May 23, 2009 (5/23/09) E. Caribbean w/Tortola

[goofygal1975]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I'm glad to have made it through the day. DH pulled out all the stops to make sure our family, mom and grandma included, had a great day filled with fun and laughter! My dad would be happy knowing we were able to enjoy the day!

My "box of DCL stuff" for DH and DS were big hits! They each got shirts and DCL pins. DH got a goofy plush i got off ebay, and they both got DCL bottle holders and dh got a CC Lanyard (Thanks Tracy!!!!).

DS and I both had gifts under the tree from "homeland secruity"...LOL DH had bought us passport holders! Now we need to get our passports!

Now that the our Disney trip is over, and the holidays are over, we are all looking forward to our cruise!!! (well, we still have NYE but we stay home that day).

I still need to update the cruise list one of these days and look at the tortola excursions, but I'm having fun playing around with my new iPod touch!

[justmestace]

Originally Posted by itdjbw

You will love Alaska - Is this your first trip there? If so we did some amazing excursions if you want some info I might still have - we did book our own excursions and also travelled with a group of friends which made it extra fun, we did a B2B out of Vancouver with Princess and it was amazing. I'm hoping to get back there in a couple of years.

Yes, our first time. We had been waiting and waiting for Disney to decide to go there, thinking it would be 2010....but no go. So now we don't want to wait any longer, since our last kid at home will be almost 17 by then.
I've been looking at excursions already (nothing like an obsessed planner) but we might need to check with our group to see what everyone else wants to do.

So far, we have 7 cabins booked. If we get one more family to book, we'll be an official group. Not sure what perks there are for that.....

[justmestace]

Christmas was quiet. Just four out of the five of us here. But it was a really nice day.
Our company arrived late Christmas night, from Delaware, thinking they were coming to sunny Arizona. HA! It was pouring rain, our creek flooded yesterday so they had to do their first day of touring without us, then it SNOWED yesterday afternoon.... ....and it's COLD COLD COLD!!!

But today is sunny and we're heading out to find something to do. Not sure what, I guess I'm not a very good tour guide.

[goofygal1975]

How/where do you view the excursions for Tortola...and other ports of call?

Never mind...I found it! We're thinking of doing the Dolphin Encounter!! Is there any other stops on our way that you can do this? I'm wondering if we should try to take a tour or something here...and try the dolphin encounter somewhere else.

When can we book the excursions? On our previous cruise DS and I didn't do any so I have NO idea how to go about booking one.

[kcashner]

Since you have cruised before, you can book excursions 90 days before embarkation at 12:01 am on line. If it were your first cruise, it would be 75 days.

You do realize that a "Dolphin Encounter" is not swimming with the dolphins? It is basically getting into waist deep water and having them swim around you and play with you. It is great for kids. Most of the islands have something like this available.

Our favorite "dolphin thing" was at Discovery Cove in Orlando. It is a sister park to Sea World, but vastly different. In my opinion, it is the only thing we've ever done where the customer service aspect was basically equal to Disney. Well worth a day in Orlando if you ever have time....and save your island time for other things. Discovery Cove requires advance reservations and they only take a certain number of people each day.

[goofygal1975]

Originally Posted by kcashner

Since you have cruised before, you can book excursions 90 days before embarkation at 12:01 am on line. If it were your first cruise, it would be 75 days.

You do realize that a "Dolphin Encounter" is not swimming with the dolphins? It is basically getting into waist deep water and having them swim around you and play with you. It is great for kids. Most of the islands have something like this available.

Our favorite "dolphin thing" was at Discovery Cove in Orlando. It is a sister park to Sea World, but vastly different. In my opinion, it is the only thing we've ever done where the customer service aspect was basically equal to Disney. Well worth a day in Orlando if you ever have time....and save your island time for other things. Discovery Cove requires advance reservations and they only take a certain number of people each day.

Thanks! I can't wait to be able to book the excursions!!

Yeah, I know that the encounter is not swimming. I'm not sure my ds would handle the swimming with the dolphins well (he has panic attacks at times). So we are going to just do the encounter.

