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

[Angiefromalberta]

I am sooo excited. We booked our flights today for the cruise and got all 4 seats on airmiles and direct flights!!
You can't beat that!! Great luck!
Angie

 

[wdhinn89]

I am sooo excited. We booked our flights today for the cruise and got all 4 seats on airmiles and direct flights!!
You can't beat that!! Great luck!
Angie

Lucky You

Still waiting for Jet Blue.

 

[conny264]

Good for you.
Over here in Europe,they still have no flights released,although website says 11 month prior to travel date.
Hope,they come up with something soon.

Take care
Conny

 

[rantnnravin]

two more days of proctoring, graduation, and pick up your check day left...

 

[kruk4us]

Hello,

We are also joining in!!!First time cruise for us. Can't wait !!!!!It will be myself My husband
(Mark) my 2 kids Jared will be 7 and Ava will be 5 at time of cruise.
We are going with my brother Paul and his family (of E. bridgewater,Ma)
as well as his sister in laws family and friends of our also family of 4.
We can't wait.....Paul told me about this site and thought I would sign on.

Holly
Weymouth,Ma

 

[OSUBuckly]

Welcome Holly!

You are in for quite a treat with a Disney Cruise! It is especially fun traveling with other family. Often, I would only see the other members of my family at dinner. There were so many things to do, that everybody could do their own thing.

Now how to pass those long 10 months until the cruise?

 

[4newtocruise]

Boy, have I missed a lot! It's been a while since I've been on the tread. School's out now, so maybe I'll finally have time to put some thought into this cruise again! You guy's got me all excited again!

I have done some booking. We ended up booking the Residence Inn - anyone else? We rented the car from Hertz. I guess I better start looking at airfare!

Michelle/Antoninette: Hope your summer is going well! Let me know when you want to go to Splashdown!!! We are going on vacation the last week of July to Aug. 4th.

Welcome everyone from New York!!! I can't believe how many are from the area! We are from Middletown, NY!!!


-Joan

 

[4newtocruise]

Wow, flights are expensive!

$259!!! Are there any flight secrets from any of you! That price was from LGA. I also tried Newark, Albany, Wilkes Barre, and Newburgh, all of them were more! Help

-Joan

 

[anty30]

Wow, flights are expensive!

$259!!! Are there any flight secrets from any of you! That price was from LGA. I also tried Newark, Albany, Wilkes Barre, and Newburgh, all of them were more! Help

-Joan

Joan, I would wait a little lobger for airfare. Stewart is closest to you. I am sure they will have some good rates by the end of the summer. We are waiting to book out of Westchester on Jet Blue or Air Tran.
Antoinette

 

[wdhinn89]

Hi All! Waiting patiently with the rest of you. Also waiting for Jet Blue's rates to come out. We live on Long Island, NY so looking to go out of JFK or LGA with whatever carrier has the cheapest fare.

Does anybody have any excursion recommendations? Other than fishing at Castaway Cay, we have no idea.

 

[Tinkified]

Welcome kruk4us! Our group is growing and growing and growing! The more the merrier! Yeah! This is going to be such fun! Now only to figure out what to do with the next 10 months, as someone else has said.

Some points to respond to:

We are waiting for jetblue too...out of Stewart....if we can avoid the big 3 in NYC at a resonable price we will be happy as pigs in...you know what...we paid 1500 last march for Disney air out of Stewart (we fly during the winter months and wanted to be protected by disney in case of bad weather/delays/cancellations.

We are doing the Residence Inn the night before as well. We haven't booked the car yet...but thinking of doing Hertz as well....

Excursions

...we have a wild dolphin adventure booked for Key West. It is a private sail for 6 people...we are a party of 3 so there is room for three more if anyone is interested. WWW.wilddolphinadventures.com

...in cozumel we are doing a dune buggy tour with beach and snorkle time. It sounds like a lot of fun..we are not booked yet...but I have it book marked to reserve...
http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/CozumelDuneBuggyTour.htm

...in the Cayman's I think we are just going to beach it..maybe rent a jetski or two

...and Castaway Cay is all about the R and R...


And some other trip details:

Anyone one doing a spread sheet of sorts for our group...you know, names, hometown, children's ages, cabin number, dinner seating time etc? I don't know how or I would offer.

