chasbos

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Well, we are back. Because of some scheduling conflicts we ended up sailing the Inspiration out of Tampa. The golfing was fantastic - especially in Mexico. Most beautiful course I have ever played. Now, we will never sail Carnival again. We did give it a try because of the golfing. But it is just not a cruise line for us. We really missed the Disney service and amenities - they are hard to beat.

We stayed at the Radisson in Port Canaveral last year for 2 nights pre cruise and 1 night post cruise. We really liked the place - nice pool area, very quiet atmosphere. There are not alot of things to do close by. The hotel did shuttle off to and from the beach for free though.

This one is a little tricky! I do not think that it is an island that accepts major airlines! Just a guess though. Could be Saba or Anguilla or some small island like that.

When I first read that some people could not figure out why you would watch movie on board I was a litttle confused - until I just realized that not every ship has a movie theatre that runs newly released movies I guess I am just spoiled by Disney and thought every ship had a full movie theater in it! My kids loved grabbing some cookies and heading into watch the newly released Incredibles at 10:00 p.m. I am glad I read this thread or else I would have been asking where the movie theater was when I boarded the Inspiration in January!

I also think that the MExican government will do all things possible to get Cancun and Cozumel ready for this upcoming vacation season. Tourism is the only thing that keeps these places running and it will be more devastating to those places if they do not get tourists back ASAP. Now I do not know much about Mexico and if they even have the capabilities to repair these places quickly. But for those poor people that live there and rely on tourist $'s I hope they are able to get the tourists back soon.

Folders are a must! Otherwise all of these important vacation details will get all mixed up. I have my travel plans in a binder, that way when I have pre-registered and booked my excursions they are all neatly and safely put away. I typically have 3 vacations booked at once! And when you travel with 6 people - you have to be organized!

Not to sure, it sure looks very populous around that particular area.

Let me guess - your docs?? You are doing the doc dance!

Do not even have any guesses - but when I find out it will be on my list of places to travel too. Very beautiful and exactly what I need when the wind and snow is blowing in January!

St. Maatren was my guess too - what was the answer to the last picture??

Well lets see! I think I punish in a similar way! I was a very unruly child - if I was not happy - then nobody was happy! (I am still sort of that way, but that is another story!) My parents never made a big deal out of the situation and I usual came around and started to behave better. They were also never very strict, but when we crossed that line - then we knew it! I like to give my kids freedom to make there own decisions, good or bad. When they make the wrong ones then the s**t hits the fan. I think my kids are a lot more independant than most their ages - this can be good and bad. When that independant streak wants to come out when it is non-negotiable, that is when things can get a little out of control. But we just explain that for somethings - Mom and Dad have the final say. It usually works

Thank you for the encouragement! I know what we did was the right thing but wow did we get looks from others! It is tough raising kids now a days!

My girls are 13, 12, 9, & 6. And yes the occasional time they do get a paddle! On our last vacation on the Disney Wonder our 6 year old had a major melt down - and I mean major! She was crying and screaming because she missed the Pirate Party - well, she was picked up and taken to our room and was not allowed out for the rest of the evening. So while her sisters went up and enjoyed ice cream and cookies as the ship sailed from Nassau - she was stuck in the stateroom! Not much fun for Mom and Dad, but wow was she very well behaved for the remainder of our vacation!

I have 4 little darlings of my own and we travel quite a bit with them. They have seen Europe, the Caribbean, cruised, etc. They are fairly well behaved (aside from the occasional melt down) because they know that if they act up - it will be the last vacation for a long, long time! It does get very difficult to make them behave when you have other kids running around out of control! We have also seen parents who need help in the social department! We were recently on the Disney Cruise and we had adults shoving my kids out of the way so they could be in line first to see Snow White with there 6 month old! Crazy! I really hope that the time comes when society becomes less of a me, me, me way of thinking and we can be curteous to each other again!

Thanks momabear - some of those times are even close to the ones I have been given. But I am 7 months away from cruising. I really like your times Mine are printed as: Tues - GC 7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Wed - Costa Maya - 10 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Thurs - Cozumel - 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Fri - Belize - 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. I will not worry about it now, just nice to know I have to keep an eye on it - would not want to have to rush our golf games!

Kincarine (in Ontario, Canada)

Being a family of 6 I really like to have that 1 on 1 contact with my TA. I want to make sure that out rooms are connecting and are in a good area! Sitting down with a live person and hashing out the details is just more comfortable. I do book my air seperate and on my own - you just cannot beat SWA deals and travel agents do not get as good of deals as I do using their website. I was going to book our next cruise through the cruise line, but I went with my TA when her price was the same. She also did the leg work in organizing my golf excursions. One of these days an internet sale will arise and I will book that - but until then my TA has been good to us for the past 5 years.

Momabear - can you please give me the itinerary for the week? Ports and times and dates and for how long they are going to be doing this. I have already booked my golf excursions for our January cruise and I want to know if I have to call them and switch or if they will notify me. We are not golfing in Belize but was going to book the Cave Tubing - let me know how it is.

I am guessing Marigot in St. Martin - but I do not think I am right. The color of the larger building is off, but that is my guess.

I do Scrapbooking for all of our vacations. My kids just love to sit down and look at all the pictures and read what we did - it has many great memories in it! I am falling behind though and I still have to get our Disney Cruise put into it. It is nice to do it a few months later and relive it all once again!

The Disney ships are great for both families and couples only. They have an adults only restaurant (Palo's) and an adults only pool, bar and deck area. I was very surprised that we did not have the feeling that we were over run by kids! They do limit the amount of children on board and there are plenty of activities that are for the adults only. The one thing I liked about Disney is the service - we experienced excellent service everwhere on the ship. Our stateroom host was very nice, we loved our Server and Assistant Server. Even our head Server came over and chatted every night. I am not sure of the protocol on other lines but from talking to CM's they are in orientation for 2 months before they actually sail on the Disney ships!! We are actually cruising again in January with just my husband and I and have opted for Carnival Miracle - but only because of the itinerary and the fact that we want to golf at each port. If you are going for a party atmosphere - Disney would not be my first pick. If you are going for a truly relaxing vacation where you know the customer comes first - that is Disney.