Ep. 635 - Bonus Show - Disney Adventure Shakedown Cruise: A First Look at Disney's Newest Ship

[00:00:00] Speaker A: And a lot of the cast members were newer, but you could tell they were all very excited for this product. As far as the other guests go, the term interesting would go about every time we talk to somebody. [00:00:30] Speaker B: Welcome back everybody, to a very special episode of the DCL Duo Podcast brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. And since it's a special bonus episode, I also just want to show some love to our friends over at the WDW magazine, the DCL magazine. You can visit them at dcl-magazine.com and subscribe today using code DCLDUO all caps if you want to get 10% off your subscription or anything else they have in that store. But we're going to skip all the sort of the pleasantries and welcome a very special guest to the show who we're excited to have on Jeremiah from Laughing Place. Welcome, Jeremiah. [00:01:06] Speaker A: Thank you guys for having me. And I'm very excited to be on the show. [00:01:10] Speaker C: Yeah, we're excited to have you. We got to have you earlier than we were expecting. We are still scheduled to have you on for our live episode on Monday, March 22. Is that right, Brian? I think that's right where we're going to be talking about the maiden voyage of the Disney Adventure. But Jeremiah, you ended up with kind of a last minute opportunity to get on a preview sailing of the Disney Disney Adventure. And apparently those folks are no longer under embargo from Disney. So you're now allowed to talk about it. And we're so excited to get to talk to you first. This is awesome. [00:01:47] Speaker A: So as you said, I'll give a little bit of the background A week prior to this. I've just got off the ship. A few days ago I was on there for nine nights. And a week prior to that I had a friend who's a cast member get an invite to do a test cruise, which is just kind of a shakedown cruise. And it was from Tokyo to Singapore. So my trip that was going to be a quick trip to Singapore to do three days, turned into a quick trip to Tokyo to do nine days, sit in Singapore now for almost a week and then get back on the ship. So this adventure, pun intended, has been pretty epic. [00:02:32] Speaker C: That's amazing. Yeah, I mean, it is obviously a much longer trip than you originally anticipated. So we're talking to you right now. For those listening, Jeremiah is in Singapore, like at a hotel awaiting the maiden voyage. So he's off of the ship and he will get back on the ship [00:02:49] Speaker B: for the maiden D minus two days and counting for You, I think at this point, Jeremiah, three full days, basically. Ish. [00:02:55] Speaker A: I get back on the ship on Tuesday. Today is Sunday morning for me. I know time travel's difficult time. [00:03:04] Speaker C: Yeah. It's still Saturday. So can you tell us what's going to happen on Sunday? [00:03:10] Speaker A: Best not not to know. [00:03:11] Speaker C: Okay, I agree. I agreed. Well, and for. [00:03:15] Speaker B: This was a. Sorry. This was a shakedown. Sailing Jeremiah. So this was crew only and you guys were under embargo until, I think, like, cast member. [00:03:23] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. [00:03:23] Speaker B: Cast member only. So this. You guys were under embargo until like the 5th or thereabouts. Is that right? [00:03:28] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. This ship or this cruise was, you know, like you said, a shakedown. The cast and their guests all got to experience most everything. There were a couple of things that we didn't get a chance to see or do, but they were also doing a lot of the filming for the commercials. So. [00:03:47] Speaker C: Cool. [00:03:47] Speaker A: We would be standing in one spot and kind of be ushered off to the side as a cute family would be walking past with three cameras on them. [00:03:57] Speaker C: They're like, get out of the shot. We need these picture perfect family to shoot on board. That's hilarious. I kind of love that. Now, were there any media at all on board or was this strictly cast and cast from, of course, Asia cast from the US and their guests? [00:04:16] Speaker A: This was all just cast. And that was one of the things. There was a lot of gray area with me because I know a lot of the people in charge of the media for Disney, and I'm going on it and I've been like, so what can I and can't I do? And everybody kind of said, well, the embargo's on this day. So that's what I'm going with. If all of a sudden you guys get a cease and desist about this, I apologize. [00:04:45] Speaker B: We will talk to our media contacts. Yeah. So, Jeremiah, do you have a sense of how full the ship was for the shakedown cruise? [00:04:55] Speaker A: It wasn't very full. We heard numbers anywhere from 2,000 to 2,500, but there were definitely times where it felt, you know, maybe a few hundred on the entire ship. That's because the ship is so massive. There'd be times where we'd just be standing in spots and be like, there's nobody around at all. This is weird. [00:05:20] Speaker B: If you can say, because I don't want to get you or Laughing place in trouble here, you can say, like, how complete did the ship feel for the shakedown? Were they still doing a lot of work on board or did it feel pretty ready for the maiden. [00:05:34] Speaker A: So I did the media cruise on the Wish, and that's kind of infamous now is the how not to do a media cruise. And the adventure felt more complete than the Wish did on that cruise. Yeah, we'd see stuff. So you'd see people painting. You know, they had a lot of the tech was out there doing different things because this ship is a technological marvel. So we were watching them do things right in front of us. It was really neat. [00:06:08] Speaker B: Wow. Wow. And so you said you did not feel full. And just for reference, for folks out there who are