April 2, 2009 3 Night Bahamian Cruise

[chrisnglenn]

I'm starting a new thread because I can't seem to find this cruise already started! We just booked it yesterday. Our last cruise was the 7-night western Caribbean in October, 2006 on the Magic. This time out, we don't have as much time, so we're doing the three night on the Wonder! Our son will be three years older (12), so we're hoping to still have a "Wonder"ful time!

Any advice on the three day or what to see (or not) in Nassau would be appreciated. Castaway Cay was my favorite part of the last cruise we were one, and I'm SO looking forward to going there again.

Looking forward to meeting some of you!

Chris, Glenn and David

 

[chrisnglenn]

Just found out that DVC booked us a "secret porthole" room -- and I didn't even realize it until I got out my old Passporter's Guide to Disney Cruise Line book from 2006! Woo hoo!

 

[2cats1kid]

Hi, long time lurker here, but I have registered now I've found this thread.

We are on the same cruise as you, also in a secret porthole room, so we will be neighbours.

As you may have guessed from the spelling, we are from the UK, and this is our first Disney cruise, though not our first Disney holiday (twice to Paris, and twice to WDW with DD, once pre-kid). Our daughter is 11, so might be nice to chat here so the youngsters have someone to head to the club with that first night. Even if they find their own friends thereafter!

We're planning on doing the Aquaventure in Nassau. DD loves water parks and we won't have as long in WDW, so won't get to do Aquatica or WnW, although might do a quick trip to Blizzard Beach, so figured although it is expensive it would give her the water park fix she needs.

 

[chrisnglenn]

Greetings! It will be lovely to meet you! David has usually played with just about anyone, so I'm hoping that the two will have a good time. We will be spending the first four days of our trip in WDW, but the last time out in 2006, we did a whole week in the world before doing the 7 day cruise. Time is shorter this time, since we're limited to just spring break, so we're trying to squeeze in as much as possible. I looked over the excursions in Nassau, and there just weren't any that "spoke" to us. We have more or less decided to see the "Pirates of Nassau" museum, have lunch at the pub there, and then wander about a bit.

We were actually in England on vacation in 2001 -- just three weeks after 9/11. I have personally never felt safer on a plane flight than then. I knew they were checking EVERYTHING. Of course, I didn't expect my carryon to be totally unpacked when we left England -- in the States, once you send it through the x-ray, you're done. I had that carryon packed with so many souveniers that I didn't think I'd get them all back in -- not to mention the two bottles of fabulous single-malt Scotch I'd picked up in the duty free shop! Yikes! However, we spent five days in Harrogate that trip (my husband's cousin was based at Menwith Hill for the US Navy at the time), then a couple days in Edinburgh, two in Inverness and a week in London. Such beautiful architecture and so much history!! We're from Denver, Colorado, and Denver has only been in existence for 150 years. There was nothing like walking around the Tower of London that's been there for a thousand years! Very cool.

Which dinner seating did you select? We decided on late seating this time, we did early last time and felt rushed to get back on board from the excursions we did.

My son needs a water park fix, too, so right now, we're tentatively planning either the Tuesday or Wednesday before the cruise. I don't do water parks (shall we say, I'm extra fluffy, and no one needs to see me in a bathing suit), although I'm sure I'll go in the water at Castaway Cay -- it was absolutely my favorite day of our trip in 2006. We'll be staying at the Saratoga Springs resort before the cruise, perhaps we could meet up before??

Also, after the cruise, we're going to go up the short distance (in our rental car) to Cape Canaveral. Didn't get to see enough of it the last time we were in Florida, so we decided we'll book a late flight back to Denver and try and see more of the Space Center before heading home. If you've got the time, it's absolutely worth the cost. There is a space shuttle that you actually get to board and see -- at one time, I think it was the Enterprise (the hubby is a huge Star Trek fan).

Looking forward to exchanging emails with you!

Chris, Glenn and David

 

[2cats1kid]

Sounds like you covered a lot of ground in the UK. Part of my dad's family were from Inverness. The rest, and most of my mum's family were from an island off the west coast of Scotland, although my maternal grandmother was born in Kansas (long story LOL!). My DH has been to Denver on a conference years ago. We currently live about 60 miles north of London, not far from Cambridge as DH works for Microsoft Research there.

