September 29, 2007 - Magic

[Octoberbride03]

tfc3rid

Always happy to see new cruisers.

For everybody who told me to go to the race in Dover. Thanx but I've gotten through and didn't buy the tickets.

My schedule for the summer so far includes working whenver possible because not only do I have the cruise, but 1 wedding and at least 1 Christening. Since i work every other weekend I know months ahead of time when i should be working a weekend. And at the rate Target dispenses vacation hours I need all the work time I can get. Very stingy with vacation they are.

But DH, came home from SC on friday and said he thought we should make plans to go to Darlington for a race very soon. And I hadn't even brought up Dover. I've never been to Darlington, so i said lets go next year

 

[MiaSRN62]

So, if you see people bundled up sitting by the pool - say hi to us!!!

I absolutely will JD ! We'll be the ones IN the pool ! Because 80, at the end of Sept is hot to us. We're usually getting ready to turn the heat back on in the evenings here in PA at the end of Sept.

BTW, I wouldn't be suprised if it was warmer during our cruise actually. Our last two cruises (4 night and 7 night Western), was in early Nov and it was averaging 82-92 that week. Heck, we were just in wdw in Oct '06 (first week) and it was hitting 95 ! Then we went to wdw again the first week of Dec and it was 80 the whole weekend and that was Dec. So ya never know.

 

[Deweysgirl]

I numbered my calendar at the beginning of the year so the 75 day mark is July 16th!1! [/QUOTE]

I was wondering how that works??? Is it 75 days at midnight, so in other words you get up at 2am late Sunday night the 15th going into Monday morning the 16th. I need to count out my 90 days, I guess mine is July 2nd early morning., right? This makes me feel so stupid! HELP!!

 

[Octoberbride03]

I numbered my calendar at the beginning of the year so the 75 day mark is July 16th!1!

I was wondering how that works??? Is it 75 days at midnight, so in other words you get up at 2am late Sunday night the 15th going into Monday morning the 16th. I need to count out my 90 days, I guess mine is July 2nd early morning., right? This makes me feel so stupid! HELP!!

I'll help. 90 days is July 6th. Definitive cause that's the final due date on my bill. So July 6th at 3am Eastern time will open advance bookings for whatever as long as its not your first cruise. Sadly it is mine and I will be tracversing the ship on the day we set sail for ours. And by my count 75 days is July 21st which means i won't even be near my computer i think. coming home from a wedding that friday. Dang, cause if i was home I'd stay up to book.

 

[JDBlair]

You can't book Palo online if this is your first cruise? I'm so confused!!

 

[Gr00vyChc]

You can't book Palo online if this is your first cruise? I'm so confused!!

?? me too!

When can we make ressies then? How often do they change navigators? I'd like to get a hold of a recent one before our trip, so that I can do some planning and make reservations correctly.

Gotta get back to American Idol...

Gr00vyChc

 

[MiaSRN62]

I thought 90 days out was July 2---I just counted on my calendar ?
And JDBlair, you can book Palo's online 2-75 days in advance online. Your cruise must be paid in full to book online.

As for recent navigators Groovy....check this site out :
http://www.castawayclub.com/ (the most recent for the Eastern is Jan 2007 on this site).

On our cruise, the first night is probably the easiest to get a Palo reservation for. Our second night on the ship is "formal" night so you won't want to miss that. And the 4th night is Pirate Night.
Some people like to book Palo on the night you repeat at Animator's Palette because they don't do the light show on the 2nd time in the restaurant. Only problem is, you won't know what night that is until you get your dining rotation on the ship. Alot of people scramble to make ressies and last minute switches that first afternoon on the ship (embarkation day).

 

[ibela]

Palo Summary:

75 days out is definitely July 16th, I've had it marked on my calendar for ~3 months now! it opens 3am EST so that's Sunday night into Monday. yes, I'm staying up for my booking although I initially thought it was ridiculous.

You can book 1 Palo meal (brunch, dinner, tea) per cabin. Brunch seems to fill up first since it's only offered on at sea days, so if you're interested in all your best bet is to book brunch, then dinner, then afternoon tea (tea never seems to fill).

If you get locked out online or want to switch, embarkation day reservations start at 1pm, boarding starts at noon. Terminal opens at 10:30. The earlier you come, the earlier boarding pass you get, better chances at switching anything (dining room rotations, etc.).

Umm, I think that's about it.

And yes, I have reviewed all the menus in detail to help decide which meal I wanted to skip. Judging from comparing a few navigators, they don't make [m]any changes.

