February 4th, 2012 MAGIC 7 night Western cruise

[bobrowskifam4]

Its so stressful deciding on excursions and then worrying that the one you want may book up quickly. Not sure what we want to do in Key West. My son is 9 and alot of the snorkling is for 10 and up. Not sure how warm water will be to snorkel. Def. want to walk around, get a slice of key lime pie and see the southern most point for pictures. I will have to look into the electric car. I think I know what you are talking about. We just came home from Ocean City MD for a vacation and my kids freaked when they saw a little two seater scooter car on the roads. They wanted to rent one. Never been to Cozumel. I see a lot of people book the private beach Nachi Cucom (Spelled wrong I know) Want to hit a beach and don't really want to wander off the island, might do the beach break. Not crazy about going to main land Mexico even though the excursions look awesome. Since this is our first cruise I'm taking a big gamble and not doing passports just our birth certificates so I want to stick to where the ship docks and not really venture out on a non Disney excursion. If we decide that we want to do more cruises I will invest in the passports. Getting my husband to cruise is a huge endeavor of itself never mind going to another country in the near future-lol. I Did a cruise to the Bahamas a few years ago with my mom and my birth certificate was fine. For Grand Cayman the kids want to swim with Dolphins and Cast Away Cay looking into the Sting Ray Snorkel. I recently went on the excursions and saw that some new ones were added and some taken off. Will have to see as we get closer to November to see what is being offered. I will be up at midnight trying to book though.
From what I've seen on the boards it looks like the boat always tenders in Grand Cayman. I also read unless you have an excursion booked you don't get off the boat until after those with the Disney excursions. I wish I knew the times that the excursions were offered. I threw the question out there on the boards but no bites. It would help plan things better. Guess I need to wait till I can book excursions to know what we can do. I didn't know if it was possible to do even two at one port like the island tour in Grand Cayman then the seven mile beach. Very exciting. Just wish there was more feedback on alot of the excursions to know how people liked them.

 

[bobrowskifam4]

I've never been a part of an exchange that set a limit but I'm open to that if enough people would prefer it. What does everyone think? I don't think anyone needs to spend too much money - it's just for fun.

I think the cut-off should be 3 weeks before we cruise. Some people may be heading to WDW before the cruise. lf you need more time than that, let me know!

Sharon

Do what you can or make what you can- Its for fun!! I think a 3 week cut off is good so we can make sure we have enough Fe's for all. From there we can figure out what nights what family will partcipate in the Fe's for that particular day. This is going to be fun- A little add'l Disney Magic to have on the ship

 

[JLitfin]

Just wondering, how many do we have signed up for the FEs as of now? I'm going to start thinking of what to do for my give aways.

 

[TLPL]

I am checking ground transportation options, is it just me, or the one way car rental is getting more expensive? Budget, Avis and Hertz used not charge extra for dropping off at different location, now seems that they do. Has they changed their policy? How are you guys getting to the port?

 

[bobrowskifam4]

I am checking ground transportation options, is it just me, or the one way car rental is getting more expensive? Budget, Avis and Hertz used not charge extra for dropping off at different location, now seems that they do. Has they changed their policy? How are you guys getting to the port?

I think the most stressful part of the vacation is how to get there. We are flying in on Friday and I wanted a late flight so the kids didn't have to miss anymore school then they already are doing. Some of the hotels/car services near the port stop shuttling after 7 PM. After that it was about $150.00 extra for us just for arriving late. Disney transportation was alot too- $280.00 for the 4 of us plus a place to stay. I found the Wingate at Wyndham near the airport. They offer free shuttles from the airport till 1 AM- We are arriving around 8 PM. We got a room for the night and a Hot Cont. Breakfast in the AM, the hotel will shuttle us to the Port the next morning and pick us up after the cruise to the airport for $210.00 for all of us. I confirmed with them a millon times about the shuttling and such and they said it was all included. This made things a lot easier and affordable for us. We will see how things go when we get there. It was very hard to try and find a hotel in Orlando that would shuttle you to the port. The car rentals like you said are crazy and a car service is just to much as well. Hope all fairs well for us.

