First Timer - Lots of ???'s!

[mrsltg]

Hi! I have lots of questions and figured I'd try to post them all in one thread. Thanks for any insight you can give!

1. I would like to parasail on CC. Can I sign up for that excursion at the 60 day mark, or do I need to reserve once on board? Also, is there a choice of times to sign up for?

2. I plan to go to Stingray City with Captain Marvin's. My DH has no interest in doing this, and I can't imagine my 3.5 y.o. dd would even get in the water, so I'm going it alone! I would like to take an early trip so that I can get back to my family and do something with them for the rest of the day. Can I make the 8:30am excursion or will DCL make we wait for a later tender because I am not doing a DCL excursion?

3. The Art of Entertaining Series - are there tickets for these events, or is it just something that you show up for? Same question for wine tasting.

4. Are you able to request where you would like to eat for the embarkation buffet? We plan to get to port at about 10:30 and get on line. We'd like to go to Parrot Cay, but I understand that sometimes you are directed to Topsiders. I understand that a restaurant cannot hold more than capacity, but will you be given a choice if the restaurant still has room?

5. We are doing the REAS package. I understand that we will receive a bottle of champagne with our stateroom basket. Is the beverage cooler enough to chill it?

6. Shutters - do the photographers ever venture into the Oceaneer Club? I ask because I notice that there is some character interaction in the Club at times. I was wondering if the photographers may stop by to catch those great expressions?

7. Shutters (again) - Christmas cards? These were offered last year. Do they do them all year round, or is it only close to the holidays?

I think that's it for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with a few hundred more!

Erin

 

[webray]

Good for you, you have come to the right place.

1. Disneys website says 60 day mark for excursions if you book with them, so you should have no trouble there.

2. Captain marvins on your own..no problem..what you will have to do is get your breakfast out of the way and get up to the area where tender tickets are being given out and wait in line, so that you can be sure to be on the 1st tender. We saw people who really didn't pay any attention, coming up at the last minute, etc..when they had booked their own excursions..it isn't disney's problem if you don't plan ahead..so just go up to wherever the navigator says you get tender tickets at and arrive a little early..you will be good to go.

3. Art of entertaining, you just show up. Wine tasting..you register when you get on the ship at guest services. Register as soon as you can, since space is limited.

4. You can eat at whatever embarkation buffet you want..they do try to direct you...lol, just tell them where you are going..it won't be a problem at all.

5. That beverage cooler isn't very cool at all....I would think they would bring it in a bucket of ice for you. We ordered champagne and dessert for our sailaway..it came on ice cold, ready for us to drink. If you don't drink it right away..your room steward will keep the ice coming.

6. Can't help with kids club and shutters..we travel childless..lol

7. If they don't offer christmas cards when you are on the ship..you just print the release form from barbs sight and you can make the cards at your local drug store or walmart..no problem.

Happy planning!

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by mrsltg
Hi! I have lots of questions and figured I'd try to post them all in one thread. Thanks for any insight you can give!

1.Sign up early and yes you can choose times. Go early as some people have experienced cancellations due to weather conditions later in the day (wind).

2. Ship time I believe is different. I don't think people have missed the early excursions there and they will get you off according to times you need to be off, not necessarily DCL only.

3. I belive you register at GS and they can tell you more. There may be a charge for the wine tasting.

4. Yes, you can choose. I think both are buffet style though.

5. It should be enough. We had cold water no problem.

6. We didn't see any on our trip. I don't think they do.

7. WE had them on ours in January, so I think it is offered year round.



Hope that answers some of your questions.

 

[DrCavin]

6). Yes they do some photos in the clubs, not many though

7). Yes Christmas cards are available. Can choose your picture you want to use even until Friday evening & will be done by Saturday morning.. pretty amazing!!!

 

[jrabbit]

just tell them where you are going

Just don't tell the CM "where to go" or you WON'T have a good cruise

 

[AnnMorin]

Originally posted by mrsltg
Hi! I have lots of questions and figured I'd try to post them all in one thread. Thanks for any insight you can give!

