[00:00:00] Speaker A: We went to dinner that night, and we had late seating, I'm pretty sure. And my daughter, she was so exhausted, she didn't even stay for dessert. She's like, I'm going back to the room to sleep. And we were just so tired. I'm like, oh, my gosh. This was like a trip of a lifetime. And I've been looking forward to this for so many years that it just started out. And I was like, this is going to be terrible.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by WeDoTravel. Right. And, Sam, it's time to do your jingle.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Yeah, well, I'm on a new mic today, so let's see. Maybe I'll sound even better than usual. Simply the best.
Better than all the rest. All right, How'd that sound?
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Sounded great. Sounded great.
You're an Emmy recording star, and you don't even know it.
[00:00:59] Speaker A: All right.
[00:01:00] Speaker C: Uh, it's a Grammy. A Grammy.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Grammy. Grammy. Grammy. Recording artist. Yes. Uh, all right. This week's review comes from Mr. Opus, who writes sailing with the DCL Duo. Brian and Sam host an incredible show about the joy and fun of cruising. Brian and Sam do an incredible job of building almost immediate rapport with guests on their show. Each episode provides an array of perspectives that give a realistic impression of the good, the bad, the great, and the mishaps that may occur while on board or off board a cruise ship. And they provide a window into a range of experiences to help you get an idea. If you'd enjoy the premium adult dining, a concierge room, an extended sailing experience, and plenty of ideas for port excursions. Thank you for bringing great content that my family and I can enjoy listening to every week. Well, Mr. Opus, thank you for taking time out of what I assume could perhaps be some musical writing.
[00:01:51] Speaker C: I know I was thinking of Mr. Holland's opus. I was thinking that must be what his name came from. I love that. I love that.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Maybe he's a composer.
But thank you for that review. We really appreciate it. For all of you out there listening, you know, I'll amend my normal PSA a little bit. Just say, like, these reviews are really helpful for us, and they're really powerful for us as motivation. And so, you know, there are days that we are a little burned out with all this podcasting that we do, and then we see your reviews and we. We get the boost of energy we need to keep going.
[00:02:21] Speaker C: So we do it all for those sweet, sweet five star reviews.
[00:02:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Sweet, sweet mailchimp money.
So as always, one of the easiest ways help support the show. Head over to Apple Podcast, hit those five stars. If you leave us a written review along with your five star review, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. And of course, if you're listening to us on a different platform, whether that's YouTube, Spotify, any of the myriad of podcatcher apps that are out there, just, you know, whatever rating system they have, give us all of it because it just really helps put the show in front of other people, new audience members that we can bring into our community. All right, Sam, over to you for our topic and our guest for today.
[00:03:00] Speaker C: I'm super excited because we've got, we've got an American guest joining us, but we're going to be talking a European cruise today. I feel very sophisticated. As I mentioned my new mic, I got my new headphones, I got a new haircut today as well. So I'm feeling all ready to talk Europe, feeling chic. And we're headed to Europe in actually like a week and a half ourselves for our river cruise. We're recording this in end of June. This episode will come out in August. But I'm super excited to welcome our guests to the show. First time guest, but his not first time cruiser.
Welcome to the show, Alexis.
[00:03:36] Speaker A: Thank you. I'm really excited to be here.
[00:03:39] Speaker C: We're excited to have you. We're super excited to talk sailing Disney Cruise Line in Europe. We love that, you know, over the summer Disney sends a ship over there. We get to hear from a lot of different folks sailing to a lot of different places.
People porting out of Barcelona, people porting out of Cityvecchia. I know I'm saying that wrong. People porting out of Southampton. Right. The whole summer is always like just unique itineraries that we get to hear from, from folks about. We're excited to chat with you, but before we get there, we of course have to talk your Disney background, your cruising background. I see in the background you've got things, you've got Disney stuff hung on your wall. So clearly you are a Disney fan. You're also wearing ears that tells me that cruising is not your first foray into the Disney universe. Tell us, like, where did the love for Disney start? And then when did you start cruising with Disney?
[00:04:29] Speaker A: We have to go back a couple generations to get to the beginning of our Disney history.
My grandparents, my mom's parents, the late 50s, they went to Disneyland on a trip to visit family in California. We're originally from the Seattle area.
I'm in Colorado now. And then my mom was born and they took her down to California a couple times to go to Disneyland. And I think they went to Disney World in 1972 on a cross country road trip.
[00:05:00] Speaker C: Oh my God. So they were like, they were at. Not necessarily opening day at Disneyland, but the opening years of Disneyland.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: I texted my grandma right before this and she couldn't remember which year it was. 1957 or 58. So very early on.
So. Yeah, so that kind of, I guess was always in our family was the
[00:05:22] Speaker C: love of me, clearly.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Exactly.
So after my brother and I were born, of course it was our turn to go to Disney. And my grandparents took us down in 1988.
It was right before I turned seven. And I remember this so clearly because I turned a 7, 7 years old a week after the trip. But I don't know if, you know, at Disneyland you have to be seven to ride a ride by yourself. And I really wanted to ride a ride by myself. I don't know why, but I wasn't allowed to because I was in seven. I was traumatized by the Haunted Mansion, but other than that, we had a fantastic time.
We drove down in the camper and my brother is three years younger than me and we didn't always get along growing up. And it, you know, it's a long road trip.
[00:06:13] Speaker C: It's a long drive. Yeah. From the Seattle area down to, down to Orange County. And we know we did it when, when I had Covid. We drove home from San Diego.
Yeah. Like 20 hours. I.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Well, we had to be on our best behavior. And this past Christmas, my grandma was telling us all about how she had bought little trinkets to give us, you know, every hour or so, as long as we stayed on our best behavior. And, you know, we were in the, in the truck, all four of us on, you know, the same seat, driving down to California. So that was kind of the trip that started it all for me. And then a couple years later, my parents took us down.
My dad is a collector of political items, like, you know, campaign buttons. And the only reason why we went down was because there was a convention for people who collect these in Anaheim, like across from Disneyland.
He had never gone as a kid, and I don't know that he really expected to enjoy it as much as he did, but of course he loved it because you kind of have to in our family. And that started many more trips. A couple years later, we flew from Seattle to Disney World and That was supposed to be a once in a lifetime trip for our family. And of course, it was not.
[00:07:35] Speaker C: I love those. I love when people call them once in a lifetime. And I'm like, oh, like, okay, you'll be back.
Right?
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Right.
So, and then we ended up moving to the east coast to the D.C. area. And then we could. It was within driving distance, kind of is probably about a 15 hour drive. So we went another time for Thanksgiving. And, you know, I think back then we thought, oh, Thanksgiving will be really slow. Right. Because that, that's what people.
[00:08:03] Speaker C: Right. Because everybody's at home watching football and making turkey. Yeah.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: It was just the mid-90s, and it wasn't too bad. Like, the first couple of days, it wasn't too busy, but Thanksgiving Day is, you know, very busy. And in high school, we went down for a choir and band competition trip. And then several times since then, my son, who's 20 now, his first trip was to Disneyland when he was 2.
And then all the grandkids, we take a big family trip the year they turn four. We've been to both coasts with those trips. And then for cruising, we went as a family of four in 2017 on a carnival Cruise. Like, Disney cruise has always been on my bucket list for probably since 2000, like right after they came out with the ships. And, you know, you used to like, sign up to get the dvd, the planning dvd. And I was like, oh, wow, this is amazing. And, you know, it seemed. Always seemed out of reach.
And then we had a trip booked finally. It was going to be our once in a lifetime trip on the Disney Fantasy in May of 2020.
And I think we all know what, we know what happened there.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: May of 2020, we were all quarantined.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: So that of course got canceled.
And then fast forward two more years and I was going through a divorce, and I thought, there's no way I'm gonna be able to do a single mom.
You know, to start the next chapter. I wanted to take my kids on a vacation. So I started looking at cruises.
And I know Carnival has kind of a certain reputation, but I started looking at them because we had a great time. We loved my son, loved the independence he had on a cruise, and he loves making new friends on the cruise. And, you know, everybody gets to kind of do their own thing, but we always would come back for dinner. So it's like, nice because the kids don't. They don't have to do what the adults are doing.
