[00:00:00] Speaker A: I like to call myself a little bit of a parks expert. I was ready up midnight on the night of our reservations and I was shocked with how many cabanas were available.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: Wow. At Silver Cast.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: At Silver. At Silver.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: I was like, we're talking end of March, so we're not talking about, like, this is still spring break.
[00:00:21] Speaker A: This is spring break. I was stuck with how many of the Mickey and Minnie cabanas were available.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Welcome back everyone, to another episode of the DCL Duo podcast brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. I am your host today, Sam. Brian is unfortunately unable to join me due to a prior work commitment. But don't worry, I am not alone. I have a wonderful guest with me, with me here today. I'm very excited to welcome to the show. Philip, welcome.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: Hi Sam.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: It's so nice to have you. Philip, thank you so much for reaching out. I. I've said this on the podcast before, but without, you know, listeners like you willing to reach out and tell their stories, Brian and I would just be the two weirdos with mics that we are talking amongst ourselves.
And I'm not sure we'd have as many listeners as we have if it was just the two of us talking about, I don't know, random things. But anyway, thanks for coming on the I want to dive in first and talk about where your Disney background comes from, your love of Disney, and then how you got into Disney Cruise Line, specifically before we talk about the cruise that you went on recently.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: Sure. So when I was a kid, we made the traditional trips as a family of four down to Disney World. And so I went twice as a kid and then I took a break for a while and got married and then started going with my wife to Disney World.
We are on the.
We're in the. We're Western New York. I can't say I'm from New York. Actually, I am from Long Island. I grew up.
Grew up on Long Island.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: Yeah, Long island in the house. Right.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: So. But I am, I am currently in western New York.
So Disney World was kind of the options that we went to.
And so I went with my wife. Shortly thereafter we had now my 14 year old, my son. And in doing my research of listening to other podcasts and whatever about Disney World and the parks, I kind of just was listening and hearing people talking about cruise line and it was never a thing when I was a kid, but it was always kind of in listening to other podcasts, the cruise line was always there and it was always a thing and I was Always kind of like I, I would like to do it at one point. And eventually yes, we, and then after I had, we had our, we went to Disney World a couple times and then after we had our second son who's now 11, we did decide to ultimately make a decision to try out Disney Cruise Line and we actually went on the Wish.
We went. This was probably three years ago, maybe four years ago. We did go on. That was actually the year the treasurer launched because the Treasure launched shortly before we went on the wish.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Okay. So 2024, not that long ago.
Wow.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
So we then remember the Treasure launching and then lookout coming up as well. And so yeah, on the Wish we actually did. Most people do parks and crews. We did the other way around. We did cruise the parks but then it was a little bit of a harder sell for my wife to go. So it was always kind of been like, are we going to do it again? And sure enough, we kept talking about it and then that's going to lead us into the kind of the current cruise. And what, what this, how this cruise at where you just went on came out.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Awesome. I love that. Okay, so you had one prior cruise on the Wish, obviously a shorter cruise. Was it a three night or a four night cruise?
[00:04:19] Speaker A: It was a three night. We, we really wanted to just make sure that everybody was going to be okay.
Motion and just being on a boat, on a ship.
So yes, we did just do a three night on the Wish. Um, and it worked out really well.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's a great way to start if you're just not sure if the cruise line is going to be right for your family either because of motion sickness or because of the activities or you just think we're really parks people, we're not cruise people. Right. Like I do think it's good to dip your toe in. Of course, if you really don't like cruising and you're stuck on a seven night sailing, you're probably not going to be real happy about that.
[00:05:00] Speaker A: And that was exactly why we were like, all right, let's do a three night. Let's just see how it, what it is, how it works. Are we going to like it? And I said that's how I found you guys and doing our research for the cruise and stuff like that and.
But yeah, long story short, it worked out well.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: So yeah, you must have, yeah, you booked another one. So yeah. Well, I'm glad we helped you with your first cruise. Now this second cruise that we're going to talk about was on the Disney dream. And it was your immediate family, but then also some first timers in your family as well. Tell me about that and, and how this cruise came about.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: So it actually started with my parents wanting to.
So it's myself. So I have four media, three elders from the media family, my wife, my two boys, I have a brother and a sister in law and they wanted to take us all on a trip.
And originally actually it was going to be to a room up. They have a timestrad, Aruba and whatever.
Unfortunately, when they tried to book the rooms, whatever didn't work out. They weren't able to get the rooms that they wanted.
So we have been talking with them for a long time then about how we enjoyed it. And we think they were like cruising. They are actually going on a cruise to the Fiji for like 14 days. So it was like, all right. So I think they kind of wanted to kind of get their toe wet of, of cruising to see how they're going to do and they go on their long extended cruise. But yeah, it, they were like, hey, what about Disney cruise? And we're like, sure, go right ahead.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Love it. I mean, I think you, you won out. I mean it didn't work out right. Like, yeah, I would rather go to. I mean not, no, this not saying anything bad about Aruba. Aruba is beautiful. We stopped there on a southern Caribbean cruise. But of course I'd rather be on a Disney cruise than any other.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: We are unfortunately we're not a big beach family. But we were like, all right. They've been wanting us to go. They've been out of this time show now for a number of years. They've been wanting to take my boys.
My boys are the only grandkids in the family. So they've been wanting to take them for a while and unfortunately it didn't work out with the rooms that they wanted and so we picked this one.
As far as timing, we didn't really want to pull the kids from school. My oldest is in high school as a freshman. My youngest is in just finishing up elementary school.
They both play lacrosse, they both do travel, sports. So springtime, summer, early summer is really busy for us when it comes to lacrosse and school and whatever.
So spring break was really the best time that really worked for my family. And then we kind of everyone else just kind of tagged along with it.
[00:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Now your spring break was the end of March.
Tell me, why did you select the Disney Dream? Which itinerary did you select? And of course you knew you were going to go out of Port Everglades if you sail on the Disney Dream or the Destiny vs Port Canaveral if you sail on the Treasure or the Wish. And then depending upon the itinerary, the fantasy, the magic, you know, all of those.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: I did do research on what was happening. It really depended on timing as well, of when was it leaving, when was it coming back, so we knew that we can make it back in time and whatever. I was kind of interested in sailing out of Fort Lauderdale. Obviously, the Wish was out of Port Canaveral, so I was kind of intrigued in sailing out of Fort Lauderdale.
And the price as well was another part of it for my parents. But, yeah, no, I, I, the dream intrigued me, and I had all sailing out of Fort Lauderdale as well. It was kind of just something different than sailing out of Port Canaveral.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and you get a different class of ship because you had sailed on the Wish before. And so you're really going to have a. I mean, this, I mean, the Treasure and the Destiny are amazing. So, of course I recommend going on those ships, but if you want to just try something different and see what the differences are across the fleet, you really need to go on a different class of ship. And I will say the best deals tend to be, of course, on the older ships and out of Fort Lauderdale in particular. So whichever ship is sailing right now, it's the Dream, sometimes it's the magic. But whichever ship is sailing out of Fort Lauderdale and Galveston, that's probably where you're going to get the most bang for your buck on Disney Cruise.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Part of me was also like, because I've listened to your show for a while. Why does everyone go on? Why not the dream? Everyone goes on the Fantasy. No one goes on a dream. Right? So what is it? Why, like, what is it about the dream that it's like everyone talks about the fantasy and no one likes the dream. So I was kind of like, I'm curious.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: I'm going to tell you what it is. It has nothing to do with the dream. It has to do with the fact that the Dream used to do the wishes itinerary. So for years and years and years, the Dream was doing three and four night sailings out of Port Canaveral, just like the Wish. Now, since she launched in 2022, has been doing the three and four night sailings out of Port Canaveral.
