[00:00:00] Speaker A: Yeah. So on that last cruise in the fantasy, the seas were so bad during Aladdin, they had, like, stage items falling and they had to stop the show a few times and they, like, the fireworks went off for the genie. Well, they had to reset. And so when they reset, they couldn't reset the fireworks, obviously. And so the genie just came out and he was like, fireworks, fireworks. You know what I mean?
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's live episode of the DCL Duo Podcast, brought to you by. We Do Travel, Right. Remember, life is short. Take the trip. Let the folks over at We Do Travel, right, Handle the planning so you can focus on the relaxing. Also, got to give a special shout out to our live and bonus show sponsor. Great folks over at the DCL Magazine, if you have not already, please head over to dcl-magazine.com that's DCL Duo subscribe today, you can use code DCLDUO. That's all caps DCLDUO for 10% off everything in the store. And if for whatever reason, you're like, I don't need a magazine. I don't want a magazine in my. They have digital subscriptions, too, so. And they've got calendars, they've got all kinds of great stuff. And if you're more into the parks than you are, Disney Cruise Line, they've got you covered because they got a magazine for Disneyland and Disney World. So great folks, great articles, great photos. Just all great, good stuff over there. Love, Stephanie, Dani, Tatiana, the whole team. So please head over to DCL Duo check them out. All right.
And I'm going to do Sam's Plug. I just got our issue of DCL magazine and I was shocked to find out when I opened the magazine. The first article in the magazine is the one about the engine room tour that I wrote. So if you ever wanted to learn, learn more about what life is like below the waterline on a DCL ship, you can head over there and read that magazine, read that article along with all the things that Disney's doing to make their ships more sustainable. So we have a ton of news to dive into this evening. But before we dive in, Sam, you want to introduce our guest as I bring Josh into the conversation.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Yes. He is an ultra marathoner. He is a stair climber. He is a Disney cruiser. We are welcoming back to the show Josh. Welcome back, Josh. Welcome to your first live show.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Yeah, thanks for having me.
[00:02:30] Speaker C: You know, we're very excited to have you.
[00:02:32] Speaker B: I wanted to give the disclaimer for Those of you who listen to the show for a long time, this is not Josh the DCL villain.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: Villain.
No different Josh.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: Josh, if you are still out there listening, would love to hear from you again, man. I hope you're getting some cruising.
[00:02:48] Speaker C: Yeah, he doesn't get to cruise too often on dcl. From what I understand we were supposed
[00:02:55] Speaker B: to do like a Princess cruise together at one point but we just never materialized. So yeah. So we're going to dive into news to start. I'm going to very quick hit items. Sam's going to cover a couple quick hit items and then we're going to linger, wallow, if you will, in the news item that seems to have dominated the Disney Cruise Line news cycle over the past week.
[00:03:15] Speaker C: There's a lot of news to cover.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: There is first up, Believe maiden voyage.
So she went on sale to all the castaway club levels last week. She went on sale to the general public on Monday for all of her inaugural season itineraries.
But the maiden voyage is completely sold out, including there was a lingering two story royal suite that was available for the bargain basement price of $60,000. Someone grabbed it. So it is sold out. I will say to all of you out there listening or watching, if you are still interested in getting on the maiden voyage, do not lose hope. Just check the site every so often.
We do know that DCL and Disney hold back rooms for some special guests, execs, others who need to be on board the maiden voyage. And so it's always possible that not everyone who has signed up to do that or the amount of rooms that they've held back is the number that they actually end up needing. And so sometimes more rooms do become available and people always, people cancel. Cancellations happen.
[00:04:21] Speaker C: There are penalties for canceling. So the maiden voyage has the most restrictive terms in terms of, you know, deposit. It is a non refundable deposit. You might be able to transfer it to a different booking though. So there are if you, if you're sort of early enough. So there are people who are able
[00:04:40] Speaker B: to sort of always read the fine print. Always read the fine print.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: It's much stricter.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
Next up, quick hit the Believe or Disney Vacation Club has announced that as they have done with the other new ships, they are going to be doing a first wave sailing for the Believe that is currently scheduled for January 5th would be her embarkation date. That's January 5th of 2028.
[00:05:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I believe it's the 5th through the 10th. I think it's a five night sailing.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: Yep. And it is on sale November 21st. So we're a little over a month out from that. I don't know if I've seen points charts or anything like that. Just remember for first wave sailings you do not have to. Well, no, actually was the first wave sailings there was one point where they made one person.
[00:05:30] Speaker C: Yeah, they have in the past required ident. I don't know what the terms are on this one. I don't know that we've seen the points chart out yet. But they may make you book one person on points that you could book everyone on points. But the first wave sailings in previous years, they have made you book one person on points. They may or may not do that sometimes.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: Oh, we may have lost our co host Sam. So I'm going to pick up where she left off.
Sam, you dropped out. So I'm just going to wrap this up by saying check the terms and conditions on the DVC site. They're always very clear about what's required. Required to book.
But the first wave sailing is a great way to experience the ship. As a DVC owner, they usually do some special things on the first wave sailings. They are not full blown DVC member cruises, but they usually do some special things like maybe giving out similar gifts to what people would have gotten on the maiden voyage. We experienced that one time.
[00:06:27] Speaker C: Special gifts and special performances, but not at the level of a member cruise, let's put it that way.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: It's also a good time to go if you don't have kids because January 5th, most kids will be back in school by that point in time.
Next up, we did get news on the Disney Imagination and I am so annoyed that they named the Imagination for the ship in Japan. I have been calling this as a name for one of these ships forever. But the Disney Imagination will be registered in Tokyo.
Has Ariel and Sebastian on the stern.
We have very little information after that other than that she will be sailing sometime in the spring of 2029. I want to reemphasize.
I want to reemphasize. Spring of 2029. There has been a lot of conflicting information out on the Internet about 2028. It is coming spring of 2029.
Last one. One more special sailing to announce for any of you Turner Classic Movie fans out there. They have announced Turner Classic Movie Cruise will be on the Disney Wonder on October 24, 2027.
So if you're interested in doing a theme cruise, you could go on the Turner Classic Movie cruise on the Disney Wonder on October 24, 2027. Sam, do you know where that's sailing out of? I'm trying to remember where the Wonder is going to be in October. San Diego.
[00:07:52] Speaker C: It's San Diego and it's the state this year. They just got back from that cruise, I believe now.
And it is, it's like a Baja sailing. It's a short sailing. It is chartered by tcm. So you actually have to book kind of like you book with dvc. You have to book through tcm. You can't actually book it on the Disney Cruise Line website because they've chartered the entire ship. There'll be special guests and stuff.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: Opportunity, like makes sense that they're going out of San Diego, close to la. They can bring some, you know, movie stars or, you know, whatever on board. So if you're interested in that, you should, you should definitely go get some more information on it. If you were out there sailing on it this year, I'd love to hear from you. We've never actually covered one of these Turner Classic Movie cruises. It'd be interesting to hear more about it. But Sam, I'm going to go over to you for two more quick bite news items before we.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: Yeah.
So there are DJs on board Disney Cruise Line. Once again, this is a old school DCL tradition. There used to be DJs, they were previously vendors that would come on and do dance parties and other performances on Disney Cruise Line. While Disney Cruise Line has been brought that back or is in the process of bringing it back because they've been spotted on the Destiny, the Dream and the Adventure.
But this time around they're actually full cast members. So they're part of the entertainment staff. But they are actually real DJs, not someone pretending to be a DJ like we've seen in deck parties past. So it's, I think it's a pretty cool thing to bring on board.
It is. It does go along with their move in bringing in more of the roles into cast as opposed to having vendors do those roles. But I think it's a great move to have more DJs, more music on board as long as we don't see them replace live musicians, which I don't think they're going to do. We're still seeing Victor Phonics and other live musical acts on board. So that's one piece of news. Another piece of news on board, and this is not yet across the fleet, I don't think, which is robot vacuums. I know this is kind of a random one, but I mean the Destiny has Wall E and Eve and Ben. I don't know if that's Ben Kenobi, but anyway, they've got robot vacuums on board.
