[00:00:00] Speaker A: I think I can safely say that the Treasure has the strongest lineup of shows of any ship in the fleet. They have. What was previously considered to be the best show is now their second show.
And of what I call the IP Dump variety shows, I think Seas the Adventure is my favorite of those three.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. And Sam, it's listener review time.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Cue the jingle.
[00:00:43] Speaker B: Cue your jingle.
[00:00:44] Speaker C: Simply the best.
Better than all the rest. There you go.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: All right, this one comes from Carrie M. Who writes DCL Love, exclamation point. If you love Disney Cruise Line, then you'll love Sam and Brian. They are so relatable and genuine. They love DCL and love trying out everything new DCL offers. This has become my go to podcast for Disney Cruise Line info and reviews.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. I love relatable. That's a nice compliment. I like that.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Relatable, yes.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: Yeah, we are just normal people.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Weirdos with mics. As I say, thank you, Carrie for that review. We really appreciate it. To all of you out there, just a reminder, the easiest way you can help support this show, head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars and if you leave us a written review, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main weekly episodes. But Sam, kind of interesting topic and guests today, I would say.
[00:01:34] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, we have a not a first time cruiser and in fact quite the opposite. We've got Tom with us today who has hit Pearl in only five or it's on a path to Pearl in only five years time.
Welcome to the show, Tom.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Hello.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: It's very nice to have you. Thanks for reaching out to come on the show. Tell us. So you started cruising less than five years? Five years ago.
[00:02:03] Speaker A: It was three years ago to this month. This is my. Yeah, that was the very first time that I'd ever been on a cruise at all. I'd never even really considered cruising. The guy that works sits next to me at work. His wife works for Disney and they were talking about, oh, we're going to do this Disney cruise and my wife can add up to five people state rooms on her cast member discount and asked if I wanted to go and he knew that I was a huge park person. I said yes. I said sure, why not check it out. And he was definitely patient zero because it's been a very expensive journey since then.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: Well, yeah, because your first one on cash discount is generally a Pretty big break from the overall cost, but that's great. Yeah. So for those who don't know Disney employees, even if they don't work for the cruise line, specifically, if they work for the.
The greater Disney company or conglomerate of companies, if they are. If they themselves are sailing on a cast discount, they can book actually additional rooms. So up to, I guess it's five rooms for as long as it's on the same sailing as them. So I don't believe they're concierge eligible, like for cast discounts. I think it's just regular rooms, but I. And I don't know, was it like a GTY situation, Tom, or was it. Or did you get to kind of select a category of room?
[00:03:30] Speaker A: They aren't always GTYs. That was not the first.
I mean, sorry. That was not the only time. I've. So to be honest, the only way I can afford to do as many as I have is because I have been able to access that. So.
And it's not always been with that same couple, but a lot of cast member friends. But yeah, it's. It's always gty. You're correct. Concierge is not eligible. However, when you're at the port, you. You could try to upgrade. I have been unsuccessful. But that is an option to people. Yes.
[00:04:00] Speaker C: Yeah. We have found, you know, we've heard recently that there have been upgrades available on certain sailings, but we ourselves have never, I don't think experienced. I think there was like one time where there were upgrades available on like one sailing we went on, but the price was like, astronomical. So it wasn't something we even contemplated. But we do know people who have been able to upgrade at the port, but it's certainly not. Not a guarantee. But good to know that even if you're sailing on a cast member discount, that you are eligible to upgrade at the port, even if you're not eligible to book a concierge ahead of time. Well, Tom, which ships have you been on in the Disney fleet at this point?
[00:04:41] Speaker A: So I'm now complete. I have all six under my belt now as of a month ago.
[00:04:48] Speaker C: Awesome. Now, how many cruises have you done at this point? You say you're on a path to Pearl in five years, so two. Do you have. How many cruise have you been on and do you have the rest in order to get to 25 booked?
[00:05:00] Speaker A: So, okay, I am on track. I have 15 of the 25.
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:05:05] Speaker C: In three years?
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Yeah, in three years, yeah. And I do have. We'll get to. At the end of the show. When Brian asks that question, tell us what's next. Yeah, document what's coming up.
But sorry, what was the other part of the question?
[00:05:18] Speaker C: Oh yeah. So do you have enough, like, do you have all of the rest without telling us what they are? Like, do you have all of the rest booked or do you just sort of projection of what you're gonna book?
[00:05:28] Speaker A: A mix of both. I have a plan for sure.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: All right, well, awesome. Well, you know, you have sailed in a whole bunch of different varieties. You've now sailed also with Royal Caribbean. How many times with Royal.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: So last week, a week ago, I got off my second time on Royal.
[00:05:46] Speaker C: You've got the Cruising bug, then it's not just Disney, but the Cruising bug.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: That's correct. It was after, after my third Disney cruise that I specifically booked a little three night Ensenada out of LA to answer a very important question. Do I like cruising or do I like Disney cruising? And the answer is I love cruising.
But I, the entire time I was on that ship, I wished I was on a Disney ship. Because with the exception of price, of course, the quality of food service, literally every other category is far away better on Disney. My royal friends that I told that to said, oh, it's just you were on a 25 year old ship and up to that point I had only been on the Wonder, which is also a 25 year old ship. So I said, well, you know, that ship doesn't feel 25 years old. So I reject wholeheartedly that.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: I'm with you, Tom.
I love cruising, period. Right. So I am happy to cruise even if it is on another line. But I still will put Disney at the top, top of my list. So there's no, there's no question, there's no competition. Disney is number one in, in my book, in my heart. No question. Well, I, I want to talk, we want to focus today on your Treasure cruise since that was your most recent Disney cruise. Obviously you say you sailed like a week ago on your second Royal Cruise, but your last Disney cruise was only about a month ago and you sailed on the Disney Treasure, is that right?
[00:07:16] Speaker A: That's correct. Yeah.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Yeah. Awesome. Well, was. Are you just a completionist? Was this like, I have to do the Treasure because I have to do the six ship before the Destiny comes out, or was it like I really wanted to sail on the Treasure or a combination?
[00:07:31] Speaker A: I guess so as a gamer, I am very much in the completionist and achievement mindset for every aspect of my life. It actually definitely became a situation where it's like, you know, it's. And again, going back to the cast member discount, another little peek behind the curtain is not every sailing is available. They offer, they offer them basically unsold rooms three months in advance, three months prior to the sailing on average. So you have a very short window to do that.
And it, I remember very clearly that it took over a year for the wish to show up on that discount sheet. And I was unwilling to wait a year to go on the treasure.
So I waited to find a sailing where the cash price dipped low enough that I was willing to pay it.
And that was a couple of weeks ago.
And of course you know that the rule of the universe, a week later, the sailing after the one I booked came up on cast member discount. So spoiler alert. There may have been a back to back involved.
[00:08:36] Speaker C: Well, okay, so Tom, how do like, are you, do you have flexibility in your job to be able to vacation that way? Because not everybody can vacation, you know, just three months or a couple months in advance. Right. Like a lot of. For Brian and I, we're typically, there are some exceptions, but we're typically planning, you know, the full 12 to 18 months out right when the releases come out. And that's in part because of school schedule, in part because of our work schedules, that sort of a thing. It's much easier for our us to plan our work schedules when we know what our vacation schedules are and things like that. Do you have the kind of job where you can you have that, more flexibility in that?
[00:09:17] Speaker A: Yes and no. So I have had it.
My company was just recently purchased by Microsoft and prior to that my boss was like, as long as your work is done, I don't care where you are.
So that's how I was able to, to go as frequently as I was as of a year ago. That's changed and now there's a whole thing and I can only work remotely at 20 days a year.
It's tightened up and becoming more of a challenge. I'm definitely using more of my PTO than I was previously, but I think, you know, I'm pretty good at min maxing those things and juggling everything. So I think I'm okay. But it has definitely gotten, it's tightening up a little bit.
[00:10:00] Speaker C: Yeah. A little more complicated. Yeah. Well, and you're, you're in your west coast in California.
So you mentioned you, you've sailed a lot on the Wonder. That's how I figured that out. Well, one, the first, there were two clues, two main clues. One are you have a lot of cast member friends, which means you either live in the LA area or in Florida. Right. Because those are the two biggest locations where cast members live and are. And then, then you said the wonder. I said of course you're, you're in California, no question.
