[00:00:00] Speaker A: So we got churro waffles on our Grand Cayman day, whereas everyone else got them on castaway day. So I got to do double the Mickey churro waffle.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Oh my God. I mean that. If that's not a reason alone to pay for concierge, I don't know what it is. I'm joking, but I love it.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: They should put that on the website.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Welcome back everyone to an another episode of the DCL Duo podcast brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. As you can tell from my voice doing the show intro, it is Sam. I am solo hosting today. Brian is unable to join me for this recording, but that's okay because I'm not alone. As usual, I have a fantastic guest to introduce you all to. I'm super excited to introduce this audience to first time Disney cruiser Whitney. Welcome to the show, Whitney.
[00:00:57] Speaker A: Thanks so much.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: So lovely to have you. We're both wearing ears today. I'm super excited about that. You showed up perfectly ready for a recording about Disney Cruise Line wearing some really cute bubble bar ears and I decided I needed to match you and put on my own ear, so I grabbed some DCL ears.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Love it. Yeah.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: I'm also wearing a DCL Duo inaugural Podcast cruise shirt, by the way.
And if you have, for those of you who aren't signed up yet, there is still room on the second podcast cruise which is on Adventures by Disney in summer of 2026. Just throwing it out there. Still available.
But anyway, I'm super excited to talk to you, Whitney, before we chat about your first cruise on Disney Cruise Line. I know you have some Disney creds and you have some other cruise lines that you have been on. So why don't you tell us your Disney background and your cruising background before sailing on Disney?
[00:01:51] Speaker A: Yeah, sounds good. So I first, I think kind of came to the mouse when I was about 12.
We took a family trip to Disney World at that time. And then I really didn't kind of venture back in any meaningful way until after I got married. And then since I got married, that was about 12 years ago, we've been either to Disney World or Disneyland multiple times. We've been to Disneyland Paris as well and always really enjoyed those. I'm kind of a type A planner person and Disney trips really make that perfect.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Disney's great, especially World. Like you better be a type A planner if you want to go to Disney World and like figure it all out.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
And then also during the pandemic, we were bored at home like everyone else and so started a project that was right when Disney had come out. And we said, we want to watch every movie ever released by Walt Disney Pictures in chronological order.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Well, and that's.
Wow. That's like a. There's a lot of stuff that. The Waltz. Yeah. That Walt and Roy, like, did. Oh, my God.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: So we're up to, you know, started at the very beginning, so Snow White. We're all the way up now to 2001.
So we've just.
Just watched the Princess Diaries again, but in chronological order, so.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Yeah. So hopefully. Hopefully we'll get even further through. The challenge is, you know, they put movies out at quite the cadence these days. So hard to stay on top of it.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. The last. The last 20 years.
Well, probably the last 30 years. I feel like they've put out movies like. Like fairly quickly. And you're talking, like, live action and animated. So, like, as. I mean, that's a lot of. Are you talking just feature films or what about, like, ones that were made for tv?
[00:03:44] Speaker A: We watch anything that was released in theaters, so if. If it's started on TV but then it came to theaters, then we'll still watch it. If it was only released direct to VHS or something like that, then we're not watching that. We also have a rule that we've recently had to set that we're only watching things that were released in the United States because as Disney grows over the years and they get kind of into the 90s and 2000s, they start acquiring so many other studios that they're releasing things just for an audience in India or just for an audience in different places in Europe. And so we're not watching those. But yes, all of the live action, all of the Disney nature films, and sometimes when they do acquire studios based in the US you end up with, like, watching a sequel to a movie that you didn't watch the original movie for. So a little interesting.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Oh, that would be funny. Like if there was a new Simpsons movie or something that they released. Right, Exactly. That would fall under your rules, even if the original Simpsons movie was not put out by.
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Correct. Yeah. So that's kind of my Disney history.
And then cruising, we. We've been on several cruises on several different lines. I think we've cruised the most with Norwegian, and our last cruise with them, I think I want to say it was like 2022, I guess. So kind of during that return to cruising and sailed in Haven for. For them and didn't love it. And so we can talk about that. More later.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah. For those who don't know, Haven is Norwegian's version of what we call in Disney parlins.
So it's the ship within the ship concept. Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker A: And we also have sailed Royal, but on a much older Royal ship.
We've sailed Celebrity in their kind of concierge level.
And most recently before this Disney cruise, we sell Virgin on their Mega Rockstar category. So we liked that kind of elevated category on cruises.
So that is what we typically do. And this was our first time to try out Disney. We don't have kids and I think we were a little bit nervous, like, was it going to be too kid focused for us? But when they announced the Disney Treasure, I'm a huge Haunted Mansion fan and so the Haunted Mansion parlor just spoke to me and I said, we've got to make it happen.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Yeah, they had you at the Treasure and then probably the Destiny as well. That's awesome. All right, so it was the Treasure was sort of the clincher for you to get you on Disney Cruise Line. Had you considered Disney like to sail with Disney before or were you just like, oh, I'm happy with trying out other cruise lines first. Their price point is generally better. Even in the concierge class. Right. On whether it's, you know, Haven or I think it's called the Retreat on Celebrity or Rockstar Mega Rockstar on Virgin. Even at, I mean even in those elevated classes, you're still on the whole, obviously there are, there are exceptions if you know, you're talking about the newest ship on Royal is as expensive as Disney. But on the whole you can sail in a higher class of cabin with all the benefits and inclusions and all of that for still less than sometimes even main cabins in Disney.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that was kind of one of the learning experiences of booking this was that I was in my head kind of grouping like, well, you've got Carnival, Royal and Disney. And then as I started to look at it, it's like, oh no, Disney's actually more of a luxury line and the experience is more inclusive and in the service is going to be at a higher level. So then I, you know, starting to look and compare it to maybe the Celebrity retreats or like the Princess and kind of that like next level up.
And so that took away a little bit of the sticker shock. But yeah, especially Sailing concierge on their brand new ship. It was definitely not, not a minor vacation expense for us, but sure.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Well, it's a seven night cruise also. Right. You're talking the Most expensive ship. You're talking a seven night itinerary, not a three or four itinerary. So of course that cost is going to be greater because you're on for longer than a three, four or even five night cruise. Yeah. And and out of Port Canaveral their cruises also tend to be more expensive with Disney because obviously there's the convenience of doing a, you know, land and sea type vacation. Yeah. So easy choice for you to sail the Treasure because of Haunted Mansion, as you mentioned, as far as Eastern versus Western, did you, did you pick in particular, I know you sailed western. Did you pick that itinerary or were it just a matter of. These are the dates that work best for myself and my husband. And so we're going to sail on Eastern.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: So originally we were looking at trying to sail over the Christmas holidays on the Treasure, which that would have been like their third or fourth sailing and we just couldn't quite make it. And those, those sailings in particular were a lot more expensive even than the ones that came later.
And so we kind of priced things out and found out we could actually go to Paris, stay in Paris for a week and visit Disneyland Paris for a few days for less than we could be on one of those early, early cruises. So decided to do the Disneyland Paris trip over the holidays. And then that pushed us to do.
We sailed in early May on the Treasure. And in terms of the itineraries, both of them had some places that I hadn't visited before.
