Eastern Caribbean Fantasy Oct. 5, 2013

[healeylvr]

Here goes, I am going to ask all my stupid questions today and get it over with, and please bear with me if this has already been covered:
Viking,
How did you win a cruise? Bingo? Just curious. rolleyes:

My main question is regarding transportation to and from port. We always fly in a day in advance (due to a really, really bad experience on our honeymoon). Then we end up having a rental car. We have parked the rental for the entire week at a hotel. The hotel parking was "free" (or at least covered in the room rate) and the hotel operated a shuttle to the port, again for free. However, it just seems awfully wasteful to rent a car just to park it for a week. And then there is the concern that it might be stolen/wrecked/vandalized, etc. We have also rented a car at the airport and turned it in at the port and then rented again when we returned. We did this in Miami. The car rental agencies ran shuttles to and from port before and after. This was a bit more stressful and surprisingly not really much less expensive.

So I'm wondering what experience others have had. I'm assuming the car rental agencies also run shuttles at the Port Canaveral. Is this the case? Does anyone have other ideas or tips?

We are flying in a day early and staying with friends near the port so that's taken care of and on our return from port to airport we are using spaceporttransport.com We have used them before and have been happy with the service and rates the communication is great and they are reasonable.

 

[pixiehallow]

The sign up for this FE is closed


Notice: late comers group III, is now closed. The list should be posted soon.

I will try to keep the FE at (or very Near) the top of each new page from now until we cruise for convenience.

Break down of groups: (yes, some cabins are in both groups. ..they requested to be)

Group I
pixiehallow
TamaraH
FrozenMinnie
Santam01
JulFromMD + 2
JulFromMD +3
JulFromMD +4
LadyCP
ozdisneyfan
Tiggerlily878
Deb T
Wanderluster25
2Crazygoofies
tatianasuv
Mrs Stevenson
MDennis28
DisneyFan_SD
Texas Lady
crews
Gillilma

Group II
pixiehallow
actnkidz
Mercinursi
jamelynn24
TCCDad
kmronnie3
Contrady family
Santam01
JulFromMD
JulFromMD +1
jbhatch
goofydvc
Tenn
chipmunklove
Jgamy
SinDee
Kprovax
Kprovax +1
Deb T
hng1979
jaimelynn4
Marchetti family
hmhaase
Texas lady
Southern gal
Aussiemickey
Fluffybunnyfeet
Ourfairytalelife
Carpenm3
Larrisje
dancegirl914

48 confirmed

Sub Groups have been sent out...If you are in group I, please remove MickeyFan from your list.

If you want a list of all Cabins, I will be happy to send one to you. All you have to do is ask

~Tink~

 

[tigerlilly878]

I was writing down all of our extra events and I was wondering if whoever was setting up the wine tasting has picked a date and time so we can all add it to our schedules

 

[Deb T.]

Here goes, I am going to ask all my stupid questions today and get it over with, and please bear with me if this has already been covered:
Viking,
How did you win a cruise? Bingo? Just curious. rolleyes:

My main question is regarding transportation to and from port. We always fly in a day in advance (due to a really, really bad experience on our honeymoon). Then we end up having a rental car. We have parked the rental for the entire week at a hotel. The hotel parking was "free" (or at least covered in the room rate) and the hotel operated a shuttle to the port, again for free. However, it just seems awfully wasteful to rent a car just to park it for a week. And then there is the concern that it might be stolen/wrecked/vandalized, etc. We have also rented a car at the airport and turned it in at the port and then rented again when we returned. We did this in Miami. The car rental agencies ran shuttles to and from port before and after. This was a bit more stressful and surprisingly not really much less expensive.

So I'm wondering what experience others have had. I'm assuming the car rental agencies also run shuttles at the Port Canaveral. Is this the case? Does anyone have other ideas or tips?

We always arrive at least one day early, rent a car at MCO to take to WDW and then to the port, turn it in at Cape Canaveral, and take the rental car shuttle to DCL's terminal. After the cruise, we catch the shuttle back to the rental car agency to rent a second car to get from the port to MCO (or WDW if we're staying there again post-cruise). Waiting for the shuttles a hassle, but this is always the most economical way for us.

If you are able to rent a car for the whole week for a comparable rate and park it for free, that would be the easiest way to go.

