Looking for Nov 9th ~ 7 Day Western Magic Cruisers!

[marty Jay]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the great welcome. I'm excited to get to know everyone going November 9th. I had a chance to go through a whole wack of pictures from the Western Cruise that a fellow cruiser posted and it all looks to good to be true. Have most of you gotten all your excursions reserved already? I'm also still debating as to wether or not I should try and switch our dinner seating to the late one. My kids are 7 & 9 and it may be too late for them to wait, but on the other hand I've heard that there are snacks available for them through out the day. I just wonder if an early seating will make us feel rushed after the shore excursions. I'm sure this won't be my last decision to make regarding this vacation.......

Anyways

Lisa , We actually live in Nanaimo as well. It's amazing what a small world it is. We have lived in Nanaimo for five years now, (having lived in Vancouver most of my life) and have enjoyed it every day. It rains an awful lot but you do get used to it. The rain keeps everything ( trees, bushed , lawns etc) looking nice and green. We live within a five minute walk to the ocean and have a beautiful view of the mountains. On our last trip to Disney World I remember how flat Florida was and how when we were standing on the top of one of the slides at Blizzard Beach you could see for miles all around.



Talk to you all again soon,

Marty Jay

 

[Diva of Dragons]

Hi!
I thought I'd bump us up being that we are only 94 days away from setting sail!!! I paid my balance on our cruise today!!! How excited am I? I think we can start booking our excursions on 9/10!

peagreenid: We'll wear our odd ballishness proudly and in lime green!!! LOL!!!

Marty jay: We are hoping to get back up there next year! I really love it. My Great Uncle is still living there, jusy across the road from the water. He's like 95 years old!!! Must be the lifestyle!! My first time to Canada was for the Expo in '86. What a blast! I think I could handle the rain for all of the fresh air.

 

[peagreenid]

What a small world-

"we've been to Southern California"

LOL!!!!!

smiles Patty

 

[dis4me]

We've been to southern CA too but we are from the dreaded NJ

Does anyone know what they are going to do on the islands?Anyone going on their own?

Toni

 

[peagreenid]

Has decided to do Captain Marvins at Grand Caymen, and I think we are headed out on our own in Key West. In search of Cool Bars with Great T-shirts....... Of course I have to get a Hard Rock T-shirt, I would also like a Crabby Dick's t-shirt and the Hog's Breath Saloon sounds pretty cool too!

We are undecided on Cozumel, but are searching for great ideas if anyone has any. The tarzan tours sounded pretty good, but I don't think I want to do an ALL day excursion.

smiles Patty

(and dis4me, I never said NJ was dreaded.....!, I think I just said your entire state goes on vacation together in November )

 

[Shercara]

Hi everybody -- Hope all of you and your families are well - looks like our gang keeps growing and time is flying by - on Sat it will be LESS than 3 months away!!

I've been busy planning our pre-cruise trip to WDW ~ we got the Swan or Dolphin. We haven't been in over 5 yrs -(pre Animal Kingdom) so I want to make sure we see as much as we can during our stay(ACS - Almost Commando Style) - and then relax a little on the cruise.

As far as excursions - I am awaiting a package from Shirley at the Perfect Gift with Key West info - and probably won't be taking any DCL tours.

I'm not sure about Grand Cayman -- Swim with the stingrays are a MUST -- but not sure if we will do on our own or with DCL -- we want to "go to Hell" and to the Turtles too! I'll have to see what past cruisers have done if the booked the Stingrays on their own- if you folks have any ideas - I'd be glad to hear them.

As far as Cozumel - not too sure - I've printed out all the choices, and we will probably have a family meeting to see what DH & DS's might want to do - but again - I'd love to hear your plans and ideas!

We have main (early) dining which was what we had last year on the Eastern - and I checked with DCL today - and right now the new dining hours are only until Labor Day - they do not know if it will continue. I am trying to figure out what dining rotation would be best and tryng to plan when we will do Palo's for Dinner -- right now I'm thinking Wed. - since there is no show that evening - and we can join the Mexicalifragilistic..... deck party after dinner -- this worked well on the Eastern Tuesday night.

