8/17/08 Captain Jack's Repossession Repo Cruise to PC thru TPC Part 2

[bellelinus]

Julie,

Do you have any idea what their policy is if the boat doesn't make it to PV? DH originally said "no way" (and I am afraid of heights and DEFINITLY won't be doing this) but DS8 is really begging after doing a zipline in Minnesota a few weeks ago! I think DH is weakening and they may be doing this ... The website says that it only costs $20 for non-participants to go and relax at the end (restaurant, bar, river, etc) so I could do that.

I couldn't find anything on their website about what happens if the ship can't stop at PV - I would assume they would not count that as a "no-show" and would refund our money, but I couldn't find anything online about that.

Pamela (pdarrah)

I booked it through this shore excursion site http://www.puertovallartatours.net/las-juntas-y-veranos-canopy-tour.htm and they state "no port -- no pay" on the website.

 

[cruisin'Mike]

Hey, Has anyone thought about having a get-together on 8/16 in or near DL? We should all be there by then & could spend some time putting faces with names and stuff.

I'm hoping that we can all meet there that day too! I was trying to look into something inside the park, but they want to charge each person for a one-day admission, regardless of whether or not we already have passes. Maybe something in Downtown Disney or at one of the hotels would be good.

 

[bellelinus]

It shows 4 different canopy tours. Which one are you doing?

It's the first one, Las Juntas Los Veranos. It is the one that has tremendously positive reviews on tripadvisors and cruise critic.

 

[PBader]

Well Pirates, so much for my hope of 2008 being better than 2007. DS is in the hospital again for his depression. I really don't know how much more of this I can take. Please pray for us.

Monica, I am so sorry to hear this

 

[bellelinus]

Are these 2 the same?

http://www.puertovallartatours.net/canopy-tours.htm (Los Veranos Canopy Tour)


http://www.canopytours-vallarta.com/

Any difference? They appear to be a different price but when you take into account the discount they are virtually the same.

Yes, they even both mention Pancho's as the restaurant at the end. I believe the first is just a group that organizes shore excursions, and they have had great reviews for their customer service on cruise critic, so I went through them.

 

[bellelinus]

Julie what made you pick this canopy tour over others I have to book for my family and since the old idea of them flying that high up makes me so nervous I want to make sure I pick the safest one

Laurie, I picked this one because it has had the best reviews over a long period of time on cruise critic and on tripadvisor. I'm not overly concerned with the safety issue because the way they hook you in is just like parasailing, which we have done (and the heights are similar enough). Also, if you want there is a small fee for someone to go along and observe, and hang out at Pancho's at the end, so you could go with the family and not zipline, if you want.

 

[bellelinus]

Hey, Has anyone thought about having a get-together on 8/16 in or near DL? We should all be there by then & could spend some time putting faces with names and stuff.

I'm hoping that we can all meet there that day too! I was trying to look into something inside the park, but they want to charge each person for a one-day admission, regardless of whether or not we already have passes. Maybe something in Downtown Disney or at one of the hotels would be good.

For anyone planning to be in DL anyway, it would be fun to plan an evening to get together and watch Fantasmic . . . if you want the section where you sit near the river, you have to get there early anyway and that would give everyone plenty of time to chat . . .

 

[PBader]

Been away for about a month -- no way to catch up. Four weeks straight 24/7 with a two and a five year old (+ the two grown dd's) and I'm really tired. It was great and I wouldn't trade a minute of it away.

Barbara

Glad you had a great time Barbara. Sometimes we need a little down time to recoup. from a vacation

Anyone want to share what they are budgeting for their onboard acct?
We are planning on doing some excursion at every place but not the expensive dolphin swim etc.
I have widely estimated we will need $3500-4,000 not including tips.
We also are not planning on the most expensive spa options (spa villas) but will be spending some time in there.
Since the qualifying cruise was for only 4 days it is hard to extrapalate into 15 days. Yal think I am inline with reality?
I know so much depends on a huge number of factors but I was just curious. I have the tips covered by my Disney credit cards rewards and I am putting my stock dividends the 1st 3 quarters of this year in a separate acct for other onboard expenditures.

Coral, I figure for the 3 of us about $2000 or so. Maybe not as much since we have booked some excursions not with DCL so they are already paid for. Unless they have some really new different things in the gift shop we won't spend much there.

 

[JoiseyMom]

For anyone planning to be in DL anyway, it would be fun to plan an evening to get together and watch Fantasmic . . . if you want the section where you sit near the river, you have to get there early anyway and that would give everyone plenty of time to chat . . .