And so the reason why the Dream is probably the lowest on my list has nothing to do with the ship. It just has to do with the fact that I Couldn't get on a sailing on her for more than three or four nights and you would only be going to Nassau and, and castaway. And so I, you know, and that's
[00:10:39] Speaker A: the theory what this was because it was just Nassau DC Castaway and then it was a four night.
So.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: But you got the extra night.
[00:10:48] Speaker A: So that's, you got the extra night, which was nice.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yeah, that's really, that's really key. Okay, well, you're, you're traveling with first time cruisers who have never sailed on any cruise line. Had they.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: I will pause you. So my brother and sister in law did do an Alaskan cruise first time for them on Disney. They did not do, they did not do a Disney cruise. They did an Alaskan cruise.
It was the first time for my parents on any cruise ship and the first Disney cruise for my brother and sister in law.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: I gotta say, I'm kind of surprised that your parents booked a cruise to Polynesia, which is a much longer sailing. Right?
[00:11:29] Speaker A: Oh, believe me, they're both retired now and they like to just travel the world now.
[00:11:35] Speaker B: Yeah, well, no, I think it's wonderful. But having never been on a cruise
[00:11:38] Speaker A: ship before, both my wife and I were, we're like really? Yeah.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: You're gonna book like a, like a two week or a three week cruise?
[00:11:47] Speaker A: I think it's 13 or 14 days.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So like a two week cruise you're gonna book when you've never been on a sailing before. That's, that's very brave. I'm not saying, I mean, I love it.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Oh yeah, it's brave.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: Yeah. You can end up loving it. And obviously they went on this, this sailing so now they do it. Now they won't. Their first cruise won't be that 13 or 14 night of cruise to beach.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Now they know how to set up their rooms and how to prepare for things and whatever.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Exactly. Well, let's dive the planning side of things now. You know, I know your, your parents were taking you all on this, this sailing, you know, treating you, I, I take it is what you mean by that. But who did like the planning? Did you do the planning since you had some experience since you're a pro who listens to our show and listens to other Disney podcasts.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Yeah, more or less. Yes, we did use a travel advisor to, to help with the actual physical bookings of it. But then yes, I kind of took over to the best that I could with instructing them and guiding them into what we wanted to do. I also didn't want it to be like, we have to do everything together. And that was something that my wife and I were, from the very beginning was like, we really don't want this to be.
We have to do everything together.
Like, if you guys want to do one thing, set the expectations, we're gonna do one thing. Before my four family members might do something. You guys are more than welcome to go up into the adult area and go, whatever. So I gave them some advice and some suggestions and things that I was going to be doing.
But then ultimately I kind of wanted it to be their choice as well, versus just going off of what I am going to be booking for them. Right? It was. I let them make their own reservations. I let them do their own thing and stuff like that.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: I think that's a great way to handle it. If you're sailing with any group, whether it be family or friends, I think the choose your own adventure approach is the right approach. It's very difficult. It's herding cats to try and keep everyone together for everything. And then if you do that, frankly, you're not necessarily doing what you want to do on your vacation, nor is everybody else doing what they want to do on vacation. I think it's easy, easier if you just say, hey, my family, or half my family or whoever my family is doing X, Y and Z. You're welcome to join us, but you're also welcome to your own thing. We'll meet up for dinner. We'll meet up for, you know, or meet up for a drink after dinner, whatever, or the show.
I think that's a great tactic. It also sets expectations, which I think is important when you're sailing with your parents. Philip, I don't know how you feel, but, like, sometimes I need a little break from. I love my. I love my parents, but like, sometimes I need a break from them and I might not want to spend 247 with them, and I won't. And they probably don't want to spend 247 with me. So giving an expectation that we get.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: We. We had an interesting situation with the rooms. When we get. When we get. When we get to that point. But good. A good situation. But yeah, we'll cover that when we get there.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: Awesome. All right, well, let's. Let's talk about what you pre booked, if anything. Now you're Silver Castaway club member, but everybody else you're sailing with is a no castaway club status first timer with Disney. And so they get to book at the last possible booking date. Were you now, were you looking to book things like excursions or drink tastings or adult dining. Any of the things that require that early booking.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Yes, we know excursions, let's put it that way. I mean, it's Nassau, so whatever it was. I think everyone knows what happens on
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Nassau, but you mean we have Palo brunch and enjoy a sea day?
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Well, they're not always. Well, hold on. So my wife did want to do Palo and I was able to get Paolo, but I actually got it on our seating, so I thought that would be. We like that better because if there was an interest in getting off the ship, which, spoiler alert, we didn't wind up getting off, but we can cover that. Then we don't have to worry about either my parents taking my boys or whatever. We can go off with them or whatever. So we did do. I did get Palo brunch for our at Sea day.
And I actually just finished your latest episode. We got a cabana.
We did get a Mickey and Mini cabana.
I am, as a.
I like to call myself a little bit of a parks expert. I was ready up midnight on the night of our reservations and I was shocked with how many cabanas were available.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Wow. At Silver Castaway.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: At Silver. At Silver.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: I was like, we're talking end of March, so we're not talking about like, this is still spring break.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: It's spring break. I was shocked with how many of the Mickey and Minnie cabanas were available.
So much to the point where I was like, I wasn't been prepared for like, which one do I get right? Like I, I was like, I just want a cabana. And then I was like, all right, here's cabanas 10 to 31. And I'm like, that one, Right. Come to find out, the one I did pick is between two handicapped accessible cabanas. So they have these. So like, all right, well, you need to move that one.
There were cabanas available up until first. No, first time cruisers. There were. There were cabanas that were available.
And I, I've heard on your. I've been losing your podcast for a while. I don't know if this was a fluke or whatever, but I was constant, constantly checking. I'm a Parks person. I'm always look, checking the app, whatever.
There were cabanas available up until first time cruises were available. Were able to book. And even past it, there was a point shortly before the cruise that several of the seashell. Seashell cabanas were available.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Sandcastle.
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Sandcastle.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Several of the Sandcastle cabanas became Available just randomly. There was like three of them.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: Wow. That means people dropped them. Probably then. Yeah.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: We made the decision that we wanted to keep the Mickey and Minnie cabana because it was new. Right. They're only six months old.
And then we liked some of the pluses that came along with that one specifically. So we didn't wind up keeping. I did have one at one point, the Sandcastle Gameta, but we did wind up canceling that one.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: That's crazy. I gotta say. That's crazy. You weren't sailing concierge, you were Silver Castaway Club status. It's spring. It's early spring break. But it's spring break because it depends on where you live in the country. We are spring breaks not until next week as we're recording this. The first week of. Or the end of the first week of April. Yeah, our spring. We actually leave on our, for our cruise in a few days and so. But it's still, you're still in kind of a, a heavy spring break time.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Don't believe me? We know.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it is.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: And I don't, I don't know what it was just.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: We have heard though since the addition of the Mickey and Minnie cabanas, which of course added, you know, basically doubled the capacity. The cabana capacity on Castaway or the family cabana capacity.