So I was looking at something out of California, and then Just for fun, I decided to see what Disney was. And it was about two months out from our fall break dates that I was planning for. And the Disney Wonder had a five night that wasn't really too much more expensive than the other cruises I was looking at since it was, you know, pretty close to the sailing date. So we booked the Wonder and I was really excited that we were going to make it happen. And then when we flew out to San Diego for the Wonder, I did the thing you're not supposed to do ever, which is fly out the day of.
We made it. We made it fine. But we left so early. Like the only reason why I did that is I knew there were so many other flight options left at the first flight of the day. But we had, you know, all woken up at like 3am Then we had to sit at the airport for a couple hours before it was time for us to go to the port.
And we were just so exhausted that first day because we had, you know, the travel day and you know, like we went to dinner that night and we had late seating, I'm pretty sure. And my daughter, she was so exhausted, she didn't even stay for dessert. She's like, I'm going back to the room to sleep. And we were just so tired. I'm like, oh my gosh. This was like a trip of a lifetime. And I've been looking forward to this for so many years that it just started out and I was like, this is going to be terrible. But after a good night of sleep, we just had the best time.
It was just more magical than I could imagine.
My daughter and I did karaoke like all the time on the ship. It was so much fun. And it was, I think it was back when it was a little bit lighter crowds like post Covid.
It was great.
So after that got home and I kind of had the booking bug and I found a guarantee rate because I'm like, I wanted my mom to experience it. She had never been cruising before. So we got a really good deal on a cruise a couple months later out of Galveston, just me and my mom on a four night sailing on the Magic.
And she was, she was very anxious about going on a cruise the first time. I guess like what I approached her about it, you know, she said okay and I didn't want to lose the deal so I booked it immediately. And the next day I talked to her and I. She told me after the fact, after the cruise was over that she was going to tell me that she didn't want to do it.
[00:12:51] Speaker C: Well, it's a good thing you already booked it.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: She went, she loved it. And then her and my dad went on a ten night sailing from Hawaii, repositioning from Hawaii to Vancouver. I think like a year later we had gone out to Dev dinner. We all live in the same town and we were talking about how much fun the cruise was. And somehow by the end of dinner I had her convinced she needed to book this trip for her and my dad so he got to experience it and he really enjoyed it.
Then my kids and I went on the Fantasy. I think it was probably like eight months after we had gone on the Wonder.
And for that cruise we had been paired with another family at dinner. And that really made the cruise is like, I don't know how they picked families, but it's just like it felt like they just knew everything about us and like just found the most perfect family. And you know, my kids made great friends and we just had so much fun.
And then the next year my son graduated from high school. So we took a three night sailing on the Wish, just the two of us, to kind of celebrate the end of high school. And that was out of Port Canaveral. So then we ended the trip with two, two days in Disney World because he hadn't been there in several years.
And then we booked the Treasure for last May.
[00:14:28] Speaker C: Like I took them off the list.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: I'm trying to get Platinum like as fast as I can, I guess. I don't know.
Well, you know, like my reasoning for the second one I took with the kids is before my son turned 18.
And I'm like, you know, he loves going to the teen club. It's the last one he can do. Like, this is gonna, this is gonna be it, right? Of course, it never is.
So, yeah, so we went on the Treasure last May. And then last summer I was kind of looking at what the Dream had as far as itineraries because at the time the Dream was the only ship I hadn't been on. Of course, now there's two more ships. I don't, I don't think I'm going to be able to complete that, the whole set for a very long time at this point.
But a couple of years ago I mentioned to my daughter that when she finished eighth grade, I was like, we should go to Paris. But then when I started looking at cruises, I was like, oh, the Dream's going to be back in Europe next summer.
And when she was little, we had gone to Europe a couple times and our second trip to Europe. We went to Italy.
She was watching Puppy Dog Pals or some show like that one morning when her dad was getting her ready for daycare.
And the Leaning Tower of Pisa was featured in this episode. So she told her dad she wanted to go there and he's like, okay. So I had picked her up from school and she's like, oh, I need to pack when we get home because dad is going to take us to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Which I'm like, okay, well, we need to discuss this a little bit further.
So we ended up booking a really cheap set of flights to go to Italy.
And she was 6 years old at the time. And after we had booked these non refundable flights, we start planning our trip. And you have to be eight years old to go inside the tower.
So I was like, I cannot believe this. So we did go on that trip to Pisa and we went to several different places in Italy.
We did not go in the tower, but we did get to see it. But we were like, don't worry, we'll be back there one day.
So when I saw this cruise and I saw the ports and that we would have the opportunity to go to Pisa, I'm like, why don't we do this? So I told her about it. I was like, we can finally go in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. And I said, after the cruise is over, we could tack on a couple extra days and go to Paris, just the two of us. So that's what we did.
So my son, he went with us for the cruise portion of the trip, but when we went to the airport, he flew home and then we flew over to, to Paris for a couple days. So.
[00:17:17] Speaker C: Oh my goodness. So this trip was essentially like predetermined. Like when your daughter is now 14, when she was six years old, this trip was like in the beginning, right? Like it was like it was foreshadowing.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: I would say yes.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that. Okay, so you booked this cruise.
You mentioned you got some or the decent, the cheap flights were from your
[00:17:39] Speaker A: trip when she was 6.
[00:17:40] Speaker C: I'm curious on the planning side of things. So you're flying from Colorado to Barcelona.
Where did you have to fly through? And of course then you were going to go back through Paris. Like did that complicate the booking of tickets and all of that? Because your son is on a return a round trip, but you and your daughter are not.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Well, when we first have talked about Paris last summer, I was like, oh, there's no way I'm going to be able to afford flights. But then I kind of got into the credit card points thing.
So I kind of booked everything in a very roundabout way based on what I could get the best deal for points because the tickets to Europe are a lot more expensive than they were back when we got these deals. I think we got some tickets, like, round trip for, like $300 back then. And I mean, that was like less than 10 years ago. But I mean, even then it was like, we have to go now because it's.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: Yeah, the tickets to Europe right now are crazy. I, you know, I wish I could get into the whole points and miles game. I just can't. I don't have the brain power to figure it all out. I will give a shout out to our friend Chad Penoff, who runs the My DVC points podcast because he is, like a points and miles expert and he sometimes talks about it on his show.
But there was talk about starting another podcast that was just like, points and miles focused because he's, like, so deep into that world.
And like I said, I wish I could. I will say, for our trip to Europe, we did use, like, a companion ticket. We have the ATMOS cards with. So we have, like, Alaska Air and we do Alaska Airlines, like, loyalty and all that. So, like, so that has helped us with the flights that we're taking this summer. But it is. God bless you if you can figure out all the points and models.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: I'm not great at it. Like, for a couple of months, I had, like, a hyper fixation on, like, learning everything I could. But, I mean, I made it work for this trip. Like, I don't.
I'm not an expert, but it was worth it because I think I only paid.
Well, I paid cash for our flights from Barcelona to Paris, but the only flight that I paid cash for for, like, the Barcelona back home, I think was my son's return trip.
So I kind of like looked and booked things as soon as it seemed like a, you know, a decent deal. So we flew on Air Canada through Toronto to Barcelona, and then I had booked my daughter and I tickets on United back home, and we flew through Newark.
But, you know, when I was looking at cash prices for the flight home for Alex because I had booked him a one way to Barcelona to make sure he was on the same flight with us, but it was just so expensive. And I was like, maybe he's just going to have to live there.
[00:20:37] Speaker C: He'll just stay in Barcelona. I love that.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: I love that I was able to get him a ticket home that I Felt was at an okay price, I think like $700, which was still like a lot. But I mean since I didn't pay for any of other ones, I think my original idea was for Maddie and I to take the train from Barcelona to Paris. But then when I started looking at the schedule, I'm like, oh, that's just going to take eat into our day too much and we can't leave early enough in the morning to make it worth it. So then I ended up booking some on a low cost European airline, I think it was, I'm going to pronounce it wrong, Transavia or it's a, I think it's a one of the French airlines, their value airline. So that's pretty reasonable. And as a short flight for most of it, I paid points. We're very much into doing things as cheaply as possible.
We stay at, you know, pretty moderate places and when we're traveling in the US we usually just fly Southwest and try to get a good deal.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: Yeah, love that. All right, well, let's fast forward ahead. You're in Barcelona. Where are you guys staying? We're not going to talk about pretty cruise stuff or post cruise stuff because we won't have time to on the show because I want to cover the cruise and the ports especially.
