We're taking you on a magical journey, no pixie dust needed, as we recount our thrilling experiences with Adam from RidetotheMagic.com and our favorite Disney vacation transport service as we bid goodbye to the summer vacation season, we reminisce about the delightful Food and Wine festival.
Cruising on the Disney Wish, anyone? Our special co-hosts, Dana and Erica, are here to share their exhilarating experiences, even including an unexpected evacuation due to bad weather. But don't let that dampen your spirits; we'll also spill the beans about the perks you can get when booking a Disney Cruise Line with Main Street Travel Co. Jump on board as we weigh the pros and cons of cruising and whether it's the perfect vacation for you.
We're not done yet! We're putting our Disney Wish cruise experiences side by side with other Disney and cruise lines. From the tempting food to the top-notch entertainment, we're going to dissect it all. Are you curious about spending Nassau Day on the Disney Wish cruise ship? We've got the inside scoop. Plus, if you've ever wanted to meet the princesses, we're discussing how Disney could improve its booking system to make dreams come true. Lastly, we're ready to debunk some myths and give you the best tips for those prone to motion sickness. Buckle up, it's going to be one fun ride!
We're taking you on a magical journey, no pixie dust needed, as we recount our thrilling experiences with Adam from RidetotheMagic.com and our favorite Disney vacation transport service as we bid goodbye to the summer vacation season, we reminisce about the delightful Food and Wine festival.
Cruising on the Disney Wish, anyone? Our special co-hosts, Dana and Erica, are here to share their exhilarating experiences, even including an unexpected evacuation due to bad weather. But don't let that dampen your spirits; we'll also spill the beans about the perks you can get when booking a Disney Cruise Line with Main Street Travel Co. Jump on board as we weigh the pros and cons of cruising and whether it's the perfect vacation for you.
We're not done yet! We're putting our Disney Wish cruise experiences side by side with other Disney and cruise lines. From the tempting food to the top-notch entertainment, we're going to dissect it all. Are you curious about spending Nassau Day on the Disney Wish cruise ship? We've got the inside scoop. Plus, if you've ever wanted to meet the princesses, we're discussing how Disney could improve its booking system to make dreams come true. Lastly, we're ready to debunk some myths and give you the best tips for those prone to motion sickness. Buckle up, it's going to be one fun ride!
We are back for another LTD podcast.
Mike:Back again.
Jana:Shady's back.
Mike:Copyright strike.
Jana:What? Because I sing it. Ollie doubt it, oh my gosh. So last week we had Zach on from Circle of Parks podcast. We talked in detail about Mickey's not so scary versus Halloween Horror Nights.
Mike:Which is a lot better.
Jana:I think it's up to the individual. I think you all would agree. You're going to pick one, I'm going to pick one, but anyways, it was good. We have had a busy week of planning vacations and now we're going to take. I think the podcast for me has turned into like a break, a release, almost like a mini vacation at home. Yes, agreed, it's an hour. I can sit here and just ramble, but we have more people who want to ramble with us, so we've got two voicemails this week, mike. Go ahead and play the first one.
Mike:Hey guys, this is Adam with Ride to the Magic and I'm calling from over here at Wonderful Animal Kingdom and I just wanted to say hi and glad to get you guys are at, the podcast is back and I'm really enjoying the shows. All right, thanks guys. Have a great day.
Jana:All right. So for you all who don't know, adam, ride to the Magic is a new transportation option between the airport and Disney World or Universal or the cruise line. He'll even pick you up and drop you back off in Tampa. So, adam at Ride to the Magic, you can look it up online, ridetothemagiccom. Great stuff over there. He is just absolutely the most pleasurable human on the face of the planet to talk to.
Mike:I haven't rode with him yet. You've rode with him like 300 times now I have. It's so nice, I think everybody yeah, we've all ridden with him.
Erica:I think we all have.
Jana:Yeah, he's got two really nice vans. They seat seven. They have car seats, booster seats, plenty of space for luggage, super easy. He's super easy to communicate with because you text him once it's time to land and get to Orlando and all the things. But gosh, he's just so incredibly friendly. You get out of his car and you feel like the happiest person in the world, so he's a great lead in to a Disney vacation. So if you're going down for the magic, adam absolutely is magical and he is just so welcoming so I really like riding with him. He is my ride of choice in the Orlando area when I'm going to theme parks and stuff. Agree, mine too, yeah.
Mike:I'm going to try this, I guess.
Jana:Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Erica:Yeah, yeah, yeah Right.
Danica:Hi, this is Danica, and I was listening to the last episode where Zach was talking about like the exit on Guardians of the Galaxy, talking to you, and I honestly really, really liked that information. So I have no idea about any of that, and now I'm going to start looking up top history. So thanks for sharing.
Mike:Cool. So apparently she understood what he was talking about, because when he was talking about all the references with the movie and everything I was, I was still confused. I actually need to watch the movie.
Jana:I actually followed him quite well, so I'm glad Danica learned some information from it as well. I did too. I didn't know any of that. I just thought we were going through this boring whatever cube. But now it makes sense, and when I go ride it again I'll pay a little bit more attention.
Erica:Well before, you write it again. You're going to watch all the movies so you know what's going on in the queue. It helps, that's going to happen, yeah.
