Anyone for Jan.4, 2004 wonder?

[Minnesota]

Hi all!
Is anyone here booked on the 4 day cruise departing Jan. 4, 2004 on the wonder? I am looking for a lime green ribbon to wear on my hat. It would be fun too meet someone face to face instead of screen to screen.
Minnesota

 

[Minnesota]

Nobody? Bummer.
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

Two families of 4 from Montana will be joining you! We each have two girls age 9 & 11.

 

[Minnesota]

Cool! I'm sure the girls will love it! Everyone actually, I'm 22 and on my second DCL Cruise and want to plan the next one. (Have to see where I will be going to school though). Hope to see you aboard!
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

Who are you traveling with? Family, friends, solo?

 

[Minnesota]

It is just me and my best friend form High School. Our last cruise was the two of us and my dad because I was a week away from my 18th b-day. Now both of us will be 22.
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

That's great! We're alot of fun, same with the couple that we are traveling with. Our girls all fight like sisters at times but we'll make the best of it. (Just lock them in the bathroom or something! HA!)

We are flying into Tampa (connecting in MSP), renting cars, staying there 2 nights, to Orlando two nights, then on to the Port. This is our first cruise so we are really getting excited, and it's coming up fast!

Do you recommend any of the excursions, or have you done any of them? We booked the Discover Atlantis in Nassau and the Parasailing for my husband and oldest daughter in CC. Our youngest and I will hang out and just watch from the beach. I don't like heights!

We were upgraded from Cat 11 to Cat 8 and got very excited about having the port hole.

Now we are trying to get dress clothes purchased. My husband didn't own a jacket and we want to do Palo one night for the excuse to "dump" the kids for a couple hours, HA. Thats the ONLY thing that I don't like about the cruise. We are jeans and Tshirt people. I just finished college in May so dressed in jeans and sweats for the last three years. Guess it's time to improve my "image" anyhow.
Chat with you later!

 

[Minnesota]

LOL!! I was reading your post to my friend and she told me to remind you of 2 things. 1) 99.99% of the cruise is tee shirts and jeans you only have to dress up at Palos and a little nicer at Tritons but nice polo shirts or something will do fine. 2) the bathrooms in Cat.8 are seperate you can lock the kids in seperate bathrooms!

As for the shore excursions we didn't do any in CC, there weren't that many in 99 since the cruise line was new. we did do the Historical City tour at nassau, I don't remember the actual name but it was something like that. It was a fun way to see more of the city than what we could on foot. We are also into history so touring the fort and the Queens staircase was pretty neat for us but may not be everyones bag of tea.

Virtually everything and anything you do will be awesome and you'll remember it for a long time. One other peice of advice I have is take the time to look around the terminal. In 99 I was so excited to get on the ship I hardly remember anything about it which I think is a bummer.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll do my best to answer. It has been a while since I cruised but both of us are chronic planners we figure things out down to the minute if possible.

Bye!
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

You both sound like me, chronic planners. It drives my husband crazy and he says that this trip he doesn't want everything planned down to the minute. But the couple we are traveling with are the complete opposite. They booked their WDW vacation, with us four years ago, one week before we left. That drives me nuts. So I'm basically their travel agent. I've been studying and price comparing everything for months. But of course I have gotten the best deals too. They just go with whatever I say, basically tagging along.

I'm glad you said tshirts and jeans are a go. That's what we'll be wearing, except for dinner I guess. Thought maybe we'd pack just one set of dress clothes and wear them for supper every night! HA!

And, Yes... you can imagine my excitement when we got upgraded to the "split bath"! This way no ropes and gags needed to be packed! HA!

Chat with you later!

 

[Minnesota]

I think planning the vacation is half the fun! The best thing is you're prepared for most anything that way too. Last time so many people were dissapointed because they didn;t get palo reservations but they went the second or third day of a 4 day cruise to book them. I remember hearing at least 4 couples.

