1/6/2007 Early Roll Call...Anyone Else Going???

[NYAna]

So how does it work having kids go to the Oceaneer Lab? We registered the kids but now what? They can go in and out as many times as they please? This is the first time I travel with kids on a cruise so this is new to me. Thanks!

 

[SurfnTurf]

Well, we made final payment and booked excursions today. It's a good thing we were thinking of passing on Palo anyway, since there are no ressies to be had except for Sat night We still may see if we can pick up someone's cancelled brunch reservation later in the cruise.

For excursions my dh and ds8 will be doing the Pinel Snorkel trip on St. Maarten and the Doubloon Sail and Snorkel on St. Thomas. My dd4 and I will be doing the Butterfly Farm on St. Maarten and the Coral World trip on St. Thomas. We hope to see some of you there

Since all the excursions are finished around 12:00 or so, we were hoping to re-group back at the ship and then do something together like tour around or go to the beach--has anyone done this before? I think we have till around 7:30 pm on St. Maarten and 5:30 pm on St Thomas/St John. I am hoping the weather will be nice

It's getting cold here this week---I am really getting excited about our trip now

 

[soleilmagie]

It seems like matching outfits will be in fashion!

Like you NYAna, we never had matching outfits in ten years together except Halloween costumes (Mickey and Minnie, Fred and Wilma). DBF won't even order the same food as me in a restaurant!

This time it will be a Mom/daughter and Father/son match for Formal and Semi-formal. Not alike but with the same colors. And I did get DBF and DS the same pirate costume!

 

[LWQuestie]

I made my Palo Reservation this morning! I managed to snag a Tuesday night dinner spot.

I was bummed that there was no availability for the High Tea or Brunch. Any tips or tricks to picking up a cancelled ressie?

 

[SurfnTurf]

LWQuestie, that's great that you got a dinner reservation! I am hoping that brunch slots open up if people find other activities on the ship that they'd prefer to do (and hopefully my kids will cooperate and enjoy the kids' clubs ) I'm going to keep checking the DCL website, too, just in case something opens up before we sail...

 

[cruisin'Mike]

So how does it work having kids go to the Oceaneer Lab? We registered the kids but now what? They can go in and out as many times as they please? This is the first time I travel with kids on a cruise so this is new to me. Thanks!

Once the kids are registered, they can do as many or as few activities as they want to do. I know with the younger kids in the Club, you have to sign them in and out. With the older kids in the Lab, you have the option of letting them sign themselves out if you want, or you can set it up that you have to go pick them up when they are done. You'll get a pager so that if there's a problem, or the kids want to leave, you can go get them.

Mike

PS I'm in Pharmacy school (one of the oldest in the class). Did I read earlier that you're in nursing school? My wife's a nurse.

 

[NYAna]

Once the kids are registered, they can do as many or as few activities as they want to do. I know with the younger kids in the Club, you have to sign them in and out. With the older kids in the Lab, you have the option of letting them sign themselves out if you want, or you can set it up that you have to go pick them up when they are done. You'll get a pager so that if there's a problem, or the kids want to leave, you can go get them.

Mike

PS I'm in Pharmacy school (one of the oldest in the class). Did I read earlier that you're in nursing school? My wife's a nurse.

Thanks for the info cruisin'Mike,

Yes, I am in Nursing school... first of four clinical semesters. That is so great that your wife is a Nurse... I might pick her brain on the cruise. Just kidding... I think both of us will not want to think about Nursing or anything else work or school related... and I bet you too. Pharmacy school? That is great! I don't know how you do it! I have such a tough time with the meds. I just feel that there are soooooooo many of them and soooooo many of them do very very similar things! How can you even keep track of them? Thank God for my Nursing Drug Book! Hey, I might just pick your brain on meds. haha Well, if you let me.

 

[soleilmagie]

I made my Palo Reservation this morning! I managed to snag a Tuesday night dinner spot.

I was bummed that there was no availability for the High Tea or Brunch. Any tips or tricks to picking up a cancelled ressie?

