March 16, 2013 - 5 Night Western Caribbean - Disney Wonder

[Trep72]

Greetings!

I just booked a trip for myself, my DD (15 at the time of travel) and her BFF (14 at the time of travel!

It's our very first cruise and we are very excited!

Would love to hear from others taking this cruise, especially any other single parents.

 

[Trep72]

Any other single parents going??

I'll be there with my DD (13) and her bff (13).

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[Trep72]

Thanks IC! I appreciate it!

I'm not trying to be picky, but I noticed on the list it shows that this is a Bahamian cruise when it is Western Caribbean. =)

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[disneypoor]

We will be joining you on this cruise! It will be myself, Susan, my husband, Brian, our daughter, Brianna (age 17), and our son, Brandon (age 14). This will be our 8th DCL cruise, and we're pretty excited! Joining us will be many family and friends. Every other year or so, my extended family and some of our friends try to do a Disney cruise together, and this one fell on our spring break, so we have 18 of us booked so far, but I'm sure more will be joining in as the time draws nearer. We've done longer cruises, but none of our family and friends have been able to join us on those, so they are all pretty excited to get to have 5 nights this time around.

We looked in to a 3 and 4 day, but the cost was just about as much as this 5 night, and we all prefer the older ships over the newer ones, so it was a perfect scenario!

Thanks for getting this thread started! Now, come on Spring Break!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

Finally! Someone else posted for this thread.

How awesome is that you have such a large group going! As I mentioned in my op, it'll be just me, my daughter and her BFF. It's our very first cruise.

The kids don't know it, but I recently upgraded to a verandah stateroom (5C I think), so that should be exciting.

Hopefully we can at least say hi while on-board and any tips and/or suggestions you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

We will be joining you on this cruise! It will be myself, Susan, my husband, Brian, our daughter, Brianna (age 17), and our son, Brandon (age 14). This will be our 8th DCL cruise, and we're pretty excited! Joining us will be many family and friends. Every other year or so, my extended family and some of our friends try to do a Disney cruise together, and this one fell on our spring break, so we have 18 of us booked so far, but I'm sure more will be joining in as the time draws nearer. We've done longer cruises, but none of our family and friends have been able to join us on those, so they are all pretty excited to get to have 5 nights this time around.

We looked in to a 3 and 4 day, but the cost was just about as much as this 5 night, and we all prefer the older ships over the newer ones, so it was a perfect scenario!

Thanks for getting this thread started! Now, come on Spring Break!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

I just realized that we are neighbors!

We are located in Moore, OK (a suburb of Oklahoma City).

We will be joining you on this cruise! It will be myself, Susan, my husband, Brian, our daughter, Brianna (age 17), and our son, Brandon (age 14). This will be our 8th DCL cruise, and we're pretty excited! Joining us will be many family and friends. Every other year or so, my extended family and some of our friends try to do a Disney cruise together, and this one fell on our spring break, so we have 18 of us booked so far, but I'm sure more will be joining in as the time draws nearer. We've done longer cruises, but none of our family and friends have been able to join us on those, so they are all pretty excited to get to have 5 nights this time around.

We looked in to a 3 and 4 day, but the cost was just about as much as this 5 night, and we all prefer the older ships over the newer ones, so it was a perfect scenario!

Thanks for getting this thread started! Now, come on Spring Break!

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

Hello, neighbor! Just be prepared to fall in love with Disney cruises! When we took our first one years ago, we said it would probably be a once in a lifetime kind of trip. Well, if I had my way, it would be a couple of times a year. We fell in love with DCL, and it is our family's favorite vacation destination. We recently went to Maui, and our kids still prefer DCL, so it is truly a great vacation!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to help out if I can. One of our favorite excursions in Cozumel is the dune buggies. You get to drive a dune buggy around the island and see some breathtaking views. You also get to enjoy an authentic Mexican lunch beachside, so I'd highly recommend that.

