November 26, 2011 Western Carribean

[monami7]

We will be there as well!
It will be my family or 4
Me, DH, DD 6 and DD 4
My sister and her BF and my niece 10 and nephew 8
My PArents and
My Grandparents

We are so excited o be going!!!

 

[IrishCowboy]

I am going to review 'banana heads' thread and will remove it from list if it is not active

 

[CherylA]

We will be there as well!
It will be my family or 4
Me, DH, DD 6 and DD 4
My sister and her BF and my niece 10 and nephew 8
My PArents and
My Grandparents

We are so excited o be going!!!

Welcome! My DD will be 6 too! My older DD will be 9 so maybe a good age to get along with your niece. I am so looking forward to this trip! What category and/or rooms is everyone in? I originally booked an 11B we were on deck 5 I think. I just changed to a 10B on deck 2 room 2111. It was only $100 more and we get the split bath and a few extra square feet.

We will be flying down on Thanksgiving and staying 2 nights in a studio at Bay Lake Towers in the Contemporary. I think we will do the Very Merry Xmas Party on Friday assuming they have it. The rest of our time will be Downtown Disney, resort hopping etc.

 

[TJGorman]

Oh so I see here you're doing 2 days in the parks before the cruise, how great! It is a busy time of year though so make sure you use fast passes!

We changed our plans, now we are just going to do MK on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We also will be flying down on Thanksgiving, the airfare is so much more reasonable on Thanksgiving. We haven't finished making our plans but I am hoping to stay at All-Star Music.

 

[CherylA]

We changed our plans, now we are just going to do MK on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We also will be flying down on Thanksgiving, the airfare is so much more reasonable on Thanksgiving. We haven't finished making our plans but I am hoping to stay at All-Star Music.

Funny sounds like we have similar plans! Usually on that Friday they do the Christmas Party so the park closes at 7 unless you have xmas party tickets. With Xmas party tickets you can get in at 4:00 then the party starts at 7 and ends at midnight

 

[TJGorman]

Funny sounds like we have similar plans! Usually on that Friday they do the Christmas Party so the park closes at 7 unless you have xmas party tickets. With Xmas party tickets you can get in at 4:00 then the party starts at 7 and ends at midnight

Thank you for the information! We are still talking about the timing of everything, but I appreciate another alternative!

 

[CherylA]

Thank you for the information! We are still talking about the timing of everything, but I appreciate another alternative!

I just wanted to let you know that I was looking at past xmas party dates and they don't seem to be the Friday after Thanksgiving. I don't know why I thought they were. Anyway I guess we'll be doing a regular full day at the MK on the 25th. Kind of bummed because I really wanted to experience the Xmas party

 

[TJGorman]

Well that makes the decision a lot easier.

I guess I will be doing the same. Only 10 months to go! I can't wait

 

[sunryzez]

My crew will also be on the Nov 26th Disney cruise as well. There are a bunch of us going...
me-30, dh-34,dd-9,dd-5,ds-3
Brother-37, sil-39, nephew-2
Sister-30, bil-29, godson-3, nephew-1
Mom-64
possibly also my cousin and her family and my sil's brothers family but we are not sure yet. It will be quite a bit of us and I am SO excited. This is going to be my first cruise ever! Anyone else on here ever dcled it before? Or are you first timers like us?

 

[CherylA]

Well hello! So excited to have more cruisers joining us! Especially one with 2 girls. My girls will be 9 and 6 so maybe some playmates We have cruised DCL twice before, both times on the Wonder for 4 day cruises. We're really excited to be doing a longer cruise this time. On our 1st cruise my kids were 4 and 1 and while it was fun I wasn't blown away. (I think it was hard with them being so young, they didn't want to stay in the clubs at all)

Our last cruise was this past April and my kids were 5 and 7. It was soooo amazing! The kids clubs were fantastic and we had the most wonderful waitstaff. Our assistant server cut our kids food for them so we wouldn't have to be bothered. Two of the 4 nights for dinner it was just me and DH because we couldn't drag the kids away from the kids club. The kids had an awesome time in the clubs, DH and I had an awesome time getting to spend some alone time and we also had plenty of family time all together. It was the best vacation we've ever taken! And we can't wait to go back!

