Unleashing a New World of Travel Experiences: Beyond Disney's Borders

Ever wondered what it would be like to be whisked away by a robotic arm while on a Disney ride? Well, buckle up as we take you through Disney's newly patented robotic arm ride system! This episode is a thrill-ride of sorts as we explore the potential applications and implications of this innovative technology. We also share our insights on Disney's existing transportation systems and ponder how a future with more robotic ride systems might pan out.

Picture this - you're embarking on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. The check-in process is seamless, the service and hospitality are top-notch, and to your pleasant surprise, your appetite is much larger than expected! We recount our experiences with Royal Caribbean and compare our stay at Sandals Ochi and the Royal Bohemian in the Bahamas. We also highlight the importance of working with travel agents and having a great relationship with the brand. A tricky topic we touch on is the enforcement of dress codes on cruise ships - it's all about respecting the environment and dressing appropriately.

Finally, we venture beyond the realms of Disney to explore other vacation options. From Royal Caribbean to Perfect Day at CocoCay, there's a whole new world of travel experiences waiting for you. Hear our tales from Cocoa Beach Club, the home of the tallest waterslide in North America. We compare a Disney cruise to Castaway Cay with a Royal Caribbean cruise to Perfect Day at CocoCay, and reveal why we believe Royal Caribbean trumps Disney for families with children. Who knows, by the end of our discussion, you might feel the pull of a new vacation destination!

Transcript

Jana: 0:05

Hey, hey, hey. How's everybody doing today? Welcome to the Altair Podcast. I'm Jana, I'm Erica and I'm Mike, and we call her Disney Dana. For a reason, she is yet again not here with us this week.

Mike: 0:31

She's at that bad place, she's at Disney World.

Jana: 0:34

We can call her Disappearing Dana, disappearing Dana, wow Dana, your fans miss you.

Erica: 0:40

I miss you, come back.

Mike: 0:42

You all got one more day. No, actually she's coming back today, right I?

Jana: 0:45

don't know, I have no idea. So anyways, alright, guys, no voicemails this week. We actually have one, but we're going to hold it off until next week. But if you would like to call and leave us a voicemail, the number is 615-2465823. Ltad, ltad the first two letters stand for let's Talk. And we want to talk with you, not just at you. We want to be very interactive with everybody out there who's listening. So if you heard the show from last episode where we talked about Alaska and you have thoughts on that, or we talked about Disney, taking my bear idea and actually putting testing it in the parks that day, and Magic Kingdom D23 from the episode prior to that, anything you want to talk about, if you want to talk about something we haven't talked about, we want to hear from you. So 615-246-5823. I have a question for you all. Oh, okay, have you read or heard about Disney's patent new rod system?

Mike: 1:45

What.

Jana: 1:46

Huh, I've been busy. I saw this on a blog oh is this like like is this mouse trap, I'm thinking transportation. No, but this is like a ride.

Mike: 1:57

You're riding in like a thrill ride.

Jana: 1:59

New ride system like an attraction at the park.

Mike: 2:01

My brain was going to like a like Monorail or or a new Skyliner. Oh, like transportation, yeah, transportation.

Jana: 2:08

That would be awesome if they'd expend the Monorail or the Skyliner either one. I love the Skyliner, I love Skyliner. Like I enjoy riding it. Yeah, like Monorail is cool and you ride it and whatnot. The Skyliner is like relaxing.

Mike: 2:20

And then when we take somebody to go that's never been on it before we walk up to it's closed? Yeah, but it's so relaxing and it's enjoyable and it's until you come to down to the bottom and you feel like you're going to hold on because you feel like you're going to hit the one in front of you, but I do that every time. You're not going to do that. It has happened.

Erica: 2:36

It has happened yeah.

Jana: 2:37

It's not going to happen to you, um, but Skyliner is very peaceful for me, so I enjoy the Skyliner and I could literally just stay on and ride in a circle the whole time We've been stuck up in it when it was over a hundred degrees outside and it wasn't so bad. I mean it's hot, but you can, the air comes through.

Mike: 2:52

It stopped for two or three minutes for us, and but it was good, so let's do it again.

Jana: 2:56

Anyways, but we're not talking about transportation. This is like an attraction, like a roller coaster, like say and it's not applied to this, I'm just saying an attraction like Pirates of the Caribbean or Space Mountain or Hot I Mention or something like that. So I was reading this and I didn't. I'm not I'm not a person who's going to just dive into it and study it and understand it. I read it enough to know, okay, they've got an idea and they might implement it, and this is kind of what it looks like. So that's what I'm going to tell you guys. Okay, so a few weeks back, Disney filed an application for a patent on what the company describes as systems and methods for transferring a passenger compartment between ride systems using a robotic tool changer.

Mike: 3:39

Uh-oh, this don't sound fun. This sounds like something's going to mess up.

Erica: 3:42

Sounds like AI.

Jana: 3:43

The new system features a robotic arm that can engage a passenger compartment at an attraction, such as a conjoined ride vehicle. Remove them from the track they're on and place them on a completely different track and disengage from the ride vehicle, at which time the guests can continue the experience inside the attraction.

Erica: 4:01

Okay, I'm not going to lie, that sounds fantastic. However, this kind of sounds, like that precision that they have with like rise of the resistance and even Mickey and Minnie's runaway railway. Where it's like that, it has to be absolutely precise. And now you're talking about a robotic arm coming and picking you up off of a track and moving you to another track. If that is not a hundred percent spot on, that's lawsuits. I mean, that sounds, it sounds great, but on paper but cocaine bear is not lawsuits. Cocaine bear is not.

Mike: 4:36

I mean the expedition Everest, the ride. You stop up there and the ride flips, so you're not moving.

Erica: 4:42

How many times have you gotten stuck at that point?

Jana: 4:44

Never, I have never been stuck. I've never been stuck.

Erica: 4:47

But many times.

Mike: 4:49

But it makes sure that it's locked in before you start moving back over at that other park at Universal, that one flips while you're moving.

Jana: 4:55

While you're moving.

Mike: 4:56

So this is just a next step. That's terrifying there.

Jana: 4:59

Yeah, I don't imagine sitting in a doom buggy and going through the Haunted Mansion and you come through the dining room where all the ghosts are having this big party and dancing in a great time and suddenly your ride vehicle gets lifted up off the track. You get turned in a 90 degree angle on the other side and sat down on a completely different track and now you're in a completely different scene Maybe. Now suddenly you're in the attic right and you see the broad beheading all her husbands. So it's literally picking you up off of the track while you're seated in the ride vehicle and moving you to a different track, there has to be a slow moving ride.

Mike: 5:36

They can't do this on a thrill ride.

Erica: 5:37

Yeah, it's not going to be a thrill. There's no way it's going to be a thrill ride.

