[00:00:00] Speaker A: They were using our crews to test out those menus. Oh, no.
And, like, there is a reason those menus are tier three and tier four. Like, they're not very good.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by WeDoTravel. Right. I am your host, Sam, Today. As you can tell by not hearing Brian's voice that I'm solo. He's actually at a work conference most of this week. And so I'm. I'm recording this on a weekday evening. But don't worry, I'm not alone. I've got a great friend that's joining me. This friend has been on the show before. You've heard her talk about other cruises than the one we're going to talk about today.
She sails typically with her daughter and occasionally with her dad, and we have sailed with her on two. Two or three occasions.
To my two occasions, Sarah.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: But anyway, welcome back to the show, Sarah.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Hi. Thanks so much for having me. It's always good to get a chance to talk about vacation and families and all that good stuff.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Yeah. It's so nice to, like, be back with you, Sarah.
I'm excited to hear about this cruise because you did a duo dip, which means you went to both Castaway and Lookout Key. Always a fun itinerary. But I'm even more excited because your daughter and I can't believe this. We were talking about this pre show. Your daughter, who's a couple years older than Nathan, is now a Vibe teenager
[00:01:40] Speaker A: and no longer wild.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, it's funny that I reminisce with you over this because the first time, and people may not remember this, it's way back in our catalog, but the first time that we let Nathan check himself in and out of the kids club was when we were sailing with you guys, because Amelia was, you know, still. She was still in the kids club. This is before they changed the age limit. So she was, you know, she's like a year and a half older than Nathan. I want to say maybe closer to two years. Yeah. And she was able to check herself out, and she wanted Nathan to come and roam the ship with her and go, like, get lollipops from the lollipop holders and stickers from the sticker holders and all. All the fun things. And look at. And look at all the door decorations.
And so we gave Nathan per.
Check himself out of the club because we knew he would be with Emelia, who was, like, very responsible. And then even after that, I think we. We were on a Back to back. And you guys were only on the first sailing with us.
Even after that, we let Nathan continue to have that free roam because he had proven to us that he could be responsible. So I always.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: But then he took the second. The second cruise to, like, he made it. He had a friend on that trip and took them to the lollipop doors.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. He became like, Emelia was like the lead cruise with you guys. And then on the next cruise with the other friend, then Nathan became the lead because he had kind of figured out how to navigate the ship on his own. And it's just like such a wonderful thing. But she was like. She's the. The older. It's like the older sibling. Right. So she's like, you know, but it's just so. It's crazy to me to think that she is now a teenager in Vibe. It must be crazier for you.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: It is wild. When I was looking at the. When I was thinking about planning this trip and I was looking and I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
Which club am I are we looking at here?
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Right, Right. When you do. Especially when you do check in and you're like, oh, yeah, you have to fill out some of the things about. That's just crazy. All right, well, let's start with.
It's been a while since you've been on the show, Sarah. Why don't we start with giving people your cruise creds, Your background with Disney Cruise Line. You're a platinum cruiser if I'm right.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep. This was cruise number 17.
So all four classic ships, plus the Wish and the Treasure, and we have the Destiny booked for next spring.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Spoiler alert.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: We're getting there.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: Awesome. Okay, and. And remind me, like, what kinds of itineraries you have done.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Sure. We've done. We've done the Med. We've done Alaska. We've gone. The first cruise we did with you guys was out of San Diego. We've done quite a few out of Fort Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale, and we were on the infamous 2020 westbound Panama Canal.
[00:04:38] Speaker B: That's right. That's right.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That. Some cruise, right?
[00:04:46] Speaker A: Cruise. So we had. I think we had. We had the very last Palo Buffet ever served.
You know, things like that.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: So, yeah, craziness. Craziness. Well, tell me, this itinerary.
What ship, how many days, and what landed you on this itinerary in particular?
[00:05:07] Speaker A: So we were on the Fantasy out of Port Canaveral five nights, went to Nassau, Castaway and Lookout, plus a Sea day. I always like to have at least one sea day. And then we were going to both islands in terms of how we landed on this particular trip. So as we said, Amelia is getting older. She starts high school in the fall.
And she is, she plays competitive basketball. And we heard, we were trying to thread the needle between tournaments and her club really never, never plays tournaments over fourth of July.
And so we knew that was going to be a pretty safe bet to sort of try to do something right around the fourth.
And there's a huge girls basketball tournament in Louisville every summer in July. And last year at the end of the year, they told us we weren't gonna go back for a variety of reasons. And so we didn't think. We thought we were safe there because we weren't going back to the big Louisville tournament.
That's foreshadowing.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: I kind of got that in my head.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: So. So we were kind of debating between this fantasy cruise and a cruise on the longer cruise on the Destiny.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: Oh, right, because they had the seven night cruises. They had two back to back seven night cruises. Yeah.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: And so we were debating between this one and the seven night on the Destiny. They were actually almost the same price.
I think my sense is that dcl, at least this last, the release that these came out, they weren't charging quite as much.
There was a little bit of savings for going out of Fort Lauderdale. Now I haven't looked as closely, but in that particular release, there was a little bit of a savings going out of Fort Lauderdale instead of Fort Canaveral, which would have allowed us to get that seven night for the same price. But anyway.
But we ended up deciding it was just easier to go in and out of Orlando and chose the five night because even in the back of my mind I said, they said they aren't going back to Louisville, but I don't know that. I totally believe that we're not going back to Louisville.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: You are so smart. This is like, this is mom. This is like sports mom brain on steroids like you. You know what might happen.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: And so unsurprisingly, we did end up going back to Louisville, so. So I'm glad we ended up kicking the five night. So nothing conflicted so well.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: And you, you know, you make a good point. It, I do think it is generally you generally get a little bit of a savings sailing out of Fort Lauderdale than out of Port Canaveral.
But what you save on the cruise, you may have a little bit more difficulty in finding the flight or finding the flight for the right price. Right. Because there are flights. I mean, the flights aren't bad to Fort Lauderdale or Miami, but there's not quite as many for most major airports as there are to Orlando. Right. Because of Disney World.
So.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So you just have a few more. Yeah, A few more options there.
Now, of course, you know, you've still got hotel and things like that, so the cost may end up working out not to be that different, but it's something to look at in terms of what's. What's convenient, what's an airport I can more easily get to. I will say this is not a plug for Miami, but Miami does have more flights than Fort Lauderdale from most major airports. But it's further away is the issue. It's about an hour from Fort Lauderdale, so it's just, you know, they got to factor in, like, do I have to pay for an Uber or something like that?
[00:08:50] Speaker A: And for us, we have. We have lots of miles. We. We do miles on Southwest, and for the. We're flying in and out of St. Louis, and the terminal that Southwest goes in and out of is much, much easier to navigate than the other terminal.
And so, I mean, if the price is right, I'm not. I'm not going to be loyal just to be loyal, but. But Southwest does primarily go to Fort Lauderdale and not Miami.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Yeah, that makes sense. All right, well, let's dive into the planning side of things.
Was this just you and Amelia, or was your dad coming with you on this one?
[00:09:25] Speaker A: Nope, my dad came, and I love that.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: I love that he enjoys Disney cruising with you guys. It's awesome.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: He does. He really does. So, yeah, so it was Amelia and I in one room, and then my dad. And as you know, my mom passed away a few years ago, and they had one of their really great friends from college who we've known forever. I always call her my aunt. Family by choice, but she was not married. And so they're Both in their 80s now and have sort of decided that they're going to be companions.
Oh, wow. I know. So it's pretty cool.
