May 9, 2012: 5 Night Bahamas Cruise on Disney Magic

[aseyrick]

Thanks, Cindy. March 31 works for me. I hope you're doing ok??

Annabel

 

[wildforgoofy]

What do you think about March 31st? Would that give everyone enough time, or should we make it earlier? Or is that too early? Anyone who wants to join after the cutoff date can do so with the understanding they may not receive an FE surprise from everyone since they missed the cutoff date (we have done this in the past, and it works out well as several folks do have extras to provide for those who join late).

Does this work with everyone? Thoughts?

The 31st works for me.

 

[iloverags2]

Thanks, Cindy. March 31 works for me. I hope you're doing ok??

Annabel

March 31st seems to be the consensus, so we will go with that!

I'm doing well, thanks for asking! Had a bit of a nasty infection that went haywire and ended up on a 3-day IV antibiotic. The hospital staff was wonderful, and the room very comfortable. Back at work already (on a pill form antibiotic for 3 days now), but may leave early today as I am beat!

 

[aseyrick]

Glad you're ok, Cindy!!!

 

[Feisty Fairy]

March 31st seems to be the consensus, so we will go with that!

I'm doing well, thanks for asking! Had a bit of a nasty infection that went haywire and ended up on a 3-day IV antibiotic. The hospital staff was wonderful, and the room very comfortable. Back at work already (on a pill form antibiotic for 3 days now), but may leave early today as I am beat!

Glad you are doing better.

 

[lzmom_of_twins]

Glad you are feeling better Cindy.

Seriously I am so excited for our cruise! I am a hairstylist and a client went to make an apt for 10weeks, and it was the week before we leave EEK! SO excited!

 

[jenf22]

We are PIF!

I can't wait until the 24th when I can FINALLY book excursions!

 

[aseyrick]

Hi everyone! Hope you all are enjoying your weekends. Just wanted to pop in and say hello. We, too, are PIF!

My weekend got to a little rough start. Our DS's school was out on Friday for "teacher training day," so I decided to take our DS ice skating for the 1st time. I've learned that 20 yrs of non-skating + a 4 yo who's ever skated = a badly bruised tailbone for mom. Don't think I'm braving that again for a bit. Otherwise, the 3-day weekend is exactly what the doctor ordered.

We are sooo excited about the cruise! It'll be our first vacation since November, and we sooo need it!! Pretty much every day as I'm driving him to school, he'll ask how many months until we go on the "Mickey Mouse Cruise Ship."

Hope you all have a great week!

Annabel

 

[iloverags2]

Glad you're ok, Cindy!!!

Glad you are doing better.

Glad you are feeling better Cindy.

Thank you all!

We are PIF!

I can't wait until the 24th when I can FINALLY book excursions!

Do you already know what you plan on booking?

Hi everyone! Hope you all are enjoying your weekends. Just wanted to pop in and say hello. We, too, are PIF!

My weekend got to a little rough start. Our DS's school was out on Friday for "teacher training day," so I decided to take our DS ice skating for the 1st time. I've learned that 20 yrs of non-skating + a 4 yo who's ever skated = a badly bruised tailbone for mom. Don't think I'm braving that again for a bit. Otherwise, the 3-day weekend is exactly what the doctor ordered.

We are sooo excited about the cruise! It'll be our first vacation since November, and we sooo need it!! Pretty much every day as I'm driving him to school, he'll ask how many months until we go on the "Mickey Mouse Cruise Ship."

Hope you all have a great week!

Annabel

Oh gosh...I hope you heal quickly! That is absolutely no fun. Thank goodness you have an extra day to recover from that.

It seems like now that we are getting closer to the cruise date, time is flying by!

 

[wildforgoofy]

We are PIF now and waiting patiently till Friday so I can book our activities!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Greetings fellow Magic-al cruisers!!!

We moved our September Fantasy booking to this cruise, paid in full, and started booking the fun stuff already! Why would we opt to not sail on the Fantasy? Well, we want to take our first ever trip to Disneyland in November so we needed to spread the vaca's out a bit to make them more financially feasible, PLUS it looks like we'll be sailing on an Eastern Caribbean itinerary for Thanksgiving 2013 on RC's Allure so no need to do 2 Easterns. The hubby has been itchin' for another break from work in the more near future. Sailing in May helps him with his coping and spreading things out on a 6-month interval might help. So here we are sailing with you fine folks! Hellooooooo!!!!

