Anybody else going on Enchantment West Caribbean on February 19, 2005?

[StacyinKs]

Me and my Fiance will be going on our very first Cruise then. We are so excited! This IS Our Dream Vacation! He won the cruise from a drawing at his work. Just about 5 weeks to go and we CANNOT wait!

I have been reading and have learned ALOT through just reading the posts here.

 

[jacie rei]

Hello!!!! Stacyinks

We are going on The Enchanment of the Sea on the same date from FLL. We are two families going with two teenagers each. We can not wait. It is the first time for my family. I have been posting things about this cruise for awhile. It seems that there are not many people who read the message boards who are going. I am learning a lot on these boards also. I am glad to see that someone else will be on the boat also.

Jacie

 

[jodymc]

We are also on the Enchantment on 2/19. There are 10 of us going (2 families) with 5 boys ages 12,15,16,17 & 18 and 1 girl age 11. It is our second cruise and our friend's firsl cruise.
We are flying in to Florida on Friday night. I hope we dont have a blizzard that weekend like we are having now.

 

[jacie rei]

We are also staying the night before. We are staying at The Hyatt in FLL. We were worried about weather like this that is why we did it. We can not wait. We have three teenage girls, 13. 16 & 16. One boy who is 13. The snow here is really nasty. We just want to get out of here soon.
Do they have a lot for the kids to do. I am worried that they will be board. My son is very active. At home he never stays still. The girls are also active. Do you get your children the soda cards? Our packet said the soda cards are $4.00 per day. I just can not imagine all the stuff that goes on on a boat.
Jacie

 

[jodymc]

Jacie,

We are staying at the Marriott Springhill Suites the night before the cruise and again the night we get back. I am a little nervous because we are flying into Ft. Lauderdale on Friday night...if we get another storm like this I may try and get out earlier.
I have a son who is 12 and will turn 13 in March. I plan to have him go to the kids/teen program at least the first day so that he can meet others. I also have a 16 year old and an 18 year old who is bringing a friend. Last cruise they did not go to the program at all and although we traveled with friends I think they missed out. I am hoping that there is more for them to do this time as last cruise was on the Norway which is a very old NCL ship. I know this ship has a rock wall and some putting greens and I believe is more geared for kids and teens. There should be alot of kids/teens on this trip since it is February recess.
From reading posts on different web sites I learned about different excursions. Last time we used the ship excursions but we got better deals booking them ourselves. From what all the posts say this is a good way to go. We are going swimming with the stingrays and snorkeling in GC with Nativeways. In Jamaica we are climbing the falls, going to Fern Gully and water tubing with Trevor Hudlin. Hopefully there will be time to go to Margaritaville.

 

[jacie rei]

Hello!!!

We are staying just the night before. We are coming home the afternoon that we dock. Hopefully the weather gets better. We live in Rhode Island. We have quite a bit of snow this past weekend. It is really nasty.

I have a thirteen year old son. Who I will encourage to go to the kids/teen program. He can be sort of shy at first. There is also a thirteen year old girl who I am sure will go also. The other two girls are both 16 and can't wait. I have heard from others that there are quite a few things for the kids to do. We are also go on Stingray and snorkeling tour. We haven't booked it yet but we plan on doing so soon. We will also be doing dunn's River and water tubing and I can't wait for Margaritaville. I read that they have waterslides there. It should be great for the kids and the parents. We are really excited.
Jacie

 

[hastica]

My best friend and I are going on Enchantment from FLL on Feb 19. It is our first cruise also. How ironic is this. She also won the trip through her employer. We are very excited , maybe we could meet on the ship and do some thing in Jamacia together, after reading some of the stuff on here I am almost afraid to leave the ship there!!!!




Carol
Baltimore, MD

 

[StacyinKs]

Hi Jacie, Jody and Carol!

25 Days to go!

Carol-Congratulations to your friend on winning that cruise!!!
My Fiance's family will be keeping our 2 young sons, ages 3 and 5. This will be our time away from the boys..I know I am going to have such a hard time being away from them for 5 nights, but I am sure I am going to miss them more than they will me.

I have also decided to book our excursions myself. It sounds like the ship excursions will be very crowded..and I have also discovered that booking on my own is MUCH Cheaper than booking through the ship.

