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

[soccrmom65]

Welcome hooked on Disney,

We are in a catg 12 also and hoping for the upgrade..but like you are just happy to be cruising. There are certainly not very many catg 12 cabins so they will have to put somebody in the higher ones...maybe it will be us....haha..that would be wonderful.

I am getting ready to go to Disney on Wed 7-20-05 to do some heavy training and resort inspections...I just hope the heat is not to intense. I am also going over to see the Wonder. I will let you all know if I hear anything fun and exciting.

 

[the4nitz's]

Welcome Hooked On Disney

Any questions you have, this is the place to ask. A SPH refers to a secret porthole room. They are a catagory 9 room, but you pay the price of a catagory 10 room. There are only 6 of them, 5520, 5522, 5524, 5020, 5022 and 5024. The porthole has an obstructed view, but at least you have a view. We are in 5520 and is the first time we have had one of these. In the past we have had a cat 6, but decided to save the $$$$$ and try this.

 

[soccrmom65]

My neice and myself just watched the DVD for the cruise over the weekend. I am really excited to see her reaction over the DVD and anticipating the cruise in January. I am just waiting to be able to block time in Palo for the tea and also shore excursions.

 

[ameejason]

We'll be flying in on 1/20 and staying at an airport hotel. We chose not to get transportation through Disney. There will be 9 or 10 of us altogether, none of whom have been through this previously. The thought was to rent a van from the airport to canaveral and then again back. Does that sound like the best idea? It's got to be cheaper than Disney and the route looks pretty simple.
What do you think?
Jason

 

[soccrmom65]

Hi Jason,

My husband and myself always rent a car and drive it over and then rent a car and drop it back off. However with as many people as you have I would look at some of the other options as well. The cost per person would really drop with the amount you have in your family. If you go to the website for the airport there is a transportation tab somewhere on the page. They list the services that you can contact for a price quote to compare with renting a car. With having that many people it might be hard to find a van that is affordable that can carry you all and the luggage. I would certainly check out other options just to be sure.

 

[gydell]

Try some of the limo services. They will take care of your luggage and you don't have to bother checking in a car. It seems most hotels have shuttle service to the port.

 

[JLDSMD]

Just checking in.

DW, DS (almost 6 at time of cruise) and myself will be on the 1/21/06 Eastern Cruise.

We were on the 1/22/05 Eastern, rebooked for the 1/21/06 but cancelled.

Luckily, I called DCL this past week, asked them, since we had booked on board and will be on a 3 night Wonder cruise in October, if we could get it reinstated. THEY DID AND WE GOT THE 10% DISCOUNT AND $200 ROOM CREDIT.

 

[JLDSMD]

Here is an air option for those in Wisconsin. Since you are already planning on driving about 2 hours to Milwaukee, have you ever considered driving to Madison?

When we were in Vegas this last May we seen at least a couple of dozen Allegiant Air planes and, since we never heard of them, thought we'd look them up on the internet. Come to find out they not only fly non-stop from Madison to Las Vegas, but Madison to Orlando/Sanford as well.

The fare comes up at just under $196 total. You can pay $10 more each way for assigned seats. That would bring it to $216. Not a bad option to the prices Midwest and NWA are charging right now. There website is www.allegiantair.com Also, they DO NOT overbook their planes like Southwest.

Another Milwaukee option would be AirTran. They have one non-stop daily along with a few stop over flights in Atlanta. I'm not sure of their fares. We are actually taking them in October for our 3-nt Wonder cruise. Unfortunately we have to connect both ways (booked too late). They did cancel our first flight and rebooked us earlier, but due to DS school schedule, we called and had them move us to the late afternoon flight instead. They were accomodating.

Allegiant flies Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The flights north are first in the morning and then it goes back down. Madison to Orlando/Sanford departs at 10:25 a.m. and arrives Sanford at 2:05 p.m. On the return, it departs Sanford at 8:00 a.m. and arrives Madison at 9:50 a.m. Again, non-stop both ways.

I don't remember the exact cost of the one-way rental cars from Sanford to Port Canaveral, but I don't think they were much more, if at all, over MCO.

We're planning on flying on Thursday 1/19. Last year we left on Wednesday and spent 2 days in WDW. Good thing we didn't leave the day before. Big storm hit back here while we were down there. We kept saying, "good thing we left a couple days early".

