Feb 20, 2011 - Presidents' Week - Mexican Riviera

[minie_meese]

Disers who will be on the Wonder 2/20/2011 to the Mexican Riviera - those with FE are participating the Fish Extenders - please PM me with any changes or add a post to the board


AuntAmy (Amy) 1 adult, 1 girl 6, 1st DCL cruise - FE
Aurora76 2 adults, 2 kids 5 and 7, 3rd DCL cruise - FE
bayportcat (Kathryn) 2 adults, 1 girl 6, 1 boy 8, 2nd DCL cruise - FE
Beachmum (Melissa) 2 adults, 2 girls 6, 8
betsy2010 3 adults, 2 boys 5 and 9, 1st DCL cruise
BROWNSPHAN 1 adult? 2 girls - 10, 17
Bruins (Ken) and LKFan(Deb) 2 adults, 1 girl 11, 1 boy 8 - 2nd DCL cruise - FE
CeCe 2 adults, 1 boy 13, 1 girl 10 - allergies - 4th DCL cruise - FE
Dishy24 2 adults, 1 boy 11 - 9th DCL Cruise - FE
DVC Chris - 4 adults - 7th DCL Cruise - FE
dwickam 2 adults, 1 boy 11, 3 girls 6, 9, 13 - 3rd DCL cruise
Erica G (Erica) 2 adults, 1 boy 4 - 2nd DCL cruise - FE
gichicdoc (Michelle) 2 adults, 4 girls 20, 17, 14, 9- 4th DCL cruise - FE
herefishy (Tracy) 2 adults, 1 girl 18mos - 1st DCL cruise
II_california 2 adults, 2 girls 11, 13 - 3rd DCL cruise- FE
Jennifer_W (Jennifer) 2 adults, 3 boys 16, 14, 3 - 4th DCL cruise
Mich123 (Michelle) 2 adults, 2 girls 11, 14 - 2nd DCL cruise
LKFan (Deb) 2 adults, 1 girls 11, 1 boy 8 - 2nd DCL cruise- FE
mindy327 ?
minie_meese (Elaine) 5 adults, 1 girl 7 - 3rd DCL cruise - FE
MonicaD (Monica) 2 adults, 1 boy 13, 1 girl 10 - 2nd DCL cruise
Nancy_in_CA (Nancy) 2 adults, 2 girls 7 and 9- 1st DCL cruise - FE
Pooh_Lover (Mary Lynn) 1 adult, 2 girls 6, 9 - FE
preedymtnwest (Kristina) 2 adults, 2 boys 13, 10 - 3rd DCL cruise
preedymtnwest (Susan - Kristina's sister) 2 adults, 1 girl 11, 1 boy 6 - 2nd DCL cruise
Senor Don Duck 2 adults, 2 girls 7, 9 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
samily (Beth) 2 adults, 2 girls 13, 12 and 2 boys 9, 6 - FE
silence (Silence) 3 adults, 1 boy - 13, 1 girl - 7 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
sutter6 (Vanessa) 4 adults, 3 boys - 6, 13, 15, 1 girl - 3 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
talie 2 adults, 1 girl - 6, 1 boy - 1st DCL cruise
Tinkerbell 81 2 adults, 1 girl - 15
Vetbeth 2 adults, 1 boy 5 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
winny pooh (Wendy) 2 adults, 1 boy 5 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
XMom (Charlene) 3 adults, 1 girl 3, 2 boys 5, 7

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We booked this cruise while on the Wonder last week. We had a very active group of DISers on that cruise and are hoping to meet more DISers on this one.

Presidents' week is a school break week in NY so the young ones in our party won't have to miss school and getting away from February in NY is always a plus. We had such a great time on our recent cruise but 3 nights was too short. We talked about booking the Dream but our family wanted a little longer cruise, we wanted to go someplace different and didn't want ot spend a fortune.

Anyone else out there taking this cruise? We're hoping so.

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the 2011 Wonder Cruise Meet list ... :thumbsup2

[Aurora76]

We will be on that cruise as well. We are all soooo excited. This will be our third disney cruise.

[minie_meese]

Welcome Aurora - I was beginning to worry that we'd be the only Disers on this cruise. This will be our 3rd Disney cruise as well. Hope we'll see more people here soon.

[silence]

We booked our cruise this week. There will be 5 of us (DH, DS, DD and my mom) and we booked 2 cabins.

This is our 1st DCL cruise, we did a short 4 day cruise on Carnival to get our feet wet without the kiddos.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone.

[minie_meese]

Welcome - At this point we have 5 people as well - my husband and me, our daughter, our son and our 6 yr old granddaughter (she'll be 7 by then) - but that could change - we might add a few more. We've only sailed DCL so I have nothing to compare to but we loved sailing on the Wonder. We're all looking forward to this trip.

[Sweetpeabass]

Hi All!

We booked while on the Magic February 6-14 - YES!!! We had an extra day on the ship :banana: due to weather at Castaway Cay, :cool1:!!!! I was not upset about that at all:yay:

Anyway, at this time there are four of us, my DH, and my DF and her DS who will be 6. She has wanted to go for so long and her husband WILL NOT go on a cruise, none, so I told her we'd do it with her.

[Sweetpeabass]

Hopefully we'll have some more people to add later :grouphug:. A few are thinking about it and if they book by 3/15/10, they $200 of onboard credit :yay:. A great deal for sure :thumbsup2. We'' see :confused3.

[Señor DonDuck]

We finally bit the bullet and booked this date. This is our first cruise... ever. It will be myself, wife and two daughters (7 & 9 at time of trip). We're so excited!

[Sweetpeabass]

We finally bit the bullet and booked this date. This is our first cruise... ever. It will be myself, wife and two daughters (7 & 9 at time of trip). We're so excited!

You chose the right cruise line, that's for sure. This will be our 4th on Disney and it has never disappointed, although I could give them some tips for when you accidentally get held up a day. Anyway...not only will your daughters have the time of their lives, but you and your wife will, too. They have lots of stuff for adults to do and great shows for the whole family!

Welcome aboard!!

[minie_meese]

Yea! Looks like we're up to 5 groups - glad you will all be joining us - it was a bit lonely here for a while. We are so looking forward to being on The Wonder for 7 days. Our last cruise was in December and we had 15 different Dis family groups. We booked this cruise on board. Looking forward to sharing info with everyone over the next few months.

[Sweetpeabass]

Yea! Looks like we're up to 5 groups - glad you will all be joining us - it was a bit lonely here for a while. We are so looking forward to being on The Wonder for 7 days. Our last cruise was in December and we had 15 different Dis family groups. We booked this cruise on board. Looking forward to sharing info with everyone over the next few months.

We just did our cruise a couple of weeks ago and also booked onboard. We had close to 30 groups on the DIS board, 12 groups (43 people including children) participated in the Fish Extender gift exchange, but only a handful of the groups made it to the DIS meet after the sail away party, so did not meet too many of them in person. The FE exchange was fun, though, and I had a fun time making mine. It is definitely not the traditional FE, but everyone liked it.

Less than 1 year away! Hooray!!! :cheer2:

[Señor DonDuck]

Oh trust me, we are so looking forward to this cruise! I've been going through posts and previous trip reports taking all kinds of notes. Now, I just need to find a way to make the next 12 months go by quicker. ;)

Glad to see so many other great DIS'ers already booked on this cruise.

[minie_meese]

We had a over 40 people participating in our FE group as well. Everyone got into it and we ended up with some great gifts. I think our 2 little ones think FE is a standard part of any cruise .

Our Dis meet was pretty minimally attended too but it was a short cruise and the meet was held right after the sail away party. Since this will be a 7 night cruise with 2 sea days at the beginning we have some more flexibility.

[mindy327]

considering jumping ship to yall and the party of DISers!!! Want to go on this cruise! So many Dis'ers = So many FEers! Were booked for Jan 30th. Anyone on here doing FEers?:confused3

[minie_meese]

We'd love to have you join us. I am sure there will be a good number of FEers on the cruise.

[Señor DonDuck]

considering jumping ship to yall and the party of DISers!!! Want to go on this cruise! So many Dis'ers = So many FEers! Were booked for Jan 30th. Anyone on here doing FEers?:confused3

The more the merrier. :thumbsup2

I would love to be a FE'er on this cruise. Sounds like tons o' fun.

[silence]

We are hoping to do the FE exchange too! I'm already on the look out for cool ideas.

[minie_meese]

We had some great FE gifts on our December 2009 cruise so I have some great ideas too.

[Sweetpeabass]

We do the FE gifting! Had a fun time this last cruise in February. I did sort of a theme each day (not sure I will do EVERY day this time), such as we were on the ship for Superbowl, so we did the little rubber ducks with football vests on (from Oriental Trading), a deck of pink and black pirate cards on Pirate night, etc. It was so fun and the little trinkets we received were fun, too. Definitely count us in for that. :banana:

[Dishy24]

Hi all!
I just booked this cruise yesterday... We are just back from the EBTA --14 nights on the Magic! While onboard we booked back-to-back for May on the Dream.
On our last morning I woke up to 2 postcards from Jocelyn (the future cruise lady) for Friends & Family-- Yesterday, I decided that I would be my "own friend"... while I didn't get the 10% off, I did get a $200 OBC.

Anyway-- this will be our 9th Disney Cruise-- 1st time on the Wonder! On the TA we had 3 FE groups-- In my group there were 54 families!!! I think Dh will be skipping this cruise, so it will just be me, my Mom & DS (he will be turning 11 a few days before the sailing.)

Let the countdown begin!!! :banana::banana::banana:

[minie_meese]

Welcome to the group. Looks like we'll be a bit smaller than your TA group but we're all looking forward to having a great time. We've cruised twice before. This will be our first time on the west coast. We currently have 5 people in our group but I am trying to motivate a few more to join us. My niece went to Cabo on her honeymoon last year and just loved it.

[XMom]

Hi everyone...we just booked this cruise. There will be 6 of us (Me, DH, DS7,DS5,DD3 & Gma). We have connecting cabins on deck 2...trying to save money, but am now worried about all the engine noise now that I'm reading reviews. Hmmm....maybe I should change cabins?? We are deck 2 aft. Anyone have any experience there??

Anyway, we are so excited and can't wait for February!!

[Sweetpeabass]

Hi everyone...we just booked this cruise. There will be 6 of us (Me, DH, DS7,DS5,DD3 & Gma). We have connecting cabins on deck 2...trying to save money, but am now worried about all the engine noise now that I'm reading reviews. Hmmm....maybe I should change cabins?? We are deck 2 aft. Anyone have any experience there??

Anyway, we are so excited and can't wait for February!!

Hello XMom, we went to Western Caribbean in February and were on Deck 2 midship. I LOVED being on Deck 2, actually, and really hope we get upgraded to that deck again. I have also stayed on Deck 6 and 7 on my other two cruises and Deck 2 was my favorite, but it could be that it was midship and we were right inside the doorway from the stais adn elevators. Made going to dinner quick, lol.

[Dishy24]

264 Days....

[minie_meese]

We're still hoping to get a few more family members to join us but we have started to do some planning. Since we are traveling pretty far my husband and I are looking at arriving a week or so ahead of the cruise to enjoy some of California. We haven't been out there for a number of years. For those of you in Southern California any ideas of a reasonable place to stay south of LA. We'd be ok with the beach communities or even down to San Diego.

[XMom]

We're still hoping to get a few more family members to join us but we have started to do some planning. Since we are traveling pretty far my husband and I are looking at arriving a week or so ahead of the cruise to enjoy some of California. We haven't been out there for a number of years. For those of you in Southern California any ideas of a reasonable place to stay south of LA. We'd be ok with the beach communities or even down to San Diego.

Maybe stay down near La Jolla so you can see Legoland, La Jolla, San Diego and do Sea World too. San Diego is a fun place. They have Pacific Beach that has a little amusment area by the boardwalk and nice beaches to play on. You can visit the famous Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado island. I can always waste a good 3-4 days down there.

Closer to L.A., you have Hollywood with the walk of stars, Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, Disneyland and Santa Monica.

I guess it all depends what you want to do and where you want to stay. You can usually find some reasonable to stay.

I'm happy to help with any questions if I can.

[MazatlanMonica]

Hello to everyone in this group. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Monica and I live in Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico. For anyone on a future Disney cruise to the Mexican Riviera, I am pleased to make myself available to you for any questions about the city of Mazatlan or country of Mexico.

As for myself, I am a resident of both the United States and of Mexico. I speak both English and Spanish fluently and I have sailed on DCL numerous times and have been a lifelong fan of Disney. Let me say right upfront, I am NOT selling anything nor am I affiliated with any business or tour company. I am only here to help and give honest information and opinions in an attempt to make your time in Mazatlan or Mexico a positive experience.

I hope that everyone will welcome me to the discussion and that I can be of assistance to anyone who has a question about my city or country. I will attempt to check the boards once per day, but should I miss a question, please do not hesitate to send me a private message. I look forward to getting to know everyone!

Gracias,
Monica

[Dishy24]

FYI- Disney added the Kids sail free promotion to this and other Mexican Riveria cruises. The code is KFMR. It didn't work out for me as we are 3 adults & 1 child-- We booked abord the Magic, so to get my son free we would lose our 10% off & $275 OBC-- but it may work out fr others on here!

[Monica D]

I just put a hold on the 2/20/11 cruise. This would be our second one; we did the 4 night cruise in Nov. '07. I actually requested our same room, which would be really cool! :lovestruc

[Señor DonDuck]

We just got the Kids Sail Free deal added to our reservation. We have two kids, so this really made our day. We are soooooo happy right now!

[Sweetpeabass]

Does anyone know what ages are considered kids? Is it anyone under 18? We are planning Disneyland in October with my step-kids, but they would rather go ont he cruise and if they are "free," then it would liely cost about he same to go on the extra trip to Disneyland or take them on the cruise. They will be 17 and 15 at the time of the cruise and I am thinking Disney does not consider them kids, lol. They don't for tickets at the parks.

Thanks for the info!

Shannon

[Sweetpeabass]

Hello to everyone in this group. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Monica and I live in Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico. For anyone on a future Disney cruise to the Mexican Riviera, I am pleased to make myself available to you for any questions about the city of Mazatlan or country of Mexico.

As for myself, I am a resident of both the United States and of Mexico. I speak both English and Spanish fluently and I have sailed on DCL numerous times and have been a lifelong fan of Disney. Let me say right upfront, I am NOT selling anything nor am I affiliated with any business or tour company. I am only here to help and give honest information and opinions in an attempt to make your time in Mazatlan or Mexico a positive experience.

I hope that everyone will welcome me to the discussion and that I can be of assistance to anyone who has a question about my city or country. I will attempt to check the boards once per day, but should I miss a question, please do not hesitate to send me a private message. I look forward to getting to know everyone!

Gracias,
Monica

Thank you, Monica, for the offer. As it gets closer and things come up or we get the list of excursions, I may be calling on your advice.

Shannon

[minie_meese]

Does anyone know what ages are considered kids? Is it anyone under 18? We are planning Disneyland in October with my step-kids, but they would rather go ont he cruise and if they are "free," then it would liely cost about he same to go on the extra trip to Disneyland or take them on the cruise. They will be 17 and 15 at the time of the cruise and I am thinking Disney does not consider them kids, lol. They don't for tickets at the parks.