I LOVE Discovery cove! My friend took me there for my birthday the first year they were open(it was a bday present from my parents). It was AWESOME!! I'd love to try it again sometime, but it won't happen during our time in Orlando for the cruise. So we are going to try the Encounter since DS seems excited about it!

I'm still looking for things to do on St. Thomas. I know we have time still, I just decided to start looking and see what looks like fun!

[itdjbw]

Well Christmas weekend has come and gone - we had a really quiet one as usual

I haven't started looking at excursions yet - hopefully will think about it while I am playing online this weekend.

I have wanted to go to discovery cove for a while - I think the kids would love it but between all the cruising we never seem to get there - maybe I need to quit booking so many cruises but I am so addicted

Have a good last week on 2008

[justmestace]

Getting ready to leave town, not sure if we'll have internet service at our resort or not....soooo....everyone stay safe, and have a Happy New Year!

[itdjbw]

Originally Posted by justmestace

Getting ready to leave town, not sure if we'll have internet service at our resort or not....soooo....everyone stay safe, and have a Happy New Year!


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Have a good safe trip and a happy New Year too

[JMTStone]

We're booked on this cruise as well. (Me 39, DH 49, DD16 and DD7) Our 8th trip to the World but our first Disney Cruise. DH and I are renewing our vows on deck We have already made arrangements through Disney Weddings....

I see some experience. I'm a DVC member. What nights are formal? With my dinner at Palo on Thursday (renewal is Thursday), will I miss the Pirate party? I'm I being a total newbie dweeb?

Thanks in advance.

[goofygal1975]

Have fun on your trip!

Happy New Year to everyone!!

[itdjbw]

Originally Posted by JMTStone

We're booked on this cruise as well. (Me 39, DH 49, DD16 and DD7) Our 8th trip to the World but our first Disney Cruise. DH and I are renewing our vows on deck We have already made arrangements through Disney Weddings....

I see some experience. I'm a DVC member. What nights are formal? With my dinner at Palo on Thursday (renewal is Thursday), will I miss the Pirate party? I'm I being a total newbie dweeb?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome

We love Palo's - haven't decided which night we will go - need to look at the itin and see.

We are also DVC members

[Poppins2000]

Originally Posted by JMTStone

We're booked on this cruise as well. (Me 39, DH 49, DD16 and DD7) Our 8th trip to the World but our first Disney Cruise. DH and I are renewing our vows on deck We have already made arrangements through Disney Weddings....

I see some experience. I'm a DVC member. What nights are formal? With my dinner at Palo on Thursday (renewal is Thursday), will I miss the Pirate party? I'm I being a total newbie dweeb?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome...and Congratulations!

You are gonna love cruising with Disney - it's soo magical and a wonderful to place to renew your vows! We are DVC'ers as well and this will be our 4th Disney cruise. Ironically enough, DH and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary on the 27th!

In answer to your questions, from what I recall from our January Eastern cruise, formal night was Sunday and Thursday. We actually had our Pirate night on Wednesday - I don't think that was the normal schedule though - it has something to do with customs from St. Maarten and then going back to St. Thomas. Anyway, the Pirate Party usually starts around 9-9:30pm with fireworks around 10:15-10:30pm.

Hope that info helps - have a magical day!

[CajunGirl2]

Good morning everyone. I have off today but couldn't sleep in ... ... was up at 6:30 AM. I'll definitely need a nap some time today.

Hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve! We're going to the Chick-fil-a Bowl to see our LSU Tigers play. I've offered to be the designated driver. I'll just wait to have my cocktails when we get home. I just hope there aren't too many crazies out on the road tonight when the game is over.

Ang

[itdjbw]

Originally Posted by CajunGirl2

Good morning everyone. I have off today but couldn't sleep in ... ... was up at 6:30 AM. I'll definitely need a nap some time today.

Hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve! We're going to the Chick-fil-a Bowl to see our LSU Tigers play. I've offered to be the designated driver. I'll just wait to have my cocktails when we get home. I just hope there aren't too many crazies out on the road tonight when the game is over.

Ang

Have fun and enjoy the game - they are saying the roads are going to be crazy as they expect a big crowd for the peach drop and starting to close roads at noon. You should MARTA it's SMARTA!!!!

Happy New Year all