June 6, 2009--Anybody going?

[Taffygirl]

Hi,

We booked this cruise on the Disney Magic several weeks ago. I was surprised that I didn't see a thread for this date. Anyway, we are Steve and Marilyn from Delaware. Cruising with us in a cabin next to ours will be DD, Karen, her husband, Mike, and their kids (my wonderful grandchildren), Mikey and Katy. The children will be 11 and 8 respectively by the time we cruise.

This is DH and my 2nd Disney cruise. We were on the Disney Wonder last November with our other daughter and youngest wonderful grandson for four nights.

We hope there will be other posters here. :cheer2:

Marilyn

OK, I am adding Grandma Debby's post (#36) to my original post (#1) so we can have a list right up front of everyone on the cruise and posting. Grandma Debby is calling us June Bugs (don't you love it?), so will add my and my daughter's information too. Anyone not on here, please post your information and I will add to this list. Also see list at the end of this post for participants in the Kids' exchange and the fish extender game. Thanks Grandma Debby


Grandma Debby from Colorado
32 year old daughter (possibly her boy friend)
28 year old daughter - her husband - 3 daughters (11, 5 and 1)

disneydka - Dawn & Tye from South Carolina
16 year old DD
7 year old DS

mousecraszy from Irmo/Lexington SC area
me, Anna, 44 and Dh, Mike, 45 and DD, Emily, 11
Dmom...will turn 77 whilst on cruise!!!!
DsisterX3 (54, 51, & 49)
Close friend, almost sister, 53
Dnephew and wife, 30 & 28 with twin girls, 2 & 2
Dnephew and wife, 28 & 34 with two boys, 8 & 7

Rose Quartz from Orange County, CA
Connie (me),
DH George (Avid golfer...),
and his DD (my DSD), Kimmie, who will be 13

Myth-USA from Orange Park, FL
Jeff & Jennifer
Drew (9)
Zach (5)

AStamm from PA
DS - 10

Disneynut71 From Naperville, IL
Michelle
DS Tyler (13)
DD Emily (6)

Irensin from North Virginia
Lia
husband - Dave
Libby - 9
Ben - 4
Emma - 3
Lia's parents

kat123 from Bear, Delaware
Karen
Mike (DH)
Mikey (DS) will be 11 by time of cruise
Katy (DD) will be 8 by time of cruise

Taffygirl (that's me) from Bear, Delaware
Marilyn
Steve (DH)

Cruizen mamma-from Ocala, Florida
Dottie
DH- Mike
DS- turning 9 in 2 wks - Jake

PattiO (plus 10)-from Illinois
Patti
DD-age 20 at time of cruise
DS-age18 at time of cruise
DS-age 13 at time of cruise
Parents
Grandma (87) :cool1:
Brother and Sister-in-law
Niece-age 8
Nephew-age 7

M&M's mom from Flower Mound, Texas
Coral (me)
Bill (DH)
Megan 12 (DD)
Miranda 9 (DD)

Suz D from Morgantown, WV
Suz (me)
Jeff (dh)
Katie (dd 13)
Bobbie (dd nearly 3)

Traveling with us are:
Julie (df)
Terri (df)
Kelli (dfd 13)

Krisanm67 from Arizona
Kristine and her DH, MIL, MIL's boyfriend, BIL
and grandkids: Kellie (11) and Ryan (10)

Principessa from Indiana, PA (one hour from Pittsburgh)
Irene (me)
DH - Charles
DS - Kevin (13)
MIL Oscelletta (90)

Payogie
Husband and wife (names?)
Friends from North Carolina and their daughters (ages 10 and 6)

AbsyBabsy from Florida
Mom, dad, nanny, and 9 year old daughter

bode from South Carolina
Dad and 9 year old daughter

degrapevine Rose from Valrico, Florida
David
Rose
Eric (14)
Patrick (11
Gina (8)

bengals01 from Cinncinati, Ohio
Group of 28 people including 2 year old grandson

twinsindisney from Irmo, SC
Amanda (me)
Brian (Dh)
Olivia (22 months)
Katie-Grace (22 months)
The girls will be 25 months when we set sail!
Traveling with a big group from DH's family.

gottaluvEeyore
Jim (dad) and two daughters Kati and Addie.
Teresa (mom)
Daughters Kati and Addie (ages?)

wwtbamrob from Indiana
DH, DW, DS (age 15), DD(12)

MN Dis Fans from Minnesota
DH (Paul)
DW (Missy)
DS (Chad, will have just turned 14)
DS (Johnny, 11 who will be 2x months shy of 12x)

Michelleru from Phoenix, Arizona
Michelle
Kayla (15)
Kiley (12)

SheWhoMustgBeObeyed from Rockford, Illinois
She Who Must Be Obeyed (lol)
DH
DS (age 12)
DS (age 16)

MelanieSanders from New Orleans
Melanie
Jeanne Marie (10)
Matthew (12)

Euchre U from Texas
Kurt - 40-ahem (me, the designated sherpa),
Marlea - 40-ahem (the mom & chief cat-herder). Pronounced - Mar-lee, like Bob Marley the Jamaican singer,
Kyan Grace - 5 (HUGE Hanah Montana fan and diva in charge),
Kristopher - 3 (the smiley, happy boy who's 100% boy),


The following is the final count for the Kids' Exchange and Fish Extender Game from Grandma Debby

KIDS' EXCHANGE COUNT

Here is the FINAL count for the kid's exchange
I'm counting 17 girls and 9 boys for the kid's gift exchange
Kat123 - boy & girl
disneydka - boy & girl
Lia Rensin - boy & 2 girls
Principessa - boy
A Stamm - boy
Suz D - 2 girls
mousecrazy - girl
Grandma Debby - 2 girls (1 year old will not participate in kid's game)
cruizen mamma - boy
Suz D's friend - girl
Krisanm 67 - boy & girl
twins in disney - 2 girls
ppiew - 2 girls
AbsyBabsy - 1 girl
degrapvine - 2 boys & 1 girl

26 kids will be exchanging gifts so you need to bring 25 gifts and your child will end up with 25 different gifts - put names and where you are from on the gifts (such as Sierra from Colorado) and what the gift represents - nice memories for the kids


FISH EXTENDER GAME
16 cabins are participating in the Fish Extender game - gifts can be for the cabin or for individuals - please PM me your cabin numbers so I can put a list together and I will include it in the 1st night cruise survival kit that we are putting together for each cabin

Kat123 - 2 adults 11year old boy & 8 year old girl
disneydka - 2 adults 16 year old girl & 7 year old boy
Lia Rensin - 4 adults 2 girls (9 & 3) 4 year old boy
Principessa - 3 adults 13 year old boy
AStamm - 1 adult 10 year old boy
SuzD - 2 adults 2 girls (13 & 3)
mousecraszy - 2 adults 11 year old girl
Grandma Debby - 4 adults 3 girls (11, 5 & 1)
cruizen mama - 2 adults 9 year old son
Suz D's friend - NEED NAME - 1 adult 13 year old girl
Krisanm67 - 2 adults 11 year old girl 10 year old boy
twinsindisney - 2 adults 2 girls (TWINS that are 2)
ppiew - ANY ADULTS? 2 girls (7 & 12)
AbsyBabsy - 3 adults 9 year old girl
degrapevine - 2 adults 2 boys ( 14 & 11) 8 year old girl
MN DisFans - 2 adultes 2 boys (11 & 14)

REMEMBER to PM Grandma Debby with your cabin numbers

[disneydka]

I had been checking the cruise meet thread for a while as well. We booked late February for our 1st DCL/Cruise ever! We will be Tye and Dawn from South Carolina(originally upstate NY) DD 16-Chelsea and DS 7-Jackson.

[Taffygirl]

Welcome Dawn. I know its over a year until this cruise, but I am really surprised that there's not more folks on this thread. Other cruises we've taken (on other cruise lines) have often had very busy threads even way out. Hopefully more will join us.

Have you sent for the Disney cruise DVD? Its free and very good and shows so much about the ships and Castaway Cay which we really loved last time. I don't know what the teens club is like, but the kids clubs are great.

Hope you're having a nice Easter,

Marilyn

[disneydka]

Marilyn,

I do have the vacation planning dvd, which I have watched often and pop in from time to time to give me a boost when it seems that our cruise date is soooo far away. I also recorded the latest travel channel special about DCL and have watched that a few times as well. Plenty of time to save money and get in shape though. We have also gotten our Disney Visa which we are using for everything to rack up some Disney dollars to spend while on board. I am certainly a planner and have to keep talking myself out of buying things now for the cruise. My plan is to look for some pirate costumes that will be on sale after this Halloween as well as some snorkel kits that should be reduced after the summer. Any tips you have will be greatly appreciated! Hope you had a Happy Easter!

[Taffygirl]

Dawn, thats a really good idea about buying pirate apparal after Halloween. I really don't have any tips that I can think of at this point, but hopefully as we go along, will think of some.

I didn't see the DCL program on the Travel Channel. I'll try to watch for it. DD just told her kids yesterday that we're all going on the cruise. They are so EXCITED! We watched the Disney DVD today and DGS wants to watch it again and again and again. :)

Enjoy your planning and we will stay in touch on this board. Hopefully we will eventually be joined by others (unless we have the ship to ourselves). lol

Take care, Marilyn

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Hi

We originally booked the June 20th cruise when the dates for the 09 cruises first came out and had to switch to this date due to conflicts. It will be me, DH and DS who will be 9 when we cruise. Our first Disney Cruise wa Nov 18th on the Wonder for 3 days and we we hooked so we rebooked on board and then changed to the 09 date.

[Taffygirl]

Welcome Cruezen Mamma! It looks like you were on the Disney Wonder shortly after us. We were on her November 11th for a four nighter. Lots of fun, huh?

My DH was missing having a casino onboard to amuse himself with for awhile in the evenings, but he survived and will again on this cruise. He really liked Diversions on the Wonder, so I guess he'll spend some time in the counterpart on the Magic. He did go see "Ratatouille" one afternoon all by himself, and enjoyed it very much. :) Its a lovely ship.

Marilyn

[Grandma Debby]

Hey Taffy Girl - You have 2 threads going for this date (look at page 5) :lmao: My family ( daughter & son-in-law and 3 granddaughters and my other daughter & maybe her boyfriend & myself) are on this cruise :cool1: We are very blessed and have a 2 bedroom suite :yay: My granddaughters will be 11, 5 and 1 when we cruise so lets plan to exchange gifts with the kids - keep your eyes open for something from your state (keychains, little bags, candy, etc.) and when the time gets closer we will find out who all wants to join in ;) We will spend a week at WDW then board the MAGIC and we can't wait :dance3:

[Taffygirl]

Hi Grandma Debby and welcome. I don't know how I started two threads; must have forgotten or got really confused. lol Anyway, I love your idea of having the kids exchange little gifts representing their home states. What a wonderful idea. It will also be a neat way to have them meet each other at a kids meet and greet.

How lucky you are to have a 2-room suite. We were waiting and watching for the 2009 cruise dates to open up and even then, we were too late to grab a suite. We would have loved to do that with the kids, but as it is, they will be right next door, so that will work out fine. Those suites look awesome though.

Glad to have you all joining us and we'll all look forward to lots more great folks joining those of us already posting.

Marilyn

[Grandma Debby]

Taffy Girl - have your TA or DCL put you on a wait list for a suite. That is what we did and DCL called a couple of months ago and had both of the 2 bedroom suites available for this cruise. People book the suites and then when it comes time to pay deposits they back off so you might call and find out availability.

[kat123]

Hi everyone
(Mom I made it to the post!) - I am Taffy Girl's (Marilyn) daughter and my family will also be on this trip. We told our kids at Easter about going on the trip and they are so excited. They want to watch the DVD over and over again. (Wonder how quickly the DVD can wear out....or just send them over to Grandma's house to watch hers :love:).

I think it will be lots of fun counting down to June '09 together with everyone on this thread.

Karen

[mousecraszy]

Hello Taffygirl, disneydka, CRUIZEN MAMMA, Grandma Debby, and kat123

...we will be a group of 16 among five rooms, all kids at heart but for Disney's purposes 11 adults and 5 children (DD 11, Dnephews 6&7, Dtwin nieces 2).

disneydka...we are just outside of Columbia, SC in Irmo. Small world after all!!

Grandma Debby...our DD 11 was stoked to read about another 11 yr old girl on our cruise...she's a little older than the other kids in our group and loves them but also loves her tween friends as well. Hopefully they will meet each other.

We were on the Wonder for a VERY short 3 day in May,2005. This time will be my three sisters and their families along with our mother who will celebrate her 77th birthday while on-board. This will be a first cruise for several in our family. What a place to start...with Disney!!! While we've enjoyed cruising on other lines, there is nothing to compare with that Disney touch.

Looking forward to counting down with everyone here!!

[mousecraszy]

Hello Taffygirl, disneydka, CRUIZEN MAMMA, Grandma Debby, and kat123

...we will be a group of 16 among five rooms, all kids at heart but for Disney's purposes 11 adults and 5 children (DD 11, Dnephews 6&7, Dtwin nieces 2).

disneydka...we are just outside of Columbia, SC in Irmo. Small world after all!!

Grandma Debby...our DD 11 was stoked to read about another 11 yr old girl on our cruise...she's a little older than the other kids in our group and loves them but also loves her tween friends as well. Hopefully they will meet each other.

We were on the Wonder for a VERY short 3 day in May,2005. This time will be my three sisters and their families along with our mother who will celebrate her 77th birthday while on-board. This will be a first cruise for several in our family. What a place to start...with Disney!!! While we've enjoyed cruising on other lines, there is nothing to compare with that Disney touch.

Looking forward to counting down with everyone here!!:yay:

[disneydka]

I read this morning on the Cruiseline Forum that the DCL special is going to be on the travel channel SUnday morning at 10:00am. If anyone has not seen, it is a great addition to the vacation planning DVD. They show some sketches of the new ships at the end. I have it taped and like to watch it often!

[disneydka]

mousecraszy- We actually used to live in Columbia off of leesburg road, and are familiar with IRMO. It is a small world indeed. I will be having a 7 yr old boy on cruise as well. My DD will be 16 at the time so she will be spending some time (OK ALL her time) in the Stack. OF course there will be the obligatory family times. Can't wait to meet everyone. This will be our FIRST crusie EVER!

[Grandma Debby]

Welcome to everyone who has jumped on board - if there are any lurkers out there please join us as it is fun to meet everyone on the boards and then in person on the ship. :cool1: My oldest granddaughter who will be 11 can't wait to meet your 11 year old. When we went to Mexico on the Magic in 2005 she became best friends with a girl from San Diego and they did lots together - swimming, eating, movie, eating - they loved how you could go to Scoops or any of the other places around the pool and get whatever you wanted whenever you wanted it :rotfl: must be nice to be young and eat whenever and whatever. My new granddaughter will be born around May
15th so she will celebrate her 1st birthday at WDW then on the ship :lovestruc Start thinking about fish extenders or just a meet and greet on a sailing day - it is fun to see people you know on the ship and on excursions. The weather is beautiful here in Colorado today so I'm going back outside to work and play.

[mousecraszy]

Dawn- while we don't actually live in the town of Irmo we do live out near Dutch Fork High School. This is a rural area where I grew up. DH and I built on family land near my folks. This area has blossomed, and even though we are very much right in the middle of everything, we are far enough from the roads that we are still "in the country". I know your family is truly excited about their first cruise and I hope it is all you've dreamed of. Looking forward to meeting you neighbor...felt like Mr. Rogers there for a minute!!

Grandma Debby- My pecious DD is sleeping right now, but I'm going to show her your post in the am...after watching the DCL program at 10am on the Travel Channel, of course...I know she knows that other kids her age will be on the ship, but it really is fun for her to KNOW that another 11yo GIRL will definately be on-board...she is soo funny. One of my daughter's favorite meals while on-board is ice cream for lunch...I figure, what the hey...she's on vacation too!!! Makes a great scrapbooking page!! How exciting about your soon-to-be granddaughter! Best wishes to mom and baby and family.

Looking forward to others checking in as well...looks like we're getting together a pretty good crew being over a year away...but, the time will pass and really for me planning is half the fun. Wishing all good health!!

[Grandma Debby]

I'm taking a break from working outside in my rose beds and decided to catch up on our cruise thread and I had to go to page 4 to find us:surfweb: It is really exciting to see the extended families going on this cruise - lets keep a kids exchange planned and a meet and greet for all :banana: Part of the fun is planning but a BIG fun part is getting to know your "neighbor" - couldn't resist the Mr. Rogers lead in - before. So jump on baord and tell us about your family or you can lurk in your chair and just enjoy our fun :woohoo:

[Grandma Debby]

It is May in Colorado - snow, wind, rain and sunshine (all in one day) :confused3 The wind is really blowing today so I decided to catch up on my Disney trip planning while I had a few minutes - new granddaughter is still not here although she's really not due until May 15th - but I imagine with 3 granddaughters I will be busy very soon:lmao: I had to go to page 5 to find our cruise meet so either the ship will be only half full with our families :banana: or people are just waiting to jump on board :rolleyes1
Disney cruises are the best vacation for a multigenerational family as there is so much to do or not do :goodvibes Can't wait to meet more families and remember it only a little over a year away to we say "bon voyage" :woohoo:

[Taffygirl]

Hi All,

Boy, this is a slow thread. :( Now that we are almost just a year away, I hope it becomes more active. I admit that I haven't been on it much either, but I know we should have lots of fun things to discuss and share as the cruise gets closer.

Welcome to anyone who has peeked on here but not posted.

Marilyn

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Hard to believe that this time next year we'll all be ready to board the Magic- :cool1: , my son's last full day of school is today- he'll have 3 half days then that's it,:banana: next year we'll be getting out on the 3rd. We plan on staying in Cocoa Beach for two days before we board- at either 4 points Sheraton or the Radisson. Anyone else palnning to arrive at the port a day or two before?

[Grandma Debby]

We will be at WDW for the week before we sail and are going back & forth between Disney bus to the port or a limo - need to check prices and times. :confused3

Brooklyn Kate is finally here!! She is the newest member of our family so now I have to contact Disney (World & cruise) and change her name from TBA. :rotfl:

When I check availability on our cruise there are still cabins available so maybe everyone is going to take a different Eastern cruise this next year and leave the June 6 Magic to us. :thumbsup2

My 11 year old granddaughter and mousecraszy's 11 year old daughter (when they sail) are emailing each other and they have a LOT in common - hope there are others out there who would like to be a part of our kid's exchange and get togethers. :banana:

June 6th is just around the corner - isn't 369 days just around the corner :rotfl2:

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Today was DS -(8 1/2 will be 91/2 by cruise) last day of school- and all I could think of was this time next year will be in COCOA BEACH !!!!!!!!!:cool1:

I think I know why this is a slow start thread- we need a fancy name for our group- there's the Tortola Treasure Seekers and the Double Dips, we need a name Any suggestions??????????

[Taffygirl]

Anyone else palnning to arrive at the port a day or two before?


