family beach.
[00:24:43] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. So he went right down there and was kind of by a lifeguard stand and just kind of grabbed the first chair there, and it wasn't super full yet.
But I think, like, looking back, it would have been nice to kind of go like, maybe to the adult beach or further down on the family beach, because, like, that part is, like, the craziest because it's right by the water park and bathrooms and all kinds of stuff. And he hadn't studied the map or listened to a zillion podcasts like I have, so he's just like, oh, here's a beach chair.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: Yeah. It's also real close to the Gumbe Cultural center.
And so that area is very lively as well. Right. Like, that's where if the junk canoe parade and sort of show is going to, like, end close to there as well. So you're right. Like, that's. That part of the island is going to be the most crowded. And the description you gave is perfect right by rush out, gush out, that's going to be, like, the most crowded part of the island because there's going to be a lot of families looking for beach chairs near the water park, water slide, little, you know, area. And it's a great area if you have. Have kids and you want to that hustle and bustle and. And you want to have access to everything.
But it's not the quietest area on the beach. If you want the quietest area on the beach, you either have to go kind of all the way right or all the way left right. So all the way left is Serenity Bay. All the way right is still family beach, but it's just a little bit further down and people don't go that way.
Well, let's. Let's talk about food. We always love to talk about food, but I gotta talk about food at Lookout Key because it's different.
Of course, we got hamburgers and hot dogs just like you got at Castaway, but we have French fries. We have, like, rice dishes that are, like, you know, Bahamian inspired. We have, you know, some fish that's also, like, got some nice Bahamian spices on it too. What did you guys think of the food?
[00:26:42] Speaker C: I thought the food was really good. I'm normally not really a fan of the Castaway barbecue, but I thought it was good. They had, like, more variety of salads, I guess. I went over to the Serenity Bay food area when it was lunchtime, and then that was like, a little more quiet and it's. I don't know if they had the exact same offerings at the other two places, though, but I thought it was really good. And I think I just, like, tried some chicken, some ribs, and then multiple salads. And then they had the little like, gelato bar, ice cream bar thing there. That was really good.
[00:27:26] Speaker A: And this is like real ice cream, not soft serve ice cream, right?
[00:27:30] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. They dipped it out and asked you, you know, what you wanted on it. And they had fruit and candy and all kinds of toppings and stuff, and I thought that was neat. And then there was also a live band over there playing, so that was cool. They were like, right by the little hut where the gelato is.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: Oh, awesome. I will. I will confess, we have. We have not spent like any time over. Over there. I mean, Brian, I think walked down there during the preview to kind of just see it, but I don't even think I walked down there when we were there together, Brian. Yeah, so I don't even, like. I haven't. It's funny. I mean, I've seen pictures and videos from Serenity Bay, but I haven't spent any time over there. But good to know.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: It looks an awful lot like. It looks an awful lot like the family beach. So it's not okay. Yeah, I mean, there's a. There's, you know, there's some more cabanas down there and there's a dedicated bar and food spot, as Beth notes. So it's not, it. It's not earth shattering. And in fact, it's getting a lot of interesting reviews online now is like, kids have started to migrate up the beach into the Serenity Bay area, which you can't do on cast.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Yeah, you can't do that. Yeah. Castaway. It's like more separated. Although we'll see what happens with those new cabanas they're putting in, if that will.
I don't. I still think it'll be fine because they'll probably have a rope or something between where the family beach cabanas end and the Serenity Bay beach cabanas start. Even if they're, you know, closer to each other than they've ever been before.
But yeah, it'll be interesting to see, you know, how that all shakes out. Well, did you just do sort of normal standard beach, you know, going the water, hanging out of the chairs, that sort of thing. Did you get to, you know, watch the Junkanoo Parade or anything like that?
[00:29:13] Speaker C: Okay. I spent a lot of time wandering around, like, getting lost, and I thought, I love that, like the, those walkways that they have. I felt like that makes it kind of hard to get around because you have to, like, look for the correct walkway way. Like, you can't get to the cultural center without, like, going only in one spot.
And I also was going back and forth to get the character photos, and my husband just, like, was doing his own thing. He, like, totally deserted me. It was just, like, walking the beach and, like, relaxing, you know, pictures with.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Mickey and Minnie, and they're in their cool Bahamian clothes.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: I think he did the Mickey, Minnie pictures with me. Then he took a walk, and I went back and got Daisy and Donald. I think that's what happened.
