March 3, 2007

[mark_story]

We have flown both US Airways and Southwest to Orlando. Southwest is by far less expensive and I think more accomdating for families with young children. From the DC area, its a pretty short flight (about 2 hours), so the airline doesn't really matter as much as the $$$ for the fares.

For a planning freak such as myself, the hard part is that SW only makes their flights available online about three months prior to the flight date; I hate waiting that long. On other airlines, you can book WAY in advance.

And for those who are looking for air fare deals, my search begins and ends using a search engine called SideStep. It is SideStep dot com. It searches wholesalers, Travelocity and the airline sites themselves. Also try Mobissimo - that's another good search engine, although I have found that it and SideStep return pretty much the same results.

Mark

 

[alanapapa]

thanks for the info Mark. I am still not finding much below $400 per person from Seattle. I hope SW will have something in a better pricepoint when it opens up.

 

[jlbridg2]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I just booked our 5th trip on the March 3, 2007 sailing. This will be our 2nd Disney Cruise (1st was the honeymoon, 7 day l/s). We're in room 5626.

I'm getting really excited. Does anyone have suggestions on the shore excursions? This will be our first time in St. Maarten and St. John.

Thanks!!

 

[alanapapa]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I just booked our 5th trip on the March 3, 2007 sailing. This will be our 2nd Disney Cruise (1st was the honeymoon, 7 day l/s). We're in room 5626.

I'm getting really excited. Does anyone have suggestions on the shore excursions? This will be our first time in St. Maarten and St. John.

Thanks!!

Welcome
Mark & Johnna might have a few ideas for excursions. This will be our family's first time to St Maarten and St John also. I think Mark posted a report on their last 7 day Eastern.

Again, welcome to the group

 

[Johnna_Story]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I just booked our 5th trip on the March 3, 2007 sailing. This will be our 2nd Disney Cruise (1st was the honeymoon, 7 day l/s). We're in room 5626.

I'm getting really excited. Does anyone have suggestions on the shore excursions? This will be our first time in St. Maarten and St. John.

Thanks!!

Welcome aboard jlbridg2!! Do you have children?? We did a couple excursions with our then 5 and almost 3 yr old; we did a St. Maarten tour through shore excursions (dot com) that was supposed to include beach time, but the weather didn't cooperate. The tour was pretty good though! And in St. Thomas, the boys were supposed to do the submarine tour, but DS got seasick on the way to the sub, so they didn't make it. But DUncle said it was great. So unfortunately we can't give much advice on excursions. I recommend two things to find out about excursions: the Passporter is a great investment with some really good evaluations on DCL and non-DCL excursions. And read the trip reports of folks who are on or recently were on the Eastern cruises.

I forgot where we ordered the passporter - on line, maybe passporter dot com, or I think you can get them from bookstores too. Although I'm sure my DH will jump in here and let you know for sure.

 

[alanapapa]

The Passporter can be found online(passporter dot com I think) and also at Barnes & Noble (on BN dot com too). My DW Caropooh works at one. Well worth having as a suplement to what you can find here on the DIS.

 

[alanapapa]

We have another person cruising

Caropooh's DM will join us on the cruise. My DMil will on deck 6 in an inside cabin, cat 11. We are going to move DD12 to her room. Her name is Shirley, but we all call her MAMGU, which is Welsh for Grandmother.

So let's all cheer and say "Hello" to Mamgu (pronounced mam-gee, rhyming with key).

Mommykeg or ChisSteph, have you made your flight plans yet? Can you pm me if so. Mamgu lives in Orange and will probably fly from LAX or ONT.

 

[michaels_mom]

Hello all!

I've just booked our 2nd Disney cruise for March 3-10/07 . Will be with DH and DS (6).

Last cruise was Western, we're looking forward to seeing some new ports!

 

[Qball]

I posted this on the main boards as well but I thought I'd ask here as well.

Last cruise, we stayed at the Radisson at the Port hotel the night before the cruise left. Rented a car from airport and drove to Port canaveral and had about a day to check out the sites. Stayed overnight and returned the rental car and took the hotel shuttle to the port in the morning.

Because we decided to do Disney world for a couple days, we rented a car after the cruise and stayed in Orlando.

Well this cruise, we are not planning to do "world". I'm checking into flights right now and there is a possibility that we might not need a rental car. Anyone taken the taxi from the airport to Port Canaveral and how much was it? What about from the port back to the airport? Or there is an option to buy some sort of transfer from the port to airport? costs? thanks for your input.

 

[michaels_mom]

Qball - we booked our flights through Disney, who put us on Northwest. They had Disney reps at the airport when we arrived, who then directed us to the DCL transfers. I believe that you can purchase these transfers directly from DCL as well. We did the flights with Disney too, since they are now liable if the flight is late to ensure we are picked up and get to the port before sailing!

