[00:00:00] Speaker A: You know, we had such a phenomenal time.
I would love for more people to experience a Disney cruise. We would love to go back with family and friends. It was really just a wonderful experience and it was so magical.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Welcome back everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding travel and well, folks, it looks like it's just going to be me solo today. Sam's not feeling great, not anything like an illness post our Alaska cruiser recording this a couple days after we got home. But she's not feeling great today. So I'm going to be covering this one solo. But it's going to be fine. I promise. It's going to be all good and so you'll have to deal with just Brian. But before I dive into the show, it's time to do our read our listener review.
You don't want to hear me sing the song for the reviews that we've started doing. My voice is not a singer's voice and I tend to be a little pitchy and off key, so just going to dive right in and say this week's review comes from I am James Bond 007. All right, secret agent. I love it. And he writes. Or she writes. I'm going to go with he just because saying James Bond. But you know, no judgment. Ocd, obsessive cruise disorder. This show is my guilty pleasure. I love listening to it when I'm having a slow day at work or out walking around. The hosts are funny, informative, and my favorite part is they have regular people come on the show as well as super cruisers and cruising experts to talk about their various trips, likes, loves, sometimes hates, and overall interest in DCL and cruising in general. There are so many perspectives that are aired on the show that you really feel you get a really solid, comprehensive view of what DCL has to offer. And you can hear the genuine joy from the hosts and their guests from their experiences, but equally their disappointment when things haven't gone as well as they could. I think their honest and frank conversations with guests of all sorts lend them to being such a joy to listen to and help me account.
Help me accept. Sorry, help me accept my ocd. All right, well, thank you for that review. I am James Bond at 007. I hope we don't run into each other because you probably have some spy gadgets, but we appreciate the review as always. All of you out there listening, one of the easiest ways you can help support the show, head over to Apple Podcasts, leave us a Five star review. Hit those five stars. If you leave us a written review, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes as we just did for I am James Bond 007. So with that, excited to introduce our guest this evening, Amy. Amy is here to chat about her first Disney cruise line experience. A favorite of us over here at the dcl duos talking to first time cruisers. Always fun to revisit the cruise line through a first timer's eyes. So let me start by welcoming Amy to our show. Welcome Amy.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Thanks for the welcome, Brian.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: It's great to have you. It is great to have you. I want to sort of dive right in. I'm going to set the stage here in that you did a four night sailing on the Magic out of Fort Lauderdale as your first cruise but this was not your, this is your first Disney cruise. This was not your first cruise. So why don't you help folks understand your prior cruise experience cruising background so they can have that as a frame of reference.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: So my first cruise ever was in 2007. I had just finished school, I graduated and my best friend and I took a cruise.
It was out of California. We went to Ensenada, Catalina Island.
I looked it up recently. We had an interior stateroom. It was $250 and and it was great coming from the east coast. We took a flight to California, way out of la and we just had a phenomenal time. And ever since then I've really just enjoyed cruising. After that cruise I went on a cruise with my husband. We did the Bahamas and Key west with friends and then we also did for our honeymoon a Royal Caribbean cruise from Barcelona finishing in Rome. And so we did Spain, France, Malta and a whole bunch of places in Italy. And that was just phenomenal. It was a nine night cruise. It was our honeymoon and I loved so much about it. We also took a cruise from Bayonne, New Jersey which was lovely to be able to drive to the port. And we went to Bermuda and that was a five night and we did that one with my in laws. So this was our first Disney cruise and we knew from the time that we had our daughter that we wanted to take her on a Disney Cruise. And fall 2024 itineraries did not include anything out of the New York, New Jersey area.
So and we wanted to wait until she was a little bit older so she could enjoy some more things and she could be part of the kids club rather than the nursery. And we settled on the cruise the Magic out of Fort Lauderdale. I am the type of person. I made a spreadsheet of all the potential cruises that we could be on. And I looked at the dates, worked for us. I looked at where they were departing, which ship it was on, what were the destinations.
And we chose this one, first because the date worked for us, but second because coming from a not Disney background, we wanted to do something where she could experience the Bahamian culture.
So we did NASA and Lookout, Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point. And we thought, you know, this would be a great way for her to see more. We had been to Cococay, which is the Royal Caribbean private island.
And, you know, beach excursions are lovely, but you don't get the same interaction or experience with a local area as much. And so, you know, at. At four and a half, we wanted to give her that experience.
And so we thought that this would be a good choice.
Having been on this cruise now and having joined the Facebook groups for Disney cruises, I'm like, gosh, I gotta go to Castaway and I have to go back to Lookout. So to some extent, my opinion has changed about private islands. But that was. That was the thought going into it.
[00:06:10] Speaker B: I got to start by saying you've hit some fabulous cruise ports with Royal. We love Catalina Island. That's a. That's a great. It's a fun little cruise port to go to. And you went to Europe, and that's amazing too. So you've got. You've got a sort of breadth of experience there. We desperately want to sail out of the New York, New Jersey area ourselves. Are hoping Disney Cruise Line brings back a. Some New York itineraries because they had some really fun, you know, go up to Canada and stuff out of New York. And so I would love to see them bring those back.
So talk me through getting your daughter ready to go on the cruise. Did you do anything to prepare her for the cruise? And if so, what kinds of things did you do?
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah, so we didn't want to tell her too far in advance because that would just be too much. When are we going.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: To. We started with Disney Cruise has this online. I'm going to call it a coloring book. It's maybe an activity book. And so I printed all the pages out and I put it in an envelope and it came in the mail. And we talked about, oh, my gosh, Mickey and Minnie, they've invited you to a cruise. And. And then we watched a couple YouTube videos, like tours of the ship, just so she'd have an idea. We didn't want to show her Everything. But we wanted to try to explain to her what it was.
She's never been to Disney World and actually my husband's never been to Disney World either. But she loves Disney. We have Disney on and, you know, we read Disney books at bedtime all the time.
So she was fairly excited. You know, she's taken a plane before to visit family in Myrtle beach and in Florida, but the experience of the ship would be totally new. And we also chose a four night cruise because we weren't sure how she would feel on a ship, if she would get seasick, if she'd be comfortable, if she'd be unhappy. And even though longer cruises are definitely better.
I win. Rapid fire. Just saying.
The four night was perfect as her first Disney cruise and our first family cruise.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Did you get the character phone call?
[00:08:16] Speaker A: You know what? We knew about the character phone call, and we ended up not doing the character phone call. And that's okay. She got the piece of mail from Disney Cruise, but we have it in our pocket for next time.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Nice. Nice. Yeah, we've done that ourselves, so it's, it is fun if you get a chance to do it again. All right, well, so the booking process for you with, with Disney, did you use travel agent? You book it yourself? And how did the, the sort of, the booking process go for you? Is it fairly smooth?
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Yeah, so we used a travel agent. She's, she's been our cruise travel agent since we got engaged. I met her at a wedding show and we, we clicked and she's, she booked our honeymoon for us, she booked our Bermuda cruise for us. So we naturally went to her and she also gave us some guidance. We talked about the departures from Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale and certainly our next booking. You know, I, I got the $250 deposit for a future cruise and it went right through her. And so we're really happy to work with Diane. And, you know, it's so valuable being able to talk to someone.
I didn't discover this podcast until after I had already booked the cruise. And then I was like, I need more information. I need to know everything I can about cruising with a child and cruising on Disney. And that's when I started doing more and more research, watching YouTube videos, joining Facebook groups. The Travel Advisor is so helpful to have.
And we booked a veranda, a deluxe veranda. We wanted a little extra space on the eighth floor of the Disney Magic, which is below the pool deck. And you know, I remember she said, are you sure you want. Below the pool deck? Is that okay? And we're like, yeah, it'll be fine. Our kid doesn't sleep already, so what's the difference?
[00:10:11] Speaker B: That is a good point.