Dana:Well, here's the thing I mean, mom, you're going to like them because there's so many you know references to went in our generation and they're funny and that helped me a lot because that I'd never thought that was my kind of movie, but the humor in them I like that.
Jana:My biggest thing with guardians going in was I get so motion sick and I do deal with vertigo occasionally, so it's like I was so worried about the new indoor roller coaster ride that had screens that I didn't care about a theme Like I. Literally when I go into you know the big room where you go in and it shows the big man who steals the big time or something and you get Chris Prett and all the people on the other yes. Yes, I have to turn around and face the wall. I can't even watch that big screen. It makes my head spin and I'm like, okay, turn around before this turns into a headache.
Mike:But the ride itself is fine, I do fine on the ride, which is strange because that part didn't bother me, but the ride bothering me.
Jana:Yeah, the ride, the G's pulling on the ride bothered Mike, which that didn't bother me at all. It gets me a little on, oh good grief, expedition Everest when you go backwards. Oh yeah, just a tad though, but it pulls on the back of my head, like behind my ears.
Mike:I can feel it, but Guardians doesn't do that to me at all just hands up giggling, you get a great song, and what not. So I had to throw up sound effect. Might didn't like it was a good thing we did at the end of the night.
Jana:Oh, yeah, for sure. That's the reason I waited to do it at the end of the night, because I was worried it would make my give me a really bad. I get a migraine from that. But Um, guardians, and give me migraine, okay. Um, epcot's food and wine festival taste around the world Opened day one, july 27th, and I'm gonna have to tell you I am not ready for this. Where did summer go? It's gone.
Dana:I know it's so sad. Where did it go?
Mike:You say, then it's supposed to be 108 degrees today.
Dana:Well, summer vacation season is gone. Summer rain, unfortunately, is here for a while.
Jana:So when Disney drops this in July, it really messes with me because it's like you don't steal my last part of summer. For me, genex, growing up, our summer break was End of May, like around May 20th. May 25th is when we would get out of school. You'd have June, july, the entirety of August and you would go back after is it Labor Day? In September, you go back after Labor Day. So we had almost three and a half months worth summer vacation. We love that. So my brain still Focuses on that today and, like when my kids would go back to school on August 1st, I'm like, oh my gosh, the summer is stolen from them.
Erica:Um, if you weren't raised gen X, then you just missed out on life because we had it made, it wasn't just gen X, I I refuse to acknowledge that I'm a millennial, so I'm gonna say a zen it zenial.
Dana:Is that what they call us?
Erica:I love the cusp of between both, so 19 early 1980s. I'm 82. So, zenials, we were the exact same way. We didn't start school until.
Jana:September. Are you a youngest child or an only child? I'm an only child. Okay, so they do. Gen X would identify you with a gen Xer because you were on the on the very tail end Of our lifestyles kids and you probably experienced part of that. So you you're kind of gen X too. Thank you.
Danica:That's another reason. Well, it makes me feel better. Thank you, you're welcome.
Jana:You're welcome, um, it just means you're older, though. Whatever, as much as I love, love, love food and wine festival, it's hard for me to grasp because when I go down to disney to experience food and wine, I want fall type weather. It's hard to come by fall type weather in Orlando any time of year, true, but it's still so, so, so hot. I have a hard time with food and wine, so it's almost like I wish they could just put Um a roof and some walls over it and Let the natural light shine through, but turn the heat down. Turn the heat down.
Mike:But doesn't in a bubble.
Jana:I mean, hey, why not? So? But, um, and we can talk more in depth about food and wine festival On another episode. But this year, mike, they've got in the odyssey, they've got brew and wine Right, so it sounds good, and it's going to feature dr Bunsen, honeydew and beaker, so that'll be super cool. That's something new this year. Um, they also have rimmi's ratatouille, hide and squeak. Where you go around the park on your little, they give you a little cardboard game board type thing and you go around the world showcase and you got to look for little rimmi statues. You got to find the little rimmi statues and at the end you get a prize, and the prize is going to be like a lunch bag. Isn't that cute? Oh, I want a lunch bag Food related. I like that too, mm-hmm. And then they're also going to have a Pluto's pumpkin pursuit, and what they've done is they're taking pumpkins and they're decorating them as characters. Oh, that's cute. So you got to take a little game board, go around world showcase, find it, and then the prize there would be a little pumpkin bucket.
Erica:So oh, I want, I think anybody's going to do that and wants to sell it, I'll buy it from you. She wants the pumpkin and she wants the bucket. And not a popcorn bucket, just a pumpkin.
Jana:Yeah, it looks like a little candy bucket. So, um, oh, they're gonna have e-mills. Uh, fromage montage.
Dana:And I did that last year. Isn't it cool? That's what the booklet right.
Jana:Yeah, yeah, it's lots of cheese.
Mike:I've done that. No cheese. I've never heard that word.
Dana:It's. It's the french fromage is french for cheese. Wee, wee and you got a dessert and a little Fromage or something. We're just talking to each other. I see this.
Jana:There's two conversations happening here Me and Mike's over here trying to make fromage like namesville fromage, fromage, fromage. Okay, um, with that said, we're not going to talk about food and wine festival today, but we do have some fun things, so let's move right along with the show.
