March 30th, 2013 Easter Western Fantasy

[west&east]

Hi all! I am excited to be taking my 3 girls (13 year old and twins that are 10) on the Disney Cruise over the holiday break (my husband opted to stay home)! We have sailed on Princess Cruises once so I am eager for the more kid friendly and family experience of Disney, especially since my twins is birthday is 3/30. I stumbled onto the chat board and was happy for the opportunity to make some friends before our trip (especially since we are traveling alone). Please let me know if you have children around these ages so perhaps they can meet up onboard, or email if you are comfortable with that. I also appreciate any advice from experienced Disney Cruisers to make the trip more fun for the kids! Thanks!

Hi and welcome. I'll be traveling with my husband, 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son. It will be great to meet. There are of course many other kids. There will be a meet and greet for the folks on this thread and on the facebook page on the first day about 3:30ish, details being finalized.

We have cruised on Princess a couple of times as well as other cruise lines. We sailed on the Magic in the Mediterranean in the Summer 2011 and can't wait to do another Disney cruise. We definitely felt it was a cut above Princess in many ways.

I think it is Jill who runs the facebook page for our sailing. If you look back through the thread, you will find somewhere how to join that if you are on facebook. If you can't find it, let me know and I will ask for you.

 

[Rabbitpack]

Hi Karen,
Lovely to meet you and thank you for the information! My name is Dina and we are from Los Angeles. Our 3 girls would be delighted to meet your kids and everyone else there! Our 13 year old is into her computer (Facetime with friends,texting and all that). If your daughter is as well, perhaps they can meet via the computer in some safe site?

I don't use Facebook usually, but I will get on to find out details.

I was curious about shore excursions. Since you have done many do you typically like to book through the cruise or do you try to find local operators?

Dina in Los Angeles

 

[west&east]

Hi Karen,
Lovely to meet you and thank you for the information! My name is Dina and we are from Los Angeles. Our 3 girls would be delighted to meet your kids and everyone else there! Our 13 year old is into her computer (Facetime with friends,texting and all that). If your daughter is as well, perhaps they can meet via the computer in some safe site?

I don't use Facebook usually, but I will get on to find out details.

I was curious about shore excursions. Since you have done many do you typically like to book through the cruise or do you try to find local operators?

Dina in Los Angeles

Hi Dina,
We are from Charlotte. Yes, my daughter is very much into all the technology and does have a facebook page. I closely monitor it so I would be ok if they met that way. I will send you a private message with my email so we can get them connected. If your daughter is a One Direction or Taylor Swift fan, even better
.
We usually do excursions through the ship and also local depending on the port, the schedule, etc. I signed up for the Disney sponsored Fury Catamaran for Cozumel because it looked like a lot of fun for all and the reviews on trip advisor are great. I wish it was a longer excursion but we decided to stick with that one. In Grand Cayman, I have a snorkel trip booked through Disney but I'm beginning to research doing something on our own. Grand Cayman is a good island to do things independently (safe, English speaking, etc.) and it is easy to get to the main places.

I think we may stay on the ship in Costa Maya. It is such a short port day and we always wish for more ship time especially when many people get off and it is less crowded.

Take care,
Karen

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Hi!
I am totally new to this so forgive me for missing the deadline. If there is still room, we would like to join the FE. I haven't done this before so I don't know entirely know the ins and outs, but it sounds like fun! I will be traveling with my 3 daughters (13,10,10) - my husband will be at home. We will be celebrating the twins turning 11 on 3/30.

We will be in room 10010. Please let me know what other information you may need. Even if the FE doesn't work out, I would just like to meet some other families since we are traveling alone. The chat would not let me send you a message directly so sorry for the public post.

Howdy, your Friendly Neighborhood FE Coordinator here. While the FE is technically closed, there is no harm in asking. I will put it to the FE group to see what the vote is and let you know.

 

[gbutzin]

I will be on this cruise with my family first time Disney cruiser.... Just learned about FE thing very cool I will do this next time as I see it is closed but I love reading about it.... I hope to continue reading more and learn more about this ship before we go... I am in an obstructed view balcony I hope it will be nice.... I hear great things about Disney and we are so excited. My wife and two girls 7 and 11...

 

[Rabbitpack]

Thank you! I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Rabbitpack]

I just sent a friend request to you on FB. From Tammy Myers.

Hi Jill,

I sent you a friend request on FB for the sailing group list. My name is Dina Reisman. Nice to meet you!
Thanks,
Dina

 

[snubadad]

I have a question for the group, my 9 almost 10 year old DD wants to do a dolphin encounter or swim. since all 3 ports offer this excursion can anyone recommend which one is best? I realize a parent must include themselves as part of the swim. thank you!

 

[DynamicDisneyDuo]

Rabbitpack: Since you don't have enough posts yet to send a PM, please email the following information to glcrwolf@yahoo.com:
I need your stateroom number, DIS name, breakdown of stateroom occupants (including whatever you are comfortable with such as ages, names, family name), any celebrations, any important info (such as favorite characters, likes/dislikes, allergies to avoid serious whoopsies) and an email address to send the list to.

We had a drop out so we can get you in.

