October 20th 2007 Western Magic Part 4

[3pirates&tink]

Missy,

In case you want to look into booking on your own, here's some links for you...


Dolphin Discovery at Chankanaab Park in Cozumel:

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel/

Captain Marvins in Grand Cayman:

http://www.captainmarvins.com/index.htm


We are doing the Dolphin Encounter at 3:30pm and the 11:15am short excursion for Cpt Marvins

A few more questions if you don't mind , did you call to reserve or did you do it all on line? And I see that the dolphin encounters are running a special with admission to the park for free when you book an encounter. Is this the route y'all took so that you can enjoy the park the rest of the day? (that is what we would like to do ......it sounds like there is so much to do there! ) Thanks Cass!

 

[JLDSMD]

Several reasons:

1- Disney charges more than local operators for the exact same excursion.
2- Disney only has certain times for certain excursions, whereas local operators have a wider variety.
3- Disney does not allow children under 3 on their excursions but the local operators do.
4- I like doing things on my own. I'm not a follower, I like to have a little more freedom.

Some people do not feel the same way, some like the comfort of knowing that you are on a Disney tour and no matter what happens, the ship won't leave without you if you are on a Disney tour. I have been to all the ports except for Key West and I feel very comfortable going on my own. I make sure that we have ample time to get back to the ship and for us with a baby, we need to do things our way, not Disney's way.

It's a personal choice, we feel comfortable in new surroundings, I know some people are petrified when they go out of their areas and just feel better letting Disney handle all the details.

Hope that helps!

I agree with you on #3 - DCL isn't too family friendly when it comes to some of their excursions, but for the excursions we are looking at on Grand Cayman, DCL is right there with the local operators.

For the Pirate Excursion, DCL charges $35A/$25C. Jolly Roger, the local tour operator, charges the exact same prices. Further, on Jolly Roger's website, they only offer the tour on Mon, Wed, and Fri. Since we are in on Tues, it is not an option. Plus, with booking through them, the time of the tour is 2:00 p.m. With it being a 2 hour tour, 4:00 ending is cutting it a little close for me with an "all aboard", or last tender, at 4:30.

The Island Tour that Captain Marvin offers cost $25 each. DCL's pricing is $29A/$24C, so not too much more ($7 total). If DCL won't let us book it because of the timing of each excursion, we may consider doing the island tour through Capt Marvin if it is offered late morning or early afternoon.

On Cozumel, I would definitely do your excursions on your own if you are staying on the island. It is so easy to get around there. If you are going to the mainland, I would recommend doing it with DCL because there are too many variables that could screw you up. And with the next day at sea and the day after at Castaway, we'll see you back in FL.

 

[JLDSMD]

Of the four, you will probably find that option #2 is pretty reasonable. With one caveat. If you have more that a few computers and a couple of power users online at a time you may find that the network will slow down. If that is the case then go with option #3.

Kbps is Kilobytes per second as opposed to Mbps which is Megabytes per second. 1000 kilobytes in a Megabyte. To give you a reference point the older dial-up modems offered a max of about 56 kbps. (actually it was more like 51-52 because of government restrictions on phone line usage but that's another lecture) So, the plan #1 is aproximately 10x as fast as dial-up. Quite a jump and one that you would be suprised at. The difference between the 512 and the 1.5 is a good jump (3x plan #1 or 30x dial-up) you will see the difference mostly with downloading files. You won't however see a huge jump in performance between #2 and #3, this is because you are already loading so fast that a half second here or there will not matter much. Downloads will be faster but you will also be dependent now on the speed at which the information is fed to your computer. Since the companies that are buying bandwidth are buying speed just as you are, they are apt to only buy the bandwidth which will serve the majority of their customers needs and no more. Thus, if they are feeding you files at 1.5Mbps and you are recieving at 7Mbps you will not recieve the file any faster. The Jump in performance at this rate will be seen when more than one person is accessing your internet connection at a time. (In my family, My son and I may be gaming on the internet at the same time while my wife is building a website. Faster speeds means that none of our computers slow down during all of this activity) Consider option #4 only if you are running more than 3 computers with power users on each one. Or, and this is important, if you are planning on having a static IP adress and you are running your own internet server. I doubt that this is the case so you can safely save yourself the $15/mo.

As far as running the line to another room. I doubt it. The installation usually means that they will come to your house and install a line to the site that you choose, install a cable modem and configure a computer to access it. Some will install a router for multiple computer homes but that is not always an option. You can consider a wireless router to communicate with a computer in another room. Make sure that (1) you secure your connection with encryption and (2) you are not using that computer for online gaming. I was never happy with my wireless connection while gaming the latency was incredible! I finally hardwired everything and only use my wireless for my laptop.

