I need some convincing...Oct./Dec.

[TNMomof3]

Hi all! I'm not a newbie to the DIS, but this is my first post in the cruise forum.

We'd tentatively thought of cruising on the Magic Oct. 1, 2005. My kids have a two week fall break then, we love the weather, and the prices are good. Then came the news of the dry dock.

A little background so you'll know how we're coming into this. We're a family of 5 with kids at cruise time being 11,9, and 4. We'll be looking to book two cabins in a lower category (9 or 10)We're also DVC members. I've worked out a couple of alternative plans since the Magic won't be sailing on Oct. 1, 2005. Can you guys help me with them?

Plan 1 involves sailing the Wonder (4 day)during that same time of year, (early Oct.) then spending about 5 days in a one bedroom at Vero Beach. We're going to WDW for 10 days this October, so our APs will be expired, but we'll get to try Vero Beach. My main concern with this is that the 4 day cruise will NOT be long enough for us. DH and I did a 7 day on Carnival a few years ago, and loved having that amount of time.

Plan 2 involves sailing on the Magic 12-17-05, then checking into a two bedroom at BWV on 12/24 for about 4 days. Pros on this plan are that we'll get to go for a 7 day cruise, I think it'll be really magical to be at WDW on Christmas Eve/Day. We love being with our family at Christmas, but we love the thought of it just being the 5 of us for one Christmas. Also, the ship, and possibly Castaway Cay will be decorated for Christmas.


The cons are the high points cost for holiday, though we wouldn't have to borrow. My main concern for this time of the year is the weather. I do NOT like cold weather. I've been to WDW in both Dec. and Jan., so I know temps. can vary, but are still coolish. How are the islands though? I just don't want to feel like I have to be bundled up in a coat, and the kids want to be able to swim on the cruise. Not really worried about the crowds at WDW. I bet we'd get there at opening and leave around lunch. I think we'd avoid most crowds, and have a lot of relaxation time in our villa. Weather, weather, weather! That's the question.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long drawn out dilemma. I'd really appreciate any feedback or advice you guys could give.

 

[izzinmac]

My thoughts on your problem! We cruise right after Thanksgiving each year usually on the Eastern, and even early December it can be cool in Florida/ the Bahama's, especially the water. But since most of our cruise time is in the Caribbean, the rest of the weather is great.

Have you considered back to back Wonder cruises (3 day and a 4 day) in October. Personally, I would prefer that over additional days at Vero. I work in Vero, and although the Vero Disney is nice, it is really a quiet place. A nice pool and beach, but not much else. To me the back to back cruises would be better!

Pluses -
You can keep the same rooms between sailings and last I heard even stay on board.
Two days at Castaway Cay. Much more to do than Vero!
Good weather in the Bahamas in Oct and water not too cold.

Minuses -
Same shows and menus back to back
Two days in Nassau (However that would be a plus to me because I enjoy staying on an empty ship while in port!)

You could combine this with the 7 days at WDW at Christmas and get the best of both scenarios. This would mean two trips to Florida.

 

[TNMomof3]

Thank you for suggesting that option, izzinmac. I hadn't even thought of that. It's good too to know that Vero Beach, while I'm sure we'd enjoy the resort, may not have many surrounding activities to keep us busy.

About the back to back thing...do they give you some type of discount for doing that? I checked out AllSeas published fares to get a comparison, and it looks like it'd cost me $1263 more to do a back to back Wonder cruise in Oct., and $1758 more to do one in December. It seems that the straight out 7 day cruise on the Magic, not only offers the extras of a 7 day, but is quite a bit less expensive than doing back to back Wonder cruises if they don't offer an additional discount.

Castaway Cay twice sounds like it might be worth it though.

Thanks again for helping with your opinion.

 

[ivanova]

I imagine you'll need to talk to DCL in person or a TA in person to find out about discounted pricing for doing a back to back 3 and 4 night on the Wonder.

 

[dazie52]

Where did you find out about dry dock? I'm not the savy internet hunter than most people are. (And why bother when I can find out everything that I need to know here?)

 

[TNMomof3]

I first noticed the dry dock on AllSeas site. They'd previously had pricing up for the Oct. 1, 2005 cruise. As a matter of fact, I know a couple of people who'd already booked it.

Needless to say, when I hopped over to the DIS there were posts right about that same time mentioning the newly scheduled dry dock of the Magic. It affects the Oct. 1 and Oct. 8 cruises in 2005.

 

[kcashner]

We love WDW at Christmas.....the first 2 weeks in Dec are low cost. Is there a possibility of taking the kids out of school for one of those weeks?

We've done many Feb cruises as that is DD's birthday. 2 of the 7 were cool...the others very warm and wonderful. I'd opt for a 7 day cruise.