ILLUMINATIONS CRUISES-What they are--How to book--FIND ONE TO SHARE

[JsMom2]

I am planning on booking a Wishes cruise for Sept 18, 08. Please PM me if you are interested in sharing.

Wendy

 

[K&C]

Does anyone know where the Breathless sits to watch Illuminations?
I am just concerned it will sit behind the pontoon boats and we won't be able to see over them or does it sit in between them under the bridge?

 

[toledo13]

Does anyone know where the Breathless sits to watch Illuminations?
I am just concerned it will sit behind the pontoon boats and we won't be able to see over them or does it sit in between them under the bridge?

OOOHHH!!! I KNOW I KNOW!!!! We went on the Breathless last year, SO FUN! We pulled just out from under the bridge, next to the pontoon boats. It was SPECTACULAR!!! And, we were the last ones there. Our view was wonderful!! We SOOOO want to go back on the Breathless again. It was super cool!!!

 

[K&C]

OOOHHH!!! I KNOW I KNOW!!!! We went on the Breathless last year, SO FUN! We pulled just out from under the bridge, next to the pontoon boats. It was SPECTACULAR!!! And, we were the last ones there. Our view was wonderful!! We SOOOO want to go back on the Breathless again. It was super cool!!!

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I was worried about getting squished out behind the pontoons.

 

[MajorWoody]

Does anyone know where the Breathless sits to watch Illuminations?
I am just concerned it will sit behind the pontoon boats and we won't be able to see over them or does it sit in between them under the bridge?

Hello,

The boats sit under the archway bewtween France & UK. The arch is split, with three boats on each side. If you are coming from France, position 1 is closest to France, while position 6 is closest to UK. Breathless occupies position 3, alongside the arch in the middle. It is not behind any boats.

Hope that makes sense.

Take care,

Bill

 

[eeyoregon]

We are a family of 5 staying 8/24-8/29 and would love to share a cruise with another family. Please email us at lrfamily at verizon.net if interested.

Lisa

Ditto. My son (12) and I will be at the World August 23-26 (fly home 27th) and would love to do a cruise with some fellow DIS'ers.

eeyoregon@aol.com

gina

 

[momjkm]

still looking for a spot for illuminations week of July 20th--- jsut 2 of us
Thanks if you can help...
Jill

 

[lynda1212]

I've just been lucky enough to book Breathless II for an Illumnations cruise in August I was quoted $275 + tax + tip.

My question, being a Brit and therefore a novice at tipping, is do I tip at 15%-20% as I would in a Disney restaurant? Or is the expection different for this type of service.

I just want to make sure I reward the driver properly and don't unintentionally "insult" him/her by under-tipping.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

 

[snowdrift7]

I've just been lucky enough to book Breathless II for an Illumnations cruise in August I was quoted $275 + tax + tip.

My question, being a Brit and therefore a novice at tipping, is do I tip at 15%-20% as I would in a Disney restaurant? Or is the expection different for this type of service.

I just want to make sure I reward the driver properly and don't unintentionally "insult" him/her by under-tipping.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

We're just back from Disney and were lucky enough to do both the Illuminations and Wishes cruises. In each case, we gave the captain $50 as a tip. We shared the cruise with other DIS-ers (10 total) and each person paid $29 for the cruise (which costs a total of $292.88 with tax) plus $5 tip. Both captains were extremely appreciative.

You're going to have a wonderful time! I absolutely love the Illuminations cruise and wish I could afford to do it several times each trip.

 

[bzzelady]

If anyone has space for 2 on an Illuminations cruise for July 10-16th, please PM me...I would like to take my mother. We did this a couple of years ago and it was just a beautiful way to view the show!
Thanks!!

 

[livingthedream]

We are 2 adults in late-40s interested in booking a Wishes cruise (with audio) between Sept 7-15. My husband knows I have wanted to do this for a while, but he couldn't justify the cost for just the 2 of us. The good news is that whenever I call for anything, I am usually lucky and can get what I want. The bad news is that I can't guarantee audio but would like to work with a group of people interested in this! Anyone else interested in sharing a Wishes cruise in Sept?