Well, so let's, let's talk about the logistics for this treasure cruise. So you, well, two treasure cruises. So you, you ended up back to back. Once on you booked yourself and then the second you booked on, on cast member discount with your, with some friends.
So tell us on the planning side of things. You're, you're, you're having to book things obviously a lot closer in time to the sailing you're on for two weeks. So probably not that big of a deal about, you know, priority of what you get when and things like that, like drink tastings, Palo brunch, things like that, I'm thinking. But were you able to book things despite having booked obviously the cruise at sort of a later juncture?
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Yeah, for both.
And I'm actually, I'm not really, I don't drink alcohol, so those were off the table. But Paula brunch. Absolutely. So I'm, and I'm, I think only one of the 15 sailings I've done.
I've actually had a Paula brunch scheduled, but I'm 14 for 15 going to Palo brunch as far as getting it when I get on the ship. So that's always my first stop on the ship is going straight to the lounge where they're doing the dining assignments and grabbing a Palo brunch reservation.
Only one time have I had to wait list it. And even then I refused to take no for an answer. So I think on the last sea day I got dressed up and went up there at 10am and I just sat there waiting for a cancellation and I got in.
[00:12:02] Speaker C: Oh my God, that's amazing. Okay, well, so this is, this is like the lesson of persistence pays off, right? You do not have to have listen on the shortest sailings like a, like a maiden voyage or a three night cruise, right. That's going to be your sort of hardest situation to be able to get Apollo brunch. But on most sailings, even if you are lower in the castaway club status or you're a late booker and you're unable to get Apollo brunch, if you do as Tom does and you go right to wherever they're making the dining changes or dining requests particularly, it's usually the same location for both regular dining and adult dining. There's usually two different people, but they're usually in the same location. And it varies across the fleet as to which location. So you got to check the app. But yeah, you can get a brunch. You just got to make that priority number one. Right. As soon as you get on board or as soon as that, you know, spot opens up for those bookings, you take care of that. And the only folks that'll be ahead of you in line for that are really the concierge bookings. And there's usually enough. I think people always, I feel, in the Facebook stone, Facebook groups don't always believe me when I try to tell people, like they don't book every. Every spot for Paulo and for Remy and for Enchante. They don't book that completely up in the online pre booking process. They leave spots available for onboard book always. And that like that is, you know, the only situation where I think, you know, that you might not be able to get it is on those, like, really short cruises or like a special, special cruise that doesn't have a lot of sea days, like maiden voyage or something like that. All right, so really 15 out of 15 Apollo brunches. I love that. Is there anything else that you were looking to book ahead of time or did you have any specific, like dining rotation requests, things like that that you wanted to take care of before the cruise?
[00:14:02] Speaker A: I did not. The.
The excursions that we did were already, were still available when it became time.
So there was no conflict or trouble booking the stuff that we wanted to do in that respect.
[00:14:18] Speaker C: Yeah. So who did you end up sailing with on the first cruise versus the second cruise was different. Different groups of folks.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: So the first cruise was with my friend Danny, who's been on. I think that was his goal cruise. So he's been on five with me.
He's just. He's another person. He lives in Ohio. He's a friend. I've known him for a while. He has a very flexible. He is. He's a remote worker as well. Or I'm not, but he is. And so when I need a travel companion to share a room with or something, he's the first person I call. And he's almost always game to go.
So. Yeah. And the second leg was a cast member friend from down here in Southern California.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: Awesome. Awesome. Well, that's fantastic. Let's chat about. You got to do an eastern and a western, which was first?
[00:15:09] Speaker A: The western was first. The Jamaica Grand Cayman. Yeah, that was the first one.
And interestingly, I don't know if this has been discussed on previous episodes, but because I had them back to back, I noticed the Western, the show schedule, both Tales of Moana and the Beauty and the Beast had two days. They were like, back to back days, but so you had two options to see them. Whereas on the Eastern, there were one day, but those were the days that had the matinee. So I just wanted to. Oh, interesting information, because I thought that was very interesting.
[00:15:46] Speaker C: Yeah. And I wonder if it has to do with having the extra sea day on the Eastern. Right. So, like, just them being able to fit things in the schedule and. And whatnot. Because the Western has four days of port, so you only have, like two full sea days, whereas the Eastern has three days of port, so you have the three full sea days. So that's really. Yeah, so it's a different. So the schedule is going to vary, and there are times where the schedule varies for other reasons. Of course, they might switch things around for. Because of weather issues and when the deck party is going to be and things like. But yeah, they're typically. The Western and the Eastern schedules do look different. Well, let's talk about your ports a little bit.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: I want to go back and ask just a question like.
[00:16:28] Speaker C: Oh, sure.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Can I ask just why, Tom, what made it so that you really wanted to race to Pearl like this?
Yeah, I'm just curious.
What drove you here?
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah, honestly, it was when I hit Platinum, so I had noticed that I had hit my 10th cruise in two years, and that kind of clicked in my head. I'm like, I bet I could do this. I bet, you know, if I can keep this momentum going, I think I can. I thought it would be a fun objective to try to hit Pearl in five years because. I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure people have done it. I don't know anyone else that is trying or has done it, but I just. Basically, it's a challenge for myself to see if I can do it.
[00:17:12] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't. You know, I will. I will tell you that if not for the pandemic, we would have hit Berlin five years. But because we started in January of 2018, Brian and I, for his 40th birthday celebration.
Yeah, our. Our Pearl.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: I wonder if we actually did do it in five years, just not five continuous years, if that makes sense.
[00:17:36] Speaker C: Well, yes, yes, we. Yes, absolutely.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: We absolutely was shut down for 18 or something.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: So, yeah, no, we. Absolutely. I think if we looked at the. The numbers, y would be true. But we couldn't do it in consecutive. Because there was that break of time.
Yeah, but yeah, I think that that is a funny question, but I think, you know, Tom, you explained it. You're a gamer. Gamers, like, have to check off all the achievements, right? You have to like, complete all, even if you've already beaten the game. But if you didn't have to do all of the achievements in order to beat the game, right. You have to go back to do all those achievements too, right? Like, you have to find every key, even if you only needed, you know, half of the keys in order to beat the game.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: And it gets worse when I have spreadsheets everywhere and one of those spreadsheets has a little grid with all the ships and categories such as Marvel DC Concierge, basically a grid that I can fill out to see if I can actually hit every category of every sailing.
[00:18:34] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: That only gets really sticky when you get into the concierge discussion.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, well. But also checking off that box of Marvel and Pixar and any of the sort of the specialty sailings, right?
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Like Halloween. Christmas.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Halloween. Yeah. And because they don't, they're, you know, those might be a little bit harder to fit in the schedule, particularly because.
Especially if you're looking for cast member discount rates. Right. So, like. Because some, I mean, sometimes they do go on and oftentimes some of those are already on discount on some other discount. But you know, just sort of fitting them in, checking off those boxes. We still haven't done. We haven't done Pixar Day at Sea or Marvel Day at Sea ourselves.
[00:19:14] Speaker B: So. And technically, Sam, I was just, I had to, I, my, the, the Type A brandy. I went to our list and we, we hit it in five years. We did hit it. Even with the. Yeah, even with the pandemic. Yeah, we hit 25, November 18th of 2023. And so we started cruising in January 2018.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: There you go, ma'. Am.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: Oh, my God, I can't believe that we did that. Like, that's kind of crazy to me. Yeah, we're.
It's going to take longer for us to get to 50, by the way.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah, well, so of course that's the stretch goal, right? Is right.
Get your name on that fence in 10 years.
[00:19:46] Speaker C: Yes, exactly. Exactly. We have that goal to get our names on the, on the fence at Castaway as well. But it's going to. I think it's going to take a little bit longer, actually.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: It would have been, it would have been 20. It would have been five years but for the shutdown. That is, that is the right math because we were in November of 2023. We would have, need to have hit it by January.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Oh, by January of 2023. Okay. So we were a few months outside. Yeah. If you do it in consecutive years. Okay.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:10] Speaker C: Bright.
This is funny, Tom, because you've now given Brian and I think new goal because Brian is a completionist. Absolutely. As well. And so I think he's, you might want to share your grid with him so that, because he's going to, you know, especially because I'm really wanting to get on a Marvel day at sea. I like, you know, that's, that's actually the, one of the, one of the only ones that I'm like desperate to get on for those listening. I am desperate to get. If you, if you just need like a friend to hop on a cruise.