But I think we had heard from people that the main attraction was getting to go to Castaway Cay. And that surprised me because, you know, I've been to other private beach clubs from, or private island destinations from, from cruise lines and it was always fine. But I was like, how is that going to be a main draw? And I mean spoiler alert. But everyone was right. It was a really great experience.
And so, you know, I think it was, it was more just the dates that kind of motivated that choice for us.
It also, of course you have one less sea day on the Western. And so I like getting off and seeing a new spot and kind of just having those port excursions. So that was a draw for me as well.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Oh, interesting. I'm the opposite. I want more days at sea, less days at port.
But you are right, absolutely. Castaway is the destination that most people are looking for on their itinerary. Even, you know, they might choose an itinerary just because it has castaway or even now just because it has lookout. But they are definitely the ports that people tend to choose with Disney as opposed to being concerned about, oh, I'm going to, you know, Dominican Republic or Jamaica or, or even St. Thomas. Yeah, well that totally makes sense. Now you booked concierge for your first Disney cruise line experience, which I can't say whether or not that's a mistake because the concierge experience is really lovely.
But it does like spoil you. I hate to say spoil you, but like it's, it's hard to like once you sail concierge. It is hard. I mean we've obviously done both and, and we've mostly sailed non concierge well for the last couple years we've only sailed in sort of regular. Again we are sailing in concierge this summer in for Alaska. But I do think it is, you know, it's hard to give up those benefits once you have them. But speaking of those benefits, as a first time cruiser and sailing in concierge, you have the best onboard booking window. Even though you are no castaway club status, you still are at the very front of the line with booking. I'm curious one, did you know about this ahead of time? And, and two, how did your, you know, how did like onboard. When I say onboard booking, I'm talking about excursions and drink tastings and adult dining and for concierge sailors. This is one of the huge benefits. You get to book everything by sending an email to Shoreside Concierge and just telling them what you want.
They put it all in. And that's at midnight at 130 days and then at 100 and what is it? 123 days. I believe when it opens to Pearlcruisers, you open the app and everything's in your app. And if you want to change stuff, you can. At that point you have full control to book other things, cancel things in the app, but you don't have to do anything because it's already been done for you. You just go on to make sure that everything you wanted was booked. So yeah, one, did you know about that ahead of time?
And two, how did it go?
[00:12:30] Speaker A: Yeah, so that actually was another primary reason I think that we ended up booking concep years because we again I really wanted to try the Haunted Mansion Lounge and I knew when the Wish had initially debuted they had the hyperspace lounge that they were doing by timed entry. And so I thought if there's a chance that they're going to do timed entry on Haunted Mansion, then I really want to make sure that I'm able to get in there multiple times so that I can get the full experience.
And so that really drove that decision to. I don't have any status. I'm not going to be able to get those reservations any other way. So I'll go ahead and make that decision to sail concierge to ensure if that happens. Now, of course, that didn't end up being an issue with the Haunted Mansion Lounge. Fun fact. I actually think they should be doing it that way because it's crazy crowded and haunted. Haunted Mansion Lounge.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: But especially I would say the first couple of days, it tends to die down later in the cruise or on port days when they open, although they tend to open later on port days. But like, you're right, especially those first couple days there, it's a, it's a little crowded and if you want to take.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: It's hard to see all of the features, people are constantly coming in and out and standing and all of that.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Yes, it's one of those things where I feel like you pop your head in at the beginning of the cruise. But if you really want to see everything that's in that space, you got to go later in the cruise to like really take in everything and to be able to kind of enjoy the space and sit through the entire like. So I think about 45 minute sequence of, of, of everything that happens in there. But yeah, exactly.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: So that was kind of why we had opted for concierge. And so absolutely I did know about the deadline and emailing things in that the challenge for us is that our 130 day window was Christmas Eve and we were in Paris and so we set up a Google auto schedule email to go through and that worked. But the auto reply that I got didn't come back to me until like 12:03.
So I think I was a little late for some of the people that had really been right there on it. And because of that we did request a cabana at Castaway and we were not successful even being in concierge class. So it sounds like with the wish class of ships that does tend to happen more than with the earlier ships. But I know we weren't the only ones in concierge that were a little bit disappointed they weren't able to secure a cabana for that, that trip.
But everything else was, you know, we got what we wanted. We did Palo brunch and we got the exact sea day that we wanted and the time that we wanted.
We had, I think requested, you know, special drinks in our fridge and they were there waiting for Us. So all of those things went great. The only thing that kind of we were unsuccessful at was the cabana.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: Yeah, well. And I will tell you, we always set up an auto email as well. Even though we don't have to write like if we're. Well the, the last time we were doing booking we were also on a cruise and so we needed to set up the auto email in advance because we were on the Treasure and we were booking for our Alaska cruise, which excursions really, really important excursion booking.
But I.
That's how we tend to do it. The auto. An auto email. You know another thing, if you're working with a travel advisor, you can always ask them to send it, but they're probably going to do the same thing which is to set up an auto email like so I do recommend to people have it all written out, everything you want like a couple days in advance and maybe you might refine it a couple of times. You might change your mind about things and then have it set to auto email at exactly midnight. Not at. You don't need to have it set at 12:01, it needs to be at 12 at 12:00am so as soon as, as soon as the clock strikes. Strikes midnight and your, you know, your carriage turns into a pumpkin. So. And it's midnight eastern time. So that, so you set up the email for make sure the time zone is correct, is midnight Eastern time to be in Paris.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Because that will really mess up your time.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and that's. It just screws it up in your head frankly. Right. Like it's. Yeah. Just getting it straigh time zone and we always just set our email like we'll literally set it to like send out at midnight eastern on this date.
[00:16:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Because it's that date when it turns midnight. Well, let's, let's jump into some of the. Of course. Well, let's jump into your trip. I want to talk about the concierge benefits. I want to focus the show on the concierge benefits and I also want to get your take now that you have sailed in Disney's concierge. And of course you've sailed. You mentioned both the retreat and in the haven on celebrity and Norwegian. It's. It's super interesting to hear I think your take on the comparisons between those things in terms of benefits but also in terms of service. And of course we'll hit that ultimate question of is sailing concierge on Disney worth it? Because I think that's a huge thing that people are always curious to hear about. So let's dive in. You guys fly to Orlando. I presumed mco. I know you spent a little bit of time at the parks in advance and you hit up a very fine restaurant at Walt Disney World. Tell us where you went for dinner the night before your cruise.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Yes. So we were so lucky to have gotten a reservation for Victoria and Albert's, specifically in the Queen Victoria room where they serve the extended tasting menu. It's only four tables per night that get that experience. It's four tables of two people each. So eight people per night can do that. And we were two of the lucky eight on that.
That was, by the way, not a reservation that I initially got with my Disney dining, but props to mouse. Mouse savers on that one that we were able to find the time.
But it was.
It was such an exquisite meal. I mean, just the service, the wine pairings, the courses. It was, I mean, obviously again, more expensive treat, but something that if you do have a special occasion, it's hard to think of something that would beat that experience in Orlando.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. We did that same experience. Now. It's been a number of years. It was in trying to remember. I think that if it was in, it might have been in 2020 when we did that right before the world shut down over. I think we might have done it when we did marathon weekend.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: Oh, that's perfect. Because then you don't have to feel guilty about all the food you're eating.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, and we. We. We jumped on a cruise. I'm trying to remember if it was then or if it was 2019. It was a trip with my mom where I just can't remember which. If it was marathon weekend or if it was a different trip. But anyway, yeah, we. We loved it. We had a great experience.