And so he was gone. Like, we didn't even eat lunch together because, you know, the WI fi situation is spotty. So I'm like, does he even have his phone? Where is he? And so I was just, like, shopping, you know, taking photos, walking around, doing whatever.
So we kind of did different things. We both got really sunburned.
That was one issue that I put sunscreen on multiple times, but I still got sunburned just, you know, walking around. I wasn't even, like, laying very long on the chair.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: But that's a good thing to tell people because that Bahamian sun is no joke, right? Like, you need to, like, lather up and re. Lather up.
[00:30:54] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: And if you're in the water, even more so because of the water, like, helps reflect the sun and so you actually get more sunburn. And of course the sunscreen starts to come off when you're in the water, even if you have waterproof or water resistant sunscreen. Right. So, yeah, I mean, that's a really good reminder, like, not just wear sunscreen, like, reapply and reapply, you know, and if you're really fair skinned, like, you might want to get undercover because it's not. Right now, lookout key does not have a lot of shade. It's.
[00:31:21] Speaker B: So, Beth, what. What did you think of the cultural aspects, like the junk canoe and the. And the rush. Not the rush out, guys. The Junkanoo, the, you know, the.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: And the cultural center.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: Yeah, well, the cultural center and the. The. The sort of the merchandise, you know, area that they have for locals. Like what?
[00:31:37] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
I thought it was nice the way they had the little separate kind of area for the bohemian art and artisans to sell stuff.
The cultural center was nice. I didn't get to do, like, any. I missed kind of the, like, story time thing.
I did go over there.
We watched the Junkinoo kind of like from one of those walkways that was close to it. We weren't, like, right up front, but when we did the Nassau Tour. We went to the Junkanoo Museum and they like had a demonstration and like we, they showed us all the costumes and the, we played music with them and stuff and they were showing us the instruments and stuff like that. So I kind of felt like I had a handle on the culture from that.
So I didn't do like any of the crafts.
I thought the gift shop was really nice and like they had a nice variety of stuff.
I would have done the 5k if it was like ready but apparently it's not.
So yeah, they had the merchandise for it, but the trails I guess are not ready. And I looked a little bit on the nature trail, but it was kind of sparse. Like it had little signs and stuff.
But you know, since everything isn't like grown up, we thought about doing an excursion but like we haven't heard any really good reviews about them.
So I was kind of hesitant to try it at this point.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we, I'll be honest and tell you, we haven't either. I mean we haven't heard bad reviews. We just haven't heard reviews right of.
Because I mean there, one, there's only a few, I think excursions that are even up and running. And two, we're just not hearing from a lot of people who are booking them. I think in part because for most people it's still their first time going to Lookout Key. And I think you really shouldn't book an excursion for your first time there because you want to experience, you know, Disney's island, private island experience.
And I mean unless you're doing, if you're doing like a really short excursion, then you know, of course you'll have enough time to explore the island. But I just feel like it's, it's so nice to have that sort of leisurely time to walk around, to get lost on the walkways, to go, you know, to go see the Junkanoo parade, to go shop in the either, you know, tings or to go and shop in the Bahamian artisan shop. I, I think that that's a great addition by the way, because when I think about Castaway and the. There are some Bahamian things you can buy, but it's typically kind of a, I don't want to call it a tourist trap, but it's kind of a tourist trap. It's just like, you know, like cover ups and hats and purses and it's not real art or artisan stuff. It's probably stuff that's like made mass. Made in China versus on Lookout, the shop that's right next to Disney Tings, which is the shop that has all the Disney merchandise. I don't remember the name of the shop. That's why I'm referring to it as just the Bahamian artisan Shop. Has really nice, like handmade, like artwork made by real Bahamians, not made in China in a factory. Right. And so, and really beautiful things, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, just all kinds of, you know, different things. I think that's a, a really, really nice addition. Yeah.
[00:35:19] Speaker D: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. Great news. The fabulous team over at MyPath Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner, which means they are recognized by Disney 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 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.
[00:36:18] Speaker A: Well, let's jump back onto the ship because obviously the ship was the star for you all in this shorter sailing.
What kinds of things did you guys get up to on board?
Like, did we do any adult dining?