So, you know, neither, you know, I mean, they both. Now, neither of them are living alone. They have someone, you know, they travel a little bit on their own, you know, things like that. So it's pretty fun. So she came as well.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Oh, that's wonderful. So is that a foursome? I love that.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: And I love that it's actually somebody who's been in your life, too. That's actually really lovely as well.
Oh, I love that. All right, well, how early did you fly in?
You know, in advance. Like, did you spend any time at Disney World? Obviously, because you're flying into Orlando anyway.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: Well, we actually flew into Fort Myers.
Oh, so wait, what exactly? Time out.
But we just talked about Orlando was easier than Fort Lauderdale.
[00:10:56] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: So one of my mom's cousins lives in Fort Myers and she has. She and my dad have stayed in touch and her son, she lives there, and her. One of her kids, her son lives there. And she said, hey, if you guys are going to be down in Florida, you should come visit sometime. And we said, well, maybe we'll fly into Fort Myers and spend a couple days with Faith Mary and reconnect and, you know, talk family stuff and just sort of do. Do some extended family things. So we flew down two days before. Two days before we departed and spent time with them, you know, going out to dinner, talking about stories from when my mom and them were all K and stuff like that. It was really great.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Oh, that's so lovely. How far away is. Is Fort Myers from the Orlando area? I have no, I don't even have a concept of where it is in Florida. I'll be honest.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: It's about three hours. It's about three hours.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: I love that your cat keeps joining
[00:11:57] Speaker A: us, by the way. Like, FYI, we have a fuzzy little friend who keeps.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: There's a feline who keeps entering. Yeah. And me out.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: Even there's her little ear.
So sorry about that.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: No, it's fine.
The more the merrier.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: So, yeah, so we spent, you know, we spent, you know, a while with them.
Stayed with them and that was great. Ate some. They took us to a really amazing seafood restaurant. Just right on the water, fresh catch everything. It was incredible. And then we drove over to Orlando. We stayed, we just stayed at an airport hotel. There's a Homewood suite suite really close to the airport that has two bedroom suites. And so even when my mom, when my, you know, when my mom was alive and we traveled, it was just, it was a great hotel, right, because two bedrooms, two bathrooms, but we could still all be together. And at that time, you know, Amelia was real young and she would go to bed and we, well, she and my dad would go to bed and
[00:13:01] Speaker B: my mom would stay out. Your mom would stay out.
[00:13:07] Speaker A: So all kinds of stuff like that. And so we have continued to. We've continued to stay at that hotel. And they do, they take. They do a good job. The upkeep is nice there.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: It.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: It remains a nice hotel. So.
[00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, did you have a rental car. Given that you were going to be going, okay, because you're going to spend some time in Fort Myers, you probably want to have a car to get around to do things. And then for driving to Orlando, and then if you're driving down to Port Canaveral in the morning, which is another, you know, hour way of getting there, that, that all makes sense. Now, what did you do in terms of the rental car? Did you park it at the port or did you return it? This is like a debate. I think a lot of people consider.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Yeah, we, we returned it. We ended up doing the Disney bus this time. You know, in, in my calculation, four people tends to be the tipping point. Like, four people is kind of that magic number of where is the price difference in terms of taking DCL transport, getting private, paying to park at the port, you know, things. And so we just, we just went ahead and did. We decided to do DCL transport partially because of the new, you know, I mean, even, even being platinum, the, the priority of being able to get.
The priority of being able to get on the ship a little sooner. And those early boarding groups is just nice.
[00:14:31] Speaker B: And typically for those listening, what Sarah's talking about is typically they will allow people who have been on Disney to board after group two. So, you know, it's your, your port arrival time doesn't really matter at that point. What matters is your boarding group because you're going to have, you're going to arrive kind of on the early side with Disney transport. And so your port arrival time is essentially meaningless. But you might get like boarding group 6 or boarding group 10 or whatever. But they will typically allow you to board after group two. They'll give you, essentially they'll do a call for the Disney transportation people. Either they'll give you a tick for boarding group three, or they'll just tell you, if you took Jensen Transport, go ahead with like a special ticket. Now boarding group one and boarding group two are the concierge cruisers and then the Pearl cruisers, respectively. So those are the two groups that get on first. And of course, back to back cruisers are even before those groups. So it's, it's always. But it is nice. I mean, to get on early. It's a little bit less, less chaotic in terms of getting lunch. And it's not, you know, the pool is not quite as crowded yet if they're, if the pools are open, that sort of thing. It is a nice way to start your day if you can get on early. Well, Sarah, did you guys book Anything in advance in terms of, you know, adult dining or drink tastings or excursions? I'm guessing less. I'm. I'm thinking probably not excursions given the ports you were going to. But, you know, you might have, I don't know. Well, so, yeah, let me know. What is. What, if anything, did you book in advance?
[00:16:09] Speaker A: So we booked. So you're right, we did not book a ton in advance. We booked Prima Note at Palo.
We booked Palo Brunch. We booked some spa time for Ellen and I to go get a massage and then we booked one of the Mickey and Minnie cabanas at Castaway.
[00:16:29] Speaker B: Nice. You were able to score a cabana. That's always a. Yeah, that's always a nice thing to be able to do. It seems like it's becoming a little bit easier with the Mickey and Minnie cabanas having been added. There's just more availability than there ever was before. Right. So even on one of the larger ships, it's just something you're, you're maybe able to do even if not sailing. Concierge. Well, let, let's talk about embarcation day. You took DCL transportation.
Did you take it from the airport then?
[00:17:01] Speaker A: Yes, took it from the airport. We, we arrived around, around 8 o' clock or so. I guess they sent an email, they sent an email a couple days before we took transport. You know, I said to my, I said to my family, I said, hey, I don't want to impose rope drop mentality on you guys and I would prefer to be on the first bus. That's my preference. And so the email said that they would have people in the area by 8 o', clock, but that was not when the first bus was departing. And so we got there, we were not there right at 8, but we were there between 8 and 8:30, you know, around 8:15 or so. And there were a couple families already in the waiting area, but it was by no means packed.
So, so yeah, got there about 8:15, got chairs, hung out. They were however, taking bags at that point. So we were able to hand off our bags, which was great. So bye, bye bag. See you in a few hours.
So dropped our, dropped our bags, hung out. And then at about nine is when they started handing out the little cards for the buses. And so it's almost like reverse luggage tags. They're like the same shit. Like it's a square piece of paper but the, it's a little oval picture. Ours had Bambi and Bambi was the first bus.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: And they did it first come first serve. Right. So like when they're giving out. Yeah, so when they're giving out. So if you want to be on the first bus like Sarah was, then you do need to get there on the earlier side. And probably it's smart to get there at 8 because sometimes they'll start opening that sort of handout at 8 and sometimes they'll start opening that handout at 9. And you just don't exactly know, of course, the email, if the email says differently, follow whatever the email says. But in general it's. They're not perfectly consistent from.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: But conveniently, MCO has added a Starbucks kiosk right next to the bus pickup area. So perfect.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: I know that actually is super convenient because if you're there on the early side and you're just kind of waiting around for an hour or two, being able to get, you know, some breakfast, some coffee and not having to walk all the way through the airport because you're all the way by luggage. By the luggage, you're not luggage.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: And the rental cars and stuff like that.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's, it's. You're kind of a ways away from where like the food court and other things are at that point.
All right, so what time did you end up boarding the bus and getting to the port and how was the check in process?