But I gotta tell you, Whitney, I think if you like Victoria and Alberts, I gotta tell you, I think that enchantee or Remy on Disney Cruise Line is a better value. Like, for like. I think it's as good of an experience, if not better, dare I say, and better value. Because the cost, of course, is a decent charge, but it's not quite the cost of eating on land at the same. Because obviously they sort of fix figure in that you're giving up your dining in main dining. So it is a reduced price as compared to the same caliber meal on land. So I definitely have to tell you, you gotta do it. I know you did Paulo brunch on this cruise. I'm excited to hear about what you thought. But I think if you sail On Disney again, I would strongly encourage you, of course, if you're on the Magic or the Wonder, they don't have those restaurants. But I would strongly encourage you, if you're somebody who likes that level of fine dining, you would really.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: That is in fact the plan. So I won't spoil. We can talk about it at the end. Oh, yay, upcoming Disney plans.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: But yes, I love it.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: I'm very much hoping to get to experience that. We didn't book it for this cruise just because it was our first Disney experience. And I was really excited about the included rotational dining restaurants, especially Coco, wanting to see the shows, wanting to see the Marvel shows. And so, you know, I think just with that, it's the Treasure. And I'm assuming all the Wish class ships are just so jam packed with features and activities and lounges and all of that that I think you can't even really get it all in, in one cruise to try and experience everything. And so kind of made that decision early on that, hey, if we, if we go and we love the food, then that's just a reason to go again to get to experience that, that other restaurant.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: I honestly think that's a great outlook to have and a great way to go into it. Like, I do tend to discourage people from doing adult dining their first time on Disney Cruise Line only because you are, it is, it takes a long chunk of time and you are like going to have FOMO about all the other stuff that's going on on the cruise. And it doesn't matter how many times you go on Disney Cruise Line, there are always going to be things that you just can't fit into the schedule. There's so much going on. And so if you're somebody like me who wants to like, do a million different things, you're never going to be able to do every single one of those things. So I think if you have to cut something out of your, like, particularly first cruise, like, that's a good, that's a good decision point. So let's talk about the, the boarding experience to port. Well, actually, how did you guys get to Port Canaveral?
[00:22:13] Speaker A: We took a private transfer and that was fantastic. I know a lot of people really enjoy the Disney shuttles and we did see several of those along the way on the highway.
But I think, you know, if you are looking for kind of a special treat for yourself, like doing a private shuttle was great. We got to hear the person that was our driver actually, as a former cast member as well. So he was able to Share lots of his Disney experience. And it just made us even more excited to get on the cruise. So that was fun.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Oh, awesome. I love that. All right, so you get to Port Canaveral. How does the check in process go? And did you spend any time in the sort of. I don't want to call it concierge lounge, but the lounge that's for concierge in the port? Because it's not the concierge lounge, but it is the port concierge lounge. Yeah.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: So we left Orlando at about 9:45.
We arrived at the port just around like 10:40. So we didn't have any traffic. So because of that, you know, it was really smooth experience. We handed off our luggage to the porters.
They were already letting people into the port building. So went straight through, did security, did our check in, and then. Yes, we're quickly guided over to the lounge space. We did stop and take pictures with the giant ship replica and all of that, but Right.
Went over and it was crowded by the time that we went on. I think it was around 1115 that they came.
When you're in that separate waiting area, of course, the concierge team will come out, they all introduce themselves and let you know a few things about what you can experience that week and then guide the concierge families on the 1st, I think are the family of the cruise or whatever.
Yes.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah. So the family of the day and then back to back cruisers. But back to back cruisers are kind of like shuffled on with no pomp and circumstance. And then concierge gets to go in and then they start doing the other boarding groups. Yeah. So it's pretty quick, though.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: It was. And so we were, I think, like the third or fourth family from the concierge group that made it on.
They did the announcement, which was lovely. And then the concierge staff is kind of trying to shuttle all of the folks into the concierge included lunch, which on the treasure was in 1923.
One thing that was kind of cool about that, we didn't go straight there, but when we did eventually make our way there, we got to eat on the Walt Disney side, whereas our dinners in 1923 were on the Roy Disney side. So it was kind of nice to get the full experience, but we kind of decided to take an alternate plan because I was still hunting for that cabana on Castaway. And so we headed directly to the concierge lounge to see if we could get an on ship wait list and see kind of how things were going for that didn't end up working out for us, but we did go ahead and put down that request. Got to meet some more of the staff that were already there. They were pouring champagne in the concierge lounge as well. So we grabbed a couple glasses of champagne and then just walked around the ship for a little bit to get our bearings before ultimately, I think around 1 o', clock, we finally did make our way over to the concierge lunch. The concierge lunch is pretty similar menu to the regular main dining lunch if you go that route, but just with a few additional extras. But I think that the bonus that a lot of people are excited about is you get free beer or wine at that lunch.
So we did have, I think a couple glasses of bubbles with our lunch. So it was a nice way to start the cruise and just not feel like you had to be fighting in a buffet the second you got on board.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's a really nice way. I think the sit down lunch, whether you're sailing concierge or not, is a wonderful start to the cruise. I do warn people with young kids that it is a little bit slower than if you went to Marceline Market or cabanas, depending upon what ship you're on.
But you don't have to carry plates of food for your little ones. They are just sitting and somebody's bringing you the food. So in some ways it's easier, in some ways it's harder. Just kind of depends on what are the challenges.
If you've got little ones, if you are adults only, you know, just choose your own adventure. They're both, both great options.
And of course you get the pool deck food on the wish class. So, which is phenomenal. But we'll, we'll talk about that more.
I do think that was a super smart idea though, to go to the lounge first before going to the lunch because so for folks who haven't sailed concierge, if you sail on the wish class, you will meet the concierge host, as Whitney mentioned, in the port terminal in the sort of concierge waiting area and they will explain to you as a group a bunch of the benefits of concierge and they'll let you know where the lounge is, if you don't already know and what hours it's open, that sort of a thing. And they'll also give you a little bit of the, you know, if you want to early entry to the theater, things like that. They'll tell you where to go for all of that and when to meet where but they don't come to the concierge lunch like they do on the four original ships. On the four original ships, meaning Magic, Wonder, Dream, Fantasy. The concierge hosts come to the sit down concierge lunch and they will go around table to table to talk to you and sort of give you that same information on an individual basis. And also check if you need any, if you have any requests that weren't sort of fulfilled ahead of time, like spa appointments, adult dining, cabana requests, all that kind of stuff. And so you can take care of that stuff at lunch on the four original ships. But on the Wish and the Treasure and of course the Destiny, when she comes out, you have to go to the lounge to take care of any of those requests. And that's just simply because there are too many people. They are not able to go around and speak to everyone in time if they did it at the lunch. And they know that from experience because when the Wish came out, they tried to do it that way and it just didn't work. And so they stopped that practice on the Wish class.
But I do think if they do have a different wait list on board than the pre, there is a wait list pre cruise for cabanas, but the waitlist on board is the waitlist you need to get on, because I don't believe that that transfers over to the ship. I think once the, once everything closes, which is two days, basically once bookings close, two days before, when I say bookings, I mean excursion bookings and everything's going to get billed, everything transfers to the onboard team and the onboard team doesn't get transferred a waiting list. And so if you want a cabana on board, if you want a chance at a cabana, you really have to be selling concierge and talk to the concierge host. And they do sometimes become available because people do sometimes cancel on board.
