January 16, 2010-Eagerly awaiting our Eastern Adventure!

[shellcruiser]

Reading your post about ressies got me excited - but nervous!! Since I haven't cruised before I am concerned about getting the excursions and Palo reservations that I want but I have to wait. Oh well - for my next cruise I'll be right there with you!

I agree with the other posts. Even if you don't manage to book online DCL will keep some ressies available for booking after embarkation. Hopefully you will be able to do it online so you can enjoy leisurely exploring the ship once you embark.

I can't wait to be back onboard... Does anyone else feel like you have just returned home as you step on ship and hear your family's name announced? As we boarded on our second cruise my DH and I looked at each other and literally said "ah... home again".

I didn't book any excursions yet. I appreciate those of you who have posted your past experiences. Please everyone who has a recommendation for an excursion you enjoyed in the past... do share...
Last time we were in St Maarten we did not go to any beaches.I am a little concerned about picking the "wrong one". Don't want DD's to end up at a beach with ladies baring their double Ds That being said, I do hope to have some time on a beach enjoying the sun and the water...I'm hoping someone can offer a great suggestion.

 

[4Goofys4Dis]

I wouldn't worry too much about getting what you want. Last year it was my first cruise and I misjudged my 75 day mark and actually logged on a day late and still got the day and time I wanted for Palo. I didn't stay up til midnight last night either. Went on the site at about 10 am EST and got exactly the time and day I wanted for my Palo dinner. And the Trunk Bay excursion I was hoping for. I chose the semi-formal night for Palo because it's what we did last year and it seemed to work well. I liked it because we had already done all the restaurants in our rotation at least once already,so I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Good luck getting what you want, but like I said, I wouldn't worry too much.

Wow - I wish I would have known that before staying up! LOL! I always stay up to make ressies but I am thinking that is not necessary!! I think next time I will just wake up and make them!

We booked the Dolphin encounter, has anyone done this? I hear it is a LONG ride (like 2 hours each way) and not worth it. I figured I would book it but cancel if I found out it was not worth it.

St. Maarten we always go to La Gallion beach, it is really beautiful, completely empty (especially in the mornings). It is the french side so you do see the nudity but only a couple of older women who my kids never even noticed. With a VERY vocal 7 YO last year who has NO impulse control I was worried, but he was fine and didn't even think twice about it.

If I can find the pics of La Gallion I will post them tonight!

 

[swimchick1984]

WAHOOOOO
I just contacted dreams and am going on this cruise I am so excited. So hello my name is Nicole and I am going on the cruise with my wonderful husband Jeremy. This is a celebration cruise as he has been in Iraq for the last year, so the is a get away and have some fun.

 

[Bunless]

As I have never actually "organized" anything significant for our cruises, please allow me a little room for error. This is all for fun anyway...right ?

I'm so excited about this cruise

I would be interested in helping if you need any. It's our first Disney Cruise, and our second total (do you actually count the one from 10 years ago?). For once I actually have time on my hands and could use a project.

 

[ltzol]

This board is really starting to take off! Welcome to anyone that just joined in.
Thanks everyone for making me feel better about getting reservations, etc. I am sure no matter what happens this cruise will be magical!

 

[hgon76]

Wow - I wish I would have known that before staying up! LOL!
St. Maarten we always go to La Gallion beach, it is really beautiful, completely empty (especially in the mornings). It is the french side so you do see the nudity but only a couple of older women who my kids never even noticed. With a VERY vocal 7 YO last year who has NO impulse control I was worried, but he was fine and didn't even think twice about it.

If I can find the pics of La Gallion I will post them tonight!

I think La Gallion is the beach Bernards Tours took us to last year. It was very secluded, with a little "shack" type bar/snorkel rental. Bernards usually takes people to Orient, but I think maybe because we were 2 families traveling together with 4 children, he brought us somewhere with a little less nudity. There were buildings along the beach that a hurricane had destroyed years ago that were never rebuilt. It seems like such a shame to have this shell of a building sitting right there on the beach just abandoned and never rebuilt. And in such a beautiful place There were quite a few buildings like that on our way to the beach. Our driver, John, said something about insurance being the reason they were never rebuilt. This is a pic from that beach.

 

[pit303]

We are booked with Bernard in St. Martin still waiting to hear from the private charter I contacted in St Thomas will give him a few more days than will look for something else.

 

[hgon76]

Reading your post about ressies got me excited - but nervous!! Since I haven't cruised before I am concerned about getting the excursions and Palo reservations that I want but I have to wait. Oh well - for my next cruise I'll be right there with you!

