06/08/08 Magic And Mickey To Mexico!!!

[GrumpyMom1]

In 2005 it was San Pedro so I'm assuming it will be the same this time.

 

[sftnslky]

Happy Thursday everyone!!! Just wanted to stop in and say a quick hello Hope your week has been going well. Enjoy the weekend.

 

[justmestace]

She's in San Pedro again. It was sooooo exciting to have such a short flight, get off the plane (flew in to Long Beach) drive 20 minutes or so....and then see the Stacks as we came over the bridge!!


This time, we are flying in the day before, though. Megan and Dave have to come all the way from Ohio and I didn't want to risk them having flight delays, so we're all staying at the Doubletree in San Pedro. It should be nice there...we have marina view rooms and they have a shuttle to the port. I have a town car picking us up.
I just remembered though....I don't know if I made arrangements for Megan and Dave from the airport to the hotel!
Guess I have some things to do tomorrow!!

 

[justmestace]

And my TA said today that she received our packets....but it's all the same stuff I've gotten 5 or 6 times before, so I told her not to pay to send them on to us.

 

[justmestace]

So...I have our transportation (all of us) from the airport to the Doubletree and then also from Disneyland after the cruise back to the airport....am just trying to find the best mode of transportation for all of us from the port to Disneyland. There will be 10 of us for that.
I've sent out requests to limo companies and have gotten one reply so far.
Other than that, just waiting now to book excursions and such.

I'd sent a request to Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan, but haven't heard back. From what I gather on the Boards, it's unusual to not hear back from her.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

I'd sent a request to Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan, but haven't heard back. From what I gather on the Boards, it's unusual to not hear back from her.

From what I've read, that is unusual. We rode with Randi last time and I think I heard back from her on the same day I sent my inquiry in. Did you use the online registration or send her an email?

I can't believe it's less than 4 months away.

We can't decide what to do for any of our excursion. I think in Cabo we are just going to do a beach day like we did last time. We'll rent wave runners and my oldest wants to try parasailing. Nothing sounds interesting in Mazatlan so we may just see the town on our own. The one we are having the hardest time with is PV because there are so many things to do. I think the best thing to do with the baby would be to hang out at the Krystal but my big girls want to swim with the dolpins. I may book the dolphins on our own because then the baby can go in to. Decisions, decisions!

 

[justmestace]

Someone posted this on another thread, so I thought I'd pass it along:




Hi all - just want to give you a heads up. I know a lot of you are booking excursion independently - I just saw this on another board:

Problem with PV Tours and Dolphins

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just wanted to warn people who use PV Tours for their Dolphin Encounter program for children 5 and under. I made the mistake of reserving through the tour operator before looking at Sea Life Park's website. According to SLP, kids 5 and under are free if you have a paying adult, and you must tell them before your reservation is completed.

When I went back to PV tours to ask for a refund for my 4 year old, I got two different answers. Their online help insists that no child is ever free, it is just "a language problem on their part" - them being the park. When I spoke to PV tours on the phone, they said that even though SLP offers these kids for free, PV tours has to pay for every child and the only recourse I have is to contact SLP directly, because that is where the reservation goes directly, and try to get a refund or cancel my reservation (for a price) to re-reserve my 4 year old for free.

I called SLP on the number they provided with their reservation confirmation and was told that I need to email my situation to them and wait for a response. Well, I am waiting and will let you know what happens.

All PV tours needed to do was mention this when I was booking it and I could have avoided all this problem.

 

[justmestace]

I did e-mail Randi.....will have to try it again. I don't like the online forms, much prefer the e-mail.

