[00:00:00] Speaker A: I think if I was on any other cruise line or any other ship that I think I would have just wanted to curl up or go home.
But there's something about Disney that I think everybody listening to this understands that it's possible to simultaneously feel like immense grief and sadness, but also still be brought slightly out of that by the magic and the joy, I suppose. And to have those two things side by side.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Foreign.
And welcome to another live episode of the DCL Duo Podcast brought to you by. We do travel, right? As you can tell from those watching and those listening, I am hosting today without Brian Brian to give people an update because we mentioned last week on the live show, Brian was supposed to have dental surgery on Thursday.
We well, that dental surgery did not happen because Brian came down with a cold on Wednesday of last week. So surgery was canceled. It's being postponed to October, I think late October.
But anyway, Brian is still sick and we're recovering from being sick. He's, you know, in that like really phlegmy coffee stage of being sick. And so he is actually here but he is producing the show. So he is behind the scenes. So you will not see him today. But if you are in the chat and you see DCL Duo chatting, that's Brian in the chat and he's in the background producing for me so that I can focus on our amazing guest who's joining me. So thankfully I'm not alone. She's joining me from the future. It is one o' clock in the morning on Wednesday for Melissa who is joining me all the way from Ireland. Welcome to the show, Melissa.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: Thank you very much, Sam.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: I'm very excited, I'm so excited to have you here. I know you've got friends watching from both. You've got your husband watching in Ireland, you've got friends watching in Orlando. So we are worldwide people today I want to before we get into the show, I got to thank our, our show sponsors. Of course we have, we do travel. Right. Of course. Life is short. Take the trip. If you want to plan your next Disney trip or your next vacation, reach out to WeDoTravel. Right? Let them do the planning so you can focus on the relaxing or we also are sponsored on our live and bonus shows by the DCL magazine. I gotta remind everybody that the DCL magazine, in fact I think yesterday just announced their calendar is up for sale. So brand new Disney Cruise Line magazine calendar is now offered for sale. So the first calendar will be of course the 2027 calendar. So if you want to order that Calendar. Now you will have a beautiful calendar for next year. If you go to dcl-magazine.com, use code DCLDUO in all caps in order to get 10% off anything you buy in the store. So that includes the calendar. That also includes the magazine.
And it's a fantastic. I've seen pictures of the calendar. It's just gorgeous. As I have said, there are many calendars but this one is mine, meaning it is made for me.
Super excited about the calendar. Um, we got shout out from Tracy already to you, Melissa, who's loving your fuzzy ears, your Alaska. These are the Alaska ears from the Disney Wonder.
I love them.
Before we jump into talking about your amazing Alaska cruise, Melissa, I want to talk about just a couple of pieces of news there. We don't have like anything huge news wise in terms of, you know, itineraries or more information about the Believe, for example.
But we did see the Believe had three of its gigablocks float out from. All of the news is from essentially from Europe today or this past week or actually over in Singapore. But the gigablocks floated out of Meyer Werft for the Believe. Three of them actually. So super exciting. You can see that particularly the middle of the ship has been. The big parts have been built and so they are making their way with progress with the Disney Believe.
Another piece of news out of Ireland, out of your home country, Melissa, is that we saw from Disney Cruise Line that they had like 30 make a wish kids that came on board the Disney Dream the other day. Was it big news in Ireland as well?
[00:04:38] Speaker A: It was, yeah. And it was really kind of odd to hear the Irish accents because it sounded kind of out of context. You don't usually hear of Make a Wish in that scenario. But yeah, it was beautiful. It was really moving to watch.
[00:04:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it was so good. The videos that they showed that Disney Cruise Line put out in sort of their little snippets on social media were beautiful to watch as well.
Just fantastic.
I love that they did that. It was on their British Isles itinerary. And actually I just recorded an episode about that itinerary this weekend that will be out probably in October, but really sounds like a fantastic, of course, a fantastic itinerary that stopped around the UK and of course in Ireland as well.
But yeah, I would love to take one of those itineraries. And that was right before the dream set across for her transatlantic. So we know she's of course heading back to the United States as we currently are recording another piece of news if people are living under a rock, you might not have heard this yet, but there are more deals on Disney Cruise Line, the biggest deals of which appear to be on the Disney Adventure with kind of across the board, 50% off on third and fourth passengers. So that's out of Singapore. But even there are more deals across, across the fleet coming out of the United States as well. And Disney is automatically applying some. Some of the placeholder discounts or some of the cruises that you can use a placeholder discount for have gone on 25% off. And so if you had a 10% placeholder discount, but the cruise has gone on 25% off, then you are getting that discount applied to your cruise. I heard from a listener today that they had that happen on a cruise they already had booked. So really kind of crazy to see Disney applying all of these discounts to cruises. It's just kind of unprecedented.
Of course, that doesn't mean they're not still increasing their prices year over year. In fact, we put out a post on social media about that just today, but it's kind of amazing to watch. Maybe it will, I don't know, entice more people to try out Disney Cruise Line who have been more focused on other cruise lines. All right, well, Melissa, let's get started with today's show and talk about your amazing cruise to Alaska on Disney Cruise Line on the Disney Wonder. I'm gonna have Brian pull up the PowerPoint for us. But let's start with why Alaska? You live all the way over in Ireland. Why? I mean, you're coming way farther to go to Alaska. I mean, you could have sailed. You could have sailed out of Southampton. That's a lot closer this summer. Or out of Barcelona or somewhere over in Europe.
Why did you choose to come to Alaska for a sailing in September of this year?
[00:07:24] Speaker A: We have a terrible habit of going very far away when we travel just to make it more expensive, you know? No, we were actually in Alaska two years ago on Celebrity, and I loved it. And my husband wasn't that into it because he didn't really like the food.
But I had heard so much about Disney in Alaska that I just really wanted to try it. It sounded like there was something really special about Disney Cruise Line there. So that's why I wanted to go back. I wanted him to give it another.
And I knew he would love it, and he did.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: Jeffrey Rice, now tell me, what's your sort of Disney background? Are you somebody who has grown up with Disney being a part of your life and, you know have you done other sailings on Disney Cruise Line prior to deciding to jump right into Alaska?
[00:08:07] Speaker A: We have. So my background would be that I went to Disney. I was very lucky to Disney World twice as a child when I was 6 and 8 and which was most unusual back then in Ireland to go all that way. And it was before Disneyland Paris was built.
And then I met my husband and things kind of waned a little bit. I still loved Disney, but I wasn't as passionate about it. I met my husband and he is mad into Disney. So we planned a trip to Disney World 12 years ago now. And now we're annual passholders, DVC members, the usual trajectory. We've been to all of the parks internationally apart from Shanghai and Hong Kong.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, we've done the Adventures by Disney, the Disneyland Southern California one, and then cruising wise, this is our 19th cruise cruise, but only our sixth on Disney Cruise Line. We've done Crystal, Regent Silver Sea Seabourne, we've done Celebrity Azamara and then as I said, Disney Cruise Line. And our first Disney Cruise was in 2022 and it was on the dream. It was a three night from Port Canaveral and I didn't like it.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Oh my gosh.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: I know.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: What didn't you like about it? I'm curious. It was only a three night, so that might be why you didn't like.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Yeah, that's definitely a factory. Much prefer longer sailings. But I think, I suppose we had only cruised on Crystal before that. We've kind of caught up a lot over the last few years in terms of numbers and it was just a very different experience. And for that time it just didn't bring the magic that the parks brought to me at that point. I'm not sure why, but we gave it another chance when the Dream came to Europe in 2024 and fell in love that time. And actually we did the British Isles and Ireland cruise on that, that year and we did a three night as well. And then of course things, you know, gained momentum, shall we say. And at this point, to be honest, like Disney, if I could only sail two cruise lines in the world ever again, it would be Disney and Crystal, which are obviously very different products.
But I would still pick Disney.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Yeah, you'd still pick Disney over what? Tell, tell me. I don't. I have never sailed on Crystal. I know it's a luxury line.
What do you love about Crystal and where? Like what's. Is there a common thread between, you know, between Crystal and Disney?
[00:10:24] Speaker A: I think Crystal's obviously Very different. So it's a smaller ship. You typically only maybe have 700 people on board. The food to guest ratio is like really huge. And it's just. It's very luxurious. Everything is luxurious. But for me, the commonality is really how it makes me feel.
And I think that it's just that emotion that it evokes when I walk on the ship, when I interact with people on it, just that the feelings of it. So it's hard to quantify in terms of the food is good on other lines, or the rooms might be nicer on another ship, but it's that feeling for me.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. And I think to me, that always comes from the service level and the cast or crew on. We call them cast on Disney crew on other lines.
But I feel like that's.
