The Bahamian Rum Runners! May 18, 2012 - 5 Nights on the Magic!

[Sir William]

Ahoy! Reporting aboard.

We've just switched our cruise on the Magic in January to this one. Not sure if I can patiently wait the extra 5 months but I'll give it a go.

This will be DW's and my second DCL cruise (but our 5th cruise overall), but the first for my kids: DD (24) and DS (20). We'll be visiting WDW afterward. I wanted to do WDW first but DS wasn't able to work it into his schedule.

 

[jc10282000]

welcome aboard sir william!

 

[MrsPotatoHead425]

Ahoy! Reporting aboard.

We've just switched our cruise on the Magic in January to this one. Not sure if I can patiently wait the extra 5 months but I'll give it a go.

This will be DW's and my second DCL cruise (but our 5th cruise overall), but the first for my kids: DD (24) and DS (20). We'll be visiting WDW afterward. I wanted to do WDW first but DS wasn't able to work it into his schedule.

Welcome! Glad to have you guys on the cruise!! we are also considering WDW after the cruise.. Never been there either!

 

[Sir William]

Welcome! Glad to have you guys on the cruise!! we are also considering WDW after the cruise.. Never been there either!

Thank you!

We usually visit WDW every 2-3 years. My "kids" are more excited about visiting WDW than they are about the cruise.

 

[alexturner74]

1. do you have any shore excursions that you are planning on doing on this trip? and/or have you done any in the past that you highly recommend?

2. first or second dinner seating? (2nd for us)

1. None for us. We've been to Key West a few times and will explore on our own. May not even get off the ship in Nassau.

2. First dinner seating. Used to do second dinner before kids, but the first dinner works better for us with the kids.

Alex

 

[Prozac07]

Hey Sir William! Welcome aboard!

 

[jc10282000]

so a couple questions (yes i'm a newbie, and yes i'm a planner, and no, i can't stop talking about the cruise!)

1. do you have any shore excursions that you are planning on doing on this trip? and/or have you done any in the past that you highly recommend?

2. first or second dinner seating? (2nd for us)

Yay, we are down to 7 months and 3 weeks!!!

1. stingay city in the bahamas. in key west i highly recommend the duval crawl if you dont have kids (dont remember getting back to the ship after that)

2. 1st seating

 

[trinaweena]

Thank you to all the fine, wonderful people who have taken over the thread while life takes over me. I have (finally) updated the first post with the link to the 4shared account and i believe Prozac07 has taken over the FE list? Correct me if im mistaken on that. I will try to be around more often, i want to get to know some of you and be involved on this thread!

 

[PA DisneyFan]

so a couple questions (yes i'm a newbie, and yes i'm a planner, and no, i can't stop talking about the cruise!)

1. do you have any shore excursions that you are planning on doing on this trip? and/or have you done any in the past that you highly recommend?

2. first or second dinner seating? (2nd for us)

Yay, we are down to 7 months and 3 weeks!!!

1. Not sure what we are doing for shore excursions yet. We have been to Key West once before and LOVE it! We will have to figure out what we can do with a 21 month old. In Nassau, I have heard of alot of people going to Atlantis and just walking around the place. Lots of fun stuff for the little one to look at.

2. First seating dining. Best for the little princess

 

[jc10282000]

deck 6 updated

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http://www.4shared.com/photo/769oUn6p/Disney-Deck-06_2_.html

i guess we are all alone in the back of the boat *sniff*.

 

[tinkmt]

so a couple questions (yes i'm a newbie, and yes i'm a planner, and no, i can't stop talking about the cruise!)

1. do you have any shore excursions that you are planning on doing on this trip? and/or have you done any in the past that you highly recommend?

2. first or second dinner seating? (2nd for us)

Yay, we are down to 7 months and 3 weeks!!!

First off, so glad I am not the only one who is a planner!

1. Parasailing for sure, maybe the blue lagoon in Nassau, Butterfly garden in Key West

2. First seating.

 

[MrsPotatoHead425]

We'll be all alone on our 2nd dinner seating! That was the only one that was available when we booked.. I guess I can tell yall how the shows went!

 

[JMTStone]

We'll be all alone on our 2nd dinner seating! That was the only one that was available when we booked.. I guess I can tell yall how the shows went!

First: SeatingI actually *like* the second seating. Its hard to get 4 people showered with a teenage girl. Even with the second bathroom. And I've also been known to "borrow" the fitness center showers when we run real late.

Second: ExcursionsNassau: When we went there in August, we went on our own. Atlantis was way to pricey for such a short excursion and we thought we would have two beach days at Castaway, so why pay so much for 4 hours. We took the girls to the main shopping district. I did NOT like it. We did NOT feel safe. I'm thinking about Atlantis for this trip (learning a secret someone did on these DIS boards - I'm waiting for confirmation before I share). Paying 400 instead of 800 sounds better to me.