Thanks for the info!

Shannon

from the Disneycruiseline website

Kids ages 17 and under traveling with 2 full-fare Guests in the same stateroom sail free on select 7-Night Mexican Riviera cruises from January 23 through March 20, 2011. Valid for categories 4 – 11 only. Government Taxes and Fees not included.

[EricaG]

We just switched from a 3-nt. pre-Thanksgiving cruise to this one--couldn't pass up the Kids Sail Free offer! Our 7-nt. price was only $450 more than our 3-nt.--pretty great! We probably wouldn't have done a West-coast cruise without some kind of incentive, so we're really excited to do something totally new (we've just done one 3-nt. on the Wonder, last year).

We didn't do the FE thing on our 3-nt. cruise, but we'll probably want to get involved for this one--I'll just need some help figuring out what I need to do!

Looking forward to this--February seems like such a long way off!

[Mich123]

Hi All!

We booked in March and were just able to "adjust" our reservation to add the KSF. I feel like I've won the lottery! Hooray!

Looking forward to sailing on our second cruise, our first was a 4 day on the Wonder which included DD11's "best day ever", which, by the way, was at Castaway Cay. I'll be traveling with DH, DD14 and DD11. Can't wait to spend more days at sea and am interested in excursions this time, hope DCL will post those soon.

I'm wondering if it's too much to drive from San Diego to the port on the day of the cruise? Opinions, please!

[XMom]

Hi All!

We booked in March and were just able to "adjust" our reservation to add the KSF. I feel like I've won the lottery! Hooray!

Looking forward to sailing on our second cruise, our first was a 4 day on the Wonder which included DD11's "best day ever", which, by the way, was at Castaway Cay. I'll be traveling with DH, DD14 and DD11. Can't wait to spend more days at sea and am interested in excursions this time, hope DCL will post those soon.

I'm wondering if it's too much to drive from San Diego to the port on the day of the cruise? Opinions, please!


I don't believe that it would be too much. We have many times driven from Ventura County(just north of L.A. county) to San Diego to catch a ship from their port. It is probably at least a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive. It's something that can be done depending on what time you would like to arrive at the port in San Pedro. You can also look into taking the amtrack from San Diego if you don't have a rental car. Not sure if there is a station close by or how they work their public transit, but it is definately something to look into.

[Pooh Lover]

Aaaack! I can't believe I just booked this cruise. I need someone to start reining in my impulsiveness! :lmao:

Oh well, too late now! I guess I'll just have to suck it up and have a little fun.

it will be me, DD6 and DD9. I'm wondering what kind of shore excursions there will be. Anyone know?

[minie_meese]

Welcome! Glad to see the kids sale free promotion encouraged a few more people to join us. This board has been a little quiet. Hopefully it will pick up with the added folks - and it't less than 250 days away!

We've not booked our airfare yet - waiting till jetblue fares come out. Schools are on holiday the week of the cruise so airfare may be pricey. We'll book something soon.

[Pooh Lover]

I booked us on United because the times were really good. I looked at JetBlue and their flights for the fall to LAX were either really early or really late and not the way I needed them to be.

Plus the price for United was lower than JetBlue's prices right now. I didn't think they'd be much lower later. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong!! :rotfl2:

Minie, where in Rochester do you live? We're in Greece.

[XMom]

Glad to see more people on here. We are excited. Have not told the kids we are going...maybe we won't tell them until we get there and they figure it out! That is really cool that you guys are off of school that whole week. I have to come up with some sort of story to tell the school why my boys will be missing Tu-Fri that week. They will be in Kinder & 2nd grade in the fall. Any ideas??

[Mich123]

Thanks, XMom for the advice on San Diego to Port. In my planning fever, I booked a room at the Marriott Renaissance 6 miles from Port for the night before. I think we will fly into San Diego on Thursday and drive up on Saturday.

Will your school give you a hard time about the "unexcused" absence? I'd say it was an educational family trip. Most teachers around here are good with that!

[minie_meese]

Minie, where in Rochester do you live? We're in Greece.

We live off Park Ave - there were a number of Rochester people on our last cruise - maybe we'll have a few more :goodvibes

[BROWNSPHAN]

I booked us on United because the times were really good. I looked at JetBlue and their flights for the fall to LAX were either really early or really late and not the way I needed them to be.

Plus the price for United was lower than JetBlue's prices right now. I didn't think they'd be much lower later. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong!! :rotfl2:

Minie, where in Rochester do you live? We're in Greece.

Just booked the cruise yesterday. We were going to be going on Dream but this deal was too good to pass up. Cant wait. Hopefully airfare doesnt kill us.

We are also in Greece!!!

[XMom]

Thanks, XMom for the advice on San Diego to Port. In my planning fever, I booked a room at the Marriott Renaissance 6 miles from Port for the night before. I think we will fly into San Diego on Thursday and drive up on Saturday.

Will your school give you a hard time about the "unexcused" absence? I'd say it was an educational family trip. Most teachers around here are good with that!

Yes, unfortunately they do not like it when the kids are out. We go to a public magnet school that you have to apply to get in to. It is very parent driven and we are all there because we want to be. I'm sure I am not the only one that pulls their kids out. I have been told to do it now because by the time we get to 3rd grade it will be too hard to catch up. I'm sure I can tell the teachers the truth if we get good ones, but the office is another issue. We may just have a family emergency!! It is an emergency when you go into cruise withdrawl and especially into Disney withdrawl!!:laughing:

[Pooh Lover]

Brownsphan - how old are your kid(s)? This is the first time I've "met" people from the same area going on the same cruise. It's pretty cool!

XMom - it's too bad they'll give you a hard time. Our district has pads of preprinted excuse forms. One of the choices for reason is "out of town". I just check that. And I tell the teachers at the beginning of the school year that they will be out and remind them a couple weeks before. I've never had a problem. I understand where they are coming from, but in my opinion, they are MY kids and it's MY decision to pull them out for a few days or not. But then my kids don't have any issues keeping up in class and are rarely out for sickness. They miss less days out for vacation than some of their peers lose for sickness. Of course, their Dad doesn't like me pulling the out but I just tell him "tough" too! ;)

I know it's 8 months away, but I am excited already for this cruise! We are doing the Eastern Carib. October 2011 and that's just too far away. Probably one of the reasons I booked this cruise was to have something closer to anticipate!

[BROWNSPHAN]

princess:Brownsphan - how old are your kid(s)? This is the first time I've "met" people from the same area going on the same cruise. It's pretty cool!

They are 17 & 10. Both are girls.. or should I say Princesses

[Pooh Lover]

Mine (5 and 8) are not princesses, they are queens...drama queens that is! It's never boring at our house!

[minie_meese]

On our last cruise we had 4 families from Rochester - small world - or maybe people in Rochester just like cruising. We will have at least one of our granddaughters (7) with us. Our son and daughter will also be with us. We have 2 adjoining cabins on deck 7. Right now our cruise shows no availability but that will probably change. I was hoping to have our other son and his 7 yr old daughter join us too.

[EricaG]

We've never been on a 7-nt. before, but I know that they usually have a real formal night--I'm guessing this cruise will have the same? My husband has a tux that he hasn't gotten to wear in years, and I'd love to have an excuse to buy a great dress, so I'm hoping there is one! Not sure what we'll do about my son--if his daddy is in a tux, he'll be wanting to dress the same way!

[Pooh Lover]

We WERE on deck 7 but switched to deck 5 in order to be on the same floor as the kids club. We went on a 5 day RCCL in April and DD8 wanted to stay at the club WAAAAY past DD5's bed time. We were on the same floor as the kids club so I let her sign herself out and come back to the room alone. I'm much more comfortable doing this if it's only a matter of walking down the hallway and not going up or down stairs.

[BROWNSPHAN]

We are also on deck 7. This is going to be a great time. Cant wait

[Pooh Lover]

I just tried to add a friend of mine to the reservation and was told no. Apparently this cruise is entirely sold out! There aren't even suites available!

[minie_meese]

I just tried to add a friend of mine to the reservation and was told no. Apparently this cruise is entirely sold out! There aren't even suites available!

Keep trying. Some rooms have
opened up periodically over the past few days. People must be putting things on hold and then releasing them. I'm trying to book a room for my son and am pretty sure we will find something.

[Pooh Lover]

You think? I wonder why the TA didn't tell me that? I'll have to email her today and ask her to keep an eye out.

[Bruins]

Hi all. We will be on this cruise as well. We just got off the Wonder about a week ago (our first Disney cruise), and we had a great experience. It will be me, my wife and out 11 year old daughter and 8 year old son.

We would like to be part of the FE as well- we had a great time participating in the FE on our prior cruise.

We live about 15 minutes from the cruise ship terminal, so if you have any questions about the local area, please feel free to ask.

[vetbeth]

We're now booked for this cruise as well (myself, DH, and DS5). We can't wait to go. It's our first disney cruise and we are looking forward to it.

[minie_meese]

For quite a while I wondered if we were just going to have a few DISers on this cruise but I just went through the people who have posted on this board and it looks like we have 14 families.

Quite a few people expressed an interest in FE so we should start thinking about it. Some of us have gotten pretty elaborate with out Fish Extenders and our gifts :~}

We have plenty of time but we might want to at least talk about how we'd like to do this so we're not rushing at the end.

Here are some thought starters
Do we want to include adults and kids? (the ones I have participated in included both)
It looks like this is the first 7 night cruise for many of us so how many days do we want to plan on gifts for adults, for kids?
I'm happy to coordinate unless someone else wants to do it.

I can start to collect the information like number of cabins, number of adults and number of kids - and pass it along if someone else wants to coordinate :)

You can post info here or PM me

Thanks

Elaine

Here are the screen names of the families who have posted on this board.
Aurora76
BROWNSPHAN
Bruins
Disny24
Erica G
Mich123
minie_meese
MonicaD
Pooh_Lover
Senor Don Duck
silence
Sweetpeabass
Vetbeth
XMom

mindy327 - was thinking about joining this cruise

[Pooh Lover]

Elaine,

I would like to do the FE, especially for the kids. It's our first Disney cruise though and while I have kind of gotten an idea of what it is, could you please explain exactly how it works?

Thanks!

[LKFan]

My name is Deb and I'm married to "Bruins" (aka Ken).

Thanks for taking on the organizing of the FE. We participated in the FE on our last cruise and had a lot of fun. Some people just gave to the kids, some did individual gifts for everyone and others did family gifts. It didn't matter which way it was done, we all enjoyed returning to our room to and finding a surprise in our FE. :woohoo:

[minie_meese]

Fish Extenders a lots of fun.
The basics are
you bring a fish extender and some gifts to share with the other participants on the cruise
you hang your fish extender on the "fish" under your room number outside your cabin door shortly after getting to your cabin (and decorate your door with magnets if that sounds like fun)
during the cruise you bring your gifts around to the other participants cabin and leave them in their fish extenders

The actual fish extender can be simple or fancy. Our last cruise was right before Christmas so some people bought a christmas stocking at the dollar store while others had handmade fish extenders.

The gifts can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. Some people brought candy, others brought gift bags with a variety of things and others brought hand made gifts. It's totally up to you how simple or fancy you want to get. Some places you can find inexpensive gifts are the dollar store, craft stores (they often have things for $1 or even less) as does Oriental Trading Company.

The things we like about it is that our little ones love bringing gifts around to everyone's room. I try to plan carefully when I am going to fly so I minimize the amount of space.

Here are a few threads that talk about how to make a fish extender - they are pretty easy to make and can be done without using a sewing machine - or pick up something like an inexpensive Christmas stocking and decorate it with iron on decales
There's lots of pictures at this thread
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607
And instructions for a simple no-sew FE at this thread
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30302583&postcount=609
There are pictures of some home made FE gifts here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1980639 -
This is a lot of data - let me know if you have any questions

Elaine

[Pooh Lover]

So...do you give gifts every day? Or do people take turns?

[LKFan]

Definitely not everyday. Some people give one gift while others space their gifts out and give them over two or three days. On our last cruise, we received a lot of gifts the day of pirate party.

[ll_california]

Hi, everyone,

We booked this cruise a while back. Just learned about the kids free discount from this board, and called DCL and saved $700+. Thank you, Dishy24!

The ship is sold out for 2 adults + 2 children in the same room, and I was pleasantly surprised that they can still apply the KFMR discount on our reservation.

We are new to the FE experience, but are very interested. How do we get a participant list so we know how many gifts to prepare and where to send them? Thanks.

[LKFan]

Welcome II California. What part of No Cal are you from?

[ll_california]

Hi, LKFan, we're from San Jose. Nice to meet you.

[LKFan]

We're in the South Bay (of Los Angeles) but my husband and I both went to grad school at UC Berkeley.

[minie_meese]

Hi, everyone,

We booked this cruise a while back. Just learned about the kids free discount from this board, and called DCL and saved $700+. Thank you, Dishy24!

The ship is sold out for 2 adults + 2 children in the same room, and I was pleasantly surprised that they can still apply the KFMR discount on our reservation.

We are new to the FE experience, but are very interested. How do we get a participant list so we know how many gifts to prepare and where to send them? Thanks.

Welcome II_california
We had this cruise booked too and were able to apply the kids sale free discount retroactively. It was a treat for us.

We're just starting to plan our Fish Extender activities for the cruise. I volunteered to coordinate it. With your family we have 15 families who have posted on the board. Many have expressed interest. February seems like a long way off (especially for those of us in the Northeast who are enjoying the 80 and 90 degree days and would rather not think about snow and 10 degrees). I'll post something soon to try and get the ball rolling. We have 15 families who have posted so far and most of them seem to have 1 or 2 kids. I posted some general FE information. You can find it on the top of page 5. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Monica D]

Hi, LKFan, we're from San Jose. Nice to meet you.

We live in San Jose as well! :wave2:

[silence]

We called as soon as we got the email for kids sail free and we were told by our TA that it didn't apply to our cruise. Imagine my surprise when so many people here got it. :( It would have been helpful to save that money!

[ll_california]

minie_meese, nice to meet you, and thanks for the FE links.

LKFan, thanks for the great info re: San Pedro area. We just booked the DoubleTree hotel.

Monica D, nice to meet someone from the bay area. We're planning to drive to LA a day before the cruise. Are you guy going to fly or drive?

silence, I'm pretty certain that the kids sail free deal applies to the 2/20/10 MR sailing. I only found out this deal last week; at that time, there were not even a room available to accommodate 4 people. Still, I called DCL and they applied the KFMR code on my reservation without any problems. Right now, if you go to disneycruise.com and try to make a reservation for 3 people with KFMR code, you can still see $0 on the 3rd person. I remember hearing stories (either here or from CruiseCritic) that some TAs are unwilling to give you the discount because it may result in less commission for them, and they have to fight really hard to get their discount. You may want to talk to your TA and DCL again. It's a lot of money.