OK, now that's really it and I have to get back to work now that I'm all caught up on this thread.

 

[Zane_Anthony]

Hello everyone...I am finally going to post more of my TR

Ok...So we get to the terminal and the porter comes to take our bags and he tells us where to go. We make it to the check-in line and boy is it long So we wait about 45 minutes and it's our turn. We get up there and it takes about 5 minutes..WOW that was quick! Next we are led through a door and we take our welcome aboard pictures. I would scan them but my scanner is not working! Then we walk up the hanger thingy like we are getting on an airplane and we scan our cards and then just stand there.

So we look at each other and say this is it? I mean no one announced our name or anything. O'well we are finally on the ship. Ok so now what? Everyone is walking around like they know where they are going and I don't see any Carnival workers. So I tell my friend we can't just stand here forever. Lets ask someone...so I find out we need to go up to deck 10 or the Lido deck for food.

We eat (the food was good) and then go check out our room. WOW I hope we each other because we are going to be close for the next 4 days. We meet Elder our room steward. He was great.

We hang out in the room for a little while then go explore the ship. It's pretty, not the overly neon vegas style that I had read about. Evidentially the ship had recently been remodeled. We go back to our room and get our vest for the assembly drill. It lasted about 30 minutes and then we put them up and go back up on deck 10 for the sail away party we read about in the caper. As we are walking outside I tell my friend I am pretty sure we are moving and that we missed it but it was pretty quite as we got closer to outside and I didn't hear music or cheering so maybe we are not moving So we get up on the top deck and look over the railings. Yep we are moving but no party, no music, no dancing, no nothing...We watch for about 30 minutes and still nothing O'well so much for that party. We go back to our room and just stare out the window for awhile.

It's about 6:30 now and the welcome aboard show starts at 7:00 so we get ready for dinner and go to the show. We meet the cruise director Gus and then the Ecstasy Dancers and Singers do a little show. It was cute. Then a comedian performs he was OK. The show is about 1 hr long so when it's over it's almost time for dinner. Both of us are pretty shy so we are very worried about sitting at a table full of people. It's finally dinner time and we get to our table. There is an older couple there and an older lady and a middle age lady that we assume are mother and daughter. Then two more ladies join us. WOW that's not a lot of room for all of us my friend and I are squeezing together by now just kind of staring at our menus. We have 3 servers but Lego is the only one I remember. He did the main part and he was great.

Finally after the appetizers arrive everyone begins to talk. The older couple is from Belgium but they are now living in Houston. The two ladies are sisters and the other two are just friends oops. Well the two friends didn't talk much (in fact we didn't see them again after the first dinner) but the others were great!! We couldn't have asked for better table mates. Waaayyyy too much to share but I learned so much, on the last night I was really sad I felt like I was leaving good friends. The Belgium couple was adorable I wish they could have been my grandparents. We leave dinner (the food was great by the way) and decide to go out on deck and see what's happening. Nothing much so we sit out there for about 30 minutes and go back to the room. We are asleep by 11:00.

 

[JDBlair]

Palo Summary:

75 days out is definitely July 16th, I've had it marked on my calendar for ~3 months now! it opens 3am EST so that's Sunday night into Monday. yes, I'm staying up for my booking although I initially thought it was ridiculous.

You can book 1 Palo meal (brunch, dinner, tea) per cabin. Brunch seems to fill up first since it's only offered on at sea days, so if you're interested in all your best bet is to book brunch, then dinner, then afternoon tea (tea never seems to fill).

If you get locked out online or want to switch, embarkation day reservations start at 1pm, boarding starts at noon. Terminal opens at 10:30. The earlier you come, the earlier boarding pass you get, better chances at switching anything (dining room rotations, etc.).

Umm, I think that's about it.

And yes, I have reviewed all the menus in detail to help decide which meal I wanted to skip. Judging from comparing a few navigators, they don't make [m]any changes.

OK, now that's really it and I have to get back to work now that I'm all caught up on this thread.

Okay, so you can book a brunch and a dinner online. But if you get to the terminal and find out you booked your dinner on a day you don't want to miss the dining rotation, you can change the ressie (possibly) on the day we board the ship. Yes? That's what I'm thinking I understand and I read the post a couple of times!

