[00:00:00] Speaker A: We went to the morning one, so Rowan was gracious enough to go with me, you know, because my kids are outside of Bluey age, but.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Well, outside episodes because I have a blue heeler dog, so.
[00:00:10] Speaker C: So Sam. Sam's well outside of blue age.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: I'm well outside of blue age, and I love blue age. Yeah, even Nathan likes Bluey. And he's not their target audience either.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: Funn.
[00:00:33] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and Sam, it's jingle time.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: That's right.
Simply the best.
Better than all the rest.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: All right, continuing our streak of Canadian reviews, we are headed over to a review from Rufkim.
Rufkim. I'm gonna say Ruf Kim is what they're going for. Who writes one of the best Disney podcasts. This hardworking duo puts out a regular schedule of interviews and discussions about all things dcl. Great selection of guests and well produced. Keep up the great work. All right.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: Short and simple.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Love it.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Jeffrey R. I like it. Yeah, that's a good one.
You know, I feel like when people compare us to, like, other Disney podcasts, like, I'm always very humbled because there are so many great Disney podcasts out there in the community. Obviously there's not as many Disney CRU cruise line focused ones, but there's lots of general Disney podcasts that do dabble in cruising. So super honored to be compared to that platform of amazing creators out there.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Well, it says best Disney Cruise Podcast does not say best Disney.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Oh, I thought it said Disney Podcast.
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Okay, don't pat yourself on the back too hard there.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: All right.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: Appreciate it nonetheless.
Either way, this is also from, like 2021. Samantha, this review rolled in.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: So, you know, and we weren't that good back then, so
[00:02:00] Speaker C: we were decidedly not. All right, well, thank you for that review. We really appreciate it.
[00:02:04] Speaker D: As always. Remember, one of the easiest ways to
[00:02:06] Speaker C: help support the show, head over to Apple Podcast, hit those five stars, and if you also leave us a written review with your 5 stars, then we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. You can also hit the stars, the thumbs, all the things, the. Whatever they're called, the heart, the. On all the platforms. We appreciate it all. Maybe I'll head over to Spotify one of these days and see if they have written reviews and we can read some from there. But for now, thank you so much for the review. And Sam, over to you to intro our guest and topic for Today, Yes,
[00:02:35] Speaker B: I'm super excited to welcome first time guest to the show. Not first time cruiser, but second time cruiser to the show. Welcome to the show, Melissa.
Yeah, we're excited to have you too. Thanks for reaching out. As. As we try to remind people occasionally the way to become a guest on our show is just to reach out to us. You can do that through our website or via email in either way. And we have a booking system booking a recording with us and we love to have new folks on. I always encourage people, if you want to be on the show, reach out like two to three months, I kid you not. Now, two to three months before your cruise now, because we actually our booking calendar books up about two to three months in advance nowadays. But we love having new folks on and of course repeat guests as well. But Melissa, it's so good to have you on. I know you had cruised once before.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: Once.
[00:03:28] Speaker B: Actually you cruised twice prior, but once. This was your second Disney cruise. But tell us like first, where does the love from Disney come from? And how did you first get into cruising?
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
So definitely grew up through the renaissance of the Disney film time. And my grand folk were, you know, very into Disney. They had all the VHS's. But Disney kind of has a special place in my family's heart. Quick story, my grandfather had a nose surgery and the doctor messed up, ended up hitting his membrane and had like a brain leak that we didn't know for I don't know how many days, but for days. So he had to have emergency brain surgery, lost his sense of spell. And so with that you also lose a lot of taste in things. And then he had to emergency, you know, sort of retire. So kind of lost his sense of purpose and you know, went into a state of depression from that. And I was four or five. I was the only one that really could get him to take his pills, go do things. And then as any kid would, there was an ad for Disney World on the tv. And I said, grandpa, can you take me to Disney? And he said yes. And that kind of gave him a renewed sense of purpose and he started working on his Travco motorhome from the 60s 70s, got it up and running and we went from Michigan to Florida and he took me to Disney World when I was five.
Wow, that's kind of what he needed.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Yeah, he needed like that little, kind of, he needed that little grandbaby to be like, I need you around grandpa and I need to do something fun with you. That's. Oh, that's Such a sweet story. You know, that's crazy. Brian and I were literally just talking about somebody else who had one of those where they.
[00:05:12] Speaker C: This happened to my dad and a guy that worked with my dad. Yeah. And he was like in the office after some nasal surgery and then all of a sudden just like clear fluid just started leaking out of his nose. And yeah. Turned out that they had similar. Similar to your. Your grandfather sounds like. So. Yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Craziness. Yeah. Okay, so you. You guys caravan down to Disney from Michigan. Now, was this a repeat trip? Like, did you do this several times or was this a one of those one in once in a lifetime one and done kind of a things?
[00:05:41] Speaker A: It was a one and done, you know, as.
And then I took my boys when they were. It was actually during COVID that we went. So it was kind of a unique experience doing that. So they were like young teenage at that point. So that was the first time. And then we've been either Disneyland or Disney World every year kind of.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: At least they haven't always gone.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: But I've.
So you caught the bug hardcore. And then jumped into dcl. Now when was your. Your first Disney cruise? And then I know, I think you had said you. You took a cruise on another line as well.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: Yes. So I did my first Disney cruise in 2022. So kind of coming back up from the pandemic. It was Alaska on the Disney Wonder was amazing. The boys.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Oh my God. You started like, you started like the top of the game, Melissa. Like you can only go downhill if you start with Alaska.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: Right?
Well, you know, it was supposed to be the dream. So I finally actually did my dream cru.
We're supposed to be on the Dream. And then Covid happened and then we rescheduled to the Wonder in Alaska. So and I coupled that with an adventures by Disney. So we did the Southern California and then went over to Vancouver and did the Alaska cruise.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Oh, wow. So yeah, I mean, you did it up like really big for your first cruise, your first abd and your first cruise like back to back. That's amazing. All right, well what led you to book the Disney Dream for this recent three night cruise out of Fort Lauderdale?
[00:07:20] Speaker A: Yeah, so they ran that sale where it was like the third and fourth guest was free. So I was like, that sounds like a really amazing deal. And so I found this one here.
It would line up where they would only miss just a little bit of school, being in high school. Try to be careful of that. So lined up really nicely. So I did it as A Christmas gift for my boys. Trying to focus more on experiences than stuff.
So they received the cruise as their Christmas gift. And I must have been a little psychic because we were gone during like the big polar vortex that we had here in Michigan. So we missed that extreme cold. So they only ended up missing two days of school due to the.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Oh, because of the snow days. Which, which you guys don't actually get a lot of snow days in Michigan because you actually know how to handle snow. But unlike a lot of the rest of the country, you guys can actually handle snow. But wow. Okay, so how old are your boys? I know they're in their late teens, but how old are we talking about?
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Yeah, so My oldest is 18 and my youngest is 17. So they're 16 months apart.