That's where a lot of that feeling comes from. I don't know if that's the same for you. Of course, on a smaller line, you're going to get a little bit. A different style of service, a little bit more personal service.
But I think that's where that kind of magic can come from on any line, frankly, if you have those great experiences.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: And I have to say, the Wonder being a smaller ship, I really felt that intimacy. Much more so than on the Dreams of Fantasy, which are the other two ships we've been on.
[00:11:39] Speaker B: Love it. Yeah. All right, Brian, let me have you advance to the next slide.
All right, so travel day. Let's start with how far in advance did you. Of course, we're sailing from Vancouver. So if you're sailing from on Disney to Alaska, either on the Wonder or on the Magic, you are sailing from Vancouver, British Columbia. So that's a port in Canada for those listening and watching who aren't familiar.
How did you guys decide when you were coming in and how much time to spend in Vancouver? Ahead of time? I mean, you've got quite a big of a time difference. So I'm just curious, did that sort of factor into how much time or did you come anyplace else in the United States prior to or in Canada or the United States? I guess in North America before going to Vancouver?
No.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: We're lucky that in the summer, Air Canada runs a direct flight from Dublin to Vancouver, and it actually is marginally shorter than going to Orlando from Dublin. The Globe is a funny thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: Yes, it's funny.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: So, no, we came the day before and then we actually stayed a night after the cruise because there was no direct flight the day we disembarked so we had I suppose two pretty full days in Vancouver and we'd never been there before so I was very excited to see it.
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, tell us what did you guys do in.
It's obviously the sailing party is the three of you. So you, your husband and mom.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah, my mother. Yeah, yeah.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: And now you, where did you stay and what did you all do in Vancouver pre cruise?
[00:13:17] Speaker A: So I need to tell you about a small blip we had on the day we arrived. So I had booked the Pan Pacific for the first night and the very last night and we arrived and I booked it through a third party which I've never had any problem with in the past. And I guess my tone is telling you that there was a problem when we arrived. So we checked in with a very helpful man who essentially, to cut a long story short, told us that they couldn't find our reservation because it had been canceled. Cancelled. So it seems that certain third party websites don't actually. They're not even third party, they're fourth party. So they don't actually book directly with the hotel themselves. They guarantee you a price guaranteed in inverted commas. And then they go and try and secure that price from a different third party website. And in this case they hadn't been able to do that. So the hotel had canceled the reservation because they hadn't received any money. And the, the website we used, which was Algotels, which I unfortunately did not look up on trustpilot before I booked through it. But if I had I would have real that lots of other people have had similar experiences so they never let us know. So we were standing at the desk for an hour trying to sort this out. They only had one room left in the Pan Pacific that night. And so my first thought was okay, where's my mother going to stay?
And second of all, is this going to be a ridiculous price?
The very helpful man helped us. He printed out different options for my mother standing there. We managed to book her something online which was actually a really nice hotel called the Azur Hotel Az U O which is only a couple of blocks back from Canada. Place was about €100 so maybe $115 $16 cheaper. And she got a glass of champagne to the room. She had free breakfast in the morning.
The service is really good so I think it's actually a really good option that I would consider in the future or recommend to people. It was a bit more modern and more recently updated than the Pan Pacific and she really liked it. But luckily they did have the room for a second on the way back. So the day we got off the cruise we knew we could check into the Pan Pacific. So that was a bit of a saga and a bit stressful and especially getting off a long haul flight. But all's well that ends well.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. Wow. Yeah, that is like the travel nightmare. I mean it, as you said, all's well that ends well. But that is kind of one of those travel nightmares that you just hope to not encounter.
But wow, that's, that's, yeah, that's kind of crazy. Thank you for sharing. Just kind of tells you, I mean there are some of course reputable third party sites that you can book through in order to get, you know, a better deal.
I'm always uncomfortable even booking through the third party website, even the trusted one, because their cancellation policies are usually not as favorable as the hotel's own policies. And so you have, you can have a little bit of a snafu on that if you do need to make any kind of cancellation at the last minute. But. All right, so you, you sort things out with the hotel. You and your husband are able to stay at Pan Pacific, which is helpful for the luggage transfer. I'll be honest, that's one of the nice things. And also just rolling out of bed in the morning when you're heading onto the ship. But what did you guys end up doing in Vancouver? I see, of course that, that's the arch in Chinatown. It looks like you were at a Totem park and then a waterfront restaurant maybe.
[00:16:27] Speaker A: Yes. So we headed. There was a particular vegan. We're both vegan, myself and my husband, my mother's not. And there was a particular vegan pizza place we wanted to go to on Main Street. And you know, AI told me, sure, there's loads of interesting places nearby. Walk through Chinatown. Turns out Chinatown, everything is closed on a Sunday.
And I asked for advice about safe walking routes and let's just say the advice wasn't entirely accurate. So we had a bit of an eventful afternoon. Food is good. And we wanted to make our way, I suppose up through nice parts of the city. But we managed to step through some uncomfortable situations on route.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: So later on that afternoon my mother decided she'd go back and relax in the hotel and we went to a place I'd highly recommend.
It's called Tap and Barrel. Right there beside Canada Place.
Yeah. And they do a Happy hour from 2 to 5:30 at the weekends.
I think the hours are more extensive during the week, but it was really Good. Really good food, great drinks, nice views.
And then the next morning, the photo on the right is myself and. And went for a run in Stanley park, which was just gorgeous. Absolutely fabulous scene. So, I mean, it's got on the ship and you're right, the luggage transfer is worth its weight in gold. I would pay just for that.
[00:17:42] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It just makes everything just super easy. It's. Of course, there's plenty of hotels near Canada Place, walking distance. There's even, you know, a nice hotel right across the street. I'm forgetting that, I think.
Yeah. And so there's just. Just plenty that are really convenient. But of course, there's nothing more convenient than having your luggage picked up from your room and heading right downstairs to. To cruise ship. I also highly recommend a run in Stanley park if you're a runner. It's a beautiful place. It's a beautiful place even if you're not a runner. They have a great aquarium to visit in Stanley park if you're traveling. In particular, if you're traveling with kids, the aquarium is a fantastic place to visit.
But Vancouver is beautiful. But as you mentioned, there are streets in Vancouver. Vancouver is very urban and there are streets and blocks of Vancouver and it's kind of hit and miss that are maybe not as pleasant with quite a large homeless population panhandling. That sort of the kind of the things you expect in an urban atmosphere.
And in some locations, you will feel perfectly safe. In other locations, not so much. So it's definitely something to be aware of. Keep your wits about you, all of that. All right, let's see the next slide. Brian.
Oh, and Marcus, you already did it. Look at that. Brian is on the ball. Embarkation day. Okay, so you wake up, you go do your run, you get all dressed up cute for embarkation day. Of course, obviously you're a gal who likes to wear ears and dress in theme. I'm a gal who likes to do the same. How did the embarkation process go?
Check in all of that.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: It was relatively smooth, but it was much slower than we had anticipated. As I said, this was our sixth cruise and any cruise we've been on previously. Let's say you get an embarkation time of 11:30, like we did typically.
Well, let's you know, we've embarked in Port Canaveral, Barcelona and Southampton. And if you show up an hour before, normally you'll be through and waiting to get on the ship at that time. But that wasn't the case on this day. I'm not entirely sure whether that's typical or not. But really we should have waited and just shown up at 11:30 because there was no point. We were just standing around for about an hour beforehand. But once we get on the ship, all was smooth. With the exception that I heard a guest earlier in the summer say this. We tried to go to the sit down meal in Tiana's place and it was full. There was actually a cast member walking up and down the corridor saying that it was full and recommending cabanas. But the very first thing I did was I wanted to go and check that we had a table just for the three of us. So I went down to a French Quarter lounge and I knew I would love it, but I absolutely fell head over heels once I saw it. It's just everything I love. It's so well themed. The music is amazing. I love Princess and the Frog. It has people watching and windows to see out. As well as being able to sit in a bar and music. I just. Yeah, I couldn't have been happier. Once I saw that, I gave it a little squeal and ran back to get the other two.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's absolutely. I have to completely agree with you. The French Quarter Lounge is one of my favorite.
I mean it might actually be my favorite bar venue across the fleet. It is, well, maybe my favorite like themed one because I do love Meridian and that's not really themed or it's a nautically themed but not sort of IP themed. But yeah, the French Quarter Lounge is just a fantastic place and I love, I love the layout. I also love that they allow kids in there even though it is a bar lounge space and you have activities that happen and music that happens. And of course it, the theming flows so nicely into Tiana's for dinner, of course. Now were you able to secure that private table for your. For your dining?
