09/16/06 Double Scoop Group- see ya real soon!!

[dzneprincess]

Did I forget anything? Maybe we should ask Amanda to copy and paste all this info in the first post for any newcomers.

Did it.. I pms my room info when first asked and we are not on the list yet?

 

[dzneprincess]

Hello Double Dippers,

I would like to introduce myself, Im Asha and I have just booked the Sept 16th Double Dip. This will be my first cruise and my first Disney experience.

I am a single mom 35 and will be bringing DD10 Rekha, and my DS6 Rasheed.
(Grandma maybe joining us)

We are from Toronto, Canada.

I have only been to AI's in the Caribbean where you just eat swim and sleep, I did not realize how complex a cruise can be. So many things to see and do as a family or each on their own. I would have been overwhelmed boarding the ship without all the knowledge Ive gained from this site!

Welcome Asha! Our group is growing! After I get back from our 1st double dip I will be able to participate in this thread more often.

 

[dzneprincess]

Someone get me off of these boards! We are leaving this rid for a week at OKW followed by the 1st double dip cruise!!! I am supposed to be packing!!!!!!!!! I jave 2day and 2mrrw to pack, I have to work all week...............come pack for me?

 

[gssmks]

Welcome Asha! Our group is growing! After I get back from our 1st double dip I will be able to participate in this thread more often.

I am so jealous that you get to go twice and your first cruise is so close. I hope you have a great time. You should expect us to all have a million questions when you get back. I especially want to see all the navigators, even for the clubs. Also, on the general cruise thread, some people are saying that the tips are automatically billed to your account. I'd like to know if this is true. Finally, I know that Topsiders is now sit down and they serve from the menus in the dinning room. Would you please try to find out if you can order from those menu's at Topsiders and then take it back to the stateroom. I would like to know in case we are late getting back from an excursion and do not have time to clean up and change before dinner. I thought that we could just run up, get dinner, take it back to the room and eat and clean up at the same time and still make it to the show and other activities.

 

[dzneprincess]

you got it Gail! I should be packing!

 

[ericamanda01]

you got it Gail! I should be packing!

When do you leave?

Hey I love what you did to the first page of the thread!

 

[ericamanda01]

I may have to try the pic idea to see if I steer away from temptation. That will be after I come back. Can't wait for a nice break.

Amanda, wish I was flying first class on our upcoming trip. It will be about a 10 hr flight with two kids and one on the lap. God help me!

Ours is a 5 hour flight, but i'm scared that it will spoil us for future flights!

 

[dzneprincess]

When do you leave?

Hey I love what you did to the first page of the thread!

We are leaving Friday! Woohoo!

 

[gssmks]

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mommies out there. I hope everyone has a great day. It is cold and rainy here in Kentucky, so DD and I have decided to spend the day in our PJ's watching the Disney Channel. Some may say that this sounds very boring, but for me it's heaven.

 

[sirena]

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mommies out there. I hope everyone has a great day. It is cold and rainy here in Kentucky, so DD and I have decided to spend the day in our PJ's watching the Disney Channel. Some may say that this sounds very boring, but for me it's heaven.

And to you too. Had a fun day - shopping at the oulets for gifts and clothes for our upcoming trip. You think you only need to buy the plane tickets but all the gifts you need to bring and the clothes you buy add up! But it is always fun Had dinner at a nice place that reminded me of all the good food I had on the Wonder

 

[gssmks]

Can someone tell me how to apply money to my on board account? Can I call and use my bank debit card just like I did to make payments on the cruise itself? I've been trying to work up a budget just to get some idea how much money I will need. For those of you who have cruised, how much have you spent on an average on things like drinks, shutters, souvenirs, etc. I know that I will spend twice as much as the average person on photos. If they take one of my DD, I will buy it. I have never been able to say no to a picture of here.

 

[sirena]

I would call your TA or DCL. Personally I have not done it before.

On pics I spent about $100. Souveniers $55. Tips about $300 (4 nt), how much is it for a 7 nt?

 

[seashells]

Thank you for all the welcomes.

Sirena - spent almost a year in Guyana, met many people from Surinam, found it interesting that they spoke Dutch, well I guess it was more a broken Dutch!!

Dzneprincess - Lucky you X 2, hoe you have a great trip, cant wait to hear your tales of the high seas!!

gssmks - I hear you on the spending budget! Thats something Im trying to add up. I cant see myself spending much on the photos as I love to take my own. I see my weakness being all those fruity cocktails. I dont drink with the kids under my care, but after reading others experiences here, my kids might choose to be in the kids club all the time!!!

As excursions will be the bulk of my spending budget, I want to have them booked in advance.

Anybody know what excursions they want to do, whats good, whats not so good...

So far I have CC Stingray, Costa Maya Ruins Tour, and Cozumel Atlantis Submarine.

 

[sirena]

I am planning to do only the Chaccoben?? ruins. I read another post that mentioned not to bother getting off the ship for Cozumel. Seems the hurricane devastation is still very evident. I might take their advice since they are tendering and with two little ones I'm not so sure. We got out in Nassau and walked to the Hard Rock and back. It is too much walking for DD4. We'll see though, maybe I'll change my mind. So far I am most excited about Costa Maya and of course CC!

