1/21/12 Western Caribbean Cruise

[exnihilio13]

I am surprising my oldest son Jake with a disney cruise for his 13th birthday. I am hearing about fish extenders and getting in a "group" I would like more info on that please. I have never been on a cruise and I am a dvc member and know alot about disney world so this is all new to me. I want to make this the best, most memorable birthday for him ever! Fish extenders sound like alot of fun but I am still learning about what it is and how it works. Can someone help me? Please?..Thanks!

Heya...welcome aboard!
Yeah you see it mentioned all over the place and they actually do have a good little section on it on the FAQ thread found here:

Disney Cruise FAQ - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2068966

Here's the rundown:

FE 101 Basics - http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33184281&postcount=2

FE info - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607

Directions to make no-sew FE - http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30302583&postcount=609

There's also this one that kinda shows them "in action" - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2754783

It's a place to leave anonymous gifts to fellow DISboarders from the cruise meet thread. Maybe something from your home state/province/region, maybe something homemade, maybe something fun and quirky. Just a little do-dad for the kids or parents depending on who decides to take part. For the kids in particular it's the fun of coming back to your stateroom and having a little surprise waiting.

Kinda a tradition of sorts started I guess who knows when my Disboarders that do cruise meets and a way to showcase your family's personalities a bit.

Hope that helps
ex

 

[exnihilio13]

Could bode well for our cruise down the line. Looks like sme specials showing up for Fall Caribbean bookings:
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/special-offers/special-rate-caribbean-cruises/

ex

 

[4braders]

I booked our first cruise for Jan. 21, 2012 also! I am super excited! My oldest son is turning 13 on Jan. 22 and we are surprising him with the cruise for his birthday! What is the water and ther weather like that time of year? I am hoping we can enjoy some water activity and that it will not be too cold. I hear castaway cay the water is cold in Jan? What do they consider cold? Also, can you tell me how do become a part of the fish extender group? Thanks so much. Maybe I will get to meet you on the ship! Have a great time!

 

[Loriekins]

I booked our first cruise for Jan. 21, 2012 also! I am super excited! My oldest son is turning 13 on Jan. 22 and we are surprising him with the cruise for his birthday! What is the water and ther weather like that time of year? I am hoping we can enjoy some water activity and that it will not be too cold. I hear castaway cay the water is cold in Jan? What do they consider cold? Also, can you tell me how do become a part of the fish extender group? Thanks so much. Maybe I will get to meet you on the ship! Have a great time!

Welcome!

We went on the Eastern Caribbean this past January & our weather was wonderful! high 70's/low 80's with a lot of sun! I thought the water on Castaway Cay was the coolest but still warm enough to swim & the sun was hot. But we are from Michigan so even the low 60's when we were at Cape Canaveral was hot to us!

 

[OceanLvr]

Hello Everyone,

My DW and I will be sailing with you in January...

This will be our 15th Disney Cruise and our first time aboard the Magic. We have sailed many time aboard the Wonder (including our wedding) and on the Dream this past May.

Looking forard to our mom and dad escape without the kids (how evil is that?)

If anyone has any questions I'd be happy to try and help out...Looking forward to this one in a big way...

 

[MickeyD]

Welcome Joel and dw!
We are also cruising without the kids (of course ours are all grown) We are traveling with another couple. This will only be our 7th Disney cruise so it looks like we have some catching up to do to meet your number.
Of course all our Disney experience is primarily on the Magic. I almost booked us on the Fantasy for April, but i really love the classic ships and the Fantasy was waaaay more expensive! Figured i would rebook onboard and then do the Fantasy. I prefer the seven day cruises, the others are just too short.
What did you think of the Dream?

Lisa

 

[ohiotinkmom]

Hello Everyone,

We are very excited to be going on our first Disney Cruise! My parents wanted to celebrate their retirement with cruise and I talked them into Disney Cruise Line!!!! Our cast includes myself, my DH, my DD, my parents, my brother, and sister-in-law. I am hopeful that it is as Magical as our last vacations to WDW! I am new to blogs and hopefully will get the hang of this soon. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Loriekins]

Haven't been on for a while & saw that there are few new posts! Excited to hear about more being on the same cruise. Hope we all get to chat more as time gets closer.

Love to hear all the tricks from the pro's, even though this is our second cruise, there is soooooo much that we didn't do or know about for our first. There is so much wonderful information on the dis boards to help out anyone!