Erica:You're listening to the let's talk about disney podcast.
Jana:So spooky. And look, I'm sitting there talking about how don't rush my summer and we're playing conid spooky halloween music, I know. So today we are going to talk actually, dana and erica mostly are going to talk About a cruise experience they had. But I want to talk to you guys for just a second about cruising. If you've done well disney world, you've done the parks and maybe you haven't done it and it's not necessarily something you want to do quite Yet, but cruising is a great, great alternative vacation. Cruising is a vacation if you don't want to go international. Cruising is a more affordable way to go and see international ports. Um, on a cruise you check in to a hotel room, essentially on the ship, and the ship is like a small city, um, you name it. It's on the ship and then it takes you to the various ports of call, so you get to see multiple countries normally in one trip. So it's a great way to see Um international if you've never gone or if you don't have a larger budget or you don't have a passport. But it's a little bit more affordable and essentially it's all inclusive, because you've got all the food and the non alcoholic drinks included on a cruise. Not all cruise lines are created equal when I say non alcoholic. Most cruise lines do not include coax, which some people refer to as pop and other people refer to as soda here in the south we call it coke and then you got to tell somebody what kind of coke you want. Do you want to diet dr Pepper? Do you want to sprite? Do you want to cope? Do you want to diet coke? So when you come to Nashville and you order coke and they ask you what kind, don't be surprised, because that's how we refer to it down here. Um, but anyways, not all cruise lines are created equal. So most cruise lines do not include the coax and the sodas and things like that. They cost extra. Um, dana and Erica sold disney cruise line which, by the way, does include all the coax and the things like that, rather than just the water and the unsweet teas, which are horrible, and, uh, the juices, right. So cruising is a fantastic vacation. Disney cruise line has a phenomenal offer and before you guys get into it, I do want to throw this in because everybody here knows we're travel agents. We are an agency who offers free onboard credit when you book your disney cruise line with us. Check out our website, um mainstreettravelcocom, and you can see all the details about free onboard credit. Just know that we offer that. But when did you guys?
Dana:sell the disney. Wish I was the end of may.
Erica:I was the beginning of june. I was on the cruise right after Dana.
Jana:Okay, so you basically had a very similar experience. So how many nights was your selling? It was a three night sailing, same same for you, and what kind of room type did you book?
Dana:We were in a um family balcony room.
Erica:Okay, I was in a deluxe ocean view, okay.
Jana:So difference here is Dana's room had a balcony where you could step out onto a balcony and look over the ocean. Erica's room only had a window ocean view that you could see out and see the ocean, but she did not have a balcony or a door you could open to step out there. So, um, guys, go ahead and tell us a little about your experiences on the disney wish. It was magical.
Dana:It was magical.
Erica:But I will say, even though we were just a few days apart, we had very different experiences. Yeah, that's actually when we were in port, and this is, I think, a good example of Kind of rolling with the punches a little bit and not really, you know, listening to what somebody tells you about their experience, but not having unrealistic Expectations when you go to do that same trip.
Dana:Right, because we had literally the exact same cruise? Yes, but we had different experiences, even starting boarding the ship and the sail away party Arts were completely different, because it was raining after we boarded the ship and we were waiting it out, waiting it out, waiting for the announcement of what was going to happen with the sail away party, which is typically out on deck, and they had to move ours inside. Erica had the exact opposite experience. She got to have the traditional disney cruise line sailway sail away party on the deck.
Erica:Yeah, we were out on the deck and then, um, I mean, we had the same itinerary too. We both went to. Now saw first, yep. Our second stop was Castaway, disney's private island. Dana had a fantastic time. No clouds in the skies, for Dana Did all the things. We got to Castaway and it was black skies. We were terrified of what was going to happen. I just had a feeling. I said, okay, I've wanted to run the 5K the Disney 5K on the island for years, got to do that with my daughter and then we had just started snorkeling. I think we maybe got a hundred yards away from the sand to snorkel and thank goodness my ears were above water, because then, all of a sudden, all the lifeguards were screaming in the megaphone and everything to get out of the water because the lightning was so close. And it wasn't just that the lightning was so close and we had to get out of the water. They evacuated the island and we had to get back on the ship.
Jana:So I was going to ask you where did they hold the Salloway party? Inside, like the main atrium area.
Dana:It was in the main area, correct.
Jana:Was it as full as it would have been out?
Dana:on deck. You know, I don't know, not had. This was my first sailing on Disney cruise line, so I don't know. Compared to, let's say, pirate Night, which was outside on the deck, where the Salloway party would have been, Honestly the crowd level felt kind of similar. Pirate Night was probably a little more heavily attended, but this being in the atrium, there were several different levels of where you could stand on different decks overlooking that atrium. And there was a stage down there where you could see the characters on the stage. So I don't know, it didn't feel overly crowded to me. Were there people that didn't do it? Probably Maybe this was their Disney sailing number Right Fill in the blank for them and they've seen all the Salloway parties that they could ever want to see, and maybe they were doing other things on the ship, but for us we were right up against the banister. The railing had a perfect view. I took pictures and videos. Wish we had been outside on deck. I felt like it's obviously the more authentic experience, but it was cute. I almost felt like where we were. We had a great view. Don't know what it would have been like on deck because I didn't get that experience.