[00:36:34] Speaker C: For example, we did do Palo dinner. And the day that we went to lookout, it was also Valentine's day in pirate night.
And so it was kind of like so many things going on.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: But I remember you asked about this. You asked about whether or not people wear their pirate gear to follow if they're going to pollum on pirate night. And I will say the answer was impossible.
In the Facebook group, the answer was emphatically no.
Unless your pirate stuff is understated. If your pirate stuff is real understated, like you're wearing just like a black dress with the pirate bandana, like that's fine. You can wear that to Apollo, but you're probably not going in full pirate costume. And you, I know, like to go in like full pirate costume. Right? I love it. I love it. Well, so how did you handle that? Then you. Because you did decide to go to. This is your first time doing Paulo on Pirate Night?
[00:37:29] Speaker C: Yes.
We just went back to the room and kind of got ready for dinner in like a little bit dressy dinnerware, I guess. And then as soon as we were done with Palo, then I put on my pirate stuff and my husband immediately fell asleep from eating too much of Palo and like, missed the entire Pirate Night.
[00:37:56] Speaker A: You know, I'm. I'm. I'm not gonna say that he alone in that because I think that there have been many a time where we don't make it to. To Pirate Night either. Either because we are still at Paulo just enjoying ourselves way too much, or because we are so full from Paulo that we have decided to go back to our room. Because, as you know from listening to our show, it is very common for the duo to eat at an adult only restaurant on Pirate Night because we are not huge Pirate Night menu or Pirate Night people in general.
And so. Yeah. Although I do really. I mean, I enjoy the deck show. I just don't need. I just don't need to go see the next show that often. But anyway. Okay, so you. You end up going to Pirate Night by yourself. Did you enjoy it?
[00:38:44] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm not super into big crowds, but I went up to see the show anyway and.
And I wanted to get at least one pirate character picture. So I did do a Chip and Dale character picture and then.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: That's a great one. You got two for the price of one.
[00:39:04] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
You got two pictures, actually.
[00:39:10] Speaker C: Yeah. And then I went up on deck after that, which I didn't have a very good spot, but I was kind of, you know, craning my neck and squishing in on deck 12 and trying to see what I could.
But, yeah, I always think it's fun just to see at least the fireworks if you can't catch the whole show.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Now, would you do adult dining on Pirate Night again? I know this, like, like I said, this was a first time doing that for you and you were a little bit, like, wary of it because you didn't want to miss Pirate Night and you like the Pirate Night menu from what I recall.
So. Yeah. So, you know, would you do it again or was this a one and done? And I mean, is this a one and done on Pirate Night specifically? Like, would you do that? Because I guess the other question is, would you do Paulo dinner again? But maybe on a different night.
[00:40:01] Speaker C: That's tough.
It did feel like it was a lot of things compressed into one night. I didn't feel like we were rushing or anything, but.
And I can't remember, I think our reservation was maybe like, 6:45 or something like that, so it wasn't super late. So I could still make it to all the pirate stuff.
I would probably do it on Pirate Night again.
The only thing I don't like about Palo dinner is, like, giving up one of the evenings in the dining room because we were, like, enjoying visiting with the couple that they put us with.
And so that kind of cut out one night of interacting with them, I guess.
Yeah. The menu is, you know, we're not, like, super excited about any of the main dining menus, and so I think it'd be okay to miss one of those. But I was just like, well, I'll do this one. So we don't miss, like, one of the rotations. That. That way we're missing, like, the second night at Animators Palette.
[00:41:14] Speaker A: That's why we tend to choose it as well, because then, you know, you're not missing one of the regular rotation nights, which means you're not missing a show if that happens to be, you know, if it's not Pirate Night, you might end up booking, you know, for example, Apollo on the night that you're supposed to be in Animators. And you might miss, you know, the Sorcerer Mickey show or the Animation Magic, depending upon what ship you're on. Right. So it's one of those things. Or Crush. So it's one of those things where we don't. We don't want to. I don't want to miss the show, let's put it that way. And, like, I realized Brian is looking at me like, let's be honest. And it's you who doesn't want to miss the show. Um, yeah. So I. I find that. That to be a great solution for that. Well, I. I'd love to talk about the dining experience with the other couple. Right. So you guys were sailing, just the two of you. You didn't request a private table, I take it, for dinner, then? And so they did. They just randomly pair you?