Well, actually I think maybe doubled the overall capacity. But still, I, I, we have heard of a, a lot of people not sailing in concierge and not sailing or not Pearl been being able to get cabanas, but, but I haven't heard of, you know, first time cruisers.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Right up until first time about cruisers. I was watching it and they were still there. One to twos at a time or whatever. They would come and go. But right up until first time cruisers, there were commandos that were available.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Did you book anything else for yourself or. And then, and then I want to also ask what, what, if anything, you booked for the other family members.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: So I did do. I got two.
We wound up settling on two drink tastings.
I think I had, I booked, I booked three in preparation for them being able to book and then I wound up canceling one. So I will only wound up sailing with two drink tastings.
And that was it. That was all the I, that was all about. I booked and I was like, all right, same email. Like, here's what I booked. Like you guys pick what you want and then we'll figure out from there. Right. What they, what they wanted to do. My parents, my dad drinks, but nothing that he would probably do a drink tasting for my brother and sister in law. They did book two of the two that I wound up doing.
I did a old fashioned tasting with the two of them and my wife and I and the two of them and then my mother wound up joining us at the end. Did a mixology tasting.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Oh nice. Yeah, some, some of the best ones. Now I, I take it that everybody joined you in the cabana because you can fit in the regular cabanas. You can fit up to 10 people. I say the regular cabanas because there's a grand family cabana that you can fit more. Now you get charged just for those listening. You get charged initially or the initial price is based on six people and then they add on an additional cost per person over six people and you can split the cost however you want. We tend, if we share a cabana, we just split it exactly equal per person, however many people are there. We split the cost per person and it comes out to be a very, you know, a de. It's not, it's not free, it's not cheap, but it's, but it's not, it's not exorbitant either.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: So we did, we did split it with my brother and sister in law. We weren't gonna make my parents pay, but yes, we did, we did wind up splitting it with them and then the website said we had to add them because they were first time cruisers. I was not able to like check their box to add the rest of them. But even on when you book it, it says right on there to say just do when you're on the ship.
So I did that and they were like, all right, they're already there. Like oh, okay. And then it was like, all right. I'm like, okay.
[00:22:16] Speaker B: Probably made it easy because you're all linked with one another because yeah, the travel agent who booked you, I was
[00:22:21] Speaker A: fully like prepared to like just go on the ship and be like, hey, I need to add the rest of them. And they saw it because I had it because our, our apps were linked and stuff like that. They knew I had it. My kids did. And that was, that was, that was kind of a surprise for them. We didn't tell them because again we, they listen to you while I'm driving them in the car. So they're familiar with everything, the cabanas and stuff like that. So yeah. But yeah, that was a surprise for them for when we got on Tesla.
[00:22:49] Speaker B: That's awesome. Well, let's talk about embarkation day, you guys. You live in Western New York you mentioned. Is everybody else coming from the same area? Are they coming from elsewhere?
[00:22:59] Speaker A: They're coming from Philadelphia. The Philadelphia area. So kind of close.
[00:23:03] Speaker B: Ish.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Close enough, right? We all flew down because of whatever the flights timing, we. They count the flights were coming in later than we kind of would have liked to. To have really for like the day before coming down. So we did fly down on Saturday.
We flew to Fort Lauderdale. We got in at like 7 or so p.m. and then we stayed at the Embassy Suites down the street from the. Down the street from the port.
[00:23:35] Speaker B: Nice. Now were you boarding on Sunday then or were you boarding on Monday?
[00:23:39] Speaker A: We were boarding on Monday. So we spent.
[00:23:42] Speaker B: So you spent a full day?
[00:23:43] Speaker A: We had a full day. We did have a full day in Fort Lauderdale, yes.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Nice. Now what did you guys do for that day and did you like the accommodations at the Embassy Suites?
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Yep. So the Embassy Suites is great for a family, right? So we had a couch bed for my youngest and then we. Our room had two queens. I do know they also my parents had a king. So they do have rooms that have varying bed sizes. It worked great for my family as far as sleeping arrangements are concerned, at least on Sunday. Sunday morning they do have very nice breakfast however, because of how this proximity to the port.
There were several ships that were leaving from Fort Lauderdale so it was very crowded when it came to the lobby. They offer, I don't know the cost, it's not free. They do provide a service to port you to the. Bring you to the port.
And the lobby was very crowded of people leaving on their ships. There was at least four or five, I think boats or ships that were on board.
On Sunday morning when the breakfast was delicious, we just kind of really just hang out in the hotel.
My brother and sister in law, they actually walked, which was a while. They walked from the hotel to the beach, went over the bridge to the beach. They walked it.
The My mother, my parents and I and my. My boys and wife, we walked kind of to the bridge that's right there.
Honestly, it's walkable to the port. It really is. Like if you can walk and it's. If you can do a Disney park, you can walk to the port. It really is not from Embassy Suites, but you're not going to do it with luggage, so.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: Exactly that's.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: You're not going to do it with luggage.
So we did walk kind of to the base of the bridge that goes over the intercoastal waterways to the Fort Lauderdale beach.
We walked it, but we just came Back it was. The weather was not great and we didn't run a car. So we just kind of bummed around the hotel. We went to Publix. There's a Publix in the parking lot of the Embassy Suite. So we got our drinks for the cruise and we got last minute toiletries and stuff like that. And then we got sandwiches and stuff like that for dinner and whatnot. So that was kind of our Sunday.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: Nice. All right, well, embarkation day comes Monday morning. You get up, what's your transportation situation to the port? Did you guys use the shuttle? I'm guessing you didn't use the shuttle service because you didn't know the cost. But did you use Uber or what? How'd you get to the port?
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Uber. I actually, before we even left, I did pre scheduled an Uber.
I actually scheduled. It was an uber double XL.
It wasn't even an XL. And it was honestly, it was maybe $20, $21 for a double X. I will warn you and your and everyone else is listening to make sure if you schedule something that they give you the vehicle that you booked.
So we did run into that issue where I scheduled it and then they were like, all right, here's your car. This was like before we left. And I'm like, that's not a car that's going to fit us. Right.
So rather than just canceling it and rebooking it and then it wound up getting an actual double XL car. So just something to keep in mind that if you are going to Uber and schedule it ahead of time, that you might want to make sure that they give you the vehicle that you book, especially if it's. You're trying to get a larger vehicle.
But yeah, so everybody just ubered and it was five minutes. It was not that long to get from the Embassy Suites to the port.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Awesome. Tell me about the boarding process, the check in process. Like what? I mean, I feel like Fort Lauderdale is pretty smooth sailing like Port Canaveral is because it's Disney's dedicated port. But just curious if there were any hiccups in that.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: We were port arrival.
It was 11:15 was our port arrival time.
We were in line at probably 11 or so. And I mean, yeah, it was. We were watching the people. So they do all Disney does also offer buses to support from other hotels, not Embassy suites. So like they were the first ones in and then we were right behind them as they, as they were as they were getting in. And I mean it was, yeah, it was smooth sailing right through, no issues.
And we were sitting down and I think we were waiting in line outside for maybe 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops. And yeah, it was check in security. We were sitting in no time at all.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: Awesome. Now had you previewed for your family members about the family being announced onto the ship or did you leave that as a surprise for them?
[00:28:38] Speaker A: I did not. I kind of left it as a surprise.
So we were 11, 15 and board group six and by the time they started boarding, I think really anybody, everybody was there. So my racing, there were three crews. Right. So myself, my brother and his wife got one port arrival time and my parents got another one. So they're. By the time we got on, everybody was there. So originally the plan was that my four people were going to go on, we were going to go check out Edge and then come back and kind of meet everybody. But by that point we were like, all right, like you're going to be right behind us. Everyone's. Everybody's in.