[00:08:24] Speaker B: Yeah, so they are like right at the, the edge of even being. I'm one is an adult, technically speaking. I mean they're, they're adult prices on Disney. But so is our son Nathan. He's at 12. If you're older than. I think it's nine for at least for the parks. I think for the, I think for the cruise line It's. Is it nine or is it 12, Brian? I can't remember. Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
[00:08:46] Speaker C: But anyway, I think it's 13. I was like the DVC points chart, I think it's like 13 and up counts as an adult. It's like something to 12, 13 and up.
[00:08:54] Speaker B: Yeah, but Disney like basically considers you an adult after Disney in general considers you an adult when you're like older than nine. It's kind of.
[00:09:02] Speaker D: I've been smarter.
[00:09:03] Speaker C: When I was a kid, I would have gone into a bar and said, well, I'm an adult, give me a drink.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Right? Yeah. Yeah. Well now what was the reaction from the 17 and 18 year old when you said, hey, Merry Christmas, we're going on a Disney cruise. Like were they. I mean not every 17 and 18 year old boy in particular is going to be excited to go on a Disney cruise. But there are plenty who would be, I think, I mean Nathan at 12 is excited to go on a Disney cruise. So. Yeah. What was their reaction to that?
[00:09:34] Speaker A: Yeah, it definitely wasn't as cute as like you know, a 7 or an
[00:09:37] Speaker B: 8 year old
[00:09:39] Speaker A: that maybe you have been my fantasy. But that quite happened. No, they, I got tickets made on Etsy, you know, to say like you're going on a cruise. And they were like super nervous about losing the ticket. I'm like, it's fake, you can't.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Oh, they thought it Was like a real, like, ticket. This is what you need in order to get on the ship. No, no.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Need your passport and you need the QR code, but you do not need a ticket. Nope.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: So they, I think they were a little overwhelmed maybe for a second. But then like when they started to realize, oh, I get to miss some school and you know, we get to kind of go away, then they were a little bit more excited.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Oh, nice. That's awesome. Now, are they big Disney fans too? I mean, you're obviously a big Disney fan, but are they big Disney fans?
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep, I think so. Especially my oldest. He's really into kind of the history and, you know, some of the pop culture stuff around it. And then my youngest, you know, loves all the Marvel and the Star wars and, you know, all that.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Awesome. Now this three night sailing out of Fort Lauderdale on the Dream, did you go, what was it? Castaway, Lookout. Like, did you have a port stop?
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Yeah, so we had two port stops, Nassau and Lookout.
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Right. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. That itinerary, because it's the dream has been, you know, doing all different kinds of things. You know, sometimes she's doing four nights, sometimes she's doing five nights, sometimes she's doing three nights. So she actually has changed up her itinerary. I feel like a little bit more than some of the other ships. And she is the ship that there have been some really great deals to be had on. Now, this wasn't a Marvel Day at Sea cruise, was it?
[00:11:16] Speaker A: No.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: No, no. That would have been cool, but. Nope.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, what, if any, planning did you guys do for this cruise? It was just the three of you, right?
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. Yep. So I knew that we weren't going to get off in Nassau, so I wanted that to kind of be our At Sea Day.
So we stayed on even though we've never been there. But I just wanted that kind of At Sea Day. And I wasn't really any challenging time to book what we wanted, so I, you know, did it right away, but I was able to get even Bean Silver palo brunch. So I did that with Rowan, my oldest. And then I also signed up for a liqueur and chocolate tasting and had no trouble getting any of those things. I didn't try for a cabana, but sure, sure.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: I mean, I look out. It's, it's not impossible, but it's not easy to get a cabana. It's becoming easier, a little bit easier at Castaway because of the new Mickey and Minnie cabanas. Being added. But still it's not.
And you wouldn't have been able to do a Serenity Bay cabana, which generally speaking, it's a little bit easier to get adult only cabanas and Serenity Bay at both of the private island locations. But just because you have a 17 year old, that obviously isn't going to work. But that's awesome that you were able to book Palo Brunch. Now I imagine that that was on Nassau day because you didn't actually have a sea day. Yeah. So for those listening, if you are on a sailing that has no sea day, meaning you only have port days, but if you have but you're going to Nassau as one of those t typically what DCL will do is they will offer Palo Brunch on that Nassau Day.
It is really the only port where they tend to offer that. That option.
So if you're on a sailing that has a sea day, that will be your day for Palo Brunch. If you want to book Palo Brunch.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Did you have a pirate night on your sailing?
[00:13:09] Speaker A: We did. Yes, we did. We didn't have the pirate menu, but we had the fireworks and the deck show.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Yeah. So because he had a three night sailing, obviously you're only going to have one night in each of the restaurants. And Brian asked about pirate night because oftentimes if you've got a shorter sailing, there are some things that you may or may not have time to do. Right. Like it is, it is one of those kinds of sailings where everything's kind of shoved into those three days. So it's really, really packed. Three days of sailing. Well, let's talk about getting down to the port. You're of course having to fly to Florida from Michigan unless you're. Are you taking like a caravan like your grandp did?
[00:13:47] Speaker A: No, we definitely flew.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
All right. Well, Melissa, when did you fly into Florida?
[00:13:55] Speaker A: Definitely the day before.
So that was kind of part of my planning is we had a early flight. It was like 7am so we were going to get to Florida still, you know, in the morning time. So what, you know, we were going to do for the day and things like that. So it's only about a two and a half, two hour and 45 minute flight. So it's not bad. A little longer than Orlando. But we stayed at the home, two suites by Hilton.
So they had a airport shuttle and they technically had a cruise, one you could pay for. But we didn't use that. It was cheaper to do Lyft or Uber for the Port, but very nice hotel. Our room was actually ready when we got there, which was great.
And then we went to a place called Gramps Restaurant, which is the, Like a deli, and they're only open for breakfast and lunch. And they were on Diners Dive. Diners Drive Ins and Dives.
That's one thing I love doing when I travel is look up what TV food was around in the area. And then we tried going to those restaurants. So we went there and had matzo ball and.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Ooh, yeah. Okay, Brian, put this on your list.
We got to put this on our list, Gramps.
[00:15:04] Speaker C: Sure, sure. I'm adding it to the list of everything that you've said add to the list from the show.
Sorry, where was this? Out in the, like, Cocoa beach area or where?
[00:15:12] Speaker B: No, no, Fort Lauderdale, Brian.
[00:15:14] Speaker C: Oh, Fort Lauderdale. Sorry, sorry. Dream. Yes, Fort Lauderdale. My bad.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So now was this walking distance to your hotel or did you have to take a Lyft or Uber to the restaurant too?
[00:15:25] Speaker A: We took a Lyft or Uber. If you were feeling, you know, ambitious, funky, spunky.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: I like that. Spunky.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: You could have probably walked. Yeah, but streets there are a little intense.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: But yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, we have, we have. There's a. Traffic in Fort Lauderdale is no joke. It's not, it's not. It's not a quiet sleepy town that you might think it sounds like. Yeah, there's. There's a lot of, A lot of traffic out there.
