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

[KaryCam]

Hey!

As mentioned before about our early christmas celebrations, we will be having crackers(the pulling kind with gifts inside, jokes and paper hats?) Is this something you use at christmas aswell?

I am so looking forward to seeing how christmas is celebrated a) American style and b) disney style!!!

Our family does not do crackers, though my husband's family did come over from England (that was in the 1600's though).
A southwest Florida Christmas Day is probably much different than your's or even northern US. First and foremost, we have a GREEN Christmas. Most trees have their leaves still and the grass is still mostly green. Usually the high is about 72-75 degrees F. I have memories of going to the beach and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in the winter (if the day is warmer). We have the extended family over and we put out big tables outside on the screened in porch. And yes, my FIL calls his sisters up north and brags. We play games outside like football or baseball. The day is about family.

But what the three of us do to celebrate Christmas starts the beginning of December. We light our advent candles each week and think about the meaning of Christmas. On Christmas eve, we attend a candlelight service at church. In the morning, my son likes what he calls his "Christmas omelete". From the garden, we pick a red bell pepper and some spinach, and those along with cheese, onion, and herbs go in the omelete. We have orange trees outside and those are picked for juice.
Hopefully next year, we will be able to go up north and experience a white Christmas. That would be wonderful too.

 

[Elfinjojo]

Hi

I believe that formal night is on christmas night(25th) and then pirate night is the 26th but please if anyone can validate or correct me on this I won't mind!

Hope you friends enjoy the cruise

 

[KaryCam]

Hey Everyone....

Sorry to jump onto your thread but I have some non Disboard friends going on this cruise and they want to know what the "theme" nights are....like what night is pirate night...is there a formal night, etc.

If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!!!

MJ

As far as we know, the Dining theme nights are:
1 Port Canaveral – dining rotation
2 At Sea – Formal - Prince & Princess menu
3 Cozumel – Pirate – Pirate menu
4 At Sea – Semi-Formal - Captain's Gala menu
5 Key West – dining rotation
6 Castaway Cay – dining rotation

 

[Elfinjojo]

Our family does not do crackers, though my husband's family did come over from England (that was in the 1600's though).
A southwest Florida Christmas Day is probably much different than your's or even northern US. First and foremost, we have a GREEN Christmas. Most trees have their leaves still and the grass is still mostly green. Usually the high is about 72-75 degrees F. I have memories of going to the beach and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in the winter (if the day is warmer). We have the extended family over and we put out big tables outside on the screened in porch. And yes, my FIL calls his sisters up north and brags. We play games outside like football or baseball. The day is about family.

But what the three of us do to celebrate Christmas starts the beginning of December. We light our advent candles each week and think about the meaning of Christmas. On Christmas eve, we attend a candlelight service at church. In the morning, my son likes what he calls his "Christmas omelete". From the garden, we pick a red bell pepper and some spinach, and those along with cheese, onion, and herbs go in the omelete. We have orange trees outside and those are picked for juice.
Hopefully next year, we will be able to go up north and experience a white Christmas. That would be wonderful too.

Believe it or not we have very few white christmas' in our part of the UK, normally very cold and wet, but rarely white. This time last year we did have snow which lasted almost til christmas which hampered alot of folks with thir shopping but it did clear by christmas day!

We normally as a family spend it at home just the four of us on christmas day and then visit extended family on boxing day(26th). We have bacon sandwiches for breakfast and then the children pile into the gifts. We spend the day playing with the gifts, eating a big turkey dinner which DH cooks(I have the pleasure of doing the multitude of dishes when he is done) and then watch movies with popcorn in the evening. More often than not we have spent the day in PJ's

So this year is going to be very different for us - sunshine on christmas day to start with is a novelty, and sharing the day with 100's of others is another new thing for us. REALLY looking forward to it all.

 

[mmouse37]

Thank you all!!!

Have a wonderful Holiday and cruise!!!

MJ

 

[Bursley2010]

16 days, 19 hours until we are on the ship (hopefully) .... not that anyone is counting... I think we are set for our shore excursions. We were still tossing between the Xplor park and a few others, but I think we're finally set.

Cozumel:
Me, DH, DSiL, DCuz: Xrails to Jade Caverns
DM & DD: Submarine
DMiL & DFiL: Ruins excursion

Key West:
Me, DH, DSil, DCuz, DD: Island Safari Jet Ski Tour (early; booked separately)
DM, DD: Butterfly House
DMiL, DFiL: Trolley

Castaway Cay: I think everyone in our group is going to be running the Castaway 5K. DSiL and I are actually running the WDW Half Marathon on Jan 7, so we are excited to get a run in on the island. I think the rest of our party though is just going to walk it to take in the island a little bit before we just relax the rest of the day.

What is everyone else planning on doing???

 

[tinkerbell_29]

So FE is finished, FE gifts are done, magnets are done and so are t-shirts. I want to go now especially since it is supposed to snow tonight. No sleep for me as I will be woken constantly by phone calls as we make the decision to close or delay. As for excursions we are not really doing much in fact the only thing we have booked is a cabana at castaway cay. In Key West we will either take the trolley or rent a car and for Cozumel we have been there before so we are just going to get off and shop for a little bit then spend the rest of the day enjoying the ship. This is going to be a very relaxing cruise.

Melissa

 

[scaldwel]

Castaway Cay: I think everyone in our group is going to be running the Castaway 5K. DSiL and I are actually running the WDW Half Marathon on Jan 7, so we are excited to get a run in on the island. I think the rest of our party though is just going to walk it to take in the island a little bit before we just relax the rest of the day.

