Sept 16 2012 - WONDERing who's on the Calif Coastal with me?!

[MadLove]

Does anyone know which movies will be playing on this cruise?

It's getting so close

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Does anyone know which movies will be playing on this cruise?

It's getting so close

\\

They will premier Finding Nemo 3d on the cruise, and I think they will be playing all pixar movies. I am hoping they will also show that new movie, Timothy Green that is coming out, but they may only show PIxar movies since it is a pixar themed cruise

 

[Tink - Hon!]

Does anyone know which movies will be playing on this cruise?

It's getting so close

I know the finding nemon3d will be showi g and probably brave. The dcl customer service line should be able to tell. They ate really nice if you call them. And they are 24 hour. Learned they a few cruises ago

 

[dvhtu]

I have a question. Are we allowed to bring food / snacks off the ship when we go on excursion? Sorry if this question has been asked / answered before.

 

[globerunner]

Hi Kim!
Glad there are other preschoolers too! What are you packing for them? Does your daughter like to dress as the princesses? Can't wait to meet your little ones!
Gigi

My daughter loves to dress up in her princess dresses. She wore them almost everyday of our last Disney cruise. I had to beg her to wear her regular clothes. LOL. Luckily, the dresses she had last summer still fit her since she is in between sizes. I bought some extra accessories so she won't look exactly the same. I will be getting the picture CD like I did last year. The pictures turned out so nice. If it fits in your budget I recommend it. Other than her dresses my little princess didn't care what else I brought. LOL I'll be brining my nephew, Micah along. They are almost the same age so they get mistaken for twins alot. The young kids love cruising with Disney so much and it makes me happy to see them enjoy themselves.

 

[nunzia]

I think it will be quite chilly in SF area so I'd plan for that and pack a sweater or hoodie. Anyone know a good way to get to Sea World from the ship without doing Disney's excursion?

 

[caladbolg]

I think it will be quite chilly in SF area so I'd plan for that and pack a sweater or hoodie. Anyone know a good way to get to Sea World from the ship without doing Disney's excursion?

You can get San Diego bus/trolley schedule here: http://www.sdcommute.com.

Just plug in From Broadway Pier TO Sea World.

The Day pass for trolley and buses is $5.

 

[caladbolg]

Hi Gigi,

Your family will have a wonderful time on the cruise!! This will be cruise #6 for us and we learn new tips and pointers every time we travel.

For the most part you will be fine with casual clothes - bathing suit, shorts, jeans...any Disney attire is perfect The princess and pirate outfits will be great. Something a little nicer for dinners in the dining rooms (no jeans or shorts). We tend to always over pack but it's been easier because we live in FL and usually drive to Port Canaveral. This time we have to fly across country so we may be forced to pack smarter.

A few things we have found helpful -
- magnets to decorate your door (no tape),
- small packs of laundry detergent & dryer sheets (so you can do laundry and pack less),
- a laundry bag,
-clothes pins to hang wet bathing suits on the line in the shower,
-small power strip (not many outlets in the cabin),
- Tide to go pen or Shout wipes,
- small bottles of hand sanitizer,
- your camera and charger (maybe extra memory cards) - take it with you everywhere!!!,
- small plastic hooks with suction cups (put these on the back of your door and put your lanyard on it so you can keep track of your room key),
- lanyard,
- a few zip loc bags (actually, as a mom I take these everywhere and have used them for all types of reasons!),
- glow sticks and/or night light

We have been on so many cruises we just keep a large zip loc bag with this stuff in it and have it ready to go each time.

While on the cruise you will get a Navigator with the activities for the day. There are so many fun things to do!! Be sure to visit the characters. There may be lines, but the lines are really short compared to the parks.

Also, use the kids club. Most of the kids really like the activities and it gives you a chance to sit and relax!

And something it took us a while to figure out...if you order "adult beverages" they will include a gratuity. So, be sure to actually look at the receipt, you might want to give more, but know that something has already been included.

Have fun - there have been many cruises where we never left the ship and those have been some of the best times! Enjoy the days the ship is in port because it will be really quiet.