I haven't heard if it's across the whole fleet, but it's definitely on several of the ships. And so, yeah, let's coming to a
[00:10:11] Speaker B: stateroom cabin near you.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: Listen, I for one welcome our robot overlords. All right, now, the big piece of news that we have to discuss, which has of course blown up the Internet, is the coffee cards. No, it's not the coffee cards. You guys don't believe the clickbait out there. Those coffee cards, they say they're non transferable, but the COVID Cafe and other coffee shop baristas have always accepted old coffee cards. So don't you worry.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: Except we've said this. I just want to be very clear with people. The language is there, so if it doesn't get honored, don't get into a fight with a cast member over it. But I did go back and pull coffee cards. I have three coffee cards of two different types across multiple cruises that we took them off of and I usually bring them back but had forgotten they all have that language on it. So language is not new, it's just not enforced. So which we'll talk about another, we'll talk about another one of the flavor of that right now. So. Sam.
[00:11:08] Speaker C: Yeah, but the real news is about Paulo. So Disney Cruise Line made two, we'll call them announcements. The announcements actually came through other outlets. Our friend Scott Gustin over on X, as well as several other sources. And then there were emails sent to guests who were sailing soon. But Paulo has removed or as of this week is removing the Price Fix dinner menu off of its dinner offerings.
I've also heard that there may be some changes coming to the menu more generally, but I don't know exactly what those are.
The Price Fix menu currently is at $55 and it includes a salad, an appetizer, a main and a dessert that you pick from certain offerings. And so now the dinner menu is going to be fully a la carte. What they have said for the Platinum and Pearl benefit, which is a $55 credit. Used to be you could get the price fixed menu with your $55 credit and then you would just pay, you know, gratuities on top of it. Now you will just use that $55 towards your a la carte items, whatever you order.
The other thing that is probably perhaps bigger news for most people is the fact that you can no longer Use that Palo credit for brunch. Now I want to say this has always been the written policy of Disney Cruise Line. If website that $55 credit, the Pearl, well, it's a Platinum benefit, but Pearl gets it because Pearl is also Platinum has always said that it is a dinner credit.
However, across the fleet, Disney Cruise Line has always in the past let guests use it for brunch instead.
We have heard through sources at DCL that the reason for now enforcing that policy, meaning you are not going to be able to use that credit at brunch, is to allow guests who are not Platinum or Pearl or perhaps concierge to have a chance at booking Palo brunch. Because Palo brunch is obviously a more limited offering because it's generally offered on sea days, occasionally offered at Nassau on shorter sailings.
But those first time cruisers, those silver cruisers, those gold cruisers, have a really, really tough time getting brunch. And of course they get to pay for brunch. And so it is both a customer satisfaction thing, newer cruisers as well as probably a revenue thing for dcl. I gotta say I'm not super upset about not being able to use the credit at brunch, but I'm annoyed about the getting rid of the price fixed menu.
Not just because I usually order from it, but also because that credit, that Platinum credit, has always been tied to something and so it's always been tied to the cost of the price fixed menu. Now when we untether these things from one another, that means Disney Cruise Line can increase the prices of individual dishes without increasing that credit for Platinum and Pearl guests. And so having those two things untethered from one another I think will allow them to just increase prices without any sort of reasoning.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: It's just, it's, I said this before the show, it's unbundling. That's like people find ways to unbundle services so they can start to ratchet up the price of the more popular versions. But Josh, like, what do you think about this shift?
[00:14:40] Speaker A: Kind of indifferent.
I will say we tried.
We tried several times. I mean we just did our tent sailing and we tried every time to look at the Apollo brunch because that was all the rave and it was never available. So I 100%, to Sam's point, see what opportunity this could open up for other people.
But I do get the unbundling and Disney's have been quite aggressive in that over the last couple of years it seems.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: I had sort of three reactions and I'm the only one on the here Actually, I'm with Josh. I'm kind of like, it's not going to make me not want to cruise Disney Cruise Line, because if I go over to Royal Caribbean just to get a decent dinner, I'm going to have to pay an upcharge. So I think that for me, looking at it holistically, one, I think we're hitting the nail on the head in terms of why they're doing it. It's to open up that opportunity for others. And I think lots of people in the Pearl Platinum Levels were just reflexively booking brunch on the ship because they didn't want to miss one of the dinner rotations or a show or whatever it was.
This just makes you decide, is the brunch worth it to you or not? If it is, great, still book it. But a lot of people probably will say it's not and they want to use their credit at dinner, so use it at dinner.
I also think that this might help a bit with food waste on board, given Disney's efforts to become increasingly sustainable.
If you've got a credit as against dinner or you have to pay for brunch, you may not.
Although on the brunch side, it might work the opposite direction. If I'm paying for it out of pocket, I may order more food, who knows?
But ultimately, I kind of landed at it. Doesn't really decide it's not going to make or break my cruise one way or the other. And frankly, even if they start inching up pricing and all you're getting is $110 discount off the bill per person, I guess it's per cruiser in the stateroom, right? Then it's still a screaming deal.
Still a screaming deal for the quality of the food that you're getting out of that restaurant. So I'm not upset about
[00:16:51] Speaker C: sharing.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Can I just say my last thing? And then you can say whatever you want. The other thing is, is I'm always the person who, when I got the free brunch or the free dinner, I basically just returned that to my server as a tip. Like, I was just like, they're doing the work. I'll give them the money instead of giving it to Disney Cruise Line. So, like, I, I always tip generously for those folks. And, and so I, I didn't really mind it.
[00:17:14] Speaker C: But anyway, yeah, I, I think it will encourage people to do a little bit more sharing of their appetite. I mean, we people are always people asked online. And when I reported on this in Instagram, like, I don't even who eats the price fix menu. Who cares, right? Like, I eat the price fixed menu, or I should say I order the price fixed menu. Brian orders the a la carte menu, and then we always share, right? So, like, I get some pasta and he gets some appetizers and all of that. So that was the benefit for us of that price fixed menu. But I think this will encourage even more sharing because if you've got that $55 credit, well, now you're going to be sort of deciding which dishes you want probably a little bit more judiciously.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: All right, real fast to Tracy's comments in the chat. If they take away my, my, my lasagna, no more Palo. I'm done.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: Like, that is that.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: Is that is the end of palo brunch for me. So. All right, yes, let's dive in.
Josh, talk to us about. So you went on the Disney Fantasy double dip, October 4th to 9th, presumably Halloween on the high seas. Was that in full swing by this point in time as well?
[00:18:27] Speaker A: It was. And I was convinced to dress up as well. And they do have the robot vacuum on this ship. My daughter ran to the room and was very excited. And I was like, we have one at home. What's the big deal?
But she.
Sorry, Sam.
But yeah, I didn't know that was not a normal Disney thing. I was like, if we have one at home, I'm sure Disney has an army of them. So
[00:18:53] Speaker C: what made you choose this cruise, Josh? What, what was it the timing? Was it the ship? Was it the Halloween? Was it a little of everything? Like, what were the factors that made you select this sailing in particular?
[00:19:08] Speaker A: First was my daughter and my wife had fall break, so they did not have. My wife didn't have to use. Use any leave time. My daughter didn't miss any school time. And. And we also enjoy the Halloween party at the park. So we were able to. Logistically, you know, I was the only one who had to use any, you know, time off and then everything else just. Just flow.
[00:19:29] Speaker C: Now, this did not coordinate with an ultramarathon. Josh, were you upset about that? That you weren't gonna have, like, you know, somebody like, I don't know, having to carry you around the ship after your legs are dead tired.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: It did not the day of, though I did go run 14 miles around.
[00:19:50] Speaker C: Of course you did.
[00:19:51] Speaker A: Disney World area. I could, I will say Disney does a fantastic job of not putting sidewalks too close. You can't actually run into Disney World, if you haven't noticed that. But I did get to run backstage a little Bit which was interesting to see early in the morning and see just the massive operation that is Disney World.
So I did get a good run in that. Just a lot of times my wife encourages that. It takes the edge off and I don't mind standing in line and I don't, you know, just a little more relaxed.