I wish my kids were taking their friends, but we already had a WDW trip planned for this summer and they're taking their friends with us, so we just couldn't swing it. Your daughter will love having her friend with her!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

I think I'm more excited about the cruise than the kiddo is. I think she's concerned there's not going to be as much to do compared to WDW, but she's been researching things as well and is slowly coming around. That's one reason I offered to bring her friend, so she would have someone her age, that she knew, to share things with. I just hope that her friend's parents are able to come up with the airfare for the trip, because that's the only thing I am not able to cover....and it's so darn expensive out of OKC.

As for excursions, I'm not sure what we are going to do yet. I've been looking into one of the day time snorkeling packages. I've got a shipboard credit from Disney and from our TA, and will start adding more to it after we get back from WDW trip in October.

Hello, neighbor! Just be prepared to fall in love with Disney cruises! When we took our first one years ago, we said it would probably be a once in a lifetime kind of trip. Well, if I had my way, it would be a couple of times a year. We fell in love with DCL, and it is our family's favorite vacation destination. We recently went to Maui, and our kids still prefer DCL, so it is truly a great vacation!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to help out if I can. One of our favorite excursions in Cozumel is the dune buggies. You get to drive a dune buggy around the island and see some breathtaking views. You also get to enjoy an authentic Mexican lunch beachside, so I'd highly recommend that.

I wish my kids were taking their friends, but we already had a WDW trip planned for this summer and they're taking their friends with us, so we just couldn't swing it. Your daughter will love having her friend with her!

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

I think I'm more excited about the cruise than the kiddo is. I think she's concerned there's not going to be as much to do compared to WDW, but she's been researching things as well and is slowly coming around. That's one reason I offered to bring her friend, so she would have someone her age, that she knew, to share things with. I just hope that her friend's parents are able to come up with the airfare for the trip, because that's the only thing I am not able to cover....and it's so darn expensive out of OKC.

As for excursions, I'm not sure what we are going to do yet. I've been looking into one of the day time snorkeling packages. I've got a shipboard credit from Disney and from our TA, and will start adding more to it after we get back from WDW trip in October.

I think your DD will be pleasantly surprised! Our kids used to think WDW was the place to be, and although they do still love going, they would MUCH rather do the cruise. She will have a blast with her friend!

I hear what you're saying on the air. We bought in to Disney Vacation Club last year while on our Disney Alaska Cruise, and we are taking my extended family as well as some friends for our kids. When you buy, you get the current year's points and the year before, so we had a lot of points. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to take so many people. They are all paying for their own air and park tickets though, so that helps out too. We're paying for food, and I'm a little scared about that--especially since we're going the end of July when it will be so hot! We're definitely taking advantage of the refillable mugs for the resort, and I'm hoping we won't spend too much at the parks on drinks and ice cream!

Well, finding your cruise meet thread prompted me to call Disney today. I changed our stateroom to a 5C. I haven't told my husband yet, but for $310 dollars, I figure it will be worth it. We've been lucky enough to get to upgrade at the port several times, but I hate to chance it when it's only $310 dollars and we're guaranteed a verandah.

I'm beginning to think it might just be you, me, and all of my family on this cruise. I think this cruise is a little hidden in some ways because people think of it as a cruise to the Bahamas when it's actually a shortened Western. I have a friend who called me just the other day and she said it was sold out. She said she had even called Disney. I was stressing because we do have others that are planning to go but haven't booked yet. Turns out she wasn't inquiring about the Western but was inquiring about a cruise to the Bahamas at the same time. So, maybe ours won't sell out. Even if it does, we've sailed many times on ships that are full and the nice thing about the older Disney ships is that it isn't ever too overly crowded.

Take care and keep in touch! Looking forward to having someone to plan this trip with!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

So you're gonna be in a 5C too huh?!? Very cool! I had been reading about possible upgrades at the port, but like you figured it wasn't that much more so why not do it now? Who knows, maybe there will be an even better upgrade better when we get there!

