I am still working on my stateroom door decorations and even considering whether I am doing personalized shirts for the family. Also on my list of things to decide is what to do at our Ports of Call. For our trip, we visit Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, and Castaway Cay, Disney-owned and operated island destination.
Disney offers Caribbean Port Adventures. And there are SO many to chose from and many different price ranges. There seems to be the general consensus that these excursions are generally more expensive than those you can book on your own, however one really clear bonus is that if you go on a Disney sponsored tour, and are late getting back, the boat waits. If you are on your own, you best figure out how to get to the next port because the ship will sail off with or without you. (unless you've left a child on the ship, then that's a whole 'nother can of worms that you can google.)
Now, even before I can confidently decide on an excursion, I am researching each port for hours and hours. The unintended consequence of that is that I'm already wanting to plan our next vacation staying in the Virgin Islands for a week, in the future, because I'm realizing there is no way we can do everything I want to do, or see everything I want to see, or eat everything I'm wanting to eat, in the short amount of time at each destination.
In an effort to keep all my research straight, I am using Pinterest. For the Eastern Caribbean Cruise I pinned tour locations and reviews of particular destinations. I will continue to pin items I find to look back at later. I also like to run these by my husband so we can yay or nay them together. I created a board to stash all my misc. planning called Get Ready for a Disney Cruise. Here, I have stashed a hodgepodge from packing ideas to t-shirt designs to door decor to pirate costumes and everything in between.
At this EARLY point in time, we are considering just doing an on our own day in Tortolla. The Baths is a destination I am truly torn about. It looks AH-mazing, but I also love the idea of just exploring the island and relaxing on our first day off the boat after 2 days at sea. Anegada is another location that I simply have to get to now that I know about it. I'm finding that the one draw back to a cruise is the time you get to spend at each location really makes it hard to take in all these beautiful places have to offer. Again, this is why I have a sneaky suspicion that we will decide to make our next vacation be a Virgin Island week long visit. This trip will be used as an exploratory adventure, so when we return, we'll know what and where we need to go and see.
I just started to research St. Thomas. I think that will be a good place to do an EcoTour or some sort of Disney Port Adventure. Right now the Kayak, Hike & Snorkel 5hr w/lunch has the most appeal to me. There is also a Kayak, Hike & Snorkel 3hr and a Kayak, Hike & Snorkel 2 1/2 hr. I think this would be just about Heaven.
Our third port is Castaway-Cay. Castawy-Cay also has a lot to offer. I'd love to stay in a Cabana, however, you pretty much have to be a VERY frequent cruiser to have to opportunity to rent those. See Disney Cruise Line Levels for more information about that. I'm all for Disney offering rewards for frequent cruisers, just sucks to not be one. LOL!
Well, that's all I have for now. In a future blog I will discuss other decisions we had/have to make and all the other fun that goes into planning and making the most out of a Disney Cruise.
Disney offers Caribbean Port Adventures. And there are SO many to chose from and many different price ranges. There seems to be the general consensus that these excursions are generally more expensive than those you can book on your own, however one really clear bonus is that if you go on a Disney sponsored tour, and are late getting back, the boat waits. If you are on your own, you best figure out how to get to the next port because the ship will sail off with or without you. (unless you've left a child on the ship, then that's a whole 'nother can of worms that you can google.)
Now, even before I can confidently decide on an excursion, I am researching each port for hours and hours. The unintended consequence of that is that I'm already wanting to plan our next vacation staying in the Virgin Islands for a week, in the future, because I'm realizing there is no way we can do everything I want to do, or see everything I want to see, or eat everything I'm wanting to eat, in the short amount of time at each destination.
In an effort to keep all my research straight, I am using Pinterest. For the Eastern Caribbean Cruise I pinned tour locations and reviews of particular destinations. I will continue to pin items I find to look back at later. I also like to run these by my husband so we can yay or nay them together. I created a board to stash all my misc. planning called Get Ready for a Disney Cruise. Here, I have stashed a hodgepodge from packing ideas to t-shirt designs to door decor to pirate costumes and everything in between.
At this EARLY point in time, we are considering just doing an on our own day in Tortolla. The Baths is a destination I am truly torn about. It looks AH-mazing, but I also love the idea of just exploring the island and relaxing on our first day off the boat after 2 days at sea. Anegada is another location that I simply have to get to now that I know about it. I'm finding that the one draw back to a cruise is the time you get to spend at each location really makes it hard to take in all these beautiful places have to offer. Again, this is why I have a sneaky suspicion that we will decide to make our next vacation be a Virgin Island week long visit. This trip will be used as an exploratory adventure, so when we return, we'll know what and where we need to go and see.
I just started to research St. Thomas. I think that will be a good place to do an EcoTour or some sort of Disney Port Adventure. Right now the Kayak, Hike & Snorkel 5hr w/lunch has the most appeal to me. There is also a Kayak, Hike & Snorkel 3hr and a Kayak, Hike & Snorkel 2 1/2 hr. I think this would be just about Heaven.
Our third port is Castaway-Cay. Castawy-Cay also has a lot to offer. I'd love to stay in a Cabana, however, you pretty much have to be a VERY frequent cruiser to have to opportunity to rent those. See Disney Cruise Line Levels for more information about that. I'm all for Disney offering rewards for frequent cruisers, just sucks to not be one. LOL!
Well, that's all I have for now. In a future blog I will discuss other decisions we had/have to make and all the other fun that goes into planning and making the most out of a Disney Cruise.
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