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

[plenam]

After reading some of the post today I guess we will be getting the kids passports for this cruise, for the two of them it looks like it will cost about 170.00.

Brett

 

[the4nitz's]

We got passports last year for the 4 of us.

 

[plenam]

Just bumping this up.
Brett

 

[jollytammy]

I posted this on the regular board, but wanted to let you all know that Disney direct has several "cruise like" shirts on sail. I have been watching the Mickey Tiki hawaiian shirts, they have matching boy & men button shirts, plus matching women and girl dresses! I got my 2 DS and DH matching shirts, then bought myself the dress. With four of us it was over $75 so I checked at clevermoms.com (clever moms is a great site to look for discounts or coupons for lots of different stores) to see if Disney was running any specials and got an extra 10% off, plus until April 29th free shipping on $50 or over. You may want to check them out.

I just love getting a bargain! The dress was $34.95, now $24.99...the shirts went from $29.95 down to $22.99, not as big a discount as the dress, but take another 10% off and free shipping, well I am just as happy as a clam!!!

Take care...we're getting closer and closer to cruise time!!!!

Tammy

 

[jollytammy]

Oh, forgot to give you the discount code for Disney Direct: SPRINGBACK2005
This is 10% off $75 or more.
Tammy

 

[plenam]

Hi All,
Anyone check out the new DLC website? Really looks cool . I also like the new feature that you can book Palo's and other activities 90 days out if you're a Castaway Club member.

Brett

 

[plenam]

I want to be on the Repo Cruise!!
Brett

 

[the4nitz's]

Me Too, I can't wait for Friday to watch the Magic go thru the Panama Canal.

 

[PiperG]

Me Too, I can't wait for Friday to watch the Magic go thru the Panama Canal.

I was very lucky and pulled up the website as the Magic was going through the canal. I had trouble keeping the site up, so I only saw it for a few minutes at a time, but it was very cool. Later that day, DH and I watched a video clip on these boards in which someone had catpured the entire process. Fascinating! If we win the Powerball on Saturday I am going to try and book the return voyage. LOL.

We booked our flights last night. We are flying in on 1/20 (arrive about 7:30 EST) and will stay at the MCO Marriott with points. We already have a car through Budget. Historically, we have taken the DCL bus (3X), a limo and a rental car. We have decided the rental car is our preferred transport mode. It really gives us the greatest amount of flexibilty. We like to get to the port around 10:30. What time do you all plan to be there?

 

[plenam]

We plan on arriving at 6:30ish on the 20th and staying at the Embassy Suites. Next day take a limo to the port and also try to get there at 10:30. Haven't booked a flight yet, hoping to get a better price, but Aug. 15 is the drop dead date for the flight tixs.

Brett

 

[the4nitz's]

We are not sure which flight we will take. We may arrive around 11:30am or the late flight of 7:00pm. Our plans are to stay at the Holiday Inn express near the airport Friday night and drive over Saturday morning in a rental car and arrive 10:30am also. This past january we had a Happy limo pick us up at port and drive us to the airport which we really liked. They dropped us off in front of our flight curbside check in and made an 11:30am flight with plenty of time to spare. The car service cost more than the rental, but was worth it for the service. Seeing all the pictures and post from the repo cruise makes us whish we could have been on it, but guess we will have to make due with the 7 day this January.

 

[gydell]

Hi everybody. This is our first cruise with Disney. Been on other cruise lines but we are very excited about this one. How is the parking at the dock? Also what other things should I know that you can't find out about in the book? Sounds dumb, but what is a SPH room?

 

[the4nitz's]

Welcome gydell to our cruise page. Do you have nay kids and there ages? SPH stands for the secret port hole rooms on the Disney ships. There are 6 on each ship on deck 5 near the front. They are a catagory 9 room, but you pay the price of a catagory 10. This is due to the fact the port holes are partially obstructed, but you still get a great view and save money. As far as parking at port we have also flew into Orlando and rented a car returning it in Cocoa Beach. They charge 10.00 a day for parking and there is plenty of room. If you keep reading this thread and others on this site you will learn everything you need to know about cruising disney. Our first cruise we knew nothing about cruising, but keep reading these boards for the 3 months before our cruise and cruised like an experienced cruiser.

 

[gydell]

Thanks for the info. I will be traveling with a 4 year old boy who loves to play with other kids. He has been to DW 4 times and to DL 1time. I have been to DW over 25 times and to DL2 times. We love Disney. We are going the 12/05/05 for a week so that he can go to the Christmas party while he is still young enough to enjoy Santa. The cruise is a Christmas present to my daughter and grandson.

 

[plenam]

bump.

 

[PiperG]

Brett, thanks for bumping this up.

I know some of you folks are experienced Eastern cruisers. Although we have been on two Easterns ourselves, we have never ventured beyond the port area in St. Thomas.

We definitely want to do Megan's Bay this time around. However, we don't like being constricted to an excursion schedule. Has anyone done Megan's Bay on their own? I am not worried about getting there. . . . .just concerned that when it comes time to return to the ship, we won't be able to get a cab back.

Does anyone have any experience with that?

Thanks.

 

[gydell]

Hey everybody! We have booked a cat 9 on this cruise but when I have told my friends the price they insist that I could get it cheaper. I thought I had search all possible angles. I am paying $2412 for 2 adults and 1 4year old. Could I have gotten it cheaper and if so where? Also how much discount do you get if you book for a future cruise while on board? Thanks

 

[the4nitz's]

Welcome gydell. Who did you book your cruise through? I would say that the price sound right. We booked in Oct 04 for 2 adults and DD6 DD3 in a cat 10 for 2600.00 and we were able to get a SHP room. If you rebook onboard you get 10% off the cruise price and a 200.00 stateroom credit. Sometimes this gives you the best price, but you can always transfer your booking to another TA and still receive the 200.00 credit.We did this after our first cruise. We rebooked onbaord, but found a better price through Dreams Unlimited and moved our reservation to them and still got the 200.00. So its worth checking aroud.
Is this your first cruise or first disney cruise? If you have any ????, you will find the answer on these boards.

Craig

 

[gydell]

It's our first Disney cruise. I am so excited. My daughter(32) has always wanted to do a Disney cruise.We have done many other cruises but this is going to be a big surprise(Christmas present). I know that her 4 year old son will also like it. We have been to DW once a year since it opened and we are going December 2005 for a week so we can go to the Christmas party. Excited about this too! Since nobody knows about us going on the cruise I have nobody to get excited with. Any good excursions for us? I was thinking about taking a cab to the butterfly farm so we are on our own time table. I booked with AAA in May 05 and got $100 onboard credit. Thanks!

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

My name is Laurie and my fellow Disney nut is my husband, Jim. We live in eastern Iowa which evidently a requirement for this particular cruise...you must be a Midwesterner ~wink~. We are officially empty-nesters as of about a year ago and this will be OUR trip. We will be in cabin 6634 which I am soooooo excited about. Our entire family are Disney addicts and have been to WDW many, many times with this last December being the latest. this however is our frist Disney cruise. We KNOW it will be awesome. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.