Jana: 5:41

It's going to yeech you over to the other track. It's like a, like a, like a. What do you call this?

Erica: 5:45

Sling shot, sling shot, there you go.

Jana: 5:48

So I thought that was interesting and I didn't know if y'all had read about it or heard about it and Is that pictures of it?

Erica: 5:53

Yeah, I know nobody else can see the pictures, but I can, yeah. So maybe in 10 years, maybe in the next decade, we'll get that, maybe, maybe I mean they had all these other plans.

Jana: 6:02

Yeah, we'll see Like I said, we won't get none of those date 23 planes. We're going to 7 tele different.

Mike: 6:06

I hope this is not the patent. This is like somebody drew this from, like I have no idea.

Jana: 6:11

I have no idea.

Mike: 6:12

That's terrifying.

Erica: 6:13

Yeah, I don't know about that one.

Jana: 6:14

So anyways, fun Tom's at Richmond Huh. All right, erica actually just got back from an incredible cruise on Royal Caribbean. Oh man.

Erica: 6:26

And when she was in.

Jana: 6:26

Nassau.

Mike: 6:27

She did something super fun and luxury luxurious as well, I just had you done for Alaska and the mountains and you're all good for now. Y'all going to start start down by Caribbean and you're going to forget about the mountain.

Jana: 6:39

Let me say this I know a lot of people probably came to this podcast for the Disney component of it. We always talk about Disney. We just talked about Disney. There's probably a little bit of Disney in every episode that we do. If last week you heard a start talking about Alaska and you turned it off, go back and listen to it and today don't turn it off. Listen to this because there are. I'm going to say it because if you didn't hear last week, I'm going to say it again on this week. If all you and your family are doing are Disney, disney, disney, disney, disney, disney, you are doing yourself and your children in the service, because there are so many other phenomenal things to see and do in this country. In USA alone, there's a million phenomenal things. Go listen to Alaska, but there are other things you can do as well. Now, I'm not a cruiser, but we're about to talk about cruising because a lot of people are cruisers and if you've never been on a cruise especially if maybe all you've done is a Disney cruise Disney cruise is not the best cruise line out there in my opinion. I think they do a lot of things right and they are at the top with the best. I don't think they are the best, though. So there are things outside of Disney that, if you're only choosing Disney, you're truly not getting to experience the world, and your kids are not going to have this big travel portfolio growing up as adults, because all you're doing is Disney, and it's cool and it does transport you to different places, but the real places are so much better than what's being portrayed in a theme park. So, erica, let's talk about your Royal Caribbean cruise.

Erica: 8:07

Well, before we do that, I am going to disagree with you for a second. If you are a Disney, it would not be an LTD pod.

Jana: 8:13

It would not be Correct.

Erica: 8:15

I do have to disagree, though, because if you are a Disney person, let's just say you're a park person. I am a park person, I'm a park girl, my family and I we thrive on theme parks. That's what we do. However, speaking of Alaska, if you love Disney and you love cruising and you listened to last week's episode and you heard Jana talk about how phenomenal Alaska was take a freaking Disney cruise to Alaska. That's on their itinerary. The best of three worlds you could have in one shot. So I just want to throw that out Well.

Jana: 8:43

I should have said this last week on when I was talking about Alaska, and I didn't. I would not choose to do Alaska on a cruise ship. Well you don't like cruising, it doesn't matter Any cruise ship. You do not get enough time on land to do and experience what we got to do on a cruise ship. So you could do a cruise tour. You can still, you can and you can still do a cruise and you can still have a great Alaska experience. But if you truly want to experience Alaska, you don't need to do it on a ship, right? No? I agree with that.

Erica: 9:09

Yeah, I agree with that, so we just agreed what happened?

Jana: 9:13

I don't know, I don't know.

Erica: 9:16

I mean, it's spooky season, so spooky things are happening, so we're agreeing on something. I just felt the floor moving, I know. So, yes, I just cruised with Royal Caribbean out of Port Canaveral with another agent from Main Street, meredith, that lives in Texas, and I was so excited to get this invitation only because I had never cruised with Royal Caribbean. This was my third cruise for the calendar year. I did Princess, I did Disney and now Royal Caribbean. And it's one thing to learn about a product and sell it and everything and look at itinerary and watch YouTube videos and whatnot, but until you really truly experience it for yourself, there's nothing like it, like you can't learn that stuff without being there.

Jana: 10:00

Quickly tell me, because I don't want to mess up your trying to thought how different were the three brands?

Erica: 10:06

Oh, completely different. I don't think there's one thing that's similar between all of them. They're all completely different and they're own great in their own ways. They have their downfalls. I mean, I'm really honest, they have their downfalls in their own ways and whatnot. But Royal Caribbean really impressed me and I'm a hard sell. I'm a very hard sell. Meredith and I met up in the airport in Orlando. We took a transfer down to Cocoa Beach and this is where I kind of wanted to start talking, because when we sell cruises and whatnot, we always highly advise people to come in a day early because that cruise ship is not going to wait for you if your flight's delayed. We found the perfect hotel for us. It was the four point Sheraton at Cocoa Beach and it was perfect for us because, number one, it was pouring down rain when we got to Florida. I mean, we had to go like 30 on the highway and we passed like six accidents. It was so bad. And the four point Sheraton had a covered unloading area so we didn't have to worry about getting our luggage and stuff out in the rain. There was a restaurant right there. On site, there was a surf shop, which honestly made me a little sad. It was very. It reminded me of California. It reminded me of Huntington Beach and like Jack's surf shop on the corner of PCH and Maine and everything. So it was a little gut punch a little bit. It definitely reminded me of California, but anyways it was fantastic. The staff was fantastic and right across the street, within walking distance, was a wind Dixie.

Mike: 11:38

I was super excited to go to our wind Dixie, because I'd never been in one, even though it's just a grocery store.

Erica: 11:42

We did that because not that we needed groceries or anything, because we were getting on a cruise ship the next day. We did that because, with the cruise lines, each adult 21 over can bring a bottle of wine or a bottle of champagne or something. So we decided we're going to make our omemoses in the mornings and we went and bought a bottle of champagne, so Meredith carried that on. I bought a bottle of wine, so I carried that on and carried our bottles, and our backpacks on the ship and everything. And this was actually Meredith's first cruise, oh nice. So I felt so special that I got to experience that with her. She nervous, she was excited, really. She was excited more than anything. And she was excited to learn because this was not a vacation. This wasn't like a hey, come sail on our cruise line for a vacation. This was a work trip. This was called what they call a seminar at sea. So we had classroom training, we had scheduled events and what not? Specialty dining and everything they got us in. But I'll get to that. It was so much fun and Meredith, when we were at the hotel, she was like well, what do I get? What's the check-in process like? And what's it like and I'm trying to explain to her, based on my previous two cruises this year what's it like when you get to port and everything. While they're all kind of the same, I feel like Royal Caribbean's check-in process was seamless.

