[00:00:00] Speaker A: My favorite thing about the wonder, I think, is the art on the wall. All those drawings as you go up and down the stairs.
They are super interesting to look at. Indeed. It's not just beautiful. I find it really interesting to stop and really look.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. Brought to you my path unwinding, travel, and Sam, it's time for your jingle.
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Go for your jingle.
[00:00:36] Speaker D: Simply the best.
Better than all the rest.
[00:00:40] Speaker B: There we go. All right, that's the new listener review jingle, courtesy of Sam.
I hope we don't get, like, copyright notices and royalties. So there we go.
[00:00:51] Speaker D: I feel like it's fair use. It's just a snippet and it's me.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Saying it is unfair use. But here we go.
This week's review comes from Gator Cruiser, who writes Great podcast. I love listening to the duo on my way to work and on the way home from work. They are interesting to listen to and allow me to live vicariously through the recounts of theirs and their guest experience during those times when I can't afford to go on a Disney cruise. Keep up the great work. Well, Gator Cruiser, thank you for leaving that review. I'm going to. I'm just going to assume that you are either a Floridian or maybe a Louisianan.
[00:01:24] Speaker D: No, they got to be a Floridian. They're probably University of Florida. That's what they need to Gators.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: The Gators. Yeah.
[00:01:29] Speaker D: All right. The University of Florida alums or current student, frankly. Thank you for that, Gator.
I appreciate that review. That's a great review. We love it.
And we, I will say ourselves, that's how we get through the monotony of real life, is by living vicariously through.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Everybody else's cruises, every job, responsibilities, and recording podcasts. So, Gator Cruiser, thank you for the review. Everyone out there, remember, one of the easiest ways to help support the show. Head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars, and if you leave us a written review, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes, just as we did with the review for our guest today, Sam.
[00:02:09] Speaker D: I know we, like, just read her review maybe like a week ago, but I'm super excited to welcome to the show somebody who shares a first name with me. I'm very excited to welcome Samantha to the show. It's funny, we talked about it ahead of time. She also goes by Sam, but we're gonna call her Samantha for today so that there's no confusion between myself and the guest. So welcome Samanth.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
[00:02:37] Speaker D: We're excited to have you. I mentioned earlier, wait a hold a.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Way to make the guest change their name for you, Sam, as opposed to you accommodating the guest.
[00:02:47] Speaker D: Well, I mean, it is my show, Brian.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Confusing for me.
And the transcript is gonna be just epic.
[00:02:56] Speaker D: I know. It's gonna be.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's absolutely fine.
[00:03:02] Speaker D: See, Brian?
[00:03:03] Speaker A: See?
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Anyway, she's just trying to get on your good side before.
[00:03:08] Speaker D: Before Rapid Fire, of course. No, we're super excited to have you, Samantha. I mentioned before we started recording, I feel like I already kind of know you because we've interacted with one another quite a bit on online and through the Book of Face, as I like to call it. And so it's. It's always fun when we sort of for the first time meet somebody that we've interacted with in particular, not just like once or twice, but more. More frequently. So we're excited to have you as well. Now, before we get to talk talking about your fifth Disney cruise that you went on recently, we've got to talk about your Disney history, like how your. Where your love of Disney came from and when you started cruising with Disney.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Yeah, so it really came from Disney World first. I'm from Brazil originally, and when you grow up in Brazil, you grow up just hearing about Disney all the time. And it's kind of like this dream vacation that you hope that once you get a chance to take. And with me, my first time was when I was 15 and went to Disney with my family. And from that point on, I was just hooked.
It was my happy place.
And as soon as I got married, then we had kids, then it kind of restarted. And my kids have gone multiple times. And then of course, because you can't go all the time, you start listening to podcasts and just reliving everything you can possibly do via the podcasts. And then you start hearing about cruising and Disney cruising. And that intrigued me. So I did. I organized our first cruise for the family. My dad joined that one as well back in 2018, and that was a fortnite on the Dream. So that was our first ship and it was. It was beautiful and I loved it. Except that my daughter at the time, she was sick for half the cruise and she was just very heavily congested. Like the morning of as we were embarking the ship, she started feeling just very congested and she couldn't sleep overnight. So it wasn't ideal. And I had to kind of convince my husband to, no, let's give it another try. I didn't want to let go.
So we kept trying, kept doing it.
Did concierge a couple of times, and that was super special.
Um, and. And we just really fell in love with it. And this cruise was.
This was not really a planned cruise. The one we just did to Alaska. Because we did Alaska last summer. We did an ABD to Alaska. The four house.
[00:05:47] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: That was incredible. It was like a dream trip.
But then my dad told me, so my dad still lives in Brazil. And he said, oh, I'm going to travel through Canada and do a cruise to Alaska.
And I'm like, well, how come?
And when I said that, my daughter, she's 11 now, she raised her hand and said, well, I'll be on vacation. I'll come too.
And then I told my dad, listen, if Julia is coming, then it needs to be a Disney cruise. I'm sorry, but it's gonna have to be, because he usually does other cruise lines. He's done ncl and Is it Viking, the other one?
[00:06:28] Speaker D: Viking is a really. Yeah, it's a really nice one. Absolutely.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: But I said, now, if Julie is coming, I'm sorry, it's gonna be Disney. So the three of us went on this cruise, and it was our fifth.
[00:06:39] Speaker D: Awesome. That's fantastic. So you got to go on the Wonder out of Vancouver in Alaska. That's, you know, for. For us, a bucket list cruise that we're about to go on as we were recording this, and for many people, I think a bucket list cruise. Now, you were able to convince your dad to go on Disney Cruise Line because Julia was gonna come with you instead of going on one of his preferred lines. Were you at all nervous about whether or not he would like Disney?
Was he a Disney fan? I mean, you guys did go when you were. You said 15 for your first trip to Walt Disney World. That's a big trip from Brazil, of course.
But, like, did you think that, okay, he's at least likes Disney, so I feel like he'll like a Disney cruise.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Yeah, so he likes Disney, but maybe not as much as I do.
I was nervous about it. I really, desperately wanted him to really like it. And as a result, I ended up upgrading the cruise to concierge as well. Wasn't going to be concierge because this is an expensive one. So I was, like, torn and.
But because of him, I'm like, no, no, no, let's do it. Let's do it. And I was just trying to make it as good as possible for him. And he loved it. He definitely had a good time. He, he still, you know, he would poke me every now and again saying, oh, there are only three restaurants. Wow. In the other cruise lines, I've seen 11 restaurants and this and that. So he would poke me every now and again.
But he is a Disney fan and he had a great time, so it was worth it.
[00:08:17] Speaker B: Technically, there's four restaurants and on some ships there's five. So, you know, I mean, technically, if we're going to get technical about it.
[00:08:24] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. Plus, plus a buffet, but that's not open for dinner. So, you know, and other cruise lines.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Very true.
