Diez (10) Noches Calientes en la Riviera Mexicana/17 de abril 2011 (4.17.11 Wonder!)

[HoppingMad]

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

I think the FEs sound like great fun - would love to join in.


We fly in from Melbourne on the 15th so we have a couple of days to get over our jet lag, at this stage I'm thinking we'll get a hotel near the port somewhere, but haven't made any bookings yet. Thinking we may need a rental car to do a little shopping Want to head to The Grove as my daughters LOVE American Girl Place (hopefully we can pick up/ return near the hotel). Can you get shuttles from the hotels in that area easily? With 5 of us plus luggage sometimes it's just as cost effective to book a cab or similar, but I'll do my homework a bit more when we know where we're staying.

After the cruise we're heading to Austin for 10 days. So if anyone has any tips
for our visit there I'd love to hear some!


Penny

 

[szubieta]

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

I think the FEs sound like great fun - would love to join in.


We fly in from Melbourne on the 15th so we have a couple of days to get over our jet lag, at this stage I'm thinking we'll get a hotel near the port somewhere, but haven't made any bookings yet. Thinking we may need a rental car to do a little shopping Want to head to The Grove as my daughters LOVE American Girl Place (hopefully we can pick up/ return near the hotel). Can you get shuttles from the hotels in that area easily? With 5 of us plus luggage sometimes it's just as cost effective to book a cab or similar, but I'll do my homework a bit more when we know where we're staying.

After the cruise we're heading to Austin for 10 days. So if anyone has any tips
for our visit there I'd love to hear some!


Penny

I know that the Crown, DoubleTree and Sunrise have shuttles from the hotels to the port. Not sure about any others. Try this for hotels:

http://sanpedro.com/

We are staying at the Sunrise Hotel. It's not the best, but it's in view of the port and the price is $99 (3 of us) with the shuttle. You will be able to get a rental at the airport and I believe I read that National Car Rental is the closest to the port. About 5 miles away in Long Beach. They said about a $15 to $20 cab ride for the driver, not a lot of luggage space.

Sorry, never been to Austin.

 

[Susiesark]

On another note, we're thinking of going to DL after the cruise, but we're worried it will be too crowded; does anyone know if late April would be mobbed?

Our local (Disneyland area) schools will still be on Spring Break the rest of the week that we come back, so it may be a bit crowded. On the plus side, we should have great weather.

 

[Susiesark]

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

I think the FEs sound like great fun - would love to join in.


We fly in from Melbourne on the 15th so we have a couple of days to get over our jet lag, at this stage I'm thinking we'll get a hotel near the port somewhere, but haven't made any bookings yet. Thinking we may need a rental car to do a little shopping Want to head to The Grove as my daughters LOVE American Girl Place (hopefully we can pick up/ return near the hotel). Can you get shuttles from the hotels in that area easily? With 5 of us plus luggage sometimes it's just as cost effective to book a cab or similar, but I'll do my homework a bit more when we know where we're staying.

After the cruise we're heading to Austin for 10 days. So if anyone has any tips
for our visit there I'd love to hear some!


Penny

The Grove isn't terribly far from the airport, but be prepared, there is a lot of surface traffic to get there. I would look into a tour bus or taxi that could drive you there.

 

[True Romance]

Thanks everyone for the welcome.

I think the FEs sound like great fun - would love to join in.


We fly in from Melbourne on the 15th so we have a couple of days to get over our jet lag, at this stage I'm thinking we'll get a hotel near the port somewhere, but haven't made any bookings yet. Thinking we may need a rental car to do a little shopping Want to head to The Grove as my daughters LOVE American Girl Place (hopefully we can pick up/ return near the hotel). Can you get shuttles from the hotels in that area easily? With 5 of us plus luggage sometimes it's just as cost effective to book a cab or similar, but I'll do my homework a bit more when we know where we're staying.

After the cruise we're heading to Austin for 10 days. So if anyone has any tips
for our visit there I'd love to hear some!


