June 9, 2012 Fantasy

[MelissaE1]

My DS was in 8th when we did the EBTA, glad we did it then vs. High school. Seems like HS is harder. He had to do a "report". Plus what a great graduation present! Plus you are only flying one way (do I have ya convinced yet ??LOL)

I have this "if you deposit ...it will come" philosophy LOL We will get to the Med even if we are riding on a wing!

Da Board is a little better this AM... Hope it stays this way.

I agree middle school is definitely easier than HS. I still might consider it, but she doesn't like the idea because of the timing – I suspect it's more missing the "end of middle school" festivities than anything else. Also I'm not sure how willing the teachers would be to work with us on having her finals a week or two early. Seems like the older they get, the harder it is. We've been taking them out since they were little to cruise and never regretted it, but my DS has been doing dual enrollment at a university for the last year and a half and he missed a week last November and said it was a lot tougher to recover and he would likely not do it again in college. I guess missing a couple of calculus classes can really set you back. I wouldn't know as I think they lost me around algebra somewhere, lol.

Amazing how those deposits seem to turn into cruises that you didn't know where you coming up with the money for, isn't it?

Are you planning on any excursions, etc. yet? I'm not not quite sure what we are doing. We did the Western about 3 years ago and loved it, but we did more excursions than usual. Prob going to be on more of a budget for this one, and I think I'll be spending my excursion money on Remy, haha. We really loved the ATV one we did in Cozumel and I think the Xrails would be fun, but that one is pricey for four so we'll see. We always have fun whether we do a bunch of excursions or not!

 

[MelissaE1]

Four months and counting!

 

[sammatt]

Hello, fellow cruisers! Yes, I've been over on the FB page, so don't stop in here too often. Right now, the FE group has about 18 cabins participating.

In order to keep the FE group a manageable size, and to have time to gather appropriate items, I will be closing the group at the end of the month. At that time I'll compile the info and send it out, so people can plan accordingly. If you'd like to join, let me know by Feb. 29th. Send an email with your room #, names, and kids' ages to lstenfort@yahoo.com.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Hello, fellow cruisers! Yes, I've been over on the FB page, so don't stop in here too often. Right now, the FE group has about 18 cabins participating.

In order to keep the FE group a manageable size, and to have time to gather appropriate items, I will be closing the group at the end of the month. At that time I'll compile the info and send it out, so people can plan accordingly. If you'd like to join, let me know by Feb. 29th. Send an email with your room #, names, and kids' ages to lstenfort@yahoo.com.

Yeah! Getting more and more excited! Once I have the list I'll make a stateroom map for everyone to make it easier to deliver their goodies!

 

[nemeola]

dato63.....Yay!! I'm glad that someone is joining me on this thread

Hi all. I am Nick and my wife Penny. This is our 12 Disney Cruise. We are taking our granddaughter (Nicole) 20 and grandson (Tony) 13. This is the 5th cruise that we have taken them. My wife and I will be celebrating our 50th anniversary in Sept and Nicole will be celebrating her 21st birthday in July. I am very active on CC but just learned of this site. Hope to get to know all of you.

 

[SFed]

Hey there - I posted many months ago and have not been back for awhile.

Since we are Platinum I was able to book everything last Thursday night. I logged in at midnight and by 12:04 got the last family cabana on Castaway Cay. Everything else was pretty wide open and I did change my times for both Palo (Costa Maya Day) and Remy (Day 6 - Sea Day) yesterday and almost every time was still available.

Hard to believe it is less than 4 months away since booking way back in 2010.

 

[Rominet]

try and reserve a cabana and now they are Sold Out. Ugh! I don't think there is much chance of one becoming available, either, but I'm crossing my fingers. I really wanted to rent one, just to try something different!

Valerie

 

[SFed]

Just so you don't feel too bad, I am platinum and I got the last Family Cabana at 12:04 a.m. on the first night 120 days out. They go faster than anything else.

 

[SILLYANDI]

I haven't been on here much AT ALL but I'm vowing to keep myself informed on all this DIS from now til the cruise!

Has anyone been to Costa Maya? I've read on other forums its a giant tourist trap designed by cruise companies to keep a captive audience, but I've heard that about Nassau too and that wasn't our experience.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

So far the only thing the kids absolutely want to do is parasailing on CC. (well, 7 yr old wants to go back and vist "her dolphin" at Chankanaab but otherwise they don't care to even look at excursions). Maybe I'll leave them on the ship and DH and I will explore the ports ourselves, lol.