[00:08:30] Speaker D: Yeah. But, but he's right. Disney does not have as many specialty dining options as the other cruise lines. And many of those other cruise lines, the specialty dining is open for adults and children. Whereas on Disney, the specialty dining that's currently available, it will be different on the adventure, but currently available is adult only specialty dining. So I can understand, I can understand a little bit of that, that criticism.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: But other cruise lines don't have Mickey Mouse dancing through the restaurant.
They don't, they don't have a rat infestation on board.
[00:09:03] Speaker D: No, they don't. I mean, they don't have the storytelling, the theming, I mean the whimsy, the magic of Disney. It's, there's no comparison. Absolutely. Now I want to talk a little bit about the planning in particular because you're a concierge, because the planning is a little bit different when you're sailing concierge than when you're not sailing concierge, because your booking window is the earliest booking window and you can do your, your booking a little bit differently. You can email in your booking requests at 100 days at midnight rather than waiting for the booking window to self book at 100. And I believe it's 123 days, which is both concierge and pearl cruisers can book in the app at that time. Did you guys send in an email of requests of what you wanted to book as far as excursions or any of the other onboard experiences that you have to book in advance?
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Yeah, right away I was counting the days and I actually think that the excursions we booked are very, were very similar to the ones you guys booked. Because I think Brian, you posted to the Facebook group what you guys were considering or having booked already, I don't quite remember and I think they were very similar. And being able to send that email, that is very helpful to be able to get Some of the.
The. The excursions that you don't always get when you're last to book. I was still Silver Castaway at the time because this was my fifth cruise, so that was super helpful. And. And yes, I. I was asking my dad, oh, what kind of drinks do you want in the room? We can have that. You know, do you want extra blankets? Let's have extra blankets. Which, by the way, ended up being more useful than I thought because I wanted to give my dad the main bed.
So I slept by the. The bed by the veranda and that bed by the veranda. When it's cold, it gets really cold, so I definitely use the. The extra blanket there.
[00:11:02] Speaker D: That's a really good tip. I didn't even. I would not have thought of that. Like, if you're at the. Either on the couch bed, which is also close to the veranda, but if you're on that Murphy bed that folds down, that's really right next to the veranda. If you're sailing in cold weather, like you may be in Alaska, you are. You're having a little bit of a draft, probably from that. The. The sliding glass door.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: You know, even Julia on the couch, she was fine. She slept a of nights on the bunk bed and then a couple of nights on the bottom bed. She was fine. He was fine. I was cold. But I had the extra blanket, and it was more useful than I thought.
[00:11:39] Speaker D: Yeah, that's a good. That's a good pro tip. All right. I'm gonna. Actually, I might request extra blankets. I never would have even thought of that. But I love the idea of extra blankets in general because I always. I'm always cold in bed. I think the blankets on Disney Cruise Line are too thin.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: It is literally above 80 degrees in Seattle today, and I guarantee you, when we get home tonight, Sam's gonna fire up the electric blanket to warm her toes.
[00:12:00] Speaker D: Yes, I'm always cold right when I go to bed, and then I'm, like, burning up in the middle of the night. I don't know if it's just my age. Like, for those who are out there, I'm in my almost mid-40s.
And, yeah, women probably out there understand what I'm talking about. I'm, like, freezing when I'm going to bed, and in the middle of the night, I'm waking up in a sweat.
[00:12:19] Speaker A: So anyway, well, I ordered because in one of those Facebook groups, somebody said, oh, if you go on your veranda and it's a little bit chilly, it's kind of nice to have Something to throw over your shoulder. Shoulders. So that was the original reason. But I, I only did that once. But I wore it every night on the bed.
[00:12:38] Speaker D: Love that. Well, I would love to now. Was this your first time on the, on the Wonder?
[00:12:43] Speaker A: It was.
It's, you know, I've become a bit of a completionist by accident because I originally I wasn't going for that. I was just happy to be on a Disney cruise, whatever Disney cruise.
But we did the dream, then we did the fantasy, then we did the wish.
And then this year came and my daughter, she wanted to do a mother daughter cruise we did on her February break. And it just so happened that the dates worked with a four night magic cruise out of Galveston. And I said, wait a minute, I see something is happening here. I have three under my belt. The magic is here and my dad wants to go to Alaska. So now I'm just totally focused on that and being on every single ship. I haven't been on the Treasure yet.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: Yeah, so I was going to say that's exactly what you need. You need the treasure. And then of course destiny will come out in a few months and then. Well, adventure is going to, as I've said before, adventure is going to ruin our completionist side of a lot of us because it's going to be much harder to get to. But I'm with you on that, Samantha. I'm a completionist. We're both completionists, Brian and I. So it's going to be a little bit hard for us. We got to figure out a way to get over to Singapore.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: It's fun, right? It's fun to be a completionist.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: I still have the maiden voyage book. Samson.
[00:14:03] Speaker D: I know you still have it booked. I just, I just, I don't, there's no, we don't see any way of that actually being able to happen. Let's just put that we've said that.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Before on the show up one morning and I won't be there.
[00:14:14] Speaker C: I'll be in Singapore.
[00:14:15] Speaker D: He'll be in Singapore. I won't, he won't even tell me and he'll be gone. Well, I, I'd love to, I'd love to talk about your impressions of the Wonder when you were, you know, you obviously get to Vancouver ahead of time. You're flying.
Um, actually. Well, let me back up. Where did you guys stay in Vancouver and how long were you in Vancouver before boarding the Wonder?
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Yeah, so we arrived two nights before. So we only had one full day. We stayed at the Albert Alberge. I Think is how you say it. The alberge, it's I want to say one or two blocks away from the port. It's very, very close. It's five minute walk.
[00:14:52] Speaker B: Someone just posted about this hotel in our. Vanessa.
[00:14:55] Speaker D: Vanessa. I was thinking the same thing, Brian. Literally just today, I think or yesterday Vanessa posted about though bearish, because I think for you know, the Pan Pacific tends to book up quickly because it's the one that's literally right like on top of the port or right there, you know, it's like attached to the port. And so if that one is full, somebody, I think somebody was asking like that one's full, like what are other people's recommendations? And Vanessa had mentioned the Auberg as well. Nice. Well, well, you, you guys are I assume walking then because it's so close to getting. Yeah. And so tell us like how did check in process go? I feel like Vancouver, like as long as you're not on like the first or second sailing of the season, it seems like it's a pretty well oiled machine similar to Port Canaveral, even though it's not obviously Disney's terminal.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: It was super smooth. Can't complain. It was very, very easy. Signs everywhere where you should go and documentation.
It was pretty straightforward.
And because we were concierge, they loaded us on first.
So it was pretty quick.
[00:16:00] Speaker D: Nice, Nice. Now tell us about your first impressions of the Wonder. This, as you mentioned, was a new ship for you. It's also your father's first time on a Disney ship completely. And so I'm curious what you thought. And I'm also curious what he thought of the Wonder considering that he's only been on other cruise lines prior to this.