Well, that's pretty cool. I, we, I have to say, we, we do enjoy Diners Drive Ins and Dives ourselves. Big fans of that show and always looking for good food to try. I think that's.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: No reservations is also a good one to check.
Yeah. And then man versus food
[00:16:13] Speaker B: is when you want like those huge. I mean, I know you can go to the restaurants and not order those. Like, yeah, ten pound hamburgers, but like.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: Or the spiciest chicken wings in the world kind of thing, right?
[00:16:23] Speaker B: No, yeah, that would not sit well with. We're not gonna do that. But I, but I love a diner deli, you know, and some matzo ball
[00:16:30] Speaker A: soup, so that would be absolutely black and white. Cookie was so good too.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Oh, you speak in my love language, Melissa. Oh, my goodness.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: There's also a really cool ice cream place that's just right next door to them that's called Jackson's Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant. And it was really good too. My son was super impressed that you get like free popcorn with your ice cream because he loves popcorn.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: You know, the funniest thing. We were literally on the live show just a few weeks ago. We had our friends Hailey and Drew on and they mentioned Jackson. Jackson's as well, although they didn't mention it by name. And literally today on Instagram, our friend Wesley commented on a post and said, what was the name of that ice cream place? And I had to tag Haley to ask her. So yeah, Jack. So literally just talking about Jackson's today. We have to go. Okay, so now we have like two places we have to go because I need the mozzarella soup at Gramps and I need to try this ice cream and popcorn at Jackson's. I love these tips.
[00:17:30] Speaker C: Need is a strong word.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Need.
[00:17:32] Speaker A: Need.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Well, we're gonna be. We're gonna be back on in December and so we're going to be sailing out of Fort Lauderdale. So it's a perfect opportunity to. To go. But of course it's. You said it's a breakfast and lunch place, so we may have to go.
May have to go before we go get on the ship in the morning or maybe on our back to back day, maybe we actually get off the ship for a couple of hours. God forbid we should do that.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: And nope, Adult pool takeover day.
You can go eat all my cookies you want, Sam.
[00:18:07] Speaker A: I did meet a celebrity this day too, so you're gonna laugh. So we went to the old Florida bookshop where Peter the Cat is a local celebrity.
So you can actually find him all over TikTok too.
So he lives at the bookstore. And if you go to the bookstore when it's closed, they have some books for sale outside and they're like a dollar, two dollars. You put the money through like this little slot in the door and he'll grab the money from you. I don't know where he takes it
[00:18:40] Speaker B: after that, but I've seen one of those videos of him taking when the store is closed of him taking the money from the slot. I absolutely have seen that. That's hilarious. So you met a celebrity, Peter the Cat. I love that. Melissa. That's.
I mean, this is great things to do in Fort Lauderdale. Like it's. It's a bustling metropolis.
[00:19:00] Speaker C: But you know what's sad, Sam, is Peter the Cat probably has more followers than we do, so.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: Oh, probably. I have no doubt. That's okay. I'm not. No shame in Peter's game. All right? Like I, I love it.
All right, well, Melissa, you've got. You spend the day in Fort Lauderdale. The next day you're waking up, you getting ready for your Embarkation day. Like how long did it take you to get to the port? What were the logistics of, of that morning?
[00:19:26] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So we took a lift. Um, it was a little bit cheaper to do that than what the hotel was offering.
But it was only like there's a lot of traffic because there's a different areas of the port. So there's a lot of congestion when we first got there. But without that it probably was like a 10 minute drive from the hotel, which was great. So he was able to drop us off. We had boarding group six, I believe, so it was like 11:30. So we were able to get through everything quick. I did kind of learn something with the check in, so I bought magic bands but I put them in the check bag and instead of bringing them through with me on check in, so they didn't get programmed at check in, I had to go to Guest Services later. So make sure you don't put your magic bands in your check bag.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Yes, yeah. If you put your magic bands in your check bag, it just means you're going to have to take that extra step on board of going and waiting in line at Guest Services. Whereas it's really easy when they do it at the port. They're doing it as part of your check in and so it's literally just an extra step to, for them to code your bands for while they're checking you in. So it maybe adds a minute or two of time to your check in at the port if you do it beforehand, whereas if you do it on board, not that it takes long to code them, it takes the same amount of time to code them on board. It just means you're going to wait in line to Guest Services on board. Because I can tell you I, I have not been on a sailing where there is not a line at Guest Services literally all the time.
[00:20:59] Speaker C: I think if you pick the right time of day, because I have, I have clearly walked up to Guest Services like straight away. But yeah, yes, peak times are terrible. But if, if you know right time of day.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Right. And well and if you, if you go right when you get on board, if you have an earlier morning, if you have an earlier boarding time, you might be okay. But if you have a boarding time that's like kind of in the middle or later, that Guest services line is, that's the longest, is the beginning, beginning and end of the cruise are the two longest times. Because it's. People like dealing with all kinds of issues on the front end and then on the back end is people Dealing with like, like things about having to do with their bill, typically. Like, let's be honest, it's, you know. All right, well, this is your first time sailing out of Florida actually, because. Or selling out of Disney's terminal in Florida in Fort Lauderdale. What did you think of the terminal and the check in process? You had done it in Vancouver, which of course is, you know, a pretty well oiled machine there as well. But like, it's Disney's dedicated terminal in Fort Lauderdale.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it was really nice. They had, you know, cute, like, murals on the wall and yeah, it was great there. Can't complain about anything with the check in process in the terminal. Lots of seating available and, you know, we saw the family of the day and all that, so yeah, it went great.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Awesome. Okay, well, now you get to board, of course, the beautiful Disney Dream. It's your first time on a Dream Class ship. You'd only been on the Wonder previously.
What, you know, what did you think of that beautiful, you know, entry into the atrium, your family name is announced. Like, tell us about that experience.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it was very exciting. So I remembered about the name announcing. I don't think they did because they were a little like, oh, what's going on?
So I had them just say all of our, you know, first names. So that was fun. And she had tried to remember them all, but she did it. And so that was really fun. Very bright in there and, you know, just beautiful. Much bigger. I was just on a Royal ship in the fall and it was one of the smaller ships on Royal, so way different, you know, with the size and how open it is in comparison.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Nice. Awesome. Well, what was your first, like, course of action? Are you, like, headed to cabanas? Are you headed to sit down lunch? Are you headed to the spa? Like, what was your. What. How did your day start on the Disney Dream?
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Yeah, so I wanted to check out the teen area and I was hoping to get them registered, but they weren't open and ready for that yet. But it is a little hard to find the teen area on the Dream. You have to like go outside and around and it looks like you're kind of in a crew area.
