September 29,2013 - DVC Member Cruise

[Henlady]

Good Morning PI

Yes, September is Hurricane Season, but we figured "What the Heck", you never know what the weather will be, it could be rough seas in May. AND, we were already involved in a hurricane (Wilma - 2005) on our first cruise. The captain tried to get away from it, but it was so wide spread and moving around, he couldn't. So our first day was turned into our sea day which was a hurricane day!! The waters were pretty rough, and I spent the day relaxing in bed, watching TV and having room service. I just couldn't stand up, as my equilibrium was totally off. (I took Bonine to no avail. Now I use a combo of Bonine & Ginger tablets that works wonders.) Anyway, the next 2 days were beautiful. At Castaway Cay they did have to move everyone who wanted to go in the water to the adult beach due to the sea nets being down at the family beach. So we spent the day at the deserted family beach.
It was an experience, and now I am one of the only people I know who has ridden out a hurricane on a "boat".
On our cruise this past November (no hurricane or storm), we had one very rocky night. Came out of the theatre and almost fell over walking down the hallway, everyone was going "whoaaaaa" and teetering back and forth. Our grandson thought it was great fun to be wobbling about. That only lasted a couple of hours.

Hopefully Alan's weather clears up and they have a fantastic trip. Thanks for posting the link to the blog. We'll be able to keep up with his trip.

Have a great rest of the week. Tell Jim & your son we say "HI".

 

[aan1701]

Just wanted to say hi to everyone from the Wonder docked in Hilo.

 

[poison ivy]

Alan! Great to hear from you. I was just telling JQ that the Wonder made port today. How's it feel to be so far away yet still on U.S. soil?

We caught the Avengers last night - did they premiere it on the ship?

Can't wait to hear more from you guys.

 

[aan1701]

Alan! Great to hear from you. I was just telling JQ that the Wonder made port today. How's it feel to be so far away yet still on U.S. soil?

We caught the Avengers last night - did they premiere it on the ship?

Can't wait to hear more from you guys.

It's a little of a strange feeling being in the US but the mainland is 2000 miles away. This so far has been such a great cruise and it's not even half over quite yet. They did Premeir the Advengers on the ship. I personaly was not that impressed. Any other questions I will try to answer. Just give me time.

 

[Johnny Quest]

It's a little of a strange feeling being in the US but the mainland is 2000 miles away. This so far has been such a great cruise and it's not even half over quite yet. They did Premeir the Advengers on the ship. I personaly was not that impressed. Any other questions I will try to answer. Just give me time.

Alan,
You are living out one of my bucket list items(Hawaii), so I hope you will have a great time while there. Are you planning any excursions?

Did you find that you needed to fill your days while at sea, or did it allow time to explore and enjoy the ship's ammenities? We are not sure if we could handle that many days on board.

Enjoy the remainder of your cruise.

Jim

 

[aan1701]

Alan,
You are living out one of my bucket list items(Hawaii), so I hope you will have a great time while there. Are you planning any excursions?

Did you find that you needed to fill your days while at sea, or did it allow time to explore and enjoy the ship's ammenities? We are not sure if we could handle that many days on board.

Enjoy the remainder of your cruise.

Jim

Jim, yes we are doing ship excursions. In Hilo we did a great tour tour to Volcano Natl' park. On Maui we hung out with my wife's family that happened to be there at the same time as us. Today we are going to the Arizoina and Mighty Mo, then a free DVC tour of Alunai cause we are DVC members. Sea days for me are the best. I can do as much as I want or nothing. Looking forward to the 5 in a row going back.

 

[poison ivy]

Alan,

So many questions.............

We are very interested in Hawaii and always thought the better way was to tour by cruise. What better cruise than Disney!

So Hilo and Maui must be in close proximity. How did you get from the one island to the other?
How late is the ship remaining docked at each port?
Are you subject to roaming charges on the islands?
How's the weather?

that'll do it for now. Really glad you are able to post.

thanks

christine

 

[aan1701]

Alan,

So many questions.............

We are very interested in Hawaii and always thought the better way was to tour by cruise. What better cruise than Disney!

So Hilo and Maui must be in close proximity. How did you get from the one island to the other?
How late is the ship remaining docked at each port?
Are you subject to roaming charges on the islands?
How's the weather?

that'll do it for now. Really glad you are able to post.

thanks

christine

Weather is great. A little hot. Kinda humid but not bad. The Wonder is my transportation between islands. No roaming, that's why I am posting. We were in Hilo from 10-7. Maui and here in Honolulu, 7-10:30 at night. Tomorrow in Kawaii is 7-5.

 

[Henlady]

aan1701:
It sounds like you're having a great trip. Good to hear that your weather is fine also. I love those sea days, as you said, you can do/not do whatever you want.
Hope you get some pictures of Alunai Resort to post. That place looks amazing. Somewhere I'd definately like to visit.
I hope your good weather continues(I'm sure it will) and thanks for the updates.