We plan on arriving a day early just to ensure we don't miss the boat! :scared1: Have not booked a hotel yet; will probably be near the Orlando airport. We want to see how to connect with the Disney shuttle to the port, like do we have to go back to the airport to get the shuttle? We took the Disney shuttle last November to the port. What was nice about it is they show a video which the kids enjoy (grownups do too). It helped pass the time on the bus and got the kids even more excited. :cool1:

Has anyone thought about what they are going to do in the ports? We've not been to St. Thomas before and I haven't been to St. Maarten's either (DH has in a previous life-lol). We have a Carnival cruise booked for January that goes to both of these places, so we're trying to decide what to do during each visit. Suggestions are most welcome.

Glad to see this thread has picked up a bit. DD and her family (who will be on this cruise with us) are taking a car trip to Milwaukee right now. Once they are back I'll let her know about some of the kids communicating. Her son is 10 1/2 and gets along very well with girls his age. :goodvibes Our granddaughter will be 8 by the time of this cruise. Are there any kids going around that age?

Talk to you all soon, Marilyn

[Myth-USA]

Hello all!!

We just got back from the Double Dip on the Wonder. It was our first DCL trip (but not our first cruise). CC two times was fantastic!!:cool1:

We booked the seven day for June 9, 2009 while on board:woohoo: .

We are:
Me = Jeff
DW = Jennifer
DS8 = Drew
DS4 = Zach (did not go on the double dip - he stayed with Granny:banana: )

And maybe DIL's Joe & Shirley.

[disneydka]

Can't believe it is now officially less than a year before we sail. I have two children who will be sailing with us, DD who turns 16 6/28 this year and will be almost 17 when we sail and DS who will be 7 when we sail. Would love for them to have the chance to "meet" kids their ages when we sail since they will spend lots of times in clubs. Their last day of school that year will be 6/4/09, we will drive down to FL that Friday night, not sure what hotel yet so that we are fresh on Saturday sailing day. Considering possibly extending our trip to include a few days at the parks afterwards. No idea about excursions as of yet but looking at minimizing additional expenses. THis will be our first cruise ever so would like to explore ports a bit. Have read a bit about renting Jeeps and touring, anyone done or thinking about doing this?

[mousecraszy]

Yes...this week we've been saying "a year from now we'll be...". We can't wait!!

Our last day of school will be 6/3/09. We are planning on coming down Friday before boarding on Saturday am and then heading to the WORLD for the following week when we disembark on 6/13. Undecided on where we will stay on 6/5 before boarding but will probably wind up at the Swan for the week after.

As far as excursions...DH will most likely do the golf excursion in St. Thomas...anyone one do this one yet??? I want to go to Coki Beach/Coral World. St. Maarten has the beautiful mountains that i would love to go up into that terrain and grab some awesome pics of the ship...so, I'm unsure there. Never rented the jeeps in any port.

Taffygirl...pm me if your g-son wants to e-mail. Grandma Debby's g-dtr has been great for my dtr as the other children in our party will be 8, 6, 2&2. As a protective parent, I was unsure of sharing info on-line, but after reading here about others doing this pre-cruise, I thought it was an awesome idea. Also...thanks for starting this thread.:)

Grandma Debby...congratulations on the new grand-daughter!!! I pray baby and family are all doing well. Looking forward to meeting Brooklyn Kate in a year!! Got your g-dtr's e-mail just now and my DD will be thrilled to write her back tomorrow.

disneydka...since the price of gas is getting ridiculous, can you just swing thru and pick us up on your way down...tee hee!!! We will have an 8 (one month shy of 9) yr old boy in our group as well.

CRUIZEN MAMMA...hmmmm...what could we name our group??? I'll have to ponder that one for a while...the June Bugs, the Eastern Ediots (idiots..HA), the Magical Maniacs...??? That's the extent of my creative juices at this point.

Myth-USA...glad you're aboard, so to speak. I'm assuming you had such a great cruise that you decided to do it again!! I, too, am looking forward to re-booking whilst on-board.

Good night all!!!

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

As far as excurions, our family really wanted to do the zip lines at Lotree but Disney dosen't offer that excurion, we'd have to book it on our own and I'm a little leary of that. We have 1 vacation rule: to do a once in a lifetime activity while on vacation, one year we did white water rafting, the next a hot air balloon ride over the Smokey Mountains, and the Dolphin Excurion last Nov- in the Bahamas. We want to do some sort of snorkel excurion and DS-will Be 9 and I are planning to do the Tandum Parasailing at Castaway Cay.

My son's only complaint on the 3 day was that he did not make any friends so I know he'd love to chat with mousecrazy's son and disneydka's son before the cruise. Please PM me if your children are interested in an email pal.


As far as a group name the best I could come up with is" Stowaways at Castaway" please submit your ideas.:hyper:

I think I'm most looking forward to Palo brunch, they don't offer that on the 3 nite. DH is not a big Mickey fan, and until the 3 nite was very apprehensive on cruising, but DCL made our trip so magical that by nite 2 we had rebooked and DH insisted that we not book any thing less than the 7 nite- ok Dear if you insist.:worship: :yay: . I did all the planning for the 1st cruise, he wanted no part, but as soon as we were home, he grabbed my passporter and read it cover to cover: rotfl2: - He won't admit it but he is a convert-
It's funny if we're not talking about what will be doing this time next year we're reminising about that last cruise.

I'm hoping 2010 dates will be so tempting that we'll have to rebook on board - but if not DS will turn 10 in Oct 2009 and I'll turn the Big 40 in March so I'm planning a big trip to the parks- DS has only been to the World once when he was 5, and I've never been to Epcot:( but have been to all the other parks at least once.
so we're gonna do it up right-

We'll have to see how things go-:rolleyes1
Dottie(Cruizen Mamma)

[disneydka]

Just reread this thread to see if I missed anything from before. ...I knew that I had planned to send a response the other day but time got away from me.

taffygirl...I see that you are going to St. Maarten and St. Thomas in January, please share what kinds of things you found to do there and any great tips. I also see that you have a grandaughter who will be 8, my DS will be 7 1/2 so they should be able to hang out a bit along with mousecraszy's nephews and cruizen mama's 9 yr old ds. she will be the Belle of the ball:) (ok, it's early)

mousecraszy.. I realize gas prices are high and almost thought about stopping on 77 for you until I saw you were a group of 16! I was also considering spending a week at WDW after the cruise but can't seem to get a price quote online, they are only pricing through December 31, 2008. Do you have a secret you wish to share? Then I have to see if I can convince DH....

[Taffygirl]

OK, I'm a senior citizen. What does PM mean? A couple of you ask me to PM you so my grandkids can talk via emails to your kids, but I don't know what that means. Sorry.

I will try to post some tips on the ports after our January cruise to St. Thomas and St. Maartens. I've heard that St. Thomas is supposed to have a wonderful beach area at Megan's Bay, so if we get there, I'll let you all know.

Have a great day!

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

A PM is a personal message- only you will get its not posted on the general thread. I just sent you one:)

[Taffygirl]

I got the PMs and thanks for describing them. :) I've shared the info on the kids chatting with my daughter who thinks its a great idea. I suspect the kids will start chatting soon. Thanks again.

[kat123]

Hi - I'm Taffygirl (Marilyn's) daughter and we safely made it back from our road trip. My DD (who will be 8 on the cruise) and DS (who will be 11) definately are interested in exchanging emails with any of the kids who are interested, to start to meet before the cruise. Definately let me know if anyone is interested. I can not believe it is only a year away!

Karen

[Taffygirl]

Where is everybody?

[disneydka]

Hey gang,

I have friends that are avid cruisers with RCCL, and they showed me a neat website that shows you what other ships will be in port at the same time that we are. Good information in terms of excursion planning to know how many other tourists may be there at the same time. You can search by ship and then departure date and it has our itinerary and then shows what other ships will be in the same port that day. It looks like Liberty of the Seas will be there on our St Maarten day with a possible passenger load of 6875. That is the only time we will see another ship in port other than Port Canaveral that is. The website is porttime.com

[Grandma Debby]

That porttime web site is great - if you were going to plan excursions or beach time on your own it would be REALLY handy :goodvibes

My granddaughter (who will be 11 on the cruise) and another one of the girls who will be 11 on the cruise have been emailing each other already and they are so much alike I think they will have a great time on the ship so encourage your kids or grandkids to find a friend early and write to each other - good practice for the summer vacation :laughing:

I would be willing to put together a list of who is going - using DIS names, home towns and ages of kids in the group and then we could add on to it as people jump on board.

Grandma Debby from Colorado
32 year old daughter (possibly her boy friend)
28 year old daughter - her husband - 3 daughters (11, 5 and 1)

disneydka - Dawn & Tye from South Carolina
16 year old DD
7 year old DS

mousecraszy from Irmo/Lexington SC area
me, Anna, 44 and Dh, Mike, 45 and DD, Emily, 11
Dmom...will turn 77 whilst on cruise!!!!
DsisterX3 (54, 51, & 49)
Close friend, almost sister, 53
Dnephew and wife, 30 & 28 with twin girls, 2 & 2
Dnephew and wife, 28 & 34 with two boys, 8 & 7

Rose Quartz from Orange County, CA
Connie (me),
DH George (Avid golfer...),
and his DD (my DSD), Kimmie, who will be 13

Myth-USA from Orange Park, FL
Jeff & Jennifer
Drew (9)
Zach (5)

AStamm from PA
DS - 10

Disneynut71 From Naperville, IL
Michelle
DS Tyler (13)
DD Emily (6)

Irensin from North Virginia
Lia
husband - Dave
Libby - 9
Ben - 4
Emma - 3
Lia's parents



PM me with info or just add on to this post with your info :banana:

See you all in 11 months and 2 days :cool1:

[Disneynut71]

Hello:flower3:

I am just getting ready to book our very first cruise ever!! We are so excited and can't wait to go.

Once I book (which should be the next week or so) I will post the rest of the details. I am torn between an standard or Navigator's Verandah. I figured by staying in the standard room I could spend more money on other things...like shopping.

I look forward to meeting other Disers on board.

[Rose Quartz]

Hi Everyone!

We just got back this morning from our 7-Day MexRiv cruise, and booked this cruise back to back with the 13th while onboard.

We had the best time!!! Now I just have to get to work convincing the family and friends to go next yearl. :worship: I find this funny, because when it comes to DCL, my DH and I don't ask "why?", we ask, "why NOT?":rotfl:

Anyway, we are Connie (me), DH George (Avid golfer...), and his DD (my DSD), Kimmie, who will be 13.

I will be back soon, to check in with everyone, but in the meantime, we are totally in for gift exchanges and DIS group meets. We had the best time meeting up with this group.

Talk soon, everyone!
Connie

[Taffygirl]

Welcome Connie and family. Glad to have you with us.

This thread doesn't seem to be very active, but hopefully it will become more so as the months pass.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. Marilyn

[Grandma Debby]

WELCOME Rose Quartz to our small group! Kimmie should feel right at home as we have several teenage girls in the group and I will add you to the list. Hopefully next year this group will start rocking and rolling :banana:



http://www.********************/timers/tickers/iz6mc5sfbboklw4d.png

[mousecraszy]

Checking in....sorry it's been so long. Trip to DC and DH surgery (everything is fine...yeah!!) and the most important is that we made the switch from dial-up to all wireless!!! We are rural and no option for DSL or cable so wireless we are and let me just say it is wonderful!!!! Summer is really going by too fast!!! My 10 yo DD will start back to school in about 4 weeks...boo hoo!!!! We're heading to the library this afternoon!! Our group o' 16 is from the Irmo/Lexington, SC area and will be as follows:

me, Anna, 44 and Dh, Mike, 45 and DD, Emily, 11
Dmom...will turn 77 whilst on cruise!!!!
DsisterX3 (54, 51, & 49)
Close friend, almost sister, 53
Dnephew and wife, 30 & 28 with twin girls, 2 & 2
Dnephew and wife, 28 & 34 with two boys, 8 & 7

This will be a first cruise for my mother and two of my sisters. Should be a great way for them to get their feet wet...OK, maybe that was not the best way to put it!!!

My daughter has been e-mailing with Grandma Debby's g-dtr and she just got the cutest pic of her holding her new baby sister. They're working on a place to meet so they can party together at the Sail Away party...thought that was a great idea!!!

Welcome Rose Quartz...glad you had such a great time on your Riviera cruise to book B2B!! I'm so looking forward to a great time.

Will be checking again soon. I'm sure my daughter would love for others to join her and Grandma Debby's daughter at the Sail Away party so please feel free to PM me so they can all get hooked up...yes, I've updated the site with our new e-mail address.

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Hi to all and welcome those that have joined us.
Just returned from our mini budget vacation to the "dark side" of Orlando- 2 nights at Pop visiting Universal, IOA, and Aqutatica. DS 8 3/4 is tall enough for the coasters and loved Hulk, Dueling Dragons, Simpsons, & MIB. Aquatica is nice but the Dolphin tube is not worth the hype still lots of fun.

Our big blow out vacation is this cruise and I just booked our hotel at the Four Points Shearton in Cocoa Beach for 2 nights 105$ a night :woohoo and they offer shuttle service too!! Internet only pricing For those outa state this is a really nice hotel : on the beach not far from port. I know most people use Country Inn or Raddisson but this will save you close to 50 bucks a night :goodvibes.

You'd think since I just returned from vacation I would be working- nope - I'm locking in deals for next year. Cruise is about 1/2 paid off, hotel done- PIF. Hope to do Kennedy Space Center day b4 cruise- DS is into space, Dragons, Pokemon and anything else a typical 9 yr. old boy likes.

School starts in 3 weeks here, after that time will fly by.


Hope everyone is having a great summer- can't wait till next year though.

[Grandma Debby]

Check out post #36 - our group is growing :cool1:

If you see mistakes please correct them and please feel free to jump on board and add your info :banana:

See you all on the Magic in less than 10 months :love:


http://www.********************/timers/tickers/iz6mc5sfbboklw4d.png (http://www.********************/timers/)

[AStamm]

Hi, everybody! I'm 99% sure I'll be on the ship with DS (who is turning 10 on June 6th). We haven't booked yet, but will probably do so sometime this week after figuring out if the new cancellation policy is only for those who book after 8/31 or not. At this point, DS and I (I'm a teacher) get done with school on June 3rd and are planning on taking the Auto-Train down on June 4th/5th and staying at the Radisson on June 5th. If we have lots of snow days there is a possibility of school ending later than June 3rd, but I figure I'd pretty much know for sure whether or not I needed to bump us to the 3-night cruise on the following week by the 75-day mark.

DH won't be joining us, so this will be a mommy & son trip...which has me a bit nervous and excited at the same time. DH made a valiant effort to enjoy cruising--we did a Carnival one a few years ago and DCL in June 2007--but we've all come to realize he's better off on dry land. I'm trying to convince my best friend to tag along though since she and I have been talking about taking a cruise together for the past 5 years and she's just as big of a Disney nut as I am (she even joined us on our DL vacation this summer).

I'm looking at booking a Category 12 since I don't plan on spending much time in the room (I have lots of visions of reading books by the pool all morning & afternoon!) and we'll be spending at least 2 weeks at WDW (with DH) following the cruise.

I'm totally up for a meet and/or fish extenders. Sounds like lots of fun!

I'll post once I finally book...should be this week (since I'd like to finalize this before DH and DS leave on their father-son WDW vacation together this Saturday...as if 10 nights at DL and 10 nights at WDW this summer weren't enough for those two :rotfl: ).

[AStamm]

I'm booked! So...unless there is a major blizzard this winter in Central PA and we have to tack on 3 more snow days at the end of the year, I'll see everyone on June 6, 2009 :goodvibes .

[Rose Quartz]

Welcome! As you can see, the thread is starting a little slowly, but I am sure it will pick up soon.

[Disneynut71]

Hello:flower3:

I am just getting ready to book our very first cruise ever!! We are so excited and can't wait to go.

Once I book (which should be the next week or so) I will post the rest of the details. I am torn between an standard or Navigator's Verandah. I figured by staying in the standard room I could spend more money on other things...like shopping.

I look forward to meeting other Disers on board.

I did it!!! I booked our cruise for June 6th. I choose the standard room. I figured I would use the money I saved on extras.

I am so excited:banana:

Michelle (me)
DS Tyler (turning 13 while on board)
DD Emily (6)

[AStamm]

I did it!!! I booked our cruise for June 6th. I choose the standard room. I figured I would use the money I saved on extras.

I am so excited:banana:
Congratulations on booking! Trust me when I say there is so much to do on the ship, you won't miss a veranda at all.

[kat123]

Now that summer is almost over (and kids are getting ready for school) realizing that June will be here before we know it.

Ready to start the count down! :cool1:

[kat123]

AStamm - I saw that you and your DS will be on the trip.....my DS will be 11 and my DD 8 next June. We are from Delaware (so hoping to have a mild winter too).

Definately think it is fun that the kids will get to "know" some of the other kids on the cruise.

[AStamm]

Now that summer is almost over (and kids are getting ready for school) realizing that June will be here before we know it.

Ready to start the count down! :cool1:
Two teacher days down, 190 more to go, but hey, who's counting :rotfl2: ? Oh, yeah, that's right...I am. It was so depressing to get back into teacher mode yesterday. I'm so looking forward to next summer and the cruise already.

[AStamm]

AStamm - I saw that you and your DS will be on the trip.....my DS will be 11 and my DD 8 next June. We are from Delaware (so hoping to have a mild winter too).

Definately think it is fun that the kids will get to "know" some of the other kids on the cruise.
DS, AJ, will probably have lots of opportunity to spend time with your DD in the Oceaneer's Lab. I'm planning on putting him with the 8 - 9 year old kids instead of the 10 - 12 since he's only turning 10 the day we leave and he tends to be a bit on the younger side.

[kat123]

DS, AJ, will probably have lots of opportunity to spend time with your DD in the Oceaneer's Lab. I'm planning on putting him with the 8 - 9 year old kids instead of the 10 - 12 since he's only turning 10 the day we leave and he tends to be a bit on the younger side.

Sounds like a smart way to go. Both of my kids are so excited about the "clubs" that I have to remind them that we are on a family trip and that there will be some time that they will be spending with mom, dad, grandma and poppers. LOL

[Grandma Debby]

Check out post #36 and look at our crew - I just updated so if anyone sees mistakes or needs changes just let me know :lovestruc

Hope your lurkers will be excited with our crew of "June Bugs" and join us :goodvibes

See you all June 6th :cool1:

[disneydka]

Grandma Debby thanks for keeping track of us all, it is exciting to see the numbers grow...I Love the name June Bugs as well!

Disneynut..welcome. I have a DS who will be 7 at the time we cruise so looks like they will be in the same kids club together.

I've started shopping for the trip already, found some snorkeling gear marked down and did some shopping on disney outlet for bathing suits for the kids and also some cute tank dresses for me...easy to pack and can be great on the beach or while walking around shopping, check them out. Was looking for matching outfits for us but the closest I could get was matching t-shirts for ds and dh.

Can't wait!!!

[kat123]

I like the "June Bugs" too!

To add to the list....

we are from Bear, Delaware

Karen, DH Michael, DS Mikey (11 by the time we cruise) and DD Katy (will be 8).

DisneyDKA - I have been hitting the end of summer sales too for trip stuff too :yay: . Picked up a couple of cute outfits for my DD that I cant wait to bring on the trip.