Well, let's, let's, let's jump into talking about the Treasure. Okay. So you have all these different ports. Actually, you know what, let's back up.
We haven't talked about getting on the ship. You had been on the Wish before and so you knew what the grand hall would look like, but I think you know it's different. What were your impressions of the Treasure getting on for the first time?
[00:21:04] Speaker A: I did well. And unfortunately this is sad because, because I had to rush to Palo to get the Apollo reservation. I literally blitzed through. I didn't even look at anything. I went straight to the Triton Lounge, got that. And then once I had secured that, then I could relax a little. And so then I actually went back to the grand hall to look at it and it was just absolutely gorgeous. It very much, I believe the fact that the Wish was rushed and incomplete as I was sailing here, I think that has a lot to do with the disparity between the two in all things. Like literally. Yeah, I'm expecting a lot to come out of their five year dry dock, to be honest. They really need to pull that ship up to the Treasure standard, in my opinion.
So especially with the Star wars the lounge, that's either going to get a massive plus up or a complete retheme. And I don't know which, but I just do not want a third. As much as I absolutely adore the Haunted Mansion Parlor, I'm a huge fan of unique experiences both on ships and theme parks. So whenever I hear that they're getting a third version of something like. No, no, no, please, please don't be that lazy.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Yes, I'm with you, Tom. I actually I have to say, as much as I love Haunted Mansion Lounge on the Treasure, that's the one thing I'm like disappointed about for the Destiny because I want, I just want something new and different. Right. Like, I'm much more excited about the other spaces on the Destiny because they're gonna all be new to me. Right. And so I'm hoping, and I will say this like, I very firmly believe that we are not going to get a Haunted Mansion Lounge on the Wish. I do not believe that they're going to make that investment, but I'm very, very hopeful that they will plus up what's already there because I, I don't think the Hyperspace Lounge is bad. It's just not good enough. Right. Like, and so the, and it has potential and if they just do some, you know, add some more stuff in there to theme it out even more Star wars theming, it could be a lot better. Right. Like it could be, it might not, it might not be as good as the Haunted Mansion Lounge, but it could be better than what's there currently.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: So either Oga's Cantina direction or find a way to throw in a three dimensional chess set with the monsters from.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: You know, Sabacc table. Sabacc table like they had at the Sublight Lounge on the, on the Galactic Star Cruiser. That's what we keep telling. They got it, they got it probably sitting in the, the building.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: The Imagineers are having lunch on it.
[00:23:37] Speaker C: Right, right. People are sitting. Exactly. People are sitting, eating lunch on it. And it, it exists. Right. Like all they need to do is move it into, you know, move it onto the ship or recreate it on the ship if they can't move it. Right. Like I already have the design plans for it, so it's not, it wouldn't be that, you know, huge investment.
Well, so let's, let's talk about your other sort of your Parks. You, you mentioned your, your Parks guy. So I gotta imagine that the treasure was like something really you were looking forward to because the treasure, as we tell people, is the park's person's ship.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Yes. No. 100%.
I was going into it. I was so excited for all those spaces.
The Haunted Mansion definitely delivered.
I think it was on the verge of being overhyped. But I basically spent I think every night in that lounge.
I noticed after about 11 o' clock it was pretty much, it was pretty easy to find a seat in there, which was nice because, you know, and I gave it like a three day cool off period, like the first day I popped in just to take a quick look and then I backed out of that mob. And I was like, I'll be back when I don't have to fight for a seat. And it worked out pretty well.
[00:24:50] Speaker C: Yeah. I always try to tell people like, about that The. The Haunted Mansion Lounge is going to be really packed the first day or two.
And of course, at primetime hours, it's going to be kind of packed. But by the end of the cruise, it really lets up because once people have been in there and experience kind of the show aspect and have tried the drinks, which I will say, the drinks are not my favorite on board the ship.
So I say. I say go get a drink someplace else and bring it with you to the Haunted Mansion Lounge. Because I wish they would actually just have regular like that. You could order a glass of wine or something like you can in the other bar spaces. Whereas it is a limited menu in the Haunted Mansion Lounge. What about the other spaces on board?
We've got Skipper Society, we've got Periscope Pub.
Yeah.
What were your thoughts on those spaces?
[00:25:43] Speaker A: The Periscope Pub was my second favorite space.
It would have been the Skipper Society but for the location. I absolutely hate that they stuck. And that same with the Bayou on the Wish.
At night, it just feels like you're in an abandoned mall because you're just surrounded by closed jewelry shops. And it's just like the Haunted Mansion, for example, would not have worked in that it needs to be enclosed. It needs to feel warm and comfortable, which the other spaces do. That one does not. That being said, the two booths on the side with the decoration were awesome.
And I took the time to read the dad jokes that were listed by the bar. And I highly encourage. I was laughing out loud at some of them. They were pretty good. So I encouraged anyone on the shift to make sure to read those.
[00:26:34] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. What about Scat Cat? Do you have any thoughts? I mean, Scat Cat is obviously sort of not parks. Right. It's Aristocats themed, so it doesn't have the parks feel that the other spaces do. Well, I mean, for sort of old Parks fans, of course, the Periscope Pub does maybe not for current Parks fans might be like, well, what is this? But those of us who are not, you know, babies, remember 10,000 Leagues under the Sea at the parks. But yeah. What did you think about Scat Cat?
[00:27:05] Speaker A: So, and this is interesting, prior sailings.
I'll take the Wonder as a perfect example. Every night after dinner without waiver, you could find me listening to the piano player in the Cadillac Lounge. Like, I absolutely love that space.
And the Dream class a little less so. But I would still. Because I don't like that I in like pink and the other one.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: Ooh la la. Yeah.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I find the seating very uncomfortable, especially as a larger person. But.
But I would still find a space where I could listen to live music this sailing in, you know, 14 days. And I did not spend any significant time in that until the very last day because I had to force myself, like I need to stop going to the Haunted Mansion Lounge and actually experience. You know, that's the only space on the ship that I hadn't really spent any time in. But I went that last night and listened to the piano player for a couple hours and it was a much more comfortable space to me than the dream class version of those lounges.
And the decoration is fantastic. Like during the daytime I would walk around, take pictures of the. It'll look at actually when it was completely empty, I'd walk around and look at all the details and everything. And it's a great space. And I have to believe if the rumors are true that the next. The Last wish class is going to be a Pixar themed. That. That's got to be a soul. Soul themed lounge, right?
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean it could.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: It's the only thing that makes sense.
[00:28:40] Speaker C: Well, but the. But we already have a soul themed lounge on the. On the magic. Right. The.
That's. I. So I don't know, you know, if they're gonna do. If they're gonna do a Pixar theme on, you know, on the fourth Wish class ship. The non olc Fourth Wish class ship. I don't know. I don't know what that's going to be. I haven't. We haven't heard. I will say I haven't heard any rumors yet.
I'm still hoping for a Snuggly Duckling lounge. I gotta. I gotta be. I gotta be honest. And then you could have a piano lounge that's Snuggly Duckling, obviously.
[00:29:18] Speaker A: Well, and this goes into another soapbox issue for me, which is how mismatched like the magic should have that lounge, not the soul Lounge. And you know, it's like the only place where they hit it out of the park is by having Rapunzel's Royal Table and that stage show on the same ship. Whereas every other ship there's. There's so much disjointedness and I don't know. Yeah.
[00:29:43] Speaker C: I will say the. At least you've got French Quarter Lounge and Tiana's right next to each other on the Wonder. But you're right, the shows don't. The shows don't coordinate, but at least those spaces coordinate.
You know, I don't. Yeah, I mean, I. We've got coordination issues with which shows are on the Treasure versus the Wish. I mean. Yeah, the coordination issues of what shows on what ship, it don't necessarily make sense whatsoever. Absolutely. I'm with you there. Well, speaking of shows, that's a perfect transition.
Are you a person who goes to see the shows on board the ships, and if so, what did you think of the Treasures variety of shows?
[00:30:23] Speaker A: I am, and I think I can safely say that the Treasure has the strongest lineup of shows of any ship in the fleet. You know, they have. What was previously considered to be the best show is now their second show. You know, it's like.