not super familiar with the adventure, I think her capacity hovers around 6,500, 6,700 passengers. So we're talking sounds like more like maybe a third ish full for the shakedown cruise. Does that seem right? [00:06:24] Speaker A: Yeah, if that. Yeah. It was open. Like there were a lot of times where we'd be in a dining room and have one or two tables around us. [00:06:35] Speaker C: Wow. Wow. What does the scale feel like in comparison to being on a Wish Class ship? Obviously we know you've been on the Wish class ships. We were on with you on the Destiny preview. Yeah. Curious. Does it feel like it's three times the size of a Wish Class or two times the size, three times the size of a Wish Class ship? Or does it feel different? [00:06:59] Speaker A: So I've been thinking about this and I'm going to write my review article and I'm going to start off with this type of description, so. Excuse me, I don't answer that directly, but I'm going to give the broader sense. As kids, we were all trained how to do a Disney park via the Magic Kingdom or Disneyland, depending on which coast you're on. You walked in, there was the Hub and spoke. You know where the lands were, you knew where everything was. That's what the other ships in the fleet wish, you know, all the different classes feel like because you know what the feel is. You know, you enter in the grand atrium, you know, there's certain levels, you know, the Walt Disney Theater. This is like walking into Disney's California Adventure for the first time and not having any type of idea of what you're about to experience. It was. It was maddening at times to try to get around. I mean, there. I don't know if you guys have heard, but there's actually one level that doesn't go all the way through. Oh, wow. [00:08:11] Speaker C: We have not heard that. What level is that? [00:08:13] Speaker B: The. [00:08:14] Speaker A: The Imagination Gardens. There's a top level. And then you have to Go downstairs to get to the next level. I believe it's 12 and 11. And I have been walking with a cane. So the best part is they have two sets of elevators. They have aft and forward and nothing midship. So when I would get to that part, I would have to go down the stairs because there is no elevator. There is no walk evator. There is no moving sidewalk. There is no. Nothing interesting. Yeah. So that would be a bit annoying. But the worst part was, and I'm jumping forward a little bit after the shows, the characters would have to be behind the stage to walk off. So they couldn't let you into the. I believe it's the aft elevators. So I would have to wait like five to 10 minutes before I could go anywhere. [00:09:24] Speaker C: Yeah, you either have everybody going to the forward elevators or wait a while before you can access the aft. That's kind of crazy. [00:09:32] Speaker A: And climbing the stairs wasn't the ideal thing for me. [00:09:37] Speaker C: Right? Of course not. Yeah. [00:09:39] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:09:39] Speaker C: Wow. That's crazy. [00:09:41] Speaker B: And give us a sense. I've heard that there is not like the Grand Atrium kind of feel on this ship, that it's a little bit different. And I think it's in favor of that garden space that's. That's up. Up, higher. Yeah, More central. Describe that. Like, how does this compare from a layout standpoint to kind of the more typical ships that we're used to? [00:10:05] Speaker A: So this, you know, the history of the adventure. Disney bought it for pennies on the dollar years ago from a company, and it was designed to be just like the. The giant ships that are out there right now. I mean, it is the 13th largest ship on the O. The Central park or the Grand. The Imagination Gardens area is beautiful. It's a great space, but it is not the atrium. It doesn't have that feel. And that was one of the things when we got on. When you board any other cruise Disney cruise ships, you walk into the Grand Atrium. Welcome aboard the so and so Family. There was none of that. We walked in, they had photo ops, and then we just kind of walked into the ship and then, okay, good luck. [00:10:59] Speaker C: Now, is the signage at least decent for getting around? Because one of the things I think about the Disney ships, if you haven't been on one before, at least there's pretty good signage. And, like, near the elevators, there's those kind of map things that you can look at that help you figure out where you're going. I mean, there are other sort of clues about whether you're going forward or at aft based on, like, the carpet and things like that. But I'm curious how it was other than obviously, you know, beyond the issue of this imagination garden being in the middle, is it difficult to navigate or does it feel like, you know, there's enough signage or enough information to figure out where you're going? [00:11:39] Speaker A: So with the elevator banks they have when you get off on each floor, they have the main things on that floor called out in, you know, letters on the wall. They also have a digital directory that lets you get around. And then as you brought up that nice little ship cutaway map that they have on the other ships, I swear it is the exact same size as the ships on the other one. But this ship is so much bigger. Like the print is so much tinier for it. You know, it wasn't difficult to get around, but it wasn't easy because I think it goes back to the. We know these things in our head of a Disney cruise ship. Not World of Disney, world of Disney 2, Tiana's Bayou. The town square area that they kind of push as the Grand Atrium, but it's really not. That's where guest services and the atrium [00:12:44] Speaker C: statue is, along with the escalators, that Snow White statue. Oh, there are escalators? [00:12:50] Speaker A: Yeah, there are quite a few escalators. The town square area has three banks. And then by the Walt Disney Theater, they have quite a few because they want everybody be able to get up to the upper level to get into the Walt Disney Theater if the lower level's full. [00:13:10] Speaker B: Did you feel the. So how many. Do you remember how many decks total? The adventure is like top to bott 18. 