[00:00:00] Speaker A: You mentioned you booked a bunch of different drink drink tastings. What were the other ones that you booked and what did you think of them? I imagine you had just. You have more opportunity to do these kinds of things when you're selling without kiddos.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Yeah. And especially the champagne tasting. Like doing that before the mustard drill has even happened.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: When the mustard drills. A lot more pleasant.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Welcome back to another episode of the DCL Duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel. As you can tell from hearing my voice, I am Sam. I am not Brian. I'm your host today. Brian is unable to join me due to parenting responsibilities, let's just put it that way. But I'm excited because I have a returning guest on today who we just actually recorded only a couple months ago. She's basically filling her spring and summer with Disney cruising, I guess. But I'm super excited to welcome Alicia. Alicia back to the show. Welcome back, Alicia.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Thank you for having me again. It's great to talk with you.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah. It seems like it was just yesterday that we had you on.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: The summer has flown by. I like it and I don't like it. It's been a lot of fun. But yeah, it does feel like it was just yesterday.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Right? Kids going back to school. Like, right. Like probably as, as we're talking. Yeah.
Nathan goes back in, well, less than two weeks. But we, we go back at the very, like, we're like some of the last people to go back to school.
He goes back right after Labor Day. But it is, it is amazing to think that you've taken two cruises in such a short period of time. But before we dive into the cruise, we're going to talk about today, which is your adult only, your first adult only cruise. Just you and your husband on the Disney Wish. But let's remind folks of your cruising background. What are your prior cruises and of course, the one you just recently went on with the whole family.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Yeah, we've been cruising quite a bit this year, but we're still fairly new. We took our first cruise in 2023. Disney Cruise Line. I have not been on any other cruise line at this point. Went on the Disney Wish and did a four night then with our kids.
Went again in 2020 and then 2025, we took our third and fourth cruise. So this was our fourth cruise in July.
We've been on the Fantasy and the Wish so far.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: Awesome. And you are getting dangerously close to gold, my friend.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: I know. We're right there. We're actually going to be achieving it Quite soon.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Oh, very exciting. Okay, well, we'll have to talk about that at the end. I love that. I love that. All right, well, you had just come back from the fantasy when we talked to you last, and you just came back now from the Disney wish. Tell us, how did this wonderful event happen? Meaning how were you able to get on a cruise without your kids? Everybody wants to know that.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Easier said than done usually, right? We, so we were celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and getting in this spring time frame, thinking we've got to do so something. Right. Like we've got to either. You know, we live in Michigan. Northern Michigan's really popular. So we started looking around and pricing things out and it was starting to look like cruising was really going to be the most cost effective option. So we thought let's just look.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Wait, really? Instead of like renting like a lake house or something?
[00:03:37] Speaker B: It is crazy expensive in Northern Michigan in the summertime. It's gotten really popular. And so the pricing, we looked at one, one hotel up here, kind of more of a local resort hotel. And it was $1700 a night to stay.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: And then renting houses kind of run in the same range because it's all like waterfront property.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Right, right. And then you're talking about like a big house. So it might make sense if you were going to do like with a big group or with like multiple families, but not like for a couple to just get away the, you know, the two of you and rent some big lake house that you, you only need one bedroom. You don't need like five, you don't need like a six bedroom house. Right? Yeah, definitely.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Honestly, I never would have thought though hotels, it would not occur to me. I mean, I guess, of course I, you know, there are popular lake destinations across the United States. But like, I don't know, I just don't think of that as being like the, the luxury, costly vacation. But apparently I just turned into it. Yeah, yeah.
[00:04:37] Speaker B: And we, we do spend a lot of time up there. So it was also like, okay, that's, we've, we've done a weekend up there before for our anniversary and could we do something a little more exciting and special?
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, you got to figure in of course, the cost of the cruise and an airfare. Did it still make sense when you started pricing that out as well?
[00:04:58] Speaker B: It did. So we started looking at itineraries and what might work. And there was one that was taking off actually the day after our anniversary. And it was a three Night on the Wish out of Port Canaveral, and they were running a guarantee promo. So we did a guarantee room for the first time. And yes. I mean, the three nights all in, I think we spent $2,300.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Wow, that's. That's a really good, good price. And then. And you, I assume you're flying from Detroit major airport, so you got lots of options flying to mco.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Yes, and we were able to use points, so that made it the extra bonus of like, okay, well, we can use points to get down there, use miles. And then, you know, the, the guarantee price was hard to pass up. Plus the timing of it being that exact weekend.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Now tell us what room category when you.
When you chose.
Sorry, I'm hearing the kids in the background. It's okay.
It's hard.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: I said, you got to go downstairs for a little while. So they're having some. They're having some lively fun.
[00:06:01] Speaker A: They're having some fun.
Listen, the sound of children laughing and screaming is always a bonus on, on this show in my, in my humble op.
But it just distracted me for a second. I was like, oh, what was that?
Where was I at? I was asking you about.
I asked you about flight. Oh, room category. Thank you. I.
What room category did you choose? Because with a guaranteed, guaranteed prices, you can pick a room, a particular room category, and Disney will not let you choose your room, but they will choose a room for you that is that category or better. So occasionally if you book like an inside, you might end up with an ocean view. You book an ocean view, might end up with a veranda. You book veranda, you might end up with a deluxe veranda, you know, or family, whatever it's called. I forget the bigger one. Right.
What category did you. Did you guys end up booking?
[00:06:51] Speaker B: So we did like the standard veranda room. And we thought this was a perfect time to do it because with the kids, it's always nice to like pick a room that's in a certain spot. We love to be, you know, usually 10 floor because we're constantly running for food and drinks. And so we can just path right upstairs, right. And come back down. So with them, it's like perfect to be on the side of the ship where I can get to the beverages really quickly. But we thought with just the two of us, really, it doesn't matter, you know, where we're at and we can try it out and see how it goes. And it works to our advantage significantly because we ended up in an accessible room.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Yes.
Okay.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: That was an unexpected surprise.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, people don't, like, realize this, obviously, if you. You can't book an accessible room if you don't need an accessible.
Right. Like, they're not just available online for booking, which is good. Right. Because people. They should save those accessible rooms for people who need them for actual, you know, accessibility reasons. But they do use them as GTY rooms if they aren't booked. Right. If they're not booked. And they are.
Ginormous. Generally speaking, like, I have been in a couple. Our friends, Vanessa and Andrew Prince. Let me see one of their. Their staterooms. I think it was on the Disney Treasure, if I'm remembering correctly, or no. Or it might have been actually on the. I can't remember at this point which. Which ship it was on, but I've been in a couple of them and like, honestly, Ginormous. Yeah. Well, tell us. Tell us about your room. This is. This is crazy. I love it.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: So we got the room. We had been waiting. It didn't really come until, like, the week before.