But yeah, where did you guys stay pre cruise and how did you get to the port?
[00:22:10] Speaker A: So we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Barcelona and I think there were quite a few people that we saw leaving the morning of the cruise that looked like they were also going on the cruise.
[00:22:24] Speaker C: Lots of they're wearing ears.
My first Disney cruise, her T shirts, all of that, matching family shirts.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: We did fly in with plenty of time this time to get lots of rest and make sure we were there in time.
[00:22:39] Speaker C: You've learned your lesson, Alexis. You've learned your lesson from that. That I actually think that's a great, I mean it's a, it's a great lesson though, even in terms of, even if it's not so risky in the sense of you have multiple flight options. It's just makes it for an exhausting travel day. And so it's not the best way to start your vacation with your kids being tired or cranky, especially if your kids are younger and well, frankly even teenagers.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Teenagers, they can be worse than toddlers.
But yeah. So we had gotten in Thursday morning and our crews left on Saturday morning and the port was only about a 20, 30 minute Uber ride from the hotel.
I think I booked a taxi service through I think the App's called Free now.
It's, I think, the one that they use in Spain to get taxis and Ubers.
So that was pretty seamless. But traveling with teenagers and trying to get moving in the morning can be challenging. And I guess my son isn't a teenager anymore, but he still, you know, he's only 20, so he's still kind of in that mode where, like, it's very hard for him to get up and get moving.
Our port arrival time, I think was 11:30 to 12, and I think we got there right at 12. And the last few times we've sailed, we've sailed out of Port Canaveral and we've taken Disney transportation from the hotel. We usually stay at the MCO Hyatt.
So I really like doing that because they do all the check in before you even get on the Disney bus.
So you don't really have to do anything when you get to the port. So while I feel like the check in was probably pretty smooth, it just seemed very chaotic compared to what we're used to.
[00:24:39] Speaker C: And they don't do, just to be clear, they don't do in Europe. They can't do any check in prior to being at the port. So it's not like even if you're taking Disney transportation, you're still doing the chaotic check in at the port. Yeah, yeah.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: So I think there are, you know, a lot of people arriving for different port arrival times.
Probably a lot of times I hadn't. It wasn't that time yet, so.
But, you know, once we got in line and in the correct line, it went pretty smoothly.
And I think we probably got on at about 12:30 or 12:45, so it really wasn't too bad.
[00:25:15] Speaker C: Nice. Now you guys have been on all of the ships except for, well, you hadn't been on the Dream yet. But now, of course, you've checked that off. Now it's just the destiny and the adventure that you haven't been on yet.
How was, you know, what did you think of the. The Atrium of the Dream? And do you have any cruise traditions? Like, we must do X first when we get on a Disney Cruise Line ship.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: So I will say that I've done cruises in the order of, like, when they came out. It just happens to be how we've done it.
So I will say that, like, we went on the Treasure last and we loved the Treasure, but there are some things about the floor plan that I don't love.
And I thought, you know, that the Fantasy would probably be my favorite ship. But Then after seeing the dream, after going on the treasure, I mean, I still loved it, but, I mean, you just can't beat the wish class that, like, when you first walk in, it really feels like a grand entrance.
So, I mean, I wouldn't say it was disappointing or anything, but, you know, since we had already been on all the other ships, you know, we knew what to expect. And it does feel small after you've been on the wish class ships.
[00:26:28] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's great that you did the other ships in order. I mean, of course you skipped the dream and then went back to the dream, but, like, when you go from a wish class ship to one of the original four, it's a bit of a striking difference because the atrium is so much smaller and it isn't open right. So it's just a. It's just a vast difference. What about. So when you get on, do you guys have a tradition? Do you go to sit down lunch? Do you go to cabanas? Do you go up to the pool deck? I mean, what.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: We always go straight to the sit down lunch.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: We're just ready to kind of just sit there and have a leisurely lunch. Because it's usually, you know.
Well, we usually go right after school ends in May or most of our cruises. So it's like kind of hectic. We just finished May sember. You know, parents know what I'm talking about. Like, we have 10 million activities.
And my daughter's continuation ceremony was right before the day before we left.
So it was just nice to get on the ship and just like, kind of relax.
So we do that.
And then after we were done with lunch, our room was ready, so we went kind of like set things down and then we go off exploring. We like to go visit all the kids clubs, get Maddie registered for the teen club for Vibe, and then we kind of walked around the pool deck.
Well, my daughter had met. She had connected with somebody through TikTok. Like, I mean, the way she described it, it almost sounded to me like how the Facebook groups start. You know, like, people are sailing in a certain day and you're like, you. I don't really know.
[00:28:11] Speaker C: How do you find them, though, on TikTok? It's not a group, it's individuals. Wow.
[00:28:16] Speaker A: How do you know? Like, you know, she explained to me how it worked, but it kind of went over my head telling me about this girl she had met on TikTok that was going on the same cruises, us, and I'm like, okay.
So they had been texting and so after we had checked out kids clubs in the pool deck, she kind of went off on her own to find her friend and you know, make new friends.
So now that my son is an adult, he can go do the 18 plus activities with me.
He doesn't always love to do that. He really loves making new friends and like, and then ditching you, you have to eat dinner with me but like you can go off. But I did set some expectations for this. Like this is a different type of cruise because most of the time we don't really do a ton on the port stops. Like the, the vacation's more about the ship for me.
I mean we do some excursions but it wasn't going to be anything, you know, like we were going to do.
And he has a girlfriend at home and he found that the 1820 Society had a lot of girls and not as many males that had the same interests as him. So I think as far as like the people on the ship, I think, I think he was hoping to hang out a little bit more with other people and not with me.
But you know, it was, it was fine.
So we went to Disney Cruise Line trivia and sometimes I have good luck with these trivias. I did not expect to do that well with Disney Cruise Line trivia. But most of the questions were about the wonder and we are doing really well and there's a tie. And the tiebreaker question I think was like, how long is the Disney dream?
And I think the family that we are tied with was from the UK and don't they use the metric system?
[00:30:25] Speaker C: No. So the UK they actually use the English system because. Okay, yeah, but the rest of Europe uses the metric system.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Yeah, because we like I put my answer and then they put their answer and the lady looked at mine and she was like. And then she looked at theirs and she's like, do you want to add another number to this?
So we ended up winning.
So that was really exciting though. The Wish cruise we went on a couple years ago, we also ended up winning a lot of trivia and I thought it was because it was a three night cruise and you know, that's probably the one that people try out that might not be like Disney superfans.
But I thought it was a great way to start off the cruise is winning trivia.
So yeah, so that we really enjoyed that.
Then eventually we all met up for dinner after. You know, my daughter had met probably all the teens on the ship.
[00:31:23] Speaker C: Half of the. Yeah, she met like she met all the teens on the ship already. Yeah. So it sounds like both of your, well, teen and young adult, both of them very social, very into the teen Club, the 1820s society.
I want to talk a little bit more about the activities on board, but at first I want to get to the ports because the ports, as you mentioned, the whole, like one of the things you said to your son was, hey, temper your expectations about how much stuff we're going to do on board because we are, this is port heavy itinerary. We're going to be getting off full days, not like when you're going to cast away. You've been to Castaway a bunch of times.
I only need to go for a few hours and then I'll head back to the ship and enjoy the ship. So I completely understand different, different perspective. What was your first port of call after leaving Barcelona?
[00:32:07] Speaker A: So the first port was Cagliari and that's the one.
[00:32:11] Speaker C: That's the new port for Disney Cruise Line this year.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So something I thought was a little bit interesting is I did go to one of their activities on board that talked about the port stops and they show a map of the ports and they still had Palermo listed on there. So I thought that's a little bit interesting. Time to maybe update that slide. So for that, you know, I didn't really know very much about it and I knew we were going to have three very long days.
So we just didn't plan on doing much except going into the town and walking around.
So we kind of ended up, I think, having a much shorter time out in the port than we expected. It was, I mean, I expected it to be pretty warm, that Europe was having one of many heat waves. So it's very hot and the town you like kind of like walk uphill to go into the, the main town area.
So it's a little bit exhausting. So we did some window shopping.
We stopped and got pizza.
We did go into a thrift store and my son bought this mini backpack for his girlfriend and he's like, well, if she doesn't like it, I like it. And it was €4. So he loved it. He will use it for the rest of the trip.