[ll_california]

silence,

Here is the thread I was talking about. DCL may be helpful in this situation:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227493

"Wanted to add that to get the repricing benefits you should book direct with Disney. I've had a similar problem and my t/a wouldn't approach Disney for me (I think their commission would have been lower). I'm in the UK, so could be different, but it caused no end of problems. Disney were very kind and sorted out, but not without a month or so of pain, nearly losing our stateroom allocation and hours on the phone."

[minie_meese]

We had an existing reservation and my TA contacted us about the kids sail free before I heard about it. It didn't save us a huge amount because we booked on board and had to give up the shipboard credit but my Ta did the calculations and told ne it would save us about $300 so we were able to apply it

[vetbeth]

We'd be interested in doing the FE. Depending on how many families join us, I think it could be up to the family if they do an adult, child or family gift. That way there will probably be a variety of gifts and it would be a pleasant surprise to see what you'd get if you had no idea who the present would be for.

[LKFan]

We called as soon as we got the email for kids sail free and we were told by our TA that it didn't apply to our cruise. Imagine my surprise when so many people here got it. :( It would have been helpful to save that money!

Man, I would be upset about this. I agree with the others, see if you can get Disney to apply this discount to your reservation.

When I log on with my existing reservation and try to change rooms, I still get the KSF option for 9C, 4B and 4A. I believe they are all GTY at this time.

[minie_meese]

Just booked our airfare today so we're really committed now. :) - now I can start my planning in earnest.

We ended up booking Jetblue out and Continental on the way back. $154 each way is not too bad from the east coast and we'll just have to pay for baggage in one direction - the right direction for packing my Fish Extender gifts.

We're arriving the Tuesday before the cruise and staying in Manhattan Beach. I used to travel to El Segundo for work and have some fond memories of Manhattan Beach and some of the nice restaurants. Our adult children have friends in the LA area so they are very excited about seeing them. We also expect to spend a day at Disneyland.

Looking forward to checking out shore excursions for the cruise too.

Anyone else started any planning?

[LKFan]

How long ago did you used to travel to ES/MB? It has changed a lot in the past few years. The studios moved in on Rosecrans which brought a lot of nice businesses (restaurants, grocery stores, etc) to the area.

Where in MB will you be staying?

[Señor DonDuck]

You win :laughing:

I'm still looking at different flights and will be flying in the day before to avoid any possible issues getting to port on time. I've also been going thru all the FE gift links to get ideas. (thanks for those links, BTW!)

Just booked our airfare today so we're really committed now. :) - now I can start my planning in earnest.

We ended up booking Jetblue out and Continental on the way back. $154 each way is not too bad from the east coast and we'll just have to pay for baggage in one direction - the right direction for packing my Fish Extender gifts.

We're arriving the Tuesday before the cruise and staying in Manhattan Beach. I used to travel to El Segundo for work and have some fond memories of Manhattan Beach and some of the nice restaurants. Our adult children have friends in the LA area so they are very excited about seeing them. We also expect to spend a day at Disneyland.

Looking forward to checking out shore excursions for the cruise too.

Anyone else started any planning?

[minie_meese]

How long ago did you used to travel to ES/MB? It has changed a lot in the past few years. The studios moved in on Rosecrans which brought a lot of nice businesses (restaurants, grocery stores, etc) to the area.

Where in MB will you be staying?

It's been almost 15 years since I've been to Manhattan Beach. I'm holding a reservation at The Sea View Inn but someone recommended the Marriott Residence Inn. I know it ist farther from the ocean but I know what I get from a Marriott. If anyone has comments on the Sea View I'd be happy to hear.

Two of the MB restaurants I went to are Mamma D's and the China Grill. I remember both as being very good. There was also an Irish pub at Huntington Beach but I can't remember it's name. Any recommendations are most welcome!

[Bruins]

It's been almost 15 years since I've been to Manhattan Beach. I'm holding a reservation at The Sea View Inn but someone recommended the Marriott Residence Inn. I know it ist farther from the ocean but I know what I get from a Marriott. If anyone has comments on the Sea View I'd be happy to hear.

Two of the MB restaurants I went to are Mamma D's and the China Grill. I remember both as being very good. There was also an Irish pub at Huntington Beach but I can't remember it's name. Any recommendations are most welcome!

I don't know anything about the Sea View Inn, but I do know the streets nearby, as I've gone running a couple blocks away from there. It's a really nice area, and the pier area is just a short walk away. It's a much more quiet area than the area surrounding the Residence Inn (assuming its the Residence Inn on Sepulveda Blvd.)

The Manhattan Village Mall is about a mile away from the Sea View Inn; just outside the mall is a cupcake place/ bakery called Susiecakes, which has the best vanilla cupcakes EVER.

[LKFan]

The Manhattan Village Mall is about a mile away from the Sea View Inn; just outside the mall is a cupcake place/ bakery called Susiecakes, which has the best vanilla cupcakes EVER.

Too funny. I was just about to volunteer to drive to MB to check out the hotels so I could use it as an excuse to stop at Susie Cakes. :rotfl:

Seriously, MB is maybe 20 minutes away so we can drive out there to check out the hotel if you want.

[EricaG]

We haven't booked flights yet. They're still expensive from Atlanta right now, and I know that they often have sales to LAX that will come out a few months in advance, but not this far out.

We have enough frequent flier miles to get out there, but we're trying to decide whether to use them, or save them and try to take a trip to Hawaii in a few years. Problem is, if we're using FF miles, we need to go ahead and book this far out; if we're buying tix, we have to keep our fingers crossed for a sale and book closer to February.

Decisions, decisions . . .

[DVC_Chris]

We are still pondering airfare as well. Cheapest from JFK is about $433 round trip right now, a bit more than we want to spend. We will see what happens when Southwest comes out in a few weeks.

[Bruins]

Don't know if anyone is looking to change room categories, but we just changed from a 9C guarantee to a 9B guarantee- our former 9C is available now if anyone wants it.

[minie_meese]

We are still pondering airfare as well. Cheapest from JFK is about $433 round trip right now, a bit more than we want to spend. We will see what happens when Southwest comes out in a few weeks.

Don't know how accessible Westchester Airport is to you but I noticed when I booked my daughter's flight from NY that the flights from the Westchester Airport came up way cheaper than JFK or LaGuardia. My daughter lives in Manhattan and doesn't have a car so she needs to travel through one of the big 3. I used kayak dot com to do the search. Kayak uses all of the different travel search engines and gives you a lot of flexibility. You don't book through Kayak - it sends you to the airlines website or one of the travel websites, wherever it found the cheapest flights. I just checked and it had flights on the Feb 19th-27th PM or 28th AM for under $350 with taxes out of Westchester and into LAX (a few were out of LaGuardia).

There's a rumor the new Disney ship might dock on NYC in 2012 - you'd save a bundle on airfare then :)

Hope this helps

Elaine

[DVC_Chris]

Don't know how accessible Westchester Airport is to you but I noticed when I booked my daughter's flight from NY that the flights from the Westchester Airport came up way cheaper than JFK or LaGuardia. My daughter lives in Manhattan and doesn't have a car so she needs to travel through one of the big 3. I used kayak dot com to do the search. Kayak uses all of the different travel search engines and gives you a lot of flexibility. You don't book through Kayak - it sends you to the airlines website or one of the travel websites, wherever it found the cheapest flights. I just checked and it had flights on the Feb 19th-27th PM or 28th AM for under $350 with taxes out of Westchester and into LAX (a few were out of LaGuardia).

There's a rumor the new Disney ship might dock on NYC in 2012 - you'd save a bundle on airfare then :)

Hope this helps

Elaine

Thanks for the advice, I have checked out HPN, and while I am keeping an eye on it, it is about 90 minutes away, so it is doable. Right now the flights are around $80 cheaper per person out of there, but the times are not as convenient, and the flights are not direct, which does not quite make it worth it for me. I went to Vegas this year during President's Week, and I managed to snag a fare on Virgin for $280 a pop or something similar... so I think the prices will go down eventually :cool1:

[minie_meese]

Direct flights are certainly better than a connection, especially in the winter - we don't have a choice from Rochester. You can't get to anyplace west of Chicago directly out of Rochester. My daughter is quite pleased that she is flying direct. We hoped to book everyone on the same flight but the cost difference was ridiculous. We're on the same flight out on JetBlue - from Rochester to LAX via JFK is $150 for us and $206 for my daughter JFK to LAX. We got $150 on Continental from LAX to Rochester through Newark on the way back but if my daughter took the same flight as us and ended in Newark she would have paid $525. Crazy - so she is on JetBlue. The layover was just too long for us into Rochester.

As for HRN, I heard the parking there is minimal and expensive and tha certainly comes into the equation too.

Good luck

[LKFan]

I went to Vegas this year during President's Week, and I managed to snag a fare on Virgin for $280 a pop or something similar... so I think the prices will go down eventually :cool1:

Love to fly on Virgin. I believe they fly into Long Beach which would be great.

[winnypooh]

:woohoo: We've been waiting for the final school calendars to come out, and finally bit the bullet and booked the cruise. I'm from San Jose as well. This will be the first cruise for me, my husband, and my son (4.5). Anyone going to have a 5 year old on the cruise?

Excited, and nervous at the same time about the expense, but we'll see how it goes.

wendy

[minie_meese]

Hi all

Glad to see we have a few more people on board.

Looks like we have 17 families so far on this board (if my counting is correct). I went through the posts and summarized the families - this will help us get to know each other, help those new to DCL find the experts, and for those who want to do Fish Extenders (FE), start getting some ideas.

It's probably a good time to start thinking about FE for those who what to do them so I indicated those who were interested next to their info with "FE". Please let me know if I got any of the information wrong - and anyone who wishes to join the FE group please let me know. We'd love to have you. We don't need to get things finalized for a while but it takes some planning so I want to start getting things organized. Also, if you send me data you don't want shared on the board, please let me know. Down the road I will put together a spreadsheet for FE participants that has the participants and their room numbers.

For those doing FE you can do just one day or more if you feel like it. If you just want to give gifts to the kids, that is fine too. For those who have not done it before, there are plenty of threads on the cruise board that can give you an idea of the types of things people give. Mostly they are pretty inexpensive and simple. I put some information in a post at the top of page 5. Feel free to ask me or any of the veteran cruisers questions.

Our cruise is just a little over 6 months away! I think everyone in our family will start to get excited after our summer vacation in a few weeks.

For those Rochestarians, if you are at the Park Ave festival this weekend and find yourself on Edgerton, say high if you see anyone on the porch at 224

Cheers!

Elaine

Here is the info I have so far

Aurora76 3rd DCL cruise
BROWNSPHAN 1 adult? 2 girls - 10, 17
Bruins (Ken) and LKFan(Deb)2 adults, 1 girl 11, 1 boy 8 - 2nd DCL cruise - FE
Dishy24 2 adults, 1 boy 11 - 9th DCL Cruise - FE
DVC Chris 7th DCL Cruise
Erica G (Erica) 2 adults, 1 boy 4 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
II_california 2 adults, 2 kids - 3rd DCL cruise
Mich123 (Michelle) 2 adults, 2 girls 11, 14 - 2nd DCL cruise
mindy327 ?
minie_meese (Elaine) 5 adults, 2 girls 7- 3rd DCL cruise - FE
MonicaD (Monica) 2 adults, 1 boy 13, 1 girl 10 - 2nd DCL cruise
Pooh_Lover (Mary Lynn) 1 adult, 2 girls 6, 9 - FE
Senor Don Duck 2 adults, 2 girls 7, 9 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
silence 3 adults, 1 boy, 1 girl - 1st DCL cruise - FE
Sweetpeabass (Shannon) 3 adults, 1 boy 6 - 4th DCL cruise - FE
Vetbeth 2 adults, 1 boy 5 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
winny pooh (Wendy) 2 adults, 1 boy 5 - 1st DCL cruise
XMom 3 adults, 1 girl 3, 2 boys 5, 7

[XMom]

:woohoo: We've been waiting for the final school calendars to come out, and finally bit the bullet and booked the cruise. I'm from San Jose as well. This will be the first cruise for me, my husband, and my son (4.5). Anyone going to have a 5 year old on the cruise?

Excited, and nervous at the same time about the expense, but we'll see how it goes.

wendy

Hi Wendy. I have 2 sons that will be 5.5 and 7 when we cruise! Are your schools out Monday only or did they use furlough days for the rest of the week? Our kids will be missing Tues-Friday.

Hi all

Glad to see we have a few more people on board.

Looks like we have 17 families so far on this board (if my counting is correct). I went through the posts and summarized the families - this will help us get to know each other, help those new to DCL find the experts, and for those who want to do Fish Extenders (FE), start getting some ideas.

It's probably a good time to start thinking about FE for those who what to do them so I indicated those who were interested next to their info with "FE". Please let me know if I got any of the information wrong - and anyone who wishes to join the FE group please let me know. We'd love to have you. We don't need to get things finalized for a while but it takes some planning so I want to start getting things organized. Also, if you send me data you don't want shared on the board, please let me know. Down the road I will put together a spreadsheet for FE participants that has the participants and their room numbers.

For those doing FE you can do just one day or more if you feel like it. If you just want to give gifts to the kids, that is fine too. For those who have not done it before, there are plenty of threads on the cruise board that can give you an idea of the types of things people give. Mostly they are pretty inexpensive and simple. I put some information in a post at the top of page 5. Feel free to ask me or any of the veteran cruisers questions.

Our cruise is just a little over 6 months away! I think everyone in our family will start to get excited after our summer vacation in a few weeks.

For those Rochestarians, if you are at the Park Ave festival this weekend and find yourself on Edgerton, say high if you see anyone on the porch at 224

Cheers!

Elaine

Here is the info I have so far

Aurora76 3rd DCL cruise
BROWNSPHAN 1 adult? 2 girls - 10, 17
Bruins (Ken) and LKFan(Deb)2 adults, 1 girl 11, 1 boy 8 - 2nd DCL cruise - FE
Dishy24 2 adults, 1 boy 11 - 9th DCL Cruise - FE
DVC Chris 7th DCL Cruise
Erica G (Erica) 2 adults, 1 boy 4 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
II_california 2 adults, 2 kids - 3rd DCL cruise
Mich123 (Michelle) 2 adults, 2 girls 11, 14 - 2nd DCL cruise
mindy327 ?
minie_meese (Elaine) 5 adults, 2 girls 7- 3rd DCL cruise - FE
MonicaD (Monica) 2 adults, 1 boy 13, 1 girl 10 - 2nd DCL cruise
Pooh_Lover (Mary Lynn) 1 adult, 2 girls 6, 9 - FE
Senor Don Duck 2 adults, 2 girls 7, 9 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
silence 3 adults, 1 boy, 1 girl - 1st DCL cruise - FE
Sweetpeabass (Shannon) 3 adults, 1 boy 6 - 4th DCL cruise - FE
Vetbeth 2 adults, 1 boy 5 - 1st DCL cruise - FE
winny pooh (Wendy) 2 adults, 1 boy 5 - 1st DCL cruise
XMomCharlene 3 adults, 1 girl 3, 2 boys 5, 7


All looks good. Thanks for breaking it down like that.

[LKFan]

200 days and counting! :cool1:

Thanks for the FE list. Our last cruise had mostly older teens and adults. I had expected more younger kids in the group. It is nice to know ages in advance.

Thanks!

