feb 15, 2003 cruisers?

[yensidfan99]

My wife and I will also be on this cruise and we are also from the West coast, Seattle, WA. We are actually going on the Eastern the week before and then staying on and meeting my brother and parents for the Feb 15 Western cruise. This will make our 5th cruise with Disney. My parents and brother think that we are nuts but we assured them that there was plenty to do that would keep them happy. I think they are afraid that it is to geared towards the little ones.

 

[TeamMom011]

Welcome, yensiDFan. What a pleasant surprise to have another Washington couple in our little group here. GO! Mariners I'm not even going to mention to my DH that you're doing the back to back thing. That's what he wanted to do but since the likelihood of us getting back East anytime soon is slim, I pretty much insisted we spend that second week at WDW. I'd prefer my son see it before he has his college degree. You do get to keep the same cabin for both weeks, don't you?

Thanks for the input Valerie. Any info I can use to make him more comfortable makes me feel better. Sort of the reverse of "if momma ain't happy, then nobody's happy"

 

[yensidfan99]

Yes, we get the same cabin. I have gotten conflicting reports from DCL as to whether or not we'll have to get off the ship. A couple of people have said we don't and one said we had to get off for customs reasons (just touch land) but all say that our luggage can stay in our rooms so we won't have to pack and then unpack. We are also going to WDW but only for four days after the cruise. I just could not see going all the way to Florida and not seeing the Magic Kingdom. Thankfully my DW understood and was able to accomodate my dreams.

 

[moocow35]

Buzznbelle'smom,

Your niece will be in the common grounds with my daughter. Is this her first Disney Cruise? She will definately have the time of her life. There is a whole group of them going again this year.

Yensidfan99,

All I have to say is I am so jealous!!!!!!! Maybe one day when I hit the lottery, or my company decides to double my Christmas bonus

Robin ºOº

 

[yensidfan99]

moocow35,

I am just glad that my boss was good enough to allow me 2 plus weeks off. I think it is to make up for all the year end stuff when I am working 70 hours a week to ready for our year end statements. I need two weeks after that just to recuperate. I kind of had to do the first week for my DW since the second week my family will be on board. She will need some down time to ready herself for their crazy antics and my fathers constant nagging and wanting to go and do something. He does not understand how we can just lie in the sun for hours on end.

 

[TeamMom011]

Our thread seems to have dropped waaay back, so I thought I'd post this to give us a "bump" up to see if there are any new FEBRUARY 15 2003 cruisers that might like to join our roll call. Noticed this morning that the thread for the Feb 1 cruise has 13 pages and posts from almost 20 families. Hoping we can find some more friends from our cruise.

On a personal note, I'm embarrassed to tell you how ridiculously excited I am already. It's been a long time since I've had a vacation that consisted of something more than a trip to Seattle to see a couple of Mariners' games. Not that that's a bad thing, it just doesn't come anywhere close to generating the kind of excitement that planning for this cruise does...and planning I am. I finally broke down and started putting all my notes, Excel spreadsheets, etc in a binder to keep it all organized and handy for my frequent consultation. I take my having fun very seriously.

 

[VJMorrell]

Hi Tomi,

Good idea to keep the thread going! Glad you are so excited-you will have a great time on the cruise I am sure! Are you big Mariners Fans? My brother lived in Seattle for several years and we visited him back in 93 and took in a game at the old Kingdome. We are big Yankee fans here. Now onto the important subject...the cruise!

Has anyone started thinking about excursions or what they want to do onboard (Spa, Palo etc??).

Valerie

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I've already started thinking about what we want to do, and when. The excursions were first, but we're definitely doing Palo's one night (not sure which). The spa, I'm less sure...I read the thread on "issues" with the Surial spa, which we were going to do, but the points brought up there hit close to home, so now I'm debating. As my signature states, we;re cruising on my birthday, and I've already dropped the hint that shipboard credits make lovely gifts (feel free to contribute anyone else out there! ). I was thinking it would be nice to treat myself to soem spa things. Still debating--it's not typical for me to do spa-type stuff. I'm also considering having my hair braided. So, relax, you're not the only one dreaming of the cruise!

 

[Mumph39]

We have a large group going! My family DH, DSx3 (13, 12, 5) and myself were on the same cruise last year. Had a blast. This year we a taking the neighborhood with us. Neighbors #1 have a DS14 and DD11, Neighbors #2 have a DS13, DD10, DS5 and they are also bringing their Mom and Sister. We also know of 2 other families from our town booked to go. Should be an incredible time!

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Well, we WERE going...everything was planned...but, you know the expression, "Man plans, God laughs?" I took a pregnancy test this morning, and I won't be able to cruise in Feb.! Alternative plans are in the works, we may get to cruise in Jan., but not with you guys. Enjoy the Feb. cruise anyway!

 

[VJMorrell]

Glad you can join us Mumph39 !!
BuzznBelle-great news, but you will be missed. Congratulations!

 

[TeamMom011]

Apologies for not saying "hi" earlier but here's a belated Welcome! to you Mumph39 and to all your neighbors. Nothing like bringing the party with you.

 

[Tink Fans]

Greetings from Long Island!

We'll be joining you all too. Me, DH, 2 DD's 7 & 5, Brother, wife and I think 3 of their 4 kids - nephew 14, nieces 13 and 10.

