August 29th, 2009--Eastern Magic...Let's Get it Started!

[mrsmoore]

I think we are going to cancel our cruise. I got very excited about our MK day and realized we would miss stuff at HS, and we are deciding to stay on the w. coast instead and do a fun trip to Disneyland with more days. I am bumbed, but budget wise this will save us more money too and honestly, MK at WDW was seeming somewhat boring to me compared to all there is at Disneyland we can do with more days.

I hope you all have fun! I hope DCL gets to Alaska, then I hope to hit them up at that time.

Marsha

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Hello all from Mexico,

I got some pictures of the Magic after taking a short ride from Nuevo Vallarta. The Magic is so tall that I could see her from miles away at my resort whenever I caught the elevator.

It was right across from the Walmart like other reviews have stated so we took pictures from there. I will try to post when I get back.

Joe

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

As promised, here is a photo of the Magic from Puerto Vallarta,

Joe

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Photo from the Walmart parking lot.

 

[CruisinEars]

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing. Hope you are having a great trip.

 

[justhat]

I'll have to look at your photos after I drop my daughter off at ballet camp, but that one you posted of the Magic has me soooo excited!

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

 

[pattiteach]

that looks great! we just got back from a cruise on royal caribbean to bermuda. We are looking forward to next year

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

A year from now we will begin our wonderful cruise

Is anyone excited ???

Joe

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

that looks great! we just got back from a cruise on royal caribbean to bermuda. We are looking forward to next year

Did you leave out of Philadelphia? And if so, how was it?

My MIL wants us to cruise to Bermuda for her 65th Birthday in 2010.

Joe

 

[Magic Family]

OMG! Did anyone see the waves in the adult pool this past Friday?? There's a video posting on this board. I knew weather might be an issue when I booked this 8/29 cruise, but seeing the video has me SO QQQUUUUUEEEEAAAASSSSYYYYY!

Please tell me I haven't made a HUGE mistake!!

 

[justhat]

We were on that cruise, Magic Family! Honestly, it wasn't bad. Yes, water was literally pouring out of all the pools at 4:30am, but the ship was at an extreme angle as we were making a 180 degree turn, bailing on our 2nd Castaway Cay day. It was rough, but I didn't encounter anyone who got sick from it (and I was in a party of 9 and we were okay, as anyone I spoke with) and DCL made up for the loss of our 2nd CC day with tons of great indoor activities.

With that said, as my husband was watching the weather in the days preceeding our cruise, he was in a panic about the 8/29 cruise as well. We decided to go ahead with our plans though and just hope for the best. Other than overnight Thursday/Friday and Friday till maybe noon or 1pm, we had great weather and the trip was great overall. I think we'll be fine next year. And as my friend who will be sailing with us next summer said "Better to die on a cruise with friends than stay home alone!" (or something like that )

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

We were on that cruise, Magic Family! Honestly, it wasn't bad. Yes, water was literally pouring out of all the pools at 4:30am, but the ship was at an extreme angle as we were making a 180 degree turn, bailing on our 2nd Castaway Cay day. It was rough, but I didn't encounter anyone who got sick from it (and I was in a party of 9 and we were okay, as anyone I spoke with) and DCL made up for the loss of our 2nd CC day with tons of great indoor activities.

With that said, as my husband was watching the weather in the days preceeding our cruise, he was in a panic about the 8/29 cruise as well. We decided to go ahead with our plans though and just hope for the best. Other than overnight Thursday/Friday and Friday till maybe noon or 1pm, we had great weather and the trip was great overall. I think we'll be fine next year. And as my friend who will be sailing with us next summer said "Better to die on a cruise with friends than stay home alone!" (or something like that )

Glad to hear that you had a great cruise. Just a few questions about your group.

We are taking a group of nine on the upcoming cruise. The previous two cruises it was just me and the girls. My questions are, how well did it work regarding doing activities for your immediate family alone and did you all eat dinner together and how did that worked out?

Joe

 

[justhat]

Glad to hear that you had a great cruise. Just a few questions about your group.

We are taking a group of nine on the upcoming cruise. The previous two cruises it was just me and the girls. My questions are, how well did it work regarding doing activities for your immediate family alone and did you all eat dinner together and how did that worked out?

Joe

We did all eat together. We had our TA link the reservations before we sailed and told her we wanted to eat at one table. We didn't link till after the booking window for us though, honestly I didn't really think about it in advance. So when we booked Palo (105 days out for us, 75 days for family), we only had a table for 3 as we had just 3 adults in our room. Now, if we were linked, we could have done a table for 5 (though I think we'd have to break it down to 3 and 2). It was fine though. We did have a Cat 2 room last week (and it will be so hard to not go back to that!!) so I just emailed the concierge team and they changed the reservation to 5 for us. Otherwise I would have just done it on the ship the first day. As it turned out, they only had us down for 4 people when we arrived in Palo, but they had no problem accomodating us anyway.