In Jamaica-We have booked a tour with Phil Lafayette. I have read lots of wonderful things about him and since we haven't decided exactly WHAT we will be doing with our time in Ocho Rios, we are just lookign forward to having him show us around and being open to his suggestions. We are thinking about visiting Dolphin Cove, and of course we will be stopping in at Margaritaville!

For Grand Cayman- We have booked a Sting Ray/Snorkel excursion in the afternoon with Captain Marvin. As of right now, we are not quite sure as to how we will spend the morning in Grand Cayman just yet. Some things we are considering are either visiting Hell or The Butterfly Farm.

Make sure you guys visit the Margaritaville website and Find the Salt Shaker. You print off the certificate and will get a Free Margarita!

Stacy

 

[hastica]

Stacy,

That sounds great. We have been unble to book anything as we will not recieve any type of paperwork until 2 weeks prior to embarkment. Margaritaville was one place on our agenda for Jamacia. I am hoping to do the Dolphin touch experience. they also have a tour of the best of ocho rios, that looked like it may be pretty good. Lots of shopping which I would love to do without alot of the agressiveness I have read about.

we are planning to do the stingray snorkel also. A friend of mine, who cruises atleast once a year did the butterfly farm and she was not impressed with it. So we have decided to go to "hell" and the turtle farm.

I am very anxious about cruising and not quite sure what to expect. I have done alot of research online and alot of sites like this one have helped. There are lots of things i want to do on the ship. The first of which may be a massage, but i am on a budget, so if it is too expensive I might have to look for something else. I would also like to take some dance lessons, but i am also not sure if Enchantment offers those.
My best Friend and I are flying in early saturday morning to FT Lauderdale and are not quite sure what we will do for the five hours before we can begin boarding. But I am sure there will be something. I just don't want to miss the boat!!!

I also look forward to sometime away from my busy life of work, kids and the husband. This trip was kind of sprung on me , so I am hoping to have income taxes back in time for the trip!


25 More days to go and I can not wait... Already started tanning to prepare my self !

allthough you will miss your boys, I am sure you will love a little time away . I know I will. My children are 8 and 13. If I like cruising as much as i think i might. I am thinging about booking one for our 14th anniversary. I was just a little apprehensive about spending that kind of money, not knowing if i would enjoy it or not. So I am going to treat this trip as a " free sample" if you will.



Carol

 

[StacyinKs]

Carol,
I can def understand the budget, as we are on one of those ourselves and like you, this trip was sprung on us too..but I am sure not complaining..lol

We are hoping that our income tax will be back in time to have a little extra spending money ourselves. We haven't received our Cruise documents either, but I was still able to go ahead and book with Phil Lafayette and Captain Marvin. I hope those Cruise documents hurry up already..lol It just won't feel "official" until we have those in hand. I cannot believe they wait until about 2 weeks..lol

I haven't heard a whole lot about the Butterfly Farm, but it is just tentative for now. The admission is $15 per person..so we are still thinking on that one.

If I had a better idea about the bus system..how fast it gets you around, etc..we thought about just taking a bus ride around the island to check it out. There are so many things to do, but we are trying not to scehdule and plan for too much.

We are also flying in on Saturday Morning. I have been reading alot of the Cruise Message boards and have learned alot, so now I have a better idea of what to expect. I have also picked up a few books at the library, Cruise Vacations for Dummies is one that had a lot of great information!

I am thinking about starting to tan myself as I am very fair complected. I am thinking I may do it later on this week or the beginning of next week. It is really coming up on us rather quickly. But you know the week before the Cruise is just going to DRAG!

 

[hastica]

Stacy,
Where are you coming from?? We should arrive in Fl at about 9:45 am. I never though about going to the library. That is an excellent idea. I will have to do that tomorrow.

Tanning I think would be wise, especially if you are fair. We will be closer to the equator and the rays from the sun are alot stronger. If you do not have some kind of base, you will burn very quickly. That would be a sure way of making your vacation a little less fun!

it's funny, we were talking about this trip the day before the drawing and I thought, yea right. Just like I am going to win the lottery. When I got the phone call the next morning I was shocked to say the least. This was the most pleasant surprise I have ever gotten. No complaining here either. Probally the last time in my life i will ever get to go to places like Grand Caymen and Jamacia.

We will have to keep counting down those days , before you know it it will be here and gone!

I like taking everyones opinion of the excursions and islands to give me an idea to better spend my time and money!






