July 15-22 2006 Western Anyone?

[BTSEN5]

I am just wondering...since I just happened upon this site through a search engine, how did you find this, or is this a site through a travel company? I was just wondering, because many of you seem to be experienced travelers, and maybe have been conversing for quite some time.

The picture of your family in the matching yellow shirts is great. That is a wonderful idea. I do not think I am that coordinated to think of that, let alone get all to wear the same color.

I am hoping to have everyone bring a small carry on bag onto the plane, so we have plenty of room for souveniers and such. As far as drinks, are we able to bring drinks onto the ship? I did not think we could, but that is just me assuming.

Thanks for your help. Take care and make it a great day.

 

[BTSEN5]

Okay, you all are going to get so tired of me.

I finally decided to go further into this website....would have been nice to do this before I posted the above post. I wish I had found this out sooner. It gives much more information than the Disney Cruise site that I have checked in on.

I will give you one question at a time. The Pirate night ...do we dress up for that .....as a pirate? My suitcases are going to be exploding if I add one more item on my list, and with 5 mighty pirates, wow!!!

I think I will bring one little black dress for the more formal evenings and Palo. Other than that, I will bring casual wear.

Thanks for your patience.

 

[thegales]

I am just wondering...since I just happened upon this site through a search engine, how did you find this, or is this a site through a travel company? I was just wondering, because many of you seem to be experienced travelers, and maybe have been conversing for quite some time.

I found this site before our first cruise, and mostly spent time in the Cruise section. A Cruise Meet thread was created, so we all had a great time chatting prior to the cruise. While we did not make any firm arrangements to do things with the other folks, we saw each other many times through out the cruise, and would sit together and share experiences of the day. There was also some 'group kid watching' while at the pool. While all the kids were in the pool, some adults were able to get away to get food (and drink!) or just a nice stroll around the ship.

Since I have been part of the dis, I have branched out into other areas, including the nightly chat at 9:00 US Eastern (by the way, Friday night is Cruise Chat). I have made some good friends on the dis, and have participated in dis meets outside of WDW / DCL.

At work, I wear my Lime Green DIS lanyard for my security badge. After a meeting with some work folks who I did not know, one approached me and asked who I was on the DIS, as he also participated.

Be careful, the DIS can become very addicting.

 

[thegales]

Okay, you all are going to get so tired of me.

I finally decided to go further into this website....would have been nice to do this before I posted the above post. I wish I had found this out sooner. It gives much more information than the Disney Cruise site that I have checked in on.

I will give you one question at a time. The Pirate night ...do we dress up for that .....as a pirate? My suitcases are going to be exploding if I add one more item on my list, and with 5 mighty pirates, wow!!!

I think I will bring one little black dress for the more formal evenings and Palo. Other than that, I will bring casual wear.

Thanks for your patience.

No worries on the questions. Please keep them coming. While some people may call us over compulsive planners, I think it makes sense to know what other people's experiences have been to be better planned. Nothing worse than finding out too late about something that you would have had an interest in.

Regarding Pirate Night. The DCL recommended dress code is Tropical or Pirate. We have gone with Tropical, but on the last cruise, the shops pulled out all the pirate gear during the day. DDs (and DW) then wanted to get into the spirit. We purchased some DCL related Pirate items for the DDs to wear. At a minimun, at dinner all guests get a bandana to wear (and it is really funny to see everyone in the restaurant wearing the bandana).

However, there are other folks who have gone much more into the Pirate theme, and have had the whole family dressed in Pirate gear. While there were not a lot of folks dressed this way, the ones who were dressed were definitely not out of place.

I think some folks also changed between dinner and the Pirate party to go much further into Pirate mode. There is contest during the party for the best costume and I saw a lot more Pirates at the party then at dinner.

With all that said, we will probably still go tropical for DW and myself, and the DDs more Pirate. We will also look to bring some glow in the dark stuff for the DDs for the party. And don't worry, if there is anything you forgot, Disney will be more than happy to sell it to you.

 

[BTSEN5]

No worries on the questions. Please keep them coming.

Thanks so much for all the information. I appreciate it.

I have 2 more questions. One is about excursions. I have yet to set up any. I am afraid that we will decide we want to do something else, so I thought I would wait till on the ship. Is this a wise decision? Are there plenty of things left to do at that point?


Second question, how much actual cash should we bring for going ashore? We will have a credit card of course, but I am not sure how widely accepted they are.

Thanks again. Happy planning.