We didn't do any shore excursions so I'm not sure how the booking would work for that, but I think as long as you're all linked you'll be okay.

We'll be sailing with some friends on this cruise next year and while I plan to link the reservations so we can eat dinner together, I think I'll link them after the booking window opens so that I am not responsible for booking everyone's shore excursions. If you link, only one person can be on the website at any time. So when the booking window opens at midnight, if you're linked, you'll have to book everything for everybody. Not sure I want that responsiblilty! So I figure we'll just coordinate times for Palo/excursions and each book on our own, then link the reservations after that's done.

Of course, if you are sailing with new people, then maybe link in advance so you can book for them at 90 days out. Otherwise there might not be anything left at 75 days.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

We did all eat together. We had our TA link the reservations before we sailed and told her we wanted to eat at one table. We didn't link till after the booking window for us though, honestly I didn't really think about it in advance. So when we booked Palo (105 days out for us, 75 days for family), we only had a table for 3 as we had just 3 adults in our room. Now, if we were linked, we could have done a table for 5 (though I think we'd have to break it down to 3 and 2). It was fine though. We did have a Cat 2 room last week (and it will be so hard to not go back to that!!) so I just emailed the concierge team and they changed the reservation to 5 for us. Otherwise I would have just done it on the ship the first day. As it turned out, they only had us down for 4 people when we arrived in Palo, but they had no problem accomodating us anyway.

We didn't do any shore excursions so I'm not sure how the booking would work for that, but I think as long as you're all linked you'll be okay.

We'll be sailing with some friends on this cruise next year and while I plan to link the reservations so we can eat dinner together, I think I'll link them after the booking window opens so that I am not responsible for booking everyone's shore excursions. If you link, only one person can be on the website at any time. So when the booking window opens at midnight, if you're linked, you'll have to book everything for everybody. Not sure I want that responsiblilty! So I figure we'll just coordinate times for Palo/excursions and each book on our own, then link the reservations after that's done.

Of course, if you are sailing with new people, then maybe link in advance so you can book for them at 90 days out. Otherwise there might not be anything left at 75 days.

Thanks for the info. Everyone in our group is new to DCL with the exception of my family. We are already linked together for dinner but I am not worried about any of them going on the website to try to book Palo on the 90th day.

I think they will rely on me to book excursions or Palo reservations.

One other question. Can I book a Palo brunch with my dad if I have paid in full by the 90th day and he had planned to pay by the 75th day or should I tell him to make sure that he is paid up by the 90th day?

Joe

 

[justhat]

I think everyone needs to pay by the 90th day, but I'm really not sure. We didn't link our reservations till afterwards, but I know when we logged on for SIL when my husband was listed in her room (he's a repeat cruiser), it said we couldn't book anything yet as it wasn't paid in full.

But if you're just booking for 2 people, and you have 2 adults in your room, then maybe you can still do it without having him pay in full?

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

I think everyone needs to pay by the 90th day, but I'm really not sure. We didn't link our reservations till afterwards, but I know when we logged on for SIL when my husband was listed in her room (he's a repeat cruiser), it said we couldn't book anything yet as it wasn't paid in full.

But if you're just booking for 2 people, and you have 2 adults in your room, then maybe you can still do it without having him pay in full?

So I can substitute my dad for my wife when we go to Palo's without it being a problem

Sounds great! Thanks,

Joe

 

[justhat]

So I can substitute my dad for my wife when we go to Palo's without it being a problem

Sounds great! Thanks,

Joe

Yes. They don't ask or care who the 2 people are. You just check in, tell them your last name, and that's that. My husband's a Joe too, Joey actually, so just be careful that we don't take your brunch!

 

[MN_Cruz'n]

Hi All...

We are joining in!

We are booked in a Secret Porthole Room!!! Yay Me! Thanks Dreams Unlimited!

We are from Inver Grove Heights, MN, and our party includes:

Me (MN_Cruz'n, 42 at Cruise Time)
DW (41 at Cruise Time)
DD1 (11 at Cruise Time)
DD2 (7 at Cruise Time)

This will be our 3rd Cruise, and we a So Excited for this! Plus, it's a new itinerary for us. We have not been to the Eastern Caribbean yet, so we are super excited to get to St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

Now we just need those dreaded passports...