May 25, 2012 - Magical 8-night cruise - NYC to the Bahamas!

[StephBee]

NJGirl--that is my daughter's birthday too!! She'll be turning 8 and we will definitely be celebrating on the 25th. What a fun way to celebrate a birthday!! Already bought her the Birthday Mickey Ears & a magnet for our cabin door!

 

[rgrovr]

I'm guessing the Cabanas sold out weeks ago with the other early Castaway Club & Concierge reservations. No way any would be avail at Guest Services the day of embark or is that wishful thinking?

 

[SeaSpray]

I'm guessing the Cabanas sold out weeks ago with the other early Castaway Club & Concierge reservations. No way any would be avail at Guest Services the day of embark or is that wishful thinking?

I'm only a silver level Castaway Club member, but all of the cabanas were taken when I was able to book a few weeks ago.

People have posted that sometimes things open up, so if it's something you really want, keep checking back. And there is a wait-list that you can put your name on, once you board the ship.

 

[SeaSpray]

Georgette- is there anyway we can also have a spreadsheets if anyone is celebrating something special?? If your having a birthday or something it would be fun to acknowledge it!! I will start-
Eric (17)- Graduation from Father Judge
Matthew (14)- recovering from brain surgery and seizure free !!

I saw all those cabana's gone...



Sure we can start!

My son will be celebrating his 21st birthday... He won't be till beginning of July, but we are celebrating onboard.

I'll be celebrating my birthday on board...my actual birthday is the day before we sail: May 24th.

DS Robb and his DGF Chelsea are both turning 21 right before the cruise. (Well, sort of right before: end of March and end of April).

I'll be turning 39 (hahah...just kidding) on our second sea day, DH will be turning 49 two days after we get off the ship, and DH and I are celebrating 15 years together this year.

 

[daffy2020]

Sir Mickey and Mrs. Minnie

Cabin 6634

Two Adults who really love Disney.

We are looking forward to our cruise with everyone.

We have the late seating for dinner.

Does any have any suggestions for relaxing excursions in Nassau?

 

[padalyn]

Oh my....you folks were busy whilst I was not looking

ok...a couple of comments - I added rgrovr (Joe) et al on the FE list based on his post - please confirm that I have the information correct. The link to the google doc is in my signature.

Hi All!

I found this board when poking around for info on Disney Cruises and needless to say better late than never - We signed up for the May 25th Cruise leaving NYC just this past week! This is not only our first Disney cruise, but our first cruise ever for my DW and DS.

What started off as a last minute decision for a special family vacation somehow turned into a full bore plan-o-rama that now has me surfing Amazon.com for Pirate outfits for the whole family - how that happened I dunno lol. To say we're excited is an understatement

I do have some questions tho with us being newbies to Disney cruising if you folks don't mind answering or pointing us to the right threads -

- Is there a good night to reserve dinner at Palo that won't let us miss a big event or theme? Our son being 3.5 - does he come to dinner with us at Palo or does he stay at his club while DH + DW eat?

He eats in the club or the dining room - your choice. The wait staff are amazing at helping the little ones while mom and dad are off have grown up time. I have seen some pretty small folk eating all alone - on more than one occosion my group asked if they wanted to join us. We got one response positive and a couple of very polite no thank yous - they were so cute!

- OMG door decorations. Wow, where to start? We found the door decoration thread so there are lots of ideas but how heavy duty do the magnets need to be? Fridge magnets suffice?

nope - most regular magnets will do. I do suggest you put the special ones high so they don't wander away. I also suggest that magnets that are personalized are more likely to stay put. I have found mine a couple of doors down after they decided to wander

- I had to research what FE was lol. Where do we sign up if its not too late?

not too late - you are added see my note above

A little more than 2 months to go and we're roaring to board! Can't wait to see everyone at the ship.

Joe, Norma and Mateo - Cabin 7114

She is the classic ship - I love the smaller vessels, the Dream and Fantasy are SO huge - it took me 20 minutes at a run to get from bow (Roy Suite) to stern (Remy)(of course the high heals were in my hands not on my feet)

We will park at the pier for $315 (gulp!). Wonder if there are any coupons or discounts available!

I have suggested this to others - look at parking in NJ and taking a service across the bridge - seriously Fort Lee NJ is about 15 min drive across the GWB and down the West Side Highway.