Jana:Gotcha and then on Castaway Key when they were at the water and evacuated the island itself. That's not a tiny island. It's not like you walk 100 feet and you're back to the ship. That's a nice milder to walk. Yeah, and it was pouring rain.
Erica:And I know they run a shuttle.
Jana:So I assumed the shuttle was running, and then people were probably also walking fairly quickly.
Erica:Yeah Well, I guess again. This was our first Disney cruise too, and you know, we were not going to let anything stop us until they made us go back Right. But I feel like a lot of people didn't get off the ship because they saw the skies. So they kind of maybe already saw that coming and didn't, maybe they had little kids and didn't want to pack all their stuff and get off and have to worry about that coming back. But yeah, the shuttle was running, but again it was pouring buckets. It was buckets, and we were literally sitting in puddles on the shuttle that stinks.
Jana:because I love Castaway Key, that's probably one of my favorite. Passad Royal Caribbean has a phenomenal promenade on. Coco K and they call it perfect day at Coco K. And I promise you it is an absolute perfect day, but it was very reminiscent for me of Castaway Key because of what's included on the island. Your food and drinks are included on the island. Of course, alcohol and coax are not, except for with Disney, unless you have the package. But it's just so amazing. In Castaway Key there was an adults only side that you could have gone and done. Of course, your kids were with you, so not necessarily an option, but they have those things in the water that the kids can swing out of and jump off of and play on. You can do the snorkeling. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous island, white sand beach, blue Bahamas water. So, yeah, that's disappointing, because that's a big part of any cruise is the Providence Island.
Erica:Yeah, I mean, I think we were there for maybe a total of two hours. Oh wow, it was in a and I, kind of you know, let that kind of take over my brain a little bit because we've been looking forward to this. Right so long, and everybody talks about Castaway and that's the Disney experience on the cruise line and everything. And then I kind of had to ground myself and say, ok, you know what? We're not here for Castaway, we're here for your daughter's graduation. You're never going to get this type of trip again. Right, and now I look back, now that it's been, you know, a month or two, and we have that story to talk about. Yeah, and now it just wants us to go back more. That's right, well, but there are always there's.
Jana:There's not always a problem on vacation, Don't get me wrong. But there are things on vacation that a person can't control. I can't control if a hurricane hits right middle of Florida or Lando. I can't help it if a huge thunderstorm rolls up on Castaway Key or for us. I can't help it if we've only got a limited time in Cocoa Kay, Perfect day at Cocoa Kay, because the ship was like getting there. There's things on vacation you can't control. But you're right, your mindset and how you handle it in that moment will determine the memory that you have on the vacation. So you always want to absolutely be on the bright side of things, make the best of the situation so you can go home with good memories from vacation and not go home with every time you think about that. One time we're on that Disney cruise and it just gave you this knot in the pillow, your stomach about how things were handled. You went off with anger or you were disappointed and cried the whole time and it ruined your son's vacation or whatever.
Erica:So yeah, it's always static. To get back to the show, can we go get ice cream?
Jana:See, I was going to hear about it it means so less to the kids than I think we always assumed. It's going to just ruin their trip. No, we can ruin their trip, so we have to make the best of things, and it sounds like Riley did just that.
Erica:Riley was all about the ice cream in the Ocean Years Club. He loved it.
Jana:I know somebody else who, when their own accruciate is all about the ice cream. I know who this person is too.
Mike:Who are we talking about?
Jana:You answered, that's mine we literally positioned our room on the floor below where the ice cream machine is, at the bottom of the steps. So you walk up the steps and you're at the ice cream machine. Smart, good idea actually. The audience agrees. So sorry, I interrupted guys.
Erica:No, and I think, while we're talking about the ice cream, I think one of the best things about cruising, because this was your first Disney cruise, this is my first Disney cruise. You've cruised with Royal Caribbean carnival, I have sailed with Princess and I'm getting ready to do Royal Caribbean, but I really want to talk about the food on Disney Cruise Line, specifically the Disney wish, because I thought what I thought I wasn't going to like turned out to be my favorite. And what I thought I was going to like I didn't like at all, but the Festival of Foods I thought was the highlight, like I would skip the rotational dining and go and get that barbecue and that pizza every day. Well, number one, it smells so good when you walk by.
Dana:Oh my gosh, you, just you, you that. That drew you in right off the bat. But yeah, that whole air, that area connected to the ice cream, by the way, was was wonderful and I agree with you. I mean, I enjoy the rotational dining, Don't get me wrong, and none of us in our group had a bad experience at any of the restaurants or would say, oh gosh, I really didn't like that. And it's on a short cruise like that. I don't regret doing all three restaurants. I'm sure you agree.
Erica:Yeah.
Dana:If I were to do a longer Disney cruise, I could do it. If I were to do a longer Disney cruise, I could totally see, you know, replacing one of the rotational dining nights with just hanging out and getting the Mexican.
Erica:Oh my gosh, donald's Cantina. Oh my gosh. We did so much research just on the food and kind of had a game plan of everything that we wanted to do on what day, when we have time for this, because it was such a short cruise Right, trying to do all the things in this short amount of time. But oh man, donald's Cantina that was high on my husband's list and we ate that dang near. I think we ate it every day.
Mike:Jenna, we're going to be starving after this, I know Now my son is going to be starving.
Jana:We're going to go to Jose's the best food on any cruise line. Guess which cruise line? It's? On Carnival. I love Carnival.
Erica:It's on Carnival.
Jana:Carnival cruise line has the best food across the board of all the cruise lines Carnival cruise.
Dana:Have you cruise Carnival? Yes, what was your favorite? Ice?
Danica:cream, thing that you ate. Ice cream, but no, it's friggin' ice cream Ice cream Guys burger.
Mike:Yes, that's exactly what I was gonna say yes, that is the first thing that Russell and I did when we got on the ship, and you can eat it over and over you do?
Dana:We ate guys burger every day at some point, even if we just got one and nibbled on it a little bit, or I would nibble and Russell would finish it, it was so good. I agree Thank you guys and for me.
Jana:I don't normally eat the bread when I eat a burger. Oh yeah, so I'd eat the burger and the toppings and then their fries, and you would just go over and like I literally came off that cruise 10 pounds heavier, oh yeah. Then I went on not joking, I weighed myself when I was like, oh my gosh, between guys, burgers and the ice cream, I put on 10 pounds. So the burritos, the burritos, oh, and you could get like a big bowl of guacamole and chips and then sit there in that shaded area and they had games Now, oh my gosh. So y'all, carnival is pretty.
Dana:And I mean Chocolate, the molten chocolate, lava cake.
Jana:Oh, whatever, I'm not going to say that too.
Dana:Yeah, but I'm telling you what it's better on Carnival Carnival's hands down was the best.
Jana:Yeah, and food on real Caribbean is great, yeah. Food on Disney was fantastic, I agree, but Carnival has the edge on the food and I don't know why.
Erica:I had fancy food with princess. Yeah, I had fancy food, yeah.
Dana:And I could. I'd rather have real food. Yeah, same, I think, and I. Maybe that's one reason why Carnival just stands out like it's a burger, but oh my gosh, it was so good. It was just chocolate cake, but oh my gosh, it was so good.
Erica:So what do you think is better, guys? Burgers or blue iguana?
Dana:Oh, gosh, that's apples and oranges. That's hard yeah.
Erica:If you had to pick one to eat, at which would you choose?
Jana:So for me that always depends on my mood, what am? I in the mood for Right. So right now, I would choose guys burger.
Dana:Oh, I would too.
Jana:Oh, interesting.
Dana:I would too.
Jana:Sorry the phone's ringing.
Erica:Sorry, did air, did air. We don't mean to ignore it, but they're kind of like oh, I'm sorry Did air.
Jana:We don't mean to ignore it, but they're calling outside of hours here, but that's okay, it's okay, um, all right, so okay. So food in the festival food was fantastic.
Erica:Festival of foods. Yep, festival of foods is outside. That's where you know hot dogs burgers.
Dana:Uh, the ice cream. Ice cream, ice cream.
Erica:Donald's cantina just a plethora of options. But the rotational dining is inside. You're assigned either the early dining or the late dining. We had the late dining, which was at 815. And I thought it was perfect for us. I'm glad we had that, yeah, but I can see if you have smaller kids, younger kids, you would want the earlier dining. Um, but we thought it was fantastic, we didn't have to rush, you know, to get somewhere. At that. What? What is it Six o'clock? I think it is Six, six, six. I think it was five. Was it five? Yeah, oh, I don't even remember.
Dana:It was early.
Erica:But we were able to do like the early shows um the little mermaid and Aladdin so funny.
Jana:I always recommend to people to do the later dining.
Dana:Do it. You know, the little bitty kids that's hard, because they get into bedtime and people get cranky.
Jana:But if your kids are good with staying up till non 10 o'clock or night, do the late dining that way. Number one you're not rushed off of castaway key or whatever port that you're in to get back to the ship to shower and change for dinner. You can just do it later, even if you do like my time or any time. Dining or the late dining is what you want on the cruise ship, so that you have a little bit more flexibility with rush not rushing back to the ship for a five, 15 dining time Completely agree.
Erica:Right, no, the the entertainment on board oh well, I mean it's Disney quality, it's was. Broadway quality show. It was definitely Disney Broadway style. Yes, I thought Rural.
Jana:Caribbean, rural Caribbean's and I'm sitting here comparing cruise line John, interrupting your Disney wish, with Rural Caribbean. They're interrupting the magic Phenomenal entertainment. They even had an ice show Like the people were on ice skates, skating around, doing flips and all kinds of lifts and stuff like great comparable to Disney entertainment for sure.
Dana:My Rural Caribbean ship did not have the ice rink, unfortunately, but goals to cruise on a ship that does, because that would. I would love to see that.
Erica:What were you on independence?
Dana:Yes.
Erica:Okay, that's what I'm going to be on in October, so I won't have no ice skaters, I'll just have my memories of the genie from Aladdin. Oh, so that funny. Really made that show. He was, he was a star.
Dana:Sorry, Aladdin.
Erica:He was he was it was legitimately the star of that show. I laughed so hard. Even Riley, my 10 year old, was cracking up and he's on the spectrum and he doesn't get a lot of things like that Like he doesn't pick up on that but he was. He thought it was fantastic, it was awesome.
