Fantasy 7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise 3/8/14 - 3/14/14

[Diveman]

Welcome MeganH and family! We have been waiting since January 7th (when we finished our 1st Disney cruise) so waiting the next 8 months will seem like a walk in the park. Reading all the tips here will keep the time flying!

 

[Silverfox97]

Hey y'all ~

So I know it's super early, but I just want to toss this out there....

Is there anyone interested in joining us to do St John on our own? We are planning to go to Cinnamon Bay in St John. I am planning on using Islander Taxi to meet us at the Fantasy dock. Alvin will have a sign up with our names in it and will get us to the Red Hook Ferry dock. Then, he will arrange transportation there to take us and pick us up at Cinnamon Bay beach, and then back to the ferry dock, and then he'll get us back to the ship with time to spare.

A group of 11 DISers (including us) used Islander Taxi for an island tour of St. Thomas this past March and it was great. Reasonably priced & a great tour. I found out from another DISer that Alvin arranges St John transport and if you've ever been, you know that St John is pure paradise!!!

Here's the post from the DISer that did it in Sept 2012:

We did it. Had an awesome time and we will be doing it again this year. Here are some ideas for you.

1. We were concerned about having enough time on a short port day, so we made sure we were the first off the boat at 7:30 in the morning.

2. I arranged transportation ahead of time. I contacted Alvin at Islander Taxi on St. Thomas and he was waiting for us when we disembarked on St. Thomas. He also arranged transportation on St. John for us coming and going. Thanks to Alvin, we were able to make the 8 am ferry to St. John which gave us an extra hour on St. John and put us on Trunk Bay beach before anyone else was there.

3. We left earlier than we had planned and our driver on St. John phoned Islander taxi and they were waiting to take us back to the ship .

4. We had a group of twenty going but for different reasons we ended up with 12 actually making the trip and it was no problem. The minimum is 10 people.

5. Have all of your cash together so one person can buy all of the ferry tickets to save time. You pay the taxi on the return trip, not each way if you arrange transportation ahead of time.

6. The cost for an adult was around $40 per person for both taxis and the ferry and about $10 cheaper for kids under 11.

We had such a great experience last year that many people in our DIS group are joining us this year.

Islander Taxi
http://www.islandertaxiservice.com
Tell Alvin you want the same arrangement as Paul White on the September 12th, 2012 Fantasy St. Thomas port day.
------------------------------------------------------

PM me if interested!! I'll have ssanders79 add it on the first page

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[Goofy559]

So, we just returned from sailing the new Royal Princess in the Med - my DD has asked that we sail it again for March break, so we are jumping ship, so to speak. Have a great time on the Fantasy!

Lisa

 

[candizfan]

Southwest rates are out for Detroit to Orlando for March 7th if anyone else is looking to fly out Friday night from the area.

I was able to get one way tickets - non stop for $151 each.

 

[kreeder2]

This will be our second Disney Cruise, but we are new to the Fish Extender thing. When do you cut off the list and not allow any more additions, so we can finalize our gifts? Also, so most people purchase individual gifts for each person or one gift for each cabin?

 

[Silverfox97]

This will be our second Disney Cruise, but we are new to the Fish Extender thing. When do you cut off the list and not allow any more additions, so we can finalize our gifts? Also, so most people purchase individual gifts for each person or one gift for each cabin?

Usually the cut off date is around or on the paid in fill date. I've been in cruises where it's closed 60-74 days before we sail. We've typically always added late comers to the list under a 'added after the cut off date' with the understanding that they may not receive gifts from everyone.

We personally have done our FE gifts differently. Most cruises I've given to each child, but a room of just adults gets 1 adult gift. I just began working on my cruise for Oct and have done it this way. However, for our cruise in Oct 2014, it's one gift per stateroom regardless of who is in it. I haven't decided about this cruise yet

I'm just one cruiser; hopefully others can chime in and give you how they do it as well!

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[lisahall]

Hi Friends,
I am knew to the DIS Board. I want to meet other families and be part of the fun on the cruise. We have a 14 year old son that will be saling with us. Let me know how this works!

