~ Mickey's Magical Matey Tour ~ November 6-13, 2010 Eastern Magic

[schwenksvillemouse]

I thought we can start making excursion ressies on 8/23

 

[Davids-Coco]

Does anyone know if the rotation as far as what night is formal night, casual, etc. is still the same as it was a few years ago, just trying to figure out what night to do PALO and what night will be semi formal formal pirate or casual?

I do! I just got it from concierge yesterday. (I'll put it in the main post too)

7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruises
Night 1 - Reg Rotation
Night 2 (at sea) - Formal
Night 3 (at sea) - Reg Rotation
Night 4 (St. Maarten) - Pirates Night
Night 5 (St. Thomas) - Reg Rotation
Night 6 (at sea) - Semi Formal
Night 7 (Castaway Cay) - Till we meet again

Hopefully the thread will start picking up more now that we are getting closer to the cruise date!

Has anyone picked out shore excursions yet? Any recommendations?

We had picked them but now that we will be tendering into St. Thomas and the butterfly farm there is closed, I don't know what to do. I don't really want to take a taxi or walk a long distance... lol. I think we may end up doing the butterfly thing in St. Maarten instead (though I'm not crazy about the 1 1/2 hrs of driving total time with a 19 mo old on my lap)

Anyone planning on taking a day or two in a Disney hotel prior to heading to the cruise?

This is our first cruise, how much prep work do we need to do prior to the cruise? Feels to far away to start working on details yet.

We are already planned on staying at BLT before and BCV after. It is a 8-9 hr travel time from airport to airport for us, so we are going to be there two total weeks to compensate for having two small kids.

I'm not sure that there is a ton of prep work with a cruise. Realistically, our prep is mostly on things like making sure we have the right luggage stuff figured out, flight, hotel prior, trip insurance, and what we want to book for excursions/spa and when. We can book on Thursday night (120 days out) so I need to figure out the final details of what excursions we want.

 

[poizenivey]

We are also waiting on Southwest's schedule to come out. I just booked our hotel in Orlando for 2 nights after the cruise on Priceline. We are staying at the Buena Vista Suites and Spa. I've been trying Priceline for Cocoa Beach for 2 nights prior to the cruise..no luck yet.

We just came back from a week's vacation in Cocoa Beach...can I suggest renting a room at Ron Jon's Cape Caribe Resort? It's right across the street from the ports..they have a great pool area w/ water slide, zero entry area's and they also have a beach area, close to a fishing pier where we went out and saw dolphin, manatee, and sea turtles!!! Inside they have a wonderful indoor playground. We had wonderful time..it's set up like a timeshare so there is a kitchen or kitchenette in every room...I know there are usually folks trying to rent their's for a night or two if it's something you are interested in.

 

[schwenksvillemouse]

Here are our pre and post plans:

Flying down on Friday morning and staying on DVC points at the Boardwalk. Will be taking Happy Limo to port on Sat morning.

After the cruise we are renting a car and driving to Orlando. We will be staying CL at the Yacht Club for the night. We have always wanted to try SAB, and we got a good PIN for CL. We'll be flying back on Sunday morning.

 

[Yunchman]

I do! I just got it from concierge yesterday. (I'll put it in the main post too)

7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruises
Night 1 - Reg Rotation
Night 2 (at sea) - Formal
Night 3 (at sea) - Reg Rotation
Night 4 (St. Maarten) - Pirates Night
Night 5 (St. Thomas) - Reg Rotation
Night 6 (at sea) - Semi Formal
Night 7 (Castaway Cay) - Till we meet again

Awesome thanks! Do you know if the menus are still the same, like night two was golden mickeys (but i know the show is gone so is that different?) and then night 6 the Captains Gala menu? I know the other ones will be the same.

 

[poizenivey]

We can't wait!!!! This is our second DC! Our first was this past April and we loved it so much we are going again in Nov!! As of now, there are 4 families in our group! (yes, I've talked them all into coming!)

Me (Ivey) DH (Jason)
Kennedy (DD 7) and Karsyn (DD 5)
?cabin/late seating

121 Days!!!

 

[AdventureLover67]

Hi we are here, I watch every post...we are really exited, just a quiet thread.

