From WDW To DL With Love - January 06, 2011

[TDC Nala]

I did a PC cruise in 2005 and all the ports were different except Cabo so I don't have any idea what there is to do in the new ports. Nor am I up on the booze rules. I think you can but you have to carry your booze on and not put it in checked luggage (exactly the opposite of what the airlines want, go figure). I think they had one formal night and two semiformal nights and by the end of the cruise I was wearing jeans to the dining room anyway.

There are several of us with DVC points who are shooting at the Grand Californian Villas so I'd assume that we'll have to be among the first to get in touch with Member Services on the booking day - it's not a peak season but there are not a lot of rooms there in the first place - if I don't get there in time I will go for the Disneyland Hotel or Paradise Pier since I have the points for it.

 

[auntlynne]

...Nor am I up on the booze rules. I think you can but you have to carry your booze on and not put it in checked luggage (exactly the opposite of what the airlines want, go figure). ...

How to Take Booze on Disney Cruise

By Heather Brautman
eHow Contributing Writer

...

Things You'll Need:
Carry on bag (not a beverage cooler), up to 22 inches wide, 14 inches high and 9 inches deep

Step 1

Unlike some cruise lines, the Disney Cruise Line does not restrict the number of bottles or containers of alcohol a passenger may bring on board. Instead, it requires that all alcohol fit into a carry-on bag. Anything that fits into the bag is permitted. Remember that airlines have their own carry-on policies, and alcohol is not permitted. At the Disney Cruise Line, the carry-on bag may not be a beverage cooler.

Step 2
Once on board, room stewards provide ice daily, which may be used to keep alcohol cold. Glasses are also available in the rooms. Wine stewards are available to open and serve bottles, charging a corking fee of $15 per bottle. There may also be a charge if you bring a bottle into the main dining restaurant.

Step 3
Disney Cruise Line also permits guests to purchase alcohol while in port and bring it back on board the ship. This usually is still a savings compared the prices the ship charges. When returning home, guests who have purchased alcohol in the Eastern Caribbean may declare a total purchase up to $1,200 each. This requirement includes a restriction to a total of 5 liters of alcohol per person over the age of 21.

per DCL itself:

"Alcohol is permitted on board. However, be aware that any fragile items (including bottled alcohol) must be hand-carried on board in a day bag and/or carry-on bag, the dimensions of which cannot exceed 22" wide, 14" high and 9" deep. Guests who request a Wine Steward to open and serve a bottle of champagne, wine or liquor that has been brought onboard will be charged a corking fee of $15.00 per bottle.

Please be advised: Disney Cruise Line reserves the right to remove fragile items (including beverages) from luggage. In such cases, items will be stored and returned at the end of the voyage. Beverage containers are considered fragile and have previously caused damage in checked luggage. All fragile items must be transported inside carry-on luggage."

 

[aan1701]

Oh dear. I am so excited. How am I ever going to get through the next year?

We are not telling the kids until Christmas. It's going to be torture.

I have a few questions for you veteran Panama Canal Repositionists.....

What are some likely excursions in Puntarenas Costa Rica? I know it's awfully early but we are going to Guanacaste Costa Rica next month and the kids want to book all kinds of excursions and I am, of course, trying to save some for the cruise. Can anyone give me some enlightenment?

Which stop is likely to have the best snorkeling?

What is the current DCL policy on bringing your own beverages on board?

How many formal nights and when are they likely to be?

Pirates in the Carribean? Pirates in the Pacific? Just where are those pirates going to show up?

Staying at DLR post cruise? Any suggestions as to where to stay?

Happy New Year Everyone and thank goodness I have you all to Dis with for the next year or I'd go nuts!


Thanks! Les

Well since I have done both of the Magics Westbound cruises I will tell you my experances. In 05 we did Pirate Night in Acapolco. In 08 it was in Cabo. There were 2 formal an d one semi formal on both of the Westbounds. The rest were casual. You can still take you own booze on in your carry ons. Since I am not one to get off the ship I can not answe the exursion questions.

