November 5th 2011 Eastern on the Magic

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Is anyone else booking Palo or an excursion tomorrow? We will probably explore St. Maartin on our own but will book an excursion for St. Thomas. I'm a little worried about getting back to the ship on time since the departure time is so much earlier.
Kathy, we have the 2009 edition of the Passporter Cruise guide-do you think it's worth purchasing the newest one?

If your worried about time, then book an excursion through DCL instead of a private company because they will wait no matter how late you are if your booked through DCL.

I know it costs more but its worth the peace of mind of knowing you wont be left behind.

Out of all our cruises we have had 3 times when we got delayed in traffic and arrived after the all aboard time but we didn't worry because we knew they would wait.

We have also seen people left behind at ports too. They page them many times and search their cabin to make sure but if they cant find them they only wait a few minutes then leave.

St. Thomas is a shorter day, especially with having to tender it takes more time to get on and off the ship. Don't wait for the last tender.
If all aboard is 4 p.m. then arrive back at 3 p.m. so you don't have to stress about it.
Also people with(morning) excursions get the privilege of getting off the ship first with their tour group and those going on their own have to wait until excursion people have cleared the ship when tendering.
So if your not booked on an excursion ahead of time you may not get off the ship right away, which makes for even less hours on shore.

Kathy

 

[SLM]

I'm hoping to book one of the DCL excursions for St. Thomas-even though I read it's cheaper to do Magen's Beach on your own I think it's worth the money for the peace of mind not to worry about being left behind! On St. Maartin we will go to the Great Bay Beach-the 2011 Frommer's Guide had nice things to say about the area and several of the restaurants-from what I'm reading, it sounds like we could do the beach and lunch, return to the ship and clean up a little and then return to the beachfront area for a little shopping and sightseeing.

Sandy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I'm hoping to book one of the DCL excursions for St. Thomas-even though I read it's cheaper to do Magen's Beach on your own I think it's worth the money for the peace of mind not to worry about being left behind! On St. Maartin we will go to the Great Bay Beach-the 2011 Frommer's Guide had nice things to say about the area and several of the restaurants-from what I'm reading, it sounds like we could do the beach and lunch, return to the ship and clean up a little and then return to the beachfront area for a little shopping and sightseeing.

Hi Sandy,
I am sure you can easily do all that at St. Maartin.
We always try to do a morning excursion, then have lunch back on the ship and then go back to shop.
A couple times we had to do that in reverse, but still did everything we wanted to and had extra time on the ship before she pulled out.

Kathy

 

[disney9696]

We will be here too !!My 3 boys still don't know....holding out as long as possible !!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

We will be here too !!My 3 boys still don't know....holding out as long as possible !!

WELCOME!!!

I am Kathy. What are your names?
Good luck keeping the secret. Thats so much fun to surprize them.

Looking forward to chatitng with you the next few months,

Kathy

 

[flygrl]

Thanks Kathy for the tips for the doors, I will email you as well for the pics.
Also for the excursions for leaving the ships.... Where and when can I book them???
Sandy: you mentioned Passporter Cruise guide-do.... What is that and where do I purchase it and is it needed???
Thanks
Tanya

 

[rob_jen]

We finished the online check in and got a 11:00 Port arrival time. Will be on the ship early hopefully.

We are still debating on what to do in St. Thomas. We have been there a few times years ago. Disney does not offer too much for a 3 year old. We want to go to the beach and swim but I cant justify $170 to go to a beach for 3 hours. We may just get a cab in the morning to Megans bay or some other beach for a few hours than back to the port area.

Where did you see that we are tendering in St. Thomas? I guess we may have to with 6 ships in port. Where does the St Thomas tender drop off - downtown? The last time we were in St Thomas we docked at Havensite - on the main pier away from town.

St. Maarten will be the beach in town or somewhere. We like St Maarten allot.

We thought about Palo but we do not know our dinning rotation yet. We do not want to go on Pirate Night and the kids liked Animators Palate so we want to go there both nights. We'll have to wait on this one.

 

[flygrl]

WOW $170 just to go swimming... I don't think I would pay that either.
I will have to check out Megans Bay.