Mom (TaffyGirl) made a great suggestion to keep out for in the post Halloween sales.....with the Pirate night (one dinner/ night on the cruise) be on the look out for fun/ cheap dress-up items (eye patches/hat)

[Grandma Debby]

Taffygirl-
You could copy post #36 and edit it to your post #1 and then it would be easier to see who has jumped on board the June Bug cruise:cool1:

Let me know if you'd like to do this or if you need help ;)

Remember it is NOT to late to join our merry group :banana:

[lrensin]

Hi everyone,
My family and I are booked for the June 6 Disney cruise and my friend told me about this message board. Sadly, I'm still having a hard time navigating, but I did find this thread and I'm excited to meet other cruisers. Going with me will be my husband, Dave, my 3 kids (Libby -9, Ben - 4, and Emma - 3), and my parents. We're really excited about the trip. I'm looking forward to learning the ropes from the pros and getting to know everyone.

~Lia

[Grandma Debby]

WELCOME:goodvibes So glad you jumped on board - check out post #36 and you will see the rest of our crew;) We are growing slowly :confused3 but surely. Next spring we will have to decide what we want to do about kid's gift exchange, fish gifts, meet & greets or whatever:cool1: Till then just plan away and if you have any questions just ask and someone will give you an answer - great place to ask questions and learn alot before you board the MAGIC:banana: The MAGIC is in drydock now and I can't wait to see the improvements:lovestruc Hope all the June Bugs are doing great and that everyone on the East Coast is surviving the hurricanes - really glad I'm not sailing NOW:scared1:

[disneydka]

Welcome Lisa. We live in South Carolina though nearly 3 hours from the coast. Have been paying attention to the storms coming through one after the other which reconfirmed my decision to not sail during hurricaine season just to save some money. I also cannot justify taking my kids out of school for vacation, especially my 16 yr old. Hoping for smooth sailing next June. Was in Target this weekend and eyed some pirates costumes that I hope to nap for a discount on 11/1 :)

[ranidayz]

You guys are soooo lucky to have Lia (Lrensin) and her family on your cruise! We've been friends since college and she's the best! Have fun everyone -- I'll be so jealous....not going again until spring 2010!

[kat123]

Taffygirl-
You could copy post #36 and edit it to your post #1 and then it would be easier to see who has jumped on board the June Bug cruise:cool1:

Let me know if you'd like to do this or if you need help ;)

Remember it is NOT to late to join our merry group :banana:

Grandma Debby - TaffyGirl (Mom to me) is crusing the Baltic Sea right now, but once she returns I can help her to copy the post #36 to the 1st post :yay:

Her current cruise updates now are getting the kids (and me) anxious for June!!

[Taffygirl]

Grandma Debby - TaffyGirl (Mom to me) is crusing the Baltic Sea right now, but once she returns I can help her to copy the post #36 to the 1st post :yay:

Her current cruise updates now are getting the kids (and me) anxious for June!!

I'm back and yep, will need help in the copying post #36 to post#1. Just let me know exactly what I need to do.

The Baltic cruise was wonderful and I know the Disney Magic one with all the fellow June Bugs will be great too. Was happy to see more posting on here. Hooray! :banana:

[Taffygirl]

I'm back and yep, will need help in the copying post #36 to post#1. Just let me know exactly what I need to do.

The Baltic cruise was wonderful and I know the Disney Magic one with all the fellow June Bugs will be great too. Was happy to see more posting on here. Hooray! :banana:


Hey! I figured it out all by my lonesome!!! Woohoo :cool1: Hopefully others will add their information as they join in. What fun!

[Grandma Debby]

Taffy Girl Welcome back to America :goodvibes Hope you enjoyed your Baltic cruise and thanks for adding the list to post #1 ;) Only you can edit your posts but I know that you'll be glad to add cruisers to our list :) Only 5 more months till I start making reservations for Palo, Flounder's Reef for my 1 year old granddaughter and excursions so I need to start looking at schedules :confused3 Does anybody think they will change the order of special nights - formal, pirates, etc.? It will be interesting to see what the January cruises do with the new cruises added to the schedule - I just can't wait! I just can't wait to meet you all in person :cool1:

[Taffygirl]

OK, I will add information to post #1 as we get new folks on this thread. Anyone not listed in that post, please post your information and I will add it. I think folks are giving their names, names and ages of kids, and where they're from.

Grandma Debby, we want to make reservations for Palo also. When exactly can we do this and also, what is the current schedule on a 7-night Disney cruise (formal nights, pirate night, etc.)? I think pirate night on the 4-night cruise was on the same day as Castaway Cay, but I'm not sure. Also, how does one go about making the Palo reservation? Do we go through our TA or online on the Disney cruise web site or call someplace?

I think we also want to make reservations for the character buffet; how do we do that? Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Sorry I haven't been around lately, but please add me to the list we are:

Cruizen mamma- Dottie
DH- Mike
DS- turning 9 in 2 wks - Jake

Ocala, Fl


We are driving to Port Canaveral -Thurs the 4th and staying at the Four Points Sheraton-
Hurricane Faye had me a little worried although we had no real damage in our area ,school was called for 4 days - luckily the make up days were not tacked on at the end of the year. So plans are right on track.

We are planning Palo dinner and brunch, the character breakfast depends on your dining rotation -and are on the at sea days- your servers are suppose to let you know when yor character breafast will be.

Is anyone planning to get really dressed up for formal night?


I promise to check back in more often:upsidedow


Cruizen mamma

[Grandma Debby]

Welcome Cruizen Mamma and family :cool1: Glad you jumped on board. :banana:
We are not going to dress up as much on this cruise because we are flying so will be paying for every bag we haul down. We are going to WDW for a week before the cruise and with 3 girls we will have to bring tons of clothes and STUFF so we are thinking about black pants with different tops for the adults. I'm sure we won't dress up as much for pirate night either because costumes take up lots of room. So glad Hurricane Faye didn't hit you hard.

Taffygirl- suites and returning cruisers (CC members) can make reservations earlier so we can reserve at 105 days out. We have a concierge staff person who takes down all our info and then makes the reservations for us. In the past my travel agent has made reservations for us and did a great job
and I've also made my own reservations - just remember to link all the reservations for your group.

I think we are leaning toward brunch at Palo during Sea Day 2 (Monday) so we can relax on Sunday after a week at WDW. Nothing definite yet because I'm waiting to see if they change the order of Pirate Night to work with the other Eastern trips. Character breakfasts are assigned to you - always a sea day.

As I find out info I will share and I hope others will do the same. Have a great day :lovestruc

[disneydka]

hey all, we are firt time cruisers so we won't be able to book anything until 75 days out, March 23rd by my count. Not planning much for excursions, trying to pinch pennies, had a slower year this year at work than would have liked...probably plannig to get pretty dressed up for formal night so that DD16 can get extra use of her prom dress..we are driving down so luggage not much of an issue, would like to get dressed up for pirate night too, gonna catch some halloween sales. I've been reading a bit about fish extenders and exchanges. Looks like creating the extenders is a neat little crafting project. I am not much of a seamstress but my dd and I have talked about starting.

[Taffygirl]

Grandma Debby, thanks for the info on making Palo reservations. DH and I are CC Members, but DD and her family are not. Can we make reserves for her and her DH to dine with us at Palo? Is that what you meant by linking reservations?

Cruizen Mamma, I've added your info. Thanks.

[PattiO]

Hi! Everyone Add eleven of us to your list! This will be our third Disney Cruise and believe me we can't wait!! Cruising will be my DD who will be 20, my 2 DS's who will be 18 and soon to be 13 and myself. Also my parents and my 87 year old grandma who is a kid at heart! My brother and sister in law and niece 8 and nephew 7. We are from a small central Illinois town and after the Long Cold winter we will be ready for the Eastern Wonder! We have been on the Western in 2005 and were just teased last year when we took the 3 day to the Bahamas, it left us screaming for more, more , more!!!! Not sure what excursions yet just excited that we booked it! Patti

[GoofyYankeeGirl8]

Hello.
I'm the 16 yr old DD of disneydka.
i have a brother who at the time of the cruise will be 7 1/2 and i'm not sure if my mother had mentioned this or not, but I'm sure he'd be quite extatic to talk to someone around his age to play with. Let me know if you're interested.

[GoofyYankeeGirl8]

PattiO,
I was attempting to PM you, but seeing as I just joined today, I haven't quite gotten 10 posts, so I can't.
I'm the 16 yr old DD of disneydka [[as previously stated]] I'm actually JUST getting used to this, so pardon me EVERYONE for having mulitple posts.
I noticed that you have a DS attending that will be 18 by time of the cruise. I've been desperately searching for someone that will be around my age going on the cruise. i'll be 16, turning 17 within the same month. I was wondering if by any chance you knew of any other teenagers, around our age, that are going.

so yeah. if anyone knows of anyone around our age, or anyone who can give a first time cruiser any advice, i'm willing to listen!! :D
pm me if you can, idk if i can recieve pms or not yet...but i guess we shall find out.

:D

[mousecraszy]

Could someone please expand on the "FE Etiquette". I understand making the pouch-thingy that hangs from the little fish outside your stateroom. But what about your gifting. Do you gift every night? Seems like I would forget to this at least one of the nights...LOL!!! Can't believe we are just over 8 months now. Looking forward to a great cruise. Thanks in advance for educating me.

[lrensin]

OK - so I am the WORST board poster in the world! I don't know how you all have time to do this, but I really am going to try to be better about it. My friend (as you saw) has nothing but wonderful things to say not only about the cruise, but about the people I will meet on this board. As a newbie cruiser, I am also clueless on any dress up days/nights, this FE thing, or anything else I need to know. :scared1: I think the fact that it's Oct. is misleading me because it feels like forever until we go. But, I know that it'll take some preparation, so I need to get all of your sage advice.

I hope you don't take my inability to post regularly against me. I will definitely try to be more a part of the community in the future.

Take care everyone!
~Lia

[Grandma Debby]

Happy Halloween:cheer2:

Decided to take a few minutes before we take off for trick or treating to check in - my 4 year old granddaughter is SNow White this year and we are afraid her costume won't fit next June so don't know if we'll bring princess dresses or not - the little girls are so sweet dressed up in costumes and the characters are SUPER about taking pictures with them so IF you're driving and IF you have princess dresses you might think about bringing them :goodvibes

So glad to see our group growing :banana: - thanks to Taffy Girl for keeping us updated.

My granddaughter Sierra is writing to Emily (one of the girls on the cruise) and they can't wait to meet each other and I can't wait to meet all of you - let's think about a short and sweet meet and greet on Saturday after the life boat drill or on Sunday (sea day) - it is so much fun to see people on the ship and on the shore that you know and can swap stories with :hug:

Let's keep it simple on the fish extender game also - I'd be willing to start it and put gifts in each fish extender along with a list of who's playing the game and their cabin numbers and then you could put your gifts in each FE when it was convenient for you - think about it and we will decide everything in the spring:woohoo:

Enjoy your trick or trating and don't let the goblins get you:scared1:

[disneydka]

I don't know if it's coincidence of not...but I've been seeing a LOT of pirate costumes tonight. They are inspiring me to get creative for our Pirate Night costumes. I'll be on the lookout for some reduced costumes real soon!

[Taffygirl]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been on lately, no particular reason, just busy. I've got almost ALL my Christmas shopping finished :banana: , but nothing wrapped yet. I freak out if I'm not pretty much done shopping by Thanksgiving. Of course, then I see good deals on stuff and am tempted to buy more. Not this year however. The economy is so bad and we want to keep cruising!

Anyway, please let me know if I've missed posting information on anyone on Post #1 of this thread and I will add your information.

Hope everyone is having a lovely fall. Our leaves have all turned but not all have fallen yet.

BTW, DD and her family (who are also on this cruise) posted a long time ago that her children were interested in corresponding with other kids on this cruise, but hadn't heard from anyone about doing this. Her son will be 11 and her daughter will be 8 by the time of the cruise, so if anyone has kids or grandkids wanting to correspond with them, please advise and on how to go about doing it.

Thanks,
Marilyn

[disneydka]

Hey all,

I have been doing some Christmas/cruise shopping myself. I have been hitting the clearance racks for cruise wear for all of us and will certainly wrap them up as Christmas presents, doing double duty. I just got a package from Koh's, if anyone is interested they have some Hawaiin type shirts for men marked down to $10.20. I bought my husband two. They are the silky type that should keep him cool on excursions but mean them more for dinner while at Parrot Cay. DS already has two. Also really good deals on polo's especially for the boys, Tony Hawk striped polos for $6. Right after HAlloween I got us all eye patches and swords and hats for pirate night. The DCL box is getting full. I looked at Michaels for DIsney scrapbook with a 40% off coupon but the one's they have are more WDW themed. Does anyone know if we can only buy a DCL scrapbook onboard? Oh, and I got a Magic Bullet to bring along to make smoothies and such. I can't believe it's only 6 months away!!

[Grandma Debby]

Dawn-
Three years ago on the Magic there were scrapbooks (book with paper, stickers, etc.) and kits that just had paper and stickers :)

We were at Disneyland before the Mexican Riveria cruise so I used a Disney album from Creative Memories for both Disneyland and the cruise but the album looked nice with the Magic on it ;)

We are going to be at WDW before the cruise so I'm planning to use the red scrapbooks from Creative Memories that have Mickey on them for both vacations but plan to buy paper and stickers on the cruise. :woohoo:

Hope that helps
Grandma Debby

[GoofyYankeeGirl8]

My mom just found out that the price of our cruise went down, so you may want to double check your reservation price and the updated one and see if you can possibly get a better deal.

Just a thought, it may be worth checking to someone. =)

[m&m's mom]

Hi all!
I just booked this cruise about 15 mins ago. :cool1:
We got back from the 15 day EB Repo cruise in Sept and our girls could not wait to schedule another one.
This will be our 3rd DCL cruise and 6th all together.
We have a 12 YO DD and a 9 YO DD.
We have decided to be pretty low key with this cruise since the Repo was so full that we did not come back relaxed. It will be nice to not be up at 12:01am EST hitting Refresh until we can start booking Palo, excursions, spa etc.:)
This will also be our first cruise without our parents and extended family in attendance. My parents will just be coming back from a 4 1/2 month cruise around the world so they probably will not want to jump back on so fast.

[AStamm]

My mom just found out that the price of our cruise went down, so you may want to double check your reservation price and the updated one and see if you can possibly get a better deal.

Just a thought, it may be worth checking to someone. =)

I called this afternoon and had my reservation adjusted--saved $872! (but on the way home to make the call my automatic car window broke, which cost almost $400 when the other side broke in March...you win some, you lose some!)

[Grandma Debby]

Welcome to the June Bugs cruise:lmao:

Taffy Girl will pick up your info and add it to post #1 - won't you Taffy Girl ;)

My oldest granddaughter will be 11 when we cruise and she is writing to Emily who will also be 11 when we cruise so if your girls want to jump on board they are welcome or they can wait and see if others are interested - there is so much for the kids to do and if they have a friend or 2 or 3 you don't worry about them as much :laughing:

We are talking about a meet and greet and also playing a fish extender game so think about it and we will get serious in the spring :rotfl:

I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Grandma Debby

[m&m's mom]

Welcome to the June Bugs cruise:lmao:

Taffy Girl will pick up your info and add it to post #1 - won't you Taffy Girl ;)

My oldest granddaughter will be 11 when we cruise and she is writing to Emily who will also be 11 when we cruise so if your girls want to jump on board they are welcome or they can wait and see if others are interested - there is so much for the kids to do and if they have a friend or 2 or 3 you don't worry about them as much :laughing:

We are talking about a meet and greet and also playing a fish extender game so think about it and we will get serious in the spring :rotfl:

I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Grandma Debby



Thanks!
We are trying to decide if we leave the cruise a surprise or tell the girls. I think we will compromise and tell them in the Spring.
I noticed they took the cat 12 off for this cruise so maybe it is filling up and we will get some more cruisers joining us here.

[Taffygirl]

Hi All,

Sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to this board and add m&m's mom, but now I have. M&m's mom, if you like, please tell us more about yourself like where you're from and who all will be cruising with you on this trip. You can see the list of other posters on the very first post on page one of this thread.

Thanks much.

All my Christmas preparations are finished except I haven't made any cookies yet, nor done the grocery shopping for our big Christmas Eve meal (which is when we all gather).

Everyone have a wonderful holiday season,
Marilyn

[Taffygirl]

Opps! I see m&ms mom is from Texas. I'll add that straightaway.
Sorry, Marilyn

[m&m's mom]

Hi All,

Sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to this board and add m&m's mom, but now I have. M&m's mom, if you like, please tell us more about yourself like where you're from and who all will be cruising with you on this trip. You can see the list of other posters on the very first post on page one of this thread.


Sure.
Passengers:
Coral (me)
Bill (DH)
Megan 12 (DD)
Miranda 9 (DD)

We are from Flower Mound which is a north Dallas suburb.
DH and I are both in the computer field.

[Grandma Debby]

WE WILL BE CRUISING THIS YEAR :cool1:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and you're enjoying the new year;)

NOW the planning begins for REAL:lmao:

My 32 year old daughter got smart and dumped her boyfriend :woohoo: and she asked if she could have her own room so she could sleep in and they had 1 cabin on deck 7 just down the stairs from our suite and she got it :goodvibes I imagine she will spend lots of time with us but will also have a place to get away from three nieces, a sister and brother -in-law and her mother (ME):laughing: so now we just have to make sure that her reservations links with ours for meals, etc.

:surfweb: I'm going to request a PLA rotation for our dining so we can enjoy Parrot Cay the first night and get In The Mood, Lumieres on formal night (Sunday) and then enjoy Animator's Palate on Monday. We are going to book Palo for Monday brunch and Thursday dinner - trying to avoid Pirate night and late shore excursions from St. Maarten. Does this look good to you guys? :confused3

Going to have to read some trip reports this spring and make sure they keep the same schedule for the Eastern trip with the new additions also hoping someone will share Navigators ;)

Working on shore excursions as we will have a 1 year old with us along with scuba divers, fishing people and a golfer and ME who loves to tour the islands and see the sight and shop:woohoo:

Have a Happy 2009 and see you in June on the MAGIC:dance3:

[lrensin]

Sure.
Passengers:
Coral (me)
Bill (DH)
Megan 12 (DD)
Miranda 9 (DD)

We are from Flower Mound which is a north Dallas suburb.
DH and I are both in the computer field.


Do you think we could start a thread for the e-mail-aged girls to start talking to eachother? I have a 9 YO DD who would definitely find it fun and I agree that if she goes into the cruise "knowing" some people she'll be much more excited.

~Lia

[lrensin]

Just reading your message kind of overwhelmed me. For us newbies, what do we need to schedule and what should we look for?

Thanks!
~Lia

[Suz D]

Hi All!

We're the Daniels and we'll be taking our 4th Disney cruise with all of you in June. We just got back from a 3 day on the Wonder in December. Traveling with us are my good friend and her daughter. Here are the specifics...


From Morgantown, WV
Suz (me)
Jeff (dh)
Katie (dd 13)
Bobbie (dd nearly 3)

We'll be celebrating Bobbie's birthday on June 10th and mine on June 13th

Traveling with us are:
Terri (df)
Kelli (dfd 13)

We love all things Disney. We'd initially planned a week at WDW before the cruise as we like to end with the relaxation of the cruise vs. the run, run, run of the parks. We've had several snow days already this year so school will run into early June which resulted in our changing the week at WDW to after the cruise. This is still open to cancellation if we don't feel like we can swing both.

