May 29, 2004---Who is with us?

[tchrmom]

XLT and I bought the book. It was great! I sent it to my mom, since this is her first Disney cruise.

As for excursions...........you can book all of them, 60 days out from your sail date. The couple we are meeting on the ship...that we met on our first cruise, did the dolphin thing, and LOVED it! They thought it was worth the $. If money was tight, and I was only goting to do 1 excursions, I'd do the dolphins.

Didn't have to wear my DIS boards t-shirt today, since I am home with DD, who threw-up last night. Guess I can start making my list of things to pack, to help pass the time.
Fran

 

[Mickeylover]

Have any of you ever tried to book the breakfast at Cinderella's castle 60 days in advance?

I totally remember doing that! We were so proud of ourselves for getting through! DS, however, doesn't choose the princess route so I don't have to do that one anymore. Honestly, we like Breakfastasaurus at AK as much as any of the character meals.

it was so darn cold today I could see my breath again! I am REALLY counting the days until we are on that cruise!

We are still waffleing on St. Martin ourselves. We changed our mind on the dolphin swim because I really want to go to Discovery Cove some day, and we're going to surprise the kids with a couple of days in Orlando after the cruise--that swim for 4 people will pay for Park Hoppers for everyone! So its a toss up between a day at the beach or the Golden Eagle Catamaran. Does anyone have any recommendations who's been before?

 

[XLT800]

Mickeylover.....we did the Goldeneagle last time. It was a lot of fun. We actually enjoyed the catamaran ride more than the snorkling but DD is not real crazy about salt water. The snorkling was better in St John IMHO.

We are going to try the Cinderella Breakfast one more time. DS (12) will not be thrilled but DD will be.

As for the weather..........I hate to admit it but we were swimming this past weekend and will be again this weekend. Pool temp gets up to 85 via the solar heater. All are invited, we will even fix up some konk coolers!!

Dave

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

I hate to butt into the thread again..

Dave...you can now book Cindy's breakfast 90 days out...I found this out by accident when I tried to book a dinner at the castle. First time I got the breakfast and most people don't know that they changed the time.

 

[SimbaNoodle]

Oh the pain I am in. I just had to make my final payment. This is a dark day in my Disney Cruise planning. Just kidding. I didn't enjoy spending the money, but I will sure enjoy the cruise. I just hope that sailing on the magic won't ruin it for me on Carnival Cruise. I have been sailing Carnival out of New Orleans and in October the same ship will be moving to Mobile, my hometown. My wife and I take a four night cruise a couple of times a year, but after Disney, I don't know if I can ever do it again.

Anyway,

I hope everyone is getting excited and I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.

Lewis

 

[Mickeylover]

I hate to admit it but we were swimming this past weekend and will be again this weekend. Pool temp gets up to 85 via the solar heater.

NO FAIR!

All are invited, we will even fix up some konk coolers!!

Don't tempt me, Dave!

Has anyone spent time out on the beach in St. Maarten--any suggestions on where to go? (To the French side or near the ship?) Thanks for the info on the Golden Eagle...if its just riding in a boat that's fun, my kid gets that all summer. And I honestly don't think he'll be as "in" to snorkeling as we are.

Debbie

 

[geetey]

Tomorrow is the big final payment day for us!

Happy day today though because my family is actually into planning today! Woo hoo! It looks like we have our excursions narrowed down.

St. Maarten:
1st choice - Anguilla Dolphin & Stingray Encounter
2nd choice - Golden Eagle Catamaran (with Shipwreck Cove Snorkel Tour a close 3rd)

St. Thomas:
1st choice - Atlantis Submarine Adventure
2nd choice - 5 star St John Snorkel & Beach Adventure (with St. John Trunk Bay Beach & Snorkel Tour a close 3rd)

Does anyone bother to book anything for Castaway Cay?

Also, the food during the Dolphin/Stingray Encounter doesn't sound very appetizing based on the threads I have read. Can we bring some sandwiches from the ship?

 

[NYdiscuisers]

We made our final payment yesterday. Really, we still have a month till actually paying, since that's when the Discover card payment will be due.

Excursions:
St Maarten -- AM Golden Eagle Catamaran (1st and only choice)
St Thomas -- Private day sail on the sailboat High Pockets (www.sailhighpockets.com)

We managed to avoid any full snow days this past week, so we're still on track for missing only 3 school days. We're really looking forward to this cruise, by the time May gets here, we'll be more than ready!

By the way, if anyone is interested, I've organized some cruise information in a web site, www.geocities.com/p_bunce/cruise2.html .

Paul

 

[Mickeylover]

I think we'll make our final payment on Tuesday. With 1.5% cashback on my money market account, I figure I actually saved another $57 dollars by paying with that instead of a credit card. (hey, any little bit, right?)

Paul, the site looks great (another one for me to add to my bookmarks!)

My DS really wants to parasail at CC...he'll have to go tandem with me because of his weight, though. Anyone ever done that? Is it worth the $$$ to do it at least once?

