Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, thank you for playing, Caroline. You get an A because you answered the right ship. You answered a perfect show.
You know, I'm not a strawberry soft serve person, but soft serve is a great answer regardless. So, yeah, Flying colors. Love all of that.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Unfortunately, Sam's grading scale goes from A to A plus plus plus plus, so.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Right, it does. And it also. It also has failing. You can. No, you can fail.
[00:00:32] Speaker C: Foreign.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by My Path Unwinding Travel. And, Sam, you got to work on the jingle.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: It's review time. Review time. It's our favorite time. Review time.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: All right, we'll record that at some point and make that.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: Yes. I love it. I nailed it.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think he did, but anyway, this one comes from Go Go or Goo Goo. I can't tell. It's G with the bow.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Goo doesn't make sense for travel podcasts, but Go makes sense for a travel podcast.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: I don't know. Well, it says best podcast ever. I'm reading the username, so. Best podcast ever.
I love All Caps this podcast. Sam and Brian are fabulous hosts. I look forward to listening to each episode. Love listening to everyone's experiences on Disney cruises. Lots of good tips and tricks. I always feel like I am learning something new with each episode, and it's getting me excited for our first All Caps Disney cruise next week. Thank you for all your hard work and time spent making each episode. Well, thank you for that review. And since this review is a year ago, I hope that first cruise 51 weeks ago was amazing for you. Please reach out if you haven't already. Let us know how it went and if any of our tips and tricks were at all helpful to you.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: And yes, I love that review with a capital L, O, V E because he or she did a capital L, O V E. So I love it.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah, there you go. There you go.
One of the easiest ways to support the show is to head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars. If you leave us a written review, we will read it on one of our main episodes at the top of the episode just to show you some love. So head over there, help us out, hit those five stars. Every review counts.
[00:02:13] Speaker A: And make sure to like and subscribe on YouTube as well, because that also helps get us out there.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: You can watch these podcasts now on YouTube. We have someone who's helping us out editing the show so we can get them all posted up on YouTube. So if you'd prefer to see the behind the scenes with our guests. You can over YouTube watch it there.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: That's right. You can see my studio and the guest studio. And Brian's virtual background looks suspiciously like.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: The studios and backgrounds used in the live show. So there you go. You want to introduce our fabulous guest, our fun topic, all that good jazz.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. I'm super excited to welcome first time guest, not first time cruiser, first time guest, as she titled her email. Longtime listener, first time caller, Caroline. Welcome to the show, Caroline.
[00:02:58] Speaker C: Thank you. I'm so excited to be chatting with you guys.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: We are excited to have you. I will tell you, as soon as I saw the beginning of your email, I was like, Brian is going to say yes to this person just based on. Just based on how you clearly know us. You clearly know Brian uses that line all the time. Longtime listener, first time caller. He loves that line. It's an. It's from like radio call in shows.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: For those who are not as old as we are. But anyway, super excited you reached out to us. Today we're going to talk both multi generational cruising and anniversary cruising and cruising with kids. So we're very excited to have you on the show, Caroline, but why don't we start by giving folks your Disney background, your cruising creds. I know you're a travel advisor, so tell us like how long you've been doing that and where does the love of Disney come from specifically?
[00:03:52] Speaker C: Yeah, the love of Disney started when I was 6. So that was the first time our family went to Disney World.
Took a couple trips growing up and then I just happened to marry a man who also loves Disney World. So it all kind of snowballed from there. We would visit before we had kids, but I think once we had kids, it really picked up. We started going frequently.
I always chose that as our vacation spot. He just kind of went along with it, even though he does enjoy it. And he brought up a cruise one year and I said, I am never, ever, ever cruising what I know. And now three cruises later, clearly that's not where I stand.
But yeah, we took our first Disney cruise as a family of four back in 2023, August of 2023 on the Disney Wish. And then we went again In August of 2024, also on the Disney Wish. We didn't stray from what we knew.
And then we decided once the treasurer is announced that we absolutely wanted to do more than four days or four nights.
So we booked that and we just are hooked on. I mean, you still love the parks, but there's just something about the cruises that are so relaxing and there's something for everyone.
So there's definitely a place for us that we love about that. So I've also been a Disney travel advisor for about two years now.
Love doing it doesn't feel like work.
I feel like I was already advising my friends and family beforehand. So it just, it just came naturally.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: You know, we hear that from a lot of travel agents in general, travel advisors in general, but especially more recent ones.
[00:05:33] Speaker C: Right.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: Like people who've joined the industry more recently because they feel like they were doing that work already. I will tell you, you know, we have not just because of the show, but we are also like, you know, friends will reach out to us and ask us about their, you know, Disney trips that they're planning. Um, I will often refer them to a travel advisor to help with all of like, the nitty gritty details, particularly with Walt Disney World, because I think that's where the biggest, like, benefit can be. I mean, I think there's a benefit for using a travel agent for any vacation, but I think with Walt Disney World that there is like the greatest benefit because it's gotten so complicated in particular. But I'll give them like, you know, more general advice.
But I gotta ask, like, had you ever been on any cruise before August of 2023 or was Disney your actual first cruise also?
[00:06:25] Speaker C: So I had been on one Cruise back in 2018. Our daughter had just turned one and my husband's family, they lived in California on the west coast and they wanted to an Alaskan cruise. It was like a big group trip.
So we did do an Alaskan cruise, but it was Holland America, which is like very different than Disney Cruise Line. Right. Like who it's geared to. It was perfect for Alaska because it's very like naturalist intensive.
You know, you're going through the glaciers and the ports were great, but.
And I had a. It was a good time, but I also had a one year old, so just the experiences were so different and I never felt like I needed to go on a cruise again after that. But my husband said, just give the Disney cruise a try and here we are.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. Well, now, how old are your kids currently? Obviously you just sailed on the Treasure. How, how old were your kids when you re. Well now. How old are they now? And when they recently sailed on the Treasure?
[00:07:25] Speaker C: So almost five, which kind of came into play with the kids club, if we get to that.
And then seven.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, so both kids club age kids. And so this was Their third cruise, I take it as well. Did they, I assume they both went on the prior Disney cruises you and your husband had gone on.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. Because they're old enough to have been alive is what I mean by that.
Yeah. Yes.
Unless you, like us, sail to your first and second Disney cruise without your kid, which happens. But most people are not like us. And most people do take their first Disney cruise and bring their kid along with them.
[00:08:02] Speaker C: My mom went with us and her first Disney Cruise was in 2003 without me and my sister. So she, she did it the way you guys did it. She went on the Wonder, I think is what we figured out with my dad and another couple. And they just left us. Left us at home.
[00:08:21] Speaker A: That's hilarious. That's awesome. Yeah, Good. Good job, parents. Listen.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: It'S tempting.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Nothing wrong with leaving the kids home and taking an adult only cruise on.
Even on Disney. Well, let's dive into this itinerary. You chose a seven night Eastern Caribbean on the Treasure.
Tell us, was it just the Treasure that appealed to you? You had obviously you mentioned you sailed on the Wish twice, so obviously you liked the class of ship. But did you consider other ships or were you like, no, we have to go on the Treasure and I want to do seven nights and I have to do Eastern.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: Yeah. So we definitely knew we wanted to sail on the Treasure and I knew I wanted to do more than four nights because while the second Wish cruise we did, we felt like we knew where things were. We weren't so overwhelmed with the ship or all the activities. It still didn't feel long enough. I felt like we unpack and then we pack back up.
So Treasure, seven nights. And I really liked the ports that the Eastern itinerary offered.
Tortola and St. Thomas. And having that extra sea day was really appealing as well.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Nice. And this was a spring break sailing.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: I'm assuming this was. Oh, May. We sailed on May.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Oh, so actually later than spring break.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: 10Th. Yes. So we are. Our 10 year wedding anniversary is May 15th, so we did it kind of as like a anniversary gift to ourselves. We brought the kids, but.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, you know, there was a kids club, so congratulations on 10 years. That's awesome.
Now, did you have to pull the kids, well, the older child out of school then, I presume?
[00:10:09] Speaker C: Yes, we did. So we pulled my daughter out of school. My son is in preschool, so he did miss a little bit. But my daughter is in second grade, so we did pull her out. And actually we were planning to do a little bit more of Walt Disney World before the trip. But the flu happened and she missed some days for being sick. So we kind of adjusted and just flew in on the Friday like the day before instead.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I will say there's really nothing that you're gonna miss in second grade that you can't make up. So I'm just gonna put that out there.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: Like, I feel the same way. And she, I mean, she just thrived on that whole cruise. Like, the experiences. She made friends. I mean, it was 100% worth it.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: I love that. I love that we. It's. It will get harder as they get older, as we've learned with Nathan. Like, it is much harder as they're sort of the older years of elementary school or middle school or high school to pull them out of, you know, out of classes for any. For more than a day or two. It's just really hard because they actually have to make up work and whatnot. But I am. We are big proponents of take that vacation whenever you can fit it in your schedule. I love that. All right, well, let's, let's talk a little bit about the planning. Obviously on having been on the wish, you kind of knew what to expect to. To some degree. Um, did you guys, you know, try to pre book anything like excursions, dining, drink tastings, all that kind of stuff that you would book through at your onboard booking window?
[00:11:36] Speaker C: We did. I will say we were. It was a very adult, like heavy cruise. There was a way more adults than kids and a very higher castaway status heavy cruise. It's. As for what it seemed based on, like I was part of the Facebook group and kind of the rumblings about what people had. So there was. We are silver.
And there were some things available when that window opened, but not nearly as much as compared to when we did the wish last year. So we were able to book my husband and my mom, I booked them a bourbon tasting.
The kids. There was like plenty of Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique openings, which is kind of what made me think, I bet there's not that many kids on this cruise. Cause usually that's one of the things that's supposed to go.
And with the Facebook group, my husband and I were able to get an enchante dinner booking. It was one of those. Someone said, I'm about to drop it. Does anyone want to coordinate? And I just happened to be on the group at the right time and said, oh, me, I do. And I kind of.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: It's our.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: It's 10 year anniversary. Please, please.
So yeah, so we were able to book those things.
We had decided ahead of time to do a third party excursion in Tortola, but I did book an excursion through Disney for St. Thomas and most, I mean, Tortola, I think the popular, like just Van Dyke was sold out by the time that we booked. But at St. Thomas there was a lot of options.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: So I'm so curious, on the Enchante booking, did you know anything about Enchante before you booked it? Was it like.
Because that can be a tricky booking.
[00:13:16] Speaker C: I knew a little bit about it. I knew that it was like a little bit more higher end. We. I were like amateur foodies. So I was, I knew that it was more of like a foodie restaurant and more fine dining.
And I did Google a little bit ahead of time, which I was glad I was prepared. But I also didn't want to spoil too much of it for myself and my husband. So, yeah, I had like a, a good idea of what to expect, but I didn't know like, course by course what was going to be offered.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and you mentioned before we actually started recording that you've been listening to our show for about two years now. So you have heard us at least talk about Remy and Enchante and so you, you should have some familiarity. And we try to sort of tell people like, and talk about the comparison between, you know, Remy Nonchante versus Paulo versus main dining. So people just have an aw of like, you're leveling up. Right. With each one. Right. So main dining food is good, but it, you know, it's decent wedding slash banquet food. Right.
You're going to Palo, you're having a really nice Italian restaurant, but you could have as nice Italian food at a nice restaurant at home. And then I'd say Enchante and Remy are like Michelin star quality restaurants. So at least one Michelin star, I'd say probably closer to like a two Michelin star. With so fine dining, you have very little control over what you're ordering. It's like a, it's a chef's tasting menu style. Although there are some, you know, places where you can choose or adjust things.
Not great for food allergies, I would say, but, you know, but fine for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. I definitely think you can do it. I'm not sure that they can accommodate vegans, but they definitely can accommodate vegetarians. It's just going to be a different menu than whatever meat eater you're sitting next to. So. Yeah, but fantastic options, all of them are wonderful options, as we tell people, for first time cruisers, we generally recommend skipping adult dining unless you're going on like a longer cruise for your first cruise because there is so much good stuff in main dining and there's just so much to do and see and it just does take a lot of your time. So it's one of those things where save it for your third or fourth cruise.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, and that's a good point too.
When we got to the port, the first thing I did was connect to figure out what our dining rotation was because we had Enchante on our second sea day. And I knew I did not want to miss one of the restaurants that I had not been to. And of course it was.
I think Coco was scheduled for that night. So I followed tips that I've heard you guys talk about and went straight to dining changes when we got on board and said, can we like work things out? And it, it worked out perfectly. They moved us to rotation where we went to or my mom and my kids went to the first night at Marble and we went on to Enchante. And we had done that twice. So we weren't, we weren't even missing like the new Groot show.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: And it's the same menu too, is the same menu as on the Wish as well. So you're not missing, you know, a show that you have haven't seen. You're not missing a menu that you haven't had. Right. The other option would have been to put 1923, the first night of 1923. So either of those is a great option. It just depends on, you know, whether you want to see the show or which menu you like better. I think most people would probably choose that first night, 1923 menu to go to eat at. I personally would probably choose the Marvel menu for night one. But I'm, I think in the minority. So on that.
But. Well, let's, let's jump in and talk about some of the logistics. You guys are flying down from the mid Atlantic of the east coast to Florida. You mentioned you flew down the night before or the day before night before.
Where did you guys stay and how'd you get to the port?
[00:17:10] Speaker C: Yeah, we stayed at Riviera. My mom is Disney Vacation. Oh my God. It's. That was our first stay there. And like if there's one resort at Walt Disney World that's good for a just resort only stay, it's got to be the Riviera. You can get to the boardwalk and they have great food there and it Was, was great. We just did a resort day and then we took the DCL transportation the next morning to the port. So we've done that all three times actually. Now it's just seamless and I don't have to worry about, you know, picking a port arrival time. It's all done for me. So I appreciate that.
[00:17:46] Speaker A: Very, very low incentive to stay up at midnight to get your port arrival time if you're taking Disney transportation because you're, you're going to get a decent port arrival time and a decent boarding group if you are, if you've told them you're taking Disney transportation through the app or through the website.
Well, let's, let's dive into. You get to the port then on Disney transportation, which means your luggage is already taken care of for you.
How long does it take or about what time did you get to the port and how long until you got on board?
[00:18:18] Speaker C: So we, I would say day one was like the day of delays. We got to the port at 1040, 1045. We were the only resort that our bus picked up from. So that was nice. We didn't have to stop any of the resorts. We got 1045 at the port.
They hadn't started boarding it, which I didn't expect. We were boarding group five and I, my mom said, how long do you think we'll wait? I said maybe like an hour.
Well, there was an unannounced Coast Guard inspection on the ship.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Oh no.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: So boarding was I probably about an hour delayed. So we, we got on the ship about 1240, which was fine. It was just that like all the kids in the entire terminal were just like, you know, losing their minds, going crazy. We're starting to get a little antsy too. But it was, it was.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: And it means lunch is late for everybody as well. And that means like Marceline Market, the pool deck and even sit down lunch. Everything is going to be kind of crazy because everybody who's in all of those early boarding groups are all going to be get. Trying to get lunch at the very same time.
[00:19:20] Speaker C: Yes. So we had thought about doing the sit down lunch at the whatever restaurant was hosting it, but my family was just hungry and needed a quick. So we went to Marceline. We sat outside to eat, which was okay. I expected it to be busy, but we got some food and, and that was fine. But I mean we, our rooms are ready about 2:15 and we still saw Coast Guard people walking around on the ship. So it was definitely, you know, just was something that randomly happens and then the other thing we had talked about was kind of like the muster drill because we were talking about how Disney still has you go and report in. And I said, last two times we've done it, it's been. Okay. It's been about, I don't know, 15 minutes we sat there and it's been done. Well, this one was like a 45 minute wait sitting there and this was again, nothing. There was a barge that was next to the ship and so they couldn't, I guess, proceed with the drill as intended. So that.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: Oh, the time.
[00:20:16] Speaker C: Yeah, there's something about the barge sitting by there. They had to wait till the barge moves.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: I think it was. That's probably the LNG refue bowling barge. And yeah, then they're very limited with what they can. Like you can't. Yeah, that creates all kinds of problems for them.
