Feb.4,2006. Who else is sailing?

[mark_story]

this will be our third cruise with dcl. we did a 4 day to the bahama's in feb 04 and we were on the first cruise they offered to mexico memorial day week this year. as for her parents it will be there first with dcl.

You're way ahead of the curve. This will be my family's second cruise -- we did our first one last February and fell in love with DCL. We are counting down the days (191 from today, I think).

Where are you guys from? Will it be a nice break from winter where you live?

Mark

 

[dmes411459]

we all live in ohio. it will be a nice break from the winter. yea we enjoyed our 2 cruises so much that we are going to try to do this once a year.we're excited about going it will be our first time at all ports except cc.

dan

 

[mark_story]

we all live in ohio. it will be a nice break from the winter. yea we enjoyed our 2 cruises so much that we are going to try to do this once a year.we're excited about going it will be our first time at all ports except cc.

dan

Dan,

We're in the Washington, DC area and our winters are not as bad as what you must get in Ohio, so a week in paradise must be a nice escape for you. You're really covering all the ports, aren't you?

We're excited (and hopeful for good weather) on CC, because last time we were thre, it rained the whole day. And there's not much to do on CC when it's raining. Plus it was the last day of the cruise -- we were already bummed out.

Are you guys flying in early? We've decided to fly down two days in advance and stay at the Radisson.

Mark

 

[dmes411459]

yea, the winters can be alittle on the cold side at times, so it will be a nice break to be sitting on the beach in 80 degree weather for a little while. we plan on doing the all the cruises that disney offers. we only have left the western cruise. then i think we may try another cruise line to see if there is any difference betweent the two. how bout you?

when we were at cc it was kinda overcast and rainy. we also went to the adult beach there and there was some kind of seaweed stuff all over the edge of the water against the beach. it did kinda suck.

we are not flying in early. we get in about 10:30 the day we sail and we are leaving at 1:30 the day we get back. what are you doing with your extra days? going to WDW?

dan

 

[steveandtonya]

Welcome Dan and family and umpiresld. Only six months away. I haven't been on for awhile. My wife is in charge of the state PTA convention for Oklahoma next weekend, so things have been a little crazy around here. Just keep thinking of a relaxing week on the ocean. Umpiresld, where is it you live in PA? I grew up in northwestern PA. in the Allegheny National Forest. Talk to you all later.
Steve

 

[mark_story]

yea, the winters can be alittle on the cold side at times, so it will be a nice break to be sitting on the beach in 80 degree weather for a little while. we plan on doing the all the cruises that disney offers. we only have left the western cruise. then i think we may try another cruise line to see if there is any difference betweent the two. how bout you?

when we were at cc it was kinda overcast and rainy. we also went to the adult beach there and there was some kind of seaweed stuff all over the edge of the water against the beach. it did kinda suck.

we are not flying in early. we get in about 10:30 the day we sail and we are leaving at 1:30 the day we get back. what are you doing with your extra days? going to WDW?

dan

Dan,

I think that we're just going to chill out a bit for the extra day and a half in Florida -- maybe go to Cape Canaveral to see the space museum there. My children are both under 5, so DW might be s bit much for them. The Radisson has a heated pool, so I think that will end up occupying my children for most of the time anyway. There's so much to do and see on DCL that a couple of days of idle time will be great.

Mark

 

[mark_story]

Welcome Dan and family and umpiresld. Only six months away. I haven't been on for awhile. My wife is in charge of the state PTA convention for Oklahoma next weekend, so things have been a little crazy around here. Just keep thinking of a relaxing week on the ocean. Umpiresld, where is it you live in PA? I grew up in northwestern PA. in the Allegheny National Forest. Talk to you all later.
Steve

Steve,

It's good to see you back in this board. It's really starting to gather some steam, which I think will just increase as the day gets closer (187 days from today, not that I'm counting).

I think that I'll really start to get excited at the 90-day mark, when we can make our excursion plans and book a bunch of things on the Disney site.

Mark

 

[dmes411459]

hello steve and thanks for the welcome. it will be nice when it gets here.

dan

 

[dmes411459]

mark

sounds relaxing. there is a lot to do on the ship don't blame you for taking it easy. i was at the space station about 10 years ago and enjoyed it alot. have you put any thought into what you would like to do on your excursions?

dan

 

[mark_story]

mark

sounds relaxing. there is a lot to do on the ship don't blame you for taking it easy. i was at the space station about 10 years ago and enjoyed it alot. have you put any thought into what you would like to do on your excursions?

dan

Dan,

I've actually done quite a bit of investigating on the excursions. We got the Passporter book a couple of months ago and I've also read dozens of posts on this board regarding what people liked and what they didn't like.

While the name escapes me right now, there is a submarine tour at St. Maarten that people universally rave about. I've got the page bookmarked somewhere.