 

[auntlynne]

...What are some likely excursions in Puntarenas Costa Rica? ...Thanks! Les

There are 2 major port areas in the Puntarentas region: Limon and Puerto Caldera & Puntarenas Pier (but only about 10 miles apart). They have similar excursions on the internet:

Rainforest tours with variations of aerial tram or wagon expedition.
Zipline (w/13 platforms)
Crocodile farm
Dole Banana plantation
REVENTAZON RIVER WHITEWATER RAFTING

P&O Cruises offers these excursions to their passengers:
Sarchi Colours and Shopping - Discover the colourful oxcarts and local crafts of Sarchi, and the unique metal church of Grecia.
Tropical Forest Skywalk and Pura Vida
Tropical Mangroves Eco Tour
Hot Springs and Volcano - See the beautiful countryside, the imposing Arenal Volcano and indulge in the delights of the natural hot springs.
Tropical Forest Sky Walk - An amazing walking experience on hanging bridges through the tropical forest.
The Original Canopy Tour - The Original Canopy Tour consists of 9 observation platforms, some high in the trees, others close to the ground, and 8 horizontal traverse cables connected between the immense trees of this tropical paradise.

From http://www.cruising.org/vacation/destinations/central-america-panama-canal

Puntarenas -
Costa Rica's most popular beach resorts and 14 national parks and reserves can all be found in this little coffee shipping port on the Gulf of Nicoya. The town also serves as the connection to the nation's capital city and other attractions.

Parks & Forests -
Highlights of Puntarenas include trips to the city's national parks and tropical rain forests to explore the area's exotic plants, flowers and wildlife. The cloud forest, Poas National Park and Carara Biological Reserve offer the opportunity to breath in fresh air, take in beautiful scenery, and spot monkeys, macaws, parrots, peccaries, toucans, butterflies, crocodiles and more.

Sarchi & San Jose -
A relatively short trip through picturesque valleys and past coffee and sugar plantations along the Pan American Highway from Puntarenas can take cruise visitors to the nearby town of Sarchi and to San Jose, Costa Rica's capital. In Sarchi, local craftsmen carry on the traditions of Costa Rica's native art, painting the famed ox carts. An excursion to San Jose, Costa Rica's capital, includes a drive through the Central Volcanic Valley and stops at the National Museum to capture pre-Columbian art and history, the National Theater, Opera House and National Library.

Other Activities -
Other things to do and see in Puntarenas include a leisurely raft ride down Carobici River to enjoy bright scenery and rich wildlife; a horseback adventure through jungles and cattle fields; and a journey through the city's history. Open-air restaurants and craft shops also line the streets of Puntarenas.

Regent Seven Seas Port Excursions : (full fare passengers have unlimited shore excursions, so take that into consideration):

Costa Rica in Essence
The Tropical Rain Forest a Universe of Knowledge
The Tárcoles River: a Wildlife Gallery
Leisurely Raft Down the Corobici River
Canopy Tour
Outrigger Canoe
Costa Rica’s Connoisseur Experience
San Jose City Tour
Skywalk in the Forest
La Paz Waterfalls
Horseback Riding Adventure
Tropical Train Ride & Exotic Magrove Glide
Poas Volcano and Sarchi
Tropical Forest Sky Way and Pura Vida Gardens
Zip Lining At Parque Aventura
Executive Collection Full Day Private Car

 

[JenKatt]

About the booze, you use to (and I think still can) ship wine/ liquor/ whatever to the boat. (Florida has some very lax liquor laws and shipping). On our last PC cruise in 2005, there were quite a few grouos that shipped a crate of wine/ beer to the boat to save on luggage space.
About the corkage fee. We have never been charged. I know people have, but in 5 cruises, we haven't. YMMV.

 

[auntlynne]

We have never been charged. I know people have, but in 5 cruises, we haven't. YMMV.

"Guests who request a Wine Steward to open and serve a bottle of champagne, wine or liquor that has been brought onboard will be charged a corking fee of $15.00 per bottle."

I think you have to request to pay more.

