January 17th, 2016 Southern Wonder Cruise

[Nikkim]

Hi all, we have just booked this cruise. So excited!, it will be myself, DH, DS13 and DS10 travelling. We are also giving the kids this for christmas so looking forward to their reactions!

 

[kmitchel]

Hello! Just booked this cruise today! I'll have my Mom, my son (14) and me! We did the SC cruise last September and loved it! Really looking forward to going again. Where is everyone staying pre-cruise and how early do you think we can fly out when we dock?

 

[Sir William]

Welcome to all the new folks who have joined us.

Feel free to tell us a little about yourself, what you're hoping to do on this upcoming cruise, or ask any questions you may have.

 

[Sir William]

Hello! Just booked this cruise today! I'll have my Mom, my son (14) and me! We did the SC cruise last September and loved it! Really looking forward to going again. Where is everyone staying pre-cruise and how early do you think we can fly out when we dock?

We arrive around 2am on the 16th and will be staying at the Courtyard San Juan Miramar, which looks to be about a mile from the Pan-American Pier. Since we're arriving in the middle of the night, we wanted someplace close to the airport. We're planning to sleep in and then enjoy the pool for the day.

Disembarkation looks to begin about 7.30am and DCL suggests no flights earlier than 11am, so you have time to get to the airport, check-in, and get through security. It's about 20 min to the airport from the pier. Cruise ships try to get the passengers off as quickly as possible to give the crew time to prepare for the next group coming aboard, but twice I've seen a delayed disembarkation (about 30-45 min), both times for something outside the control of the ships.

 

[Nikkim]

Well we hail originally from the UK but now live in Alberta, Canada. This will be our fourth disney cruise and we fly in at 6am on the Saturday. Think I have messed up the hotel as I have booked Embassy Suites which seems like it is 40 mins from the port (I am sure I googled it before but hey ho). Am going to see if I can cancel and rebook something closer.

Super excited about this itinerary! Booked an IGT So fingers crossed we get a good room lol!

 

[Sir William]

Well we hail originally from the UK but now live in Alberta, Canada. This will be our fourth disney cruise and we fly in at 6am on the Saturday. Think I have messed up the hotel as I have booked Embassy Suites which seems like it is 40 mins from the port (I am sure I googled it before but hey ho). Am going to see if I can cancel and rebook something closer.

Super excited about this itinerary! Booked an IGT So fingers crossed we get a good room lol!

Which Embassy Suites? The one near the airport or the one in Dorado, west of the city. If you're at the one near the airport you should be fine.

 

[Nikkim]

Which Embassy Suites? The one near the airport or the one in Dorado, west of the city. If you're at the one near the airport you should be fine.

Unfortunately the Dorado one. I think I must have googled the airport one then booked the Dorado one

 

[Sir William]

Unfortunately the Dorado one. I think I must have googled the airport one then booked the Dorado one

If you're going to make a change, do it quickly as many of the San Juan hotels are full due to the St Sebastian Festival that weekend. We chose the Courtyard San Miramar as it's about half-way between the airport and pier.

 

[vmedisneymom]

HI everyone! Good to see some chatter. I would do fe but only because it looks like we would have a small one tht wouldn't require lots of work! This is our 6th and 3rd on wonder -
Making our way back through all the ships depending on itinerary! With only one sea day small fe is great! Anyone have thoughts? Maybe we set a deadline to sign up and see what happens?

 

[Nikkim]

So changed our hotel and got the Verdanza in Caroline. Seems to be half way between airport and port so hopefully it's ok. As for FE, I think we will give it a miss this time thank you. It's a surprise for our kids and I don't want to put myself under all the pressure after they find out.

 

[Nikkim]

Oops Carolina lol!

 

[Sir William]

So changed our hotel and got the Verdanza in Caroline. Seems to be half way between airport and port so hopefully it's ok. As for FE, I think we will give it a miss this time thank you. It's a surprise for our kids and I don't want to put myself under all the pressure after they find out.

We're at the Courtyard about 2/3 of the way to the pier from the airport. However, since we arrive at about 3am I suspect we'll spend most our 1 day in San Juan sleeping! We were there in March anyways, and we plan to avoid Old Town because of the festival.

