September 22, 2007 -- WESTERN

[papa]

Congratulations Melody

Karen don't stress about the weight, just tell everyone that there is just more of you to love Mike

 

[brady961]

this is not cruise topic related but personal. i met with Voc Rehab today and my plan has been approved. So I should have my conversion minivan by the end of this month.

I contacted the power chair rep and was told should have my new power chair with rehab seating by the end of this month.

I am so praying both of these items do happen by the end of April as it will make my daily life including working much safer and easier.

now back to cruising, with the new power chair I will have less problems on the ship getting in/out of doors/thresholds/decks with this new power chair. so i am excited to have it for the Sept cruise. <G>

 

[CustardTart]

Karen don't stress about the weight, just tell everyone that there is just more of you to love Mike

Aww, Mike, thank you - that's a lovely thing to say! My DH is never anything less than complimentary - it's just me giving myself a hard time really...

...i met with Voc Rehab today and my plan has been approved. So I should have my conversion minivan by the end of this month. I contacted the power chair rep and was told should have my new power chair with rehab seating by the end of this month.

I am so praying both of these items do happen by the end of April as it will make my daily life including working much safer and easier...

That's great news, Marsha! I'm so pleased for you - fingers crossed it all comes through asap...

 

[pautna]

We have been Eastern Twice,Hurricane got us last time as well. My wife, myself, Son-14, Daughter 12 . We are really hoping to go west this time!! But if not, another excuse to go again.......Mark

 

[Lucky Penny]

now back to cruising, with the new power chair I will have less problems on the ship getting in/out of doors/thresholds/decks with this new power chair. so i am excited to have it for the Sept cruise. <G>

Marsha, that's GREAT news!! Hope it works out just as you're hoping!



I'm so excited!!! Made our ADR for Victoria & Albert's the week after the cruise - not the chef's table, but one day! Eva, were you able to book that for you and Steve?

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions about excursions and especially your previous experiences - I didn't ask the question, but definitely appreciate the responses!!

 

[eva]

Congratulations Melody!

Marsha, That sound great!.

 

[ThreeSmiths]

I have been parusing the DLC website, specifically our reservation and the shore excursion options for each port of call. Some look very interesting, others, to much action for me. Anyone have experience with the shore excursions? What were some of your favorites? Which ones were a bust?
If you don't go on shore excursion but you just want to get off the ship and do some close by shopping, etc... any recomendations for which ports to do this in?

Wendy

Wendy,

Although I have never made it to the Western ports (other than CC), I can make some suggestions from my vacation experience in Cozumel:

There is a lot of shopping across from the port. Be prepared to be hassled...but your can just say "no thank you" or ignore them and they will leave you alone. If you like to haggle, it is a shoppers paradise. If you want to eat off of the ship there are also some good authentic Mexican restaurants and a Hard Rock Cafe along the same strip. One great place to eat is the restaurant on top of the museum (Museo de Cozumel)....you can sit outside on the balcony and watch the ocean. Good food, very nice atmosphere.

As far as shore excursions, the only thing I know about first hand are the beach clubs and the Fury Catamaran snorkel. When we vacationed in Cozumel last summer we went to the Playa Mia beach club and the Playa San Francisco beach clubs. It's basically a beach day similar to CC....lots of beach chairs packed tightly together, a very busy restaurant, lots of activities. It's not a "relaxing" beach day, so I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like crowds. You can take a cab (very safe in Cozumel...DD and I took cabs by ourselves the whole week we were there) to the beach clubs and pay your entrance fee when you get there. It will save you a lot of $$.

We also did the Fury Catamaran snorkel. The Catamaran ride is fun, and they play fun music and hand out (watered down) margaritas. They take you to two different reefs for snorkelling. I was disappointed only by the condition of the reefs. We had snorkelled off of Cozumel about 7 years before and it was GORGEOUS. However the recent hurricanes have done remarkable damage to the reefs. We did not see any of the vibrant colored corals, and not much sea life at all.

We might try to do the dolphin and sea lion swim at the national park this time around. We've done the dolphin swim on our past 2 cruises (in Nassau and in St. Martin) and always love it.

DH is a scuba diver and he is thinking about trying to find fellow cruisers to charter a dive boat through Aldora Divers. They take very small numbers of divers on their boats and their dive masters are incredible.

I hope this helps!

 

[ThreeSmiths]

It looks like Stacy beat me to the post

Sandi,

I might have beat you to the post, but my response was not nearly as well-composed as yours!

 

[scrapperjill]

Oh boy...we've have a busy day.

Mel...CONGRATULATIONS. What wonerful news....and what a great reason not to be cruising. I'm sure we'll all miss not getting to see you on the ship...but our thoughts and prayers will be with you.

Marsha...Great news about the approvials.

WELCOME pautna. As you can see some day's people have quite a bit to chat about...while other days theres not much action. If you look at one of Brady961 posts you'll notice she has a link that takes you to a web page that she's working on that has some additional info on the fellow disers on the cruise. If your intrested you can PM her your info to be added to the list. We're also in the mist of working on Dis Meet plans. So far we have one set up on the first day of the ship (Sat) Starboard side by the Mickey Pool (deck 9) at 3pm. It'll be a chance to mee everyone in person, put a face to a name, maybe have a drink (or two) and rush off to the boat drills. Quite a few of us are also thinking about attending quite a few of the tastings on the ship...I think Margartia Monday is going to be a big hit. Only we'll have to wait until we actually get on the ship I think to see when it'll be scheduled for. Anyways if your intresed in joining in...just jump right in.

