[00:00:00] Speaker A: And as soon as they started with that bamboo, I was like, nope, not having any of that. Oh my God, it hurts so bad.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: To me, it hurt in a good way because I probably needed. I don't get massages very often, so I'm sure, I'm sure my body appreciated the torture a little bit.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. And Sam, do your jingle.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: What time is it? Brian?
[00:00:37] Speaker C: You know what time it is.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: Simply the best.
Better than. Oh God, that was terrible. I gotta do that over again.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: No, we're not doing a second take. This week's five star review comes from Courtneybrook91, who writes Disney podcast at its best. Sam and Brian seem genuinely passionate about Disney Cruise Line. If you want honest and positive reviews, check them out. I appreciate the amount of weekly podcasts they produce. It makes my long commute to work work more enjoyable. So.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Oh, love that.
[00:01:07] Speaker D: There you go.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Sam, I'm sorry about my cracked voice today. I don't know what it. We're recording earlier in the morning. I feel like we usually, I mean it's not early in the morning, it's 10:00am here in Seattle, but we, we normally, I feel like record like two in the afternoon. So maybe my voice has had more time to warm up than it has today.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: So there you go.
[00:01:25] Speaker D: There you go.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: I'm glad that our passion for Disney Cruise Line comes through because otherwise we should not be putting out two shows a week about cruise line. So sometimes three.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: Brian, I think this last week, no.
[00:01:36] Speaker C: We only had one. I, I got off schedule because of work. So yeah, we're recording this for those listening out there to give you a sense of when this episode's air, when our episodes air in relation, when we're recording them. It is Saturday, October 25th. So you, you can do the math when this episode comes out. But yeah, work got the better of me. So yes, I have to release a show this weekend to get our regular episode up, but we've got a fun show to talk about right now. So Sam, why don't you introduce our guest and what we're gonna be talk. Talking about. And actually hold on before I do that, I forgot. Thank you Courtney for that review. We super appreciate it. And for all of you out there listening, remember one of the easiest ways to help support our show. Head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars, leave us a written review and we will read it on the air at the top of one of our Main weekly episodes.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Absolutely. All right, well, I'm super excited about today's show. We've got a longtime listener joining us to talk about his very first cruise ever in the world. Has ever. First, very first cruise on Disney Cruise Line. And it was an adult only experience on Disney's newest ship, the Disney Treasure. Welcome to the show, Brett.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: Hi, guys. Glad to be here.
[00:02:42] Speaker C: Although we should clarify, Sam, at the time that this airs and actually, even as we are recording, it is not Disney's newest ship any longer. The Destiny is sitting pretty right now in port.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: So yes, it's in as we're talking. The Destiny's sitting in Madeira, Portugal right now, but it has not launched for any guest.
So yes, it has launched across the Atlantic Ocean and it's got cast and families on board.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Disney took delivery. That's when it becomes part of the fleet officially.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: All right. All right. Okay. Well, newest ship available to guests as we're recording. Yes. There you go. Now, Brett, we've got to ask your Disney background. Obviously I mentioned this is your first cruise on Disney Cruise Line, but I mean, you're wearing a Haunted Mansion Roosevelt's shirt. You've got a Mickey skeleton T shirt on as well. Like clearly you're a Disney person.
But how far does this go, Brett?
[00:03:33] Speaker B: I remember one of the so growing up, one of the splurges my mother made was the Disney Channel back when it was a pay channel.
So I grew up with a lot of the old classic Disney movies kind of on in the background, like just as my first memories of like watching things on tv so go way back with that. As far as the parks go, I think my first trip there would have been sometime in my teens, so like 13, 14.
I've made a few trips down there recently as an adult and we spent a little bit of time at the parks before we got on the ship. So yeah, I'm a big fan also big Marvel and Star wars guy. So Disney has a lot of my fandom covered.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and when Disney acquired Marvel and Star wars, that must have been like the melding of different worlds that you love all into one. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: It's not a bad thing. Mostly because I love the stuff they're able to bring into the parks. I think that's some of the Marvel, obviously the Star wars stuff is amazing. And that's actually my wife's favorite area now is Galaxy's Edge stuff.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Love it. Well, let's talk about your first cruise. Why did you decide to book a cruise? I mean, had you been cruise curious before or was it just the Disney side of it? And then of course we gotta talk why you picked the Treasure and started with a seven night cruise.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: I was cruise curious a little mostly just because I always thought it sounded great to have the idea of like a hotel that moved with you.
Just the idea of being able to kind of like unpack and relax and not having to kind of constantly travel back and forth to your hotel every night and stuff like that. It's like the convenience of it sounded really cool.
And when the Treasure came out, there was just so much media, including you guys covering it and YouTube and everything else that I think I just kind of got obsessed with the ship just right off the bat. So we, we booked this cruise.
I guess it was very end of, it was either end of December or beginning of January.
So we've been, we've been talking about it for a while.
And yeah, this ship in particular just because mostly haunted mansion parlor. Huge, huge selling point. I'm a big fan of kind of like whatever's the newest, latest, best thing. I like the new Tec, I like the new, the new stuff and like the cocoa restaurant really appealed to me. Kind of the Parks centricness of the ship really appealed to me. But and seven Night was just because like we, we wanted to really make a vacation out of it and do something that was going to be relaxing and really, you know, take our time with it. So.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Yeah, well you picked, I mean you picked the right ship to do it on. Of course, you know, we always tell people like, yeah, like the Treasure is more expensive. The Wish is also more expensive. The newer ships are general more expensive than the older ships. But if you want the new stuff, right, the new tech, the new ip, all of the sort of integration of all of the immersiveness of all of that. Like then you have, you going to have to pay the premium. And that's the same on other cruise lines too. I mean, you know, Royal's charging exorbitant prices for their new ships as well.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: So yeah, I looked into like icon class ships and the price was pretty much the same as the Treasure like for a seven night cruise. So it was, there was not a big difference there at all.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm guessing you were also excited about the Worlds of Marvel restaurant on board. Being a Marvel fan.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Yeah, Worlds of Marvel. I think in a perfect world this ship would have also had a Star wars bar as well. And then it Would have had all of my bases covered. But I did get to at least go check out on an open house. The kids club, Star wars area, the cargo bay. So that was cool.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: Yes. And I have to say, I actually think that if they had an adult space that was as well themed as that Star wars cargo bay that they have in the Oceaneers Club, that would be amazing.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: My wife and I have that exact conversation.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Yeah. It's just really, what with all the creatures and stuff.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Well, yeah, it doesn't make any sense that they did the bar on the Wish to be so clean.
Because that's the whole thing is people like Star wars because it's like, slapped together, grungy.
They want it to look like the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon or something that's been piecemealed together, you know, years of wear and tear. And then they made this super clean, like, bar. And it's just not what people I think, are looking for from Star Wars. So, yeah, the cargo bay, if they did a bar in that theme, I think it would be hugely popular.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like the Star wars stuff is like. It should look like it's slapped together with duct tape if you're a Star Trek person. Like, the hyperspace lounge is like, clean lines, like, right. There's like these two different space worlds have very different vibes.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think. I think that was the problem. Part of the problem with the starcruiser thing, too, was just. It was a little too.
Just not exactly what people were looking for, I don't think.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I will say we loved it, but I'm very jealous.
