March 21, 2009 Western Magic

[Tinkbellfan]

Bob and Lee - 10 cruises makes you an expert in my eyes! I like the idea of deck 10. Last year we tried to meet on deck 9 in the thick of things. Kinda crazy!

With all the different age groups (by the way Amybeth what is the new additions name?) it will be easier to find each other. Being the organizer that I am (okay you can laugh - I'm the president of our parents association at school!), is everyone okay with a meeting at 4:30 deck 10 starboard for the sail-away party? I will put a LGMH on my lanyard.

I know Disneymom92 has a few western cruises under her belt, so we would love to hear from you too. Anyone else with any meeting ideas?

ps - 5 more inches of snow last night - the shoreline of CT never gets this much. In nine weeks we will all be in Grand Cayman!

 

[amybethchristiansen]

new guy is Grant, who arrived 6 weeks early in June

 

[Tinkbellfan]

I guess he just couldn't wait to join his brother and sister! Cute name.

I did a quick tally of our numbers. I get approximately 44 people. Not sure who Nicole (huntbrown) has in her party. That's not a bad total!

 

[BobandLee]

Bob and Lee - 10 cruises makes you an expert in my eyes! I like the idea of deck 10. Last year we tried to meet on deck 9 in the thick of things. Kinda crazy!

With all the different age groups (by the way Amybeth what is the new additions name?) it will be easier to find each other. Being the organizer that I am (okay you can laugh - I'm the president of our parents association at school!), is everyone okay with a meeting at 4:30 deck 10 starboard for the sail-away party? I will put a LGMH on my lanyard.

I have been along for the ride on 9 cruises. #10 coming up.
Man, did not think that there had been that many.

Wow, forgot about the Little Green Mickey Heads. Guess I may have to head down to Home Depot. Do you think that Home Depot will ever catch on?

 

[magicron]

Bob and Lee-

Are you doing the Dolphin swin at Dolphinaris or Chankanaab? Thinking of letting the kids do the dolphin swim. Would like to get to a beach after that...maybe with Waverunners/jet skis. It appears we would need to move on to Paradise Beach or like beach for that. Wondering if you have a recommendation on this.

 

[Momfromva]

new guy is Grant, who arrived 6 weeks early in June

Ambeth, Both of my boys were preemies, each born at 30 weeks. Hope Grant is doing well!

 

[huntbrown]

There is four of us - dh, me, ds and dd.

I think we actually will see 20 degrees today, quite the heat wave.

 

[BobandLee]

Bob and Lee-

Are you doing the Dolphin swin at Dolphinaris or Chankanaab? Thinking of letting the kids do the dolphin swim. Would like to get to a beach after that...maybe with Waverunners/jet skis. It appears we would need to move on to Paradise Beach or like beach for that. Wondering if you have a recommendation on this.

No recommendation. We are doing this one....

• Dolphin Discovery Cozumel (CZ-04) Get up close and personal to dolphins in an interactive encounter you'll never forget. After a 20-minute taxi ride to Chankanaab National Park, take in an informative orientation and receive your lifejacket. Then, immerse yourself in three feet of water for a fun-filled 30-minute encounter where you're invited to touch and play with these gentle creatures of the deep.

We chose this one mainly because of the kids. Disney rates this one as "mild".
I assume that it will be similar to what is in this video....<VIDEO>

I found this here on the board...<POST> and <POST>
Supposedly, both places are good. Hope that helps.

 

[DisneyMom92]

I am sorry it has taken me so long to respond back to everyone. To say that it has been crazy here is an understatement. Both of my kids are competitive dancers which makes this a busy time of year anyway. Our dance director looked at the calendar and decided that since we were off school two whole weeks this year because of how the holidays fell, she decided to give us the first one off! Totally off. We were so way excited we booked a trip to WDW on the spot. It was the first time being back in several years, really since we began cruising.

Long story short, I had all that planning to do plus working to get ahead at work so I could afford to take off without too much time on the laptop and THEN keeping up with dance stuff. Whew, glad that's over.

We have done the Chankanaab tours both with Disney and on our own. We liked the one on our own so much better. With Disney, it was an passive thing where we stood on a ledge and the dolphin swam next to us. The one on our own was really cool, you actually swam with the dolphin. Fun fun.

This cruise it was kind of fun to have the excursion date come and go with no worries. We are making NO plans. If we want to get off and mill around a little, that's fine, but our plans are really to stay on board while everyone else is running themselves crazy, we will enjoy the ship. My DS13 said he felt like he really didn't get to do as much on the ship as they would have liked.

DIS meet: the time we met on 10th deck before the drill was the best. Everyone incorporated a LGMH on their person in some way. It was comfortable to come by and meet without feeling you had to linger too long or were missing something else that you really wanted to do. Last year we met in the buffet, I think on Sunday, and there were some who had to miss for various reasons. We never met some of the people who we had talked with the most. That was a bummer. My vote is for 10th deck either before drill or before sail away party.

We have a dummy trip planned that we are moving to summer 2010 so that we can do a back to back eastern and western, hopefully. Otherwise we have been on 2 westerns and 1 Mexican Riviera. We missed Grand Cayman one year because of rough seas, but they made the day so special onboard we were almost happy it was cancelled.

Can't wait to meet everyone. We are really excited for this cruise.

 

[BobandLee]

Hi DisneyMom. We are sorta neighbors. We are 200 miles north of ya.

We decided on the Disney dolphin excursion mainly because of the kids and the convenience factor. When it has been just us, we have done several excursions on our own. Key West and Captain Marvins in GC come to mind.

Doesn't matter to us when the group meet is. But, I think that I will have to head down to deck 9 with the girl for the dancing and countdown.