 

[sunryzez]

Hey there ! I am also very excited about this trip. Any good tricks for first timers? How exactly do the clubs work? Is there a certain time they could be there or how do you sign up? That would be great if our kids could be playmates. My oldest dd is worried because she is 9 so it says she will be in a different club then her siblings..Im hoping they will still let her go in the room with the younger ones but Im not sure how strict they are on the age limit.
We are also hoping on some alone time so Im hoping the kids enjoy the clubs as well. Have you done any excursions on your past trips? We are looking into some of those now just to get an idea on what we want to do. Any advice is appreciated

 

[TJGorman]

Welcome!

Traveling with a larger group is fun! This will be our 3rd time traveling with friends and family!

My biggest piece of advice for first timers is enjoy the experience! Don't stress about the little things, it will all work out. Read the boards and ask questions!

My first cruise I had not even discovered DISBoards and we had an amazing time, so you are one step ahead of a lot of people!

 

[CherylA]

Hey there ! I am also very excited about this trip. Any good tricks for first timers? How exactly do the clubs work? Is there a certain time they could be there or how do you sign up? That would be great if our kids could be playmates. My oldest dd is worried because she is 9 so it says she will be in a different club then her siblings..Im hoping they will still let her go in the room with the younger ones but Im not sure how strict they are on the age limit.
We are also hoping on some alone time so Im hoping the kids enjoy the clubs as well. Have you done any excursions on your past trips? We are looking into some of those now just to get an idea on what we want to do. Any advice is appreciated

The kids can go into any of the clubs they want now, there are no longer age restrictions so if the kiddos want to stay together they can. My two stayed together for the first few times then they made friends and were fine going to different activities. My best advice is to fill out all the online paperwork you can before you get there. Then you print out the pages that need to be signed. When you get to the port there is an area where you can register the kids for the club and get their bracelets before you even get on the ship. Do this. Then that first day they have open family time at the clubs, bring the kids to the club on the first day to get a feel for things and meet other kids. Lots of times friendships are made on this first day and then the kids are excited about going to the club. If you wait until a day or two into the trip to take the kids to the club they may feel like outsiders since the other kids have all had a chance to get to know each other already. My last cruise we did a DIS meet on the first day. I would like to organize something like this for our group. You just get to see all the DIS faces, a list of names and ages is handed out. It is so cool to see people at breakfast and know their names and ask about their day, it's just nice knowing people on the ship. I highly recommend stopping by for that when we have it.

I have never done an excersion. Both of my previous trips we only stopped at Nassau and Castaway Cay. At CC I was happy to lay on the beach, take a walk, have lunch and hubby rented the snorkel equipment and went out on his own for a while. I was kind of afraid of Nassau and didn't want to spend the high $$ for an excursion to Atlantis so we stayed on the ship which was nice anyway especially on a 4 day when you don't get lots of time to explore the ship. This trip we will be getting off at each of the ports. At Key West we are going to buy tickets on the trolly that you can hop on and off of and explore on our own. We won't be buying through Disney. Not sure about Grand Caymen and Cozumel. I think I might book an Island tour of Grand Caymen with Captain Marvins. They do the turtle farm and photo stops at Governor's House, Old Homestead, Seven Mile Beach and Hell. It's $30 per person (same for kids). On Cozumel we may pay for a day to use the pool/facilities at one of the resorts. I just can't pay the prices for the Disney excursions! Although I guess if something were to really catch my eye and wasn't terribly expensive I might do it. As we get closer to the date of our cruise I'd love to team up with some people from this thread for an "on our own" excersion.

Wow I guess I love thinking about this cruise!

 

[TJGorman]

Both DH and myself are divers, so we usually book at least one diving trip. We have left the kids with family members or in the clubs without any problems.

We usually book the diving excursions ourselves outside of DCL.

