Dec 28, '04 - ONE WEEK from today we'll be "fill in the blank"

[jova]

Hi,
Just curious about kids because we haven't heard of any teens from the DIS boards going on this cruise yet. Not worried about the kids finding enough to do. They are very independent and would rather be anywhere than with Ma and Pa! Our excursions will probably be family oriented, but while on the ship, I am sure everyone will be going their own ways.

 

[GeneralMax]

Jova- You may be my saving grace. I have a daughter that will be thirteen tomorrow! She is not very happy that my son has a friend going and she does not. Maybe a little closer to the cruise we can set the girls up on e-mail. Last time we went she met a few friends on line in advance and they had a blast.

I also think the get together would be a blast. I also am not uo for volunteering right now...ask again after I get my kids off to scholl between the start of scholl and a very demanding full time job I am on the zero sleep plan right now.

LegalBreifs - we have been a waiting list for a suite since we put down a deposit but it is not looking good. I love my family but the extra space sure sounds nice!!!

 

[LegalBriefs]

In my experience the only way to get a Cat 1, 2, or 3 is to keep checking... whereas they should contact you if one becomes availalbe, they often DO NOT... so keep bugging them... it will pay off, believe me!

As far as teens go, you need not worry, there are PLENTY of teens on board and they always seem to be having a great time... Your kids will not have to look far for new friends, the teen activities seem to bond them together rather quickly.... Not really sure thats a good thing.... lol...

 

[Masonpips]

Doing the ~4 month dance~ - ok, it's not as impressive as the single or double digit dance, but Hey, it's PROGRESS!

I just ordered special t-shirts from the Disney store (9.99 on sale) which have a picture of Mickey on them and below it I had printed:

Happy Birthday M or L (each child's individual name on theirs)
I'll see you on the Mickey Boat
Love, Mickey

for Christmas morning. They are limited in sizes online now, but I got DD a M (she'll wear it as a nightgown) and DS a L. I still want to do a treasure hunt with a puzzle, but this might be the last clue/gift they open.

I'm SOOOO excited!

I can't believe I've made it 10 months without telling them!!! Go Me!

 

[Masonpips]

anyone new?

Just bumping us up from the 3rd page

 

[myfourkitties]

Gettin' ready to do the Double Digit Dance!!!

 

[tecdavidt]

I haven't been on this thread for a while, a lot more Disers' going! Hello to LegalBriefs, my husband said to tell you we have a cat. 6 we will trade for your suite lol. Actually, we are on the wait list for a cat. 3. It worked for a cruise we ended up cancelling (we just were never taken off the wait list for the cruise). So what the heck, we are trying it once again. We even have the extra cash set aside to upgrade if they call.

For those with 'tween daughters, we have a daughter, Stephanie, age 12 in the 7th grade.

Maybe CC will be fixed by the time we get there. In 6 cruises we haven't missed it so hopefully our streak will continue. Although, I know we won't be getting in the water--too cold that time of the year for us. Hopefully Ivan will leave our western ports alone. We have been to Grand Cayman twice and still have not been able to get on the island. Once with DCL and once with Carnival. I will be so bummed if we go three and out on Grand Cayman.

Kathy

 

[LegalBriefs]

Originally posted by tecdavidt
I haven't been on this thread for a while, a lot more Disers' going! Hello to LegalBriefs, my husband said to tell you we have a cat. 6 we will trade for your suite lol. Actually, we are on the wait list for a cat. 3. It worked for a cruise we ended up cancelling (we just were never taken off the wait list for the cruise). So what the heck, we are trying it once again. We even have the extra cash set aside to upgrade if they call.

For those with 'tween daughters, we have a daughter, Stephanie, age 12 in the 7th grade.

Maybe CC will be fixed by the time we get there. In 6 cruises we haven't missed it so hopefully our streak will continue. Although, I know we won't be getting in the water--too cold that time of the year for us. Hopefully Ivan will leave our western ports alone. We have been to Grand Cayman twice and still have not been able to get on the island. Once with DCL and once with Carnival. I will be so bummed if we go three and out on Grand Cayman.

Kathy

Well Kathy, as lovely as the trade may sound, I think I'll have to decline... lol.. I really excited about the trip, the room, everything! I am on the Magic right now, and my 7 day eastern (with the rare visit to San Juan) was reduced to a 4 day western, stopping only in Cozumel... :-( So, the New Year's trip will be great after all the issues on this cruise...

So, what do you all have planned for excursions? Having just left Cozumel, I have ideas for my next visit... this trip I tried the Snorkelling at Chakanaab (sp?) National Park... it was less than impressive... I have seen FAR better fish variety at Castaway Cay.. The adventure tours sound good to me, like the Jeep tour... I saw a sign from one of the other cruise lines of an "ATV Jungle Trek" which sounds like a lot of fun...I supose I'd have to book it on my own though... does it sound good to anyone else?

 

[tecdavidt]

My favorite excursion in Cozumel is the Atlantis Sub. The waters are so clear and the sub dives 100'. They take you to the sea wall. It is amazing. We have also done the Tulum ruins. I think this cruise we will go to the new beach and right now I can't remember the name. It opened earlier this year.

Hope your cruise is going well all things considered. After reading all of the heated posts I have been reminded why we never cruise during huricane season. We don't want to deal with the what ifs. Report back on how it is going! Have a cocktail toasts to our New Year Eve's cruise. Kathy

 

[GeneralMax]

Last time we went on the Western Cruise we went on an excursion from an outside company that was by far the BEST excursion we have ever done. :thewave:

The excursion was a swim with the dolphins but unlike other times we actually swam with the dolphins.
We got to take a ride holding on to two dolphins' fins. They pushed your through the water by your feet. They play a game with you. My kids still watch the video. The trip was through a company called shore trips. the web page is shoretrips.com. Take a look I guarantee that we will be using them again.