 

[thegales]

I have 2 more questions. One is about excursions. I have yet to set up any. I am afraid that we will decide we want to do something else, so I thought I would wait till on the ship. Is this a wise decision? Are there plenty of things left to do at that point?

Second question, how much actual cash should we bring for going ashore? We will have a credit card of course, but I am not sure how widely accepted they are.

First question - first, take a look at the DCL offered excursions. See if there are any that interest you and if they are in your price range. If so, I would book them now. Then continue searching other posts and trip reports to see if there might be another excursion that you would want to do on your own. If you find something better, you can cancel the DCL excursion. I think the cancellation policy is a couple days before you sail, so make sure you do cancel by the appropriate time. If you wait until you board to book your excursion, you might find that the excursion you really want is full.

There are many opinions as to whether folks should do DCL excursions or your own. Some of my thoughts are:
-Pro to the DCL excursion is that you are guaranteed to make it back to the ship on time, and if the ship does not make a port, you will not be charged. Con is price and a very fixed schedule.
-Pro to your own excursion is that you have more options and flexibility. Con is there a slight risk that don't get back in time.

We have done both DCL and our own, depending on what island and what other excursions are avaiable. This trip we are doing three DCL excursions, but will plan on doing our own stuff at Key West after our DCL excursion.

Second question - highly dependent on the excursion. Most ports will except US dollars, so you should bring some cash. Also, not all places except credit cards. If DCL excursion, see what will cost extra, such as food or drink or souvenir photos (those photos will always get you).

 

[noahsmom]

BTSEN5,

This is our 1st 7 night cruise so I chose to do DCL excursions. If we do another 7 nighter (I should probably say when), I might feel more comfortable booking my own. We do not have anything scheduled for Key West, I think we can do that on our own. Right now the Butterfly place and Aquarium on what we plan on doing.

Good question on the credit cards. We hardly ever carry cash anymore, glad you asked that one!

Keep the questions coming.

 

[BTSEN5]

I have been reading so much on this board, I feel as though I have become obsessed with it. I think we are going to hold off on booking excursions at this point. My 18 year old says he just wants to "relax and enjoy." (Boy he is sounding like an adult....how did that happen?) We shall see how it goes. Nothing will ruin our vacation, so why not.

I am looking for a Pirate costume for my youngest son. I think I will have to order online because no one around here has any. I do not like to order online, but he is counting on this.

Thanks so much for all the information that has been given. It has been a great help. If only I could stop worrying about getting to the port on time. I have a fear of our plane being delayed or something since we are arriving the same day we sail. I need to get over that. We are scheduled to be in Orlando by 10, so it should give us plenty of time. Right?

 

[sillykidsmom]

Hello everyone,
I just stumbled onto this board and happy that I did. I posted on another site (cruise critic) looking for other fellow cruisers on this trip and I thought me and my family were the only ones. (yeah right)

Anyway I will be traveling with my DH, DS (8) and my DD (3). We did the 3 night Wonder trip last July and that was way too short. We are looking forward to the 7 night.

Looking forward to talking to ya'll.

 

[sillykidsmom]

I have been reading so much on this board, I feel as though I have become obsessed with it. I think we are going to hold off on booking excursions at this point. My 18 year old says he just wants to "relax and enjoy." (Boy he is sounding like an adult....how did that happen?) We shall see how it goes. Nothing will ruin our vacation, so why not.

I am looking for a Pirate costume for my youngest son. I think I will have to order online because no one around here has any. I do not like to order online, but he is counting on this.

Thanks so much for all the information that has been given. It has been a great help. If only I could stop worrying about getting to the port on time. I have a fear of our plane being delayed or something since we are arriving the same day we sail. I need to get over that. We are scheduled to be in Orlando by 10, so it should give us plenty of time. Right?

No worries about getting to the port on time. If you did your transfers through DCL you will not have a problem. If they are like any other cruise line they will wait only if you booked transfers with them. If you did not and your plane arrives on time it's about 45 minutes to the port. I live over in Tampa and when we cruise out of Port Canaveral we usually leave our house between 9am - 10am. It takes us about 2 1/2 hours to get there and knock on wood never had any problems then a slight back up on I-4. Hope this helps.

 

[BTSEN5]

Hi SillyMK,

I just stumbled across this site about a week ago. Welcome. It is a wonderful forum with such kind and knowledgable people. I have learned so much, and I am better prepared for our cruise through these forums.

