Just these little touches that go a long way.

I think it's the accumulation of these things that add up to make Disney really special.

Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast.

And today we're excited because we have a very prolific cruiser who's also a very avid Disney fan. So we want to welcome Jason Leppert to the show. Welcome, Jason. Hey, thanks for having me.

We're excited to have Jason on because Jason is a travel writer, a blogger. He's the editor of

Popularcruising.com. He's a frequent contributor to travel in Porthole magazines, Oyster.com,

the cruise radio podcast. But most importantly, Jason, I think the statistic that I saw most recently

is you've been on over 150 cruises. Is that still right? Or is it, is it even more than that? That is accurate. The actual total is now 153. So we've been on quite a few. Obviously, we're on pause right now, but looking forward to getting back out there. Yeah. Wow. That's a ton. And the other statistic that's really great for, I think, us is that you are an avid Disney cruise line fan. So you've been on all four Disney ships. Is that right? That's correct. Yeah, I've been on 10 cruises total, actually 11 cruises total with Disney. I've been on all the ships and love every one of them for different reasons. Well, the magic number there, right? That means you platinum. So that's the important stat. Well, let's back up for a second. Jason, where's your passion for Disney come from, I guess? Yeah, so I grew up. I'm actually a native San Diego, California resident. I just love always going up the coast to Disneyland Park, obviously, and I've seen the changes over the years. I'm 36, so I've seen, you know, Disney California Adventure being built for the first time. and you know obviously, obviously you have Star Wars Galaxy's Edge now. And I just, I go up there all the time on my wife. We have annual passes and we just can't get enough of Disney in general. So whenever, you know, cruise line got into the mix, I was just like, yeah, that's like the best of both worlds right there. Have you visited any of the parks overseas? Yeah. So I've been to, I've actually had a chance to go to Disneyland Paris. I've also been to Shanghai Disneyland, which was incredible. Oh, cool. Yeah, the, the Tron ride is, it's amazing. That's, like, my favorite ride in the whole world right now. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, well, soon, coming soon to Disney World, hopefully. Yes, I'm excited for that. Yeah. When did you start cruising in general?

So actually, I'm excited for that. Yeah. When did you start cruising in general? So actually, I've been cruising since before I was two years old, believe it or not. I'm an only child. So my parents were fans of cruising, and it was really convenient for them to take me along, and they wanted to share their journeys with me and been doing it ever since. So, you know, it was never intended to be a

profession of mine. It just sort of happened to be that in 2011, there was a call for submissions

in my local newspaper for just kind of why you like to travel. And I specifically decided to

write one on cruising. They liked a piece. They published it. And I kind of used that as a springboard.

It just happened to see if there's opportunities to write in the industry and the roar. And I've been doing it ever since.

Awesome. Is this your full-time job then? Or do you have something else that you do outside of writing? This is actually full time. So it's been kind of challenging now with, you know, the pause and cruising. But I've been chugging along. I'm actually the cruise editor on staff at Travel Age West, which is a magazine dedicated to travel agents on the West Coast. So that's, that's kind of what I'm working on. And then I do my YouTube channel, Popularcruising.com is actually the way you can get to that. So that's good. So I've been busy still chugging along. That's amazing. It's so cool that you can sort of create a profession out of something

you just love to do. Absolutely. It's, yeah, it's a passion for sure. Well, and so the 150 cruises, Jason, which which cruise lines have you been on and have they all been ocean cruises or have you tried other kinds of cruising? Yeah, I've had a chance actually to do the whole, the whole gamut there. I've been on ocean cruising, river cruising, even expedition cruising.

The smallest ship that I was actually on was a 12 passenger tugboat that was built in 1912 and converted into a passenger ship. So that was pretty interesting. And then I've also been on anything upwards to like the 6,700 passenger symphony the seas, which is currently the largest in the world, had a chance to go on all the cruise lines, you know, Royal Caribbean the region, Carnival, all the way up to the luxury lines like Seaborn and Crystal, Regent, Silver Sea. So really the whole gamut. I love them all. You know, they're all very different. There's something for everyone, and it's just a fascinating industry to be a part of. Cool. And for itineraries, what kinds of itineraries or what's sort of the range of itineraries?

I should ask that you've been on... industry to be a part of. Cool. And for itineraries, what kinds of itineraries or what's sort of the

range of itineraries? I should ask that you've been on, you said, you know, river cruising, that tugboat cruise sounds amazing. But, you know, is this all over the world or they're sort of concentrated places where you mostly cruise? Sure. Yeah. And I've had a chance actually to go all around the world. There's a couple places on my bucket list to like Australia, but I've done,

you know, everything from the Caribbean to Europe. I love Alaska. My all-time favorite itinerary to this day is Alaska. I go up there annually and I just never gets old. It's just so beautiful up there. It's God's country. And even in Europe, one of the river cruises I had a chance to do was actually with Adventures by Disney. So that was really cool. So they actually partnered with Amma Waterways. And it was a really neat kind of take on Germany and sort of more of a narrative quality like Disney always does. And we just love that one. Yeah, we just signed up for, we're doing our first river cruise next December with Disney, Adventures by Disney. We're going to do the Christmas markets cruise. Oh, you're going to love it. Yeah, we're excited. We're excited. For Disney Cruise on, you've been on all four ships. What kind of itineries have you sailed with Disney on? Pretty much the whole gamut there, too. I haven't been to Europe on Disney, but I've been to the Caribbean on the magic. And on the dream, I've always been the Caribbean because they have the three and the four night on that.

Fantasy, I've been on the week-long ones out of Port Canaveral as well. And then the wonder I've had a chance to actually sail on twice in Alaska and once on a California coastal, which was cool. And that was actually a Pixar-themed cruise. And I think that was in 2012, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, wow. That was fun because, yeah, the whole team was on board just talking about, you know, the Pixar process,

and they had a whole bunch of different art that was on display.

It was really... if I'm not mistaken. Oh, wow. And that was fun because, yeah, the whole team was on board just talking about, you know,

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