Just wanted to make you feel a little more reassured. I just logged into the DCL site to look up Palo brunch. I had already booked dinner and figured "why not see if i can get brunch?" I have heard good things about it. No problem at all! The only day and time blocked off was Day 6. Everything else was WIDE open

 

[ltzol]

Yea! Thanks for letting me know about the brunch. Not sure if Hubby and I will do dinner or brunch. He just can't understand why I'm already stressing about excursions and dinner/brunch reservations!

Speaking of excursions - for those of you that took Bernard's tours - reassure me that I make the right decision! Now I am looking at things like Lord Sheffields (pirate boat snorkel thing) and I just don't know.

For St. Thomas - I have been looking for snorkeling (must be kid friendly) at St. John - has anyone taken the Fury? We don't have a whole lot of time on the island that day, so I need to do a 1/2 day thing. Although if we snorkel on St. Martin, we may just beach it on St. Thomas/St. John - AHHHH so many (wonderful) decisions to make I feel like I live on this computer!

 

[4Goofys4Dis]

Here are some pics of La Gallion beach (or the "Baby Beach" as we were told the locals called it) in St.. Maarten. Looks like the same beach the PP shows. It was wonderful with a platform for the kids to jump off of. The snack shack had cold drinks (we brought cereal boxes from the ship with us for snacks) and it was very clean with only a few people (as you can see from the photos). If you go, make sure you tell the taxi what time to pick you up again since taxis don't really go there unless they are asked to. Ours dropped us off by 9:30am and picked us up by 1:00pm and he was early. We asked him to leave us at the downtown area.

This is the snack shack - it was nice but the bathroom was a single bathroom that was small. Although it was clean.

 

[crazymadness1990]

Hey everyone, I booked this cruise in July, but I wasn't sure if I was going to go or not until a few days ago. I think I made the right decision . My girlfriend and I will be going and we are both 19.

 

[pit303]

Yea! Thanks for letting me know about the brunch. Not sure if Hubby and I will do dinner or brunch. He just can't understand why I'm already stressing about excursions and dinner/brunch reservations!

Speaking of excursions - for those of you that took Bernard's tours - reassure me that I make the right decision! Now I am looking at things like Lord Sheffields (pirate boat snorkel thing) and I just don't know.

For St. Thomas - I have been looking for snorkeling (must be kid friendly) at St. John - has anyone taken the Fury? We don't have a whole lot of time on the island that day, so I need to do a 1/2 day thing. Although if we snorkel on St. Martin, we may just beach it on St. Thomas/St. John - AHHHH so many (wonderful) decisions to make I feel like I live on this computer!

I read about Bernard's tour over on cruise critic before anyone mentioned it here. e/t I have read over there was good.

 

[familyfun5]

We just did the Western October 3rd. It was to have some DH and I time as the last year and a half we have had two babies. That did not work out so much. It will be Me, Joleen 35, DH, Gary 42, DS, Jackson 1 ½, and DD, Sailor 6mo. We are going with my mother and my grandmother (babysitters haha. DH and I will have some time together this time no matter what!!)My grandma is in San Diego and has yet to see the babies so this should be fun. We will be leaving Denver in cold January so I am hoping the weather will be great. Heck, no snow great!

I have heard about people getting the kids sail free deal. Very bummed we did not get that offer for this. I really wanted to take our ds12yr but I have gotten a nasty letter from the school for him missing 7 days for our last cruise in October. I may still add him on though as we get closer. He has this cute blond who follows him around so I think he is fine staying with my sister. He has done two Disney cruises already. And though he would love to go, he is really fine with not going.

We did book the four day with kids sail free bringing me and my kids and my sister and her kids. However, my sister who does not want to do anything would not even let her kids (12 &6) go. My mom lives with them so it is not that she did not trust us. She has just been very depressed lately and does not see any potential of fun for her, and if she doesn’t go then the kids don’t go. What a shame. My mom was also paying for all of us so she really did not have to come up with the money? How could you not let your kids go on Disney? Well, we dropped the four nights for this 7 night.

For excursions,
I was looking at the kids in daycare for St Marten and doing the Sail boat race (regatta I think?), and for St Thomas I was looking at doing Coral World with us all and the beach but on our own? Has anyone done either of these and could tell us all what you thought? Is it easy to get a taxi to Coral World? About how much are the taxies? I had read somewhere $9 a person, which would make this excursion through Disney the same as on our own. But the excursions we did on the western really ate up a lot of time waiting to get everyone together. Also, as our time is very limited, we likely will get off the ship much earlier than the excursion would if we go on our own. Any thoughts?

Though I really am bummed about not getting the kids sail free, we are way excited to be joining you all. I had to fight the computer in the middle of the night for a couple of nights to get the best price.for a cat 12. I would reserve a room but before it was complete it would say error. Then the price would jump $200 per person. At one point the price jumped nearly $600 per person though they were for lower cat. In October we paid for Cat 12, bumped to cat 9 with the two port holes for two cabins. We upgraded at the port for one cabin to cat 6 for $800. Not sure the balcony was worth it though? Way humid and hot out there. Just did not really spend much time outside. I would get breakfast and the 1 1/2 and I would eat outside, but that was about all the time we spent out there

I am done rambling.
Great to meet you all. Maybe this board will pick up as we get closer.

