May 30, 2009 - Western Cruise Magic

[stlkeeler]

OK, I just looked up upcoming Disney movies. Here is what I found:

2/27 Jonas Brothers Burnin' Up Concert 3-D Movie They're playing off Hannah's 3-D movie, hoping for another score. I don't think they can go wrong with the Jonas brothers. The movie is Camp Rock - like "without the generic story and lengthy Jonas-free sequences."

3/13 Race to Witch Mountain

4/10 Hannah Montana the Movie This movie will be more like the TV series.

4/22 Earth This is coming out on Earth Day. It is a "documantary that employs footage shot for "Planet Earth"."

5/29 Up by Pixar, a "Don Quixote-esque movie."

Here is where I found this info:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/intheaters.html

I don't know which ones will be on the boat. Do they show all movies Disney releases? Any chance the Jonas bros will still be there? My DGD will go absolutely nuts if she gets to watch Joe AND Hannah!

 

[brucechase]

Most likely all these movies will be there. Last time I was on the boat, they had all the newest Disney movies playing. Any time there is a new release, both ships will also premiere the movie at the same time (at lot of times at midnight). There is a phone number to call for the list of movies, but it is only for the next couple of weeks. We will have to wait until we are closer to find out all the movies that are playing. I would think it is a really good bet that the Jonas brothers and Hannah will be playing.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hi everyone!
How is everyone doing and are you getting excited?
We're pretty excited. I know it is still a few months away- but for US this is the quickest cruise we've ever taken! Our first one we waited over 3yrs (because first cruise had to be postponed due to school schedules- and I wanted to again book soon as dates came out to get the best price) and then our next cruise was over 2yrs from the first one. This time just mere months between booking the cruise and actually going! LOL So that's super fast for us (not to mention we just cruised on the panama canal cruise in Sept)
So yeah we're excited!

I booked the REAS pkg. It's kind of a splurge but we liked it on our 2006 cruise and when we add it all up it's kinda worth it to us- plus the advantage of booking things at 105 days out ofcourse! hehe So we will be booking our stuff 2/14 (how appropriate that the REAS pkg means we can book on 2/14 huh?).

We're still not QUITE sure about what excursions we'll book and what we'll do. The only things we do know is that this time we decided not to do the dolphin swim. We just did that (and sea lions also) on our last cruise for our eldest daughter- but all participated and it's not cheap! So anyway we're not doing the dolphin swim- and the only other things I'm sure of is that DH has to scuba dive at atleast one port, and dh/son either snuba or seatrek somewhere. We decided against getting son certified before this cruise because he's 11 and in all my research trying to book scuba diving for them with various companies come to find out it's more expensive (need seperate dive master since he can't dive as far down as everyone else), he can only dive 40ft, etc. So as a compromise- he'll either snuba or seatrek (which he did with DH on the last cruise) and then when he's 12 we'll do his certification and he'll get to scuba dive next time there is a chance on cruise/etc. (he's already sorta certified by DH- meaning he can do it all, DH already taught him & tested him- and he's scuba dived in the deep end of our pool LOL- but Robert hasn't gone thru the actual certification class and test yet)

The rest I'm trying to work out- especially what me and the girls will do (and son during the time DH is scuba diving) that I feel safe doing with just me and kids, that we all like, that isn't extremely expensive for all of us combined, etc. Cozumel isn't super important- we've been there before (DH dove, me and the kids did submarine excursion and shopped) but the others I feel COMPELLED (compelled I tell ya LOL) for us to atleast get off the ship and do something- just so we can say we've been there/done something there. KWIM? LOL

Grand Cayman is the one port I'm having issues finding something for me and the kids that fits our criteria- but I'm working on it! LOL

I am a little torn on Castaway Cay too. We've been there 3 times (in 2 cruises) so far and still have YET to even go to the adult beach. The kids (younger two) are not interested in cuttle's cove even for a short time for us to do excursions (they've done it- but didn't like it) and want to spend the day at the family beach and snorkeling there. Last time DD did the teen wild side. We've never done the stingrays there and considering that- just unsure if we're going to have time to do everything we want to do and this time I'd really atleast like to set eyes on the adult beach! So little time- so much to do there ofcourse! What about a cruise that's just 6 days of Castaway Cay? I think maybe THEN we'd get to do everything LOL


How's everyone else's plans coming along? Have you decided already what you plan on doing at each port?

 

[chccatfish]

Hi, I'm Bruce's wife, Carolyn and just joined in too. Just want to say hello to all. Can't wait to meet you guys on this cruise. I am overwhelmed with what Bruce did for the family and me. He is an amazing man as most of you have figured out. He totally threw me for a loop! Since, he's never done anything like this for me before, it was not expected and an awesome surprise. I am extremely excited about this vacation!!

We are going to look at the excursions in the next week and see what it is that we plan to do. Won't do the feeding the stingrays since we did that last time. But if you haven't done it, you should, it is awesome, educational for the children and I think we all learned something about them we didn't know. I can't believe I went swimming with them and wasn't afraid! They are use to being around people and it shows.

