February 17, 2007

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Christine-I know what you mean about the movie. It really bothered ME! My kids just watched "Ghosts of the Abyss." They really liked it, but it got them thinking...not so much that they don't want to go though, LOL.

 

[MoiraRD]

We are going to be in room 6510. My 2 DD's will be 13 and 5 when we cruise.

I can't wait to go back!!!

 

[MoiraRD]

we will be in 6052 and 6054

I love the placement of those rooms!! We were in room 6058 on the February 25, 2006 Magic. I wanted to do that room again, but dh decided he wanted to try a room with a giant porthole.

 

[MA DVCer]

Our family will be one this cruise. This is our first cruise together with our two kids ages 8 and 10. Our last was aboard the RCCL Song of America back in 1989 for our honeymoon. We loved it back then so I'm sure we'll be in for a real treat again with the kids. Has anyone traveled this time of year before and knows what the weather will be like in February?

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

MA DVCer:


February weather is unpredictable at best. We cruised 2 times in Feb in the last few years. Once was cold and windy, once was warm and sunny. We only went to the Bahamas though. I am sure it will be much warmer in the Caribbean!

I noticed you are from MA too. There are a few of us in this group from MA. Where are you from? Are your kids boys or girls?

You are definitely in for a treat on DCL!! And the DIS boards are the best places to get information. Planning is half the fun here!!

 

[MA DVCer]

We're from Belchertown, MA

Our oldest is a boy and youngest is a girl.

 

[dgaston]

To add to the other room locations, we're in 6134 -- wow a lot of us are on the 6th deck. This is one of the "obstructed" veranda room, perfect for the 3 of us.

And DS chose the first dinner seating -- couldn't talk that guy into shows first!

 

[MA DVCer]

We're in the same vicinity of the ship as you although we're on the next deck up in room 7638.

Very familiar with Woodstock, CT. I worked for a environmental consulting company years back and spent many days at Linemaster Switch.

We also choose main seating for dinner.

We are staying at the Hyatt Regency at the airport the night before the cruise and we are staying at the Residence Inn at Cape Canaveral the night following the cruise so that we can spend a day at Kennedy Space Center before we leave the next morning.

Still need to decide how we are traveling from airport to Port terminal. DCL bus vs. town car service. Any recommendations on taking bus vs. using limo?

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Still need to decide how we are traveling from airport to Port terminal. DCL bus vs. town car service. Any recommendations on taking bus vs. using limo?

Many people just rent a car one way from the airport. It saves a lot of $$, and many of the rental agencies have shuttles that will take you right to the pier. If you don't want to drive, I'd vote for the towncar . It's much more personal, and will probably cost less than DCL transfers. It's a better deal round trip, but you can do different drop off and pick up spots.

 

[MoiraRD]

MA DVCer!! Nice to see so many locals here!! I am in MA as well - Bellingham - and I am also a DVC member!!

Has anyone traveled this time of year before and knows what the weather will be like in February?

I just went on the February 25, 2006 Western on the Magic, and with the exception of a little rain when we were at Key West, the weather was absolutely perfect!! I am sure that no matter what the weather, we will all have a GREAT time!! Your kids are going to be in heaven on this cruise!! My girls loved it! You just may never see them! My DD4 absolutely LOVED the club and she is extremely shy! The counselors are wonderful! My DD12 had met a couple of girls on the DIS and hung with them all week and couldn't have had a better time. Now she is telling me that she doesn't care if we never go back to the parks!! You will really enjoy this vacation!

What did you think of the RCCL cruise? My DH booked one for us on the Navigator of the Seas for this coming July. I'm a bit nervous as I am a total Disney nut, but I am looking forward to trying something new!

Did someone volunteer to keep a list for this board? I thought I saw it somewhere, but I don't know if I was just dreaming it! We are having the early dinner rotation as well. We had that one last month and I loved it! I was just disappointed that we ended up at a table alone. I was really hoping to have tablemates, so hopefully this time around we will!