[00:16:21] Speaker A: Well, so he had been on the Dream on our very first Cruise back in 2018.
[00:16:26] Speaker D: That's right. I forgot you mentioned that.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: It's the first time in many years. Right. So he said afterwards that it was nice to relive that again and experience the sort of Disney magic. Even when we took one of those learn to draw classes, even though they use the video now. So I was skeptical of it, but it was actually kind of fun. And we drew Mickey together, just me and him. And he can draw much better than I can.
Even though he couldn't really hear, he was missing some steps. But in the end his drawing was like 10 times better than mine.
So we had that Disney magic experience together. So it was fun for him. Now, in terms of first impressions, I just have to like, the atrium is so small compared to chips.
It's weird that way. But my favorite thing about the Wonder, I think, is the art on the wall. All those drawings as you go up and down the stairs, they are super interesting to look at in detail. It's not just beautiful. I find it really interesting to stop and really look.
[00:17:39] Speaker D: Absolutely. I love. I feel like they've done such a good job of choosing the artwork on all of the ships across the flee.
Um, it's just. It's very tasteful. Of course, it's all Disney, but it's not like.
I don't know, it's just like, well selected and they. It feels like each floor or each, like, landing has kind of a theme to it and it's aesthetic to it. It's just really well done. And everything sort of coordinates well with even the carpeting and the lighting fixtures and all that kind of stuff. So it's. I think it's. It's lovely. They've done such a good job. Now, you guys were. You mentioned you were sailing concierge, so you get on the ship early, which is really nice. Did you guys head to the sit down concierge lunch or did you head up to cabanas to grab lunch?
[00:18:24] Speaker A: No, we went to the sit down.
It was quite nice. And then you're not rushed, you know, it just feels very comfortable. So we enjoyed that.
[00:18:33] Speaker D: Yeah. And it's really nice because you then also get to meet your concierge hosts. Or at least you might. You might not meet all of them at the lunch, but you'll at least meet one of them at the lunch and be able to put in some requests if there was anything you hadn't been able to preview, rebook, or anything you want to change or you want to book a spa appointment, and you had forgot to book that ahead of time or anything like that, which is really, really lovely. I want to jump in to the ports because obviously the. The ports of the stars. And I really. I'm being very selfish right now because you mentioned you think we may have booked even the same excursions, because the ones Brian did ask about in our Facebook group did end up being the ones that we booked for our. Our Alaska cruise that's upcoming next month. So I would love to hear what you guys did at each of.
We'll start with Glacier Day, because Glacier Day, I think, happens before you get to your first port of call, typically. Is that. Was that your itinerary? Yes. Okay, so let's talk Glacier Day. Did you do the glacier boat excursion? I forgot what it's called. Glacier Explorer or something like that.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Yes, something like that. I don't remember either. But yes, we did.
And it was amazing.
You do get much closer to the glacier compared to the ship. And it was interesting because so when we were at the closest point to the glacier, we could look back, we could see the ship in the distance, but it was a long distance. And then at the show that night, the cruise director said this was the closest we ever got this season. So she was all happy with how close they got. And I'm like, ooh, we got a lot closer.
I was happy with that also because when we did the ABD last year, one of the excursions is to go and try to approach a glacier. But during ABD you go on kind of a raft.
So for safety reasons, you can't get very close because if a piece detaches, you can have a lot of waves and you can fall on the water, which is like end of fun. Like, you need to be removed, like immediately because it's very, very cold.
So in this boat, the boat is large enough that it can handle some pieces of ice. And they even explain the types of pieces of ice that they are able to go through, like over and the types of pieces of ice that they have to avoid.
And they get super close. So the types of pictures I could get with just my phone were beautiful. And during the abd, my pictures were all like crappy far away. I couldn't see anything.
[00:21:09] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
And the Adventures by Disney Trip that you go on for Alaska is a land based, of course, there's travel in between different places, but it's a land based travel itinerary. But of course, with, like I said, with travel in between different locations. But you're not on a ship. You're going from hotel to hotel. So it's obviously different. Different experience to be on an Alaska cruise on Disney Cruise Line than an Adventures by Disney Adventure.
Is that fair?
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Exactly. And there is no overlap.
So we were never in the same city or town that we were in this time around.
[00:21:44] Speaker D: Awesome. That's nice. It's nice to have two different experiences in Alaska. I've got to ask you about the meet and greet opportunity on Glacier Day because I know that obviously we know from talking to folks about Glacier Day, the characters are up on deck. You can wait in line to meet with them and take a picture with them. And everybody loves to do it because you get picture with the glacier in the background. Well, for those who don't know, concierge cruisers get a special experience to meet with some of the Characters and take pictures with the characters in a separate area at a separate time. I'm curious, were you guys able to take advantage of that opportunity and get some special pictures with the characters on the deck?
[00:22:30] Speaker A: Not on Glacier Day?
So they had a special time where a character came to the lounge. But this was like on the last day on Glacier Day, you had Mickey up on deck for a few minutes, then it started to rain. They moved everybody to deck four by the gazebos.
But the other thing, too is in the Facebook groups, people talk about it as if you only have one day, one chance to take pictures with Mickey and Minnie in their outfits, the Alaska outfits, but it's not the case. Like, they wear that almost the whole trip.
So there were two or three days where you could take, you know, those nice pictures with the outfits. And I was very happy about that because we had more than one opportunity to do it. So it's not so tight that you need to stress up. In fact, the longer you wait, the shorter the lines, because everybody really tries to go for it in the very first opportunity. And if you wait a little bit, you're fine.
[00:23:29] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely. I think that the. The difference is people want those pictures with the glaciers in the background. And that's the. That's the thing you can only get on Glacier Day.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: We weren't. We didn't have the glacier in the background when Mickey was up on deck because we were still far away. They have to check with. I don't remember what technical name does this. The technical job this person has, but they have to check with the people who know which arm take to approach the glacier. So in the first appearance of Mickey and his outfit, we weren't close to the glacier yet at all. We couldn't see the glacier. So when we loaded. We were loaded on the small boat. We couldn't see the glacier yet. Then we had a long ride, and then the wonder came after. After us.
[00:24:20] Speaker D: Gotcha. So it's later depending upon where you're. And I don't know if it's a. I know it's like the. It's like Alaskan. I don't know if it's national parks people, but who the Alaskan authorities are. But they tell the ship where they're going to be able to go that day, and the ship doesn't know until that morning which arm or which area they're going to be able and which glacier going to be able to see. And it also may depend what time you're going to arrive based on where you're able to go. And so that's a really good tip. That your earliest picture time. Yeah.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: And to be fair, we left the ship. We are on the small boat. So who knows? Maybe after the wonder approached the glacier, maybe Miki was back up on. On deck and taking pictures. I wouldn't know.
But his first appearance wasn't with the glacier in the background.