So we did see, we did not tell them no. I don't know if they knew or not. I never actually asked them. They will occasionally watch videos or YouTube videos and stuff like that. So I'm not sure if they were aware that that was happening.
I did not wind up seeing my parents come on board because of. We did wind up going up to Edge and stuff like that. So we met them up at cabanas. Yeah, no, we did not tell them.
[00:29:49] Speaker B: Did you talk to them about their first impressions? And I actually got to ask you about your first impressions because you hadn't been on the Dream before and you'd only been on the Wish and the Wish has such a grand haul for an atrium. And you know, I. This is no shame, no shade on the Dream, but it's a lot smaller of an atrium and it's when you see them sort of one after another, it's. It's a little bit stark, I would say. Right. Like it's a very big difference between sort of the first four ships and then the Wish class in the, the space that the atrium occupies.
[00:30:23] Speaker A: It was definitely a change.
It always felt crowded in my opinion whenever we were in there. It was if we were going to Royal palace or whatever.
It was always, to me it always felt busy.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Well, it is the hub of the ship and then you
[00:30:43] Speaker A: understand. But yeah, it definitely felt smaller. Yeah, it definitely felt smaller compared to what the Wish is. And the Wish class ships are now
[00:30:54] Speaker B: your brother and sister in law and your parents hadn't of course been on any Disney ship. So this is their first Experience with a Disney ship and a, of course, the, I mean, Disney decor is very prominent throughout the ship with, you know, the paintings, the carpets, the atrium is beautiful.
What was their impression of the ship more generally? And did you like the ship as compared to the Wish?
[00:31:18] Speaker A: I do think they enjoyed it.
My parents were actually in Disney World like a week before or two weeks before the cruise. They actually went to Disney World to their trip to Aruba and then came back and then went on, on the, on the cruise. They did their timeshare week in Aruba, came back, spent a week at home, and then flew down for the cruise. So they were all, all ready for the Disney. So yeah, no, I, I, I really do think that they, they did enjoy it. They really, I really do think, I really think they do.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, well, your game plan was to go to cabanas.
Is that what you did? Or did you go to Marceline Market lunch and where you, so you're, you were sort of primed and prepared to go to the.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Yeah, so we were. So we did do Marceline first on the Wish.
This one we wanted to check out Edge.
My son, youngest son is 11.
So he's in the, the funny area of is he going Oceaneers or is he going Edge? And he, he said he didn't want to go to Oceaneers anymore.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Well, he can't go to Oceaneers anymore because Oceaneers. No, oceaneers is now 10 and under. It used to be 12 and under, but they changed the policy.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: No, he's almost 11.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: Oh, almost 11.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Almost 11. He's almost 11.
So yeah, so he, we did have the wave him, which that is a little bit of a process for your viewers on.
For the Edge waiver was a little bit of a process. Like we had to go up there, we had to sign the slip. We then had to go to Guest Services, have give him access to Edge. On. They don't use the we, we don't use the MagicBands. They just use Key in the World cards.
So for Edge and Vibe.
So we had to go to get services, give him access to Edge.
Go back to Edge.
This isn't all within the first gang on the ship, but like we had to go to Guest Services, give him the card. They gave them access to Edge. Go back to Edge, they get the sticker on the card that says you have access to Edge.
So it was a little bit of, A little bit of a process. But we did get it done. And my oldest is 14, so he is also able to do both if I Remember, the age is correct. He can do Vibe and Edge. So he then had to get two stickers on his card for one for Vibe and one for Edge.
But his, I believe was already coded to open Edge. But yeah, so we did do that. We got him set up for Edge, at least the first part of it. And then we went up to Commandos and met everybody in. Met everybody in Cavanis.
[00:34:08] Speaker B: Well, I got to ask about the sail away party because of course that's another big thing for, you know, especially first time cruisers. And you had seen also a different sail away party because there's a different sail away party if you are on each class of ships. So the Magic and the Wonder have the same sail away party. The Dream and the Fantasy have their same sail away party, but different from the Magic class. And then the Wish class has its own sail away party. So there is a variation.
It's not like it's night and day, but they are different.
Did you want to attend the sail away party and sort of introduce your folks and your brother and sister in law to Disney Cruise Line with a, you know, a kickoff with Mickey Mini?
[00:34:49] Speaker A: Well, we did. And you, you're gonna be disappointed because it rained.
So it was raining almost the entire. Our entire first day. And so we, we did the, the mustard drill and we were outside on deck with. We were outside on deck four.
And we're like, okay. We're like, all right, it's done. We're gonna run up to deck 12 and we're gonna get ready for the satellite party. We made it up to Deck 9, which is also where our room was. And they came on the announcement that it's gonna be inside. So we made it all the way up to Deck 9. We had tried to go all the way back down. We're like, all right, we're gonna go to Deck 5, at least see if we can. And it was. There was no Ever. There was no. It was madhouse. And I'm sure that this is a design thing, but the ceilings in the atrium on Deck 5 are considerably lower than the ceilings on Deck 3 and Deck 4. So something else to keep in mind that I'm sure that's just for perspective.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: And whatever it is, it's actually a design feature because that's where the kids clubs are. They're on deck five. And so those. I kid you not, as a design feature, Disney decided that that floor didn't need to be as tall because it, it's sort of for the kids perspective. Right? It's their floor. Even Though there are some, there are some state rooms on that floor as well. But there aren't a lot of other spaces besides the state rooms and the kids clubs. That's really it. I guess there's the theater is partially on five, but also on four, of course. So, so yeah, it's a really interesting feature. But basically on the dream class or on the magic class, if you have a deck party and the deck party is pivoted to the atrium and they are only going to do the deck party once, it's not like with the Christmas tree lighting and some other things that they often do twice on the classic ships. That atrium is going to be packed with people.
It's going to be wall to wall and unless you happen to like just get there at the exact right time, it's going to be really difficult to see.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: If we, if we had known and
[00:37:00] Speaker B: because we were sure you were right
[00:37:02] Speaker A: on four, if you were right on check four, we would have went right into the atrium. So no, we did. We tried. We stood there for five minutes and we're like knit nuts to this and we wound up failing.
It was just, it would have been just like a lot of most people went to the room. I went with my parents. But we, everyone was like nuts to this and we just, we went back to the room.
[00:37:28] Speaker C: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. Great news. The fabulous team over at My Path Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner, which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, relaxed at Aulani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse. My favorite Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode
[00:38:27] Speaker B: I wanted to talk to you about. Rooms because you mentioned there was some kind of snafu with the rooms and
[00:38:32] Speaker A: it wasn't a snafu, it was just. We did it. We did it. I guess. How? In a good way. I had a deluxe family veranda for my family and then we had the next two.
So we had the end family veranda and then we had the next two standard veranda.
So while they weren't connecting rooms, we were able to open the three verandas.
A lot of people were like, hey, we don't usually use our veranda. We were out there all the time. Like we were. We loved having the large veranda that it was three rooms deep. And so, yeah, they opened it up and it was great.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: So yeah, that's awesome. I think if you can plan right for something like that, it's. It's so incredibly invaluable because then you don't have to go out into the hallway to like get into each other's rooms. You can just go through on the veranda and you can all spend time together on the veranda, but feel like you can escape to your own room. It's a real. It's a really nice feature. Now just to put it out there. Not all verandas are able to do that. There are some that have a fixed wall, but if you can look and there are, there are resources online that
[00:39:49] Speaker A: will tell you it's also not the full. It's just a door opens. Right. So you still have. There's still a little bit of a barrier.