18 and did. Now when you look at it, it looks wide. Does it feel wide when you're on board? Does it feel like there's more like you have to walk further to get across the ship? [00:13:26] Speaker A: It doesn't really feel that wide. We actually when we were pulling into port here at Singapore and they did that beautiful fireworks show that was beautiful for everybody but the people on the ship because they had a ship blocking it. So we could only see the high launches, but they told us to be on one side. And then as we pull and we kind of turned so we had to cut across the other side and it was a pretty quick walk to get over to the other side. The width wasn't bad. The length is what kills it. [00:13:59] Speaker B: Kills it. [00:14:00] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:14:01] Speaker B: Talk to about my senses. And I'm going to import the language from Royal Caribbean here a bit is that they've set this up as sort of a ship of Neighborhoods in the same way that Royal Caribbean has tried to do. Is that fair? And did that help at all with sort of figuring out where you were and where you wanted to be in terms of what if you wanted to do something? [00:14:19] Speaker A: The exact description that should be used for this. And yes and no. I mean, there are certain areas that were very easy to be like, okay, San Fransokyo's here, the Imagination Garden, the reef where Nemo's statue is. Those were easy, but those were also the bigger areas. And then you'd have the smaller areas that. That weren't really called out, that we all were kind of like, yeah, we're going to wherever that is. [00:14:55] Speaker B: I'm also curious, Jeremiah, maybe just for a second here, let's talk about some of the things that you thought. You said it was a technological marvel. So what are some of those things that people are going to find on board that are really kind of pushing that technological? And then kind of a side question here on the technology is, was the Navigator app working for you on board? And was there anything, like, noticeably different about it? [00:15:20] Speaker A: Oh, that's a loaded question. So we'll answer that one in a second. [00:15:25] Speaker C: Okay. All right. We don't even know that this is a loaded question, Jennifer. I just want to put that out there. [00:15:31] Speaker A: The technological stuff, especially in the Imagination Gardens, that is where the main stage is with multiple screens, lights that take up the entire area, and they have popcorn lights that add to it. It was just the entire Imagination Garden is set up to be that moment where you sit in there and go, ooh, this is the Disney part of this Disney ship. [00:16:00] Speaker C: Yeah. And that's where you do, like, deck parties. Right. It's not like shows. There are shows like the Baymax Workout thing and the Duffy and Friends show and the Avengers Assemble, but it's the theater where you're sitting down, you know, and watching, like, a Broadway show perform. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah. It's where on the other ships they have the small. Where they do the set sail party this or the sail away party. This is their main theater, like. And again, one of the things that sets this apart from the other ships is the entertainment. They went above and beyond. But that's something I feel like we should talk about in deeper detail in the next one, because I talk about that stuff for hours. Yeah. But the Navigator app. Yeah. So I don't know if you guys have seen anything that came out of the media yet. This was. We got on the ship and had no clue about anything. Like, they didn't prep us they said, download the Navigator Navigator app. Very basic, just like it is on the other ships. Except if you want to eat, if you want to see a show, if you want to shop, if you want to. I know that there was something else, but I just came. [00:17:22] Speaker D: Oh. [00:17:22] Speaker A: If you want to ride the rides, you actually have to book it on the Navigator app. So it's not like one of the things that really got us was you had the rotational dining, which again, is something we'll get into later. But middle of the day, I really want to go to Ohana's for a burger. You have to go on and do almost like a mobile order where you select your time and you have to go to it. So it wasn't difficult with a small amount of people on there. Like, we could walk up, book it. They'd be like, oh, sure, go ahead and in. But as you mentioned earlier, the size is. It is going to be a nightmare if this is all 6,500 people on there in the middle of the day wanting food. Yes, they'll have. They have the buffet and they have some of the other places open. But if you want Grandma Talas or if you want kebabs or any of that kind of stuff, you could be out of luck. [00:18:36] Speaker C: Wow. So there's a lot of sort of reservation type systems on this ship. Different. Which you don't have on the other ships. Not for food at all. [00:18:45] Speaker B: It sounds like it's for crowd control, like they've got to spread people out. [00:18:48] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And one of the things that we didn't realize until towards the end, because I was asking cast members, you know, the Walt Disney Theater isn't huge. It doesn't look like enough for 3,000 people. So if you want to see the show, you have to make a reservation. [00:19:11] Speaker C: Oh, interesting. [00:19:13] Speaker A: So you could not be able to see, remember, which is, in my opinion, one of the best Disney jukebox shows ever done. [00:19:21] Speaker C: Oh, wow. Wow. You know, Jeremiah, I want to say I actually have heard that you're going to get on