Looking forward to meeting you guys!

Suz D

[Krisanm67]

We are so excited! My mother-in-law just booked a cruise for our family. We are going to celebrate her 70th birthday :bday: There is a total of 7 of us going. It a lot of fun to start planning and looking at all the fun things we will get to do. We are arriving from Arizona, my husband, kids and I have never been on a cruise (MIL has been on many). My brother-in-law and my MIL's boyfriend are the other two going with us. The kids are ecstatic :goofy: Kellie is 11 and Ryan will have just turned 10. Looking forward to getting to know everyone and have fun planning out our trip. :tinker:

[Krisanm67]

:confused3 I've never heard of this. Where can I learn more? Well, I haven't had much of chance to read through all these posts, I'll do a quick search and find out.

[Krisanm67]

Quote:

My oldest granddaughter will be 11 when we cruise and she is writing to Emily who will also be 11 when we cruise so if your girls want to jump on board they are welcome or they can wait and see if others are interested - there is so much for the kids to do and if they have a friend or 2 or 3 you don't worry about them as much

I think my DD Kellie, 11 also, would like to chat with the girls too.

[Taffygirl]

Quote: I think my DD Kellie, 11 also, would like to chat with the girls too.

Hi Kristine and also Suz D. I will add your informatio to our list of happy Disney cruises on the first post of this thread (back on page 1).

We have two grandkids who will also be on this cruise (Mikey-age 11) and Katy (age 8) who would enjoy chatting with other kids that they'll meet on the cruise. How does one set this up?

Thanks,
Marilyn

[Krisanm67]

Marilyn,
Thank you for the welcome and adding my family to the list. I'm not sure how to set up a chat either - I'll try and find out. I guess they could talk on this board too? I'm new to being part of a board/group like this - a first for me.
Kristine

[mousecraszy]

Hi all and Happy New Year. Welcome to the people who just signed in. We are ALL going to have a Magical trip.
My daughter, Emilly(11), would love to e-mail your children. You can pm me and we can exchange e-mail addresses. My daughter and GrandmaDebby's g-dtr have been e-mailing. It's nice that they will already know a little about each other when they get there.
Also, someone wrote in that their mother will be turning 70 on the ship. As well, my mother will celebrate her 75th birthday whilst on-board. There are 16in our party. We are in 6 cabins on deck 7 up near the bridge.
We are also planning on going over to WDW after the cruise for a day or two.
Looking forward to a great time!!

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

ok so far I've done the following:

Started working out and dieting to get cruise ready:lmao:
Ordered a FE from Ebay
Decided on Excursions- We are going to do the Catermaran in St. Marten, just winging it in ST. Thomas, Parasailing in Castaway Key and renting Bikes around the island.
We want to do Palo Brunch and Dinner and I have to decide what sea day I want to hit the spa.
working on door signs -we've got a SPH room 5022
Booked Hotel for Day before
Plan to payoff cruise at end of the month-

Let's hear what everyone else is planning we only have 4mths people::eek: : :laughing: :woohoo:

[Krisanm67]

Mousecraszy,
Kellie is really looking forward to emailing and getting you know you dd Emily. I tried to pm you but it wont let me, I only have 4 posts thus far and I guess I have to have 10. I'll try to catch up and post more often. Just booked the trip last week and still discovering and figuring out what to post etc. I will PM you as soon as I can.
Kristine

[Krisanm67]

Only 4 months....

I started working out/dieting too...not sure how that will work out, but any bit will help me.

I think I'm going to make a FE - I need to learn more about that though. Do we do the FE every night, or on certain nights - just wondering how much stuff to buy for it.

We are still planning excursions. DD and kids want to do the parasailing, we would all like to try snorkeling and we want to explore and sightsee a little bit of the islands. I think we might try and get to Pinel Island when in St. Thomas (anyone know anything about that?)

I heard that Palo is not to be missed so we will do that for one of the dinners at sea.

We have our hotel for the night before the cruise - travelling in from AZ so wont arrive 'til around 5pm the night before.

Haven't started door decorations yet - but planning it.

[Grandma Debby]

I don't know what happened since the first of January :rotfl2: but I need to get back in the swing.

I don't think the kids should chat on this thread as it is open to all (worried grandmother talking here) - Emily and Sierra (who will be 11 on the cruise)have been writing back and forth using email and it works for them so if any other girls about that age want to join in we could set up an email group where the same message would go to all and they could reply to the group. Emily and Sierra have SO much in common I think they will have a great time together on the ship:cool1: My email is debby@bresnan.net and I would be willing to set up the group and monitor it a little :goodvibes

There are different ways to do the fish extender game and I'm thinking KEEP IT SIMPLE - we are flying down so I'm trying to cut down on extras - I'm thinking if every cabin or group does it once we will have plenty of fun. If you're interested in the FISH EXTENDER GAME send me a PM or email me at the address above or jump on board here and I will keep track and let everyone know how many cabins or people are involved - shall we use
April 1st as our cutoff date? Will that give everyone enough time :hourglass to get their act together?

Do we want to do a meet & greet - short & sweet - on Saturday about 3:00 before the MANDATORY drill? It's fun to see others around the ship and on shore excursions throughout the week.:)

Do the kids want to do an exchange? Bring something that represents your state or region - key chains, stickers, zipper pulls, post cards, macadamia nuts from Hawaii?

Post on this thread or let me know what you're thinking and enjoy the inauguration of our 44th president. :wave2:

[Suz D]

Because things are always so crazy on the 1st day, we did something fun on our last 7 day cruise. We all met for breakfast at Topsiders on Sunday morning. Many of us dressed in Disboard green so our group was pretty easy to spot. We said we'd dine between the hours of 8:30 and 9:30 at Topsiders. Not saying that we have to do that, but it did work great for that cruise. We didn't feel rushed at all which was nice.

Suz D

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Count me in on the FE Exchange -I like the idea of keeping it simple and each family doing it once /are we to give a gift for each person /just kids in the cabin or 1 FE gift per cabin? Also I like the idea of a breakfast get together- we always seemed rushed boarding day.
Doing the Happy Dance -just paid the cruise off:cool1: let's get ready to book excursions , palo etc.

My husband and DS made fun of me on our 3 day cruise because I made us shirts- this time they're requesting shirts- go figure:rolleyes:

[Krisanm67]

I like all the ideas. Maybe we should meet the first day, like Debby suggested so we know each other and the kids will meet too and then recognize each other for kids activities they might do. The last day sounds fun too, so we can actually relax and visit at breakfast. I'm up for either one or both ::yes::

We are in for the FE and the regional exchange - both sound fun :tinker:

[kat123]

Count us in for the Fish Extenders exchange.

[Suz D]

I like all the ideas. Maybe we should meet the first day, like Debby suggested so we know each other and the kids will meet too and then recognize each other for kids activities they might do. The last day sounds fun too, so we can actually relax and visit at breakfast. I'm up for either one or both ::yes::

We are in for the FE and the regional exchange - both sound fun :tinker:

Actually, the breakfast on Sunday is the first full day of the cruise. On Saturday things are really crazy with unpacking, the drill, and the sail away party so it worked really great for us to get together Sunday morning which is our first "at sea" day. For those who wanted to meet up on Saturday (we did meet with one group that we'd gotten to know pretty well) then they could just do that in addition to breakfast on Sunday morning.

Suz D

[Principessa]

Hello!

We'll be joining you on this cruise!

From Indiana, PA (one hour from Pittsburgh)
We are:
Irene (me)
DH - Charles
DS - Kevin (13)
and MIL Oscelletta (90)

Count us in for the exchange and Sunday meet. If those are the plans...
I've read most of the posts but I'm a little sleepy!!!;)

Talk to you later * Irene

[lrensin]

Count us in, too, even though I have no idea what fish extenders are. The regional exchange sounds great! My 9 YO is doing geography now and this would be perfect for her.

Does anyone have little kids? I have a 5 YO boy and a 3 YO girl. I think they'd like to get in on an exchange, too.

[disneydka]

Count us in as well for FE and for meet & greet, whenever.

[Krisanm67]

Actually, the breakfast on Sunday is the first full day of the cruise. On Saturday things are really crazy with unpacking, the drill, and the sail away party so it worked really great for us to get together Sunday morning which is our first "at sea" day. For those who wanted to meet up on Saturday (we did meet with one group that we'd gotten to know pretty well) then they could just do that in addition to breakfast on Sunday morning.

Suz D

Oops :upsidedow I didn't realize that, not thinking straight, LOL! Ok, either, or and both are fine with us.

Kristine

[payogie]

Hello everyone. This will be the ninth Disney cruise for my wife and me, but our first Eastern Caribbean. We are sailing with friends of our from N.C. They have two girls that will 10 and 6 at the time of sailing. I have already started packing. We only have 134 days left. :hourglass

[Principessa]

:rotfl2:
You've already started packing?!!!
That's great! I'm really jealous.

Nice to meet you.....9th cruise, wow, you must know the
answers to all our questions. That's great. Did I mention this
was my first cruise?

Hi Kristine,
Thanks for telling me to check the DIS boards about our cruise!
:)

[Krisanm67]

:rotfl2:


Hi Kristine,
Thanks for telling me to check the DIS boards about our cruise!
:)


:wave2: Your welcome! It's good to see you here.

[Taffygirl]

Hi All,

DH and I returned last week from a Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Valor. Am just now trying to catch up. If you are new to posting on this thread, please check the list in the first post on the first page to see if I've added you and your group. If not, post here to let me know who you are, where you are from, and ages of any kids traveling with you.

Also, if information is missing from those I've already added, let me know. We are trying to gather a list of all us happy Disney cruisers.

Thanks,
Marilyn

[AStamm]

Count me in for it all.

Does anyone have a good excursion review site or a thread on these boards they can point me to? My son and I narrowed our excursion choices down last weekend and I'd like to finalize them today since I'm home on a snow day.

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Count me in for it all.

Does anyone have a good excursion review site or a thread on these boards they can point me to? My son and I narrowed our excursion choices down last weekend and I'd like to book them today since I'm home on a snow day.

Just to let you know, you cannot book excursions until 109 days out for concierge 90 out for repeat cruisers or 75 days out for 1st time cruisers

[payogie]

AStamm,
For the excursions reviews , I really like the Passporter reviews. Their book is great for getting an overview of all the shore excursions, and they get a lot of feedback from those that have actually been on the excursion. I believe you will need to buy the book; they don't have the reviews on their web site. Checkout passporter.com.

[Grandma Debby]

Marilyn -welcome home from your Carnival cruise - tell us all about the islands and what you did and what you'd recommend :rotfl2:

Karen (Kat 123) - there are 4 girls who will be 10 and 11 on the cruise who are emailing each other - Would your son feel comfortable with girls? If so let me know and I'll ask the girls if it is OK for him to jump on board :thumbsup2

Suz D - great idea about breakfast on Sunday morning - the people who have their character breakfast that morning couldn't join in but I'm thinking if we have 2 or 3 get togethers people can make 1 or 2 or 3 SO

1) lets start with a meet & greet on Saturday (short & sweet) so the kids can meet each other before the Sail Away Party - the kids could do their exchange then :cheer2:
2) breakfast at Topsiders on Sunday morning for those who want to :goodvibes
3) Would anyone like to do a room tour? We would take a peek at the different categories of rooms - kind of fun and it lets you get ideas for the future :rotfl2:
4) Fish Extender game - each cabin or group of people would put things in everybody else's FE once (at a time convenient for them - so you might get 2or 3 things one day) - gifts can be for the cabin (snacks, etc.) or for each person (pencil, sticker, musical CD that you created, etc.)

Everyone put your thinking caps on and keep in touch:grouphug:

[Suz D]

1) lets start with a meet & greet on Saturday (short & sweet) so the kids can meet each other before the Sail Away Party - the kids could do their exchange then :cheer2:
2) breakfast at Topsiders on Sunday morning for those who want to :goodvibes
3) Would anyone like to do a room tour? We would take a peek at the different categories of rooms - kind of fun and it lets you get ideas for the future :rotfl2:
4) Fish Extender game - each cabin or group of people would put things in everybody else's FE once (at a time convenient for them - so you might get 2or 3 things one day) - gifts can be for the cabin (snacks, etc.) or for each person (pencil, sticker, musical CD that you created, etc.)

Everyone put your thinking caps on and keep in touch:grouphug:

1. Tell me again about the kids exchange. Is this the one that is from our state or is it something else? We're interested in whatever it is, but I just want to get going on it.

2. Count us in for the Sunday morning meet & greet but I hadn't thought about Character Breakfasts. We have never done them because our cruises have always been tacked onto a trip to WDW. This time we won't be doing that AND we're bringing our recently adopted 2 yo daughter (the whole reason we're cruising). We started fostering her when she was 5 months old and FINALLY were able to adopt her in July of 2008. We didn't bring her on our cruise in December because we thought she would be too young when we booked it. When we cruised in Dec. we all couldn't stand that she wasn't with us. She knows EVERY Disney character by name. The reason for this long story and the question about time on the Character Breakfast is that there is no way on the planet we'll miss it. We have early dining so I'm guessing that we'd also have early Character Breakfast. We met for a later breakfast last cruise (like 9:30) so those who had already eaten could just have a beverage or snack.

3. I have to look back to see what three is because after that long discourse I've forgotten...Oh! Room tours. Can you do that? I would totally LOVE to do that if we can. How does it work?

4. Okay, I've not been too enthused about the whole fish extender thing until this suggestion was made. I don't think I really understood the purpose and now I'm totally onboard (pun intended) with this idea. Count the Daniels family in on the FE's.


I haven't been really excited about crusing because we've had a lot going on, but I'm getting really excited after this post. I have one other fun thing up my sleeve that I did for our last cruise. I'll let you know soon if I can pull it together.

[Taffygirl]

Marilyn -welcome home from your Carnival cruise - tell us all about the islands and what you did and what you'd recommend :rotfl2:

Karen (Kat 123) - there are 4 girls who will be 10 and 11 on the cruise who are emailing each other - Would your son feel comfortable with girls? If so let me know and I'll ask the girls if it is OK for him to jump on board :thumbsup2

Suz D - great idea about breakfast on Sunday morning - the people who have their character breakfast that morning couldn't join in but I'm thinking if we have 2 or 3 get togethers people can make 1 or 2 or 3 SO

1) lets start with a meet & greet on Saturday (short & sweet) so the kids can meet each other before the Sail Away Party - the kids could do their exchange then :cheer2:
2) breakfast at Topsiders on Sunday morning for those who want to :goodvibes
3) Would anyone like to do a room tour? We would take a peek at the different categories of rooms - kind of fun and it lets you get ideas for the future :rotfl2:
4) Fish Extender game - each cabin or group of people would put things in everybody else's FE once (at a time convenient for them - so you might get 2or 3 things one day) - gifts can be for the cabin (snacks, etc.) or for each person (pencil, sticker, musical CD that you created, etc.)

Everyone put your thinking caps on and keep in touch:grouphug:

Thanks Debby. Our caribbean cruise first went to Nassau where we stayed on board b/c we've been there several times and it was a tad rainy, so we just enjoyed the ship.

DH and I had never been to St. Thomas which was our 2nd stop. We took an open-air taxi ride for two hours to get a feel for the island. It was very nice. Then we took the cable ride up to Paradise Point for lunch and a drink. That is pretty much all we except I did a little shopping in the stores right at the port. Our taxi tour took us by Megan's Bay which was very nice. Wouldn't mind spending some time there. I think a taxi to Megan's Bay cost $4 pp each way.

I had never been to St. Maartin's either, though DH had about 30 years ago in another life. LOL For this port we had a previously arranged private tour for $35 pp that lasted about 6-7 hours. It took us all over the place, both Dutch and French sides, we spent about 1 1/2 hours at Orient Beach, had shopping stops, and the tour owner even had coolers full of water, beer, rum punch, and sodas (included in the tour price). He also took us to a fabulous souvenir store that DH and I both want to go back to. It had tons of stuff and very inexpensive. The tour also stopped at a place near the water where a man showed us all kinds of sea life (sea urchins, star fish, etc) and told us about them. Very interesting. The tour also went to the airport where the planes come in right over your head. It was a great tour.

I think the room tour is a fun idea. DH and I have a balcony on the port side (I think) and would be willing to show it (as long as it isn't during DH's naptime!

Marilyn

[AbsyBabsy]

We are booked for June 6th - we booked one year ago today!

We have mom, dad, nanny and DD 9 at the time of the cruise.

I can't wait - only 124 days from today (2/1)

[bode]

Just booked the 7 night cruise as well. Will be cruising with my DD 9. Single parent here and this is mine and my DD 4th cruise. 2 on RCCL and now 2 on DCL. father daughter cruising is awesome. Will be driving down from upstate SC.

[mousecraszy]

Welcome bode!!! We will be driving down from the midlands of SC. Disneydka will be traveling from Rock Hill, SC. We are getting excited as well. We just look forward to getting onboard and relaxing!!! It is fast approaching. Count us in for meet and greet and FE game. Grandma Debbie has been so wonderful to get several of the 9-11 yr old girls e-mailing each other. Happy planning!!

[AStamm]

Fourth months to go! We got our planning booklet in the mail today. It just made DS and I both more excited to go.

[Principessa]

Planning booklet? Was I supposed to send away for that?

I guess I'm the only one who feels like June 6th is a LONG time from now.
I have so much to get done at work before then!!!

Has everyone decided on their shore excursions already?
I can't decide if I am going to want to sit on the beach, snorkel, or
explore the town....hard to decide so far in advance.

Does anyone know if we should expect perfect weather that early
in June or not?

For any answers, thanks in advance! And welcome to recent June Bug list joiners!

[AStamm]

Planning booklet? Was I supposed to send away for that?
It's actually called the "My Cruise Travel Kit", but no, you don't have to order it or anything...you should be getting yours in the mail anyday now. It's got information about the excursions, what to pack, etc. Certainly nothing you won't find on-line here.

[AStamm]

Has everyone decided on their shore excursions already?
I can't decide if I am going to want to sit on the beach, snorkel, or
explore the town....hard to decide so far in advance.
Since it's just going to be DS and I on the cruise, I didn't want to plan for anything too challenging. At this point on St. Maarten we've chosen the Island and Butterfly Farm Tour for the morning and the Afternoon Beach Bash. I looked at some recently posted "Navigators" and this should be doable if we get the 8:00 am tour. DS is all excited about doing the Atlantis Submarine Adventure in St. Thomas. I figured we'd spend the remainder of the day walking around the island or just relaxing on the ship.

Have fun choosing!

[Suz D]

I've not been to either of the Ports of Call so this is just information that I've gleaned from the boards and other sources (including the DCL website descriptions of the shore excursions) and it's merely FYI, but apparently some of the beaches allow topless sunbathing so if that type of thing is not for you or for your kids you might want to do a little research.

We personally are only going to do CC for our beach time. We're thinking about the butterfly farm, but honestly, we often just walk around the town and do a little browsing in the morning and then we go back and enjoy a fairly empty ship, relax, catch a movie, read, etc. in the afternoon.

[AStamm]

I've not been to either of the Ports of Call so this is just information that I've gleaned from the boards and other sources (including the DCL website descriptions of the shore excursions) and it's merely FYI, but apparently some of the beaches allow topless sunbathing so if that type of thing is not for you or for your kids you might want to do a little research.