I am bringing 2 dresses along, 1 for tritons and 1 for palo (We haven't tried that yet) but I like to dress up occasionally too. Otherwise I am just packing nicer tee shirts and shorts or pants, like what I wear to work (A Pharmacy) for everything else. Disney is very relaxed because the whole idea is family cruising and everyong knows how much of a headache it is to get little ones dressed up.

I assumed you pre-booked your shore excursions through DCL since you said you had booked them. We did the first day we could.

It is great chatting with you too, another chronic planner !

Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

So what excursions did you go with? Yes I booked right away as well. Would have liked to gone snorkeling or something but somewhat concerned with the water temps in January. Thought it would be safe going with the ones we did for this trip. The other family traveling with us hasn't booked theirs yet. She was thinking of going with the Ardastra Gardens tour, but will more than likely go with the same one we did. I think their whole family is going to go parasailing, too.

We will pack more dress clothes than we're used to. I do have some nice capris that I bought this summer, will just wear those. My husband is the one that really will be out of his element. He's used to wearing clothes with big oil stains and holes. HA!

I'm very glad that I have studied up on the cruise. With the Palo and Spa reservations that get booked up immediately and all the other pointers that I've learned about I would have been disappointed not knowing. I also think that we will be on a constant dose of Dramamine or something so as not to ruin our fun by getting sea sick. That would be so miserable. My girls both get car sick on long trips in the car.

Well, better go. ....Later....

 

[Minnesota]

We picked the Historical Harbor Cruise at Nassau and the Kyack (sp?) Adventure at CC. Neither of us have doen anything but fishing and canoing before so it should be interesting! We got those booked right away but forgot to book our Behind the Sceans Tour at WDW and didn't get that one. We might find another though.
Talk to you later
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

Three of us adults wanted to do the kayak tour as well, but with two under the age of 10 we really can't get it arranged right with the parasailing. Oh well. Are you doing the early trip or the late one? You must be doing the land & sea package for the behind the scenes? Are you doing land then sea or the other way around?
Later...

 

[Minnesota]

We put in for the early tour at CC so we don't have to worry about times the rest of the time we are there. Yes, we are on a land / Sea vacation but with our own home grown touch. We are doing Sea World for a 1/2 day prior to 3 days at WDW, then 4 days at DCL and 3 days (2 1/2 really) at Universal Studios. I got really good ticket rates through my union for the 2 non-disney parks. Are you on land / sea or just sea? This is fun having our own little thread here. It was also fun recognizing someone on the passporter boards here and vice versa.
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

We fly into Tampa on New Years Eve Day, rent cars, spend next two nights on Clearwater beach, doing one day at Busch Gardens. Then drive to Orlando staying 2 nights doing IOA one day then drive the next to the port. Park the two cars with all our excess junk, taking only what we need on the cruise. Then that Thursday when we disembark we drive straight to the Orlando airport, drop off cars and fly out.

When we all did WDW four years ago our kids were too small to enjoy the big rides so we just stuck to WDW but did one day at Universal while the other family did Sea World. This trip my husband insisted on the big rollercoasters, since he was disappointed that he didn't get to do them on the last trip. So we actually have two free days where we'll just be driving from Tampa to Orlando then Orlando to Port Canaveral. May fit some fun into those days as well. We haven't been to Downtown Disney, or Citywalk so would like to do them as well. Probably DTD when we arrive in Orlando that night. (?) And Citywalk the evening after IOA. This was my idea of not planning down to the minute that my husband hates. HA!

Oh... didn't answer your question on the other board. We're scheduled for the second seating for dinner as well. Which is fine, that'll be 6:30 Mountain time!

You have a nice trip planned. Where are you staying at WDW? We went through one of the hotels on the way to Epcot and I could see that they sure don't miss any detail! The largest fresh flower boquet I've ever seen was situated on the landing of the stairs just off the foyer. I still wish I'd have gotten a picture of myself by it. It was as big as my bathroom!! No s##t!! Ha!

Well, better run....