Jana: 13:04

Seamless. It's like you just walk. It was so fast.

Erica: 13:06

It's like you never stop walking, just walk.

Mike: 13:08

We've done Royal Caribbean, disney and Carnival out of that same port, and Royal Caribbean was just flawless, smooth, yeah, and it is every single time.

Jana: 13:15

It's not just that one particular time, it's flawless every time. Yeah.

Erica: 13:20

They've got that down, yeah. So there were a couple of times where I'm like OK, ignore what I said earlier. Like scratch that.

Mike: 13:25

Because it was.

Erica: 13:26

I was just going off of what I had experienced with two other lines and Royal Caribbean really blew them out of the water and everybody was super friendly at the port.

Jana: 13:34

It's so easy. It's almost like you're breaking a rule, like you skip something and you're going to get in trouble.

Erica: 13:38

Yeah, how is it? I even looked at her. I'm like I think we're done. I don't know. I'm pretty sure we're done, because they're telling us to sit down in the rows of chairs now and everything.

Jana: 13:48

And we're going to go home. We walked right on the ship. We never stopped walking. We'll see.

Erica: 13:52

We were very excited, so we were a little early. Got you, we got there before our 11 AM check-in time, so our port arrival time. Excuse me, but yeah, it was a great time to sail and everything. It was coming into hurricane season a little bit, but I'll get to that in a second too, because that kind of a how about say you had one?

Mike: 14:12

bouncing around yeah.

Erica: 14:14

It was the first night was a little wonky. But Meredith was like well, what do we do first? And I said, well, everybody's different. A lot of people go straight to the buffet. I said it's 11, 10. I'm hungry and remember when we went to Sandals, when we went to Jamaica.

Jana: 14:30

I introduced you guys, erica, and the food.

Erica: 14:32

First breakfast and second dinner and everything I will say. Meredith can out eat me any day of the week and that girl is skinny.

Jana: 14:42

She is so tiny as a stick oh my gosh, itty bitty.

Erica: 14:46

She's so tiny. So when she was like, oh so should we go have our first lunch, I kind of like what. My heads, like my neck, snapped because I looked at her so fast and that's when I got on the group chat. I'm like oh, by the way, everybody, just so you know, meredith is all about like first lunch.

Jana: 14:59

And so how many lunches did you wind up having?

Erica: 15:03

The first day we just had one because we had such an. We had an 11 AM port arrival time and so you know, Meredith and I had been talking about, you know what we were going to do, like in our quote unquote free time, and we're there for work, so we're there for content and we need to get pictures of things with nobody else in them. So we were very, very lucky that right when we got on that ship, there were not a lot of people. You're probably one of the first groups on yeah. So we walked around pretty much the entire ship and got pristine pictures like these are like good social media pictures to use for marketing and whatnot. But we pretty much were on our own. We did the sale away party. I tried to go live on Facebook but it was so windy it was just not coming through. I was like, ok, I'm not even going to bother with this. Meredith is kind of a daredevil. I'm not surprised, I am. She wanted, we were, we were coming, you know, out of the canal and whatnot, and we're in open water and she wanted to go to the very front of the ship and have her, like Titanic.

Mike: 16:07

Oh my gosh.

Erica: 16:08

It was so. It was so windy. I was legit scared for my life. I was like I'm gonna hang on to my sunglasses.

Jana: 16:14

It's not that bad.

Erica: 16:15

No, it was bad, it was so bad. That day there was a lady that was. She was walking in front of us and like everybody's having to hang on because it's so windy and it's rocky. Like the water was not smooth, Like it was chop chop, chop, choppy water.

Mike: 16:30

I'd have been thrown up over the side.

Jana: 16:31

Yeah that's why I'm not a cruiser.

Erica: 16:33

Yeah, but there was this poor lady that was in front of us walking, like she got up to her friends that were like right in front of us, like waiting their turn to go to like the very front of the ship and whatnot. She was wearing a skirt. Oh, was it over her head? Yes, yeah, it was a long skirt and it was fully Completely up over her head oh thank goodness I'm wearing pants. Like it was. It was very windy, very choppy, but we had a cocktail reception with our Royal Caribbean wrap and everything, and that was fantastic. It was great to see the other agents that were here from multiple agencies. You know, here to learn and everything to network and whatnot. We went to dinner as a group in one of the main dining rooms and Meredith and I are sitting there and we're at our table and all of a sudden we just start kind of leaning this way and I'm like, oh, we just kind of look each other like are you feeling that or am I crazy? Like what's happening? The water was so bad. It was so bad that first night that medical from like deck one or something had to come up to the promenade and they were giving out free drama mean I would have been out.

Jana: 17:40

I had been knocked out in my room at that point. I couldn't have done that. It was.

Erica: 17:45

I don't get seasick or anything like that, but even I was kind of like, oh, I don't feel right. It was very, very rough that first night, but we walked around the ship and we experienced the promenade, which was fantastic. We had second dinner which was pizza. Oh, I'm sorry. We were on Independence of the Seas, gotcha. We were on Independence of the Seas in the Freedom class and it was not like Oasis class or Quantum class or anything like that, but it was. I feel it was a good class to be in for a first time Royal Caribbean cruise Now, I will say when we were at Perfect Day which I'll get to because that was like the highlight of the trip Oasis pulled up next to us in port and we were like wow, our ship is tiny. We thought it was this massive ship, but you see one of those newer fleets come in and it was.

Jana: 18:32

Isn't that what we were on? We were on the Wonder, you were on the Wonder.

Erica: 18:35

We actually our transfer driver. We were the only ones in the van and he took us like through Port Canaveral because Wonder was in port and so he drove us up there like in the rain so we didn't get any really good pictures. We were like holy smokes, look how tall that ship is that ship is huge and I was like I'm pretty sure this is what Jana and Mike were on. But yeah, that's definitely on the list to do someday.

Jana: 19:00

but we could still feel we didn't have any kind of weather like that and we felt the waves, we were on a pre-Nargaral selling and it was actually the Nargaral selling and they did the naming of the ship and we didn't pull out of port till almost eight o'clock and we waited to cook a key the very next day, so he was booking it once we finally left and you could absolutely feel it.