Kathy-

I would love to hook Erin my 13 year old daughter up with Stephanie before the cruise. She had more fun last tiem when she made some friends.

I was surprised to hear that it might be too clod to get in the water at CC. How cold does it get this time of year?

LegalBriefs - Sorry to hear about the short cruise. I have a sib in Florida and these storms have been horrible on them.

Ruth

Ruth

 

[GeneralMax]

By the way can anyone tell me how to fix the clock that I somehoe put on my postings. It is wrong

 

[tecdavidt]

Ruth, our daughter has no knowledge of this cruise--it is her Christmas present. I actually started a thread way back when we booked it but deleted it because I was aftraid she would get on the board and read it. I later found out she really doesn't check the board so I am safe.

Stephanie is 12 so she can't go into the teen club area with your daughter but they could hang out together on the ship. This cruise will be a test to see if Disney is still for us. Our teen boys loved their DCL cruises because they were 15 and 18 on our first one. Steph has been in the club and lab since she was 7 and last March she didn't go in very much. She was in long enough to make some friends then she hung out with them during the cruise. Since we had an open spot at our table one of the friends even dined with us a couple of evenings.

As far as water temp at CC. We like hot weather and warmer water so in Jan. the water at CC just won't be warm enough for us to swim but others may not have a problem. Even during our spring break trips the water temp varied year to year. We lucked out the last two years in March and was able to swim. What we will do is probably just stick our feet in and relax on the beach. No floats for us. When we cruised in Aug. CC was perfect, the water was like a hot tub . Kathy

 

[LegalBriefs]

OK... I know this has been said, but, I have to say it again...
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO I cannot wait for this cruise!!!! After the fiasco of my last one (I was on the abreviated/redirected cruise affected by Hurricane Francis), I am sooooo excited to do things right! Even though I am booked on the Cali cruises, I almost wish the Magic were running the regular itinerary so I could sign up for the San Juan run again... oh well... Now... on to the crusie at hand... What EXCURSIONS have you all done in the past on western? I did the Chakanaab Snorkel thingy... and it was nice, but not great... So I am looking for ideas.... I am really tempted to try that ATV Jungle Adventure one I saw advertised in Cozumel (which is a REALLY bad place to be right now with IVAN hitting it)... What are your thoughts and experiences everyone?

 

[myfourkitties]

Well, LegalBriefs, we did the Jeep Tour in Cozumel, which we thought was okay. The Jeep ride was fun, but the ruins were a bit lame and the beach wasn't very great. We were on the wrong side for that. It was very rough waters. In Grand Cayman, we did the turtle farm, Hell, and swimming with the stingrays. Turtle farm was neat, I could have skipped Hell, and the stingrays were awesome. If you haven't done so already, I would very highly reccomend the Western Union sunset sail on Key West. It was beautiful! And on CC we have done the banana boat rides and the couple's massage! I'm thinking that this time we will just go our own way on Key West (there are a lot of museums we missed), Xcaret Eco-archeological park in Cozumel (which I have heard is very cool), Atlantis and the speed boat excursion in Grand Cayman, and I am trying to talk my husband into parasailing on CC. I think we might do the snorkeling excursion there also.

Anybody else?

 

[LegalBriefs]

Does anyone have or does anyone know where we can find the cruise matrix for the New Years cruise? (i.e. what night is what theme, etc.)

 

[GeneralMax]

myfourkitties - On our last two Disney cruises my daughter and I went oarasailing on CC. ... Yes I am the parent who gets to go on roller coasters and parasailing and any other scary thing my kids wants to do - my husband gets motion sick... At any rate parasailing was WONDERFUL!! They drive you by the ship and seing the Magic from the air and the island is ... well... magic!

Kathy-
I will tell my daughter but let her know that she cannot make contact as this is a surpise for your daughter. I cannot keep anything a surprise around here. My one Disney surpirse when my kids were little did not go to well. I got everyone to the airport thinking they were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got right up to the door of the plane .. with alot of distracting by me since my daughter could read. At the door the flight attendent looked at my kids and said " Are you excited to go to Disney World?" My daughter looked at her and said "We are not going to Disney world we are going to Baltimore to see our Grandma and Grandpa" The flight attendent - not being the brightest bulb on the tree - looked at us and said " You are on the wrong plane don't board." So we had to tell the kids. Rather then the thrill we expected my son burst into tears and said " I don't want to got o Disney world I WANT TO GO TO GRANDMA'S". He proceeded to cry that he did not want to go to Disney World at the top of his lungs for the first 15 minutes of the flight... I am sure we made alot of parents really happy on that flight.

 

[myfourkitties]

Thanks GeneralMax! That will give me leverage, I think! It sound so wonderful!

 

[GeneralMax]

I am sure you will see us there. Parasailing at CC is always a highlight of our trip and we never get tired of it.

 

[Masonpips]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,

We booked at over 400 days out. It does my heart good to see the double digits!

 

[tecdavidt]

Ruth, that flight attendant got what she deserved! A screaming child. She should of known not to believe what a small child tells her. She was missing something upstairs.

The next few weeks will fly by. We have 5 weeks left in our boating season here in IA. Then we are off to Ft. Lauderdale to the boat show(end of Oct for 4 days). The next few weeks we are prepping for the holidays then we are off!!!! Since we can't talk about it around our daughter the time is going fast for some reason.

Did you all see the picture of Castaway Cay posted from someone who just got back? Cute sign by DCL--Frances was here. I was glad the dock survived. That was what took so long last time to fix. They did a good job since it survived. I hope this hurricane season calm downs. Kathy