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

[patten]

Thanks Lynn!

 

[LynnF0513]

YW Since I am a "newbie" I have tried to a lot of research so I won't be totally in the dark . I do have a question that hopefully someone can answer. Although they are not required DH and I applied for our passports however, we have not yet rcvd them. Per the web-site Disney wants you to provide your passport number 75 days prior to your cruise date. Is this set in stone or can it really be anytime prior to the cruise?

I am trying to make sure we have all the doc's we need when we arrive at the port and since I am new to all of this I am not sure if I should bring our birth certificates as a backup or not?????

 

[accola]

On our last cruise, we were able to book palo at 75 days without a problem. We got a later reservation which worked out really well with our small children. They were pretty excited to go to the club in their pjs and watch movies.

We plan to be at the cruise terminal right away when it opens. Last time, we were in the second boarding party. We had lunch at topsiders and since we had our swim suites in our carry on we enjoyed the pool until our room was ready. We have a picture of our DD enjoying the mickey pool all by herself. It felt like we had a whole extra day on the ship since other passengers were still boarding in late afternoon.

 

[patten]

I'm not sure about the passport numbers. Last time, we only received the kids' passports a couple weeks before the cruise, so I know DCL didn't have those numbers. I don't recall when we gave them ours. We booked the cruise less than 75 days prior to sailing that time, so it was all very last minute.

Has anyone booked any fun excursions yet? We are kayaking in St. Croix! That one sounded like fun. We are also doing the Marine Park with the kids on St. Thomas.

 

[LynnF0513]

accola ~ I bet your daughter really enjoyed having the place all to herself. I heard it can be empty on port days sometimes too. I never really thought about getting to the port early in order to be able to board sooner. I can see how this would be a perk.

Patten ~ OK so clearly they will take the info inside the 75 day window. I think I will call DCL in the morning and see just how long it can wait. I hope it doesn't take long to get our PP's we applied earlier in the week.

Oh and about excursions - DH and I booked a private excursion for St. Croix but as far as St. Thomas and CC go I won't know until I see what's available. St. Thomas I am really not worried too much about since we decided we would probably just do the skyride, shopping, etc. I figure we are going to be tired after a full day on St. Croix so I don't plan on doing much. I am still trying to decide about CC.....any suggestions?

 

[cdndizzylizzy]

We plan to be at the cruise terminal right away when it opens. Last time, we were in the second boarding party. We had lunch at topsiders and since we had our swim suites in our carry on we enjoyed the pool until our room was ready. We have a picture of our DD enjoying the mickey pool all by herself. It felt like we had a whole extra day on the ship since other passengers were still boarding in late afternoon.

Hi Wendy,

Well, perhaps we can get our 2 daughters to meet at 10 am in the port terminal, because we always get there early too so that we can do exactly what you have described! Last year, our youngest DD had been corresponding with some girls her age online on the DIS before we cruised, and she found them at the coloring table overlooking the Magic (we had all sent pictures of what the kids looked like along with letters via snail mail). They never looked back, and caught up with each other all week long - at the Goofy pool, at the clubs, and then all afternoon at Castaway Cay. It added a whole new dimension of fun for her cruise experience, as she really enjoys her friendships at home and really enjoyed making new ones on the Magic. Let me know when you want to get them started online - send me a PM and we'll reply!

 

[jezebella]

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

We're booked for 11am for the waverunners. Will be me and DD 8 on a double, DH, DM, and DD all have singles.

 

[LynnF0513]

The waverunners sound like a lot of fun the only thing is I heard they fly...it's been a couple of years since I have been on one so I am a little nervous. If we decide not to do it you will definitely have to let me know how it goes

 

[patten]

So, I was reading through some threads and I just figured out what a Fish Extender was. I've been on the cruise before and still had no idea what it was! So, my question is, do you use them and should I get one? And, what about the magnet exchange? Is someone keeping a list?

Sorry so many questions today?

 

[LynnF0513]

patten - I purchased a fish extender. Even if we don't do an exchange I will enjoy leaving little things for my DH. We talked about a magnet exchange awhile ago, I asked about this a couple of weeks ago but never got any feedback so I don't know if it's still on or not.

If we still decide to do the magnet exchange I will probably have to purchase them instead of making them like I wanted to. The holidays are coming up along with finals so I am going to be crunched for time. Maybe someone can chime in on what's going on with the exchanges.

 

[gmark2000]

The magnet exchange is easy. One person gathers a list with cabin numbers and distributes to all others who are participating. Cabin numbers are not publicized on this thread for privacy reasons. You either make magnet (print one up) or purchase an inexpensive one to exchange.

 

[gmark2000]

Mardi Gras and Lunar New Year occurred during the cruise, thus these were included in the theming along with pirates, beaches and nautical themes.

 

[patten]

We just booked seven night at WDW before our cruise! We took advantage of the 4/3 deal. I hope two weeks of Mickey isn't too much.

 

[cruisinpenguin]

2 weeks of Mickey is NEVER too much!! !!
That's a great deal they have going......where are you staying? We're staying 2 nights before the cruise at Wilderness Lodge then on Friday 1/30 we're staying at Radisson at Port Canaveral and then after the cruise we are staying 3 nights at Saratoga Springs!! Can't wait!! Laurie

 

[patten]

We are staying at the Contemporary. Our original plan was to stay a couple days before the cruise and a couple days after the cruise, but when this offer came out, I took it. Too bad I could split the reservation before and after the cruise. We've never stayed at the Contemporary, so we're looking forward to it.

 

[LynnF0513]

Wow that sounds awesome! I am sure you will love the contemporary

 

[All Things Simba]

Hello fellow St. Croix Disney cruisers!

WV Space Monkey was so kind to create this logo for us, with a few of my suggestions, to use on our January 31st, 2009 special Disney cruise to St. Croix!

It was created to be used as a door magnet on our cabin doors during this particular cruise! I really hope this takes off!

I would love to see a ton of these on our cruise as it will be really fun to see all the enjoyment from the DisBoard people!

The link to the door magnet size is:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y137/Wazioc/StCroixMagnet-1.jpg

The link to a smaller one for signatures is:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...oc/stcroix.jpg

Please enjoy! And a BIG Thank You to WV Space Monkey!

 

[WDdaughter]

Wow. Thank you so much All Things Simba!

Mine is printed and ready to go.

 

[accola]

Well, it's been talked about a variety of times.....so I guess we'll volunteer to put a list together for those interested in a Magnet exchange and/or Fish Extenders.

If you're interested, send us an email with your information - names / cabin #, etc. We'll post more later, but right now we are thinking that we'll need to cut-off the list by the middle of December to give people some time prior to the cruise - prior to then we can provide updates on the number participating if it helps out. After the cut-off we will provide participants with the appropriate list(s).

Wendy, Neil, Lilly (DD) and Ben (DS)

 

[LynnF0513]

Simba - Thanks! I will have one on my door for sure!

accola - Thanks! I love to do this kind of stuff and usually volunteer to do it but with finals coming up at school and all of us on mandatory OT at work I am super swamped. If there is anything I can do to help I am glad to do what I can