One concern I do have is the transportation to/from the port. Right now, I'm planning on us flying in the night before and because Southwest Airlines doesn't fly into Miami, we'll have to fly into Ft. Lauderdale. Well, according to my TA, Disney doesn't have any set plans yet in regards to DME since sailing out of Miami is new for them. I'm hoping that DME will offer something out of Ft. Lauderdale, but am feeling like I'm going to need to find alternate transportation. I've done some very basic research and found a couple of hotels that will transport us from FLL to the hotel and then to the port the next morning, but nothing from the port to FLL.

I realize that I have plenty of time to plan for this, but I'm the type that likes to have all of my ducks in a row as soon as possible.

I think your DD will be pleasantly surprised! Our kids used to think WDW was the place to be, and although they do still love going, they would MUCH rather do the cruise. She will have a blast with her friend!

I hear what you're saying on the air. We bought in to Disney Vacation Club last year while on our Disney Alaska Cruise, and we are taking my extended family as well as some friends for our kids. When you buy, you get the current year's points and the year before, so we had a lot of points. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to take so many people. They are all paying for their own air and park tickets though, so that helps out too. We're paying for food, and I'm a little scared about that--especially since we're going the end of July when it will be so hot! We're definitely taking advantage of the refillable mugs for the resort, and I'm hoping we won't spend too much at the parks on drinks and ice cream!

Well, finding your cruise meet thread prompted me to call Disney today. I changed our stateroom to a 5C. I haven't told my husband yet, but for $310 dollars, I figure it will be worth it. We've been lucky enough to get to upgrade at the port several times, but I hate to chance it when it's only $310 dollars and we're guaranteed a verandah.

I'm beginning to think it might just be you, me, and all of my family on this cruise. I think this cruise is a little hidden in some ways because people think of it as a cruise to the Bahamas when it's actually a shortened Western. I have a friend who called me just the other day and she said it was sold out. She said she had even called Disney. I was stressing because we do have others that are planning to go but haven't booked yet. Turns out she wasn't inquiring about the Western but was inquiring about a cruise to the Bahamas at the same time. So, maybe ours won't sell out. Even if it does, we've sailed many times on ships that are full and the nice thing about the older Disney ships is that it isn't ever too overly crowded.

Take care and keep in touch! Looking forward to having someone to plan this trip with!

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

So you're gonna be in a 5C too huh?!? Very cool! I had been reading about possible upgrades at the port, but like you figured it wasn't that much more so why not do it now? Who knows, maybe there will be an even better upgrade better when we get there!

One concern I do have is the transportation to/from the port. Right now, I'm planning on us flying in the night before and because Southwest Airlines doesn't fly into Miami, we'll have to fly into Ft. Lauderdale. Well, according to my TA, Disney doesn't have any set plans yet in regards to DME since sailing out of Miami is new for them. I'm hoping that DME will offer something out of Ft. Lauderdale, but am feeling like I'm going to need to find alternate transportation. I've done some very basic research and found a couple of hotels that will transport us from FLL to the hotel and then to the port the next morning, but nothing from the port to FLL.

I realize that I have plenty of time to plan for this, but I'm the type that likes to have all of my ducks in a row as soon as possible.

When I booked our cruise directly with Disney, I asked them about using their transportation service from Ft. Lauderdale because we'll also fly Southwest out of Kansas City. I went ahead with Disney's transfers because they said that they would be transferring from both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale airports. Hope that's true! If you hear otherwise, please let me know. I know for sure we'll fly Southwest because we have free tickets.

I'm just like you--everything has to be planned perfectly long in advance. Part of the fun for me is the planning. My family was pretty sure I was going to ruin Hawaii because there wouldn't be any surprises when we got there.

Susan

 

[Trep72]

Sounds like you have more up to date info than I do.

The last info my TA told me was that they were going to take a list of people arriving/departing out of Ft. Lauderdale and go from there. Your info sounds as if they've decided to work both airports. Which is good news. I think arriving the day before is probably best for us, but having DME taking us from the port to FLL will be very helpful.

I wish we had some free tickets on SWA. I'm saving for airfare for our WDW trip in October AND for the cruise in March. Just for the kid and I, the October trip from OKC to MCO is a little over $900 in airfare. OKC gets no love when it comes to cheap airfare. Other airlines are the same price PLUS baggage fees, so SWA is the obvious choice for us.

