April 19, 2008 - Western - VERY Early Roll Call - Anyone??!!

[lilo62]

Anyone besides me and Anty30?

 

[pwgs]

Yup, we are there Our first Disney Cruise !

Myself -Paul
DW -Beth
DD11 -Amanda
DD8 - Shannon

we are also traviling with my sisters family and my Sister Inlaws Family

Cant Wait

East Bridgewater, Ma

 

[ggreitz]

You can add us to the list!

Myself
DW
DS 14 *
DS 12 *
DD 3 *

* - at the time of the cruise

Also my wife's parents will be onboard. It will be their first Disney Cruise!!

 

[lilo62]

Very cool! I should start a list with names and where everyone is from!

So...let me know!


Gina and Jeff - Cos Cob (Greenwich area), Connecticut
Ant, Ed, Ava (10) and Leo (7) - Brewster, New York
Paul, Beth, Amanda (11) and Shannon (8) - East Bridgewater, MA
Michelle, Michael and Emily (7) - New Windsor, NY
Brenda, Beatrice and Aleah (7) - ?
Conny and her sister Silke - Germany
Bryan, Theresa, Dillon (8) and Riley(5) - Wichita, KS
Margaret, Jerry, Robert (10) - Long Island, NY
Angie, Gerard, Emily (7), Julia (3) - Alberta, Canada
Joan, Pat, Rebecca (8), Tyler (6) - Middletown, NY
Diane, Willie, Alex (13), Victoria (10) - New York
Ravin, Ed, Jordan (8) - Patchogue, NY
Jennifer, Jeff, Jordan (12), Jillian (10) - Mass

 

[anty30]

Hello everyone. Gina has already filled you in on our info. We are so excited to be cruising again. As you can all see, we made lifelong friends on the last cruise.

FYI Gina, Ava will be 10 and Leo will be 7 by the time the cruise rolls around.

Our plans so far:
-flying in the day before
-rent a car to get to Cape Canaveral
-will most likely stay at the Radisson at the Port the night before
-hopefully get boarding #2 early in the am at the terminal
-will book PALO as soon as it is possible (hopefully 1 brunch & 1 dinner)
-will do the Pirate Museum on our own in Key West
-maybe do the Pirate Encounter in Grand Cayman
-would definitely like to do the Dolphin Encounter in Coz

Anyway, those are all my tentative plans.

Anybody else have ideas about what they would ike to do?

 

[lilo62]

I LOVE that pic of you guys! I can't wait!!!!

 

[pwgs]

Hello All, Right now we have a group of 3 familys going (possibly a 4th) . None of us have been on a disney cruise before , we have crusied but that was a few years ago b.c (before children!) . The only thing everone has agreed to is flying in the day before. This board has been great, the ideas and suggestions I have a very large list. I think we are going to get everone together and have a cruise night to discuss it all. I seem to be the one leading the charge so I think car rentals and the raddison are the best option for us but we may use a transportaion company, not sure yet.

I'm going to try to get the rest of the group onto Dis to help out the conversations but we'll see .

Can't Wait so I spend my time here.

 

[lilo62]

Hello All, Right now we have a group of 3 familys going (possibly a 4th) . None of us have been on a disney cruise before , we have crusied but that was a few years ago b.c (before children!) . The only thing everone has agreed to is flying in the day before. This board has been great, the ideas and suggestions I have a very large list. I think we are going to get everone together and have a cruise night to discuss it all. I seem to be the one leading the charge so I think car rentals and the raddison are the best option for us but we may use a transportaion company, not sure yet.

I'm going to try to get the rest of the group onto Dis to help out the conversations but we'll see .

Can't Wait so I spend my time here.

Paul - let me know where you all are from and I'll add that info to the rolls!

 

[lilo62]

You can add us to the list!

Myself
DW
DS 14 *
DS 12 *
DD 3 *

* - at the time of the cruise

Also my wife's parents will be onboard. It will be their first Disney Cruise!!

Great!! Give me names and where you are from and I will add you to our "rolls"!

 

[anty30]

Gina, we were thinking of doing PALO on formal night, which is Monday. Do you guys want to go with us? Maybe around 7:30pm? I can feed the kids earlier and put them in the clubs.

 

[Tinkified]

One more family joining you!

Me, Michelle,
DH, Michael
and DD Emily (7)

We just got off the ship on Saturday and we are experiencing withdrawl symptoms...We rebooked on board for the NYE 08/09...but I got the 07/08 school calendar today (I am a teacher) and I plugged in my spring break dates cause I didn't know them while we were booking and wouldn't you know it...It was a Western...we just did an Eastern...we got a high cat, don't have to deal with snow issues cause we live in NY, it is certainly sooner...and it was 1000 dollars cheaper! So here we are happy to be joining you.


Anty: where in NY are you? We live in New Windsor..the hudson valley region

Looking forward to meeting you all.
Michelle

 

[anty30]

Welcome aboard Tink.
We are from Brewster, a hop,skip, & jump from you guys. It is nice to have you guys joining us. We cruised last year and met Lilo & DH and have kept in touch with them. We cannot wait to go on this next cruise. Two years is too long to wait. Our school break is that week also, and it was $400 cheaper than the week before which was the "ghost date" I had originally booked.
The vacation is scheduled during off-peak I guess. Hooray for us.

