July 17th 2005 Magic?

[Cherta]

Do you think the seas will be bad? I thought we would be safe in July, but my husband (who usually takes fishing trips off the coast of Mexico in August) says there's no guarantee, even in July! That's not a good thing, seeing as my 11 year old and I get seasick. Guess I'll just have to keep my finger crossed!!
I'm curious to see what Disney has planned for these special west coast cruises! Do you think we're in store for something unique and different since we're leaving on the day of Disneyland's 50th birthday? I can't wait to get some info from the May/June/July cruisers..I need something to satisfy my obsessive/compulsive need to plan everything ahead of time!

 

[esmarelda]

Hey guys. We're still going too. I really wasn't counting on any rough seas. I just figured in the middle of July that would not be a problem. I've only been on one other cruise and I wore a patch the whole time. I'm sure my kids may be proned to seasickness. This will be their first cruise.

I'm still looking for suggestions on where we should stay the night before the cruise. I was thinking we would stay near LAX then take the shuttle to the port on Sunday. We'll probably want a hotel with a nice pool so the kids can get some pool time in before the cruise. It sounds like the cruise pools are pretty crowded.

I'll also be celebrating my birthday on the cruise. 36 on July 21st.

Amie

 

[Cherta]

Hi Amie,
According to my husband, the closer we sail to the coast, the smoother the ride; the further away from the coast (like 50 miles or so), the more chance for rough seas (at least that has been his experience). However, the fishing boats are about 1/10th the size of the Magic, so it may not even be comparable. Let's hope he's wrong!
I've used the patch once before; it worked, but I remember having dry mouth and a headache the next day. I think I'm going to try Bodine (sp?) and/or Sea Bands this trip. Hopefully the side effects will be minimal. Has anyone else had any experience with either of these?
I think any of the major hotels near LAX should be fine. They are also freeway close, so getting to the port should be no problem.
Is your family getting excited about the trip? My family is, but I think they're worried about my addiction to these boards--I just cannot stay away! I'm trying to cut back at work, but the closer we get, the more I'm loggin' on....

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hi all, we have been on the cruise "princess" a few years ago in March. The seas were fine all the way down and back except the last night. We had problems walking down the halls. I believe that the ocean will be the ruffest the last day and night, just the way the currents run. We were on one of the smallest Princess boats so I do not expect it to be as bad on the Magic. Taking Bonine or Dramamine Less Drowsy formula just in case for the kids. They both have the same medicine "meclizine". Just checked the travel site and noticed a lot of rooms open for our cruise. I do not remember when final payment due, but I think it is soon.
Roger

 

[Cherta]

Hi Roger,
When my parents and some friends of ours tried to book this cruise, they said that the cruise was full and they were only taking adult bookings (no kids). Could that mean that the boat has reached the maximum capacity of kids and we should all rush to register our kids in the clubs as soon as we get on the boat? Also, as I posted earlier, I was told (very adamantly BTW) that the cruise was full and the chance of getting upgraded was "slim to none". Go figure!
I believe final payment is due May 19th, so maybe we'll have a more definitive answer after that.
I have heard the same thing about the return trip from other people who have cruised the Mexican Riviera. I think I'm just going to try all the available meds a few weeks before we leave and see which one works best. Hopefully, it will be all for naught and the seas will be smooth as glass!!

 

[DonnettaR]

I feel so embarrassed! I started this thread and never checked back on it until today when I saw it at the top. Glad to see others are going. I have been posting on the DL board since it is new territory for us. To answer questions:

Are you going to Disneyland before or after the cruise? We will be doing DL before the cruise Its great, but very different from WDW. Less to do, but more manageable if you have just a few days, and better for kids who might get overloaded trying to squeeze a lot in. (just my humble experience with my daughter and theme parks - can you say meltdown?) how are you getting to the pier? We have booked transfers with Disney for LAX-DL-Port-Lax We are taking Disney transfers from LAX to the ship the morning of the 17th. I'm hoping that will work ok. I have so many questions, so I'm looking forward to hearing from the first West coast cruisers!

