~~~ May 16, 2009 ~~~ Western Magic ~~~

[dznyacct]

I was just on the DCL website and there is availability for cat 12 on our sailing .

 

[lillygator]

wow Val - you are updating excursions too?

We are doing -

Grand Cayman - Rays, Reef and Rum Point Tour
Cozumel - Tour of the island via hired driver and ending the day Paradise Point
Key West - Trolley Tour and Butterfly and probably some restaurants for a few cold ones

 

[lucyddr]

I'm cool with late dinner "linking" of reservations as well.

We will be having adult beverages each night (either wine or mixed drinks) if it matters. (Just don't want to offend anyone!) My preference would be the 8:00 dinner time, and my second choice is the 8:30. If we do the 8:15, our formal dinners won't be Lumieres at all and I'm not that fond of formal dining in Parrot Cay...

 

[texfinn]

I'm cool with late dinner "linking" of reservations as well.

We will be having adult beverages each night (either wine or mixed drinks) if it matters. (Just don't want to offend anyone!) My preference would be the 8:00 dinner time, and my second choice is the 8:30. If we do the 8:15, our formal dinners won't be Lumieres at all and I'm not that fond of formal dining in Parrot Cay...

Sounds good to us! I am all for 8:00 if possible but 8:30 is cool too. We do like to linger at dinner -- we would spend 3 hours eating dinner on our honeymoon in Greece -- it was FABULOUS. I don't think we will have the kids with us every night. Sabrina has already asked to eat at the "Club" after viewing the video last night BUT we may have the kids a few nights. I am worried about not having tablemates. I actually want tablemates -- think it could mix up things and make dinner more exciting!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

AS for linking dining reservations -- I am game but we have the LATE seating, and possibly two tired kids (DS4 and DD7). We should also note, me and DH do enjoy our wine in case that is offensive to anyone. Would love to meet up with anyone who sounds like they could put up with us AND who is FUN!!!!!! (aren't we all???)
[\QUOTE]We're on late dinning as well. We won't have any kids with us, but tired kids won't bother us at all. I'm not a drinker (it would just put me to sleep) but Jim will most likely be having a frozen something or another. I have no idea what dining time we selected. Hmmm, better get out the documents and see if it is listed there somewhere.

I hope we are on the FE list. We definitely want to participate.

We have changed our accomodations. We now have a navigators verandah with an inside room across the hall. Our cabin #'s are: 5640 & 5639. We will have 1 FE. DS's will be 21 & 19 at time of sailing. Still have 2nd seating dinner.

I'll add you to the list. Which cabin will have the FE?

Lunch time is over, so I better get back to work...

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

I just jumped back to page one. Wow Val you've really gone all out. I'll type up our info and try and dig up a picture to post tonight.

Thanks for all the work that you've done.

 

[austin77]

Anyone going to be watching the Daytona 500? If so who are you cheering for?

Im a HUGE Dale Jr. Fan!!!

 

[Hudson5&Lennon3]

Only in Nebraska is it 50 degrees & sunny, but schools are already announcing a late start for tomorrow. (We're expecting 5-8" of snow tomorrow, but it seems weird to plan for it when it's so nice out now!)

 

[lucyddr]

Sounds good to us! I am all for 8:00 if possible but 8:30 is cool too. We do like to linger at dinner -- we would spend 3 hours eating dinner on our honeymoon in Greece -- it was FABULOUS. I don't think we will have the kids with us every night. Sabrina has already asked to eat at the "Club" after viewing the video last night BUT we may have the kids a few nights. I am worried about not having tablemates. I actually want tablemates -- think it could mix up things and make dinner more exciting!

That would be great! (We are also "lingerers" unless there's some activity that we are really, really interested in...which isn't usually the case.) We LOVE kids, I just not stable enough in my new practice to have any yet. (I'm hoping to book a cruise for 2010 so we can work on that!) I like tablemates as well, as it keeps things fun! I don't know how to "link" things though, so we'll need someone who's done it to help! I think Disgirl and Lillygator are interested ,but I don't remember their dining times!

 

[tigger2002]

Hey Austin, I live within walking distance of Bristol Motor Speedway.

<

 

[Hudson5&Lennon3]

I don't know how to "link" things though, so we'll need someone who's done it to help!

I have been linked before but didn't do the linking. I think you need everyone's reservation # when one person calls DCL, and they'll arrange it. One problem we had previously, though, was two families that were cruising together were separated when they got linked with the rest of the group. Then they had to rearrange tables at the first dinner so that the ones cruising together were sitting together. Our family actually still ended up at a table for 4 somehow, though. But we were still surrounded by other DIS'ers!

I wouldn't mind being linked with other early people (we'll probably request the 6:30 seating APLLAPL--of course, we won't know for sure until checking in at the terminal), but I really don't want to be separated from my parents and have to rearrange at the last minute. But I think it would be fun to be around everyone else or even have more people join our table of 6!

 

[Disgirl83]

That would be great! (We are also "lingerers" unless there's some activity that we are really, really interested in...which isn't usually the case.) We LOVE kids, I just not stable enough in my new practice to have any yet. (I'm hoping to book a cruise for 2010 so we can work on that!) I like tablemates as well, as it keeps things fun! I don't know how to "link" things though, so we'll need someone who's done it to help! I think Disgirl and Lillygator are interested ,but I don't remember their dining times!