[00:08:47] Speaker B: I would have loved to have loved to experienced it. It was just. I could not justify the price tag for that.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I hear you.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: We've said it before. I think it was also a massive marketing failure on Disney's part because once it got labeled Star Wars Hotel, then people had a misconception in their mind as to what the experience was. But, yeah, lots of reasons. That'll be a Harvard case study for their business school at some point, I'm sure.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, let's jump into the planning side of things. It was just you and your wife traveling to the Disney treasure.
Were there things that you were looking to book in advance? This was a Halloween on the high seas, sailing in October. Were there things that you wanted to book in advanced drink tastings, adult dining, that sort of a thing?
[00:09:30] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: So we did end up booking Enchante for dinner ahead of time. That was pretty easy to get even as a first time cruiser I was able to book, we booked two drink tastings and didn't end up canceling them both just because of so much stuff was going on on the ship. And I, I really think in my mind I thought I would be staying up later than I did because one of the drink tastings was like I'm a big bourbon fan and there was a bourbon like a premium bourbon tasting, but it was at 11pm on like it was either castaway day or the day before. It was near the end of the trip and I realized by then that I was usually in bed by like 10:30. So it was one of those things that like I just was like, I don't need to drink that much that late and spend and spend. You know, I think it was like a hundred dollars. And then my, my wife had a.
What was it that we booked? I think it was a mixology that she had booked but then she had, it happened to cross over with when she had a spa app. So we ended up canceling that one as well.
So yeah, we were able to book a handful of things ahead of time.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Nice. I have to say I actually think that's kind of a great example for people to know that I try to tell, especially for first time cruisers, but really for any cruiser, do not overbook yourself.
There's so much to do and if you like me, want to run around and do as much as you possibly can, you're going to be exhausted and so like there's only so much you can fit in in a day. And if you want to have like a relaxing vacation, signing up for like a million different things is actually counterintuitive.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Yeah. And unfortunately we're good. I think part of it's just the, our age is we're getting to that point where like kind of no matter what, we're waking up closer and closer to the sun.
So. So it's one of those things where like even if you want to stay up late, you're going to regret it. So it's like we kind of just were like, yeah, we're going up at like 6, 6:30 every day anyway, we might as well get some sleep. So.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, well, you guys don't live in Florida, so how, so how far in advance were you headed down to the Orlando or Port Canaveral area?
[00:11:45] Speaker B: So the ship took off on Saturday.
My wife's birthday was on Friday. So yeah, we, we flew down from Illinois. We've got a direct flight from here in town to what Is it, Is it Sanford, the other Orlando airport?
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Oh, the other one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: So we're able to do a direct flight to there, which is nice. And then we just took an Uber from there to art of Animation. And so we did a half day in Magic Kingdom, basically because we did the Mickey's not so Scary party ticket. So we were able to get into the park, I think at 4pm did that as a half day on Thursday.
Well, there was really like a full day. It was like four to midnight. So like we had a pretty decent amount of time in the park. And then the next day we did Hollywood Studios on her birthday, which was really cool. And I gotta say, when we did Mickey's not so Scary, we got to experience the Beacon Barrel.
[00:12:39] Speaker A: Oh, how was that?
[00:12:40] Speaker B: Which was very cool. We got very lucky because I've heard complaints from some people online that, you know, not a big fan of having to stand in certain places. And there's certain areas of the bar where you can't really see everything. We just got wildly lucky and got sat. There's one little area that I believe is usually for handicaps, that space that is a seated area at the bar and that's where we got seated.
So we had a front row seat with chairs, which was great. And if anyone's done Oga's Cantina, it's very similar. 45 minutes to drink, maximum. We did try some of the food. There's like a corn cake, like pulled. I think it's like a pulled pork corn cake thing. And then like a big chips and dip platter.
And both of those were excellent and drinks were really good. The. The Animatronic parrot and the kind of. The whole experience was a lot of fun. And the theming in there was just amazing.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: Awesome. I'm really hoping that the Beacon Barrel is. Well, I'm hoping that the cask and cannon, which is going to be on the Destiny the Pirates themed bar is going to be like the Beacon Barrel. Because I'm hearing such great things. We haven't been yet. We have since it opened. We haven't been back to any of the parks in a while. So yeah, I'm really hoping that the theming is similar that, you know, it's as sort of immersive because I think they've done a really nice job at least on the Treasure with that immersive theming in all the bar spaces. And I'm really hoping that that carries over. I mean, everything we're hearing is that that carries over on Destiny. So I'm just crossing my fingers.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: It felt like. I mean, I don't know this to be true, but it felt like a lot of the same people who probably worked on Haunted Mansion Parlor at least shared some of their knowledge or also worked on Beacon Barrel because it vibes as far as the interactivity. The cool thing about Beacon Barrel was just how into the play of the story the cast members were because they were all reacting to the parrot and taking orders. And there's a storm scene where they're all pretending like the whole bar is swaying and things like that where it's really fun, that you can tell they're having fun with it as well.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Love that. Sounds kind of like with Trader Sam's, where you've got this interactivity going on in the bar with the bartender is all the staff getting involved, and I love that. Awesome. Well, let's. Let's jump to travel down to Port Canaveral. So you guys were headed down there, I take it, Saturday morning, from Art of Animation. Did you take Disney Transportation or something else?
[00:15:17] Speaker B: We did Dr. Disney transportation there, which was really handy. Super easy.
We all waited in the lobby at Art of Animation for, I don't know, maybe 15 minutes. And then they loaded us up and I think, yeah, we had our. What was it, 6 or 7am I can't remember when you had to put your bags out that morning, but, like, yeah, it was. It was a piece of cake. And it seemed like, I don't know, maybe like an hour 10, like for the drive. It was pretty short.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and I love the convenience of having your luggage taken for you. Right. You don't have to schlep anything with you and you're going to see it once you're on the ship and once you can check into your room.
[00:15:58] Speaker B: Yeah, and it's a comfortable. I mean, it's a comfortable bus, too. Like, it's not. You're not. You don't feel like you're crammed into anything, so.
[00:16:05] Speaker A: Well, what did you think as you approach Port Canaveral? And of course, you get. You can usually see the Disney treasure on the horizon as you're kind of coming over those. Those causeways.
Any. Any thoughts or excitement building up at that point?
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it was just really impressive. You kind of. You kind of don't have a sense of scale for these things when you're just seeing them online or seeing pictures.
So seeing it in person is pretty impressive, especially when you actually get it up next to it in the port.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Well, how long was the sort of check in process and waiting process to board. Obviously you get there on the early side because you're taking Disney transportation. But was it a long wait to get on the ship or kind of short?
[00:16:50] Speaker B: No, it was super simple. We were group six and by the time we got through security they were already on group four. So I think we sat for maybe five minutes, had just enough time to get onto the ship wifi and start kind of flipping through like seeing what our dining rotation was and all that.
And by the time we kind of figured out how that worked, they were already calling our group. So it was very fast.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: I think that's also a great tip though. If you are in the port, if you have any waiting time at all, that's what you should use your time for is logging into the Navigator app, the Disney Cruise Line Navigator app. You should download that before your cruise and then once you log in to the ship's wifi, you get all of, you know the schedule of what's going on on the ship. You can favorite activities, you can see your dining rotation and anything you pre booked will also show up in the app as well. And so it makes it really easy to like start kind of prioritizing what things you want to do on the ship, at least for that day. There's a couple of things you can even like, you can even book stuff.