[00:21:29] Speaker A: Yes, there was no problem. This sailing wasn't full by any means. We asked an officer and there were 2013 people on board, but to be honest, there were hardly any children. So I think most people were adult couples sailing, you know, just the two of them in the stateroom. So it was. There were lots of empty tables at dinner. It was never difficult. Interestingly, the British Isles and Ireland cruise we did two years ago, that one was full of adults, but it meant the, the adult only areas were completely full. Trying to get into a trivia at the last minute was just impossible. That didn't seem to be the case on this cruise, so I'm not entirely sure why that happened. But it was suited us perfectly.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it's just the layout on the Wonder is very well and the magic is sort of very well suited to that. Just kind of spreading out the crowds pretty well. And they may have, well, they may have compensated also by having more adult only activities rather than having some of, you know, more family activities kind of this, this time of year sailing. So if you're, if you're thinking about sailing in, you know, early or even, you know, even early September, but particularly mid September, you should really expect very low numbers of children on board. If you have children on board, they are likely to be preschoolers, right? Like kids who are not yet in elementary school.
Because of course we don't have a school schedule to contend with. Most people who have kids who are school age are not going to pull them out of school in September. Since we've all just in North America and then of course over in Europe, we've all just sent our kids back to school either in August or in September. So not surprising that it wasn't a full sailing and not surprising that it was a heavily adult only sailing. Now do you have, is your tradition to do sit down lunch on embarkation day? Typically? Yeah, I, I love that too.
It is interesting to me because, because you didn't have sort of a late boarding. So is it, what boarding group were
[00:23:30] Speaker A: you, Can I ask your boarding group? Nine.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: Yeah, see that. I'm surprised that they were completely full. But you know what, maybe it's. Maybe it again, maybe that has to do with it being in a more heavily adult sailing. I do think that parties with kids are more likely to go to cabanas for embarkation day lunch, whereas adult only parties are probably more likely. Unless they're really into the peel and eat shrimp.
They might be more likely to go to, to sit down lunch. Yeah.
Now I see.
I. Oh, here we go. Here's our sea day.
Tell us. Yeah, Sea day. Is this is Glacier Day now your first sea day or is it Glacier Day, your next day?
[00:24:11] Speaker A: Glacier Day is the next day. This is the first sea day. Okay, sorry, go ahead.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: I was gonna say tell us what you got up to on your first sea day.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: So that night was formal night, so we're looking forward to that. So the things we tend to love to do are trivia. And I think you're right, actually there were loads of trivias and I didn't see that many family activities. So I think that's probably what they did. They realized who was going to be on and allowed for It So lots of trivia, lots of sitting in French Quarter that became a theme throughout the cruise.
And then we got dressed up that night for formal night and as you see, got some photos taken and had a great night. Yeah, it was the Golden Mickey's that night. And we actually got stopped to be interviewed live on the way in.
Yeah. Which I didn't realize that it's live, so that makes sense to me. But at the time I was thinking, we'll go in and we'll see ourselves. But we walked into the theater and all these people were turning around going, oh my God, it's l camera.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: I was like, oh.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: So we didn't get to watch, which is probably a good thing because part of the whole thing was they made us walk up and down as if we were on a catwalk. And I don't think I needed to witness that.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: I gotta, I gotta ask, I bet that you became a bit of a celebrity on the cruise after being interviewed on the. On the red carpet or the golden carpet. I guess the Golden Mickey carpet. Because I will say on Alaskan cruises, Americans and Canadians, we're kind of a dime a dozen. But you as an Irish woman, you guys, well, your mother and your husband as well, you guys are kind of unique. People are probably like, oh, that's the Irish family.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: A little bit of that. Yeah, definitely. And also I think because we like to dress up and my husband in particular stands out because he likes to wear a tux or a suit and that sort of thing every night. So people would often come up and talk to us because of that, I suppose. And typically Alaska is like less formal anyway, so we kind of stood out a bit more.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: But yeah, yeah, absolutely now, yeah, did.
For those who don't know, Alaska is, you know, we're talking Pacific Northwest. And so we are a casual bunch here in the Pacific Northwest.
Jeans and sweaters or sweatshirts and maybe a puffy vest.
But it is le you are environment in the environment where people tend to dress up less in general. And then of course, it's a more active cruise, typically and colder cruise. And so you see people less dressy in general, not just on formal night, but on regular nights you. You often see people wearing their day clothes instead of. And I think in the Caribbean you see a lot of the time people changing and dressing up for the evening in, you know, sundresses and things like that. And probably even on the European sailings, you see more people changing and dressing up for dinner. Was that kind of what you observed on on this cruise, other than, obviously, formal night, where some people choose to dress up at least.
[00:27:15] Speaker A: Definitely. Yes. And it's interesting that you should point that out because I think the cruises where definitely the cruises where people have dressed up more have tended to be European, and a lot of British people or Dutch people actually dress up a lot. So, yeah, it's definitely different by region.
[00:27:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's definitely cultural differences and location. And even within the United States, obviously there are differences in terms of, you know, what you see people wearing in New York City is very different than what you see what people wearing in Seattle. Just very different cultures in that sense. And I think that translates over to cruise line as well.
I'm curious, in terms of food, you mentioned your husband was not a big fan of the food on Celebrity, which actually surprises me because from. Well, it's been a very long time since Brian and I were on Celebrity, but I do tend to hear good things about food on Celebrity. They're known as a luxury line. Of course, they. They're owned by Royal Caribbean, but they are. When you compare them to Royal. They are of the luxury line, sort of above Royal is in that. That sort of ownership group. But what did your husband think of the food across this sailing? You know, it's not to say that Disney Cruise Line, I mean, they're not winning awards for their food, but I always think the food in general is of good quality.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: So Enda's, like, trip is basically defined by how much he likes the food or doesn't like the food. It doesn't matter where you go. That's the defining characteristic term, which obviously it's very important, but I'm more easily pleased, we'll say. And I suppose the fact that we're vegan adds an extra layer to it because, like Celebrity, to be fair, on some ships we've had good food, but this, the Alaskan cruise we did was on edge, and that particular ship wasn't great. So there's an inconsistency across the fleet, I think. But on Disney, we've always had excellent food.
There's a little bit of hassle and effort involved in getting good vegan food, but it's well worth it. And once your dining team get to know you and things settle a little bit, it's easier.
But, yeah, no, the food itself was really good. I don't think we had one bad meal. Me.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: That's awesome. That's really. Now, did you find that you had to order things in advance or let them know what you wanted or were There things that they were able to sort of steer you to that could be sort of decided day of like, I know with when we, we talk about food allergies a lot and with food allergies people tend to have to order in, you know, a day in advance for the most part.
Did, did they sort of put you in that situation?
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Yes. So typically they would order the night before for the next night's dinner. And what we usually ended up ordering was the crew curries. Because a lot of crew on the ship are, you know, either vegan or vegetarian themselves. So a lot of excellent Indian or Indonesian type curries. Really, really good.
We ordered one almost every night.
Our serving team didn't actually suggest ordering the lunchtime meals in advance, but you can do that. We've done that on other cruises. What they suggested, they didn't suggest. We just went to the buffet. In previous, on previous ships the buffet has been hit and miss.
Normally I'd get a table. Enda would go off and kind of do a bit of investigation. He'd ask. There was one chef in particular was really helpful. He'd go off and find out everything that was vegan. Other days he might get somebody different who'd be able to tell him one thing and that they'd have to ask again for another item. But there was usually something on the buffet that was different that day that was vegan, at least one thing. And then there were always things like French fries, the pasta with marinara sauce. Sauce, that sort of stuff. So you could always find something to feed you. And then he. I'm not as much into the ultimates and stuff, but he really likes that. And there was a special vegan plant based option every day that you just pre ordered on the, on the, on other ships you have had to go to a cast member with a white like polo shirt and order from them. But on the wonder it was actually just the cast member who was standing behind the salad section. So that was really easy. And then also Enda likes burgers and hot dogs so they're freely available at the pool deck food as well. So.
But I usually stuck to the buffet. We did have a sit down lunch one day which was absolutely fabulous. But I'll talk about that later actually because.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Okay, awesome. I love hearing that. Listen, I love hearing the. About all kinds of different, you know, food preferences or dietary issues because it really helps our audience who are of all, you know, I'm of course a meat eater myself.
Occasionally a picky eater some might call. I'm not the Extreme picky. Like my friend Tracy, who I know is watching, but I am a bit of a picky eater. But it's helpful to know sort of what are the options available, I think, for everyone and to make sure everybody gets fed, because that's an important, like. Like you said for Enda, he lives and dies by whether the food is good. So I think that's. It's a huge, hugely important part of cruising, I think, no matter what line you sail.
