2/01/03 Western

[akterrye]

PINS?!?! Now we gotta bring pins? Oh man.... hehehehe

I was torn between the really early half day with Capt. M's or the 11:15, guess I'll have to talk it over with the troops...now I just gotta find an underwater camera that I like....hm....they still offer on board film developing at shutters, don't they? If we're all on the 11:15 together, it would be a hoot to share the pictures over a nice drink on deck 10!

Gina, I for one appreciate and enjoy your lively commentary on this link! And I'm with you, planning is half (or more) of the fun!

Looks like I'll have to hit the malls and walmart this weekend to find good deals on summer wear...but I have no idea what size I'll wear by Feb.! Guess I'll just have to buy several sizes. OOOOOOO...shopping!

Re: Playa Sol - can I get a little more information, please? Is it on Grand Caymen? And, do they serve drinks?

 

[kshabare]

akterrye,

We just purchased an underwater camera @ Target for $16.88 on sale. It has a flash and a cartridge of film inside. Can't wait to use it. Figured it'd be worth it.

My son is 8 this month. Hopefully some of the kids will be able to hook up beforehand via email? Use PM to start with.

Kim ºOº

 

[Gina]

Originally posted by akterrye
PINS?!?! Now we gotta bring pins? Oh man.... hehehehe

Well, YEAH!! And I've been stocking up on the Texas Mickey pins to trade.

Re: Playa Sol - can I get a little more information, please? Is it on Grand Caymen? And, do they serve drinks?

There was a recent thread about it here. It's at Cozumel. It seems like a great place for families. I'd like Mr. Sancho's, too, but that seems more for an older or childless crowd.

They definitelyserve drinks! Limitless drinks, even, if you go with that package. And I'll have you know that I was forced to drink twice as much on the last cruise, strictly in your honor since you couldn't come.

-gina-

 

[akterrye]

I'll have to check out our Disney Store and see if they have any Alaska Mickeys and if they do, I'll trade you an Alaska for a Texas. DIS Kid t-shirts....better start working on a design...hmm, I can see the Magic in the background with a lime green ribbon somewhere, and....

Thanks for the link, Gina, Playa Sol looks really cool! I dunno if I can drink $25 worth of alcohol tho. Wanna try? lol! I'm sorry to hear you had to have my drinks on the last cruise, I'll make it up to you somehow...

kshabare, that's a heck of a price for an underwater camera! Now I wish we had a Target! Maybe I'll check them out online and see if they have them discounted there. Our local camera store has a professional underwater for $99, which I thought was a great deal. It would be worth it in the long run since we plan to vacation somewhere tropical every year until I drop dead.

Now for a really important question...are we gonna do the lime green ribbons?

BABYJOSIE98, yes, it will indeed be Feb. 4th (Tues) that we'll all be in Grand Cayman. I'm with you, I almost booked the snorkel tour last night while I was checking out the website, but thought I'd better check with the rest of the family before I subject them to my random impulses! I'm not even sure I told my son we're going yet! HA! Won't he be suprised. lol

Oh yeah, I have a 10 page research paper due tomorrow (only have 3.5 pages written) and I can't get away from these boards! It's all Gina's fault! Everyone's excitement is infectious! And it's more fun than writing about dark matter, neutrinos, WIMPs and MACHOs!

Someone ban me from the boards!

 

[Gina]

Oh, suuuuurre, blame it on me!! LOL!! So did you get your paper done?

And yes, I'll definitely trade you a Texas for an Alaska! With the temps outside right now, I'd be happy to trade Texas for Alaska, period.

I always have lime green ribbon tied to all my bags, even the beach tote that was constantly with me on the cruise last time. If you see a sky-blue polka-dotted beach tote with lime green ribbon on the handle, that'll be me.

Playa Sol -- I don't think I'll be drinking $25 worth of drinks. Not in the hot sun, at least! I'd rather just do the $6 basic package and drink water at Playa Sol, and save the $25 worth of drinks for Rockin' Bar D every night.