We actually just got back from Alaska on the Wonder. We had our room right below the pool deck. And it baffles me we were in concierge. It always baffles me that they opted to put the concierge rooms right under the pool deck on these ships, because you do hear. I will. I will warn people out there. You do hear chairs moving in the morning.
You can hear kids running on the deck occasionally in the evening.
And so just. Just be forewarned. The rooms are not, well, sound insulated on the eighth floor.
We actually did overhear a couple complaining to one of the hosts about the sound that they were getting in their room as, and a little annoyed at the price they paid to have to hear it. But, you know, overall, it does not really impact our cruise experience all that much. So, yeah, we didn't find that the.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Deck chairs were so bad. We were usually awake when they were moving. The only time where the volume was just a lot was the pirate party.
We had gone back, and we're like, oh, my gosh, we can hear that party. But she was so tired out, she fell right asleep.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: There you go. There you go.
Well, I know in advance of the cruise, you got a little special pixie dust from Mickey. You got a phone call from Disney Cruise Line. You want to talk to folks about what that call was about?
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Yeah. So two weeks before we were going to set sail, I got a phone call and it went to my voicemail. I just missed the call. And I was looking at the transcript of it, and it said it was Disney Cruise Line. And I was like, I don't know. I googled the phone number. I was like, is this really Disney Cruise Line? And it was.
And I called them back, but the.
The gist of their message was they wanted to upgrade us to concierge.
And yes, please, that was amazing. So I. I called back, and this woman named Emma was like, oh, yes, we want to upgrade you to concierge. You just have to pay the difference, which is the gratuities.
And.
And I forget exactly how she said it, but she said it was some amount per person.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: And I was like, oh, so you mean it's like it's going to be like a thousand dollars? And she's like, no, no, no, no, no. There's a decimal in there. You add it all together, it's. It's really only $135 and something cents per person. And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll do it, of course.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: So.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: So it was really something magical and unexpected. And when I contacted our travel agent, Diane, she said she'd heard of people getting upgraded, but she'd never heard of first timers getting upgraded to concierge and just how lucky we are. And I have to say, earlier in the day, well, I think the pixie dust was some good karma in the universe. Two weeks before we set sail, my best friend and her family were going to Disney World.
And she's had just a rough couple of months with things going on. And she really wanted this Cinderella loungefly backpack, but she didn't want to spend the money on it because she wanted to spend the money on her family.
And I had told myself if I saw that on sale, I would send it to her.
And the weekend before she left for Disney World, it was on sale on Amazon. I bought it and sent it to her with a note that just said, from your fairy godmother. And she got it the day before she left for Disney World. And she called me and she was like, are you my fairy godmother? And I said, yes. And she was just so, so touched by that. And the strangest thing was that two hours after she had called me about getting the backpack from her fairy godmother is when I got the call about the concierge upgrade.
So I kind of feel like maybe that was Disney's way of saying I did the right thing. A little special magic.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: That or Disney is listening into all of our phone calls, which I am not going to put a pass on.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: That's better than the nsa.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: Well, what a special experience, because, yeah, we've sailed Disney now 32 times. I don't think I've ever gotten a phone call offering God's Irish upgrade. Dear Disney, if you're listening, but to not have to pay the difference in price on the stateroom just to have to pay the gratuities, that's amazing. And I. There is no question if they called me and said, you know, 2, 3, 400, $500 to upgrade to concierge for a sailing, that would be worth it. Although at the end, I'm going to ask you whether you do it again. But also I'm going to want to know, you know, how you feel about not sailing your concierge potentially in the future, but we'll get there in a second. All right, so were you past the point in time then that you could. Had you Already done like your activity booking and things like that at that point.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: So, you know, we were not Cast Away members. Yeah, I had already gotten the royal gathering.
We're night owls. So we were up at, you know, 1150. We hadn't napped and we didn't have the drowsiness. We were just doing it.
We had already gotten a Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique appointment that we wanted and, and we had a pretty good port arrival time.
So we had gotten that am amazingly at 11:30, like, and, and then we got concierge.
So I felt like there wasn't much more that we could have changed. But I, I didn't get to send them an email ahead of time with all the things we wanted. We didn't try for a cabana. And that's okay.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: At that point after the booking window, it's really, if you're, if you're going for a cabana, you gotta just stalk the, the app or, or ask on board. I am curious, you know, to go back for a second. You said you had a spreadsheet with all of the options.
You know, sailing out of Fort Lauderdale as a first timer is an interesting choice. It sounds like you're in the New York, New Jersey area. So, you know, that's. A lot of people would choose Port Canaveral as their first time Disney cruise, you know, port of embarkation. What drove you to this specific sailing was, you know, was it dates, price, like what clinched it for you?
[00:16:14] Speaker A: So the date was really important.
Just we had some family obligations in April and some later in May and in June.
Our daughter's in preschool, so we're like, this is the time to be flexible, to go on the sailings where they aren't packed, the prices are lower anyway, and, and to be able to take advantage of some of those things. When looking at like our top choices of, of what we decided.
Our, our travel agent did talk about just the ease of Fort Lauderdale being close to the airport and the hotels and, and that worked out really nicely because we had the flight, but then it wasn't long till we were at our hotel and it wasn't long till we were at our ship. And we are not ready to do the Disney World experience yet. So we just wanted to focus on the cruise.
Besides that, Rapunzel is my daughter's favorite Disney princess.
And so the magic had.
Yeah, it just came out on top in terms of my scoring.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: I mean, you can't beat. They have an entire restaurant dedicated to her.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: So.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Yeah, that's great.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: That's even asking my daughter, like, you know, what was her favorite thing on the cruise? She had a couple of favorite things, but one of the top things was celebrating Rapunzel's birthday, which is what you get to do at Rapunzel's Tavern. You celebrate her birthday. And that experience being at Rapunzel's restaurant and meeting Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, which my daughter refers to only as Eugene. Meeting Eugene and Rapunzel was really just. It was so much more than just icing and a cherry on top.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Let me ask this question. What was your daughter heading into the cruise knowing what she knew? Did she have any, like, you know, was she particularly excited about anything, or was she just excited to get on a cruise ship in general?
[00:18:02] Speaker A: I think she was excited at the prospect of meeting Mickey and Minnie. We told her we didn't know everyone from Disney who would be on the ship, but we knew for sure. Minky and Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto.
And that alone was very exciting to her. She was excited about the idea of going to beaches and seeing new places. We had gotten her a passport. Little tip on that. We went to our local library, and they handled everything for the passport. We literally just paid them. They took a picture. They helped us with all the paperwork. They sent it in. It was a really seamless process.
And we even talked about we would get a stamp in her passport book, which we did do in Nassau. And I was really glad that. That she has a stamp in her passport, because one day, you know, we only evolve electronically and. And she'll be able to say, I have a passport with a stamp in it. So little. Little side trip there. But I think she was just excited. It was our first real vacation where we weren't just visiting family in their town and seeing them.
[00:19:09] Speaker B: All right, well, you know, you do your activity booking. I assume check in went fairly smoothly for you.
Flew down to Fort Lauderdale, I assume the night before. Folks tend to like to ask us, you know, where did you stay in Fort Lauderdale?
[00:19:24] Speaker A: Yeah, we stayed at the Embassy Suites, and my husband and I are both part of different hotel programs. So this is one of the hotels that's part of that. We like that the breakfast was included. There was private transportation between the airport, the hotel, and the hotel and the port. And when you. You book it, you just make sure that you get that, like, that cruise special. And they do that because my husband is Hilton Honors. You know, they gave us snacks in the room and some other stuff, but we liked. We could walk to some restaurants. We had dinner the night before. There was a Publix grocery store nearby.
We realized we forgot our sunglasses at home, so we just bought some before we left. And it worked out really well. We had like a bedroom suite at the Embassy Suite, so we were pretty comfortable there.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: How long was it to get from the Embassy Suites to the port? Was it.
