20050514..May 14, 2005...Official Check in Disney's 1st 14 Day thru Panama Canal

[JenKatt]

Saw this book in th elocal bookstore and thought it looked interesting. Ordered it from Amazon so I'll let you know how it is:
Disney Book

 

[karaeric]

Lynda - I told my DH that Cash was on both cruises with us. I was telling him about his litter box. That is so cool! Looking forward to meeting you and many others!

My co-worker's name is Rick, and I believe his partner's name is
Chuck. They've been on several Disney cruises, go to DL all the time, and to WDW at least twice a year. They hate to dress for dinner on the cruises, so they have hardly ever eaten in any of the restaurants. They just do room service or Plutos or Pinocchios.

My company puts out a monthly internal newsletter, and people take the newsletter on trips to the far reaches of the world, take a picture and submit it for the next publication. So far we've had employees take pictures in front of the Taj Mahal and in China. Rick and I plan to take a picture going throught the locks of the Panama Canal for the newsletter.

So looking forward to these two cruises! I NEED A VACATION!

Can someone please PM me or repost how to add the countdown clock to my sig line?

Thanks.

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by karaeric
Lynda - I told my DH that Cash was on both cruises with us. I was telling him about his litter box.

The Panama cruise should provide a little change for Cash regarding his litter box...As of this moment there are no verandahs available for him to use so it looks like DCL is going to have to put out a box in a public area for him.....can you imagine that? Maybe I can ...well, no.....

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by karaeric
Lynda - I told my DH that Cash was on both cruises with us. I was telling him about his litter box. That is so cool! Looking forward to meeting you and many others!

My co-worker's name is Rick, and I believe his partner's name is
Chuck. They've been on several Disney cruises, go to DL and WDWall the time.

Can someone please PM me or repost how to add the countdown clock to my sig line?

Thanks.

I don't see them on the Christmas meets board....

I can't wait either...Finally signed Cash up for a service dog training cruise in November just so I could get my fix....
Thank you, Cash...

Sent u an e-mail...also here's the counter location:http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=42

 

[seaulater]

Karaeric-glad to know you are on both cruises also! I know there are a few of us that are doing both. At Christmas, there are 13 of us (DH, kids and grandkids) and then for the PC in May there are 8 of us (DH, my mom and dad, and my brother, sister and spouses). Of course, that is if they don't back out! My parents are definitely in, because I told them I would pay if they couldn't come up with the money.

My DH says to me "What do you think, money grows on trees?" I said yes, I can't take it with me when I die, and why would I want the kids fighting over it?

ANyway, we will have a blast. We went through the PC last year and loved it. Can't wait to do it again. But first, got to make it through Christmas!!!!!

Linda

 

[Hygiene99]

this probably has been talked about but Do WE

Have to have a Passport??????

We do not want to spend the money if it is not needed ??

Could pay the Dog Sitter instead

Since we cant Bring our dogs with us..

 

[karaeric]

I know my coworker isn't on the DISboards at all, and I have only been lurking from time to time on the 10-day cruise thread. It's so huge that I could never catch up and it's intimidating. With this thread, I felt more comfortable jumping in because it's not up over 400 pages.

But I've seen the counters for those of you who are on that cruise too. For that cruise, it will just be DH and I for the first time. My first Disney cruise was with a friend and her DD, my second with DH and MIL (yuck! will NEVER do that again ). Now I get 10 romance filled days with DH all to myself...sigh!

For the canal, my parents are joining us. We vacation with them a lot, so I know it will be a blast. They're a ton of fun, and they love DH. What more could a girl ask?

THanks to Lynda for the help in putting in the counters. I figured it out. Truly amazing for me, the total non-tech person.

Oh, and Lynda, when did you put in for a verandah upgrade? We originally booked two cat 8s, then my parents decided they wanted a veranda, so we put them on a wait list. DCL came back a little over a month later (just last week) and had two available, so DH and I upgraded too, even though we hadn't asked for an upgrade. My guess is one will come available before long...there seems to be a lot of swapping going on right now.

Cheers!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Seaulater or who ever else has already cruised the canal....

How do they do the "tour guide" through the canal? I would really like to hear what is going on and what we are seeing along the way but I really do not want to be all gathered in one place.