In just over a week we will be taking our annual just before school starts vacation & after that I will start planning all the "little parts" of the cruise (insurance, airline, hotel, transportation, ports excursions).

 

[catoca]

Hey, there!

I´ll be on Jan 21, 2012 cruise, too. Our cast is me, DH, DD(7), DS(5) and my parents. We´re from Brazil and the kids don´t speak English. My DD, however, decided she wants to learn in time to talk with Disney Princesses . If anyone there have chidren that age willing to meet brazilian children, let me know!

If you don´t mind, I´ll join the FB group, as well..

Cheers,

Claudia

 

[Cheerio]

Welcome everyone

 

[FanOfFigment]

Hi everyone! I apologize in advance for not reading all the posts in this thread, but I'll go back and read them, I promise.

DH and I will be joining you as well. We're bringing my mom and dad. She's always wanted to go on the Disney cruise since they first started it but never had the money. This will be our 4th Disney cruise, and we decided it was time she finally got her wish. I'm so excited to share it with both of my parents--it's so cool to see someone discover everything for the first time!

I wish it wasn't so far away, but at least it gives me more time to lose some weight.

 

[OceanLvr]

Hi All -

Looked at our reservation this morning to see that we can start booking our excursions and Palo in 23 days...

Then panic set in because I haven't booked our pre and post cruise resort reservations...

Have no fear, all taken care of...Did the economy stay the night before (All-Star Sports) and The GRand Floridian on Saturday when we get back...Also, booked a surprise for my DW. Since we are celbrating our anniversary on this adventure, I booked Victoria & Albert's for Saturday night...Can't wait, we had our wedding dinner there after our ceremony...Can't wait to go back...

Another bit of info I gathered from DCL reservations...If you've been following other threads here, I'm sure you heard that DCL is changing it's alcohol policy...This is true...Only 1 bottle of wine/champage or 1 6 pack of beer per legal aged persons will be allowed to be carried on at embarkation. No hard liquor is allowed. Now I have also heard that if you buy liquor in port you can bring it back with the amount allowed by customs.

Anyway, starting to get more into this trip as the days pass by...Hope all is well with you, my fellow cruisers...Looking forward to hearing about your plans as well.

 

[Cheerio]

Looks like they changed the policy back Hopefully it doesn't change before January!

 

[hydesgocruisin]

Hey Everyone! So excited to be going on our first cruise ever! Me, hubby and our 11 and 9 year old! I am loving reading all your posts and look forward to all the planning! Thanks so much for being so helpful with all your tips and suggestions!

 

[OceanLvr]

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend...We took some time away from our usual insane schedules to relax and enjoy our time off...

I also took a little time to lurk around the boards and see what's new and exciting. With only 137 DAYS until we set sail, I started to get back into the precruise excitment that I sometimes loose after a previous cruise...

So, we started looking at some excursions and planning our budget (my God it grows so fast)...Most of all, looking forward to some well deserved Mom and ME time without the kids...I know it sounds shameful but our children have not missed out on anything...They are all high up on the Castaway Club levels and have enjoyed more cruises than people their age should have...

So what is everyone else planning to do? We are counting the days until we can book our onboard FUN!!! 17 days and counting!!!

Hope all is well with everyone, let's ramp up this thread and have some FUN!!!

 

[maymom99]

Hi guys
I asked this a bit ago and really hoping this will work. I did this for our jan cruise this year and hannah, my 12 year old now, emailed a girl back and forth up until cruise time and they hung out constantly on the cruise.....I am hoping to find someone for my son this time, too....Also, hannah and katie still talk constantly on fb and email....so, any 12-13 yr old girl coming on the cruise that would like to hook up with someone via email prior, so you have a friend before stepping foot on the cruise? (makes going into kids club a little bit easier for those who know someone or are going with someone)

Also, any 11-12 year old boy looking for the same? Message me please...
enjoy the day
lori :O)

 

[Loriekins]

Ok so now that our summer vacation is over & school has started, I am starting to look online for our cruise plans. We only have a little left to pay for the cruise itself (which will be paid in a few weeks), so I want to figure out what excursions (if any) by the time we can book with DCL (if we do that) at the end of October. I have the trip insurance, but that is as far as I have gotten. I have an idea on the airfare which is about the same as last year. Don't know what hotel the night before or transportation yet.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do at ports? Where is everyone staying before their trip & doing for transportation?