[00:20:20] Speaker A: Gosh, it.
I don't even know if it was 15 minutes. They picked us up a little bit earlier than they said they were going to. And we got there even more quickly than they had said we could get there. They said, you know, could take up to 30 minutes in traffic and we were there and I don't even think 15 minutes.
[00:20:38] Speaker B: So what time did you opt to get to the port? I mean, since you're concierge, you can board anytime, so. Yeah, what time did you have to get there?
[00:20:45] Speaker A: So we don't like to be late and we'd rather be a little bit early. And because they said it could take up to 30 minutes in traffic, we're like, all right, we'll get picked up at 10am we'll get there maybe a little before 10:30. But we won't be waiting too long because we were concierge and they arrived at the hotel before 10am Nobody else from the hotel. There were no other stops afterwards. So we went straight to the port. They dropped us off right away and so we were outside, but we were like the second people in the concierge line. Like there were different spots where people would line up and so we got in real, real quick.
[00:21:24] Speaker B: What'd you think of the terminal there in Fort Lauderdale? That's a Disney owned terminal, so it's pretty nice in my opinion. But how'd you find it?
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean it is nice. And I have been to a couple of terminals. I, I loved seeing the artwork, all the Disney artwork, and I thought it was so lovely. I got pictures of my daughter in front of, you know, one of the paintings of the ship and the big Mickey ears as they walked through the, the concierge lounge was a little bit more minimalistic. I, I may have been expecting more, but, but I mean, I've never been in a VIP waiting area before going on the ship. So.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. The one in Fort Lauderdale I think is like up on a balcony that overlooks the rest of the, the port. Yeah, it's. They're fairly minimal even in Port Canaveral. It's just kind of an enclosed area. The benefit of it is you get great view of the ship right before you board, you can, like, walk out onto a balcony and kind of take pictures of the ship if you. If you want. What was your daughter? Did. Did your daughter catch sight of the ship before you got into the terminal?
[00:22:26] Speaker A: No, just because the way, like, she couldn't see how big and vast it was. But when we got off at NASA, which was our first port, she could see just how long and just enormous it was. And I think, you know, there was this giant wow factor. Right. It's not like little ships. You see the little boats.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: You see.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: We live by a river in New Jersey, you know, we don't see anything like that.
[00:22:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's great. All right, so boarding comes around. You were obviously some of the first to board the ship.
Now, did you know about folks introducing families and sort of welcoming you on board?
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Yes, because I listened to this podcast.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: Okay, how'd that go? Did your daughter love it?
[00:23:12] Speaker A: You know what? I don't think she quite got the same feeling out of it because I don't think she's as connected to our last name.
And I'm like, next time we'll just do first names. But I think she was really wowed when she came in and Mickey was there and we saw Cinderella almost immediately afterwards. And so, like, all of a sudden, it was really coming to life. And I think she absolutely loved that. We did go to the concierge lunch, the sit down lunch in Lumiere's. I wanted to make sure we met our concierge host, especially because we were only concierge for two weeks. I didn't have any contact to plan things.
And when we sat down and met the host, the one thing I said, if nothing else, the most important thing on this cruise would be to get a good seat at Rapunzel's. I said, doesn't matter what day we go to dinner, but it's our favorite princess. We want to sit somewhere where she can see the action that's happening. And I didn't even quite know everything that would transpire, but he came back and he's like, oh, my gosh. You were seated in the back corner of the restaurant. He's like, I couldn't get you all the way to the front, but I moved you closer to center.
And I said, that is great. That is, if we were in the back of the restaurant, it would have been difficult.
This is perfect. We'll take it. When we did get to dinner, it was amazing. The magic was absolutely there because we were sitting right on the Main aisle.
It was table 82.
And.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Oh, that's funny. Ours was table 82 on our last cruise. But we were.
They moved the table numbers around, so we were actually right up against the stage up front for Tiana's. I will say, I think where you sat may be better. You get. You get, you know, a nice view of the stage where we were, but it was.
It's loud and it can kind of take over dinner. So, yeah, it is loud.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: You know, she was so interested in what was going on. She didn't eat that much anyway. But we made up for it with popcorn at the show afterwards.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: Nice, nice, nice.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: The dinner was phenomenal. We couldn't believe how much the concierge staff came through with us.
And it was absolutely the right table to be at because Eugene the character came right up to her and the kids at the table next to us and interacted with them. And, you know, he asked if she would dance with him. And the pictures that I got, and just seeing that joy on her face was unlike anything else ever before.
And she still talks about how she met Eugene and he danced with her. And it was. It was really one of the most magical moments on the cruise. And just being a mom, seeing that joy in your kids, there's nothing else that matches it.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: You know, you mentioned Bibbidi boppity earlier. I definitely want to hear a bit more about that, but I was just going to ask, did she do her appointment so that she was eating at Rapunzel's the night after her Bibbidi Boppity.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: So we did Bibbidi Bobbidi on our day at sea.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:26:22] Speaker A: And I. I scheduled it so she would have it before we did the Royal Court Royalty, and so she would be all. All princessed, ready for that. Would I have done it differently?
I don't know, just because, you know, we. We happened to get Rapunzel's Royal table or the Rapunzel's Tavern for the first night of dining. And, you know, I. It wasn't a request that I made. It just happened to be that night and then have the Rapunzel show, and it worked out beautifully.
I think that might just have been part of the magic for future.
[00:27:01] Speaker B: If you ever want to change, you know, change it up a couple things just for you and for folks out there listening. You know, the concierge folks in Facebook groups have the ability to get from Disney kind of the different dining rotations. And so when we've not sold concierge, we've asked if folks can Share.
We've sailed concierge. We've gotten them and shared them. And so you have some ability in advance to sort of ask Disney, like, hey, I really want a rotation that starts at, you know, whatever restaurant, and sort of tell them, this is the rotation I want. It's a request. So they may not honor it or may not be able to honor it. But if you ever feel like, oh, I really want to hit Rapunzel's on this day or some other restaurant, you can make that request. All right, so after concierge lunch, and we'll talk about food and restaurants in a second. A bit more. You assume you head to your stateroom. Those are generally ready around 12:30 for concierge.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: What did you think of the stateroom on board?
[00:27:59] Speaker A: The stateroom?
I don't want to say it was underwhelming, but it was just a veranda concierge stateroom. It wasn't like a one bedroom or larger.
And, you know, I've been in nice staterooms before. I love that they have the curtain divider between the bed and, like, the living roomish area. And that was great. We absolutely took advantage of curtaining it off, letting her sleep and us being up later or using the veranda.
She loved seeing the veranda, her deck at sea. Right.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: And also we did some unpacking. We talked a little bit about exploring the ship and also the importance of muster and safety and how it's like a fire drill at preschool and everyone has to learn safety and the ship won't set sail unless everyone follows the rules.
Just to reinforce some of those things. I hadn't sailed since before COVID but as much as I know it can be annoying to go to the muster drills, I think it's always better because then people know exactly where they need to be. As long as you're physically checking in somewhere. If there really is anything, I would much rather know than not know and there be a hectic craziness about it.
And it's also, it's just a great way to get to know people on your sailing. When you're there and meet the cast members, everyone's got to do it, and that's okay.
After that, we went up to the Sail a Wave party and we watched the show.
That was a lot of fun. We played in the pool and splash pad a little bit. The kids section. Pool and splash pad.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Did you make it into the lounge on your first day and what did you think about the concierge lounge?
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Yes, we did. The Kids Club open house.
We really wanted to show her that area and that was the only time she was in the kids club.
On, on the ship was the open house. But we did do Sebastian's Cove on Lookout K, Lookout Key.
We went to the concierge lounge, we checked it out.
I'm trying to remember, we didn't spend a lot of time in the lounge.