Welcome aboard LWQuestie!


Is this your first cruise?

 

[NYAna]

I made my Palo Reservation this morning! I managed to snag a Tuesday night dinner spot.

I was bummed that there was no availability for the High Tea or Brunch. Any tips or tricks to picking up a cancelled ressie?

Welcome LWQuestie! We are glad you've joined us. Have you read our thread? We've planned to meet on the cruise.

I'm glad that you were at least able to get dinner reservations at Palo. I logged in yesterday afternoon just to see if anything was available or different dates were released and to my surprise there was nothing available at all.

 

[NYAna]

Okay... are any of you keeping a binder of "everything disney cruise"? I am. This is the info I'm keeping in it...

Reservation
Travel Insurance Policies
Airline Info
Car Rental Info
Excursion descriptions and confirmations
Palo confirmations
Flounders Nursery confirmation
Navigators
Tipping info

I might be missing something... this is just from memory.

What info are you keeping? And do you have any other ideas of other things I should be keeping in my binder?

 

[SurfnTurf]

Hi Ana! I am planning to put together a binder or accordian file, too, including all that you listed (but I hadn't thought of the tip info--that's a good one ) I will also add the following:

port transportation info
land stay info (we're going to WDW beforehand)
DisBoard Meet info (and photos so I recognize people)
extra info on the ports of call (local stuff, history, etc)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but will hopefully have everything together before we leave...

 

[blues4]

I registered everything on line - check in, filled out all the forms, made reservations for Palo on Thursday night at 9:00 and registered my kids for the Oceaneer's Club and also the Lab. My question is, do I need to register for any of the activities for Castaway Bay on-line? It also does not look like I register for anything on the ship - only excursions.
Can you tell I am a first time cruiser? Does anyone have an 8 yr. old boy and a 5 1/2 yr. old girl going on the cruise? We have 2nd seating for dinner. Can't wait to meet everyone on the cruise.

 

[NYAna]

Hi Ana! I am planning to put together a binder or accordian file, too, including all that you listed (but I hadn't thought of the tip info--that's a good one ) I will also add the following:

port transportation info
land stay info (we're going to WDW beforehand)
DisBoard Meet info (and photos so I recognize people)
extra info on the ports of call (local stuff, history, etc)

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but will hopefully have everything together before we leave...

Good idea about the land info (I forgot about that). Thanks. And printing out the pictures is a good idea too... didn't think of that either.

So what else is everyone doing?

 

[soleilmagie]

And don't forget maps!

 

[soleilmagie]

I registered everything on line - check in, filled out all the forms, made reservations for Palo on Thursday night at 9:00 and registered my kids for the Oceaneer's Club and also the Lab. My question is, do I need to register for any of the activities for Castaway Bay on-line? It also does not look like I register for anything on the ship - only excursions.
Can you tell I am a first time cruiser? Does anyone have an 8 yr. old boy and a 5 1/2 yr. old girl going on the cruise? We have 2nd seating for dinner. Can't wait to meet everyone on the cruise.

For Castaway Cay (pronounce key to sound like a pro), you have to book if you want to take part in one of the excursions listed here
Otherwise, no need to register!

 

[akamaleficent]

i think i may have answers to some questions.

palo ressies: they do set some reservations aside for people to make once they get onboard. this is something that you would want to do as soon as you could. each "thing" has it's own time and place to make reservations and this used be the only way to make them. when we went in 2001 we had walkie talkies and while someone was at the spa, someone else was at palo's and another at flounders. i'm sure somewhere in the cruise information it tells you the times to make your ressies on embarktion day, but we experienced they opened up a little earlier then the said time so it's worth it to check and see

castaway cay: you do sign up for excursions on castaway cay though i think things like float rentals happen onboard.

onboard fun: many things you can just attend. there are a few events that you need to sign up for or show up early to see if there's an open slot. a few of these also cost a minimal fee examples are the wine, martini, beer tasting, and i think the galley tour is free, but you need to sign up

i think i'm all set for cruise cloths. my mother was very generous this fall and gave me some money to hit the end of summer sales since cruise clothes are hard to come by in january. we will be wearing wedding attire for formal night in order to get pictures since we're not having a photographer at the wedding. it's not really traditional wedding attire though. DF tried to get a suit that he loves fitted and the tailor said it was so big it wouldn't be worth it. we may have to pull out some favors from our former employer and see if they will let us borrow a tux. good thing we met working at a costume shop!

