Dec 5, 2009 -- now traveling to Tortola

[carmie3377]

Has anyone else received a letter from DCL regarding the port change? I only found out earlier this week when I logged into the Web site to complete the online check-in. We booked through DVC and according to them we were going to St. Croix. I find it odd that we haven't received any formal notification since according to the DCL person I spoke with, the changed was made about a month ago.

Thanks! Rosemary

I know some people have received notification but we haven't and we also booked through DVC. Another person on this cruise that booked through DVC hasn't received notification either. Must be a DVC thing.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Oh, and I know The Princess and the Frog is premiering while we are on board. Has anyone been cruising when another film has premiered? Apart from seeing it I was hoping for an exclusive pin or something

Not much of a to-do for the 3rd Pirates or Beverly Hills Chihuahua (both premeared when we were sailing) other than a lot of talk. If they gave out pins I never saw them--but we actually did not attend either movie(but our friends who did attend did not have pins either). They make big deal about showing it at midnight ship's time, which is an hour earlier than the east coast so you are getting to see it before everyone else.

Has anyone every participated in this activity on the boat? It looks interesting but I'm curious what others think.

Thanks! Rosemary

I was curious just exactly where Castaway Cay was wrt the other Bahama Islands so I did a Wikipedia search.

I saw the picture below.

Is the beach really that busy when we're there?????

As others have said--busier times of year are more crowded. Also, as reported earlier, the part of the beach near the floats/ship/BBQ can get very crowded. We have been on a full sailing when the close in part of the beach looked like that and walked out to the far end of the family beach (near the lookout bar) and found several empty hammocks, tons of empty chairs and an almost desserted strech of beach. Peopl at dinner that night were complaining about not being able to get a hammock and would not believe us that there were many empty ALL DAY (we are always some of hte first off adn the last on the ship at CC) down at the end of the beach. It pays to walk down

Sorry Hadley - I did get your PM. I just didn't realize I had a new PM (did I mention that I'm a newbie ).

I will watch the site and PM you with questions. Thanks!

Glad you got itThanks again.

I read somewhere that Disney changed the way they do photos and started using the PhotoPass they have in the parks. Does anyone know if do any special printing, such as Christmas cards? I can't remember ever seeing it in the past. I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone this year. We are hoping to use a picture from Formal night as our Christmas card. Sending them from Castaway Cay would be an added bonus, and probably expensive too :-(

I have not sailed with the new photo system so I cannot comment on that. We have bougth our Christmas cards on board twice in the past and loved using them. As someone else said be wary of mailing from castaway. WE have had thigns arrive anywhere from 3 weeks to 4 MONTHS later Nieces have gotten one of their cards in 6 weeks and the other 4 months gooing to the same address even--and never once have they arrived closer together than 2 weeks.

Has anyone else received a letter from DCL regarding the port change? I only found out earlier this week when I logged into the Web site to complete the online check-in. We booked through DVC and according to them we were going to St. Croix. I find it odd that we haven't received any formal notification since according to the DCL person I spoke with, the changed was made about a month ago.

Thanks! Rosemary

My TA says DCL has STILL not informed her It is so very odd for DCL to have totally dropped the ball on this. Anyway, my TA is grateful to the DIS for getting the info out so that she knows

 

[CaptainJack]

We were on the Disney Magic on the September 12-19, 2009 Cruise.

Here are some of the changes I noticed since we sailed in September of 2008.

Check-In

Your number for boarding the ship is not given to you when you enter the terminal. It is given to you when you get your photo taken. (See below).

You do not need to complete the customs form on check-in as you have had to do in the past.

After you check-in, your photo is taken and stored in the ship's computer. When you come back on the ship at port, they compare the photo on your picture ID with the one in the stored in the computer.

Castaway Club--In the past, you were given not only lanyards but a couple of pins per lanyard to trade. This time we received only lanyards.

Ship

All rooms have flat screen televisions.

There are 2 sets of movie channels on the televisions in the rooms.

When photos are taken, the photographers ask to scan you Key To the World Card. You can then view your photos at a kiosk near the staircase by the Promenade Lounge.

You no longer have to clear customs before anyone can get off at St. Thomas. As anyone who did the Eastern before remembers, if you went to St. Maarteen prior to going to St. Thomas, everyone on the ship had to clear customs at St. Thomas (which meant the entire ship had to arise at about 6:30 a.m.). That has stopped.

Bingo

The ship now has electronic Bingo cards in addition to paper ones.


The Stack

The age range has changed. Previously, a child 13 and older could go to The Stack, and you could continue to go there through age 18. Now, the kids have to be 14 to go The Stack and the upper age is 17. A number of the activities that the kids in The Stack are now done by the 11-13 year olds

Shows

So far as I know they have added any new shows, but have updated the current shows a bit by adding or changing some of the songs: however, Disney Dreams, so far as I remember, has not changed at all.

I believe those are all of the changes.

 

[CaptainJack]

Btw, anyone here have kids who will be going to The Stack and have been on a previous cruise? My daughters (Raquel and Rebekah--twins) are trying to find out whether anyone will be on this cruise who have been on a previous cruise with them at The Stack.

