May 30, 2009 - Western Cruise Magic

[brucechase]

I just want to see 1000 in the replies number.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

For a 10:45 with Captain Marvin, you are asked to arrive at their outlet at the shore by 10:15...don't know if your excursion is the same.

Assuming that the ship gets in at 7:30 and clears essentially instantly, the first tender will start by 8:00. My guess is that they'll be at open tendering no later than 9:30. Of course, that assumes that all goes normally--no medical emergencies, high seas that might prevent tendering, etc. Since we need to be there by 10:15, we'll be planning on a 9:45 tender. If they don't announce open tendering before that, we'll go to the appointed place (usually one of the theatres while on tickets, deck 1 after open tendering starts) about 9:30. When you go to the place, you'll need to have your whole party, appropriate ID, and anything you plan to take ashore (swimsuits, etc.)

If your NON-DCL excursion says 10:45, that means be at their spot on shore no later than that; most tour operators ask you to show up earlier than the scheduled tour. The stated time is "bus will leave" time.

We're with shoretrips HOWEVER the vouchers we have- on the info about where to meet/etc.- say to meet at Captain Marvins office- and state that it's right across the street as the port within 2 blocks of the pier. The 10:45am is the "check in" time- not the time the excursion starts- so we should be pretty safe to not have to get tender tickets right? I mean surely by the time we'd need to leave the ship they will have open tendering by then? I mean unless there are any problems ofcourse... I mean barring any issues like getting to the port late/etc.- if there are no problems and they start tendering right at or shortly after 7:30- by 10am it should be open tendering without tickets.... do you think? (I realize you can't say for sure- just wondering what your opinion is on that. I know you can't guarantee it LOL) I just have no idea when open tendering "usually" takes place or how long it takes for them to get all the ticket tendering done. We've never gone to Grand Cayman before, and generally usually use DCL excursions- but on our last 15nt cruise we did do some excursions at some ports on our own and we never made them earlier than around 10:30 or so and never had to get tender tickets. Just curious if you think it will be the same at Grand Cayman or is that an abnormally high amount of ships at that port at once that might change things from our experiences in the past?

I just really don't want to have to get up super early and spend a lot of time getting tickets and sitting around with those tickets. We chose the later excursions so we wouldn't have to get up early and all that! LOL

(oh ps. I just noticed on our Shoretrips booking and our Shoretrips voucher that it says the trip is operated by Captain Marvin's Watersports. HAHAHAHA so we ARE doing it with Captain Marvin's! We just booked it thru shoretrips. I did not know that until just now! LOL) Previously I had also noticed that it says that Carnival Freedom and Legend can only do the 8am tour and that this tour is not available for Carnival Inspiration. I wonder why? Are those ships there for a shorter time of the day or what? Interesting is all. LOL

 

[BamaBornNemoNut]

Those Disney Magic and Western experts:


Can a three prong power strip be used in my cabin or should I bring an adapter? If no one knows, then bring an adapter just in case, right?

Do we 'normally' use the same tender lobby for all ports? What's been your experience? Doesn't matter much, but just wondering.

My DD reminder me last night that we are five weeks away!!!

 

[kcashner]

First...above...there is some confusion. TENDERING will start essentially as soon as we drop the anchor. OPEN tendering (tendering without the need for a tender ticket) was the question asked, and I speculate that will be somewhere in the 9-9:30 range. The posted tendering instructions are helpful, but tendering is one of those things that changes from one cruise to another depending on which port, how many other ships in port, number of people with early DCL excursions, and ship emergencies. We will get instructions in our cabins the night before.

At Key West and Cozumel, we will dock. The procedure to disembark there is that you go to the gangway on deck 1 (whether forward or aft will be announced) with your KTTW for each person, photo ID for adults....they swipe the card and you're off. Takes no time at all unless you hit mondo line.

Bippidy, we booked Captain Marvin's directly thru them. MY confirmation says to check in at their location at 10:15 for the 10:45 excursion. Yes, it says that they are right in the waterfront area. I don't think we'll need tender tickets....my logic is that we'll haul the kids out of bed for a leisurely breakfast, and try to tender about 9:30. That way, if we're not on a tender till 10, we're still ok. If I were you, I'd read the info carefully. If it says 10:45 is your "check in" time, then I'd be there at that time. I just looked at Shoretrips site--their excursions say "check in X, departure Y, return Z" so your confirmation should be clear. Also...can you/do you want to cancel with them? I looked up our Captain Marvin's excursion--Shoretrips added $15 per person to what I'm paying thru Captain Marvin's. This may not apply to YOUR excursion. Shore trips did have different times available than direct thru Captain Marvin's.

