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

[chepic]

Gixer: on the 1st thread there is a Pay -it-forward thread where someone will send a Disney cruise postcard to someone for you. We did it for our son at Christmas and he was so psyched to get the card. They just ask that when you go on your cruise, that you do the same....not a bad way to let them know.

cheryl

 

[Bethipooh4]

Wow, we survive the wedding and I miss 2 new pages of posts..looks like I have alot of catching up to do with you guys!!

The weather was beautiful and so was our daughter..I will have to try and figure out how to make the picture small enough so everyone can see...

I am not to sure when we are planning Palo...there is a big group of us as well. And we ALL dress alike for pirate night. Last year there was 12 of us dressed identical with shirts I made and swords(foam) eye patches and bandanas..LOL This year there are 21 of us...

Now that wedding week is over, its time to start designing our shirts, and door signs...

 

[chepic]

bethipooh4....so happy the wedding went well!!!!!

I was reading on another thread to be certain to use magnetic door stuff, no tape!!

che

 

[Gixer]

What a great idea to have a postcard sent! I will have a look at the thread - thanks for the tip

Glad the wedding went well and the weather held out for you! WOW another HUGE party - 21 of you guys? sounds like this is going to be such a fun cruise! glad that you are dressing for pirates night, I have got the kids outfits sorted and am working on grouchy DH

Has anyone thought about excursions yet? its soooo difficult trying to choose! We are going to do the Trunk Bay trip to St John as I have read so many posts that say its just beautiful, not sure about St Maarten though - think we may just have a wander around the shops and head back to the ship for a quiet afternoon

 

[jsheridan]

Bethipoo4 - Congratulations! I'm glad the day was beautiful.

I booked our hotel for the 1/18 yesterday. We are staying at Country Inn & Suites at the port. The price had gone up $10 since last month so I figured I'd better book now before that happens again. We are planning at staying near SeaWorld for 1 night after the cruise and still need to figure that out. Any suggestions are welcome...

So far as excursions on St Thomas & St Maarten - We have narrowed it down quite a bit but have not made a final decision. I'm thinking that DS4 would love the semisub or the sub. So, we have to decide whether to do the Atlantis sub in St. Thomas through DCL, the semisub in St. Thomas at Coral World or the semisub in St. Maarten through DCL. Does anyone have opinions on the best way to go?

We are also thinking about Paradise Point in St. Thomas and Maho Beach in St. Maarten to see the airplanes.

My gut says Coral World with the semisub and Paradise Point in St. Thomas - all on our own. Then Maho Beach in St. Maarten (best times for the airplanes is 1-3pm so I haven't thought about what to do that AM) also on our own.

What are you guys thinking?

 

[Gixer]

The sub idea sounds great We dont want a beach day in St Maatren as we will be having beach time at CC and Trunk Bay. I think Coral world looks great but we have some time at Seaworld and Discovery cove before our cruise so dont think we will go for that.

DH has no desire to go to the French side of St Maarten and as we are ex RAF we have had enough of aircraft for a while

I was thinking of the under 2 flags tour but dont know if it might be a bit boring for the kids?
TBH I think I am leaning towards just dumping my Dad and DH off at the barefoot bar for a couple of hours where they can have a few beers, while Mum, DD's and I will hit the shops then spend the rest of the day on the ship

If everyone is doing Palo dinner on Thursday - what day are you all thinking of doing Palo brunch? I was thinking the first sea day?

 

[Bethipooh4]

Thanks everyone for the wedding wishes..I have to get the CD from DH and maybe I can get a pic posted on here. It was a perfect day, I think,. I don't remember to much of it...lol

I guess now that life is back to normal, we need to think about our shore excursions...I haven't given any of it much thought. I do know we will do the stingrays at CC and I think DS(17) will parasail.

I would love to do a spa villa with hubby, we did the rasaul last time. But its kinda pricey to me.

Dh and I may pass on Palo dinner this cruise, I am not to sure what the rest of the group is going to do. I do want to book brunch though.

So has anyone thought of or planned a DIS meet for the cruise? Or did I miss that while I was in wedding mode?

 

[jsheridan]

Gixer mentioned that Coral World might be too similar to Sea World. We are planning on going to Sea World after the cruise. Anyone been to both that has an opinion? Are they a lot alike?

We aren't sure about Palo brunch. I want to be sure that DS4 enjoys the Oceaneer Club so I am thinking that maybe we'll try for Monday rather than Sunday. Hopefully he'll be comfortable there by then...

My fear is that we won't get to Palo at all because he won't stay at the club. Anyone have that happen?

Any of you want to babysit?

 

[Gixer]

I have read loads of posts from people who's kids are at that very clingy stage and they didnt hold out much hope for them staying in the clubs - but then had a real suprise when the kids started crying because they didnt want to leave the clubs when mom or dad came to pick them up
Hopefully your little one will be just fine and you will get a bit of adult time to have dinner etc

DH and I have decided not to do birthday/christmas gifts this year - we are going to do a couples villa instead, it looks great, your right about the price though - hope its worth it!

