July 18, 2007 07-18-07 Med Cruise

[justhat]

We've pretty much gotten our excursions settled, but now I have to figure out when to book our Palo dinner and brunch. Anyone know if there's a character breakfast on this cruise and if so how it will work? I know on the 7 nights it's the 1st sea day after dinner in AP, but with only 2 sea days on this cruise I don't know what the rule will be. Or if they'll just scrap the breakfast altogether, though that seems unlikely. Our booking date is the 4th so I guess I should call DCL if no one here knows that. My only other concern is that people have said that booking opened at 4am, not 3am, but that it might change back on April 1st because of the time change. I don't normally wake at 3am to book anything, but I plan to this time around cause I heard things were going fast and I have to get my Flounder's times coordinated with Palo. So I will not be too happy if I have to wait an hour!

 

[scottishwee35]

Justhat

Hello

I have no idea about character breakfast and I just wonder if they will have it or not? As 8 different port apart from 2 day on sea. Wonder if character breakfast might on sea day?

I have to drag my husband to sit down to go over about excursions as 19 days to go for booking it also heard brunch sell very fast. We like to booking palo but feeling that on sea might be full but we will work out what best for us. Hopeful we get palo and brunch well.

Let me know how you get on okay.

Scottishwee35

 

[nzdisneymom]

Maybe they'll do a character breakfast on a day with a later arrival in port -- haven't checked the port times lately.

I think that if we check with some of the earlier sailings that perhaps someone has already checked with DCL about it.

Gosh, tomorrow is APRIL! Woo-hoo - I can't believe it's less than 3 weeks til we can start booking excursions!

 

[tinkerbell_29]

A friend of mine went on a seven day Disney cruise and when she came back all she could talk about was the door signs people had up and wishing she had thought of that. Once she found out I was going on a cruise she insisted that we make some for our door. Are any of ya'll making signs for your doors? Please excuse any misspells going to WDW in 5 days brain already there body soon to follow.
Lissa

 

[todds34]

Hi All

Just That,
I asked disney for some info re dining and one of the questions was about character breakfast. They told me there will be 1 character breakfast and you will receive your notification of when and where in your stateroom on arrival. Hope this helps.

Tinkerbell 29
My DD and I have already started to plan our door signs. I think if it is left up to DD we will be taking a case full of them, she plans to change them every day. We saw them on or first cruise and thought they were great and wished we had brought them so yes we will definately be doing it this time. I hope you have a wonderful time at WDW you are very lucky to be going there only 3 months before the cruise.


Only 18 days until we can book excursions, the excitement is really starting to kick in now. I can't imagine what it will be like closer to that magical sail date.

Todds34

 

[DisTeach]

Hey fellow cruisers! I'm getting more excited and already starting my European style shopping adventures. I'll be on with my mom (a famed DIS moderator lol), sister, and step dad. I haven't yet read all of the previous pages, but any other 20-somethings heading on this voyage, too? I love the variety of people and families who travel on the DCL.

 

[scottishwee35]

Good Morning

Oh that is good about character breakfast

Door Signs

I am making another one plus scottish plus last year I put it up in Kitchen magnetic door so I think I take it with me.

Yesterday, practise on new camera with lens, seem lovely pictures. Cannot wait to take pictures in July

Scottishwee35

 

[ButterbearUK]

Hey fellow cruisers! I'm getting more excited and already starting my European style shopping adventures. I'll be on with my mom (a famed DIS moderator lol), sister, and step dad. I haven't yet read all of the previous pages, but any other 20-somethings heading on this voyage, too? I love the variety of people and families who travel on the DCL.

I'm 20-something... 25 in fact

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Kristen both my brother and I are in our 20's I'm 29 and he is 27. looking forward to our first ever cruise.
Lissa

 

[DisTeach]

Cool! Lissa you are going to absolutely love hitting the Med. with DCL; it's amazing. I've been on 3, 4, and 7 nights, but nothing as long as 10 nights plus being in Europe. Woo hoo! I am 24 and it is good to know other people similar in age will be traveling along, too. I have to admit I'm not all that excited about the ferociously long plane ride, but it is a small price to pay for a fabulous trip, right!

 

[colleenlg]

Hi there-

MY DH & DD2 will be on the July 18 cruise in the Mediterranean. I am nervous that we will not be able to book any babysitting and/or Palo reservations b/c we book later than previous cruisers. Do you think any spots will be left?

Any other parents of toddlers on this thread? I'm a bit concerned that the activities all seem geared toward older kids (esp for at sea days) - should I be concerned? What will we do to keep her busy since she's too young for the mouseclubs?

Any cruisin' stroller recommendations (small with a shade & cups in front for DD's snacks)?

Any recs for bathing a toddler on board? (I find showering with a baby to be slippery & difficult.) Anyone ever brought a blow-up mini kiddie pool for bathing purposes?