[00:19:38] Speaker A: So we were. So most of the, you know, the last time we took DCL transportation, you still did your check in at the port. It's been a while since we've taken dcl. It was great. We did all of our check in at the airport and so when we arrived at Port Canaveral it was just get off the bus and go through security. No need to check anything else. So that was, that was nice. So we were, we left MCO a little bit after 10, you know, and we're at Port Canaveral by 11:15, 11:20, and then we were on the ship by about 11:45.
[00:20:17] Speaker B: So that's awesome.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: All right, Embarcation day tradition. What are you doing when you first get on the ship? Of course, you've been on the fantasy before, so I mean, it's always fun having your name announced. But like, you've seen the atrium before. You're not like, like enamored in the way that you might be on a new ship. So. Yeah. Where are you headed, Sarah?
[00:20:38] Speaker A: We are sit down lunch people.
We really like being able to go to lunch, put our bags down, have a, have a quieter place to eat, someone to bring us our stuff. It gives me a chance to set up my dad and Ellen's phones.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: I kind of love that because it's like I gotta set up my kids phone. No, no. I have to set up the older gener patients phones to make sure that they're not getting like extreme roaming charges when we're out at sea.
[00:21:14] Speaker A: So yeah, so I set up their phones. We had lunch.
Amelia and I both really, really like the beef empanadas. So we had to, we had to have some of that, you know, and it was just nice and a sit down on the fantasy was in animators and we were, it was so funny because we were actually just one table over from our regular dining t so.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: Oh, nice. Yeah.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Now our rotation, our rotation servers weren't in animators that day, but it made it easy. Made it easy when it came time to go to dinner that night because it was like we know exactly where we're going.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: I love that. That's always helpful. Now had. Had Ellen been on a Disney cruise or any cruise before?
[00:21:56] Speaker A: So she did. She had done a cruise a long time ago with another line like maybe in Greece or somewhere and, and just hated it. Hated it.
But then we took her on the Treasure over spring break last year and she was like, oh, this is a lot different. I like this a lot.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Okay, good, good.
Yeah. Because you know, you never know. Especially you know, with someone who has, has not maybe sailed on not just a cruise but on a Disney cruise of the older generation. They may absolutely love it or they may absolutely hate it. And you don't necessarily know what you're, you know, what you're signing up for in that circumstance. So that's good to hear. All right, well, let's dive in and talk about some of the activities you guys did on board.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Oh, I wanted to say one other thing that just occurred to me in terms of the pre planning in the past.
So my dad has a CPAP machine and in the past the only way to request water for the CPAP was to have your travel agent. Let's like type it in.
Now when I did check in for this cruise under the special services tab, you can now request that water for the CPAP machines and they give it to you in smaller containers like it used to be. You got a whole gallon.
I mean like regardless of how many, like it was always a whole gallon. Well, he doesn't go through a whole gallon in five nights. But they would have to then waste anyway. It comes in smaller containers. They'll of course always get you more if you need more.
But it just seems one, it was easier because I was able to do it myself. And two, it just seems so much less wasteful now that they're not giving such, giving it in such huge quantities.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. What a great tip. Thank you. Thank you for interrupting me for that. I love that.
Yeah, that's a great helpful tip. And other special services type requests you can make in the app now as well. And so it's really helpful. I think if you've got any kind of medical equipment that you're bringing on with you, it's good to note that, that because of course you'll probably be carrying it or you should be carrying it on with you, not setting it in your checked luggage. But you also don't have to bring your own distilled water on with you. You can request it on board. And there are other liquids that you can of course bring on board for various medical needs, but distilled water just happens to be one that you don't need to bring. They will provide for you.
[00:24:32] Speaker A: And that's.
I also taught my dad on this trip because he always, he said, we've moved to traveling. Amelia and I travel carry on only. He's like, well, but it's so hard because my CPAP machine takes up most of the room in my backpack. And I was like, but you can carry your CPAP machine as an extra carry on. Like it doesn't count towards your two limit. And he was like, give us on airplanes. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Yeah, CPAPs don't count towards your two carry on limit because it's medical equipment.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: That makes sense.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Because it's medical equipment.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: He was shocked.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: He was like, are you kidding me? I'm like, no. And he didn't believe me because he's my dad.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Did you show him on the website of the airline?
[00:25:12] Speaker A: I did, I did. I looked at on Southwest. I was like, see? And I showed him. And he was like, well, there you go. And, and no one. And there was no trouble.
You know, it was super easy.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: So I have to say I still don't understand how you can do carry on only for a five night cruise. Now I understand it for like a three night cruise. I don't understand it for plus not just a five night cruise. You also had a couple nights before in Florida you do laundry.
[00:25:41] Speaker A: I did not.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Wow, Sarah, you're efficient. You're an efficient packer. Then you're. I will say I'm a very inefficient packer for as much as I travel, I'm a, I'm a very inefficient packer and I pretty much always do laundry, even despite the fact that I don't do carry on only.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: This is the first cruise in a long time I have not done laundry. And when I got home, I regretted
[00:26:05] Speaker B: that choice so that, that I. It's funny that there are people who always say to me like, that's so weird that you do laundry on a cruise or a vacation or whatever. And it's exactly that. I hate having like piles of laundry when I get home. Yeah. And it's. And it's only three of us, but it still, it feels like it's just so much right to do and then. Because then whatever, inevitably we like left from the night before is also in the, in the hamper here. All right, well, let's, let's talk about some of the stuff you guys did on board the ship. You of course mentioned priminote. Now of course priminote means literally in Italian the first night.
Tell us, had I. I don't remember. Had you done Prima Note before?
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Yes, I had. My dad and I had done it once before and so my dad doesn't drink alcohol and Ellen currently is not either.
And so we knew from my dad doing it before that we could request the non alcoholic pair. I, I think maybe someone on your show has, has had it before and they expressed that they, they didn't love it. So the non alcohol. And so just to be upfront, you know, the Prima Note pairing is wines like you are having actual wine.
The non alcoholic pairing is cocktails.
So it's an old fashioned, it's an aperol spritz, it's Manhattan. You know, it's things like that. They are exceptional. They are delicious. My dad, every time, both times that he has done it, he has just said that it just feels like such a treat to have such high quality, quality, zero proof options. And. And also of course, the delicious food.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh my God, I love that. I love hearing that because I, you, you. We don't hear a lot about. We did have one family that did. They did it. It was in Remy. It wasn't or, or Enchante. It wasn't in Prima Note. But they didn't love the cocktails. But they also don't, I think like the taste of cocktails and I think that these non alcoholic cocktails that you're talking about are actually made to taste more.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: But b, because I took sips of them and they're. They're delicious. I mean, like, I don't like old fashions, and I didn't like this.
It tasted a lot like an Old Fashioned.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Right, Right, exactly. That's what they're trying to match that. What did. What did Ellen think of the cocktails? Did she enjoy?
[00:28:32] Speaker A: She really liked them as well. Yeah, Very, very well.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: And. And it's interesting because that food is meant to be paired with wine in the. In the way that it's done in Prima Note. I'm. I'm curious. Curious.
I'm curious as to, like, how they. I mean, you'd have to talk to one of the bartenders probably, but I'm sure they tried to sort of select what. What was the right cocktail with each dish as well.
[00:28:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, like, obviously, like, it was the early dish. The apparel spritz came early. Right. So sort of more like a white wine kind of situation. And then later with. I think the. The Old Fashioned came with the. The beef at closer to the end.
So, yeah, that was definitely the goal.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Awesome.
The cat's knocking over things left and right.
I see the tails.
[00:29:16] Speaker A: There's the tail.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: For those listening, you should watch the video because it's just kind of funny what's happening with the tail.