[00:20:21] Speaker C: Absolutely love it now. So you spent some time before and after at Disney World then?
[00:20:31] Speaker A: No ma'. Am. Saturday we went to Disney Springs. Just enjoyed, you know, a little shopping and walking around and just didn't try to pack too much in. And then obviously I said we got on the ship Sunday morning and then Friday got off so.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Nice, nice. Let's dive in.
You fancy slides here. So boarding day, embarkation day. How'd you get out to the fantasy and what was embarkation like?
[00:21:04] Speaker A: Yeah, so we drove, we drove down from, from Mississippi and it was pretty easy. The reason I had highlighted boarding on here, getting on the ship was a breeze, security was a breeze. You know, all those normal things we did sit down for at Animators and we got just forgotten.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Oh wow.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Unusual. Yeah. And I always try to take a perspective. If I was a first time cruiser, you know, what would my touch points be with this? And Disney does such a fantastic job of attention to detail and when they finally realized it, obviously, you know, it went, you know, to level 10 of 10. But it was a unique. And you could tell that more and more people are using the sit down to the point that I don't know that we discussed it. I don't know if we'll go back to the sit down because it is, it has shifted to being, I mean the line was all the way down the hallway. I mean it just wasn't, it wasn't the normal experience we had, you know, even three or four years ago of the sit down. I think a lot more families are taking advantage of it so we may pivot. And it was a pretty full sailing from, from everything we gathered. But again that was a small, you know, just misstep I think. And again, mistakes happen. We all, we all have them at work. But again that was the biggest takeaway from day one was you could tell that that sit down was overloaded.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: We call it the DCL Duo effect because we've hyped.
Can I back up for one second though, Josh, and ask, coming into the sailing online, check in, was that pretty smooth for you? And you know, pre booking, did you get the things that you wanted to pre book? Did you have anything that you, that you wanted to book? Because this was a relatively short sailing.
[00:22:47] Speaker A: Yeah. For us the, the pre book was just booking the cruise.
That was about it. I didn't wake up at, at midnight and do the early check in. I told my wife and daughter like, you know, what's the difference between 1145 and 1215? Like it's just not the last couple we've been on. It doesn't matter. It seems like they're just bruising people on the ship. If it's ready, they're rolling you on.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: And that was the case again this, this last cruise. So I would tell people like hey, unless it's just something you have to, you know, waking up at midnight or 1am or whatever the time is for you. It's you know, we had the two private islands obviously and then Nassau we count as a sea day. So we, there really wasn't anything on this trip. And really the trip a lot of times is, is the vacation for us.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: Yeah. I think one of the pieces of advice I would give people is unless you're really trying to book that royal gathering, you, it isn't going to make a huge difference in your boarding time. Whether you do it at midnight that at. At the 30 day mark or you do it at you know, 9am the next day, it's not going to really be a huge change. So it, but if you, if you really want that royal gathering, do that at midnight. Right. And then do your check in after that. Because even if you're doing it at 12:30 or 1:00am it's still going to not be, you're not going to make, it's not going to make a huge difference if you just happen to still be awake that you know, it is what it is.
If you have a travel advisor like at we travel. Right. They'll do it for you if you give them all your info to do it. So that's, that's one of the, one of the perks of working with a great travel advisor. I will say I just want to jump in on the, the lunch discussion. I think Brian is right. We're going to start telling people, telling people not to go to sit down lunch.
People have been turned away. We actually have heard on more recent episodes that people are being turned away from sit down lunch because there are too many people lined up on some of the ships. And so pool deck food's a great option. Cabanas or Marceline market depending on what ship you're on is a great option too. So yeah, don't go to sit down lunch. Leave it for Us And Josh,
[00:25:07] Speaker B: I kind of wonder the next time we sail I might try to do some recon here because I kind of wonder if it's like has it shifted to sit down lunch such that Marceline is now, you know, less of a zoo or, or cabanas is less of a zoo or does it just feel equally crowded and maybe something has changed about how many people Disney is boarding at one time and it's creating, it's creating some bottlenecks. But yeah, I have to check that out. Josh, you mentioned Skyline Bar specifically on your slide. Since I'm a Skyline fan wondering why you called it out and hopefully you visited and what did you think?
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I did. So the last time we were on the Fantasy was in 2023 and it was Halloween's cruise as well.
And it was the worst seas. I mean the crew was even sick.
You know, plates were falling off of tables.
It was not necessarily an enjoyable experience at times. So we did not hit the Skyline Bar.
So we went this time and the staff, Nestor and Clara, they did a fantastic job, walked us through the drinks and we just, I mean I old fashioned, he was like, you know, I can do anything you want. So we had a great time there. The venue was great. And again this particular cruise, and you'll see in a couple other slides, we had a lot of these venues to ourselves for whatever reason.
So it was just me and my wife in the Skyline Bar for about an hour. And it was just a great venue and it was just a great way to start.
I did highlight Aladdin. Go ahead.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: I was going to say on the Skyline Bar really fast. I just want to say I don't think we've highlighted on the show but if you haven't been on the Fantasy or you haven't been to Skyline, fantastic bar, really fun drinks. They have a drink passport or at least they did. I think they still do.
You can buy this book and kind of get it stamped along the way. It's like you pre buy. I don't remember what it was like five drinks but you get six or something like that. And then you kind of bring the book back and they stamp it along the way. You can try all the drinks or you can just pivot to one drink for the entire cruise. But it's a fun little extra perk that they have. And then they have the, in the book itself they have the, the recipes for the drinks if you want to make them at home. So sorry, Josh, go ahead. You're going to talk about Aladdin.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Yeah. So on that last cruise in the fantasy, the seas were so bad during Aladdin, they had, like, stage items falling and they had to stop the show a few times and they like, the fireworks went off for the genie. Well, they had to reset. And so when they reset, they couldn't reset the fireworks, obviously. And so the genie just came out and he was like, fireworks, fireworks. You know what I mean? And that for our family, like, it was such great moment. And so that just. Just stuck with us how, you know, the adapting and just going in the moment and. But it was good to start this cruise with, to see Aladdin and to see it how it was supposed to be displayed with. With smooth seats.
[00:27:57] Speaker C: So I love that. Now, how old is your daughter and does she enjoy the kids clubs in order for you to get some time in the Skyline bar?
[00:28:08] Speaker A: So she's 11. So this was the first.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: Oh, Edge.
[00:28:12] Speaker A: Yeah, Ed.
So it was a little bit apprehension at first. And then after that first night, me and my wife quickly realized we were not going to get the Disney cruises of old.
And this is going to be a different.
We were ditched and we gave her my wife's phone. We locked it all up. And so she was able to communicate with us.
And it became again, very clear that, you know, obviously she's not on our little girl anymore.
And so it was a unique transition.
Mom shed a few tears maybe a couple times over the cruise, but it was also very nice for me and my wife just to really connect and spend some time together and let her come back and tell us about her adventures.
[00:28:59] Speaker C: Yeah, it's a really interesting transition, that tweenager time. Right. And so because they're not really yet a teen, but they're not really a kid either. I mean, they're still a kid, but know what I mean? It's just how much they want to be with you and how much they would rather be with new friends that they've made. It can really change the change the way you cruise it has for us.
And I know that that's not going to apply to every family, but it is something to think about when your kid is entering this tweenager, you know, Time.
All right, let's
[00:29:39] Speaker A: say our. Our stateroom was like number 51 something. I think it's on the first slide.
I would not recommend that stateroom. Oh, right down the hall. It is right down the hall from Edge and Vibes.
[00:29:51] Speaker C: The kids. Yeah.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: And the teenagers thought it would be fun to knock on doors. So much so that Disney actually came in and did like a class with the kids, I guess, on being respectful of other cruisers. And again they, they took care of it. But I would just tell people like, if you're not, if you're not going to be, I wasn't that mad about it, but if you're going to be upset about something like that, I would stay away from that. On the Fantasy and the Dream towards the front of those two clubs because the kids are in and out up until 12:30 or 1:00 clock in the morning.
