10-Oct-2009 - Eastern Magic St. Croix

[SoccrMom]

I am also South Chandler! - Lindsay and Riggs
We are bring several non Dis Boards friends with us this time also so it will be a ship full of people from Chandler!

No kidding??? You really are our neighbor! We are at Gilbert and Riggs (in Cooper Commons).

We have a couple of non-dis friends who are joining us as well who used to live in Springfield Lakes (in Awhatukee now).

I wonder if they should be giving some sort of group rate to those of us from Chandler, Arizona.

 

[JDBlair]

JDBlair, I too am from Chandler, Arizona! Small world, huh? We are in South Chandler,
where about are you?

To all of you that are working full time, going to school full time, and raising kids, I feel your pain! I am currently working on my doctorate online through Walden University while teaching and raising the boys.

I am even more excited than ever to get to know everyone!

Denise - That is awesome!!! I'm at Pecos & McQueen.

I am also South Chandler! - Lindsay and Riggs
We are bring several non Dis Boards friends with us this time also so it will be a ship full of people from Chandler!

Freaky!!! We should try to arrange a meet before the cruise!!!

I haven't been receiving E-mail notifications that there have been new posts. I am so excited to see people posting but had to check the old fashioned way - by just dropping in!!

 

[SoccrMom]

Maybe we should try to meet before the cruise. That could be a lot of fun!

Hey, is there a cruise list out there yet for those of us on this cruise? How about a FE exchange? I wouldn't mind participating if there is!

 

[JDBlair]

Maybe we should try to meet before the cruise. That could be a lot of fun!

Hey, is there a cruise list out there yet for those of us on this cruise? How about a FE exchange? I wouldn't mind participating if there is!

I think the first page of the thread has that information. They were trying to put together a FE exchange and I think a few signed up. I have had to back out in the interest of saving money. :-(

A meet would be a lot of fun. The friends we made on the last cruise have had to change their plans and won't be on this cruise with us. We're so bummed. :-(

 

[JDBlair]

Welcome!!

I am so addicted to the Trip Reports!!!

I love Trip Reports, too!! I find I learn the most by reading TR's but I'm a TR snob. I want a TR with pics and too many don't post pics. There aren't a whole lot of good TR's out there right now. I also don't like TR's that are full of pages of other people's comments. It's hard to keep up with all the commentary. LOL

 

[alleluia5]

Hello all!

I am officially checking in. We were on a cruise last October and said that with $$ being tight, we had better not rebook on board. Of course we were assuming we would not take another cruise for a couple of years, yet last week we changed our minds and here we are!!!!

Denise
Mike (my dh)
Mark (ds, 12 at cruise time)
Drew (ds, 9 when he embark, but 10 when we disembark!)

We are really, really looking forward to this trip! Last time I chatted a bit on the boards, but was too shy when the time came to actually meet anyone on board. I am hoping to get out of that silly funk with this cruise.

Welcome!!! There is a link on the first post for info on the various activities - unfortunately, the person who started the thread did have to back out of the cruise so until we can get to 250 pages or whatever it is, we can only link out of that first post. I will add you to the list of cruisers - take a look and let me know which of the other activities you want to join in on and we will get you on there too!

This board is a little quieter than normal, as you mentioned a lot of us are doing the work, school, etc - but I think as we get closer it will pick up!

 

[DenverVal]

I found an airfare that has a decent schedule, albeit with a connection, for a price I'm willing to pay. We will be arriving just after midnight Eastern time on Thursday so we can play in the parks on Friday. We're coming back the same day we disembark because flying back on Sunday is much more expensive than Saturday. We'll just take Sunday to ease back into reality before Monday hits.

Next step: trip insurance to cover the airfare/hotel/and cruise.

 

[SoccrMom]

I found an airfare that has a decent schedule, albeit with a connection, for a price I'm willing to pay. We will be arriving just after midnight Eastern time on Thursday so we can play in the parks on Friday. We're coming back the same day we disembark because flying back on Sunday is much more expensive than Saturday. We'll just take Sunday to ease back into reality before Monday hits.

Next step: trip insurance to cover the airfare/hotel/and cruise.

Denver Val,

We are in the same boat you are (no pun intended), hind of. The family is getting in late afternoon on Thursday, but because of my job (and black-out vacation dates) I am getting in on Thursday night around midnight. We have a room booked at Pop Century for the night, then we are hitting Epcot and moving to Beach Club for Friday. That way we get the cheap bed for the night, but still have the convience of Beach Club and Epcot on Friday. I am super excited. This is our third cruise, but only the second trip to Epcot! Yeah! It's too bad we can't spend more time there, but so be it I have to live with what I can get!

 

[SoccrMom]

Alright folks, I am thinking about starting FE gifts, but I need some input from all of you first.

What do you want to nickname our DIS meet? I have seen many other DIS meet threads with interesting themes and cute nicknames (like "Bash on the Boat" or "Parrotthead Pirates in Paradise").

So anyway, I was thinking about it and have come up with some ideas such as:

Mickey's Columbus Day Adventures
Captain Hook's Revenge

I know that they aren't real creative, but my juices just aren't flowing. What are some of your ideas? What do you guys think?

 

[lenzs4]

Alright folks, I am thinking about starting FE gifts, but I need some input from all of you first.

What do you want to nickname our DIS meet? I have seen many other DIS meet threads with interesting themes and cute nicknames (like "Bash on the Boat" or "Parrotthead Pirates in Paradise").