It just. Half the door swings open.
So just again, just keep in mind that it's not the full width of your veranda. It's just. You get a door that kind of opens up between.
But yeah, so we had, we were able to open up the two partitions between the three rooms and we had a nice long, nice long veranda. So that was.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Well. And you booked properly. Because you are the family of four, you need the extra room for that deluxe family veranda.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: And the others don't because we, we didn't. They didn't want to use the. I have a 14 year old, so he's a little bit taller. So we did luckily have. So our wish ship did not have the Murphy bed. It was just the bunk and the couch. Whereas we made sure we had the Murphy bed this time.
And so they use the Murphy bed and the couch for my youngest.
[00:40:49] Speaker B: Right. So you had one of the rooms that could conceivably fit five people instead of four people, which is I think a great tactic. If you have. If you have larger children, meaning teenagers, really. Right. Instead of having one of them sleep on the bunk bed, then that child can sleep on the couch bed. And then the. And the teenager or the full teenager can sleep on the Murphy bed.
Our. I will say our son Nathan, he's actually older than your youngest. He is 12. He likes to be on the bunk bed. So he.
[00:41:20] Speaker A: He's.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: But that's just him. I. We don't have a bunk bed at home. It's the novelty of it, I think. And so it is what it is. Well, I want to pivot. No, sorry, go ahead.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: One more thing is, is something that, that any has a boy or girl they do this with. I've seen if you ask your room stewards for any special sheets, they could potentially have either superhero or. I do believe they have princess sheets. So while they were not. They did not make it on the first night, they were there on nights two and three. So, yeah, it was.
[00:41:58] Speaker B: It is a little nice extra pixie dust if you can keep.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: Yeah, you didn't have them the first night, but then the remaining nights they were. They were on. They were on the bed.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: And they can't always get them because they have limited number on board. So just if you do, if you do ask, you might be able to get pixie dusted if you. I will say if you're. If your room steward does pixie dust, you make sure it shows in their tip because it means they had to remake the bed before they would otherwise have to remake the bed. So it's extra work for them. So make sure you make sure you let them know you appreciate that. And the way you can best appreciate Disney cast members who rely on tips is by giving them extra tips.
Well, let's pivot and talk about some of the favorite activities you guys got up to on board.
I'm curious what you all enjoyed doing as a family, what you all enjoyed doing with the larger family and what you all like doing maybe more individually
[00:42:59] Speaker A: as a larger family. Honestly, we did. We spent a lot of time on the veranda. It was nice to have the opportunity to have a drink.
We bought drinks on board and so to have a drink and just talk on the veranda, watching the ocean go by.
We did, we did do the pool.
That was our kind of our at Sea day.
We made it out. We made it out to the pool, did the Aqua Mouse, Aquadoc Doc.
And then I know some of them went up to the family area and they spent some time on family area. The adult area. They spent some time in the adult only area and in the front of the ship. We did trivia. We did a Star wars trivia. My brother is big into smart Star wars. So we figured, oh, let's give it a shot.
We didn't do very well.
It's.
And then. Yeah. And then we did. I had one of our drink tastings was the old fashioned drink tasting was up at Meridian on our first arrival day and then the mixology tasting was on our at sea day down in the Skyline.
The Skyline Lounge.
[00:44:17] Speaker B: Love it. Now did you, had you done either of those before on your prior cruise and what did you think?
[00:44:23] Speaker A: A whiskey tasting?
Because it was just the four of us and my wife isn't a. She's a drinker but she's not a really a big spirit drinker but feels like a mixed drink. But no, I just did a whiskey tasting on the wish. That was all I did on the wish.
[00:44:41] Speaker B: Now what did you think of these two tastings?
[00:44:43] Speaker A: They were really good.
We did. It was an old fashioned tasting up in Meridian and that guy, you could tell that Disney let him go and kind of curate his own form of a tasting. So it was an old fashioned tasting, but I don't think any of them was.
There was rye whiskey. There was no bourbon.
It was.
[00:45:10] Speaker B: So it was a twist on an old Fashioned, not a classic.
[00:45:14] Speaker A: Right.
It wasn't your classical fashion. It was different spirits and different bitters in different twists and stuff like that. He said one of them, if we had had. If we. It was. There was a Johnny Walker Blue was in it. So he said if we had made a full one of those, it was like an $86 old fashioned if, if he had made a full size one.
So obviously they were just a little tasting and there was five drinks.
So that one is $100 is a little bit more than what your standard tasting is.
But when you're thinking about the levels of spirit and then the effort that got put into it, it was definitely worth it.
I know my brother and sister in law went up to Meridians again just to get a drink.
And then the mixology.
I know you've talked about this in the past about if they make them or if you make them. I don't remember what you said previously.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: We have never made them. I have never made them. I have been, I have heard of other people who have been able to, who have been given the ingredients and were able to mix themselves or one person who's called up to the bar to assist in making that's what it was.
I'm so jealous.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Philip was one person.
So there was like they had five, five kind of stations.
There was this, this one was, was a bigger group. There was probably say 20 people.
And so the, the old fashioned, there was maybe eight.
So this is the old. The mixology had like 20 people. And then. Yeah, they had like five stations at the bar.
And then you went up and you made full.
You made full cocktails of the. There was four or five again, different cocktails. And they had one made when we got there. So you. They had one already made and then the other ones you made. But yeah, they were full size cocktails. Now I do think that people got different tasting ones depending upon who the person is. That is because there's. They're not really like they're giving you a bottle and they're like, all right, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. Right? And then down. Well, okay, well, who's counting faster? Who's counting slower?
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Right? They're inconsistent if they do that.
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Flavorings could have been a little bit different compared to who was making. Who was making that cocktail, but they were great. They have three bartenders that were helping us out and they're playing music and whatever. So that was a lot of fun.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: Love that. That sounds awesome. Now you mentioned you went to Palo. Was this just you and your wife? I know you'd originally booked for just you and your wife, but were you able to add anybody on or did you try to?
[00:48:12] Speaker A: We did not. So that we wanted to keep that as my wife and I don't get out very often. So we kind of wanted to keep it as a little bit of a.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: You have two teenage, well, tween and teenage boys and they both play lacrosse.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: We don't get out very often, so we could. We have probably.
But no, we wanted to treat this as kind of a date brunch, so activity for my wife and I love it, love it.
[00:48:41] Speaker B: How was brunch and had you done it on the wish on your first cruise?
[00:48:45] Speaker A: We did not do it on the wish.
[00:48:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the right way to go. I say don't. I love Palo brunch. It's my favorite meal of all the specialty dining. But I say don't do it on your first cruise because there's so much to do on your first cruise. You're running around like a. With your head cut off. You don't even know where you're going. If you sit at a three hour brunch, you're going to have fomo. About all the other things that you're missing out on.
So I say save it for your second or your third cruise. I think it's. It's a perfect. A perfect meal. What did you guys. Oh, you're from New York, you grew up on Long island. So you know good Italian food.
So I'm not going to, like, be delusional, like, you know, good Italian food. But, I mean, I think Paolo is. Is phenomenal. I'm curious what you thought.
[00:49:29] Speaker A: Thought? Yes. No, it was.
It was delicious.
And we took everyone's advice that I've listened to over the last however long I've been listening to this podcast. And I got all of them.
