Christmas/Holiday 2011 on the Wonder: 8 night Mexican Riviera 12/18/2011

[SanDeeKath]

Oooooh, the mani-pedi for the little one sounds really fun! My older DD is almost 12 so she pretty much qualifies for an adult (she's almost as tall as me!) but the soon to be 7yo definitely would love a kiddie spa treatment.

My older DD and I traditionally get a mommy and me massage on cruises too. I am hoping they can arrange that for us when we are onboard.

Come to think of it, I could really, really use a massage right now!

Katherine

 

[Dchachos]

Next up is getting everything ready for my kids' passports (I know I don't need them for this trip, but I will next year so may as well get it done now!), and then I need to make reservations for the non DCL excursions we have planned.

Other than that, FE pre-shopping (for ideas) is an absolute blast!

I decided to get us passports I went last Saturday October 1st I was a little worried because even though they said 6-8 weeks I know at one point the passport agency was extremely behind. I considered paying for expedited service at roughly $150.00 more than the $400.00 I already spent. Well today October 6th 2 of the 3 passports and our documents arrived in the mail. I am guessing #3 will come tomorrow. So because they are not mandatory on this cruise and they are being so quick I would not recommend anyone pay the extra expedite fees.

 

[SanDeeKath]

I decided to get us passports I went last Saturday October 1st I was a little worried because even though they said 6-8 weeks I know at one point the passport agency was extremely behind. I considered paying for expedited service at roughly $150.00 more than the $400.00 I already spent. Well today October 6th 2 of the 3 passports and our documents arrived in the mail. I am guessing #3 will come tomorrow. So because they are not mandatory on this cruise and they are being so quick I would not recommend anyone pay the extra expedite fees.

Great to hear! I am really glad you decided to do it. If you had to be flown out of MX for any reason, you literally would not be able to come into the country without them! I never thought it would happen to me but when we vacationed in PV about 10 years ago, I got so sick (food poisoning) that I had to be flown home. Now I absolutely won't travel without 1) trip insurance 2) passports with me at all times 3) an Am Ex card.

BTW, when we applied for our passports about 4 years ago (renewed ours, new ones for the kids), we went through the regular process and it took us 6 weeks! I was seriously worried they lost the apps for us. So the quick turnaround is not a guarantee. I think it's a sign of the poor economy and the lack of international travel that you got it so fast!

Katherine

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

BTW, when we applied for our passports about 4 years ago (renewed ours, new ones for the kids), we went through the regular process and it took us 6 weeks! I was seriously worried they lost the apps for us. So the quick turnaround is not a guarantee. I think it's a sign of the poor economy and the lack of international travel that you got it so fast!

Katherine

Same here. We got ours in 2007, and it was a loooooong wait. Mine had expired and DH had never had one. I worried that ours got lost! DH and I were both born out of state (and he was adopted) and so our original birth certificates would not be easy to replace.

We got them for the kids as well. DD's will expire about 6 months before she turns 16... so her renewal will have to wait for 16 so she can get a 10 year passport.

I am another person who thinks better safe than sorry, and won't cruise without them! The last thing I want to worry about if a crisis happens is how do I get home. DH's father was severely burned in an accident the day before our last cruise. We were worried about if we should even go. Then, when he and his doctor said to go (they live in Tennessee), he was in critical condition in the ICU burn ward for a month. We kept in touch via email while on the cruise using our iPad. If his dad took a turn for the worse, we knew that DH would get off in port and fly home to him. Luckily he pulled through, and is now recovering well. But it was a big piece of mind to know that he could fly out at any time if we needed him to.

 

[Woodrow]

Our family is set up the same way. We are me, my husband, 2 dd's and grandma. They girls always stay with grandma. This cruise grandma's room is assisgned but my husband and I's is not. DCL has not been assigning rooms until around the week of the 45 day mark. I think we have some time before we will see the rooms assigned.



I guess I will just have to be patient, 71 days and counting, but who's counting right?

 

[Tinkerbellll]

I was reading another thread, and someone was asking what New Year's Eve is like on-board, and the response was:

"We were on the Magic for New Years last year. It was a 5 night. We had a whole deck party and buffet. It was great...not as great as christmas but close to it."

I really like the not as great as christmas part.

 

[SanDeeKath]

Hey, what do you mean "who is counting?"

70 DAYS, 21 HOURS, 19 MIN, 23 SEC

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

Hey, what do you mean "who is counting?"

70 DAYS, 21 HOURS, 19 MIN, 23 SEC

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING 'BOUT!!

 

[Tinkerbellll]

Do I need to worry about really rocky seas in December, or is that more of a sailing in October issue? Yikes....what I read about the Freedom of the Seas sounds scary.

