April 17, 2004 -- anyone going with us?

[amtmommy]

Count another Massachusettes family in.

"Party of three, departating the Baystate on Thursday Evening"

Yeah, I can't wait.

[lsutigger2]

Anyone else from the deep south out there lerking about??
Seems we may have to represent the south all by ourselves - and my DH is transplanted to the south via Illinois!!

It's going to be fun!! Just realized that I only have eight days in the office before we leave!! I'm off to DC tomorrow for the remainder of this week!

Later,
Janie

[april1998]

All of a sudden it seems as though this vacation is right on top of us and I just can't wait! Yes, there's so much to do in preparation...purchasing our first digital camera is top priority as well as completing my daughters' autograph books. I'm predecorating them in anticipation of meeting their favorite characters. When we get home, I will only have to develop and crop the desired photos to add to the book and voila...a completed album!

When we cruised in October 2002 my oldest daughter just had to go back to the Club at 11:00ish, so Daddy took her and he hung around outside until she was ready to return to the cabin. On their way back they encountered Cinderella. Absolutely no one was around, so Cinderella and Brittney had a nice long chat (almost 10 minutes I'm told) and it was one of the highlights of the cruise for Brit!

It's been great hearing from so many of you! Kim

[Luv2Dream]

Hello fellow DISers and party-hardy cruisers ! Sorry to have been away so long.....the update on MIL is she is doing well. It was a long hard struggle but she is finally home. The carotid artery surgery went fine, then we had the bypass the next day which lasted hours longer than thought as the bypass veins were very fragile. Then when she got to ICU she had irregular heartbeat so they took her back in for a catherization and they put a stent in one of the bypasses. Found out the next morning that during this process she did have an MI (heart attack). However, once it was all done, we had no more events. She went home last night and today is doing fine. Thanks so much for all the pixie dust sent our way.

SOOOOOOO, it's almost cruise time, folks......I'm getting the luggage out soon. I can't believe it's finally here. Oh, Rae, you can put Lynn,Pete and Mary under our name on the list if you'd like. We are bringing bubbles for the sailaway party. Mary can't wait to meet Victoria, Rachel and Casey. It should be a fun foursome.

Ta Ta for now!

[ehtpnt]

Luv2Dream-- Great news on your MiL. Hope she continues to do well.

Janie-- have a nice time in DC. I could claim we're from southern Pa. If that helps...

Rae-- I suspect that the bug has invaded the day care centers as we have several kids out with something that sounds similar. As long as I don't get it everything will be okay.

Kim-- when in October of 2002 did you cruise? We were on the Halloween cruise in 2002.

Talk to you all (a little southern humor) later. Estelle

[april1998]

Estelle - We were on the Halloween Cruise as well! We had a fabulous time! What a small world!!! :) That was a great trip for us. We took the cruise, went to WDW for 4 days and ended our trip by spending 5 days at Vero Beach. Loved that resort! We became DVC members in early 2002 and have truly enjoyed the opportunities it affords! Can't wait to plan next year's trip! Regards, Kim

[lsutigger2]

Lynn: Glad MIL is doing better.

Estelle: Don't think I can sell southern PA and being "Southern".
But thanks for the thoughts

Welcome to the new friends who have joined the boards recently.

It really is getting close. More anxious by the day.

Janie

[amtmommy]

Lynn,
I am glad to hear that MIL is doing better.
Casey is very excited to meet her new friend.


Meeting question?

As I understand it people are meeting at Topsiders for Lunch weather and space permitting, if not than Parrot Cay?

Does anyone know their dining roatation yet?
We just booked the REAS- and are Main seating PLA

Also how dressed up for the formal and semi formal nights are people dressing.

I also wanted a fellow Mom's opion:
My DD has a beautiful dress from XMAS that is black velvet top, short sleeve and a burgandy tafeta skirt with bow on bottom, do you think this is too dark for a spring cruise? I was hoping to make it do for formal night. She's tried on all her princess type dresses and they are pretty beaten up.

Still trying to figure out how to lose 50lbs in 17 days.
Bye
amtmommy

[Luv2Dream]

Amtmommy ---- Yup, me too. 50 lbs in 10 days would be phenomenal....in my dreams......anyhow, Mary is bringing a very similar dress. It is red shiny on the top and white on the bottom from Xmas. It's nice and long and I figured very formal. She can wear a princess dress on a semi-formal night if she wants. I'm wearing a long short sleeve black dress and Pete is renting the tuxedo. Personally, I hate dressing up, but I'll survive for a short time. Besides, I want the nice formal pictures so I'll suffer for the cause.

I believe we requested LAP for the rotation with our REAS package but you actually don't find out until you get to the Port and get your KTTW card.

10 days to vacation time for me! I'm in heaven, but not packed!:crazy:

[Skuba2]

We are leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow which is making me panic. I wanted to get down 25 pounds but managed 12 off so far. It was enough to make a difference though. Anyway, I went out today and bought some evening attire for formal and semi-formal. DH doesn't want to bring his tux this time. His neck has outgrown his shirt and he would have to go buy another one. Just thinking dark suit and tie. So, I went out and bought some black pants and fancy secquin tops. Bought 3 on sale---like ridiculously on sale---80% off. Must have been last year stuff but I don't care. Anyway, it was nice finding stuff I fit into and liked for a change.

We are doing PLAP I believe and Debbie at the concierge said she would put us at a table by ourselves. At first I wasn't sure if I wanted that, but then I thought it may be some nice quality time to spend with the kids. You know----food for conversation kind of thing. LOL!! But anyone around us may be fair game for conversation.

I hope everyone who is under the weather get better quickly. My dh went through it and it is brutal. Luckily no one else got it. I had it in Feb.

CT is only getting colder. Just when mother nature got us thinking it was going to warm up---she pulls the rug out from under us. I am sooooooo ready for warmth.

See you guys at the shrimp.

Deb

[ehtpnt]

Take this from a Mom and Grandmom, if the young lady is willing to wear the dress. Go for it. I don't think that they make a big deal about when you wear colors these days. After all there are even black dresses for bridesmaids.
I am wearing a long black dress with roses on it. Sort of chiffony. And black slacks and a top with a sequined jacket for semi formal.
I went to the nearest outlet mall this morning and bought a new pair of sneakers and a pair of white sandles. Except for some panty hose and some knee highs I think I have finished buying stuff for the cruise. Now I have to start seeing if all of the MUST bring will fit in the suitcase and carry on. If it doesn't I'll be sneaking it into DHs' suitcase. I don't think he'd notice a pair of high heels and a few panty hose. LOL.
Talk to you all later. Estelle

[amtmommy]

I went to an ENT today, b/c my ears have been popping a little and I didn't want to get on the cruise and have a problem with seasickness, due to an inner ear problem.

I am glad I did. She told me to take Afrin the day before and dayof flying to help with pressure. She also wrote me a perscription for the patch.

She basically asked if a get woosy after going on spinning type of rides or if I have problems reading in a car.

Well off to watch Idol.
Bye

[sheilacat]

Welcome to all the newcomers!

Lynn, glad you mil is doing well.

Rae get the bug now and get it over with! I have to bring my son back for his ear check 3 days before cruising.I'm thinking I'd like another refill on the antibiotics just in case.

Linda, glad to hear the lion king was so good. We'll be going this summer here in Boston. I'm really looking forward to it.

Wow, sounds like formal night is really formal. My daughter's all set and my husband can make due with with his new black jacket and pants plus s&t. I don't have a jacket for my son, and I have nothing! Guess some more shopping is in order. Jeez! As long as there's plenty of shrimp it'll all be worth it! We are slated for the late seating for dinner.

I started washing/ironing packing. The evil side of traveling!

I can almost feel the sun on my face and the sand between my toes!

[april1998]

Hi All. I've been reading posts and am not sure about the initials folks are using when they mention dining options. Would someone clue me in please? We have late seating as we did in October 2002. We were happy with it. Sometimes our girls ate in advance of us and simply had dessert while we ate. Our server kept them wonderfully entertained - loved him. Once or twice they opted to remain at the club and we had dinner for two! By dinners' end they were pretty tired though and we usually headed back to our cabin.

Has anyone looked into the spa services? I'm kind of intrigued about the one that reduces the appearance of cellulite and you emerge trimmer and firmer?????!!!!!! Like everyone else, I've been watching my weight (since September) and have managed to lose 14 pounds. My goal was 25...11 lbs. in 15 days...not likely.

Is everyone doing the formal night? We skipped it last time and I wonder if we made a mistake. My husband doesn't like to dress up if he can help it and I was trying to pack as lightly as possible.