Lynne

 

[glindamood]

About the booze, you use to (and I think still can) ship wine/ liquor/ whatever to the boat. (Florida has some very lax liquor laws and shipping). On our last PC cruise in 2005, there were quite a few grouos that shipped a crate of wine/ beer to the boat to save on luggage space.
About the corkage fee. We have never been charged. I know people have, but in 5 cruises, we haven't. YMMV.

Per the current shipping instructions posted on the main cruise board, they no longer allow shipping liquor, food or drinks. The weight is currently set at 20 pounds as well. We typically have a car and make our purchases at the grocery on the way to the ship.

Lynne - thanks for sharing your findings with us.

Snowing here -again, some more, whatever. Just wears me out - or maybe it is this cold. Tree coming down after dinner tonight - oh what fun. Youngst DS (college freshman) is home and I need to take advantage of his muscles etc. before he heads back to school on Friday.

Enjoy your day.

 

[KayR]

Oh dear. I am so excited. How am I ever going to get through the next year?

We are not telling the kids until Christmas. It's going to be torture.


Thanks! Les

Stick with it.

I had booked our last cruise over 15 months in advance. The kids (DS9 DD5) didn't find out about it until they saw the ship It was hard not letting slip, especially when we had to start booking things and buying/packing stuff.

Its worth it.

They do know about this PC one though and they keep talking about it with over a year to go still.

Enjoy the reveal, whenever it happens

-Kay

 

[izma]

You guys are just fantastic with the information! I only hope that sometime I can pay it back!

For those of you doing weather reports...we have be hovering around -30'C since before Christmas. It keeps threatening to break but only for a few hours then it's back to the deep freeze. Our coldest has been around -43'C.

This will be my 4th surprise Disney holiday reveal. Sure makes it sound like my kids aren't very swift!!! Hope you can find a laugh in my past reveals...

Reveal 1 was a trip to Disneyland and we did a scavenger hunt for Easter. For each item found they got a letter...spelled Disneyland in the end and triggered the Mickey Mouse Club March on the stereo. My daughter screams and my son stands there looking blank because he always thinks I'm too cheap to fork it out for a Disney holiday.

Reveal 2 was our first trip to WDW and then a Disney Cruise. We told them in September that we were going on a Disney Cruise on November. I had booked the trip 2 years before and just before the one year mark I started giving them 1 letter a month D I S N E Y C R U I S E. I made little Disney boxes filled with little Disney/Cruise things...very similar to fish extender stuff that I gave to them when they descrambled the letters and figured it out. They were THRILLED. After about a week they absolutely forbid me to ever tell them more than a couple of days in advance because the waiting was torture!!!! Now see reveal 2.5. (Incidently,our table mates on the cruise had been lurkers on the dis. I told them I had been on the boards to help with my planning. Tablemate husband said,"OMG!!! I bet you were IZMA!!!" Isn't it funny how well you can get to know someone on the Dis.)

Reveal 2.5 What they didn't know was that we were going to WDW before the cruise. I packed up the car and picked them up from school for an "orthodontist appointment" on November 5. My daughter screams and laughs and my son sits there with a blank look on his face because he thinks I'm too cheap. He is also trying to figure out whether we are going on the Disney Cruise, or going to WDW. Doing both does not occur to him for a couple of minutes. Then when we tell them it's both they are hysterical. Now see reveal 2.75

Reveal 2.75 So then we're going for breakfast Saturday morning before we get off the ship. DS says, "I can't believe we have to go home today." Very dismal indeed. We start to laugh and the kids are confused. "We're not going home," we chuckle, "we're going back to WDW for a couple of days".

Now they don't believe anything we say!!!!

Reveal 3 was not very creative I'm afraid. We told them we were going to Puerto Rico. We had a big banner across the living room wall PUERTO RICO. Music Sombreros Maracas. They are not familiar with Puerto Rico but they tried to be enthusiastic. Then my cell phone rang....the ring is the horn of the Disney Magic/Wonder. We ripped down Puerto Rico and revealed Disney Cruise.

