DCL Duo Podcast: A Disney Cruise Line Fan Podcast

After nine sailings on Disney Cruise Line, Lindsey's family tried something different: a seven-night Caribbean cruise on Celebrity Beyond. Sam sits down solo with our returning guest for a full, honest comparison — service, dining, kids club, and one very polarizing stateroom design.

In this episode:

• Why a Greek Isles cruise turned into a Celebrity Caribbean sailing instead
• Living with Celebrity's "Infinite Veranda" stat...

A while back, we did a show on the early growing pains of the Disney Adventure — and more than one of you wrote in afterward saying we needed to talk to someone who'd sailed it more recently, because things have gotten so much better. So we did. Rich just got back from his second Adventure sailing, this time with his whole family instead of just him and his wife, after a points-fueled trip through Shanghai Disney and Hong Kon...

She's been on 10 Disney cruises — but the Disney Destiny's brand-new 7-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary still had a few surprises. This week Heather joins Sam and Brian to break down the first-ever Destiny sailing to San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Maarten, plus what it's like cruising with two kids who are now old enough to plan for themselves.

In this episode:

• Why this family skipped Disney's shore excursions entirely i...

Two sisters, a GTY stateroom, and a three-year-old with strong opinions about gondolas. Kory and Lyndsey booked their Disney Magic Alaska cruise just 30 days out, and it turned into one of their most relaxing sailings yet. From a musty stateroom mishap to a $200 parking hack near Canada Place, this episode is packed with real, DIY-tested tips for doing Alaska with young kids on a budget.

In this episode:

• Booking a seven-person...

Beth just wrapped her ninth Disney cruise — a Mediterranean sailing from Barcelona to Southampton with four families and 15 people along for the ride — and it delivered everything from a World Cup Final erupting in the streets of Barcelona to an actual maritime rescue mission that held the ship in place for hours.

In this episode:

• Traveling with a 15-person, four-family group across Barcelona, Cartagena, Malaga, Vi...

Fresh off cruise #17, a platinum Disney Cruise Line sailor joins Sam solo this week (Brian's away at a work conference!) to talk through her Fourth of July "duo dip" on the Disney Fantasy — hitting both Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay in one five-night sailing. She shares a real operational fix to the biggest long-running complaint about the Mickey & Minnie Cabanas, plus a few practical tips every DCL fan should hear before ...

She's sailed the Disney Magic to Alaska three times, and this trip finally convinced her to skip one of Disney's own shore excursions for good. Repeat guest Shannon joins Sam solo this week (Brian sits this one out) to recap her family's ninth Disney sailing, a group cruise with nine people, two private excursions that beat anything booked through the app, and one Broadway star shoutout her teenager will never stop talking about.

I...

She flew a toddler across the Atlantic and didn't stop there. Emily, a Disney Cruise Line travel advisor based in Denmark, spent five straight weeks aboard the Disney Dream — a transatlantic crossing followed by three back-to-back European itineraries. Four cruises, five weeks, one very well-traveled four-year-old.

In this episode:

• How a "why not, since we're already over here" idea turned into a five-week, four-sailing ...

She'd sailed Disney Cruise Line ten times before — but never across the Atlantic. Jen joins Sam to break down her family's first-ever European vacation: the Disney Dream's Mediterranean season opener out of Barcelona, complete with a canceled excursion that turned into the trip's best day.

In this episode:

• Sailing the very first Mediterranean season cruise out of Barcelona on the Disney Dream, right behind the transatlan...

Adventures by Disney canceled Sam's Japan trip because they didn't have enough people booked — and because ABD's customer service doesn't work weekends, Tauck ended up with her business instead. That gap became a real, lived comparison of the two companies, plus a full concierge-class review of the Disney Adventure sailing out of Singapore.

In this episode:

• Sam's concierge-class review of the Disney Adventure, sailing ou...

132 itineraries dropped this morning, and by the end of the night three of us had agreed on which ones we would not book. Travel advisor Jamie from We Do Travel Right joined Sam and Brian live for a ship-by-ship walk through the entire Fall 2027 and Spring 2028 release — the Disney Wish's return to New York, the Disney Destiny's move to Port Canaveral, two Panama Canal crossings with brand-new ports, and the full Castaway Clu...

Alexis had sailed every Disney ship except the Dream — until a European itinerary out of Barcelona finally got her there, alongside a promise to her daughter that had been six years in the making: finally going inside the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

In this episode:

• Dream vs. Fantasy vs. Treasure vs. Wish-class — how the Dream stacked up once she'd already sailed the newer ships
• A port-heavy European itinerary hitting C...

Soshian and his wife brought their 7-month-old daughter on their very first Disney Cruise Line sailing — a 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Disney Treasure with his sister's family in tow — and by the end of the week he was already plotting how to stay longer. He came in worried there wouldn't be enough to do. He left wishing he'd booked more days.

In this episode:

• Soshian and his wife's full packing and pla...

Sara's back — and this time she's bringing receipts. After sailing Disney Cruise Line three times, she just got off a Caribbean sailing on Norwegian's Prima, and she breaks down exactly how it stacked up: the price, the food, the kids club, and whether "half the cost" really means half the experience.

In this episode:

• Why Sara chose Norwegian this time, including the personal reason behind the trip
• A real comparison of d...

This one is different. Before we sailed through Holland and Belgium with a group of listeners, our family spent three days in Amsterdam — and what happened there didn't fit into a normal cruise recap. So we did something we've never done in 650+ episodes: we sat down with the people who traveled with us and turned it into a story.

Across three days, everyone we talked to walked up to an edge and had to decide what to do stand...

The Holgates just got off the Disney Destiny — and their honest take starts with a rough first day. Six shots of espresso, sensory overload, and a friend's kid getting hurt nearly derailed the whole trip. Then day two hit, and Stephen came out the other side calling it his favorite ship yet.

In this episode:

• First impressions of the Destiny, including an honestly overwhelming embarkation day
• Dining highlights and misses ...

For her 50th birthday, Amy — a longtime Disney fan and a part-time Disney travel agent — finally got her reluctant-cruiser husband Dan on an adults-only Disney cruise: four nights on the brand-new Disney Destiny, with no kids on board for the first time in their cruising history. She stacked the itinerary with drink tastings, adult dining, and enough Marvel and Star Wars theming to make her case — and by the end o...

Sara spent years working for Disney Cruise Line as a youth activities counselor — and somehow the Disney Dream was the one classic ship she'd never sailed as a guest, until now. She and her husband Chris finally closed that gap on a week-long Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona.

The highlight reel writes itself: dolphins, a sea turtle, and a whale, all spotted from their balcony in the same hour and a half. But the real val...

Fifteen Disney cruises in, Todd and Erica have a formula: inside staterooms, no excursions, and a "Triple Header" — one sailing on the Disney Destiny, then a back-to-back on the Disney Fantasy. They join us to break down exactly how they pulled it off.

In this episode:

• Todd and Erica break down the logistics of their "Triple Header" — one Destiny sailing followed by a back-to-back on the Fantasy, across two Florida...