July 18 2009 Tortola - Part 2!

[Tia]

anyone ever done the Sunny Liston tour in St. Thomas? We had it booked once on an eastern itinerary that "Magically" changed into a western due to weather. They made this announcement as we were pulling out of Port Canaveral. There were lots of angry passengers! I really didn't mind, as long as I was onboard and it was moving, it was great. But needless to say we didn't make the tour but I have heard good things about it.

[♥sassy♥tink♥]

Originally Posted by lwilliam

Did anyone notice it is the 18th day of the month?

In exactly three months (today) we will all be meeting each other

YIPPEE!!! What a great post! The weather is beautiful in TN today!

[mickeymo]

This is our first Eastern; all new ports for us!!! Sorry, Donna I forgot to quote your post asking about the tour...

[♥sassy♥tink♥]

Originally Posted by mickeymo

This is our first Eastern; all new ports for us!!!

Same here... Can't wait to see Tortola. I think we may do the Baths excursion. It looks absolutely beautiful! Anybody else??

[♥sassy♥tink♥]

I just booked a long weekend in June for STAR WARS weekend!! This will be our 4th consecutive year. It is so much fun!

[mickeymo]

We selected the Captain Nautica's Snorkeling adventure on St. Thomas and my parents are biking Water Island. For Tortola, we're doing the Snorkeling Norman Island and my parents would like to do Tortola by land and sea. The rest of our group has decided to play it by ear.

I know part of our group thinks we're absolutely crazy for making plans this early, especially making middle of the night reservations. If they'd only frequent the DIS boards, they'd realize, I am far from crazy. We included them in our Palo reservations figuring it would be easier to subtract off the Palo reservation than to add at the last minute.

Since my family is spread out in other staterooms, I will be pushy and demand everyone be at port early. I want to be on the ship 1st thing. Once we've checked in - everyone is on their own. Our family doesn't try to stay together an entire vacation, we'd probably kill each other long before the 7 days are up. Especially because we're staying with my brother's family at the Ron Jon for 3 days pre-cruise.

[WVMD]

We going to do Captain Nautica's too - we're most likely doing the catamaran snorkeling on Tortola.

Virgil

[mickeymo]

Originally Posted by ♥sassy♥tink♥

I just booked a long weekend in June for STAR WARS weekend!! This will be our 4th consecutive year. It is so much fun!

That will be fun! My kids are Disney park deprived They've been to WDW once - Mike was 5 and Maggie was 3. They went to DL for the first time last year for my birthday, it was a great trip and we had a lot of fun! We debated about a pre-cruise trip, but decided just to relax.

Every time a Disney birthday commercial airs, they beg to celebrate my birthday at WDW. Technically DH's too - his is the next day. The kids have school year birthdays, so they are out of luck. I keep telling them to make a choice, DCL or WDW, or something else entirely for their next vacation. As Maggie says - DCL is still Disney...

[mickeymo]

Originally Posted by WVMD

We going to do Captain Nautica's too - we're most likely doing the catamaran snorkeling on Tortola.

Virgil

Cool!!!

[3princessMommy]

For Tortola we are going to book the dolphin encounter - the girls really want to pet the dolphins. But we may end up canceling if we can't get Flounders ressies for the baby. She'd love to go and see, but DCL won't let her go as an observer without an adult and won't let DH and I switch off with the older girls.

We had decided to book it on our own, but evidently DCL has signed a contract with the company that they cannot book DCL passengers separately. So we are stuck. It certainly makes business sense for Disney to do it that way - but it stinks for us.

The tour is only 2.5 hours, so we are debating what else we might try and do. Don't know if there are other tour options - would love to see the island and maybe a beach for a short swim - but not sure if we can do two tours or not.

In St. Thomas, I am anxiously awaiting JoAnn's full report to decide if we can manage to do something on our own or if we should just take the DCL tour to Magen's Bay. We really wanted to go to St. John's Trunk Bay - but DCL won't take kids under 5 - can't understand why.

DH and I were mapping out our schedule to make sure that we request all the ressies we need tomorrow.

I hope I'm not a bad mom - we're already up to 16 hours of Flounders!!! (Which I know we will probably not be able to reserve all of them before we board, so I'll be racing to the Lounge to get more time.)

We had planned an afternoon at Serenity Bay - but Flounders is closed in the afternoon - so we are having to switch to the morning.