Reveal 4. This time I am planning numbered Christmas presents under the tree to be opened in order. Bathing suits, flip flops,...I am counting on you guys can help me with ideas[/B]...the final present will be the Cruise documents. That's only twelve days to wait....which after all the waiting and keeping my mouth shut that I have done....I think is fair!!!!



Thanks again for all your terrific information!

Les

 

[LindaBabe]

Les, that sounds AWESOME! I wish I was your kid, lol.

Does anybody have a source for inexpensive lanyards? Lovingthemouse is taking a bunch of "disadvantaged" students to Disney for the 'yes' program. First I was going to give her my unused lanyards and see if I could beg some more from others - we get like 4 per trip, don't you? - but then I thought wouldn't it be cool if I got them lanyards in the school colors with the name on them? Plus being easier for her to keep track of the kids if they were all the same color.

Quiet day here. It's up to 12 F, but the wind is still blowing a gale. I'm in the "nervous and I don't think I want to go" stage. Plane leaves at 8:30 tomorrow.

 

[JenKatt]

Les, that sounds AWESOME! I wish I was your kid, lol.

Does anybody have a source for inexpensive lanyards? Lovingthemouse is taking a bunch of "disadvantaged" students to Disney for the 'yes' program. First I was going to give her my unused lanyards and see if I could beg some more from others - we get like 4 per trip, don't you? - but then I thought wouldn't it be cool if I got them lanyards in the school colors with the name on them? Plus being easier for her to keep track of the kids if they were all the same color.

Quiet day here. It's up to 12 F, but the wind is still blowing a gale. I'm in the "nervous and I don't think I want to go" stage. Plane leaves at 8:30 tomorrow.

Linda
Did you try Oriental Trading? They often have awesome stuff like that for cheap.

Jen

 

[A Litle Pixie Dust]

I'm excited to announce - I have a new room mate!! Her stage name is Lovingthemouse. As soon as we can get a picture taken together, I'll be sending Jeff new details to update the website. ! I'm REALLY excited!!!

Congrats!!!!

Les, that sounds AWESOME! I wish I was your kid, lol.

Does anybody have a source for inexpensive lanyards? Lovingthemouse is taking a bunch of "disadvantaged" students to Disney for the 'yes' program. First I was going to give her my unused lanyards and see if I could beg some more from others - we get like 4 per trip, don't you? - but then I thought wouldn't it be cool if I got them lanyards in the school colors with the name on them? Plus being easier for her to keep track of the kids if they were all the same color.

For the 2008 PC Cruise we used a company called Order Lanyards (website is thier name plus .com) I am not sure how many you need but the tubular lanyards came out nice for us. There is a min of 100 pieces. We fell at the over 250 so our per piece price was $1.00.

I can post a picture of the lanyard if you want to see it. I still have mine.

 

[orlandothebeagle]

You guys are just fantastic with the information! I only hope that sometime I can pay it back!

For those of you doing weather reports...we have be hovering around -30'C since before Christmas. It keeps threatening to break but only for a few hours then it's back to the deep freeze. Our coldest has been around -43'C.

This will be my 4th surprise Disney holiday reveal. Sure makes it sound like my kids aren't very swift!!! Hope you can find a laugh in my past reveals...

Reveal 1 was a trip to Disneyland and we did a scavenger hunt for Easter. For each item found they got a letter...spelled Disneyland in the end and triggered the Mickey Mouse Club March on the stereo. My daughter screams and my son stands there looking blank because he always thinks I'm too cheap to fork it out for a Disney holiday.

Reveal 2 was our first trip to WDW and then a Disney Cruise. We told them in September that we were going on a Disney Cruise on November. I had booked the trip 2 years before and just before the one year mark I started giving them 1 letter a month D I S N E Y C R U I S E. I made little Disney boxes filled with little Disney/Cruise things...very similar to fish extender stuff that I gave to them when they descrambled the letters and figured it out. They were THRILLED. After about a week they absolutely forbid me to ever tell them more than a couple of days in advance because the waiting was torture!!!! Now see reveal 2.5. (Incidently,our table mates on the cruise had been lurkers on the dis. I told them I had been on the boards to help with my planning. Tablemate husband said,"OMG!!! I bet you were IZMA!!!" Isn't it funny how well you can get to know someone on the Dis.)