[00:30:24] Speaker C: Yeah. And, and that's a good lesson for rooms near any of the kids club, you know, whether on any of the ships. Right. Whether you're on the near the Oceaneers Club or Oceaneers Lab or you're near Edge and Vibe, depending upon what ship. Right. Those, those tend to be kind of noisier areas of the ship.
And so think about that in terms of if you are somebody who goes to bed early in particular, that might not be the best location for you with, you know, the tweens and teens in particular coming by because they do stay out until midnight.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: So that's State Room 5011 for anyone on the Fantasy of the Dream.
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Yeah, the whole hallway just, yeah, just scoot back a little bit.
Yeah.
[00:31:15] Speaker C: Let those people who don't listen to the DCLDUO podcast book in those rooms.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: Yeah, take that, take that.
All right, let's move ahead to day two here. Castaway key and the Halloween party.
I, I, I, I assume I see the medal. You must have gone running, Josh. How was your castaway day?
You said the seas were pretty rough, so I, I imagine it might have been a little difficult to die.
[00:31:42] Speaker C: That was on the previous cruise, Brian.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: The previous cruise. Sorry, sorry, sorry. So how was your castaway day, Josh?
[00:31:48] Speaker A: It was great. So my wife and daughter did the 5K and then I just ran until they were done kind of separate from, separate from them.
But my wife and daughter finished. I finished. We had a good time with the run. We only stayed on the island till about 1230, knowing that that was also the Halloween night and kind of anticipating, you know, hey, we got, you know, look out tomorrow. We've got along. You know, it was a pretty intense, you know, back to back island days and then you've got Pirate night and all the other things. And so we just knew, hey, we don't need to be out in the sun for a full day. And so we got back about 12:30 and got a little bite to eat. And then obviously, you see, we, we went full Rapunzel tangled. I Think. Yeah.
And my wife and daughter convinced me. Yeah. But of course we dressed up, up as a family and then she ditched us. And so me and my wife were just walking around as this awkward couple of people looking at us like, oh, great costumes. And we're like, yeah, we have a kid with us. We promise.
[00:32:47] Speaker C: Yeah, we promise. She's Rapunzel. Yeah, that is, I, I kind of, Well, I mean, I, I love this group costume. I love that your wife was Mother Gothel and that your daughter was Rapunzel and that you were. I'm gonna call him his correct name, Eugene.
But I, yeah, I absolutely love this. This costum would be a little awkward if just Mother Gothel and Eugene, AKA Flynn Rider are walking around together without Rapunzel.
That's awesome. Tell us, how was the Halloween party and did they do trick or treating on this night as well?
[00:33:26] Speaker B: And did your daughter enjoy it? Did she have a good time on board with the Halloween stuff?
[00:33:30] Speaker A: She did. I will say that we've been blessed to go on several of the Halloween. We enjoy that. You know, the parties and the music and the trick or treating I did not enjoy. We enjoyed it. I'll say. I like the trick or treating on the, it was the magic and the maybe the wish.
Just the layout was a little better. This one, they just kind of ran you through cabanas and like a little horseshoe. You got candy. You were in and out the other ships. It was a little bit more of a scavenger hunt, if you will. You had to go to this location, then this location and this location. So it kind of, you got to see different people in the hallways. You got to, I mean, here, whoever you started with is who you finished with. So you really didn't see any other different costumes, any different elements. So yeah, she, you know, we got lots of candy and it was a good time and always enjoy seeing what people can come up with for costumes.
[00:34:21] Speaker B: So what was the craziest costume you saw on your ceiling?
[00:34:25] Speaker C: Best group or best?
[00:34:26] Speaker B: I have one that I remember from a ceiling in my movie. Yeah. What was the best or the craziest costume you saw?
[00:34:32] Speaker A: Man, put me on the spot.
There was a lot of Toy Story 5, I think probably the best one.
There was a, a couple that had Zootopia and they went pretty far, pretty far deep into the, the costume. So those, those were pretty incredible. Impressive to see what they had created.
[00:34:55] Speaker B: I, I, we should, we should, I don't want to do the running version, Sam. Of that costume, but we should, we should do A Judy Hopps N.
Oh, on the believe.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: You know, we are. I still have the hats. Don't worry.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: No, but I don't want the hat. I want to get like an actual. I think we should get actual costumes for that.
[00:35:10] Speaker A: But yeah, they had like the heads and everything.
[00:35:12] Speaker C: Oh, wow.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: Oh my. Yeah, like their face was cut out like a full head. I mean, they, they, they spent some time, effort and so I was impressed.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:35:22] Speaker C: Yeah. And I'm saying for the believe because I feel like we need to be Judy and Nick in order to meet Judy and Nick. Right. Like, I feel like that's, that's in our future.
[00:35:32] Speaker B: How do I get a. How do I get a flash. Flash. Hundred yard sloth costume?
Yeah, that seems like a good one.
[00:35:38] Speaker C: I mean, that's what we wore for our last run Disney race.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Judy.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: No, no, Judy and Nick. Judy and Nick. Sorry. Yeah, sorry.
[00:35:47] Speaker B: I mean we were running at a sloth pace, but we were dressed up.
[00:35:50] Speaker C: We were, we were. We. We don't run. We don't run like Josh runs because if we ran ultramarathons, we would be running them for years because we do not. We are not fast. I am not.
[00:36:02] Speaker B: All right, whiskey. Whiskey tasting. Josh, tell us about whiskey tasting. Obviously you survived because you've made it back for the live show. I, I know I've not almost not survived twice now doing a whiskey tasting. But what did you think of the whiskey tasting?
[00:36:14] Speaker A: Well, super awkward because again, it was Halloween night and so we're dressed as, you know, Flynn Rider and Mother Gothel and we are the only people who booked.
So we had, we had a private white whiskey tasting. When I told you it was like the whole cruise was just like. I was like, man, nobody.
So we talked with the bartender. He said the night before they had 16 and the next night they had 20. Nobody booked on, on, on the Halloween party and so we had a great time and he may have gave us a little extra pour here or there, but it was, it was a great time. And then again, just to have the Meridian bar to yourself. It was us, the, the instructor and a bartender and, and that was it. And so it was just. Again, it's a once in a lifetime. I don't think we'll ever get it again.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and had a great time.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: And for those, awesome. For those listening after the fact, Josh has a great photo here of the whiskeys I assume were part of the tasting. And it's a great lineup. You got whistle pig, 10 year old on there. Middleton Tokai is that Balvini. Is that Belvini Scotch? I think it is. And then, of course, the. Why am I blanking on it? I should know this by heart.
Blanton's. Thank you. Blanton's Bourbon Little with the little horse on top.
[00:37:34] Speaker C: Yeah, I recognize that one. I gotta say, though, I wonder if this is like, a pro tip to book it on that Halloween night, because most people on. Well, I shouldn't say most. A lot of people on these Halloween sailings have younger kids, right? And so they are feeling like the night's going to be filled, their kid is going to have a sugar coma, and they're going to have to go back to their room, and they're not going to be able to get their kids to, like, go to the kids club and go out for the evening. So I'm wondering if that's probably where you guys ended up hitting the sweet spot of having an empty tasting. Because when you have a teen or a tween who is more independent, and whether they eat the candy or not, they are like, see a. Peace out, you guys. I'm going to hang with my friends. And then you get this private whiskey tasting. I feel like this is a pro tip.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Nice. All right. Be sure to try it again.
[00:38:28] Speaker B: Well, I'm sort of surprised when you said it was just the two of you that they didn't cancel it. But, like, they've already got the liquor stock. They're collecting a fee. Like, the guy was already supposed to be there, otherwise.
[00:38:38] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: We asked, you know, hey, how come you guys didn't cancel it? They said we can't, but you can. And I was like, well, I thought there was a cancellation fee. And he was like, no, there's no fee. And I was like, that's not what the Fine prince.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: Well, there's no fee if you're the only two and he's getting an hour of his life back to go.
[00:38:57] Speaker C: That might be it. Yeah, that might be it. Yeah.