Well, random to you, but pair you with another couple, I think.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: So this time we actually requested to be set with someone else, because last time when it was the three of us, we were by ourselves and we were kind of, like, looking forward to meeting other people, and especially for my daughter I was like, really counting on that. And then we were like, what? There's no one else here?
So that was weird. So this time I told my TA to like, like, you know, make a note of it or something. I'm not sure exactly who they tell, but yeah. And so they did pose with another couple, and they did not have children.
They seemed like, probably similar to our age. And that just ended up being fun because they were also kind of of new to, like, cruising a lot. And they.
They were actually had just done Alaska, and then they're booked on the Panama Canal. Oh, wow.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: They have a bunch of stuff coming up. Did you tell them about our show, Beth?
[00:43:21] Speaker C: Yes.
We were like, comparing, like, which vloggers do you watch and which podcast do you listen to. She was like, super into it.
And also, like, on the first night, she was like, oh, did you see Mammoth Club is on here? And we were like, what? And so, like, Molly and Alan were on there, if you guys know who that is.
So we had a good time. And they were from the Houston area, so we ended up like, eventually kind of doing several trivias with them and some of the post dinner activities together.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Yeah. Speaking of that. Yeah. Which kind. What kinds of activities did you guys get up to? Either either as a couple, individually or with your new cruise friends? Which I always say, you know, cruise friends are the best kind of friends. Right.
But yeah. What. What were some of the favorites that you guys got up to on. On. On the sailing?
[00:44:18] Speaker C: I really like doing the trivia.
My husband is not super helpful with the trivia, so it was nice to have someone.
I did a ton of them. I like, basically did all the ones I could make, but.
So, like, I remember doing DCL trivia, and then I did.
There was a Muppets one, a Toy Story one.
There was like a Beauty and the Beast one that we did.
We did, like the Brain Teasers and we did a Broadway one, which was super hard. Could have used your help on that one.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: I'll be honest and say the only time we've won Broadway trivia was because we were sailing with a friend of mine who is even way more Broadway obsessed than I am, because I don't know the names of all the actors, I don't know the more obscure shows.
My friend, he knows all of that stuff, but yeah, it's really super, super. I find all the trivias to be pretty hard.
I. You know, the only. The only one that I feel like we tend to do well on is. Is Brain Teaser Is everything else is pretty imp. Like, even DCL trivia is like, like for even for us who people consider DCL experts. Like, no, the questions they ask are like about like years and like, you know, number of like rooms. Like they just ask really technical, specific questions. Yeah. And we. That's just not our.
[00:45:54] Speaker C: Yeah, they were asking like the God mothers and. Oh yeah, all of that stuff.
[00:46:00] Speaker A: I was just like, if you ask me for the wish and the treasure, I know the godparents or the God, the God children are for the wish. It's all the wish children, the Make a Wish children. And for the treasure, it's all the cast members of Disney Corporation Worldwide. So that's. I could tell you the goddess godparents or God family of those two ships. I could not tell you any of the. Any of the original four.
Yeah. Would not. Would not know this. What about some of the adult evening activities? What were some ones that you guys hit? I mean, did you go to Match youh Mate? Did you go to Pop? Or some of the. Or some of the. I guess the music trivias are often in those evening ones as well.
[00:46:34] Speaker C: The 90s music trivia was really fun.
We did catch Match or Me, which I had not seen before, but since it's infamous, I had to get there.
It was really fun.
And then like you said, the people who win, you see them all the time on the ship after that.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: They're still their ship celebrities. So listen, if you don't want people to like, know your business and to see you everywhere in the ship at comment about your, I don't know, your relationship or your intimate life, then don't be a contestant on Master Mate. Master Mate is it. For those who talk about it. It's a newlywed style game.
They take couples, usually one couple that's like newly married or engaged. They take one couple who's been together for, I don't know, anywhere between like five and 15 years and then a third couple where they try to find like the oldest couple or the people who've been married the longest. And it's just. Yeah, it's just hilarious. But.
But yeah, those people become famous. So you saw those couples all around the ship.
