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[Bob Noble]

Hey Russ,
Thanks for all the information. We will be on the 11/9 Western Magic and have booked the full day trip with Capt. Marvin.

Questions: I am a cert diver and we will all have our own gear. Were you happy with the supplied gear by Cpt M? Did you use or require a perscrip mask ? ( They have them I have reserved one but wanted to get feed back on quality). Did you bring any food to feed the fish, or do they have some for you? Also how was the shade on the trip. Could you get out of the sun for a break?
Did you take ship towels with you? sorry for the flurry of Q's.

We have also prebooked the trolley for KW. Did they allow off and on at the indicated stops? Did you do the ship wreck muesum or Aquarium?

And finally, Man am I glad to hear the story about the guy with the cases of beer. I know now that I will not be the first to roll a few up the gang plank.



Thanks in advance for the feed back.
Bob

 

[ruvidu]

The gear they supplied was nice. We carried our own masks and snorkels and I had my fins but my wife used theirs. We also used their vests. They took time and worked with those that needed help. I wear glasses but do not require a prescription mask so I can not answer that one.
We did not take any food. There were fish around us everywhere we stopped. They did supply squid to feed the stingrays. The boat we went on had a small cabin where you could get in out of the sun but look out the windshield. They also allowed guests on the bridge and on the bow. There were seats on both sides aft and an open stern with two ladders to access the water. Clean as a pin.
We dummied up and did not take a towel. We thought there would be some as you exit the ship as they normally do on other stops but there was not. I had carried an extra t-shirt and we used that to dry off.
We were pleased with the trolly. If you prebooked they sent you a map with the tickets. You can see all the stops. You can exit and get back on at any of these. Please note that it was hot on board the trolly. They will give you a nice hand fan to move the air around you. You can keep it as souvineir.
I will look forward to hearing how the temps were in Nov. The water and air were almost the same temp when we snorkled. It was weird that there was no cooling sensation when you get in.

I gave the guy with the beer a hard time. He and his wife were seated by themselves at a table near us each night. I told him if he had offered to share the beer, he could have got someone to sit with him.

Have a great trip and don't hesitate to ask anymore questions you may have.

Russ

 

[Bob Noble]

Thanks Russ for the prompt reply! I'll be certain to let you know how the November trip goes. Getting excited as the days and weeks roll off.

We have no plans for Coz other than to grab a cab and head to Mr Sanchos beach club. I've read both here and on other sites it is a fun day hangout. We hope to do some shopping later in the day, possibly for one of those Mexican hammocks I have read about.

Can't wait to eat the food. DW is from AZ and I love hot foods.

I have read that La Choza is a popular local place.

If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Take care,
Bob

 

[ruvidu]

I bought one of the hammocks. It is huge. It is a soft woven nylon like a small mesh fish net. I bet three people could lay in it. $35.00.
We had planned on doing Mr. Sanchos as well but it was just too hot.

When in Key West, stop by the Blonde Giraffe and get you a slice of Key Lime pie on a stick dipped in chocolate. It is on Duval St. The Chicken Store is a neat place to check out as well.

Russ

 

[Bob Noble]

Wow 35 bucks, what a deal!

Did you make Carlos and Charlies or Senor Frogs in Coz?
Thanks.,
Bob

 

[ruvidu]

everyone that did said they had a ball. My DW is not a party person so we missed that. Somebody must have had a good time because they were calling names and room numbers right before departure. We figured some had partied harty.

Russ

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Hi Russ,

Did you hear anyone who went on the Back to Nature Kayaking excursion in Key West? Any feedback, even second hand, on this one would be most appreciated.

Thanks
Deb

 

[ruvidu]

I did not hear of anyone doing that in KW.

Russ

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Deb

 

[Cruise]

Russ,

Thanks for the answers!

