Apr 19, 2015 Western Caribbean (Jamaica)

[seacruise]

Hi, just booked this cruise last week. Our group consists of my wife and I, our two daughters (7 and 4), and grandma. We've done a lot of cruising, but this will be only our 2nd Disney cruise. We sailed on the Fantasy last year so decided to try the Magic this time around to experience one of the smaller ships.

Cruise seems to be pretty full already as we had a hard time getting the cabins we wanted. TA came through though and finally found us a couple of connecting balcony cabins in the location we wanted!

So excited, but now the waiting begins! We are doing a Disneyland trip this Summer though so that will have to hold us over until the cruise.

Brent

 

[SuperRob]

So my wife and I decided to make the absolute most of this trip by adding five days at Walt Disney World / Old Key West at the end. Since we're DVC members, we were able to get Premium Annual Passes very cheap with their discount, which we'll use on our September trip and again after the cruise. We'll and up having used up our DVC points for the next two years to do it (!), but I'm sure it'll be a birthday my wife won't soon forget! And we get to go to WDW twice in seven months! I never would have thought we'd be doing that living out on the West Coast, but we made it work.

Booked one-way air from Seattle to Orlando today. We're doing a red-eye (getting in at about 6AM), so hopefully we'll have good travel luck. I know it's not advised, and in fact, the last time we booked that red-eye, it was cancelled / moved forward ... but we'll try and if not, we can book a flight a day early and stay at the Hyatt. But I figure that unless they cancel the flight outright, more than six hours of leeway should be fine.

 

[wallawallakids]

Hey everyone! We are not on this sailing any more. My little brother is getting married and decided that week was the week. I am sad we will not be sailing with you (but thrilled to see my brother happy and to gain an amazing sister in law! ) Plus my kids are very excited that they got asked to be in the wedding, so all is good even though we miss out on the trip we were hoping to make.

I hope you all have a great trip!

 

[seacruise]

Hi SuperRob,

I see you are out here in the great NW with us. We are in Shoreline, WA so not very far away at all.

See you booked your air to MCO. Are you doing the Alaska non-stop on the red eye? Been debating booking the one way air down as well, but am using a companion fare for two of the seats so have to wait another week until our return flight is available.

We did WDW for 4 nights after our cruise on the Fantasy last year. It was a lot of Disney and we were all pretty tired of it by the end. Not sure exactly what we are going to do after the cruise this time, but probably some combination of Busch Gardens, Seaworld, and maybe Legoland.

Brent

 

[SuperRob]

Hi SuperRob,

I see you are out here in the great NW with us. We are in Shoreline, WA so not very far away at all.

See you booked your air to MCO. Are you doing the Alaska non-stop on the red eye? Been debating booking the one way air down as well, but am using a companion fare for two of the seats so have to wait another week until our return flight is available.

We did WDW for 4 nights after our cruise on the Fantasy last year. It was a lot of Disney and we were all pretty tired of it by the end. Not sure exactly what we are going to do after the cruise this time, but probably some combination of Busch Gardens, Seaworld, and maybe Legoland.

Brent

Shoreline is practically in our Mountlake Terrace backyard!

We're booked on the red-eye. We're not using companion fares, so we figured it would be the best way to go grabbing it now. I registered the flight on Yapta.com, so they'll notify me if the price drops so we can use the guarantee.

If you're booking companion fares, you'll probably be safe enough waiting the 10 days or so until the return flights are available. $180 isn't as low as they'll go, I'm nearly positive, but since they have a price guarantee, I felt good about booking it now. I'll grab the return flight once we figure out for sure how many extra days we want to stay after the cruise. We like longer Disney trips (having no kids helps!) ... our Honeymoon was 14 nights, 4 on a cruise and 10 on land. This time we're doing seven on the cruise and probably five on land. Gave me a good reason to get an annual pass while the DVC discount was available. Plus it's nice to know that when we get back from our anniversary trip in September, there's another trip only half a year away!

 

[seacruise]

Ah yes, I remember travel before kids! The DW and I used to do the red eye flight as well. Saved a few bucks plus we liked arriving early and basically gaining an extra day. Of course now we have a 7 and 4yr old so pretty sure the red eye would be a bad idea.

There's 5 of us going so I am going to use a combo of companion fare and miles. Our dates on either end are a bit flexible so going to wait and see what flights make the most sense and then book. Even kicked around flying into TPA for Busch Gardens pre-cruise and flying out of MCO afterwards.

Where do you stay with your DVC points? We aren't members, but stayed at Bay Lake Towers a few years ago on our first WDW trip with our kids. Worked out less than getting multiple rooms at the Contemporary or Poly and we wanted to be on the resort monorail loop for the kids first trip.

