Panama Canal Cruise EB August 2008 Disney Cruise Line

Lori & Michael’s 25th Anniversary Cruise

My name is Lori and my husband, Michael, and our 16-year-old son, Aaron, live in Beaverton, OR. Travel with us as we sail from Los Angeles, CA to Port Canaveral, FL
Lori, Michael, Aaron

We made our reservations for this vacation waaaay back on 1/31/2007. Our original plans called for 4 of us to travel, but our oldest decided he wouldn’t be able to make it. Disney Vacation Club and the Disney Cruise Line allowed us to drop him from the reservation in one easy phone call and they were quick to refund his fare to our credit card. (We used DVC points for two and paid cash for two.) A few months later we decided we wanted to use points for our other son and it was also very easy to convert that payment from cash to points with one simple call to DVC.

This is the first cruise where we could take advantage of online check-in and online reservations for excursions and Palo. A few days before our booking window was to open I realized that they didn’t show us as Castaway Club members (i.e., repeat cruise guests). Castaway Club members are afforded several nice little perks one of which is a 90-day booking window for excursions and Palo reservations. It took a few phone calls to get to the bottom of this oversight, but I finally got it straightened out.

Early on May 19 I was online to book the couple of things we really wanted to do. One excursion was already full! I was very surprised and extremely disappointed. A call to the Cruise Line made me feel a little better. The excursions are not necessarily full and neither are the Palo or spa reservations. Many guests do not have internet access (imagine that!) and will book on embarkation day once they board the ship.

I did secure a dinner reservation at Palo, Aaron is set for the teen cruise in Puerto Vallarta, and we’re lined up to snorkel in both Aruba and on Castaway Cay. In the days and weeks since May 19, I have checked back on excursion availability numerous times and have found that groups or sessions have been added to many. I was able to book myself on the zip line tour in Cabo. I seem to have grabbed the last spot available in that group, but I’m hopeful that Aaron will be able to join me.

Breaking News! Less than a week before we sail: I just checked back again and I was able to reserve a spot for Aaron! Yeah! The best part? Aaron is excited, too! I got a hug and a thank-you! (This tour is just not Michael’s “cup of tea”; he may choose to explore on his own like checking out Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo or trying to find a great cigar.) We also are booked on a city and shopping tour in Cartagena; emeralds,.here I come!

So, the moral of this online reservation story is that the booking window is only slightly important, be flexible, and check back often!

Michael and I have no particular plans yet for Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. The planner in me is really uncomfortable with this, but I’ll try hard to loosen up and just go with how we feel on those days.

I know this trip is not a project per se, but I do have some goals for myself.
Number one: Relax.
This could be a challenge, but a massage on the first sea day should help get both Michael and me on our way.

Number two: Read.
I’m finally getting around to the last Harry Potter book. I’m visualizing myself on the verandah, feet up, and totally engrossed in my page-turner.

Number three: Exercise and don’t overindulge.
Regular visits to one place I’ve never before set foot: the Disney Magic fitness center. All right, so this one may be tough. I’ll make sure to wear that new bikini within the first couple of days as it may not fit too well after that!

Next up will be packing. The goal here will be to bring enough to minimize the amount of laundry we’ll need to do on the ship, but not too much so that we need to purchase additional luggage to get everything home. Don’t laugh. We’ve had to do this more than once from WDW.

Men’s dress clothes can be tricky to pack not to mention taking up a lot of space. We’ve rented tuxes from CruiseLineFormal.com twice before and found their service to be very convenient. The boys simply visit a local tux shop for a complimentary measure. Then, we use those numbers to order online (or via an 800 phone number). On embarkation day, our room steward delivers the order and the guys are set! It’s a good idea to try on everything as soon as you can to confirm proper fit; minor alterations can be accommodated if discovered early. At the end of the trip, you simply put everything back together on the hangers provided and the room steward handles the return. Easy.

Let me share another lesson that we learned the hard way. Before leaving town, contact your credit card provider notifying them that you will be traveling outside of the country. The last time we cruised, our credit card was rejected in one of the ports. Fraud protection kicked in! Of course, this is a good thing most of the time, but not when ship-to-shore phone rates run $2.50 per minute and our bank didn’t want to accept an online “okay” to release the card (although eventually they did). This time we called ahead. The Disney Visa folks took my info regarding travel dates and ports noting all of this in my account. Another Visa we have through our credit union was not as accommodating. They assured us that fraud protection would kick-in and could be released with a phone call, and, no, they couldn’t do anything about it ahead of time. (Maybe it’s time to trade in that card”.)

So, here’s our schedule for the 15 nights:

Â· Sunday, 8/17: Port of Los Angeles

Â· Monday, 8/18: At Sea

Â· Tuesday, 8/19: Cabo San Lucas

Â· Wednesday, 8/20: Puerto Vallarta

Â· Thursday, 8/21: At Sea

Â· Friday, 8/22: Acapulco

Â· Saturday, 8/23: At Sea

Â· Sunday, 8/24: At Sea

Â· Monday, 8/25: Panama Canal

Â· Tuesday, 8/26: Cartagena

Â· Wednesday, 8/27: At Sea