Excurions.....We really haven't put much into planning excursions (yet)...but I guess we'd better get busy. Time is flying

I think at Key West we'll just be taking it fairly easy....and doing our own walking tour. I Know I want to go to the most southern point, Hard Rock Cafe', Hogs breath and maybe a few other local bars . From reading the passporter..Key West isn't a huge Beach town...lots of rocks. We may rent those electric cars (those look like they could be a ton of fun) Oh...and we may look into doing one of the scavanger hunts on Key west...those sound kinda fun as well.

Grand Cayman...We've always wanted to do the StingRay City thing with Capt Marvins...so I've just sorta had it in my head that that's what we'd be doing. But after talking with alot of our group this year...not many of them are intrested I know we'll do some sort of snorkle excrusion..but probably not through DCL. And we'll stop by Hard Rock Cafe here as well

Cozumel....last time we'd planned on doing one of the beach days things....I think more or less it's just narrowing them down and picking the one we want. We've also wanted to do some snorkeling here as well...and I hear Cozumel has quite a few places that you can snorkel from shore at instead of chartering a boat...so we'll probably map some snorkel spots out and take a taxi to the beaches. And of course we'll be stopping by Hard Rock Cafe'...can you see a trend

OH...I almost forgot to add my news Talked with my TA on Monday and she was able to add the FREE Disney Dinning onto our reservations for WDW. YEA!!! So not only will we be having a blast in WDW before we cruise with Disney...but we'll be eating for FREE

 

[ThreeSmiths]

Grand Cayman...We've always wanted to do the StingRay City thing with Capt Marvins...so I've just sorta had it in my head that that's what we'd be doing. But after talking with alot of our group this year...not many of them are intrested I know we'll do some sort of snorkle excrusion..but probably not through DCL. And we'll stop by Hard Rock Cafe here as well

OH...I almost forgot to add my news Talked with my TA on Monday and she was able to add the FREE Disney Dinning onto our reservations for WDW. YEA!!! So not only will we be having a blast in WDW before we cruise with Disney...but we'll be eating for FREE

Sandi,

We'll do the Stingray City with you! Do you think people are more anxious about doing Stingray City because of Steve Irwin's accidental death?

Great news about free dining....that's gonna save you a lot of $$$$!!!!

 

[Bareacuda]

I think everyone is getting excited about the cruise!

Congrats to all with their wonderful news!
Sandi... The post card is in the mail... I almost forgot to tell you!
My news... I got nothing here!


Ann

 

[brady961]

thanks everyone. i am excited although i would prefer to have ability to walk. but with this new chair and van, it will save much energy so i can use that saved energy to do more during the day for work and for fun <G>

 

[scrapperjill]

Sandi,
Do you think people are more anxious about doing Stingray City because of Steve Irwin's accidental death?
$$$$!!!!

YES!!! That's exactly what everyones bringing up every time we talk about it. They'll do snorkeling ...but not the "stingray" excursion... Like they can't happen upon a stinray in the ocean I think what happend to Steve Irwin was AWEFUL...but he was also very reckless at times. At least watching some of his shows it appears that at times he acted with out much thought. And yes...there is always that chance of someone being stung while at the excrusion...BUT the chances of it being deadly are very slim.

Anywho...Love to have you join us.

 

[brady961]

the string rays at CC have their pointy stingy things removed. so no chance of being stung at least if do the stringray excursion on CC.

but also agree ppl are probably more leary of this type excursion because of Steve unfort accident. plus the two men here in florida that have been stung while out fishing or something another. these happened after Steve's incident.

I would think at least on CC it's safer than anywhere else you could touch well except at Sea World where they do same cutting off that part that could strike, sting or jap.

 

[CustardTart]

We have been Eastern Twice,Hurricane got us last time as well. My wife, myself, Son-14, Daughter 12 . We are really hoping to go west this time!! But if not, another excuse to go again.......Mark

Hi Mark! Welcome aboard!

 

[CustardTart]

I've been reading about the excursions a little more and, whilst I'm pretty sure what we're going to do in Cozumel (Tulum Ruins) and Key West (self-directed walking tour), I'm not at all decided about Grand Cayman. I've whittled it down to a choice between the Thriller Sand & Sea Adventure, the 7 Mile Beach Break and the Aquaboat & Snorkel Adventure. Opinions anyone?

On a DVC note, my DD has just told me that she's purchased 200 AKV points!!! This is fab news as it means with our points combined we can get a week in an AKV Grand Villa any time of the year! I love it when a Disney plan comes together...

 

[papa]

Welcome Mark and family.

Karen we haven't done any of the excursions that you listed for Grand Cayman. Sorry can't help you. Mike

 

[Lucky Penny]

On a DVC note, my DD has just told me that she's purchased 200 AKV points!!! This is fab news as it means with our points combined we can get a week in an AKV Grand Villa any time of the year! I love it when a Disney plan comes together...

Karen, Congratulations to your DD - and your family's grand villa plans!! DH and I are also -almost ready- to add points for that very reason - with the family growing, we keep thinking how nice it would be to have them all stay once in a while

 

[brady961]

ok i couldn't stand waiting until Sept to cruise with Disney. So i booked a 3 night on the Wonder in June <G>

Also are there new ppl joining us that I have missed and not added to our passenger list on website?

 

[CustardTart]

ok i couldn't stand waiting until Sept to cruise with Disney. So i booked a 3 night on the Wonder in June <G>

Great plan, Marsha, good for you! Looks like you'll have to celebrate my birthday (June 22nd) for me on the Wonder! Whilst I'm beyond excited to be sailing on the Magic this September, a 3 night Wonder cruise was how it all started for me and so will always have a special place in my heart...