September 3, 2005 --- Who is going?

[lisa702]

We are getting closer! Actually just wanted to bump this back to the first page.

 

[Drcell01]

We are just a week away from a short (5 days) trip to WDW. I hope that this stays in our system until September. I just hope that when we get to the fork in the road that leads from I-95 into I-4 that I can get my car to go to the right rather than south to the port! LOL

When it comes to DCL my car has a mind of its own...can't blame it...can ya?

 

[gdulaney]

We're under 5 months!!

Bob -> I know what you mean about heading to the Port. When we were down for the Daytona 500, it was really hard to stop in Daytona Beach.

Ginny

 

[pogopossum]

hello fellow sailors, i'm glad to see other ill-fated cruisers on board, it sounds like we were on the same cruise as you were last year captain crash, was that the frances shortened cruise? well we should get a good cruise since so many of us are due.

there are six of us going, in two rooms, my dw and i are 40ish, and we have a dd, who will be 11 and a ds who will be 4, and dgps along with us. they will be in an inside sr and we are on the 7th deck with a verandah, which is the only way to go, especially on a seven nighter. i'll let you know more of our info later, but my comp is about to crash, so i gotta go

phil

 

[gdulaney]

Hi Phil!

We were on the Magic voyage that was extended 3 days...and we visited Galveston Texas. I'd love to do another 10-night, but not at the expense of hurricanes. It was a sobering ride from Ft. Lauderdale back to the Port.

We have two in our party...me and hubby. We're on deck 2 (we've been on 2 for all but one of our cruises) in an outside cabin.

Have a great evening!!
Ginny

 

[pogopossum]

hi ginny,
so you were on the cruise that we were waiting to return. this is our third try to get to the virgin islands. in 2000 we were on the second seven day cruise on the magic and diverted to the west because of debra, we did make it to cc, for two days actually. for three of us this will be our 4th cruise our ds is going for number 2. at any rate we have decided to drive in for the cruise, it will allow for more flexibility in case of weather, we probably wouldn't have gone last time except that at the time we had to leave our plane tickets and hotel room was not cancellable, and we did not have insurance, so we felt that we had to go through with the trip. we ended up enjoying the trip, but we are not really interested in a cruise of less than a week anymore, almost not worth the trouble of preparation for us.

anyway, our last trip ended up being five nights at cor springs and 4 night cruise. with one day at mk, seemed strange to be there on labor day and able to ride anything you wanted as much as you wanted with no wait in line, dd loved it, she's not blessed with the virtue of patience, but God's not finished with her yet.

my inlaws were along then as well, they got lucky and got a handicapped access room instead of the room they were booked for, what a big room. we almost had one as well, but when i went in, it was in the middle of renovation and obviously should not have been in the system, it just added to what one day we will all look back and laugh at, maybe. it's still a little too close, if you know what i mean. dcl and most of the passengers on our cruise were really making the lemonade that week.

look forward to further getting to know ya'll in the coming months and finally meeting face to face labor day weekend.

phil

 

[lisa702]

BUMP

 

[gdulaney]

Phil --- hopefully you can actually make it to the US Virgin Islands this year. St John is beautiful!!!

Ginny

 

[captaincrash]

But yes - we were on the Frances diverted cruise... over labor day holiday - right? We were supposed to get the "special eastern sailng" with San Juan... well - that would have been somethin', eh?

We love San Juan - plus in combination with St Thomas it was the purrrfect sailing. WHo would have figured - that in our past half dozen september Carribean sailngs we never had any difficulty with hurricanes ~ I guess it was just plain good luck. I used to like sailing at night in the carib and looking off in the distance at the lightning storm activity.... that remains a memorable experience from past sailings.

So last year was indeed exceptional. I recall hearing or reading somewhere that last year had been forecast as a cyclical peak for having several hurricanes. And boy did we have an active hurricane season, eh?

Aside from mulling over last year - we're looking forward to this september get away! We have our rental cars lined up - air fares bought a long time ago - and cruise is of course set. We just need a hotel for a couple nites before we sail - but we usually HOTWIRE it a couple of months before sailing.

We might go to a park this year - anyone know what it costs to visit the parks? Anyone with advice on how to get a good deal for DW?