So anyway, I was thinking about it and have come up with some ideas such as:

Mickey's Columbus Day Adventures
Captain Hook's Revenge

I know that they aren't real creative, but my juices just aren't flowing. What are some of your ideas? What do you guys think?

I like Mickey's Columbus Day Adventures
though I had not realized we were cruising over the holiday!!!

 

[alleluia5]

Mickey's Columbus Day Adventures
Captain Hook's Revenge

I know that they aren't real creative, but my juices just aren't flowing. What are some of your ideas? What do you guys think?

I like the Columbus day theme too - I am sure we could have some cute stuff around that theme

 

[RedSox68]

Hi -- we're on the 10/10 cruise also - me, husband and 22-year-old daughter. St. Croix will finish out the Virgin Islands for us. It will be our 8th Disney Cruise.

Because of daughter's college schedule, we'll probably fly in on Friday and stay at Polynesian and just cruise the resort hotels and do O'Hana's for dinner. We're going to try to do two nights post-cruise at Port Orleans and fly back home that Monday.

We're taking a family friend in her 70's who has never cruised or been to DisneyWorld. She is so excited. We never got the change to take my MIL -- but this woman was her "younger" best friend. I'm looking very forward to being on the Magic! (Maybe it will wipe out our lousy memories of NCL last year )

 

[alleluia5]

Hi -- we're on the 10/10 cruise also - me, husband and 22-year-old daughter. St. Croix will finish out the Virgin Islands for us. It will be our 8th Disney Cruise.

Welcome - if you go to the first post, there is a link in it that has the list of cruisers so far and some of the things we have talked about doing. Let me know if you are interested in any of them

 

[SoccrMom]

Hi -- we're on the 10/10 cruise also - me, husband and 22-year-old daughter. St. Croix will finish out the Virgin Islands for us. It will be our 8th Disney Cruise.

Welcome! I am so very excited about this cruise!!! I don't know about you, but it seems to me that October is just too far away.

I will have to pick your brain about NCL, as we were considering trying something new for the next crusie as the kids get older!

 

[RedSox68]

Welcome! I am so very excited about this cruise!!! I don't know about you, but it seems to me that October is just too far away.

I will have to pick your brain about NCL, as we were considering trying something new for the next crusie as the kids get older!

Thank you. I can't speak for all their ships, but I know the one we took in Hawaii was the pits and my whole family was disgusted. Personally we just wouldn't take them again for that reason. But you're more than welcome to ask anything you want about them.

 

[DenverVal]

NCL Hawaii was no Disney, but keep in mind that NCL Hawaii is not the rest of NCL, either. We cruised Hawaii on NCL last August and were unimpressed with the service, and we hated "free-style" dining because we always ended up waiting for a table. The ship was beautiful, the service was mediocre at best. We loved the ports and spent most of our time ashore, and the time aboard was spent with good friends, so we had a great cruise in spite of the 'tude from a number (but not all) of the staff.

 

[JDBlair]

From what I have read, Southwest airlines should release their Oct schedule tomorrow.

I'm hoping to fly to Florida Thursday evening.. Not sure yet. Also thinking we'll fly home Monday. I am very tempted to try and take the family to Universal while we're in FL after the cruise but not sure I can justify the expense.

 

[Palmfam]

I love Trip Reports, too!! I find I learn the most by reading TR's but I'm a TR snob. I want a TR with pics and too many don't post pics. There aren't a whole lot of good TR's out there right now. I also don't like TR's that are full of pages of other people's comments. It's hard to keep up with all the commentary. LOL

I am a TR snob too! No pictures and I am not wasting my time..

What hotel are you all staying at??

I love the idea of coming up with a name..

We went to Disney on Ice this weekend..so very cute!! It increased my Disney fever!!

Most importantly, WELCOME aboard RedSox68

 

[JDBlair]

I am a TR snob too! No pictures and I am not wasting my time..

What hotel are you all staying at??

I'm glad I'm not alone on the TR thing! LOL

Not sue what hotel we're staying at, yet. Depends on when we fly in, depends on when we fly home. Waiting on air fare! Ugh!!

 

[RedSox68]

NCL Hawaii was no Disney, but keep in mind that NCL Hawaii is not the rest of NCL, either. We cruised Hawaii on NCL last August and were unimpressed with the service, and we hated "free-style" dining because we always ended up waiting for a table. The ship was beautiful, the service was mediocre at best. We loved the ports and spent most of our time ashore, and the time aboard was spent with good friends, so we had a great cruise in spite of the 'tude from a number (but not all) of the staff.

I agree with most of it -- especially the ports and their excursions were great. But we had two rooms and upon checking into the rooms (which kept getting delayed until 3 p.m.), they were filthy -- and I do not use that word lightly. Glasses in BOTH bathrooms had obvious toothpaste and scope remnants, and glasses in the main room had lipstick and lip prints. The desktop was full of some sticky substance and my daughter's room's rug had maple syrup spilled all over! The closets had dirty robes left in them too -- I honestly don't think the steward did anything.

Oh, and when my daugher turned on the switch in her room entrance, it sparked, sizzled out and shorted out! When maintenance came to "fix" it, they totally ignored the do not disturb sign and walked into her room while she was in the shower!

And customer service -- a joke. The whole experience put us off to NCL -- we're not even willing to try them in another setting as they were so unpleasant. We've done 7 Disney cruises and this was our very first non-Disney (bad choice I say). First time in my life I've ever heard my husband utter such unhappiness on a vacation -- he said in our first port as we headed back to the ship "I hate the thought of getting back on that ship. I feel so unwelcome there".

We've all decide we're going to get down and kiss the Magic's decks when we board in October