It was beautiful, but it was pretty. I feel like the town was pretty crowded when we, when we were there. So, you know, I think that the end of May is a little bit lighter than you get the rest of the, the season, but it's still pretty crowded.
I think that a lot of people use that day as kind of a beach day.
My son and I like the idea of going to the beach, but we, in reality, we really not into it. Like, my daughter, she loves the beach. She would just do nothing but beach vacations. But, like, we have a little bit sensory issues with the sand. You can't get rid of it. So. So we decided not to do that. And then, you know, getting back on the ship early so that we could take advantage of the activities. And we probably put in. Got in a nap that day, too, because, you know, we're getting up a lot earlier than I think everybody probably wanted to.
[00:34:39] Speaker C: What was your second port of call?
[00:34:41] Speaker A: So the second day was Naples, and I knew that we wanted to go to Pompeii, but we didn't want to do a full day there. We wanted to go.
Well, I wanted to see some other places. So we ended up booking a Disney port adventure to Sorrento and Pompeii. And I think this was the seventh day travel day for us.
And I think my son was kind of tired of us at this point.
Like, we went to a restaurant that he had picked out. He had asked the tour guide for recommendation, and the one we went to was pretty close to where we got dropped off. And it seemed pretty touristy to me. Like, it was a nice restaurant, but it just seemed very, like, aimed at all the tourists. So it was a little bit overpriced. And, like, my son was hungry, but my daughter and I were not very hungry. And I said, we should go. We should have gone someplace else. Which I shouldn't have said that. He was not very happy with me. And after that, you know, later that day, when we had been talking about it, he's like, yeah, it was a little bit weird because, you know, in Europe, they don't have the tipping culture that we have here. But when I paid the bill, they brought out the machine for me to put my credit card, and they're like, and here you can put your tip.
So it's a little bit surprising to me. And, you know, we. My. My son works at a restaurant, and, you know, we have discussed the difference between, you know, the tipping culture we have here and then, you know, what's expected in Europe. And he was like, yeah, that was a little bit weird because we didn't experience that anywhere else. So we had lunch, and we kind
[00:36:25] Speaker C: of just like, yeah, they're basically taking advantage of the fact that you're American.
[00:36:29] Speaker A: Yes, yes, Like, I did feel like that. And it's probably the grumpiest service I've ever experienced in Europe. I mean, like, they kind of just wanted people to get in and out as quickly as possible. So, I mean, the restaurant itself looked like a very nice, upscale place, but just, like, the overall vibe I was getting was, you know, they just were trying to push everybody in and out as fast as possible.
[00:37:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Now, how was. How was Sorrento? How was Pompeii? Like you mentioned, it was a heat wave, like, at the time. Like, was it a worthwhile excursion? How long were you at each of the locations?
[00:37:15] Speaker A: So I think we were in Sorrento for about two and a half hours.
So after we had lunch, we just kind of walked around.
We hadn't done a lot of research. We just kind of wanted to experience it. And then, you know, we want to make sure we were back at the meeting point so we can't get left behind. So I think we grab some gelato and, you know, in Europe, you can drink when you're 20. So we stopped at a grocery store to get my son some beers for the ship.
So, you know, like, I was very prepared mentally, but, like, my expectation, like, I know this is going to be, you know, just a taste of these places.
But it was really, I guess, even though I knew it was going to be like that, like, the feeling of it is just, like. Feels like you're just rushing around constantly. There's a bunch of, like, waiting around, too.
So I think, you know, while we really enjoyed the trip, like, I wouldn't want to experience Europe like that again because we really.
I realized we need to do things on our own schedule and maybe have a little bit more time at the places that we really enjoy.
And I really knew this going into it. I'm glad we experienced it. But I think for that, you know, there's just.
Especially me and my daughter, we want to do everything, you know, so it's, like, really hard to pick and choose. And then when you do choose, you're just in the places, like, just so briefly. You can't really spend enough time getting comfortable and feeling settled before you're, like, off to the next place.
[00:38:57] Speaker C: Yeah, it's. I think it's a. It's a very. What you're saying is super important, though, for people to hear, because seeing Europe via large ocean liner is very different than, like, backpacking through Europe or just traveling through Europe on land vacations, because you really are just getting a taste. It's a good way to go and, like, see, where do I want to come back to. Or if it's like, there's a location, you kind of want to check off the list. Because there's one thing you want to do in that location, but you don't really want to stay in that area. It's also good way to do that, right? But it's not great for really being able to, like, immerse yourself, right? And I think that cruising with, like, and this is not unique to Disney. This is like all large ship cruising in Europe, right? Like, it's just like. And you're not able to dock in a lot of the places you want to go, right? So you are spending time on buses, you are spending time waiting for the group together, waiting for the transportation. So I think, like, all of this, I think is. Is super helpful for people to get an understanding.
And even some of this exists if you're doing river cruising, because you're not always able to, you know, dock in the place you want to dock, right? Not every place is connected by a river, even though many, many cities are. So, like, these are important considerations when planning your vacation, but planning, you know, where you. What you want to do in general, but then also planning what you want to do when, when you're there. Did you guys enjoy Pompeii? And was it really, really hot? Because I know it's always hot there. And.
[00:40:25] Speaker B: And was it. And was it really crowded?
[00:40:27] Speaker C: Was it crowded?
[00:40:28] Speaker A: Yeah, it was not too crowded and it wasn't too hot. We went, I guess the tour guide mentioned, like, a lot of the tours will go to Pompeii as their first stop and then go somewhere else, but they do it the opposite because the crowds are lower. And then the.
There's a little bit more wind later in the day, so it kind of helped with the temperature.
But I mean, we were so exhausted by that point. I mean, we did. We did enjoy Pompeii. But, like, right before we started the guided tour, my son looks at me and he's like, I wish I didn't come. And I was like, what?
I'm like, are you talking about Pompeii, like, the excursion today or what? And he's like, I wish I didn't come on the trip. And I was like, what? Like, so it's. It was just been, you know, you always reach that breaking point with your family.
And that was his breaking point. Like, the rest of the trip went well. And I think he did enjoy Pompeii, like, because we had talked before the trip about, like, things we wanted to do. And, you know, everybody kind of knows about Pompeii a little bit. So it's really kind of interesting to go see it. And you know, I think the tour was probably about an hour and that doesn't sound like a long time, but it was perfect. Like I don't think we would have lasted much more than an hour because you know, it's like a nine hour port excursion that day. It was really long. And I don't know if it's usually like this for port excursions because we've done a couple other Disney ones that were not as chaotic, but like we were waiting outside the movie theater in a really long line to get in to check in.
And I think that whole process probably took about an hour before we were leaving the ship to get on the bus. So it was just a really long day of doing a lot of waiting and standing around and waiting some more.
[00:42:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I think it's because that day and that port, like everyone's doing a Disney excursion essentially. And so it ends up being like just a really, you know, the port adventurous folks, the staff, checking everybody in.
It's ends up being really chaotic. It's that way with some of the excursions in Alaska as well. But sort of any place that Disney's going, where excursions are like when they do, you know, Cittatovecchia, when people are going to Rome. Right. Like it's always going to be like this long line of people because everyone's doing a port adventure and pretty much everyone's doing them through Disney Cruise Line.
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[00:44:20] Speaker C: now. Speaking of Citvecia, that's where you went last, am I right?
[00:44:25] Speaker A: So that's where we went third.
[00:44:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Or third.
[00:44:27] Speaker A: Sorry.
And so I think I mentioned before we got started that what not to do.
So we had been to Rome before on our previous trip, and I think that was like at the end of our vacation. So we had not done. We didn't do a lot in Rome because that vacation at. By the end we were very tired. So I went in to get like a good overview of Rome.
So I had looked at excursions on Viator and I had heard these golf cart tours were really great. Right. And I knew, doing my research that it is difficult sometimes to get from the port to the city, but like, it seemed very doable. But I think we left the ship a little bit too late.
So you had to take, you got off the ship, then you had to take a shuttle bus to the outside of the port.
And then the train station was about a 28 minute walk away.
Well, we got out, we got onto the shuttle bus, which did not leave immediately. We had to wait for it to fill up, got outside the port, we got to the train station. And right before we went into the train station, there was some tour company that was out, like, do you have train tickets? And I got kind of distracted. And then we ended up going in, down into the train station where you can go up to the different platforms. And I was like walking around trying to find where to buy tickets.