And technically speaking, they don't have to let you cancel, but they always do because there's always somebody that wants one. And so as long as they can fill your spot, they don't really care who has it. It so, so very smart. I'm sorry it didn't work out, Whitney, but I think you did all the, you did all the right things.
You did and you did it all right. It's just on the Wish class, there's just so many concierge rooms and there's only so many cabanas. Now. Once the new cabanas are fully built, which you probably saw in the Disney Bay, yes, there are going to be more cabanas. And that will, I think, make getting a concierge. Getting a cabana when you're selling concierge a little bit easier will still be just as difficult for the regular folks.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah. We did walk down there, actually, during our castaway day, and it looks like all of them are framed in, at least, so. And that was in early May, so we'll see, you know, how long it takes before they kind of start opening those for bookings.
But fingers crossed that that does make the concierge process easier or the cabana process easier.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to. I want to talk about some of the other benefits of concierge. Of course we mentioned the lounge. I'm curious what you thought of the. I think the lounge on the Wish classes is, hands down, the best in the fleet. But I'm curious what you thought of it and thought how you thought it compared to sort of lounges and sundecks that you've seen on, you know, other ships on Celebrity and on Norwegian.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So based on having been in those other lounges, we really didn't think that we were going to use the lounge much.
When we were on the Norwegian Bliss and we were in Haven, we went to the lounge to get drinks, and that was kind of it. We didn't really see any benefit to being in the lounge. The interaction with the staff in Norwegian just is not at all the same as it is on Disney. Whereas on Disney, by the first evening, several of the concierge hosts already were calling myself and my husband by our first names. They asked what our drinks were, if our drinks got even just a little bit low. During the concierge Happy hour, from 5 to 10pm Every night, they're refilling automatically. And so you really build up that relationship very quickly with the concierge staff on Disney. And I didn't experience that on Norwegian at all.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: Well. And not even just the hosts, but to your point, even the bar staff.
So there's the hosts who are basically like what you think of as hotel concier years. You had a problem, that's the person you talk to. You want a dinner reservation, that's the person you talk to. But there's all this other staff that are sort of setting up and delivering the food, and also the bartenders and come around with champagne and things like that. So all of those staff, I feel like you do get to. You might not get to talk to every single person that works there, but the people who are there, like, all the time, or like Bartender Francisco like, he will learn your drink order if you, you know, if you order the same drink, you know, twice, he'll know your drink the next day. Right.
[00:32:31] Speaker A: We did have a bartender. Francisco.
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Yes, yes, it's the same Francisco. I know he. He was on the Wish, and then he moved on to the Treasure, and I.
I didn't know if he was on there that month, but he's been on the Treasure. Yeah, he's been on the Treasure for all. He's wonderful.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Yeah. The whole staff was fantastic. And, you know, you do. I always thought it was weird during my research ahead of the cruise that people are like, oh, is this host on or is this host on? And I was like, who cares? Right? Like, it's. They're just going to pour you a drink. But no, you do. You get invested and you hear their backstory and what their hobbies are and the families that they may be away from when they're sailing. And so.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: And that Sophie's getting married in a couple of weeks. Right. You know?
[00:33:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So, I mean, it was just you. It felt like a much higher level of service to me compared to Norwegian celebrity. I did celebrity to Alaska, and for that, because they have an enclosed sun deck on the ship that I was on, that was a really nice thing to have in Alaska in particular, I think. You know, just. You spend so much time just in awe of the scenery for that. So that was one that I did spend a little bit more time, but really, just overall, I would say that I did spend a lot more time in the lounge than I thought I was going to. We ended up having breakfast there most days, and I'm not even a huge breakfast person, but when there's the Mickey waffles are right there and they want to bring them to you, so why not?
[00:34:01] Speaker B: I mean, who doesn't like a Mickey waffle? Except you gotta go to a Marceline market to get the churro Mickey waffles on castaway day.
[00:34:08] Speaker A: So the concierge lounge gets at least on Wish class gets a special early preview of churro waffle day. So we got churro waffles on our Grand Cayman day, whereas everyone else got them on castaway day. So I got to do double the Mickey churro waffle.
[00:34:27] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I mean that if that's not a reason alone to pay for concierge, I don't know. I'm joking. But I love.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: They should put that on the website.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: For sure they should. But I did not know that, Whitney. You know, it's been too long since I'VE sailed Concierge. Clearly I will say for those listening the the breakfast options on the Wish class are hot. Include hot breakfast options like Mickey waffles and Mickey churro waffles and also like egg sandwiches and things like that. On the other ships it is just a, I'll call it a continental style breakfast. It's a nice buffet. It's like, you know, there's cereal, there's fr. Fruit, there's yogurt and granola and things like that, pastries. But it doesn't, they don't have hot breakfast items that you can order. Although it might be. I can't remember. I know that the the dream has gone through her dry dock. The dream may be the exception and so they may, they may have hot breakfast items on the Dream now or hot food items I should say on the dream.
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[00:36:26] Speaker B: Tell us about the the food in concierge because I do think this is one area where Disney really shines in that basically there's food available all the time. Yeah, yeah. Tell us, tell us what was available for those who don't know and what you thought of the quality of the food.
[00:36:46] Speaker A: Yeah, so in the mornings it starts with breakfast. So they do have a case towards the back with cold items. So, so sliced fruit, granola and yogurt bars, acai bowls, that sort of thing.
They have a variety of different Kinds of pastries.
And then there is the hot menu item as well.
There's about four things on it that are consistent throughout the entire cruise and then a couple things that kind of rotate each day.
So if you do want variety, you don't have to eat the same thing every day. We fell in love with this breakfast sandwich that they had and so we did end up be ordering that almost every day. Again, I'm not normally a breakfast person, but it was there and so we.
[00:37:28] Speaker B: Did that breakfast sandwich is so good. I know exactly what I'm talking about. So good.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: And they also have in that particular lounge three different of the automatic coffee machines. And we are huge coffee drinkers. And so that was so nice too to be able to go and get a cappuccino in the morning, not have to go all the way to the COVID Cafe, which is on the, you know, full other side of the ship from at least where our stateroom was.
And kind of like it's hard to get to the COVID Cafe on the Wish class ships. Like it's tucked in there.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Yeah, really far away. I actually highly recommend going to one of the other like Heihei Cafe or Jade Cricket because those are. I mean they can get kind of crowded in the morning because of coffee orders, but I would say those are just easier to get to than Cove Cafe is so far away.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Yeah, so we did. We definitely got a couple cappuccinos every morning and then around I want to say it's like 10:30ish. They do switch over to kind of their lunch offerings and the cold case becomes just snack type items. They have a cheese plate, they have tea sandwiches, they have lots of different kinds of desserts. If you want cookies or cake pops or anything like that, then they have a small lunch menu and then same for dinner. They have a dinner menu as well. We did not eat lunch or dinner in the concierge lounge, but we did certainly take advantage of the snacks because they have the Happy hour from 5 to 10. I like to get a glass of wine and pair that with the cheese plate. Was my go to just about every night. And that was just great to grab a little snack. We had the later dinner seating. We had done that intentionally since we don't have kids. We had heard it was slightly fewer children usually in the later seating.
