1/15/2005

[big jack 2002]

We are planning on taking our granddaughters swimming with the dolphins in Cozumel. So far, we haven't decided what to do at Grand Cayman.

 

[mark & sandra]

We did the swim with the stingrays and snorkle tour through Capt. Marvins last year in Grand Cayman. We'll probably do it again. Bring your camcorders!! My son was freaking out. He climbed onto my head and squealed the whole time. My wife had bait dropped around me so about 20 rays swarmed me. It was hilarious. There are usually many other boats in the area and each has about 20+ people in the water. The rays are like pigeons they swarm to wherever the food is.

big jack 2002- Which excursion company are you planning on using? Did you decide on which program you're going to do? Here's a link to what's offered. Disney only does the encounter and it's about the same price as the swim when booked directly.

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel.asp

Mark

 

[pershing]

Wow! This thread got buried on the third page! Time to bump it up! That' for sure.

Meshee- we booked in April after months of trying to decide which week would be best. We went in Nov. (Wonder Trip) last year and CC was chilly, but then so was WDW.

People said the week we were there was unusually chilly for that time of year, but I don't know. I plan on bringing the kids shorty wet suits just in case. Blizzard Beach was closed the last time we went and the kids are determined to do that this time. I've warned them swimming may be out, but they swim early and late in the season here so they think they can handle it.

Originally posted by mark & sandra

With your kids and all the other things to do on the cruise; Do you really think you'll have any mommy time anyway??...Mark

Who knows?

Thanks for the link. I thought if by some miracle I did have some free time, having a week's pass to the Rainforest would be the best chance of some personal pampering. Last time I did try a massage treatment.......and yeah, didn't get through it w/o the ole' kids club beeper going off.

I know there are all these activities to do, but I want to schedule some down time to just relax and breathe. Here, I see people rushing around to enjoy their vacation all the time! I don't want to make the same mistake.

Last Nov., we also did WDW and I was amazed at how many married couples were arguing with each other in Magic Kingdom while the kids looked on. Yikes!

 

[karebear1]

Mark- did you reserve Capt. Marvins on your own or through Disney? And if on your own- how did you do it?

 

[mark & sandra]

We booked all our excursions on our own. Unfortunately we just waited to the last minute, and decided to see if any excursions were available directly. You can contact Capt. Marvins at www.captainmarvins.com . I liked the idea of only holding your spot with a credit card. You're not charged until you arrive and you're not charged if for some unforseen reason you're unable to make the excursion. If you run late they even allow you to take a later tour...Mark

 

[big jack 2002]

We are planning on booking the Royal Swim for our daughter, son-in-law, and oldest granddaughter--the Dolphin Excursion for myself and son and two 7 year old granddaughters. Our son wants to try fishing at CC again. We can't book that yet. I am planning on booking the dophin excursions thru Dolphin Discovery, but I just hate to pay when I book it, so I am planning on booking probably in October. Do you think that is to long to wait? Thanks for the link.
We haven't planned anything yet for Grand Cayman.

Big Jack

 

[kellimomo3]

We are planning to hit Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman and Paradise Beach in Cozumel. We are doing both via taxi on our own.

Almost at the four month mark guys!!!!!


Kelli

 

[mark & sandra]

Big Jack- We booked the Royal Swim about 2 weeks before we sailed. They said they only had 2 slots left but they added extra room for our group. They have something of a tourist trap there, at 100+ for the dolphin excursion you and about 10 others go through the moves all the while they're taking pictures and video and then they offer you the pics and video at ridiculous prices. That said we did buy them too...Mark

 

[kellimomo3]

Meshee,
We booked our cruise in the fall of 2003! When I think of it like that, I guess it's gone by pretty fast. When I first found the DIS, my countdown was like 380 days!!!

Kelli

 

[Meshee]

We are having a hard time deciding on excursions.... So far we are thinking of booking the Fury Catamaran Sail, Snorkel & Beach Party in Cozumel thru DCL. And booking the stingray swim with Captain Marvins in Grand Cayman. We have decided to relax on the beach at Castaway Cay. Does anyone have any suggestions or advise?

 

[mark & sandra]

I found this shot online. It shows how you are in the water for both the encounter and the swim (the lower platform in the water). During your swim, 2 people at a time swim out to a guide in the water and do stunts with the dolphins. During the encounter you don't leave the platform. The shot is deceiving, the areas are not as big as they seem. There are about 8 corrals. Each group is in a separate corral and the dolphins can not move to the other ones...Mark

 

[pershing]

WHew! Finally booked the airfare!

After all the waiting for JetBlue and Southwest to come thru with, first selling tickets for all of Jan. which Southwest has yet to do (stops at Jan. 12) and second, holding one of their system wide sales, it ended up being Delta Song that was the first to drop to a low price. Go figure! My friend says they've been in trouble lately, but I can't see Delta going anywhere so I plunged- Song dropped from $211 to $142.20 RT BOS to MCO. Almost $300 in savings from the last time we flew! I'm thrilled!

