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

[TIGGER/POOH4]

I know where you are. My hometown is Havertown, PA. Been going to Rehoboth since I was little so we used to drive that way. Now i'm south and get to go through OC every time. We're going up this weekend. Maybe we're nuts but we should have a nice time.

And FL to DE is definitely a long long drive. Last cruise, which I'm pretty sure I was on with you We drove down from here. Will be driving again. Better than hitting all the airport crap.

Havertown. I know that town. I grew up in Bala Cynwyd Pa. I played hockey all the time in Havertown. A really nice area.
Good luck with going to beach this weekend. Going through DC traffic on a holiday weekend is brave thing . I hope you leave early or late.
Yes we were on the same Omar cruise with you in 2008. Too long a drive for me bring the family. I'm flying into MCO on Friday for the cruise. I try to fly out of BWI where the airport hassle are not as bad as PHL. Also fly SouthWest where they are way better than most on leaving on time.

Here comes Omar while we were leaving St Marteen.

 

[Octoberbride03]

AH The Skatium Hell even the Flyers used to play there for fun. I wonder if that thing is still standing. I heard the Commissioners wanted to tear it down.

That is a fantastic shot of Omar. Round about that time DH and i were sitting in the hottub for awhile.

As for DC traffic..............NO WAY, NO HOW!!

We live almost at the SE corner of VA so we go up through Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and all the way up 13 on the Eastern Shore. Lovely drive. DC would actually be a huge drive out of the way. I doubt we will hit much traffic on the way up. Once we get to OC it'll likely be a different story. Hope its not that bad going north though.

For driving down to the cruise we'll leave a couple days early from here. Last time we did 95 all the way. Thinking about making it 17 this time. 17 is blocks away from our house. And then picking up 95 in SC or early Georgia. We'll get a room at the CI&S for Friday night and ship bound Saturday.

 

[Pooh Lover]

I don't care if it's Christmas Day, any amount of airport crap is better than being stuck in a car with my kids for any length of time! They just don't travel for long in cars well. Even as infants, they didn't sleep, just screamed if we drove any longer than say 15 minutes. I remember DD8's first trip to see my not-DMIL rotfl 4 hours away. She seriously screamed for 4 solid hours! SO not fun! And now that it's just me, it just makes it harder because there's no parent to entertain, referee, etc.

Last time we went to WDW, DD8 asked me how come we ALWAYS have to fly to Disney World? How come we can"t drive, just for once!

Yeah, they're spoiled!

 

[*Bambi-Bell*]

I know it’s early but I’ve been checking out the port excursions. I have no idea which ones are good or which ones are not so good.
Have any of you lovely people been on any that you would recommend?

Wow look at that photo of Omar!!!!!! cool though.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

AH The Skatium Hell even the Flyers used to play there for fun. I wonder if that thing is still standing. I heard the Commissioners wanted to tear it down.

That is a fantastic shot of Omar. Round about that time DH and i were sitting in the hottub for awhile.

As for DC traffic..............NO WAY, NO HOW!!

We live almost at the SE corner of VA so we go up through Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and all the way up 13 on the Eastern Shore. Lovely drive. DC would actually be a huge drive out of the way. I doubt we will hit much traffic on the way up. Once we get to OC it'll likely be a different story. Hope its not that bad going north though.

For driving down to the cruise we'll leave a couple days early from here. Last time we did 95 all the way. Thinking about making it 17 this time. 17 is blocks away from our house. And then picking up 95 in SC or early Georgia. We'll get a room at the CI&S for Friday night and ship bound Saturday.

I have not heard they wanted to tear down the Skatium. I was there when Dave Schultz was the manager (yes, the old Broad Street bully himself) of the rink. I met many of the old Flyers there. Joe Watson was the nicest of them.

Ah Omar. I remember seeing that wall of water heading right for us as the ship was leaving the dock. It was a good thing to get of there early. DCL always seems to know when to leave.

Glad to hear you do not have to go through DC. Talk about 4 to 6 six lane of parking lot . Heading up 13 sounds much better. If you kept going north you would pass my house in northern delaware.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

I don't care if it's Christmas Day, any amount of airport crap is better than being stuck in a car with my kids for any length of time! They just don't travel for long in cars well. Even as infants, they didn't sleep, just screamed if we drove any longer than say 15 minutes. I remember DD8's first trip to see my not-DMIL rotfl 4 hours away. She seriously screamed for 4 solid hours! SO not fun! And now that it's just me, it just makes it harder because there's no parent to entertain, referee, etc.

Last time we went to WDW, DD8 asked me how come we ALWAYS have to fly to Disney World? How come we can"t drive, just for once!

Yeah, they're spoiled!

Sorry to hear your little ones are not good road trippers. Mine have been flying to Florida since birth to visit grandma so they are good with travel. I do not want the kids to miss that much to school so flying out late Friday afternoon is the deal for us.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

I know it’s early but I’ve been checking out the port excursions. I have no idea which ones are good or which ones are not so good.
Have any of you lovely people been on any that you would recommend?

Wow look at that photo of Omar!!!!!! cool though.

We did not do any DCL excursions but went out on our own. We did Great Bay Beach on St Marteen and Paradise Point in St Thomas.