And like, at this point, like, one of my kids was not very happy with me because I'm just like out of it. And then we finally go back into the train station and there's just like long lines. And I knew, I knew during my research that this was a possibility that there are long lines at the machines. And then I went to go, I, I was able to go buy tickets at the counter, but I didn't know when the train was coming. And like, I, I'm looking how long it's gonna take to get to Rome.
So I'm like, oh, we're just gonna book an Uber and we're just gonna. Because I'm like, we're not gonna make the tour.
So we get into the Uber and we are cutting it really close. Like, it, our arrival time was gonna be like, right at our meeting time. And then as we got closer and closer to the City. And then we got into the city, the time kept ticking up and we ended up missing our tour, which was fine. So, like, the meeting place was by the Coliseum, which was very crowded.
We took a couple pictures outside the Coliseum. We're trying to recreate a picture from our last trip, but like, the area that we had taken, it was like blocked off.
We are so tired by that day. Like, I learned on this trip that long port days are. We just cannot. We can't do it.
So we ended up just going and having a leisurely lunch.
Kind of.
Everybody was in a better mood when they got food in them. And you know, like, just chalk that up to lessons learned.
Um, and I mean, even if we had gone on the tour, we wouldn't, you know, it just felt like so much running around, so.
But yeah, in some ways wished we had booked a Disney port adventure. It would have been.
[00:47:52] Speaker C: I was gonna ask you that, like, if you could do a, like a. A do over on that day, like, would you book just a regular Disney excursion? Would you book. I know Disney does an excursion. I'm putting in air quotes where they just all give you the transportation. Transportation from.
Yeah, I think that or private transportation. You could always.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: I think what I should have done is just like made a list of just like some of the sites that are in the. Concentrated in the same area.
And we should have just done something where we did not have to be anywhere at a certain time. Like, that's where it kind of killed us. Because if we didn't have to be there at 11, if we were just going to go and kind of walk around the Coliseum, go see the Spanish Steps because, like, once we got into the city, it's so easy to use the Metro.
Like, we could have just seen things.
But you know, I had heard these golf cart tours were so great. But I think that's the other problem is you're so limited what times you can book because I'm never going to be even close to missing the all aboard time. So, you know, like, you're like, okay, we gotta get there, like. And, you know, I thought I had allowed myself enough time and I think we could have done it if we had got moving a little bit faster in the morning. Because I think we were there from like seven to seven. So there was plenty of time for us to have made it. But everybody in the room should have got up at, you know, 7:30 and we should have, you know, got ready really quickly. But I don't think we left the ship till like, probably 8:45.
[00:49:31] Speaker B: So.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: So, yeah, I think if I were to do it over, I just wouldn't have booked anything with a specific time. You know, I see the people who are booking, you know, a tour at the Coliseum for a specific time or the Vatican. And I think I was on the Facebook group for the cruise the week prior to ours. Just kind of see what people's experience was. And, you know, somebody was really upset because they said that they had booked, I think, a Disney transportation to Rome, and they, like, everything seemed to be delayed and they missed their tour. And if you miss your tour, you know, there's not much you can do about it. So just, you know, lessons learned a little. Even though I knew it was going to be like a long, kind of long travel in. Because I think, you know, some people book these cruises and they're like, they advertise it as a port stop in Rome, and you think you're just walking off the ship and you're going to be in Rome. So, like, I mean, I knew that it wasn't like that. And even still with the knowledge I had, like, you can still really mess it up. But no one was too disappointed in my family to. To miss it. Like, I mean, it was a bummer, but it was like, you know, lemonade.
[00:50:50] Speaker C: Yeah, you made lemonade out of lemons. You know, it always. What always makes things better is like a slice of pizza and some gelato. So there's plenty of that, you know, to. To make, to make up for it. I'm curious now, you had a fourth port day, am I right? One more port day. What was the last port day?
[00:51:10] Speaker A: This is the big thing that we are waiting for.
So this is Livorno, and I know a lot of people go to Florence, but, like, Florence is so far. But we had to go to Pisa, so we booked a tour through Viator to go see Luca and Pisa and Lucca is this walled city. It's gorgeous. We stayed there for a couple days on our last trip to Italy.
And it's just like.
I don't know, I guess it's like what I think of when I think of Italy.
It's small and compact and it just.
I hate to say this, but, like, when I first went to Europe, obviously I had been to Epcot before, so, like, Europe always reminded me of Epcot. So, like, I mean, it's almost like a fairy tale town to me.
So we took a bus from Livorno to Luca was the first stop, and we were there for about three hours.
The tour group that was Operating this.
They did do a walking tour in the city, if you wanted to, but we just wanted to go off on our own, and we had a nice lunch again. You know, my son was. That was what he was most excited about for this cruise is going to Italy and eating the food.
Because when we went, when he was younger, he's a little bit of a picky eater, but now he likes a lot more, so he's really excited about that.
[00:52:40] Speaker C: I love that I have to give a huge, like, shout out to Luca if you are anywhere in.
In Tuscany. Like, Luca is such, as you said, like a magical place. It's like, what you imagine Italy to be this cute.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:52:57] Speaker B: With one caveat, which is the last time we were there was, like 20 years ago.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: I know, I know. But it was so beautiful, Brian. It was like such.
[00:53:06] Speaker A: It still is.
[00:53:07] Speaker C: Yeah, we loved it. We absolutely. We were there for just a day. We were. We were touring around Florence, essentially, and we took a day trip to Luca. And Brian's dad had a friend through business. Through the liquor business his dad was in, and we met him in Luca, and it was his. It's his hometown. And so he, like, walked us around a little bit. And he's an older gentleman who's since. He's since passed, but he walked us around the town of Luca, took us to a wine shop, took us to a bread shop. Like, it was just. It was a magical experience, just our single day there. And I would.
I would love to go back. I would absolutely love to. And we skipped Pisa. We were like. I had seen the leaning tower a few years prior, so we are like, we don't need to see the tower. It's all right. But you. But you guys, when you had to, you know, you had to go back to Pisa for your daughter.
[00:53:59] Speaker A: Pisa.
So, yes. So about three hours in Luca, then we rode the bus to Pisa. And I think we only had an hour there, which I was, like, kind of shocked about. So we're kind of like. I think there were only three families that were on the tour that had bought tickets to go into the tower. And I'm a little bit claustrophobic, so I wasn't sure how I was going to do. And, you know, I spent so many years since we've been to Europe, and I'm older and not in as good of shape as I was a decade ago.
And so I was, like, worried about how I was going to do. And, like, I found out on this trip that, I mean, I've always been a little bit Anxious about stuff. But like, I'm much more anxious traveler and like going to some of these sites and it was like, it was not bad at all. Like, I was fine. Like, the last little bit up in the tower is very cramped. And my daughter, who this was her dream, you know, she was a little bit nervous in the small because you had people coming down the same way you were going up. But we had just enough time to climb the tower, kind of enjoy the scenery after we had got up there and then go back down and, you know, take the touristy photos that you have to take of looking like you're pushing the tower.
[00:55:24] Speaker C: Right? Looking like you're catching the tower. The tower is falling and you've caught it. Or that you're like. Or you're so stressed. Strong. You're pushing it up.
[00:55:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we, we have a picture that we had to recreate of the kids on each side. They were like, you know, oh, one's pushing it.
[00:55:40] Speaker C: One's pushing it up. Yeah, one's pushing it down. That's cute.
[00:55:43] Speaker A: Yeah, so. So we did that and fulfilled her lifelong dream of going into the Leaning Tower. Pisa.
I think it was a little bit anticlimactic for her, but I really enjoyed it.
You know, I think she was glad to check it off the list, but I think it's just, you know, something she's waited so long and it's like.
[00:56:05] Speaker C: And it's not that big of a deal
[00:56:10] Speaker A: that happens.
[00:56:11] Speaker C: But that's like a six year old brain, right?
[00:56:14] Speaker A: Yes, yes, exactly. But no, I'm glad we did it. She has it checked off her list, so. No, it's good. But it was very. I was just surprised how short our time was in Pisa compared to the other stops. But really, that's all you need.
[00:56:29] Speaker C: That is exactly what it is. So all the tours that go to Pisa, Pisa is like tiny and there's not a ton to do there. So all the tours that go to Pisa, it's like, stop, take a picture with the tower and then go. That's literally what it is for a lot of tours. A lot of tours don't even have time built in for you to go inside. And yours had just. Just enough. Well, Alexis, this was your last port stop before, of course, returning back to Barcelona.
