Who's sailing April 18-22, 2004 - gotta start this sometime!!

[goofy601]

WOW! I went back and check out the age groupings - yep - DD and friend are going to be disappointed they are NOT teenagers on this trip! Whew - that saves me from a couple of things I wasn't sure I wanted them to do anyways!!

sopandbass - thank you for your thoughts on my son! He's a handful - but has actually slowed down since his younger sister has been up and walking around. Letting her show her true colors - and aren't they pretty! She's a little stinker in a princess disquise!

disneysailor - a top bunk? Oh no - please no more top bunks! He's feeling a little better - but still kinda lumpy today -- we have to watch him for the next couple of days - if his bump on his face gets worse we take him back -- hopefully he's back to himself by tomorrow.

Thankfully I am allergic to sea food and do not have to worry about trying slimy things!! I've heard some horror stories - I found out the hard way about my allergies - ate some lobster and WOW - sicker than a dog -- it was not pretty! If all else fails - and I'm not sure what I'm eating - a nice veggie salad or fruit salad will work just fine for me!

As for us and excurions - DH and MIL want to do the Atlantis trip - I told DH the same thing - it if it's that important to go - why not just make our next big family trip to Atlantis -- I have no interest in a LONG walk to have the kids tired and whiney - neither of which is pretty!! I did want to try and get a couple of the packages that have snorkeling stuff and a bike ride and floaties -- on CC~ that way we can all do a little of this and that -- and just enjoy the beach. Thankfully - the kids can still enjoy the "groups" on the island and I don't have to worry about water activities -- a big fear for me - because it says that counselors don't take the kids in the water while they are participating in island activities!

travelwith kids - save me a spot on the beach next to you - I want to sit and relax as much as possible and a cozy spot on the beach sounds just smashing - hey where's the cabana boy with our nice cool drinks? I'm going to let DH do the running with the kids on the island - I'll run on the ship with our youngest DD (she's not potty trained and there's no end in sight - so no pool for her ~ she unfortunately has a little medical problem that doesn't allow her to have a BM on her own and potty training comes a little harder for her - hopefully we work it out before she's in high school - LOL ~ since we've been dealing with this since birth - we definately try to look at the lighter side)

Going to run - want to get in a shower and get some stuff done around here...vacation is coming - vacation is coming...YEAH!

 

[SCOTTOHIOCPA]

Goofy601 -

Glad your little one is on the mend.

Two years ago my DW and I went out to Atlantis in the evening and played in the casino for a while, then we walked around the grounds. We thought it was really nice, so we looked into booking a trip there last year. Also, my friend here at work went there last year. We changed our minds when we saw the prices - The lowest price for a room was about $400 per night. Food is also outrageous - my friend decided not to get the prepaid meal plan, until they went to breakfast - 2 adults, 2 kids age 3 & 4. Their breakfast was over $60! After that they paid the $200 per day for the meal plan. So, going to Atlantis from the ship may be not be such a bad idea.

If you would like to go to a really nice beach in Nassau without a lot of expense, you can get a taxi out to paradise island for about $4 per person each way. There is a public access next to the Sheraton hotel (I need to verify if this is the correct hotel). You can go out on the beach and enjoy yourselves for as long as you want. This is the same beach as the Atlantis beach. If DW and I weren't so eager to show our kids the island we went to on our honeymoon, we would probably do this ourselves.

 

[bostonlass]

Goofy - Sorry to hear about your son and I hope he truly is on the mend. My dd's had bunk beds but after about 6 months of my biting my nails I broke them down and now they're safely low to the ground

I totally understand about not wanting to walk a long way with kids. I originally wanted to do the Atlantis thing but the more I read the more I think not. I guess they don't treat the cruisers as well as the actual hotel guests so I'm not into paying a whole heap of money to be treated poorly. I am seriously considering doing the dolphin encounter though but I haven't decided whether to do it through Disney or through the encounter people directly. I guess directly you have to leave right after the encounter while through Disney you get to stay at the lagoon as long as you'd like and they serve you lunch to boot.

Ok I'm calendar challenged over here...............anyone know the exact day we can start booking excursions? Is it tomorrow or Thursday? I hear the dolphin one books up before the first day ends so I want to do it early if that's what I decide to do.

I can't wait to meet you all.....travel-with- kids, Emily keeps asking about your daughter and can't wait to meet her. It's so darn cold up here that I wanna go now and be on my beach chair feeling that warm breeze and listening to the waves of the ocean!!!!!!!!

Gonna go order our buttons!

Bridget

 

[DVCLady]

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[DVCLady]

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[goofy601]

DVClady - our travel agent said that we would get our excursion information with our tickets in 3 weeks - from the date that we paid our final bill...by the time we get that all of the excursions will be booked! Oh - wasn't too much we wanted to do except get a couple of the packages on CC for the family to do a variety of activities - snorkling, floaties, riding bikes...we'll just have to wait and see!

 

[SCOTTOHIOCPA]

For those of you who want to reserve shore excursions -- tomorrow is the first day they will take them! Here's the number so you don't have to look it up. 1-877-566-0968

 

[disneysailor]

Hi all,
Bostonlass-In answer to your excursion booking question, I called Disney this morning to book the Wild Side excurision for my son who has now decided that he wants to do it. She took all the information but when she tried to book it she saidn it wouldn't work and then when she checked the computer again, she said that it is because our 60 day mark wouldn't be until tomorrow. The phone number is 1-877-566-0968

Hope this helps.