Captain Marvin's -- No more than 10 minutes after I made the reservation online, I got en email from a very nice lady named Joan. She thanked me for the reservations, and gave directions on where to meet. I emailed her back with a question on the time, and she wrote back in like 3 minutes with a very friendly answer. On customer service alone, I'm already sold.

Underwater cameras -- I hate the Targets near us, so I took to the web and trusty MySimon to see what I could find. This is so cool! At $19.99, it's a few bucks more than the Target one, but it's so adorable! It's at Ritzcamera.com, and you can see it

here. If that link doesn't work, just go to www.ritzcamera.com and click on "underwater" on the left-hand side. You should see it in the list on the next page. It is submergible to 70ft., has a built-in flash, auto film loading, power rewind, and if you like you can remove it from its cute blue-and-yellow waterproof casing and it becomes a regular 35mm camera. I love my regular 35mm, but we didn't do any snorkeling or anything last time... I think I might order one of these!

Interesting side-note... checked the DCL site, and it looks like the cat. 12's are already sold out for our cruise. Guess they go fast! I'll stick with my Navigator's Veranda.

Back to work for me... hope everyone is having a great week!

-gina-

 

[akterrye]

Gina, Yep, got the paper done, now just need to do a few touch ups and I'm done with that class! WHOOHOO!

I'll trade you Alaska (current temp. is a comfortable 70 degrees with all sunshine and no clouds) for Texas, an olympic swimming pool filled with ice cubes and an all you can eat ice cream buffet!

I've added lime green ribbon to my "must buy before the cruise" shopping list! I made a quick stop at our local Fred Meyer's (like a target) and they had a heck of a sale on all summer stuff - thanks to all of you for the tips about checking out end of season sales - I wouldn't have thought about that! I didn't get to really shop because I was picking up graph paper and 3X5 cards for my algebra class and had to scoot home to study for a test tomorrow. *bleck* I also checked for underwater cameras...they didn't have any...so the search continues! I'll check out that link for ritzcamera. Eric wants me to get an underwater digital video camera...yeah, RIGHT! LOL

Did you reserve the 11:15 spot with Capt. Marvins? I talked it over with the guys and they were like, "YOU DIDN'T BOOK IT YET?!?!" heheeh, so, I'll be doing that asap! I also told them about Playa Sol and they were "hip to that jive." LOL

Who all has reserved the 11:15 Capt. Marvins?

Oh yeah, I had forgotten to tell my son we were going on the 2/1/03 Western cruise - LOL - and he got REALLY excited. He has one request from our fellow cruisers, tho. He would like to hear from any other boys around his age (11) that will be on the cruise. You can email me at pstmf1@matsu.alaska.edu and I'll forward the email to him. THANKS!

Here's wishing beautiful days and cooler temps for all my fellow DISers!

 

[Gina]

Originally posted by akterrye
I'll trade you Alaska (current temp. is a comfortable 70 degrees with all sunshine and no clouds) for Texas, an olympic swimming pool filled with ice cubes and an all you can eat ice cream buffet!

You got it! I can trade you lots and lots of sunshine, 95 very humid degrees, and the beach about 25 minutes away in traffic.

I've added lime green ribbon to my "must buy before the cruise" shopping list! I made a quick stop at our local Fred Meyer's (like a target) and they had a heck of a sale on all summer stuff - thanks to all of you for the tips about checking out end of season sales - I wouldn't have thought about that!

Yeah, I didn't think about that last year, but I'm definitely thinking about it this year! Kohl's was having a big sale so we stopped in last night and found two really great tropical shirts for Tyler Dean for $5 apiece. I'm just hoping he doesn't grow terribly much between now and February, so that he can still wear his suit!

I also told them about Playa Sol and they were "hip to that jive." LOL

Who all has reserved the 11:15 Capt. Marvins?

