Oct 30 2010 7 Night Western

[figmentnnemo]

I guess I am from the old school that you are always safer to book with the cruise line. I know you pay more but I like know that if something happens while you are on a cruise booked tour, the cruise knows where you are. I have seen too many stories of people missing the ship because the tour ran late or had a accident.

I do know that Capt. Marvins is very good. A few of our friends have used them and did not have a problem.

With all the ports of call, we have been there, done that. So when we get off the ship, we do our own thing. In Key West we go to a great a local restaurant and the key west lime shop. GC I go diving and Vikki goes shopping. Cozumel we walk around town, have a drink at Carlos. I might go diving, but I will have to see where they go. Most of the time, Vikki takes advantage of port specials at the spa.

On the cruise booking note... we always stay directly with the line. The one time we did't, we had such a hassle changing our cabin, getting a price adjustment, and other issues/ questions. From that point on, we will only deal with the line directly.

I noticed we have a few first timers on this cruise. Over the next few days, I will be on the post because I have some time between meetings and will have my laptop in front of me. So if you have any questions, just ask

Have a Mickey Day

Les

 

[podsnel]

Yep...whoooooo what a great time we had! But yeah happy to have you help, Ellen!!! BTW, how was St. John? Was the weather gorgeous or WHAT!!! Wow.....beautiful!

YES!! GORGEOUS! The only hint of rain was on Monday, when we went over to the BVI's for the day on a boat. ANd the water was pretty rough. How did it feel on a ship? Or maybe it was calmer by Weds when we left (and you came for the day).

At Trunk Bay-

On our deck right before we left (probably you were getting off the ferry from Red Hook when this pic was taken)-

And I took this one for you when we were flying out- you can just barely see your ship, I think! It's down left-

We had too much fun!! Very hard to get slammed back into reality!

 

[nenner1]

Thanks for posting all that nenner! Can't wait! I'm in for splitting on the DVD, I had suggested/offered, but if you want to handle it, I'm all for it!

I have the bubble wrap CD envelopes too that I can give you for mailing! Just remind me to pack them!

Whoops! I'm sorry Judy. That's at least the second time I've jumped in on something that was already being handled. LOL. Especially if you already have envelopes you can go ahead and take care of the videos.....my bad!

We're in on splitting the DVD too. Does everyone get the same DVD that's in the group from the photographer? I know it worked that way when we swam with the dolphins but, I just want to make sure that I have it correct.

Thanks nenner, your pictures are awesome. Now I really can't wait!!!!!

Yep same one for all I am sure, the video shows everyone on the boat. It starts off just going around the boat and showing everyone, then once in the water it shows all of us snorkeling plus shots of the wildlife. During the stop at stingray city it shows everybody getting their "back rub" and "kisses". The video will be much more interesting to have when we all know eachother..instead of my video which has us and then a bunch of strangers (from the Carny boat no less...)

I just received my email confirmation from Captain Marvin's!! They have different boats that seat from 20 - 45 people depending on what boat you are on. What boat they put us on depends on how many are in our group. So be sure to write in your comment section you want to be in the group orginially booked by "Judy Baggott", and we'll all end up on the same boat, up to 45.

Going to take care of that now.....we have to be getting pretty close to a full boat!

YES!! GORGEOUS! The only hint of rain was on Monday, when we went over to the BVI's for the day on a boat. ANd the water was pretty rough. How did it feel on a ship? Or maybe it was calmer by Weds when we left (and you came for the day).

Yep the surf was rough for sure when we were there. Quite an undertow. Fightin the current swimming back to the beach in TB seemed to take forever. Ha! Im so glad it was so gorgeous, look slike you guys had a wonderful time. As much as we loooove cruising, Ron & I were discussing when we could swing a little land based trip like yours! We really want to go down and have more time to spend down there.

Our ship- we did not feel the ocean rocking hardly at ALL. he captain told us they were having trouble all week (we even took a different route) with the high rough seas ...but we never knew it. I assume because that ship is so much larger than the Magic, or maybe they just don't hesitate to use the stabilizers. I don't know but there was only one night where we felt any motion at all and even then it wasn't much.

And I took this one for you when we were flying out- you can just barely see your ship, I think! It's down left-

How cool, yep that's our boat!! I do love Disney don't get me wrong...but wow- what a boat she was. Beautiful! (in a different way than DCL- more modern and flashy as opposed to classic elegance on DCL)

We had too much fun!! Very hard to get slammed back into reality!

For sure. I'm going back to work tonight....uggggghhhh!

 

[nenner1]

We've booked Captain Marvins!! EyesforMickey and I are in. If you wish to join us, just visit www.captainmarvins.com

We are booked for Tuesday November 2nd, on the 1/2 Day excursion from 10am to 1pm. This will be 3 stops (Coral Gardens, Barrier Reef and Sting Ray City)

We are booked now too, with the request to link the reservation! Woo hoo!!

