April 14, 2007 Eastern Cruise!

[pershing]

I hope I have nice weather for my flight next week for the Thanksgiving cruise. I wouldn't want my kids go on a flight like I had last night!

Are you flying Southwest next year? Because I saw a DING on those prices dropping also.

My kids and I once landed in Denver while we were experiencing 'microbursts'??? I believe that's what the pilot said. It was scary! Every now and then a gust of wind would hit the belly of the plane and push us up with a jolt. Anyway-

STLFAM - I like the way you think! Glad your friends got in.

By the way, I had three tips for you that I meant to post earlier.

1-Rent a car. Don't use Disney Transportation to get to the port. Budget is cheaper and all the Disney Buses show up later and all at once. You can drop everyone and everything off at Disney's terminal, drop the car off at Budget (right down the street) and take the free shuttle back. Check mousesavers dot com for budget discount codes. If you're form New England and have a Shaw's card-that's a great discount. Or if you use USAA there's another........(I could go on and on about that, but I won't now.)

2-Have the kids show up with bathing suits on underneath their clothes. The best time to use the pools is right after you board as all the other kids' bathing suits are in their luggage which is intransit from the terminal to their room.

3-Be sure to sign up for Palo, preferably on sea days, right when they open up online. Especially since you are new and don't have Castaway benefits, we can sign up earlier. Your date is 1/29 I believe. Ditto for the spa and excursions, but Palo is more critical in my book and not to be missed.

Let's Talk Disney We are doing the parks a little before and alot later. Nickolodean Hotel before (maybe for more than one day now) and Beach Club DVC RENTED after. The kids would be too disappointed not to do the parks and they want to do Expedition Everest which was being built the last time we went Oct. 05.

So. How much weight can you technically lose in 4 months and 4 days? I planned to start trying a long time ago.

 

[Let's Talk Disney]

Pershing - If you haven't already stayed at the Nickelodeon Hotel, your kids will LOVE it. We stayed 9 nights September 2005. My son couldn't get enough of the place. As a matter of fact, he was listening to my husband and I discuss where to stay before the cruise. He then asked, can we stay at the Nickelodeon again?

We have many friends ride Mt. Everest....they all loved it.

Yogibigdog - Have a great Thanksgiving cruise. Are you on the Magic or Wonder?

 

[yogibigdog]

Yogibigdog - Have a great Thanksgiving cruise. Are you on the Magic or Wonder?

I am leaving next week for the 4 night Wonder. We will be at Castaway Cay for Thanksgiving.

 

[STLFAM]

We are planning on taking a private shuttle from our hotel in Orlando (Van/Limo service) - Airport Marriott. Do you have suggestion on times to book dinner at Palo considering shows, etc. with the children before/after?

Are there any excursions that are worth while with a 3 year old. I am typically happy with the beach/visiting the islands. I did see a few posts about a catamaran sail.

Also, we are booked for the second seating at dinner. We will definitely have to make some changes to our son's sleeping schedule. Although, this will be preferable for our friends coming from Portland.

Thanks again!

 

[disneyfanatic3166]

Hi guys!

Just checking in to say "hi"!

BTW: STLFAM!!

Can't wait to cruise with all of you

 

[wilbeer]

hey everyone, just thought I'd let you know our Florida kids are out for springbreak the week just before the cruise. We're taking our straight A dd11 out the week of the cruise. Her teachers have always given her work to take with her. We're staying at Residence Inn the night before. And normally April is one of our best months weather wise.

 

[2munchkins]

I think most of the nation is on spring break the week prior to the cruise! It's just tradition to have it around Easter (otherwise, the schools would probably need to give the kids a day or two off around the Easter holiday).

I always have to take spring break week off work, to watch my kids. This year, I decided I could watch them in WDW just as easily as I could here at home, so we are heading to WDW a week early! Since we will be leaving the 7th (driving down) I need to remember to bring the Easter baskets with us (this will give us lots of snacks in WDW and on the cruise).

Hotels are just starting to receive reservations. I got mine about a month ago, and was able to get a government rate, meaning that they aren't very full yet.