 

[sunryzez]

I love thinking about this cruise too. We booked it quite a while ago but I had told myself not to start looking into things until about 6 months before or it would feel like forever away, but now with the holidays over andthe colder weather I can't help but to think about it
I still am not sure about what excursions to do. Im also debating about if we are going to get off the boat at every port. I would love to see all 4 places but it is only a 7 day cruise and that doesnt leave very much time on the boat and I feel like that defeats the purpose? I could be wrong since I have never cruised before..anyone have insight on that?
I am sure that I am getting off at cc but I just want to lay on the beach and Jetski =) I also want to get off at Cayman islands to do the submarine tour.( thats the only disney excursion I am really thinking about booking)
I totally get you not getting off the boat in Nassau. We honeymooned at Sandals years ago and did an excursion into town and it was pretty scetchy in my opinion. We did do Atlantis as well. IT was amazingly beautiful but SOOO insanely pricey! WE were glad we had chosen to stay at Sandals and not at Atlantis for our trip!

Im glad they let any age group together, my dd9 will feel so much more comfortable with her siblings n cousins at least at first. Thanks for the advice on the pre sign up..I will DEF be doing that.
What about adult things on the boats? Any must sees or to do's? I know we are def booking a palo dinner with the dh and a palo tea with my mom. How is the spa? Anyone use that service before? Hope Im not asking to many questions but Im a big time planner and just like to get a head start on things
Im so excited..wish it was here already!

 

[CherylA]

I think a 7 day cruise is long enough to get off at every port and still get lots of time on board. Even if you just get off and walk around the dock area for an hour. Grand Caymen seems to be the best of all the ports so if you skip any I wouldn't skip that one. We're not super adventurous, for sure we're not divers. Snorkling or something like the sting ray adventure maybe but we'd have to leave the kiddos behind for anything like that. They are NOT adventurous at all! On Grand Caymen I definatly want to do the turtle farm. I hear it's a pretty quick thing though and I wouldn't need more than an hour. i would also love to spend some time at 7 mile beach. Right now I'm leaning toward taking a taxi to the turtle farm and then a taxi to 7 mile beach and then back to the ship. In Cozumel I'm leaning toward Nachi Cocum beach club for the day, it's either that or get off the ship for a walk around the immediate area by the port and then back on the ship again. Key West definatly the trolly tour. Castaway Cay will most likely be a semi short day for us because we have done that twice now so theres nothing we need to see, just relaxing on the beach

Hubby and I did massages at the spa last cruise. They are really nice. The time before I did a facial. I want to try the rainforest room this time and hubby and I will most likely each get a massage again. You have to book the spa services the first moment you can, not sure how many days out that is for first timers but whenever your date is get on and book what you want. Things book up fast and if you don't book early you end up with your treatments at 8 am or 6 pm or right in the middle of the day on Castaway Cay day.

Yes book whatever Palo you can, Palo is wonderful. I may even try to add a second Palo night on once we get on board. I think you can prebook one of each thing at Palo, so dinner, brunch and the tea. I will be booking all 3. I did the brusnch our 1st cruise, dinner this past cruise and this will be my first time with the tea. I loved both dinner and brunch and can't wait to do them again.

The shows they have in the evenings are great and so are the games in the lounges that they have before/after/between dinners. They get a really good turn out and they are silly and lots of fun so I recommend checking those out.

 

[CherylA]

Hey Tammy you're headed for the Dream pretty soon huh? Thats awesome. My hubby so wants to book us for a short cruise on the Dream in April for our anniversary but I'm trying to hold out. I bet you're happy to get away form all this snow and cold weather. let us know how you like the Dream

 

[cshelzy]

we will be on this cruise also myself,dh,dd(13),ds(4)
we sailed the wonder last year this is our 1st time on the magic

 

[TJGorman]

Hey Tammy you're headed for the Dream pretty soon huh? Thats awesome. My hubby so wants to book us for a short cruise on the Dream in April for our anniversary but I'm trying to hold out. I bet you're happy to get away form all this snow and cold weather. let us know how you like the Dream

Hi Cheryl!

I got so lucky to be chosen for a Travel Agent Program happening on the Dream! It is a "last minute" trip, but I am very excited to be leaving in 5 days! As it is a Travel Agent trip, it will only be me, but I am looking forward to meeting new people and, of course, seeing the Dream!

 

[CherylA]

we will be on this cruise also myself,dh,dd(13),ds(4)
we sailed the wonder last year this is our 1st time on the magic

Hey Welcome Shelly! Sounds like we're going to be a pretty good sized group! This is our 1st time on the Magic too. Loved the shorter cruise on the Wonder and now we're ready for a longer cruise!