Wow! This is just what I need to start planning our trip. Haven't been on this board in a long time.

We are all flying down Wednesday and staying at BW before the cruise sails. Brother and SIL are thinking of Xcaret Park in Cozumel -- they saw it on Travel Channel last week and said it looked awesome. Gotta go read up on those excursions and get with the program.

 

[VJMorrell]

Hi Tink,

We are flying down on Wednesday before also. We will be at the Beach Club Villas. We are DVCers & the BW is our home resort, but we thought we would give the Beach Club a try this time. We are going to the BW the first week in November for just a few days. Where are you flying out of? We sometimes go to LaGuardia but it is just as easy to catch a flight out of Hartford. We were thinking about the same excursion in Cozumel. We just love the beach. Anyone else decided??

Valerie

 

[Tink Fans]

Hi Valerie,

Our home resort is also BW, and we just did an add-on at BCV's, although we haven't stayed there as of yet. Just used some of those points to book HH for Easter week (it will be our first time staying there). My brother's family will also be at BW for Halloween and a few days after. I'm a bit jealous as I just read somewhere they are having all kinds of festivities, trick-or-treating etc. on the BW. Sure do miss that place!

We'll be leaving on the 12th from Kennedy. For the past few years we drove down to Florida -- my husband likes having his car. I had enough of that insanity and booked the flights back in early July.

Do you know anyone who has been to Xcaret? It would have been great to see the show on Travel channel. As far as Key West, I think we'll just do our own thing. Staying away from snorkling as I don't think my DD's will want to do it for more than 5 minutes, plus they're afraid of sharks ME too! Just spent a week at the beach with my oldest who wouldn't put her body in the water past her ankles. Imagine if she could see what was actually in there? I'll let them try it at Castaway Cay and maybe they'll want to go when they are a little older.

Having only done the 3-day cruise, We are definitely looking forward to the 7 day.

Maureen

 

[DOCTORRICK]

Anybody new?

I just sent in our last payment, and I'm starting to think about shore excursions!

 

[TeamMom011]

Hey, DoctorRick- congratulations on sending in that last payment! Does it make it seem all that much more real?

The Nelson family still has no idea what we're going to be doing. We think that on Key West we'll just do some wandering with a "cheeseburger in paradise" at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville being the objective. We're not parrotheads but DS-11 knows all the words of the song and that's his mental image of the Caribbean. On Grand Cayman we're leaning toward the Stingray excursion since we've heard over and over on these boards that it's a must see. At Cozumel I want to do the dolphin swim but I'd have to schedule it myself rather than through DCL and that makes me nervous. DH just wants to lay on the beach, eat tacos and drink cold beer. But even that would leave us with deciding between DCL's excursion to Playa del Sol or taking off on our own to Mister Sanchez's. DS has simple wants and needs. He just wants to go play mini golf.

Over the last couple of months I've collected some links about excursions. If you haven't seen these, they might give you some things to consider.

http://www.historictours.com/keywest/

http://grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com/
http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/

http://www.cozumelmycozumel.com/index.htm
http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/swim.htm
http://annuit.com/spiffytek/oceania/minigolf/

Good to hear from you. Any of our other Feb 15 travelers have any other thoughts?

 

[Mumph39]

This thread hasn't been up in a while, so I thought I'd bring it back to life seeing that today is the day that final payments are due.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I promised myself that I wouldn't obsess on the cruise until January. However, I find it hard not to.

Enjoy your trip planning!

 

[DOCTORRICK]

I was just about to do bump the thread myself!

Just to remind everyone, as of today you can book your disney excursions.
I still haven't decided what to do on key west yet.

Doing playa del sol on cozumel (good web site http://www.playasol.com.mx/) Looks fun for our younger kids, and something our whole group of 15 can do together.

On cayman going to do the short sting ray city at noon, and doing horseback riding in the morning (non disney excursion)

Going to do the banana boats on cc.

Heard about the "jet ski tour" on key west (non disney excursion) but can't find any info on it.

 

[TeamMom011]

Hi to all!! ROLL CALL!! Are we all still here and are there anymore of us that have come on board while our thread was lying dormant? At last count, my type-A, organizing personality had counted a pretty good sized group from the DisBoards:
DOCTORRICK (from MA) with a group of 14, Disneybets (from NY) a party of 4 plus friends, Moocow35 (from CT) 4+ in her group, VJMorrell (also from CT) 4 cruisers, Yensidfan99 (from WA) 2 cruisers doing the first leg of a back to back, Mumph39 (also from NY) another party of 14, Tink Fans (yet another from NY) with 9 in their group, and me TeamMom011 (also from WA) previously party of 3, now 4 (added a buddy for DS). I promise I'm not a stalker or anything keeping track of us all like this, just apparently had waaay too much time on my hands one evening.

We have already booked our excursions (also not through DCL). Still no plans on Key West but ended up with the 2 hour Captain Marvin's Stingray snorkel trip on GC and the dolphin swim on Cozumel. Two questions for DOCTORRICK (or anyone else that might have the answer): I see you're planning the banana boats on CC. Should those be booked right away or can that be more of a last minute decision? And have you asked Shirley at the Perfect Gift to track down the jet ski tour for you. She seems to be an amazing source of Key West information if the ones that come up on a web search aren't the one you're looking for.