Dana:It was a really really good show.
Erica:Yeah, that was our favorite show by far. Yeah, the Little Mermaid was okay, it was good. Yeah, I didn't. I mean, I like old school. Little Mermaid like that story and you know it just, it just wasn't for me. Aladdin was definitely for me. That was the highlight. That was the highlight.
Jana:Aladdin's always funny.
Erica:Always it was a lot of fun. Um, let's see the Disney wish. I mean you didn't have. You don't have younger kids, so you didn't get to go into the Oceaneer Club or anything. You didn't get to go down the slide or anything. The Oceaneer's Club for kids, I think it's three. I want to say three to 12. So many different areas of that kids club based on your age. I wish I would have been a kid, because it would have been fantastic to hang out in, like the Millennium Falcon Falcon from.
Dana:Star Wars. No, we're not saying that, we're saying Falcon.
Erica:We're saying Falcon so bad, it was so much fun. And to see the details, like just on the murals, like on the walls and stuff, so many details in the small world nursery, oh it's just precious.
Dana:Oh my gosh.
Erica:I, I know it kind of makes you want a baby, it makes me want to have a baby, but no, I'll just give my dogs, that's right.
Mike:I've heard a lot of kids that are afraid to go in that the whole trip and they go in like the last day.
Erica:And then they figure it out. Oh, I really wish I had they don't want to leave and they wish this and we hear that a lot.
Jana:You know if your, if your children are reluctant to go in all but for some to go in guys, because once they get in there and they realize how much fun it is and all the cool stuff in there for kids to discover, suddenly their shyness goes away a little. And even if they go in there and they're too shy to talk to anybody, that creates independence for them to go on in and take the reins of their fear and step over that threshold and go experience all the cool things that they offer. I would not push kids in any cruise line to go into kids clubs, except for Disney's. The other ones are so. So it's great when you got teens to go in and they meet people. We literally have a client who's was on a Disney cruise with her daughter, met another one of our clients on the same Disney cruise ship with their son. They wound up going to prom together. Oh wow. They live in Tennessee, he's in New York city and they've formed this little friendship and relationship with each other. Went prom together. It's like super cool.
Erica:Oh, that's so cool. I like that. I like that story.
Jana:So, like teens, have to step out of their comfort zone, like my son is. So all about his image and what people think about him, which I hate. He has where he's comfortable in his life and him wanting to make a friendship with a new person is just unheard of. And it's like get your behind into these clubs, because it's not just about the people in the clubs, although that is a huge bonus. Look at all the activities in these clubs, especially the teens clubs, when they got all the video games and stuff that they can play. They got their own little juice bar, they got their own little hot tub. They got all kinds of stuff. There's go carts on Norwegian cruise launch.
Dana:I know that there are go carts on Norwegian cruise.
Jana:So there's so much to do. So push your kids out of their comfort zones a little bit. Challenge them to rise to the occasion, step over that threshold of fear and just go check out the club.
Erica:Well, and something too, I mean specifically with Disney is there's an 1820 society. Do you guys know what that is, the 1820 society? No, my son just turned 18, so this will be new for us. Yeah, so it's actually. It's kind of I don't want to say underground, however, because you know kids, the teens clubs, cap at 17. So if you're 18, freshly 18, you kind of you're in that in-between gray area where you're too young. You're too old for the kids club, really too young to go into bars and stuff like that. 1820 society is where kids ages 18 to 20 will host their own meetups on the cruise line and stuff. So they're around people their age and everything, young adults their age. They have something to do other than hanging out with mom and dad. Because my daughter's the same way, she's 18 and she was kind of like, oh, I don't get to go to kids club, like, oh, what am I gonna do? She went with us to the adult only area, to the pool, and she was like, this is a bunch of drunk people. I am very uncomfortable. So I encouraged her to do the 1820 society, but she's kind of like like Erin, and she was just kind of like, no, I'll just hang out with you guys. Yes, like, okay, that's fine.
Jana:Erin's like I like hanging out with y'all. You're fun. I'm like I know that I am super cool. I get that everybody wants to hang out with me, but no, he's very much like that. He likes his parents. He's not a kid who shies away or hides or whatever. He'll bring all his stuff right in the middle of the living room with us and talk to his friends like they're in the room with us. He don't care, so yeah.
Erica:Way more, better.
Jana:That's right, just way more better.
Erica:Way more, better.
Jana:Anyways, all right. So what other ports besides Castaway Key to y'all visit?
Dana:We stopped in Nassau and I don't know. You have your own story. It was my husband and myself and our youngest, and then we traveled with my best friend's family and we decided to stay on the ship that day. I had been to Nassau before and I, you know, assured my husband that wasn't a whole lot to be missed, right? So we would Probably better off enjoy ourselves a little bit more staying on the ship doing things on board, since it was only a three, three-night cruise, and I Think a lot of people had that same idea because it was only a three day slash night cruise. So, yeah, the pool decks were a little crowded at certain times of the day, but overall I don't regret it. It was nice just to relax. And then we did take take some time to explore certain areas of the ship too, because I know Erica and I both said we kind of like to go see this and kind of just get your feel for the ship, because by day two, by the end of day two, you feel like you kind of a little bit Maybe know which way to go and how to get, and then the next day you're getting off. So right we did take advantage of Nassau day just to strictly stay on board and relax and enjoy the things that the ship had to Offer what about you guys?