[winnypooh]

[QUOTE=XMom;37654294]Hi Wendy. I have 2 sons that will be 5.5 and 7 when we cruise! Are your schools out Monday only or did they use furlough days for the rest of the week? Our kids will be missing Tues-Friday.

According to the calendar, it's listed as "February break"... no school, so that's good... there will be a camp at the CDC but we'll just skip that week.

wendy

[ll_california]

Welcome, Wendy!

Elaine, thanks for organizing the group list. Do you want to add it to your post on the 1st page? easier for new comers to see...

BTW, we have two girls, 11 & 13.

Looking forward to have fun!

[minie_meese]

Elaine, thanks for organizing the group list. Do you want to add it to your post on the 1st page? easier for new comers to see...



Thanks for the suggestion - I will do that and keep it maintained there. It will be easier for me to find too :)

Elaine

[EricaG]

Thanks for doing this! We're excited to participate in the FE gifts! I'll have to get my very talented seamstress mother to work on a nice FE for our family.

BTW, Elaine, this is actually our family's 2nd DCL cruise--we did a 3-nt. last October.

We went ahead and booked our plane tix using FF miles, so we are on our way! Yay!

[CeCe]

We booked our cruise during the Kids Sail Free promotion. It will be me, DH, DS age 13 and DD age 10. It will be our 4th DCL cruise, and we are excited to visit the Mexican Riviera this time. I was surprised because we booked guaraneetee this time, and have already been assigned a cabin. Also, we were wait listed for early dining and it has already been changed from late to early dining on our reservation. No I just need to get airfare!

[Pooh Lover]

Ooooh, CeCe, you give me hope! We are waitlisted for early dining and I didn't think we would get moved, but now I'm crossing my fingers!

[minie_meese]

Hi CeCe - Welcome to the cruise - I'm adding you to the list of travelers on the first page of this post. Let me know if you'd like to join the fish extender group!

Elaine

[winnypooh]

I'm interested in getting us onto the FE list as well...

[Señor DonDuck]

Thank you Elaine for putting this together!

[LKFan]

We booked our cruise during the Kids Sail Free promotion. It will be me, DH, DS age 13 and DD age 10. It will be our 4th DCL cruise, and we are excited to visit the Mexican Riviera this time. I was surprised because we booked guaraneetee this time, and have already been assigned a cabin. Also, we were wait listed for early dining and it has already been changed from late to early dining on our reservation. No I just need to get airfare!

Wow, that's early to get a room assigned on GTY. Did you get the same category that you booked?

[winnypooh]

Just wondering if anyone here booked with Dreams unlimited? Currently we're booked directly with Disney, and I was wondering if it's worth moving the reservations, or if I should just leave it be?

They said they can try to get us the same onboard credits even though we are a transfer.

BESIDES the onboard credits, I'm not sure there's any benefit in moving the reservation, so far Disney has been good to us for the booking.

Thanks,
Wendy

ps - am I seriously the only person that is super excited about the cruise, and it's only August?

[minie_meese]

We are getting really excited too but we have 2 vacations before the cruise. We usually only do one vacation a year so this is a bit unusual for us. Our one non-Disney vacation is this month. Once summer is over I think a lot of people will start getting excited (especially for those of us up North). We'll start pulling out our Fish Extenders and making door magnets then.

As to your Dreams Unlimited Question - we have booked both with and without a TA. We use Dreams. For our first cruise I was really happy to have a TA. Tracy from Dreams was terrific in answering all of the detail questions I had. We had 5 reservations and everything went perfect.

For our second cruise we did it ourselves and it was fine. I knew what I was doing. That cruise went fine too. I didn't need to talk to the Disney Cruise Line staff very much before that cruise. I was kind of glad because while some of the DCL folks were very good, there were others who were not that knowledgeable.

For our Mexican Cruise we are using Dreams again. We transferred the reservation while on board for our last cruise because I knew we could get the shipboard credit. I'm glad we transferred the reservation. One day I received an email saying the Kids Sail promotion would save us so hey were going to apply it. At that point I had not even heard of this promotion. While we lost the shipboard credit when we added the promotion, the savings with the Kids Sail Free was more. The TA explained the differences. The other thing I like with Dreams is that I can get to my reservation quickly and easily on their website. I find the DCL website pretty cumbersome to look at reservations. Dreams does business vial email and not generally via phone so there can be a lag in getting a question answered. I know some people have not liked that. With that said I've always found Tracy very responsive. When she is going to be away there is someone monitoring emails. If you book Palo, Spa appointments or excursions you will still do that on the DCL website. I can't speak for others, but things have worked for us.

Hope this helps

Elaine

[Mich123]

I'm super excited about the cruise, too! Next week, Southwest opens up their ticketing through February and I'm contemplating my flight options.

I haven't used Dreams Unlimited, but I have used a TA both times, first time AAA, second time with MEI & Mouse Fan Travel. Both have been great and both made the adjustment when the KSF came out. There have been a lot of complaints on this board about AAA and I didn't have any, I switched to MEI based on a friend's recommendation. I'd also note that both times I adjusted, I kept my onboard credits (not that it was a ton of $$, but I'm glad it was still there).

[CeCe]

LK Fan,
We did get the category we booked (10B). I figured that with the promotion, the ship would sell out, so I chose one that I would be comfortable with. Our last cruise we booked a guarantee, and the room number was posted about 60 days before sailing. We did get an upgrade that time, from a 12 to a 9. The first time we cruised with DCL, we booked and chose an assigned cabin in category 9, but when we got to the port, they had changed us to an 8, and also the 2 other cabins in our party. I'm still not sure how we got so lucky to get those upgrades. We assumed on the last cruise we would since you can't put 4 people in a 12, but we never imagined getting moved up to a 9. I was surprised to having this cabin assigned so quickly, but it was a relief to know that we were assigned a good location that had good reviews on it.

[LKFan]

LK Fan,
We did get the category we booked (10B). I figured that with the promotion, the ship would sell out, so I chose one that I would be comfortable with. Our last cruise we booked a guarantee, and the room number was posted about 60 days before sailing. We did get an upgrade that time, from a 12 to a 9. The first time we cruised with DCL, we booked and chose an assigned cabin in category 9, but when we got to the port, they had changed us to an 8, and also the 2 other cabins in our party. I'm still not sure how we got so lucky to get those upgrades. We assumed on the last cruise we would since you can't put 4 people in a 12, but we never imagined getting moved up to a 9. I was surprised to having this cabin assigned so quickly, but it was a relief to know that we were assigned a good location that had good reviews on it.

Thanks for the reply. We originally booked an inside but upgraded to a 9C when we found one available. My husband was poking around and found a 9B for $20 more so upgraded again. We are currently at a 9B GTY and I doubt we'll change that.

[Mich123]

This morning I booked our flights with Southwest--they just opened up reservations through March 11th. I was able to get some good deals, and use a free ticket, but the cheap seats are going fast! We (and I use that in the royal sense) decided to fly into San Diego and out of LAX. I had been thinking about Orange County, but it seemed that most people on the cruise board were flying in and out of LAX so I went with that. We have plenty of time between deboarding and the flight, so I think it will be fine. If not, we'll do it differently next time!

[LKFan]

180 days! Six mos and counting! :banana:

[XMom]

Can't wait!!!!

[Aurora76]

I'm sorry to be such a newbie but what is FE? This is our 3rd disney cruise and i've never heard of this. My husband and I will be travelling with our kids 5 & 7. It would be great to get the kids involved.

Thanks

[Señor DonDuck]

I'm sorry to be such a newbie but what is FE? This is our 3rd disney cruise and i've never heard of this. My husband and I will be travelling with our kids 5 & 7. It would be great to get the kids involved.

Thanks

Fellow newbie here as well. :goodvibes FE stands for Fish Extender and hangs on the Fish hook next to your cabin door, used for receiving gifts from DIS members on your cruise (well, those that signed up for it). minie_meese posted some wonderful information on FE at the top of page 5.

The DIS DCL FAQ also has some great info (scroll down to the F's for the FE portion)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2068966

Hope that helps.

[LKFan]

Has anyone looked at the excursions available or made decisions on what they are going to do at the different ports?

[Señor DonDuck]

We've just started looking at the excursions. Our kids are both under 10, so we have a few less to choose from. Beach resort options don't look too bad, though. Granted, this is our first cruise, so we're just happy to be on a Disney ship. :woohoo:

[XMom]

We've just started looking at the excursions. Our kids are both under 10, so we have a few less to choose from. Beach resort options don't look too bad, though. Granted, this is our first cruise, so we're just happy to be on a Disney ship. :woohoo:

We also will be traveling with young ones(3,5,7) and G-ma. We are thinking of leaving them in the kids club and doing zip-lining in Puerta Vallarta. We have always wanted to do it. I really want to swim with the dolphins but we are in Cabo for such a short time that I don't want to waist all the time with that. We may go stay in Cabo later in the year, so I can always have another chance later. As far as Mazatlan, we will probably just stay on board. Not too much we want to see there. We have been on the MR Cruise 3 times previously so we are pretty much doing it for the disney ship anyway!! I'm getting so excited and aprehensive...my OCD is going to kick in soon:rotfl:

[minie_meese]

I'm sorry to be such a newbie but what is FE? This is our 3rd disney cruise and i've never heard of this. My husband and I will be travelling with our kids 5 & 7. It would be great to get the kids involved.

Thanks

I'm happy to answer any Fish Extender questions. Let me know if you are interested in joining the FE group. You can see who is participating in the first post.


Glad to see Disney finally posted the shore excursions. We have never been to the west cost of Mexico so we are probably doing some of the touristy excursions that visit different towns at the Mazatlan and Puerta Villarta stops. Not sure about Cabo. We have 2 kids under 10 which also limits our options.

[Aurora76]

Thank you for all the info on the FE project. We would definitely like to participate.
We've booked our flights and are really looking forward to everything. I just started to look at the excursions and with young kids (5&7)we will probably be doing the beach excursions.

We are trying to figure out where to stay in LA, we've got 3 nights before the cruise.

[Pooh Lover]

My kids will be 6 and 9 and I had planned on doing beach excursions with them as well. Now I'm reading that it will be cold in February! Not sure if I really want to sit on the beach and freeze. Kind of nervous about what to choose!

[minie_meese]

Thank you for all the info on the FE project. We would definitely like to participate.
We've booked our flights and are really looking forward to everything. I just started to look at the excursions and with young kids (5&7)we will probably be doing the beach excursions.

We are trying to figure out where to stay in LA, we've got 3 nights before the cruise.

Hi Aurora - I'll add you to our FE list on the first post.

We're still trying where to stay before the cruise. We'll be there 5 nights. We're thinking of staying a few nights in Manhattan Beach and a few nights near Disneyland. Were looking at the Carousel Suites across from Disneyland.

We're not returning until Monday morning after the cruise. For that we plan to stay someplace near LAX.

If anybody has any comments on any hotels please feel free to comment.

[XMom]

Hi Aurora - I'll add you to our FE list on the first post.

We're still trying where to stay before the cruise. We'll be there 5 nights. We're thinking of staying a few nights in Manhattan Beach and a few nights near Disneyland. Were looking at the Carousel Suites across from Disneyland.

We're not returning until Monday morning after the cruise. For that we plan to stay someplace near LAX.

If anybody has any comments on any hotels please feel free to comment.

Not sure if you have already planned out your 5 days but San Diego is a wonderful place to stay. There is Mission Bay where you can rent paddle boats, the boardwalk in Pacific Beach where they have the roller coaster, La Jolla which is kind of upscale but fun to browse and walk through, old town San Diego as well. It is all pretty inexpensive. If you want to spend money, there is always Sea World, San Diego Wild Animal Park or Legoland a bit north of there in Carlsbad. We usually stay somewhere in Hotel Circle off of Interstate 8 where it is sort of in the middle of everything.

If you want to stay up towards L.A. you can do Universal Studios, Olvera Street, Hollywood, Malibu, etc. I guess there is a lot to do but since we live here, we just don't realize it.

We just left Disney this morning. I did the 5K, kids did their runs and Hubby did the 1/2 marathon. We took 6 hours driving home and stopped in Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, Malibu and eventually took Pacific Coast Highway almost all the way home. We forget just how beautiful our state is. Let me know if you have any other questions we could answer for you.

Charlene

[Mich123]

We just traveled from San Diego to DL/DCA and it was so easy--I highly recommend it. Give yourself a good amount of time for traffic, on our way from Carlsbad to Anaheim, it took about an hour and fifty minutes on a Sunday afternoon. It took us a little over an hour to get from Carlsbad to Anaheim on a Friday morning. We are doing the same before our cruise.

We are planning to stay in Long Beach (great deal at the Marriott Renaissance) and I'd love input from the group: My plan at this point is to fly into San Diego, rent a car and then drive up to Long Beach a few days later. We'll bring the car back to the Long Beach airport and take a cab to the hotel. Then, on Sunday morning, we'll take a cab to the port. I've been researching Super Shuttle (which we'll use to get us back to LAX) and other options (Amtrak), but this seems to be the most economical.

Is this a crazy plan? I need to have the car because we're visiting my brother in San Diego and it's essential!

[LKFan]

We are planning to stay in Long Beach (great deal at the Marriott Renaissance) and I'd love input from the group: My plan at this point is to fly into San Diego, rent a car and then drive up to Long Beach a few days later. We'll bring the car back to the Long Beach airport and take a cab to the hotel. Then, on Sunday morning, we'll take a cab to the port. I've been researching Super Shuttle (which we'll use to get us back to LAX) and other options (Amtrak), but this seems to be the most economical.

Is this a crazy plan? I need to have the car because we're visiting my brother in San Diego and it's essential!

The Marriott is a nice hotel.

Long Beach is a big city and has a lot more to offer (compared to San Pedro) with respect to rental car companies. Depending on what company you use, you can most likely find a drop off location closer to the hotel. For instance, Enterprise has an office a couple blocks away from the Renaissance. Once you drop it off, they will most likely shuttle you to your hotel.

Just checking... are you saying that you are flying into SD and out of LAX? How many people are in your family?

[LKFan]

We're not returning until Monday morning after the cruise. For that we plan to stay someplace near LAX.

If anybody has any comments on any hotels please feel free to comment.

The area around LAX isn't the best. You might be better off spending Sunday night in Manhattan Beach again.

ETA, if you do stay at a LAX hotel, you might look into taking the trolley into MB for dinner, shopping, etc. http://www.gatewaytola.org/

[LKFan]

Thank you for all the info on the FE project. We would definitely like to participate.
We've booked our flights and are really looking forward to everything. I just started to look at the excursions and with young kids (5&7)we will probably be doing the beach excursions.

We are trying to figure out where to stay in LA, we've got 3 nights before the cruise.

Where are you coming from and what types of things do you want to see and do in Los Angeles?

[Aurora76]

Where are you coming from and what types of things do you want to see and do in Los Angeles?

We are coming from Edmonton and we're not too sure what we want to see, we were just in Disney last month and last year we did San Diego. We've booked a room at the Marriott Residence Inn in Long Beach, i'm hoping its ok! :) i'm hoping we can get to universal for one day and disneyland for one day but we will see how it goes.

