June 15 '08 Mexican Riv. Cruise

[gou08]

we're on board too! our group is DH, DW, DD (me-17) , DD (11) and my friend, also 17 (we'll have just graduated). we're from bay area california and absolutely cannot wait till june!

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Welcome - always nice to see a new post! Congrats on being a HS Senior! It's a big year for you and exciting to have graduation just around the corner My DD-17 will be with us and she will have also graduated just a couple of days before our cruise. We're from Las Vegas. Maybe you can all meet on the ship or on the DIS Boards beforehand.

 

[laurenbcl]

Welcome Lauren bcl! Congrats. on this being your first Disney Cruise...it's ours too. We're a family of four (myself, DH, DD-17, DS-12). Not too sure about excursions for little ones but I'm sure others on this thread or another thread for the Mex. itins. will be able to help out. DCL has changed lots of stuff from the '05 Mex. Riv. cruise but you may want to look at trip reports on the DIS for those...some of those excursions may be the same. If you haven't already, check out the forum for lots of great info. about the kids clubs. Here's the info. from another thread in the Forum about theme nights for our Mex. cruise, of course, subject to change but at least it's a good start to begin planning and something to get excited about

"Dining attire varies by venue or theme night on your cruise. In general,
most meals are "Cruise Casual" -- no shorts, swimwear or tank tops;
jeans are allowed. Most cruises also have special theme nights. Below is
the recommended attire for your cruise itinerary and is subject to
change:

On 7-night Mexican Riviera cruises:
*Nights 1, 3, 4, & 7: cruise casual
*Night 2: "formal night" - formal wear for men: tuxedo or suit; for
women: gown or dress
*Night 5: pirate night with deck party
*Night 6: "semi-formal night" - semi-formal wear for men: suit/jacket;
for women: dress or pantsuit.

Dress for dinner at Palo on all cruises:
Men: dress shirt or jacket
Women: dress or pantsuit

Day 1 Embarkation - Casual
Day 2 At Sea - Formal
Day 3 Cabo San Lucas - Casual
Day 4 Mazatlan - Casual
Day 5 Puerto Vallarta - Pirate Night
Day 6 At Sea - Semi-Formal
Day 7 At Sea - Casual
Day 8 Disembarkation

Hope this helps and keep in touch...

Thanks for the feedback. Trying to figure out which night to book Palo. Are the formal and semi-formal nights any fun for the kids? If not, I'm inclined to book Palo then. I know we don't want to book on Pirate Night since I don't want the kids to miss that! Thanks

 

[laurenbcl]

Thanks for the feedback. Trying to figure out which night to book Palo. Are the formal and semi-formal nights any fun for the kids? If not, I'm inclined to book Palo then. I know we don't want to book on Pirate Night since I don't want the kids to miss that! Thanks

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Thanks for the feedback. Trying to figure out which night to book Palo. Are the formal and semi-formal nights any fun for the kids? If not, I'm inclined to book Palo then. I know we don't want to book on Pirate Night since I don't want the kids to miss that! Thanks

I think formal nights are kinda fun even if your kids are younger (especially if one is a girl ) and you'd get a great family pic! Semi-formal would be a good alternative especially since you'd probably get a bit more dressed up for Palo anyway. Did you have any luck with excursions? Hearing about all the crazy weather around the country was wondering where are you guys from?

 

[earpiemom]

Hi. We're going too. This will be our 4th Disney cruise. We have done the three night Wonder, seven day to St. Marteen and St. Thomas and did the Med cruise last summer. We loved the Med cruise! It is me, DH, DS16 and DS3We're hoping to do Disneyland while we are there. Any others doing that? We are flying in on Saturday. Haven't got any other details booked yet though.

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Hey there earpiemom... ! Where are you guys coming from and will this be your first trip to DL? If it is, would be happy to offer some suggestions for hotel, park strategy etc. We're driving from Las Vegas on Saturday night and driving right back after the cruise so no DL for us

 

[laurenbcl]

Good advice on the formal - a family pic will be nice (though I'll have to persuade my husband to put on a tie - that's not his idea of vacation wear!). As for excursions, we're thinking about a beach excursion in Cabo, not sure yet about Mazatlan (nothing sounded that great for our whole age range) and we're planning one of the dolphin experiences in PV. With littler ones we want to avoid long car rides on the shore days. We're from the Bay Area and our friends we are traveling with are from LA.

