EB Panama Canal Wonder December 9th

[abbyar]

We don't sail until Sunday (YAY!) But I'll kick our TR off here with some info, then fill in with the details of how everything went when we got back.

This is our FIRST EVER! Disney Cruise, and the first cruise for all of us except dh. Our cast includes:

Dh (Floridian, stuck in NJ)
ME (Born of the Tundra, stuck in NJ)
DD 5 and DS 3 (Both Born in NJ)

Don't ask how we ended up here in NJ, sometimes even I don't know!

As it turns out from the Meet page, there are a lot of rum drinkers on board. So much that we've started asking "Why is the rum gone?" I'll have to remember to pick up some extra in San Pedro, while I grab champagne and wine for the weeks ahead. Overall I'm really excited to meet some other disers though - they've put tons of effort into the FE (ooh, I still have to add string to mine!) and done things like organize a book exchange etc.

We've been talking about a Disney cruise for a long time, especially as I tend to do a lot of work while on our annual WDW vacations. This year I won't be able to get cell reception, so dh thinks he will monopolize my time.

We booked an 11B back in March, but when Disney released IGT rates we grabbed one! Luckily we were assigned a 10A on Deck 7 - sweet! At $81pp/night it is a deal we couldn't pass up!

Here's our itinerary for the week:

Sat, Dec 8th - fly out from Newark to LAX 6:30 am (eek!).
- Arrive 9:50 am, Taxi to San Pedro
- Lunch with my dad (he lives in the LA area)
Sun, Dec 9th - Embark
Monday, Dec 10th - Start our Wonder marathon, where we plant to walk/run 26.2 miles over 15 days (seems unlikely, but hey, we must have goals right?)
Tuesday - Cabo (we're planning to stay on board)
Wednesday - Puerto Vallarta - (also on baord)
Thursday - A group brunch for 12 in Palo at 10 am, first formal night
Friday - Room Crawl!
Saturday - Palo Dinner for Dh and I, 7 pm
Sunday - Open, Semi-Formal Night
Monday - Open (Panama Canal Crossing - I hope there's some interesting stuff).
Tuesday - Cartagena tour for dh and I 9:45 am. Pirate dinner!
Wednesday - We receive our Panama Canal certs at 9am, and Dh and I have brunch schedueld for just the two of us at 10 am
Thursday - 4 pm, Champagne Girls! We're meeting in our room and eaching bringing champagne to share so that we can try different things. I'm packing some surprises for the girls! Right now we have 11 so hopefully I can upgrade our room at port, otherwise it will be snug. This is also the last formal night, so we'll be all dressed up to spill our champagne!
Friday - Costa Maya - we're taking a tour of the ruins, and it just happens to be December 21st! Exciting!
Saturday - Open
Sunday - Disembark

Sunday/Monday December 23/24th.- hang out with Dh's family. We're staying in the Miami area, then fly out Christmas morning.

Whew! What a trip!

We've had all sorts of exciting things happen here as we plan for Christmas. I've packed the Bonine - I just hope my kids don't get seasick! The packing is relatively smooth so far - we got the kids passports this summer, although I still have to find dh's. I think I know where it is. I printed the labels for our FE gifts today, and of course left off my Dis name, so had to write it by hand. Hopefully it's legible!

 

[Jackson's grammie]

Take a chance and take the water taxis to "The Office" on the Beach in Cabo. The kids will love playing in the sand and you can see the ship just across the water. We were there last dec and had a blast.

 

[abbyar]

Hmm... So I don't have pics of our last WDW trip, or even the trip before that on my work computer. These are much cuter anyway! This is from our trip in October 2010. We stayed AKL Club Level and the Kids LOVED It! It's funny what characters they adore.
Here's dd with Donald:

And Ds getting his very first haircut in Magic Kingdom:

For this trip, I'm learning from fellow Disers and doing as much as we can b/c I don't know when we'll have the chance to be on DCL again (although if I had the frequent flyer miles, DH would have us back on the EBTA in May - too bad the airfare is astronomical!)

And this is one of the both of them from the same trip as Miko. I don't think they even knew who he was, but they liked that he was soft & fuzzy.

 

[abbyar]

I like to think of us as a budget-concious family. We go on vacation, but we want to make sure we get the most for every vacation dollar we spend. Hey, we have 4 kids to put through college! I've read on other trip reports that most Disers assume that one should take the price of the cruise and double it. Frankly, I don't know how people stay within that assumption! Perhaps b/c we spent a good deal on first time expenses this time.

Cruise: $4527.88 (IGT, 2A,2C)
Airfare: $20 (points - all that work travel came in handy! Plus $5 pp 9/11 fee)
Everything else brings us to under the 2x number, but with the airfare we'd be right at it. So, yes, I see it as a good assumption.

 

[braysmommy]

Cute pictures!

Can't wait to hear about all your fun on this trip we will be on the WBPC in May and are so looking forward to it.

My DS's first cruise was the EBTA when he was almost 5 and he loved it. I packed every type of seasick medication I could find but the seas were so calm it wasn't needed....which means I will pack it all again for this trip.

 

[abbyar]

Can't wait to hear about all your fun on this trip we will be on the WBPC in May and are so looking forward to it.
.

I'll have all the Navigators and info posted after our trip - I'll have Christmas week to recoup and put everything together in a memory book.

 

[abbyar]

I ordered DH a new swimsuit (shh... It's a Christmas present - don't tell!) But the website I ordered it from said it hasn't shipped from the store yet (ARGH!!) so now I don't know what to do. Hopefully it ships by tomorrow, and it will arrive Friday. Otherwise, it'll get returned, then I'll have to clean up that mess after we get back. And find him another swimsuit.

I booked our rental car in Miami back in April - total of $210.82, which assumes 128 miles at $.37 a mile (unlimited mileage not free, blah!) Today when I went to print it from the Hertz site, it showed that the new rate is $180 a day! Total of almost $450!! So I called and they assured me I'd get my confirmed price - I printed out 2 extra copies of the reservation. I'm dreading a problem once we get to the agency. Yikes.
Update: I booked with National at Collins Ave. I'll have to take a cab over, and come back to pick up dh & the kids (likely easier than us all piling into the cab), but the savings is significant so it will be worthwhile. One less thing to worry about.

Now where is that swimsuit!?!

 

[BethC1952]

Your kids are adorable! I can't wait to meet them in person!

If you're really interested in the EBTA, talk to my DH during our cruise. He's great at finding cheap airfares. He's a night owl, and he likes the challenge of finding the cheapest of anything he can online. He'll be glad to tell you which airlines are affordable enough that we're doing that cruise LOL!!!

Beth

 

[abbyar]

Hi Beth - The absolute cheapest we could find is $1200 each, which is suprisingly affordable given that it's one-way to Galveston from EWR then return from Spain, but still too expensive for 4 of us. We'll have to go in a few years when I've saved up enough frequent flyer miles. I'm about halfway there, so perhaps 2014 it will be doable.

 

[beadel]

We will be on the Panama Canal Cruise. It would be great if we could meet another DVC member for a chat.
Kitty and Jim Bauer and Devon (10 yo)

 

[tap & dap]

need help with new cruise pinata vinylmation

hi this is a crazy question but it has worked in the past so here it goes was wondering if anyone here would be willing to buy me one of Disney Vinylmation 3" Figure i think it´s called pinata it will be offered on this cruise will pay for the vinylmation plus shipping if you can help please let me know thanks have a great cruise

picture of vinylmation