March 26, 2011 - Eastern Caribbean Magic and FE Exchange!

[jcarwash]

I got the Castaway Club mail yesterday. Inside there is a PIN code for 10% off prevailing rates for cruises in 2011 and 2012, excluding the Fantasy maiden voyage on March 31. Must be booked by June 1. You can call with the PIN code or use a TA.

 

[KristiMc]

I got the Castaway Club mail yesterday. Inside there is a PIN code for 10% off prevailing rates for cruises in 2011 and 2012, excluding the Fantasy maiden voyage on March 31. Must be booked by June 1. You can call with the PIN code or use a TA.

We got Castaway Club mail a couple of days ago. We did not get a pin code but it thanked us for booking another cruise on board.

 

[FrogLady23]

I got the Castaway Club mail yesterday. Inside there is a PIN code for 10% off prevailing rates for cruises in 2011 and 2012, excluding the Fantasy maiden voyage on March 31. Must be booked by June 1. You can call with the PIN code or use a TA.

Yeah!!!!! I guess I am going to have to make up my mind to commit........ I guess it still would have been better to book on the cruise for the OBC.

I got my cruise docs really late compared to a lot of people, so I won't hold my breath for the castaway club docs.

Did you use a TA? The docs wouldn't go them first would it, like the cruise docs?

Thanks for the update.

 

[jcarwash]

Did you use a TA? The docs wouldn't go them first would it, like the cruise docs?

We used a TA (Dreams Unlimited) and the cruise docs and the CC mail both came directly to us. Maybe different TAs set up the mailings differently? But for the CC docs I'd think DCL would just send you the info directly...

 

[karajeboo]

We got Castaway Club mail a couple of days ago. We did not get a pin code but it thanked us for booking another cruise on board.

Same here...... I think what I'm going to do is take the cruise I booked on board for the DISmoms next year, and convert to one for my family. Then my buddy Ellen (podsnel), one of the other DISmoms is taking a cruise she booked for her family and can't use, and booking THAT one for the DISmoms. That way I can take advantage of the OBC and the discount.....

Tammie, i booked through Dreams also and got all my docs sent straight to me......

Right now we are discussing going sometime in 2012 and staying in an inside stateroom, or waiting til 2013 and booking a verandah....... We had a verandah with solid wall on this one and I liked it, but not enough to pay that price. It's either clear verandah or inside...... I am just afraid of being claustrophobic inside, unless we do one of the new ships with virtual porthole....... Any thoughts on this?

 

[karajeboo]

We spent all of last night online looking at cruises. We definitely have the bug...... Now thinking of trying the Wonder (we have lots of Delta skymiles to fly free) and trying the LA cruise....... We have so many ideas in our heads right now - try another cruise line to compare, wait 2 years and do DCL again, do a shorter DCL next year.... oh what to do, what to do!!!!!

 

[FrogLady23]

Same here...... I think what I'm going to do is take the cruise I booked on board for the DISmoms next year, and convert to one for my family. Then my buddy Ellen (podsnel), one of the other DISmoms is taking a cruise she booked for her family and can't use, and booking THAT one for the DISmoms. That way I can take advantage of the OBC and the discount.....

Tammie, i booked through Dreams also and got all my docs sent straight to me......

Right now we are discussing going sometime in 2012 and staying in an inside stateroom, or waiting til 2013 and booking a verandah....... We had a verandah with solid wall on this one and I liked it, but not enough to pay that price. It's either clear verandah or inside...... I am just afraid of being claustrophobic inside, unless we do one of the new ships with virtual porthole....... Any thoughts on this?

So one of my friends (non-cruiser) is thinking I might need an intervention from the boards and the DCL website. She said I should try and go 4 days without doing cruise research. I think I made it two days.....

I am having all of the same thoughts about the next cruise....

First - I still haven't gotten anything from DCL.... It's like waiting for my cruise docs all over again.

We stayed inside and I am a fairly claustrophic person. I was fine with the inside. Though we did split our queen into two twins, so we had a lot more space in between the beds. My only thought about getting a port-hole statereoom would be because it was soooo dark, I didn't want to wake up on sea days. We were getting up around 9:30, and I feel like I missed doing stuff. Someone said there's a channel on the TV that shows outside, and to use that for some pseudo-natural light. For the price, I will probably go that route - though probably bump up to the split bathroom layout.

The LA cruises would be cheaper for us because of the flights. I have been looking at every possibility. I'd like to go when the kids are out of school. Maybe even next summer.

 

[karajeboo]

So one of my friends (non-cruiser) is thinking I might need an intervention from the boards and the DCL website. She said I should try and go 4 days without doing cruise research. I think I made it two days.....

