20060902--Eastern Sept 2nd, 2006

[tggrbuny]

HI!

I am excited to say that DH (46) and I (41) are booked on this cruise. This is our first Disney cruise, also never been the eastern route.

Really looking forward to meeting all of you. We don't have any children, but we act like kids, so you'll never notice the difference.

In answer to Ginny's question, we are DVC too.

I have read several of your trip reports from this year's cruise (same route and week) and now can't hardly wait.

Robin

 

[gdulaney]

Hi Robin

Welcome to the Eastern DCL 9/2 thread!! Have you guys ever cruised before? We love the Disney Cruise Line and have aways had a blast!!!

Ginny

 

[tggrbuny]

Ginny,

This will be cruise number four for us. We avoided Disney in the past because we thought we might be out of place without kids. After a lot of research, we have come to see that isn't true. Looking back now it seems stupid. We go to the parks once or twice a year and always have a good time and rarely feel left out.

We still get star struck when we see the characters, we love to cruise...it seems like a match made in heaven. DH is already looking for a puffy pirate shirt!

It will be nice to know people on board. On our last Royal cruise, we didn't know anyone. The first morning we ate at a table with a large family that refused to noticed us, of course, we ran into them all day no matter where we went! Serves them right

Robin

 

[gdulaney]

Robin,

I know what you mean...it's alot more fun when you know folks...or are at least on "waving" terms. We've been pretty fortunate with our dining companions. This year was the hardest....but by a couple of nights into the cruise, we were all getting along wonderfully.

Isn't it crazy --- you see a huge ship and you know that you'll never see folks...and yet, everywhere you go...there they are. It's pretty cool.

Ginny

 

[tggrbuny]

Ginny
I agree. We have met some of the most interesting people during our meals on cruises. We had the pleasure of dining with two British WWII vets and two Michigan school teachers last time. The gentleman had been in Africa and Germany during the war and had great stories. The teachers were fascinated with the Olympics and had managed to attend in many different locales. Their stories about Greece were worth the price of the cruise.

We often eat breakfast in the dining room to make waving buddies for the rest of the trip.

DH is sitting next to me now, can’t hardly wait to go. It hardly seems to matter to him that the trip is 10 ½ months away or that we are going to the parks in three weeks! He is amazing on cruises. He eats everything in sight and manages to lose the extra weight within two or three weeks of being home!

Robin

 

[gdulaney]

Wow Robin,

You've had some great dining companions! During one of our first cruises we were seated at a table with two other couples...after a night or two, I asked one of the gentlemen if he worked for Disney (don't ask why I thought that)...but it turned out that he was in Risk Mgmt at WDW. That was pretty cool.

I'm pretty excited about the cruise too...even if it's 10 months away!

Ginny

 

[joshua121301]

Are there any DVC members who are planning to cruise on points? If so, we can book on Monday!!!

Ginny

I guess we are DVC Members now!! When I arrived home from work today, my DW advised me that she purchased with DVC today. So I need to update my signiture now!

 

[gdulaney]

I guess we are DVC Members now!! When I arrived home from work today, my DW advised me that she purchased with DVC today. So I need to update my signiture now!

Congratulations!!!!

Ginny

 

[joshua121301]

Turns out she got a great deal direct from DVC 350 at $83.30/pt for SSR

 

[gdulaney]

What a great deal!!! Is this your first buy? It's totally addicting.

Ginny

 

[joshua121301]

What a great deal!!! Is this your first buy? It's totally addicting.

Ginny

Yes it is our first buy!! We are pretty excited, my DW did it as a surprise, and quite the surprise it was. I have heard of people buying site unseen, but she has never even been to the state of Florida!! Now that is a leap of faith. I'm sure all will be great. We own with MVCI and are happy with them, so how can we be disappointed in DVC!! Now we can't wait to go. We will try to book a week prior to the cruise next year. We still are not very sure how the program works and have not received our member packette. Anyhow, if you have the time maybe you can bring us up to speed over a beer on the cruise. If not just the beer would do nicely!!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

Congrats on the DVC purchase and as we like to say....

Welcome Home

We've only been members for over a year and would buy more points today if we could! It is sooo addicting. We're not cruising on points because it just figured to be way too much. We've had this cruise booked for what seems like forever! We have one DVC trip planned in January to give us our "fix" until the cruise.

DH and I have been looking forward to this cruise--our first 7 day--for a very long time! We've done the Wonder 4 day way back in Aug/Sept 2003 just to see how the kids would do on a cruise and needless to say everyone had a great time.

I need to take time to go back over the thread so I can get caught up on everything. Sorry if this has been covered but has anyone purchased their cruise insurance yet? We originally booked through Costco and didn't take their insurance. We've never had cruise insurance before but this time I think it would be a good idea.

