Aug 03 2008 Magic (West Coast)

[caitlinsdad]

Welcome aboard


The more the merrier.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Well we were able to make the change last night. The DCL rep I talked to was very understanding and helpful. Now I've got to get busy doing research and finding a place to stay the night before the cruise we are doing Disney Land after the cruise. We are booked in a cat. 4 GTY.

Lissa

 

[vossjemi]

Welcome Lissa. Is everything available only in guarantee status? I checked again today (with 2A/2k) and no availabilty showed up. But, doing a test with 1 kid or adults only, lots of cabins. Does that mean DCL has hit the kid max already on our cruise?

 

[caitlinsdad]

Welcome Lissa. Is everything available only in guarantee status? I checked again today (with 2A/2k) and no availabilty showed up. But, doing a test with 1 kid or adults only, lots of cabins. Does that mean DCL has hit the kid max already on our cruise?

2 A and 1 kid I see all catogies for Aug 3rd so maybe its just the 2A/2K or a problem with the web site.

Could also be a problem based on kids ages.

All I know if they are starting to fill up, I wish we could get more people posting on this thread

 

[vossjemi]

So, did anyone watch shark week? Makes me nervous about Cabo and proximity to Sea of Cortez. Gosh, come to think of it, I'm scared of any ocean right now. I know they are trying to educate us, but when they show all these people with missing chunks or limbs, I can't help but be frightened to get in the water. Are there any protected beaches like at Castaway Cay?

 

[tinkerbell_29]

I'm also a little worried about swimming at a unprotected beach the thoguth that something might chomp a limb off is kind of scarry. My brother assured me that it would be ok but still swimming in waters with big human eating animals is not a pleasant thought.

On another subject I wonder how easy it will be to do these ports of call on your own. After 12 hour excursions from the med cruise we are a little worried about booking any excursions as we would like this to be a relaxing cruise.

The DCL rep said the only thing they had at GTY status was cat 4 everything else was still open. Don't know about kids since we are all adults. Disney may have a limit of kids for each cruisethough I can't imagine that since they are a family cruiseline. I would suggest calling.

Lissa

 

[caitlinsdad]

So, did anyone watch shark week? Makes me nervous about Cabo and proximity to Sea of Cortez. Gosh, come to think of it, I'm scared of any ocean right now. I know they are trying to educate us, but when they show all these people with missing chunks or limbs, I can't help but be frightened to get in the water. Are there any protected beaches like at Castaway Cay?

Nope didnt see it, but from some of the reports I read from the 2005 cruises, I dont know how many excursions we will make. Taking a trip into town to do some shopping may be it
Staying on the ship is looking good.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday. I don't know if any of ya'll are planning on flying or driving in the night before but if you are I found a nice hotel that is only a mile from the port and provides for shuttle service to the port. It is the Doubletree hotel San Pedro. While it's really not near anything being close to the port is helpful. We plan on coming in 2 days early and spending 3-4 days after at DL. There web address is listed below.
We really don't plan on doing to much off the ship. The med cruise was so excursion heavy that we would really like this one to be way more laid back and relaxed.

Lissa

http://doubletree.hilton.com/en/dt/hotels/index.jhtml?ctyhocn=LGBSPDT&ctyhocn=LGBSPDT&WT.srch=1

 

[caitlinsdad]

Thanks Lissa
We are flying in the day before, Still trying to decide if its better to take shuttle from Airport, then shuttle to port, Then take cab or shuttle back to car rental place. or


Rent a car, leave it at port then since we are staying the second week in So Calf . This way we will have car and can take off right after we disembark. Not sure which is better yet

Not sure which is cheaper, but I know which is faster for us hitting the road.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

We are going to stay for the week after also though I think we are going to be doing mostly Disney after. Before hand we are going to try and see some things in the area. I'm not sure about us using a rental car though it would be easier. Even with taking the Med cruise we are not world travelers and I could just see us lost in LA somewhere.

Lissa

 

[caitlinsdad]

I have a garmin GPS that we will be bringing with us.
That and I love to do the driving rather than being a passenger.

 

[BabyFavorite]

I have been on the passporter's board for the past few months but just finally got started here. I love reading all of the trip reports and seeing all the camaraderie! I am SO EXCITED about our cruise next year!!!! I'm also happy to hear about the kids going! My son will be in a different age group from his sister and her best friend, so he said to me last night, "I hope I make a new best friend on the cruise!" He's a very likeable kid, so I told him I'm sure it wouldn't take long. He was thrilled to see there's another CHAD going! LOL

Anyway - here's who's going (I will only post our names, not my best friend and her daughter's names, out of respect for their privacy) -

At the time of the cruise...