1. I would like to parasail on CC. Can I sign up for that excursion at the 60 day mark, or do I need to reserve once on board? Also, is there a choice of times to sign up for?

you may sign up for that at the 60 day mark but do know you will be held to it even if you are feeling unwell. My husband has parasailed three times now without prebooking, the forth he was glad he did not as it was quite windy and he was not feeling his best, chances are you will get in no problem, he always went early around 10 am


2. I plan to go to Stingray City with Captain Marvin's. My DH has no interest in doing this, and I can't imagine my 3.5 y.o. dd would even get in the water, so I'm going it alone! I would like to take an early trip so that I can get back to my family and do something with them for the rest of the day. Can I make the 8:30am excursion or will DCL make we wait for a later tender because I am not doing a DCL excursion? i would caution an 8:30 excursion, we used Captian marvins (they are GREAT) but took the 10:15, non disney departures do have to wait on tenders and it is about a 15 min walk to get to capt. marvins.

3. The Art of Entertaining Series - are there tickets for these events, or is it just something that you show up for? Same question for wine tasting.
the wine tastings do require tickets, we lost out on our last cruise, as we waited too long, it is a fun time I would highly recommend, I only went to one Art or Ent. - the appetiser (great BTW0 and no tickets were needed
4. Are you able to request where you would like to eat for the embarkation buffet? We plan to get to port at about 10:30 and get on line. We'd like to go to Parrot Cay, but I understand that sometimes you are directed to Topsiders. I understand that a restaurant cannot hold more than capacity, but will you be given a choice if the restaurant still has room?We have always gone to topsiders, I have never been directed anywhere, just like the atmosphere up ther,, I think you can go where you want



5. We are doing the REAS package. I understand that we will receive a bottle of champagne with our stateroom basket. Is the beverage cooler enough to chill it?\
The beverage cooler can easilly hold a bottle of champane, take out the bottom shelf and you can store a lot!
6. Shutters - do the photographers ever venture into the Oceaneer Club? I ask because I notice that there is some character interaction in the Club at times. I was wondering if the photographers may stop by to catch those great expressions?

7. Shutters (again) - Christmas cards? These were offered last year. Do they do them all year round, or is it only close to the holidays?

I think that's it for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with a few hundred more!

Erin

 

[tkd lisa]

Our family did the 8:30 Captain Marvins excursion. We were very worried about making it. We took the first tender after the DCL tour ones, and still had plenty of time to wander about, buy and eat a light breakfast, look for beach towels, and change into our swimsuits (at Capt. Marvin's). We're pretty fast walkers, and I'd say it was about 10 minutes for us to walk to the van pickup point from the dock. I think we got off the boat about 7:30.

 

[Jillpie]

Ann, just curious, what do you mean "they hold you to it", talking about parasailing. I was going to book this, so if you don't feel like doing it, do they charge you anyway if you cancel?

 

[Bethipooh4]

You can cancel a shore excurion if booked through DCL up to 2 days prior to your sailing. So if you are on the ship and don't feel like going, I would say you are out the cost of your excursion. When we arrived onboard all our excursion tickets were waiting for us in our cabins, along with the release waivers.

The wine tasting has a 12.00 charge with it, you can sign up at guest services. We totally enjoyed it.

They take some pictures in the kids clubs, be sure to look for the pictures they take of them during the kids show they put on for the adults. You may be able to get a copyof any pics there. On CC they take a ton of pics of the kids on the beach and in the clubs. They also have scheduled appearances with characters and we never waited more then 5-10 minutes for pictures.

Hope this helps.

 

[tbuot]

On our last trip 5/29 Magic a photographer did go into the Oceaneer's Club and take pictures with each child and Daisy Duck. They were given to the parents for free. They are really cute. They were the 6x8 pictures that Shutters offers. This was our 3rd cruise and we had not seen this before.

 

[tkd lisa]

I had pre-booked my DH and DS to do tandem parasailing. When we got DS from Scuttles to go, he didn't want to do it. We still had to pay for it. They did let DH go up twice since we had paid for two trips.