December 1st, 2017 - 5-Night Eastern Caribbean Repo Cruise from San Juan to Miami

[JCarona]

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[Jen B.]

Did you get a reason for the cancel? I'm so nervous. I have 8 people going and I'm so afraid our Marriott hotel (miramar) is going to cancel on us too late. They have told me via email they are on generators and they didn't get hit hard at all, but still seeing you and others having their reservation cancelled makes me really nervous. I guess we can stay at the airport but man I am really hating this trip. If I try to book another flight out on Friday I am so nervous we won't get there in time.

Anyone know if the DCL shuttle will be working? I guess thats a moot point since DCL won't be to San juan before that.

We got a generic email about hurricane recovery which I found interesting since my husband called and was assured they would be operating by our reservation date. I also read yelp reviews where first responders had stayed there and said the hotel was in great shape, so basically they are not honoring the reservation because they are only housing first responders right now. I have no problems with this, but it would have been nice to know that when we called over a month ago. We have since changed our plane reservations to fly into Orlando from DC ($350 difference in fare) to spend the night and are then flying to PR, getting in about 10:30 am on Friday. I didn't want to book another hotel and get left in the lurch at the last minute, and Orlando had more flights into PR in the morning that would get us in by the 5pm cutoff time that DCL suggested. Fort Lauderdale would have been cheaper, but not by much and had less options in the event of a delay the morning of embarkation.

 

[Cmbar]

We got a generic email about hurricane recovery which I found interesting since my husband called and was assured they would be operating by our reservation date. I also read yelp reviews where first responders had stayed there and said the hotel was in great shape, so basically they are not honoring the reservation because they are only housing first responders right now. I have no problems with this, but it would have been nice to know that when we called over a month ago. We have since changed our plane reservations to fly into Orlando from DC ($350 difference in fare) to spend the night and are then flying to PR, getting in about 10:30 am on Friday. I didn't want to book another hotel and get left in the lurch at the last minute, and Orlando had more flights into PR in the morning that would get us in by the 5pm cutoff time that DCL suggested. Fort Lauderdale would have been cheaper, but not by much and had less options in the event of a delay the morning of embarkation.

Thank you for your response. That's what I am most afraid of. We are leaving from BWI and I've got at least three squimish flyers who will not be happy flying into FLL or MCO and then having to take another flight on Friday. I'm concerned that the same will happen for us as we have been assured from Marriott that all is good. The other thing is it looks like there are multiple cruises scheduled to come to SJ on Nov30 to dec 2 so I'm guessing what limited hotels are available will be booked.

 

[hamm1207]

Is there a number you are planning to cut off the FE list? This will be my 3rd cruise, but we've never done FE. It sounds fun and I'm considering it, but I'm a little worried I will get in over my head if there are tons of participants. Any advice?

No plan on cutting the FE list at a certain number. I'll cut it off Nov 1st and then add only Pixie Dust folks (they are added with the understanding that they may not receive gifts from everyone).

 

[hamm1207]

Back from visiting the Mouse! Getting caught up with the FE lists requests and perusing the boards. Our Mickey Mail (cruise docs) arrived while we were gone! Super excited to have them in hand. Now off to Michaels to get more stuff for our FE gifts

 

[hamm1207]

Dear Sarah (Hamm1207),

We will be going on our first Disney Cruise in December! We are very interested in joining the fish extender, but am very new to this blog and I do not know how to send you a private message with our information. How can I send you this information privately? I have not yet posted 10 times? We have 4 adults and 5 children traveling. Can't wait!

Thanks so much for your help and also for coordinating!

I received the email you sent me. Please let me know if you didn't receive it! Welcome to the cruise!

 

[Roxiezeus]

I am not able to send a pm either. I am going to try to post a few more times to see if I can get to 10.

 

[Roxiezeus]

We are cruising with 8 people in our party but just my husband and I and our 3 kids will be participating in the fe. I wanted to start buying gifts but I don't know how many or for whom.

 

[Roxiezeus]

Do the adults usually participate when they are traveling with a few staterooms? I wasn't sure if we should include our parents and sister in this. We were making our Fe out of duct tape and thought we could do one for for our whole group and hang from one fish. There are 8 total traveling.

 

[Roxiezeus]

Sorry about all of the separate posts but I think this will make 10. When will we get the list of people and ages so that we can start shopping? Is there a typical amount that is spent for the gifts?

 

[Roxiezeus]

I do not know how to send a pm. Can someone please let me know how to do that?

 

[hamm1207]

Do the adults usually participate when they are traveling with a few staterooms? I wasn't sure if we should include our parents and sister in this. We were making our Fe out of duct tape and thought we could do one for for our whole group and hang from one fish. There are 8 total traveling.

It's entirely up to you. If you'd like your parents and sister to join in (even if it's just the receiving end), just provide their info (stateroom numbers, names, etc) and they'll be added to the list as well--or we can just put them all in your room on the list. You can put all of you under the same stateroom (if they won't have a FE out).