So we did that. But that, you know, meant that around five you might get a little peckish. So it was great to have that option to just pop in and get a couple light snacks.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's A super smart idea. And I think the food in general and concierge is really good, with the standout for me being that breakfast sandwich and then the tea sandwiches. I cannot say enough about the sandwich was incredible.
[00:39:39] Speaker A: I am still, like, wishing someone would make it for me at home. But I also think that people don't realize that when you're concierge as well, you get in the rotational dining that you are usually given kind of a premier seating area.
So that, and I assume perhaps more senior wait staff as well in a lot of cases. And so we had wonderful servers at dinner as well. And we were so close to the stages.
At Coco, we were one stage or one table back from the stage, which was great because we could really see all the action without feeling the. The performers were tripping over us or anything.
At Marvel, we were again, like one table back from the screen so we could see the full thing. Feel like we were right in the action. But so that was really nice too. And overall I was really impressed. I mean, we're clearly foodies. We're heading to Victoria and Alberts just for fun. So that means that we have a high bar for food. And I think it is definitely at the top of any of the cruise lines that I've sailed. The only one that can even kind of equal that level of food across the board was Virgin.
They do have great food on Virgin as well, but definitely, in my opinion, hands down better than Norwegian or celebrity or Royal in terms of their main dining foods.
[00:41:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I thought on Virgin that there were some things that were better and fancier than like, Disney. But I also felt like it was a little bit inconsistent. Whereas I feel like Disney is a little bit more consistent. Like there were some really big hits, but also some really big misses on Virginia.
Just my personal opinion.
So I felt like consistency wise, Disney eked out over Virgin. But like I said, there were some things on Virgin that were quite standout I would put above Disney main dining.
But yeah, I agree with you. I think consistently Disney scores well in the food category.
And I don't just mean Mickey's Mac and Cheese, that Nathan is obsessed with.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: Those chicken tenders.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: Those chicken tenders. Right. Life changing. Exactly. But I think that's a good point.
I do think that if you're sailing concierge, you do get tend to get a more premiere. That's a good way to describe more premier seating. You are not going to be in the back of Arendelle on the Wish or Coco on the Treasure. And you are. I mean, there's not really a bad table on In Marvel because most of them are close to some screen. But I think you're seating in Coco or Arendelle is certainly going to be better closer to the stage, typically. Yeah.
[00:42:18] Speaker A: And in 1923, even we were right in a porthole window as well. So nice there as well. And that wasn't something that we requested. That just happened just because we're concierge.
[00:42:28] Speaker B: Did you guys get seated with anybody else or were you seated just the two of you?
[00:42:32] Speaker A: Just the two of us. And it seems like that they typically opt to do that for concierge unless you make a request otherwise.
[00:42:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I've heard. But it's always hard for me to tell because a lot of the time we've sailed with other people, and so we're often requesting to be seated with other people.
So it's been a while since we've sailed where we haven't put in a request to sit or not sit with other people. And so I haven't always been sure if that's the case, but that's what I've anecdotally tended to hear. I want to talk about the theater, because at the beginning, and when I say theater, I mean the main stage of the Walt Disney Theater, not the movie theaters. No priority seating for the movie theaters. That's for everybody.
When the maiden voyage happened for the treasure, I don't believe they were giving concierge that priv access to the theaters because, let's face it, people were lining up an hour before the show to see. Particularly to see Moana. But even for Beauty and the Beast, less so foresees the adventure. I gotta ask one, did you go to the shows? And two, did the concierge hosts get you guys premier or when I say premiere, early access to the theater?
[00:43:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So we did go see all three shows, and we did take advantage. They generally, about 40 minutes before the posted time for the show, they had us line up on one of the lower decks, just along the kind of hallway.
And then one of the concierge hosts would come and get us, lead us through a backstage area. In that backstage area, they gave us, if we wanted them, popcorn and bottles of water to take into the theater with us. And then we got our choice of seat seats.
They also let the. The ADA folks in at that same time so that they could get appropriate seating. And then after everyone in that group had kind of chosen where they were going to land, then they opened the doors to everyone else. And I have to say that was. It was really, really nice on, especially on Moana, because people were, I mean, even in May, still lining up an hour ahead of time.
And I know that was especially for families with young kids that weren't thrilled with that experience, because it's just hard to keep a toddler entertained for that long.
And so I think that that was one of the. One of the perks that I really, really appreciated.
[00:45:00] Speaker B: Yeah. And I mean, I think that will continue to be the case for maybe at least another. Well, I mean, she's still on her first year, right. Of sailing, and so there's a lot of. Most people who are sailing the Treasure are sailing for the very first time on that ship. And so they have yet to see Moana. They may have seen Seize the Adventure if they've sailed on the Wish, they may have seen Beauty and the Beast if they've sailed on the Dream, but if they haven't sailed on both of those, there might be lining up for those shows as well. But I think for a while, it's going to be that Moana will have a line, and then the same thing is going to happen on the Destiny for Hercules. And so that. That is a huge benefit.
As I mentioned, it's not generally, they will. Generally when the, when the ship is first opening, they won't necessarily introduce that benefit right away with concierge because it's just so much demand and they don't want to make people really angry.
But I. I understand it. I mean, from this.
Disney is a pay to play corporation, and. And that is just normal these days. I feel like in, you know, theme parks, cruising, whatever, right. If you are paying a premium, you're paying you. You have to get some benefit out of it. And one of those benefits that they introduced several years ago now is, is that early access to the.
Makes sense.
[00:46:17] Speaker A: I appreciate that actually, about Disney is that it feels like, you know, if you're willing to put money up to make problems go away, the problems absolutely will go away on Disney. And they're very upfront about that. You know, I think a lot of cruise lines can feel a little bit bait and switch about some things that you think you're getting. One thing, you get on board, and it's not quite exactly as promised. Disney is very transparent about, you pay this, this is what you're going to get. You don't pay this, this is what you're going to. To get. And. And so I think it's as. As far as those go. I know some people say, oh, Disney, you know, it's. Everything has price tag associated with it. I do feel they do a good job making sure that you're getting value out of those additional price tags if you choose to pay them.
[00:46:59] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and it's. I mean, they've done the same thing at the parks, whether it's that Premier Pass, Lightning Lane thing that they've got or a VIP tour. Right. Like, there are ways that they. They will upsell, but you get some significant benefit out of it. So it's just a.
What's important to you. Right. Do you want to wait outside the theater for an hour or do you want to, you know, sort of show up 40 minutes before and get your absolute choice of seating? So, you know, there are definitely decision points, I think, for different people on that.
[00:47:31] Speaker A: I'll also say, too, they were offering, at least on our sailing for Beauty and the Beast and Moana. They did three showings a day.
[00:47:39] Speaker B: I love when they do the Matt.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: And especially it seemed like that matinee show was the least crowded. So if that is something that maybe you're not sailing concierge and you don't really want to wait as long as you might have to on the later shows, try that, that earlier show if you can.
