August 1st 2009 - Eastern 8/1/2009 The Eastern Caribbean Castaways

[marcij]

Hi Monica! Welcome to our group. I think you and Thom will have a great time. There are lots of people who do Disney cruises sans kids.

My family and I take a trip to SA every Labor Day weekend. We go to Sea World and stay at the Hyatt Hill Country. It's wonderful to have other people from Texas on our cruise.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

[MrsJobba1]

Originally Posted by Liltx

Howdy ya'll!

Thom (Tom short for Thompson) and I (Monica) will be celebrating our 10th anniversary on the cruise. We are first time cruisers but very excited. We live in San Antonio, TX and will be leaving behind two darling but relentless dds age 3 and 5. I just hope to mainly relax and spend some quiet time with dh. We travel alone once a year but usually to fast paced cities and only for 4-5 days. I think we also have one of those secret rooms. At least that's what the agent said. We have late dining which is good for us since we will sleep in late.
Our friends think we are nuts for taking a Disney cruise sans kiddos. But I know that Disney always does things well.

Great to be joining you!

Monica

Monica & Tom, congratulations on your upcoming anniversary

Your very right - Disney does do things well -but I think I'd better warn you
cruising with DCL can be addictive - I know ask my dh (this will be our 6th cruise)

Any help we can be with your planning -just ask

If you have a secret porthole room (cat 10)- we'll probably be neighbours
Although you could have a secret verander room (cat 7)

Its funny, I guess I dont really appreciate how big the USA or rather Texas actually is. When you said you were from texas straight away I thought oh she must be near Marci - but when Marci said she takes a trip there I guess not - Please forgive my ignorance -I'm only on a small island over the pond!

Any way, welcome again

[MrsJobba1]

At the moment we have 4 famillies confirmed as booked on our cruise.

MrsJobba1 - me (Helen) travelling with my dh from UK (no children)

MarciJ - travelling with DH , Ds 13 Ds 10 (possibly with other friends) from Texas

MsLeFever (Barbara) travelling with Dh, Ds 11, Dd 7, also her brother and his wife and her parents who will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary !

Liltx (Monica) travelling with dh Tom for their 10th anniversary from San Antonia, First time cruisers (two dds not on cruise)

[Liltx]

Hi ya'll,

Do you know if DCL bus will pick you up from the dolphin hotel? or maybe POP? We were thinking about spending two night before our trip. Also how early would they pick us up the day of the cruise? Would we have time to visit a park that day?

Monica

[MrsJobba1]

Originally Posted by Liltx

Hi ya'll,

Do you know if DCL bus will pick you up from the dolphin hotel? or maybe POP? We were thinking about spending two night before our trip. Also how early would they pick us up the day of the cruise? Would we have time to visit a park that day?

Monica

Hi Monica,

I'm not sure about the dolphin hotel , I know they prick up from boardwalk (as I've done it)

The buses usually pick up people from resort around 12:30pm (there is only one time for each resort)

Another option for people who want to do a park, there is a bus that picks up from the animal kingdom park - not sure of time though, I guess it would be around mid-day also.

It depends what you want to do - you could book an early character breakfast and then have a couple of hours.

We.ve used the bus transport 3x, but we prefer now to get a town car. The reason being, everytime we just ended up wasting the morning hanging around the resort waiting for the bus. ( we were too excited to go anyway or paranoid that we'd miss the bus !) My last cruise we got the town car to pick us up from resort @9am and we were at the terminal, by 10 and on the boat by 11:30. We'll probably do that again for this cruise.

Hope that helps


Check out this thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread....31320:flower3:

[Liltx]

That link was VERY helpful. I think we will stick with the bus since it is our first cruise and we have been lost in cocoa beach before . So looks like AK will be an option but we will need to stay at one of the resorts where they have bus pick up. I know for sure POR is since my girlfriend is doing land and sea next month. I will call to find out. Probably make sense to stay at a disney resort for ME. Kind of makes me nervous that I won't see my luggage get on the bus but maybe they do that ahead of time anyway seeing the 8 am ready time.

I am considering the romance package since it is our anniversary. But want to price other things as well since I love the spa and dh loves to dive. I hope diving is safe there. I need to stop watching Prime time and those horrible diving stories "lost at sea" etc.

Also, if you buy alcohol at a port then you can drink it on board but you just have to finish it or throw it out before you depart? Or do they keep it until the cruise is over?

Monica

[marcij]

Originally Posted by MrsJobba1

Monica & Tom, congratulations on your upcoming anniversary

Your very right - Disney does do things well -but I think I'd better warn you
cruising with DCL can be addictive - I know ask my dh (this will be our 6th cruise)

Any help we can be with your planning -just ask

If you have a secret porthole room (cat 10)- we'll probably be neighbours
Although you could have a secret verander room (cat 7)

Its funny, I guess I dont really appreciate how big the USA or rather Texas actually is. When you said you were from texas straight away I thought oh she must be near Marci - but when Marci said she takes a trip there I guess not - Please forgive my ignorance -I'm only on a small island over the pond!

Any way, welcome again

Helen -- haven't you heard everything is bigger in Texas?

San Antonio is a four and a half hour drive from Dallas, with no traffic. Factor in traffic in Austin, and we fly Southwest airlines instead of dealing with our interstate.

