January 4, 2003!!!!

[Fawn]

It's been a couple of weeks, so thought I'd try another roll call...see if we got any new cruisers for our week!

We will be traveling with DH and myself, and 5 children...21, 19, 16, 12 and 11.


If anyone is thinking about that date, rumor has it that the famous BARB will be on our cruise! Not that I'd want to sway your decision or anything!

 

[Michelle]

Not on your cruise, Fawn (and Barb & Tony!) but I'll give this a bump for you!

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

We'll be cruising with you! It will be myself, DH and DD8. We are meeting friends that we made on our last Magic cruise in Nov. 2000 and we are very excited!

Are any other DISers joining us???

Cheryl

 

[inkkognito]

I can hardly wait...I'm already watching the airfares and checking Hotwire rooms. Hubby still has to post the DIS photo from the 5/25 Western, and we can take one on 1/4 and post that next to it
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Fawn]

Alright...we're slowly picking up here!!

Barb...we're staying at the Radisson, and I have my eye on airfares too. With 7 of us going, it will be an expensive proposition no matter what, I'm afraid! I love the idea of a pic!

Cheryl...glad you're joining us. What ages are your friends kids? Are they on this board yet??

I wanna CRUISE!!

 

[Lisa F]

Myself and DH will be on the cruise too. No kids yet. We already have our airfare booked though because we are flying in on December 28 for a week at WDW before the cruise. Flying between christmas and new year's I have found that the flight prices only go up as you get closer to the date so I booked months ago when I found something that worked for a reasonable price at the time we wanted. I am soooooooooo excited.

Lisa

 

[Fawn]

OK, now we're rolling! We're gonna have a DIS cruise yet!

I have to admit, I find it amazing that anyone would pay this amount of money for a cruise and not research it enough to find these boards! And no, I am not addicted! Uh huh...not me...nope!

Anyone else???

 

[Lisa F]

On our last cruise (same time last year) I read the boards like crazy but it didn't really prepare me much for my cruise. I knew to get in line for Palo right away but I was SO stressed in the months leading up to the cruise I just couldn't wrap my head around the wonderful information here. I read the navigators but it was like greek to me. We still had a completely wonderful time so I think cruises are one area where you can go on board fairly ignorant and still have a great time. We did double schedule a few things because I hadn't planned out when the best time for Palo's brunch and tea would be, but now we are experts so I think the scheduling should run a little smoother!

We are thinking we want to do Palo brunch on the morning of Key West at around 11am and I don't think we will miss anything else (if I schedule it at the same time as another behind the scenes thing, my husband will kill me! I think he STILL doesn't forgive me for missing the last session with the imagineer guy for brunch!). I had the day for tea picked out but I forgot now (i have a note somewhere). I think we have decided to either miss the Parrot Cay dinner or the it's a small world dinner (or both!) for Palo's dinner. We missed the master chef series but in retrospect we really did not enjoy the food at the small world dinner.

Want to talk about obsessive!!

Lisa

 

[Fawn]

I think we may all be a little OCD when it comes to these boards, Lisa!

I'm going thru the same things in my mind about when to book Palo's. We want to do one dinner, brunch and high tea.

I think we will do dinner either Key West night around sundown ( I heard it's beautiful from there) or do it early one evening when there is a show we don't care for. That way we can still sit down at our late seating dinner with the kids and catch up before they run off again!

I know, I know... And I haven't even discussed the booking of spa appointments yet! LOL

 

[Lisa F]

I am not really that into the spa, but I think you will have to fight Barb for the good spa times! Last year i had a foot massage done after a walking tour in St. Thomas and it was okay but not great. I did get a fabulous haircut and have not yet had another one... It has grown out beautifully so I might just get my next haircut on board again!

Lisa

 

[Cheryl N. WI]

Fawn, our freinds won't be bringing their kids - both their kids are grown and married. I'm not sure if they really know about these boards, I think in one of our emails I did mention it to them and I emailed them with the excursion info when it was first posted here. I'm sure we will be talking alot about the cruise when we see them in July when they are in the area for a wedding.

We already have our plane tickets. I had some vouchers for Midwest Express that were going to expire and I was able to get us a decent fare with them for a direct flight so we bought those back in March.
We are flying in on the 3rd and will probably stay in the Disney area that night and spend some time at Downtown Disney and maybe even do Disney Quest. So far I have gotten us a good rate for that night at the Hawthorn Suites Lake Buena Vista, but I'm still hoping maybe to get a good rate at one of the Disney hotels when the Disny Club or AAA rates come out .