It was pretty close. We've been waiting, looking, and I finally opened up the app one day and saw the room assignment.
And so then, of course, I went on to the ship map so I could figure out, like, where is it? What is it?
And I looked it up and I'm thinking, is that right? Like, this. Is that the layout? So then, of course, I went to YouTube. So another tip, you can go out to YouTube, look up your room on your ship, and often there is a video of someone showing that room.
So I looked it up just to verify, because based on the map, it looked like the room was big. But not only the room, that the veranda was massive.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. And you'll have, like a little ramp going out to the veranda as well. Those. I mean, they are. They have to be able to fit, you know, a wheelchair. So the doors have to be larger. The, like, sort of hallway spaces all have to be larger. Right. Like, and then. Yeah, even the veranda. Wow, that's like. I mean, that's awesome. This is like a. This is extra pixie dust. Right. When you.
That you don't necessarily. That you can't expect, but is lovely to have.
That's awesome. I love that.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So we ended up at the rear of the ship, so aft and, like, immediately back, just off the flag. And the veranda was big enough for the table and chairs, plus two loungers. So it was a very nice treat and the perfect cruise to have a nice big veranda and A huge room. Although I would appreciate the more space with the boys too.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Of course.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: We were spread out. I think I had my stuff in three different closets. I mean just the stuff space and everything was crazy.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Yeah. It's funny to think of you actually when you're only two people, you don't need like the, the. The Wish is a perfect example where when it's the three of us, we're like complaining about there's not enough cabinet space. If it's just the two of us, there's like more than enough space even in a regular room. And then in one of those accessible rooms. Yeah, you get even extra. It would be lovely when you're. When you're, you know, a family of four or a family of three or family of five. Right. To have one of these rooms that has all this. All this ext.
Well, let's. Let's talk about the. Let's back up a little bit on the planning side of things. Of course we did a deep dive on the room because that's such an awesome perk and because I do think folks should know that these guaranteed rooms are definitely great options. As I've mentioned on other shows, especially if you're not real picky or particular about the location of your room, then it's a really great option. And price wise you really can't beat it unless you're getting some kind of military discount or Florida resident discount or cast discount, something like that. So. But yeah, let's talk about the planning side of things. Was a three night cruise. You got somebody watching your kids in Michigan. You guys are going to Florida. Did you guys plan on booking any adult dining ahead of time? And you were in the. You're still silver. Close to gold, but still silver.
[00:11:25] Speaker B: And.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: But were you able to if you were trying to book any of the adult. Either the adult drink tastings or prima note or adult dining.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: We went back and forth on booking adult dining. We've done it before and love it and decided let's just really enjoy main dining and the rotational restaurants because they do a lovely job with the kids. But to just get to enjoy them was a really nice adventure we were looking forward to. And when we had gone on the Wish last time, we had missed Arendelle. The boys were not about. It was day one. They were like, let's just eat pizza on the deck. They weren't about going to the princess show. So we kind of wanted to go check that one out. So we did not book any adult dining. We did book a few Classes and we're able to get really everything that we were looking for and there was still availability.
The one thing actually, I take that back, we did book one adult dining. I just didn't think of it because it was in the evening. We got palo brunch and that was our first time doing pao brunch. So we did that and thought that'll be kind of our adult dining experience and then we'll do regular rotational for dinner.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and I think that's a great choice. One, because as everyone knows, palo brunch in my mind is like everything you possibly need. It's amazing. But two, like you're only on a three night cruise, you're gonna be really full and you don't want to do palo brunch and an. And like an adult dining on the same day and even like the night before, like you can't, like, it's just too much food. Like we, we if the only time we do more than one adult dining experience is on a longer sailing, like a seven night cruise, you can do dinner and one brunch. But if they're within even like two days of one another, it is just too much food and you are going to feel like, oh my God, I can't eat that much. You're like, you're going to want to walk away instead of going walking into the restaurant. So I, yeah, I highly recommend if you're doing a shorter cruise, if you're going to choose an adult dining experience, choose one and only one and it's okay to skip them as well. All right, so you're able to book that. That's great. That's great to hear. There was avail.
Let's dive into the meat and potatoes you fly the day before. Please tell me.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Oh, yes.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Okay.
Awesome.
Okay. And where did you guys stay? You're of course sailing out of Port Canaveral, flying into mco. Did you guys stay at the airport, stay down by the port, stay at the Disney? You know what, what were the logistics?
[00:13:58] Speaker B: So the day we flew down was our actual anniversary. So wanted to try to make it a bit of, you know, an anniversary experience.
So we ended up up staying on Disney property at the Polynesian. But we rented DVC points and tip out there. If you're looking to stay at, you know, a nicer resort, go on. There's a lot of different rental sites. The process was really smooth and saved us a significant amount of money per night to be able to stay there, especially for, you know, just one night. So we stayed There enjoyed just the resort. We didn't make any dinner reservations. We just really wanted to soak it in. There's so much there to be able to do and eat and especially with the new tower. We walked over there and just really enjoyed the property.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. The Poly is such a beautiful resort.
It's. You can watch fireworks even from, you know, their pool area, their, their lawn area. Yeah, it's a really nice place to, to stay and it's great option if you're not a DVC member to rent DVC points to stay at one of the resorts. You, I agree you absolutely saved money on doing that as opposed to the, the cost. Of course you are going to stay in a DVC room, which in some. Well, I guess I, I think there, I mean, you have more amenities if you're staying in a DVC room. Like you often have like a kitchenette type of. Not a full kitchen necessarily, but you might have like a microwave and a small, you know, fridge and some, you know, flatware and stuff like that. So if you wanted to like bring in food, it would be relatively easy. The only, the only negative can be depending upon which resort, and this is important to you may be in an older, non refurbished room just depending upon which resort has gone through the hard and soft refurbs. And so if you are particular about that, like the hotel upkeep, the hotel side has probably more, a little bit more frequent upkeep and updates of their rooms than the DVC side. So if that matters to you. But they're all, I think, generally really lovely resorts. All right, well, transportation to the port.
What did you guys decide to do? Were you Disney transportation?
