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

[castle4us]

Welcome castle4us! I don't have any advice on the hotel except I reserved the Hyatt in the Orlando Airport a few years ago through Priceline and had no problem getting a room for 3.

Here's a link to the port if anyone is interested - http://www.pcsterminals.com/Default.aspx. There is info on parking and transportation. It looks like the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas will be leaving LA on the same day and then following the exact same itinerary. And here's another link for San Pedro - http://www.sanpedro.com/. Oh, and here's another good one - http://www.portoflosangeles.org/recreation_faq.htm.

Thanks for great sites!

 

[castle4us]

Michelle, yes, generally it IS true that if the cruiselines are offering an excursion, then it normally can't be booked by individuals, but not always. Check online and see. There are a lot of companies that offer the same type of excursions....I'm almost always able to book for myself.

Thanks. My weekend task is to look into the excursions (and figure out where we're staying and look into transportation...). I did do all that before disney site listed their excusions, so I'll recheck old notes and compare. I know the dolping one in Cabo is a 5 minute walk, so no need to worry about getting back to the ship, so I'll book that on my own for sure if I'm allowed to do that.

 

[LisaTex]

Hello again everyone!

Hi WVMD and Jeff Spencer - 3 of us from the 6/16 MED cruise!

Thanks for the transfer info justmestace - going to give them a call. I see a bunch of us will be at The Grand Californian pre-cruise - what time are you guys leaving for the port in the morning?

Has anyone done either of the 2 Dolphin experiences available? They are by the same company so I assume they are similar? ALso, any thoughts on the Beaches? Warmer in Mazatlan and PV?

Can't believe just 3 1/2 months away!
Happy Planning!

 

[justmestace]

Lisa...if you want to give them my name (Pronto Limo) PM me, and I'll give you my last name. They may offer you a discount if you do.

We told them to meet us at the ship at 9:00 am. We are to call their dispatcher and he'll call the driver and tell him to pull up to the curb for us.

Oops.....we'll be at the Grand Californian AFTER the cruise.....Virgil's family and mine.

I haven't done any of the dolphin experiences...anywhere. Sorry.

It definitely was warmer in Mazatlan and PV than Cabo...but once we got used to the water in Cabo, it wasn't so bad.
I thought the weather was actually just about perfect. Not sweltering hot like we get in the Caribbean....nice breezes.

The only kind of "bad" thing, we weren't warned ahead of time that the first night or two on the ship, and the final night, were COLD!
I had to buy a sweatshirt...thought I was going to freeze.
So I will be either wearing long sleeves to dinner those first two nights, or bringing a sweater.

 

[Justmemegan]

CRUISE RELATED!!!!



I just booked transportation from the cruise to Disneyland and I had contacted several car companies (limos, town cars, etc) but only ONE company replied. I spoke to them on the phone today, and these guys are GREAT.

They will do pickup at any of the area airports, to Disneyland, to the port, from the port....anywhere you want to go....they can make stops (for food, liquor, etc)....and the cost was not bad at all.

Anyway.....if you're needing private (town cars up to giant Hummerzines) this is the company"

PRONTO LIMOUSINE

www.prontolimousine.com





Fine Print: If you do book, and mention my name at booking, I get a discount on mine, and as great as these guys are, you MAY get a discount on yours, too!!!

Did you get us the Hummerzine!?

 

[justmestace]

Did you get us the Hummerzine!?

Nope, sorry. A ten person stretch limo.

If Virgil had made the reservations, he would have gotten the Hummerzine...he likes them.

 

[justmestace]

Okay Megan, you're in luck. I booked all of the Palo, spa and excursions you wanted. That 105 day booking is great!

And thank you, for taking me to brunch and tea.

 

[GrumpyMom1]

Has anyone done either of the 2 Dolphin experiences available? They are by the same company so I assume they are similar? ALso, any thoughts on the Beaches? Warmer in Mazatlan and PV?

I read positive reviews of both the Cabo and PV dolphin experiences on other websites. Yes, they are both run by the same company. I think I read that you already discovered that there is a 2nd dolphin facility in PV - Sea Life Park. That is who we booked through. They are run by the same company that does the dolphin encounters in Cozumel. I booked with them knowing that we would not be able to book directly with the others since DCL has contracted with them. We wanted to go direct since the facilities will let our almost 2yo participate but DCL will not.