Julie

 

[billwendy]

Just curious, how much do the extra things like excursions, soft drinks, movies anything that isnt your room cost? I have no idea what is included and what isnt???? Father in law promised a great trip over Christmas that we would love....Im hoping for the Disney Cruise!!!!!!! thanks

 

[ruvidu]

Your biggest outlay of funds will probably be for excursions. You can take a submarine ride in Grand Cayman that will cost you $345.00 per person or take an island tour for $25.00 each. We booked our excursions on the internet and saved some money. We did the trolly tour in Key West and the Capt. Marvin snorkle tour in Cayman. We just shopped in Cozumel. On Castaway we rented two floats for the day at $6.00 each. You will usually save money by booking excursions yourself instead of letting the ship do it for you.

You are expected to tip your servers and your room host. These tip values are given as a suggestion depending on how many nights you are on board.

The next biggest outlay will be either photos or beverages depending on your preferences. Coke products run about $2.00 each I believe. We always buy the refillable mug for $35 for a 7 day cruise and share it. Alcoholic beverages run from $3.50 to $5.50. Beer runs about $3.50 for a 12 oz draft.
Photos run from $10 to $20 each. We usually let one of the Cast Members make a photo with our camera as well as theirs. We think our photos look as good as theirs.

Don't forget your souvineirs. Beach towels, t-shirts, hats, toys and lots of other stuff you can't find anywhere but on board the ships.

If you are on a budget, bring your own beverages, do your own exursions and limit yourselfs to how much you will lay out for souvineirs.

Good News - All of your food is included unless you go to Palo's. There is a beveage station on deck 9 where you can get lemonade, coffee, tea and milk all day at no cost. You can get Coke products at your sit down meals withut a charge. Room service is free too. You are expected to tip your server a couple of $ when they deliver it. We had cookies and milk delivered one night and a cheese tray.

If there is anyway we can help you plan please let us know by leaving us a personal message.

Happy Sailings,

Russ

 

[westjones]

Hey Russ!
It was a great cruise wasn't it!

About the extras and cost, I can tell you that as a 'penny pincher' myself you really don't have to spend a lot of money.....or you can spend a fortune. It depends on what you really want to do.

We have been on 3 cruises, and I spend the most on our first one and it was our 3 day cruise , but we thought we would never be back again and wanted to do everything!

First off, pictures. You see them and they look great and you want them at that moment. But later I found that I was happy enough with the pictures we took ourselves. We only buy one picture now, the one of all of us getting on the ship.

Soda mugs: I debated these over and over because I love soda. But I brought some small plastic bottles with caps so we can close them up and pour out what we want. That was plenty for us. We mostly wanted pop with our pizza. Now, our family just happened to be choses ''Family of the Week" and we were given several small gifts and surprises, and one of those was two soda mugs. I was SO excited, but to be honest, I found that I maybe filled them once or twice a day. And I found it annoying to carry them around. The beverage cart on the 9th deck with lemonade, ice tea, ice water, milk, and coffee was fine for us. (BTW, at dinner you can order pop and there is no charge).

Excursions: I love the ship! I love being on the ship and I find excursions can be tiring. At Key West, we walked around by ourselves some (but it was VERY hot and humid). At Grand Cayman we did the island tour and stingray city. I DO recommend this one. It was a once in a life time experience. In Mexico I would have been happy just walking around a little, but we did the submarine, and my family did love that. You don't have to spend a lot on excursions, but you can!

Movies: onboard are free

Spa: I don't enjoy this sort of thing, but I did go on the spa tour so I could see what was there. You can spend a lot there if you like that sort of thing. I have never spent any money there.

Drinks: If you order alcohol, it can be costly. We had 2 glasses of wine one night and it was around $12. That was our one alcohol purchase.

Arcade: My kids were given free arcade cards because we were "family of the week" and they enjoyed it, but I don't see the point of spending money on these games that are the same as games in other arcades. We won't be doing it in the future. We just went and used the cards that were given to the girls and stopped when they ran out of money.

Castaway Cay: You know what my new favorite thing is on the island. Bike riding! It costs $6/hour per person, and and hour is plenty to do the trail. We really liked that. Then renting some floats for $6 each (for our family of four, we found 2 to be enough, when they kids weren't using them, we used them, when they wanted them we lounged on the beach). But if I had to 'cut back' I would say just go for the floats. That is the one extra that I think is worth it.