[00:16:09] Speaker B: Yeah, we've done it every time. Did it again. I love the benefit of not having to pick a Ford arrival time and then kind of taking care of everything, especially with the distance, you know, like, it feels like you might, you will save money certainly if you were to take Uber or maybe book like a shuttle if you had a large group. But there is. It's almost like I look at it as you're paying for the benefit of getting on the ship early and when we typically have the kids and it's just so much easier. Our youngest is four, so we have to worry about, well, they have a seat and how do we accommodate all of that? So we just put it on repeat and did it for the two of us too.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's a smart way to do it. You're. You're right. Like they're. I think you Actually save more the more number of people you have. Like you can save more on booking private transportation, of course, versus Disney transportation. I think for smaller numbers, a smaller group is actually more economical, I think often to take Disney transportation. But it is just also like kind of a no brainer. Right. You don't have to worry about like who's driving you. You don't have to worry about your luggage getting there. They take your luggage for you and then it arrives magically at your room on the ship, which is also a fantastic thing. Well, so what time did you guys get picked up or have to meet to sort of leave poly? And, and we got to talk about of course, the, your, your port experience at Port Canaveral, which I'm going to guess was smooth sailing because it usually is there. But yeah, tell that.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Yeah, actually this time I'm like, okay, I know I'm going on the show so I'm going to take notes and actually time this out.
[00:17:41] Speaker A: Oh, I love it. I love it.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: We got picked up from Polygon on the bus at 9:45, arrived there at 10:55. So it's they, they say like an hour and 15 minutes. I've never had it take that long. It's usually somewhere around an hour. This was the first time that we were in the other terminal. So we've always gone out of like.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: The main Disney terminal. Yeah. So you were out of 10 instead of eight. Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: So pulling up we were like, like, where are we going? What is this? We'd never seen it before and you know, fourth cruise we feel like, okay, we know a little bit at this point, but had just never been on an itinerary taken out of the air. But still it was really smooth. Even though it wasn't the main terminal. We were through check in and sitting by 1105. So it took us all of 10 minutes to get through security and checked in. That was really smooth.
And then we had to wait a little bit. They weren't, they hadn't started boarding yet.
But with the DCL transportation we were on boarding group four. So once they started it, we were on pretty quickly. So we're on by 11:45.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: And I mean that's a great before, before lunchtime even. I feel like lunch to me, lunchtime doesn't start until noon. So like, yeah, you get on before, before anybody would be, you know, sitting down at cabanas or anything like that. That's awesome. Or I guess Marceline Market on the Wish.
That's a f Port experience. Now I will Say, just a reminder for folks, the Wish is out of Terminal 10, not out of Disney's dedicated terminal right now. And that's because the Fantasy and the Treasure are sailing out of Terminal 8, Disney's. Disney's actual terminal. And so because the Wish is in and out twice a week right between the four night and the three night sailings that ship ends up at, at Terminal 10, they don't want you coming in and out of different terminals because then if you parked a car, you're having to, I don't know, schlep between terminals to find your car, it would be, it would just be a nightmare. So, so that's what they've, they've done. Well, let's, let's talk about where you went to eat. I mean, you, of course you had your family name announced. It's a little bit different without the kids. You knew it was coming to because you had been on the, you know, been on the ships before. But what did you decide to do without the kids? This is, I think, a big question.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: It was, we were walk. And that one. You have a lot of time to figure it out, right? You're kind of weaving back and forth.
And I turned to my husband, I'm like, what do we. It feels weird to have them see the Harpam family. Like I, it's just, it doesn't feel right.
So we just had them say our first names so that we, you know, the boys, I think would feel a little left out if we had them go with family name.
And it was, it was really nice. So my favorite character, Cinderella, and she happened to be up on the balcony and it, it wasn't even 15 minutes later we came back through and Tiana had swapped in.
So I caught Cinderella before she moved, which was nice. And then we love Donald's Cantina.
So I was like darted straight for Donald's Cantina. I'm gonna get some food. I'd been on the Fantasy my last two, so I was very excited.
So we didn't even go to Marceline, just went out on the deck. We were sitting down with food. They were still wiping stuff down.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: They were still people boarding. Absolutely.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: That, that is a smart, that is a smart move. I, I cannot criticize the choice to skip both sit down and skip Marceland Market in favor of Donald's Cantina. I don't think there's a wrong choice in that, in that decision. And frankly, I wouldn't criticize you if you had gone to Mickey's Smokestack Barbecue either, because that's a great. Or the pizza place. Those are all like, you know, we, we talk about the, the wish class has absolutely bar non. The best deck food in the fleet.
It's all really good, I think. You know, of course you can have your burgers and hot dogs and stuff like that. And especially for the, you know, when the kids are with you, that's where they are more likely to go. But yeah, I think it's just, just fantastic. Well, interesting. I wanted to bring up. I, you know, I keep thinking of these reels I see on Instagram of it's. We promised our kids we wouldn't have any fun. And it's a parents like, you know, with no smile, like with a drink in their hand, like sitting in the sun or you know, eat. It was sitting with their chipotle at sea or you know, or standing with Mickey Mouse with a, you know, straight face.
Was that kind of your experience? You're like, I, we, we're having fun. We can't, we can't make our kids know that we're having so much fun without them.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: I can't tell you how many people were like, oh, you're here without your kids.
You're here without your kids. And we keep having to answer that question. Like, yeah, I know they're a little jealous, but they get to do this too.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: Like, yeah, yes, yes. Listen, there is like, I don't know, it's funny, you know, while I think there's amazing.
There are amazing adult only experiences.
Obviously we just got back from Virgin Voyages not long ago. But I, there's, you know, no, I have give no shade to somebody who chooses to go on a Disney cruise without their children. We have made that choice many times and I would make that choice again in the future. I absolutely, absolutely love it. Well, let's talk about some highlights from this sailing. You were going, of course to Nassau and Castaway. So let's start with the ports. Did you guys get off at Nassau Castaway and if so, what did you guys get up to?
[00:23:14] Speaker B: We did not get off at Nassau. We've been there a few times now and there wasn't really any excursion that appealed to us to do that. Maybe we wouldn't have done without the boys. We really just wanted to enjoy the ship and especially for only three nights, three days.
Just kind of relax. I can tell you on the first day. So went to Donald's Cantina. We were at quiet cove by 12:30.
