May 2, 2014 - A WONDERous trip through the Locks WBPC

[ImDMous]

Let's get this party started! Who's in for 14 months of planning a Fiesta at Sea?

For FE list: add yourself at FE Google Doc

Candy Exchange: PM bobbiwoz

DIS Meet: 3:00PM in the Promenade Lounge on Deck 3 Aft -Time Change

DIS/FaceBook lunch: Last Sea Day in the dining room - PM bobbiwoz

Secret Mickey: Secret Mickey Form

DIS Pin Trading Times: Day 6 in Diversions at 10AM and Cartagena Day in Diversions at 3:30PM. PM bobbiwoz if you have questions

Champagne and Tiaras Princess Meet: location and sea day TBD, bring a bottle of bubbly to share. PM Jeff Spencer Hosted by wife Susan

Roamin Mickey: PM GoinPlaces63 to get added to the list


Private Tastings - The lists are closed for our private tasting events, but you can always join a regular one at Guest Services on-board.
We have about 30 people each in 2 Mixology classes, Champagne, Wine, Martini and Tequila Tastings. I'll put up a schedule around 2 weeks out when DCL confirms our dates.


Other things mentioned but not planned yet (feel free to suggest more or volunteer to plan or help):

PJ breakfast - ?
DIS meet for Kids - ?
Game Nights - ImDMous

Facebook page for our group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/637605662932146/

 

[aan1701]

We are in. This cruise will keep our streak alive of WBPC cruises on DCL. My name is Alan. At time of sailing I will be 39, yikes. My DW is Dawn she will be a couple of years older than me. Right now we are in 7563. We do not plan on doing any type of FE or secret Mickey. If this cruise is anything like the one this coming up may, we will be in a balcony room. I work for SWA, and for this years WBPC they are offering a great deal on 5B so we jumped on it and will do so again if offered.

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[PirateLife4Me:)]

All aboard!!!!!!!! This will be my first Panama Canal cruise so here we go.

 

[aan1701]

All aboard!!!!!!!! This will be my first Panama Canal cruise so here we go.

This will be number 5 with DCL through the canal and number 7 through the canal total.

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[MDennis28]

Convince me please. Been on 4 DCL cruises but never the Panama Canal one. Tell me why you love it and why I should book it too please.

 

[aan1701]

Convince me please. Been on 4 DCL cruises but never the Panama Canal one. Tell me why you love it and why I should book it too please.

Nothing better than being on a relaxing vacation for two weeks especially on a DCL ship. Also it would normally drop me off at home but for whatever reason this time they are using San Diego instead of my home of L.A. It's the perfect trip.

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[PirateLife4Me:)]

Wow 5 pc with DCL, you must do it more for the 2 week vacation then the ports. So you are flying to Miami before the cruise?

 

[aan1701]

Wow 5 pc with DCL, you must do it more for the 2 week vacation then the ports. So you are flying to Miami before the cruise?

Yes. I could care less about the ports. This cruise I may not step foot on land again after Key West.

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[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Helloooooo!

We are also booked on the 2014 WBPC! Crossing the canal has always been something the hubby & I have dreamed of. At the time of sailing I'll be just shy of the big 4-0 but the hubby will celebrate 42 onboard. Our boys will be 18 & 16. <-- I'm slightly worried about the 18 yro having enough to do outside of Vibe. The 16 yro I'm sure we'll see at least at dinner every night. We homeschool so I'm sure there will be some educational stuff snuck in on the boys by me.

We've sailed the Dream twice and the Magic twice. We'll be on the Fantasy at the end of May. Cruising seems to be the perfect fit for us at this stage in our lives.

Currently we are booked in an 05C, 6540. Going to be interesting to see how we handle that little space. The last 3 times we've sailed we've either upgraded to or booked 00Ts.

Lovin' the ports for this cruise! A full day in Key West is gonna rock! We looooove Key West! Both my sons have said, "I'm not getting off in Colombia!" When asked why they said, "Drug cartels. No, thanks." Sounds like we need to learn something to associate with Colombia other than cocaine production. The husband and I love the thought of some of the adventure excursions in Puerto Vallarta but we'll have to see when it gets closer to time how we feel about actually going on one. At this point we're cautiously optimistic about moving about in Mexico at all. I'll have to do more studying and reading first. Mostly we are looking forward to the relaxation overload. Oh YES!

Don't think we'll jump in with any fish extender exchanges.

So for the experienced long-cruisers...we'll have more than 1 formal night, right? I guess I'll go study some PC navigators to start getting a feel for things.

Looking forward to the next year+ of planning fun with new friends!

 

[aan1701]

I would expect there will be 2 formal nights and 1 semi formal night. This years cruise also goes to Columbia. Just like this one after our day at CC I am not getting off the ship till we get to L.A. just like after Key West I don't think I will get off until we get to San Diego. Oh and welcome. I would reshop when you go on the Fantasy in May. I plan on reshoping when we do this cruise in May.

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[sweetpee_1993]

I would expect there will be 2 formal nights and 1 semi formal night. This years cruise also goes to Columbia. Just like this one after our day at CC I am not getting off the ship till we get to L.A. just like after Key West I don't think I will get off until we get to San Diego. Oh and welcome. I would reshop when you go on the Fantasy in May. I plan on reshoping when we do this cruise in May.

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Thanks for the welcome!

I'll definitely keep an eye on the pricing. We used an older "dummy" booking for this booking which saved us over $700. That was nice.