We are also late dining and we're game for any of the seatings. Of course we don't have kids (like you lucyddr we will probably be working on that later this year) and not offended by anyone who wants to drink. We may have a drink at dinner but probably wait until the clubs at night. It doesn;t take much alcohol to get me tipsy and I don't want to seem too silly. Just let me know when and how we need to link!

 

[Disgirl83]

Hey Austin, I live within walking distance of Bristol Motor Speedway.

<

Very cool. One of my DH's best friends lives about 10 minutes away from the track too. We spend the weekend with them when we get lucky enough to get tickets to the night race. We have season tickets at Martinsville and Charlotte, but don't always get to go as often as we like due to our schedules. My DH is a Mark Martin fan. I still haven't decided one my "one" driver. When I was 5 I was the biggest fan ever of Kyle Petty and since he's become more uncompetitive I've not really made my mind up.

 

[suezyq50]

I was just on the DCL website and there is availability for cat 12 on our sailing .

There hasn't been any. Does that mean there are upgrades!?!

 

[2_Eagle_Mom]

Val here is our plan thus far:

Key West – FKLP Tour – Electric Car and drive around to see the sites
Day at Sea – Possible spa
Grand Cayman – Shipwreck and Snorkel Tour
Cozumel – Mexican Cuisine Workshop (there were two really great responses to my request for info)
Day at Sea – Brunch at Palo
Castaway Cay – Serenity Bay & Bike Rental

Writing it all down has made it seem more real. Now I can hardly wait for Sunday when we can book all the tours.

I'm bummed that the launch was moved. We were so looking forward to getting a chance to see it.

Anyone have any experience with any of the onboard tours/activities on sea days? The last cruise we were on was the 3 day so we didn't have any experience. Is there a tour thats a "not to miss" activity? Like I said I'm not a drinker so the wine/martini/beer tasting isn't really up my alley. Of course if they had a chocolate tasting I'd be there in a hot minute.

 

[Hudson5&Lennon3]

Of course if they had a chocolate tasting I'd be there in a hot minute.

Ooooooh!! I would, too!!! Bingo was pretty fun last time but a little spendy. It seemed like the bars in Beat Street would have various games going on throughout the day, too. We had an hour between the tequila & beer tastings, and we played some sort of '80s music trivia game that (I think) was fun. (I just had 3 shots of tequila and 2 margaritas in ~15 minutes, so it's a little foggy! Mmmmmm...strawberry margaritas. DCL's are the BEST! They add Chambord for extra berry flavor! Sorry...I got off on a tangent!) Anyway, I'm drawing a blank on anything else we did (I'm tired), but maybe tomorrow I can pull out my Navigators and see what else we did. I know we're planning on doing the Galley Tour this time.


I'm hoping I'll also have time tomorrow to get everyone updated on #1.

 

[Faith&Hope]

The only things we paid for at Paradise Beach was the beer & nachos. No entry fee (unless you did the water activities, which we did not do) and no chair/umbrella fee. I think it might also be called San Francisco Beach (or at least was right next to it). I remember seeing a sign with both names on it, but I don't know if it's because they're two separate beaches or just an alias. The food area was just an open-air hut type thing where the bar is (in the background of the pic below). I don't even remember if there were tables to sit down at or if you just ordered food & took it to the beach with you.

I don't think this is the beach that I was talking that we didn't enjoy! This sounds great. Hopefully I didn't scare anyone away by mentioning Paradise Beach not being good! I haven't had the chance to look up the name but it's not Paradise Beach!

 

[Faith&Hope]

I know it's been talked about but I can't find the time this week to pull all the info together! Pirate night, formal night, etc. I sailed Western last year but my stuff from last year is packed up and I can't get to it! With just switching cruises, I haven't researched when to book Palo!

Thanks!
Kym

ALright guys, help me! I am really confused about the schedule. I seem to remember pirate night last year after Grand Cayman.

Here's all I've dug up
Sun: key West
Mon: Sea day Formal night/Captains Gala/Golden Mickeys
Tues: Grand Cayman
Wed: Cozumel Pirate night
Thurs: Sea Day Semi-formal night/Kids show (old graduation)
Friday: Castaway Cay

Is this wrong? It just doesn't seem to follow my western cruise last year. And the dining rotation really throws it off! What are the shows each night? What is the best night for Palo? It used to be Tuesday but that is a gamble with the dining rotation.

Tim-can you please send me the navigators? Maybe this would help me!

THanks..I'm still catching up and need to take notes!

Kym

 

[lillygator]

morning cruisers! Everyone ready for the 3am reservations?

 

[texfinn]

Morning Everyone! Does that open up for y'all tonight at 3am or tomorrow at 3am?

I am still at a loss as to what to do in Cozumel with the kids. My neighbor told me the dolphin thing is nice but pretty pricey for the 10 minutes you get with the dolphins and then there is the whole issue of the taxi vouchers -- not so sure I want to cab it alone with two young kids in Mexico. I posted a couple of threads on the main board -- let's see if anyone has any suggestions. I am going to check with the TA I booked with too -- they have excursions that might work.

As for dinner -- I am more than willing to call and link up reservations. Do I do that via my TA or via DCL? There were a few of us so far. Should we wait to see if there are more or can we add more later?

Looks like a good mix except -- are you guys sure you don't mind our kids? They are pretty well behaved but heaven knows how they will be after several days on the ship. We do believe in sleeping in on vacation even if it means missing breakfast (we can always order in Room Service) so except for Excursion days, we are thinking that may help the kids from completely melting down after staying up late several nights in a row!

Ok, off to finish up a Business Case

Have a GREAT day!!!!