Sorry for the long post and I hope I have helped.

Steve,

Thanks for answering that for Carrie/Scott. I would never had been as indepth as you were.

Based on what you said, I think #2 would be their best option, especially if price is of concern.

 

[JLDSMD]

I just now heard about these message boards and was so suprised to see the cruise we are going on to have a thread! Woohoo! We have been planning for two years now. This is our second cruise. Our first one was Oct 04 on the Wonder.

We are in room 8516 and will be traveling with our two boys as well as my nephews...who are 18 & 20 and need to remember how to be a kid sometimes. We loved our last cruise and hope that with the extra couple of days we can fit everything in this time. hahahahahahaha

Susan, welcome to our thread.

As someone has mentioned, it may be to large a task to read back over all the pages. Just jump in here and if you have questions, ask away. Even some of the older topics will probably resurface as we get closer.

I know the excursion topic will be in depth over the next 2-3 weeks with the repeat cruisers booking on July 22nd.

Don't feel like any question is a bother to us. We all love talking Disney and will answer anything.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

We're in Cat. 9. It was the REAS package I booked.

Aaahhh....REAS. I forgot about that.

Congrats on getting in early.

Now here's the question, if you cancel that after your normal online booking time, would you be able to keep your reservations? What is the cancellation policy on REAS? May have to look into that next time.

 

[PrincessMom2002]

Aaahhh....REAS. I forgot about that.

Congrats on getting in early.

Now here's the question, if you cancel that after your normal online booking time, would you be able to keep your reservations? What is the cancellation policy on REAS? May have to look into that next time.

I remember you had asked that before but I forgot to look into it. Good question. I never did receive a confirmation from my TA about having booked the REAS so I don't have anything on paper. I had to call DCL res to verify it had been booked.

 

[JLDSMD]

I am also mostly a lurker unless the topics of wine, tennis, or half-naked roofers come up.

Yeah, and you don't respond to my PM's either. Waiting to hear from you regarding the wristbands.

Don't feel bad, I haven't heard from Karen (must not have "worked out" yet this week ), Cheryl (where is she by the way. Her WDW trip should be over by now), or Judy (not sure where she went either).

Other than that, looks like we'll have lots of people with green bands on their wrists.

 

[JLDSMD]

I remember you had asked that before but I forgot to look into it. Good question. I never did receive a confirmation from my TA about having booked the REAS so I don't have anything on paper. I had to call DCL res to verify it had been booked.

I'd look into REAS, but Suz hates massages. Doesn't like strange people touching her (why is it that she acts like she doesn't know me all the time ). Wonder if I could just get a massage for twice as long.

I did a massage once on DCL, but for the cost, I didn't think it was all that great. I had them in Mexico and Jamaica and they were better (and cheaper).

If she was into this, I'd book it, otherwise, she'd rather spend the money on pictures.

 

[MomsOf2boys]

OMG you guys post a LOT during the days. hahaha Oh well, I have been reading and reading and even think that I am figuring out most of the abbreviations. REAS took a while though. lol

I've learned a lot and we have cruised before even. This whole Disney cruise thing is so addicting...and you all make it way too easy to get into it all. Now, tell me this, when you do meet up with each other do you call each other your screen names? hahahahaha

Ok... i'm going to bed now... ::::;wondering if I can sleep i'm so excited... also wondering if all my friends and family will be so sick of hearing me say, Oh yeah, guess what else I found out..:::: hahahahahahhahaha

Sweet dreams everyone.... and it was nice meeting you all.

 

[B9erSteve]

Steve,

Thanks for answering that for Carrie/Scott. I would never had been as indepth as you were.

Based on what you said, I think #2 would be their best option, especially if price is of concern.

I know I am very wordy when I get on a subject that I am passonate about.

 

[Timon]

Thanks for the info Cass. At quick glance I can see that they definitely charge less than DCL! I've mentioned it to the DH and he is willing to discuss going on our own. Just one question.........Do you use the Disney tender to get to the island and then when you are ready to come back are they just there waiting? (We have never been to a port where we had to be tendered). Do "shuttles" run every few minutes back to the ship? Thanks!!

The tenders run all day from 7:30am till 4pm. If you are NOT with a DCL excursion, and need to tender before 11:15am, you will need to get your tender tickets at the Buena Vista Theatre I think when you are ready to go ashore. On the way back, you just line up at the dock and wait for the next tender as they go back and forth all day long.

