January 8, 2011 - 7 Night Western Caribbean Sailing

[cmclaura]

Southwest opened their reservations for up to January 7, 2011, on Tuesday. We booked our outbound flights yesterday....$100 from Philadelphia to Orlando. I'm hoping the price will go down as it has in past years, but always good to get in early in case the price goes up.

With Southwest, if the price does go down, you can adjust the booking and get a credit for the overage, which you can use on any flight within a year of the original booking date.

One year, the prices went down from $149 to $79 so we saved a lot of money!

 

[Goldeelox9]

I booked my outbound flight yesterday too. $90 from Baltimore to Orlando! I am hoping they go down!!

 

[afavr001]

My fiance and I have booked this cruise for our Disneymoon. I know someone else had already mentioned they are on their Disneymoon as well! I've always dreamed of going on a Disney cruise for my honeymoon so I can't wait. I would also be excited if it is as empty as everyone has been mentioning. Only 205 days

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

204 days now......

 

[newbydisney]

We booked our outbound flight a while back on Alaska Air for Zero dollars...gotta love those miles! We have not booked our return yet...maybe we will just stay forever...yeah that sounds good.

Welcome to the new Disneymooners!!! I am hoping to marry off one of my children someday and send them on a cruise.

 

[LydiaAch]

Well, I'm leaving this thread as I can't cruise in Jan...I will be well past 24 weeks pregnant at that time. We just found out! Have fun, everyone!

 

[Tatiana]

Well, I'm leaving this thread as I can't cruise in Jan...I will be well past 24 weeks pregnant at that time. We just found out! Have fun, everyone!

Sorry to see you go, but CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[Goldeelox9]

What a Great Reason to not be cruising with us!!!

 

[scrappinsandie]

Hi, we will be on this cruise too - Myself Sandie and husband Peter and Eloise 14 and John 12. This is our first cruise of any type. We are visiting WDW to escape Christmas with our extended family!

We would love to participate in the FE.

I am a bit worried about how cold it may be - we are from Australia where it is Winter now and we freeze if it gets below around 65 degrees.

Sandie

 

[cmclaura]

Welcome Sandie!

About freezing, wellllll, I was on this cruise same week this past January and the first couple days out were chilly. Key West was done in jackets, stopping for warm beverages every now and again.

However, it was during the time when the whole of that part of the world was experiencing record-breaking low temperatures, so I don't expect this to happen again. We'd done the Eastern the previous year and it was high 70s/80s every day. Once we sailed away from Key West, it got much warmer and we were fine the rest of the trip.

So, I wouldn't worry about it being too cold, overall.

My daughter, Keighley, will have just turned 17 before this cruise, so she'll be happy to show your Eloise around the teen club in The Stack!

Laura

 

[scrappinsandie]

My daughter, Keighley, will have just turned 17 before this cruise, so she'll be happy to show your Eloise around the teen club in The Stack!

She would like that - she is a excited about having some freedom but worried she won't make friends!

Sandie

 

[newbydisney]

Ok Laura...you know it was freezing last year! Absolutely the worst! and the year before was not the best either...so anyone thats not already booked..you really should book later ..yeah that way we can have the ship be empty again like last year! Ha ha ..not very nice of me I know....ok well really it has to be warm this year..we are overdue! I am betting it is going to be record breaking warmth!
Due to my job there is every chance I could be laid off for the month of January..in which case we could do the Panama canal instead.....but we probably can't afford it if I am laid off...so probably be seeing y'all on this cruise. We will see what the next few months bring.

 

[cmclaura]

I didn't think it was freezing. Windy/blowy, yes. Cold, yes. But it really was an anomaly. I had lived in Florida for 8 years and we'd only had one cold snap like that before -- and that one only lasted 3 days. This one went on for 3 weeks.

And, truly, once we were sailing away from Key West, it was decidedly balmy! I had no trouble swimming at Castaway Cay. And yes, that night we were all in the hot tub was cold in the air, but deliciously warm in the bubbling spa. Reserve that spot again!

 

[cmclaura]

I'm jealous -- just saw some of these banners other groups are doing.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2497964

Wouldn't it be nice if our little group had one, too? We could laminate and magnetize them and put them on our stateroom doors!

 

[scrappinsandie]

I really don't like the cold. We had the coldest day we have had here in 27 years today - it was 30 degrees overnight and only got up to 61 today - and we are all complaining and shivering!

Laura, tahnk you for the pm - I can not answer until I build up to 10 posts!

Sandie

 

[cmclaura]

I forgot about the PM thing.

Well, if you were at least able to read it, you've got the info!