 

[SFed]

We went to Costa Maya back in 07 or 08 before a hurricane pretty much demolished everything. The acutal pier was destroyed and I think the port was closed for over a year. Back then there was a cheesy area where the ship docks that had a bunch of shops, a pool, and some restaurants. We took a cab to Majahual, which was a small town with a sand road down the middle. There were a number of shops and we ended up stopping at a place where you paid something like $20 per person and all the drinks and food are included. They had a beach area with seating, umbrellas. They also had some kayaks you could use. The locals were really great and it was a perfect day.

I think everything is pretty much built again - so you just go through the shopping area and grab a taxi. The town is no more than 5 minutes away. We will be heading there for sure.

 

[joius24]

Hi all. I am Nick and my wife Penny. This is our 12 Disney Cruise. We are taking our granddaughter (Nicole) 20 and grandson (Tony) 13. This is the 5th cruise that we have taken them. My wife and I will be celebrating our 50th anniversary in Sept and Nicole will be celebrating her 21st birthday in July. I am very active on CC but just learned of this site. Hope to get to know all of you.

Hi Nick, Penny and family! There is also a Face Book page for this cruise.... search the date if you are on FB and you will find it. ....

Almost time to pick excursions! ....!

 

[eeyoremommy]

We made our final payment today. YEA!!!! Any word on the size of the FE list?

We were in Costa Maya in January. There is still a lot of damage from Hurrican Ivan, but it seemed like a quaint little place. We enjoyed it to just relax and have a nice little bit of down time. We walked around, our DS 8 and I held a tiger cub (priceless), and we checked out the jade museum for information that I could take back to my mom who is a Spanish teacher. The people are very friendly.

As for excursions, I think my son is going to play tennis in Grand Cayman. In Cozumel, we are thinking about the manatee swim. That one is a little ironic given that we live in Florida. For Costa Maya, we are just going to relax. I think DS is looking forward to seeing what type of cub is available for pictures again. At CC, DS wants to do the stingray thing again before exploring the waterpark stuff. We may do the 5K if I can get myself in gear and get my knee where it needs to be. That is a huge IF.

Okay, I am sure that is way more than any of you wanted to know. I hope everyone is doing well

Sherry

 

[jenedpey]

Hello All!

We will be sailing out on this cruise along with you. It will be me, DW, and DD(12). We have been on 2 Christmas Cruises (Magic Southern in 2010, Magic Western in 2011), but are looking forward to trying out a summer cruise. We have really enjoyed doing the FE on our other cruises, so will definitely be joining in on this one also. Our previous FE holder has been POTC stockings, so we need to come up with a new design for the different season.

We look forward to meeting everyone, and it is just over 100 days away.

 

[MelissaE1]

Hi everyone!

Welcome jenedpey, and congrats eeyoremommy on final payment. For me that always makes the cruise feel like a reality.

Glad to see our thread is getting some replies. There is also a facebook group, and people are just as nice, but to be honest I still kind of prefer the DIS for precruise communication. Guess I'm just used to it. Or could be because there are better smilies.

Last I heard the FE group was around 18 or 19 cabins, I think Lisa (sammatt) is planning on closing it at the end of this month, her email address is in post 223 if anyone needs it to join the group.

Almost down to double digits!

 

[joius24]

Hey Sherry, DS and I are looking at the manatee thing too... pretty resonable and looks cool, final decision by Midweek. We are doing the big zipline tour and the stingray city for the other two places. We havent swam with stingrays since our 1st cruise 6/7 years ago, so we thought it might be fun.

Welcome jenedpey! We have done a holiday cruise before, I like to cruise in warmer weather because any water under 85 is cold to me ....so I really like summer in the islands

Booking opens for second leg this weekend, it is all coming together!

I agree Melissa... FB is ok but I love the little emoticons here better

Have a great day everyone!

