February 11, 2012 Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Magic***

[KansasScrapper]

I am new to this board but have booked this cruise. I am also a scrapbooker. It will be me and my Mom. We are doing this for her 65th birthday!

 

[KansasScrapper]

This is our first cruise as a family. We've been to WDW twice. DH and I took a Royal Caribbean cruise before we had the little darlings....and have always wanted to cruise again. We can't wait.

We have two adjoining staterooms down in steerage, I mean Deck 2.
It will be myself, Anja, DH Bruce, and our children George (12), Josh (10), Abigail (8), Anne (5) and Francesca (3). Those will be their ages at cruise time.

I feel like I know WDW inside and out and know how to maximize our time there. I'm looking forward to learning all about Disney cruises, Castaway Cay, and the ports of call. I have heard about Fish Extenders and want to read more about them, and participate if others are interested. I also want to do the Castaway Cay 5K if they still have it. I'm a walker, mostly, but it would be fun to up the training a bit to be able to complete the run.

Can't wait to hear from others on this trip!!

Where in KS are you? I am outside of KCK... What is Fish Extenders??

 

[Rebecky]

Just got our room # assigned!!! We are 2573. I'm glad to know. It seems a little more reall being able to say that is our room!

 

[cherokeemamma]

A quick question for those that have cruised before. When we booked this cruise we asked for least expensive OV stateroom. We were put on deck 1. Being somewhat clueless about cruising we just went with it. Now, I am feeling very uncertain about that. Our TA said it is the best place for feeling less movement and less chances of getting seasick.

If we could upgrade to a different OV room or perhaps even a veranda should I try to do that now or wait until at port? Which way is better for getting the best price.

FYI...I also would like to join in any of the FE gift exchanges if that happens.

Thanks!
Darlene

 

[Rebecky]

A quick question for those that have cruised before. When we booked this cruise we asked for least expensive OV stateroom. We were put on deck 1. Being somewhat clueless about cruising we just went with it. Now, I am feeling very uncertain about that. Our TA said it is the best place for feeling less movement and less chances of getting seasick.

If we could upgrade to a different OV room or perhaps even a veranda should I try to do that now or wait until at port? Which way is better for getting the best price.

FYI...I also would like to join in any of the FE gift exchanges if that happens.

Thanks!
Darlene

Okay, I've not cruised before but have talked to many co-workers and they are all happy with deck 2 for position, very close to restaurants, and activites. They tell me it does have the least movement. I would feel the same would apply for deck 1.

If you were going to upgrade I would do it now as prices will climb as the ship fills up and you might not be able to upgrade at the port.

Hope this helps!

 

[KansasScrapper]

We just got our Disney maps in the mail for our Sept trip, they are kind of cool. Only bad thing is they don't print each park on it's own :-( So you get two pages with all 4 parks. Hard to scrapbook that so will have to leave it as is on the page. I am sure they will have brochures there in FL that I can cut up to use as maps..

 

[PirateLife4Me:)]

Hi all, me and my wife will be joining you all on this Valentines Day cruise. See you all onboard

 

[devonsmommy]

Just got our room # assigned!!! We are 2573. I'm glad to know. It seems a little more reall being able to say that is our room!

Sadly we had to change our cruise to March 3rd. You actually got our canceled room!

Have fun everyone!

 

[Rebecky]

A quick question for those that have cruised before. When we booked this cruise we asked for least expensive OV stateroom. We were put on deck 1. Being somewhat clueless about cruising we just went with it. Now, I am feeling very uncertain about that. Our TA said it is the best place for feeling less movement and less chances of getting seasick.

If we could upgrade to a different OV room or perhaps even a veranda should I try to do that now or wait until at port? Which way is better for getting the best price.

FYI...I also would like to join in any of the FE gift exchanges if that happens.

Thanks!
Darlene

Cmama I'm so glad you are on this cruise. I just read through your first TR on your suprise trip for your kids way back when and feel like I know you all (only now you say your DS is graduating???). You did a great job on the TR and loved all your pics!

Sadly we had to change our cruise to March 3rd. You actually got our canceled room!

Have fun everyone!

Sorry you had to re-schedule, but glad for the room!

 

[cherokeemamma]

Cmama I'm so glad you are on this cruise. I just read through your first TR on your suprise trip for your kids way back when and feel like I know you all (only now you say your DS is graduating???). You did a great job on the TR and loved all your pics!

Hi! Yes, my baby is graduating next year (2012). I can hardly believe it. So glad you enjoyed my TR. That was back in 06...wow...time flies, huh!? We are super excited about the cruise. My DS wanted to go a Disney cruise for graduation but the cruises in late May and throughout the summer were so much more expensive. So we decided on this one.

Looking forward to meeting you in just a few short months...
Have a great day!

 

[KansasScrapper]

What are you guys bringing for characters to sign?

 

[Thnlk]

We did 2 T-shirts and a picture frame. All turned out very nice. We turned them in with a pack of markers. They returned the markers unopened.

 

[develizweb]

We just switched to this sailing...glad to join you all. We loved the MR cruise we just took in Feb. and are so excited to see the Caribbean...yeah clean water and WDW

Would love to do the FE exchange...this was one of the many highlights of our last cruise.

We are flying into MCO 3 days early and probably staying at the All Star Movies and/or Nick Hotel...shhh don't tell anyone that we may be disloyal to Disney

 

[skylynx]

Hi, there Develizweb...we were on a MR sailing in February too...over Valentines Day. Were you on the same sailing?

We called it our Love Boat cruise since it went to some of the same ports the ol' Pacific Princess and Capt. Stubing's crew visited!

 

[develizweb]

Hi, there Develizweb...we were on a MR sailing in February too...over Valentines Day. Were you on the same sailing?

