1/21/12 Western Caribbean Cruise

[Jenscruise]

so we reserved everything with my sisters family, but we have seperate reservation numbers, for payments and such.
We have adjoining rooms, and I believe when I was on the phone the rep said we were "linked".
Im assuming that means all our dining rotations and such will be togethor?

Also, do we have to book our resturaunts or will they be decided for us?

Thanks!
Jen

 

[Loriekins]

Yeah no kiddin' Guess it's worth our while to keep an eye out in case that TA misses it since I imagine when the rooms sell out then the promo would not be applicable to our pre-booked.
Fingers crossed. Would save us close to $1000.
Hopin', as I've seen on here, we get paired up with a similar family. DD is pretty felxible around anyhow who'll let her flirt but it'd be nice for DS and the parental units to have someone to chat with. I've heard Disney does make an effort like this though.
How'd you find the weather last Jan.?

ex

Probably wouldn't save you that much, it was on Verandah rooms only. We actually paid a little less for the cruise coming up with the 10% from booking on board than the kids sale soon & we are getting the same verandah category room.

We got paired up with another family that also had one child, it was a girl though, a year younger. But our son & their daughter got along very well. We ended up hitting it off with the parents as well.

We had nice weather on the port days but it was very windy on the sea days (nothing a scrunchie pony tail could solve). mid to high 60's in FL but 70's on the cruise. Much nicer than the blizzard that was going on in MI! :scared1

 

[Loriekins]

so we reserved everything with my sisters family, but we have seperate reservation numbers, for payments and such.
We have adjoining rooms, and I believe when I was on the phone the rep said we were "linked".
Im assuming that means all our dining rotations and such will be togethor?

Also, do we have to book our resturaunts or will they be decided for us?

Thanks!
Jen

My understanding is linked means you will be eating together, same time & rotation. You don't have to book anything other than pick (if available) early or late dining. You will find out what your dining room rotation is when you get your key to the world card. You will also have tickets in your room with the rotation.

 

[exnihilio13]

Probably wouldn't save you that much, it was on Verandah rooms only. We actually paid a little less for the cruise coming up with the 10% from booking on board than the kids sale soon & we are getting the same verandah category room.

We got paired up with another family that also had one child, it was a girl though, a year younger. But our son & their daughter got along very well. We ended up hitting it off with the parents as well.

We had nice weather on the port days but it was very windy on the sea days (nothing a scrunchie pony tail could solve). mid to high 60's in FL but 70's on the cruise. Much nicer than the blizzard that was going on in MI! :scared1

Actually we splurged on a verandah (I know..setting the bar stupidly high for the 1st cruise) We have access to a condo in Daytona that we've not been to since DS was born. The prospect going to sleep hearing the ocean again was too much to pass up. Here's hopin' if plays out.

We're Ottawa region, Ontario so trust me...we're with you on the "won't be missing the weather back home" mindset.

Real interested to see if this particular board picks up appraoching the cruise too. We have friends on the Transatlantic on the Magic right now and admitedly I'm pretty jealous and the crazy amount of stuff they have listed on the cruise meet board. There's an excel sheet for God's sake Still cool to have some options.

Subscribed to the board anyhow so we'll see 'em as they come in.
ex

 

[kaytayprincess]

We just booked on Saturday. We are so excited!!! I have a couple of questions I am hoping you experienced DCL cruisers can help me with:

1) My daughter will be 6 when we cruise and she will stay in the Kid's Club alone. There will be times (especially some of the cute activities) that I want to stay and take some pictures. Will they let me? Will they get tired of me being there?
2) My brother and his family are going with us. We have adjoining rooms. There was only one review on his room (none on mine.) It was a bad review and said the noise from the thrusters was very loud. Should I try to change our cabin #'s based on one review?
3) I am a history teacher and can't wait to see Key West. Is it possible to walk to the landmarks there from the boat: mainly the lighthouse and the marker indicating it is the southernmost tip of the United States and Cuba is 90 miles south?

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I know I will have many more questions. We can't wait to cruise with all of you!

 

[exnihilio13]

Welcome! Cool to see some other toddlers coming along!

We just booked on Saturday. We are so excited!!! I have a couple of questions I am hoping you experienced DCL cruisers can help me with:

1) My daughter will be 6 when we cruise and she will stay in the Kid's Club alone. There will be times (especially some of the cute activities) that I want to stay and take some pictures. Will they let me? Will they get tired of me being there? Based on this thread it looks like it wouldn't be a problem. **boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1251151* (remove the stars) Apparently if the child isn't potty trained they *must* be supervised by an adult and the child is allowed to attend. Can't see then why they wouldn't let you hover in the background and snap some pics as well! May want to check with your travel advisor or even call Disney Cruiseline up though and get the official rules. I'd be most worried about the inevitable "MOM!" when you're snapping shots and embarrassing her in front of her new friends. But then again..you paid for the trip


2) My brother and his family are going with us. We have adjoining rooms. There was only one review on his room (none on mine.) It was a bad review and said the noise from the thrusters was very loud. Should I try to change our cabin #'s based on one review?