We personally are only going to do CC for our beach time. We're thinking about the butterfly farm, but honestly, we often just walk around the town and do a little browsing in the morning and then we go back and enjoy a fairly empty ship, relax, catch a movie, read, etc. in the afternoon.

I'm okay with the topless thing, but after seeing the newest Navigator posted to the DIS this morning (mid-January, I think), it looks as if DS and I will be changing our St. Maarten plans to the Island and Butterfly Farm tour only--the Afternoon Beach Bash doesn't start until 1:30 and with the tour lasting 3.5 to 4 hours, that won't give us enough time to get ready for PITC night. It was cutting it very close when I thought the beach bash left at 1:00, but 1:30 is definitely too late since we've got the 1st seating for dinner and DS already has his pirate costume he wants to wear that evening.

[bode]

Suz D, it happens so seldom be just be aware that if there are high winds or a storm the boat may not make it to CC. It has never happened to me on a cruise but I see where it has happened. You might not want to place all your eggs in one basket. Last year while we were in St. Marteen we were able to walk 15 minutes to the beach and enjoyed it. The best part is that it only cost me $10 for the rental of the covered beach chairs. That is what we are planning on doing along with CC.

[Suz D]

Suz D, it happens so seldom be just be aware that if there are high winds or a storm the boat may not make it to CC. It has never happened to me on a cruise but I see where it has happened. You might not want to place all your eggs in one basket. Last year while we were in St. Marteen we were able to walk 15 minutes to the beach and enjoyed it. The best part is that it only cost me $10 for the rental of the covered beach chairs. That is what we are planning on doing along with CC.

Thanks bode for the info. This is our 4th Disney cruise and we've made CC each time so we are probably overdue for a miss on that one. Strangely enough we are not big beach people. We love CC and would be sad to miss it, but doing the beach isn't a big enough deal for us to go somewhere other than CC to enjoy it.

Our first cruise was a 4 night Wonder cruise in 2005 for NYE. We were at CC for NYE and that night as we were leaving CC the captain annouced that they wanted us to be the first visitors to CC in 2006 so we were going to sail around overnight and then dock again at CC the next day. On top of that, if you paid for shore excursions on CC for NYE you would get the same ones free on New Years day. How fun is that?!

Anyway, thanks again for the input. I'm sure everything thinks it's odd to go on a Caribbean cruise when you don't love the beach, but we LOVE the ocean and DCL.

BTW, I got fun, fun, fun gifts for our FE exchange! I'm so excited to have scored this way cool thing. Is someone going to let us know the number of cabins? I know that several families are traveling with more than one cabin. Also, I'm guessing that someone will let us know how many kids are participating in the State exchange? I want to get things set out for this as we're going to have a pretty busy spring. I'm really getting excited now. It was much easier when I wasn't as excited about it!

[Grandma Debby]

Here is what I have on the fish extender game:
kat123 2 adults 2 kids 11 & 8
disneydka 2 adults 2 kids 16 & 7
lrensin 4 adults 3 kids 9, 4 & 3
Principessa 3 adults 1 kid 13
AStamm 1 adult 1 kid 10
Suz D 2 adults 2 kids 13 & 3
does your df & dfd want to be a part of it?
mousecrazy 2 adults 1 kid 11
does the rest of your family want to be included?
Grandma Debby 4 adults 3 kids 11, 5 & 1
I doubt if the 1 year old participates in the kid part

ANYBODY ELSE????
If you have more than 1 cabin and they want to play also let me know
(i.e. my oldest daughter has her own cabin but she just wants to be a part of our group)

SO FAR 8 cabins 20 adults 14 kids :woohoo:

I'm going to put an April 1st deadline on the fish extender game and kid exchange so everyone can get their act together :lmao:

Adding cruizen mamma 2 adults 1 kid 9
Suz D's friend 1 adult 1 kid 13

SO FAR 10 cabins 23 adults 16 kids

I JUST CAN'T WAIT I JUST CAN'T WAIT :yay:

ADDING MORE PLAYERS TO THE GAME :dance3:
Krisanm67 2 adults 2 kids 11 & 10
twinsindisney 2 adults 2 kids (twins) 25 months

SO FAR 12 cabins 27 adults 20 kids

It's not too late to jump on board:banana:

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Here is what I have on the fish extender game:
kat123 2 adults 2 kids 11 & 8
disneydka 2 adults 2 kids 16 & 7
lrensin 4 adults 3 kids 9, 4 & 3
Principessa 3 adults 1 kid 13
AStamm 1 adult 1 kid 10
Suz D 2 adults 2 kids 13 & 3
does your df & dfd want to be a part of it?
mousecrazy 2 adults 1 kid 11
does the rest of your family want to be included?
Grandma Debby 4 adults 3 kids 11, 5 & 1
I doubt if the 1 year old participates in the kid part

ANYBODY ELSE????
If you have more than 1 cabin and they want to play also let me know
(i.e. my oldest daughter has her own cabin but she just wants to be a part of our group)

SO FAR 8 cabins 20 adults 14 kids :woohoo:

I'm going to put an April 1st deadline on the fish extender game and kid exchange so everyone can get their act together :lmao:

I JUST CAN'T WAIT I JUST CAN'T WAIT :yay:

please add cruizen mamma & family to fish extender game:banana:

[Suz D]

Yes, my friend will be doing the fish extender game. Plan on Terri and her daughter Kelli participating in their cabin.

Suz D

[Krisanm67]

Here is what I have on the fish extender game:
kat123 2 adults 2 kids 11 & 8
disneydka 2 adults 2 kids 16 & 7
lrensin 4 adults 3 kids 9, 4 & 3
Principessa 3 adults 1 kid 13
AStamm 1 adult 1 kid 10
Suz D 2 adults 2 kids 13 & 3
does your df & dfd want to be a part of it?
mousecrazy 2 adults 1 kid 11
does the rest of your family want to be included?
Grandma Debby 4 adults 3 kids 11, 5 & 1
I doubt if the 1 year old participates in the kid part

ANYBODY ELSE????
If you have more than 1 cabin and they want to play also let me know
(i.e. my oldest daughter has her own cabin but she just wants to be a part of our group)

SO FAR 8 cabins 20 adults 14 kids :woohoo:

I'm going to put an April 1st deadline on the fish extender game and kid exchange so everyone can get their act together :lmao:

Adding cruizen mamma 2 adults 1 kid 9
Suz D's friend 1 adult 1 kid 13

SO FAR 10 cabins 23 adults 16 kids

I JUST CAN'T WAIT I JUST CAN'T WAIT :yay:

Please add us to the FE game and kids' state exchange.
Krisanm67 - me, dh, dd (Kellie 11) ds (Ryan 10)
This will be fun! Thanks for all this planning you are doing for us :thanks:

[twinsindisney]

:wave2: I finally joined here after lurking for awhile! We are set to cruise on the Magic as well and we are so excited! This is our big family trip this summer!

We are the Hills from Irmo, SC
Amanda (me)
Brian (Dh)
Olivia (22 months)
Katie-Grace (22 months)

The girls will be 25 months when we set sail!

We are traveling with a big group from DH's family.

We would also like to be involved in the fish extenders! :yay: :yay:


It is good to meet all of you!

[mousecraszy]

I'm glad you signed in!!!

Grandma Debby, twinsindisney is from our group and one of the six cabins. I'll have to let you know on the others who will be participating in the FE's.

101 days to go!!!! Not that I'm counting:rolleyes1

[twinsindisney]

I'm glad you signed in!!!

Grandma Debby, twinsindisney is from our group and one of the six cabins. I'll have to let you know on the others who will be participating in the FE's.

101 days to go!!!! Not that I'm counting:rolleyes1


:banana: :banana: I am getting more and more excited! I will have to start posting some more over here. :woohoo:

[Grandma Debby]

Some more players have jumped on board the FE game so check out post
# 133 :goodvibes

On April 1st I will ask Marilyn to add final info to post #1 so we can all find it EASY ;)

[Krisanm67]

:yay: Hi everyone! I'm trying to start planning my shopping for the cruise and I was wondering :confused: about ideas for FE items. Do I bring stuff for everyone's FE or am I assigned a group of people? Also, the state items, that is just for the kids right? I guess I can say what I'm thinking about here since most kids probably aren't reading - or don't let them read this one so it will be a surprise. I was thinking that since we are comming from Arizona I would bring arrowheads. How does that sound? Or, should it be more or something like pricklypear candy, not sure....maybe I'm thinking too much about this? Any advice is greatly appreciated. TIA :worship:

The second part of my questions/wondering is about excursions. Those of you that have done cruises and Disney cruises before do you think it is ok to do an excursion that is not through Disney cruise? I found one that takes you on a short boat ride to a small island to swim with turtles. I also found one that lets you rent Rhinos for 1/2 a day to ride around a beach and trails. If you are doing excursions what do you reccomend? Thanks again!! :beach:

Kristine, Matt, Kellie and Ryan

[ppiew]

how do I/we participate in the fish extender thing? I have two granddaughters ages 7 and12. please help. sounds like fun!

[Suz D]

:yay: Hi everyone! I'm trying to start planning my shopping for the cruise and I was wondering :confused: about ideas for FE items. Do I bring stuff for everyone's FE or am I assigned a group of people? Also, the state items, that is just for the kids right? I guess I can say what I'm thinking about here since most kids probably aren't reading - or don't let them read this one so it will be a surprise. I was thinking that since we are comming from Arizona I would bring arrowheads. How does that sound? Or, should it be more or something like pricklypear candy, not sure....maybe I'm thinking too much about this? Any advice is greatly appreciated. TIA :worship:

The second part of my questions/wondering is about excursions. Those of you that have done cruises and Disney cruises before do you think it is ok to do an excursion that is not through Disney cruise? I found one that takes you on a short boat ride to a small island to swim with turtles. I also found one that lets you rent Rhinos for 1/2 a day to ride around a beach and trails. If you are doing excursions what do you reccomend? Thanks again!! :beach:

Kristine, Matt, Kellie and Ryan

Hi!:wave2:

Welcome and we're so glad you're joining us on the cruise. I'm not going to comment on the overthinking part because I tend to think things through until I'm dizzy, but I will say that I think that although arrowheads would be cool I wonder if they'll be heavy for you to transport. I'd do the candy as it would probably be lighter.

When we went on the Western C. cruise we rented a car and toured ourselves around Cozumel and didn't have any problems. The only things I've heard about booking your own excursions is that is there are any problems you have Disney to intervene. I've also heard that if there is a delay in getting back to the ship if you are on a Disney arranged excursion they know you're running behind as everyone else is too. I think lots of people do their own thing because it's cheaper and you have more freedom with your time.

See you soon!

Suz

[gottaluvEeyore]

We booked this cruise back in August. Travelling with me are my husband Jim and two daughters Kati and Addie. This will be our second time on the Disney Cruise. Btw, I booked my Palo, Spa and excursions today:cool1:

Teresa

[AStamm]

We're all paid and ready to go, too. I booked Alone Time at the spa and two excursions--St. Maarten Island & Butterfly Tour and Atlantis Submarine Adventure.

[Grandma Debby]

Krisanm67 - on the fish extender game you can do one thing for a cabin or individuals it is up to you - I'm doing a cruise survival bag for each cabin (one per cabin) - When we do the final list on April 1st you can decide if you want to do a gift for each cabin or a gift for each person as we will list both on Post #1

My granddaughters are each bringing gifts for the kids because they each want a gift (don't have to share that way) so you can do arrowheads and prickly pear candy

Excursions on your own are great just watch the time so you are back on board the ship before it leaves port - we are doing on own thing on St. Maarten but Disney excursions on the other 2 stops

It is not to late to jump on board the fish extender game and the kid's gift exchange :dance3:

[ppiew]

arrowheads are great! my family are bringing pieces of mined copper for their FE gifts (different cruise) as we are from Michigan's Copper Country

[disneydka]

I hope it's not too much extra work but can we get a breaakdown on the kids as to boys and girls? Had something in mind for each. Also, April 1st is the deadline for participation right? Gosh, that reminds me I haven't booked a hotel yet! 2 &1/2 months away yikes, too late to start my diet?

[disneydka]

Hey all, I paid off my cruise the other day, was using my Disney visa to get the obc and reward dollars and because I work in banking was having visions of Chase cutting off credit limits due to credit crisis so I went ahead and paid off early. I have also booked our hotel room for the night before. We are driving down from South Carolin Friday morning and DD and I want to go to downtown disney Friday afternoon and then tour some of the WDW resorts we didn't have a chance to see in 2007. I can't believe it's only 2 1/2 months away!
Now to try to decide on what to book wee hours of Monday. Anyone have any excursion plans already?

[Suz D]

For those of you who are wanting to say at WDW the night before the cruise there are some good discounts on hotel rooms.

Use code UGP or RYD.
Value resort, Standard view, $68 plus tax (Sun-Thur nights)
Value resort, Standard view, $78 plus tax (Fri-Sat nights)
Moderate resort, Standard view, $104 plus tax (Sun-Thur nights)
Animal Kingdom Lodge, Standard view, $179 plus tax - some nights $229

You must book by 4/18/09.

We're staying at WDW until Friday and then moving to a hotel near the airport.

[mousecraszy]

We are in for the Fish Extender game and child gift exchange. The only other cabin that will participate from our group is the Hill family (twinsindisney).

I made our reservations at the 90 day mark and got everything on my list.:goodvibes

We are going to WDW after the cruise to enjoy the 4/3 offer.

Only 78 days to go...not that I'm counting!!!

[disneydka]

Well, I waited up til midnight to see if I could book brunch at Palo but there were no reservations available for brunch. Their appeared to be plenty for dinner but we've been saying all along that dinner is family time. Guess I'll try my luck when we board. Next time I'll get those extra 15 days as a repeat cruiser!

[AbsyBabsy]

I recommend going to book your Palo the minute you get on board. If you ask a crew member, they will tell you where and when they will be handling reservations - usually it is around 2pm in the Rockin' Bar D on deck 3. Don't wait until the time they tell you, it will already be packed. Go with someone and have them wait in the line while you go up and ask if you are in the right line - usually there are two lines. What time are you planning on arriving?

[AbsyBabsy]

Hey Taffigirl - my daughter will be 9 on the cruise - it would be great if they can start PM's and make some friends.

[Grandma Debby]

Only 8 more days to sign on for the fish extender game and kid's trade game -April 1st is the deadline and then I will ask Marilyn to copy info to post #1 so we can find it easy.

Dawn-
I'm counting 15 girls and 7 boys for the kid's gift exchange
Kat123 - boy & girl
disneydka - boy & girl
Lia Rensin - boy & 2 girls
Principessa - boy
A Stamm - boy
Suz D - 2 girls
mousecrazy - girl
Grandma Debby - 2 girls (1 year old will not participate in kid's game)
cruizen mamma - boy
Suz D's friend - girl
Krisanm 67 - boy & girl
twins in disney - 2 girls
ppiew - 2 girls

PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong

Shore excursions -
St. Maarten - my son-in-law and 2 older granddaughters are going fishing
(private excursion as Sydney is only 5)
older daughter is scuba diving (private excursion as Disney
cancelled their tour)
younger daughter, 1 year old granddaughter and myself are
hiring Joyce Prince to take us on a tour of the island, do a
little shopping and then go to a beach where we will meet
up with the rest up of the gang - there might be room in
Joyce's tour if someone is interested
St. Thomas - son in law playing golf
older daughter scuba diving
younger daughter, myself and 3 granddaughters are doing Coral
World by land & sea
CC - fishing, stingrays & parasailing

If you have any questions or corrections please let me know by April 1st and that is not an April Fool's Day joke :laughing:

[AbsyBabsy]

Krisanm67 - on the fish extender game you can do one thing for a cabin or individuals it is up to you - I'm doing a cruise survival bag for each cabin (one per cabin) - When we do the final list on April 1st you can decide if you want to do a gift for each cabin or a gift for each person as we will list both on Post #1

My granddaughters are each bringing gifts for the kids because they each want a gift (don't have to share that way) so you can do arrowheads and prickly pear candy

Excursions on your own are great just watch the time so you are back on board the ship before it leaves port - we are doing on own thing on St. Maarten but Disney excursions on the other 2 stops

It is not to late to jump on board the fish extender game and the kid's gift exchange :dance3:
Grandma Debby - Hi looks like you know what you're doing on this "board?" anyway- what is the gift exchange and what is the fish extender game? I have been trying to follow the posts but keeping getting lost!

[Principessa]

Well I made my reservations last night - the online method is so much more fun than calling in for ADR's. I got the Palo dinner I wanted and the excursions. I decided to just go witht the Disney offers for excursions because if I had to think about one more option (private vendor tours) my head was going to explode. This is my first cruise so I'm allowed to take the easy way out!

Now if Grandma Debby has the patience....I see my son on the kids' exchange, but I really am not sure what I'm supposed to be doing or bringing to hang on fish extenders. Something typical from my hometown area? I hope you are willing to update us with the plan after April 1...I'm in for that right? :confused3 I'm also wondering when were we going to meet on day one...I might have scheduled a manicure for the meeting time. There weren't too many spa time choices left!!

[disneydka]

I recommend going to book your Palo the minute you get on board. If you ask a crew member, they will tell you where and when they will be handling reservations - usually it is around 2pm in the Rockin' Bar D on deck 3. Don't wait until the time they tell you, it will already be packed. Go with someone and have them wait in the line while you go up and ask if you are in the right line - usually there are two lines. What time are you planning on arriving?

I am going to book the earliest shuttle from the hotel which should be 10:00 or 10:30 so hopefully I'll have some luck, if not...no biggie!

What excursions have people planned already, my head is spinning as well trying to finalize plans. At first we were not planning much in excursions to save money but my husband also does not want to "wander around aimlessly" so I am looking only at excursions that can include all of us so that is age 7 and up.

[degrapevine]

Hi, everyone!

We just booked this cruise for our family of 5 - Yeah! We had originally booked the 7 Night Eastern to Tortola on 8/15, but since our oldest is starting High School and our middle child is starting Middle School, we decided that it was best if they didn't miss their orientations. Plus, we saved a little bit using the FL Resident Rate that just came available and won't have to worry as much about hurricane season!

This is our family's third cruise together, my and DH's fourth together, and my fifth (took my mom last year), but it is our FIRST 7 night cruise and we are very excited to enjoy the different menus and activities that we haven't had before. We've also done the fish extender exchange each time we've cruised, so we'd love to join in! The kids' exchange sounds fun, too and I think our kids would like to do that also.

Here's our information for both exchanges (We are in connecting 10's and the fish extender will be hanging in between the two rooms.)

The Devine Family (from Valrico, FL): DH David (42), degrapevine Rose (39), DS14 Eric, DS11 Patrick, and DD8 Gina - Staterooms #1067 and #1069 (Deck 1)

We're also up for whatever meets are organized and I'm sure our kids would also love to email some friends before the cruise. I'll try to PM some of you with kids the same ages as ours. I just went online and we've already missed the booking openings for Palo Brunch, but we'll try to get one once we board. We did dinner last time and it wasn't really DH's style, so we'll skip that this time and spend our dinners with the kids.

