8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC #11

[tiggrbaby]

Wow, you guys are so very organized! I hope I am going to be able to be able to get my act together in time for the cruise!

June, love the FE! What beautiful details!

Desiree, thanks for sharing the pics! It must have been a blast to stay there!

What cool ideas for decorating the bathrooms. When the lads were little, theirs was done in 101 Dalmations. Now it is done in ST grunge.

Our summer club had its big fundraiser yesterday - a sprint meet. We start the day at 6:15 and are finished by 1:00. It's fun to see the big kids swim 25s. Just 2 more weeks of the regular season, then LC Nats in MD for my DS 15. Any other swim families heading there this year?

 

[tom31b]

Also on the baggage question, many people have rolling soft coolers to bring their liquids in.

 

[tom31b]

Ok, I know that I can send a box to the Magic to be waiting for my arrival...I love this idea as we are thinking of shipping all of our elaborate Pirate costumes. What I can not figure out how to do is get those same costumes home again.

I have called DCL, and they say they can not ship out a box for us. So what next?

We are flying out of Orlando after the eastbound repo cruise and the rest of our family is staying at WDW for a few days. Is there any options at either location for shipping...? Has anyone else had this problem?

Sauni

This was on another thread and is by one of our Pirates, any ideas?

 

[AndyR]

You made me stop and think about how many work days I have left. 19 actual work days with 3 that you would call Monday's (for me they are 1-Mon, 1-Wed, 1-Fri). I can handle this.

Hmm.....25 work days left for me...tick, tick......

Andy

 

[lbgraves]

This was on another thread and is by one of our Pirates, any ideas?

I would suggest finding a fedex shipping location in the area that they or their family can take the packed box to and ship it back home for them. I have always found FE to be cheaper than the PO and UPS.

 

[SDHoneymooner]

Not a simple answer.

The "official DCL policy" is like airlines, 2 checked, one carry on and one personal per person. This shows up in a variety of thier printed documents. This isn't enforced though.

From other threads, it looks like they are cracking down on some of the other limitations. For example, their policy is no bottles (alcohol) in luggage:

Recent changes to the shipping to port policy indicated that they would no longer accept cases of water or other beverages as checked luggage, but reports from recent cruises indicate otherwise. (But you still can't ship liquids)

Generally speaking, you will probably be ok getting your stuff in, but if they decide to "enforce the rules" anything may happen. (of course, if they are smart, having dealt with this crew on Canal taxes, etc., they won't enforce it.....)

Also, you will probably only get 2 luggage tags per person in advance, so you will have to get DCL luggage tags at the port.

Also on the baggage question, many people have rolling soft coolers to bring their liquids in.

Thanks Tom. I was really trying to figure out if I could bring a rolling cooler from work and call it a carry-on for the ship so we can bring some bottles on. I don't care if we keep it, so we can always ditch it in FL or ship it back if we want. It would just be eaier to bring alcohol that way vs. trying to fit it in my non-rolling carry-ons. It's worth a try....

This was on another thread and is by one of our Pirates, any ideas?

I asked this same question and Chrissy (mkygrl) mentioned that there's a UPS store near the port. We may try to hit that on our way to the airport.

 

[SDHoneymooner]

Hmm.....25 work days left for me...tick, tick......

Andy

20 for me! And then 5 unofficial "work" days of last-minute wedding stuff. Woo hoo!!!!

 

[tom31b]

I would suggest finding a fedex shipping location in the area that they or their family can take the packed box to and ship it back home for them. I have always found FE to be cheaper than the PO and UPS.

I think they are taking DCL transfers, so they are limited in getting somewhere. If it wasn't pirate costumes, I would say ship it from Aruba, but pirate night is after Aruba.

 

[winotracy]

Not a simple answer.

The "official DCL policy" is like airlines, 2 checked, one carry on and one personal per person. This shows up in a variety of thier printed documents. This isn't enforced though.