 

[tchrmom]

XLT informed me yesterday, that we're paying our cruise off on Friday! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still not sure about excursions, since we just did this cruise in October. We may do a "beach one" but we really haven't decided.

Here is a little Tampa sun, to those of you with snow.

Fran

 

[geetey]

Paul,
Thanks for the link to your web site. Nicely done!

We have made our final payment on the cruise, and booked airfare! Let the party begin!

After reading more on the boards.... has anyone encountered the sealice that is mentioned? Are you planning on purchasing SafeSea?

 

[tchrmom]

We have never had trouble with them, but we did buy the Seasafe at RonJons.....we've just never used it! I'm sure one of these times, we'll wish we had!


Jusr spent the morning, trying to decide WHAT excursions, if any we want to do!

Just not sure!
Fran

 

[geetey]

I checked Ron Jon's website and didn't see any SeaSafe. Maybe we will leave it up to luck. If we find some at the coast when we arrive, fine. If not, oh well.

We are booked at studio at Ron Jon's the night before, so we will have time to check. Now to find transportation back and forth!

Fran,
What excursions are you considering? I keep waffling on the Dolphin/Stingray Excursion. Is the whole thing going to make us sad that the animals are in a tank? Choices!

I would prefer to book nothing, but we are definitely not shopping/wandering people. Still park commandos after 5 trips.

 

[tchrmom]

I called Ronjons and asked for Seasafe before the 1st cruise....the girl had never heard of it. When we arrived, it was on the shelf, at the entrance with the other sunscreens. Good Luck.

The couple that we are meeting up with (that we met on our first cruise) did the dolphin thing last year...they said it was well worth the $$$$$$$$$. For us, since this is our 2nd cruise this year, we just can't justify $500.00+ for 1 excursion. I think if you did take it, you would not be dissappointed.

I don't know WHAT to book..I'll have to talk with XLT800 tonight. I'm leaning toward a beach one, and possibly a Palo brunch the other day.

We did the Golden Eagle last time....LOts of fun! We also did the St. John 5 star. Great snorkling!
Fran

 

[geetey]

Good Luck, Fran! Not so easy choices. Thanks for making me feel better about our choices though. Since we have never cruised, I don't think we can go wrong this time around. We will have fun regardless!!

 

[NYdiscuisers]

Terry,
We're in the same boat (no pun intended) as Fran on the sealice. We ordered Safesea from lifestylesdirect.com last year, but never used it and didn't have any problems. You have time to order, so if you really want it you can try online. I don't know if they still do it, but last year I went through most of the order so that I could see what the shipping charges were going to be. I then left the site to look at something else and received a pop-up offering a discount code if I completed the order. My DW had been doing the same thing and received an email later in the day with an even better discount. So if you order online, it wouldn't hurt to exit out and see what happens.

We are also staying at the Ron Jon resort the day before our cruise. We actually have a 2 night stay since our flight was changed to Thursday evening (from Fri morning) so we'll be taking full advantage of the pool on Friday. If we get adventureous, we are also thinking about trying to locate the twopalms webcam.

Paul

 

[geetey]

Thanks for the info, Paul! I will give your trick a try and see if I get an offer.

Are you renting a car for Ron Jons? I just reserved our mid-SUV from Budget. Things are definitely falling into place. We are going to spend Friday afternoon (arriving around noon) at Kennedy Space Center, if my dh & ds are still interested. Pictures of Ron Jons are definitely swaying them to pool time instead!

How many days until we can book excursions?? I am in the planning/decision making mode!

 

[NYdiscuisers]

Terry,
Yes, we are renting a car from Hertz. We get a discount for Hertz through work, plus we're flying into Sanford airport and the major rental agencies are right in the terminal. Budget is off site in Sanford. Gotta go with convienence!

If you decide to do the pool, we've got a DD10 and DD6 who will be splashing around...we're going to have to watch the sun, we don't want to get sunburned before we get onboard the Magic!

Excursion booking is at the 60 day mark. I think that translates to March 30th.

Paul

 

[chairee0]

My DH and DD and I decided to do 2 excusions instead of 1 big one (dolphin). We have decided on the Parasailing and snorkeling. I have not made reservation for the hotel. We are arriving the night before. Any suggestions? I think I might try Priceline, I heard through the boards that is the best way. We are going to SeaWorld on the day we get off the boat. Our plane does not leave until Sunday. I have not decided which transportation we will use. It will definitely be one of the town cars. We took one during our trip to Disneyworld last year, ( I forgot the name). I think we are going to try a different one this time.

We will be paying for our cruise on Monday. Yeah, I can't wait. We booked our plane tickets about a month ago when the prices were very low. We ended up paying $228 pp from Seattle. I could not pass that up!!!

 

[tchrmom]

ChaireeO.....

We're at the Radission. In October, I got a room for $89.00. Used my AAA discount. However, since my mom is with us this time, we got a King suite, for $163.90.

We've also stayed at the Hampton Inn. It is a little further away, but only by a few minutes. Very nice, light breakfast included.

I've also heard RonJon's is very nice!

It's getting close!
Fran: