February 16, 2013 WONDERful 5-Night Western Caribbean ~ out of Port of Miami

[hardingk]

Did you check out any of the Hotels near the airport? Embassy Suites, Hilton, Hampton Inn, Spring Hill Suites?

 

[goiu]

Hi guys! We actually won't be cruising with you now. With the cheap rates for the PC cruise in December it was cheaper to sail 4 nights longer. Hope you all have a great cruise!

Lisa

 

[mom3girls2000]

Did you check out any of the Hotels near the airport? Embassy Suites, Hilton, Hampton Inn, Spring Hill Suites?

No, I don't know the area and I just thought that the airport is not where we'll be, we'll be at the port, but I will add those to my list and check them out! Thanks a bunch!

 

[hardingk]

No, I don't know the area and I just thought that the airport is not where we'll be, we'll be at the port, but I will add those to my list and check them out! Thanks a bunch!

No problem. We have stayed at several hotels in the area of the years, so feel free to ask any questions. We aren't sure what we are going to do yes, but are thinking of staying by the airport for the free shuttle from the airport and the stores & restaurants near by. There isn't much by the pier besides Bayside Marketplace. I feel like all the hotels are overpriced!

 

[Drennui]

My family and I (me, my wife and our boys 7 & 3) will be making this our first Disney cruise! Naturally, we have some questions:

First, has anyone sailed from Port of Miami before? We'd like some general advice about the terminal, and any info about hotels in the area would be great.

We'd also like to be included in the Fish Extender group if that's been set up and are willing to help out if needed.

Thanks!

 

[mom3girls2000]

My family and I (me, my wife and our boys 7 & 3) will be making this our first Disney cruise! Naturally, we have some questions:

First, has anyone sailed from Port of Miami before? We'd like some general advice about the terminal, and any info about hotels in the area would be great.

We'd also like to be included in the Fish Extender group if that's been set up and are willing to help out if needed.

Thanks!

Hi, Drennui, welcome to the DCL, as well as our cruise group, and this forum too !

I'm sailing with my DH; this is our 2nd cruise and our 2nd with DCL also. We've been hooked! We're members of DVC and so far have cruised using those points (mostly). Our first cruise was out of Port Canaveral, though, and neither one of us knows a thing about Port of Miami .

However, if you look through the other posts of this message board, you'll see my questions re. that.

My DH and I inherited his parents' home near Tampa, so we usually fly in and out of Tampa and drive to DW, PC, or now in February, PM. I like to get there a day early and stay in a budget-hotel (or motel) so that I don't have to worry about getting too lost the morning of embarkation.

I did recently request a guide book from Port Miami, but haven't looked at it much yet because it's still early.

However I am pretty sure of all the excursions I want

So far, it looks like this will be a pretty small group; including you and me, there are only 8 family/groups so far. Two of us also have posted on Cruise Critic (a website similar to this one, and there's also specific forums for specific cruises - there is a board over there for this one too).

And so far, it also looks like all of us are going to participate in the FE too . If our group stays small it could be really easy to manage without a coordinator, which would be nice, it might make our group more intimate.

I started a document on my own computer, of our screennames here and our IRL names if that's been provided; also (if other info was provided already), number of kids and their ages and genders.

Personally, I'm hoping our group stays small and intimate (I'm thinking about 15 to 25 cabins), because I think it'd be so fun to give everyone an FE gift. More manageable both with the creation and the distribution of said gifts .

 

[Drennui]

Whats the availability of drinking water - bottled or not - on the ship like? Is drinking water easily available, or will we have to buy every bottle?

 

[mom3girls2000]

Whats the availability of drinking water - bottled or not - on the ship like? Is drinking water easily available, or will we have to buy every bottle?

Well to be honest, I am kind of fussy when it comes to water, so I didn't look for water-(drinking) fountains around the ship.

