March 27, 2012 *SPRING FLING DOUBLE DIPPIN DREAM*

[twinmom108]

Tonight at midnight EST all of us first time cruisers can do on line check in. What arrival time do you have? I am hoping for an early one! Fingers crossed!

Yay!!!! Anxious to know what you all are booking tonight. Hope everything you want is available to book.

Our port arrival time is 11-11:30am.

 

[parrisk]

Too bad all the Cabanas are gone, I was thinking of spurging. Oh well. We really don't have any plans as we have never been on a cruise before, so we may just hang out and enjoy and leave the excusions and reservations for the next cruise (I am hoping there will be a next cruise!) With a six year old in our group parasaling is out, but that is something the older boys love to do! I have never done it and would love to try it sometime too.

About a Dis Meet in WDW - we are there from March 17th to the 24th and then on to Universal before the cruise. I have a general idea of what park we will be at each day, so if you can get something set up I will do my best to be there too!

Not much longer! We are getting very excited!

Sounds like fun. We will be at Universal Studios the 4 days before the cruise. Can't wait to check out Potterland.

 

[parrisk]

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone had a nice holiday and is looking forward to a new year. We put our final payment down this week and because we are Silver members I was able to get our spa reservations all taken care off. We decided not to book any shore excursions. I was trying to get DH to do the Aquaadventure but we decided to enjoy the ship. We figure we might get a chance at the pools while everyone is on shore.

Also got that all important boarding time. I was able to get an early spot. We are driving to the port this year, it will be a first for us. We usually take WDW transportation however we are driving due to the skyrocketing airline prices. Flying back on the 1st is just wicked. Have to do some research on port parking.

Happy New Year!
Lisa

Was able to check in online Dec.28th. I scored an 11:00 port arrival time. I made online reservations for parking at The Radisson. I found an online coupon for $5.99 per night. We have been to Nassau several times and plan on staying onboard that day.

 

[cschnell]

I checked in this morning and was shocked to be able to get a 11:00-11:30 check in time! The count down is on.

 

[modegard]

I checked in this morning and was shocked to be able to get a 11:00-11:30 check in time! The count down is on.

I am in early as well! I tried at midnight for a while but their website is so unstable! It took me an hour to do online check in this morning with all the server errors I got. Unbelievable. For a high traffic website you would think they would have better programmers.

I booked floaties and bikes for the two days we are at Castaway Cay and a high tea for my mom, aunt and myself on our sea day. I looked at the massages, but so expensive! I am going to leave the excursions for our first cruise so we can check out the ship and Castaway Cay, hopefully there is a 'next cruise' that I will book excursions on.

 

[twinmom108]

It sounds like several of us have the 11:00-11:30am checkin time slot.

 

[jvelasco]

I, too, had major difficulties trying to do check-in at 11:00 CST last night. Tried for 45 minutes and gave up. Did check in this morning and got the 11-11:30 port arrival time. I have no idea how that translates to a boarding time. Last night I was able to book the catamaran excursion on CC and the two-day float rentals. Wanted to book Palo but nothing was available, at least the days we wanted.
Looking forward to the cruise!

 

[modegard]

I will be the stressed mother yelling at four very excited boys who will all be talking, pushing and poking each other. Not to mention trying to keep track of husband, aunt and uncle and grandparents (who may or may not be talking, pushing and poking at all once as well ). I can hardly wait! We will all be wearing matching shirts (if I can get everyone coordinated)!

 

[Bamfield]

Was able to check in online Dec.28th. I scored an 11:00 port arrival time. I made online reservations for parking at The Radisson. I found an online coupon for $5.99 per night. We have been to Nassau several times and plan on staying onboard that day.

Thanks for the tips on the parking.

It sounds like several of us have the 11:00-11:30am checkin time slot.

We also have that 11am checkin timeslot.

I saw someone got the tea at Palo, I really liked it but my DH didn't. He thought it was just for ladies and was uncomfortable but I was hesitant to go alone as we had no other traveling companions. Next time, I would do it alone. It was really relaxing and they take such good care of you. I checked recently and there looked like a lot of dinner reservations were available except for the sea day.

 

[twinmom108]

I LOVE YOUR SHIRT!!!!!

 

[parrisk]

I have gotten pirate costumes together for me, DH, and DD15. DH is worried not many people will be dressed up. How many of you plan on dressing up?

 

[modegard]

I have gotten pirate costumes together for me, DH, and DD15. DH is worried not many people will be dressed up. How many of you plan on dressing up?

My two little ones (7 and 9) will be dressed as Captain Jack of course. The rest of us have pirate t-shirts and eye patches. Nothing too exciting. I wish we had better costumes. I think it will be fun!