 

[sftnslky]

I read on the boards today that someone found out that their sailing date had actually gone down by $300 so DCL is 'refunding' then this diffrence as an OBC, so for the fun of it I priced out our cruise, for the same date, same type of cabin, and same ages of peple...each one of our two cabins went up by $1159, so for the two we have booked we are 'saving' $2318. I am soooooo convienced that one should book early...There is NO WAY we could afford to go if we were to book today. Thought this was cool, and wanted to share with all of you. Hope your weekend is going well. big

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Thanks for the warning on the dolphins - I saw that post too. It looks like the ship dolphin tours are through Vallarta Adventures and I read that we won't be able to book directly with them because they are doing the ship tours. I checked out Sea Life Park's website and they also allow ages 1 and up so we may book directly with them. They do have a note on their website that says that you need to indicate when booking if you have a child under 5.

 

[lorielucks]

Hey All,

So I have my pre-cruise hotel and flight all lined up. I'll be coming in the night before and will be camping out at the Crown Plaza in San Pedro. Does anyone have any recommendations for transportation from LAX and from the Hotel to the port? We would probably prefer a car to a supershuttle (less hassle and heart ache). Has anyone used a service that they like? I feel like all I can think about is this cruise. It is my "light at the end of the tunnel". I love dreaming!

 

[justmestace]

Lorie...call the Crown Plaza and see if they have a shuttle to the port. I would think any hotel remotely close would have one. Also see if they have an airport shuttle.

I'm really surprised at how few hotels in the LA area have transportation to and from the airports. It seems like every other major city we've been to, the hotels offer it.

For our March Disneyland trip, we have an ExecuCar rented to pick us up at the airport. We won't have many bags, and there are only 3 of us. I made that reservation through Super Shuttle's website.

Usually, in California, when it's been the whole family, I've booked a private Super Shuttle just for us. Plenty of room for all the bags, no other people to have to wait for, and no stops except our own.

 

[justmestace]

I read on the boards today that someone found out that their sailing date had actually gone down by $300 so DCL is 'refunding' then this diffrence as an OBC, so for the fun of it I priced out our cruise, for the same date, same type of cabin, and same ages of peple...each one of our two cabins went up by $1159, so for the two we have booked we are 'saving' $2318. I am soooooo convienced that one should book early...There is NO WAY we could afford to go if we were to book today. Thought this was cool, and wanted to share with all of you. Hope your weekend is going well. big

I checked ours today. The cost has gone UP $1500. I can't imagine any cruise going down in price...especially on DCL. They did give money back to people on the Panama Canal cruises when the Canal changed it's fees to ships going through.

 

[sftnslky]

I can't imagine any cruise going down in price...especially on DCL.

Neither can I, but wouldn't it be nice ?? A girl can dream Enjoy your Monday.

 

[sftnslky]

We have narrowed down our pre-cruise/Disney hotel to either Embassy Suites South or North.. Do any of you have any experience with either one of these places? DH travels a lot for our company and always try's to stay at Embassy, but typically they are not very kid friendly, and since we are traveling with 5 of them all under the age of 11 we NEED friendly and patience and a good sense of humor and a lot of money

Any whoisin, one of the main reasons we wanna stay there is for the free breakfast and the afternoon social hour. While DH, and DB will be in the parks for most of the day I KNOW my fibro will be an issue and I will have to go back and rest/read/swim. And trust me 4 days of not having to pay for breakfast for 8 of us could save us some dollars. And the free soda in the afternoon for the kids is a plus as well.

And here is a stupid question... Can we make reservations this far in advance without having to pay the entire hotel bill? We will be paying for the hotel and such with our tax refund.

Another question, which I could just go to the web site and find out, but do any of you know if Dreams Unlimited takes credit cards as final payment? And last question for now, since we live in Ca, do you really think we need to purchase insurance?

Hope you are all having an awesome Wednesday.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Oh my, we were way down on page 3. Happy Friday!

We've stayed at the Embassy Suites that is down the street from DL. I believe it's on Harbor and is actually in Garden Grove. I guess it's south. It was nice and there were definitely a lot of families there. I think if you make reservations directly with the hotel, they don't charge your credit card until you're actually there. If you book somewhere like Expedia, they will charge your card immediately.

