~May 7, 2011~ 7-night Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Magic!

[Minniemiss]

And...are we doing this once per cruise or some other way?

Any way you want! Some folks deliver every day, others just once.

 

[Minniemiss]

I am flying home and was wondering how I should handle this... do you just buy the bubble wrap type bottle holders? I am totally open to suggestions here

Bubble wrap and leak proof bags are your friend!

 

[Minniemiss]

Never silly questions.

We should decide how we want to do this. Do we want to close the sign up for FE on a certain date, or not?

Dianatlol - How much lead time do you need to ship your FE items to DCL?

I highly recommend having a cutoff. Especially for those who are crafty and making things. We have had 2 weeks prior as the norm. That gives you a week leeway, there are amost always last minute joiners, and time to ship if you are shipping things down.

Also , with the recent vandalism that happened on the Panama cruise, I would recommend taking magnets and FE's in each night and putting them back out in the morning. I know we will be removing our magnets before we go to bed each evening.

While the vandalism that occured isn't the norm, I'm not going to risk haveing a damper put on my vacation because some one is bored and wants to have fun at others expense.

The video's have been removed, but they were quite an eyeopener as to what can happen after most are in bed.

 

[Minniemiss]

Lexa, I saw you had some questions about your portable DVD Player and kids swords.

Just keep the DVD player in your carryon, shouldn't be a problem. Lots of folks use them on the plane. They don't want people to hook them up to the stateroom TV's.

About the sword or pirate things. We were at WDW with our DGS (3 yrs old) prior to our last cruise. We purchased the pirate pistol and a sword for him at the park. He carried the sword into the terminal. No one questioned us. He carried them to dinner and photo ops but we left them in the room for the Pirate party. Too crowded and we would have just ended up carrying them for him. Once the party started he never missed them.

 

[Lexa]

Lexa, I saw you had some questions about your portable DVD Player and kids swords.

Just keep the DVD player in your carryon, shouldn't be a problem. Lots of folks use them on the plane. They don't want people to hook them up to the stateroom TV's.

About the sword or pirate things. We were at WDW with our DGS (3 yrs old) prior to our last cruise. We purchased the pirate pistol and a sword for him at the park. He carried the sword into the terminal. No one questioned us. He carried them to dinner and photo ops but we left them in the room for the Pirate party. Too crowded and we would have just ended up carrying them for him. Once the party started he never missed them.

Thanks for all this info. Not sure if my DS would want one, but I wanted to know for any case. I'm sure we will take our portable DVD with us if I want my sanity for vacation LOL and we don't need TV for watching it anyway

 

[MinnieMeg]

I highly recommend having a cutoff. Especially for those who are crafty and making things. We have had 2 weeks prior as the norm. That gives you a week leeway, there are amost always last minute joiners, and time to ship if you are shipping things:

I agree, we need to have a cutoff time for everyone to be ready to ship or pack, etc. Therefore, the cutoff date for signing up for the FE is April 23, 2011.

Will everyone who is paticipating in FE please private message or email me with the following:

DISname

Cabin # (If ou have more than 1 cabin please list seperately)

First names of everyone and ages and gender of children

I need this info to set up a delivery list. Some people may wish to personalize items with names, which is why I asked for everyone's name.

 

[Lexa]

I agree, we need to have a cutoff time for everyone to be ready to ship or pack, etc. Therefore, the cutoff date for signing up for the FE is April 23, 2011.

Will everyone who is paticipating in FE please private message or email me with the following:

DISname

Cabin # (If ou have more than 1 cabin please list seperately)

First names of everyone and ages and gender of children

I need this info to set up a delivery list. Some people may wish to personalize items with names, which is why I asked for everyone's name.

My PM sent!

 

[rusafee1183]

Thanks MinnieMeg. That's what I was thinking. We'll probably see you there on pirate night.



We've just done one prior cruise on the Wonder so I'm by no means an expert. But, I've found the planning to be much different. I get into crazy plan mode right around the time I have to book stuff (for me, just a few days which is why I've been trolling around here like a mad woman) and then about a month out when I have to go buy suncreen etc.

For me, it's just coming up with a list of stuff I want to do and then once I've finished, putting it down and leaving it alone. It's a much more relaxing vacation when compared to WDW so I don't want to over do it.

This time around I'm making sure we:
1) Give Palo dinner a try (we did brunch last time)
2) Get back to the rainforest room, a lot
3) Try the exotic rasul, that seems to get rave reviews
4) Try one of the tastings since I never got a chance to do that last time

I'm still on the fence whether I want to try to get tickets to tea with Alice.