[00:25:02] Speaker D: Yeah, that makes absolute sense. All right, well, let's talk about your first actual port of call. I know we talked about port excursion. The only port excursion available on glacier day is that Glacier Explorer, which is a boat that comes right up to the ship and takes people off.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: If I may just to say one more thing about the boat, because people like to say that the only difference is that you get a little bit closer.
But the other difference as well is the small boat can. So, for example, in our case, they approached the massive waterfall, so we could see that really close. And that was because of the depth of water just there, so that small boat could get there. Also, we saw a whale in the channel, so which they said is rare, but we could hang out with a whale and try to guess where it was going to surface next, which was a lot of fun. And it's not something the wonder can do. You know, turn here, turn there, go back. But the small boats can. So it was a beautiful experience.
[00:26:04] Speaker D: Oh, that's amazing. And. And that sounds like one of those once in a lifetime experiences that you. I mean, as you said, they said it was rare, so it's not something that they can ever guarantee you're going to see, but it's. But that.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: That's.
[00:26:19] Speaker D: That sounds amazing. That sounds incredible. Well, let's. Let's talk about your first port of call. Where. What was your first stop?
[00:26:25] Speaker A: You know, it was Skagway, but my. My daughter Julia was sick that day.
Oh, I know. She woke up with a fever. She woke up congested and said, I. I just don't want to leave the room.
So I stayed back with her and my dad went. We had booked the train. You take the train all the way up.
And then the gold mine exploration with the gold panning, which is something we got to do in the abd last year. And Julia had loved it, by the way. That's addictive. Like, once you find a little bit of gold and gold. Oh, my God. You want to stay at it all day.
[00:27:06] Speaker D: All day.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: You don't want to stop.
[00:27:09] Speaker D: So that's going to be Nathan. I have no question.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: Gold fever.
[00:27:12] Speaker D: That will be Nathan. Gold fever, absolutely.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: You don't Want to stop. So I was looking forward to doing that again. And unfortunately I had to stay back with her. And my dad went.
So I asked him, well, did you do it? Did you do the gold painting? And he's like, I didn't want to put my hands in that thing. So he just. He enjoyed the train, took beautiful pictures. And I think before the gold mine, they do some type of performance, some type of show. So he enjoyed that, but he didn't want to actually get his hands dirty.
Can't believe it.
[00:27:48] Speaker D: Well, you know, I can understand that. We'll see. My mom is going to be coming with us on this. On our. I didn't know. That's great.
Yeah. And so I. Where she's doing the excursion with us. That's the excursion that we have booked. And I don't know if she'll do the gold panning herself. We'll see. So maybe it's just a grandparent thing at this point. Well, it sounds like your dad had a nice day. I'm sorry that. That Julia was sick that day.
What was your next port of call? And was Julia feeling better in order to be able to do an excursion? The next port of call?
[00:28:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I was praying because the next day we had. So that was Juno. We had booked the helicopter with the dog sledding.
[00:28:30] Speaker D: Oh, God. Thank God she wasn't sick that day. Oh, my goodness.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it was fine. In fact, even during the day in Skagway, like, we just stayed in the room, like, literally the whole day watching movies. And she wanted to order lunch. Like, she ate. Ate a whole plate of, like, pasta. Carbon. Like, she was fine. She was really well. So the next day I was really afraid of the excursion getting canceled because they say 40% of the time if the weather is not perfect for safety reasons, blah, blah, blah. Okay.
We wake up and it's overcast, a bit drizzly. And I'm like, well, for sure it's gonna get canceled. So I start asking the concierge guys, so when do they cancel? What do we do?
And she's like, well, they can cancel, like, literally up to the moment when you're about to board the helicopter.
So you have to act, you have to prepare and do everything as if you're going.
So we wake up at 6am we do everything, you know, in time. We had the first excursion out, and thankfully they did not cancel ours. Even with the overcast skies and drizzly, I couldn't believe. I'm like, like, wait a minute, something is odd here. But then I understood it later, because on the way back, and we're going to talk about it in a second, but on the way back, the helicopter went around a couple of times and. And then the pilot explained it's the. Having clouds is not a problem. What you can't have is the lack of a gap to go through, because what they will not do is take passengers through a cloud because you have more turbulence, it makes people nervous, it can be more dangerous. So you can have an overcast sky, but as long as you have some gaps to go through, you're fine.
So now I understand better how we could have that type of weather and still have the excursion happen. And I was very happy that it did because it was out of this world. It was pretty incredible.
[00:30:30] Speaker D: You got to tell us all about it, start to finish.
[00:30:34] Speaker A: Like, you approach the glacier. Well, you fly over the wonder, first of all, which is excitement in and of itself. You're taking like 50 pictures from the top, trying to get the best angle. And then you. You reach the mountains. You go over the mountains and you start to see the glacier on a distance. But if you've ever seen pictures of a glacier, it's that cut ice, hard ice. And I'm like, how in the world are we going to land on this thing?
But if you go deeper, you get to an area where it snows a lot more.
So you end up building this pack of snow, but it's really light and fluffy, so they give you some boots to put over your shoes. By the way, you don't even need waterproof hiking shoes. They're gonna give you the proper boots that will cover, like your whole leg up to your knees.
And then when you get off the helicopter, they even say, don't jump, because if you jump, you can just go. Go deep. It's very fluffy.
And then you meet the dogs. They set up this camp for the whole summer. So during the winter, the dogs are in their.
The breeding location. So they. Each set of dogs, they belong to different owners. But in the summer, they all come together in this camp and they select, okay, which dogs are gonna go with you, and you go on the sled. The sled can hold up to four passengers in addition to the moisture that goes with you.
And one of you will need to help the mature break because it's two sets of seats. And if the dog stop, the sled keeps going. So you need somebody there ready to break.
So one of you is gonna have to stand in the back and ready to step on this thing that goes in the snow. It's like a fork that just.
[00:32:19] Speaker D: I know exactly who that's going to be. It's not going to be me. I'm gonna put that out there. It's gonna be Brian.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Be ready. It was a lot of fun. I did it for our family, and it was a lot of fun.
So they run with you for a while. And that in and of itself, was just surreal. It was gorgeous.
You might want to take sunglasses because it is so white around you. Even without the sun, it can be very, very bright.
But it's just. It's one of the most beautiful settings ever.
And after you're done. And to me, this is, I think, the best part. You get to hang out with the dog. So you just cuddle. You go to town. You just, like. And you go one by one by one by one. And they want to lick you and they want to cuddle you. And I mean, what could be better, right? If you're a dog person, it's like heaven.
[00:33:11] Speaker D: I'm. I'm literally. For those who aren't watching the video of this and just listening to the audio version, I'm literally, like, smiling from ear to ear.
[00:33:19] Speaker B: Sam is captivated. Right now I'm just trying to find out if Samantha did the lumberjack show or not. So I'll have to wait.