DH, Joe (44)
DW, Susan (40 ) - I don't like typing that age in!
DS, Chad (12, but 6 weeks away from 13... think the ALOFT will let him in?)
DD, Erin (9 that month)

Best Friend (33)
Best Friend's Daughter (9)

 

[caitlinsdad]

I have been on the passporter's board for the past few months but just finally got started here. I love reading all of the trip reports and seeing all the camaraderie! I am SO EXCITED about our cruise next year!!!! I'm also happy to hear about the kids going! My son will be in a different age group from his sister and her best friend, so he said to me last night, "I hope I make a new best friend on the cruise!" He's a very likeable kid, so I told him I'm sure it wouldn't take long. He was thrilled to see there's another CHAD going! LOL

Anyway - here's who's going (I will only post our names, not my best friend and her daughter's names, out of respect for their privacy) -

At the time of the cruise...

DH, Joe (44)
DW, Susan (40 ) - I don't like typing that age in!
DS, Chad (12, but 6 weeks away from 13... think the ALOFT will let him in?)
DD, Erin (9 that month)

Best Friend (33)
Best Friend's Daughter (9)

Welcome aboard. :wave

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Welcome! Yeah more people to talk to! All adults here but we act like kids when were on vacation. Now that I've settled on this trip I'm excited about it. For my family it's just as much of an adventure as going to Barcelona and doing the Med. cruise was. We never have really traveled beyond going to WDW.

Lissa

 

[BabyFavorite]

Thanks for the welcome! I'm excited to be part of this group.

So, I have read some things about people not being sure about the shore excursions. Are they really crummy in Mexico, or something? Also, what does everyone know about the dolphin encounter/swimming thing? It's super expensive and there are so many different options. Help - my head is spinning! LOL

 

[MN Dis Fans]

tinkerbell 29 Welcome aboard! Saw you briefly & welcomed you over on the Mar. 22 - 29 cruise. Sorry, you had to cancel, but you're not going to get away from us that easily!

BabyFavorite Howdy & Welcome aboard to you as well! I would Love it if I could get some buddies for both our DS's prior to cruise time. Our youngest corresponded and eventually met several other kids his age on our last cruise, and had a BLAST . I felt so sorry for his elder brother. We just never found anyone his age in our "DisBoard Cruising Group" Our Chad will have just turned 13, so perhaps we could get them e-mailing each other ahead of time.

caitlinsdad Appreciate the links and information that you have posted. I'm finally getting a bit of time to research excursion options, etc. I must admit, this Mexican Riviera is currently taking a bit of a back seat to our 7-night Western. I guess I'll get more excited once I get airline reservations sorted out in the next couple of weeks. I'll hopefully be using frequent flier miles, and this will largely dictate whether we do DL before or after cruise, and how many days overall we will be in CA. Must admit, after 1st glance, many of the excursions offered, don't really excite me?
I'm sure once I get myself back into commando mode, it'll all fall into place.

Paul

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Ok I never have a hardtime getting excited for anything Disney especially not since we get to be back on what we now refer to as the Mickey ship. As for excursions the only one that intreset me is the Dolphin swim but mom and my brother Matt are not intrested. I really want to do this but don't want to go on my own. Not sure what we will do. We had booked plane tickets for the March cruise and now have to change them. Uggh I hate haveing to pay more money to fly. We will deffinetly be doing DL after the cruise. Got to use some of those DVC points. Depending on cost of flight we will spend a day or two before the cruise. Got our shoreside survival kit yesterday! Yeah we are now castawayclub members! Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Lissa

 

[BabyFavorite]

Hey there!

Paul, yes! My son Chad said he'd love to talk with your Chad before the cruise! He has e-mail so we will have to set something up. How old is your younger son? My daughter will be just 2 weeks from turning 9.

Thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome! I am going to be so happy to meet all of you.

Susan

P.S. If my username seems weird, it's an old 'family' name that my older siblings gave me out of jealousy.

 

[vossjemi]

Welcome aboard Susan! Although I'm excited about this cruise, I really haven't started researching excursions yet. Planning a Thanksgiving trip to St. Lucia (sooo thankful Dean didn't cause too much damage there), so busy planning that right now. But, I love keeping up and reading suggestions by all of you. One question I do have is my kids will be 6 and 8 at the time of the cruise. Does that mean they will or won't be in the same kids club?

 

[caitlinsdad]

Hopefully the excusions next year will be better than the selection in 2005. Else We might be getting off the ship and doing our own exploring this trip.

My dd(Caitlin) would be happy, she would get to spend more time in the clubs