Great Bay beach was nice beach but I have heard there are better beaches in St Marteen. We choose Great Bay beach due to it was very close to the ship, right next to the town of Phillipsburg for shopping and most important of all it that is not a clothing optional beach . There are just some things that I do not want my kids to see.

Paradise Point is a short walk from the ship to a tram up to the top of the hill. It is beautiful up there and you get some great pictures of the island and the Magic. We also caught a cab to Charlotte Amalie for shopping.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I have not heard they wanted to tear down the Skatium. I was there when Dave Schultz was the manager (yes, the old Broad Street bully himself) of the rink. I met many of the old Flyers there. Joe Watson was the nicest of them.

Ah Omar. I remember seeing that wall of water heading right for us as the ship was leaving the dock. It was a good thing to get of there early. DCL always seems to know when to leave.

Glad to hear you do not have to go through DC. Talk about 4 to 6 six lane of parking lot . Heading up 13 sounds much better. If you kept going north you would pass my house in northern delaware.

Yeah, there's a whole Facebook group somebody started to save it. Just checked it out and apparently it worked, well the group and sending a few hundred ppl to the Commisioners meeting in Dec. John LeClair even showed up to save it I saw him a few times. He'd stop in the WAWA next door for coffee after a session. I used to work there. So apparently they coughed up the money and its still standing. That's good. Some things should never die ya know.

And it is nice to see the Flyers heading for the Cup. Hope they pull it off. I'm not into hockey like i used to be so I don't know how tough Chicago will be.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I know it’s early but I’ve been checking out the port excursions. I have no idea which ones are good or which ones are not so good.
Have any of you lovely people been on any that you would recommend?

Wow look at that photo of Omar!!!!!! cool though.

It is NEVER too early to be thinking of excursions. Or Port Adventures as DCL is calling them now

We did not do any planned excursions on St. Martin last time, just walked to Phillipsburg(Don't really reccomend that, but it can be done) and shopped for a bit and walked along the Great Bay Beach. My idea was to rent an ATV and get ourselves around the island. DH was uncomfortable with that idea though. I'd sworn off excursions just to get on the ship, cause we needed it at that point. Didn't really have a lot of extra money.

Next time though we will be doing excursions, possibly 1 of the private tour companies instead of DCL. I know there are 1 or 2 who get good reviews.

As for CC I'm hoping that we may be able to do the wave runner excursion. An Eco-ride i think That depends on my cochlear implant processor so we'll see.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

We now have only 71 weeks to go to the Magic.

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

Let's go Flyers!!!!!

 

[Octoberbride03]

 

[Pooh Lover]

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had to work, and my "weekend" is today and tomorrow. We are having some beautiful weather, so no complaints.

Right now I am watching my girls dance and swoon to the Justin Bieber CD they just got and waiting for the chicken to cook on the grill. Life is good!

 

[Octoberbride03]

Glad you had such a nice weekend. My weekend was rather nice as well, after a rocky week I needed it. Off again tomorrow and then working straight through to next Monday. Oh joy.

Have I mentioned I need a vacation?

 

[Octoberbride03]

OH BTW

If any of you are trying to get in shape for the cruise, please com over to the WISH board and get in on the Summer Biggest Loser challenge. I did the last 1 and rolled over into this next 1. Lots of nice people and encouragement for getting in shape.

 

[JKSWonder]

Hi all! We booked this cruise in October 2009 when we were onboard the Wonder. We are also taking an October 2010 Western cruise. I'm not sure if we can keep this booking or not, but I am hoping we will because we would celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary onboard. I might even consider doing a vow renewal if I could raise the funds!

We are Jane, DH Mike, DD Allison (10 at cruise), DS Michael (5 at cruise). I am hoping to talk my Mom into joining us. Certainly if we decide to renew our vows, I would want her there.

Looking forward to talking to all of you over the next year or so!

 

[Octoberbride03]

Glad to have you aboard. We have nice cruisers but have not been so chatty yet. Hopefully that will soon change as we get closer. Anything you want to share or have ideas for please just throw it out here.

I loved celebrating my 5th anniversary onboard in 2008 and next year will be our 8th. No vowel renewal for us though, just a nice relaxing vacation. Although this time I will spring for a couple's massage. I hope

 

[TIGGER/POOH4]

We now have only 70 weeks to go to the Magic.

 

[Octoberbride03]

Happy Monday cruisers

Another fun week ahead for all of us i hope. For me it is a shorter work week for some unknown reason so i am off today and thurs and this weekend is my scheduled weekend off. Yippee Just hope the temps don't soar to 100 again.

Dh and I finished planning out our expenses straight through to the cruise. All the stuff that needs doing around the house and expected medical expenses. Seems like a lot on our plate but if we get most of it done I'll be happy.

What really makes me happy is that its time to start paying our cruise down Since we booked it we have just been socking money away until it got closer. And with the way we've planned it out we should do a nice job of getting it paid without adding much to the credit cards. So we are happy campers.

Just over a year until the paid in full date. Hope its a good 1.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I asked before but I think its important to decide now no matter how many cruisers we get. Just how much info do we want in the opening post?

Basic info: DIS names only

Semi Basic info: DIS names and cruisers

Specific info: DIS names and all party info



For myself I think it would be easier to have a basic roll call in Post 1, and then i can keep a more detailed list to email or post on a private FB group or website.

Majority rules here. Let me know ASAP and I'll change the post accordingly