 

[bkjlove]

Thank you, we are very excited and yes would love for him to see his room decorated...he will be so excited. Any other suggestions?

We have cruised with carnival and norwegian, but we keep coming back to disney. it's just the special things they do-pirate party,private island,rotating dinning rooms, and a magical feel. The other lines just don't have that. Not that they are bad, just different!

Speak with the disney cruise line-they can decorate the room and have a cake waiting for birthday celebrations. It was about $50 but it was well worth it! I did it for my husbands 50th on the Dream 2 weeks ago. You can view the package at the web site.

 

[TLPL]

I think the most stressful part of the vacation is how to get there. We are flying in on Friday and I wanted a late flight so the kids didn't have to miss anymore school then they already are doing. Some of the hotels/car services near the port stop shuttling after 7 PM. After that it was about $150.00 extra for us just for arriving late. Disney transportation was alot too- $280.00 for the 4 of us plus a place to stay. I found the Wingate at Wyndham near the airport. They offer free shuttles from the airport till 1 AM- We are arriving around 8 PM. We got a room for the night and a Hot Cont. Breakfast in the AM, the hotel will shuttle us to the Port the next morning and pick us up after the cruise to the airport for $210.00 for all of us. I confirmed with them a millon times about the shuttling and such and they said it was all included. This made things a lot easier and affordable for us. We will see how things go when we get there. It was very hard to try and find a hotel in Orlando that would shuttle you to the port. The car rentals like you said are crazy and a car service is just to much as well. Hope all fairs well for us.

I found a offer code "BCD Y937800" for Budget rental. 1 day rental from MCO, drop off by the port, for a compact car for $40. Their airport counter opens 24/7. That's the best deal I found so far.

 

[TLPL]

Checked Budget again last night, found great one way rental rates from the port back to resort, $36 for a compact. woohoo for just 2 of us this is cheaper and we got to go grocery shopping on the way to the port/ resort too!

 

[ClassicPooh2]

Checked Budget again last night, found great one way rental rates from the port back to resort, $36 for a compact. woohoo for just 2 of us this is cheaper and we got to go grocery shopping on the way to the port/ resort too!

Did you have a code or anything? That is a great price! We are looking for one way before the cruise and one way after the cruise as well.

 

[TLPL]

The same one I posted before: BCD Y937800. I booked 1 way from MCO (Airport) to CC5 (Port Canaveral), and one way back from CC5 to M03 (downtown Disney). We are staying 3 extra night in WDW after the cruise and we will take the ME back to the airport.

 

[TLPL]

Seems like our trip is getting longer and longer Our current plan is flying down Thursday after work, stay at Aniamal Kingdom Lodge, and after the cruise, we are staying at Broadwalk for 3 extra nights.
My excuse is the airfare are so much higher now, while we are in Florida, might as well stay a few extra days enjoying the warmer weather!!!

 

[allears]

I am starting to plan my trip now, the one thing I really want to see is Tulum Mayan Ruins. Is it true we can arrange out own tour and save $$?
Eelectric car in Key West sounds fun, but would renting bicycles be more interesting for the kids? Would they be bored riding on car vs riding on their own bike?

You can always book your own excursions, just one caution, if you book from someone other than the cruise line and there is any problem, like a delay coming back or mechanical failure of the ferry going to the main land (this has happened to me) and they can't make it back before the ship sails, it will sail without you. I only book directly from providers if I have a nice time margin between the scheduled end of the excursion and sailing time. Going over to Tulmin, means a trip to the main land. If its a DCL "sponsored" excursion they will hold the ship or make good on any siginficant problems.

You might find it just as easy and fun to walk around Key West, everything is right there where we dock. The trolly or "train" is a nice option as well. You can get off one of them at stops and get on a later one.