Marty Jay - as far as the dress goes - don't panic -- some folks wear tuxes and gowns - which is great for those who choose too! Others (like us ) opt for long dress slacks for the boys, and nice dress shirts -- DS 13 would not opt for a jacket - he looked very handsome with the slacks and shirt - DH did have black dress slacks and a black jacket - dress shirt and tie, and I wore long dressy dresses that had a shear matching over blouse - something I would wear to a very nice - but not formal wedding. Wear whatever you and your family will be comfortable in - unless you show up in teeshirts and shorts - I don't think you will feel out of place. The fancy clothes do make nice photos.

Is anyone else staying at the Swan or Dolphin pre-cruise?

Oh - I almost forgot -- Yes I'm from New Joisey -- No I've never been to California (Southern or otherwise) Never been to Idaho either.... and my only experience with Canada has been Niagara Falls -- Does that count??

ARE WE THERE YET??
Sher

 

[peagreenid]

What a coincidence- I'll bet you've eaten potatos though haven't you....
Chips and Chips- Thats Idaho. Potato chips and memory chips.
You've probably got both in your house this very minute.
If it makes you feel any better, I've never been to New Joisey! And as close as I am to Canada, I can't say that I've been there either.

well got to go to sleep............
smiles Patty

 

[Shercara]

Just a bump - we were back on page 4!

Patty - yes we do have / eat/ and love potatos!

Small world huh?? LOL
Sher

 

[dis4me]

Page 4 That's terrible.
Shecara I am so happy you have the cruise countdown I am too lazy to do it myself so I just keep checking your posts. I can't wait. We are on deck 8 Anyone else?
Is anyone else using flounder's nursery?This is our 3rd trip but first with an infant.DS will be 6 mos when we sail.He is our delayed souvenir from our August cruise

 

[Bob Noble]

We are Disney Vets but new to the DCL, Me DH 43; DW 40; DS 14,and DD's 10 and 9. This has been great info reading the do's and Don'ts. Have booked Cptn Marvin for GC and most likely will self tour at CZML. We Live in N.VA and will be flying in Fri early for a park day before the cruise.

 

[peagreenid]

Mutt and Jeff my 14 year old boy/girl twins would love to meet other 14 year olds. Glad to hear you will be on board. I am always worried there may not be as many kids when you are traveling off season. We are booking Capt. marvins too. What trip did you decide on? I'm thinking about the 1/2 day as we would like some time to shop too.
Feel free to ask any questions. It appears that most of us have cruised DCL already.

smiles Patty

 

[peagreenid]

how many of us are Pre-cruise at the Radisson at the port?
We will be arriving there on Thursday.

smiles Patty

 

[Shercara]

Dis4me - no Flounders for us - but congrats on your new little one - I thought you said you were expecting in your earlier post! That's some souvenir! ( Glad to be of help with the countdown timer -- I did that months ago - and I have no clue how!!)

Welcome Bob Noble and family! We have a DS 13 1/2 and DS 8. What made you decide on Capt Marvins on your own - I've been trying to make a decision - on our own - or DCL? - We also want to go to the Turtle Farm - and my 8yo can't wait to go to HE-double toothpicks! I was leaning towards the DCL pkg - since it includes all 3. Any input would be appreciated.

Peagreenid - no we will not be at the Raddison - we took advantage of the $99 -Swan/Dolphin Pre-Cruise deal - and will be there from the 3rd to the morning of the 9th.
Looks like there are at least 4 in the same Teen age group so far -- If one of your kids (yours too Bob!)would like to e-mail my son - Nick - his e-mail is Godofwalruses57@aol.com - just put "Disney" in the subject line - and he'll answer it --

Have any of your kids gone back to school? -- we don't start until the begining of Sept - but FOOTBALL has begun!! -- Practice is M-F 6-8PM and Sat 9-11AM - have yet to get the game schedule - I'm thinking about setting up a tent at the field - seems like we will be there quite a bit!!

I'm sure you all read the good news on Tinkerbells Magic's August 17th post -- That mouse is really something -- and I'm sure all the prayers and pixie dust helped! So glad things worked out for her and her family.