 

[ali004]

Hi Dina and Karen,

My name is Alison and I have 3 boys (12,10, 3). I know my older boys would love to correspond, face time, or talk with your kids before the cruise so they will have some friends to meet while they are there. My email address is ali004@verizon.net or you can friend me on facebook at Alison Bowman Waters. Let me know if your kids would be interested or if you need any additional information.

Thanks,
Alison

Hi Dina,
We are from Charlotte. Yes, my daughter is very much into all the technology and does have a facebook page. I closely monitor it so I would be ok if they met that way. I will send you a private message with my email so we can get them connected. If your daughter is a One Direction or Taylor Swift fan, even better
.
We usually do excursions through the ship and also local depending on the port, the schedule, etc. I signed up for the Disney sponsored Fury Catamaran for Cozumel because it looked like a lot of fun for all and the reviews on trip advisor are great. I wish it was a longer excursion but we decided to stick with that one. In Grand Cayman, I have a snorkel trip booked through Disney but I'm beginning to research doing something on our own. Grand Cayman is a good island to do things independently (safe, English speaking, etc.) and it is easy to get to the main places.

I think we may stay on the ship in Costa Maya. It is such a short port day and we always wish for more ship time especially when many people get off and it is less crowded.

Take care,
Karen

 

[carolinamom]

Our excursions: (The Davis fam- me, DH, DD 8, DS 11)
Grand cayman - island tour and snorkel With the stingrays
Costa maya- Catamaran & Snorkel
Cozumel- Off Road Adventure to Jade Caverns
Last year (St. Thomas, St. Maarten), we did a non-Disney excursion in St. Maarten reccomended by disboarders. It was awesome! However, our St. Thomas excursion which was a Disney excursion (pirate ship adventure, snorkel with turtles, private island beach break..) was FANTASTIC- but it came back LATE! We were literally the last people back on the ship. The metal (gangplank?- lol) was pulled up as soon as my sneaker hit the ship. If the excursion hadn't been Disney, we'd have been out of luck. This year, ALL our excursions are through Disney.

 

[carolinamom]

--

 

[Rabbitpack]

That was really good to know about the Disney vs. non-Disney excersion. I have been trying to decide if we want to find some local operators for trips since it usually is less expensive that way.

 

[west&east]

That was really good to know about the Disney vs. non-Disney excersion. I have been trying to decide if we want to find some local operators for trips since it usually is less expensive that way.

If you go with a private operator, just give yourself a LOT of extra time to get back to the ship so you don't sweat it.

 

[DSRMary]

Our excursions: (The Davis fam- me, DH, DD 8, DS 11)
Grand cayman - island tour and snorkel With the stingrays
Costa maya- Catamaran & Snorkel
Cozumel- Off Road Adventure to Jade Caverns
Last year (St. Thomas, St. Maarten), we did a non-Disney excursion in St. Maarten reccomended by disboarders. It was awesome! However, our St. Thomas excursion which was a Disney excursion (pirate ship adventure, snorkel with turtles, private island beach break..) was FANTASTIC- but it came back LATE! We were literally the last people back on the ship. The metal (gangplank?- lol) was pulled up as soon as my sneaker hit the ship. If the excursion hadn't been Disney, we'd have been out of luck. This year, ALL our excursions are through Disney.

We are doing the catamaran and snorkel in Costa Maya too! Me, DH, and DS10

 

[DSRMary]

I have a question for the group, my 9 almost 10 year old DD wants to do a dolphin encounter or swim. since all 3 ports offer this excursion can anyone recommend which one is best? I realize a parent must include themselves as part of the swim. thank you!

I don't know about which is best, but we have done the dolphin encounter with Dolphinarus at Cozumel and really enjoyed it!

 

[carolinamom]

I CAN say that the non-Disney excursion was AWESOME!! And, yes, cost was much more desirable! I got my information for that tour through DISboards posters. I highly recommend doing that if you chose to book privately. I think we were just a little rattled by the circumstances of our excursion. I think a careful review of excursion times and "all aboard" times is really all you need. It is just within our "comfort zone" to have the security of going through Disney. The "Off road Xrails and Jade caverns" port adventure seems particularly prone to issues delays and it's a long excursion, and since Cozumel is such a brief port, we felt A LOT better going through Disney.

We'll be the group covered in mud running for the ship...

 

[Halo]

DW doesn't like snorkelling so I have booked/am booking the following:-

Grand Cayman - 7 Mile Beach, day passes at either the Westin or the Marriott.

Costa Maya - Tour of Chacchoben with Native Choice.

Cozumel - day room booked at Presidente Intercontinental Hotel.

On past experience we prefer to do non-Disney tours.

 

[gbutzin]

We booked Dolphinaris on our own through them. I see some previous posters in Cozumel have done this. Did you walk to this or take a taxi? I have been told it is quite close to port . Look forward to seeing some of you on ship

 

[Griffith6]

Hi Dina
We are in south Orange County, CA and have 3 girls and a boy on this cruise. My oldest daughter is 12 and middle daughter is 10 1/2 so fun if our girls get to meet up. This is our 3rd Disney cruise - my kids are so excited - they LOVE kids club.

Look forward to meeting you all.
Debbie