[00:47:38] Speaker C: The couple that won was actually two men and they were hilarious. They were both from Mexico and they would dress in matching outfits every day. Like even the tennis shoes. It was amazing.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: Listen, I love a coordinated outfit. Brian will not do it. I would totally do that. I think it's adorable. Especially on a cruise when you're taking pictures and stuff. I wouldn't do it, like, in our everyday lives. Like, it would be. That would be weird. But, like, I wouldn't would. I would do it on. Yeah. On a cruise for pictures. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I. Those are, I think, all super fun activities to do.
What about some of your. Your daytime activities? Did you guys hit the spa at all? Did you do any of the drink tastings? What kinds of things did you get up to during the daytime hours?
[00:48:24] Speaker C: Let's see.
I'm not a big drinker, so I did not sign up for any of those. I would love to do that that morning. One that's, like, only offered on embarkation day when no one can do it.
Yeah.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: And it's like, in the middle of the afternoon now. They used to do it at other.
[00:48:44] Speaker C: Times it was like, at 12:30 on embarkation day. I'm like, who? Like, okay, if I would have known we were getting on super early, I could have done it.
But I did go to the gym.
I went to the COVID Cafe.
We went to Satellite Falls on, I think, the Nassau Day. That was really nice. I felt like we didn't take advantage of us lounging on the deck because I was. I'm constantly checking navigator for activities, and I'm just like, Harding everything.
[00:49:17] Speaker A: Like, that's because you're like me, Beth. And yes, I'm guessing, is your husband, like, Brian, who's. He's sitting on the pool deck? Just.
[00:49:24] Speaker C: Exactly. He's like, like, you don't need to go to all these. And I'm just like, gotta make this and this.
[00:49:29] Speaker A: Yes, it's fomo, right?
[00:49:32] Speaker C: It's more like, just pick, like, one thing you like and focus on that.
And I'm like, well, we haven't done any of this stuff before because the other two, you know, we were, like, really concerned about, like, is my daughter having fun and where is she and what's going on? And so there were several things that we had never even done before. Like, I don't even know if I went in any of the lounges last time.
And so I like to draw. So I always want to try to make as many of the animation classes as I can. So I think I was only able to do two of those. We even did, like, one of the 3D crafts, which is kind of silly.
[00:50:16] Speaker A: I have done silly 3D crafts. I will totally trans. I probably won't do that again again, because they're not like. I mean, it's fine. Yeah, it's like, it's a good thing to do if you got like, younger kids, like, they'll enjoy those crafts, but they're not, like, super entertaining for the adults. Not the 3D crafts. There might be other crafts that would be. Yeah, I know exactly the paper 3D crafts.
[00:50:38] Speaker C: It's like paper ship is the one we did, and it was actually, like, I feel like it'd be too hard for a kid to, like, cut out and figure out how to put it together, but, like, not super exciting when you're done. Like, oh, what do I do with this?
I did.
[00:50:54] Speaker A: You can't really pack them. They, like, get smushed.
[00:50:56] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. That's what I was wondering. Like, how would I get this home?
[00:50:59] Speaker A: I didn't do the ship one, but I did, like, the Mickey and Minnie ones. And, like, they. Yeah, couldn't bring them. Like, I tried to bring them home. They were crushed.
[00:51:06] Speaker C: We did Anyone can cook. That was kind of neat.
What else did we do?
[00:51:13] Speaker A: Did you get to taste the food that anyone can cook? I know that. Like, okay, good. Yeah. Because I've heard sometimes they. They do let people taste it. Right. So it's a. It's a cooking demonstration, not a cooking class. Just to be earlier.
But I've heard different things about whether or not you actually get to taste the food at the end.
[00:51:31] Speaker C: So, yeah, it was the, like, apple streusel thing, and they gave us, like, a teeny tiny, like, one bite with, like, a tiny bit of cream or ice cream on it.
And then they gave us the little recipe as a handout.
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Well, that's nice. That's really nice. At least you can make it at home if you. If you really loved it.
[00:51:55] Speaker C: Yeah, Right.
Very complicated on the paper.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:52:01] Speaker C: We did bingo for the first time.
[00:52:04] Speaker A: Oh, wow. You. You packed it in.
[00:52:06] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
That was really fun. Like, I was really impressed with the entertainment team and that. I mean, the girl who did it was just, like, super enthusiastic Australian lady, and it was. It was just. Yeah, she made it really fun. We did not win them.
We were one away so many times.
