March 15, 2015 MAGIC Cruise!! :)

[3Goofy's]

Hi everyone!

It's that exciting time of year - PIF, booking excursions, and more and more planning! I'm really struggling with our excursions, especially in Cozumel. We would really like to have an adventure and see the cenotes / underground caverns, but the travel time is long! If we do it, it's the Secret River or Xplor park and there are pros and cons that make my head swim. I think we will do a private tour in Grand Cayman that includes snorkelling, visiting with the stingrays and stopping to see Starfish beach. I'm working on seeing if we can get to a kayak tour through the mangroves in Key West.

My father is fine, health-wise, so it's a go for us!

Nike4000 - my ds would be interested in communicating with your ds. My ds is 12 and turns 13 soon after the cruise. Last cruise he met another boy from Texas and the 2 of them texted back and forth and then took off on the ship for the AquaDuck and sports deck. PM me if your ds is interested.

Would love to hear other people's plans!

 

[kellydeann]

I have several questions..
Can you give me and suggestions for Excursions.. I'm lost for Cozumel? Grand Cayman we are going to the Turtle farm and I think Key West a tour?


What will the weather be like?

 

[Madzac]

kellydean, there was more discussion about excursions earlier in the thread if you look back, as well as search the board. This is our first western so I cant offer much advice except to tell you what we are hoping to do!

Key west- we are doing a hop on/hop off trolley on our own. I went with cityview trolley. The pick up isnt far from the pier and hit everywhere we want to go. I mostly just want to go to southernmost point, maybe the fort and find some key lime pie! The tickets were also free for children 12 and under, two kids per adult.

Grand cayman- we are looking at doing the dophins and turtle farm excursion. If they will let us, my DH and older three will do the dolphin swim and my little one and I the encounter. Hopefully we can book that way. When they is done, we figure if there is time and weather is good we may go to the beach for a bit. Not sure. I would really love to see the stingrays but my youngest is too little to do this.

Cozumel- I think we are going to do the Beach break at Playa Mia. It has something for all the ages of my kids.

Castaway Cay- we will probably just rent bikes on the spot and have a relaxing day otherwise. Not going to prebook anything. I thought about the stingrays here but again my youngest is too little. I have also heard to water can be pretty cool in March in the Bahamas area so kind of waiting to see if we will be in before doing any floats or anything.

As for weather, I did a cruise back in college with a roommate and we went to the same general area. I remember it being beautiful in March and we were in the water in Mexico, Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Again I have heard CC waters are chilly in March.

 

[Nike4000]

I have several questions..
Can you give me and suggestions for Excursions.. I'm lost for Cozumel? Grand Cayman we are going to the Turtle farm and I think Key West a tour?

kellydeann - We've done this cruise twice already & I've summarized our past excursion experiences HERE. Let me know if you have questions about any of the excursions I listed. I'm happy to try and answer questions as best I can.

This time around, we're going to stay on the ship in Key West, hit the Dolphin Extreme Swim and Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman, try Castaway Ray's Stingray Adventure at Castaway Cay, and we're completely undecided about Cozumel. The DD (14 now, 15 on ship) really wants to do the Twister Boat again, while the DS (11) wants to do something different. I'd like to try the Dune Buggy and Beach Snorkel Combo or Off Road Adventure to Jade Caverns, but am having a hard time convincing the rest of the family.

What will the weather be like?

We took this exact cruise earlier this year, leaving Port Canaveral on 3/15/2014. I can honestly say that the weather was absolutely PERFECT! Perhaps a little chilly when the wind kicked up in Grand Cayman, but nothing keeping anyone out of the water. My wife gets cold easily, so she brings a Disney Cruise Line hoodie with her everywhere she goes (on board, around town, etc.). The rest of us have no such problems.

 

[Nike4000]

Just finished getting checked in and our first round of excursions booked! Makes it seem all that closer!!