We called it our Love Boat cruise since it went to some of the same ports the ol' Pacific Princess and Capt. Stubing's crew visited!

no, we were 2/27-3/6

how did you like the MR?

 

[KansasScrapper]

Just got our Disney box with the things we are going to get signed in them

 

[skylynx]

develizweb...we loved the MR cruise. We had perfect weather, and it was a non-stop parade of whales, dolphins, sea lions, and even a marlin!

We enjoyed the two stops we had in Cabo...loved hanging around the marina watching the world go by and drinking buckets of Corona. Puerto Vallarta was ok...we loved Cabo, though.

It was also a real treat to be able to leave our verandah door open at night for fresh air, cool breeze, and the sound of the ocean for a lullaby.

 

[develizweb]

develizweb...we loved the MR cruise. We had perfect weather, and it was a non-stop parade of whales, dolphins, sea lions, and even a marlin!

We enjoyed the two stops we had in Cabo...loved hanging around the marina watching the world go by and drinking buckets of Corona. Puerto Vallarta was ok...we loved Cabo, though.

It was also a real treat to be able to leave our verandah door open at night for fresh air, cool breeze, and the sound of the ocean for a lullaby.

How did you think the MR compared to the Eastern Caribbean (I assume you have been before with how many Disney Cruises you have done)....we live 40 min from LA so MR is much cheaper for us.... flying to Florida is eating up all our amex pts but I think it will be worth it....cleaner water, safer, going to WDW..what do you think? Are we going to feel like it was worth the sacrifice & extra work?

 

[skylynx]

We've only done the Eastern once...tried it a second time but due to a hurricane warning, the Eastern got changed to a Western the morning of the cruise!

Coupling the cruise with a WDW visit is a must for us...we could never be only an hour away from WDW and not GO! We use our DVC points to stay nights on either end of cruises.

The Eastern itinerary is quite different from the Western in that you get destinations with mountains. St. Maarten's port has mountains that feel close enough to touch. These islands have a different feel from the Mexican locations...we get a rental car for the day in St. Maarten and drive between the Dutch and French portions. The roads are narrow two laners for most of the island, with some serious traffic backups possible, but still good fun to explore. As DH has a private pilot's license, there's no way we won't be spending some time at Maho Beach (the famous place where it looks like the jets are landing on your head and you can literally get blown into the ocean from the jet blast).

At St. Thomas we did the St. John's excursion to Trunk Bay and that was pretty magical. That was one of the few excursions we have ever booked through Disney, and we were glad we did...our bus was late coming back from Trunk Bay and we missed the boat back to St. Thomas. The DCL guide with us got on the phone and the boat came back for us.

We did not have the best weather on that cruise...it rained at some point every day of the trip, although from our photos you wouldn't know it because even the overcast days produced an hour or two of sunshine. That was February, too, so I'm hoping for better things this go round!

The MR cruise was, for us, kind of like the Eastern will be for you...further away, more expensive plane fare, less familiar Disney Parks, etc., no chance to use our WDW annual passes, but we absolutely LOVED the change of going off the left coast and spending some time in Disneyland.

The other advantage is that if you are hardcore beach loungers, swimmers, or snorkelers, you'll appreciate the warmer temperatures on the Eastern itinerary, even in February. And, you do get that trip to Castaway Cay! (which we did miss on the MR).

We've never had a bad cruise, but we're just the kind of folks that are so happy to be on a cruise ship exploring places it takes more than cloudy days to get us down!

 

[develizweb]

We've only done the Eastern once...tried it a second time but due to a hurricane warning, the Eastern got changed to a Western the morning of the cruise!

Coupling the cruise with a WDW visit is a must for us...we could never be only an hour away from WDW and not GO! We use our DVC points to stay nights on either end of cruises.

The Eastern itinerary is quite different from the Western in that you get destinations with mountains. St. Maarten's port has mountains that feel close enough to touch. These islands have a different feel from the Mexican locations...we get a rental car for the day in St. Maarten and drive between the Dutch and French portions. The roads are narrow two laners for most of the island, with some serious traffic backups possible, but still good fun to explore. As DH has a private pilot's license, there's no way we won't be spending some time at Maho Beach (the famous place where it looks like the jets are landing on your head and you can literally get blown into the ocean from the jet blast).

At St. Thomas we did the St. John's excursion to Trunk Bay and that was pretty magical. That was one of the few excursions we have ever booked through Disney, and we were glad we did...our bus was late coming back from Trunk Bay and we missed the boat back to St. Thomas. The DCL guide with us got on the phone and the boat came back for us.

We did not have the best weather on that cruise...it rained at some point every day of the trip, although from our photos you wouldn't know it because even the overcast days produced an hour or two of sunshine. That was February, too, so I'm hoping for better things this go round!

The MR cruise was, for us, kind of like the Eastern will be for you...further away, more expensive plane fare, less familiar Disney Parks, etc., no chance to use our WDW annual passes, but we absolutely LOVED the change of going off the left coast and spending some time in Disneyland.

The other advantage is that if you are hardcore beach loungers, swimmers, or snorkelers, you'll appreciate the warmer temperatures on the Eastern itinerary, even in February. And, you do get that trip to Castaway Cay! (which we did miss on the MR).

We've never had a bad cruise, but we're just the kind of folks that are so happy to be on a cruise ship exploring places it takes more than cloudy days to get us down!

Thanks for all the info...yes I think we will like the Eastern Caribbean much more. I am pretty tired of Disneyland (lived here my whole life) and are planning on spending the entire trip at the beach & pool, so warmer weather & water would be great. My husband has never seen clear water unless you count Catalina Island, which I don't.

Lets all start praying for good weather now