October 13th, 2007~"Cruise-A-Palooza"

[dobelover]

Morning Bev and Jen - Sadly I don't snorkle, I am afraid of the creatures in the sea and if I don't see them all the better! Have been to Sapphire Beach and it is beautiful. Lazy me also enjoys Magens Bay on St Thomas. We will have a first time cruiser with us so I am not sure what she will want to see.




Sue

 

[jenmack]

Goodmorning Bev & sue, Even though I definently want to snorkel I definetly want to do the beach too. There is nothing like a beautiful beach, sun, sand, something refreshing to drink, relaxation & a really good book!

Bev- St Joseph's State Park in Florida sounds wonderful! I'm just a beginner "snorkeler" but I would definetly like to do it more often. I would bring your snorkeling stuff. Me, the obsessive planner forgot last time & I didn't think of it for the first time. We are bringing our stuff this time around. All we have is masks & the snorkel, but that's good enough for Castaway Cay.

~Have a good day!

 

[bevtoy]

While reading threads on the boards at DIS I saw that many folks get a t-shirt or make door signs (magnetic) for their stateroom. Do either of you participate in these events, what are your thoughts? Do you participate in dressing for pirate night? Also, what night is pirate night ? I have so many questions.

 

[jenmack]

Hi Bev- Okay, the first time we cruised we had t-shirts made for us thru Disney. Their main website for shopping, I think it's Disney Direct. Anyway, we had t-shirts made for all five of us. We did DCL, and WDW prior to our cruise it was our "big" vacation. Also, we made door magnets. We used them for our last cruise when it was just myself & Dh too & we will make new ones for this cruise. The kid's love it & it makes it a lot easier for them to find our stateroom. You can buy magnetic paper @ Walmart or online. Usually it come's 10 sheets to a pack. It's expensive so what I did is plan what I wanted on each sheet of paper, printed it out on regular paper 1st to make sure that it printed out to my liking & than I used the magnetic paper. The paper is very thin, but a little thicker than regular printer paper, but printed out fine in our printer.

What I used...Disney clipart that I had downloaded off the web & a free download of Disney script. Our entire door was covered.

We still have out magnets (most of them) on our fridge.

For pirate night? I just brought along eye patches for all of us & clip on gold hoop earing's for us. At dinner Disney provide us with re bandanas. So, dressing up is kind of what you want to bring along & personel preference. Do people dress up? Yes, and some go all out, but the majority do not. There is more NOT dressed up than there are those that do. Also, "Pirates of the Carribean Night" is on Tuesday, the day we go to St Marten and the night before we go to St Thomas and have to get up early for immigration.

Sorry so long, I sometimes get carried away.

 

[dobelover]

For our door I have felt letters with magnet backing with our names. Nothing else, just lazy (as I mentioned b4)! For pirate night I have a striped shirt I wear with white pants, but I sure do enjoy looking at others.




Sue

 

[bevtoy]

What should/can I expect from immigration?

 

[jenmack]

Sue, the felt letters sound nice. You know, I was lazy last time & basically just took off our fridge some of the magnets from our first cruise & thru them in my carry-on & I was set. But, then it was just DH & me so we really didn't care too much. This time we(I mean, "I") will do new magnets. It's basically for the kids, a little for me, & my DH, well, he probably needs the magnets the most... (You know? Getting lost, getting everything backwards & turned around, and he's a Navy man! He should know a ship like the back of his hand.)

I like lookiing at everyone else too. Last time I wore my brown baha skirt & matching top w/ big hoop earing's. I was kind of going for the pirate wench look.

Bev, beside's getting up early I thought immigration was pretty painless. We meet in the Walt Disney Theater where the show's are held @ 6:30am. Some people met earlier because they had early excursions & are's wasn't till 11am. We basically rolled out of bed, brushd our teeth, washed face, did something with hair so we weren't too scary looking & went down in out pj's. And trust me, we weren't the only one's. Than they direct us in the theater & we sit down & wait for our row to go. It was probably 20 min's altogether. Also, you will need your passport's, including kids & I think your KTTW card's.

anyway, I hope you all had a nice weekend. It's rainy & gloomy hear in good ol' Minnesota. I better run, someone's paging the "mama."

 

[magmom]

Hi Everyone!

I just found this thread. My family is also booked on the 10/13 Eastern. It's myself, my DH and our 3 kids - DD12, DD10 and DS7. They have no idea that we've booked another Disney cruise! They had a great time on our 11/05 Western and keep talking about going again!

My BIL & SIL are also cruising with us, and also my girlfriend and her family. We're all on Deck 7.

We snorkled on our last cruise. The girls loved it, but my son wasn't thrilled. Hopefully, he'll like it next time since he'll be 2 years older. My husband and I have been to St. Maarten & St. Thomas but without the kids. I would love to hear suggestions about the best beaches or other things to do for families.

We didn't make a door sign last time. We just hung a white board on the door so we could leave notes and find each other if we were separated. The kids also loved leaving messages on it each day for passers-by to read. For pirate night, I brough along eye patches for all of us and bought the kids the Goofy pirate hats on the ship. We also used the bandanas they give you at dinner. It was a fun night even though the younger 2 couldn't stay awake late enough to see the fireworks! They were exhaused every night.

Nice to "meet " you all!

