05/09/2009 May 9, 2009 7-Night Eastern St Maarten... Watch Out!

[moebear]

HI Everyone,

This is my first post!! I have been a lurker for quite a while...

My family and I will also be on this cruise. It will be me DW (Bonnie), DH (Gerry), DD 8 (Morgan), DD 7 (Emma), my mom (Lorraine) and my dad (Brent).

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise. We are very excited and CANNOT WAIT.

Take care all,
Bonnie

 

[scottie]

HI Everyone,

This is my first post!! I have been a lurker for quite a while...

My family and I will also be on this cruise. It will be me DW (Bonnie), DH (Gerry), DD 8 (Morgan), DD 7 (Emma), my mom (Lorraine) and my dad (Brent).

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise. We are very excited and CANNOT WAIT.

Take care all,
Bonnie

Welcome Aboard! Is this your 3rd Eastern cruise? I guess we are going to have to add numbers for our girls names and have Morgan1 & Morgan2 so the right kid come running to us when their name is called in the lab for pickup!

 

[moebear]

You have a Morgan also? Too funny. Our Morgan can be Morgan M. How old is your Morgan?
Our first cruise (3 years ago) was the 4 nighter on the Wonder. We fell in love. Our second cruise (2 years ago) was the 7 night on the Magic. And now we're taking my parents to experience the Magic. We loved the western but wanted to try something new. I am really looking forward to the 2 sea days!

Now that I have finally started posting, this could become obsessive.

 

[scottie]

You have a Morgan also? Too funny. Our Morgan can be Morgan M. How old is your Morgan?
Our first cruise (3 years ago) was the 4 nighter on the Wonder. We fell in love. Our second cruise (2 years ago) was the 7 night on the Magic. And now we're taking my parents to experience the Magic. We loved the western but wanted to try something new. I am really looking forward to the 2 sea days!

Now that I have finally started posting, this could become obsessive.

Our Morgan will be 8 on March 23rd, going on 16!!
We are big fans of the 4-nighters because we like adding a handful of days in WDW after we get off the ship. This is our first 7-night sailing and we are only able to sneak in 2 nights at WDW after (hopefully the girls teachers wont kill us!).
We will have my mother-in-law with us as we have for all the cruises. We have a good time with her and she turns out to be a great babysitter when we need help onboard! Plus she lives in Florida so it gives her some time with the grandkids.

DIS is addiciting!

 

[airtime247]

Well if you arrive at port early too then I guess we may all just end up with a big 3yr old play time (run around the terminal time)! Im sure all the other kids may like to meet up too. In the past, we have always ran into DIS familys at the seats near the ship end of the terminal- where the large windows are just past the gangway entrance. We tend to find ourselves taking up space down there. They have some tables for the kids to color disney drawings there too usually.

Our two daughters were a bit shy when they went into the club the first time, but were able to warm up pretty quickly with the great counslers and the playground! However, the whole Palo resv thing has me a bit worried at this point too, because it will only be our second night onboard when we have that reservation and I worry a tiny bit Dylan may not be fully into the club at that point. I'm sure in the end it will be fine but the thought is in the back of my mind! If I recall correctly, I dont think they can spend much time there the first night?

My understanding is the first night is family night in the club where the parents bring the kids by to get them familiar with the place. I believe you are right though in that it is short. Hopefully they let us turn them loose in there while we are near so they can get a taste for how much fun they will have the next week.

How can we identify ourselves ahead of time? Our DD would probably leap at the chance to go back to the club the second day if she knew the kids she met would be there.

Also, we are still researching St. Martin. I was reading Cruise Critic and found a lot of people raving about a local tour company called Bernard's Tours. He has customizable tours around the island for any group size. The tour can include such things as time in Marigot, a couple of hours to swim at Orient Beach, a stop at Maho Beach to see the planes land overhead, some scenic stops inbetween, and back to Philipsburg for shopping.

Their prices are negotiable but from what I read, they generally charge a lump sum for any party size. If anyone else is considering doing something like this and would want to split the cost, we'd be interested. I've always been a little nervous about booking excursions outside of the cruiseline but they get rave reviews. They also don't require deposits and only require payment after the tour is over. Just a thought. If anyone wants to check out the site, it's http://www.bernardstours.com/. The Tour Itineraries and FAQ links have some good info.

-steve

 

[Mastiff]

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in forever but just wanted to check in and wish everyone a happy New Year.

Is anyone else having a hard time picking excursions, or is it just me? This is our first cruise ever so I am totally clueless.