 

[Minnesota]

I have never been to Busch Gardens but it will only take 1- 1 1/2 hours to get from Orlando to Port Canaveral so you can defintely get some shopping done on that day. Kennedy Space Center is close to the port and lots of fun too, we did that on our way to the port in 99. There is (or was) a tour short enough where we could get to KSC at about 9 I think, take the tour seeing most of the center, and get to the port around noon 1:00.

We are staying at the Pop Century New Year's Eve then we change to the Polynesian for our package. I know what you mean about the flower arrangements. We went in the Grand Floridian just to check it out and found arrangements bigger than we had ever seen. They were HUGE!!! I bet they cost more than I make in a month too.

When do you hit MSP on the 31st? We leave on NWA early in the morning the same day.

Talk to you later!
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

Hi, been out of the loop for a few days... will be again starting tomorrow.

We fly NWA out at 6:30 AM arrive in MSP at 9:38 and fly out at 10:15. Hope our gates are fairly close. We've had to run through the airport many times, and I'm afraid the kids will be hungry. Will have to pack some granola bars or something for that morning.

We were wondering about KSC. Didn't know if we'd have enough time on that Sunday to check it out or not. Also wondered if it would be worth the admission to pay and hurry through it. What do you think? Just skip the IMAX stuff and take a quick tour? That would also mean getting up and going first thing in the AM. Will decide the night before probably.

I can't believe how fast it's approaching. Hoping and praying the Flu virsus will stay away from us, and that the weather and all the conditions will be perfect for us! Hard to think of the warm weather when it's snowing out right now.

My husband's dress clothes arrived... he's just SMASHING in them... Palo here we come!! HA! Oh... got in on a sale at Penneys yesterday too... I'll be right spiffy in my 77 cent shirt too! Can't wait to knock'm all dead! HA!

 

[Minnesota]

Hi, Sorry I was out for a while with Thanksgiving but I am back now. Have you gotten your docs yet? We got ours the day before Thanksgiving. Makes it seem much more real!

As for MSP We fly out about when you fly out of MT so we won't see each other in the airport. If you are flying NWA the whole way your gates shouldn't be too far apart. NWA has pretty much just one wing of the airport (60 some gates but all in the same wing) If you google search Minneapolis/St.Paul International airport you can get to our website that has a terminal map that breaks down the wings by airline.

As for KSC, the center is only about 5-10 minutes from port so if you leave Orlando at 8:00insh you can be to KSC at 9:00ish. They have lots of tours (or did in 99) and you can choose which length you want. We did one about 4 hours long and we were on the boat at about 12:30ish. I would do it, because it is really interesting and in 4 years havent gotten back yet. I wish I could have spent more time but I was really happy with what we saw in 4 hours, which was way more than I expected in 4 hours. I'll try to dig up the list of things we saw for you and PM or post it here for you.

As for clothes... my friend is bringing a really nice evening dress by Victoria Secret. I am debating if I want to bring a bridesmaids dress (that I actually like ) or if I want to wear a less dressy dress that won't require pressing.

I cant wait to go! This week is already December!
Talk to you later!
Minnesota

 

[jcfinnicum]

What is all included in the "documents" that you got before Thanksgiving? Guess we haven't received any of them yet, but we are probably a couple extra mail-days further away than you.

I'm really getting excited considering that we're exactly one month away from "leaving home"! This week spent time in the "city" with my sister and did some more shopping. I think I'm pretty well set for it all now. But I think I've put on 5 more pounds in the last two days too!

Have to run... chat again later.

 

[Minnesota]

I haven't yet seen them but my friend read most to me on the phone. It included the Credit Card Papers for your on board account. Sailing gifts you can order, State room and pagakage information, Sailing itinerary, KTTW Card inforamtion (how to use it)... That's All I remember right now.

I know what you mean about eating too much! we had about 6 pies for about 12 people on Thanksgiving. Good thing I have my exercise class on monday nights!

Keep an eye out for the big brown truck your documents should be arriving shortly! My friend checks where she put them about twice a day to make sure they're real! We can't wait to go!!! 32 days!