I'm not always seeing the tail, but I'm seeing the shadow of the tail.
[00:29:30] Speaker C: Shadow of the.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: Cats are pretty sure the world exists around them, not the other way around.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: This is exactly why I don't have a cat.
So that's so funny. No, that's hilarious. All right, well, okay, so Prima Note is a success for all three of you, it sounds like. I'm curious.
When did Amelia go to Vibe for the first time? Did she go on that first night while you guys were doing priminote, or did she do go earlier? Like, I know they usually do. Like, an icebreaker is kind of how they do an edge where they, you know, sort of. That get to know you time.
[00:30:07] Speaker A: I mean, so obviously we both went during the open house time to just kind of check out the space. Space and so on. We were on our rooms.
We had my favorite rooms, those 8B rooms. The mini suite layout on Deck 5. Those are my favorite rooms on any of the ships. And the entrance to Edge and Vibe is just down the hall.
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:30:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, like, literally, she just went straight down the hall to get in. So we went during open house time to kind of check out the space and things like that. I don't know if you remember, but the Edge and Vibe shared share a Sun deck with a pool on this.
On this.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: We. I will tell you, we haven't been on either the dream or the fantasy since those updates. Since the. In both dry docks, they, you know, one year after the other, they change that space. It used to be just Vibe and now they change it to Edge and Vibe because they added a funnel suite and Edge used to be in the funnel. Yeah.
[00:31:07] Speaker A: And.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah, so. So it seems like it hasn't. I haven't heard a lot of outcry that the space is too small or anything like that. And I think that that's in part because those teens tend to roam the ship more than they actually spend time in the club.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: Yeah, they definitely come and go. So this. So yes. So she was in Vibe so much of the teen clubs, more so than the Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab.
The teen clubs depend so much on who the other kids are.
And there was like a combination of factors going on. So she could go to Edge. She would have been the oldest in Edge, but the Edge was. And my apologies to all middle school boys out there, but the Edge was overrun with. And I saw them around the ship with middle school boys doing middle school boy things.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they weren't. They weren't ones like Nathan. No, I'm just kidding.
[00:32:07] Speaker A: No, but I mean, they were just. They were. They were kind of loud and ridiculous.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: I mean, like, I mean, it wasn't her. That wasn't her wavelength.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: That wasn't her thing. No. And so then the Vibe, she said, was really broken into two camps. There were kids who just wanted to sit around and be on screens. Like, they didn't want to talk to anybody. They weren't even playing like multiplayer video games. They just wanted to sit there and like. And single player game. Yeah. And then the other group was just a little more boy slash girl, boy and girl crazy than she is. That's just not, that's not her crowd. And so she did not spend as much time in the clubs as she has on past trips. She has also been dealing with some health issues this summer.
And so there was also just the straight up energy. She didn't have as much energy as she normally would. So it's funny because when she was little, when she was 3, 4, 5, 6 even, we built in nap time every day.
There was a built in nap time so that she could do all the stuff and stay up for fireworks and so on and so forth. This trip. It sort of felt like one of those again, she would get up, she would go she would do stuff, she'd pop in the club, she'd blah, blah, blah. And then she'd take a nap and then she'd get up and she'd go.
So it's a little bit of a flashback to our old cruising style.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
So interesting. Now, did she spend any time up on the, on the, like the sports deck area? The.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: Yes. Yep.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:33:49] Speaker A: She played some mini golf. She put up, she got some shots up.
Because I mentioned Louisville, we actually flew in and out of Indianapolis this time. Indianapolis is only about an hour and a half to Louisville because we needed. She played. We got off the cruise on a Wednesday and her first game at this tournament was at like 10am on Thursday. Thursday we flew into Indy and then drove. So we left our car at the Indianapolis airport fully packed with basketball. I mean like it was all packed for basketball.
[00:34:20] Speaker B: So, yeah, I mean this is what you have to do when you're a sports mom, from what I hear.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: I'm.
[00:34:25] Speaker B: I will say I'm not a sports mom, but from what I understand, that's what my friends who are sports moms locally, that's what they do. So it's. Yeah, it's just constantly going from tournament to tournament. So yes, they're putting jobs.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
She did say though, she, she did say her analysis, she used to love the sports deck. She thought the sports deck was the greatest thing. She did say that after, after being on the Wish and the Treasure, that, that in terms of the sports deck, that it was a big, it was a big upgrade on the new ships for, in terms of being able to get shots up and, and putting in, but doing, playing a little bit of hoops and putting in a little work. So.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: Yeah, well, especially in the summertime. Right. Because it is so hot down in the Bahamas or the Caribbean. And so, you know, that sports deck on the Dream and the Fantasy wall is nice, that there is a place you can play basketball.
It's out on deck and so it's hot. And so at least on the Wish, Treasure and Destiny, you're in the hero zone, which is an indoor multi purpose space. And so even though it's not available at certain times because it's being used for other things, it is air conditioned. And so when you're in the. There you're. It's like being in a gym at home. It's actually a really nice space for basketball. That makes sense. Well, what were, what were some of the other things that you guys got up to on board on, on the Fantasy? Please tell me you did The Midship Detective Agency. I have in so long. Oh, yeah.
[00:35:52] Speaker A: I. I mean, oh, my gosh. That was. Amelia's first order of business, was we got to do mid. We got to do Midship. Yep. She is. She is still upset that she made a mistake stage.
So here's. Here's how the conversation about that one. She did that. She did the Muppets with my dad. That was. They did. They did the Muppets case together and she. She still is roasting him for getting a clue wrong. She was like, I told him it wasn't so they. They didn't quite. They didn't solve it correctly the first time.
[00:36:22] Speaker B: The first time. So.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: And so she is. She is still holding a grudge.
It was because he misread a clue.
[00:36:32] Speaker B: Oh, my God, I love it. So, for those who. For those who don't know what we're talking about, there's this fun game on the fantasy and the dream called the Midship Detective Agency. There's three different storylines you can do, and it involves going around with a card, solving a crime, let's say. And at each location that you go to around the ship, you have to figure out, out and understand some clues. And you have, like, a paper that helps you check off suspects or cross them off your list. And eventually you are. Should be at the very end, left with only one suspect who committed the crime or the caper.
But if you get a clue wrong or you, you know, misread something, then.
Now the screens aren't giving you the wrong clues, they're giving you the right clues. But there are some things you have to kind of figure out.
There's a door that has some clues and then there's like a storyboard kind of a thing, a theater board that has some clues. And if you misread those clues, you could.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: And the Muppets one is. And the Muppets one is the tricky one. So if you've got little kids. If you've got little kids, do the puppies, do the art? Like, those are really straightforward.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: The Muppets one does require a little bit more or a little bit more thinking.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Yes. At least. At least either a teenager or an adult participating in the Muppets one, Whereas really the other two, the puppies, as you mentioned, or the art one, which is with the Fab Five characters.
Those. They can really solve completely on their own. And you just might want to walk around the ship with them and get your steps in and watch, because it's really fun.
If you're listening to Us right now, chances are pretty good that you love Disney vacations as much as we do. But even seasoned travelers know there's a ton to keep up with when it comes to Disney Cruise Line. From cruise itineraries to the perfect stateroom for your family, shore excursions and onboard experiences. And if you're planning to visit the Disney parks before or after your cruise, then there's even more to plan. From the perfect resort to lightning lane strategies, dining reservations, park tickets, special offer offers, and much, much more.
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[00:39:27] Speaker B: All right, I love that. Well, I love that they did midship, even if they got it. Even if they got it wrong.