I gott everything I wanted too. Palo dinner and brunch, early bus! Still thinking about some spa things. Do they offer specials once on board?

Yep - but they go quick - be ready to bolt to Studio Sea or Wave Bands (do I have the right ship?? that might be on the Wonder - it is either Wave Bands or Route 66)

One other question, I would imagine that port adventures have to be paid at the time of booking, can you confirm this or again what is the procedure?

Pay when you are onboard. DCL has just changed the rules - you used to be able to cancel up to the day before - now you have to cancel before we sail. They post it to your onboard account but it actually doesn't hit your credit card until the day of the excursion or event (Palo, Cabana, Spa etc)

Sorry, the site won't let me post a link until I reach 10 postings...

This is to keep folks from plastering the site with huge images I think - ask a moderator - there is a thread specifically for posting 10 times to get you up to link and PM ability.

StephBee are you joining the FE exchange? If so, PM me the info from the spreadsheet link in my signature.

I found this quite funny too hilarious in fact. I don't know of any other board that does this. Ir you are advertising something without being asked for the info that is not allowed on boards. anyway you have now attained the 10Th and thanks for the link.

Originally Posted by NJGirl
The only time not available was 11-1130. We took 1130-12 as we have to check out of our hotel in NYC by 11.


Thanks NJGirl,very useful info. I hope they can link our 3 reservations together as we would all (11) of us want the same Mk buses and port arrival times

Your travel agent can link your cabins, up to 8 people, then one person makes reservations for everyone. If you booked directly - call DCL, they can link up to 8 people.

I'm guessing the Cabanas sold out weeks ago with the other early Castaway Club & Concierge reservations. No way any would be avail at Guest Services the day of embark or is that wishful thinking?

Keep an open eye - I have a cabana and may decide to let it go - we are waiting until we figure out how many people are in our group. I normally travel with a large group - but we are unsure how many are coming to NYC for this cruise.

Sir Mickey and Mrs. Minnie

Cabin 6634

Two Adults who really love Disney.

We are looking forward to our cruise with everyone.

We have the late seating for dinner.

Does any have any suggestions for relaxing excursions in Nassau?

You are going to laugh - stay on the ship!!!! It is almost empty and very quiet and relaxing! We are planning to wander to a couple of silver jewelry stores, then back to the ship to enjoy a bottle or two of wine.

whew - well that was a lot of typing. I still have 4 other threads to catch up on!!!

Cayla

 

[padalyn]

Since there were so many celebrations listed and we already have the google doc up and running, I put a new tab at the bottom. Click on it and you should be able to see the Celebrations list - let me know if I botched anything!

Also - have we decided on a cruise meet? At the cruise meet any upgrades or changes could be passed along to everyone.

It has been suggested that by putting full copies of the list on my door we may set up a "treasure hunt" for some enterprising young folks (maybe not so young?)

I am open to suggestions as to how to ensure everyone has access to the most current list. I personally do it on my smart phone - I can read the google doc or put it into excel so it is live when we are at sea.

Some things I have seen in the past:
- full lists being handed out at sailaway
- notes being made on the organizer's door (write on board)
- notes left hanging on the old room's FE (some folks took them down...meanies)
- verbal passing of the info
- notes with the FE that are given out - then you are committed to the first night
- electronic downloads just as the ship sails out of port - gotta be quick on that one! It backfired on me in Port of LA!!

oh yea - last thing - is anyone making lanyards? I haven't seen a list for that...did I miss it?

 

[SeaSpray]

Since there were so many celebrations listed and we already have the google doc up and running, I put a new tab at the bottom. Click on it and you should be able to see the Celebrations list - let me know if I botched anything!

Also - have we decided on a cruise meet? At the cruise meet any upgrades or changes could be passed along to everyone.

It has been suggested that by putting full copies of the list on my door we may set up a "treasure hunt" for some enterprising young folks (maybe not so young?)

I am open to suggestions as to how to ensure everyone has access to the most current list. I personally do it on my smart phone - I can read the google doc or put it into excel so it is live when we are at sea.

Some things I have seen in the past:
- full lists being handed out at sailaway
- notes being made on the organizer's door (write on board)
- notes left hanging on the old room's FE (some folks took them down...meanies)
- verbal passing of the info
- notes with the FE that are given out - then you are committed to the first night
- electronic downloads just as the ship sails out of port - gotta be quick on that one! It backfired on me in Port of LA!!

oh yea - last thing - is anyone making lanyards? I haven't seen a list for that...did I miss it?