Have fun packing!
Susan

Thanks for all the tips Susan! Can't wait!

 

[Longhairbear]

We got our cruise document booklet in today's mail.

 

[MadLove]

Us too ...so exciting!

 

[dennes]

that's good to know your travel docs have made it to you. We have picked up all our paperwork from the TA minus the cruise stuff. I look forward to receiving ours sometime in the next fortnight.

Yee ha its getting close. My BIL is the first from our family,y to travel next Saturday (we are meeting up in LA for a family reunion ) once they have gone we are next. Yee ha!!

 

[Longhairbear]

Us too ...so exciting!

Thousand Oaks? Cool, we used to live in Agoura Hills.

 

[ludari]

We got our cruise document booklet in today's mail.

I guess I need to go to my PO Box to check for mine.

 

[CruiseTink]

I have a question about gratuities...we have been on several Disney cruises and usually just pre-pay the gratuities so we don't have to deal with it onboard. They always tell us what the suggested amounts are so I was looking at our cruise documents today to see what the amount is for the 7 day cruise. I noticed several places that it said "Gratuities are always at your discretion". Personally, I never really felt that it was at our discretion, I've always felt that it was expected that we at least pay the suggested amount.

Don't get me wrong, I totally plan to add gratuities, but here's my question....With the schedule we are planning we aren't going to eat in the main dining rooms for 4 of the nights (have plans with friends in SF and SD and a night at Palo).
So, is it really OK for us to give the servers something less than the published suggested amounts??

 

[sunshine1259]

I have a question about gratuities...we have been on several Disney cruises and usually just pre-pay the gratuities so we don't have to deal with it onboard. They always tell us what the suggested amounts are so I was looking at our cruise documents today to see what the amount is for the 7 day cruise. I noticed several places that it said "Gratuities are always at your discretion". Personally, I never really felt that it was at our discretion, I've always felt that it was expected that we at least pay the suggested amount.

Don't get me wrong, I totally plan to add gratuities, but here's my question....With the schedule we are planning we aren't going to eat in the main dining rooms for 4 of the nights (have plans with friends in SF and SD and a night at Palo).
So, is it really OK for us to give the servers something less than the published suggested amounts??

Well, although you may not dine in the dining room all of the nights of the cruise, your tips actually covers your servers during you whole trip as they may be your servers during breakfast or lunch. They may be the one who brings you that beautiful Bahama Mama or Mai Tai. They help out all over the ship.

So, to answers your question, tipping is indeed at your discretion, but you probably should at least pay the suggested amount.

Hope that helps.

 

[sunshine1259]

Well, we have our cruise documents too !

 

[SamandWill1921]

I am beyond thrilled right now! We just booked our flight and our hotel for Sept 15th. We had planned on spending about $500 on the flight round trip and $100-$120 on the hotel.
Frontier is having a sale and I think Southwest wanted to compete so we got tickets for $98/per person/per way. Then we bundled a hotel through the airline for $85 that trip adviser confirmed is a good hotel. So we paid less than what we thought we would pay for flights alone and got the hotel too! We saved over $200! That will be a nice little budget bonus for souvenirs and also for food at DLR after the cruise.
We are hoping to get our cruise docs today or Monday. I'm convinced my mailman hates us and he holds our mail. I'm sorry mailman but I'm not going to keep government documents from past tenants, nor am I going to throw them away. With no forwarding address, I leave it in your hands.

So if anyone hasn't booked a flight yet, go to southwest. I'm so excited!

 

[jlwhitney]

Did anyone else notice that our day in san diego has different times listed in the documents then online?

Online it says we are docked till 9:30pm but in the docs only says 7:30pm.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Congratulations!! We booked through Southwest on Thursday. I had been watching the fares and I had just about decided to go ahead and purchase even though I thought they were too high, then they went down $50 each The thing that is great about SW is no bag fees I can't stand paying that extra money!