And of what I call the IP Dump variety shows, I think Seize the Adventure is my favorite of those three. So.
[00:30:46] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. I got to give you. I got to clap for you right now, Tom, because you and I are simpatico on this Seize the Adventure.
It's a short show. You're right. It's an. I've never heard it called an IP Dump, but I love that description because it's just putting a whole bunch of different IP and to one show and, you know, creating a storyline out of it. I personally think it's the best of those as well. I think it's better than Believe. I think it's better than Dreams, both for storyline and musical numbers. On the whole, there are, of course, standouts. Right. Circle of Life in.
Forget which one it's in. If it's in, I think it's in. Dreams is fantastic. You can't beat that musical number. But I think overall you've got just a great, you know, a really cute storyline and it's a shorter show. So I, I have to say that's a. I, that's a bonus, I think, because the kids can sit through it and, and it's just kind of moves along in a better pacing in that show. But, yeah, I'm with you. So, yeah, the, the best lineup, the only one that comes close in my heart is on the Magic. I think the Magic has a fantastic show lineup as well.
But yeah, I think that you're right. The Treasure. The Treasure is number one. What did you think of the dining experiences? Now, you had experienced, of course, on the, on the. Wish you had marvel in 1923, but you've got Additional menus in both of those and additional show in Marvel. And then of course, you've got Coco as opposed to Arendelle.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: I love 1923. I liked it on the Wish. And that carried over to the Treasure. The Marvel restaurant is what it is.
The only ship that I think it makes any sense on is going to be the Destiny, but just too late. They've. If they've written that check and.
But man, Plaza de Coco, the design in there is absolutely. I think it's the most.
From an imagineering or design perspective. I think that's. They just absolutely nailed that one. You know, the hallway leading up to it at night with the flickering candlelight, the Frienda, the Just. And I really do feel like if you don't examine the ceiling too much, I kind of wish that they had put, like, little LED stars in the ceiling.
You know what I mean? Like, they do sometimes just to kind of try to sell that if you're outside. But. And it's interesting because they have the big bay windows in the back. And I'm always, always, with one exception, the 815 dining. And the. The. It's kind of interesting. The. The glow reflection from the lights in the restaurant against those bay windows kind of made it look like I was looking out over like a Mexican bay with. With the little village on the side of the. It's an interesting. I was just. It was a very. I loved it. It was awesome.
[00:33:33] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. Yeah. I think it's a beautiful space. I agree. I think they nail the hallway.
I will say I think they did that in Arendelle as well. You know, the hallway walking down with the. With the paintings. Right. That match exactly what you see in the movie. Right. Like, they've done such a great job of making those spaces really immersive. And I don't think, you know, I think they did a good job on Tiana's and Rapunzel's on the Magic and the one on the Wonder and the Magic. But I think those are the most immersive. Now, of course, the setup of that hallway then creates, you know, a certain shape of the restaurant. So that's purposeful.
So what they, you know, what they could fit and doing the kind of theater in the round type of show, all of that. So it is purpose built for that. Those experiences. Yeah. Well, what did you think of the food on board? I mean, we still say wish class, of course. Pool deck food beats all other pool deck food and including on every other cruise line.
But what did you think of the food overall and the food in main.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: Dining, I am a pretty picky eater. And just to highlight that most of the menus have one dish that I can eat without any modifications.
And even then there's some modifications. And, you know, there are nights that I've had to eat off the children's menu.
And it's one of those people.
[00:34:58] Speaker C: I gotta say, though. But I gotta say that's a great tip for people listening. Like, you can always ask for something off the kids menu, and you can even ask for double portion of something that's off the kids menu. So if you want just that plain, you know, burger or that Mickey's Mac and cheese, or plain pasta with tomato sauce or. Or a pizza, right. They have like the kids pizzas, right. Which are different than the pizza from the pool deck. Just FYI. They're kind of more. They're not as good. I think the pizza on the pool deck is better. But, yeah, you can order. Always order off the kids menu. Sometimes the desserts on the kids menu are better.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: I think it was previously on Pirate Night. Specifically, there was the kids menu. It always has a cream of chicken soup, and I used to always get that. The last couple times, it hasn't tasted great. It just had kind of a gritty texture. I don't know what's changed. But to your point. Yes. Always examine if you're struggling to find something to eat, don't forget to pull up the app, because unless you ask for the physical menu, you won't get the kids menu. But it's always on the app, right?
[00:36:01] Speaker C: Yep. Yeah, we're lucky. We've got Nathan with us, and so we already got the paper kids menu. So then I look at my menu and then I look at his menu, and it's usually a soup. Actually, I will say I am more inclined occasionally to order whatever the kid's soup is over the. Whatever a soup is on. If I'm ordering a soup, you know, I think there's a good corn chowder that they often have on the kids menu. I can't remember which restaurant it's at, but it's one of my favorite soups.
[00:36:31] Speaker A: That leads me to a little PSA I want to give about soup. If you've ever ordered the chicken noodle soup specifically off of the room service menu on the classic ships, you probably only did that once and never again. I've tried. I've given them a couple chances, and I usually get what I would pan them out to water with celery. That's not Cooked and some noodles. Like, it's not good. Interestingly, if you order the chicken noodle soup off of the kids menu the night it's available, it looks the same, but it actually has flavor and it tastes really good. Fast forward to the room service on the Wish class. Maybe the Wish, but the Treasure for sure.
I ordered it just to show my friend how bad it was.
You have to see how terrible the soup is. And what we got on the Treasure from Room Service was a thick noodle full of chunks of chicken. It was fantastic.
So if you, like me, have written off the room service chicken noodle soup, give it another shot on the Wish class.
Yeah, I just wanted to make sure people knew about that.
[00:37:34] Speaker C: I love that pro tip. That's awesome. Well, Tom, you mentioned, of course, being a gamer, there is a game to be played on the Wish class ships. It is.
God. What is it called? Uncharted Adventure. Uncharted Adventure. Thank you. It's been so long since we've actually tried to play it because we have had so many issues with it. But I'm curious if you played the game on the Wish or the Treasure and what you thought of it it and tell us how Disney can improve it, please.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: So I did try it on the Wish for the first time.
It was extremely glitchy and buggy.
I just remember still the Peter Pan Flight 1.
We're connected. We're tilting the phone every way we can and he is staying the course dead ahead, hitting every cloud and lightning bolt like it just. It didn't work. So I gave up on it pretty early on the Wish and I tried it again on the Treasure and I, we encountered the exact same issues. So it's like there's just compared to, you know, the Midship Detective Agency, it's just they need to. I'm hoping for the. When they are doing up the plans for the new class of ship that they really go back to some version of a physical game or, you know, if they're not going to put money into fixing the technology, then they need to go back to doing something different, in my opinion.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I will say there is something new on board the Treasure that just, I think debuted the last couple of weeks that involves the MagicBand and an app and it showed some interactivity. It's like some kind of quest thing and some interactivity with haunted Mansion stuff. Right. With a magic band and with an app. So it's not clear to me what it is yet because I haven't heard from anybody who has actually done it. But it was something that was just a couple weeks ago. It was.
There was video. It was a reel that was posted by. I don't remember if it was Disney Cruise Line or Disney Entertainment or Disney Parks.
They tend to send things out from a few different accounts at once.
And we had reposted it in our stories, but yeah, it looked like a new game. And I don't know if it's intended to replace the Uncharted Adventure or what, but I'm hopeful.
I'm hopeful. Maybe it is intended to replace Uncharted. I feel like Uncharted venture held so much potential, but it just doesn't work well. And they just. And I don't know who they. I'm sure they didn't. I'm sure they hired somebody to do it. It was probably, you know, a vendor because a lot of those kinds of things would seem to be things that they would use vendors for. But I don't know, they just, they. It just was not. Was not executed well, unfortunately, like I said, it had a lot of potential.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: If it was available in my setting. I was not aware of it, unfortunately. But hopefully. Yeah, to your point, hopefully it's a good thing that we hear more about in the coming weeks.
[00:40:42] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. And we're hoping, we're assuming because it has interactivity with the Haunted Mansion, we're assuming and hoping that it will also be on the Destiny. We don't know that. I mean, I think what Disney. The reel that Disney showed was from the Treasure. So it wasn't obviously clear that whether it would be on the Destiny. They haven't announced anything about it, but something I'm hoping and looking forward to. Well, you know, Tom, I be remiss if I didn't ask you a little bit about the ports. We don't have time to discuss all of your ports because you were on for two weeks and so you went to.