You can even book stuff in the app at that point. So like if you weren't able to book a drink tasting or an adult dining, like you might be able to even get those things in the app. The other you can do is there's an imagineering tour of the ship on the Wish and on the Treasure. It's called the art of the theme ship tour on the original four ships. But it's an adult only like kind of. I'll call it an artistic. But it's an artistic slash imagineering tour of the ship to kind of point out different things like the lighting, the carpeting, the theming, things like that and sort of details you might otherwise miss. And it's I think a pretty cool experience.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: Yeah, I did that, that I think my wife might have been in the rainforest room or something like that. But. But I did that tour and really enjoyed it. It was fun. Our tour guide was great and she had a lot of fun tips about it. And we got to kind of wander around like basically you kind of go around decks 3, 4 and 5 and it was great.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I love when they point out the different like artwork and tell you about it and Sort of why it was chosen for a specific spot or something like that. Right. Just a really. Yeah, I think it's a really. If you're like a.
If you're an imagineering dork, and I mean that in the best way possible. If you love those imagineering shows on Disney, that's the tour for you on any of the shifts. Yeah.
Well, let's talk about the boarding moment, right?
You're walking across the gangway, they scan your magic band, they announce your family name, and you are in the beautiful grand hall of the Disney treasure.
What was that like, Brett?
[00:19:34] Speaker B: It was great. I was really impressed with just how kind of it's got the. The treasures. Got kind of a opulence to it just because of the Agrabah theming and everything. And I, I just thought it was really beautiful and just I. I'd almost forgotten that there was going to be a. The big tree in there too, because of the.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, the Halloween tree. Yeah.
[00:19:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So got to. There's a. You know, what is it? I think Ginger is the name of the tree on the. On the ship. And so that takes up like a good.
Seems like about a quarter of the atrium in the corner. But yeah, it was really beautiful. I was really impressed. You just kind of also the scale of it. You don't really have a good feel for that.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and for Christmas time, you have a Christmas tree in the same spot that Ginger is in for Halloween time. So it's really amazing when you think about how quickly they'll transform that ship from, you know, Halloween decor to Christmas decor at the end of. The end of. Well, in early November, basically.
Yeah. Pretty amazing, but yeah. So that is a grand space. I would say. It's even on the Wish class ships. It's. It's. It's just so much. Even more. So much more remarkable than on. Not to say the other ships aren't beautiful, but it's so much bigger. It's like three times the size. And so it has this opulence that you don't experience quite so much on the other ship. So kind of a cool moment. Well, what was your game plan after boarding? Like, did you have things you wanted to sort of check off the list, like, you know, other things you wanted to book or cancel or take care of or were you like, all right, we're headed to lunch.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: So went to Tritons, because when we booked our reservation for.
For Enchante it, the system would only let me book one of us, and I wasn't sure I wanted to double check to make sure that that reservation included us both. I'm pretty sure. And it did. I just was like one of those things where I was a little paranoid that for something. Something has go.
But then while we were there, we were like, oh, we should ask about Palo brunch.
And we were able to get that as well. So. And I think part of that was because of how early we were able to get on the ship because of the Disney transportation. So it kind of. That all just worked out well. I believe. The one thing I did notice though, is that I think our dining rotation ended up changing when they changed that other or when they added the Apollo brunch. It might have triggered something because what I saw on the app when I first looked at it, when. Before we got on the ship, and then when I looked at it after that was added, the dining rotation had shifted slightly.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Oh, interesting.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Which was interesting. But it was. Which was fine. I actually really liked the way it ended up. We started and finished in 1923, which I enjoyed that. And then. Yes. Then we went and did the sit down lunch, which was in cocoa.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: Nice. Yeah, I think it's been kind of a known glitch. I don't know why Disney hasn't fixed it yet. For the adult dining through the app. If you're booking for trying to book for two people, it seems to only let you book for one person. Yeah.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: Which was tricky when I was first booking it because I was like, wait, it won't let me do two? And I was like, well, I'm just gonna give up and just do the one. Cause at least then I have something.
And it seems like that's the way to go.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Yes. So what you did is the exact advice that we've been giving people.
If it only lets you book for one, book it for one. Whether that's Paulo or Enchante or Remy. Because guess what? All of the tables in those restaurants are two tops or four top. Even some, a few six tops. So there is no such thing as a table that will only seat one person. There is not like a bar where they only have one seat. So you will be fine if you are two people that show up. But I do recommend double checking on board to make sure that that person is on the reservation. Just so that there are no surprises when you show up for your. For your reservation. Yeah. Well, what did you. What did you think of lunch in Coco? Of course it's the same lunch served across the ship. It's not themed Mexican food, but this is Your first introduction to the food on the ship, Brett.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: So, yeah, it was great. Yeah, we were sat like right in the back of the ship and the windows were open so we could. A bunch of people were coming over to check out the.
What is it? Hook and pan hanging off the back. Yeah, hanging off the back and trying to take some pictures of that. But yeah, it was. It was great. And I don't remember. I think I had a salad and something else. I maybe like an empanada or something.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that empanada is the best appet on that one.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. But, yeah, everything was great. We were. We were really excited. Just that that space is beautiful. Even. Even during the day without, you know, all the lighting and everything. It still was a really cool space.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: Love that. Well, let. Let's talk about some of the onboard activities you guys got up to. You know, you had mentioned this was a Halloween sailing. I'm. I'm curious. Did you. Did you take part in some of the Halloween activities? Did you bring a costume?
[00:24:36] Speaker B: We. We didn't do a whole lot of that, mostly because we were worried about packing so much that we were kind of like, I think my bag was maybe like £5 under the limit.
You know, my big one. And then hers might have been about the same, and we were worried about bringing too much. So we didn't end up doing any costume stuff. We did have some. Some fun Halloween stuff. I've got like a haunted mansion baseball jersey and some other stuff that we definitely, definitely were themed for Halloween at times, but definitely didn't have any, like, full costumes.
We didn't see the, like, the tree ceremony they do on that. I think it was on that first night.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yeah, usually between the dinners, we missed that.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: And that was because I forgot to mention we ended up doing Prima Note.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: Oh, fabulous.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: On the first night. We did book that ahead of time.
[00:25:26] Speaker C: Time.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: And that one was surprising. Mostly just because I didn't realize how much food they give you.
I thought it was like more of like, wine tasting and then a little bit of like, appetizer type stuff. And I was surprised by the amount of food.
And that was just fantastic on the first night. But that was entertain, entertaining to watch the.
The cast try to pour all the wine because the boat was really rocky.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: Coming out of port.
So that that evening, the. The whole ship was going. Going pretty wobbly. And I remember asking our server, like, on a scale of 1 to 10, like, what's. What's the ship at right now in your mind? And he's like, oh, it's at about a four.
But he. But he's like, that's because I've been through a hurricane before, so this is pretty. Pretty. Not too bad. And I was like, well, this is our first one, so if you're at a 4, we're probably at, like, a.