the regular sailings that you're going to get assigned. Find a theater, like time that's going to be sort of randomly assigned to you in the app. So I'm. I'm gonna be waiting and looking forward to hearing what, you know, after we talk to you after the Maiden, because it sounds like there's different information as to whether or not you need a reservation versus whether or not they make you a single reservation. So that will be. [00:19:52] Speaker A: Well, the thing about the making or them giving you a reservation Is there is enough space for everybody. [00:19:58] Speaker C: Right, right. [00:19:59] Speaker A: On a three night cruise, they have Seize the adventure and remember. So, you know, there's no way that all 6,500 people can see those shows over two days. And even if they repeat, I don't think the theater is big enough for. To accommodate everybody. [00:20:19] Speaker C: Wow. [00:20:20] Speaker B: Did they give you any indication of whether like for some of these reservation things, like they would put limitations on it, Meaning, you know, hey, you get [00:20:27] Speaker C: one only reserve it once. [00:20:28] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:20:28] Speaker B: You get one of these experience. [00:20:30] Speaker A: Yes, we were getting that. One of the other things you have to reserve is character meet and greet. [00:20:37] Speaker C: Oh, really? [00:20:38] Speaker A: Yeah, we would be getting. We'd try to do like Shelly Mae, but we'd already done Shelly Mae or one of the things I was on there with two of my friends and they did it, but I wasn't there. So even though I wasn't there and they still had the reservation, if I wanted to do it, I would have had to go to guest services, have them cancel my name off of the previous reservation so I could make a new one. [00:21:04] Speaker B: So it's by stateroom almost. [00:21:06] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:21:07] Speaker C: Wow. Yeah. So it's not even by individual person. It's by stateroom. Is that. [00:21:11] Speaker A: Well, you can make it by individual person. [00:21:14] Speaker C: Okay. [00:21:14] Speaker A: Just like with the dining, you know, there were three of us, so one of us would do Ohanas, one of us would do Grandma Tala's so we could meet in the center in and eat together. But it was. You select your name. [00:21:29] Speaker C: Gotcha. Okay. But if you make a reservation for your whole stateroom, but then one person ends up not coming, then you're gonna have to go to guest services to have that sort of like you mentioned, canceled out if you want that person to be able to go back. Wow. This is gonna be like really, really complicated because especially when you're talking about a three or four night sailing. Because making this sounds like, like almost worse than like booking lightning lanes at the park. [00:21:54] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:21:55] Speaker C: That's. [00:21:55] Speaker D: We. [00:21:56] Speaker A: We often call it the virtual queue. And you know, for the Duffy Shop we had to do that the first day. Yeah. [00:22:06] Speaker C: You had a virtual queue for the Duffy Shop. [00:22:08] Speaker A: Yes. And. But then they opened it up to the public in the afternoon. Throughout the rest of the cruise it was kind of open, but they were testing and making sure everybody understands this is your virtual queue for these things. If you want to do this and you want to guarantee that you're doing this, you have to book it. And just like we mentioned earlier, you know, you could just book the Duffy Shop once and then. [00:22:38] Speaker C: So you can't necessarily. You might not be able to go back just depending upon the demand. Wow. So that, that's kind of crazy because if you're going to be. That means your, your entire cruise. If you're on a three night cruise, well, even a four night cruise, you're going to be scheduled to the hilt. I mean you're literally going to be like minute by minute scheduled. [00:22:56] Speaker B: Did you get a sense that like is concierge is a massive offering on the ship? Much bigger than any on the fleet. But I'm curious, did you get any sense of whether they'll have like priority booking, different access. Different access when they get on board? [00:23:10] Speaker A: That I don't know. I did find out that apparently concierge has their own store and then we. So I've been on the concierge on one of the smaller ships and that's a closet. It's what used to be almost a stateroom. This is, I want to say like half a deck is the concierge lounge. I didn't go into it, but you could see it from the walkway and it was just massive. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Wow. [00:23:39] Speaker C: Wow. [00:23:41] Speaker B: How did the spaces. So thinking ahead to this maiden voyage, like the spaces themselves, do they feel like they could accommodate this size of the, you know, the number of passengers? [00:23:54] Speaker A: Okay, I'll just stop you at that right there. [00:23:59] Speaker C: That makes me sad for, for you and other. I mean you, you'll have had the benefit of being on this preview, so you'll have a benefit of seeing a lot of this stuff. But that makes me feel sad for people who are going on the Maiden. Of course they did get 50% off, but they're going, most of them, they're going on the Maiden. And then they might not get to even experience things if things are too crowded. [00:24:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Our first dinner, actually we had multiple dinners at the Animator's Palette. And it's the, you know, you draw your character and then they put it up on the screen. That was because we were there nine nights. I saw that show, I think four times. So if I never have to see that show again, I'm fine. [00:24:40] Speaker C: That's hilarious. We love that show. But I totally understand. If you were to see it four times in nine nights, that might