Beth

 

[jenmack]

Hi Beth! Welcome! We too are in the same boat as you (pun intended). Where we have been to St Thomas & St Martin, but the kids have not. So we too are trying to find things to do for families. One of the things that me & my hubby did in St Marten was the Doubloon Sail & snorkel. It was a lot of fun & kid friendly. Part of me want's to do it again. I think my kid's would really like it, but the only turn-off was the "sail's" pitch at the end. They really guilt you into buying a t-shirt & then they literally ask you for a tip. I(we) planned on tipping anyway, but I guess I didn't like the fact that they asked for it & that they actually recommended what it should be. Oh well, the rest of it was fun & it's not entirely ruled out for us.

I hope everyone else is doing good. It's sunny & 63 degrees & I even opened a window for some fresh air. It's spring break for the kiddies & I am still recuperating from my son's sleepover last night. He had 2 friends over at the same time. Why is it that you get a couple "young gentlemen" together and if they are not catatonic from video games, they are wrestling & rolling around on the floor, throwing balls in the house, or burping & making jokes about flatulance??? All I have to say is..."Gotta luv them!" That's my mantra for my boy's (including my hubby). Anyway, I'm keeping pretty busy & on top of it all I had to take my DD to urgent Care last night. She was complaing about a sore throat during the day & I finally took a look at it & sure enough...She has strep throat. Here's the funny part (or at least I find it funny, not my DH). The Dr. told us as we were leaving that my DD would be contagious up to 24hour's after starting antibiotics & after that we should get her a new toothbrush. So we (my DD & myself) are walking to the car & she say's " I guess that means we will have to get Daddy a new toothbrush too." Evidentally my DD's electric brush ran out of batteries a couple day's ago & instead of mentioning it to us she just used Daddy's. Now what was my mantra again? "Gotta luv them." It include's DD's too. Okay, I like to talk!

Everyone take care!

 

[dobelover]

Hi Beth - Welcome.


Jen, I hope your dh makes it!!!!!!!!!!!! That really is a funny story, can't wait to hear what happens.


Sue

 

[magmom]

Hi Jen & Sue!

Jen - I'm glad you're enjoying good weather. It was back to the 40's today and we even had some snow showers. This after high 60's over the weekend! My kids have spring break next week. We're headed to Marco Island, FL to visit my MIL. Very excited to get down to the warmer weather and sit on the beach!!!

Two of my kids had strep last week. Of course not at the same time. One was home sick M, TU, W and the other TH and FRI. Yuck!!

Hope you both have a good evening!

Beth

 

[bevtoy]

Nice to meet you Beth. I have been busy , we had a tornado here Sunday that knocked the electricity off till today so I have been cleaning out the deep freezer and the refrigerator/freezers........ It could have been worse, fortunately no one was hurt. I remember when my daughter was 6-7 she hated snorkels, this year (8) she has decided that they are about the coolest thing going and uses her snorkel in the bath tub. She will be 9 in June.

 

[magmom]

Hi Bevtoy!

I heard about those tornadoes. Thank goodness everyone is OK.

Your daughter is the same age as mine. She turned 9 in January.She loved snorkeling, and the stingrays in Grand Cayman too, but they really freaked my 10 year old out! She ended up waiting on the boat for the rest of us. If there's something like that on this trip, I'd love to do it again!

 

[jenmack]

Bev-I'm so glad your family is safe.

Sue, my DH is still safe but my 5 year old has it now. So like Beth I have 2 down & hopefully my 3rd will be okay.

Beth, my DD turned 9 on Dec 30th so now we have 3 girls the same age. Will your DS be 7 at the time we sail? My little guy will be 6, but almost 7.
Also, they have stingray's on Castaway Cay, and it's pretty cool, but I have heard that Grand Cayman is better.

Have a great day!

 

[bevtoy]

We are driving to Florida from Illinois a day early and considering staying at the Cocoa Beach Comfort Inn and Suites, they have free parking while you cruise and complimentary shuttle service back and forth! That almost pays for the hotel room and gives us a day to unwind (It cost around 12 dollars per day to park a car at Port Canaveral). Are you flying or driving to port?

 

[dobelover]

Hi - My friends Nancy and Ray will fly down and use DCL transportation to the ship, not sure if they will come down the day b4. I have booked air with DCL AND I live about 70 miles from the autotrain, so I have lots of options. I can tell you I will be down the day b4 (or earlier).




Sue

 

[jenmack]

We will fly down the day before. The last 2 times we rented thru budget & it was reasonable & pretty painless. This time I don't know ??? Maybe rent a car again our use Florida Tours. As far as hotel? I don't know that either. Yet.

~Have a god weekend!

 

[magmom]

Last time we flew down that day and drove to the port. It worked out fine, but made for a very long day for the kids. This time we'll fly down on Friday. No flights booked yet. I'm hoping for a Friday afternoon flight so the kids don't miss another day of school.

Have a nice weekend!

Beth[/FONT]

 

[bevtoy]

We went to Home Depot on a tip and took home some free samples of Disney paint chips, they are shaped like Mickeys head and available in a full color spectrum. Scanned them into my PC, so if anyone wants them I can e-mail them to you. Hope this is not considered OT? I am going to try to enlarge them later so I can get different sizes.

 

[jenmack]

Thanks Bev, I might take you up on that. I jave heard about the mickey heads at home depot, but i have just never gotten around to picking them up. Maybe some day...

It's gorgeous & 70 degrees right now. Friday is supposed to get up to 80! I'm just lovin' this warm sunny weather, but 2 months from now I will be complaining about all the humidity.

Have a great day everyone!!!