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

We are 2 adults in late-40s interested in booking a Wishes cruise (with audio) between Sept 7-15. My husband knows I have wanted to do this for a while, but he couldn't justify the cost for just the 2 of us. The good news is that whenever I call for anything, I am usually lucky and can get what I want. The bad news is that I can't guarantee audio but would like to work with a group of people interested in this! Anyone else interested in sharing a Wishes cruise in Sept?

Sure wish you could wait just a few more days (till the 21st) and then I would be right there on board with you. We are 2 adults (later 40's) taking our 4 year old granddaughters and would love to share a wishes cruise also. But we won't be there till the 21st of September.

 

[KarlaG4Kids]

For everyone that has taken both an Illuminations cruise and a Wishes cruise, was one better than the other? I worry about not being able to see as well on the Wishes cruises. We have taken an illuminations cruise and LOVED it. What are your thoughts?

 

[shendley]

A couple of questions here about Illuminations Cruises:

1) Is the $50 tip noted by a poster above for the captain considered by most of you who have have done this a reasonable tip? I'm still a bit confused about this since I've heard $25 thrown about as well. But, on reconsidering it, that seems pretty low since it would be less than even 10% of the cost of the boat now.

2) On the first page of this thread, it says the Pontoon boats will seat up to 12, if some are children. But when I called the reservations number for the cruises I was told 10 was an absolute limit regardless of whether or not some are kids. The reason why I'm asking is I've already got 8 people for a cruise for July 28th with a family of 2 adults and one five year old asking if they could join. Could the CM not have accurate info here or is the general info at the beginning of the thread inaccurate?

Thanks for any insights you might have on these matters!

 

[Huff]

I am planning on booking a Wishes cruise for Sept 18, 08. Please PM me if you are interested in sharing.

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

My wife and I would love to share a Wishes Cruise. We had tried last year in Sept. but were rained out the night of the cruise. We will be at WDW Sept. 12-Sept. 22 but the 18th would be perfect.

 

[ssusca]

My family will be going to Disney at the end of September. Our anniversary is on 9/23 and I have already booked the Neverland Club for our daughter for that evening. We have ADRs for Teppan Edo at 7:15. I'd love to surprise my wife with an Illuminations cruise after dinner.

Do you think that we will have time for the dinner and then to catch the cruise before the fireworks begin or is this cutting it too close?

 

[Crazy Hakim]

My family will be going to Disney at the end of September. Our anniversary is on 9/23 and I have already booked the Neverland Club for our daughter for that evening. We have ADRs for Teppan Edo at 7:15. I'd love to surprise my wife with an Illuminations cruise after dinner. Do you think that we will have time for the dinner and then to catch the cruise before the fireworks begin or is this cutting it too close?

Nope, check in for the cruise is at 8pm. If you book a cruise, change your ADR to around 6pm. You wouldn't want to have to rush through dinner.

 

[UrsulasShadow]

A couple of questions here about Illuminations Cruises:

1) Is the $50 tip noted by a poster above for the captain considered by most of you who have have done this a reasonable tip? I'm still a bit confused about this since I've heard $25 thrown about as well. But, on reconsidering it, that seems pretty low since it would be less than even 10% of the cost of the boat now.

I give $60. I tip 20% I don't think that $50 is unreasonable, but $25 is just cheap, unless the captain was a real dud (NEVER seen that, though!)

2) On the first page of this thread, it says the Pontoon boats will seat up to 12, if some are children. But when I called the reservations number for the cruises I was told 10 was an absolute limit regardless of whether or not some are kids. The reason why I'm asking is I've already got 8 people for a cruise for July 28th with a family of 2 adults and one five year old asking if they could join. Could the CM not have accurate info here or is the general info at the beginning of the thread inaccurate?

Thanks for any insights you might have on these matters!

A lot has changed since the first page of this thread. The number of passengers has officially changed to 10, last I heard. What the captain may allow once you're there at the dock...hard to say. I wouldn't plan on any more than 10 passengers, though. It's pretty full with 10 people.

 

[midwife144]

We have booked the Grand Premium Pontoon cruise for Wishes on July 13. This is the cruise with the music piped in. Looking for folks interested in sharing our cruise. We are a party of 5 (3 adults, 2 children ages 8 & 4) and have space for up to 5 more!!!

The cruise is leaving the Contemporary.

 

[JIMPOW]

I just posted on the June board as well, but we are a family of 4 looking to share a cruise somewhere between June 21 & 30th.