**April 6, 2013** - Fantasy Eastern Caribbean to San Juan!

[lafa]

Thank you for the info! I wasn't sure how the times would be, good to know there are many choices!

Thanks!

 

[MissLiz]

So, is anyone getting in early for the cruise? We wanted to come in on Thursday and spend a day at the beach, but my DD had a week long bout with some sort of illness and I don't want to take her out of school any more, so we are just leaving on Friday.

I am hoping to make it into Port Canaveral by 8pm, but we'll see.

 

[ALBA]

Hi,

Starting to get excited here

We paid the cruise early on the 20th December so we could go ahead and book some activities from the 21st. It's our first cruise as Gold, so it was good to be able to pick and choose times. It's been an expensive month, as well as paying the cruise we bought some PAP on the DVC offer as it was too good to pass up, but with all that and Christmas...the credit card has taken a pounding....lol

I managed to book everything we wanted:-
Palo Dinner - Semi Formal night (means one less dress to pack for me)
Palo Brunch - 2nd sea day (didn't fancy having Palo brunch as well as the formal night as our sunday seemed to be pretty busy)
BBB - On the afternoon of the formal night, which is what we did last time and she loved it.

I did look at Remy, but being veggie I wasn't too bothered about their veggie offerings.

I did think about BBB on pirate night for DS, but as he's only 3 I wasn't convinced he would be happy to sit there having his face paint done.

I didn't book at any excursions as we felt our DS who is 3 is a bit young, we are just happy to get off and wander around under our own steam.

We arrive at WDW on wednesday 3rd April and we are at the VWL before the cruise, then we are heading back to WDW after the cruise and staying 9 nights at the BWV.

As always, I vow to pack light, but never quite manage it

Alba

 

[MissLiz]

Hi Alba! I'm so jealous that you are getting to spend so much time at WDW before and after the cruise. Since we were just at WDW in November, we decided to skip going around the cruise. Boo!

Trust me, that final payment for the cruise was a killer right before Christmas, but it will be so worth it in just a couple of months!

We have BBB booked the morning of formal night, but I think we may cancel it. First, I'm not sure if the girls are going to want to interrupt their first day right in the morning to get dolled up and second, my oldest isn't sure she wants to do it and the youngest is worried about the hair-pulling. I just can't decide what to do.

We are doing brunch on the second sea day, too! I think I'm most excited about that because the reviews and pictures are wonderful.

My girls decided on the tutu package for Pirates League. I originally had just the make-up package booked, but then I was looking at pirate costumes and decided that it was probably worth it to just get the full package. One less thing to pack and the girls love tutus.

We aren't booking any excursions. We were just in St Thomas last spring and we like to just wander around San Juan.

I specifically told DH that I wanted to drive for the cruise so that I could pack heavier.

 

[mummy lee]

We have booked BBB too.......not sure if Alice will like it as her understandings not very good but we have gone for the princess Minnie anyway as it will be her last chance as she is now 12......fingers crossed x

 

[Wilderness Wendy]

Hello all,

I just made my final payment for this cruise so I thought I would join in the fun! I know I am in the right place since I am also from Marietta, GA!

This will be our second Disney cruise. We did the Dream in July. It will be me, DH, DD8 and DS6. The kids loved doing the FE exchange on our last cruise so I'd like to participate in that again if there is room in the group.

Can't wait!

Wendy

 

[hoppin62]

Hello all,

I just made my final payment for this cruise so I thought I would join in the fun! I know I am in the right place since I am also from Marietta, GA!

This will be our second Disney cruise. We did the Dream in July. It will be me, DH, DD8 and DS6. The kids loved doing the FE exchange on our last cruise so I'd like to participate in that again if there is room in the group.

Can't wait!

Wendy

Hi Wendy, Welcome!
Send me a PM with your info, names, cabin#, etc and I will add you to the list.
Thanks.

Sammy

 

[hoppin62]

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays to all .

We have not been on here in a while and are getting excited about the trip now that the holiday stress is over!

We have not booked any excursions, but we may be having a spa day with a couples massage and doing Palo for sure

Please check the F/E list to see that your info is correct. We will assign your day to pass out your gifts as we get closer to the trip.

MissLiz: Anything you would recommend in St. Thomas?