We're excited about being able to do some adult things this time around. My dad is accompanying us and he calls it a night pretty early. We thought the girls might hang out with Grandpa one night while we indulge ourselves...I don't know if it's just us, but with 2 little ones, dates seem to be a thing of the past!

Last question (for today anyway)...I noticed some people used the initials VWL. Is that for Wilderness Lodge? We would like to stay there next year and I'd like some input from those who have vacationed there. Thanks. Have a great night. Kim

[rae519]

Michael and I are over the "crud".

Must say that we have tried "ear candling" with our massage therapist and it is wonderful. Consists of a gauze candle that draws out the ear wax and shampoo/conditioner residue from inside your ears (especially the E. tube) - excellent!!!!

Kim - Spa services for cellulite - heard of it, but not sure if it's a reality or myth! Maybe someone else can help. Also, my DH doesn't dress up for formal night - shirt and tie only. Would yours be okay with that? We are also doing late dining, and if Michael wants to stay at the club, then so be it! We always have meals together at home but on vacation, it's optional!!!

Wonderful news!! If anyone is thinking of selling off their DVC points, I have used DVC by Resale three times already - they are fast and efficient! I listed my Vero Beach 100 points at 2PM, and it was sold by 4PM same day! The next day the 400 points I had at Hilton Head went (within 24 hours of listing!).

As many of you know, I have been FED UP with the system of using points and not having direct contact with DCL. This middle man crap-0-la has irritated me to move in this direction. Plus I am still "griping" over the $75 fee we paid last summer to change the reservation from Mom to Tom (like 9 months in advance of this cruise) AND please explain what costs THAT much to do THAT far in advance??????????? AGGHHH!

Since they were both paid contracts, I am thrilled that I will now see a big jump in my savings account and maybe, just maybe have enough money for that 2005 cruise (hopefully through the Canal).

Have not done the list update - felt I'd wait a little longer to get others to add information and just do one last update!! After all with 17 days to go.......

And there's still packing!
And that 50 lbs weight loss we are all talking about!!!! Wishing us all luck on that one!

Rae

[outahere]

Thought you'd all like to know..............

According to the schedule (just posted this morning) at www.ships.vi, we will be docking at the WICO pier (Havensight) in St. Thomas. Along with us will be Explorer of the Seas and Golden Princess (2 very big ships). We won't have to tender, so early excursions shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, where we dock is subject to change at any time.

Ed

[ehtpnt]

Okay if anyone loses 50 pounds in 17 days. I will buy them a chocolate bunny. This does not count maternity...
Rae- really glad you and Michael are over the crud. Where did you have the ear thing done? I would like to try that.

I think waiting to do the final list update is a good idea.

Kim-- we did the formal night on our 2002 cruise. I don't see any reason why a shirt and tie shouldn't be fine for your DH. Mine will probably be in a dark suit and tie. The concept of him in a tux causes gales of laughter from our DDs. One other thing is the opportunity to get a nice dressy family picture usually with I think Mickey and Minnie. Personally I would prefer Donal and Daisy but you take what you can get.

Does anyone know anything about having to get up early the day we do Jamica (okay it isn't spelled right.) for immigration? I noticed a thread about this on the main cruise board. I hadn't heard anything about this before. And how early is early?

Lunch time so I'll talk to all of you later. Estelle

[amtmommy]

Rae,

Hi, I was curious- we are new to the DVC club, infact this is our first trip that we are using our points for. We bought 160 pts at the Boardwalk last year.

I agree with you not being able to deal with DCL directly is a huge pain. I was put on hold forever whenever I asked a question that wasn't listed on their information sheet about the cruise when I booked it.
And the $75.00 is ridiculous the first time around never mind to make a change months out.

Did you find that booking trips in the Home Resort programs were difficult?

Personally I think they need to do more for the DVC members in terms of ticket discounts or air partnership deals. When I dared to say that to my DVC sales person she shot back, Well we are selling these so quick why would we need to offer anything.

That said we are planning to attend the DVC gathering to get our DVC swag. I only hope it isn't during the wine tasting.

I am so excited about this cruise I find myself checking into these boards more often everyday to get everytidbit of information out there.

Bye for now.
amtmommy

[rae519]

Ed - from your lips to God's ears!!! I definitely love docking there but....at least we will be there and not here - so must look at the bright side of things. I love to check out their cam and see the glorious weather!!!!

Jamaica?????? Estelle, this cruise??????? Okay, what am I missing here? If we go to Jamaica, then I am definitely in for that!!!!!!

atmmommy - I have only used points for cruising. That's what we bought in for. At one time I had 400 at HH, 100 at VB and 150 at VWL (total of 650). Now I have none and actually am glad about it. That DVC as middle man just rubs me wrong as does the $75 fee for ANY change. In the past 3 years of being a member, I don't see where we get any big discounts or specials for being part of DVC. And at times the attitude by the DVC guides is ...well...you said it very well with your story. There are good reasons to buy and it's an individual choice - so I am NOT trying to badmouth the situation, just explain why I was unhappy and what I was dissatisfied with and what I did to rid myself of the irritant!!!!!

IF you want points, then resale is the only way to go. I am just grateful that I sold mine so quickly.

17 more days!
Rae

[brendapap]

Just bumping. Is everyone almost ready. Estelle, I hope you didn't forget about me. I look forward to seeing you all and thanks to everyone for all their get post and help.
Brenda

[ehtpnt]

No Brenda I didn't forget about you. If you pm me with your stateroom number I will get the jrs to you. If I have to I will hang them on the door.

Okay Rae it wasn't Jamaica, thanks for spelling it for me. But it was definately on the eastern cruise. Sort of like the early hour that they make the foreign cruisers get up when we arrive back at Port Canavarel.
I have now bought everything I need except for a pair of water shoes. I had a pair for the last cruise that I had had for about 5 years. When we got home I looked at them and said yuch. So they are long gone. I can actually start packing now at least the underwear. Don't want to wrinkle the clothes but the non crushable stuff can go into the suitcase and carry on. The clock is running and every day I get more excited.
Talk to you all later. Estelle

[brendapap]

Estelle
I PMed you. Thanks, Brenda

[rae519]

Oh drat, Estelle! I thought we were going to Ocho Rios!!!!! Drat!
Sort of like the Magic-al Mystery Cruise a few years back when we went to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and CC twice (rather than the Western where Hurricane Lili was)! Oh well, maybe another cruise!!!!!

We have to get up at St. Thomas (Wednesday morning) for that early morning immigration pain in the neck party!! I have an excursion planned for that morning so I won't mind too much - or at least I don't think I will!!!!

Being on the cruise is the only time I don't mind my insomnia!!!

Rae

[rae519]

Ed - thanks for posting that website. Love the pictures! I'm going to forget my past experiences in a Swiss gondola and head to the top of St. Thomas this time around!!!! Just for the view!!!!

Rae

[kzfamily]

My family (4 of us ) and another family will be on board 4/17.

This is my families second 7 day trip on the Magic, last was Feb. 2002.

Can wait to get back!

[ehtpnt]

Welcome kzfamily-- we are all glad you are going to be there with us. First things first. Do you like shrimp? There will be several of us lurking over the shrimp at sailaway. Also are you from Massachusetts? If you aren't you don't have to tell us where you are from, but it seems everyone in that state is leaving. And they are all going on the same cruise.

Okay I'll stop teasing the Massachusetts group. Getting off so DH can use the computer before it is time to go to bed. Talk to you later. Estelle

[kzfamily]

Well we are not from Mass. All eight of us are from CT. School vacation week here also. Can't wait to dig into the shrimp! What is the best place and time to find them?

[oreo's mom]

The entire family will be meeting on this cruise to help me celebrate my ??? birthday. Fourteen out of fifteen love shrimp. Two black belts in the pack, watch out.

Seven kids (6YRS TO 14YRS), eight adults, Two of whom are grammy and grampy.

Mostly all from Mass. two wish they were. See you on board, hope to meet neighbors from Mass on board, counting the hours.

Oreo's Mom

[dianthus]

Hi Everyone!

Welcome newbies! Glad you can join our group of shrimp lovin' pirates on the calm seas ( no high seas for Rae! :) ) Black belts on board, huh! This shrimp buffet could go Ninja!:eek:

Rae~ I am not a huge fan of DVC anymore either. Last Nov. they wacked me with 3, yes three $75 fees, one to cancel my daughter's friend 2 days before we cruised, as she was sick- talk about adding insult to injury... I rented points this time & paid cash for the cruise- much better way & cheaper too & I booked in January for this cruise! We have 200 HH points we are thinking of selling. You can do it with DVC direct? I was going to use the timeshare store? I'll be interested in hearing about this. I think we're going to keep our 300 points at BWV for a while, as we still like to go at least once a year to the parks.