[00:47:57] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's also. I think the matinees are wonderful when they have them because the folks with younger children, if they've got early dining, those kids may be like, going to bed right after dining. They're not able to stay up for an 8pm show or 8pm show. Right. And so it is really nice. I've heard from a lot of folks with younger kids that they love a matinee because they feel completely comfortable bringing their children to it. The show's only, you know, an hour anyway, and then their kid can go to bed shortly after dinner and they don't have to keep them up till 10 o' clock at night or, you know, way past or past their bedtime at least. So I think it's a great benefit and it makes everybody happy because then the later shows are not quite as. As packed and you're more likely that everybody who wants to get a seat is able to get a seat. Well, I want to talk about some of the other benefits you mentioned in the lounge, which is drinks. So tell folks what they can expect as far as, let's talk both soft drinks and alcoholic drinks, but what they can expect as far as availability and what's included.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: Yeah. So in terms of soft drinks, that was one thing that I probably could have done more research on was. I didn't realize that it was just as much as you wanted of non alcoholic drinks kind of all throughout the day. But they have Coca Cola products. Right. So all kind of the standards but also some like whatever their orange soda is, things like that.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: Yeah, Fanta. My kiddo loves Fanta.
[00:49:30] Speaker A: That's how I know they also have a couple different types of waters.
I think there was Smart water and a Dasani.
The Dasani was in an aluminum can which is kind of interesting for water. But we had ordered the water package.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: Oh I was going to say if you buy the water package it is like usually the can it's either the aluminum bottle or the aluminum can. It just kind of depends what's in stock. Yeah, yeah.
[00:49:56] Speaker A: So we had ordered the water package because we were thinking oh we need to stay hydrated.
We, we didn't need it because we could have just gotten those bottles from the, the lounge each day.
But that was great to just be able to kind of grab and go anything that we wanted. And then from 5 to 10 every night they do a happy hour where it's really whatever you want that's behind the bar.
So I tend to be more of a wine drinker. And so they were for champagne I think they were pouring Moet which is a nice, perfectly nice bottle there for red wine I believe they had. The prisoner was so a pretty. You know it's like a 30, 30 ish dollar bottle of wine that they were pouring for red. I don't remember what whites they had.
But it's also open bar so I mean if you wanted a mixed drink that. It seemed like old fashions were the cocktail of the trip. Everybody was ordering old fashions.
[00:50:51] Speaker B: I feel like the old fashions are like the cocktail of like the last like decade now or something.
And they're so popular in Hooks Barbary as well.
And so. But yeah, Brian absolutely loves an Old Fashioned from Hooks Barbary from the concierge lounge, wherever. Yeah.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: And they were and my husband does too. And they, they if you have a specific request for a bourbon or a rye that you're looking for and they have it on board because it's served in one of their other bars. Usually if you make the request they can often go get that for you. So I think on ours we saw there was angels envy was there regularly. Um, which very nice rye as well. Um, so everyone seemed very satisfied with the offerings. I saw a lot of martinis getting made. Um, espresso martinis were very popular. As well. Um, so a lot of those throughout the night. But we would typically go grab a drink right before the show, take the drink with us into the show, and then come back for another drink after the show to take with us into dinner. And so that was lovely, because then you don't feel like you need to order a drink at dinner. So it just, it makes things a little bit smoother that it just makes your experience.
You don't have to put thought into it because it's all just provided for you.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: Yeah, it definitely gets you into that routine. We, we tend to do that same routine. The only thing I would say is the drawback of concierge, and I. This is not a negative on concierge. It's just. Just you spend so much time in the lounge because of those benefits and because it's such a nice, lovely, quiet space with all these yummy little bites of, you know, charcuterie or tea sandwiches that I find I tend to do less, like, exploring outside of concierge, meaning I'll spend less time in Scat Cat and less time in the Skipper society.
[00:52:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: Or less time. It maybe even Haunted Lounge. Although I, I, I have to say, I don't like the drinks in the Haunted Mansion lounge.
[00:52:58] Speaker A: Neither did we.
[00:52:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, There you go. There you go. But I love this space. Yes. I love the space, but we didn't like, really, any of the drinks, even including the sodas. We tried the. Some of the sodas and.
[00:53:08] Speaker A: Too sweet. Yeah, we, I, I agree with you. It's really easy to do that. I would say that we, we made an effort to hit every lounge that we could. I think the one we did never made it to the Rose.
So, so that was one. And sketches.
I'm not sure why they. Every time we were in Scat Cat, they were playing classical music, which, no, no hit on classical music. But, you know, I was, like, ready for Elton John or something like that.
And so it was just a different vibe than I think we were expecting.
And but you're right that we had to kind of intentionally make that happen because the default was so lovely.
[00:53:47] Speaker B: Yes, well, and, and the drinks are included in the lounge. The drinks are not included if you go to Skat Cat. Right.
Be like, oh, I paid. I already paid for concierge. I already paid for my drinks. But then you'll. Yeah, you're just, I think, less likely to. Even if you go to those spaces, you're less likely to sort of linger and spend a lot of time in those spaces.
[00:54:05] Speaker A: And there's one other drink I want to mention in concierge that I don't think a lot of people know about. But on the Wish class ships, if you go up to the sun deck, they have the kind of smoothie machines that is the only place that you can get dole Whisky whip on the ship. And so if you are a dole whip fan, keep that in mind. And it's entirely possible to go to the concierge bar, ask for some rum and then make your dole whip into an adult dole whip if that's something that you're interested in. So that was, that was fantastic too. Those are kind of tucked away. I don't think a lot of people realize they're even there. But they're up on the sun deck level with the hot tubs.
[00:54:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Now on the older ships there is a bar on the pool deck. On the regular pool deck there's an.
One of the bars that does sell Dole Whip and you can get an alcoholic dole whip or non alcoholic, but the smoothie style, not ice cream like parks. Obviously you can get either. But you're right. I think on Wish class, I think it's the only place that I think the smoothie exists is in that. In the sun deck lounge. And it's delicious. I must say.
I have had the non alcoholic version and I just think it's fantastic. Love that. Yeah. Well, I'm trying to think, are there other benefits we haven't talked about? I'll mention if you're staying in a one bedroom category or higher, you can also get hot breakfast delivered to your room if you're staying in just. If you're staying in a concierge family veranda, which is lovely, you can get the same continental breakfast that anybody else can get delivered to your room, but you can't get the, the hot breakfast that's only for one bedroom suites and higher. So two bedrooms, royals, whatever.
And so that's another concierge benefits I'm trying to think of there. I mean you do get priority disembarkation.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I think the only other thing is perhaps the Internet, so.
[00:56:04] Speaker B: Good point. Yeah.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Yeah. You get 20 or 24 hours of free Internet. And what is interesting about that is that it doesn't have to be concurrent, it's per person and it doesn't have to be at the same time. So. So if one of you wants to do it, you know, wait until I guess you're at C before because you won't need it before then. But you can turn that on for 24 hours, and then once that one runs out, you can turn your other one on for 24 hours. So if you were thinking of you want an Internet package, but maybe you don't need it every day, that can be nice as well. For us, though, it had the opposite effect that, like, I had it and then I wanted it. So then you want Internet.
[00:56:42] Speaker B: Yes, I feel the same way, Whitney. I think once you, once you get a taste of that sweet, sweet Internet, you're like, oh, I think I need it all. I need it for the rest of the cruise.