[LKFan]

We are coming from Edmonton and we're not too sure what we want to see, we were just in Disney last month and last year we did San Diego. We've booked a room at the Marriott Residence Inn in Long Beach, i'm hoping its ok! :) i'm hoping we can get to universal for one day and disneyland for one day but we will see how it goes.

Which Residence Inn are you staying at in LB?

Getting to Disneyland won't be too bad but Universal is going to be a trek. To get from LB to Universal, you need to go through downtown LA which means a lot of traffic on weekdays.

[Aurora76]

Which Residence Inn are you staying at in LB?

Getting to Disneyland won't be too bad but Universal is going to be a trek. To get from LB to Universal, you need to go through downtown LA which means a lot of traffic on weekdays.

Thank you so much for the tips, if you have any more that would be great. We are staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott Downtown Long Beach. Is there any other tourist things that we could do instead of Universal?

[Bruins]

Thank you so much for the tips, if you have any more that would be great. We are staying at the Residence Inn by Marriott Downtown Long Beach. Is there any other tourist things that we could do instead of Universal?

You could go whale watching for gray whales. The coast off of Long Beach is part of the gray whale migration pattern, and they should be in the area around the time of our cruise.

A couple weeks ago, I took the kids blue whale watching on a boat out of Long Beach, literally next to the Long Beach Aquarium. The company is called Harbor Breeze cruises, and their website is
2seewhales.com. They had tour guides from the Long Beach Aquarium narrating.

It cost $40 (with printable coupon) for adults and $25 for kids. It was a 3 hour cruise, and was amazing. We saw something like 20 whales.

Another option would be to take a boat across to Catalina Island for the day. I think the terminal for the Catalina Express is next to the Queen Mary. I've never been to Catalina in the wintertime, so I have no idea what would be open in February.

A final aside: since you're staying in Long Beach, the city offers free bus service throughout downtown Long Beach, and also an Aquabus which costs $1.

http://www.lbtransit.com/Services/Passport.aspx
http://www.lbtransit.com/Services/Aquabus.aspx

[Mich123]

Just checking... are you saying that you are flying into SD and out of LAX? How many people are in your family?

Yes, we are flying into SD and out of LAX, family of 4...I was thinking of getting to LAX via SuperShuttle...does that make sense?

[LKFan]

Yes, we are flying into SD and out of LAX, family of 4...I was thinking of getting to LAX via SuperShuttle...does that make sense?

Super Shuttle makes sense for four people. There are often discounts for a couple dollars off so keep your eyes open.

[Mich123]

Thanks for the tip! I'll be on the lookout for discounts.

[betsy2010]

Hi all,
We are also on this cruise - booked the KSF (switched from a Eastern Caribbean cruise that was going to be 4x the price with airfare)! We are a family of 4:

NorCalBruins: Mom, Dad, Boy 5, Boy 9 & Grandma!

We haven't sailed Disney before and haven't done the FE thing but what the heck, count us in :)

thanks for organizing
Betsy

[minie_meese]

Hi all,
We are also on this cruise - booked the KSF (switched from a Eastern Caribbean cruise that was going to be 4x the price with airfare)! We are a family of 4:

NorCalBruins: Mom, Dad, Boy 5, Boy 9 & Grandma!

We haven't sailed Disney before and haven't done the FE thing but what the heck, count us in :)

thanks for organizing
Betsy

Hi Betsy - And welcome - glad you will be joining us. I'll add you to the FE list on the first cruise meet page. I'll start to get FE things more organized after my October WDW trip but for now everyone traveling with us is listed on that first page and FE participants have a red FE next to their names. There are quite a few veterans on this cruise so please post any questions you might have.

Just noticed - it's just a little over 5 months away- it's coming up fast. We're all getting excited. It's going to be a great cruise!

Elaine

[Mich123]

Does anyone have tips on the excursions??

[LKFan]

Does anyone have tips on the excursions??

I keep going back and forth between Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor to see what people suggest. It seems as if most things are easy (and cheaper) to book on your own.

We're considering doing a dolphin encounter at one port and I've read that you need to do that through the ship.

[Dishy24]

This looks REALLY cool... thinking about booking it for myself & 10 year old son (still working on Mom)!

http://puertovallartacruiseexcursions.com/CanopyZiplineMuleTour.html

Anybody else interested?

[Bruins]

Hi all,
We are also on this cruise - booked the KSF (switched from a Eastern Caribbean cruise that was going to be 4x the price with airfare)! We are a family of 4:

NorCalBruins: Mom, Dad, Boy 5, Boy 9 & Grandma!

We haven't sailed Disney before and haven't done the FE thing but what the heck, count us in :)

thanks for organizing
Betsy

Betsy and family:
Nice to have you as part of the FE/ meet...and go Bruins!

Ken

[CeCe]

We were considering joining the FE group. However, my daughter, age 10, has some severe allergies to milk and egg. Is there any way we could work around this?

[minie_meese]

Hi Cece - On our last cruise we had a family who had a child with a severe allergy to some food items (don't remember what) and they participated.

For the FE group we put together a spreadsheet that was distributed to each family participating. On the spreadsheet was a list of each family, their room(s) and the number of adults and children. There was a comment area on the spreadsheet for each room where we could note things like allergies. We also used it to note people celebrating anything special like a birthday, anniversary or wedding vow renewal. I think we had something like "child with severe food allergies - no food items please" for the family with the allergic child.

I was figuring on doing this for our FE group too. I could note whatever you want on the sheet. Would that work for you and your child? With that said I'm sure you would look at whatever was left for your family just to make sure. If you have any other suggestions that would help make things work for you please let me know.

Elaine

[EricaG]

Yesterday was exactly 5 months to go! :cool1:

(I have to celebrate the small milestones.) :rotfl:

[samily]

Hi everyone,
We are also booked for this cruise & can't wait! The kids are soooo excited to be sailing out of CA! :yay: We have 2 adults (me & DH) and 4 children sailing (2 girls 13 & 12, 2 boys 9 & 6). We would also like to participate in the FE.

We have flights booked from the east coast coming in Friday night. Haven't booked flights home yet though. Where is everyone staying? We are booked at the Residence Inn in Long Beach.

Beth :flower3:

[betsy2010]

Hi everyone,
just wanted to let you know that we booked the Dolphin Signature Swim directly with vallarta adventures for HALF the price of the Disney excursion. I know we'll have to take a taxi to Nuevo Vallarta but it's not going to be $350 for a RT taxi! For me, DH & 2 kids it was $353 for the signature swim. Same package on Disney was going to be $708! I think there are a few spots left for the 11am on 2/23 (they day we are in PV)

[minie_meese]

Beth - welcome - I added you to our FE group - see the first page for this thread. Looks like we will have a really good group!

[rrbar]

Minnie Meese,

Actually I am going on the Disney cruise to Mexico on January30th but I saw your thread and was looking to see if any of you have any shore excursion ideas.

I live not too far from Manhattan Beach and often notice the Marriott Residence Inn on Sepulveda Blvd in Manhattan Beach. I know there is a Rubios not far, Ihop across the street and the newer shopping center with the Whole Foods that is in El Segundo but not far has a number of restaurants and shops so the location of the residence inn has a lot of businesses around plus the Ralphs grocery, Starbucks and Robeks juices isn't far away. I know someone who stayed there and liked it so I would suggest it. From the airport, it is probably just 1 mile or 2 so the taxi ride wouldn't be much. Also, there is a Embassy Suites on the same street a few blocks up but it is in the city of El Segundo and even a little closer to LAX. Hope this helps!

[CeCe]

Elaine,

Go ahead and put us on the FE list. I'm sure we can come up with something to say on the sheet about her allergies. I know the cruise is still a while away, but at what point do we know how many to buy for? I'm going to start picking up things soon, but I will buy other things as the date approaches.

Thanks!
Cheryl

[silence]

I've been MIA from this board for a while, nice to see a bunch more families!

Just to update the sheet for our group, my kiddos are DS (13) and DD (7) at the time of the cruise.

Yes, my real name is Silence. HAH, go figure right? Definately a conversation starter.

Anyways, I read for hours last night on cruise critic and compared to the excursions listed. Currently we are leaning towards doing the dolphins in Cabo, since you get the FREE observer pass and DH does not want to swim and my mom may not either, I can go with the kids.

I'm struggling with Mazatlan though, there didn't seem to be as much listed for this port?

In PV I think we are going to do one of the beach resorts, I think that is the one that I saw that had a hotel with water slides? I dunno, it's all running together at this point! Information overload!

[minie_meese]

Elaine,

Go ahead and put us on the FE list. I'm sure we can come up with something to say on the sheet about her allergies. I know the cruise is still a while away, but at what point do we know how many to buy for? I'm going to start picking up things soon, but I will buy other things as the date approaches.

Thanks!
Cheryl

Hi CeCe -
I'll add you to the list and I noted to make sure I ask about allergies as time gets closer. For the current number of FE participants just look at the first post on this thread. Right now we have 14 families with about 25 kids. I am keeping a running list of DISers on the cruise, ages of kids. Anyone participating in FE is noted in red. It will ask people for a final yea or nay before the holidays to give people time to get things organized but the list on page one should get you started.


rrbar - thanks much for the hotel comments. We have a reservation at the Residence Inn in Manhattan Beach - I really enjoyed Manhattan Beach when I traveled out to El Segundo for work a number of years ago. We are going to stay there a few days.

Elaine

[rrbar]

I've been MIA from this board for a while, nice to see a bunch more families!

Just to update the sheet for our group, my kiddos are DS (13) and DD (7) at the time of the cruise.

Yes, my real name is Silence. HAH, go figure right? Definately a conversation starter.

Anyways, I read for hours last night on cruise critic and compared to the excursions listed. Currently we are leaning towards doing the dolphins in Cabo, since you get the FREE observer pass and DH does not want to swim and my mom may not either, I can go with the kids.

I'm struggling with Mazatlan though, there didn't seem to be as much listed for this port?

In PV I think we are going to do one of the beach resorts, I think that is the one that I saw that had a hotel with water slides? I dunno, it's all running together at this point! Information overload!

I saw Mazatlan Frank listed several times here and on cruise critic with good reviews. I contacted him and you just put a small deposit with him for your date via paypal. He responds fairly quickly also. He is supposed to be very good for tours of Mazatlan. I saw Stone Island mentioned several times and it sounds like it is inexpensive to go there and arrange transportation yourself. How about checking out Randi's Happy Horses? I know some that are going on the January 23 week cruise said good things about her so that might be an option if you wanted to do horseback riding. Hope this helps!

[samily]

Beth - welcome - I added you to our FE group - see the first page for this thread. Looks like we will have a really good group!

Elaine, thanks for organizing the FE! I haven't read through all pages of the thread yet - is there anything else planned that I missed? ( a meet, magnet exchange, etc.)

Beth

[minie_meese]

Elaine, thanks for organizing the FE! I haven't read through all pages of the thread yet - is there anything else planned that I missed? ( a meet, magnet exchange, etc.)

Beth


Hi Beth - We haven't done much yet. Our posts have been a little spotty until recently. I was going to wait until I get back from my WDW trip in 2 weeks to start getting some conversation going regarding what people want to do but we can get it started now. People seem to be on the board a little more often now that we are getting closer.

On our last cruise we had a brief meet early in the cruise where we passed out copies of the final room list (a few people had rooms change the day of the cruise). I've not done a magnet exchange. How have you seen it work?

[samily]

Hi Beth - We haven't done much yet. Our posts have been a little spotty until recently. I was going to wait until I get back from my WDW trip in 2 weeks to start getting some conversation going regarding what people want to do but we can get it started now. People seem to be on the board a little more often now that we are getting closer.

On our last cruise we had a brief meet early in the cruise where we passed out copies of the final room list (a few people had rooms change the day of the cruise). I've not done a magnet exchange. How have you seen it work?

I thought it would be easier to look back at one of our past meet threads and just copy the info on the magnets from there. There were 2 different magnet things going on:

Traveling Mickey Magnet
Traveling Mickey is a large Mickey head with magnets on the back so he can stick to our stateroom doors. There is a list of families and their cabin numbers on the back. Mickey will show up on your door sometime during the cruise. When you get the magnet, put a check by your cabin number and add a message before you pass him on. Suggestions: family info, names, where you live, number of magical cruises.....or add a message to share your best “magical moment” from the day. We try to have Mickey visit everyone by noon on Castaway Cay day.

Whoever ends up with Mickey gets to takes him home---PLEASE take a picture and post it on our DIS thread.


Magnet Exchange
Everyone on the list agrees to make or buy a magnet for each cabin/family on the list. You deliver your gift of a magnet to each cabin door on the list sometime during the cruise. (Ten cabins on the list...you bring 10 magnets to give away. That includes one for yourself!) It is more fun if everyone doesn't deliver their magnet on the first night. During the week, it's great to find a new one on your door.

Sometimes door magnets have been reported to "fall off and walk away." So some people have been adding room numbers or family names on the magnet somewhere to help them stay on the right door. The giver can put their DIS name on the magnets they give or not. No real rules except to have fun and share the MAGIC!!

Magnet ideas are on several recurring threads on the DIS DCL forum. The possibilities are endless. There are even some very nice and talented DISers who help make custom magnets for the computer and/or not real creative types.

We've gotten DISNEY calendar magnets, ones with our ports listed, special pirate night magnets, some make special birthday greetings, anniversaries, etc. Sometimes it's a magnet from where the giver lives. They do not have to be only Disney themes. Whatever is fun for you to make and give. Then everyone goes home with great memory souvenirs and you end up with beautifully decorated fridges at home!! (This helps perk you up when reality returns.)

If I remember correctly, some people participated in everything - magnets, FE's etc., while some chose just to do the magnets, or just the FE. I honestly don't know how it all worked out in the end as we ended up having to reschedule that trip :(

Beth
__________________

[dwickham]

Hi everyone... We are also sailing to MR during the week of Feb 20. There are 6 of us... me, dh, dd(13), ds(11), dd(9) and dd(6-1/2). This will be our third cruise with Disney, first time on the Wonder and our first time to Mexico. Just now looking at excursions and hoping we can do most on our own (that's what we usually do on the Caribbean sailings.) Has anyone found the schedule when formal night, pirate night, etc is for this week? I wonder if they will have pirate night or will that be changed to something else? :confused3

[minie_meese]

Beth - The magnet exchange sounds like fun. Not sure about the traveling Mickey but I've never done either.

dwickham - Welcome to the group. I read somewhere there is supposed to be a pirate night. I've not heard or seen anything about formal night.

We have quite a few families - you can see everyone who has posted on this thread thatwill be traveling with us on the cruise by looking at post 1. I added your family to the list. Let me know if you are interested in the fish extender group and I'll indicate it next to your name. We are glad to have you join us on the cruise.

