DH, DD (4), and I are taking our first cruise on 1/12/13 6 Night Western Carribean! I am excited, but nervous because there is so much I don't know and I am a PLANNER! We want to do "beach break" excursions because of our 4 yo, but is it worth it to do both GC & Cozumel? Which excursion do we pick on each island? Also, since we are now 75 days out, should we book asap or will these types of excursions still be available when we sail? Hubby is concerned about booking outside of Disney with our little girl in tow. He's seen too many scary movies. I have booked dinner at Palo for the 5th night, but should we do the brunch also? The pics I've seen on here look amazing! Our stateroom is very close to the secret deck on 7. Can the fireworks be seen from this deck? Or from the Navigator's Verandah? Do you have any other need to know info for newbies to share? One last thing! Santa will be bringing this cruise for DD (she's already been coached to ask for it!). But he HAS to leave something under the tree Christmas morning pertaining to the cruise. Any suggestions on what he can put under the tree? Thanks y'all!
How about this... with a Santa note on the first page? Also.. I am cruises in Feb with my DD.. it's our mom and me girls only trip.. and in Cozumel, I booked a tour of the chocolate factory. 11 US dollars and kids are free, but get to help make chocolate and take some home. It's a tiny little store, so I imagine the tour will be an hour max.. then shopping for the "perfect Mexican Dress" for DD. ( she has been obsessing over getting an authentic dress for months, I fear for her teen years) How fun to surprise her on Christmas! I wish I had gone with that idea. Waiting for Feb 23rd is like waiting on a baby to arrive. Each day I hear "how many more sleeps?"
Grand Cayman--your 4 year old would probably love the turtle farm. We did it thru Captain Marvins as part of an island tour, although she'd probably find the rest or the tour boring. You can book this on your own thru Boatswains. For us, one nice thing was that on the way back we had a choice of being taken back to the tender port or being dropped at one of the beaches (Sea Grape or 7 Mile). That's nice because it would save you one way transportation if you wanted to do a beach. Don't know if Boatswain's offers this. Turtle farm will take 45 minutes or so for the guided part and on your own. Christmas ideas--stuffed Captain Mickey? Get the free planning DVD (not necessarily for Christmas, but....) You won't see fireworks well from the "not so secret" deck 7 and it may well be locked at that time. The fireworks are shot off from deck 9 aft and sent toward the forward part of the ship (well, mostly sent out away from the ship!) If you are on an aft deck looking aft, you won't see them. We got a note in our room on the Magic telling us to NOT be on our balcony during the fireworks and not leave any items on our balcony. Your best spot will be deck 10, starboard side. Bring a jacket or sweatshirt--it gets cool on deck at night. Grand Cayman is very safe and easy. At a Mexican port, I wouldn't go outside of DCL, especially having done it once!
Maybe for Christmas you can get an ornament of a cruise ship or something and wrap it up along with the planning dvd. Then she'll have the ornament to hang on the tree every year as a fun reminder of the trip. I have seen ornaments of the disney cruise ships on ebay. As for the DVD, I Know my kids like to watch the DL planning DVD over and over when we're going, even though they've been there and seen the DVD a hundred times already! It's something concrete and exciting to watch and plan while waiting for the big day to leave! You also might want to have a countdown activity planned (crossing off days on the calendar, paper chain, etc) to help your sanity of the constant "when are we going" question that will come up over and over!
At GC you can just get a taxi to 7mile beach. It is safe and easy to get to. Also a lot cheaper as well.
