May 28, 2005 Mexican Riviera

[first timers]

Happy Easter to all!

Here are some random questions I have:

1) Are travel irons allowed in staterooms?

2) When making res for Palos it says on navigator $10 fee per person for both dinner and brunch. Is that one $10 fee per meal or you pay only $10 and can make a res for both dinner and brunch?

3) Do the special activities, such as-champagne cocktails or champagne and strawberries in lobby or cooking classes have a charge and if so about how much?

4) Is there anywhere pipe smoking is allowed? We don't have a verandah.

5) Which in anyone's opinion is the best show? Heard alot about Disney Dreams.?

Thanks in advance

1. There are irons in the laundry room. Why would you want to drag something else along? We sure don't have room for extras.

2. Palo's is $10 per person per meal. Charges are placed on your key to the world card, and you can cancel and not be charged (if you cancel early enough).

3. The classes are part of series such as the Art of Entertaining and are at no cost. The beverages at the Captain's Gala were also no cost. Other parties and events may have a charge.

4. Smoking may be OK outside of the adult coffee shop on deck 9.

5. The shows are all very good. Disney Dreams now has competion from Golden Mickeys as the best show. Alex

 

[carriep1657]

Grammiegail, thank you for the list. It is so easy to read. Now I can actually print it out. You are awesome.

Challada, if I booked through a travel agent, can I still call Disney directly to book excursions?

Suesings, I think the Pirate Cruise sounds great. I think my kids would enjoy it. However, DH, DD, and to a lesser extent, DS, are all prone to motion sickness. I was just too nervous to have them ride on a smaller boat for very long. If they didn't have this problem, it is the one I would book for us.

We are going to still try for the late departure of the Paradise Island excurion. I also thought the PV city tour would bore my kids. The Mazatlan city tour looks like it would be more interesting for kids though.

Two more months and we're off.

 

[wccruiser]

Thanks to all for the answers everyone! Alex, I wanted to bring my travel iron (folds up and is very small) because I wanted to avoid the laundry room if possible. Read it is a nightmare. I know I will probably need to do at least one load though midway thru the cruise...will bring roll of quarters and small box of detergent (I know they sell it, but at a hotel once, went to do laundry and they were out of detergent). Otherwise, I do try to travel as light as possible.

Carrie..I booked our cruise thru AAA and booked our excursion thru Disney. They faxed me our confirmation.

Pocono and Challada....you will definitely be seeing me at any champagne functions and I will try the Iron Horse Fairy Tale Cuvee. Sounds delicious!

Just went and applied for Grace's passport. Should have it in 6 weeks. Getting really excited. Can't wait for documents!

 

[poconoboatniks]

WCC

We always purchase the wine package. DH knows that if he orders wine, he will be drinking by himself. He made the mistake of introducing me to champagne while we were dating. We enjoyed the Fairy Tale Curvee on our cruise in Feb. You can purchase another package to take some home with you. FT is available on DCL and at some locations in the park.

Poconoboatniks

 

[challada]

Carrie-
Yes, we booked thru Costco and called disney directly about excursions, you just need your reservation number from your travel agent.

WC-
I'm bringing my travel iron...we can be in the TIA secret agent club (Travel Irons Annonomous) together

Since I see you are getting a passport for Grace, can I ask, how many other parents are doing passports for the kids and how many doing birth certificates? I was going to get passports, but then decided against it since our TA said it was fine to do just bc.

 

[Jedisan]

We got passports for the kids a couple of years ago. I have traveled through Mexico with just a birth certificate and it was fine.

However, when you are going through the debarkation process, and go through US Customs, there is a separate line for passport holders and it moves MUCH faster.

On a personal note, I just did not want to travel with the kids' birth certificates.

The passports for kids are good for 5 years and for adults they are good for 10 years.

 

[wmjivey]

Challada:

John and I have passports but we have not gotten them yet for Tyler or Toby. When we cruised in 1993, we were able, at debarkation, to go through the passport line because the kids were the only ones without passports. As long as all of the adults in your party have passports, you can go through the passport line at debarkation.

We got duplicate birth certificates for the boys and that way we have one for travel and can leave the original at home.

WC and Challada: We will also be bringing the travel iron as we may need little touch ups and don't want to waste our time having to go to the laundry room.

