Getting excited and keen to share my plans

Our very first cruise was up to Port Douglas/Airlie Beach etc - it was a great way to see Australia, and it really didn't *feel* like Australia lol! So tropical and warm (and it was this time of year - August).
 
:worried: Forterra halting trading today has caused the NZ dollar to drop quite sharply. Yesterday the dollar was really bad, today it’s awful.

Thankfully over 80% of our trip is now paid for, but it’s not looking too good right now for the saving of spending money.
 
Nooooo!! (Thank goodness for 80% paid for though. I am mostly just at deposits myself, had been hoping the dollar would rise. Off to investigate - rare for NZ and Aus dollar to be terribly different at the moment.)
 
I've stopped thinking about the rates so much though. We antipodeans are already throwing cash out there like Harry and Lloyd so I try to pretend it's not happening :lmao:

 


Nooooo!! (Thank goodness for 80% paid for though. I am mostly just at deposits myself, had been hoping the dollar would rise. Off to investigate - rare for NZ and Aus dollar to be terribly different at the moment.)

Our last 2 trips the dollar sat around 80c, which historically is pretty good. So I think I’ve been a bit spoiled. Now it’s about 66c and I’m finding it all a bit scary.

I held of booking a few things when the dollar was around 70c, thinking it would rise. Now, I’d be really happy if it went back to 70.

Fingers crossed for an improved economy over the next few months. I have a feeling though that it’s going to get even worse before it starts getting better. :scared:

Time to start burying my head in the sand like an ostrich. Or embracing the Harry and Lloyd in me. :laughing:
 
It is hard... I remember travelling at parity!!

When we moved to Australia, the conversion rate was terrible, and we were bringing our life's worth. Shortly after we did that though the NZ dollar began to rise (so you can probably thank me for that :rotfl2:).
 
CARIBBEAN CRUISE

Our original wish for this cruise was to travel on the Disney Fantasy again, this time visiting the Western Caribbean and getting to experience Star Wars at sea. When it quickly became obvious that Disney cruises are no longer in our budget, I started looking into alternative ships with a bit of an edge of their own.

Initially the plan was to do a one week cruise before returning to WDW for one more week before flying home. My first booking was on the to-be-built Celebrity Edge after finding what was an excellent deal. But little was known about the ship at the time of booking, and with all the space dedicated to suite guests on that ship, I was nervous about overcrowding in public areas. I then cancelled to book a yacht club suite on MSC Seaside as it meant actually getting to enjoy one of those private suite areas for ourselves at a price we could afford.

But for a number of reasons that booking wasn’t sitting right with me either and I eventually cancelled one last time to book a 2 week cruise onboard Celebrity Reflection. I now realise that the majority of the doubt I felt after booking the first 2 (but don’t have now with the Reflection), stemmed mostly from a lack of excitement about the itineraries. I had become so caught up in booking a unique ship, that I was forgetting about the thing I love most about cruising - the ports.

An added bonus is that per night, the Reflection worked out quite a bit cheaper. We booked during a promotion that included drinks and wifi, so our onboard expenses should be minimal. It did mean forfeiting a week back at Disney once the Xmas crowds had subsided, but it’s a sacrifice I’m comfortable with. Now that the dollar has sunk to a terrible low, I’m even happier that I have booked in 2 weeks of travel where all accommodation, meals, drinks and nighttime entertainment are now accounted for.

Anyway, this cruise is 2 weeks, it goes to the Southern Caribbean, and the ports have me really excited.

Ports we will be visiting include: Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba (2 days inc. overnight), St Lucia, Grenada, Barbados and Antigua.

Antigua, Barbados and Aruba all look like they offer stunning beaches and we are doing excursions and activities to take advantage of this.

St Lucia looks lush and green and I’m looking forward to snorkeling at the base of the pitons.

Grenada (the spice island) looks like it has great culture and we are looking forward to exploring St George’s on our own as after a morning snorkelling excursion to the underwater sculpture park.