And of course, we have to figure in the DIS Meet, the Castaway Club meet, Palo group brunch, and all the shows!!!! I'm trying not to overplan - but there's so much we want to do!!!!!

I think DH will sleep with his laptop tonight and set the alarm for 3:45 so that he can be online at 4am to make all these ressies!

Did I tell you all - we got the girls' ressies for BBB??? They were thrilled when I told them. I just hope the plane is on time - otherwise we'll have trouble making the appointment.

Oh and I tried on my formal gown and IT FITS . I had it made before DD7 was born - floor-length navy chiffon. It's my favorite dress. But I haven't worn it for almost 6 years!!!!!

Okay - definitely rambling now...Just tell me to be quiet - I can do it if I set my mind to it!

[mickeymo]

Originally Posted by 3princessMommy

For Tortola we are going to book the dolphin encounter - the girls really want to pet the dolphins. But we may end up canceling if we can't get Flounders ressies for the baby. She'd love to go and see, but DCL won't let her go as an observer without an adult and won't let DH and I switch off with the older girls.

Maggie would love to do the dolphin encounter!!! We keep putting her off saying we'll go to Seaworld's Discovery Cove to swim with the Dolphins. Discovery Cove sounds so neat! But, cruising keeps pushing back our someday plans...

When we visited Hawaii, the public beach across from our rental house was a favorite for turtles, she was in heaven snorkeling while the turtles were coming ashore around her. Me, I prefer four walls and a bottom for my swimming...

Thankfully, my formal still fits, - I wore it for our January cruise. I've gotten a lot of use out of it since I bought it four years ago for my HS reunion. It's very forgiving and camouflages the extra weight I've added in the past 4 years. It's a perfect cruise formal to hide Palo brunch and dinner, plus it travels well.

[3princessMommy]

Originally Posted by mickeymo

Maggie would love to do the dolphin encounter!!! We keep putting her off saying we'll go to Seaworld's Discovery Cove to swim with the Dolphins. Discovery Cove sounds so neat! But, cruising keeps pushing back our someday plans...

Well - if anyone in your group is interested in doing the observer portion and wouldn't mind hanging onto our 2.5 year old. We'd be happy to include Maggie in our group for the encounter.

Otherwise - we'd still be happy to help Maggie if she wants to go - but we might have to cancel if Flounders doesn't work out. (I'm really hoping it works though because I want to see the dolphins too!!!!)

[3princessMommy]

Originally Posted by ♥sassy♥tink♥

Same here... Can't wait to see Tortola. I think we may do the Baths excursion. It looks absolutely beautiful! Anybody else??

I've read some really good non-DCL reviews of this site - but we didn't really consider it because of the minimum age requirement - 5.

[MrsG]

Originally Posted by bigAWL

First CruiseMeet
Thursday, July 14, 4:30 pm
Saratoga Springs Resort - Turf Club Bar & Grill
---followed by---
Downtown Disney Marketplace - Earl of Sandwich
For all who are interested in meeting other cruisers, a group will be gathering at the SSR Turf Club for drinks and chatting. Then while some head off to dinner reservations or other plans, the rest are invited to boat across the lake to DTD and enjoy the great (I hear) food at the Earl of Sandwich (look here for the menu: http://allears.net/menu/menu_eofs.htm).

We'll be there. Thanks.

Originally Posted by ♥sassy♥tink♥

Same here... Can't wait to see Tortola. I think we may do the Baths excursion. It looks absolutely beautiful! Anybody else??

We plan on doing the Bath's excursion without lunch. This way we can see a little of St. Thomas in the afternoon.


Congrats on fitting into your dress, JoAnn #2!!!!!!

[mickeymo]

Originally Posted by 3princessMommy

Well - if anyone in your group is interested in doing the observer portion and wouldn't mind hanging onto our 2.5 year old. We'd be happy to include Maggie in our group for the encounter.

Otherwise - we'd still be happy to help Maggie if she wants to go - but we might have to cancel if Flounders doesn't work out. (I'm really hoping it works though because I want to see the dolphins too!!!!)

Thanks for the offer, she's pretty excited about snorkeling right now. I hope Flounders will work out for you!

Another idea, if you have to pare down your Flounder's times, prioritize your excursions, then Palo dinner and brunch. Then if you can't grab extra time after you are onboard, I'd be happy to help. On sea days, I'll probably be hanging out at the pool anyway. It's been while since I've entertained a 2 1/2 year old - although I'm sure my 12 year old acts the same at times....