Penny

Hi Penny, You might want to stay more in L.A. The port area does not really have anything near it and you would have to get a rental car to drive into L.A. The Grove is a super fun shopping center with good celebrity sightings. I would maybe stay on Wilshire Blvd. in the Westwood-Beveryly Hills area. That is nice an central in L.A so you can get a taste of Hollywood for a day or so. I would then take a shuttle from your hotel to the port on the 17th. Austin is a fun city. My husband and I spent a weekend there a couple of years ago, scouting out neighborhoods to move to. We really wanted to move there but it did not work out for us. A fun thing to do is to watch the bats come out at night at the Congress Bridge. It is a real event with lots of people waiting underneath the bridge to watch the largest urban bat colony in the world come out. Lots of fun Texas places to eat. Our favorite was Rudys BBQ. http://www.rudys.com/ It is a small, inexpensive bbq place attached to a gas station. No frills! But it is the best BBQ we have ever had. Their bbq brisket was to die for. The nice thing about Austin is that it is very family friendly. We were impressed that a lot of the restaurants had play areas for the kids. You also might want to check out Shlitterbahn waterpark for the kids. http://www.schlitterbahn.com/nb/ It is located in New Braunfels, Tx. About 45 minutes from Austin. We should get together on the ship and I will tell you all I know about Austin. My dream is to go to Australia. Would love to hear about your life there. What seating time do you have? I added your family to the FE list. Glad to have you participate.

 

[bitocas]

hopping mad.wow australia.it really is one trip i would love to do.it´s im my list for next 10 years or something.we too are traveling from far away(portugal).i just hope your experience are like ours on the med last set.
hope we all have fun.

 

[savin4WDW]

Our local (Disneyland area) schools will still be on Spring Break the rest of the week that we come back, so it may be a bit crowded. On the plus side, we should have great weather.

Believe me, I am SO all about the great weather! This vacation can't get here soon enough!

 

[jweiss]

Someone mentioned linking dinner reservations?

I am traveling alone with my 7 and 5 year old daughters. I am an older, single parent. Our last few cruises we had linked with a group of DISers we had met on our first cruise. We don't know anyone yet on this cruise. My kids are not the best behaved in restaurants, so I'm thinking about skipping the dining rooms all together. But I don't want to loose out for myself!!! Maybe if we were other families with like aged kids, I could get them to buy into the dining experience? My 7 year old is a total tomboy, and my 5 year old is a little princess. We have early dining. Any one else with not perfectly behaved children want to join us???

~Jennifer

 

[szubieta]

The estimated sunset on our first night is 7:25p. It is also a full-moon that night. We had a full moon on another cruise and the sea is sooo beautiful and feels magical too. Perfect for a moonlight stroll...great starter for our cruise.

 

[fourmcds]

The estimated sunset on our first night is 7:25p. It is also a full-moon that night. We had a full moon on another cruise and the sea is sooo beautiful and feels magical too. Perfect for a moonlight stroll...great starter for our cruise.

.

sounds like a perfect start to the cruise!

As for the surprise....who knows how it will work. The last time I surprised my DD (5 at the time) with the PC cruise, she burst into tears because all she wanted was Butterscotch the pony and not a stupid cruise! Needless to say, the christmas am there were lots of tears at our house! Hopefully this one will go better...and just learning they get to see Ryan and Drew again should make the difference (our table mates from the 08 PC cruise)

Another question....I waited too long to book any excursions through DCL...is anyone doing anything on their own, specifically a dolphin swim encounter in PV or Cabo? Any advice or help would be great. And, does DCL keep a waiting list in case anyone cancels?
Thanks!!!

 

[szubieta]

I'm so STOKED again!!! JoJo and I just watched the Cabo Dolphin on Get Out on HD Net. He was all smiles and really seem excite to do it. It's on again at 12a Wed & a different one on Tue at 12a if anyone interested. This was the one where their did the Cabo Adventure zip-line too.

 

[szubieta]

.

sounds like a perfect start to the cruise!

As for the surprise....who knows how it will work. The last time I surprised my DD (5 at the time) with the PC cruise, she burst into tears because all she wanted was Butterscotch the pony and not a stupid cruise! Needless to say, the christmas am there were lots of tears at our house! Hopefully this one will go better...and just learning they get to see Ryan and Drew again should make the difference (our table mates from the 08 PC cruise)

Another question....I waited too long to book any excursions through DCL...is anyone doing anything on their own, specifically a dolphin swim encounter in PV or Cabo? Any advice or help would be great. And, does DCL keep a waiting list in case anyone cancels?
Thanks!!!

