December 15, 2012 A Yo-HO-HO-HO Holiday Fantasy!

[jilljill]

Sure - - No problem! Anyone listed with no answer in the FE column will be considered a "maybe" and be positioned in between the "no" and "yes" cruisers. Thanks, jilljill!

 

[davidls]

DW and I checked out the new water sections going on the Fantasy. Our grandson is going to love the new Aqua Lab section. He will be 6 years old at the time of the cruise. And of course he has already seen DW and I screaming our heads off during one of our rides on the AquaDuck, (He watched the video I took of us at least 10 or 15 times!!!) Granddaughter Emily is looking forward to the AquaDuck as well. She is all excited about this cruise, this will be her 3rd Disney cruise.

Well, ol' bossman is looking at me kinda funny - better get back to work. Talk to you later!!!

 

[AmandaRG]

DW and I checked out the new water sections going on the Fantasy. Our grandson is going to love the new Aqua Lab section. He will be 6 years old at the time of the cruise. And of course he has already seen DW and I screaming our heads off during one of our rides on the AquaDuck, (He watched the video I took of us at least 10 or 15 times!!!) Granddaughter Emily is looking forward to the AquaDuck as well. She is all excited about this cruise, this will be her 3rd Disney cruise.

Well, ol' bossman is looking at me kinda funny - better get back to work. Talk to you later!!!

I am stoked about that as well! The girls are not big swimmers yet, but they LOVE to play in the water.

I can't wait to check out the excursions as we get closer. We didn't do any because the girls were so young (decided not to do one on my own and have regretted it since). They will be 5 and 6, so much more likely to be able to do things than they were at 3 and 4!

We leave for PC two weeks from today. I really need to get finished with packing and our FE stuff!!!

 

[Doppler]

Going on this cruise!

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

A great big welcome to you Doppler!

 

[Doppler]

I'm signing up for FE just need to find room number...

 

[taswira]

I'm signing up for FE just need to find room number...

Welcome! When you know your room number, just use our cruiser list sign-up form to be added to our cruiser list and show your FE participation.

Note to any who don't regularly check out our cruise website: I've been keeping the website updated with the latest webcam photo (at the top of the Links page), videos, news items like the parking fee increase and the new water features (with pics), etc. So check it out once in awhile.

 

[NWDAD]

It's been pretty quiet on here lately. Everyone busy planning?

Giving a little bump.

Kevin

 

[davidls]

Going on this cruise!

I too want to you Doppler and family to the cruise. You will have fun counting down the days until we set sail with all of us.

Has anyone on here been to San Juan before? DW and I were wondering what some of the excursions might be. We have been to a couple of San Juan's websites, and checked out what they suggest to do while there. We were just wondering if anyone here has done an excursion on San Juan and if you would recommend it.

Shari, DW and I check out our cruise web page all of the time. Thank you for all of your hard work on the web page.

 

[LuvEeyore]

Taswira--I love the webpage. Thanks for all your work on this!!

What is everyone one doing to pass the time and get ready?

I for one have started a PTR. I work full time, take care of Mom and am trying to get back in school part time. I have gotten the girls started working on our FE family gift. They are talking aobut trying to design the FE during Christmas break so I can buy materials and they can sew it this summer. I started the FE gifts what I can till I know more.

I am exploring excursions. Has anyone ever privately booked a sailing snorkling excursion in St Thomas? This is what we are thinking about. We take Mom places in w/c because she gets tired, slows down or stops moving or gets away from us. With the w/c we save this hassle cause she doesnt get so tired. She can get on and off the boat I hope fairly well with help. She does from the docks here gets into motor boats well. All Disneys excursions of this type say no w/c

San juan sounds doable with local transportation and walking. I would like to explore Old San Juan and maybe the Barcardi factory tour. Any other ideas?

 

[AmandaRG]

I was so excited because my bff's fiance was from PR, but they are no longer together. Now I don't have that resource anymore. Oh well.

I'm really looking forward to researching it. We made the ship our destination in March, so we didn't get off much and the girls were too young for many excursions. At 5 and 6, it will be much better on the Fantasy!

We leave a week from Friday for our vacation, so I hope to have lots of catching up to do since I probably won't be on much for the next few weeks.

Enjoy your week!

 

[jilljill]

I've been to San Juan several times, but always stayed at Condado Beach. Old SJ is interesting and I can't wait to go back there again. All the times I was there I never went to the fort so I'd like to do that this trip. I also want to go back to the Bacardi factory.
El Yunque, the rainforest, is really pretty. I'm not sure how long it will take to get there from the port, I think they may be on opposite sides of the island.
My dad used to drive everywhere so I didn't get a good sense of direction as to where places were located. But I do remember traffic was hurrendous most of the time.

 

[eacdabney]

Do they offer Photo Pass on the ship like they do at WDW?

Do you think they will officially offer an excursion to the Bacardi Factory or that will be something we will have to do on our own?

 

[jilljill]

All photos are scanned thru your key to the world card. You will be able to look at them on the kiosks in the Shutters area and you can also look at the hard copy prints.
They offer a photo cd and it's either $249.99 or $299.99 for a 7 day cruise. When you purchase the photo cd you can then purchase photos at a 50% discount.

I'm hoping they will offer a Bacardi excursion, that will make it much easier to go.
Here's the link to the factory tour center: http://casabacardi.org/content.aspx?section=welcome

 

[NWDAD]

I was wondering the same thing about San Juan. DW and I are thinking about Old Town, the fort, and the Barcardi factory tour. Some are walkable depending on where the ship docks. Does anyone know how soon DCL will be posting the PR excursions?

Kevin

 

[jilljill]

I'm going to say they won't be posted until around 125-130 days before the first ship's sailing to a new port/destination. Usually when they have special or first time itineraries that's when the new excursions are posted. This was about the time frame for the Baltics and Alaskan excursions.

I usually look at what excursions other cruise lines offer to get an idea of what DCL may offer.

 

[eacdabney]

All photos are scanned thru your key to the world card. You will be able to look at them on the kiosks in the Shutters area and you can also look at the hard copy prints.
They offer a photo cd and it's either $249.99 or $299.99 for a 7 day cruise. When you purchase the photo cd you can then purchase photos at a 50% discount.

I'm hoping they will offer a Bacardi excursion, that will make it much easier to go.
Here's the link to the factory tour center: http://casabacardi.org/content.aspx?section=welcome

So will they let you take your own pictures with the characters?

 

[jilljill]

So will they let you take your own pictures with the characters?

They sure will. The character handler will even take the pic if the whole family wants to be in the shot.

 

[davidls]

How ya'll doin'??? Fine I hope. Is everybody HAPPY!!! It's Wednesday today!!! You know what that means don't you.....................just two more exciting days until the week-end!!!!

I guess DW and I are going to book a Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy for the week after Thanksgiving in 2013. Pricing is purtttty good. Going with a cat 5B veranda again - kinda like that room. Is anyone else booking now that the 2013 dates for the Dream and Fantasy have been announced?

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Happy Wednesday to you too!

I looked at the sailings and prices for 2013, but none of them tempted me. What might tempt me would be a western bound TA...maybe.

What is beginning to happen is that I find that I could cruise concierge level on an upscale line like Celebrity for less than a regular veranda on DCL. I love DCL, but they need to change up the itineraries to tempt me into looking twice. I realize the prices are what the market will bear, but they do need to add some variety. (JMO)