We've rented from Budget and from National. When renting from National, you have to turn it in at the Enterprise Cape Canaveral location. One thing to look out for is that some rental car agencies charge a one-way drop-off fee.

Good luck!

 

[mrs stevenson]

Tink-are you able to post the mixology details on the yahoo page please- cant see how to do it.
Thanks

 

[Viking]

Oh and I forgot to say it will be held in the skyline bar.

Thanks for setting this up, Mrs S, but could you please remove at least my last name from your posted list, or even exchange our full names for Viking.
The reasonfor us not joining the FB group was to not see our full names in conjunction with travel dates on the open web.

 

[mrs stevenson]

Thanks for setting this up, Mrs S, but could you please remove at least my last name from your posted list, or even exchange our full names for Viking.
The reasonfor us not joining the FB group was to not see our full names in conjunction with travel dates on the open web.

Done List now says Viking and wife.

 

[Viking]

Done List now says Viking and wife.

Thank you


Update on the weather:
Two named storms are on the prowl now, Gabrielle pummeling the Bermudas presently and Humberto who took a turn towards west and may hit some of the islands we will be visiting, but is still way off.

 

[emmedancer]

Here goes, I am going to ask all my stupid questions today and get it over with, and please bear with me if this has already been covered:
Viking,
How did you win a cruise? Bingo? Just curious. rolleyes:

My main question is regarding transportation to and from port. We always fly in a day in advance (due to a really, really bad experience on our honeymoon). Then we end up having a rental car. We have parked the rental for the entire week at a hotel. The hotel parking was "free" (or at least covered in the room rate) and the hotel operated a shuttle to the port, again for free. However, it just seems awfully wasteful to rent a car just to park it for a week. And then there is the concern that it might be stolen/wrecked/vandalized, etc. We have also rented a car at the airport and turned it in at the port and then rented again when we returned. We did this in Miami. The car rental agencies ran shuttles to and from port before and after. This was a bit more stressful and surprisingly not really much less expensive.

So I'm wondering what experience others have had. I'm assuming the car rental agencies also run shuttles at the Port Canaveral. Is this the case? Does anyone have other ideas or tips?

We always fly into Orlando International (MCO) and stay at the hotel in the airport. It's convenient and really nice to have it close by after a long travel day. We catch breakfast in the airport at starbucks or something similar and have a car service take us to port. We think it's worth the extra little drive time in the morning, gives us time to eat breakfast and get even more excited and saves a lot of money on parking at the port and renting a car!

 

[Bajamama03]

I was writing down all of our extra events and I was wondering if whoever was setting up the wine tasting has picked a date and time so we can all add it to our schedules

When I contacted Coreeyore she said she was very busy with activities at home & was unable to finalize onboard plans. If anyone wants to volunteer their cabin or knows how we can get together else where to share wine without paying corkage fees, feel free to step in to the organizer role.
We bought ours to share & are looking forward to a get together but are unable to volunteer our cabin.
~jackie

 

[tigerlilly878]

When I contacted Coreeyore she said she was very busy with activities at home & was unable to finalize onboard plans. If anyone wants to volunteer their cabin or knows how we can get together else where to share wine without paying corkage fees, feel free to step in to the organizer role.
We bought ours to share & are looking forward to a get together but are unable to volunteer our cabin.
~jackie

I am more than happy to plan this I will bring some tasting cups and set up different catagory cards for people to place their wine bottles in since u generally go from dry to sweet. We have a deluxe oceanview with verandah we will be happy to entertain in if you guys think it will be big enough... Or maybe at the adults only pool ? What do you guys think? Also I know the mixology will be the 2nd sea day how about we do the tasting on the 1st sea day around 3? Let me know your thoughts.... Also if u still want to sign up for the wine tasting you can find the sign up sheet in the database on the yahoo page or just pm me how many will attend and where you will be bringing wine from

 

[Viking]

We always fly into Orlando International (MCO) and stay at the hotel in the airport. It's convenient and really nice to have it close by after a long travel day.

Long travel day from Nashville to MCO?
Did you see that there are at least two parties coming from Europe and one from Australia?

@tigerlilly:
Mixology class is on 10/7, which is the second sea day. So perhaps you want to reschedule the wine tasting.