[00:52:30] Speaker A: Can't win them all. Did. Did you see the baby race? Did you see Cyber Dash?
[00:52:35] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. That's another thing I had never seen before, and I was able to catch that. We were like. I think I was watching it from up on Deck 4, but I could pretty much see. But, yeah, that was fun. I just felt bad for the babies, though. I'm just like. Like, my daughter would freak out. Like, she would have been screaming.
[00:52:55] Speaker A: Yeah, it's very. I mean, it's all the noise and all the People. It's.
[00:52:59] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
[00:53:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:00] Speaker C: But that was cute.
They did multiple heats. There were a lot of babies on this one. They did, like, at least three heats, and then they had to have the winners of those Face Off.
It was cute. Oh. One of the things I really enjoyed was the visiting artist talk.
And they did it, like, right after the Broadway trivia, which was cool, but, like, not a ton of people stayed, so I felt really bad. It was in the tube, and the guy was really interesting. It was. His name was Ian Canauer. I think that's how you say his last name. And he played Jafar, and then he played the dad and Believe.
And it was just really interesting to hear, like, his whole background of how he got into theater and the different shows that he'd been in. And then I found it, like, the show was a lot more interesting because I, like, knew the guy who was.
[00:54:00] Speaker A: Yeah, you're, like, invested in one of the.
[00:54:02] Speaker C: Yeah, I was like, oh, wow, he was really good. So I thought that was cool that I hadn't caught that before.
[00:54:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:09] Speaker B: Nice. Well, Beth, is there anything else we've missed that you want to be sure to highlight off of this cruise before I turn you back over to Sam to subject you to her rapid fire round?
[00:54:20] Speaker C: Oh, gosh, I don't know. I guess the only other thing is we kind of decided that we had to, like, have a conversation about, like, okay, are we gonna do everything together or are we gonna, like, split up and do what we want kind of thing? Because it was kind of weird with just the two of us. We, like, felt like we had to do everything together.
So I think my husband wanted permission to not go to all the things I was doing.
So I was like, I don't care what you do, you know, go relax.
[00:54:54] Speaker A: That's a great point. And I actually think, in general, like, you should have that conversation early on in the cruise. Right. Like, you don't necessarily have to have it before you go on the cruise. Maybe, you know, you haven't thought about having that conversation. But, like, it is key for understanding each other's expectations.
We tend to cruise in a choose your own adventure style. That's what I like to say. Right. Like, there is an expectation that we're all together for dinner. There's maybe a couple of things that Brian and I will typically, you know, do together.
Of course, adult dining we're gonna do together, and we might have a massage, you know, couples massage booked or something like that. But, like, Brian knows I'm gonna go Run around and do, like, a million activities. And I know he's not interested in doing a million activities. He wants to maybe, like, get his men's facial or maybe sit by the pool and read a book or sit in Cove Cafe and work some puzzles. Right. So, like, we may do some of that stuff together, too, but there's not an expectation for either of us that we do everything together.
And that's when we sail with or without Nathan. We have kind of the same, you know, when. When Nathan is sailing with us, which is really all the time now.
We're going to probably make some time to do some family stuff, but we also don't expect Nathan to be with us the entire time. If he wants to spend a lot of his time in Edge that he. It's his vacation, too. Right. So I think it's great, though, to have that conversation with your family, and particularly if you're selling as a couple, to have that conversation to understand what that expectation is. So nobody walks away from the cruise disappointed either that their spouse didn't spend time with them or that they didn't get to do the stuff they really wanted.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah, exactly.
[00:56:42] Speaker A: Well.
[00:56:43] Speaker B: Oh, go ahead, Beth.
[00:56:44] Speaker C: Oh, I was just gonna say we ended up getting the family veranda this time, which we hadn't had, and we really enjoyed having just that little bit of extra floor space in there and. And some extra storage space. So I think I would definitely get that again.
[00:56:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. It is definitely nice. And some people love the verandas, for sure. We.
We don't find. We use them enough in the Caribbean or the Bahamas. But I totally get, like, there are people who love to sit out on the balcony, and that's awesome. Or drink their morning coffee on the balcony.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: Well, Beth, I think we have reached that point in the show where I'm going to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment of the round we know is rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away.