Is it over the speakers? Or is it on the TV?

Just curious as how they tell over 2,000 people what is happening

Made a reservation for Budget for the two days prior to the cruise and to take us to the port. Also made a reservation for the Sheraton Anaheim, which will eventually change to points when it gets closer.

Time is counting down!

Debbie

 

[videogal1]

Originally posted by karaeric


Oh, and Lynda, when did you put in for a verandah upgrade? We originally booked two cat 8s, then my parents decided they wanted a veranda, so we put them on a wait list. DCL came back a little over a month later (just last week) and had two available, so DH and I upgraded too, even though we hadn't asked for an upgrade. My guess is one will come available before long...there seems to be a lot of swapping going on right now.

At the moment there aren't any accessible staterooms with a verandah available for DCL to upgrade us to. Cash will board whether or not a verandah is available... I cannot go without him... and the Special Services department knows we are coming so I have left it up to DCL as to how they want to handle the situation. I want to leave all options open so I don't want to lock DCL into looking only for an accessible verandah by requesting that I be put on a wait list so right now I am just waiting to see what DCL can do.

At the moment I have an accessible inside stateroom so I know I'm going and there are a lot of months before the cruise departs for DCL to set up a "break area" for Cash to use, if that's what DCL decides is the best way to handle the problem, or for an accessible stateroom with a verandah to come available.

I can hardly wait to see the Panama Canal and meet y'all, too...

 

[JenKatt]

Peter you may need a passport for curacao but I doubt for any of the other ports you would. Honestly, I would just get one, it's not that expensive and if you loose it you're not up the creek like you would be if you lost your birth certificate on vacation.

 

[moocow35]

Boy, I am jealous of all you guys who are doing both the Christmas cruise and the Panama! Where I work, Christmas is the busiest time of the year, and we are not allowed to have any time off. In fact we get an incentive bonus if we don't miss any days. I really wanted to do the 10 day cruise...but, I am so happy to be doing the Panama cruise!

Peter, I don't think I have ever read a definative answer regarding passports. Everything leads to no, you don't need one. Mine is still valid, and I had Aimee's renewed since she did not even look like the same person. I just find the passport easier than the birth certificate.

Lynda, I really hope that you and Cash get the veranda. Given that Disney will have to put the litter box in a public area, you know that they will do everything they can to accommodate the both of you.

Robin

 

[JenKatt]

Speaking of guide/ assitance dogs.... a friend of a friend of a friend went on a 7 day cruise quite a few years back. It seemed like they were the first folks to do the cruise with guide dogs because there was nothing set up for the dogs. The litter area was non existant. The biggest problem was these folks train the dogs, not use them, so they were in aregular room w/o a verandah. So when they got back home, this friend of a friend of a friend called DCL and actually worked closely with them to make the cruise more handicap dog friendly

 

[micknstang]

What options do we have out there for port transfers to/from port? How many have already book some kinda transfer?

 

[SandraLee]

karaeric . . . Do you have room assignments for your verandahs? I booked a cat 6 on the first day and I'm still in gty status.

I wonder if they are moving people into these categories when they will assign rooms to the rest of us??

 

[BobandLee]

The following is from Frommer's-http://www.frommers.com/destinations/curacao/0178020157.html

Documents--To enter Curaçao, U.S. or Canadian citizens need proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or a passport, along with a return or continuing airline ticket out of the country and photo ID. (We recommend that you bring a passport.) British subjects need a valid passport.

Since Mexico doesn't require a passport, you may be able to get by on the cruise without a passport.

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<marquee width="500"><font color=black>ºOº</font><font color=orangered> Can't Wait For Our 14 Day Disney Panama Canal Cruise</font> <font color=black>ºOº </font> </marquee>

 

[karaeric]

Originally posted by SandraLee
karaeric . . . Do you have room assignments for your verandahs? I booked a cat 6 on the first day and I'm still in gty status.

I wonder if they are moving people into these categories when they will assign rooms to the rest of us??

You're probably right...we had staterooms assigned when we had cat 8 rooms, but now we are gty like you. I suspect that because there is so much switching going on right now and they know that they will not have 100% of all booked cabins complete payment, they are waiting to assign some of the most popular cabin categories.