Yeah, security is pretty tight with us. DH is from Northern Ireland, so most of our flights are to/from there to visit in-laws, and we are always well checked out. Not quite so much these days, but when I first knew him it was very tight. Even going into shopping centres etc. you'd have your bag checked.

We went for early seating, but I know you don't always get what you ask for. We normally eat about 6-6.30 and I get pretty ill if I eat too much too late, so early seemed to work better for us.

We're staying in Port Orleans Riverside before the cruise, and then Coronado Springs for a few days after. We have only done values before, so we are excited to try a moderate! When I get my itinerary firmed up maybe we can see if we overlap anywhere.

We went to KSC in 2006 (DD was 8) and she really didn't like it, although I love it as I remember being glued to the Apollo missions as a kid. Our new place to try is Busch Gardens this time. DH and I went years ago, but there seems to be way more there now, and DD is just getting into coasters, so hopefully will enjoy it.

Oh BTW, I have checked and we are in 5020. And I've realised I haven't told you our names - I'm Ann, DH is Gavin and DD is Kathryn. Normal spelling over here is Katherine/Catherine, and I gather Kathryn is more an American spelling, so she is hoping for all the personalised merchandise over with you that she can't get over here!

 

[chrisnglenn]

It's been a busy week -- so I'm just getting back to you! In 2006, we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter and loved it. Very nice room, definitely a step above the value room we had for our honeymoon in '95. We married in our 30's -- the best is worth waiting for -- and since we were paying for everything ourselves, we went with the All Star Music Resort for our honeymoon. When we went back in '06, we wanted an upgrade -- someday, I'd like to stay in the Grand Floridian, but that will require some saving!

We're in 5524, so you're on the opposite side of the ship and two cabins up from where we are. Our cabin is the first down the hall on the starboard side after you get off the elevators on deck five. Last time, we were on deck 7, in a cat 10 cabin but all the way forward. It was kind of nice, but very, very dark! I'm thrilled with the secret porthole and can't believe we were lucky enough to get it. I didn't even ask, because I figured it was long gone, but maybe being a DVC member helped.

I will say that the nice thing about the early dinner seating was that you can go to the stage shows after dinner, but we didn't want to be rushed this time and opted for late dining, instead. I'm not sure what shows will be on the three day cruise, but the ones we took in last time were wonderful. I especially loved "Twice Charmed" which is the Cinderella story, sort of.

My husband's cousin's daughter is named Kathryn, although I've seen both other spellings of the name. There are all kinds of touristy places in Orlando with your name on just about anything, so I'm sure she'll find a lot to satisfy her!

I'm so glad you chimed in -- I met a lovely lady last cruise, and when we went to England, I spent about 18 months prior to that getting to know a wonderful bunch through a Recipe website. What started as a place to just exchange recipes turned into a great meeting -- one of the ladies met us in her home of Edinburgh and spent the afternoon with us, even invited us to dinner at her place. The rest of the group, including Siobhan, came to London the Sunday we were there. Two of the ladies were actually fairly well-known -- Suzie Hayman and Karen Jankel, whose father wrote the Paddington Bear books. Karen was kind enough to have her father autograph one of his books for David, who was 4 at the time we were there. I've since lost touch with them, unfortunately, although we still exchange Christmas cards. It's a lot of fun to get cards from all over the world, and before I dropped out of the group, there were members from Ireland, Cyprus, South Africa and Australia.

I'm looking forward to getting to "know" you a little better. My DH, Glenn, is a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, and I am a systems analyst for a health insurer, Kaiser Permanente. We'll be taking this trip during our son David's spring break from school. Unfortunately, he only gets one week, so we're squeezing a lot into that small amount of time this trip (in '06, we did two weeks, which was wonderful).

Cheers!

Chris, Glenn and David

 

[TAKitty]

I just booked this cruise for our family. We are taking a quick trip before my brother 19 goes in the Navy. It will be me and dh, brother 19, ds 14, and ds 11.

