Tray Tables and Time Zones

Disney Dreams Part 2: Sailing the High Seas with the Mouse

• Josh Bogle

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Dreaming of a Disney cruise but wondering if it's worth the premium price tag? After sailing on 12 Disney cruises and reaching Platinum status, I'm pulling back the curtain on what truly makes Disney Cruise Line different from other vacation options on the high seas.

From the classic ocean liner aesthetics of the Magic and Wonder to the newer, larger ships like the Dream, Fantasy, and Wish, each vessel offers its own unique character while maintaining that signature Disney magic. What stands out immediately is how masterfully Disney balances family-friendly excitement with sophisticated adult experiences – creating an atmosphere where Mickey Mouse feels right at home alongside elegant dining and upscale lounges.

The genius is in the details. The split bathroom design that allows multiple family members to get ready simultaneously. The rotational dining system where your servers follow you to different themed restaurants throughout your voyage, learning your preferences and creating personalized service. The adults-only areas like Serenity Bay on Castaway Cay and the quiet sophistication of the Cove Café. Each element is thoughtfully designed to elevate the cruise experience beyond what competitors offer.

Having recently returned from sailing on the Disney Dream with stops at both Castaway Cay and the newer Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point, I can attest that Disney's private destinations extend the magic to shore. While no vacation is perfect – Disney could improve their guest satisfaction survey system and refresh certain menus – the overall experience delivers exceptional value despite the premium price.

Whether you're considering your first Disney cruise or wondering if they're still worth it after pandemic-related changes, join me for an honest, detailed exploration of everything from stateroom comfort to entertainment quality, dining experiences to shore excursions. Discover why, after 12 sailings, I'm still eagerly planning my next voyage with Captain Mickey and crew.

Welcome to Tray Tables and Time Zones

Speaker 1

Flight 527, runway 8K. You're cleared for takeoff. This is your captain speaking. If you love travel, and we know you do, buckle your seatbelts and keep your tray tables in the upright position. You should be seeing the illuminated fun signs throughout the aircraft because we're about to take off on a chat of epic proportions. Welcome to Tray Tables and Time Zones, the podcast where travel isn't just about taking vacations, it's about enriching your life. We'll dive into the highs, the lows and the downright absurd moments that come with exploring the world. Whether it's food poisoning on a long-haul flight, trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp or traveling to Disney parks worldwide, we cover it all Serious at moments, but mostly we're here to laugh and share some brutally honest travel stories. So let's do it one time zone at a time. This is Trey Tables and Time Zones, and this is your host, josh Bogle. Tables and Time Zones, and this is your host, josh Bogle.

Speaker 2

Hey everyone and welcome back to another episode of Trade Tables and Time Zones. I'm your host, josh Bogle, and in today's episode we do part two of our Disney series. So everybody, I owe everyone an apology. It's been a while since I have put out a new episode.

Speaker 2

I got the Disney podcast series started and then kind of trailed off, and for that I apologize. I had a couple of things come up that really kind of precluded me from being able to podcast the way I wanted and get some recording done. It and get some recording done. One was planned, the other was not. So when I started the Disney series this year I was hoping to keep it pretty continuous, but I knew I had a trip coming up and I didn't know exactly how that trip would work out in the timing of the episodes. So originally this second part of the series was going to be about Disneyland and Disney World here in the US, but as circumstances turned out to be, it actually makes sense for this episode to be about Disney Cruise Line, and the reason being is that we had a Disney cruise planned for our spring break and so, the way timing worked out, we ended up going on the cruise before this second part got out. So now I'm going to switch it around a little bit, obviously, and make it where this episode is about Disney Cruise Line, because we just recently got back and the cruise is fresh in my mind and the other thing that held me back is when I got back from the cruise day or two later, I got really sick and I'm still not completely over it, but it's just more of like, you know, just hanging around a little bit here at the end, but I was really sick and it took me out for over a week and that really set me back on timing of getting this podcast done. So all that to say sorry for the delayed release, getting this podcast done. So all that to say sorry for the delayed release of this podcast. I'm hoping that now that I'm back and we're kind of in back into a routine, that I will get back on schedule and these will be coming out a lot more, how you've gotten used to them coming out every couple of weeks. All that to say I'm sorry and I'm glad to be back, because I'm really looking forward to talking about Disney Cruise Line.

Disney Cruise Line Fleet Overview

Speaker 2

So what can be said about Disney Cruise Line? Well, I mean, a lot of people are already going to know it's not something new. We're not breaking any new ground here, right? So I think probably the best way to go about this is I'll give a little background on Disney Cruise Line, just to you know. If there's some people that are listening to this that aren't necessarily familiar, it will get you a little familiar with the cruise line and then we can go into talking about specifics on ships and destinations and the sailings that I've done and you know what my thoughts are, kind of as an overview. We're not going to get too into the weeds because you know that's that's not really the intent of this podcast. This one is more just about kind of an overview and my thoughts and and and things about what has happened with Disney Cruise Line and what will happen in the future.

Speaker 2

But anyway, like I said, disney Cruise Line came into being in 1998 with the launch of the disney magic. So the disney magic and then her sister ship, the disney wonder, are the two oldest ships in the disney fleet. They're also the smallest right, so they hold about 2700 passengers at max capacity. Each one's art deco, one's art nouveau. They're a very classic ocean liner style of design, both exterior and interior, the colors, the wood, you know very classic looking. And then, after those two ships, came the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy, and they were a step up in size. So the dream debuted in 2011 and those two ships, the Disney fantasy and the Disney dream, have about 1250 state rooms with about a 4,000 person capacity, and they again were still leaned toward that classic ocean liner. You know luxury travel kind of ship, same type of colors, same type of design, you know using wood. You know more of the lacquered wood and the rich colors, very classic designs, very cool ships.

Speaker 2

And then here, most recently, has come the Wish Class, and so the Wish Class is the Disney Wish, the Disney Treasure, the Disney Destiny, is being built right now, and then I believe they're also going to use a Wish Class ship for Japan, as the Oriental Land Company, which is the majority owner of Disneyland in Japan, has put in an order for a Wish Class ship that will be based in Japan. And then, lastly, is the Adventure, which is a ship that Disney purchased after it had already mostly been built, and Disney took that ship, sent it to the shipyard and is having it completely refurbished and it will actually start, at least its life, sailing from Singapore and while the ship is not the classic Disney designed ship, the interiors have been completely redone to bring it in line with the rest of the fleet, but just the base design was not something that Disney originally planned for. So that's basically the fleet now. So it's six ships the Destiny is being built, the Adventure is coming online and then there will be the one in Japan.

Speaker 2

So relatively small fleet when you think of terms of like the very large cruise lines like Carnival, royal Caribbean, norwegian and then all the companies that they tend to own right. So, like Celebrity and Holland America and all those types of companies, they have pretty large fleets. Disney's is pretty compact, which makes it nice. You feel very familiar with the ships very quickly. So that's one of my favorite things about it is that you know what to expect with the ships because you can get to know them very quickly if you're a patron of Disney Cruise Line, because more than likely you're going to be able to get on most of them pretty quickly. So anyway, that's the background, to be able to get on most of them pretty quickly. So anyway, that's the background. A little bit of just quick background on Disney Cruise Line.

Speaker 2

Regarding the ships, disney also owns an island called Castaway Cay in the Bahamas, which it has for many, many years. It's the classic private island that you know, one ship at a time, and it is only Disney and it's all you know, and it is only Disney and it's all controlled, owned by Disney, and here recently they got not an island, but it's a portion of a much larger island. So there's an island called Eleuthera in the Bahamas and Disney took over a portion on the end of the island, which is called Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point. I always I have hell with that name and it hasn't been opened but about a year now, I guess somewhere around there, and we actually, on this last sailing that we did, was our first time visiting that. So I've got some thoughts on Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point Because, at least initially, there was some controversy around it and people had some pretty strong opinions Warranted, for the most part, I think, but I'll give my thoughts on it since I've finally been there.

My Disney Cruise History

Speaker 2

So in 2008, in October, my wife and I were invited by my parents to go on a Disney cruise. This was a trip that my parents had planned. They had wanted to take my two grandmothers my grandmother from my dad's side and my mom's side on a trip. My one grandmother had been on a cruise, but my dad's mom had never been on one, and so they thought it would be neat to give them the opportunity to go out on the cruise. And since we're a huge Disney family, it just made sense to give Disney Cruise Line a shot, right? And so, because they were making those reservations, they reached out to my wife and I and asked if we wanted to come along as well. That they would. You know, they would take care of everything, and if we wanted to come, and so we said, absolutely we would love to come. You know, we were a young couple, only a couple of years out of law school, and so the chance to get to go on a cruise sounded great to us. So we went, and that trip was a what? What was it like? A three night sailing? Yeah, so it was three nights, uh, on the Disney wonder, and it was an amazing time. It was a great way to introduce ourselves to the cruise line. Right? Disney cruise line at that point had been around 10 years, so they had a lot of things figured out, you know they had. They had fine tuned a lot of, a lot of their processes and things, and so we we had a great time. It was a great introduction to not only cruising but to Disney cruising, and if you've ever been on a Disney cruise, you know. You know it's quite a bit different than other cruise lines in the way they do things. And so we had an absolute amazing trip, came back, wanted to go again, so we did Eventually.