However, that being said, the squeaky wheel may get the cabin. When we switched our ressie from a 7-day to the 10-day, we were gty. I am an impatient person by nature so I kept bugging my TA (she's a very close friend and Disney fanatic too) to call DCL until she had a cabin for us.

On this cruise, my parents are requesting that our cabins be on opposite sides of the ship so as we are passing through the canal we get to see every thing from our verandahs...just hope we don't end up on different decks too!

 

[moocow35]

Originally posted by micknstang
What options do we have out there for port transfers to/from port? How many have already book some kinda transfer?

When I booked that first day for this cruise, I had the transfers added to my reservation. Orlando they have set in stone and wired, but still have no idea what Disney has planned for the California end of it. That said, we plan to arrive in Florida a day early and take a limo out to Ron Jon's, and in California, I have friends picking me up at the port. So, eventually I will be cancelling my transfers.

I had my stateroom assignment that first day. When I found out I was on Deck 5 instead of Deck 7, I asked my TA if I could switch. DCL told her that I would only get a GTY, so I am on a waiting list to "move up"

Karaeric, that is too funny that your family wants to be on the other side of the ship! Are you all going to be running from side to side depending on the view? I don't think you were on this thread ages ago when I posted this link. It is helpful as to where you want to be on the ship at which point during the transit.

http://www.sealetter.com/Mar-01/panamac.html

Check it out, it will really get you excited!

Robin

 

[seaulater]

When we went through the canal last year, RCL had a couple of experts on board. The day before they had lectures in the theaters and it was very interesting. We had read the books before we went with our DD so she did some school assignments while on the cruise regarding the canal and then did a presentation when she returned.

They used the speaker system occasionally, when there was something interesting. When we went through the first locks, everyone was everywhere all over the ship. Everyone just kinda got their spots, their cameras, their binoculars, etc. and got it together. During the whole day, people just wandered whereever, since it is an 8 hour transit.

As things passed that were worth looking at, you would see people get up and go check it out. It was pretty casual. We had a deck 10 AFT (the very back center) stateroom. The best thing was just sitting out on the verandah and watching throughout the day after the initial lock. The best thing was we had all our new friends in our stateroom for a little party right before dinner and we came out over the bridge and got beautiful pictures of all of us on the verandah with the bridge in the background.

As we were passing under the bridge, all the buses and cars going across were stopping waving and yelling at us and us back at them. Guess it is pretty exciting since they don't see cruise ships coming through very often. There were also military ships on either side of the canal as we exited and they were excited to see us also.

It is a pretty casual day!

Linda

 

[seaulater]

PASSPORTS!!!!

Here is my two cents worth taken off the Cruise Critic site last year that I have kept:

The Question:

What identification is required for a cruise to the Caribbean, Canada or Mexico?

The Answer:

A certified birth certificate and photo ID are still valid in some places. In others, a passport is required.

This can create confusion for cruise passengers. For instance, in the British West Indies birth certificates are accepted. In the French West Indies they are not. For specifics, go to www.travel.state.gov/foreignentryreq.htlm.

RECOMMENDATION:

Even if your destination ports do not require a passport, consider investing $85 for one.

Why? Your cruise ports may not require passports, but neighboring countries may. Consider, for instance, that you are on a trans-canal cruise which calls in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Panama. None of those requires a passport, but suppose that, because of a medical emergency, an impending hurricane or any other unforeseen occurrence, you have to leave the ship and return home from one of Panama's immediate neighbors, Costa Rica or Columbia. Both of those countries require a US passport; a birth certificate simply won't do.

Okay, that's my two cents!!!!!

Oh, and on RCL we went to Costa Rica. I know alot of you have mentioned that you wanted DCL to add Costa Rica. Could you imagine being on the ship, and the captain comes across speaker and says "we are making an unscheduled stop due to sick passenger in Costa Rica and will be stopping there for the day instead of Mazatlan?" I'll be waving as I get off the ship with my passport. I know you would be real disappointed if you got stuck on the ship because you just had a birth certificate. To me, the $85 is well worth it!

 

[SandraLee]

seaulater . . . That is a very interesting thought about the passports and unscheduled stop. DH and I both have ours and we are planning on getting them for the kids (mostly for their safety). Now, I am SURE I'll be getting them!