~ºoº November 27, 2010- Western Magic! ºoº~

[DLW8]

The character breakfast will be on one of three days (each dining rotation is on a different day)...The two sea days and the Key West day. I don't think you know which one it will be until you board.

Thanks, I didn't think they were all the same day, so was confused (as usual!).

 

[Fourgolds]

So I have been off for a while and tons have posted. I must apologize to many of you that complained about camps and the start dates. My wife and I run 2 different camps, so I guess we are partly to blame, at least if you are in the DC area.
Bought our flights and paid for the cruise so there is no turning back now.

Does anyone know if bookings for Palo can be made on a sunday. The 90 days before the cruise is a sunday and curious if i need to call in that day or can i wait until monday? thanks,

 

[lisamarch]

I'm so excited so many of us are posting now! You guys have me really excited. That logo is GREAT!!

 

[DLW8]

We just added our 16th room to the FE list - welcome FourGolds!

I need to make a plan of the dates coming up (final payment and reservation timeline) so I can do my research and plan accordingly!

I know we will do Key West on our own for sure. DH is not 100% sure he wants us to get off in Cozumel, it will depend on the "climate" when we travel, but DS is excited to go to Mexico. And, no idea on Grand Cayman. I need time to read the descriptions and then go to cruise critic for some more information and reviews....

However, I now need to step away from the computer and clean the house before I put it off all day. And, since it is a humid (and soon to be rainy day) I just want to get it done so I can hang with the kids and watch some movies!

 

[iloverags2]

So I have been off for a while and tons have posted. I must apologize to many of you that complained about camps and the start dates. My wife and I run 2 different camps, so I guess we are partly to blame, at least if you are in the DC area.
Bought our flights and paid for the cruise so there is no turning back now.

Does anyone know if bookings for Palo can be made on a sunday. The 90 days before the cruise is a sunday and curious if i need to call in that day or can i wait until monday? thanks,

Yes, you can make your reservations on Sunday, either online or by phone. Phone hours for weekends are a bit different than weekdays. I'm getting excited!!!

 

[champagne27]

Happy to say we just got all our passport applications off prior to the rate increase tomorrow - Yeah!!!!! We only did the cards for the kids since I do not see any international flights in the next 5 years. Still cost $320 with pictures and birth certificates fees, etc. It would have been another $100 if we waited til tomorrow .

Hope everyone is doing well and having fun planning!

 

[DLW8]

Happy to say we just got all our passport applications off prior to the rate increase tomorrow - Yeah!!!!! We only did the cards for the kids since I do not see any international flights in the next 5 years. Still cost $320 with pictures and birth certificates fees, etc. It would have been another $100 if we waited til tomorrow .

Hope everyone is doing well and having fun planning!

Good job getting the passports in before the rates go up! I had heard they were going up in June, so I sent my renewal in ahead of time so that was off my list.

Last year we did get the books for the kids, just on the off chance that if something happened, I've read it's easier to fly home from an international location with the book than the card. But I did debate on getting the card instead!

Still trying to read about all the excursions and find reviews on them....I am thinking about a dolphin swim, is there one on Grand Cayman or just the 2 different ones on Cozumel?

 

[champagne27]

Still trying to read about all the excursions and find reviews on them....I am thinking about a dolphin swim, is there one on Grand Cayman or just the 2 different ones on Cozumel?

There are 2 different places in Cozumel and 1 on Grand Cayman. I wanted to to the one at Chankanaab but still considering the one on Grand Cayman only because there are non-water activity excursions available at Cozumel.

I did buy the kids wet suits and we are going to Maine this weekend so I will better be able to gauge all our tolerence in cold water!

 

[lisamarch]

Fish Extenders: This is our first cruise, and we did sign up for FE. Wondering if there is a typical time where we get a final count of who is participating. Like, X weeks prior to the cruise or something? Thanks!

 

[DLW8]

There are 2 different places in Cozumel and 1 on Grand Cayman. I wanted to to the one at Chankanaab but still considering the one on Grand Cayman only because there are non-water activity excursions available at Cozumel.

I did buy the kids wet suits and we are going to Maine this weekend so I will better be able to gauge all our tolerence in cold water!

I just printed out the Passporter excursion pages and saw the one on Grand Cayman that is coupled with the turtle farm, which is another thing we wanted to do! I need to do some more research and see if I can find any reviews of this one as it sounds perfect, and a bit cheaper than the ones in Cozumel.

DH isn't sold on getting off the ship in Mexico anyway (at least not with the way things are right now), so if I can book the dolphins at GC, then we can play Cozumel by ear!

Lisamarch...yes, we will have a cutoff for the FE, but I don't know when that will be exactly. On my last cruise, we had the cutoff 1 month before we sailed, but personally, I would like an earlier cutoff to give people more time to find what they want to buy.

Anyone else want to weigh in on a timeline? Right now we have 17 cabins with 11 girls, 12 boys, 31 adults for a total of 54 people.

