[00:00:00] Speaker A: Escorted departure. Does that mean kicked off of Castaway?
Welcome back everybody to this week's live episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and also our good friends over at the DCL Magazine. If you have not already, head over to DCL dcl-magazine.com to stay up to date on all the latest news about the new and forthcoming edition of the DCL magazine. They did their float test, of course, this past year and according to Stephanie, she was on the show, it went pretty well. And so we are anticipating an actual DCL magazine at some point here soon. So if you want to subscribe to that magazine, head over to dcl-magazine.com today. And while you're there, use code DCLDUO. That's all caps DCL DUO to get 10% off everything in the WDW magazine store, including magazine subscriptions. They have a digital subscription. They have a multi magazine digital subscription now.
Calendars, all the great stuff.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: They have a great calendar. I have to give a plug for the calendar. They sent me a calendar. I've got it hang up on my wall.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: I fell asleep on the job and didn't order the calendar so they sent us a calendar.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: They sent me it.
It's not a DCL one, it's a WDW one. But it's awesome. I love it.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Yes, but, but who knows, maybe, maybe an actual DCL calendar in our future. We are hoping to hear more soon. So again, thank you to WDW magazine, DCL magazine. The whole magazine family over there with the whole crew is just fabulous. Loved meeting them on board the Destiny. So head over there, check them out, show them some love and help support the show.
Sam, why don't we bring our guest in because if there's anyone who can have an opinion on DCL news besides us, I think Amy is absolutely one of those people. So I'm going to go ahead and invite Amy into our conversation. Welcome, Amy.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: Hi everyone. Good to see you.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: We're so happy to have you back, Amy. For those who didn't watch the previous episode with Amy, we did a great episode and it was all about the etiquette on board Disney Cruise Line. And it actually is, I think, a great first timer episode as well as a great episode for those who just want to commiserate about all of the crazy and annoying things that our fellow passengers maybe do and maybe shouldn't do with our recommendations and Amy's recommendations of what is the right way to do things or what is the kind Way to do things.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: I loved the reaction to it, the video over on YouTube, because there are definitely some thumbs down. And I was like, okay, so you're the people who are using the towels to reserve spots for the show. So, like, let's just be clear on who you are out there. Thumbs downing that video. So.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: But anyway, we did a great episode with Amy. She's also a former Plan Disney panelist. So for those who don't know, it used to be called the Disney Mom's panel, and it was basically, and it still is, questions and answers. Right. So anyone can ask a question on their website, and then a Plan Disney panelist will answer questions. And some of the plandisney panelists specialize in Walt Disney World, Some specialize in Disneyland, and some specialize in Disney Cruise Line. And a few years ago, Amy had the, I mean, distinct honor because it's super competitive, actually process to get chosen to be a plandisney member panelist.
And so distinct honor of being one of those fabulous panelists. So we're super happy to have her. So let's talk about some news.
I got it. I want to bring up the first piece of news. And I'm wearing this shirt in honor of it, which is. This is a Duffy shirt. For those watching. The Disney Adventure is in Port Canaveral.
She got to Port Canaveral last week, but she's been kind of in and out of Port Canaveral over the last few days.
And she's large and in charge. That's what we'll say.
We have. She. She just sailed in. Our friends Tracy and Michael were out at Fish Lips tonight for dinner. They went down from Orlando. They've been visiting Orlando for a couple of months. And they are. They went down to Port Canaveral to eat at Fish Lips and watch her sail in this evening. So we got a great reel up on Instagram. We'll have some more pictures up soon. But we've got several pictures and reels from various listeners who've been down to Port Canaveral recently to see her.
I will say, in our quest to.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Become the number one Disney Adventure podcast in the United States, since we won't get to sail her sails for quite a while.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Yeah. But we are. We are looking for guests who have. Who are going on those early sailings. I have a couple that I've been chatting with. So we do know some folks who will be on those early sailings.
I know Luciana from Amo Cruise Disney. We know that Benji from Laughing Place will be on the Maiden as well. So we're going to try and figure out who we can schedule for some live shows in kind of late March. Because those sailings start mid March, so the earliest we probably can get coverage is late March. We have heard they're not doing any preview, like media previews. I did just hear the other day.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Not for US media.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Well, yes, we're not sure what they're doing over in Singapore, but we know they're not doing any US based previews for media or for travel agents. I did hear that there is going to be like a four night sailing out of Port Canaveral in a couple. I think it's actually on like leaves on Wednesday when according to the port schedule, she leaves on Wednesday, January 21st for like four days and then comes back on the 25th. I have heard that that's going to be like a preview sailing or shakeout sailing.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: But only for the mucket.
[00:06:00] Speaker B: Yeah, like so for really high up people. We're also hearing that she's still quite behind schedule in a lot of ways, but that they're not going to delay the Maiden. So just a warning for those who are sailing in those early sailings.
This could be like worse than the Wish in the sense that the ship may be less ready than the Wish was. And I wouldn't be surprised if there's some experiences that are just not available on those early sailings. So not saying to people not to sail her, I'm just warning you, like, if you're sailing her, just be kind to the crew. I just feel like they're going to deal with the brunt of people being mad that certain things aren't going to be up and running perhaps. I've also heard that the theater is kind of small considering the number of passengers. And so I'm not sure how they're going to deal with that if people are only going to get to see one show or if they're going to do some kind of virtual queuing system ticketing, something like that. Because I'm a little bit worried for the live stage shows now. Those are Seize the Adventure in Moana. So many of us have seen those two in the States on the Wish class ships, on the Treasure and obviously for Moana and of course on the Wish. Treasure and Destiny foresees the adventure. But there is a new show that's called Remember and that is a Wally and Eva themed show. So that is the one that I think is going to have a ton of demand.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: I'm going to going to continue to call this ship Chapex Folly. I can only hope that they make like him the godparent of the ship so that, you know, he can have continued direct connection with. With.
I'll just say, from what we're seeing, this, this does not look great yet.
I'm hopeful that.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: I think she's gonna be great.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: I think she's gonna be great. She holds a lot of promise, has a lot of potential.
But, you know, much like, you know, folks found Lookout Key to be a little lacking when it first open.
Little nervous about this boat and I'm especially nervous given it's a new market for Disney Cruise Line. It does not help if you're on your back foot in a new market. It. You really want everything to be up and running and ready so people go home and talk about it. And if what they're talking about is, well, I really wanted to do this thing, but I couldn't because it wasn't ready, that's not great. So we shall see. We shall see.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Amy, are you planning on getting over to Singapore at any point to sail on the adventure or is that just going to be some.
[00:08:28] Speaker C: I will happily listen and read all about it, but no, it's too far. Probably too cost prohibitive. No, it's not even in my realm of possibility. Truly.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: That may be the smart.
[00:08:38] Speaker C: I love seeing them expand. Right. I mean, that's the exciting part.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: That may be a happy accident to not be able to make it over there when she's first out. But we are looking forward to hearing earlier reviews of the ship. I'm hoping to be fully, pleasantly surprised and all of my myths dispelled and hear that it went off without a hitch.
But.
Yeah.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Or that everything that was ready was so fabulous that it didn't matter that some stuff wasn't ready that could also like, I'm like, honestly, that's what I'm at this point, that's kind of what I'm really hoping for.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: I'm just stealing. I'm just stealing it.
I don't know about this one just yet. So we shall. We shall see. She's got a lot of time. She's still got quite a bit of time. Yeah, she's still got quite a bit.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Of time going through the Panama Canal, going across Pacific Ocean.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's move on to our second quick news topic. This one's a really quick hit for me. It's being reported that they have raised Internet prices on. On board. Not. I mean, oh, my gosh, I'm shocked. That they're raising prices.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So the new Internet packages. So as you may recall, if you've not sailed recently, Disney consolidated down to basically two packages.
One is a basic standard Internet package. It was going for $26 a day. It's now at $30 a day. So a $4 increase.
Then they had the Internet and streaming package which was really meant to be able to support. You could stream YouTube videos, long form movies and TV shows, music, take your zoom calls, all of that sort of stuff. That package was sitting at $42 a day. It has gone up a whopping $7 to $49 a day per device.
You know, so just know these are per device packages.
They're per day. You do get, as I recall, you do get some modest discount if you buy it. Length of cruise as opposed to by day.
But those are so varied, it's hard to know what the discount is because it's dependent upon like how long the cruise is. The pro tip here, by the way, is if you need multiple devices.
Yeah, just, just log out of one to log in the other or log into the other one and it will boot the old one off.