We finally found it. They weren't open yet, but it does look cool with like the tunnel and the lights that they have over there. So he knew at least where it was. So then we went to sit down and it was an animator's palette for this.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Nice, nice. Now, dad, you done sit down lunch on your first cruise or did you. Okay, yeah, I. Especially with Teenagers, I feel like. I mean, unless they really love a buffet. Some people really love a buffet and they want the peel and eat shrimp or the crab legs. And I totally understand that. But like, I actually, I think it's such a nice way to start with a relaxing sit down lunch. Animators is a great place to do it. Of course, on, on the dream class, that's where they, they do the sit down lunch. And actually, I think on the magic. Oh no, on the magic class, they do it in either Tiana's a Rapunzel. Rapunzel's. I think that's only concierge lunch, Brian. So Lumiere's and Tritons is concierge lunch, but the regular lunch is typically in Rapunzel's. Yeah, Rapunzel's or Tiana's. But yeah, animation, I think, is a great place to like start your cruise. Well, let's talk about some of the stuff you did on board. Your, your sailing, Melissa. Like, are you guys deck party people? Do you go to the sail away party? Do you go to the pirate night party? Like, what are the kinds of things you guys like to do?
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So me and my oldest especially did like going to all the deck shows and the fireworks because that's the first time experiencing them because we didn't have that with the Alaska cruise.
So we really enjoyed checking that out and seeing the fireworks and the pirate party.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: Awesome. Love that. Now did you guys do like the sail away party too or. Because the sail away party is pretty similar. I mean, it is different. There's. Each class of ships has their own sail away party with very little variation between, let's say the magic and the wonder and then the dream and the fantasy. And then, of course, wish class. There's a little bit of variation amongst the wish class of the sh. The show, the very beginning of that deck party show. But each class has its own, you know, sail. Sail away versus Sail a Wave party.
But did you guys enjoy that? I know I. It's focused. I mean, it is more focused to like those younger kids. But did you guys, did you have a good time at that party?
[00:25:54] Speaker A: We did. Yeah, we did. The only thing that we really missed was the see you real soon. We didn't stick around for all of that.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, totally get that. All right, well, let's, let's talk about some of the other stuff you all did on board. I'm curious with your two teens.
One is a vibe kid. One is an 1820 society kid kid. I mean adult.
But did either of them end up like spending time with their peer groups and, you know, did they enjoy those. The spaces or the activities that were offered?
[00:26:30] Speaker A: So no, it's kind of the short answer. So we did the tour of the, you know, Vibe area, but he thought it was lame.
So they really liked it better on the Wonder, so. Because they have like the arcade stand up games and I don't think they had all of like the PlayStations and the Xboxes and everything out because it was just the open house.
So I encouraged him to, like, go back and, you know, check it out. And then being that it was still a time when school was in, I saw a few teenagers here and there, but I don't think there was a whole lot of teenagers on there. So he did not really spend any time in Vibe and Rowan did not go to any 1820.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Now do your boys get.
[00:27:20] Speaker C: What can I say that. Did that impact your enjoyment of the cruise at all, like, or.
No?
[00:27:26] Speaker A: I generally am like Sam and want to like go and do everything and all the trivias and stuff, so that was okay. I kind of felt bad because the room steward had to like kick him out a couple times, clean the room, so he would like disappear for like an hour and go get food generally.
[00:27:47] Speaker C: But yeah, we have to do the same with Nathan. We have to like, you know, I. Especially when we're sailing on the east coast because it's a little earlier for him waking up and his body clock still feels that it gets at home. And so it's like, all right, buddy, by 10 o', clock, you got to be out of this room so I can clean it.
[00:28:00] Speaker B: And so, yeah, yeah, we're, we're pretty militant about like, you got to get out of the room at least like, for at least a little while. And Nathan, Nathan has, he will. As long as the, the club is open, like the Edge is open. He's happy to, to just play video games all day there, basically. But he's not, as Brian mentioned, not going to be up early. And even if we're up early and sort of ready to go and do stuff, but we're like, yeah, we got to get you out of the room so that the steward can clean our room. Because we don't like to impact their ability to do their job and we like to have our room clean. Let's.
[00:28:35] Speaker A: Let's be honest.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, now, did they. Did the boys end up doing stuff together with you or sort of on their own?
[00:28:42] Speaker A: Yeah, so Rowan did a few things with me. He went to all the theater shows me. He did a couple trivias with me and then they went and saw Zootopia 2 together because we love going to a movie theater. So they went and saw that together and stayed the whole time, which was good.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: Awesome. That's awesome. It's a great. I think it's a great movie. I'm like, I'm a huge fan. I feel like the last actually two premieres at Sea we've seen, I feel like have been so good. It was like Inside Out 2 and Zootopia 2. And I feel like we got really, really lucky. Like they hit a movie both out of the park. So I love, I love a premiere at Sea.
They're just really, really fun to hit up. Now tell us, which trivias are you into?
[00:29:29] Speaker A: I like all different kinds because even if I don't feel like I know a lot about it, I'm still going to learn a lot. So I did like a pirate one. I did 80s music trivia. I did 90s. I missed the 2000s one.
I think there was like a rock one that I did.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: That's a lot. That's a lot. In just three days.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. All right, well, what about that chocolate and liqueur tasting? Tell us about that. That's when we have not actually done ourselves.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah, it was pretty good.
It was very focused on some wines and then there was like one whiskey that they gave us and like a port. So not necessarily drinks I would have chosen for myself, you know, if it wasn't part of this. But I like learning about the history. So he shared a lot of cool information about port and how it's made. And I didn't know to be called port you have to be from a certain region to like champagne. So I didn't know that at all. There was also a really good piece of parmesan cheese that was probably the best.
So yeah, it was really cool. You know, none of the drinks I am hammering for, but maybe that Parmesan cheese.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that Parmesan cheese. It's the same one they serve at Palo.
So, so, so, so, so good.
[00:30:50] Speaker C: Are you listening to our show because
[00:30:51] Speaker D: 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. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disc 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. More magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOYpathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks, mypath unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: Speaking of Paolo, now, you went to Apollo brunch on your Nassau day with Rowan and this, I imagine this was his first time at Paulo. Was this your first time at Paulo? Okay, so I, you. I wasn't sure if you had a chance to go in your Alaska cruise. Cause obviously Alaska, there's like so much to do, of course, off the ship when you're. When you're there.
But. Yeah. So tell us what you thought of Paulo brunch and what he thought of Paulo brunch as an 18 year old.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I think he was a little bit nervous about it at first. I think he felt bad leaving his brother behind because he couldn't go being 17.
But I got him over that. I'm like, it's fine. I'll do it with him when he's. When he's 18.
[00:32:28] Speaker C: Right.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: I'll do with him next year. Exactly.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: This is something special to you and I. So then he was, you know, okay with it.
Our waiter was great and the space was just beautiful. And we had a beautiful view of Nassau from our table. And we could see the Royal beach club and, you know, the gazillion dollar yachts. And it was just beautiful.