All right, well, let's. Let's talk.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Sorry to interrupt you, Sam, just for a second, that you do have to be kind of vigilant, particularly on day one or two. Day one can be tough because you haven't pre ordered and your dining team don't know your preferences and that sort of thing. But there were one or two occasions where we had to send something back because, like, there was one occasion where my mother got something with meat in it and she's a pescatarian, so that wasn't ideal. But look, this happens in every part of life when you have special dietary requirements. So after a day or two, things settle, usually. So, yeah, okay, that's.
[00:32:45] Speaker B: That's helpful to know. I'm curious, actually, where you started your dining rotation, because this would be the situation where I probably wouldn't want to start at Tiana's. I'd really probably want to start someplace with a quieter dinner. I love. I love Tiana's. Right. But I think when you've got a show going on at dinner and you're. And your dining team is trying to work through whatever your dietary needs are, it's a little bit hard to do when you're constantly interrupted by music and a show.
[00:33:11] Speaker A: So you can guess where our first night was then.
[00:33:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, of course it was.
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Of course it was. But it's my favorite restaurant. I absolutely loved it. And I couldn't get over the fact that there were two shows and. Oh, I absolutely loved it.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: It's the best. I mean, it's the best restaurant that. And animators are kind of. I'll call them tied for first. But yeah, it's. It's amazing. It's just maybe not the best option for your first night. I think it would, ideally. So I'm going to put this plug out there in the community. If you have any dietary preferences, restrictions, allergies, any of those sorts of things that are a little bit more than the usual, let's put them like a little bit more significant, let's say, versus somebody who. I just don't like. Tomatoes. Right. Somebody who just doesn't like tomatoes. That's easy to accommodate. But other things that are a little bit more difficult to accommodate, you can always request where you. Where you start your rotation. And so I recommend starting at whatever rotation restaurant that will not have a show. It just will give you a little bit more time with your dining staff to be able to explain what the situation is and for them to be able to accommodate it a little bit better before you get to that show restaurant where they're constantly. And you're constantly being interrupted by music and dancing and a second line, you know, parade going around the dining room, which is super fun. Just hard to accommodate. A chat with your. With your team. All right, well, let's talk about Glacier Day.
I love. By the way, I just love, love, love these outfits. I. I see you also did an outfit change. So for those who are. Who are listening and not watching these, I posted a couple of these pictures on. On social media, but Melissa is dressed as fisherman Minnie from Alaska, and then she is later dressed as Donald, and her husband Enda is dressed as Donald. So you're. I mean, you guys are completely coordinated in your. Your outfits. I absolutely love it. You got to tell me, how did you.
How did you get all. I mean, all four of these pictures? I mean, you must have been standing in line for a bit.
[00:35:29] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it took. It took a bit of planning. The outfits took over a year of
[00:35:32] Speaker B: planning, I have to say.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: I don't know if it's the same on every Alaska sailing, but I would estimate that a minimum of 50% of people were wearing a plaid shirt with a navy vest. Like, it's just nearly everybody.
So that's easier to soar.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: Yes, yes. So that's what we did. I actually bounded as Daisy. I got sort of the dress version, but I put on a little sort of denim jacket. Like, she has a little denim shrug.
And. But Brian and Nathan, I had them dress up exactly as Donald, so Donald is the easiest one to match. Absolutely. Yeah. So tell. Tell me about. Tell me about the planning behind these outfits and the planning for Glacier Day.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: Well, I want to do Daisy as well, but then I decided that three outfit changes within the course of a couple of hours is probably excessive. And I already knew it of too luggage, so we stuck with what we had.
So this was my main thing I wanted to do on the cruise was meet all the characters. Well, as many characters as we could, and hopefully get the photos outside, which is never a guarantee at any point in time, but definitely in September, always a risk.
So as Mickey was meeting at 8:30. So at 10 past 7 we went up to. It was the line was at the pool deck at that stage and we were maybe 10 or 12 people back in line.
But after about a half an hour they actually led the line up the stairs. Now I was hoping that everybody would remain civilized and they did, which was great. So we all proceeded up the stairs in a procession and sort of moved to the new queue. So I was really happy because it had been a bit misty that morning so I wasn't sure if we'd get the photos out on deck.
We basically were 2 hours and 40 minutes just getting Mickey and Minnie and that was arriving an hour and 20 minutes before Mickey was due to start. So definitely recommend going early and it's worth it. It's like rope dropping, I suppose at the parks.
It started to drizzle after we had met Minnie. So I kind of had a sense that they'd moved the characters downstairs and I was right. Also I was freezing cold because I was not ruining my outfit by putting on a coat.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: This was what we do for the pictures. We do it all.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: Vanity won out so I had to go in and warm up for a little while. But the frozen deck party was actually at 11am that morning.
[00:37:45] Speaker C: Morning.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: Because I suppose they anticipated that it'd be quite cold in the evening time where they often have it. So we went back out, dried up for that and then after that we had lunch and then it was later in the afternoon when it was thundering rain for a couple of hours that we met Donald and Daisy and that was it. I mean the queues were quite long and I suppose we ran out of a bit of steam. But the characters were available to meet later in the cruise and I suppose the fact that they were on the pool deck was a little bit.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Bit.
[00:38:15] Speaker A: I mean I still loved it, but there's a little bit less special than meeting them in front of the glacier. But it did dry up for the actual sort of spin of the ship in front of the glacier. Glacier. So that was fabulous. Really? Really.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: Oh, great.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:28] Speaker B: So you were able to go back out on deck. It had stopped raining and you're able to actually see, you know, see the glacier when they're doing. So for what? For folks who haven't listened to some of our other shows about Alaska, the ship gets as close as it possibly can to the glacier and kind of sits for a little bit and then does a 360 spin so that the entire side of you know, regardless of what side of the ship you're on, you'll get to see the glacier and then of course, turns around to head back through the fjord. And there are people who are on the Glacier Explorer boat, which is one of those boats that you Essentially, it's kind of like the size of a bigger size of a life than a lifeboat. But groups get off onto those Glacier Explorers and we'll get to go a little bit closer to the glacier than the cruise ship can go because they're smaller boats. But of course, that's an excursion that is an add on. I want to say it's in the ballpark of 300 something dollars per person. There is an adult only version as well as a family version. And those do actually tend to book up.
And oftentimes concierge Pearl Platinum may take all of the spots before it opens up to sort of newer cruisers. Did you guys consider doing one of those Glacier Explorers or did you do it on Celebrity? Because I'm pretty much every cruise line will offer one of those kind of excursions.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: No, we didn't. My husband wasn't that interested and we found that we got a really good view from the ship. I know some people say it's absolutely fabulous, but like we were happy with what we had. And the other thing that was lovely about that morning was even though we were waiting quite a while, we saw loads of whales. So that was fantastic. Loads and loads of humpback whales all morning. So, yeah, that really made it worthwhile.
[00:40:15] Speaker B: Yeah, you can't beat that. I gotta say, I think it's. I mean, I know getting the picture with Donald and Daisy under the COVID on the pool deck is not quite the same as getting it out on, you know, with the glacier or the mountains in the background. But I gotta say, I still like the outdoor picture. You can feel it still feels like the Alaska vibe when you're taking the picture out on the pool deck. Even in these pictures. Maybe it's the outfits, I don't know, but it's just all about the outfit.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Scenery is secondary.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Absolutely.
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[00:42:00] Speaker B: While we're talking about Glacier Day, I gotta ask about the merchandise because merchandise, the shops are open, of course, on sea days and technically Glacier Day is a sea day, even though there is an excursion offered. And of course, you had the sea day on the. On the day before.
You're at the late season for Alaska, which is you're sort of. I think you were the second to last sailing on for. Yeah, for the Wonder. So because they've just sort of wrapped up the Alaska season or just wrapping it up this week, I can't remember. But how was the merchandise situation? Were there things left? Obviously, you got the ears and I got many.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: No, there was plenty of merch. Some of the sizes weren't available and they didn't have those really nice, colorful hoodies that they'd had earlier in the season. But the advantage was, for example, the ears were on sale. They were only $20.
And I collect ears and that is not what ears cost, as most people will know.
So. No, it was actually, it wasn't bad. I was pleasantly surprised.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Good. I like to hear that. That's always, it's always helpful. We get asked a lot about Mickey and Minnie Stuffies in particular. Those are obviously very, very popular.
It seems like they have done a better job now with stocking the merchandise. Previous Alaska seasons, it seems like they have had issues, but it seems like the last, I'd say two years, they've been quite good about it mean this season and last season. All right, I'm going to ask Brian to advance us to our first port of call there. I mean, glacier kind of is a. Oh, here's the pictures of the glacier. I forgot that there were. There's another slide here. So beautiful.
Oh, these are great though.