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

I know what you mean about getting your hubby to dress a certain way...we were talking about Pirate Night at dinner yesterday and you should have seen the look on his face when I said he had to dress up He's not as much of a Disney freak as the rest of us are so it should be interesting to see what I can get him to agree to.... We're torn with excursions...I think we may just enjoy the boat at Matatlan and right now just planning the Zip-Line in PV. I agree, there didn't seem to be much geared toward younger cruisers. The Dolphins should be fun...it was between that and the Zip-Line for us but to hear my 12 year old "tough-guy" son scream like a girl on the Zip-Line is just too good to resist

We're looking forward to a short-ish drive to LA from LV and not having to deal with a long flight...I'm sure your family is too. We're under the four month mark....whoo hoo

 

[earpiemom]

Hi. Sorcerer Mom. We live in NC and will be flying into LAX airport. Haven't made any plans after that. We thought we might be able to do DL after the cruise. Sunday after getting off of the boat and then Monday. Leave to fly home on Tuesday. I know that probably isn't a lot of time to see it but maybe would give us an overview. Any info or strategies would be very much appreciated.

 

[earpiemom]

Oh, forgot to add that this will be our first trip to DL. Have been to Disney World several times.

 

[Steven41782]

Count us in! Me 25 DW 23. No kids. From SC. I'll read and type more later... i'm ready for this!

 

[Steven41782]

We are booked on a category 12 with hopes of upgrading at port. This will be an adjustment for us because on our honeymoon we splurged and got the family sized room with Verandah. That was nice, but I just can't see forking over that much money this time. We have never been to the west coast before, so we are trying to plan activities to do on the Sunday that we disembark. We want to see the Hollywood sign and the walk of fame, that kind of stuff.

A little about us...

I (26) am an accountant... not a CPA, but almost. I have been going to WDW since I was 6. I went on my first Disney cruise in 2006 and it was the most relaxing vacation I had ever had. My favorite Disney Resort in POFQ and my favorite ride is Space Mountain. My favorite thing about a Disney cruise is the food and slow pace of it all.

My wife (23) teaches kindergarten at a public school, and is the process of becoming a grad school student. She did not grow up in a "Disney" family, but was a quick and easy convert. Her first cruise was with me. Her favorite resort is also POFQ and favorite ride is Soarin'. Her favorite thing about a Disney cruise is getting pictures made (especially with Characters) and the shows. Oh yeah, she likes to blow all of our money at Shutter's too.

The only thing we are nervous about is our table assignment. I hope whoever gets us likes us!

Let's get this part started.

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Oh, forgot to add that this will be our first trip to DL. Have been to Disney World several times.

You will love Disneyland. Be prepared though...the castle is a smaller scale which is what surprised us the most on our first visit but the park is very "intimate" with so many personal touches from Walt Disney and sprinkled with lots of pixie dust . Doesn't look like they have the hours of the park posted yet for the end of June. Keep in mind that if you book a Disney property they offer early park entry most times. At that time of year when school is out, it will come in handy. I would start to look into hotels now to get the best $. When we can, we stay at a Disney hotel rather than a good neighbor because we don't have to mess with parking, transportation etc. There are hotels directly across the street - just choose carefully. Most are motel type properties, which are fine, some are just nicer than others. I'm sure you'll visit the Disneyland forum on the boards too which will, of course be helfpul...after all . Will get some of our favorite tips together for you and send soon . Even though you've only got a couple of days, that'll be enough time for you to see both parks and DD.

Looks like you have a neighbor onboard from SC

 

[Steven41782]

Have any of you ever eaten at Palo? We may try to eat there this time around. We didn't on our honeymoon, but since we are castaway people now we can book our reservations early, I think. What is the experience at Palo like? Is the tip included in the price of the meal?

 

[lvstitch]

Have any of you ever eaten at Palo? We may try to eat there this time around. We didn't on our honeymoon, but since we are castaway people now we can book our reservations early, I think. What is the experience at Palo like? Is the tip included in the price of the meal?

Hi I'm Darlene's friend. I'm not going with you guys unless the prices come down a lot but I have been on two Disney Cruises and am going on my third in Novemeber. We have eaten at Palo on both our cruises. We have done both Dinner and Brunch. They are both amazing and worth the extra $15. They are both very different from each other so I would recommend doing both. The $15 does include the tip but the service is so good we usually give an extra $20 to the server.

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

We are booked on a category 12 with hopes of upgrading at port. This will be an adjustment for us because on our honeymoon we splurged and got the family sized room with Verandah. That was nice, but I just can't see forking over that much money this time. We have never been to the west coast before, so we are trying to plan activities to do on the Sunday that we disembark. We want to see the Hollywood sign and the walk of fame, that kind of stuff.

