August 24th 2012 Cruise to the Bahamas!!!!

[dizneeat]

Just wanted to say hi!

I booked this cruise waaaaay back in Feb 2011 and can't believe we less than 2 months to go. So excited!

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to still be a lot of availablility on this cruise - rooms, Palo times, excursions, etc? Do you think this means that we will be cruising on a less than full ship? Or will Disney offer huge discounts to get those rooms full? I see that all the IGT, OGT and VGT prices that were available a couple of weeks ago are now gone. Kinda hoping that the ship is not packed!

It is my, and my family's first Disney cruise, so not sure what to expect. Been reading these boards obsessively and feel like I have lots of good ideas and tips, but you never know. We are also doing a couple of days before the cruise at the Royal Plaza hotel across from Downtown Disney to spend a day at Blizzard Beach and do some shopping. Anyone have experience with Royal Plaza - I got a great room rate that covers the 5 of us, so hard to get a hotel room with five!

Hi! Nice of you to check in!
I don't think it's a sign of an empty cruise of there is still availability for excursions and guarantee rooms have not been asigned yet. For the last three summers we always cruised at the same time frame and believe me we have seen the "no upgrade" sign more often than not.
Good thing ...... even if the ship is full, you will not notice much of the crowds apart from the pools.
I won't be any help with the Royal Plaza, as we have never stayed there, being an AP holder we always stay onsite.

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krazy4crusing
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stewartm
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dizneeat​

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[templed]

Yup... I booked way back in Nov 2010... So... to be under 2 months is

 

[Smbertram]

Hello everyone,

We just booked this cruise two weeks ago, this will be our 5th cruise, finally gold!!! We have yet to get our cabin assignments, we usually get two connecting rooms, however for the price we paid we are ok with having just two rooms. It will be a nice little get away for the school year starts.

Shawn and his crew (Sue, Shannon, Kyla, Logan, Lucas, Lily and Liam)

 

[krazy4crusing]

We just booked out pre-cruise stay. We did an express deal on Priceline and paid $33 for the International Palms.

Woo hoo!

Let the planning continue!

 

[templed]

My brother from CT turned down the cruise because the day we get home is the first day of school in his district....

 

[templed]

Dizneet... or all DVC members staying pre-cruise at WDW...

I don't know if you've been following the announcements regarding TOTWL lounge at BLT.

They (DVC) sent out an email stating for the balance of the summer all DVC members, regardless of whether you are staying at BLT on points... as long as you are staying on property, cash or points... would entitle you to use the TOTWL at BLT.

I'm sure it's a tool to get some more use out of it... I know we'll be watching Wishes from in the park on Monday... but maybe we'll head up there one of the other nights to watch fireworks. (We are staying at BLT).

 

[mcd2745]

Just wanted to say hi!

I booked this cruise waaaaay back in Feb 2011 and can't believe we less than 2 months to go. So excited!

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to still be a lot of availablility on this cruise - rooms, Palo times, excursions, etc? Do you think this means that we will be cruising on a less than full ship? Or will Disney offer huge discounts to get those rooms full? I see that all the IGT, OGT and VGT prices that were available a couple of weeks ago are now gone. Kinda hoping that the ship is not packed!

It is my, and my family's first Disney cruise, so not sure what to expect. Been reading these boards obsessively and feel like I have lots of good ideas and tips, but you never know. We are also doing a couple of days before the cruise at the Royal Plaza hotel across from Downtown Disney to spend a day at Blizzard Beach and do some shopping. Anyone have experience with Royal Plaza - I got a great room rate that covers the 5 of us, so hard to get a hotel room with five!

Just checking DCL's site for curiousity, there seems to be a lot of rooms still available - a lot more than there were a couple of months ago. Perhaps a lot of people cancelled right before the final payment was due.


Anyway, we're just back from a mini-vaction to Lancaster, Pa and now we're down to...



50 DAYS!!!



I wish it was now, though. We need to head to the tropics to cool off!

(we've also been booked on this cruise since autumn of 2010)

 

[Constant]

Dizneet... or all DVC members staying pre-cruise at WDW...

I don't know if you've been following the announcements regarding TOTWL lounge at BLT.

We were talking about this last night, our kids have never seen MK fireworks but they just don't cope well with really late nights and we always end up paying for it the next day (and I get a days worth of I told you so's) Even last year when we were in BLT we were going to but they were so out of it I would have had to let fireworks off in the room to wake them! We have our big 5th november night but it gets dark early so usually around 7:30pm for big displays.

Also having to use the Disney busses as they were clear there is no parking for it, however it would certainly beat the crush of people heading out the turnstiles and a good place to wait for the crowds to calm down. It was empty last year when I went up so I think a great idea, also with the GF DVC can't help wonder if that has something to do with it.

Amazed though they haven't opened to people staying on cash unless I missed that.

What time is the pirate fireworks on the cruise normally? We might try and make them last for that then at least the can take it easy the next day. Also can anyone compare them and wishes, I don't know why but I have the feeling it will be quite basic.... Maybe I'll try and YouTube them.