I am hoping if the trip goes as planed that we will be in DL on the 16th. Is Fantasmic different bet DL and WDW?

 

[PBader]

He is doing so well! Thank you for asking. He was released from treatment by his doctor yesterday...all healed up and learning new ways of using that hand. His spirits are good in spite of the possibility that he may have to quit doing part of his job that he really loves doing the most. We're going to give it more time before we search for a replacement or start to train someone else though. But he really is doing really, really well.

Stace, that is wonderful news that Jay is doing well Hopefully, he will be able to continue doing what he loves. It will take some time

 

[MrsScooby]

I am not Julie, but she, like me, has probably done a lot of research. I have spent hours looking over every site I can find that remotely mentions them and I heard nothing but good. They are even going out of their way to provide a private guide to a group of legally blind folks from another group.
They have a spotless record as far as I can find. They did have a guy die in Feb but it was a heart attack that certainly was not their fault. All I read said they handled it very well.
This one is also the longest from what I can tell. We are booking w/ them as well.

Laurie, I picked this one because it has had the best reviews over a long period of time on cruise critic and on tripadvisor. I'm not overly concerned with the safety issue because the way they hook you in is just like parasailing, which we have done (and the heights are similar enough). Also, if you want there is a small fee for someone to go along and observe, and hang out at Pancho's at the end, so you could go with the family and not zipline, if you want.

I tried doing my own research, but I found myself just getting more anxious the more I read

I went parasailing back in 92 when we were in Maui, but somehow being over the water made it seem safer

Which meeting location do you choose ?

I'm debating going along- wondering if I'll just feel really lame letting my anxiety get in the way while I'm waiting hours for everyone to finish

I'm so thankful for all the research you guys did !!!

 

[cruisin'Mike]

We had a great time at WDW and we got a Dream. In fact, it turned into a Double Dream.

We were talking to a Dream Squad CM, who offered us a private meet and greet with Cinderella. I knew my DD and my Mom would be thrilled, so of course I accepted, and we managed to keep it a secret from both of them. My Mom was so excited when we went through the curtains and she saw Cinderella that she was crying. Here's a picture of the family:

The CM could tell that the boys were a little less than enthused with the meeting. I guess that's what happens after years of princess breakfasts. He said to meet him at the pirate tutorial in Adventureland, since that was something that the boys would enjoy.

We met up with him about 15 minutes before the show, so we could be sure to be right up front. The show was really fun. We all enjoyed it, and the kids all "joined" Captain jack's crew at the end of the show.

We thought that it was cool, and were about to leave. the CM said he had one more thing to show us, so we followed him across the street to a CM only backstage door. He opened it up and told the boys to go in, and we all followed. They walked along a pathway, and guess who popped out to surprise us all???















Captain Jack Sparrow!!!!




We had a nice little private Meet and Greet with the good captain, and his mate Mack from the pirate tutorial show. They posed for pictures and gave us autographs and chatted with us for a few minutes. It was a really fun experience. Here are a couple pictures:

 

[bellelinus]

I am hoping if the trip goes as planed that we will be in DL on the 16th. Is Fantasmic different bet DL and WDW?

Yes, instead of being in an arena it takes place on the river running through the magic kingdom, and real ships (the sailing ship Columbia and the Mark Twain riverboat) are used . . . also instead of the Pocohontas section there is a big Peter Pan/ Captain hook fight on the Columbia as it sails by and the crocodile follows . . . there are also a few other changes and in the end Mickey is on top of the house on Tom Sawyer's island instead of on top of a mountain. Similar enough to still be good and different enough to be intriguing -- and it was the first, too.

 

[bellelinus]

I tried doing my own research, but I found myself just getting more anxious the more I read

I went parasailing back in 92 when we were in Maui, but somehow being over the water made it seem safer

Which meeting location do you choose ?

I'm debating going along- wondering if I'll just feel really lame letting my anxiety get in the way while I'm waiting hours for everyone to finish

I'm so thankful for all the research you guys did !!!

Puerto Vallarta at the Canopy office . . . it's a short taxi ride from the port, according to the documents I received from them.

Believe me, Laurie, if you hit the water while parasailing it would be like hitting concrete! You might be better off hitting a few trees to deflect some of the force falling off the zipline!

OK, that probably did NOT make you feel better . . . but really, it does seem to be safe.

