August 12, 2006-DIS DREAMS DO COME TRUE-Magical Western Cruise

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Hi Laura,
I think I do finally have it figured out. We decided to try and relax on this cruise ..........at CC the only thing I am going to book is the Stingray adventure.

At what time do you think it's better to book that Stingray adventure ???

I've read the water can be "cold" early in the morning ... but maybe cleaner !!!!


WOW !!!!

we could do also some peacefully ride on bike !!!

Laura

 

[ReggieB]

Well I have all my ADR's done for our October WDW trip, which is pretty exciting..until you realize it's 6 months away!! Got all that I wanted, which was excellent, and at all the times I wanted too! So hopefully I shall have the same luck with my cruise ones. I'm going to sit down this week and work out which days for what.

I'm not sure if I want to miss the Captain's Gala or the Master Chef one for Palo, any thoughts? I have had a look at a past menu for both, and I am really not sure at all! I know Ben would never forgive me if we missed Pirates night, he loved the Cannon Smoked Barbecue Chicken drumsticks. Although it was on the adult menu our server saw that he had stolen mine, so bought him out a HUGE plate of his own...it must have been about 3 servings worth!

I've also done two t-shirt designs for Ben. One for his birthday and one for Pirate night, seeing as poor Beckie couldn't find anything quite right (fussy little boy that he is, but thanks for looking!) It's the first time I've done t-shirts, so I am quite pleased with them. Ones based on the DCL birthday pin, and the other is the sensational six (Mickey & gang) in pirate gear.

 

[DVC4US]

Laura - I think I am going to try for an early morning Stingray Adventure also. Can we select a time or is it assigned to us? I like to get things done with, then I can just relax on the beach.

Louise - It's always great to get those ADR's done isn't it. I still have a couple to do for our trip in August so I am going to get those done today.

Everyone have a great day!

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Laura - I think I am going to try for an early morning Stingray Adventure also. Can we select a time or is it assigned to us?
... I still have a couple to do for our trip in August so I am going to get those done today.

I guess you need to select your preferred time .
We'll try to get an early morning time too ... I think we cannot book before May 14th.

OMG !!! we have done not EVEN one ADR for our August vacation at WDW !!!!
Do need to ... think fast !!!!

Laura

 

[jd99]

Greetings. Thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce my family cruising on the Aug. 12 Western as well.
Me (Jeff) DW (Mina) DD 7 1/2 (Elizabeth) and DD 2 (Emily). Love to meet others with kids the same ages, especially the older DD. We're staying on the 7th Deck with a verandah room.
We're from Pittsburgh area and this is our first ever cruise. We are hitting the parks for four days after the cruise, staying at the Poly.
Been reading so much on these boards trying to figure out how all this works since we travel a great deal, to the Caribbean, Hawaii, WDW, etc. but have never cruised before. Have to admit, while we are all extremely excited, I will admit to some nervousness about it all being too programmed..too planned. I like vacations where we go with the flow and with small kids it's a necessity.
Anyway, have enjoyed reading the thread. Thanks.
jeff

 

[firstmickey]

Hi Jeff....Im from Cranberry Twp, PA!


aboard!

 

[ReggieB]

Greetings. Thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce my family cruising on the Aug. 12 Western as well.
Me (Jeff) DW (Mina) DD 7 1/2 (Elizabeth) and DD 2 (Emily). Love to meet others with kids the same ages, especially the older DD. We're staying on the 7th Deck with a verandah room.
We're from Pittsburgh area and this is our first ever cruise. We are hitting the parks for four days after the cruise, staying at the Poly.
Been reading so much on these boards trying to figure out how all this works since we travel a great deal, to the Caribbean, Hawaii, WDW, etc. but have never cruised before. Have to admit, while we are all extremely excited, I will admit to some nervousness about it all being too programmed..too planned. I like vacations where we go with the flow and with small kids it's a necessity.
Anyway, have enjoyed reading the thread. Thanks.
jeff

Hi there!

If all you want to do is kick back by the pool, that's all you have to do! You don't even have to turn up to your rotation restaurant if you don't want to, grab room service or go to the buffet.

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Hi Jeff

Welcome to the group, glad to have you join us.

Like Louise said on a cruise you can schedule every minute with an activity or do absolutely nothing. I have only been on one other cruise but what I remember most was the total feeling of relaxation.