First, intros! We're a homeschoolin' family of 4 w/2 teens. That's how we travel when/where we want on our time. (I get asked about taking the kids out of school a lot. ) Our boys will be 16 & 14 at the time of sailing. This will be our 2nd cruise overall and it is also with DCL. Our first was last September on a 3-night Dream to get our toes wet and try out cruising. We booked 3 more "dummy" cruises on that cruise so obviously we liked it more than just a little. I sure hope the 5-night doesn't zip by us as fast as the 3-night did. I felt like I was just getting my bearings when it was over. I was so sad. So here's us:

((Shameless plug on the family portraits from Epcot last year...I know! ))

From left to right you have: Chandler, Kelly (me), Tracey, and Brian. Why would I post a pic of us? Because last year on the Dream it helped me a lot to spontaneously recognize fellow-cruisers which was very cool! So y'all post pics of your cruisers so we can all recognize each other. K?

We're still not 100% sure if we're doing the FE this go around. Definitely want to meet some fellow cruisers and let the kids all meet each other.

I'm so excited!!!!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I read thru this entire thread Friday night. So fun sorta getting to know everyone on the down-low. Very voyeuristic in a way.

Cindy, I'm also glad to hear you're doing better.

wildforgoofy, I also have a 14 yro son, Brian, who will be hanging with the Vibe crew. He wasn't quite 14 on our Dream cruise but he chose Vibe over the Edge. Brian is quite friendly and, as we suspected he would be all along, is the social scene guy of our 2. The last night of our Dream cruise he didn't come in until 2:45 a.m. Not to worry, we kept in touch via Wave phone and he was with friends not in public areas so all was okay. That was the beauty of the cruise. The kids had their space to spread their wings but within a controlled environment. Loved that. I'm sure Brian would love to "meet" his fellow cruise friends before we set sail. I don't let them FB but he has an email I can send ya via PM ya if you think your son would be interested in making a buddy early. Lemme know or PM me!

magicbegins, we'll sorta be celebrating my hubby's big 4-0 on this cruise as well. His actual birthday is the day he has to go back to work after vacation (I know, that's so wrong on some level...) but we're still celebrating.

Lainey321, if it helps you not to worry too much about your 14 yro daughter being outnumbered by big kids, we also have a 14 yro son in Vibe. We've made really big efforts in raising our boys a bit different from what seems to be the norm. I loathed the little teenage "players" when I was a teen girl so I've put a lot of emphasis on my boys not being like that by making them aware of the "player" thing, why that's wrong, how teen boys and teen girls differ in their emotional maturity journies, etc. My 16 yro wasn't as into Vibe and hanging with other kids as I had hoped he'd be on the last cruise and I hope he has a more social experience this go around. When it comes to girls, to quote him specifically, "I'm not into all that girl-stuff right now, Mom. I'm too young and there's too much other stuff I need to focus on." I'm guessing that's a good thing. He had bullying issues in the past and he's really emotionally in-tune to other people. If anything, he'll be watching out for other kids not to be picked at. And he's a natural caretaker so if he was to witness anyone being mean to your daughter I'm almost certain he'd step in and put a stop to it. I know that's waaaaay more info than you had hoped to get about someone else's kids but maybe it'll help ya to feel a little better.

 

[jenf22]

Welcome Sweetpea! I was wondering if some new people would show up as we got closer!

Cindy - I'm beyond excited about booking excursions. I've been making phone calls all this morning! So far, here's what I think we're doing:

Key West - The Conch train, Aquarium, and Shipwreck Museum. After speaking directly with the Conch train people, I think we'll just buy our tickets there and not through Disney. It's not a huge savings, but every little bit helps.

Nassau - Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter. I spoke with them directly too, but it seems like too much of a hassle to get over to Paradise Island to catch their boat to Blue Lagoon. I think we might book that one directly through Disney just for simplicity's sake. I think my folks will do Atlantis. My mom really wants to, but my husband would rather Ryan see something more "authentic" than a "glorified hotel".

Castaway Cay - Castaway Rays and hopefully a cabana. I might change my mind on the cabana (assuming I ever even see one).

I'm also hoping I can get Palo for 2 on 2 different nights (one for us and one for my folks - we're not planning to put Ryan in the kids clubs).