The Little Green Mickeys sound good.

Because it ishttp://www.**************/id/03-20-2009_our+Spring+Break+Disney+Cruise_0-0-0_0.png

 

[Calgary4]

We have a 14 yr old dd and also a six yr old grandson travelling with us. They each would like to meet someone close to their age to share some activities. Our gs6 wasn't eager to try the oceaneers club last year on the three day cruise because he didn't know anyone there.

It would be great to set something up at the initial meet.

Brent, Brenda, Kristen & Jace

 

[Tinkbellfan]

Welcome Calgary 4 to our little group! We will have a 13 year old with us and magicron has a dd13 too. Amybethchristiansen has a ds7 and momfromva has a ds5 so there is some overlap with your kids.

So, if no one objects, let's move our first meeting to Deck 10 Starboard before the safety drill. That usually starts at 4pm, so lets say 3pm. That will give us 45 min. to meet before we have to don our lovely orange horseshoe rings. I will have my LGMH on and will try to have some other sort of sign.

I will also be at this same general location for the sail away party if anyone misses the first gathering. I was down on deck 9 last March and that was enough for me. I will dance and wave from the comfort of deck 10 with a frozen drink in my hand. FYI - my cabin # is 7622, but no knock and runs (I have a feeling BobandLee would be the culprits . . . just a feeling)

 

[Momfromva]

Welcome Calgary 4 to our little group! We will have a 13 year old with us and magicron has a dd13 too. Amybethchristiansen has a ds7 and momfromva has a ds5 so there is some overlap with your kids.

So, if no one objects, let's move our first meeting to Deck 10 Starboard before the safety drill. That usually starts at 4pm, so lets say 3pm. That will give us 45 min. to meet before we have to don our lovely orange horseshoe rings. I will have my LGMH on and will try to have some other sort of sign.

I will also be at this same general location for the sail away party if anyone misses the first gathering. I was down on deck 9 last March and that was enough for me. I will dance and wave from the comfort of deck 10 with a frozen drink in my hand. FYI - my cabin # is 7622, but no knock and runs (I have a feeling BobandLee would be the culprits . . . just a feeling)

We'll be there. Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Calgary4, My boys will spend a lot of time in the kids clubs (aka "the boys playroom" as it's known around our house). So they will have some friends there.

I won't get to go to the sail away party. My boys don't like the lound music at all. We are planning on taking them back to their great grandparent's cabin (with verandha) and watch from there. I just hope I will be able to hear the horn from there!
Tinkbellfan, we are down the hall from you on deck 7 in #7541.

 

[huntbrown]

We will be there as well. Looking forward to meeting everyone and so are the kids especially my dd. I'm so happy it's only two months away, I will take any escape to get out of this bitter cold.

 

[Tinkbellfan]

Okay I'm officially excited. I ordered a few "summer" items on-line today for the cruise and the few days in the parks before hand. Our whole gang will be at VWL arriving on the Wednesday before the cruise. That will give us our "fix" of the parks before we go.

huntbrown - how old is dd and ds?

momfromva - is the grandparents cabin near yours? The only viewing of the wave goodbye is on starboard. If you are out on the veranda you will hear the horn. You can also take the boys to the secret deck on deck 7. The sail-away party can get very loud, that's why deck 10 is my choice this year.

Disneymom92 - Grand Cayman has a pretty high "failure to tender" rate from what I have been reading. I've visited a few times (land vacations) and there is at least one day during the week when it is too rough to tender in. I'm glad to hear that they make it a special day on-board if that happens. It's too bad they can't build a dock big enough for the cruise ships. It is a really great place to visit and the snorkeling is really good.

Bobandlee - we are doing the same Dolphin discovery. I'll buy the first round of after swim libations.

 

[huntbrown]

DD is 9 and ds is 5. Not only am I to wanting to buy shorts, but I am wanting to start to pack - compulsive issues

 

[Tinkbellfan]

Not only am I wanting to buy shorts, but I am wanting to start to pack - compulsive issues

I hear ya! I started thinking about making my door magnets today instead of doing the laundry!

Well with your dd9, we certainly have a good group of "tweens" and I think we have a few ds in the 5 to 6 year old range. I think it will be a good mix!

I think my group has decided to play Grand Cayman by ear and go to Rum Point or Seven Mile beach if it's nice with a stop at the butterfly farm beforehand (on our own - no tours). I truly love the butterfly farm. It is small, but very well done. If the sea is rough at Seven Mile,we will head over to Rum Point. If the weather isn't beach weather, we will hit the botanical gardens for a little "walk about" (most of our group is from the UK) and lunch at a good restaurant (The Wharf).

 

[BobandLee]

FYI - my cabin # is 7622, but no knock and runs (I have a feeling BobandLee would be the culprits . . . just a feeling)

No, that would not be me.(see below)
Actually, since we are in the bowels of the ship (deck2), I probably won't ever make deck 7.

Bobandlee - we are doing the same Dolphin discovery. I'll buy the first round of after swim libations.

Libations??!!
I don't know, this is the cruise that I have to be a good role model.

 

[Tinkbellfan]

I was brought up with the idea that grandparents can do anything they want with the kids(ie. any purchases, candy, spoiling rotten) and then hand them back to the parents with no explanations!

Okay - libations can be held to a minimum, but I'm still buying!

 

[BobandLee]

I was brought up with the idea that grandparents can do anything they want with the kids(ie. any purchases, candy, spoiling rotten) and then hand them back to the parents with no explanations!

Okay - libations can be held to a minimum, but I'm still buying!

That may be true, but this cruise I think I better behave myself.
I don't have all of my bad influences that I blamed stuff on, cruising on this cruise.