Reveal 2.5 What they didn't know was that we were going to WDW before the cruise. I packed up the car and picked them up from school for an "orthodontist appointment" on November 5. My daughter screams and laughs and my son sits there with a blank look on his face because he thinks I'm too cheap. He is also trying to figure out whether we are going on the Disney Cruise, or going to WDW. Doing both does not occur to him for a couple of minutes. Then when we tell them it's both they are hysterical. Now see reveal 2.75

Reveal 2.75 So then we're going for breakfast Saturday morning before we get off the ship. DS says, "I can't believe we have to go home today." Very dismal indeed. We start to laugh and the kids are confused. "We're not going home," we chuckle, "we're going back to WDW for a couple of days".

Now they don't believe anything we say!!!!

Reveal 3 was not very creative I'm afraid. We told them we were going to Puerto Rico. We had a big banner across the living room wall PUERTO RICO. Music Sombreros Maracas. They are not familiar with Puerto Rico but they tried to be enthusiastic. Then my cell phone rang....the ring is the horn of the Disney Magic/Wonder. We ripped down Puerto Rico and revealed Disney Cruise.

Reveal 4. This time I am planning numbered Christmas presents under the tree to be opened in order. Bathing suits, flip flops,...I am counting on you guys can help me with ideas[/B]...the final present will be the Cruise documents. That's only twelve days to wait....which after all the waiting and keeping my mouth shut that I have done....I think is fair!!!!



Thanks again for all your terrific information!

Les

That sounds amazing,personaly,I cant keep a secret like that,my head would burst

 

[auntlynne]

I love that her daughter is the optimist and the son is such a pragmatist. Those children just haven't noticed the pattern, have they?

 

[Tami0220]

Les, I love what you did! Usually I get so excited (my head would probably burst too) and I give up the secret. I did manage to keep the secret one year til Christmas. I made a picture up with the characters and such, fancy words and more. I glued it on cardstock then cut it up like a puzzle. I put pieces in each of the 3 stockings. They had to work together to make the puzzle to see where we were going. It was so much fun and they were so excited. Wish I had filmed it.

 

[tinkryansmom]

Les, awesome!! I too would have a hard time keeping the secret. I tried on this PC cruise and lasted like a day!

LindaBabe - I am in for FE. I will let you know our cabin assignment as soon as I get it. Is anyone planning on doing the lanyards again? Or the magnetic wipe off boards? I know someone mentioned those things.

 

[izma]

Les, I love what you did! Usually I get so excited (my head would probably burst too) and I give up the secret. I did manage to keep the secret one year til Christmas. I made a picture up with the characters and such, fancy words and more. I glued it on cardstock then cut it up like a puzzle. I put pieces in each of the 3 stockings. They had to work together to make the puzzle to see where we were going. It was so much fun and they were so excited. Wish I had filmed it.

Oh yes...that's good! I may use that!

 

[glindamood]

OK - back to page one for us!

Have a good evening everyone. I am going to take my NyQuil and head off to bed - I will get rid of this cold - I WILL!

 

[Tami0220]

I have a head cold too. Dont know if it due to the excitement of the cruise being only a year away, or due to the drugs incapacitating my brain. But, I went out today and got a disney tatoo. It's a small Mickey head with a hibiscus in the center and vines with leaves on both sides of the mickey head. Shades of pink, purple, green and blues. I LOVE IT! It is on my foot and I am thrilled. When I figure out how to post a pic I will. Going to bed early my head is sooooo stuffed up.

 

[CruznLexi]

We put all the holiday stuff away today. We leave Friday for Port Canaveral for the Carnival Dream! Oh so can't wait! It is going to be in the 20's here tonight! I just hope I can stay focused on work tomorow and Wednesday. Then we leave Fri. I hope the weather will be nice.