I am in for the FE... I have my room numbers at work for my sister Darcie and I... I will post it tomorrow with the information.
One room:
Tanya - 37
Sean - 9
Meghan - 6

Second Room:
Darcie - 37
Dennis - 5

Now I need to make or find one of these things...LOL

Tanya

 

[Jetflyer]

Hi! We were wondering how old your 3 boys are . We have a son who is 10 turning 11 on November 8th. The time of year we are going, school is in session in a lot of states and we were concerned there would not be any kids our sons age. Not much longer now!

We will be here too !!My 3 boys still don't know....holding out as long as possible !!

 

[Jetflyer]

We just finished our check in and got an 11:00 arrival time!

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Thanks Kathy for the tips for the doors, I will email you as well for the pics.
Also for the excursions for leaving the ships.... Where and when can I book them???
Sandy: you mentioned Passporter Cruise guide-do.... What is that and where do I purchase it and is it needed???
Thanks
Tanya

Hi Tanya,
I will send photos for door signs today.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

We finished the online check in and got a 11:00 Port arrival time. Will be on the ship early hopefully.

We are still debating on what to do in St. Thomas. We have been there a few times years ago. Disney does not offer too much for a 3 year old. We want to go to the beach and swim but I cant justify $170 to go to a beach for 3 hours. We may just get a cab in the morning to Megans bay or some other beach for a few hours than back to the port area.

Where did you see that we are tendering in St. Thomas? I guess we may have to with 6 ships in port. Where does the St Thomas tender drop off - downtown? The last time we were in St Thomas we docked at Havensite - on the main pier away from town.

St. Maarten will be the beach in town or somewhere. We like St Maarten allot.

We thought about Palo but we do not know our dinning rotation yet. We do not want to go on Pirate Night and the kids liked Animators Palate so we want to go there both nights. We'll have to wait on this one.

When I went to DCL's web site and looked up this cruise, I then clicked on Itenaries and it said St. Thomas tender. I know they rotate doing this.
It is a short tender from the bay.
You get off at a small shopping area. Mostly old buildings but some neat stuff. There use to be (should still be there) a free open air shuttle to take you over to Haven port shopping area, which is also across from the Paradise tram if anyone wants to do that. Take the free shuttle to the shopping area and then walk back about 1 block to the sky tram. saves on a taxi ride.

Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Good morning all,

Great to see so many posting today
I am putting together a list of all of us I know are coming and hoping to get names and ages of all the kids. That way everyone can see who has kids the ages of theirs, then you can make friends ahead of times as well as a list of everyone doing the FE so you will all know how many to bring gifts for.

It wont take too long to make, I have already started gathering everyones information.

If anyone out there hasnt listed their families names and ages of kids, please PM or e-mail them to me so I can get you on the list.
The sooner you do this the quicker i can get alist to everyone.

I know as we get new pople I will be adding to the list and will resend it, but thats ok, I think it will help us to get to know each other while we wait.

Off to send door sign photos ot Tanya,

Kathy

 

[LovesToRun]

Hi There!

I am just now joining this cruise meet. My family and I are going to be on this cruise, and can't wait! I will be celebrating my 40th birthday while on the ship, and I'm so excited because I just made Palo Reservations for DH and I the night of my actual b-day (Nov 10), so I get to celebrate my 40th at Palo! I can't think of a better place to have a 40th b-day dinner than Palo while at sea!!

We have 2 boys (9 & 11 at time of cruise). This will be our 4th Disney Cruise, and our 2nd 7-day Eastern Caribbean. We love this itinerary.

I also just checked in and got us an 11 AM Port Arrival Time (we will be arriving at MCO on the 4th and staying at the Hyatt, then taking the Disney Cruiseline transfer to port).

My oldest son's 11th b-day is Nov 3, so we are making this a b-day cruise for him, too. He loves airplanes.... anything having to do with planes he loves. So, when we are at St. Maarten, we are going to go to the beach at the airport to watch the planes fly right overhead! My son is so excited (and so are the rest of us!)

Looking forward to possibly meeting some of you in November!

Take care,
Kathy

ps. We are from Seattle, WA.

 

[rob_jen]

My 40th is the week after the cruise. Maybe we will celebrate it on the ship too.

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

Hi There!

