February 12, 2011 - 7 night Eastern

[capitalmom]

So Robin, does that mean you're a scrapbooker too??
and Julie - would you mind posting the link to the thread where you found the journal pages? Sounds like a terrific idea!
And welcome Jess Warren!
Like others, we can't wait to get this show on the road... but first, I just need to find some time to work on FE gifts, oh yeah, and book our flights!!

Danielle

 

[Jess Warren]

You all make me feel so welcome!
ilovedevin,

i am new to this whole pm thing, but i dont think I received one from you. if you havent sent it yet, no biggie.

I Love the daily journal idea- dd4 does this at preschool (more drawings) and seems to enjoy!

btw- we booked out of Nashville on southwest, direct to MCO- lvs at 830am, in at 1105am and i was happy with the price.

 

[ilovedevin]

www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2521093 use this one if the one below won't work then into her shared files
www.4shared.com/dir/19077581/4fa6c900/sharing.html use this if you can then click on journals she is awesome!

milliepie has all the pages for ports, restaurants, themed nights and kid's club's very nice.

 

[robinpgma]

Yes....I am a scrapper.....I just started...I started when my daughter was 4yo. I have 2 years done right now... Haven't had time lately to continue with year 3. We just moved and are still getting settled in the new home.

This site is AWESOME....I can't wait to use this....

We haven't booked our flights yet...I can't wait....

 

[Beck K]

Hi All! I have not been out here for a few months and have missed a lot of sharing among our cruise mates! Fun stuff, getting SO excited!

I was wondering if anyone aboard our cruise has a boy and a girl around the ages of 8 (boy) and 5-6 (girl) thatmight interested in meeting up with to get to know and hopefully instill confidence in being in kids club with a few friends!? Just an idea... my kids might be fine, but thought this might help at first.

Any other major tips or planning I've missed? Not sure I will have a chance to read the whole string to catch up. Would appreciate any fun info.

Thanks! Happy October... only 4 more months!
The Kalin's!

 

[Jess Warren]

WOO- HOO to only 4 more months! I am worried, though, that I want it to get here so badly that it is going to just flllyyy by when it does get here!

 

[ilovedevin]

Jess Warren that is so funny that you said because I was just thinking that very thing yesterday....By the way did you get my PM?

Beck K we have set up a DIS meet for all in our group at 3:00 pm in the promionade lounge, I have a map on page 6. There seem to be a lot of girls in that age but so for most of the boys are around 5 or younger.

 

[Jess Warren]

i love devin- I did get your pm- thanks- I think that we are going to do it- I will reply with our information. My parents are coming with us too (in the room next door)- so I am going to ask my mom if they want to as well. Have you made your FE yet? Do I have to sew it?? eekk!

A question to all about shore excursions- I am specifically wondering about St. Thomas- nothing is really jumping out at me. I was wondering if you can jsut get off of the boat, walk to a beach and go swimming?

 

[ilovedevin]

No sewing skills here, I bought mine from gradysmommy from e-bay, she is awesome!!!!!! St. Thomas we are just going to walk around town and some shopping and then up the skyride www.paradisepointtramway.com on the photography board there are a few beautiful photo's of the Magic/Wonder taken from up there and I want to take one. I also read that there are a couple beaches close by.

 

[robinpgma]

I will have to check gradysmommy out on ebay....I am not sure if we are doing the FE yet....I'll let you know....

 

[Beck K]

Thanks! We'd love to meet with the group in the promenade lounge at 3pm! Is that on the day we board the ship, 2/12?

Are you all taking your kids to the Kids Club before or after that to check it out? Maybe we could bring them together?

 

[ilovedevin]

The meet is at 3:00 on the day we board and I am planning on taking Devin to the kid's club for there meet and greet not sure what time they open up for that yet.

 

[TiredOfCold]

For some fun and entertainment , let's get some more info on each other. What time are you getting to the port? Are you early risers? Is anyone making their kids do homework on the ship? Are you gonna go to Palo? What exursions do you think you're gonna book, or are you gonna stay on the ship?

I am hoping to get to the port early, but I will have to strong-arm my DH to accomplish that! His parents are going to be wintering in Kissimee, Florida at the same time, so they will be driving us to the port.

We are flying in 3 days early and spending 1 night with the inlaws, 2 nights at the Polynesian at WDW and then 1 more night with the inlaws so they can drive us to the port.

We are not early risers - our DD dictates the time we rise, which is typically between 8-9 AM (on weekends).

Our DD has winter break for the duration of the cruise, but will be missing 3 days of school pre-cruise. I don't anticipate that she will have any homework, so no homework on the ship. We will be encouraging her to speak French when the appropriate situations arise
Jax are you in Calgary by any chance? Alberta spring break is actually in March, but Eva attends a private school that has a winter break in February and a spring break in March, not sure what we pay those teachers to do...

Haven't decided on Palo yet - depends on what DH actually packs in his suitcase for clothes... knowing him, there won't be anything worthy of a Palo visit. He feels vacations are for relaxing and doesn't pack "work" clothes.

We will be getting off the ship at every possible opportunity - will not do organized excursions, but will either take taxi's or rent a car to explore. We are not fans of group tours.