 

[jmb910]

For those of you that booked BBB, were there a lot of slots available? I really want to book it for my daughter's birthday while we are on the cruise, but we still haven't paid it off yet. I am waiting until the last second to pay it .

 

[MissLiz]

Hello all,

I just made my final payment for this cruise so I thought I would join in the fun! I know I am in the right place since I am also from Marietta, GA!

This will be our second Disney cruise. We did the Dream in July. It will be me, DH, DD8 and DS6. The kids loved doing the FE exchange on our last cruise so I'd like to participate in that again if there is room in the group.

Can't wait!

Wendy

Welcome!! Wow, it looks like there are going to be a few of us from the Atlanta area on this cruise. We hit up a couple different malls this weekend and picked up some great deals on summery clothes for our girls. I'm starting to have an area in one of our closets that is devoted just to cruise clothes. I'm not early, am I?

 

[MissLiz]

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays to all .

We have not been on here in a while and are getting excited about the trip now that the holiday stress is over!

We have not booked any excursions, but we may be having a spa day with a couples massage and doing Palo for sure

Please check the F/E list to see that your info is correct. We will assign your day to pass out your gifts as we get closer to the trip.

MissLiz: Anything you would recommend in St. Thomas?

We've been to St Thomas twice. Once we did a botanical garden tour that was nice, but I wouldn't do it again or with kids.

Last trip, we went to Magen's Bay. We were on a different cruise line and we docked at Crown Bay, so we had a really long drive to the beach and had to take a ferry back from the main shopping area after the tour. We were able to get to Magen's Bay early enough to get a great spot with some shade. It was lovely and we didn't think it was terribly crowded on the day we were there. Most of my pictures have just my girls and my husband and maybe one other girl in them.

If we hadn't just gone there, we would be going back to Magen's Bay for sure. We also figured that since it was the first stop, most people would be getting off the ship in the morning, so we are going to try to enjoy the pools that morning.

 

[ALBA]

For those of you that booked BBB, were there a lot of slots available? I really want to book it for my daughter's birthday while we are on the cruise, but we still haven't paid it off yet. I am waiting until the last second to pay it .

There seemed quite a few BBB slots when we booked for formal night. Did you have a particular day/s in mind? If so let me know and I can have a look for you.

Alba

 

[jmb910]

There seemed quite a few BBB slots when we booked for formal night. Did you have a particular day/s in mind? If so let me know and I can have a look for you.

Alba

Oh my goodness thank you so much! Her birthday is on the 8th, so anytime that day. Maybe 11ish? Thank you for checking for me!

 

[ALBA]

Hi,

I have just looked at the BBB times for 8th April and there are still loads of times left. They have:-

10.00, 10.30, 10.45, 11.15, 11.30, 12.00, 12.15, 12.45, 1.00, 1.30, 1.45,
2.15, 2.30, 3.00, 3.15, 3.45....and then every quarter to half hour approx up until 8.30.

Most of the packages say allow 45 mins and turn up 15 mins before your appointment time. When you book they ask you what costume, size and shoe size you require. It can be changed if it's not suitable as we did that with DD last time.

There seems plenty of availablility but I'd get on early on your booking day to book your slot

Hope that helps.

Alba

 

[jmb910]

Hi,

I have just looked at the BBB times for 8th April and there are still loads of times left. They have:-

10.00, 10.30, 10.45, 11.15, 11.30, 12.00, 12.15, 12.45, 1.00, 1.30, 1.45,
2.15, 2.30, 3.00, 3.15, 3.45....and then every quarter to half hour approx up until 8.30.

Most of the packages say allow 45 mins and turn up 15 mins before your appointment time. When you book they ask you what costume, size and shoe size you require. It can be changed if it's not suitable as we did that with DD last time.

There seems plenty of availablility but I'd get on early on your booking day to book your slot

Hope that helps.

Alba

Thank you so much for checking!!! Yeah, this makes me happy that there are still so many slots left! Thanks again .

Also, what princess choices are there? Do they have Merida? Thank you.

 

[ALBA]

Hi MissLiz

We need to spend a while in Florida to make the most of our flight cost, it's been getting more and more expensive each year and we try to visit for 2.5 - 3 weeks to make the most of it....it does help that we love Disney and Florida. Hope you had a nice time in november.

