March 8, 2008 Western

[mkmommy]

Good Luck keeping the secret, I wanted to keep it a secret, but my girls love planning a trip that I thought it would be better to get them involved. They love talking about the cruise and are looking forward to meeting lots of other new friends.

Lisa

 

[Ottawacruiser]

My DW informs me that we have just made our final payment for this cruise!

There will be 4 of us:
Me - the Ottawacruiser
DW
DD1 - will be 17 on the cruise
DD2 - will be 14 on the cruise

We've previously done the Eastern cruise on the Magic but this is our first Western - we're all looking forward to it.

This is March break for our kids here in Ontario Canada so I'm assuming there will be a larger contingent of Canadians on this cruise!

See you all on board,

... Mike (aka Ottawacruiser)

 

[retiredkid]

My DW informs me that we have just made our final payment for this cruise!

There will be 4 of us:
Me - the Ottawacruiser
DW
DD1 - will be 17 on the cruise
DD2 - will be 14 on the cruise

We've previously done the Eastern cruise on the Magic but this is our first Western - we're all looking forward to it.

This is March break for our kids here in Ontario Canada so I'm assuming there will be a larger contingent of Canadians on this cruise!

See you all on board,

... Mike (aka Ottawacruiser)

Hi, Mike:
The two of us, DH 65 on cruise and myself 57 are leaving from Toronto.
Have you booked your air yet? We are talking minimum $1100 EACH now for non-stop. YIKES DH does not like transfers.
Are you flying? driving?
This is still a rather quiet thread, compared to some.

 

[Ottawacruiser]

Hi retiredkid:

My wife booked our air a few months ago using my points so we are flying for "free"! The flight is Ottawa-Orlando direct and we're arriving in Orlando a few days before the cruise leaves to give us some buffer to departure as well as to give us some time to enjoy the parks.

Interesting that you are in Toronto. I'm down here on business right now and I'm writing this from Markham!

I hope you get over that airline sticker shock soon!

Regards,
... Mike (aka Ottawacruiser)

 

[garytam]

Hi retiredkid:

We are also from GTA area, have you consider flying out from Buffalo. It cost US$1,200 for family of 4.

 

[retiredkid]

HOLEY SMOKES, GARYTAM. What a savings. I will check on the internet after supper. I guess you drive and pay for parking at airport? stay over? thanks for the tip.

 

[dragonflydreaming]

Hi, Mike:
The two of us, DH 65 on cruise and myself 57 are leaving from Toronto.
Have you booked your air yet? We are talking minimum $1100 EACH now for non-stop. YIKES DH does not like transfers.
Are you flying? driving?
This is still a rather quiet thread, compared to some.

Holy Cow! We booked our flights back in July and it was really reasonable. So much so that we were able to use our Visa travel miles to pay for all 4 return flights. I had no idea the prices jumped up so high as time went on.

Have you considered going down a day or 2 before March break starts? The rates may be a lot lower going down if you leave on the Thursday.

Also, the Buffalo idea is a really good one. I have friends that fly out of there all the time and they swear by it. We decided the trip would be long enough for our little ones without adding the drive home from Buffalo at the end.

Good luck! I hope you find a deal somewhere.

 

[dragonflydreaming]

Isn't the "magic"al 90 day mark for booking excursion etc. fast approaching???

 

[mkmommy]

I second the Buffalo option. Just got back yesterday and it took me 3 hours 15 minutes from the time the plane landed to get luggage pick up car, cross the border and drive home. 3 hours is the norm from Pearson so spending an extra 15 minutes to save $1700 is a no brainer ($1000 Buffalo to MCO and $2700 is the cheapest I have seen for the same dates out or Pearson)

My 7 year old daughter is getting so excited, does anyone else have young daughters going, mine are hoping to make lots of new friends, and spend lots of time in the pool?

3 months and 3 days until I get some nice weather, it was beautiful in Orlando last week, I can't wait to head back.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

My DD is also 7.

 

[garytam]

Hi retiredkid

We drive over the night before and staying at one of the hotel near the airport. Almost all airport hotels includes a week or two parking, shuttle service and breakfast. Usually check in around dinner time then drive over to Galleria mall's CheeseCake factory for dinner. If you decide to park at the airport, I think it cost about $50.00 for a week of preferred parking.

We book Southwest, but you may want to check Airtrans and couple other airlines that you can check in from the ship.

 

[dragonflydreaming]

I second the Buffalo option. Just got back yesterday and it took me 3 hours 15 minutes from the time the plane landed to get luggage pick up car, cross the border and drive home. 3 hours is the norm from Pearson so spending an extra 15 minutes to save $1700 is a no brainer ($1000 Buffalo to MCO and $2700 is the cheapest I have seen for the same dates out or Pearson)

My 7 year old daughter is getting so excited, does anyone else have young daughters going, mine are hoping to make lots of new friends, and spend lots of time in the pool?