I do feel like we could have spent more time in the lounge. We could have had her in the kids club longer and we could have made more use of the happy hour.
Every day we're like, oh, we should get the free glass of wine at happy hour before dinner. And we never made it there before dinner. And in our family home we usually have dinner around 6:30 or 7. And so 5:45 was earlier than normal for us.
But we didn't want late dining because that's just a little too late for a little one.
So you know, by the time we got served it was about the normal time we eat but we just, we never got our wine before dinner and we try to go afterwards to get it and bring it to the show. We always took advantage of the free popcorn and I think that's probably something the free popcorn and early seating at the shows and every single time we took advantage of. And also a highlight for my daughter, some of her favorite things she said watching the shows.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: I will say that the lounge can be a double edged sword, especially I think for a first time cruiser. Just from the standpoint that it's great to have the ability to grab a free glass of wine or say included a glass of wine before dinner. And actually we discovered this last cruise that if you go up there before dinner and say, well I'm headed down to dinner, I just want to grab a glass of wine, they'll give you kind of a oversized pour to get you for dinner.
But we spent far less time kind of in some of the other ship spaces. I think we spent, I spent one night, you know, like a half hour or so before dinner in Cadillac Lounge on the Wonder. And one night I spent about, you know, maybe 30, 45 minutes in the French Quarter Lounge.
But normally that would be our place to go. We go, instead of going to the lounge, we go to one of those venues before dinner and sit and have a drink or grab a drink to take with us to dinner. So can be a bit of a double edged sword because sometimes you feel a little now less pressure on you because you didn't have to pay the full freight for concierge. But yeah, when you pay the full freight, like you, I think there's a little pressure to, like, use the amenities more.
And. And for folks out there who don't know, one of the benefits of concierge, beyond the lounge and the happy hour that they do, and one other thing on the happy hour, it goes until 10, so sometimes after dinner, and actually in this last cruise, like every night after dinner, Sam would kind of run up to the lounge and get a espresso martini to take back to the room as kind of a nightcap.
It's a nice little thing to do because they're open until 10, and they've got some nice desserts and stuff out there if you want to just, you know, grab a little bite before you head back to your room.
But the benefit you're talking about for concierge, it's really nice. Sam uses all the time. I use less is this early admission into the theater, and you kind of get your pick of seats. So wherever you want to sit, you get to sit. And then they let the rest of the crowd in, and you get free popcorn and usually have water, sodas, that kind of stuff that they're handing out to if folks want one of those. So it is a great benefit. It's a nice benefit to have talk to me about. You said your daughter only went to the kids club during the open house.
So what was the barrier to her for the kids club? Because I suspect you were hoping she might spend a little bit more time in there so you could get some adult downtime.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: But, yeah, we did think that she would have more time there. On our day at sea, we ended up just spending some time in the room watching Disney.
She just needed some quiet time, and I get that.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: Kind of as a family of introverts, really, sometimes you just. You need that space from everything else, and that's okay. You know, she experienced the kids club at the open house. She seemed to have a lot of fun. And we did go past it. We offered it a couple of times, but there were other things that we wanted to do some, you know, I wanted to see some of the characters as a family, and that's okay. I kind of feel like we know going into our next one because there's going to be a next one. I put the deposit down.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Spoiler alert.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: We have a better idea, and we'll be able to encourage her a little bit more.
We did take advantage of the kids club on Lookout, which is Sebastian's Cove. It was this great water play area, and she didn't want to leave so we. We definitely had our adult time. Not, not totally in the way that I had expected, but we. We had great family time. She got some of her own time. We got our own time.
My husband got some of his own time. I got some of my own time. And. And the beauty of a cruise, right? You're. You're all in this place together, and you can do as much or as little as you want with each other.
[00:34:53] Speaker B: I do. Nathan did not love the kids club the first time we sailed, and he was probably about 5 or 6 at that point, but as he got older, he really got into going to the kids club. And then as we offered him more independence, his ability to kind of, you know, check himself out, you know, go back to the room if he needed a break, you know, hang with friends. Now Edge is completely independent. You know, he just goes and comes and goes as he pleases.
I found it. It got a little bit more appealing to him because he could kind of control his own day. So I won't be surprised if your daughter, you know, now that she knows what it is, as she gets a little older and cruises with you, she may end up kind of wanting to, you know, go to the kids club a bit more often.
[00:35:30] Speaker A: So I foresee that happening. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: For sure. For sure. All right, well, let's, you know, let's talk about food for a second.
Probably usually save this to the end, but let's just chat about it now. How did you find the food on the cruise line and how'd your daughter like the food?
[00:35:46] Speaker A: So we definitely enjoyed the food.
Lots of it was absolutely lovely. We didn't make it to Palo, so I don't have a comparison there. You know, having access to ice cream whenever we wanted is.
It's nice, right? I probably didn't make use of the ice cream enough, and my daughter would agree with that statement.
She ate a lot of Mac and cheese, which is her favorite food, and that was somewhat expected, but she did try some other things. And, you know, I always enjoy trying things that I wouldn't otherwise try off the ship, because when it's included in your main dining, you.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: You get that you don't need it. You don't need it. It's no big deal. Yeah, Yeah.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: I think something that was so interesting, having cruised Royal Caribbean multiple times.
You know, I. I've had the same servers there before, and I like that people get to know you. But being in different restaurants having different entertainment was also just really interesting. And the details that Disney puts into things like the lanterns that you see in Rapunzel's, watching the animation at Animator's Palette. And my favorite was the menu at Lumiere's. I just really enjoyed everything, so I really enjoyed it. We had deck food. Sometimes we did room service. One day we did cabanas. So I think we tried quite a bit.
[00:37:08] Speaker B: Any standouts for you from the various menus that you were like, oh, that was really good.
[00:37:13] Speaker A: I would definitely have that again, undoubtedly the Grand Marnier souffle.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: Okay, nice, nice.
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[00:37:22] Speaker C: You want to make the most out of your next vacation.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Great news.
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[00:38:15] Speaker B: Now back to the episode.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: So you like the rotational dining? That's good to hear.
I do like that. I do like that. The servers kind of come with you too, so they know some of your preferences. Let's talk about ports for a second. So you mentioned, I think off air that you had been to NASA before.
Did you book a shore excursion in Nassau?
[00:38:36] Speaker A: Yeah, so we did previously, my husband and I, when we've cruised, we've done excursions both through the cruise ship and on our own.
That was in both Europe and in the Bahamas.
So for this cruise in particular, we decided we wanted to do an excursion so she could experience the Bahamas. And we decided to do it with Disney because we thought if anyone's going to make a kid friendly excursion and there's a lot less stress, like, you know, families traveling can be stressful, but you know, a family oriented place Planning an excursion. It's going to be kid friendly. So the excursion that we did was to Ardashtra, which is.
We called it the zoo when we were talking to her about it. But it is the wildlife center. They do a lot of wildlife rehabilitation and it was perfect for her. So I know that there's a lot of interest in staying on the ship ship in Nassau. And I understand when you have a Disney cruise, you want to experience everything about the ship. And I feel like four nights was not enough time on the magic. Four nights is never enough.
But this excursion was perfect. We met around 9am or so and we were off the ship by 9:30, getting on a little van.
There was probably maybe 30 of us, so we were in two vans.
They did a little tour around Nassau. They pointed out some buildings, talked a little bit about history.
And we got there and it was really a guided tour of the grounds there.
My daughter loved the animals. It was so age appropriate for her. There were a lot of other kids that were her age. There were also older kids and a couple of just adult travelers as well. There were talking parrots.