And I'm sure that. weather permitting, we'll spend a lot of time on the beaches. The big question for us is whether to book through Disney or just get off the ship, take a taxi over and do things for ourselves.

And although it's not an excursion, the one thing that we didn't do last time but will be sure to is to have dinner at Palo's. People say it's can't miss.

Have you guys given thought to excursions?

Mark

 

[dmes411459]

mark,

we haven't really given any thought to the excursions. we will probably snorkel on castaway cay. i think that will be something to do as long as the weathers nice. i've never snorkeled before. as far as the other ports i would like to do some sight seeing. don't really know if i will ever get back there so might as well make the best most of it.

what is this passporter book? where do you get one? the tour you are talking about wouldn't be the "see and sea tour" would it?

palo's for dinner is nice but we enjoyed the brunch more. amy doesn't really care for real itallian food although i thought it was good. the brunch had a mixture of sea food and itallian food in it.

dan

 

[dee47]

My name is Dee and this will be my 6th DCL cruise, the 2nd one with my friend Kat. I'll try to drag her over to the boards soon. Kat and I are leaving the husbands / kids at home because our first cruise together was such as blast, we had to do it again!

Hopefully no space shuttle diseasters this time -- Kat and I left home for our last cruise on 2/1/2003...not cool.

We booked Cat 6 through DU -- they had a group rate that was dirt cheap...

Most recently I did (with DH and DS) the 10-day cruise. We did a game of TAG among the DISers on board, with magnetic Mickey heads. If anyone is interested, we need to compile a list of stateroom #s. I can explain when I have more time.

I can'r wait to go. First I have WDW in 20 days to look forwared to.

Anyone plans on staying at the MCO Hyatt the night before? I have this tradition of breakfast at Hemisphere the morning of the cruise

TTYL!

 

[dmes411459]

hello dee,

welcome to the board. tag sounds like it might be fun, i'd be interested. we are flying in the day ofthe cruise and leaving the day we get back.

since you've been on 6 cruises before have you ever been to any of these ports?

dan

 

[UMPIRESLD]

Good morning.......We have been to these ports before and as far as St Martin goes, the Dutch side is within walking distance.....stores on the main st. and then we were picked up at the port and taken to orient bay where we rode horses on trails and the beach... "a part of the beach that usually doesn't have many people on it"...were then taken to Orient beach and chairs, drinks and an umbrella were part of the package....were then picked up and taken back to the port.......We would like to go to the French side this time .....Its good to see all the people on the board..... ..........Steve

 

[dee47]

Hi Dan,

Yes, I've been to these ports several times. We've done both excursions and on our own. In St Maarten we walked to the shopping area on the Dutch side, and we rented a taxi to take us to Orient Bay on the French side. We agreed on a time for the taxi driver to come back and pick us up, and enjoyed the beach. Be aware, though it wasn't a problem for us, that Orient Bay is a topless beach, and some people are unaware of that and return unhappy (topless is optional, but you'll defintely see it).

We did the Eco-hike on St John, which was a GREAT expereince and paced so that even my then-6-y/o DS enjoyed it. I was once booked on the Trunk Beach excursion, but that day (Feb. again) was stormy and considered unsafe for snorkeling, so they took us to a different island to snorkel, and we still had fun. I'd like to try Trunk Bay, though. In St. Thomas itself we did the Atlantis Submarine (FANTASTIC!!!! A+) and took the gondola up to Paradise Point, the highest pt. on the island. The view was great, the shops cute, the parrot show was a hit with my son, and all in all it was a great place to spend several hours.

Castaway Cay defies description. You always need more time there

Does this help???

 

[dmes411459]

dee,

as far as the submarine tour, is it called the "see and sea tour" that disney offers.

i was also wondering that if you decide to do excursions without going through disney is there anyway to set those up before you go on the cruise? if there is how?

dan

 

[dee47]

as far as the submarine tour, is it called the "see and sea tour" that disney offers.

No. See and Sea is in St Maarten. The Atlantis sub is in St. Thomas, and that's the one I was talking about.

We haven't done any excursions that were non-Disney in the islands we're visiting this cruise, though like I said we did explore on our own, including Coral World in St Thomas and the Paradise Point Tramway (different cruises).

There are manyDISers who booked their own excursions not through Disney -- you can post a question on the main cruise board here. We did this for Antigua, but of course that's not on the 2/4 itinerary

 

[dmes411459]

dee,

thanks for the info. i'll have to look into that.

looks like we're the only 2 on here now.

dan

 

[steveandtonya]

We are still here. School is starting soon and getting ready for that cuts down on computer time. I'm sure things will pick up in the fall when it starts getting colder and we all dream of Carribbean sunshine and drinks on the beach.
Steve

 

[mark_story]

Hey guys,

We're still here too but have been on vacation (our last until February 4th!). Glad to see that things have really picked up steam here!

176 days from today -- not that I'm counting.

Mark