3/21/2010 -- 4 Night Disney Wonder Spring Break Cruise

[alwaysabuckeye]

Just checked out the weather forecast for Nassau.....Rain!!!! Now I am wondering if I should cancel the excursion and just plan something when we wake up that morning.

We have the stingrays/beach excursion booked. Obviously do not want to pay for that if it's going to be a crappy day.

We leave tomorrow!!!! So exciting!!!

I know... I am naturally addicted to the weather chanel and have the app on my blackberry. I check it several times A DAY! I am hoping that it changes though. It keeps flip flopping from nice to rain...we'll see.

I am just hoping we can dock at CC. We are going to get off the boat in Nassau early and I plan on heading back to the boat early. I don't like to deal with all the requests for hair braiding, tours, t-shirts... DH wants to go to Sr. Frogs though...hmmm.

Have a great and safe trip!

 

[AwtreyCalifornia]

We have three kids ages 11,10 and 6. I dont think that they would like Nassau too much. We are thinking of just taking them to the Atlantis so they could see it and then get back to the ship. What do you think?

Also, it is showing high winds of 18 mph on Tuesday. Does this mean they may not be able to go to the private island?

 

[jlindemer]

Please, oh, please let us stop at CC! I will be so BUMMED if we miss it. Isn't there a chance that we would go on Wed if Tues is bad?

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Never posted on a chat board before.

We are a family of five - Christine, DH, DD11, DD10 and DS6

My daughters are really excited to meet some new friends on the cruise. We are flying in from northern california on Mar 20th. Any kids coming from west coast? I want to make sure my kids have fun!

Learning about the door decorating and the Fish Extenders. Probably too late for the FE's but would like to decorate our door. Any ideas?

stateroom 8076.

Concerned about the weather.

If the weather is too bad, there is always the movies, wine tasting, and hot tubs.

Welcome! I added your family to the first post. I noted your room number for the Fish Extender in case anyone has any extra gifts.



I too have been watching the weather. It changes daily so I'm not too worried -- yet. One place is currently showing a 30% chance for rain/T-storm in Nassau with temps ranging from upper 70's to lower 80's depending on who you believe. Tuesday is not showing rain, but clouds.

I went to a website to find out what 18 mph winds are in knots.

http://weather.org/conversion.htm

That is 15.64 knots. Looking at the chart, that is classified as a moderate breeze. Here is the description:

Small branches move, raises dust, leaves and paper. Small waves develop, becoming longer, whitecaps.

The next higher category: 19 - 24 mph winds: Small trees sway. White crested wavelets (whitecaps) form, some spray.



When someone reported that the Magic didn't dock at Castaway Cay last Friday, it was due to up to 50 knot winds. That's strong gale force! That description: Trees are broken or uprooted, building damage is considerable. Large waves (6-9 metres), overhanging crests, sea becomes white with foam, heavy rolling, reduced visibility.



I think it's currents more than anything that causes the ship not to dock at Castaway Cay. I hope we dock too as that is our favorite part of our Disney cruises! I've heard other cruise reports where they have swapped Castaway Cay days so I guess that's a possibility. At least we'll be on the boat!

 

[5CruisersCruising]

I just read something about lanyards - do we get those with our room keys? Or do we need to buy them? And what about a pouch to put them in? I have a badge reel from work that can be hooked on a pocket that's very handy. Do I need to find a pouch here before we go?

 

[5CruisersCruising]

OK, so I realized there is no way we are only taking 2 big and 3 small suitcases...shoot! Even trying to thin everything out, we need 3 big and 2 small. I know I'm overpacking and I can't seem to stop myself...

On a happy note, I and my DD5 are seeing Disney on Ice tonight!

 

[twins-and-1]

Wow! This packing is driving me crazy! I don't know how it will all fit in our suitcases also!

I need some help! I have been trying to print magnets from "jordak" and I cannot get the whole magnet to print on my printer. Once I get the post with the magnets, what should I do next??? I'm such a rookie!

 

[jlindemer]

Ditto! I have suitcases out and stuff overflowing from them. I thought I was packing light! HA! I made DH break out the kids small suitcases too! We have 1 big, 1 med, 1 small, and the 2 kid suitcases. Plus a totebag with swimsuits, and another totebag with meds, etc.

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I just read something about lanyards - do we get those with our room keys? Or do we need to buy them? And what about a pouch to put them in? I have a badge reel from work that can be hooked on a pocket that's very handy. Do I need to find a pouch here before we go?

Castaway Club members receive lanyards (silver, gold or platinum). I don't believe they hand them out for your first cruise, but I could be wrong. On our first repeat cruise, they also gave out pins for pin trading but they since stopped that.

OK, so I realized there is no way we are only taking 2 big and 3 small suitcases...shoot! Even trying to thin everything out, we need 3 big and 2 small. I know I'm overpacking and I can't seem to stop myself...

On a happy note, I and my DD5 are seeing Disney on Ice tonight!

Packing? Haven't even started and we leave Friday morning. We have some of the kids clothes ready, but that's it.

 

[AwtreyCalifornia]

I am looking forward to meeting lots of people on the cruise. My girls are soooo excited. We are all packed and ready to fly out saturday. we are staying at the dolphin for 5 nights after the cruise. Long vacation. I am obsessed with the weather!

We are going to try and get a few magnets today and my girls still want me to try to put together an FE even though I told them we were too late. I will go get some trinkets too. The are nervous that there wont be enough 10 and 11 year olds to hang out with.

I am just bummed that I found this site so late!

 

[twins-and-1]

Don't worry AwtryCal. .. My twin girls are 10 and ready to meet new friends also! Their names are Megan and Haley. We look forward to meeting you soon!