Less than 75 days to go, so the next 2-1/2 months can't go by too quickly for us!
Rose :)

[bengals01]

we are a group of 28 people. We have 9 rooms. Will be celebrating my grandson's 2nd birthday. This will be his second cruise. He was born at 25 weeks and weighed 2 lbs 5 ounces.

[Suz D]

we are a group of 28 people. We have 9 rooms. Will be celebrating my grandson's 2nd birthday. This will be his second cruise. He was born at 25 weeks and weighed 2 lbs 5 ounces.

Wow! 28 people and 9 cabins. How fun is that?!?! Our oldest daughter was a preemie too. She was born at 28 weeks and weighed 1 lb. 1/4 oz. Her lightest weight was 13 oz. (She was really small because her growth completely stopped at 21 weeks, hence the early delivery). She's now a healthy, happy, beautiful 13 year old girl (still very tiny 'though). I always love to meet other preemie families. It's such an exciting, miraculous, roller coaster start for a new life!

We're also celebrating birthdays. Our youngest will be 3 on the 10th and I'll be 47 on the 13th. When is your granson's birthday? Is he doing well health wise? How long was he in the hospital? Katie was in for 87 days but she did have some major health issues going on.

Looking forward to meeting you.


Suz D

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

QUOTE=Suz D;30991100]Wow! 28 people and 9 cabins. How fun is that?!?! Our oldest daughter was a preemie too. She was born at 28 weeks and weighed 1 lb. 1/4 oz. Her lightest weight was 13 oz. (She was really small because her growth completely stopped at 21 weeks, hence the early delivery). She's now a healthy, happy, beautiful 13 year old girl (still very tiny 'though). I always love to meet other preemie families. It's such an exciting, miraculous, roller coaster start for a new life!

We're also celebrating birthdays. Our youngest will be 3 on the 10th and I'll be 47 on the 13th. When is your granson's birthday? Is he doing well health wise? How long was he in the hospital? Katie was in for 87 days but she did have some major health issues going on.

Looking forward to meeting you.


Suz D[/QUOTE]

My son was 6 weeks early when he was born, but weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz - if I had gone full term, the DR. esimated he would have weighed over 10 1/2 lbs:scared1:-he's 9 1/2 now- 57" and almost 70 lbs.

Well, being a repeat cruiser has its advantages, as I was able to book at the 90 day mark and everything I wanted was available.

We will be doing the Catmaran in St.Marten, winging it in St.Thomas, parasailing and renting bikes at Castaway Key. I booked Palo brunch for our 1st day at sea and Palo dinner for monday night- requested PLAP seating so hopefully this will go without a hitch. I have a massage scheduled for our last day at sea.

We are staying at the FourPoints Sheraton 2 nights before the cruise and plan to do Kennedy Space Center -friday before the cruise. DS is into space and elongs to the Astronaut Club at school. I've printed magnets for our door, getting ready to do t- shirts for embark day and pirate nite and have my FE now just need to work on gifts-have a few ideas :idea: but haven't decided yet.

We booked this cruise when we were on our 1st cruise in Nov 07- can't believe it's now only 2mths away:woohoo:


Dottie- AKA Cruizen Mamma

[Taffygirl]

Hi All,

I haven't been on the thread lately, so am trying to catch up. I've added degrapevine and bengals01 to our list on page one. Welcome.

Rose, two of your kids match the sex and ages of our grandkids who will be on this cruise along with their parents. Mikey is 11 and Katy is 8. Hopefully, the kids can all email some before the cruise. Very cool.

OK, I just realized that I've only looked at the last page, so will now go back to earlier pages that I may not have yet read and add any others who may be new since I last updated page one.

Debby, once you have the final information for the fish extender game, let me know what you want me to post on page 1. I should be reading this thread much more frequently now and until we sail!

Marilyn

[bode]

are there any other single parents on this cruise? this is my dd and mine's (daddy) 4th cruise together. 2 dcl and 2 rccl. dcl is better but finances do not always allow me to take her on the dcl.

[RadioNate]

Just book last week when FL resident rates were released!

Got Palo and excursions booked. We'll have a DS 8 and DD 1 on board. Was disappointed that Flounders was pretty booked up already but did get hours for Palo and at least 1 spa treatment.

[mousecraszy]

Hey bengals01 we are are a group of 16 people in 6 cabins!!! We are also celebrating my mother's b-day whilst on-board. She'll be 77 yrs young!

We booked Palo brunch for Sunday, Palo dinner for Wednesday. We've a private tour with Bernard's in St. Martin. My spouse is taking in golf in St. Thomas and the rest of us going to either Coki Beach or Sapphire Beach. Parasailing(first time for DD11) and probably bikes in CC. We also have a couples cabana massage for afternoon while at CC.

We are staying just the Friday night before the cruise at the Radisson at the Port. And after the cruise we are heading to WDW for another week of fun. Our school district added on a snow make-up day for Friday, 6/5 making this now the last day of school; I've already told our daughter that she will miss nothing by not being there!! Magic here we come!!

Looking forward to a final list for FE!!

[Grandma Debby]

Just wanted to remind everyone on our cruise that Wednesday is the last day to sign up for the fish extender game and the kid's gift exchange.

I will start the fish extender game on Saturday night - I'm doing cruise survival kits and they will include a list of all the staterooms and the numbers of who is playing so you can play at anytime during the week that is convenient for you - if we get two or three gifts on one day that is OK - you might want to include your DIS name and family name and stateroom number on your gift

I think some of the kids want to meet about 3:00 on Saturday afternoon by the Mickey pool - Do they want to do their gift exchange then (gifts would have to be in carry ons) or later on Sunday or Monday? If the little gift was something from your hometown or region that would be great (Sierra got a CD of Hawaiian music from a family from Hawaii on our last cruise and I think the CD is about worn out)

I will have Marilyn post info on POST #1 after the 1st of April and then the group can make decisions on meet and greet times - some suggestions already made
3:00 Saturday by the pool
Sunday breakfast for those who don't have character breakfast
room tour - see the different staterooms

What else? If we schedule 2 or 3 events people can usually make 1 or more

See you all VERY soon
Grandma Debby :cool1:

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Just a quick note for those that are lucky enough to live in FL- Fl residents rates are being applied to our cruise:woohoo::cool1::banana:.So check with DCL or your travel agents if you haven't heard anything yet. I'm getting $1200 back on our SPH cat 10 !!!!!:yay: I'm just so excited now- my best friend leaves thursday for her 1st Disney Cruise - 3 day Wonder.she was able to get the kids sail free- If I had recieved this refund a couple months ago - I could've been going with her !!!! :headache:


One quick question on the FE exchange/ kid's exchange- I know the FE is either per cabin or per person your choice- but the kid's exchange has me confused- do we buy one gift to exchange or do we buy for all the kids? and its suppose to represent our home town area? please Clarify Granma debbie :confused3


See you all in a little over 2 mths!!!!!!

[Taffygirl]

1. Please advise if I've missed posting information on anyone on Post # 1 on the first page of this thread, or if anyone has additional information to add.

2. Mousecrazy, I think you will really enjoy your private tour with Bernard. We went with him on a tour in January and thought he did a great job. Our tour was about 6-7 hours and we went all over the island and saw some neat things. He was very accommodating and even had a cooler of water, beer, soda, and a rum drink for us at no additional cost. Hopefully, he still provides this nice extra.

3. What are you all (ladies) wearing on the formal nights? On other cruises, we like to dress up for these nights. DH wears a suit or nice slacks and a sport coat and I wear either a long dress or a cocktail dress. However, when we sailed on the 4-night Disney Wonder in 2007, it didn't seem like people got very dressed up. Can you Disney 7-night veterans provide some insight? I usually don't care what others are wearing, but really don't want to be the only one in a long gown.

Thanks mucho,
Marilyn

[AStamm]

are there any other single parents on this cruise? this is my dd and mine's (daddy) 4th cruise together. 2 dcl and 2 rccl. dcl is better but finances do not always allow me to take her on the dcl.
Traveling solo with DS...DH is definitely NOT of a cruise-lover, so I guess this makes me a single parent for 7 days!

[mousecraszy]

I had read a lot about Bernard on cruise critic so always glad get another thumbs up.

twinsindisney is actually from my group. Other than my family 'o three (spouse, DD11, and myself), they will be the only oyher family out of our large group that will be participating in the FE game and kid exchange. I hope that is not confusing for you.

Our DD11 is getting braces in a week as well as trying to decide if she wants to do single gender vs. mixed gender for middle school. So this is monopolizing our world right now. I just can't believe she's 11. When did that happen?!?!?!

I'm looking forward to shopping for FE gifts, making door magnets, etc.

What is it...66 days now?!?!?! It is going fast now!!

[wwtbamrob]

Hi all,

Add 4 more to the list of DISboards cruisers! DW, DS - 15, DD - 12, and I just booked last night. This will be our third Disney cruise and the first 7-Night. The other two were the 3-Night on the Disney Wonder. It's also been a few years since we went on any, so now I get to relearn everything. I'll be checking the boards frequently to glean as much knowledge as possible from everyone here.

See you in a few weeks!

Rob

[Grandma Debby]

April 3rd and here is the FINAL count for the kid's exchange
I'm counting 17 girls and 9 boys for the kid's gift exchange
Kat123 - boy & girl
disneydka - boy & girl
Lia Rensin - boy & 2 girls
Principessa - boy
A Stamm - boy
Suz D - 2 girls
mousecrazy - girl
Grandma Debby - 2 girls (1 year old will not participate in kid's game)
cruizen mamma - boy
Suz D's friend - girl
Krisanm 67 - boy & girl
twins in disney - 2 girls
ppiew - 2 girls
AbsyBabsy - 1 girl
degrapvine - 2 boys & 1 girl

26 kids will be exchanging gifts so you need to bring 25 gifts and your child will end up with 25 different gifts - put names and where you are from on the gifts (such as Sierra from Colorado) and what the gift represents - nice memories for the kids :thumbsup2

15 cabins are participating in the Fish Extender game - gifts can be for the cabin or for individuals - please PM me your cabin numbers so I can put a list together and I will include it in the 1st night cruise survival kit that we are putting together for each cabin

Kat123 - 2 adults 11year old boy & 8 year old girl
disneydka - 2 adults 16 year old girl & 7 year old boy
Lia Rensin - 4 adults 2 girls (9 & 3) 4 year old boy
Principessa - 3 adults 13 year old boy
AStamm - 1 adult 10 year old boy
SuzD - 2 adults 2 girls (13 & 3)
mousecraszy - 2 adults 11 year old girl
Grandma Debby - 4 adults 3 girls (11, 5 & 1)
cruizen mama - 2 adults 9 year old son
Suz D's friend - NEED NAME - 1 adult 13 year old girl
Krisanm67 - 2 adults 11 year old girl 10 year old boy
twinsindisney - 2 adults 2 girls (TWINS that are 2)
ppiew - ANY ADULTS? 2 girls (7 & 12)
AbsyBabsy - 3 adults 9 year old girl
degrapevine - 2 adults 2 boys ( 14 & 11) 8 year old girl

:dance3:

Marilyn will copy and paste this info in post #1 so we can all find it easy
If I have made a mistake - I apologize - please let Marilyn know ASAP so we can get it straightened out
I just can't wait until June 6th to meet you all :cool1:

REMEMBER PM me your cabin numbers :woohoo:

[mousecraszy]

Grandma Debby and Marilyn- THANK YOU so much for all of the work you've done to get all the players of the fish extenders game listed. I'm ready to get shopping now!

My DD11 got her braces on today and she has already decided on red, yellow, black and white for her rubberband colors for the cruise...chip off the 'ole block!!

59 days from today...not that I'm counting!!:yay:

[AbsyBabsy]

I am so excited - we are all cruising in just two months! I found the gifts for the kids gift exchange and still working on fish extender gift ideas.

After looking at the tours available on the islands, we decided to buy books and rent a Jeep. It is just over $100 for the day per island and that includes insurance. I have learned that on St Martin and St. Thomas - it is best to carry cash - many don't take CC's for gas and such. The tourists spots will, but we want to get off the beaten path and I read that gas is usually cash only.

We have our Palo brunch and High Tea reservations but had to book my mother and me at one time and my husband 1/2 hour later - I figure we can straighten it out on the ship.

My daughter has already made one friend HI IZZIE and she is looking forward to making others both before and on the cruise. I am looking forward to the spa, not making the beds, not having to decide where we are going for dinner and not having to think about what we are doing each day. I plan to leave the analytical side of my brain at home. (Is that the left or the right side?)

Thank you Taffygirll and Grandma Debby for putting such work into getting us organized. Someone had the idea to do the kids exchange on the first day - I think it is a good idea - this will give them a chance to get to know each other and meet up with friends right away. I have never met up with a group before - how will we know each other? Does someone carry a sign? Remember I will not be able to think too much on the cruise without half of my brain.

Well gotta go shopping - need some nautical clothing!!!!!

To do list:
mani/pedi
pack
copy passports
arrange for dog/cat care
stop mail or arrange neighbor to pick up
make fish extender

[bode]

absy, my izzy has been so excited with the new email friend she made. it will be cool to have a friend to meet up with on the cruise.

[MN Dis Fans]

Hi Everyone! :wave2::wave2:

Can we join you? :cheer2:

It will be me the DH ::MickeyMo(Paul), DW ::MinnieMo(Missy), DS pirate:(Chad, will have just turned 14), and DS pirate:(Johnny, 11 who will be 2x months shy of 12x)

Good News / Bad News for us:
Good News: I booked yesterday (the children under 17x sail free promotion:thumbsup2), so really a last minute decision for us.

Bad News: I am going to have to cancel the b to b's over X-Mas / New Year's this year (and give up our SPH's), :sad1:because I can't get the time away from work. (In today's economy, I guess I should be extremely grateful to be employed) Anyway, we get to cruise almost 7x months sooner! :cool1:

I realize that we're late in subscribing, and that you have already closed the FE exchange. Any chance that we could be added? :hug::flower3:
DW::MickeyMo, and DS's pirate:pirate:love doing this, and we've done this on our last several cruises.

Also, I always try to line up some pen pals for my 2x pirates head of time. Any of your younger one's interested in corresponding with an almost 14, and soon to be 12x D.S.?:confused3

PM me if interested. They're both huge Disney nuts, and both love sports.

OMG! I only have less than 2 months to plan! :surfweb::rotfl2:

[pointybubble]

Hello everybody! My family just booked our first Disney Cruise last week with the FL Resident offer! We are sooooo excited :woohoo:

Our travel party :
Me, Jennifer, 20 - Pastry Chef (in school)
Brother, 17 - High School Student
Mom, 50 - Accountant
Dad, 50 - Computer Programmer

To make this week even better, I received more exciting news- I got accepted for an internship at Walt Disney World! I'll be working for the Mouse ::MickeyMo in the fall! :thumbsup2

So back to the cruise! Some stuff filled up online because of our last minute booking, but hopefully we will be able to get the Palo's we want (and hopefully Brunch) as soon as we get on the ship. We've booked lots on excursions though! I know it is too late for the fish extender thing, but that's okay. I just wanted to say hi! :wave:

[degrapevine]

Hi, all!

We are looking forward to the cruise and all the fun gift exchanges, but I was just thinking - For those of us with more than one child, the kids gift exchanges are really going to add up! We have 3 children, so that means 75 gifts to bring/prepare for them. Yikes!

What I'm planning on doing is for each child to have a different type of gift to exchange, so that whoever they exchange with will get 3 different gifts from our family (75 gifts = 25 x 3 different kinds). If we were to make up the same gifts for each of our children to exchange, then every other child would get 3 of the same gifts. Does that make sense?

I'm also wondering how much everyone is planning on spending on the gifts. With 75 to make up (as well as the 15 FE gifts), this could really add up! We may lean more towards a homemade magnet/bookmark, pencil/stickers, and some candy (trying to stay around $.50 per gift). Is that too cheap? I know that my kids are going to get some really cool gifts from the other kids, but I'd feel bad if families with only 1 child spend a whole lot more per gift, although I guess the total received would add up.

I'd like to see what everyone's thoughts are on this - With less than 2 months to go, it's time to get started! Thanks so much in advance.

Rose (degrapevine)

[AbsyBabsy]

Hi, all!

We are looking forward to the cruise and all the fun gift exchanges, but I was just thinking - For those of us with more than one child, the kids gift exchanges are really going to add up! We have 3 children, so that means 75 gifts to bring/prepare for them. Yikes!

What I'm planning on doing is for each child to have a different type of gift to exchange, so that whoever they exchange with will get 3 different gifts from our family (75 gifts = 25 x 3 different kinds). If we were to make up the same gifts for each of our children to exchange, then every other child would get 3 of the same gifts. Does that make sense?

I'm also wondering how much everyone is planning on spending on the gifts. With 75 to make up (as well as the 15 FE gifts), this could really add up! We may lean more towards a homemade magnet/bookmark, pencil/stickers, and some candy (trying to stay around $.50 per gift). Is that too cheap? I know that my kids are going to get some really cool gifts from the other kids, but I'd feel bad if families with only 1 child spend a whole lot more per gift, although I guess the total received would add up.

I'd like to see what everyone's thoughts are on this - With less than 2 months to go, it's time to get started! Thanks so much in advance.

Rose (degrapevine)



Hey Rose,

I don't think I would worry too much about the cost of each gift. I am joining in on this one but believe it is more a way of getting the kids to interact and get a chance to meet. I spent $1 on each gift and chose a local item, but I don't think the money is important. I imagine you can choose stickers or pencils or any inexpensive item. I too am struggling with the Fish Extenders game - not sure what to get that will be fun and affordable. All this just keeps reminding me of the cruise and seems to be a way to start cruising in our minds before we even get there!!!

Amanda
Absybabsy

[Suz D]

Hey Rose,

I don't think I would worry too much about the cost of each gift. I am joining in on this one but believe it is more a way of getting the kids to interact and get a chance to meet. I spent $1 on each gift and chose a local item, but I don't think the money is important. I imagine you can choose stickers or pencils or any inexpensive item. I too am struggling with the Fish Extenders game - not sure what to get that will be fun and affordable. All this just keeps reminding me of the cruise and seems to be a way to start cruising in our minds before we even get there!!!

Amanda
Absybabsy

I second the "cost is not important" statement. I have bronchitis right now so I'm not thinking clearly, but if each family brought one gift for each child wouldn't that work? If there are 25 kids but 2 of them are in my family then I would bring 23 gifts and each child would get one. If you have 4 children in your family then you only bring 21 gifts. This isn't totally "fair" to those who have less children as they will have to bring more gifts than other families, but having been the parent of an only child until recently, it wouldn't bother me to bring more gifts.

Like I said, with a fever and fuzzy brain this might not work out, but that was how I figured it in my mind.

I do have to day, I found the perfect thing for our FE gifts. Very reasonable $$, part of it is homemade, and very Disney themed. Sometimes everything just clicks and you are in the right place at the right time.

Will someone (or several of you) please respond to my suggestion and let me know if that is something that you'd all consider?

Suz
(who is remembering the last time she was this sick...on our 7 day Western where I got sick on Wednesday and was sick the rest of the week. $100.00 to the ships doctor just to be told that it was viral and I was miserable. Oh the bright side, I had free room service, a super comfy bed, and all the movies I could watch on TV).