I looked closely at the coral world option & figured we will see stingrays and go snorkelling at Discovery cove and see most of the other stuff at seaworld. We are pretty lucky and have spent a lot of time in Egypt & the middle east so have done diving off some spectaculor coral reefs so we decided to give Coral world a miss - but if you havent seen that type of thing before it would be a good excursion I think?

Nobody has got around to sorting a DIS meet yet, but it would be fun to have a drink or two with you guys so count us in!

 

[chepic]

Gixer mentioned that Coral World might be too similar to Sea World. We are planning on going to Sea World after the cruise. Anyone been to both that has an opinion? Are they a lot alike?

We aren't sure about Palo brunch. I want to be sure that DS4 enjoys the Oceaneer Club so I am thinking that maybe we'll try for Monday rather than Sunday. Hopefully he'll be comfortable there by then...

My fear is that we won't get to Palo at all because he won't stay at the club. Anyone have that happen?

We went to Coral World....many years ago and I would say it is not really that much like Sea World, I don't remember them have shows or rides. I bet they have a web site to check.

On our first cruise, Max was 4 and at first he couldn't wait to get into the kids club....we cruised alone and so he didn't know anyone. Within 2 hours we received a page to come get him. He never wanted to go back. On the last day of the cruise, we had booked the "romantic ritual" with the Rasul room and then dual massages. I was practically crying at the doorway for him to go in. A wonderful kid's club worker came up and gently took him by the arm and told us to enjoy ourselves, he would be fine.....and of course he was.

I think the worst part for him was that he didn't know anyone, and I didn't talk it up. This time we are cruising with kids that he knows and we have been really talking it up to him. So hopefully when we go into the Rasul room this time we won't have an issue

cheryl

 

[chepic]

Well, St. Thomas is planned....we and greatwhite will be on the Pirate's Penny cruising along St. Thomas, St. John and looking for pirate gold
AAAHHHH the warm breeze running through our hair, the warmth of the rum trickling down the throat, you just have to love the Carribean!!!

Have a great day everyone!!

cheryl

 

[plenam]

Well, St. Thomas is planned....we and greatwhite will be on the Pirate's Penny cruising along St. Thomas, St. John and looking for pirate gold
AAAHHHH the warm breeze running through our hair, the warmth of the rum trickling down the throat, you just have to love the Carribean!!!

Have a great day everyone!!

cheryl

We're planning to do the Atlantis Submarine Tour on St. Thomas....on St. Maarten we're probably going to stay onboard and enjoy the Vista Spa on a quiet ship.

Brett

 

[chepic]

on St. Maarten we're probably going to stay onboard and enjoy the Vista Spa on a quiet ship.

Brett

Sounds smart....we were thinking about going to the butterfly farm thing first thing in the AM and then hop back on the ship so we could enjoy the spa, or the pool with less people on board....or at least we hoped less.

che

 

[plenam]

Sounds smart....we were thinking about going to the butterfly farm thing first thing in the AM and then hop back on the ship so we could enjoy the spa, or the pool with less people on board....or at least we hoped less.

che

That's what we did last year, went to the Butterfly Farm, did a little shopping by the ship, then, went onboard and enjoyed the peace of a empty ship.....BTW the pools were fairly empty too.

Brett

 

[luvcruisn]

bethipoo4-the is wonderful that everything went okay with your wedding. Now it is time to settle in and enjoy each other!

gixer-DD turns 12 in a few months! Sorry for the confusion! I know she would like to chat with others going. On our last cruise, the girls sent PM's back and forth and then started IM'ing each other after awhile.

I am all in for a Dis meet, so count me too!

Y'all are doing so much better than me. I have not even thought about what excursions to take. With DS being so small (2) we will be limited on exactly what we can do!

 

[chepic]

Brett, how was the butterfly farm? I thought it would be a better choice than taking our DS age 6 to a beach with topless women ...if you know what I mean!! We have a butterfly farm here in RI at the local zoo...which is quite nice, and he loves animals. We went to the zoo in Belize when we went on the Western Carib. trip and he loved it.

Thanks,

cheryl

 

[Bethipooh4]

I just looked at all the excursions and I just can't decide....

This is terrible..to much I want to do and not enough time...I think in St Thomas, DH and DS(17) will snorkle and me and DS(10) may go to Blackbeards Castle on our own, he is into the whole pirate thing right now.

St Martin I am still up in the air on. A empty ship sounds so tempting!!!

 

[chepic]

Bethipooh.....don't worry....be happy I crack myself up.

I know what you mean about an empty ship, it does sound tempting....however, my alcohol bill will end up higher so my son can ride the Mickey slide.

Can't wait!

che

 

[Bethipooh4]

I know what you mean about an empty ship, it does sound tempting....however, my alcohol bill will end up higher so my son can ride the Mickey slide.

Can't wait!


Just so long as after all that alcohol, you don't decide to go down the slide instead of your son!!!!

 

[chepic]

Just so long as after all that alcohol, you don't decide to go down the slide instead of your son!!!!

Especially top-less.... which is what we are trying to avoid in St. Martin!!!!

che