What is everyone else planning on doing???

I think I will be up to running 5k by that time but I will be very slow.

Cozumel
Me, DH, DS1, DS2, Mom Secret River and PLaya del Carmen
DB, DD, Nephew Submarine

Key West
Me, DH, DS1, DS2, DD, Mom Catamaran Sail and Snorkel


Castaway Cay
Me, DH, DS1, DS2 Extreme Getaway and Parasailing

Can hardly wait!!! See you all soon.
Stephanie

 

[KaryCam]

Stephanie -
Please contact me and tell me who in your group is in what cabin for the FE.
Thanks



As for our excursions, we have no plans for Castaway Cay, just enjoy.
In Cozumel, we booked the Mayan Ruins & Discover Mexico Cultural Park excursion.
In Key West, we probably will do the trolley, but we definitely want to go to Fort Zachary Taylor and see the Fort and go to the southern-most point.

 

[jitsb]

Thanks for the input everyone! I also actually prefer an early time, so I'm happy to have it sooner! Here we go!

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __


CRUISE MEET!!
*~* Come and Meet your fellow DIS'ers as our cruise kicks off! *~*

Date: Saturday December 24th
Time: 3:00 p.m. (or as soon as you're able)
Place: Promenade Lounge Deck 3 Aft


Bring your smiles, your Disney Christmas spirit and meet some new friends for our MAGICal Christmas vacation! Hope to see you all there!

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
​

 

[jitsb]

We're pretty much planning to have a relaxed cruise as well...which is a good thing considering our movers show up 5 days after we get back!

The only excursion we booked this time is in Cozumel. My kids are nuts about ocean animals, so we're all doing the Dolphin Swim together. At 5 and 8 the boys are finally old enough, and even though I think I'm more excited right now, I know they will totally flip their lids once they see how cool it is. Right now the word "swim" tends to make them a tad apprehensive.

I think we might pop off the boat for a piece of Key Lime pie but we've already done Key West, so we're looking forward to hanging on the boat instead. And I can't wait to park myself on CC and CHILL!!

 

[Cruella 66]

I got the trees today I ordered from Disney shopping and I them! They'll be perfect on this cruise and for use in the future.

I can't believe in two weeks I'll be in FL.

 

[KaryCam]

CRUISE MEET!!
*~* Come and Meet your fellow DIS'ers as our cruise kicks off! *~*

Date: Saturday December 24th
Time: 3:00 p.m. (or as soon as you're able)
Place: Promenade Lounge Deck 3 Aft

​

Sounds great to me!
Can't believe it's only 2 weeks away. Next weekend we are hosting the extended family Christmas so haven't started packing. But when that is over, I'm pulling out the suitcases. I have lists though of what to pack and have many things organized.

 

[Elfinjojo]

we haven't any excursions planned for any location for the xmas week or new years week either. We plan to chill on the ship and wander around the ports as we see fit. This will be the first time we have not done any excursions.

We are also doing our extended family celebrations next weekend. Schools break up on friday so once the meal is done on sunday we shall start packing. I still have to finish figuring out the FE gifts and print the magnets but i have finished getting gifts and decs for the small tree for the cabin.

Looking forward to meeting you all, Dh is not very good at meeting in groups of people but I shall try and get along to the promenade longe beofre sail away etc... Can't wait

 

[jlima]

Can someone tell me who is organizing the FE gift exchange? Can I still get in? Thanks!!

 

[KaryCam]

Can someone tell me who is organizing the FE gift exchange? Can I still get in? Thanks!!

I sent you a PM.

 

[scaldwel]

I seem to be having some trouble posting PM, so here is my info for the FE.

Here's our info
Cabin 5012
Me (Stephanie)
Mom (Chuck)
DD Kate (age 6)

Cabin 5010
DH Andrew
DS 1 Ben (age 11)
DS 2 Matthew (age 10)

We are linked with cabin 5018 but where 2 backed out of the trip they are not participating.

Stephanie

 

[KaryCam]

Thanks Stephanie.
I will forward this to the FE list in case they didn't see it here.

I seem to be having some trouble posting PM, so here is my info for the FE.

Here's our info
Cabin 5012
Me (Stephanie)
Mom (Chuck)
DD Kate (age 6)

Cabin 5010
DH Andrew
DS 1 Ben (age 11)
DS 2 Matthew (age 10)

We are linked with cabin 5018 but where 2 backed out of the trip they are not participating.
Stephanie

 

[Cruella 66]

Anyone else started packing? I packed the 'locked' suitcase with stockings, birthday, and mini-trees in it Saturday and set out my youngest daughters clothes.

Can't wait to get through this week!!!! Anyone else seen the threads about the Magic losing power, rough weather, etc? I need to avoid those...they make me nervous.

This is going to sound wierd but I am SO looking forward to being able to read the Navigator and menus! Our last (and first ever) cruise I had on the scopolamine patch and had a bad reaction. It dilated my eyes so much I couldn't read a thing until a day after getting home! My doctor said no more patches for me. I'll just wing it and bring Bonine this time! It's amazing how much you miss out when you can't read.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

We are doing the single digit dance !!! Leaving in 8 days. Started packing on Sunday and will do so throughout the week. Saturday is my mom's birthday and we are going to the Biltmore Estate to see their decorations. On Sunday we are doing our traditional Christmas eve stuff and exchanging a few gifts. Can't believe in just a few short days we will be in WDW then on the ship. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Melissa