Our window opens at 10pm on Thursday (since we're in Colorado). My husband is a night-owl, so he's in charge of initial reservations. Wish us luck!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I forget who was hoping to book a cabana on CC day. Sorry. Just wanted to give ya the heads-up that as of this morning Family Cabana #7 was still showing available. I hope you get it!

For the ports/excursions this is what we are planning:

Key West: Gonna rent a 4-seater electric cart and check out the island. I'm on the fence whether to reserve one directly thru one of the websites online or not. Obviously it'd be convenient to just walk up to a vendor stand when we dock but it's only a few blocks to walk to the nearest shop and I'd have 1 guaranteed. Anywhoo, we wanna go to the Southernmost Point, Hemingway House, and have drinks/snacks at both Margaritaville and Captain Tony's. The long-time Jimmy Buffett fan in me requires these things. Anyone wanna try to meet up for drinks/snacks??? Think I'm gonna do a group reading of 'The Old Man and the Sea' with the boys starting this afternoon as a little prep for the Hemingway house. It's fun to sneak a little *school* in on them like that. Prob'ly gonna bring back Margaritaville merch for the in-laws and do a bit of shopping if I feel the need.

Nassau: I cannot believe I'm spending this much but I booked us the 9:15 Atlantis Aquaventure. Believe me, I researched that one long and hard. Going via Comfort Suites after calculating all their crazy fees would cost us $562.22+$34 transportation round trip. For an additional $79.78 I can go thru Disney, not fool with walking from CS, and have lunch included. No, I won't be returning at Disney's 2:15 end time, tho. We'll catch a cab when we're ready. LOL!

Castaway Cay: I am not running the 5k again. Whew! It was so hot in September I thought I was gonna die! That said upfront, we're parasailing and renting snorkel equipment. If the boys want to do the teen excursion they can. We'll sign them up onboard. Brian (14yro) is 99% sure he wants to do it. I guess I better go back and check that the parasailing won't be in conflict with whatever time it's offered just in case. Chandler (16 yro) didn't get to experience CC last time so he's just itchin' to set foot on the island. We all want to check out Pelican Plunge and explore more. We didn't do much last time outside of running the 5k because it was so unGodly hot and we're not really beachy-people. Hubby & I want to at least see the adult beach and maybe have a drinky-drink at the bar just to say we did it.

I have Palo brunch booked for Tracey & me at 10 on Key West day. We're going to book a dinner I'm just not sure exactly when yet. I'm holding off until some of the April itineraries like ours sail so my TA can make a better guess at our rotation. I don't want to miss anything good. LOL! Probably on our Palo dinner night the boys will go to our regular seating alone. They can handle it. The older son booked, dined, and paid for a solo dinner at Cape May last September. I was impressed.

Pre-cruise! What's everyone doing??? We'll be driving from Texas. At the very least the boys and I will drive and we'll fly the hubby in if we can find cheap enough rates between now and sailing. The boys and I aren't limited on time. The hubby works contract so when he's not working he's not getting paid. I think the night before sailing we'll get 2 rooms at Pop/WDW. We aren't going to any parks, tho. We want to go around the resort and take pictures of the boys in the same places we have pics of them from 2004-2007. It'll be fun! We'll prob'ly do a pre-cruise breakfast somewhere on-site like Kona Cafe or Captain's Grill. What's everyone else doing pre-cruise??? Wanna try to meet for dinner the night before or breakfast the morning of? We can do that! And we got a port arrival time of 11-11:30 like last time. Perfect. Driving from WDW to the port was a piece of cake! Easy-breezy, very convenient!

What's everyone else doing????

 

[iloverags2]

Welcome Kelly and Family!

Boy, a couple of you have been busy-busy-busy doing the planning thing! Yep, that cabana #7 at Castaway Cay has been open since I booked our activities back on the 9th. We kept going back and forth about booking it, but we aren't really beachy kind of people, and I'm afraid it would just go to waste on us.

Here are our plans leading up to the cruise, during the cruise, and post cruise.

We will drive down the day before (I know, I know...we live in Jacksonville...I just like to get a head start on things), and drop our "puppy" off at WDW Best Friends before heading over to the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach. Our plans will be to get to the port on Wednesday sometime between 11:30 and 12:00.

While on the cruise, our port plans...

Key West - We are renting a convertible from Tropical Rentals and driving up to Marathon (so we can see the bridge...I miss driving over that bridge, as I did so often while going to school in Miami and making trips down to the Keys). The rental closes at 5:30, so we'll be back probably by 5:00 or a bit before, and make a requisite stop at Margaritaville (Parrotheads here). (Just a side note, don't forget everyone that we will be docking at Outermole.)