 

[MJDisFamCruisers]

Hello all! Just booked this cruise! My daughter is heading off to vet school in Greneda in August and since we took this cruise last September, we figured we would do it again and take my dad with us to see the school! We have done lots of cruising so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask! We are looking into hotels and there seems to be no availability so we might have to stay closer to the airport and take the Disney transfers to the terminal. We plan to fly in a day early so we can go into Old San Juan. Does anyone have any suggestions for hotels?

 

[Sir William]

I'd make your hotel reservation as soon as you can. If you read up a bit you'll see the San Sebastian Festival is being held in San Juan that weekend and hotel space is getting pretty scarce. The Festival also apparently has a huge impact on local traffic into and out of Old San Juan.

 

[MJDisFamCruisers]

I'd make your hotel reservation as soon as you can. If you read up a bit you'll see the San Sebastian Festival is being held in San Juan that weekend and hotel space is getting pretty scarce. The Festival also apparently has a huge impact on local traffic into and out of Old San Juan.

We made our reservation at the San Juan Airport Hotel yesterday. We decided to stay there that way we don't have to get a cab when we get into San Juan to go to a hotel. Good thing we did though because today there is no availability there on that night! Has everybody booked their excursions yet? Still trying to decide what to do on Martinique day since we have never been there before...found a good thread with some post about San Juan: http://www.disboards.com/threads/re...cruisers-please-share-must-dos-donts.3347432/

 

[Sir William]

Congrats on the hotel. I've checked every so often to see if any better options have shown up but up to now the availability seems to be getting less and less each day.

For Martinique we are planning to take the Folkloric Dance and Rum Distillery tour as DW wants to see a rum distillery and of the several options available this one seemed to be the best for us.

 

[Nikkim]

So, just wondered people's opinions on shots. I have called the vaccination clinic and they suggest hep a&ab and typhoid. We are not really going to be doing anything crazy while off the ship, just spend time at the beach and maybe not even eat off the ship. Do you think it's worth paying out for the shots?
TIA
Nikki

 

[Sir William]

This is very much a personal call and I suggest you discuss your options with your primary care physician.

CDC recommends Hep A for travel anywhere in the world, including the UK, Canada and Puerto Rico, and Typhoid for the Caribbean, both due to the possibility of risk of contaminated water and food. In short, you can get sick anywhere from contaminated food or water, even at home. I contacted Hep A many years ago in Monterrey, CA, though I've never had any problems in Asia, North Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, or Europe. A co-worker got Hep A in Turkey but that was because he was stupid and drank the local untreated tap water rather than pay for a bottle of water.

I'm an adventurous traveler and love trying new foods, and I usually have lunch or a snack on our day ashore. But from experience I have learned to only eat cooked foods and bottled beverages. There is still a risk of contaminated food but it's much reduced. I avoid uncooked foods, especially salads and unpeeled fruits, as you don't know how they were cleaned. Ate some delicious tomatoes in Egypt once, and I paid for it because I later learned that "cleaning" meant being rinsed off in a bucket of Nile water.

Since all of our port calls are of short duration and, at most, you'll only have one meal ashore, I think the risk is minimal. But you still need to use some common sense in choosing the restaurant and your meal. I avoid the street vendors because their food is exposed to the open air and attracts flies. Any vendors the cruise lines use have to maintain a good health reputation otherwise the cruise lines will drop them in a heartbeat. If passengers start getting sick or injured the cruise lines won't use the vendor.

Personally, I don't think the risk is that high for where we are going, how long we'll be there, and what we'll be doing. Discuss your options with your primary care physician, based on your planned activities, personal travel style, and your health, and then make your decision.

 

[Nikkim]

Thanks so much for yr reply Sir William. We were probably going to eat mainly on the ship and only drink bottled water and canned pop off the ship.

Not long til we leave!!!!


Happy Friday everyone

Nikki

 

[Canadian Patricia]

Hi Everyone,
We are fortunate enough to be escaping the Canadian winter for this cruise and are very excited. This will be our third Disney cruise. We did the Disney Norwegian cruise this past summer and it was amazing! This time we are bringing my brother in law and his two kids and aunts and uncles galore. I'm Patricia and my husband is Daniel. My favourite character is goofy and Daniel's is Mr. Incredible. Our son Simon is 5 and our daughter Isabella is 7 and they both love Stitch, Incredibles and Frozen. Looking forward to meeting everyone.