September 3, 2005 --- Who is going?

[DisneyNutMary]

One more question, I booked with Costco, not through DCL. Will I still be able to do this?
I remember that in the past, you had to be booked through DCL to access your ressies online.


*edited to add, I got my answer in another thread, thanks for the head's up though. Gotta tell my sister now

 

[gdulaney]

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!"

We probably will. I'm so happy that they've added the ability to make reservations online and I can't wait to try it.

Last year, we ended up eating at Palo twice for dinner and once for brunch. It's delicious!! Andy really enjoyed the seafood dishes and I really enjoyed the filet. YUM!

Ginny

 

[captaincrash]

Here's a little something for all those fellow "Hurricane Veterans" from last September's hurricane madness. We were scheduled for the Labor Day holiday sailing that got cut to a 4 day sailing out of FOrt Lauderdale.

We decided to try to make the cruise - and on Saturday we drove to the airport with reservations to fly from Oxnard to LAX; LAX to Chicago; CHicago to Tampa. Enroute to the airport they canceled our flight to Tampa and on arriving at the airport we found that United had automatically rebooked us onto another flight - only they split our party onto different flights. This was not acceptable. Due to time constraints - we boarded our flight without resolving this issue - but once at LAX we found that we could rerout to leave sooner and fly into WDC instead of CHicago and get into Jacksonville. This OK and we boarded our flight to WDC. This was a red-eye and quite tough with 2 kids. At any rate - we landed in WDC with a huge layover scheduled. We called UAL on landing and confirmed all was still "set".... and it was. Well - we rented a car and started driving about a bit and I took a nap in the car with one of the kids while my sppouse stretched at a shopping mall. After a bit I decided to check again with United and found that now ALL airports into Florida were closed on Sunday. We were expecting to sail on Monday so we were in a panic.

We began asking if we could fly closer and we mused whether we could drive down from WDC. Well - after consulting DCL folks and United we flew into Charleston SC. From here we rented a car and drove some 200 miles (? or was it 150?) into Jacksonville. We figured if we could get to Jacksonville we could drive to Port Canaveral on Monday easily. Well - driving down was somewhat DANGEROUS as we drove into Jacksonville at about 12 midnight. Big wind and rain - lots of trees blown over and very very few cars on the road. BUt we made our hotel - a Hampshire Inn we reserved from another Hampshire Inn we stopped at about 30 miles northe of Jacksonville.

In the AM we checked internet reports and noted there were forum postings that our Monday sailing had been CAnCELLED and moved to Tuesday. Whereupon we called DCL to ask what we should do. They advised we come to Orlando and they would put us up in the Polynesian. So we tried to drive the 100 miles to Orlando thinking - OK it should be 90 minutes....WRONG.... 5 hours later we had gone about 60 miles and we called DCL to tell them we were getting a hotel right where we were rather than drive to Orlando and that we would simply drive ourselves to Port Canaveral the next day - at which point they advised us that we really needed to come to Orlando because the port was now FOrt Lauderdale! Further that they would provide Park Passes and DCL transfers.

Oh RATS.... this meant we had to fight to get the last 40 miles which wore us out and took a while. Well - it must sound pretty tough - but it was actually fairly managable in spite of the fact it was really tough. So - we eventually got to the Polynesian - toured Downtown Disney a bit - then rode the DCL bus to FL and boarded. Once aboard - we were told we were going to wait until evening to depart because one or two DCL busses had broken down enroute and these poor folks were delayed further - and the ship would wait for them - we wknow who some of you are now!

At any rate - we just hung out on board and tried to settle in - and once we saw the HAPPINESS on our daughters' face and eyes - we knew tht travel ordeal was worth it - although the logical side of our minds were still short circuiting over the whole thing!

At any rate - here are some photos of our driving travel day. The series begins with us in WDC at the airport and ends up with us returning to our cabin on the 1st nite of the cruise.

