March 18, 2006 -7 Day Magic Cruise - Is anyone else booked yet?

[tecdavidt]

Our cruise list for March 18th, 2006 If there are any corrections or changes you want me to make just email me at: kathyt@raccoon.com and make sure you title your email for our cruise or else I might think it is just spam.

General Max, husband, daughter 14 Erin, son 11, Abby sister of General Max

Tecdavidt, (Dave 48 turning 49 on cruise!), Kathy (48), daughter 13 3/4 Stephanie

Surfergirl, husband, daughter 12

Bama4Disney, wife, sons 5 & 2 1/2

PHILinAK-the younger man, wife-49, that's my story ... and I am sticking to it, son Chase 13 1/2

Cinderlexa's mom, husband (36), mom (30), daughter 8, son 10 mons.

jphart, husband Phil celebrating his 45th on board, Jennifer 39, two daughters 13 1/2 Lauren & Megan

cruisecrzy 31, husband 31, daughter 19 mos.

Eeyore1928, husband, wife, daughter 3

jedimindtric, husband, wife, two children 5 & 2

Krystagal, 29, husband 28, son 2, daughter mo (note: her SIL is getting married on Castaway Cay this cruise!)

 

[PHILinAK]

Wow! What a great place to have a wedding. Congratulations to them!

We will be on board for SIL's wedding at Castaway Cay.

 

[krystagali]

Apparantly there is a dock, somewhere on the island, where the wedding will take place. I don't know the exact location. A lot of the details of the wedding have not been shared since there will only be a few guests, the bride and groom are keeping a lot of things secret.

Have any of you cruised with infants/toddlers before?

Beth

 

[cruisecrzy]

Have any of you cruised with infants/toddlers before?

Beth

My daughter was 15 months old when we went on a 7-day Western in November 2005. She did great!!! That is why we are going on this cruise. She will be 19mos old.

In Nov we met a few people with children under 1.

 

[jphart]

Hi Everyone,

Tecdavidt, make sure you leave a little extra time getting through security. Sometimes, not always, when the tickets are booked as two one way fares on different airlines, you get tagged as high risk.

 

[krystagali]

Check your boarding passes. DH gets flagged for security all the time because he has sucha common name. His boarding pass usually says "SSSSSSS" across the top. When we get to check points, I take the carry on so it doesn't get taken fully apart. I hope having passports this time will make it a little easier.

Beth

 

[tecdavidt]

After reading today's newspaper I think I learned why our flights were changed, originally we were on Northwest both ways and now it is American down, NW going back. I am calling our TA and asking her to talk to DCL people to get the American coming home or change the entire flight package to a different airline -- usually we are on Delta. We fly out on Friday the 17th which is a one day ahead of most local spring break people but we arrive home the same day as all the others or at least the same day as spring break cruisers. (Cruising spring break is popular here and their usually is not enough air seats to hold everybody so some drive to Kansas City or Omaha) I will keep you all updated when I hear back. Kathy

 

[tecdavidt]

I just got off the phone with my husband. We are not on Northwest at all, we were originally going down and coming back on NW but when Disney changed flights they changed them to American down and Delta coming home. That is a relief but with the heads up on security issues for flying on two seperate airlines I still will talk to TA and ask her to get us on American coming home. Frankly, I don't care if we fly at night coming home. I really don't want to get caught up in security delays. The biggest, refusal to let us check in at the port because of using two different airlines. We have had that happen in the past, post 9/11 with all 6 of us! Kathy

 

[GeneralMax]

I just got off the phone with my husband. We are not on Northwest at all, we were originally going down and coming back on NW but when Disney changed flights they changed them to American down and Delta coming home. That is a relief but with the heads up on security issues for flying on two seperate airlines I still will talk to TA and ask her to get us on American coming home. Frankly, I don't care if we fly at night coming home. I really don't want to get caught up in security delays. The biggest, refusal to let us check in at the port because of using two different airlines. We have had that happen in the past, post 9/11 with all 6 of us! Kathy

EEEEKKK!! We are of course flying Northwest both ways on our own tickets. Not Disney. I suppose I should be looking at plan B.

 

[tecdavidt]

Well, I would check into it if I were you Ruth. According to the news article NW votes around March 1 and they talked about the delays and after I read the whole piece all I could think was, if they strike it will hit during Spring Break! I am sorry but that does not sit well with me, John Q. Public. I will not be sympathic to NW employees. We were affected by a strike on NW by pilots a few years back. We were almost stranded in Detroit with three cranky kids on our way home from a 10 day baseball tournament in North Carolina. It was not fun not knowing whether or not we would get out of Detroit which was the hub for NW that we had to fly through. It took a few years before I would step back on a NW plane and now the employees are doing it to the public again!

I am still waiting to hear back from our TA. I couldn't get through via the phone today, only her voice mail, so I sent an email. As soon as I hear anything I will keep the board posted.

