February 16, 2008 - 7 night Eastern

[lauritagoddess]

That's a heck of a good vacation! are you planning on doing anything your first day at CBRor are you going to just hang out at the pool?

We spent Thursday and Friday at Saratoga again. Our daughter had a party. She and five of her friends went to see Ally & AJ (singers from Disney Channel, ask your kids) and then went swimming and spent the night at the resort. Good times.

We're just going to hang out at CBR. Just being there will be a nice start to our vacation. And it sounds like it must have been a great time for you daughter.

 

[kcashner]

We're on the 2/16 cruise. It will be our 16th (I think!) sailing on the Magic....although DD insists that the 14 day Panama Canal sailing should be counted as 2!

It will be me and DD, who will turn 17 the week before we sail. She's basically grown up on the ship, and after a great time on the President's week sailing last year she asked if we could do it again. This high school stuff is majorly cramping my vacationing! And when she does have a few days off, we have to do college visits.

See you all there!!!

 

[durango kid]

Welcome Aboard!

Every group needs a cruise expert, you're it!

 

[Sandaneli]

We aren't planning on any excursions. This will be our third trip to the Eastern Caribbean. We are limited as to which weeks we can travel due to the kids school schedules and DH's job. It has worked out that the dates we can go always seem to be for the Eastern Caribbean. But that doesn't bother us. The kids don't want to get off the ship anyway except for Castaway Cay.

We haven't booked a room yet for Port Canaveral. I forgot all about needing to do that early. I'll start looking today. We are having a tough time getting affordable airfare. So far it's over $500 each and that is just way too much. It's tough because it's school vacation week so the prices go up. But I'm sure we'll find something.

Have a great day.

Sandra

 

[durango kid]

Lauren and her son are probably lounging in Castaway Cay, right about now! Have the grouper sandwich for lunch is my recommendation.

Since I can't be there too, I guess we'll run over to The Earl for an All American Sandwich.

For those of you thinking about getting rooms in Port Canaveral, remember the drive from the Disney area is about 45 minutes, and rooms might be at a better price that time of year. Just a thought.

 

[Sandaneli]

Does anyone have a guess as to why so few people are signed up for this cruise board? I"m wondering if there are a lot of first time cruisers on this cruise.

Just wondering.

Also, I'm not sure where everyone is from but how are you finding airfares? We are finding them extremely high.

We are giving this cruise to our kids for Christmas and I know they will be so excited. I can't wait to go.

Sandra

 

[Sandaneli]

We booked the airfare this morning. We are flying down on Thursday night and coming back right after the cruise. Leaving on Thursday gives us one extra day to get to Florida in case of snow or air travel delays. I'm so glad that is out of the way. Now we just have to book the hotel and we'll be able to sit back and relax until it's time to leave.

Does anyone have any suggestions for hotels in Orlando? We usually stay in CocoaBeach but we arrive very late on THursday and I think it would be better to stay in Orlando and then leave for Port Canaveral from Orlando on Sat. AM. It will be easier to do the ride Sat am than 10pm THursday.

I hope everyone has a great day.

 

[durango kid]

I know this sounds self serving. But, look into the Celebration Hotel. http://celebrationhotel.com/ It really is beautiful here. Very Disney like, and it's a very easy drive to the port from here. plus the trip from the airport here is fast.

 

[Sandaneli]

I know this sounds self serving. But, look into the Celebration Hotel. http://celebrationhotel.com/ It really is beautiful here. Very Disney like, and it's a very easy drive to the port from here. plus the trip from the airport here is fast.

Thanks for the suggestion. It's a bit over our price range for 2 nights. WE are getting in late on THursday so we decided to stay at the airport. And got a great rate on Hotwire.com.

All we have left to book now is the transportation. We usually use Tiffany Town Car. THat will be easy to book. IT's a relief to have all of that done. Now we can just sit back and relax and look forward to our cruise.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Sandra

 

[mom2dina]

We are cruising on the Feb 16th Eastern Caribbean cruise Too! this is our first time on DCL and first time cruising with kids we are all very excited.

We will be cruising with My daughter who is 7 (she'll be 8 on Feb 29th on leap day!) , My Son who is 6, and My 2 nieces who are 9 and 15, My mom, and my 2 sisters!!! (My DH and Ds are the only males )

We are actually going to celebrate DD "2nd" birthday and the whole family is joining us for our leap year celebration. For her "1st" Birthday when she turned four we all went to Disney and we all had a blast.

We had to do it during Feb. Vacation week (16-23) so the kids wont miss school but I'm sure we'll be able to celebrate her birthday on board. Does anyone know if DCL does anything special for birthdays?