[00:43:39] Speaker A: You know, you can Never.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, it's gorgeous. All right, I'm gonna let Brian advance us. Okay, Skagway. Tell us what you looks like you maybe maybe explored on your own in Skagway.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: We did. We had done the waipass Uganda railroad the last time we were there. So we decided just to explore the town because it was really cute the last time, and we didn't have enough time in it. So on the right, you see, I found a shop that was all about Alaskan huskies, and they had dogs in the shop, and. And one of them was on his break when we went in. So he goes in under a curtain, under a table, and then he comes out when he's not. He came out for us, obviously.
It was really cute. And just wandering around all the little shops. Plus they have that museum kind of series of buildings shortly after you get off the ship, which gives you the whole history of Skagway and the gold rush, and that's really interesting and really accessible and free. So really enjoyed that. And then we went to Skagway Brewing Company for a drink before we got back on the ship, which was really fun as well. So. Yeah, no, it was. It was a good day in Skagway. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, with the exception of that of ours that it rained on Glacier day. It was sunny. It was warm. It was extremely unseasonable, and it was the opposite of what was the following week, which I kept an eye on and kind of felt slightly smug, which is really me. But, like, we just had unbelievable weather through September. I don't think it would be repeated.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it's. Well, that's amazing.
It's amazing. That was warm enough for kids to be swimming. But I will say it's really hit and miss in Alaska. You really can't predict, particularly the late season, whether you're in August or September.
You could have beautiful weather. We're having a gorgeous day here in Seattle today.
The sky is blue. It's. Yeah, it is. Just so you can. Yeah, you can have a beautiful, gorgeous day, and then tomorrow could be pouring rain. So, you know, it's. It's one of those things, I got to tell you. You. I love this Tower of Terror outfit in the.
I recognize it immediately.
[00:45:37] Speaker A: That's what.
[00:45:38] Speaker B: We had to get a photo in
[00:45:39] Speaker A: front of an elevator. Yeah.
People kept asking us, oh, you went to Palo. And we were like, no, stressful.
[00:45:48] Speaker B: I love that. I love that.
Now, you mentioned you guys dress up for every night, regardless of formal night now, particularly Enda in his I mean, his tuxedo. Is he in a tux or suit every night?
[00:46:03] Speaker A: He's in a different tux or suit every night, but I'll take the credit.
[00:46:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Okay. Well, how much, how much luggage are we talking, Melissa?
[00:46:13] Speaker A: We had to buy an extra suitcase two days before we left because I was like, this is not going to happen.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: I mean, the biggest worry about the suitcases is the international flights, right? Like you've got a certain amount of limit of not just weight, but how many pieces of luggage on the cruise line they may not give you. Like they. Technically there's a limit, I think of two per person, but nobody's ever imposed that. There is not really a limit. It is only a limit in how many luggage tags they send you for shorter cruises. Now they actually only send you one luggage tag per person and for longer cruises they send you two per person. But you can always ask for more when you get to the port. I have never seen them turn away a piece of luggage.
With the one exception, of course. We heard in certain.
Well, I forget which. I think it was in Barcelona they wouldn't take backpacks, so they just wouldn't take sort of soft bags. They wanted you to have sort of a suitcase to check in. I think they were worried about it, you know, getting damaged in, in transit, essentially.
[00:47:18] Speaker A: All right, well, I was that we had three large suitcases and two small carry on suitcases and other bits and pieces and they all fitted under the bed, which I was a bit concerned about.
[00:47:28] Speaker B: I have to say. Disney, Disney beds are high enough that suitcases will fit under.
In particular, if you nest, obviously if you're going to unpack and put everything in the drawers and the closets, then you just nest. The empty suitcases, you know, the smaller ones in the bigger ones. And we've always been able. And we're three people and we also bring a lot of luggage. Melissa. It sounds like we are. I mean, I will say I can't get Brian to work of tux every day, but I don't know Brian, you are. If he's listening, send him over to me.
[00:48:00] Speaker A: Few days, I'll sort you out.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: Exactly. You'll help me sort it out. I mean, we gotta, we gotta level up his, his game because this is just amazing. And apparently I need to level up my game as well, because I do not. I don't have a, I don't have a Tower of Terror dress standing in front of a lift on a Disney cruise. I absolutely love that. All right, well. Well, let's go to our next port of call, Judo.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And this is a day of two halves. I'll explain why we woke up. I was so excited.
So I'm very careful when it comes to booking animal based excursions because I'm very sensitive to any sense of animal cruelty or anything like that. And I had not really considered this particular excursion which was the dog setting summer camp ju04 because I thought, oh, I don't know if I'll be comfortable with it. Will the dogs be happy? But I'd heard a guest on your show talk about it and I said, okay, I'll do a bit more research. So I did. Did and I thought there's no. I'm gonna just check. There's no way there's still availability. And there was. And that was about six days before we sailed.
Yeah. So when I got home from work and I was like, guess what?
And I have to say I had no reason to be concerned. These dogs are super happy.
I suppose I hadn't really understood the rationale for it. The dogs in the camp we went to all live, you know, in the lower 48 in areas that get warm in the summer.
[00:49:21] Speaker B: Summer.
[00:49:22] Speaker A: And so they have to go up to Alaska for the summer because it's too hot for them to be comfortable. Even just doing nothing outside, never mind running, which they have to do because they're just really mad to run.
[00:49:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:33] Speaker A: They just want to run. Yeah. And it was so much fun. The first thing we did was the actual ride on the buggy. We'll say, and the dogs are just so excited to go. And it was just fantastic. And then we got to hold three week old puppies, as you can see. And I just wanted to bring them home, obviously, so would. It was the best excursion I have ever done. I absolutely loved it and I couldn't recommend it enough to people who love animals. It was just amazing. It was fun, entertaining. It was perfectly paced.
[00:50:04] Speaker B: It was two hours.
[00:50:05] Speaker A: There was no standing around, which is one. We don't book a lot of excursions because we walk fast. I don't really. I get impatient. I don't like waiting around. There's always someone late in the bus. But actually this was just. It was seamless. And it's a beautiful journey up there as well. It's kind of up the side of a mountain essentially and the views are gorgeous. So, yeah, highly, highly recommend.
[00:50:24] Speaker B: I have to do this. Of course. We, we did the one where we went to the glacier, which was incredible, and met the puppies on the glacier. The dogs Actually, we didn't get to. We saw puppies. We didn't get to touch the puppies because they were. The ones that we saw were too young to sort of be handled.
But I kind of feel like I want to do the summer camp one because you get to really interact with the puppies quite a bit more. By the way, I gotta say, in the chat, I see you, Brian, talking about how he used to own talks and how he can mute me if I tell him he is not upping his game enough. So I just wanted to. I saw it, Brian. Okay. All right. Now you mentioned this was kind of a tale of. A tale of two halves of day. What was the other half of the day?
[00:51:06] Speaker A: So if maybe flick forward to the next slide. So we got back to the ship, like absolutely full of enthusiasm and happiness. And then we got a text from end his mother to say that Dexter, one of our daughters.
And we have. We have nine dogs, all rescues, wasn't. Well, he wasn't himself. And it was nighttime in Ireland at that stage. And just to summarize, essentially, you know, he couldn't walk and we weren't sure he wouldn't take his treat.
So we said, look, you know, can you bring him in to sleep with you and then bring him to the vet in the morning? And basically, when they brought him to the vet, trying, it was the middle of the night for us. We were trying to stay in touch. He died at the vet.
And I wasn't.
And I'm going to try not to get upset, but I wasn't going to. I went back and forth about whether to share it because obviously it's a personal story and it's not sort of broadly applicable. But then I suppose I thought about two things. Number one, people who listen to this podcast are people who like to travel a lot. And it is a risk that somebody you love might get sick or might die when you're away and how to navigate that. And I suppose to try and have things somewhat organized in your head. I didn't think it would ever happen to us. I didn't think that we would never see him again and be able to say goodbye. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. But the other thing. Thing was I found, I think if I was on any other cruise line or any other ship that I. I think I would have just wanted to curl up or go home.
But there's something about Disney that I think everybody listening to this understands that it's possible to simultaneously feel like immense grief and sadness, but also still be brought slightly out of that by the magic and the joy, I suppose. And to have those two things side by side, side.
And so we, we spent a lot of, I suppose the rest of that day was really worrying about him. And then the next morning, you know, we went for a long walk and we talked about it and that sort of thing. And we were saying, you know, he wouldn't wanted us to and it didn't serve us to kind of just be miserable and you know, make ourselves miserable. So while we were really sad obviously for the rest of the cruise and I mean, we don't have children, our dogs are our family and it was really heartbreaking.
And I'm talking very objectively here and trying not to get upset, but it was the one place that if I couldn't be at home that I would want to.