So after Prima Note, my wife ended up going to bed just because she gets motion sick pretty easily. She did have the scopolamine patch, and that helped a ton. And she never got sick or anything like that. It was definitely one of those things where she's like, I just need to go lay down. And that was the only night that that kind of happened. So I ended up going to 1923 by myself just to make sure I met the dining team and everything. And I think I only ate, like, a salad. Salad. And I think I had a. I. I think I maybe had, like, an appetizer, a salad, and a cocktail, and I think that was all I had room for after. After Prima Note.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Prima Note is. I want. I try to tell people, like, how much food it is because it's not a full meal quite. But it's not, like, just a taste either. It's, like, kind of that in between. Right. Like, for me, like, I need. I need a little bit more to be full, but I don't need a whole meal. So I think exactly what you did is, like, kind of the right thing to do. Like, go have an appetizer, maybe a salad, or just have an entree. Right. Like one or one to two dishes. Either one small dish or one, you know, one or two small dishes. Maybe one bigger dish. Right. Like, you might not finish it, but, yeah, I think that's kind of a perfect.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: My dining team was very concerned about my lack of eating, but once I told them. Once I told them I was at Prima Note before that, they understood. So, like, yeah.
[00:27:45] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:27:46] Speaker C: You know what? I went one time and didn't eat a thing. I just, like. I went to dinner for solidarity and sit with our son. And I was like. I told the waiter, I said, here's what I would have ordered tonight, but I don't want any of it. Just so you know, where my tastes trend and lean. So, yeah.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's hard.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: I did have a. One of my favorite cocktails that night, though. It was. They have, like, a bull, a boulevardier, which is like a negroni made with bourbon that comes with this big disc of, like, dark chocolate with the 1923 logo on it, and it's. It Was not only a fantastic cocktail, but I really like the chocolate with it as well.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Oh, that sounds right. At Brian's Alley. I feel like that's gotta go on the list, Brian, for our next cruise, perhaps. Yeah, chocolate and bourbon and negroni sounds about right. Well, let's talk about some of the other activities you guys got up to on board. As a bummer that you had some weather issues the first night that caused some seasickness. Were you able to, like, the rest of the trip, like, do stuff? Like, was your wife able to power through or was the.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, it was that first night seemed to be the only night that she. It was kind of that whole getting your sea legs thing. I think it was just.
[00:29:00] Speaker A: Well. And you clearly had more weather, you know, issues then.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: Yes, there were probably three nights that the.
That the. The water was a little choppy. It was probably the worst on the evening getting back to Port Canaveral. Like, the trip from Castaway back to Florida was probably the worst because I remember waking up in the middle of the night. My wife slept through it, but waking up in the middle of the night and there were moments where I thought I was going to be thrown from the bed.
It was that much movement where I was like, I feel like I need to hold on to something.
Because they were just trucking, I think, to get back on schedule.
And it was just a little choppy, I think, on the. On the, you know, the east side of everything, just because those two storms had just gone out to sea.
So it kind of left a. I think left some. Some choppy seas in their wake. But.
But, yeah, for the most part, it didn't affect our trip.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, they. I have to say, it seems like this month, I'm talking October of 2025, they've had so many storms down in the Caribbean that have affected itineraries, have affected the, you know, sea conditions. Like, I'm. It hasn't been, like, dangerous for ships or anything like that because they're usually able to obviously go around any of the, you know, like the sort of the worst parts of the storms. But it does seem like this October has been kind of unique in that way and that a lot of. In fact, there's another. The. The next sailing.
I can't remember. I think it's the sailing on the Treasure that's happening. Actually. It's leaving today.
Has its itinerary adjusted. They were supposed to go to the eastern Caribbean and they're going instead to Cozumel and then Castaway twice. So, yeah, it just seems like it's been a Stormy. Or October. I mean, this is hurricane season, so like buyer beware. Right. Like it is. If you're sailing in October, you're sailing in September, like even August. Right. Like it is hurricane season, but it's been. This October has just been more stormy, I think, than, than on average.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: So yeah, we were pretty concerned about it heading out there because of those storms and they kind of weren't sure where they were headed and all that. And we were like, we might, might have, you know, a changed itinerary and yeah, it turned. I mean, nothing, nothing ended up changing and we just felt like we got pretty lucky with it.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, let's talk about some of the spaces on board that you got to enjoy because obviously that was part of the impetus for booking the cruise was you mentioned the Honda Mansion Parlor. I'm sure you checked out the Periscope Pub, the Scat Cat Lounge, the.
Oh my God, I'm blanking. The Skipper Society. I'm sure.
And, and obviously you like a cocktail. So what did you think of the, the different spaces and were you able to try some, some of their wares?
[00:31:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I, I spent some time in all of them. We got Periscope one night we were a little hungry and got some. What was it? Got a pretzel and oh, something else to snack on. I don't even remember what it was.
[00:32:01] Speaker A: But it was the wings, the tachos, the burger.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: I wanted, I wanted to do the wings and never made it back to grab the wings because some of their hours are a little funky when they're serving food in there. So, um, so I never, never made it back. And when the couple of times when I was going to go back in there, a football game or something would be on and it was just packed. So. But I, we did get in there and try some stuff. Haunted Mansion. I also agree that like, none of the cocktails are great.
I think I tried probably like three different ones and none of them really kind of spoke to me. But I, I tend to like a lot of very like spirit forward drinks and most of their were very sweet and just not kind of like up my alley. The one that's. I forget what. The one that came in like the smoky box, I don't remember.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: That one's called Death Certificate.
[00:32:50] Speaker B: Yeah, kind of. That one's kind of margarita ish. And that one's not bad. But the rest of them I wasn't super hot on. And then the Old Fashioned at the. That came with the waffle and like the gummy eggs and bacon and all that at Skipper Society was pretty good. I did like that and got, I did did spend some time doing trivia and Skipper here and there and then we did some trivia at Tritons as well. Triton is kind of the only space that's kind of a, kind of a bummer that they didn't do more with it. Yeah but I mean it's a good multi purpose space I guess. But it's just kind of, kind of.
[00:33:26] Speaker A: It'S just not themed. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why they even call it Tritons if it's not.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: Yeah. It's kind of odd that that one's like the only one that feels like left out of, of all of them.
But yeah, Haunted mans class to just hang out in and we, we I think we went in there on three different nights. We did spend, I think we wanted to spend more time at. At is it what's the Aristocats?
Yeah, yeah, we wanted to spend more time in there because we love a good piano bar but for whatever reason you just get busy and that one, it seemed to have most of its entertainment pretty late.
So I think we only really spent time in there like one evening where we, we sat for about 45 minutes.
[00:34:09] Speaker D: 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 Mypath 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, Adventure with Disney, Relaxed at Aulani and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email
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[00:35:07] Speaker A: Well, you, you had mentioned, well was this an eastern Caribbean actually or a Western Caribbean.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: This was. This is a Western.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: Okay, so. So let, let's. Let's hit the ports and what you guys did at the ports and then we'll come back onto the ship. If you guys got off. I don't know. I don't know.
[00:35:25] Speaker B: I'll sell. I'll. I'll give you the short version. We didn't do a lot at the ports, so I got off at Cozumel, wandered around for about an hour just to see kind of the port shopping area. I bought some Cuban cigars and then got back on the ship because I had a spa appointment, I think at like one o' clock or something that day. So I did a. I did like a.
