December 11, 2010 7 Night Western Magic (Part DEUX)

[SILLYANDI]

Hope Everyone is having a wonderful summer so far.
We have done the Western Caribbean w/ exception of Key West a few times. Last time, in GC we did the Island Tour with Stingray City and 7 mile beach in afternoon. We really enjoyed that. We usually go to Paradise Beach in Cozumel.
This time, I think we are just going to explore Key West and have a yummy Frozen Key Lime pie. I will go ahead and admit I am the ever the tourist and have my camera ready to take pictures of anything or nothing...
Not sure what we are going to do in GC. We may treat it like a sea day. Who knows?! Cozumel... we're talking about doing the Tulum ruins. Chris just hates the idea of devoting the whole time to one activity. I hope I can talk him into it.
Castaway Cay in Dec, I hope the water is warm enough to get in at least for a little bit or it may be similiar to a Polar Bear Plunge.
The idea of fish extender sounds like fun to me. I have been working on my fish extender. I hope it turns out okay...
Susie

We usually visit with family in Key West (my in laws are in Ft Myers so they drive up for the day). We did Cpt Marvin's to Sting Ray City on our own in GC and it was GREAT but not sure the kids will want to do that again. We hung out at margaritaville and they swam most of the time so also thinking of making that a ship day. I think the kids will want to go back to Chankanaab but I think swimming with dolphins is once in a lifetime so...

The water on CC was warm to us, we are on the pacific coast though so our water is always colder then there! We've been to CC 3 times in December and it has always been beautiful and warm. Once it rained at about 3pm as we were getting back on the ship. It was fun, didn't ruin our day one bit!

On a side note, Susie- I have a cousin named Susie in Knoxville...funny coincidence!

 

[Inkmahm]

I'm still here, too. All our plans are done for the week at WDW before the cruise. I haven't really thought about excursions yet. Not sure what we will book since we've done dolphin swims before. Also have been to Key West before so we may just do the conch train tour again.

 

[Cruisin]

Hello all

I booked this cruise last week for my husband, myself and my mom.

It will be Disney Cruise number 13 for my husband and myself and number 3 for my mother.

Then I talked my kids into booking on too.

It will be my 27yr old son (his 2nd Disney Cruise) and his fiance and my 23 yr old daughter (her 7th Disney Cruise) and her boyfriend.

I've wanted to get the whole family onboard the Disney ship at the same time for a long time.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Hello all

I booked this cruise last week for my husband, myself and my mom.

It will be Disney Cruise number 13 for my husband and myself and number 3 for my mother.

Then I talked my kids into booking on too.

It will be my 27yr old son (his 2nd Disney Cruise) and his fiance and my 23 yr old daughter (her 7th Disney Cruise) and her boyfriend.

I've wanted to get the whole family onboard the Disney ship at the same time for a long time.

Welcome! Glad to have you join us! I will add all of you to the first page..

That is fantastic that you got them all on board! I've been trying to get my family to come along each time too and no one will di it! The best I could do was getting DH's fam to WDW for 2 days before our cruise. Too bad, it's their loss!

 

[SILLYANDI]

I'm still here, too. All our plans are done for the week at WDW before the cruise. I haven't really thought about excursions yet. Not sure what we will book since we've done dolphin swims before. Also have been to Key West before so we may just do the conch train tour again.

I'm reconsidering coming early to go to WDW since the free dining was extended..we shall see if DH goes for it!


I just realized- I don't have your names on the first page...Do you want me to add them (and..uh..if so I need to know them, couldn't find it anywhere here!)

 

[gemmybear83]

Hi I'm still here

Our plans are....

Go for a wander in Key West, try a key lime pie on a stick!

Going to go to 7 mile beach on Grand Cayman, not sure whether to do the DCL excursion or just get a taxi?

We really want to do the Tulum tour on Cozumel.

Really hoping we can get a Palo reservation - as it ours first cruise we will be the last ones to be able to book online

 

[Inkmahm]

I'm reconsidering coming early to go to WDW since the free dining was extended..we shall see if DH goes for it!


I just realized- I don't have your names on the first page...Do you want me to add them (and..uh..if so I need to know them, couldn't find it anywhere here!)

We're Karen and Douglas.

Starting to think about excursions at this point. My DH and FIL will probably do a biplane ride in Key West. MIL and I will find something else to do as that doesn't sound like fun to me. Maybe we'll all do the conch train tour together after the biplane excursion.

I like the Stingray City idea for Grand Caymen and we're looking at the eco something or other trip in Cozumel. I've been to Tulum back in 1973 when you could still climb up the stairs of the ruins. I was just 15 then and I remember them being very steep and the whole place being very hot with little shade. Not planning to return, especially now that the ruins are blocked off so you can't do the stairs. That was the best part.

 

[Inkmahm]

Started to book excursions today- for Cozumel, we are doing the manatees at 2 pm and sea lions at 3:30pm. Not doing the dolphin swim this time as we have done them before and also have another session scheduled the week before the cruise at Discovery Cove.

The prices are good online- $39 each session per adult.

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel/swimming-sea-lions-cozumel.asp

 

[Inkmahm]

Also booked the 30 minute bi plane ride for my DH and FIL for Key West. This one I got a recommendation for from someone at CruiseCritic's site.

http://www.keywestbiplane.com/iinfo-reserve.html

I'm not a fan of small planes so my MIL and I will wait for them and then do the city tour after they are done flying. The bi plane people pick you up at the Disney dock and bring you back after your flight so you don't even have to worry about a taxi to the airport.

