April 29, 2012 ~ Aloha! ~ Inagural Wonder to Hawaii-Part 4

[goofprincess]

We just returned from a 14-night Hawaii cruise (not DCL).

Here are some random thoughts.

• The days at sea can be very rough. We had rough seas the first 1-1/2 days leaving the west coast, and on the 2 days leaving Hawaii. (Bring something for motion sickness.)
  
• The weather on the islands can be unpredictable. We had rain showers on Maui and Kauai. (Pack a jacket or umbrella in your daybag when going ashore.)
  
• Port arrival times can vary widely. We arrived an hour early at one port, and two hours late at another. (If you book a private tour, be careful with the timing.)

Otherwise, it is a fantastic cruise and we would do it again.

YMMV

Woody

Thanks Woody; just as I would have predicted and couldn't have said it better Glad you had a good time. Hope to see ya on another cruise someday. ALOHA AND MAHALO.

 

[castoff]

Hi Tina, yes....sippers are only $5. We always start with Rosa Regale which is a big favorite and it's sweet. I think you will like it.

I have never tried the Rosa. Looking forward to it.

Tina, I have been told that DCL charges $20 per person, for 1 hour, 4 champagnes, they pick the champagne and the order and they limit the number of people. That's not how I do it. I charge 0, $5 or $10, for 2 hours, 4 champagnes and I pick the champagne and the order and I don't limit the number of people, unless we hit near 100. So my event is more time to be social and chat. DCL will have a person doing all the pouring. I always have my husband so that everybody has a chance to get up and walk around and talk to each other. This time I have my DH John, and a friend Dennis and another friend Dennis pouring since we have so many ladies. YES the men will be wearing pink too. I want mine to be more of a fun atmosphere and a social gathering not just a tasting....less structure.

So it's either a DCL event or Deb event. DCL event sounds a bit stuffy to me. The Deb event sounds relaxing.

Not this time and Hawaii is one of two states where they don't observe daylight savings time.

That's good to know !

 

[castoff]

49 days until sailing

I have to start finding where I have put all the stuff for FE, Secret Mickey, matching shirts and the suitcases.

Everything will land in the guest room, I hope we do not have any company before we sail!

I was doing soooo good months ago. Now the clothes I had all put in one place is now scattered. Back to the drawing board. I am having so much fun getting things for my Secret Mickey.

On the Baltic cruise DCL left Disneyland Paris Ponchos in everyone's room before the first port of call. I have no reason why. If you did any research you would know that rain is common on that itinerary. Oh well, I have a DLP poncho now that gets a lot of looks when I am at WDW.

We call that liquid sunshine. I will take a warm rain over a cold one anyday.

 

[aan1701]

You are almost exactly right. I tested this two weeks ago on Sunday morning when I was in Anaheim. I left DL area at 8:00 a.m. and I was at the port in 28 minutes, not quite the 30 you have stated. (However, I probably drove a little over the speed limit..........

Well I did say no longer than 30 min.

 

[aan1701]

Saw some people talking about the seas. To me, I chose to take my vacation in the middle of the ocean. It will be what it is. I don't worry about.

 

[dolphingirl47]

What is the structured tasting ?

On the Panama Canal Cruise last year, Disney organized this in the same way like they do the various wine and spirit tastings. They had chosen for different samples, told us a bit about this and then we were encouraged to try them for ourselves.

Hi Tina, yes....sippers are only $5. We always start with Rosa Regale which is a big favorite and it's sweet. I think you will like it.

I love Rosa Regale, but I found something on the Panama Canal cruise that I like even better. They have a new sparkling wine called Enchanted Rose, which is about half the price of Rosa Regale. On the dry end of the spectrum, I love the Fairy Tale Cuvee.

I come up with 39 kids. If they don't have an age after their name I figured they were adult "kids"...like my daughter traveling with me. Corinna did you do an child total count?

I need to check tomorrow, but I am pretty sure I had 40 kids total.

Are the lists that Corina posted the most correct of the FE lists? I want to make sure I do not miss anyone in my group

Thanks!

I have updated mine whenever Heather mentioned that she has done updates.

Ship time is whatever time the Captain says it is. Totally and completely up to the Captian. On all 12 DCL cruises we have taken the Captain has had us on local time at each port, regardless of whether that time is daylight savings time or standard time. Excursions will be on local time. They will let us know when to change our clocks though, so no worries. One would need to be aware though that we are not on DST in Hawaii if you plan on calling back home and want to figure out the time difference. I'm thinking I do not want to call home and see what everyone needs from me though. Let them figure it out on their own for 3 weeks!!

I have been on a few cruises where we stayed on ship time in some of the ports. I know that we stayed on ship time in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo, Tunis, Aruba and I am pretty sure there was one on the Transatlantic as well.

Corinna

 

[TChrist05]

Hey guys...where do I find the final final FE list?

Thanks.
Tom

 

[TDC Nala]

I have not received any call changing the time of Arizona Memorial and City Tour, Adults Only Departure.

 

[Lexa]

Hey guys...where do I find the final final FE list?