I think it's called like a bamboo massage. They basically have like a roller that they just roll your muscles out with, which was great.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: Oh, my God, it's torture. I don't know how you. But I. I don't know how you. I don't know how you laid through that thing. Brett. I tried it one time and I, I was like, nope, switch to the back to the hot. I do, I love hot stone massages.
And I. I'm fine with like a Swedish also, but like, I. Yeah, they try. I did the one that included, like, it was like Swedish stone and bamboo. So you got like a little bit of each. And as soon as they started with that bamboo, I. I was like, nope, not having any of that. Oh, my God, it hurts so bad.
[00:36:25] Speaker B: To me, it hurt in a good way because I probably needed. I don't get massages very often, so I'm sure. I'm sure my body appreciated the torture a little bit. But my wife spent quite a bit of time in the spa because she.
That's her favorite thing in the world. And good, good relaxing. She actually got the rainforest pass for the whole trip. I didn't because I don't think there would have been much that there I really cared about.
But she loved just going and trying to find space on the. Was it the tile loungers? She couldn't stop talking about how much she loved those things. So I think she tried to get at least an hour in there every day just to make sure she felt like she was getting her money's worth for that.
But, yeah, so we spent a little time in Cozumel and I was the only one who got off the ship there.
We'd been to Mexico a few times, so I didn't feel like there was anything there. I was really dying to see.
When we did, what was the Next one, Grand Cayman. So Grand Cayman we did an excursion. We did.
It was a distillery tour with a like a beach break.
So there was fun little distillery that we did a tour at and, and bought some rum that we brought home. I think it's called like 7 fathoms or something like that. Like that which is like a bourbon barrel aged rum that they do that was very tasty. And then they drop you off at Seven Mile Beach. You spend a couple hours. Yeah, spend a couple hours there. And the weather there was perfect and beautiful. And there was also a.
There was a carnival ship that was also in port like right next to us. So it was pretty busy but we're able to just. I think. I don't remember what it was. It was maybe 15 bucks or something, 20 bucks for a chair and an umbrella and then so we can just stash our stuff and we just were in the ocean basically the rest of the time we were there. And that was really nice. And then. Yeah. And then did not get off the ship. At Jamaica we spent. The nice thing about not getting off the ship at some of these ports was it meant that the ship was pretty chill.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yeah, it's completely empty.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So that's when I would go to the adult pool and like go up on the deck and spe some time up there because it was very easy to get on things like the Aquamouse and all that stuff when we were at port.
[00:38:52] Speaker A: So yeah, love that. What did you think of the Aquamouse?
[00:38:56] Speaker B: Aquamouse was really cool.
I only wrote it three times but I wrote it only.
Yeah, but I wrote it on three different days so I was able to see all three of the shows.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: Oh, awesome. I love that.
[00:39:09] Speaker B: It was a lot of fun and honestly, even when it was busy I felt like it moved pretty fast. I don't think we ever waited more than 20, 25 minutes. Minutes to get on it and yeah, it was great.
[00:39:21] Speaker A: It's always a strategy though.
Hitting those areas especially the adult pool is really crazy on a sea day.
But it's really pretty empty on a.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: Port day or in the morning too. I went there like I think I got there at like 8 or 9 one morning and there was like maybe like two or three people in it.
[00:39:41] Speaker A: And so yeah, it's really, really smart. Well for those who don't know, the Aquamouse does have three shows on the Disney Treas only has two shows on the Disney Wish. One is a sort of winter themed with a yeti. One is a sort of ocean or Underwater themed with a Kraken or giant octopus. And then one is the Curse of the Golden Egg, which is kind of, I'll call it a Donald Duck meets Indiana Jones type story, which I think is really quite fun. I think all three of them are supposed to be on the Destiny as well, but the Wish only has the first two. It doesn't have the Curse of the Golden Egg. It has the yeti and the Kraken themed ones. Love that. Well, we haven't talked about Castaway and of course that was your final port.
You made a face. So I'm wondering, did you not make it to Castaway?
[00:40:36] Speaker B: We made it to Castaway, but it was pouring down rain the entire there the entire day.
We did get off the ship with, with umbrellas in hand and ponchos and we did make it all the way to Serenity and got in the ocean for about maybe like a half an hour and kind of were like, ah, this is kind of a bummer because it was just, it was overcast and, and so right about.
They were putting the food. It was probably right about 11 o' clock where they were putting the food out. We were trying to decide if we wanted to basically eat in the rain and we decided not to. So we took the tram. We. We took the tram back and ate on the ship. But it was, yeah, that, that was probably the only, like, big bummer of the trip was, was just that Castaways kind of rained out. But I was, you know, it gives me an excuse to look forward to something on the next one we go on, so.
[00:41:34] Speaker A: Absolutely, absolutely. Well, that's a good attitude to have about it. You know, we can't control Disney can't control the weather. It's pretty much the only universe that they can't control. So, you know, we wish that they could, but, you know, some things are just not possible. Well, I got to ask about the shows because of course we haven't talked about any of the shows on board. I want to talk about Walt Disney Theater shows, but I kind of have a feeling that maybe you would have seen the Indiana Jones Choose Wisely show. I'm guessing, especially as an adult only pair and big Disney fans, I feel like that would be right up your alley, Brett.
[00:42:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I made sure to put that on our schedule. And my. It was funny because my wife was so confused about the, the way it was listed because they have the, the supper club listed first. And she's like, why are we here for this? There's nothing going on. And they were like, Handing out, you know, drinks. Just trying to get drinks served as quickly as possible. Just all over the room as people are sitting. I was like, trust me, this is kind of weirdly, kind of part of the show. But, like, it's not. But I was like it.
So. No, we really enjoyed that. Our sage and coriander were a blast, oddly. Which one's. I forget. The male or the female is sage. Which one?
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Sage is the.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: The girl.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:42:53] Speaker B: Sage the girl and the coriander. The guy.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: No, I think.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: I can't remember. Other way.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: Oh, my. I think sage is the guy in the coriander.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: Coriander's the girl.
[00:42:59] Speaker A: I think.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Weirdly. Weirdly, when they did the. The. That they do the show on the last night, that's kind of like the closing of the, you know, of the adventure.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: Treasure found.
[00:43:11] Speaker B: Treasure found. There was no. There was no coriander, just sage when they did that. So I thought that was a little odd. But they were both there for the. Obviously for the Indiana Jones show, and that was a blast and a lot of fun. I think we did the. I think they had two showings of it. One night of the ship. On the ship. And they. We did the earlier one, if I remember right.
But yeah, loved that. It was great.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: Well, and if you want to see Indiana Jones, choose wisely on the Disney treasure, you should be going to Sarabi Supper Club. Yes. Brett is right. Nothing. Well, Brett's wife is right, I should say. Nothing's actually happening. It. It doesn't. It says, like, it'll start at like, 7:00pm Right. And. And then that Indiana Jones starts at 7:30. But really, like, nothing happens until, I don't know, 7:25. So you're just kind of sitting there and the. The bar staff is coming around, taking drink orders.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: It's unfortunate they don't use that time to just let the singer sing more because she's. She was great.
[00:44:11] Speaker A: Fabulous. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's always a fabulous singer who does. And so she does, like, two songs before the Indiana Jones show actually starts. But it's. Yeah, it's kind of the. I think it's just the way to get people there and get them seated and get them, you know, with drinks in their hand before the show starts.
