December 24, 2011 Celebrating a Magical 6-Night Caribbean Christmas Cruise

[HFC1969]

7 months from today we will be starting our cruise.

yeah....


You probaly don't have to worry about it, but man the airfare prices

Looks like about 1600 per trip... that has to be hurting the tourist economy..

 

[DsnyGrl32611]

My name is Courtney and I am a certified Disney nut

My husband and I just booked our Christmas cruise!! We are so excited and cannot wait. We have made somewhat of an annual tradition to cruise on the DCL with his high school friend and his family....best tradition ever.

We recently were married at Disney World and we have a DC coming up on the Dream in July (his 4th, my 3rd)... But I think the Christmas cruise is what we are most excited about.

This will be the first time we bring along my stepdaughter (15) so if any of you have teenagers...let's get them together!

Anything special we should know or plan for on our Christmas cruise?

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Welcome Courtney! Christmas cruises are amazing it is our favorite time of the year to cruise.
Melissa

 

[HFC1969]

My name is Courtney and I am a certified Disney nut

Ahoy! & HoHoHo

This is our 8th The FE exchange is usually huge and over the top. The decorations are crazy awsum..


BUT I must warn you it may NOT be warm on CC... Biggest misconception we see every year on the The water is cold and the temp could be also.. Bring wet suits!!

 

[KaryCam]

6 months from yesterday is the beginning of our cruise.

so looking forward to it.
I need to go about and get our passports now.

Has anyone called to find out what the dining rotations are for our cruise?
I am pretty sure that Christmas day will be the formal night and from what I have read, most of the time pirate night is the day we go to Cozumel.
Anyone know for sure?
Thanks.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Been looking at airfare I am praying it goes down in September like they are saying it is going to otherwise there goes our 2 days at WDW precruise because we will have to drive.

 

[Bursley2010]

Amen to that... at least it has come down a little since I started looking in March, but it's still not all that cheap...

Looking forward to seeing everyone in less than 6 months!

 

[hiclarke]

We will also be on this cruise and can't wait! We are a family of 4: me (dw), dh and 2 DDs (10 and 6). This will be our second Disney cruise and first on the Magic. We are big Disney fans who fortunately live only 2 hours away from WDW.

Counting down the days....

 

[KaryCam]

We will also be on this cruise and can't wait! We are a family of 4: me (dw), dh and 2 DDs (10 and 6). This will be our second Disney cruise and first on the Magic. We are big Disney fans who fortunately live only 2 hours away from WDW.

Counting down the days....

Welcome!!
We also live about 2 hours from WDW. We're in SW Florida on the coast.
This is our first cruise and so looking forward to it!

 

[Bursley2010]

We will also be on this cruise and can't wait! We are a family of 4: me (dw), dh and 2 DDs (10 and 6). This will be our second Disney cruise and first on the Magic. We are big Disney fans who fortunately live only 2 hours away from WDW.

Counting down the days....

Welcome! According to my countdown, 174 days, 00 hours, 14 minutes, 35...34...33...32... seconds

Just booked our ADRs for WDW post cruise and getting REALLY excited... also just signed up for the WDW half-marathon (eek!)... this is turning out to be a once in a lifetime trip for us!

How's everyone else doing??? I've been checking out old Navigators and getting more and more excited... anyone else?

Thought I'd also ask too: we are looking into the jetski tour at Castaway Cay... has anyone else ever done that before? Any thoughts?

 

[HFC1969]

We will also be on this cruise and can't wait! We are a family of 4: me (dw), dh and 2 DDs (10 and 6). This will be our second Disney cruise and first on the Magic. We are big Disney fans who fortunately live only 2 hours away from WDW.

Counting down the days....

Ahoy!

170 days til the Magic begins...

 

[dvc4life]

Just popping on to say that we have had to move this cruise to next year. My DH is starting a new job next Monday and since we didn't have any travel plans made yet for this trip and we do already have plane tickets purchased for our October trip, we thought it best to move this cruise. It just wouldn't look good to ask for time off in October and then turn around and do it again in December.

So, have a very Merry Christmas Cruise everyone.

 

[HFC1969]

So, have a very Merry Christmas Cruise everyone.

Sad to see you go...


Merry Christmas!

169 days til

 

[charliez]

I have not checked on dining rotations, but my understanding is that there is no pirate night on the 6-day cruise. I hope I'm wrong, so if someone has information to the contrary please share with the rest of us!

