August 22nd 2009 Western Carribbean Anyone?

[trimix]

Has anyone noticed the prices of the excursions have gone up?

I noticed the price increase as well. The only expensive excursion I have been considering is the Atlantis submarine tour in Cozumel, which is up to $99 per adult. Booking through the Atlantis website it is still $89 (with a $10 discount for online booking) but does not include transportation between the cruise pier and Atlantis dock.

For Grand Cayman, instead of doing a formal island tour, consider using the public bus system to visit the sites you want to see. It's a lot cheaper, you don't have to stop at places you don't want to see, and you get to spend extra time at the places you want to visit.

Unfortunately inflation is a reality of life, so you have to accept the occasional price increase...

 

[megtay]

Hi Sandy and Wayneg,
Thanks for the welcome x

My name is Kerry (29) My husband is Kev (33) Our Daughter Megan is 8 and our Son Taylor will be 7 we are from Cornwall in England.

I have a quick question for you- because Taylor will only be 7 is there any way that I can get him in the same group as Megan in the oceaneer lab? He really doesnt want to be the eldest in the younger group

We cannot wait for the holiday-sooooo excited we have never been to America before and have a week in Florida before the cruise. Not long now!

Kind regards
Kerry x

 

[wayneg]

Hi Kerry.
What a great place to live. I have updated the site and hyperlinked Cornwall to Wiki.
I am sure you will have a fantastic time, although 7 days will be nowhere near enough for you. Where are you staying?
I guess you have done most your planning now but if you want help with anything come and see us on UK trip planning, you might have been lurking over there already, moderators are myself, UKDEB (Debbie) & Goofyish (Tim) but lots more will help with anything you want to know.

Not sure about the clubs and ages, hopefully someone will know.

Anyone with updates or want adding to website If you post I will do it as soon as I return from Florida on 31st May, we leave in 8 hours so no more updates before I go.

 

[Aurora's Mommy]

Hi Sandy and Wayneg,
Thanks for the welcome x

My name is Kerry (29) My husband is Kev (33) Our Daughter Megan is 8 and our Son Taylor will be 7 we are from Cornwall in England.

I have a quick question for you- because Taylor will only be 7 is there any way that I can get him in the same group as Megan in the oceaneer lab? He really doesnt want to be the eldest in the younger group

We cannot wait for the holiday-sooooo excited we have never been to America before and have a week in Florida before the cruise. Not long now!

Kind regards
Kerry x

I think if your 7 year old is close to 8 (within a month or two), they may let him in, but someone may know better than I. My 7 years old and 10 year old definitely do not want to be together, and Paige (the 7 year old) likes to be in charge, so we have no issues here!

 

[julielouhoo]

Welcome to all the new families!! Great to have so many nice families aboard!!!

Wayne have a great trip and wish Karen a Happy Birthday!!

Just 3 months to go!!! and it feels like I just booked this yesterday! Oh wait a minute, I think it was yesterday!!! Well, you know what they say.....time flies when you are running your kids around like a crazy person!!!

I hope everyone is having a great week and those in the States have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Terri

 

[Pixiedustdawn]

I noticed the price increase as well. The only expensive excursion I have been considering is the Atlantis submarine tour in Cozumel, which is up to $99 per adult. Booking through the Atlantis website it is still $89 (with a $10 discount for online booking) but does not include transportation between the cruise pier and Atlantis dock.

For Grand Cayman, instead of doing a formal island tour, consider using the public bus system to visit the sites you want to see. It's a lot cheaper, you don't have to stop at places you don't want to see, and you get to spend extra time at the places you want to visit.

Unfortunately inflation is a reality of life, so you have to accept the occasional price increase...

I guess if I booked last week, I would of had extra money to spend. Oh well.

I am going to check into the public bus. Where can I find info on that?

We want to see Hell and some other different spots on the island, maybe stop at the beach to.

Thanks for all the helpful info everyone.

I just booked the Key west trolley on my first leg of our vacation. I didn't know what else to do there. Is there a better way to see the sites?

We are arriving in Disney World and spending a week there before taking the August 8th cruise, we are staying on until this cruise ends. I am sure I will have maxed my credit cards out by then, so I need to save a bit of money wherever possible.

Thanks for your help.

Dawn

 

[trimix]

I guess if I booked last week, I would of had extra money to spend. Oh well.

I am going to check into the public bus. Where can I find info on that?

Please don't take offense at me saying this, but your posts would be much more pleasant on the eye if you didn't enlarge your text so much more than everybody else.