Where are you staying on the 15th? I booked at the Marriott Airport, which is one of the hotels I think we can do a DCL transfer, which I am also going to book. Looks like it isn't much more expensive than a taxi, and apparently they take the bags from the hotel straight to your room? Anyone else doing this?

I had hotels booked for the rest of our trip after the cruise - three nights in Santa Monica and three nights at a hotel about a 10 minute drive from DL. This will be our first time at DL - although we are WDW vets having grown up in Orlando. But after getting some advise on the DL disboards, I think I might change to a hotel much closer. It is hard to decide, because by then my DH will have joined us and there will be 5 of us. If I stay 10 minutes away I can get a suite. If I stay at a hotel less than a mile away we'll have to squeeze into a regular hotel room, with 2 queen beds, which is also what we are doing for the three nights in Santa Monica.

Just not sure what to do, and it is all complicated by the fact my DM has mobility issues so we need to be able to be dropped off or park close to the entrance gates of DL so she can then rent a scooter.

So for those of you doing DL -- are you doing after the cruise? Are you staying at a hotel very close to the park?

I am beyond thrilled right now! We just booked our flight and our hotel for Sept 15th. We had planned on spending about $500 on the flight round trip and $100-$120 on the hotel.
Frontier is having a sale and I think Southwest wanted to compete so we got tickets for $98/per person/per way. Then we bundled a hotel through the airline for $85 that trip adviser confirmed is a good hotel. So we paid less than what we thought we would pay for flights alone and got the hotel too! We saved over $200! That will be a nice little budget bonus for souvenirs and also for food at DLR after the cruise.
We are hoping to get our cruise docs today or Monday. I'm convinced my mailman hates us and he holds our mail. I'm sorry mailman but I'm not going to keep government documents from past tenants, nor am I going to throw them away. With no forwarding address, I leave it in your hands.

So if anyone hasn't booked a flight yet, go to southwest. I'm so excited!

 

[SamandWill1921]

Congratulations!! We booked through Southwest on Thursday. I had been watching the fares and I had just about decided to go ahead and purchase even though I thought they were too high, then they went down $50 each The thing that is great about SW is no bag fees I can't stand paying that extra money!

Where are you staying on the 15th? I booked at the Marriott Airport, which is one of the hotels I think we can do a DCL transfer, which I am also going to book. Looks like it isn't much more expensive than a taxi, and apparently they take the bags from the hotel straight to your room? Anyone else doing this?

I had hotels booked for the rest of our trip after the cruise - three nights in Santa Monica and three nights at a hotel about a 10 minute drive from DL. This will be our first time at DL - although we are WDW vets having grown up in Orlando. But after getting some advise on the DL disboards, I think I might change to a hotel much closer. It is hard to decide, because by then my DH will have joined us and there will be 5 of us. If I stay 10 minutes away I can get a suite. If I stay at a hotel less than a mile away we'll have to squeeze into a regular hotel room, with 2 queen beds, which is also what we are doing for the three nights in Santa Monica.

Just not sure what to do, and it is all complicated by the fact my DM has mobility issues so we need to be able to be dropped off or park close to the entrance gates of DL so she can then rent a scooter.

So for those of you doing DL -- are you doing after the cruise? Are you staying at a hotel very close to the park?

We almost booked the Airport Marriot because the DCL bus will pick you up there but then we found the Best Western Airport Plaza Inn for $85 through the Southwest website. It's close and has a free shuttle to and from the airport. My DH wants to get to the port ASAP and our TA told us that doing so would be easier if we went back to the airport in the morning and caught the shuttle from there, rather then waiting around the hotel for the 1-2 pickups for the day. She said sometime those pickups aren't until noon or one.

After the cruise we will take DCL transfers back to LAX and from there catch the Disneyland Express to our hotel. We did this last time and it worked beautifully. We are staying at the Castle Inn less than half a mile from DLR. From what I've read it's not the nicest hotel in the world but since we don't have kids and want to spend every second in the parks we can, all we care about is a bed and a shower.

It might be nice for you to be close so that your DM could go back to hotel in the afternoon to rest.