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nma4cnc&p=iuh842&AID=2372494

In the end - we counted EIGHT flight reschedulings - 2 rental cars - some 320 miles driven in the last 24 hours before arriving in Orlando to check into the Polynesian - then we rode a DCL bus some 120-150 miles to Fort Lauderdale.... except we took a fairly CIRCULAR route to the embarkation port. At any rate - it was indeed a memorable vacation and we went away thinking lets' book another September cruise in 2005. Here we are and we are NOT concerned about possibly jinxing it - I heard last year was actualy forcast to be a bad hurricane year by NOAA - but I didn't know about this forecast until well after the cruise. As for this year - I havenot seen any comments as to it being anything but routine. So the going looks good so far!

Hope you enjoy our little photo sequence..... ENjoy! here it is again:

http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=nma4cnc&p=iuh842&AID=2372494





What sort of crze stories had YOU got if you sailed on one of these hurricane sailngs in 04?

 

[captaincrash]

I hope my photo and story sharing doesn't jinx us - though I think we'll be free of difficulty... and Pogo .... usually we have booked hotels on Hotwire at about 60 days outside of sailing - we were thinking of spending a day at WDW this time and an alternative might be to go QS and do other things. Off hand - I have to think about this a little to see how and what we'll be doing - but it is good to know there is an intown choice at the QS.

Hope you get a chuckle out of the story and photos. Check out the line of highway utlity and landscape maintenance trucks we passed unroute from Jacksonville to Orlando!

Adios!

 

[Drcell01]

In case anyone was not aware DCL has now added the ability to make Palo resies, Spa resies, and Excursion resies via the DCL website. You can make these resies as follows:

105 days in advance is you are crusing in cat 3 and above
90 days in advance if you are castaway club members
75 days in advance if you are a first time crusier

Calculating the embarkation of our cruise the first day you can begin to make resies (based upon being a castaway club member) would be June 4th if you were going to Palo on embarkation day (Sept. 3rd). For any other day just add one day to the June 4th date for each future date of your resies (i.e., If you want to go to Palo on Sunday Sept 4th you can make your resies on line as of June 5th for castaway club members). Castaway Club members must have their Castaway Club member number. If you don't have your number you should first call DCL to get your member number. You can not make this reservation at the 90 mark without your member number.

Another tip I can give you is that even though you may only be a party of two you may want to make a reservation at Palo for four or six. I say this as Palo has limited number of tables that seat two but has more tables that seat 4 or more. Your chances of getting a reservation (this is how we got a reservation last year) for four or more is better than just two and you might find (like we did last year) that you may want to have dinner at Palo with your table mates from your regular dining rotation (IMHO). I hope that we are lucky enough to have such nice table mates on this cruise as we had last year.

So this makes the first on-line resies day only 27 days away...WOO-HOO!!! Ladies and Gentleman...START YOUR PLANNING! LOL

 

[pogopossum]

well captain,

that is quite a tale, and in the interest of helping to guarantee a carefree cruise vacation, i'll add mine on the altar of the storm gods.

we were scheduled to fly on american on friday morn and stay at the qs and play on the beach in the afternoon. no worries, except frances had other ideas. so as it got closer, i started looking into our alternatives. i called the wrong hotel and was told that they were evacing, but qs told me that they hadn't made the decision yet, so on tues i called wdw and using email coupon booked rooms at the cor springs for fri night. well we checking with dcl and on wed although no changes had been made in the itin. the agent told me not to chance the airport on fri., so wed eve we checked with aa and were told that no decisions had been made yet, but we could make one change at no charge. i then got back on the phone with wdw and checked on ressies for thur, was told that they had nothing, until i gave them our conf number, then they figured out that we a magical gathering and they did have rooms for us. so changes made we were well on our way.

thurs came and we all get set to go, as we are walking out the door to go to the airport, dvc calls and i decided we should answer it, and was told that the cruise was now 5 days, still from pc, we would get 40% off and 25% rebook and $200 on board cred, we decided to go on, had to get to the airport in an hour, so it was a rushed decision. we didn't have ok from aa or wdw to cancel without penalty. we got to airport in time, only the plane didn't, after three+ hour delay they got a plane for us, and we took off, at orl the baggage door was stuck and we delayed another hour. by the time it was open and we loaded up with shuttle and got to resort, it was nearly three in the morning.