[00:44:29] Speaker C: That is a really good point, though. Like, I don't understand why they don't have the singer out, you know, five minutes after it's supposed to start. Just bring her out and let her start singing some songs and getting the crowd warmed up. Like, she's Just.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: You can still do Waitstaff. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: It seems a wasted opportunity, right?
[00:44:44] Speaker C: It'd be like, I don't know, a supper club.
[00:44:49] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly.
[00:44:50] Speaker A: What about the main stage shows in the Walt Disney Theater? Did you guys go to those?
[00:44:56] Speaker B: Yeah, so we went to all of the main stage shows. So it was. What was it? Seize the Adventure was great. That was on night two, if I remember right, and was really fun and short and kind of a nice introduction to the crew.
We also were in there one other night because of. They had a Broadway star series, I think they call it.
So we had two amazing singers that did a bunch of Disney numbers in there one evening.
[00:45:27] Speaker A: I'm so jealous. Those are the best when they bring. They don't have them on for every cruise. That's kind of a unique thing that happens on just kind of random cruises.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: Let me see if I can find their name. Yeah, I've got them right here. It was. Was Lisa De Guzman and Nasia Thomas and they were incredible. It might be Liza or Lisa, but she was one of the Jasmines on. On in Aladdin. And she was also an Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway. And then Nasia was in six and in the last five years. So like, incredibly talented. They also did another one in the.
In Sarabi. They did like an adults only one in Sarabi that my wife got to go to. So, yeah, it was really cool that they were just on the ship and willing to perform.
But yeah, saw Beauty and the Beast twice.
[00:46:21] Speaker A: You saw it twice?
[00:46:22] Speaker B: Yeah, because my wife was upset, which is funny because my wife I didn't think was the biggest Beauty and the Beast fan going into this, but she. We saw it once. We were like kind of like about 5th row center ish when we saw it because they did it three times that day.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Oh, they did a matinee and then the early and the late. I love that.
[00:46:40] Speaker B: So we saw the matinee and she was like, I want to see it again. And I was like, really? She's like, yeah, I want to see it again, but from further back because she's. She. So long story short, we're both do a lot of community theater, so we're very involved in our local community theater. I direct a lot of stuff and she choreographs a lot of stuff. So the dance stuff, she's just.
Just analyzes and.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. When you want to get a sort of a more macro view versus being up close.
[00:47:10] Speaker B: Yeah, so we watched that. We watched it from the balcony the second time. So we could see. And we. And it's funny because when you're up close, you don't realize how much projection mapping they're doing kind of like all over the theater, too. So actually, I think I enjoyed it more from the balcony. Just be. Just because of. It felt a little more immersive, and there's just, like, more tech you can kind of appreciate. That was the first time we realized how the technical work, because they had an issue where the second time we watched Beauty and the Beast, the rose didn't appear out of the. Out of the floor.
So she was about to go discover the rose for the first time, and there was nothing there.
So she had to. They just, you know, they break the show, and there was maybe like a 5, 10 minute break. It wasn't too crazy when we saw Moana at the matinee the next day, it was really crazy because that was the castaway day that was kind of rained out, so.
[00:48:07] Speaker A: So matinee was packed.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: It was very busy. And on top of that, they had two technical breaks.
The first one was a half an hour long because I'm pretty sure the boat broke.
So there was a moment when the two guys are, like, pushing it out for her. Big, like, I am Moana moment.
And it just didn't move.
And they just shut down the show, pulled the curtain, and the. And the cruise director came out and kind of talked us through what was going on and said, like, hopefully, you don't see me again. And we just start back up. And then about 15, 20 minutes later, he came out again, and he was like, hey, it's not looking great. Like, they're working. They're working their hardest back there. And then he came out again. About 10 minutes after that, they did restart the show. And then I felt even worse for them because right before the ending, when they bring out the big puppet, there's like, a couple of rocks that lift up out of the stage, and one of them didn't fully lift, and they had to stop the show for about another 15 minutes. And it. So it was a little disjointed. Yeah, yeah. And it was, you know, it's a show that's a little over an hour that basically we were in there for about an hour 45.
And it was. It was bad enough that they ended up delaying the second and third performance for the day, just, I think, to give the performers enough time, enough break time in between them.
So, yeah, I was kind of bummed about that. We thought about going to that one again, but after spending about almost two hours in the theater. We were like, it's good. We're good. But they were both. It was all spectacular. They did an amazing job. And I can't get over some of the tech.
We actually, funny enough, when we got on the ship, a person we work with a lot, who's an accompanist, who's done some of our auditions and stuff like that, she also works at the local Universe, one of the local universities at Illinois Wesleyan.
And she's like, hey, two of my kids are on that boat. Like, two of my. Two of my recent graduates are on that ship.
[00:50:12] Speaker A: And they're performers.
[00:50:13] Speaker B: So one of them is. And just happenstance, she gave us their names. And when we were doing the Mustard Drill, the guy who had the tablet and was checking us all in was one of the kits.
So we grabbed him afterwards, and we're like, hey, do you know so and so? And he was like, oh, my God, yes.
And she's like, oh, she wanted us to give you a big hug. And like, we kind of chatted with him. Turns out He's LeFou.
[00:50:42] Speaker A: Oh, that's amazing.
[00:50:43] Speaker B: In Beauty and the Beast. He's also in the ensemble for the other shows. So, like, it was super great to talk to him. And then the other one we ended, he was on the entertainment staff as well, and he was ushering one time when we were coming into the theater. So we got to chat with him as well. So it was really cool. They were both very surpr to hear that we were from. From Bloomington Normal, so.
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Oh, that's so fun. I love those connections, right? Like, just so weird. Random connections that can happen. Well, that sounds like a fabulous cruise. We didn't ask you about Enchante and food overall, so I got to just kind of jump in there and ask you, you know, obviously you. You. Well, and Paolo Brunch, you booked as well. Like, obviously you. You listen to our show. So you must be an adventurous eater if you decided to. To book Enchante and not just book like Apollo Dinner. What did you guys think of that experience?
[00:51:37] Speaker B: Enchante was amazing. And I do want to shout out a couple things because. So I.
About halfway through Enchante, I started not feeling great.
I'm not sure if it could have been a combination of a lot of things, but I got about halfway through that meal and just kind of lost my appetite.
And I felt really bad about it, but I wasn't going to say anything. I was just going to say, going to let my wife enjoy the rest of the meal and just kind of picket a few things and just be done with it. But my wife was a little concerned, and obviously the wait staff is very attentive, so they. They instantly knew something was off.
[00:52:15] Speaker A: Yeah, they noticed. If you have. If you've been eating all the other courses, then all of a sudden you stop eating. They're like, either you don't like it or there's something wrong. Right.
[00:52:22] Speaker B: So I. I was shocked by how accommodating they were because they insisted that we come back the following night to finish the meal.
[00:52:32] Speaker A: Oh, my God.