I love that we never get to spend any time there.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: And so really soaked in Quiet Cove and we were the only ones back there. It was literally just us at that point. So on the Nassau day, we really enjoyed the ship, made use of the adult space and I hit, I think, as many trivia events as I could possibly get to because I love doing them.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Oh my God, I love that. I absolutely love that. And I will say I think a great tip is Quiet Cove on embarkation day, like as early as possible because it will be, I mean, the Quiet Cove pool, which is the adult pool at the aft of the ship, it does on a sea day get quite crowded. But I. But not really embarkation day. I think people are still kind of learning the ship and like roaming around and it takes a while and they're usually with their kids because the kids clubs aren't open yet and so they haven't sort of figured out that that even exists. And then maybe on like a sea day, if their kids are in the kids club or the folks who are on without kids, they all discover it and then it becomes packed. But like the, I would say the absolute best piece of advice, if you are sailing adult only or you have kids that ditch you on that first day like that Quiet Cove pool is a. Is a hot tip to go, you know, go there. And then of course, on a port day, if you're not getting off the ship, both pool decks, both the adult and the family pool deck will be, you know, pretty under subscribed, let's put it that way. They won't be empty, but there will. They will not be packed and you can have a really, you know, lovely, lovely time just, you know, sitting by the pool or in the pool with a drink in hand or reading a book or whatnot. Well, what about Castaway? I. You guys got off at Castaway, I'm assuming to enjoy the island. But did you do Serenity? Did you go to the family beach? Did you do any of the activities? What did you guys get up to?
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Yeah, we definitely got off there. We were excited to be back there. We hadn't been back to Castaway in a few cruises, so it was nice to get back there and see Serenity because we had never been over there.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: So didn't, I mean, hadn't even approached it, turned that corner and never even peeked at it. So it was really nice to go see that space.
And we started the day with cabana massages, which we did not pre book. And that is another tip that from this cruise. I don't think I would ever approach it differently. We had gotten couples massages. The very first cruise we went on and had said, you know, it was great but not really worth the cost. It was significantly expensive. And we did it inside the ship. On this cruise we had pedicures booked because that's one of the things we kind of do every time. It's such a relaxing experience and the price is really good for that service us. And while we were there, they said we're running a promo for Castaway tomorrow and it was $70 off per person. So a significant cost savings for cabana massage. So we kind of went back and forth and said, let's do it. You know, we're not going to get this chance. So now my, my approach is always going to be like, go see if they're running any promos, you know, while the ship is, you know, in port or you know, uneven on a sea day just to see and book them that way, you know, if it's something that you're, you don't have your heart set on doing.
So we ended up saving $140 and then doing the cabana massages to kind of start our castaway day. So that was really nice.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: That's awesome. Yeah. In general they do run great promotions on port days because most, you know, a lot of the spa is really empty on those port days because people are all off the ship. But you know, and they can't really, you know, on other obviously other ports they can't get off and do massages at the ports, but can at Castaway. And I'm assuming at some point they will have that offering at Lookout as well. Although I don't know that for sure.
But yeah, that's a great experience. We did it once. Gosh. But a really long time ago we did it. I want to say it might have been like our first cruise ever that on Disney or maybe it was our second. But it was one of our earliest ones without when we went without Nathan and we did the cabana massage. We, we did pre book it. So we paid the full price, which I'm not sure that I would do that again. The paying full price because it is, you can often get it on special, special price.
But yeah, I think it's a fantastic experience. Oh, I love that. I love. I'm, I'm very jealous. I'm like, I'm wanting to book a, I'm wanting to maybe not a three night cruise. I'm wanting to book like a five night cruise now with just Brian and go and go to Serenity Bay. What did you think of Serenity Bay beach in general? You hadn't been there before, as you mentioned, because you were, you know, always sailing with the boys.
But did you, you know, did you find it to be relaxing, quiet? It is, of course, you know, I warn people it's quite steep. Like, they've had such erosion in that part of the beach, and so it's unfortunate. The beach is quite shallow. Is not the right word. Steep is the best way to describe it. It's just like a steep incline to get into the water. And there's not a whole lot of beach. It's not a very, you know, the width of the beach is not. Is. Is not there, unfortunately, because of the erosion. But what did you think of the beach and the experience over there? There?
[00:28:54] Speaker B: It was certainly quieter, which you would expect, but also just a lot less people. But this. It is really steep. That was a surprise. We weren't expecting that. And great. If you took, like, your chair and sat, and a lot of people did, right? They took a chair and they put it right in the water. So, you know, you could kind of enjoy that aspect of it. But if you were trying to lounge in a standard lounger and, like, lay down, I just kept sliding right off.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. It's not a great. That wouldn't work too well. Yeah, I forgot about that. That's. It's been a. Like I said, it's been a while since we've been over there, to be perfectly honest, because every. The last. I don't know how many times that we've been to Castaway, we have been with Nathan, like, you have always been with your boys. Right. And so we don't even get to go, like, walk over. I mean, if I do a run on my own, I might run past the beach, but I don't actually stop and go onto the beach. So I forget sometimes. Yeah, that would be. That would be kind of funny. Did you spend the whole day at Serenity Course, other than your massage? Or did you, you know, or did. Did you hit a pelican plunge on your own? I don't know. Some people like to, even as adults do, you know, or. Or do the snorkel reef or. Or bicycle or something.
[00:30:04] Speaker B: Yeah, it was the last day on the boat, so it was also about the time where I was really starting to miss the boys that was kicking in.
And so I was like, I'm just gonna go for a walk to the shops and, like, you know, meander through the. The. The family beach and kind of get my fill of, like, kid noise and activity.
So we were there most of the morning.
I took that little walk, and then I think we went back to the ship probably around 1:30. So we didn't spend the whole day there, but thought, let's go back. We'll hit some, you know, quiet cove time.
And so got about a half day at the beach.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Nice, nice. Did you eat at the Serenity Bay barbecue? Did you eat lunch there?
[00:30:43] Speaker B: We went back to the shop that.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: Oh, you went back to eat. Okay, all right, fair enough. I mean, the only thing different is the steak. That's the only thing they have that extra. I think, there. I can't remember if there's anything else. There might be something else. Another. An additional offering over there. But the only thing I can remember is that they have a steak option there that they don't have at the Cookies and cookies to barbecue. But I, I will say, you know, the food at Castaway is fine. I do think they have some really good cookies on Castaway, but it's not like anything that. And I do like the, The. The ribs, but it's not like anything earth shattering. So I'm, I'm also. I'm with you. I can. I'm happy to go back to the ship and eat lunch on the ship if I'm. Especially if I'm too hot and want to get out of the sun and, you know, be in maybe a shady spot, the Quiet Cove pool, which I think is.
[00:31:31] Speaker B: I had to go see Donald again.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Oh, you had to go see Donald again. I love. Well, yeah, so let's talk about that. Let's talk about the stuff you guys did on the ship. You said you hit up a ton of trivias.
Give me an idea of which types of trivia, Alicia, did you go to, or did you go to every type of trivia?
[00:31:47] Speaker B: I went to a lot. Did Marvels, did General Disney trivia.
Really. The whole spread of them. Came in second several times.
So close. Still haven't got one of the medals.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: No medals.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: We were really close, but one of the ones that stands out that we hadn't done before is Majority Mind.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's a fun one.