[00:20:29] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. Which again was fine. It's just people get antsy and. And it did push back the sailway party and the dinners, but by about 15 minutes. But I was glad we did second dining and that made me happy that we had done that because it would have been pretty tight for everyone else leaving, you know, muster around five o' clock and then dinner I think, I guess was pushed back to six or so. So.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Yeah, but yeah, and if anybody had any kind of like drink tastings or spa appointments on that first day, all of that would have been screwed up because they can't do, you know, they. If they're waiting to do the muster drill, everything else is getting delayed. That's supposed to happen after.
And so it is. Yeah, but these are things that you just can't control and Disney can't control. They don't know when the Coast Guard is going to do a random drill or a random check of the ship. Like there are times where they sort of know that's going to happen, but most of the time they don't. And so it's just, you know, things you got to roll with the punches.
I want to back up.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: Hence the randomness of it.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Yes, exactly.
I want to rewind back to when you guys entered the ship and your family name is announced. Now, you had been through this process before on the Disney Wish. It's pretty similar on the Treasure, but you're walking into the new atrium. A different atrium, of course, or Grand Hall.
You know, it's. It's decor is different than the Wish. I'd say very different than the Wish. The Wish is very like, you know, pretty and pink and princessy.
All the peas and the Treasure is different.
It's, it's very, you know, purple and green and adventure themed. Right. I'm curious, how did you think they compared? Did you, you know, were you surprised by that or had you seen enough or heard enough about the treasurer to be like, oh, this is supposed to be different.
[00:22:19] Speaker C: I, I, I think it's so much better in person than when you can see in pictures. I mean, the colors are so vibrant, even though they are darker than, I guess maybe the Wish more. I love the twinkle lights. I'm sure there's a better name for it that go up the stairwells and the railings.
You know, the genie is right up there waving to us as we come in. It's just beautiful. And it feel, even though the color schematics are darker, it feels so open, I think.
And that chandelier is just awesome. And when we walked in, they announced their name, they did the clapping.
And I turned to my right and like, Adventurer Minnie is just standing there with no one around her except for her crew member. And to the point where I said, can we get a picture? They're like, yeah, come on over.
I don't know if people just didn't realize she was there or what, but, I mean, we had, like a good five minutes just getting pictures. The kids were giving her hugs. Like, it was so special that she was just right there. And I was expecting, yeah, I was totally expecting to have to wait, like, in a very long line during one of the planned character meets on deck at some point during the cruise, but no, she's just there hanging out and greeting you when you walk in. So that was really, really special.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Oh, I love her. That's Voyager Minnie. She is Voyager Minnie. Yeah. But she, I mean, a lot of people call her Adventure Minnie. I know, I knew exactly what you meant. But Voyager Minnie is like, I mean, she's amazing. I think every Minnie is amazing and iconic. I'm very excited for Hero Minnie on the Destiny, but, like, she's unique to the Treasure. There is not a unique, I guess Captain Minnie, I think, was unique initially when the Wish came out, but she's not unique to the Wish any longer.
And, you know, so it's really nice to have, like a unique mini for the newer ships. And so she is unique. You can't get her costume is not on any of the other ships.
And yeah, and on the Destiny, the Hero Minnie will be unique. And so, and she is only, you know, out at certain times and they don't tell you, like, and then unfortunately, in the Navigator app.
It just will say, like, where Minnie is for a particular time and for at a particular place, but it doesn't say what outfit she'll be wearing.
[00:24:41] Speaker C: Right.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: So you have to really go.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Sam, I think you undersell it when you say you're excited about.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm, I'm. You're right. I'm underselling it. I am. Like, I. It's. Yeah.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: She might faint. She might faint the first time she.
[00:24:53] Speaker D: Meets superhero Minnie in person.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: I can't wait to get her plushie.
I have Voyager Minnie and Voyager Mickey, of course, as plushies. I also have the lookout key Bahamian Minnie and Mickey, I also have.
[00:25:07] Speaker B: You really need your Alaska plushies. And I keep telling you, I keep telling you, you gotta go in the group and maybe see if somebody can snag you one early.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: I know. Cause we're not going to Alaska until the very end of the season anyway. Yeah, we'll be on the Destiny Maiden and hopefully, I'm crossing my fingers, hopefully we'll be on a Destiny preview. And so I should be able to get Hiro, Minnie and Mickey very early. That's what I'm hoping for. But yeah, I'm.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Otherwise, I'm gonna have to take out a second mortgage on ebay to get you your plushies.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: I know. I'm kind of obsessed with these plushies. I don't, I, I don't have both of the ones from the Wish, actually. I only have the inaugural Mickey I didn't get.
I did not buy Minnie because I don't have to have Minnie and Mickey of every one. Let me just put that out there. But certain ones I have to have. So anyway, setting that aside, that's an amazing interaction because it's not. That is, those are the random interactions for those listening, like then who haven't been on a ship before or haven't been on a Disney cruise before. Like, there are these set times that I mentioned, but there are also sort of these random roaming times where a character will be out roaming.
You might run into them and get a great interaction. And that's the face characters as well as like the Fab Five characters. And so, you know, those take advantage when you get one of those because they, they don't happen all the time. And especially if you can get a unique character or unique outfit. I think those are. Those are the best.
All right, so you guys head to. I was about to say Cabanas, but Marceline market to get some. Some food. I think that's a good call when everybody's kind of, you know, grumpy and hungry at.
I have delays with the muster and sail away, and you have your first night of dinner. Now, your kids are fairly young.
Why did you choose late dinner as opposed to early dining?
[00:27:04] Speaker C: Yeah, so it kind of just happened because our first cruise we took late dinner was what was available when we booked. So we were like, we'll just give it a try.
At that point, my son was definitely so consistently napping during the day, so we just figured, he'll nap, then he'll stay up, and we'll just kind of go with the flow. And it worked out great. We would, you know, go see the show, drop them at the kids club, so we could go have a drink or check out one of the lounges and then pick them up for dinner. And my daughter, who loves the kids club, would always want to go back, and she would, you know, and then I take my son back to the room. So we've just kind of continued to. To do late dining. I like that you don't feel rushed if you're coming back from a port, and I like that the show is before dinner instead of after dinner.
[00:27:50] Speaker A: So.
[00:27:51] Speaker C: Yeah, that's just. It started not on purpose, but it's worked out well for us.
[00:27:55] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah, sometimes it works out, and if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Right. If it works one way, don't try the other way unless you're forced to.
I want to talk about ports first, and then we'll get back on board and talk more about onboard experience. But you mentioned, obviously this was Eastern, so St. Thomas, Tortola and Castaway.
Let's. Is that the order? Did I get that right?
[00:28:20] Speaker C: It was Tortola First.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: First. Okay. What did you guys get up to in Tortola?
[00:28:24] Speaker C: Yeah, so Tortola. We booked a third party excursion.
I did that because a lot of the ones that we were interested in had a, like, minimum age requirement of 5. And my son turns 5 in early June, so he was, like, just shy of the minimum age requirement. So I did a little bit of research, and we booked through aristocat day sales, and they had great reviews on Facebook, on TripAdvisor, and they offered a snorkel catamaran excursion that we booked and we did, and it was so much fun. We really enjoyed it, pretty much. Well, actually, the entire ship. Or. Sorry, the entire boat was from the. The ship.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:29:10] Speaker C: Yeah, we were the only. The Treasure was the only ship in port that day, so we did an excursion with them. It was their Norman island excursion. We had about like a five to seven minute walk to the marina where we met them. We got on the catamaran and they took us to a couple different spots for snorkeling. There was lunch on board, the kids could swim.
We saw sea turtles and fish. Like it was just, it was perfect.
[00:29:38] Speaker A: That's awesome. We've heard good things. We have not used them ourselves, but we have heard good things about Aristocat Charters as well. Our friends Nathan and Alicia adventures and mascapades have used them a whole bunch of times for Tortola. So I'm glad to hear you had a good experience too. And I didn't realize that they have non private boats available so you can book and be in a sort of a larger group which is nice because obviously the private excursion is like super, super pricey. So yeah, it's this.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: I was probably about like 20 people on the catamaran and comparable in price to like what Disney would offer, but it was nine to three. So it was a pretty long day.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Awesome. Well, let's talk St. Thomas. You booked a Disney excursion at St. Thomas. Which one did you book again?
