Feb. 21, 2004 Eastern Cruise

[woody64]

I knew it Gina We didn't pack for our 3 days in CA until the night before. After Christmas we will start putting things together. I have a list on the computer of things to pack. We are still watching airfares as all the sales going on now are for the holiday season, which is hard to believe.

Bruce

 

[christinou]

I am mentally packed, I have been for about 2 months now, our excursions are picked, my husdand will scuba dive both in St. Martin and St. Thomas, the girls and I will do the same as Gina in St. Martin, go to Great neck beach in the morning, get back on the ship for lunch then I want to get back out for some shopping, I need to buy some clothes for tropical night.
Then in St Thomas I thought that it would be fun for the girls and I to take to "trolley thingie" to the top of the mountain.
Gina, let's go the the Beach together, anyone else wants to go.
I was thinking of bringing a couple of buckets, and just let the kids have fun in the sand.....

 

[Gina]

Gina, let's go the the Beach together, anyone else wants to go.
I was thinking of bringing a couple of buckets, and just let the kids have fun in the sand.....

That would be great!! That is exactly what I was wanting to do -- just let Tyler Dean play in the water and sand while I lie there like a slug and just enjoy being there. *smiles* I usually buy a few $1 disposable rafts and such to bring, blow up, and just leave there when we're done.

And I can't wait to do more shopping in St. Maarten... I got the most gorgeous tropical outfits there for the both of us last time. If you want to, I'd love to have a shopping buddy too, after lunch!

-gina-

 

[woody64]

We are doing the opposite in St. Maarten. My FIL goes sailing, my wife and MIL go shopping and the boys and I stay on the ship in the morning. Last year there were maybe 5 kids in the pools in the morning, including my 2! Plus we have ice cream from Scoops at 10:45 am and DW doesn't even know...until DS5 tells her. He doesn't know "guy code" yet. We then eat on baord, hop the water taxi and we're beachin' it. Just another option.

Gina: my wife also found this great tropical dress for something like $10! She loved the dress, I loved the price!

Bruce

 

[bassoongirl]

Boy, either option sounds good to me! Spending the morning at the beach and then going shopping or spending the morning on the ship and the afternoon on the beach. Decisions, decisions! It will be nice not to have an excursion planned in St. Maarten so we can be flexible.

Bruce, what is available to rent at Great Bay Beach? Chairs, swim rafts (I don't want to share mine!), jet skis?

Gayl

 

[woody64]

Gayl:

They have chairs and umbrellas for sure. They also had a water inflatable pyramid thing for the kids to climb on and slide down that you can buy a wrist band for the day. They also had jet skis. I don't remember floats though. I'll try and look at our pics again and get back to you.

My kids just loved getting washed up the beach by the waves. With the jet skis and stuff going by there were some decent waves that came up on shore. They would lay on the sand and it would wash them up the beach. Also the sand is more course almost like crushed shells. The water is pretty shallow for a good ways into the water so we felt safe letting the kids wade around in it.

Bruce

 

[christinou]

The water pyramid climbing thing sounds great, do you have any photos of that by any change, I know my girls would love it, and might want to spend all day there.....
Is the beach the second stop with the water taxi....
And no I am not obsessive

 

[bassoongirl]

Christinou,

You are only as obsessed as I am!

Bruce,

That pyramid-thing sounds great! We may rent jet skis too. We rent a cottage every summer for a week in northern Michigan and have rented jet skis. My husband and kids love it! I prefer to go "medium" on a jet ski (not too fast and not too slow) which is hard to do!

Have a good weekend,

Gayl

 

[Gina]

I'd much rather get up early and go have fun, then be back for nap time. LOL Plus, St. Maarten day will be Tyler Dean's birthday, and although he won't take a nap, I want to build in some afternoon quiet time so he can recharge and not be cranky later.

That trampoline thing does sound fun... if it's not in too deep of water, TD will love it!

-gina-

 

[woody64]

The pyramid thingy is in deeper water because of safety concerns. It's maybe 6' -7' tall so if you fall off you don't get your head stuck in the sand like Goofy always does. I don't think we have a picture of it but will look some more.

The beach is more or less right as you get off the water taxi. It only goes from the dock to the beach/shopping area. So there really is no second stop, unless the pirates take over.

Bruce

 

[Gina]

...we only have *12* Saturday's left!!! (Not counting the Saturday we sail, because it'll kinda be too late to worry about much by then)

Only 12, can you believe it??? I start to completely panic when I think about that, because Í still have stuff I need to get for the both of us, but then I calm myself by telling myself that that means in 12 Saturday's I will be on the most beautiful ship in the world, Malibu Colada in hand, with some of the greatest DIS folks in the world, all ready to party. And then I feel better.

For anyone traveling this week for Thanksgiving, safe journies to you!

-gina-

 

[bassoongirl]

Gina,

I like your thinking! Any way to make the time until the cruise go by faster is good with me!

Just this weekend, my family started asking me about the excursions available. I think they are finally getting a little excited abut the cruise.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for being able to take a Disney cruise and for my new DIS friends.

Gayl

 

[woody64]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We are off to Minneapolis and the kids can't wait to go sledding and if you offered me a free DCL cruise to go to the Mall of America this weekend I think I would have to turn it down!

I am thankful for all of my new friends here on our cruise(and can't wait to meet in person) also and hope everyone has a great holiday.

Gobble, gobble

Bruce

 

[woody64]

Back from snowy MN. Hope everyone had a good Tgiving. Couldn't let this go to the 2nd page without some effort. Almost under 80.

Woody

 

[christinou]

We are getting close, and with the holidays in the middle the time is going to fly by.......
It is really snowing here, and the roads are awful, just looking at pictures of castaway cay makes me feel a lot better.

 

[bassoongirl]

christinou,

Here in Michigan, it is clear and sunny (just like Castaway Cay!), except that the temperature is only about 30 degrees with a windchill in the teens. Brrr! It will be so nice to leave the cold weather in Michigan and enjoy the warm weather on our cruise in February!


Woody,

Have you got your plane tickets yet? I still check the airfares everyday on the internet, but I haven't seen much change in prices.

Gayl

 

[woody64]

Gayl,

Flights are "down" to around $280 non-stop. We will keep watching and possibly cash in some miles. Hope they drop lower though.

Woody

 

[whytcrystal]

Hello Everyone!
Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday. We are in the middle of a 2 day snowstorm. Yuck. Looking forward to the cruise more and more although the men are sick of us women talking about it! I am looking for a 'penpal' for my 11 year old DN who she can talk to before the cruise. Would any of the children be interested?

 

[woody64]

Hello snowy NH!,

My 2 boys are so upset we missed the snow. They were able to sled with cousins in MN over Tgiving and now want snow. We were supposed to get snow with the same storm here in Chicago but it only rained.

I just posted a couple messages and one pic on our yahoo site. Check'em out and tell me what you think.

As far as a pen pal the best I can offer is an almost 9 yr old boy. I'll ask and see what he says.

Bruce

 

[bassoongirl]

Whytcrystal,

My 12-year-old daughter may be interested in communicating with your DN. Knowing someone ahead of time, may make the cruise more fun for her. She is already worried that the Oceaneer Lab may be too "boring" for her. I highly doubt that!

Enjoy the snow. My kids are very jealous. We have cold weather, but no snow. They can't wait to go sledding. My daughter is anxious to try snow-boarding too. Ugh! From what my friends tell me, it is very painful for grown-ups (because they fall so often)!

Gayl