Speaker 2

In 2010, we went on our second trip, again on the Wonder, and then from there we started sailing somewhat regularly. We sailed a couple of times in 2013. That was both on the Dream. Each time again. Then there was a gap from 14 to 19. There was a five-year gap where we didn't sail. I don't know why. I know my wife and I were pretty busy during those times. You know we were kind of still not super deep in our careers, but starting to get to the point where we had a lot going on, and so you know it probably just didn't make a lot of sense. We were probably, if I remember correctly, we were doing a lot of smaller trips and things like that. Also, around that same time, we started to get into some international travel, and so we did some trips overseas and I had done some trips and so, you know, the time was taken up on those things and we just didn't have really a ton of time to sail.

Speaker 2

But then again in 2019, we got back into sailing and did another trip on the wonder, and then, in 21, we did a trip on the fantasy and then 21. Again, we went on the wonder, and then 22 on the magic, 22 on the wish, 23 on the magic and then 22 on the Magic, 22 on the Wish, 23 on the Magic and then 25, we just went on the Dream. So for me that is 12 total cruises. So I'm Platinum with Disney. Of course, I turned Platinum a couple of cruises ago, and of course that's when they, you know, are throwing out that they had introduced Pearl, which is 25 cruises, and I was like, oh, come on, I finally reached the pinnacle, the platinum level at Disney, and they moved the finish line on me. That's okay, it gives me something else to reach for. I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

Speaker 2

So I've been on every ship in the fleet at this point except for the treasure. So, again, just like the the Pearl versus platinum I had finally, you know, done the full grand slam of all the ships, and then I had done the wish, so I'd gotten the fifth ship. So I was all square, I'd been on every ship, and then, of course, the trip. So I've got to sell the treasure eventually, and then I'll have to sell the other ones as well, because I can't let that die. So anyway, all that to say, I've been on quite a few sailings. Uh, there's certainly a lot of people out there that have been on a lot more than I have. But I think it gives me a fairly decent view and understanding of Disney Cruise Line, what it has to offer, what makes it great, what it can always improve on and why we just keep going back.

Speaker 2

I will also share that out of those sailings we've done several of the specialty ones. So for the most part, most of those sailings were to the Caribbean. We've sailed out of Miami, we've sailed out of Fort Lauderdale, we've sailed out of Galveston and then we also the longest trip we ever took with Disney was to Northern Europe. We sailed on the Magic in Northern Europe and that was an absolute amazing trip. But that trip we sailed from Dover and then came back in and ended in Copenhagen. So that was an amazing trip and I'll definitely talk about that one. But the rest of them have for the most part been in the Caribbean, eastern Caribbean, western Caribbean, both places.

Speaker 2

Like I said, I've been on all of the ships. The Wonder is probably still my favorite, although between the Wonder and the Magic I mean they kind of share that. The Wonder was my first ship I ever went on with Disney and then the Magic was the one I had sailed on on the furthest distance in Europe. We've also done a sailing over Thanksgiving, which was awesome. We've done the maritime sailings at Christmas time, we've done the Halloween sailings and then, of course, we've done the Northern Europe trip and so we've had oh and we've also done the Marvel day at sea and so we've done quite a few of the specialty days. Uh, on board the ships, um I in either in Northern Europe we had when we were in Norway, we did the the Elsa Frozen Day, where we had the Frozen Deck Party, which was a lot of fun as we were sailing up through the fjords. So we've definitely done a lot of the specialty-type cruises, specialty-day cruises, and those are a blast and Disney does those really well. Disney does those really well.

Speaker 2

So if you've never been on a Disney cruise or you've only been on a, you know a few or one, or you know whatever. Then you might be wondering you know just what. What's it all about, right? What makes Disney cruise line better than other cruise lines? And for me it really starts with that Disney magic, right? So you're already starting off with a checkmark from me because you're incorporating your IP into the cruise, right? So I'm just not getting generic design ship, I'm getting a Disney design ship. Right, but it's done in such a way where it's not just throwing up cartoons all over the place or drawings of Mickey everywhere. It's very elegantly done. That's one thing that I will give Disney a ton of credit for is the incorporation of the Disney IP into the ship, but doing it in such a way where it is not garish and like over the top. Right, it's very elegantly done. You know paintings and the artwork and the sculptures and even like the colors of the paint, right, none of it's garish, none of it's over the top. It's all very pleasing to the eye and you definitely get all of the Disney feel. But it, you know, it's not as if you gave a three-year-old a box of crayons and said you know, design this wall for me. So I will give them a ton of credit on the design because I love the design, design, because I love the design.

What Makes Disney Cruises Special

Speaker 2

Now, speaking of design, because that's really the first thing you see, I think Disney really hit the nail on the head with the first four ships in the design of it being that classic ocean liner. I think that is a beautiful take on how to design a ship and how to decorate it in a very pleasing way. Right, it's definitely nautical, it feels nautical and I think for the early ships that makes absolute sense. Right, you want to get that feel, especially when they were first starting out. You wanted it to be a cruise ship, you wanted to make sure to reiterate that tie to the sea.

Speaker 2

But I will say this over time, starting with the Wish, really, and now the Treasure, disney has started theming the ships differently. Right, even there, the design, as far as the art, the paint colors, the flooring choices, those types of things. Right, not the actual ship shape, ship shape, not the actual layout of the ship, so much as what makes it look nice. And I think, the the wish, having seen it with my own eyes and then having seen video and such of the treasure you know again, while they've moved slightly away from the nautical ocean liner theme and more into a modern palette, I mean it's, it's very, very nice. Even though the wish wasn't my favorite ship, which I can get into later the design, as far as the paint colors and the brightness of it and the way it felt, was very, very, very well done. So I I again.

Speaker 2

You know disney has always had a flair, for you know design is and ways to immerse you into a feeling, whether it be a ride or a hotel or whatever that is. This is much the same way, right. It makes you feel a certain way. It makes you feel how you want to feel, right when you're thinking about Disney. So aesthetically pleasing, disney ships are about as aesthetically appeasing as you can get, while managing to still incorporate the fact that this is indeed a Disney ship and that you know Mickey and Minnie are the basis of a lot of things. You know the IP is the basis of a lot of things. These characters and these worlds they've created are incorporated perfectly into the ships. I think they are. I think it's not over the top, it's not ridiculous, it's very elegant, very well done. But you know you're on a Disney ship, which is what I want. If I'm sailing with Disney, I want Disney, but I also want an elegant experience and they managed to do that. I think they do that as well or better than anyone else in multiple types of mediums, right, not just ships, but pretty much everything Disney does is that way. So well, outside of a few hotels at Disney World which are pretty over the top, but anyway, that's neither here nor there. So the design is great.

Speaker 2

The size of the ships again, even the Wish, which is the biggest the ships tend they will feel crowded, right, especially on, like, a sea day, which that makes sense. There's nobody getting off the ship on a sea day, which that makes sense, there's no, there's nobody getting off the ship on a sea day, right, but for the most part you don't feel like you can't move, right, you've, you've have plenty of room. Um, you know, when you're at dinner you don't feel like you're smushed in amongst a huge crowd. Uh, when you're, you know, roaming around, you know you don't tend to feel like everybody's on top of you. The way they split out activities and things going on on the boat, it helps to move people around enough to get you space. So I think they do a good job of managing the crowds. Again, you're on a ship in the ocean, there's a lot of people on board. You're going to tend to run into crowds, right, and it's just the nature of it. Especially, like I said, on a sea day, when you're trying to go to the pool or watch a movie on the funnel vision outside or go on the slides or whatever, then yes, there's going to be crowds, but there's enough things going on on the ship that you know it keeps it somewhat reasonable Staterooms so we have always stayed in ocean view or veranda staterooms, except for one time when we stayed in a inside cabin.

Speaker 2

And while the inside cabin was perfectly fine as far as comfort goes and room, there was plenty of all of that but I will say I don't think I'll ever stay in an inside cabin again, and the reason was there was no window and as much as you tell yourself, or at least for me, as much as I told myself well, I have an alarm clock. You know I'll be able to, you know, manage the the the time by using alarm clocks and I always have my phone and whatever, so I always know what time it is. It won't mess with me too bad. I was wrong about that because there's no natural light in the room. It is very hard to tell your body oh hey, it's time to wake up, or hey, it's getting late or whatever. Just the lack of light threw me off. And I'm sure some people it's perfectly fine, they handle it, no problems. I'm just not one of those people. So for me it's worth it to at least get an ocean view room where you have a window or a veranda where you actually can walk outside onto the veranda and look at the water and feel the ocean and feel the air. But either way, as long as that light's coming in, I'm pretty content.