Boy, am I glad to hear we are not going to Ochos Rios. On our Nov. western, we met a couple on our Stingray city excursion. They were on Celebrity I think & they went there as one of their ports. Their friends got mugged 10 minutes after getting off the ship- YIKES! They said it was slimy... Nassau looked good compared to there!

The WICO Dock is good for last minute shopping at Havensight if you have a long excursion in St. Thomas. I was hoping to tender, so we could take the water taxi directly from the ship this time for something different. Docking's not a bad thing though. The Explorer & Grand Princess make the Magic look small. But the Magic is way cuter!

For all of us who did not make our weight goals- oh well! Some guy on ebay advertises 90 lbs. off by April! LOL! Estelle~ you are too funny! Chocolate bunnies- what a nice prize for 50 lbs!

kzfamily- 8 more from CT!!! Where do you live. We are from Danbury. In the snow laden, deer crazy, southwestern part of our little state. Sounds like there's not going to be too many left in CT either. We are doing our part to help lighten the load on I-95 after the truck/bridge explosion mess. Boy, aren't we nice!

Happy April Fool's Day! Who will be the fools on the 17th? NOT US!!! :)

~ Linda :boat:

[rae519]

Originally posted by kzfamily
My family (4 of us ) and another family will be on board 4/17.

This is my families second 7 day trip on the Magic, last was Feb. 2002.

Can wait to get back!

WELCOME!!!!

So glad to know you will be with us!!! I have a list on page 15 and a more recent one a few pages back - to share what we are planning and who is going. I will be adding your family gladly to our list!!!!

Big changes instore for you with the Magic - things have changed with dry dock as you are probably aware. I'm still griping over the loss of Off Beats and Dueling Pianos......it's now a sports bar.
Teens have a club that was the ESPN bar, and the teen club is now a coffee shop. Menus have changed a bit also!!!!!


Welcome aboard!
Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by oreo's mom
The entire family will be meeting on this cruise to help me celebrate my ??? birthday. Fourteen out of fifteen love shrimp. Two black belts in the pack, watch out.

Seven kids (6YRS TO 14YRS), eight adults, Two of whom are grammy and grampy.

Mostly all from Mass. two wish they were. See you on board, hope to meet neighbors from Mass on board, counting the hours.

Oreo's Mom


Stand away from the shrimp bowl or you will be hurt!

Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by dianthus

Rae~ I am not a huge fan of DVC anymore either. Last Nov. they wacked me with 3, yes three $75 fees, one to cancel my daughter's friend 2 days before we cruised, as she was sick- talk about adding insult to injury... I rented points this time & paid cash for the cruise- much better way & cheaper too & I booked in January for this cruise! We have 200 HH points we are thinking of selling. You can do it with DVC direct? I was going to use the timeshare store? I'll be interested in hearing about this. I think we're going to keep our 300 points at BWV for a while, as we still like to go at least once a year to the parks.
~ Linda :boat:


I used DVC by Resale - it's a timeshare company that is run by two great women, Shontelle and Maggie. My Vero Beach (100 points) were sold in 2 hours - and within 24 hours, my Hilton Head (400) were sold! I was shocked! surprised! and Delighted!!!! I also sold off Villas at Wilderness Lodge (150 points) in November with them and it was just as fast!

I like their personalities and their professionalism and highly, HIGHLY recommend them.

Being a control freak, I intensely disliked the way I had to stay on hold while "mommy" called DCL to make my request. Waste of time for me and why do they need to do that???????????
You had 3 $75.00 fees charged - oh, that is truly ridiculous. I mean, if it were say....within 60 days and you made the change, then quite possibly the DVC had something to do other than make a computer change, but come on...how cheap can they be????

Well, I'm out of it now and glad!!!

Rae

[sheilacat]

Originally posted by rae519
Stand away from the shrimp bowl or you will be hurt!

Rae

I'm concerned about the black belts..... We need to stand united!
It's been a while since I raised my leg up for a high kick!

Glad you and your family are feeling better Rae!

Someone mentioned DVC events onboard? What's that all about?


2 weeks to go for us!!!!

:sunny:

[outahere]

Welcome to all the new members of our happy little group...... this should be a fun cruise.


Ok gang.............. maybe it's time to re-think our shrimp strategy!! Going up against two black belts could be very dangerous. Perhaps some of us could set up a diversion so others can grab every shrimp they can possibly hold? Of course, then you would have to share it with the ones who did the diversion. Or maybe we can bribe the CMs running the buffet?

Rae........ do you know about this web site for St. Thomas? They have pictures as well, only closer to the water.

http://www.caribline.com/islands/vi/forum/cam.shtml


Ed

[kzfamily]

dianthus - We are from South Central CT - North Branford.
As for snow... they say this weekend we might get snowed on again! Can't wait to get to the warm weather on the 17th!

[ehtpnt]

Okay here's what we'll do...if the black belts are kids, I will stand between them and the shrimp. They can karate chop my knees. I think they'd have a small problem with the steel knees. If the black belts are adults...welllllll I think I might try to buy them off with the offer of a few shrimp. I am not into the concept of pain and suffering. But then again it is shrimp. I wonder how a black belt would react to a fork in the hand?? Hope everyone knows that I'm kidding. Rae--if we get there early enough maybe we could just remove the entire bowl of shrimp to a table in the back corner somewhere.

Welcome to all the new folks. Gee more Ct folks and a large contingent from Ma. You know I'm beginning to think there really won't be anyone left in Ma.

Have to go back to the page Rae has all the information as to what we have planned and when. DH wants a print out so he can discover what I have signed him up for.
Right now I have to get ready for the one appointment I really could do without...the dentist. Talk to you all later, Estelle

[outahere]

Is there a conspiracy going on around here?

There seems to a lot of brand new DISers going on this cruise, and they all like shrimp!!

Hmmmmm.............. How did they find us? Should we be more careful? Maybe we should wear disguises?

:scratchin

Welcome all............ 16 days and counting.............

[dianthus]

Originally posted by sheilacat
Someone mentioned DVC events onboard? What's that all about?
:sunny: [/B]
If you booked with DVC points they will leave an invite for you & DVC Lanyards for your KTTW cards. I think it's on Sunday. If you check with the DVC desk on Deck 4 by Studio Sea they will tell you. They do give away lots of good "Logo graft", or "swag" as another poster stated. Hats, luggage tags, etc... Get your $75 worth! LOL!

Originally posted by Rae519
You had 3 $75.00 fees charged - oh, that is truly ridiculous. I mean, if it were say....within 60 days and you made the change, then quite possibly the DVC had something to do other than make a computer change, but come on...how cheap can they be????
I paid one fee to add Taylor's friend, which was fine. I did change the ressie. Here's the killer! They charged me 2 fees when I called to say she was sick 2 days before cruise. 1- because I was taking her off and another because I was cancelling her! When I got to Port, DCL still expected her- DVC had never made the changes to our ressie! DCL told me they should not have charged me & thanked me for not bringing a sick person aboard. I called DVC when we returned & raised holy "heck" with them. They refunded both fees to us, with their tail between their legs. The GM said I should never have been charged- duh!. They should have thanked me for doing the right thing for not bringing a sick person onboard... Maybe they have a contest there for the employees that charge the most $75 fees... That faux pas left a really bad taste in my mouth...

Glad you and Michael are feeling better! Better to get it out of the way now...

kzfamily~ my SIL & family live in Branford! Great area!

OK you guys! Fight over the shrimp all you want. I'll give up mine for the cause if need be... But stay away from the LOBSTER TAILS ! They are ours! Due to the abundance of snow and cold weather up here, we are capable of big time crankiness & it could get ugly... Well, in the spirit of comraderie, you can all have 1, OK two if need be ( per person)- but that's it. Don't expect those lame lobster burgers on CC- there will be no leftovers! Taylor also said that if there's no chocolate lava cake left for the late seating like last time, there going to be a crime scene- lots of yellow tape.... Beware! :) ( They did make more & served it to the late seating the next night...)

~ Linda :boat:

[ZebraStripes]

Originally posted by kzfamily
dianthus - We are from South Central CT - North Branford.
As for snow... they say this weekend we might get snowed on again! Can't wait to get to the warm weather on the 17th!

Hey fellow nutmegger!! We are north of you on 95. Casino country.

Welcome to the group!

[rae519]

Originally posted by outahere
Is there a conspiracy going on around here?

There seems to a lot of brand new DISers going on this cruise, and they all like shrimp!!

Hmmmmm.............. How did they find us? Should we be more careful? Maybe we should wear disguises?

:scratchin

Welcome all............ 16 days and counting.............