Carol

 

[StacyinKs]

Carol,
That is exactly why I am thinking about getting in a few tans before we go, to get the skin ready to go..and plus I don't want to be the only person on the ship with "glow in the dark" white skin..hehe

We live in Kansas, but will be leaving a few days early, as we will be driving to Cleveland, which is where my fiance's family live and his family will be taking care of our boys.We were also able to make arrangements to fly out of Cleveland as well..so that really helped.
You know, that is exactly what happened to us, we talked about the drawing the day before and we were like "Yeah Right" too! The night of the drawing, Dave(Fiance) called me and told me he had won..I gave him a heck of a time, as I was so sure that he was just teasing me..Never in a million years did I think he would win!
it is going to be here before we know it and those 5 days are going to go by really quick.

Stacy

 

[jacie rei]

Stacy and Carol


You should receive your documents soon. We got ours last weekend. So I am sure they will all come soon. I was really excited when we got them. We are going on pretty much the same excursions. We definelty want to go Margaritiville. That should be alot of fun. I still can not find the lost shaker of salt on the web sight. I will keep looking.

Jacie

 

[jodymc]

Hi Jacie, Stacy & Carol,

We are coming in from Rochester, NY (up near Buffalo) on friday night. I have read that you can get on the ship early even though the cruise line gives you a later time. I know the last time we went on Norwegian and we were on the ship by about 12:30pm. You cannot always get into your room that early so bring a carryon with a bathing suit. The lunch buffet was already going when we got on. I plan to get to the dock by about noon.
The last time we went we booked a swim with the stingrays in GC through the cruise line and it was $48 per person and that was all that we did. This time we booked through Nativeways and it is $25 per person to go snorkeling and to swim with the stingrays. Since we have 6 people this is a great savings.
WE have booked Trevor Hudlin for Jamaica. I am really looking forward to climbing Dunns River Falls...we did this on our honeymoon but that was a long, long time ago. I think Margaritaville will be great. Below is the address to the coupon for the free margarita:
www.margaritavillecaribbean.com/winshaker.php
I have been reading posts on cruises since we booked this trip. My kids make fun of me that I am on so much but I love reading about other peoples experiences and getting ideas from others.

I am thinking about tanning. I know my son and his friend are tanning before we go, but then again they don't have any other expenses. Oh well, I probably wont get around to it anyway.

Jody

 

[hastica]

Hello Everyone,
I am very excited. I m sure we are all going to have a great time. I also enjoy listening to everyone's experiences. 24 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to wastin away in JAmacia at Jimmy Buffetts!


Carol

 

[hastica]

20 days and counting you guys....... Pretty soon it will be down to the single digits. My friend wated to ensure all of you that you will not be the only ones with glow in the dark white skin!!!!


Jimmy Buffett here I come!!!!!

FYI I found the lost salt shaker..




Carol & Gina

 

[StacyinKs]

Just think...3 weeks from now at THIS TIME, we will be AT SEA! it is coming up quick! We just bought our luggage last night and picked up some odds and ends like travel size toilletries, etc. I also found the Ginger Altoids that I have read so much about (re:seasickness). May also pick up one of the bands, not sure if we will get seasick, but better to be prepared just in case. We have been on Ferry boats crossing Lake Eries, and I think if I can handle those and not get sick, then I will probably be okay..but..just in case..lol
Still haven't tanned yet, not sure if I will have the time to, but I am sure slathering on the sunblock will be okay.

Gina-Welcome to the "Glow in the Dark Skin" Club..hehe!

Carol-Glad you found the salt shaker!

Jody-My Fiance gives me a hard time for bring on so much and reading these boards, but I have learned so much from them! At first i was so overwhelmed, but these boards really helped out A LOT! Crise Critic has some pretty helpful boards over there too.

Jacie-No Docs yet, but I am thinking it will prob be sometime this week.

Oh, and I just checked the "Cruise Tracker", should be on "Page 2" in the next day or so!

 

[StacyinKs]

CRUISE DOCS came today!!! We leave one week from tomorrow for Cleveland!

 

[hastica]

Stacy,
11 days to go. Still no cruise docs unless they come today! Are you excited yet???? I don't even want to function for the next 11 days!!!! I am ready, Bags are packed and locked already!!!!! I can not wait.

 

[StacyinKs]

Hi Carol!
I am crossing my fingers that you get your docs SOON!

I am beyond excited! I can't wait either! Just need to pick up a few more odds and ends(MORE FILM, MORE BATTERIES, etc..lol) and we are READY!