We have two kids DS(10) and DD(6) and just not sure what to do. The Doubloon Cruise sounds good.

What are you guys doing?

We will be staying at WDW for 2 days before the cruise. I think we are staying at Poly. Haven't finalized everything on that yet but would love to meet you if you will be at WDW before the cruise.

I would love to do the FE too. It sounds fun.

I can't believe how fast time is flying before we know it we will all be walking on to the Disney Magic!!!

Have a great night.

 

[scottie]

My understanding is the first night is family night in the club where the parents bring the kids by to get them familiar with the place. I believe you are right though in that it is short. Hopefully they let us turn them loose in there while we are near so they can get a taste for how much fun they will have the next week.

How can we identify ourselves ahead of time? Our DD would probably leap at the chance to go back to the club the second day if she knew the kids she met would be there.

Also, we are still researching St. Martin. I was reading Cruise Critic and found a lot of people raving about a local tour company called Bernard's Tours. He has customizable tours around the island for any group size. The tour can include such things as time in Marigot, a couple of hours to swim at Orient Beach, a stop at Maho Beach to see the planes land overhead, some scenic stops inbetween, and back to Philipsburg for shopping.

Their prices are negotiable but from what I read, they generally charge a lump sum for any party size. If anyone else is considering doing something like this and would want to split the cost, we'd be interested. I've always been a little nervous about booking excursions outside of the cruiseline but they get rave reviews. They also don't require deposits and only require payment after the tour is over. Just a thought. If anyone wants to check out the site, it's http://www.bernardstours.com/. The Tour Itineraries and FAQ links have some good info.

-steve

Yep, I double checked a Navigator and it looks like the Club will have family time the first evening and the the Lab and Quest will have some normal activites the first night. I think our girls did get to play around and get use to their surrondings when the visited the club the first night and make some new friends.

I have heard of some DISers wearing a lime colored item so they can find each other at Port. I can tell you my crew of 3 kids and 3 adults will be hanging out near the large windows/balcony at the end of the terminal nearest to the ship most of the time, other then for the occasional character visit or run around inside the terminal to burn off some of the excitement! I think if we stay near MCO the night before we should be to port by 10:30ish. We are also now cosnidering staying near Port the night before instead- just decided to look into this more this evening!

The tour in St Maarten does sound nice, let me take a look at that site and talk with the family.

 

[scottie]

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted in forever but just wanted to check in and wish everyone a happy New Year.

Is anyone else having a hard time picking excursions, or is it just me? This is our first cruise ever so I am totally clueless.

We have two kids DS(10) and DD(6) and just not sure what to do. The Doubloon Cruise sounds good.

What are you guys doing?

We will be staying at WDW for 2 days before the cruise. I think we are staying at Poly. Haven't finalized everything on that yet but would love to meet you if you will be at WDW before the cruise.

I would love to do the FE too. It sounds fun.

I can't believe how fast time is flying before we know it we will all be walking on to the Disney Magic!!!

Have a great night.

Welcome back, and Happy New Year to you too! I think most of us are in the same excursion deciding boat as you so no worries! We planned to just shop in St Maarten then head back to the boat, but the tour Steve mentioned sounds nice too. We are going to a beach, likely Magens Bay, the following day.

Time is flying for sure... I plan to make our final payment next week or the week after then I will be ready for Palo booking night!

 

[Jumba17]

Please add us to this cruise! I have been lurking for awhile, and finally created a user name! Here's who is going: me (Julie), DH (Tom), DD 5 (Mia), DS 5 (Dominic), and my parents (Wayne & Diane). We are spending some time at WDW at the WL before the cruise, but the kids don't know that yet - we still haven't decided when to tell them that part. Maybe when we get there!

This is our first Disney Cruise and we are all very excited! DH and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, so we thought this was a great way to do it!

I would love to get one of those countdown tickers in my signature - where did you all get those?

 

[airtime247]

Please add us to this cruise! I have been lurking for awhile, and finally created a user name! Here's who is going: me (Julie), DH (Tom), DD 5 (Mia), DS 5 (Dominic), and my parents (Wayne & Diane). We are spending some time at WDW at the WL before the cruise, but the kids don't know that yet - we still haven't decided when to tell them that part. Maybe when we get there!

This is our first Disney Cruise and we are all very excited! DH and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, so we thought this was a great way to do it!

Welcome Julie! Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary. We are celebrating our 10th on the cruise (May 16) as well. Be sure to let the WL and especially DCL know you are celebrating and you may get a few little special surprises.