Hope this helps!!

 

[alanapapa]

Hello all!

I've just booked our 2nd Disney cruise for March 3-10/07 . Will be with DH and DS (6).

Last cruise was Western, we're looking forward to seeing some new ports!

Hi michaels_mom and family. Welcome to the group .

 

[Johnna_Story]

Welcome michaels_mom!!

Qball - if you fly in same day, you can use Disney's tranportation to the port. But if you fly in earlier, you'll need private transportation. There are a lot of posts on the main board about town cars and companies people have used.

Either way, you can use their transport back to the airport.

 

[michaels_mom]

Hey all! Not too busy in here yet, I see - I was away for a few days on a mini-trip

I'm emailed DCL about changing our dining time to the earlier seating as DS is only 6 and possibly changing cabins, but they said I need to go directly through my TA - is this new? Last time we went I booked through a TA but then communicated directly with Disney for everything? Just wondering...

This is our first Eastern cruise - anybody have recommended "must see"s in any of the ports?

 

[mark_story]

Hi michaels_mom,

Here is a link to our trip report from last year's Eastern in February. It contains some humorous (and not so humorous) stories like my son barfing on the boat ride our to our submarine expedition in St. Thomas.

It should give you others' perspectives on shore activities, etc.

Mark

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1022927&page=1&pp=15

It is just me, or is the time flying by to our sail date?

 

[michaels_mom]

Mark_Story - wow! That link was very informative...sorry to hear about the unplanned mini-adventures in your trip but glad to read that things got better as the week progressed

Probably a silly question, as my deductive reasoning tends to be quite accurate, but I will ask anyway - what are "dummy reservations"? I assume these are re-bookings made while on a cruise that are changed at a later date? What are the required deposits when re-booking? Are there fees for changing these later?

Thanx!
M

 

[GDUL]

Hi all! We just booked this cruise today. Two couples going; my wife (Sharon) and myself (Gary), and Sharon's parents, Harold and Lucille. This is our second cruise (we were on the 2/25/06 cruise - hi kshabare!) and my
in-laws first. We'll be staying in staterooms 2548 and 2550. We'll be staying at OKW (Love DVC!!!!) the week before the cruise and driving to CC on that Saturday morning. We're looking forward to cruising again - this can become addictive!!! LOL!!!

 

[alanapapa]

Hi all! We just booked this cruise today. Two couples going; my wife (Sharon) and myself (Gary), and Sharon's parents, Harold and Lucille. This is our second cruise (we were on the 2/25/06 cruise - hi kshabare!) and my
in-laws first. We'll be staying in staterooms 2548 and 2550. We'll be staying at OKW (Love DVC!!!!) the week before the cruise and driving to CC on that Saturday morning. We're looking forward to cruising again - this can become addictive!!! LOL!!!

Wecome Gary Sharon, Harold and Lucille. Glad to have you along.

 

[Indea88]

Hi Jlbridg2 and Michaelsmom! Everyone!
We cruised on the Western last January. I download DING from southwest.com and when my home city becomes available as a DING fare to MCO I'm alerted. Last year it was $49.99 PP one way. I was DINGED about 8 weeks prior to the cruise. You have about two hours after the DING fare to purchase online. It's a beautiful thing!!
We haven't made plans for the night before. We'll fly in on Friday. Maybe Ron Jon (we have to use timeshare weeks!) Last year we stayed at AKL the night before ( you need more then one night there) The Raddison sounds like the place!
We think we might spend more time on the ship and in the room this time. DH really felt rushed and stressed trying to get to all meals in the dining room and all the excursions we had planned!! I was not able to visit the adult area/lounge to have a latte, this time it's on the agenda....all the things we missed last time..wine tasting(yes!!) Rockin D Bar (to dance maybe!!)
Oh and the transportation..It was a hoot last year, we took Prestige Towncar from AKL to Port and back to MCO, our driver, no lie clocked about 90 mph the whole trip ( he was racing a Mears bus!!) I thought I was in my DH's racecar. This time it will be Budget rental car from MCO to port, port to MCO. The Disney bus is fine but I had to hold my 2 year old on my lap ( no carseats!) I prayed for journey mercies and a little pixie dust!!
Can't wait for our new cruise adventure! Now we can do it with DIS friends!! Last year we had really quiet tablemates at dinner and I watched other tables having a blast!! This year will be different.!!

 

[michaels_mom]

Indea88 - we did the wine tasting last time - very nice - it was especially interesting when they opened a bottle of champagne with a steak knife - the ran the steak knife along the seam of the bottle and the popped off the cork with the glass top of the bottle still around it! We thought that was really neat!

 

[Johnna_Story]

Ok - I missed the wine tasting the last two cruises, and absolutely MUST do it this time. We should plan to go together! That way, I will HAVE to go so I don't let anyone down.