August 3rd anyone?

[tinkerbell4two]

mmouse37,
Are you planning to do a big celebration at Palo's with your group? We are trying to figure out how to have the banquet room for my parent's anniversary dinner for 8 adults. I've read many conflicting versions of how to get ressies and I'm still not sure. One person said that since we are in a group, DCL would automatically give us the banquet room. Others say (including DCL) that no reservations are made before the beginning of the cruise. Yet I've heard countless statements of how people get to Palo's right when they opened for ressies and two days were already booked. Maybe if we try a special handshake
Any clue? Because I feel clueless!

Nicole

 

[mmouse37]

Hi Tinkerbell....

When we sailed on 2/23/02 on the Magic we were also with a large group of 13 or 14. We went up to Palo's at opening and he took our reservation. We did not know that did have the banquet room until we arrived for our reservation day. We were pleasantly surprised!!!

Maybe they do book large groups in that room. I am going to ask for the room for brunch when I make the reservation. Dinner was great, but brunch was really awesome!!!!

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

bumping this up....anyone make final payment yet? I am going to do it tomorrow!!!!

Also, we just got the shore excursion info in the mail yesterday, anyone else?

MJ

 

[tinkerbell4two]

No info has come yet. My parents live in a remote location in the mountains in California and they usually get their mail 3 days after we do. And since they are flipping the bill, they are getting all the info delivered to them. So, we will just have to wait.

But, I am starting to put together our daily itinerary and outfits. I'm trying to take as little clothes that I can without having to do a wash, but because we are going to WDW after the cruise, I'll have to do at least one load of whites.


We decided to go with Happy Limo from the Airport Embassy Suites which will give us a 15 minute grocery run for waters and other consumptables. We plan to bring our collapsable rolling cooler for the cruise and WDW. I already bought my door organizer, gang strip,disposible sippy cups and PackMate stoarge bags.

I'm in the process of making our 14 member family "Cruisin' T-shirts" for boarding day.

What about you?

Nicole

 

[mmouse37]

I was also thinking of group t-shirts but when I mentioned it to the teens they thought it was "stupid". I could probably get the adults to wear them, but not the teens.

I already have my over the door holder, still want to check out those space savings packing bags. We are going to bring Crystal Light Pink Lemonade packets.....we all seem to agree on a diet drink!!! Sometimes soda is just too filling. I plan on buying a pitcher at the dollar store and just leaving onboard when we disembark.

I need to discuss with the other members of the group about the shore excursions. I am leaning to swimming with the stingrays but I think we'll do it on our own instead of Disney's excursion.

MJ

 

[tinkerbell4two]

We aren't sure which stingray excursion to go on. I've heard some great things about Captain Marvin's, but the 1/2 day excursion doesn't start until 10am. We want to get out there as soon as we can since we will have to return to the ship to pick up DD at Flounder's. It looks like Disney also has a half day which starts EARLY (7:45) and takes approx 3.5 hours. This looks to be the best one for us so far, but I don't want to book until I've researched some more.
The Crystal light idea sounds great. My sister will be picking up a blender and margerita mix. My favorite drink right now is half iced tea and half lemonaide. Tastes just like nestea with a lot less sugar.
Here is one of the "Cruise shirts" that you will see us in. Tie-dye light blue with Family Cruise Logo. I'm just havin' too much fun!

 

[mmouse37]

Nicole....very nice looking shirt. You did a great job!!! On the topic of favorite drinks....for breakfast I always have the servers bring me half o.j. and half cranberry juice mixed. I love it!!!

MJ

 

[Mtdewbuzz]

We made our final payment a week ago, but still no info yet. But we booked through icruise.com, and not DCL.

As for excursions, we are going to do the train/trolley tour in Key West. Also, we plan on doing lunch at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant- got to have a Cheeseburger in Paradise & a margarita, you know!!

In the Caymans, we're snorkeling with the stingrays through Disney. This was a must for my wife.

As for Cozumel, we THOUGHT we were going to XCaret, and then just wanted to do somewhere with Mayan ruins, but if it takes up all our day, it's really not worth it, so I don't know WHAT we're doing in Cozumel right now.

As far as Palo's goes, we'll be doing that on Monday night, since we have to dress formal that night anyways. I'm going to try to switch our dining rotation so that it takes the place of Lumiere's , because I don't want to miss the show at the first night of Animator's Palate, and Parrot's sounds like it has some rather tasty food!

 

[tinkerbell4two]

I've seen lots of DISers talking about meeting on Deck 10 for departure. It being my first cruise, is this "THE" place to meet the other DISers. If it is, count me in!

Mtdewbuzz, It sounds like you already have ressies at Palo's. Is it true? If it is, very cool.
I'll have to look into the AMEX white glove trick next time to get those great offers (free Palo's ressies, $250 board credit and other goodies for $59) . Just read about that tonight in the forum. Look at me, I'm already writing about my second cruise and I haven't even taken the first yet.

