9/27/14, Returning to the Southern Caribbean

[mistynjas]

Hello all! We just finished cruising on the Magic last week for a 4 night Bahamas cruise. We had so much fun and can't wait for our Southern Caribbean Cruise!

1) Number of adults / children in your group: 2 adults and 1 child
2) Names of adults in your group: Jesse & Misty
3) Ages of children in your party (at your discretion): 4
4) General location of where you currently live: Frisco, TX (north of Dallas)
5) Castaway Club Level: Gold
6) Disney Vacation Club owner?: On my wish list

 

[jess77]

Hi! Excited to take our first Disney cruise!

1) Adults: Me (Jess), husband Eric
2) Kids: son, 7 and daughter, 5
2) We live in the Triangle area of North Carolina (between Raleigh and Durham)

We've booked our flight to San Juan for 9/26, and will be interested in finding a hotel in San Juan. May look into the group rate at the Sheraton. Thanks for posting that!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi! Excited to take our first Disney cruise!

1) Adults: Me (Jess), husband Eric
2) Kids: son, 7 and daughter, 5
2) We live in the Triangle area of North Carolina (between Raleigh and Durham)

We've booked our flight to San Juan for 9/26, and will be interested in finding a hotel in San Juan. May look into the group rate at the Sheraton. Thanks for posting that!

WELCOME!!!
Great to have a new family joining us here.

Kathy

 

[4boons]

Welcome to all the new Southern Caribbean cruisers.

Let's hear it for the next six months flying by fast.

Bill and Laura

 

[sdlong329]

Air fare got-cha down? Does your favorite airline fly EVERYWHERE but San Juan? Here's an idea ... if your normal travel plans are suffering a bump in the road (either from sticker shock, or inability to get to San Juan) ... consider booking two separate flights? Why? It sometimes make financial sense to break up your flight into two separate flights (different than two segments). If you favorite airline can get you to Orlando, Tampa, Miami or Fort Lauderdale with convenience and/or with a great fare (or air miles) ... consider flying from home to Florida as normal ... then book Florida to San Juan (and vice versa) on Southwest Airlines (one way flights can range from about $125 - $175+/- pp). Some have found it saves them $$$, while also enabling them to spend a day or two in WDW (or elsewhere in sunny Florida) ... either pre or post cruise ... all with little fanfare or adjustment from their normal travels!

 

[goofy370]

That's exactly what we are doing. We are staying a few days in Disney after the cruise so we broke up our flights.

 

[happy55girl]

Steven, I'm WAY behind on reading the DIS posts. I'm interested to know; what did you decide to do with the West Coast Repo? We did a land and sea vacation last September and loved it

 

[sdlong329]

Hi! Excited to take our first Disney cruise!

1) Adults: Me (Jess), husband Eric
2) Kids: son, 7 and daughter, 5
2) We live in the Triangle area of North Carolina (between Raleigh and Durham)

We've booked our flight to San Juan for 9/26, and will be interested in finding a hotel in San Juan. May look into the group rate at the Sheraton. Thanks for posting that!

Check the Group Hotel Rate information on the first page (post #1 and #2) of this thread. We have 20 room stays set aside for our group ... and only a few remain at this point. There are NO RESORT fees ... our rooms are supposed to be grouped together ... and groups are virtually guaranteed to not get bumped! If you plan to stay a single night ... you will find this program to beat any other booking offers, as Sheraton OSJ normally requires a two night minimum stay if booking a Friday or Saturday. That requirement has been waived for our group, which equals HUGE savings!

 

[sdlong329]

Steven, I'm WAY behind on reading the DIS posts. I'm interested to know; what did you decide to do with the West Coast Repo? We did a land and sea vacation last September and loved it

We cancelled the REPO, in favor of this cruise.

Ideally, we wanted to do a B2B (WB Repo plus 9-night Sitka AK cruise) ... but we found the addition of Sitka to the normal 7-night AK cruise to push the price into an excessive price range. We sailed the Inaugural DCL AK cruise ... would love to go again ... but it was apparent DCL was surcharging the cruise becasue of Sitka. Though we had FABULOUS pricing on the WB Repo cruise, for us, it was not long enough on its own (p[artially becasue we would have to fly 3,000 miles to get to the west coast).