When I booked our cruise directly with Disney, I asked them about using their transportation service from Ft. Lauderdale because we'll also fly Southwest out of Kansas City. I went ahead with Disney's transfers because they said that they would be transferring from both Miami and Ft. Lauderdale airports. Hope that's true! If you hear otherwise, please let me know. I know for sure we'll fly Southwest because we have free tickets.

I'm just like you--everything has to be planned perfectly long in advance. Part of the fun for me is the planning. My family was pretty sure I was going to ruin Hawaii because there wouldn't be any surprises when we got there.

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

This will be the first time we've not arrived the day before our cruise. We don't have airfare bought yet, so we may end up arriving the day before as well. We were trying to keep the cost down a bit for this trip since we have so many people going. It does make me nervous to arrive on the day of though......

We do have over $1000 in free air from Southwest because of our Southwest card, so I'm pretty excited to get to fly for free (hopefully!). Airfare is just way too high right now--can't believe how high it has risen to!

We still have three people who haven't bought their air for our July WDW trip, and it scares me because I fear it will only go up, and it's already ridiculous!

Take care and have a good week!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

I'm not sure how much longer I can wait to buy airfare for October. It has stayed pretty steady for the past month and a half, but I fear it's going to go higher. I probably should just go ahead and get it done and if it does go lower, I can just use any credits for the cruise trip. I just hate buying something and then finding out the cost went down after my purchase.

This will be the first time we've not arrived the day before our cruise. We don't have airfare bought yet, so we may end up arriving the day before as well. We were trying to keep the cost down a bit for this trip since we have so many people going. It does make me nervous to arrive on the day of though......

We do have over $1000 in free air from Southwest because of our Southwest card, so I'm pretty excited to get to fly for free (hopefully!). Airfare is just way too high right now--can't believe how high it has risen to!

We still have three people who haven't bought their air for our July WDW trip, and it scares me because I fear it will only go up, and it's already ridiculous!

Take care and have a good week!

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

I hate trying to figure out airfare! I'm one of those that typically watches it like a hawk and then books it the second it comes out. I'd be stressing if I didn't have airfare for October, but I'm just like that. Sometimes it proves to work out well for us to buy early and other times it has gone down later. I love Southwest because at least I always know I will have a credit if it does drop.

I did call Disney again last night to verify our transfers. They said that they need to be notified when we get our air if we are flying in to Ft. Lauderdale but that it won't be a problem. I think they are planning to do transfers from both airports, but they want to know how many people are flying in to Ft. Lauderdale.

I've been trying to talk my husband in to booking a 7 night western on the Fantasy. Disney Vacation Club members just got an awesome deal for June cruises--70% off! We could take a 7 night cruise in a cat. 4A for $4500 for the four of us. It's so tempting, but my husband says I'm trying to hard to live up to my screen name...Disneypoor.

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

I just wanted to let you know that I'm working on filling up the ship. We booked some more friends tonight, so we now have 29 of us cruising. We still have a couple more families that are on the fence, but this should be a great trip!

I've spent much of the day doing some research on transportation from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami as well as whether or not we should fly in the night before our cruise. We were all hoping to fly in the day of the cruise, but since we need to fly Southwest, it appears as if the earliest we could arrive is 12:05, and that makes me a little nervous.

Can't wait to hear from others that are cruising with us!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

Holy cow! 29 people in just YOUR group! (any of them single? j/k)

That's an amazing number of people for one group. I'm impressed. I'm sure my kiddos (might as well call the BFF mine since her family calls my kiddo their's...LOL) will have a great time meeting new friends.

As of now, I'm still committed to coming in a day early. It's just too much risk, for me, to try and fly into FLL and then make it to Miami in time. I want that peace of mind. I'm even considering staying a day after for the same reason. I get nervous when traveling and want everything to be as planned out as possible. I don't like surprises..especially surprises that might end up costing me more $$$.