We are going to go on Midwest (hopefully the prices will drop). We are going to use one companion ticket, and I have a $60 voucher from a price decrease on last year's tickets. They didn't rock bottom the prices until December, but atleast I was able to get the difference in a voucher. Something to consider if you book now. Watch the price, if it drops, call them. You could use the voucher on a January 2007 cruise.

 

[PiperG]

Just checking in.

DW, DS (almost 6 at time of cruise) and myself will be on the 1/21/06 Eastern Cruise.

We were on the 1/22/05 Eastern, rebooked for the 1/21/06 but cancelled.

Wow! You gotta love this. . . .we were on the 1/22/05 Eastern as well! We had early dining PAL rotation. Pairoj and Maria were our servers. This will be our third Eastern cruise. We love the two days at sea.

There are a lot of MN/WI folks. I guess we are all looking to escape the subzero temps for a week! A few of us had some fun in the fall when the Vikes played the Packers.

 

[JLDSMD]

PiperG, I don't know if you remember us, but we were the ones you met at the Palo brunch. We were sitting by the window, your table was right next to ours.

We too had Paroj and Maria for our servers and had early rotation, but it was the PLA rotation. Your table, at least in PC, wa almost right next to ours.

Don't know if you remember from the 1/22/05 cruise meet thread, but we were the ones just down the hall from you in 6580. You were the first one to welcome us to the board on that thread, and now you are the first one to welcome us here.

Did you ever get your questions answer regarding Meagan's Bay? I seen you posted regardng going there on you own. We did that on the 1/22/05 cruise. It was very easy to do. Just look for one of those open air taxis right when you get off the tender in town. They will take you right there. Then, when you want to come back, there are a ton of them waiting to bring you. Just ask the price before you go back. We had a different driver and the price was higher.

As for Meagan's Bay, it is very beautiful. It is in the top 10 beaches in the world according to the Travel Channel. It is SUPPOSED to be like glass there, but when we were there, the bay was rough. We had one wave 6 feet high, well over my head, crash down on DS and myself. I was holding him. The wave knocked him loose and my glasses came off. Got DS right away, but never found my glasses.

We are doing the St. John's Island tour on this cruise.

 

[PiperG]

PiperG, I don't know if you remember us, but we were the ones you met at the Palo brunch. We were sitting by the window, your table was right next to ours.

We too had Paroj and Maria for our servers and had early rotation, but it was the PLA rotation. Your table, at least in PC, wa almost right next to ours.

Yes! We remember you!!! What a coincidence that you are on our Jan '06 cruise as well.

We just have to get out of the MN during the middle of winter. It saves our sanity. . . . I am originally from San Diego and DH spent 23 years there. Although our blood is thicker now, we just need a break.

I think our rotation was PLA also. I goofed on my earlier post.

I did get some good feedback on Megans Bay. However, someone highly recommended Saphire Bay over Megans Bay. They said Megans Bay admission was costly, and the fee to rent chairs was high. Also, they said you had to take your chairs to your spot and back, and also leave a deposit for them. The poster said Sapphire Bay was just as beautiful, but without the cost and hassle (they take the chairs down to the beach for you and there is no deposit).

Both appear easy to do on our own, so I will keep looking at the boards for feedback.

Our countdown clock says 172 days!!!!!

 

[gydell]

JLDSMD, How old is your son? We have a 4 year old with us.

 

[JLDSMD]

gydell, he will be turning 6 in February. We were able to get him into the 5-7 year old program in the club last January since he was turning 5 within a month. If your son is close to his 5th b-day, you may want to check with the counselors to see if they will move him up.

PiperG, I haven't looked into Sapphire Beach. DW definitely wants to do the St. John's tour this year, but that should be over by noon. We'll probably head to a beach after that. I will have to look into that one. I know a lot of people comment about it.

Also, we are requesting PLA again this year. It worked out best, putting us in Lumiere on Formal Night, AP on Semi-Formal night and PC on Pirate night. The only problem we have is, since we got reinstated so late, we are on late seating for dinner. I hope DS does o.k. with it. We will be 2 hours ahead of CST, so hopefully that will help.

 

[gydell]

You can tell this is my first disney cruise so thanks for all the info you are giving me. What is the PLA rotation? And when is pirate night?