[00:30:25] Speaker C: We did the Secret Sands beach excursion.
So that was like a 30 minute safari bus style ride across the island to a beach in an eco reserve where we had. It was just our excursion that was there. We everyone got a chair, they had some drinks and like snacks and then we had about 2ish hours on the beach and then we took the same style bus back and they stopped at like a scenic overlook for a few minutes. So it was, it was great. I think it was our two port days were back to back Tortola and St Thomas. So we had had a really long day in Tortola and then this was a shorter day. We did the 8:30am departure. So we were back on the ship by lunchtime. My kids loved the beach. We love the beach. So it was like just nice. I didn't have to plan anything extra. I just had to show up when they told me to show up. And then they got us to the beach and it was a great beach and then they took us back and there was no extra stress on our part.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah. We haven't done that one before, but it sounds like one I would definitely be willing to try. Particularly since it was like more probably more quiet than Megan's Bay. Beach has gotten a little bit like maddeningly packed. And you know, just being your group, that, that's kind of nice to have it a little bit quieter.
[00:31:51] Speaker C: Yeah, they had an afternoon excursion too. So as we were leaving, the afternoon group was coming. And again in Saint. When we were in Saint Thomas, we were the only cruise ship in port until about 12 or 1, so.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Oh, nice. Yeah, that's also especially to do the morning excursion when there's other ships. When we were in St Thomas last, there were four ships, I think in port. We were the earliest ship to get there to dock. So when we first got to the beach at Macon's Bay, it was quieter. But as we were there, it got like more and more packed. I was glad that we were there on the earlier side, but it still got pretty packed there. All right, well, your last port of call was of course, Disney's beautiful private island, Castaway Cay.
Tell us, did you book anything at Castaway? I'm guessing you didn't. Just because I feel like most people don't. But some people book those. Some of the boating excursions or the, you know, the banana boat or the.
Or want to feed. What do they call those? The stingrays. Did you guys book anything? And if so, what? If not, what'd you guys get up to?
[00:32:57] Speaker C: We did not book anything.
We just, just relaxed on the beach. The kids swam. We went to Pelican Plunge with my daughter. Many did that slide. Many times we had lunch and we just enjoyed the beach. I mean, it was very. It was just, it was the last day.
So we spent probably about four or five hours on Castaway, which for us was long. Like our other two cruises have been in August and it's been.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: Oh, brilliant.
[00:33:26] Speaker C: Very, very hot. Yes. And so while it's been fun, we've been done by like early afternoon. And this time we stayed on until about 3ish.
So yeah, we just enjoyed the beach and what was there to offer? What they had to offer there.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great call. Leaving the beach before or even around noon in August. It's so hot at Castaway that time of year. We have cruised several times in August and every time we're like, oh my God, it's just too hot. We're like melting. Especially our, our Seattle bodies can't handle that level of, of temperature.
Well.
[00:34:05] Speaker C: And I always make my family walk too. We don't take the trip, but they, they really don't like me.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: They really hate you.
[00:34:11] Speaker C: It's.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it's rough. It's rough. Well, let's jump back on to the beautiful Disney treasure because there's a lot to talk about there between activities, shows, food, of course, we gotta talk About. Enchante.
So let's, let's start with kids and the kid friendly activities that you guys got up to. Like, I want to hear about what you mentioned, the kids club and about your, your son almost being five. Tell us about that. I, I, I have a feeling I know where you're going, but I'm going to let you tell us.
[00:34:41] Speaker C: So I'll just preface it by last year in August, he had just turned four and they had just announced that they were separating the 3 and 4 year olds from the older kids. So he had gone the year before, he had just turned three, been able to play with his sister. So I was like, oh gosh, I don't know how he's gonna do this is last year. He did great. He loved it. I mean those kids, we let them stay till like 11:30 at night.
I mean they were happy. They didn't ask to get picked up. He, he liked his little Captain Minis and Mickey's, like that little deck where there's the slide and they can see it. Like that was his room he was in. He loved it this year.
By day two, he was done. He did not want to go back.
We tried to take him one time and his sister just was like, found her friends and left and he just started and he did not want to go back. And we tried bribing him and eventually got to a point where I was like, you know, this is his vacation too. I don't want to like make this a thing.
Luckily we had my mom with us, so we were able to kind of like, like pass the four year old around.
We wanted to do, yeah, other adult things, but I really think it was just he was at the age where he like wants to hang out with his sister and being so close to five, like, he just felt that more than he did the year before. So, you know, in hindsight, if I had known that that was gonna be the way they were gonna do it, maybe I would have pushed the cruise. But we had booked it so long ago and I just, that wasn't enough for me to change the dates, but it was fine. I mean, I should also kind of mention that we did prima note as well.
And so that was one that all three adults went to. And he was at the kids club for that and he did great. And so we got that where we could all be doing our thing and they were at the kids club without any tears. And so once that was done, I was like, this is, you know, we got our main adult thing out of the Way where he couldn't come.
So we just rolled with it.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Yeah, well. And Prima note, for those who don't know, means first night in Italian. It is a wine and food tasting thing that only happens on the first night in Palo and usually happens in between the first and second dinner seatings. And so if you have late dinner seating, it's great to do that one that goes in between. There's also one that's later, but that would sort of be at your tail end of dinner. So it might be a little bit too late for most people, but it's a great experience. And so definitely recommend. But only recommend booking if you know that your kid is going. Your kids or kid are going to be able to stay in the kids club during it because you don't want to have to leave it.
[00:37:26] Speaker C: Get that message that says they want to get.
[00:37:30] Speaker A: Yeah, right. Yeah. I'm glad you guys made it through that.
[00:37:33] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. But my daughter, I mean, she loves, like I said, she. We. We have to always go pick her up. She never asks to leave. She makes friends when she's there.
So it. We. She loves it. We love that she loves it. And it. When my son once wanted to go, it was great. Cause we got some adult time and no.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's dive in then to some other kid friendly activities since obviously at least your son was with you probably a lot of the time when you're going from activity to activity. Are you guys, you know, pool decks people? Are you spending a lot of time on the family pool deck? Are you going to, you know, family trivia or family game shows or crafts? Like what kind of stuff were your kids and your family sort of into?
And. And grandma too.
[00:38:21] Speaker C: Yeah. And we did a little bit of all of it. We did spend time on the pool deck. Just with the extra C days, we were able to like really take advantage of that.
And we. Our favorite area to kind of sit and put all of our stuff is back by like Trixie Falls. And I think that's Currents bar that's up there.
Because my daughter likes the Slidosaurus rex, so I can kind of see her. My son is now. Well, I guess now that he turns 5, he won't be old enough for it. But he could go in that little Pixar splash pad. Yep.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:56] Speaker C: And so we hung out there whenever we would go to the pool and there was always was plenty of room to find seats. We did wander up to the adult deck early on in the cruise and it was definitely crowded, which again made sense to me, though, because I feel like that was. There's a lot more adults than younger families. Just time of year.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: That works to your advantage when you, when you're sailing with kids, if you're sailing in sort of the off season, I. I think it works to your advantage because then the family pool deck is not really crowded and it's the adult only pool deck. I'm always surprised when the adult only pool deck is so crowded. I'm like, why wouldn't you come to the family pool deck where there's like nobody here? Right? Like, yeah, yeah.
[00:39:39] Speaker C: Yep. We took a couple of rides on the Aqua Mouse.
It was closed the first about three days of our cruise. It was very windy, Very, very windy. So it was close. But once we got to Tortola and St. Thomas, then coming back, it. Things settled down and so we did the Aqua Mouse and we did trivia, as much trivia as we could. Pirate Night Trivia was actually one of our favorites. We had never done that before and that was really fun. And we did pretty well, surprisingly. And then the last night of the cruise, my husband, my daughter did the Family game Time show. They were the contestants and they tied with another mom and daughter as winners. They both answered the tiebreaker question correctly. But yeah, that one had me like crying, laughing so hard. The answers that my daughter gave based on, you know, because they ask, you ask her, like, what's your. I don't know, what does your dad do that embarrasses you? And then he has to answer for like, it was just right.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: It's like match your mate but like. Or Newlywed game, but family you based. And it's really fun. And seeing the little kids answer the questions is always hilarious.