I think the name "Shrimpfest" had something to do with it!!!
Bubba Gumps boat will be trailing behind the Magic!!!

Karate ahead - I can still duck!!!

Rae

[Luv2Dream]

We are going to have a blast on this cruise, I can just tell. We'll all be loopy and goofy from all this cold weather and now rain.....loads of rain.....can't wait to meet this fun, fun group!

[RobinMarie]

It's so fabulous to see new names adding themselves. I got all my stuff out last night and arranged and rearranged it. I filled out my first ever cruise documents and am clueless if I did them properly.

I don't know which cameras to bring. Video? digital? still? We have 'em all and Victoria has a couple of disposables waiting to use as well. Any thoughts?

Victoria is soooo looking forward to the kids clubs. She was just at her chalkboard pretending to be a teacher. All of a sudden I had a vision of a bunch of 5-7 year old kids who have been asking all this time ... "when is the cruise?" FINALLY gathering at the kids clubs, breathless with excitement, full of energy, glad it's finally time to sail ... and what will they do? They'll play school of course! :crazy:

TTFN!

[ehtpnt]

RobinMarie-- I have all my underwear packed and ready to just drop into the suitcase. DH is bringing his new (Christmas) digital camera and the video. I will have my still camera. Our friends will also have a digital and possibly video as well. So I think it is really pretty much which ever or all you are comfortable with. Loved the concept of all those kids playing school.

Linda-- I'll take two of those lobster tails. But won't be too upset over not getting more. My lobster fix comes in August when we take the official family vacation. This year it's New Hampshire. We alternate between Maine and New Hampshire. Last year was Maine. I had a total of 4 lobsters in one week, that's my idea of heaven. However running out of Lava cake will not be a good thing. Tell Taylor that those with that name, either first or last, must stick together. And there will definately be yellow tape involved. Maybe we could get some help from the two black belts.

Rain here, actually a thunderstorm and strong winds. Dog hates it.

Had teeth cleaned this morning...so this afternoon I broke a tooth. Two trips to the dentist in one day is definately one too many. So temp filling until Tuesday. Darn.

Off to the dog and ironing. Dogs' official owner is in Vermont with friends. Going to rain there too. Gee too bad...am I sarcastic or what? Talk to you all later. Estelle

[april1998]

It's amazing how time flies and our group leaves MA in 2 weeks! So much to do, so little time! I haven't read all posts in the 37 pages, but I've caught the shrimp references...pretty hard to miss! Is the shrimp buffet wishful thinking or does it truly exist???

We'd also like to meet everyone and would like to add ourselves to the growing list if that's okay. It's me (Kim), my DH (Marc), 2DDs - Brit and Steph (6 and 4), one couple with their 2DSs (9 and 4) and DD(7) and another couple with their DS (nearly 12). With the weather the way it's been in MA, we can't wait to leave this misery for bluer skies and warmer weather!

Last time we cruised we ate breakfast and lunch at the Topsider every day since we couldn't seem to pry our girls away from the Mickey Pool. They were happy to get ready quickly in the a.m. and stay in their swimsuits and coverups and take brief breaks for food. How do breakfast and lunch at the restaurants fare? My dad will most likely want to sit down for meals and not go the buffet route. Any suggestions?

Wishing better weather to all! Kim

[Skuba2]

Oh--I am sooooooo tired of this weather and soooooo ready for vacation. My backyard is a mud pool which is getting tracked in by the dogs. The only good thing is it will make the Florida weather just that much more enjoyable.

Lobster----gimme, gimme, gimme. Can't get enough of the hard shell critters.

Wow----there are a lot of NE'rs. The kids are gonna have a ball. My mom is from Boston--so my daughters can translate for everyone else. HEEHEE--just kidding.

Gotta go get kids going for school.

Deb

[outahere]

Is the shrimp buffet wishful thinking or does it truly exist???

Kim........ yes it does exist!!! They have lots of shrimp (good thing!) at the embarkation buffet. Just need to be careful....... there seems to be a LOT of shrimp lovers in this group.

Ed

[outahere]

Ok.......... I've had it with this cold, rainy weather!!!!!

Just called JetBlue and changed our reservations to leave Boston on Wednesday, 4/14!! Three nights at Marriott's Cypress Harbour hanging around the pools, sipping pre-cruise cocktails.

Ahhhhhh..........

Ooops.............. that means we better start packing (or at least put a list together!).

Ed

[rae519]

Originally posted by ehtpnt
We alternate between Maine and New Hampshire. Last year was Maine. I had a total of 4 lobsters in one week, that's my idea of heaven.

When we lived in Maine (Presque Isle), we'd go down to the Clambake Restaurant and "pig out" - I am dreaming of it as we speak! Maybe that's what I need - a lobster fix! Since tonight is Friday night and a "no meat" for us Catholics day, that might be just what's on the menu when Mary and I head to our restaurant after Stations of the Cross!!! Of course, the crab legs there are great also!

ED - you are getting there early!!! Well, just make sure the Bubba Gump boat gets hitched to the Magic properly, you wouldn't want all of us shrimplovers upset!!!! Enjoy those extra days!

I needed a "sun fix" so I jumped out of the 105 degree hot tub today and sunbathed in 59 degree weather on my picnic table.
Nuts? Heck yea! But Ohhhhhh, how refreshing and warm that sun felt!!!

Rae

[sheilacat]

O.K. I'm thinking that the polite thing for all you people that have done the disney cruise before to do is to just step off the shrimp, lobstah and all other things good. I mean really give a new family a chance!

Your not buying it are you?
Can't blame a girl for trying!

I can be bought out however with a pina colada.........

HEllo Maine-iacs! We spend some time at my brothers place in Sanford, Me. We lobstah luau every labor day weekend, it's a nice tradition. Then again when is lobstah ever bad?


I got my formal wear today, I'm good to go now!


:wave2:

[lsutigger2]

Hi crusin' friends!!

Back from Washington, DC where it rained for two days (we never saw the sun!!) and it was in the 40's!! This GRITS (girl raised in the south) girl was not happy!! Esp yesterday when we were trapzing around Capitol Hill!! So glad to be home in the high 70's and sunshine!!

Our formal wear report (from two pages ago!): DH got a new dark blue sports coat, pants, shirt and tie. I have a long dark purple dress that I wore to a wedding last year. My friend said it would be good for formal night. Thought we would do the formal night thing this first cruise.

Am going to start packing this weekend. Not going to unpack my toiletries and then repack them in two weeks (doesn't that sound good!!)

Glad everyone it doing well. Stay well and see you in two weeks!!

[ehtpnt]

Oh heavens... now there are lobstah lovers, shrimp lovers, Sun lovers, and just plain lovers. And since this is only our second cruise I have NO plains to stand aside...yes I do i'll stand aside the shrimp bowl. Okay sorry about that.
Our family have been Maine-iacs since I was a little girl. My mothers' favorite story about Maine involved the first time we took the two eldest to Maine. Mom went with us and we drove to the coast. Mom took great pleasure in telling the girls all about the rocky coast of Maine. So she decided we had to go and see it up close and personel. She found a Popham State Park on the coast and we paid admission to get in. It is probably the only sand beach in the entire state. My mother was furious. "That isn't a Maine beach. It's a Jersey beach." Needless to say we teased her about it for years.

Have only to buy the water shoes and I'm done. Next I can start packing. Or maybe just planning how I am going to get it all in.

Off now to put the dog to bed. Oh by the way guess what the weather has in store for us on Sunday night. SNOW guess that means we've had spring, summer and fall in the past month and have returned to winter. My poor Star Magnolia is starting to bloom so all the beautiful white flowers will be brown. Talk to you all later. Estelle

[Luv2Dream]

Good Saturday afternoon ! Yes, SNOW is headed this way again. But we can laugh, ha ha ha, in the face of snow since we are TWO weeks away from cruising. HA HA HA, HA HA HA, ok, I think I'm losing it here....anyhow, I've got the luggage out finally. Just think, one week from now, I will already be in ORLANDO on the way to WDW !!!! I might actually already be there !!!! Our flight lands about 11:15 am. So, I'll be out of the posting loop for a whole week before this fun, fun cruise. I can't wait to see you all on board. We'll be the weather-beaten Massachusetts family with the tropical shirts and the lime green Passporter pins acting absoutely loopy from the sun and fun of the past week at WDW! YAHOOOOOO! :jumping1:

[ehtpnt]

Luv2Dream-- been watching the Lion King lately? Laughing in the face of snow. Actually I know how you feel. I will laugh at the snow tomorrow night knowing that there is only 350 some hours until we sail into the warm waters of the Carribbean ( okay I told you I couldn't spell).
Am finally finished with all the purchases, bought water shoes today. Now I can start actually making piles of things to pack and making sure they all fit.
As of now I am going to go and set the clocks ahead an hour and relax for the rest of the evening. Had dinner out.
Talk to you all tomorrow. Estelle

[Luv2Dream]

Estelle, thanks for reminding me to spring those clocks ahead. I've got to go do it now before I forget. Have a nice night..