Well, you went to Castaway twice and then you went to five other ports along the way. But I'd love to ask you of setting aside Castaway because obviously Castaway was probably your favorite port. Setting it aside Castaway, what was your favorite port and excursion between both the Eastern. Actually ask you give me two. Like what was the favorite on the Eastern and the favorite on the Western, probably.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: So on the.
The Grand Cayman day. No, I'm sorry. At Cozumel, Jose Cozumel, we booked a speedboat adventure. It was good and bad in the respect that because my friend and I, you shared one boat. So you. The first person spends a half an hour riding out, and then you do some snorkeling, and then you ride, switch drivers and ride back. As soon as the snorkeling was finished and my friend drove all the way out there the full time, it just started pouring rain. And so, as you can imagine, rain on a speedboat. We're just. Our faces are getting pelted with water.
Yeah. And so they cut it short. You know, the return trip. They basically, they did a beeline straight to the dock area.
So I think I got 10, 15 minutes on the way back, which is fine, because I didn't want to be pelted with rain. But despite the rain, we absolutely love that excursion. And next time I go to Cozumel, I'm going to book it again. And I have to say, they included lunch transportation. The whole thing was $99, like, for a Disney excursion. That's pretty good.
[00:42:50] Speaker C: Yeah, that is pretty good.
[00:42:51] Speaker A: Yeah. We felt it was a great value to even have lunch included.
[00:42:54] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:42:55] Speaker C: And how long was the excursion, like, total?
[00:42:58] Speaker A: I want to say four.
Four to four and a half hours.
[00:43:01] Speaker C: Wow. Yeah, that's a great price for that long of an excursion. I mean, of course, transportation is part of that. So it's not like you're. It's not like you're out on the boat for four hours.
That probably includes, like a bus ride to whatever place you have to go to and back. But, yeah, that's pretty good. I love that.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: I want to say maybe 45 minutes bus each way.
The time on the boat was about an hour, plus snorkeling. And then lunch. We were there for another 45 minutes. And then there was a shop that they were, you know, of course, trying to get people to buy stuff, but they were not super high pressure. And it was.
The people running that facility were fantastic. I even added the main guy Nacho on Instagram. But, yeah, I highly recommend it, especially I thought it was a great value for a Disney excursion.
[00:43:49] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. What about in the Eastern?
[00:43:52] Speaker A: Eastern. So, okay. Because I had done the Eastern itinerary on the fantasy prior, I wanted to maximize my time on the Treasure. So I actually did not get off at either of the ports.
I got off the castaway, but my friend hadn't been. So he went.
Yeah, I think he just walked around the port town.
But. But on the fantasy prior, I had done.
That was in my phase where I wasn't booking Disney excursions. I would just get off. And the ports are riddled with people trying to get you on their bus.
So I did.
And it's been long enough that I can't remember which port. We did this bus ride up a mountain to the point where you could see the ship from the top. And then we stopped at this really old rum distillery and I really enjoyed that excursion. I think that was.
[00:44:42] Speaker C: It would be probably either. It would be either. I think that would be Tortola.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: I think that. Yes, that was.
[00:44:47] Speaker C: Yeah. Because I think that. Because Tortola, I think is the one that has. Yeah. A large rum distillery. That's what. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
[00:44:56] Speaker B: 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 favorite Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOYpathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding, for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:45:54] Speaker C: Well, well, what about Castaway? You've. Now obviously you mentioned you've been on the Wonder the most times and that's probably mostly been out of San Diego.
But you've also been to Castaway now a number of times between, you know, your. Most of the ships obviously are based on the. On the East Coast. So most of the ships you've sailed probably to Castaway. Yeah. What did you, what did you get up to on Castaway? You got two.
Were they beautiful days on Castaway or you know, sometimes you get rainy days on Castaway?
[00:46:25] Speaker A: No, they were actually very good. One of them was cloudy and overcast, but it was still very nice. The temperature of the water was perfect for just bopping around for an hour or two. And I've kind of settled on this, especially on the wish class going back to how good the pool deck barbecue is, I personally have settled on.
I also am not the person that needs to rush to a chair in the morning. So what I do is I go. I have lunch at. At the barbecue on the ship.
Cause, you know, I don't have to deal with sand or lines. And it's delicious, every bit if not better than what they serve on the island. And then by then, everyone is off the ship. I don't have to. I don't have to wait in line to get off the ship. Then I go to the Serenity Bay and spend a couple hours there.
[00:47:09] Speaker C: Beautiful. I think that's perfect. Well, and I mean, this is the beauty of. If you are sailing without children like you, that's a great way to do it. It's not really the way that for us, it's actually easier to get Nathan off the ship and. And, you know, out to the beach earlier and to come back earlier. But. Yeah, but I will say if I. If, you know, if we were sailing without Nathan, I think I would do it exactly the way you do it. I think you're right. I think other. I like the ribs on Castaway the best, but I like the ribs on the ship also. But. But I'm a ribs person, so that's why. That's probably what. Only why I would choose to eat it. Cast Away. I think all the other food I think is better on board, though.
[00:47:51] Speaker A: And I don't know, because I know you like your Mac and cheese. I don'. So I noticed on the. When I had the barbecue on the wish, the Mac and cheese was different than the buffet Mac and cheese. It was, yes.
[00:48:05] Speaker C: It's got, like, breadcrumbs and stuff on it. It's a better Mac and cheese than the buffet one.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: It's better.
It was even a little more closer to like, you know, the blue box craft stuff, which I actually love, but it's on the Treasure. And I don't know if this is a fleet thing and they both doing this now, but they kind of.
I felt like they went back to the. It still has the breadcrumbs, but the quality tasted more like the buffet version.
[00:48:30] Speaker C: Oh, I wonder. Yeah. I mean, they may. They may be for just like it would. I mean, frankly, it's easier for them, right. If all the Mac and cheeses are the same, except for adding breadcrumbs. But.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. That would be a disappointment because I think I agree with you. The. The several times when I have had the barbecue Mac and cheese from Mickey's Smokestack. It is not the same as the Mickey's Mac and Cheese that's in the buffet that's also served to the kids at dinner and whatnot. That's the buffet. Mac and cheese is the one Nathan likes. The one I like is Mickey Smokestack Mac and cheese.
[00:49:05] Speaker A: Yeah. No, I loved it on the Wish. So I was so excited to get on the Treasure, and I was like, oh, this is different.
[00:49:10] Speaker C: Yeah, it was just different. Just not as good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Tom, you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you some favorite activities that you got up to on board these two sailings. You had plenty of time, of course, over the course of two weeks to duplicate probably a ton of activities.
What were some of the favorites?
[00:49:31] Speaker A: Well, bingo, of course. I.
With the exception of Apollo brunch conflict. You will. I. I will be. I don't think I've missed a single. Over 15 sailings. Missed a single session of bingo.
Well, I won $400, which was nice.
[00:49:47] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, we have heard. So we've had a couple people on the show who've won, and then actually, one of our good friends was on a sailing on. What was it on? The Fantasy Brian. Yeah. In Europe and won $5,000 in, like, the. Whatever the, like, jackpot bingo was. It was like the last bingo.
And literally they handed them cash, like. Yeah. Sacks of cash. Yeah. At guest Services. Crazy.
[00:50:13] Speaker A: There's a certain threshold where it's no longer onboard credit, and you actually have to. You go into an office, and they, like a Vegas casino. They're, like, slapping the hundreds in front of you, and then they give you an envelope and an escort back to your room.
But. So, yeah, aside from bingo, you can always find me in the trivia. I'm only missing the Pluto medal.
Once I have Pluto, I'll retire and let other people have a chance.
[00:50:42] Speaker C: Are you really good at the Parks trivia since you're a Parks person, or is there some other trivia that's your specialty?
[00:50:49] Speaker A: Yeah, the ones that. My favorite is the brain teasers. I love those.
[00:50:52] Speaker C: Yes, we love those, too.
[00:50:54] Speaker A: Absolutely love those. And.
Because not only is it fun to do it there, but those are things you can take with you and, like, you know, challenge other people with, you know, in your. Your friends, circles and stuff. And I found that. Yeah, those trivia spaces on the. The Treasure were.