Originally Posted by Liltx

That link was VERY helpful. I think we will stick with the bus since it is our first cruise and we have been lost in cocoa beach before . So looks like AK will be an option but we will need to stay at one of the resorts where they have bus pick up. I know for sure POR is since my girlfriend is doing land and sea next month. I will call to find out. Probably make sense to stay at a disney resort for ME. Kind of makes me nervous that I won't see my luggage get on the bus but maybe they do that ahead of time anyway seeing the 8 am ready time.

I am considering the romance package since it is our anniversary. But want to price other things as well since I love the spa and dh loves to dive. I hope diving is safe there. I need to stop watching Prime time and those horrible diving stories "lost at sea" etc.

Also, if you buy alcohol at a port then you can drink it on board but you just have to finish it or throw it out before you depart? Or do they keep it until the cruise is over?

Monica

Monica -- Shirley at The Perfect Gift there in the Cape does wonderful baskets. I have her do sand pail baskets for my kids. She's a wonderful person, as well as a good business person. You might talk to her as well. DCL does have gifts, but they are pricey.

I believe the rule with alcohol is that if it's opened, you can't take it off the ship. Anything unopened is fine. We've only taken wine on board and haven't had to worry about it being left over...

[Liltx]

Marci-
You are smart to fly here. I can't even stand driving to the beach. Everything is far in TX. I will check out Shirley. Thanks for the tip. BTW I LOVE the Hill Country Hyatt. Their seafood buffet is really yummy and it's so beautiful out there. I am only 20 minutes from there, near UTSA and Fiesta Texas. I HATE FT though. My dh doesn't get how I can love WDW and hate FT. Sometimes the details are lost on him.

Helen-
We are staying in a secret porthole room. I was looking after you mentioned it and it is a fabulous deal. We are in room 5520.

I would love a veranda but the price is a little high.

I am a teacher. I think one of you mentioned you are too? I teach early childhood in public school. We have 3-5 year olds teacher's children who pay tuition and also children with special needs. My dd5 is in right now and dd3 will be there next year. It is sooooo rewarding and tiring. I am looking forward to the summer. We have 6 1/2 weeks left.

My mom and I are taking the girls to WDW for a week in June. I love staying at the dolphin. DH has too many deadlines to take off. He is an architect who owns a business with his father. They only have 2 other employees but are working on 6 or so projects right now. Although, he will be happy to be child free for a week so that he can ride is bike as much as he wants to. He is an avid cycler and rides over 100 miles most weeks.

Monica

[MrsJobba1]

Originally Posted by Liltx

Marci-
You are smart to fly here. I can't even stand driving to the beach. Everything is far in TX. I will check out Shirley. Thanks for the tip. BTW I LOVE the Hill Country Hyatt. Their seafood buffet is really yummy and it's so beautiful out there. I am only 20 minutes from there, near UTSA and Fiesta Texas. I HATE FT though. My dh doesn't get how I can love WDW and hate FT. Sometimes the details are lost on him.

Helen-
We are staying in a secret porthole room. I was looking after you mentioned it and it is a fabulous deal. We are in room 5520.

I would love a veranda but the price is a little high.

I am a teacher. I think one of you mentioned you are too? I teach early childhood in public school. We have 3-5 year olds teacher's children who pay tuition and also children with special needs. My dd5 is in right now and dd3 will be there next year. It is sooooo rewarding and tiring. I am looking forward to the summer. We have 6 1/2 weeks left.

My mom and I are taking the girls to WDW for a week in June. I love staying at the dolphin. DH has too many deadlines to take off. He is an architect who owns a business with his father. They only have 2 other employees but are working on 6 or so projects right now. Although, he will be happy to be child free for a week so that he can ride is bike as much as he wants to. He is an avid cycler and rides over 100 miles most weeks.

Monica

Hi Monica,

You are round the corner to me!! Its alright though I don't snore
We stayed in a cat 9 once but all the rest of the times its been cat 10 or 11's. We can't justifice the price of a verander especially since when we are board we are hardly ever in the room. Also the cost of our flights are equal practically to the cost of the cruise !

I am a teacher too-I work in year 1 (5-6 yr olds) However I only work parttime. This job I am job sharing a class, so I teach them the end of the week.

We dont break up until July 18th, so I'm counting down the days too!

Take care and good night ( or should that be evening for you guys! )

[MrsJobba1]

461 days until we cruise !

[MsLeFever]

I'm a teacher too! I teach humanities and theatre at a university. We actually have final exams next week and then I'm off for the summer! (Although not really because I'm directing 2 shows and teaching a summer class).

Mowed the lawn for the first time this season today1

[MrsJobba1]

458 days and counting

[MsLeFever]

Only 15 months to go!

One of my collegues flew down to WDW today....trying not to be jealous.

[MrsJobba1]

Originally Posted by MsLeFever

I'm a teacher too! I teach humanities and theatre at a university. We actually have final exams next week and then I'm off for the summer! (Although not really because I'm directing 2 shows and teaching a summer class).

Mowed the lawn for the first time this season today1

Hi I've just mowed our lawn for the first time today

It really could have done with it earlier but we've not had a dry day yet.

Keep your fingers x it keeps dry today

[MrsJobba1]

Been thinking this time next year it will nearly be time for making the final payment, Palo reservations, and shore excursions!

Then the excitement really kicks in