January 19,2008 / Eastern Magic / "The January Thaw Cruise"

[Bethipooh4]

We did our first cruise, a land sea package back in 2004, and had no clue this board existed till AFTER our cruise...lol
We booked through Disney for that one and went in blind.

Now I know better.....

 

[plenam]

Brett, I just took a look at your photos from your 2006 cruise, they are awesome. The ones of the butterfly farm and Megans beach are beautiful. Did y'all enjoy the butterfly trip?

We enjoyed the Butterfly Farm, the kids thought it was pretty cool too , especially when Anthony was able to hold the foot long caterpillar
We rather enjoyed this tour package because we got back to the ship fairly early and got rested up for the POTC night, which lasted pretty long into the night. The only bad thing about this is that we have to get up early (06:00) for customs when we get to St Thomas.

Brett

 

[chepic]

tidefan....welcome to the cooooool deck!!! Are you a tide fan because; youlike the soap? you like the surf/ or you are a NASCAR junkie like my husband? Either way....glad to have you!!

There are just too many posts now to keep up with

Our thought is:

Day one: board, party, eat, party, drink, sleep
Day two: Eat, DS in kids club, go to adult area, meet all of you!!!, drink, sleep, eat, drink, dance, sleep.
Day 3: St. Martin....the more I think about it, the more I think we may just stay on board and enjoy a quiet ship with Max. Also, eat, drink, eat, sleep in sun, drink, eat, dance.
Day 4: St Thomas: private boat excursion with Greatwhite and family
Day 5: Renew wedding vows, Palo, eat, get hair done, eat, drink, laugh
Day 6: Plop down on the sand and relax
Day 7: Say a sad good-bye.

Anywhere in there we will be eating and drinking and dancing and singing and having a great time!!!!!

Oh yeah, somewhere in there we are going to schedule a couples spa thing, with more eating and drinking.

che

 

[owensjro]

So far I think I am interested in the butterfly farm and hitting a beach, though I hear the european topless style may be a common sight. Not that my 5 year old daughter would care. She's not into modesty at all. And not that I care, of course

We're not big on excursions really. So probably just wander around a bit by the boat and not much more.

Jim

 

[Gixer]

So - I just changed my mind again

St Maarten were going to do nothing, just a stroll to the shops and back to a hopefully quiet ship

St Thomas, well the ferry ride to St John has kinda put me off, so were going to do the safari bus mountain top tour. (and no - the mountain top, home of the best banana daquaris had NOTHING to do with my descision )

 

[chepic]

I'm afraid that I will have to be out of the Martini tastings. I can't STAND Gin. I had my first Martini on our last cruise and it was horrible. However, one of the waitresses at Sessions brought me what she called a Toblaronetini (I am sure I didn't spell that close to correct). It was a Chocolate martini and that was AMAZING!

Now, if they have a wine or rum tasting, I am there.

They make the Martini's with VODKA!!!!!! I, like you, am not a gin lover, but give me vodka and I am there. It must be my son't influence...he's Russian!!

che

 

[chepic]

so were going to do the safari bus mountain top tour. (and no - the mountain top, home of the best banana daquaris had NOTHING to do with my descision )

Been there.....great Daquari's!!!!!

che

 

[shmoogrrrl]

They make the Martini's with VODKA!!!!!! I, like you, am not a gin lover, but give me vodka and I am there. It must be my son't influence...he's Russian!!

che

I might like a vodka one more, but I think that when it comes to that stuff, I just prefer the sweeter stuff.

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Not sure what our Palo/Tea/Brunch/Dinner plans are, but we will try to go to all of them. We LOVE Palo!

As far as excursions, Maybe the Butterfly Farm at St. Maarten and a stop at the Guavaberry place (OMG...speaking of drinking...Guavaberry Coladas are the best! I lvoe to make them at home).

At St. Thomas we want to do the 5-Star Snorkle trip at St. John. We did it before we had Katie and think that she will LOVE snorkling from the shore. She isn't quite ready to be tossed over the boat.

Probably won't be fighting with us for the Couples Villa, but I will probably do a massage on the ship and maybe one on Castaway Cay. That is about all.

 

[tidefan]

tidefan....welcome to the cooooool deck!!! Are you a tide fan because; youlike the soap? you like the surf/ or you are a NASCAR junkie like my husband? Either way....glad to have you!!