Speaker 2

Now, I've never sailed in concierge, just never have found the need to. I would love to try it, especially some of the bigger rooms that they have available up there, but I just never have. It's just one of those things that we we haven't done yet, but I'm sure there will be a time when we do. And from what I hear because I've always heard that Disney concierge is really good, you know, kind of once you do it you don't ever want to go back, and I understand that. I mean that's kind of the same way I feel about flying business class internationally versus coach. Once you move up to business class and have experienced that lie, flat seat and the better food and the better service and all those things it's very hard to go to the back of the plane again. Very, it's very hard to go to the back of the plane again. So I think probably it's that same way for cruising and concierge. So I almost don't want to do it just because I know that if I really enjoy it I'm going to be sucked into to, to keeping that status up and I don't know if I want to do that.

Speaker 2

But again, you know, for some people it's great, some other people the inside rooms are great. I you know, whatever gets you on the boat is is whatever you should do. I mean it. It doesn't matter to me, because the one nice thing about Disney is is that I've always been told and from what I can tell, this is the case Disney has always had on the larger side of staterooms. They've always tended to have more room and I think that's absolutely the case.

Speaker 2

The cabins have always been very roomy and one of the most genius things that I think has ever been done on a cruise ship was when Disney did the split bathroom design. And what I mean by that is almost every single cabin on a Disney ship except for, I think, certain inside rooms at the very lowest level. At the very lowest level have what's called a split bathroom, and that means that behind one door is a toilet and a sink right, and then there's another door next door to that one, that is, the shower slash tub and another sink right slash tub and another sink right, so you can actually have someone using the toilet side for the toilet's intended purpose, right, and another person can be in the shower side getting ready or taking a shower or whatever, and the two aren't disturbing each other, right, they're not taking each other's time. So you can actually two people can get ready essentially the same time and you're not piled into one room together, you're actually separated. So it's really really nice. You know, when you have younger kids or you know daughters or you know my son's in there taking a shower, I can still go use the restroom or brush my teeth or wash my hands or whatever, and he can have his own private time, same way with my daughter or my wife. It all works out. You have your own private area right when you need it. So that makes it really, really nice, and I think that's one of the more genius things that Disney has ever come up with on a cruise ship. It just works. I don't know why other cruise lines haven't tried to copy it, because I know, for the most part, the people that I've always talked to or you know, watch their videos or read about. They all feel the same way that the split bathroom design is just such a game changer that they don't know how anybody else doesn't do it. So, anyway, that's a great part of the cabin.

Speaker 2

The closets are pretty standard, very big, very nice, plenty of room to put your shoes, your clothes, and I've always found that Disney's rooms have plenty of storage, especially the four original ships. There's tons of storage. I mean, this was probably the last cruise that we'll be able to take where we use one cabin, last cruise that we'll be able to take where we use one cabin after this. You know the my kids are to the point in age where, when we sail again, they're going to need their own cabin, but up until that point we've always been able to fit. You know, my clothes, my wife's clothes, my daughter's clothes and my son's clothes all in the same room, right, without any problems. And we don't necessarily pack super heavy, but we don't pack super light either. Right, like, we're pretty reasonable. I think we're probably pretty representative of most folks and because of that I think the clothes are going to the storage for clothing and shoes and those types of things is going to be fine on a Disney ship. It's just done really well.

Speaker 2

And of course, they've got the elevated bed where you can put all your luggage underneath there and get it out of the way. I've always thought that was really good, and then we've always gotten rooms. Well, for the most part, when all four of us have gone, you know you have a room where you have the couch that turns into a bed, and then you have the bunk that comes out of the ceiling, um, that you can sleep on. And then now they've changed that where some of the rooms also have a fold-down bed like a Murphy bed in them. So that's really nice as well. But there's always been plenty of room and places for everyone to sleep, and that's another great thing. I will say that because the couch turns into a bed.

Speaker 2

The couch is exceedingly uncomfortable to me. I've always thought the couch could be so much more comfortable. I don't know if it's the angle and the cushioning. I think it's probably a combination of the angle of the back and the cushioning being pretty hard and firm. It just seems like I can't get comfortable on the couch. I very much want to sit on the couch because I don't want to just lay on the bed, but the couch is pretty uncomfortable. I will say I love having it. I'll use it, no doubt, but it's it's. It serves two masters and at least for the sitting side of it it doesn't do a great job of it, but I'm happy to have it. The balconies two chairs, a little table, plenty of room. You know four people can be out there very easily. You know, checking out the water, watching the world go by, and so no, no problem with the balconies.

Speaker 2

I've always loved the toiletries that Disney puts in there. There's something about that shampoo, especially the green shampoo, kind of smells. You know ocean needs it's. It's a, it's an ocean based soap. As far as using, like I don't know, algae or whatever from the ocean seaweed. It smells really good and I've always loved it. So the toiletries are all kind of based around that. They used to be oh God, I forget the name under a certain brand, right, and then that brand, I believe, went out of business or whatever. Disney purchased it Anyway, and now it's just kind of a Disney branded shampoo, conditioner, body wash, but they all smell really good. It's the same formulas. They feel really good.

Speaker 2

I always love taking a shower on a Disney ship, and the other thing is is the damn water pressure is so good on the ship. I mean you can take a very long, very hot, very powerful shower and enjoy it quite well. I mean that's one of my favorite things to do is getting those showers, because they are certainly very powerful. So I love the water pressure. And as far as everything else goes, I've always slept great on Disney beds. I've always heard that everybody else sleeps very well on Disney beds. I know some of it's just the slight movement of the ship that kind of rocks you to sleep. The mattresses, though, are very comfortable.

Rotational Dining and Restaurant Experience

Speaker 2

The room attendants that take care of your rooms. They still clean them up twice a day. They still do turn down, they do the towel animals. They're usually very, very friendly, very, very helpful and very good, right. They manage to sneak in and out of your room while you're not in the room and get it cleaned up and ready for you when you come back, and they do a great job of that. And so the room attendants, the room stewards, do an amazing job. On Disney, as I will say, the staff as a whole does a wonderful job. But since we're kind of starting in the rooms, it's just a fantastic, fantastic thing that those room stewards do such a good job and take care of the room so well. Like I said, I've never really had one that didn't do a great job. They work very hard and they do a hell of a job.

Speaker 2

So another unique thing to look for in a Disney cruise is that Disney does something called rotational dining, and rotational dining is that Disney has three main dining rooms on their ships for dinner and all of them are themed differently, right, right. So, and of course they're always themed, you know, or based on design, with a basis on a Disney princess or a Disney movie or character, you know whatever, and then, based kind of slightly on that theming, will be kind of the menu and how the menu is set up. Is it more, you know, uh, southern based, or is it more French based, or or, or whatever? Um, maybe the case, you know, as far as the theming goes, we'll give a slight nod to the menu and what uh type of food may be featured in that, in the uh, in the dining room. And so what is cool about it is is when you get on board you learn what your dinner rotation is, and basically that says that every night, here's where you're having dinner, and there's two seatings, right, it's a five, 45 and eight, 15. And so you'll have one of those dinner seatings and at that time, that's when you go to dinner and you go to the dining room that you've been assigned.

Speaker 2

So you know, first night you might be in Lumiere's. You know, second night, you might be in animators palette. Third night, you might be in enchanted garden, right. And then, once you reach that third night, if you're on a sailing that's longer than three nights, then you will start back over, right, or the rotation will take you back through the restaurants, and then the second time through the menus will be slightly different than the first, right. So it's a very unique concept.

Speaker 2

But because that you move through each dining room, you keep your waitstaff. So, whatever waitstaff at whatever table that you get the first night, your head waiter, your server and your assistant server will actually move to each dining room with you. So every night you will have the exact same waitstaff. They will know your names. They will know what you like to drink, you know they will know everything about you, know how you do dinner and they'll adjust to that as they go through. I like this because I'm not having to tell someone constantly new. You know, no, I want this to drink or no, I like it this way or whatever. When I sit down at the table, they already know. They know exactly what I want to drink. They know you know how I tend to order. Do we eat fast? Do we eat slow? You know whatever. They're going to learn very quickly. Do we eat slow? You know whatever. They're going to learn very quickly.

Speaker 2

And I will say that Disney servers in the restaurants, in the main dining restaurants, do a very, very good job. We have had good ones and we have had great ones. I've got several that I can think of that were fantastic and some that were just okay. You know what I mean. I mean we've never had bad service. I'll say that We've never had bad service. We've had, you know, times where service has been slow and we've had service where they didn't anticipate things quite like others had Right. So, again, never had bad service, but it's not always excellent. You're going to run into some teams that either are new, working together or are just, you know, for whatever reason, when you're on board, are not giving it their all or or whatever the case may be, but, like I said, for the most part, very attentive, very good.