Erica:well, because it was our first time in Nassau, we wanted to at least get off the ship for a little bit, just to say we've been there. We wanted some souvenirs and that kind of stuff. Nassau day was our day for Royal Gathering on the ship as well, I'm Royal. Gathering is an event that you can book 30 days in advance. Things starts 30 days at midnight, where you meet all the princesses in the Grand Hall, in the atrium, and it really it made me really sad while we were waiting for our turn to start, like our time, because we were at 9 15 and we weren't due to get off the ship until 9 30. So we timed it perfectly, but I was really sad. How many little girls came up to get in that line with their parents and their parents had no idea right that they had to book that. And seeing the looks on these little girls faces, dressed up as Cinderella, was Cinderella right there and they couldn't meet her. All that said, it made me sad, but at the same time you should have had a travel planner that could have told you about this and made this reservation for you and I'm with you on that, but I think this is a major Disney fail.
Jana:I don't think it's not fair for people who did. If Disney, if the goal is is that a travel agent can help you not miss all the things, then Disney should require everybody to book through a travel agency. Because for those who don't book with a travel agency and have no clue of all the things not just the Royal Gathering All the things that you can miss out because you didn't know you needed to book in advance and you didn't know that it's going to book Solid within 24 hours of opening. It really how it's hard to say no to a little girl, a little right who's looking to meet Cinderella or their favorite princess. Oh, I'm sorry you didn't get a reservation. That's not okay and I think Disney misses it there. I understand there is a limit, right, but I also think that there are many other Opportunities where they could have those princesses stationed daily Between certain times a day, where you would have multiple opportunities to come meet a princess Instead of the way they're doing it. Or take away the meet and greet side of it and just do a show or something where they can come and see the princesses. Because you know what about the moms and the dads who did have a travel planner and even the travel planner was Unable to get the Royal Gathering or the Bippity, boppity, whatever it might be for the person, and you're highly disappointed. You've paid a lot of money for a cruise that now your kids gonna be sad, disappointed on. So I think Disney Misses it there and I think that should be something they look at and and reconsider for as much money as they charge for these cruises.
Erica:Well, there are opportunities, like there could be spots that open up for the Royal Gathering. You just need to check the navigator app, you just have to.
Jana:But if I don't have a travel agent and I didn't know that I was telling you this in advance how?
Erica:would I know that right? Yeah, but I mean it was very Efficient, it was very efficiently run and I mean, even though you know, yeah, it was sad to see, you know, little girls turned away and everything I did compliment the cast members that were running that line, because there were people that were just trying to go past them Right in line and they were stopping people. But they had people going, that's an awful, awful job to have.
Jana:Oh yeah, it really is.
Erica:Tell little three four-year-old girl now yeah, but I mean, they Know what?
Jana:happens with those cast members is they do this every single sailing. They get tired and the people trying to talk themselves into it. So now they become decent to talk exactly the emotional side of what's happening in the moment. I just I don't think it's. I think it's handled completely wrong. I Thought it was the fishers. Maybe they should do it on castaway key day and then the parents decide.
Dana:Well, they're here.
Jana:Tom to do this right, but throughout the day and not.
Erica:I agree with that during this particular two or three hour window. Yeah, no, I agree with that, but I mean from the time that are that they were letting our 915 people get in line, which is that like it was at like 914. It was like on the dot 914. We were able to get in line a minute early. We were, I think we were one of the first people to get off the ship, yeah, but they still. I mean we had, I want to say, five princesses that my kids got to go meet and take pictures with and everything. And I'm glad they did, because you know, my kids are 18 and 10 and they're getting out of that, that phase. I guess you could say so I'm glad I have those, those pictures and those memories. But I mean it was let's go to pictures, talk pictures, talk. Well, the thing about it was very is the cast member playing the role of Cinderella.
Jana:If you have little kids, cover their ears right now. Cover their ears because I'm about to say something. But the, the cast member paint playing the role of Cinderella or Belle or Snow White, whoever princess might be there. Tiana, they usually work a job elsewhere on the ship when they're playing the role of a princess. So that's a main reason why Disney doesn't do it throughout the day, because these people have other roles to fill. But it's still in my book. It's a. It's a hard pill to swallow. It's. It's like you're not guaranteed you're gonna get your picture with any character. If you go to Disney World, you can stand in that line all day long, every single day, but on Disney cruise line it's a certain day at a certain time window and if you don't book it, you don't get it, and there's no exceptions. That's, that's a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people to see my personality.
Erica:I like that because I've done my due diligence. I've made my personality. Your personality doesn't work.
Jana:For somebody else like that. But that's not how. I roll on very spontaneous and I want to do what we feel like doing in the moment.