Beckie

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

VERY WELCOME in our small group , Jeff and family !!!
As others said ... in a cruise you can do as many activities as you like or NOTHING at all !!!!
You can just sip your favorite drink, sleep under the sun, play in the pool with your kids , read a book in a quiet corner , enjoy good food or a stroll to "discover" the ship with your family !!!
You could also enjoy some "adult only" time ... as IMHO Disney ships are very good at entertaining everyone ... from kids to ...older adults ( young at heart ! ).

So just relax !!! you don't need to plan ...just enjoy and dream of your family vacation !!!!
We too travel a lot and , to us , a Disney cruise combines warm hospitality and relaxation Hawaiian-style to Disney "magic" at his best ( no need to "rush" from one park to another !!! )

Again: WELCOME !!!
Laura

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

I'm not sure if I want to miss the Captain's Gala or the Master Chef one for Palo, any thoughts?
I've also done two t-shirt designs for Ben.

Ciao Louise !!!
As for the new Navigators ... I see we should be having MASTER CHEF on Tuesday , PIRATES on Wednesday and CAPTAIN'S GALA on Thursday , so maybe you could book for your dinner at Palo on FRIDAY ? or maybe on Monday (day at sea ... dear Ben could already know pals at his club ... and you all could spend a lot of time together , before the two of you head for your "dinner" ?! )

HOW NICE you've done t-shirts for Ben yourself !!!
Can't wait to see them !!! Ben will look so SPLENDID !!!! Lucky Ben B B , with such a caring Mom !!!!

Laura

 

[ReggieB]

Ciao Louise !!!
As for the new Navigators ... I see we should be having MASTER CHEF on Tuesday , PIRATES on Wednesday and CAPTAIN'S GALA on Thursday , so maybe you could book for your dinner at Palo on FRIDAY ? or maybe on Monday (day at sea ... dear Ben could already know pals at his club ... and you all could spend a lot of time together , before the two of you head for your "dinner" ?! )

HOW NICE you've done t-shirts for Ben yourself !!!
Can't wait to see them !!! Ben will look so SPLENDID !!!! Lucky Ben B B , with such a caring Mom !!!!

Laura

I've decided to let Tim's stomach decide!!! I'm going to show him the menu's and he can pick the one he can live without!! At the moment I think I might do Palo's on the Captain's Gala night. I don't want to do it the last night, us non-US citizens have to get up bright and early for our immigration!!! It was really quick and painless on our 4-day, but it was just a tad too early that's all!

 

[DVC4US]

Welcome Jeff and family!!!

I will echo what everyone else has said and tell you that the cruise can be as planned as you choose. I know it seems so planned when you look at all the events having specific times, but there are so many other things to do that are done on your own time. We have decided to make this cruise a relaxing one, so we are not doing any excursions. We want to just get off the ship when we feel like it and go to the beach for the day.

There are a couple of things not to be missed with your kids and those include: the sail away party, tea with Wendy, and the photo opportunities with the characters. I am sure there are more, but these are the ones I can think of now.

Please feel free to ask questions if you have them. This will be our 6th cruise and there are many other repeat cruise on the thread and we would love to answer any questions you might have. If you don't want to post them here, then PM me and I will try to help you out.

 

[jd99]

And yes, we are going to plan *some* but not everything. We were seriously considering booking a day room at the Westin GC because we have stayed there before and love that resort. It's only a little over 100 bucks to do that and it'd be great to have the pool, swim up bar, and room facilities. I'm curious as to will we have enough time to really enjoy it - it seems like GC is a short stop on this cruise.

And for Cozumel...yes we want a beach break of some kind - any suggestions from those here? I've seen Paradise Beach get some nice mentions here - do they have a pool in addition to the beach? With the 2 year old -- and even the 7 year old- a pool is a nice item to have too.

Just my first couple of questions. I have a few regarding dining too but I'll save em for now since it's dinnertime here at my house.

jeff

 

[DVC4US]

Hi Jeff - We were just going to go to 7 Mile Beach in GC but I like the day room at the Westin idea. We have a couple of people in our group who really can't take the sun too long so it would be nice to have a place for them to so instead of back to the ship. Do you know what time you can get a room in the morning? On our last trip to GC the last tender left at 4:30pm so if we could get a room around 9 or 10 am then I think that would be worth it.