Speaker 2

You know, uh, we had a, a, a assistant waiter, louise, who I'll call out here from England, on our uh, sailing in Northern Europe on the magic, and she was an absolute joy Like she and my daughter gave each other. You know, I mean by the end they were such fast friends, you know they were. They would mess with each other and joke with each other, and it was my daughter's birthday on the ship, but she didn't like to be sung to or anything like that. It was embarrassing, you know she was at the time. She was, oh God what, 13, 12, 13. And so she was, you know, preteen, early teen, and you uh, by that kind of stuff. And so Louise just messed with her. My daughter would be riding, you know, the elevator and Louise would be outside of one of the dining rooms. You know, if they were doing like a sit down lunch in there or whatever, louise would just wave real big and she would kind of like sing to her every time she saw her and it was hilarious, right. They, they had a really fun time messing with uh, messing with each other, and you know Louise was dead on it.

Speaker 2

You know we, we always drink Shirley temples on Disney cruise line. It's just a tradition with my family. We've been doing it for a very, very long time and I mean right after the first day, boom, we walked up to the tables. The Shirley temples would already be sitting there by the end. You know there's like a big bowl of maraschino cherries on the table and and it just fantastic, world-class service, right. Another time on the wonder, we had a waiter and I can't remember his name and I wish I could and the assistant waiter there the server was from the Philippines and our assistant waiter was from Indonesia. So good with the kids. I mean just amazing and great magic tricks and little puzzles and things to to keep everybody entertained and we just laughed and had a great time with them. So, like I said, the service is always going to be good. But you're going to find on Disney at least for me, this is what I've seen that more times than not. It's going to be quite a bit better than good. It's going to be great, right. It's going to have Disney magic. It's going to have that little bit of pixie dust sprinkled in and just make things even better.

Speaker 2

Right Now, the one thing I will say about the waiters is that they are very beholden to a survey that you will learn about. It used to be in paper, now that you do it on the app, but at the end of the cruise they have a kind of an overall cruise survey that you take and a lot of the questions are about the food service side of things, especially in the dining rooms. And when you get close to the end of that cruise, the waiters will bring that up several times and I will say I know it's not their fault, I know that they are kind of being forced into the situation and every cruise, I know it's coming, I know it's coming and I hate it every time it comes and that is the waiters having to ask the guests to please give them fives, you know, or the highest rating, because anything less than the highest rating can affect them, right, affect, you know if they get a next contract. You know their, their advancement within the dining team. You know everything, right, it can affect everything to them. And so they ask the guests, you know, to provide these certain rankings.

Speaker 2

And again, I know it's coming and I know it's not their fault, but I hate that part of it, I just do it bothers me and I know it's not their fault, but they, they, they do it and it just, it just aggravates the shit out of me, and I've even said this in in on the surveys and in in in correspondence with Disney before. You know, it's a shitty thing. Like I wish they would figure out a way to be able to evaluate their staff without having to do that or or without having to put so much emphasis or whatever they do with the survey. I understand it's important and you have to. You have to be able to evaluate staff because they have a standard to uphold. But let's figure out some other way to do it where they don't have to come to the guest with their hat in hand asking for these ratings on this survey so that they can help maintain their position within the company. I think it's bullshit, it's demeaning to them. I don't think they enjoy having to do that. I don't look forward to it as a guest, and so that is one thing that if I could change within the dining portion of the cruise, it would be that Because I just want to enjoy my interaction with them and the way that they take care of the table and I don't want them to have to come to me to ask for help with the survey so that they can maintain their position. I think that's a shitty way of treating your employees and I wish Disney would figure out a better way to do it. I'm not saying I have the answers, I'm just saying figure something out.

Speaker 2

But saying all that, what's the main reason you go to the dining rooms for? Well, that's the damn food. And I will say this While it is large, large amounts of people are being served large amounts of food, and there's only so much you can do with food that you're having to produce at that level right, that amount of right there's always going to be given takes within the food. But I will say Disney does a hell of a job, keeping a pretty good quality of food.

Speaker 2

There are certain things on every menu that I've ever had on Disney that are just spot-on fantastic in the main dining and there's some that I don't like. I think, for example, the Pirate Night menu. The Pirate Night menu is absolute trash. There's nothing on there that I like. It's always trash and it's been trash forever, and I don't know that I've ever heard many people say you know what I love Pirate Night menu? I don't think they do, and yet Disney has never changed it, which I still don't understand how they haven't gotten the word from the surveys or from whatever, that nobody likes the damn pirate night menu.

Speaker 2

But outside of that, the food is very nice, it's very good, it's consistent, there's plenty of choice and with Disney you can have as much as you want and you can have whatever you want. If I want three appetizers and one entree and dessert, I can have that. If I want an appetizer, a salad, a soup, an entree and two desserts, absolutely fine, I mean, they will, they will cater it to however you want, absolutely. If you want the black truffle per sets and you want three bowls of them, they'll bring you three bowls of them, right? If you like the avocado tuna tower, same thing. If you want more than one, they'll bring you whatever you want. If you want another round of prime rib, or if you want to have steak but you also want to have some of the scallops, they'll they'll make it happen. I mean, that is one thing that they do really well in the food is that if there's something that you like, then just ask for more of it, because they will bring it to you and they won't, won't question, won't do anything, they will happily do it.

Speaker 2

And so the one thing that is true about Disney and when it comes to the food and the main dining, you will not go hungry. I mean, if you want to eat, you can eat right, as much or as little as you want, and I have always enjoyed it. I've never had, you know, just an absolute horrible meal. They've always been good. And if there is something wrong or something you don't like, man, they will take care of that in a heartbeat. All you have to do is tell them. You know, you just got to get in your brain that you can just say, hey, I don't like this, or I don't like the way this is cooked, or whatever. Can I do something else and they will, no questions asked, make sure it make it happen. So, when it comes to main dining, fantastic.

Speaker 2

Now, as some of you will probably know, especially the ones, of course, that have cruised with Disney before Disney also has some specialty restaurants, one, sometimes two, depending on the ship right. So the Magic and the Wonder have Palo, and then the Dream and the Fantasy have Palo and Remy right, and then, like the Wish, has Palo Steakhouse and Enchante. So Palo is an Italian-based restaurant, remy is a French-based restaurant, and then Paolo's Steakhouse is an Italian steakhouse and Enchante is a French-based restaurant as well. I think most Disney Cruise Line people will tell you that they have a very, very special spot in their heart for Palo. I don't remember the last time I went on a Disney ship where I didn't go to Palo.

Speaker 2

It is always an amazing meal at Palo. The service is top-notch. It is adults only. You have to have a reservation, it is an extra charge, but it is absolutely worth it. The food is fantastic, the service is great, the drinks are great. It is a fine dining restaurant onboard ship with a very high quality of food, very high quality of service and I think is always worth doing. Remy is actually a step up. It is very much fine dining, very much course-based small plates, a seven-course meal, cheese courses, things like that, and then Palo Steakhouse and Enchante. I haven't tried either one of those yet. The last time we were on the Wish it was just a very quick three night to try out the ship, so we didn't have time because we were trying all the main dining. I plan on trying those in the near future, but Palo is always great.

Speaker 2

Palo is also available on certain days for Palo brunch, which it's changed since COVID. There used to be a very large brunch buffet and then you would also sit down and order dishes as well. That's different. Now they don't do that anymore. They don't do that anymore. They kind of have these any pasta plates that they bring out, you know, with a variety of little meats and seafood and things on it. So the buffet is no longer there, which is sad, and I think they should bring it back. I will always advocate they should bring it back, because that's one of the things that made Palo brunch so great.

Speaker 2

But you know, if you go to Palo brunch, just do yourself a favor get the lasagna, get the chicken parm, get the spicy sausage pizza. I mean it's fantastic, it's absolutely fantastic. You know it's a great thing to do. So if you get a chance to try both dinner and brunch, do them both. They're both worth it.

Speaker 2

At dinner I will say I am a huge fan of the Asabuco. It is amazing, it is just beautiful. The one I had on this most recent cruise here a couple of weeks ago was probably the best one I'd have yet and it was just a thing of beauty on a lovely bed of creamy polenta. Just, ah, just, primo, you know chef's kiss and their calamari is always a great appetizer to get. Their antipasta is a great appetizer to get. They do a beautiful souffle, they do an amazing tiramisu. They also have an orange almond cake. That is fantastic. I mean honestly, for Palo, for brunch, for dinner, you can't go wrong. Just, you know, if you want to go have a nice dinner with your spouse away from the kids, if you have kids, then you know what, go to Palo and enjoy, because it's just such a lovely, lovely meal.