I grew up in Philadelphia where (IMHO) we have decent good-tasting tap water - I do not like Florida tap water. I drink the filtered water that comes through the fridge in our FL house, but when we go to Disney World, whether we're staying on-site or off, I buy a case of bottled water. When we were preparing to go on our first cruise last year, I bought a case of water. (I also bought a few 12-packs of diet Coca-Cola products because I get tired of what's available in restaurants; our cabin steward had fresh ice waiting for us whenever we came back to our stateroom!)

DCL allows you to bring your own beverages on-board - soft drinks and alcohol. We used a rolling scrapbook case (because it held more than our rolling cooler) for most of it, then just stashed single bottles of whatever didn't fit, in and around our other carry-on bags. You can't put it in your luggage. (You can drink your own alcohol but if you want your own wine with meals, you will be charged a corkage fee. DH made his drinks in our room and carried them in an insulated travel cup lol! I don't drink very much so it didn't affect me.)

DCL also sells a package of bottled water (I think it's Evian brand) that you can pre-order and have delivered to your stateroom. (They also have liquor, beer and wine packages.) They also sell bottled water on-board in the gift shops and the movie/show concessions. You can get water to drink at meals, and from the Beverage Station on deck 9. (FYI, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite Zero, Hi-C, pink lemonade, Hi-C fruit punch, milk, coffee, Nestea Iced Tea, Twinings Hot Tea, hot cocoa, water and ice are also all free and unlimited at meals and from the station on Deck 9.) For what it's worth, the water from these venues tastes okay IMHO.

Wow, that got long, but I hope it helps you some.

 

[hardingk]

My family and I (me, my wife and our boys 7 & 3) will be making this our first Disney cruise! Naturally, we have some questions:

First, has anyone sailed from Port of Miami before? We'd like some general advice about the terminal, and any info about hotels in the area would be great.

We'd also like to be included in the Fish Extender group if that's been set up and are willing to help out if needed.

Thanks!

Welcome!

We would like to do the FE too. I don't think an FE thread has been started yet.

 

[mom3girls2000]

Welcome!

We would like to do the FE too. I don't think an FE thread has been started yet.

I didn't know Disboards had separate forums for cruise-specific FE's, cool!

But we have so few members in our little group here, do we need a separate thread? Although I haven't been over on Cruist Critic in a while, do we have any new members over there, Harding? I counted 8 (going by their Disboards screen-names only; not counting partners nor kids). We also don't have some info that may be relevant to FE gifts, such as real names of everyone in the group, kids' ages, and any particular favorite hobbies and/or Disney likes ... do you think it is too early to start asking for all that? I can't remember how early we started doing that last year, but as I've said, our Disboards group for that cruise was much larger ... and otoh, starting to get really excited, and doing that helps .

Of course, for that cruise, there were new people jumping into the group during the last few weeks. Not many, and they knew that they may be too late for the FE group...

 

[hardingk]

The water they served at dinner wasn't bad. I am picky too about tap water and it didn't bother me! We did bring bottled water on board with us, I don't like evian!

 

[hardingk]

I found that people don't join the thread until right before a sailing. On our dream cruise last September it was until July that the thread picked up. People also joined the thread after our FE thread cutoff date. We could leave it like this for now and if more people join, but don't want to do FE we could start a separate thread.

We are sailing on the fantasy in sept and our thread is just starting to pick up now.

 

[hardingk]

Max- where in Tampa is your other home? We have family there.

Btw, what's your thoughts on using DVC points for cruises? When we bought in our guide told us not to do it but we will have extra points left in our 2012 UY that we are considering using them for a cruise.

 

[mom3girls2000]

Max- where in Tampa is your other home? We have family there.

Btw, what's your thoughts on using DVC points for cruises? When we bought in our guide told us not to do it but we will have extra points left in our 2012 UY that we are considering using them for a cruise.

Well it's not really IN Tampa, we inherited DH's parents' home when they both passed away (within about a year of each other ) and the only 2 reasons I ever went to FL in the first place was for them and Mickey Mouse, so now we use it as a home base for Mickey. It's in Sun City Center (which is between Tampa & Brandon, but about 20 miles south of both). Driving to DW takes about 90 minutes, it's the same distance to drive from my home in Philly to Cape May, NJ (a drive I'm quite familiar with).

