October 17, 2009 Western

[yazee1]

KJF - You are not alone. I am anxiously waiting, too. The good news is, even if we are unable to book anything, we are still going on a cruise!!

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Amen to that. I feel that way when I read about the excursions everyone is planning to take. Most excursions will be out of reach this time around, but we are so thrilled to be going on this cruise, even standing in line at Guest Services will be exciting. Well, maybe, that's a bit of a stretch.

 

[yazee1]

Just wanted to post that we were pretty much able to get what we wanted at midnight Sunday morning:

We are a linked party of 6 and got a Palo ressie on Monday at 6:30 for a party of 4 and another one at the same time for a party of 2! No ressies for a party of 6 online so now we'll be on the line at RnBd to get those 2 ressies combined.

Have you, on previous cruises done it this way? I ask because if you would rather not have to go to Rockin Bar D, once you are on board and can do so, call Palo directly to get your reservations combined so that you four and the other couple are at the same table. Since all six of you have reservations to be in Palo at the same time, it is only a matter of seating arrangements. We have done this on previous cruises and will be again this time since our brunch reservation includes 5 adults of which only 3 are on my reservation and the other 2 are my in-laws.

 

[yazee1]

They are not very adventurous and still fairly young.

Well, then, I wouldn't suggest the Dune Buggy Tour in Cozumel, then! It was one of the highlights of the cruise for everyone in our family except my older son who was not thrilled by riding through the jungle trails in a fast, noisy, stripped down VW Bug.

We've never been to the Turtle Farm in Grand Cayman, but we did visit Hell. That was very interested. I've never seen a landscape like it. We're probably going to rent a car in Grand Cayman and go see things we didn't see before.

 

[lucky1]

We booked this cruise in February of 2008, and haven't done much to plan besides buying our airline tickets a few months ago. It seemed SO FAR AWAY when we booked. I can't believe final payment is coming due! This will be our second Disney Cruise. We took a 7 day Eastern in 2007.
Our family consists of me, DH, DD (7), DS(6) and DS(6) --twins.
I would love suggestions on excursions that would be fun to take the kids on.
Also, is it too late to get involved in a FE gift swap? I plan to surprise my kids with gifts, but thought it would be fun to swap with everyone else.

Hi Twinsr241 - I added your family to the FE list. (Currently there are 12 rooms doing FE with a total of 40 people, we will probably need to break it down at some point to make sure it is not too costly for folks) We also have a DD7 that will be on the cruise. She is so excited about the cruise. She even was up when we were book the excurisions on Saturday night, and now she has been talking about the cruise non stop. She is a Disney Girl, but this is her first cruise.

We have booked Boatswain in GG (Turtle farm and park) and then for COZ, we have tentatively booked the Dolphin kids encounter. But might change that given it is so expensive for it, but then again how often do you get to kiss a dolphin at that age.

Well, then, I wouldn't suggest the Dune Buggy Tour in Cozumel, then! It was one of the highlights of the cruise for everyone in our family except my older son who was not thrilled by riding through the jungle trails in a fast, noisy, stripped down VW Bug.

Thanks...
I am going to have look into the Dune Buggy tour, if we don't do the Dolphin encounter. DD7 is really adventurous and loves fast and scary rides.


Laura

 

[jeanneg]

Have you, on previous cruises done it this way? I ask because if you would rather not have to go to Rockin Bar D, once you are on board and can do so, call Palo directly to get your reservations combined so that you four and the other couple are at the same table. Since all six of you have reservations to be in Palo at the same time, it is only a matter of seating arrangements. We have done this on previous cruises and will be again this time since our brunch reservation includes 5 adults of which only 3 are on my reservation and the other 2 are my in-laws.

I never even thought of doing that! Can we do it before we get in our room? Are there housephones anywhere? I much prefer to do it that way rather than waste time waiting in line. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[twinsr241]

Hi Twinsr241 - I added your family to the FE list. (Currently there are 12 rooms doing FE with a total of 40 people, we will probably need to break it down at some point to make sure it is not too costly for folks) We also have a DD7 that will be on the cruise. She is so excited about the cruise. She even was up when we were book the excurisions on Saturday night, and now she has been talking about the cruise non stop. She is a Disney Girl, but this is her first cruise.

We have booked Boatswain in GG (Turtle farm and park) and then for COZ, we have tentatively booked the Dolphin kids encounter. But might change that given it is so expensive for it, but then again how often do you get to kiss a dolphin at that age.



Thanks...
I am going to have look into the Dune Buggy tour, if we don't do the Dolphin encounter. DD7 is really adventurous and loves fast and scary rides.


Laura

Your daughter will LOVE the cruise. My daughter cried when we disembarked last time. She is excited, but doesn't really care about excursions. She was pretty happy to play in the pool and be in the Oceaneer's Club. I just thought we should at least see what the ports have to offer.
On the Eastern we stayed on the ship in St. Thomas and the kids had a nice time playing in the uncrowded pools while everyone else got off the ship. We thought we would do the same thing while in Cozumel this time.