 

[Tower]

Here are some of the changes I noticed since we sailed in September of 2008.

You no longer have to clear customs before anyone can get off at St. Thomas. As anyone who did the Eastern before remembers, if you went to St. Maarteen prior to going to St. Thomas, everyone on the ship had to clear customs at St. Thomas (which meant the entire ship had to arise at about 6:30 a.m.). That has stopped.

Thanks for all that information CaptainJack! It's nice background info for us newbies!

 

[beachbratt]

Hello DH (Ron) and me (Renee) have just booked this cruise this will be #5 for us. We were looking forward to St Croix but we will enjoy Tortola again and all the xmas decorations and celebrating our anniversary. If anyone is interested in sharing a taxi on Tortola to Brewers Bay please let me know we'd love the company.

 

[Tower]

We were looking forward to St Croix but we will enjoy Tortola again and all the Christmas decorations and celebrating our anniversary.

Welcome Ron & Renee! Happy Anniversary in Advance!

Unfortunately, we have 6 of us so no taxi sharing, but we'll have fun meeting you guys!

See you in 8 weeks!

Off topic here, but anybody staying at CBR before the cruise?

 

[beachbratt]

Welcome Ron & Renee! Happy Anniversary in Advance!

Thank you....

 

[biggdawg67]

thank you....

beachbrat's dh----I need more posts thanks again

 

[Inkmahm]

I was curious just exactly where Castaway Cay was wrt the other Bahama Islands so I did a Wikipedia search.

I saw the picture below.

Is the beach really that busy when we're there?????

I've only been to CC in December (2006 and 2007) and I've never seen that many people! No, it won't be that crowded in December, I'm sure.

 

[Inkmahm]

Hi everyone,
I hope you all are doing well. it is supposed to snow this weekend here in Wisconsin! crazy!

I would like to chip in for the lanyards also. I just need to know approximately how much?

I have never seen the beach that crowded, but we go down a bit from the family beach.

we are also excited to see the ship all Christmassy and it will be fun to
do the Secret Mickey thing (FE). these gifts are just little things, right?

We are looking forward to meeting in Preludes at 3pm as well.
So are you all wearing jammies to breakfast? that's funny.

Have a good day everyone!

I'd be happy to contribute to the lanyard fund, too! Including extra to have the name tags printed and in the lanyards when we get them. Just tell me who to send the $ to.

 

[cdfl30]

I was curious just exactly where Castaway Cay was wrt the other Bahama Islands so I did a Wikipedia search.

I saw the picture below.

Is the beach really that busy when we're there?????

Yikes!! Try to be one of the first people off the boat in the morning and you will enjoy this type of scene, for at least a little while...

 

[cdfl30]

Hi all, I've had this cruise booked for a while now but haven't participated in this meet thread. This will be our 6th Disney cruise but will be our first on the eastern itinerary. I will by travelling with my Husband and also my Parents who will be on their first Disney Cruise.

I hope everyone is enjoying the anticipation and excitement I can't wait to see what the Magic looks like decorated for the holidays!

Candis

 

[Tower]

Hi all, I've had this cruise booked for a while now but haven't participated in this meet thread.

Greetings Candis! WElcome aboard!

C'mon and let us know more about yourself! We're going to have one heck of a great time!

 

[fluvannaj]

Thanks for the updates! It has been 4 years since our last cruise and we're getting excited!!

Fluvanna

 

[fluvannaj]

We're willing to kick-in for lanyards too or print our own. Whatever works!

Fluvanna

 

[fluvannaj]

OK, this makes enough posts for me to use the e-mail function! Just finished the scrapbook for our last cruise this summer. We're all ready to go NOW!!

Fluvanna

 

[cdfl30]

Greetings Candis! WElcome aboard!

C'mon and let us know more about yourself! We're going to have one heck of a great time!

Thank you Tower If you really want to know more about me I am a DCL addict!!!! What I did not mention was that all 5 of our previous DCL cruises have been in the last 13 months. Between living so close to the port and the great FL resident rates, its a relatively affordable and easy way for us to vacation. I'm going to seriously try to cut back on the addiction next year though, I mean it... really....

I'm also really excited about the itinerary change to Tortola!! The Baths look awesome and I can't wait to spend the day hiking and photographing the beautiful park.

If anyone has any questions about DCL, I will be glad to help if I can. I need to do something productive with all those cruises anyways

Candis

 

[fluvannaj]

With all of the new people here, I just wanted to put in a plug for the kids thread for this cruise. It has been slow lately, but my daughter wants to "meet" some of the other kids on the cruise before we leave. Last time we cruised with family, so lots of cousins to hang with. This time it is just the 3 of us.

Here is the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2129312&page=4

Fluvanna, Jerry, and Jessica (9)

 

[AddictedtoMickey]

Hi everyone,

Life has kept me very busy over the last few months so I'm just trying to catch up on this thread now. My DW and I have three daughters (12, 8 & 6) and I'm wondering what everyone is planning for shore excursions?

This is our second cruise but first for the eastern itinerary.