Getting back to the ship is less complicated as people come back all day. There will be a note in the Navigator as to the last tender time....but even then, if the tender holds 150 and there are 175 people waiting, they WILL run another tender. However, if you are on an "on your own" excursion, don't plan on the last tender. You never know what can happen with traffic, etc. Plan to be at the tender station at least 30 minutes early so you've allowed yourself a buffer. The ship will hold for a DCL excursion group. It waits only a few minutes if a stray passenger or family is missing. I once heard one of the captains (name withheld to protect the guilty) say that if 25XX passengers could make it back on time, there was no reason why an additional 7 couldn't manage it. This was the next day after many announcements of "would one member of the Smith party from deck 7 please contact Guest Services immediately." etc.

3 prong power strips are fine.

Which theatre will be used as the "holding area" for the tenders will be announced on the ship. After open tendering, we won't be waiting at all--at that point they let us go to the boarding area on our own. Most ports dock, not tender. The only ones that tender are Grand Cayman (always) and occasionally St. Thomas (there is a dock and tender area....tender goes to downtown, dock to Haven....mall area, depends on when ship made reservation for space!)

FE number 2 is finished (I only had a 2 slot FE previously...needed one for second cabin). Not as nice as number one, but still cute.

 

[klcason]

Thanks for all of the great information!

Is there only the one port in GC, what about Cozumel?

Our meet time is 10:20, we are booked on the Waverunner excursion at 11:00. Does anyone know where I can get a good map of the port so I can figure our how to go once we tender in???

In cozumel we are doing Nachi Cocum, so if I understand correctly we just disembark and catch a taxi.

Kayla

 

[kcashner]

I just checked on the DCL site and found that only Cat 6 is available. Could it be that our ship is that full already?

Noon Sat--I checked and found 7 gty, 6 one cabin number, 5 5 cabin numbers, 4- 8 cabins to choose . It never gives more than 8 no matter how many are open. SO...I'd say there are still some nicer cabins available.

 

[sebamt]

Thanks for all of the great information!

In cozumel we are doing Nachi Cocum, so if I understand correctly we just disembark and catch a taxi.

Kayla

We're also doing Nachi in Cozumel. May be we'll have a little DIS meet in Nachi! LOL

 

[poohmomof5]

We're also doing Nachi in Cozumel. May be we'll have a little DIS meet in Nachi! LOL

What is that? Is that a DCL excursion? Sounds interesting...

 

[klcason]

We're also doing Nachi in Cozumel. May be we'll have a little DIS meet in Nachi! LOL

That would be great!

What is that? Is that a DCL excursion? Sounds interesting...

No we booked ours independant through cozumelcruiseexcursions.com

It looks so nice, can't wait!!!

Kayla

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Bippidy, we booked Captain Marvin's directly thru them. MY confirmation says to check in at their location at 10:15 for the 10:45 excursion. Yes, it says that they are right in the waterfront area. I don't think we'll need tender tickets....my logic is that we'll haul the kids out of bed for a leisurely breakfast, and try to tender about 9:30. That way, if we're not on a tender till 10, we're still ok. If I were you, I'd read the info carefully. If it says 10:45 is your "check in" time, then I'd be there at that time. I just looked at Shoretrips site--their excursions say "check in X, departure Y, return Z" so your confirmation should be clear. Also...can you/do you want to cancel with them? I looked up our Captain Marvin's excursion--Shoretrips added $15 per person to what I'm paying thru Captain Marvin's. This may not apply to YOUR excursion. Shore trips did have different times available than direct thru Captain Marvin's.

well I already paid and I doubt I can get my money back now. The price was good for us anyway. We're doing the 2 snorkel stop stingray city combo with Cayman short and sweet. It does say check in time 10:45 and then it also says to check the voucher which also says check in time 10:45. On the website it says 4.75 hrs excursion- and if you count from the 10:45 it says to 3:45 that's really 5hrs, so I think they are adding a few minutes for us to be checking in early -at the 10:45 time.


Which excursion are you doing thru Captain Marvin's directly?

 

[loveysbydesign]

When making my FE do I make pockets for each member of our family?? Or 1 for each my kids and 1 dh and I share together?? I'm making just 1 and hanging it in between out 2 rooms.

 

[brucechase]

When making my FE do I make pockets for each member of our family?? Or 1 for each my kids and 1 dh and I share together?? I'm making just 1 and hanging it in between out 2 rooms.

Do whatever is easiest for you. I have seen 1 bag per room and 1 pocket per person. It's kinda neat to have you and DH on the same pocket, but it might also be neat to have everyone have their own.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

When making my FE do I make pockets for each member of our family?? Or 1 for each my kids and 1 dh and I share together?? I'm making just 1 and hanging it in between out 2 rooms.