be a little much. Yeah, they probably were just trying to test it as many times as possible. Yeah. [00:24:51] Speaker A: So that dining room is set aside like it's broken up into smaller dining rooms, which is nice. But the walkways to get to the dining rooms. I think I heard dishes drop every Meal I went to because it was so cramped in there. One of the things I don't want to say it's because Disney didn't design this ship, but the elevator banks, I believe there's 10 to 12 elevators in each of the two banks. So that's a big change from the 2 to 4 or I'm sorry 6 in some of the current ones. But that was the only space that I felt like, oh, this will be fine. The pool area. Even with the small amount of people, I know that there was one hot day that that there was no pool available for anybody to get in. [00:25:47] Speaker B: Excuse me. [00:25:48] Speaker C: Wow. [00:25:49] Speaker A: Wow. [00:25:50] 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, Adventured with Disney, Relaxed at Aulani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOMYPATH unwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode. [00:26:49] Speaker C: What I gotta ask about the rides because we know there's three rides up on the top deck, right? There's the Iron Cycle, there's the Groot spin thing and I can't remember, I don't even remember. Car ride, mini car, Pim's racers or something? Yeah. Did you get to experience any of these things? And. And if so or not, I mean I'm curious. You mentioned it's reservation system. Did you get a sense of whether or not how many people are going to get to experience these things on the cruises? Because to me like that Iron Cycle coaster only I think puts two people on it at a time or something. [00:27:29] Speaker A: So the only the Groot spinner was running. And by spinner think of a small Small dumbo and that's that. The PIM cars are cute, but it's just this little mini track. Like you just drive around in the car and I think there were three to four cars at a time on there. [00:27:54] Speaker C: Oh, wow. [00:27:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:56] Speaker C: And then the scale is tiny. [00:27:58] Speaker A: Oh yeah. The iron cycle wasn't running until I saw somebody on the media crew say we're some of the first people to do it. But it hadn't been running. But the capacity for that, like you said, it's two people per cycle. The cycle does two loops around the track. So, you know, even at 90 times. [00:28:23] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:23] Speaker A: Yeah. There is no, there is no way that this will, I don't want to say be a guest satisfier, but if guests are on there to do that, it's, you know, the anger of standing out in the sun. I mean, they have canopies over there. [00:28:43] Speaker C: Right. [00:28:43] Speaker A: But it's up on the 18th level, I believe. So, you know, you are closest to the sun. [00:28:52] Speaker C: Yeah. Wow. I just wonder why. And I don't know if I have heard that this is not going to be an add on. Right. These rides. I actually think this is where Disney. I'm not generally advocating for Disney to, to, to charge more money for certain experiences, but this is like the one exception where you really have such little capacity that this is where it would actually make sense in order to help like decrease your demand to charge a fee for these rides in particular. I'm curious if there was. Did you hear any, you know, talk about that? I. I wonder, you know, because I could see this being a bit of a nightmare when the maiden voyage comes and people want to get on this thing and find out they're not going to be able to. All the reservations have been taken and only like 100 people are going to get on over the whole course of the sailing. [00:29:43] Speaker A: Yeah. No, they're like. We didn't get a feel for any of that. It was very interesting. I've worked in theme parks and I've seen them work on coasters. You know, backstage we would get off the elevator and walk right next to their maintenance bay. [00:30:01] Speaker C: Wow. [00:30:01] Speaker A: I mean this again won't be the case in a few days, but it was watching them get this all working and try to get it together in time. I never even saw a test run of it, so. [00:30:14] Speaker C: Wow. Yeah. And there have been test run videos now. I mean it is working from what we have seen now in these test cruises. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see. [00:30:25] Speaker B: I'm curious, Jeremiah, like what Was the. And, you know, don't have to attribute anything to anybody specific or anything like that, but I'm sure you got a chance to talk to other guests and perhaps some of the crew. Like, did you have a sense of the mood on board the ship? Are the crew excited? Do they feel like they're up to the task? How are other guests receiving kind of the new ship? Did you get a sense of kind of any themes or anything like that coming from the crew or the guests? [00:30:48] Speaker A: So the crew is Disney 100%. Like, everybody is excited, energetic, can't wait for it. We're doing this their best to make sure everybody was being accommodated as much as possible. [00:31:02] Speaker C: I love that. [00:31:02] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, again, there are certain things that you can't teach Disney and the cast members on there, and a lot of the cast members were newer, but you could tell they were all very excited for this product. As far as the other guests go, the term interesting would come about every time we talk to somebody. There would be the, so what do you think? And it'd be the pause and the interesting. Yeah, you know, we, again, we could spend hours talking about that just word alone and how it fits on this ship. But I think one of the biggest problems with all the guests that were on there, or at least all the guests I've spoken with, they had all previously been on a Disney