Yes, it's definitely nice to have another trip booked to look forward to. We are doing 6 nights at Disneyland this Summer, then this cruise, and working on Alaska for next Summer.

 

[SuperRob]

Where do you stay with your DVC points? We aren't members, but stayed at Bay Lake Towers a few years ago on our first WDW trip with our kids. Worked out less than getting multiple rooms at the Contemporary or Poly and we wanted to be on the resort monorail loop for the kids first trip.

We joined DVC during our Honeymoon, somehow getting Disney to sell us only 60 points (probably because we paid cash). Since then, we've spent five nights at Aulani, four nights at the Grand Californian, and this September we'll be seven nights at the Grand Floridian. After the cruise, we'll be hoping to get five nights at Boardwalk, since Flower & Garden will be going on. If not, probably Old Key West.

The best part is that we'll have broken even either on this trip or the April one. We'll be staying at Disney essentially free for the rest of our contact.

 

[tjmstandish]

Hello fellow cruise pals!

We will be booking this week as DS just decided he wants to try the Magic kids clubs, so switching from the Fantasy which we were on for our first two cruises. He is excited to see so many kiddos his age already on this cruise! In March he started out with a group of boys his age that we met online/exchanged emails with pre-cruise and it made the whole trip even more fun for him!

We will be adding another Disney fan to the family in December, so we'll be traveling with DD approx. 4-months, and DS will be 11

 

[twinmom108]

Anyone got a list going yet?

Well sorry to say that Allen & I are going to bow out of this sailing on 4/19/15. Thanks to Julie (Lorilais_mommie) We're going to WDW - staying at VGF Sept. 2015 & have moved this cruise to the Fantasy 9/19/15 sailing. Hope you all have a fabulous cruise!!

 

[seacruise]

We joined DVC during our Honeymoon, somehow getting Disney to sell us only 60 points (probably because we paid cash). Since then, we've spent five nights at Aulani, four nights at the Grand Californian, and this September we'll be seven nights at the Grand Floridian. After the cruise, we'll be hoping to get five nights at Boardwalk, since Flower & Garden will be going on. If not, probably Old Key West.

The best part is that we'll have broken even either on this trip or the April one. We'll be staying at Disney essentially free for the rest of our contact.

Wow, that's nice that they let you buy less than the standard 100 point minimum. Have you gotten more points since then? When I have looked at DVC it didn't seem like 100 points would give me enough nights a year to make it worthwhile. But, there are 4 of us and we are pretty much limited to school breaks and thus the peak seasons with higher point requirements. Seems like you have really made good use of your points. What's the deal with using DVC points for cruises? I have read that it isn't really a very good use of the points.

It will be cool to stay at those new villas at the Grand Floridian. They were still building them when we were there about a year ago.

 

[seacruise]

Hello fellow cruise pals!

We will be booking this week as DS just decided he wants to try the Magic kids clubs, so switching from the Fantasy which we were on for our first two cruises. He is excited to see so many kiddos his age already on this cruise! In March he started out with a group of boys his age that we met online/exchanged emails with pre-cruise and it made the whole trip even more fun for him!

We will be adding another Disney fan to the family in December, so we'll be traveling with DD approx. 4-months, and DS will be 11

Hi Welcome. We are trying the Magic after doing the Fantasy as well. Watching the show about the remodel and seeing the new kids areas convinced us to give it a try as well. We loved most everything about the Fantasy so hopefully the Magic lives up to our expectations as well.

 

[SuperRob]

Have you gotten more points since then? When I have looked at DVC it didn't seem like 100 points would give me enough nights a year to make it worthwhile. But, there are 4 of us and we are pretty much limited to school breaks and thus the peak seasons with higher point requirements. Seems like you have really made good use of your points. What's the deal with using DVC points for cruises? I have read that it isn't really a very good use of the points.

It will be cool to stay at those new villas at the Grand Floridian. They were still building them when we were there about a year ago.

We're still at 60, but these two trips in rapid succession will pretty well tap us out for the next couple years. I've already seeded the idea that we might need to just not go anywhere during those years so we can save up enough for an add-on.

But honestly, 60 has been working pretty well for us. With only two of us, a studio is perfectly fine. More points will just give us the opportunity to stay longer in the off-season, or maybe get a large enough room to bring family. Just trying to avoid going overboard.

We're looking forward to seeing the Grand Floridian Villas. I've stayed in a Garden View room before, but my wife hasn't, and she specifically asked that we try. We were lucky and got the LAST studio available for our dates right at seven months.