And it is, I have to say, it's expensive. I mean, like, all of cruise Internet is expensive, but it's actually pretty fast. Like, it's, it's, it is a better. You know, they, what they used to have was terrible. It was like you paid by the, like, megabyte and it was slow and it was glitchy. And what they upgraded to on all the ships now is actually quite, quite good, you know, Internet. Well, I, you know, before I subject you to some rapid fire, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the Haunted Mansion parlor, because that was, I mean, the impetus for booking this ship and booking this cruise. I mean, the thing, the thing that, you know, tipped you over the edge was the Haunted Mansion Parlor. Was it worth the hype?
[00:57:34] Speaker A: You know, it's, it's a super cool experience.
They have really carried the imagineering into so many different, different nooks and crannies of that space that everything from some of the original imagineers that worked on the Haunted Mansion ride, you see them honored in different things there to, you know, Donald's chair from some of the early Walt Disney cartoons is featured in there. You have the skeleton fish, which are so fun.
You have the songs that play. And so kind of just seeing the full rotation is even if you don't drink or you don't want their drinks, whatever it may be, it's so cool just to make your way in there.
And so that's my news on what's coming next is that we have booked a cruise on the Disney Destiny, so we're gonna get to experience that again.
We actually have two cruises booked, in fact, because we're also going to take do very merry time on the magic, so. And we're not going to be concierge for that one. We are for the Destiny. We're not for the magic. Just kind of looking at. Especially because the very merry time on the magic sails out of Galveston.
And when you're not able to get a cabana.
Some of the other kind of benefits aren't there. On an older ship, it just didn't feel like it was quite necessary for us.
But especially on the Destiny, again, it being a new ship with a lot of new things that people are going to be wanting to check out, we thought that splurge was worth it again. And so we're super excited. We're actually staying in the exact same state room that we stayed in on the Treasures. So at least we'll know the lay of the land a little bit.
[00:59:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And it does. Is your cruise going to Lookout or Castaway or both? Going to both.
[00:59:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:27] Speaker B: And you get like twice the chance of getting a cabana as well.
[00:59:30] Speaker A: I know.
[00:59:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:59:31] Speaker A: I figure. I figure I need every chance I get, so hopefully this will be the one that we actually get the command experience.
[00:59:38] Speaker B: Love it. Well, I think you've made the right choices. I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not sure that the concierge experience is as worth it on the Magic. I would differ if it was the Wonder, because the Wonder has a better lounge and a sun deck, whereas the Magic doesn't have really any sun deck. It's kind of a.
Well, there's kind of this weird space that is partially enclosed. It's not really a sun deck. But I just think. Yeah, I think in general, I don't. I'm not sure the magic experience is. Is worth it, especially if you're not going to be going to one. Disney's private islands and there's sort of cabanas. Out of the. Out of the question.
[01:00:12] Speaker A: I think on the topic, it was going to be just whether or not like we wanted to guarantee our Palo dinners and that didn't feel it was for our sailing, about an extra thousand dollars a night. That didn't seem like a necessary expense.
[01:00:28] Speaker B: And honestly, you'll be able to get Apollo dinner if you're trying. If you're trying. Apollo dinner is easier to get than Apollo brunch, I think. Especially if you're flexible on which day.
I bet you'll be. I bet you. You'll be Jo. Just fine. All right. Well, especially for married time, because that's going to be a more family heavy cruise. All right, well, before I hit rapid fire, because I realize I need to ask you a couple more questions about other cruise lines and Disney. I'm curious if you thought that the.
I don't want to quite ask the worth it question yet, but I want to ask, like, when you compare the Haven and you compare the retreat and look at, you know, concierge on Disney. Were there major differences as far as, like, what's included and what's not included that you think are important for people to kind of know if they're looking at those?
[01:01:20] Speaker A: You know, I think they. The specific inclusions are similar across all three.
Early booking, availability for, you know, the different excursions or things, having a lounge space. Usually some level of drinks are included as well.
But what really set Disney apart for us was the level of service that we got.
And so, you know, I think there's specific times that I could see concierge. I'm not like, I've done concierge once, so I can never do it again or do anything else again type person, you know, I think that there's times that it really makes sense. Alaska is one that I think that that could make a lot of sense to do kind of whatever that higher level is on whatever cruise ship you're doing, doing, so that especially if you have a glacier viewing option, those book up so fast that I think making sure that you can get that sort of thing is really nice. And then if it is, especially a newer ship that's going to be in high demand, I feel like that's also.
People can be a little more frenetic on a. A new ship trying to do and see everything. So just making it so that you're basically convinced that you're going to be able to. To do whatever things that you're going to want to be able to do. I think those are the options that I would really recommend that people take a look at it.
But Disney to me, stood out head and shoulders above the haven, head and shoulders above kind of some of those other offerings. The one, Virgin is a really nice offering. It's just very different from Disney. So we did Mega Rockstar on Virgin, and that is. Is.
It's almost like comparable to being in like a tower suite or something on Disney, right? Because you have your own personal roadie that is basically your own personality, your agent.
You have this fabulous suite. You have free drinks at any bar all over the ship and a full.
[01:03:20] Speaker B: Bar in your room.
[01:03:21] Speaker A: And so that level, I think, is the only one that I felt the service was really comparable to what Disney provides.
But it's, you know, it's adults only on Virgin. And so if you're going for a family cruise, that's not an option for you anyway. And so I think it's. It's just a very different flavor of ship. It's a great time, but it's. It's much more. It felt more like a party ship to me, whereas Disney felt like kind of more of an immersive vacation.
[01:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, I love that description. An immersive vacation. All right, well, now is the time that I have to subject you to some arbitrary rules, some arbitrary questions, and a dash of judgment, or the round we call rapid fire. I can't do my own intro for that, you guys. I'm sorry. It's not as good as when Brian does it. All right, Whitney, I'm going to ask you some Disney favorites and of course, some Disney cruise line favorites. Obviously, the Treasure is your favorite ship, so I'm not going to ask you that question because you've only been on the Treasure. You're not allowed to choose other ships. Let's start with who is your favorite Disney character? And by Disney, I mean everything and anything that Disney owns.
[01:04:31] Speaker A: I'm gonna go with Tiana, Big princess and the frog fan, so love it.
[01:04:37] Speaker B: All right, favorite Disney movie.
[01:04:39] Speaker A: Ooh, right now I'm in a Frozen two kick.
[01:04:44] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[01:04:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Frozen two is the better Frozen movie.
I don't like the girls squabbling in the first one, you know, Own your power, ladies.
[01:04:55] Speaker B: I love it. I'm with you, Whitney. And I also think that, that, like, what's the song? Lost in the woods is, like, just the best, like, rock ballad.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: Go back to the 80s music videos. It's. It's perfect.
[01:05:08] Speaker B: I just love that. And. And who doesn't love into the Unknown? Like, it's a really. It's a super good. I think the soundtrack is superior to the original Frozen, and I'm all about the soundtrack, so I love that. All right, what's your favorite Disney song?
[01:05:21] Speaker A: Ooh, well, the one that has been kind of on endless replay in my head is the Tiki Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Tiki room.
I don't know why. That just has, like, branded itself into my head.
[01:05:38] Speaker B: It's an earworm. It's an earworm.
[01:05:40] Speaker A: All right, so that's actually our door decor that we did for this cruise was enchanted tiki room themed. So we found, like, bird magnets and palm trees and tiki heads and stuff. And so this was our enchanted Tiki cruise door.