[jeanie]

Hi Everyone,


Still not able to get seat assignments from Delta... I signed up for SkyMiles and the limo is picking us up at 3:00AM so we can be at Logan early! The last woman I talked with from Delta said that since we have confirmed reservation (but not confirmed seats) we should not have to worry about being bumped but I am not taking any chances... We are most likely not going to be seated together either but I am sure we can move around once we board....(can you tell I am an optimist, I have to be or else I'll cry!)


I finished shopping (I was waiting for the last minute in case I lost those 30 lbs!! didn't happen...)and we will start packing this week... I am getting so excited!! I don't even care that it may snow because I know that it won't be snowing in the Carribean!

13 more days!! Two Saturdays to go!

[ehtpnt]

Jeanie-- 3 AM! I barely know there is such a time. At least someone else will be driving. Hope you are successful in changing seats once you get on the plane. I know you'll get on the plane.

Well once again the weather in the north is strange. We have had rain, cloudy, wind (high), sun and a few flakes. DH says we are going to get flurries with some rain maybe. But it will definately be 20 degrees tonight. Once again I thank who ever invented electric blankets.
Hope all you folks in Ma., and Ct. are getting rain and not snow. Weather channel says the band from Buffalo to Cleveland is getting 4 to 6. Lucky them.
Oh well, off to the iron. DH brought down all his folded short sleeve shirts to be given a quick press so he can pack them and get them all wrinkled again. Go figure. Estelle

[rae519]

Originally posted by sheilacat
O.K. I'm thinking that the polite thing for all you people that have done the disney cruise before to do is to just step off the shrimp, lobstah and all other things good. I mean really give a new family a chance!
:wave2:

You get a 30 second head start and that's all the concession I will make!!!

Hugs,
Rae

[sheilacat]

30 Seconds! I'll take it!

1 mississippis, 2 mississippis, 3 missi.........

[rae519]

Originally posted by sheilacat
30 Seconds! I'll take it!

1 mississippis, 2 mississippis, 3 missi.........


Try this one....

1 supercarifragilisticexpialidocious,
2 supercarifragilisticexpialidocious, etc.


LIST WILL BE POSTED IN A FEW MINUTES!!!

This is the last time the list will be changed, so if things aren't perfect....well, life goes on!!!

Hugs,
Rae

[rae519]

SAILAWAY PARTY
Deck 10, Starboard, Mid Ship
Overlooking the Goofy Pool
Attire: Wild and crazy tropical shirts with name tags so we can ID eachother easily!!!!

FAMILY LUNCH GET TOGETHER
Sunday Noon Lumiere's
We will meet 11:45 to get a head count so I can let the Head Server know our exact number. I am thinking 20 but that probably will change by then!


CRUISERS INCLUDE:

rae519
Rae, Tom and Michael (8)
Indiana (native New Yorker)
Celebrating son's 9th birthday
St. John Trunk Bay Excursion
Late dining with dianthus and DisneyDMom

outahere
Ed, DW and DS (9)
Mass
Celebrating son's birthday

Robin Marie
Robin, DH and Victoria (6)
Conn

Jeanie
couple plus DD12 and DS10
Mass

MacMonster
couple
N. Carolina
Celebrating 25th Wedding Anniversary

Amtmommy
couple plus DD 6
Mass

ehtpht
Estelle and Phil with
friends Allan and Jen and DS 5
Penn

BVC Owner in MA
couple plus DD (21m) and DS's (5 & 8)
Mass

lsutigger 2
Janie and Tom
Lousianna
HER significant birthday

dianthus
Linda and Taylor (13)
Conn
Celebrating DD's birthday
Late dining with rae519 and DisneyDMom

Luv2Dream
Pete, Lynn and Mary (7)

tinkattitude
couple plus DD8
DD birthday and 10th Wedding Anniversary

DisneyDMom
Debbie and Becky (16)
Late dining with rae519 and dianthus

M&CKing
couple plus DS (11) and DD (8)
Virginia

Skuba2
Deb, DH and DD's ( 9 1/2 and 6 1/2)

KiStacker
couple plus DD's (8 1/2 and 7) and DS (4 1/2)
Conn

MargaretMary
couple plus DS's (15 & 11) and DD (10)
Mass

ZebraStripes
Kris, DH, DD (8), DSIL and DBIL
Conn

SheilaCat
Sheila, Ron, Joe (9) and Christina (13)

Brendapap
Brenda
Florida

cruisecrazy
Family of 11 including 7 children (ages 6-14)
Mass

april1998
Family of 12
Mass

nipster
Denna, DH and DS (6)
Kentucky

KZFamily
Family of 4 plus friends
Conn


With the above information we have a last place tie.....between Indiana (1), Kentucky (1), Florida (1), N. Carolina (1), Lousianna (1) , Virginia (1); third place goes to Penn (2); Connecticut in second place with 6 families and the state with the most........Massachusettes (9).

This was computed by families and not individual members, but I still think Mass would win hands down! So will the past person there, please turn off the light and lock the door.

Let the packing begin!

Rae

[rae519]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=5246115#post5246115

Interesting thread - we actually will be passing the Wonder on it's trip back to Port Canaveral! Now that is something to "party about" (as if we will need an excuse!)

Rae

[jeanie]

Hi,

What are the immigration papers for that were included with the docs? It's the ones that say Welcome to the Island of the Bahamas?

Can we fill them out ahead of time? Who do we give them to?


Thanks,

[Skuba2]

Hey Jeanie--

Welome to the group. I don't know if it is any consolation, but I believe you will be ok with Delta or any other airline. I believe I am right in saying that they don't just leave you stranded due to overbooking. They will generally ask for volunteers to take a later flight with compensation. The compensation goes up as time passes with no takers. They just can't close the doors on paying passengers. I think that is the give and take of overbooking. I grew up a TWA brat and have seen it happen many times. You may not get seats together, but even that is usually fixed once you board. Especially if you have younger kids. For me, I used to laugh. I don't mind if I don't sit next to my 5 year old---it would be like having a free babysitter. LOL!! But I always remind the gate agents I don't think the people around my 5 year old will be very happy about having to entertain her for 3 hours.


Anyway, there are also a small amount of seats that are left unassigned for the gate agents to use at their discretion. So, go early, check-in as early as possible and ask for seats. Also, I would maybe note on your reservation that you are traveling with children and would like seats together. Like I said earlier, the stewards/stewardesses will more than likely try and get you together.

The only problem I find traveling to Florida is they don't pre-board families with small children since there are so many going to Florida. You are either that or an elderly person. I hated going thru a full plane trying to carry an infant and a car seat over everyone's head. The car seats don't travel well down the center aisle. So generally, they must be lifted over the heads of the seated passengers.

Good Luck and see you on the Magic!!!

Deb

[outahere]

jeanie...........

You can (and should) fill out all your docs ahead of time. They will collect everything when you check in at the port. The Bahamas immigration form is necessary because we will be stopping at Castaway Cay, which is part of the Bahamas.

Ed

[rae519]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Fill those documents out at home and come as a family together to the desk at the Port - have everything ready, people, passports and paperwork!

Otherwise you will be there for a very long time and people behind you will begin to get that look in their eye that says not so nice things!!!!!!!!

This is probably my biggest pet peeve about check-in!!!! Not people who have attempted to fill out documents and have one or two questions about what to write, but those who come to the desk and say, "What do I have to do?" They stand around and fill out each person's paperwork, then search for their identification and often have to run around the terminal to find the person who has wandered off, gone for coffee, bathroom, photo with character and we stand there waiting and waiting and waiting.

Not PMS-ing, just been there too many times to count!
And the funny part is most of THEM are standing in the Castaway Club line and should know the routine from having cruised before!

This isn't about jeanie's question - and I do not mean any disrespect to her about this or to anyone else who may have a document question - this is just a hot topic with me especially with people who just don't bother doing anything and expect DCL to do it all for them! (I think you may know the type)

Jeanie - each person has to fill them out and we turn them in at the Port. If you have any questions, I can tell you what to put where...that's if I know!!! IF you are traveling by DCL bus, they will have you get your paperwork together prior to arrival.

Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by Skuba2
You may not get seats together, but even that is usually fixed once you board. Especially if you have younger kids. For me, I used to laugh. I don't mind if I don't sit next to my 5 year old---it would be like having a free babysitter. LOL!! But I always remind the gate agents I don't think the people around my 5 year old will be very happy about having to entertain her for 3 hours.

