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

[PirateBob]

Hey everyone. Well now that our vacation bid results are out, I will defiantly be in this cruise. I hit the two weeks I needed. Let the relaxation begin.

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Great, we will see you soon.

 

[Muushka]

Hello everyone. Real close to booking this but have one reservation. Kids missing so much school. Ages are 16, 14, and 12. Now usually each year we take them out about a week because we can get great FL rates on off season. With this being almost 2 and a half we are a little apprehensive.

So, anyone with children in this age range going? Maybe done it in the past? Any opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

Hi. I'm sorry I can't help you, We're kidless (not to be confused with clueless )
Hopefully someone with kids can give you some encouragement. In the meantime, I hope you can come!

 

[socababy]

This trip seems so far away!!

I have been pressuring my father in law to hammer down plans for spring break. He was wanting to take our big family trip to either Atlantis or Scottsdale during my kids spring break. Well he is a procrastinator and when he went to try to book either one of them, they were unavailable through his timeshares. So I started thinking about what to do during that spring break. Aulani has been near the top of my list ever since I became a DVC member 18 months ago but was discouraged by being only able to travel during the kids breaks and not being able to book until 7 months out. So I just happened to go onto the DVC member website and was looking at WDW and saw that I still had optins there. My boyfriend lives there and works for DVC but he is on the ships about two weeks out of the month. Of course he doesn't have his schedule for april yet so I didnt want to book at trip to WDW if he wasn't going to be there. Then I decided to see what was available to Aulani. I was so surprised to see many options available. Before booking anything, I checked flight prices. Most were around $700/$800. Ouch. Then I started seeing a mon-mon trip would be a lot cheaper. I ended up finding flights for just a little over $500 pp which is a good deal for Hawaii. So I went back onto the dvc website and within 30 minutes, had a 2 bdrm booked for the kids and grandma and grandpa and a studio booked for my sister and brother in law and my neice. And I got flights book for everyone too. I like to get things done and I hate waiting. I told my father in law I should plan all our trips from now on.

Just thought I'd share my excitement! Now the boys cant be sad when they don't get to go on this cruise because they will have just been to Aulani weeks earlier!!

 

[aan1701]

Good for you. We just finished booking two weeks at Animal Kingdom for Food and Wine in Oct. Booked the first 7 nights online then had to call everyday for a week to add on one night at a time. So vacation is now all set for next year. A week at WDW for my birthday, this cruise, then two weeks back to WDW.

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[granmaz]

Just back from our 6 week trip and now ready to begin planning this one. Hope you are all well and getting on with planning. Though of course the upcoming weekend and Christmas put that on hold for a while.

We had a great time. 26 nights onboard the Crown Princess, 8 nights in Florida(2 at Vero Beach and 6 at SSR) and then flight to NY, 2 nights in Brooklyn and back home on the QM2. All in all wonderful. This time next year though we are thinking a longer Orlando stay as our 6 nights just was't enough and I wasn't ready to leave.

 

[Muushka]

It sounds like a dream vacation. How was the QM2?

 

[granmaz]

We love the QM2. Only been on her for 5 Transatlantic crossings, not the longer cruises, and it is a great way to cross the Atlantic instead of flying. My husband likes the quality lectures. I just become lazy or should I say lazier?

 

[bobbiwoz]

We love the QM2. Only been on her for 5 Transatlantic crossings, not the longer cruises, and it is a great way to cross the Atlantic instead of flying. My husband likes the quality lectures. I just become lazy or should I say lazier?

I remember when you first mentioned your plans I thought they were amazing! Was it a relatively calm ocean crossing?