 

[conny264]

Great to see there is already a thread going.
Add my sister and me to the list:conny 41,silke 40
This will be our third cruise,we did the eastern in 2002 and the 4 night Bahamas last year.We can´t wait to go again and will be in 7122 on Deck 7.First time with a Verandah.I had originally booked a SPR but decided to spoil ourselves a little this time.
We will fly into MCO on the 17 and go to Kennedy Space Center the next day before the cruise and afterwards spend a week at WDW.
Looking forward to that and meeting all of you.
Take care
Conny

 

[hbg4]

We're also booked. I had transfered a on board reservation to get my 10% discount and OBC to this cruise.

I haven't got the NYC school calender yet , so I'm taking a calculated guess based on the Jewish holidays that this will be the week the kids will have off for spring break.

Managed to reserve a SPH, thought about upgrading to the secret verandah but the $1000 extra can obviously be used in the spa instead.

Asked DD whether she would prefer WDW for 5 days followed by a 3n cruise on the Wonder, or 7 nights on the Magic. She opted for this cruise even though we're also booked for the EB Panama cruise in August 2008.

So there's me- Brenda
Mum- Beatrice
and DD 10 - Aleah

 

[lilo62]

Bump (just for me so I can update the role call!)


Hello fellow cruisers!

 

[Tinkified]

Just checkin' in and saying hi!

To Lilo and Anty: I see you are repeat western cruisers...We just did an Eastern and loved it...Looking forward to different ports this time around, but at the same time a little worried that we won't like it as much ...I guess I don't like the excursions I have read about...I have never been to any of the areas we will be going to, so maybe I am just putting the cart before the horse kinda thing, ya know..Can you help me feel better?

Have a happy Monday, all!
Michelle

 

[anty30]

Just checkin' in and saying hi!

To Lilo and Anty: I see you are repeat western cruisers...We just did an Eastern and loved it...Looking forward to different ports this time around, but at the same time a little worried that we won't like it as much ...I guess I don't like the excursions I have read about...I have never been to any of the areas we will be going to, so maybe I am just putting the cart before the horse kinda thing, ya know..Can you help me feel better?

Have a happy Monday, all!
Michelle

Michelle,
Let me preface this with, I have been to almost every carribean island. That being said, I can guarentee you you will LOVE the ports on the western. Let me tell you what I love about these ports.
Key West is beautiful and the easiest port to just walk around. There is so much to do within blocks of the pier. It is the one port where you literally step off the boat and you can do tons of different things all on your own. No need to book an excursion in KW.
Grand Cayman is stunning. If you are looking for a beach day head to Seven Mile Beach which was named one of the most beautiful in the world. We did an island tour and stingray city last year and it was the highlight of our trip. It is a safe island. GC is also one of the best diving places in the world. Beautiful coral formations.
Cozumel, after being wiped out by a hurricane in 2005, is recovering well. They had a lot of damage when we went last year. From what I have heard they are back and better than ever. We plan on doing the Dolphin excursion at Chakanaab Park next year. Last year we did the fury catamaran and loved it. The people could not be more polite.

Now, I have been to St. Maarten and St. Thomas as well. St. Maarten I loved, but was not crazy about St.. Thomas because I found it to be too congested. My DH has not been to those islands, so in the future I would definately go again for him, but I much prefer the Western any day. You will love it. There is so much to do. We just returned from Jamaica in Feb. We stayed at an all-inclusive family resort and had a great time. However, I would never return to Jamaica because it was the most disgusting, filthy, unsafe island I have ever visited. That is one place you should avoid in the future.
We look forward to meeting you and your family.

Antoinette

 

[conny264]

Hi everybody
Anty 30-its good to hear that you consider Key west as a good place to walk around.That´s what my sister and I are planning to do.We would love to go to the Buuterfly Conservatory and the Southernmost point.We did the Butterfly Farm in St.Maarten and loved it.
For Grand Cayman I´m thinking to book an excursion with Captain Marvin.I read so many positive comments abbout them here on the DIS.I love snorkeling and Silke wants to see the Stingrays.
Cozumel is by far the most difficult port to decide,we´d like to do Tulum but I´m a little scared that it´s very tiring.
Sorry for my english,I hope i didn´t make to many mistakes.
Anyway-today is the 19th,so it´s only 13 month to go until we will be on the Magic.
Looking forward to meeting all of you and lots of greetings from Germany
Conny

 

[Tinkified]

Thanks Antoinette for your words of wisdom and advice...I feel a lot better. It just seemed that any poll or thread I read seemed to lean towards the Eastern as being the favorite choice.

I definately wanted to do the Western when we were rebooking...kinda felt like if we did same itinerary, same boat, same shows it wouldn't be as magical...I am sure that is not entirely true because Disney would not have sooo many repeat customers if it was...but nonetheless, when I read the port info both on line and in the passporter, I felt kinda blah about it. You made me feel better and also inspired me to do a google search for "kids and (port of call)" and came up with some interesting things. This past cruise we did all of our excursions on our own and we feel it all was worth it...more relaxed, less rushed, more personalized etc.

Looking forward to meeting and cruising with you....Perhaps a pre-cruise meet might be in order since we live so close.

Thanks again Michelle

 

[lilo62]

Gina, we were thinking of doing PALO on formal night, which is Monday. Do you guys want to go with us? Maybe around 7:30pm? I can feed the kids earlier and put them in the clubs.

Hmmmm....I will run that by Jeff and let you know. I'd still dress up formal night anyway! Maybe we'll get a better pic!