Adult Areas and the Cove Café

Speaker 2

And to really round out the eating situation eating establishment on the ships. So, like most of the cruise lines, disney takes advantage of the pool deck, you know, being used by majority of folks to have several quick service restaurants right, to have several quick service restaurants right, and those vary from ship to ship, but for the most part they will have pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, shawarma, burrito bowls, tacos. The Wish and the Treasure have more like barbecue available and have a wider variety of food that you simply just walk up and grab right, like if you want a burger and fries in the middle of the day while you're sitting by the pool, then you can just walk up there and order it and they'll make it for you and hand it off to you. So that's pretty much available most of the day. Some of those spots will start closing toward the end of the evening. The pizza, especially, usually stays open pretty late and it's just standard pizza, right. But if you're hot or if you've been out in the sun or whatever, it tastes pretty damn good. It's probably just because it's on the ship and everything, but it's pretty decent pizza. I wouldn't probably order it on shore, but when you're on the ship it tastes pretty damn good and all that stuff is pretty good, but it's pretty standard fare, right.

Speaker 2

And then in the last bit of true meals, food that I'm going to discuss is the buffet. So everybody knows cruise ships have buffets. Disney is no different. A majority of the folks on board the ship are going to take their breakfast and their lunch in the buffet. I will say that Disney's buffet is pretty good. They'll have a lot of things on there, a lot of variety. You know there'll be hits or misses A lot of times when they have like specialty things at lunch, so like if they have Latin food or indian food or whatever. Those are usually pretty good.

Speaker 2

And then of course they have all the standard things. You know the famous, loved by everyone that I can think of chicken fingers. You know chicken strips that disney has. They have those every day. Um, you know you can obviously get. You know cheeseburgers and pizza and those things. But then they'll have, you know, some steak, some chicken dishes, some fish dishes, some pastas, salads, seafood. You know they'll have a little bit of everything. Same way, at breakfast you know it'll have a variety of your standard breakfast items and then some elevated things here and there. You know some eggs benedict or some omelets, waffles, mickey waffles, things like that. Various kinds of eggs, steak and eggs. Sometimes, you know, also like grilled mushrooms and kind of an English breakfast feel, and then they'll have a few things that are more of Asian style, like they'll have miso soup and they'll have fried rice and things like that for breakfast as well, and so there's a fair amount of variety there.

Speaker 2

I will say that on the first four ships. So on Magic and the Wonder and the Dream and the Fantasy, the buffet is called Cabanas and you serve yourself, right. So it's a true buffet. You go up, you get your own food and everything, but they have people walking around, obviously, picking trays up off tables and cleaning tables and things like that, and they'll help you if you need help. I like Cabanas much better than what they have done on the new ship, at least on the Wish, because that's the one I've been on, where they did the buffet as Marceline Market.

Speaker 2

Now, I love the design as far as the aesthetic goes, but I thought they screwed up a lot of ways on this buffet. One since the ship really came to be during the pandemic times really came to be during the pandemic times, they put up glass protectors between the people, the guests and the food, right. So you actually have to have people serve you the food off the buffet. So you have to talk to someone and tell them hey, I want some of that or this or whatever. That's a real pain in the ass. I mean, when you have a lot of people in there and you're trying to grab food and you want certain things you know from different spots that are near these folks.

Speaker 2

You know it creates a lot of back and forth and no, can you give me more of this, or no, I don't want that, I want this, and it becomes a whole thing and it adds to an already shitty kind of setup for me and Marceline, in that it doesn't seem to be big enough for the amount of people on the ship. So we always struggled to try to find a decent table to sit at, to sit at. And then the other thing is they created it in stations, which is kind of how Cabanas is done, but this is more broken up. Marceline Market is. But they left very little room between, like kind of where the tables start or where they have, um, you know, some dividers or where they have some dividers, and the buffet line. So it gets very crowded up near the food because people are waiting for the servers to fill food onto their plates or whatever, and then there's people that are waiting to get up there so they can actually be served and it gets very claustrophobic very fast.

Speaker 2

I know that I really was annoyed by it and I know that my wife was as well and in fact my kids are the same way. They didn't. They didn't like it. My daughter would go up and try to get something and if any other little kid got near her they would assume that this was like a big sister helping a little sister or something right. She just couldn't get her own food. She kept getting questioned or she would get really tiny amounts because they thought it was going to somebody else or whatever. All this to say, all this to say it's not great. Again, I love the design and the aesthetic of the space itself, but the way it's set up and then having to have them serve you, it's not ideal. I don't like it at all. It's one of the things that I did not like about the wish and the wish class. Assuming they keep everything the same, which I have no reason to think that they're not going to that. I just it turned me off about it. I didn't like it at all.

Speaker 2

The main food right is the rotational dining on the ships, the quick service up by the pool and the buffet. Now, one thing that is very present on the first four, a little spot called the Cove Cafe. Now, the Cove Cafe is a place that's very near and dear to my heart. I'm a big coffee guy. I love coffee, right, and the Cove is the kind of the coffee house of the cruise ship. You know, that's where you can go and get specialty coffees and you know an espresso or a latte or you know some kind of sweet concoction coffee that younger kids like and stuff. But what makes it nice is it's also kind of like a higher-end liquor bar. It's very quiet in there and it's an adult-only establishment. Right, you have to be 18 to go in there and it is in the section of the ship that is the adult-only section. So a couple things before I get to the actual cove. Please do me a favor. Couple things before I get to the actual cove. Please do me a favor.

Speaker 2

If you cruise with Disney, there's so many places that the kids can be on the ship, right, they have tons of play spaces and pools and everything else. Do me a favor if you have smaller kids or younger kids and respect the adult only areas. Don't bring your kids in there, don't, like. Let them walk with you into the Cove, you know, don't? They don't have any reason to be in there, right? And so be respectful of the adults that are in there hanging out that are either taking a break from their kids because their kids are doing a youth activity or something like that, or are sailing just as adults. Right, disney does a very good job of separating those adult areas. You know the adult restaurants, the adult swimming pool, the adult bars, the cove, that space it's very nice on Disney ships. They do a hell of a job there To create a space that adults can go and relax. That's not kid centric. But I've noticed more and more on the ships I'll see kids in and out of that area. You know some people are just walking through and if you just walk through to an elevator bank or whatever, fine, but don't bring your kid into the cove when you're ordering coffee, you know, and? And they shouldn't be sitting in in the, in the sun loungers, in the adult area. They just, they just shouldn't, right? I mean, here's the thing, and this is the kind of segue here.

Speaker 2

My daughter loves coffee, like I do. I mean, obviously she's more being a teenager, she's more into the you know, quote Starbucks style drinks. You know that are more sweet and have a lot of ingredients or whatever, but she loves it and so a lot of times that's one of the things that she and I will do, is, in the mornings or whatever, we will get coffee together. Now, sometimes she comes with me, sometimes she stays in the room or wherever, and I go get it. But she knows that the cove is adult only and so when we walk up there she will just grab a seat at one of the tables in the regular area. Before I go into the adult area and she'll just wait on me. I'll go into the co area and she'll just wait on me. I'll go into the cove, I'll order a couple of coffees, come back out, bring her one, you know, bring hers to her and we're all good right.

Speaker 2

But on this last cruise, for example, I turned around at one point, being in the cove, and there was like this little kid, you know eight years old or whatever, in there in like a wet towel, with, you know, her parent hanging out, and I'm like what is happening? It's, it's, it's a, it's a very clear sign. You know, I mean, I understand if it's your first time sailing, it's just a mistake. Okay, right, but come on, pay attention and just respect those areas. Don't put the Disney cast members in the position where they have to tell you to get your kid out of the adult areas. Right, police it yourself. Let's take a little bit of responsibility and just manage it ourselves. It'll be OK, right.

Speaker 2

So, anyway, that all being said, the Cove is a great place because they do, do, they do, do they do really good coffee. We've had a lot of fun. Usually, the baristas that work in there are really really good and really friendly, right, and they have the coffee cards where I think it's what is it? Five coffees, you get one free. Obviously, on the 14 night sailing in Europe that we did, we burned through a ton of those coffee cards. But you know, buying two coffees at a time, or three coffees, you know you'll get a free one pretty quickly, which is a really cool thing. And they'll, they'll work to make anything you want.

Speaker 2

In fact, they kind of created one for my daughter. They on on the Europe cruise that she gets exclusively now, and we were trying to find something that she would like. So I was in there talking to them and we finally settled on a salted caramel white mocha, which she now loves, and she will only get it on the ship. That's the only place that she will even let try to make it. They just make it perfect every time, and so you know that's a really cool thing. But we all, like I said, she knows it's adult area and so she knows not to come in there and you know I can just walk in, grab them and come back out. You don't have to drag your kid everywhere. That's what I'm saying. And so respect that adult area and, like I said, disney does a really good job with making those adult areas.