I'd rather be at home. But you know what I mean?
[00:53:20] Speaker B: Of course, of course you'd rather be. Yeah, you'd rather you have the chance to say goodbye. So this actually brings up a very personal memory because Brian and I, we lost our dog Gizmo back in 2019, right before we were supposed to sail on the 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise. And, and we were in the throngs of grief at the time that we sailed and the only thing that was keeping us happy was being on that cruise. Honestly, this was in July of 2019 and it's so hard when you lose a pet. They are a member of your family. And there were months after that I would hear the jingle jangle of his collar in my head. Right.
He obviously wasn't there, but I would think I heard it. And not being home for us was actually. Sorry, I'm getting all choked up. Not being home was actually easier because I wasn't expecting to hear his collar sound and I was distracted by the happiness of being immersed in Disney, of Disney storytelling and hugging Mickey and all of those thing.
[00:54:38] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And that's why that, that was the day that we, that he died was the day Mickey was inside in his outfit. And you just like.
I was like, well, I tell him and then I think, no, I won't tell him, but just hugged him for a bit longer. And it just, it does bring up all those emotions, very complex emotions I suppose, because you've guilt not being there. But then, you know, for many, I'd say for everybody listening, Disney brings a joy and a separation from real life responsibilities and sadness and stress and all those sorts of things. So, yeah, so we did our best to enjoy the rest of the cruise, but yeah. So that was Dexie there.
[00:55:15] Speaker B: Oh, poor Dexie. Well, Dexie, we love you. We miss you.
We hope that you're running in a field with other dogs having fun.
I hope you meet Gizmo and that Gizmo doesn't eat you because Gizmo is small but not very friendly with other dogs.
And now Beth is saying she's crying during the show. But yeah, I mean, definitely something to, you know, to think about if a loved one gets sick or a loved one passes when you're on vacation.
Well, and especially with either your pets, your children, someone who you are a caretaker for, making sure that you've left them with somebody that you trust to make, especially when they have to make medical decisions, kind of, you know, without being able to maybe even reach you at times, because depending upon the time of day and all of that, that can be a difficult thing to cope with. Well, thank you for sharing, Melissa. I very much appreciate it. I'll have Brian go to Ketchikan. Ketchikan is, of course, the bear. The bear place.
And we see amazing bears in these pictures.
Did you do an excursion or did you just head over to. Essentially, there's a totem park and a lookout. I forget what it's called, but it's a particular part of the forest. Forest where you can go and. And pretty much not guaranteed to see bears, but very likely to see bears.
[00:56:44] Speaker A: Yeah. The. One of my main reasons for wanting to book Alaska in September was because of the bears, because when we went on Celebrity, it was in May, so there was no opportunity to see them. So we booked Black bear and Wildlife exploration, which is KE12.
And it was unbelievable. Like I expected, you know, I was kind of hoping to see bears.
Expect maybe to see one or two.
We walked in and straight away. So just explain to people they're not in captivity. They don't encourage or bait them into the area they happen to have. It's an area where bears naturally come because the salmon are there. And they've built an elevated platform that you can walk along and hopefully see them. So there's no guarantees, but it's a good opportunity, a good time of year as well.
So walked out onto the platform and. And after a briefing and a safety talk and that sort of thing. And there was a mama bear and her two cubs, and it was just unbelievable. And we see nine bears in total. So the mama and two kids, a solo bear, a sleeping bear, a mama and one cub, and then two other solo bears. It was absolutely incredible.
Wow.
Yeah, it was it was amazing and it was, it was well priced, I felt for the experience and the end in terms of pacing again, I'm not really an excursions person but the end dragged a bit. We kind of had half an hour to look around the manetary gift shop and wait for the bus and you know, just itching to get back to the ship with everything that had happened as well. But it was well worth it. I really, really enjoyed it.
[00:58:12] Speaker B: Yeah, I, and this is the same excursion that we did. I would 100% agree with that assessment. It's well worth it excursion. That last half hour where you've kind of back at the, where the totem park is or can go, you can walk around and see all the totems but they you give you kind of a little too much time to kind of linger and hang out and of course try to get you to buy stuff in the gift shop. But definitely a well worth it excursion.
There are basically salmon running through and there's salmon hatcheries right there. And so the likelihood that you'll see bears in late August and into September, pretty much all of September is very high because of course these bears have to, to stock up their food source in, in preparation for hibernation. So they're going to be going into hibernation soon. So this is the time of year where they are feeding, feeding, feeding. They've got to fatten up so that they can make it through the winter.
And it is definitely.
It's not a super long excursion. It's also not super expensive. There is another bear excursion that you take a, I think a seaplane to that's quite a bit more expensive of course and that it's supposed to be also very good. But it of course is maybe six or seven times the cost of this one. This one's a very short bus ride and not a hike but a little walk into the woods to get to the platform areas.
All right, Brian, take us to the next slide.
All right, we've got a slide all about dining. My favorite part, you mentioned a good experience in terms of the vegan options but tell us more about dining.
[01:00:02] Speaker A: So yeah, I've covered a lot of it but I just wanted to say my, one of my main tips was so we love Remy and the Dream and the Fantasy. They have a fully vegan menu, tasting menu, absolutely fabulous. But we did Palo on the Dream and I wouldn't recommend it.
They don't really, they kind of will modify certain things but you definitely don't get the full experience.
But my tip Is. And I would extend this to not just vegans. We went to Palo during the brunch hours. We had a drink at the bar. It was very civilized, very relaxed. We looked out the windows, the atmosphere was fabulous.
Talked to the bartender, had a lovely time and then we went for lunch down in Tiana's place. So we didn't actually eat in Palo, but we had an extremely reasonably priced glass of wine and then went down to Tiana's. So that's my pro tip. Plus, when we went to Tiana's, we saw a pod of orcas.
So that was just amazing. And they have the windows. It's one of the things I find about the wonder.
It's so newer ships I don't like as much. I like a traditional ship where you can look out. When I'm at sea, I want to see the sea.
And a lot of the, it's one of the reasons why I don't want to go in World Caribbean because it, it looks to me and what I've seen like, it's very inward facing, like you could be in a shopping mall, you could be anywhere. But the wonder, everywhere you walked, there was a window looking out. And particularly for Alaska, I mean, there was one night we were just queuing for photo and the atrium and there were whales outside the window.
So you can always see the wildlife, you can always see the beautiful scenery and I really loved that.
[01:01:32] Speaker B: Yeah. And especially for Alaska, because that's what you're there for. I'm not saying like you don't want to see outside. When you're in the Caribbean, of course it's beautiful. You see, you know, gorgeous blue ocean, the sun, palm trees, those sorts of things. But in Alaska you've got this more unique, you know, natural surroundings. You've got mountains, you've got glaciers. In places, you've got potentially bears and eagles and whales and sea lions and dolphins. I mean, there's just like so much to kind of to see, depending upon, of course, where you are.
It's. Yeah, it's really incredible.
I love that feeling, that sort of indoor outdoor feeling. I think you're right. You don't get it on Royal Caribbean or a lot of other cruises lines and you, you get it less on the wish class. I would, I would agree with you that there you can, in 1923, depending upon where you're sitting, you can get a, a table that's at a window.
But you know, that's kind of your only option. None of the other dining rooms have any outside views of Course, on the older ships, you have a lot more opportunity, I think, to see the outside. And even just walking through the ship, you have a lot more of that.
Now, entertainment wise, you mentioned, of course, that you got two shows in Tiana's and we've got. Oh, good. Brian moved us along to the next slide. You've got a lot of activities on board during the Alaska season. Of course, the star is the ports, but there's a ton to do on board. Tell us, like, what were some of the activities that you. That you all enjoyed on board?
[01:03:09] Speaker A: One of the fun ones was the very first night they have the DVC members meeting, we'll say, which was really funny because we arrived and I was waiting outside for my mother, and then I realized she'd gone in already. She's not a DVC member. She doesn't even really know what DVC is. But we always joke, like, she'd be able to talk herself out of Alcatraz. Like she could just. She could get in or out anywhere. So there she was sitting. She already had a drink, but that was really fun. So Enda got chosen to be up on stage.
See him in the middle there?
Yeah, he loves the limelight. He does, you know, amateur musical theater and stuff like that. So he was in his element. And our team won, so we won a prize. Well, he actually won the prize, so that was a great night.
And then other than that, largely trivia was the main thing I did.
And then listening to music.
[01:03:59] Speaker B: What's your expertise in trivia? Is there a particular. Is there a particular type of trivia that you guys are really good at or. Or maybe you're really bad at, but you like to go to the Disney parks?
[01:04:10] Speaker A: Yeah, definitely. Alth, we only won one trivia on this cruise because it was very hardcore. And I have to say, I talked to a couple of cast members.
