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Old 06-27-2012, 04:34 PM   #1
IdahoDisneyMom
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Going Eastern!

We've done a 4 nt on the Wonder, and back-to-backs (4 nt, then 3 nt) on the Dream. We were going to do another 4 nt Oct 2013, since we get a few days off school in Oct. We were booked and ready...then our school district added those days back in to the calendar! Since we were handed lemons, we're making lemonade!!! We changed it to a 7 nt Eastern on the Fantasy in June 2013!! For those of you who have done 7 nts, specifically the Eastern itinerary, I'd love to hear your thoughts!! It'll be me, DH, and DD (14 yo when we cruise). Thanks!!
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Old 06-27-2012, 06:17 PM   #2
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Congrats! We've only done the Western, but it was the most relaxing vacation we had ever had!
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Old 06-28-2012, 01:46 AM   #3
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How great - congrats! We're doing the Eastern in December on the Fantasy, so after that, I'll have plenty of tips for you.
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Old 06-28-2012, 09:32 AM   #4
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Thanks Marnie! After enjoying relaxing at Aulani, we love the idea of cruising again!!

Cheryl - I can't wait to hear your thoughts!! Thanks!
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Old 06-30-2012, 01:24 AM   #5
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I've done the Eastern twice, once on the Magic, then last April on the Fantasy (it was the first eastern with paying passengers.

You can check out my TR on the DisBoards here.

In St. Maarten, if you want to do a tour, do it through Bernard's Tours. Our guide, Sugar, was awesome and had complimentary pop, water, beer, and something called "Happy Juice" (I think it was rum punch).

In St. Thomas, you can just take a taxi into town for some shopping or to other destinations, the prices were reasonable to me (I can't remember what I paid, I had too much fun on the ship and with the DisBoards friends to care).
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Old 07-05-2012, 03:51 PM   #6
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Awesome!

We just did the 7 night Eastern on June 16. We loved it!! My DD was 14 (turned 15 on 7/1) and her sister was 8.

My dd14 said that Vibe was more crowded than last cruise, however this was in June with school out and last time was in January. She had a great time. She hung out with another girl and boy pretty much the entire cruise. She met the girl in line for the aquaduck and said she doesn't even remember how they started hanging out with the boy in Vibe, but they had a lot of fun together and still chat almost daily.

The ports were great! We liked that they looked a lot different than the flat islands in the Bahamas. You can take a water taxi in St Thomas for $6 pp (all day I think) or $4 pp one way (that is what we did, as our tour dropped us off in downtown and we rode the water taxi back to the ship.) I was a little surprised that the tour guide stated that June was their off season on the island - since school was out - but appeared to be true. I only recall seeing 1 other ship docked in St Thomas with us. St Marteen didn't have a lot of other ships around us either (which was great if you were sitting on your vernadah or on deck).

We enjoyed the 3 sea days. They had good entertainers on the ship, we enjoyed seeing the family shows of each.
Animator's does both the Crush/Nemo show from Dream and another show where you draw a character and it dances on the screen - very cute!

Let me know if you have any specific questions.
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