January 31, 2009--St, Croix/St. Thomas

[cdndizzylizzy]

Hi all,

Don't be too envious of the Feb 28 thread - we were originally sailing on that cruise so I was a contributor on and off, and most of the extra pages are related to sports - as in, who won yesterday's baseball or basketball game. It's great if you are into sports and those teams, and a little distracting if you are not as you have to read through extra pages to get to the cruise-y bits. Please don't take that the wrong way - a cruise thread is for everyone, and in that case, folks were getting to know each other and will in all likelihood be great friends on the cruise too!

How is everyone deciding between the excursion listing at St Croix and St Thomas/St John. I am finding it really challenging to decide - both islands have a smaller island connected to it, and the excursions to those secondary islands are the ones that I am finding appealing. BUT, I don't think we want to be away from the Magic all day two days in a row. Last year when we were on the Western, we went on the full-day excursion to XCaret when we docked at Cozumel. I loved it, but it was a very full and tiring day, and I know better than to schedule 2 in a row. This may be the only Eastern we ever do, and everyone says you have to check out Trunk Bay once in your life. But then, perhaps, we may end up on an Eastern again, at which point we could see Trunk Bay then, and at that time, it is less likely that we will be in St Croix / Buck Island. SO CONFUSED!!!!

What is everyone deciding????

 

[cdndizzylizzy]

We're in New Hampshire. We'll be flying down a few days before to go to WDW and visit the in laws.

Can you bring your own wine to dinner???

Hi Mala,

I have read on these boards about people bringing wine and beer on board in soft-sided coolers, but I have never heard that you are allowed to bring wine to the restaurants. I do recall that they sell a wine package at a discount, if you know you want to have wine every night with dinner.

 

[WDdaughter]

Yes, you can bring your own wine, however I believe there's a "corking fee" of about $20-25 a bottle.

Can you tell me a little more about Trunks bay, I haven't heard anything about it and we were leaning towards the West End Highlights tour in St. Croix, but I hate to miss a "must see".

 

[WDdaughter]

Just to clarify, the corking fee is if you bring wine to the dining room I believe, doesn't cost anything to have it in your cabin (except maybe a headache the next day )

 

[ohiominnie]

Hey there, just checking in and saw the wine question.

We've brought our own wine onboard. The first night we got wine glasses from our stateroom host and filled them and carried them to dinner. Our assistant server told us that we could just bring our bottle to dinner the next night. When we mentioned we didn't want to pay the corking fee, he told us to uncork it in our room and bring the bottle. The next night we took the uncorked bottle to dinner and he had no problem pouring it for us. Now, it may depend on the server/assistant server, but this guy was awesome (better than the main server) and my dad ended up giving him a bottle of wine (homemade) part way through the cruise (which he said he drank that night!)

Anyway, your stateroom host will bring wine glasses every night if you ask.

 

[cdndizzylizzy]

Yes, you can bring your own wine, however I believe there's a "corking fee" of about $20-25 a bottle.

Can you tell me a little more about Trunks bay, I haven't heard anything about it and we were leaning towards the West End Highlights tour in St. Croix, but I hate to miss a "must see".

Hi,

This disboard link taught me a great deal about the various beach options at St. John. We are not adventurous enough to be a ferry ride away from the Magic without being "with" DCL on an excursion - I just don't think I could relax on the beach, I would be too worried about missing the boat later in the day. But it sounds very do-able.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1906494

 

[LynnF0513]

Excursions.....OH BOY WHAT A SUBJECT

....nothing really appealed to DH in I as far as St. Croix goes...I wanted to do the West End tour (or rather wanted to go to the Cruzan Rum factory) but I am not sure if I could do all of that walking (I had a little spill in April and broke my left ankle and right foot, although they are healing nicely my ankle gives me a swelling fit if I am on it for an extended period of time)

Since this is our first cruise we kind of wanted some quiet time so we thought about chartering the Kindred Spirit (through Disney). That thought went out the window when they advised it would be 1299.00 for 6 hours

soooooo....DH and I booked a private excursion for a 1/2 day of snorkeling off of the reserve. We went through a very reputable local vendor and rented a car for the day. When I expressed my concern about possible issues I was assured there is a back-up plan for alt transportation in the extremely unlikely event that there is trouble with the boat. We got a killer deal and I feel good about it.

On the note of the Cozumel experience, I can see your point. I really don't want to do full days back to back either so we figured we would just ride up to paradise point in St. Thomas, do some shopping, have some drinks, etc. Pretty easy day.