We are doing a couple of days before excited to do one day of Food and Wine Festival and a few days after...

This is our first disney cruise, just got our little girl another little summer dress for the "dinners" ...love having a girl.

I have no idea what the little boy (2.5) will wear he really likes his disney tshirt and shorts.

So can anyone tell me are the disney dinners pretty casual? Other cruises seem to be a little more dressy.

Disney dinners are pretty casual except no shorts. Maybe they could overlook a 2 and half year old, though!
I brought 2 fairly "dressy dresses" and only wore one the night we ate at Palo's. Since this is your first DCL cruise I'll share with you that it is well worth the extra $15 pp for the meal. The food, service and ambiance were wonderful! It is for ages 18 and up only, though. If you decide to go you can reserve a spot for the children at Flounder's nursery.


Thank you everyone for your suggestions regarding shore excursions! Don and I are excited to start deciding soon which ones to try. I do love to squeeze in at least one snorkel adventure but I have to make sure I leave time to get my anniversary gift from Don. Does anyone know if one port is better than another regarding jewlery? Not the gigantic stuff but better quality fair priced items? He would be just devastated if I didn't get a ring while we are there!!!

 

[poizenivey]

Disney dinners are pretty casual except no shorts. Maybe they could overlook a 2 and half year old, though!
I brought 2 fairly "dressy dresses" and only wore one the night we ate at Palo's. Since this is your first DCL cruise I'll share with you that it is well worth the extra $15 pp for the meal. The food, service and ambiance were wonderful! It is for ages 18 and up only, though. If you decide to go you can reserve a spot for the children at Flounder's nursery.


Thank you everyone for your suggestions regarding shore excursions! Don and I are excited to start deciding soon which ones to try. I do love to squeeze in at least one snorkel adventure but I have to make sure I leave time to get my anniversary gift from Don. Does anyone know if one port is better than another regarding jewlery? Not the gigantic stuff but better quality fair priced items? He would be just devastated if I didn't get a ring while we are there!!!

I agree that Palo is well worth it!!! YUMMY!!!

I went to St. Martin (Dutch side) in the 90's and it seemed to be a big place for jewelry...plus they give you Heinken to drink while you shop (BIG plus for hubby!)

 

[Yunchman]

Does anyone remember what time the stage shows are usually? IS it like 5:30 and 8:30? I can't remember!

 

[Yunchman]

not sure? do you know what day you are getting married.

We are getting married Friday at Castaway Cay How about you?

 

[gwoman100]

Cheryl (40)
Mallory (6)
Late Seating
Philadelphia, Pa

Not sure what DD DH and all those mean???? This will be my second cruise and I loved the first one! I will be traveling with my daughter so it would be nice to meet up with other single parents. Is there anyway to get the Navigator early? On my last cruise I had already booked excursions and they conflicted with some stuff we wanted to do on the ship. Thanks!

 

[JoRo]

Thanks for the tip about dress code! I am hoping to get into Palo however we are not return cruises so we arent first on the list to call but we are hoping to get to go at least one night!

Love the nightly agenda too thank yoU!

ALso not sure about the shore excursion where we have a 4 year old and 2 year old on the bus all that time to see the butterfly farm...maybe if we all go together we can take turns leaving the small kids at the back of the bus HAHAHA....didnt know that other butterfly farm was closed.

So looking for things that dont require car seats like most shuttles, either that or beach time with the kids sounds great too...

Nana wants to do the kayak trip

 

[Davids-Coco]

Thanks for the tip about dress code! I am hoping to get into Palo however we are not return cruises so we arent first on the list to call but we are hoping to get to go at least one night!

Love the nightly agenda too thank yoU!

ALso not sure about the shore excursion where we have a 4 year old and 2 year old on the bus all that time to see the butterfly farm...maybe if we all go together we can take turns leaving the small kids at the back of the bus HAHAHA....didnt know that other butterfly farm was closed.

So looking for things that dont require car seats like most shuttles, either that or beach time with the kids sounds great too...

Nana wants to do the kayak trip

While it doesn't sit well with me, we are considering taking a taxi to the butterfly farm on St. Maarten. It's about 30 minutes each way. The only other thing we were thinking was the trip to Orient Beach, but that excursion is spendy and can also be done on your own if you get a taxi.