[00:32:11] Speaker B: And that's really fun. The very first question out of the gate was, which country do you go to first in Epcot? And I was like, that's an obvious answer.
But there were a lot of them. And there was one question.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: Let me guess. The answer was the answer Mexico. Because if it wasn't.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Yeah, okay.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: That was the most.
Yeah. Because obviously the choices are Canada and Mexico. But I feel like everybody, like. Yeah, it would be weird to say. I mean, I feel like you should start and end in Mexico, though.
Yeah. Because you need a margarita at the beginning and the end of your night.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: That's the way I approach it.
I always love those memes that say, like, which direction or which country do you go to first? And why is it. Why is it Mexico?
[00:32:57] Speaker A: Right.
Yeah, exactly. Okay.
I didn't fail that. You know, we're not like, it's. We don't go to the. Well, it's funny. We used.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: We.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: We love the parks, but we're so. We live so far away from Walt Disney World that feel like I just don't get to go to Walt Disney World very often. And so it's. It has been a. It's been a minute. It's been a minute since we've been there.
Well, okay, so all the trivias. Second place finishes in a bunch of them. I'm sorry, Alicia, you got to keep working to get one of those medals.
Majority Minds. Okay. Did you other that Majority Minds is a. Is an adult only sort of game show that they do in the evening. Did you hit up some of the other game shows? Because with your kids it's kind of hard to do those late night game shows because most of them don't start. Start until 10:30 or 11:00 clock at night. And then even the music trivias, occasionally you'll do like an adult music trivia that starts at 10. Right. Like those kids like need to be in their beds. Right. It's hard.
[00:33:59] Speaker B: Yeah. That was a goal of ours. Trying to get to all of like the adults only things we hadn't experienced.
We certainly didn't make it to everything. One of the things we did we loved was made it to the victor fast.
They were incredibly talented. I mean the singers and then the tap dancer. It was a really great event and we just happened to be there. We were coming for what was after it was Majority Minds. So it was right before. So we happened to come a little early and we're really glad we did because that is now something. I don't know that they have that on every ship.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: They have it on all of the Wish class ships. And I think they are bringing it to the other ships from what I've seen. So it premiered. It first became a thing on the Wish and then when the Treasure came out, it was on the Treasure and then I have now seen pictures of it popping up on the other ships as well. So I do Think they're bringing it. I just. I don't know for sure if it's on all of the ships, but I. I know it's on more than just wish and treasure now because I have definitely seen pictures, as I said. But yeah, I agree. Such a great music experience, right? Like great music, great singing and great just like showmanship. Right. It's just really just fun performances. There's so much I. There's so much to do on all of these ships. Did you get to really check out all the adult bar spaces on this trip? Because that's like one of the kind of nice things about the Wish class is I think all the spaces are really beautifully themed. And yes, they are spread out so it's a little different than the dream class. You know, dream, fantasy or wonder and. And magic on the magic class.
But like they're just in my opinion better themed and. And they are just really. Each of them lovely in their own way. Each of them having different personalities. I don't know if you guys probably hadn't gotten a chance to explore in your previous time on the Wish.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: Not much, you know, like we'd pop in for just a quick drink while the kids were in the kids club, you know, but didn't really get to spend time in them. Really enjoying them. So on this cruise, yes, we took advantage of that the first day, which is also now my favorite thing to do.
We did a champagne tasting on the first day. Had never done. Well, I had done it, but my husband had never done it before.
And we booked the two o' clock because I was, I was rolling. Pretty confident that we'd be on the ship early enough and with the kids. Right. We never get to do day one classes really, unless it's like promenote at night because the kids club's not open.
So we were in a champagne tasting. Two o'. Clock. People are still getting announced onto the Boatingales.
[00:36:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I was gonna say, was it a nighting too? So like you're like kind of watching them. Well one, it's a beautiful venue, but also you're close to the atrium, so you're like the grand hall. So you're like seeing people kind of come on as you're doing your champagne tasting class. Oh, I love that. That's. That is a great pro tip. I think if. If you're sailing without kids, this is like you said, not easy to do with the kids because none of the kids clubs are really. They're. They're still in open house mode. And also you don't you have to have to make sure you have an early enough port arrival time to make sure this will work.
But yeah, if you're not scrambling that first day, what a lovely way to start a cruise. You mentioned you booked a bunch of different drink drink tastings. What were the other ones that you booked and what did you think of them? I imagine you had just. You have more opportunity to do these kinds of things when you're selling without kiddos.
[00:37:28] Speaker B: Yeah. And especially the champagne tasting. Like doing that before the mustard drill has even happened.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: Mustard drill a lot more pleasant.
[00:37:37] Speaker B: Yeah. But it also I always feel like the cruise hasn't really started. Vacation really hasn't started until after mustard drill. So having something booked like right when you got on the ship was a nice way of like going into vacation mode right away.
So that was a lot of fun. I will definitely try to like sneak that in if we can in the future.
And then we had booked a rum tasting that was I think on day three and had been wanting to try to get into mixology on day two. While I was sitting in the port, I was able to get to the wi Fi. So I started looking at like in Harding and see what was available and happened to see that I could get into a mixology class the next day.
So we ended up booking the mixology and dropping the rum. Just thought a drink tasting a day might be a little too much.
[00:38:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean it's a choice, you know, it just depends on what kind of vacation were looking for. Right. So.
[00:38:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:36] Speaker C: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. Great news. The fabulous team over at 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 DCLD Duo 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.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: Well, what did you think of mixology? For those who don't know? Just a warning. With mixology, you don't get to mix your own drinks. They are telling you how they prepare these drinks, but you don't actually get to mix them. I think a lot of people go into it thinking they're going to do that. So I just like to remind people that's not an option. Yeah. So what did you think of mixology?
[00:39:55] Speaker B: We liked it. We had done mixology on our last fantasy cruise and loved it. The glass was amazing.
We got a good range of drinks and different styles to try and really felt like you were getting that kind of taste of, you know, what they're going through and how they make the drinks. They did different styles.
This one, I'll be honest, was not our favorite. All of the drinks were kind of the same tone and they were really fruity and juicy, which is not like our forte.
So it, you know, I appreciate that the classes are different on each ship, but now I'm a little leery to like book another one on a wish class. Like, what's the experience going to be? I mean, it has a lot to do with, you know, the bartender.
[00:40:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really. I would not discourage anyone from booking one.
Being worried about the class of ship in particular. It's really just going to be because the. What drinks they choose is the choice of the person running the seminar. Right. Which is usually one of the head bartenders on that ship. And they are very talented. But yes, they all have different styles and they are maybe sometimes trying to appeal too much to the fruity drinker.
