20050618 - June 18, 2005 - Magic to Mexico

[vacationbug]

Okay, are you making fun of my delight in finally getting some temperature above 32 degrees (whoopie - it's in the 40's today! Heat wave!) and some of that rare liquid gold?

Sure, just rub it in...I will only appreciate it more when I am cruising!

Yeah, from what I have read on these boards, the teen club is sort of a "gamble" as to whether the teens like it or not. My DS loved the Lab in 2002 but he's clearly a teen this year. At least your "tweens" may have a choice...hopefully there will be a good number of younger teens.

Still waiting to see what happens to US-scare as far as transportation to CA, but it is looking worser and worser! And I hate connecting flights!

 

[DBinMV]

A co-worker pointed this board out to me - cool to see folks are identifying when they'll be on the ship. My co-worker is doing the Florida->California repositioning cruise, the lucky skunk.

I got sucked into this with a party of 11, including my 4 year-old and 2 year-old. We'll be the loud ones by the kids' pool.

If anyone has questions about stuff to do in OC if you're going to be here awhile before the cruise, I'll do my best to help out.

Vactaionbug and Hockey Heather - if you want to skate while you're staying at GC, Disney Ice on Katella (about 5-10 minutes from Disneyland) has a pretty nice facility.

Best wishes to all,

DBinMV
Cruisin 6/18, early seating

 

[Hollyster2]

ok, I would like to thank the kind guide who led me to this thread!
We are a big group. My family of 8 includes my MIL. I have twin daughters who are 18, DD 15, DS 10, and DD 6. Other kids traveling in our group are a DS 19, DS 18, DD 15, DS 10, DS 8, DD 6, DD 4, DD 3, DD 2. There are more, but you get the idea.
I am really interested in if any 18-20 yr olds are on board. Also, our 15 yr olds plan to attend the Stack on the first night.

We are horseback riding with Randi's Happy Horses, and that is as far as we have gotten.

I am getting really excited!

 

[tink1963]

Hello fellow cruisers.
It's great to see that the group is getting larger. I have just returned from a weekend trip to las vegas and am pleasently suprised to find more DISer's on this cruise.

Vacationbug...Our roads are pretty much cleared up. We are still experincing long traffic delays now for the clean up. Thanks for asking. We only missed one week of work, but I'm still playing catch up.

We haven't yet decided on any excursions. I'm interested in shopping. We may do a tequila factory tour since we collect tequila.

My main focus is to start working on the packing aspect. Never had to pack for a cruise before. and I'm not sure where to start. Suggestions welcomed.

Venetia

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Yay! More DISers on the cruise!

Holly - I'm glad you joined us on this thread. Wow! You're cruising with a large a group.

Venetia - Are you thinking about the tequila tour in Puerto Vallarta? I've read that one of the tours (I'm not sure if it's the same one offered by DCL) has a delicious mandarin orange tequila. I've started searching the net about places to buy a good reposado or anejo tequila in our ports. I'll let you know if I find anything.

I always have a tendency to overpack for our vacations. On our last DCL land/sea cruise I had to pack a little bit of everything because the temperatures ranged a good 35+ degrees on our vacation. When we went to Disney World it was cold during the days but by the end of the week it was in the 80s.

I'd pack at least one light weight jacket or sweater because it can get a little chilly in the evenings (at least here in Los Angeles). Don't forget that L.A. is known for it's "June Gloom"; it's usually overcast and the sun may not appear until the afternoon. It would probably be best to check out weather.com before you start packing.

 

[tink1963]

CruisingCA2005....It's nice to find someone who knows their tequila. Please keep me posted on what you find out. Where did you hear about the mandarin orange tequila? Sound good. I will be looking for a really good anejo. In the little bit of research I've done the PV tour sound the best, but have not made any firm plans.

One question I do have is... does anyone know how much liquor can be brought back?

 

[Hollyster2]

Anyone riding with Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan? They take riders from age 3-80 she wrote me. )

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Holly: We're riding with Randi! It'll be me, DH, aunt, twin girls, DS (8), and DD (3)...I asked DH's cousin if they'd want to go also but she didn't get back to me so I haven't added them.

Tink: The tequila is from Mama Lucia's - one of the stops on the princess cruiseline tequila tour in Puerto Vallarta. Perhaps DCL's tequila tour will follow the same itinerary. I am not sure if we can bring back 1 or 2 bottles back duty free. I've read that if you bring more back & the duty is under $10 they usually waive the fee. Posters on cruisecritic were saying that it's a good idea to look at stores in your own area (including Costco), then compare that to the duty free shop onboard, then you'll have an idea of whether the liquor is truly a good deal or not.

 

[cantwait]

We're going on this cruise too and I really can't wait!! We have NEVER been on a cruise before. It is for our 10yr anniversary and our 9yr old daughter will be with us.

I would love to hear other people's experiences with Dis Cruises. We have the later seating time.

Looking forward to talking to some people.

Jen

 

[vacationbug]

Welcome to the boards Cantwait! Neither can we!

Our girls are both 9 year olds! Happy (advance) anniversary! Ours is on the 19th, so we're celebrating too. There is a Romance at Sea package that sounds nice, so we're doing that!

There's several large family groups and everyone has been kind to offer all sorts of information - from horseback riding to tequilla. I'm certainly a novice on both, but the Mandarin orange tequilla sure sounds interesting!

It's exciting seeing more people come "on board"!

Is anyone doing the dolphin encounters/swims at any of the ports? Any experiences with either? Recommendations? Both our kids 13 and 9 are interested in the dolphin-thing. Looking forward to your thoughts/opinions,

Bev

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Jen: Welcome aboard!

