Podcast Episode 101: Disney Cruise Line Overview

If you have general questions about Disney Cruise Line or you’re just not familiar with them in general, then this is the episode for you!  We give you a taste of everything that Disney Cruise Line has to offer including the ships, the entertainment, shore excursions, and the awesome Castaway Cay!  If cruising is next on your list, then you won’t want to miss this!

Happy listening!

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Podcast Episode 79: Disney Cruise Line Budget Comparisons

Have you ever thought about how far your money will travel aboard a Disney cruise?  We’ve got the answer for you!  We break different ships and itineraries down by cost amount so you can get a great idea of how much cruise your budget allows.  We’re positive there’s a cruise out there for you!

Happy listening!

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Podcast Episode 77: Disney Cruises With Kids

If you’ve been dreaming of a Disney cruise but aren’t sure what’s on board for your children, then you’ll definitely want to tune in this week!  We discuss all the awesome things about Disney Cruise Line for infants, small children, tweens, and teens!  You’ll hear about the nursery, the kids clubs, and the teen hangouts.  We guarantee there’s something for everyone!

Happy listening!

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Jillian’s DCL Trip Report Day 5 and 6

This day was a big one! When I woke up I went to the window to see a giant Christmas tree on the pier at Castaway Cay! Of course after getting ready in a rush we applied sunscreen and headed to Beach Blanket Buffett for a quick breakfast outside on the deck. I was a bit worried as it was pretty windy and not exactly hot and sunny for our beach day. In quick order we had our Key to the World card and were off the ship and on a tram to the family beach. There were a number of character meets on the way to the tram but we bypassed them as the lines were a bit long.


Luckily once we got to the first beach we were able to meet Mickey and Pluto with no line! We continued on to the beach and tried out the water. It was pretty chilly this coming from a northerner. We had brought our own bucket and shovel for Petra to play. You can purchase them there but we decided to bring our own since we had an abundance of space in the suitcases.

After getting comfortable in my beach chair Petra decided she was ready to attempt Pelican Plunge. Apparently I wasn’t thinking because I failed to warn her that the water was salty as well as cold. Well we took our turn and the slide was pretty awesome but when a five year old gets salt water up her nose you are all done. So we dried off and she said she was ready for Scuttle’s Cove. Scuttle’s Cove is the youth club on Castaway Cay. This is a HUGE perk since you can drop your kid off and they have lots of things to play with. I didn’t take pictures but I did explore it, it has a splash pad, toys, soccer nets and other things to keep kids happy while parents can enjoy some adult time. In fact she even was able to eat lunch there in the company with other kids.

Also some other things to do are games, live music, character meets, water slides, Monstro’s Point (whale bone dig), adult drinks, massages, crab races, adults only beach and even a 5K. There is really something for everyone.

With my daughter having lots of fun we went to Cookies BBQ for some delicious lunch. And decided to take the tram to Serenity Bay the adult’s only beach. This beach was amazingly quiet. All you hear is the ocean and the occasional conversation from other people. It is perfect and romantic and I highly suggest at least a quick trip that way just to check it out. We explored and laid in hammocks and basically had a very relaxing day.

But like all good things it had to come to an end. Petra had expressed interested in doing a program with the youth club called “Friendship Rocks”. They were doing the prep at 4:15 and then would be on stage at 5. So at 3pm we rounded up our child who did not want to leave Scuttles’ Cove but finally agreed and we left the island after a few stops for pictures along the way.

After cleaning up Petra and I wanted to check out the “secret” deck. On deck 7 aft there is a deck that not many people know about and since I knew it would have a great view of the island we checked it out. Once Petra and I checked out this little secret she went again to the kids club for practice.

We went to the Walt Disney Theatre to watch Friendship Rocks along with Mickey and Minnie. She seemed to enjoy the stage and was having a lovely time in the club so she decided to stay. We had plans for Palo this night so I knew she had to be there for a while longer. She did not seem torn up about it.

We got ourselves gussied up for our Palo reservation at 6. We arrived a bit early and had to wait for it to open along with a few people. This dinner was amazing. I think it is well worth the $25 per person charge. Our server Toni was from Coatia and was very talkative. He spend lots of time answering our questions and did a splendid job! First we had the cheeses, meat and olives, it was delicious! For appetizers we both started with the calamari and it did not disappoint. After our lemon sorbet palate cleanser we were onto the main course. I had the wild mushroom risotto and the Beef Tenderloin “Palo” both were amazing and delicious. Chelsey had the grilled tuna which I was able to try and it was also so so good. When our entrees came out we also ordered the chocolate soufflé as our waiter said it takes some time to make. Chelsey wasn’t sold on the soufflé but decided to order anyway. He did order the Panna cotta with strawberries and while he meant to order this as his only dessert but both were brought out. I gladly finished mine but was too full to help with his. It was really one of the best desserts I’ve ever had.

We rolled ourselves out of Palo and went to get Petra from the kids club where she was participating in Pluto’s Pajama Party. We then went go to see the last stage show, “Disney Dreams: an Enchanted Classic”. This one featured Peter Pan, princesses and lots of amazing singing. This was my favorite show of them all. So if you could only see one show the entire cruise this is the one I would not miss.

