11/14/09 - Special Western - 2 CC stops

[racrj]

Thanks for the welcome. What part of PA are you from?

We're down in Washington, PA....

In the last post you mentioned the Stingrays. Did you actually go in with them and did you take kids? I'm not sure my son, who runs when he see ANTS! , will be okay with that. I'd love for the kids to do the dolphin encounter, but, again, I'm not sure how he'd be with them. I've been debating on whether to just watch, but then I KNOW he would see everyone in the water and want to do it too. He'll be 6 by the time we go, so maybe he'll outgrow that...

Jen~

 

[WDWLODGE]

We're down in Washington, PA....

In the last post you mentioned the Stingrays. Did you actually go in with them and did you take kids? I'm not sure my son, who runs when he see ANTS! , will be okay with that. I'd love for the kids to do the dolphin encounter, but, again, I'm not sure how he'd be with them. I've been debating on whether to just watch, but then I KNOW he would see everyone in the water and want to do it too. He'll be 6 by the time we go, so maybe he'll outgrow that...

Jen~

When we did Stingray City in Grand Cayman it was just me and my DW, but on our last cruise we did Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure at Castaway Cay. This is a much more controled environment and they clip the stingers off of the rays. Our DD was 5 years old at the time and she loved it. She even fed them by hand. She loved the dolphins, but there was another kid in our group that was a little intimidated. I think he was around 6 or 7 years old.

 

[melissaknits]

I've only been on one cruise so far. We were on the Wonder, January 27th of this year. We're also going on a land/sea next January, same time.

LUCKY! It looks like our next trip will be this cruise - may kill me!! I think we'll have to fit in just a quick WDW hit somewhere along the line or I will die. (or at least whine a lot!!) I keep hoping there will be some reason for me to go to Orlando, maybe business at the Convention Center, so I could sneak over to WDW when nobody's looking!

I can't believe how many people are already on this thread either. It's like 500 days away!! This will be an awesome cruise, I can feel it.

My plans are lots of Palo, lots of relaxing, lots of spa visits. Gene (husband) may have different plans - particularly as it pertains to me visiting the spa continually, the poor man and his over-protected Visa. I missed wine and martini tastings in January, so want to do that if we can. I am very excited about ports of call but have not made any plans yet. Castaway Cay is, of course, calling me (screaming my name really - probably does not help that it's my wallpaper and screen saver so I see it all day long).

 

[jennifaerie]

Melissa, I actually went to your blog today and saw the pictures from the cruise.

Is it bad of me to have looked at all of them to try and find me? I thought it'd be funny if we were standing in the same spot at the same time. No such luck. Though I may have had my stuff in a hammock in the back at some point.

We must have something very cool and fruity together!

 

[melissaknits]

Melissa, I actually went to your blog today and saw the pictures from the cruise.
We must have something very cool and fruity together!

Indeed we shall! We'll have to hook up and compare control freak, anxiety, motion sickness notes. I am getting the patch this time for the moving thing. And I think it will be better having done it once. Actually - - you'll have to report back from your Jan trip. I am trying to get DH to go.

Not as many pictures as I might like to post. Knitters are not really surfing my blog for pics of my vacation!!

 

[jennifaerie]

Oooh! Don't get me excited! It'd be great to see each other before then!

(Which is funny, because we live, what, a few hours away from each other?)

 

[melissaknits]

(Which is funny, because we live, what, a few hours away from each other?)

Not even a few! Barely a couple of hours really! In fact I will be in Hopkinton in a few weeks for the NH Sheep and Wool at the fairgrounds. A whole weekend of yarny goodness and book signing!

 

[jennifaerie]

That sounds like fun!

 

[melissaknits]

It is...there will be knitting and spinning and weaving and dyeing and sheep showing and llama showing and all manner of things for sale from yarn to lamb (yum...just don't tell the sheep) and soap and kettle corn and jams and cookies and and and and and....phew....and a lot more!

it's really a fun thing to do, just to look around. We started by taking kids, like a cheap field trip. That was 8 years ago. Now there's no more kids, but I got a book out of the deal!

 

[jennifaerie]

Wow, that's pretty cool!

I've only really driven by Hopkinton. There are so many places around here that I haven't been. I guess blue water is a much more attractive lure!

 

[scootch]

Officially booked.... suppose to be a bunch of families from my daughters school. So far I am the only one who went to AAA to get any info... so hopefully someone else will join us. Hubby isn't going, just myself and my two daughters who will be 7 and 10 at the time of cruising. Hard for my daughter who just turned 6 to understand. She keeps telling everyone that she is going on a disney cruise. She hasn't even started Kindergarten yet.... so hard to explain to her that it is going to be when she is in 1st grade(when K seems like an eternity away for her). We are going to WDW this November for 6 nights in VWL. Looking forward to getting to know you all. We live outside of Pittsburgh, in Ohio... about 30 min from the airport.

