December 13, 2008 Western Caribbean!! Let's get acquainted!

[SILLYANDI]

Lucinda, my DD3 is quite the friend maker too! She is always the loudest, the bounciest, etc. I am sure they will get along great. I have been so busy looking out for hte older DD's I totally forgot about the little one making friends!

I read your other post about your room. We had a room that had bad reviews here and honestly we didn't have any problems. In fact we liked the location and everything so much we booked it again this time! I say don't worry about it...You're wasting precious time that you could be PLANNING with!
I've been busy selling girl scout cookies the past few weeks so I only get to check here once a day...pathetic!

 

[Addler]

SO far my weekends going well! hope yours and everyone elses is too!

I used to check the thread a few times a day, and then i just subscribed

So far for excursions we are pretty set on a few of ideas. we sat down as a family and looked over them. I'll share what we are thinking so far.

Key West - doing the white knuckle jet boat and the butterfly and aquarium trip

Cozumel - Dolphin Trainer for a day at Cozumel (I may try to do something up on the side for a bit if time permits more on that after)

Grand Caymen- Was thinking about doing the atlantis sub but am not 100% sure on that. I know we want to visit Strin Ray city, the turtle farm, and hel. Not sure if we are going to book something with DCL or just wing it when we get there... any suggestions?

Castaway Cay - leting the kids go to the kids club activities while myself and DW (Catherine) get some relaxe time on the adult area, possibly a nice massage session. Then taking the kids snorkeling and just having a laid back day. Was thinking about parasailing but we get that included with our resort stay so probably going to pass on that till the resort.


Now my question out to all the DH's out there, or whoever else may be interested. Anyone interested in looking into a sea fishing charter? I am not an avid fisherman been YEARS since i have been and am just getting back into it this year. It'd be my first time doing deep sea fishing, not sure what port would have the best action. But if anyone is interested perhaps a few of us can get together and book a private charter. It's not something my DW or DD's would be into much so was looking to see if anyone is interseted in doing this.

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Addler, happy belated nbirthday to you too! I just realized you were a DH not a dw, I somehow missed that lol!! DH isnt much of a fisherman, but he might enjoy getting away from the all the estrogen in our family to go fishing, will have to check with him.
Andrea, yeah I have moved on from the cabin possibly not being perfect to something else, crusise clothes for the kdis. I have been pouring over the disboutiquers thread and planning on breaking out the sewing machine in a couple of weeks. Right now I am just stressing over the move, we have lived here sooooo long ( we ownour mobile home) and just bought a 4 bedroom 16oo sq ft home so all about packing and planning for that now lol
hope the other cruisers check in soon and that everyone is having a great Sunday!!

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

You too, huh!! We live in Southeast WI, right on the lake. We have had over 80 inches of snow this year!!! I am so sick of snow and dream of the warm spring approaching. I am so glad we will have the cruise to break it up next year. At least we have 40's and rain this weekend, I am hoping it will melt the huge mound of snow we have everywhere! Sorry you have to deal with snow and not rain.

Well we got the nicer weather this weekend, it did melt some and it was nice to hear the furnace actually not running all the time! We had just gotten the huge gas bill for the month before and DH commented on it!



So has anyone decided on their excursions yet? I was wondering about the stingray city, turtle farm one that Addler mentioned but not sure if it would work with the ages of my kids. I have looked at going to Nachi Cocom for beach break but DH isnt sold on any of them yet....

 

[Stinasmom]

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Sorry to hear about those of you who are still dealing with snow! We got our snow early in the season... mid November to Mid January. As of today...and JUST today, the last of it melted in the yard.
But it won't warm up for a while yet...

So, I have a question to all of you who have sailed before...
We never took the time to go to Studio Sea while onboard. Do they actually have DJ music and dancing for families in the evenings? or one particular evening? or theme parties? Or is it just for family game show activities and the like?

Reason I ask is that last night my DH took DD to a "Daddy-Daughter" dance. The theme was "red carpet" so they dressed to the nines and DH gave her a corsage. They played music like YMCA, Ice Ice Baby, Cha Cha slide... you know, the usual and everyone, especially my DD had a super fun time!