Let's turn to the ship. We only have a little bit more time, but I want to cover some of the highlights of what you guys did on board. Things you, things you liked about the dream. You mentioned you really, you know, this was your first time. You actually like this More than you liked the fantasy. I'm curious about that. And if it had to do more with activities on board or more with the spaces on board. So let's, let's start there.
[00:57:22] Speaker A: Between the fantasy and the dream, they're about the same to me is the treasure that I like the fantasy, I love the fantasy. But then the treasure, you know, going back to the dream class, you know, it's different, it's smaller, it's not as grand.
So that one thing we thought was a little bit interesting was in Europe the late seating doesn't start until 8:30. And I think doesn't it start at 8:15 in the.
[00:57:52] Speaker C: Yeah, usually 8:15 out of the Florida ports. Usually 8:15 and usually. And same out of, I want to say out of Alaska, usually 15 as well. But they must have pushed back the early because of the.
By 15 minutes. Yeah.
[00:58:07] Speaker A: Because of the long port days. I'm sure that's what they did. But the other interesting thing was is the activities in the adult spaces started 15 minutes earlier than they normally do.
So they would start at 9:45 instead of 10.
So like, you know, you're already like kind of, you're like, oh, I'm not going to be able to make it to that. This was a disappointment of a lifetime to my daughter. We were not seated with another family on this cruise.
[00:58:38] Speaker C: And late dining is usually pretty full. So on European cruises for, for those listening out of the, out of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, Well, I guess technically those are out of Canada. But at most port, most cruises that leave out of the United States on Disney Cruise Line, main dining, meaning early dining is going to be the one that's more crowded and later dining is going to be a little bit less crowded.
In Europe it's the opposite. And in Alaska is kind of, I'd say maybe 50, 50. But in Europe it's the opposite because one, Europeans eat later than Americans. But even Americans going over to Europe are going to eat later because they have those long port days. So most people, unless they have really young kids, most people are going to request late dining in Europe. So just FYI.
Yeah, that's, that's tough though. That cuts it real close in terms of the, the evening activities.
But your daughter was bombed. No, no table mates, you know, you can request. So next time. So the pro tip I'll give is you make the friend in the Facebook group or your daughter makes the friend through TikTok. You get their information ahead of time. You get their reservation number, their name and Their date of birth. This is what you need in order to link. And then you ask Disney Cruise Line to link you for dining specifically.
And then you'll get seated together. But, yeah, that's. That's funny.
[01:00:02] Speaker A: I will say they've done such a good job on the last three cruises of matching us with.
And, you know, the service seemed slow on this cruise. And I don't know if it was just because, like, we just spent the whole day together. We had nothing to say to each other, but that when you're, you know, eating with another family, you know, you're kind of talking about what you did today.
But something I will say about the service, it was a lot different than what we've experienced on all of our past cruises because Disney is known for their excellent service.
The first night, our main server was. I mean, he was very friendly, but he just wasn't very good. But our assistant server was, like, on top of everything for the rest of the cruise.
The assistant server from the first night was our main server. And then the main server had been, I don't know, demoted to assistant server. And the dinner just seemed to run slow. But like I said, I'm not sure.
[01:01:02] Speaker C: Wait, but did they give you. Did you keep your. Your same team, but they swapped positions? Yes.
[01:01:07] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:01:08] Speaker C: Wow. I've never heard of that happening.
[01:01:11] Speaker A: We didn't say anything. I mean, we definitely said things to each other about it.
You know, I know you can kind of talk to somebody, but, like, I mean, they're so.
The. The one guy was so nice, but he just. I don't know if he was new or what, but he just was not.
He was not what we've come to expect. We've had some really excellent teams in the past.
Like, you know, we would get water poured at the beginning of the meal, and it would end up half on the table, and then he would never come back to refill it. Which, of course, you know, you can ask for whatever you need, they'll happily give it to you. But it's just, you know, we're pretty low maintenance. We don't really, you know, raise our hand, so. And there was one night that we all didn't go to dinner. We just. We just did pool deck food. And I will say that the dining room seemed kind of empty. So not empty, but it wasn't packed. So, you know, a lot of people probably were just, like, tired or if they had just eaten or did pool deck food. So I did find that to be a little bit different because usually, you know, the Dining rotation is like our favorite thing to do. We really love reconnecting, but we spent a lot more time together on this cruise than we normally do. Because usually I don't see them all day and then we connect. But at that point we're like, okay.
[01:02:36] Speaker C: I absolutely think it's more common for people to skip dinner on those European sailings for all of the reasons you mentioned. Either they're just too tired and they're going to bed early, they're ordering, you know, room service or getting pool deck food, or they ate at the. The port later than they, you know, they ate an early dinner at the port or something like that, or lots of snacking. Right. And so I think it's much more common because of those long port days for people to kind of. To skip main dining and where you don't. Whereas you very, very rarely see that on cruises to the Caribbean or to. To the Bahamas.
What were some of the activities you guys enjoyed doing on those. On those couple of sea days? You had just a couple of sea days on the ship? Did more trivias, did you? So we did see all the shows.
[01:03:26] Speaker A: I did see two of the shows. I told my daughter that she had to go see Beauty the Beast because I know you always talk about it. And I saw it on the Treasure, but she did not see it on the Treasure because she was too busy running around. She did not go watch it with me, but she did end up seeing it with one of her friends at different. Like, because they had three performances of Beauty and the Beast on the final C Day.
I went to see the early show and she went to see the one during early dining. And she did say that I was right. It was really, really good.
So I like to do that. We did do a few more trivias.
I think. My son and I did a couple together. We. We went to Match youh Mate, which is kind of fun. Like going with him. Like, we just. It's hilarious.
We did some game in the adult area. I can't remember what it was, but it's like, you know, different topics. Like you have to TV shows or movies or something. And he was a team captain, so he got a Disney Cruise Line hat.
On the last C Day, I did Muppets trivia and my son was like exhausted and he had really bad allergies. So he spent the last sea day pretty much in the room the whole time. So I went to Mopitz Trivia by myself. But then I hooked up. You know, we created a team with a couple People, I think it was Amy and Richard from Australia and Matt and his daughter from the uk And I would not have done that great at Muppets Trivia. It was easier than I expected. The questions. Because some of these trivias. The questions are so.
Yes. But I mean, I still probably wouldn't have done great. But as a team, we did win, so that was pretty exciting.
And then later that day, my favorite trivia is the Disney Tunes trivia Live, you know.
[01:05:19] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, the piano player.
[01:05:21] Speaker A: I love that.
And so again, I was in a tiebreaker, and I did win by myself, and it was really, really exciting. Wait, by yourself?
[01:05:34] Speaker C: You were a team of one. On the Disney Tunes Live, Alexis tied
[01:05:38] Speaker A: with was also a team of one.
So we both. We got. Both got the medals. They're like, we'll do a tiebreaker question so somebody can.
[01:05:48] Speaker C: For bragging rights.
[01:05:50] Speaker A: So. And, you know, like, I had never had this happen on any of the other cruises, but there's this one host, he would have you exchange your paper with somebody else and they had to, you know, grade it.
[01:06:01] Speaker C: Yeah. And some of the hosts do that. And some of the hosts are just. On your honor.
[01:06:06] Speaker A: I had never seen that before, but the people who graded my paper gave me some points for questions that I would not have given myself points for. So I think I had like 37, like, according their score. But I called my score 35. So even I was using a truthful score and I tied with the other person. But if I had used the score they had given me, there would have been no tie.
I don't know. Like, so they were pretty easy. They were very lenient.
So I would not have said, I don't think I was that lenient with the paper I had.
[01:06:45] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I think it's. I think it varies across. I mean, I don't think they don't have to make other. You hand your paper, you know, and grade each other is like most of the hosts, I think, have you just do it on your honor. Right. So you grade your own paper. But I've seen, you know, it just kind of depends. It's. I think it's host choice. I don't think it. I don't think Disney tells me have to do it a certain way. But I love that, like when. Especially when you've got like, two individuals who are playing themselves as a team. I love when they will award like that both medal because I think that's, you know, that's like a nice thing.
[01:07:18] Speaker A: It took the pressure off because I was like, If I don't. Yeah, the medal.
