Wonderful Panama Canal Sept 2014

[Thnlk]

There was definitely a lot to do. That's great that you sailed on the Wonder in May. How was embarkation in San Diego? We were there as we were meeting a crew member off the ship and it looked a bit chaotic!

We were on the 2nd San Diego cruise. We had heard about problems and saw picture but ours went fine. We got to the port around 1100 checked in and walked upstairs to wait to board.

 

[mmbl]

Anyone else staying onboard for the 5 day double dip?

I'm confused. Is a 'double dip' the same as a back-to-back? If not, what is the difference??Thanks!

 

[Cooper Family]

Hello Everyone! My family (Tamsen me Jon Husband and Jonny son) will be going on our 1st Disney Cruise. Getting so excited, are there any tips we should know?

 

[mmbl]

Hello Everyone! My family (Tamsen me Jon Husband and Jonny son) will be going on our 1st Disney Cruise. Getting so excited, are there any tips we should know?

Welcome! Is this your first ever cruise or just first Disney cruise? If you have cruised before, than there probably isn't too much different other than the dining room rotation schedule, which you'll find out when on board, and a few other things:
-There is a pirate party where people dress up. -check out page 1 for different group activities we are planning such as the FE- Fish Extender
- Fish Extender : you sign up and then whichever group you're in, you make/buy a little gift for the cabin or the individuals in the cabin. The FE itself is a hanging pocket thing that people can leave your stuff in. Do a web search for images to get ideas and if you're not crafty, you can have one made on Etsy. Gift cost, items, etc. are totally up to your discretion.
- if your kids are young, I believe they have a princess tea, character greetings and other activities that differ from other lines.
It's going to be fun!

 

[Thnlk]

I'm confused. Is a 'double dip' the same as a back-to-back? If not, what is the difference??Thanks!

A double-dip is when you stop at Castaway Cay 2 times during 1 cruise. They only do it a couple times a year. If you look at the Sept 26 2014 5 day Bahamas sailing you will see back to back days at Castaway Cay

 

[davidls]

WOW!!!! I miss a couple of days and I'm about 5 pages behind everyone else.

First off I want to all of our new cruisers joining us on the cruise. I'm glad y'all are joining us on this fantastic cruise!!!

I too am having a birthday on board the ship. Mine is on the 23rd. Got a dinner booked at Palo to celebrate my 29th birthday...............yeah that's it my 29th birthday....................once again.

Some of those extra activities some of you have mentioned sound real nice. Going to have to check them out. This trip we will have the time to check into some of the things we have never had enough time to do.

 

[tobyjasper1970]

Hi everybody! My husband and I are contemplating this cruise for our tenth wedding anniversary but are nervous about pulling the trigger. Neither of us have cruised before, so we're a little anxious about 14 days... And wondering about what kind of stateroom to book, etc. we'd love any input!! Thanks!

Go for it, we did a 14 day transatlantic and this will be our 3rd 14 day cruise with DCL, no regrets, far better than doing a cruise where you are on And off the ship with no or very little sea days. We had never cruised before and decided to just jump right in. 3 years on we are now gold members with DCL. There is plenty to do or not to do, and a great way to meet lovely people from all over the world. We are cruising with friends we have known for years from Scotland along with new friends we met on our transatlantic last May, Heidi and Ken from Canada. You may well hear all 6 of us before you see us!!!! Cheers ttxx

 

[Cruisin]

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcomes and to all those who are also celebrating their birthday's onboard.

I've got Palo reservations made (dinner and brunch) and excursions booked.

Still have to look in to flights and transportation to and from cruise terminals and somewhere to stay in California the night before. I'm very familiar with the Port Canaveral end of it but have never cruised in or out of San Diego before.

Does anybody have any words of wisdom about where to fly in to? We are coming from the Detroit, Michigan area (Canadians but cross the border to fly). Do you recommend that we fly in to San Diego or LA?

 

[dee slack]

$439.95 for pix and cd? Did I read that right? I guess I just don't like the way I look enough to spend that much extra on all the pix! Now for $150. at WDW for our family reunion, that was worth it; but $440. for just us two not so young or pretty people, I just don't know!
Those of you who have gotten it before, how many pictures did you end up with? Were they all the posed pix or random shots, parties, etc. In addition to them? Thanks!

last year on the Transatlantic we got 593 photo's over the 14 nights and there's just the 2 of us so very pleased, and we paid $475 for all the prints and the CD so this year is even better value, especially compared to some other cruise lines so we will be pre ordering the all prints package this year.