Key West: We were planning on sightseeing while my DH is looking into Fishing. There are no DCL fishing excursions but if there's fishing, I think my hubby will find it!

Castaway Cay: We've done the Stingrays and loved it. DH and DD18 did the parasail. DD18 got rained out of single jet-ski so she is promised that on this trip. We are considering the family cabana!

Third:Pre and Post
Pre: We are planning on 5/10 through 5/14 at Vero Beach (having in-laws come up from West Palm - ugh - but a necessary compromise in my marriage). Then 5/14 through 5/18 at Old Key West (anyone want to share a ride - I won't do DCL transportation again - we didn't get on the Dream until 3 PM in August).
Post: After, we always do a "surprise - disembark day". Not much of a surpise anymore. Last time I treated the family to BLT with MK view with Chef Mickey. We didn't even go into the parks. The perfect way to end a vacation. Nothing worse than getting off of the boat and going to my house. I'm hoping on doing FWV and hoping on doing the Pirate MK cruise on the Seven Seas Lagoon. Wish me luck on all planning!

 

[jc10282000]

Second: ExcursionsNassau: When we went there in August, we went on our own. Atlantis was way to pricey for such a short excursion and we thought we would have two beach days at Castaway, so why pay so much for 4 hours. We took the girls to the main shopping district. I did NOT like it. We did NOT feel safe. I'm thinking about Atlantis for this trip (learning a secret someone did on these DIS boards - I'm waiting for confirmation before I share). Paying 400 instead of 800 sounds better to me!

Talking about the hotel thing? ive read that in quite few places. they must make a fortune off people that never even stay there! Comfort suites has full atlantis pool access for $279 for 2 adults and 2 kids on hotels.com.
http://www.hotels.com/hotel/details.html?pa=5&pn=1&ps=5&tab=description&destinationId=1641030&hotelId=213481&arrivalDate=05-21-12&departureDate=05-22-12&children[0]=2&rooms[0].childrenAges[0]=10&rooms[0].childrenAges[1]=12&rooms[0].numberOfAdults=2&roomno=1&validate=false&previousDateful=false&reviewOrder=date_newest_first#description
there are more i think but i just did a quick search

 

[JMTStone]

Talking about the hotel thing? ive read that in quite few places. they must make a fortune off people that never even stay there! Comfort suites has full atlantis pool access for $279 for 2 adults and 2 kids on hotels.com.

That's exactly what I was talking about. I didn't want to give out information that wasn't accurate so thank you for your diligence. Someone on our August trip did an actual Atlantis "overnight" and saved quite a bit and even though her family had to get themselves to and from the ship, they still saved quite a bit of money. I was waiting for her to provide the exact details. If I decide to do it, I'd be willing to share a ride if anyone else is interested. Its a shame the Atlantis excursion priced themselves out of DCL. I trust DCL to manage my excursions most of the time. I even had a good experience with DCL managing and reacting well to a possibly dangerous excursion experience in 2009 in Tortola. I love the Disney touch but at 1/4 of the price of the cruise for 4-6 hours on Atlantis beach is really not worth it.

Melissa

 

[jc10282000]

Wow, atlantis is actually $500 for one night for 2 adults and 2 kids. thats crazy!

 

[DVC Jen]

We are debating not even getting off the ship in Nassau. I haven't heard good things about the area or the Fort tour which is really the only thing we have considered doing.

When we did Cozumel on our last cruise the area flipped my girls out - and from everything I have heard Nassau is worse.

I don't want another beach day because we will be at Vero for a week after the cruise. Anyone else thinking about treating Nassau as an ocean day?

 

[tinkmt]

234 days in case anyone else is counting!

 

[Prozac07]

Hey everyone! I was looking through the DISign board for magnets and whatnot, and came across Dolly's DCL travel journal pages! I'm definately going to make one for myself and some for my in-laws/sis-in-law/grandma-in-law who are getting surprised with the trip for Christmas.

I'll prob add sheet protectors too to store my Navigators and crap I collect from the trip. The link below go to Dolly's 4Shared account... and I also added the files into our 4Shared site under the folder called "DCL Cruise Journal Pages."

Dolly's site: http://www.4shared.com/dir/18428241/4b39460d/sharing.html#dir=18429492

Hope someone else can use this as well!

 

[kali2007]

My name is Lora and my family wi trip. We ll be going on our first disney trip. My sister told me about the fish extenders and I would like to add us to the list. We will have me, my boyfriend and two kids. Cody is 9 and Emily is 8.im not sure our room right now but will get back with you on it