[01:05:55] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. That's awesome. All right, now we're gonna transfer over to the Disney treasure. What was your favorite show?
And when I say show, I'm talking the three main stage shows, not, like, variety acts. Although sometimes those can Be wonderful.
You have three choices, but let's be honest, you really only have two choices. Right.
[01:06:15] Speaker A: This is gonna be a hot take for some people, I think. But I preferred Beauty and the Beast.
[01:06:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:06:22] Speaker A: It was.
[01:06:23] Speaker B: They're both great. I. I can. I can't give you any shade or judgment on that call because Beauty and the Beast is incredible.
[01:06:29] Speaker A: They're both great shows. And, you know, I guess maybe if I had seen Beauty and the Beast on a different ship, I would have thought, oh, well, I've already been there, done that, but I've seen Beauty and the Beast in the parks, you know, and I feel like the way that they bring it to life on the Treasure was just stunning. The puppetry work was amazing.
I'm still trying to puzzle out of my head how they did some of the kind of like, big reveal moments. So, yeah, I. I'm going with Beauty and the Beast.
[01:06:57] Speaker B: All right. Like I said, not going to hate on that. All right, favorite bar space on board the Treasure.
[01:07:03] Speaker A: H. That's a tough one. So we. I mean, I. I loved that haunted mansion parlor experience, but the drinks were just so sweet. So, so sweet. So I think other than the Concierge lounge, which was fantastic, we did visit Hooks Barbary and had a really cool old fashioned there. So that was definitely kind of topping the list as well.
And spent a lot of time in the Skipper Lounge because I'm a trivia person, so. And they have. They have some really nice drinks there as well.
[01:07:38] Speaker B: They do. They do. All right. Favorite rotational dining.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Ooh.
I think the food.
The food was probably best for me in 1923, but, you know, you don't get the show there when you combine it with the atmosphere in the show. Cocoa is really lovely. I'm from Texas, so I'm judgmental about what they were calling Mexican food. I would not call it that, but it was tasty food.
But they just not Mexican food. Use a heavier hand on some of the spices, I think.
[01:08:14] Speaker B: Fair. That's a fair assessment that could be said across the fleet. All right, favorite onboard activity.
[01:08:21] Speaker A: We loved and did not expect to love, but loved all Aqua Mouse.
[01:08:25] Speaker B: Oh, yay.
[01:08:26] Speaker A: This was so fun. And again, it was one of those things that I was like as an adult without a kid. Is somebody going to give me side eye for getting in the line for this? Absolutely not. It was so much fun. We went. We saw all three different versions that they had on the Treasure. They do a different story each day.
And there was one time, actually, that we were able to. There was no one else in line, so they just let us go through a couple lines, which is completely fantastic.
So if you. I think that's another benefit of the late dinner, if you're interested, is that during the early dinner seating, Aqua mouse is pretty empty. So that's, that's perhaps a nice tip for someone if you're trying to get in one of those stories that you haven't seen yet.
[01:09:12] Speaker B: Absolutely love it. All right, I got asked a couple of food questions. A favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item. And you can choose from main dining, but you can also choose from palo brunch, which we didn't have even time to talk about. But let's start with the sweets, because I love the savories. And so I saved the best for last. What was a favorite sweet item on the. On the cruise.
[01:09:34] Speaker A: So this is probably not that special, but I just. One thing that you can get in the concierge lounge are gummy bears. And I.
I never buying gummy bears for myself. And so it just felt like a really nice treat to be able to just be a kid again and have as many handfuls of gummy bears as I wanted at any point.
So. So that was great. The Mickey churro waffles were great too.
So those, everyone knows that those are fantastic.
But yeah, something about, something about the gummy bears just hit, hit right on this trip.
[01:10:09] Speaker B: Listen, bear shaped food. Mickey shaped food. Apparently you just like character shaped food. I like it. All right. A favorite savory item.
[01:10:16] Speaker A: I was really impressed with the poolside dining.
They had just so many good options. Again, I'm from Texas. I was pre to think the barbecue was trash, but it wasn't. It was pretty good, actually.
[01:10:31] Speaker B: It was pretty good. Yeah.
[01:10:32] Speaker A: The pulled pork, I think. And at one point, we also took the pulled pork over to the tacos and kind of made tacos out of the pulled pork barbecue.
[01:10:43] Speaker B: That is so smart. Yeah, so smart.
[01:10:45] Speaker A: So I was, I was really impressed with that and I thought that was a great way to kind of please a lot of different palates all at the same time.
[01:10:53] Speaker B: I'm glad you went for the pulled pork because I think you probably would have been disappointed by the brisket. I'm just going to put it out there. I mean, I think people like the brisket, but I don't know that most Texans would say it's brisket.
[01:11:05] Speaker A: Come to Texas, y'.
[01:11:06] Speaker B: All.
[01:11:06] Speaker A: We know how to do the brisket.
[01:11:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I like it.
All right, I am going to ask you my last question of rapid Fire, which is the question I ask everyone in my, whoever does my rapid fire, which is a bucket list cruise. If you could go anywhere in the world and it's on a Disney Cruise line line ship, well, even say you can stay in concierge, where would you sail?
[01:11:29] Speaker A: Whitney, you know, I think that they need to invent an itinerary that hits all of the stops for the Asia parks.
[01:11:36] Speaker B: Yes, yes.
[01:11:37] Speaker A: We've been wanting that too. Yeah. To go to Shanghai, to go to Tokyo DisneySea. I just think that would be so cool to be able to combine those two things and especially with now the adventure coming out in, you know, going to be out of Singapore. It looks like for the time being being, maybe, maybe that itinerary will come to be eventually. But that's, that's, I think what I'd put out there for a bucket list.
[01:12:01] Speaker B: Awesome. I love that. I'll be on it with you, Whitney. You'll take me with you. Sounds good. I'll just stow away in your luggage. But yeah, sounds good to me. I have not been to any of the Asian parks, but I would absolutely love to go. Well, Whitney, you've got a magic cruise scheduled. You've got a destiny cruise scheduled.
Have you got any other cruise line scheduled or is it just Disney from now on?
[01:12:23] Speaker A: Just Disney. I got the bug. I, I think I've, I've, I've got and addicted, as they say, that you will and it's true. But I'm excited to see. So, you know, we're obviously taping this earlier than it will air and we are, I think, just maybe a week or two out from what is hopefully the next drop of dates that Disney will do is around the time of year that they tend to do them. So going to definitely have my eye on those. I'd like to experience more of the fleet now.
And so in addition to the two that I have booked through 2026, I'm definitely gonna be, I think maybe eyeing a trip on the Wonder.
[01:13:00] Speaker B: Awesome. Fantastic. Well, Whitney, thank you so much for joining me today. It's been so fun talking about your first time in Disney cruise Line, first time sailing concierge in particular, and getting to understand some of the differences with some of the other cruise lines and what the real benefit is from Disney, which I think you've hit the nail on the head, that is service in general. I think Disney Cruise Line, whether you're sailing concierge, you're sailing regular, Disney's service is just above and beyond what most of the other cruise lines perhaps with the one exception you mentioned Virgin Voyages, so absolutely. But thanks so much for joining me. It's been great talking to you.
[01:13:36] Speaker A: Thank you.
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