[01:07:22] Speaker C: They still have the medal either way. I love that. That's amazing. That's wonderful. Like to win three different trivias and three completely different topics. I love that.
I want to ask about, about your kids, your adult son and your, and your teenage daughter. 14.
Did they end up enjoying the cruise and did I. You mentioned your, your son didn't make maybe as many friends as he has on some other sailings because of the demographics of who was in the group and then of course the fact that he has a girlfriend at home. So he wasn't a lot of social
[01:07:57] Speaker A: as he normally is.
[01:07:58] Speaker C: Right. Like some of the 18 to some of the 18 to 20 year olds and some of the teens are really just looking to find, you know, member a romantic match more than just a friendship when they join these groups.
[01:08:11] Speaker A: I know he, last year he did well, he made a large group of friends and he did kind of have one close female friend like so I mean it didn't go anywhere after the cruise.
So I will say that for kids who are really social, this port heavy cruise, it's not going to be the cruise that they think it's going to be. He still did all the, almost all the 1820 activities. You know, they go golfing, they go get smoothies one day, they go to the, the specialty ice cream shop one day.
And he did enjoy those but he didn't really connect with anybody. And our cruise last year, he made like some really close friends.
In fact, like two of his friends that he made last year, like this one guy goes to school in Alabama and he went out for a weekend to visit him and then another girl ended up driving down from wherever she was. So the three of them, you know, had a fun time at, you know, I think it was University of Alabama and went to a football game. And so I mean he still talks to some of these people. He's so this one, you know, he just didn't connect with people like he normally does. We didn't have tablemates to connect with and you know, my daughter did enjoy some friends but on the port days people really weren't hanging out in the evenings like they were on the sea days.
So I mean it ended up being really fun. But she's like, no one's getting back to me.
[01:09:46] Speaker C: Yeah, it's just different. Right, because they're all, they're all out with their family the entire day just like she's out with her family the entire day. And so even if she's like wanting to meet up. They're all like, I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed. Right. So yeah, it's a, that's, it's a really good thing though to think about when you're again planning a vacation. Right? What kind of vacation? Why do your kids like Disney cruises? Well, your kids like Disney cruises because they like the connections that they make on board the ship. Ship. And so maybe your next trip to Europe shouldn't be on a cruise. Maybe it should just be a land based trip but with maybe some chill days built in. Right.
So that you don't have a kind of the crazy long, long day packed schedule.
[01:10:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:10:32] Speaker C: And I, I, I, I think it's always, you know, helpful to hear stories like this because it sounds like in the end and, and correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds like you still had a great cruise, but sounds like maybe it wasn't the best way to see Europe and maybe if you were to do it all over again, you might take a Caribbean cruise or just do a trip to Europe and maybe not combine the two.
[01:10:53] Speaker A: Right. I mean, I'm glad we tried it and I think like the expectation, we had the correct expectations.
But it's like, you know, when you think about your ideal self, like it's different from like your real self, actual self. Like I was explaining to my mom
[01:11:12] Speaker C: about how that's the best line ever. Alexis. That's by the way, that's going to be the show opener.
[01:11:17] Speaker A: I'm telling you.
Like I was telling my mom, it's kind of like when you're packing for a vacation.
And I actually did really well on this vacation, only packing things I would use. But you like pack these outfits like that you would never wear because you're like, oh, I'm going to Europe.
Like I did not do that. I was very realistic about, realistic about who I am and what I need to pack. Or you pack like five books even though you don't even really read that often at home. Like you're like, oh, I'm gonna go on this vacation and read. So like I think that's how like how the vacation was. Like we had certain, you know, and my son really wanted to like eat and drink his way around Europe. Well, I don't really, I'm not really a foodie. Like I don't eat a lot on vacation.
Like I'm more of a like snacker because you know, like when you're not at home, it just like you're eating schedule is all thrown out of whack And I don't drink, so, you know, like, if he had had a group of people, like, he would have loved it. But it's like, you're stuck with mom and sister, and, you know, so, like, we did have a good time, and I think it was good. And I think we learned more about who we really are.
So, you know. But I enjoy. I did enjoy it. I'm glad we did it. Like, the expectations that I had, they just felt very. I felt the reality of them. Even though I expected some of this, it's just the way they feel when it happens. You're like, oh, like, I knew this was gonna happen.
Like, but I guess I didn't realize I was gonna feel this way about it, so.
[01:12:53] Speaker B: So I have one question before I give you over to Sam for her rapid fire today. And she's being pretty feisty, so I would get ready, but. But I'm curious, you know, now that you've done this European cruise, if you had to do it all over again, would you do it on Disney or would you go with a different cruise line?
[01:13:09] Speaker A: So I would, because I ended up taking a solo cruise in February on Norwegian, and I got one of their solo travel rooms on the inside. Because I'd never done an inside cabin. I wanted to see if I'd be able to do it.
And it was a short cruise, and I was like, wow, now that I've gone on Disney, I feel like I can't go back. And I think it goes back again to, like, the people on the cruise, because after being on Disney, you know, the first year that we went on a couple cruises on Disney, we did take an extended family trip on a Carnival cruise. And although I prefer Disney, we did have a really great time on that cruise. But it wasn't necessarily about the.
The cruise line or the ports. It was about the people around you.
And I do like Disney because when we have. Like, when I have connected with people, you know, you're kind of starting from a similar baseline, because most people, you
[01:14:08] Speaker C: know, you have something on Disney cruises,
[01:14:10] Speaker A: they're Disney fans, you know.
[01:14:13] Speaker C: Well. And you joined a trivia team, right. With some folks from, like, Australia. Right. Like, you. You. You just kind of. You have that baseline of we have something in common. So I can talk to people. And these people in general are pretty friendly.
[01:14:27] Speaker B: Right.
[01:14:27] Speaker C: I think most Disney cruisers are friendly with, obviously, of course, limited exceptions. So, yeah, that makes sense to me. Absolutely. That you would choose Disney again as opposed to choosing a different cruise, and
[01:14:40] Speaker A: I would go to Europe again. I Still would really love to go on one of the Norwegian fjords cruises, because I feel like that's more about, like, the scenery. I mean, there's still port stops. It still can be port heavy, but I don't feel like I would be missing out because, like, some of these ports in the Mediterranean, like, they're pretty far away from, like, the things you want to see. And you're just like, you see cargo, you know, if.
[01:15:05] Speaker C: You know, you're absolutely right. The. When you're doing a Norwegian Fjords cruise, you're. You're. You are not going that far away. When you're doing port excursions, it's not like doing the med. The medicine has more, you know, further. Further trips and further bus trips and things like that to the large cities or to the large kind of attractions, I'll call them. But the things you want to go see. Absolutely. All right. Well, all right.
[01:15:31] Speaker B: Yep. Sam, we have reached that point in the show where it's time for me to hand Alexis back over to you for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment of the round we know as rapid fire. Take it away.
[01:15:42] Speaker C: All right, Alexis, I know you've prepared for this moment.
We are going to start with your favorite Disney things and then Disney Cruise Line things. We're going to start first with your favorite Disney character. Disney means anything and everything. Disney owns Rapunzel. Well done.
Favorite Disney movie.
[01:16:00] Speaker A: I'm going to go with Frozen two.
[01:16:02] Speaker C: Oh, yes. Absolutely. Better than Frozen one. Love it. Favorite Disney song.
[01:16:07] Speaker A: I'm going to go with Some Things never change from Frozen two.
[01:16:12] Speaker C: Some things never change. Sorry. I always said. I. I think the music in Frozen 2 is phenomenal. I'm obsessed with Lost in the woods, but some things never change.
[01:16:23] Speaker A: So funny. I mean, I like the original Frozen 2, but Frozen or the original one, Frozen 2 is superior, though.
[01:16:30] Speaker C: Yeah, Totally agree. I mean, into the Unknown is such a great song. I mean. Yeah, all of it. All of it is phenomenal. All right, we're going to move on to the ship.
You know what I'm gonna go for first? We're talking theater. So what is your favorite Disney?
[01:16:45] Speaker A: I'm sorry, Sam. I hope we don't end it right now, but it's Frozen.
[01:16:51] Speaker C: All right. Okay. We. We're not gonna.
[01:16:54] Speaker A: You're.
[01:16:54] Speaker C: I'm gonna give you a C.