I booked BBB for around 4pm as I thought my daughter would like to enjoy some pool time, also we have the castaway club reception that day and there are some other tastings we want to do in the afternoon. DH needs time to get ready as he usually wears his dress kilt outfit for formal night which takes a long time to put on....it takes him longer than me to get ready and that's very unusual

My daughter had BBB done last time on the Fantasy and there was no discomfort whilst getting her hair done, I was a bit worried but the lady was really gentle and it stayed in really well...so don't think your youngest should worry.

What time is your brunch booked for? We booked for 11am but not sure if we should have gone for a bit earlier, I think we had 10.30 last time. I really enjoyed the brunch, our server was great and we had her again on our Palo dinner.

Hope your girls enjoy pirate leage, the costumes looked great.

We did St Thomas before we had children, we hired a car and toured the island. This time we think we might just stay around the Charlotte Amalie area. As for San Juan, not sure what to do there, I haven't really researched other than people were saying there is two forts you can visit.

LOL re your comment about driving to the cruise so you could pack heavier. I usually try and pack as little as possible and we leave some items with bell services at the WDW resort.

Alba

 

[MissLiz]

Oh, Alba, let me tell you how much I would love to go on that long of a vacation! I understand trying to get the most for your money, though.

November was nice. I was really hoping to be able to see some of the Christmas decorations while we were there, but they didn't go up until the day we left. We did get to enjoy the New Fantasyland during the DVC preview. That worked out well.

Our brunch is at 11, as well, on the 2nd sea day. I figured that our girls will wake up early (as usual), so we'll have an early breakfast with them before they go to the kids' club. I should be a little hungry by 11.

We are just going to wander in San Juan. I've done one of the forts, so we may go to the other one this time. We just really enjoy walking around San Juan. We may have to use the free shuttle this trip. We are not bringing the stroller because of the cobblestone streets, so my little one may not last very long.

My youngest keeps telling her teacher that she is going on a Disney cruise next week. Last week it was next week. This week it's next week. She doesn't quite have the concept of time yet.

 

[ALBA]

Thank you so much for checking!!! Yeah, this makes me happy that there are still so many slots left! Thanks again .

Also, what princess choices are there? Do they have Merida? Thank you.

Unfortunately no Merida. The usual princesses, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tinkerbell, Tiana, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Rapunzel and also first mate Minnie and Princess Minnie......I don't know if the last two are only available on the ship.

Alba

 

[ALBA]

MissLiz

Shame about the Christmas decorations. We would like to go at Christmas, but from what I've been reading it has been so busy this year. We had friends from the UK visit last year and they said it was busy but they didn't mention the parks being at capacity by 10.30!

Might see you at brunch then...

I see your youngest is 3, is she potty trained yet? We are desperately trying to train our son at the moment, hoping that he can go to the kids club instead of the nusery. The problem is that boys are so different to girls, my daughter was fully trained by 3 and got the hang of it really quickly, whereas my son just doesn't seem too bothered.

You mentioned the free shuttle in San Juan. Where does it go from and to? Does the ship dock in a convenient place to explore the town? I'm not sure I like the sound of the cobbled streets, DS is always better when in the buggy otherwise he makes a dash for it....lol

Kids definitely have no concept of time, we have a countdown but I'm still not sure that my daughter gets it.

Alba

 

[MissLiz]

Since my daughter's dance company does a Christmas ballet every year, we don't get the chance to go later in November or early December when I would love to go. We got to see the same Halloween decorations we see every year. Oh well.

My youngest is potty-trained. Both of my girls were easy. They kind of did it themselves. I'm not sure I could work with a boy. My nephew is a little younger than my daughter and he is just starting on the training. Boys just don't seem as concerned with the whole training thing.

If I remember correctly, the shuttle has multiple stops in the city and you just hop on and off. It's like a regular bus and it goes to most of the attraction areas. I know that we walked from one stop to the ship pretty easily. And the ship docks pretty much in the old city, so you can start your touring right away.

I think I'll probably get tired of saying "hold my hand" by the end of that day. My oldest still holds my hand all the time, but my youngest...that's a whole different story.