Erica: 19:21

And we were going pretty fast that first night too. We were going fast and the water was not giant with the speed of that and even when we finally went to bed it was kind of like I'm gonna sleep so good tonight because it's so just, it's swaying so bad. I slept like a baby in a cradle. It was so nice, but that's just me. Our first port day was in Nassau and Meredith and I were like she was like well, do we get off the ship in Nassau? You know what do we do? I'm like well, you know, because she had everybody talks about Nassau and how they don't like being bombarded by the locals that are trying to make a living by selling their products and stuff. I told her you know it's up to you. I know this is your first cruise, whatever you wanna do, I'm good with. So Meredith and I had put in a request for a day pass for a certain resort in Nassau and we had pretty much given up. We were like it's a week before we leave, like six days before we leave, like we're not gonna get this day pass, and when it came through, I think Meredith cried tears of joy Like she was so excited when I told her you're not gonna believe this and she knew instantly. She's like we got the day pass. So we ended up getting off the ship in Nassau. I had told her about the color for buildings and these are great picture opportunities and everything. Let's go do that and whatnot? We got a day pass to Sandals Royal Bohemian. I felt that that sealed the deal for me with Sandals. I'm a Bahamas water girl. I'm sorry, janelle.

Mike: 20:46

I'm not a.

Erica: 20:46

Bahama mama. I'm a Bahama mama. I am all about that water in the Bahamas and we paid for our transfer there, got there, we met.

Jana: 20:57

So you had just done Jamaica and then you go to Bahamas and you see the Bahama blue water. Oh my gosh, it's unbelievable.

Erica: 21:03

It was.

Jana: 21:04

It's unbelievable.

Erica: 21:06

I think they even took. It's like the color of Windex.

Jana: 21:08

It's amazing, it's so blue, it's postcard.

Erica: 21:12

It's postcard, perfect. I think I've looked at Meredith and I said something like is this CGI Like what? Is this Like it's? so beautiful it doesn't look real, yeah, and I just stared at that water and I'm like I cannot wait to get in that water, like I can't wait to put my bathing suit on. But we were there for business. We toured. We met an incredible employee there that works at Royal Bohemian, named Trevor, and he took us around. It was fully booked so we did not get to see any rooms, unfortunately, but Sandals was so nice to us, they were so gracious and we had the best time with them. We talked to a gentleman that works at the loyalty desk and whatnot, and you could tell that they just the way they were speaking to us and the way they were teaching us and interacting with us the entire tour. They really, truly value travel agents oh yeah, they really truly do, and I got that vibe in Jamaica as well. But this was Trevor took it to a whole new level, like he talked to us like he knew us forever and he just kept saying thank you for all you do and thank you for sending us people, and if it wasn't for you and all these things and it was like Trevor, we love you we're gonna give you a good review.

Mike: 22:18

They're one of the only destinations that really just. I mean when you walk in, they hear travel agents like they surround you and bring out people, and it's I mean they really put it on strong. Yes.

Jana: 22:29

And I can tell you this to you just kind of get off topic a little bit, but based off of what Mike's just said, you know Sandals Ochi is not the nicest Sandals resort, it's an entry level resort. It's a fantastic property, don't get me wrong, but it is not five star luxury. It's older, it's being refurbished, so it's headed back into the direction of five star luxury. But I had a client there last week or the week four, week four, last, and upon check-in there were some issues and she reached out to me and I was able to reach out to the general manager because travel agents have such a great partnership with Sandals and Beaches they truly value travel agents. So it's good for you to reach out and book with a travel agent, because if you book in with a travel agent who has a great relationship, not all travel agents are created equal. Don't get me wrong. We want you to book with a travel agent, we don't care who it is. Find somebody who's really good at what they do, that really really knows the destination or the resort chain, and book with them. But if you're booking with a travel agent who has a great relationship with Sandals, we have the connections and we have the friendships with people on property to resolve issues quickly. So I won't get into the issues and all that kind of stuff. But there were two major things that were happening that day as they arrived. It was their day of check-in and I was able to reach out to the general manager of that resort. We emailed back and forth. They not only took care of the problem, they were upgraded, they were given free cabanas and things for the trouble, whatnot. So that's why Sandals and Beaches working with travel agents for you, when you're working with Sandals and Beaches, if you work with a travel agent who's got the relationship with the brand, your trip's gonna be fantastic Right now I agree, and Royal Bohemian really to me.

Erica: 24:12

I mean, when we went to Jamaica we toured several properties and whatnot in Duns River, of course, being like the new kid on the block and everything being shiny and new and everything. I was like, oh my gosh, like nothing's gonna compare to Duns River. And I come to Royal Bohemian and I'm like, holy cow, I need to bring my husband here. I was texting Johnny, my husband, from property. I'm like this is it? Poor Johnny, he never gets to go anywhere. He never gets to go anywhere. Eric leaves him in home all the time.

Mike: 24:36

No, I know the feeling.

Erica: 24:38

Well, you guys should have like Boys Night or something. Yeah, Johnny can be your designated driver. There you go there it is when we were done touring Royal Bohemian. I will say, though, Royal Bohemian, they have a whole building that's shut down right now because it's being refurbished.

Mike: 24:54

East Bay building.

Erica: 24:54

I believe it is is being refurbished right now, but the property was pristine. It's quaint, it's smaller than Ochi. I felt more I don't wanna say I felt more comfortable at Royal Bohemian, but it was just kind of like it's quiet over here, kind of like Ochi too. It's quiet over here in this pool, but if you wanna go to the party pool it's not that far away. Royal Bohemian completely speaks my love language. There were two food trucks in what they call coconut grove, which is where they have activities, and there's a bar with these incredible swing chairs and everything. And it was free time, so it's sandals not only gave us the day pass, but we got to experience all the amenities that while we were there for the day after we were done touring. So Meredith and I went to the swim up bar and we went to that bar in Coconut Grove and we definitely ate at those food trucks and, if you have I heard the mac and cheese was really good, oh my gosh, y'all gonna start to have my food here, aren't you? The Bohemian mac and cheese I'm going to dream about for the rest of my life.

Mike: 25:57

I love mac and cheese.

Erica: 25:58

He does.

Mike: 25:58

You can't do nothing wrong with mac and cheese. There's you can only make it better.

Erica: 26:02

You're not gonna have any better mac and cheese than the one from the Coco Queen is what they call the-.

Jana: 26:07

We got to test this the teal Gonna fly the nests all this weekend.

Erica: 26:10

The teal food truck called Coco Queen. The Bohemian mac and cheese will change your life. Okay, and if you've never had I still don't know 100% what this is, but it doesn't matter because it was so good If you've never had conch fritters, oh yeah.

Mike: 26:25

Oh my- they're fried, right, I think we were so-.

