DCL Experts...Please Review Newbie's Plans For Eastern Magic

[Shooter]

This board has been so helpful and I thank you all, but now it's time to see if I've learned anything.

Please look over my plans and let me know where I've goofed.

The dining rotation that I've used (PALPALP) is based on what a lot of people with an 8 year old have said. We have second seating.

My wife and I enjoy fancier meals alone (2 Lumiere's & 1 Palo) and have planned to feed DS(8) somewhere either before the show or after and then drop him off at the Oceaneer Lab on those 3 nights.

Tuesday - St. Maartan - Go to a beach within walking distance from the ship.

Dinner - instead of eating at Parrot Cay the second time, My wife and I would like to go to Palo.

Wednesday - St. Thomas - Snorkel/sunbathe & shopping.

Friday - CC - Banana boat ride, DW & I time alone at Serenity Bay and a cabana massage, spend time with son at family beach.

What night is the tropical theme?

What's the difference in the two St. John's snorkel & beach excursion? Is the ride on the Leylon Sneed rough?

If we do do the snorkel & beach on St. John's, will we have time to shop? How will we get to the shopping area?

We are in room 2021 (el cheapo here), should we upgrade when checking in? Will this room cause my family to force me to walk the plank?

Anyone have a report on the Cocoa Beach Econo Lodge?

Thank you all so much!

 

[jlawall]

all rooms are better than expected......whatever you do in cocoa beach is worth it!......anticipation is everything......have a great trip!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Michelle]

Your plan sounds fine.

Tropical night is St. Maarten night, and there will be a deck party as well.

Not sure on the snorkel excurions, check to see how long they are. If you're back by early afternoon you'll have time to shop in St. Thomas but allow PLENTY of time to get to the ship. DON'T mss it!

Honestly, yes, I would try and upgrade at the port if not before, the Cat. 12s are under the adult nightclub area and even though they have added more soundproofing it can be LOUD there.

Enjoy!

 

[Werner Weiss]

A lot of questions. Here's my take on three of them.

Originally posted by Shooter
The dining rotation that I've used (PALPALP) is based on what a lot of people with an 8 year old have said. We have second seating.

"PALPALP" is not one of the rotations. The rotations are PLAPLAP, LAPLAPL, and APLAPLA.

Originally posted by Shooter
What night is the tropical theme?

Tuesday, which is your St. Maarten day. It's your second night in Parrot Cay, if you have the PLAPLAP rotation. (Parrot Cay is a nice place to dine on the tropical night, but if you end up dining somewhere else, that would be fine too.)

Originally posted by Shooter
We are in room 2021 (el cheapo here), should we upgrade when checking in? Will this room cause my family to force me to walk the plank?

We had a verandah (cat. 6) in March, but we didn't spend enough time on the verandah to justify the extra cost. Just because you don't have a verandah doesn't mean you can't sit outside and read a book or have a drink. In fact, we liked the deck chairs on the Promenade deck better than our verandah. I glanced into an inside room. They seemed very nice. Regardless of your category, you enjoy all the same restaurants, shows, ports, and shipboard activities. (You might even enjoy them more because you'll probably spend less time in your stateroom than guests who have a higher category.)

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[AnnMorin]

One heads up about the beach in St. Maarten our son was nine when we went and luckally we found out prior to arriving-St. Maarten is a clothing optional beach. On the dutch side it is topless and on the french complete nudity is acceptable. Rather than giving an anatomy lesson we went shopping (your wife will LOVE the jewlrey deals)
They leylon sneed is a nice ride, they point out alot of neat things on the trip-such as richard simmon's house. I would do that (5star) again.

 

[SweetSpot]

Is is the beach closest to the ship a clothing optional beach? I'm not really ready for the lesson with my kids either. What about St. Thom or St. John. Thank you, it never occurred to me that there would be clothing optional beached.

 

[kendall]

I noticed you mentioned you enjoy fancier meals alone. Keep in mind there will be opportunities for family photos before each dinner seating - you may want to have DS dress nicely and have a formal family photo taken.

Also, you may want to have DS join you one evening on a formal or semi-formal night - even though the evening is fancier, there are still plenty of children out and about, dressed up and learning how to behave in a formal/semi formal situation (OK, well, we hope they are learning). Being able to participate in a fancy event may prove to be a highlight for your DS (then again, maybe your DS hates this type of thing - you have to make that call). Primarily the only thing formal about formal night, IMHO, is the dress. While there is a cocktail time before the first formal night, it is easy to spend little time there.

Depending on your dining rotation, you may be in Lumiere's but is could be tropical night - in which case tropical garb is the norm.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

DH, DS10.5 and I are planning on dining together formal night. On semi-formal night DS will get pizza and DH & I will hopefully go to Palos. I can only get DH dressed up twice in his tux and DS would have pizza every night if we let him.

 

[randytenn]

We just did the St. John Trunk Bay Snorkel tour (not the 5 Star), and loved it. It was beautiful. There, however, was no time for shopping. You got off the truck/taxi, and right back onto the boat (The "Island Girl"). The ride across was a bit rough, because that is where the Caribbean and the Atlantic oceans meet (according to the tour guide).

In St. Maarten, we did the Sea and See. It was a good tour. However, there isn't much to See in St. Maarten. It's pretty much a poor community. The semi-sub part was fun, and we saw lots of fish, and even a stingray (buried in the sand).

St. Thomas and St. John didn't have any nude beaches, as far as I'm aware. The place you snorkle on St. John is a US National Park. Everything was very clean and well preserved.

 

[abitjaded]

Dear Shooter,

IPmd you.

 

[TootyJane]

Originally posted by AnnMorin
....The leylon sneed is a nice ride, they point out alot of neat things on the trip-such as richard simmon's house. I would do that (5star) again.

I agree. This excursion was very nice. It takes about an hour to and from the beach and you get to snorkel for 1.5 hours. Many people prefer to take the ferry over to St. John to get more snorkel time in but we found with three kids that this was just enough time. HTH

 

[nearlychildless]

As for your room, we spent no time in ours but sleeping. We had a split bath which was nice getting ready for dinner as we have a 15 year old girl, and apart from when she was asleep that was the only time we were in the cabin together. She talks about going back and getting a verandah but no way as neither she nor we spent time in our cabin. It may depend on your child, if the 8 year old likes to be around others or in the pool all the time, you'll be in great shape as you should not have the bathroom issues we did. We are going back next march (DH doesn't know yet she just hopes) and we booked a cat. 10. We got a secert portal but even if we didn't I don't think I would have spent the money for an outside room but I know for sure I would not have gone for a verandah. I rather spend that money on pictures or excursions or books to read on deck 4 0r 6

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

The Econo Lodge is across the street from the Holiday Inn. The HI is a sprawling complex... you'll have to walk through it to get to the beach... probably a 3-5 minute walk. The Econo Lodge is also surprisingly resort-like for an economy brand.