 

[JLDSMD]

PLA rotation is Parrot Cay (Nts 1,4,7), Lumiere's (Nts 2, 5), and Animator's Palate (3, 6). Under this rotation, you will have your character breakfast on the 3rd "at sea" day, or Thursday morning. Formal Night is on Sunday Night (in Lumiere's under this rotation), Pirate Night is Tuesday Night, St. Martin (in PC that night) and Semi-Formal Night/Gala Night is Thursday (in AP). Parrot Cay is the most casually themed restaurant (island/tropical themed) and goes well with Pirate Night and in my opinion, not well with either of the Formal nights.

The other rotations are LAP and APL. Under these, you'll be in PC for one of the formal nights and in Lumiere's or Animators Palate for Pirate Night. AP wouldn't be too bad, but Lumiere's seems too nice for Pirate Night, IMHO.

Pirate night is a somewhat new theme night (I believe less than a year) where the wait staff is in Pirate costumes and they have a special pirate menu. They have a deck party that night and depending on the weather, they will shoot off fireworks. As I mentioned above, it is on the St. Martin day which is Tuesday.

Let us know if you have any other questions. Everyone here is always willing to help.

 

[JLDSMD]

BUMP.

Just trying to keep us on the first page of cruise meets. I know I had a hard time finding it when I looked for it.

 

[soccrmom65]

I am so glad for the boards. I never knew you could request a dining rotation and I think the PLA will be great. I actually called right after I read the post..she thought I was a little nuts when I said PLA until I explained it and she said oh you want the family dining. Apparently there is a Family, Adult and Childs dining rotation so if you try to request it ask for family. Thanks again for the info.....it was much appreciated.

 

[JLDSMD]

Soccrmom65, welcome to the DIS. You will find a ton of information on the boards. I booked my first cruise a year before we went and was on the boards almost daily. It's addictive.

I read somewhere else, either on the DIS, in a book or elsewhere on the web, that they did have names for the 3 different rotations. I believe everything said that if you have small children, they try to put you in AP the first night (hence, APL). If you have older children, they try to put you in PC first (PLA rotation), and if it is Adults mostly that you would start with Lumiere's (LAP rotation). Whichever restaurant you start with, you will have for 3 nights of the cruise. Also, your final breakfast will be there as well.

I think they try to get the little kids in to see the "show" in AP on the first night and the adults in the more classier restaurant (Lumiere's) more often. That would leave the other group, "Family", to start in PC. Not sure.

Now, having said that, I called last week for something regarding our 3-night Wonder cruise Oct 26, 2005, and at the time asked for the APT rotation (this will put us in PC for Pirate Night). The CM I got said that it was the "Family" rotation.

I have to call for something on the January cruise, so I'm going to reconfirm both rotation requests. I will ask the CM what "names" they have for them. Maybe they have different "names" for the rotations on the Magic then they do on the Wonder.

Hope that helps. I will post what I here.

 

[SandieT]

I am loving the fact that I can start to plan this trip 6 or more months in advance. I think the planning is half the fun.
This is our first cruise and I like to control things so when I see I can have some control over our server or our rotation I'm all for it. (I know it is only a request and not guaranteed but it doesn't hurt to ask.) I think by what has been posted that it is a either or thing. You can request a server or request a dining rotation. If that is the case which is better to try and why? Do I put the request into my travel agent and will he request that from DCL or do I call DCL directly. Will they tell me if he/she will or won't be on our cruise? I guess I could call the TA and ask him but I think I'll get a better answer here.
It seems like there would be a large turnover for servers and requesting one now for 6 months from now would be hard.
I'll take any input on this subject.
Sorry for the long message, in addition to wanting to control everything I also tend to rattle on about things.

 

[JLDSMD]

SandieT, welcome to the DIS. You will learn a lot from the boards. Planning is fun, just remember though to let things flow when you get on board. It's vacation after all. You don't want to stress because something didn't work out like you read on the boards. Plus a lot of what is written is personal preference. You may not like something someone else did.

As to your question, I personally would request my rotation. In reading posts regarding the servers, I would be surprised if you got a bad pair. Plus, the server you want may end up being off the ship that week. They do so many months on and then so many off.

I think you should be able to put the rotation request in yourself even if you are using a travel agent. I know that I put one in for our October cruise and that reservation is under a travel agent. Good thing I did. When I talked to DCL they showed no request for the rotation we wanted.