I've looked at the point costs for the cruises, and it seems like too much to me. I mean, if you have the points and aren't going to use them, then by all means, get your value whereever you want. But whenever you have to trade in your points for cash, you're usually going to come out with the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

That said, my wife and I are finding that we REALLY enjoy cruising. It's fun to wake up each morning in a new place, it's nice to have the costs figured out well in advance, and it's a very different Disney experience. We're hoping to go on one of the member cruises soon, but you have to pay cash up front, so we'll be saving a while to do that.

 

[seacruise]

That said, my wife and I are finding that we REALLY enjoy cruising. It's fun to wake up each morning in a new place, it's nice to have the costs figured out well in advance, and it's a very different Disney experience. We're hoping to go on one of the member cruises soon, but you have to pay cash up front, so we'll be saving a while to do that.

Yeah, it's pretty hard to go wrong with cruising. We've done a lot of cruising both by ourselves and with the kids, but mostly on other lines. We loved our cruise on the Fantasy last year and really wanted to do Disney again while the kids were still fairly young.

It's nice to be able to combine the cruise with a stay either before or after. It's a long way to fly from SEA to just do a cruise and fly back. Especially when you cruise out of Port Canaveral with so much to do in the area.

Have you done any Alaska cruises? It's so nice to drive 30 minutes and hop on the ship. Pretty sure we are going to do Alaska again next summer. We haven't been since 09 when we only had one kid.

 

[SuperRob]

Have you done any Alaska cruises? It's so nice to drive 30 minutes and hop on the ship. Pretty sure we are going to do Alaska again next summer. We haven't been since 09 when we only had one kid.

Not on Disney, but I did do a seven night to Alaska out of Seattle on Norwegian. I really want to do the Disney one, but it won't be in the cards until at least 2016, and considering the Wonder is going in for it's reimagineering, I'm not sure if they'll run Alaska that year.

 

[seacruise]

Not on Disney, but I did do a seven night to Alaska out of Seattle on Norwegian. I really want to do the Disney one, but it won't be in the cards until at least 2016, and considering the Wonder is going in for it's reimagineering, I'm not sure if they'll run Alaska that year.

We looked at doing Disney to Alaska the year they sailed out of Seattle, but the cost was ridiculous. They seem to charge a much higher premium for Alaska vs. the caribbean. That's actually the reason we ended up doing the Fantasy last year. We booked that cruise because it was cheaper to fly 4 of us to Florida and get a deluxe family balcony on the Fantasy than to do the Wonder to Alaska with no flights.

I honestly don't see a lot of value to doing Disney in Alaska. Sure it would be fun to get the Disney experience close to home, but Alaska is so much more about the ports and scenery than the ship. Doesn't seem like the Disney ships would be all that suited for Alaska. Lot's of stuff you couldn't do in bad weather and no covered pool area. Plus, no Glacier Bay on Disney which is almost a deal breaker for me. We've done Alaska on 3 or 4 other lines and they have all been great.

Which NCL ship did you sail to Alaska. We did the NCL Sky to Alaska for our honeymoon cruise. Great overall cruise, but one of our least favorite ships we have sailed on. You know it's a great cruise when you actually miss a port (Haines) because you don't get up in time

 

[SuperRob]

Which NCL ship did you sail to Alaska. We did the NCL Sky to Alaska for our honeymoon cruise. Great overall cruise, but one of our least favorite ships we have sailed on. You know it's a great cruise when you actually miss a port (Haines) because you don't get up in time

I think it was the Sun? I honestly can't remember.

 

[disneyfool_1202]

Hey everyone - I haven't been getting any notifications from the dis boards so I didn't realize anyone was posting on here, and assumed everyone was now on the Facebook board. I have been ultra busy with school, working full time, and full time dance mom mode (it's competition season) so I'll catch up tomorrow and make sure everyone is on the roster!!! My apologies. I checked all of my preferences and I should be getting notifications. It takes me a few days to reply to PMs because I am a very busy mom but all my PMs are up to date! I think the FB board has WAY more activity than the DIS board at this point. Please PM me if the is a problem- I do generally get PM messages.

 

[seacruise]

I am a bit surprised at how little activity there has been on here. There was already 5 pages of posts when I joined so thought this would be a fairly active roll call. I don't do FB so will only be on here (and Cruise Critic if a roll call for this sailing ever starts over there).

 

[seacruise]

Well, got our flights booked! Flying into MCO the day before and will probably stay near the airport and then over to the ship in the morning.

Afterwards were are going to stay in Orlando for 3 nights and then spend a day in Tampa and fly out of TPA.

 

[Lorilais_mommie]

Well, got our flights booked! Flying into MCO the day before and will probably stay near the airport and then over to the ship in the morning. Afterwards were are going to stay in Orlando for 3 nights and then spend a day in Tampa and fly out of TPA.

Do you mind me asking what it cost? Right now coming in from boston we are looking at $450 per person round trip!