Sept. 14, 7 Day Roll Call

[westjones]

Just to clarify, I have twin girls, not twin boys. They will be celebrating their 9th birthday on the cruise (this will be their third birthday celebration on the cruise).

On another thread they mentioned that if DU books 8 rooms or more on a single cruise we get a surprise gift in our room. With all those listed on this cruise, maybe we will hit the 8 rooms after all! I realize not everyone books with DU, but it seems like several on this board do that.

Oh I can't wait! I am still trying to figure out our excursions.
DJ

 

[ruvidu]

Westjones - I corrected my mistake on your write up.

Carol RN - You and your party are listed.

I have a question for all of you who are bringing children. How do you take them out of school for a week? Do you have to get special permission from the schools or are they bringing their books and lesson plans?

How did each of you book your trip, TA, DCL, DU or other?

I would also like to know the price ranges for adults in the Cat. 5 and 6 in our group. We are paying $1419 each for a Cat. 6. That is not including insurance.

In 3 months we will all be together on the Magic. That seems incredible to us looking at the list and how far some of you are traveling. Again, we hope to meet each of you.


Russ and Miss Vivian

 

[Stepherella]

I am getting really excited about our cruise. It will be our first! It is great to hear about all of the different people who will be on the cruise. I booked ours through DU.

-Stephanie

 

[westjones]

We homeschool, so we don't have difficulty with taking our children. But the others that I asked about this said they talked with the school, and the younger kids seemed to keep a journal. I am sure the older ones had some sort of homework.

I am interested in this too because I am thinking of sending one of my twins to school (one doesn't seem to be doing very well with homeschool, and the other is doing great). One of the reasons we homeschooled was so we could travel more easily. If one of the girls does go to school, we are going to have to make a lot of adjustments in our schedules. So I am curious too, just how easy it was to arrange with the school for children to go on the trip.

Oh, and we booked through DU. This is our first time using them. I used AAA before and did not have a good experience with them (but we made it). I also booked directly through DCL last time. This is our third cruise, and DU did offer us a better price than DCL.

DJ

 

[ruvidu]

Just out of curiosity I tried booking a 9/14 DCL cruise through Expedia, Travelocity, DCL, Orbitz and DU yesterday. This is the results for requesting a Cat. 6 for 2.
Expedia - $2713 - No Gurarenteed Cabin
Travelocity - $2987
DCL - $2987
Orbits - $2698 No Guarented Cabin
DU - Sold Out, Offered 10/9 as alternate

Our $2838 with $200 shipboard credit still looks pretty good.
Russ

 

[Kaa]

I have taken my son out of school in September for the last two years to cruise. They are usually still doing review work during this month, so he doesn't miss anything new. I go to his teacher and ask if it is possible to get his work in advance. He takes time each afternoon to do some of the work sent with us and returns to school with everything done. Any work not sent along is completed as homework the week following the cruise. He is going to be in the 3rd grade this year and maybe his teacher will ask for a journal as well.

 

[rgionet]

We booked directly with DCL back in July to take advantage of the Castaway Club credit (our first Disney cruise was April 2001). We are paying $2704 for category 6 for 2 adults and $3563 for category 6 for 2 adults and 2 children (includes taxes but not insurance). I'm surprised that the prices aren't even higher to book now.

 

[ruvidu]

I booked a year before you for exactly the same Cat and end up paying more. We are getting the shipboard credit but the price should still be constant if booked through DCL. I may call them tomorrow and see if there is a discount I missed.

Kaa- Did yall decide to go with us?

Russ

 

[catts5]

Hi all,

We have taken our kids out of school for a week about 5 or 6 times. We like to travel in the off season to avoid crowds, long lines etc. All you need to do is give a note to the teachers notifying them of the dates. If any work can be done before hand they will give it to the kids otherwise you have a week after returning to make up any missed work. We usually go at the beginning of the year when they are reviewing so as to not miss any new stuff.

We booked our trip through a TA in Jan. My brother was the one who went in to get prices and called me and convinced me to do this. I did call Costco to get a quote to compare and they were about $100 more than the TA price.