[dwickham]

wow - you are quick!! ;-)

[Dishy24]

Hi everyone... We are also sailing to MR during the week of Feb 20. There are 6 of us... me, dh, dd(13), ds(11), dd(9) and dd(6-1/2). This will be our third cruise with Disney, first time on the Wonder and our first time to Mexico. Just now looking at excursions and hoping we can do most on our own (that's what we usually do on the Caribbean sailings.) Has anyone found the schedule when formal night, pirate night, etc is for this week? I wonder if they will have pirate night or will that be changed to something else? :confused3

Welcome dwickham! My ds will also be 11 at the the time of sailing (his b-day is February 11th)-- Glad you are joining us! We are doing a zip line/ mule excursion (on our own) in Purteo Valllarta. Gavin (ds) is really excited to do it-- my Mom on the othet hand, isn't afraid of the zipline-- she is fearing the mules!!! lol

http://puertovallartacruiseexcursions.com/CanopyZiplineMuleTour.html

[dwickham]

Welcome dwickham! My ds will also be 11 at the the time of sailing (his b-day is February 11th)-- Glad you are joining us! We are doing a zip line/ mule excursion (on our own) in Purteo Valllarta. Gavin (ds) is really excited to do it-- my Mom on the othet hand, isn't afraid of the zipline-- she is fearing the mules!!! lol



HA! That is funny...and have to say I don't blame her! :) Thanks for the link. Ziplining is SO much fun! I wonder how strict they are on the 7 yr age minimum. My youngest won't turn 7 until April...but she has ziplined in Whistler a few years ago (albeit the kiddie-version of the big one the rest of us did). Hmm...I think I may need to make a phone call. It sounds like a great excursion!!:thumbsup2

[Señor DonDuck]

FYI, I found this link a few days ago where another DIS'er called to find out the times for Pirate, formal and semi-formal night.

Originally Posted by son3disfan
We are on the March MR cruise as well.

I spoke with CS and yes there is Pirate Party on the MR cruises.
Pirate Party is on Wednesday night ( Puerto Vallarta ).
Formal night is second night on ship.
Semi formal is Friday night ( Cabo).

Hope that helps!

[Jennifer_W]

Hello--
We booked onboard for this cruise last December, and are now getting serious about it. :goodvibes

I need advice! We have done 3 DCL cruises out of Port Canaveral, but I do not know anything about cruising out of California! Here's what we would like to do:

Fly from Minnesota (would prefer northern MN, but could drive 3 hours to Minneapolis airport) in evening of Friday, Feb. 18; sleep somewhere, have transportation to get to Legoland

Spend Saturday at Legoland in Carlsbad, stay somewhere that night

Get to the cruise somehow Sunday morning

Help me fill in the blanks, please! Which airports are you finding good airfare at? Rental car? Other option? Are embarkation and debarkation times the same as sailing out of FL? What hotels would you recommend? We have me, DH, and our 3 sons (16, 14, & 3 1/2). popcorn::

Thanks!!!

[Jennifer_W]

As far as excursions go, we usually book our own to save money with a family of 5 (Caribbean)--but how are you all feeling safety wise for the MR? Are any of our ports where the drug stuff has been going on?

I just want safe excursions & for DS to practice his Spanish for a bit. That's all.

[rrbar]

Hello--
We booked onboard for this cruise last December, and are now getting serious about it. :goodvibes

I need advice! We have done 3 DCL cruises out of Port Canaveral, but I do not know anything about cruising out of California! Here's what we would like to do:

Fly from Minnesota (would prefer northern MN, but could drive 3 hours to Minneapolis airport) in evening of Friday, Feb. 18; sleep somewhere, have transportation to get to Legoland

Spend Saturday at Legoland in Carlsbad, stay somewhere that night

Get to the cruise somehow Sunday morning

Help me fill in the blanks, please! Which airports are you finding good airfare at? Rental car? Other option? Are embarkation and debarkation times the same as sailing out of FL? What hotels would you recommend? We have me, DH, and our 3 sons (16, 14, & 3 1/2). popcorn::

Thanks!!!

Jennifer,

John Wayne airport out of Orange County is closer to Legoland for sure but would be farther to go back to from the port at the end of the trip. There are major chain hotels near LAX as well as John Wayne. LAX of course is closer to the cruise line. Long Beach has a small airport but not many airlines fly out of it. If you want to rent a car, that would make it easier I think? Legoland is about 1 3/4 hours or up to 2 hours drive from the cruise ship. Legoland usually opens at 10 am. There are often coupons around for kids free, etc. so check on ebay for one before you go. Some people have stayed at the Doubletree hotel in San Pedro. I believe they have free shuttles to the cruise ship as well as free parking while you are on the cruise and it is a nice hotel to stay at. I hope this helps! The transportation to all of these places will take some thinking to figure out your best options. You could arrange for a limo or car type service to pick you up from the terminal at the end of the cruise.

[Jennifer_W]

Thanks for the info. Are there any car rental places that do reasonable one way rentals? That's what we do in Florida. Guess that's my next step...well that & finding airfare! I think we are going to end up looking for the cheapest deals, as frequent flyer tickets are going for 40,000 miles and up...x 5 people is a LOT for one trip!

[LKFan]

Thanks for the info. Are there any car rental places that do reasonable one way rentals? That's what we do in Florida. Guess that's my next step...well that & finding airfare! I think we are going to end up looking for the cheapest deals, as frequent flyer tickets are going for 40,000 miles and up...x 5 people is a LOT for one trip!

Legoland closes early in the winter. If you go to the website, you can see that they are only open from 10 am - 5 pm in Feb 2011. http://california.legoland.com/Plan/opening_hours/?month=2&year=2011.

If you fly into LAX and stay there on 2/18, you're going to want to get up early Saturday morning to drive to Carlsbad. It probably won't take you two hours on a Saturday morning but you never know.

There are a few hotels near Legoland but, considering the park is going to close early, you might want to pick up a bite to eat and head up towards Long Beach/San Pedro and stay there.

As far as rental cars, Enterprise is the only rental car company in San Pedro and they have very limited weekend hours. From what I've read, they charge something like a $40 surcharge for one way rentals (check into it yourself as that is just what I've read on this board as well as cruisecritic). There are, however, several rental car companies in Long Beach so, if you rent at the airport you probably have more options for one way rentals if you look into returning a car in Long Beach. If that is the case, you can spend Saturday night in Long Beach and pay $25 for a cab ride to the port.

[Mich123]

I've been looking at car rentals and failing to find deals! We are flying into San Diego and then going to Long Beach. So far, the best "deal" (and I'm not so sure I'd call it this!) on a one way would be to rent at the airport in San Diego and return to the airport in Long Beach on Saturday, taking a cab to the hotel in Long Beach and then a cab in the morning to the port.

Carlsbad is a very convenient city, we're actually headed there, too, to visit family. There's a Marriott by the ocean near Carlsbad and Legoland. Legoland is located on Palomar Airport Road, so if you do a search for hotels near to this airport, you should end up quite close to Legoland.

[Mich123]

PS: San Diego International Airport is about a 40 minute drive to Carlsbad (if the traffic is moderate).

[minie_meese]

We are flying in on Tuesday and need a car for at least 6 people. I found renting a minivan was considerably cheaper than renting an SUV. We ended up renting through National. We are picking up the car at LAX where we are arriving on Tuesday and returning to Long Beach on Sunday morning. We figured we would drop everyone with luggage off at the port and have one person take the car to the Long Beach Airport and take a cab back to the port.

[LKFan]

We are flying in on Tuesday and need a car for at least 6 people. I found renting a minivan was considerably cheaper than renting an SUV. We ended up renting through National. We are picking up the car at LAX where we are arriving on Tuesday and returning to Long Beach on Sunday morning. We figured we would drop everyone with luggage off at the port and have one person take the car to the Long Beach Airport and take a cab back to the port.

I know you've traveled in So Cal before. Just remember that Long Beach Airport is 15 miles from the port. Make sure he has a good hour to get to the airport, return the car and get back to the rest of the family.

[Jennifer_W]

I thought there was a hotel that had shuttle service to the port? Am I going on old info? If there is, that would save a lot of hassle in not having to drop off a rental car the morning of the cruise, no?

Or with a family of 5 (incl. 1 toddler who would need a carseat), and luggage, we'd need something bigger than 1 taxi, wouldn't we?

[minie_meese]

I know you've traveled in So Cal before. Just remember that Long Beach Airport is 15 miles from the port. Make sure he has a good hour to get to the airport, return the car and get back to the rest of the family.

Thanks - I know we'll need to allow for a good amount of time both to be at the port and to return the car. It's not idea but we are not staying near the port and need the car till the day we leave.

[Jennifer_W]

I thought there was a hotel that had shuttle service to the port? Am I going on old info? If there is, that would save a lot of hassle in not having to drop off a rental car the morning of the cruise, no?

Or with a family of 5 (incl. 1 toddler who would need a carseat), and luggage, we'd need something bigger than 1 taxi, wouldn't we?

OK, I looked in my e-copy of the newest Passporter DCL guide, and found that they list 3 hotels in San Pedro with shuttles:

Clarion Hotel (111 S. Gaffey St.)

Doubletree (2800 Via Cabrillo)

Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Harbor (601 S. Palos Verdes St.)

I am off to reprice car rentals....

MINIE_MEESE---Have a WONDERFUL trip to WDW!!! :wizard: Wish I was getting to eat my way around Epcot this week. That's like my favorite thing!

[Mich123]

Jennifer W.--does the Passporter give a lot of info regarding our trip? I have the old Passporter and was contemplating the new one, but wondering if it's worth it. TIA!

[minie_meese]

MINIE_MEESE---Have a WONDERFUL trip to WDW!!! :wizard: Wish I was getting to eat my way around Epcot this week. That's like my favorite thing!

Thanks Jennifer - it's just my husband and me - no kids - we're celebrating our anniversary - a bit late. Besides eating around the world we're looking forward to AKL Savannah view, meals at Jiko, Cal Grill, Bistro de Paris and a Pinot Noir wine school - we're very excited

[Jennifer_W]

Jennifer W.--does the Passporter give a lot of info regarding our trip? I have the old Passporter and was contemplating the new one, but wondering if it's worth it. TIA!

I am not totally sure, as I haven't received the paper copy yet. I ordered on Thursday (they have free shipping through today, I think), and got to download the e-version of the book, but I don't know if it's the whole thing. I also ordered the southern California book, and should really wait to book hotels and transportation options till I see it, I suppose, but now that we've committed I want to get everything DONE! I'll let you know what the book covers once I get it.

Anybody else have it already?

[Jennifer_W]

Jennifer W.--does the Passporter give a lot of info regarding our trip? I have the old Passporter and was contemplating the new one, but wondering if it's worth it. TIA!

OK, I just downloaded it again, and NO it does NOT have info on ports/shore excursions/or much of anything specific for the MR cruises. BUMMER!!! It says that stuff will be in e 2011 book, but that does not do a whole lot to help us out, does it? I wonder if I will have access to the 2011 updates since I just bought this book now??? I am going to post over there and see if I can get an answer. Let you know if I hear.

[LKFan]

I thought there was a hotel that had shuttle service to the port? Am I going on old info? If there is, that would save a lot of hassle in not having to drop off a rental car the morning of the cruise, no?

Or with a family of 5 (incl. 1 toddler who would need a carseat), and luggage, we'd need something bigger than 1 taxi, wouldn't we?


Both the Crowne Plaza and Doubletree have free shuttles to the port. You should be able to find good prices on both on Priceline. I think people on CruiseCritic (on the westcoast departure board) posted about getting $65/night rates.

[Jennifer_W]

OK, I just downloaded it again, and NO it does NOT have info on ports/shore excursions/or much of anything specific for the MR cruises. BUMMER!!! It says that stuff will be in e 2011 book, but that does not do a whole lot to help us out, does it? I wonder if I will have access to the 2011 updates since I just bought this book now??? I am going to post over there and see if I can get an answer. Let you know if I hear.

OK, Dave Marx got back to me and said that the specific cruise itinerary info is included in the guide for the year in which those cruises take place--thus, the 2011 MR info would not be in the 2010 guide, but will be in the 2011 PP that will "be coming out a little later this fall". Thye are trying to get the e-version out shortly. Soooooo...that's all I know. I love the Passporter guides, & always enjoy getting a new one, so I guess I'll have the 2010 & ebook of 2011. :)

[Mich123]

OK, Dave Marx got back to me and said that the specific cruise itinerary info is included in the guide for the year in which those cruises take place--thus, the 2011 MR info would not be in the 2010 guide, but will be in the 2011 PP that will "be coming out a little later this fall". Thye are trying to get the e-version out shortly. Soooooo...that's all I know. I love the Passporter guides, & always enjoy getting a new one, so I guess I'll have the 2010 & ebook of 2011. :)

Thanks, Jennifer! I like the Passporter Guides, too...I'll have to look for the 2011 book.

[preedymtnwest]

Hi - we will be on this cruise (and were lucky enough to get KSF).

It will be me (Kristina), DH (Jeff), DS 13, and DS 10. Right now we have a GTY 5A and are supposedly in 7048.

We will be traveling with my DSis (Susan), and her DH (Mike), DD 11 and DS 6. They have a GTY 5C and are in 6532 right now. You can add them to my screen name as she doesn't have one.

This will be our 3rd DCL (after we go on our DVC incentive 3-night Bahamas cruise in November!!) and my DSis's 2nd cruise (we all went together on a 3-night Bahamas on the Wonder in Feb. 2009).

We're interested in doing the FE exchange, but I'd like to reserve final commitment until after I get back from my November cruise - we've signed up to do a rather small (12 families) exchange on that one and I'd like to see how stressed out it makes me... :confused3

We're lucky to be flying in from Seattle that morning, into John Wayne because the LB flights weren't good times. Any good ideas on the best way for us to get 8 of us to the port from the airport? We tried looking into the one-way rental, too, but it didn't look promising. There's a zillion van services but it's hard to tell from the websites what exactly they're like and what's included!

We'll be on here a little more from now on; we're getting very excited, but I need to get my FE stuff together for November and packed etc., but I'm sure my DSis will keep me focussed on February, too!

[XMom]

I just got my clearance passporter for $4.00. It was last years edition, so I figured it was pretty up to date. As far as the ports, we have been to Mexico plenty and will probably only get off in Cabo as we really enjoy it there. I read a lot of info on the other boards (C.C.) in their ports section. You can get some pretty good info.

I am stressing. I have tried to start potty-training my DD. She will be 3 in late January and is 100% against training. I am starting to get nervous. Both of my boys were trained 3 months before they were 3. Maybe girls are different. I just really want her to be able to go to the kids club...for us and for her. I didn't really plan on hanging out with her there. She will hold it for 6-8 hours then start crying and holding herself until she can't hold it anymore and pee. She's happy after but for the last 2 hours she freaks out. I stopped last week because I know it shouldn't be a power struggle. Any advice?? Sorry for venting...

[Jennifer_W]

I just got my clearance passporter for $4.00. It was last years edition, so I figured it was pretty up to date. As far as the ports, we have been to Mexico plenty and will probably only get off in Cabo as we really enjoy it there. I read a lot of info on the other boards (C.C.) in their ports section. You can get some pretty good info.

I am stressing. I have tried to start potty-training my DD. . . . Any advice??

Thanks for the info on Cruise Critic--I always forget about them!

