Jan 20th 2008- 4 Night Wonder - Anyone?

[dustermom02]

I've done the search and it came up with no matches. I couldn't get an early dinner seating for our party of 11 so I know there have to be a lot of people going.

My sister & her family are threatening to cancel b/c she wants to eat early and thinks the late dinner with the kids (5) will be a disaster (she did a 7 day cruise with 1 child before at a late dinner and said it was a nightmare).

We've done a 3 day cruise and had a lot of fun but were real novices and missed a lot. Looking forward to our second, (in spite of the late dinner, I think).

280 days to wait...

Paula

 

[4r3cubs]

Hello!!
My friends showed me this DISboards. I have never done this before so bear with me! My family and I will be going on the Jan 20th, 2008 cruise. We went on the Magic Eastern cruise in 2005. This time we wanted to spend time in Tampa with friends so we decided to do just the 4-day cruise. I will have DD-8, DD-5 and DS-3 when we cruise. Of course DH, too! We are from Virginia and would like to get to know you! WOW, 11 of you!! That should be fun! Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[dustermom02]

This is wonderful! I figured there had to be someone else.

The post asking about anyone cruising on the 20th is my first post here ever. One of the mom's from karate told me about this site. I haven't had as much time to read as I would like.

We're from Maryland so we're almost neighbors.

Did you reserve early enough to get the 1st dinner seating? I'd like to find out if there is some way to change just 1 or 2 of the 4 nights to the 1st seating. I just haven't had time to do any research recently.

I love your count down timer. I'll have to figure out how to set that up.

 

[4r3cubs]

I'm so glad that you checked in! How many kids do you have and their ages? It would be fun to meet. We do have early seating and we were very happy because last time we had late and it wasn't a "nightmare" but close. All of our pics are of the kids sleeping at the dinner table. It was good that my husband and I had quiet dinners!! But we didn't do any of the fun stuff after dinner. This time if that happens I think we will put the kids in the club, even if they are sleeping.

Well, we are going out the door. I'll check in later!

Robin

 

[dustermom02]

Sorry - Forgot to give the kids ages. At the time we go DD-10, DS -7, DD 3, DNephew-6, DNiece 1. Your DD8 would be at the Oceaneers lab with my dd10 so maybe that would help my dd want to go- even if they're on different sides of the same area. She did not want to go last time.

I just pulled out some paperwork this weekend to file and I realized that I don't know what the schedule actually is for the 4 days of our cruise. When I reserved on line the printout I have says Mon-Nassau, Tues-at Sea, Wed Castaway Cay but the confirmation letter I got in the mail says Mon-Nassau, Tues Castaway Cay and Wed at Sea. I'm going to call tomorrow to find out which print out is correct. It doesn't really matter to me I was just surprised to see they didn't agree.

Paula

 

[bettydau]

We sailed Jan. 2007, and are booked for Jan. 20, 2008. Six of us went this year, with 15 next year, 5 kids, 10 adults (five families). We've requested staterooms around 6530 (where we were in January). Wonderful location. We want early dining. We'll be on Land/Sea, with the land (POLY) first. When we went with six, we felt we just had to go with more family next year-it is an incredible experience!

 

[dustermom02]

This is too funny! I know who's in the cabins almost directly above you! We lucked into the 500 side last January and like it b/c you can see Castaway Cay and the pretty part of Nassau from your room while you're docked.

What are the ages of the children in your group? any 10 yr old girls to hang out with my dd?

Saw you're from OC, MD. We won't be back there until August 18th, I think thats the date. Its whatever the last is week before school starts. If you get a chance to tune the radio into 107.9 at 8am or 10 am- that's my dd announcing the station for identification. She was about 4 at the time and she stuttered. I think its really kind of cute. The station is my dad's hobby in his retirement. Keeps him out of my mom's hair.

 

[dustermom02]

Been trying to send you a private messge but can't seem to get it to work. I gave up on pictures and counters already. Something about post count too low.

What shore excursions are you planning this time? We only did the nassau tour last time of the forts and had fun. At Castaway Cay did sailing and inner tubes and just hung out.