Curacao is the island I’m currently most looking forward to. We have a private tour booked with a local photographer who is going to take us to a range of scenic spots (some which aren’t that touristy, but make for beautiful colourful photography) as well as a place to snorkel with turtles.

Lastly, in Bonaire we have a combination snorkel and island tour and I can’t wait to see all the beautiful corners of the island including the wild flamingoes.

The night before the cruise we are staying in an apartment just outside Miami. As boring as it sounds, I picked this resort as it has in room washer/dryers and because it’s close to a Walmart. We will have a lot of dirty clothes from Costa Rica and I want to go into a 2 week cruise with everything clean. We’re thinking we may even throw away some of our older clothing and replace it with a bit of stuff from Walmart.

At the end of the cruise, we also have a day in Miami, but this time to see the sights on a hop-on hop-off bus tour.

Then we fly to Long Beach where we have two days in Anaheim before flying home out of LAX.
I’m thinking a tour of LA and Warner Bros Studios on one day and then a bit of relaxed shopping and a visit to The Void at Downtown Disney on the next.

And that’s that.

Today marks exactly 4 months until we leave and it’s fair to say I’m getting a wee bit excited.
 


Sounds like an awesome trip!

Thanks Montanabel.

Not many people I speak to understand the Costa Rica part of our trip, often replying with a ‘Better you than me’ response when I mention waking up Xmas morning in the jungle. So it’s making me extra determined that everything will run smoothly and will in fact be awesome. :laughing:
 
It sounds like and adventure to me, and what is life if not a daring adventure?? (Thank you for letting me borrow your thoughts, Helen Keller! :) )

The cruise looks awesome, so many different and interesting and beautiful (I imagine) ports. The whole trip will be such a fantastic learning experience as well as so much fun - your son is very lucky!!
 
Toothsomes is AMAZING! I had the chocolate brownie shake and oh my goodness .... WOW! I gave up with the straw and asked for a spoon lol. The store is amazing as well with some very funky steam punk souvenirs to buy. I will add a link to a video I made. I also ate at Hard Rock Cafe and the food was great and a fabulous atmosphere. We always grab a hot dog at the place near Antojitos with the pulled pork one my favourite.

For EPCOT and a table service, Rose and Crown is good if you can nab the later reservation and sit outside for Illuminations (if it is still going by then)

Look forward to following you on your journey

Yanevernoinoz (Deb)
 
Toothsomes is AMAZING! I had the chocolate brownie shake and oh my goodness .... WOW! I gave up with the straw and asked for a spoon lol. The store is amazing as well with some very funky steam punk souvenirs to buy. I will add a link to a video I made. I also ate at Hard Rock Cafe and the food was great and a fabulous atmosphere. We always grab a hot dog at the place near Antojitos with the pulled pork one my favourite.

For EPCOT and a table service, Rose and Crown is good if you can nab the later reservation and sit outside for Illuminations (if it is still going by then)

Look forward to following you on your journey

Yanevernoinoz (Deb)

Great video Deb.

I love the atmosphere of Citywalk and am looking forward to eating there again.
The prices are fairly reasonable compared to Disney and there’s a lot of great variety. Toothsomes didn’t exist when we were last there, but as I’m a fan of both desserts and steampunk, it would be foolish not to try it this visit. ::yes::
 
Today I did something a tad impulsive and booked the Jingle Bell Jingle Bam dessert party.

I had originally talked myself out of it - arguing that it was too expensive for desserts. And while I still think it is too expensive, Disney does such a good job of tempting customers with these extra events and I was eventually won over.

I kept flipping between this, MVMCP (even more expensive and potentially very crowded), the Frozen dessert party (not a fan of Frozen, but really wanted a table for Illuminations) and the Star Wars day tour (it doesn’t really appeal to me, but DH and DS would love it).