My daughter got to pet a turtle, hold a turtle. The highlight really is the flamingo show, which was at. It was at 11 or 11:15 or 11:30 and the flamingo show. You know, you kind of sit in this large area, kind of like a ring. They bring the flamingos in. They're like a marching band following each other in line. And, you know, they go one way, they turn, they go the other way. And then they asked for some volunteers. They brought the kids into the ring and they told them they have to stand still like a flamingo with one leg up. And so you have all these kids concentrating, and they're concentrating so hard that they can't try to pet the animals or anything. And it's just a great photo op. You get these kids with, you know, one foot touching their knee, passe for the dancers out there and like balancing next to the flamingos, it was. It was perfect for her.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: How long was the excursion overall?
[00:41:23] Speaker A: Overall.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: I want to say that we were back in the port area around 12:30. So if you go from the time we were in the lounge, it was nine. But the whole excursion itself, I'd say was about 9:30 to. It was a little before 12:30. We ended up walking around Nassau a little bit ahead of time. We had wanted to take her somewhere for lunch on the island just so she could experience something else. She could hear people's accents.
Maybe we'd try Some different things.
And, and we also did the straw market and we walked around the shopping area by the port, which since I hadn't been to Nassau in probably about 10 or so years.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Yeah, they've got a brand new port facility.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: It's so much nicer than it was, really. It's lovely. There's the little shopping area for people who are concerned about safety. It's, it certainly didn't feel risky and you just felt like you were in a nice area. It was recently redone. They have a big amphitheater. There was nothing going on at the time, but it was really nice to walk through. We got some pictures and then we boarded the ship again right after we got our passport stamp.
So if anyone is looking for that stamp, I was trying to find more information about it online. I found one YouTube video across from the Bahamian museum at the, the port.
There's a security area and if you walk in the doors, you can ask them, say, you know, I want to get a passport stamp. And they say, down the hall, first door on the right, and you just present your passports, they stamp it and, and then you get that passport stamp. So that was nice. And we headed back out, went through security and boarded the boat again.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Nice. So it sounds like a good day in NASA. I know. Look, we've, we've, we've aided on NASA on this show a little bit, mostly because I had a, I had a very negative experience the first time I went. But I do think the new facility has kind of changed the game a bit in terms of the experience I had at least. And I'm actually gunning to try a shore excursion the next time we're in Nassau. It is hard when you pay the price for a Disney cruise to sort of be like, I could just stay on board and enjoy the ship. So I, I get that. But, yeah, but there's some great NASA.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: I get it.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Yeah, but there are some good, there are some good excursions to do at Nassau. I typically tell people with kids to avoid, like, going to Atlantis because I, I, I, I went there with my dad as a kid and it was not, that's not the greatest.
[00:43:58] Speaker A: So we knew that we didn't want to do like a water park or a beach excursion because we had lookout and, you know, you can do a beach in a water park and it doesn't have to be Nassau. You don't have to pay the excursion price for that. So we knew that we weren't going to do that and we also, we wanted something shorter just because of, you know, the attention Spanish.
So our dash draw was perfect and I would recommend it to anyone who has young children and you want to give them the experience of the Bahamas without doing too much.
[00:44:30] Speaker B: What were your daughter's favorite activities on board the ship? Did she like heading up on the pool deck? Like what. What did she want to do on.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Board besides how much she loved the shows and she enjoyed the characters and Rapunzel's birthday. She loved swimming in the pool with the movie in the background.
And.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: It was probably the thing she bragged about the most when we came back and we talked to family about our trip was she met Rapunzel and Eugene and she watched a movie while in the pool.
So she, she really loved swimming and watching the movie at the same time. And I think it just felt like, you know, such an elite experience for her. Right. Something so different now.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: Did anyone in your family try the Aqua Dunk on board? The. The Magic.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: So we did not. I think we would have liked to if we had gotten her to the kids club, but we didn't want her to feel like she was missing out on anything.
She is rather petite and well, that.
[00:45:39] Speaker B: Slide can be, can be intense for kids for sure. So it's intense for adults.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: We go to a lot of amusement parks where season pass holders at Sesame Place, which is Philadelphia, it's right outside of Trenton, New Jersey. And so she loves the roller coasters. Anything that she is tall enough to ride, she will ride it. So I know she'd love to do water rides, but we gotta wait till she's tall enough.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's totally fair. Totally fair. Let's talk for a second about. Well, let's talk for more than a second. Let's talk about lookout. That was your next, your next port of call or one of your ports of call, I should say. You know, how was it for you as a family with a 4 year old?
You know, a lot of people concerned about the walk from the ship to shore, but how did you find it overall?
[00:46:29] Speaker A: So I wasn't too concerned about the walk.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: How was your, how was your weather? Let me ask that question. How's your weather overall?
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Gorgeous. Okay, so May was gorgeous. It was warm but not too hot. There was a breeze on the walkway.
I had also primed my husband. I was like, oh my gosh. I watch these YouTube videos. There's this long walk. Everyone's timing it. It's like 11 or 12min minutes. I'm like, 11 or 12 minutes. Like, you know, he'd commute to New York City and he'd walk 10 minutes, no biggie. And I, Jazzer says, I used to run half marathons. Like it is no big deal. My bigger concern, I was like, I don't know how she's going to do the walk. We didn't bring a stroller. I was like, we have got to get a wagon. If we don't get a wagon, this is going downhill. But it was great. From our veranda, we were on the side where you could see look out. And I saw them bringing all the wagons back. And I was like, yes, this is fine. We're going to be fine. She loved it. The walk was great. You hear the music.
I wish that there was a component where they shared why it's such a long walk that they were preserving the reef. And, you know, it's for environmental and ecological purposes because I think that connection would mean something to people. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. I think that they probably, if they had the ability to, to shade it, that would be really helpful.
But I didn't mind the walk at all. And frankly, when you're eating and drinking as much as you are on the cruise, like.
[00:47:57] Speaker A: A little walk is good.
[00:47:58] Speaker B: Someone wrote to us that they didn't like the concierge lounge on the Wonder because unlike some of the other ships, you have to like, walk up some stairs to get to the lounge. I was like, after all, I eat and drink on a cruise. I'm fine walking up the stairs, a couple sets of stairs to get a little bit of extra movement in during the day. I do 100% agree with you. I think it would make a huge difference one, if they put some sun sales on on the bridge. Royal Caribbean's done that at Cococay. And so I think, I think that that would help a lot. And I also agree. I think a lot of people just don't understand the why behind the walkway. And it really was a compromise that Disney had to make with the Hamians to protect the reef in order to even have a stop there. And so the, the other ships were that pull in just up the way they anchor and tender in. And so, you know, tendering is not fun and it, it can add a lot of time to the day.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: So I would much rather do that walk than have to wait for a tender boat both ways.
[00:48:59] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. But I totally agree. Just throw some signs up there, Disney. Like, I. I think it would help people understand the why behind the decision here, that it wasn't sort of arbitrary. And I always tell people too when we see them on board, I'm like, look, without this walkway, there would be no look. You wouldn't get another private island where it was. So, yeah. Now, how did you find.
Once you're past the walk, you got to take a tram to the other side of the island. And the tram was pretty easy.
[00:49:25] Speaker A: It was simple. You hear from the characters, like the island animal characters.
[00:49:31] Speaker B: Yeah, Lizzie and I always forget the name of the crab, but it's Lizzie. And.
[00:49:38] Speaker A: I mean, it was.
[00:49:39] Speaker B: Was.
[00:49:39] Speaker A: It was sweet. And then we got to the large area, and we tried to walk around a little bit and get our bearings. We ended up going to the beach for a little bit, and we went really to the right, and it was fairly empty. No problem getting chairs, life vests, anything.
So we played on the beach together a little bit. Then we brought her to Sebastian's Cove, and she just. Just walked right in and loved it. It was like, bye. You gonna be okay? And she. She was on a mission, so she had a great time. And my husband and I got some time to explore the island and just eat in peace, not have to worry about feeding someone and making sure they eat enough. Just. We enjoyed lunch on her own.