Is anyone else planning to book the Monte Carlo casino night?

Thanks!!!!
Colleen

 

[todds34]

to the thread Collenlg great to hear you will be cruising with us.

I am sorry I can't help with most of your questions as my DD is 11 but I can help with the bathing issue for your DD. All staterooms have a bath so you can bathe your DD as normal. Hope this helps.

Todds34

 

[scottishwee35]

Hi colleenlg

My colleague friend from USA told me that not to worry about 75 days booking as there will be palo, booking excursions etc. As DCL won't let you down. I think they put everybody to be fair?

I was booking Palo last year at first time disney cruise and I got Palo but never booking any excursions as only 3 days cruise but managed to booked beauty etc.

This July, we are thinking to book with dcl to Monte Carlo casino night?

Scottishwee35

 

[justhat]

Colleen - I think they leave open set amounts of Palo, shore excursion, and Flounder's times for each booking group. I don't really know that for sure, but I would think that otherwise it would be too hard for 1st time cruisers to ever get what they want.

My kids will be 3.5yo and 11 months on the cruise so we'll see ya in Flounder's! Both of mine will be in Flounder's cause my daughter tried the club on a 7 night we took in February and she did not like it. She loved Flounder's though and they told us that we can bring her back even though she'll be 3 (she was days away from her 3rd birthday on that cruise). We found that by saying she's not potty trained, though she is, that we can book her into Flounder's online so I'm pleased about that.

You can take her into the Oceaneers Club as long as you stay with her, so if you think she might have some fun in there, know that it's an option.

We just bathed my kids in the bathtub on our last cruise (almost 3yo and 6 months) without a problem. I even fit in there with the 2 of them, though it was a tight fit. We're in a handicapped accessible room in July though, so we'll probably have to shower with them. We don't have a bathtub at home so we just shower with our daughter and use a baby bathtub for our son. We have an inflatable baby tub that fits inside a regular bathtub, so if you don't like using the regular tub, that would be an option. I might bring that for my son in July, but I might just end up showering with him if he'll stay seated and not try to stand up and cruise the shower walls.

My only advice about a stroller would be to get a very lightweight one. A lot of the excursions I looked at say that while strollers are allowed you might have to fold it and carry it part of the time. The thought of doing that with a huge, bulky stroller scares me, especially since it will only be my mom, me, and the kids. We have a Peg Perego Centro Completo, which I love and plan to bring cause we'll be in Disneyland Paris for 5 days after the cruise, but I might just buy 2 cheap umbrella strollers and bring them along to use on the excursions.

 

[justhat]

Todds - Thanks for the info on the character breakfast. They didn't specify how that would work though, did they? My concern is that if I book Palo brunch for the 1st sea day that it will also be the character breakfast and my daughter would kill me if we missed that. And changing Palo/Flounder's times when we board the ship just doesn't sound to fun to me.

 

[nzdisneymom]

I'll be on with my mom (a famed DIS moderator lol), sister, and step dad.

Kristen - who is your mom?

 

[nzdisneymom]

Any recs for bathing a toddler on board? (I find showering with a baby to be slippery & difficult.) Anyone ever brought a blow-up mini kiddie pool for bathing purposes?

I've read that in the tips, but I imagine can teach your DD how to have a shower at home and then you could "shower" her on the ship. Just get her used to standing still under the running water and make sure she has a washcloth to use for covering (and drying) her eyes as the water runs. My boys were not quite 2 when we started having them stand under the shower for when we traveled. The split-nature of the bathroom means you'll have a sink and the shower in one of the bathrooms and a toilet / sink in the other one. There is adequate room for you to stand (or kneel) outside the shower while washing your DD. Go to castawayclub dot com and click on staterooms and then you'll find a link to the pictures of the split bath so you can see what the tub looks like.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

I'm so excited we were able to upgrade from a cat 9 to a cat 7 yesterday which was not available when we booked the first time. Looking forward to haveing a verandah and not being on the bottom of the ship. My mom and I found new GRITS t-shirts to wear the first day. We weren't sure we would eb able to find them since nobody seems to carry them any more. At least now we can warn people we are a little nuts.
Lissa

 

[todds34]

Hi Just That

No DCL did not specify how the character breakfast would work they just said we will be notified on arrival. If you are given the same day for the character breakfast as your booking for Palo why not try and change your character breakfast day? It would be worth a try. DCL also said there would be a Tea with Wendy Darling and this info wil be posted in your daily Navigator.

Another day closer, the excitement just keeps building .

Todds34

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Hi Everyone,
Just wondering if anyone is spending the night before the cruise in Barcelona. If you are where are you going to be staying. We were not able to book a room through Disney but did book rooms at one of their hotels the Grand Marina.
Lissa