[degrapevine]

Suz,

Duh! You're right in that we'd only have to bring 22 gifts per child, since my kids don't need to give gifts to themselves or to each other, but that's still 22 x 3 = 66 gifts.

If our family only gave 1 gift to each child from our whole family, then each child would be "shorted" 2 gifts. Maybe I'm making it too complicated? I think they still need to each give a gift to the other kids, just not to our own family. I'm also going to plan for each child's gift to be different so there are no "doubles."

I'm fine spending $.50-$.75 per kids gift plus what I'm planning for the FE gifts. Even at the top end, I should only be spending around $75. That's really not bad for a week's worth of fun and games and we'll be able to remember lots of our new friends after the cruise with all the goodies!

If there's something I'm missing, please someone let me know! I've done plenty of FE gift exchanges, but not any kids' gift exchanges, so I want to make sure I've got the details correct. Thanks again!

Rose :)

[Suz D]

Rose,

I see exactly what you are saying. In my drug induced stupor it made sense but you have explained it just right. If we did it the way I suggested each child would receive 15 gifts instead of 25. I'm okay with that, but absolutely will be fine with however it works out. We're just glad to be sailing! :goodvibes

Well, I'm off to bed. Night all!

[Grandma Debby]

Just returned from a week of skiing (3 feet of new snow is toooo much for me) so my legs are killing me :headache:

The idea behind the kid's gift exchange is to meet other kids on the cruise (some are already emailing and getting to know each other) and then remember them - keep the gifts simple and cheap - key chains or zipper pulls from your state, post cards, food items, music from your area. It is not to late to drop out and you are welcome to change the setup just let us all know. I think the kids need to meet Saturday afternoon (then they know each other before the sail away party) or Sunday morning (after the character breakfasts) and not wait until the end of the cruise. The DIS people are pretty easy to find as we are the ones who look like we know what we are doing instead of wandering around without a clue. I suggested by the Mickey Pool around 3:00 (most of the kids will be in one pool or the other and then they don't have to dry off to go to the Promenade Lounge or other inside meeting place). If someone else has a time and place just let us know. This is also a good time to meet each other before the safety drill when we all look like DORKS :rotfl2:

If you haven't sent me your cabin number please do so soon - we leave for WDW on May 30th.

See you in June
Grandma Debby

[AbsyBabsy]

I think Saturday at 3 is a great idea!

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

3 pm -Mickey Pool :thumbsup2

Grandma Debby, thanks for the hints on the kid's exchange -I was stressing cuz I could not think of anything clever- but now I'm gonna use the KISS method- Keep It Simple Silly:lmao:

Less than 45 days- whose started packing yet?:rotfl:
We've added the Captain Nautica for St. Thomas and added a nights stay going up Wensday night DH off wk, and DS and I both only have 1/2 days so why not take advantage of it. If we're really lucky the Space shuttle is suppose to launch the morning we disembark 7:20 am so we should get a great view before we leave- Keep this in mind if you are flying out early or driving somewhere as traffic tends to be a nightmare.


See you all soon

[Suz D]

Saturday at 3:00 works for our family too. Just let us know the exact place and we'll be there! Getting SO excited!!:yay:

[Suz D]

If we're really lucky the Space shuttle is suppose to launch the morning we disembark 7:20 am so we should get a great view before we leave- Keep this in mind if you are flying out early or driving somewhere as traffic tends to be a nightmare.
See you all soon

I didn't know this! Thanks for posting the info. I really hope it works out. It would be very exciting!!

[Suz D]

BTW, our whole family will be wearing lime green t-shirts with 2008 on the front. We should be easy to spot.

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

I'm making custom shirts fro us to wear but they won't be lime green.

DH- shirt has Grumpy on it- and "My wife made me wear this stuipd t-shirt":lmao:

The DisIgn thread has some fantanstic people who have great custom disigns to choose from.

[MN Dis Fans]

:cool1:I'll be easily identifiable; I'll be the one with the large re-fillable Disney beer mug in my hand. :rotfl2::rotfl2:
No doubt the DW will have the 2x DS's & I wearing our "Cruising" shirts. The one's with the Disney Tropical Print on them.

CRUIZEN MAMMACaptain Nautica is AWESOME! :thumbsup2:thumbsup2 I think this was the best Disney excursion that we have done with them to date.
""DH- shirt has Grumpy on it- and "My wife made me wear this stuipd t-shirt"" I can so empathize with your DH! I've pretty much given up, and wear what the DW wants me to wear:hug:. I do draw the line at T-Shirts. I do not wear them.:sad2:

Grandma Debby Skiing so close to a cruise? Very brave. I would be afraid of breaking something.
I sent you a PM with our room details. Will we be able to join in the FE exchange?:confused3 I realize that we didn't subscribe until after the deadline, so if we missed out, no biggie, we'll manage. My DW & DS's do love doing this though:love:

Still looking for some cruise buddies for our 14x & 11x year old. If any of you have DS's in this age range, my boys would love to hear from them.

[AStamm]

3 pm at the Mickey Pool works for us, too.

I'm ecstatic that we may have the chance to be so close to an actual shuttle liftoff. In all the time we've spent at WDW the last 6 years, this is one thing that's never happened while I've been there. To be right there so close would be amazing. I'll suffer through the traffic back out of town if we get this once-in-a-lifetime experience.


Less than 45 days- whose started packing yet?:rotfl:

Not that crazy, but I did get 3 new dresses for dinners over the weekend! Can't wait to wear them on the cruise.

If you haven't sent me your cabin number please do so soon - we leave for WDW on May 30th.

Keeping my fingers crossed that we an upgrade from our Cat. 12 GTY--I'll keep my eyes on our reservation and let you know as soon as I have an actual room assigned.

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Not packing yet, but I did organize DS 's closet and told him to leave this section alone - it's his cruise clothes- that way all I have to do is throw it into a suitcase. I bought myself 4 pairs of shorts this weekend, but still looking for a dress for formal night, might just go with my old stand by if I can't find something I like.


I'm really looking forward to the Captain Nautica now- we are also doing the St. Marteen catermaran snorkel and parasailing at Castaway Cay- anyone do either of these excursions?

this week is a busy week for our family, school fuctions, church functions,
3rd grade field trip comming in May- but with each event we're one day closer to crusing :cool1::banana:

[michelleru]

Hi! We will be going on our first (finally) Disney Cruise. I was hoping to find others who were going on the same cruise with kids around the same age. I have 2 daughters- Kayla 15, Kiley 12. I am worried about my 15 year old- making sure she has fun on the cruise. Our last one on Carnival was awful for her, so she isn't very hopeful. Anyone out there who can help?

[wwtbamrob]

Hi! We will be going on our first (finally) Disney Cruise. I was hoping to find others who were going on the same cruise with kids around the same age. I have 2 daughters- Kayla 15, Kiley 12. I am worried about my 15 year old- making sure she has fun on the cruise. Our last one on Carnival was awful for her, so she isn't very hopeful. Anyone out there who can help?

My children are the same age as yours, but my 15 year old is a boy so probably not what you're looking for there. Perhaps if you mentioned the types of things that Kayla was interested in someone here could suggest activities that might be of interest.

As for Kiley, I'm sure our 12 year old daughter (Hayley) would enjoy meeting her.

Rob

[AbsyBabsy]

I am so excited - both of our rooms have been upgraded! We booked a Cat 9 18 months ago - down graded to a Cat 12 GTYwhen Florida Resident specials were announced and re-priced our trip. Our rooms were assigned today and we are Cat 9 side by side. 2042 and 2044 - anyone ever stayed in these rooms? I can't find a room report for them.

[michelleru]

My children are the same age as yours, but my 15 year old is a boy so probably not what you're looking for there. Perhaps if you mentioned the types of things that Kayla was interested in someone here could suggest activities that might be of interest.

As for Kiley, I'm sure our 12 year old daughter (Hayley) would enjoy meeting her.

Rob
Hi! Thanks for the response! Kayla is a typical 15 year old. She loves music and reading. She had a great time on the Princess cruise but was bored on Carnival. Poor kid had to hang out with her parents! If your comfortable with it, maybe the kids could exchange emails? Let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Michelle

[Suz D]

I am so excited - both of our rooms have been upgraded! We booked a Cat 9 18 months ago - down graded to a Cat 12 GTYwhen Florida Resident specials were announced and re-priced our trip. Our rooms were assigned today and we are Cat 9 side by side. 2042 and 2044 - anyone ever stayed in these rooms? I can't find a room report for them.

We sailed in 2088 on the Wonder in December. Loved the location on deck two. Thanks for posting this as today was the first day I didn't check to see if we got a room assignment. We got a small upgrade from a 12 to an 11 on deck 6. It's in a weird location so I'm going to check the room reports. I was hoping for an upgrade to a 10 with a split bath and would have LOVED a 9 (we got upgraded from a 12 to a 9 in December). I'm still hoping a bit that we may have another change before we board as I know that has happened in the past and there are lots of cabins still available.

The upside is that we have 3 cabins and they are all in a row which, as you know, is no "guarantee" with a "GTY".

How many of you are so excited that you can hardly stand it? I know I am!

Suz

[wwtbamrob]

Hi! Thanks for the response! Kayla is a typical 15 year old. She loves music and reading. She had a great time on the Princess cruise but was bored on Carnival. Poor kid had to hang out with her parents! If your comfortable with it, maybe the kids could exchange emails? Let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Michelle

I sent you a PM (Private Message) with contact information.

Rob

[disneydka]

How is it that I can tell what category our stateroom is? We had been booked as 12 gty and I can see that we have now been assigned a stateroom number. Also, I have a 16 yr old dd who has been looking for other teens..we have signed her up for the Wild Side Excursion on Castaway cay...hopefully she can connect with other teens prior to the cruise. I am at work now and cannot figure how to pm anyone so if you all with teens 15-17 would like to pm me...

[Suz D]

Dawn, what is your room number? If you check on the DU website they have a map of the ship which shows the categories. I can check for you if you want.

Suz

[disneydka]

Suz,

It's 2532. Thanks!

[Suz D]

Suz,

It's 2532. Thanks!

You got upgraded to a category 9 with a porthole on deck 2! We got the same upgrade in December to a category 9 on deck 2 and absolutely LOVED it! I think you'll be so happy. Have you cruised before?

Suz

[disneydka]

You got upgraded to a category 9 with a porthole on deck 2! We got the same upgrade in December to a category 9 on deck 2 and absolutely LOVED it! I think you'll be so happy. Have you cruised before?

Suz

I am sooo excited, thanks so much! This is our first cruise ever and now I am even more excited than ever! i love the idea of a split bath especially with having 4 of us, one being a 16 yr old girl!

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Hi! My family will be on this cruise - and it's our first! We are so looking forward to it, and even more so now that we have our room assignment! We have been upgraded from a GTY 12 to a 9 on deck 1! I'm trying ignore the bad reviews - we got the "dreaded" room 1062. But a little bit of noise never hurt anyone, and the location seems just so great! So wish us all peaceful sleep! (Thank goodness for earplugs!)
So, I will be traveling with my DH and DS(12) and DS(16). I have noticed a few people on this thread who have kids around the same age, and I bet they will all have such a great time! If any of your kids want to catch up with DS(16), he'll be wherever the food is!!!! We figure his food intake will pay for the cruise alone! It just ticks me off that he can do that and still stay so skinny.........
Thanks for "listening" to me - sorry it's taken me so long to post!

[Suz D]

I am sooo excited, thanks so much! This is our first cruise ever and now I am even more excited than ever! i love the idea of a split bath especially with having 4 of us, one being a 16 yr old girl!

Dawn,

We love the split bath! The cat 9 has about 20 more square feet than the cat 11-12. We haven't sailed in an 11-12 since our very first cruise and we really didn't mind it then, but I have to admit, I loved having the porthole (not enough to pay for it 'though).

[MN Dis Fans]

SheWhoMustBeObeyed Is your 12x year old interested in a cruising buddy? We've got a DS 11 pirate:, one month shy of 12, which would love to meet up / correspond with someone prior to cruising. PM me if you're interested.:thumbsup2

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

My kids are SOOOO excited about the possible launch scheduled for June 13! Here's to hoping it is able to launch before we have to leave the ship!!!!!

[AbsyBabsy]

Rose,

I see exactly what you are saying. In my drug induced stupor it made sense but you have explained it just right. If we did it the way I suggested each child would receive 15 gifts instead of 25. I'm okay with that, but absolutely will be fine with however it works out. We're just glad to be sailing! :goodvibes

Well, I'm off to bed. Night all!

I hope you're feeling better!

[Suz D]

I hope you're feeling better!

I am, finally! Thank you for asking. I'm hoping that we got the sickness out of the way. I was sick on our spring break 2007 cruise and it was miserable. Spent $100 to see the ship's doctor just to find out that it was viral and there wasn't anything they could do. UGH! To top it off, I didn't realize that our trip insurance would pay for the doctor visit so I didn't turn it in. Oh well, live and learn. Six weeks from now we'll be relaxing at sea!

Suz D

[Terrip63]

My name is Terri. We live in Idaho. My DD13 and I will be cruising with Suz D and her family. This will be our first Disney cruise. DD13 has never cruised before, and I've been on a couple from Ca to Mexico. I'm looking forward to the Disney "magic"!

We will be participating in the kid's exchange and the Fish extenders. Should be a fun way to make friends!!!

Looking forward to meeting you all and having a blast!

Terri

[AbsyBabsy]

My name is Terri. We live in Idaho. My DD13 and I will be cruising with Suz D and her family. This will be our first Disney cruise. DD13 has never cruised before, and I've been on a couple from Ca to Mexico. I'm looking forward to the Disney "magic"!

We will be participating in the kid's exchange and the Fish extenders. Should be a fun way to make friends!!!

Looking forward to meeting you all and having a blast!

Terri

Hi Terri!

[Suz D]

My name is Terri. We live in Idaho. My DD13 and I will be cruising with Suz D and her family. This will be our first Disney cruise. DD13 has never cruised before, and I've been on a couple from Ca to Mexico. I'm looking forward to the Disney "magic"!

We will be participating in the kid's exchange and the Fish extenders. Should be a fun way to make friends!!!

Looking forward to meeting you all and having a blast!

Terri

:wave2: Hello my friend! We're getting so excited to sail. I'm so glad you've found our meet thread :thumbsup2

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Well just wanted to check in, had a productive weekend and found a great dress for formal night- and only spent 35$:cool1:.
We are dressing up but not in tuxes or afull length gown- DH has a 3 piece suit, thanks to the grandparents DS has a new blue blazer and I have a " cute little black dress" family members have asked for professional pictures for Christmas so I hope to get lots of great pictures from shutters.

I finally figured out what we will give for FE and Kid's exchange and am very excited to get those started this weekend. With only 6 weeks + left, we are busy 3 out of 5 weekends with family obligations and activities. I am ready for this trip and can't wait to be on deck with a fruity drink!!!!! Who wants to join me?

[Suz D]

I am ready for this trip and can't wait to be on deck with a fruity drink!!!!! Who wants to join me?

I'm in! I can't wait to sip a smoothie at the sail away party (with a side of french fries and ketchup which is a family tradition!)

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

I'm in! I can't wait to sip a smoothie at the sail away party (with a side of french fries and ketchup which is a family tradition!)

OK ,I have to ask how that tradition got started?

[Suz D]

http://www.disneyshopping.com has some great prices on t-shirts right now. We're going to get a few matching ones because we're dorks and like to dress alike LOL! They have an extra 25% off sale price and $5 shipping with an $89.00 order. That makes the Disney logo (the one that says DISNEY with all the characters) about $8.00 each and only $7.50 for kids. They also have adult graphic T's BOGO and they are only $12.50 to begin with. I'm off to shop!

Suz

[Suz D]

OK ,I have to ask how that tradition got started?

Well, I absolutely LOVE french fries with ketchup and on our first cruise I couldn't believe that I could get all the delicious fries I wanted for FREE! We sat off to the side at the sail away party, drinking diet coke and sharing a nice plate of hot fries. From that point on, with every cruise during the sail away party we split at least one plate of fries. I have to say, one of my favorite things about cruising Disney more than once is the familiarity of it. It's like a comfortable pair of shoes that you just can't wait to put on and don't want to take off.

[degrapevine]

Wow! The time is just flying by ... with 3 kids and all their end of the school year activities going on, we are just so busy. Plus, our pool construction is almost done and the kids already have two parties planned for the end of May. I've really got to get working on those FE and kids' gift exchanges!

We decided that each of our children will do their own set of gifts for all the other kids, rather than just 1 per family. That way, if another family has multiple children, they will each get their own "set" of gifts instead of having to share. We'll just do one FE gift per cabin, though. I know what I'm doing for that (kind of my traditional FE "end of cruise" gift when I've done FE's for 3/4 day cruises), so I can let that secret out - It's a cruise CD of songs played onboard, so hopefully, no one else is doing one! If so, please let me know - I can always figure something else out!

I am still trying to lose some more weight for the cruise, already 20 lbs. gone, hopefully another 10 before the trip. So, I am holding out on shopping for some new clothes until the cruise gets closer. Maybe I can even try one of those cute tankinis and get out of my skirted bathing suit (as my DH calls my "granny" suit). Hey - I like that extra coverage! Our formal night outfits aren't quite as formal as others are doing, but all the males (DH, DS14, DS11) will be in Dockers, long sleeve shirts and ties and DD8 and I will be in some type of dresses. I'm really trying to cut back on packing for this trip - With 5 of us, it can really add up! So we'll be in jeans on Pirate Night w/tshirts, again on the first/last nights (with polos/dressy tops), then the males in Dockers w/polos on the other nights and DD and I in sundresses/casual dresses. I'm hoping to only bring 2 pairs of pants for each boy and they can keep them clean for 2 wearings each. Otherwise, I might be visiting the laundry room!

Suz, we were looking at the same logo tees to get for our family! I'm sure we won't be the only ones wearing them, though. I'd love to get the matching shirts/dresses for our whole family, but even with the 25% off, it's still $116. We did another style of those back in 2005 for our Disneyland trip, but the kids have outgrown theirs! DH and I can still wear ours, though. Count us in as another dork family that likes to dress alike (or at least humors Mom!).

I'm planning on a fruity drink (is it the Sailaway Drink that is half strawberry daiquiri and half pina colada) at the party and I want to dance this time - I'm not getting stuck with everyone's streamers again! My daughter Gina has enjoyed getting emails from Abby and Izzy and I'm trying to talk my sons Patrick (11) and Eric (14) into getting some email buddies, too. We are all really excited about taking a 7 night and getting to do all the extra stuff that doesn't happen on the shorter cruises.

Well, that's all for now! Looking forward to meeting everyone onboard and getting to know you better as the trip approaches.

Rose :)

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

[QUOTE=degrapevine;31561106] We'll just do one FE gift per cabin, though. I know what I'm doing for that (kind of my traditional FE "end of cruise" gift when I've done FE's for 3/4 day cruises), so I can let that secret out - It's a cruise CD of songs played onboard, so hopefully, no one else is doing one! If so, please let me know - I can always figure something else out!

we are also doing 1 FE per cabin, but I will probably make little treat bags for the kids as well - I won't tell my FE gift until I know I can get it done , but it's not a CD and I'd hope someone would do one- love the one disney sent with the horn. See you all in 40 days!!!!!:woohoo:

[Suz D]

I'd love to get the matching shirts/dresses for our whole family, but even with the 25% off, it's still $116. We did another style of those back in 2005 for our Disneyland trip, but the kids have outgrown theirs! DH and I can still wear ours, though. Count us in as another dork family that likes to dress alike (or at least humors Mom!).