[00:57:28] Speaker A: Yay. All right, I'm going to skip right to my DCL questions, because we did already do, I think, rapid fire the last time you were on the show. And so we hit your Disney favorites. But I really want to go back to cruise favorites because now you've got another ship to choose from, right. As far as, you know, rotational dining, bar spaces, all that kind of stuff. So we're going to start at the most important place, which is shows. Disney stage shows. You've been on the wonder, you've been on the dream. You've been on the Fantasy.
Which one has your favorite show and what show is that?
[00:58:02] Speaker C: This is really hard because I really loved Frozen on the Fantasy, but Beauty and the Beast was so good.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a hard decision.
[00:58:13] Speaker C: Yeah. I think I still like Beauty and the Beast better, but I really thought the use of puppets was super fun. And Frozen.
[00:58:22] Speaker A: Totally agree. I mean, I would also inch it out for Beauty and the Beast because of the like, the whole set design, the technology, all of it is so, so good. But Frozen is so. It's just. Yeah. And I'm not a big like Frozen movie fan, but that show is just. Yeah. Really, really well done. Okay, what is your favorite rotational dining? You get to choose from the three ships you've been on.
[00:58:50] Speaker C: I think I would still go with animators palette just because it's fun.
[00:58:54] Speaker A: Yeah, totally. All right, what ship has your favorite bar space or adult? Adult lounge space. Yeah. Which one's the best?
[00:59:04] Speaker C: I think I really like the spaces on the Fantasy better, but we haven't been on the Wonder since they the dry dock and everything. So I feel like we're. We missed out on a bunch of that. Plus my daughter was 4, so like there was not a lot of time for that.
[00:59:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:59:23] Speaker C: But yeah, I think I really like the Tube. That was a really fun atmosphere. We probably spent most of the activities just happened to be in there. So we were in there a lot.
So. Yeah, I would say that.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: Love that. Yeah. I mean there's a lot of adult like game shows and trivias and of course the adult only performances. Yeah, there's a ton of stuff that goes on in the tube, so that, that makes complete sense to me. Okay. You've got a ton of activities you did on board on this cruise.
And as you said, a lot of them were like first time for you. So now looking back across your cruises, if you could pick one activity, favorite activity on board, what activity would you say is the best?
[01:00:09] Speaker C: Oh my goodness.
[01:00:11] Speaker A: I mean, I know you love trivia, so is it like. I mean, does trivia still hold up now that you've done bingo and drawing and Match youh Mate? I mean so much.
[01:00:20] Speaker C: I know Match youh Mate was really fun to watch.
I would say like, as far as activities that I'm participating in that I like the drawing classes the best, but I do like how there's a huge variety of trivias that you can do.
[01:00:39] Speaker A: All right, so I. Well, we're going to say tie then. Yeah. No, it's all right. It's all right. You can pick two favorites. It's the tie between drawing and trivia. And I get what you're saying about participating in, because just watching is a little bit different than participating in.
All right, well, what's your favorite space to relax on the ship? It sounds like you did actually get some time to relax when you weren't running from activity to activity. Where. Where did you enjoy relaxing the most?
[01:01:04] Speaker C: I think I would say satellite falls was really nice.
We should have spent more time there. But the afternoon we were there was good.
[01:01:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I think the. I think satellite falls on dream and fantasy is like, the best adult only relaxing space. Whereas I think on the magic and the wonder, the qu Pool is the best adult. You know, so it's different. Different for each ship, right? Yeah.
[01:01:28] Speaker C: You know, looked really busy.
[01:01:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:01:31] Speaker C: And then it was kind of like in the shade and, like, a walkway area, so it didn't look like super relaxing down there. But yeah, I could see if it was in a little bit different area. That would be nice.
[01:01:44] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, now this is probably the most important question.
Which one is your favorite ship of the three?
[01:01:52] Speaker B: Wait, I thought it was gonna be what's your favorite bathroom?
[01:01:56] Speaker A: No, because there's no contest because there is. Like, you don't have any unique bathrooms, like, in the contest.
[01:02:06] Speaker B: Enough. Go back and answer the question that was asked.
[01:02:08] Speaker A: Sorry.
[01:02:09] Speaker B: I even opened the door to Sam talking more about bathroom.
[01:02:14] Speaker A: Anyway. Yeah. Which was your favorite, Chip? So wonder, dream, fantasy. I mean, I know that's tough. You know, it's hard because there's all that recency.