 

[disneysailor]

OOPS, Sorry for the double reply. Scottohiocpa, you must have been typing at the same time. Now that I'm trying to finish typing before they kick me out of the system I notice I am making a lot of typos beside.

I got a reply from the one of the webmasters that this has been happening to others too.

 

[travel with kids]

Originally posted by disneysailor
Hi all,
Bostonlass-In answer to your excursion booking question, I called Disney this morning to book the Wild Side excurision for my son who has now decided that he wants to do it. She took all the information but when she tried to book it she saidn it wouldn't work and then when she checked the computer again, she said that it is because our 60 day mark wouldn't be until tomorrow. The phone number is 1-877-566-0968

Hope this helps.

I called Disney this morning all excited and did the same thing. When the very nice lady told me I was not 60 days out. What??!! So, I stayed on line as I counted it out in my head, then looked on the calendar---oops! February has 29 days this year

The lady was very nice and told me to call back on the 18th!!

I think we are all too excited...Lee

 

[travel with kids]

Originally posted by bostonlass
I can't wait to meet you all.....travel-with- kids, Emily keeps asking about your daughter and can't wait to meet her. It's so darn cold up here that I wanna go now and be on my beach chair feeling that warm breeze and listening to the waves of the ocean!!!!!!!!Bridget

Yes, Liz is very excited to meet Emily.

And it is cold here also. This is Winter School Vacation Break for us. Tonight I am going out with a friend. Brrrr!!! If not for that, I would stay inside and keep planning for the cruise. ...Lee

 

[goofy601]

Hello All!

In my spare time (betwee spring cleaning) I sat down and reread all of our posts! Wow! We have a really wonderful group going with us on our cruise! I am so excited!

It was nice and sunny today. It was still cold - but definately not nearly as cold as it has been! BRRRR! Spring is coming - I just know that I'm going to see that robin here any second now...come on robin - I go back to work full-time March 1st at our local green house - and it's WAY too cold out there - but I've got my cold weather gear - warm boots, snow pants and parka -- I would really prefer it if I didn't have to wear all that! Come on SPRING!! Besides all that what grows in MARCH - besides our children...lol!

Gotta run (again) I have to go get my eyes checked - DH thinks I'm going blind in my old age - and I haven't had my eyes checked since I had Connor and that was over 4 years ago -- oops!

See you all soon!

 

[travel with kids]

I just figured out your disboard name -- ok DH saw the name and had to tell me!! I think you and DH are too much of the "A" type!!! I thought it had to do with Mary Poppins!!

.....Lee

 

[DVCLady]

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[disneysailor]

DVC Lady- Did you book through Disney? We haven't received any information through the mail yet, maybe it's because we just paid our balance off about 5 days ago. We booked through DU, I don't know if that makes a difference.

I did book the Wild Side excursion for my son this morning. At first he didn't come up in their computer as being a teenager. I told them he is DEFINATELY a teenager, just spend a few minutes here and that would be clear! She told me that you could rent the rafts,etc. ahead of time but I couldn't decide what to do about that yet. Since my son's excursion meets at 8:20 , I figure we'll be up and out fairly early so I don't think it will be a problem to get a raft.

Good luck with booking your excursions!

 

[travel with kids]

I rolled out of bed at 7:55am (remember...I am on my school vacation!!) to call this morning. After I reserved the Wild Side for DS it was 8:20 and ds was still snoring!! LOL!!! He should sleep well that night.

Yestersday I made shuttle reservations from the Radisson to the terminal. Is anyone else staying there? I should go back over the postings.

Are any of you doing gift baskets? I mentioned it briefly at Christmas time to my mil, she wants to give us money to have gift baskets sent to the room for the kids. Would it be better to just let the kids pick out their own thing while on the cruise? (dh has a budget that would make the IRS proud, we have spending $$$ for each child, each day...!!!) A surprise basket in the room would be nice and it would be from Grandma.

Stay warm ......Lee

 

[SCOTTOHIOCPA]

Travel with kids-

We are staying at the Radisson too! What time did you make your shuttle ressies for?


As for my screen name, it is also my aol name - Scottohiocpa@aol.com. Now that I see all the inventive names people have come up with, I wish I had been more original.

I have 6 mickey mouse items on my desk here at work, so I should have called myself mickey6 or something.

 

[travel with kids]

We made ressies for the shuttle service for 10:30am.

When I called to make the ressie I spoke to a very nice man (paul??) who also confirmed our hotel reservation. Included in our park/stay deal are two free breakfast and under 10 is free!! that was a nice bonus!!

.....Lee

 

[DVCLady]

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[goofy601]

We have not received ANYTHING from our travel agent yet and still can not reserve our excursions -- not that we have huge requests or anything - but it is a little annoying all together!!

DH finally decided that he is NOT getting off the ship at Nassau - he will just kick back and enjoy the view from the ship! As of this moment - MIL still wants to get off the ship and take a few photos just so that she can say she was there! I do photo albums for each of my children and a family album -- maybe I'll have to "borrow" a couple of photos from grandma for the kiddie's books!

As for the baskets - I was seriously thinking about surprising the kids with a little something in the rooms - they don't seem too bad and are really kinda cute!

Gotta run - got to pick up DD from after school tutoring and the little two from the babysitter - she told me I wasn't allowed to pick them up early this week -- to go home and enjoy myself! What a nice treat!!

-- these were just to cute not to try once or twice!!