We have adjoining rooms with my sister's family this time and that should be fun too.

Any tips for getting earlier seating? I was told to just keep calling back.

Paula

 

[NancyIL]

Hi! I booked this cruise in May for my 82-year-old mom and me. I have booked several Disney cruises in the past, and always ended up cancelling them - usually because I had no one to cruise with. My mom wanted to go on another cruise, but she really can't cruise by herself any more, and she doesn't want to fly to get to a port. She lives just 10 minutes or so from Port Canaveral - so I suggested that we go on a short Disney cruise so she can get her cruise fix and I can get my Disney fix!

I plan to fly to Orlando 2 days before the cruise leaves. In case of bad weather and cancelled flights, I'd still have time to drive to Florida. I'll spend 4 days at WDW after the cruise: one for every day spent with my mom on the ship!

 

[CindyBeth]

Hi All! I just booked us on this cruise a couple of weeks ago. We are a party of 3 and could only get late dining! My dd is older so she will be fine but I personally just like eating at the early seating. And I know if you have younger kids the early is sooooo much easier on everyone involved! lol

Anyways, it's me, dh and dd16(by the cruise). And she doesn't know about this yet, it is to be a surprize for her 16th birthday!!! Any other teens out there going?

 

[Jen32113]

Hello all! We booked ours back in April and we could only get late seating also. I'm a tad nervous about that since DS (will be 2 next month) bedtime is at 8:30pm. I guess if worse comes to worse we can feed him, put him in the club and then go to dinner. I know I am on a "waiting list" for first seating.

Anyway, it's just me, DH and DS and this will be our first Disney cruise but we have cruised many times before. We will be staying at the Comtemporary for a couple of nights before the cruise.

We have been to Nassau a bunch of times but this time we will probably just take a boat over to Atlantis and check it out. My son loves aquariums and I heard that they have a nice one. We will see...

 

[Jen32113]

We sailed Jan. 2007, and are booked for Jan. 20, 2008. Six of us went this year, with 15 next year, 5 kids, 10 adults (five families). We've requested staterooms around 6530 (where we were in January). Wonderful location. We want early dining. We'll be on Land/Sea, with the land (POLY) first. When we went with six, we felt we just had to go with more family next year-it is an incredible experience!

Could you let me know how the weather was on your last cruise? I have read so many negative posts about the weather in January but for us it's our anniversary and I wanted to do something special as a family.
We went on a cruise for our honeymoon and it rained about half of the time but the actual temperature was fine.

 

[Bruin Family]

I just booked the cruise about 2 weeks ago. Our reservation says early dining requested, but it looks like we will get stuck in the later seating. We have only been on one other cruise (to Mexico) and the late dining option was really bad since the kids collapsed before the main course was served.

However, we are flying in from the West Coast (Fullerton, CA) on 1/19 and don't get in until pretty late. Our plan is to basically try to stay on West Coast time so that the 8:30 dining feels more like 5:30. Our last cruise was in the same timezone as where we live.

I have been reading everything I can find about this cruise and all things WDW. It sounds like the Atlantis resort is a must see in Nassau. The Disney excursion seems over priced ($65 per head) and does not give you access to the very nice pools, lazy river and waterslides. However, I think I found a neat trick.

We booked a room at the Comfort Suites Paradise Island.
With a discount code, the rate was $176 plus tax. This gives us FULL ACCESS to the Atlantis resort, including the pools, waterslides, etc. The resort is a short cab ride from the port and is right next to Atlantis and is owned by the same group that owns Atlantis.

Our family includes me, my wife, daughter (will be 9), son (6) and daughter (will be 1.5). We are in a "Guaranteed" Category 4 Family with Veranda.

I have been trying to find a good deal on WDW tickets. I think we will only go to the Disney parks for 2 days. Unfortunately, it so far looks impossible to find a savings more than 5% off the gate price (if even that).

If anyone wants to email me, my email address (take out the spaces) is

r b h o p p y AT y a h o o DOT com.

- Richard