Steven

 

[Maji31]

I just wanted to check in with the Disboards here. I will be taking over the organization of the FE's! So far on the list is 16 cabins. I know there will be more cabins joining. The plan is to keep it to no more than 15 cabins in a group. If you haven't joined in for this fun yet, let me know!

 

[happy55girl]

We cancelled the REPO, in favor of this cruise.

Ideally, we wanted to do a B2B (WB Repo plus 9-night Sitka AK cruise) ... but we found the addition of Sitka to the normal 7-night AK cruise to push the price into an excessive price range. We sailed the Inaugural DCL AK cruise ... would love to go again ... but it was apparent DCL was surcharging the cruise becasue of Sitka. Though we had FABULOUS pricing on the WB Repo cruise, for us, it was not long enough on its own (p[artially becasue we would have to fly 3,000 miles to get to the west coast).


Steven

Well im glad you kept this cruise but too bad about the Repo. Alaska is definitely on my list of to-do's but with rumours of Hawaii I may have to put Alaska on hold. We are doing this cruise BECAUSE the Repo is way too short. It killed me last year when it went from 6 to 5 nights but 4?really? Only 4? Not long enough for this addict!

 

[sdlong329]

Well im glad you kept this cruise but too bad about the Repo. Alaska is definitely on my list of to-do's but with rumours of Hawaii I may have to put Alaska on hold. We are doing this cruise BECAUSE the Repo is way too short. It killed me last year when it went from 6 to 5 nights but 4?really? Only 4? Not long enough for this addict!

I'm on the same wave length as you. It simply did not make sense for us to fly 3,000 miles for a 4 day cruise. I know a lot of people do that to sail on the Dream, but they have the chance to stay at WDW. I realize we can stay at Disneyland pre-cruise ... but we are sailing on DCL more than we are visiting WDW or D/L nowadays ... and the shorter cruises do not do much for us. We have only ever sailed two cruises which were under 7 days (without B2B ... the first was in 1999 (when DCL only offered 3 or 4 day cruises) ... the second (and last) was when we realized we have DVC points we had to use. We had enough for a 4 night cruise on the Wonder. It was nice ... but it was over before I was able to unpack my luggage!


We've been on two TransAtlantic cruises ... loved the 14 night cruise out of Port Canaveral a few years ago ... but the last T/A cruise (out of Galveston) was shortened to 12 nights. Technically, the cruise out of Galveston sailed further, but there were fewer ports and fewer days. Sure, I love the extended sea days, but I'd also like to visit ports of call to round out my overall experience.


We'd love to sail DCL to Hawaii (hopefully in 2015), and we understand it may originate from Vancouver, instead of having to hit Ensenada on the way back to the mainland (to comply with the Jones Act) I am not so sure it makes sense to sail out of Vancouver for a one-way, special itinerary, as there are many people who get WHACKED by additional expenses (airfare and hotel stays) when sailing out of Vancouver. On the other hand, the Baltics is another possibility. From what I remember, the Baltics were extraordinarily expense (whereas, Hawaii was not too bad - for DCL). We have no problem sailing Celebrity, Pricess, or Holland America to the Baltics, if the price is 50% - 75% less.


Steven

 

[sdlong329]

I just wanted to check in with the Disboards here. I will be taking over the organization of the FE's! So far on the list is 16 cabins. I know there will be more cabins joining. The plan is to keep it to no more than 15 cabins in a group. If you haven't joined in for this fun yet, let me know!

THANK YOU!

I sent you a message through DISboards ... I think it went to your e-mail (not a PM).