The ambiance there.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: What did you think of the food? That's the most important part, Melissa. You know, you know, we. We are big fans of Apollo brunch. We're big fans of Palo, period, but mostly for the food. And so I'm curious what you. What you thought.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: It was amazing. I'm still thinking about a couple of my dishes that I had. Can't wait to have them again. He also thought it was really good. He's not a super picky eater, so. But he also thought that it was really good as well.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: Awesome. I think the great thing about Palo is it's super accessible, too. Like, it is because it's Italian food, and most of the dishes are, like, red sauce based, although not all of them. I feel like, like most, let's be honest, most Americans are used to some level of Italian food, and this is just like, really, like, good Italian food, like, elevated good Italian food. And so it's not really exotic for most people, but it's sort of this elevated version of what a lot of Americans are familiar with. And so to me, that's the. The best thing about Paula, because when you go there, if. Even if you're a picky eater, you're going to be able to find something. I mean, even, in fact, even in our Facebook group, like a week want to say, somebody asked a question about, you know, my husband doesn't eat red sauce. Like, doesn't eat tomato sauce. Like, what can I eat at Paulo? Or what can I tell him to eat at Paulo? And I'm like, oh, here's four dishes. Immediately celery soup, grape and gorgozola pizza. Any of the, like, the egg Benedict dishes, depending upon which one, you know, you. You like. And then there's a great ravioli dish there as well and that. And then, like, there's. I mean, there's other ones too, that. That's just naming, like, like four off the top of my head. Right. Like, even though, of course, for me, I go for the tomato soup and the chicken parm, but there's these other great dishes that don't have red sauce. So. Yeah, love it. Awesome. Well, tell us, what did you think of the. The shows on board? Now, you. You'd been on the the Wonder, so you had seen Frozen, and gosh. Oh, my God, I'm blanking.
[00:34:55] Speaker A: Golden Mickeys.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: Golden Mickey's Wish. No dreams. Disney dreams. Is it with Anne Marie, right? Four. Yes.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: The seventh graders.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. The middle schooler. Yes.
So, but now you're on the the Dream, and you've got Beauty and the Beast.
So please tell me you went to see Beauty and the Beast, Melissa.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Okay, we saw them all. Yep.
[00:35:17] Speaker B: Okay. Awesome. What did you think of the caliber of shows?
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Amazing. You know, they never disappoint. I still think about Frozen with, like, that dress transformation, and then you kind of had that with the Beauty and the Beast show.
Golden Mickey's was a repeat for us, but still, you know, great. It did have some updates from when we saw it on the Wonder, so that was cool. I was a little worried about Believe at first because I'm like, oh, it's kind of like that middle school kid again show. But it was actually way better, I thought, than the other one. The other one was good, but I thought this one was way better and the genie was hilarious.
[00:35:54] Speaker B: Oh, good. Okay. You had a good, good. A good genie. That's important. Very important. Awesome. I love that. Okay, well, we have to talk about Lookout Key because this was your first time. Well, you have not. It's funny you have not been to Castaway yet, but you went to Lookout for the first time.
I, I gotta ask, you know what your impressions were?
Did. I mean, of course you knew about the pier because you listened to our show, so you knew that was coming. You've probably seen videos of it, you know, on TikTok or whatever, right? Like, yeah. What did you, what did you think of Lookout Key?
[00:36:28] Speaker A: Beautiful. Everybody was right about the sand is so soft and in the color as well.
Yes. The pier was long. It felt kind of worse getting back to the ship than it did getting off.
[00:36:39] Speaker B: It always feels worse because you're tired and you're hot, whereas at the beginning of the day you're like, oh, I'm like fresh as a daisy. Ready for the day.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely, Absolutely. We had no trouble getting, you know, spa on the beach. We had to, you know, still be on the family beach with Ashton being 17, but no trouble getting a space. It didn't really seem like anybody else was really struggling to get a spot. A couple flies, you know, near the food, but nothing like what people were reporting early on. So that wasn't bad. And the lines over there at the food was not bad either.
So it didn't seem over subscribed.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Yeah. What did you think of the food quality at the island as compared to like what you get on the ship?
[00:37:21] Speaker A: Of course I did think it was a little lacking. So I don't know if it was just off. Off. We. I did eat a little bit earlier than I wanted to because, you know, the kids were like, we want to eat.
So I wasn't like super hungry, so maybe that was part of the problem. But I was really looking forward to the spicy chicken sandwich and it was like just kind of oniony tasting. Like it just kind of fell flat for me.
[00:37:43] Speaker C: Actually, someone reached out to us today as I think about this. Who they were on the Dream or they're. They were saying they've been hearing reports of like, not great food quality on the Dream from people who have sailed recently. I'm curious, how is the. The quality of food on the ship?
[00:37:57] Speaker A: It was okay. I didn't think it was as good as maybe when I was on the Wonder or like, kind of what I expected.
One thing that was kind of weird and I wanted to bring this up to you guys. So when we went to Royal Palace. Is that the French menu? Yes, Royal Palace. I wanted the Brie and no Brain didn't have it. Nope. So it was like an eggplant roll up. Somebody called it, like, ratatouille. I don't think it was technically ratatouille, but it was eggplant roll up and it was okay. But I was pretty bummed about the Brie.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, it's funny, we. Some. Somebody was mentioning that in our Facebook group that they had not seen the Brie on the Dream, even though it's still on the menu on. On the Fantasy. And it's on the menu every. You know, on the Magic and the Wonder, on that same fretboard. The French menu essentially in, you know, Tritons or Lumiere Night.
But. Yeah. So you don't know what's going on.
[00:38:58] Speaker C: Would it be on the Destiny? I'm wondering if it's like a provisioning issue in Fort Lauderdale that they just can't get a hold of what they need to make it. You know what I'm saying?
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, that could be it. I don't. It's not on the Destiny. It's not on the Destiny. Because it's not. They don't have that menu on the Destiny. So it's.
[00:39:13] Speaker C: I don't know if it was on, like 1923 on one of them.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: No, they have that. There's the.
It's that buffalo mozzarella. No, burrata. There's that burrata dish on the. On that's the kind of. The main sort of cheese dish. I would call it cheese appetizer on the. On the destiny in 1923. But. Yeah. So. Okay, so that's interesting. So the food was not quite obviously, Paulo exempt.
[00:39:37] Speaker A: Right. Exacting.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: You know, so food wasn't quite up to. Now, did you go to cabanas at all or did you really smoke?
Okay. And what was the quality kind of. I mean, I don't. I don't think the breakfast quality is that great to begin with.
[00:39:51] Speaker C: We all know the eggs were bad, so.
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Right. The scrambled eggs. When we say the eggs, we're talking about the scrambled eggs. If you. You can still get made to order eggs, and those are fine, but the scrambled eggs in the vat of eggs are just terrible across the cruise Line. But yeah, what was breakfast at cabanas. Okay.
Yeah.
[00:40:11] Speaker A: Yep. You know, the corned beef hash was not like, very good, you know, compared to like my local corned beef hash place. But the churro Mickey waffles were fantastic and the normal Mickey waffles were. And the bacon was all good. So, yeah, I think the breakfast was fine.