 

[CKCruising]

...Anyone else want to weigh in on a timeline? Right now we have 17 cabins with 11 girls, 12 boys, 31 adults for a total of 54 people.

On our last cruise we said 1 month, but as more people showed up they were accepted so it turned out to be about 2 weeks before. You can't go much later than 2 weeks but a month would be nicer. I think if you are shipping a package to the ship, you need more than 2 weeks.

 

[ukintheus]

On our last cruise we said 1 month, but as more people showed up they were accepted so it turned out to be about 2 weeks before. You can't go much later than 2 weeks but a month would be nicer. I think if you are shipping a package to the ship, you need more than 2 weeks.

I know it will be hard to accommodate everyone but 2 weeks will be pushing it for me bcz we will be at WDW for the week before the cruise and bcz we are doing a 14 day trip I will need some serious pre-packing. Lol

 

[CKCruising]

I was looking at adding WDW to the cruise after but when I phoned to price adding it to my reservation, I didn't like the options. They basically said i could pick the resort (and I couldn't get them all) and I couldn't pick the type of room I wanted.

How do most people work this? Do you book the resort time separate from the cruise, or together?

 

[seba1]

So I completely forgot to get the passport applications in for the kids so I now have to pay the additional amount. Ugh. Oh well. Lately my mind is more focused on all fun things that we are going to be doing on all our trips that are coming up that I forgot about important things like passports! Oh well.

FE - Was at the Disney outlet this past weekend. Lots of ideas! I know that there are lots of posts about FE gifts, but can someone give me some examples of what they tend to pack for the gifts? Luggage space will be at a premium, but I want to make sure to bring enough things and variety.

Stephanie

 

[ukintheus]

I was looking at adding WDW to the cruise after but when I phoned to price adding it to my reservation, I didn't like the options. They basically said i could pick the resort (and I couldn't get them all) and I couldn't pick the type of room I wanted.

How do most people work this? Do you book the resort time separate from the cruise, or together?

We are staying at WDW for 7 nights prior to the cruise and 1 night after and I booked it separately. We have a split stay prior, so I actually have 3 reservations total for the WDW portion. I booked the cruise through Dreams Unlimited and they are organizing the DCL transportation to and from WDW. I had to pay for the transfers but seeing as it's just 2 of us it was cheaper than any other option.

 

[DLW8]

On our last cruise we said 1 month, but as more people showed up they were accepted so it turned out to be about 2 weeks before. You can't go much later than 2 weeks but a month would be nicer. I think if you are shipping a package to the ship, you need more than 2 weeks.

With the Thanksgiving holiday right before our cruise, I would prefer a month if not 6 weeks before our sail date as the cutoff for the cruise. Several people are going down early to WDW and I know that I like to have time to buy (or order) whatever it is I end up giving.

If there are a lot of last minute people, we can start a list for them so they don't lose out, but I don't feel it's fair to those that have been planning for a long time to end up with just a few days to purchase/package/pack and or ship.

Anyone else want to share their thoughts on the timeline? So, I am thinking somewhere around October 16th as the cutoff date....

 

[iloverags2]

Minimum of one month sounds good to me! We're getting closer!

 

[Popovich]

Can't believe how close we're getting!!! We still don't have airfare and I'm getting nervou . We have resies at WDW Tues before the cruise and the holiday drives up the price. Continental is still mostly empty for the flight we want so we've been waiting.

I'm also anxiously awaiting the new passporter guide. Anyone know when they might ship?

Well, off to bed. I'm going to exercise tomorrow before work. I need to work off all the bad "summer food" and beverages I've been having .

Gailyn

 

[ukintheus]

1 month prior for the FE is good for me too. I agree - maybe we can work something out for late-comers. We can cross that bridge if/when we get to it. I'd also like to see a pre-list about 6 weeks out so that I can begin to really get my game-face on about the FE

The summer is flying by - which means our cruise is getting closer and closer I am now in the mind-frame (we'll see how long this lasts ) that I'm going to brave the water even if I think it's chilly and pray that it's not. I'm still leaning toward the schedule I had thought out for excursions doing Key West on our own, beach in Caymans and dolphins in Cozumel - probably the place that I can't spell - Chanukaab?

 

[ukintheus]

Can't believe how close we're getting!!! We still don't have airfare and I'm getting nervou . We have resies at WDW Tues before the cruise and the holiday drives up the price. Continental is still mostly empty for the flight we want so we've been waiting.

I'm also anxiously awaiting the new passporter guide. Anyone know when they might ship?

Well, off to bed. I'm going to exercise tomorrow before work. I need to work off all the bad "summer food" and beverages I've been having .

Gailyn

I hope that the airfare works out in your favor. The prices just seem through the roof this year compared to last year. What's the latest you are willing to leave it? I know I'd be feeling the same as you...it's scary to not have that piece of the planning taken care of. Good luck with them going down soon!