Family and I are in CA for a wedding this weekend. So, I won't be around too much. I brought my Passporter along and was reading it in the car. Hi, my name is Jac, and I'm addicted to planning my family's Disney Cruise!!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Okay, so you can book a brunch and a dinner online. But if you get to the terminal and find out you booked your dinner on a day you don't want to miss the dining rotation, you can change the ressie (possibly) on the day we board the ship. Yes? That's what I'm thinking I understand and I read the post a couple of times!

You got it JDBlair It can be a mega scramble to change ressies on embarkation afternoon----make sure you get on the ship as soon as you can if you think you'll need to make a switch.

Keep the TR coming ZaneAnthony ! I'm enjoying it.

 

[Gr00vyChc]

I brought my Passporter along and was reading it in the car. Hi, my name is Jac, and I'm addicted to planning my family's Disney Cruise!!

Lol. That's funny JD. I stay at home and so I'm usually either on the DIS boards reading or I'm playing poker, or shopping online.. but usually on the DIS boards.

Have a fun weekend here in Cali!

Zane Anthony: Great report so far....... can't wait to read more. Do you have a picture of your room?

Gr00vyChc

 

[Deweysgirl]

I thought 90 days out was July 2---I just counted on my calendar ?

Mia - July 2 is what I counted up to as well. I do think that's the day for us. We have never done Palo fro brunch, only dinner, so I'm going to try for it this time. Do you have any excursions in mind yet or spa plans? I'm still very undecided about that part of it.

ZA - Fabulous pics! Really looks like a beautiful atrium! What ports did you go to?

Does anyone have their excusions picked out yet????

 

[MiaSRN62]

Hi Dewesygirl,
We are considering the following excursions :
St. Maarten :
1) Pinel Island Snorkel tour
2) Golden Eagle Catamaran
3) Tiki Hut Snorkel (this is new and haven't heard a thing about it )

St Thomas/St John :
1) Captain Nautica's Snorkeling Adventure
2) Doubloon Sail & Snorkel

Castaway Cay :
1) Bike rentals
2) Parasailing

I'm still undecided about the spa---the Rainforest thing sounded nice. The well-being massage sounds nice.....
Palos....thinking about a champagne brunch.

What about everyone else ?

 

[Deweysgirl]

Happy Mother's Day to all!


I think I'm going to try the Rainforest this time, it does sound nice. We did the parasailing last time at CC and it was really awesome. I wish it lasted longer, I could have stayed up there all day!

My girls wanted to see the butterfly farm so I must squeeze that in.

DH wants to hit a casino - maybe he'll win enough to put a deposit down for another cruise!

 

[MiaSRN62]

Sounds like great plans Deweysgirl !

Happy Mother's Day to all !

 

[Gr00vyChc]

DH wants to hit a casino - maybe he'll win enough to put a deposit down for another cruise!

Lol! I wonder if my DH knows about the casino.. .if he does he'll be over there with your hubby.

As for us, my DH will definitely be parasailing in CC. We have to take the tram to the top of the mountain in St. Thomas? (I think that's it), some shopping and beach time. Those are the must "do" I haven't firmly decided yet on what "'paid" excursions that we're going to take, maybe we'll just wing it.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Gr00vyChc

 

[JDBlair]

Zane - I was reading your TR and you're already sounding spoiled with the Disney way!! We took a 3 day Royal Carribean cruise a couple of years ago and neither of us were impressed. We're hoping the DCL will change our way of thinking and we become cruise addicts!!

Happy Mother's Day everyone.

California has been a nice trip. The wedding was lovely. A couple at the wedding had plans to go to Disneyland today. I was so jealous. I was giving them tips on what to do and how to use Fastpass. They asked me to go with them but DH said no. I should have gotten their phone number so I can find out how their trip was. The wife has been to Disneyland before but he's never been. He was saying he'd last until 3 and then want to go home. I'm dying to know if they stayed until closing! We'll drive home tomorrow. The drive between here and PHX just stinks.

 

[Zane_Anthony]

Zane Anthony: Great report so far....... can't wait to read more. Do you have a picture of your room? Gr00vyChc

Thanks! Yes I did...I will add them this afternoon.

 

[Zane_Anthony]

ZA - Fabulous pics! Really looks like a beautiful atrium! What ports did you go to?

Does anyone have their excusions picked out yet????

It was pretty! We only went to Cozumel. I will get to that part soon and post some pictures.

I am doing the Sunny Liston Tour in St. Thomas and I have a private tour booked in St. Martin just not sure what I want to do yet. He said we can go anywhere I want. I know I want to go to the beach with the low flying planes and maybe the zoo or butterfly farm. I am not sure where else.