As for airfares, we went ahead and booked tickets a week or so ago. Flying from central Illinois on Airtran, before taxes and fees were tacked on, our round trip came in about $420. (Taxes and fees added about another $50 per person.) The fare was that high mainly because we're coming back on Jan 2. (If we could come back on Jan 3, we might have saved $100 or so, but there's school starting on Jan 4, vacation days at work to consider as as well as the cost of one more night at WDW... eventually reality sets in!)

Good luck if you choose to wait... since AirTran and Southwest rarely drop prices, and tend to be lower than other airlines (at least in our market that includes Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis), we felt it was better to book as soon as they published their fares, especially since Jan 2 is going to be such a high traffic day.

 

[jitsb]

Ahoy! & HoHoHo

This is our 8th The FE exchange is usually huge and over the top. The decorations are crazy awsum..
BUT I must warn you it may NOT be warm on CC... Biggest misconception we see every year on the The water is cold and the temp could be also.. Bring wet suits!!

Wow!! When do we start setting up FE's?? I haven't participated before, but thought this would be the ideal time to start!

Can you give us a bit more info about wetsuits? My boys both have swim shirts, but it sounds like they may need something more? Do you recommend it for grown ups too? And what brand/how much are we talking here?

We will also be on this cruise and can't wait! We are a family of 4: me (dw), dh and 2 DDs (10 and 6). This will be our second Disney cruise and first on the Magic. We are big Disney fans who fortunately live only 2 hours away from WDW.

Counting down the days....

*waves* Welcome Aboard! I have two boys, ages 8 and 5&3/4 (and, yes, he made me write that!) so maybe our kids will meet up at the Lab?


I have just been finishing up the scrapbooks from our previous Disney Cruises and it has made me SO excited for this December!! PLEASE tell me it isn't true about the no Pirate night on this cruise?!?! My boys have become obsessed with "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" and they will be shattered if they don't get to see Pirate Mickey again!

Ok, so anyone interested in a cruise meet?? I'm looking for a little something to spice up our Key West day, lol. And I know I sound like a total n00b here, but how exactly do we discover what our Dining rotation is? I'm trying to plan for outfits and Palo and the DH keeps asking, but I have no idea how to answer!!

Also, can we please not discuss airlines prices?!?! I'm leaving from KC and just tonight, almost had a stroke at the prices.

 

[HFC1969]

Last year it was 60 degrees or so when we hit CC... our entire family has what they call shortie wet suits... We have Hobie, bought them off Ebay for little to nothing.. only use them for the Bought them after our first way back when..

Remember the Bahamas is really no further south then Miami... and it can be cold there... might not freeze, but water temp is in the 60's and if air temp isn't much better... brrrrrr

The FE last year was nuts.. but it was an 11 day cruise... I think there were 100+ participating.. and very fancy gifts... I will start a list ... if someone already hasn't...

If SWA Dec tickets available? Oh wow.. we are STL.. so better take a peak.. We just got our Sept tickets... DW got them for a lil over $1100 thought it was a steal for the 4 of us..

Headed ot Oklahoma City this weekend for DW's continuing education.... have to entertain two kids in 100+ temps..

 

[KaryCam]

I have just been finishing up the scrapbooks from our previous Disney Cruises and it has made me SO excited for this December!! PLEASE tell me it isn't true about the no Pirate night on this cruise?!?!

And I know I sound like a total n00b here, but how exactly do we discover what our Dining rotation is? I'm trying to plan for outfits and Palo and the DH keeps asking, but I have no idea how to answer!!

JITSB - I scrapbook too. Love it. Try calling DCL and asking what our dining theme nights will be. I can't imagine not having a Pirate night. I'm pretty sure formal night will be on Christmas Day though.

The FE last year was nuts.. but it was an 11 day cruise... I think there were 100+ participating.. and very fancy gifts... I will start a list ... if someone already hasn't...

WOW, 100+!! I wanted to do the FE, already thought up my gift, but not sure I can do 100+.

 

[HFC1969]

I can't imagine not having a Pirate night.

If we don't have to pack for Pirate night,,, that will save us an entire suitcase...

Yes we are one of those families that dreess up for Pirate night...

 

[HFC1969]

IAs for airfares, we went ahead and booked tickets a week or so ago. Good luck if you choose to wait... since AirTran and Southwest rarely drop prices, and tend to be lower than other airlines (at least in our market that includes Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis), we felt it was better to book as soon as they published their fares, especially since Jan 2 is going to be such a high traffic day.

I just looked at SWA and threw up.... ***... seriously...

 

[KaryCam]

Hi all!!
Be sure to check the DCL website today. I just did and saw that my category of room had been reduced lower than when I reserved it the first week of Feb. It had gone up $400 in March but for some reason went down even lower today.
I called DCL and got the new low price.
Hope this helps you too.