I will be traveling with DH, DS-18, DS-14, and DS-10. This will be our very first cruise, aside from the 2 night cruises to nowhere that leave from here occassionally.

I have made magnetic door signs for our room, as has been suggested on another post. They were so much fun to make. There are so many things you can do to make this a truly magical vacation. I would never have thought of them.

Have fun planning your cruise.



PS. Thanks for the encouragment regarding the flight and transfers. I have been worried about this, so your input helps a lot.

 

[noahsmom]

Welcome Sillykidsmom!!

You've come to the right place to learn lots of little tips to make the cruise more enjoyable. Feel free to ask any questions!

I also have a ds who's 8. If your ds would like to send a private message to my ds, just click on Noahsmom over on the left and you will get the private message option. Noah loves to "meet" other kids his age before getting on the ship!

 

[thegales]

Just saw this on CNN:

Officials will choose a firm launch date for Discovery at the completion of a formal flight review next week -- the launch window runs from July 1 to July 19.

How cool would it be if they launched on July 15! If / when information comes out on this, I will let folks know. It might be worthwhile (if able) to change plans to see it.

 

[sillykidsmom]

Welcome Sillykidsmom!!

You've come to the right place to learn lots of little tips to make the cruise more enjoyable. Feel free to ask any questions!

I also have a ds who's 8. If your ds would like to send a private message to my ds, just click on Noahsmom over on the left and you will get the private message option. Noah loves to "meet" other kids his age before getting on the ship!

Thank you. Zach (my DS) will be at summer camp until 6/19. Once he gets back, for a few days anyway, I will have him send Noah a message. He has a crazy summer schedule with camp and he's on the All-Star team for his baseball league.

Question? My husband and I just got back from a RCCL cruise. I talked to people on the boards prior and we all met up for what they call a meet and mingle. Does Disney have something like this or do we chat on the boards and see who wants to meet up with one another? We met alot of great people and we are trying to plan a cruise next May with them all.

Please keep the tips coming

 

[sillykidsmom]

I have been wondering if they will have Pirates of the Carribean II on the ship. I am a big Johnny Depp fan, and thought they might have it. I was not sure if they would have new release movies shown or not.

As of now it does not look like they will be playing Pirates of the Caribbean II. My hubby called Disney and as of now it looks like Cars, Sky High, Glory Road, Shaggy Dog & 8 Below. The cast member did tell him that it is subject to change. Last year on our cruise they played Sky High and it wasn't even in theaters yet. We just need to keep our fingers crossed and hope they will play it. (at least on Pirate night)

 

[noahsmom]

We've been watching for shuttle launch announcements ever since they said it would be in July. It would be so great to see that, even if it was from WDW.

Sillykidsmom, Noah will be happy to hear from Zach. Also there is no formal meet and greet, however Thegales has suggested that those of us posting on this thread meet on deck 10 starboard (this is above the Mickey pool) at 3:00 (before the lifeboat drill). I think this is all correct. There is a post about this a page or two back.

 

[BTSEN5]

As of now it does not look like they will be playing Pirates of the Caribbean II.

Maybe they are just saying that so obsessed people like me will spend their hard earned money on opening weekend instead of waiting until the cruise.

 

[noahsmom]

I got some pirate gear today! I decided agains an entire costume for ds since I doubt he'll ever wear it again and because I think it would be incredibly hot on the ship! For ds I hope to purchase a pirates of the caribbean t-shirt while in WDW to go along with his cool new pirate hat, hand hook, eye patch and earring. For dh he has a head band and earring, I plan on getting pirate mickey ears while at WDW.

I can't believe we leave in a month!!!!

 

[ansky922]

I got some pirate gear today! I decided agains an entire costume for ds since I doubt he'll ever wear it again and because I think it would be incredibly hot on the ship! For ds I hope to purchase a pirates of the caribbean t-shirt while in WDW to go along with his cool new pirate hat, hand hook, eye patch and earring. For dh he has a head band and earring, I plan on getting pirate mickey ears while at WDW.

I can't believe we leave in a month!!!!

I borrowed a pirate costume for my DSand I have a pirate looking t-shirt for DH.
Questions could DH wear jean shorts that night or is that to casual???

So is that time at 3:00 a definite

 

[ansky922]

I have been away so let me just say


Welcome Sillykidsmom

I have found so many interesting things on this site and every day that we get closer the more excited I get. We have cruised before but never DCL and this will be my DS 6 first ever cruise..


Also I know things are getting closer I received my magical express stickers in the mail today We are coming in on 7/13 staying at the CB