And so I think that's probably.
I might recommend you do a martini tasting the next time around. Instead of the mixology, you'll have a mix. You'll have have like they always, in the martini tasting will always do like your traditional martini and then they'll do a variety of other kinds of. I'm putting mar Martini in air quotes because technically there is only a, you know, a gin martini or a vodka martini. Really. There is the other drinks that are martinis or just really drinks served in martini glasses, but that are very alcohol forward. Right. But that might be a better option because I don't think it necessarily leans as fruity as some of the mixology does. And like I said, I think they're just really trying to cater to a, to an audience and they don't always judge that audience perfectly. Right.
[00:42:02] Speaker B: So yeah, I, it's word. We'll do it again I think. But that's a good tip on the martini. I've always been a little nervous around that one being like extremely strong.
[00:42:12] Speaker A: Well the, I will say the, the, the regular martini is I can't take, I take a sip of that. They, they're all small. They give you the very, it's, you know, the very small martini glasses are not full martini glasses. The regular one I can drink, take a little, you know, no thank you sip like a. No thank you bite that I make my kid take a food.
But, but the other ones for me are always like, they're just always interesting, you know, different kind. They always have like one that's you know, maybe chocolate martini and they you know, maybe have one that's.
There's always going to be at least one fruity one in there. They might have one that's like smoky. Right. So they'll have different kind of flavor profiles to kind of show you one what kinds of drinks can be made, you know that are sort of martini esque drinks. So yeah, I think that's a good one to try.
The other question I gotta ask you, I gotta ask you about Palo brunch. Your first time experiencing Palo brunch on any of the ships. Of course you pick a beautiful spot because I think Palo Steakhouse on the Wish class ships is just a. I mean they're all beautiful to be perfectly honest, but that one is very upscale, very lovely.
What did you choose to eat? Please tell me you ate all of the Italian food and skipped the breakfast foods even though they're delicious. I just think it's a waste of stomach space.
But yeah, what did you choose and what did you think?
[00:43:34] Speaker B: We took all of our recommendations from the DCL Duo podcast and having heard all about brunch many times.
So we did try to get at least a little bit from. We didn't do breakfast from all the different courses. So we had an apostle pasta.
We did a pizza because I had just heard so many people rave about the pizza. So I'm like it feels like a lot of food but I want to try it. I don't know when we'll, you know, get a chance to do brunch again.
And then we couldn't decide. Right. We've got chicken parmesan lasagna. Heard both are amazing. So we just one of each and with it.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: Yes, that's the right answer. The right answer is one of each and share. Yes. I mean, I still. Now, it's funny because we will still occasionally do that, but typically I will order the chicken parm, Brian will order the lasagna, and then we'll just each have a taste of each other's. Because we both. We both do still have that preference. Like, that is my. I think the lasagna is wonderful, but I would rather have the chicken parm. But I also want to taste the lasagna.
[00:44:36] Speaker B: Right?
[00:44:36] Speaker A: So, like, for me, that works out. For Brian and I both, it works out absolutely perfectly. Oh, I love that. Did you. Did you do all. Did you try all the different breads and the soup and all that? Because there's so. I mean, there's just so much food.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: There is. We did not do soup.
We could not fit that one in the middle. Made the choice. We did try some of the bread. Some of them are just unbelievable. They're so good.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: So good. And they have the savory breads. They're like an entire savory bread bowl. And then there's also a different. Like an entire sweet bread bowl. Like, it's just.
I mean, I don't know. I. I'm a bread person. Like, I. I could eat all. I could eat all the bread. I stick more. I lean more towards the savory breads because I'm just more of a savory food person in general. But I honestly think all of their bre. Just so good. Which pizza, I guess, is a really. That's a really important question. Which pizza did you get? And. And. And what did you think?
[00:45:29] Speaker B: I think it. The sausage one.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, the spicy sausage.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: Actually, we did half and half because they said you could do that. So it was half margarita and then half the spicy sausage.
[00:45:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Both good. Really, really good. I gotta tell you, you gotta try the grape and gorgonzola. I know it sounds really weird. It. It's. I don't like gorgonzola. I don't like blue cheese at all.
But the next time you go, if you go to Palo, you've got to try the grape and gorgonzola pizza. I swear. I know it sounds really, really strange, and I absolutely hate blue cheese, and I absolutely love that pizza. And I don't. I don't even understand it. It just doesn't make any sense.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: Yeah, I trust the recommendation.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: All right, Awesome. I love it. Okay. And then did you. Did you guys get dessert there or were you too full?
[00:46:14] Speaker B: No, we definitely did.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: I.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: My husband was too Full. I was very prepared. And I'm also like you. I tend to lean safely savory. But I was like, I at least have to try it. And I'm looking at my notes. We did the amorado chocolate fondant, and that was amazing. Like, that was a highlight. I mean, just. It was the best. It was really, really good.
[00:46:34] Speaker A: Oh, I love it. I love it. Alicia, you did all the right things. I love. I'm so proud of you. I'm so.
Now, did your husband love this experience as much as you did? Even though he didn't maybe didn't pace himself as well as you did?
[00:46:47] Speaker B: He did. We both appreciated in the moment. We both needed to relax all afternoon. I think the hardest part were we're both try to avoid dairy. And you just really can't with that lunch. So you just have to prepare yourselves accordingly or, you know, plan ahead, whatever it is, because it definitely has a lot of dairy.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: Yeah, take. Take the lactaid pill before you go to Paulo. Yeah, absolutely. Playing.
[00:47:15] Speaker B: But it's worth it.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: It's worth it. It doesn't matter. It's worth it.
Well, Alicia, I gotta ask you about main dining. Of course, you know, we've spoiled ourselves talking about Apollo, but you mentioned you hadn't gotten to do arendelle on the previous cruise. And doing dinner, even doing dinner in main dining without your kids, I. I think is a really different experience because I don't know, as a mom in particular, I don't.
Well, any parent. But I know for me, I feel like I gotta make sure my kid is, like, taken care of, even though I know it's lovely on Disney Cruise Line, they will often, you know, cut your child's steak for. For them, things like that. But I'm still like, making sure he's all okay, he's got everything he needs. Before I can, like, relax and really enjoy my dinner, I'm. You're nodding along, so I'm imagining you're the same way. But I feel like when I'm eating at a restaurant or on a, you know, a restaurant on a ship or on land without my kid, it's just a completely different experience because I don't. I don't have to worry about anybody but myself. And that is just like, completely different. How. How did you feel about the experience?