You also get a bit of a discount if you're buying more devices. So one strategy we use to get our, you know, three phones collectively on the Internet is we buy one package across three devices because that costs less than buying three individual device packages by person. And we all just use the same login. That can create a bit of a roulette game. If someone needs to log in another device, it logs out the last logged in device. So we have to play this game of whose device got logged out and log it back in. So anyway, prices are increasing. I'm not shocked. Although it's kind of annoying to be on a cruise this expensive and be paying essentially 50 bucks a day for the highest end Internet package. A lot of people need that if they're going to stay up with work and other things while they're on board. So, Sam, last, last big news item. It's actually a big news. I actually want to ask Amy, do you guys get the Internet package when you're on board or you unplug people?
[00:11:35] Speaker C: That's a loaded question. Nope. I swear by not buying the Internet, actually totally respect that people have to or need to, you know, whether to keep in touch with family or work. Totally get. But one of the reasons I love cruising is because I can purposefully not connect. You know, the emails don't come in, I don't get pinged that sort of thing. So, no, we purposefully avoid it.
So I'm saving my 50 bucks.
[00:11:59] Speaker A: That's why my mom started cruising. She wanted to drag my dad into a place where he could not use his cell phone for work. And so, you know, he definitely sidestepped that by buying a satellite phone. So I will never forget the image of him on a Panama Canal cruise out on the veranda, trying to get line of sight to a satellite to make work phone calls. But I do kind of miss the days of having to go to the Compute tab to your Gmail account or whatever it was, you know, and you get like two minutes and then you're like, okay, you know, I don't want to burn through my minutes.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: But yeah, yeah. Now we do have a couple comments I wanted to call out. So Ed is saying price increase will be worth it if they improve the speeds drastically. I don't believe they're increasing the speeds. This was out. They already have put Starlink on the ships, and so this is probably as fast as it's going to get. Unless Starlink updates something, this is going to be as fast as it gets. This is not. This is just an increase in price. This is not an increase in speeds or availability of Internet. So sorry about that.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: I mean, obviously I found the speed to be. I mean, I've taken like two years.
I mean, the only struggle I have.
[00:13:03] Speaker B: Is if you're on the highest plan nowadays you really can do. I mean, there are places where Internet is spotty, but that's not DCL's issue. It's just whether or not you got a good sight line.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: The only struggle I've ever had on the ships is trying to, like, do a podcast or upload a. But even, like social media videos and stuff upload pretty quickly. So, you know, I've got a really super edge case here. I think most people are getting what they. What they need out of it. And the speeds do vary depending on, like, where you are in the world, because they need. That's. That's why they switched to Starlink, I think, because they were getting more solid connections. But, you know, up in Norway, you know, you're far enough north, you may not be getting the best connection. So, Sam, last news item. A little bomb dropped from the Disney Vacation Club last week.
Yes.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Okay, so Disney Vacation Club decided to mess with our 2027 spring break plans because we have. So we are actually booked on the Treasure Eastern Caribbean, of course, because that seems to be all we book. But it's also what keeps aligning with our son's spring break. So we're booked for 2026 and 2027, both seven nights on the Treasure Eastern Caribbean sailings.
2026 is going to go off without a hitch. We have, you know, no changes there. But Disney Vacation Club just announced their DVC member cruise. It leaves Wednesday, April 7th out of San Diego. It's got a really great itinerary. It's a day or it goes directly to Catalina, then it has a day at City sea sailing up the Pacific coast to San Francisco. It's got an overnight in San Francisco, so that means two full days in San Francisco, then a day at sea sailing back down south, hits Ensenada for one day, of course, in order to accommodate the passenger services vessel act and then goes back to San Diego. It's seven night sailing. It's as I said, it's a member cruise. So that means special presentations, special gifts, special performers, which you know, means like Broadway stars in San Francisco. Brian's been talking about sailing to San Francisco like for years now on the podcast and like been wanting a Pacific coast repositioning cruise and a lot of them have just skipped San Francisco.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: So anyway, so, so important, important information here. Bookings open on February 28th and if there's one, everyone to. Yeah, if there's one thing I could ding DVC and Disney Cruise Line over, it is that it opens to everyone on the same day and you have to call Disney Vacation Club in order to book it. And I think that is a Saturday.
Normally they do staff the call center to handle the volume of calls coming in, but for something like this, I sure wish they would give some consideration to castaway club status with the cruise line for booking so that those of us who have sailed longer have a better opportunity to get booked. Because this cruise itinerary is so unique and it's straddling spring break period in a way that, you know, Disney Cruise Line has not always accommodated families with the these dvc.
[00:16:14] Speaker B: DVC is not always great because it's across two different weeks. So if you have spring break, it's either one week or the other, not the whole thing.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: This thing is gonna sell out. I guarantee this one will sell out because it is so unique and it's on the Wonder and people are gonna wanna get some sailings on the Wonder because I think everyone's sort of predicting she's gonna, she's not gonna be long for this world as more ships launch. And so I guarantee this thing is going to sell out. It's going to sell out quickly and so it's going to be a sprint to the finish here to get booked on the sailing because everyone's gonna be calling in on the same day. So.
[00:16:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Are you excited about this sailing? Are you excited about this offer?
[00:16:51] Speaker C: I am, I am. The Wednesday to Wednesday is no good for me, like you said, straddling those two weeks. But I agree. What a unique itinerary. It's really special. You have to get back to your 90s to get Master days and speed dial.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: You have to figure out the phone tree. But also the other thing I should note that we don't have a cost or point chart out yet. So you don't have to book it on points. You, you can book it fully on cash as long as you are a DVC member with member benefits.
So that I think it's blue card status. Basically if you, if you aren't DVC aren't going to know what I'm talking about. If you're a DVC member, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. But yeah, they, you can book it on points, you can book it on cash. We just don't know what the cost is yet. They haven't released that. And so there are going to be, they've said there's going to be some kind of special Disney excursions out of San Francisco. So the rumors that I'm hoping for are things like the Disney Family Museum and Skywalker Ranch. And with two days in San Francisco, obviously there's a lot of opportunity there.
And so if you look at the.
Oh yeah. So Dan is saying in the comments that you've seen the cost of previous member cruises and whether or not it's going to be comparable to 20, 26, 7 night Northern European cruise. And I said I think exactly that. I think if you want to have a ballpark idea, the DVC fan I think has the points chart and might have the cost chart as well.
But that's where I would look to get a ballpark idea and then of course add a little bit because they always charge more year over year. So that's the, that one is happening.
That DVC member cruise is happening I believe the first week of September this year. And again it's, it's a Europe.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: I agree with, I agree with Ed here. Expect at least a 5 to 10% price inflation. I also don't know when that northern European cruise was the first week of September.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: It's.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: So that's also a little different because kids aren't generally in out of school for that first week of September. So now you're talking about more families potentially coming on. And then I saw the comment, you know, the fact that it's on the west coast might deter some folks. I think it's going to encourage folks. I think it's going to encourage folks from the east coast who are going to have to straddle spring breaks anyway to say, well, let's plan a trip out to Disneyland and, you know, then do the cruise and then go home or vice versa. Like, I actually, I think this thing will go quickly. That's my guess. I mean, they may have some straggling inside staterooms or, you know, something like that. But I think the veranda, staterooms, concierge, those things are going to go really, really fast is my, my, my sort of prediction. So.
Yeah, but why don't we shift over?
[00:19:32] Speaker B: I know we've talked a lot about this news. We didn't think we'd talk this much about the news, but it's, there are big, big things happening.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Sometimes it's a slow news week, sometimes it's a big news week. This was, you know, moderate Newsweek, but Amy, we want to talk all about your cruise aboard the Disney Destiny. Not very merry time. I had that in error in the initial description, but holiday, it was a holiday sailing. So not all of the very merry time events as we've discussed on the show before, but lots of Christmas decor and stuff happening.
Why did you book this cruise? This was your first sailing on the, on the Destiny? Was this just to get on the Destiny? Like, what, what attracted you to this sailing?
[00:20:09] Speaker C: Yeah, sure. Thanks. Well, we booked this relatively late for us. We booked this in mid September, guys, for Christmas sailing. Like, that's, that's crazy for us. But 2025 was wild with my husband's and my career work was just insane. My husband is a federal employee, so say no more. He got beat up all year.
Brian and I are in the tech industry and we got beat up a lot and it was just chaos and stress. So my son had two weeks off at Christmas. And we've said for a long time it's an ideal time to go because of that. And even when you take off work, you don't come back to a million emails because everyone is away. Right? But it's an expensive time of year to travel and you have to be limited on the weather and that sort of thing, so don't tell. But we actually researched other cruise lines because we were booking so late. Like you, you know they're less expensive and you get a lot. I know, but I know you know how the story ends because we just wanted to be sure, like, hey, for what we're paying for late. But honestly, we were late booking with them anyway. And then we were looking at lousy dinner times. We didn't know what sort of port adventures would be available.