Tricky one. I find the cabin reviews are always pretty lacking and some people tend to be extra sensitive to "very loud thrusters" whereas to somone else it may be a gentle hum. I'd think travel agent or Disney cruiselines direct may be the way to go. Make your travel agent work for you and make some phones calls and find out if they can get more info. Sooner you do then the more options you may have in *case* the reviewer is right. Then again..how much time will you be spending in that room?

3) I am a history teacher and can't wait to see Key West. Is it possible to walk to the landmarks there from the boat: mainly the lighthouse and the marker indicating it is the southernmost tip of the United States and Cuba is 90 miles south?

From what I gather there's many people that opt out of the Disney excursions and venture on their own. Obviously you need to be cautious when doing this but you're otherwise free to roam wherever you'd like.
Check out this site for some really great summaries of self guided and Disney excursions: w w w.m agicalkingdoms/cruise/ports/keywestact.html (remove the spaces)

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I know I will have many more questions. We can't wait to cruise with all of you!

Hopefully we get a great mix of veterans and rookies like ourselves. Cool to get such an early jump on getting excited. November is the big deadline when we can start booking stuff.

ex

(sorry about the messed up websites. I can't post links for another 5 posts. hopefully you can figure out how to get them to work)

 

[kaytayprincess]

Thanks for the advice. I'll figure out your links soon...I'm new to message boards too!

 

[Loriekins]

We just booked on Saturday. We are so excited!!! I have a couple of questions I am hoping you experienced DCL cruisers can help me with:

1) My daughter will be 6 when we cruise and she will stay in the Kid's Club alone. There will be times (especially some of the cute activities) that I want to stay and take some pictures. Will they let me? Will they get tired of me being there?
2) My brother and his family are going with us. We have adjoining rooms. There was only one review on his room (none on mine.) It was a bad review and said the noise from the thrusters was very loud. Should I try to change our cabin #'s based on one review?
3) I am a history teacher and can't wait to see Key West. Is it possible to walk to the landmarks there from the boat: mainly the lighthouse and the marker indicating it is the southernmost tip of the United States and Cuba is 90 miles south?

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I know I will have many more questions. We can't wait to cruise with all of you!

Welcome! Welcome!
1) There will be no problem with you being in the kids group with your child. The Disney staff goes out of their way to make every person happy & comfortable.

2) Our room in Jan had some thruster or engine noise, took a little getting used to but was fine. Like said before, some people are pickier than others. If you are using a Travel Agent, I would call them & see what they know. They could help you decide if you should move or not & help you move. If you didn't use a TA, maybe call Disney & see if they can help. My advice would be check into it sooner than later, before the staterooms start to book up in case you decide to move.

3) At all ports you can do whatever you choose to do, you don't have to do a Disney excursion. Just make sure you make a note of what time the ship is leaving & leave plenty of time to return. Unless you are on a Disney excursion & it's late, the Ship WILL NOT wait for you. When they say the ship is leaving dock, it's leaving.

I am not an expert by no means, this will be our second cruise & we are still learning a lot, but I will try to help the best I can.

 

[exnihilio13]

Thanks for the advice. I'll figure out your links soon...I'm new to message boards too!

For the first just copy and paste it without the stars (***)
For the second just copy & paste it but remove the spaces I added (I think this board blocks out anything else Disney related perhaps)
Let me know if you have trouble and I can always send a private message with the links too. Just wanted them here in case others had similar questions.
The real beauty of these boards is just browsing the main board and chances are someone will be asking a questions that's appropriate for you. Trying to look through all that's already been asked can be daunting though so it's nice to have our little cruise board off the the side too.
Plus we've 6 months to ask questions too.

ex

 

[kaytayprincess]

Loriekins,
Thanks for the advice. Nice to hear from someone who stayed near the thrusters. How was the weather in Jan. on the boat? Was the pool water comforatable?

 

[kaytayprincess]

For the first just copy and paste it without the stars (***)
For the second just copy & paste it but remove the spaces I added (I think this board blocks out anything else Disney related perhaps)
Let me know if you have trouble and I can always send a private message with the links too. Just wanted them here in case others had similar questions.
The real beauty of these boards is just browsing the main board and chances are someone will be asking a questions that's appropriate for you. Trying to look through all that's already been asked can be daunting though so it's nice to have our little cruise board off the the side too.
Plus we've 6 months to ask questions too.

ex

I got it. Thanks!!!! I love browsing all the different threads. Thanks for informing me about cruisecritic too!

