advice on Oct. Cruise to Western Car.

Scooby3x1y

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Feb 6, 2004
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Our family is going to take the Disney Cruise to the Western Carribean on October 9.

I would love any advice on weather, things to do on ship, excursions, anything at all.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Lori
 
Hey! We are going at the same time. Look for me at Castaway Cay, I'll be the one in the wedding dress.

There are a ton of things to do on the ship. Try searching for the 7 Day Western Caribbean Cruise Personal Navigator. It will show you what there is to do on the ship. In the past we attended the cooking demos and the shopping talks and toured the bridge & galley. So much to do!!!
 
scooby and hebe:

We will be on the cruise too. 6 total: DH, me, DD15, DD13, DS7, DD4. We made our final payment yesterday. (ok I know early but DH work is paying for part of it -yea!:D ) As far as excursions go, I have heard that swimming with the stingrays in Grand Cayman is a must do. I am thinking of booking this on our own, many on these boards like Capt. Marvins - need to research a little more. In Cozumel, DH might SCUBA and I will probably take some kind of snorkeling excursion (the reef life in Cozumel is great! - we vacationed there in 1996) although many others have done the ruins at Tulum - but this is a long bus, ferry ride from the ship and I think tooo long for my little ones. On CC we plan to relax...took the 4 day cruise last Oct. and did the Seahorse Snorkel thru Disney but the snorkeling was mediocre compared to Cozumel, also Parasailed and kids did banana boat rides. Not sure what to do in Key West yet, maybe just the trolley tour.

Hebe: Your wedding on CC...WOW I'm sooo excited for you!:D

Oh, almost forgot scooby asked about the weather...we were on Oct 5 Wonder cruise last year and the weather was perfect...I would say low to mid 80s. It is hurricane season in Oct (Capt will steer us around any storms if there are any in the area) but hopefully we will have nice weather like last year!
Jennifer
 

Hi Scooby (and others) - we are also on this cruise with DDs 7 & 11. How old are your kids? We're thinking about the trolley tour in Key West, Tulum Ruins in Cozumel, the Island Tour in Grand Cayman, and absolutely nothing at Castaway Cay. Can't wait!!

Welcome!

Carla:Pinkbounc :bounce:
 
Wow, you guys are great! Thanks so much for the info. I've gathered a little of my own......Feeding the stingrays I've been told is an unreal and fabulous experience. Yesterday we went and bought our own snorkeling equipment and the kids were all really excited about that.

We've now heard from several people that the snorkeling equipment you rent there isn't very good and can ruin the experience. I guess in Cozumel there is this state park (that has a long name...she couldn't remember it) that was the best snorkeling of the trip. This should allow us to snorkel anytime and anywhere regadless of who is around to rent equipment.

Has anyone else been to Tulum? Is that the only ruins to visit? We'd like to see it, but would like to know if it is worth it overall?

I have 3 boys 13,11,10 (will have his 10th onboard - fun!) and my dd is 8.

Have you heard if they do anything special for them if their birthday is while onboard? (other than the package stuff you can buy at their store)

oooohhh....also, if you find any links to book the excursions outside of the cruise...I'd appreciate that!

Thanks so much! I look forward to chatting w/all of you!

Lori
 
Hello everyone - we will be on the October 9th cruise as well.

Jenschaef1 - Great minds must think alike - we were also on the Oct 5th Wonder. I'm hoping for the same great weather! I see your from Chandler - I used to live in Mesa about 15 years ago when Chandler was mostly farms - I can't imagine how much it must have grown up. Hope to run into you!

Scooby - I'm glad to see you have a DD8 - I have twin DD8 - hopefully they will meet up at the clubs!

Has anyone done the dolphin excursion on their own in Cozumel? Its cheaper to book on your own but I didn't know if transportation back and forth was a problem? I am also thinking of doing the Stingray City - is it also cheaper on your own?

Thanks
Michelle
 
Originally posted by HebeJebe
Hey! We are going at the same time. Look for me at Castaway Cay, I'll be the one in the wedding dress.


Best wishes to you on your wedding!!!! How lovely to get married there! We were part of a wedding but it was at Sessions during the cruise - just lovely there!

I had to laugh about your user name "HebeJebe" - when Michael gets "wound up", I ask him if he has the "HebeJebe's"!!!

Rae
 
rae519-

Thank you. How was the wedding in Sessions? I did hear that there can be multiple weddings on the ship but only one at Castaway Cay. I'm very excited about it but still have a ton of planning to do.

HebeJebe is my dog's name. I named her Hebe after the Greek Goddess of Youth but no one has ever heard that name before and started calling her HebeJebe so we sent in her AKC paper (you have to have a middle name) as HebeJebe. Once when she was in Obedience School her trainer used the expression HebeJeebies and her ears perked right up.
 
There are two parks around Cozumel: Chakanab is on the island and Xcaret is on the main land. They both sound really great.
 
scooby:
My DD13th bday on board also had her birthday on board last year. On the night you pick, your servers will bring out a nice slice of birthday cake and sing happy b-day. Perfect to embarrass the b-day child! :p

WDWgirls:
No you would not recognize chandler...we have been here 10 years and it is mostly houses now (Stucco with tile roofs...think Taco bell palaces ). All the dairies are moving down to the Maricopa/Casa Grande area. We even have our own beautiful mall now. We love it here (yep, even in the summer ...we are baked not fried :rolleyes: ) Maybe we saw you last year...did you meet up with any of the Disboard people? We wore our nametags with the the green mickey heads on them and met quite a few...what a nice bunch of folks.::yes::

Jennifer
 
WDWgirls,

We are also on the Oct 9 cruise
we were thinking of doing Stingray City also.
We will probably book with Capt Marvins for their 3 hour stingray/snorkle tour.
DCL offers the excursion for $45/person
Capt Marvins price is $39/person
The DCL excursion states age 5 and above so I am not sure if I would be able to take my DD3 on the DCL excursion.
Capt Marvins welcomes all ages.
 