I like it. I liked playing trivia more on other classes of shift.
The Triton Lounge is very small, and there's not enough writing spaces for what they're doing. So the trivia experience I felt was a little less on the wish class of ships, but still, it's always fun to go and do it.
[00:51:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I actually prefer to do on the wish class. I like the trivias that are in the Bayou or the Skipper Society. But I understand your point about the space. I hadn't thought about it being in the middle of a mall, but was it.
[00:51:46] Speaker A: But it.
[00:51:46] Speaker C: I actually, I mean, I. It is a very apt analogy. Especially when at night when those. The. The stores are closed, you feel like you're a little bit in a mall. Mall space. Now, do you. Do you get to go. I mean, you can. Of course, you're not traveling with kids.
Do you go to all the adult activities in, you know, in the evenings, you know, Match youh Maid and. And all the. The other adult game shows?
[00:52:12] Speaker A: I do. I love Match youh Mate. That's another one I won't miss.
So I was just over the moon to hear that the Wish or the Treasure had two. Right. Because they have match your Matey and that was every bit as amazing. Oh, just. Sorry, quick little side tangent. The Sage and Coriander switched between my two sailings, which kind of threw me off. But, like, because the first stage in Coriander, because that was their last contract or the last day of their contract fact, their chemistry was just off the chart. Like. And I had so much fun, especially the Indiana Jones. Choose your own adventure. Like, you know, I was so excited to see it again. And then we were standing in the Grand Atrium and I'm like, I saw Sage and Coriander and I'm like, that's not Sage McCoy but the new. The new. The Replacements were great. I think again, it has to do with the longer they work together because I have to believe the ship is so fresh. Like, this definitely was not the opening session, Sage and Coriander, and it wasn't the previous one. So this is maybe a third or fourth set.
[00:53:23] Speaker C: This would be Cast three. I believe so. Yeah. I believe Cast three is on right now. And actually their contracts are longer than you'd think because they spend several months, I think two or three months at least on land in Toronto, learning all their parts because they, you know, Sage and Coriander are like main stage cast are. Are doing rehearsals for all of their stuff ahead of time. Right. So they're. I assume they're up in Toronto, like the rest of the main stage cast is. But yeah, they're learning all because it's a ton of, you know, a ton of scripts they have to learn for all of the shows that they do. But you're right, it's still not the same as. I mean, rehearsing is not the same as performing in front of an audience. And they develop chemistry over time and they probably even add a little bit more improvisation into their bits and whatnot over time as well. So. Yeah, that's funny. You. You saw the transition from what should have been cast two to cast three.
I'm curious what you thought of the. Did you see main stage shows on both of the sailings? I forgot that you. Because you're on back to back. Because you would have seen two different casts between those main stage shows as well.
[00:54:38] Speaker A: I think those were the same.
I do know that the actors in the Plaza de Coco switched out.
Those were all different.
The first Miguel I liked more than the second Miguel.
Yeah.
And I'm almost certain, because my point of reference is, of course, Grandma Tala, Maui and Moana. I'm pretty sure Moana and Grandma Tala were the same. And I. I'm almost certain it was the same Maui because it's the new, like, ripped Maui. The guy that I think should be playing Tarzan and not Maui. It's like he just. He doesn't have Maui's body type.
And so it's just kind of jarring to see this, like, completely ripped guy be Maui.
But it was either two ripped guys or the same ripped guy that did.
[00:55:30] Speaker C: Probably the same ripped guy. Because I don't think, if I'm remembering correctly, Treasure cast two. Yeah, I don't think. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm trying to remember from our last sailing, but yeah, I. It may have been so. Just depending upon which.
So they always have the two casts on for like a couple of weeks to, you know, so that the new cast is shadowing the old cast. And so they may have transitioned who did the shows even like on your first sailing. So it's. That could be. Yeah. So it may have been different transition times between the, you know, sort of the main stage people versus the dinner show people versus Sage and coriander. So they might have a slightly different transition time for those folks as well. Yeah.
Well, Tom, as we round out here, is there anything that we've missed? Anything like either different or notable from either of your back to back sailing? Did you change rooms? Actually, I should ask.
[00:56:34] Speaker A: I did because they're booked completely different styles, you know, of course, the cast one was the GTY the first sailing, I had a room in the very front of the ship. It was. Was 8,500. And I had the slanted wall with the porthole facing the dead. Like, if I turn on my TV camera, I had the exact same view out of my porthole window, which was a little disorienting because you couldn't tell when the ship was moving because the horizon, you just see water. It's not, you know, whereas if you're on the side, you can see the, you know, vertical or horizontal movement of the ship. But.
And I just didn't like. I did not like that room because.
Because of the room, the slant of the wall, we had, like, 30% less storage space because the cabinet that has the drawers had to be truncated, and it just was not available. And so that was not great, but it was fine. You know, I would never personally book that myself again in the future if I had an option.
[00:57:37] Speaker B: Well, Tom, I will revert back to Sam's other question, which is just anything else that you wanted to be sure to share before we switch over to rapid fire?
[00:57:46] Speaker A: I had two, like, interesting stories that I just wanted to share. One was that on my second sailing, this was again, on the wonder, of course, you know, how you paired up with rotational dining people. We'd gotten. My friend and I had gotten paired up with these two women, and as you know, you get to know each other and become, you know, friendly over the course of the dinners that you share. And on the last night of the sailing, the one of the women was like, oh, I have a fantasy sailing booked in May, and we have an extra bed available if you wanted to join us.
And she said, oh, by the way, it's concierge.
So, long story short, I went on the sailing. She wasn't going to charge me, but I insisted on paying for tips and her meal and, you know, so. But I still spent significantly less than if I had, you know, sales. So I. It's just, you know, people have hit or miss, I think, experiences with rotational dining partners, and that one obviously paid off pretty well for me.
[00:58:48] Speaker C: Well, I mean, obviously, you hit it off enough. Like, listen, I'm. I'm not going to invite somebody to share a room with me unless I really hit it off with them. Right? Like, we've got to, like, this is, like, one of my new best friends, right? So, like, that's. That's the kind of. I mean, we have made, as people know from listening to the show, our friends Tracy and Michael. We met in 2019 on Southern Caribbean sailing. And they are two of our best friends in the world now. And so like you can make your best friends on Disney Cruise Line. Like, no question it does happen.
But how amazing is that to get invited to sail on another ship and on.
And the concierge sailing. Fantastic. Love it.
[00:59:32] Speaker A: She shouldn't have done it because she used DVC points. And I will die on the hill at DZ DVC points should never, ever, ever be used for cruising.
Don't do it with the exception of if you absolutely need to go on a DVC member cruise, in which case, you know, do some research because there, there are ways to spend fewer points than they want you to believe. You have to.
[00:59:53] Speaker C: To. Yeah. And actually most of the DVC cruises, you don't actually have to book anyone on points, only the first wave cruises.
Yeah. So the DVC member cruises, you have to have at least one member in your room, but you don't. But you can book the cruises on cash. It's been the DVC first wave cruises, which have often been.
Well, we did one of them as it was like the second sailing of the Wish was a DVC first wave. It was before they came up with this name first wave. But now that's what they're using.
And so one person had to be booked on points and we made Nathan the one booked on points because he's the lower points because he's the third passenger. Right. So like you, there are ways to minimize your use of points if you have to use points. But I. But absolutely.
For those listening now, we're not the experts on dvc. We have got friends over at my DVC Points podcast who are the experts on dvc.
But Tom is correct, you, it is not your best value. Now, if you're going to have points that expire and you've got no other use for them and you don't want to go through renting them and all of that, okay, use them to book a Disney cruise, but you can rent those points for money, for cash and then use that, some of that cash to buy your Disney cruise and you will get better value.
[01:01:16] Speaker B: There's also swap programs that you can do through some of the travel agencies that are affiliated with, you know, DVC rental store World of dvc. Others that where you basically go to them and say, this is a cruise I want to book. They figure how much it's going to cost, how much they rent points for, and then you kind of trade them points for the cruise and that can, that can be pretty cost effective way to do it. And a little less hassle on your end at times because, I mean, you may not come out as well as if you just book them to direct and take the cash, but it's a little less hassle left with. With all of that. So, yes, I would say if you have more questions about all of this stuff, head over to the My DVC Points Facebook group for anyone out there listening, because this is like the nerdom of Disney at its finest, our DVC owners. So, yeah, they know all the tricks of the trade.