Entertainment and Activities Onboard

Speaker 2

So you know, for example, my wife and I have sailed several times on Disney as a couple and had an absolute grand time Because, again, we're Disney people and we love Disney Cruise Line. But if you're just by yourself as adults, then there's tons of things for you to do on the ship In the entertainment districts and the bars and adult trivia and the adult pools and the cove and the adult restaurants, all those things, and it really separates you out and it becomes a very nice couples trip as well because you get all the advantages of the Disney Cruise Line, but you're getting to have a very much different adult experience. So I would encourage and I always do, I would encourage couples to not push Disney to the side and think you have to go on a different cruise line if this is going to be, you know, you and your wife, or you and your significant other, because you can have just as good a time with two adults. You know, sailing together as you can with your family, sailing together as you can with your family. So that's something else that I would recommend that I don't think I think some people overlook is that ability to use it as a couple's retreat as well as a family vacation. So, yeah, go get a coffee at the Cove and relax and enjoy it. The adult areas are really great but, again, on the wish, very polarizing. I hate how they did the adult areas on the wish. While I love the separation the adult area is at the very back of the ship and the stern of the ship I love the separation from the rest of the the cruise ship to give it kind of.

Speaker 2

Some you know, know privacy and exclusivity feel they made it too small for a ship that you know, let's say 4,000 people are on board, there's not enough room, you know there's not an actual real pool back there, there's like some kind of waiting pools, you know, and there's not really a lot of hot tub space back there. Their version of the cove is back there, but it's just there's not really a lot of hot tub space back there. Their version of the cove is back there, but it's just there's not a lot of room. And I think they really kind of screwed the adults on the wish with that design. I think it's a shitty design. I don't like it at all. I think they really did the adults a disservice. I think they really did the adults a disservice. So that's a big group that you want to make sure and take care of on these ships, because it's a lot of money and the adults are the ones that are forking out that money and so take care of them and make sure they have a really nice space and while it's nice, it's just way too small and claustrophobic almost an afterthought which seems odd, but you know. So I much prefer the adult areas on on the four original ships to what is on the wish and I assume is the treasure.

Speaker 2

So other notes about the ship itself and then I'll get to the islands and into, like, the itineraries. So the Walt Disney theater is usually the main entertainment theater on the ship, as far as you know. Broadway style shows, main shows for like if you know, a very popular magician is on board or some other act right, uh is on board it will more than likely take place in the Walt Disney Theater. As you would expect with Disney, most of the shows that occur in the evenings are going to be centered around a Disney story, whether it's a variety show that incorporates a lot of the different Disney tales in it, or if it's a Broadway style version of Beauty and the Beast or Frozen or the Lion King or whatever Disney show they do, that's where that'll take place. The Walt Disney theaters are always great. Seats are usually really comfortable. They have, you know, service where you can get drinks and popcorn and snacks and things like that for the shows. The shows are usually really popular, so I would get there early to get a good seat.

Speaker 2

But they're really well done and, as you would expect from an entertainment company such as Disney, the shows are usually really well done. The performers, the actors, the singers are almost always very, very good. It's not Broadway or the West End, I'm not saying that, but it's not as far off as you would think. It's really well done and Disney does itself a real, a real service by having a top level performances in those shows, because they do a really good job. Even the way that they do the stage, the props, everything is really well done.

Speaker 2

So, even if I'm not necessarily interested in the subject matter of the show, right Like I'm, I'm a huge Disney guy, like I've said before. But I'm not, I'm not huge on the movies. That's not what drives my fandom, I'm more of a parks person. But since those are so interwoven into you know, obviously, disney culture, I'm very much aware of them. I've seen all the movies and so they do a beautiful job of representing those shows in with their actors and actresses and performers that are on the ship. It's quite impressive.

Speaker 2

Performers that are on the ship, it's it's quite impressive. And they'll sometimes, when they have a longer, especially on a longer cruise, they will have, you know, magicians and things like that come aboard. Uh, one comes to mind is um Eric Jones, who we have happened to have seen twice. He's a magician. I forget what all the shows he's been on. He's amazing, like he is, must see. If he's on board, when, when, uh, when you have a sailing, he's, he's fantastic and I would highly recommend going to see him. But there's several, uh folks that have performed with Disney over the years on the ships that are that are usually pretty damn good to go see. So we rarely, you know, make a point to go to a lot of the shows when we're on board, even ones that we've seen before, just because, like I said, even if the particular movie or the subject matter doesn't, you know, really just interest you a ton, it's worth going to see it for the performances, because usually it's very well done.

Speaker 2

And then Disney ships, of course, also have movie theaters once, and sometimes two different movie theaters, which, as you can imagine, shows a lot of Disney movies. But they will show, you know, first run movies. And if there's a movie that's premiering close to your sailing, a lot of times you'll get to see that movie, even if it hasn't come out in theaters yet, which is really kind of cool. And then they also tailor movies to, you know, like we recently. The cruise we were recently on was a Marvel day at sea, and so there was a lot of Marvel movies being shown in the theater. So they really do a good job with the, with the movies. We've watched quite a few and it's kind of a nice thing to do.

Speaker 2

You know, in the middle of the day or in the evenings, if you have some time or you need, you want to do something else, just grab some popcorn, grab a drink and have a seat in the movie and watch a good movie, and then they've got all the other kind of things that you would expect, right? They've got all the other kind of things that you would expect, right? They've got a spa that my wife really likes to go to. She likes to get massages, so she always gets at least one massage on the ship. They have a fitness center which we've used. It's usually really big, plenty of room to work out, well-maintained.

Speaker 2

On the Wish, for example, they do have a salon, and then they also have a men's barbershop, hooks Barbary, which also works as kind of like a uh a don't get anything. You know you don't get a haircut or a shave or anything. Um, it's worth it to go in there and get a, a, a fancy, old fashioned made for you. You kind of pick your whiskey or your bourbon, you know, and, and kind of what you want the flavor profile to be, and they'll make it for you. It's. It's really a pretty unique, uh, fun experience.

Speaker 2

And then, of course, they have a ton of the regular stuff right that most cruise lines have. Of course, it's all on Disney, it's more tailored toward Disney, which makes it kind of nice because they have a real theme, whereas other cruise ships, because it's just they're just cruise ships, they don't have that IP built in to where they can shape their programming to be, you know, based on that. So you know there's a lot of trivia. It's not all Disney trivia, I will say it's. You know, they have general trivia and things like that. But there's a lot of trivia which is always fun. Even, you know, even if you're not a big trivia person, when you're not on vacation, this gets pretty fun. It gets pretty wild, especially in the adult-only trivias. I've seen some get pretty fun, pretty loud, and so those are fun. There's always craft stuff to do, especially with kids, and how to draw things, so like drawing different Disney characters.

Speaker 2

There is a lot of tastings, so you can sign up for different tastings and they are around alcohol right and so they focus on. So this last trip my wife and I did a margaritas and tequila tasting. On another one We've done mojitos right and then we did champagne and they also have like a wine one and cognac and higher end whiskey and beer. They have a bunch of these little tastings and seminars and it's a lot of fun. Usually it's done in conjunction with one of the head bartenders and they'll come and they'll talk about the drinks. They'll talk about the liquors that they use, make suggestions and then you get a lot of different samples of drinks and of the liquor itself to try and to experiment with. It's a lot of fun. Those are actually. I've had a blast.

Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay

Speaker 2

It's pretty worth your money too, because I'll tell you what the last couple came out of there feeling a little something because of just the sheer volume of booze. That was what was provided for us, so they did not short you on. Whatever it costs I think it was like $45 a person or something but it was worth it. They always are. They're always really, really good and we've had a lot of fun in those. And of course you know bingo and the famous Disney racing of the babies and those types of things. So there's a ton of stuff to do on the ship that will keep you busy. So you can be really as active and as involved as you want to be, or you can be as inactive and as lazy, you know, relaxed however you want to phrase it. As you want to be, it's all available, I guess. Lastly, I will say this because I have kids, and a lot of people that go on Disney Cruise Line will have kids too.

Speaker 2

The kids programs on the cruise are what you would think. I mean, they're fantastic, right, they're very safe. They keep track of the kids really well. They do a lot of things with them with the different age groups. They have their own spaces for these different, like three age groups. With the different age groups, they have their own spaces for these different, like three age groups the younger kids, the tweens and the teens, right, and so they all have their own space, their own counselors, tons of games and activities and character interactions. So you know a lot of kids love to spend a ton of time in there.

Speaker 2

Some kids, you know, will spend time here and there, you know, will come and go, and some kids may not, you know, like it at all just because they don't like, you know, being in there, but it won't be because they got bored, right, it would be for whatever reason. But they do a ton of activities, they do a ton of fun stuff with the kids, as you would expect being Disney. So if you have younger kids and you want to get them involved into those programs, they're all free or they're all included, I guess I should say, and very much worth it. I mean, my kids weren't big on going to the clubs but when they did they always had a good time right. They always came out with having made something or got to do something fun or whatever and stuff that they wanted to talk about after because they had a good time doing it. So you know, even if your kids aren't necessarily really big into just like the full tilt social interaction right out of the gate, you know, let them go in there a couple of times and have some fun because they will have a good time, all right.