Bev: My son (8) wants to try the dolphin encounter for kids. What really looks cool are the Sea Lion Encounters through Vallarta Adventures. I've been trying to find out more info - (i.e. taxi to Nuevo Vallarta, cruiser's experiences, etc) about this excursion.

Would anyone mind if I start making a web page for our June 18th cruise? I've seen several pages that DISers have made for their cruises & thought it was a cool idea. I'll be sure to post personal info (first names, ages, stateroom numbers, and personal photos) in a password protected area or we can leave that area off. I also wanted to post our helpful tips & links. I've been planning our cruise since last May and I've got quite a few things that I'd like to share.

Once basketball season is over, I'll take a trip over to San Pedro to take pics so everyone else can see things in this area.

Yes I'm obsessed!!

 

[vacationbug]

Rae Ann, that would be so cool! Yes, please do! I would use it!

It's raining here in the arm-"Pit" of America- ~so what were you saying about June-gloom? I can't imagine anything would be as dreary as this place (except maybe Seattle or a rain-forest!) Ha!

Besides how can any of us be gloomy when we're on the count down! We're soon gonna be at double-digits! Woohoo!

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Okay...I'll get started on it.

It's not too bad here in June. It can be overcast in the morning until the sun starts peeking out around noon. Low's are usually around 60 in June with highs around 75. It'll probably be 85 degrees when you get here LOL..you just never know how the weather will be.

I'm not sure how many of you are planning on going to the Long Beach aquarium when you're here but I highly recommend it. We're annual passholders and the kids really enjoy going to the aquarium to feed the lorikeets and touch the sting rays & sharks. Here are a few photos. Uhhh...my son's pretending to be a hermit crab in the last photo. You can get discounted tickets from Costco or you can get a discount at the ticket counter with a AAA card.

 

[Hollyster2]

We have a group of 11-17 riders in our group with Randi. See you there! I have twin daughters, but they are 18 and don't like horses. I am bringing my 6 yr old DD, 10 yr old DS and 15 yr old DD. The 15 yr old is having her dream come true getting to ride on the beach in Mexico! I can't wait! I wish I knew more about the other excursions. Randi's is really the only one I know anything about.

 

[Hollyster2]

The web page idea sounds great!

 

[tink1963]

Hi All...

Welcome to Hollyster2 and cantwait

CruisingCA2005...the web page sound great. I must tell you that I have marveled at the information and tips you have found. I have even looked at other threads for the west coast cruises just to find your tips. Thanks so much. Your hard work is appriciated here

We are also planning a trip to san pedro to check out the terminal area in the coming weeks. Sure would be nice to get an idea of the layout.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=7560574&postcount=8

Link to Shirley's "west coast counterpart"

 

[cantwait]

I'm so glad to meet someone with kids and girls my daughter's age. She will be very pleased too!!

I think the web site idea is a GREAT one, it will give us a chance to "get to know" each other a little before we set sail

Let us know when you get it up and running!

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Okay I've got the site started....there's not much working on their right now (except for the ports & Puerto Vallarta page) but I'll start populating it with the info that I have. Please feel free to email or PM me with things you think should be included on the site and also info for the June 18th cruise page.

Info that I'd like:
Names & ages of the cruisers
Hometown
Stateroom #
Early/Late dining
Any fun facts
A picture!!

The info & pics of the June 18th cruisers will be a password protected area. I will only give the url & password to those cruisers that have given me info to post about their families.

You can check out verandahman.com or ***************** for more ideas of cruising web pages.

http://cruisingdcl.mrspoppypuff.com/index.html

The site is NOT finished but it'll give you an idea on how it'll be laid out. I promise to help make this site one of the "bestest" cruise sites out there with a little help from you.

 

[CruisingCA2005]

Hi everyone. It's been a wet day here in SoCal so that means traffic is worse than usual.

I've put up more information on the site but still haven't gotten around to doing OUR portion of it (the June 18th page). I have gotten info from Bev & Jen. I'm going to try to scan in some pics from our 2001 cruise (my pre-digital days) to post.

If the weather clears up I wanted to go down to the port & take pictures of the new cruise terminal/waterfront. They had their grand opening in Dec 2004. There are a few links on my Los Angeles > San Pedro page.

I received the Puerto Vallarta guide that PVPam (from cruisecritic.com & other boards) put together. She's like a Mazatlan Frank of Puerto Vallarta, posting useful information for cruisers. One of the interesting things that she says is that cruisers cannot book shore excursions directly through Vallarta Adventures (probably because of existing agreements through the cruise lines and Vallarta Adventures). She does help people book excursions through other companies and DH & I are going to do the Los Veranos canopy adventure (which is supposedly better than the one offered through Vallarta Adventures/DCL) since my mom said she'd watch the kids for the day. If you'd like a copy of Pam's guide PM or email me. You can also email her at pmt15@hotmail.com

For everyone who will be bringing your own "refreshments" aboard, you do not have to have a membership at Sam's Club to buy alcohol (one California law that I like ). I just wanted to know how much things cost here so I won't get ripped off in Mexico. No, I'm not a lush

Prices of tequila at Sams:
Cabo Wabo reposado $35.46
Milagro Reposado $49.54
Patron Reposado $38.96
Milagro Anejo $63.27 (1.75 L)
Corralejo Reposado $23.96
Herradura Reposado $29.97
Sauza Tres Generaciones Anejo $32.68

If there's anything else you want me to check out at Sam's let me know, I go there fairly often. I also have a Costco membership if you want me to check out something there.

That's it for now.... I'll post again if I discover something new.

Adding: For those of you who will be in the Orange County area and would like to bring some refreshments, check out http://www.hitimewine.com - their store is in Costa Mesa & sometimes their prices are better than the Sams/Costco. Once again...I am not a lush. LOL