July 13, 2008 - Cruisin' the Mexican Riviera

[califchris]

bump

 

[DMMarla07860]

my dad booked this cruise so I'll be joining you all. It will be my 4 disney cruise and 4 cruise and third time on the magic, we are not sure right now if we are gonna go or cancel, but we will prob go, just time off of work for him is hard since only 2 people work for him. But hoping to cruise with you all.

 

[Brenda in CA]

Yesterday I was messing around on the Disney website. I decided to price out our cruise staying in a category 6 instead of the cat. 9 that we have reserved. The price difference for 2 staterooms was only $1000. DH said he'd be willing to pay the difference for the verandah. I said I would call our travel agent today. So today I went back online because I wanted to make sure they had 2 cat. 6 connecting rooms before I called our TA. The price for the 2 cat. 6 rooms went up $2600 overnight!!! Guess we didn't want a verandah that bad.

 

[Brenda in CA]

Boy, this board moves fast!! Bump........

 

[DMMarla07860]

we all better get posting we gotta beat the number of pages my cruise in August had lol, j/k

 

[DMMarla07860]

How is everyone doing? Hope all is great with everyone.

 

[Mulan's Ma]

Hello all,

I'm Linda and I'll be travelling with DD Georgia,7, my parents and another family. We were all on the July 10, 2005 sailing on the Magic out of San Pedro.

I can't wait!

 

[carole88]

Hi Linda,

Nice to meet you! Can you give us some info on your 2005 cruise? Did you do any excursions? If so, which ones and what were they like? Thanks!

 

[Mulan's Ma]

Funny, I can't really remember which excursion was in which city, but we did the Folkloric Show in one of them and the Dolphin Encounter in another. In Cabo we just got off the ship and walked around. This time I don't plan on taking any excursions as I found them overpriced and not that special. My biggest complaint was that I felt we overscheduled (my fault) and were rushing around instead of just enjoying ourselves. I was on the WE MUST HAVE FUN powertrip! Of course, my daughter was only 5 then and still taking her afternoon naps so she was exhausted and that only made things worse. My plan this time is to go to local hotels/beaches and relax and really enjoy Mexico. My daughter will love it!

Linda

 

[carole88]

Thanks for the info Linda. I know what you mean about overscheduling. We did that on our first cruise. Now I try not to overschedule but I have to admit it's hard for me because I'm a compulsive planner when it comes to our vacations!

 

[wackywexler]

Hi Everyone,

I have been thinking about those excursions too. I wish we had an at sea day between the ports as I am sure it can get exhausting doing three ports in a row. Thank you for the advice, I will try not to overschedule us so that we can relax and enjoy. Thanks!

 

[wackywexler]

Hi,

I ordered the Passporter guide to DCL third edition that talked about the ports and shore excursions from the last time DCL did Mexico. It does look like they had some fun stuff. Of course it seemed like everything that I wanted to do was all in the same port! I guess I'll have some time to get it all figured out.

 

[califchris]

I'm sure there is a lot of threads on this, but what is the passporter? I've seen people mention it and am not sure what it is.

As far as excursions, we probably aren't going to take any Disney excursions on this trip. We've been to Cabo quite a bit (we have a time share there) and absolutely love it. We will probably just get a cab and go to Santa Maria bay to go snorkeling, maybe have some lunch at some of our favorite restaurants, and do some shopping (shopping always needs to fit in somewhere!).

 

[carole88]

The Passporter is a guide book. It contains lots of great information about the ship, the excursions and the ports. It is especially helpful for those who have never cruised with DCL before. This book was pretty much my bible the first time we cruised. I still like to read it now. It gets me in the mood for cruising! I'm hoping that they come out with a new edition for the 2008 Mexican Riviera.

 

[BeachyGirl]

Hurray!!!
Thanks for starting this thread.
We booked last week and I have been trolling here looking for other travelers on this date every since.
OK-so this is us:
Me (42), DH (45), DD (13 at cruise time), DD (11 at cruise time), MIL and FIL.

This is our second west coast DCL cruise. We were on deck 2, Cat 10 our first trip. This time we are still Cat 10, but up on deck 7 with my in-laws.

We are very excited. We loved our first cruise with Disney. I love to plan and I haven't stopped thinking about this cruise!! My family thinks I'm nuts.

Rene'

 

[carole88]

Hi Rene', nice to meet you. Sounds like your girls are about the same age as a lot of other girls who will be cruising this week!

My family thinks I'm nuts too but I can't stop coming to these boards. It's truly an addiction.

 

[BeachyGirl]

Hi!

I just read in Passporter's field guide to the DCL (3rd edition) that Disney was considering changing its teen program by separating them into two groups, younger and older. I really like that idea. I wonder if that has happened. Anyone know?

My 13 year old will probably want to hang around with 13/14 year olds vs. the 16/17 year old crowd. And frankly, I think the younger age group would be much more appropriate for her.

califchris-would love to hear more about the snorkling in Santa Maria Bay and the nice place to eat in Cabo, if you're willing to share.

Rene'

 

[Brenda in CA]

Glad to see that this thread has made it to the top again!

I have the 2007 Passporter as well as the 2005 one that had the Mexico info in it. Between the two, I have found a ton of useful info and great tips. The 2008 Passporter should show the updated Mexico info for our cruise, so I can't wait for it to come out so I can pour over it.

We've already been talking about what we want to do in the ports. DH and the kids would really like to do the Dolphin Swim/Experience in Puerto Vallarta. I know our two older kids and dh would also love to parasail (I'm too chicken!). We'd love to see some of the sights in each port, and I'd love to enjoy some beach time in Cabo.

 

[BeachyGirl]

I just read in another thread that the El Sid was a nice Hotel with a great pool. Sounds like it is worth checking into.
I think we will plan our own excursions rather than book with Disney. We'll see. Lots of time to plan!!

 

[wackywexler]

In the latest passporter newletter available on their website they mentioned they were selling the third edition for $6.00 and when they are gone they are gone and that they had the Mexican Riveria info in them. I thought oh wow I'd better order one, but when I reread it now it doesn't say that thy won't have an edition with Mexico in it in the future, I just interpreted it that way and jumped on the bandwagon. I'm looking forward to updated info as well.