Speaker 2

So now that you know about the ships and kind of how those things work, I guess the last real thing I'll talk about here before I kind of give some personal anecdotes on some of my more recent cruises is that Disney Cruise Line goes to a lot of different places. Right, I mean primarily it is a Caribbean based cruise line, but as it has acquired more ships, built more ships, you can see the expansion coming Right when they've branched out further and further and further. You know, there's now there's, you know, there's Panama Canal cruises, there's West Coast cruises, there's Alaska cruises, there is European cruises, you know, both in the Mediterranean and then up into the Northern Europe, which is like what we did. There's been some sailings, you know we did. There's been some sailings, you know, in Australia, here recently there's also been some cruises to Hawaii, you know, and so the expansion of the fleet has really allowed for more diverse and broader itineraries, I think. But it's still primarily a Caribbean based cruise line, still primarily a Caribbean-based cruise line.

Speaker 2

And with that said, the two private islands, well, a private island and then a portion of another island that Disney has, castaway Cay and Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point, because, God Almighty, it's hard to say for some reason for me are Disney's two private spaces in the Caribbean to go. Our most recent cruise went to both, and that's a really awesome itinerary, by the way, which I'll talk about in a second. But let me just get out some talk about the islands real quick. So Castaway Cay, it's the classic one, it's an actual island. Disney owns it, disney operates it. It is amazing because you get off the ship and you're still in the Disney bubble right.

Speaker 2

Beautiful beaches, beautiful water, tons of beach activities, water activities, snorkeling, stingrays, parasailing, jet skis, fishing, biking, all those things right, they have available on the island. They have basically a large family beach, have basically a large family beach, and then they have what's called serenity bay, which is the adult only area, right, and they're separated, kind of they're around the island from each other, so they're, you know, they're not right next to each other. So when you're over 18, you feel very separated from kind of the hubbub and the busyness of the main family beach areas. It's never super crowded. I never feel like I just don't have any room. It does get busy, obviously, because it's a beautiful spot, but it's a very lovely beach right.

Speaker 2

They do barbecue lunches there on the island. There's plenty of bars and servers. There's some shops for the island. You can obviously rent snorkel gear and tubes and things like that for the water. So there's a lot of fun things to do. You can be as active and as busy as you want, or you can be, you know again, as lazy and as inactive, and you know, laying on a beach chair or laying in the sand or floating around in the water, it's beautiful and it's a blast and I love going there. You know it's if I'm just wanting to go on a nice awesome laid back cruise. I want to hit these islands that Disney owns because it's fantastic. And then Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point is on the Island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas as well.

Speaker 2

But Disney basically took, took over an end of the island right, and has created kind of a preserve, cultural center, slash beach resort area right, just for disney ships. You don't have to tender, just like at castaway. You're able to ain't, you're able to pull right up to the dock. So here's the. Here comes the interesting thing when it was built, disney built the pier for the ship because they didn't want to have to tender, but they had to build it over a lot of coral or reef and they did it because there was an environmental component right to keep to not disturb much of the ocean life right there in the shallows. Because of that, the pier is pretty long. It's a. It's a. It's a nice little walk from the ship to the shore.

Speaker 2

And when the island first opened, that's like one of the things that was glaring with people as they were pissed off about the walk because it was a long walk and it was hot and so on and so forth. Now I will say the walk is it's not insignificant, right, it's a bit of a walk and we were there during March so it wasn't blazing hot in July. I don't have a problem with the walk. My wife didn't have a problem with the walk. My wife didn't have a problem with the walk. My kids didn't have a problem with the walk going or coming back. It was fine.

Speaker 2

I can see that it's going to require at some point putting up some of those sun sails or umbrellas or something, because you are going to have people very much exposed in the middle of the summer in the Caribbean when they're walking on that pier and that's probably going to become an issue. Like I said, the walk itself is not that bad, but when it's really really hot and humid and you're in the middle of the sun, I can see that being an issue. So I bet Disney is going to have to take advantage or take the opportunity soon to do something about some shade along the walkway. Whether it's completely covered or not, I don't know. That would be a pretty big effort, but to create shade areas along the way is probably going to be something they're going to have to address. Areas along the way is probably going to be something they're going to have to address.

Speaker 2

The other big turnoff point early on especially of all the vloggers and things that put up videos was the bug situation, namely the flies, the black fly situation around the food. When the videos first came out, these flies were everywhere on all the food, at the buffets, on people's plates when they were trying to sit there and eat. It was a mess and it was gross. I will straight up tell you it was fucking gross. So I didn't know what to expect. I mean, look, disney has a history of being able to handle insects very well history of being able to handle insects very well. I mean, walt Disney World is a modern marvel when it comes to the lack of mosquitoes and other bugs being all over the place in an area that you know essentially used to be a swamp in the middle of central Florida. So they have done incredible things to keep the biting stinging you know, nuisance insects at a minimum at their parks and their locations.

Speaker 2

So I figured that this would be an issue that Disney would ultimately be able to address, although I didn't know how long it would take. So when we went to the barbecue at Lookout Key, I crossed my fingers that it would be fine and we walked through the eating areas where they have these pavilions. They have these pavilions and I noticed that they had a lot of fans set up to move the air, I'm assuming, to help slow down the fly situation. As we approached the actual food area I did notice some flies. There were some black flies there flying around, not a ton but enough to certainly be noticeable, but there was none where you actually ate. So while it appears to still be an issue, it's not as big of an issue, apparently, as it was prior. Now I don't know if that's because of the time of year, and once it gets into the warmer, you know middle of the summer, then it might become an issue again. I don't know, I'm certainly not an insect expert, but at least while we were there it didn't seem to be a huge issue. I mean it was. It was present, but not not to the level that I had seen in in previous videos. So with those two, you know, kind of certainly negatives, uh, in the eyes of the populace.

Speaker 2

Um, when lookout first opened up, with those two things kind of addressed at this point, um, as far as the Island itself goes, we absolutely loved it. We got a spot on the family beach right where it butts up against Serenity Bay. So on lookout, the beach is essentially one long beach. It's not a couple of different coves like it is at Castaway, so it's one long beach and at the far end of different coves, like it is at Castaway. So it's one long beach and at the far end of it is Serenity Bay and at the other end is Mabrica Cove which has some cabanas and such for families I believe. And then in between those two is all like talcum powder. It's amazing. And it's got pink speckles all in it, right From the little broken up parts of the crustacean sea life kind of stuff, whatever it is that makes the sand have this pink hue to it. And then the water I'd heard when they first started talking about building this lookout that the water in Eleuthera was just some of the most spectacular blue-green. You know gorgeous emerald colored water in all of the Caribbean. And I will say I was. I was stunned by the watercolor, the clarity, the clearness of the, and the color is just out of this world. It is gorgeous and we had an incredibly good time just playing in the water and hanging out in the chairs in the sand.

Speaker 2

It was very relaxing because the beach is so long and it's also tiered right, so there's seating on the beach and there's more chairs and such behind the sand dunes. You know, further up on the beach it didn't seem crowded, it didn't seem cramped, it felt very spacious and open. It's a different feel too, because it's not a protected cove, so it's more, you know, open to the ocean. So you get a little bit more wave and a little more water movement, um, than at like Castaway. But it is, man, it was so pretty. It's a great place just to sit and spend a day at the beach. Uh, the shops there were pretty good. Um, there's some cultural events, uh that they do with, uh, in relation to the bahamian, uh, folks that live on the island and kind of their culture. So we actually didn't make it to any of that. We got into the water and got to messing around down there and just never made it back up. But I love that they incorporated, you know, some of the local Bahamian culture into the, into the island, into the design and into kind of the festivities that take place on the island.

Speaker 2

It's it's really really well done. You can tell, obviously, that it's still being worked. There's really really well done. You can tell, obviously, that it's still being worked. There's things ongoing projects, but as far as just the payoff of going to the beach and going to the water, that part of it is a real standout. It's very, very pretty and very, very impressive. So ultimately, you know, once it gets a little bit more age underneath it and the construction is done completely and and all those things, I think it's going to be even more spectacular. But, like I said, more spectacular. But, like I said, you can tell that even with it being so young and newly developed, the beach and the sand and everything is the crowning jewel and it's just, it's spectacular and I loved it. I would love to go back. I didn't think I would like it nearly as much as I did, but I really enjoyed it. It was awesome. So I have really gone out of my way to make this a long, long-winded podcast and I don't want to beat everybody down even further with a bunch more, but I will.