With the age your son is, it'll be a miracle if you can get him off that big "iceberg" in the water before the ship sails and leaves y'all behind. LOL Even my 6 year old DS said, "WOW!!!" when he saw it. And yep, we're all booked for the 11:15 with Capt. Marvin's.


babyjosie --
I went to the transportation board and found the Avis code J945605 which lowered my 2-day rental from $98 to $77. So now I'm all booked for that, too. All I don't have booked is airfare (waiting on Delta to send me replacement vouchers -- long story) and the hotel for the first night. I posted to the offsite hotel board, but I'm not quite getting the answers I was hoping for. I know which of the offsite hotels are better than others, but I'd like to know which ones would make it easiest for me to drive from there to Epcot.

Do you guys do anything to count down to your trips? We have a wav. file of the ship's signature whistle on our desktop, and we play that every Saturday at the time the Magic is set to sail. When we blow our whistle tomorrow, we'll have just 29 Saturday's left. That sounds a lot better than 202 days.

-gina-

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Gina & Anyone else interested,

I went ahead and secured an 11:15 spot on the Capt Marvs Stingray City Excursion. Sounds like a poplular time. I am excited!!! So Gina how old is your DS???? Our DD is 4 and will be almost 5 when we go on the cruise.
Maybe you could get a good rate on a room in Downtown Disney area hotel. That would be Cool. I think we are leaning toward WL. Really I should not,but I am going to try and squeeze it in. I guess Avis is taking ressies for Feb? I saw the Discount code on this thread. I may call and see what we can get. I ordered a Lilo dress for my DD last week to take on the vacation with us. It is so cute and I can not get her to take it off. I may have to get one more to put up for our trip. Have a good day everyone!!!

 

[Gina]

I'm so glad you got the stingray ressie all squared away! It's going to be a ball with so many of us on the same excursion. I think it is going to be a popular time slot, and I bet it fills up way before February.

My DS will be a few weeks away from being 7 when we sail. Will your DD be within a month of turning 5 when we sail? If so, and if you feel she would like it better, she can be in the 5-7 group. It just depends on your little girl. My son would have been horrified to have to be with "babies" at that point, but that's just the way he is. You might want to pull up the kids' Navigators for both age groups, and see what your DD might like best, since you know her best. I saw that Lilo dress you're talking about at the Disney Store -- she is going to be so adorable!!

I got the hotel room problem solved -- just went back to trusty ole' Priceline. Got the Ramada Inn Eastgate for $20, and figured it had to be livable for just one night. $20 makes me feel not so terribly guilty about spending $124 the next night at the Radisson.

I was thinking about something yesterday... people tease me all the time about planning so far ahead, and getting excited so far ahead, but it dawned on me that DS and I stepped onto the Magic nearly 6 months ago. How on earth has it been that long?!? I swear, we were just there last week... that's how fast time seems to be flying by these days, for me at least. I know the next 6 months will fly by just as quickly -- more so, once school starts and the holidays start rolling around. I remember before the last cruise, the period between like the end of September and the cruise went by before I could even blink, it seemed. Plus, the planning is so much fun to me... every time I work on it, it's like reliving a little bit of the cruise along with anticipating the next one. Or possibly, I'm just really strange. LOL

-gina-

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Jo Jo will be within a month and a half of 5 when we go. She is very grown up and would probably perfer to be with the 5-7 year olds. Guess I will check things out and see what happens when we get there. I heard that another "ElNino" is happening this year and that winter will be warmer than normal. I hope that is true in Feb and that we have nice warm weather for our whole trip.

Gina you are not crazy!! I love planning also and I guess my family thinks I am goofy sometimes too. You are so right about time flying by. I figured the same thing after fall hits with Halloween,Thanksgiving and so on we will be so busy that it will be time to go before we know it.