Deb


Ohhh, yes! What a wonderful way to travel!!!!!
This happened to us on a DCL bus 3 years ago! There were 3 seats left and we were told to board. Michael was 5. No one offered to move so Tom had a seat way in front, Michael was in the middle and I was in the back row. The teenaged girl that wouldn't move "enjoyed" Michael talking for the time it took to get from AK to Port! Meanwhile, Tom slept and I read! What a lovely way to reach the Port! Then during the cruise when he saw her, he'd go over to talk! I bet she "loved" it! Next time she might reconsider allowing a parent to sit with their child instead of being "stubborn"!!! (tee hee hee!)

Rae

[outahere]

When I changed my air reservation last week on JetBlue, the agent (jokingly) asked if I wanted one seat in the front of the plane, one in back and the third in the middle...... and I told him "no, thanks"...........

WHAT WAS I THINKING ?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Ed

[rae519]

For those who have inquired, Andy and I have set our 50th Birthday Celebration cruise date - April 30, 2005 (Eastern) - welcome aboard to all who are interested!

Rae

[oreo's mom]

Hi Rae,


I think there is a duplication on your list. I am Cruise Crazy's mother also known as Oreo's Mom. Cuts the size of the group down a little. Looking forward to meeting everyone onboard.

Helpful hint. Paste made of baking soda removes shrimp cocktail sauce from clothing .

Counting down and packing.

Oreo's Mom

[ehtpnt]

Thanks for the print out of the plans Rae. One question...is Zebra Stripes DD really 98? Chuckled when I saw that.

Oreo's Mom-- I laughed out loud when I saw your post about a paste of baking soda. With my ability to wear my food that is a very important piece of information.

I don't remember filling out the information for the Bahamas when we cruised in 2002. Is this new or do I just not remember having done it before? And Rae you will be pleased to know that DH and I filled out our docs yesterday. So he has them paper clipped to our passports. If you do them before you get to the counter no one gives you dirty looks and it takes not time at all to get done. So everyone listen to Rae and besides if you don't listen there will be nobody except Rae and I allowed near the shrimp. So there...

Talk to you all later. Estelle

[rae519]

Ohhh, my! Am I redfaced over that one! Took care of those details and hopefully, now everything is "hunky dorey".

Estelle - your DH is a good man! I just got together all the "incidentals" and only have clothing to pack now!

Remember to bring list:

SEA SAFE
suntan lotion
aloe gel
camera
film
batteries
small flashlight or nightlight for bathroom visits
medication in original containers


Anyother suggestions?

Rae

[rae519]

If anyone wants to post excursions they are on, let me know.
We have elected to only do the St. John Trunk Bay excursion since I chose the REAS package (gotta economize somewhere!)

I also posted who is dining with whom and when. If you want me to edit yours, let me know.

Rae

[outahere]

We starting getting the "incidentals" together yesterday. I would add Immodium (with all that shrimp and other rich food, ya never know!), Anbesol and an emergency dental filling kit. Dentists are really tough to find at sea! :D

Ed

[ZebraStripes]

Originally posted by ehtpnt
One question...is Zebra Stripes DD really 98? Chuckled when I saw that.


Hah :laughing: That is too funny. She does act older than her age, but closer to 13 than 98!!

We are going on the dolphin excursion in St. Maarten. Still looking for two seats if anyone decides not to go. In St. Thomas we have chartered Sail Jester. Can't wait.

[lsutigger2]

Okay, I get to eat shrimp - filled out our docs yesterday at DH's suggestion!! I hope we did them correctly - one question for all you veterans - my "birth certificate/passport" name is Theresa Jane, everyone who knows and loves me calls me "Janie". The docs have "Janie" on them but everything else (drivers license and passport) have "Theresa" on them. Will I have to pitch a fit to get on board?? Should I call DCL?? Docs are safe with passports in a large envelope that has everything else in it - car rental reservation, airline e ticket, etc, etc, etc.

Excursions: I took the "Grayline" approach since DH and I have never been on a cruise before. On St. Maarteen - Island Drive and Explorer Cruise, On St. Thomas - St. John Island Tour for me, DH is playing golf at Mahogany Run with luv2dreams DH!, and on CC parasailing ! (Yikes, don't know what I was thinking !!)

Packing is underway - personal items and some of the extra stuff (camera, Mardi Gras beads, bathing suits, etc.) DH has his wardrobe together and all items purchased. I'll work on mine later.

It's gone to be fun, fun, fun, :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: !!

[klStacker]

I think I would call DCL and check to see if your docs having a different name is a problem. I've never had this problem because my docs always have the same name as my birth cerificate, but I seem to remember hearing that the names are required to be the same. It may not be a problem, but I think I'd want to know now instead of when your ready to board.

[lsutigger2]

Thanks for the info - I'll call in the morning and check it out.

I agree, better to "fix" it now and not at time of boarding - Rae will have eaten all the shrimp!

[rae519]

Originally posted by lsutigger2
[BI agree, better to "fix" it now and not at time of boarding - Rae will have eaten all the shrimp! [/B]

Now how did I mess this up?????

Okay, folks, forget what I said - don't fill anything out, take your time and do it at Port........

(Step away from the shrimp and no one will get hurt!)

Rae

[Luv2Dream]

Rae, Is that 4/30/05 cruise on the Magic or Wonder? Eastern or Western? Unfortunately it's just after Mary's April vacation as she's off the third week of April. Boo hooo.....I would still love to do the Panama Canal though. I've got the luggage out but I haven't had a spare moment to pack....I'm really pushing the limit here....Hopefully I'll get into full swing in the next couple of days. Otherwise, I'll just be naked and that would NOT be a pretty sight.... :earseek: :faint: :scared1:

[rae519]

4/30/05 - Magic Eastern - that gives us 3 days at sea which we love, plus St. Thomas (our favorite island), St. Marten and CC.
I agree about the Panama Canal - and Andy and I spent a lot of time on the phone about this, but we look at (1) COST and (2) TIME OF YEAR. PLUS we were both a little tired of waiting to hear what Disney was going to do - so we made the decision.

On this cruise, Tom and I decided against the excursion to Pinel Island because of the "clothing optional" part - so please pack so we don't have to hide our eyes!!!!!!! I guess we will just walk around St. Marten for a hour or so then head back to the ship. I hope a good movie is playing that afternoon!

Hugs!
Rae

[rae519]

I could use a big favor from everyone....

Today is my Mom's 75th birthday - if you have the time to drop her a quick note/e-mail card, I'd really appreciate it!!!

Her name is Lilly and her address is:

bluebird406@insightbb.com



Thanks!

Rae

[M&CKing]

Good morning everyone! My family & I are counting down. The kids discuss/argue how much longer everytime we get in the car. Since we are driving down on the 16th, DD says it's one less day than DS says. Part of it is because they like to argue, and the rest is anticapation.

Rae, I just sent your mom a card. I hope she has a great day! I am working on filling out our docs & putting them in our carrry on. The race is on!! Let's see who gets to the shrimp first.

I have the kids clothes packed & working on mine & DH's. It hasn't been warm enough for the kids to wear shorts yet, so I felt it was perfectly alright to pack them, instead of them sitting in a drawer in their rooms.:p

Carolyn

[rae519]

Thank you!

I have done my documents - I keep them in a separate envelope, as I do the airline, hotel and limo. Saves time and energy! Plus I rubberband everything and it's all together. Ohhh, pat me on the back, I am sooooo efficient (GAG!)

Anyway, this morning they are putting the steeple back on the Catholic Church, so we are going to go watch that. It needed repair and was removed a long time ago - finally, it's going back up. IF Mr. Michael ever decides to get out of bed, that is! He fell asleep at 9PM and is still sleeping (8:30!) Guess he either needs it or is sick.....for joy! Looking forward to another bout of the flu.

Anyone going over to St. John Trunk Bay with us?

Rae

[RobinMarie]

Rae - I sent your mom a quickie note from my work email address. I hope she has a fabulous day!

We went shopping for me last weekend and bought several new dresses for Victoria. The child has more clothes but we just HAD to have this dress in a tinkerbell green color that shimmers and has a full skirt. I thought it would look good for one of the dressy nights. She'll probably be more dressed up than we will!

Have a great day everyone!

[rae519]

Originally posted by outahere
We starting getting the "incidentals" together yesterday. I would add Immodium (with all that shrimp and other rich food, ya never know!), Anbesol and an emergency dental filling kit. Dentists are really tough to find at sea! :D

Ed

I think we can term those items the "Accidentals"!!!!

Good choices!!