And then we went back to get her and to feed her lunch after we were already fed. And it didn't matter how much she ate because we can always get ice cream, whatever.
But by the time we went back to get her and get her lunch, you know, we couldn't find a table again, and it was crowded. And when you think about the magic has so, so many fewer passengers than the bigger ships. I'm like, how. How could it be so crowded? Our sailing wasn't even full, but we made friends real quick with a family from Tennessee, and they shared the table with us.
Our girls were practically the same age. They were maybe three months apart. They ate everything the same.
The hot dog without the bun, the Mac and cheese, wanting watermelon, wanting strawberry ice cream. And we ended up sitting on the beach with them for a while, and the girls played together, and it's just so nice. You know, one of the things that I find about cruising is even if you don't stay friends with people after the sailing, you know, you just get to meet people from other places, and you can connect over, you know, sharing this vacation on a ship, and it's just. It's nice.
[00:51:41] Speaker B: Now, how did you find the beach? I mean, I think that is the Star of Lookout. How'd you find the beach? And then I also want to know, did you do Any of the, you know, the, the Rush Out, Gush out, the, the parade, the Junkanoo Parade. Did you do any of that stuff?
[00:51:59] Speaker A: So we did do the Junkanoo Parade. I really enjoyed it. I felt for them being someone who was in marching band in high school and college, I'm like that of stuff to wear when it gets hot.
It wasn't even that hot, but I can only imagine.
But I, I loved the parade and the musicians and performers. I loved seeing the costumes and, and the color.
The food on the island was okay.
It. It was nothing special, but we, we enjoyed it.
We didn't get pictures with the characters on the island because we were just doing beach and other stuff. We didn't do Rush Out, Gush Out. It was just beach time or Sebastian's Cove for our daughter.
And.
[00:52:46] Speaker A: I probably made the most out of drinking on lookout. That black cherry colada was it for me. It was amazing.
[00:52:57] Speaker B: I don't think I've tried that one.
[00:52:58] Speaker A: Yeah, highly recommend if you like cherries, if you like coconut, if you like frozen drinks.
So I really enjoyed that. The beach itself was gorgeous.
Having been to lots of islands in the Caribbean, whether with my family growing up or with my husband, Saint Kitts, Nassau, just other Bahamian islands and Caribbean islands.
I mean, the water was stunning, really breathtaking.
The waves were very calm. The sand was so fine. My daughter loved that it was pink sand. Not as pink as Bermuda's pink sand, but for her, you know, she's been to the Jersey shore and Myrtle beach, and we don't have sand like that. We don't have the beautiful blue ocean. Not like that. So it was stunning.
Something else that we took advantage of was the photography. I had bought the photo package ahead of time because I knew it was discounted if you bought ahead of time. And there was someone who was walking around on the beach with a camera, a cast member. I was like, oh, are you taking pictures of people? And they're like, yeah. So we got some family photos on the island and, you know, it's not something you can do all the time.
Usually one parent is taking pictures with the kid and the other parent. And so even though, you know, there might be some concerns about pictures in a bathing suit, like, you know, people have insecurities, right? I certainly do. But I love those pictures. I love that we are just enjoying the ocean together as a family. And I'm. I'm so glad that we. We took them. So that was just like an extra little fun thing that just brings more memories.
[00:54:50] Speaker B: Yeah, they have done a really nice job since Disney switched to their own photographers. They've done a really nice job of on the private islands, getting off, getting photos of people on the beach along the way. They've even started sending photographers on some of the shore excursions, which is really cool to see. So that's really nice. Well, great. So it sounds like you had a good day overall at Lookout.
You haven't experienced Castaway, so, you know, it's hard to know what you missed. But I do think Lookout has the nicer of the beat beaches, if I'm honest.
All right, so the shows. I want to hear about the shows because Sam will murder me in my sleep if I don't ask you about the shows on board. Sounds like your daughter loved them.
What did you think about the shows and entertainment on board?
[00:55:32] Speaker A: So I love shows too. I usually try to go to them on our cruises.
Even if I don't go to all of them, I always make a point to get to some of them.
We sat in the second row for Rapunzel's and every night after that, my daughter wanted to be in the first row.
She wanted to be as close as possible. And we had that opportunity thanks to our pixie dust from Mickey.
Gosh, the caliber was excellent. The performers were amazing.
I was so impressed by Mother Gothel, who also played Lady Tremaine in the alternate ending to Cinderella, which was the second show that we saw. That's not the title of it, but Rapunzel was fantastic. I was very impressed, besides Mother Gothel, with the cast member who played Flynn Rider, he also was the fairy godfather in the Cinderella alternative ending.
And they just stood out so much.
On the last show, it was dream and Peter Pan was really.
He was incredible, too.
All in all, I loved the shows. My daughter loved the shows. My husband loved the shows. And for sure we'd go back and watch them again.
Absolutely. Interestingly enough, on the last night when they have the See a Real soon party, as we were walking in the hallway to it, I saw this woman and I was like, excuse me, were you Mother Gothel? And she said, yes. And I was like, oh, my gosh, you were amazing. And having gone to Broadway shows and stuff so close to New York City, and we have great performances in New Jersey, I was like, you were incredible. You should be on Broadway. And she's like, well, actually, I'm the Broadway star on the ship. And I was like, no way. And we ended up. She lives in New Jersey, where my husband used to live before we were together. And we've gone to the same diner and restaurants. And so we had that little connection. And I got just a small, maybe 15 seconds of her singing to my daughter. Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine from Rapunzel. And my daughter's just jumping up and down like, oh, my gosh, she's Mother Gothel.
[00:57:54] Speaker A: From the show.
It was a really special moment. I found out her name is Gail, and I started following her on Instagram.
She's top notch.
[00:58:02] Speaker B: Nice. Yeah. Sam follows. If she runs into a performer on the ship, then she always ends up following them on Instagram. She loves to follow the different performers and cast members and such. So, yeah, that's fantastic. I'm glad you enjoyed the shows. I'm glad your daughter, above all, enjoyed the shows. I think it's so. So you take your kids on the cruise, you want to know that they're the ones having a good time. And I think Disney knows how to do that. How did your daughter enjoy Bibbidi Boppity Boutique? And P.S. how did you enjoy getting all of the glitter out of her hair after the Bibbidi Boppity Boutique?
[00:58:32] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, I think we probably had glitter for a week after we got home. At least.
[00:58:41] Speaker A: My daughter, she really loved it. I, I wasn't sure I had brought a costume. Well, we had brought lots of princess dresses, but I had brought a costume just because I didn't know if we'd want to spend the money on a dress or, you know, if she'd be okay with the dress she already had.
But I, I saw her go in and she loved looking at the dresses. I actually thought she might get a second Rapunzel dress. She didn't.
One of her other favorite characters is Anna from Frozen, and she ended up getting the Anna dress and we ended up getting the accessories for her. And she still plays with the accessories. She still wears the outfit. And she loved, like, looking at her nails getting done.
And.
[00:59:27] Speaker A: She picked out a hairpiece. I hadn't expected it, but the day before at Lookout, the girl who, who, who we met at lunch and they played on the beach together, she had this, like, pink and blue hair extension. And I think my daughter was very interested in that because then she wanted the pink and blue hair extension. But it, it was sweet and it was just another magical moment.
I don't know if we do Bibbidi Bobbidi again or if we would.
I don't know if we'd get a dress again, but she's at such a good age to really get so much out of that, you know, that salon experience, that princess updo, it was absolutely worth it.
[01:00:15] Speaker B: Well, and the best part is after you do the experience and you're wandering around the ship like all the cast members treat you like a Disney princess for a day.
[01:00:22] Speaker A: So you definitely felt like royalty.
[01:00:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, how did she. You said you got the royal gathering ticket.
Was this the royal tea or was this the. Just a photo op?