cruise, so they know what the other ships are. This ship is thousands of miles away from any of the regular Disney ships. Most people coming out of Singapore or Asia have not been on one of the previous Disney cruises. So again, you don't know what you were missing or you don't know what is different. [00:32:19] Speaker B: But it's interesting to think about that thought experiment for one second when you think about, okay, well, we've sailed on all the other Disney ships. We go over to Singapore. We've prepared for different. Right. [00:32:30] Speaker C: I mean, we were prepared for different on the Wish, but it wasn't that different. Right. [00:32:34] Speaker B: I guess my point is to take this in the reverse. Does this work in Disney's favor as a marketing tool to get any of the Asian audience over to the US On a Disney ship? Or are they going to leave feeling like, well, if this is what Disney Cruise Line is, is not sure, you know, like, I'm trying to figure out how this ship works in that way? [00:32:52] Speaker A: I don't think that there will be. Well, I mean, one of the biggest crossover, not crossovers is, you know, that's why Disney built Park in Hong Kong, park in Shanghai, because this Asian The Asian mainland wasn't traveling to the US or to Paris or to Tokyo. So having this ship here, I think will do the job that's needed. I don't think it'll drive anybody going, you know, I really want to go to Florida to go on the Wish. But there's always a possibility. It is a ship that is very different than anything I've experienced. I know people that have been on the other the Princess Cruises, the ones that have these Grand Central areas or the Central park areas, and they're all very excited for it. But to me, that it's just not the Disney ship I want. [00:33:52] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:53] Speaker B: Let me ask this before we move into a kind of a penultimate question here, which is, Jeremiah, what were like three things that you experienced on board that you're like, wow, this would bring me back to this experience. And maybe what were three things where you were like, I really hope they get that. That fixed in the near term. [00:34:12] Speaker A: So the three things that would bring me back is entertainment. Entertainment. Entertainment. [00:34:17] Speaker C: Wow. [00:34:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Even the Seize the Adventure is a little different than the ones on the other ship. They changed out one of the characters. But the Remember show I fell in love with. It is amazing. The Avengers Assemble show is probably one of the best like that type of shows I've ever seen. Even Duffy and the Friendship, which I'm a Duffy fan, but this show was so cute and they do an excellent job of making sure the entertainment is at the Disney level. Remember is Broadway level. Easy. [00:35:03] Speaker C: Wow. [00:35:04] Speaker A: There are things that we'll talk about the next show. Just reminds me me to go into detail about Remember because that is just my favorite show. [00:35:13] Speaker C: Oh, I'm so. I have to tell you, I'm so excited about that Jeremiah I'm wearing. I wore my Duffy shirt in honor of today's show. A friend of mine got this. Duffy and friends from Hong Kong, Disneyland. I love Duffy and Friends, so I'm super excited for all of that. Where are the areas you think that they're going to as Brian and us? Like, they've got to sort of fix or rejigger right where they haven't quite figured out. Maybe it's the operational. Maybe it's just. Just the way that the ship is built. I don't know. But what are the. You know, you mentioned, of course, the. The lack of, you know, easy access to get out of the imagination garden. I'm wondering if there are any other things you sort of notice that maybe just need to be rejiggered. [00:35:57] Speaker A: Well, the. The small dining rooms, the grandma Talls, Mowglis. Those are one door in, one door out. I'm sorry, same door in, same out. You have to walk up, you have your reservation, they let you in, you go up, you order, they give you a pager. There's a small seating area inside, but again, most of the people are in there, so you have to go outside. So trying to get back in and out through that door, not just when you did your first reservation, but to go to pick up your food. And the soda fountains are plentiful on these ships. That's one of the things I should mention. They have them quite often, but they're not the easiest things to get to. Like next to the three dining area or three quick service, there's one soda fountain. And it very quickly will back up the space. I mean, I can just say the space is the overall is the main concern for it. But the dining needs to. They need to figure out some way to do something, even if it's just start doing mobile order. You know, bringing into the parks the walkways to your room. You know, I think of all the other ships and how the carpet's themed, the lamps are themed, the fish extenders are themed. This is a hallway. [00:37:37] Speaker C: Oh, that's such a bummer. Because I love like all of the. I feel like one of the things I love about all of the ships, but especially on the wish class, is how amazing the artwork and the carpets are and all of the, you know, sort of theming in those just walkways. I mean, really. And so that's sad to me that this is not the same on the adventure. [00:37:58] Speaker A: No, I mean, they have artwork next, the elevator banks. There are two sets of stairs on each side, and each of those have individual artwork. Some are just breathtaking. They have some beautiful Avengers artwork. And of course, art on demand is on the ship. So if you want it, buy it. [00:38:19] Speaker C: Right, right. Of course. Disney knows how to sell you stuff regardless. [00:38:24] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:38:25] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:38:25] Speaker A: It's not. There's just no theming to it. You could be in any hallway in any hotel or on any ship. And then the third part, sadly goes to the room. [00:38:42] Speaker C: I have heard they really didn't do much to the rooms. Like, the rooms are exactly as they were built for the Global Dream, which was the ship that was originally this built and called. Yet they just put up some Disney. Disney artwork behind the bed. Right. The headboard. And that's pretty much it. That's what I've heard. I don't know. [00:39:03] Speaker A: They have the headboard and then they have one piece of art above the couch. And the piece of art is just absolute basic. We walked in and went, you know, this is not a Disney room. I mean, the nice thing is they don't have the problem that they have in the wish class with the TVs that are in front of the bed. They have massive of TVs. Again, all the Disney on demand. We probably watched so many Disney movies on this. But that the room, you know, the artwork is the first part. The. They have the split bathroom, so they have the sink and they have the toilet and then they have the shower. But the doors. And this is again, this is on the test cruise. They were so loud because they're glass doors with metal hinges. And the glass door weighed so much. Trying to open it like it would wake up everybody. But that's again something that'll be fixed. But the room itself, it's just there, isn't the. Ooh, this is really beautiful. It's just a room. [00:40:15] Speaker C: It's just a room. [00:40:16] Speaker B: I forgot to ask. When we talked about signage and the crew a bit, we had heard that, you know, the ship's aimed at the, the Asian audience. Was the sign, I mean signage in English, I assume was, was one of the languages represented. And did you. Was the crew fairly English fluent? If you were going to go over there from the States to sail on [00:40:34] Speaker A: the ship, everything from the shows to the cast members to the crew to the signs, all English? [00:40:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:40:44] Speaker A: Nothing in any Asian language at all? [00:40:49] Speaker C: Yeah. And I think that's not super surprising only because, well, one, in Singapore, like one of the main languages is English and then two, you've got so many different Asian languages, right. Like even, you know, even just from like China, you've, you know, multiple languages. So you, you really, you know, you have to have sort of one universal language. And I hate to say it, but over in Asian, a ton of people speak at least some amount of English. Right. And so if you're going to pick sort of a universal language and you're an American based company, let's be honest, even though of course the ships aren't flagged in the us it does still make sense probably to pick English as your language for signage, for menus, for shows, all that kind of stuff here. [00:41:36] Speaker B: Jeremiah, I got one more ticky tack question for you, which is, was it an in person mustard drill? Because that's a lot of people to haul out for the mustard drill. [00:41:44] Speaker C: Oh my God. That's a great, great question, Brian. [00:41:46] Speaker A: It is the normal muster drill. Everybody gather in their locations. This Funny story, because this is how fresh the crew was. There isn't. It's not like the other ships where it's small so you can figure out where your letter would be. This was. We needed to find where our letter was. We were in the town square area, stopped to talk to one cast member and. And she was doing the true Disney. I'm not gonna tell you. I don't know. She's pulling out her little book, she's doing everything. In the meantime, there's like 50 guests trying to find out where else they're going or where to check in. And finally we're like, we'll go. And then we went outside and found our spot. And it was, you know, it took a little while for that. And the weird thing was, and I don't know if this was miscommunication on the ship or what was going on. We were on the outside. We are done with our muster drill. We walked in and walked past people still gathered in their muster station, like waiting to check in, even though we heard the horns and everything. So I don't know what that was, but yes, 6,500 people for that muster drill will be long. [00:43:05] Speaker C: Yeah, it will be a challenge for sure. [00:43:07] Speaker B: Let me ask the $10,000 question here, Jeremiah, which is, you know, you're a Disney Cruise line fan or a Disney fan and you're thinking about flying to Singapore to get on this ship. Seems like there's kind of maybe three answers to this question, although you can come up with a fourth or a fifth as you see fit. But it's like, you know, yes, definitely, this is a ship that you should experience. No, definitely not. This is a ship you should not experience or it may not, may not be the right thing for you. Stick to the US Based fleet. Or there's a third answer, which is, it might be a great ship, but give it some time before you head over to sail on her. What's your thought here for the our mostly us audience? Some international, but mostly us. Should we be rushing to get on this ship or should we let it breathe a little bit before we decide to sample it? [00:43:57] Speaker A: So I'll go with a fourth answer. And this should be beneficial to all travel partners. Book an Asian tour of Disney. Do Shanghai, do Hong Kong, do the cruise. You know, spend a three day cruise or a four day cruise is not something you're flying halfway around the world to do. I mean, if you are good on you. [00:44:22] Speaker C: But [00:44:26] Speaker A: it is four hours to Hong Kong from Singapore. You can go to that park, you can do the other parks? Do all the Asian parks? Knock it out and throw in the adventure. If I didn't have that fourth answer, I would say maybe give it some time, hear what people have to say as it gets more seasoned, and then make your own decision. I will say that this was never a thought in my head that I would travel over here to go on a cruise. And again, this is based off the test cruise. I probably would not come back out for it. [00:45:14] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, well, and you're already there. You're staying there, of course, for the maiden. But you did mention, of course, that the entertainment is top notch. So I think for folks who are like, really like into that entertainment side of things, that's. I think it sounds like that's the main draw. And then of course, if you're really into Duffy and friends, let's be honest, I mean, you know, you gotta go to Asia to see them. Except for maybe a little stop at Elani. And you only get a limited amount of Duffy and friends over there to [00:45:43] Speaker B: set us up here for the next show. Leave our audience wanting just one more bite. What's something, Jeremiah, that you're really looking like? Sounds like you gotta prioritize. So what are your top, like one or two priorities here for the maiden that you just. You have to do. Recognizing the maiden will carry with it all kinds of special stuff as well. But yeah, like, what's the thing you saw where you're like, when I get back on, I gotta try that out. [00:46:06] Speaker A: I would love to try to do the coaster, you know, because that's something unique. And it's the longest coaster on a ship. And I heard that commercial so many times. [00:46:18] Speaker C: Yeah, same. [00:46:19] Speaker A: But I'm looking forward to that. And honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing the same shows that I already saw. I saw, remember, twice. I am all about seeing that a third time. I will also tease this. The one thing that I am not looking forward to is the food. [00:46:40] Speaker C: Oh, interesting. [00:46:41] Speaker B: We're definitely not going to get into that because I was going to ask about food, but now I want to hold it. [00:46:45] Speaker C: I want to hold that off until the next show. We'll get more of a deep dive. And especially because you'll have additional experiences to report on. This is great. I mean, you're getting, what is it, 11, no, 12 nights on the ship over the course of a couple of weeks, which is, I think, I mean, we. We sort of had that with the destiny. Right. We had the. The three night preview that we did, but you were on. And then we were on for the maiden and the second voyage. And so that gave us 11 nights to be like, okay, we can really judge. I think it's really hard to judge a ship based on one sort of preview and especially a shakedown right where they're still, they're really trying to work out the operational kinks. That's the whole point of these practice cruises is essentially what it is. And so I think it'd be really great to hear, you know, what it is to experience it really on the other side as a complete guest, you know. So we're looking forward to that. [00:47:42] Speaker B: So by way of reminder to everyone out there listening, Sam did have the date off by I think one day. So I just want to put it out there. If you want to hear more from Jeremiah, we're going to have him back live March 23, which is Monday night, our regular live episode time. If you're listening to this and you can't make our lives, don't worry. We always put them out on the regular podcast channel. This will be no exception. But if you want to join live and hear all about Jeremiah's more in depth on Jeremiah's experiences on the adventure and more about the maiden voyage and all the special stuff that happens there, be sure to mark your calendars. March 23, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern. Jeremiah, we love Laughing Place. Do you want to let folks know how they can find you? You write great stuff over there at the Laughing Place blog. So like do you want to put a plug in here for laughing place? [00:48:29] Speaker A: Well, laughingplace.com, we are one of the oldest Disney fan websites. So we've been around for quite a while socials. We're laughingplace. We still do quite a bit on Twitter, our Instagram, we have TikTok. Everything is up on you know, we have go to our. If you want a sneak preview at some of the shows you may not be rushing out to Singapore to see. We have some of the videos of the shows not remember but up on our YouTube channel. And that's just Laughing Place. [00:49:05] Speaker D: Awesome. [00:49:05] Speaker C: Awesome. [00:49:06] Speaker B: Well, Jeremiah, exactly. [00:49:07] Speaker C: I'm gonna go watch them right now. Cause I need to see the Duffy friendship. Yeah. [00:49:12] Speaker B: And Jeremiah, thank you for taking time out of your trip to come on and do this little teaser for us. And I wish wish you safe sailing and hope you enjoy the rest of your time over there in Singapore. And we can't wait to talk to you on Monday, March 23rd. [00:49:25] Speaker A: Thank you. I'm looking forward to being in the same time zone as you guys too. [00:49:29] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. [00:49:32] Speaker A: All right, [00:49:38] Speaker D: Well thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us live, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor, My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypath unwinding.com DCLD Duo or email them at DCLDuo mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all 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 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 articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email [email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL 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 podcast and in no way reflective. Use the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions 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? Thanks again for listening. And we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL duo. [00:51:51] Speaker C: Sam.