Please let me know about the FE exchange. We are 2 in connecting cabins, but will just use one FE at the kids' cabin.

We still need to make final payment, so we haven't been able to book anything yet. Should get everything wrapped up this week.

 

[jeanneg]

Just wanted to say a little bit about the FE's......I've done this several times now and there is no reason to get something for each person in the cabin. More often than not, it's one item per stateroom. It should be something small but practical and/or fun. No need to break the bank or your back lugging all this stuff. Sometimes, if I know there are kids in a certain cabin, I will give extra stuff, but to be totally honest, it's usually just regifting of some items we've received in the past that are really more for kids.

 

[lucky1]

Just wanted to say a little bit about the FE's......I've done this several times now and there is no reason to get something for each person in the cabin. More often than not, it's one item per stateroom. It should be something small but practical and/or fun. No need to break the bank or your back lugging all this stuff. Sometimes, if I know there are kids in a certain cabin, I will give extra stuff, but to be totally honest, it's usually just regifting of some items we've received in the past that are really more for kids.

Thanks Jeanne. This is my first time coordinating or even doing FE, so I am more into providing information and keeping folks informed.

DD has already started talking about what gifts to give and she is thinking small. She is looking forward to finding everyones FE.

Laura

 

[lucky1]

I think we might be cancelling the Dolphin Kids at Dolphinaris. After talking it might be a lot of money for something she could do at sea world for free. At least that is how it reads, so I need to get some more review.

We are now thinking of not doing an excursion or going to the beach and DH would do the Mexican cooking at the same beach. Has anyone done that before?

Laura

 

[momsully]

If anyone is flying Soutwest you should check your flights. I just happened to check mine for no reason and now have a credit of $128!

 

[calmpets]

Southwest is awesome!!

 

[lucky1]

If anyone is flying Soutwest you should check your flights. I just happened to check mine for no reason and now have a credit of $128!

Congrats... that is a nice thing to happen!!! I wish we had more direct flights from our airport to somewhere else we need to go with SW.

 

[missusem]

I think we might be cancelling the Dolphin Kids at Dolphinaris. After talking it might be a lot of money for something she could do at sea world for free. At least that is how it reads, so I need to get some more review.

We are now thinking of not doing an excursion or going to the beach and DH would do the Mexican cooking at the same beach. Has anyone done that before?

Laura

Hi Laura -- have you checked the Youtube Videos for Dolphin Kids at Dolphinaris.. I think you can see the ones where it's just the kids doing it to decide. When we were at Seaworld, we could do no more than just pat the dolphins.. and for a very short time which is why we are going to do the Dolphin encounter this time..

You have 3 days until before sailing to cancel so don't do it too soon, in case you regret and spaces run out !! Good luck whatever you decide!

 

[aan1701]

Southwest is awesome!!

I work for them on the ground at LAX. So I would like to say thank you.

 

[lucky1]

I work for them on the ground at LAX. So I would like to say thank you.

Alan - Were you ever on that A&E series about Southwest? I always seem to catch it when they were doing a story out of LA

Laura

 

[jeanneg]

Thanks, Momsully! We now have a credit of $16!!!! (Hey, that's 2 conk coolers!)

 

[calmpets]

Just one caveat to the SW credits - you can only use them for one year from the date the credit is issued. I ran into that about a month ago when I tried to use my $66 credit issued just over a year prior.

 

[aan1701]

Alan - Were you ever on that A&E series about Southwest? I always seem to catch it when they were doing a story out of LA

Laura

No, I was one of the ones who did not want to be on cammera. They were very good about that. The crew was great and really nice to hang with but I just did not want to sign the relase. If you did that gave the permition into your life, and I was not down with that.

 

[jeanneg]

Just one caveat to the SW credits - you can only use them for one year from the date the credit is issued. I ran into that about a month ago when I tried to use my $66 credit issued just over a year prior.

Not only that, but if perchance you used a credit to purchase a current ticket, it goes all the way back to the date of the original ticket you got the credit from. I learned that the hard way! If it does expire, you can pay $50 and get it reinstated for another 6 months. So if it's a large credit that may be better than losing it all.

 

[NCjenn]

Hey Twinsr241...
Just saw your post stating your kids ages...My husband and I will be traveling with our 2 kids...daughter will be 8 and son will be 5 (turns 6 in December). Looking forward to meeting you all.
We'll be paying off the trip this week...maybe it will seem more "real" at that point. My initial excitement from booking it has faded somewhat. Plus, I felt like I was looking at all the posts so much that I decided I wanted to stop and let some things be surprises on the ship...I think I was on information overload so I've been staying away from the boards.

Jennifer