 

[SanDeeKath]

Do I need to worry about really rocky seas in December, or is that more of a sailing in October issue? Yikes....what I read about the Freedom of the Seas sounds scary.

I would not worry too much. The rockiest seas and rainiest weather is right now (July through Nov) as it is hurricane season off the coast of MX and the Caribbean. We never sail during this time because we just don't feel like stressing about high winds and rough seas on our vacation.

By December, seas will be calm and it will be sunny and dry down South. Going South the seas are usually calm as we sail WITH the current and unless we catch a storm sailing out of LA, it will be a swift ride to PV. South of about Cabo, the oceans really get calm and flat and the sun shines like crazy, even in Dec.

Coming back North we are against the current and I have had a few cruises where the ship "moved" against the waves/chop. However, it's nothing like what people are experiencing this week on both coasts! Last Dec we sailed on the Sapphire Princess on a 4 night and it was raining cats and dogs and had howling winds at home (on shore). My DH even called me on the ship to make sure we were "all right." Meanwhile, onboard, we barely felt a thing and had a wonderful cruise. It was strange to come home and see all the damage the winds and rains had done to the trees on the streets. DD and I had a blast and were wishing we could still be on the ship instead of heading home.

So short and long of it is to not worry about it! This month is far worse than anything we will have in December.

Katherine

 

[Tinkerbellll]

What I love about our thread is that I know I can ask any question! Thank you so much...you really helped me a lot!

 

[Dchachos]

What I love about our thread is that I know I can ask any question! Thank you so much...you really helped me a lot!

Me too. Everyone on this thread is friendly and so open to questions. Thank you to everyone.

I can't wait to take my boys on the Christmas trip of a lifetime and to meet all of you WONDERful people. I have been working on FE gifts and planning my FE. Oh and counting down the months, days, hours and minutes until we cruise. Ok I only have the days but it sounded good.

 

[NarrabeenSteph]

I think we should do a list, to get an idea of how many we are in our privileged group of Christmas cruisers.
I know, we all mentioned our names and the names of our families in the posts we introduced ourselves to the group, but by now I am completely lost, when it comes to the size of our group.

Just quote my post and add yourself to the list

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)



total:
2 adults
1 kid

 

[SanDeeKath]

ROLL CALL!

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)
2. SanDeeKath - Katherine, Greg, Sarah (11) and Abby (6)

 

[Dchachos]

ROLL CALL!

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)
2. SanDeeKath - Katherine, Greg, Sarah (11) and Abby (6)

3. Dchachos- Dianne (47) DS James (9) DS Brendan (7) turns 8 on 12/22/11

 

[NarrabeenSteph]

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)
2. SanDeeKath - Katherine, Greg, Sarah (11) and Abby (6)
3. Dchachos- Dianne (47) DS James (9) DS Brendan (7) turns 8 on 12/22/11


total:
5 adults
5 kids

 

[mdlove2cruise]

4. MdLove2cruise-Debbie (44), Grandma, DD Anna (6) and DS Marco (4)-my dad is going as well but not in my cabin.

 

[NarrabeenSteph]

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)
2. SanDeeKath - Katherine, Greg, Sarah (11) and Abby (6)
3. Dchachos- Dianne (47) DS James (9) DS Brendan (7) turns 8 on 12/22/11
4. MdLove2cruise-Debbie (44), Grandma, DD Anna (6) and DS Marco (4)-my dad is going as well but not in my cabin.

total:
8 adults
7 kids

 

[Tinkerbellll]

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)
2. SanDeeKath - Katherine, Greg, Sarah (11) and Abby (6)
3. Dchachos- Dianne (47) DS James (9) DS Brendan (7) turns 8 on 12/22/11
4. MdLove2cruise-Debbie (44), Grandma, DD Anna (6) and DS Marco (4)-my dad is going as well but not in my cabin.
5. Tikerbellll - Monica (42), David (43), Nick (17), Marisa (14), Dante (7)

total:
10 adults
10 kids

 

[Silly Little Pixie]

1. NarrabeenSteph - Stephanie(30), DH Steffen(35) and DS Joshua(18months)
2. SanDeeKath - Katherine, Greg, Sarah (11) and Abby (6)
3. Dchachos- Dianne (47) DS James (9) DS Brendan (7) turns 8 on 12/22/11
4. MdLove2cruise-Debbie (44), Grandma, DD Anna (6) and DS Marco (4)-my dad is going as well but not in my cabin.
5. Tikerbellll - Monica (42), David (43), Nick (17), Marisa (14), Dante (7)
6. Silly Little Pixie - Christine (41), DH Stew (41), Rachel (14), Kyle (11)

total:
12 adults
12 kids