We are going to do Paradise Beach in Cozumel. We have never been there before, but like you I have read great reports on it. I do not think they have a pool there, but I could be wrong. Below is the link for their website if you don't have it.

http://www.paradise-beach-cozumel.net/index.html

 

[jd99]

LeiLani (by the way I love the name...we almost gave our dd71/2 that as a middle name simply because we love Maui so much.

Anyway, I communicated with the sales manager (I believe) at the Westin and she said we could have the room as early in the day as we arrived. So if we can get to the hotel early, we can get the room! Rate was $118 plus 10 percent tax and 10 percent service charge. I told her the ship was docking around 7:15 a.m. and we'd want the room as soon as we could get there and she said that is how it would work - the room would be ready when we arrive. Here is her contact information.

Judy Yung -- email is mgrres@candw.ky

I haven't booked it yet but am pretty sure I'm going to do so. If you've never been, the Westin there is gorgeous. Pool has lots of shade for people in your party including places IN the pool where there were palm trees before the hurricane...so I don't know if they are still there. Regardless, it's a great setting and if you are a hotel guest, you can also use the beach facilities which if i remember correctly included umbrellas or trees shading some areas.

jeff

 

[DVC4US]

Jeff - Thanks! I like my name also. It is pretty different and I always love the reactions I get when I tell people my name. Also, I'm not Hawaiian so that surprises a lot of people.

Thanks also for the information on the Westin. I will look into that tomorrow and I think this might be the way to go for us.

 

[mgbagley]

Welcome Jeff.
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, my DD was home from college and then I went on a women's retreat with my church. I did have the warm stone massage while I was there (it was held at a resort with a spa) and it was relaxing, but I much prefer the deep tissue massage. I feel that it lasts longer and is more beneficial to the muscles. I guess it depends on what you want from it.
Southwest finally opened the August dates and we have our flight, so I guess we are really going!
My husband is still battling swelling in one knee of the double knee replacement and is still walking with a cane. We hope to have that gone soon. Thanks for all your good wishes for him.
Michelle

 

[ReggieB]

Beckie!

A PM is awaiting. I completely forgot to send you the details you wanted.

 

[lzj21428]

Sorry to bust in on your meet thread since I'm not cruisng with you, but just wanted to send a big HELLO to Beckie and Laura.

We survived our Carnival cruise. All I can say is, "It's NOT Disney." It was ok, but I didn't feel that they offered alot of activities during the sea days. I did enjoy our ports, Costa Maya (did a dolphin swim, which we all loved), Grand Cayman (did 7 mile beach, very nice.) and Ocho Rios, Jamaica (just hung out all day at Margirittaville (sp). The shows were about as good as a high school talent show and the food was not that great. Crew members were all very nice and our room steward was outstanding.

Like I said, not Disney, but I have that solved. I booked a 10 day Med cruise for June 27, 2007. Something to look forward to.

Thanks for letting me highjack this thread for a bit. Hope you all enjoy your cruise. It will be here before you know it and I can't wait to hear/read all about your "Magical" experience.

Nina

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Sorry to bust in on your meet thread since I'm not cruisng with you, but just wanted to send a big HELLO to Beckie and Laura.

We survived our Carnival cruise.

I booked a 10 day Med cruise for June 27, 2007. Something to look forward to.

CIAO,Nina !!!!
SOOOOOOOOOOO nice to hear from you !!!
Marco and I were talking about you one of these days ... watching some videos he took on our cruise last Summer !!!

It sounds like you had anyway a GREAT experience aboard Carnival!!! Your DD should have had a blast !!!(No more Disney that's for kids !! )
In one of our cruises aboard RCCL a very careful Italian Maitre d' did tell us that Carnival spends on food about 7/8 $ per day/per passenger while RCCL has a budget of 11/12 $ !!! this might explain why you did not taste "wonderful" food !!

So ...you're coming to my Mediterranean !!!! WOW !!!! are you going back to Egypt as well ?
Keep in touch !!! if your ship stops at a port in Italy not so far from Milan Marco and I will love to arrange to come and say HALLO !!!!
What ship is that ?
Send a PM -if you feel so , but also LeiLani here is taking a Mediterranean cruise...I believe no one in this thread would mind some (slightly OT) chats !!!

Hugs to all of your family !!! Laura