And there were exciting itineraries, but just nothing seemed to fit. And with Disney, you know what you're getting whatever the price ends up being. Right, frankly.
And my son, who's 14, he was really gunning for Disney. I'm really excited for the Destiny. And I think all of you Disney parents know, like, if they're teenagers and they're into it, like, let's go. Right.
So we, we really appreciated that. And in the end, the Destiny was super exciting. Of course we adored the Treasure. We were on it with you over spring break.
So again, you know what to expect. And this itinerary was really appealing because it is just the two private islands. So we love the Caribbean. We were married in the Virgin Islands, actually, so that's a very special area to us.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[00:22:00] Speaker C: Yeah, we, we, we could tell that whole story another time. But absolutely. So the Caribbean's our special place and so we would love to see some new islands, but honestly, the thought of figuring out tours and running around and it was like two private islands. I don't have to do a thing done. So that's kind of how we got here. And so I will say the whole cruise, that was sort of our attitude as well. I didn't buy the Internet. We were really into just relaxing. You know, I was teasing with Sam. I loved all of your Destiny content, but honestly, I didn't even step foot into Vils. Like, don't talk about me next time, next time. We did some things, but we didn't go crazy. So it ended up being really just what we wanted. Really perfect.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. And I love that your 14 year old was still like, I want to do a Disney cruise line. I think that's awesome. I want to ask Amy, which other cruise lines did you consider and look into? Because I, I, you know, I do think Brian and I talk about this occasionally on the show, that we think it's important that people do the compare contrast to see what else is out there, even if they end up booking on Disney. But like, there are some other itineraries out there. There are some other cruise lines out there. Right. That Disney just, you know, different is different than Disney. So Yeah, which ones?
[00:23:15] Speaker C: I threw away that spreadsheet already, but I think we were mostly down to Royal Caribbean, certainly. And then Norwegian I think we were into. And we did a lot of YouTube research and that sort of thing. But honestly, you know, even showing my teenager look, they have a climbing wall and a racetrack. And like, it was overwhelming to him. It was like, this is almost too much. Plus, of course you're paying for all of that. And my husband and I, like, we like to have a good time, but the casino and the bar all night, like, that wasn't what we wanted either. So I think that's really, in the end. And the itineraries and just, you know, the mix of everything. One itinerary we loved.
It might have been Royal Caribbean and then it ended up being an older ship. So when I saw the YouTube guys, it didn't have a bathroom door and I didn't realize that that was a requirement until I was seeing the room tour. Like.
No, no, no.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: Like the shower.
[00:24:11] Speaker C: Right? No, not, not with my teen, that. No, no.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Now when you're sharing a room with a teenage boy, no, thank you.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: That's like those hotels for a while that were doing this design thing where it was like, we're just going to make the whole room like the shower. So everything's tiled. There's a big drain in the. It's like, no, I want a shower, a sink and a toilet. I don't need them all combined.
[00:24:33] Speaker C: I have an open mind. But this is where we landed and of course we're super happy in the end. So.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: Like a toilet closet, Let me just say I'm going to put that out there. I, I think that is the most important, like in a hotel. I wish, I wish we had that in our house. We. We don't. But I, I love to have a toilet separate from everything else. I just think that's. And that's what I love about Disney Cruise. One of the things I love about Disney Cruise Line, not the only.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: We were just looking at VRBOs for a Hawaii trip and Sam was almost sold on one just because it had these like the high end Japanese toilets.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: Nice. Oh, yes, I love it. I love a fancy toilet.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: So got your deck up here, Amy. And for those listening after the fact, if you want to see the fabulous PowerPoint presentation, we're going to walk through so you can get a little bit more information and some imagery around the discussion. Just head over to our YouTube channel. The live shows are all up over there.
Looks like they swapped out a CD for The Lookout Key day. So you ended up going to Lookout Key at the very end.
I always prefer to have the sea day right at the end for the packing. So you're not feeling like you're getting off the private island trying to pack. But did the. Do you know what drove the switch and or.
Yeah.
[00:25:45] Speaker C: So we got this email Friday, it was a Sunday sailing. So you know, the Facebook group's all, all a drama. But honestly it was a beautiful thing. So they said it was because of projected high winds. So we appreciate that they were, they were forward looking there and what you can't tell because the screenshot doesn't have the dates. It meant we were going to be on lookout on Christmas Day. And now I don't mind a Christmas Day at sea, but that seemed pretty special.
So that was great. And then honestly in the end it's interesting like how the fates come together.
Our new day at sea where we should have been at Lighthouse, there was a medical emergency and we went back to Fort Lauderdale.
So I was thinking thank God for that family because if we were all the way down at Lookout, like I don't know if we could have done that. It might have turned into a helicopter for them. Right. Like we were just, you know, zigzagging around between Florida and the Bahamas and we quickly went back to Fort Lauderdale and got back to sea.
[00:26:38] Speaker B: So you probably would have, you probably would have ended up at Nassau to drop off the passenger or maybe a helicopter as you said. Yeah, I mean because it would have been, you would have been you know, further away and probably if you were sort of in the midst of Lookout and light of Castaway and Lighthouse, I mean it would have been closer obviously to go.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Eleuthera does have an airport so that probably would have also factored into things.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: That's a possibility as well. But I don't know if they have a full hospital.
[00:27:07] Speaker C: Right.
But point is they switched this just a few days before and you know, it was no issue to us especially because we didn't have true port adventures. Right. I mean they. Disney takes care of everything. So. And it was kind of nice to have the, the days broken up. As you see, we had island two sea days island. So yeah, we had to pack Brian. But like it was okay.
[00:27:27] Speaker A: You know, life's always better on board a Disney cruise, so. Yes.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: Amen. Amen.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: So this is my fun story.
I know you all wanted to hear about the new cabanas. So we, we got a Mickey and Minnie Cove cabana. And yes, I'm Just a gold member, but we did. So these were being constructed, and everyone's activity date had long passed and no one saw an announcement. Right. Not even from influencers or an email or anything like that. But some kind soul again in the Facebook group, you guys got to join these things. Said, hey, cabanas just opened. Like, what?
So I was there, you know, on my phone one night, and it was quite the impulse buy. I was like, oh, I'm getting one of these. I.
It's going to happen, but I have to book one. And it was fun because they were almost all available. They had, like, numbers, you know, 1 to 31, with only a handful taken. And so then I was going into a deep dive of. Of what number do I want? What's the layout?
[00:28:27] Speaker B: I remember you messaged me and I was like, I'm so sorry, Amy. I don't know what number to book because these are brand new and nobody's been in them yet. I think they. They ended up opening up a couple of weeks before you went. Right. But, like, when you messaged me, we have no. We don't know what the numbering system is or anything. Yeah.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: So I picked 21, as you see in my screenshot. That's my. My birth date number.
And it's just like my, you know, sports jersey number 100 years ago. So I was like, 21, lucky 21. And in the end, it was a beautiful location. So I see. I see Vanessa's comment as you are coming into.
And I have a map here we can show later. But as you're coming into the cabana area, it starts with one and then goes out. And we were at 21, and then it would start to curve around, and so maybe the last 10 start to curve where they look back down the beach, but that's how they are. The lower number is when you first kind of get off the tram right there. So it ended up being a great one. They have restrooms, which I also have a picture to show you of because they were so nice. Around 16 is kind of where the second new bar and the. The restrooms are and things like that. So we were really pleased with that location. So I snagged it and was really, really excited to do that. We ended up sharing with a friend, and I'd like to tell you more about that in a minute too.
But, yeah, Christmas details. I mean, again, I'm an island girl, right. So we knew we were going away at Christmas and that was a balance. But of course, it was such a treat if you've been on any of these sailings to see this fun mix of holiday things. And some of our other podcast friends even put together a playlist of all the tunes that are out there. So we loved listening to the. The tropical Christmas music too. It was really special.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: I love that. I. I have to say, I do love the decorations that they put up on Castaway and also on Lighthouse for the holidays. It's just really. It gives it like. Well, of course, it's, you know, tropical vibes, but then Christmas vibes, like, mixed together, it's really quite a lovely, lovely display. And they often tend to go up as soon as Halloween season ends. So in, you know, sometime in November, they get those decorations up and then you get them all the way through all those maritime sailings. And as, as we said at the top of the show, this wasn't an official maritime sailing because the Destiny was on her inaugural season. She still is. And so they don't do those themed holiday sailings during that time. But of course, because it's Disney and because it's Christmas and this, of course, was sailing on Christmas, they make sure that there are decorations on board. I believe they loaded in the decorations on like December 3rd or December 4th on the Destiny. So right after, you know, all the previews finished and the Maiden and I think it was like the fourth cruise or something like that, that that they loaded those decorations in. You've got this great map and we've got a circle of. That's where the cast. The mini.
