how do people possibly stay up for the Caribbean party after St Marten when

[imgoingtodisney]

we need to be up at 630am for the St Thomas imigration?
I had much difficulty staying up to see the 8pm shows when I was on NCL. I enjoyed getting up early in the morning and having my coffee on the sun deck.

 

[mikeymars]

Bingo - excellent question and points. On the 3/23 cruise, we were also to say the least annoyed at the scheduling for the Tuesday Island themed deck party. To add injury to insult, the characters (presumably aimed at pleasing the children) don't appear until 10:30pm!!!!! And DCL expects people to keep 5 year olds up until 11 to experience that and then drag them out of bed at 6am the next morning?!?!??! What rocket scientist at DCL dreamed THAT timetable up? Our dinner servers kept asking us after Tuesday if we'd "made it" to the deck party, to which we responded "with young children?? We would have if it had been intelligently timed!!!!"

 

[Michelle]

Yes, that IS a dilemma, and when the DECK PARTY BAND is directly above your stateroom (a Category 3 suite!) it is even more annoying. We went to the deck party for a while and wanted to be asleep by 11:00 but that was not even remotely possible with the band thumping overhead.

It is unfortunate scheduling.

 

[rcdisneyfam]

We are never in bed much before 1-2 a.m. and I am up at 6 a.m. every morning getting my coffee up on deck 9. I can't sleep when I am on vacation, I am afraid I will miss something.

 

[CamColt]

Ive never been to St Thomas so Im not familiar with this. Does everyone have to be at that time? Is it just people who plan to get off the boat? One from each family?
Youve got me curious.

 

[Señor Ferrari]

CamColt,

Everyone on the ship must report for immigration screening on Wednesday morning in St. Thomas. You'll be given a note in your stateroom the night before which specifies a time. I think it woud be between 6:30 and 8:00. This is required by the INS, not the cruise line. Supposedly, nobody is allowed to leave the ship until everyone has reported. See the current Early wake-up in St. Thomas.... WHY? topic for more info on this.

Getting back to the party scheduling, I suppose that it starts so late so that the late dinner seating doesn't have to rush to finish. It would seem to make more sense having this party on Wednesday night, as there's a day at sea on Thursday.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

so----
how do we get Disney to change it?

 

[CamColt]

Thanks for the info Senor Ferrari.
What a bummer that is. I didnt realize that was required. Im glad Im not going there.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

The tropical deck party has been a fixture of the Eastern cruise since long before 9/11 (and the requirement for all guests to report for Immigration screening). I think there are a couple reasons they scheduled it for Tuesday night... you've just been in St Maarten... you've had a chance to buy cheap, tropical clothing while onshore... and you need the opportunity to smoke all those Cubanos you bought in St Maarten so you're not tempted to smuggle them back into the U.S. at the end of the cruise. Hopefully the dog and pony show with the INS will go away, and the party the night before won't be such a problem.

 

[swede63]

Get the INS or whoever is responible for the waste of a time morning check so that if you want to stay up late you can, (and what kid doesn't on vacation). I am glad the party still takes place I enjoyed it last year and will stay up this year, the whole thing seems not the hour of the party, but the fake security check that someone has imposed in the morning.

 

[kplatt]

While I agree that it was painful to report to the Walt Disney theatre for that early morning immigration check in St. Thomas, I was surprised at how quickly and neatly it was handled. We were out of there in 10 minutes.

Karen
Wonder 11/01
Magic 3/02
Wonder 11/02

 

[ChiTownZee]

Does anyone know if the Western cruise will have/need anything like this?