Nassau - No real plans. I've added the snorkel excursion for me, but not sure that will actually happen. I have been snorkeling so many times in Nassau, I have lost count! We will definitely get off the ship and wander, if nothing else.

Castaway Cay - We have a 2:00 p.m. Castaway Ray's excursion planned. Other than that, just wandering again, with a quick visit to Serenity Bay (must sit out on the beach at least for a short period of time!). Maybe rent bikes also, as this is one of my favorite things to do on CC.

Onboard we have only one planned activity - Palo on our at sea day (I believe that is Night 3) at 6:00 p.m. I like to arrive right when they open and opt for a seat next to the window. This time we are going to change it up though and request one of the booth seats (we have enjoyed the window seating enough!).

I called DCL and requested the rotation that begins in Lumiere's since the previous cruises that sailed this itinerary (last time in 2010) had the LAPPL (or APLLA or PLAAP) rotation, and our preference is always to have Lumiere's on the last evening, and AP only once (since it's our least favorite). I'm hoping they stick with that rotation! (We have late seating, btw.)

Hopefully once we board, I can snag a reservation at one of the tastings...preferably a champagne tasting.

Once we return, I have to high-tail it back to Orlando as I am giving a presentation at a huge conference being held at the convention center that week. Thankfully my presentation isn't until Tuesday, but I do need to check-in Monday morning. Staying at the Residence Inn near the Convention Center on Universal Blvd. since they are a sponser hotel for the convention and provide shuttle service for us. I'm sure I will be heading over to WDW in the evenings though!

Kelly, I can tell you the 5-night will not go by nearly as quick as the 3-night cruise. Even a 4-night feels so much more relaxing than a 3-night.

Ok, I'm back off to work!

 

[jenf22]

We're flying into Ft. Lauderdale on the 6th to spend a couple of days with family. Ryan turns 5 on the 7th, so we'll need to find something special to do then. I think we're driving up the morning we leave, but I'm not sure about that. We'll have to take both of my parents cars since we won't all fit in one with luggage. My aunt and uncle live in Mims, so we might stay with them the night before. I'm letting my parents decide since we're staying with them.

We did 8 nights at Pop in October, so we're not quite ready for parks again.

I'm glad to hear there's a cabana available, though I don't hold out much hope it'll stay. I wish there was another thread on this board about reservations - cancellations and such. The one on the main DIS board was wonderful when we were planning last October. At first there were no dining reservations I wanted and by the time we left, I had almost perfect reservations to everything I wanted. It really worked out great!

Cindy - when do you make reservations for tastings? How do you even know when they are? My husband would love the margarita tasting.

 

[magicbegins]

Hi friends! We're also PIF!!!
We are back from our vacations... I told hubby about the surprise!! he's really happy but a little worried for the kids and their English... my kids have gone to a bilingual school since 2 years old, however, only the boy (10) is really fluent in English, the girls (8 and 6) mmmm I think they understand more than what they can speak! Our main concern is that they love to make friends and make people laugh with their antics... and in this case... maybe they are going to fell lost...

Welcome Kelly!! Nice pic, I agree that it's cool to recognize fellow-cruisers! I'll also post one of my family... Actually, my hubby's birthday is on May 6 we'll celebrate on MK at hoop dee hoop. but we'll also celebrate in the cruise!!!

Annabel and Cindy hope you fell better soon!!! Best wishes!

Luz

 

[iloverags2]

Cindy - when do you make reservations for tastings? How do you even know when they are? My husband would love the margarita tasting.

Reservations for the tastings can be made as soon as you board the ship, over at Guest Services. I'll have to see if I can find info on when they are typically held, but I did notice during our 7-night cruise last year they were usually around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. The more popular ones obviously book up pretty quick, so I would suggest heading over to GS as soon as you can.

my kids have gone to a bilingual school since 2 years old, however, only the boy (10) is really fluent in English, the girls (8 and 6) mmmm I think they understand more than what they can speak! Our main concern is that they love to make friends and make people laugh with their antics... and in this case... maybe they are going to fell lost...

Annabel and Cindy hope you fell better soon!!! Best wishes!

Luz

My guess is your kids will be just fine. Several of the CMs are bilingual, and kids have an easier time making friends even if they cannot communicate verbally.