[01:02:22] Speaker C: Yes, that's true.
I mean, I feel like I still like the size of the magic class ships better.
So I think I'm going to say wonder, even though it's been so long since I've been on her.
[01:02:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that makes sense. No worries. All right, the last question of rapid fire bucket list. Cruise someplace you haven't been, but you would like to go on a Disney cruise line ship, and it can even be someplace that Disney cruise line doesn't currently sail. Where would you go, Beth?
[01:02:51] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness.
This one is so hard for me.
I feel like I would love to do one that goes to, like, the Asian parks, like, ports near there that you could do an excursion to the parks.
I think that would be really cool.
[01:03:08] Speaker A: I love that. Absolutely. All right, well, thank you for playing. You have passed with flying colors, especially because your show answer was spot on.
And frankly, you even picked the best ship, even though it's been so long since you've been on the Wonder of the ones you've been on. Yeah, that's absolutely the best.
Yeah. Thanks for playing, Beth. I know Brian's gonna. I'm gonna let Brian ask the next question. Cause I know he always wants to.
[01:03:33] Speaker B: Ask, okay, where's the nearest bathroom?
[01:03:39] Speaker A: You are just beating this dead horse, Brian.
[01:03:42] Speaker B: I'm beating the dead horse. Oh, my gosh. I think, I think the, the listeners will know where the bulk of the bathroom discussion came from. Beth, what's next for you and your. And your family?
[01:03:53] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. Well, we did get a placeholder, but we have not placed it on anything yet.
We are kind of going back and forth on what to do.
I think our table friends have talked us into doing Alaska next, but we haven't booked it because we're still like figuring out the stuff with my daughter. So we're like, do we book a couple's only one again or do we try to do a family one like next summer?
And so, yeah, we're having a lot of trouble deciding. And then I've also been like going back and forth about the river cruise that you guys are doing. I would love to do that.
So we kind of have the same issue, like, do we just say, like, okay, Zoe's going to my parents and we're doing it by ourselves or, you know, I feel bad, like, not giving her that opportunity if we do do it. So I've been emailing Karen, like a billion questions. She's probably like, what is your deal?
[01:04:59] Speaker A: Listen, it's, it's definitely a hard decision. I will say, like, ABDs are harder to reschedule. Like, you can reschedule once and, and it's within. I don't even know if it's. I don't know when you can reschedule up until like, I don't know if you can reschedule up until pay in full.
But they're not, but it's not refundable, whereas DCL is refundable. So like, it's, that's the hard. It's, you know, as long as you're not staying concierge, it's refundable before pay in full. So, you know, that's the. It's. It's definitely a tough call, Beth.
[01:05:33] Speaker B: But you can also move it to a land based ABD or an ABD in the US it might be a little bit easier to get to or a short escape abd.
So, yeah, there's, there are options. You just got to. You get one chance to pick the different options. So yeah, it's sort of like it's like the end of the game show. There's door number one, door number two. I'm going to give you a chance to pick a different for door. Are you sure?
[01:05:55] Speaker A: So, yeah, but, but shout out to Karen for helping in this decision making because it is very hard and it is very patient. Yeah. And it's helpful to have a trusted travel advisor help you with those kinds of decisions. And also understanding the cancellation policies is really key if you've got a situation similar to Beth's where you might have to pivot. Right. You might have to pivot that vacation or even cancel that vacation and, and, or figure, you know, figure out something else. So. Yeah. Well, best of luck, Beth. I hope that you'll come back.
You do have, you know, something booked and you've come back from another amazing Disney vacation or maybe on another cruise line. Maybe you'll do Alaska, who knows. But yeah, we'll, we'd be happy to have you come back and tell us all about it.
[01:06:39] Speaker C: Okay, thanks. It was great being on again.
[01:06:46] Speaker D: Well, thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting, getting great content from us every week. In fact twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top, top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor, My Path Unwinding Travel. If you want to book your next Disney vacation, head over to mypathunwinding.com forward/dclduo or email them at DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all all of our things. Full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast. Links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store. We sell some fun fan inspired magnets link to our Patreon. If you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also has a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here at least, and a few blog articles that we've written, so DCL Duo is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course, email
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[01:08:59] Speaker A: Sam.