People were like. And I've. You know, I know I've. I've been on before. People are so intense and to the point of getting aggressive with cast members on two occasions that we saw because they weren't happy with the answer on the screen. And it's like, it's all fun. It's okay. All you're going to win is a match. Adele, it's fine. You can win one tomorrow, you know. So anyway, my plea to people is it's just fun. I'm as competitive as the next person. But, you know, we're all on our holidays and. That's right.
[01:04:48] Speaker C: Just chill.
[01:04:49] Speaker B: Just chill. Pack your patience pants and chill. I Will say, I like when the cast members will tell people ahead of time, whatever knows more says on my screen, that's the answer. And I'm not taking anything different or otherwise. And that's. I'm just going to apply that evenhandedly because when they start to like bring in, oh, I'll accept that answer. I'll accept that. Then it starts to get a little bit more arbitrary. And I think that's when people feel like things are getting unfair. Whereas if you say, okay, the only answer I'll accept is the one on my screen, then everybody's subject to the same rule and you just kind of have to live with it whether you, you know, good or bad.
But I, I gotta tell you, I love the, all the character pictures.
I, it looks like.
[01:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah, I, yeah, I always do.
[01:05:36] Speaker B: You always do the royal gathering. People love the royal gathering. There's a question in the chat from Ashley. Did you do due pianos or did they have dueling pianos on your sailing? We did.
[01:05:46] Speaker A: And there's a photo of it, I think possibly on the next slide.
This was one of the things I was most excited for on this. Yeah, there it is. Most excited for in the sailing. And okay, I don't want to be negative about it. They were very talented, it was very good. But I found it a bit off putting that at the side of the stage. They had basically an ad for their independent business on their website.
And it just took me out of the moment of believing that this was a Disney piece of entertainment. Entertainment. And so like my, my favorite place in Disney World was Jelly Rolls, hopefully soon to be reinstated elsewhere.
And there, I know it's not, it wasn't owned by Disney, but I always felt I was, you know, immersed in the Disney bubble and that took me out of it slightly. So I was a little bit disappointed, I have to say.
But yeah, that, that was, it was a good night. But yeah, just, just to say that. Temper your expectations.
[01:06:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I wonder if they're ever going to. So they have now brought more of the music on board as sort of full time cast members. So there have been, you know, performers. For example, in the French Quarter Lounge there was a wonderful group called Soul Duo who used to be on Disney Cruise Line quite a bit. They would come for, you know, like they bring on, you know, a magician, they bring on a comedian or a ventriloquist or whatnot. They'll bring on these vendors.
But it seems like they've moved more to the sort of the in house band type of scenario, bringing Victriphonics of course, across, you know, to the. To the Whiskey class, but they haven't done that with dueling pianos. They. With dueling pianos. They've now sort of contracted with this piano party company and they're very good. But it is interesting, you're right, to see sort of that. That difference in whether or not, you know, it's a Disney cast member or a contractor and allowing them to, of course, advertise their services on board.
Did you feel like the quality of the entertainment was. Was good? Obviously this was your first time on the Wonder. You've been on the Dream primarily as your ship that you've been on twice. Right. And that you've been on. I forget what fans.
Yeah. So, yeah. Did you feel like the entertainment was commensurate with what you've seen on the Dream?
I love that.
[01:08:04] Speaker A: And I think part of that was the venue, like the French Quarter Lounge in particular is so suited to the kind of music I like. I love jazz. Like, I'm a magnet for live music. Anything that's on, I have to be there.
So, no, it was absolutely brilliant. And there was a pianist on board called Daniel, and he was amazing. He could play anything, anything. Even if he had never heard it before, he'd look it up and read it perfectly. So we absolutely loved the live music. It really made the cruise for us awesome.
[01:08:31] Speaker B: And now you did, of course, attend the Frozen deck party. You mentioned it was at 11am on Glacier Day, instead of being in the evening on a day probably because they were worried about the weather, about it being.
How was that? How was. Or was it Glacier Day? Or was it the other Sea day? I can't remember now. But how was it?
[01:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah, it was really good, really entertaining. If anyone's been to Disney World, it's to me seemed almost identical to the Frozen show in Hollywood studios. So you've got the two historians telling the story, but no, it was very entertaining, well paced, really enjoyed that.
[01:09:03] Speaker B: Love that. And lots of pictures. It seems like they have, you know, they added on magic shots, of course, to a lot of the ships. All the ships have different magic shots, some of which are cruise line ones, some of which have different ip and of course, all of the backdrops every night. Were you up getting pictures before or after dinner? And did you get the photo package? I, of course, have to ask.
[01:09:28] Speaker A: Yes, I did. For Alaska, I got it on our very first cruise and I wasn't sure that it was worth it. But for Alaska, I would definitely recommend it. But it also does make you then Kind of have to put the effort in to get the photographs.
But there was never too much such waiting.
And in terms of meeting characters and that sort of thing, they were pretty accessible. But you do have to think about it and remember to go. So I wouldn't say that you really have to justify it to yourself as the cruise goes on because my main purpose obviously was Glacier Day, but outside of that, I wanted to get the value.
Yeah, interesting.
Sorry, go ahead.
I had it for our room and I kind of assumed that if my mother was with us that she, her photos would also be fine. She's in the ones that the three of us are taking, but somehow every one of her by herself because she wasn't in our stateroom has a watermark. Not everyone, sorry, there are a couple that are excluded. But yeah, I thought that was interesting. They obviously have some sort of facial recognition technology that they exclude.
[01:10:27] Speaker B: They do. The, the way the thing to do is if you want, if you have your rooms linked and one room gets the package, do the pre ordered package ahead of time, right? Because you'll get a discount. It'll be cheaper on board.
Have your mom or whoever's in the other room go to shutters. They will let them purchase that photo, the unlimited photo package for half price of the onboard price and then you'll get all of the photos. Meaning she would have been able to get all of. Yeah, all of her individual photos. But you have to do it on board. It's the only way to get, get that half price applied. If you do it online, either before or after. Although I'm not sure you can do it after. But if you, if you're in, if you live in North America, I believe you can order your pictures even after the cruise up to 45 days.
But you can't get that discount. That's only a discount that can be applied on board. But yes, they use facial recognition technology and this is something that people need to know, especially if you've got kids and you have kids assigned to different rooms.
Because if your kid takes a picture with Mickey Mouse and they are not in the room that has the photo package, you will not get that picture as a part of your, your photo package. It will be, it will have a watermark on it. And so occasionally shutters will make an exception and include that photo for you. If you go talk to them and say pretty, pretty please, particularly if it's a picture with a kid. But in general they are using the room number plus facial recognition technology in order to avoid people gaming as they would call it gaming the system.
But yeah. So even if your rooms are linked, it is something that you only technically get photos for the folks who are staying in that particular stateroom.
Well, Melissa, as we wrap up here, have we. Have we missed anything? In terms. Oh, shows, of course. Sorry, I almost. I. I forgot there was a show. A show slide. You mentioned the entertainment level you thought. Thought was as good, if not better.
I love this photo of Enda with the thugs.
[01:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah, that was fun. Yeah, no, the shows are amazing. It was our first time seeing Disney dreams and I really liked that. And we had seen Frozen, obviously, and Golden Mickey's before, but no, excellent. Really, really good. And also we had the Disney Broadway stars, so we had Ashley Blanchett, who was the very first black Elsa on Broadway, and we had Josh Strickland, who was first Tarzan. So they were excellent. Really enjoyed that. I was really looking forward to that.
[01:13:03] Speaker B: Awesome. Now you've done Alaska twice, Melissa, would you do Alaska again?
[01:13:09] Speaker A: I would do it next week if I actually looked up to see is there any way there's an extra sailing? But no, yeah, absolutely. I definitely.
I just had a couple of things I came across that I thought were just noteworthy. And number one, we had trouble. I over. We had. We weren't able to use WhatsApp, which would be very commonly used in Ireland on the first three days. And I overheard people saying, yeah, the Internet is working, but WhatsApp isn't working. But I hadn't encountered this on other cruises and maybe it's a new thing or maybe I just didn't remember, but I figured out eventually that you have to go to dclwifi.com and actually log in and register to be able to use WhatsApp for free. But just so that people are aware of that, because we spent three days in slight panic mode not being able to contact home.
[01:13:55] Speaker B: It's new. So I have heard. This is. It's a recent thing. So this is a recent thing. It has. It. It's. I don't know which ship it started on, but now it seems to be across the fleet. But yes. So if you want to use WhatsApp, it is still free to use, but you have to sort of create a registration or account on the DCL WI fi in order to. To use it. So a lot of people are ending up buying Internet.
