March 13th 2011 Fiesta time on the Wonder!

[lmhall2000]

Seriously, I don't know how you did that for that long of a cruise. I know, I can use the self serve laundry and I am sure that I will. Since we are flying this time and not driving to Port Canaveral....I will have to pack a lot lighter....I just don't know how!

I was very much inspired by Rick Steves one Saturday afternoon on his travel show...he spends 3 weeks in Europe and he and his kids all each only have one carryon! You'll see me in the same dress on dress up nights, I love the freedom of having everyone carry their own bag and I'm not paying a dime for luggage...Delta charges for just one checked bag now, and I"m not in any medallion club anymore, so no free checked for me..plus I don't want to run the risk of lost luggage..we do laundry the sailing back so we come home with clean clothes...other than the ones on our back!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ird4DF5fgHE

It really works!!
Tara

 

[hopelea]

My girls were amazed. But since we are flying Southwest and don't have to pay for bags.....I believe we will be taking our bigger suitcases. I am going to pack lighter. I will also be wearing the same clothes over and over. I am on vacation and I really don't care. I will wear the same black dress for semi formal & formal. I will take one pair of black capri and five nice tops to wear for the other dinners. During the day I usually have on my bathingsuit & cover up!! I definately want to pack light.

My dh is 6'4. His clothes are long and large. I know the dinning room "suggests" no shorts. BUT...dh purchased some really nice golf shorts and polos. He will be wearing those to dinner five nights. If you don't like it...DON'T LOOK. His legs will be under the table for most of the dinner. He will not wear a jacket to the formal dinner. I am lucky to get him in black pants and a tie. I hope there aren't any "dress code nazi's" in our group

Have a great day!!

 

[lmhall2000]

His legs will be under the table for most of the dinner. He will not wear a jacket to the formal dinner. I am lucky to get him in black pants and a tie. I hope there aren't any "dress code nazi's" in our group

Have a great day!!

Because I am such a magnanimous soul, I will help you out and NOT pack jackets!! That will save me a bunch of room! We've never tried Palo, and the ONLY reason we would is for that chocolate dessert, I LOVE chocolate and the main dining room really fell short on chocolate offerings, I heard where one couple did get them to make it for them in the main room, I might try to beg our servers for this treat..my parents did Palo's and really felt is was wonderful...so I've been wanting to try, wonder if you can get into Palo's without a jacket?

Thanks!!
Tara

 

[hopelea]

I have read that you can NOT get into Palo w/o a jacket. Palo isn't something my DH wants to do. So, I don't push it. I am happy with the dinning room. My friend Denise that is cruising with us LOVES Palo and is going to dinner and the brunch. She says I should at least try the brunch. (probably not!)

Isn't it a beautiful day here today Tara.....oh, well I am not late for work....must run.

144 days until I leave !!!!

 

[mindy327]

You girls are so funny... I was wondering how you were going to get all of your clothes into carry on bags. Now it makes so much more sense. 5 people carry on thats 5 bags. Seems to me that saving space is right up your ally. I try to cram into my suit cases but it never works. uggg. So Ill be packing as needed. Have you ever tried space saver bags? They seem to work well and maybe would help with warm bulky clothes.

So its getting closer. Are you up to a DIS meet for a few on one of the days?

 

[hopelea]

Space Saver bags I am going to try to sneak one of those in my suitcase...I want to put a down blanket in it. I absolutely hate DCL bedding. Carnvial has wonderful down filled comforters. I love their bedding. DCL has little thin blankets and a bedspread they take off the bed.....I NEED WEIGHT!! I NEED BLANKETS!! If I can't sneak that down blanket in my suitcase (it is really just a down throw, not really big) then I will have to beg for more blankets on the ship

DIS meet....well lets see, most days you will find me either by the adult pool or in the rainforest room But I am up for anything.

 

[mtgdisney]

You don't have to wear a jacket for Palo. I wore a dress and my husband wore a shirt & tie. So worth it, I'm not lying. I was with you guys, I thought it was stupid and a waste of money to go and my husband drug me kicking and screaming and I loved it. My big thing wasn't necessarily the money it was that I though I would miss something at one of the dinners. Now that I've experienced all the rotations I would do it again in a second.

 

[mtgdisney]

Because I am such a magnanimous soul, I will help you out and NOT pack jackets!! That will save me a bunch of room! We've never tried Palo, and the ONLY reason we would is for that chocolate dessert, I LOVE chocolate and the main dining room really fell short on chocolate offerings, I heard where one couple did get them to make it for them in the main room, I might try to beg our servers for this treat..my parents did Palo's and really felt is was wonderful...so I've been wanting to try, wonder if you can get into Palo's without a jacket?

Thanks!!
Tara

Don't forget about the laundry facilities, I used multiple times and loved it. I took way too much last time, this time only a few capri's and I will be washing them in between. I too wear the same black dress for formal and semi. Making my fish extender tomorrow. Can't wait!

 

[hopelea]

Okay Denise, since we will proabably be sitting at the same table.....pretend not to notice when I wear the same clothes OVER AND OVER I am going to do my best to pack light. My dh doesn't think I can do it.

What excursions are people looking into? We will probably do two. One in PV and one in Cabo and that is all. I think in PV we need to get off the ship and go to the WalMart & Sams that is across the street from the port Has anyone else seen the thread with the pictures of the WM & Sam's at the port? Guess if we forget something we can run across the street!!

I am off work today. Trying to decide what to do.....should I go shopping with my mom or stay home and read??? Reading sounds great!!