 

[Cherta]

Hi again DonnettaR,
I'll assume it was my post on the other thread that brought you back to this one, so I'll say "Welcome Back!"
Have you been to Disneyland before? I have to say (and I'm biased since I've grown up going to Disneyland and I've only been to WDW once) that I prefer Disneyland to WDW. Like pclaire says, it is smaller, but that only adds to the charm, IMO. When we went to WDW in 2001, we stayed only 1/2 a day; I guess it's because we'd "been there, done that!" I did like some of the attractions at WDW better because they didn't have them here at Disneyland, but they have since brought them out west (Winnie the Pooh and the Buzz Light Year ride to name a couple). Also, if you get a chance, stop by California Adventure-they have improved things since its opening a few years ago--my family and I particularly like the Bugs Life attraction.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

After reading a suggestion on another thread, we were planning on bringing a bunch of postcards from where we live with our DD name address and email address to pass out to the kids that she meets on the cruise. Some of the other cruise meets are so big they are doing amongest themselves, but since there is only 6-7 of us on the boat I think, we will bring more to pass out. Anyone else plan on doing this?

Roger

 

[Cherta]

HI Roger,
I know what you mean about the 6-7 other people sailing with us! I'm just glad we're finally seeing some action on this thread!
That's a great idea about the postcards; I'll ask my kids about it and see if they're interested. I noticed from your prior post that you also have a daughter in the 10-12 year old range. Is she going to do the club? How about sign-out priviledges? I don't think I'm going to let my daughter do this, but that may change, depending on whether or not I think she (and my husband) can handle it...

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hi Cherta
Yes we have a DD10 who we are hoping will spend her fair share of time in the clubs. I have printed a past navigator for her age group and let her read it. I have learned from this board that if you can get interested in a few things and let the club hook her in. We also plan on spending family time, looks like the mornings are better than afternoons. I agree with you on the signout priviledges. I have read alot of people letting this age group sign themselves out, but I do not want DD10 wandering around the ship. So we will see how it goes. If my wife and I get some quality time together we will be happy to go and pick her up.
Roger

 

[diznylnd]

Hello everyone!
I called yesterday to make our final payment and when I went online today to check the res, it had changed from Cat 8 GTY to a room # (no upgrades at this point).


Just a little update We cant wait for the magic!

 

[Cherta]

Hello fellow cruisers,
I think I agree with you, Roger. I think my daughter is just a little too young to be able to check herself out and roam around the ship, so I'll pick her up when she's ready to leave (besides, I think my husband would have a heart attack if I even bring up the idea!). My 13 year old son, however, is another story--I guess I'll give him the walkie-talkie and make him check in occasionally--just to make sure he hasn't fallen overboard!
Has anyone who has cruised before tried the high tea at Palo? I'm just wondering whether I should save space in an already busy cruise to do this. I enjoy going to tea houses with my daughters, but since I can't bring them, I was wondering if I should get a good book and enjoy myself for an hour or two....
As far as getting upgraded on our cruise, I guess we can hope for a little pixie dust to come our way! If not, then I'm sure we're getting "special" treatment in other areas because we're on a "special" cruise....

 

[Cherta]

Hi All,
Just left the other cruise board and someone has posted the tentative itinerary for the 7 night west coast cruise. However, since we're leaving on Sunday and missing the Puerto Vallarta port, does that mean we don't get pirate night? Or does it get moved to the next day (Mazatlan port)? I guess it's a guessing game for now--I'll call DCL in a few weeks to see what our itinerary will be. If anyone gets any info, please post as soon as possible so I can find 5 pirate suits!

 

[esmarelda]

Okay I just got through making my Palo reservations on the DCL website. This is great. You should all go over there and do it. It was no problem...and I booked the cruise through a TA. I made Palo brunch reservation for Tuesday (2nd day at sea) and dinner reservations for Wednesday (Mazatlan) at 6:30. We have late dinner seating, but I thought if the kids were going to eat in the club that night while we're at Palo's then I'd better make it early and then we could all go to the show or whatever together.

I also figured out that I made my Randi's Happy Horses reservation for the wrong day...I made it for Thursday instead of Wednesday, so I emailed them to try to get that changed.

Regarding Pirate Night, that seems to be a much talked about event on these boards, surely we won't be denied that activitiy. If it happens Mazatlan night I figured I'm covered with that early dinner plan at Palo. Ya think? Then if Lobster night is Thursday night, that works out good because it's my birthday!

Okay this getting exciting. When we get assigned rooms we'll be able to check it on the website. Can't wait! Finally payment has been made...there is no turning back now.

