Jan 22, 2005 Eastern Cruise MAGIC Anyone?

[momemouse]

For those of you with younger children (many excursions exclude the little ones), what do you plan to do on St. Thomas & St. Martin?

 

[Joel110]

For those of you with younger children (many excursions exclude the little ones), what do you plan to do on St. Thomas & St. Martin?

We rented cars at St. Maartan and plan on touring the French side in the morning. We have 4 kids between ages 3 and 6 + and infant in our party. We might hit the Butterfly farm and Marigot in the morning. A client of mine who's living in St. Maartan while attending Med School said that Grand Case is a good place to pick up some food for a beach picnic and that alcohol was ok on the beaches. At her suggetion, we'll probably do that and head to a beach to snorkel and swim with kids.

St. Thomas probably will be packed. Looks like 4 other cruise ships will be in on the same day as the Magic. http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/getting_here/cruise-2005/STT-Jan-2005.php

We were looking at taking the ferry to Trunk Bay or Cinnamon Bay, but with 14 people, might be tough to keep organized and start to add up in ferry tolls and taxis. Instead, we're looking at Coki Beach for the day with the expectation of wall to wall people.

 

[docsbd]

Dear Momemouse,

We are planning on taking the tour of St. John on St. Thomas because we've been there and there is nothing to do but shop with little ones.
Docsbd

 

[docsbd]

Dear new to disney,
My husband and I will be on the Jan 22 cruise. My husband loves poker and would love to play as he will be missing his usual poker group. Coincidentially, I love to do tea and would love to meet the ladies if its not too late. Please include me in your reservation.

Our daughter is also having a "almost sleepover party" Sunday night the 15th for 20 7 and 8 year olds. Should leave us very rested for our early morning departure the 20th. We will be staying at the Mariott at the airport prior to the cruise.

Can't wait to meet everyone on the 22nd! (We have not yet recieved our docs booked thru AAA).

I will be on the Jan 22, 2005 Magic Cruise and was thinking about getting a quick hold'em tournament (low stakes...like $20 one time buy in) around 3 in the afternoon on the second day at sea. I am travelling with my DW, 2 DD and my Sister & Brother In-law and their children. Both wives have given their blessing to the game , so I currently have two players. I would probably want to keep the game to a maximum of two tables (8-20 players). This would keep your time commitment down to a few hours. The "blinds" will also be managed to keep the games moving along.

Anyway, I thought that it might make for a little "boys" time while on the ship. Leave a message on this board if you are interested, and I will bring my chips and find a place and specific time to get together.

Since I know that this board is dominated by the fairer gender, please let your husbands know about the game if you think that they would be interested. :thewave:

Note from wife: (newtodisney)
This could be a guys dis meet. My sister (firsttimemom) and I were thinking about Tea at Palos during this time if any ladies would care to join us.

 

[mickey minder]

For those of you with younger children (many excursions exclude the little ones), what do you plan to do on St. Thomas & St. Martin?

We are going to do the island and butterfly farm tour on St. Maarten. We booked a helicopter tour of St. Thomas through shoretrips.com. Wow, so wonderful to see so many joining this thread. It will be quite a large group. Anyone keeping count?

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Hi, first time poster. I am going on this cruise and have yet to receive my documents. I am leaving a week tomorrow Tuesday the 18th. So what happens if I leave for Disneyworld before the documents arrrive?

Also, too bad about the excursions. How do you check what is available? I am an avid kayaker and really wanted to do the trip at Castaway Cay.

 

[Mike320]

Hi, first time poster. I am going on this cruise and have yet to receive my documents. I am leaving a week tomorrow Tuesday the 18th. So what happens if I leave for Disneyworld before the documents arrrive?

Also, too bad about the excursions. How do you check what is available? I am an avid kayaker and really wanted to do the trip at Castaway Cay.

JJJ - I'd call Disney OR your TA right away. I called mine and as people are saying above, it's a printing issue. My docs were received at the TA this weekend and will be mailed mid-week. Check on yours, I'm sure they are out there somewhere! Same thing, going to WDW for a few days before the trip..just couldn't stay away!

 

[enduke]

HI all
yes we are getting very excited. and can't wait to meet you all. But we still have no docs or any sign of them.
as I stated before we went through AAA agent.
Now here is where I would like your opinions please
we booked through them, the women we delt with said she had been on many a Dis cruise. We booked a cat 4 room being we are 4 adults and my parents not being in the best of health they wanted to be able to sit outside the room. This was all explained to the TA and made VERY clear I wanted no mistakes! We gave her our CC and she was supposed to book everything and said "NO PROBLEM!"
she wasn't in until the next week but we were assured eveything was fine.
whe she was in my parents went to see her ( I was out of town)
she told them that the Cat 4 was all sold out and we had to book a cat 5 for an additional $500.00
she never booked us coming in a day early ( we talked to her about taking NJ weather into consideration) and she was supposed to book a room to. trying to make everything easier for my parents.