 

[Inkmahm]

Booked Stingray City today through Stingray Sailing: http://www.stingraysailing.com/ Not a significant savings compared to the Disney version but Stingray Sailing has great reviews. You do the stingrays as well as snorkeling at the barrier reef to see fish. The biggest advantage is the small number of people on this excursion compared to the cruise ship excursions.

 

[blackduck]

We also just booked a stingray excursion. It is through fatfish which have a lot of good reviews on DIS. Its on waverunners, as the kids have been pestering to jetski for a while now, and what a great way to visit the stingrays.

We have also decided to just wander around Keywest and maybe do the trolley tour.

This will be our first cruise and visit to WDW. We are coming over for 4 weeks, being 2 weeks at WDW, a 7 day cruise and finishing off with 4 days at Universal. We can't wait to get away from work for a month and works well as our kids get school holidays Dec-Feb.

Now to get back to work and pay for it.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Started to book excursions today- for Cozumel, we are doing the manatees at 2 pm and sea lions at 3:30pm. Not doing the dolphin swim this time as we have done them before and also have another session scheduled the week before the cruise at Discovery Cove.

The prices are good online- $39 each session per adult.

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel/swimming-sea-lions-cozumel.asp

Also booked the 30 minute bi plane ride for my DH and FIL for Key West. This one I got a recommendation for from someone at CruiseCritic's site.

http://www.keywestbiplane.com/iinfo-reserve.html

I'm not a fan of small planes so my MIL and I will wait for them and then do the city tour after they are done flying. The bi plane people pick you up at the Disney dock and bring you back after your flight so you don't even have to worry about a taxi to the airport.

These all sound really cool! I think if we do Sting Ray City again I will book through Capt Marvin's. We did it last time and by chance went with 2 families from our DIS meet (total of 14 people it was AWESOME!) Even though the seas were choppy & the kids were totally freaked out by the sting rays they were incredible. They coaxed the kids out of the boat and totally made the excursion worth every penny with their customer service and helpfulness! They even let each one of the kids steer the boat driving us back in to port.

 

[Juls2989]

Hello

This will be our first cruise ever
It will be me Julie and my husband Jeff both 39..(my husband hits the big 40
on the Dec 29th, so kinda a birthday cruise.)
My son Christopher, 17 and my daughter Hannah, 10.
We are really excited and are going to Pop on The 9th and using our give a day
get a way tickets on the 10th at HS. After the cruise we are heading to Universal for 2 days I booked a sting ray adventure with Captain Morgan at 11:15, so Andrea if you guys decide to do it again that's when we are going. Not sure what we are going to do in Cozumel.
Looking forward to getting to know and meeting all of ya!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Hello

This will be our first cruise ever
It will be me Julie and my husband Jeff both 39..(my husband hits the big 40
on the Dec 29th, so kinda a birthday cruise.)
My son Christopher, 17 and my daughter Hannah, 10.
We are really excited and are going to Pop on The 9th and using our give a day
get a way tickets on the 10th at HS. After the cruise we are heading to Universal for 2 days I booked a sting ray adventure with Captain Morgan at 11:15, so Andrea if you guys decide to do it again that's when we are going. Not sure what we are going to do in Cozumel.
Looking forward to getting to know and meeting all of ya!

Welcome Julie! I have a 10 year old daughter too! WE are keeping the cruise a secret from the kids or else I'd suggest we get them acquainted!

I'll add you to our list on the first page!

 

[SILLYANDI]

I think I have finally decided how we are going to surprise the kids with the cruise without making them suspicious as I run around packing stuff the days before.

Our in laws live in Fl. A few weeks before the cruise I am going to tell the kids that we are going to surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a visit so we will be staying in a hotel the first night (cause they both work on Friday) and driving to their house on Saturday morning (their weekend off).
When we leave the hotel in the morning we will drive to the port instead of Grandma's and say "Oh yeah, did I forget to tell you we're taking the Magic to go see them?!"

What do you think?

 

[Juls2989]

That's a great idea!! I shared your plans with my daughter and she said she would be really surprised!!

 

[7500WonderGirl]

I think I have finally decided how we are going to surprise the kids with the cruise without making them suspicious as I run around packing stuff the days before.

Our in laws live in Fl. A few weeks before the cruise I am going to tell the kids that we are going to surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a visit so we will be staying in a hotel the first night (cause they both work on Friday) and driving to their house on Saturday morning (their weekend off).
When we leave the hotel in the morning we will drive to the port instead of Grandma's and say "Oh yeah, did I forget to tell you we're taking the Magic to go see them?!"

What do you think?

I think that is a wonderful idea for the kids. But I just don't think I could keep the secret to myself, it would make me crazy and want to share my little secret with them.

 

[SILLYANDI]

I think that is a wonderful idea for the kids. But I just don't think I could keep the secret to myself, it would make me crazy and want to share my little secret with them.

I've been holding it in for a year and a half (we re booked on board in Dec 2008) so far so good. It's going to be tough near the end here though..

 

[gemmybear83]

We have booked the stingray city tour through captain marvin's, read such great things on disboards and the price was really reasonable

 

[love2disney]

Joining this thread, just booked the Dec 11th sailing. Its Dh, ME DS7 and DS2. Do we have a FE list on here?