Shopping on board: Set a budget. My favorite purchase for the photo album to hold my pictures (it is full now). It is SO easy to get caught up in buying things there, but set a budget ahead of time and stick with it. The kids are all given free t-shirts at the farewell show they do with the kids from the clubs. My daughter took that and got it signed my several characters and she loves it (and it was free!).

My biggest expense came when I booked our next cruise. We had to put down $1000 ($250 each) for a seven day cruise next year. Then our other big expense was the tips, but plan ahead for those, you know they will be coming at the end.

So anyway, my suggestion to anyone on a budget is go and enjoy all the wonderful things that are available on the ship for no extra charge! There is PLENTY! If you don't have a tight budget then splurge and enjoy! Just figure out ahead of time what you want to spend. I gave give child a budget of $100 (it was their birthday--twins) and that is what they had to spend for the entire 7 day cruise. And they both came home with extra money left over!

Have a great cruise! We sure did, and can't wait until #4 next year!

DJ

 

[mickeymom629]

Glad to hear that you can enjoy the cruise without all the expenses! It's just beginning to hit me (just charged the balance of our 1/26/03 cruise yesterday) how much this is really going to cost (tips, items we need to pack, spending money, etc.) and this is our first cruise. I'm hoping to just enjoy all the things I've already paid for and hope that this won't be our last.

 

[alexandrew]

I always argue the virtues of DCL vs an all inclusive resort with a co-worker. While the advantages of cruising are clear, all inclusive it's not. Between tipping, alcohol, and various other expenses, we usually wind up spending an extra 1k+.

 

[Bob Noble]

That extra K threshold is very easy to reach, especially if you reach for those special cocktail of the moment, I mean Day, too often.

 

[westjones]

If you do the 3 or 4 day cruise, I would HIGHLY recommend staying on the ship and not doing any excursions and just enjoying the beauty of the Wonder! No need to 'pay' for excursions when there is SO much to enjoy on the ship (except for rentals at CC).

On the 7 day (which we just did, before that we did a 3 and a 4 day cruise) I think it is good to get off the ship a little since it is a longer cruise. But you can just get off and look around on your own. In fact, on the 3 day cruise, we did that at Nassau and we enjoyed seeing some of the town. Took some pictures of a beautiful church and Christopher Columubus's statue. Then we went back on the ship and enjoyed the Mickey pool.

It is really up to you. I haven't hit $1000 on my onboard bill yet and I have been on a 3, 4, and 7 day cruise (and yes, I am counting tips). But we just don't go for a lot of 'extras'. This past trip was our most expensive when we did go in a submarine and we went to sting ray city for our excursions. But I would have been happy just staying on the ship (although I must admit, sting ray city was pretty good).

Just remind yourself at Shutters that you will have ALL of your own pictures (take more film than you think you would want to use, it is expensive onboard to buy more film). And take some pop of your own and don't buy the mug. All those little things really add up if you let them.

DJ

 

[westjones]

If you do the 3 or 4 day cruise, I would HIGHLY recommend staying on the ship and not doing any excursions and just enjoying the beauty of the Wonder! No need to 'pay' for excursions when there is SO much to enjoy on the ship (except for rentals at CC).

On the 7 day (which we just did, before that we did a 3 and a 4 day cruise) I think it is good to get off the ship a little since it is a longer cruise. But you can just get off and look around on your own. In fact, on the 3 day cruise, we did that at Nassau and we enjoyed seeing some of the town. Took some pictures of a beautiful church and Christopher Columubus's statue. Then we went back on the ship and enjoyed the Mickey pool.

It is really up to you. I haven't hit $1000 on my onboard bill yet and I have been on a 3, 4, and 7 day cruise (and yes, I am counting tips). But we just don't go for a lot of 'extras'. This past trip was our most expensive when we did go in a submarine and we went to sting ray city for our excursions. But I would have been happy just staying on the ship (although I must admit, sting ray city was pretty good).

Just remind yourself at Shutters that you will have ALL of your own pictures (take more film than you think you would want to use, it is expensive onboard to buy more film). And take some pop of your own and don't buy the mug. All those little things really add up if you let them.

DJ