February 11, 2006 Roll Call

[gmcutter]

... Does anyone know if there are limits as to how much you can bring?

I just read on another thread that 2 bags and a carry-on per passenger is what they allow. However, it was also mentioned that they didn't seem too concerned if there was an extra bag here and there.

I'm actually thinking of taking a big rolling duffel bag (flattens out well for under the bed) that will fit my stuff and my DS. DH will have to schlep his own...

 

[SoftBallChickuhh]

Hello... My family and I are going on the cruise this is our third time..im going with my husband and my daughter..My daughter is 14 and has friends that she met last time that are going as well..and they are all very ancious to see eachother again and are excited to meet some more teens as well.. Do anyof you have any teens that are going on the February 11th Western Cruise?? We love Disney very much!!

 

[sfeisen]

I finally feel like I can start really focusing on this cruise!

Whoo hoo.....we're going on a Disney cruise!

 

[atakaratemom]

Happy New Year to all my fellow 2/11 cruisers! Now that the holidays are over we can really start to think about our trip. Only 6 more weeks. I am looking forward to getting together at our DIS meet!

 

[gmcutter]

I haven't been able to pick up this tidbit of info since I joined this board. What exactly do the initials DIS stand for? And how do those of us on the DIS board "meet" up with everyone else?

 

[definately dory]

Happy New Year to everyone and lets all start packing. It seemed so far away when we started to plan for this trip and now as my daughters would say only 34 more sleeps for us. ( we are going to Disney for a week first). Are we still going to organize a chat before we go?

 

[RAC]

Only 40 more days!! We are staying at the Hilton Cocoa Beach the night before. I think we are going to Taxi over to the port from the hotel. Has anyone ever done this?

 

[atakaratemom]

I haven't been able to pick up this tidbit of info since I joined this board. What exactly do the initials DIS stand for? And how do those of us on the DIS board "meet" up with everyone else?

I'm not sure what DIS stands for, maybe Disney Information Sharing? As far as meeting on board, on my cruise last July, we agreed on a preselected time and place to meet during our cruise. It was great to be able to meet everyone I had been chatting with for months prior to our trip. We met in the Promenade Lounge on the first morning of our trip, but I've noticed many DIS meets are held on the departure day following the sail away party.

 

[definately dory]

Alright for everyone who has been before what is the one thing you wish you had of brought last time and will be this time? I soooo don't know what to pack. Are formal nights really formal or just dressy? Can hubby just wear a suit and tie? God forbid if he has to put on a penguin suit!! Should the kids be in formal wear as well or is it just an adult thing? I my I'm starting to panic, I see plans falling apart... LOL. I am an event planner by trade and I am sooo not used to having things planned for me. My husband tells me to let go of the control and just relax. God I need a vacation!!

 

[atakaratemom]

Dory I know what you mean. I was crazed last summer before our cruise. I am determined to be more relaxed this time. It is a vacation after all! To answer your questions I would honestly say that if anything I will bring less on this trip. I overpacked last time as I was so worried about forgetting anything. There are a couple of items I learned about on this board that I will definitely bring again such as a Glade Plugin Nightlight for the bathroom and lots of dollar bills for room service. I will also bring a wrap or sweater for both myself and DD for the dining rooms as we were both pretty cold at a couple of dinners. For formal night my DH wore a suit and DS wore dress pants, shirt and tie. On semi-formal night, DH wore dress pants, shirt and tie and DS just wore dress pants and a long sleeved polo shirt. DD and I wore dresses. This time she has a couple of Princess dresses to wear that I bought at the Disney store.

Another thing that I will do again is bring a couple items that the characters can autograph. Many people bring pillowcases, so I may do that this time. Last time I brought a princess poster for my DD and a t-shirt for DS. You give them to guest service along with permanent markers on the first day of your cruise and they return them on the last evening signed by all the characters. My kids thought it was the best surprise.

I can't believe it is getting so close!

 

[umber]

Here's my hints:
Lay out all the clothes you plan on taking.... Now, put half of them away and pack the rest!
Also another item I was thankful for... Get one of those cheap plastic shoe organizers that you hand on the back of the door. Counter space in the bathroom is limited so this is a great way to store and organize all your toiletries!
Also, this year I am bringing a photo mat to have the characters sign and then after the cruise I can frame it with our favorite photo from the trip!
Pack the kids bathing suits in your carry on so they can jump in the pool immediately. Last year I saw so many unhappy, fully clothed kids by the pool the first day and their parents saying "I wish we had carried on our bathing suits!"

I CAN"T WAIT!!!! The excitement is building!

 

[disneymum]

Hello Fellow Cruisers

This is our 2nd cruise aboard the Disney Magic, we were on the Magic
in 2001 for my daughter's 5th birthday Eastern Itinerary. This time my DH and I are taking the kids for both of their birthdays DS turns 4 AND DD turns 10, which of course they can't wait. O.k. maybe it's me that can't wait!

I was just wondering if anyone has completed the Western Cruise on the Magic and what excursions you recommend or if it's better/safe just to take a taxi and get them to take you around.

I've been to Key West before and we booked our own Trolley tour from Mallory Square, when we got off the ship and it was also safe enough to walk around. I do agree that if you have kids that the Southern Most Point is a quite a bit of a walk for little feet.

Hope to see you on the cruise.
Disneymum, Ontario.

 

[detroitdad]

Here's info regarding another post in case you've missed it. If you plan to attend please respond on the thread regarding the chat. Please join us!