Rose :)

Rose,

I'm shopping right now and those dresses/shirts are in my cart. I don't think there's 25% off them since they are not on sale. In 2007 we did some really cute blue matching ones with our friends so there were 7 of us dressed alike. It was so much fun. I really am thinking about getting the dresses & shirt. The only thing that I'm struggling with is $25.00 for our 3 yo dress as she won't be able to wear it again. I may watch for them to be on sale after the season and get her the next size up. I'm also struggling with getting our 13 yo the women's size. She's tiny (4' 8") and has pretty much stopped growing so she'd be able to wear it for a long time.

I can't stand to wait another 6 weeks to meet all of you. It's getting closer. One of our kids gifts has candy associated with it so I can't make it too early. Is everyone okay with a small amount of candy for their kids?

[Suz D]

OOOH! Missed the part about the cruise CD! I'm totally excited. We have a few songs that we got off I-tunes when we got back from our 2007 cruise (our first 7 night which totally got us hooked!). Can't wait to have a whole compilation!

Suz

[degrapevine]

Darn! Suz, you're right - the outfits aren't on sale, so full price is $160 - Yikes! Definitely won't be getting them for us, since the kids are all still growing like weeds. My daughter has skipped a whole size over the past 4 months and my 14 year old is taller than me now and still growing! They are really cute, though. I'll keep watching and maybe get them when they do go on sale.

Our kids' exchange gifts will all have some type of candy/treat in them. Since we live in FL and I didn't want to do a Disney gift but a "local" gift instead, I was a little stumped. But we are between Tampa and Plant City, so I figured, why not a "Tampa" themed gift with some guava candy (trust me, it's yummy!), a "Plant City" one with some strawberry candy, and for our 3rd child's gift, well, you know that really hokey dinosaur you pass on I-4 between Tampa and Orlando? Yeah - Dinosaur World! So a "Dinosaur" themed gift with some dino gummies. We actually live in Valrico, which isn't known for anything, so it's the best I could do! (I actually thought of doing a "Wild Animal" gift for Busch Gardens, but it's a little too much competition w/Disney, so the quirkiness of Dinosaur World won out.)

I'm glad to hear everyone likes the idea of a cruise CD. I'm going to even tweak it a little to add some of the newer songs that have been added to the parties (but still no "Sin Wagon"!). That's one gift that everyone can enjoy.

Happy planning!

Rose :)

[AbsyBabsy]

Hey gang. I am also getting so excited! We will all be meeting and relaxing very soon! OK since everyone is telling the kids gift exchange I will tell mine. (see what happens when I get a little peer pressure!)

We found inflatable Disney Character Beach Balls. I live a stones throw from Orlando so figured it was appropriate. Still haven't decided what to gift for the FE's.

I am also thrilled that the Shuttle may be launching when we are in port. If it is going to go we can all enjoy our breakfast at Topsider's watching the launch - it is so close it is crazy!

I am working on my DH to be a part of the dork brigade but he just won't have it - he is a great guy but does not want to dress like his wife.
I already have my first few hours planned: Topsiders, book my spa, get my daughter's hair braided, order a Pina Colada and boogie at the sail away party! I can already feel the breeze in my hair, hear the band, and the seven horns. After that....who cares......

[Grandma Debby]

Hey gang-
We're almost ready to board the MAGIC :rotfl2:

If it wasn't 1:30 in the afternoon I think I'd be off to my blender to make a "fruity drink" and really get in the mood :lmao:

I love the CD and the super kid's gift exchanges that are popping up - EXACTLY what I was hoping for :worship:

MN Dis Fans would like to join the fish extender game - they booked after the April 1st deadline. So add 1 more cabin to your list (2 adults & 2 boys) - if you have already bought or made your gifts I'm sure they would be fine with something else. Here is the FINAL COUNT!!!! :banana:

KID'S EXCHANGE
17 girls and 9 boys
meet up at the Mickey Pool about 3:00 on Saturday and meet and greet each other and exchange gifts - label your gift with your name and where you are from and if the gift means something special (such as Sierra from Colorado .....)

FISH EXTENDER GAME
16 cabins
make sure you PM me your cabin number and names - I'm going to include the list of names (such as Debby from Colorado in Cabin ****) with the first night treats that we will put in each fish extender so get them out before midnight on June 6th

The adults are welcome to meet at the Mickey Pool at 3:00 also and there has been discussion about meeting for breakfast on Sunday morning - what do you think? :confused3

Marilyn- would you please update post #1 with the kid's gift exchange and fish extender game info?

I just can't wait! I just can't wait!! I just can't wait till June 6th!!!
Grandma Debby

[MN Dis Fans]

My daughter Gina has enjoyed getting emails from Abby and Izzy and I'm trying to talk my sons Patrick (11) and Eric (14) into getting some email buddies, too. We are all really excited about taking a 7 night and getting to do all the extra stuff that doesn't happen on the shorter cruises.

Well, that's all for now! Looking forward to meeting everyone onboard and getting to know you better as the trip approaches.

Rose :)

We've got 2x DS's pirate:(Johnny 11) pirate:(Chad 14) the same ages as your 2x. They've just recently started chatting with a couple of other DS's also on this cruise, but I'm sure they would love to have another buddy each to chat with. Drop us a line if you're interested, and we'll try to arrange for them to get in touch. :thumbsup2

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Hey gang-
We're almost ready to board the MAGIC :rotfl2:

MN Dis Fans would like to join the fish extender game - they booked after the April 1st deadline. So add 1 more cabin to your list (2 adults & 2 boys) - if you have already bought or made your gifts I'm sure they would be fine with something else. Here is the FINAL COUNT!!!! :banana:

KID'S EXCHANGE
17 girls and 9 boys
meet up at the Mickey Pool about 3:00 on Saturday and meet and greet each other and exchange gifts - label your gift with your name and where you are from and if the gift means something special (such as Sierra from Colorado .....)

FISH EXTENDER GAME
16 cabins
make sure you PM me your cabin number and names - I'm going to include the list of names (such as Debby from Colorado in Cabin ****) with the first night treats that we will put in each fish extender so get them out before midnight on June 6th

The adults are welcome to meet at the Mickey Pool at 3:00 also and there has been discussion about meeting for breakfast on Sunday morning - what do you think? :confused3


I just can't wait! I just can't wait!! I just can't wait till June 6th!!!
Grandma Debby


I say the more the merrier!!! Welcome Mn Dis Fans and Family

[MelanieSandres]

I hope I am putting this in the right place. LOL We will be on the 6-6-09 cruise, I have a 10 year old daughter Jeanne Marie and a 12 year old son Matthew.
Is it too late to join in on the get togethers?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

I hope I am putting this in the right place. LOL We will be on the 6-6-09 cruise, I have a 10 year old daughter Jeanne Marie and a 12 year old son Matthew.
Is it too late to join in on the get togethers?

I also have a son that will be cruising 6/6/09 - he is also 12 years old and would love another buddy to chat with before the cruise! Feel free to PM me if Matthew would be interested!

[MelanieSandres]

Hi,
I have a 10 year old daughter that is really wanting to have a few buddies to hang out with. Her name is Jeanne Marie and we live in New Orleans. Her 12 year old brother has already informed me that he will not be hanging out with his little sister this time.

I wold love to be able to have her a few friends on the ship that would be really cool.
Maybe we could have the girls email each other the next few weeks??

[AbsyBabsy]

Hi,
I have a 10 year old daughter that is really wanting to have a few buddies to hang out with. Her name is Jeanne Marie and we live in New Orleans. Her 12 year old brother has already informed me that he will not be hanging out with his little sister this time.

I wold love to be able to have her a few friends on the ship that would be really cool.
Maybe we could have the girls email each other the next few weeks??

Hey there and welcome the boards! (I feel like a greeter and walmart!!)

Anyway, Abi, Izzy and Gina have been talking. I was not able to send you a PM as you are a new member. Send me an email at eaayoung@juno.com if your daughter wants to join this gang. The more the merrier!

Only 38 days until we are on cruise time! Who wants a Pina Colada - I think I will go whip up one now!!!!!

[MelanieSandres]

Hi,

Matthew would love to email or chat with you son. I am not able to send PM's yet. When I tried it said I have to have 10 post before I am allowed to PM. Can you send me a message?

Have you been on a Disney Cruise before?

melanie

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Hi,

Matthew would love to email or chat with you son. I am not able to send PM's yet. When I tried it said I have to have 10 post before I am allowed to PM. Can you send me a message?

Have you been on a Disney Cruise before?

melanie

Feel free to send me an email: jachjones@northboone.com
Nope - this is our first cruise!!! Yours, too? I can't wait! This is a great place to get some great info, along with the forum. I'm obsessed with reading it every day!
Look forward to talking with you soon! Or, at least, our kids!

Julie

[Taffygirl]

Hi Everyone,

I haven't been on the thread for a couple of weeks. Sorry. Anyhoo, I've tried to make the appropriate additions (welcome to you all) to the list on the first page. Please let me know if I need to make any corrections, or if you don't see yourself and family on the list, let me know here on the thread and I'll add you to the list (if you'd like).

Meanwhile, I will be checking this thread more often now that we are just over a month away. HOORAY! :yay:

[lrensin]

Hi everyone,
Can't believe we're leaving in a month! :cool1: I figure I need to start getting ready and was wondering if we have a head count of those who are going to do the fish extenders. Also, I have 2 preschoolers (well, one is going into kindergarten) and I think they'd like to participate with other little ones. Does anyone want to do a small exchange with them? (From what I understand the fist extender items are geared more towards older kids/teens/adults?)

Looking forward to the trip and getting to meet you all.
~Lia

[lrensin]

Debby - how you do you know what cabin you're in? Do they send that to you before the cruise??

~Lia

[Suz D]

Hi Everyone,

We're really getting close now! I'm wondering if we've decided on a meet time other than the kid's exchange time at 3:00 on Saturday? We've gotten a few new cruisers who aren't participating in any exchanges so it might be nice to go ahead and meet on Sunday for those who would like to.

We're planning on eating at Topsiders for lunch on Sunday around 11:30. We'd love to dine (al fresco) with anyone who is interested in meeting us there. Looking at past Navigators it looks like we wouldn't be conflicting with too many things (of course realizing that the Navigators are subject to change).

Let me know if you'd like to meet us!

Suz D

[Suz D]

Debby - how you do you know what cabin you're in? Do they send that to you before the cruise??

~Lia

Lia,

Your online reservation should have the cabin number listed by now. Maybe you got an upgrade!! Remember, it will show the category of cabin that you BOOKED not necessarily the category you received. If you can't determine which category you were assigned send me a PM and I can help you figure it out.

Suz D

[Taffygirl]

Hi everyone,
Can't believe we're leaving in a month! :cool1: I figure I need to start getting ready and was wondering if we have a head count of those who are going to do the fish extenders. Also, I have 2 preschoolers (well, one is going into kindergarten) and I think they'd like to participate with other little ones. Does anyone want to do a small exchange with them? (From what I understand the fist extender items are geared more towards older kids/teens/adults?)

Looking forward to the trip and getting to meet you all.
~Lia


Hi. Look near the end of the very first post on page 1 of this thread. There is some information on the number doing the fish extender thingy. :flower3:

[MelanieSandres]

Will there be a time and place set for everyone to meet?

[AbsyBabsy]

Only 31 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just had to say that.

[Krisanm67]

I'm so excited! I can't believe it is less than a month away :yay: I'm starting to get anxious with all my planning. I bought some magnetic paper to make our name magnets for our door and I'm still working on FE goodies AND I still have to make my FE (that is planned for next week). It's been really hectic around here with all the end of the year school stuff going on. Surprisingly I've been called into work a lot lately ( I am a elementary substitute). But, I'm more excited than stressed. Bought the kids swimsuits, sandals for the vacation and they are already getting a lot of use out of them since it's been in the high 90's and 100 here this week - so lots of swimming. How is everyone else doing??? :yay:

[AStamm]

I'm just as excited! I teach at the HS level and school doesn't end for us until June 3, so I'm more focused on finishing up all my grading, revising final exams as needed, and putting together review lessons. I'm sure once my seniors are finished in classes (their last day of class is May 22), I'll really start focusing on the cruise since I'll be be reviewing with my underclassmen and have nothing new to prepare or grade.

I picked up gifts for the kids exchange a few months ago, but am short by 5 or 6 items, so still need to get a few more. I took the lazy way out on the FE and ordered one from Ebay. Can't wait to see what it looks like.

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Hey ALL!!!!!


Guess what was waitig for me on the doorstep when I got home last night....


My Cruise Documents with Luggage Tags:cool1::cool1::banana::banana::woohoo::woohoo:

Now I know it's getting close-
bought my FE on ebay too, hope to start my gifts this weekend -everything else is pretty set. DH and DS are off today on a filedtrip to SEA WORLD- I had to work:headache: But DH and I have a datenight tomorrow to Cirque De Soliel(sp) so all is ok.

See you all in 29DAYS!!!!!!!!!

We are going to arrive in Cocoa beach Wensday night,Thursday we're gonna hit the beach; going to KSC on Friday, DS is big into space-anyone else planning to go to KSC the day before the cruise and want to meet plz PM me.

[degrapevine]

Hey, everybody!

Yeah! Our cruise docs showed up today, too. We booked connecting Cat 10's to make sure that we would be next to each other (no upgrades, but that's okay!). I also like having the door between the rooms so we can go back and forth (especially with wardrobe issues and getting ready for dinner). I know some families booked Cat 12 GTY's and were "pixie dusted" and put next to each other in upgraded cabins, but I just couldn't take that chance. We like the "dungeons" with no windows - Our kids sleep late in the mornings until we wake them up. I also use the tv to see what the weather is like and where we are. But, on the 3 night cruise I just booked for DH and I in December for our 20th anniversary, we did book a Cat 12 GTY. Maybe with the notation on our ressie for the special occasion, we'll get a "wonderful" upgrade!

Well, I know with the way my calendar looks for the next month that the next 4 weeks will just fly by. I've really got to get started on my FE gifts (those CDs don't just get burned on their own) and get out to buy the other things for the Kids' Exchange gifts. We are using the same FE we used for our family cruise last year, which I also bought off of eBay. I have a lot of the same magnets we've used before, but want to make some more that are just "Magic" themed for the 7 night cruise, since this is our first time on the Magic for a longer cruise.

I really wanted to go to Cocoa Beach and do the Kennedy Space Center for a few days before the cruise, but my DH just can't take off more than a week. So we'll be driving over the day of the cruise. The kids get out of school on Thursday, a half day, so I will spend that day and Friday packing so we can leave early on Saturday and hopefully get to the port by 10:30 AM to park. We booked kind of late with the Florida Resident rate, so we couldn't get a Palo Brunch ressie. I want to get on board early to get that taken care of and then, it's all about the fun!

I'm also an Elementary Substitute (used to teach Elementary Music before the kids) and have quite a few jobs lined up, so I'm planning on putting that $ aside for some fruity drinks, coffee concoctions, and souvenirs. But I'm staying out of the Bingo games this time - I didn't like those "bingo-bots" and I spent too much and didn't win a thing! I know that somebody has to win, but I'll let someone else be the lucky one.

I'm still trying to lose another 10 lbs. before the cruise, 3 gone so far and I'm holding off on buying some bathing suits until I reach that goal! That will be my last purchase before the cruise. The kids' and DH's clothes are all taken care of. Isn't it always Mom that ends up at the end as the last thought?

Oh - and if anyone is looking for Crocs for their family, I just bought everyone (except for me, I have the Disney ones) a pair at Costco for $16.99 each! If you have one near you, it's a great deal and they are super to wear on Castaway Cay and at the beach.

By the way, a big HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the Moms out there! Try to relax and enjoy the day with your family. I look forward to meeting you all soon.

Rose :)

[Grandma Debby]

As many of you know I've been PMing asking for cabin numbers for the fish extender game list and ppiew replied that she was on a March cruise -:confused3 she replied to a fish extender question on our thread and said her girls would like to participate so I included them

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT :lmao:
15 cabins playing fish extender game
24 kids (15 girls & 9 boys) doing gift exchange on Saturday -
put gifts in carry on luggage so you have them by 3:00
I'm bringing bags for the kid's gift exchange to make it easier for
them and US


I can't believe how many teachers & subs we have on our cruise - I retired three years ago and am now on the school board but once a teacher always a teacher:worship:

We leave for WDW on May 30th so if anyone has any last minute or at the port upgrades :goodvibes we will change cabin numbers on the ship

See you all on June 6th at the Mickey Pool about 3:00 :dance3:

Grandma Debby

[CRUIZEN MAMMA]

Just wanted to post this , for those going to KSC before or after the cruise, here is a $5off promo code good till 8/31/09 for up to 6 admissions PROMO CODE: MOONLANDING

[Suz D]

I can't believe how many teachers & subs we have on our cruise - I retired three years ago and am now on the school board but once a teacher always a teacher

G'ma Debby we have something else in common. I was shockingly elected to our school board when we lived in Indiana and LOVED it (after the shock wore off and after I lost the deer in the headlights, what do you mean RIF? feeling). I had to resign when we moved to West Virginia but hope to run for SB here. What a great opportunity to make a contribution to our educational system!

I hope we see you at WDW before the cruise. We're going to try to drive straight through on the 30th and get there in the evening. Our tentative schedule is:

Sun: MK
Mon: EP
Tues: AK
Wed: MK
Thur: EP
Fri: MK

See you all soon. I'm off to work on FE gifts!

Suz D

[Principessa]

Hey ALL!!!!!

Now I know it's getting close-
bought my FE on ebay too, hope to start my gifts this weekend -everything else is pretty set.

....

Hello all! I just figured out that I have to bring something to hold
gifts that I hang from a fish near my door - in addition to the gifts I
bring to put in other people's gift holders = fish extenders. I was browsing the Cruise FAQs and clicked on Fish Extenders to see a picture of someone's decorated door and a kind of long toiletries bag hung on a fish. WHO KNEW?!:rotfl2: Then I noticed comments like "make my FE" and "bought mine on ebay" Ok, I just wanted to put this info out there in case I'm not the only clueless soul signed up for the FE game! You have to bring the prize holder! What do you bring to serve as your FE? Can I go to Amazon and get one? Can't believe I didn't figure this one out sooner!

[Principessa]

Well I finally found the link to pictures of fish extenders - if anyone else
didn't know you bring your own, find a discussion under

*** DIS DCL FAQ - New Alphabetical Listing of DCL Information ***

This is a sticky about 6 lines down on the first page of Disney Cruise Line Forum. Scroll down to the Fish Extenders entry.


:) So are we you ready? I thought it would be fun to hear from everyone and see who is packed already and who hasn't started!

I just realized that DS needs to be wearing long pants to dinner every night.
Oh boy, too bad he only has athletic wear in his closet, I'm going out to buy
some dockers ASAP.

I haven't started packing....as a matter of fact my good suitcase is not fully unpacked from my last trip!:rotfl:

So who's ready!???