A few more questions if you don't mind , did you call to reserve or did you do it all on line? And I see that the dolphin encounters are running a special with admission to the park for free when you book an encounter. Is this the route y'all took so that you can enjoy the park the rest of the day? (that is what we would like to do ......it sounds like there is so much to do there! ) Thanks Cass!

If you are doing the Dolphins, you have no choice, you HAVE to get tickets for Chankanaab as it is INSIDE the park. I booked ours before they raised their prices and I got a special deal for entry passes, so it probably works out the same with the free park special. We will be spending a few hours in the park before the dolphin encounter but not much as the sun is very hot and strong there and I am not a "sun" girl. I really don't like Cozumel much, it's unbelievably hot (I hate the heat, so I am a bit of a wuss) and it's a little scary looking (bad heebie jeebies ) but because everyone wants to do the dolphins then that's where I go! I would rather stay on the ship personally

I agree with you on #3 - DCL isn't too family friendly when it comes to some of their excursions, but for the excursions we are looking at on Grand Cayman, DCL is right there with the local operators.

For the Pirate Excursion, DCL charges $35A/$25C. Jolly Roger, the local tour operator, charges the exact same prices. Further, on Jolly Roger's website, they only offer the tour on Mon, Wed, and Fri. Since we are in on Tues, it is not an option. Plus, with booking through them, the time of the tour is 2:00 p.m. With it being a 2 hour tour, 4:00 ending is cutting it a little close for me with an "all aboard", or last tender, at 4:30.

The Island Tour that Captain Marvin offers cost $25 each. DCL's pricing is $29A/$24C, so not too much more ($7 total). If DCL won't let us book it because of the timing of each excursion, we may consider doing the island tour through Capt Marvin if it is offered late morning or early afternoon.

On Cozumel, I would definitely do your excursions on your own if you are staying on the island. It is so easy to get around there. If you are going to the mainland, I would recommend doing it with DCL because there are too many variables that could screw you up. And with the next day at sea and the day after at Castaway, we'll see you back in FL.

Yes, some excursions are very similar in pricing, some are just plain ridiculous. For your Pirate Encounter, the website does say that they have special schedules for cruise ship passengers, you just have to email them.

For us, the Stingray Tour with Capt Marvin is $35, $45 with DCL (there's 8 of us total, Kira is free) and I don't like the times they offer, I don't want to go too early or too late, so for us, Capt Marvins works better.

Like I said, it's a personal decision, you really need to figure out what works best for your family. I personally HATE being herded around with 100 other people for an excursion, so I stay away from the DCL excursions and of course I can't book with DCL if we want Kira with us.

I booked all of our stuff online.

 

[MinnMick01]

I am schedualed to have cable internet installed on Wednesday. Everyone keep you fingers crossed that it actually happens.

Jeff
I got a good deal with it also. I am getting free installation, line from outside the house in, and computer installation. We are buying the modem, and we are doing teh $29.95 service.

Now I have 6 pages to catch up on. Check back in soon.

 

[MinnMick01]

I love Key Lime Pie - and the idea of having it on a stick dipped in chocolate - WOW. Lets face it - anything dippied in chocolate and served on a stick is pretty good!

I hope all the girls get along - Avery is very social, she loves having her girl friends around. They all giggle and have such a good time for the most part

Let me ask you if you think I over reacted yesterday:

We have neighbours that have kids the exact ages of my little ones (2 boys are born within 2 months of each other and the 2 girls are 4 weeks apart). They are normally best friends.

The neigbour has really raised her kids to be VERY independent - they are strongly encouraged to not do what other people are doing - which is good - but they dont always follow social graces. We are close friends with the parents, so I am not being critical, just stating the fact that they dont care if they are in a group of 10 kids and everyone wants to play soccer, they have no problem saying NO and going and doing thier own thing. Where I would tell my kids that sometimes when playing with friends that they have to follow what the group wants to do as they cant always play what they want to play.

so yesterday, Avery and Spencer invite Amelia and Benjamin over. Benj comes first and we send him back to ask about Amelia. He comes back saying that she will only come over if she can play with the boys. Normally we discourage this but we say fine. After about 15 minutes of all 4 of them playing together, Avery is crying as the other 3 are all playnig magic stuff and she doesnt have a wand (or something like that). Spencer said he gave her one but she didnt like it. Avery was tired and we got her calmed down. We came down the stairs to hear Amelia saying to her brother "Avery is crying" and laughing about it. So I asked her - "Are you glad that Avery is crying" and she looked right at me and "YES". I asked her why she would say that and she just laughed.