And how bout a pre-cruise meet the 18th for those of us who are arriving then? Our last group did a dinner at a restaurant right on the pier called Grills. We weren't there the night before last time but heard it was good.

And how bout a group ressie for Palo...I think they do a private brunch. Our group did that too on Sunday...but our daughter hadn't gotten into the groove of clubs that early on in the cruise so we didn't do it.


And for my fellow Hudson Valleyers....I am still in for Splashdown...Let's figure out a date that works for us...

Ciao for Now
Michelle

 

[wdhinn89]

Welcome kruk4us! Our group is growing and growing and growing! The more the merrier! Yeah! This is going to be such fun! Now only to figure out what to do with the next 10 months, as someone else has said.

Some points to respond to:

We are waiting for jetblue too...out of Stewart....if we can avoid the big 3 in NYC at a resonable price we will be happy as pigs in...you know what...we paid 1500 last march for Disney air out of Stewart (we fly during the winter months and wanted to be protected by disney in case of bad weather/delays/cancellations.

We are doing the Residence Inn the night before as well. We haven't booked the car yet...but thinking of doing Hertz as well....

Excursions

...we have a wild dolphin adventure booked for Key West. It is a private sail for 6 people...we are a party of 3 so there is room for three more if anyone is interested. WWW.wilddolphinadventures.com

...in cozumel we are doing a dune buggy tour with beach and snorkle time. It sounds like a lot of fun..we are not booked yet...but I have it book marked to reserve...
http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/CozumelDuneBuggyTour.htm

...in the Cayman's I think we are just going to beach it..maybe rent a jetski or two

...and Castaway Cay is all about the R and R...


And some other trip details:

Anyone one doing a spread sheet of sorts for our group...you know, names, hometown, children's ages, cabin number, dinner seating time etc? I don't know how or I would offer.

And how bout a pre-cruise meet the 18th for those of us who are arriving then? Our last group did a dinner at a restaurant right on the pier called Grills. We weren't there the night before last time but heard it was good.

And how bout a group ressie for Palo...I think they do a private brunch. Our group did that too on Sunday...but our daughter hadn't gotten into the groove of clubs that early on in the cruise so we didn't do it.


And for my fellow Hudson Valleyers....I am still in for Splashdown...Let's figure out a date that works for us...

Ciao for Now
Michelle

Thanks for the tips!

I see they are all Non-Disney excursions. Have you ever gone on any of the excursions Disney offers? We did the fishing on Castaway Cay when we were on the Wonder and loved it. We see the Dolphin excursion on the Magic but my husband saw some documentary about not doing animal excursions outside of the USA because they are not monitered for safety. I'm pushing for the stingray excursions though.

 

[Tinkified]

To answer your questions Wdhinn89...Yes, they are all non-disney excursions. I did a lot of research for excursions for our March 07 cruise..both on the general internet and here on the DIS...we did Divi Little Bay (St. Maarten) and a private sail and snorkle and "Ride the View" (St. Thomas) all on our own. They ended up being cheaper and we did not have crowds or time restrictions etc. We have cruised before and I felt confident doing it all on our own...although this past March was the first time we ventured out on our own...and I plan on continuing to do so because of all the freedom allowed.

I have done the dolphin encounter in Nassau at Discovery Cove on a cruise through Carnival I believe. It was really cool..and I know people who have done the excursion through Disney and without Disney and all have had positive experiences. As far as safety outside the US for these excursions, IMO, I don't think the cruise lines would contract with the providers if it wasn't safe, up to standards or the codes so to speak. As an additional sidenote, there is also a lot of info out there about the controlled swim or encounters with captured animals etc...you know that it cruel to capture the dolphins etc...I guess it all depends on your beliefs etc...

Why don't you post a specific safety question regarding the dolphin encounter on the DIS with the info you have from the show you watched? Funny about the stingray encounter though...my husband and I are leary about the stingray encounter due to Steve Irwin's death...and of course there is debate, even here on the DIS, about those encounters too.

Hope this helps some.
Ciao for Now
Michelle

 

[wdhinn89]

Good point. Forgot about Steve Irwin. Just thinking about when we fed them at the local aquarium. Thanks for all your info.