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[00:40:04] Speaker B: We do travel right.
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[00:40:10] Speaker B: All right, day three.
Since this was a double dip, you got or sorry, a duo dip. You got a lookout stop at Lookout key.
So you did a run. I see that in the headline here.
You've run on Lookout key before as I recall. And so how was it this time? Are you seeing any progress towards an actual Lookout Key Sponsored 5K it would be super easy.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: This was really. My daughter wanted something out of the gift shop so I told her you got to run to the other side of the island.
And so we got off the ship and I knew it was exactly a mile. So anybody who wants to know, it's exactly a mile and a half from the ship to the tram station on the other side. Beautiful route.
Very little, I mean there's water stations in between. So I mean it, it's. I would encourage people, I mean it's. I say only a mile and a half but I mean even if you're not, you can easily walk that entire thing and you really get to see and hear and feel the island separate from the tram and the people and all that stuff. So she did a fantastic job. She knocked it out and got her stuff at the gift shop. So it was, it was, was good.
[00:41:17] Speaker D: Nice.
[00:41:18] Speaker B: And you just, you hung out on the family beach and looks like you guys had a good day.
Any, any hits or misses off of lookout this time around?
[00:41:28] Speaker A: No, I did include the picture because we talked about my wife's throw down hot sauces and she even brought the hot sauces onto the island. So that was the picture there for her.
You know, if the hits for me. I don't know if I told this last time. You know, go up to the thing to the counter, get two cookies. Cookies and then take the cookies to the ice cream machine and make yourself an ice cream sandwich.
Smash. Right? Yeah. It's delicious. So yeah, we made that Sandcastle. And immediately some little boy walked over. My daughter was like, you can play with it. He's like, I want to smash it. She was like, go ahead. And she looked at me, and she was like, boys. And I was like, yes. That's the difference, sweetheart.
[00:42:06] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:42:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we had a good time.
[00:42:09] Speaker C: I got to ask, did they give your wife any trouble with getting the hot sauce back on the ship once it was open? Because I know that, like, technically speaking, you're like, they'll let you bring on, you know, closed items. Right. But obviously, once she's opened the hot sauce on the island, it's now an open item. Any. Any issues there?
[00:42:28] Speaker A: Honestly, we didn't even think about it, and they never said anything. So it may have been because it was a closed loop, if you will. I mean, there really wasn't anywhere else to get any items. I don't know about that. Typically, we. We've only brought hot sauce on that's been sealed, so. No. I mean, yeah, just a tip. You may get it taken. But my wife was willing to take the risk.
[00:42:47] Speaker C: She's.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: She's.
[00:42:49] Speaker C: She is.
She's gotta have her hot sauce. I get it. I get it.
Yeah. I love the ribs on the islands. I do not do hot sauce, though.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: So how are the. How are the bees? The last time we were there, the one pest problem that persisted was.
[00:43:05] Speaker C: Yeah, it was bees.
[00:43:06] Speaker B: Not fine bees at the drink stations.
Did you. Did you have any issues. Issues with them?
[00:43:11] Speaker A: There were some. I mean, living in the South. I mean, I guess just bugs are part of being outside. I didn't really. There wasn't anything that was a huge problem. There was supplies. I mean, obviously, they've got fans positioned, so I guess approach it for anybody.
When you. When you get your lunch, try to get situated where there is moving air, and that will make your meal a little bit more enjoyable. But I guess some of that stuff just comes natural to us. Us, you know, living in a warmer climate, that we positioned ourselves in those places.
[00:43:40] Speaker B: So Tracy's giving her hot tip, which is get the brownie, put a cut in it, and add ice cream, because sometimes the cookies are a little cup in it.
[00:43:49] Speaker C: Oh, a cup in it. Yeah. Put it in the.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: Oh, I thought you were saying put a cut, but.
[00:43:53] Speaker C: No, no, put it in the cup.
Not cut.
[00:43:55] Speaker B: Thank you. So put a cup in it and then put ice cream on top of it.
[00:43:58] Speaker C: Put it in the cup. Not a cup in it.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Whatever.
[00:44:01] Speaker B: You know what I'm trying to get to. Come on.
[00:44:04] Speaker C: But I will Say, at both Castaway and Lookout, do not leave your food unattended without any coverage over it. If you leave it unattended at Castaway, the birds will swarm it and eat your food. No joke. And it literally happens like that. And then at Lookout, there aren't really birds to swarm, but their flies will come and swarm your food. So at Lookout, the pro tip is put a napkin over it if you are, you know, walking away and coming back.
But Castaway, just. Just don't leave it unattended. It's gonna. I swear to God, those birds are crazy.
[00:44:40] Speaker B: Even in the shelter, they have wires up and stuff. The birds have figured it all out,
[00:44:44] Speaker C: so those birds are smart.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:47] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:44:47] Speaker B: All right. Day three. Evening.
Sam is a big fan of the Ooh La La Champagne bar.
[00:44:53] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: So talk us through your evening. On day three.
[00:44:55] Speaker C: Drink in the. In the champagne bar.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was a little apprehensive about going there.
My wife and I are not champagne drinkers, but the bartender. Gusty. I cannot give this guy enough props. I mean, 10 out of 10.
He is an absolute artist. And so you'll see the macaroons. That's a chocolate thing next to it.
He made this drink he called the Bahama Papa, which was an old fashioned with like a butter or, sorry, a banana rum. And then he would have you take a bite of the chocolate and then take a drink, and then he would have you take a bite of the macaroon with this. I mean. I mean, he. When I say he is a true artist, I cannot. We actually had a magical moment from him at the end of the cruise because we spent so much time in there with this guy and those chocolates.
And I'm telling everybody, I don't know what is in that little tiny chocolate, but it is absolutely amazing as Gusti is there asking for the Bahama Papa. It's a drink he makes. It's old fashioned, and it is amazing.
[00:45:58] Speaker C: That sounds awesome. I'm not an old fashioned person, but I love the idea. I love banana rum, so that sounds delicious.
For those who don't know what a magical moment is, you get, like a certificate from a cast member at the. Usually at the end of the cruise, but it can kind of show up anytime. And it's basically like this appreciation to the cruiser from the cast member, basically saying, you just. You made a magical moment for me as a cast member. And it's. It doesn't necessarily come with any, you know, anything special other than this, like, nice certificate, but it's really like, amazingly powerful and sweet when you get one. Nathan has gotten one from, like, edge. One time, we got one from a stateroom attendant who we loved one time.
And it can happen for, you know, all kinds of reasons, but if you make a real connection with a crew member, they can issue this magical moment certificate. And it's just. It's just kind of a really cool, cool thing.
[00:46:57] Speaker A: I love Sam. You will appreciate.
They had Muppets piano one night.
He's up there slinging drinks. Muppets piano was playing.
And it got to the point with gusty, where me and my wife would just be like, make us something. And he would just create some random drink. And, you know, after a while, I was like, man, I probably should ask him how much these things cost, because he could be back there making me. And he was like, no, no, no, no. I'm not making you any of these thousand dollars. I'm like, all right, all right, Good deal.
[00:47:25] Speaker C: Good deal.
[00:47:27] Speaker A: It was. Was just that, again, that bar and that cast member really made our trip nice.
[00:47:34] Speaker C: Well, and now. Now that's, like, your favorite bar, even though you were like, I don't even drink champagne. And now it's. You know, that's the thing about these. These spaces. I think that's one of the things I feel like we don't talk about. Like, we talk about the theming of the spaces. Sometimes your experience has nothing to do with the theming of the space. Right. It could be, like, a theme that you would never pick if you were to create your own ship, but it's the cast members. Remember the interaction that you had that made your entire night, or maybe you met another couple, you know, and now you have DCL friends for life. Right? So I feel like those are the things that make your cruise often more than, like, the theming in particular.
All right. Fireworks show.
[00:48:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: Yeah. So just again, deck four. That's where it's at the. You'll see the little fried chicken order. I mean, the fireworks show was great, but I'll just tell people, go down to Deck 4. Find the right spot. Great. You can enjoy and relax.