So I told her that she should go home. She immediately said "NO NO" and then my better half stepped in and told me to walk away.

I know they are just kids but I could not believe this little 5 year old could look at an adult and say that she was happy Avery was crying. So we pulled Avery away and did our own thing with her but I am still angry at this child. We have to play nice as our kids do a lot together. But BOY did I see signs of a potential BULLY in the future. This is NOT the first incident of her bullying Avery but the incidents seem to be escalating. I will be keeping a closer eye on this little girl.

Am I over-reacting?

Jessalynn
You are not over reacting at all. I would have felt the same way, but unfortunatly I would not have been able to walk away and I would have made the kid go home. I also would have told the parents about it even if I was friends with them so they could possible get her to explain why she said it.

I have raised Mackenzie to be very independent. But at the same time she knows that when it is more then just her that you take turns doing what each person wants. Most of the time she will actually insit that they play what other people want because she does not want to make everyone play her things.

However if my child every said anything like that I would want to know about and then I would be talking with her about how we do not say things that are mean and hurtfull and that she needs to consider why the other person is crying and maybe correct the issue if she can or just go up and give her friend a and ask what that friend would like to do. I would also make my child apoligize to the parent for saying No when asked to leave. If a parent asks you to leave you leave it is not an option.

Sorry just my thoughts. Let me know how it all goes within the next few days.

 

[MinnMick01]

Jessalynn

How did the graduation party go this weekend?

 

[MinnMick01]

Thanks for the great welcome everyone. I was back reading previous posts... I will get through them all at some point.

Our boys will be 11 & 16 at that point since they both have birthdays coming up. They are completly ready for this trip, even deciding who is sleeping where. My nephews have no clue. We are making them do things like wait in line to get pics with princesses so they can at least say they met a girl. hahaha

We just called on Friday to book things etc and we switched to late dining to free up space for younger children.

I am looking forward most to the family time. I am a real estate agent and my phone is always ringing and I am always on the laptop and most of what we do as a family is still a working event. On the cruise I can't. LOL And since my nephews are in college and my boys are getting older, we won't have as many opportunities to spend a week together. I cherish it. Every single other thing on the cruise is PERFECT and I love it all.

Mary and the boys are looking forward to the food mostly. I think they take all you can eat as a personal challenge. They are even trying to figure out with late dining how they will work room service chicken fingers into the schedule.

What is your favorite thing about the cruises? I have not even been on other cruise lines because I am not sure it would even compare to our Disney cruise.

Hello

Talking about meeting girls. I beleive AFEG (A Fat English Gent) might have a girl about the same age as your nephews.

We have late dinning also.

I have traveled on other cruise lines but not the actual disney one. I think the thing I am looking foward to the most if our 5 years olds reaction to the ship.

 

[MinnMick01]

Is there a way to mark this thread so I don't have to search for you all?

One the top part of the page on the left is a link that says user CP. If you click on that it will have all the threads you are active on. It is great way to find us.

 

[MinnMick01]

Cass

So after watching your movie last night we realized that your anniversary is in Oct. Which date exactly. If I am figuring correctly I am guessing the 25th. And would this be 9 years?

 

[MinnMick01]

Welcome Susan and family!! I am also mostly a lurker unless the topics of wine, tennis, or half-naked roofers come up. I will be traveling with my husband and two sons, ages 5 & 10. Trying to convince my in-laws to come with, but no such luck yet. See you around the boards.

And where are the pics?

 

[MinnMick01]

I know I am very wordy when I get on a subject that I am passonate about.

So are you passonate about us or the internet, and by the way what is your career?

 

[Timon]

I am schedualed to have cable internet installed on Wednesday. Everyone keep you fingers crossed that it actually happens.

Jeff
I got a good deal with it also. I am getting free installation, line from outside the house in, and computer installation. We are buying the modem, and we are doing teh $29.95 service.

Now I have 6 pages to catch up on. Check back in soon.

Wooooo hooooo!! I would kill someone if I had to use dial-up! I hated dial-up when all there was was dial-up!! Ugg 14.4 modem BAHAHAHAHA

Cass

So after watching your movie last night we realized that your anniversary is in Oct. Which date exactly. If I am figuring correctly I am guessing the 25th. And would this be 9 years?

Yes, our anniversary is in October, the 17th actually. It will be 9 years! We got married in Las Vegas (not by Elvis ) We will be in WDW for our actual anniversary, hoping to meet up with Brenda and Jason as the 17th is also Brenda's birthday!!!