Traveling Turkeys Part 2 11/22/08

[cruisecrzy]

Goodmorning all. In 2 weeks we will be doublechecking the car and making sure we are ready to leave for the port.

I am going to offer a different perspective to Costa Maya. We loved the town. Picture a giant circle with stores on the outside and a big pool in the center. There was a swim up bar and the pool went right to the ocean. We really enjoyed the town. But I know that many did not.

 

[rlcook]

Chuck/everyone,

I would like to publicly apologize to you for the post yesterday. I was wrong and should have kept my comments to myself. You are probably a wonderful person face to face even though written words seem to make it seem like you aren't. I am looking forward to meeting you and Lisa and Mason. I'll be looking for you (I have a feeling that I won't be able to miss you).

I hope that you and your family will forgive me and give me a chance to redeem myself. Again I am truly sorry for the post.

Lora

 

[cheysdad]

I like Key West too, but we must go to GC. There's a party going on in GC, right Michael.

Teresa
We appreciate your positive attitude. We have to go to GC!

 

[Suzy Mouse]

Teresa
We appreciate your positive attitude. We have to go to GC!

It's GC or the highway!!!

I've been to Costa maya 3 years ago after a hurricane was there and caused damage. We went on the jungle trek and as soon as we got there we turned right around and got a refund on our money. It was discusting! It was pretty where we docked..but I remember every store clerk practically grabbing your arm and draggin you into their stores. Hopefully this won't be our only option. Plus...this day is my dh's birthday and he was looking forward to the wonderful plans we have in Grand Cayman...Keep those fingers crossed!!!

 

[disneypoor]

Costa Maya is a good bet now that DCL has returned to cruising there. This is the tour we did. I booked about 95 DISers and David had two big busses there to pick us up. He was our guide for the bus I was on and was wonderful. DCL usually offers a tour with them. Here is their website. http://www.chacchobenruins.com/wst_page5.html It is amazing hearing him talk about what it was like to live in the last village in the ruins...they both did when they were younger. The kids were 6 & 8 and both enjoyed it. DD6 was amazed at how old the pyramids were. LOL! The best part of the entire trip though was when David had the bus driver take us to a small nearby village and we handed out school supplies to the children at their school. It was quite humbling and that is what DS8 was most affected by. He cried on the way back to the ship because he was so moved by the fact that the kids had been so happy about getting pencils and paper.

We had this exact excursion (school supplies and all) already booked with David and Ivan before DCL changed the itinerary. I do believe I had read about it either on a trip report you had done or on another post where you had posted on. My DH was actually quite let down when he found out we wouldn't be going to Costa Maya, so he would definitely be happy to be returning to our original itinerary.

 

[disneypoor]

I forgot to mention that I called last night and transferred our Disney dollars to our rewards cards. I love free money! Now I need to take our jar of change in to the bank to get it cashed in. I'm not planning on much though because I seem to be the only one in the family that participated very well. Plus, we kept getting in to it. We'll probably be lucky if we have $25 dollars in there! Oh well, anything is better than nothing.

Susan

 

[Zandy595]

Good morning everyone! I can't believe we'll be on our way to Port Canaveral 2 weeks from right now.


I emailed DCL a while back when I first found out about the change from Costa Maya to Grand Cayman. Things may change due to Paloma, but this is what they said back in June:

It is our goal to offer a cruise experience that meets the Disney
standards of excellence and provides the type of magical vacation our
guests have come to expect.

We originally planned to be one of two ships that would return to Costa
Maya during your sailing. However, additional ships (bringing
additional guests) are now scheduled to be in port on the same day as
our call. In an effort to provide a comfortable shore experience for
our guests, we have modified the itinerary to include Grand Cayman.

As you may be aware Hurricane Dean passed directly over the Yucatan
Peninsula and Costa May last year. Therefore, in an effort to provide
comfortable shore excursion experiences for you and your family the
itinerary has been modified to include Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman has
always been a popular port with our guests and it fits nicely with the
itinerary.

We believe this itinerary change is necessary to continue to provide the
first-class Disney Cruise Line experience guests have come to know and
expect.

 

[love2travel]

We went to Costa Maya 2 years ago and we really didn't like it. If we go there this time we are staying on the ship.

DH called the other day and transferred our disney rewards to our card and I took the change jars to the bank, all together we had over $200. The to do list is slowly disappearing. Today it is going to be clean the house day, yippee Have a good everybody! Keep washing your hands, no germs, no

 

[plutoluvsfifi]

We had this exact excursion (school supplies and all) already booked with David and Ivan before DCL changed the itinerary. I do believe I had read about it either on a trip report you had done or on another post where you had posted on. My DH was actually quite let down when he found out we wouldn't be going to Costa Maya, so he would definitely be happy to be returning to our original itinerary.

I would LOVE to go on an exertion like that. To say that I'm not well traveled would be an understatement, but I've never heard of anything like it. If we do change plans, I'm so there. When we sailed on the Magic in 2002, we did a shore excursion on St. Martin but I couldn't get past the poverty I saw to have much fun at all. I wish every port of call had something like this.