Thanks for the get well wishes. I'm pretty much feeling 100%, although my allergies have been a bit more active this past week. That's all typical of living in Florida though!


As for the cabana...
I would hold onto that cabana 7 for whoever wants it, although I'm not sure how it would work once you are able to book. If I cancel it, does it go back in the pool immediately, or would you have to wait a certain time period before it became available? Hmmmm...if anyone wants to give that a shot, let me know...

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Welcome Kelly and Family!

Thank you! Gotta ask, what's the "iloverags" part of your username??? You wouldn't be into rag quilting, would ya???

Boy, a couple of you have been busy-busy-busy doing the planning thing! Yep, that cabana #7 at Castaway Cay has been open since I booked our activities back on the 9th. We kept going back and forth about booking it, but we aren't really beachy kind of people, and I'm afraid it would just go to waste on us.

Oh good, more not-so-beachy people. That was actually one of my reasons for not cruising before we finally tried it last year. I don't like going to the beach. I don't want to lay around in the sun. I don't like the heat. The sand...ugh...dirt eeeeeverywhere! It gets into places you didn't even know you had. Then there's the salty water that makes you feel sticky and your hair crusty. I'm just not a beach-comber. And I felt so weird about that for a long time because eeeeveryone seems to love the beach as a destination. It took a killer Disney boat and friends writing some amazing reports with mind-blowing pics to get me to take the plunge. I love Disney cruising because there's lots to do and it involves my big Disney passion. Perfect! I also was on the fence with the cabana. I think if each cabana had it's own private bathroom I'd do it. Considering we'll be on CC w/half the people we experienced there before, I'm thinking we'll have an overall feeling like we're 1 of 5 families on the island.

We will drive down the day before (I know, I know...we live in Jacksonville...I just like to get a head start on things), and drop our "puppy" off at WDW Best Friends before heading over to the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach.

Have you boarded at BFPC @ WDW before? We boarded our toy schnauzer baby there for our November 2010 trip. It's soooo nice there, way nicer than any other place we've ever boarded. Shout out for the BFPC peeps!

Key West - We are renting a convertible from Tropical Rentals and driving up to Marathon (so we can see the bridge...I miss driving over that bridge, as I did so often while going to school in Miami and making trips down to the Keys). The rental closes at 5:30, so we'll be back probably by 5:00 or a bit before, and make a requisite stop at Margaritaville (Parrotheads here). (Just a side note, don't forget everyone that we will be docking at Outermole.)

Oh yeah! I read about your convertible. Cool idea! I love that you're taking a spin across the bridge. I have actually been to Key West before when I was just 4. I only vaguely remember a few things, one of which was being stuck in traffic just before you got on the 7-mile bridge because there was an accident. We were parked for over an hour. It was hot so my mom stripped my brother & me down to our drawers and let us swim right off the side of the highway. I remember thinking I'd died and gone to heaven! The only other things I remember are the Southernmost point (thinking "Why is this thing such a big deal?" LOL!) and I remember seeing sea turtles swimming in a tank of some sort. Maybe there was a wildlife rehab facility or something then. I dunno. We're talking 1978, a really long time ago!

I also was curious about this Outermole thing. We're taking a bus to the regular dock area, right? Is the RC ship getting in before us? I'm worried there won't be a 4-seater electric car for us if I don't get on the ball and reserve one direct online. HHmmmm... what do you think?

Parrotheads phlocking! Woot! Honestly, I haven't kept up with JB's latest-n-greatest since Banana Wind which is shameful, I know. In college I was a crazy nutty PH. In fact, the only 2 concerts I've ever been to in my life were JB shows. Gots to go get me some boat drinks and see where it started. I've seen the big tourist Margaritaville (@ Myrtle Beach) and had a long time love with the New Orleans location. Ready to see it bare-bones where it all began. Drinks after 5???

Nassau - No real plans. I've added the snorkel excursion for me, but not sure that will actually happen. I have been snorkeling so many times in Nassau, I have lost count! We will definitely get off the ship and wander, if nothing else.

Do you think you might be anywhere where you can purchase rum cakes??? With us going to Atlantis that's the one thing I'm afraid I won't be able to get. I'm dying to try rum cake. I wonder if anyone else was making it a point to get them could I send some $$ along to pick me up a few. I'd be ever-so grateful!

