Disney Magic - Dec 10, 2011 - Western Caribbean Cruise - Sun, Fun and Beaches!

[Grumpy333]

Hello! My sister sesame has been telling me all about everyone, so I thought I would finally join the thread and say hi!

 

[CitaPita]

Hi, Grumpy! Nice to meet you. I think we're turning out to be a pretty great, active group. It will be awesome when we all get to meet on the trip.

Funny story...I was trying to explain to DH about Dis Meets and how the group thing worked. I told him how we were picking a theme, and might do a magnet or shirt or some other sort of thing to identify us as a Dis group.

He pretended to be horrified and asked, "So, does this mean we've joined a Disney gang?"

That said, he's excited to meet you all, too!

 

[Sinderelly]

Hello! My sister sesame has been telling me all about everyone, so I thought I would finally join the thread and say hi!

Welcome aboard and to our friendly group

 

[Goaliemom30]

Hi, Grumpy! Nice to meet you. I think we're turning out to be a pretty great, active group. It will be awesome when we all get to meet on the trip.

Funny story...I was trying to explain to DH about Dis Meets and how the group thing worked. I told him how we were picking a theme, and might do a magnet or shirt or some other sort of thing to identify us as a Dis group.

He pretended to be horrified and asked, "So, does this mean we've joined a Disney gang?"

That said, he's excited to meet you all, too!

I don't have to look to my co-workers for the horrified looks. I just have to look at my DH. That's why I put have had a strict need to know policy with him for the last 24 years. We are all happier that way!

 

[mareeld86]

Welcome Grumpy.

Im so excited to meet every one. I have been putting together my FE gifts today and I hope everyone likes them

 

[SEVP]

Hello all.

I had to cut myself off everything disney/internet for a while as I was going crazy with it (bought books instead, hahaha). I am a pre- planning freak.

We are still interested - count us in
me, female 38
DH 40
son Noah age 4y

But we will be buying our gifts as I am zero crafty. But I have to be honest - I haven't a clue as to what to buy??? I would love to hear dome ideas/read some links?!?!

We have not bought our airfare yet either, we are travelling from Eastern Canada and waiting for the fares to go down a bit - might drive down to Maine if they are cheaper there . . .

LOVED the comment about being on a need to know basis in regards to your husband!! Too funny. This is sooooo us. My husband is at the airport saying - where are we going?? hahaha

Very excited. Have given myself permission to get back on line with the DCL/WDW info (we are doing 3 days in AK prior to DCL) - so will be catching up.

Again - any ideas for gifts would be greatly appreciated!

S.

 

[peg2001]

Again - any ideas for gifts would be greatly appreciated!

S.

Think small, inexpensive, and portable. Common gifts seem to include candy or small toys for kids, customized magnets, pens, photobooks, etc. for adults. Try to think of things that would be handy for folks to use on the cruise (highlighters, nightlight) or that would provide a good keepsake of the cruise.

I also think it would be cool to find something that represents the area that you are from. Who wouldn't like to get a tiny bottle of maple syrup from a Vermont DISer or little maple leaf flag from Canada?

Just some thoughts. We won't be participating as we are already struggling with reducing clutter and I could have WAY too much fun with this.

Have a great time.
Peg

 

[CitaPita]

Okay, this is just too much of a coincidence...

I made a payment on our cruise Friday (cutting it close to the wire!) with my TA. I decided an hour or so later to log in to our reservation on the DCL website.

So...I saw our room category (11A) and next to it was #GTY. This didn't surprise me at all since I know they often don't assign rooms until much, MUCH closer to sail time.

The weird thing is that I had to walk away from the computer for a ten minutes or so, and accidentally closed out the window. When I came back I logged in again and guess what? Now there was a room assigned to us. Weird, right? It said #7537, which I can't find any reviews for, but looks to be in a great mid-ship location.

Seems like a strange coincidence that the number just happened to be added in the ten minutes I walked away from my computer!

 

[Sinderelly]

Hmmm our reservation still shows GTY How did everyone that was able to reserve Palo/excursions do? I got everything we wanted
Good news for first time cruisers

 

[sesame_123]

I was looking at the Palo menus (we have never been there) and I just don't see all that much I would be interested in. Is it really as good as everyone says?? I can't seem to justify the price plus I would also need to pay for Nursery time for my son and get them both settled in kids club before. So is it worth it??

I also noticed while booking the nursery that pretty much everything was open, so I agree that It looks good for first timers!

 

[peg2001]

The 90-day window is open so all Silver Castaways should make their reservations and check-in online. Almost everything looked wide open early this morning.