Erica:Dana remember I showed you my itinerary. For every day, I had a page, a page per day, every day every single day. I had an itinerary yeah because that's my personality, yeah, and that's how I travel. I will say, though, I don't think I will ever do a short cruise again because you sure because, even though I see we and again we did it opposite. You went to the parks first, right, you went to Walt Disney World first, and then you got on the cruise. We did the cruise first and then went to the parks and the second we stepped off of that ship. It, I like, took a breath and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm going to the parks, I can relax now. I Can relax going to crowded Theme parks in the summer. I feel like we were much busier on the cruise and I don't feel like we we truly got to enjoy it because we were trying to do All the things. And that's my fault, because I made you know they're itinerary, but there's so much to do, correct? You want to get your money's worth correct.
Dana:It's a, it's a hard, it's. It's like six of one, half dozen of the other. It's hard to know exactly what to do, and we traveled with Another family so we sort of planned as a group. But at the same time my best friend is very much a fly by the seat of your pants kind of a gal and and so she she kind of brings that out in me when I travel with her, which I'm not mad about because obviously I am a travel planner so I do like to plan things, but I'm also I've never been one to necessarily Detail out every moment of the day, especially the older I get. So I do. For us the cruise was more relaxing. Primarily we were up late every night. Oh yeah, that was our choice. We went to a movie late every night, not mad about that, but she. But to Erica's point, there's so much to do on a cruise ship, not just Disney cruise line so many things to do, no matter what your interest level is. And just having said that, each cruise line has different size ships, which also determines how many things are offered on the ship. So there's a cruise ship for you, I can pretty much promise. Oh yeah, you're Extremely prone to sea sickness, motion sickness, that kind of thing there is a cruise ship for you. If you want jam-packed, thrilling experiences while you're on board, boy, we got one for you. If you want more of a laid back experience, honestly that's like my Royal Crew being experienced. To me it was very chill and laid back, not over the top, high energy, not that type of experience. I would totally do that one again, because that's I guess that's what I look for in a cruise line. So there's your little travel agent cruise plug. There we can find the right kind of ship and sailing for you, 100%, absolutely.
Jana:I'm not necessarily a cruise vacation person. It's not going to be the first vacation I choose because I deal so bad with motion sickness and vertigo.
Mike:We even did. We do nothing on a cruise. We sit in the room. Yeah, we don't do anything Really. Yeah, you just sit in the room Like you don't even go sit by the pool.
Jana:I would sit by the pool because I don't like a cruise ship pool.
Mike:But it puts us to sleep.
Jana:We'll sit in the restaurants, we'll sit out and maybe catch the edge of a show, we'll wander the shops and just explore the ship, but we don't necessarily take part in any kind of activity whatsoever because we don't want to. We just like walking around and exploring and just looking and people watching, and that seems to be more like we do on a cruise ship. For me, though, it's more about the vertigo and motion sickness. I just can't. We did a two night on the wonder of the seas back in December and I thought I was going to die, but it's just not. It's a cruise vacation. We're not cruise vacation people.
Mike:No, and I mean, like I said, we just sit there and do nothing.
Jana:So it's really relaxing to us.
Mike:We haven't bought the internet package ever. Oh my gosh really we turn everything off and we're separated.
Dana:Yeah, and we have bought the internet package or had it included on World Caribbean. But I kind of think I might want to try that one.
Mike:It's weird. You cut off everything. It's literally. It's nice.
Dana:Yeah, because we don't do that on the regular, not even on the weekends. You're never not connected to.
Mike:Now we still have the apps where we could talk to people on the ship and stuff. But other than that we had to find entertainment on the boat, which our entertainment was getting ice cream and then laying and sleeping all day.
Jana:Yeah, we did. But I mean, some people absolutely love and adore cruising and they go over and over and sometimes a cruise is the only vacation some people would choose. Everybody is different, everybody, like we were talking earlier about. If you're in the situation where your daughter did not get the opportunity to meet the princesses, how you react and handle the situation will determine the rest of your cruise, will determine the memories you look back on. So make lemonade right. But cruising is a fantastic vacation for anybody to take. We highly recommend everybody. Consider it. At least go once.
Mike:There's so many different ways of doing it.
Jana:Even if you do deal with motion sickness in vertigo. I'm not sure that there's anybody in the world who deals with it more severely than I do. I can literally tilt my head too far to the left and I have vertigo. So it's not just about getting motion sick for me. There's issues with my ears. But I do recommend everybody at least try it once. Look for a three or four night sailing. Get on it, see what you think. If you hate it, you're not there very long, you'll go home soon and they're also fairly inexpensive, especially if you can drive to a port and not have to fly somewhere. That's a good point. Oh, anyways, all right. So if you would like to chime in and have any opinions whatsoever, we're all done. I'm sorry.
Dana:I think we covered the biggest and the highlights from our. I think so. Yeah, ok.
Jana:Just make sure. I was like, oh, we're going to end the podcast now. Besides that, I think we're at a time I'm not sure we are on time but if you have cruised, if you've never cruised, if you've got opinions on cruise, if you like Disney Cruise Line, carnival, royal, norwegian Princess, whatever it might be if you have opinions, we would love to hear it. Call, tell us all about it. 615-246-5823. I will warn you. There is clearly. Obviously what we learned last week was that a two-minute time limit on that voicemail. So be sure you say everything you need to say, make notes if you need to, before you call In two minutes or less. 615-246-5823. Guys, next week or the next episode, I should say we're going to talk about Sandals and Beaches Resorts. Yeah, tell you guys all about those. All right, have a great week. Music.