 

[jlima]

Hi everybody - My family of 4 (me, DH, DS8, DS14) is cruising on the June 8 cruise too. This will be our 3rd DCL cruise; we cruised in July 2001 (7-day Magic) and June 2005 (7-day Mexican Rivera). I've been booked since July of last year; we have 2 connecting cat 6 cabins.

Since I have the REAS package I started to book my ressies last night, but I'm having issues with the DCL website (because we have 2 cabins, and the REAS package is only on one cabin); and DCL is saying they can fix them tomorrow. Just have to keep my fingers crossed.

 

[justmestace]

Hi everybody - My family of 4 (me, DH, DS8, DS14) is cruising on the June 8 cruise too. This will be our 3rd DCL cruise; we cruised in July 2001 (7-day Magic) and June 2005 (7-day Mexican Rivera). I've been booked since July of last year; we have 2 connecting cat 6 cabins.

Since I have the REAS package I started to book my ressies last night, but I'm having issues with the DCL website (because we have 2 cabins, and the REAS package is only on one cabin); and DCL is saying they can fix them tomorrow. Just have to keep my fingers crossed.

WELCOME!!!



We also did the Mexican Riviera in June the last time DCL was here.

I left a reply to you on the main boards about why I think you were having trouble with the reservations last night.

The REAS package is paid for only two people. Therefore, it will only let you book excursions and spa for two people.
It WILL let you book Palo for up to four people.
I think DCL does that on purpose to keep people from getting the REAS pkag and then making reservations for several other people. Like I'd said before, because it is you, husband and kids, with connecting rooms, I can see where you'd think that they would let you do it....and in the end, I think they will once you talk to them.
But if you think about it, and they allowed everyone to do this, then there wouldn't be a "special" 105 booking date for the people in suites.

Trust me, I think Disney's whole way of doing this is crazy. Other cruise lines let you book excursions as soon as you book your trip...you don't even have to be paid in full. But they don't let you book special restaurants or the spa ahead of time....so maybe that kind of balances it out.

I think DCL should let everyone start booking as soon as they are paid in full. That would be a fair way of doing it.

 

[castle4us]

I was looking at the Cabo dolphin center site and going to try to book with them today but then I got nervous when I read their cancellation policy and it states that if you are late or a no-show, you get no refund. I thought I remembered someone else saying they weren't allowed to do that. (How do they know you are on DCL?) If I can though, I started to worry if the ship needed to be diverted due to a storm. Am I being overly paranoid? I'd only be saving 50.00 to try to book direct vs. with disney. Any body have any words of wisdom for me?

I'm thinking of booking a canopy adventure with the other company that disney isn't using because we like the sounds of the place better than the one disney is using. Again, I start to worry about no refund.

 

[justmestace]

I was looking at the Cabo dolphin center site and going to try to book with them today but then I got nervous when I read their cancellation policy and it states that if you are late or a no-show, you get no refund. I thought I remembered someone else saying they weren't allowed to do that. (How do they know you are on DCL?) If I can though, I started to worry if the ship needed to be diverted due to a storm. Am I being overly paranoid? I'd only be saving 50.00 to try to book direct vs. with disney. Any body have any words of wisdom for me?

I'm thinking of booking a canopy adventure with the other company that disney isn't using because we like the sounds of the place better than the one disney is using. Again, I start to worry about no refund.

Whenever I have a chance to book with an independent company, I do it.
The cost is always less, and the excursions are almost always better because there are less people.
I've never seen one that didn't refund if the ship had troubles. All of these vendors know the ship's schedules like the back of their hands, so they know if there is a diversion due to storms or whatever. I really don't think you'll have a problem at all.
Personally, that $50 is a big difference. Wait til you see how much $$ you'll spend on pictures from Shutters!!

I say go ahead and book it independently. I really don't think you'll be sorry. Just make double sure that you have plenty of time to meet them for your excursion and plenty of time to get back to the ship afterward.

 

[castle4us]

Whenever I have a chance to book with an independent company, I do it.
The cost is always less, and the excursions are almost always better because there are less people.
I've never seen one that didn't refund if the ship had troubles. All of these vendors know the ship's schedules like the back of their hands, so they know if there is a diversion due to storms or whatever. I really don't think you'll have a problem at all.
Personally, that $50 is a big difference. Wait til you see how much $$ you'll spend on pictures from Shutters!!

I say go ahead and book it independently. I really don't think you'll be sorry. Just make double sure that you have plenty of time to meet them for your excursion and plenty of time to get back to the ship afterward.