Erica: 26:28

We were so Number one. It was so hot and we were so tired because we had a late night and we've been touring and it's hot and we're like, oh my gosh, like we need to get in the water, like to cool our body temperature down. We were so hungry too. I think we teared up a little bit when we had the mac and cheese, like it was so good Like, oh my gosh, this is the best mac and cheese I've ever had. But the pink food truck, too, is like crepes and cookies and iced coffee and everything. I'm like this is 100% made for me. Yeah, this is my resort, this is it. We interacted with bartenders and they're like they didn't know we were travel agents, like the only people that really knew. Like, yeah, the people you know saw us walking around in a group and what not. People are like kind of like you could hear them like oh, what are they doing? And everything. Well, this is what we do. Like we're not here for vacation, we're here to work. Yeah, and I think we. I mean we took so many pictures too, but I was blown away with Royal Bohemian. I was blown away. I mean, we were in, we paid for, you know, because it's Nassau, so we had to pay for transfers on our own and whatnot. So we were in the transfer, coming back to the ship, because we don't want to be pure runners or anything. We don't want to miss the ship, we have to get back at a certain time and whatnot. Meredith wanted to shop a little bit in Nassau before we got back on. I was looking at flights on the transfer to go back, to go back, like that's how much in love with the sandals property I am. Yeah, that's awesome.

Mike: 27:54

Yeah, I'm looking at pictures. It looks amazing.

Erica: 27:56

Oh it's, I can't even describe. It was clean. There was no trash anywhere. It was just. It was just so it was perfect. Yeah, it was perfect. But I will say there was one bartender at the swim up bar and it was. It was like midday, so people have been drinking a little rowdy, it's the party pool and everything, and the bartender is trying to talk to us over at the DJ and everything and everybody's just having a great time and whatnot. And there was a gentleman that was throwing around like a soccer ball at one of the bartenders. Well, the bartender missed the ball and it hit me and this, this, this girl bartender, she felt kind of bad and she was like are you okay? Like she's kind of like holding my hand, cause like it kind of jammed my finger a little bit and I'm more like did I break a nail? Like I was a little concerned. And she's like do you want a shot? Let's have a shot. And I'm like I looked at Meredith. I was like are we, are we doing this? And she was like yeah, let's do it. I was like okay, let's do it. She was like gold or silver and I'm like oh, my God, they're going to give us tequila.

Mike: 28:56

This is not good.

Erica: 28:57

I was like, oh boy, and I said silver. And she was like good choice. And we, she gave us shots and everything and she had no idea we were travel agents. Then she just making conversation. After that she's like, well, you know, where are you guys from? Like cause it's Meredith and I and we're at a place for couples and so you know, she's kind of like leading in those questions and whatnot and we're like, oh, you know, we're here for work, we're travel agents. She was like, oh, it's so good to have you here. And it wasn't like intimidated or like nervous about saying the wrong thing to us. She was just so friendly prior to that. After that she was like, oh, I hope to see you again here. You know, come see us, bring your husbands, bring your boyfriends. Like bring, you know, bring your clients. And well, it was just, it was a different level of service. Yeah, it is, it was a different level of service. So I was, I was super impressed. Again, I'm a heart cell, so I'm very impressed with Sandals, royal Behavior and I cannot wait to go back. So we, we got back to the ship and that night was formal night. We decided to skip that, even though we brought like heels and fancy dresses and everything, cause we were not going to be the people showing up in the dining room. Now I will say formal night is not mandatory. However, I do think people kind of take advantage of the leniency of main dining room dress code.

Jana: 30:13

Well, let's talk about that for a second, because something that we're witnessing across all cruise brands is, when they have that formal night, they're not enforcing any kind of rule. People are walking in in their bathing suits with a cover up on formal night and it's so disrespectful. If you can't get dressed, then go to the buffet, correct, because what they're trying to do is keep a level of Elegance, class, quality. Yes, in a main dining room for dinner, put some pants on your body, right, you know, and you don't have to go wear a dress. You know, I think for most people, if you want to be formal in my opinion, like you're going to church, dress like you're going to church you don't even have to get that dressy. Wear some nice black jeans. If you're a woman and you don't want to get dressed up with a nice top and some like nice dressy shoes, you don't have to wear nine inch heels, but you cannot go in your shorts and T-shirts and your bathing suits and your cover ups and your tank tops and your cut off jeans. You can't do that. You need to look presentable, right.

Erica: 31:13

And I think that's something just I don't know, maybe it's just the day and age that we are in currently. It's just there's. I don't want to say that there's a lack of, like, self-respect, but sometimes I mean I wear. I mean you see me, I wear jeans and T-shirts pretty much every day.

Jana: 31:29

You see people are going to call it self-respect. What they're going to say is I don't care.

Erica: 31:32

I don't care, but I, as a woman of 41 years of age, I wear jeans every day. I do too. There are some times where I'm like I miss wearing a dress. I would like to have formal night and I kind of think it's a damper on that.

Jana: 31:45

It does. I literally am the same way. Y'all know me Jeans and T-shirts and flip flops daily, 364 days a year. I do not want to dress up. So you know what I do. I avoid the situations where I'm expected to dress up and creating a formal dining room on a cruise ship. If I can't put on black jeans and nice shoes and a shirt and make it look at least like I'm going out on a Friday night, then I'm not going at all. I'm going to go to the commandant, I'm going to do room service. So it's not about, it's not a self-awareness thing, it's a lack of respect for everyone else in the room. I don't care, that's what you're going to hear. I don't care, I don't care what they think, it doesn't matter. But you should care because the environment you're in calls for it. The problem lies with the cruise lines not enforcing it.

Erica: 32:26

I agree.

Jana: 32:26

So if the cruise lines want that to change, then they need to enforce the rules. Stop them at the door and tell them to go put some clothes on. I agree, and it wasn't just Royal Caribbean, I've seen that in my I've seen that across all of them.

Erica: 32:35

I've seen it at every cruise this year. I think they're just afraid to offend people and they don't want drama or TikTok or going viral.

Mike: 32:43

Yes, they don't want that Be viral before they even get off the boat. Exactly.

Erica: 32:47

So we skipped formal night and we just had the buffet. There were different themed nights for dining, so like one night was like Caribbean night, which we did go to the dining room for that the main dining room. There was Italian night, and that was also formal night, so we had actually just gone to the buffet. For that the buffet food was fabulous. I love food. I like to eat Like I had. I don't think I had one thing on this ship that I didn't like, and I mean we had plates full of dessert too, but I mean that's just kind of what you do Cause it's included. Why wouldn't you? I will say, though, something that Meredith and I learned and how we didn't know this, I don't know, we missed it somewhere. Starbucks onboard Royal Caribbean.

Mike: 33:29

Was there a line?