I was thinking that with the number of DH/DD groups we already have on this thread, if there is a family DJ/Dance night we could get them all together and make it a Daddy-Daughter thing.

Us moms could either get together with the boys, or let them play in the club and have a Girls night out!!

Anyone able to offer any insight?
I will post this question about Studio Sea on the main boards if no one knows....

Marcy

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Sorry to hear about those of you who are still dealing with snow! We got our snow early in the season... mid November to Mid January. As of today...and JUST today, the last of it melted in the yard.
But it won't warm up for a while yet...

So, I have a question to all of you who have sailed before...
We never took the time to go to Studio Sea while onboard. Do they actually have DJ music and dancing for families in the evenings? or one particular evening? or theme parties? Or is it just for family game show activities and the like?

Reason I ask is that last night my DH took DD to a "Daddy-Daughter" dance. The theme was "red carpet" so they dressed to the nines and DH gave her a corsage. They played music like YMCA, Ice Ice Baby, Cha Cha slide... you know, the usual and everyone, especially my DD had a super fun time!

I was thinking that with the number of DH/DD groups we already have on this thread, if there is a family DJ/Dance night we could get them all together and make it a Daddy-Daughter thing.

Us moms could either get together with the boys, or let them play in the club and have a Girls night out!!

Anyone able to offer any insight?
I will post this question about Studio Sea on the main boards if no one knows....

Marcy

I am a cruise virgin so I have no idea, but the idea sounds wonderful!! Our community has one for the 6-7 yr olds every year, Dads wear tuxes, girls in their fancies, whole nine yards and DH can wait to do it, so this would be wonderful!!
It hit 47 here in Northern Indiana today and was lovely, but its going to get in the teens again all next week, where is Spring???

 

[Addler]

That sounds like alot of fun! I am sure Catherine would be all up for a girls night out!

After looking over costs and what not - and the fact that DCL does not gurantee direct flights and the fact for me it'd be an extra $50/person (so $200) just to change my fly home date and then on top of all that i might even incur more charges for our flights we are getting our own airfair and transfers lol

That being said, is anyone else staying at the Radison at the Port the night before the cruise? I just booked our suite yesterday! Getting more and more excited

Stinasmom - got your PM - and wrote a reply but then i was told I can not reply due to a low post count - anyway I will pass that info onto Carli and your daughter can expect an email in a day or two

 

[SAHMof2]

Hello Everyone,
Well I finally made it on to this message board thing. I see my family has already started a thread so I will add our info. This will be my DH and my second cruise. First one was enough to keep us from trying this again but thanks to my SIL we are making this a family affair and we are excited about this one. There will be DH 37, Me 37, DD 12 DS 3. We are also preparing now as much as we can. We love all the information posted by others DC's and are so thankful for all the suggestions. Looking forward to meeting many of you.


DH-37 Me - 37 DD-12 DS-3

 

[Addler]

Welcome SAHMof2!!!

Glad to see our numbers are growing!

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Welcome Sahmof2! Our group seems to be a really nice group of people, please come again soon so we can all get to know each other!!! I am so excited to see new folk joining in!!

 

[Mom2grlys]

How are all of you??

I am obsessed with planning this cruise. Addler, we are staying at one of the Marriotts by the airport for the night. We bought our plane tickets through Midwest airlines just about a week ago....got them for $179 each round trip!

We are thinking about doing the Jeep excursion in Cozumel and I want to do one of the Sting Ray city tours in Grand Cayman. I am worried about the times for getting off the ship and back on the ship. Also, not sure whether we should book through DCL of another company.

Hey, looks like my SIL is online now!! Is that you SAHMof2??

I am on a break from school right now and start back next week. I know I won't be able to be on much when that starts again unless it involves school. So, i hope I will get a chance here and there to check in with you guys.

Happy planning!

 

[Stinasmom]

Welcome SAHMof2!

Yeah! another 12 year old girl! Having some online friends established will make a world of difference to the girls of this age!! PM me if you want to exchange email with my (will be 12)DD!

I am going to hit the main boards with my Studio Sea question. I really think that a Daddy-Daughter dance night would be a successful cruise meets event! I will keep you all posted on what I learn!