That is a great rate you got for the night before WDW. Lots cheaper than a Disney resort. I should do that,but well your from Texas and I am sure you are around horse people and ropers!!! I am married to a Team roper and he has been doing so well lately and I am trying to get him to hand over some of that money for our vacation!!! He could pay our night at WL out of some of his money he has won lately. It is hard to get him to part with that cause he thinks he needs it to keep paying entry's for the next Rodeo. It never ends. I just have to figure out a way to get him out of those wranglers for the dinners on the cruise. I want my Cowboy to wear a Tux for the formal nights. I guess we will see.

So how many pairs of shoes do you bring??? Do you bring any beach towels or just use the ships???

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Gina]

Originally posted by BABYJOSIE98
I am married to a Team roper and he has been doing so well lately and I am trying to get him to hand over some of that money for our vacation!!! He could pay our night at WL out of some of his money he has won lately. It is hard to get him to part with that cause he thinks he needs it to keep paying entry's for the next Rodeo. It never ends. I just have to figure out a way to get him out of those wranglers for the dinners on the cruise. I want my Cowboy to wear a Tux for the formal nights. I guess we will see.

Oh my gosh, that is just the coolest thing... yes, I love horse people and cowboys in general -- DS was named for Ty Murray.
I wouldn't worry about getting DH out of the Wranglers... what we call a "Texas Tuxedo" is black Wranglers with a white tuxedo shirt and black Tuxedo jacket, black ropers, a black felt, and a black bolo. Soooooo sexy. Then you'd both be happy, right??

So how many pairs of shoes do you bring??? Do you bring any beach towels or just use the ships???

I don't bring any other towels... as for shoes, I brought (thinking...) 4 pair. Casuals, sandals, formals, and kinda-dressy ones. Hope that made more sense than it sounded like.

-gina-

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

A Texas Tuxedo!!!!Perfect and it is funny you say that....... That is what Gary and the guys wore for our wedding and they looked awsome!! Had those Wranglers starched perfect with crease and everything. That is a thought that I had but was not sure. I know hubby will have his black ropers with him for sure. He would be much more happy in that. Ty Murray is very cool! My Nephew is a big Lane Frost fan. Love the movie!! Thanks again...

 

[Gina]

Howdy, fellow cruisers!

Ugh, it has been busy around our house lately, with swim lessons and school and soccer starting in a few weeks and all... I needed a time-to-dream-about-the-cruise break!! Lots of summer stuff starting to go on sale... anyone found anything good yet to bring? As soon as I get all the school supplies out of the way, then I'm going to start laying away summer stuff on sale.

Also, there is someone from the Disney Dollarless list I'm on who is hopefully going to join us here in our happy group -- she's sailing 2/1 also. (Felicia?? Did you make it yet?? )

Hope everyone is well and happy! Only 192 more days!!

-gina-

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Hey Gina,

I have been hitting the malls once per week. Lots of clearance stuff. I went to Disney store last Thursday and got DD some Christmas presents that pertain to the cruise. She loves to take pictures and so I got her the LILO Camera pack with a 35 ml camera made for small hands and it comes with a Lilo case and Markers,postcards and little photo album. I thought it would be great for our vacation since it will be only a month after Christmas is over. They also had 50% off summer stuff. So I also got a LILO swimsuit and beach towl. See I can justify it if I tell DH I am shoping for Christmas!! Hee Hee...... I have gotten us some cute stuff to wear and have set that aside also. My Aunt and Uncle and their DS just booked the 11-3-02 4 day cruise. She wanted to go with us,but the price has really gone up. So now she is going before me!!! I am going to her house on Friday and we are going to have Pina Coladas and compare notes. They are staying at ASMU the night before and I am trying to talk them into dinner at Ohana's. We love that place and will probably eat there the night we stay at WDW. It is fun and you get a great view of the castle.

