May 25th, 2008 West Coast - Mexico

[NicoleDisneyFan]

We want to do activities on the ship and not the excursions and wanted to try and save some money that way also. If we wanted to just get off the ship for a little while at the ports to look around and shop a little, is it walking distances? Especially walking distance with a active 6 year old and a 4 year old who has a hard time walking depending on how he recovers. I would like to do some of the excursions but I burn up with just a little sun and I am sensitive to the food in Mexico also. My kids and husband have never been to Mexico so I still would like to stretch our sea legs off of the ship for a hour or so. I have only been to Ensanada so I would like to see the difference in the cities. Also, we may just do one excursion that the kids can interact with the dolphins. At Cabos it looks like the kids wear life vest and it is 1.5 hours and no lunch. At Puerto Vallarta it looks like the kids have no life jackets in the photos but it is the same cost as cabos but it has 3 hours and lunch. Does anyone know which one may be better? I am pushing towards Cabos but just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this type of excursion. Thanks

 

[MousseauMob]

We want to do activities on the ship and not the excursions and wanted to try and save some money that way also. If we wanted to just get off the ship for a little while at the ports to look around and shop a little, is it walking distances? Especially walking distance with a active 6 year old and a 4 year old who has a hard time walking depending on how he recovers. I would like to do some of the excursions but I burn up with just a little sun and I am sensitive to the food in Mexico also. My kids and husband have never been to Mexico so I still would like to stretch our sea legs off of the ship for a hour or so. I have only been to Ensanada so I would like to see the difference in the cities. Also, we may just do one excursion that the kids can interact with the dolphins. At Cabos it looks like the kids wear life vest and it is 1.5 hours and no lunch. At Puerto Vallarta it looks like the kids have no life jackets in the photos but it is the same cost as cabos but it has 3 hours and lunch. Does anyone know which one may be better? I am pushing towards Cabos but just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this type of excursion. Thanks

My guess is even though they don't show pictures of the kids in life jackets that they will in fact have them. I know the one we did in Hawaii, didn't show life jackets in the pictures, but we most definitely had them. You can use the following links for more information as well as click the Contact Us to email them any questions you have.
Cabo: http://www.cabodolphins.com/
Puerto Vallarta: http://www.dolphin-adventure.com/

Cabo is a tender port, and there is shopping that is relatively close. I also remember a shopping area right off the ship at one of the other ports, but now I can't remember if it was Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta. I think it was Mazatlan though.

Hope this helps!

 

[jrp]

Hi All
Good to see a couple of ye mystic crew posting. On our last cruise we did not do any excursions either and we had a great time-of course it was in the carribean and not the Riviera. we did get off in Cozumel and the DW got some tanzanite earings..There was still quite a bit of stuff to do on the ship in port. The pools are all but empty..aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh Moudseaumob are you guys in a concierge room? You must be since you can reserve 105 days out from the sail date...Ahh the life of the Thurstons
Just kidding!!!!! I can't reserve till the 25th or 90 days out but, you can bet I will be on line at 8:00am for the race to the roses..Doing the happy dance as I got my cruise reservation today and boy did they make a mistake on one of the pages.They showed me going from a cat 10 to a cat 6..I did the cruise with my DVC points and they don't upgrade members..It is good while it lasts though AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHH
James and D.Anne

 

[dwonder6522]

lucky people who have got the planning kit, we have not got ours yet. tequila excursion? that sounds like fun i want to do that. How much is it, what port?

 

[MousseauMob]

Trying to make reservations, the thing wasn't picking up my last child, then it got an error and now it won't let me back in the reservation - say's it's being serviced. Called the reservation line and they can't get in either, she say's it's stuck in a loop and to try again in about an hour! She also said she thought the reason my last child isn't being picked up for the shore excursion is because it's full all ready - which I'm having a hard time believing.

Moudseaumob are you guys in a concierge room? You must be since you can reserve 105 days out from the sail date...Ahh the life of the Thurstons
Just kidding!!!!!

On first read I thought you meant Gilligan's Island, and I was going to joke about hoping we're not on a 3 hour tour, but then I remembered their name was Howell (Thurston Howell III) - so I don't think that's what you meant and now I'm embarrased I will have to ask you to explain the joke? Sorry, usually I'm not so slow to pick up a punch line...