Bruce and I definitely plan to eat dinner at Palo one night. Anyone else up for that? Looks like there are some fun things happening in the labs that the girls want to do. Victoria is 12 and Erica will be 10 on the 28th of this month. Anyone have a girl close to Erica's age, so she can have a new friend she can chat with before the cruise?

Thanks, Carolyn

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hi, I'm Bruce's wife, Carolyn and just joined in too. Just want to say hello to all. Can't wait to meet you guys on this cruise. I am overwhelmed with what Bruce did for the family and me. He is an amazing man as most of you have figured out. He totally threw me for a loop! Since, he's never done anything like this for me before, it was not expected and an awesome surprise. I am extremely excited about this vacation!!

We are going to look at the excursions in the next week and see what it is that we plan to do. Won't do the feeding the stingrays since we did that last time. But if you haven't done it, you should, it is awesome, educational for the children and I think we all learned something about them we didn't know. I can't believe I went swimming with them and wasn't afraid! They are use to being around people and it shows.

Bruce and I definitely plan to eat dinner at Palo one night. Anyone else up for that? Looks like there are some fun things happening in the labs that the girls want to do. Victoria is 12 and Erica will be 10 on the 28th of this month. Anyone have a girl close to Erica's age, so she can have a new friend she can chat with before the cruise?

Thanks, Carolyn

Hi there! So glad you joined and posted!
Yeah that was pretty awesome what Bruce did- mega awesome! hehe

I haven't decided yet. I'm considering maybe doing a snorkeling excursion in Grand Cayman that includes a stingray part of the excursion- because honestly we never seem to have enough time at CC and we haven't even seen the adult beach yet! I'm afraid if we book the stingrays there it will eat up too much of our time there. LOL

We are eating at Palo one night. We love Palo food and atmosphere/etc. We booked the REAS so yeah, we're definitely eating there one night again this time.

Sorry- I think there are others your kids ages in our group- possibly? But my girls are 15 and the youngest will almost be 9 at the time of the cruise. They might be in the same age group though- I think it goes thru 10. Atleast I think so. Robert was 10 on the last cruise and in the lab. LOL I'm not sure if they divide the ages in there anymore though because Rita was barely 8 on that cruise and they let her stay in the club (she's also little for her age LOL)

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Welcome Carolyn. Your DH did such an awesome thing for your family, it was fun to read how he suprised you and how you reacted!!! I do have twin DDs your DD's age, they will be 12 in May but we are suprising them with the cruise for their birthday so they will not know about the cruise until a week before it happens.

I would love to do Palo, but this is the girls first cruise so I doubt we will do it this time around unless they are having a great time at the club and don't want to eat with us!!!!

Like Bibbidy, I don't think we are going to swim with the dolphins on this trip either anymore. My DH and I just found out that DDs are going to Mexico with their mom in March and they are swimming with the dolphins there, so I think it might be too expensive since they are doing it two months before. So this means we will definitely be doing horseback riding in Grand Cayman.

 

[chccatfish]

Bibbidy, How do you feel about your 9yo chatting with Erica? Erica and your daughter should be in the same club. I think it would be great for them to have a friend before the cruise. I think it will make the club easier for both of them. Your thoughts?

Pooh, Victoria will be glad to make new friends even if she doesn't meet them ahead of time. She will see the picture of you and your family and will at least be able to look for your DD. They will be so excited about the cruise. If they want to chat with Victoria after they find out, please let me know.

I'm still sooo excited and can't wait! I'm like the children.

Thanks for the welcome! Carolyn

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Bibbidy, How do you feel about your 9yo chatting with Erica? Erica and your daughter should be in the same club. I think it would be great for them to have a friend before the cruise. I think it will make the club easier for both of them. Your thoughts?

Pooh, Victoria will be glad to make new friends even if she doesn't meet them ahead of time. She will see the picture of you and your family and will at least be able to look for your DD. They will be so excited about the cruise. If they want to chat with Victoria after they find out, please let me know.

I'm still sooo excited and can't wait! I'm like the children.

Thanks for the welcome! Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn, I am sure Emily and Amanda would love to chat with Victoria after they find out. They may find out a little earlier, depending on when we can get them for their birthday. I am sure Victoria will be able to spot them pretty easy since they are twins and look identical! I will pm you when it gets closer and we can all exchange emails.

 

[chccatfish]

That sounds great!

Thanks, Carolyn

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Bibbidy, How do you feel about your 9yo chatting with Erica? Erica and your daughter should be in the same club. I think it would be great for them to have a friend before the cruise. I think it will make the club easier for both of them. Your thoughts?

Pooh, Victoria will be glad to make new friends even if she doesn't meet them ahead of time. She will see the picture of you and your family and will at least be able to look for your DD. They will be so excited about the cruise. If they want to chat with Victoria after they find out, please let me know.

I'm still sooo excited and can't wait! I'm like the children.