You may also want to look into the Residence Inn. There are a couple of them and one is right by the Embassy Suites. It's the Anaheim Resort Area one. We have not stayed there yet but plan to next time we make an overnight trip. They have free breakfast, the afternoon social hour, kitchens in the rooms, a nice pool, and a kids movie theatre that shows movies on some nights.

Have a good weekend!

 

[sftnslky]

Oh my, we were way down on page 3. Happy Friday!!

I know, I keep trying to do my part, but I'm only one woman. hint hint hint

You may also want to look into the Residence Inn. There are a couple of them and one is right by the Embassy Suites.

Oh, wow didn't even know there was a RI by DL. Due to the size of our family, when we do travel as a family we typically try to stay at Residence INN. I will go online right after this and check them out. Thanks for the advise, will let you know what I find out. Have a great weekkend all.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

I just booked our dolphin swim/encounter which will probably be the only organized excursion we do. I booked directly with Sea Life Park which also has a little water park so it should be a fun day.

 

[justmestace]

We have narrowed down our pre-cruise/Disney hotel to either Embassy Suites South or North.. Do any of you have any experience with either one of these places? DH travels a lot for our company and always try's to stay at Embassy, but typically they are not very kid friendly, and since we are traveling with 5 of them all under the age of 11 we NEED friendly and patience and a good sense of humor and a lot of money

Any whoisin, one of the main reasons we wanna stay there is for the free breakfast and the afternoon social hour. While DH, and DB will be in the parks for most of the day I KNOW my fibro will be an issue and I will have to go back and rest/read/swim. And trust me 4 days of not having to pay for breakfast for 8 of us could save us some dollars. And the free soda in the afternoon for the kids is a plus as well.

And here is a stupid question... Can we make reservations this far in advance without having to pay the entire hotel bill? We will be paying for the hotel and such with our tax refund.

Another question, which I could just go to the web site and find out, but do any of you know if Dreams Unlimited takes credit cards as final payment? And last question for now, since we live in Ca, do you really think we need to purchase insurance?

Hope you are all having an awesome Wednesday.

I started to reply to this early this morning, had a bunch of phone calls and then got sidetracked. Sorry!!

All hotels will want your credit card number to "hold" the room, but won't charge you until you check out. They will charge one night, if you don't show up.

Dreams definitely should take credit cards for final payment. That's how I've been paying ours through our travel agent. She just calls it in to Disney, which is what I'm sure Dreams does, too.

Insurance....here's the thing......it doesn't matter where you live, insurance is always a good idea. We found that out this past December when my husband had to have half of two fingers amputated the week before we were supposed to cruise with Norwegian. Obviously, we had to cancel the cruise, and we got ALL of our money back, except for the cost of the insurance, which for the four of us was about $300.
Trip insurance is there to protect you from losing all your money in case something awful happens and you can't cruise, or have to leave the ship early. I never used to get it....but a couple of years ago my friend was going on a cruise with myself and some other Moms. We got on the ship and within a couple of hours her husband called to tell her that her sister had died. We hadn't even left port yet. Disney was wonderful!!
They drove her to the airport, made sure she got on a plane back to Phoenix that very same day, then they got her luggage before we sailed, and put it on a plane back to Phoenix, where once it arrived, it was delivered to her home. Plus, she got her money back for the cruise.

I just think it's a good idea, no matter what. And I'm one of those who has always said "I don't care if someone dies, I'm going on this cruise!".....now I know better.

 

[justmestace]

Happy Sunday!! We're getting closer!!

Things are going to start to get really busy for me.
We're going to Las Vegas in 2 weeks, then a birthday trip to Disneyland, then we have friends coming for a week so that we can all go to some spring training games....
I think we have the whole month of April to just rest....sort of....work is important, too, I suppose.
Then Megan's wedding at the end of May.....AND THEN.....before we know it, we'll be cruising!!