So that's the Mickey and Minnie Castaway cabanas. Because if for those.
Well, I can't point to it, but if you see where the Y is on Castaway, if you just go a little bit above that, that's sort of the end of the. Oh, no, go back where the Y is, where it says Castaway. Castaway Key right above the Y is. Is sort of the end of the row of the regular family cabanas that are the original, you know, however many cabanas. I can't remember 21, I think, cabanas. And then they added these Mickey and Minnie ones. And these are actually on the beach that is attached. I mean, it is the Serenity Bay beach. If we call the west coast of the island there that one whole beach. So it's the very southern tip of that sort of western part of.
[00:32:14] Speaker A: I think that may be north as actually oriented geographically.
[00:32:18] Speaker B: Who knows on the far left side.
[00:32:20] Speaker C: I've never been to Serenity Bay because we always go with our only son and we Just enjoy the day together. But I was in a family environment. Like, if you wanted the adults only, they were definitely separated. You know, we can talk about that new hangar restaurant in a moment as well.
But if you are there as an adults only, like, you're not going to be interacting with the family cabanas if you don't want to. For what it's worth. So it is Serenity Bay, but they are divided and they share the water, certainly. But again, they're pretty far down.
[00:32:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And Vanessa makes a good point here. This used to be crew beach, and they have relocated the crew beach to the far end of Serenity Bay.
It is more private, as Vanessa points out in the comment for them. But we have also heard from crew. It's further away for them to get to, so it takes more time.
[00:33:07] Speaker B: Yeah. And a lot of them actually take a bicycle down to get over there because it is kind of far. And I know that because if you want to run more than just the castaway key 5k, you're going to be running down to basically where the crew beach is. There's that path that goes past Serenity Bay and you hit that crew beach and then you can you see where they. Where their entrance is and you could even kind of peek in there. So it's it. But of course, you can't. You're not supposed to go in there. All right, well, here's all the signage and sort of entryway for the Mickey and Minnie Cove cabanas. Tell us. Tell us what this all kind of looks like when you arrive.
[00:33:45] Speaker C: Absolutely. And I see some good questions in the chat. I'll answer them as I storytell here for sure. So real quick, I want to share. After my impulse buy, and frankly, it was Christmas, we were keeping it our family of three or not, but they hold up to 10. And so I debated, like, what are we gonna do? Right. A lot of times you wanna share a cabana to save the money and just, just, you know, sprinkle that pixie dust on others. It happened to be thanks to these online Disney communities. Right. There was someone else that was a friend in the Facebook group. So I asked her and her family of three also wanted to join us. So that was a really great experience because, of course, it helps with the cost, but you just had company and had to make that special day with a friend. But something I wanted to share that was a little unique. So frequently if you share with others, whether you do it, you know, just asking or with friends, that sort of thing, she and I Worked it out on the side for the payment, but we weren't traveling together, so we didn't necessarily want to link our staterooms. So how this works was, you know, we had our agreement off to the side and I chatted with DCL and they told me to manage it when I got on board. So I got on board. And even though you book cabanas under Port Adventures, don't stand in that line. Like, I did go to Guest Services because Port Adventures can't help you. Actually, they said, I'm sorry, I know you booked through us, but it's not our thing now. So Guest Services easily added her just to the cabana reservation. They dropped off wristbands to her room and then they could independently arrive. Right. We didn't have to wait for them that morning or that sort of thing. So it was super smooth. But just a tip. Yeah, it's. It's Guest Services. I didn't know. So that was really great. And yeah. Then with your arrival, you. I'm sorry.
[00:35:23] Speaker B: And they can. Sorry, I was just gonna say they can also split the payment for the cabana as well. With Guest Services, you. You can do it yourself. You can split the cost however you want. You can. What we have done when shared with others, as Amy mentioned, up to 10 people, the regular price is for like 6 people and then it's like a X amount for each add on person up to 10. What we have done is we have done just a per person split. So if like we're a family of three and we're with another family of three, we've just done it 50, 50. And if we're a family of three and we're with a family of four, we've done it like three sevens and four sevens. And Disney does all that for you. You just tell them how you want it to be split. That. That is typically the default is the person. Not like a 50, 50 split.
But we've done that with. You can do it. With Guest Services, you can do it. The concierge hosts are also sort of have access to that and they're your servers when you're at the cabana is actually the concierge service team. So just if you need to liaise with them, they're super helpful. Even if you're not sailing concierge, which we've done cabanas both while sailing concierge and not concierge. Sorry, go ahead, Amy.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: Me? No, sure, sure.
So once you get off the ship, of course you take the tram for this one. You take two because you take the Serenity Bay tram as well. And then to answer a few questions in the chat here, right where I took these pictures, cabana guests only. You cannot pass beyond that. So there's a cast member with an iPad checking you in. So to answer your question, Vanessa, you couldn't really get to the oh Boy bar because it's past this area. So I'll show you in a few slides where that is. But it has this adorable village. It's like, oh, I want to live here because it's just so quaint. You walk behind there, you check in. They have everything you need. You could get a bike for free if you wanted. There's no upcharge there. Walking along. And to someone else's question, no, you really can't access the original family cabanas. I know in the map it kind of looks like they're connected, but they're not, so you can't get over there.
So, yeah, I mean, we arrived and if you know anything about us, we rope drop everything. So, of course we were like, first off the ship, you know, that's. That's how we do it. We are maximizing our cabana day. We got our fun pictures at the Christmas tree, and off we went. So here we are, lucky number 21. Something I was really impressed with is again, like, we were on board and I added my friend's family. You know, Disney didn't know about them until the day before, so. And she had an 18 month old. So when we arrived, without any prompting, they had a pack and play for her and they had the baby sunscreen and beach toys and that sort of thing. So, you know, that was really personalized and very special there. So they're adorable. Of course, fresh paint. They're all stunning.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: I didn't know about the pack and play. That's like, because we've never sailed with a baby.
So that's awesome that they'll do that for you because the baby's probably going to take a nap while you're out at Castaway.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: Yes, yes. Well, funny enough, when I reached out and said, hey, you know, would you like to share this? Stay with us, that was kind of her one condition. Well, can we nap that afternoon? Absolutely. This is, you know, perfect napping. And as you see, it's a beautiful, beautiful place. I thought it was quite large. Again, I've not done another cabana, so take it for what it's worth, but I thought it was quite large. Lots of seating, lots of shade. There's tons of beach space. I'LL show you some beach pictures in a moment, but particularly where we were just as the cabanas start to turn, I. We just had so much space there that I think you can't, you know, shout out enough. I think we all know at Disney cruise parks, anything Disney, you pay for exclusivity or speed. Right? Time is money, money. And so having that much space to yourself is just pure, pure luxury. So again, it puts you in that, like, relaxation mode immediately. Yeah, I'm sorry. Go.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: I was gonna. Well, I wanna make one comment, but I have a question for you. So the cabanas are identical to those that exist on the family beach today. There's nothing more other than being newer. There's nothing more unique about them.
Are you listening to our show because.
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[00:40:28] Speaker A: The photo you have down here in the bottom right and then what you were just mentioning, like, how far away from the ocean were you? Because this looks like a much longer distance than what we're used to from a cabana.
[00:40:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I have some more beach pictures in the next slide or two, but ours was further back. We had more like a deeper beach because of where we were. They start to go at an angle. I think the lower single digits are probably closer, but yeah, here we are. You can see to the beach now. This was not a problem. Like, we had a ton of beach space, but every cabana was full. And I Hardly saw a soul. I mean, these are like primetime photos.
We had so many beach chairs. Really, really great for flexibility. My son loved that hammock. Some of the teens in one of the cabanas, too. Like, just past the hammock there, they were playing football. That's how much beach space they had, you know, without disturbing anyone. So it was really, really nice. So I would say all that beach stretch again as you start to get into the teens and start to just have that wider beach. I loved it. If you have a little one, and it's very tedious to get to the water's edge, certainly you might want to be closer. But we loved it. I mean, I didn't feel like it was far or anything like that, that's for sure.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: And it looks like it's stocked with all the telltale amenities of a cabana.
[00:41:42] Speaker C: Yeah, all the amenities. Yeah. You've got your cold towels, which, frankly, in December, we didn't need. It was pretty windy that day, but delightful. I mean, we were still in the water and fine. But cold towels in the summer would be amazing. All your drinks. The towels are different, if that matters to anyone. Then the regular towels feel a little plus I up there on the left, I have pictures where we had the mats and the rings and an outdoor shower and that sort of thing. So again, it's those little luxuries. Right. Like, I remember many cruises ago, we would, oh, you know, everyone needs a tube. So silly me is like trying to carry three tubes all the way across the island.