[00:48:18] Speaker B: You know, even though they do a fabulous job, I mean, they go above and beyond to help you take care of your kids while they're eating and make sure they're entertained. On our last cruise, my son fell asleep on us. They literally, like, made a whole bed for him. So, I mean, it's. It's incredible what they do. But you still, as a, like a parent, you're just thinking, like, okay, who's doing what? What's going? Where do they need something? What's going on?
So to just get to enjoy the meal was really nice. And we had tablemates, but of course, like, got to know them. They were a great couple. They were celebrating their anniversary, too. That was the day after ours.
And so it was nice to also just get to have, like, adult conversation and. And make cruise friends, which we don't always get to do because when we're with the kids, we're just focused and here and there. And you're not meeting as many families. It's usually the adult experiences, the classes we always meet people in.
So it was nice to have cruise friends to get to connect with at dinner, you know, every day and kind of say what you do today and share some tips. This was their first cruise, so we felt, oh, wow.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:49:22] Speaker A: Oh, I love that.
[00:49:23] Speaker B: It was really nice.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: Were they surprised? That's funny. Were they surprised the first night when you all sat down at a table together?
[00:49:31] Speaker B: It was a table of six. So I think anyone walking up is going, okay, you know, we're going to be, you know, with other people. And we of course, had requested just to see, but. But I was prepared. And we honestly were going into it thinking, like, if we get a table loan, that's fine. We're just as fine with a table with table mates because we can make some friends. Right. Hopefully they're good table mates and maybe we can have some good conversation.
So they weren't surprised when we sat down.
It was just getting the dialogue going initially at the beginning.
[00:50:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
The first interaction's always, like, a little awkward, right? Because you just don't know. Are these going to be like, are these people weirdos? Are the people nice?
[00:50:12] Speaker B: Like, do they not want to talk? Do they want to talk?
[00:50:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I just assume people want to talk. I'm just going to, like, that's going to. That's always going to be my assumption because I think it's just awkward if you don't. Right. It just feels weird and like, I don't know. I kind of also think that if they don't want to talk, then they should have requested a table by themselves.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: So they're switch dining time. Something to get by themselves.
[00:50:38] Speaker A: You're just stuck with me. Sorry, sorry. People out there in the world, if you get seated with Me on a table Disney cruise. You're stuck talking to me. I'm not.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, it's fun. I mean, I think it's nice to make new cruise friends, especially another. Like another couple celebrating. You mentioned their anniversary was the day after year. So the first night of the cruise then was their anniversary. Oh, that's really nice. And your anniversary had been the night before.
Did. Did they do anything special for your anniversaries, like bring you a special dessert or something in the diner dining room?
[00:51:12] Speaker B: They did. They brought out desserts and then they sang a song around us and it was funny because it was like all families and then, then the couples. Two couples.
[00:51:20] Speaker A: Oh, cute. I like it. Now. Did you. What did you think of Arendelle? Because you hadn't experienced it before, obviously you're without kids. It's. I don't know. It's not a different experience, but it's a little bit of a different experience. But you. But your boys were not interested in Arendelle.
You know, I think it's like hilarious with Oaken as sort of the lead in the whole show. But what did you. Yeah. What did you think of it?
[00:51:47] Speaker B: We liked it. And I was surprised. I hadn't really looked into like what the show was like. So when he came out, I was like, oh, one of my favorite parts of the movie.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: So that was fun.
[00:51:57] Speaker A: I feel like your boys probably would like it if they like, they probably thought it was princessy and there are some moments of it that are princessy. Right. Like where Anna and Elsa come. Come out and. But, but really, really, it's Oaken and Kristoff's show more than it is, you know, a Anna and Elsa show.
[00:52:15] Speaker B: Yeah. I was actually surprised how little Anna and Elsa were in the show.
And then I believe it's Let it go.
They sing and she doesn't even sing, which I also was like, wow, that's a bold choice.
[00:52:27] Speaker A: It is a bold choice. It's a. And it's a.
It's not an easy song to sing. And they have. And they go around the dining room and have everybody sing with them. It's. It's a. Yeah, it's a really fun sing along time. Yeah. So sorry for those out there who haven't experienced it, but it is like, I think you should know it's not. It's not really the Anna and Elsa show. It's really the Oaken and Kristoff show.
And then I will say the, the tea, the Olaf's royal tea, of course, is, is you know, Olaf themed, but that's a little bit more princessy. That's more, more Anna and Elsa. And while Oaken and Kristoff are there, from my memory of it, which is a couple years old at this point point, but it is more of a princess experience.
And tea. But you couldn't go to that on this trip because you have to have a child between the ages of 3 and 12 with you for that experience.
Well, Alicia, is there anything else that we haven't covered that you and your husband were able to do on this cruise that maybe you hadn't been able to do before on a Disney cruise?
[00:53:31] Speaker B: So this was our, our second time on the Wish. And one thing I will say that we didn't, you know, it's so short. You really can't explore the ships as much.
Our four night a space that we really enjoyed on this ship that we did not. The first time like really take in was Tiana's in the Middle.
[00:53:50] Speaker A: Oh, the Bayou.
[00:53:51] Speaker B: The Bayou. Thank you. That is such a great space where you can when there's tons of live music, but you're kind of in the middle of everything. So that's one, one thing I like and I think especially with kids, I like that the spaces, the adult spaces are kind of in the ship. So for those with kids and even us without kids, this time you're in the action. You're, you know, there's activity you're kind of experiencing. You can see what's going on, but you're in this space enjoying whatever it is. Right. There were a lot of trivia events there, a lot of live music there. We really enjoyed, you know, some of the bands that came through and just grabbing a drink drink. And one of our favorite bartenders was there making a great espresso martini. Highly recommend. JP in the Bayou.
[00:54:38] Speaker A: JP in the Bayou. Love it.
[00:54:40] Speaker B: Makes a great espresso martini. So we really enjoyed that this time and looking forward to both on like the Wish and other Wish class ships. Kind of enjoying that space we walked past. I mean, went to it last time but didn't really enjoy it as much.
So that was a surprising delight this time.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: I have to completely agree with you. I think that space, the Bayou and it's Skipper Society on the Treasure and it's going to be the sanctum on the Destiny. I think that's a fantastic bar space because it's like a multi purpose bar space, right? They do crafts there, they do trivias there, they have live music there. And while there is a bar and they serve alcohol there. It is always a space that kids are allowed in. It reminds me actually quite a bit of on the Magic class. So on the the Magic and the Wonder each have a bar right outside of the one of the restaurants. It's a Rapunzel's on the Magic, it's Tiana's on the on the Wonder and it's the Soul Cat on the Magic, this lounge, the Soul Cat Lounge or the French Quarter Lounge on the Wonder. And that is a similar space. It's not shaped the same, but it's right outside of that dining room.