Anyway, thanks for touching base here. I've kinda taken a step back from the planning for a little bit other than the occasional reading of disboards every other day or so and checking airfare at least 2-3 times a day. I'm probably going to be booking it at the end of the month. The prices just aren't budging at all.

I just wanted to let you know that I'm working on filling up the ship. We booked some more friends tonight, so we now have 29 of us cruising. We still have a couple more families that are on the fence, but this should be a great trip!

I've spent much of the day doing some research on transportation from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami as well as whether or not we should fly in the night before our cruise. We were all hoping to fly in the day of the cruise, but since we need to fly Southwest, it appears as if the earliest we could arrive is 12:05, and that makes me a little nervous.

Can't wait to hear from others that are cruising with us!

Susan

 

[disneypoor]

I'm beginning to think we might end up flying in the Friday night before the cruise as well. It's already stressing me out thinking about flying in the day of the cruise, and it's still 8 1/2 months away! I'm watching airfare, but I think I'll be waiting until Southwest releases their fares before I do anything.

In our group of 29, there are a couple of single people, so who knows??? I'm pretty sure we'll be adding at least one or two more families to this trip as well. I jokingly told my friend that booked yesterday that we might as well charter this sailing. When I called to link the new reservations with ours, the lady on the other end of the phone told me that I already had a lot of reservations linked to mine. I just said, "I know", but we'll need to add these. Last time they had our dining all messed up. Of course, we realize we can't all sit together, but we do want the same dining rotation and that is where they really messed up last time--even with our reservations being linked. I will be calling several times this time around to make sure they have it right. They had my mother dining by herself in a completely different restaurant than us last time, and of course, that didn't fly with me. They fixed that, but they couldn't fix all of the mess ups because there were too many of us. I was fine as long as my mom was moved to be with us though.

I'm a teacher and I'm out for summer, so I will likely be planning and watching the DisBoards more than usual. We have a WDW trip coming up in July with 17 of us, so I need to be more focused on that right now, but between you and me, I have a lot more fun planning cruises!

Take care!

Susan

 

[Trep72]

I selected first dining for us. Not real sure the benefit of either, but figured eating earlier would probably work best for us.

I can't imagine any airline being cheaper than SWA. Even if the other airlines have the same airfare, I'll still save by not having to pay for luggage. The only down side is that with SWA, flying directly into Miami is not an option. I'll just find a hotel in Ft. Lauderdale that will provide transportation from the airport to the hotel and then to the port. I have found a Comfort Inn that has a Port of Miami package, but I'm not sure I'm willing to pay over $150 for one night. I'd be interested to hear of any hotel specials you stumble upon or suggestions about staying in Ft. Lauderdale or Miami.

I'm still amazed that you're going to have at least 29 people in your group!

I'm beginning to think we might end up flying in the Friday night before the cruise as well. It's already stressing me out thinking about flying in the day of the cruise, and it's still 8 1/2 months away! I'm watching airfare, but I think I'll be waiting until Southwest releases their fares before I do anything.

In our group of 29, there are a couple of single people, so who knows??? I'm pretty sure we'll be adding at least one or two more families to this trip as well. I jokingly told my friend that booked yesterday that we might as well charter this sailing. When I called to link the new reservations with ours, the lady on the other end of the phone told me that I already had a lot of reservations linked to mine. I just said, "I know", but we'll need to add these. Last time they had our dining all messed up. Of course, we realize we can't all sit together, but we do want the same dining rotation and that is where they really messed up last time--even with our reservations being linked. I will be calling several times this time around to make sure they have it right. They had my mother dining by herself in a completely different restaurant than us last time, and of course, that didn't fly with me. They fixed that, but they couldn't fix all of the mess ups because there were too many of us. I was fine as long as my mom was moved to be with us though.

I'm a teacher and I'm out for summer, so I will likely be planning and watching the DisBoards more than usual. We have a WDW trip coming up in July with 17 of us, so I need to be more focused on that right now, but between you and me, I have a lot more fun planning cruises!

Take care!

Susan