Yeah. For those who don't know, who have not been paying attention, this is a point of contention in our household currently. But anyway, anyway. Yes.
[00:33:36] Speaker D: Oh, my God, Samantha, this sounds like an incredible, incredible excursion. Do you know if you went to the Norris Glacier or the Mendenhall Glacier?
[00:33:45] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:33:46] Speaker D: Okay, that's fine.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: It was Mendel hall, because I don't remember them saying that. I think a different. I think they had different excursions to Mendel hall, but I'm not sure. Sorry.
[00:33:57] Speaker D: That's okay. So we have booked the Norris Glacier, not the Mendenhall Glacier, but they're very similar excursions.
And we have. Our friend Chris and his family went on the Norris Glacier one. And that. That happens to be the one that we booked because he, like, you raved about it. And so we're just crossing our fingers. By the time this episode comes out, you'll have already heard our review of Alaska for those listening. And so this is. It's kind of funny because our review of Alaska is going to be on a live episode. And so that will actually come out before this recorded episode. But I'm super excited. Samantha. This is awesome, awesome, awesome to hear about how long is this whole excursion? You're you know, obviously including the helicopter and the, and the meeting, the dogs and dog sledding and all that, I.
[00:34:47] Speaker A: Believe it's about four hours. Ish. Three to four. It's not super long. You still have the rest of the day to enjoy the ship. The one final thing I would say, they do not have a restroom, a bathroom on the, on the camp.
So you have to go before you get on the helicopter. Because I mean, they all. They tell us to go, but they didn't explicitly say, listen, there is nowhere to go up there once you're up there, there. And when they drop you off, they leave. The helicopters get up and leave. So you're there. And if the weather turns, good luck, you're there.
So it was the end of the excursion. We were waiting for the helicopters to get back and, and I asked the guy, I'm like, so where's the restroom? Because I was thinking, I want to go. And the guy said, no, we don't have restrooms. And I, I just thought he was kidding, right? What do you mean you don't have. And I just said, oh, of course. You just go in the snow, right? And he's like, yeah, but don't worry, your helicopter is going to be here soon. And I'm like, wait a minute. He's absolutely serious. They don't have a restroom.
So we had to wait for the helicopter to get back.
[00:36:02] Speaker D: Well, that's a good tip because I will definitely go right before we get on that helicopter then because I am one of those people with a very tiny bladder.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: And so this is reminding me. Mom used to sing a song song in the winter. It was, watch out where them huskies go. Don't you eat that yellow snow?
[00:36:21] Speaker A: I love it. You do see some of that around.
[00:36:24] Speaker C: Yes, I'm sure.
Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Great news.
[00:36:32] Speaker C: The fabulous team over at My Path Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. My Path Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner, which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, relaxed at Aulani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation, or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks my path unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:37:27] Speaker B: I'm curious with the dogs. We got. We got some feedback recently that the, you know, the dogs aren't always super friendliest and you may not be able to pet them. Like, what was your experience with the dogs themselves? Were they, you know. Yeah, did you, did you get to spend time with the dogs or are they not really. They're working dogs and they're not really meant to be pet.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: My impression was that they, it's not, they don't take just any dog to go take you on the sled. They select the very friendly dogs to do it. So all the dogs in our sled, we had what, eight or ten dogs, something around there. They were all very, very friendly and cuddly.
So we could just hang with them and roll in the snow and just. Yeah, so it was very, very good. But, but my understanding is not all of them are like that. So they pick and choose who's gonna go.
[00:38:17] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think if you, if they do have a dog that is mushing with you that is not friendly, they will tell you like, hey, this is the dog that you should not pet. Like, and we, we heard that from another, another listener that that sort of is the case. They'll tell you which dogs are the friendly ones, maybe not the ones that will roll around in the snow playing with you. So that's great to know. So, so for the, but for those listening, you know, obviously whenever you meet a new animal that does not belong to you that you're not familiar with, you always ask before you start engaging in petting. You know, this strange animal.
[00:38:54] Speaker B: I can't, I can't just run up to hug that bear that we see in the woods.
[00:38:57] Speaker D: No, Brian, no hugging bears. No hugging bears if we see one.
[00:39:00] Speaker A: So.
[00:39:01] Speaker D: So speaking of bears, we're going in Ketchikan. We're booked on a bear excursion. We are not booked on the lumberjack show.
[00:39:08] Speaker A: So that one is different.
[00:39:10] Speaker D: Yeah, so that one is different. But.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: Ah. So Samantha, you did the lumberjack show?
[00:39:14] Speaker A: I did, yes.
[00:39:16] Speaker D: Tell us. Okay, you guys, tell us.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: Tell me all about it. And now on the video People will be able to see how captivated I am.
[00:39:23] Speaker D: Ryan is so making fun of me right now.
[00:39:25] Speaker B: I am. No, I am definitely like, I am. I might just have to book the lumberjack show for myself.
[00:39:29] Speaker D: We might have to do. We might have to do a little switcheroo there. We'll have to see.
[00:39:33] Speaker A: The thing is, we booked the lumberjack show paired with the ax throwing competition, and it turns out the axe throwing competition won as the most fun activity, which was against all odds because we get to catch a can. It is pouring rain. It is chilly.
I mean, I'm not gonna lie. I was miserable walking towards this excursion. I'm like, oh, really? Can. What if we skip the. The extra. Can we skip the axe throwing competition and just go straight to the show? Is there an earlier show so that I can be back on the ship? No, no, no. The show is only at 4:00'.
[00:40:12] Speaker D: Clock.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Just go with this line, this group of people. So we were maybe 10, 15 people, I want to say, going together under the rain and just shivering and it was cold. We get to the location where the axe throwing competition is. Is. And to my surprise, it is completely outdoors. And I'm like, wait, you want me to throw an ax swinging back first? And this thing is gonna slip from my hand? How many people are gonna get hit here? Like, this is not happening.
So the targets are in front of it. All in the rain. All in the rain and the cold. This is not possible. How can we. Anyway, so he's like. He shows us how to do it and the stance and how to hold it and the movement.
First three come up, and then as the first three go up to try it, we observe and we start cheering for them. And we're like. Before I knew it, we were all cheering for each other. And then everybody wanted to try. Everybody wanted to get an axe on the target, which, by the way, it's a lot harder than it seems. I couldn't get one. My daughter stayed over, so he allowed people to stay later if they wanted to keep trying. So she stayed until she could get one on the board, and it was a lot more fun than I ever thought. And then nobody cared about the rain anymore. Everybody was singing and cheering and just supporting each other. It was a blast.
[00:41:38] Speaker D: I love that. I love that. I will tell you, I have been ax throwing with a group of.
Yes, in. In Seattle. I have been ax throwing with a group of lawyer moms. We went to it. There was like a. It's a. It's like a bar, but it's like a place that you go and do ax throwing. Like, it's really fun.
No, it's indoors. It's indoors.
They have you in like, you're in like a gated.