3 months and 3 days until I get some nice weather, it was beautiful in Orlando last week, I can't wait to head back.

Mine are excited as well.

Maybe they'll meet onboard.

DD6 and DS5

 

[mkmommy]

My daughters will be the 2 girls at the bottom of the slide trying to convince themselves that they can do it. They have seen videos of the slide and really want to do it, but my youngest hates water in her face and my oldest will not want to do it alone.

Lisa

 

[disneyfaninaz]

My DD7 loves the water and slides, she would be the one offering to go up with your DDs.

 

[Out to Sea Lee]

Has anyone begin to look into what excursions they are going to book? Is any one going to be brave enough to do one on their own?? The 75 day mark is approaching quite quickly. We are so excited...We'll atleast I am. I cannot wait until we tell the kids. It's almost everyday one of them says, "I cannot wait to go back to Disney World." This is even better!!!

 

[retiredkid]

Ive been looking, but haven't decided yet. I'm excited too. there is just DH & I, so no kids to worry about. Considering the romance package, but don't know about the excursions. what about you?

 

[mkmommy]

I am still having a hard time with excursions. I am thinking of going to Boatswain Turtle Farm on Grand Caymen, I am thinking of doing that on my own, but I will wait and see what there 2008 prices are. It is supposed to be easy to do on your own. I am not sure how my daughters are going to like the ocean, so I don't really want to go on an extended trip to the ocean and find out they hate the salt water. Last time we were at the ocean, one mouth full of salt water and that was it for the beach. I am hoping they will like it more this time.

Lisa

 

[dragonflydreaming]

I am still having a hard time with excursions. I am thinking of going to Boatswain Turtle Farm on Grand Caymen, I am thinking of doing that on my own, but I will wait and see what there 2008 prices are. It is supposed to be easy to do on your own. I am not sure how my daughters are going to like the ocean, so I don't really want to go on an extended trip to the ocean and find out they hate the salt water. Last time we were at the ocean, one mouth full of salt water and that was it for the beach. I am hoping they will like it more this time.

Lisa

We decided last cruise to skip excursions at 1 port and stay on the ship. It was wonderful. The ship is really quiet. We decided that for our family we had booked too many excursions last time and there wasn't enough down time (our kids were 4 and 5). This time we asked them what they wanted and they said more swimming time. So we've booked things so that we have as much pool and beach time as possible. I had wanted to book the Botswain excursion but the family decided it was too much for 1 day.

Here's what we're doing this time.

Key West
no excursions-we'll probably go for a little walk or just stay onboard and enjoy the ship

Grand Cayman

Sea world explorer semi-sub (early) and then off to the beach

Cozumel
booked dolphin discovery again! got the latest time slot available so that we can stay on the ship all morning and use the water slide etc. when it's not busy

Castaway Cay
rented floaty stuff and booked the family to go to the stingray adventure again. we loved it. We booked the last time slot then as well because getting them away from the beach and their floaty stuff would not be fun early on. This way we swim and play all day and then go play with the stingray's just before we board the ship again.


We booked Palo High Tea Monday (at sea)
Palo dinner Tuesday (after Grand Cayman)
Brunch Thursday (at sea)

Hope this is helpful!

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Hi March 8th Cruisers We are on the Magic the cruise prior to yours. March 1-8th. We are taking part in the pass it forward thread, where one of the DISers collects all left over sand toys, water, door hangers etc and passes it to the next group of DISers. If you are interested, be sure to join in on the thread. I will come back and post the thread's link. Julie may have already contacted you. I did not want to be into your cruisemate business, so I did not go back and read your thread to see if she posted. Countdown underway. We will keep the chairs by the pool warm for ya.

Here is the link, my computer was not allowing me to copy it for some reason, so I copied the thread insert.
There is a thread going right now

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1627762

for people wanting to pass on items such as over the door hangers, pails & shovels, unopened snacks/water, etc... to people on the following cruises.

We currently have someone on the cruise prior to yours looking for someone to leave items to. If you are interested, please respond on that thread. I will add the first person who responds...

 

[mkmommy]

Port days on ship sound like a good idea, I know my kids will love having the pool a little less hectic than it sounds like is gets on sea days.

There are a couple of the Sub Tours on Gran Caymen, is one better than the other.

We just saw Enchanted on the weekend, and the girls are really hoping it is still playing in March. I just know there is going to be too many things to do and not enough time.

Lisa