Oh - and sorry about the slow reply - I missed the email alert cuz of tax season - a twice fever ill daughter and only now about 10 days after tax time am I getting to cleaning out my email and catching up on things!

Have a pleasant day and week to all!

 

[gdulaney]

We might go to a park this year - anyone know what it costs to visit the parks? Anyone with advice on how to get a good deal for DW?

The best deal that I've found involves attending a timeshare presentation. Last year we spent a little less than 2 hours at a presentation and received 2 two-day Universal tickets. Not a bad deal...especially if breakfast, lunch or a snack is involved.

Ginny

 

[pogopossum]

aye, aye captain. i do look forward to getting the usual itinerary in this trip, and i enjoy going up topside to watch storms while sailing and feeling the winds, but will gladly give that up for a non-event filled cruise. we are making our plans and it looks like we drive this time, since it involves labor day, instead of our original plans for two weeks later. dd will miss less school this way. but i guess we'll stay at the quality suites for the free parking and shuttle to the port.

dd suggested that we pack less this time, only one bag per person, can't see dw able to pass muster on this one.

but, we are already getting into full metal cruise mode here, and just think we've only got 4 months to go. maybe next time we won't tell the kids until time to leave. good luck with that.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Hi All!
I am just back from our spring break trip to WDW and I am ready to start my planning for the cruise. I realized that my final payment is due in 31 days

I should be haunting the cruise board almost daily now, I look forward to chatting with you all while we plan.

 

[gdulaney]

Under four months....what beautiful words. I can't wait. No phones, no work, no stress.....just frothy drinks, yummy food, and cute towel animals (and I guess I should add "cigars" for hubby).

Ginny

 

[captaincrash]

Pogo....

I am curious.... the Quality suites you mentioned.... is that in coco beach or which city? They have a shuttle? This sounds ike it might save us a rental car day if I time it right and if it sounds like what I think it sounds like. In any event - I can't hardly wait for the embarkation! And I must confess - after last years' hurricane madness ( we had the same labor day sailing) we will NOT enter a hurricane area to make a sailing again.

 

[Drcell01]

...not use the "H" word...you'll jinks our cruise! LOL

Captiancrash..

We were on that same cruise (Labor Day week) last year. We changed our flight 3x and ended up landing in Ft. Myers and driving to WDW only to be told that we would be leaving from Ft. Lauderdale. We were one of the last families up the gang plank and they closed the hatch just after we boarded.

We are planning on a different sinario on this cruise.

Only 120 days to go..it will be here and gone before you know it..they always do! LOL

 

[pogopossum]

cc, that would be QS in cocoa beach. so that's three of us from the cruise last year on this one. we were also late getting up the gangplank last year due to dcl transportation snafus and ticketing snafus, almost missed dinner seating. just got in by the hair on our chinny chin chins. we'll have to get together and swap stories on board. we are also driving so that we can change plans better, instead of on our way to the airport like last year.

but i believe that we will be enjoying the cruise that we all booked and not have any worries.

happy sailings to us all!

 

[gdulaney]

We used to drive down, spend the night before and then board the next morning...but it was just too stressful. Now we try to drive down a few days early, stay at one of the DVC properties, hang out, relax...and drive over to the Port on Saturday morning.

Ginny

 

[lisa702]

Hello!

Just curious..........does anyone plan on using the online booking on the DCL website for Palo's etc?
We didn't do Palo's last time so we are hoping DD Skye will like the kids club enough to let us enjoy a dinner and brunch at Palo's. She did not enjoy the kids clubs last year, but explanation of that was "because I was only 5, this time I'll be 6!"

 

[DisneyNutMary]

I wasn't aware that there is online booking for Palo. I guess I have been so absorbed in my Spring Break planning, I have been out of the DCL loop.
How far in advance can this be done?

 

[krdisneybound]

I wasn't aware that there is online booking for Palo. I guess I have been so absorbed in my Spring Break planning, I have been out of the DCL loop.
How far in advance can this be done?

Go to Disneycruiseline.com and sign in and go to "My Cruise Plans" and click on Palo. You have to make sure you are signed in with your reservation no. You can book your excursions

You can look up your reservation and make spa, Palo and kids club reservations ahead of time.

105 days before sailing for concierge and REAS customers.

90 days before sailing for Castaway Club members

75 days before sailing for first time cruisers.

They have a few bugs to work out, but it is a great site now.