 

[hamm1207]

Sorry about all of the separate posts but I think this will make 10. When will we get the list of people and ages so that we can start shopping? Is there a typical amount that is spent for the gifts?

I think I posted a link to the FE list earlier on the thread, but I'll also send you a copy of the link when I reply to your PM. If you go to to the Inbox tab at the top, there should a be a link to conversations or "Start a new conversation" something along those lines, and that's a PM.

It's entirely up to you regarding the amount spent. When it's all divided out, I think we spend about $5 per gift. We generally do a little homemade something for the family and something small for each person.

 

[StephJaxmom]

Do the adults usually participate when they are traveling with a few staterooms? I wasn't sure if we should include our parents and sister in this. We were making our Fe out of duct tape and thought we could do one for for our whole group and hang from one fish. There are 8 total traveling.

I am bringing my parents and sister alongside too and have signed all of us up for the FE. My sister (age 45) is more excited than all of us!

 

[Roxiezeus]

I am bringing my parents and sister alongside too and have signed all of us up for the FE. My sister (age 45) is more excited than all of us!

That is great! I would like to
Include mine too

 

[Jen B.]

Thank you for your response. That's what I am most afraid of. We are leaving from BWI and I've got at least three squimish flyers who will not be happy flying into FLL or MCO and then having to take another flight on Friday. I'm concerned that the same will happen for us as we have been assured from Marriott that all is good. The other thing is it looks like there are multiple cruises scheduled to come to SJ on Nov30 to dec 2 so I'm guessing what limited hotels are available will be booked.

Yeah my kids are ok flyers but we didn't mind splitting the flights up over two days and leaving out of Reagan later. Our original flight left here really early in the morning and now we can take our time getting to the airport and only need to get to Florida if there is a delay getting out of DC. Our hotel in Orlando is super close the airport and has a 24 hour shuttle so getting to and from should not be a problem for our flight to PR Friday morning.

 

[Cmbar]

Yeah my kids are ok flyers but we didn't mind splitting the flights up over two days and leaving out of Reagan later. Our original flight left here really early in the morning and now we can take our time getting to the airport and only need to get to Florida if there is a delay getting out of DC. Our hotel in Orlando is super close the airport and has a 24 hour shuttle so getting to and from should not be a problem for our flight to PR Friday morning.

That sounds like a good plan! Do you live near or in DC? We live up 270 near damascus MD and I would be panicked to get to Reagan. My Sister who is going with us lives in Centreville Va which is right next to Dulles but no non stops to San Juan or FLL so Reagan was only other option than BWI. We are only SWA flyers because we all have point to use so BWI works best anyways as it is a hub for SWA! I hope it all goes well for you! I'm still pretty nervous about staying in San Juan but we haven't been cancelled by the Courtyard yet. Mostly I'm frustrated about not knowing if we are going to Tortolla. This will be our 8th DCL cruise and I have to say it has not been fun planning this one!

 

[Jen B.]

That sounds like a good plan! Do you live near or in DC? We live up 270 near damascus MD and I would be panicked to get to Reagan. My Sister who is going with us lives in Centreville Va which is right next to Dulles but no non stops to San Juan or FLL so Reagan was only other option than BWI. We are only SWA flyers because we all have point to use so BWI works best anyways as it is a hub for SWA! I hope it all goes well for you! I'm still pretty nervous about staying in San Juan but we haven't been cancelled by the Courtyard yet. Mostly I'm frustrated about not knowing if we are going to Tortolla. This will be our 8th DCL cruise and I have to say it has not been fun planning this one!

We are in Arlington, so getting to Reagan is pretty easy for us. We just moved from Centreville in the summer. We are flying Southwest as well. This is our first Disney Cruise so we are trying to remain optimistic and not be too bogged down by all the changes.

 

[Cmbar]

We are in Arlington, so getting to Reagan is pretty easy for us. We just moved from Centreville in the summer. We are flying Southwest as well. This is our first Disney Cruise so we are trying to remain optimistic and not be too bogged down by all the changes.

Just curious do you drive to Reagan or take the metro? and Small world.... My sister who is going on this cruise teaches at Bull Run Elementary in Centerville! Did you live over in that part of centreville? That would be funny. You will have an awesome time on this cruise I'm sure!! I just want to actually get on the ship!! Once onboard I am sure we will have a great time!!!

 

[Jen B.]

Just curious do you drive to Reagan or take the metro? and Small world.... My sister who is going on this cruise teaches at Bull Run Elementary in Centerville! Did you live over in that part of centreville? That would be funny. You will have an awesome time on this cruise I'm sure!! I just want to actually get on the ship!! Once onboard I am sure we will have a great time!!!

We are taking a 6 minute bus to the Pentagon metro and then riding the train to the airport. We are in south Arlington and have a bus station a street over. We were a neighborhood over from Bull Run.