I got the almond croissant, which was delicious. I got the.
I got an antipasta. An antipasti.
Just the meat. Meat. The kind of. Just. There was just like one that was just all meat. Basically.
We got the half and half of margherita and the grape from gorgonzola pizza. My wife's not in the blue cheese, so I ate all the. As much as I could of the grape and gorgonzola pizza. She got frittata, which I think she said you needed more cheese.
[00:50:14] Speaker B: I don't. I think that frittata is a waste of time. I've had it. I've had. I've ordered it once, I think. And I was like, it's a way. I ate like two bites and I was like, I'm not going to fill up on. I mean, it's not. It's not bad. It's just like. Like everything else is so much better.
[00:50:27] Speaker A: Then we each got the chicken parm. We each got. Each one of us got the chicken parm, which was absolutely delicious.
And then he did. Then just because he brought us out the lasagna.
[00:50:41] Speaker B: Of course he did. Of course. Your waiter brought you a piece of lasagna to share.
[00:50:45] Speaker A: Why not? Of course. Just because he brought us out the lasagna. And then that was all for the entrees.
I got the chocolate dessert. I'm drawing a blank on what it was. It was a chocolate dessert. And then my wife got the panna cotta.
Strawberry panna cotta with the bubbles and whatever.
[00:51:07] Speaker B: Nice. Sounds like a successful Apollo meal. And then somebody carried you back to your room.
[00:51:13] Speaker A: It was very successful. Yeah, so it was. It was very successful.
[00:51:17] Speaker B: I love it. I gotta ask about main dining and the shows. Cause I think that's always like a very.
That's a place where Disney Cruise Line, I personally think shines. You know, you've got interactive stuff going on with some of the dinners. You've got wonderful shows in the Walt Disney Theater. I'm actually really curious about what the rest of the family thought of those things. Because Rotational dining is new to them. Having a show with dinner. You had one show with dinner on the Dream was new to them. And then of course, you got the Walt Disney Theater show. And you've got. I mean, it's Beauty and the Beast on the Dream, so you can't really go wrong.
[00:51:55] Speaker A: Correct. So I guess we'll start with the shows.
We for table 18.
Which animators is right inside the door? It's the first one. Literally as soon as you walk in the door. So we could see the screens kind of off to our sides. The audio was not great for us.
I know that was a complaint for my parents.
They couldn't really hear, like Crush or the show, so food was fine. But it was. It was. We were literally the first table inside the entrance out to animators. So it made it a little bit difficult for to hear Crush. And obviously we could see them. To hear them was a little difficult. We did do the Golden Mickeys. We all.
All went. So. No, we all didn't go to Golden Mickey's.
My oldest came with me to Golden Mickey's. My wife and youngest stayed back in the room. And in Golden Gold. They actually didn't do any of the shows.
But I went to Golden Mickey's with my. My oldest.
And then I was the only one out of my four that went to Beauty and the Beast.
That was.
[00:53:13] Speaker B: Tell your family you're disowning them.
[00:53:15] Speaker A: No, I know.
[00:53:16] Speaker B: They're kicked. They're kicked off the boat.
[00:53:19] Speaker A: I know.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: I mean, if they're gonna skip something, I'm okay with them skipping dreams and I'm okay with them skipping the Golden Mickeys. Or Believe. Sorry. Believe.
Yes. Because you're on the dreams. You can't have dreams on the dream.
[00:53:30] Speaker A: I don't know if anybody out of the eight of us went to Believe.
I. I don't think anybody. And that was our. That would have been our final night. Funny. That was our castling night. Would have been believed. But yeah. So Golden Mickeys. I enjoyed it. I think it needs an update, like, bad.
It needs an update, like, real bad.
It's cute.
I think it definitely think it could.
Some of the videos could use an update. Use dispersing up.
My oldest couldn't really. I could tell the plot, the rough plot of the Golden Mickeys.
He wasn't able to figure out who the rough fly of the Golden Mickeys were.
And then Beauty and the Beast.
My wife. My wife, sorry, my mother, she wanted to be down. So we were for the Golden Mickeys. We were up in the balcony and then she wanted to be down at the low of that deck three.
Deck three. She wanted me on deck three. And honestly, I recommend that for Beauty and the Beast. I don't know what I was expecting out of Beauty and the Beast. I've seen it on Broadway. Broadway, Broadway, like a very long time ago. But this outdid what I was expecting to see on. On Union and the Beast on Broadway.
There's a lot of details that I was glad that I was lower and eye level with the stage.
Some of the puppets that may use are, are a bit smaller.
So like I move, eyes moving and hands moving. You're not going to really see as well if you're up at the balcony. So I would really recommend being on deck three. We had, we were off kind of right side. We weren't able to get center. So we were off center a little bit. But the screen, I didn't even realize that the screen they put up on the back. But yeah, Beauty and the Beast was incredible. That was absolutely incredible.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: So good. See? Yeah, I tell everybody. You gotta believe me, I know what I'm talking about. Beauty and the Beast is incredible. It's better than the Broadway production. The same with Frozen on board. Disney Cruise Line. Better than the Broadway production. Right?
[00:55:45] Speaker A: I don't know how, I mean, I don't want to spoil any magic, but Chip, I don't know how they do it. I really don't know how they do the Chip character. We had the child Chip, the human Chip sitting in front of us.
They come out and they grab a human child to be the human chip at the end of the end of the play.
So we saw them and he ran up and whatever. So that was cute and we saw that interaction happen. But yeah, no, Beauty and the Beast was incredible.
[00:56:15] Speaker B: I love that. I love that. Now, did your mom enjoy Beauty and the Beast as much as you did? Oh, good. I love that. Yeah. I mean she's probably been to seen good theater before in New York City. So you gotta, you know, it's a high comparison level when you're saying, you know, a Broadway show in Disney Cruise Line. But really I wouldn't say every show lives up to that Broadway level. But I would say the majority of Disney Cruise Line productions live up.
[00:56:43] Speaker A: They also had a matinee, which I noticed.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: Oh yeah.
[00:56:47] Speaker A: They had a matinee as well on.
I don't know if it gives crowds or whatever. They did add a matinee, so keep look at your schedule.
We did not wind up doing the matinee, but they did offer it as an option as well.
[00:57:02] Speaker B: Well, and it's a great option for those sort of those shows that do draw bigger crowds. And it's a great option for those with young kids who, you know, even if you have early dinner, it's kind of late for the kids to stay up for the late show. And so I can totally understand wanting to prioritize seeing, you know, a two o', clock, a three o' clock show, that sort of a thing. It's a great, It's a great option when it's available. It's not always available.
All right, well, are there any other activities we could talk for forever about your cruise, Philip? I mean, but at some point I gotta take you to Rapid Fire, so. But I wanna, but I wanna make sure we don't miss anything.
I know you did the Mickey and Minnie cabana. I'm guessing you loved it. Which number cabana did you end up in?
[00:57:47] Speaker A: So we were Nevada 22.
And so we did have a little bit of a late start to. I think all aboard. All Shore was supposed to be on like 8:30. I don't think we got off until like 9, which was a little bit of an issue because we were asked. So it was actually now the, the closest, closest staircase to the tram.
And when we hit that one, we're like, oh boy. Like there was, it was, it was busy.
So we didn't really get off until 9. And we went right to the cabana because it was a surprise, obviously to the boys. So I know that there have been some rumblings online with the beach at the Mickey and Minnie cabanas. I, in my opinion, I think I saw what people have been talking about.