[01:02:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[01:02:08] Speaker B: Well, Tom, it's been really fun hearing about your journey to pearl status today, but I think we've reached that point in the show where I need to hand you over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment in the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away.
[01:02:24] Speaker C: All right. All right, Tom, we're going to start with a couple of Disney general favorites, and then we're going to, of course, move over to the cruise line I love because you have sailed on all six ships. You can. You can answer my cruise line questions from any of the ships, any of the sailings you have been on. You are not limited. All right, so starting with your favorite Disney character. And Disney, as you know, means everything and anything in the world, pretty much, because Disney owns everything in the world.
[01:02:49] Speaker A: Now, I'm going to stretch that definition to the very limit and say that my favorite character is Tally the elf.
[01:02:58] Speaker C: I love it. Tally the elf, who is, by the way, a parade character, only in the Christmas parades, who has the naughty and nice list and goes around and tells people that they are on the naughty list. Oftentimes. It's hilarious. Yeah, Tally is hilarious. Okay. I love that. All right, that is spoken from a true Parks fan. Okay, your favorite Disney movie.
[01:03:20] Speaker A: Believe it or not, this is probably the first time you've had this answer on your show. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
[01:03:25] Speaker C: Oh, that is a hot take. Wow. Okay.
[01:03:28] Speaker A: I actually love that. Love that movie.
[01:03:30] Speaker C: Yeah, well, listen, it's the merging of animation and live action. Yeah.
[01:03:36] Speaker A: As a character, it blew my mind that Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse were in the same movie.
[01:03:40] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, yeah. It's the crossover we all needed, right?
All right, favorite Disney song.
[01:03:48] Speaker A: So just a quick honorable mention. I'm a huge. I love the Sherman Brothers, particularly that Mary Poppins soundtrack. Every track is a banger. But to answer the actual question, I'd say Baroque Hoedown, AKA the Main Street Electrical Parade. The original name of that track was called Baroque Hoedown.
[01:04:06] Speaker C: But baroque. Not baroque, but baroque.
[01:04:09] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:04:10] Speaker C: Baroque, yes.
[01:04:11] Speaker A: Like a harpsichord.
[01:04:12] Speaker C: Right. And just like in Aladdin, if it isn't baroque, don't fix it.
[01:04:17] Speaker A: Exactly.
[01:04:19] Speaker C: All right, we gotta move on to the cruise line.
Your favorite Disney cruise line stage show in the Walt Disney Theater.
[01:04:27] Speaker A: So prior to the Treasure was Beauty and the Beast. Now it's Tales of Moana. So again, back to our previous conversation. The Treasure just can't be beat for stage shows.
[01:04:38] Speaker C: Absolutely. I love it. All right, favorite bar space across.
Across the fleet.
[01:04:43] Speaker A: Come on.
[01:04:44] Speaker C: It's Haunted Mansion lounge, right? I love it. I love it.
[01:04:48] Speaker A: The Haunted Mansion Lounge. I don't want to say salvaged my feeling about the wish class. It certainly has a lot of unforgivable sins as far as layout, but it definitely pulled it up a notch by being available. Yeah.
[01:05:01] Speaker C: Love it. All right, favorite onboard activity.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: Bingo. Bingo.
[01:05:05] Speaker C: Bingo, Betty.
[01:05:07] Speaker A: Shake it up, Betty.
[01:05:08] Speaker C: Shake it up, Betty. I love it. I love it.
All right, Right, we gotta talk food. We're gonna start with favorite rotational dining restaurant.
[01:05:17] Speaker A: So I'm gonna split this into two categories. For food. For food, it's 1923. That filet.
And another pro tip, if you give your dining staff enough notice, especially on the. On night two of 1923, if you tell them you want the filet again, it's in the fridge, they can make it for you. You just tell them, like, you know, remind them the night before also. So, like, don't forget, tomorrow I went to filet again. And they will if they can, they will prepare it for you again.
[01:05:44] Speaker C: Oh, my God. That's amazing, Tom. Cause, you know, I hate that second menu on 1923.
[01:05:49] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know how. Yeah, yeah.
[01:05:51] Speaker C: In fact, we now, like, have plans anytime we're on for that second night of 1923 on the treasure to just go to Periscope Pub and get, like, wings and tots and stuff.
[01:06:01] Speaker A: But the huge pretzel.
[01:06:03] Speaker C: Yeah, and the huge pretzel. But I will say, if I could get the filet a second night, I probably would go back to 1923.
And pro tip. Get the. Just ask for french fries from the kids menu and get the filet with the french fries. It's better than the potato they give you.
[01:06:17] Speaker A: Oh, I love their steak fries. In fact, yes, most nights I ask, no matter what I order, I say and add a thing of steak fries.
[01:06:23] Speaker C: I love it. I love it. Awesome. All right, we're gonna stick with food. We're gonna talk a favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item. As I always tell everyone we start with the sweets because we save the best for last, and the best are the savories. So what is a favorite sweet item on a Disney craft?
[01:06:42] Speaker A: Again, it's a tie, but both of the items are available at the exact same meal. Paula Brunch. The almond croissant and the panna cotta.
[01:06:51] Speaker C: Oh. Oh, nice.
[01:06:53] Speaker A: Oh, my God. I'm assuming you've had both of these.
[01:06:55] Speaker C: So I have had the almond croissant. I don't eat panna cotta, creme brulee.
Any of. I don't like. Brian loves all of those things. I don't like. It's a texture thing. I don't like that kind of dessert. I don't like flan. I don't. Don't. Yeah, I don't like soft.
Other than, like, cheesecake. I don't like that, like, that kind of soft dessert. Yeah. I'm not a big dessert person, though, in general. Like, I'd rather just have a scoop of ice cream, so. Yeah.
[01:07:23] Speaker A: Yeah. They have these strawberry pearls. They might be boba. I don't know. But, Brian, if you've had them, you know, they just, like, melt in your mouth, and they're just unbelievable. Unbelievable.
[01:07:31] Speaker B: I go for the Sundays. I'm a big Sunday fan on Disney Cruise Line.
[01:07:35] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:07:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I might scream all day. In fact, the first time I was on the Wish, I'm like, who's going to pay to go eat ice cream when there's. And that was me, like, a day later, like, oh, look at all these flavors they do have.
[01:07:47] Speaker C: There are some really great flavors in that sweet shop. All right. Favorite savory item on board.
[01:07:54] Speaker A: And I describe this as my death row meal.
And it's, of course, the chicken parm, specifically the risotto that. The parmesan risotto that it's on top of. And I made the mistake on my second palo, because I love that risotto so much. I asked for a side of it, and it was too much. Like, the chef knows what they're doing with the proportions. Like, I got a stomach ache from eating too much in the risotto, but.
And since then, I've not asked for extra. But.
Yeah, it's just unbelievable.
[01:08:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. They know what they're doing as far as the. The proportions of the carbs to the chicken. Right. Like, especially because you're eating, like, if you're like me, and you're having the pizza beforehand and maybe the tomato soup beforehand and maybe antipasta. Before that. Right. Like, you're already full by the time your main comes.
[01:08:45] Speaker A: Anyway, I'm not sure why they insist on keeping that Gorgonzola and great pizza off the menu. Everybody orders, everyone knows now. Yeah, exactly. I digress.
[01:08:56] Speaker C: All right, well, we're going to move on to water slides because we've got three water slides across the floor.
Well, there's other water slides, but let's be honest. The only ones that adults really care about are the AquaDunk, the AquaDuck and the Aqua Mouse. The Yellow Mickey. Water slides, often.
Well, some of them adults can't go on, and some of them we can, but they're not, you know, they're not for adults. So which one is the best?
[01:09:22] Speaker A: Aqua Mouse.
[01:09:24] Speaker C: Oh, love it.
[01:09:25] Speaker A: I'm a mouse guy.
I love the variety.
The fact that it changes daily and that there is an actual story involved, and that's just, you know. You know, it is slower than the Aqua Duck.
So if you want more of a speedy thrill, that's your. That's where you go. But, yeah, I'm about the immersion and the story.
