Dec 5, 2009 -- now traveling to Tortola

[carmie3377]

Hi All!

Thought I would share this with you in case you would be interested. When we did our last family cruise on Carnival in December of 2007, we booked a flight a day ahead of the start of our cruise in case foul weather slowed our departure either at the beginning or mid-route. In our case, it turned out to be very prudent because, had we booked our travel the day of the cruise, we would have missed our cruise due to the inclement weather around the eastern seaboard.

We're doing the same thing this year and flying into Orlando on the 4th. Because there are 6 of us, and booking 2 rooms is rather expensive, I found the Marriott Residence Inn Airport to have a 1 bedroom suite with 2 queens and a pullout that will fit us nicely for around US$107 (or US$120.50 including tax). It has a free airport shuttle, free breakfast in the morning and even cocktails on the Friday night!

Not sure if anyone else wanted to add a little arrival time insurance to their trip, but I think it will work for us.

Just go to www.marriott.com to check it out. (There are also other hotels in area with decent deals so go to the airport website www.orlandoairports.net and check to see what works best for you.

It would be interesting to meet any earlybirds on the Friday night beforehand and get a good start to the vacation.

TTYL

Yeah, we're planning on doing the same thing, assuming DH can get off work in enough time on Friday. SWA has several daily flights to MCO from Houston and there has usually been one around 7:30 pm. We could probably do that but that would be just about the earliest one we could do. I don't want to be pushing it on Saturday morning and not arrive on time. I've taken a couple of first morning flights to MCO from Houston and haven't had any problems, in fact arrived about 20 mins early on each one. Those were flights when we were visiting WDW and it really wouldn't be a big deal if we arrived late. However, would hate for a problem to arrive when it would matter.

We're renting a car upon arrival at MCO. We were hoping to go ahead and drive to Port Canaveral that night but that would put us there around midnight if we depart here around 7:30. I'll check into the Marriot, that might work better. Thanks for the link!

 

[Inkmahm]

We're coming in early, too, but on Wed night. We'll be at Villas of Wilderness Lodge for a couple days so that we can do MVMCP and a couple parks ahead of the cruise. We won't be driving over until Saturday morning.

 

[PirateMaiden]

We'll with you all on this one- our 1st cruise!!! It'll be me, DH and DD(8) can't wait!

 

[Tower]

HEy There Ms. Pirate!

Welcome! It's Going to be a Fantastic Time!!!

Noticed you're in VA! Love the mountains there, but I have a feeling the ocean breeze is what we're all looking for!

Just spent the day outside working with a client. -15C out there today! Man do I EVER need some nice tropical breezes now!

 

[mrstbalt]

We are planning on coming in the night before too. Can't afford the Hyatt so we are looking into other options. We are staying at Disney for 2 nights after but it will be a surprise for the kids. I can't wait to see the holiday decorations.

 

[disneytraceyl]

Hi. We will be coming down on the Wednesday before. We love seeing all of the Christmas decorations. We will be staying on Disney. Can't wait to see everyone.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Our current plans are to arrive a week early and stay at the Aniaml Kingdom Villas with my best friend and his husband and enjoy all of the holiday decorations. We just completed a major move (from New Hamoshire to Germany) so things are a little fuzzy right now as far as what we can afford and what airfare might be, etc. so I cannot be sure. We love to spend a week at the parks and then relax for a week on the ship afterwards

 

[George Rada]

Hi everyone, I just joined disboards today. We booked this cruise also and it will be our 4th Disney Cruise. Is anyone planning a disboards group social while onboard?

George

 

[George Rada]

Hi everyone, I saw the posts about flying in a day before the cruise! A little over 3 years ago we had booked our second Disney Cruise for the end of Sept. or beginning of Oct. and it was just after the 5th anniversary of 9/11. We planned to fly to Orlando on Friday morning and had booked a hotel very near the port, with a huge pool and slide for my boys to enjoy and then we could liesurely make our way over to the ship on Saturday. I guess it was all the 9/11 stuff from a few weeks before in the school's and on TV that my older son freaked out so bad when we boarded the plane in DC that we had to get off at the last minute before they closed the door. The flight crew was outstanding. They did everything they could to calm his nerves including the pilot's letting him push switches and buttons in the cockpit, but nothing worked and we decided we couldn't put him through the trama of the flight (even though I believed he would be OK once we were at cruising altitude). His younger brother even threatend to kill him if he made us miss the cruise!

So we watched the aircraft take off with our bags onboard and head for Orlando. We decided our only option was to drive overnight to Orlando and get our bags at the airport and then head to the ship. We also decided that altough our minivan was it good shape, it had alot miles on it and we should rent a car for the drive rather than risking a breakdown and not making it to the ship. I confirmed that our bags had made it to Orlando in 2 hours and that they would store them overnight for us. We took the minivan into DC and parked it at my office and rented a car. It's now early Friday afternoon and head out of DC. My wife and I alternated driving through the night while the kids slept and we arrived in Orlando about 4am. Luck would have that there was a hotel next to the airport with a free shuttle service, so we got a room to try nd get a few hours of solid sleep. Guess who wakes up and thinks it's time to start the day, our two boy's. Man was I mad and exhausted. After a very stern look and threats of impending doom they laid down and fell back to sleep.