 

[Jhondy]

My roommate and I will be on this cruise. I'll be 22 and she'll be 24 (?) when we sail. Yeah I'm a good roommate I can't remember if her birthday is before we sail or not. Anyways this will be my second disney cruise and my roommates first. This is the first one I've been over the age of 18. I'm a bit worried because I'm hoping there will be enough to do on the ship now as an adult as there was when I was a teen.

 

[jrp]

Yes you were absolutely right about the Gilligan's island refered to the Thurston' Howell III, very good on the trivia catch..
In Mazatlan it is called--Tequila, saddles and huaraches--criteria is as listed..
Activity type-Sightseeing
Activity evel--mild
Duration-6.75 hours
Price- Adult: 62.00 ages 10 and up
Child: 42.00 ages 3-9, under 3 free
In Puerto Vallarta it is called--Historic towns and Tequila making
Duration 5 hours
Activity level mild
Price- Adult: 50.00
Child: 29.00
Lunch on both tours are included
You can go to disneycruise.com to find this info also.. We are not going to an excursion at the other stop.. Just walk around near the ship.... These two excursions we will definately do as long as they are not sold out when we can register on the 25th.. Hope this helps.. James and D.Anne

 

[jrp]

Welcome aboard Jhondy.. There is plenty to do on board as an adult.. Last cruise we didn't even see any of the shows while cruising with Mickey and crew.. There are so many activities you will never be able to do them all in 7 days.. James and D.Anne

 

[MousseauMob]

Jhondy, I'm sure you'll find LOTS to do! Doing nothing can also be fun, especially if it's on a lounge chair pool side.

Yes you were absolutely right about the Gilligan's island refered to the Thurston' Howell III, very good on the trivia catch..

Oh good - I hated to think I was totally missing a good joke! Grew up on Gilligan's Island, everyday after school, can still even sing the song! Good thing I know our ship isn't tiny - I'd hate to be tossed -- (most dwarfs do you know) . -- alright no flames everyone - I'm not being politically incorrect - just combining lines (Gilligan's Island and ??can you guess), and joking about me being on the short side.

Well my good news, is the darn website finally started working decently and I got almost all the reservations I wanted. The Excursion I wanted in Cabo wasn't available for booking - oh well, we picked something else - and we're considering adding the Dolphin Encounter after all - although again website issues won't let us book this yet.

 

[MousseauMob]

Also, we may just do one excursion that the kids can interact with the dolphins. At Cabos it looks like the kids wear life vest and it is 1.5 hours and no lunch. At Puerto Vallarta it looks like the kids have no life jackets in the photos but it is the same cost as cabos but it has 3 hours and lunch. Does anyone know which one may be better? I am pushing towards Cabos but just wanted to see if anyone had any experience with this type of excursion. Thanks

Did you decide which one you want to do? I did a bit of research on this and it appears its the same organization that runs both, so I'm guessing they are very similar. We've decided we're doing the Cabo one. It works out well for us, because it's walking distance from the tender port and our morning excursion includes lunch already.

I also read this other thread on it, that you may be interested in.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1719333

 

[NicoleDisneyFan]

Thank you for information, much appreciated. We are going to do the Cabo one also now. I am sensitive to the food in Mexico so I don't want to chance it with my kids so its not worth doing the PV dolphin swim. Also walking distance it great so we can go there and go back to the ship and eat when its done. I hope that it doesnt sell out because we can't book it until March 11 when we make our finally payment. My husband will call that day "B day" for my sons birthday on that day and now he will be broke day.

By the way, I wanted to post a picture of our family on here, does anyone know how to do that? Thanks in advance

 

[4campers]

Ok, it's ALL paid for Now, I'm trying to figure out what to do! We just want to go to the beach and relax

Hello to everyone

 

[NicoleDisneyFan]

Anyone have any information on the passport requirement? This is probably our only big trip out of the US this year so we only need a passport for this trip. I just found out that you really don't need one until the fall unless you fly. I called the customer service and they said all you need is your birth certificate. I am hoping that we are not going to have any problems without it.

 

[MousseauMob]

Thank you for information, much appreciated. We are going to do the Cabo one also now. I am sensitive to the food in Mexico so I don't want to chance it with my kids so its not worth doing the PV dolphin swim. Also walking distance it great so we can go there and go back to the ship and eat when its done. I hope that it doesnt sell out because we can't book it until March 11 when we make our finally payment. My husband will call that day "B day" for my sons birthday on that day and now he will be broke day.

By the way, I wanted to post a picture of our family on here, does anyone know how to do that? Thanks in advance

Oh cool - we'll be with you guys on this excursion! I'm kind of afraid of the food now, and having our Hep A shots up to date, which we don't especially since each port excursion we have has food!