And it is a bar space that also has trivia and crafts and live music, but is always open to families. And we find that we hang out with Nathan a lot more in like that space or on the, you know, or on its counterparts on the, on the Wish class, the Bayou and the Skipper Society, because it is open to kids. But we can also have our espresso martini or salted caramel martini or, you know, or whatever other, you know, drink we might like to have that night. So, yeah, it's a really, I think it's a really great space. I don't think there is a similar, I mean, there is sort of Vista Cafe on the Fantasy and the Dream that is like kind of that above the Atrium. It's a coffee bar, but then a bar in the evening and then there's sort of that Atrium bar, which I'm forgetting the name of, I think Bonboy.
So there are a couple of spaces that are, you know, open to families at all times that also serve drinks on the Dream and the Fantasy. But they're not really quite as nice of a space to sort of sit down and enjoy a drink and listen to music or. And they certainly don't have trivia or crafts or anything like that. So. Yeah, plus of course you can get beignets in the Bayou in the morning with your coffee. So yeah, you really can't beat that. But yeah, I think they're great spaces. I'm excited to see, of course, what the Sanctum will look like on the Destiny and then of course, you know, the future Wish class number four, what that will look like when that ship debuts. And you know, we don't know what theming or anything like that it will have. But yeah, some really great options, I think, on the Wish Class for those spaces. Well, Alicia, we have come to that point in the Shape show where I'm not going to ask you a full array of rapid fire questions because we did that the last time Around. But you have now had a chance to get back on the Wish. I can't remember what your favorite ship was prior to this, but I can't. But I can say that, like, being on a cruise, adults only, gives you a different perspective of the ships that you've been on, the ship that you just went on. And I'm curious if anything has changed in terms of. Terms of what your favorite ship is like, do you have a new favorite? I can't remember if you picked the wish or the fantasy.
[00:58:17] Speaker B: The last time around, I picked Fantasy.
[00:58:19] Speaker A: Oh, there you go. Okay, so, yeah. Has that changed? Are you. Are you now in the. The wish camp now that you've been on without your kids?
[00:58:26] Speaker B: It remains fantasy.
[00:58:28] Speaker A: Oh, interesting. Okay, tell me why I was surprised.
[00:58:32] Speaker B: So when we went on the wish, we were blown away. Went on the Fantasy. Fantasy. And it was kind of like, well, do we like this ship as much? You know, I wasn't sold. It took me the second time on the Fantasy, I think, to really, like, fall in love with the fantasy. And then getting on the wish, I mean, it is breathtaking.
I love the ship. I am a princess at heart. So Cinderella, nightingales. I could sit in all day, every day. Like, I love so many elements of the ship. But we were both kind of like, I missed the fantasy.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: Oh, funny.
[00:59:04] Speaker B: So it really. I mean, it was kind of a. You know, we didn't get there right with the fantasy. But now it's. It has a locked, special place for us.
So I would say it remains the fantasy. Although I love the wish, it'll always be the first ship we were on. We really enjoyed the fantasy.
[00:59:20] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, you know, you spoiled this at the beginning in the show, but you said you're making your way to gold, so I gotta ask. What? You know, Brian's usually here to ask this question, but he's not here, so I'm gonna ask this question. What's. What's next, Alicia? What do you've got. What have you got? Got booked.
[00:59:34] Speaker B: So, yeah, we've gone a little crazy.
[00:59:37] Speaker A: I like hearing that, Alicia. That means you can come on our show a whole bunch more.
[00:59:43] Speaker B: So we actually leave a week from tomorrow.
[00:59:48] Speaker A: Okay, now. Now you're talking my kind of crazy. Yeah. Okay.
[00:59:52] Speaker B: Labor Day weekend. We're gonna go three nights on the Dream. So excited to get in another ship.
Yes. And kind of get back to the fantasy vibe. Right.
We'd gone back and forth. They were running the Guarantee promo at cruise, and we were in the middle of, you know, the high of the Fantasy and the wish and finally just decided we're just going to do it because the kids are at an age where, you know, soon we're going to be too busy to know which way is up and now's the time. Right. So we're taking the trips, going for a three night and Labor Day kind of a makeup for the adult cruise.
[01:00:31] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, the kids are, the boys are upset that, you know, we went without them. So you have to make it up to them. Of course that means you have to book them an entire new another cruise.
It's Disney math at its finest. It makes perfect sense. Alicia. No, but I absolutely have to agree with you that, you know, when your kids are young, they can miss preschool, they can miss early school. Like, it becomes a lot, a lot harder. You know, Nathan is 11. He's starting in a, in the, in less than two weeks. He's starting sixth grade.
I am like, really? We are being super, super careful about the number of days he misses. He's going to miss a few days for the Destiny. Frankly, this episode might come out around the time that I actually, I think it actually is going to come out after we'll have already gone on the Destiny. Sorry. That's to put folks out there on notice. We have, we are recording so many episodes. We have like three months of episodes, you know, already recorded for you all because we, we love having people on. We don't want to turn people away.
But we, but we have a lot of shows recorded right now.
And so.
Yeah, but we're having to be really careful about, like looking at schedules when we're booking our cruises and when we're planning for, you know, even, even the year after to kind sure that he misses either no school or only like one day here or there. It becomes a lot harder. So I think when the kids are young, they're not missing anything. They're fine.
[01:02:03] Speaker B: Well, we are taking advantage of that because as I mentioned on last one, we're booked on the Destiny, not Maiden, shortly after early December. So super excited about that. The boys can't wait. We have to keep explaining to our youngest son that the ship is not ready yet.
I've been following along, saw the float out, very excited about all of the aspects and little details we're getting.
And then we did a placeholder and we're going on a Marvel day at sea in February.
[01:02:34] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[01:02:35] Speaker B: On the magic.
[01:02:37] Speaker A: So you're going to be doing Marvel and Marvel. I love that.
All right, well, listen, Alicia, I think what we need to bring you back on for is we absolutely have to bring you back on to talk about the Destiny. But I'm thinking we may be maybe I've just got a show idea. We got to do a Marvel vs. Marvel themed show and maybe have you come on after you've been on Marvel Day at Sea on the Magic and compare the Destiny, the theming, the Marvel stuff from the Destiny to the Marvel stuff from Marvel Day at Sea on the Magic. Look at that brilliant idea. Just came into my head. All right. Okay. We're going to do it. Alicia, thank you so much for coming on the show for joining me today. It's been such a pleasure talking to you again. We love having you on. Of course, as I said, you're welcome back. But now we have a perfect show idea for you. So thank you again for joining me.
[01:03:29] Speaker B: Thank you for having me.
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