Steven

 

[sdlong329]

Have you booked your hotel reservations yet? Remember to check out our special Group Rate hotel accomodations (page 1, post #1 and #2 of this thread). The Sheraton Old San Juan is a premium hotel, located across the street from the port. Our group rate is the lowest known price available, and is free of the typical RESORT FEES which are normally tacked on when you book through travel websites such as Expedia and Travelocity (etc). What's more ... since we are booked via a group, we are virtually assured our reservations will not be bumped for overbooking! Our room stay package allows you to book one or more rooms from Monday, September 22, through Friday, September 26 (for check-out Saturday, Setpember 27). It can't get any better than that!

 

[happy55girl]

Oh Steven you've made my heart flutter!!!! A Hawaiian cruise out of Vancouver is my DREAM!!! The added flight costs of this cruise is killing me. I've been watching for the 2015 release as well in hope of Hawaii. Out of Vancouver would make that cruise GOLDEN!!!!

 

[sdlong329]

Oh Steven you've made my heart flutter!!!! A Hawaiian cruise out of Vancouver is my DREAM!!! The added flight costs of this cruise is killing me. I've been watching for the 2015 release as well in hope of Hawaii. Out of Vancouver would make that cruise GOLDEN!!!!

The unofficial, guesstimated, we-have-no-idea-what will-happen thoughts are that the Wonder will depart Vancouver (end of Alaska), head for Alaska, and return to San Diego (perhaps LA), in lieu of a REPO cruise. That would satisfy those who want to sail to Hawaii, and do away with the lower priced Pacific REPO cruise.

While I would like to sail to hawaii, I think DCl screwed up when they made the most recent Pacific Repo so short. We were ono the first Pacific Repo ... more sea days ... more ports ... it was a great cruise, whether or not guests booked it B2B with Alaska (which we did). My only concern with DCL sailing Vancouncer to Hawaii to CA is the very same probelem DCL is experiencing with Alaska ... having to deal with the cost of flying out of Vancouver. While I realize it is a nice port. and while I realize there are many Canadians who sail DCL ... it's typically a HUGE expense for those of us in the US to add Vancouver to our flight itinerary. Since we know sailing to Hawaii will not be cheap, I am WONDERing what impact (if any) the added cost of flying to Vancouver will have on bookings (at least, for those of us in the US). It just seems odd ... having the majority of cruisers fly to Canda, in order to cruise to Hawaii (part of me believes those who plan the cruises for DCl are not human, or do not use their thinking caps). At least, with Puerto Rico, there are low-cost options (ie: Southwest) of getting the destination qwithout breaking the bank!

 

[MAJPLO]

Who has booked their flights already? Anyone mind sharing their strategy? We are looking at Southwest to PR and JetBlue back home. Maybe. Right now those two are pretty much the same price and the lowest we have found. Not sure how much longer I want to wait. Typically we have found great flight pricing six and four months out, but those were not international flights. Not even sure if a flight to PR is considered international, actually. :

 

[LocustPoint]

Who has booked their flights already? Anyone mind sharing their strategy? We are looking at Southwest to PR and JetBlue back home. Maybe. Right now those two are pretty much the same price and the lowest we have found. Not sure how much longer I want to wait. Typically we have found great flight pricing six and four months out, but those were not international flights. Not even sure if a flight to PR is considered international, actually. :

I've booked our airfare from BWI to SJU on Southwest. I'm continuing on to Orlando after the cruise to meet family and my husband is heading home. I'm flying JetBlue to Orlando then back to BWI on Southwest. Husband is flying Southwest back to Baltimore after the cruise

 

[goofy370]

We are flying JFK to San Juan on delta. Then flying from San Juan to Orlando on jet blue. We are staying in Orlando for a few days and then taking Jet blue from Orlando to JFK

 

[ldascenzio]

We are soooo excited to have booked this intenerary for our second Disney Cruise! Second time around we will know what we are doing!
1) Number of adults / children in your group: 2 adults, 2 children
2) Names of adults in your group: Lindsay and Damien
3) Ages of children in your party (at your discretion): Landon ages 4yo and the other- Keaton will turn 3 on the ship!
4) General location of where you currently live:Outisde of Tampa, FL
5) Castaway Club Level: Silver
6) Disney Vacation Club owner?: N/A