still no word on new changes in itin. from dcl, although according to pc website the port was closed on thurs and not reopening until tues. this was the frustrating part of the whole process, we finding out things from websites and disers on forum things wa ahead of dcl informing us. but we enjoyed the pool and walking around the resort for the day. only now we were getting warnings of how long it would take for the storm to pass, and on sat we went into lock down, with all services shut down at the resort. lesson learned: in case of storm book one of the resorts under one roof, they still have services.

anyway we got the news on sun that we were now sailing tues, still told that we were sailing from pc, we were now at 50% discount, and we decided to go to mk on mon. one family had decided to go home, another was still in and booked trans with dcl bus, we were still going with dw's father, until that night when we got the call about port change.

tues morn, we got up and called to arrange trans to ak for the bus, was told that we needed to have already left, but in about ten minutes two vans from the resort came and got us to ak. we checked in with dcl and they couldn't find us on the list, but they said they'd take of it, our friends were ok, though, an omen, but we didn't realize it. then about a half hour before the bus arrived they told us that they didn't have enough room on the bus and another would comein about an hour, and they would give us lunch, three and a half hours later the bus finally came, but we had to go to the swan and pick up others. the bus filled up, but the driver did not know how to turn on the ac, and the bathroom was unacceptable, no video, and no it was not one of those cool yellow buses that we expected. meanwhile the driver who was speaking portuguese well and english not so much, had to pull into the service plaza to hook up with other drivers who knew how to get there. one of the passengers figured out how to turn on the ac, so it got better.

we got to port, had our docs checked, and were sent not to check in line, but another line, where we were told that our res had been cancelled, so this had to be sorted out and they finnally assigned us a room, and we headed up to the deck, and just kept walking toward aft past room after room, til i saw that it was one of those coveted rooms on the very back of the ship, a handicapped access room, but i opened the door and the room was in disarray, and then i went in the bathroom, which had grout all over the place and was being redone. so i turned around and headed for guest services, passing the family in the hall, with smoke coming out of my ears. while in line i saw the doors open for the final seating in lumiere's, and in a few minutes dw and the rest came up with floor manager who pulled me out of line and said to go eat, and they would sort it out, so it was at that point when the trip turned completely around, and we all ended up having a great time. i found out that my dw didn't even make it to the room, she just started crying in the hall, and the floor manager came up to see what was wrong, then they came down to get me.

the kids had so much fun, and my in-laws said that they were going to rebook even if we hadn't called to hook up with them. our only regret was that we couldn't go last spring, because she had used her free days at school, and with the west coast cruises this summer, that meant that here we go again in hurricane season, but i am the eternal optimist and believe that this time we get the full virgin island, disney cruise.

sorry this is so long, but i did what i could to just hit the essential details, and look forward to sharing our experiences over boat drinks on the top deck, come september.

 

[DisneyNutMary]

Thanks for the info Bob. My payment with COstco is due 90 days prior to cruising, so that big red circle on my calendar will come in handy for two reasons now.

 

[captaincrash]

I thought we had a sort of jumbled trip....

YOurs sounds ... dare I say ... a bit more adventuresome? Last season was predicted to be above normal by NOAA: Here's a link to the 2004 forecast:

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.html

And it seems the 2005 forecast will be issued by NOAA on or about June 1st. Here is a link to the relevant page:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tafb-atl.shtml

lets keep our fingers crossed!

 

[captaincrash]

OK... NOAA just released their 2005 hurricane season forecast 3 days ago, and it is NOT very pretty.... click my links above to read it - and the caption I dropped below sez it all in some ways:

"....... NOAA’s 2005 Atlantic hurricane season outlook indicates a 70% chance of an above-normal hurricane season, a 20% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 10% chance of a below-normal season.... ..... The outlook calls for 12-15 tropical storms, with 7-9 becoming hurricanes, and 3-5 of these becoming major hurricanes. The likely range of ACE index is 120%-190% of the median. This prediction reflects a very likely continuation of above-normal activity that began in 1995...... The vast majority of the tropical storms and hurricanes in 2005 will form during August-October. Many of these are likely to form over the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean Sea in the region between 9°N-21.5°N (green box), which is typical for above-normal seasons. These systems generally track westward toward the Caribbean Sea and/or United States as they strengthen. Historically, similar seasons have averaged 2-3 landfalling hurricanes in the continental United States and 1-2 hurricanes in the region around the Caribbean Sea......Beginning with 1995 all of the Atlantic hurricane seasons have been above normal, with the exception of two El Niño years (1997 and 2002). This contrasts sharply with the generally below-normal activity observed during the previous 25-year period 1970-1994 (Goldenberg et al. 2001, Science). "