[00:40:51] Speaker C: Yeah, that's awesome.
And then my mom took the kids to the Mickey Color Spin party when we were at Enchante. Yes. And so we did miss that. But she said it. She's like, I love. Like, it was great. You know, they do. They have Max and Goofy and they do some songs from the Goofy movie, which was like, what, you know, she watched with me and my sister when we were growing up and she said it was really, like, surprisingly a lot of fun for. For everyone, so.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Oh, awesome. I loved it too. I thought it was a really fun deck party. I've only seen it on the Treasure.
It's been on other ships, but the only ship that I got to experience it on was the Treasure. And I thought it was really fun. Mostly 90s music and different. You know, each song sort of has a theme with each character. So I think it's worthwhile to see. It's more of a dance party than much of a show, but it fun nonetheless. And the best part of it is Goofy and Max for sure because you know you've got to, you know, you got to dance to some power line.
[00:41:56] Speaker C: So yeah, I was watching the video and there's the kids are dancing, but you can see this dad in the front and he has got that move sound like it was.
[00:42:03] Speaker A: It was hilarious. I love that. I love that.
[00:42:08] Speaker D: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation.
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[00:43:06] Speaker A: Well, let's. Let's talk shows.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: I want to talk food first. Can we talk food first?
[00:43:11] Speaker A: Sure. Sure.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: All right. I want to hear all about Enchante because we. We shows. We know the shows on the treasure. Sam, you've seen.
[00:43:19] Speaker A: I know and all, but we dining. We gotta. You know.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: Well, no, but I wanna. I wan.
We rarely get people on with Remy and Enchante experience, so.
[00:43:26] Speaker A: Yes. And especially people who are doing it for the first time. Yeah.
[00:43:30] Speaker B: Yeah. So. So what did you think of Enchante?
[00:43:33] Speaker C: It was fantastic. I loved everything about it. We went just all in. We did the collection. Right? That's the one where they choose all of the.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:43:43] Speaker C: So we did the collection with the wine pairing.
It was. It was like this is our anniversary dinner. This is our gift to ourselves. We're doing it. So we. The service Was amazing. I mean, it's what I would expect. Like you said Michelin star level.
We went to Paris for our honeymoon. Went to a Michelin star. Like, it's, it's same on par, like, with the service and the food. The pacing was perfect. I mean, it is a long dinner. It was about two and a half hours.
And honestly, I couldn't tell you how many courses it was. I know it was at least eight, but I started to lose track at the end.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: I feel like at the end it's supposed to be like seven, I think, but actually it like more like eight or nine because of all the dessert things.
[00:44:27] Speaker C: Here's the cheese. Yes. And here's like the.
[00:44:29] Speaker B: It's like. It's like Steve Jobs doing an Apple announcement. We got one more thing. Just one more thing.
[00:44:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:44:36] Speaker C: I don't know I'm going to eat any more of this. Plus, they give you this amazing bread and butter to start. And it, it seems so simple, but it is so good. And I just kept going back to the butter and bread and my husband's like, you are not going to be able to finish this meal if you keep eating this bread and butter. But, but I literally wanted to just take a spoonful of the butter. It was so good.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: I'm with, I'm with you on the bread and butter. Oh, my God.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: Then they always give you the, like, here's a take home container of chocolate just, you know, for later when you're hungry again, you know. In four days.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: Yeah, in four days.
[00:45:05] Speaker B: My favorite was when we ate at 11 Madison park in New York and they gave us granola to take home for breakfast the next morning. And I was like, I don't think I'm going to eat breakfast. But that granola turned out to be a sleeper hit, by the way.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: But yeah.
[00:45:18] Speaker C: Yeah. So we started with some canapes and maybe saying that word wrong. One other thing that I felt, I felt like it was even though, like, we are kind of foodies, quote, unquote, I felt like the food was still really accessible for people who probably aren't foodies. Like, there was nothing that I was thinking, like, there's no way that I, like, I would want to try. I mean, and the one thing that I was like, maybe, ooh, I'll eat it, but I'm not, like, thrilled about it was the beef tartare. But that's just like. And that was a can, can it bite? That was like something very small.
But we had wagyu beef, we had caviar. We had fish and then just, like, a vegetable course. We had this tomato course, which was amazing. It was just. Just tomatoes different ways, but, like, they gave you this tomato water.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Oh, my God, Carol.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: Tomato water.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: That tomato water. You're speaking my love language.
[00:46:12] Speaker C: So I don't.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: By the way, everyone out there, watch listening right now is like, these people are crazy. Tomato water. I'll make you tomato water.
[00:46:19] Speaker A: Tomato, like, five different or six different ways. Yes.
[00:46:22] Speaker C: It was like, tomato confit and then like a tomato bisque and then like a. But the tomato water. I, I need to figure out how to recreate it at home, because it was so good.
[00:46:32] Speaker A: I'm with you on tomato water. I am sold on tomato water.
[00:46:36] Speaker C: I should have said, don't give me the wine pairing. Just keep bringing me the tomato water.
[00:46:41] Speaker A: So good. So it sounds so weird, but it's so good. Unless you're a person who hates tomatoes. And then. I'm sorry, you're not gonna like that. But.
[00:46:50] Speaker C: Yes, but I did appreciate that. Like, I, I mean, I don't. Maybe I'm. My opinion was that it's still very accessible food. Like, there's nothing that's, like. I mean, it's presented beautifully, and it's obviously cooked perfectly, but it was, it was just all great. And then the cheese course at the end, and they give you. They just kept cutting more and more cheese. And I was just thinking, like, again, like, I need to. I need to take home back so I can just take all this. She's back with me.
[00:47:16] Speaker B: I'll say the food is accessible, but I think you still have to be adventurous, because I think part of it comes down to, like. I think for some people, it's, like, textures and, like, foams and stuff like that. Like, I, I, I don't think any. I don't think anything in Enchante is outrageous, but, like, our friend Tracy out there is listening. Love you. Tracy would never. She survived in our.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: She wouldn't eat anything in Enchante.
[00:47:39] Speaker C: That's true.
[00:47:40] Speaker A: I guess she's like a meat and potatoes person. Like, she doesn't even eat vegetables. So, like, that's, that's like. So she's great at Paulo. Like, she loves Paulo, right? Because she. Everything there is still accessible, but, like, or, like, more simple and not in a. And I'm not saying this in a bad way, because I love Paulo. It's, like, amazing food, but, like, it's, It's a different level of, of complexity and of weirdness, maybe is a better way to put it. Yeah, there Is foie gras occasionally on the menu on, like, in some of the dishes.
Right.
[00:48:13] Speaker C: So we didn't have that.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: Remy. Yeah.
[00:48:15] Speaker C: Which I. I probably would say something different. I'd have a different opinion if there was foie gras, because that's one thing that, like, I will eat it, but I'm not always thrilled about eating it.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: So I guess I'm not thrilled with it either. It's actually.
[00:48:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: Something I really enjoy. Yeah.
[00:48:28] Speaker C: Yeah. There's some stuff, mentally, you just can't get past, but, no, I loved it. I. I think the only thing that I would. Would do different, my husband would probably agree, is maybe we would not do the wine pairing. I mean, the wines were delicious, and they were.
I mean, wines that we would never, on our own, decide to purchase.
But I just. It was about four wines, and I just don't know that it necessarily added a ton. Like, the. Somalia was great. He was great about explaining it all, but I think we would probably just order off the wine list ourselves in the future, so just something that maybe we would change. But overall, like. Like one of the best meals I've ever had. And I don't think I ever would have expected to say that coming, like, oh, on a cruise ship, I had one of the best meals of my life, so. And the service was great, and the servers are wonderful.
You know, they're willing to stand and talk to you if. If you want to. They're not, like, rushing through, trying to push courses out.
It was just. It was timed perfectly, and it was wonderful.
[00:49:31] Speaker A: Love it. Yeah. The wine can be a lot. Because it's a lot of food. It ends up being a lot of wine because they do give you a nice size pour. It's supposed to be a tasting pour. I would say they tend to give you a heavier pour than a tasting pour.