Thanks again for all of your work, Cayla!!

I'm secretly hoping to upgrade at the pier, which would mean that we'd have a different cabin number. That would definitely mess up the FE distribution list.

Regarding the Cruise Meet. I think a lot of agreed that the Promenade Lounge is a good place. Now to choose the time. How about 3pm?? Opinions on this time? Too early? Too late? Just right?? lol

What is this "Treasure Hunt" of which you speak? lol

 

[SeaSpray]

Sir Mickey and Mrs. Minnie

Cabin 6634

Two Adults who really love Disney.

We are looking forward to our cruise with everyone.

We have the late seating for dinner.

Does any have any suggestions for relaxing excursions in Nassau?

Welcome aboard! I will add you to the roll call on the first post.



Have I missed anyone else who would like to be added???? Let me know!

 

[NJGirl]

NJGirl--that is my daughter's birthday too!! She'll be turning 8 and we will definitely be celebrating on the 25th. What a fun way to celebrate a birthday!! Already bought her the Birthday Mickey Ears & a magnet for our cabin door!

No ears for me! I'll wear the b-day button if they give me one though..lol. But there will be a magnet or two on our cabin door. I'm trying to print out the Mickey or Minnie birthday party hat ears to go around the cabin number from one of the decoration threads here on the DIS. Did you see those?

Mom is technically challenged when it comes to the computer...lol...so I'm on decorating duty. It was easier on my last RCCL cruise that we took during my birthday week when she just bought decorations and they let her use tape to get them up!

 

[ge0rgette2]

Treasure hunt?
Hmmm ...

What's this about lanyards? For what?

 

[padalyn]

Treasure hunt?
Hmmm ...

What's this about lanyards? For what?

I can't imagine how folks can steal from anothers cabin door - but I have had magnets go awandering, and I am sure FE gifts have taken flight as well. I have had magnets go wandering, missing and then show up two cruises later ON SOMEONE ELSE'S DOOR!!! Go figure (that one took nerve I will say)



Lanyards- on some of the inaugural cruises someone decides that their FE gift/group gift are neck lanyards printed with the cruise slogan or dates, on some cruises one person will collect the money from others to make neck lanyards for that cruise - they make great momentos and keepsakes!

 

[ge0rgette2]

Ohhhh too bad i already started making gifts. I woukd have done lanyards

 

[padalyn]

duplicate post - sorry

 

[rgrovr]

So the FE exchange - do we put all the gifts out the first day for all the cabins listed in the spreadsheet or do folks spread it over the course of all 8days?

 

[padalyn]

So the FE exchange - do we put all the gifts out the first day for all the cabins listed in the spreadsheet or do folks spread it over the course of all 8days?

up to you, usually they end up spread out over the whole cruise because different people like to do it differently. I do it at 3am early in the cruise - but that is me!

 

[Dislaney4n6]

Hi all!!
I am doing the 8night cruise in July and was just hoping that someone on this earlier sailing would be willing to save their Navigators and post them for us later cruisers?!

I want to have an idea of shows, special meal nights etc. And since this is a new itinerary, it is hard to predict.

TIA!

 

[jaodice]

Hi all!

Can you please add us to FE and Roll Call?

Jill
Thea (DD turning 11 during cruise)

Cabin 5524

Celebrating birthdays...my actual before we sail May 22 and my daughter's 11th brithday is May 30th Disney Day! This will be her 8th consecutive birthday celebration in the Magic Kingdom and our first Disney Cruise!

 

[twinmomri]

Hi all!

Can you please add us to FE and Roll Call?

Jill
Thea (DD turning 11 during cruise)

Cabin 5524

Celebrating birthdays...my actual before we sail May 22 and my daughter's 11th brithday is May 30th Disney Day! This will be her 8th consecutive birthday celebration in the Magic Kingdom and our first Disney Cruise!

 

[SeaSpray]

Hi all!

Can you please add us to FE and Roll Call?

Jill
Thea (DD turning 11 during cruise)

Cabin 5524

Celebrating birthdays...my actual before we sail May 22 and my daughter's 11th brithday is May 30th Disney Day! This will be her 8th consecutive birthday celebration in the Magic Kingdom and our first Disney Cruise!

Welcome aboard, Jill! I'll add you to the roll call.