 

[scrappinsandie]

This is our first cruise and keeping in mind that by the time we get on the cruise we will have been travelling for almost a month....

How formal do we need to get in terms of clothing?
How many suitcases can we take on board? We will be leaving our hire car parked whilst cruising so we can leave no valuables like excess clothing in the boot.
How early can we get to the terminal.

And thinking of the FE my daughter says: "who has tried vegemite before?"

 

[cmclaura]

Good questions!

I'm very frugal by nature so the alarm bells started ringing. Have you considered dropping your hire car at the local station and then starting a new booking once the cruise is over? This way, you'll save the cost of a week of hire charges while the car is just sitting there AND the cost of parking at the port. You can book it in advance and save. You can easily drop people and bags at Disney and then drop the car at the office and they'll shuttle you back. The shuttle drivers have a name for this: Disney Dads -- lol!

As far as formal clothing, some people dress up, some don't. I am an excellent packer (I did 6 weeks in Europe with a backpack containing two changes of clothing and didn't really need the second one) and hate to bring more than I need. I have one dress (bought off eBay, lol -- told you I was frugal) that works for formal night, semi-formal night and Palo. I just change the necklace or my hairstyle and I'm all set. No one's ever said to me -- you wore that dress 3 times this week! That being said, I may break that rule this year as I've now got photos of me at Palo for the past 3 years, all wearing the same dress. I'm starting to look not frugal, but cheap.

Bear in mind that your suitcases will likely stow under the bed. If they nest, you can do that and save space. We just splurged on new luggage this year (after 15 years, the old had served us well AND I got a half price plus 30% off deal ) and I got 3 nesting pieces. We usually also have gym bags for extras; they also fit inside. If you really run out of room in your luggage, you can always get small Disney bags/rolling duffels in the gift shops -- they usually have some sort of special going where you can get the bag for $10 or $20 if you buy a certain amount of stuff in the shop.

As far as getting to the terminal early, it's good for your boarding ticket but you basically just sit there until noon when they start letting people in. We were always on the early side but last time we got there around 1, and boarded immediately. We liked that a lot better. The only good thing about getting there early is to meet up with other people we've met online before!

Vegemite, hmmm. It is an acquired taste. However, having lived in England, I can definitely vouch for it tasting a LOT better than Marmite!

Where else will you be going prior to the cruise? I know you Ozzies come over for very lengthy holidays; the distance pretty much makes it a must. We'll be in Orlando for a couple nights before -- we are COMPELLED do the new World of Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios!

 

[scrappinsandie]

We arrive on the 15th December and are spending 10 nights at the Royal Pacific at Universal - our passes include Seaworld, Aquatica etc so we will do most of our non Disney touring whilst staying here including one day at AK and MK each as well as Nasa. (We have WDW AP's). On the 26th when we check out of Universal we will make a day trip to Daytona as my husband is getting a Richard Petty experience for Christmas. That night we will check into Port Orleans Riverside.

The 27th we will spend at Ecot and on the 28th our trip splits in two. Last year when Eloise turned 13 I took her to Tokyo Disney for a week which was a surprise. My son is only turning 12 this year and thinks he will get the same in October 2011 when he turns 13 - not the case! On the 28th he and my husband will set off on a 6 day road trip finishing up at Gracelands - John loves Elvis. This is also necessary as my husband hates crowds and I think Christmas week will kill him!

On the 29th a good friend of mine who lives in Delaware is flying in with her daughters for 6 days. this is our third WDW trip spending time with them - but the first with no husbands! We will go full tilt until my boys return on the 2nd. My friend leaves on the 3rd January and we will spend that week at WDW as a family before boarding the cruise on the 8th.

When the cruise returns we will have 3 nights at the POlynesian before heading home to get ready for the school year.

This is the first trip where we have stayed in mainly in the Orlando area - normally we spend 3 weeks touring another area of the US and 3 weeks in Disney but the budget and the length of the school holidays did not allow for that this time!

Sandie

 

[Tatiana]

Hi, we will be on this cruise too - Myself Sandie and husband Peter and Eloise 14 and John 12. This is our first cruise of any type. We are visiting WDW to escape Christmas with our extended family!

We would love to participate in the FE.

I am a bit worried about how cold it may be - we are from Australia where it is Winter now and we freeze if it gets below around 65 degrees.

Sandie

Sandie! It's great to have you sailing with us! You're coming all the way from Australia?! WOW! I've always wanted to travel there, but I think the heat would probably kill me! Temperature of 65F is what I call a perfect day

I found this cool thread where people post pictures of all the wonderful things to eat on the ships.
Sure does look mouth-watering!
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=886187&page=91