 

[modegard]

I LOVE YOUR SHIRT!!!!!

Thanks Sharon! I love them too. My 14 and 13 year olds and not excited about matching shirts, but they are good sports and humor their mom when it comes to Disney stuff.

 

[modegard]

Those of you that have cruised before, do you think I can be off the boat and to my ride by 8:00 am or should I schedule the pick up for later? We are thinking of taking our luggage off ourselves. My parents do this when they cruise (not DLC) and it works for them. We would not take our luggage to breakfast, I don't usually eat breakfast anyway so I would be in the room still organizing while everyone is eating.

So 8:00 am through customs and off the ship? Is is do-able?


Merilee

 

[Deweysgirl]

I'm sorry to say that we had to change our cruise to another date and won't be sailing with you all. Hope you have a wonderful voyage!

 

[Bamfield]

I have gotten pirate costumes together for me, DH, and DD15. DH is worried not many people will be dressed up. How many of you plan on dressing up?

We typically don't dress up but enjoy the folks that do! Most the time we get an early excursion the day of the party and I can barely stay awake for the fireworks.

Those of you that have cruised before, do you think I can be off the boat and to my ride by 8:00 am or should I schedule the pick up for later?
So 8:00 am through customs and off the ship? Is is do-able?

Merilee

You can get of the ship really early. We have been to the airport by 9:30 before taking Disney transportation so with private transportation it should be just as smooth. However, my only experience is with the smaller ships. I was wondering myself how well that will work.

The other thing new for us this trip is we usually use onboard checkin so we never have to "find" our bags. With onboard checkin, you don't see your bags until you arrive at your home airport. Taking just your slip to the customs officer is usually quick.

Lisa

 

[twinmom108]

I'm sorry to say that we had to change our cruise to another date and won't be sailing with you all. Hope you have a wonderful voyage!

Sorry to see you go, but at least you'll still be on another Disney cruise to enjoy!!!

 

[twinmom108]

Those of you that have cruised before, do you think I can be off the boat and to my ride by 8:00 am or should I schedule the pick up for later? We are thinking of taking our luggage off ourselves. My parents do this when they cruise (not DLC) and it works for them. We would not take our luggage to breakfast, I don't usually eat breakfast anyway so I would be in the room still organizing while everyone is eating.

So 8:00 am through customs and off the ship? Is is do-able?


Merilee

I've only been on the Wonder & the Magic so I don't have any experience with the larger Disney Ships yet. How soon you can get off depends on a few things.

First is you have to wait for customs to clear the ship before disembarkation can start. In 6 DCL cruises, customs cleared the ship early for us. There have been times, though when customs held up DCL ships & delayed disembarkation. I think that's why DCL suggests not booking a flight before noon, just to be sure.

Another factor is who else/how many others are wanting to disembark at the same time. Of course more people, longer lines & longer time to get through the whole process. This also applies if you are taking Disney Transportation back to the airport or Disney Parks too.

Bottom line is if you want to get off early be at the disbarkation station/doors early. Maybe even keep an eye on any line forming for disembarkation.

Our worst case scenario (time wise) was about 1 1/2 hours to get off the ship & through customs. Oddly enough this was a 5 day Bahamas cruise on the Disney Magic. There were tons of people getting off at the same time. We started about 8:30 & were through customs at 10 am.

Best case scenario, we waited till about 9:15 am, relaxed on the ship then wizzed thru customs in about 20 minutes.

I also think I read something here on the Disboards that they are now assigning disebarkation groups. Meaning like checking in you have a time window for leaving the ship. -Don't quote me on this because maybe I dreamed it up but if this is so & you get a time that doesn't work for you then go to guest services to help you out.

So is 8am doable? I'd say absolutely if customs clears the ship by 7am (which I think is often) & you're one of the first to get off the ship.

 

[twinmom108]

Ok, since we've never been in a hurry to get off the ship & never really paid too much attention to customs' ship clearing times, I'm really curious to what really is the norm. Sooo I started a new thread on the DCL forum for other Diser's to post when their Dream cruise ship cleared customs & disembarkation started. Hopefully we'll get some hits on it & I can post the info here or you can follow the thread.

 

[modegard]

Ok, since we've never been in a hurry to get off the ship & never really paid too much attention to customs' ship clearing times, I'm really curious to what really is the norm. Sooo I started a new thread on the DCL forum for other Diser's to post when their Dream cruise ship cleared customs & disembarkation started. Hopefully we'll get some hits on it & I can post the info here or you can follow the thread.

Cool, thanks so much!