As for posting pictures, you have to have posted so many messages (not sure of the number) and then you have to have you pictures posted somewhere - I use photobucket.com because it's a free service, then from there you are posting the link information from photobucket.com or whatever service you are using into your message - hope this helps.

[quote="4campers, post: 23203257"]Ok, it's ALL paid for:thumbsup2 Now, I'm trying to figure out what to do! We just want to go to the beach and relax:woohoo:

Hello to everyone:goodvibes[/QUOTE]Woo Hoo doing the paid off dance for you! :dance3:

[quote="NicoleDisneyFan, post: 23211455"]Anyone have any information on the passport requirement? This is probably our only big trip out of the US this year so we only need a passport for this trip. I just found out that you really don't need one until the fall unless you fly. I called the customer service and they said all you need is your birth certificate. I am hoping that we are not going to have any problems without it.[/QUOTE]The only thing that would make me nervous about this would be if something happened and you had to fly home! :scared1: Of course the chances of that are remote.

 

[jrp]

Hi All
Hi Nicole I got my renewed passport 2 days ago after sending in all info and old passport, a little over a month ago. I looked at the info in the new 08 passporter's DCL guide with the following info...
At the time of writing, U.S. citizens returning from the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico by sea (or land) can use government-issued photo IDs (such as a current driver’s license) plus a certified birth certificate (with a raised seal or multiple colors) to re-enter the country. Be sure to bring original or official documents; no copies will be accepted. (Birth certificates only are acceptable for minors traveling with their parents and/or legal guardians.) We also recommend you bring a backup photo ID for emergencies.
If your cruise returns to the United States on or after that to-be-determined-later deadline we mentioned earlier (perhaps sometime in mid-2009?), or if you’re flying to/from destinations outside the United States as of now, you will need a valid passport for each member of your party, even infants. This requirement is especially challenging with newborns (who may cruise as early as 12 weeks), as there’s barely time to get the birth certificate, then apply for and receive a passport in that 12 weeks. It looks like you will not need the passport but as mentioned before better safe than sorry. You never know when the goverment will require them as mentioned in the guide.. I hope this helps.. James

 

[dwonder6522]

Guys guess what? 98 days left till Disney Cruise. WOOT WOOT!!! who is excited? I will give the count down from time to time LOL!!

What is the best excursion to take while at any of the ports? any one have ideas?

 

[NicoleDisneyFan]

How formal is the dinners? My dh wants to know if he should get a tux or just a suit? Same with my ds. Would he wear a tux or suit at 4 years old? I missed my formal dinner at my last cruise so I didnt get a chance to take a sneak peak at what people were wearing.

 

[jrp]

Did you see the post I placed on the passport issue?? Last cruise I took a Tux and a suit and wore the tux on formal with suit wearing to Palo's and semi-formal night,but there were several if not more that did not wear a Tux or a suit. I think it is up to the individuals and I will not bring the Tux this time.. James

 

[MousseauMob]

How formal is the dinners? My dh wants to know if he should get a tux or just a suit? Same with my ds. Would he wear a tux or suit at 4 years old? I missed my formal dinner at my last cruise so I didnt get a chance to take a sneak peak at what people were wearing.

As James said, a tux isn't required. Although iit does make for a nice picture. I have a great pic of DS 11 (at the time) in his tux, one hand in his pocket looking half way over his shoulder with his best Bond, James Bond look! I bought his tux on ebay for about 30 dollars, which was much cheaper than renting or a nice suit from a department store. As for your son, he can wear a nice suit, a tux, or just some nice clothes and be fine. Really, at 4 I don't think anyone will mind what he wears.

 

[4campers]

How formal is the dinners? My dh wants to know if he should get a tux or just a suit? Same with my ds. Would he wear a tux or suit at 4 years old? I missed my formal dinner at my last cruise so I didnt get a chance to take a sneak peak at what people were wearing.

We bought DH a tux and glad we did. Just something simple from Pennys. He has worn it several times now. It's come in handy. The best part is the pictures we've taken! We all look sharp Ha! Even 'dressed' for Alaska, when many didn't. It's all up to you and what your plans are. Many don't 'dress' any more. Some even wore (black) jeans So, it's the 'old' and the 'new' way now ALL that matters is YOU have fun and no one really thinks past it once we are on on board I have 2 girls and 'dress' them too Love the pictures we've taken on board