[00:40:25] Speaker C: If you get the churro Mickey waffles these days, it's a win. So, yeah, you know, most of the
[00:40:31] Speaker B: time they're having them. Like, it was only at the very beginning when the destiny first launched that we heard there was. Was like, must have been a provisioning issue because they didn't have them for like the first several sailings, except apparently they had them in concierge, which we heard from friends who sailed in concierge.
[00:40:48] Speaker A: One thing that was kind of weird is they didn't have Diet Coke on the ship, so I didn't know if that was a holdover from when they were in Europe because I know Diet Pop's not really an international thing. They had Coke Zero, and if you asked for diet, they just brought you Coke Zero.
But on the pool deck, the sticker was Coke Zero.
So they did have cans.
Yeah, they did have cans outside of like the movie theater and the Buena Vista Theater, but not Fountain Pop.
[00:41:19] Speaker C: How close was your sailing then to the return from.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: It's a ways after. This was in January, right?
[00:41:25] Speaker C: Yeah, January, yeah.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: Yeah. The return from Europe would have been in.
In October, Brian. So. Yeah, yeah, that wouldn't, shouldn't, shouldn't still impact.
[00:41:35] Speaker C: It sounds like maybe they're having some provisioning problems down there in Fort Lauderdale from everything that you're saying, which you know that they are at the mercy of the local purveyors, so.
[00:41:44] Speaker B: Right. And it could affect the food quality. I mean, that could be something that kind of interesting. All right, well, it's. Well, we're going to keep an ear out for this.
This issue as we. As we record more episodes.
[00:41:57] Speaker C: I did just ask ChatGPT and it says, you know, Diet Coke is the dominant zero sugar col product in the United States, but Coke Zero is the dominant sugar free product in Europe. So who knows? Maybe they overstocked on Coke Zero. They were just trying to get rid of it.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Trying to get rid of it. Trying to get rid of it. Yeah. Now, Melissa, what other stuff did you all get up to on board your sailing?
[00:42:21] Speaker A: Yeah, so we did see Bluey. So we were on Bluey.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: Oh, my God. Okay, so you got to tell us about the events they had, like Two events. They had one that was like a morning event that was like wakey wakey or something. And then there was an evening one that was like a pajama one.
Tell us, which one did you go to? Did you go to both? And what, what, Like, I gotta know what happened. Like, what did Bingo and Bluey do? I love Bingo and Bluey. Like, what did they do?
[00:42:44] Speaker A: We went to the morning one. So Rowan was gracious enough to go with me, you know, because my kids are outside of Bluey age, but.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: Right.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Well, outside episodes because I have a blue heeler dog, so.
[00:42:55] Speaker C: So Sam, Sam's well outside of Blue age.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: I'm well outside of blue age. And I love Bluey.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:43:01] Speaker B: Even Nathan likes Bluey and he's not their target audience either.
[00:43:05] Speaker A: It's funn.
And it was, it was packed in there. There was a lot of kids and parents and there was also some cast members and I think like upper management there to kind of watch it for the first time too.
So, you know, they came out and, you know, did a little like morning wake up dance. And then there was the xylophone and they were like magic xylophone playing.
We did leave before they like, breaked for meeting Bingo and Bluey because I'm like, that's gonna be a little too much. But they're tall.
So when they came out, I said to Rowan, I'm like, can you imagine how tall their mom and dad must be?
They're very big dogs.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: Yeah. That's awesome. I love that you got to, to see that for the first time. Yeah. You know, we haven't, I remember seeing when it first, like when, because it, it broke early. Right. Like they actually came. They were on the dream like a week it had been announced that they were going to be there.
And I think I, you know, somebody, you know, messaged me on social media and told me, but I've only seen, I think, one video, like out there. Tim Tracker had a good video of, of the Wakey Wakey. I think it was what it was called, something like that with Bingo and Bluey, but haven't seen that much out there. So if anyone who's listening, if you're out there and you've got great video of Bingo and Blue, please share it with us. I'd love to see, I'd love to see what's going on on the dream. I, I, it's going to be a.
Before we get back on the dream. And I think right now it's, it's, it's the dream and One other ship that they said they were bringing Bingo Bluey on. I can't even remember which one they had it. They had them on the Wonder for the Australia New Zealand sailings, of course, as well. But I love that you got to do that.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it was really fun. I do have a little footage I can send you from it too.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: Oh, I would love that. Yes.
[00:45:00] Speaker A: And they did really cool projections on the D lounge walls for it. And they did that even for like the pirates trivia. So they really used use that space, I think. Really awesome.
They also did a friendship bracelet making class that wasn't related to Bingo and Bluey, but I thought that was kind of a cool craft. And I guess I met another celebrity on this trip because I did meet Tim and Jen and Oliver and Jackson and so that was really cool. They were at the bracelet making class with me.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Oh, awesome. That's fun. I mean, yeah, like seeing like your. The content creator that you like, you know, recognize and watch their videos like it is. Yeah. It's funny when we have met other content creators that we watch, we're always. I'm always kind of like a little starstruck, like, oh, that's so cool. Like you see them in real life. Like they're real people. But that's cool.
[00:45:51] Speaker A: I went to Match youh Mate for the first time. I didn't do that when we did the Alaska cruise. So that was hilarious. There was some really funny couples up there.
[00:46:01] Speaker B: Nice. And they became mini celebrities themselves after their appearance on Match youh Mate.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Well, I think they timed it out well because that was like the last night.
[00:46:11] Speaker C: It's. I was gonna say it's not celebrity, it's notoriety.
[00:46:14] Speaker B: Notoriety or infamy.
[00:46:16] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Well, but on. On most of the most sailings match, your mate is on like the first or second night. And so it often is.
Those folks become notorious early on and then people see them around the ship, you know, for the rest of the sailing. So, yeah, really, really fun.
Well, sounds like a great sailing. Melissa. Is there anything that we have missed? Any, you know, highlights, low lights? Like, how was the service level overall as compared to the Wonder?
[00:46:46] Speaker A: Yeah, so service level overall was great. Our dining team was fantastic. Didn't really feel much of a connection with like, the room steward. I didn't even really see her till the second day. The kids did, but I hadn't seen her.
I mean, she was fine, but just didn't really have much of a connection like we did when we had that longer sailing on the Wonder.
[00:47:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:06] Speaker A: But our Serving staff looks great.
[00:47:08] Speaker C: Let me ask this.
So now that you, you did a longer sailing on the Wonder, completely different itinerary with Alaska, but you did a longer sailing on the Wonder and now you did this, you know, three night on the Dream.
You know, did you feel like three nights was, was worth it? Did you, you know, did you.
Would you take a longer sailing in future? Like, how do you judge that three night sailing? Because a lot of people wonder, like, is three nights really going to be enough for this cruise?
[00:47:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it definitely was worth it. Definitely nice to get away from the snow and cold here. So that was great in itself. But I think it definitely was worth it, especially with having kind of that early arrival. So it kind of felt like, you know, a day in Florida on the front end. And we actually didn't leave until Tuesday. We got off the ship Monday, so we had another full day in Fort Lauderdale as well on Monday.