 

[cruisin'Mike]

For anyone planning to be in DL anyway, it would be fun to plan an evening to get together and watch Fantasmic . . . if you want the section where you sit near the river, you have to get there early anyway and that would give everyone plenty of time to chat . . .

That sounds like a great idea. We want to see DL's Fantasmic. I heard that it is better on the river using the full-size steam boat.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hey, Has anyone thought about having a get-together on 8/16 in or near DL? We should all be there by then & could spend some time putting faces with names and stuff.

I'm hoping that we can all meet there that day too! I was trying to look into something inside the park, but they want to charge each person for a one-day admission, regardless of whether or not we already have passes. Maybe something in Downtown Disney or at one of the hotels would be good.

Supposedly Mark (DisneyPilots) was planning on something on 8/15 or 8/16 but he has not been around very much. I agree with you Mike that DTD or one of the hotel restaurants would be better than trying to arrange something in the park on a Saturday night in summer. It would be great for whomever is in the parks during the day to meet up and spend the day together. Maybe even a couple of times for people to meet up would be great. We love Storytellers menuat the Grand, good food, a buffet if you want or menu and is in close proximity of the parks. DTD has several restaurants to choose from Tortilla Jo's (Mexican)menu, Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, Naples (Italian/Pizza)menu, House of Blues, Catal menu, Rainforest Cafe and ESPN Zone.

 

[arlenesp]

It's 1:00 in the morning here and I'm wearing it at the moment.

The one I have is on loan from the hospital but work will pay for me to get one in the next few days as it was an incident that caused my knee injury.

David

David, is it something like this? http://www.rsmedical.com/bionicare/product_bionicare_knee_device.asp
Click on the learn about to see a picture of the device Rich has. He used it for a while and quite frankly n ever complained abit at all. But it was such a pain to put on each night and sometimes the voltage would be a bit high and he would get sores on his knees. That is mainly the reason he stopped.


I got part of the response about PV and Walmart and Sams. Here is what they said so far.


I cannot answer for sure about gift cards, but as far as alcohol is concerned both Sams and Walmart have a pretty good selection. However, because of the Mexican taxes, the prices are more than you would pay most places in the states and certainly more than the duty-free on a ship. The only good prices are on Tequilia and other booze products made in Mexico. Both Sams and Walmart are located right across the street from the Marina and within walking distance with packages. Its probably about the same as a 4 block walk (although you can almost throw a stone from the ships to Sams) because the only exit from the port is on a side street.


Hope this answers some questions. If I get any more I will post it.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Yes, instead of being in an arena it takes place on the river running through the magic kingdom, and real ships (the sailing ship Columbia and the Mark Twain riverboat) are used . . . also instead of the Pocohontas section there is a big Peter Pan/ Captain hook fight on the Columbia as it sails by and the crocodile follows . . . there are also a few other changes and in the end Mickey is on top of the house on Tom Sawyer's island instead of on top of a mountain. Similar enough to still be good and different enough to be intriguing -- and it was the first, too.

Kewl...my DS6 LOVES Peter and Hook!! Tx for the info . Now I just hope we make it!

 

[MrsScooby]

Puerto Vallarta at the Canopy office . . . it's a short taxi ride from the port, according to the documents I received from them.

Believe me, Laurie, if you hit the water while parasailing it would be like hitting concrete! You might be better off hitting a few trees to deflect some of the force falling off the zipline!

OK, that probably did NOT make you feel better . . . but really, it does seem to be safe.

Yeah, I was thinking that the water would be hard if I hit it, but you know in the movies they just swim away when falling into water

I want to do it, really I do. I did the parasailing because Darren's Aunt and husband did it when they went to Hawaii in 1990 and I figured if these "old" people were doing it then I would too

What happens if you let go of the handles ? Are you strapped in enough that you just hang there or what

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Roger and all interested:
Here is a neat website I found on the PV Zipline tour. Neat pictures.
We are leaning toward that in PV.
http://ronrythm.com/Veranos.html

Trip Advisor report

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...os_Veranos-Puerto_Vallarta_Pacific_Coast.html

I looked on the pirate site and did not find this exact info and I apologize in advance if this is old news.

(I know I should be concentrating on PC since that is what I signed up for- working on it next).
Coral

Ok, Coral I am with you on this one. Everything that I read indicated that this was the best one too. Like we were saying in chat I think we will get DD7 a full ticket and hope she does well. If not Cherie will take her down to the swimming area.

So, are we doing the 11am with Julie? PM or let me know.