The parks will indeed be crowded, but if you aren't doing a 'commando' trip, trying to do everything in a day, you will be okay. Just be mentally prepared for crowds. Since we have been lucky enough to visit WDW several times in the last 5 years, we are focusing on the new items (new since January 2006) and the evening shows (we love Fantasmic).

But most of all, if the crowds are getting to you, just think of all those people back home in the cold, having to head to their jobs each morning, while you are enjoying the Florida sunshine and the magic that is Disney!!

 

[Miscoehill]

We are thinking of booking the 4/14 Eastern cruise and was wondering how many of you have teens who will be on the ship. We have two (ds16,dd14).
Hoping they'll be other kids their ages. Right now it's been DCL and RCCL. We can't decide
Thanks!
Laurie from Mass

 

[disneyfanatic3166]

We are thinking of booking the 4/14 Eastern cruise and was wondering how many of you have teens who will be on the ship. We have two (ds16,dd14).
Hoping they'll be other kids their ages. Right now it's been DCL and RCCL. We can't decide
Thanks!
Laurie from Mass

My DD's 14 as well. She is in 8th grade. She'll be bringing along her friend who is 13. Hope you all decide to join us!

 

[disneyfanatic3166]

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Enjoy the time with all of your families!

We'll be planning where were staying before and after the cruise sometime this weekend - I can't keep the cruise off my mind!

UPDATE: We'll be staying at Disney's Port Orleans both the night before the cruise (13th) and the night of the 21st (the day our cruise ends.)

 

[pershing]

Pershing - If you haven't already stayed at the Nickelodeon Hotel, your kids will LOVE it. We stayed 9 nights September 2005. My son couldn't get enough of the place. As a matter of fact, he was listening to my husband and I discuss where to stay before the cruise. He then asked, can we stay at the Nickelodeon again?

I booked the 13th months ago! When I went back to add 2 more nights (12th, 11th) it was $180 higher per night! I'm gonna book Pop Century, look for deals or wait for Southwest to open more seats on the 12th. (I'm gonna look at the New Omni also.

Anyway-

What I was going to say is that our cruise is starting to fill up! Cat.'s 12,11, either 10 or 8 and 4 are reading GTY now.

 

[yogibigdog]

Just back from the 4 day Thansgiving Wonder we had a great time!

Was able to rebook onboard and get a better price. The only problem is I am now on waitlist for main dinning.

Our group from the DIS boards all had matching T-shirts. It worked out great we were able to meet in the terminal before we even sailed. Made the wait go by very quickly. Meet a lot of great people.

Now looking forward to April.

Will add some pictures soon.

 

[tyna]

Yogibigdog: Glad you had a fun cruise and am incredibly jealous!! Thanx for the booking info you posted earlier. My computer implodded in the middle of Nov and I have limited access right now. My husband keeps saying he can put something together to get us through-he would like to buy after christmas but I'm not sure I can wait that long! I keep trying to convince him to leave me his laptop when he goes to work but he hasn't found that solution useful. Well I guess there is always the library.
We are still struggling with airfare. Missed the southwest opening and the cheap fare were gone. We are sticking with driving unless something opens up closer to our dates. I'll really need the cruise if we have to drive.
Tyna

 

[mkjmom]

I just looked into flights for April and the cheapest I could find was almost $600 round trip per person. There are 4 of us going... I cannot imagine paying $2400 to fly to Orlando. I am completely panicked. What are my chances of finding cheaper airfare from Providence or Boston?

 

[pershing]

I don't think it would have helped even if you were in front of the computer like I was. They literally went so fast that I had to pick Tuesday. Maybe there's a second round of discounted flights SW is holding on to.

Tyna check out the Dell outlet at Dell dot com. They hide it on the web site, but if you can get a page that lists the inventory you can get a decent refurbished or scratched computer for just over 200. Use your old monitor and stuff. The time of day makes a diff. they are releasing them all day long. Late at night, early morning. If they go over 300 wait for a new influx. I bought a new CPR for my sons for Christmas that way!