Thanks.
Tom

Heather did all the updates and here is her list:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Agma8fe-PvOhdEpIVVV3SThVd2ZUVzBVVWZ0M25zTWc#gid=0

 

[MousseauMob]

Arizona and City Tour time change

I have seen a few posts of people posting that the time of the excursion had changed from 8 am to 9:15 am....I know there were 2 excursions for this particular excursion (regular and adult only) and I was wondering which tour the people that got the call were on since we have not received a call (we booked adult only departure)....I checked my excursions on line and mine still says 8 am....

Thanks in advance

I got the call on the Regular excursion (kids with me) - based on the comments from others, I have to assume the Adults Only time did not change.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

THANK YOU, IRENE!

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Magicale Brachetto

We tried this at Disney - similar to Rosa Regalla - but made esp. for Disney.

 

[coconutsunshine]

Hi everyone,

So DH, DS (2) and I are thinking about joining your cruise, our main concern (other than the price ) is that we will not have enough time to properly plan for a trip of this magnitude, this is a dream trip for us. Just wondering if any of you who have already obsessively planned like I like to do can recommend excursions that you plan to do -- we probably won't do many through Disney and would like to do most of them on our own. All advice is welcomed and appreciated! I'm going to try to read through the 4 threads but time is limited with a very energetic 2 year old son

thanks again

 

[gdaneowner]

Hi everyone,

So DH, DS (2) and I are thinking about joining your cruise, our main concern (other than the price ) is that we will not have enough time to properly plan for a trip of this magnitude, this is a dream trip for us. Just wondering if any of you who have already obsessively planned like I like to do can recommend excursions that you plan to do -- we probably won't do many through Disney and would like to do most of them on our own. All advice is welcomed and appreciated! I'm going to try to read through the 4 threads but time is limited with a very energetic 2 year old son

thanks again

I too am traveling with a 2 year old. The only thing I have noticed, is that alot of the excursions are for kids 5 and up, other than things that are just tours. That is what I have noticed thru Disney. We booked easy things like the Maui Ocean Center, the dolphin encounter (for DS (almost 5) and Myself), and the Dolphin Observer for my Mom and DS who is 2. That was the biggest challenge I had in my planning. Not sure if this helps or is what you are looking for.. But I do hope it helps!

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Aloha Ahiahi.....

Good Evening...

Val does it again. Did anyone else notice that the flowers in the fabric match the colors for the four Hawaiian islands we are visiting? Red = the Big Island, PInk = Maui, Yellow for Oahu and purple for Kauai.

Neat......

 

[coconutsunshine]

I too am traveling with a 2 year old. The only thing I have noticed, is that alot of the excursions are for kids 5 and up, other than things that are just tours. That is what I have noticed thru Disney. We booked easy things like the Maui Ocean Center, the dolphin encounter (for DS (almost 5) and Myself), and the Dolphin Observer for my Mom and DS who is 2. That was the biggest challenge I had in my planning. Not sure if this helps or is what you are looking for.. But I do hope it helps!

Thank you. I'm thinking if we go the best bet for us would be to bring the car seat and rent a car at the ports that way we can go at our own pace and just see the things we find interesting. Must go to bed!

 

[Pixiegran]

Thank you. I'm thinking if we go the best bet for us would be to bring the car seat and rent a car at the ports that way we can go at our own pace and just see the things we find interesting. Must go to bed!

Some of us have had great luck with kayak.com to rent cars at the ports very reasonably...mine both ended up being budget rentals but cheaper than budget site offered.

Port excursion, if still open, is the chance to spend the day at Aulani...that would be super child oriented. It costs $400 for the day and is for up to four people, but the things to do there are amazing. From what I have read you can see fish in ocean without snorkeling thru glass viewing...pools, beaches etc I am not traveling with a child but daughter and I both have physical limitations and there we can safely do all the things "Hawaiian" safely.

 

[seaulater]

On the Baltic cruise DCL left Disneyland Paris Ponchos in everyone's room before the first port of call. I have no reason why. If you did any research you would know that rain is common on that itinerary. Oh well, I have a DLP poncho now that gets a lot of looks when I am at WDW.

We were on that cruise also, but we did not get rain ponchos. Maybe it had something to do with the excursion you were going on?

 

[woody73]

Thank you for the update.....and for the reminder for bringing the panchos....I'll leave the Mickey ones at home.

How rough is rough?

25 to 30 foot swells. All outside open decks were closed to passengers. Motion sickness bags placed at the stairwells. Green apples and crackers available.

Woody

 

[CTXRover]

Hey all,
Haven't had the chance to join in on this thread yet, but we too are joining this cruise!

I don't know if this has been posted yet throughout this thread, but I wanted to pass on something I came across today when planning our port adventures. We opted to do Oahu on our own after much consideration, and I noted today that you can now book tickets online to visit Pearl Harbor. This was the deal clincher for us to do this island on our own as you can now reserve a specific time without running the risk of getting there and needing to wait hours to visit the Memorial with the previous "first come, first served" policy.

Simply go to http://www.nps.gov/valr/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm and follow the directions. There is a $1.50 convenience fee, but well worth it for the convenience of a specific time now set. I don't know if others were planning to go on their own, but the ability to reserve online has apparently only been available for the past 2 or 3 weeks.