 

[hgon76]

Yea! Thanks for letting me know about the brunch. Not sure if Hubby and I will do dinner or brunch. He just can't understand why I'm already stressing about excursions and dinner/brunch reservations!

Speaking of excursions - for those of you that took Bernard's tours - reassure me that I make the right decision! Now I am looking at things like Lord Sheffields (pirate boat snorkel thing) and I just don't know.

I can't speak highly enough of Bernards Tours. We used him last year and it was great. We went on this same cruise with our good friends and their family. We were each a family of 4. With kids ages 6,7,13, &14. We ALL enjoyed it. Funny, everytime we all got together this summer, cookouts, bdays, etc., all we talked about was our DCL cruise and how much we LOVED our time in St. Maarten. My DF and her DH said that tour was their favorite part of the whole cruise. For me it ran a close 2nd behind Castaway Cay. We didn't have Bernard, we had John. He was awesome! Van was stocked with juice, soda, water, beer, and Rum punch(be very careful with this, it packs a punch) He brought us the beach and told us to come back to the van if we need anything. When we needed drinks thats what we did. Didn't have to spend any $$$ on drinks at the beach. When I was taken out by a wave at Maho Beach (surf & undertow there is very powerful, be very careful) and my very nice camera was ruined by the water, he brought me to a camera store to purchase a new one (not actually part of the tour). When I came back and told him I paid the price they were asking for it, he said "no, you weren't suppose to do that. I should've came with you". Oh well, lesson learned. I'm not much of a bargainer anyway. I honestly don't think you will be disappointed in Bernards. VERY much worth the $$$!

 

[ltzol]

Thanks so much for the Bernard's review! Now I can move on and concentrate of St. Thomas/St. John where I really think we want to take the kids snorkeling for the first time. Any suggestions there? I am going over to the cruise critic boards to check out the options...

Anyone celebrating any special events while on board? I forgot to mention that it will be DH's 40th birthday while we are on Castaway Cay!
I am working on making those magnetic mickey ears with the birthday hat for our stateroom door. He may not appreciate it - but the kids will (I think he is trying to ignore this birthday)!!!

 

[4Goofys4Dis]

Did anyone notice last night on DCL that the ONLY category listed is now a cat 10!!!! BUMMER - I am guessing it is from the kids sail free offer that has been going around. We didn't get it but we are just happy to be cruisin'!

I was hoping for some pixie dust and an upgrade...not looking so good now! Again, just happy to be on the boat!!

 

[ltzol]

I just checked and the website must have changed how you can view the cabin categories. You have to click on oceanview, verandah or suite and the other categories come up. I was confused at first too! I am still hoping to change our room since in the passporter it is listed as being noisy...I just have to wait for my TA to get back from her Disney cruise

 

[4Goofys4Dis]

I just checked and the website must have changed how you can view the cabin categories. You have to click on oceanview, verandah or suite and the other categories come up. I was confused at first too! I am still hoping to change our room since in the passporter it is listed as being noisy...I just have to wait for my TA to get back from her Disney cruise

That IS good news!! I am glad to hear that as it seemed very weird that there were only cat 10's left! Thanks for posting - now I can still hope for a little pixie dust, but again - I am just happy to be CRUISIN!

 

[shellcruiser]

Just wanted to say welcome to all of the newly posted families.

It seems we still do not have a name for this dismeet group. The folks who started this thread are no longer cruising with us, so it seems we need some creative person / people to come up with something fun... any suggestions???
Anybody interested in T-shirts??? I'm not artistically talented enough to even know where to start for shirt designs, but I'm sure someone out there can

 

[familyfun5]

DD keeps trying to roll over. She actually rolled off the couch a few days ago. Her first fall. She was sleeping on her belly and DH came home. He must have startled her. Next thing we knew she was on the floor crying. Poor thing. She had not even come close to rolling over before that. At least the couch is fairly low to the floor as we are fairly short.

Ds 1 ½ is throwing some serious tantrums. Hope they are all played out before Jan. He is learning to communicate and gets frustrated. We have also been locked up inside the last few days. Tomorrow I am determined to get these kids outside and absorb some vitamin D no matter how cold it gets. I am reluctant to go to any play jungle gym areas inside. A month ago we went and he became sick the next day. Last Feb we went to a bounce gym and he contracted the flu. The swine flu is rampant here so we are avoiding all contact. Think warm weather think warm weather

Best of luck for the upgrades everyone.