From other threads, it looks like they are cracking down on some of the other limitations. For example, their policy is no bottles (alcohol) in luggage:



Recent changes to the shipping to port policy indicated that they would no longer accept cases of water or other beverages as checked luggage, but reports from recent cruises indicate otherwise. (But you still can't ship liquids)

Generally speaking, you will probably be ok getting your stuff in, but if they decide to "enforce the rules" anything may happen. (of course, if they are smart, having dealt with this crew on Canal taxes, etc., they won't enforce it.....)

Also, you will probably only get 2 luggage tags per person in advance, so you will have to get DCL luggage tags at the port.

I agree Tom, it depends if they are enforcing the rules. I would check with the West Coast cruisers though to see about this since it isn't Port Canaveral we'll be sailing from. Security was a lot tighter there than in Port Canaveral last time we went.

 

[MJGirl]

Don't know if this has been posted yet or not, but at 10:00 ET tonight on the Travel channel they are showing Anthony Bourdain Travels to Colombia! Here is a link. I hope it is good. I don't think we will get this episode in Canada though!

MJ

 

[Grandma x3]

I agree Tom, it depends if they are enforcing the rules. I would check with the West Coast cruisers though to see about this since it isn't Port Canaveral we'll be sailing from. Security was a lot tighter there than in Port Canaveral last time we went.

Hi,

For the 6/29 Mexican Riviera cruise - I brought a rolling cooler as carry-on at the port. No problem. There didn't seem to be any luggage restrictions - we didn't bring lots - but some families looked like they got carried away!!

Hope that helps!!

 

[tom31b]

Pulling this over for the person who was asking about Dolphins in PV, is this different than the DCL excursion for us?

Ok so we just got back today and I wanted to share my 2 cents about our shore excursions...

CABO SAN LUCAS
Family Beach Party - NOT WORTH THE MONEY!!!
It does not live up to the hype in the description at all!!! You CAN'T swim in the ocean. The water is SOOOO rough. I did not believe them till I got there. The "lunch" was ok but it was half breakfast/half lunch. The food was OK (at best) and did not hold a candle to the ship. Others just went to a local hotel/beach...got great lounge chairs and spent about $20 total including lunch. If you booked this one I would consider canceling.

The Magic was so close to us I just wanted to go back on the ship!!!!

MAZATLAN
Canopy Adventure (Zip Line)
We LOVED this. DH and I did it. It was awesome. The company was great. You start at a tequilla ranch. It was neat hearing how tequilla is made. Then you have about 15 minutes to walk around before being taken to the zip lines. The guides for the zip lines was GREAT. There were 9 lines total. The equipment was very high quality! I felt totally safe the whole time. I highly reccommend this one.

The vehicles you ride to the first platform.

saftey first!!!

Here I go!!!

PUERTO VALLARTA
Sea Life Park
We decided to book this one on our own. Disney does not offer an excursion to this place. This place was GREAT!!!! The dolphin experience was WONDERFUL. The best part of this one is that you can have a child as young as 1 enjoy this experience. Our DD 3 LOVED it. Also children 5 and under are FREE with a paying adult. You just mention at time of booking that you have someone 5 and under.

The cost for the Swim Adventure....ages 8 and up is $99 a person.....a huge savings over Disney's tours. This includes the belly swim, kiss, handshake, boogie board ride and free time. It was AWESOME. DD (7 - we were not so honest about her age but it was well worth it!!!) and I did this one

The Dolphin Encounter is for those ages 1 and up. Adults are $69 and children 6-11 are $59. DH and DD (3) did this one. They are similar and in the pool at the same time. You just don't do the belly ride and boogie board ride. Again, children 1-5 are free on this one!

The taxi ride from the port was about 20 minutes and cost $7 pp. The ride back cost $5 pp. We used the governement approved taxis both times. Other taxi companies are cheaper but not protected in cases of accidents, etc....

The cost of the dolphins ALSO includes admission to the waterpark and use of tubes all day. It was so awesome. There slides were AWESOME and the lazy river was soooooooo relaxing!!!! It was much better then the "kid soup" pools on the magic...