Don't do that. Unless you. Absolutely. I mean, obviously I do because I'm trying to post as I'm on board for the podcast and also be able to keep in touch with Folks home at least over text message and so even folks who don't have an iPhone like me. So I do. So I do need some WI fi available. But if you don't need wifi but you want to be able to use WhatsApp, you can you just depending upon you may have to register for an account first. So that's something work.
[01:14:52] Speaker A: Either you needed a fry message.
[01:14:54] Speaker B: Oh really? Okay. That I haven't heard. So that maybe yeah. But regardless it is something that you should be able to do. It's just you may have to, you know, you may have to kind of talk to guest services. They can help sort of walk you through the registration if you aren't able to figure it out on your own. But it is something that now seems to be kind of an issue across the fleet. That didn't used to be the case. It used to be the case case. It just. It just worked when you were on the WI fi essentially. So yeah, that's a.
[01:15:23] Speaker A: Thanks. Sorry. The the WI fi related again is I had downloaded podcasts before I left because I knew I wouldn't be able to stream them live. But I on from day three on I wasn't able to listen to them. But if I turned off WI fi they would play on Spotify for me. So that's just a tip for people. I don't understand why it worked the first couple of days and then didn't. But it had happened me on a previous cruise and I didn't think to it do do that. So that's worth knowing as well. And then another small tip. We found actually the drinks really reasonably priced on the wonder. More so than the dream and the fantasy and probably even more so than the newer chips. But I was the last day before a barman told me that you can get a double pour of wine and save $2.
So the glass of wine I was ordering was 7.75 and the bill was 11.50. And I was like, oh no, I'm sorry, I think there's a mistake. Because he had said, do you want a double pour? And I was like, sure, it's the last day.
And I said, I think this is too little. And he said, no, it's expensive. Just always ask for double pour of wine. You don't quite get two glasses, but you definitely get a larger glass.
[01:16:22] Speaker B: And so I did not know that. Melissa, I'm going to. That's going to be my new tip. That's a great one. I love that.
We've got a great comment in the Chat about the wifi issue.
They are saying a game of privacy, saying it's a bit of a dark design pattern on the Internet plan selection page. You have to scroll all the way down to see complementary browsing. And so that's where you're going for. For your situation. Yeah. And Tracy saying in the chat, how did we not know that about the double wine pour? I don't know, Tracy. I don't know how we didn't know that. But it's now we have.
Yeah. In order to get our Kim Crawford or whatever we decide to have. Yeah, that's a great tip. Ashley's saying in the chat as well, Melissa, fabulous sailing. It sounds like I. I do want to ask one question, which is Beth was asking in the chat about Celebrity.
How would you compare sailing? I know the food wasn't great, you mentioned, and that was probably an older ship with Celebrity, but how would you sort of compare in the couple minutes we have here, compare your sailing on Celebrity in Alaska to Disney and who would you sort of recommend sail on Celebrity versus Disney? I mean, you were. You're a couple sailing without kids and with your mom, who's older.
Would you recommend to anyone sail on Celebrity in Alaska versus sailing on dcl?
[01:17:54] Speaker A: Absolutely. It's way less expensive. I would describe for me Celebrity is Disney without the Disney magic. I think the actual products themselves are very comparable in terms of the types of staterooms, in terms of the food. Like, in fairness, that was. I thought the food was fine. It was only ended with being picky. But that was actually one of their newer ships at the time.
[01:18:13] Speaker B: So. Okay.
[01:18:14] Speaker A: Yeah, the older, like we've sailed on Silhouette and Equinox and they were both really good for food and they've all been different. Some of them have a vegan menu, some of them you preorder. It's always been different. I would definitely pick the type of ship that would be my main focus. I have a friend sailing next year and she was wandering between two Celebrity sailings and I had a look and the older ships are again more outward facing the newer sort of edge class ships and Celebrity are more interior. There are windows, but it's. It's not as you don't happen upon them as easily.
So I would definitely look at the type of ship.
But if it's. I would, I would sail with Celebrity again. We. We've sailed with them six times. I really like them, but yeah, very, very similar. Just you don't have the Disney piece.
[01:18:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
I'm gonna tell you, Enda's disagreeing with you. He's saying I was not being picky. It was awful.
[01:19:06] Speaker A: But you just want to get mushed.
[01:19:09] Speaker B: I like that. That's hilarious.
They can always be. There are always dishes that are hit and miss. And so it is hard.
Tracy's saying from one picky eater to another.
She sees.
But absolutely. Thank you so much Melissa for joining us. It is past 2 o' clock in the morning over in Ireland so I want to thank you so much for getting up in the middle of the night to come on our show. This is has just been so incredible to have you. I hope you will join us again for your next sailing. I got to ask you, what do you have next in terms of Disney cruises? What do you have next in terms of other lines as well?
[01:19:52] Speaker A: So we're on two Crystal ships next week. Next year. Next week I wish next year we're Lisbon to Barcelona in April and then we're doing a New York round trip up to New England and Canada in September.
Disney wise we're on the adventure in June.
So I'm really excited, excited about that. And then we booked managed to get booking the seven night New York round trip on the Wish.
But I was in two minds. As you know, I love running and running on deck four is my favorite thing to do on a Disney cruise ship. And I've been really apprehensive about the Wish class ships for that reason because I really think it'll scale my ship. Yeah. And because we're we'd already booked that Crystal New York sailing, I was like we don't really need to do two New York York sailings in six weeks. That's a bit ridiculous. So having fallen in love with the Wonder, I look to see what there was seven nights in terms of seven nights in the Wonder. So now we're booked on a San Diego Seven Night in February of 2028 on the Wonder. So I'm probably going to cancel if anyone wants that seven night on the Wish. I'll probably be canceling it soon because I know it's been sold out for quite a while.
[01:20:56] Speaker B: It is. It's definitely all those New York sailings are quite popular. Of course the Transatlantic is also a popular one. But Melissa, you'll have to come back and join us after your sail on the Adventure. I can't wait to hear what you think of it and then, and then of course come back to us again after you've been on the Wonder once more out of San Diego. I'll be interested to hear what you think of that sailing. With that, I'm going to tell folks next week we will be back at our normal time. So Tuesday at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern, 1am if you're over in Ireland, so which will be 1am Wednesday if you're over in Ireland. But we will be back at our normal time and we'll we will have Cindy Leichner joining us. She was on the DVC member cruise and then back to back on the Belgium sailing, so of course on the Disney Dream. So we'll be talking with her about sailing back to back in Europe, of course, on two different itineraries. We'll have to talk a little bit about the DVC member cruise and the special experiences on that. I know we talked about it with Benji, but there are so many to cover. Of course we'll cover ones that we didn't cover with with Benji. We'll cover with Cindy. So with that, I'll say thank you to Melissa for joining me. I want to say thank you to all of you out there watching and listening. Don't forget, if you want to book your next sailing, reach out to WeDoTravel right.com forward/dcl duo. And right now through the end of the year, you can get $50 onboard credit if you are a new cruiser with we do travel. Right. And so for your first booking with with them, you can get that that discount with onboard credit. So thanks to everyone watching and listening. Thank you again to Melissa all the way over in Ireland and Enda in the comments for watching live and staying up with Melissa to keep her awake.
We really appreciate it.
And and I'll say thank you to Brian because he's been here producing in the background the entire time despite being sick and being all cruddy and coffee. So anyway, good night everyone. Thank you for so much.
[01:23:06] Speaker C: All right, that's our show for tonight, but thank you so much for listening. If you're not subscribed yet, please fix that right now. Head over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hit that subscribe button. We're dropping at least two episodes a week plus we're live each and every week over on our YouTube channel, YouTube.comdclduo come hang out with us for a live. It's a blast. You can ask your questions in the chat and really join the conversation with us and our guests. If you're enjoying our show, one of the easiest ways to support the show, head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars and while you're at it, leave us a written review with your 5 star review and we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. If you're listening to us on another platform, Spotify, YouTube, Castle, there's so many third party podcast apps and players out there. Whatever form of reviewer rating they have, give it all to us. Show the show some love. It keeps us going, keeps us putting out great content week to week. Are you ready to set sail? Book your next Disney Cruise Line vacation with our show sponsor. We do travel right the crew that handles the planning so you can focus on relaxing. Head to wedotravelright.com dcdcl duo today to get started. Or you can reach out to them directly. Just let them know the DCL Duo sent you. Subscribe today to DCL Magazine. They put out a great product head over there. It's your go to guide for DCL tips and tricks. Just browse to dcl-magazine.com that's dcl-magazine.com and use code DCLDUO all caps DCL Duo today for 10 off everything in the WDW Magazine Magazine Store. And if you want to directly support the show, join us on
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SA.