 

[seashells]

I want to see chaccoben too. My kids really want to do the submarine thing in cozumel, and knowing me any chance to shop will have me in town in cosumel!!!

I want to spend as much time at the beach in CC. All my previous vactions involved a resort on the beach so thats all I did everyday. Boring but relaxing. Will I need a vacation after the Disney cruise? I feel burnt out just thinking about all we will be doing.

 

[gssmks]

Thank you for all the welcomes.

Sirena - spent almost a year in Guyana, met many people from Surinam, found it interesting that they spoke Dutch, well I guess it was more a broken Dutch!!

Dzneprincess - Lucky you X 2, hoe you have a great trip, cant wait to hear your tales of the high seas!!

gssmks - I hear you on the spending budget! Thats something Im trying to add up. I cant see myself spending much on the photos as I love to take my own. I see my weakness being all those fruity cocktails. I dont drink with the kids under my care, but after reading others experiences here, my kids might choose to be in the kids club all the time!!!

As excursions will be the bulk of my spending budget, I want to have them booked in advance.

Anybody know what excursions they want to do, whats good, whats not so good...

So far I have CC Stingray, Costa Maya Ruins Tour, and Cozumel Atlantis Submarine.

We are planning to do the Atlantis Submarine at Cozumel also. There are different times offered. We are going to try to get the earlies time so that we can fit in a walk around town and maybe a round of Mini Golf. At CC, we are going to Snorkle, swim and play around on the beach on the first stop. Then we are going to parasail on the the second stop. As for Costa Maya, we really haven't found anything that seems particularly interesting to us. We love the idea of the ruins, but are afraid that trying to do those in such a short period of time will be too rushed. We are going to save all the ruins tours for a vacation to Mexico when we will have several days. That's what we decided for X-Carat also. We are strongly considering making this our big family vacation next year. Finally, to satisify DD's school district's requirement that she engage in at least one educational (how can you not consider the entire cruise education???????), we are going to Kennedy Space Center on the Saturday that we disembark. This will play double duty because I figure it may getting off the ship a little easier knowing that we have another activity waiting for us.

Does anyone know if these excursions fill up quickly? I mean is there a possibility that we will not get a reservation for the parasailing at CC, etc.?

As for pictures, during our first trip to WDW, I took 72 rolls of film, used up two cards on my digital camera (250 pictures each), and took 10 rolls of film with the video camera. I still purchased all the photos taken by Disney. The picture of DD and me standing in front of the castle with our hands out and Tinkerbell staning in our hands is everyone's favorite. I have us on Buzz and Splash Moutain, etc. But I have to admit, my personal favorite is one taken by me. We had PS in the castle for breakfast with the princesses. We got there early and the Fairy God Mother was sittling on her thrown in the waiting area. For some reason, there were very few children there and they were afraid of her. My DD sat with her for about ten minutes and they talked about everything. My mother videotaped and took pictures, and one of those pictures turned out absolutely beatiful. She signed DD's autograph book and wrote an entire paragraph about always seeing the magic in life regardless of where you are or what you are doing. It's one of our favorite memories of WDW.

 

[sirena]

As for pictures, during our first trip to WDW, I took 72 rolls of film, used up two cards on my digital camera (250 pictures each), and took 10 rolls of film with the video camera. I still purchased all the photos taken by Disney. .

OMG!! I guess you will be easy to spot. I'll look for a camera glued to your hands I think you will see everything through the camera lense/LCD.

You are too funny

 

[JOANNEL]

We haven't decided what to do yet. I love everything in the water. The first disney cruise my dh & ds did the jeep ride in Cozmel. They loved it. We snuba'd last summer that was great too. I just don't know.

Our bill for 4 in the cadin was arround 1800. That included tips,drinks, pictures,excursions and the gift shops. We did excursions at every stop.

Have a good week.

 

[gssmks]

OMG!! I guess you will be easy to spot. I'll look for a camera glued to your hands I think you will see everything through the camera lense/LCD.

You are too funny

You are so right!!! I know that I need professional help. Everytime we go anywhere, I promise DD that I will not take as many pictures, and everytime, I take even more. To be a little fair to myself, the trip to WDW I was talking about was 11 days, but still. I am so bad that I keep a video camera on a tripod, sitting in a corner all the time. When DD starts doing something cute, I flip it on to make sure that I don't miss anything. I keep saying that some day we will be glad that I was so obnoxious about it. But yes, I will have a camera or two with me at all times during the cruise.

 

[gssmks]

We haven't decided what to do yet. I love everything in the water. The first disney cruise my dh & ds did the jeep ride in Cozmel. They loved it. We snuba'd last summer that was great too. I just don't know.

Our bill for 4 in the cadin was arround 1800. That included tips,drinks, pictures,excursions and the gift shops. We did excursions at every stop.

Have a good week.

Maybe I am over estimating for my budget then. I have a rough budget of $1,300.00 and there are only two of us: 1 adult and 1 child. I included tips, internet, unlimited use of the Rainforest, a Palo dinner and brunch, and drinks. I know that I over indulge DD when we are on vacation, so I budgeted an unreasonable amount for her random spending (she is helping to save this money herself). I want Disney Cruise Line beach towels and the Christmas cards that they make. Does $1,300.00 seem reasonable with all of this?