What about some of the other things you guys did?
[00:39:39] Speaker A: So Amelia's 14, and while the dream and the fantasy don't officially have a chill spa anymore, you can still. So when they had chill spa, you could book teen stuff ahead.
Now you just have to go first day.
But you can still book services for kids under 18.
It's a smaller list. They can't do everything. And. And they have to have someone over 18 go with them.
And so Amelia really wanted a pedicure, and so we got pedicure. So she and I got pedicures together one day, which was super fun.
So World cup was going on. So we watched England, Mexico up on deck. They had that playing on the Funnel Vision. That was awesome. We watched Belgium, usa.
That was interesting because it had rained that day and it was pirate night. So they said, hey, we're not going to set up the chairs to watch. We're not going to set up the chairs to watch the game because we need to, you know, we need to leave the space open for the pirate party.
Which, you know, so. But they're like. But you can set, you know, we have towels and blankets, right?
[00:40:53] Speaker B: You can sit down on the ground and watch.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: Yeah, but of course it had been raining all day, so, you know, but, but so we didn't really want to do. We didn't want to go watch that one outside because, just because of um. So we started in Ogils and then, but it was, it was, yeah, I would imagine elbow to elbow.
[00:41:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So during, during the World cup or any other kind of sport, large sporting event, you're talking, you know, super bowl or March Madness. Right. Like all these sort of bigger sporting events, at least for us in the States.
The pub, whatever pub is on board. Oh, gills on, on the dream. The fantasy is going to typically be. Be over subscribed.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Yes, over subscribed is the right word. But because it was so packed and because it was such a big deal, they actually, this in La Piazza they do, they sometimes do drawing classes, they sometimes do trivia things like that. So they lowered the screens that they use for that and we're showing the game out there as well. So we actually, we watched the game in La Piazza and it was, I mean we were able to see the game, we were able to hear all the commentary. Very, you know, there were enough people there that felt like we were watching in a, in a group to make it fun, but it was not quite so overwhelming.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: That's nice that they did that. I, I think that's, it makes it much more pleasant because the pub is kind of a small, I mean it's a smallish space on that ship. And if you couldn't watch on deck is the perfect place to watch. As you mentioned, watching it, you know, watching England Mexico is probably great on, on Dec. Deck, but, but not in the rain.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: And, and I will say I am, I am a rule follower, you know, I mean, like I always told Amelia, like, you know, she looks older than her age, but I always, I would never let her go up to the pool deck without me when she was still younger than the, the indicated age. You know, I think it's 12, 12 and under have to be accompanied by adult. I always told her, I'm like, you cannot go up. That's, that's the rule. We're going to follow the rules. That's just how I roll. And so the adult area, there are supposed to be no kids in the adult area past nine and for World cup they just, they just weren't, they weren't enforcing it and they were letting kids watch the game. And, and of course had someone said, hey, had someone said, hey, it's 9 o'.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: Clock.
[00:43:22] Speaker A: If you're under 18, you gotta go. We would have we would have gotten up and we would have gone somewhere else, and I would not have made any kind of fuss about it. But she was not the only under 18 in the area. They just. I think they just decided. I think it was just sort of of a let's not kill the vibe vibe.
[00:43:36] Speaker B: Yeah, it makes sense for sort of special things like that where this is. Like, this is, you know, something only happens every. Every few years. Right. And so it's kind of a special dispensation to allow. And it's only, you know, the game's only an hour and a half plus stoppage time. So it's not like the, you know, if the game started what it ate and so they weren't going to be there as, you know, 9:45.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: Right, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And no one else was there.
Right, Right.
[00:44:08] Speaker B: Exactly. Only people who wanted to watch the game were in.
[00:44:12] Speaker A: Yeah, that.
[00:44:13] Speaker B: That makes perfect sense. Well, I. I think it's always fun when you get to see a sporting event on board.
It is a bummer how it ended, but, you know, it. It is what. We made it further than I think a lot of people thought we were going to.
[00:44:29] Speaker A: So let's just remember the women's team has won four times. It is not that the US has never won a World Cup. It's that the US Men have never won.
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Well, and it's funny because people always think, oh, us is so great in sports. Well, in soccer, in men's soccer, we're actually not great on the world stage. It's only women's soccer that we are great on the world stage. So that's kind of. Yeah, I think people kind of forget that.
All right, well, let's talk about the shows. Did you go to all the shows on board? I know you've of course seen. Seen them before, but, you know, you gotta go every time.
[00:45:03] Speaker A: So. Yes, we went.
So we went Aladdin. We went to Aladdin. It was great. It had an outstanding. I mean, that show is make the Genie makes and breaks that show. And we had an outstanding genie. So went to Aladdin.
Went to Believe. I think I may finally have attached the right name to the right show. And I always call it Nathan, the
[00:45:28] Speaker B: Man in the flight Flower. Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:45:32] Speaker A: Like, I think I may have finally attached the.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: That what makes the garden grow. That's right. That's the song.
But.
[00:45:38] Speaker A: But yeah, went to that and. And Jeannie's in that as well. But outstanding. The.
The father that was our Broadway star.
[00:45:48] Speaker B: The.
[00:45:48] Speaker A: The actor who played the father was our Broadway Star and he was spectacular.
[00:45:53] Speaker B: He was Jafar in Aladdin, right?
[00:45:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Yeah, that's.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So he was spectacular.
So did that, did those two.
We went to fireworks on 4th of July.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Oh yeah, you were on 4th of July.
Did they do some special, like menus and special.
[00:46:15] Speaker A: They had a small, they had a menu insert, like an additional little special menu insert.
They decked the atrium and the pool deck all the, all out with bunting. I mean, it went up overnight and it was gone on the fifth, I mean, up and down.
So it was not there on the third and it was not there on the fifth, but it was there on the fourth.
So.
Yeah, so we went to fireworks on the fourth and then we went to fireworks again on pirate night. So the only show we didn't go, the only show we didn't go to, the only live show we didn't go to was Frozen. And really it came down to it was getting late in the cruise and we really wanted to see Toy Story 5. And so they were doing that in the theater, you know, opposite the show, the live showtime. So we went and saw Toy Story 5.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you got to make decisions, right? Sometimes you, you can't. I, we try to tell people on the show all the time, you can't do everything. It's just not possible. Even on a seven night sailing, you, there's going to be something that, that you wanted.
[00:47:16] Speaker A: Even on a 14 night sailing, you can't do everything.
[00:47:20] Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. It's just so it, you got to prioritize and choose sometime are more important to you and you know, and, and, and you'll still have a great cruise. It just means you have a reason to go back. Right?
[00:47:34] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. So we played, we played some trivia.
Now this was, I mean, this was the fullest cruise I have been on in a long time. And I mean it was 100. It was completely sold out. They said 3,000 something. Yeah, 3,600 something. So I mean, it's like really full and so, so we did not do any character. We did not do any characters. The lines were long and I sort of had this moment of like, my kid is 14. Let's, we'll just, you know, we, my kid is 14. This is our 17th cruise. Let's, we'll just take one family out of the character.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: No. Did you, did you take some pictures like that either? Like at dinner? Did you let the photographer take pictures of you at dinner? No, you didn't even do that.
[00:48:23] Speaker A: You just were like, like, it's not a Picture. It's not a picture cruise.
[00:48:26] Speaker B: So I'm, I, that's the one thing I make Nathan and Brian do because I don't make them wait typically. I don't make them wait in lines for characters and, and I don't make them wait in line a lot for backdrops. I'll do backdrops by myself. Like backdrops or magic shots and things like that. I'll do some of those by myself and I'll make them do maybe like one or two.