[00:52:33] Speaker B: So they. They were like, you can just stop right here and we will. We will pick up exactly where you left off and we'll continue. It was like the lobster course, which is like, basically right in the middle of it, and they're like, we will do. We will do this course again tomorrow and you can continue from there. And I would. I was. I. I was like, you guys don't have to do that. I was. I was very insistent. Like, no, I. I mean, we'll pay for everything. My wife will enjoy it. Like, it's fine. But they insisted, and it was very sweet of them, and they were. And in talking to them about that, we found out that our server was not going to be there the following night because he was leaving for the Destiny. So he was very apologetic. He's like, I'd love to be your server again tomorrow, but I can't. I'm actually leaving tomorrow to go to the Destiny to do Enchante there and. But there's.
[00:53:23] Speaker A: They.
[00:53:23] Speaker B: They started up right where we left off, and it was amazing. They brought out an extra dessert at the end on the second night because the. Because they knew it was our. We were celebrating an anniversary and my wife's birthday basically on the ship.
So. So, yeah, it was. It was crazy. I was very surprised by that as well as when I asked them about the tomato water, which I was. Which is. It's kind of mind blowing.
[00:53:53] Speaker A: Mind blowing. Right? It's literally like the most amazing thing you've ever had.
[00:53:57] Speaker B: They gave. They gave me the recipe.
[00:54:02] Speaker A: Right. You have to share this with us.
[00:54:04] Speaker B: I can't. Well, no, what's crazy is they must be getting this request a lot because it was. It was printed.
It was like a very nice card printed with the recipe. And they kind of walked me through how to do it. They also told me that in the back, when they have extra, they'll. They'll do Bloody Marys with them. Yeah.
[00:54:23] Speaker A: So.
[00:54:24] Speaker B: But I will definitely share with you the recipe, because I haven't tried it yet, but I'm dying to try it to try to make some. But, yeah, overall, I thought the food was great. I think Marvel was probably my least favorite. Just in general, I think Coco was my favorite. 1923, probably somewhere in the middle. But, like, none of it was bad.
It was all very. And then I. I mean, I have a hard time complaining about anywhere where you can just ask for another plate of something different and they will be happy to give you it. It's like if you didn't like that, you can have this.
[00:54:58] Speaker A: You can switch.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: Probably like that.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I think that's absolutely true. What did you think about the show elements in dinner? Being a theater person and your wife being a choreographer. Right.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: I mean, Coco was great because it's like you've got like the trio of musicians and then you've kind of like the characters that come in and out. They're all so talented, especially that trio, like, with their. You think they're coming out and they're just musicians, but they all have incredible singing voices as well. I. Coco. I mean, that's what I think what makes that place so, so special is because of the performance. That's part of it, too. It makes everything just better. And it's also just because it's one big open space, which is so much different than the other restaurants, which feel much more. More like kind of corridored off.
But yeah, it was awesome. I can't wait to see what they do with. With Lion King on the Destiny. And I'm. I'm. I know it's similar.
I'm sure it's similar vibes with Frozen on. On the Wish, but which I'm sure will go on eventually because my. My wife's a big princess fan, so.
[00:56:05] Speaker A: Oh, well, then you have to go on that ship. Is.
[00:56:08] Speaker B: Is probably on the list at some point.
[00:56:10] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I think they do a great job with all the. With all the show elements as well. And, you know, as long as you don't mind that it's quite loud, it's not really a restaurant that you're going to talk in.
Well, you also got to go to Palo Brunch. You were able to book that. And there's a perfect example. First time Cruiser, you weren't able to book Palo Brunch ahead of time, but on board, you went right to Triton's and of course you checked the app to know where to go, but you were able to make that reservation. What did you think of Palo Brunch.
[00:56:40] Speaker B: It was great. Once again, I think the staff wanted us to eat more than we did because it seemed like they were very confused by why we. We didn't order everything on the menu. And I was like, we can't eat all that food. There's just two of us.
But, no, it was great. We made sure to get the grape and gorgonzola pizza. I got the chicken parm.
My wife got.
Was it a mushroom ravioli that. I think that's on the.
Yeah. And they were all. I mean, it was all excellent. I think we had. I had a Bloody Mary Mary. I think she had one of the, Like, a Bellini. And we, you know, we're sitting right by the window, and it was a beautiful day that day. So, like, yeah, it was. It was excellent. I can't complain at all. And I. I'd love to try dinner there sometime, just because I know it's like the steakhouse vibes of it all. But, yeah, it was. It was great. And it's an incredible value for the money, especially if you do have the stomach to eat a lot, just because you can eat a lot with everything. They were trying to get us to order, but I was like, no, I don't want to waste that much food.
[00:57:56] Speaker A: Yeah, you got to go in with an empty stomach for sure. For Palo brunch, really, for any of the adult dining, I'd say go in with a completely empty stomach.
I think people don't realize even with a fine dining restaurant like Remy or Enchante. Yes. Each course is small, but there's so many courses, and the food is quite rich, and so it really. You get full pretty quickly, so.
[00:58:20] Speaker C: Well, Brett, is there anything that we have not talked about that you wanted to be sure to highlight out of this sailing?
[00:58:26] Speaker B: I'm trying to think of other things that I did on the ship. I got a haircut that was nice.
[00:58:30] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:58:32] Speaker B: It was pretty quick and easy.
[00:58:35] Speaker C: Were you happy with it?
[00:58:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm always scared.
[00:58:38] Speaker C: I'm always scared to have, like, a random person cut my hair. But, yeah.
[00:58:41] Speaker B: Yeah, my hair is pretty easy. So, like, I wasn't too worried.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: Oh, did you hit up hooks for an Old Fashioned? I feel like you.
[00:58:48] Speaker B: I. I didn't manage to.
[00:58:50] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:58:52] Speaker B: Every time I went by there, there was, like, a tasting going on, I swear. So, like, I didn't want to interrupt that and, you know, bug them for an Old Fashioned. I think my timing was just a little off every time, and I. A couple of times I just forgot about It. So, like, I think if I would have made a better point of it. But that's like you guys are saying there's so much to do on the ship that you kind of just like lose track of certain things. And that was one I definitely lost track of, was because I meant to do that.
[00:59:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's why you have to prioritize things right there. You got to have like your. Your couple of priorities that you want to do on a particular day. Do those things and everything else is just gravy. Right. Like, if you get to do other stuff, fantastic. We get to do 12 trivias that day. Fantastic. If you don't, that's okay. Right?
[00:59:37] Speaker B: I mean, you're not going to be bored. There's definitely always something to do.
[00:59:41] Speaker C: Sam, any more questions from you?
[00:59:42] Speaker A: I'm ready for that rapid fire round, Brian.
[00:59:45] Speaker C: All right, well then, Brett, we have reached that time in our show where is going to ask you some arbitrary questions, apply some arbitrary rules, and probably more than a dash of judgment or the round we know as a rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away.
[00:59:57] Speaker A: All right, Brett, you knew this was coming. We're going to talk some Disney favorites and some Disney cruise line favorites. I'm not going to ask you your favorite ship because of course your favorite ship is the Disney treasure because it's the only ship you've been on. And I only let people choose from things they actually experienced themselves. But we're going to start with general Disney questions. Your favorite Disney character and Disney. Disney means everything that Disney owns. So you can pick from Star wars, you can pick from Marvel, you can pick from the Simpsons, or like, you can pick from any. Pretty much every IP in the. In the world.