I still haven't decided about Castaway Cay...it's a toss up for me right now...any suggestions?

 

[Mala]

Thanks for the wine info. I'm a wine consultant so I have access to some incredible wines. I was thinking of getting a half a case shipped down to my MIL near the port. I'm hoping our server will let us uncork in our room and bring it to the table... in which case I have a special bottle of wine for him/her.
I've done the wine package before and it was good. But this cruise we're sailing with our old tablemates and I wanted to share with them some really different wines.

As for excursions.... I haven't even started. We have a DS3 and DD6 so we're limited on excursion. Any suggestions?

 

[LynnF0513]

Mala - Sorry I can't help you out, not only is this my first cruise but I don't have little ones...but, I did search the boards and found this thread. It's kind of aged but still seems pretty relevant.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=6968641#post6968641&highlight=eastern+excursion+kids+3

Hope this helps a bit

Lynn

 

[CruiseToSee]

Hello All,

We will be joining you.

Amanda
Steve - DH
Kara - DD(4)

Is anyone organizing fish extenders?

Amanda

 

[LynnF0513]

Amanda,

Glad to have you aboard!

As far as fish extenders....I don't think so. I asked this question a couple of posts back but nothing was said about it. As far as I know there haven't been plans for an exchange although this is something I would be interested in

Lynn

 

[robertsb19]

Have not checked this thread in months.
Does not seem like a lot of people are going.
This will be our 7th Disney Cruise.
Myself and DH.
Also my Brother and sister in law.
My brother knows nothing about it.
We are going to surprise him the wekend before.
He thought it was great fun a few years ago when we surpriced my DH the night before. So pay back.

Glad to see tey has some new excursions for St. Thomas / St. John.
Not sure what we will be doiing on St. Croix.

Can't wait.

 

[LynnF0513]

Hey guys! Just checking in to see how everyone is doing.

I was wondering if anyone has done the waverunner excursion on CC? It looks like it would be fun.

Lynn

 

[gmark2000]

Well, we just made our final payment on Friday. The price of our trip increased by almost 25% in the past three weeks since the Canadian dollar devalued so quickly (as the oil prices dropped quickly too). Bummer.

 

[cdndizzylizzy]

Well, we just made our final payment on Friday. The price of our trip increased by almost 25% in the past three weeks since the Canadian dollar devalued so quickly (as the oil prices dropped quickly too). Bummer.

Hi Gary,

I feel your pain - we paid on Wednesday.

 

[cruisinpenguin]

We also made our final payment last Monday! WooHoo....that only means we'll be cruisin' soon!! Can't wait
Laurie

 

[Mala]

DH and I did the eco-tour on the jet skis and I've been meaning to ask this on the main board but I'll start here. The tour was nice, you jet ski in a single file line, not too fast (unfortunately ha ha), but the coolest part is you go to a sand bar about 2 miles from CC and I SWEAR it's the sand bar they use in POTC At World's End when Elizabeth, CJ, Will, Barbosa, Davy Jones and Beckett meet. It HAS TO BE IT! It looks just like it, complete with that other island in the distance behind it. When we saw POTC myhusband and I turned to each other at the same time and said 'hey, that's the sandbar!'. Anybody know for sure?

 

[LynnF0513]

Mala - Thanks for the info. I would love to do this, sounds like a lot of fun. That is pretty interesting I wonder if it was the same sandbar? Considering where the Dutchman is I wouldn't be surprised.

Lynn

 

[gmark2000]

Any idea when the formal night will be? Any idea for the Pirate Party as well?

-----------
Day 1 - Port Canaveral - Saturday, January 31, 2009

Day 2 - At Sea - Sunday, February 1, 2009

Day 3 - At Sea - Monday, February 2, 2009

Day 4 - St. Croix - Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Day 5 - St. Thomas/St. John - Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Day 6 - At Sea - Thursday, February 5, 2009

Day 7 - Castaway Cay - Friday, February 6, 2009

Day 8 - Port Canaveral - Saturday, February 7, 2009

 

[LynnF0513]

gmark, I have been watching to see if any current navigators get posted but haven't seen any yet (the ones that are out there had to be altered due to the hurricane). But, if nothing has changed....according to my passporter's guide the following should take place:

Formal Night Day 2

Pirate Night Day 4

Semi-Formal Night Day 6

Lynn