We too haven't booked airfare as it is very expensive from New England I think it is because of Feb vacation week. I hope prices go down as I don't think we can go earlier and I like the fact we get off the plane directly to our transport without getting our luggage and just heading to the port.

Anyone here from the MA/RI area!

I can't wait

 

[durango kid]

Welcome Aboard Mom2dina! That's quite the group you've got there!

 

[mom2dina]

I just heard some bad news from my sister in TN the school is giving her a hard time for pulling my neice out of school for the Birthday celebration (she will miss 4 days)
I hope everything works out otherwise they may have to cancel ... I don't understand why the school would give her such a hard time its not everyday we can have a family reunion like this, the kids grow up so fast and leave home ... they should let them spend time with their family.

 

[durango kid]

I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm sure it will all work out. In the end it is up to the parents. We always felt that what would be learned in that one week, would ultimately not be as important as the memories that we made together. When our kids got older we left it up to them as to whether or not they could afford to miss the time from school. Two kids through college and one starting her second year, I guess we did okay.

 

[kcashner]

The real issue is the the public schools receive federal funds based on the school's attendance. It has little or nothing to do with learning! Personal opinion, there's nothing that they are learning prior to high school level that isn't going to be reviewed a zillion times. I took DD out MANY times from a private setting with no ill results.

That said, we FINALLY got our flight arrangements! The Delta web site was upgrading at the same time I was trying to book flights yesterday--they were literally changing by the minute and wouldn't let me complete the booking. I spoke with three different agents on the phone when I couldn't do it on line. The last guy was great--said he sees it happening all the time and suggested waiting till today. The good news was that he could look at some of the flights and tell me that they are virtually unsold. When the flights came up today they wer $10 - $20 cheaper than Friday!

It would have been cheaper to book thru DCL (very unusual), but I really wanted to fly in on Friday after school. They would have allowed us to fly in on Friday IF we stayed at the Hyatt, but would have charged an additional $50 per ticket for an "air deviation" if I requested a flight leaving late in the day. The good news is that the air part is now done.

I must be getting old....I got really stressed out over not being able to book the air. Now....I have to wait till February......I miss the Magic!

 

[durango kid]

I must be getting old....I got really stressed out over not being able to book the air. Now....I have to wait till February......I miss the Magic!

Now it's just the waiting, which after all is the hardest part.

I know what you mean about the air part of a trip. Before moving to Celebration, we lived in Durango, Colorado. I've been in houses that were bigger than the airport terminal. Our Disney trips always started with the decision; do we drive eight hours to Denver and fly from there? It's a forty minute flight to Denver, but it cost more to fly Durango to Denver than it did Denver to Orlando.

anyway you've got a flight and now soon my wife will start packing for the trip. Packing being a code word for buying new clothes.

 

[mom2dina]

Congrats on getting the airfare. We had a wedding yesterday and I didn't check at all I'll go do that right away.

At my friends sons school they were told the first day the absentee policy but they were also told for family special trips they would be excused because before you know it they'll be off by themselves! The sad thing is my sister spoke to someone at the school before booking the cruise its only when she sent in the letter that she recieved a call. Its not even public school (she goes to a catholic school) so I don't think they have to worry about getting paid!

We'll find out more on Tuesday! Wish us luck.

 

[mom2dina]

The airfare is still high for us ... I'll keep trying!

 

[kcashner]

It's good to know that I'm not the only one with "missing the Magic" craziness. DD wanted to go to Shogun over the weekend to have her favorite--the teriyaki shrimp. Then she came up with, "Do you remember the teriyaki shrimp appetizer on the Magic when I ordered like 8 of them?" In reality, I think she ordered 3 and ate half of mine as well.....but she promptly went into Magic mode. "Do you think we could go before February?" No dear--the only school vacation long enough is Christmas and that's sold out.

I'll be packing soon as well. In my case that means that I store my summer clothes in my empty suitcases. That way when it's time to pack, it is really just a matter of sorting things out.

 

[mom2dina]

I'll be packing soon as well. In my case that means that I store my summer clothes in my empty suitcases. That way when it's time to pack, it is really just a matter of sorting things out.

That is a great idea! I have so much back to school clothes I have to put away but have no space for. I'll pack the kids summer clothes in a bag and sort out later! Thanks for the idea!

 

[mom2dina]

Hurray - The school is letting my DN go on the trip! She can only miss one other day that semester (so no sick time for her) or they will start deducting from her grade ...
And now my DB and his wife may be joining us also!