So... I am going to discuss again with my spouse whether we will plan on traveling INTO a hurricane to make a DCL sailing (if it happens). I think it might be wise to have some "preparation" for the coming season!

Any opinions folks?

 

[pogopossum]

as i stated before, we are doing the driving thing this time so that we can make changes easier. i know that that is not as doable for you, captain. but having learned that dcl will not be deciding, or at least announcing, changes until they absolutely have to, at the last possible minute, we want to be able to decide to postpone at the last possible minute, and reschedule.

but we have discussed that we are not interested in less than a seven day cruise, so we will take the rebook option this time and save our daughter's miss school days for that instead of sticking it out. now that i've said that it probably won't be offered that way this time.

but otherwise i believe that this time we will get the cruise that we booked, third times a charm, right.

 

[captaincrash]

Funny...

today on picking up our daughter from school - her teacher commented that our daughter said she had a hurricane last year in Florida - and ...." you have ta be care-ful". It seemed kind pf cute - except she's talking about it because my spouse and I are talking about it.

We will probably "gamble" if a hurricane threatens us. We are in effect going to try to make it unless something looks unusually threatening. The incentives are nice to offset the uncertainty and loss of service - and as such - we would simply assume that Disney would be "fair" about trying to "mett us at least half-way" to enable the trip.

At any rate, we will approach any adversity with a bit more awareness given our last experience!

 

[lisa702]

but otherwise i believe that this time we will get the cruise that we booked, third times a charm, right.

A lot of pixie dust!

 

[DisneyNutMary]

We fell to the second page, so I am bumping us up

Is anyone following the West bound Repo cruise thread?
It's 87 pages!!! Someone has posted a slideshow of the Magic going through the canal. It's so cool to watch!

It has me really looking forward to our cruise.

 

[captaincrash]

Thanx for the referral Disney NUT.

Anyone else have anything to say about the hurricane potential?

My spose sez - we are almost certain to go no matter what - our kids will only be this age once - and we feel they get MAXIMUM pleasure from this and we are planning to do what-ever it takes to pursue this should a hurricane loom on the horizon.

 

[Drcell01]

We are trying not to think about the hurricanes!

We jumped through all kinds of hoops (flew into Ft. Myers and drove to WDW) this time last year to get to the ship.

Lets just think positive and maybe we will have un-eventful days leading up to our great vacation cruise.

Its just 99 days until we leave...WOO-HOO!

 

[pogopossum]

hey bob,

i am ever the ultimate optimist, so i believe that we will see fair sailing come sept 3. dour predictions aside, i am of the opinion that last year was the once in a century event, and this year will be more typical and therefore we have the odds on our side, and should be able to enjoy a stress free cruise.

what, me worry?

 

[DisneyNutMary]

hey bob,

i am ever the ultimate optimist, so i believe that we will see fair sailing come sept 3. dour predictions aside, i am of the opinion that last year was the once in a century event, and this year will be more typical and therefore we have the odds on our side, and should be able to enjoy a stress free cruise.

what, me worry?

I like your thinking! We feel the same way.
I made my final payment yesterday....no turning back now. Good weather or bad, we are going!

 

[Drcell01]

DAMM the torpedos and full speed ahead....

ONLY 100 DAYS TILL WE SET SAIL! Not rain nor snow (I had to say that since we live here in the snow capital of Upstate NY), nor HURRICANE will detur this ships passengers from reaching their appointed destinations! We will reach Castaway Cay this time! LOL

 

[lisa702]

Bumping this and wishing everyone a safe Memorial Day weekend!

 

[gdulaney]

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Ginny