[01:00:33] Speaker A: So both. I got the royal gathering and we met Tiana, Cinderella and Belle.
And I had also gotten, just through good fortune, not through concierge, the. The royal court royalty.
It came with a steeper price tag. I forget exactly how much it was. I want to say it was 79 per adult and it might have been 250 or it was over 200 for a child.
And I mean, gosh, she came back with so much stuff. She got a tea set, she got a robe, she got a crown. She still wears the Disney cruise crown.
She still plays with the Disney tea set. We've done some tea party things before and it was nice.
We got to spend more time with the character.
That is probably a one and done.
I just, I can't imagine getting a second tea set and a second crown and what do you do with some of that? But I know it's a little bit different. Like if you were to go on the wish, there's Olaf's picnic.
But I think at least for the magic class ships, we did our tea party. Truthfully, I would love if there was an adult tea time. If, you know, you just got a pot of tea and the little three tiered tray, tray with some treats and maybe Minnie or Daisy would come out and you just chill, you just sit there and drink tea. Little plug there. I'm down for adult tea time. I don't need any.
[01:02:06] Speaker B: Did you discover tea time in the lounge?
[01:02:09] Speaker A: No, I didn't do tea time in the lounge. What did I miss? Please tell me.
[01:02:12] Speaker B: So about 2:45 every day they set out tea sandwiches and scones and you can have a cup of tea and have your tea sandwiches and scones because Sam loves tea sandwiches time. And one of her big complaints about the like Olaf's tea and all this sort of stuff is like, they don't serve tea. She's like, they don't. They don't have tea. And so anyway, for future, if you ever sail concierge again, 245 is tea sandwiches and scones. So yes, yeah, I love tea and.
[01:02:41] Speaker A: Scones and I'm not a coffee person, so I definitely. We were off the ship. Well, actually we were probably back on the ship on Nassau Day for that. We were off the ship at Lookout and then we were getting ready for, for, you know, the Royal Court royalty.
[01:02:56] Speaker B: Well, this is, this is a problem, right? I mean, on a Fortnite cruise, it's a limited time and you're trying to do other things, so it's hard to take advantage of everything or experience everything. So totally, totally get it. What have we missed, Amy? What did we not talk about that you wanted to make sure that folks know about your cruise or your first time experience?
[01:03:13] Speaker A: You know, we had such a phenomenal time. I, I would love for more people to experience a Disney cruise cruise. We would love to go back with family and friends. It was really just a wonderful experience and it was so magical. We didn't want to do the parks yet. We know our daughter loves rides, but we just wanted to be able to enjoy a more relaxed experience.
And we enjoy cruising, we enjoy exploring the world. I like having only one room to unpack in and you know, you can, can keep discovering things.
[01:03:49] Speaker B: Did you. So since you've sailed Royal, let me ask, like, would you consider it sounds like you love Disney Cruise Line, but would you consider doing a different cruise line in the future or do you feel like the, you know, the benefits for, for kids and for families, you know, outweigh? Like, what's your thinking on it sounds like you've booked a placeholder for Disney Cruise Line so you will sail again. But have you been thinking too about going back to any of the other cruise lines?
[01:04:15] Speaker A: I mean, my husband and I have talked about it, but for sure, if we're going to be traveling with our daughter and she's in the younger ages, there's, there's no better cruise line that's going to meet the family expectations that we have for both just entertainment, safety, experience and, and that's really paramount in our decision making.
I think that we are both open to exploring other cruise lines. And if it's the two of us, both of our parents have cruised on different lines.
Norwegian celebrity.
So I mean, we, we talk, we compare and contrast. But definitely for our family composition, Disney is going to be what we're doing next. And even, you know, for the two of us, I think there's some things that the Disney experience is different.
My husband loves Star Wars. We didn't mention over May 4th.
[01:05:15] Speaker B: Right.
[01:05:15] Speaker A: I made sure we had some great door decor.
Specific. We had Rapunzel decor, we had pirate decor, and we also had Star wars decor. So we changed the door. We redecorated every day, depending on the itinerary.
[01:05:30] Speaker B: That's a new level. That's a new level.
[01:05:33] Speaker A: Well, we didn't have anything light up, but I had multiple magazines, magnets, and.
[01:05:39] Speaker A: It was a lot of fun. I was expecting a little bit more. I know there's no Star wars day at sea anymore, and I hope that we didn't miss that boat. Pun intended there. But.
[01:05:52] Speaker A: It'S so interesting that Star wars is now part of the Disney family because it's such a great franchise, and I'd love to see it incorporated more in Disney Cruise Line. But, you know, there were photo backdrops. We saw one of the movies playing up at the pool deck. So there was. There was still some Star Wars. There could have been a little bit more, but it was. It was still nice. And we also sailed over Cinco de Mayo, too. Like.
[01:06:21] Speaker A: It was a big couple of days. I didn't get enough margaritas or chips and salsa.
[01:06:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
Sadly missing from Disney Cruise Line. Even. Even in the cocoa restaurant. I mean, they have chips and salsa, but I've seen better. So I didn't ask you about pirate. The pirate party. Did you go to the pirate party? Did your daughter enjoy it?
[01:06:39] Speaker A: So the pirate party felt really late. We got her in her pajamas so we could go to bed right afterwards. She was falling asleep. She only wanted to be held.
And then all of a sudden, the pirate party started, and she was so into it.
She loved the fireworks. She loved seeing Mickey and Minnie and crew and Captain Hook, and it was. It was just phenomenal. And then she didn't want to leave, but we're like, nope, everyone is leaving now. The party is really over. Even though the music is blasting, it's really over for going to bed. And then we went down one floor, and we could still hear the party music. And we said, oh, something must be broken with the stereo. They can't turn it down. But she was. She was exhausted, so she. She did fall asleep quickly.
I did forget to say one. One really unique experience that we had, which had nothing to do with concierge. It was just a very, very different VIP moment. We got back to our stateroom on our day at sea at some point, and there was a little card inviting us to the D Lounge before the.
[01:07:49] Speaker B: Oh, you got the special character meet and greet. Yeah. Nice. Nice.
[01:07:54] Speaker A: It was unbelievable. Totally memorable. Remarkable moment.
We got to see all these characters and take some pictures. And I think my daughter has no idea just how much this cruise is Unlike any other she will experience ever again.
[01:08:17] Speaker A: We really had top notch service and just it was a dream.
[01:08:23] Speaker B: Now, last question I have about the cruise before I subject you to a non judgmental version of rapid fire.
[01:08:31] Speaker B: Concierge. So obviously you had a bit of a different experience because again, you didn't have to pay the full freight for it. Did you see value in it? Would you consider sailing concierge again or do you think that the price is just too much?
[01:08:46] Speaker A: Well, my husband and I talked about that. They probably selected us because they have data points and they know that my husband is an upgrader.
You know, if we're flying somewhere, he'll get the extended leg room.
[01:09:00] Speaker A: Sometimes he'll get bumped to first class, but he is willing to pay more for certain experiences. I'm the thrifty one. That being said, I'm also the planner. I like to do lots of unique things and try things. I think we both feel like concierge could be worth it. And it is worth it, but it all depends on your budget. You know, it's easier to pay for concierge in a four night sailing than it is for a seven night sailing. So if we would rather do a seven night or more sailing, it probably won't be in the budget. It really was magical that we got the concierge gift. Truly.
[01:09:38] Speaker B: I will say I was looking at our cruise cards the other day and the cruise we've been on and I can tell which ones were concierge and which ones were not. And, and I think we've sailed about maybe close to half and half. Probably trending a little bit more toward not concierge. And looking back, some of my favorite cruises, you know, weren't in concierge.
