Magic In Paradise: 10/8-10/15 2011 All cruisers check in here

[Keira1387]

Hi everyone,
I've been MIA for a bit as hubby and I were debating between this cruise and going on the fantasty. We are in for this cruise. We are not patient enough to wait that long!

Wanted to see if anyone has booked a hotel room for before the cruise. I tried priceline tonight up to $79 and no luck.

 

[sullins5]

Hi everyone,
I've been MIA for a bit as hubby and I were debating between this cruise and going on the fantasty. We are in for this cruise. We are not patient enough to wait that long!

Wanted to see if anyone has booked a hotel room for before the cruise. I tried priceline tonight up to $79 and no luck.

Hi Keira!! We did but not at the Port! We booked Hilton Disney World for $71 a night for each room on the 7th!! We are so-o-o-o excited! We booked through lastminutetravel and so far are very pleased!

Good luck and nice to have you aboard!! This is our first DCL cruise and this thread has been great!

 

[Octoberbride03]

Evening Cruisers

aan701: LOVE the PC pics So glad you posted them

Panama Canal is my dream cruise, and I hope that someday my bank acct. will match my dreams and we'll go through. My goodness the Wonder looks HUGE in the Aruba pics. Am I the only 1 who sees the buildings as a toy town

 

[Octoberbride03]

Welcome back Keira

So glad you're impatient for your next cruise. God knows I am, haven't had a trip like this since the last cruise. Boy do we need it.

As for hotels, that is on my to do list this evening. Get us booked at the CI&S before bed. I want that out of the way. Kept trying to wait for a good promotion, but all the emails I'm getting are for dates long before Oct. DH and I are not fans of Priceline so we don't go that route. But there is a thread somewhere on the main boards that gives bidding tips for the CI&S. Do a search and you should find it

 

[Octoberbride03]

Guess its my turn to post a pic isn't it. We'll keep it with the current theme, but lets move inside the terminal shall we

 

[aan1701]

Evening Cruisers

aan701: LOVE the PC pics So glad you posted them

Panama Canal is my dream cruise, and I hope that someday my bank acct. will match my dreams and we'll go through. My goodness the Wonder looks HUGE in the Aruba pics. Am I the only 1 who sees the buildings as a toy town

Thanks. I have lots more but those are on our MacBook. These I took with my iPhone so if you would like a few more I will try.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I'd love a few more if the get the time. The pics taken with the IPhone look great. I'm in the dark ages cell phone wise. All my phone does is call and text. that's it

 

[Octoberbride03]

Good morning cruisers

Working out my hotel reservations for the way down today. trying to split my goldpoints somewhere along the way. Was hoping to do at the CI&S at hte Port but may have to do it on the way down. We'll see.

Either way, by the end of today I hope to have our trip down all booked. Trip back will take more research since we are going up 17. Last time we took 17 up on a whim. It saved us time, but we wound up stopping at a hotel much later than we planned on the 2nd night because we didn't plan for that. I know better this time.

 

[Lauralooneyfordisney]

Plane fare booked, Hurray!! I finally was able to book our airfare with our air miles on Frontier. I have tried every Wed and today was the day. FREE beats out any other price. Now for the hotel.. We really want to stay at the Hyatt so I guess we will keep looking for that on Hotwire and Priceline. I think they said in other threads that it was only available about two months out? I hate to wait that long. I really like to have everything planned at least 6 months out. I am OCD that way.

 

[KellyJeanDVC]

Hi Everyone!

I haven't had the chance to check in here for awhile. Its been crazy busy at my house. I suppose I should jump in on the picture game though!

I see we are in the terminal right now...

We were there pretty early as you can see by the lack of crowds.

We were there early and my kids both made friends before we even boarded the ship. My Courtney is the one in pink. And my Cory is the one dressed as the professional vacationer with the Hawaiian shirt and hat

Isn't it great how kids can meet each other and are BFFs within mintues

 

[KellyJeanDVC]

Keira - Good choice!
This way you can enjoy a cruise this year and then book your cruise on the Fantasy while onboard to take advantage of the onboard discounts....(isn't it great how you can rationalize saving money by going on two cruises )

Laura - Congrats on booking airfare! I still don't have mine. I'm debating between flying and driving. We always used to fly to Florida, but now with all the stupid restrictions its more and more of a pain. So if I can justify the extra three days it will add to the vacation, I'd like to drive. I don't know if that will happen though. I suppose I need to figure it out ASAP!

Maureen - Good luck getting those hotels booked!

 

[Octoberbride03]

Hotel #1 is booked. CI&S at the port is our pre-cruise hotel. Considered the Raddison for a little less, but they wanted immediate payment, and CI&S was happy with a credit card hold. Makes life easier when you've had a couple of small household crises in recent weeks. So CI&S it is.

Still pondering the 2nd hotel, mostly because if I do book with a goldpoints/cash split, that's gonna be an immediate payment as well. But still costs less. Decisions, decisions.

So if anybody else books at CI&S or 1 of the other hotels near the port perhaps we can have a pre-cruise meet somewhere

 

[KellyJeanDVC]

We will stay at the Raddison at the Port. Its kind of a tradition before we cruise. The kids love the pool!

But I should've booked it earlier too. Those prices went up considerably compared to what I've usually paid to stay there.

 

[LisaG520]

since I've been MIA for about a month and a half here are some DCL pics:

Jen, Lila, Lisa and Darrell

Our FE

Darrell and Lisa with PJ (Palo Manager)

Formal night on PC cruise May 2008

 

[LisaG520]

I hope everyone is doing well.

As of now we plan to drive to the port the morning of the cruise and most likely drive home right after. I think Lila is back in school on Monday after so no time to go to a park afterwards. (She's in year round school and this trip is during her fall break)

We've stayed at both Radisson and CI&S. We like the breakfast better at CI&S but like the pool better at the Radisson.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Now for the hotel.. We really want to stay at the Hyatt so I guess we will keep looking for that on Hotwire and Priceline. I think they said in other threads that it was only available about two months out? I hate to wait that long. I really like to have everything planned at least 6 months out. I am OCD that way.

You can book the MCO Hyatt now if you want. You do not have to wait. We are also staying at the Hyatt. We will book the hotel once we book our flights on 3/15 for SWA. We will use the stay certificate to pay for it. When you book make sure you ask for an outside room. The inside rooms are loud and all you hear ALL night long is the public service anouncements that echo from the terminal.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Hi everyone,
I've been MIA for a bit as hubby and I were debating between this cruise and going on the fantasty. We are in for this cruise. We are not patient enough to wait that long!

Good call on not waiting for the Fantasy. I know we are not waiting. We have no interest in a 3/4 day cruise so we are skipping the Dream. If you are thinking of booking the Fantasy, I would book asap or wait for the fall dates to come out. The Fantasy is selling very very well. We booked the Fantasy for 6/23/12 (7 day Western) for $5,200 for 2A2C in a cat 5c back in October on day 1 that gold club members could book while on the Magic. I now price out the same cruise/same cat and it is now $7,300. An increase of $2,100. There are no inside or oceanview stateroom left on this cruise.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Great pics everyone

Keeping with the terminal theme here are mine for the day.

 

[aan1701]

Alright another Panama Canal pic. This shows not only how close to the wall we are but shows the distance to the lock doors in frint and behind us. This is another iPhone pic. No zoom was used.

 

[aan1701]

We booked a dummy date on the Fantasy. We too are eating to see what they announce for the rest of 2012. If HI is in the cards for the Wonder we will move our reservation to that.