We've since learned it's your party minus one is how many floats you need. Guys, that's kind of.
So that was really true.
[00:42:29] Speaker B: It's the same as how many chairs you need. You need. You don't need a chair for everyone because not everybody's sitting on a chair at once.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: And for those who. Those who don't know in the upper left here, they have gotten these pads working in the cabanas.
They worked off and on for a while in the early days when they first installed them, and they kind of really weren't working at all. Then when they opened up Lookout, they put the cabanas there. They really came into their own with these sort of little, you know, in cabana pad models where you can just like, order stuff directly through the screen. So it's great to see these working. Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:01] Speaker C: No, that. That was fantastic. That was a lot of fun. So for that one, you could customize the music as well. So we kept it on our island Christmas playlist. We Loved that. But you could adjust the volume, which you certainly used for, you know, the nap time. Yes. You can order things. You could.
By order, I mean, like you could order more fruit, you could order more chips or the granola bars, more soda. We did order more soda and drink at a certain point and perhaps something else. You could order alcohol as well. And so they had a pretty specific menu. But then if you wanted something else, like a custom, you know, sort of drink, then they would come and see you. So it was really, really nice to have.
[00:43:41] Speaker A: Yeah, nice. Sounds like a fabulous day at the cabanas. Lots of folks asking questions about the.
[00:43:46] Speaker C: Yeah, the barbecue and how it works.
[00:43:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So talk us through the Hangar 98 barbecue here.
[00:43:53] Speaker C: Sure, sure. So again, we rope dropped. 11:30. We were there and so there was there.
There is a small queue. Again, this is not a problem. But just it was interesting, the flow of things, because at first there was a short line.
It's a smallish space. Again, I've not been to Serenity. I don't know the before, but here's the current, the after.
But it was cozy and lovely. I didn't find it cramped. And as you can imagine, everyone's in a good mood. Right. Like, we're living the cabana life. We're pretty happy over here. So people were friendly, like polite in line. It moved pretty quickly. But I did notice by the time we were finished eating, like there was no line. So if you don't rope drop, you know, it's. It flows pretty well, I thought. And my whole family felt the food was really great quality, like a step up from cookies. And I just thought it was fresh and just really nice. The servers could customize some things for you. They had almost like a paella, like a large pan of, you know, seafood and rice. And that was delicious and different. But even just the burgers, I felt everything felt just a little. A little more quality. As you see my cute little French fries sign, like they had these just Disney details. Right. The happy holidays touch. So that was fun. Inside that building, they also have a soft serve machine and cookies and the desserts and that sort of thing. So that was great. They did have a good amount of tables and some umbrellas. We moved to the shade with the little one. They had high chair. It was available. You could reconfigure some. Some chairs if you needed. They weren't all just like picnic tables with the, you know, built in bench.
You certainly could also take your tray back to the cabana because back to the iPad. That Was one of the options is like, come get my food tray. Press the button. So they, they were encouraging that as well, but because ours was a little bit of a walk, we stayed here.
So it was delightful.
[00:45:44] Speaker A: So it's a big deal that they have French fries because they have not. That's a big deal. I'm also curious, like the paella you're mentioning, when you went to look at, did you notice that some of that. So I think what they're doing is they're importing some of the food that they're making at Lookout. Now over to this, this, you know, this new restaurant.
Yeah. Which, which is really great to see actually, because I think there's some great food on Lookout. So it's great to see them bringing that back.
Someone asked in the chat and then I think someone responded, but Serenity Bay, you're not in the same line with the Serenity Bay folks. There's a separate place for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:46:16] Speaker C: And I didn't see them, which is by design, but it's essentially a mirror in this building. So there's. There' entries, which you can see when you go back out to get the, to get the tram. But otherwise, you know, I didn't, I didn't see separate folks. Their seating area is separate. So.
[00:46:33] Speaker A: Okay, great, great.
[00:46:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:36] Speaker A: Sam, looks like you had a question.
[00:46:38] Speaker B: Well, I was going to say one. One thing I would note is if you are a family and you want to do some of the family activities on the island, you are quite a bit far away. I mean, you're over at, by Serenity Bay and the tra, that tram stop. And so you either will have to walk or take a bike ride or take a tram to get to things like Pelican Plunge or to get to the shops. I highly recommend just stop at the shops like on your way back. But if there's stuff you want to do, like take pictures and do the 5k and things like that, I would recommend doing that first before you head out to either, you know, Serenity or Mickey and Minnie Cove Cabanas. If you, if you're planning on spending your day out there. It is, it's not like it's so far, but it, you know, in the heat of the day, you're probably not wanting to walk back and forth between the two.
[00:47:30] Speaker C: But honestly. And again, I know, you know, I don't imagine many first time cruisers are getting these just by, you know, how the game is played. You just can't get it. But because we've been on several Cruises like, this was our focus. Focus. Right. I'm not going to go do the stingray thing if I have a cabana. So that didn't bother me. I don't think the location is an issue. Like, you need to prioritize your day like any Disney thing. Right. Again, you know, similar to the theme park. So like I said, I rope dropped. Spoiler alert. I'll tell you in a few slides. They had to drag us out of there at the last call, but here you see some really cute pictures. Yeah, the. Oh, boy.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: Bar.
[00:48:09] Speaker C: Bar friends. If you were seeing this picture, like, the. The bar stools are lined up perfectly. It looks like, you know, a model photo. This was peak midday. Like, nobody is there because they're all.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: Like, why would they be? Yeah, they'd be at the beach of the cabana.
[00:48:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:48:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:26] Speaker C: So I. I hung out and talked to the kind bartenders for a few. But it's. It's beautiful. Nobody was there. It's not a big bar scene. But they did have some new to me me kind of drinks, and that was fun. They had a version of a caipirinha, which was neat, and a different kind of Mai tai, of course, your conch cooler and all those favorite things. But it was lovely. And the cast members have these adorable bikes, which is how they deliver your food or pick up your trays. That's what she's doing there. So it was really fun. And I have, you know, maybe a little, I don't know, off color here, but I have pictures of the bathroom. I promise, no one was in there, but they were beautiful.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: I love that you have pictures. Listen, Amy, I want to always want to see a bathroom, okay? So I love it.
[00:49:10] Speaker C: But especially, you know, the ones near cookies, too, on Castaway. I mean, they're fine, but they're beachy. Right. And they're older, so I wanted to show you. These are polished and brand new. Someone asked about AC again. It was December, so I wasn't noticeably hot and cold, but I'm sure they are like. They are. It's a very nice building, and they have a good changing table, as you see. They're really, really beautiful. Something fun I didn't take a picture of, but I should have. You know, when we travel and we use, like, our cups, right? We're always taking our cups. And you're in the airport and you refill it, and it's like the filter's red and it's like a million bottles saved. Okay. So the filter's green here, and it was like, 120 bottles saved.
It's so new.
I love that.
[00:49:55] Speaker A: I love that they added this bar because one of the complaints that's been happening with the cabanas on Castaway is, like, the drink service is really slow on those cabanas that the existing cabanas. So it's good to see.
Yeah, it's good to see them recognize that. Like, hey, we need more capacity over here to support these cabanas rather than just trying to handle them through whatever normal bar traffic they have. So I'm glad that they, they added the bar.
[00:50:17] Speaker B: So, yeah, well, let's, let's head to.
[00:50:21] Speaker C: The next drink of choice is the Moet Ice, and they do have their own branded plastic cups for that, so you can still enjoy that on the beach.
Delicious.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Escorted departure. Does that mean kicked off of Castaway?
[00:50:39] Speaker C: So they made it very clear from the beginning of the day you will be leaving at 3:45. I think we were, you know, all aboard at 4:45. So it gives you that time because they know that, you know, you have to take the trolley, you have to stop by the shopping. Yes, exactly. So I totally get it. But I'll tell you, at 3:30, they were in our cabana, like, picking up our towels, like, you know, come on, guys, get out of here. And then we weren't very far, you know, again, about midpoint, it was easily walkable, but they brought the golf cart over and they're like, everybody in. Like, I have 15 more minutes. What are you doing?
We were polite, so kicking and screaming. They, they. And we were truly some of the last people, you know, I think I respect. Others might have had enough of the day. Like, it's fine. But no, I.