So I, I always tell people it's not a necessary thing. It, it adds, you know, a degree of luxury to the sailing, but it comes at a cost. And so to your point, I think you just have to do what's right for you and your family and your travel budget and, and all of that sort of stuff. I, we tend to spend money on travel and not on other things. And so when we sail concierge, we, you know, feel a little less guilty about it because that's just how we do it. But certainly by no means is it necessary. And I think you can have a magical time even without it. And again, if you don't sell concierge, you end up spending more time in the different ship spaces and exploring them. So yeah, I don't, I don't think there's A right answer there, but it's interesting to hear your thoughts, for sure. Well, Amy, I think we've reached that point in the show where I need to subject you to some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and I don't. I don't. I don't even have a dash for judgment or the round we know as rapid fire. So I'm gonna start off with kind of some standard questions here, but who's your favorite Disney character?
[01:10:57] Speaker A: So my favorite growing up was Belle, but I have a place in my heart for Anna. From Frozen. From Frozen two. Specifically about doing the right thing and doing the next right thing and just how important it is to be a leader and a role model and to do the right thing and. And try to bring justice and fairness to what I do in life.
[01:11:20] Speaker B: Nice. That's a great explanation. Favorite Disney movie.
[01:11:23] Speaker A: Growing up, it was Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella.
Since becoming a mom, I watched Frozen for the first time and I loved it. I also really love the new movie Elemental, and I really love how the different elements. Elements come together and they find common ground. And I think that's something that is so important in our discourse, in civic life. Favorite Disney song, this would be under the Sea. But I also love John Williams, the composer for Star Wars.
[01:11:59] Speaker B: Let me ask you some of your favorites from your sailing. Favorite food item on board. I think you already said the amaretto souffle. The Grand Marnier souffle.
[01:12:09] Speaker A: Yeah, that was my favorite. Favorite sweet item.
And if Sam is listening to this, my favorite savory is.
I did love the presets at Animator's palace, but I also loved. I want to say it was the fried brie with the cranberry and lumiere's.
[01:12:28] Speaker B: That is a great. That is a great appetizer. I've had that a couple of times. Yeah, the cranberry sauce is necessary for that one. For anyone who works, you need the tart to go with it. Which was your favorite show on board.
[01:12:39] Speaker A: I'm going to give it to Rapunzel because. Or Tangled, because it was so wonderful to see how much my daughter loved that. And I know that show so well after watching the movie so many times. But I also, I enjoyed all of them and the two performers, Mother Gothel and Flynn Rider, who are also Lady Tremaine and the Fairy godmother.
They brought so much to that show.
They stood out. And really all the performers. What I loved about Dream was all the little snapshots of different.
The little interludes from Disney from different movies.
[01:13:20] Speaker B: Did you have A favorite space on board the ship.
[01:13:22] Speaker A: You know, this is hard because I feel like I didn't even explore the ship enough.
But anywhere where I saw my daughter just having the most joyful time, seeing how much she loved watching a movie at the pool, seeing how she loved the veranda, and she loved the bunk bed, the upper berth from the ceiling.
I mean, those moments were just exceptional.
[01:13:48] Speaker B: Our son still wants that bunk bed, so we always have to request the room that has the bunk bed waiting for him to age out of it. But it's not going to happen anytime soon. Let me ask one last question. Favorite, favorite moment from the cruise.
Because as a parent, I know I have these moments in my mind with my son that I'm like, oh, that was just so lovely.
Do you have a favorite moment from your cruise?
[01:14:09] Speaker A: I really think it was seeing my daughter interact with Eugene Flynn Rider at the Rapunzel restaurant and him reaching out and taking her hand and giving her a twirl. And she's just jumping up and down in excitement. She can't even get any words out. She's so starstruck and just loving every minute.
[01:14:30] Speaker B: Well, it sounds like you booked a placeholder on board. So I always like to ask folks, what's next? What are you thinking about doing as your next Disney cruise? Something longer, something more adventurous. Where are you looking?
[01:14:41] Speaker A: So I immediately was talking to my best friend about we have to go on a cruise together. We have to take a family cruise together.
So we have plans to board the wish summer 2026, but I was like, I can't wait that long.
[01:15:01] Speaker A: So we are doing a Halloween on the high seas on the Dream.
[01:15:07] Speaker A: Later in September. And we've never sailed in September before hurricane season. It's a little risky, but.
[01:15:17] Speaker A: I just love the idea of doing this because once my daughter's in kindergarten and grade school, we won't have the same flexibility.
And this is the time to do it when she can enjoy all of those things.
[01:15:32] Speaker B: So I predict so one, it's great that you'll get to experience the different classes of ship. I predict your daughter's gonna have a blast at Halloween on the high seas. If she's at all into dressing up, it's gonna be fabulous for her.
And it's a lot of fun with the tree lighting or the spooky tree ceremony and the atrium. It's a really fun overlay to the cruise. But if I had to guess, I think your daughter is going to fall in love with the Wish because it's so princess themed and she sounds like she really likes to be a Disney princess. And so it is just all the little touches of whimsical magic for kind of a castle princess theme. So I think she's gonna love it.
[01:16:14] Speaker A: And I'm also, I'm looking forward to taking my husband to the Hyperspace Lounge.
[01:16:18] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[01:16:18] Speaker A: Can we afford the Wish?
[01:16:19] Speaker B: I will say that this Haunted Mansion bar on the the Wish class ships is like unbelievable. It's like Disney's like Chef Kiss to Chef's Kiss to bar spaces on board in terms of you can just sit in there and watch the show and not have a drink and have a great time.
Hyperspace. I, I wish they, you know, to your point about the, the terminal feeling like a little understated. I feel like hyperspace just feels a little like you could have done a little bit more here.
We have the luxury of being able to compare it to the bar space they had on the Star Cruiser. And so it's, it's much.
[01:16:53] Speaker A: I went back to your episode, I heard your Star wars episode and I'm, I'm so sorry we missed that moment in time and, and experiencing that.
[01:17:02] Speaker B: But yeah, there is some speculation out there. They may, when the Wish goes into dry dock, they may put in Haunted Mansion parlor on the the Wish. So hopefully you're on. If I actually don't. Yeah, well, and I actually don't think that's going to happen. I think it's, it's going to be too costly for them to make that kind of a transformation.
Unless the, the hyperspace is just really underperforming as a bar space on board. But yeah, I, I will be curious, you know, when you, when you sail next reach out. I want to hear about both of these sailings. I think it'd be great to hear about your daughter's experience with Halloween on the high seas. I want to hear all about how she, how much she loved hopefully the, the Wish and, and how your husband enjoyed the hyperspace. The Hyperspace Lounge. And I will forecast too.
It sounds like they're going to bring some of the not Star wars so much, but more Marvel related kind of character interactions that you would have had on board the Star Cruiser to the Destiny with a little bit of kind of role playing. So if you kind of want to get that flavor of what they were doing on the Star Cruiser, not to the same extent, but if you want to kind of get that flavor, I'd say check out the Destiny at some point in the future. But yeah. Well, Amy, it has been lovely chatting with you this evening. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share your cruise experience. As a fellow introvert, I know how uncomfortable this can be, but thank you for hanging in there and it's been just fabulous talking to you. So thank you so so much and.
[01:18:24] Speaker A: Thank you for all that you and Sam do with the podcast. It's so nice to kind of just relive memories and hear from other people and gain this valuable knowledge and and take it with us.
[01:18:36] Speaker B: Well, we appreciate you. We would not have a show without these guests because no one wants to hear about your US Drone and on that's the cruise line. So thank you so much for coming on and definitely reach out the next time you sail.
[01:18:47] Speaker A: See you real soon.
[01:18:52] Speaker C: Well, thanks 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 live, 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 DCLD Duo 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.
[01:20:02] Speaker B: And every month, just head over to.
[01:20:03] Speaker C: The website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're 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 dual 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 use of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation 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.
[01:20:52] Speaker B: With the DCL duo.
[01:20:54] Speaker A: Good night.
[01:21:08] Speaker A: Sam.