@JulierB:
I won the cruise in 'Who wants to be a Mouseketeer?' on the Disney Magic. I made it into the hot chair and won the Grand Prize. Being not a native speaker I'm pretty proud of that, but I have to admit that I didn't have a clue when it came to the last question, which was about 'The Mighty Ducks' cartoon show, which I had never seen. Fortunately the reactions of the kids in the first rows helped me to discard two possible answers and then it was a 50/50 chance and I won. But I made it through to first nine questions on my own, using the lifelines only to back up the answer I was already tending to.
To be honest: I've never played bingo in my life - except for Bull$h1t Bingo during boring meetings

 

[pixiehallow]

I am more than happy to plan this I will bring some tasting cups and set up different catagory cards for people to place their wine bottles in since u generally go from dry to sweet. We have a deluxe oceanview with verandah we will be happy to entertain in if you guys think it will be big enough... Or maybe at the adults only pool ? What do you guys think? Also I know the mixology will be the 1st sea day how about we do the tasting on the second sea day around 3? Let me know your thoughts.... Also if u still want to sign up for the wine tasting you can find the sign up sheet in the database on the yahoo page or just pm me how many will attend and where you will be bringing wine from

Actually since we embark on the 5th, and
Both mixologys are set for the 7th, it will be the second day at sea.
And just a heads up from the Disney on board rules on alcohol brought on board. If you bring any alcohol onboard, it cannot be consumed in a public area unless you pay a corking fee. This limits you to the cabins.
Might I suggest that if there are a few participants staying in close proximity to one another, you could do something like a pub crawl, and go from one cabin to the next.

 

[pixiehallow]

Tink-are you able to post the mixology details on the yahoo page please- cant see how to do it.
Thanks

I added it under 'files' (the data base is full, plus I would have had to enter each member individually)
I will also post your message there as well.

 

[tigerlilly878]

Actually since we embark on the 5th, and
Both mixologys are set for the 7th, it will be the second day at sea.
And just a heads up from the Disney on board rules on alcohol brought on board. If you bring any alcohol onboard, it cannot be consumed in a public area unless you pay a corking fee. This limits you to the cabins.
Might I suggest that if there are a few participants staying in close proximity to one another, you could do something like a pub crawl, and go from one cabin to the next.

Whoops my bad... So how about we do the wine meet on the first sea day around 3.. I guess the pool is out... If anyone has a large room they would like to use let us know... Otherwise we can use our room... You mentioned pub crawl style.... We are in 6180 anyone else near us that will be doing the wine meet who wants to offer their room too?

 

[MexiFinn]

Joining this group late. I was able to book the cruise when the VGT rates were available. WAHOO!

 

[tigerlilly878]

Joining this group late. I was able to book the cruise when the VGT rates were available. WAHOO!

Nice... Welcome.. I saw that the VGT rate was like 1k less that what we paid... So u got a killer diller deal.... I was bummed we paid so much more at first... But my husband reminded me that if we had done that then I wouldn't have a 1.5 yrs of planning fun.... Haa Haa... Course I would like that money in my pocket more but oh well...

 

[pixiehallow]

Whoops my bad... So how about we do the wine meet on the first sea day around 3.. I guess the pool is out... If anyone has a large room they would like to use let us know... Otherwise we can use our room... You mentioned pub crawl style.... We are in 6180 anyone else near us that will be doing the wine meet who wants to offer their room too?

We are in 6510 but had opted out of the meet because of issues with transporting the wine.
So, basically we could not offer any wine, but maybe some chocolate to go with wine. If that is somethings others would consider, and you decide to do the pub crawl style, we would not mind being a stop.

Let me know what you think.

 

[pixiehallow]

Welcome to our group MexiFinn



Better late than never.

I will send you a invite to our group page shortly.
Unfortunately you missed all of the FE fun, but there are still meets that you can sign up for. Plus a plethora of information on the group page to help with your planning.

I look forward to getting to know you in the short time we have left

Tink

 

[MexiFinn]

Thanks pixiehallow. I'm used to cruising late in the game so I've never done fish extenders. Wouldn't even know where to start even if I wanted to.

Looking forward to getting the link and getting to know more people on the cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!

So excited!!!!