 

[hopelea]

Forget to tell you the book I am reading is "KINGDOM KEEPERS III" They are so good. The kids are in EPCOT right now

 

[Dicecatt]

No jacket needed for Palo...My husband just wore a nice dress shirt the other day and forgot his tie and they didn't give him a problem, he still looked very nice.

SOOOOO good.

And I have some exciting news...I will be on the Maiden Dream Voyage on January 26! I'm joining a friend of mine and I am super excited, can't wait!

 

[hopelea]

So Jealous!! Can't wait to hear all about it!! It looks like it would be a lot of fun to cruise on!! you are very lucky!!!

 

[mindy327]

You two are super at packing... I could learn a ton. I can barely get MY clothes to fit into one big luggage bag. I admit I over pack. I know Ill probably wash clothes on board too. I think Ill find some travel packet of laundry soap before we leave. They get expensive on board.
Here are the excursions we are doing
http://www.cabosanlucastours.net/Los-Cabos-ATV-Tour.htm
http://www.mazatlantours.org/stone-island-tour.htm
and maybe this one... It looks super fun.
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/c...ions/puerto-vallarta-mexico/canopy-adventure/

 

[Meredith71]

That ATV tour looks like a lot of fun. What departure time are you doing? I have not even looked into what time we get into port.

I really want to do a zip line tour in Puerto Vallarta as well but will probably have to book it on my own. My son will only be 9 at the time of the cruise.

I guess I better get busy. So many of y'all have so much planned already. I am usually an early planner but this fall has been so busy with the kids activities and school. Hopefully things will calm down soon.

 

[mtgdisney]

You two are super at packing... I could learn a ton. I can barely get MY clothes to fit into one big luggage bag. I admit I over pack. I know Ill probably wash clothes on board too. I think Ill find some travel packet of laundry soap before we leave. They get expensive on board.
Here are the excursions we are doing
http://www.cabosanlucastours.net/Los-Cabos-ATV-Tour.htm
http://www.mazatlantours.org/stone-island-tour.htm
and maybe this one... It looks super fun.
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/c...ions/puerto-vallarta-mexico/canopy-adventure/

Is the the place where Lover's Beach is? I may have my places mixed up. I want do this excursion, for the money, you get a lot. Anyone else done this excursion?

 

[lmhall2000]

I think Ill find some travel packet of laundry soap before we leave. They get expensive on board.

We buy what we call travel soap...I think the one I have is by Tide, but I found out about them from some friends who RV travel a lot..it looks like a piece of thick paper and has all your soap/softener 'baked' into it? One sheet (about 5x5) per load...I buy a pack of these and put 2-3 in a zip lock bag..takes up little space and is neat and non-messy! They sell them in the detergent aisle and they come in a little plastic box...
OH! Found them, they're Purex sheets...
http://www.purex.com/sustainability/purex-complete-3-in-1
HTH!
Tara

 

[mtgdisney]

You two are super at packing... I could learn a ton. I can barely get MY clothes to fit into one big luggage bag. I admit I over pack. I know Ill probably wash clothes on board too. I think Ill find some travel packet of laundry soap before we leave. They get expensive on board.
Here are the excursions we are doing
http://www.cabosanlucastours.net/Los-Cabos-ATV-Tour.htm
http://www.mazatlantours.org/stone-island-tour.htm
and maybe this one... It looks super fun.
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/c...ions/puerto-vallarta-mexico/canopy-adventure/

We're going to do the Mazatlan excursion too, I read a lot of reviews and they were good. That's cheap and what sold me was the drinks served in Coconuts. I can get my beach, atv & horseback riding excursions all done for $36.00. Yea! Do I have to sign up for this really early? Did you just go to the website to sign up?

 

[lmhall2000]

Just booked our pre-cruise hotel stay! With 7 traveling it was really important for us to have free breakfast, trying to feed 4 hungry teens is not fun!!

We ended up booking the Best Western Avita Suites...it was $100 a night with a pre-pay discount...some rooms are less but we needed double beds. It's in Torrance and had remarkable reviews on tripadvisor...I figure we'll take a shuttle service to the hotel and then just hire a quick cab the morning of the trip, it's less than 10 miles to the port from here and having a full breakfast not just cold cereal will make for happy travelers! I found a shuttle that will take us there for $58 (all 7 of us) so that's not too bad, I think two taxis would run us more from the airport.

Here's the link if anyone is checking out hotels the night before...
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...Western_Avita_Suites-Torrance_California.html

Tara

 

[son3disfan]

Anyone else done this excursion?

We booked the ATV tour too. For 8 of us.
Looks like so much fun! We booked the 9am tour, but we need to be at the meeting spot at 8:40, just outside the port area. With tendering, we are probably cutting it pretty close.We are only in Cabo until 3pm, so this was the only option for us.

Great to see other DISERS booked it too.

We booked the Canopy tour in PV diretly:
http://www.canopytours-vallarta.com/canopy/
there is a 15% discount booking online. It was $67/adult and $49/children.
We booked a later time, 12pm so we can take our time in the morning.
With 9 of us on this tour, it was a HUGE savings from Disney's pricing, especially for the kids!
Lots of amazing reviews about this tour on Cruise Critic and trip advisor.

Not so sure about MAZ. yet.....might just stay on the ship. I was looking at DEER ISLAND, but I would want to book through Disney in this port. I am a little nervous about this port. Has anyone booked MAZ yet? Stone Island looks interesting......

 

[hopelea]

Well, I think I am onboard for the Mazaltan excursion also. It sounds great for the price. Why do I feel nervous about getting off the ship there? I suppose it is from some of the travel warnings. I need to realize that if DCL doesn't feel like we are safe, they won't take us there!!!! So, I am now checking out the website to see what other excursions this company offers at the different ports. Why not try to save some money!!!!