There are just too many posts now to keep up with

Our thought is:

Day one: board, party, eat, party, drink, sleep
Day two: Eat, DS in kids club, go to adult area, meet all of you!!!, drink, sleep, eat, drink, dance, sleep.
Day 3: St. Martin....the more I think about it, the more I think we may just stay on board and enjoy a quiet ship with Max. Also, eat, drink, eat, sleep in sun, drink, eat, dance.
Day 4: St Thomas: private boat excursion with Greatwhite and family
Day 5: Renew wedding vows, Palo, eat, get hair done, eat, drink, laugh
Day 6: Plop down on the sand and relax
Day 7: Say a sad good-bye.

Anywhere in there we will be eating and drinking and dancing and singing and having a great time!!!!!

Oh yeah, somewhere in there we are going to schedule a couples spa thing, with more eating and drinking.

che

Chepic, I am Tidefan because I am a two-time graduate of The University of Alabama. (also - I don't care for NASCAR, I just don't get it...)

FYI, my folks and my brother have booked this cruise too (though they are on Deck 7)

As to our schedule, it will look something like this:

Day 1 to 7 - Let DD4 play as much as she wants to in the Oceaneers Club

St Maarten, or as Island Regulars call it, SXM (after the airport code). We will rent a car there at the Dock, head around the island, stop in Maho for some shopping (Jewels and Linens for Cheap, Cheap Booze and the Grocery Store there for a wheel of Gouda - also cheap) and to maybe see the airplanes. Then we will stop at our timeshare in Simpson Bay to hang out at the pool on the beach for awhile, then head back to Phillipsburg for any shopping that we don't get done in November.

 

[Gixer]

Does anyone know where is best to shop for jewelrey? I would love a diamond solitaire or a pink saphire, DH said I could get one in Orlando, but am I better off waiting until we get to St Marteen or St Thomas? can anyone recommend somewhere to get a really nice diamond ring?

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

Does anyone know where is best to shop for jewelrey? I would love a diamond solitaire or a pink saphire, DH said I could get one in Orlando, but am I better off waiting until we get to St Marteen or St Thomas? can anyone recommend somewhere to get a really nice diamond ring?

Oooh, I don't know, but I can't wait to hear! I would love some jewelery. DH, on the other hand, is simply happy with the amount of alcohol we can bring home...lol...and we are not big drinkers. He'll be set for years!

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

So far I think I am interested in the butterfly farm and hitting a beach, though I hear the european topless style may be a common sight. Not that my 5 year old daughter would care. She's not into modesty at all. And not that I care, of course

We're not big on excursions really. So probably just wander around a bit by the boat and not much more.

Jim

This is our first cruise, but we aren't really planning anything either. We live in Maine, on the ocean, and my kids are still content to go to the beach each and every day. Blackbeard's Castle sounds like fun...this trip is basically a surprise, so it would be fun to read some bookds about Blackbeard, and then when we get to the island, spring it on them. And maybe a trip for some quick jewlery or some shopping. But we will mostly be on the ship.

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

Here's a random question.... do you think anybody actually goes on a Disney cruise without doing any research or planning? the ship is almost full - so how come there arent more names on the thaw list? Have you ever come across anybody on board that didnt know before hand about Palo or being able to book things like cabana massages before actually sailing?

QUOTE]


My question is, is the boat "really" almost full. i have heard that travel agents often buy blocks of rooms at a discount, and they are therefore able to offer them at a lower rate. We booked through AAA, but I price shopped a lot, and there were some places where we could have had first dinner seeating, like we wanted, but the price was a LOT more, so we went with AAA and the second seating. Does this impace how "full" the boat appears?

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

Here's a random question.... do you think anybody actually goes on a Disney cruise without doing any research or planning? the ship is almost full - so how come there arent more names on the thaw list? Have you ever come across anybody on board that didnt know before hand about Palo or being able to book things like cabana massages before actually sailing?

QUOTE]


My question is, is the boat "really" almost full. i have heard that travel agents often buy blocks of rooms at a discount, and they are therefore able to offer them at a lower rate. We booked through AAA, but I price shopped a lot, and there were some places where we could have had first dinner seeating, like we wanted, but the price was a LOT more, so we went with AAA and the second seating. Does this impace how "full" the boat appears?

