November 26, 2005/ 7 day Eastern Magic

[halestrm]

Hurry Docs, Hurry!

 

[ljt064]

My son is counting down the sleeps....23 sleeps and counting til we fly to Orlando...I can't believe we are so close...

Received my DS' passport yesterday, thats 3 down and only 2 to go. Her passport was the only item that we had to have since she was born in South Korea.

Regarding packing, I always pack to much so I'm going to try and pack light. I just sent my tux to be pressed. I'm glad to say that after 10 years, it fits and is a little big on me. Of course there have been times where it was to small, but thats another story. Wish us luck in packing "light"...

So for you long time cruisers, how much wieght do you usually gain during the cruise? My DW and I lost about 5-8 pounds so we can eat are ways through the islands.

Can't wait to do the document dance...

 

[DiaLady]

Michelle2 - We're still thinking about packing . . .LOL. Things are so hectic here. Can you believe we're attempting to get our kitchen redone before we leave on top of our normally insane schedule?

As for packing . . . I'm all for LITE, LITE, LITE . . .

My dh and ds's will literally wear swimsuits and t-shirts all week. In fact, they'd wear the same ones if I'd let then . . .LOL. DS (age 8) has the same sweatshirt and pants on today that he wore on Monday. Fortunately they were washed, but he just loves that outfit

I have my formal dresses. DH is renting a tux on board (better order that soon). I'm bringing a few sundresses and flipfloppy shoes for dinners. Other than that, I'm staying in my bathing suit, too.

Oh, and by the way, the high today in St. Thomas is again, 90 degrees Farenheit!! The live Magic threads say that it's hot, hot, hot in St. Maarten!

See you all soon!

Theresa

 

[jjbescher]

Received my DS' passport yesterday, thats 3 down and only 2 to go. Her passport was the only item that we had to have since she was born in South Korea.

Louie - I was adopted from South Korea also. I got a passport, but I was also told that I could have used my Naturalization papers. This was back in 99. I decided to get my passport because I did not want to lose my Naturalization Papers.

jon

 

[ljt064]

Jon,

I can't wait to have a drink with you and chat. You'll love my daughter a 4 year old with a 18 year old attitude. This morning she went to school with here Cinderalla princess high shoes on after much debate. I also have to say she the cutest girl in the world, but I may be a bit bias.

Louie

 

[halestrm]

Jon,

I can't wait to have a drink with you and chat. You'll love my daughter a 4 year old with a 18 year old attitude. This morning she went to school with here Cinderalla princess high shoes on after much debate. I also have to say she the cutest girl in the world, but I may be a bit bias.

Louie

No just one moment sir. You may have thought she was the cutest in the world but my girlie girl is the cutest! I would allow the cutest 4 year old though.

 

[ljt064]

I think we can agree to disagree!

I just figured out how to add photos...only took my months to figure it out.

Anyway, here are my lovely DD and DS...

 

[halestrm]

I love the four fingers! I must admit, she is kinda cute.

 

[grlzmom]

We pack VERY light.

For nine of us, its 3 rolling suitcases, 1 garment bag and a carry on (including a laptop), and two umbrella strollers. Kids usually like to wear a bathing suit under their clothes when we board so they can hit the pool early.

I DO NOT pack each kid a dinner outfit for every night of the week. They each take about three dressy outfits, their pirate wear and playclothes (2 swimsuits, tshirts and flipflops). They are mostly in swimsuits and flipflops all week. I either do laundry once or send it out once (depending on how much money I have spent on Bingo) The dinner clothes are put on half an hour before dinner and taken off an hour later so they are barely worn.

My kids love the clubs and spend alot of time there and tshirts and shorts are what they wear to the clubs/lab and those take up hardly any room in the suitcases.

I am a fanatical organizer/packer. Each childs outfits are ziplock bagged and labeled with their name on it. The ziplocks are then put in the steamer trunks in the rooms so they dont have any chance of mismatching anything, and they dont rummage around messing up and wrinkling the clothes, looking for something

We bring home twice as much as we take. So the packed suitcases are put inside of larger empty suitcases so we have something to bring home the souvenirs in.

I used to pack more, but the more cruises we go on, the less we take. We never end up using all that we pack, and I hate having to take it home and unpack it. It is hard to resist the urge to pack every frilly, fancy dress they own, but I have learned.

As long as I have the kids (including dh), the sunscreen, the digital camera, the passports and my credit card, all will be right with the world. Oh yeah and I better get on making those magnets.

 

[ljt064]

We'll have to let these 2 princesses meet. My daughter insisted on wearing her Sleeping Beauty shoes to school. I think she slipped at least three times just walking to the car. I did make her wear sneakers once she arrived at pre-school.

She has lots of outfits to wear on the cruise.