I too have been trying to figure out what would be the best night to do Palo and the best day for brunch. I can't convince DH to try the tea, but I'm still trying LOL. I did see a post about sunset times in Key West and it said sunset in January will be around 6:00. We really want to try and take in the sunset celebration at Mallory Square, it sounds like something DD might enjoy, so we were thinking maybe we would do Plao that evening but a little later. I wish they let you know your dining rotation when they sent your documents, that would make try to figure some of these things out a little easier. Oh well we'll have plenty of time to make our final decisions on Palo days after we get our Keys to the World and we're waiting in line to board the ship LOL. I'm also watching all the posts about the different excursions everyones been doing and trying to figure out what we should do on each island. So far we're thinking of doing a jet ski tour on Key West that someone posted about and really enjoyed. On Grand Cayman were seriously considering the "Island Tour and Snorkelin with Stingrays" through DCL, especially after reading the great reports on this by Barb and Psiklops! In Cozumel we would love to do the Jeep tour but DD is not old enough (she's only 8 and it says for 10 & older), so we were thinking of either going to Chankanaab on our own or some other beach area and doing some shopping. I'll keep watching all the posts from returning cruisers and we still have lots of time to make up our minds.

Cheryl

 

[Fawn]

Lisa...Barb and I will be there duking it out the first day! I didn't consider myself a spa nut either until my first cruise. I made one appt to start...ending up being there almost everyday! You would not have wanted to see that bill! This time around I'm on my honeymoon, and consider the Suriel Spa to be a MUST DO!

Cheryl...haven't told my sweetie about the high tea...he can find out when we get there! Sunset at 6 would be lovely for Palo's...then we can hit the regular dinner for a bit to catch up with kids. Do you know if there is a show that night that we would miss? I still haven't quite got the whole schedule down yet as to what is what night.


We're planning the Stingray excursion, too, altho I'll probably book it outside of Disney....better price and we can get a smaller group. Kids are dying to do the dolphin swim, but it's a lot of money and I haven't heard any feedback yet on this particular location. Lots of time yet, like you said!



I also am big on hanging on the ship on shore days. The pools are always great, no crowds and easy appts for spa!

 

[Fawn]

Bump

 

[Kajo]

Hi guys,

We too are planning to cruise in january 2003.

Which price did you get for which category ?

Did you book through DCL or through a TA ?


Thanks !!!



Kajo

 

[Fawn]

Hey Kajo! Glad to hear about a fellow cruiser!

I'm off to a bar-b-que, but I'll post tomorrow about our prices.

Welcome Aboard

 

[Fawn]

So anyone else new joined us recently??

Kajo...we have two Cat. 10's and one Cat. 3, and I'm not actually sure of the prices! I'll have to ask my DH-2-b.

I booked thru Disney for our first cruise, but this time I booked thru Dreams. I think Dreams is the TOPS!

Who all is in your party, Kajo?

 

[prymsu]

I am thinking of staying at the Radisson the night before. That would be my only opportunity to meet some of you that would be staying there on 1/3/02. My son and I are trying to convince my husband that we should go on DCL, but we haven't won him over yet.

 

[tiggere]

Hi Disney Magic passengers!

January 4th Western was my FIRST choice for my next cruise. We've done the 4day Bahamas and 7day Eastern on the Magic already and loved loved loved everything about both cruises. I wanted badly to go on the Western on Magic but I didn't find a good enough price. Plus, the airfare from my city is the worst in the country right now (Charlotte). SO, instead, we're taking the Celebrity Galaxy 10-day western out of Charleston (this is actually less $ even for 10days-thanks DU) and we can drive to the port.

Anyway, on our Cozumel day, the Magic will be there too. This will be bittersweet for me. I'll hear the Magic's horn and all that nostalgia will be lost on my fellow Celebrity Cruisers! Ya'll have a great cruise, I know we all will. I'll be waving to ya in Cozumel.

 

[Fawn]

Sue...we are staying at the Radisson also. We're coming in Thursday night.

We'd love to do a get-together at the Radisson, but it will have to be late on Friday. We'll be a little busy getting married that evening! Shirley is going to be marrying us...not sure where yet, we're still working that out!

When are you coming in? We're looking for wedding guests!


Tigger...we'll wave our Mickey ears in Cozumel! I'm sure you'll have a great time.

 

[prymsu]

Fawn, not our Shirley, from the Perfect Gift!!! This is something for sure. Our flight arrives in MCO on Friday, the 3rd at 1:21 p.m.

I anticipate that it will take us an hour and a half to get our luggage, the rental car, and be on the road. I will definetly have to make sure we stay at the Radison for the night before!!!