 

[mkjmom]

At the moment flights seem out of the question - there are hardly any to have and if you can find one they are way too much money. So, not I'm considering driving. I hate the thought of driving but the only other option might be to cancel and reschedule the cruise for another time and I'd rather not cancel.

Has anyone driven from the Boston area to Orlando/Port Canaveral? How long does it take? Do you need to spend a night along the way? If you do stop and sleep a night, where and do you make a reservation before hand? Any advice on driving would be appreciated... it'll be DH, DD (8), DS (7) and myself.

 

[yogibigdog]

At the moment flights seem out of the question - there are hardly any to have and if you can find one they are way too much money. So, not I'm considering driving. I hate the thought of driving but the only other option might be to cancel and reschedule the cruise for another time and I'd rather not cancel.

Has anyone driven from the Boston area to Orlando/Port Canaveral? How long does it take? Do you need to spend a night along the way? If you do stop and sleep a night, where and do you make a reservation before hand? Any advice on driving would be appreciated... it'll be DH, DD (8), DS (7) and myself.

I have driven many times from Boston are to Orlando. Plus I use to work for AAA and maped out the route many times.
It will take you about 22 - 23 hours to drive from Boston to Port Canaveral.
Most people make one stop along the way usually south of DC into Virginia.
I usually make a reservation along they way. I bring the AAA tour book and see how we are doing. Depends on how we are doing with traffic and such to decdide where we might stop. I pick out a town on the map and call the hotels ahead of time using a cell phone. (once I got stuck without a room when I didn't call ahead and we slept in the car)
I have also driven all night. This can really wipe you out and could make your very tired and not make the most of the cruise.
You could always checkout the Autotrain.
It leaves from Lorton, VA just south of DC at 4:00 pm and you put your car on it and you will arrive at 8:30 am in Sanford, Fl than it is only about an hour over to Port Canaveral from there.
To give you a price idea I checked it out for you it was about $915.00 round trip with two adults two kids and a car (SUV's are more) leaving 04/13/06 and coming back 04/21/06 (you get back on the train at 4:00 pm in Sanford) It is just an idea you save money on gas and mileage on you car. You might actually get some sleep on the train. You could even to it one way.
Hope that helps.

 

[2munchkins]

We have driven many times from the Washington DC area. I know it's not as far as Boston (only 14 hours), but here are some tips.

- Don't drive more than 12 hours in a day. Even with switching drivers, it is very tiring. While we have driven it straight through before, we try to avoid it.

- We always make a couple hotel reservations prior to leaving, making sure of the hotel's cancellation policy. Most hotels policies state that you can cancel by 4pm or 6pm the day of the reservation with no penality. So, we make a reservation for where we will be about 8 hours out, 10 hours out and 12 hours out. Then as we near the first hotel (or 4pm), we decide if we want to stop or keep driving. A simpe phone call can quickly cancel the erservations we don't want. This way we are not tied to stopping if everyone wants to keep going.

- We leave early, around 4am or 5am. We pull the kids from their beds and put them straight into the car, still in their pjs. That way they will sleep for another 4 hours or so, delaying the inevitable 'Are we there yet?'. When they wake up, it is time for breakfast, a change of clothes, and another tank of gas. Having them sleep a third of the trip helps us all keep our sanity!

 

[mkjmom]

Thank you for the information and tips! We were talking about it some more last night and DH really does not want to drive, so I'll see what he thinks of the train. My taravel agent is working on flights still, but I'm not too optimistic.

I'm afraid to say it, but we may end up going another time. I told DH the only way I would consider cancelling is if we have another trip planned, I don't want to tell the kids we're not going without giving them someting else to look forward too.

 

[yogibigdog]

Thank you for the information and tips! We were talking about it some more last night and DH really does not want to drive, so I'll see what he thinks of the train. My taravel agent is working on flights still, but I'm not too optimistic.

I'm afraid to say it, but we may end up going another time. I told DH the only way I would consider cancelling is if we have another trip planned, I don't want to tell the kids we're not going without giving them someting else to look forward too.

Let us know how you make out. I hate to see you guys have to cancel.