 

[anty30]

Hello.
I posted this earlier, but we did the Island Tour & Stingray City in GC through Nativeway on our own and it was a great experience. I would highly recommend them.
Antoinette

 

[OSUBuckly]

...we have a wild dolphin adventure booked for Key West. It is a private sail for 6 people...we are a party of 3 so there is room for three more if anyone is interested. WWW.wilddolphinadventures.com

This sounds like fun. Since it is a private sail, what would the rates be for two of us? Also, have you done this trip before or know someone who has? Just curious why this one stood out.

...in cozumel we are doing a dune buggy tour with beach and snorkle time. It sounds like a lot of fun..we are not booked yet...but I have it book marked to reserve...
http://cozumelcruiseexcursions.com/CozumelDuneBuggyTour.htm

I would LOVE to do this trip. However, I am unable to drive a stick. That kind of takes the fun of it. Oh well.

Anyone one doing a spread sheet of sorts for our group...you know, names, hometown, children's ages, cabin number, dinner seating time etc? I don't know how or I would offer.

That sounds like a great idea. Is anybody very proficient with Excel? If nobody else volunteers, maybe I can convince my girlfriend to do it (she is quite handy with all those MS Office programs). However, she might not have the time.

 

[4newtocruise]

I'm pretty proficient in Excel and have the program. I can work on that, no problem. I'll go back on the tread and gather as much info. as I can. I'll just be asking everyone to fill in the blanks!

I would love all of us to get together for dinner the night before - Antoninette, do you have time to organize that? That place sounds good, so they have private rooms that can accomodate a large group?

Thanks for the info. on JetBlue, any idea when there rates might come up?

Anoninette/Michelle: What days are you available in August for Splashdown? I don't have my schedule out for that month yet but if we come up with a date, I can request off at the hospital.

-Joan

 

[anty30]

Hey everybody,
I think the idea that Tink had with a pre-cruise dinner at Grills would be great. We are staying at the CIS. You dont need a private room, it is outdoor seating and we can just meet up. That way, whoever can come, comes, and if you cant make it, no big deal. It will be real casual. Here is the website for Grills, http://www.visitgrills.com/

I believe Jet Blue releases prices 7 months out, but dont qoute me on that.

Splashdown sounds great. Maybe one day during the week the 1st week of August? Let me know.

Antoinette

 

[Tinkified]

OSUBuckly:
regarding the wild dolphin adventure...it is 85 dollars per person and they take up to 6 people at a time. If you joined us it would be a party of 5...we did a private sail and snorkle in St Thomas and it was just the three of us and another couple from another shiip. Please join us if you are interested. Contact them directly and see if they still have our date and space available...assuming noone else has booked. As far as how I chose them...a did a search on the net and chose one that had a bathroom! Their rates are competative with others, they don't offer food or drink and others do at the same price, but having a 6, ooppss, she will be 7 then, on a boat for 3+ hours a bathroom is a necessity...actually when we were in St Thomas and did the private sail I think I was the only one who used the bathroom!

Regarding the dune buggy tour...I hadn't thought about the stick shift thing...My husband doesn't drive stick shift...but I do! I guess I will be doing the driving! Perhaps you can be set up with another party of 2 and have them do all the driving. I am sure you are not the only ones...in fact I read somewhere that if you are sharing the car that you take turns driving etc..Inquire...if the trip sounds like fun..it might be worth your while.

Joan: Thanks for offering to do the spreadsheet. I know excel, but I don't have access to it at home...only at work...and I am not working for the next 10 weeks...YAHOOO! WHOOPIE...YIPPEE...Can you tell I am excited about summer vacation!

I mentioned the evening before meet at the restaurant...I am not sure if Antoniette did or not...but I can handle that..as long as I am not stepping on anybody's toes. Let me know

As far as the Splashdown day goes...I somehow remember august being discussed...but I am not sure....but we are unavailable the 3rd, 8th, 9th, 10th and the 16th and the 17th.

ANYONE FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY NY REGION: we have sketchy plans to go to Splashdown in the Fishkill/Poughkeepsie area this summer. Please join us...Let us know.

Happy Summer! Hey what's the cruise countdown? Less than 10 months right?
Michelle

 

[Tinkified]

POLL:

Who is arriving the night before or even earlier?
And where are you staying the night before the cruise?

I posted earlier that we are staying at the Residence Inn...my bad...We are at the Country Inn and Suites...or known here on the DIS...CI & S!