 

[aan1701]

Here is a shot of Aualni!'s pool area.

My free DVC tour for us members cost me $200.00 in Aualni souvenirs.

 

[Henlady]

WOW - That looks so inviting.
Dang those souvenirs, they just scream "buy me"!!! Happens to me too.

 

[Johnny Quest]

My free DVC tour for us members cost me $200.00 in Aualni souvenirs.

Wow! $200... What did you get me? Can't wait to see!

This resort looks fantastic....I definately want to stay there.

 

[poison ivy]

when I logged on and saw that photo I was awestruck!!!! That's the first live shot I've seen of Aulani and it is so beautiful. thanks

Really diggin Hawaii!!!!

 

[poison ivy]

Got that DVC email re: sailing the Fantasy in a balcony cabin for 1099.00/pp in June 2012. Really tempting - but logistically impractical to drop everything and plan to leave in less than 60 days. A 7 day cruise turns into an 8-10 day trip depending on our mode of travel from NJ.


We have been very disciplined in taking the year off but I was curious how much of a discount this really is since I hadn't been pricing out the Fantasy just yet. So of course I punched in a 2013 June sail to compare a 5B - which lists at $4100 for 2. That's a sizeable difference!!!!!

OK so maybe i'm comparing this wrong - So i punched in June 2012 - and a VGT (verandah guarantee) came up on only 3 out of 5 cruises ranging from $3232 - $3638. I'm thinking this is more in line with this offer. It's basically a discounted VGT. Still, pretty darn good!!!!

Never been to the Caribbean - except for St. Thomas 30 yrs ago which back then was a very depressed area with no industry outside of tourism - not even fishing. Judging from the various trip reports on the Dis it didn't appear any of the islands had evolved much.

I feel like I'm on Let's Make a Deal. Do I keep the two grand in my pocket or trade it for the boat!?!?!
(let's not forget to add another 1500.00 in air/tips/excursions/etc etc etc )

I'm posting this to ease my sense of urgency and therapeutically restore all balance to normalcy.

thanks for listening.

christine

 

[Henlady]

Poison Ivy:
I'm with you, that would be sooooo tempting. As another comparison for you, we booked our 7-night Western on the Fantasy for April 27, 2013 on our cruise this past November, got the 10% discount and the total for Don and I in a Cat 5E was $2,827 ($3,124 full price). So that is about $629 lower than what we booked for.
But like you said, once you add the transportation, tips, etc.....you've got $3,700.
Isn't it a nice dilemma to be in though. Just remember "Curiosity killed the cat", not sure if that fits here, but thought I'd throw it in

Have a great Mothers Day weekend!!

 

[Johnny Quest]

Well,

Discipline schmisiplin! Life is waaay too short to watch the Fantasy sail out of port on a freakin webcam while sipping coffee!

Hey Poison, your DH has NEVER been to the caribbean, HELLO! Bueller? Bueller? Therapeutically restore this!

I'm going even if I'm alone... it's still better than working and "fantasizing" about a cruise.

Bon Voyage all,
Johnny

What was that code again?

 

[Henlady]

Well,

Discipline schmisiplin! Life is waaay too short to watch the Fantasy sail out of port on a freakin webcam while sipping coffee!

Hey Poison, your DH has NEVER been to the caribbean, HELLO! Bueller? Bueller? Therapeutically restore this!

I'm going even if I'm alone... it's still better than working and "fantasizing" about a cruise.

Bon Voyage all,
Johnny

What was that code again?

Welllllll Christine.......There you have it. Sounds to me like you're heading to the Caribbean!!!!!!

 

[poison ivy]

Yup! JQ threw caution to the wind and booked the June 9th Western Caribbean on the Fantasy.

That's June 9, 2012 - 30 days from now!!!!!

Everything went in a matter of minutes.

Too friggin funny!

 

[Henlady]

Yup! JQ threw caution to the wind and booked the June 9th Western Caribbean on the Fantasy.

That's June 9, 2012 - 30 days from now!!!!!

OH, how excited you must be!!! I'm excited for you.
You can fill us in on all the interesting info regarding the Fantasy.

Now the planning starts!!!

 

[poison ivy]

Kris,

I can't begin to adequately describe it. We've been on one path for months, which I had resigned myself to. No big travel plans til 2013 on the Dream, booked well in advance.

We even passed on the Med 2013 cruise which incl. Croatia (a JQ bucket list item!) and kept on course.

I still don't have a clear perspective on what happened. Here's my theory - first the email arrived and I didn't delete it which meant JQ was bound to read it. Once he did, the wheels were spinning. That's nothing new and we usually drop it and move on. This time was different.

I think deep down we both really wanted to go but at the same time I really wanted to stick to the game plan - which prompted my post yesterday.

I guess my DH decided the heck with it!!!