 

[Billinaz]

You can join us on the facebook page as well.

I have a 14 (15 when we sail) year old .... if youd like he has an email address you can use for them to get to know each other before we sail (I monitor it).

This way they can have an instant friend to do things with onboard!

 

[Silverfox97]

Hi Friends,
I am knew to the DIS Board. I want to meet other families and be part of the fun on the cruise. We have a 14 year old son that will be saling with us. Let me know how this works!

There are also some group events/excursions that are listed on the first page of this thread if you are interested. There are already two families doing the trip over to St. John. See if you are interested in any of those; plus, there's always the DIS Meet

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[popisme]

On our last cruise I made gifts for everyone and also special gifts for the children. It was a lot of work but I was really happy with what I did. I will probably do the same thing for this cruise.


It really depends on what you are doing and the cost of the supplies.


Getting really excited!!!

 

[candizfan]

The last cruise we were on was the first time I was involved in a FE.

I ordered magnets with a picture of Castaway Cay and the ships on it. I had them print the dates of the cruise as well. We also gave out snack size candy bars.

I am not sure it they were good gifts or not. I am never sure what people expect... I didn't want to give out anything heavy with having to pay for luggage.

 

[candizfan]

My DD15 is looking to make contact with someone her age so she can exchange emails before we cruise and have someone to hang out with on the ship.

We have done this a couple of times with great success. To our surprise, her friend was on the same cruise as us on another trip!

Anyone interested can PM me. I do believe they should have monitored contact until we parents can see how the conversation is progressing.

 

[mab2012]

5 months from now we board our flight. Not that I'm counting, of course.

It was 15 months out when I booked, so I suppose I'll live through 5 more.

 

[candizfan]

Us too! We are flying out of Detroit and staying over night near the port.

 

[Silverfox97]

I promise to get excited about this cruise soon - we board the new Magic in 12 days for a B2B!!!

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[Diveman]

We are flying in from Toronto late on Friday night and staying at the Hyatt. We are then taking the Magic Express to the port in the morning. Anyone have any tips on what time to book my arrival time for?

 

[Silverfox97]

What a day full of emotions -

Our 10/20 cruise on the reimagined Magic cancelled - ship not ready. Full refund and free 5-night cruise (or 35% off a different Magic cruise) given.

TA gets us ont0 10/27 Magic Halloween cruise. This is a free cruise. Still get to be on the Magic "first" and B2B the 2-night 10/25 with the 10/27 (don't have the same stateroom but we'll survive). Moved hotel room.

About 6:30pm, TA calls and moved previously cancelled 10/20 Magic (which was an on board booking) to the 10/20 Dream.

So instead of leaving Saturday, on Sunday AM, we'll drive over to PC, board the Dream, get off ship 10/24 drive to Miami and stay in a hotel and board the Magic 10/25 for 7-nights.

Phew! Vacation saved

 

[KTills]

Aw man, I had read all of that about the cancellation yesterday and wondered if anyone I knew in any of my FB groups, etc. was impacted. I'm sorry to hear about that! But, it looks like you're making something work! Phew!

What a day full of emotions -

Our 10/20 cruise on the reimagined Magic cancelled - ship not ready. Full refund and free 5-night cruise (or 35% off a different Magic cruise) given.

TA gets us ont0 10/27 Magic Halloween cruise. This is a free cruise. Still get to be on the Magic "first" and B2B the 2-night 10/25 with the 10/27 (don't have the same stateroom but we'll survive). Moved hotel room.

About 6:30pm, TA calls and moved previously cancelled 10/20 Magic (which was an on board booking) to the 10/20 Dream.

So instead of leaving Saturday, on Sunday AM, we'll drive over to PC, board the Dream, get off ship 10/24 drive to Miami and stay in a hotel and board the Magic 10/25 for 7-nights.

Phew! Vacation saved

 

[KTills]

I just PM'd you my info for FE! Thanks!
Kristin

The FE List has been updated.

 

[Silverfox97]

I just PM'd you my info for FE! Thanks! Kristin

He can add you to the late additions category, however, we are boarding the Dream 10/20 & won't be updating the FE list anymore after tomorrow.

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