More questions re 7 days Magic

[oo138oo]

Ok, gathered more questions for you guys...

1) Should we bring beach towels or is it provided?

2) How punctual is the cruise line with the docking time? We're trying to book diving package with a local operation at GC, since there are others they're taking on the excursion, they can't afford to wait for us... for too long. Disney website says docking at 7:30am. We need to be at a place 10 minutes taxi ride from the dock by 8am. Is this possible?

3) We'll have a 3 yr old with us on the cruise. Those of you that had taken same age kids on the ship, how much do they enjoy the Oceaneer Club? What else can we take her to during the days on sea other than OC? The sleeping area in OC, is it dark and quiet enough for them to fall asleep incase we have late dinner?

Hmmm, think that's all I have... FOR NOW

Thanks again guys.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

the beach towels are small. but they are free. DCL usually gets to a port 30 mins before the time it says. as for the OC your kids will love it. once 9-10 pm comes around they darken the club and let kids sleep. dont worry about meals cause OC goes to lunch and dinner in the buffet area. just let the OC CM's know about what time you should be back. enjoy your cruise

 

[oo138oo]

Thanks John.

One more question.

Once the ship docks at GC, how long would it take for ship crew to open the gate and get the tenders going. If I want to be on the first tender, how much earlier should I show up at the gate? And how often or do they ever arrive late at any of the ports?

Okay, that was more than one question

Thanks again.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

i would guess if late it would be due to weather. if you are in a rush i would be the 15-20 before they let loose the passangers

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by oo138oo
Thanks John.

One more question.

Once the ship docks at GC, how long would it take for ship crew to open the gate and get the tenders going. If I want to be on the first tender, how much earlier should I show up at the gate? And how often or do they ever arrive late at any of the ports?

Okay, that was more than one question

Thanks again.

They let all the people with DIsney booked excursions on the first tenders, I am not sure if they let others on there also but I know they let the Disney booked ones on first.

 

[kcashner]

We always use the ship's towels. They are small, but it beats lugging our own. You can always get 2-3 per person.

The ship docks promptly weather permitting. THe first tenders are for people with DCL excursions, but others are allowed on if there is space available. They have a system of tender tickets for the early tenders, but they frequently are not needed.

As to a 3 year old, it depends on the child. The activities are great, the characters come to the club, etc. The counsellors are great with kids who are afraid of characters. However....there are always kids who don't want to be left. My niece was afraid that mom and dad were having too much fun without her. Unfortunately, my sister failed to insist that she go to the club at least once. As a result, they hated the cruise--they had no kid-free time. Of course, it was their own fault!

 

[NJ Cruisers]

My 4 year old son only went to the club twice. He really didn't like it and didn't want to go back. I think it was a matter of not making friends right away - we'll try again next time. I work full time so it's great spending a lot of time with him. But it would also be nice to get to the Palo Brunch and maybe sit on the deck with a good book and a little bit of quiet time.

Diane

 

[Stimpy]

My 3 1/2 yr old loved the clubs. He's looking forward to going back again next April. (He'll be 5 then) They do have dark corners and have mats for the kids to sleep on. We found this out our first night. We went to pick him up at 9PM and we couldn't find him anywhere! We checked the bathroom, the pirate ship, we were getting a little worried and we asked one of the CM's where he could be. They told us there was a "sleeper in the corner" and to check a corner of the room near the front desk but behind some shelves or something. There he was sound asleep on a mat.
There were no other kids in that area at the time, I assume it's because that is their sleeping corner.

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by oo138oo
Ok, gathered more questions for you guys...

1) Should we bring beach towels or is it provided?

one of the things I was glad we brought was a Neat Sheet. They cost about 7 bucks, you can get them at any store like Target, CVS, etc. The DCL towels are small, so for the excursion day at the beach I had our Neat Sheet that took up very little space and we had a nice big area to sit on the beach. We didn't even bring towels, you pretty much are dry 10 mins out of the water anyway! And..the best part, you just toss them out if you don't want to roll it back up and pack it.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Originally posted by oo138oo
Once the ship docks at GC, how long would it take for ship crew to open the gate and get the tenders going. If I want to be on the first tender, how much earlier should I show up at the gate?

What is "tenders?" I'm still learning lingo...

 

[Stimpy]

Tenders are smaller boats that take you from the ship to shore. In some ports, there isn't enough room for the cruise ships to dock so the tenders come and pick up the passengers and return them later in the day.

 

[TheWog]

Originally posted by nzdisneymom
What is "tenders?" I'm still learning lingo...

Tenders are boats that are used to get people off the ship and to shore. At GC you will not be docking so you will need to get to shore from where you are anchored.