 

[mmouse37]

Just made final payment yesterday and requested to have the ALP dining rotation. I think this will put us in Lumiere's on formal nights and Parrot Cay on Mexicali night. I know it does not really matter, but I like it that way. We always do the PLA rotation on the Eastern for this reason. I also linked all seven reservations in our party together for dining. Last time we had a large group and had the huge table that held 14 in the middle of the rest. It was a great table with great servers...Toto and Julian. We have three families of five plus my son's friend and our friends brother, 17 in all!

I think we will also do the trolley in Key West. I really want to do the stingrays but hubby will not want to, maybe the teens and I will do it. I still don't if I want to go with DCL or on my own. I think we will do a beach in Cozumel. Palo brunch a definite, but undecided when.

MJ

 

[BarbaraB]

I just found this site. And I have already learned sooo much.

We are also scheduled to go on the Aug 3 cruise. We have 5 people. Myself, DH, DD 13, DS 4 1/2 and DD 4/12 (twins). We are very excited! This is our very first cruise.

As far as excursions, we are looking at Captain Marvins (because they will allow us to bring our twins), and perhaps the Tulum ruins with just DH, DD 13 and myself (DD 13 is VERY interested in seeing those). My DD 13 also wants to do the Fury Teen Cruise.

Question: Is they door organizer people are bringing like the one's you store shoes in? What is a gang strip? And what are PackMate stoarge bags?

I am definitely new at all of this!


Barbara

 

[mmouse37]

Welcome BarbarB!!!!! Isn't this DIS site just the best. I have on just about a year now and love it!!!!!

So glad to hear to you going on the August 3rd cruise. I have sailed with Disney 5 times already and 8/3 will make #6!!!!

Yes, the over the door shoe holder helps organize all the stuff that usually clutter the dresser tops and bathroom counters. They really do come in handy.

I do not know what the gang strip (sounds dirty!!!) is but the packmate storage bags are very large zip-lock type bags that have one-way air valves at one end. You pack your stuff and then roll the bag to remove all the air. The air cannot come back in so you have a very thin pack. Just unzip when you unpack and the clothes fluff up again!!! Just like the vacuum bags but without the vacuum.

I also bring the laundry tablets such as Whisk, just in case I do laundry. It is much easier than buying it onboard and there is no mess because of the tablets. I also bring an extension cord (you cannot plug in hair dryers in the bathroom outlet...there are just for some shavers. There are built in hair dryers but they are not very good. There are plugs on the dresser in the main part of the cabin and plugs behind the TV.

Any othe specific questions....please, please, do not hesitate to ask anyone!!!!

I am sure you will love DCL!!!

MJ

 

[BarbaraB]

Thanks for the info. The Whisk tablets sound like something I'll definitely want to pack!!

Barbara

 

[tinkerbell4two]

Welcome Barbara. This is our first cruise also. My older DD is 3 1/2 so they might be in the same play group in the Oceaneer's club.

A gang strip is a multi power cord - what you would use with all of your computer component outlets. Because there are not many outlets, I read to bring the gang strip to plug in hair dryer, shaver, curling iron, dvd player, electric blender... I'll also be bringing an extention cord, but it's for my parents cabin to put up twinkle lights for decoration (It's their 40th Wed Anniversary).
I've used the space saving bags before and they work out really well especially to hold dirty clothes during the vacation.
We will also have with us my sister's family with DD 4 1/2 and DS 3 1/2, and my brother's family with DS 5 and DS 3 1/2. So your little ones will have plenty of new friends! Let them know that Sophia is looking forwarde to meeting them.

 

[mmouse37]

bumping this up as another new thread was created for 8/3!!! We are gaining popularity!!!!

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

bump

 

[Jhondy(210)]

well i'll repost here whos all on the cruise in my family. it'll be me(16)my twin bro(16) my older bro and his fiancee( both 22) my younger sister(10) and my parents.

anyway is any of the teens doing the Fury catamaran teen cruise in Cozumel? my twin and i will be there even though he doesn't know it yet

btw for my twins sake what stations do we get on the cruise and is there vcrs in the room?

Thanks for the help and i can't wait to see you all there.

 

[MCazer]

I was reading about the free gift from Travel agent thread, and thought to myelf....hmmm. wonder if most of us booked with Dreams.

They say if 8 cabins were booked for the same cruise through the same travel agent, you will get a free gift in your room.

So, who here, besides my family booked with dreams?


Me (Margaret) 38
DH (Steven) 38
DD (Emily) 6
DS (Robert) 4

 

[mmouse37]

Hi jhondy...There are no VCR's in the rooms unless you in one the Cat 1-3 suites.

My stations do you mean radio stations......probably whatever you can pick up while we pass the islands. Not sure though.

MJ

 

[mmouse37]

mcazer.....we booked directly with Disney (2 cabins) and the other four cabins in our group were booked with CruisesOnly.

MJ