I thought the long cruises has 2 formal nights. We did tuxes for the guys and a gown for me on our recent 8-night Magic cruise and were one of maybe 2 families dressed that way that I saw. It was sorta odd. I think the cruise out of Galveston with the Kids Sail Free and all had a TON of first timers and probably many didn't even know there was a formal night. I'm totally on the fence with skipping the MDR for formal night on our upcoming May Fantasy sailing. The PC may get the same cold shoulder on those nights. We're waaaaay too laid back for all that. Cruise casual is dressy as I can stand.

 

[aan1701]

I never miss the MDR. I hate dressing up but I will for those three nights and right after dinner I will change. No tux for me that's where I draw the line. I will wear my jacket and tie.

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[katzs13]

We booked this cruise as soon as it came out last Tuesday. It will be me my husband and our then 6year old daughter. This will be our 7th disney cruise. We are so excited. Now comes the long wait.

 

[PirateLife4Me:)]

Helloooooo!

We are also booked on the 2014 WBPC! Crossing the canal has always been something the hubby & I have dreamed of. At the time of sailing I'll be just shy of the big 4-0 but the hubby will celebrate 42 onboard. Our boys will be 18 & 16. <-- I'm slightly worried about the 18 yro having enough to do outside of Vibe. The 16 yro I'm sure we'll see at least at dinner every night. We homeschool so I'm sure there will be some educational stuff snuck in on the boys by me.

We've sailed the Dream twice and the Magic twice. We'll be on the Fantasy at the end of May. Cruising seems to be the perfect fit for us at this stage in our lives.

Currently we are booked in an 05C, 6540. Going to be interesting to see how we handle that little space. The last 3 times we've sailed we've either upgraded to or booked 00Ts.

Lovin' the ports for this cruise! A full day in Key West is gonna rock! We looooove Key West! Both my sons have said, "I'm not getting off in Colombia!" When asked why they said, "Drug cartels. No, thanks." Sounds like we need to learn something to associate with Colombia other than cocaine production. The husband and I love the thought of some of the adventure excursions in Puerto Vallarta but we'll have to see when it gets closer to time how we feel about actually going on one. At this point we're cautiously optimistic about moving about in Mexico at all. I'll have to do more studying and reading first. Mostly we are looking forward to the relaxation overload. Oh YES!

Don't think we'll jump in with any fish extender exchanges.

So for the experienced long-cruisers...we'll have more than 1 formal night, right? I guess I'll go study some PC navigators to start getting a feel for things.

Looking forward to the next year+ of planning fun with new friends!

I visited Cartagena about 2 years ago and walked around just fine. You have to remember that these places are all geared mainly for tourism and the locals respect that. It's way different then flying into another major city in Colombia and just walking around. The locals know that a cruise ship is there and respect that, but that's just my opinion. I also just visited Mexico on a cruise and everything was very calm and the locals were all real nice. In my opinion, nothing to worry about.

 

[aan1701]

I visited Cartagena about 2 years ago and walked around just fine. You have to remember that these places are all geared mainly for tourism and the locals respect that. It's way different then flying into another major city in Colombia and just walking around. The locals know that a cruise ship is there and respect that, but that's just my opinion. I also just visited Mexico on a cruise and everything was very calm and the locals were all real nice. In my opinion, nothing to worry about.

Last time I was in Cartagena was 20 years ago when I was 18 on Princess. The army came on and surrounded the outside decks with armed solders saying it was for our safety. That left a very bad memory of that place and I wish this, or this years cruise was not going there.

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[aan1701]

Here are a couple of pics of the Wonder going through the Canal in 2011.
This is in the first set of Locks we will come to, the Gatun Locks. You can see one the steps up we will take.

This one is approaching the Centennial Bridge.

This is clearing one of the lock chambers.

This shows how tight it is in a lock chamber.

This is the cooks BBQing for us.

I hope you enjoy these pics. I might post a few more later, but this is a taste.

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[PirateLife4Me:)]

Well figure that early 90s in Colombia were full of drug wars and so on but a lot has changed from what I have seen, but I understand where you are coming from. That's nice that DCL was having a BBQ on deck 9, I've never seen that before. From your experience are the PC cruises usually fully booked or does the ship sail pretty light?

 

[aan1701]

Well figure that early 90s in Colombia were full of drug wars and so on but a lot has changed from what I have seen, but I understand where you are coming from. That's nice that DCL was having a BBQ on deck 9, I've never seen that before. From your experience are the PC cruises usually fully booked or does the ship sail pretty light?

I am sure things have changed, but in the long run I have such a bad impression I will be staying on the ship. Hey empty ship means I get more one on one time with the bar tender. The ship will have all cabins sold most likely but it will not be full. Also in all of my cruises over 7 nights there has been only about 300-400 people under 18 on the ship. So expect the Cove to be busy.

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[dennes]

Hi there
Tis will be our second DCL cruise. We w
Cruised the California Coast on one of the Pixar cruises in September and fell in love with the Wonder . My eldest son Ceejay will be turning 11 whilst on he cruise, my sn Koby turns 7 just before the cruise. I will be 38 and DH turns forty two weeks after we get off the Wonder. So yes a nice time to be cruising.

Because of our exchange rate in NZ, we are essentially paying 25%more for our cruise so we will be yet agin on deck one in an ocean view room. We loved the layout of this room last time and it really worked for us so we will be again in a room down there, we are actually going to wait a wee while before booking as the exchange rate is supposed to get slightly better but we have committed to coming.

We won't be doing fish extenders or any of that. We are resting and relaxing and chilling out for fifteen nights in board!! We will be taking in Orlando and WDW with the children before the cruise and then heading home from LA after wards

I just love your country I just can't wait!!!!!

Looking forward to chatting with you all
Cheers
Deb

Does anyone have navigators that we can drool over?????