Glad to see so many people here!!

 

[joshua121301]

Welcome back Lucky!! I was wondering where you went! I don't know alot about the insurance, we used the insurance through DCL, however the passporter suggest using www.insuremytrip.com. I hope that this helps!! We are so excited about our new DVC home. But now that we have it I can't wait to go,,just something else to wait for. waiting, waiting, waiting...

 

[HollyTyler]

Congrats on the DVC purchase and as we like to say....

Welcome Home

We've only been members for over a year and would buy more points today if we could! It is sooo addicting. We're not cruising on points because it just figured to be way too much. We've had this cruise booked for what seems like forever! We have one DVC trip planned in January to give us our "fix" until the cruise.

DH and I have been looking forward to this cruise--our first 7 day--for a very long time! We've done the Wonder 4 day way back in Aug/Sept 2003 just to see how the kids would do on a cruise and needless to say everyone had a great time.

I need to take time to go back over the thread so I can get caught up on everything. Sorry if this has been covered but has anyone purchased their cruise insurance yet? We originally booked through Costco and didn't take their insurance. We've never had cruise insurance before but this time I think it would be a good idea.

Glad to see so many people here!!

I've used Travelex for my trip insurance a few times. A co-worker told me about it. She always uses it because it's pretty cheap. However, I didn't compare prices with other companies...just took her word for it. I think it was like $100 for 2 of us on our last 7 day cruise. They're located at www.travelex.com if you want to check it out.

 

[gdulaney]

Yes it is our first buy!! We are pretty excited, my DW did it as a surprise, and quite the surprise it was. I have heard of people buying site unseen, but she has never even been to the state of Florida!! Now that is a leap of faith. I'm sure all will be great. We own with MVCI and are happy with them, so how can we be disappointed in DVC!! Now we can't wait to go. We will try to book a week prior to the cruise next year. We still are not very sure how the program works and have not received our member packette. Anyhow, if you have the time maybe you can bring us up to speed over a beer on the cruise. If not just the beer would do nicely!!

No problem... just let us know what you've got questions about and if we can't answer....I bet somebody on the DVC boards can.

Ginny

 

[udflyer00]

Well it's official!! We are booked!! It will be myself, dw, ds, dd, mil, and fil!! We can't wait!!!

I have some catchup reading to do, I have been watching this thread ever since we started talking about booking. I need to find out what are the good shore excursions for families... Any one have any quick suggestions?

Thanks and can't wait to discuss our cruise!!
Mark

 

[gdulaney]

Hi Mark!

What kind of stuff do you like to do? Have you ever been on the Eastern route? There are alot of fun excursions and St Maarten has two of my favorites... first, the 12-Metre Regatta and second, the Rhino Rider. The 12-Metre Regatta gives you the opportunity to "race" former America's Cup boats. You can be as active as you want (or sit back and be a "timer" or "drink wench"). Rhino Riders are like oversized jet-skis that seat two people and are suitable for riding in the ocean. You ride along the coast, have snorkle time, and ride back. In St. Thomas, you can visit a beach, take an island tour, or take a tour over to St. John. The US Virgin Islands have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and some of the best shopping!

Ginny

 

[udflyer00]

Ginny,

Thanks for the reply... We have never been on the eastern route before. My wife and I took a 4-day Disney Cruise for our honeymoon back in 99, but this will be our first trip since. And we liked it so much we wanted to take a different route and longer trip this time... We chose the Eastern route because I am really looking forward to the days at sea, and the Eastern route has more than the western...

As for what we like to do... Well we are open to hear about all, but the one thing is they have to be activities suitable for little ones... We will have our ds (4) and dd (2) with us so the activities have to accomodate them as well. I thought someone mentioned a submarine ride? I will have to look that up and see where that is, but that is the only thing with our excursions is our kids have to be able to participate as well... What island should we be sure to hit a beach at for sure? St. Maarten or St. Thomas?

TIA,
Mark

 

[tggrbuny]

Hi Mark,

I was so excited to see someone from the area on the cruise! We live in Middletown. I had nothing of value to add to the shore excursion question, but I wanted to say hi since we are neighbors.

Will you be flying or driving? We are planning on book AirTran for the non stop on Friday morning. We flew down on the same day as our cruise last September and I was nervous right up till the moment I saw the ship from the cab.
Robin (and Dave)

 

[udflyer00]

Robin,

We will be flying down as well... And I hope to get the NS flight on AirTran as well... The one thing we still have to hash out is when we want to go down... I was just thinking today that since Monday, Sept 4th, is labor day then we could maybe fly down on Thursday night and take Friday off with our vacation hours we would've used on Monday!! So many decisions to work out between now and then... Let me know if you see the AirTran flights come out for our trip!!

Makr