Rae

[dianthus]

Rae~ I'll send your mom an e-card! Happy 75th :)!

Here's some of the things I pack from my experience on the cruise. I always make photocopies of passports, or other ID, Disney tickets and anything that is hard to replace if lost on vacation. I pack the photocopies in my checked bag, originals are in carryon. I take an extension cord for the vanity area for digital camera battery charger. The big square things on the end of my blow dryer never fit in the plugs too, so the EC helps. I bring a small bottle of Downy wrinkle releaser so I don't have to iron, a shout stain stick & a laundry kit in a zip lock. I put a few laundry tablets, $5.00 in quarters & dryer sheets in there, so if I need to do laundry- I'm prepared. I don't bring those shoe holder things. There are plenty of drawers to keep things organized, but that's me. Bring a highlighter for your navigator & I always bring a pad of post it notes. I bring antibacterial wipes to use when we get to the stateroom. I wipe the phone, remote control and doorknobs & drawer handles off with them before we unpack. With the small amount of time stewards have to clean- these are the things overlooked... I don't want the previous occupant's germs, or worse viruses, so I do this to stay well. I'm not a clean freak, just careful when I'm on a cruise ship. I also pack a small umbrella & couple of camping ponchos that you can get in the dollar store. Lightweight & easy to use if a rainstorm catches you. If you bring them, you usually don't need them :)- trip insurance! Also, bring some dollar bills for room service.

I fill out docs the night before the cruise. This way, if docs are lost someone doesn't get credit card & other personal info. I agree, there's nothing worse than being stuck behind a "clueless" unprepared ( non DIS) family at Port... We sailed through last time in 3 minutes flat. That's the way it should be! You're right Rae, the Castaway Club seems to be the longest one. You think they'd know better...

10 days to our 10 day trip! Woo Hoo! 7 days DCL, 3 days BWV! The only excursion we are doing is the St. Maarten Beach Riviera thing to Orient- family side- no raisin butts... LOL! We plan on shopping in St. Thomas.

~ Linda :boat:

[ZebraStripes]

Linda, what store do you find the Downy wrinkle releaser? I've looked all over and can't find it. What other products are around it? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.

[ehtpnt]

Rae--sent your Mom a short email from Phil and I wishing her a happy birthday.

A couple of things that occured to me after reading everyones extras to bring. If you have anything battery opperated extra batteries would be a good idea. I use a battery opperated toothbrush so there is an extra battery needed. Various sized plastic zip lock bags are a good idea. And from personal experience if you get Migraines or even just bad headaches don't forget whatever you take for them. Did that once never again.

ZebraStripes-- the Downy is probably in the same area as Fabreeze. In our super markey it is in the aisle with the softeners and bleach. It could also be in the aisle with the Tide and other detergents. I think it depends on the store where they put it.

Speaking of laundry off to fold the underwear and put the ironing in the basket for tomorrow. Then to the dentist for a temp. cap. Talk to you all later. Estelle

[jeanie]

Not to worry I had the docs filled out the day I got them....
I just didn't know what the Bahama Immigration papers were...
In 2002 I didn't remember filling this out....


But it wouldn't matter if I didn't fill them out ahead of time...
I don't think there will be very many people in the terminal around 1:30 :(

[rae519]

thnaks everyone for the great cards for Mom - she was shocked! And her surprise party went off perfectly! She was floored! We had a great time and boy was I tired because I rode trail for a few hours yesterday! But it's that happy kind of tired that being on a horse brings!

Hugs,
Rae

[dianthus]

Rae~ Glad the party went well! I saw she picked up our card. I put from Rae's cruisin' buds so she wouldn't say- who are these people?!

Zebrastripes~ I get the Downy wrinkle stuff in Stop & Shop, near the Febreze as Estelle said. I found a smaller travel size one in CVS last year & I just refill it now- it's great stuff. Takes the wrinkles out of shorts, polos, shirts really well. I don't use it on the good clothes though. I send those out to be pressed. Those irons are pretty scary ( way too hot) in the laundry room. Bring a press cloth to protect your clothes if you plan on using them.

Estelle brings up a good point- zip locks. I bring a bunch- all sizes. I get the big 2 gallon Hefty bags & pack with them. Keeps everything organized & less wrinkles on the way there. You can reuse them for the dirty stuff on the way back too. Stop & Shop has them. Cheaper than those space travel bags.

I also bring 2 pieces of 12 X12 cardboard & put it in the bottom of the luggage, so I can put the pictures I buy from Shutters between them. Then they get home with no damage.

One more travel tip. If you're hair is highlighted, or if you use color, make sure you bring a shampoo w/ sunscreen, or spray sunscreen for your hair. The first time I went to the Caribbean, I didn't use any & my blonde hair turned almost white, it lightened so much from the sun! If any of your girls are planning on getting their hair braided, use it on them too. They will get sunburn between the rows on their scalp! I use Redken Spray Sunscreen for hair - $8 a bottle- works great. Sea & Ski Spray SP30 works great too. Get on line for ship hairbraiding early! They do the best job- very clean & they are pretty gentle. Don't waste your time on CC. St. Maarten hair braiders are sceevy ( not clean). The times/place are printed in the navigators- small print, so look for it. I think the sign ups for our Nov. western were right after safety drill by WDW theatre entrance. The sea day slots go quick!

Enough travel/packing tips. I gotta start packing soon! Hope these help everyone!

~ Linda :boat:

[Skuba2]

Ok--a week from now I will be boarding the plane. Yikes. I am getting the butterflies in my stomach. I always get them---no matter how many times I fly----can't get away from them. I know I am going to miss and worry about my son. I am glad we go down a few days early. It allows my mom to call if there are any immediate problems with my son adjusting to her being there. He is a mommy's boy by trait and not by choice.

So, besides packing, I am trying to get my house organized also for my mom (from FL) and her sister who is coming down from Boston. They are both clean freaks and with 3 kids and 2 dogs--I am not. And the spring shedding is starting slowly but it is starting. Oh what fun. I am spending the next few days getting all my directions, schedules and instructions written and printed for them.

The one problem I am finding is with my older daughter who is 95th percentile in height and weight. She is nicely proportioned at the ripe age of 9 1/2 but tall for her age. She is too big for the large sizes of little kids clothes but too young for the junior dresses that plunge down to places I'd never go. So finding her any kind of dress for Easter or the cruise has become a difficult task. I am still searching though. Gonna try the Clinton outlets this weekend.

Man--if I am this jittery now--can't wait for next week.

Deb

[lsutiggeratwk]

Thanks to all for the packing tips. This first timer can use all the help she and DH can get!!

Rae: Missed your mom's special day yesterday, but am planning to send a greeting in just a few. It was also my mom's b'day yesterday! She was 83!!

Later folks, got to get to work - only 5 more working days till we leave!! YES!!

:Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc

[dianthus]

Forgot to post before:


HUSKIES RULE! Men & Women! Woo Hoo! They are awesome!
We are a small state, but a powerhouse none the less!

I have a theory on this- since there was so much snow & cold this winter here, everyone stayed inside and played basketball! At least some good came of it!

~ Linda :boat:

[lsutiggeratwk]

Congrats to the Huskies!! That is really awesome that both men's and women's teams won! Our women (Lady Tigers) were in the final four and only lost in the last 6 seconds of the game. Soooooo close! It was a heartbreaker!

I agree on your cold weather theory. That is why our baseball team has won five national champions! It is warm enough down here to practice almost year round. There was a game a few years back that was snowed out, I think. I wasn't there, inside where it was warm!!

Have a great day.

Janie

[ehtpnt]

Deb-- as a Mom and Granny to girls I thought maybe your daughter would be willing to go the fancy blouse and nice slacks or skirt route. I've even seen t-shirts with sequins on them that would be nice. Of course the one I own my two fashion police took one look at and went, "you aren't wearing that are you?" So of course I wore it the next day. My fashion police are a bit older 37 and 23.
Rae-- glad to hear your Mom had a great birthday. I would have been unable to walk if I had been trail riding.
Linda-- I'll have to try and find some of the Downy stuff. I can use it on DHs' shirts. Hadn't even thought of it till you mentioned it being good on shirts.
Congratulations to the Huskies. It must have been the weather. Although I had to laugh one day last winter when there was around 8 inches of snow and the little boys next door. Aged 10 and 8 were outside in their snow clothes throwing baskets. They were either crazy or hoping spring would come really soon. This was in early January.
Talk to you all later. Estelle

[outahere]

For all you shrimp lovers, take a look at this thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=543890

Sounds like a great place for shrimp.