WOW!!!! I miss a couple of days and I'm about 5 pages behind everyone else.

I've been away for just over a week and had 10 pages to catch up on, but finally caught up. At least we have no more vacations between now and then so won't fall that far behind again!

Lots of new people joining us too, *welcome* to all of you.

 

[Va-NanaTink]

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcomes and to all those who are also celebrating their birthday's onboard.

I've got Palo reservations made (dinner and brunch) and excursions booked.

Still have to look in to flights and transportation to and from cruise terminals and somewhere to stay in California the night before. I'm very familiar with the Port Canaveral end of it but have never cruised in or out of San Diego before.

Does anybody have any words of wisdom about where to fly in to? We are coming from the Detroit, Michigan area (Canadians but cross the border to fly). Do you recommend that we fly in to San Diego or LA?

My suggestion if you are not planning on going to Disneyland first, fly into San Diego..it's not far from the port at all and several hotels in the area if you fly in a day or so in advance. We are staying at the Manchester Hyatt, flying in the day before.

 

[katzs13]

We were on the 2nd San Diego cruise. We had heard about problems and saw picture but ours went fine. We got to the port around 1100 checked in and walked upstairs to wait to board.

When we got off the Panama Canal cruise in may. San Diego port was hectic and it was hard to leave the ship. Took along time and was very unorganized. I hope they are better with boarding this time.

 

[katzs13]

$439.95 for pix and cd? Did I read that right? I guess I just don't like the way I look enough to spend that much extra on all the pix! Now for $150. at WDW for our family reunion, that was worth it; but $440. for just us two not so young or pretty people, I just don't know!
Those of you who have gotten it before, how many pictures did you end up with? Were they all the posed pix or random shots, parties, etc. In addition to them? Thanks!

In may of this year the cost for all pics or cd was $399.99 and it was $100 more.

 

[Cruisin]

My suggestion if you are not planning on going to Disneyland first, fly into San Diego..it's not far from the port at all and several hotels in the area if you fly in a day or so in advance. We are staying at the Manchester Hyatt, flying in the day before.

Thanks for the information. I appreciate the input.

 

[AlisonM]

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcomes and to all those who are also celebrating their birthday's onboard.

I've got Palo reservations made (dinner and brunch) and excursions booked.

Still have to look in to flights and transportation to and from cruise terminals and somewhere to stay in California the night before. I'm very familiar with the Port Canaveral end of it but have never cruised in or out of San Diego before.

Does anybody have any words of wisdom about where to fly in to? We are coming from the Detroit, Michigan area (Canadians but cross the border to fly). Do you recommend that we fly in to San Diego or LA?

It is very easy to get from San Diego airport to the port. It's only about a mile away and a taxi would be easy. LAX is not easy and a taxi would be expensive. Depending on traffic LAX to San Diego cruise port is around 2 hours. I live in between LAX and San Diego but will always choose San Diego if possible.

If you need any suggestions about hotels in San Diego just ask

 

[Cruisin]

It is very easy to get from San Diego airport to the port. It's only about a mile away and a taxi would be easy. LAX is not easy and a taxi would be expensive. Depending on traffic LAX to San Diego cruise port is around 2 hours. I live in between LAX and San Diego but will always choose San Diego if possible.

If you need any suggestions about hotels in San Diego just ask

Thanks Alison.

I might need suggestions for a hotel in San Diego. I will be sure to ask.

If for some reason we would fly into LAX, the day before the cruise, rent a car and then drive towards San Diego, would you suggest going all the way to San Diego for a hotel or stopping part way between LA and San Diego?

 

[kdeans1010]

Does anybody have any words of wisdom about where to fly in to? We are coming from the Detroit, Michigan area (Canadians but cross the border to fly). Do you recommend that we fly in to San Diego or LA?