Erica: 33:30

Well, no. So some of the ships have standalone Starbucks locations, like an actual Starbucks put on the ship. Well then you have the cafes like Cafe Promenade, which is what we had, which is a cafe that serves Starbucks products. So there are two separate things, even though it's still Starbucks. So, Meredith and I, we did not purchase an alcohol package because, again, we're there for work. We did like the next step down, which was the refreshment package, so that included, like our sodas and smoothies and milkshakes specialty coffees, milkshakes at Johnny Rockets, which Johnny Rockets totally took me back because we had those in California too. There's one here in Nashville at Opry Mills right. Oh, is there? Oh, that's right. It's right on the corner by Forever 21. That's right. That's right. There is what? Oh gosh, I haven't been there in so long. But so we had, like this, the refreshment package. So the refreshment package included Starbucks. We didn't find that out until the day before we were disembarking Of course I was like oh, because I went. I was like, oh, I was going to the spa and I was like, oh, I'm going to treat myself, I'm going to go pay for, because I didn't think it was included. I'm going to go pay for like a caramel frappe and everything and have like self care time, coffee and massages. And I tried the hand of the guy, my C-pass, to scan it and just charge my, my folio, and he was like I was like, well, how much is it, you know, just so I can keep track of my finances, whatever. And he was like, no, it's included. I was like, oh, nice, okay. And then I was talking to a gentleman that worked for Royal Caribbean, that just happened to be there and everything, and I think he saw that I looked a little confused and I'm like, well, I should be paying like $6 for this, but he's, and he was like, no, do you have the refreshment package? Let me you know. Blah, blah, blah, let me see your C-pass. We had a very good conversation and whatnot, and he was actually part of um mayor, of this role. Oh, gotcha so he was someone in Royal Caribbean that deals with travel agents too, so it was. It was a good conversation to have and whatnot. But, um, I want to talk about perfect day. Sure.

Jana: 35:28

Let's do it. I love perfect day.

Mike: 35:30

Oh my gosh, we were there just in December, so that was that was the part that I was like oh, I don't want to do that crap.

Erica: 35:35

Oh gosh, it was awesome, so I'm I'm going to offend some people with this.

Mike: 35:41

I'm going to have a feeling that this is going.

Erica: 35:43

I'm going to.

Jana: 35:44

I'm going to, I'm going to. I'm going to hold your breath, because this is a little shocking for Erica to say what we absolutely assume she's about to say.

Erica: 35:50

Yeah, it was, yeah, it's, uh, it's going to blow your mind. So, um, I had zero expectations coming in a perfect day. Um, of course, we got off the ship and we had a. Meredith has set up a tour for us. Oh, this is Royal Caribbean. Meredith not not Main Street Meredith. We have two Merediths here in this, in this um trip tail, but um, meredith, royal Caribbean had set up a tour for us. So we split up into two groups and you know one group started over here and then we would Chris Cross, and you know we toured the Cocoa Beach Club, which is adults only. Very bougie, I would love to go there Very bougie, very bougie Um, you get towels and there's an infinity pool and it includes lunch, which is huge lobster tails and filet steaks it's fancy. Oh my gosh, it is a fancy and it is a 100% worth it. Yeah, I, I would spend the money. I'm frugal but and I would 100% spend the money for a day pass to Cocoa Beach Club. Um, we toured thrill, you know, the? The? Um waterslides and everything, the family areas and whatnot. Um, you know, learned all these things about all these different waterslides that are there, which a lot of people, um, you know, we just like, oh, they're just waterslides, well, it's like. Well, this is the tallest waterslide in North America and whatnot.

Mike: 37:04

So, those, are not just normal waterslides. They are not normal waterslides.

Erica: 37:07

No, I'm, I would not personally do them just because I have a bad back. So I would just crack in half if I try to do one of those waterslides. But I mean there's zip lining and there's so many things, there's so many things on this island. Um, I'm going to say, if I had to choose between taking a Disney cruise and going to castaway or taking a Royal Caribbean cruise, and going to perfect game it's hurting her to say this it pains me. It pains me as as a park girl, as a Disney girl. It pains me if I had to choose between going on a Disney cruise and going to castaway do I need to get the center button ready? Or going on a Royal Caribbean cruise and going to perfect day at Cocoa. Okay, specifically with my children, I would 100% choose Royal Caribbean.

Jana: 37:54

Absolutely. There's so much more to do and they have the tallest waterslide in the Caribbean. On Cocoa, okay, like I said earlier, when we started this conversation at the first of the trip report here, I said Disney is good, it's a good cruise line, but it's not the best. In my opinion, royal Caribbean is leading the pack in the Caribbean right now, um, especially with their private island. That private island is phenomenal.

Mike: 38:21

How is it not the tallest slides in the world? I don't know. I don't know it might be, I just remember that part.

Jana: 38:27

I just remember that part. It could be, but, um, I do know that. Um, there are some Royal Caribbean ships that have a lot to be desired. Like it's, come on, fix these ships up, like they're not all perfect, but when you get into these larger ship classes with Royal Caribbean, go on their website you'll see that they have ship classes and there's multiple ships per class and these last two, the most recent two classes, is probably where you want to be these days. Oh yeah, much bigger ships. Um, and that makes a difference. The ship itself makes a difference. Like there's ice skating on the wonder.

Erica: 39:02

There's ice skating shows we have ice skating, yeah, like you can go watch an ice skating show.

Jana: 39:06

People turn in flips on the wonder.

Mike: 39:07

But the private islands. Number five tallest water park water slide in the world.

Jana: 39:13

Uh, daredevil's peak, yeah, 135 feet tall, but the tallest in the Caribbean.

Mike: 39:18

I get it's number five in the world. Yeah, there's none of other ones in the Caribbean there, so but there's, these are floating.

Jana: 39:23

Yeah, I used to float in countries Right. I used to call them floating cities, maybe the smaller class ships, but these big ships are like full countries, like you could put an entire country on the ship and they would have their independence or whatnot. That's how big they are. There's so much to do, so many options, so many room options. There's something affordable for everybody on these larger ships. But perfect day at Coca-Cola is a is down.

Erica: 39:50

So much fun and the food was fantastic and there's there's actually a secret chicken sandwich that's not on the menu that you can get, and that was like one of the things we were looking forward to the most was trying this, the secret menu item.

Jana: 40:02

We went when we stayed. We went across the island from the ship, just directly across. We went straight up that way and we rented a cabana there on the beach. So it came with the cabana that you could close the curtains on if you wanted to like. Close your eyes and not be engaged. It was like you're in a secluded little island and they had the two little beach chairs with it and then the two floats and it was like perfect, because you could get on the float, float in the water, or you could lay in the beach chair and get a suntan, or you could lay on the bed and you could still get a suntan. It's open air, but it was like it was just a different experience in all three places. The food there absolutely phenomenal included. It was good. We did not get the chicken sandwich, but we absolutely walked over to the ice cream machine about 10 times. So, and just everybody and food trucks all over that island as well.

Mike: 40:46

So yeah, that is so much to offer. I mean there's, there's that. We were on that little secluded area and then you walk 200 feet and you're in that major pool that you could not get inside because there's so many people. On the interior part of the island. I mean, we were, that's where we were. It's just amazing how many different things are right there.