But you can also just ask for a glass of bubbly at the beginning of the meal, maybe a white wine in the middle of the meal, and maybe a red wine towards the end of the meal. You can ask, and they can sort of adjust and give you some pairings that are not the wine tasting with it. So that can sort of get you paste a little bit lower amount of wine or maybe just two glasses.
[00:50:11] Speaker C: Right.
[00:50:11] Speaker A: Maybe just a white and a red. But you do want to, you know, you probably want a little of both just to get you through the sort of vegetable and fish courses until you get to, like, the meat courses and the dessert courses. So.
[00:50:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:23] Speaker A: Love it. Love it. Well, I want to. I Do want to ask you about main dining, but I want to focus it on Coco and the second night of Marvel and the second night of 1923, the stuff that's different from the Wish. And I'm curious what you thought of have, you know, the menus, the variety of food, the quality of the food, and then, of course, the shows being the two shows in Coco and the one show in Marvel.
[00:50:47] Speaker C: So I just. I love the 1923 menu one. And actually just I listened after it came back to your guys's episode on the Treasure, and I had not realized that the second night, 1923 menu before he went was, like, not many people's favorites. And I would agree it was. Was.
I could have left that one. There wasn't really anything on there that I love. My mom lived in Maine for a very long time. So the lobster.
[00:51:15] Speaker A: The lobsters, I mean, we ordered. That's not a good lobster. If you've never had lobster in your life or if you are a person who has to eat lobster any place in every place it's offered, go ahead. But I would generally say, if you are somebody who has had good lobster or you've ever lived in New England, just skip the lobster. It's just not good in that format. It's not that there's anything wrong with the lobster itself. It's that when you're cooking it for that many people, it's always overcooked and rubbery. It's just not good that way.
[00:51:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
And I actually almost ordered the fish that night, but my waiter was like, maybe choose something different. He said, the fish is fine. It's just. I don't love the sauce. And I. So I was like, okay, that's. I appreciate that. That feedback.
I liked the Worlds of Marvel night to the Groot, but I will say, like, nothing super memorable to me about that menu. But that was also one of our last nights.
And by then, you're almost in, like, a food coma with all the food.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: I'm obsessed with the salmon on that menu. I am, like, literally. I. I like the shrimp dish, and I'm obsessed with the salmon dish on that night two menu at Marble.
[00:52:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:52:26] Speaker A: But I love.
[00:52:28] Speaker C: Well, I just love the music. Right. Like, Guardians of the. The Cosmic Rewind is one of our fa. Like, the whole family's favorite rides. So the music is so good. I mean, I. I mean, the first night shows. I mean, it's very neat when Spider man comes out, but, like, they could just play that music the first night, and I would be so Happy.
And then Coco, I loved, I loved both nights. I loved the show both nights.
The first night I had a fish dish, but the second night I had the pork carnitas, which I really liked. That's probably one of the most memorable, like, main dining dishes for me.
And the guacamole side with the guacamole.
But I, I love the theming in that restaurant.
I think Coco is one of. Maybe not anymore because it's. Because now it's on the cruise and there's more of an Epcot, but I think that's one of the most like.
[00:53:18] Speaker A: Underrated Disney movies in general.
[00:53:20] Speaker C: And the music is so good. So I loved everything about Coco.
[00:53:24] Speaker A: Awesome. I love it too. I think they did a really nice job with that. All right, we gotta shift to shows because I can't have an episode without talking on the Treasure, without talking about the shows. Now on the Wish. Had you seen all three shows on the Wish on your previous cruises? Okay, so you'd seen Seize the Adventure, but obviously the other two shows, Aladdin and of course, Sorry, not Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Sam.
[00:53:49] Speaker B: Just one quick. Can I go back to one? Before we dive into shows, one quick question about the shows in the restaurants themselves, since we're talking multi generational cruising, which I don't think you asked about the noise level.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: I didn't. And I didn't ask about the kids and mom and whether they liked the shows as much as you did.
[00:54:03] Speaker B: Yeah. So, yeah. What did, what did the kids think of it? What did the, the grandparents think of it? And you know, how is the noise level? Because we sometimes get complained.
[00:54:12] Speaker C: Yeah, it's loud.
We were at a table in Coco, like towards the back. Right. Where servers go back to do something. I don't know. There's a bunch of like high chair stacked, so we were farther from the stage, which was probably good because it wasn't quite as loud. But I mean, you can't have like a very serious conversation there.
[00:54:36] Speaker B: And did you feel like you had an okay view of the show from back there too? I'm just curious.
[00:54:42] Speaker C: We, I, I felt like we could, could see like shoulders up of the, of the performers, but we couldn't see. Like a ton of my kids were like on their knees looking, but there was no one behind us. It was just a wall right there. So it was okay for me. I just enjoyed listening to the music. I don't know that I had necessarily followed the storyline just because we were so far. I just liked the music and I think my Kids were felt the same way. My mom didn't really say anything, like, complaining about the noise, but, I mean, it was loud. It was just hard to. It wasn't a time to sit down and, like, recap our day, you know?
[00:55:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right, jumping back to shows. So you Seize the Adventure, Beauty and the Beast and Tale of Moana.
You had seen Seize the Adventure, but obviously Beauty and the we hadn't been on the Dream before, so Beauty and the Beast is new to you. And of course, Moana is new because it's new to the treasure.
I'm curious. Did you go see all three shows on this sailing, and what did you think of all the shows? Shows?
[00:55:41] Speaker C: We saw all three.
I love Sees the Adventure. I like the mix of songs. I like that you see, like, Merida. You don't really see her, and you definitely don't hear that song played very often. So I. I like that it's a good, like, intro into the cruise, right? Like, gets you in the mood for all the shows. Beauty and the Beast was, like, fantastic. I think you could take that show and just throw it on Broadway, and it. It would. I mean, I know that Beauty and Beast has been on Broadway, but you could take that exact cast and the way that the show is written and put it on Broadway, and it would just be amazing.
The whole cast was great.
The scenery was great. The costumes are great. The dancing was great. Like, I just. I love it.
[00:56:25] Speaker A: It was. Yeah. It's won awards.
[00:56:28] Speaker C: It's so good.
[00:56:28] Speaker A: The staging is. The staging is perfect. It is. And it is actually. They tell you or Peter or whoever the. Or whoever your cruise director comes on stage and tells you, like, this adaptation is or it wasn't Peter. I can't remember who our. Who was our cruise director.
[00:56:48] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, we had Darren.
[00:56:50] Speaker A: I don't know if Darren. I think he might have left before. Well, he might have left in between our cruises, because we sailed a few weeks before you. But they tell you. The cruise director tells you, like, this is actually based on the live action movie. It's kind of a mixture because the live action movie is, of course, based on the animated movie. And so.
And so it's definitely sort of a mix of all the different productions that they've done before. But it's a fantastic, fantastic staging. Curious what you thought of Moana.
[00:57:20] Speaker C: I loved Moana. I loved it from.
I just thought it was done beautifully. Like, the scenery. I love the choreography. Like, I come from a dance background. So when they. In the beginning of the show, used the dancers to make the ocean and the heart of tpt and the way that, like, I just thought, like, that just gave me chills watching it. I loved everything about that.
But I don't think you could, like, if you're looking at it the same way, I don't think you could take that and put it on a Broadway stage. I do feel like there's some kinks that could be worked out. I think we had a new, newer cast. They were all great, but the Maui that I had seen in the promos was not the Maui that we had.
[00:58:04] Speaker A: Yep.
Yeah, it's a different.
You had cast two.
So our recent cruise, we had cast two as well. So you said the same cast that we saw on our spring break cruise, but not the same cast as the maiden voyage. I will say the maiden voyage cast is always going to be like.
I shouldn't say always. Generally going to have some higher caliber people than the other cast because sometimes those folks are just going to be on for that one contract and not come back. Like. Corey J. Bradford is an example of that. He's going to be Hercules on the Destiny. He is a Broadway actor and he. I will tell you, I would be very shocked if he did more than one contract as Hercules on the Destiny. Right. They're bringing him on as like the performer. Right. For all the previews and all the promos. And I'm sure they'll have an amazing Hercules after him, but it will not be Corey J. Bradford level. Right. So. But yeah, it's a wonderful cast. But I agree with you that one is not as easily ported onto Broadway.
[00:59:09] Speaker C: But it still felt like so much of it was.