 

[jenedpey]

We are planning on going on a non DCL Stingray tour in Grand Cayman in order to have a smaller group. Since we are the only ship in town that day, even though we have very limited hours that are outside the normally listed tours, we contacted Moby Dick Tours based on the reviews online. If anyone else is interested, please feel free to join us , (contact Moby Dick Tours directly).

http://www.mobydicktours.com

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147365-d641547-Reviews-Moby_Dick_Tours-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html#REVIEWS

Response from Moby Dick Tours is below:

Thank you for your booking, I have reserved your space. Please pay when you arrive cash or travelers checks only, no credit cards. Cost is as per the web site $45 us dollars, children 11 and under $35, 3 and under no charge. Our staff will be waiting at the Royal Watler terminal to greet you. You are scheduled to come in on this Terminal. We can't be missed under our Moby Dick banner, wearing bright teal shirts. As you see from the attached map we have three terminals, sometimes ships tender to a terminal other than the one scheduled.

Plan to check in with us as soon as you are tendered in. You are booked on our 12 mid day tour. I have the ship scheduled for arrival at 10.30am. It's the only one in this day so we will be very quiet if you hear of others wanting this tour please let them know about us. We are also going to have this ship in starting around May so if I need to change tour time I will let you know based on it's records.

Please have the correct money ready for your group especially with large groups as this will speed up check in.

If you haven't already, please take a moment to look at our web site www.mobydicktours.com , which has a detailed description of the tour. A photo is like a thousand words capturing the essence of this amazing and very special interaction. Our operation is highly recommended and promoted by many seasoned cruisers who have enjoyed a very personal stingray experience with us. I take special pride in making sure everyone has the best and most enjoyable time. We have 2 staff both in the water helping you to develop your own relationship with these gentle loveable marine creatures, who have become our family and friends. We are proud to have been voted "Best of Cayman 2010" Stingray city tour 4th year running. If you haven't snorkeled before we recommend you practice in a pool/bath before you arrive to help make you more comfortable with the equipment.

N.B. We have just started an amazing tour in Ocho Rio's which is an all inclusive buffet lunch/open bar with Dunns river falls if your over that way. www.mobydicktours.com/Dunns-River-Falls

We look forward to seeing you in the Cayman Islands!

We don't take a deposit from you, so as a courtesy to us, if you decide not to come for any reason, please let us know, even on the day, as we often have people standing by for your spot.

Regards
Mark Button
Moby Dick Tours
(480) 626 4269 direct to Cayman
345) 925 5542


www.mobydicktours.com

 

[eeyoremommy]

Like a couple of you, we have cruised in November and December on Disney. It will be nice to really enjoy Castaway Cay when the water isn't so cold. It has been a few years since we've done the stingrays there. That was one reason we were going to do them again. We're afraid that although our DS is 8 and has gone swimming with dolphins and sea lions, he is a little on the small side (46 pounds and 4'2" tall) and may get freaked out by the larger rays of Grand Cayman.

I, too, like the Dis over facebook. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my face book as it is. Hope everyone is well

 

[SJCruiser]

Hi all,

Checking back in as we get close to final payment. I'm not on Facebook, so this is the only place to meet you all.

eeyoremommy, our DS8 is even smaller than your guy - only 3' 11". He is also 46 lbs and is hoping there won't be a problem for him to tandem parasail at Castaway Cay with me or DH. My understanding is that the weight minimum is 90 lbs between both of us, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?

We did the dolphins and Turtle Farm in GC last time, so I think we're just going to do Seven Mile beach on our own. I am also intrigued by the Margaritaville pool (and their margaritas!), so may try to stop there in the afternoon on the way back to the ship. Anyone interested in meeting up at Margaritaville?

 

[MelissaE1]

Anybody know where they are staying pre-cruise? We drive down, and have usually stayed at the Radisson, but thinking about CI&S.

We are staying for a few days afterward for my son's UCF orientation, so sending my husband home on a plane. Booked a hotel by the airport and one by UCF, and I'm working on one for a soccer tournament at Disney we are attending Memorial Day weekend. Starting to feel like a travel agent!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Anybody know where they are staying pre-cruise? We drive down, and have usually stayed at the Radisson, but thinking about CI&S.

We are staying for a few days afterward for my son's UCF orientation, so sending my husband home on a plane. Booked a hotel by the airport and one by UCF, and I'm working on one for a soccer tournament at Disney we are attending Memorial Day weekend. Starting to feel like a travel agent!

Right now we are booked at the Residence Inn, but if I get a cheaper rate somewhere else we will switch..