First timers trying to decide when to go....

[momx2]

The crew is as follows: Me, DH, DD (7) and DD 3 (3). We are looking at going in November or December 2005. At that time my youngest DD will be 4 and the oldest will turn 8 on December 16th. (this is important, at least to my DD, as you will read later). I now realize we should have booked awhile back for better rates, etc, but....didn't happen. We want to go on a 7 day.

I first looked at the December 17th cruise because DD will be out of school and won't have to miss. This will cause us to have to fly (extra $) and the return flight will be on Christmas Eve and of course, the cruise is kinda more expensive then. I think that would be a hard day back with the airports probably brimming over. But I thought we can do it. Then it dawns on me, DD will be 8 the day before we leave requiring her to go to the 8-9 yr. old clubs. The problem: About a year ago we got the cruising planning video and all she has talked about since then was going to Goofy's PJ party. Well, that is in the 5-7year old club. Now, not a big problem to most, but to her, the drama queen, she will not have a good time unless she can do this.

So, I look at Thanksgiving and the week after. Thanksgiving costs almost $2,000 dollars more than the week after. But the week after will require DD to miss the whole week of school. These will be unexcused per our school policy. I took her out in Kindergarten for a week, unexcused, but no big deal. But for some reason I feel guilty for taking her out this time. Also, it's a long week since Thanksgiving is before we leave, so we can drive saving about another $1,000.

As I type this, it is becoming clearer to me that maybe one week of school missed is worth the thousands of $ I'll save, but what do you guys think?

 

[lbgraves]

I honestly wouldn't book based on that one activity. Things change from year to year. Last year when we went on the 11/15/03 DS was in the 3-4 group & that is where Goofy went for the PJ party. It changed this year on the 12/4/04 and he went with the 5-7s. Who knows what they will do next year? They have also changed the final kid's show & switched tropical night to pirate night over the past year. Any extra time for you younger DD is probably better anyway so that she will be older.

If you do chose to sail on the 12/17/05, join us on the cruise meets board. There is already a fun group of us posting & there are alot of kids those ages already signed up. I bet that your older DD can hook up with a couple kids her age and email them over the next year so that she already has friends on the cruise. They wont care as much about what they are doing then if they have friends.

 

[westjones]

Does you school have a fall break? Ours has a 2 day fall break in Oct., I realize that is only 2 days, but then only three days would be missed to make up a week.

BTW, I do think you can have your 8 year old move down to the 6-7 year old group if you want. They don't let children move up (very often, I have heard of it happening on rare occassion), but moving down a group isn't much of a problem. You could just tell them you want both children in the Club. That way you can go wheneven you want.

When my twin DDs turned 10 (the day after the cruise started), I still put them in the 8-9 year old group because I wanted them to get to do some of those activities from that group, also I prefer for my girls not to be the youngest in a group.

If I were you, I would plan for the time that works best for school and your budget and just plan to put her in the 5-7 year old group even if she had turned 8.

DJ

 

[staylor]

We are taking our DS8 out of school for a week. I talked to the principal and she said it sounded like we have important family matters to take care of. Fortunately his teacher will be gone half of that week as well. I couldn't have planned that better.

On the 7 nt. eastern, according to the 8-9 yr. group navigators from 11/13-19/04, sun. night is a girls pj party in the lab (boys will be on the sports deck), on Mon. Goofy will host the Goofy Files (Enter the almost invisible world of forensics and earn your investigator's certificate). Then on Thur. Goofy hosts the Goofy World Records (Goofy and his pals have created a variety of games and contests for a wild time). So you could tell her that the older group gets to do more w/ Goofy.

I think either way, she'll have a blast.
Staci

 

[momx2]

Thanks so much for the quick responses. I think she will have fun no matter when we go, I need to quit stressing so much. I think I make her worse by me worrying too much about these things.

I think the week before Christmas would be better, except for the $$ issue, but hey, it will be their Christmas present from us. Of course Santa will still visit. Well, I think I better book soon or I'm going to run out of options. Thanks, Renae

 

[westjones]

If you want to go around Christmas time 2005 I do suggest you book right away! Last year I was watching prices for this year. Our family went on the 4 night on Dec. 19th. My sister was going to join us, but she just wouldn't get around to actually booking a stateroom. Well all through January I watched those prices rise, to the point that by the end of February the prices were much too high for her to go.

With the holidays over for this year, people are going to start making plans for next year. As more rooms book, the prices go up.

DJ

 

[princessmomma]

I say December 17th too! Please join us. We are on the ship too! I wouldn't worry about the activities either. So many things to do. I would be hard for me to take the kids out of school for a whole week. I would do it, but the prices for Dec. 17th are pretty good.

Check www.cruisequick.com and www.allseastravel.com for cheaper quotes.

Good luck, let us know what you decide!

 

[momx2]

Well, we did it!!!! We are booked for the December 17th! I'm so excited! I used cruisequick.com. I got a catagory 9 cabin. Wanted a balcony, but oh, well, maybe next time. I got worried about getting a cabin, so I went ahead and booked today and paid my deposit. The pickins seemed slim already because on the Disney cruise site, they didn't even have any cat. 9 available and on cruisequick.com we didn't have a chose of cat. 9 cabins, but a guarantee.

 

[princessmomma]

Congratulations Momx2,

Here is the link to our rollcall.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=592402&page=5&pp=15

We booked category 9 as well. I booked it in October and the price for a balcony was about $2000 more, I just couldn't justify that price. My thinking, I would be that much closer to another cruise..save the money...save the money.

Unfortunately, cruisequick did not offer Disney when I booked this cruise so I booked it through another TA. They just started offering Disney about 1 month ago and I always wondered if they could beat the quote I received from this TA. Maybe I should email and ask.

Anyway, that is great. Lisa (lbgraves) has set up a cool website where she has all our information and family pictures so we can get to know each other beforehand.

Very excited for you!

 

[momx2]

Princessmomma:

We got a it for approx. $3,800 for 2 adults and 2 kiddos. I have no idea if this is a good rate or not, but I do know that this cat. 9 is not being offered on Disney Cruiseline and lesser categories are more. (BTW, its without insurance, may have to do that also.) Thanks for the link.