Booking last week wouldn't have helped; I booked within the first 15 minutes I was allowed to on the 9th and the prices were at the current levels.

Regarding bus information for Grand Cayman, Google is your friend. My plan is to visit Hell, the turtle farm, and a restaurant I won't name here. If forced to do so, I'll visit the governor's house and butterfly farm, but after doing the other tourist things I would rather retrieve my snorkeling gear and spend some time in the water.

Of course I would rather do some diving, but I am not in shape for diving right now. I would really like to do some deep trimix diving, but not off a cruise ship! About 300 feet down the wall you can find the remains of an ancient beach from the last ice age, when water levels were much lower than they are now. Unfortunately a 300 foot technical dive is way too complex to plan and execute during a cruise ship visit.

 

[MrR]

Hi All. Haven't posted in a while, but just wanted to ask a quick question.

I bought the latest Passporters guide this week, and it states that the teen club on the Magic is for 14 - 17 year olds, which conflicts with the official info on the Disney Cruise website (where the age range is 13 - 17). Obviously, I'm more likely to believe the Disney site, but with a 13 year old and a 16 year old in our party this summer - who wanted to go to the teen club together (at least initially) - I just wanted to check with some of you cruise veterans as to the age restrictions. I know for a fact that there's no way my 13 year-old will be up in arms if she has to hang out with what she sees as little kids!

And this week we finally paid off the outstanding balance on the cruise too - hurrah! August can't come soon enough...

 

[stsomewhere]

Hi All. Haven't posted in a while, but just wanted to ask a quick question.

I bought the latest Passporters guide this week, and it states that the teen club on the Magic is for 14 - 17 year olds, which conflicts with the official info on the Disney Cruise website (where the age range is 13 - 17). Obviously, I'm more likely to believe the Disney site, but with a 13 year old and a 16 year old in our party this summer - who wanted to go to the teen club together (at least initially) - I just wanted to check with some of you cruise veterans as to the age restrictions. I know for a fact that there's no way my 13 year-old will be up in arms if she has to hang out with what she sees as little kids!

And this week we finally paid off the outstanding balance on the cruise too - hurrah! August can't come soon enough...

The MAgic has Ocean Quest which is for 11-13 yr olds . It is on deck 2 where the conference center was. So the teen prgram is 14-17 .
It is diferent on the Wonder. The Lab is up to age 12. The teen program starts at 13.

 

[stsomewhere]

It has been a busy few weeks with the puppy. I have had no free time. I forgot how time consuming and tiring it is.

I get up with her a few times a night to let her out. She is a wonderful adition to our family. I feel bad for our other dog. The puppy is wanting to play with her all the time.

We just paid off our cruise.
We are going away for the weekend, so we are hoping that Erik's dad will log on to the DCL site and book Palo and our excursions for us.

 

[Aurora's Mommy]

I just booked the Key west trolley on my first leg of our vacation. I didn't know what else to do there. Is there a better way to see the sites?

I don't think the Key West trolley is too expensive, but we find Key West to be very walkable. I haven't been to Key West in years, so I intend to do a little internet research on some highlights, and we are just going to hoof it.

I should note though, we are a family of walkers (although I don't know how we will fare in 80+ degree weather, lots of water I guess!), if you like to ride, by all means, take the trolley!

I did promise DH to try and hold down the costs a bit, so the only excursion we are planning on is maybe some snorkeling on Grand Cayman (haven't settled on a trip yet). On Cozumel, I intend to get off the boat and find a margarita! For those of you who know Cozumel, and suggestions for a nice drink and some good gucamole?

 

[Aurora's Mommy]

BTW, how did it go by unnoticed that we have passed the 100 day mark? Indeed, it is only

93

days until we board!!! (I calculated that correctly, did I not?)

We will be paying off the balance this week, and hopefully will get decent Palo reservations.

 

[MrR]

The MAgic has Ocean Quest which is for 11-13 yr olds . It is on deck 2 where the conference center was. So the teen prgram is 14-17 .
It is diferent on the Wonder. The Lab is up to age 12. The teen program starts at 13.

Okey-doke. Thanks for that!

I'm not sure how being split up will go down with my two teenage DDs, as they were very much looking forward to going to The Stack together on that first day...

 

[trimix]

BTW, how did it go by unnoticed that we have passed the 100 day mark? Indeed, it is only

93

days until we board!!! (I calculated that correctly, did I not?)

We will be paying off the balance this week, and hopefully will get decent Palo reservations.