I may be wrong but I don't think this will be a full ship. The website still shows lots of stateroom availability and there certainly wasn't any difficulty in getting the port adventures and terminal check-in time that we wanted.

Good luck to everyone in getting their choices.

Peg

 

[Goaliemom30]

Up til midnight for the excursions and then again at 3 a.m. for the port time. Got everything I wanted, but I was amazed by two things. The alone time was almost gone and there were plenty of Palo reservations available. From the whining on the other board, I assumed Palo would be gone. Maybe it is just limited for Dream cruisers. Another plus for us! Can't wait til December!

 

[Goaliemom30]

Hello all.

I had to cut myself off everything disney/internet for a while as I was going crazy with it (bought books instead, hahaha). I am a pre- planning freak.

We are still interested - count us in
me, female 38
DH 40
son Noah age 4y

But we will be buying our gifts as I am zero crafty. But I have to be honest - I haven't a clue as to what to buy??? I would love to hear dome ideas/read some links?!?!

We have not bought our airfare yet either, we are travelling from Eastern Canada and waiting for the fares to go down a bit - might drive down to Maine if they are cheaper there . . .

LOVED the comment about being on a need to know basis in regards to your husband!! Too funny. This is sooooo us. My husband is at the airport saying - where are we going?? hahaha

Very excited. Have given myself permission to get back on line with the DCL/WDW info (we are doing 3 days in AK prior to DCL) - so will be catching up.

Again - any ideas for gifts would be greatly appreciated!

S.

We must be separated at birth SEVP, because I too had to calm down with the pre-planning. I am not Canadian, but from the Northeast and the Goalie in Goaliemom refers to my Squirt Minor AAA hockey goalie, so tell me your a hockeymom too (4 is never too young to strap on the skates) and it is a sure bet!

 

[KikiMouse]

I was looking at the Palo menus (we have never been there) and I just don't see all that much I would be interested in. Is it really as good as everyone says?? I can't seem to justify the price plus I would also need to pay for Nursery time for my son and get them both settled in kids club before. So is it worth it??

I really love Palo; I think it is definitely worth it. There are some threads that discuss Palo, you should check them out. What about brunch?
KikiMouse

 

[CitaPita]

I am so glad to hear that the selections are still wide open. We're first-timers, so we can't sign up for anything until the 26th.

I agree about the ship not being full. I remember a few weeks ago when I checked all inside staterooms were sold out. Now every category of stateroom seems to be available. Must have had a lot of cancellations.

 

[Sinderelly]

I was looking at the Palo menus (we have never been there) and I just don't see all that much I would be interested in. Is it really as good as everyone says?? I can't seem to justify the price plus I would also need to pay for Nursery time for my son and get them both settled in kids club before. So is it worth it??

I also noticed while booking the nursery that pretty much everything was open, so I agree that It looks good for first timers!

We think Palo is VERY worth it. The restaurant/views are beautiful. We have done dinner, brunch and high tea. Our favorite is the brunch. Last night we booked brunch and high tea for this cruise. We thought Palo dinner was just okay. I think everyone needs to experience Palo at least once

 

[Sinderelly]

The 90-day window is open so all Silver Castaways should make their reservations and check-in online. Almost everything looked wide open early this morning.

I may be wrong but I don't think this will be a full ship. The website still shows lots of stateroom availability and there certainly wasn't any difficulty in getting the port adventures and terminal check-in time that we wanted.

Good luck to everyone in getting their choices.

Peg

Maybe this means upgrades for everyone!

 

[CitaPita]

We think Palo is VERY worth it. The restaurant/views are beautiful. We have done dinner, brunch and high tea. Our favorite is the brunch. Last night we booked brunch and high tea for this cruise. We thought Palo dinner was just okay. I think everyone needs to experience Palo at least once

We're hoping to book brunch on one of the sea days...or maybe the Cozumel day? Problem is we have to find flounders time available at the same time as a brunch opening.

 

[sesame_123]

We're hoping to book brunch on one of the sea days...or maybe the Cozumel day? Problem is we have to find flounders time available at the same time as a brunch opening.

Not sure how it will be when you can book but the nursery was wide open when I booked and I booked some busy time. Two nights 7-11 one on a sea day and a sea day afternoon 12-4. On our first cruise we didn't have a problem booking at the 75 day mark!!

 

[sesame_123]

We think Palo is VERY worth it. The restaurant/views are beautiful. We have done dinner, brunch and high tea. Our favorite is the brunch. Last night we booked brunch and high tea for this cruise. We thought Palo dinner was just okay. I think everyone needs to experience Palo at least once

Thanks for the info! I think we will just enjoy the ship this time and maybe next time (hopefully with DH next time) we will enjoy a date night!!