 

[MA DVCer]

We loved the RCCL cruise although that was over 16 years ago. The ships now are even more spectacular. My parents and brother have been on several RCCL trips and one Celebrity cruise. They thought RCCL beat out Celebrity with better entertainment, food, and more incredible ships. They were considering joining us on the DCL 2/17/07 trip until they saw the price and decided to book on RCCL newest ship - Freedom of the Seas. We did use 376 points from DVC for this trip which may not have been the most economical use of points. I didn't think that we could have rented the points and paid for the cruise until after I booked through DVC, oh well maybe next time.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

id someone volunteer to keep a list for this board? I thought I saw it somewhere, but I don't know if I was just dreaming it! We are having the early dinner rotation as well. We had that one last month and I loved it! I was just disappointed that we ended up at a table alone. I was really hoping to have tablemates, so hopefully this time around we will!

I am keeping the list: So far I have DIS names, ages/sex of children, stateroom #, dining time, a few hotels the night before...anything else I should add? I'll make a prelim list some night this week and PM each person what I have to be sure it's correct so far. If there is anything else anyone thinks I should add, let me know.

MA DVCer- We are about 1 1/2 hours from you, I think. Is Belchertown near Holyoke? We live on the NH border in Pepperell, up by Lowell and Nashua, NH. I also noticed you have posts regarding wheelchairs. We are travelling in April with my in-laws, and DFIL is paralyzed waist down. A friend recommended we call the special needs dept. at RCCL for recommendations of the best accessible excursions. You may be able to do that w/DCL. I am sure they can be of assistance...

 

[MA DVCer]

Holyoke is about 15-20 miles west of us. Belchertown borders Amherst, Ludlow, Palmer among others here in western MA. It's one of the largest land area towns in MA and is supposedly one of the fastest growing also. We have to build a new school every 10 years it seems.

I'm pretty sure we won't have any issues with wheelchair on ship or on Castaway Cay. Our only concern was how accessible shore excusions will be and how to find out in advance. My wife can do some limited walking if she can hold onto something or use crutches so that may help getting on/off buses,boats, etc. Once we get closer we'll have to call DCL and see what their recommendations are. It's too early to reserve excusions at this point anyway. We would likely do more sightseeing type tours if anything.

We've been up thru your neck of the woods before on the way to NH or Maine.

 

[christinou]

Now, I feel that we are getting closer, we are taking the autotrain down, and I just booked our trip....
It seems so crazy to look forward to a trip that is 330 days away.

So who else started looking into transportation?

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

I've started looking at airfare. OMG!!! About $400 pp r/t is all I can find right now. Hopefully, the rates go down a bit...

 

[dgaston]

MA DVCer: So you must have consulted on that EPA Supersite stuff! You were about a block from our home -- we're close to the Woodstock Fairgrounds.

I have to admit I'm more involved right now with planning for our Hawaii cruise. Both generating the money and beginning to think about shore excursions. Disney will probably take a back seat until Aug/Sept. DS now 17 got hired at the church camp in NH, DD 22 had knee surgery on 3/27 (miniscal repair, ACL ok) and haven't had a money request from DS 25 for a while -- LOL Boy is our life sad!

 

[MoiraRD]

So who else started looking into transportation?

We are looking, but not too seriously yet. We are flying to LA in 2 weeks and then down to Miami in July, so I am thinking that DH needs to recover from these upcoming trips before he even is ready to think about more airfare!! I hope the prices come down a bit, too. Getting expensive for a family of 4 to fly anywhere!!

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Hi All!

I was going to try to put a prelim. info. list together last week, but I was so busy @ work and at night....

I was hoping we could do this...

Could you PM me with the following??:

DIS name
First names/sex/ages of people coming, (leave names out if not comfortable)
Where your family is from
Stateroom #
Dining time
Pre-cruise hotel

If there is anything else you think we should keep track of, post here and we can add it. If I have this info saved in PM, it will be so much easier to keep track of. Is everyone comfortable with me posting the info to this thread? I will leave out names on this thread, but I'll PM everyone with all the information when it gets closer. If you want it sooner, let me know, and I'll PM you.
We can add meet times/ideas when we get closer to the cruise date??
Sorry I'm babbling. I was up EARLY bringing my mom to the airport. She's going to Barbados today, lucky her. Daylight savings is killing me, and the rest of my family is still sleeping.
Have a great day!

 

[MoiraRD]

Just bumping up the thread!

 

[christinou]

315 days until our cruise...........
and a bump