April 11th 2009 Magic Eastern Easter cruise--UPDATED WITH ROLL CALL PG 1

[PPFQP]

We are hesitant to book an excursion for the St. Thomas port b/c we understand pirate night (and fireworks) are the night before and DD (who will be 7) just cannot do an early morning if she is going to stay up for the fireworks.

Doesn't everyone have to get up early the morning of St. Thomas to go through immigration? We did the Western on our last cruise, so we didn't have this issue, but I thought I remembered reading about this. I know we had to do it on our RCCL cruise last December.

 

[itutorfortravel]

Doesn't everyone have to get up early the morning of St. Thomas to go through immigration? We did the Western on our last cruise, so we didn't have this issue, but I thought I remembered reading about this. I know we had to do it on our RCCL cruise last December.

yes, i think you are right about having to get up for customs...but after doing that we can just take our time getting ready and going somewhere if we don't book an excursion. i just know dd would not do well if we pushed her to be up and ready to go early in the morning after pirate night...neither would her parents for that matter - LOL!

 

[kellimomo3]

Yes, everyone has to get up early for immigration on St. Thomas day even if you are not getting off the ship! As far as the ferry to St. John, I think it's about 45 minutes. We have not decided if we are going to do the Disney excursion there or go on our own. I have heard that the Disney excursion doesn't have enough beach time so we are leaning toward going on our own.
I'm making my final payment today so I am set to book Palo next week!!!

Kelli

 

[Freddyfishstix]

Yes, everyone has to get up early for immigration on St. Thomas day even if you are not getting off the ship! As far as the ferry to St. John, I think it's about 45 minutes. We have not decided if we are going to do the Disney excursion there or go on our own. I have heard that the Disney excursion doesn't have enough beach time so we are leaning toward going on our own.
I'm making my final payment today so I am set to book Palo next week!!!

Kelli

Okay as a newbie, why immigration at St. Thomas? St Thomas is a US Virgin Island. Is it because we will be coming from St Maarten? Just wondering

 

[kellimomo3]

Okay as a newbie, why immigration at St. Thomas? St Thomas is a US Virgin Island. Is it because we will be coming from St Maarten? Just wondering

Yes, I believe it is because we are arriving from St. Maarten back into a US port. It IS a bit of a pain to have to go down so early but it's worth the sacrifice for the Eastern itinerary vs. Western in my experience.

 

[cruising fun]

Hi everyone! Just found you all. My family is also traveling with you. My husband and I, our daughter (5) and my parents. Can you believe how close we are to sailing. My parents are experienced cruisers. I haven't cruised in many years and this is my husband and daughters first cruise. We are all very excited!!

 

[TBRox]

Hi Everyone!
Well, I've never done this before, so I beg your patience! My family (special needs daughter of 20 at cruise time, son 11 at cruise time and me and my husband) will be on the Magic this April for the second time! We had such a blast on the Western Cruise last year that we just had to book again! (and everyone treated our daughter soooo well and she gained such confidence and independence on board that we just had to come back-it really gave her the opportunity to 'feel like a teen'!)

So - we too - made our final payment over break and can't wait to start planning - this time we're not too inclined to do too many excursions but would love to hear some recommendations on any 'must do's' that are gentler but will give us a feel for the islands.

Looking forward to hearing from some of you and perhaps meeting on board! Now - we just have to work off all those Christmas cookies before sailing!

 

[itutorfortravel]

Hi everyone! Just found you all. My family is also traveling with you. My husband and I, our daughter (5) and my parents. Can you believe how close we are to sailing. My parents are experienced cruisers. I haven't cruised in many years and this is my husband and daughters first cruise. We are all very excited!!

Welcome to the thread! Glad to see some new people joining us...I had begun to think there were only a few of us going

Will you DD be closer to 5 or 6? Our DD will have just turned 7 so maybe our girls will meet in the kids club.

My DH and I have not cruised in about 10 years. This is our DD's first cruise, and our family's first DCL cruise. We can't wait!

 

[itutorfortravel]

Hi Everyone!
Well, I've never done this before, so I beg your patience! My family (special needs daughter of 20 at cruise time, son 11 at cruise time and me and my husband) will be on the Magic this April for the second time! We had such a blast on the Western Cruise last year that we just had to book again! (and everyone treated our daughter soooo well and she gained such confidence and independence on board that we just had to come back-it really gave her the opportunity to 'feel like a teen'!)

So - we too - made our final payment over break and can't wait to start planning - this time we're not too inclined to do too many excursions but would love to hear some recommendations on any 'must do's' that are gentler but will give us a feel for the islands.

Looking forward to hearing from some of you and perhaps meeting on board! Now - we just have to work off all those Christmas cookies before sailing!

Welcome! Our family is not thinking of doing many pre-arranged excursions either. I hope I don't regret it, but I just would like to relax and go with the flow! We may get a taxi in the ports and go to the same places that some of the excursions go, but we will have the flexibility of changing our plans or staying longer or shorter in places as we want to.

