Anyone cruising Magic 8/30/2003 ?

[TradeSecret]

Hello, Our family is going to be on the 8/30 Magic cruise. We are really looking forward to it. We have a son, 9, and he is REALLY looking forward to it. I get the feeling after reading some of these posts, that we may not see much of him after we set sail. We are staying in a CAT 6 room, with a veranda, and we cant wait for the view.Also, we will be in second seating for dinner.
Any info on excursions, like which ones we should avoid, would be appreciated. Counting the days, TradeSecret.

 

[donnaMD]

I know we loved our first Disney cruise and we were so glad we upgraded to a veranda; we had originally booked an ocean view on the 2nd floor and at the port we upgraded for $600--2 yrs ago. I love the veranda; it is so nice to have your own private space next to the ocean. To me, it is one of the best things about the cruise.
Chloe started going to the Oceaneer Club at 4 and loved it right from the beginning (now she is 6). We travel a lot, and this is her favorite vacation. We have taken her out to tour the island, etc. and she begs for us to let her stay in the oceaneer club; she even likes to eat lunch and dinner with her fellow-oceaneers.
A cruise is also a great place to relax and for us since we work so hard, it is a great vacation.
I am so glad we are going in a little over a month!

 

[Quirky Cruiser]

We are currently booked in a cat.9 on deck 2, but lately I'm wishing I had booked a Cat.6 - I think having the veranda would be the best. My sister is the type that would love to sit out there with a book or magazine and enjoy the ocean breeze (when she's not up on deck having fun!). I stayied in a cat. 11 on my March Wonder cruise and it really didn't bother me...but for 7 days I wanted to be able to wake-up to sun. Now I'm thinking I may upgrade at the port to a veranda if one is available....we hopefully will be on the first shuttle in the morning to the port (we are staying at the Hyatt the night before). I know I will be happy with a Cat.9....just hoping to upgrade...how hard is it to purchase an upgrade at port? Do they go fast? So many things to think about!!!!

 

[donnaMD]

It will cost more than $600 to upgrade to a veranda I think, because Disney raised their prices ( we did this 2 yrs ago). We were able to upgrade since there were a lot of cancellations due to us cruising 2 weeks after 9/11. If I were you I would call your travel agent and find out how much it is to upgrade; there are some obstructed verandas that are a Cat 7--that are cheaper than a CAT 6; we have one and got it for $200 or $300 cheaper than a CAT 6. See INKOGNITO's Castaway website for photos. They may be all gone now; also determine whether you want a Navagator's Veranda or a Plexi-glass one. We love the plexi-glass one and have only had that--it is usually a category 6 unless you are able to get a mildly obstructed cat 7 like us. We have seen the room we are getting and we love it--it is up high and near the aft--2 flrs down from Topsiders. Since you will probably split the cost; I think you should seriously think about doing this before you go. When we went and upgraded there were only 3 verandas left and it was 9/28/2001; 2 weeks after 9/11 and as I said before there were a lot of cancellations. Verandas are the most popular.
Good luck with your decision; some have said once they have a veranda they can not go any other way; we are part of that group.
Good luck with your decision.
PS We have 7120; another barely obstructed rm is 7620 and I think there are 2 more on deck 6; may have 1/2 metal on bottom.

 

[donnaMD]

I checked my notes and the other rooms that have verandas for category 7 price are 7620, 6634 and 6134; if you go to www.disneycruiser.info/obstruct.htm you will see them. We have the other one which is 7120. They all seem to have plexi-glass half bottoms and used to be category 5s since they are higher than the 5th floor where the category 6s are. They are really very nice. Try for those and if one is available you will save $200 or $300.
Goodluck:

Pinkbounc

 

[donnaMD]

We are staying at the Radison at the Port the night before; I know some of you are staying at the Hyatt?
Where is everyone staying Friday night?

 

[donnaMD]

Anyone at 2nd seating want to eat with us?
I think we need to get more pro-active so some of us can meet.
My husband is John who is an Engineer for the Dept of Defense--he is 46, very introverted, but gets friendly once he gets to know you; I am Donna, a realtor, 53, originally from Masschusetts who has been selling real estate for 20 years and has lived in MD since 1978. I am very outgoing, as you can tell. Chloe is 6, very outgoing, and will probably eat with her oceaneer friends other than the first night. This is our 3rd cruise and we enjoyed our last one since we met so many nice people from this chat group!
If you want to eat with us you will need to e-mail me personally at Donna@DonnaAnderson.com; I will need your names and stateroom so I can make the arrangements with Disney. I think we can do this ahead of time by calling them; I believe that is what we did last year.

 

[caroleRWO]

Hello to all cruisers on the 30th August Western Cruise.

We are getting ready for our first Disney cruise so I thought we would introduce ourselves.

Where are we ?
We live in Munich, Germany (home to the Octoberfest, just an hour from the Alps). However, we are a family of nomad Expatriates. Carole and myself (Mike) were born in NW England in a small seaside town called Lytham St Annes. After college we moved to northern Germany where our eldest Jenny was born. After a few years we moved over to Boston, MA. Our youngest, Ben, was born just after our return to Germany (and he has never forgiven us for not waiting a few months). We have now been in Munich for 10 years.

Who are we ?
Carole, the organisational brains behind our vacations, has planned this trip for at least 5 years. She works for a Cambridge MA based internet/consulting company, where she counts beans all day. It is her fault that we also joined DVC and have annual passes for both WDW and Disneyland Resort Paris. Carole helps with pin trading, as in how much did you just spend.....?.

Mike is pin trading assistant #1 but didnt think he had a pin problem until he visited all 10 Disney parks last year. Works in cancer research (mouse genetics would you believe), a crazed Red Sox fan known to stay up all night listening to games.

Jenny is even more Disney crazy than her mum. Jenny actually spent her 18th birthday in Disneyland Paris, making us drive a round trip of 1000 miles in 24h. Jenny has amazing red hair, so she has an affinity for princesses, especially Ariel. Jenny finishes school next year, and is hoping to finally escape the nest if she gets a place in sheltered accommodation.

Ben, pin trader in chief, knows all disney pins and can spot a great trade at 100 feet. He will turn 16 in September. Focusses all his energy on soccer but romance is cutting down his training to just 3 nights a week. Now, if we can only get him in a dinner jacket..... When asked who were the cool kids in his class answered "me of course".

Mike will be leaning over the railings feeding the fishes. Actually a ploy to cover the fact that he is looking for pelagic birds for his US-life list. Ben and Jenny will be pin trading day and night, when not racing around the ship trying every activity available. Carole will be planning our daily routine, I think we have at least 26h a day planned already.

We are MikeyRWO@hotmail.com, Carole RWO@hotmail.com, CaroleRWO on DIS, and MikeyRWO on Dizpins and Pinpics.

We have late sittings for dinner, will be at the Hilton Cocoa Beach the eve of the cruise and at Beach Club Villas the week before.

 

[Quirky Cruiser]

Well, after a weekend searching for dresses for formal/semi-formal nights, I think we are all set...for now that is! I'm still trying to make up my mind whether I want to spring for the Verandah or not....it's a tough decision when it involves $1000!

Looks like we will be with some people who have Northeast roots...or have at least been here at one point in time. Tiffany and I were born and raised on Cape Cod, but have close ties to Boston. She will be a Sophomore at Northeastern University this fall (moving in the day we get home!) and I graduated from Boston University in May of '02. I am back on Cape Cod working as an advertising account rep...but probably won't be here that much longer (need a change of scenery!)

Carol RWO - I also spent my birthday in Disneyland Paris! I turned 21 there. I was actually studying abroad for school in London and a couple of my friends and I went to Paris for the weekend....what a way to spend a birthday!!! Tiffany will be celebrating her 19th while we're on-board.

DonnaMD - we are staying at the Hyatt the night before - our flight doesn't get in until 10pm.

That's about all for now...I still feel like there is so much to do, but I know it will all get done! Only 39 more days!!!

 

[TradeSecret]

Wow,Giant ship, A genetic scientist and a guy from the Department of Defense, sounds like the makings of a Steven Segal movie!" Under Siege 3:Trouble on Castaway Cay"

Anyhoo, My name is Bobby, and my family hails from Michigan.
There are three of us in our little group, Amey is the owner of a diner/truck stop and is rather shy at first, myself (Bobby) I work for a radio station and run my own Karaoke/ D.J company, I am quite outgoing but come nowhere near obnoxious and Conner(9)is a self proclaimed video game junky and trampoline master. The fouth of our happy family,Trey, will not be joining us. He is only 3 months old and the grandma's will be fighting over him all week long .

We have not decided where we are going to stay Friday. We are having a driver take us to the port Saturday morning, and then getting on the boat!

We have only been on one cruise before, it was a RCCL, we knew some of the passengers, so it was rather nice.We are looking forward to meeting all of you. We are at second seatin' for eatin' and would love to have any of you join us...TTFN TradeSecret

 

[donnaMD]

If you are booked with Disney you can transfer your reservations to All Seasons Travel tel # 1-800-771-8690; I bet it will not cost 1K more for 2 people for upgrading from an oceanview to a veranda. Find out if rms 6134,6634 or 7620 are still available also. (They are barely obstructed views with verandas that are now a category 7 and are quite nice; we like 7120 which we have this time better than the category 6s we had on floor 5 the last 2 times--we know because our girlfriend had this room last year). All Seasons Travel is likely to have lower rates than Disney and you can transfer your reservation to them; however, you can not transfer your reservation from another travel agent to them.
Good luck!
PS I love Cape Cod and took a few graduate courses overseas that Boston University was offering.
Hope to meet you on the cruise.

 

[donnaMD]

In order to arrange dining together one has to call Disney cruise lines and give them the other parties full names and stateroom number and link it to your's.
Anyone wanting to join us let us know. E-mail me at my website:
Donna@DonnaAnderson.com

 

[wjbc]

Hi All. Less than 6 weeks to go! My husband (Joe), daughters (Brandie – 9, Courtney – 6) and I (Wendy) are looking forward to the cruise. This will be our 6th Disney Cruise. Joe wanted to try something new, but he was out voted. The girls (and I) don’t want to consider another cruise line yet - maybe when they’re a bit older. I’m confident we’ll all have a great time and a relaxing vacation (Joe is usually attached to his Blackberry and cell phone, and cruising is the only time I see him able to relax completely).

We’re in a cat 6 verandah room (6560), near the midship elevators. We don’t have any DCL excursions booked. In Key West, we’ll probably just walk around a bit on Duval St. and check out the performers at Mallory Square at sunset. Maybe we’ll be able to get the kids to go to the clubs so we can check out a couple of the barsJ The girls will be in different age groups this time - hopefully, they’ll meet some friends early on. We will be going to the turtle farm and maybe the beach on our own in Grand Cayman and are planning on trying out Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel.

We will be in WDW for the 2 nights prior to the cruise. We fly in Thurs. night and are planning on going to Typhoon Lagoon for the day on Fri and driving over to the terminal on Sat. morning.

 

[Quirky Cruiser]

We booked the cruise using Dreams Unlimited Travel....I used them in March and they have been excellent! I actually rebooked on board to take advantage of the $200 on-board credit and then had it transferred to Dreams. Just for the heck of it, I went to the DCL website to check prices for the verandah (cat.6) and it is more expensive today than it was yesterday!!! (by $200!!!) So now it is $1200 more!!! I'm going to email my contact at dreams and check on prices as well as check on those cat.7's that used to be 5's an 6's. I'm thinking the cruise must be filling up - why else would the prices go up? I'm sure we'll figure everything out...I just want this cruise to begin!

 

[donnaMD]

Good luck on getting a veranda; I probably would not spend $1200 more for a veranda versus ocean view; although I love my veranda. I am hoping for your sake the Dreams can get you one for much cheaper; or, of course, you can try to upgrade at the port. I would be there at 10:30 and be one of the 1st in line to try for one, and hopefully, it will be much less then. Our $600 difference was for 3 people and there are only 2 of you, but of course this was 2 wks after 9/11 with more cancellations and the verandas are so popular that Disney upped the prices too.
You can visit us on our veranda!
Donna from MD

 

[caroleRWO]

Had to bump this up again as I´m sure there are lots more like us getting really excited now. Just three more Magic cruises before ours.
We are Mike and Carole and our teens Ben and Jenny and we really hope to meet some of you on board. Really loved the thread about being afraid to make contact with other DISers on board - I really felt like that at first but now am really looking forward to it.
I´ll be watching out for those lime green ribbons!

 

[Quirky Cruiser]

Just bumping this back up because it is slowly dropping down....We are getting very excited as well....I read a lot of information this weekend on 7-Mile beach and Rum Point in grand cayman.Looking for a place to enjoy the sun before we go to our stingray excursion. I think we may take a taxi to the Holiday Inn on 7-mile in the morning and then head out on our excursion for the afternoon. I also started getting some things together this weekend - in about 2 weeks we'll officially start packing Only 3 more sailings of the Magic and then it's ours!!!

 

[crushonjessica]

two weeks from today and 4 days until the single digit dance starts.