The drive to Port Canaveral was new to me (I do most of the driving), so I wanted to go the day before and stay nearby. Many area hotels have stay/park/cruise packages, where they shuttle you to the cruise terminals, and we did that. I'm finding not the same near Port Miami though.

My thoughts on cruising on points, honestly? I think your guide told you not to do it because (IMHO - NOT fact-based!) DCL makes more money on cash-pay cruisers! I really don't see why you wouldn't want to cruise on points. Frankly, DCL is so $$$$ that we'd never want to or be able to pay out-of-pocket/cash. I mean, besides our initial DVC buy-in and annual "maintenance" fees, all we pay is the booking fee (right now it's $95 flat, not $95 per person) plus any excursions, Palo, alcoholic beverages, gratuities, etc.

The only drawback IMHO is that you don't get the opportunity to rebook onboard. You still get the discount; instead of $, it's a points discount; and you have 3 days after debarking to rebook.

Here are the numbers: we have stateroom cat. 11C, which was 96 points per person, and the discount made it 89 ppp. The last time I looked, to book that under cash pay, was around a thousand pp. I just went to look now to get a more exact number, but it's not available already. Cat. 11 A, though, is $1,649.00. We use the least number of points to have more points for more experiences. We like to go a few times a year, and I'd rather use less points to go more often!

(Is your name really "Harding"? I think that'd be a neat name lol.)

 

[hardingk]

Well it's not really IN Tampa, we inherited DH's parents' home when they both passed away (within about a year of each other ) and the only 2 reasons I ever went to FL in the first place was for them and Mickey Mouse, so now we use it as a home base for Mickey. It's in Sun City Center (which is between Tampa & Brandon, but about 20 miles south of both). Driving to DW takes about 90 minutes, it's the same distance to drive from my home in Philly to Cape May, NJ (a drive I'm quite familiar with).

The drive to Port Canaveral was new to me (I do most of the driving), so I wanted to go the day before and stay nearby. Many area hotels have stay/park/cruise packages, where they shuttle you to the cruise terminals, and we did that. I'm finding not the same near Port Miami though.

My thoughts on cruising on points, honestly? I think your guide told you not to do it because (IMHO - NOT fact-based!) DCL makes more money on cash-pay cruisers! I really don't see why you wouldn't want to cruise on points. Frankly, DCL is so $$$$ that we'd never want to or be able to pay out-of-pocket/cash. I mean, besides our initial DVC buy-in and annual "maintenance" fees, all we pay is the booking fee (right now it's $95 flat, not $95 per person) plus any excursions, Palo, alcoholic beverages, gratuities, etc.

The only drawback IMHO is that you don't get the opportunity to rebook onboard. You still get the discount; instead of $, it's a points discount; and you have 3 days after debarking to rebook.

Here are the numbers: we have stateroom cat. 11C, which was 96 points per person, and the discount made it 89 ppp. The last time I looked, to book that under cash pay, was around a thousand pp. I just went to look now to get a more exact number, but it's not available already. Cat. 11 A, though, is $1,649.00. We use the least number of points to have more points for more experiences. We like to go a few times a year, and I'd rather use less points to go more often!

(Is your name really "Harding"? I think that'd be a neat name lol.)

Hi!
We were in Florida at the time and I was responding from my iphone which became too much to type on the tiny thing!!

My name is Kimberly!

My parents, grandparents & inlaws live in Central Florida, so we visit often! They are about 45 mins north of WDW. My aunt & uncle also have a house in New Port Richey, a little north of you.

Intersting information about DCL vs cash for cruises. I figured out the number of points for a cruise at $15 a point, the cost is 2x the price of the cruise. But interesting logic about getting the lowest cat available. How do you like the bathrooms? We loved the spilt baths in our cabin on the Dream, but I think they are only available in Oceanview Cabins and higher.