I agree with Bruce- do it however you want!
If I was MAKING ours I'd probably just make one- they seem kinda hard to make! (atleast for me!) but since we bought ours (made for us by ebayer) I went ahead and got two... one with the kids each having a pocket and one for us each having a pocket with an extra pocket at top for both of us- so they both have 3 pockets. I only did that because I was buying them instead of going to the trouble to make them ourselves and because I knew we'd almost always have 2 rooms (atleast for a long time until maybe when we ever cruise without the oldest once she's grown and out of the house and maybe can't come because of college or whatever LOL) But if I was making ours- I'm sure I'd just bother with making one. LOL Either way you want to do it is fine though really!

I don't know how you can hang it between the 2 rooms though. You pretty much have to pick which room you want to hang it on- which is fine. If you list both rooms and people come around to put stuff in the FE they'll figure it out when they see just one FE hanging on only one of the rooms listed. KWIM?

 

[homespun]

First...above...there is some confusion. TENDERING will start essentially as soon as we drop the anchor. OPEN tendering (tendering without the need for a tender ticket) was the question asked, and I speculate that will be somewhere in the 9-9:30 range. The posted tendering instructions are helpful, but tendering is one of those things that changes from one cruise to another depending on which port, how many other ships in port, number of people with early DCL excursions, and ship emergencies. We will get instructions in our cabins the night before.

Holy moly, does that mean we'll have to sit and wait 1 and 1/2 hours waiting in the theather for our tender? I'm new to tendering but our excursion says 7:30 - 11:30 for Grand Cayman snorkel/Nautilus excursion. Any ideas, I'm really confused now. Can't imagine Disney would schedule it that way and want to deal with us for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.


Karen

 

[loveysbydesign]

I agree with Bruce- do it however you want!
If I was MAKING ours I'd probably just make one- they seem kinda hard to make! (atleast for me!) but since we bought ours (made for us by ebayer) I went ahead and got two... one with the kids each having a pocket and one for us each having a pocket with an extra pocket at top for both of us- so they both have 3 pockets. I only did that because I was buying them instead of going to the trouble to make them ourselves and because I knew we'd almost always have 2 rooms (atleast for a long time until maybe when we ever cruise without the oldest once she's grown and out of the house and maybe can't come because of college or whatever LOL) But if I was making ours- I'm sure I'd just bother with making one. LOL Either way you want to do it is fine though really!

I don't know how you can hang it between the 2 rooms though. You pretty much have to pick which room you want to hang it on- which is fine. If you list both rooms and people come around to put stuff in the FE they'll figure it out when they see just one FE hanging on only one of the rooms listed. KWIM?

Our rooms are right next to each other so maybe there will be a fish in between the 2 rooms to hang it on???!!! I'm thinking of doing 1 pocket for each of us I guess...just have to measure the fabric i have and make sure it's long enough to fit 5 pockets and a picture at the top too! Thanks guys..have a great weekend.
On a different note, Spring has finally sprung here in PA!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Our rooms are right next to each other so maybe there will be a fish in between the 2 rooms to hang it on???!!! I'm thinking of doing 1 pocket for each of us I guess...just have to measure the fabric i have and make sure it's long enough to fit 5 pockets and a picture at the top too! Thanks guys..have a great weekend.
On a different note, Spring has finally sprung here in PA!

It'll be sorta in between the rooms I suppose if you look at it that way- but technically we'll know which room it goes to- we won't think of it as "in between rooms". But trust if you have two rooms on the list and we only see one FE on one of those rooms- we'll adjust our FE gifts accordingly. Certainly not everyone always has seperate FE's on all the rooms they have.
I would say if you only have one FE though- then you should have more pockets... like one pocket for all of you for both rooms is gonna make it a tight squeeze on gifts. LOL but I highly doubt you were planning on just one pocket anyway. LOL

Holy moly, does that mean we'll have to sit and wait 1 and 1/2 hours waiting in the theather for our tender? I'm new to tendering but our excursion says 7:30 - 11:30 for Grand Cayman snorkel/Nautilus excursion. Any ideas, I'm really confused now. Can't imagine Disney would schedule it that way and want to deal with us for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.


Karen

Um...now I'm confused on what you're thinking?
I don't think it's normal to wait THAT long for your tender.
I'm also not sure if you previously said it was a DCL excursion or not.

If it's a DCL excursion the time it says for your excursion is really the time you meet- and your tickets in you room when you get in it will say what time/where to meet for your excursion. In our experience it's usually in one of the bar areas and you generally leave pretty quickly after the "meet" time unless maybe they wait a few minutes for someone who hasn't made it yet. But they stay on schedule pretty well.