I am having all of the same thoughts about the next cruise....

First - I still haven't gotten anything from DCL.... It's like waiting for my cruise docs all over again.

We stayed inside and I am a fairly claustrophic person. I was fine with the inside. Though we did split our queen into two twins, so we had a lot more space in between the beds. My only thought about getting a port-hole statereoom would be because it was soooo dark, I didn't want to wake up on sea days. We were getting up around 9:30, and I feel like I missed doing stuff. Someone said there's a channel on the TV that shows outside, and to use that for some pseudo-natural light. For the price, I will probably go that route - though probably bump up to the split bathroom layout.

The LA cruises would be cheaper for us because of the flights. I have been looking at every possibility. I'd like to go when the kids are out of school. Maybe even next summer.

It's funny because Jeff keeps saying, "step away from the cruise websites...." and then what do I catch him doing????

Did you have the split bathroom in your room? I know the Dream and Fantasy have that virtual porthole and I think that would be cool. But right now we just can't commit to anything.

We are all over the place as far as what to do. The Wonder on an LA cruise. The Dream on a 5 night Double Dip. The Magic on a 6 night Western. Alaska. Wait 2 years and hope the prices drop a bit and try the Fantasy. AAHHHHHHHH! Too much information!

We've been checking out youtube videos of different cruise ships. There is a Carnival that cruises 5 night Bahama cruises out of Charleston, SC (which is only a 3 hour drive for us) and we thought about asking Jeff's parents to go with us (his dad gave his mom a cruise for their 25th anniversary and that was like 15 years ago and they never went!!!!). But the ship, the Fantasy is so old, even though it went through a major renovation, and it doesn't even have balcony staterooms. And it's a smaller ship than the Magic (funny how everything is compared to that, huh!) Granted, the three of us could go for about $1200 in an oceanview room, but when we looked at the videos online........

I really have become a cruise snob..... So then we started looking at the Norwegian Sun (it left PC right before the Magic did). It was renovated less than a year ago and it looks more like the Magic inside, neutral colors, etc. We could do 3 cruises on the Sun for 2 on the Magic. And it's about the same size as the Magic. Oh, and the spring break cruise next year is a Western out of PC (even though I don't really care about those ports) and it goes out the same day as the Fantasy's maiden voyage! That would be neat to see!

Then we checked out the Oasis and Allure of the SEas (the only RCCL ships I liked) but they are the same price as DCL so forget it!!!! Although they are SOOOO incredibly huge they look really cool.

I would love to do a summer cruise too, but the prices are significantly higher. But we only have one more year with Ally in elementary school and then it will be too hard to take her out once she gets into middle school.... maybe that just made my decision for me. Maybe we do whatever we can next year for spring break and then try another cruise line that is cheaper once she's in middle school. I don't know!

 

[FrogLady23]

It's funny because Jeff keeps saying, "step away from the cruise websites...." and then what do I catch him doing????

Did you have the split bathroom in your room? I know the Dream and Fantasy have that virtual porthole and I think that would be cool. But right now we just can't commit to anything. We didn't have the split bathroom. It worked out fine for us (surprisingly). Though, I was thinking next of bumping up to at least that level on the next cruise.

We are all over the place as far as what to do. The Wonder on an LA cruise. The Dream on a 5 night Double Dip. The Magic on a 6 night Western. Alaska. Wait 2 years and hope the prices drop a bit and try the Fantasy. AAHHHHHHHH! Too much information! Totally agree!!!

I really have become a cruise snob..... So then we started looking at the Norwegian Sun (it left PC right before the Magic did). It was renovated less than a year ago and it looks more like the Magic inside, neutral colors, etc. We could do 3 cruises on the Sun for 2 on the Magic. And it's about the same size as the Magic. Oh, and the spring break cruise next year is a Western out of PC (even though I don't really care about those ports) and it goes out the same day as the Fantasy's maiden voyage! That would be neat to see!

Then we checked out the Oasis and Allure of the SEas (the only RCCL ships I liked) but they are the same price as DCL so forget it!!!! Although they are SOOOO incredibly huge they look really cool.

I would love to do a summer cruise too, but the prices are significantly higher. But we only have one more year with Ally in elementary school and then it will be too hard to take her out once she gets into middle school.... maybe that just made my decision for me. Maybe we do whatever we can next year for spring break and then try another cruise line that is cheaper once she's in middle school. I don't know!