If you're looking at cabanas like 20 to 31, you're kind of at the end of the COVID per se.
And the erosion, in my opinion, is not as great.
At the end of the row of cabanas, we had as many chairs as we needed. I know that was another thing that there weren't chairs. I. We had couches and chairs and beach chairs and everything. So then we did go back and we did do snorkeling. We did. I did. We did. We did go snorkeling. Went back then to Pelican Point and went snorkeling. We did a little bit of Snorkeling. One of the reasons why we kept the Mickey and Minnie versus going to the Sandcastle is that you have your own food establishment.
I mean, yes, you're sharing it. It with Serenity Bay, but they're on their own side right of the building. Right. So you have your own.
[00:59:37] Speaker B: Yeah, it's just for the Mickey and Minnie cabanas. Yeah.
[00:59:40] Speaker A: You have your own buffet line for the Mickey and Minnie cabanas, and you have your own bar now. Yes. You have the little iPad that you can order a drink from, or you just go to the bar and you have your own bar as well.
So that was another reason why we wound up keeping the Mickey and Minnie command. And. And it really wasn't too bad. We. Did you get a bike rental with it?
So we did use the bikes.
My youngest is all about the Runway, so he wanted to be on the Runway and whatever. So we did ride to the observation tower and back.
[01:00:21] Speaker B: Yeah. That's a really good point to mention, though.
If you do get a cabana, with the cabana, you get those floaties. You get both the flat ones, the round floaties. You also get snorkeling equipment included.
So you can snorkel without paying an extra fee. I mean, you can snorkel without paying a fee if you bring your own gear, but you get the snorkel gear without paying an extra fear and fee, and you get a bike rental. So it's basically like as if you had booked that. The bike rental floaty snorkel package, it comes with your cabana.
[01:00:53] Speaker A: And so what we. We actually. And including my father, we have. Have a snorkel and mask. But what we did is we used it for flippers for. So. Right. So it's. Instead of having new schlep flippers.
[01:01:06] Speaker B: Yep. I always.
I have a mask, only I don't actually even own flippers, but I'll bring my own mask because I. You have prescription mask. And so I'll bring that with me. And then whatever. If I'm on a catamaran, if I'm at castaway, whatever, I will use there.
[01:01:22] Speaker A: Their.
[01:01:22] Speaker B: Their flippers if I want flippers.
[01:01:24] Speaker A: The only thing I will mention is that when we came back from the bike ride, it was right around like all shore was all aboard was like 3:30 or so. We made it back probably around 2 or so. I don't know if Serenity Bay has this issue, but, like, the water. If it like low tide, it was.
[01:01:44] Speaker B: You have no. You have no water. Yeah, it's the same.
[01:01:46] Speaker A: Yeah. There's no water.
[01:01:47] Speaker B: You have the same issue at the Sand Castle cabanas though too particularly at the higher number Sandcastle Cabana cabanas because they're at the end of kind of the COVID They're, they're part of the COVID and so yeah, you have very low tide usually at the end of the day. So you may, depending upon which cabana you're at, if you're at a, if you're at a lower number of either the Sand Castle or the Mickey and Minnie, you're in a slightly better position. But if you're at a higher number of either of those, you may have no water by the afternoon. I mean you, you can have water. You'll just have to walk further down the beach.
[01:02:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean there was, was water but I mean, I mean I'm six foot tall and I mean it was maybe up to my knee if and like there were points that it was just sand. Right. But yeah, so that was just something of, of when looking at the, at these cabanas I knew, I didn't realize but yeah, no, we liked it a lot.
[01:02:36] Speaker B: Now I gotta ask before I, before I move over to Rapid Fire, were any anything of note that your parents or your brother and sister in law experienced that they were, I don't know, surprised, Disappointed maybe it was elated by, I mean was there anything sort of notable for them or did they. Was it just kind of like, oh this is now a cool thing, maybe we'll do this again.
[01:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know if there was necessarily anything that necessarily stood out.
Our service team was great. We didn't have really any.
I mean he did charge my brother's drinks our room one night but we got that taken care of. But they were all the Fabio and Sistevon were their names and Sestevon. This was actually his last cruise. He was going home and he was planning on coming back but he was going to do. He was going to meet the dream. He only did a dream, he just wanted the dream, whatever.
And so he was going to meet the dream. I guess it's going over to Europe. So he was going to meet it, he was going to meet it in Europe and come back.
[01:03:49] Speaker B: Oh nice. Yeah. Because he'll be on his vacation while they're, you know, if he was going on vacation at the end of March or the beginning of April, he'll be on vacation for a couple of months. He will join the ship once it's over in Europe because the ship over in early May actually.
[01:04:05] Speaker A: So they were, I Mean, sure, they didn't do any of the origami or the puzzles or whatever, but they were lovely individual. We talked with them. We asked some questions.
They talked with us. And they were. They were. They were. They were great. Other than the fact that he charged my brother's drink to my room, but, yeah, they had that taken care of.
[01:04:24] Speaker B: Yeah. I gotta say, I'm. I don't need my servers to do tricks and origami and things like that. If they are friendly and they bring my food on time, you know, it's hot and. And they're friendly, like, that's. That's kind of my. That's my bar. But like, it. You know, it's great if you get somebody who's, like, really entertaining also.
[01:04:44] Speaker A: But it's not a couple minutes late to dinner at a royal. At a royal palace the first night. And we were delayed in getting our food, but after that, we made sure we were on time and early. And it was quick. I mean, it was. It was very. It was very quick.
[01:04:58] Speaker B: So love that. Awesome. Well, Philip, we have reached that point in the show where I'm going to subject you to some arbitrary rules, some arbitrary questions, and a dash of judgment, or the round we call rapid fire. We're going to start with some of your Disney favorites, and we're going to switch over to Disney Cruise Line favorites. I'm going to guess I'm going to say this right from the start. If your favorite Disney Cruise Line show isn't Beauty and the Beast, we're going to probably be in a fight because Aladdin wasn't bad.
[01:05:25] Speaker A: Aladdin wasn't bad because.
[01:05:27] Speaker B: I know. But you're choosing from the wish and you're choosing from the dream. So like I said, I'm saying it. If you don't choose Beauty and the Beast, we might have to end the show early. But, Philip, let's start with who's your favorite Disney character? And Disney means anything and everything that Disney owns.
[01:05:43] Speaker A: I have to go with Donald Duck.
[01:05:45] Speaker B: Love it. All right, what is your favorite Disney movie?
[01:05:50] Speaker A: Favorite Disney movie.
I'm going to have to go with Encanto right now.
[01:05:56] Speaker B: Nice. Awesome. All right. Favorite Disney song.
[01:05:59] Speaker A: Whenever I hear when you wish upon a star, either in horns or whenever, I always tear up. So I'm going to have to go with. Right now. I'm gonna have to go with that.
[01:06:10] Speaker B: Love it. All right, now we're switching over to Cruise Line. We're gonna start right at the. Right at where we're supposed to start. Which is your favorite Disney Cruise Line show.
[01:06:19] Speaker A: So it's gotta be Beauty and the Beast. It really.
That was. It was absolutely, absolutely incredible.
[01:06:27] Speaker B: Awesome. All right, good job. We don't have to end the show early. Okay, Philip, I gotta ask you, what is your favorite rotational dining restaurant?
[01:06:36] Speaker A: Favorite rotational dining restaurant. I want to go with 1923.