But it was pirate night menu, and our head server came over and asked what I wanted, and he could. I mean, she could tell I was kind of looking at the menu like, I don't really want any of this. Like, I'm good. And she goes, no, no, baby. What do you really want? And I was like, I want fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, and coleslaw. And she was like, oh, my God.
Okay. And I didn't think anything about it. Well, you'll see in a minute. The next day, day, she, she brought me that for dinner.
[00:49:00] Speaker B: Oh wait, I gotta find this.
[00:49:01] Speaker A: Yeah, right there.
[00:49:02] Speaker C: There it is.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: So she.
[00:49:04] Speaker B: That looks good.
[00:49:05] Speaker C: That looks, that looks really good.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: It was so good. And I almost didn't bring it up on the show because I know sometimes if you say stuff like this then people go back and they expect it or they, you know, they like, oh, I tried this and Disney didn't deliver it to me. These are the things that make these cruises so special. She didn't have to do that. She didn't have to. It's.
She went out of her way. And again you can see I'm very, very excited, very happy. But I would just tell people like, just be yourselves, be organic and don't try to force these moments. Don't try to force the.
What's the glass slipper? Don't try to force the glass slipper. Right. Like just be yourselves. And sometimes these moments will happen.
But I think you saw it with the people wanting the sheets on the bed or you saw it with people wanting about different things. Just, just go on these cruises, be yourself, engage with the crew on a human level and magic will happen.
[00:49:58] Speaker B: I, I gotta say our last sailing on the Fantasy, I was looking forward to it because we've done that ship quite a bit. There wasn't anything new so there's an opportunity for us to relax.
And that crew, there was something, I, I've experienced this on the Wonder.
[00:50:13] Speaker C: There was something magical.
[00:50:14] Speaker B: There was something on the Wonder. But also in the fantasy, like that crew is, was just like, was firing on all cylinders. It was like a well oiled machine. Like it just, I don't know what it was.
[00:50:24] Speaker C: State room attendant, we had amazing servers. Everybody we interacted with was like incredible. Yeah. Some now this doesn't, this isn't going to happen every time. Right. Where the magic just hits perfect and every, like Brian said, firing on all cylinders.
But when it happens, it's DCL at its best. And it is the thing that made us, I think fall in love with this cruise line. And the reason why we like loved it so much, we started a podcast about it. Right. Like it. But I, but I think exactly. Your advice though is spot on, Josh, which is you can't force these things. These either happen organically or they just don't happen. And sometimes they happen and sometimes they don't. And maybe it'll happen with one crew member but not with another crew member. Right. But if you just are yourself and you really make a little. Just a little bit of effort to get to know the people that you're interacting with, um, that's when the magic happens, really? I think.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: Yep, for sure.
All right, are we headed. Are we good to head to day four?
[00:51:28] Speaker C: Yeah, let's head to the. Yeah.
[00:51:29] Speaker B: All right. We got to spend a moment here.
[00:51:32] Speaker C: Yeah, you got to tell us about this. We both saw this on your slide. We have no idea what this was about.
[00:51:37] Speaker B: But for those at home listening afterwards who aren't watching on YouTube, you can head over to YouTube and watch and see all the slides. But this slide is titled 110 Flight Stair Memorial Challenge. So there you go.
Josh, explain to us what took place here.
[00:51:53] Speaker A: Yes. So being in law enforcement, there's on 9, 11. There's a lot of stair climbs across the country. You do 110 flights. You usually do it in your duty gear or you'll do it in with a respirator or whatever. Even just do it by yourself.
We were unable to make any of the events this year just because of scheduling and different stuff. And so we woke up on Nassau Day. I looked at my wife, actually, the night before. It might have been Boosty's drinks, but I was like, like, hey, tomorrow morning, you Want to get 110? 110 flight Stair Challenge? She was like, you know, my wife's had a knee replacement. And so she was like, sure. She's like, yeah, sure. I'm down. And I'm like, you sure, babe? Like, it's. You know, it's 110flights of stairs. And she's like, nope, I'm doing it. And so these two young ladies, you see one's earning her ears there on the. On, I guess your left.
And they noticed us on about the 5th because it was a lot. 11 times. All the way to the top, elevator down. All the way to the top, elevator down for 11 times. They noticed about time, four or five, what we were doing, and could tell my wife was struggling. And so each time she come by, they're clapping. Let's go, Ms. Paige. You got this. Let's go, let's go, let's go. And so when she finished, we went back to where they were, and she took a picture with them, and they were. They were clapping forward, cheering. People were looking at us like, what is this? You were walking up the stairs. What is going on?
So again, there's. There's other ways to work out on these ships besides going to the gym. And again, we got to have another moment with the crew and, you know, kind of talk to them about what we were doing.
[00:53:26] Speaker B: I was just picturing. I was picturing the comedic version of this, which is the poor crew member is, like, following the whole way, wiping the rail, and then you go back
[00:53:33] Speaker C: down and she's, like, sweating as you're white, as you're, like, smearing the rail every day. No, no, this is. This is amazing. I gotta tell you, though, this 110 flights of stairs is no joke.
I have done climb in the Columbia,
[00:53:53] Speaker B: the base to space on the Space Needle.
[00:53:55] Speaker C: We've done the base to space, which is a Space Needle, which I think is like 53 flights or something. Something like that. And then we've done the.
It's. I can't remember what it's called, but it's the Columbia Tower, which is the tallest building here.
[00:54:10] Speaker B: Columbia Tower climb, I think, is what they call it.
[00:54:12] Speaker C: Yeah, but it's. That one is for.
They're both for different cancer research. So Fred Hutch is the base to space, which is climbing the Space Needle, and the Columbia Tow Tower climb is for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, so blood cancers, essentially. So both of them are fundraisers. And I did the Columbia Tower climb once because that's the one you do. Like, it's in a stairwell in an office building. Right. And the firefighters do it, by the way, the day before in full gear.
And I was dying doing it in, like, workout clothes. Right. So I said that was about three, I think, 66 flights or something like that.
[00:54:54] Speaker B: It's always fun. Even on the Space Needle, they have, like. Oh, they have firefighters, first responders, like, station, like, every. Like five.
[00:55:01] Speaker C: Every flight, I think.
[00:55:03] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, whatever it is. But you see them, like, they're standing there, and you know that one of them climbed up to halfway with the big bag of stuff, and they're just sitting there drinking coffee, and they're like, way to go. Way to go. And you're like, how am I doing? How much further?
[00:55:15] Speaker C: Exactly? But. But, like. Like I said, like, I've done like 60 some flights in the Columbia Tower, and I was, you know, like, dying. It's no joke. So the fact that you did 110 flights on the ship, and these are not short flights, these are actually long flights because you're. It's two sets of stairs is one flight, people. So that's. Yeah, that's. That's a lot of stairs, Josh. So I got to give props to you and Paige for doing it, but also for, you know, honoring. For doing it in honor of 9 11. I. I love that.
[00:55:49] Speaker B: So we're back at the slide with the fried chicken dinner, which we've already talked about, but I want to spend a moment on the left hand side of your slide because you got to see the Believe reveal. It sounds like they broadcast into one of the movie theaters on board. Not the Walt Disney Theater, one of the movie theaters on board. I am so curious how this landed while you were at sea on the Fantasy. And I'm sure it was a topic of discussion amongst fellow cruisers afterwards. And so I'm just curious, what was it like to hear about the Believe while you were on board the Fantasy?
[00:56:24] Speaker A: Yeah, it did not go over well. I will tell you. The, The. The feeling in the room.
You know, me and my wife were kind of sitting dead center and. And so we can kind of hear a lot of the conversations to our left and right.
And people were. I would say they weren't mad, obviously, but they were not like blown away. Everyone kind of like left out of there. Like it was a meeting at work.
Like, it was just like this deflated. Like, I just watched a PowerPoint presentation and this is that. Like, it was just. It was a very, like, that's it. And people just left. There was no excitement and no thrill. And yeah, I, from a business standpoint, understand the logistics. I understand that they've got Frozen three coming out and they're probably going to take the wish and then repurpose that one with the other show or whatever the case may be. I get it.