I have cruised RCCL before but the rest of my family has never cruised. It will be a short trip for us. We are staying one night at WDW and then the cruise.

 

[TAKitty]

Bumping--I hope others will be on this cruise.

 

[ladypoo]

We are on this cruise with you guys. We took advantage of the kids cruising for free. We are adding on the cruise after a trip to WDW.
This will be our first 3 day cruise in a while, we plan on just not doing a whole lot of anything. LOL... just relaxing.
There will be my self, best friend and 2 grand children 2 years and 8 years.

 

[TAKitty]

Hi Cruisers!

We are all looking forward to this trip! Do you have your airfare yet? We are still looking for a rate that I am happy with.

Enjoy the holidays!

 

[ladypoo]

we will be driving down, as we live in south georgia. it is about a 3 hour drive for us and then another hour or so across to the cruise terminal.

 

[MMLong3996]

We'll be on this cruise with quite a bit of family. We live locally but have family coming down from OH to cruise with us and we're all so excited! This will be everyone's first Disney cruise and most of our party's first cruise...period! Here's who's traveling:

My family of four - DD9, DS6
My parents
Mother-in-Law
SIL/BIL & Kids - DD18, DS12, DS8
Cousin & Family - DS6, DD3
Cousin's parents

So, a total of 18 of us!!!! We can't wait to see what Disney has to offer on this beautiful ship!

 

[knawest8]

We booked this cruise a few weeks ago. I can't wait! It will be the second cruise for dh and I, first Disney cruise and first cruise for our DD's, age 4 and 5. They don't know about the cruise yet, because I want to find a fun way to tell them. My oldest dd has been obsessed with DCL and watches the planning dvd religiously. She is going to flip when she finds out we are really going! We are in room 2004, all the way in the front of the ship. Anyone ever been this far forward?

 

[ladypoo]

We were out at the mall tonight and since KBToys is going out of business, all their costumes were 70% off. We found a cute little pirate girl dress for pirate night.
is anyone else going to dress for pirate night?

 

[TAKitty]

Yeah, I see more people are joining us!

I am not sure if we are going to dress up for pirate night. If anything, we will wear tropical shirts. I might make us pirate shirts, but I am not sure yet.

 

[knawest8]

Thanks for the tip! Maybe I will swing by FL Mall tomorrow. We haven't been before, so I didn't know about dressing up for pirate night. Also, we haven't told our girls yet, so I have to be sneaky!

 

[knawest8]

TAKitty, where in MI are you? I grew up near Grand Rapids and moved to Florida just a few years ago for a teaching job.

 

[TAKitty]

TAKitty, where in MI are you? I grew up near Grand Rapids and moved to Florida just a few years ago for a teaching job.

We live south of Lansing in a small town called Stockbridge. I am a teacher in Marshall but grew up in Trenton. We just got a huge dumping of snow this weekend, don't ya just miss it ! I would love to teach in Florida but my dh isn't ready to leave Michigan. I keep telling him that I have to retire someplace warmer!

 

[knawest8]

A teacher with a job in MI!? I would be jealous but I don't miss the snow one bit. There are some definate perks to teaching down here, but the approach the state has towards education is a bit behind the times. It can be frustrating at times, but I am happy to have a job doing what I love to do. Now that my daughter is in Kinder, its nice that she is able to accompany me. How many disney cruises have you been on? This will be our first. We have only ever been on RCCL.

 

[TAKitty]

A teacher with a job in MI!? I would be jealous but I don't miss the snow one bit. There are some definate perks to teaching down here, but the approach the state has towards education is a bit behind the times. It can be frustrating at times, but I am happy to have a job doing what I love to do. Now that my daughter is in Kinder, its nice that she is able to accompany me. How many disney cruises have you been on? This will be our first. We have only ever been on RCCL.

Michigan has changed its approach to education as well. Most of us are beginning to wonder if anyone will graduate with the strict standards.

This is our first Disney cruise. I have also been on RCCL. I think it was sov. of the seas. The rest of my family has never been on a cruise before, so this will be an experience for them. It took me a long time to convine my dh to try cruising.