[01:09:44] Speaker C: So it is definitely. I mean, I will say, I don't think it's a. I think they mislabeled it as a, you know, water coaster at sea. Right now it's not a coaster, but it is more like a theme park ride because you have the storytelling part of it that you don't have. And you do have some storytelling in the stairwell for the Aqua Duck, but it's not. Storytelling is a part of the ride. Right. So, like, it is. Yeah. I totally understand from a Parks person why that would be the favorite. All right.
[01:10:15] Speaker A: And I always look forward to seeing how many different story elements they can incorporate while you're getting squared in the face with water.
[01:10:20] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, we'll see how that plays on the Destiny as well. Well, all right. Well, favorite ship is, of course, this is a very controversial question.
There is only a couple of right answers here.
So let's.
Which one is your favorite ship, Tom?
[01:10:41] Speaker A: I did actually, on this last cruise, I sat in the rows for a good 30 minutes and I listed all the ships.
I was on a piece of paper while I was, you know, at the bar and. And I should have brought it, but I had the whole grid of all the experiences and all the ships, and then I was checking the best on each and Anyway.
[01:11:03] Speaker C: So you have a scientific approach to this question?
[01:11:06] Speaker A: Well, interestingly enough, it pretty much lined up with what I'm about to say. But the fact that the Wish was the bottom of that list and the top and it was a tie. And if you're forced, if I must, must pick one, it's going to be the fantasy. The caveat being if I'm in warm weather, I want to be on the fantasy. If I'm in cold weather, my preference would be to be on the Wonder. The difference being Satellite Falls space.
Yeah. Because like I said, if I can spend the whole day sitting in Satellite Falls, I would. But you know, that doesn't make sense if you're in Alaska.
[01:11:42] Speaker C: So and you want the Midship Detective Agency inside because you're cooling off and you want to run around the ship, whereas in Alaska you're going to be watching the scenery outside, you're probably not going to have time to do the Midship Detective. It makes perfect sense to me. Tom, your rationale is flawless there.
[01:12:00] Speaker A: Most of that is driven by the fact that the adult space is probably 2/3 smaller on the Wish Class. So again, Disney, if you're listening, please God, on that next class of ship, fix that.
[01:12:12] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
There's no hope for doing anything different. Obviously on the Destiny or the fourth Wish class or the ol sea ship for that matter, is that's a, you know, there'll be five Wish class ships, technically, counting that that ship. We expect the adult area to be the same on, on all five of those ships. But you're right, when they develop the next class of ships, which will be the smaller, you know, bigger than the Magic and the Wonder, but smaller than Dream and Fantasy, we're hoping, yeah, we're hoping for maybe some pool deck areas that are more similar to the older ships.
[01:12:49] Speaker A: One thing really quick that I think that they could do, you know, so on the Wish class, there's the one adult pool in the back and then there's on the other side there's these two like three quarter round spaces where you sit with water hitting your back, you know what I'm talking about?
Sorry, dry dock. You seal those up and you make those both hot tubs. That would go a long way to solving a lot of the problems that I have with their space.
[01:13:14] Speaker C: But anyway, I agree, I agree that having that only that one.
Well, and having only that one hot tub on the adult pool deck, that's over by where the water slide, you know, leaks, basically.
Yeah, it's not. Agreed.
[01:13:30] Speaker A: Yeah, one hot tub for 4,000 people.
[01:13:33] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And no family friendly hot tubs on the Wish class. All right, the last question of rapid fire is always what is your Bucket list cruise, Tom. And for those listening, that means if you could go anywhere in the world, it just has to be near water.
On a Disney cruise, it doesn't even have to be someplace Disney Cruise Line currently goes.
Where would you go?
[01:13:57] Speaker A: So you know that $100,000 ABD private jet tour of all the parks, I want that. But on a boat instead of a private jet. Instead of a private jet, I want to start maybe Disneyland Paris and work my way around the world going park to park on the Fantasy.
[01:14:16] Speaker C: You've got a particular ship in mind too. I like it. I like it. Yeah, yeah, sounds good to me. I might want it on the Wonder, but I'd be there, Tom. I love that idea. Of course it would cost more than $100,000, so. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for playing, Tom. You of course passed with flying colors.
No lies detected, no bad answers.
I'll even forgive you that you didn't pick the treasure. And the Wonder is your tide top ships that you picked the Wonder, the Fantasy. Because. Because, well, I'll tell you. Yeah, Fantasy. Fantasy is. Is in my top three. So it's just not my number one or two. Well, my one and two are really, you know, sort of a toss up between the Wonder and the treasure. And I similarly was choose the Wonder for cold weather and I choose the Treasure for. For warm weather. So I, I love your rationale there, but yeah, thank you for playing and I'll pass you to Brian for.
[01:15:10] Speaker B: Well, Tom, what's next?
[01:15:12] Speaker C: Next?
[01:15:12] Speaker A: So I have four of the five, 20, 26 booked or planned. Oh, actually. So what's next? Next is November.
I'm going out to Epic Universe finally for two nights.
It's on the 10th and 11th and then the 12th we're taking the bright line down to Fort Lauderdale and hopping on a five night merry time on the dream.
[01:15:38] Speaker C: Oh, fantastic.
We are going to crisscross you in the. Yeah.
Across country. We're. Yeah, we're gonna. Because we will be on the. Out of Fort Lauderdale. We will be on the Destiny on November 10th.
[01:15:53] Speaker A: Oh.
[01:15:53] Speaker C: Oh.
[01:15:54] Speaker A: For the media.
[01:15:55] Speaker C: For a media preview. Yeah. Yeah. So we will be coming back as you're. Yeah, you'll be. Yeah, you'll be at Epic while we're at the. Yeah, but that's. Yeah. Because that's Veterans Day week.
Yeah, Fantastic.
[01:16:06] Speaker A: I'll have to have my phone with all the goodies that are coming out of that media preview.
[01:16:12] Speaker C: Yes. Yes.
[01:16:14] Speaker A: So that's November. Oh, and that'll be my first time lookout key actually. So I think that's what I'm most excited about and that it's in warm weather period. So I'll actually be able to enjoy it. And technically I think we're out of hurricane season.
And then in January I have the Destiny boost booked for January 22nd, I think and I'm eyeballing I have a bookmark on a dream sailing which the Destiny returns to Fort Lauderdale on the 26th and departing on the 26th out of Fort Lauderdale is a dream sailing.
Incidentally, I'm also an anniversary nerd. I know Disney Cruise Line is not going to celebrate this, but that's the 15th anniversary sailing of the Dream Dream when the, when the Dream launched. So I'm, I have it bookmarked. If it doesn't show up on the cast discount that I'm just going to use one of my earn my 10% on it and do a back to back or side by side. I guess that's technically a side by side. So that's January and then March. I have a back to back booked on the adventure in it's funny.
Whereas I was you know, used to be three months in because of the cancellation, my dates are now the sixth and seventh sailing of the adventure. So I did not get and it's still early. They could still push, push that out further and I certainly wouldn't mind the 50 credit if they do.
But yeah. And so we're also going to hit Hong Kong, Disneyland beforehand and that'll be check the 11th park off my list because I've done done Tokyo twice and Paris twice.
Yeah. And then the only one left is Shanghai which I'm planning on hitting in 27. So. Yeah. So I have already five, the next five booked to get me into 27. And my goal long term is to again because I love the Wonder so much now you have me questioning whether that is my favorite anyway.
I just love it's kind of like lounge. I love that space so much. But the plan is to go on the Wonder is my 25th sailing in October, you know, to kind of round out that five year situation. And I don't care how much it costs when they announce the final season of the Wonder and the Magic. Well, not the Magic as much as the Wonder, but and it's going to cost a fortune. I'm accepting that now the very last sailing on that ship before they transition it over to the new ships. But I really want to be on that last sailing. So I should start saving now.
[01:18:50] Speaker B: Grab whatever you can that's not nailed down, Tom.
Yeah, so well it sounds like you have quite the lineup of sailings ahead of you, Tom. Excited to continue to follow along on your journey from Pearl to Plank. Maybe we'll call it. And yeah, and so great to have you on this evening. Really appreciate it. Thanks for spending some time with us.
[01:19:11] Speaker A: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
[01:19:17] Speaker B: Well, thank you. Thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want to help support the show. Be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor, My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email them at DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or to you'd like 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. We sell some fun fan inspired magnets link to our Patreon. If you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to see 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
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[01:21:26] Speaker C: Sam.
