06/11/05 7- Night West Coast Cruise

[Monstro]

Hey. Welcome aboard. We have a 10 year old dd as does our friends from Georgia.

We spent a week at the Carlsbad Inn and Beach Club last year - absolutly loved it. - Great place!

I've only been to Mazatlan once. None of the Mazatlan shore excursions interested us so we decided to go to the golden zone and hang out at the Hotel Playa - Mazatlan. A couple years back when we were there there was all sorts of things to do - shopping, para sailing, jet ski's, etc, etc.

We're renting a couple of day rooms so the older/younger members of our party have a place to rest and the kids can play in the hotel pools.

 

[Monstro]

I've only been to Mazatlan once. None of the Mazatlan shore excursions interested us so we decided to go to the golden zone and hang out at the Hotel Playa - Mazatlan. A couple years back when we were there there was all sorts of things to do - shopping, para sailing, jet ski's, etc, etc.

We're renting a couple of day rooms so the older/younger members of our party have a place to rest and the kids can play in the hotel pools.

This sounds like what we did two years ago. This is what we're doing in Mazatlan. We're getting day rooms at the Hotel.....

 

[tikihut4]

Monstro - thanks for the Matzalan tip....we will have to get the girls introduced........In Cabo I was kicking around the idea of a 1/2 day sportfish charter with my son (while the girls shop), its the back end of striped marlin season and the front end of Dorado - who knows? Let me know if anyone in your party might be interested in sharing the cost........(it will probably have to be catch&release as they may not let us back on the boat with no stinkin fish!)

 

[pppiglet]

Welcome Dawnee and tikithut4!!! I know Dawnee has been hiding in the background for a bit, but tikihut....did you just find the boards or just book your cruise? Just wondering.

 

[Stinasmom]

Welcome Dawnee and tikihut4!
I dont' know how my subscription to this thread got cancelled but now I'll be back on! For our newbies...We are traveling with me 38, DH39, DD8, and DS4.
Monstro--you asked about Cabo...
We have been down there 4 times, staying at various timeshare resorts...which btw, are really gorgeous and luxurious on the whole in this area! We have been to some fabulous restaurants and even stayed out late and partook of the wild night life once (inlaws were there to watch kids). Now, since the ship will only be in port for the morning and early afternoon, we'll all have to congaline onboard later!
The shopping is really pretty good. The vendors definitely know when the cruise ships are in port, however! It you like to haggle, you're set, if not, be ready to pay. There is everything from trinket vendors, the wandering kind who approach you at your outdoor table at a restaurant and especially at the beach, alley way stands, and very expensive galleries. You can walk the town from the marina. Unlike PV, we have never had any problem with the food or water and getting sick.

I don't have any experience with the excursions listed. We are saving our $$ for DL/DCA post cruise.
Not sure if I was any help!

Marcy

 

[Grandma Debby]

My 7 year old granddaughter and I will be on board the Magic on June 11th.
We are going to San Diego and Disneyland before so we're looking forward to the days at sea to sleep and HAVE FUN. We have already booked our shore excursions so I hope we picked good ones I'd love to hook up with some of you during the cruise

 

[tikihut4]

pppiglet - We booked back in October but we have been so busy with school, extra-curricullar(does this thing have spell check?) activities and a new business that we haven't had time to get fired up about the cruise. We were last on the Magic in 2003 and I remember hooking up with a bunch of boardies in Port Canaveral before the cruise and we had a blast. I just forgot where this board was....I checked out the Cruise Critic one and ther wasn't much there............that and my wife was in charge of chat last time.

 

[pppiglet]

Welcome Grandma Debby! Thanks for joining our thread. I think there are now 7 families from the DIS that are on our cruise! Maybe more hiding out there.......????

Another Debbie (not a grandma yet!)

 

[Dawnee]

Hi All! Forgot to give my stats: Me, DH, DD (9), and DD (5 - who'll be 6 a couple of weeks after our cruise)

Unless something good comes along, lkohawaii and I were thinking:

PV - shopping
Mazatlan - Randi's Happy Horses and Frank's Tour
Cabo - ATV's (DH's only), don't know yet what we'll be doing with the kids, though lkohawaii wants to take a boat tour to see some rocks??!!

As this trip is costing me an arm and a leg, I think in Cabo I'd rather hang out on the ship. I guess it depends on how much money I spend shopping!!! LOL!

 

[Grandma Debby]

We're signed up to take the city tour and swim with the dolphins in Puerto Vallarta, folkloric show & beach break in Mazatlan and Chileno Bay snorkeling in Cabo - some culture and lots of ocean for the landlocked grandma & granddaughter

 

[pppiglet]

Grandma Debby.....sounds like you're going to have so much fun!

 

[Monstro]

Hey we're getting quite the party here.

Grandma Debby,
Sounds like you've got some good excursions lined up. We're still working on ours. You're more than welcome to hang with our party. We're ususally around the Goofy pool on ship days - Kids love to swim. I'm pretty sure our friends from Georgia have a DD that is 7 this year.

Tikihut4,
I don't know that any of our group are fishermen. I went deep sea fishing in Alaska a few years back and got seasick. I'm hesitant to try it again. I'll put the word out to the rest of the party.

11 weeks... What dinner seating do you all have? We're early seating.

 

[Grandma Debby]

We have the late sitting for dinner - When we booked last August they said that the early sitting was filled but I'm going to try and change our time - Anyone have suggestions on how to do it
My granddaughter Sierra would love to hang out at the pool with other little girls and boys

 

[Grandma Debby]

We have the late sitting for dinner - When we booked last August they said that the early sitting was filled but I'm going to try and change our time - Anyone have suggestions on how to do it
My granddaughter Sierra would love to hang out at the pool with other little girls

 

[pppiglet]

We have late seating too. I was on a waiting list for first seating. But decided late would be better for us and told them to take us off the list.

 

[Monstro]

We have the late sitting for dinner - When we booked last August they said that the early sitting was filled but I'm going to try and change our time - Anyone have suggestions on how to do it

Now final payments are due there may be some cancellations. I'd call as soon as you can and get your name on the list.

 

[Grandma Debby]

Thanks for the advice of calling now to change dinner times - Anymore great advice out there?

 

[Monstro]

We paid the cruise off today.

 

[pppiglet]

We paid off ours last week. What are great feeling! One step closer to being there.

 

[tikihut4]

Good morning, left a message on the other thread. Guess my DH has already posted. Like he said, we hooked up with other Dis board members at our last cruise, pretty fun. I especially am looking for someone traveling with a teenage son. My DS, 14.5 is lamenting that there won't be anyone there his age and he'll be forced to hang-out with his little sister

I printed out excursion info. from DCL site. With our Caribbean cruises we scheduled our excursions independently from DCL, had much luck.

We'll be researching, and posting what we find out. Love it that I don't need to worry about packing things I buy to fit in a suitcase for a flight. Just off-load into the car!

Has anyone received their travel packets yet? Seems like they should be comming sometime soon.

Blessings,

Tami