So we kind of made it a little bit longer a vacation. There's tons that we did not do.
Did not do the water slide at all. Did not, you know, there was just. You just can't. With a three nighter.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: Yeah, you have to, I think with any shorter sailing, even a four night sailing, like, you really have to prioritize what you want to accomplish because you inevitably, you just can't do. I mean even on a seven night sailing, you're not going to do everything necessarily that you could or would like to do. Right. Like you have, you still have to prioritize what you, what are your must dos and what are your. It'd be nice if I got to do that, but I won't be really upset if I don't. I think, I think that's. And then of course when you get a great deal like you did with the, the third and fourth passenger being was 50% I believe.
[00:48:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:48:42] Speaker B: That like can really also impact your, you know, your decision making of taking a shorter sailing. Now if that hadn't been the issue, the school schedule of course, and the, and the discount. Do you think that you would book a shorter sailing again or would you look at a longer sailing?
[00:49:00] Speaker A: No, I definitely would book a shorter sailing again. I mean long, always better, but yeah, no, I wouldn't discount it if you know, everything lined up perfectly well.
[00:49:11] Speaker C: Sam, I think, wait, you want to kick it over to me for rapid fire tonight?
[00:49:14] Speaker D: I can do some rapid fire.
[00:49:14] Speaker B: Do you want to?
[00:49:16] Speaker C: Sure. Oh my gosh.
Every day, everyone out there, I'm getting to do rapid fire.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: I'm.
[00:49:23] Speaker C: Brace yourself.
Brace Yourself? No, no, I'm. If I'm doing Rapid Fire, I
[00:49:29] Speaker B: have reached that point of the show where Brian's going to subject you to some arbitrary rul. Some arbitrary questions and a dash of judgment, or the round we like to call rapid Fire.
[00:49:40] Speaker C: My intro is, brian's going to suggest you. No rules, no judgment. We're just going to have fun. So here we go.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: Anarchy.
[00:49:47] Speaker C: Complete anarchy on the TCL duo.
If you like Brian, Rapid fire, write in. I want to hear about it. All right, here we go. Let's do Rapid Fire.
[00:49:55] Speaker A: This is a first.
[00:49:55] Speaker B: This is a first, Melissa.
[00:49:56] Speaker C: It's not a first. I've recorded episodes of my own and had to do rapid fire before. So here we go.
[00:50:00] Speaker B: With me on the show first.
[00:50:02] Speaker C: I'm an experienced professional. Over here, Samantha. All right, here we go. All right, Melissa, what is your favorite Disney character?
[00:50:11] Speaker A: Yes. So my favorite Disney character is Cinderella, with Ursula being my favorite villain.
[00:50:17] Speaker C: Nice. All right, see, we don't ask that question. Look at that. Favorite Disney villain. I love it. All right, so here we go.
[00:50:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to add that in. I like that question.
[00:50:25] Speaker C: See, already taken notes. Look at how well I'm doing in Rapid Fire. Okay, favorite Disney movie.
[00:50:30] Speaker A: Hercules.
[00:50:31] Speaker C: Nice. Oh, you got to get on the Destiny then.
Favorite Disney song.
[00:50:36] Speaker A: I won't say I'm in love.
[00:50:37] Speaker B: Oh, yes, of course. Hercules.
Megara. Well, Megara. Yeah. The best song from that show.
[00:50:44] Speaker C: All right, now we're going to depart from Sam a little bit, because I want to ask a different question, which is, do you have a favorite Disney live action movie? Because we never get any answers about live action.
[00:50:54] Speaker B: There's no such thing.
[00:50:55] Speaker C: Oh, miracle.
Miracle. Maybe some good Disney sports.
[00:51:00] Speaker B: It can't be like. Like, if you pick an animated film that was made by live action, then
[00:51:05] Speaker C: you Marvel, Sam, they have a whole ship themed around that.
[00:51:07] Speaker B: I know. I just want to be clear. If you pick a show that's a live action that was made from a animated show, you're gonna get D's from us.
[00:51:19] Speaker A: Well, that's where my mind went first when he said that. I was like, oh, I have to think about it.
[00:51:23] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I thought he was asking, too.
[00:51:25] Speaker A: But if we're expanding it to all those different options, I'm actually gonna go very old school on this one and go with Escape to Witch Mountain. Not like a terrible remake.
[00:51:38] Speaker B: Yeah, no, the old school. Yeah. Yeah, the one from, like, the. Was it the 80s or maybe the late 70s? That might have been. Yeah.
[00:51:45] Speaker C: It's funny because in our house. I love. I love all the Disney sports, movies and national treasure.
[00:51:49] Speaker A: I do love Cool Runnings.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:51:52] Speaker C: Yes, Senka, you dead man.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: Special time of the year.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. Olympic time. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:51:59] Speaker C: All right, let's. Let's head over to the cruise line for a second. So, favorite onboard restaurant?
[00:52:08] Speaker A: Yes. I'm gonna go with the Wonder. And I'm gonna go with Tiana's.
[00:52:11] Speaker C: Nice. That's a good one. That's a solid one. Do you have a favorite onboard bar also?
[00:52:16] Speaker A: The Wonder and what is it called, Sam? That Bayou?
[00:52:19] Speaker B: French Quarter Lounge.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: Corner lounge.
[00:52:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I know exactly where you were going.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: Oh, that malf wine that. I don't like to drink it, but I love to smell it.
[00:52:33] Speaker B: Show Brian. Show Brian.
[00:52:34] Speaker C: Not there yet. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. This is my rapid fire.
What about.
What's your favorite port? Stop that. You've taken.
[00:52:44] Speaker A: I'm going to go ketchikan.
[00:52:46] Speaker C: Nice. I knew the answer would not be Nassau based on your earlier comment about it being a sea.
[00:52:50] Speaker B: Well, I mean, you know, she did go to Lookout though.
[00:52:52] Speaker A: That was amazing too. Yeah, yeah.
[00:52:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
What's your favorite first day activity?
[00:53:00] Speaker A: First day activity?
Hmm.
Probably the sail away party. Just because, you know, you can only experience it on that first day. So I would think that that's better
[00:53:11] Speaker C: than my answer, which would be unpacking.
All right.
Maybe my shave now that I've. I've started to do. All right. Okay. I will ask Sam's favorite show.
[00:53:21] Speaker A: Favorite show.
You know, it's very tight for me with Beauty and the Beast and the Frozen. They both were just phenomenal. I guess I'll give it to Beauty and the Beast just a smidge.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
[00:53:35] Speaker C: That's a good answer.
[00:53:35] Speaker B: That's the right answer.
[00:53:38] Speaker C: See? Nope, nope, nope. See, when I do this, I sit silently. Sam, let's raise our hands if we need to talk. Okay.
[00:53:46] Speaker B: Just kidding.
[00:53:48] Speaker C: Favorite.
What's your favorite souvenir that you've gotten off of a Disney cruise?
[00:53:54] Speaker A: That's a good one too.