I think it depends on what you want to do. If you want a straight no touring So Cal, just hanging near San Diego then go to San Diego. If you want to putz around LAX is a good place, you can get a rental car and drive around. LA drivers are awful though. Burbank and Long Beach airports are also a good call for the same reason. If you want to go to Orange County (which is half way between L.A. and San Diego), then Orange County/John Wayne (SNA) airport is a good place- be warned it's a little more expensive (as is everything around Orange County), and the airport has weird times and closures. We're flying into Long Beach. I want to see my brother, sister in law, and other family that lives in that area. Then we're headed to Cucamonga and seeing my best friend (!!!!!). Ontario airport is a nice airport. It's my favorite one because it's mellow.

Came back from my sister's hen party. The golden did fine. The cat was a little needy when I got back... kinda' jerk like. No major injuries- all the girls had major hang overs and I was there with motrin/advil, Gatorade, and I may have been a little overly perky in the morning (dude... I had 2 drinks and had to make sure no one got into trouble.). This was a good precursor to the cruise, because my pets were good.

 

[Cruisin]

I think it depends on what you want to do.

At this point we don't really know what we want to do. We are really looking more at the flight costs/routes and trying to decide which is the most economical and less painful way to get there.

It's going to take us longer to get to San Diego and it is more expensive because there are no non stop flights. So we are looking at several hours longer for travel if we fly to San Diego. We were just weighing the option of taking the easier flights into LA and renting a vehicle with the money we will have saved on the flights.

Talking about pets, does anybody else feel guilty leaving their pets for so long. I always do feel really bad, right from the time that I book the trip until I leave..... after I am gone for some reason that guilt eases and I'm like what pets??

We will be gone 15 nights and that is a long time to leave cats with very little human contact. There are 3 of them so they have each other but a couple of them really like to be around their "people", so I feel bad for them.

Anybody else feel that way?

 

[AlisonM]

At this point we don't really know what we want to do. We are really looking more at the flight costs/routes and trying to decide which is the most economical and less painful way to get there.

It's going to take us longer to get to San Diego and it is more expensive because there are no non stop flights. So we are looking at several hours longer for travel if we fly to San Diego. We were just weighing the option of taking the easier flights into LA and renting a vehicle with the money we will have saved on the flights.

Talking about pets, does anybody else feel guilty leaving their pets for so long. I always do feel really bad, right from the time that I book the trip until I leave..... after I am gone for some reason that guilt eases and I'm like what pets??

We will be gone 15 nights and that is a long time to leave cats with very little human contact. There are 3 of them so they have each other but a couple of them really like to be around their "people", so I feel bad for them.

Anybody else feel that way?

Driving in the LAX area is not easy and traffic can be very bad. But you do have to weigh that against the costs.

There are so many places to see in the area between LAX and San Diego.

It is so difficult leaving pets. We travel a lot so often have a house sitter or leave our dog with friends.

 

[Cruisin]

It is so difficult leaving pets. We travel a lot so often have a house sitter or leave our dog with friends.

We travel a lot too and I still find it difficult. We have cats, so we need to get someone to come in and check on them. Unfortunately we live in the country and it takes any of our friends/family at least 20 minutes to get to our house. We don't have a lot of family so we rely a lot on friends.

I'm going to try and find someone closer but we haven't lived in the area very long and don't really know anybody, not even our neighbors. My mother lives with us now but she often travels with us too. We need to find a better solution than what we have now.

 

[kdeans1010]

Talking about pets, does anybody else feel guilty leaving their pets for so long. I always do feel really bad, right from the time that I book the trip until I leave..... after I am gone for some reason that guilt eases and I'm like what pets??

We will be gone 15 nights and that is a long time to leave cats with very little human contact. There are 3 of them so they have each other but a couple of them really like to be around their "people", so I feel bad for them.

Anybody else feel that way?

My golden retriever... I should really post some pictures of him. Golden retrievers are a very weird breed because they're really clingy and moody. I call Tucker Saran Wrap because he's that clingy! So he's spending the time at my parent's house where his buddy (my parents 60lb lab) lives. And my dad and Tucker are a pair.... when I moved out you could tell my dad was upset that Tucker was leaving more than I was. Dad comes over almost daily and is like "I just needed... oh hey there's Tuck." And then plays with him for 10 minutes. My cat is a different story. I'm the only person in my family, friends, life that likes my cat. She is trouble, she howls, she is a rather big PITA...And right now we're transitioning from being an indoor/outdoor kitty to being an indoor kitty in my cottage. So I'm thinking she may get extra toys, and then my sister and mom will have to come in and check on her every couple days.