Erica: 41:06

We we had met up with two other agents that we just, you know, networked with, became you know good friends with, good you know acquaintances with and whatnot, and they had actually they came looking for us because they were like oh, we got three chairs, you know, come over to this side, you know by the swimmer bar and everything, cause the DJ is over here. We were kind of like on the other side of a bridge where it was kind of quiet right. Oasis lagoon. And they were. You know, they were saying, oh, one of the employees had come by and said, oh well, you know, enjoy this now, because Oasis is going to be disembarking at 11.

Jana: 41:39

Yeah, so this place is going to get really crowded and they were not kidding.

Erica: 41:44

Well, we were there.

Jana: 41:44

It was the wonder. That ship was full and there was another ship beside us. I don't remember which one it was. It was smaller, but it wasn't a ton smaller and both ships were in and the Oasis pool was packed. But, over on the beach where we were, it there was. So there's so many different beaches around this island. None of them feel crowded. The first beach that everybody goes for you get off the ship, so I know many of you hearing this have never been there. But when you get off the ship you walk up this long pier and then you're on the island. And if you go, left and show island and then if you immediately go left again towards the beach, that's going to be the most crowded and popular beach, because people immediately just go try to get a chair there. They think it's the first thing there. What a lot of people don't understand is there's beaches all around that island. So you don't have to go just there. We would recommend you go straight across that island left by Oasis pool and do that beach out there. That was where all the water sports was at the jet skis and the paddle boats and all the things were out there.

Mike: 42:38

And there's cabanas out in the water too. Yes, over the water, cabanas. Our beach was right beside those.

Jana: 42:43

We were on the beach right beside them. I know exactly where you are.

Erica: 42:46

We saw that. Yeah, we actually got to go to those over water cabanas and everything and see them and tour them and everything. Oh, they're so nice. Would I personally do that? No, because I just wouldn't want to spend the money on that, Like I'd rather buy it.

Jana: 42:59

Well, I prefer the sand. If I'm in the Caribbean island, I want my feet in the sand. That's what I paid for these over the water. It's like a deck over the water. You're directly on the water You've got the personal assistant that brings the food and the drinks. But you're on the water. I want to be on the beach. I want my feet in the sand. Yeah, the sand was very different.

Mike: 43:16

It was very different, yeah, and very much compared to Jamaica.

Erica: 43:20

Yes, it's very, very different. I like I preferred the sand in the Bahamas too, yeah, but per every day was just that it was perfect day. Whatever drink package you buy on your cruise transfers over to perfect day. So you could definitely tell who had the deluxe alcohol package. But I will say those bartenders, do not skimp at all because I was like, oh well, I'll go and just I'll buy a cocoa logo, because that's like Royal Caribbean Signature. Tree and everything, and you can get mocktails Like we had mocktails with our drink package but hey, it's the party pool Like why not have a couple of cocoa logos and everything? And I had like one and a half and I was like I'm done, no more for me, but it was. It was such an experience and we just we had the best time and I need to. I need to bring this up to you because Meredith Main Street, Meredith and I, we were talking about this over dinner one night. You had said something. We, when we went to Disney in July and you kept saying you know where you would never hear this beaches you, I married. Once we started talking about it, we kind of became aware and we were really like consciously looking out for this. I don't think I heard. I cannot recall one time either, on perfect day, on the ship, in port, anywhere, that I heard a kid cry.

Jana: 44:46

Yeah, I mean, it's just that comes from our Disney brains. We go to Disney where they're all the time, and you witness a lot of exhausted children and babies in Disney and a lot of exhausted adults trying to deal with those children and you can witness things get ugly. You just do. You witness people, two different strangers, parties here.

Mike: 45:08

Brings out the best in the world.

Jana: 45:10

Arguing with people when you do something that's not theme park and that's where that phrase comes from when it's not a theme park, there's so many activities happening through the day that exhaust the kids and then it's bedtime, or there is a kids club where they're all at while the adults are at dinner. There's less crying because they're either preoccupied with something else and they've been in a kids club all day, they've had a nap, they're rested, they're ready for dinner. Same thing at a beach, as they've done stuff all day long, they're in a kid club, or they're with the parents. They've had a nap somewhere and they're rested. Most people don't go to Disney and take a nap. They get in those parks and they stay, but on a cruise ship or at a beaches, you're so close to your room. Go take a nap, let the kids take a nap, put the kids in the kids club, the kids club. They might fall asleep and take a nap in there. They've been on the ages, right? But yes, so yeah, very, very different experiences for those who are Disney focused and that's all you do Again. There's so much more.

Erica: 46:06

There's so much more. And again I kind of joke like, oh well, I'm a park girl till I die and everything. I'm a Disney adult, I'm a Disney mom and everything. My kids grew up at Disneyland and whatnot. And because of this business and having the opportunities to experience different destinations gosh, even different theme parks, I mean, let's just say it even experiencing Universal Orlando, I mean, yeah, I've gone to Universal Studios Hollywood because I lived there. But coming into this line of work and having the opportunities to experience these different destinations and different types of travel has really kind of opened parts of my brain that I didn't think was possible.

Jana: 46:45

And you know, the same happened to me because we were Disney people. We were just Disney people. We would either go to Panama City Beach, florida, and that's where, as teenagers, spring break, all the things, summer vacations it was eight hours from Nashville, it was easy to get there, it was inexpensive and then, as adults, disney. And then you kind of get pulled into that Disney universe and you get stuck there and you I don't get me wrong we go to Disney all the time. We still go to Disney. We're just in a position with this business that we get opportunities to do other things. And I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am that I'm in a business that pulled me out of that Disney bubble. And that's not all that I have experienced, because I wouldn't have a clue what I was missing if I never came out of that Disney bubble.

Erica: 47:26

Right, and I mean you can still experience Disney and you can still have that love for Disney and everything. I mean we're talking about going to Europe next year and everything, and I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna start at Disneyland Paris and I'll meet you guys in Ireland. You know, because if I'm going all the way over there, I'm gonna experience Disneyland Paris because I'm gonna go see the drone show. So I'll see. I'll meet you guys in Ireland or Scotland, wherever we decide to Switzerland.

Jana: 47:47

Switzerland is where we're gonna start.

Erica: 47:48

We haven't made up our mind yet. So I mean, you can still have that love and you can still go to Disney and everything. But there's so much more, so much more. There's so much more. And I'm not here to convince anybody that there are better things than Disney. That's your own personal opinion, that's on you, that's your own prerogative and everything. But I'm just saying there is a lot more that might just kind of sway you from doing Disney again or as often as you do.

Jana: 48:18

I would not say never doing it again, because even me, with my aggravation towards Disney these days. I still go. I still enjoy it well for the most part.

Mike: 48:26

Over just there.

Jana: 48:27

I'm not a fan of the post-COVID Disney. Let's say that, yeah, I still love that pre COVID Disney and that's when, every time I go, I'm looking for that Disney and I'm able to find it on my own, and I can have moments here and there where I'm having that experience and that's why I still go. But man, there's so much more.