 

[soleilmagie]

Can't wait to see you in your wedding attire akamaleficent!

It seems like many people will be on our cruise, not only are the prices really high, but stateroom choices are narrowing :

Cat 12 GTY
Cat 11 GTY
Cat 10 A few left
Cat 9 Only Deck 1 left
Cat 8 GTY
Cat 7 GTY
Cat 6 GTY
Cat 5 Only 4 to choose from
Cat 4 GTY

I wonder what this means my Cat 12 GTY will be. My guess is it won't be more than a Cat 11, which would be fine with me! I sometimes think I would rather have a Cat 11 and be on a higher deck than have a Cat 9 or 10 and be on deck 1 or 2... Perhaps because we were on deck 7 on our first cruise. But on the other hand, we would appreciate the split bath... Well, as long as we are on the ship...

 

[SurfnTurf]

I registered everything on line - check in, filled out all the forms, made reservations for Palo on Thursday night at 9:00 and registered my kids for the Oceaneer's Club and also the Lab. My question is, do I need to register for any of the activities for Castaway Bay on-line? It also does not look like I register for anything on the ship - only excursions.
Can you tell I am a first time cruiser? Does anyone have an 8 yr. old boy and a 5 1/2 yr. old girl going on the cruise? We have 2nd seating for dinner. Can't wait to meet everyone on the cruise.

Hi Blues4! This is our family's first cruise, too, and my son will have just turned 9 at Christmas and my daughter will be 4.5 (but everyone thinks she is older LOL!) We also have the second dinner seating (although we are on a wait list for the earlier seating) I am sure my kids would love to meet up with yours. I've already signed them up for the Club/Lab and they are very excited. We are planning to come to the DisBoard meeting on the first day and will take the kids to the Club/Lab orientation the first evening, so hopefully we can get the kids together then

 

[NYAna]

onboard fun: many things you can just attend. there are a few events that you need to sign up for or show up early to see if there's an open slot. a few of these also cost a minimal fee examples are the wine, martini, beer tasting, and i think the galley tour is free, but you need to sign up

Hi akamaleficent, how's school going?

Hey, you mentioned wine, martini, and beer tasting ... how do you sign up for this? I read about this a long time ago and I forgot about it. Do you sign up for this online or on board? Do you have any clue how much it is? We would love to get away from the kids and do this. haha

Thanks!

P.S. I too can't wait to see you all dressed up in your wedding attire!

 

[NYAna]

Can't wait to see you in your wedding attire akamaleficent!

It seems like many people will be on our cruise, not only are the prices really high, but stateroom choices are narrowing :

Cat 12 GTY
Cat 11 GTY
Cat 10 A few left
Cat 9 Only Deck 1 left
Cat 8 GTY
Cat 7 GTY
Cat 6 GTY
Cat 5 Only 4 to choose from
Cat 4 GTY

I wonder what this means my Cat 12 GTY will be. My guess is it won't be more than a Cat 11, which would be fine with me! I sometimes think I would rather have a Cat 11 and be on a higher deck than have a Cat 9 or 10 and be on deck 1 or 2... Perhaps because we were on deck 7 on our first cruise. But on the other hand, we would appreciate the split bath... Well, as long as we are on the ship...

Hi Soleilmagie, We are in cat 10 and actually thought about switching it to cat 9 but then decided not to because the only place cat 9 staterooms are would be on deck 1 and 2 and personally I think deck 7 is way better even if it's an inside stateroom. I think I would feel like I'm with the