[01:06:41] Speaker B: Nice. All right. Love it. All right, what is your favorite savory item and a favorite sweet item? We're going to start with the sweets. Favorite thing to eat on board. That is a sweet item.
[01:06:52] Speaker A: I was trying to think of what.
What I. What the different desserts I had the lemon ice box cake at. Was it animators?
[01:07:02] Speaker B: Animators, Yep. That's what. Animators.
[01:07:03] Speaker A: That was pretty good.
I'll have to go with that one. One.
[01:07:06] Speaker B: Yeah. That's one of Brian's favorites. All right, what about a favorite savory item?
[01:07:11] Speaker A: So I'm gonna throw you for a loop here. So I really did. I think if I. If I haven't choose, throw aloe into it.
Yes. The chicken parm was delicious, but our Pirate Night crab cake was delicious.
[01:07:29] Speaker B: You are blowing my mind.
[01:07:31] Speaker A: I know.
It was crispy. It was warm. It was because we went to Pirate Night and because it was their first cruise, so I didn't want to, like, skip it or whatever. So we did the Pirate Night.
We went all out for Pirate Night. And honestly, I would have more of those. That was delicious.
[01:07:51] Speaker B: All right, I'm going to have to
[01:07:52] Speaker A: try that on Pirate Night.
[01:07:53] Speaker B: Yeah. All right. I'm going to have to go on Pirate Night. I'm going to have to go try that crab cake. I'm going to be honest. I mean, I love a crab cake, so.
[01:08:00] Speaker A: I know. I don't know.
We did enjoy it.
I enjoyed it a lot.
[01:08:06] Speaker B: Love it. All right, a favorite onboard activity.
[01:08:09] Speaker A: We like trivia. Let's just go. I know we didn't do a ton of it this cruise, but I think trivia would be a favorite of ours.
[01:08:17] Speaker B: Nice. All right, well, you've been on the Aqua Duck and on the Aqua Mouse. The aquaduck is on the Dream. The Aqua Mouse is on the Wish. I gotta ask you, which one do you like better?
[01:08:28] Speaker A: All right, so I'm going to say the Aquamouse. However, I didn't realize the process of getting up to the Aqua Mouse.
[01:08:37] Speaker B: No, you mean the AquaDuck. Because you have.
[01:08:39] Speaker A: Sorry, the AquaDuck. Yes, I'm going to say the AquaDuck. But I didn't realize the process of getting up to the Aqueduct. It's more stairs and yeah, Stairs and the weights. And we did have a kid fall off a raft. So that was.
That was. Stopped it. He was fine.
We did have the kids fall off the raft and we were already like halfway up the stairs.
But we did go. I took my youngest. He really wanted to do it at night, so I took him.
When we probably would have been in believe, I took him and there was no one. And there was almost no one in line.
And so this was 8 o'. Clock. 8:16.
[01:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah, that's the best time to go. If you can go during either of the dinner seatings or during the show. If you can go, it doesn't matter. You can go during the early dinner or the late dinner, but if you can. If it's open. It's not always open because it depends on the sea and wind conditions and all that. But that's like a wonderful time to go on any of the water slides.
[01:09:43] Speaker A: We did it like three times in probably 20 minutes. Like it was down and down, down, down, up.
[01:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I was gonna say the only negative is you have to keep going.
[01:09:52] Speaker A: If you're on stairs, if you're on
[01:09:54] Speaker B: the mouse, you can just stay on
[01:09:56] Speaker A: Deceiving where it's like, all right, yeah, I'm at the top of the staircase and you hang the left and they're like, oh, well, wait, there's two more in the funnel. Right?
So yeah, when we waited during the day, on our at sea day, it was a while, but then I did it again with my son and it was. Yeah, I just. We wrote it three times and there was no one.
[01:10:15] Speaker B: All right, right now the most important question, it's the second to last question of Rapid fire. But you know, this is coming.
Which ship do you like better, the Wish or the Dream?
[01:10:27] Speaker A: I'm going to say the Wish.
So.
[01:10:30] Speaker B: And we didn't even talk about Midship Detective Agency. I just realized.
[01:10:33] Speaker A: That's right, we did do Midship Detective Agency. That's right, we did do Midship Detective Agency. I'm going to say the Wish. The atrium threw me a little bit.
[01:10:41] Speaker B: Bit.
[01:10:42] Speaker A: Whenever we were in there, it was packed. When we, like we had.
When we went to the Rose, the restaurant, they were on the stage and I was like, are we supposed to, like go through them or around them or like, they're like. I feel like they're like blocking the stage for us to get into the restaurant. And I know there's like a side entrance too, but. So that was one thing. We were aft. So we were in the back of the Ship kind of where our rooms were going up into cabanas to, like, get out. Like, to me, that felt kind of odd because it was like closed and you had to go through cabanas.
[01:11:22] Speaker B: Yeah, because those aft stairwell and elevator. Well, takes. Yeah, I mean, it takes. Yeah, the stairwell takes cabanas. Yeah. It is a little different layout because with the Wish, you've got instead of having three elevator banks, you've got two, but they're both closer to midship. And I on Dream, you have three, but the. The aft and the forward are further aft and further.
[01:11:42] Speaker A: The forward. The forward, which we ran into, puts you out into an 18 over area too.
[01:11:50] Speaker B: So it's like you go to the top floor. Yeah, right.
[01:11:52] Speaker A: Like, are my kids supposed to be going out this way or are they not now? I did walk through there at one
[01:11:57] Speaker B: point without my kids. They can walk through there. So that's. It is. It's okay for kids. Kids are allowed to walk through an adult area, but they're not supposed to. To stay in the adult era.
[01:12:09] Speaker A: Let's put it that I saw some of that too.
Not on my kids, but I did see that happening as well.
[01:12:17] Speaker B: But, yeah, it's funny. I think there's, you know, there's a lot of people who criticize the layout of the Wish class, but I think there's a lot of benefits to be said about the layout of the Wish class. I think it actually solved a lot of problems.
[01:12:30] Speaker A: While I didn't spend a ton of time in the adult space on the Dream, I liked the fact that this adult areas on the Wish were separate and they're not just all the district area. Right. So.
[01:12:46] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Like, the bar space is being spread out and yeah, the pool space forced
[01:12:51] Speaker A: you to leave just the one lounge area.
I like that. At least on. On the Wish. So while I wanted to defend the Dream because though everyone likes the fantasy,
[01:13:02] Speaker B: I mean, there's nothing wrong with the Dream. She's a great chip. Listen, I'll go in the Dre tomorrow if somebody wants to take me, you know.
[01:13:09] Speaker A: Sure. Right.
[01:13:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:13:10] Speaker A: I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say the Wish, as currently my. As currently my. My favorite ship.
[01:13:16] Speaker B: All right, well, the last question of Rapid Fire is always your bucket list cruise. So if you could go anywhere in the world, you're a Parks guy. So I wonder if you're gonna choose an around the world parks trip.
Am I right?
[01:13:31] Speaker A: I gotta come up with a way to make it to all the parks.
Honestly, that would probably be really would if it's a good excuse to just hop on a ship and it just takes me to all the parts. I would do that. That would. That would be it.
[01:13:47] Speaker B: Awesome. Well Philip, thank you so much for joining me. It's been super fun. I love to get to talk to another strong islander and get some first time experiences. Of course this is your second cruise but first time experience for your family members. Thanks so much for joining me and I' say see you real soon to everybody listening.
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