Erica: 48:48

There's so much more, there's so much more, there's so much more. And I mean I don't want to compare Royal Caribbean to like Disney's fleet or anything, but having been on three different lines this year, there was if you go on a cruise and you're bored, you're doing it wrong. Yeah, because we had so much fun, there was always something going on. I mean there was not five minutes where there was not something happening on that ship. We did trivia man, we killed it Meredith, and I killed it at 90s trivia. It was like 90s name, that tune man.

Jana: 49:19

They would play the first chord of the song and I'm like oh.

Erica: 49:21

I mean scribble, scribble fast and everything. We watched game shows with audience participation. We watched karaoke. I have never laughed so hard than watching some of these game shows in karaoke and people were honest, honestly, they were having like the best day of their lives. They were living their best lives on that cruise and we went to the casino and Meredith won big on, like this, a leprechaun jackpot, nice slot machine and everything. I mean we, we just had the best time and I, I like cruising. I know you, you can't. I don't want to say you don't like cruising, you can't cruise because you're vertigo, emotion struggle with it and therefore it's not.

Jana: 49:59

It's not a great vacation for me because I wound up sleeping in my room, house down, because otherwise I'm sick but that's what I was about to say.

Mike: 50:05

There's so many different ways of doing a cruising. We literally come on the the cruise ship. We eat, we sleep, we don't do anything else hardly because I can't.

Jana: 50:14

I guess you can't sit right, but I can and I like the sleeping part.

Mike: 50:18

Yeah, I like turning the phones off and the computer's off and that and that speaks to how people vacation, because everybody is different and that's you know.

Jana: 50:25

When you're working with a travel agent, you need to make sure the travel agent is aware of how you vacation. Erica is go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go go. Me and Mike are more. Sit back and turn our brains off and break from the everyday norm. I don't need to be entertained 24 seven. I can sit in a room looking over a balcony at the beautiful water and just be at peace with that for hours on end. So people vacation very differently. Yeah some people want to be in the casino the whole time. Some people are all about the shows and the entertainment. Some people are about the food yeah so there's something for everybody, and the way your trip is planned should be based around your vacation priorities, your personality. What do you enjoy if you go to anybody, or even yourself, because you don't know what's on the ship, and you're told to go do this and that because it's awesome? That might be awesome for the person who told you that, but if you told me to go to the ice show, which we did, and that night actually the sea was very calm. The night before we tried to do on the wonder, they've got that outdoor aqua theater and we tried to sit there and watch that, but the ship was moving so much I could not do it. So if you love that and you can sit there, you don't get motion sick and it's a great show, yay for you. I could not do it. I was like Mike, I'm done, I've got to get to the room and we struggled getting back to the room because we're on the total opposite side of this show and it was a long walk for me. So again, just make sure, if you're planning with a travel planner or you're planning on your own, that you're doing the research to make sure that what you want out of your vacation is found at that destination, on that ship, whatever it might be.

Erica: 52:08

Exactly. But I will say go, go, go. Erica did slow down for about 75 minutes on our last day and it was kind of a free day. We didn't have anything until that evening scheduled as a group for training. Last minute I decided to make an appointment at the spa, vitality Spa. They were having like last minute deals or whatnot, so it was a 75 minute treatment. Was it the best? No, have I had better? Yes, that was kind of a letdown, but guest services, you know, took care of me and everything. We came to a resolution that I was comfortable with. There's so I like cruising because there's so many different things, specifically with Royal Caribbean. I would be comfortable doing that as an adult trip with my husband. I would be comfortable going on that with my kids. Granted, my kids are older, they're 18 and 10. I guess one's an adult now, but she's still going to be. I'm still going to call her a kid. I would be comfortable doing that as a solo trip. I would be comfortable doing that as a group. I'd be comfortable. If you ever want to do like an agency cruise, I'd be fine with.

Jana: 53:20

Royal Caribbean just throwing it out there. We'll send y'all and I'll wave at you from the shore. Okay, you can be like, take the pictures. Okay, got it.

Erica: 53:27

Yeah, as we sail away, but I truly fell in love with Royal Caribbean. Yeah.

Jana: 53:34

I love Royal Caribbean. It's my favorite. Yeah, I mean just my first Royal Caribbean cruise was way back in, like 2005 or six, and I did at that time was the largest ship at sea, which was the Explorer of the Seas, which is still in the in the fleet and it still sails. That was my first Royal Caribbean cruise. I had done Disney and Carnival prior to that. From that point forward, Royal Caribbean has always been my favorite, so anyways it was just.

Erica: 53:59

It was a great experience and I'm so glad that the agency got this opportunity and I'm really happy that I got to experience that with Meredith. And I would say the best highlight of the trip for me was Meredith kind of held my hand because I'm not scared of water. I'm definitely not afraid of heights. I've jumped out of planes Like I'm not afraid of that. There's something about balcony state rooms that terrifies me. It's an irrational fear and I I finally made it to the rail on the balcony and. I put two feet out there and I was taking pictures. I was kind of leaning over and like holding onto my phone for dear life. So that. I wouldn't drop it, but Meredith was like it's okay, look how high up the rail is. Nothing is going to happen to you. Take the picture.

Mike: 54:45

So you sit on the balcony at all.

Erica: 54:48

Well, we were important. Now saw I did but, not when it was moving. I can't do that.

Mike: 54:51

Yeah, maybe next time.

Erica: 54:52

Maybe next time, maybe next time.

Mike: 54:54

That's not to go play. That's where we hang out.

Jana: 54:56

We love a room with balcony because it's just our own private place, that we don't have to deal with a lot of people. We can sit there, relax.

Mike: 55:02

Unless you're on a carnival ship and somebody drank too much in the ones above you and you're when they get serious.

Jana: 55:07

Are you serious? So luckily that was our neighbor's balcony. Oh my God, I didn't have them while they were out there.

Mike: 55:12

But they came outside and it was all over.

Jana: 55:14

Somebody vomit everywhere Disgusting People are crazy.

Erica: 55:18

Yeah, I hope I never see that there's so many stories.

Mike: 55:20

So always look above you.

Erica: 55:21

Always look up. Okay, noted.

Jana: 55:23

Well, we hope y'all enjoyed this trip report and the details of real Caribbean and perfect day. Get out there, do something more. You know we're talking to our Disney people. We promise you you won't regret it. Do something more and use the travel agent to book it. We'd love to help you if it's not us and you have someone you love. If you don't have someone you love, just find somebody to work with, find somebody who knows the destination very, very well, and that's going to be the best travel agent for that particular trip. So, guys, thank you for listening. We will be back next week. Dana may or may not be back with us next week. We I guess we'll find out if she decides to come home, we'll see. All right, y'all have a great week.