!!!! Early Roll Call for January 21 2006 Eastern Magic Cruise !!!!

[JLDSMD]

suejmj,

Welcome to the DIS and our Cruise Meet thread. I will update my previous post with the children you are traveling with (See posts 153 and 155).

I think the men not in your party will be missing a great cruise. You and your kids will enjoy it.

Jeff

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

Welcome aboard, suejmj!!! Our family are longtime Disney nuts and have been to WDW many times but this is our first Disney cruise. Our kids are grown and its our turn to have some Laurie/Jim time. Like anyone else on the DIS boards I have become very addicted here and must have my daily (hourly) fix. Pull up a comfy chair, your favorite beverage and visit us often.

Again, welcome!

 

[suejmj]

Thanks Jeff
We are very excited.
Hoping that the kids will meet lot's of friends so they can leave their auntie alone!!!

 

[gydell]

suejmj - When did the 5 year old turn 5? I am also bringing a 14 year old girl. No men on our trip either. Their loss!

 

[suejmj]

He turned 5 in April.

Sue

 

[the4nitz's]

Welcome aboard suejmj!

 

[plenam]

Welcome suejmj.

 

[soccrmom65]

Glad to see somebody else is sailing....I did notice prices went up just a bit today. I also booked my airfare while Airtran had it on sale for 79 each way. Southwest might have come out a little cheaper when released but I hate waiting and then loosing the Airtran price. Now I am just waiting for my Passporter to be shipped and I will be a happy cruiser....I can't wait to hear the horn play When You Wish Upon A Star instead of a straight HONK..haha.

 

[suejmj]

Hi
I can really use some help from the experts out there!!!
I just realized that our flight to Orlando on Saturday 1/21 has been cancelled and we have been put on a flight one hour later than we booked. We are now leaving at 8:15. Yikes!! There goes the insurance gap we had for flight delays.
I asked her if we could make a change to Friday night without any penalties as this is no longer convenient for us and she said we do have that option since they cancelled our flight. Yee Ha!! I am thrilled but now have questions -
Do we stay in Orlando and travel to the ship on Saturday a.m.? Or, do we stay in Port Canaveral? How would transportation work? Keep in mind that there are 10 of us that will be traveling together.
Any suggestions on what to do when arriving Friday night would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sue

 

[JLDSMD]

Sue,

Sorry to hear your flight got cancelled. Sounds like the switch will actually help you.

First off, what time will you be arriving into Orlando on Friday?

Secondly, what was your original mode of transportation? Were you planning on using DCL transportation?

I have always rented a car (there's only 3 of us) so I haven't done the DCL transfers. Someone else maybe able to let you know if DCL picks up at any hotels near the airport.

The other option is to look into limo/van transportation to a hotel near the port. Pick a hotel that has complimentary transportation then to the boat. Sorry I can't help you there either since we are coming down again 2 days early and going to WDW.

A good website to check for lodging at the coast is www.dcltribute.com. It hasn't been updated lately, but it will give you some ideas for lodging at the port.

As for transportation to the port, you can do a search for "limo" or "towncar" in the cruise boards. I know this is often a topic out there. Some names that come to mind are Tiffany Towncars, Happy Limo, and Quicksilver. I have not used any to the port, so I can't comment. You should be able to search based on those names as well to see what other DISers have to say. These companies do have vans as well, not just limos.

As for what to do the day before, it really depends on how early you get in. I see a lot of postings regarding a hotel called Ron Jon's. I believe it is a time share hotel that does rent out the rooms nightly. They are supposed to have a pretty nice pool.

If you get in real early, you could always go over to WDW. MK should be open until 8 and EPCOT until 9. DCL transportation can pick you up at certain resorts in WDW. Most of the limo companies will also.

Off hand, what airline are you flying? I'm using AirTran for our October cruise and we've been changed at least 5 times now.