Marcy

P.S. I leave for Disneyland, San Diego, and Legoland in one week!!

 

[Addler]

Stinasmom, my 12dd is being anti social and rebelious with me LOL i figured there would be no problemw ith her sending an email off. but i was informed she wants to make her "own" friends and feels that i am trying to do this for her, myself and my wife explained to her why its a good idea to do it in advance, and I am sure she will come around! In the mean time when i was talking to her about it to let her know she could email her new friend her younger sister was like hey I want to email some new friends! so your daughter will be getting an email from Kristen she'll be 10 at time of sailing but is mature for the most part for her age from hanging with her older sister and her friends!


For Cozumel we are definatly doing the dolphine trainer for a day program at dolphinaris. I called there today and got routed to the one in cancun and had a language barrier. I used the online chat form to talk to someone but it was an independat tour booking company and they where not helpfull at all. For this one I'm going to book direct with DCL due to the fact that dolphinaris on thier booking form says 12+ but DCL says 10+, I do not want to run into any problems. Plus the DCL is 2 hours longer then the one booked direct maby its a better program (I hope so it costs $85/per person more!then booking direct)

Our family is also going to check out stingray city. Since it's a tendered port and I have heard some nightmarish stories of length of time to get off the ship although more good then bad! I do know that people that book with a DCL excursion are tendered to the island faster then thouse that are not. That being said we are going to do the tour that takes you to the turtle farm, hel, and stringray city.

Stinasmom hope your trip to disneyland is a great one!

Jealous over the airfair lol right now i've seen it at $442 plus taxes.
Originally i was staying at the hyatt but opted for the Radison as its closer to port, offers free shuttle service and I got a suite with jacuzi for less then what the hyatt was offering.

Why can't it be November already?

 

[SAHMof2]

Hey there SIL yep it's me.
Looks like we aren't communicating enough, I didn't know you were going back to school right now. Is it for your BSN? Hopefully we can catch up on this cruise eh! We are surely going on the Jeep excursion but have decided to not go through DCL because of the age of DS. DCL won't let anyone younger than five to go so we just took the other option.
Enjoy this week it goes by tooooo fast.

 

[SAHMof2]

I spoke with DD today and talked with her about meeting some other girls who are going on this cruise, she seemed excited How do we get the communications going for the girls? Do they have to have there own login name? As you may notice I am not that computer literate.

So how many DC's has everyone been since now?
What enticed you about coming back to Disney instead of other cruise lines?
Has anyone done the land and sea package before?

Sorry I know these are a lot of questions, I have soooooo many that I'll wait for another time.

 

[IndyDisneyFan]

I spoke with DD today and talked with her about meeting some other girls who are going on this cruise, she seemed excited How do we get the communications going for the girls? Do they have to have there own login name? As you may notice I am not that computer literate.

So how many DC's has everyone been since now?
What enticed you about coming back to Disney instead of other cruise lines?
Has anyone done the land and sea package before?

Sorry I know these are a lot of questions, I have soooooo many that I'll wait for another time.

We have done a total of 5, and we keep coming back because of the wonderful service and great cruise experience. I wouldn't do the land and sea package, as it is cheaper to book each part separately. In some cases a whole lot cheaper. We always go to WDW either before our cruises for a couple of days or afterwards depending on room rates. Sometimes, like last month, we did both before and after! Once they have you hooked you just can't seem to get enough of that Disney magic!!

Laura

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

This is our very first cruise sahm, we were blessed and actually won the trip! We are going to WDW for a few days before we go, booked seperately.

 

[winotracy]

Hey everyone! We are going to be cruising with you!! It will be DH Bill and I. We are so excited to see the ship and Castaway Cay decorated for Christmas!

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Welcome winotracy!!!

 

[SAHMof2]

Katismommy
That is so wonderful. How exciting it must have been to won! We also are planning on hitting the parks before the curise. Friday I think. We have to be careful DD's not missing too much school so we decided just one day for the park and were torn between the MK or Epcot. That would be great to meet and greet before the curise.
Congratulations again to you all!