 

[granmaz]

Not at first. There was a storm coming south and one coming north and due to meet on our normal course. They changed our course a bit to avoid it but it was still rough. It got to 40+ ft waves. But the QM2 is built for the North Atlantic(shape, strong hull, 2 sets of stabilisers etc) and even with the bad storm it was very steady and though they warned us to hold hand rails and be careful, it was really good. Great for wave watchers and photographs, though the full effect doesn't show in the photos. We had to go at a higher speed for a while to catch up which was great too. It was calm for the last 3 days and on one day they were sunbathing a little too which for the North Atlantic at this time of year is pretty good.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Not at first. There was a storm coming south and one coming north and due to meet on our normal course. They changed our course a bit to avoid it but it was still rough. It got to 40+ ft waves. But the QM2 is built for the North Atlantic(shape, strong hull, 2 sets of stabilisers etc) and even with the bad storm it was very steady and though they warned us to hold hand rails and be careful, it was really good. Great for wave watchers and photographs, though the full effect doesn't show in the photos. We had to go at a higher speed for a while to catch up which was great too. It was calm for the last 3 days and on one day they were sunbathing a little too which for the North Atlantic at this time of year is pretty good.

Thank you for the report!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

 

[katzs13]

We just booked this cruise. It will be me, my husband and our 6 year old daughter. We cannot wait. Can we be apart of the fe? Also is there a Facebook page?

 

[granmaz]

Hi there and welcome. You are going to have a fantastic cruise. I think there is a FB group but I'm not a member of this one so can't give a link, sorry.

 

[PirateBob]

We just booked this cruise. It will be me, my husband and our 6 year old daughter. We cannot wait. Can we be apart of the fe? Also is there a Facebook page?

Wecome to the group, the Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/groups/637605662932146/. I hope this helps.

 

[Brixton]

Hello everyone. Real close to booking this but have one reservation. Kids missing so much school. Ages are 16, 14, and 12. Now usually each year we take them out about a week because we can get great FL rates on off season. With this being almost 2 and a half we are a little apprehensive.

So, anyone with children in this age range going? Maybe done it in the past? Any opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

Our kids are a bit younger than yours, but we have no problem taking them out of school...other than the school fees we have to pay while on vacation Our logic is that 2.5 weeks/year won't make or break their entire education. I don't think I'd pull mine out in the fall as teens, due to PSATs & SATs & college applications. As a former teacher, I think there are a ton of learning opportunities on this trip...but that's just my opinion Good luck!

We just booked this cruise. It will be me, my husband and our 6 year old daughter. We cannot wait. Can we be apart of the fe? Also is there a Facebook page?

Please PM your real first names, cabin #, favourite character/movie, and daughter's age. Thank you

150 days 'til Miami

 

[sweetlovin']

Hello everyone. Real close to booking this but have one reservation. Kids missing so much school. Ages are 16, 14, and 12. Now usually each year we take them out about a week because we can get great FL rates on off season. With this being almost 2 and a half we are a little apprehensive.

So, anyone with children in this age range going? Maybe done it in the past? Any opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

I'm waiting for VGT, if it comes out, I am pretty sure I will be on this cruise. Julie is 11 and she would be in the Edge. I home school, so I can't help with juggling school.

 

[MommyTo5]

Just off the Wonder! Our 7-night Western Caribbean (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel) was absolutely fabulous!!! Starting the countdown for the WBPC today... 144 days!

 

[aan1701]

Well as of tonight we are paid in full. Now on to book Palo brunch at 9 PM PSD on 1/1/14. That's midnight 1/2/14 eastern when I can book stuff. Sent from my iPhone 5 using DISBoards

 

[granmaz]

We are beginning to think we might have to cancel this cruise which saddens me, but the cost of the airfares now is just so high, particularly adding the West coast into the mix. Nothing decided as yet but obviously time is running out.

We booked this onboard with the special 20% discount offer. If we transferred this to another re-positioning cruise which was originally included in the offer, would the 20% discount still stand or would it revert to the normal 10%? I know it wouldn't for a normal cruise but wondered if it would with one that was in the offer when we booked. Any ideas?

 

[aan1701]

I would say, since lately it looks like DCL is shying slowly from doing the right thing and trying to make more money, and the fact the promotion is over I would say you would only get 10% off.

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[MommyTo5]

(Posting this here and to the facebook group... sorry to those of you that see it twice!)

Just got an email from my travel agent with a "revised final payment due date" of 12/14/2013 for this cruise. This can't be right, can it???