HebeJebe - The wedding at Sessions was by choice for the couple - I didn't realize that only one was permitted at CC. Since they had the WD Suite, I bet they would have let them have it anywhere they wanted!! WHEW!! That's some stateroom!

Anyway, the wedding had a live piano player who played before, and after the ceremony - the ship's Captain did the ceremony - the bride and flower girl walked from the far end of Sessions to the entrance (near the piano), while we waited for her. There was a table set up with a lovely cake (topped with a ceramic Mickey and Minnie wedding couple), champagne and strawberries diped in chocolate. The wedding planner for DCL was also there to hold the bride's bouquet while Mom, Michael and I stood around them.

The Captain did a very long and lovely ceremony - very individualized to the couple and yet very traditional. After the groom kissed the bride, we were given champagne to toast - my honor! And then of course, the DCL photographer and I were taking pictures. The DCL photographer was very gracious and I could take as many as I wanted (which was good because I was having the pictures developed on ship to give to the couple). We had a delicious cake and some strawberries - more conversation with the Captain and Wedding Planner (The very dashing and charming Captain John and thoroughly efficient and gracious WP Danielle, to be precise) Also, we had more pictures taken and just enjoyed the time so very much with our new friends.

Then the couple was whisked away by the WP and photographer to sites on the ship to pose for pictures. We saw them at a few very good spots and the pictures taken were wonderful.

I want to emphasize that this couple was one I had met on the boards and became close with over the months before our cruise. This is the magic and excitement of what these boards are about -you just never know who you may become close with and what will happen.

By the way, the couple now has a darling baby girl to add to their family of 3! Just a fairy tale wedding for a marvelous family that we love dearly!

Hope that helps - it brings back a lot of memories for me just in the retelling!!!

Rae
 
The wedding sounds like it was great. I imagine our will be a lot like that only at Castaway Cay instead of Sessions. I really can't wait. Only 8 more months...
 
I will be attending my son's wedding in May. I tried VERY VERY VERY hard to get him to have it on the Magic - they will be cruising anyway - Indy to Orlando to San Juan, Puerto Rico then on another cruise line to cruise the Southern Caribbean Islands.

Just makes me sick to think that we could have had another cruise out of this and now aren't.....what did I do wrong in raising him? Ohhhh, I know, I'll blame his father - that would work!!!!

Someday I am going to surprise Tom with a vow renewal on the Magic but not this year!!!

Rae
 
Any new info from anyone on what ya guys are doing for excursions? We will also be attending the Oct 9 2004 Western and I have 2 girls age 5 and 7. We are also from Chandler, Arizona and I just noticed jenschaef1 was also from Chandler! Wow how crazy! Hope to meet everyone.

Suzy:sunny:
 
Hi, we are on this cruise as well. We're from right outside Louisville, Kentucky. This will be our first dcl cruise and the very first for our little ones. Hubby and I have been before. It will be myself, dh, dd 6 and ds 5. So looking forward to doing this, I don't know how I will ever get through the summer! Here are a bunch of links I've been collecting, tho I haven't really had time to go through them, so "enter at your own risk"!!;)
http://www.schoonerwesternunion.com/
http://www.nautilus.ky/
http://www.trolleytours.com/Key West.htm
http://www.captainmarvins.com/
http://www.easydaycharters.com/
http://www.cozumel.travelnotes.cc/tours/dunebuggy.html
http://www.cozguide.net/chankan.html
http://www.loscincosoles.com/panchosbackyard/home.htm
http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/
http://www.jollyrogercayman.com/
http://www.shoretrips.com/
http://cozumelinsider.com/index.html
http://dolphinwatchusa.com/
http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=927093444&f=709097554
http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=927093444&f=709097554
http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=927093444&f=098097554

Hope this helps you all to decide or at least pass the time!! We still haven't chosen what we are going to do either, have to sit down with dh and do that. Anyway hope to meet you all on board and keep in touch here!

Heidi
 
Hi Heidi,

So are you gonna book the excursions on your own? Do alot of people do that? Everything looks fun! Have you visited your family in Az yet? If not be prepared looks like our summer arrived early!:sunny: :crazy:
 
I'm still on the fence about booking excursions on the side. Read lots of pros and cons, mostly I think you save quite a bit of $ but on the down side you don't always get a refund if for some reason your ship doesn't make it into port for your scheduled excursion. Also the factor of the ship waiting for you if you are held up on a scheduled excursion versus being out of luck if you run late on one of your own. I'll let you know when we decide, but it will probably be awhile.

We leave Monday for Phoenix. Yup, been reading the weather page and I'm not looking forward to the upper 90's. I've been assured that it's not supposed to last, but hey I was there in late Nov year before last and it was in the 90's for 8 straight days. And yeah, I know its a "dry" heat, but hey, hot is hot:eek: :eek: !!
Heidi
 

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