I will say that I brought a photo mat last time and dropped it off at guest services for autographs and I'm really glad I did that. If you're considering it, I'd say go for it. It's a great souvenir. I also went out and purchased one of those over-the-door-shoe things that get recommended here as well. I didn't for the 4-night (it seemed a tad excessive to me at the time) but after constantly forgetting where I kept putting the sunscreen I realized why they're so popular.

I think your list looks good. You'll probably find you have more time to do things as you don't have a kid who constantly wants to be at the water slide!

Thanks for the response! I don't know how I missed this the 1st time around...

I forgot the Rainforest room! That's definitely on my list too. We toyed with the idea of the Exotic Rasul also,but I wasn't sure. I would love to do a spa day with my DH, but I guess that will all just depend on our finances at the time.

I started making a packing list, because I am definitely trying not to over do it this trip. Has anyone decided on what they're doing for formal, semi formal or pirate night? I feel like we may have talked about it briefly...but I can't remember...

I am still up in the air whether I am dressing up for semi formal night or Pirate night. I have 2 nice dresses and we both have costumes, but it is just a matter of making room in the suitcases...

Also, I was planning on posting a picture of myself and my DH, so we can be recognized when we're on board. I'm still not sure if we are doing the FE, but I would like for people to be able to come and say 'Hi' if they see us.

 

[rusafee1183]

 

[MickeyManiacMom]

Yay!!! I'm so excited! Finally hit the 90 day mark and I was able to book everything we wanted tonight!

It appears (so far) that there were no issues getting ressies at Palo. Even with our group of 5 we got the night and time that I was hoping we could get. My options were wide open the whole evening on what time we wanted.

I will say we had a harder time with the couples massage. There were times still available, but they were the less desirable times. (as in only odd lunch, late afternoon or dinner times were available). I did manage to snag a 8:00a.m. but it was the only morning slot I saw open.

Anyone else requesting a specific dining rotation? I am requesting LAPP, as the first night always seems to be a bit more motion filled I didn't want to do AP in case it made me a bit motion sick. I want to enjoy that dinner with my kids. Plus I figured that Lumieres won't be as boring to my kids on the first night as it might seem by day 3 - everything will be brand new and exciting.

 

[bibbidibobbidiboo07]

Sorry our kids are grown. Here is a trip report that might help.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2617020

Thanks for this, I am hoping they come back and report on their cruise experience some more. We have holidayed with our daughter but never cruised with children and this will be our first trip with 2 children, thankfully though my parents are coming along so we should be good and I have decided to register daughter for kids club. Anyone have any experience of these?

 

[Minniemiss]

We were able to book at 12:00 am this morning. We were able to book Palo dinner, brunch the last sea day & Tea on Mother's day. The Dubloon snorkle and the Two Flags Tour. I also snagged a couples Villa Spa thing.

There were lots of Palo options for all 3 events on all the days they were offered. I was booking for 2 so I'm not sure what the availability for larger groups would be.

I did see that the Butterfly Anytime and the Skyride excursions were full.

We always begin our cruise with dinner at Palo. It is a great way to start the cruise. We have late dining, so we book the earliest Palo 6:30pm for dinner the first night. We have always been able to get a ressie that night. We eat, then see the late show and then go down to our assigned restaturant to meet the waitstaff and have an evening drink. We ask for the PLA rotation.

We also shoot for brunch on the last sea day. A great way to end the cruise.

I filled out the online check in. You now have to choose a check in time. It looks like the earliest time 10:30-11:00 is reserved for concierge and Platinum.

I put our flight info in the system several months ago, so we were given the 11:00-11:30 time slot.

I'm not sure how strict they are going to be with this. If your flight comes in early are they going to make you wait until 1:00 or 2:00 to check in if that's the only time slot left? Where would they have you wait? And what about those folks that don't do online check in?

I'm sure we'll hear more of this, on the boards, as time goes on.

 

[bellanapoli]

We toyed with the idea of the Exotic Rasul also,but I wasn't sure. I would love to do a spa day with my DH, but I guess that will all just depend on our finances at the time.

Since it is fairly cheap, that's why I figured I'd give it a try. The massages seem to get medicore reviews so I figured it was worth a shot.

Can you request a dining rotation online or does that require a phone call? I'd like to put in a request to be in Lumiere's on formal night but couldn't find a way to do that online. With all the talk on here about DCL's line being so busy I've been a tad to lazy to call.

FWIW, I got a 10:30 port check in time and I'm only silver. It was wide open when I booked stuff this morning. Palo still seemed pretty open when I booked and then subsequently moved my reservation. (I'm a tad indecisive).