There was also a GREAT toddler area with a bunch of small slides. DD 3 loved it here.

Belly Ride - It was sooooo much fun!!!!

Ok, I am getting off my soapbox now!

 

[tom31b]

We are actually doing a Dolphin Encounter on our own at Sea Life Park in Puerto Vallarta. Their prices seemed to be a bit better than Disney's (although you do need to pay cabfare there and back) and they have a water park that you can enjoy as well. Someone had posted about this place on the Trip Reports board a while back... http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1864191.

Kim

Duh, now I see someone beat me to it

 

[got2travel]

Some discussion going on about the Kids Postcard Exchange. Come discuss and help me with the math please???
http://www.thepiratezone.us/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=41

 

[jas]

Pulling this over for the person who was asking about Dolphins in PV, is this different than the DCL excursion for us?

Thanks for sharing, the pictures and info are great.

 

[Grandma x3]

ATTENTION


Update on the Wench's Brunch -

So far there are 24 wenches interested.

There are 14 for the first date requested (8/23).

There are 10 for the 2nd "TBA" date requested HOWEVER: The max for the private room is 14 - the minimum is 12 - SO - we need to add 2 more wenches or DCL won't accept our request.

8/23 Roster:

Got2Travel (Monica)
Bellelinus (Jullie)
Sk8ingmom (M)
Esteri (Esteri)
Mrs. Scooby (Laurie)
Downrivermama (Tina)
Geffric (Susan)
Psm729 (Penny)
------(Sandra)
Dahuffy (Debi)
Kap158 (Karen)
Reeenieny (Doreen)
Grandma x3 (Chris)
------ (Lori)


TBA Roster:

jyrb (Jennifer)
Enna (Mary Beth)
Renegade7 (Johanna)
Maine_jennifer (Jennifer
------ (Jeanette - Jennifer's Mom)
gofenmom (Georgiana)
------ (Melody)
hbg4 (Brenda)
----- (Beatrice)
GeneralMax (Ruth)

Let me know if I've missed anyone or if there are any changes. I've already pm'd all those who need to give me there full names & ressie # (required by DCL).
I need to fax the info to DCL no later than Wednesday.

 

[GatheringNoMoss]

hello everyone,

Where is the summer going? As I checked in today and realised how seriously behind we are in getting anything together for this trip!

Would like some thoughts. We are keeping the trip a complete secret until we arrive on the ship; however, I am sure she will want to participate in some of the kids events which have been dicussed. She knows we are going to California and Mexico for two weeks, so packing is not too much of a problem, but what other things should I be doing so she is not left out? Post cards? Pirate costume. Anything else?

She reads pretty well and gets the mail each day, so wish us luck in our secret keeping!

Marian

 

[mkygrl]

I would think you could fed ex a package from any of the convention hotels at WDW..Contemporary,Corranado,Grand Floridian....




Chrissie

 

[jas]

June love the FE your so talented.

Desiree pictures are beautiful I'm so jealous.

Cheryl and John happy anniversary.

Door signs I use regular printer paper as well. Recycle pictures from previous cruises and add new ones as we go along.

Found my tiara and gloves this week so shopping is almost completed.

18 work days left
Leave in 1 month can't wait.
Have most of my DH packed and ready to go. Will start to packing mine next week. It's coming fast.

 

[mkygrl]

hello everyone,

Where is the summer going? As I checked in today and realised how seriously behind we are in getting anything together for this trip!

Would like some thoughts. We are keeping the trip a complete secret until we arrive on the ship; however, I am sure she will want to participate in some of the kids events which have been dicussed. She knows we are going to California and Mexico for two weeks, so packing is not too much of a problem, but what other things should I be doing so she is not left out? Post cards? Pirate costume. Anything else?

She reads pretty well and gets the mail each day, so wish us luck in our secret keeping!

Marian

How exciting! Keeping my fingers crossed that you can keep the secret!

Chrissie