5/17/03 Eastern Cruise.. Who is going?

[UKANGEL]

ooohhh!!! I really MUST get round to booking ours...its so difficult to decide which to book though! They all sound so lovely

 

[SQUIGGLE]

We booked too. Doing the
ST JOHN ISLAND TOUR
PARADISE POINT TRAMWAY

Did the Under Two Flags last time. Was interesting. Driver was entertaining.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

 

[donnabres]

Not sure what we're doing yet, I think my niece has it all planned out. We did the Under 2 flags last time in St. Martin, and also the St. John's tour. I liked that much better. Be careful of the trip over to st. John though if you get motion sick. Good thing I took my Bonine. It was quite choppy. Worth it though.

2 months from tomorrow, we'll be in St. Martin.

Everyone is getting tired on me telling them how long I have to go till we cruise. I guess only all of you on this board know how I feel.

Donna

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

donnabres: Thanks for the advice, I will wear my SeaBands for that.

Only 8 weeks 1 day till we are at the Raddison!

 

[Psiklops]

We're gonna try to make our decisions on shore excursions this weekend, but it's tough when you've got 6 adults with such varying interests and abilities. I think we'll try and book 2 for each port - 1 for individual interests and 1 for the entire group (even if that's just wandering around the port town).

- Jim

P.S. Have we scheduled any DIS-Board get-togethers, yet? I'm sure we'll probably do a sail-away party (need to schedule a place), but were there any others scheduled?

 

[donnabres]

We really need to schedule one. The sailaway party is so busy, that it's hard to meet everyone there.

Who wants to take charge?

We'll be at the Raddison on the Friday night also, we won't be getting there till probably 7 or 8 p.m. though. Well, it's better than Sat. a.m.

Donna

 

[IrishCowboy]

I would suggest to schedule a second DIS meet on Sunday afternoon. The Sail Away Party is very crowded and it can be difficult for everyone to find one another.

This gives everyone a second chance to meet others if they miss the first meeting.

 

[dvarallo]

Hi all,

We just booked the 5/17/03 Eastern. There will be 5 of us: me, my 5 year old son, my friend and her 5 year old daughter and 6 year old son. We were on the January 25th cruise and had to fly home from St. Martin because of the Norwalk Virus, so we're going to try again. Looking forward to it. Hopefully, we'll all stay healthy this time.

 

[mmouse37]

Welcome to 5/17 thread....we recently booked as well. We just sailed in January and luckily had no problems with the virus. Hope to stay healthy this time around as well!!

MJ

 

[SQUIGGLE]

Welcome dvarallo! I'm curious. If you just booked when do you get your excursion information? Or did you get it when you booked?
Sunday afternoon on Deck 7 aft might be good for a DIS meet.
we'll be at the Rad Friday too. Should be getting in around 4ish.

fran

 

[dvarallo]

Thanks for the welcomes mmouse37 and squiggle. We have all the excursion information from when we were on the 1/25 Eastern. You can also get the excursion information from the Disney web site. We're not sure if we're going to book any excursions ahead of time. We're just looking forward to enjoying the ship and possibly some massage services. We might look into taking a taxi to one of the beaches on the islands. After January, we're a little gun shy about making too many plans. We're looking forward to doing some relaxing and spending quality time with the kids.

 

[mmouse37]

We did the Western this past January and did the Eastern on 7/7/01 and 2/23/02.

The first time we took DCL beach excursions to Orient Beach in St. Maarten and Sapphire Beach Club in St. Thomas. On our second Eastern trip we did both these beachs on our own via private taxi and saved tons of money. Funny thing is on both islands we were brought to the same beach as the DCL excursion!!! We could come and go on our time schedule.

Taxis drivers were great...would not even let us pay until the return trip. We told him what time to be there and he was there waiting for us.

This time is St. Thomas we are either going to St. John on our own or Magens Bay.

MJ

 

[dvarallo]

mmouse37 - Which itinerary did you like better, Eastern or Western? What beach would you recommend for small children? My friend and I have two 5 year olds and a 6 year old between us. We don't want to do any regimented tours because we want to be flexible and thought the kids would enjoy just playing in the sand and surf. We're open for suggestions from anyone that has done excursions with small children.

 

[mmouse37]

We like both itineraries for different reasons...we like the Eastern for the extra sea day (love those) and the shopping, and like the Western because of the water activities offered in Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

Orient Beach in St. Maarten is very nice and beautiful. We also had our friends with us who had a 6 year old. The only drawback to Orient Beach is at the very far end there is a nudist camp. I mean it is pretty far (about 3/4 mile) from where DCL and our taxi driver took us, but the nudists do take strolls down the beach. The 6 year old with us didn't notice too much but when he did see someone, he took it all in stride. You will get topless bathing in a lot of places in St. Maarten. The nudists all seem to be very old, wrinkly (sp) people who in my opinion like to strut their stuff! Why I do not know!!! They are not much to look at and it is scary to see what gravity can do the human body!!!!

There is a beach called I think Grand Case Beach....it is just a short water taxi ride away from the ship in St. Maarten. I hear people say it is very nice with a nice view of the ships in the harbor. They rent umbrellas as well and it only cost $5 pp for an all day water taxi pass.

We had no problems with this at Sapphire Beach Club in St. Thomas. These are the only beaches we have gone to, so I cannot comment on others. As I said, this time we would like to try Magens Bay in St. Thomas. I hear it is beautiful.

MJ

 

[dvarallo]

mmouse37 - Thanks for the info. Orient Beach sounds nice and I've heard it mentioned several times on this board. I'm not too concerned about the nudist beach. The children are still pretty young and don't think twice about nudity. Who knows, seeing some of these people may help us feel better about our bodies, LOL.

 

[mmouse37]

That's for sure!

MJ

 

[I Luv Disney Cruise]

I have made it past the point I miscarried in my last pregnancy! I also have my blood tests results back. Friday's hCG level was 1,411 and Monday's hCG level was 4,688! So, that is great it is rising like it is supposed to. I am scheduled for a sonogram on April 4th, we should be able to see the heart beat by then! Yipee!

We only have 7 weeks and 3 days till we go to Radisson! We will be there early evening.

 

[SQUIGGLE]

ILDC - looking good! In just over 7 weeks that baby will be getting rocked to sleep on the ocean waves!

fran

 

[donnabres]

I Love Disney Cruise, congrats and best wishes for you and the little one. Our prayers are with you, can't wait to meet you, you'll have to send us all pictures of your little Disney souveiner when you get the ultrasound done.
Someone said 7 weeks? Do we really have to wait that long? It seem so far away.
Donna

 

[UKANGEL]

ILDC thats so lovely for you and your DH We'll keep you in our thoughts

Not long now!