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

[Ayeegit]

So we're getting a bit overwhelmed looking at all of the excursion options - having never been on a cruise before, we really don't know what to expect on those days we'll be at St. Maarten and St. Thomas - there are certainly lots of options!

If we *don't* book any excursions, what are our options for the day? I assume there are beaches nearby where the boat is docked - do they get really crowded? If we're primarily looking to do lots of swimming/snorkeling (planning on bringing our own gear), and not as much sightseeing/shopping, will we be OK just doing things "on our own"? Or are we going to be better off booking a snorkeling excursion on one or both of those days?

Thanks for any advice - been reading through the various threads and websites, but it's A LOT of information to try and distill down...

 

[Ayeegit]

OK I think we've picked a few excursions - and had thought that we'd be able to start reserving them this evening @ midnight EST (which was 20 mins ago) - but it still says "not available".
Guess I'll try again tomorrow - anyone else been able to start the process?

NM - Had to log out and log back in, and now can do it - but we don't see the Pinel Island Snorkel trip listed - is that not offered anymore? Closest thing we see is the Tiki Hut snorkel - but looks like it's full already.

 

[jcarwash]

OK I think we've picked a few excursions - and had thought that we'd be able to start reserving them this evening @ midnight EST (which was 20 mins ago) - but it still says "not available". Guess I'll try again tomorrow - anyone else been able to start the process?

I started booking Palo and excursions at 12am ET -- I got Palo added -- but at the moment there is an issue with continuing to work on the reservation. The excursions I picked didn't seem to get added, but when I tried to re-add them they said there was a conflict, and now I cannot log back in. Getting a "Sorry, we are unable to retrieve your reservation" message.

Update: The error state cleared up, and I was able to complete my stuff. Palo dinner for the sea day before Castaway Cay and two beach excursions, one for Orient Bay and one for Magens Bay.

 

[karajeboo]

OK I think we've picked a few excursions - and had thought that we'd be able to start reserving them this evening @ midnight EST (which was 20 mins ago) - but it still says "not available".
Guess I'll try again tomorrow - anyone else been able to start the process?

NM - Had to log out and log back in, and now can do it - but we don't see the Pinel Island Snorkel trip listed - is that not offered anymore? Closest thing we see is the Tiki Hut snorkel - but looks like it's full already.

I logged in at 12:08 and was able to book Palo and the spa, plus get Ally registered for kids club. We are pretty much doing our own thing in St Maarten and St Thomas. Renting a car on St Maarten.... Oh, and I booked the water sports package for all of us on CC.

March 1st sounds good with me. Do we do 1 gift/stateroom or 1/person?

It depends what you are doing. I am doing one gift for each cabin, and then individual goodies for everyone.....

 

[karajeboo]

When is everyone doing Palo? We are doing it Wednesday (St Thomas day) at 6:30.

 

[KristiMc]

When is everyone doing Palo? We are doing it Wednesday (St Thomas day) at 6:30.

We are doing dinner on Sunday at 8:00 and brunch on Thursday at 11:30.

 

[jcarwash]

When is everyone doing Palo? We are doing it Wednesday (St Thomas day) at 6:30.

Thursday sea day dinner at 6pm.

 

[Ayeegit]

We weren't planning on a Palo meal - we'd rather eat with the girls. Are we going to regret not trying it?

 

[coleenmark]

This is our first Disney Cruise and I was afraid I would run into closed out Excursions if I waited too long.

I set my alarm for 11:50 pm last night and was ready to log on at the stroke of midnight. Sounds like I may have been lucky but I got into the system and booked all of our Excursions, a Palo Burnch and a Spa visit.

Palo Brunch Monday 11:30
St Maarten - See and Sea Explorer
St Thomas/St John - Doubloon Turtle Cove Sail and Snorkel
Castaway Cay - Castaway Ray's Stingray

Now trying to figure out this FE thing and decide about participating.


Me DW DS8 DS5

 

[luvndizny]

I'm fine with the March 1st deadline for signing up for FE's. I also plan on a cabin gift and individual goodies. Do we usually do one round? Meaning...one day you give out your gifts or each day? We are probably taking the train down so we're limited on space. Might send ours ahead to the ship??? Hmm....decisions, decisions.

I better get on deciding on the excursions! I hope Tiki Snorkel really isn't booked, that's the one we really wanted to do. :-(

As far as Palo- we haven't decided on that either. LOL!

 

[luvndizny]

Anyone else have such a hard time getting the DCL website to work for reservations? I must have gone on there at least 6 times in a row to try to book Palo brunch....and would wait and wait and wait..and then get an error message. (I got all the way to the point where I clicked on which day/time and then it was supposed to let me know if I could get it or not..then the error message.)

Guess I'll keep trying... I can only stay up so late- we have snow/ice on the roads here and I gotta get up super early to get to work on time. Just curious if this is the norm for booking?

 

[jcarwash]

Anyone else have such a hard time getting the DCL website to work for reservations? I must have gone on there at least 6 times in a row to try to book Palo brunch....and would wait and wait and wait..and then get an error message. (I got all the way to the point where I clicked on which day/time and then it was supposed to let me know if I could get it or not..then the error message.)