It's like fenced. Each. Each area is fenced so that you don't have other people. Like, they can be behind you, but nobody's like, right next to you. And so they have, like, each target is in its own sort of fenced in area. Like, kind of like in a shooting range. It's like separate. So that you and I've had to.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: Learn to dodge axes around the household.
No.
[00:42:22] Speaker D: Anyway, okay, so I want to hear about the lumberjack show. Now, the lumberjack show that you guys did, was this the. That has a Disney character or was this a different one? Because I think you're at a different time than the Disney exclusive one.
[00:42:33] Speaker A: Exactly. There wasn't an option to do the pairing with the Disney special one. So this was just the regular lumberjack show. The seating area was all covered, so we were not in the rain. Only the, you know, that the performers were still in the rain and the cold. But I guess they're used to it. I. I heard that it rains quite a bit over there. There quite a lot. A lot more than in Seattle.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: So it was fun. Julia loved it.
My dad enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too. I just think it's maybe 15 minutes too long. You know, I could have had a look because they keep, you know, competing with each other. Now you chop this, now you cut that, and now you roll on the water or something.
It is fun, but it can be a little bit shorter.
You might be better off with the bears.
[00:43:23] Speaker D: See, Brian.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: I chose it because this seemed to be the classic thing to do in Ketchikan. And I'm like, I'm gonna go for the classics and see how it goes. And who knows, maybe I have a chance to come back someday.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: I mean, honestly, I don't think you can really go wrong with some of these. I mean, there are probably a few that are not the greatest, but. Yeah, I don't think you can go wrong with most of these excursions. Although throwing axes and seeing, you know, throwing axes and seeing Donald or Goofy at a lumberjack.
Although it does look like it's sold out on her sailing, so.
[00:43:59] Speaker A: Yeah, but it's such a great point, Brian, because even when choosing the excursions, I. I thought it was so hard to choose. The list is very long for this cruise. I. I thought it was longer than for other Disney cruises.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: Yeah, well, there's just. There's a lot of options. I mean, sort of, you know, I think you go to some places and it's like there's a thing that everyone wants to see and then there's some like, you know, we'll do a food tour.
You know, I'm just seeing about some of the European sailings that we've been on where it's like, you know, there's like a handful of things that people want to do in that town. But in Alaska there's so much. And they have such like a. I feel like a connection to the cruise industry that they, you know. Which town is it, Sam? That was basically built just from. For cruises.
It's like seasonal. For cruising. Is it Ketchikan or is it Skagway? I think it's Skagway.
[00:44:47] Speaker D: No, it's Ketchikan, I'm sure.
Yeah.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:51] Speaker D: There's another one though too. There's.
What is it? It's Icy Straight Point is maybe.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: I'm thinking of Icy Straight Point.
[00:44:57] Speaker A: That's the one. The alternative itinerary, right?
[00:45:00] Speaker D: Yes, it's the alternative itinerary, yeah. So most of the itineraries for the seven night itineraries that go to Alaska on Disney Cruise Line, most of them are the itinerary that Samantha went on. And it's actually then that's the itinerary we're on. There's an. There's an alternative itinerary that doesn't go to Skagway and goes to Icy Straight Point. And I believe that Icy Straight Point, that town is just like only exists because of the cruise industry. Whereas the ports that Samantha went to and that we're going to already existed now they are bigger. Skagway and Ketchikan in particular are bigger now because they are cruise destinations than they would otherwise probably be. But of course Juneau is not.
Juneau is the capital. It's a bigger city. And so it would exist with or without the cruise industry.
But yeah, I think Icy Straight Point is the one that would probably not exist but for the cruise industry. But yeah, it is the alternative, the alternative itinerary that Disney does. A lot of other cruise lines do go there as their sort of as one of their regular ports as well. Well, Samantha, I mean you obviously we mentioned the ports of the stars on. On Alaska itineraries. But I've got to ask because this was your first time on the Wonder what you thought of the Wonder what you thought of the activities. Maybe just some highlights of things that you guys really enjoyed doing. And of course, that includes shows. If that was on part of your personal itinerary.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure it was.
The thing is, I'm east coast based on.
So what happened was every time we got to dinner time, after dinner, I was wiped. I was ready to go to bed. So all the adult activities I would normally do, like when I go with my husband, we love all the adult trivia. Metro mates, majority. Like everything that happens after dinner. We usually do. And this time around, I couldn't stay awake, so I missed a lot of those. Those activities. I have to say, the time zone really made a differ, being a longer cruise, seven nights. I still felt pretty wiped out at the end of the day, but still, you know, it's a Disney cruise. I love the atmosphere.
We did a few of the, you know, like, the. The tasting activities with my dad.
So we did champagne tasting. We did liquor and chocolate, which, by the way, it took me so long to realize it was liquor and chocolate and not liqueur. Like, I thought it was, you know, like sweet wine. That kind of dessert wine.
[00:47:49] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. Like a dessert wine. Yeah.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: In Portuguese that's called liqueur.
So for the longest time, I thought it was like that with chocolate. No, it's like, oh, yeah, you thought.
[00:48:00] Speaker D: You were gonna get port and Sauternes and not. Not.
Yeah, I mean, that. Which is dessert wine.
Yeah. The sort of dessert wine category includes. Includes port wine, includes sauternes. It includes ice wines. Right. There's a lot of different things in sort of that dessert wine category, but it was not. That's so interesting. That's. That's.
[00:48:21] Speaker A: So. I only realized this much closer to it, but I. Because I'm not a big drinker. So that's why I'm like, wait a minute, can I still do this? But. But it was a lot of fun. And, you know, you don't have to drink the whole thing. You can just sip it.
But I really enjoyed it. We also did the mixology, and that's another one that I think changed in the groups. People were talking about the fact that now you don't get to mix it anymore. The drinks come ready for you. But the guide instructor, oh, my gosh, he was so much fun. He was almost more fun than drinking the cocktails themselves. So I really enjoyed it. I would highly recommend it. Still.
I had a great time doing that.
[00:49:04] Speaker D: Love that. What about some family activities? What were the things that you. The. I mean, it's so nice to have a, you know, three generations of your family on this Cruise your, you know, your daughter, yourself, your father, were there. Were there things that the three of you got to do together, or was Julia just off in edge the whole time and not interested in hanging out with you?
[00:49:22] Speaker A: Yeah, she did. She did a lot of edge for sure, until she.
She. She lost on. On the foosball, and that was something she wasn't okay with. And then after that episode, it was more problematic to go to edge, and that's because in the previous cruise, she had won the foosball tournament. So I think at that age, you think, like, if you win it once every time, it's going to go through. Right. And then when it doesn't, it's a bit of a problem. But we did crafts together, which was a lot of fun. The three of us just coloring together. We did some drawing and we went to the shows. We watched Frozen together.