But I do make them take pictures with not every dinner but, but like, like let's. Yeah, like two out of every three. Let's say that like so, so, so yeah.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: So we just did a, we, we did a non picture cruise. And, and I mean it was just a. All in all, it was kind of a, it was just kind of a different vibe. Like I said, it was. It, it hearkened back to when Amelia was little. You know, I mean we kind of more relaxing. That didn't. She wasn't at the clubs as much. We weren't, you know, I mean we weren't running to trivia, you know, I mean we did, we did like three trivias. We did a couple learn to draws, things like that. But it just was not as hectic as.
And we did less try to fit everything in. And part of that was just how crowded it was and we just kind of wanted a little more. It was just a little, little much. We wanted a little more relaxed time. Yeah.
[00:49:43] Speaker B: Well, and I think that's a really good judgment call. When you're on a really crowded sailing. You can expect those character lines to be long. You can expect even the picture backdrop to be long. Right. So photos on the atrium stairs, those are going to be the lines for. Those are going to be long. So it, it is a good judgment call to say, okay, well, we're going to. This is going to be either no pictures or less pictures kind of a cruise. I'm not going to pay for that unlimited picture package and I'm just going to kind of relax and do the other things that I want to do and like, like we said, prioritize the things you want to do versus the things that you're like. I'll do that next time. Yeah. I do want to talk about the ports. You of course went to Nassau and, and cast away and look out.
Did you get off the ship at Nassau and if so, what did you do?
[00:50:29] Speaker A: No. Okay.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: Okay. We could set that aside. So that was another sea day. So you had to.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: That was the day. That was the, that was the rain day. And we felt, we felt so bad because we got out. We. When the rain really started to come, we looked out and like, there were people like, cowering under the overhang in the port area area, like sort of almost plotting no man's land. Like they were trying to decide, like, do we keep going into Nassau or do we try to run back to the ship? Like, what, what do we do?
[00:51:00] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a bummer because there are people who decide to go to like a beach club or something like that.
[00:51:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:51:07] Speaker B: And then if you get caught in the rain, you're. Yeah, your, your beach day is kind of ruined. Yeah. I mean, it's not ruined if it, if it doesn't rain the whole day, but if it rains the whole day, it's kind of ruined.
[00:51:17] Speaker A: Yeah. And it was raining. It rained really off and on all day long. It was, it really. And there was tons of lightning. I have not seen.
I, I'm not accustomed to seeing lightning and thunder, but there was lots of lightning and thunder.
[00:51:30] Speaker B: Well, what about Castaway and Lookout? How was your weather for those days?
[00:51:35] Speaker A: Castaway was perfect.
It was sunny. It was in the 80s. It was, it was really, it was really ideal. We had, we had just perfect weather. And like I said, we were in the Mickey and Minnie Caden cabanas and I had, I'd done a little research into them and I thought, you know, I was, I was just. Well, here's the wild thing. I was actually able. On my check in as platinum, I was able to reserve both a Mickey and Minnie and a Sandcastle cabana.
[00:52:05] Speaker B: Wow, that's. Yeah, that's pretty incredible. And did you have your choice of cabana numbers, even?
[00:52:12] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah.
So, I mean, that was just a little bit shocking to me. And so I held both for a while, some research into like, pros and cons and things like that.
And I talked to, I talked to the family about which one they might be interested in.
We ended up choosing to keep the Mickey and Minnie because it was something new.
We wanted to check out something new. I was also really interested in trying the food down there, the food place. I feel like that's.
[00:52:47] Speaker B: I feel like that's why, generally speaking, people who are choosing the cabana as, especially for the first time, choosing, I mean, deciding whether or not to do a Mickey and Minnie, who haven't done a Mickey and Minnie one before, it's they, they choose to do the Mickey and Minnie one because they want to try the new food location and I think that's a good reason to do that cabana, because it is a new location. You have some additional food options there. They're good.
[00:53:13] Speaker A: The food was great. I mean, I, if I, I mean, I still don't think I, I can't justify a cabana every time. I mean, like, even, even if, if I lucked out into a cabana. I mean, like, it's spring break sailing, the ocean's too cold. I don't want to swim in, in March.
So, you know, I mean, it's not something I'm going to do every time. But the food was a significant upgrade. I mean, I had. They were cooking ahi tuna steaks to order to whatever temperature. I mean, like, that tuna steak was outstanding. I mean, they still had chicken sandwiches and hot dogs and burgers and all that stuff. But.
But yeah, I mean, like, I had an amazing tuna steak.
I mean, it, it was a little bit smaller. I mean, like, yeah, it was great. And then the bathroom, we, I picked our cabana so that we were right across from the bathroom because I figured I don't want to have to walk through, you know, and it's right across from the bathroom and the bar.
[00:54:13] Speaker B: Which, which number cabana did you have?
[00:54:16] Speaker A: 7, 17 something. I'm going to look at my pictures while we talk.
[00:54:20] Speaker B: Okay. I like it.
[00:54:23] Speaker A: But that's why I chose, I chose that one because I figured, hey, we want a 17.
We wanted, I figured we'll need the bathroom off and on throughout the day. We'll, you know, want to get a drink or whatever. And of course they had a server coming around as well. But just so it was there. But the food, the food. We were only going to go to the food once and it really was, was excellent.
[00:54:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Now what did, what did you think about the cabana in terms of like, location and beachfront and. And then I want to, of course, ask the ultimate question of did you think it was worth it? Now, of course you mentioned this is not an every time experience. So I think, noting that that's not a thing that you're gonna sail and, and try for a cabana every single time or spend the money on a cabana every single time.
[00:55:11] Speaker A: So I could get, I could definitely tell that they, that these were a little bit smaller than the Sandcastle Cabanas. There were, there were some things that, I mean, like, like the hammocks at the Sandcastle Cabanas are in the shade and, and you can. All of them are in the shade at some point. And if you pick smart you can get one that's in the shade in the afternoon. So none of these cabanas look like their hammocks are in the shade at any point during the day. And for people, not for people not watching, people who are just audio, you could see. I am not someone who should be in the Bahamian sun.
[00:55:51] Speaker B: You are a paler skinned person, let's
[00:55:54] Speaker A: put it that way.
And my child is the same.
So that's one reason we like it. Cabana, quite honestly, is that we can more comfortably spend time on the island because we have access to. To shape.
[00:56:07] Speaker B: So.
[00:56:08] Speaker A: But there, there's a hammock, there's a shower, the floats are right there. The sand, toys, the sunscreen, all of it is right there. And it's super convenient.
Like I said, it is a little smaller, but there were four of us. We were fine. There was perfect.
It was, it was comfortable. You know, we thought the beachfront was great. The sand was. I mean, the last time I had really gone out in the sand at Castle Away, it was much. It was much rockier and there, you know, I mean, this was still not as soft as, as Lookout. Right. Lookout has the best. Has the best beach. I mean, that's just, it just does.
[00:56:47] Speaker B: It just does. Even if you, even if you like Castaway more, there are people who are like castaway devotees, you still have to acknowledge that the beach at Lookout, softer, it's nicer, it's better, it's just further away. Right? Like, there's, there's some. There are some other barriers that might make you narrow. Not like Lookout as much, but it isn't that sand or that beautiful beach.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: Yes, but I thought this side of the beach was actually better than the last time I had been at the family beach.