I just got my "coupon". Not sure what to book (but totally feel like I have to and am kicking myself in the aft (thanks for that one Kara) for not booking on board). My son REALLY wants to go on an Alaskan cruise, but I've heard that other lines have better itineraries.... So we are probably leaning towards something the week of March 24, 2012. I've looked at the choices for summer and the only thing I might be interested in is the 8-day bahaman cruise on the Magic. It has 4 sea days (maybe 5 if we don't get off the ship in Nassau), and a port day in Port Canaveral (6:15am to 11:30pm) totally enough time to do a park Travel wouldn't be too bad for y'all. Who knows for us? It might turn out to be about the same as going into Florida. Though, I would probably tack on a couple of days in NY to see the Statue of Liberty and stuff.

Tori really only cares about going with Ally. She doesn't care where we go just that we "go".

 

[karajeboo]

I just got my "coupon". Not sure what to book (but totally feel like I have to and am kicking myself in the aft (thanks for that one Kara) for not booking on board). My son REALLY wants to go on an Alaskan cruise, but I've heard that other lines have better itineraries.... So we are probably leaning towards something the week of March 24, 2012. I've looked at the choices for summer and the only thing I might be interested in is the 8-day bahaman cruise on the Magic. It has 4 sea days (maybe 5 if we don't get off the ship in Nassau), and a port day in Port Canaveral (6:15am to 11:30pm) totally enough time to do a park Travel wouldn't be too bad for y'all. Who knows for us? It might turn out to be about the same as going into Florida. Though, I would probably tack on a couple of days in NY to see the Statue of Liberty and stuff.

Tori really only cares about going with Ally. She doesn't care where we go just that we "go".

Ally says the same thing!!!!! They were great together.

I need to check that itinerary.....somehow missed that one. And since it's not around Easter (when we have spring break next year) it will be cheaper.....

Last night I made a spreadsheet with DCL, RCCL, Carnival, Princess, NCL and Celebrity. I compared prices for our spring break next year and DCL is totally out. Cheapest available is $3500 for cheapest room available. I think that is the luggage room......

But we can cruise another line with a balcony for $2800 at the most.

And since we are pulling Ally out in early December for a week at WDW with my family, I just don't know if I should do another week out of school. Plus we are considering inviting Jeff's parents to join us. This may have to be a decision we make closer to the time of Spring Break, and based on how Ally is doing in school. This year she struggled for the first time in Math and got her first C. We are in a great school district though that doesn't have blanket statements regarding pulling kids out of school for vacation. They basically say if your child hasn't missed a lot of school and they can handle being gone, have at it.

 

[jcarwash]

...and a port day in Port Canaveral (6:15am to 11:30pm) totally enough time to do a park...

That 8-day Bahamian from NY stop in PC is for the included "excursion" to WDW. Everyone in the party gets a Park Hopper ticket for the day.

Or you could skip that and ride the go-carts next to the gas station in Cape Canaveral.

 

[FrogLady23]

That 8-day Bahamian from NY stop in PC is for the included "excursion" to WDW. Everyone in the party gets a Park Hopper ticket for the day.

Or you could skip that and ride the go-carts next to the gas station in Cape Canaveral.

OMG! I hadn't read that part. That might be enough to sell (sail) me on this one. The one that leaves on June 2 is pricing at $2644 for three (11c)..... HMMM!!! And I would get 4 beloved sea days.

With the 10% PIN for those of us that didn't rebook, it looks like the small print says that you have to sail in 2011 or 2012. I called Disney today and they said that if I moved it out, I might not get the 10% on another cruise.

 

[jcarwash]

With the 10% PIN for those of us that didn't rebook, it looks like the small print says that you have to sail in 2011 or 2012. I called Disney today and they said that if I moved it out, I might not get the 10% on another cruise.

According to my TA at DU the 10% can be moved to 2013 as long as the rebooking is done before the final payment on your "dummy" cruise is paid. So I'm looking at a 2012 date to grab the discount.

 

[FrogLady23]

According to my TA at DU the 10% can be moved to 2013 as long as the rebooking is done before the final payment on your "dummy" cruise is paid. So I'm looking at a 2012 date to grab the discount.

Okay, that makes more sense. The lady I spoke with seemed a little confused.

BTW, I think I priced the NY cruise for only 2 people. It's more like $3749 DOH!

 

[karajeboo]

Tammi don't do that to me!!! I saw your original quote for 3 and I was getting ready to call!!!! We are really liking the idea of the California cruise on the Wonder but probably not until 2013 or 2014. Did you see the photos of it passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge? I think even Jeff was intrigued by that.

Now looking at RCCL for next year..... Hoping I can get Jeff to agree to DCL every other year......