We watched. You know, it was my first time watching the Golden Mickeys. I. I had heard about it, but I somehow I had never actually come across it, so. And I have to say, the. The. The dancing, like, the production, the caliber of the cast, it was fantastic. It was really, really. I. I was expecting. I have to be honest, I was expecting something very simple. They'll sing this, they'll sing that line.
Oh, my gosh. It was a production, and the dancers were on it like they were committed. It was really, really nice to watch.
[00:50:41] Speaker D: Oh, I love that. Yeah, it's on the Dream, too. But the Dream was your first cruise, and so you might have missed it on that cruise or you don't remember it because it was in 2018.
[00:50:51] Speaker A: No, I had never watched it.
[00:50:53] Speaker D: Okay, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, so it's. Yeah, it's.
[00:50:58] Speaker A: It's.
[00:50:58] Speaker D: As we've talked about on the show, it's one of Brian's favorites. He really loves it. I think it's a lot of fun. It wouldn't put it in my favorites category, but I think it's a lot of fun, and I think everyone should at least go see it once and decide for yourself if it's a highlight for you.
Now tell us, is there anything that we've missed? Anything sort of highlight, low light, Something you just didn't expect that we haven't talked about before we subject you to a little random rapid fire.
[00:51:28] Speaker A: I would just say that the food quality in the regular rotation dinners, that was amazing. It was the most consistent I've ever seen. I enjoyed every single meal, like, at a level that it's not always, like, it's always good. Sure.
But it was like every meal, like, oh, my gosh, this is really, really good. So. And Tiana in particular was. Was, to me, was just the best. It was really delicious.
[00:51:58] Speaker D: Love that.
[00:51:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we did do Palo brunch as well. I have to.
[00:52:01] Speaker D: Oh, of course.
[00:52:03] Speaker A: My. My dad was horrified with the fact that I ordered, like, this long list of things. It's like, you're. You're. You're nuts. And he's. He's now going around telling people, like, going at Lens, saying, do you know what she did? And she ordered this and she ordered that. But I'm like, this is how people do it. I swear to you, I listen to all the podcast that's.
[00:52:25] Speaker D: You're exactly right. You're supposed to order, like, from every category in Paulo. And then, you know, if you're worried. Well, one, we always, like, eat Paulo for, like, lunch, even though it's brunch, but we try to get. Have a reservation closer to lunchtime so that we, you know, and then we don't eat breakfast, and then we often barely eat dinner because we're so full still from brunch. So. Yeah, and then you can share stuff. It's. It going Apollo with a group, a bigger group, I think is the ideal, because then you can really order lots of different things and have a taste of everything. But, you know, I say order whatever you want. If you don't eat it, the fish will, so it will not go to waste. The fish will eat that.
[00:53:06] Speaker A: That's what our waitress said.
[00:53:08] Speaker D: There you go. I love it. I love it.
Well, Brian, is it that time already? It's that time already.
[00:53:15] Speaker B: Yay.
All right, all right, all right. No, in all seriousness, we have reached that point in the show, Samantha, where I need to hand you over to Samantha, AKA Sam, for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment of the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away.
[00:53:35] Speaker D: All right. Okay. I'm going to ask you some Disney favorites, and then I'm going to ask you Disney Cruise Line favorites. For cruise line, you can choose across the fleet from any ship that you have been on. You're not just limiting the questions to the wonder. But I'll have to. When we get there, I'll be curious as to your favorite ship now that you've been on the four classic ships. All right, we're going to start with your favorite Disney character. And by Disney, I mean anything and everything that Disney owns. So that's pretty much everything in the world at this point. So who's your Favorite Disney character.
[00:54:07] Speaker A: It's Stitch.
[00:54:08] Speaker D: Oh, I love that. Well, we just celebrated just a couple weeks ago 626day. So we'll give a shout out to Stitch. All right. What is your favorite Disney movie?
[00:54:18] Speaker A: Oh, Toy Story 3.
[00:54:20] Speaker D: Toy Story 3.
[00:54:22] Speaker A: I cry every single time when it's about, like, your son leaving for college, and I'm like, then I picture my son who is now in high school, and the whole thing. Yeah, yeah.
[00:54:34] Speaker D: Oh, I don't even want to think about when Nathan's that age. My goodness, I'm going to be the same. Okay, favorite Disney song.
[00:54:42] Speaker A: So the song that comes to mind every time. Time I. I hear you asking your guests is from Tangled, I See the Light. So I think that's my favorite song. Very romantic, but I love that song. Did you like the song?
[00:54:57] Speaker D: Yeah, I love that song.
[00:54:58] Speaker A: Lovely. But when I was on the wonder and we were watching Frozen, I'm like, oh, this is pretty good. Oh, that's pretty good too. Oh, Frozen has so many good songs. But. But I'm. I'm still gonna go with I See the light.
[00:55:10] Speaker D: All right. Love that. All right, we're gonna move on to the Disney Cruise Line, and we are going to start with your favorite stage show in the Walt Disney Theater.
[00:55:21] Speaker A: Oh, Beauty and the Beast.
[00:55:23] Speaker D: That's the right answer. Thank you very much. We can just end the show right now. You have one rapid fire. Because that is the right answer. There are so many wonderful shows. You mentioned Frozen. Frozen is fantastic. Tangled on the Magic is fantastic. But the right answer, if you haven't been on the Treasure yet, the right answer is absolutely Beauty and the Beast. And even if you've been on the Treasure, Beauty and the Beast or Tale of Moana are two equally right answers. So good job, Samantha. I love it. All right, we're going to move through the ship.
Tell me what your favorite onboard activity is to your favorite onboard activity on a Disney cruise. Favorite things to do on the ship.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Metro Mate.
[00:56:06] Speaker D: Yes. It's awesome.
[00:56:07] Speaker A: I always laugh so hard with that. It's. It's. It's a joy.
[00:56:11] Speaker D: It is a joy. Absolutely love that. And then those folks who win, or even the ones who don't win, become on ship celebrities for the rest of the cruise. Always fun.
[00:56:20] Speaker A: Exactly. Oh, there's that couple who never talks.
[00:56:23] Speaker D: About it, like, I love it.
All right, your favorite rotational dining restaurant again, across all of the ships.
[00:56:32] Speaker A: Ah, this is a hard one. But. And maybe because it just happened, but I. I was so impressed with Tiana, and I think it was also the combination of amazing menu with music. I just love jazz. I love that kind of music. And we had a wonderful time both nights.
[00:56:52] Speaker D: Yeah. And it's also. I feel like it's one where the menu and the theming really matches each other. And like, in some of the other restaurants, they. That. It's not that they don't do that at all, but it's like. It's just more done in Tiana's. Absolutely.
All right, we got to move over to food. Since we're. Well, since we're talking about food, we're going to go with a favorite sweet item on Disney Cruise Line, and then we're going to hit a favorite savory item on Disney Cruise Line. So we'll start with the sweets. What? It was a. What's a favorite item on Disney Cruise Line?
