April 16th, 2011 -Western Caribbean

[stampinot]

I am so excited! I orderd my Fish Extender on ebay-CUTE. If you haven't signed up for this fun exchange you should. It will enhance your cruise experience. I also ordered pillow cases to turn into guest services to be signed by the characters. My DD loved it last time we did it.
We will be cruising before you know it!

 

[Erickson99]

Hi All,

I booked our activities today. I didn't wind up getting the Dolphin thing @ Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman and wound up with Dolphinarias in Cozumel. We are doing the Atlantis submarine in Grand Cayman. My husband and son wanted to do the White Knuckle Boat ride in Key West so I happily booked that while I think me and my daughter will find something to do while they are doing that.

I booked Palo for Sunday night - does anyone know if you are "missing" any activities on Sunday night?

I also booked me a facial for Thursday AM...ahhhhhhhhhh

I keep hearing good things about the Stingray thing at Castaway Key so I booked that.

I keep in mind that anything can be cancelled so I figure book what we are interested in now and change it later.

What did you guys wind up with?

Melissa

PS - John we are from MA but my daughter is 5 as well.

 

[Erickson99]

Well already made a change....I switched to the Dolphins at Chankanaab instead of Dolphinarius. Less expensive and I did a quick search on the boards and people were saying some better things about it.

 

[mbhpch]

Hi
We signed up for our excursions last night too. We stayed up until midnight waiting to sign on. We will be doing the Fury Catarmaran Sail, Snorkel and Beach Party in Cozumel and Dolphin Extreme Swim in Grand Cayman.
My dd (15) will be parasailing in Castaway Cay with my husband. I signed up for a manicure and pedicure at the spa but might switch it on board to the salon because I could not get them at the same time.
Still trying to figure out what to do at Castaway Cay.
We made a reservation for Palo on Sunday evening too. I hope that we will not miss out on too much. I looked on an old Navigator from January and it said a name in the theater so I assume it is not going to be one of the big shows.
Patty

 

[maggie blossom]

It is hard not to get to wound up in deciding about excursions! I thought I had my mind made then I start second geussing.
I was planning on doing excursions apart from DCL. I am thinking Moby Dicks for Stingrays in G.C and beach on Cozumel. But now I am tempted about Dolphins....

Soon I will book and then let it go (hopefully; that is the PLAN anyway). We have never been on a cruise so I think it will be fun whatever we do.

On a separate note I bought some things for FE today.
This is getting more exciting as we get closer!!!!

 

[dueley]

I also stayed up late last night to try and book Palo and excursions. We got everything that we wanted. Brunch at Palo, dolphin and turtle farm in Grand Cayman, and Atlantis submarine in Cozumel.

 

[AndreaNYC]

We are also booked for this cruise. There are five of us--My husband and I and our three children, ages boys ages 10 & 8 and a 6 year old girl.

Booked are:
Palo brunch and dinner

Couples massage on CC

3 reef snorkel in Cozumel for husband and sons

beach & stingray City in Grand Cayman

Nothing booked in Key West. We got married there so we are making the kids go and see the spot it all started

It is our first Disney cruise, and the first cruise for the kids. DH is a cruise hater so we've all talked him into this--I know he'll love it and he's being a good sport.

 

[bmcd1998]

All

I just found out that Disney has made a change to the "first come first served" policy for check in at the port.

Effective today (about three hours ago) you can go into the "My online check in" part of the DCL website and either fill it out and choose a check in time, or, if you have already completed the information, then click "edit" and choose a check in time.

For those of you with travel agents they may be able to do this for you. But I would not delay. I just did mine through the website and there was some kind of mad rush that crashed the site for a while. If you want to check in early and be one of the first aboard, I would get this done right away.

Good Luck

 

[cathicool]

so how does this change the first come first serve policy? i did the online check-in. i picked 1030-1100 as our check in time. was there any earlier time? i think i have more questions now that DCL has this online check in time thing........anyone able to shed more light on this?

 

[bmcd1998]

so how does this change the first come first serve policy? i did the online check-in. i picked 1030-1100 as our check in time. was there any earlier time? i think i have more questions now that DCL has this online check in time thing........anyone able to shed more light on this?

cathicool...that's the same time I got. I think that is the earliest slot.

I think this means the earlier arrivals will get the lowest numbers and get to board first.

By the way, what part of L.I. are you from? I grew up there..out on the North Fork.

 

[cathicool]

bmcd1998.....hi! we live in Babylon- so Western Suffolk county....not "quite" as far east as you are from!

So how does this relieve my anxiety about getting to the port early so that I will be one of the first families to board the ship, exactly?