I am ready to do this!!!

Cheryl

 

[ruvidu]

I did not mean to come off as nosey asking about the kids but we were just curious.
Our son is 33 and we are kind of out of touch with the school system today.
I agree with you that the first of Sept. is the time to travel. We love it. We plan to do an Alaskan cruise next Sept.

We like booking with Disney because they seem to have the answers to the questions we ask. We let them handle our trip to MK this past Dec. and everything was waiting on us just like it was supposed to be. Candlelight processional, Mickey's Party and all dinner ressies. They may cost a little more but they have not let us down yet.
We used two different TAs for our first two cruises and they just did not seem to have it all together. If we called them they had to call Disney.

Russ

 

[Kaa]

I won't know until mid-August if we will be joining you, but I am pretty confident we will be on the 9/14 cruise!

 

[rgionet]

Welcome aboard Tammy!!! The more the merrier!

 

[westjones]

Yes, we seem to have a pretty good size group going from the list. That's Great!!! I can't tell you just have excited I am about our cruise. I think about it every day. It is nice to have something so special to look forward too!
DJ

 

[whytcrystal]

Hi All!


It keeps getting closer!


Russ, you asked just the question I was thinking. My son will be a junior in Sept. and I couldn't convince him to take the time off. I guess that's a good thing since he wants to go to a good college.


As for booking, I went through DCL, I know you can sometimes do better elsewhere but my mother had a bad expierence with a TA going out of business after she paid for a cruise two years ago. And she is still fighting for her money.

Thank you for the extensive info you are keeping for all of us. I should probably tell you.. whytcrystal is Christy and David White. We have first seating. Don't know if we'll show up for dinner in Key West since I want to see the sunset.

I am looking forward to the quiet sunrises on deck the most! I am an early riser (5 am even on weekends). I love my morning time. Just solitude, coffee and a chair.

 

[westjones]

My understanding with Dreams Unlimited is that the money goes directly to DCL and that papers come directly from there. So I think that even if (for some reason) they went out of business, our reservations are still safe. At least that is my understanding. They gave me a better price than DCL did (I used AAA the first time, DCL directly the second time, and this time we are using DU).

DJ

 

[westjones]

Has anyone figured out the date that we can begin making reservations for our excursions for this cruise? Do you know what time they start taking reservations?
Thanks!
DJ

 

[ruvidu]

Hey Crystal, welcome to the sunrise club. I am up most mornings at home by 5:30 AM. Miss Vivian has to be at the daycare by 6:30 so I just get up and fix the breakfast. I saw the sunrise every morning last week while on vacation. It was beautiful.
In Key West we are thinking about having a room service dinner so we can eat on the varanda and watch the sunset. We have never missed a meal in the resturants but this seems like a special time. I updated the list with your name and dinning time.

Westjones
I think I read you can make excursion 60 days in advance. I don't think we are doing any Disney excursions this trip so I have not looked that hard.

GETTING EXCITED HERE!!!

 

[ruvidu]

Shore Excursions

Disney Cruise Lines, like all other cruise lines, offer guided trips to some of the more popular destinations at their ports of call. I'm not personally a fan of group excursions... I prefer to explore and not be herded around. But shore excursions have their benefits... all you have to do is show up. You don't have to worry about how to get around.

You can now book shore excursions up to 60 days in advance of your sailing date after you've paid the full balance on your fare. If you want to book one or more of the most popular excursions, you would be well served to mark your calendar so you can call 1-877-566-0968 (toll-free in the United States) on the 60th day before your sail date.

If you don't want to make up your mind until you're onboard, you can visit the Shore Excursions desk on Deck 3 at the Atrium. But you can review these Excursion descriptions to start planning.

Dave From Marietta does a great job.
Russ

 

[ruvidu]

This thread lists some good info on beaches and saving money at Grand Cayman.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=222464

 

[Windermere]

so why were we on page 4!!!!!!

I didn't want to just say 'bump'