 

[alwaysabuckeye]

I am looking forward to meeting lots of people on the cruise. My girls are soooo excited. We are all packed and ready to fly out saturday. we are staying at the dolphin for 5 nights after the cruise. Long vacation. I am obsessed with the weather!

We are going to try and get a few magnets today and my girls still want me to try to put together an FE even though I told them we were too late. I will go get some trinkets too. The are nervous that there wont be enough 10 and 11 year olds to hang out with.

I am just bummed that I found this site so late!

sent you a PM

 

[5CruisersCruising]

I am wondering about our carry ons for the ship. We are planning to bring some beer and Diet Coke (I know I have a Diet Coke problem!) and maybe some bottled water. So I plan at least 1 wheeled carry on.

What about swimsuits? Will there be a place to change before the cabins are ready? Or should they wear their suits under thier clothes? That's not really the ideal photo I was hoping for... I guess they could always just change in a bathroom.

I am hoping we can get on as early as possible and have some time to explore. I know we'll have to drag the carry ons around with us...any advice?

Can't believe it's in 3 days!!!!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I am wondering about our carry ons for the ship. We are planning to bring some beer and Diet Coke (I know I have a Diet Coke problem!) and maybe some bottled water. So I plan at least 1 wheeled carry on.

What about swimsuits? Will there be a place to change before the cabins are ready? Or should they wear their suits under thier clothes? That's not really the ideal photo I was hoping for... I guess they could always just change in a bathroom.

I am hoping we can get on as early as possible and have some time to explore. I know we'll have to drag the carry ons around with us...any advice?

Can't believe it's in 3 days!!!!

I should not be on here, but oh well. I'm moving pictueres off of memory cards for the trip and printing our reservation confirmations, etc.

Don't worry about the carry-ons. I've carried a wheeled carryon with a full case of water plus more each time. The kids also had carryons as did June.

Not really anyplace to change on the ship. I've known others to wear them under their clothes. There'll be two to three hours of time to explore the ship on Sunday before the safety drill. Enjoy!

Ok. Now is time to panic. It's 9:00 pm and our flight leaves in about 12 hours. It's suppossed to snow overnight here. We could get as much as 10 inches tomorrow, but hopefully no more than a couple inches by morning. And we have yet to start packing!!

We'll see everyone Sunday.

 

[alwaysabuckeye]

We're off! I am picking up my girls and DH and we're headed to KC. We fly out in the morning.

I TRIED to be really good with packing, but I have 4 REALLY full pieces. I might be able to get rid of one and consolidate on the way back. We'll see.

Plenty of sunshine in FL this weekend...we'll be out by the pool!

Thanks for all of your helpful hints and feedback!


Safe travels everyone

 

[AwtreyCalifornia]

I am going to get some FE gifts. I think my daughters and son will have fun passing them out. I told them that we signed up late so we wont be able to get any from others. I may surprise them myself though.

I put their names on my quickly made FE extender. I am now afraid my husband wont let me hang them outside our door though. What do you think?

We leave from Sacramento tomorrow morning.

See you soon!

 

[jlindemer]

We're leaving in 1 hour and 45 minutes! See you on Sunday!

 

[5CruisersCruising]

I am going to get some FE gifts. I think my daughters and son will have fun passing them out. I told them that we signed up late so we wont be able to get any from others. I may surprise them myself though.

I put their names on my quickly made FE extender. I am now afraid my husband wont let me hang them outside our door though. What do you think?

We leave from Sacramento tomorrow morning.

See you soon!

I added your cabin number to my list! I'll try to drop some things off to you...I have a hodge podge of things to hand out. In FL, I am planning to buy some candy too. Your kids will at least get a few things!

I also got some cute little items for my own kids - I couldn't resist!

I'm ALMOST done packing - we leave early in the morning - 7:00am flight.

I did not put my kids names on the FE - I'm just too paranoid!

 

[junesgoofy]

My son just came into the room and said, "I want to be back on the ship, this is boring."

I hope all of you had a great time. The weather in Nassau could have been better. I hope everyone got to do what they wanted to while we were there. We did make it to the Hard Rock Cafe and the Tortuga store for rum cakes. I wish the sun would have come out so we could've seen the pretty blue water there. Oh well, there's always next year.

One cool thing about this cruise was we joined the Disney Vacation Club - finally! After twelve years and many trips to WDW, we did it! Now we are busy with the planning.

Wish we could have met everyone from this thread. Those of you we did meet, it was good to put faces with names. It is somewhat confusing still because matching names, cities and DisNames are hard to do. Hope you all got the Mickey Mouse gifts we delivered to your cabins. Thanks for all the great gifts you all gave out. Think about that times twenty which is what we had on our cruise back in 2008! We got a lot of stuff on that cruise.

I hope to talk to you all more on this thread. Happy unpacking!

 

[5CruisersCruising]

Wow! We had such a great time!

We went on our snorkeling excursion in Nassau and the rain stopped just long enough for us to get some snorkeling done in the COLD water! It could have been better with sunshine and warmer temps but we had a great time. The weather at Castaway Cay was awesome as well as our day at sea. DS11 got his Hard Rock Nassau t-shirt to add to his collection too.

It was nice to meet a few of you - sorry we didn't get to meet everyone! There was so much going on, it was hard to keep things straight. We loved the FE's and all the gifts - Thank you! This board was so helpful! I felt prepared and DH finally admitted that all of my obsessing paid off! LOL

We got in late last night - exhausted but happy. And we booked another cruise! We are scheduled on the Dream in Oct 2011.

I am still swaying with the ship...wonder when that will go away?

Hope everyone had a great time!