I don't know. My husband is still being very "go get 'um" about the whole trip and I just don't know that I really care to go crazy with excursions... especially with little ones since their temperaments can change at a moment's notice.

 

[Yunchman]

Does anyone remember what time the stage shows are usually? IS it like 5:30 and 8:30? I can't remember!

Anyone?

 

[AdventureLover67]

I agree that Palo is well worth it!!! YUMMY!!!

I went to St. Martin (Dutch side) in the 90's and it seemed to be a big place for jewelry...plus they give you Heinken to drink while you shop (BIG plus for hubby!)

I LOVED Palo's!!

I had to laugh about the beer......get em' good and liquored and the "rocks" magically grow!!!

 

[AdventureLover67]

Anyone?

I may be wrong but I think they have 2 shows per night that alternate with the dinner times. Does anyone else remember?

For the first time cruisers, the shows are fantastic and are geared for both the children, mixed with some humor the adults can appreciate. For the repeat cruisers, there is a new "Villian's" show that looks like it will be great!

 

[poizenivey]

I may be wrong but I think they have 2 shows per night that alternate with the dinner times. Does anyone else remember?

For the first time cruisers, the shows are fantastic and are geared for both the children, mixed with some humor the adults can appreciate. For the repeat cruisers, there is a new "Villian's" show that looks like it will be great!

They do indeed have 2 shows per night..one for early dining and one for the late...we were in late seating and LOVED it! We saw the new Villian's show in April and it was a very good show...We missed the Golden Mickey's last time but heard it was great...so we will def. be there this time! The entire family (even dad) enjoyed the shows!


Who's doing pirate night?

Can we leave next week? I'm getting into planning mode!

 

[skylynx]

Glad to see this thread is starting to hop...we're in the midst of planning for our Wonder cruise with the kids July 30, so that's kind of taking precedence for us right now.

We're renting a car again in St. Maarten as we did on our last Eastern cruise. DH is a big airplane fan so we are going to hang out on Maho Beach when the big jets come in to Juliana airport. There used to be a really cool bar there called Sunset Bar. It was shut down, but might have reopened. You could drink reasonably priced beers, have a burger grilled over charcoal, and have planes kick serious sand in your face if you wanted to stand that close! You may have seen those pictures that look like jets are landing on people's heads. The one caveat we learned about visiting Maho that is there is a drawbridge connecting the Juliana airport area with the port and it goes up every day around 4 or so for quite a while, suspending all traffic. The traffic aftermath when it finally comes down could make you literally miss the boat, so you have to leave Maho EARLY and get across before the drawbridge drops. In driving around the island we found the traffic by Marigot to be really really slow. We probably won't do the whole grand tour again this time.

In St. Thomas we'll likely do the St. John beach excursion again. The last time we were VERY glad we'd booked it through DCL even though we know we could have done it cheaper ourselves. Our shuttle bus back from Trunk Bay was late and when we got to the marina, the boat back to St. Thomas had already left. The DCL crewmember with us radioed it, and it turned around, came back and picked us up. We often do our own shore excursions, but this is one we'll pay the DCL extra for the insurance of not being left behind.

 

[skylynx]

Hey, Gwoman100...DH, DD, DW, DS and the like can mean two things. I have always read them as Designated Husband, Designated Daughter, etc. but have also seen them mean Disney Husband, Disney Daughter, etc. It's just a generic term for who you are hauling along with you without naming their names or writing out long-ish words like "mother-in-law."

Watch for the trickier ones like DDIL, DMIL (Designated/Disney Daughter in Law or Mother in Law! DGD is Designated/Disney Granddaughter.

 

[gwoman100]

Hey, Gwoman100...DH, DD, DW, DS and the like can mean two things. I have always read them as Designated Husband, Designated Daughter, etc. but have also seen them mean Disney Husband, Disney Daughter, etc. It's just a generic term for who you are hauling along with you without naming their names or writing out long-ish words like "mother-in-law."

Watch for the trickier ones like DDIL, DMIL (Designated/Disney Daughter in Law or Mother in Law! DGD is Designated/Disney Granddaughter.

Thanks!!