 

[lsjones]

Yea! Got our email from Captain Marvin's confirming our reservation with the group!

 

[gramacharming]

I have just joined the disboard. I am threeiscrazy's mom and my DH and I are very excited to be going on this cruise with all the grandkids.

 

[Beachbumpirates]

I have just joined the disboard. I am threeiscrazy's mom and my DH and I are very excited to be going on this cruise with all the grandkids.

We too have grandma and grandpa coming along this trip. Welcome to the group!!!

 

[JKSWonder]

Is it just me, or does it seem like our cruise is already completely sold out?

I just went looking at it again on the website. It does not come up if you plug in any kids. The other day, it showed up if you plugged in two adults only. However, when I tried that today, it did not appear at all.

It did (strangely) appear when plugging in only one adult and showed availablity for Cat. 9, Cat.6, Cat. 5 and Cat. 4. Cannot figure out why that would be.

 

[tjbaggott]

Is it just me, or does it seem like our cruise is already completely sold out?

I just went looking at it again on the website. It does not come up if you plug in any kids. The other day, it showed up if you plugged in two adults only. However, when I tried that today, it did not appear at all.

It did (strangely) appear when plugging in only one adult and showed availablity for Cat. 9, Cat.6, Cat. 5 and Cat. 4. Cannot figure out why that would be.

According to my TA, all Cat 4's are sold out (or are there some that sleep less than 5 people?). We had her try to upgrade us to a Cat. 4 so we could bring my mom with us. She did say it looks like it will be a sold out cruise! WOW, on the one hand, thats exciting, but on the other, I worry about line ups for character meets, and other stuff. Has anyone else ever sailed on a sold out or nearly sold out cruise before? What was that like?

 

[JKSWonder]

I'm worried about the mad internet stampede for Palo, Spa and excursions reservations. Gotta hope that a lot of the cruisers are first timers!

 

[Beachbumpirates]

According to my TA, all Cat 4's are sold out (or are there some that sleep less than 5 people?). We had her try to upgrade us to a Cat. 4 so we could bring my mom with us. She did say it looks like it will be a sold out cruise! WOW, on the one hand, thats exciting, but on the other, I worry about line ups for character meets, and other stuff. Has anyone else ever sailed on a sold out or nearly sold out cruise before? What was that like?

I am anxious to hear what others say about sold out sailings. Last October our Western had only 1800(ish) passengers and it was wonderful! We felt like we had the whole ship to ourselves. Wondering how full it feels when it is truly full.

 

[Grandma4ever]

I am anxious to hear what others say about sold out sailings. Last October our Western had only 1800(ish) passengers and it was wonderful! We felt like we had the whole ship to ourselves. Wondering how full it feels when it is truly full.

I have been on sold out cruises and it will not be bad. It may be difficult to get Palo but that normally works out for most in the end. I have always stayed up to book when the window opened and had to cope with the system not working due to demand but I have always been able to get what I needed.

For those who want to upgarde or need an extra room do not give up. As we get closer to the paid in full date there will be a number of people who will back out. Rooms will open up so Start checking Daily as we get towards the 100 day mark.

 

[tjbaggott]

Not cruise related but my friend just sent me this video link. She had seen the ad for auditions, so she took her son Jared to the audition. A few weeks later, they were called back, Jared had been chosen for this segment! His segment is now completed and published! What a great little Actor! He plays BEN in the following "Hinterland's Who's Who" video about BIODIVERSITY! I thought it SO Great, I'm sharing it here!
http://tv.hww.ca/video/watch/5

 

[eyes4mickey]

I have been on sold out cruises and it will not be bad. It may be difficult to get Palo but that normally works out for most in the end. I have always stayed up to book when the window opened and had to cope with the system not working due to demand but I have always been able to get what I needed.

For those who want to upgarde or need an extra room do not give up. As we get closer to the paid in full date there will be a number of people who will back out. Rooms will open up so Start checking Daily as we get towards the 100 day mark.

What time does the Palo window open for booking ressies? I'll be staying up and on here chatting away to pass the time that night.

 

[dizney-cruiser]

According to my TA, all Cat 4's are sold out (or are there some that sleep less than 5 people?). We had her try to upgrade us to a Cat. 4 so we could bring my mom with us. She did say it looks like it will be a sold out cruise! WOW, on the one hand, thats exciting, but on the other, I worry about line ups for character meets, and other stuff. Has anyone else ever sailed on a sold out or nearly sold out cruise before? What was that like?

We were on the 2008 halloween cruise which was also sold out and we didn't find it any more crowded then our previous cruises

 

[tjbaggott]

What time does the Palo window open for booking ressies? I'll be staying up and on here chatting away to pass the time that night.

Midnight of the day your booking window opens. I stayed up late to book for my last cruise and had NO problems doing that right at midnight.

 

[nenner1]

I have just joined the disboard. I am threeiscrazy's mom and my DH and I are very excited to be going on this cruise with all the grandkids.

aboard! Glad to have you sailing with us!