 

[TBRox]

Welcome! Our family is not thinking of doing many pre-arranged excursions either. I hope I don't regret it, but I just would like to relax and go with the flow! We may get a taxi in the ports and go to the same places that some of the excursions go, but we will have the flexibility of changing our plans or staying longer or shorter in places as we want to.

Sounds like we might do the same - nice to have the flexibility. We'd like to take a tour but looks like they're hours long! YIKES! I just need a little beach time and a little shopping! (much to DH's dismay!).

Looking so forward to meeting many of you!!

 

[Freddyfishstix]

Hi Everyone!
Well, I've never done this before, so I beg your patience! My family (special needs daughter of 20 at cruise time, son 11 at cruise time and me and my husband) will be on the Magic this April for the second time! We had such a blast on the Western Cruise last year that we just had to book again! (and everyone treated our daughter soooo well and she gained such confidence and independence on board that we just had to come back-it really gave her the opportunity to 'feel like a teen'!)

So - we too - made our final payment over break and can't wait to start planning - this time we're not too inclined to do too many excursions but would love to hear some recommendations on any 'must do's' that are gentler but will give us a feel for the islands.

Looking forward to hearing from some of you and perhaps meeting on board! Now - we just have to work off all those Christmas cookies before sailing!

Hello and welcome. I am getting ready to start the napkin countdown very soon. That is, leave a little note on my kids lunch napkins about how many more days to go!

You can tell I am more excited then the DW. She is the practicle one in the family but she is finally starting to get into the groove.

The no-planned-excursion idea does sound good. I know for sure we are not planning any on St Maarten, but are considering the Doubloon Pirate Ship/ snorkeling trip on St. Thomas. Has any one heard anything about this excursion?

 

[sdzm]

We are talking about the Doubloon Pirate Ship/snorkeling excursion too! I'd love to hear if anyone has any insight.

Also, has anyone done the dolphin excursion on St. Maarten?

Can't wait for the trip!

 

[cruising fun]

Our DD will be closer to 5. She just turned 5 a few weeks ago. She is very excited to go.

Welcome to the thread! Glad to see some new people joining us...I had begun to think there were only a few of us going

Will you DD be closer to 5 or 6? Our DD will have just turned 7 so maybe our girls will meet in the kids club.

My DH and I have not cruised in about 10 years. This is our DD's first cruise, and our family's first DCL cruise. We can't wait!

 

[cruising fun]

Does anyone know if the outlets on the Magic are just like home, or should we bring an adapter?

 

[PPFQP]

Does anyone know if the outlets on the Magic are just like home, or should we bring an adapter?

They're the same as at home. (If US is home!) But there is only one outlet, so we bring a power strip so that we can plug in additional things (think iPod charger, camera, hair straightener -- times two!)

The one in the bathroom is not standard. I think I read it is only for shavers or something? I don't really know much about it, except that it is not a regular outlet.

 

[Alicia87]

I'm soooo excited about the cruise, but kinda down in the dumps about travelling to Florida. We had planned on flying, but airfare via Southwest (our usual flights of choice) just does not seem to be going down in price at all!! I'm not about to pay $400/rt for myself and DD18!!! Guess we'll just take off after school on Thursday and drive until maybe 10 or 11 and then get up Friday and head the rest of the way down. Looking forward to just relaxing Friday evening at the Radisson!!!!

 

[cruising fun]

Thank you. This is very helpful. I will add a power strip to my packing list! Is there anything else you have found to pack that may not seem obvious to bring?

 

[kellimomo3]

Thank you. This is very helpful. I will add a power strip to my packing list! Is there anything else you have found to pack that may not seem obvious to bring?

An over the door shoe organizer if great. We have used it every time to store all our bathroom toiletries/sunscreen, etc.


Anyone else making their Spa/Palo ressies tomorrow??!! I am!!

Kelli

 

[PPFQP]

An over the door shoe organizer if great. We have used it every time to store all our bathroom toiletries/sunscreen, etc.


Anyone else making their Spa/Palo ressies tomorrow??!! I am!!

Kelli

Me! And two of the other families that we are traveling with. The other family will have to wait a few days; it's their first cruise.

We also use the over-the-door shoe organizer, the clear plastic kind. We found it really helpful. I also bring a plastic "sweater hanger" type of thing that we use in the closet. It's great for organizing shoes, small bits of clothing, swim suits, etc. And a mesh laundry bag. I don't plan to do laundry on the ship, but it holds all the dirty clothes, and then I just pack the whole thing in a suitcase to get it home. ::::sigh::::: I hate packing to come home!

 

[cruising fun]

This is our first time on DCL so we have to wait to make our reservations. I wish we could do it now! I think we have to wait two weeks to make them. I can also register my daughter for the Oceaneers Club at that time too right? I know our travel agent has her registered but I have to plug in some information I was told. (?) Can anyone help clarify this for me? I want to make sure she is all set to go with that! It is 20 degrees and snowing hard here today, but we were out at the mall buying our DD swimsuits today!!! We are getting so excited!