 

[Jess Warren]

Thanks- I will check out Grady'smommy too!
My parents are coming on the cruise with us and they are DVC members- anyone know when there get together is? I am also planning on taking the girls to the meet and greet as well. And we hav early dinner- our flight doesn't get in until 11:05 that morning... so I hope that we can fit in all I want to do!

Both girls are in daycare- this is our last year without having to wait until school break to go on vacay... trying to get every second out of it!

 

[capitalmom]

Jess Warren - re St. Thomas, there isn't actually much you can walk to in terms of beaches. Downtown Charlotte Amalie is mostly a shopping area, but there are great beaches a short taxi ride away. When we went last year, we took the girls to Magen's Bay and they had a blast, it's a beautiful sheltered bay so the water is quite calm, and we were able to get a local taxi to take us there, carseat and all... Easy, inexpensive and safe. However, the day we're going to be in St. Thomas, there are acutally 5 other ships in port (18,900 passengers including us!) so we have to tender (instead of dock) and the beaches will be crowded so I'd recommend getting off early. Since we've been there before (and tendering can be a pain) I think we might just stay on the ship - it's also our DD's 2nd birthday that day, so I think we'll lay low and have a little celebration on board and enjoy the ship when it's a little less crowded. St. Maarten, however, has lots of things within easy walking distance of the port, including a downtown beach area (though there are much nicer beaches on the island if you take a taxi a little further afield). And I'm soooo jealous of your early dinner - we had booked it as well but lost it when we rebooked to take advantage of the recent sale, so are now praying that the waitlist comes through for us... Our little one goes to bed quite early, and even the older one is usually out well before the start time of late seating - wish us luck!

Tired of Cold - we'd be happy to speak French with Eva... We're taking Laura out of school for a whole week for the cruise so it will be good for her to keep it up as well... It's funny though, she was more keen to have us speak French at home during the summer, but now that school is back, not so much - I guess it feels like "work" to her. She is very excited about going to Marigot though, and I think we'll be renting a car there as well. No organized excursions for us either - we prefer to go at our own pace, especially with a 2 year old!

 

[robinpgma]

I have not even thought about excursions yet...We are taking Bethany out of school for the cruise.... ...She is in Kindergarten....In MA school vacation is the next week Feb 21-25. Our school has a policy NOT to provide work ahead of any planned absence ... So NO homework for her...I will ask the teacher what letters she will be working on the week we are gone so we may have "mommy made homework". We have the 2nd seating as well hoping to get into 1st seating later. We don't eat that late on a normal basis so I HOPE we get switched....if not it should be fun at dinner.

Robin

Mike (DH), ME, Bethany (DD 6)

 

[robinpgma]

Now that we are on the subject of excursions....how do you know what Disney has to offer? Where do I find that information? I don't think we want to do much but...who knows? Also how do I know if we are tendered or docking direct at each port?

Thanks,

 

[Jax]

Yes TiredofCold we are in Calgary.

I have no clue when the girls don't have school that week, their mom just suggested it was the best time to go since they don't have to miss much so off we went and booked.

Works out for me, I get to skip some winter and go on vacation to somewhere warm

Have you booked your flights yet?

 

[Jess Warren]

Capitalmom: thanks for all of the info- I am really considering staying on the ship in St. Thomas too. Maybe the pools won't be as crowded. My parents, who are traveling with us, used to go to St. Martin every year, so they are quite familiar with there. I think I am going to put DD 5 and DD 1 in Flounders and Kids club for the day...
Good info on the cab having carseats- that has been a major stress thought for me... but we will see on what we will do.

Jax: yep, bought our flights a few weeks ago. I hope that I don't regret flying in the morning of, but since we are flying a direct flight from Nashville to Orlando and scheduled to get in at 11:05, hoping we will be fine. Just the thought of flying the night prior, with girls, picking up luggage, going to hotel, getting up in am, going back to airport (we purchased the transfer) and then going just sounded like a lot on a 1 yr old. Seemed better for her to sleep in her own bed that last night.

Now that I was reading about the DCL transportation taking so long to get to the ship, I am kind of reconsidering and thinking maybe we should get a private transfer?? What is everyone else doing? (Although, I kind of like the idea of riding on the big bus). Has anyone else done this one in the past? Does the bus go straight from MCO to the ship or does it go to WDW and pick up people?

 

[capitalmom]

sorry - re the carseats, I should have clarified that we actually brought our own but were able to install it in the cab. On our last cruise with the kids (non-DCL), we visited 4 ports and only used the carseat once (in the other ports we just walked everywhere) but I was still glad we brought it... And you will love St. Martin - it's our favourite port of any we've been to and we can't wait to go back...

and as for getting to the port, I think we'll be renting a car when we arrive in Orlando the day before (so we can do some running around to pick up essentials like diapers!) and will then drop it off in Port Canveral.

Robin - luckily, St. Thomas is the only port where we'll have to tender - in St. Martin and Castaway Cay we pull right up to the dock. You can find info on excursions on the DCL website. There's a general list on the Caribbean ports of call page (http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/caribbean/ports/ ) - just click on the port, and then look at "Port Adventures" - I think if you register and login with your reservation number there is more detail re times and prices, plus I'm pretty sure you can book them online in advance...