Jeff

 

[suejmj]

Thanks Jeff
You are right! I am excited that they made the change. Less worry about weather. That is assuming that this will not increase costs too much - hotel, transportation etc.
Initially, we were using one of the transportation co's (can't remember).
We will now arrive at 7 p.m. which means we are looking to go right to the hotel. I actually just posted on the cruise boards to see if anyone knew of a hotel that offers transportation to the ship or if they had advise. This way, we would continue to use the transportation co (van) to take us to the hotel and the hotel could transport us to the ship.
Not sure if i am making any sense - bedtime in the NE.
We are on Delta Song. They did this to us when we went to LA in spring. But they are willing to make a change to the date without any penalties so I will not complain. I actually stumbled on the change when looking at the prices. I realized that my flight wasn't there. Cause for concern!!
We paid $176 and flight is now at $246 - glad we booked early.

 

[gydell]

We are staying at the Radisson at the Port (free shuttle to the ship Sat.) and doing a limo from MCO (If we fly into there and not Melbourne. If you have 3 or more in you party the limo is as cheap if not cheaper and they take care of all your luggage. Reading this board I have found that a lot of people stay at the airport (the Hyatt I think). It seems that disney takes care of your luggage the morning before you get the shuttle.You can check and see.

 

[JLDSMD]

the4nitz's and pleman,

I sent you both a PM. I hope you get a chance to read it while it is still relevant. Hope it helps.

Jeff

 

[the4nitz's]

I got your PM Jeff. Thanks for the info. Same here, Midwest works better for us. Not sure what we will do. Craig

 

[JLDSMD]

Craig,

Tell me about it. I'm going to work on DW to see if she will switch. She keeps thinking back to last year when we were down there and the big storm hit here the day before the cruise. Thank goodness we were already down there. I have no problem with Friday a.m., but she does. She wants Thursday, but we can't go until the afternoon.

Jeff

 

[plenam]

Jeff,
Got your PM, Midwest also works well for us, got our tickets the other day. I see today they were raised up almost $20 per ticket.

Brett

 

[JLDSMD]

Brett,

I saw the increase early this afternoon. As of this morning both airlines were $10 lower round trip. There must have been a fuel surcharge added industry wide for both to jump exactly $10 at about the same time.

Just an FYI, I was talking to a Midwest agent today (trying to find out who our voucher can be used by) and she informed me that they changed their voucher-refund policy. It is now only 30 days from the date of purchase and they will now charge $25 to issue the credit. That's a bummer because last year we booked and it went down about 2 or 3 months later. That's where we got our voucher from.

I just go hit with that from Northwest because my DS's ticket to CA next month went down (dropped $54, but only got $29).

I don't remember from your prior posts, what day were you flying down? Was it Friday? Are you coming back on Saturday then? Morning or Evening on the return?

DW wants to stay over one more night before we come back. So we are looking at the 11:45 on Sunday. Good thing. I don't think I want to rush to the 11:45 on Saturday (we have late dinner, so late breakfast on disembarkment day) and I don't want to sit around until the night flight (did that last year).

Jeff

 

[SandieT]

Well I wish I could get in on the travel discussion but I am coming from Colorado and have never even heard of most of the airlines that you are talking about. We like to fly Frontier which really only works well if you fly from Denver.
We are going to fly out Thurs. AM. When we flew to DW in January, ALL OF OUR LUGGAGE went under a different name to Las Vegas and we didn't see it for 2 days. CHECK YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIM TICKETS THEY GIVE YOU AFTER YOU CHECK YOUR BAGS!!! This was the 3rd time this happened to me but I caught it the other 2 times. We are flying out early because of unpredictable winter weather in Denver.
My dad lives in FL and will pick us up. We are staying at the Radisson at the Port. We plan to go to the Kennedy Space Center on Fri. After the cruise we will fly out Sunday AM. I am trying so hard to figure out a way to get to DW for one day without taking DD out of any more school. I just don't think it will work this time.

Laurie- How goes the weight loss? I too am trying to get in shape before the cruise. I started back in March and have had fun getting back into working out and eating better. My DH and I are doing the Body for Life program. It really works for us.

One more question. Which is more fun, the anticipation and planning or the actual cruise?

 

[skybuffalo]

Hello everyone,
I only found the disboard a few days ago, referred from another chat group. Using information from this board we have booked our flight on AirTran and will be staying at the Radisson.

Our son and his family are coming from Alaska so we will meet on the ship. Our grandson is 4 and grandaughter 10.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the ship.

Ron

 

[the4nitz's]

Welcome aboard Skybuffalo!