Rope Drop Entertainment
137 episodes listed below
PRESS PLAY
Join us On Deck as we cover Cruise News, Planning, Trip Reports, and More. We will sail from Royal to Disney to Norwegian. With Michelle McKnight of Touring and Cruises Travel and Doug McKnight of Rope Drop Radio.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · June 2026
Rope Drop: On Deck turns cruise planning into practical trip report talk, especially for listeners weighing Disney ship life and family logistics.
Rope Drop: On Deck is a cruise planning and trip report show in PlayNext's Leisure lane. Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight keep the focus close to the trip itself, moving through cruise news, planning talk, guest conversations, and first hand recaps.
You want cruise planning where the stateroom category matters as much as the lost phone.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical Disney Cruise checklist with enough banter to stay human.
This Disney Cruise segment reads as a practical checklist for listeners who want help once they are already on the ship. It stays in familiar banter-heavy territory, but the quick corrections, dry jokes, and plainspoken advice keep it grounded and easy to follow.
A plainspoken look at cruise dining that values atmosphere, logistics, and a little novelty.
This cruise dining review works best when it stays with the parts that matter on the ship: the room, the noise, the table view, and whether the stop feels worth the time.
Practical Disney cruise planning talk with upgrade notes, stateroom tips, and a few repeated beats.
This episode stays practical, with Michelle away on the Disney Destiny media preview sailing and Joe from Back to the Mouse filling in beside Doug.
A practical look at two oversized Royal Caribbean suites.
Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight walk through the Ultimate Family Suite and the Royal Loft Suite with a practical eye, focusing on the parts that matter once a family is actually onboard.
A practical cruise-show debate with a curmudgeonly edge.
RDOD 117 turns a simple One Has To Go game into a sharper look at cruise ship entertainment. With Michelle out at a soccer game with Alden, Doug spends the episode sorting through Disney stage shows, what they are trying to do, and why even an award winner can still wind up on…
A practical Greek Isles debrief built around dining, pacing, and port-day logistics.
Rope Drop: On Deck gives a Greek Isles Royal Caribbean debrief that keeps its attention on what actually mattered day to day. The conversation stays grounded in dinners, the Chops Grill upgrade, lunch squeezed around a busy port schedule, and the way Santorini changed the shape…
A useful Alaska sailing recap centered on shipboard planning details.
This Alaska sailing recap keeps its attention on the parts of a trip people actually have to deal with. It spends time on the kids club age-borderline question, room readiness around 1:30, luggage that shows up mostly on time, and why an aft deluxe ocean view veranda can matter…
A practical cruise discussion that favors cabin reality over cruise-line gloss.
The episode stays practical, moving from a cruise trip report into the details that matter: suite layout, the bathroom, the suite lounge, free laundry, and the way early excursions can make luggage and space feel tighter than expected.
Weekly multi-segment travel interviews pairing European destinations with historians and explorers.
Deep Disney parks talk, right down to the signage.
Real family routes, practical travel stories.
Everyday curiosities, explained with a sideways grin.
Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight focus on cruise embarkation day, using their own Rome boarding problems on a Greek Isles cruise as the cautionary example.
Doug and Michelle bring Lauren from Rope Drop Radio over for a Disney cruise trip report.
Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight spend most of RDOD 124 on their Disney Destiny preview sailing with travel agent Emily Cotwitz of Magical Mouse Travel.
Doug McKnight and Alex Cenac spend the episode speculating about the Disney Destiny announcement and the newly named Disney Believe, the fourth Wish-class ship.
Rope Drop: On Deck episode RDOD 118 breaks down when Disney and other cruise lines make guarantee staterooms worth booking, using Disney's VGT, OGT, and IGT codes as the main example.
Rope Drop: On Deck spends this episode on Denise’s Discovery Princess Alaska trip, with Michelle and Doug framing it around scenic cruising, glacier views, and family logistics.
Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight use this Rope Drop: On Deck episode to map out what to book for 2026 cruising, starting with the simplest rule: choose dates you can actually sail.
Doug opens the show solo.
Doug McKnight and his son Alden rank five Disney cruise excursions, from Naples, Italy, and Pompeii to whale watching in Icy Strait.
Rope Drop: On Deck dedicates this episode to Port Everglades, the third busiest cruise port in Florida and the number one seaport in Florida by revenue.
Doug and Michelle McKnight recap five nights on the Disney Magic with their three kids, plus a pre-cruise stop at Epic Universe and Walt Disney World.
Disney Cruise Line’s fall 2026 through spring 2027 itinerary release drives the conversation, with Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight sorting ships, dates, and booking windows.
Alden McKnight fills in for Michelle on Rope Drop: On Deck, and Doug McKnight uses the episode to run through Facebook-group questions from Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean sailing chats.
Steph describes a Disney Fantasy Norway sailing that left Southampton late, skipped an intended fjord day because of weather, and still reached Olden, Alsen, and Stavanger with a mix of hiking and shopping.
Doug and Michelle McKnight use a Disney Cruise Line planning episode to point out the shipboard details many guests miss, from atrium activities like Jack Jack’s diaper dash to the princess gathering booked 30 days before sailing.
Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight explain Disney Cruise Line's rotational dining by comparing three-, four-, five-, and seven-night sailings and naming the restaurants on ships like the Magic, Wonder, Dream, Fantasy, Wish, Treasure, Destiny, and Adventure.
Doug and Michelle open with a Thanksgiving weekend check-in and a trip report from Lawrence.
Age restrictions eliminate 80% of adventure excursions for young kids—but adults can ziplining, wine taste, and swim with dolphins without limits.
Doug and Michelle open with speech season eating up their weekends.
Alex Cenac, a travel agent with Touring and Cruises Travel, joins Rope Drop: On Deck for a Disney Destiny trip report recorded after the ship’s December 26–30 sailing out of Fort Lauderdale.
Rope Drop on Deck cruise podcast featuring host Doug McKnight and guest Sam McKnight discussing Sam's five favorite onboard cruise activities across Disney and Royal Caribbean vessels.
Doug McKnight and Michelle McKnight open Rope Drop: On Deck with a cruise-gift theme, then move into how to surprise someone with a cruise booking and why January sailings can work well.
Doug and Michelle McKnight record from their stateroom on the maiden voyage of the Disney Destiny in the Bahamas, sharing highlights like exclusive entertainment and a humorous sunburn incident.
Doug McKnight opens without Michelle, who is off in Florida for a Disney Destiny media preview sailing from Fort Lauderdale.
Rope Drop on Deck Episode - 'The Suite Life' features Lauren from Touring and Cruises discussing her stay in an Ultimate Family Suite and Royal Loft Suite on Disney cruise.
Chris from DCL Cruising Dad joins Doug McKnight on Rope Drop: On Deck to talk Disney Cruise Line planning, including the blog he started in 2022 and moved to Squarespace in March 2023.
Doug and Michelle McKnight interview Janet about her recent Royal Caribbean Greek Isles cruise, covering ports like Santorini, Mykonos, and Athens, with tips on logistics, dining, and onboard activities.
Ryan, his wife Jane, and two daughters join another family (husband, wife, 2 sons) for a Disney Wonder Alaska cruise to check Alaska off his 50-state bucket list (now 47 of 50; missing Minnesota, Michigan, Vermont).
If you had left a five-star review, I'd read it on air.