[00:51:28] Speaker B: The marrow out of the day. Amy, I get it. Yeah, it is. It's a pretty premium, too. It's a premium experience you're paying for. And I, I, I take your point very seriously. Like, when we are the, when we have gotten a cabana, I'm not spending my time at Pelican Plunge or in the Stingray Adventure. I'm spending my time in that cabana, in front of that cabana, in the water by that cabana, you know, what have you.
[00:51:52] Speaker A: On our very first cruise, we were, we were spoiled. I won't even say, I won't even say gently escorted out. We were like, literally, they're like, get in the golf cart. We're taking you back to the ship. Like, we didn't realize you were still here.
[00:52:04] Speaker C: You know, Exactly. That's the way to do it. I Mean, we're polite about it, of course, but, yeah, I'm getting my time, so. No, it was just such a perfect, perfect day. As you see, the weather was amazing. It was very breezy in the water, but, like, we weren't cold, so it was just heavenly and exactly what we wanted. It was so perfect. And getting to know some friends a little better. That was really neat, too. So all in all, really, really great experience. If you can get them and if it's in your budget, do it. Because. Because we've been to Castaway a lot, and it was a really different way to experience it, so that was really special for us, too.
[00:52:36] Speaker A: Well, you had Christmas Day at Lookout. Lookout. I'm trying to remember how Sam wants me to. Keith.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: Keith.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: Keith. Christmas Day at Lookout sounds better, but fine.
[00:52:47] Speaker B: That's why Royal does it.
[00:52:48] Speaker A: This was your first visit to Lookout. What are your impressions? She's been open for a while, so kink should be worked out. Things should be running smoothly. What were your impressions of Lookout? Lookout.
[00:53:00] Speaker C: I loved it. I really did. And, you know, we heard all the drama about the walk. It was fine. It was 12 minutes, guys, and I am not a fast walker, but we were fine. So, like, it is what it is. No issue there. The setup was beautiful. As you see, all these fun Christmas touches, you know, same. They had the. The music playing. I would say the. The only two hiccups, and only because we're among friends here, we get a nitpick, right? When we boarded the tram, it took forever to leave. And again, we. Rope dropped like, we were off, and the tram was full. So we're like.
So that took longer than it took to walk, which was unusual. And then I wonder if they were.
[00:53:37] Speaker B: Still setting up or something. I wonder, because you were, like, with the first group. I wonder if the setup was, like, delayed, and that's why they delayed you all. Yeah.
[00:53:45] Speaker C: And again, not a true problem. You know, these are not problems, but it was just a noticeable, like, disruption in the flow. Right. And then later in the day, the bar that we were closest to closed for the bees, so we had to go somewhere else, you know, so I get that. Again, I had read about the bees, so it was fine. These are not real.
[00:54:03] Speaker A: The bees are the new flies of.
[00:54:05] Speaker B: Lookout Key all around the soda machines.
[00:54:09] Speaker C: Right. I think, you know, if I had to pick, I would take another day on Lookout over Castaway. Maybe because I've been there a lot, but the beach was heavenly. I mean, look at this, folks. It's Christmas day, right? Christmas morning. It Was just. Again, we lucked out. Thanks. Thankfully, they switched that.
That itinerary for the weather, and it was just heaven. I mean, that blue water is my color. That's, you know, place. I told you about that. So we just truly had a perfect day. Now, again, don't talk about me, but I didn't see the junkaroo. I'll see it another time. We ate. We were on the beach.
We really were sitting there thinking, like, we had to remind ourselves, it's Christmas. It's Christmas. But the lifeguards were saying, Merry Christmas. Everyone was just in such good spirits. And then we kind of together played this little game throughout the day.
I've never had a taco on Christmas Day. I've never had ice cream on Christmas Day. I've never been on the beach on Christmas Day. You know, it was kind of fun to be all these, like, oh, my gosh, all these new, special memories. So that was really cool, too. And we've had a lot of traditional Christmases. This is really, you know, the first one is our family that we've done. But it was a good balance because it was magical in its own way. For sure.
[00:55:24] Speaker A: I love that they offer the Bahamian touches, but that doesn't take over your day. I also think it's kind of. I think it's also kind of cool. Like, if you want to do it, you can. I also think it's kind of cool. You can kind of hear the junk canoe from the beach in a lot of places. So. So it kind of adds to the atmosphere of the beach without taking over the beach.
[00:55:39] Speaker B: So, yeah, when they come down to the cultural center, to the Goombay Cultural center, which is where they end. If you are like anywhere near the cultural center, which kind of sits right in front of the beach, then you are. You will be able to hear the music, and you might be able to even turn and kind of see the crowd. You might be able to see the costumes because the costumes are really or ornate. Just like those. Those trees that you showed. They have all of that, you know, the feathers. It's like a, like carnival type outfits. It's really, really wonderful.
[00:56:11] Speaker A: I'm with you, Amy. I would take another day at Lookout Key over Castaway these days. Like, I. I love Castaway, don't get me wrong. And cast away in a cabana is a special thing. But, you know, Lookout without a cabana for us is one of our favorites. So I actually think the cabanas aren't a great setup on Lookout as they are. So I. So I love going to Lookout without having to get a feel like I have to get a cabana of some sort. We head to the beach, we find a spot, and we're good to go. So, yeah, we.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: We're also water people and so we really enjoyed the beach. Like, in the water experience, it was, you know, that pink powder sand was heavenly. I think at Castaway, we like to be on the beach just past Pelican Plunge. And so it's fine and it's, you know, as private and shallow as you're going to get. But this beach experience was just better overall for the water, too. So, yeah, I can't wait to go back. Same thing. I thought the food was a little more elevated and delicious, so really good.
[00:57:06] Speaker A: Well, it helps because they don't have to bring everything. I mean, I think they still do bring a lot of things, but they have, like, for merchandise, they have a storehouse on the island that they can restock. There is an airport there, there are vendors there, you know, that sort of thing. So I'm super curious to start to hear. I really thought that they would have more shore excursions set up by now on Lookout that did some unique things from Castaway, as opposed to trying to, like, trap you into the private island experience, like getting you off onto the island island. And I've not heard a lot of reports about that kind of stuff, so I'd be curious to see if Disney actually embraces that connection back to the. The island or not.
[00:57:38] Speaker C: But yeah. Yeah, let's talk about.
[00:57:40] Speaker A: Let's talk about Christmas Day on board. Amy. I see, like, lots of great photos here, including one near and dear to Sam's heart of menorah there. So, yes.
[00:57:50] Speaker C: So, you know, again, it wasn't a true maritime sailing. And what that means is they didn't have the promised entertainment. There was no gingerbread house. Right. So everything was a gift, you know, and again, we don't have a little, little one, so we were fine with whatever. We got thrilled with the decorations. It was beautiful.
Santa was there a few days early, meeting with families and that sort of thing. But what I thought was a bold move by Disney, Santa was there on Christmas morning.
I thought it was bold because, like, you know, hey, kids, did you get what you wanted? Or can we again, like, that's a.
[00:58:30] Speaker A: Sansa, you sit on a throne of lies moment, for sure.
[00:58:34] Speaker C: So I don't know. That just. That gave me a laugh. Only Disney, but he brought with him on Christmas morning this beautiful cookie display, like, really like something out Of a storybook. Beautiful little star shaped things. And I took a coffee cup and loaded it up because again, I was rope dropping the beach and put the coffee lid on. And I took my treats to the beach, but they had hot cocoa and milk and this, you know, was pretty special. And the drink of the day, I know you can't see it here, but the, the text shows it was a holiday theme, that's for sure.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: The jolly and bright. The jolly and bright and, and. And a Mary. Oh, a Mary Julep was the non alcoholic but the jolly and bright. So Tracy, you were asking for a cranberry colored drink with sugar on the rim. I bet the jolly and bright would have done you just fine.
[00:59:17] Speaker B: I gotta, I gotta say, Dan's comment is the most. Is the hilarious. No returns accepted. Did Santa.
So sorry kids, when they come and it's. I will say that the. They've done this across the other ships as well. Oftentimes Santa will be there for like pajama pictures on Christmas Day.
You know, they'll do pictures at various times with Santa in front of the tree and they often do it on Christmas morning as well.
[00:59:50] Speaker A: Well, what better way to unwind from the sugar high and get lactate in, you know, for the, for the, for all the milk you had to drink than on a Disney cruise ship, you know.
[01:00:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, and Tracy's saying that they always said Santa goes to the Bahamas after he delivers the presents. But I don't know. Disney told us that Santa was at Alani after Christmas Day. There was actually a post for one of the Disney accounts. I can't remember if it was Disney. I think it was a Disney Parks account. And it was literally showing like the back of Santa's head. It was kind of like a, like a quarter view and he's sitting in like a lounge chair in front of Alani. And I don't know. We were there at Alani. I will say we saw Santa on Christmas.