According to my TA, all Cat 4's are sold out (or are there some that sleep less than 5 people?). We had her try to upgrade us to a Cat. 4 so we could bring my mom with us. She did say it looks like it will be a sold out cruise! WOW, on the one hand, thats exciting, but on the other, I worry about line ups for character meets, and other stuff. Has anyone else ever sailed on a sold out or nearly sold out cruise before? What was that like?

We were on the 2008 halloween cruise which was also sold out and we didn't find it any more crowded then our previous cruises

Yep, only one of our cruises we were on (a 3 day Wonder) was not sold out. And like Janice said I really didn't notice any difference. I think most 4 day and all Magic cruises nearly always sail full.

On my last cruise on the Magic (sold out) we actually had a room problem (our supposed to be adjoining rooms were separated to several-rooms-down-the-hall due to our original room being out of service for maintenance issues.) When we spoke to the supervisor about it upon embarkaton they told us there was absolutely NOTHING else available and to try back after 3 PM (in case some poor soul missed the ship). Luckily for them I guess no one did and there was still no availability, however the very next day they suddenly had several Cat 11 rooms on a variety of decks that we could choose to move to (we had a Cat 8 so we declined and just dealt with our rooms being 50 feet apart). Thought that was interesting, especially on such a popular cruise (It had originally sold out - what..like a year and a half before sail or some crazy long timeframe) .

I'm worried about the mad internet stampede for Palo, Spa and excursions reservations. Gotta hope that a lot of the cruisers are first timers!

Yep, I suspect it is going to be difficult this time around. With the Castaway Club changes we are now "lowly" silver. It was hard enough last time at 90 days and that was when all CC members opened up then. (not with a bunch of Platinum and Gold people having already gone first.) I was in at 11:59 and there were two High Tea slots available and three brunch slots. That was it. And IIRC some people on the waiting list never did make it into brunch. Dinner was easier, there were a lot of slots for that. But this time around...who knows. That was one thing I loved about RCCL- it was so easy to get in Chops and Portofino (their specialty restaurants)...we even changed our reservations once or twice during the cruise with no problems. No chance of that with Palo.

 

[tjbaggott]

:
Yep, I suspect it is going to be difficult this time around. With the Castaway Club changes we are now "lowly" silver. It was hard enough last time at 90 days and that was when all CC members opened up then. (not with a bunch of Platinum and Gold people having already gone first.) I was in at 11:59 and there were two High Tea slots available and three brunch slots. That was it. And IIRC some people on the waiting list never did make it into brunch. Dinner was easier, there were a lot of slots for that. But this time around...who knows. That was one thing I loved about RCCL- it was so easy to get in Chops and Portofino (their specialty restaurants)...we even changed our reservations once or twice during the cruise with no problems. No chance of that with Palo.

Wow, I never thought of what night to book our Palo dinner on. I don't want to miss any of the great shows, but can you recommend a few nights to choose from? We've never been on the Magic before, and have thus never done a 7 nighter. Do we know yet what shows are on what nights? That would help me choose what I can miss. LOL.

We're going to do the group brunch, so do I still need to make a brunch reservation if the only one we're doing is the brunch? Or do we all make our own brunch reservations and they get linked later?

 

[Pudo]

Wow, I never thought of what night to book our Palo dinner on. I don't want to miss any of the great shows, but can you recommend a few nights to choose from? We've never been on the Magic before, and have thus never done a 7 nighter. Do we know yet what shows are on what nights? That would help me choose what I can miss. LOL.

We're going to do the group brunch, so do I still need to make a brunch reservation if the only one we're doing is the brunch? Or do we all make our own brunch reservations and they get linked later?

Typically you will not miss a show since the shows are scheduled opposite of your dinner. For example, if you have early (main) dining than you go to the late show.

Your dining rotation over 7 days means you will visit 2 restaurants twice and one three times. If you have an "APL" rotation you would start at Animators, Parrot Cay, and then Lumieres which means more than likely you will visit Animators 3 times so you may consider choosing the 4th night (Tuesday).

The "event" nights are Formal (Monday), Pirate (Wednesday) and Semi-Formal (Thursday) so regardless of rotation Tuesday is a good choice for Palo since you normally don't want to go on the first or last night, but that is just me.

 

[tjbaggott]

Typically you will not miss a show since the shows are scheduled opposite of your dinner. For example, if you have early (main) dining than you go to the late show.

Your dining rotation over 7 days means you will visit 2 restaurants twice and one three times. If you have an "APL" rotation you would start at Animators, Parrot Cay, and then Lumieres which means more than likely you will visit Animators 3 times so you may consider choosing the 4th night (Tuesday).

The "event" nights are Formal (Monday), Pirate (Wednesday) and Semi-Formal (Thursday) so regardless of rotation Tuesday is a good choice for Palo since you normally don't want to go on the first or last night, but that is just me.

That advice sounds great! Thanks for sharing that. I've started my planning book and can now add this info to it!