But I was like, man, this is like a retread of the other three. They just took these various pieces and it was just kind of the.
Somebody paid $60,000 for that room, like you said earlier. But I'm like, I'm good. Like, there really isn't anything at this point on that ship that's got me or our family really overly excited.
[00:57:41] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah.
[00:57:42] Speaker C: I, I gotta say, when we talked to our friends Danny and Stephanie at DCL magazine, that actually made me a lot more excited, even though I was pretty underwhelmed by some of the announcements. I think the presentation was really, really poorly done, I'll be perfectly honest. Which I think is. Is kind of crazy when you think about Disney's normal entertainment.
I thought the concert that they did, that they didn't stream made that. Just watching that on my own, excited, and then talking to Danny and Stephanie and getting some more of the details that I feel like Disney did not communicate in that presentation at all got me a lot more excited.
I have to say. If I compare it to the Wish for example, right. There are a lot of similarities between the Believe and the Wish and I know that people are saying, oh, it's wish 2.0. Well, I still think it's going to be better than the Wish. So I'm excited to go on it because I'm excited for some of the spaces and I'm really excited for the Encanto stage stage show. But I, while the Wish is not my favorite ship, I still really like that ship and I feel like this ship is going to be even better than that. So while I don't think it's in going to be in the running for my like number one ship, which is of course the Treasure, the Destiny and the Wonder in kind of a three way tie or any given moment, each one of them can can race ahead of the other. So I don't think it's going to be at that level, but I do think it's still going to be a great ship in the Disney fleet. So I totally get the reaction. I'm not at all poo pooing the reaction. I think the react is a function of in part the way they did the announcements, the build up to the announcements and then the way they did the presentation just did not really wow people. But anyway, let's, let's move on to our next slide.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: So we had taken one of those chocolates from Ooh La La and brought it to our daughter at dinner.
You see the left to the when she ate it. But one of the things. And I actually wrote his exactly what he said down because Joel was our cruise director and I don't know if you've ever had him before. He's been with Disney, I think he said 27 years and he said time is the most important and enjoy the people you are with. 27 years with DCL and we are committed to make sure that you enjoy the time and the experience.
You don't know how much time you have, so be sure to embrace it and you can.
[01:00:17] Speaker B: Such a great message. Such a great message.
[01:00:19] Speaker A: Yeah. And you could really tell genuinely it came from the heart with him, whether he has had a tragedy in his family recently or whatever the case may be. But you hear a lot of Disney speeches and various things. And when he was delivering this though, it was from the heart.
And for me it really, you know, kind of again just sinks in as our little girl is turning into a young lady and will soon be a woman.
And you Got to. Again, if you take one, you don't understand cruises. You don't get Paulo brunch, you don't get this meet and greet. You don't get this gift bag or whatever. The time is what you're there for. And that's what's the most important thing. And that's what I really wanted to highlight with this. And, you know, that picture of the her eating the chocolate and then to the next one for me is like, that's a moment that I have that will be with me.
[01:01:06] Speaker C: It's the best.
[01:01:07] Speaker B: By the way, if you can't see this at home, it is like utter elation and joy on the side post chocolate tasting. And Josh, I gotta say, like, this is prime to be a. To be a great meme, you know, one of those, like, you know, before and after kind of things. So this is a great. The great photos and a great memory. Great memory to have.
[01:01:26] Speaker C: So.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[01:01:28] Speaker C: But these are. But these are the things we walk away from our cruises with. Right. Like, a lot of people focus on. Okay. Like for the holidays, for example, or for birthdays. Like, what is the gift I'm going to get my kid. Right. And for us and for our family.
And I know it's the same for you, John. Gosh. Is the experiences are more valuable to us than any, I don't know, purse I could have or car I could have even, or.
Or, you know, outfit I could have. Right. Like, I would rather take that money and invest in a vacation and experience with my family than those random, you know, objects. So I love this. And I love this. This quote from. From Joelle.
[01:02:13] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure.
[01:02:16] Speaker B: All right.
[01:02:18] Speaker C: Since we're a big embarkation day. Disembarkation day.
[01:02:21] Speaker B: Big disembarkation day.
Since we're approaching over an hour at this point, what I'd like to do, with your permission, Josh, is get to you. You buried a little Easter egg slide at the end of your presentation here for us, I'll just say for folks listening at home after disembark, you guys, you guys. You guys hit the parks. It looks like pretty hard for Halloween party, which I do. Stop here and ask one question. How did the Halloween party in the park compare to what you experienced on the cruise? And which one did your daughter prefer? Yeah, Yeah,
[01:02:56] Speaker A: I think the. The park for the, you know, the ride to the experience, the music, all of the things I would. I would tell people that. That if you're looking for a condensed, you know, obviously a Halloween experience, that's it. You can't go wrong with the cruise, you know, the relaxing and the vibe. Because again, I was walking around that park for eight hours carrying what felt like 50 pounds of candy on my back.
And, you know, it was. It does wear on you. You are exhausted.
And. But it. Again, our favorite thing to do is the 10pm fireworks. We get on Tiana's Bayou, and we make sure we time it just right. So the fireworks are going off as we're coming down.
[01:03:34] Speaker C: Oh, that's amazing.
[01:03:36] Speaker A: We've managed to do it a few times, and so that's one of our. Our little park secrets we like to do. But I would tell people this was a lot. I was not for every family. We were very tired.
Logistically, I would have preferred this to have been on Saturday, but the night of the party is the night of the party.
[01:03:51] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They don't have it every night, so you end up getting whatever you get in terms of when you're there.
[01:03:58] Speaker B: Oh, and then. Yes, you. You. You dined at the boathouse.
[01:04:01] Speaker C: Oh, the best. So good.
[01:04:03] Speaker B: So good. All right, so, Josh. Josh buried a little challenge for us here. Some questions. I don't know how to. I don't know how to set this up. Josh, why don't you set this up?
[01:04:12] Speaker C: And
[01:04:14] Speaker A: yes, so, you know, you guys have. Sam always has her little question. She rattles off, and I was afraid she was going to hit me with the same ones again, so I said, let me flip this a little bit.
And this actually came about from the believe reveal.
I was thinking of, like, hey, what are some different ways? And so if you can go ahead and tab over to the four questions I have for you two. Which shift would you recommend? Retire.
Which ship would you rename? Which ship would you reimagine? And which ship would you replicate, copy and paste?
[01:04:50] Speaker C: This is so, so hard.
[01:04:52] Speaker B: I've got my answers if you want a few more seconds to thank Sam.
[01:04:55] Speaker C: Yeah, why don't we. Why don't we go category by category? Start with retire. You go. You go first each time.
[01:05:00] Speaker B: No question. Magic. I would retire the magic. It's just. It's the ship that we've sailed on. I know it's the OG And I'm going to get a bunch of hate mail about what I just said. But it is the one ship in the fleet that just. It feels like it's its age. Whereas the wonder I still get glimpses of. You know, kind of. She still feels like she's got some spring in her step. The magic always just feels like there's something going wrong on the state rooms with the AC system. Something like. I think it's just she's past her prime, so that would be the one I would retire.
[01:05:32] Speaker C: Okay. I actually am going to retire the magic also, but for different reasons. That plumbing is just a problem. And she just.
Unless we're gonna like redo all of her plumbing, which I don't know if that's possible.
And she's also not fuel efficient at this point. So I want to retire her. Not because I actually. I might use her in one of the later categories, but I want to retire her because she is. Yeah, the.
The sewage issues that people have had are just not okay and not up to DCL standards.
[01:06:03] Speaker B: That's the only issue which is fascinating.
[01:06:05] Speaker C: I love Rapunzel's. I love Rapunzel's Royal table. I love Tangled, so don't take those away from me. But I have to retire this ship.
[01:06:11] Speaker B: But it' like fascinating because Scott Gustin put out an article where he interviewed. I forget the. She's like the head of the cruise line portfolio, I think. And she was hinting these ships are going to be staying probably. And like the. The sort of undertone was longer than you think. So I, they. They really like. I feel like they need to overhaul the magic at some level.