I called DCL and requested the rotation that begins in Lumiere's since the previous cruises that sailed this itinerary (last time in 2010) had the LAPPL (or APLLA or PLAAP) rotation, and our preference is always to have Lumiere's on the last evening, and AP only once (since it's our least favorite). I'm hoping they stick with that rotation! (We have late seating, btw.)

I'm so clueless what restaurant might be the least of our favorites so I know what rotation I might want. On the Dream, Animators was our favorite followed by Royal Palace and Enchanted Garden. My guess is that Parrot Cay will be our least favorite on the Magic but I'm so not sure. The best fit by our restaurant preference would be PLAAP but we wouldn't want to start or end a cruise not eating dinner with our boys. Ya know? Maybe APLLA would be a better choice for us and sacrifice one of our Lumiere's for Palo. Oh I don't know! LOL!

Hopefully once we board, I can snag a reservation at one of the tastings...preferably a champagne tasting.

Oh yeah! I want to try the champagne tasting just because I want to be able to feel cultured like I can appreciate the stuff. As a general rule, try as I may, I cannot seem to find a liking for any wine or champagne. Well, except white sangrias. MMMmmmm.... What I really absolutely must make sure I can do is the beer tasting. Now that is my kinda livin'! My dream is for fine dining places (like Palo, Remy, V&A's, etc.) to realize there's a bunch of us out here who enjoy the nuances of different beers and start doing beer pairings with their dishes as opposed to wine pairings. Ya know?

Kelly, I can tell you the 5-night will not go by nearly as quick as the 3-night cruise. Even a 4-night feels so much more relaxing than a 3-night.

Thank goodness. Granted, it was hormone hell week on our 3-night. I thought my life was coming to an end when it was time to leave and I hadn't even begun to do all the things I wanted to do. That just means more cruises to get it done! Right?!

We did 8 nights at Pop in October, so we're not quite ready for parks again.

Ah, yes. We were at Wilderness Lodge for 5 days pre-cruise then the Yacht Club 6 days post-cruise in September. We celebrated our 18th anniversary big. The last 6 days I think I could've skipped the parks altogether. By then we preferred to chill by the pool and play in the water. Seriously, I think we're finally ready to move on from the WDW parks for a bit. Cruising has really grabbed us and we're itching to see DL before returning to the FL parks.

The hubby's been worried about being at a WDW resort without going to a park. I have zero issue with it. Staying at Pop pre-cruise this time is to indulge some nostalgia with the boys. If Tracey ends up flying to meet us we'll have the benefit of ME vs. me going to the airport. If he's flying in I *may* consider coming in to Pop a day early with just the boys and hitting a water park. Not sure.

I'm glad to hear there's a cabana available, though I don't hold out much hope it'll stay.

I'll be crossing my fingers, legs, eyes, and braid my hair in hopes that you score your cabana! Maybe that #7 is holding out for you! I really do want to see you get it.

Cindy - when do you make reservations for tastings? How do you even know when they are? My husband would love the margarita tasting.

Good question. I need to taste beer. Aren't I super-classy?!

Welcome Kelly!! Nice pic, I agree that it's cool to recognize fellow-cruisers! I'll also post one of my family... Actually, my hubby's birthday is on May 6 we'll celebrate on MK at hoop dee hoop. but we'll also celebrate in the cruise!!!

Luz

Thanks for the welcome! You never can celebrate birthdays enough and the big 4-0 is a big deal unto itself. Right? Sounds like y'all are going to have a great time making the best of memories.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Reservations for the tastings can be made as soon as you board the ship, over at Guest Services. I'll have to see if I can find info on when they are typically held, but I did notice during our 7-night cruise last year they were usually around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. The more popular ones obviously book up pretty quick, so I would suggest heading over to GS as soon as you can.

Oh! Good stuff! Thank you! Our previous cruise was so short we really were focused on not scheduling things. Plus we were clueless. It's all a learning experience as we go... Thanks for the info!

As for the cabana...I would hold onto that cabana 7 for whoever wants it, although I'm not sure how it would work once you are able to book. If I cancel it, does it go back in the pool immediately, or would you have to wait a certain time period before it became available? Hmmmm...if anyone wants to give that a shot, let me know...

I was thinking the same thing, that one of us could hold the cabana for someone but then I don't have much experience with DCL so I'm not sure how that would work out to "switch" it over. Gotta help our cruise-buddies out if we can, right?