No, the day before Christmas Eve. So we saw Santa on the 23rd at Aulani. We didn't see him sitting out on the 26th. I'm just saying.
[01:00:43] Speaker C: Oh my goodness. Well, I will say here, I also put this picture because I'm sure many of our Disney fans love the Muppet Christmas Carol as I do.
So we got back on the ship after being on the beach and there it was on Funnel Vision. So that was as Christmassy as it's going to get to me. And yes, for the menorah of note, Hanukkah was the week before But I wanted to share this to show you all. They kept this up all week, and I thought it was beautiful. Maybe the last night, perhaps we were on board, but all the same, it was nice to see that sort of inclusion. And one of the picture backdrops I wanted to share as well. They. They weren't all Christmas. Christmas. They had some beautiful, like, snowflake backdrops and that sort of thing. And one night there was a family in front of us. Like one of these, you know, big families with all the matching pajamas. And they were like Hanukkah pajamas. And it was just so fun to see. And they had head boppers, and it was. It was a really neat thing.
[01:01:35] Speaker B: I love that I have made Brian and Nathan wear Hanukkah pajamas on occasion.
[01:01:41] Speaker C: So it was great. It was great. I will say again with the flow and just like, Christmas stuff. Something that stood out to me, but, you know, I'm a details gal. Was. The lines, of course, for photos are long, as they always are, but maybe more so for Christmas because you had big groups. And then the photographers, God bless them, are like, well, let's get just the girls and just the boys and just the little ones. I'm like, come on. You know? So I thought the photos took longer than they needed to this season, but again, I get it totally. But it took a while. And one thing that I thought was a miss. If you've been on Destiny or you followed this content, you know, you'll have a laugh with me here. It's Christmas Eve and, you know, all the families were dressed up. That was their semi formal. We're taking Christmas photos, but the same time, right before dinner, Maleficent was there with the green lights, which make your pictures look bad, and her music.
And I'm like, it's family Christmas Eve photos. Like, guys, someone didn't look at the schedule.
[01:02:42] Speaker A: So this was.
This was a question I had for you legitimately because, like, the Destiny is so unique in her theming and leaning hard into superheroes and villains. Like, did you feel like it interfered with kind of the Christmas decor a bit? Because the treasure, whatever, you know, it's. It. Yeah, it works on the Treasure, on the Wish. We can all have our opinions about the color of the Christmas tree and there's a right answer there, but I won't get into it.
But for the Destiny, I was curious how well it would gel together with everything that they're using that atrium stage. A lot more heroes and villains in and out. Like, how did it work? Or did it get a Little awkward.
[01:03:17] Speaker C: That was the only time it didn't. That's why I was like, this is wrong, guys. And the green is distorting people's photos. Like, they needed to space that out a little more, but otherwise they didn't find it disruptive. And again with. Not true. Very merry time. Like, we had light decor, maybe, and it was really just the atrium. But no, I just feel like that one experience, we were all there. Maleficent's doing her thing, but the music. And I'm trying to take a picture by the fireplace. Like, it was just a mismatch for me, but that's okay.
[01:03:44] Speaker B: Yeah, well. And that is, I definitely think in the time when you're doing those backdrop photos, which is generally, as you said before dinner, in between the two dinner seatings, that should be a time where they're not doing those lighting effects in the grand hall on the Destiny. Obviously somebody, as you said, didn't look at the schedule carefully because you really don't want. The green lighting is really cool, but you don't want to want that messing up people's pictures when they've just spent, you know, 30 minutes in line for a picture. I will say we've seen that happen on holiday sailings, too. It's the. The, like you said, big, big groups of, you know, large families or friends and. And they want to take 8 million pictures with 8 million combinations and, you know, this nuclear family, then this nuclear family, then the two nuclear families together. Just the kids. Oh, my God.
[01:04:36] Speaker A: Don't get off on a rant too hard, Sam, because we did it ourselves.
[01:04:39] Speaker B: I know we've done it well. We have. Not as bad bad, but yes, we. We're not like a 30 person group, but yes, it. It is.
[01:04:46] Speaker A: I think it'd be. I think it'd be fun if they had Santa kind of lean into the theme of the ship a little bit and talk about how, like, you know, Loki and Cruella are on the naughty list and, you know, that kind of a thing. I think that could be kind of maybe next year.
[01:04:57] Speaker B: Maybe next year when they do real. When they do real maritime. Maybe. All right, well, let's. Let's head to the. To the next slide because we haven't really compared, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. You've been on the Treasure as. As you reminded folks, you went with, you were on with.
[01:05:14] Speaker C: And then you.
[01:05:14] Speaker B: Were on the Destiny. So really good comparison.
Just, you know, not that far apart.
What did you. Did you like the Destiny more or less than the Treasure? What would you say, like, sort of the biggest takeaways for you were about the, the comparing these two ships that are similar and different in a lot of ways?
[01:05:33] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, as the, as the funny Instagram post go, I would say I'm more a size seven night plus cruiser. So, you know, I squeezed into a five night, but I prefer, I'll always prefer a longer cruise. So hands down, right. Like, just take me to the sea. So the Destiny, you know, it's not her fault. She can't help that. I would say, like, this is a silly thing that will change over time, but the merch on the Treasure, like, I couldn't get enough of it. I love that teal. I don't think I bought. I bought a raincoat that says Destiny and it's blue like the purple and, and this. I love the different collections, but they weren't for me. I wasn't like, oh, I gotta have everything the way I can be sometimes at the park. So the Treasure styling was more our vibe, man. Don't come at me. I think Moana versus Hercules is a tough one. I really loved the Moana, like the puppetry and the different elements to it. Of course, Hercules, you just love the energy, that sort of thing. So the shows were both fantastic and brand new.
I will say on the Destiny, I preferred the Lion King dinner entertainment, but I prefer the Plaza de Coco food.
[01:06:44] Speaker B: Oh, interesting.
[01:06:45] Speaker C: Okay, we have a toss up. The Treasure will always win. Just because, you know, seven nights or more. But they were both fantastic. You can't go wrong, that is for sure. And I thought I was.
And this might be just because I didn't follow it close enough, but my expectations going into the Destiny were that it was going to be more of a Star wars at sea kind of theme where like Loki takes over the ship and you have to pick a side and there's. I thought there was this whole thing, but it wasn't. At least not that I caught. Maybe I didn't do enough to really engage, but I thought there was gonna be more of a being involved in the story. So I wasn't disappointed, but my expectations were off. So I love the theming of the Destiny for sure, but it wasn't as much as I thought it was going to be.
[01:07:29] Speaker A: That was the rumor and I think the reality became operational and so they sort of shifted the. Like there was all the rumors you're citing beforehand. Oh, they're learning and they did. They brought a lot of like star cruiser kind of elements into the ship. Because they had people from Star Cruiser kind of in the imagineering and operation side as a part of the Destiny's development. But I think what it morphed into is those meet and play moments where you kind of get the one on one time with the character in a setting that's more bespoke to you, or at least the group that's in front of them as opposed to, you know, oh, you're just getting a photo with them or whatever. So I think there is.
[01:08:05] Speaker B: There are those atrium shows where he does sort of, but where, you know, sort of Loki kind of takes over and takes stage, but they. They have sort of a starting and an ending point. Right. And they don't continue that story throughout the entire cruise. So, yeah, definitely an excellent point.
[01:08:23] Speaker C: I've never been on the Star Cruiser. I meant Star Wars Day at sea on the ship.
That was a whole story whereby, you know, the ship was taken over and that sort of thing. So that. That was kind of of what I was envisioning. But yeah, I mean, all good. Again, you cannot go wrong. I think quickly, too. Fort Lauderdale maybe wins over Canaveral. Not that we can pick these things, right. But it was so easy and really smooth. So I thought that was, you know, one plus one for the Destiny.
[01:08:50] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:08:51] Speaker B: Definitely. I wanted to, you know, your, your last slide, I know we have here is about Vero beach, and I wanted to ask you to, like, how does this pair? Or does this pair well with a cruise and does it pair better with Port Canaveral versus Fort Lauderdale? I'll be honest, I'm a little bit clueless as to where Viro beaches, you know, because I've never been there. And so I know you. It's in Florida, obviously, but I don't.
[01:09:18] Speaker A: Fort Canaveral, it's on the same coast.
[01:09:20] Speaker B: As south, but like, I don't know.
But yeah, I don't know. Like, is this closer to Port Canaveral? Is it closer to Fort Lauderdale? Like, what if you were giving a recommendation for somebody to go to Vero Beach? Like, when is the best time to go? Like, obviously before or after a cruise. But, you know, between those we landed.