The story has a happy ending! I got our bags from the airport and we made it to the ship about 1pm. Needless to say the first night onboard was an early one.

Moral of this story is that when cruising I recommend arriving a day early, you don't what will happen!

 

[Tower]

Welcome to the board George! Always good to see yet another cruising veteran join us for this adventure!

Well, the snow is starting to melt some more here in Canada so the thoughts of tropical breezes are starting to wane right now with the promise of warm weather over here. Still, I can't wait to get on that ship 9 months from now. Just need to focus on the important matters prior to that.

Have a great night all!

 

[George Rada]

Hi Tower,

Thanks for the welcoming message. The snow is also starting to melt here in the suburbs around Washington, DC, altough I think you guys get alot more than we do. I know Canadian people can actually function in the snow, whereas people around DC absolutely panic about a few inches of snow.

White sandy beaches and warm tropical breezes are on my mind also!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll buy the first round of beers when we get onboard!

George

 

[PirateMaiden]

HEy There Ms. Pirate!

Welcome! It's Going to be a Fantastic Time!!!

Noticed you're in VA! Love the mountains there, but I have a feeling the ocean breeze is what we're all looking for!

Just spent the day outside working with a client. -15C out there today! Man do I EVER need some nice tropical breezes now!

Just saw your message... the mountains are pretty but I'm a beach girl, we live on the coast. Our weather here today was in the mid 70's and you would have thought it was the middle of summer! Can't wait to be in the islands during the winter though! We are so excited

 

[TChrist05]

Hello fellow cruisers...my DW and I are joining you on this cruise. We just got off the Magic yesterday doing the same itinerary that we are on....St. Croix was nice and St. Thomas was great. The ship rocked a bit more than we would have liked and was very windy most of the week...they said onboard that the weather was unusual for this time of year...but all and all it was great...wish it was next week already.

Tom & Marilou

 

[Inkmahm]

Hello fellow cruisers...my DW and I are joining you on this cruise. We just got off the Magic yesterday doing the same itinerary that we are on....St. Croix was nice and St. Thomas was great. The ship rocked a bit more than we would have liked and was very windy most of the week...they said onboard that the weather was unusual for this time of year...but all and all it was great...wish it was next week already.

Tom & Marilou

You must have liked it if you signed up to do the same cruise again!

What did you do in St. Croix and St. Thomas?

 

[TChrist05]

Howdy...we had the December cruise booked before this one...we wanted to take advantage of the fall back offer and never had cruised in February or March....so it was very good. We liked St. Thomas much better than St. Croix...we will probably stay on the ship in December in St. Croix....but were glad to be joining you all.

 

[George Rada]

What did you not like about St Croix?

 

[DAKfever]

What did you not like about St. Croix? We're going 12/5!

 

[mrstbalt]

Hi Tower,

That's great you've got some kids around the same age as mine. Sydney is our tomboy. No pink in her life. She plays hockey and only hangs out with boys! Brenna, on the other hand, is all girl...complete opposites!

QUOTE]

My DD9(@ sailing time), Samantha sounds a little like your Sydney. She likes hot pink, but wants nothing to do with princesses. She would rather look for bugs, Pokemon and Littlest Pet shop rather than Barbie and dolls. My other DD8 (@ sailing time) is complete opposite.

 

[carmie3377]

Hi Tower,

That's great you've got some kids around the same age as mine. Sydney is our tomboy. No pink in her life. She plays hockey and only hangs out with boys! Brenna, on the other hand, is all girl...complete opposites!

QUOTE]

My DD9(@ sailing time), Samantha sounds a little like your Sydney. She likes hot pink, but wants nothing to do with princesses. She would rather look for bugs, Pokemon and Littlest Pet shop rather than Barbie and dolls. My other DD8 (@ sailing time) is complete opposite.

Sounds like several of of will have girls with similar interest! My DD10 does like pink but can't stand being called a princess and will only get her picture taken with them for me. She loves to dig in the dirt for bugs and even came home from school one day with a dead, small snake in a baggy! Can't stand baby dolls or barbies and never has. When she was a toddler, she'd push her dinosaurs or stuffed dogs around in a baby carriage but you'd never find a real doll in there. She loves LPS and other animals. It'd be great if the girls could meet at the kid's club!

 

[George Rada]

Hi everyone I had two questions I hope the forum can help me with.

1. My son's will be 12 and 14 at the time of the cruise and they would like to know if there will be anyother kids their age on the ship ( I already know the answer to this one, but they insisted that I right a post and ask)?

2. We would like to go horseback riding on one of the island's. I was wondering if anyone has done this before and can make a suggestion as to a company to make a reservation with?

Thanks,

George