So only Travel Insurance left!

I'm so tempted to book another excursion besides the stingrays, but I think I'll invest in wetsuits (short) for the boys instead.

I can't believe it's September! I work at a place that specializes in chocolates (and cafe coffees) so all of fall is a mad rush to prep for Christmas! Yet I find myself thinking about Jan. and what to pack, and what's left to do. The paperwork comes within 60 days for the cruise so that's.............Nov......(still trying to focus)...........15th? That's before Thanksgiving. Then mid-October is priority seatings for WDW-the boys want to do Crystal Palace again and the Fantasmic Dinner Package. And then there's those 3 pesky holidays to deal with. But what I really want to say now that this thread ended up on the third page is:

BUMP!

 

[mark & sandra]

Well everyone on our 1/15/05 cruise.

It's now just 18 weeks till we cruise

Are you getting excited yet???

 

[Meshee]

Only 18 weeks!!!!! That sounds closer than 4 months. Let's hope all the hurricanes are done by then....

 

[pershing]

Originally posted by Meshee
Only 18 weeks!!!!! That sounds closer than 4 months. Let's hope all the hurricanes are done by then....

Just think of it

......"Hurricane Zelda is here in January to end the longest hurricane season in history and for the first time we've gone thru the entire alphabet!".....

Poor Jamaica! And Castaway Cay! And Port Canaveral!

 

[cruiser]

We will be cruising on Jan 15, it will be our 3rd cruise. The first was a 4 day (land & sea), the second a 7 day eastern. Looking forward to the western. We have a 3 year son and a 9 year old daughter. We are staying at Pop Century a couple of nights before the cruise and then driving to the port (budget rental). I got an amazing rate of $77 per night at Pop Century!

We are really looking forward to our trip!

Lee

 

[cruiser]

Originally posted by big jack 2002
We will be on the 1/15 Magic. My 9 year old (to be by then) granddaughter would like to e-mail another girl that will be going on the same cruise to get to know someone ahead of time. Will there be any other 9 year old girls?

Yes, my daughter will be cruising. She is really looking forward to it!

 

[pershing]

Welcome cruiser! One of my 3 DS's will be with your daughter in the clubs. He's 10!

Glad you got a great rate at the new POP Century. We stayed at All Star Sports last time. This time I'm springing for the Swan as I couldn't handle that food court at the end of the day anymore! But I, too got a great rate and am looking forward to WDW again.

I guess rental cars are the way to go! Ditto on Budget.

 

[cruiser]

Originally posted by pershing
Welcome cruiser! One of my 3 DS's will be with your daughter in the clubs. He's 10!

Glad you got a great rate at the new POP Century. We stayed at All Star Sports last time. This time I'm springing for the Swan as I couldn't handle that food court at the end of the day anymore! But I, too got a great rate and am looking forward to WDW again.

I guess rental cars are the way to go! Ditto on Budget.

Just curious, if you are willing to share, what kind of rate you got at the Swan. I hear you about food courts, we are planning to hit Downtown Disney the first night, and not sure what we will do the second night. Oh by the way on Budget, I got a discount code from costco.com (I think you need to be a costco member) and received a free weekend day rental. This means that I am paying $26 for a mid size car for two days (picking up at MCO and returning at PC)

 

[pershing]

Originally posted by cruiser
Just curious, if you are willing to share, what kind of rate you got at the Swan.

Sure! It was 162.50. Yikes! I know, but I'm not a teacher or any of those other discount people, so there were some tricky conditions. I booked it in Feb. and you had to be both a AAA member and a SPG dot com member-that's not right- you had to be JOINING AAA on the SPG site-kinda like a promotion for AAA. It had to be for at least 3 nights with 2 of the nights non weekend nites. Pretty detailed!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to it as my big splurge! I'm sure other people did the Entertainment Book thing but by the time I got my book, there were no rooms left and I'm shy when it comes to asking for my reservation to be re-rated and stuff like that.

I think the Dolphin is having a convention during that time 'cause they were booked the very first day the Swan was taking 2005 reservations. That might mean rooms will open up as the date gets closer and they figure out who's not coming to the convention. Just guessing!

Anyway- that's a great rate for Budget! Congrats! I'm not a Costco member but I used my Shaws discount. We are keeping the car from MCO/3 days WDW/ Port/then Port back to Swan/2 nites Universal/ MCO for $~180 total. I want to be able to drive to downtown, stop at Grocery store so I can save money in those areas.

We've done the priority seatings at Chef Mickey, Boma, Fantastmic Dinner package, the Castle, and Crystal Palace last time. Yeah, it was alot but the kids still talk about it. We may repeat Crystal Palace but that's it this time!