And yeah, I mean, and like I said, the water was perfect. It was a great, you know, I mean, it was just. It was a great day. And I was, I was so proud. I came back and like, I wasn't sick from the heat. And I had, I was like, no sunburn. I had no sunburn until Amelia and I went to our pedicures later that day, whereupon we realized that. I realized that I had missed one spot on one knee.
It was not a bad burn, but there was just one little part of my knee that was a little bit.
And so when they exfoliated on the pedicure, I was like, oh, there's that.
[00:57:59] Speaker B: That doesn't feel so good. Oh, that's funny. That's really funny.
Well, did asking the question of was it worth it? Then did you feel like for experience, for the money you paid, the experience you got on this one occasion? Like I said, I totally understanding. It's not something you do every time.
[00:58:17] Speaker A: No, I think, I mean I really do think. I think the cabanas are worth it if you. I am not a beach person. I mean like, let's just put it out there. I am not a beach person. You know, if I was going on a cruise in the Med or something or an Alaska cruise, which I done, I mean I would put that money towards excursions and other things, other things to do.
We were going to a couple private islands in Nassau. Like, yeah, sure.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: This is where I mean, your money.
[00:58:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
So, so, yeah, so I, I thought it was worth it. I, I mean we, the service was outstanding.
[00:58:54] Speaker B: The.
[00:58:55] Speaker A: So one thing I think I texted you, you were in Europe at the time, but they have. One of the complaints I had heard a lot was just that it was such a hassle to get there and back because you have to take and so on and so forth. They are running an air conditioned bus just for cabana guests. And so you get off, you get on the air conditioned bus, they drive you down, they drive.
[00:59:17] Speaker B: You know, I remember when you texted me this, I was like, this is exactly what they need. This is what makes, this is, what's the, that's the, the game changer, right? For us, it was like the thing that made us so frustrated about the experience in going to the Mickey and Minnie cabanas. And we've only done it the one time. We've been to the Sandcastle cabanas several times, but we were just so frustrated because took us so long to get there and so long to get back because of the tram situation that we just felt like it ate into a lot of our time in the cabana. Especially on the front end of the day. It was like you know, 40 plus minutes for us to get from the ship to the cabana just because of the waiting and the, how slow the tram is and it's on Bahamian time and all of that. So. And, and I'm not like, I'm not saying it's like would stop me from ever doing it again, but it just made the experience, experience a little bit more frustrating and made it feel like what am I spending this money, right? Like I've spent quite a bit of money for this cabana. We're already, it's a later arrival for us. It cast away on that day. It was like the 10 o' clock or 10:30 arrival, whatever that was.
Anyway, I don't want to rant on that but I, I, I'm really glad to hear about this change, Sarah. I think it's a really positive change. I do think it will make it, it's more of an equalizer between the sand castle and the, and the Mickey and Minnie Ca. When you have that transportation.
Well, let's talk about lookout briefly. You mentioned of course the best beach it be that beach beats castaways beach. Barn on sand is so soft. Water so beautiful.
What did you guys do there? I know you didn't have a cabana there. So were you just on the family beach?
[01:01:00] Speaker A: And I mean we just popped up. We popped off for a little bit. We actually even came. We were back in time for lunch. Oh wow.
[01:01:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:01:06] Speaker A: And it was, and the rain came around lunchtime that day and.
[01:01:12] Speaker B: Oh, so you made a good call.
[01:01:14] Speaker A: People really, we could really tell the difference in the number of people who got off at Castaway.
Fewer got off at Lighthouse and fewer still got off at Nassau. I mean like it was a, I worry.
Well in our post crew survey they asked explicitly did you get off the ship Ship at lighthouse.
I worry, I mean I just worry that that walk is, is a deterrent and that people are not, are not using the island as much. And, and I, I say I worry. I mean I don't know, Disney will figure something out. But I, I do think, I do think the walk on the pier, it is not that far. It is not horrendous, blah blah blah. But in July with no shade or anything. I mean like it's not a joke. I mean my kid's 14, she's taller than I am. She can ambulance herself down down the road. I don't, I don't know. If I had a three year old I might think twice about going, you know.
[01:02:14] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's a really good point. So I think most times of the year that you can do that pier walk at, you know, at Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point. That's the tm, that's the full name.
[01:02:28] Speaker A: I find myself calling it sometimes Lookout sometimes.
And it's.
[01:02:32] Speaker B: I know, yeah. All the same. But I just want to make so people know what we're talking about.
It's not that long of a walk. It's, I think it's like point 7 or 0.6 of mile.
[01:02:46] Speaker A: I don't think it's even that far. I might not more like 0 4.5
[01:02:49] Speaker B: but maybe, I don't know. Whatever it is, it's, it's it looks really long because it's a pier, right? So you're on a long pier that jets out into the water. It's not like where you have a short pier and then you're all of a sudd and sort of on land.
So it looks really long. It's not that long, but it is long without shade. Right. So there is no shade.
And they do run like sort of shuttles with golf carts we'll call them. But yeah, basically golf carts for people who have mobility issues. So if you have, if you're on a wheelchair or you use a walker, cane, anything like that, even if you don't use a mobility instrument, but you have mobility issues, they will take you. You just might have to wait a little bit for a golf cart to take you to the tram and then the tram takes you out to the beach.
But you're right, Sarah, when it, when it's July or August, while it's not a long walk, it's a bit of a walk in the Caribbean or Bahamian sun. And it's, that is no joke. It's like I think about going to Florida in the summer. Summer, going to just the parks. I don't want to be in Orlando in the summer because it feels like I'm on the face of the sun. And the same goes for the Bahamas. I'm not saying I, I have gone to the Bahamas in the summer, but it's not my preferred time of year to go to the Bahamas. And so if I've been to Lookout before or I went to Castaway and had a, you know, had. Now I'm sunburned and now we're going to look out. Maybe I'd say I'm, I'm not, not me. But a lot I understand people staying on board and if they're, especially if they're choosing between getting off at one and not getting off at the other, they're probably choosing to get off at Castaway and not choosing to get off at Lookout just because of that pier. It's, you're right, it is a little bit of a deterrent even for people who have no mobility issues. That's such a bummer because it's such
[01:04:47] Speaker A: a wonderful port, such a great beach,
[01:04:50] Speaker B: such a great beach. And then the cultural stuff that they've done is also really wonderful.
Um, it's. Yeah, it's, it's just such a great private island, but it is, it lacks some shade and it, it's really hot there. And so especially if you are fair skinned like Sarah and Opilia you better laugh up, like, lather up. Good summer. Yeah. Okay, well, so you spent part of the day.
It sounds like you made a good call, though, in terms of, you know, getting rain.
[01:05:20] Speaker A: Anyway.
[01:05:23] Speaker B: Well, Sarah, is there anything that we have missed in terms of experiences? I feel like we've covered a lot, but of course, I wasn't on this cruise with you, unfortunately. I wish.
[01:05:33] Speaker A: I know it would have been better.
[01:05:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:05:37] Speaker A: I think the only other thing I. I guess I. I would make. I. I want to say two things about dining, or maybe three. Well, let me know. We'll. We'll make the third thing a separate thing, but dining. So Ellen really, really prefers to eat early.
And Amelia has oftentimes asked to be in early seating just because of the schedule of other kids. So many times the other kids are also, you know, it just seems like more kids are on that early dining schedule. And so because we booked so early, we. We did go ahead and take early dining. And I just have to tell you, especially on a very full sailing, we are not early dining people.
[01:06:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hot take. Yep.
[01:06:28] Speaker A: Like. Like, even Ellen. Even Ellen, who prefers to eat early, was like, so do you think we could switch to late dining?