-steve

 

[scottie]

Please add us to this cruise! I have been lurking for awhile, and finally created a user name! Here's who is going: me (Julie), DH (Tom), DD 5 (Mia), DS 5 (Dominic), and my parents (Wayne & Diane). We are spending some time at WDW at the WL before the cruise, but the kids don't know that yet - we still haven't decided when to tell them that part. Maybe when we get there!

This is our first Disney Cruise and we are all very excited! DH and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, so we thought this was a great way to do it!

I would love to get one of those countdown tickers in my signature - where did you all get those?

Welcome!! Great way to spend an anniversary for sure! You may want to consider a nice romantic dinner at Palo one evening to celebrate!

You can go to tickerfactory.com to create a countdown and add it to your signature in the control panel on here.

 

[scottie]

Ok so I have just spent the better part of 3 hours messing around on the computer trying to decide if we want to stay near port or MCO for the night before. We arrive at MCO around 3pm so either option works fine. I just cant make my mind up where we should head to that first night. I plan to do a priceline/hotwire room regardless of which location we choose. We have always stayed near port- but also always had a car picking us up at MCO so that gave us some flexibilty to get around the port area the day before. We will be using a driver this time so we are basically stuck at the area we choose.
I guess I now worry we may have less dinner options that are easy to get on foot to if we do something near MCO vs Port, but even at Port the options are kind of spread out.
If we stay near port we would have the driver pick us up at MCO and drive us over there and then we would have to get a shuttle for the next morning to port which may or may not cost us any extra. If we stay near MCO, we will use their shuttle from the airport to the hotel and then the driver will get us the next morning and take us to port.
Its really a half dozen this/half dozen that kind of thing and I just cant make up my mind!

 

[SCDizneyDawn]

I just got done booking a rental car for Friday from MCO and the Motel 6 in Cocoa Beach for Friday night. If we fly, our flight will likely land late, as we typically will take last flight into MCO for the evening. Therefore the cheap hotel works good!

We do not know where we will be coming from yet, as I work short term contracts (traveling ultrasound tech) and my current one ends on March 6th and do not know what will happen after that yet! We are currently in NH and if I get another contract here that will mean being able to fly Southwest air from Manchester, NH, which we like. But it would be nice to go back south and be able to Drive also!

Happy planning to everyone!

 

[airtime247]

Just a quick update about Bernard's Tours. I emailed him for information and he has room on a tour so we won't have to worry about a bulk cost. The cost for each person is $35 so we are going to book it.

-steve

 

[scottie]

Just a quick update about Bernard's Tours. I emailed him for information and he has room on a tour so we won't have to worry about a bulk cost. The cost for each person is $35 so we are going to book it.

-steve

Sounds like fun! Maybe we will end up on the same bus or waving to you from the one parked next to it

 

[scottie]

I just got done booking a rental car for Friday from MCO and the Motel 6 in Cocoa Beach for Friday night. If we fly, our flight will likely land late, as we typically will take last flight into MCO for the evening. Therefore the cheap hotel works good!

We do not know where we will be coming from yet, as I work short term contracts (traveling ultrasound tech) and my current one ends on March 6th and do not know what will happen after that yet! We are currently in NH and if I get another contract here that will mean being able to fly Southwest air from Manchester, NH, which we like. But it would be nice to go back south and be able to Drive also!

Happy planning to everyone!

Appears your plans are coming together nicely!

 

[scottie]

Happy Dance! Just was messing around on the SouthWest site and noticed our airfare went down about $20.00 per person for the flight down... quickly made the switch and now have $100 in travel funds for future travel! The flight back home hasnt changed yet.
You may wanna check out your flights if you are booked with SWA.

 

[DisneyMommy1022]

I was just on Southwest looking at flights and I found a flight to MCO from DTW for 64.00 per person!!!!! Now I Just have to find a flight home because I don't think they will let us stay on the ship forever!!!

 

[scottie]

I was just on Southwest looking at flights and I found a flight to MCO from DTW for 64.00 per person!!!!! Now I Just have to find a flight home because I don't think they will let us stay on the ship forever!!!

Well you sure cant beat that deal!

 

[MouseNDaHouse]

My wife and I will be taking our first DCL cruise 5/9/09!!
Can't wait. Seriously, can we cast off now?
We're staying in a Cat. 4 with our 3 daughters: Hannah (5), Sarah (3), and Leah (she turns 1 on 5/7/09!)

I'm really interested in getting to know everyone here...I'll post again when the guilt of posting while at work subsides.

Seriously, though, how's now for the whole casting off thing?
Yes?
Maybe?

Sigh.