Petra got ready for bet but said she was hungry so we thought we would order room service to check it out. She got chicken fingers, grapes and French fries plus a bowl of cereal. She said it was all very tasty. While Petra was served dinner on a silver plate I was working hard to pack our suitcases. The suitcases have to be in the hall by 11pm so I was trying to pack and repack our cases so that we would have the things were needed for the next morning and our luggage would be ready to fly in the morning.

Day 6

Sadly, our breakfast for the next morning was scheduled for 6:45am and we were definitely not getting up for that. We decided to wake up when we would. Since Disney wants you to leave your room empty before breakfast we went over the room a couple times before gathering up our things. We thought we had it all and then get breakfast at Beach Blanket Buffett again for breakfast.

We stopped at the photo kiosks to see if we wanted to purchase anything, but we did not so we made our way to the atrium to get off the ship. On our way we noticed that we could not find our daughter’s Key to the World card. In order to get off the ship you have to show and have your card scanned so I was pretty concerned at this point. I asked a cast member what we should do and she said called over her manager. Her manager said that it would be okay since our photos were all one file. We check out with no issues and went to collect our luggage. It went fairly quickly and were in line for customs. We didn’t have anything to claim so we had a painless experience and went out to grab a taxi. There in lies the end of our Disney Cruise experience but since we still had a good number of hours for our flight we dropped our luggage at the airport and then decided to check out the Miami Children’s Museum and get lunch before heading back home to Michigan.

We had an amazing time and had a wonderful, relaxing vacation. If you are interested in a Disney vacation that is much more relaxing this is the trip for you!   Don’t worry if you are still wanting more about Disney Cruise Line you can check out some of our other trip reports and articles about Disney Cruise Line!  Thanks for joining us on our adventure!

If you missed the beginning here is Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.

Jillian’s DCL Trip Report- Day 4

After going strong for a few days we slept in this morning.  And dear reader, please forgive me I didn’t take many pictures today. Plus with it being a sea day we knew we had nowhere to be. Breakfast as at Beach Blanket Buffet with your typical buffet food: eggs, Mickey waffles, bacon, sausage, donuts, yogurt, cereal. I personally loved the corned beef hash and chocolate croissants with lots of fresh fruit and coffee.

As usual Petra was back to the kids club and I opted to do “Disney’s Innovations: Theme Parks”. This was put on by Briana who talked about things in Disney Parks that were completely innovative at the time. They were things like a single entry point, hub and spoke set up, single ticket and others. The room was filled by your classic Disney nerds, people like me who are always wanting to learn more about the interesting history of Disney. We were able to ask the Cast Member questions after and I talked to some other guests who were cast members at Walt Disney World.

Next I dragged my family to Wonder Quest. This is an interactive scavenger hunt where your group is given a number and the first person to bring the Cast Member the item he is asking for gets 3 points, the next 2 and everyone else before time is up gets 1. This was a lot of fun even if we didn’t win.

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By this time it was getting close to lunch and so we had Beach Blanket Buffet again then did some more swimming. Do you see a pattern? My daughter pretty much adored going to the kids clubs and swimming! So after our swim we got an appointment for her to have her hair braided and she was ready to go back to the kids club.

With her off doing her own thing it was time for me to check out the “Art of the Theme Show Tour”. We started in Palo and were lead by Mark around the ship taking in all the little details. If you want to know more about the ship you are on like the style, little details or lesser known thing I would suggest you take a similar tour. The ships are a lot like the parks where you have to look up and down and all around and you might be pleasantly surprised at the little things you see that others miss. Mark was very knowledgeable about Disney and I really enjoyed talking to him. While I did this my husband signed up for a beer tasting class. The cost was $15 and it included a very nice cup to take home with you. We both finished up and it was time to get Petra and get her to Deck 9 for her hair braiding appointment. If you have never had it done before, my 5 year old says it does hurt a bit, but she loves the outcome so she suffers through. I believe it was a few dollars per braid.IMG_0814

This was our formal night and were had dinner at Triton’s. So we all went back to get dressed up! We thought ahead and decided to use our dress clothes for our formal dinner and then hang them back up to wear again for our Palo night. This saved us having to pack two nice outfits when we were just wearing them for a total of 4 hours. For dinner I had the breaded and baked brie, farmhouse salad, duck comfit and a dessert trio. Petra had macaroni and cheese (she is a creature of habit!) and a Mickey bar. Chelsey had shrimp, duck comfit, and a chocolate mousse. And I will tell you it was delicious! It was probably one of my favorite meals for the trip.

Per usual Petra was ready to go back to the kids club and off she went. We decided to take a break in the Cadillac Lounge for Music and Martinis with Tom Moss. We did indeed have martinis and listened to some amazing piano music. He played a combination of Christmas and pop music and we enjoyed relaxing a bit. Soon it was time to get Petra though because tonight was the first night she was going to see a show!


We topped off our night with “The Golden Mickey’s”. This is an “awards” show that a backstage cast member takes on even though she doesn’t want to. It was a cute show about conquering your fears but done in the amazing Disney way. Plus you get to see your classic characters throughout the show.

Tomorrow was another exciting day, Castaway Cay and Palo were on deck! Would they live up to my expectations?