I flippped when we got the printout of what she had done.
She had us coming in on Sat. (no room) and when I saw what she did about the cat 5 I was livid.
I went to the TA and she of course was not there but got someone to help me get in on Friday and book a room much cheaper than she said plus arranged for tranfers.
I went in last week to talk to her manager and explain what she had done that we lost our cat 4. all the orig paper (cc) work was dated a week before she booked. when the manager called her she even swore she booked it a week prior to when she really did. But black and white paper work doesn't lie.
so the manager offered us a $25.oo gift card to the AAA office only for 3 of us(not all 4) and a free year to AAA.
I was so angry!!!! I felt it was a "smack in the face".
the TA admited she made a mistake an it is costing us $500.00 more for a smaller room. I just felt this was not a fair compensation for the major mistake made.
Am I worng!?
I can't go to my parents to much with this as thier health is not the greatest.
What would you guys do????
Do you think they are offering us a fair offering?
I am giving them until tomorrow and I will call again.
But would really apperciate your opinions/sugestions!!!!

Sorry for the long note but I am at a loss and am not sure if I am worng for feeling as I do.

Also I know we have the tea but has a genral meeting planed?
thanks all

 

[mickey minder]

Enduke. Just my opinion, but I do not think you were treated fairly. The compensation does not make up for the difference in cost or that the travel arrangements you specifically requested were not made. We talked to a TA before who said that she would not book us to fly in on the same day, especially in January. So sorry for your troubles. I hope you get it resolved soon and to your satisfaction. Keep calling them.

 

[MCazer]

Enduke,

I would personally go down there and speak to the manager again. This time tell him that if he does not compensate you properly, that you will make a big stink in front of everyone.

No manager wants that to happen. We had to do this on a time share tour when the manager would not stop talking and sign off after the 90 minutes were up. My husband spoke very softly to him and told him that if he did not want him to go into the other room with all the prospective buyers and state his case, then he better sign off. It worked.

Yes, it may be embarrassing, however, when someone has done me wrong, I somehow build up the courage to speak my mind. When are you ever going to see these people again? LOL

Hope it helps!

 

[newtodisney]

Enduke,
How VERY frustrated you must be feeling! I wish someone would wave a magic wand and make it all better

It does seem that a number of people that booked through AAA have not received Docs yet, so you are not alone. As far as the mix ups and pricing / category errors...I would request a shipboard credit and see what they say. Sending pixie dust your way!!

 

[newtodisney]

Dear new to disney,
My husband and I will be on the Jan 22 cruise. My husband loves poker and would love to play as he will be missing his usual poker group. Coincidentially, I love to do tea and would love to meet the ladies if its not too late. Please include me in your reservation.

Docsbd, We would love to have you join in the Poker / Tea afternoon. I will add you to the list. Welcome to the Dis Boards!

 

[anthonyshine]

I called my AAA Travel Agent this morning to inquire about the documents. She just recevied them!!! I will be picking them up tomorrow. Whew...now I don't have to worry beacause I am leaving a week from Thursday to spend a couple of days in Orlando.

I also just booked the Orient Bay Beach Rendevous exursion. I actually wanted to do Trunk Bay but that was filled up.
Anyone been to Orient Bay before?

 

[TrolleyGirl]

I think the TA did you a great dis-service. You should be entitled to a pretty substantial on-board credit. When you go back in, you might let them know that you would be more than happy to rely the poor service over this DIS boards. And let them know the potential size crowd that reaches. Maybe that would help.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Well I have tracked my tickets down. They arrived in Vancouver today and I should have them tomorrow. Thanks for your help.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

How do you get the countdown to your cruise to show?

 

[Mike320]

How do you get the countdown to your cruise to show?

BUT it's 11 (E-L-E-V-E-N) Days and counting...3 more day so of work for me...7 days before WDW!!

 

[Joel110]

We received our documents today. I was expecting our dinner rotation to be posted somewhere, but only saw that we were confirmed for 2nd dinner seating. Is there a way to tell from our cruise documents the rotation assigned to us?

Thanks.

 

[cadburysmom]

We received our documents today. I was expecting our dinner rotation to be posted somewhere, but only saw that we were confirmed for 2nd dinner seating. Is there a way to tell from our cruise documents the rotation assigned to us?

Thanks.

Your rotation will be on your cruise card when you check-in at the terminal. I don't think anyone knows in advance, or if they do, it's new to me!

 

[firsttimemom]

For those of you with younger children (many excursions exclude the little ones), what do you plan to do on St. Thomas & St. Martin?

We have just-turned 5 and 7 yr olds that aren't strong swimmers so that precludes a lot of the excursions for us. In St. Thomas we're going to do the tram ride/bird show and take a cab over to Coral World. On St. Maarten we're thinking about the Butterfly Farm. We haven't prebooked anything- just throwing caution to the wind and ourselves at the mercy of local cabdrivers.

Liz