I could feel the intention behind the way they staged it. And I just. I still loved it just for different reasons than I liked Beauty and the Beast. So all three were hits. I mean, my kids loved them every. You know, everyone gave standing ovations every night.
And it's a level of entertainment that I don't know that you can get on every cruise line.
[00:59:33] Speaker B: So what did you think about.
Sam's favorite topic is Sagin Coriander when it comes to the Treasure. So did you make it to any of the Sage and Coriander shows and the Indiana Jones and the stuff they.
[00:59:47] Speaker D: Do in the atrium?
[00:59:48] Speaker B: What did you think about that? Because it's a new element of entertainment. It's certainly one that they've amped up on. The Treasure.
[00:59:56] Speaker C: Yeah, we saw them at the Choose Wisely show and then also the Jungle Cruise interactive game.
I love the concept behind it. That it's like two characters that you see throughout the ship and that are, like, kind of continuing to build the story in ways that are different than, like, just on stage or at the dining restaurants. I thought they were great. I. I didn't watch any of the Coriander and Sage clips from the first couple of cruises. I know it's a different set, but I still. I thought they were great and funny. I love the Indiana Jones show, and I'm not even. Like, my husband is way more into Indiana Jones than I am, but I could still follow the show, and I thought it was funny. And the Jungle Cruise game, My family loved that. My daughter got to be the. The one that just steers the. The ship, and my son was, I don't know, throwing beanbags or whatever. Our team won. That's all. I know it felt a little chaotic, but we had, like, a lot of little kids in our boats, so some of it got lost. But, no, I thought they were great, and I hope that they. Disney continues some aspect of that on future ships to kind of have these characters that are consistently being seen.
[01:01:15] Speaker A: Were you a Skipper Frank or Skipper Lily?
[01:01:18] Speaker C: We were Skipper Lily.
[01:01:19] Speaker A: I have a theory.
I have a theory that Skipper Lily's team always wins.
[01:01:23] Speaker C: Oh, okay. Well, we did win.
[01:01:26] Speaker B: Did you. Did you make us any of the. The retellings that they do? Like the Aladdin or.
[01:01:30] Speaker C: We didn't see the Aladdin, but they. We did catch a little bit of the. They did one of brief. Oh, I don't know if. Yeah, I was gonna say. I don't know if I'd heard anyone talk about that.
So that was really fun. And again, like a. A film that doesn't always get its. You know.
[01:01:46] Speaker A: Yeah, it's due credit.
[01:01:48] Speaker C: Yeah, Right.
[01:01:49] Speaker B: I feel like we had someone on who mentioned Brave. Was it Brave or Tangled?
[01:01:52] Speaker A: No, they had mentioned Tangled. It was. Yeah. So we have. So. Right. So with cast two, when cast two came on board, Coriander and Sage did, like, in the first week, they did, like, they did a Tangled retelling in addition, I think to. Or maybe instead of. Or in addition to the Aladdin one.
And then the woman who was Sage.
Am I getting that right? Or is it's a woman who's Coriander? I can't remember at this point.
Anyway, I think Sage is the woman, but she got injured. And then they weren't doing the retelling because, anyway, they were using, like. I'll call them understudies. But other cast members were filling in and doing the Sort of splitting up the part. And so.
But yeah, so it's great to hear. That means they're back. That means that there is a new sage on board and they're doing. And they also do the T tea. So I don't know if you guys did the. The tea.
[01:02:45] Speaker C: My mom, the kids. To the tea. Yes. Yeah.
[01:02:48] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Yeah.
[01:02:49] Speaker C: And they had a great time. They came back with so many gifts and so many desserts.
They were like, the people just said, here, just take them back to your room. Like, take all the desserts.
[01:03:01] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[01:03:02] Speaker C: But yeah, so they did the tea, which I will say that was really just a little bit side note about that. The kids had a great time, but they loved the characters that they met there too because they got to see Jasmine, Tiana, which I don't know if Tiana is always there.
[01:03:20] Speaker A: Yes, Jasmine, Tiana and Rapunzel.
With Flynn. With Flynn.
[01:03:25] Speaker C: Flynn, yes.
[01:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:03:27] Speaker C: So the one was the big one.
[01:03:28] Speaker A: Belle, I think also, I don't think.
[01:03:30] Speaker C: I don't think Belle was there. I think it was.
[01:03:33] Speaker A: Oh, maybe they had Tiana in Belle.
[01:03:35] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, because she said Tiana served us beignets. Like she came to the table and served us her beignets. My daughter said that.
[01:03:40] Speaker A: That we didn't. You know what? I, I don't think I. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know that we had Tiana. We had Belle. I don't think we. Yeah, but we might switch it up.
[01:03:51] Speaker C: Yeah, they love that Flynn was there because we had noticed that Rapunzel and Flynn were going to be meeting somewhere on the ship. And I said something and the crew member said, oh yeah, that doesn't happen all the time. Like it's one night only. And I thought, oh God, we better get in line like 30 minutes before to meet Rapunzel and Flynn. And then they came back from the tea and they're like, we met Flynn. I was like, that's awesome. And now we don't have. Have to stand in line.
[01:04:12] Speaker A: No, I don't have to go.
[01:04:13] Speaker C: So. But yeah, the kids loved it. I think it would be.
We probably wouldn't do it again. Just like cost wise and all the trinkets they bring home, we have double of them, so we definitely don't need all that. But it was a really fun experience for my mom to do with them.
[01:04:27] Speaker A: So yeah, the tea is definitely a one and done, I would say. Like, I, I mean it's different on each of the, on some of the different ships. Like it's The Wish and the Treasure have different teas, and then they have a different tea than sort of the rest of the fleet. The rest of the fleet. The older ships have the same, like, kind of of tea that happens. And this is something that you can. You have to book it in advance. And it does cost extra. And for the kid price, it's like, I want to say like around 200, 250 or 270, I can't remember, for just the kid. And the kid has to be ages 3 to 12.
And then each adult is like another.
It's either 70 or $80. I can't remember. And the because. And the reason for the difference is the kids leave with all these gifts. Gifts the adults do not. And by the way, there is no tea actually served at the tea.
[01:05:17] Speaker C: No, I asked that. She said, there's no tea. And even my daughter, who has a huge sweet tooth, my mom said at one point, she's like, I can't eat anymore. It's a lot of too much sweets.
[01:05:26] Speaker A: Yeah. There is also, like, tea sandwiches and stuff. And those are good, but yeah, it's a lot of dessert type food. Yeah, love it. But it's. It's a fun experience.
It's like I said, I think it's a one and done experience. But the kids, especially kids who really are into princesses, like, absolutely love, love those tea experiences.
All right, is there anything we haven't.
[01:05:47] Speaker B: I gotta say, I don't get calling it a tea and not serving.
[01:05:50] Speaker A: I know, I know, I know.
[01:05:52] Speaker B: It could be adventure. They could serve like, Moroccan tea or something like that.
[01:05:56] Speaker A: They should serve tea because they do serve the sandwiches and everything on the tea tower. Right. So it is like. It is like, served like tea in the. In the sense of the tea tower with the three plates. Right. And then they also bring other stuff on regular plate plates. But I don't know. Well, before we subject you or before I subject you to rapid fire, is.
[01:06:15] Speaker B: There anything we missed? See, I'm getting the question in here, Sam, because you keep taking my questions, Caroline. Anything we missed?
[01:06:23] Speaker C: I just want to say that, I mean, I've only done three cruises, right? So. But I think this was our best crew that we've had so far. I mean, they were amazing. I. We love that. We actually recognized some of them from the Wish.
[01:06:35] Speaker A: Oh, cool.
[01:06:35] Speaker C: So that was really fun to look like. See, I mean, I'm sure they don't recognize us, but we were like, you know, we. You worked at Hyperspace Lounge and the sommelier at Paula who did Prima note for us was also the same one who did criminote and the champagne tasting before.
So it was just nice to see some familiar faces. And also, our dining team was like, we connected the most with them than we have with all of all of our others.
So we just had great experiences all around with the crew. And I really think that is what sets Disney apart from a lot of other cruise lines is the crew and how hard they work.
And. Yeah, so just 12 out of 10 for the crew on this.
[01:07:19] Speaker A: I love that. Nice.