I am just now joining this cruise meet. My family and I are going to be on this cruise, and can't wait! I will be celebrating my 40th birthday while on the ship, and I'm so excited because I just made Palo Reservations for DH and I the night of my actual b-day (Nov 10), so I get to celebrate my 40th at Palo! I can't think of a better place to have a 40th b-day dinner than Palo while at sea!!

We have 2 boys (9 & 11 at time of cruise). This will be our 4th Disney Cruise, and our 2nd 7-day Eastern Caribbean. We love this itinerary.

I also just checked in and got us an 11 AM Port Arrival Time (we will be arriving at MCO on the 4th and staying at the Hyatt, then taking the Disney Cruiseline transfer to port).

My oldest son's 11th b-day is Nov 3, so we are making this a b-day cruise for him, too. He loves airplanes.... anything having to do with planes he loves. So, when we are at St. Maarten, we are going to go to the beach at the airport to watch the planes fly right overhead! My son is so excited (and so are the rest of us!)

Looking forward to possibly meeting some of you in November!

Take care,
Kathy

ps. We are from Seattle, WA.

WELCOME

To Kathy & family

Gosh we now have 2 Kathys and one Kathleen here.

Kathy I am also Kathy and I am just south of you in Oregon.
Finally someone on the same time zone as me.

Are you interested in doing the FE?
I am just getting a list together for this. Please let me know if you want to join in the fun.

The Eastern is also our favorite itinerary.

You will certainly get the chance to meet us because I am planning a meet the first afternoon. I will give details soon.

We stayed at the Hyatt once then took the bus to the port, it worked great. Their roof top pool is fun if you have time to unwind out there. Its never busy and is such a beautiful pool and a great view.

Kathy

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[mom x4 grandma x4]

My 40th is the week after the cruise. Maybe we will celebrate it on the ship too.

The ship recognizes it as your birthday as long as its with in 30 days of the cruise.
So be sure and tell who ever you booked through and you should get a free mini cake delivered to your table at dinner one night, plus they will sing Happy Birthday to you. It use to be at the Guest Services desk they would give you a birthday pin to wear too.

Sometimes you need to remind your dining room manager a day ahead of time about the birthday celebration .

We have done this for birthdays and anniversaries a few times.

Gosh I am beginning to think I may be the oldest person on this cruise thread.

Oops. Felicia's mom is older than me. Thank goodness. Now I may only be the 2nd oldest person on our cruise thread

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

When I went to DCL's web site and looked up this cruise, I then clicked on Itenaries and it said St. Thomas tender. I know they rotate doing this.
It is a short tender from the bay.
You get off at a small shopping area. Mostly old buildings but some neat stuff. There use to be (should still be there) a free open air shuttle to take you over to Haven port shopping area, which is also across from the Paradise tram if anyone wants to do that. Take the free shuttle to the shopping area and then walk back about 1 block to the sky tram. saves on a taxi ride.

Kathy

I went back to find this again and now I cant find where i read it??
All sites I checked say they wont list who is or is not tendering for November yet. So perhaps I had clicked on the wrong date and didnt realise it?

I will keep looking and when i find it I will post the site.
I now have myself curious to what I read??

May just have to call DCL to ask because it will drive me nuts until I find out for sure

Kathy

 

[mom x4 grandma x4]

I finally found it!!


We are tendering at St. Thomas.

I read it on the reservation confirmation DCL e-mailed to us when we booked the cruise last week.

Then just to make sure we called DCL and they confirmed we are tendering at St. Thomas.

At least now I know I didnt imagine it

Kathy

 

[SLM]

Sandy: you mentioned Passporter Cruise guide-do.... What is that and where do I purchase it and is it needed???
Thanks
Tanya[/QUOTE]

It is a wonderful guidebook written by a couple named Jennifer and Dave Marx. I have the 2009 edition and it has so much information! Port excursions, menus, restaurants, maps, the activities for children, adults, the clubs, etc. Their excursion section describes/reviews the DCL excursions and what you would do and pay for things on your own. I purchased mine last year from Amazon (when I booked my cruise) but there is a new edition just out. You can also purchase it directly from their website (I think it's just www.passporter.com) and there might be some savings or benefits buying it from them. I'm thinking the 2011 ed. has alot of info on the Dream and the ports that have been added since 2009-but I am tempted to get another copy unless I hear from someone that the info on the Magic/Wonder is pretty much the same.