5/24/03

[newhampshire4]

Just had to switch our cruise to the May 24, 2003 Western cruise... but can't find any threads for this date. I see several names on the list, and know that this cruise is filling quickly.... anyone?

 

[newhampshire4]

Soooooooooo..... We are the only ones on this cruise!!!!!! ?!??!

 

[donnabres]

We'll be the ones with the sad faces getting off as you get on. Hope you have fun planning your cruise. I always find that one of the most enjoyable part of the trip is the planning.

 

[digitalmom]

We are, as long as the kids behave(just kidding). The kids don't know we are doing this for sure, although I think they may be suspicious. It will be me, Michael,(age 15 by then) and Christopher(age 13 by then). It will be the day after they get out of school. My husband is staying home. I suppose this could be our thread. When I talked to Disney in April I think they said this cruise was about 1/4 to 1/3 full. See you later.
Suzanne

 

[newhampshire4]

This will be our second cruise... the first time we did the Eastern 4/2001. Hoping we make it to Castaway Cay this time!!! We will have our 2 dd's with us (who will be 14 & almost 12 at the time of sailing). They enjoyed meeting a few kids their ages online prior to sailing. Hopefully other cruisers for this week will join in as we count down the days (well, months, but days sounds more positive!!)

 

[digitalmom]

Hi,
This will be our 3rd cruise. We did Disney Magic March 30, 2001 and we didn't make it to Castaway Cay either, hopefully this time. This past Spring Break(week of April 6th) we went on the Carnival Pride, again doing the Eastern Caribbean. Hopefully I am not bad luck for private islands as on the Pride we couldn't tender over to Half Moon Cay due to the high seas and winds. I know for sure that Christopher will be happy if he can "meet" other kids his age before the cruise. He has tried doing that for both cruises we have been on but with very little luck. See you later.
Suzanne

 

[digitalmom]

Weel I am trying to check the prices every so often to see how they go up and I am glad that I have this cruise already booked and a deposit down as it has already been going up in price. In case you can't tell I am looking forward to this cruise. I watched the video today that I got from Disney. I am going to use it as part of the way that I tell the kids about the cruise. Not sure when I will tell them, I am thinking Christmas. See you later.

 

[digitalmom]

Ok just want to check out the changes to my signature.
Suzanne

 

[RAC]

Hi digitalmom,
We were scheduled for the Magic on May 24, 2003 then we changed our minds and decided to give the Pride a try. This past May was our second Disney Cruise. Can you tell me what you thought about the Pride. We have a 6 year old, did you have a child in Camp Carnival?
Any info would be great!
RAC
Randi

 

[newhampshire4]

When I switched to this cruise a few weeks ago, there were slim pickings of Cat. 6 rooms..... didn't get where I had hoped, but at least we got Starboard this time!
We didn't make it to CC last time, as we were on the Magic when we were broke down in St Thomas for an extra 9 hours or so.... so HAVE to get there this time

 

[digitalmom]

RAC,
I will try this again, I responded to you earlier when I saw your post but somehow this thing logged me out and so my response didn't go thru. I went this past April with my 14 year old and my 12 year old, both boys. We all had a good time but the kids out of the blue said that they preferred Disney over the Pride. The Pride is really quite a beautiful ship, very different from the Magic. The food was good as was the service. One thing Carnival did differently that I didn't like was drinks at dinner other than milk, water or coffee/tea. They had a separate bar waitress for mixed drinks, wine, beer, even pop(Coke, Pepsi, etc, I don't remember which although I think it was Coke products). I don't know if it was because there was no adult male with us(my husband stayed home) or what but we were basically ignored by the bar waitress. Our regular server and his assistant were great, keeping our water glasses full all the time. I did not go to David's since my husband was not there with us. Our room person was good, being very patient with kids who wanted to sleep in every day. We had towel animals every night except for the first and last. My 12 year old did go to Camp Carnival. Not many kids his age seem to participate but he still had fun. I think that the bulk of the kids for spring break/Easter break were the week before. For the younger ages Camp Carnival must have been doing something right as I knew someone from work who was on the same cruise(single guy, no kids) who said that he was hardly bothered by kids at all.

 

[digitalmom]

RAC,
More as I didn't want to lose all of what I wrote again. There was definitely an older crowd on the Pride, despite it being a "spring break" week. When I say older, I mean people in their 70's and 80's. From what I have heard in the past Carnival had quite a party image but seems to be trying to get away from that image and the Pride is proof of Carnival getting away from the party image. We had an inside room on Deck 6 for our cruise. It was very, very, very small. On our way off the ship we did look into an outside room and it was quite a bit bigger. I would say that overall I was happy with the Pride and I would not hestitate to sail on a Carnival ship again, although a newer one . We may very well sail Carnival again as my 14 year old wants an Alaskan cruise for his high school graduation present(in 2005). Have you had a chance to check out cruisecritic.com yet? There is a Carnival board and believe me you will get all kinds of information on the Pride on that board Good luck I am sure that you will enjoy the Pride and hopefully there will be lots of kids for your child. If you think of any other questions let me know. Sorry this took me a while to get back to you.
Suzanne

 

[RAC]

Thanks for the reply! Someone that was on the Pride earlier this month picked me up some kids activity sheets and sent them in the mail. It seems like they have a lot of things for them to do. I know that we will probably go back to Disney after this cruise. My husband will be ready to "Remember the Magic". I have checked out cruisecritic they have a lot of info on that site. We booked an 8I Gurantee room. This will be our first Balcony cabin.
Thanks Again,
RAC
Randi

 

[digitalmom]

Bump

 

[lmcastelli]

Hi,
This will be our first cruise. Our 10 yo son can't wait! Our 14 yo daughter (15 at cruise time) is worried that she will be bored. We are cruising with 2 other families, (friends and cousins) all younger and mostly boys. She is the only teen. She usually has to be pushed to join in, but then she has a great time. Any input on the teen area? Do they try to include the kids that are there by themselves? I'm hoping she will meet others her age to have fun with and not have to hang with the younger kids.
We are going to arrive a few days early to see the Magic Kingdom. Any suggestions on clean affordable hotels in the Orlando Area? How about ideas on transportation? We need to get from the Airport to the hotel, from the hotel to Magic Kingdom and back, then to the Ship for the cruise, and from the cruise back to the airport again. Would we be better off with a rental car or maybe Tiffany or Happy Limo? There will be 4 Adults and 4 Children traveling together. Any suggestions and info would be great. I can't wait for the time to pass!!
Thanks,
Lisa



P.S. Any tips for first time cruisers??

 

[digitalmom]

When we did the Magic April 2001, my oldest was 13( he'll be 15 on this cruise) and he did go the teen area, he didn't take a friend and we went with my mother-in-law, so no relatives his age. He managed to find kids his age to hang around with and had a great time. Although he wanted to stay up way too late for me. I am sure that he will probably do the same on this cruise.

 

[digitalmom]

It looks like my mother-in-law may come with the kids and I. She went with us on the Magic March 2001 and enjoyed it. There's extra incentive for her to come with us as my husband(her son) is staying home

 

[newhampshire4]

Just reading your post and saw your timer, DigitalMom..... we still have 308 more days to go? I wanna go now! LOL!

 

[digitalmom]

bump

 

[digitalmom]

bump