 

[disneypoor]

Exciting News!!!!!!!​

I called the number on the back of my rewards card this morning to make sure the balances had been officially transferred, and I discovered that DH's card still had money on it from a previous transfer! I'm so excited! Between our rewards cards and our onboard credit, we'll have enough to completely pay for our excursions! Yeah!!!!!!

 

[seadooken]

Exciting News!!!!!!!​

I called the number on the back of my rewards card this morning to make sure the balances had been officially transferred, and I discovered that DH's card still had money on it from a previous transfer! I'm so excited! Between our rewards cards and our onboard credit, we'll have enough to completely pay for our excursions! Yeah!!!!!!

COOL Way to go!

I am about the same shape you are in. Between some OBC and what we have on the card, I think the only cash We'll end up spending is parking at the port and onshore at GC and Coz

 

[Happy4Disney]

Exciting News!!!!!!!​

I called the number on the back of my rewards card this morning to make sure the balances had been officially transferred, and I discovered that DH's card still had money on it from a previous transfer! I'm so excited! Between our rewards cards and our onboard credit, we'll have enough to completely pay for our excursions! Yeah!!!!!!

Don't you love it when you find money?

 

[disneypoor]

Cindy--I don't find money very often, so I was pretty excited this morning! It wasn't even that much money, but it still made my day!

Ken--we cruised last September and had used all of our rewards dollars up to that point, so I wasn't sure we'd have that much this time. We used our rewards to completely pay for our MVMCP tickets, our resort stay at WDW, and between what was left and our onboard credit of $250, we almost have enough to completely pay for our shore excursions. Now I just hope I can resist shutters, some sweatshirts, and some beach towels. I do intend to buy Christmas cards from shutters if we have a picture that turns out good though.

 

[love2travel]

I got the following information from www.stormcarib.com

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 11:36:18 -0400 - Big damage!


Good morning!

Back on Wednesday, I noted that this system would be a Cat 3 and possibly a Cat 4 due to the very favorable elements in the surrounding environments. Now, category 4 hurricane Paloma has given Grand Cayman a close call but has caused major damage to Cayman Brac and and Little Cayman. See reports from Captain Chris Taggert on the Cayman Island reports to the right on this page. Grand Cayman itself dodged a major bullet and this little jog to the ENE put the smaller islands directly in the path of the monster. The computer models grossly underestimated the potential intensity of this system yesterday and that may have led to a bit of complacency as these islands are well built to withstand hurricanes, especially after hurricane Ivan made his unwanted appearance in 2004. Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported and storm surge is not a major factor in the damage arena due to the deep waters surrounding the Caymans. Unfortunately, that will not be the case when it hits southern Cuba with the expected storm surge to be between 18-23 feet!!


From what that they are saying Grand Cayman should be ok. Cayman Brac and Little Cayman had significant damage.

 

[Zandy595]

Teresa ~ That's good news for Grand Cayman and for us. Thanks for the update.

 

[cruisecrzy]

I forgot to mention that I called last night and transferred our Disney dollars to our rewards cards. I love free money!
Susan

Here is hoping for a big dollar amount from that change jar. Also those who signed up and qualified for the five times rewards on their Disney visa make sure you are getting those. Last month they were to start showingup on the points area of the statement. The last spring I had to call because one of the months it did not accumulate properly. So just an FYI.

Exciting News!!!!!!!​

It sure is a good day for you.

 

[love2travel]

Speaking of Disney Rewards....DH called the other day to have our dollars transferred to our card. Mission accomplished. I called today just to verify that they had been transferred and the automated system told me that we had 0 dollars on our card. I wasn't happy. DH called back and found out that the rep. transferred our points to a whole new card, we are not sure why because our old card is valid until 12/31/08 and he told her that. So we are supposed to receive our new card sometime this week.

DH just reminded me to call and confirm our hotel reservation at the Hyatt.

 

[disneypoor]

Michelle,

It is a good day for me! Now if I could only get my grad homework finished. I'm on my last assignment that needs to be completed before we leave for the cruise. I've been doing homework since I got up this morning, and my head sure feels like it. I've completed four assignments this morning and am just getting ready to start on my last one. You will all hear me scream "YIPPEE!" when I get it done because then I won't have to do any more assignments until we return from our trip. I feel sorry for those young grad students that wait until the last minute. It's entirely too much work to cram into one night!

Susan

 

[cruisecrzy]

Michelle,

It is a good day for me! Now if I could only get my grad homework finished. I'm on my last assignment that needs to be completed before we leave for the cruise. I've been doing homework since I got up this morning, and my head sure feels like it. I've completed four assignments this morning and am just getting ready to start on my last one. You will all hear me scream "YIPPEE!" when I get it done because then I won't have to do any more assignments until we return from our trip. I feel sorry for those young grad students that wait until the last minute. It's entirely too much work to cram into one night!

Susan

Susan I am waiting to hear your scream. Way to get it done two weeks in advance.

 

[disneypoor]

Yippee! I'm done!!!!​

Michelle--did you hear that? No more homework for me until after our cruise!!!!!!!