Thanks for advice. DH thinks I'm a worry wart. I agree that 50.00 is big (that'd be a nice chunk of money to go toward spa treatments ), but not compared to the 300.00 I might lose (300.00 to book directly, 350.00 if book through disney) if for some reason our ship was late or didn't make it. The web site's cancellation policy states no refunds for late or missed (with 48 hours notice), so I don't think I'd get my money back! I guess I could book a later time of the day just in case we got in later. The dolphin swim is only a 4 hour thing, so not like an all day excursion. I'm on the fence with this one, but will book the zipline directly being we prefer the sound of that tour over the one disney has. That site didn't list a cancellation policy though. Ah, so many decisions! I envy you who booked at 105 mark! I book next sunday.

 

[castle4us]

Have any of you who've sailed DCL before done the tea? I'm thinking of booking it on our last sea day. I plan to book Palo brunch and supper also.

Another question, is it preferrable to book Palo supper on a sea day or better to book on a port day. On one port day, we'll be back to ship early and could book Palo for that evening. Any other help or suggestions would be appreciated. We've only sailed DCL 3 night and didn't do Palo then because of shortness of trip.

Thanks a lot!

 

[sftnslky]

Have any of you who've sailed DCL before done the tea? I'm thinking of booking it on our last sea day. I plan to book Palo brunch and supper also. Thanks a lot!

First off welcome to our little group Second I could be very wrong, but I thought you were only able to book one or the other ... another words either the supper or the brunch? Someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

As for booking the last sea day that sounds like a good idea since you would have already had all the rotations and the formal and semi formal meals.

Have a great Sunday night.

 

[justmestace]

Each stateroom is allowed to book one Palo dinner, one Palo brunch AND one tea.

We don't book Palo dinner on the last night because that's the night that you'll give your regular servers their tip money and say goodbye, and also they do a fun "show" that night. Besides, Palo dinner runs long, and on the last night, I'm usually up in the stateroom tossing last minute things into the suitcases to get them out the door by 11:00 pm.

The first three nights are always pretty special in the regular dining rooms. A safe night to book Palo is on night four. Night 5 will probably be pirate night and that's fun, too. So the two best Palo dinner choices are nights 4 or 6.

I don't book brunch or tea for the last sea day because I like to be able to do some things on the ship and go back to the room and pack in between. If I have spa or Palo booked, it seems to take up a good portion of the day and then I have to rush to pack.

Sea day or port day doesn't really matter to me, because we're always back on the ship by 6:00 anyway. Unless you go to the bars, there's not much to do out there after dark. So getting back on the ship by 6:00 gives you time to shower and prepare for Palo.

I've done the tea and I enjoyed it. I definitely prefer brunch to tea...hands down. But tea was relaxing and fun, and they treated us like queens. Some husbands do go, but they didn't look quite so thrilled with it. I thought it was just fun to sit in Palo during the day, enjoying the view and relaxing. Brunch...being mostly a buffet...is a little less relaxing, I think.

 

[justmestace]

Forgot to add....my best guess is that formal night will be on the second night of the cruise and semi-formal on the 6th. So if you go to Palo on the 6th night, you'll already be dressed "semi-formal" and it cuts down on one semi-formal outfit. Know what I mean?

 

[castle4us]

Forgot to add....my best guess is that formal night will be on the second night of the cruise and semi-formal on the 6th. So if you go to Palo on the 6th night, you'll already be dressed "semi-formal" and it cuts down on one semi-formal outfit. Know what I mean?

Thanks for the help in this post and last, lots of good advice!

 

[sftnslky]

Gosh we go two days without posting and end up in no where land I hope everyone is having a good Tuesday. I have sick kids which as you all know is NO FUN at all. Well, I'm off to return library books, and then gonna make a new recipe for dinner... Hawaiian burgers. Making them with with crushed pineapple, grated red onion, minced garlic, a few teaspoons of brown suger and 1/2 cup of teriyiki sauce all mixed together, formed into patties and then grilled. Served on toasted buns.. can you say YUMMY!! And gonna make homemade french frys and baked beans to go with them. Just hope they turn out as well as they sound. Have an awesome Tuesday all. Big

 

[lorielucks]

Woohoo! We are at the 100 day mark. I am getting so excited. We are in the process of trying to book a tour to pick us up from San Pedro after the cruise. Our flight out of LAX is not until 5:20 so we have some time to kill. I am open to any suggestions you might have...

Have a Great day!
Lorie