Speaker 2

Let me get in a few more things here, just to kind of round out here. Like I said, my family and I have done several different itineraries. I will tell you, the Northern Europe itineraries on Disney are fantastic, and getting to see that part of Europe in the cooler weather and getting to see Norway and Denmark and Belgium was another stop along the way. Germany, norway so great and such a great itinerary. I would very much encourage you, if you have the time, to look into one of those types of sailings Because it was a blast and because it was Disney, all the villages that we went to, all the places you know people came out to wave at the ship and to see the ship and the characters you know would come out onto the decks and wave at all the people in the crowd and it was the whole thing.

Speaker 2

Every time we came into port it seemed like and it was very cool to be a part of and it's a very awesome way to see that part of the world because, you know, there's so much water with the fjords and everything. There's a lot of things to see and you can get to a lot of it via the water. Of course, the Caribbean is always great, but I would really encourage you, if you've done a couple of Disney cruises you know, just regular ones really kind of search out those specialty ones, you know, whether they're it's the European or Australian sailings or something like that, or Alaska or Hawaii, or focus in on some of the specialty sailings that are, like you know, the Christmas one or the Halloween right, or sail over Thanksgiving, you know, or whatever and experience that. We've done several of those and it's a blast. It provides a unique experience that I really think people would enjoy and brings a different element to the trip than just a normal cruise, right? So, while I have spent the last you know, however long, saying a lot of really good things about Disney Cruise Line because, well, there's a lot of really good things to say about it it's a really good cruise line, it's a really good vacation, it's a really good experience, right, I mean, for the most part, it's a great way to experience Disney, a Disney product, and get other things out of it as well.

European Itineraries and Specialty Sailings

Speaker 2

There are always negatives. There are always things that are aggravations or or whatever, and I have to point those out as well. First of it being, you know, like I mentioned before, that stupid survey. I hate that damn survey and I hate how it makes the cast members have to react to the guests to try to make sure that they're covering themselves on that survey. I hate it. I wish Disney would come up with something else, because it puts servers in a bad spot, puts servers in a bad spot and having to ask. It puts the guests in a bad spot because it's kind of a weird uncomfortable talk that you don't necessarily want to be having. So it's not great. It's not a great situation and they need to do something about that.

Speaker 2

Another thing I would say that they need to do better is they need to be more open and reactive to the will of the cruisers for menus and food. Right, like I said, like the pirate night menu, I don't know a soul that likes that menu and I don't know a soul that likes that menu and I don't know that. I don't know a soul that likes pretty much anything on that menu. But and that's been shared by not just by me, but by multiple people doing podcasts and vlogs and everything else about Disney cruise line for years and yet they haven't changed it. It's just static, stays the same. So, while I would love for them to keep on the fan favorites on the menus forever, I would I would love for them to be a little bit more inventive or creative when they just do some change-ups here and there. It doesn't have to be every trip every year or anything like that, but just give a little bit more creative meal planning to the staff and let them adjust based on feedback. If you're going to do feedback anyway, you might as well take advantage of it and use it. So I think Disney can get a little stagnant in that.

Speaker 2

Also, keeping in that food theme, I think the new ships while they're beautiful and there's a lot of unique fun features on those ships, disney really kind of missed the mark on some of the restaurants. You know there's the frozen restaurant on the wish and there's the Marvel restaurant, and I'll tell you what my favorite restaurant on the wish was 1923, because it was just a restaurant. It was a normal restaurant. I didn't mind the Frozen one, it was okay, although I don't need that much of a show at dinner, I don't need a ton of show and singing. I just I'm there to eat. I mean, I don't mind the entertainment, but come on, you know. And the other thing is is, even though the room is purpose built for these types of dinner shows, the chairs were so close together and the tables were so close together that you felt like you were eating right on top of somebody else. And that was that way for all the restaurants on that ship and I assume it's the same way for the treasure.

Speaker 2

So I hate that, I, I, I understand you've got to pack a lot of people into a space, but you know, figure it out where you're not having to pack them in right on top of each other, and figure out a way for us to, you know, have some entertainment. That's's fine, but not just constant. And I? And lastly, about restaurants, is the marvel restaurant, the world of marvel or whatever it is? Look, I love marvel movies. Um, I'm a pretty big fan of a lot of that stuff. But good, god, man, quit beating me over the head with it in this restaurant. They won't let that die.

Speaker 2

And then to make it a Marvel restaurant and then base it on Ant-Man and the Wasp Really, ant-man and the Wasp. Of all the characters that you could get, whether Avengers or X-Men or whatever, out of Marvel's catalog that you own, you do Ant-Man and the Wasp. Really, I'll just tell you right now, I think it sucks, I do. I think the restaurant sucks, I think the storyline sucks, the whole thing. I mean my kids were bored out of their mind with it and tired of it. I was tired of it.

Room for Improvement and Final Thoughts

Speaker 2

I mean instantly it just it's not what I'm there for. I mean it. Just. You know it wears you out a little bit and they keep trying to shoehorn that in and Disney will do that sometimes is Disney will try to shoehorn something in that nobody cares about. I mean, look at Tron will try to shoehorn something in that nobody cares about. I mean, look at Tron, yeah, it's an amazing ride, but it's based on IP that nobody cares about. You know it's just blech. So, anyway, pick your battles on that, right? I mean I don't know that Disney. I don't know that Disney needs to try to shoehorn constant show and constant full tilt musical entertainment all the time, at every event.

Speaker 2

You know, we can just have dinner. Anyway, that's that bitch. And, like I said before on the new ship, I know this is a lot of the new ship design bitching, but you know, the adult area was really kind of an afterthought and that sucks because, again, adults are the one that are paying the freight for this deal and you know to not give them a really awesome space when you had the opportunity to do so. It kind of sucks and I hope that they do something different in the future that will correct that, because adults need a space to go as well and if you want to keep catering to those types of folks, then you need to give us a space that we can go and relax as well and not be crammed in like sardines in a couple of, you know, puddle sized pools and a little bar.

Speaker 2

And while Disney does a lot of things really, really well, the positives outweigh the negatives by a mile and a half. There are some things that Disney can really work on, but other than that, if you haven't been on a Disney cruise or if you've only been on one or two, go give it another shot. Man, it's a great, great time. You'll enjoy it, your kids will enjoy it, you and your spouse go by yourselves and have a great time, because you can have a great time as two adults on the ship as well. There's a lot of great things about it. Like I said, I'm platinum. I hope to reach Pearl sometime and I will keep cruising Disney forever, and that's just because I think the product is so good and that, even though there are things that will aggravate me from time to time or that I wish Disney would do better, those are greatly overshadowed by the really, really good things that they do, and how good their cast members are and staff is, and how well you're treated and how, even though it's more money than other cruise lines, the value proposition, what you get for that dollar and what you get for that dollar and the enjoyment you get for that dollar, I think warrants spending the money on the Disney cruise because it's just, it's just so good. All right, guys? Well, I hope this helped you.

Speaker 2

Uh, think about Disney cruises in a different light or, you know, just reinforce what you already knew, or maybe put the spark of an idea in your mind to check it out. I would definitely do it if I were you. It's, it's very much worth it. You'll have a blast, whether it's you and your kids or you being a big kid at heart, or whatever it is go and check out Disney Cruise Line and enjoy it. It's a great way to spend a vacation. It's relaxing, it's enjoyable, there's a lot of things to do and you can do as much as you want or as little as you want and get something out of it either way. So give it a shot.

Speaker 2

Well, next part of this series will be what was going to be this episode, and that will be Disneyland and Disney World, and then, after that, we'll have one more part to the series and that will be on the international parks. So again, everybody, I hope you guys really enjoyed this episode. I enjoyed talking about Disney Cruise Line. It's one of my favorite ways to travel and I enjoy talking about it because it's a lot of fun and there's a lot of things to experience out there with it.

Speaker 2

So if you enjoyed the episode, please take a couple minutes and leave us a review and a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to podcasts. If you can give us a rating and a review, I'd really appreciate it. That would really help the podcast continue to grow and also be sure and check us out on Instagram. I usually post a lot of photos from these trips and places in conjunction with these episodes. So I'll put up some more photos from our trip here recently on the Dream, and be sure and check that out.

Speaker 2

Lastly, if you know anybody that would be interested in this type of content, this type of podcast, or are new to podcasts man, let them know about the podcast, share it with them and hopefully they will get a chance to listen and enjoy it. But again, as you all know, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you all listening. You make it all worthwhile and hopefully we're continuing to share some good information and, if nothing else, making you have a laugh or two and make you think about a few things here and there and how to enjoy your travels more. So until next time I'll see you, bye.

Speaker 1

This has been Trade Tables and Time Zones. Worldwide travel is one of the funnest things you can do in life and it's our passion to talk about the good, the bad, the funny and the ugly. Nothing is off limits. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find us on Instagram at Trade Tables and Time Zones, and for questions or comments, send your email to traysandtimes at gmailcom. Take care and see you next time on Trade Tables and Time Zones.

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Josh Bogle

Host