[01:00:28] Speaker B: I mean, if I have to pick one, it would be probably like R2D2. Yeah, I love that he's my favorite. But I mean, of the Disney stuff, I think I was always. I mean, I love Mickey, obviously, but I always loved Winnie the Pooh when.
[01:00:41] Speaker A: I was a kid. Oh, I love Winnie the Pooh too. Oh, bother. All right, what is your favorite Disney Disney movie? And same rules apply.
[01:00:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, if you gotta go like, of all of them, it's probably Empire Strikes Back, but that's probably the easy Star wars nerd response that is every Star Wars.
[01:01:00] Speaker A: Every Star wars kid's answer. Right.
[01:01:02] Speaker B: When I was a kid, though, I was obsessed with Flight of the Navigator. Oh.
[01:01:07] Speaker A: Oh, my God. That was a great.
[01:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I could not watch that movie enough when I was a kid.
[01:01:11] Speaker A: Yeah. What a great adventure movie. All right, favorite Disney song.
[01:01:16] Speaker B: Oh, that one's really tricky. Oh, gosh. It's probably the Haunted Mansion song, Just Grim Grinning Oats. Yeah, that one puts a smile on my face whenever I hear it, so.
[01:01:27] Speaker A: Love it. All right, favorite show of the three that you saw and three main stage shows you saw on the Disney Treasure.
[01:01:36] Speaker B: I honestly think it's probably Beauty and the Beast. Yeah.
[01:01:39] Speaker A: Well, especially with technical difficulties that you had on Moana would be. It's disjointed. Even if it. I mean, if it's. If it. If there's no technical difficulties, you give a better sort of comparison. But it's really hard when it's that disjointed.
[01:01:51] Speaker B: I will say, as someone who's been in a production of Beauty and the Beast and then did lighting for another production of Beauty and the Beast, that I do prefer some of the songs in this, like, the OG Stage version better than the ones they changed for the movie and then put in this one because I think it's. They got rid of.
What did they get rid of? Home. I can't remember. But, like, this one, I'm not a big fan of the in the sun song they sing and this one, but the product, like, the staging of, it's beautiful.
Just what they're able to accomplish on that stage is really impressive, and I've always had a soft spot for the show. Show.
[01:02:31] Speaker A: So, yeah, love that. All right, favorite bar space on board the Disney Treasure.
[01:02:37] Speaker B: Oh, that's easy. That's Haunted Mansion Parlor.
[01:02:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Even though the drinks are not as.
[01:02:40] Speaker B: Even though the drinks aren't great, you can always just bring a drink in from another bar.
[01:02:44] Speaker A: You got to go to Scat Cat to get a great cocktail and bring it into Haunted Mansion. Or for Skipper Society. Actually, Skipper Society is the most convenient because it's literally right.
[01:02:53] Speaker B: Right there. Yeah. But. Yeah, but that space, I mean, I could. I could just sit in there, honestly, all night.
[01:02:58] Speaker A: So, yeah, love that. All right, favorite onboard activity.
[01:03:03] Speaker B: I don't. You know, my wife would probably say, other than the spa, she would probably say just sitting on. In the. On the pool deck, watching Funnel Vision. She was just, like. Just loved that. She's like, this is the best.
Which was really cool. I honestly really enjoyed that as well. I really liked the adult pool when it wasn't overcrowded and just kind of looking off the back of the ship. But, you know, just the trivia was a lot of fun, too. I. I have a hard time picking just one.
[01:03:37] Speaker A: Okay, favorite rotational dining. I think you answered this. But let me clarify. Is it cocoa?
[01:03:43] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. Yeah. That was a blast.
[01:03:46] Speaker A: All right, I got to ask a couple food questions. A favorite sweet item and a favorite savory item. We start with the sweets, because I love the. The savories.
[01:03:54] Speaker B: Yeah, the sweets. So I'm not a big soft serve fan, but I do love gelato. So we. We did. We did get a couple of gelatos in the sweet shop, which. And that was probably my favorite because that's just the right amount where it's not.
[01:04:12] Speaker A: Not overwhelming sweetness. Yeah, exactly. Palo has some great gelato as well with their. Depending upon what dessert you order, sometimes it comes with, like, a scoop of gelato or pro tip, you can just ask for gelato and not get the rest of the other desserts. So that's. I highly recommend if you're a gelato fan. All right. A favorite savory item.
[01:04:33] Speaker B: Probably that entire tomato course at. At Anchante, that was. I was blown away by Blown away by that. And I. I mean, I love tomatoes, but, man, that. That was so cool.
[01:04:44] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, I've got to ask the question of Enchante versus Paulo. You got to experience both, and you got to experience the best meal at each of them. Right. Brunch. I think meal at Paulo, and I think dinner is the best meal at Enchante.
[01:04:58] Speaker B: So if you're going for, like, bang for your buck, you got to go for Paulo. But if you're going for just, like, pure food experience, it's Enchante. It's just very expensive.
So it's like, I don't know if we'll ever do Enchante again.
Maybe I could see it down the line if we went with another couple or just wanted to experience it with someone else. But, like, because of the expense of that, I feel like that was more of a, like, a one and done kind of thing. So I'd probably say Anchant overall.
[01:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah, we. I would say we do, like, we don't do Enchante or Remy every cruise. It's kind of one every. I don't know, four or five cruises. Right. Like, and it's usually for, like, a special occasion because it is a bigger price tag and it's a real rich meal. And so it's not necessarily the meal you want to have, like, every day. Whereas, like, Paulo, I could. I could eat Paulo every week. Really.
All right, I already asked your favorite ship, which is the Treasure. So my last question is your bucket list cruise, Brett, meaning if you could go anywhere in the world and was going to be on a Disney Cruise Line ship. And it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney Cruise Line currently sails. It just has to be close to water.
Where would you go?
[01:06:03] Speaker B: I would probably want to do something with the, like, the Asian Disney parks and kind of like bounce around to a few of those. And specifically in Japan. And I know there's a boat coming to Japan, so that's also super tempting in the future. I'm assuming they'll make that easy to hit the Japanese parks, but that's definitely a bucket list. Trip in the future is hitting the Disney Japanese parks.
[01:06:27] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. All right, well, I mean, a plus plus, Brett. I mean, you got all the questions, right?
I got to give you no judgment. So, yeah, thanks for playing, Brian. I know you have some questions.
[01:06:40] Speaker C: What's next? I have one question. The most important question. What's next?
[01:06:43] Speaker B: We don't know yet, but we did book a placeholder, which was a little stressful because we wanted to put it on a different card. I had to go to guest services and they were like, oh, you'll get an email about this and then you'll have to call in with the card and all that. And I didn't get that email for, like, days. So I was all worried like, oh, am I not going to get the placeholder? But I did end up getting it. But yeah, we're talking, you know, definitely a different itinerary.
We'd love to do Alaska in the future.
Would love eventually to do something thing in Europe.
So yeah, but we'll definitely be on. On the cruise line again sometime in the next couple years, so.
[01:07:21] Speaker C: Well, Brad, sounds like you had a fabulous time on this cruise.
Lots of great stuff. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to share it all with our listeners. And so just, you know, want to say thank you for doing that. Taking.
[01:07:34] Speaker B: Thank you guys for having me. This has been a blast.
[01:07:41] Speaker D: 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 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 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. 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, newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here at least, and 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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[01:09:49] Speaker A: Sam.