 

[templed]

It's any dvc member staying on site ... Cash or points.

 

[templed]

By on site ... I mean staying in any wdw resort on point or cash.

 

[dizneeat]

Dizneet... or all DVC members staying pre-cruise at WDW...

I don't know if you've been following the announcements regarding TOTWL lounge at BLT.

They (DVC) sent out an email stating for the balance of the summer all DVC members, regardless of whether you are staying at BLT on points... as long as you are staying on property, cash or points... would entitle you to use the TOTWL at BLT.

I'm sure it's a tool to get some more use out of it... I know we'll be watching Wishes from in the park on Monday... but maybe we'll head up there one of the other nights to watch fireworks. (We are staying at BLT).

I read about that too!
We will definitely take advantage of the offer. Watching the fireworks from up there was so awesome and we never made it to the lounge anyway. So this time we will enjoy the lounge, some drinks and watch the fireworks.

 

[templed]

I read about that too!
We will definitely take advantage of the offer. Watching the fireworks from up there was so awesome and we never made it to the lounge anyway. So this time we will enjoy the lounge, some drinks and watch the fireworks.

We'll keep an eye out for ya. And we're easy to spot. Just watch for the crazy New Yorkers. .

 

[socababy]

Sorry I haven't asked my friends earlier but I just asked and they would like to participate in the FE as well. It will be Sarah, Jason, ds Ethan (10,) ds Heath (7) and dd Avery (4.) They are in room 7674.

Now I need to get working on my own FE gifts!

 

[quartetlead]

Does anyone know if the verandahs have doors that can be opened to allow two cabins to share?

 

[quartetlead]

Can we join Dis Tag?

We were going to pass this time but the kids won't let us We have 2 lil bugaboos aged 3 and 8.

Thanks!!

Our grandson, Henry, will be three on July 28th and is on this cruise. Hope there more around the same age!

 

[krazy4crusing]

It looks like there are a few 4 year olds on the cruise too. It will be fun to see the wonder in their eyes when they experience Disney this time around. I am amazed by the whole thing I can only imagine how our daughter will be. She was almost 2 the last time we sailed but she has no memory of that trip at all. She was TERRIFIED of the characters though, I hope she is over that now! LOL Minnie Mouse was in the elevator with us and she screamed every time Minnie looked at her or waved at her etc... Everyone thought it was hillarious except her. We have some cut pics to remember

 

[templed]

Does anyone know if the verandahs have doors that can be opened to allow two cabins to share?

Good question. I would imagine that they dividers do open (most cruise ships do that so that they can service the verandah's without having to go in and out of the rooms). I've not hear of anyone having the door removed on Disney Dream though. We did that on our last Carnival (Dream) cruise. We had a suite and our friends were next door. Our steward had our divider removed so we had this MASSIVE verandah between the two of us.

 

[dizneeat]

We'll keep an eye out for ya. And we're easy to spot. Just watch for the crazy New Yorkers. .

I guess we should be easy to spot too not many Austrian (German speaking DVC members) around I guess.

Sorry I haven't asked my friends earlier but I just asked and they would like to participate in the FE as well. It will be Sarah, Jason, ds Ethan (10,) ds Heath (7) and dd Avery (4.) They are in room 7674.

Now I need to get working on my own FE gifts!

I have added your friends to the FE list! Thanks for letting me know about them.
Tom and I are finishing our FE gifts right now too! We leave in a little over 4 weeks and I cannot wait to start our summer vacation.

Does anyone know if the verandahs have doors that can be opened to allow two cabins to share?

I am sure you can. You will have to ask your stateroom host to do it for you though! Do you have rooms next to each other or connecting rooms - that might be an issue, but I don't think they would have to many different settings for the verandas.

FE participants list!
krazy4crusing
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stewartm
socababy
socababy's friends
michelle9343
dizneeat​

FE participants list with details ​

 

[dizneeat]

54 DAYS!!!

We booked this back in Sept. of 2010.

Can't wait!!!

I sent you a PM!

FE participants list!
krazy4crusing
dismiss
stewartm
socababy
socababy's friends
michelle9343
dizneeat​

FE participants list with details ​

 

[michelle9343]

We got back Sunday afternoon from 17 days at Fort Wilderness. It was a very low key vacation for us. Angelina's recovery has been really slow and she sleeps a lot. We were there during the Crazy rains from Debbie what a crazy time to be a t the campground! We did a lot of driving around the campground in our golf cart. On the 4th of July there was a golf cart parade that guest decorate their carts . The three that won were really cool. One transformed their cart into the Huanted Mainson, One Tiki room and the 1 st place winner mad thier cart into the liberty bell boat from MK. There was also a guest who played his bag pipes!! We watched the MK fireworks from the beach at Fort Wilderness and they were amazing like always!!
Now I am ready to be 100% in cruise planning mode. My FE gifts are coming along and I already started packing