And the only reason I'm giving you a C is because.
Only because there are so many amazing shows on board.
But Frozen, that production is phenomenal. So I like you not. This is not a Failing GR is still a passing grade.
[01:17:12] Speaker A: I feel good about a C. Yeah,
[01:17:14] Speaker C: I feel like you should.
[01:17:15] Speaker A: I ended up not seeing the Moana show on the Treasure because I had to take a nap after our pass away key day.
[01:17:22] Speaker C: It was really sad.
[01:17:24] Speaker A: And I do love Beauty and Beast so much, but we are a frozen family.
[01:17:28] Speaker C: Okay, all right, fair enough. The puppetry in Frozen and that production are phenomenal. I have said this on the show, and I maintain it that that production on Disney Cruise Line is better than the Hyperion Theater production at Disneyland that they used to have and better than the Broadway show. I think the Disney Cruise Line show is superior. It's so good. Yeah. So that's why it's still a passing grade. It's still a great. It's still a great answer. You're welcome. Even though Beauty and the Beast and Hercules and Moana are all.
[01:17:58] Speaker A: I haven't seen Hercules yet.
[01:18:00] Speaker C: And Tangled. Tangled is phenomenal on the magic.
[01:18:03] Speaker A: Oh, I do love that one. But I gotta go with Frozen.
[01:18:05] Speaker C: All right.
Okay, we're gonna go rotational dining. Actually, no, we're gonna hit activity first. Favorite activity on board. Trivia. Trivia. You won three. Obviously it has to be trivia. All right, rotational dining. Which one is your favorite restaurant?
[01:18:20] Speaker A: Okay, I'm gonna have to go Animators palette. But the magic class.
[01:18:25] Speaker C: Yes, it's. Yes, that's the right answer. Magic class over the dream class Animators. Absolutely. Okay, favorite savory item and sweet item. We're going to talk. We're saving the savories for last because those are the best favorite sweet item on a Disney cruise.
[01:18:40] Speaker A: Okay. I was just listening to a podcast that you did a couple weeks ago earlier today, and the guy said the lemon icebox pie, but now that they've changed their menus, it was not available.
[01:18:54] Speaker C: Oh, no.
[01:18:55] Speaker A: I was devastated.
[01:18:56] Speaker C: Brian's going to be devastated to hear that, by the way.
[01:18:59] Speaker A: That's a surprise. I'm normally a chocolate person, but, like, when I went on the magic, they. I mentioned that I loved it so much. They brought it to me, like, another night when I was there. So I'm gonna have to go with Mickey churro waffles now that the lemon icebox pie is no more. And then I know soft serve is a favorite, and I have to mention this, they ran out of soft serve on our ship by day three, we were no longer had a special flavor. And then the rest of the week, there was only chocolate. They had to scoop vanilla ice cream. And there was one evening when they didn't have Any of it working. And they were scooping vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
[01:19:43] Speaker C: Wow, that's crazy. I gotta tell you, Nathan would be so upset if, like, he likes chocolate vanilla swirl. He doesn't care about the specialty flavors. Brian and I both love banana.
I'll give it honorable mention to mango. Brian would probably give an honorable mention to the mint.
But. But, like, Nathan is all about that chocolate vanilla swirl. And if he couldn't get that, if
[01:20:08] Speaker A: he couldn't get any. Disappointing.
[01:20:09] Speaker C: Yeah, that would be like, that would, like, ruin. I swear that would ruin his cruise. Because he will usually, he will often leave the dining room before dessert gets delivered. Once in a while, he'll order ice cream in the dining room. But then it scoop ice cream. Right. So he prefers the soft serve. So he will leave din or go get soft serve. And then, you know, we don't see him again until midnight after.
[01:20:31] Speaker A: I was pretty bitter about it. So if we had recorded this closer to when I had got home, that would probably be the first thing I mentioned.
[01:20:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I hear you.
[01:20:40] Speaker A: We still got to have the gelato in Italy, so.
[01:20:43] Speaker C: Yes. So that's the only thing that makes up for it. Gelato in Italy. Absolutely. All right. Favorite savory item on a Disney cruise.
[01:20:50] Speaker A: I'm going to have to go with the tacos at the cantina. I'm so happy that they added the cantina to the Dream Class ships.
[01:20:58] Speaker C: Yes, we. I. I will say we haven't been on to the Fantasy or the Dream since they added on Ramon's Cantina, but we're big fans of Donald's Cantina on the Wish Class, and I know it's really the same. Um, all right, well, moving on to the perhaps the most important question of Rapid Fire. Actually, no. We're going to do the second most important.
Aqua Dunk. Aquaduck, Aqua Mouse. Which one's the best?
[01:21:24] Speaker A: I have been on all three. I'm not really a water slide person.
I love Aquamouse. Love the little animated.
[01:21:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I love the story. You gotta love this story. All right, most important question of Rapid Fire. Your favorite ship. You gave us a preview. I think I know what it is. Yeah.
[01:21:40] Speaker A: Like, it's not gonna be a surprise. This is a treasure.
[01:21:42] Speaker C: Yeah, it's phenomenal. And the theming is so great. As you mentioned, the grand hall is gorgeous.
It's really hard to beat the theming, especially as a Parks person of the Treasure.
I would love for you to see the Destiny as well. But if you're. If you're a Marvel or villains, Person destiny.
[01:22:02] Speaker A: We have it, like, in the back of our mind.
We want to go on it.
The next one for us, we're going to go back on the Wonder, which should be interesting because that's the one that started it all. We're going for spring break next year with my parents and then my brother and his family.
Oh, yes.
West coast.
[01:22:19] Speaker C: West coast cruise.
[01:22:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to go.
It's going to be my brother and his family's first Disney cruise. They like Disney. They're not as big of fans as we are, but it's.
I mean, we already know about it, but it's our Christmas gift from our parents is they're going to take us all on this cruise. So, like.
[01:22:39] Speaker C: Yeah. Awesome. All right, well, the last question of rapid fire, you've already answered Brian's what's next question. But the last question of rapid fire is bucket list cruise. You could go anywhere in the world.
[01:22:49] Speaker A: I already said that one, too. I would love to go on the Norwegian fjords.
[01:22:53] Speaker C: Oh, the fjord ports. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. Absolutely. It's a fantastic cruise. You'll love it. It's very different than, I think, what you experience on the med. In terms of, as we mentioned, sort of the ports. And as you, as we also mentioned, it is a lot about the natural scenery. Very similar to the Alaskan experience, although not exactly the same for by any.
[01:23:15] Speaker A: We also, my daughter and I are going to go on Alaska on the Magic next summer, too. So we have too much stuff booked right now. I had booked that before. My mom was like, we really want to do another, like, trip with all of us, and I think we should do a Disney cruise, so.
[01:23:31] Speaker C: Oh, amazing. So you're going. Okay, so what's next for you is you're going on the Wonder for spring break and then the Magic for Alaska. Do you have anything else booked?
[01:23:42] Speaker A: I don't. We were going to go on the Wish, my daughter and I, in October, but because we have this other stuff. Stuff planned, we decided we better wait. Like, so she really wants to catch up with the rest us because my son's gold now I'm at six cruises and she hasn't been on the Wish yet. But I'm like, don't worry, you'll catch up very quickly because I don't know, like, Alex is planning and going on the. The one with the big family. We're planning on bringing his girlfriend, too.
But this. That might be his last vacation with us. I don't know. You know, like a mom and little sister. You know, seven days is too much
[01:24:22] Speaker C: like gosh, though, I mean, he's missing out if he skips Alaska. I gotta tell you, though, because Alaska is just so, so incredible. Well, Alexis, thank you so much for coming on the show. It's been really fun talking with you. I think great information.
Sometimes we make mistakes like you did with the Rome day with the transportation. But, you know, stuff happens and we roll with it. And it all worked out okay in the end, right?
[01:24:50] Speaker A: It was fine.
[01:24:50] Speaker C: Yeah, it was fine. Yeah. But we really appreciate you coming on the show because it's really helpful, I think, for our listeners to hear that. One, you can make lemonade out of lemons sometimes. And two, sometimes you have to kind of figure out how to plan your vacation and roll with the punches. Right. So thanks so much for coming on. You've got some great cruises planned. We'll hope that you'll come back and chat with us about them.
[01:25:13] Speaker A: Yes, I would love to. Thank you.
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