Guess I'll keep trying... I can only stay up so late- we have snow/ice on the roads here and I gotta get up super early to get to work on time. Just curious if this is the norm for booking?

I didn't have the same issue as you, but their system does seem a little fragile. I got into an error state where it looked like I was locked out of my reservation. After several minutes that condition cleared up and I could finish adding excursions. Adding Palo was no issue though.

I did use the contact form at first to report the problem. Their response was good despite my not needing help by the time they got back to me. The form is here: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/contact-us/

 

[karajeboo]

We weren't planning on a Palo meal - we'd rather eat with the girls. Are we going to regret not trying it?

I've heard yes and no. We are total foodies so that's why we are doing it. Plus, I just think Ally is going to love the kids club that she won't even want to hang with us!!!! l

Anyone else have such a hard time getting the DCL website to work for reservations? I must have gone on there at least 6 times in a row to try to book Palo brunch....and would wait and wait and wait..and then get an error message. (I got all the way to the point where I clicked on which day/time and then it was supposed to let me know if I could get it or not..then the error message.)

Guess I'll keep trying... I can only stay up so late- we have snow/ice on the roads here and I gotta get up super early to get to work on time. Just curious if this is the norm for booking?

I couldn't get it last night either - I want to change my spa appt. Just tried again and same thing......

Where are you in NC? We are in Spartanburg, SC and the city is basically shut down yesterday and today!!!!

 

[jcarwash]

I just checked the DCL site and they are having a different issue now. I can call up my reservation but cannot access Cruise Plans or the online check-in section. You get the Please Wait screen with the ship on the ocean that sits for a minute or two and then it times out with another page with this error message:

"Sorry for any inconvenience, but we're having a problem with our reservation system that will prevent you from booking your vacation package or retrieving your reservation right now. Please call your travel agent or (800) 951-3532 weekdays 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. ET or weekends 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. ET and our agents will gladly assist you. (F1512005)"

 

[jac1976]

Just got off the phone with my travel agent and she is on with Disney right now getting everything booked! (Yes, they are having issues with their website, but they were happy to book my reservations for things over the phone.) Palo is almost booked already! She said there was tons of space on the last night, but other than that we were able to get in at 8:30 pm on Wednesday. We booked the Coral World excursion in St. Thomas and the Butterfly Farm excursion on St. Martin - I let my kids choose what they wanted to do, and with a 3 year old our choices were limited, but I'm looking forward to it!

 

[karajeboo]

Just got off the phone with my travel agent and she is on with Disney right now getting everything booked! (Yes, they are having issues with their website, but they were happy to book my reservations for things over the phone.) Palo is almost booked already! She said there was tons of space on the last night, but other than that we were able to get in at 8:30 pm on Wednesday. We booked the Coral World excursion in St. Thomas and the Butterfly Farm excursion on St. Martin - I let my kids choose what they wanted to do, and with a 3 year old our choices were limited, but I'm looking forward to it!

Interesting.... I called DCL and they said the ONLY way to change my spa treatment time was online. That just sounds like a lazy CM to me.....

 

[luvndizny]

I was able to book Palo dinner sometime yesterday for *I think* the second day at 8:30. (I saved it immediately because of the issues I have been having even getting in on the site.) When that page popped up finally, pretty much everything was all booked up dinner-wise. I was really hoping for a dinner later in the week. After that though, I haven't been able to get on past the log-in info page. I too get the pic of the boat, the 'please wait' and then finally the error page as you mentioned.

I hopefully will get to book Palo brunch and at least one excursion... I am going to try calling in a little while since I and others are not having any luck getting on the DCL cruise plans, etc. Kinda thought they'd fixed it by now as it has been at least 24 hours since it all started. Someone mentioned on another thread I started re. the DCL website issues that there's a new discount code and maybe they're having issues because of that? Don't know. Of course, now I'm curious which code/which cruise because I'd love to get a discount.

I really hope I can get through somehow because we really wanted to try the Tiki Hut snorkel! Anyone else on here going to that? If we can't get that one, we want to at least try for another snorkel, possibly the butterfly farm.

 

[MNBrooke]

Now that the holidays are over, this cruise is the next big thing to look forward to other than COLD Minnesota Winter Days.

 

[MNBrooke]

My daughter will turn 10 on the trip!!!! Will yours be in the kids clubs at all?

Please PM me your info for the FE Exchange if you want in. I need last name, everyone's first names and kids ages, email address and cabin# (if you know it already).

I'll email list out end of Feb or early March for everyone.

Yea! So excited our little group is finally growing!!!!!

Hi, It says your PM is full and cannot receive.

 

[SeeJayPandP]

I am a Disney Cruise "newbie" and would like to participate in the FE. I can't send a personal msg until I make 10 posts but please put us on the list if you can!

Me, DH, DS (8) and DD (7)

We haven't been able to book ANYTHING. We keep getting the ship picture and the error eventually. I've called them and they assured that no one could book anything. hmmm...seems like they may have been wrong.