Bye,Michelle

 

[sitchu2]

Hello All,

Thanks for the invite Gina! I am Felicia and I will be sailing on 2/1/03 with Husband Bob , 2 sons 16 and 13 and daughter who will have just turned 7, and my mom and dad. We had all sailed on the 4 day Wonder last March 8th I think it was and had the best time, we can only begin to imagine how wonderful the western 7 day will be.
I have not yet begun trip planning for this trip, I am going to disney for labor day week and I figured I would come back from that trip and fight the post disney blues with planning this one.
It was recommended to me to swim with the sting rays by a friend at work, Is this what you are all doing? On which Island is this excursion from? It sounds terrific.
Since so many of you in here are past cruisers I was just wondering if anyone else had our servers, we thought they were the best "L" and Atilla. Miguel was our stateroom host. These folks will be really hard to beat they were the greatest last march.
Will look forward to meeting everyone when February finally arrives, I was not sure if I should fly in the am of the first or stay at the raddison. Well, Ill have lots to do in the fall;0)

Felicia

 

[robertsb19]

Can't wait.
This will be our 3rd disney cruise. we were originally booked for the 12/21/02 cruise but DH has a new boss at work and changed his vacation.
Does anyone know what documents we would need, if we decide to bring my neice (16) to keep our DD15 happy?

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Wow,we are adding to our list of cruisers!! How fun this is going to be.

Felicia,

I think that a few have already booked the Capt.Marv's shore excursion to Stingray City for 11:15 when we stop at Grand Cayman. Disney offers an excursion,but our DD is not old enough cause they limit the age to 6 and above. So we booked Capt Marv's so our DD can go with us. I have read lots of good things about Capt Marv's. We are very excited!!!! Hope you guys join us........ We are flying down 2 days early and are staying the night before at the Raddison. The first night we are staying at WDW. I want WL if I can get a good rate. We have to do MK on Friday so DD can finally ride SM!!!! She should be tall enough by then.

Michelle

 

[akterrye]

A hearty WELCOME and a big wave to all our new cruisers!!

Does anyone know what documents we would need, if we decide to bring my neice (16) to keep our DD15 happy?

robertsb19, I would think at least a power of attorney. I would call DCL and ask for sure.

I hate to say, but we decided not to book the 11:15 stingray but opted for the earlier one so we could hit all the "MUST DO" sites on our list. (Turtle Farm, Hell, Hard Rock, and if there's time, Seven Mile Beach).

We've hit a couple of post summer sails...oops...sales... and I've gotten some really cute tropical print tops and capri pants to blind you all with! I'm just waiting for the stores to put tanning lotion/sunscreen on clearance...that'll be easier than looking for it in Feb. You should see the looks I got the last time I ask for it! Could have something to do with the 3+ feet of snow we had just gotten. heheheh

This may sound nuts, but I was wondering if anyone else puts together a binder with divider tabs to help with all the planning? So far, I have the following sections in my "book:"

Cruise Bible
Air travel info
Pre-cruise hotel
Pre-cruise excursions
Cruise reservation info
Ressies Scramble
Key West (for all the excursion info)
Grand Cayman (excursion info)
Cozumel (excursion info)

Maybe I'm just a compulsive planner/organizer.

 

[BABYJOSIE98]

Akterrye,

You are not alone!!!!! I also have a folder started with all my information. I write notes down from these boards like the little shop someone gave the name of in Key west that makes cute sandals!!! I keep everything organized and I think we get more out of our vacation. Plus I have a blast planning all this stuff. This our first cruise and so I have been checking out everything. My Aunt & Uncle just booked a 4 day on the Wonder Nov 3. I told her about my folder of info and she was like "I better get one too"
I am going to her house on Friday and we are making Pina Colodas and going over all our notes!!!!! Our family can not even stand the two of us anymore. We are so excited!!!

I am going to hit the stores again soon to find more good sale stuff to set aside!!!

Michelle

 

[akterrye]

WHEW!!! Thanks, Michelle! I was a little worried I had gone overboard (no pun intended). I know what you mean about the rest of the family...when I start in on "OH, and guess what else I found out..." they run away from me as fast as possible! I'm glad you have someone to plan with. Thank goodness for these boards, without them, I'd be bouncing around in a rubber room!!

Check this out:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=237091