ATTENTION Feb 11, 2006 MAGIC- It's time to CHAT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey fellow cruisers-

Now that the business of the holidays are over, it's time for us to start frequenting the chat room on this site to discuss plans, share ideas and get the enthusiasm going for our upcoming cruise (although that shouldn't be hard to do).

I thought I'd get the ball rolling. I will try to bump this post often so that as many of our fellow cruisers get a chance to see it and join in.

Let's schedule the first chat for this Friday, Jan 6th @ 9PM EST . (Friday night also happens to be the normally scheduled evening for cruise chat anyway.) All you need to do is go to the main discussions forum page. On the left hand side you will see a link for Chat Main. Click on that and it will take you to the chat login. If you haven't already registered as a user for the chat room, you will need to do so. I would recommend that we use Chat Room #2 as to not conflict with any scheduled chat going on in the Main Room. It really is very easy to use.

Please respond to this post if you plan to attend and if not, don't worry, we will certainly be scheduling more.

"Talk" to you soon!

 

[umber]

I'd love to join the chat... or at least try. I've never done a chat!

This is our 2nd cruise, we were on the same cruise last year (same week, same west. carib. trip). WE LOVED IT AND TOTALLY LUCKED OUT ON WEATHER!

In Key West, we've done just about everything there since we used to live there. So besides meeting some old friends for lunch we went to the Butterfly place on Duval street. It's absolutely beautiful. I'd highly recommend for everyone. You can walk there from the boat but if you have little one's bring a stroller, it might be a hike for them. The walk down Duval is always entertainment in itself!

Grand Caymen - We booked with Captain Marvin and visited Sting Ray city. That was a blast. Then we layed out on the 7 miles beach.

Cozumel - We booked through Disney (actually while we were on board) and did the boat that you sit down in the glass hull (sorry can't remember the name). That was very cool and gave the little one the opportunity to see the fish and marine life underwater... while staying dry. After we grabbed a cab and went to Mr. Santos where we just layed on the beach and enjoyed drinks brought straight to out beach chairs. Of course I don't know how the place has faired after the Hurricane. I will say the cab rides are a bit of a white knuckle experience. Make sure you know the going rates before you get a cab so you don't get fleeced.


So what is everyone doing on this trip. Honestly, I've booked nothing so far. I'm confused about what is really going on in Cozumel. It's tough being the first back for DCL. What have others heard?

 

[detroitdad]

I'd love to join the chat... or at least try. I've never done a chat!



So what is everyone doing on this trip. Honestly, I've booked nothing so far. I'm confused about what is really going on in Cozumel. It's tough being the first back for DCL. What have others heard?

For any of you that have never chatted through this site, it is incredibly easy.

Just go to the Main Discussions Page and on the left hand side is a link for Chat Main. You will then get the Login screen for chat. You will need to register if you haven't already done so. You will also see an option to "select a chat room". Under default rooms, scroll down for "room2", then just click on the chat button. This will take you to the chat room. On the right hand side you will see all the users that are currently in the room. Just type your message in the bottom box and hit enter and it will appear in the chat dialogue. It's really quite simple. The only thing that takes some getting used to is following discussions when there can be multiple subjects going on...but you get the hang of it rather quickly.


As far as what's going on with Cozumel, who knows. I called last week and we are still going although all excursions via Disney have been temporarily suspended. Not sure why we would go there if that's the case. I don't have a problem doing something on my own, but others might not be comfortable with it. I was hoping to discuss this during chat as well!

 

[umber]

Hi DetroitDad, I saw the other day DCL still has the options for Cozumel online... I was wondering about that. My husband has some concerns about going off by ourselves this time. I don't know.

Anybody heard how well Mr. Santos survived the hurricane?

 

[jdiane]

It never occured to me to look for a discussion board so I'm sad I've missed all the chat. But I just found the site and am getting ready for the cruise! It will be me, DH, DS (3) and DD (1). This will be my fourth cruise but first with Disney. I've sailed Norwegian twice which was great and Commodore once. NCL is great. Our choice of outings is somewhat limited since our kids are so small. We sailed when my son was 15 mos old and he did great. I have read a couple of pages of posts but didn't see if anyone else had kids this small?Only problem for us is that we have 2nd seating for dinner which is very late for such little kids. Anyone know how likely it is to get switched to 1st seating?

I am really looking forward to the cruise and maybe chatting more between now and then. This looks like a great opportunity to get to know people before you get onboard.

Julie

 

[definately dory]

welcome jdiane! You will find so much info on here and everyone is so helpful! My youngest daughter is four.

 

[umber]

Hi, I have a DD3 and this is our 2nd cruise (we did the same cruise last year when she was 2). We had second seating last year and were worried about it... but we liked it so much we requested it again! 2nd seating means your kids won't be too tired to see the shows (if you have first seating you see the shows when 2nd seating goes to dinner. 2nd seating sees the shows first then goes to dinner). To me, it was more important for her to see those gorgeous shows rather than dinner. So we always got her dinner early (at Plutos usually) then at our dinner she slept quietly in her stroller next to us or we'd reserve Flounders and she would go relax there. And on some nights she'd be having a blast at dinner with us (there was a little boy we were tablemates with that she took a fancy to). Plus, when at an island, we didn't have to rush back for dinner! So if you don't get first seating, don't panic, 2nd seating has it's advantages.

 

[jdiane]

That's good to know about 2nd seating. My kids are night owls, so I'm sure we can make it work, but I'm not sure how patient my 15 mo old will be that late in the evening. And unfortunately there's no chance of her sleeping in the stroller! But maybe a long nap in the afternoon will fix everything. I'm just glad to be there so we'll make it work out.

Do people dress up alot for the Pirate day?