[01:09:39] Speaker C: There, guys, I'm a size seven night. We weren't going home after five. And we have.
So I said, all right, we're going to Vera beach for the weekend. Let's use these points before we roll them over. So, yes, we actually, we live in the D.C. area. So we flew to Fort Lauderdale, spent one night and went on the cruise, and then we came back and Rented a car and we drove two hours up the coast up A1A Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway. And it was a beautiful Dr. You know, there's lots of fun beach towns and places to stop. We went to an amazing Navy SEAL museum. It was really, really well done. If you're into that in Fort Pierce, big shout out for them. And then we went to Vero beach, so it was two hours north. And then we flew home out of MCO actually, because it was a little closer. So to answer your question, you could do it either way. Truly. It's not very far down the coast from Canaveral, so really, as far as it suits you, it's great. I think the theming is more subtle Disney. If you've been to Hilton Head, it's kind of similar in those vibes versus, like the beach Club resort, right. Which is just a little more amped up. Disney, which was fine with us. As you see, they had the Christmas decor. It was beautiful. For my family, it's a pass through. I would never go there for a week. There's just not enough to do.
And we had a car and we did go out to dinner one night on the coast and that sort of thing. But we just want more. But I understand others might not. So super relaxing, beautiful. They had lots of on site activities, that sort of thing.
You know, it's just that familiar Disney vibe. Right. It was really nice. They have one quick service, one table service. We did the table service once. To me, it wasn't like a repeat if you're there multiple days. We wanted to go out.
I have a picture here of the beach chairs. There's a whole process. And the ladies at the front desk were warning me, oh, you know, you got to go early. It's reserved day of only. So you know me. I set my alarm, I got my coffee, I was rope dropping, and then I was the only one forming for 40 minutes. So I sat down and this, this poor gentleman comes up to get in line. And I was like, wait, I'm the line. I'm first.
It was a really nice, smooth process to get your private chairs there.
[01:11:49] Speaker A: Vero's getting a ton of love in the chat. I just wanted to say that. Except Dan.
[01:11:54] Speaker B: Except Dan, who's saying it's the Temu Aulani.
[01:12:00] Speaker C: That's amazing. That's amazing.
[01:12:02] Speaker A: I wanted to ask Amy, since you mentioned, because one of the things we love about Aulani is like, you don't have to stay on property. You can, you can easily walk across the street to the mall. That's over there. The sort of outdoor mall shopping center that's over there. You can easily walk up the street to Aro's and get a. Get a meal, so you don't even have to have a car. And you can sort of diversify and sort of go out to dinner. Is it the same at Vero or is it fairly isolated?
[01:12:26] Speaker C: No, it's not isolated, but it's fancy homes and resorts. Like, there's nowhere else to go. My boys rented bikes and they did go off, and that was fun. Fun. And they saw some nature in other communities. But I would say, like, you're gonna have to Uber or get a car to truly enjoy, like, these other beach towns. And they're all nearby. It's not a problem.
[01:12:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:12:46] Speaker C: But from the Destiny, for example, we took our cruise shuttle back to the airport to rent the car, because that's where you had to rent it. And then I returned the car to mco, so that was fine for us. I know some folks don't want to drive, but. Yeah, you definitely need a car, I would say.
[01:13:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, Amy, let's wrap things up there, except with one question. I mean, what's. You are like us. You have something else booked in the future, I'm sure. And so, like, what's next for you and your family with Disney? Disney Cruise Line? Where are you headed next?
[01:13:17] Speaker C: This is going to be a whole nother episode. Look out. So, honestly, with the chaos of both of our jobs last year, we did not book a lot. I mean, I'm just going to keep it real. Right. Like, we're not all living in DNA, all the Disney stuff all the time. Like, we had to pause on the deposits and things. Like, you know, my husband was furloughed. Like, you got to slow down. So we were on the strip saying, what are we doing in 26? We don't have anything. So I think we're really close to Alani for the first time, because I have.
And So I booked 10 days, which I don't think I'm gonna keep, But I booked 10 days, and we're trying to figure out what to do. Um, again, I'm a Caribbean gal. I am an east coast gal, and so the flight terrifies me. Or multiple flights. It's so far. It's expensive. It's, you know, it's a lot. But I'm sure we're gonna do it. So I'll be back for all your tips and maybe first impressions.
[01:14:09] Speaker A: I'd love to hear how you find it as an East Coaster, because I think it is, it is a hard trip. And our friends Tracey and Michael, who are with us, it's a long trip. It's a long trip. It's a long trip. But I think for some there's something about the Hawaiian islands that just makes them like everything want, you know, the Bahamas and you know, the Caribbean to be, but just there's something about it that makes it just a little bit more special. So I think you're gonna love it.
[01:14:33] Speaker B: Yeah, you're gonna love it. And, and Honestly, Amy, like, 10 days is awesome because when you are traveling that far, like from the east coast in particular, you want, and also you're gonna want some days where you're just staying at the resort and maybe a walk to dinner at Monkey Pod or something, but you're gonna want some dates where you go off property and explore Oahu. It's an amazing island. We of course, just released our, we did an audio only episode about our Aulani trip just a few days ago. We've also got some, some episodes in our back catalog. But of course, you know, Amy, you can always message me and I will give you tips and tricks because we absolutely love Aulani and it is like, is our favorite place after Disney Cross Cruise Line.
[01:15:19] Speaker C: So I know it'll be worth it and absolutely it will be different than my Caribbean in those special ways that you talked about. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. But it's not all solidified, so that's coming. And I also used one of my. Yes, I have several placeholders to hold New Year's Eve on the Dream next year because we love these holiday sailings. So that's a unique itinerary. It's out of Fort Lauderdale and it goes to Tortola, my favorite place. But it also goes to San Juan, which I've never been been to and look at again. So that would be nice.
[01:15:49] Speaker B: Oh, well, we'll be crossing paths with you in the Caribbean because we'll be on the Destiny for Christmas and New Year's as well while you're on the dream. So yeah, laugh out.
[01:15:58] Speaker A: Laugh out loud here.
[01:16:00] Speaker C: Maybe something else then.
[01:16:02] Speaker A: Yeah, laugh. Laugh out loud here to Ed's comment. Don't be like, Ryan and Sam, book your Diamond Head. We didn't know there was a booking process.
[01:16:08] Speaker B: Yeah, if you want to hike Diamond Head, you got to book it and apparently it opens, opens up. I think it might be like 45 days. It's either 45 days or 30 days in advance, but you can book it online. It's like really easy. But don't be like us and wait and then realize it's completely booked for all of your entire trip. So.
[01:16:26] Speaker C: So great, great tip. Great tip.
[01:16:29] Speaker A: Well, Amy, thank you so much for coming on our live show, hanging out with us a little longer than normal to share your, your fabulous experience on the Destiny for everyone out there listening and watching.
Once again, if you're listening to the show after the fact, please head over to YouTube. You can check out the great photos that Amy shared through her slide presentation.
So head over there and check it out if you want to see the visuals. We will be back next week at our regular time.
I got this coming. I got it coming.
[01:16:57] Speaker B: I know. But also, you don't know this, but Rob is coming too, Brian.
[01:17:01] Speaker A: Oh, yes.
[01:17:02] Speaker C: All right.
[01:17:03] Speaker A: I won't be totally outnumbered on the next episode. That's great.
So Kaylee and Rob will be back talking about their recent experience in concierge. We're gonna be checking in on the Disney Treasure to see how things are going over there with the second newest ship in the ship.
[01:17:16] Speaker B: And they'd never been on the Treasure before, so this is their first sailing on the Treasure and they sell concierge. So we're gonna cover treasure experiences, we're gonna cover concierge experiences. And of course, she is our very own travel advisor, so she's got all the deets. She is a wealth of Disney knowledge and it's gonna be such a fun discussion, especially because we'll have Princess Rob joining us. Yes, that's what we call him. Princess Rob.
[01:17:43] Speaker A: Rob, I'm here for you, man. I'm here for you. I got you. I got you. All right, Amy, thank you once again, thank you everyone out there for watching and listening. And with that, we will say, see you next time.
[01:17:54] Speaker C: Thank you, friends.
[01:17:59] Speaker D: Well, thanks everyone, everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern, over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars 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 forward/dclduo or email them at DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to get connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things, full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also has a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog.
[01:19:19] Speaker A: Articles that we've written.
[01:19:20] Speaker D: So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email
[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the the podcast and in no way reflective use of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent.
[01:19:56] Speaker A: Thanks again for listening and we'll see.
[01:19:57] Speaker D: You next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.
[01:20:01] Speaker B: Good night, Sam.