As you can see my son, JoJo and I will be doing the dolphin swim. This will be my 3rd time with the dolphins, I can never get enough!!!

The Cabo Dolphin Swim is still available along with others in Cabo and PV. Check again.

As we have found, if DCL has a contract with the provider. We can't get them to book us if the know we're on DCL.

 

[fourmcds]

As you can see my son, JoJo and I will be doing the dolphin swim. This will be my 3rd time with the dolphins, I can never get enough!!!

The Cabo Dolphin Swim is still available along with others in Cabo and PV. Check again.

As we have found, if DCL has a contract with the provider. We can't get them to book us if the know we're on DCL.

It shows it is available, but when I try it says there is something wrong (ie-it probably has 3 spots left not the 4 that we need). Might try calling dcl today to see if they can help at all.
thanks!

 

[fourmcds]

did get one booked for PV, but I really wanted to do it in Cabo. Oh well, at least one is on the books for now. Thanks!

 

[LV Disney Fan(atic)]

did get one booked for PV, but I really wanted to do it in Cabo. Oh well, at least one is on the books for now. Thanks!

I'll bet they add additional dolphin swim spots in Cabo for our first day there - if they'd just hurry up and get that day added to the website for booking! We decided we wanted to try the BOB underwater scooter excursion that day so I check DCL every day to see if it's available yet. (Yes, I know, I'm a little obsessive.......)

 

[fourmcds]

I'll bet they add additional dolphin swim spots in Cabo for our first day there - if they'd just hurry up and get that day added to the website for booking! We decided we wanted to try the BOB underwater scooter excursion that day so I check DCL every day to see if it's available yet. (Yes, I know, I'm a little obsessive.......)

good point, didn't even think that sunday is not listed there yet. note to self...check the dcl website every day!

 

[szubieta]

I too check everyday...okaaayy...a few times a day, to see if we have gotten our room # yet.

 

[LiserAnn]

I too check everyday...okaaayy...a few times a day, to see if we have gotten our room # yet.

Me too...why haven't they opened up bookings for that day? We are they expecting to allow us to book for that day?? Very annoying for us OCD types!!!!

 

[HoppingMad]

Thank you everyone for all your help and advice - love reading it all

Hi Penny, You might want to stay more in L.A. The port area does not really have anything near it and you would have to get a rental car to drive into L.A. The Grove is a super fun shopping center with good celebrity sightings. I would maybe stay on Wilshire Blvd. in the Westwood-Beveryly Hills area. That is nice an central in L.A so you can get a taste of Hollywood for a day or so. I would then take a shuttle from your hotel to the port on the 17th. Austin is a fun city. My husband and I spent a weekend there a couple of years ago, scouting out neighborhoods to move to. We really wanted to move there but it did not work out for us. A fun thing to do is to watch the bats come out at night at the Congress Bridge. It is a real event with lots of people waiting underneath the bridge to watch the largest urban bat colony in the world come out. Lots of fun Texas places to eat. Our favorite was Rudys BBQ. It is a small, inexpensive bbq place attached to a gas station. No frills! But it is the best BBQ we have ever had. Their bbq brisket was to die for. The nice thing about Austin is that it is very family friendly. We were impressed that a lot of the restaurants had play areas for the kids. You also might want to check out Shlitterbahn waterpark for the kids. It is located in New Braunfels, Tx. About 45 minutes from Austin. We should get together on the ship and I will tell you all I know about Austin. My dream is to go to Australia. Would love to hear about your life there. What seating time do you have? I added your family to the FE list. Glad to have you participate.

Kristi, we're in the later dinner seating - not sure what time you all have, but as we have daughters the same age it would be great for them to have a mate(as we say!) Would love to meet up and swap stories .
Love that you know Austin so well! Its great to have all the info before we go -unfortunately you just can't Google everything, you kind of have to know what you're looking for.

Thanks for the tip on the accomm before the cruise - I don't really know that port area at all - although we have been to LA quite a few times, we've always just stayed in the Bev Hills/Century City area - might stay there again so we can do some shopping and the girls can get their fix of AG Place

Will have to do a bit more research into what kind of gifts to bring for the FEs
Have lots of ideas but want to make sure they're appropriate.

 

[TNShellBelle]

I too check everyday...okaaayy...a few times a day, to see if we have gotten our room # yet.

Same here! Wish they would assign our rooms TODAY!