 

[schimj]

Hello everyone! This is my first post to this thread, and I will be on this cruise. My wife, TifffanyD and mother-in-law (cheryl046) already are posting, or at the very least lurking, on this thread. DW and I have taken several cruises in the past...this cruise will be our 7th DCL sailing, and 9th cruise overall. We've done 3 3-night cruises (2 on the Wonder and 1 on the Dream), 2 7-night Western cruises, and 1 7-night Eastern. We've also sailed NCL Epic out of Miami on a 7-night Eastern (my mother-in-law's first cruise), and a 7-night Western on Carnival Legend out of our current home town of Tampa. It's safe to say we've been hit by the cruising bug almost as hard as we've been hit by the Disney bug.

I look forward to going over the pages of chat and getting to know all of my fellow cruisers on this thread. DW & I haven't yet decided if we'll be doing the FE for this cruise, but I'm sure we have plenty of time to get that all set up. I think the only things we're pretty sure we'll try to do on this cruise are the DVC Member Meet, possibly a Palo Brunch, Dinner, and Tea. We haven't really thought of much to do excursion-wise so far. As you can see, we're no strangers to these ports, so we might look for something new to do, or possibly just hang around the port areas.

DW & I are going on a Western in just a couple of weeks (the sailing over Halloween, for my birthday), and we don't really have much planned for that one either. I think pretty much the only things we have booked are a Palo Brunch and Dinner (got shut out for tea...not sure if we'll try to book on board), and possibly going to Margaritaville to try to find the dollar we taped to the bar last time we were there.

Well, I think that's about all I have to say for now. My posts usally aren't quite as wordy, but I guess I'm feeling the need to talk to people about non-work related topics. Mondays are kinda crazy around where I work.

 

[Kommando K]

Hubby and I have booked this cruise as well. I'd love to do the FE. So please put our name on the list. It's just us. DH & me. We can't wait to spend a week on the open water. So, sign us up. I'll check back for more details on this fun little game!

 

[TLPL]

This is going to be our first 7 night cruise, is Palo really a must-do thing? What make it special?

Also, I heard they have character meals on the days at sea. Do we have to make reservation for that too?

 

[TifffanyD]

This is going to be our first 7 night cruise, is Palo really a must-do thing? What make it special?

Also, I heard they have character meals on the days at sea. Do we have to make reservation for that too?

You will be assigned to a character breakfast. Palo is good but you can have an awesome cruise without it too.

 

[allears]

This is going to be our first 7 night cruise, is Palo really a must-do thing? What make it special?

Also, I heard they have character meals on the days at sea. Do we have to make reservation for that too?

I think Palo is an absolute must do, both dinner and brunch. High tea is very nice as well, I don't miss it, but it isn't as big a deal as the other two Palo experiences.

 

[schimj]

This is going to be our first 7 night cruise, is Palo really a must-do thing? What make it special?

I agree with my wife, TifffanyD about the Palo part of your question. It's a really great meal, but the food in the main dining rooms is quite tasty as well. A co-worker of mine is going on their first DCL sailing soon and asked the same question, to which I said, "You could probably just enjoy the main dining rooms on your first cruise, and look forward to Palo as something 'new' to try on an upcoming cruise." That's just my two cents...if you want to try it and can get in, it's well worth the extra bucks. Especially the brunch.

 

[sopandbass]

This is going to be our first 7 night cruise, is Palo really a must-do thing? What make it special?

Also, I heard they have character meals on the days at sea. Do we have to make reservation for that too?

Palo is great and you'll enjoy it very much if you choose to go. I think it's a toss up between dinner and brunch - both are good for different reasons and I'm sure you've read all about the meals there.

My advise regarding Palo is to book it early in the cruise because the food is overwhelming by mid-week. But maybe that's just me.

 

[sopandbass]

Finally, I can get back to what's important in life....our Disney Cruise!

I will go through the last few emails and add names to the Fish Extender list. I will then add up how many people are participating at this point so those of you who want to get a head-start creating or buying trinkets will know how many you'll need.

We're getting geared up about the cruise - buying clearance clothing from summer and starting to make the long to-do and to-get lists!!

Happy planning!