As far as potty training goes, I only have 3 boys, so don't have experience wih a girl. I had forgotten (blacked out?) the experience from my first 2, but got some advice from my playgroup. They said to try putting sweat pants (thick or thin, doesn't matter) on my son with no underwear. And to stick to your guns...at home, they're commando in sweats. And it worked for him! He quickly associated the "before" feeling with the wet pants and didn't like it one bit. I don't know, it just worked for him. If you haven't tried it, might be worth a shot.

[XMom]

Thanks...I will give anything a try at this point.

Charlene

[Mich123]

Four months until our cruise!! Woo hoo!

[Jennifer_W]

Four months until our cruise!! Woo hoo!

:banana::banana::cool1: WOO HOO to YOU, TOO!!! :cool1::banana::banana:

And, we booked this morning for the Fantasy's Maiden Voyage next April!!! I am so excited!!!:yay:

[Jennifer_W]

And WHY is my cruise clock always off??? Is it because we are in different time zones and it is currently 11 p.m. here? I fixed it once & thought it was "on time". Sheeeesh!

[herefishy]

:rotfl:
My husband, our daughter (who will be 18 months), and I are very excited for our first ever Disney Cruise! Yippee! I can't wait. The only catch right now is that we are holding out for early seating dining-hopefully it will happen for us before our deposit is due. Lia would never let us sit for a lengthy dinner in the late evening, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Any tips for us first timers with a toddler? And what is a FE, or fish extender?
Thanks,
Tracy in Nor. Cal!

[XMom]

:rotfl:
My husband, our daughter (who will be 18 months), and I are very excited for our first ever Disney Cruise! Yippee! I can't wait. The only catch right now is that we are holding out for early seating dining-hopefully it will happen for us before our deposit is due. Lia would never let us sit for a lengthy dinner in the late evening, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Any tips for us first timers with a toddler? And what is a FE, or fish extender?
Thanks,
Tracy in Nor. Cal!

Tracy,

When we cruised with our kids and they were that age, we used to nap twice a day. I would do the 11am nap and my husband would do the 4 or 5pm nap. This way they were actually able to stay awake during dinner (most nights) and this way they were awake to see the show. My kids are very scheduled at home, but when it comes to vacations, we let loose. It takes a few days after we get home to get them back on track, but it is worth it in order for us to have a good time. Our first DCL cruise we had late seating. We were so busy all day that a late nap was easily achieved and besides going to bed a bit full, it all worked out well. Good luck to you with your seating!!!

Charlene

[minie_meese]

Hi - we will be on this cruise (and were lucky enough to get KSF).

It will be me (Kristina), DH (Jeff), DS 13, and DS 10. Right now we have a GTY 5A and are supposedly in 7048.

We will be traveling with my DSis (Susan), and her DH (Mike), DD 11 and DS 6. They have a GTY 5C and are in 6532 right now. You can add them to my screen name as she doesn't have one.

This will be our 3rd DCL (after we go on our DVC incentive 3-night Bahamas cruise in November!!) and my DSis's 2nd cruise (we all went together on a 3-night Bahamas on the Wonder in Feb. 2009).
..........


:rotfl:
My husband, our daughter (who will be 18 months), and I are very excited for our first ever Disney Cruise! Yippee! I can't wait. The only catch right now is that we are holding out for early seating dining-hopefully it will happen for us before our deposit is due. Lia would never let us sit for a lengthy dinner in the late evening, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Any tips for us first timers with a toddler? And what is a FE, or fish extender?
Thanks,
Tracy in Nor. Cal!

Hi Tracy and Kristina - welcome to the cruise. I added your info to the first post for this cruise meet. Everyone who has posted on this board is listed there. People who've indicated they'd like to do the fish extender exchange have a red FE next to their info. If either or both of you decide you'd like to join the fish extender group just let me know. Tracy - there is information about fish extenders on post 61 (page 5) of this cruise meet. You can also find lots of info on the main cruise board. If you have any specific questions just ask.

Now that I'm back from my Disney trip I'll start to pull the info together.

Elaine

[LKFan]

Elaine, are you going to set a deadline for participating in the FE? Just want to know how much time I'll have to work on the gifts before the cruise.

:hippie:

[minie_meese]

Elaine, are you going to set a deadline for participating in the FE? Just want to know how much time I'll have to work on the gifts before the cruise.

:hippie:

I'm thinking we should set mid December for a final count on FE. How about December 12th. This is just the day to say if you will be participating and how many adults and children will be included.

This will give those making things a full 2 months and give people who have time off over the holidays some time.

Right now we have 15 families with 35 adults and 27 kids. Some of the families are family groups with 2 families (and 2 staterooms). The numbers will change but this can give people an approximate count. For details on the ages of the kids see post 1.

Families who participate will bring something to share with the other families at least one time during the cruise. At a minimum there should be something for each of the kids and something for each family. You can do more if you like. A few examples from my last cruise -
1) little 2x3 inch Disney notebooks for each of the kids and a small bottle of sunscreen to each family
2) handmade bookmark for each of the kids over 6 and a coloring book for kids 6 and under, and hand made Christmas ornament for each family
3) a goody bag with pirate stuff like tattoos and stickers for each of the kids and a small bottle of maple syrup for each family (this family was from Vermont)
The possibilities are endless and for those wishing to make hand made things there are a lot of threads on the main cruise board

This thread has lots of ideas for hand made FE gifts
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1980639

For those who do not have a Fish Extender - this link has an easy to make - no sew instructions for a FE - http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=30302583&postcount=609

Finally - someone asked about a magnet exchange. Any family wishing to bring magnets to share with the other families - please do so but bring them around and leave them on stateroom doors early in the cruise so everyone can enjoy them. If you want to make hand made magnets see this thread - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2552775

Thats all for now

Elaine

[Monica D]

Well, it looks like dh and I are going to cancel our cruise. Not too excited about the ports/excursions and our kids are kind of at that in-between age as far as the clubs go. Maybe we'll do the Dream or Fantasy in a couple of years, but wanted to wish everyone the best and hope you have a great time!! :thumbsup2

[EricaG]

Thanks for organizing the FE exchange for us, Elaine!

It's finally getting close enough that I feel like it's real!

[Pooh Lover]

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the FE. I'm a little nervous about the space/weight issue for the gifts. It's just me and the 2 little ones, so I want as few peices of luggage as possible. Plus we have to pay for each piece this trip which is really cruddy. I'm so used to JetBlue to MCO and no luggage fees. :headache: I think the kids would love it, just not sure I am up to tall the coordination.

I'm glad I have a little while to figure it out. I have both kids' birthdays and Thanksgiving at my house over the next 6 weeks. Once all that is over, I can start looking toward the cruise. :goodvibes

[DVC_Chris]

:banana::banana::cool1: WOO HOO to YOU, TOO!!! :cool1::banana::banana:

And, we booked this morning for the Fantasy's Maiden Voyage next April!!! I am so excited!!!:yay:

We are booked on that one too... I do not know which cruise I am more excited about :thumbsup2

[LKFan]

I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to do the FE. I'm a little nervous about the space/weight issue for the gifts. It's just me and the 2 little ones, so I want as few peices of luggage as possible. Plus we have to pay for each piece this trip which is really cruddy. I'm so used to JetBlue to MCO and no luggage fees. :headache: I think the kids would love it, just not sure I am up to tall the coordination.

I'm glad I have a little while to figure it out. I have both kids' birthdays and Thanksgiving at my house over the next 6 weeks. Once all that is over, I can start looking toward the cruise. :goodvibes

The fun is returning to your room to find a trinket or surprise waiting for you. The gifts don't have to be elaborate. You can do simple, light weight options like stickers, bookmarks, silly bands, etc.

[XMom]

109 days to go!!! Got some cute pirate costumes from target at 75% off!!! Yippie...

[DVC_Chris]

I am starting to plan this trip in earnest now, and looking for the best way to get back to the Orange County Airport for our flights back east. I think Super Shuttle is probably the best way, and was wondering if there was anyone else who was also looking to go back to SNA? There are four in my group, but if we can get 8 people in the van, it would be $17 pp including tip, if 9 it would be $15 pp.

Let me know.

[minie_meese]

Hope everyone is getting excited about our upcoming cruise. Since I volunteered to coordinate the FE group I figured I should get started. Right now we have 15 families who've indicated they'd like to participate and another 1 or 2 who haven't decided yet. I'm sure some things will change between now and mid-December when I'd like to get most of the details finalized but it takes a little work to pull things together so no time like the present to get things going.

The way I'd like to do this is to collect the information below from each family - you can post it on the board or PM me. Since some people may not want their information shared on the boards I am going to share the full detail list with FE participants only via email or PM. The list will not be posted on this board.

I know some staterooms have not yet been assigned and some may change even after we board the ship - just provide me what you can for now and as we get closer I will re-validate. Once final payments are due we shouldn't see much change other than the staterooms so I will send out a preliminary list around that time.

Below is the information I need - anything with an "*" is posted on the first post - if that info is ok just say so and only provide me the additional information requested

Please provide me with the following for your party

*disboard name
*first name of the person providing the information (optional)
Stateroom Number(s) - (if you are currently GTY just indicate that)
Number of adult ladies and number of adult men - some people like to make things specifically for lady or a man
*number of girls and their ages
*number of boys and their ages
*how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?
Are you celebrating anything special (like a birthday or anniversary)? - if so, who in your party and what are they celebrating?
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party - this could be any number of things like allergies or requests because of allergies (no nuts, no food items) or something Disney related that someone in your party likes (6yr old loves Lightning McQueen) - include anything that will help people who wish to personalize their FE gifts do so.

Many people often do generic things for everyone and that is totally fine. There are others who like to get creative - so if anyone putting together FE gifts needs more information than I am asking for please contact me. On my last cruise someone wanted the favorite color of each adult and the favorite Disney character of each child. If people want to that information I'll try my best to collect it.

That's all I can think of for now

Elaine

[DVC_Chris]

DW and I were on the FE fence, but decided to take the plunge, here is our info:


Please provide me with the following for your party

*disboard name DVC_Chris
*first name of the person providing the information (optional) Chris
Stateroom Number(s) - 6130
Number of adult ladies and number of adult men - some people like to make things specifically for lady or a man 1 of each
*number of girls and their ages N/A
*number of boys and their ages N/A
*how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise? 7
Are you celebrating anything special (like a birthday or anniversary)? - if so, who in your party and what are they celebrating? No
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party - this could be any number of things like allergies or requests because of allergies (no nuts, no food items) or something Disney related that someone in your party likes (6yr old loves Lightning McQueen) - include anything that will help people who wish to personalize their FE gifts do so.
No food items please
Elaine

My MIL & FIL will be cruising with us as well, but they are not sure yet if they want to participate.

[Señor DonDuck]

Elaine, I PM'ed you our information. Thank you again for organizing this!

[LKFan]

I also sent you a PM. Thanks for putting this together. :worship:

[AuntAmy]

My niece and I have booked our cruise and are excited to be joining you this week. We are interested in participating in the Fish Extenders if there is still room. Here is our information.

disboard name: AuntAmy
first name of the person providing the information: Amy
Stateroom Number(s): Do not know yet
1 adult female
1 girl age 6
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise? Our first.

[minie_meese]

Glad you can join us Amy - I will add your name to page one of this board later today and I will add all of the information I've received so far to my detail list.

[minie_meese]

DW and I were on the FE fence, but decided to take the plunge, here is our info:



My MIL & FIL will be cruising with us as well, but they are not sure yet if they want to participate.

Chris - let me know if your in laws want to be added to the FE group

[XMom]

100 days and counting!!!! Woo hoo!!!

[Pooh Lover]

100 days and counting!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Wahoo!!!

[LKFan]

Has anyone decided on excursions or what you're going to do at port?

Also, is anyone planning on Palo reservations? If so, what day/meal are you considering? pirate:

[Pooh Lover]

We're doing Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan. Not sure about the other two. Kids want beach days, so I'm going to look for excursions. I've heard about a day pass at the Dreams resort in PV. That looks pretty good. Might do that one.

Any other singles going that might want to hook up for a Palo dinner? I'd really like to have that experience, but won't go by myself.

[XMom]

We are thinking of doing the canopy excursion in PV. I'm not sure if it is too physical for my Mom who is 68. She is a young to average 68. No health problems but not a gym rat either. It includes the zip lines but I read about 2 90 foot verticle repells which kind of makes me wonder if she or I could do it. Anyone know about it or done it in another port?

We are going to skip Palo because we really want to enjoy each night in the dining room. We are going again for a 6 night with only our youngest(feel bad pulling the other 2 out of school) in Jan 2012, so can always do Palo then. I am going to aim for a Palo brunch for the 3 of us(me, dh, mom) and consider that our taste test.

[minie_meese]

Since we've never been to the west side of Mexico before we're interested in doing some things to see some of the local culture. I'm going to start looking at things in earnest this week.

MaryLynn - we have two singles in our group - one or possibly both of them might be interested in Palo. I will ask. Not sure if I just realized you are from Rochester or not - on my last cruise there were 3 families from Rochester in our FE group.

Elaine

[LKFan]

I was poking around, looking at what to do at the different ports and noticed that Feb 24 is Mexican Flag Day. We'll be in Matzalan that day. I was looking for celebrations or festivals that might be occuring and just found that it was a major holiday. I wonder how major of a holiday it is and if places will be closed. :confused3

"The major holidays in Mazatlan are New Year's Day, Constitution Day, Mexico's National Flag Day, Good Friday, Easter, Cinco De Mayo, Independence Day, Day of the Race, Day of the Dead, Mexican Revolution Day, Christmas Day. For specific dates, go to the Mexico Tourism Board website."

[Pooh Lover]

I was poking around, looking at what to do at the different ports and noticed that Feb 24 is Mexican Flag Day. We'll be in Matzalan that day. I was looking for celebrations or festivals that might be occuring and just found that it was a major holiday. I wonder how major of a holiday it is and if places will be closed. :confused3




Wow! That might end up being something really cool. I wonder if there will be a parade?

[minie_meese]

We're almost down to 90 days till the cruise Woo Hoo
I'm pulling together the info for our FE group and want to make sure I include everyone who would like to participate. The families listed below have indicated they'd like to participate. I want to verify the list in case I accidentally missed someone.

Also, there is still time to join if you are interested - just let me know by Dec 12th and send me the information at the bottom of this post.

Thanks

Elaine

If your name is listed under "Still need info" please PM me or post the information to me so I can update the spreadsheet for the FE participants.

FE Families

Have info:
Aurora76
DVC Chris
II_california
minie_meese
LKFan
samily (Beth)
Senor Don Duck

Still need info:
AuntAmy (Amy)
betsy2010
Bruins (Ken) and LKFan(Deb)
Dishy24
Erica G (Erica)
Pooh_Lover (Mary Lynn)
silence (Silence)
Sweetpeabass (Shannon)
Vetbeth
winny pooh (Wendy)

disboard name
first name of the person providing the information (optional)
Stateroom Number(s) - (if you are currently GTY just indicate that)
Number of adult ladies and number of adult men - some people like to make things specifically for lady or a man
number of girls and their ages
number of boys and their ages
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?
Are you celebrating anything special (like a birthday or anniversary)? - if so, who in your party and what are they celebrating?
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party - this could be any number of things like allergies or requests because of allergies (no nuts, no food items) or something Disney related that someone in your party likes (6yr old loves Lightning McQueen) - include anything that will help people who wish to personalize their FE gifts do so.