 

[Mom24GRLS]

Officially booked as well....Myself, DH, DD11, DD8, DD3 & DD3. This is our first cruise and very daring going for 7 days with 4 kids . Somewhat overwhelmed with all the information out there on what to expect and finding some conflicting information. We look forward to all the veteran advise and are grateful for such a great forum to pass the nearly 2 year gap. We are so excited and are reading every form of literature available both Disney and non Disney. I too, am an obsessive compulsive planner and can relate totally to those who have admitted the same. We have take several trips to Disney World over the past few years as well as trips to Cancun and the Mayan Riviera region. We have done excursions to Tulum/Xcaret and Dolphin Discovery at Puerto Aventuras. Highly Recommend Both.

 

[Mom24GRLS]

Are there any recommendations for 3 year old childrens excursions on Grand Cayman?

 

[scootch]

will your girls be 3 at sailing or closer to 5?

 

[Mom24GRLS]

At the time of sailing the girls will be 11, 7 (1 month from turning 8), 2x 3 (2 months from turning 4).

 

[melissaknits]

I've only really driven by Hopkinton. There are so many places around here that I haven't been. I guess blue water is a much more attractive lure!

I accept that blue water can't play nearly as much a role in my life as I'd desire, so I substitute with sheep and wool and spring sunshine in New England. It's practically the same thing! Honest!!

 

[binky1]

Mom24GRLS:
We took our 6 year old and 18 mo. old DDs on the Nautilus Undersea Tour in Grand Cayman. They both loved it. I think your 3 year olds would love it too. It's cheaper to book directly with the tour operator and they are located a 3 minute walk from where we dock/tender.

So, we are thinking about taking this cruise. What drew me was the double dip. We loved Castaway Cay so much the last time that we wanted to visit it twice.... We are me (SAHM 43), DH (44) and 2 DDs, one who will be turning 9 on the cruise and the other will be 4.

Please pass some pixie dust this way that I can sprinkle on my DH to convince him that we should go on this trip!!

Cheers everyone,

 

[scootch]

Mom24GRLS:
We took our 6 year old and 18 mo. old DDs on the Nautilus Undersea Tour in Grand Cayman. They both loved it. I think your 3 year olds would love it too. It's cheaper to book directly with the tour operator and they are located a 3 minute walk from where we dock/tender.

So, we are thinking about taking this cruise. What drew me was the double dip. We loved Castaway Cay so much the last time that we wanted to visit it twice.... We are me (SAHM 43), DH (44) and 2 DDs, one who will be turning 9 on the cruise and the other will be 4.

Please pass some pixie dust this way that I can sprinkle on my DH to convince him that we should go on this trip!!

Cheers everyone,

Hope you convince him. I too am a 43 year old SAHM... with 2 DD's... see it is fate!! My girls will be just turned 10 and 7 1/2 on our trip. My youngest is so excited, she keeps telling everyone about the cruise(forget that we are goign to WDW in Nov 08). We held her back from Kindergarten last year(my 21 year old neice had died just a few months earlier and it wasn't a good time to be away from mom all day for 5 days a week).... She cannot WAIT till kindergarten in August.... poor thing, I can't get her to understand that the cruise isn't till she is in 1st grade. That is FOREVER to her.

Can you tell me a bit more about the Nautilus Undersea Tour in Grand Cayman? I need to start doing some research on the shore excursions. If we don't make it to Sea World before Nov 09, will do the dolphin one.

 

[binky1]

This was a very fun excursion for all ages. When you take the tender to the port, it's about a 3 minute walk to the tour. It's a boat that you climb down some steps into the bottom where there are all benches and all big glass windows. They take you out and show you all the fish, etc. and then a crew member dives down and feeds the fish. It's hard to take pictures because of the windows but it's more fun just to look for all the different fish. They have charts up on the walls so that you can identify them.

The company we used was very helpful. The website is http://res.atlantisadventures.com/tour_info.php?site=5&tour=32 (if this address doesn't come up in this post, just PM me). It was cheaper to deal directly with the company than thru Disney

Okay, I need more pixie dust!!! (see my previous post).

 

[rgroves]

OK, Sorry everyone for my absense.


THANKS for starting the roll call.


Welcome everyone, can't wait to meet everyone on the cruise.