Kathy

 

[cinderlexa's mom]

Yikes! We're flying 2 different airlines (not through Disney)...ATA is a direct flight to Florida and Southwest is a direct flight home. Is this enough to raise a security flag?

We've always bought roundtrip airfare in the past, but this time it was cheaper to do it this way...

Any input? TIA!

Kara
Joe
Alexa
Ryan

 

[cruisecrzy]

Just curious. Now that they have added the online check-in to the reservations portion of the DCL website has anyone else noticed a change under their dining time??


If you have not checked out the online check-in yet I recommend it. I found it was very easy to use and seems like it will save time at the port.

 

[krystagali]

Cruisecrazy - I did not see a change in my dinner time The rest of our group is all in the early seating and we are the only ones in the late seating... we've been assured that we will get moved, but as we get closer and closer, I'm getting more and more worried about it.

I just did the online checkin, I hope it saves time.

I also took the plunge and signed the kiddies up for more time in the nursery. Our night at Lumiere's and while DH gets his spa treatment. I'm hoping to get more time once we are on board.

I'm excited because according to SIL, our dining rotation is PLA - ooh ****, just realized that I booked the kiddies for the wrong night....grrr, have to go back and change that.

Someone mentioned the Eco-tour at St. Marteen - DH and I are doing that one. We did a similar tour in Key West when we did the Western cruise, it was awesome!

gotta go change the nursery ressies.

 

[krystagali]

OK, got the ressies changed. It's a good think I noticed that. I'd be so upset if ds missed the show at animators.

 

[tecdavidt]

Heard back from TA late this afternoon. Word from Disney, even though we have two different airlines we should not have a problem. I will believe that when we have no problems.

About such an early flight, Disney assured our TA that the 11:15 flight should be no problem as long as we are off the ship by 8:00 am. I have news for them, in 7 cruises we have NEVER been off the ship by 8:00 am due to their problems not ours. We could easily be off by 8:00 but the ship has not cleared until 8:30 and one time even 9:00!!!! We have Disney insurance and they HAVE to get us home.

Our TA did say at least we are not on Northwest. She has several Spring Break people on NW and if they strike occurs, they are out of luck because all seats out of Des Moines and coming back the following Sat. are sold out.


Too much stress!!!!!! I need a little pixy dust .

Kathy

 

[cruisecrzy]

Tecdavidt-You definately need a cruise I am feeling your stress...it has made me glad that I do not need to worry about airfare. Here is your pixie dust

Krystalgali-I doubt you will have trouble getting more time in Flounder's. Our last cruise had lots of openings. Make sure you go and check the times you have booked with what they have in their computer. We had a problem in November, but it was good....they had us booked more time in their computer then I reserved.

 

[jphart]

Techdavidt,

Kathy,

I tried to e-mail you to update our list, but it didn't go through. It will be my husband,Phil, 45-celebrating his birthday on board. Myself, Jennifer,39. My daughters, Megan & Lauren 13 1/2.

I hope everything goes well with your air travel. I work for the airlines, but we are driving to make sure we get there in time. Especially, if NW does go on strike,all the other carriers usually pick up the slack and we would get bumped.

Off on another trip.

 

[tecdavidt]

I am glad Disney changed our flights but I do wish they were all on one line instead of two. They insist we won't have problems. I don't believe them, security will be tight as always.

I feel for the others who can't switch. Our TA said she has several customers who have trips in danger because of the possible strike. If I had no choice but fly down on NW we would have a back up to drive down. It is a long drive from IA but it is better than losing the cruise. I don't think insurance covers a strike but don't quote me on that. The drive from here is at least two days. Thankfully for those who might end up driving the weather should be decent - no snow and ice.

I will be updating the list. My email is kathyt@raccoon.com for those who might need it. We still need to have a DIS meet. On previous cruises we have met during the sail a way party on the deck looking down on the pool. Starboard side (right) so we can watch the port people wave good bye to us. I will have something lime green on, usually a shirt and my faded red DCL visor. We are in a cat. 3 so look for us in the concierge waiting area. They have changed where we wait so I have no idea where it is. It use to be by the glass windows.

Next item today is the online checkin. Have any of you tried it out?

jphart--your husband has a birthday, what day is it? My Dave's is the 23rd.
also, your daughters are 13 1/2. My daughter Stephanie turns 14 June 10. I hope the girls hang out together. Stephanie was in the Stack for a little bit our last cruise because of our travel mates daughter. She had a great time in there.

Kathy

 

[cruisecrzy]

Next item today is the online checkin. Have any of you tried it out?

I did it yesterday and it was so easy. I was able to print everything for my records as well. I hope this makes check-in super easy.

 

[Bama4Disney]

I did it yesterday also. I have friend leaving Saturday on the Magic and I asked them to scout out and see if there is a different queue. I would make sense that the online check in people would stand in an different line than those that different as our process should go fairly quickly. Hopefully it will make the process easier. 23 days and counting.

Kevin