Happy Monday night to you all - Have a GREAT week!
Sher

 

[Bob Noble]

Patty and Shercara
Thanks for the warm welcome to the forum. I am a cert. SCUBA diver and want to maximize our water adventures, so we signed up for the full day with Captn. Marvin. The Conch dive and appetizer sounds like too much fun to miss. I am not a big tour guy unless I am the organizer, LOL, so going on our own was not a tough decision. Also, the shopping will be better, so I am told, in Cozumel and we will have more time there for it as well. I have Nick's email and will pass it on to my Bobby. He will actually turn 14 on the 2nd of November. Our home email is temporarily out of commission so it may be a few days before he can have access.

Have you guys set a plan on Palos, We were thinking about Tuesday night as it would be the forth day of rotation so we would skip the restaurant that we would hit three times. We are on the late seating as we eat late at home anyway.

Hey how do you get those cool symbols next to your names on the posts?
Thanks again,

Bob

 

[DuncanLL]

Hi everyone! Our family has been on vacation for the past week in Cape Hatteras, NC so I've been catching up on the boards this morning.

Bob - We have a DD9 who would love to meet your DD. She's a DCL veteran - our 5th cruise - and she has really enjoyed her time in the kids clubs. We also have a DS6. We are also in late seating and it has worked out well for us in the past.

We're flying on Delta - I'm hoping they come out with a fare sale soon and we can get a credit. If anyone hears anything, let us know.

I'm looking forward to some Aug. 3 Western cruisers' trip reports!

Linda

 

[Bob Noble]

Thanks Linda,
My DD's love to meet new friends. They are into Dance and all the NOW CD's. We go to WDW most every year and they are quite anxious about the cruise ( almost as much as Dad) We are flying on freebe frequent fliers on Delta out of Dulles. Cape Hatteras is beautiful, I have a Tuna fishing trip there planned with the guys in October.

Bob

 

[DuncanLL]

Bob - We took several fishing trips in Hatteras last week. Caught Dolphin (mahi Mahi), Wahoo, Amberjack and Spanish Mackeral. We kept busy catching spot, croakers and pompano out of the surf, too. My brother arranged a Tuna charter for January while we were there.

Emily loves to listen to Radio Disney and really enjoyed the music on the ship and the Oceaneer Club's karaoke party.

Linda

 

[peagreenid]

I was looking at the full day trip, but DH thought a 1/2 day might be better. I think he wants to make sure that we get some shopping in, so that we can purchase more "LIQUID" souvenirs to take home. Of course we have a lot left from our last trip, we just used all of the Flavored rums. I made at least 20 flavored rum cakes for christmas last year. They were AWESOME!
Mutt, Jeff and DH all had frequent flyer miles on Delta. That is why we are flying out on Thursday. They had no available flights for Fridays departures except one that left Boise at 8:00 a.m. stopped in Salt lake city, Stopped in Atlanta (with two stops in between) then onto Orlando. We arrived around Midnight I think. NOT! So we had to fly out on Thursday morning and return on Sunday morning. We have opted to stay at the Hyatt at the airport, as our flight leaves @ 7:00a.m. I hope you have better luck getting your tickets, if you haven't gotten them already.
We took the kids fishing on the Oregon Coast a month ago. We had a wonderful time and everyone had their limit of Rock Fish in about an hour.
By the way Mutt and Jeff, as we call them, are Tommy and Julia. They will be starting 9th grade in 1 1/2 weeks. Love music, video games, skiing and snowboarding. Tommy runs x-country and Julia plays volleyball. If you ever saw them together you wouldn't even know they were related, let alone twins. They are very close, and you won't often spot one without the other.
Well gotta scoot-

smiles Patty

 

[Bob Noble]

Thanks for the reply, we did get our tickets booked, we land in Orlando at 930am Friday and will be headed for, dare I say the "U" word. Bobby is a big coaster fan and rides dueling dragons all day. Staying on site so front of the line privileges will allow time for two parks in the same day. We leave late saturday post cruise at 8:45 PM so will most likely do a WDW water park for the day. I hear you on the liquid. I had to laugh when I saw a request for a budget check on another thread and they had 100.00 budgeted for on board drinks, one a day I think it said. I kept my mulitply by 10 comment silent.

 

[peagreenid]

When you booked Capt. Marvins- did they discuss issues about what times you could get there. There is a thread running on this board about arrival times. Evidently Disney booked excursions are allowed off of the boat first and since they are tendering it is difficult to make some of the earlier excursions. Just Curious?

Thanks Patty