On our cruise in January, we flew into MCO the day before, rented a car & stayed at the CIS in cape Canaveral. We took DCL transportation back to the airport that Sat. We had all day wait at the airport though & that was torture!

Maymom99: I have a 10 year old boy that would email with your son. He'll be 10 1/2 at cruise time, but the emails would have to go through me or his fb.

 

[CariLL]

Ok so now that our summer vacation is over & school has started, I am starting to look online for our cruise plans. We only have a little left to pay for the cruise itself (which will be paid in a few weeks), so I want to figure out what excursions (if any) by the time we can book with DCL (if we do that) at the end of October. I have the trip insurance, but that is as far as I have gotten. I have an idea on the airfare which is about the same as last year. Don't know what hotel the night before or transportation yet.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do at ports? Where is everyone staying before their trip & doing for transportation?

On our cruise in January, we flew into MCO the day before, rented a car & stayed at the CIS in cape Canaveral. We took DCL transportation back to the airport that Sat. We had all day wait at the airport though & that was torture!

Maymom99: I have a 10 year old boy that would email with your son. He'll be 10 1/2 at cruise time, but the emails would have to go through me or his fb.

With Fall starting and the cruise getting closer, we are starting to look in to things too! We have booked our airfare and are staying at WDWresort before the cruise and plan on taking DCL transfers. As far as port excursions, I have had a bit of trouble deciding since my kiddos are still young (2,4,5,7). We re probably going to explore Key West on our own, maybe taking the train and/or visiting the aquarium. In Grand Cayman I am thinking about the dolphin experience and turtle farm. Cozumel is were I've had the toughest time, I would love to visit some ruins but do not know if the kids would enjoy this. Any thoughts? If not we may just explore the port on our own. Does anyone know what this port is like, is there shopping and things to do close by without taking transportation. As this is our first cruise I am a bit hesitant to book excursions not through Disney, and am a bit worried visiting other countries alone w/ kids. At castaway Cay we just plan on enjoying the beach and exploring all it has to offer. If anyone has any advice or tips/experience with these or other excursions would love to hear them, or suggestions? What is everyone else's plans? Well counting down the days Thanks!

 

[Loriekins]

With Fall starting and the cruise getting closer, we are starting to look in to things too! We have booked our airfare and are staying at WDWresort before the cruise and plan on taking DCL transfers. As far as port excursions, I have had a bit of trouble deciding since my kiddos are still young (2,4,5,7). We re probably going to explore Key West on our own, maybe taking the train and/or visiting the aquarium. In Grand Cayman I am thinking about the dolphin experience and turtle farm. Cozumel is were I've had the toughest time, I would love to visit some ruins but do not know if the kids would enjoy this. Any thoughts? If not we may just explore the port on our own. Does anyone know what this port is like, is there shopping and things to do close by without taking transportation. As this is our first cruise I am a bit hesitant to book excursions not through Disney, and am a bit worried visiting other countries alone w/ kids. At castaway Cay we just plan on enjoying the beach and exploring all it has to offer. If anyone has any advice or tips/experience with these or other excursions would love to hear them, or suggestions? What is everyone else's plans? Well counting down the days Thanks!

You are ahead of me. I'm pretty sure we know what flight we are taking, just haven't booked it yet. No clue on where we are staying, son wants to stay somewhere different than last time. We took a tour in St. Marten & now wish we didn't. We are thinking about shopping & beach days for Cozumel & Grand Cayman but aren't sure. Key West we might take the tour (not through DCL though). My son (10) has no interest in the Ruins, Dolphins or sting ray. I would love any advise & thoughts from others also.

 

[OceanLvr]

So, as we sit and count the days...(129 to be exact)

We are slowly checking off our planning items one by one:

Cruise paid off - Check
Pre/Post Accomodations - Check
Airline Reservations - Check
Key West - We think we're just going to explore on our own, DW thought of maybe doing the sunset champagne cruise. Not sure if I want to do this or watch the sunset from Mallory Square...We'll see.
Cozumel - We really want to see the ruins, but haven't decided which tour to take.
Grand Cayman - So shopping, bu tnot venturing to far from the Magic.

How's it going for everyone else?