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

We are nooked in a gnty catagory, so i have no idea where our stateroom will be. This is our first cruise, so I am not too picky I am just excited to go! Has anyone booked the Romantic Escape at Sea before? Its not that expensive, and I am tempted to do it simply to be able to book Palo, etc, at 105 days out rather than having to wait till 75. What's the procedure for this, anyhow? Is there a certain time booking opens on the 105 day mark? I think we will try for lunch on our second sea day, that way the kids will definately be comfy on the boat and ok with being left, and dinner on the last sea day. We are also celebrating both kids birthdays...Jake will turn six on the 10th, and Abby will be four on Feb. 2, so Jake's birthday is being celebrated the first night, and Abby's the last. I haven't done a ton of planning yet, since its so far out and we aren't booking any real excursions. Has anyone figured out the 105 day out date?

 

[Gixer]

We are nooked in a gnty catagory, so i have no idea where our stateroom will be. This is our first cruise, so I am not too picky I am just excited to go! Has anyone booked the Romantic Escape at Sea before? Its not that expensive, and I am tempted to do it simply to be able to book Palo, etc, at 105 days out rather than having to wait till 75. What's the procedure for this, anyhow? Is there a certain time booking opens on the 105 day mark? I think we will try for lunch on our second sea day, that way the kids will definately be comfy on the boat and ok with being left, and dinner on the last sea day. We are also celebrating both kids birthdays...Jake will turn six on the 10th, and Abby will be four on Feb. 2, so Jake's birthday is being celebrated the first night, and Abby's the last. I haven't done a ton of planning yet, since its so far out and we aren't booking any real excursions. Has anyone figured out the 105 day out date?

I havent worked out the 105 day date yet - let me know if you do! I guess I will be one of those crazy people that get up at 3am just to book Palo etc
I hope because we are renewing our vows we get the 105 days instead of the 75 but I'm waiting to hear from Cathy the wedding co-cord on that.
The romantic escape looks a great package, especially as it gives you the 105 days out option.

I was looking at Blacbeards, DH loves history and the kids loves pirates so I though this would be a cool thing to do - but when I read up on it apparantlry its not actually a castle, just a small tower with a restraunt, hotel and swimming pool, and it was built by the Danes in around 1869 so wasnt built by or for Blackbeard himself - although they do say (for the tourists sake?) that perhaps he may have used it as a look out. They later re-named it Blackbeards castle. There are a few pirate statues around the outside of the tower, but I think pirate fans may be a little dissapointed? It doesnt sound anything like the pirate museam at Nassau which is excellent.

I'm sure its still really interesting and you will learn a lot, but it may be worth while doing a bit of research before you go incase the kids end up a bit dissapointed?

I want to try for brunch on the second day too, the kids should be well settled in by then I figure

This is also our first cruise so we are really excited! Im not trying to plan too much either, just want to take time out to enjoy the ship Its going to be fun meeting this crazy bunch of Dissers though !!!


Ohhhh forgot to say - we also have late dinner but we are fine with that. I'm not sure about the ship being full, a few pages back someone posted that there were only 50 staterooms left, so she was filling up fast - Iv no idea how to access that kind of info myself though!

 

[chepic]

I just created the new thread fo rthe kids. I just have to give Max his own login, so the new thread is listed under me for the first one.

cheryl

 

[shmoogrrrl]

Here's a random question.... do you think anybody actually goes on a Disney cruise without doing any research or planning? the ship is almost full - so how come there arent more names on the thaw list? Have you ever come across anybody on board that didnt know before hand about Palo or being able to book things like cabana massages before actually sailing?

Actually, on our first cruise in 2000, which was part of our honymoon, we didn't have a clue about the DISBoards and booking excursions and Palo and all that stuff. We just got up the morning we sailed, went downstairs for breakfast at Chef Mickeys (We were staying at the Contemporary) and got to the ship at like 2:30ish. We didn't know we needed to run around making reservations, so we just relaxed and explored the ship. We got the excursion, massages and Palo reservations that we wanted with no problem. (In fairness, we did have a package that included a PS for Palo)

Now that I know about all that stuff, I freak out. I'm just glad that I can make reservations at 90 days! Makes things MUCH less stressful on sailing day, assuming we can get what we want!

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

I just booked our airfare! Woo-hoo! Usually we fly out of Boston or Manchester because it is such a tremendous savings over leaving out of Portland. However, my AAA agent found a great rate for the four of us out of Portland to Orlando on the 18th. We leave bright and early, and will be in sunny Florida before 11am!!!!! I can't wait!

Also...any kids like mine to young for the mini thaw thread? I'd like in on any alternate forms of communication! Ok, back to laundry for now...