This morning I purchased a single-size orange juice. Printed on the front of the bottle is the phrase "ENJOY BY AUG 22 09". We are getting close! 13 weeks until the cruise, and 12 weeks until my vacation starts!

In the near future I'll buy a bottle of milk that says "SELL BY AUG 22"...

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Wayne......forgot to mention the other names in the family......DH is Roger and I'm KC (its a nickname).

I'm not surprised some of the excursions are going up in price.....we are heading into peak summer vacation time and it might be that the vendors DCL uses have raised their prices.

I agree that Key West is very walkable and you can do a lot on your own.

We've booked our own excursions in Cozumel and Grand Cayman.

The big restaurants in Cozumel are Carlos and Charlie's and Senior Frogs. Both are close to the pier where the Magic docks.

My DD will be 13 on this cruise is extremely disappointed that she can't go into the Stack with her brother. I understand the reasons why DCL made the change but its frustrating for DD since on the Wonder you can go into the teen club at age 13.

Wow, less than 100 days left to go......

 

[MrR]

My DD will be 13 on this cruise is extremely disappointed that she can't go into the Stack with her brother. I understand the reasons why DCL made the change but its frustrating for DD since on the Wonder you can go into the teen club at age 13.

Likewise with my youngest DD, and her older sister. I'm sure they'd have found friends their own age pretty quickly anyway, but that initial visit was far less scary when they were - so we thought - going together. I don't quite know how to break it to them that they're not longer going to be able to go to the same club.

Oh well...

 

[Donald Applecore]

Hi everybody!

First off to all the new families!

Second Thank you everyone for the congrats! I had a wonderful graduation weekend. My parents came in town and we had a great time showing them around DFW. They don’t travel much – this was first time they have come to visit us here in Texas. Unfortunately, I am already knee-deep in bar exam preparation. Bar-prep classes started first thing Monday morning. I’ll be going strong for six days a week up until the end of July.


Back to some good news – DW & I just added 3 nights at POP at the beginning of our vacation. We are not 100% sure yet if we can pull off being out of town for three weeks – but we sure are going to try!!! Wish us luck!

We are counting down the days to CELEBRATION TIME!

 

[jhryb]

Hello Everyone and Happy Planning. I was able to book my Disney Dining last Monday. It was crazy, I sat on the phone for 1.5 hours at 7am and I couldn't get Le Cellier for any time after 4pm b/w Aug 16-Aug 21. Oh well, I am happy with what I got.
Now time to start thinking about booking Palos. Can anyone tell me which nights the Formal Night and Pirate Night are on because I do not want to book Palos on either of these dates?
I am a little confused about the date that I can make my reservations (as a CC member). Does internet booking open at 12:01am on Sunday May 24th (i.e. I should stay up late on Saturday night)? or am I one day too early?
Thanks,
Jennifer

 

[Aurora's Mommy]

Hello Everyone and Happy Planning. I was able to book my Disney Dining last Monday. It was crazy, I sat on the phone for 1.5 hours at 7am and I couldn't get Le Cellier for any time after 4pm b/w Aug 16-Aug 21. Oh well, I am happy with what I got.
Now time to start thinking about booking Palos. Can anyone tell me which nights the Formal Night and Pirate Night are on because I do not want to book Palos on either of these dates?
I am a little confused about the date that I can make my reservations (as a CC member). Does internet booking open at 12:01am on Sunday May 24th (i.e. I should stay up late on Saturday night)? or am I one day too early?
Thanks,
Jennifer

That was our experience with Le Cellier for our trip to WDW last year as well. I remember when they couldn't give Le Cellier reservations away! Does the reservation line hold music still have that scatchy version of "drip, drip, drip little April flowers..."?

Formal night is Day 3 (Monday), the first day at sea. Pirate night is Wednesday, the day we are in Cozumel. And, yes, plan to stay up late on Saturday night .

Which brings us to our countdown!

92

days until we board.

 

[jhryb]

That was our experience with Le Cellier for our trip to WDW last year as well. I remember when they couldn't give Le Cellier reservations away! Does the reservation line hold music still have that scatchy version of "drip, drip, drip little April flowers..."?

Formal night is Day 3 (Monday), the first day at sea. Pirate night is Wednesday, the day we are in Cozumel. And, yes, plan to stay up late on Saturday night .

Which brings us to our countdown!

92

days until we board.

Thanks - at least it is a Saturday night.
I am not familiar with "drip, drip, drip little April flowers...", but I listened to over an hour of the theme song from Splash Mountain. I probably heard the line "How Do You Do?" a few hundred times.