[01:06:35] Speaker B: And.
[01:06:36] Speaker A: And if you want an indication of how full this cruise was, we couldn't switch to late. Like, wow. Because they never happened.
[01:06:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Because they need to. Then they would have to find somebody. They would have to have somebody with you directly.
[01:06:48] Speaker A: Yeah. So, yeah, we are officially not early dining people.
Hooray.
I know, right? It was just a lot. I mean, like, it was a lot. There were kids. They were running around. There was chaos. It was just a lot.
[01:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a really good point. Early dining does tend to be more younger kid heavy, and so it does tend to be a little bit more crowded and a little bit more chaotic, and I would say a little bit more work for the serving teams because. Because serving a combination of kids and adults is harder than serving just adults or just kids because they're having to go to different stations to get the food. And also the timing of the dinner is different because adults are typically getting, you know, salads, appetizer soups, those sort of stuff as starters. And most of the kids are skipping right to the main. Not to say there aren't some kids who will have a soup or a salad, but most of the kids are going right to the main. And so it just. The flow of the dinner is a little bit more difficult for the staff when they've got that, you know, lots of kids.
[01:07:53] Speaker A: So yeah, so that, so that was, that was realization number one.
The other thing was that.
So the fantasy was doing our five night and then like another five night or four night or something and then they were doing a ten night. And so with a ten night they were obviously going to be having some non traditional menus because they do a different menu and every night and they have these one off menus similar to the pirate menu or the welcome aboard menu, but they have some other sort of one off menus and they're basically like the tier three, tier four kind of menus. Well, lucky us.
They were using our crews to test out those menus. Oh no.
And like there is a reason those menus are tier three and tier four. Like they're not very good.
So like animator's palette. No pasta pack presets.
[01:08:50] Speaker B: Like you didn't even have like your.
[01:08:53] Speaker A: No.
[01:08:53] Speaker B: Yeah, you didn't even have your. The three main rotational dining. You had like just these one off menus. Oh, that's a bummer, Sarah.
[01:09:01] Speaker A: So I mean, does anyone go hungry on a Disney cruise? Of course not. Like, like when I saw, when I saw which menu and, and I have had several of those menu because we had been on like the Panama Canal and things like that. Like I knew, I knew quite a bit of this stuff, you know, and so I looked in the app and, and especially when I saw for, for Animators palette night that it was this fourth tier menu that I knew was not good.
You know, I had, I went and had a couple, had some tacos before dinner and like it was fine. Nobody goes hungry on a Disney cruise. But it was definitely, it was definitely a disappointment, you know. And, and I said, you know, I wrote I. It, I mean I didn't rate, rate it differently in terms of the bubbles, but I said something in my cruise survey. I'm like, you can't like, like why, why are we being forced to just have tier three, tier four menus? Like that's not, that's not, that's not good. So.
[01:10:04] Speaker B: Yeah, and what's, what Sarah's speaking about in terms of the bubbles is how you rate your serving team and how you rate the food. Because if low, it actually reflects on your serving team even if it's specific to the food or the menu options. So you'd rather, rather like give your servers, if their servers were good, give them the good ratings and all of those food categories, give them good ratings but then put it in the, in the actual comments, these kinds of things so that your serving team doesn't get dinged because they're not the ones who. They have no control over what's on the menu.
[01:10:36] Speaker A: So now, speaking of the serving team. So our serving team. And our serving team was outstanding. I mean, like, it was excellent. I mean, really, really excellent. And in fact, on pirate night, Amelia wasn't really enjoying what she had ordered. You know, it was, you know, they made a couple changes and the new version of whatever it was wasn't really to her liking.
And our head server came over Roswell. He came over and we were just chatting and I was laughing. I was like, oh, yeah. When Amelia was little, she wouldn't eat any of the main food, you know, and so she just had hurry. Every night they brought her. They brought her curry every night. And that's what she ate.
In fact, I think she was still doing that when we cruised out of San Diego.
And he was like, oh, really? And then he looked at her plate. He goes, do you not like what that is? And she's like, it's okay, you know, just teenage men.
Next thing I knew, he had appeared with a plate of curry for her. And she, like, she was great. And I had heard that they were no longer providing curries in the dining room. So it was really a sort of an observation step above. We didn't ask it. It was really nice for that. So, yeah, our serving team was great. Roswell, our head server was great. And then Eka, our room steward, Eka, our friends.
[01:11:53] Speaker B: So our friends, the morals have talked about Eka for years.
[01:11:58] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. He is. If. I mean, he is either number one or number two of all time. There was. I've never had him ask him, but it's.
[01:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I've never had him. But as soon as you said his name, I was like, oh, I know of him. Because the morals literally, like, since their kids were little, like, have raved about Eka.
[01:12:19] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, Eka was amazing. I mean, really spectacular. Just, I mean, kept the room. I mean, look. Looked after us great to. I mean, oh, spectacular. Made. Made towel or towel and blanket animals I had never seen before. He made a wall E. I've never seen a wall E. I've only seen
[01:12:39] Speaker B: it on the pool deck. I've seen a wall E on the pool deck. I've never seen it in a room.
[01:12:43] Speaker A: The pool deck towel animals are next level, man. I took pictures of those to show Amelia. She was like, how do they do that? I'm like, I can't tell you.
[01:12:51] Speaker B: But.
[01:12:52] Speaker A: But no, he made a wall e. And I loved it. And then as a joke, the next night, he left Wall E's eyes, like up on. Up on the counter.
Watch. It was so funny.
Anyway, I mean, oh, my gosh. Yeah. So next time you talk to the morals, you can say that Eka is still out of this world.
[01:13:14] Speaker B: Incredible. Or I love that. I love when these connections happen. Like, there are some cast members who just like, will live on in your, like in your memory. Like, you may never. You might not see them again. Right. You might not be on the same ship at the right time or they may leave the company, but there are some cast members that you're like that person, like, made my crew cruise. And it may be because of the towel animal. Right. Like it. That's. It's just such a. Such a lovely thing. Well, Sarah, you mentioned you've got the Destiny book. So you have anything else booked?
[01:13:47] Speaker A: What's another. We got another placeholder.
[01:13:51] Speaker B: It is.
[01:13:52] Speaker A: It is real hard to travel with.
Yeah. With an athlete. Yeah, with an athlete. Because social media, she. She plays basketball and basketball season starts at the beginning of November and her school is highly competitive. You know, if everything goes as. As we expect them to, we should be.
We should be in Columbia competing for state this year. So that means basketball season starts in November and doesn't end until the middle of March. So that makes it pretty much like. Like you can't really travel for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. We always have tournaments over winter break. And then now luckily we have a two week spring break, so, you know, the state tournament ends.
State tournament is at the end of the first week. So that Destiny sailing is the second week of spring break, so.
And then we roll right into. We roll right into club season, you know, and that's. Well, as you know, we were in New Orleans in April and.
[01:14:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:14:54] Speaker A: Crazy all over. So.
[01:14:57] Speaker B: Well, I hope that you'll come back to talk to us about your spring break sailing on the Destiny. It's always looking forward to it. Yeah, it's always fun catching up with you. But with that, I'll just say thank you so much for joining me today.
[01:15:10] Speaker A: Well, thank you, Sam. It's so much fun to get to talk and just hang out and, you know, I hope. I hope Brian's doing well and that Nathan is getting ready for another great year.
[01:15:23] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. We hope we get to sail with you guys soon again too.
[01:15:27] Speaker A: Yes, that would be awesome.
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