 

[kjp]

We'd like to join a FE group--sounds like fun! This will be our 2nd Disney cruise, 1st on the Magic. Can't wait!

6132 - kjp - DH, DW, DD (12)

 

[Madzac]

Welcome kjp!!!!

 

[papertraveller]

Season's greetings to everyone here, and welcome kip!

We wish you all a very happy, relaxing holiday.

I just took a peek at my January and February calendar, and my goodness that cruise is coming up quickly!

I will be starting my FE gifts in earnest soon. Looking for advice from all on when the FE group should be closed -- in this case, we are at 13 people (i.e., not enough for two groups). What do you think?

Best wishes,

 

[Madzac]

Merry Christmas all!

Good question on the FE groups. I know many have bought or worked on their gifts. Mine are done. I have one extra adult gift I would be fine with adding klp to the group.

My wonder though... there are two families on the list who were here long ago and never came back. I messaged both of them to confirm that they want to do FE and did not hear back from either one. One of those families does not even have a cabin listed on the form. What do you all think we should do about that? I have enough to add klp to our FE group but I dont have any more than that. However if the two members who never came back arent going to participate?

Thoughts?

 

[Nike4000]

The DW's suggestion was to break it into two small groups of 6 or 7 each and then assign each family a particular day to do their FE gifts. Just an idea.

 

[kuhltiffany]

I'm sure we'll have more joining our group for FE to round out the second group. It complicates things having the PIF date so close to Christmas.

Size-wise my vote is to keep it the same or even smaller (10?), so it's enjoyable/manageable. And please don't assign days, I find that way too restrictive for vacation...also may put a damper on things if it's a cruise-practical item

I'm supposed to be wrapping presents, I keep running out of steam though!

Happy Holidays!

 

[Madzac]

I am also guessing there will be more joining in as we get closer. I know the last cruise we had a second group start up like 6 weeks before. Like I said, I have my gifts done so I would prefer to stay 12-13.

 

[papertraveller]

I'm all in favour of democracy! We'll stick with the original plan, then!

I trust everyone is enjoying a wonderful holiday season. DH had to work today, so DD and I started sewing a new pirate outfit for her. Once we're done with that, we'll turn our attention to a few of the items I want to make for the adults in the FE group!

 

[Mattson8]

Hi everyone! I haven't checked in on this thread in months, but wanted to confirm we are still cruising and we are still in the fish extender group! Can't wait until March!

 

[papertraveller]

Welcome back Mattson8!

If others could please check the FE list on page one of the thread, and send me stateroom info I'd be grateful!

 

[CraftyEmily]

Welcome back Mattson8!

If others could please check the FE list on page one of the thread, and send me stateroom info I'd be grateful!

We are IN! Our stateroom is still the same and I am good with whatever the final number ends up ---Won't leave just one room in Group 2 ; )

 

[Madzac]

I vote if we dont have more people join group two by Feb1 1st we move our lone group 2 cabin up and close from there.

Our cabin numbers on the list are the same! Thank you!

We have had a long week here. Three of my four children have had influenza A. Two seem better but one still has fever. My youngest, DH and I are still crossing fingers we dont get it! It put a little damper on Christmas festivities but we are looking ahead to the warmth of the cruise in March!

 

[Kconnor]

Would love to join the FE group. This will be our second Disney Cruise.

DW, DH & DS (15)

7507

 

[papertraveller]

Welcome kconnor!

I have added you to the list for our second FE group, on the first page of this thread.

If this your first trip on the Magic?

 

[papertraveller]

I vote if we dont have more people join group two by Feb1 1st we move our lone group 2 cabin up and close from there.

Our cabin numbers on the list are the same! Thank you!

We have had a long week here. Three of my four children have had influenza A. Two seem better but one still has fever. My youngest, DH and I are still crossing fingers we dont get it! It put a little damper on Christmas festivities but we are looking ahead to the warmth of the cruise in March!

So sorry to hear the kids were sick -- and hope the three of you managed to hold out and stay healthy!