And, if I registered for the 10:30 slot and get there late, will I not be allowed to check in?

And, if I registered for the 1:00 slot, for example and got there early, would I have to wail til 1pm to check in?

I'm really having a hard time figuring out how this really helps us obsessive people. If they had assigned "boarding groups"- kind of like Southwest Airlines does- then I might've been able to understand this a bit better.

 

[SplatInc]

Cathicool

It's going to be ok. Step back from the ledge.
I am sure that Disney put this in to be able to schedule the workers more efficiently. I can't imagine that if you showed up early they wouldn't let you stand in line like before.
I signed up for 10:30-11 but was thinking at unless we are chosen to be first it really doesn't matter.
You still can't get into your cabin for a little while. We always drop our bags at the cabin door if it's not ready, inside if it is. The food is just as hot, the pool is just as cool.

 

[stampinot]

Hi
We signed up for our excursions last night too. We stayed up until midnight waiting to sign on. We will be doing the Fury Catarmaran Sail, Snorkel and Beach Party in Cozumel and Dolphin Extreme Swim in Grand Cayman.
My dd (15) will be parasailing in Castaway Cay with my husband. I signed up for a manicure and pedicure at the spa but might switch it on board to the salon because I could not get them at the same time.
Still trying to figure out what to do at Castaway Cay.
We made a reservation for Palo on Sunday evening too. I hope that we will not miss out on too much. I looked on an old Navigator from January and it said a name in the theater so I assume it is not going to be one of the big shows.
Patty

I figured if I chicken out, my DH can go!
We booked several other things to do. I grew up in Key West so we are going it alone-the trolley is fun and you can see alot of things.
The submarine is expensive for all 4 of us.

 

[stampinot]

a porthole! I am hoping to get to the port early and get upgraded to a verandah for a cheaper price!
Looking forward to the FE! I have been shopping already.
Julie

 

[Erickson99]

We registered for the 1130am timeslot and I am expecting to get to CC around 1030 to drop off our rental car @ Hertz and take the shuttle from them over there. (We are arriving late Thursday night & going to Universal on Friday) and driving down Sat AM. (Making sure to stop at the liquor store!!)

 

[Erickson99]

a porthole! I am hoping to get to the port early and get upgraded to a verandah for a cheaper price!
Looking forward to the FE! I have been shopping already.
Julie

We booked a verandah b/c when we went to book the cruise (in November) the only option for us was a 5A category and above. My travel agent said the cruise was nearing capacity at that time due to the April vacation timeframe. It is going to be one FULL ship when we said from my understanding.

 

[mbhpch]

I figured if I chicken out, my DH can go!
We booked several other things to do. I grew up in Key West so we are going it alone-the trolley is fun and you can see alot of things.
The submarine is expensive for all 4 of us.

Parasailing is a lot of fun. I went in Ocean City, MD years ago. We are not going to do much in Key West. Trying to save some money. Swimming with the dolphins is expensive. I want to go to Margaritaville.

 

[maggie blossom]

We signed up for the Fury Catamaran in Cozumel. We will do Stingray encounter in GC but book it on our own.

We dont have check in time yet as I haven't had the time to do all of the steps of the online check in before it will allow us to choose a check in time. Man, they want a lot of information.

Melissa, we are also flying in late on thursday and doing Universal on Friday. I think that place is going to be mobbed on friday! Can't talk my DD out of it thou so we will grin and bear it.

 

[Erickson99]

Maggie - you are flying out of Boston, right? We leave out of Manchester at 525pm direct into Orlando. I also found out which is a MAJOR bonus is that Harry Potter is at Island of Adventure which I like A LOT more than just plain Universal so I am so excited that it is over on that side. It will be a busy and long day but I am so looking forward to it!

 

[Imamom604]

Hi, everyone--
I also stayed up til 12:01 on 1/31 to book excursions and such. Had a little trouble with Palo dining, but excursions seemed pretty good. We are going on the glass bottom boat on Key West, swimming with dolphins in Grand Cayman and Tulum Ruins on Cozumel. We were in Cozumel years ago and weren't that impressed with the beach there, so thought this would be a good option. My parents will come with DD (8y 10m) and I on the glass bottom boat and ruins. They will go to on the tour of Grand Cayman instead of dolphins. We haven't really planned anything for Castaway Cay. Any advice from the experts? I figured we'd just relax on the beach (except I DID book a massage for myself)....but let me know if anyone has favorites.

DD and I also signed up for the FE--I'll also be buying mine on eBay. What kinds of gifts do we get? Is there a recommended dollar amount or anything??