[01:06:30] Speaker A: But.
[01:06:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:06:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:06:31] Speaker B: All right, what's next? What's next, Josh?
[01:06:33] Speaker A: Rename. Which ship are you renaming? That's a brand new name and a new story. Certain character.
[01:06:40] Speaker C: I have my answer for this.
[01:06:42] Speaker D: Go ahead.
[01:06:43] Speaker C: So the treasure should not have been the treasure. The treasure should have been the imagine or the imagination with figment on the back. Because it's the park's ship. And it's just.
It doesn't. It is a Disney Parks fans ship. It has the wrong name and it has the wrong stern character.
[01:07:02] Speaker B: And Nathan's saying we should just vote to retire the adventure. I cannot in good conscience vote to retire a ship. I haven't yet sailed on it.
[01:07:11] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:07:12] Speaker C: So that's. Yeah, it's. Don't worry. Neither of us are going to answer anything here with the adventure. So that's just we. Because we haven't sailed on it, I don't think we feel like we can judge it.
[01:07:20] Speaker B: Yeah. I was going to say for rename, I would actually go after the wish. I would kind of re. Like, it just. It felt like a ship that was like three quarters complete in a time when they just couldn't get it all the way to where it needed to be. And I think renaming it, giving her kind of like a, you know, a fresh coat of paint and some interior work and putting some new stuff.
[01:07:40] Speaker C: Oh, no, you don't get to do that, Brian. A reimagined.
[01:07:42] Speaker B: All I'm.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Oh.
[01:07:43] Speaker B: So all I get to do is take the Stern characters off.
I'm gonna skip ahead and say, reimagine the wish.
[01:07:49] Speaker C: That's what I'm gonna do.
[01:07:50] Speaker B: Reimagine the wish. Reimagine the wish. Rename. That's a tough one for me.
[01:07:56] Speaker A: So that came from the imagination. My daughter goes, that's too long of a name. And I was like, huh?
[01:08:03] Speaker B: Well, I would have called this a Disney imagine. Like, that's the.
[01:08:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I would have called it the Imagine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:08:08] Speaker A: You know, but. Yeah, rename.
You know, maybe the Disbelief.
They'll have to prove me on that one. But, yeah, that's really. That's. Yeah, that's where the rename came from. All right. Reimagine. You're down to the steel complete.
[01:08:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:08:21] Speaker A: So I did everything.
[01:08:22] Speaker B: I did the wish for that one, for the rename. I think I got to go back and choose a different one, right? So, yeah, you have to go back, man. This is. That's a dream. The dream. I kind of want to rename the dream and give her a new Stern character.
[01:08:35] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:08:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:08:36] Speaker C: All right. I want to reimagine the wish also, because the wish. I actually think that the.
The bones are good, right? Like, the fl. I like the layout of the wish class. I don't think, other than the adult pool area being too small, I think it's a well designed layout.
But I don't love her theming. The princess theming is not really my vibe, and I want it. I want, like, a.
I don't know, I want, like, Star wars and Indiana Jones, and I want, like, a bunch of adventure stories. I wanted. I want a ship that is the adventure ship, but not named the. It doesn't have to be named the Adventure, but I want, like, those kinds of stories on board.
And we can have a hyperspace lounge, but it can't be the hyperspace lounge that we currently have. So. Yeah, I would reimagine the wish for sure.
[01:09:30] Speaker A: No Muppets bar.
[01:09:32] Speaker C: Oh, I mean, of course, a Muppets bar. Yeah. If I can redesign everything. Actually, I'll take it all remote. I'll take it all Muppets ship. If I can redesign everything. Right? I mean, we'll have, like. We'll have, like, Beaker's lab. We'll have, you know, like, we'll have.
[01:09:46] Speaker A: It'll be. Think of the drink opportunities.
It's sitting on a gold mine.
[01:09:51] Speaker C: It would be amazing. Amazing. And Saddler and Waldorf would be in the theater, in the balcony. In every one of. You know, know, in every. Every show you go and see, they would have their running commentary. They would actually interrupt the show, and the characters on stage would interact with them. It would be amazing. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:10:09] Speaker B: All right. One final question here, Josh.
[01:10:12] Speaker C: Can I replicate.
Yeah.
[01:10:15] Speaker B: No, no, no. You promised that I could start, and I have a feeling you're going to steal my answer.
[01:10:19] Speaker C: Oh, I know what you're going to say, too. We're both going to pick the same one.
[01:10:22] Speaker B: Except the way Josh has worded his question, we have to call Mayor Werft to duplicate the ship. But I'm going to say we need to pick up the phone and call Fin Canciere and have them duplicate the wonder. Like, right now.
Right now. Fresh cut steel, brand new engine. Let's do it. I love the wonder.
[01:10:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I was. I actually am a little bit torn here between the wonder and the magic. Not because I like the wonder better in general, but there's a few things I really love on the magic. And because I want to retire the current magic, I feel like we can duplicate, but modernize and have a new Disney magic. And that can be. It could be a Meridian class. It could be a magic class. I don't really care.
But I. I would. I would love to take almost everything we have on the magic or everything we have on the Wonder and. And duplicate, because both of those ships are just amazing. They're just getting too old.
[01:11:15] Speaker A: So.
[01:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:11:16] Speaker B: I gotta say, Josh, I love this segment. So much so that I'm gonna put a call out to all of our future. Your live guest, it is your opportunity to take over the rapid fire round, which we usually don't do rapid fire on the live shows. But if you've got. I'll put it this way. If you've got questions for the duo, we will answer them live. So just put them together and we will. We'll do this again. So, yeah, just.
[01:11:41] Speaker C: Just keep it to, like, four questions because it is. When we do the live show, like, like Josh did we do the live show. We always run over. We're always trying our best to stay within a healthy parameter for a while.
[01:11:55] Speaker B: It was a big Newsweek. It was big news.
[01:11:56] Speaker C: It was a big news day. Absolutely.
[01:11:58] Speaker B: Josh, it sounds like you had a fabulous time. I just want to thank you again for staying up in your time zone. To come on and share the experience with everyone out there. We really appreciate you coming on. Would love to have you back in the future. So don't hesitate to reach out the next time you sail.
Sam, you're going to have to. I don't have the database open, so I can't quite recall. We've got a live show lined up next week. Is it.
I forget, is it. I. I'm not going to try to guess the name because I'll get it wrong. That.
[01:12:28] Speaker C: That's a good question. I am going to our calendar right now and why is it not coming up on my calendar? We. Oh, we are. We are live with. With Vanessa and Andrew, I believe, next week.
[01:12:40] Speaker D: That's right, yes.
[01:12:41] Speaker B: Vanessa and Andrew next week. Yes.
[01:12:43] Speaker C: And we're going to be talking side to side, I believe. Halloween on the high seas. I believe. I think it's the dream and the destiny because I think we're talking both out of Port Everglades. So, yeah, we've got lots of Halloween episodes. It is October, you guys, so we have to cover lots of Halloween episodes. We love talking with Vanessa and Andrew so far.
[01:13:03] Speaker B: I gotta do my best Mickey impression here from my sweatshirt.
[01:13:06] Speaker C: Of course, we always love to talk about logistics and accessibility issues when we've got Vanessa and Andrew on. So we will talk about those things. But we'll also cover, you know, side to side cruising and Halloween on the high on both of those ships all at once. So fantastic show for next week. Our usual time, which is 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. With that, I'll say thank you once again to Josh for joining us. Thank you to all of you who are watching live or watching after the fact. Don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube and to give us those five stars on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. So with that, we'll just say thank you. Thanks, everyone.
[01:13:52] Speaker D: 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 Podcast, 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 Cast 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.
[01:14:50] Speaker B: Are you ready to set sail?
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[01:16:06] Speaker B: The views expressed in this podcast are
[01:16:07] Speaker D: our own and do not reflect the views the Walt Disney Company, Disney Cruise Line or any other travel provider discussed or mentioned. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo. Good night.
[01:16:20] Speaker A: Sam.