[Pooh Lover]

Done! Thanks again for putting this all together Elaine!

[LKFan]

Have info:
LKFan

Still need info:
Bruins (Ken) and LKFan(Deb)




I sent you our info so you can delete the "Bruins and LKFan" listing.

Thanks Elaine! :cheer2:

[Mich123]

Final payment made! Studying the port adventures and ready to go! :goodvibes

[CeCe]

Looks like we accidently got left off the FE list.

We are looking forward to trying the FE exchange!

Disboard name : CeCe
First name: Cheryl
Stateroom #: 2579
1 adult Female
1 adult Male
1 boy age 13
1 girl age 10- who has a milk and egg allergy, so no chocolate for her

This will be our fourth Disney Cruise

[LKFan]

I just called Disney to double check info about Palo and the excursions. The customer service rep said that they were told that the site is going to be down from 8 pm tonight until 8 am tomorrow morning in order to update info about the Dream. :eek:

[samily]

I just called Disney to double check info about Palo and the excursions. The customer service rep said that they were told that the site is going to be down from 8 pm tonight until 8 am tomorrow morning in order to update info about the Dream. :eek:

I'm so glad I made my Palo and spa ressies this afternoon then! I would have been upset if I had put it off until tonight! We are doing Palo brunch - we've tried many times but have never actually made it to brunch in the past (one of the kids always seems to get sick on our brunch morning, lol. Last time my son came down with strep throat and we spent our brunch time in the medical center!). Hmmm, maybe I should just not even book it so they stay healthy this time :confused3

[XMom]

Do u know what number I would call to make the reservations? Do they open at 8am? Thanks

[samily]

I don't think they will book reservations over the phone unless you booked concierge. You can book online under your reservation. DCL customer service opens at 8am EST if you have questions.


What is everyone booking? We booked Palo brunch and a spa treatment; I think we'll do excursions on our own.

[XMom]

We were thinking of doing the canopy adventure in PV but after reading about two 90 foot repells, we are kind of second guessing it. Has anyone done anything similar? We are not athletes but are not sedentary either. I just have visions of not doing the repel correctly and smashing face first into the rocks.

Other than that, I think we are just going to hang in Cabo, maybe eat lunch at Mango Deck then head over to check out La Estancia Resort to show Grandma where we will be staying in the future then head to Cabo Wabo and have a big drink(can't drive 55 is the name of it). As for Mazatlan, we will probably just hang out on the ship all day.

Well, considering I have to wake up at 5 am to make my Palo and excursion ressies, I'd better hit the hay.

Any advice on the canopy excursion would be great!!

Thanks again...

[LKFan]

I set my alarm for 4:45 am, logged on at 4:50 am and the site was working. I was able to book Palo brunch and dinner as well as one excursion.

Now I'm hanging out waiting for the Comic-Con registration to go live at 6 am. :surfweb: Busy morning.

ETA: Comic-Con's server crashed for the second time in a month. Bummer. At least the DCL site worked this morning.

[XMom]

Yes, I was sort of lucky that I have had the stomach flu and happened to wake up at 2am( pst). I got on and the site was up. I was able to book our canopy excursion in PV as well as the exotic rasual and Palo for brunch, high tea and dinner. I also scheduled nursery time for all of them since my daughter refuses to potty train. She will be 3 at the end of January. Ugh.......she is stubborn like her Mommy.

[Aurora76]

Has anyone done the High Tea at Palo? We've done the brunch and dinner and absolutely loved it but what is the High Tea all about?

Thanks

[EricaG]

Got on this morning and we're doing Palo Dinner on Thursday night and Palo Brunch on Tuesday.

We haven't booked any excursions yet--I'm thinking about doing the Mexican Folkloric show in Mazatlan b/c I wanted us to do one thing that was a bit more cultural and not just "beachy," and Mazatlan is the one port I'm a bit concerned about doing on my own--the whole State Dept. warning thing isn't scaring us off, but it makes me a bit more cautious in that port.

In PV we're thinking about doing a day at an all-inclusive that's near the port called the Crown Paradise Club--sounds kid-friendly and relaxing. In Cabo maybe just getting a boat to take us on a short tour and then drop us at Medano Beach for awhile--we don't have that long in Cabo, really.

We're excited!

[Pooh Lover]

Erica, we're doing the Crown Paradise Club too! My kids are excited because there is a little waterpark and they love that. I, of course, will be sunning and sipping!

Palo on the 3rd night also with Elaine's (Minie Meese) son. Looking forward to that!

[minie_meese]

Looks like we accidently got left off the FE list.

We are looking forward to trying the FE exchange!

Disboard name : CeCe
First name: Cheryl
Stateroom #: 2579
1 adult Female
1 adult Male
1 boy age 13
1 girl age 10- who has a milk and egg allergy, so no chocolate for her

This will be our fourth Disney Cruise

Thanks Cheryl - you are on the list - my mistake when I copies to the list to the board

[minie_meese]

I logged on about 8 am yesterday and was able to reserve everything we wanted, got Palo at times we wanted. For excursions we're doing some of the cultural tours and a few people are doing scuba. My daughter and I are doing the Exotic Rasul at the spa. Most people do it with their significant other but my daughter and I have done this spa experience before and loved it. I can't get my husband near the spa.

Thanks for all the updated FE info -here is the current status - I will send a first cut at the details to participants in mid-December. Anyone interested can find the number of adults, girls, boys in the first post:

Aurora76
Bruins (Ken) and LKFan(Deb)
Cece (Cheryl)
Dishy24
DVC Chris
Erica G (Erica)
gichicdoc
II_california
minie_meese
Pooh_Lover (Mary Lynn)
LKFan
samily (Beth)
Senor Don Duck

Still need info from:
AuntAmy (Amy)
betsy2010
silence (Silence)
Sweetpeabass (Shannon)
Vetbeth
winny pooh (Wendy)

PM me or post
disboard name :
first name of the person providing the information:
Stateroom Number:
Number of adults:
number of girls and their ages:
number of boys and their ages:
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?:
Are you celebrating anything special?:
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party?:

[EricaG]

Erica, we're doing the Crown Paradise Club too! My kids are excited because there is a little waterpark and they love that. I, of course, will be sunning and sipping!

Do you know how much it will cost? On another board, I've seen different info. on cost per person--I guess I'll have to contact them directly, but I'm just wondering how much to budget. The little waterpark area looks cool and was part of the reason we chose that one--I think my son will love it!

[EricaG]

Here's our info. for the FE:

disboard name : EricaG
first name of the person providing the information: Erica
Stateroom Number: 6141
Number of adults: 2--Mike and Erica
number of girls and their ages: None!
number of boys and their ages: Fletcher, age 5
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?: 2
Are you celebrating anything special?: No
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party?: Don't think it'll matter, but we're all vegetarian, just in case anyone was thinking about giving meat sticks for their gifts! :rotfl:
__________________

[Pooh Lover]

Do you know how much it will cost? On another board, I've seen different info. on cost per person--I guess I'll have to contact them directly, but I'm just wondering how much to budget. The little waterpark area looks cool and was part of the reason we chose that one--I think my son will love it!

I emailed for cost and what it included and was told to write back after January 1st as they didn't know prices yet. I forget what people had posted on the other board but it was certainly reasonable and I can't imagine it would go up that much!

Maybe we can share a cab there...

[EricaG]

I emailed for cost and what it included and was told to write back after January 1st as they didn't know prices yet. I forget what people had posted on the other board but it was certainly reasonable and I can't imagine it would go up that much!

Maybe we can share a cab there...

That would be great! But, I read that it is a pretty easy walk from the port--I wonder if walking might actually be better. Guess it depends on how crazy the cabbies drive! ;)

[minie_meese]

A number of people are making FE gifts and are interested in some of the counts. I won't have the final counts till mid December so these are preliminary but I thought it might help get people started. I will update the numbers around Dec 15 or before hand if anything changes significantly.

After I get the final counts I will PM the details to all of the FE participants (if you'd rather get an Excel Spreadsheet or PDF of the detail PM me your email address (don't post an email address on the board because spammers look for email addresses in places like this). I will bring hard copies with me on the ship so we can capture any last minute stateroom changes. We should plan to meet sometime the afternoon of the first day. I'll figure out that detail later.

# Staterooms - about 22
# family groups - 18
# Adults 39 (22 women, 17 men)
# Girls 17
# boys 13

there are at least 3 families with food allergies

[samily]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :goodvibes

[XMom]

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving!! I am thankful that there are only 86 days left until we get to cruise with Mickey!!!(and lots more of course)

[gichicdoc]

Paid in full with Palo brunch and dinner ressies made -- Yeah :yay:
Okay, I really cannot wait for this trip- it is 30 degrees without the windchill in Michigan tonight and I am freezings my b--- off!:rotfl:

[minie_meese]

Paid in full with Palo brunch and dinner ressies made -- Yeah :yay:
Okay, I really cannot wait for this trip- it is 30 degrees without the windchill in Michigan tonight and I am freezings my b--- off!:rotfl:

I hear you - it was frigid here too

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday - the stores here were insanely crowded but my daughter and I ended our shopping trip with a pedicure and a massage so despite the cold and crowds it was a good few days - I could still stand some warm weather though.

[Dishy24]

Hi All,
So sorry I haven't posted my FE info yet! I had total knee replacement surgery on the 17th & have been pretty much out of it since then! My goal is to be fully recovered by THIS cruise! It's what keeps me going during physical therapy! Anyway, here it my info:

disboard name : Dishy24
first name of the person providing the information: Tricia
Stateroom Number: 7534
Number of adults: 2 (me- Tricia & Mom- Pat)
number of boys and their ages: 1 ds- Gavin (11)
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?: 9
Are you celebrating anything special?: Gavin's birthday cruise (b-day 2/11)

We are flying out very early on Thurs 2/17 & staying 3 nights in the Grand Californian prior to the cruise. Dh is coming with us to Disneyland because I'm not sure how much walking I will be able to do, but he isn't going on the cruise. The cruise is just me, mom & 11 year old son. So excited!!!!

Hoping to be able to do this ---> :banana: by time we sail away!

[minie_meese]

Thanks Tricia - I've updated my spreadsheet with your info - heal quickly!

[Beachmum]

I just found this board and am clearly late to the party.

Although we probably won't participate in the FE thing, we're really looking forward to the cruise.

I'm assuming that those of you who have already made reservations aren't first timers, right? If I pay my final payment earlier, can I make reservations now even though it's my first time?

Thanks.

[Pooh Lover]

No, Beachmum, you're stuck at waiting for 75 days out just like the rest of us first-timers. I'm paid in full too and am eagerly awaiting the 7th!

Good to have you on the board!:hippie:

[minie_meese]

Welcome to the cruise board and glad you are joining us.

The window for reservations for first time cruisers opens on the day your final payment is due - 75 days for category 4-12 staterooms and 90 days for category 1-3 but there are some tips for getting what you want.

Right now you can register on the Disney Cruiseline website and make sure you can get into your reservation. Find the place under "cruise plans" in your reservation where you make reservations. It will be grayed out until your window opens up but you will be able to see it. Do your research and know exactly what you want for Palo, Spa and Shore Excursions with a few alternatives. There will also be a message on the screen that tells you exactly how many days till your window opens up. As soon as your window opens log in and make your reservations. If you don't get what you want you can check back periodically before the cruise because sometimes people change reservations and a time or activity you want may open up. Disney also holds back some reservations so if you don't get what you want, when you check in at the port find out where on the ship you need to go to make or change Palo, Spa or excursions and go there as soon as you board.

If you change your mind about the FEs let me know by mid-December.

Also, we'll probably try to arrange a cruise meet sometime early in the cruise so people can meet each other. You're welcome to join - check back here periodically.

[silence]

No, Beachmum, you're stuck at waiting for 75 days out just like the rest of us first-timers. I'm paid in full too and am eagerly awaiting the 7th!

Good to have you on the board!:hippie:

Man, it's been awhile since I have been on the boards and while catching up I had a panic attack thinking I had missed an important date. So glad that as a first time cruiser with DCL, I'm just stuck waiting a little while longer!

I will send my FE info (cabin) ASAP. I don't have it with me at work.

[silence]

PM me or post
disboard name :
first name of the person providing the information:
Stateroom Number:
Number of adults:
number of girls and their ages:
number of boys and their ages:
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise?:
Are you celebrating anything special?:
Are there any special things people should know about individuals in your party?:

disboard name: Silence
First Name: Silence
Stateroom number: will forward (we have 2, rooms right across the hall from eachother)
Number of adults: 3 (2 women, 1 man)
Number of girls: 1 - Princess Jordan, age 7
Number of boys: 1 - Pirate Tyler, age 13
How many Cruises: First Disney Cruise
Celebrations? DH & I celebrating anniversary (2/14) and my mom is celebrating her birthday on 2/23

[samily]

Welcome beachmum! :banana:

[betsy2010]

Hi folks,
I think we're going to skip the FE this trip. It already seems like we're not going to have enough time in the day to get everything in that we want. I appreciate all the tips & tricks on the board and am sure we'll see you around!
thanks again for organizing.
betsy2010 (norcalbruins)

[AuntAmy]

Here is our FE info:

disboard name: AuntAmy
first name of the person providing the information: Amy
Stateroom Number(s) - GTY
Number of adult ladies and number of adult men - 1 adult lady
number of girls and their ages - 1 girl age 6
number of boys and their ages - 0 boys
how many Disney cruises have you been on including our 2/20 cruise? First Disney Cruise
Are you celebrating anything special - No.

Please let me know if there is anything else that you need from us.

Thanks.

[DVC_Chris]

We are flying out very early on Thurs 2/17 & staying 3 nights in the Grand Californian prior to the cruise. Dh is coming with us to Disneyland because I'm not sure how much walking I will be able to do, but he isn't going on the cruise. The cruise is just me, mom & 11 year old son. So excited!!!!

Hoping to be able to do this ---> :banana: by time we sail away!

We check in to the villas at Grand Cal on Friday morning before the cruise. Really looking forward to it!

[vetbeth]

Sorry for the delay, I haven't been on the boards recently. Minie meese - I PM'd you the FE information.

[Dishy24]

We check in to the villas at Grand Cal on Friday morning before the cruise. Really looking forward to it!

See you there-- we check in on Thursday! Have you ever stayed there before?

I have already booked a car service to bing us to the port on Sunday morning @ 10am ($78 in a Town Car)-- let me know if you need any info!

[DVC_Chris]

See you there-- we check in on Thursday! Have you ever stayed there before?

I have already booked a car service to bing us to the port on Sunday morning @ 10am ($78 in a Town Car)-- let me know if you need any info!

I have not. Last time I visited DL was for my honeymoon 6 years ago, and I used DVC points to stay concierge at the Disneyland Hotel, I remember walking past it, but do not remember going in it. I have heard good things about it though.

PM me the car service you are using. My MIL and FIL are coming with us, and have never been to LA, and we are thinking of hiring a car to take us for a quick looksie at the Hollywood Sign and Chinese Theater before continuing on to the port.

I see you are a fellow Met fan too.