 

[suesings]

We have a passport for Kelly but not for Ava (our 19 month old). I figure we will just use Ava's birth certificate since she is so young. I took Kelly to Cabo San Lucas for a week last year for a girl's trip with my friend and her two daughters so I got her a passport (she had just turned 4) and I figured she would look fairly the same from 4-9 yrs. old, but with Ava, she won't look anything like she does now when she is 5

 

[wccruiser]

Hi Challada,

I found a website http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-transportation.htm and was looking around, and noticed that page above had a West Coast Cruise Recommendation that stated they strongly suggested passports for all passengers out of California. Why, I don't know. But it was pretty easy to do, so I just figured I would and get it over with. I have travelled in Mexico plenty before and always used my birth certificate and never had any problems, but never travelled with Grace anywhere outside the U.S. before.

 

[G.G.G.]

Hi all, this the third part of the AR contingency. I've been keeping track of all the post and capturing names, ages etc (so I would know who Emily's friends would be at he ice cream socials) Since some folks are planning meetings etc I thought this list might come in handy for you and cut down introduction times.


Who's Cruising 5/28
W-Wife, H-Husband, S-Son, D-Daughter, AM/AF Adult M/F
Cruisers GM-Grandma, GP-Grandpa, F-Friend - Age (Name)
AnnaS --
bface -- W, H
Carriep1657 -- W (Carrie), H (Mark) , D-7 (Mattie), S-4 (Sammy)
challada -- W (Chris), S-10 (Alex), D-5 (Emily) going on 30, GM (Gail) GP (Bob)
crhenderson --
EnchantedPlayroom--
firsttimers -- W (Sue), H (Alex),
G.G.G. -- GP (Bob)
grammiegail -- GM (Gail)
janner --
jedisan -- W, H (Blake), D-10 (Sarah), D-6 (Katie)
JennsBabySky -- W, H, D-5, S-1.5
jfis1020 -- W (Jenny), S-4, and ?- 6, ?-9 yr (last cruise)
LegalBriefs -- AM-36
maddy --
Madison'sMom -- W, H, D-5 (Madison) GP, GM
maryeabd -- W, D-17, D-16
Melora -- W, H, D-18, D-16, S-10, S-4
moley -- W, H
myleanne -- W, H, D-14, DF-15
poconoboatniks -- W, H, D-9, S-6, GM-70, GP
rccllap -- W, S-6, GM-85
rocknth -- W, H, S-5
ssnyder -- W (Susie), H
suesings -- W (Sue), H (Mark), D-5 (Kelly) ,D-22mo (Ava)
Tandyc -- 2 cherubs (11, 9)
tchoney -- W, H, S-14, S-13, S-8
UKLes --
viodeogal1 -- AF (Lynda) BestFriend (Cash)
wccruiser -- W (Margaret), H (David) D-5 (Grace)
wmjivey -- W (Gail), H (John) , S-11 (Tyler), S-9 (Toby)

G.G.G.

 

[carriep1657]

Thank you, GGG. You are also awesome.

 

[challada]

Thanks all on the passports...I'm sticking w/the bcs since I'm scared it's too late for the passports!

Geez, gramps...you been busy! Aren't you glad I told you about dis?
FYI...take Tand off the list...she &Russ are not goin' and neither are the cherubs...but you can swim w/them in a few weeks (and dunk them under the water to see if angels sink or swim ). Tell grammie I got your shore excursions pamphlet in the mail...sending it your way.

 

[wccruiser]

Suesings- I was looking around at other threads and saw your comments on the thread about older kids in younger kids groups. I was also looking at the Kids navigator samples on dcltribute.com and noticed that about 85% of all the stuff Grace would like to do was listed as the 3-4 year olds. She will be 5.5 yrs when we take the cruise and I was thinking of asking if I could put her in the 3-4 year old group only because of the activities listed. What do you and all the other moms with our age girls think? I just think the 5-7 year old stuff didn't sound as much like her kinda stuff as the 3-4 yr olds. Does anyone know if this would be a problem?

 

[challada]

Wow...where is everyone?