[00:57:26] Speaker A: Probably the. The churro waffles.
That's absolutely delicious.
[00:57:32] Speaker D: It is. It is. And it should be a dessert, not a breakfast food. But I'm not opposed to the fact that it's served a breakfast. All right, let's go to a savory. A favorite savory food on Disney Cruise Line. Samantha.
[00:57:46] Speaker A: So before I went to Palo, I would have said the empanadas, those beef empanadas that you get in the World cup lunch. But at Paulo. Oh, my God, the lasagna. The lasagna was something else. So it was so fluffy. It was just incredible. So I have to go for the lasagna.
[00:58:08] Speaker D: I love it. You've. You've picked two of Brian's favorites, so, I mean, I like both of those as well. But you've picked. I'd say specifically, you've chosen two of Brian's favorites, plus a lumberjack strab.
[00:58:18] Speaker B: So, you know.
[00:58:21] Speaker D: Okay, this might be the most important question. It's not the last question. It's the second to last question. Probably the most important question. Well, maybe not second most important question, because the show is probably the most important question. But which one is your favorite ship?
[00:58:36] Speaker A: It's the Wish so far, I have to say. I know.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: Fascinating.
[00:58:42] Speaker D: That is a controversial pick. I'm not gonna. I'm not hating on it, but it is a controversial pick. Pick. Yeah.
[00:58:47] Speaker C: Don't.
[00:58:48] Speaker B: We rarely get that as the. The favorite ship.
[00:58:51] Speaker A: Hot take. Right. But I think it might. It might be influenced by the fact that when we went on the Wish, it was a concierge sailing, and the concierge lounge just won me over completely. Was the first time I ever had access to hot food at the lounge.
So that allowed Me to have like a nice breakfast without having to go into that madness that Marceline market can be be and the sun area.
Oh my gosh, that is incredible. It's super large. You have your hot tubs, you have your local bar. It just felt really good. I still don't like the fact that you can't go running around the ship. We don't have that nice track so that still bothers me. But even the elevator thing that people complain about and I guess that's for the whole wish class, that didn't bother me at all. In fact I felt like even though the ship may be I think a little bit bigger than the dream or maybe similar size, it felt more manageable to like I knew where I was a little bit more easily. I don't know how to explain it. I just, I just always found myself so I just felt very comfortable. That ship. I had a wonderful time. Time.
[01:00:09] Speaker D: Yeah. You were definitely spoiled by the hot food and concierge because that food, I will say I think they did an incredible job adding that like when, when they brought the wish on board that was the first in, well obviously the first in its class but the first concierge lounge where you could get hot food and it, it, they did a really nice job with that menu. The I, I in particular I love that, that breakfast menu in, in the concierge lounge on the Wish class. So I, I can understand where you're, I can understand where your perspective comes from. O the last question of rapid fire of course is what is your bucket list cruise? I mean you just completed a bucket list cruise, Samantha. But what is left on your bucket list that is anywhere in the world but you're going to go on a Disney ship and it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney cruise line currently goes.
[01:00:57] Speaker A: So Disney used to do this. I don't know if they still do it, you tell me. But they used to do this Iceland and Norwegian fjords combat that seemed glorious and I would love to go and I think it was an 11 day or 12 day something like that. And then I couldn't find it on the itinerary anymore. Do they still do it? No.
[01:01:19] Speaker D: Well, we don't know.
They slightly change their itineraries. The European itineraries seem to change year to year. Right. And I think some of that has to do with like what ports they can get into and things like that and what's going on in the world is of course part of that as well. Well we know that from the, the whole, the Fact that they don't go to Russia anymore. Right. But I do think, I do think it could come back. I, we don't have any information one way or the other. But you're right, it's not on this year's itineraries that have Norway do not have. They don't have that longer itinerary that tends to have Norway and Iceland. They do have one on there that I believe has Denmark and Norway.
That's for the, for next year, for 2026.
[01:02:09] Speaker B: I think Iceland also got harder for them to do.
Yeah, well, they had one port, remember, that was like taken off the.
[01:02:16] Speaker D: Yes, that's right.
[01:02:17] Speaker B: Sailing and there's been a lot of like the volcanic activity up there hasn't really helped them. So. Yeah. So it could be maybe just getting harder.
[01:02:24] Speaker D: Yeah. But I wouldn't. Listen, I would say like, keep, keep checking the itineraries year to year because they do change, as I mentioned, they change the itineraries on year Europe from year to year. They add new ports, they take away certain ports. So I don't think, I don't think anyone can say that it's gone off of the itineraries forever. But you're right, it isn't on the itineraries for, for this year. At least not for 2025 and not for 2026 thus far. So. But Samantha, thank you so much for playing. As I mentioned, you, you, you had me at Beauty and the Beast, so congratulations.
[01:03:00] Speaker B: Well, and Samantha, before we let you go, I always like to ask, so what's next?
[01:03:05] Speaker D: Do you have the treasure booked?
[01:03:06] Speaker A: I don't have the treasure, but I do have the Destiny booked. It's.
It's a four night between Christmas and New Year's this year and, and then next year we do have the adventure booked as well.
[01:03:22] Speaker D: You do? Oh, fantastic.
[01:03:25] Speaker A: We do.
[01:03:25] Speaker D: And it's.
[01:03:25] Speaker A: And it's a trip. We're gonna pair that with a Japan abd.
[01:03:30] Speaker D: Oh, awesome. Fantastic. All right, well, Samantha, you'll have to come back to chat with us about your cruise on the Destiny in December and then you'll have to come back again to talk about your cruise. Well, we'll have to do. We might have to do a super sized episode to talk about your Japan adventures by Disney and your trip on the adventure. So you're absolutely gonna come back to talk about those things. But we wanna say thank you so much for joining us. We really appre.
Um, for those who are listening, without wonderful guests like Samantha, this podcast would just be, as I've said multiple times, the Two weirdos with mics that Brian and I are. So if you're interested in coming on.
[01:04:11] Speaker B: Our next new our next new podcast venture, two Weirdos with Mike's brought to you by the DCL duo. There you go.
[01:04:16] Speaker D: But if you're interested in coming on the show, in particular, if you've got a unique itinerary, a unique story, we love telling the stories of our listeners and we love having new guests on the show. But we'll just say thank you and.
[01:04:29] Speaker B: And Sam, you have to tell them how to then get.
[01:04:31] Speaker D: Oh yes.
[01:04:31] Speaker B: So, so if you're interested in being a guest on the show, you can always reach out to us over email@dclduo mail.com or infocloduo.com or you can just head to dclduo.com and click on the button that says be our guest. So there you go. Yeah.
So yes, thank you Samantha, once more for coming on the show. And to all of you out there listening, we'll talk to you next time.
[01:04:58] Speaker C: Well, well, thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor, My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email them at DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things, full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast, links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month. Just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course, email
[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney Family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective views the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.
[01:07:06] Speaker D: Sam.