 

[Loriekins]

Loriekins,
Thanks for the advice. Nice to hear from someone who stayed near the thrusters. How was the weather in Jan. on the boat? Was the pool water comforatable?

No problem! We were lucky & had really good weather. The two sea days was really windy. Hair in a scrunchie & wore capri's. Still a TON better than Michigan! I read some on the boards before our cruise about having a sweater for the dinning rooms. I brought many outfits in the same color family so I could bring less shoes, mix match clothes & have one dressier sweater for the dinning room. I used it many nights & I will do that again. Bring a TON of sunscreen! I thought I had enough, we had to buy some on the ship (very expensive) & still ran out. Even with the clouds covering the sun, people were getting burnt. Saw a ton of people with sun burns by the time we went to castaway cay (last full day). Pool water was warm, but the pools are pretty busy.

 

[exnihilio13]

Welcome! Welcome!
1) There will be no problem with you being in the kids group with your child. The Disney staff goes out of their way to make every person happy & comfortable.

Here's a good thread that just showed up on the cruise boards furthering Loriekins point:
disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2722149

ex

 

[Cheerio]

Just made another payment today! ... Trying to find info. on our cabins, deck 7 .. rooms 2122 and 2124.
This wait is going to be way harder on me than the kids!

You're on deck 2, right around the corner from us - we're in 2607/2609!!

 

[heyshanny]

Hey y'all! We are SO excited about this cruise! We are taking this cruise to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday (which will occur about 3 weeks prior) and our 10th anniversary (which was 3/3/11). We are also traveling with his parents. Our first extended trip with them.

Our biggest hope for this cruise is that the child we're adopting will be home with us in time to cruise with us as a family! Hoping for a little Disney magic to help out here.

Can't wait to see everyone on board! Oh, and does anyone know if the Fish Extender link is up yet? We took part in the FE exchange on our last Disney cruise and loved it!

 

[Cheerio]

Welcome Shannon That would be so exciting to have a little one to bring with you, what better way to celebrate your family growing than on a Disney cruise! We are bringing my Mother in law with us!

No FE link is up yet, I'm more than willing to organize it if someone wants to help me out??

 

[Loriekins]

Hey y'all! We are SO excited about this cruise! We are taking this cruise to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday (which will occur about 3 weeks prior) and our 10th anniversary (which was 3/3/11). We are also traveling with his parents. Our first extended trip with them.

Our biggest hope for this cruise is that the child we're adopting will be home with us in time to cruise with us as a family! Hoping for a little Disney magic to help out here.

Can't wait to see everyone on board! Oh, and does anyone know if the Fish Extender link is up yet? We took part in the FE exchange on our last Disney cruise and loved it!

Welcome Welcome & how exciting! Sending great wishes & luck your way!

No FE exchange yet, don't know much about it we didn't do it our first cruise.

 

[heyshanny]

Welcome Shannon That would be so exciting to have a little one to bring with you, what better way to celebrate your family growing than on a Disney cruise! We are bringing my Mother in law with us!

No FE link is up yet, I'm more than willing to organize it if someone wants to help me out??

I'll totally help you out! I participated last cruise but I've never organized one. Can't be rocket science though right? I haven't posted a whole lot on this board but I'm sure we can figure it out.

Last time someone created a sticky I think and everyone signed up if they wanted to participate. Once we get closer to the cruise date and everyone has their cabin #s then everyone who's participating will note the cabin numbers. When you're on the cruise you leave a little trinket/gift in each Fish Extender at some point during the cruise. It's SO fun to come back to your cabin or wake up to little surprises!

People either make their own fish extenders or buy them on Etsy and Ebay. I bought mine on Ebay almost 4 years ago now but need to fix it a little as my puppy chewed the stick! oops!

 

[exnihilio13]

I'll totally help you out! I participated last cruise but I've never organized one. Can't be rocket science though right? I haven't posted a whole lot on this board but I'm sure we can figure it out.

Last time someone created a sticky I think and everyone signed up if they wanted to participate. Once we get closer to the cruise date and everyone has their cabin #s then everyone who's participating will note the cabin numbers. When you're on the cruise you leave a little trinket/gift in each Fish Extender at some point during the cruise. It's SO fun to come back to your cabin or wake up to little surprises!

People either make their own fish extenders or buy them on Etsy and Ebay. I bought mine on Ebay almost 4 years ago now but need to fix it a little as my puppy chewed the stick! oops!

A facebook page would be cool down the line too. Bit easier tyo track and throw stuff up on. Then again the cruise is 236 days away (not that I'm counting...)

ex

 

[jendon1997]

I am also interested in participating in the FE!!