I'm a bit surprised the paradise point tramway is booked. I looked up the tramway online and it's about a 5-10 minute walk aross the street from the port. Doesn't really seem like something worth taking a tour to do. I'm planning to take my son while DH is scuba diving that morning but was just going to walk over myself. Of course, now I'm worried I'm going to get stuck behind a gaggle of people. I may have to get going before the tour leaves....

 

[bellanapoli]

I have decided to register daughter for kids club. Anyone have any experience of these?

How old is your daughter? My son is 4 and will be 5 by the time we cruise. The kids club is pretty much the main reason we opted to cruise again.

I was ambivalent about cruising in general so we tried a 4-night just to try it out. We literally had to drag my son out of there each day. It was a great way for all of us to have great vacation with family time combined with time for just me and DH.

 

[corky441]

So thrilled...
Went online at midnight and booked almost everything I wanted:
Palo brunch for Mothers Day
Palo dinner for last at sea day
Mountain trek & afternoon beach bash for St.Maarten
Magens beach for St. Thomas
No skyride tram ressies though??? Wonder if there is an issue with the ride day, can't believe it's booked solid

 

[Lexa]

I still need to wait till 21. to book anything...if there will be anything left to book LOL. But i'm glad that we are nicely moving closer to our sailing date. With all this snow and cold here I need this vacation even more.

rusafee1183...you were talking about formal, semi and pirate night. I know 100% what we will wear for Pirate night....my and my DH will have pirate t-shirts and kids their costumes. Kids also have their outfits already for formal and semi....not sure what I'll wear. I need to find something what is nice, but really not too fancy so I can wear it some other time too. I'm not really dress person....

 

[Lexa]

Yay!!! I'm so excited! Finally hit the 90 day mark and I was able to book everything we wanted tonight!

It appears (so far) that there were no issues getting ressies at Palo. Even with our group of 5 we got the night and time that I was hoping we could get. My options were wide open the whole evening on what time we wanted.

I will say we had a harder time with the couples massage. There were times still available, but they were the less desirable times. (as in only odd lunch, late afternoon or dinner times were available). I did manage to snag a 8:00a.m. but it was the only morning slot I saw open.

Anyone else requesting a specific dining rotation? I am requesting LAPP, as the first night always seems to be a bit more motion filled I didn't want to do AP in case it made me a bit motion sick. I want to enjoy that dinner with my kids. Plus I figured that Lumieres won't be as boring to my kids on the first night as it might seem by day 3 - everything will be brand new and exciting.

Since this is our first Disney cruise I have no idea what are pros and cons for different dining rotation.....

What worries me is, that we are still on second dining and thats too late for my kids... if I let them eat early so they can wait till 8pm, then I know what will happen....oh mom, i'm still full I can't eat right now.....I would really like to have first seating and the go from there. We are on waiting list....but.....

 

[Lexa]

We were able to book at 12:00 am this morning. We were able to book Palo dinner, brunch the last sea day & Tea on Mother's day. The Dubloon snorkle and the Two Flags Tour. I also snagged a couples Villa Spa thing.

There were lots of Palo options for all 3 events on all the days they were offered. I was booking for 2 so I'm not sure what the availability for larger groups would be.

I did see that the Butterfly Anytime and the Skyride excursions were full.

We always begin our cruise with dinner at Palo. It is a great way to start the cruise. We have late dining, so we book the earliest Palo 6:30pm for dinner the first night. We have always been able to get a ressie that night. We eat, then see the late show and then go down to our assigned restaturant to meet the waitstaff and have an evening drink. We ask for the PLA rotation.

We also shoot for brunch on the last sea day. A great way to end the cruise.

I filled out the online check in. You now have to choose a check in time. It looks like the earliest time 10:30-11:00 is reserved for concierge and Platinum.

I put our flight info in the system several months ago, so we were given the 11:00-11:30 time slot.

I'm not sure how strict they are going to be with this. If your flight comes in early are they going to make you wait until 1:00 or 2:00 to check in if that's the only time slot left? Where would they have you wait? And what about those folks that don't do online check in?

I'm sure we'll hear more of this, on the boards, as time goes on.

hmmm...what about us who are coming to Port a day early? What time we will get?

Oh....Butterfly is full already? I wanted this for my girl....I'm glad I didn't say a word yet, cause I had bad feeling that we might not get what we would like to book.....

 

[bibbidibobbidiboo07]

I have just booked the Butterfly excursion for St Marteen, I think if I remeber rightly the anytime one was at St Thomas and the farm there has closed. Hope you can get booked.

 

[Lexa]

I have just booked the Butterfly excursion for St Marteen, I think if I remeber rightly the anytime one was at St Thomas and the farm there has closed. Hope you can get booked.

We will see...still need to wait 16 days till we can book anything.....