[01:07:21] Speaker B: Well, Caroline, I think we have reached that point in the show where I need to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, a dash of judgment of the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sarah, take it away.
[01:07:33] Speaker A: Thank you. Okay, so I'm going to ask you some Disney favorites, and then I'm going to ask you some Disney cruise line favorites. I know the Wish class is your favorite ship, but I will ask you when we get to that question, which one is your favorite ship? So be prepared to decide between the Wish and the Treasure when we get there. But we're going to start with who is your favorite Disney character? And Disney means anything and every IP that Disney owns. So that could be the Simpsons, that could be Star Wars, Marvel, what have you.
I don't even. They do. They own everything. I don't even own Anastasia now. So, yeah, anything.
[01:08:08] Speaker C: Elsa.
[01:08:09] Speaker A: Awesome. Your favorite Disney movie, Moana. Nice. Oh, nice.
Your favorite Disney song, show yourself from Frozen 2. Oh, that's such a good.
[01:08:22] Speaker C: I love that one.
[01:08:23] Speaker A: Okay, now we have to move on to the ship.
You've seen the shows on the Wish, you've seen the shows on the Treasure.
What specific show is your favorite?
[01:08:34] Speaker C: It's definitely Beauty and the Beast.
[01:08:36] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, you can't go wrong.
Honestly, if you had picked Frozen, I would say that was fair. Or no, Frozen is not on the.
[01:08:45] Speaker C: We haven't seen Frozen yet.
[01:08:46] Speaker A: We haven't seen Frozen yet. Yeah, I was thinking, yeah, the Wish has Aladdin and Little Mermaid. Yeah. No, you can't choose one from the Wish. You have to choose one from the Treasure. It has to be. And either Beauty and the Beast or Moana are acceptable answers for that question.
Okay. Favorite onboard activity.
[01:09:04] Speaker B: That's the arbitrary rules part.
[01:09:05] Speaker A: Yeah. That is an arbitrary rule. Absolutely. You have to choose. Yeah. Either of those is an acceptable answer. Is an arbitrary rule. But.
[01:09:12] Speaker B: Except on Wednesdays.
[01:09:14] Speaker A: But listen, it's a Tuesday, and I make the rules, and I can revoke them whenever I want. All right, so a Favorite onboard activity.
[01:09:21] Speaker C: I think going to Trivia. We like it. We could get the whole family involved. So awesome.
[01:09:26] Speaker A: All right, favorite rotational dining, again from the Wish or the Treasure, which there's only one different, but between them. But that's still four different restaurants, I would say.
[01:09:35] Speaker C: Coco.
[01:09:35] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. That's the right answer. All right, a favorite space to relax on the ship.
[01:09:41] Speaker C: The COVID Cafe. We finally got to spend, like, a decent amount of time again. One of the days when my son would agree to go to the kids club and got a coffee. And I really liked sitting up there, especially with, like, the Moana theme.
[01:09:53] Speaker A: And yeah, I love that as out.
[01:09:56] Speaker B: Of the way as it is on the Wish class ships. It is a really nice. I mean, that is a really nice cafe.
[01:10:01] Speaker C: I earn my coffee, Michael. All the steps I took to get there.
[01:10:05] Speaker A: Yes, all the steps to get there. Exactly. The only thing I wish that they had those small bites. Now, you haven't been on the other ships, but on the other ships you can get, like, pastries in there or like, little charcuterie plates in there, like in the evening. So, yeah, that's the only thing that bothers me about the Wish class. So you don't have those little bites in there. All right, speaking of bites, Food. Favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item. We always start with the sweets because I love the savories. So we save the best for life. Last. So what is a favorite sweet item on your cruise?
[01:10:39] Speaker C: It's so simple. But I love when they have the strawberry soft serve. That is my favorite soft serve flavor. And I will. I will not miss a strawberry soft serve day.
[01:10:48] Speaker A: Yeah, listen, soft serve is never a wrong answer either. All right, favorite savory item on board.
[01:10:54] Speaker C: I'm gonna say the tomato water. Does that count as.
[01:10:57] Speaker A: That totally count as a savory.
[01:11:00] Speaker C: So unique. And it was so good.
[01:11:02] Speaker A: It's so good. Okay, we've reached that point where I'm going to ask you which one is your favorite ship.
Now, if you give the wrong answer, there might be judgment, because there's only one right answer if you're choosing between the Wish and the treasure, and that signals to you what I think the answer should be. But what is your favorite ship? Caroline?
[01:11:21] Speaker C: The treasure.
[01:11:22] Speaker A: Thank you very much. You. All right, we can be done now. No, I'm still going to ask you. I want to ask you the last question I like to ask of everybody when I do rapid fire, which is, what is your bucket list cruise, Meaning if you could go anywhere in the world on a Disney ship. And it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney currently sails, but it has to, I guess, be near the water. Where would you sail?
[01:11:44] Speaker C: The Galapagos. That has been on my bucket list. And I know there's an abd I think that goes, or a Nat Geo, one of them. And listen, I'm saving up for it.
[01:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah, there was an ABD and I think it had. Has disappeared the last year or so, maybe two. But there is a Nat Geo still. And we don't know. It could be that they're bringing it back. It seems like they're sort of trying to differentiate Nat Geo and ABD now. And so we'll see if adventures by Disney brings it back or if it stays with Nat Geo. But that sounds like an amazing one.
I definitely would love to do that as well. Well, thank you for playing. Caroline. You get an A because you answered the right ship. You answered a perfect show.
You know, I'm not a strawberry soft serve person, but soft serve is a great answer regardless. So. Yeah, Flying colors. Love it. All of it.
[01:12:37] Speaker B: Unfortunately, Sam's grading scale goes from A to A, so.
[01:12:41] Speaker A: Right, it does. And it also, it also has failing. You can. No, you can fail, but you can either. You can either just fail or you.
[01:12:48] Speaker B: Can get like, trust me, you can fail. I would fail. So there you go.
[01:12:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Because Brian picks like the Golden Mickeys as his favorite show and that's like an automatic fail. Even though I like that show, it just can't be your favorite show. It's just not somebody's favorite.
[01:13:01] Speaker B: Whatever, Sam. And so transitioning to the end of the show, Caroline, what is next for you and your family?
[01:13:06] Speaker C: Well, we have a nine night Mediterranean cruise booked for June of next year, which I'm really excited about. Yes, I.
[01:13:16] Speaker B: You need to come back. I want to hear all about it.
[01:13:18] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely.
[01:13:19] Speaker C: I'm so excited. We can't wait. And then we did. I always am a proponent of getting the placeholder if you can fit it within your budget because I feel like there's no risk if you don't use use it. You just get it back. So we have a placeholder too that we will have to use within two years, so.
[01:13:34] Speaker A: Awesome. So the cruise, the Mediterranean cruise would be on the Dream. So that'll be your first time on a Dream class.
[01:13:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
I'm looking forward to experiencing the older ships because I know they're different. So.
[01:13:45] Speaker A: Yes. Well, you must check out the Midship Detective Agency. It is a must. Do I tell everybody if you're going in the Dream or the fantasy. That is the one must do that. I give you that. You must put that on your itinerary.
[01:13:57] Speaker B: No, the one must do is the must do drill.
[01:13:59] Speaker A: The must do drill. The mustard drill. That's what Nathan calls the muster drill because everyone must do it. So it's the must do drill.
But thanks so much for coming, Caroline. We very much appreciate it. As Brian said, we'd love to have you back.
Definitely want to talk about your nine night Mediterranean cruise. What a great itinerary before we wrap up the show.
You are a travel advisor so why don't you tell folks if they are interested in booking something with you reaching out how they can contact you.
[01:14:28] Speaker C: Yeah, so I'm on Instagram at Caroline on Main street or you can send me an email. Caroline McGinnisickyworldtravel.com Awesome.
[01:14:39] Speaker A: Well, thanks so much again for joining us. We really appreciate it. Without guests like you reaching out to us and volunteering to talk about their vacations, we would just be the two weirdos with mics that we are. So we really appreciate it. Thanks for.
[01:14:52] Speaker B: We're weirdos with or without mics. But yes, we really appreciate it. Caroline. Thanks for taking the time.
[01:14:57] Speaker C: Thank you guys.
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