Sick of overthinking everything, I just threw in the towel today and booked JBJB. I swapped my Epcot and HS days around, and changed my Minnie’s Holiday Dine dinner reservation to a 50s Primetime lunch (to claw back a few dollars and because I figure that there are too many similarities between the Minnie buffet and JBJB to need to do both).

I feel a tad nervous I made the wrong decision, but I’m also excited. :hyper:

In other news, I applied for our ESTA this morning and was surprised by how long the process took for the 3 of us. I don’t remember it being that long.

Either way, it’s currently still pending, but I can’t foresee any potential issues. Just incase though, I always apply at least a few months in advance so I have time to sort things out should I need it.

Just over 3 months to go!!
 
That's fantastic! It sounds amazing. Look forward to hearing what you think about it.

I'm the same when it comes to doing visas, insurance, flights .... pretty much everything. I organise months in advance ... up to 10 months in advance! lol

Oh and there's a rule .... you must do at least one impulsive thing on every holiday :yay:
 
That's fantastic! It sounds amazing. Look forward to hearing what you think about it.

I'm the same when it comes to doing visas, insurance, flights .... pretty much everything. I organise months in advance ... up to 10 months in advance! lol

Oh and there's a rule .... you must do at least one impulsive thing on every holiday :yay:

Very true. I’m actually trying to embrace my impulsive side a bit more. :cool:
When it comes to travel planning I can overthink things; comparing and analysing to the smallest detail. It does my head in sometimes, which is why I occasionally get to a point like I did yesterday where I just book something so I can move on and stop thinking about it. :laughing:
 
82 days now until we head to the airport and it’s really beginning to feel real now.
I was just reading about a few new additions to Xmas at Universal Orlando and I’m practically bursting with excitement about the first few days after we arrive.

By contrast, I’ve just been reading about the changes to the ticket pricing at WDW and I actually think that this might be just be the straw that broke the camels back for us when it comes to Disney. After this upcoming visit, I’m not sure just how much of a hurry I will be to go back.
I really do love WDW, but it’s just become so expensive, with so many optional extras, that I’ve actually found planning our three days there a bit frustrating. The pull between what I’d like to do (to avoid excessive crowds and enjoy multiple dining experiences etc) vs. what we can actually afford to do, was never this strong during our last visit.

Anyway, that’s my rant. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as the world has so many wonderful places that I want to visit and there’s always a bit of an internal conflict going on when I visit destinations more than once.

However, I guess I was wondering if the feeling is just mine, or if other travellers who spend a lot of time and money getting to that side of the world are also feeling a bit put out the evolution that is the WDW business plan?
Or perhaps by contrast, people think ‘I’m already spending thousands on plane tickets, what’s another hundred or so for a Xmas party or dinner at Ohana’?
Would be interested to know people’s thoughts. :)
 
Hi Wanderlust,
To combat the costs of all the extras that I simply have to do, and to get great flight deals, I book 10 months out as soon as the airfares are available. I then book the extras about 3 months out which gives me 7 months to save for them and spreading the cost over the 7 months, it doesn't feel like a lot of extra cost. And yeah, when I'm spending all those thousands of dollars to go and stay there, a bit extra for memorable experiences is worth it. I go for at least 3 weeks each time I go because I never know when my last visit will be and there's just so much to do ☺
 
I don't like the new ticket set up but will still do partial stays at both parks.
I still have non expiring park hoppers and they have an expiration listed on them for 2030.

I'm sure they wil be usable.

But after they are gone, will hit the motherland stays for the days it is more cost effective for me and then move over to the darkside.

It is like having a full time job dealing with Disney set up for my vacations.


The changes Disney is making is hard for me to adjust to, but after it is in place, will get used to it.
I hope the way Disney is heading does not filter to Universal soon.

Maybe some changes will pop up as I read on UT some of their UO special deal tickets, they have an experation date for next year.


WanderlustNZ, don't get disccouraged yet
By the time the new ticket system is in place, it might be a good thing for all and we have less waits in ride lines.


I do a yearly both parks long vacation and some mini trips at other times of the year to both parks.
 

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