I love a Spirit jersey as I am wearing. I have an obscene collection of Spirit jerseys, so probably that. I also do have a thing for the Pandora charms. So I didn't get one on the Dream because they didn't have it in stock.
They had some just cruise line in general, but not the Dream Pacific one. But I like to get a charm.
[00:54:17] Speaker C: So wait, they're taking up space with these high end shops and they don't
[00:54:20] Speaker B: have the stock and then they don't have the charm, but you did get the dream. That's. Is that the dream spirit jersey that you're wearing? Yeah. And I, I, I love the. Your matching dream ears as well, so. Yeah.
[00:54:32] Speaker C: All right, I'm gonna ask two final questions. I think we know. Well, actually, I'm not gonna ask one, because I think we know favorite ship is probably the Wonder.
[00:54:39] Speaker B: I don't know if we know that, Brian. I would ask. Ask.
[00:54:42] Speaker C: Is it the Wonder?
[00:54:45] Speaker A: Yes, I am.
[00:54:49] Speaker C: Okay.
All right. Instead of asking Sam's, like, pixie dust question at the end or the you could go anywhere bucket list, I'm not going to ask bucket list. I'm going to let Sam ask. Bucket list.
What is your favorite memory that you've created on Disney Cruise Line?
[00:55:06] Speaker A: Probably going back to that Ketchikan answer. We did the crabbing excursion, and Ashton got to pull in the trap, and he just thought he was, like, the coolest for being able to do that. And, you know, also in Alaska, he was able to hold every single one of those puppies at the sledding thing. I'm like, how did you get another puppy? Like, he was just everywhere. He loves animals, so he really enjoyed that. So those are probably my top 10, too.
[00:55:36] Speaker B: Ah, that's the best. That's the best puppies in Alaska. There's literally nothing better than that. I, I love that. Okay, I'm gonna ask my question, which is your bucket list cruise, Melissa. If you can go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise line ship and it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney Cruise line currently goes, where are you going?
[00:55:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So I, I'm drawn to the kind of unique sailings, so kind of like the Pam, you know, Panama Canal sailings or like the Transatlantic. But I really hope that Disney does bring back the Hawaii sailings, because I'm trying to hit all 50 states by my next milestone birthday, which I have two years to get. Three more.
Three more states. Three more states. And Hawaii is one of the ones I need, so I thought that would be really cool, but I might have to.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: You might have to just go to Aulani?
[00:56:23] Speaker A: Well, my plan was to do, like, the cruise and then go to Aulani for a couple of days. But, you know, we'll see what happens with that. But almost there.
[00:56:31] Speaker C: I will ask my favorite question, which is. So, wait, did you just ask what's next, Sam? No, you asked about the.
[00:56:36] Speaker B: Okay, I asked Bucket list. I was about to ask the question.
[00:56:39] Speaker C: No. Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. I want to make sure. Okay. So I'M going to ask what's next, Melissa.
[00:56:45] Speaker A: Yeah, so I got a couple things on the horizon so they're not going to probably watch. So their Christmas present this year is going to be a Royal cruise for them to check out. You know, kind of the difference there.
So we're going to do a seven night on Mariner of the Seas out of New Orleans. So I thought that'd be kind of a cool, you know, place for them to go. So we're excited about that. And then we're also going to do the Destiny, me and Rowan.
So I told him about that ship and he really wants to check it out. So we're going to do that September of 27.
[00:57:19] Speaker C: I, I bet, I bet you'll love the Destiny. I will be super interested. New Orleans is a great place to, to head and I've been there many times. In fact, if you have haven't, probably somewhere in our back catalog is our discussion of all the great places to stop in New Orleans while you're there.
But yeah, love New Orleans. I think you'll just have a blast that sailing out the Mississippi river, like it just, it, it can't be beat.
[00:57:41] Speaker B: It's just a. Yeah, it's just a cool, unique sailing. Now. Mariner is definitely one of their smaller ships, Mariner of the Seas, but I think it'll be a great way to compare cuz now you've been on Royal yourself, right. But not with the boys.
[00:57:54] Speaker A: Correct. Yep.
[00:57:55] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think it'll be good to see if they like the offerings on Royal and how they sort of compare to what's offered on Disney Cruise Line now that they've had those two experiences on Disney as well. So I definitely think, you know, we talk obviously about Disney vs Royal quite a bit and of course Disney has our hearts. But I do think that Royal does a really nice job for, especially with those older kids and older teens in some of the offerings that they have that are, you know, differently geared as compared to Disney. And so I think that there's, you know, definitely room for both cruise lines in the industry, let's just put it that way.
[00:58:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. I'm hoping to do a Mississippi river cruise too. That's not booked. So if it happens, I'll, I'll reach out. Brian, because I know you're pretty interested in those river cruises.
[00:58:44] Speaker C: I, I am.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:58:45] Speaker C: And I think we have some, we have some friends who do a small ship cruising podcast. I think they have done the Mississippi river.
And actually I just saw today guests we had on a Long time ago. We've not had her back on recently. Heidi from Quirky Cruises was just on a Mississippi river cruise that she's been posting about. So. Yeah, those look really fun. They look really, really fun for sure.
[00:59:10] Speaker B: All right, well, well shout out to our friends at sometime Sailing for their small ship cruising podcast. Yeah, Mikel and Dan run, they have, they have a blog that is called Sometimes Sailing and then they also have a podcast about small, small ship cruising called I believe small ship cruising because size matters or something like that. Right.
[00:59:31] Speaker C: It's called small ship Cruising with their tagline I gave them was because size matters matters. Yeah.
[00:59:38] Speaker B: And it's a. Yeah. Anyway, they have a, they have a great show for those interested in small ship cruising of, of all kinds, expedition, river cruising, all that kind of stuff. They, they cover a ton of that. Well, Melissa, thank you so much for coming on our show. Show. Now you yourself are a content creator. You've got a, a YouTube channel and some, an Instagram handle. Tell folks if they want to follow along on your travel adventures where they can do that.
[01:00:02] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So on YouTube it is Ear for you Travel. So make sure you put that travel in there. You might see some ear videos or
[01:00:15] Speaker B: people with ear fetishes.
[01:00:17] Speaker A: You don't want that. So ear for you travel.
And then on Instagram, Melissa la la d and then I have a Facebook group which is Ear for you. No travel on that one. Just ear for you exclamation mark. That group is a place where people ask questions. A lot of where can I get princess makeovers or room decorations?
Very positive space. So that's been really great.
[01:00:41] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, fantastic. Well, Melissa, we'd love to have you back. So please reach out next time you're sailing. And thanks again so much for joining us. Joining us.
[01:00:50] Speaker A: Thank you for having me.
[01:00:56] Speaker D: Well, thanks everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm p.m. eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes, so please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course, you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com forward/d dclduo or email them at dclduomypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things, full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast links off to our vlog a link to our Etsy store we sell some fun fan inspired magnets link to our Patreon. If you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to 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 402-413-55900. 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 reflect the views 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. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL du.
[01:02:57] Speaker A: Oh.