Thanks for the welcome! Carolyn

Hi!
Depends on your definition of "chat". Rita really hasn't been typing/writing online much. The extent of her computer/online activities involve webkinz, gogirlgames (or something like that LOL) and such. She hasn't learned to type (at all- still look and peck for her LOL) and even writing she still spells everything phonetically- we're working on it (hence another reason we're homeschooling now! My son was writing way above his age level when he went into kindergarten and they messed him all up with that phonetic spelling stuff and it took years to get him to spell things correctly again- but they STARTED Rita with that and it's hard to break her out of it. sigh)
If you mean by email or something like that- she could do it but I'd have to help her- which I wouldn't mind at all. She could tell me what to type or she likes to write so she could write her reply and I type it for her?
I'm afraid if you mean realtime chat like on a chat board or IM or something- that's probably not going to work with her. LOL
If you mean by phone well she'd be ALL OVER that... she's a total phone gabber. LOL She could go on and on for hours with kids her age. LOL

LMK what type of chatting you mean and we can work something out! Keep in mind Rita is only 8 right now. She turns 9 just after the cruise (June 16th) but she really gets along with any age.... younger than her because all the neighbor kids she plays with are age 5-7 mostly and older than her primarily because she's the youngest so knows how to interact/play with her older siblings. (age 11 and 15) Plus she's interacts a lot with older kids at church and such. She's an all around kinda gal when it comes to ages of those she gets along with referring to ages I mean. She is more of a girly girl (total opposite of my DD15) -she likes everything princesses, loves the characters and honestly I think she still sorta believes they are real on the cruise/etc. LOL, playing dressup, into makeup/nail polish/jewelry/fixing her hair all sorts of ways- sometimes crazy do's and sometimes amazingly beautiful for her age LOL, playing "mama" to her babydolls- that type of thing. She is not yet into the "pre-teen" stuff like their music/etc. Hanah Montana/Miley- yes... the rest, no. LOL She's my fellow Disney lover in the family... well I mean she's almost as much of a disney fanatic as I am. almost. She'll get there I bet though. LOL She gets along with pretty much everyone- my laid back gal. The only thing she might not be interested in discussing is probably sports... cheerleading is as far as she wants to go into the sports thing (she used to play soccer but didn't really enjoy it). She's my "artist" type- she loves to sing, make up songs, draw, etc. And she's the typical baby of the family- I admit we baby her more than we did the other two at that age. not intentionally- but she's small for her age too (even with the major growth spurt she had last year!) so sometimes it just doesn't SEEM like she's almost 9 and we forget she's that age until we think about it and go wow... she's almost 9. KWIM? LOL We are TRYING to treat her more like her age though LOL Our eldest at almost 9yrs old was so much taller/etc. than Rita is. She still believes in Santa, tooth fairy and whatnot. LOL (although I suspect that she's somewhat pretending to believe to still get the good stuff. LOL) So I guess in some aspects she's still on the "younger" side of her age- KWIM? LOL
Just trying to let you know a little about her. Does that sound at all like her and Erica might click? I hope so!

 

[Bama4Disney]

Hey all:

Haven't checked in with all of you in a while and wanted to let you know that we booked the Radisson yesterday and also booked the 10:30 am shuttle to the port. The boys talk about what we are going to do everyday. They can't wait but I am not sure who is more excited...them or me.

Thanks to Bruce for organizing and planning everything. Looking forward to meeting you all onboard!

 

[chccatfish]

Good to see others are staying at the Radisson too. I'm hoping we can meet before we get onboard. We should be able to meet a lot of you on the 10:30 shuttle over. Bruce, DD 10, DD 12 and I are all excited and counting down the days.

Bibiddy: I will send you my e-mail after I do 10 posts.

Thanks, Carolyn

 

[stlkeeler]

My DGD and I are shopping for FE stuff this weekend. Are there limits or anything else I need to know? I read a trip report and this person gave 1 small item. Last year I found all kinds of stuff I wanted to give. This year, too. I don't want to give too much or not as much as anyone else. So tell me, what are we doing?

Thanks!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

My DGD and I are shopping for FE stuff this weekend. Are there limits or anything else I need to know? I read a trip report and this person gave 1 small item. Last year I found all kinds of stuff I wanted to give. This year, too. I don't want to give too much or not as much as anyone else. So tell me, what are we doing?

Thanks!

I don't think it matters, it just depends on what you want to give. I am having a blast looking for FE stuff!

Carolyn - just post on this thread 6 continuous times and you will reach 10 posts. Just post something like Hi, 6 times!

 

[chccatfish]

Thanks for the advice. Carolyn

 

[chccatfish]

I'm getting there.

 

[chccatfish]

Hi

 

[chccatfish]

Hello

 

[chccatfish]

Working on FE stuff too. It really doesn't matter if you give one thing or more. Last time Bruce and I gave a sandwich bag of items to the children.

 

[chccatfish]

I can't wait to meet you all.