If it's NOT a DCL excursion you go get a ticket and they herd you in -in order- from what I understand. And then tendering is in order of when you got your ticket. So I don't really think you'd be waiting that long. Let's say they start tendering at or shortly after 7:30am- if you were one of the first in line to get your tickets- then you'd be the first to tender and that means you aren't waiting an hour and a half. And it keeps going in order like that- so I think generally there isn't THAT long of a wait between the time you get your ticket and the time you actually tender... it's kinda like a line (except instead of standing in a long line to tender you are basically "getting in line" by getting your ticket and then waiting in a sitting area like the theatre). It is NOT like you get your ticket then have to sit around waiting an hour and a half for "your time" to go- it's all in order of how you got your tickets so it keeps moving and each person/family/group shouldn't have to wait that long from the time they get their ticket... I don't think? I do not believe it's like okay your excursion is later- so you get a ticket for later and get to sit here longer. NO, I know it's not that way because they make announcements and in the paperwork I've seen about the tendering (in the room) basically says if you need to get off early- then come early because it goes in order of how you got your tickets. It is NOT like someone has a 8am excursion so they get a ticket sooner than you and yours is 10:30 so you get a later one- not like that. It only goes in order of how you received your tickets on a first come first served basis... and then you tender in order of how you received your tickets in that first come first served basis- so I don't think anyone sits around for hours to wait to tender. Even if you came later towards the end of the line- still wouldn't have to wait that long. Let's say they start at 7:30 and you showed up at 9am- well open tendering generally ends up starting not too long after that anyway- so even in that situation I can't imagine you having to wait an hour and a half... yanno?

No worries.

I assume you have a DCL excursion since your excursion time is 7:30 right when we get to port. So 7:30 is when you meet (ticket will say where) and you leave for your excursion shortly after that- pretty shortly after the meet time... so be there on time!

 

[kcashner]

I don't know how I gave the impression that you'd wait an hour for a tender. Normal waiting is more like 15 minutes.

When you are completely ready to leave (had breakfast, have whole group together, have all your stuff), you go to the appointed place. There is a CM at the door handing out the numbered tickets. You go in and sit down as directed (it's not random like for the shows--they direct you to a row...all people of your number). There's no time that you HAVE TO show up unless you have a DCL excursion--and then you don't do this anyhow.

OK, so I show up at 9:00 and get tender ticket number 6. They are boarding number 5 right now (1-4 have already gone). Depending on how many tenders are serving the Magic at that time (which depends on how many ships are in port right that minute), I might have to wait till number 5 boards, drops passengers, and comes back. That takes maybe 30 minutes. OR, there may be 2 tenders serving the Magic. In that case, basically as soon as number 5 leaves, number 6 will arrive. It will be connected to the Magic and group 6 will be called--we'll be led out of our rows and to the tender.

Now, let's say that the tender will hold 125 guests (this is not an accurate number, but is somewhat close)....and they have only handed out 75 tickets for number 6. Those 75 people will get on first, and then "Open tendering" will be announced. This means that there is no longer any need for tickets--you show up at the appointed spot and get on the next tender.

Again, how often the tenders run depend on how full they are (they're not going to take a tender for 10 people unless they've waited 15-20 minutes to allow more to show up!) and how many tenders are serving the Magic. The longest I've ever waited was about 30 minutes....and that time I literally arrived to see one sail away (as in "just missed it.") If a tender comes and there are 100+ people waiting to board, it's probably not going to sit there and wait for others to show up; if 10 are waiting, it probably will sit for a while.

DCL has done a lot to make the tender waiting area on Grand Cayman nice. THey have some awning-type tends set up to both identify the site (nothing like a big "DCL" tent and to provide shade. They have water available for us (dispensers with cups).
It's not a big wait, and not a big deal.....just not as easy as the ports where we dock.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I've never had to get a tender ticket- it seems that open tendering opens up pretty quickly after the "earliest excursion times" and we always make our excursions NOT the earliest one- so we always go on open tendering and it's always been basically either walk on or a VERY short time in a small line to get out- no biggie and not time consuming at all. I think DCL -ofcourse that being the only cruiseline we've cruised with then it's the only one we can speak of experience with- handles it very well.... just like they do disembarkation (usually).

I definitely wouldn't worry about waiting for an hour or more with a tender ticket. Thanks for explaining that so well kcashner!

 

[kcashner]

Our cruise is LESS THAN 5 WEEKS away! 5 weeks from now, we will be on the beautiful Disney Magic!!!!!! Well, actually, many of us will be on Key West.....

I'm not anxious or anything.

 

[loveysbydesign]

Anyone worried about this flu going around now...I'm almost afraid to get off in Mexico. It was headlines of our local paper today and I'm starting to get freaked out!
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-med-swine-flu,0,2772457.story