 

[mom3girls2000]

Hi!
We were in Florida at the time and I was responding from my iphone which became too much to type on the tiny thing!!

My name is Kimberly!

My parents, grandparents & inlaws live in Central Florida, so we visit often! They are about 45 mins north of WDW. My aunt & uncle also have a house in New Port Richey, a little north of you.

Intersting information about DCL vs cash for cruises. I figured out the number of points for a cruise at $15 a point, the cost is 2x the price of the cruise. But interesting logic about getting the lowest cat available. How do you like the bathrooms? We loved the spilt baths in our cabin on the Dream, but I think they are only available in Oceanview Cabins and higher.

The bathrooms are ok, I do wish they were just a little bigger, either that or some enclosed storage (like a medicine cabinet or a drawer or two!). Well believe it or not, I have stayed somewhere with an even smaller bathroom once before (a NJ shore motel - never again!) but the ship's heads are laid out pretty good. No split (I guess) on the inside cabin, but for just the 2 of us it was alright. I'm used to the splits in the studios @ AKL, BLT, etc., and while it's nice for when we're both getting ready at the same time, I don't like that the commode is in it's own little room! It makes me feel like I'm stuck in this little closet LOL. I'm not claustrophobic, but I don't like it anyway. I started bringing battery-operated nightlights, and believe me, they come in quite handy in an inside cabin when you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night !

I haven't done the per-point costing of the cruise, but we've tended to pay off the "mortgage" portion of our DVC contracts, only leaving us the annual "maintenance" fees.

 

[mom3girls2000]

We now also have a group over on Facebook: February 16, 2013 Disney Wonder 5-Night Western Caribbean Cruise so come look for us there!

I made it a "closed" group, so just send me a private message here or there to join, easy peasy !

 

[Toniann966]

Well it's not really IN Tampa, we inherited DH's parents' home when they both passed away (within about a year of each other ) and the only 2 reasons I ever went to FL in the first place was for them and Mickey Mouse, so now we use it as a home base for Mickey. It's in Sun City Center (which is between Tampa & Brandon, but about 20 miles south of both). Driving to DW takes about 90 minutes, it's the same distance to drive from my home in Philly to Cape May, NJ (a drive I'm quite familiar with).

The drive to Port Canaveral was new to me (I do most of the driving), so I wanted to go the day before and stay nearby. Many area hotels have stay/park/cruise packages, where they shuttle you to the cruise terminals, and we did that. I'm finding not the same near Port Miami though.

My thoughts on cruising on points, honestly? I think your guide told you not to do it because (IMHO - NOT fact-based!) DCL makes more money on cash-pay cruisers! I really don't see why you wouldn't want to cruise on points. Frankly, DCL is so $$$$ that we'd never want to or be able to pay out-of-pocket/cash. I mean, besides our initial DVC buy-in and annual "maintenance" fees, all we pay is the booking fee (right now it's $95 flat, not $95 per person) plus any excursions, Palo, alcoholic beverages, gratuities, etc.

The only drawback IMHO is that you don't get the opportunity to rebook onboard. You still get the discount; instead of $, it's a points discount; and you have 3 days after debarking to rebook.

Here are the numbers: we have stateroom cat. 11C, which was 96 points per person, and the discount made it 89 ppp. The last time I looked, to book that under cash pay, was around a thousand pp. I just went to look now to get a more exact number, but it's not available already. Cat. 11 A, though, is $1,649.00. We use the least number of points to have more points for more experiences. We like to go a few times a year, and I'd rather use less points to go more often!

(Is your name really "Harding"? I think that'd be a neat name lol.)

So Ironic. CAPE MAY and Disney are my favorite 2 destinations. We try to make it to the cape each summer. A much shorter drive from Long Island (than our drive to Florida)

 

[hardingk]

So Ironic. CAPE MAY and Disney are my favorite 2 destinations. We try to make it to the cape each summer. A much shorter drive from Long Island (than our drive to Florida)

We live in Rockville Centre!!

 

[Toniann966]

Hey there,neighbor!!