Sue, carrie, wc, maddiesmom, poconos, etc...I really don't know how the kids clubs run, so I'm not the one to say if the girls should go up down or all around in the age groups. I know Emily will probably be willing to do whatever her friends want to do. I have the Navigators for the 8-9 and 10-12 year old age groups, but not the younger ones... When I look at the dcltribute website, I can find stuff Emily would do in ALL the age groups! I do agree that there are more "princess" things in the 3-4 group than the 5-7 group, but I'm not sure Em would want to hang out w/the 3 year olds the whole time. Can they change between the two groups and sometimes "visit" the 3/4s (like when there is dancing w/Snow White ) while being "enrolled" in the 5-7 ?

 

[carriep1657]

I guess I'm lucky about the groupings. I looked at the Navigators for the my kids' age groups and it looks like the activities suit them well. Of course, Mattie will be 7 when we cruise. If we had gone when she was 5, I think she would have really wanted to do some of the 3-4 year old activities but also would have wanted to hang out with the older group.

It looks like my family will be doing a tour with Frank's partner, Tomatto, in Mazatlan. We will just be doing a short one in the afternoon since we are booked with Randi's Happy Horses in the morning.

 

[suesings]

Hi,
G.G.G Thank you SO much for making that list!!! That will be invaluable!!

Regarding the ages in the clubs -
wccruiser, you are probably referring to my comment to a mom who as asking if her 10 year old boy could be in the 5-7 group. I was very uncomfortable with the idea of Kelly being in the kids club with 10 year old boys. Call me paranoid, but I didn't like it at all. The difference between a just turned 5 year old and a 10 year old is huge. If it had been a 10 year old girl it wouldn't have bothered me much.

I think it would be no big deal to put your daughter in the 3-4 year old group, that is only a one year difference and I've heard they have no problem with that. I think Kelly would like a lot of the 3-4 activities but I know she would get bored playing with 3 year olds for a week. We have many 3 year old neighbors and Kelly treats them more like babies and has some trouble understanding some of them. But if it turns out that the activities in the 5-7 are too old or most of the kids are 7 then maybe I will move her down. We will just play it by ear. Hopefully both age groups can participate when there are anything with the Princesses. Maybe we can mention to the counselors that our daughters love the princesses (and most of the girls are only in the 5 year old range) and they will let them participate when there is an event? Couldn't hurt to try?

Hey, we are under two months and counting now!!! Grammiegail: I'm going to the gym today!!

 

[Jedisan]

WC - Thanks for the link to dclcruises. I looked at the Navigators and I think Katie will be OK with the activities in the 5-7 year old group. But, I will have no problem moving her to the 3-4 year old group, if it's better suited for her.

I can't believe the cruise is less than two months away. In a couple of days, we will be able to say it's next month

I have to say that I'm a bit surprised it has not sold out. Still looks like there are cabins available in many of the categories.

 

[DebWills]

Hi Everyone,
I've finally been able to read the whole thread... it sounds like an awesome group of folks for the first WestCoast cruise!

GGG please add me to your list.. Deb traveling with Linda. We're in a Nav Vern on 7; just don't know the # off hand.

First Timers -- we have cruised together before, but haven't met (I don't think). We were on the first Western CBR cruise a couple Mays ago

We're flying into Ca early and spending a few days at DL/DCA.

We have signed up for the Cabo Chileno Bay Snorkling excursion..not sure what else yet.

I look forward to meeting you all on board.

Deb

 

[challada]

Carrie-
Glad to hear you got Frank's buddy to tour with...will be fun, fun, fun!

As far as the girls go, I bet the counselors will let them join princess stuff when it happens. As I think about it, Emily will be most comfortable with the older group as she tends to play with older kids as it is here at home just because her gymnastics group is all much older girls (like 9 to 12s) and she participates in my scout group (10 year old boys but she keeps up w/them) every week. She tends to think of herself as an elementary age kid already!

Wow...two months...hard to believe! Now to just get my garage sale done to pay for all the shore excursions...

 

[wccruiser]

Hi All,

Welcome DebWills!

re: Kid's Clubs age groupings: I'm very torn about which group. I've read they don't like the kids to bounce back and forth between groups. The 3-4 has all the Princess stuff (which she loves now, but probably won't in a couple years), and the 5-7 has some fun stuff too....but I think I'll start her out in the 3-4 yr olds (she is very nurturing, so she'll feel like a big sister to the 3 yr olds) and if she doesn't like it, then I'll move her up. I'll also talk to the CMs about it and see what they think. Grace is used to playing with kids her age or younger. She gets timid around older kids. Thanks for all the input everyone! Love these boards! Can we start packing yet!?