A little about us...

I (26) am an accountant... not a CPA, but almost. I have been going to WDW since I was 6. I went on my first Disney cruise in 2006 and it was the most relaxing vacation I had ever had. My favorite Disney Resort in POFQ and my favorite ride is Space Mountain. My favorite thing about a Disney cruise is the food and slow pace of it all.

My wife (23) teaches kindergarten at a public school, and is the process of becoming a grad school student. She did not grow up in a "Disney" family, but was a quick and easy convert. Her first cruise was with me. Her favorite resort is also POFQ and favorite ride is Soarin'. Her favorite thing about a Disney cruise is getting pictures made (especially with Characters) and the shows. Oh yeah, she likes to blow all of our money at Shutter's too.

The only thing we are nervous about is our table assignment. I hope whoever gets us likes us!

Let's get this part started.

Welcome Steven 41782 Yeah...new posts! Hope this means our thread will pick-up steam since we're gettin closer to cruise time

You both sound like great fun I love that you honeymooned on DCL...

Will share some info about us too...we're a family of four (myself, DH, DD-17 & DS-12) originally from New York and have lived in Vegas '95. We didn't grow up a Disney family either but our closest friends quickly converted us...not a hard job really...rides, pixie-dust and mickey pops - what's not to love? This is our first Disney cruise. We're mainly celebrating my DD's HS graduation and last family vacation before she goes off to college to become an Elementary school teacher...teachers are very special people...kudos to your DW I work as an Exec. Assistant and my DH is in the Food & Bev/Hotel biz. My DS's job it to play sports, be the clown of the family and drive his sister nuts

Where did you guys cruise in '06?

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Hi I'm Darlene's friend. I'm not going with you guys unless the prices come down a lot but I have been on two Disney Cruises and am going on my third in Novemeber. We have eaten at Palo on both our cruises. We have done both Dinner and Brunch. They are both amazing and worth the extra $15. They are both very different from each other so I would recommend doing both. The $15 does include the tip but the service is so good we usually give an extra $20 to the server.

This is Darlene and listen to her Steven41782...she knows her stuff Anyone have empty luggage that we can smuggle them on the ship with???

 

[Steven41782]

Thanks for the reply about Palo. We have got to do it... my tastebuds drive me crazy though. I don't like anything! I have the palate of a 4 year old! I like pizza and chicken and burgers. DW was shocked when I finished off all of my escargot on our honeymoon. I hope the servers at Palo can find something I like, even if it means 7 courses of dessert. HAHA.

As far as hooneymooning on the magic... Best decision we ever made. It was just amazing, and the staff knew we were celebrating because we put it on our reservation and they had a cake made for us. Our server said she would get a highchair out next time we came... We are still childless though.

It's great to know that your DD has gone to college knowing what she wants to be! I went with a big Question Mark. I was going to be a computer scientist before I settled on accounting.

I didn't understand from the prior post ... have you lived in vegas since '95 or did you live for one year in Vegas back in '95?

I better get back to doing these tax returns before my boss finds me DISn'.

 

[Sorcerer Mom]

Thanks for the reply about Palo. We have got to do it... my tastebuds drive me crazy though. I don't like anything! I have the palate of a 4 year old! I like pizza and chicken and burgers. DW was shocked when I finished off all of my escargot on our honeymoon. I hope the servers at Palo can find something I like, even if it means 7 courses of dessert. HAHA.

As far as hooneymooning on the magic... Best decision we ever made. It was just amazing, and the staff knew we were celebrating because we put it on our reservation and they had a cake made for us. Our server said she would get a highchair out next time we came... We are still childless though.

It's great to know that your DD has gone to college knowing what she wants to be! I went with a big Question Mark. I was going to be a computer scientist before I settled on accounting.

I didn't understand from the prior post ... have you lived in vegas since '95 or did you live for one year in Vegas back in '95?

I better get back to doing these tax returns before my boss finds me DISn'.

No worries...Christine (LV Stitch) is a pretty picky eater herself and she still loved it so go and enjoy and let's face it...if you enjoyed those little snails, you'll find something yummy. We're leaning towards doing just dinner 'cause the pics of the restaurant at night looks so romantic

Funny about the highchair...well, you do have an inside cabin so they'll be no distractions.... then, maybe you'll need the highchair on the next cruise...

We've lived in Vegas since '95...DH and I grew up in NY

okay, back to work for both of us....try to figure out a way to make Disney cruises tax deductable will ya....