Amie

 

[Cherta]

HI Amie,
I took your advice and made my reservations on-line. What a relief to get that out of the way!! Now my family and I can board the ship early and not have to worry about waiting in lines!
According to the 7-night cruise schedule, Mazatlan is a casual night and Cabo is the semi-formal/lobster night, so I think you're safe. As far as the pirate night, it is supposed to be on the Puerta Vallarta day, so I don't know if we're going to miss out all together or be rescheduled on another night. As we get closer to the date, maybe we can call DCL and get a more definitive answer. I hope they find a way to fit it in... it sounds like fun!

 

[DonnettaR]

Hi everyone.

Has anyone registered their kids in the kid's club yet? I registered my daughter last week. I think it is reaaly neat. Thought about doing Palo ressies for the tea but decided against it. It is the same price as brunch & dinner..this makes no sense to me. My mother and I did the brunch a couple of years ago and it was nice. We have never been for dinner, because we like to eat as a family. We have asked our server (a day in advance) to get us Palo's famous souffle and it was delicious

Has anyone here purchased DCL tranfers? I am anxious to find ot how they work.

Also curious as to how you guys feel about the passport thing.

 

[pclaire]

My daughter and I are getting really excited. I've made all my reservations, including the kids club. I purchased REAS, so I had help with making them. If I had known there would be on-line booking, i probably wouldn't have gotten REAS- the main reason I did it was to get reservations in advance and avoid the hassle at check-in. Oh well - my 6 yr old will think the basket's for her, and I told her we were going to have one fancy room service breakfast!! I purchased the Disney transfers, and I'm waiting to hear how they work out from the earlier Mexico cruisers. Now I'm left with only one big fear (well, 2 really including the weather) - we're flying in sunday morning and until I'm on the ship, I wont be able to relax. Just cant get to CA the night before.

 

[Cherta]

Hi All,
I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!

DonnettaR-I made all my reservations last week, including the kid's clubs and the Palo Tea (my reservation sheet said it was only $5.00 for the tea ). Everything went smoothly; the only glitch is that they changed my daughter's birhtdates by one day. I don't think it's a big deal since it doesn't bump them into different groups. I'll make the changes when I pick-up the pagers.
Speaking of passports, we just got ours Saturday and--wouldn't you know it--they misspelled my daughter's middle name (put "Nicole" instead of the correct "Micole). My husband is calling to see what we should do about it. I say just leave it until we get back, but we'll see what the "government" says. Otherwise, I like the idea of having the passports-I heard the line for check in moves faster!
(BTW-thanks for the PMs-my daughter is really getting excited about the cruise! ).

pclaire-I'm getting excited, too!! I'll send out positive vibes that your plane will arrive ahead of schedule!!

FYI-anyone who hasn't done so, go to the Disney cruise website and make your reservations (you can also download your cruise docs!). It's quick, easy, and (mostly) painless!

 

[esmarelda]

Hey everybody. Funny thing about the kids club reservation, my son's birthday was off by a day too. It sort of freaked me out because I was worried the whole reservation was that way and it wouldn't match his passport, but the reservation was correct. My other son's birthday was right. I still haven't made my flight arrangements. We're still deciding how we're going to do that. Still haven't heard from Randi's about my scheduling the wrong day. I guess I should be pretty concerned about that. We did go last week to get our kids' passports. Mine was just a renewal and it came in 4 weeks. I'm not too worried about theirs getting here on time. I'll be curious to hear what the gov. says about the mispelling.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Hi all, after struggling for several days I finally found the correct conformation # on the shore excursions envelop we received a couple of weeks ago. After thinking that my reservations were bogus, we were able to log on and sign the kids up for the clubs. There is a glitch in the program that records the kids birthday off by one day, but DCL is aware of it and is fixing it. Reservations are fine. Can not decide on which day to book Palo's however. Since we are on a short cruise I am hesitant about which night to book. It would help if we knew when and if we are going to have pirate night, captain's gala and formal night. Looking at the website though it looks like everything is still available. I guess there really are only the 6 of us cruising. Still alot of rooms available on Orbitz. Still waiting for our passports it has been about 3 weeks now so not much longer. I was thinking about loading the kids in the car on May 28th and going down to the port to see the ship come into LA. If I do I will take pictures.
Roger