Do you know if any princesses are on board. She thinks Ariel is going to be swimming along side the boat.

 

[jjbescher]

Do you know if any princesses are on board. She thinks Ariel is going to be swimming along side the boat.

I think most of the characters are on board including the princesses. The Boat and Castaway Cay are probably two of the best places to get autographs and pictures with the characters.

Just check the Navigator each night or the board by Guest Services to see where and when the characters will be.

jon

 

[TJGorman]

My DD got a picture with Cinderella last time and probably this time! There were others but Cinderella was the only character with whom she wanted to take a picture

I am making door signs today, so I can put together a little welcome packet for the group I am traveling with. So far, I have an address list for all (we are from different parts of the east coast), phone list, thank you cards, and door signs. I already bought some red folders and decorated them with disney stickers. Anyone have any ideas on what else would be helpful to go in the packet?

Also, I don't know if anyone else checked, but according to the cruise ship schedule for November, we will be docking at Crown Bay. Anyone docked here before? On my last cruise, we tendered in to Charlotte Amalie. I am trying to see how long it will take to go over to Havensight Mall.

Thanks!

 

[ljt064]

Ok...I must have missed something, what's the deal with the magnets? Are we trading? I'm willing to trade a DD and DS for a night at Palos

 

[jjbescher]

Ok...I must have missed something, what's the deal with the magnets? Are we trading? I'm willing to trade a DD and DS for a night at Palos

Louie, we are trading 5 magnet of either your hometown or state. We are bringing 5 pp(total 10). You can either bring 5 for the family, or 5 pp it is up to you.

jon

 

[halestrm]

Ok...I must have missed something, what's the deal with the magnets? Are we trading? I'm willing to trade a DD and DS for a night at Palos

What, you missed your Palo ressies? Good luck on-board! Will your DD and DS use the club so you can go?

 

[jjbescher]

Also, I don't know if anyone else checked, but according to the cruise ship schedule for November, we will be docking at Crown Bay. Anyone docked here before? On my last cruise, we tendered in to Charlotte Amalie. I am trying to see how long it will take to go over to Havensight Mall.

Thanks!

Where did you see that we are docking at Crown Bay?

jon

 

[TJGorman]

I have my Palo Brunch reservation, 11 am on Monday (11.28.05). I reserved for 4 people, and when everyone else went to reserve at the 75 day mark, the timeslot was gone. We are going to try to get another reservation on board.

Anyone else have reservations for this brunch?

 

[halestrm]

Where did you see that we are docking at Crown Bay?

jon

Hey Jon, I found this in another thread...

September 7: Welcome to St Thomas

If you had to find anything negative about visiting St Thomas after leaving the US, it would have to be the pesky US Customs and Border Protection Inspection...which requires "that all guests must present themselves in person for immigration inspection at designated times upon arrival to St. Thomas." Luckily it's a pretty smooth process that can (if you'd like) involve little pastries, juice and coffee. We saw a lot of folks who decided to leave their tots in their pjs, which I thought was a great idea. The customs agent who "inspected" us (?!?) was very friendly.

The Disney Magic was docked at a little place called Crown Bay. Crown Bay is a sub base (that appears to be deserted). It was neither within walking distance of Charlotte Amalie nor did the Hello Kitty store have a shop there. It looks like they may be in the process of developing the area into something similar to Havensight...but until then, I hope Disney can reclaim their spot at Havensight. (For those who like to buy Hello Kitty stuff....there was a cute little HK store at Havensight...I hope it's still there ).

Shock number 2 (number 1 was the Crown Bay location)....the taxi drivers were a bit more aggressive than in past years. I'm not sure if it was the fact that we were the only ship at Crown Bay (thereby reducing their ability to combine fares from multiple ships) or the increase in gas prices...but our taxi fare increased twice from the time we approached the taxi until the guy pulled over to collect the fares. In true Disney fashion (no bloodshed was involved), we protested and were able to reduce our fares back to the first quote.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...hread.php?t=909239&page=2+dcl+Crown+Bay&hl=en

This maybe what she is talking about.

 

[ljt064]

What, you missed your Palo ressies? Good luck on-board! Will your DD and DS use the club so you can go?

No just kidding, we have reservations for Thursday evening.

Jon - you are so good with the info.

Anybody plan thier trips for St. Martin? We are thinking of just hanging at the beach, or maybe try a non-disney arranged trip on a boat. I need to work at keeping my DW away from the jewlery shops. She has a gleem in her eye about an emerald.

 

[jjbescher]

Hey Jon, I found this in another thread...

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:...hread.php?t=909239&page=2+dcl+Crown+Bay&hl=en

This maybe what she is talking about.

Thanks, I will post on the Live thread to see where they docked an how far it is.

jon