Rae...... maybe if you go there the night before, you would be more willing to share at the embarkation lunch? ;)

Ed

[Luv2Dream]

TWO DAYS, TWO DAYS, TWO DAYS !!!!! We are leaving so soon I can't believe it.....Major packing frenzy is happening tomorrow. It's just a matter of organization at this point.

Rae, glad your mom had a nice birthday. I looked at her card here for so long and then I had a panic that I lost it and didn't send it. Gosh, I hope I sent it. I would feel like a fool if I didn't. With all the chaos around here with the office move, I've been so disorganized. That's why I haven't gotten the packing done yet. This is SO unlike me.

I wish everyone a safe journey and I look forward to meeting you all. At least by the time I see everyone I'll have a little color and not be so New England ghost-like.

:wave2: :wave: :sunny: :boat: :jumping1:

[sheilacat]

I filled out my docs, see you all by the shrimp, with no fear of unsightly stains!
1 week to go, just have to make it through my stores opening on Monday and I'm free to go!

Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!

Have a wonderful, safe trip Lynn. See you there!

Rae, I sent your Mom a belated b-day card, glad she had a nice day. Thanks too for all the great packing tips, especially the antibacterial wipes. love that one!


We are going to St John's Trunk, St Martin Dolphin swim and Hubby and the kids are going fishing on CC. Glad to hear that some of you have the same ideas.

See you all soon!
Sheila

[ehtpnt]

Lynn-- Have a great time at WDW. Hope the packing goes well and nothing gets forgotten. See you in 10 days!

I only have 4 days of laundry and then I'm off one and then we're outa here. And to top it all off Spring seems to have arrived at last. Of course the way this year has gone so far we will have sleet or somesuch tomorrow.

I have the dog tonight, girls are at a concert at a local bar. So I'll talk to you all later. Estelle

[lsutigger2]

Rae: tried to send your mom a belated b'day wish but it bounced back to me. Please tell her when you speak with her, another of your cruise buddies says "HI! and glad she had a great day"

Lynn: Pack those clothes and get on out of there! Have a great week at WDW. Want a full report when we see you on the Magic!

Take care,
Janie

[RobinMarie]

Enjoy your time at Disney World Lynn! We can't wait to meet you!

Victoria Rose, my 6 yo dd, is choosing her clothes, shoes and toys to bring. I usually give her one bag/suitcase/case to put nothing but toys in to bring on vacation. She wants to bring one of her baby dolls but also wants to bring the baby doll carrier with it. But get this ... she is expecting to put the baby doll in her car seat/carrier in its very own seat on the plane!

Linda I tried to find the hair care product at the grocery tonight and could not find it. Wouldn't you know I JUST had my hair done this week and am terrified my hair will turn white after what you wrote.

I have my Safe Sea, bonine, prescription patch, ibuprofin and bubbles packed! I have nothing else packed. I'm too afraid I'll pack it all and unpack to check to see if I packed items.

It looks like Spring is finally here in Connecticut, and just in time to celebrate the Lady and Men Huskies! It's amazing to see how UCONN is now a school kids WANT to go to! Things sure have changed.

Happy Wednesday!:wave2:

[lsutigger2]

Oh! forgot to offer to all the cruise buddies out there.
If anyone is interested in lime green index card cut outs of a balloon shaped like Mickey Mouse, please let me know. I have access to a die cut machine at my office and could cut some out if anyone is interested. There are two sizes - 3" x 2 1/4" and 5" x 4". I thing the smaller would make the best name tags. I'm going to make name tags (at Rae's request) for us for the sail away party. I can laminate them or not. If they are laminated, then you would need a sharpie type permanent pen to write on them.

Let me know. I'll be glad to do it. It only takes a few minutes.

See ya soon!
Janie:hyper: :hyper: :hyper: :hyper:

[dianthus]

Originally posted by RobinMarie

Linda I tried to find the hair care product at the grocery tonight and could not find it. Wouldn't you know I JUST had my hair done this week and am terrified my hair will turn white after what you wrote.
:wave2:

RobinMarie~ You can only get Redken products at Salons or Hair Supply places. It's a really good product- only for hair. I didn't want to scare anyone, but it's easy to underestimate the sun in the carib! I'm not hat person, so this is what I use.

Lynn- Have a great trip down & enjoy WDW! See you onboard! The first of us to leave for Florida and the first set of lights to turn off in Mass! Many more to follow!

Janie~ If you are making them die cuts for the trip, could you make one for Taylor & me? That would be great for a name tag, non laminated would be fine!

Sheilacat~ taylor replied to christina's email @ her email address. If she didn't get it, let me know.

~ Linda :boat:

[klStacker]

RobinMarie - I know what you mean about UCONN. I'm a UCONN alum, and when I went there, it wasn't the "cool" place to go like it is now. I loved it, but figured my kids would never want to go there. I'm hoping they will now. I had to laugh about Victoria. Rachel just told me she wants to bring her new build-a-bear unicorn with us on the trip. It's the biggest stuffed animal she has. I asked her if she could find something a little smaller, but she has her heart set on bringing that one.

Luv2Dream - Have a great time in Disney. Tell Mary that Rachel can't wait to meet her on the ship!

[jshafferman]

Thanks to all for your welcome comments. I have really enjoyed reading this thread. Lots of good info. It sounds like a fun group. Hopefully we all survive the race for the shrimp. Eight days and counting.:wave2:

Rae - Thanks for all the work in putting together the list and the luncheon. We probably won't make the luncheon however, but we do hope to see everyone on deck 10 for the sailaway.

Isutigger2, amtmommy, ehtpnt - We will also be staying at the Radisson on 4/16. All 15 of us - 11 from Mass and 4 from MN. We hope to get to the pool that evening so the kids can have a quick swim.

MargaretMary and Skuba2 - I also have a DD(10) who will be the odd man(girl) out with our group of 4 boys and 3 girls. She would love to meet other girls her age.

For excursions we are planning on 2 Scuba diving in St. Maarten and a bunch of us on the Atlantis in St. Thomas. It should be fun.

Dianne (cruisecrazy)
:jumping1:

[cruisecrazy]

You can tell I'm new at this. The above post is mine (jshafferman). We are one in the same. Not another whole new group.

Dianne(cruisecrazy):o

[Skuba2]

Dianne-My daughter will be there. Her name is Christine. She can be kind of shy at first--but recovers quickly. She love making friends and will probably exhange emails or address with anyone she gets close to and start being pen pals.

As far as excursions--we are doing the St. Marteen Regatta. This will be our 3rd time and we love it. Wind or no wind we go. Other than that--we just intend on enjoying the ship. If you see a couple with a bottle of champagne enjoying shuffle board at night---ask if it is Deb from disboards. Anyone can join in.

We leave on Wednesday--5 days to go. Part of me can't believe it is here.

Deb

[amtmommy]

Hi ALL,

I have been away from the boards for a few days, busy shopping if you can belive it. Now I just have to make sure I have tops and bottoms for each outfit.
On Queer Eye for the Straight Guy the Clothes Guy Carson, recommended packing using zip lock large bags to eliminate wrinkles and keep outfits together. My friend did this and now swears by it.

I was reading an earlier post about someone's name not matching their BC. CALL AHEAD OF TIME. My mother gave me a family first name that I don't use, instead she used my middle name as my "first name", but my Birth Cert. lists my first name. When I made the reservations DCL was very clear I had to use my name as listed on my BC even though no-one knows me as that. All you need is some one at immigration on port giving you a hard time becasue they just got some memo about hightened security. My neighbor actually had to show a marrige licence at logan to go to the caribean (sp) since her name on her licenec didn't match her BC. (I have never heard of that since, but I am bringing mine just in case since we are flying out of logan.)

Are the name badges for the meeting at the deck 10 during the sailaway party? Or is this for something else?

Thanks
amtmommy

[Luv2Dream]

It's official, I'm almost fully packed. We are now on our third suitcase. I just told my dad that if I get marooned on a small island I could probably last a year. Of course, I'll forget the most obvious things even thought I've checked the list over and over. Tomorrow I can just finish up and then relax and wait for 5am Saturday morning !!! I heard that the MK closed today. SOOOOOO, the parks are very full and it should just be quite a blast getting around. I'll definitely need that cruise to relax. Well, I'll check in one last time tomorrow. Thanks for all the help. You've all been so fantastic. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST TIME !!!! :cool1:

[cruisecrazy]

Thanks to all for your welcome comments. I have really enjoyed reading this thread. Lots of good info. It sounds like a fun group. Hopefully we all survive the race for the shrimp. Eight days and counting.:wave2:

Rae - Thanks for all the work in putting together the list and the luncheon. We probably won't make the luncheon however, but we do hope to see everyone on deck 10 for the sailaway.

Isutigger2, amtmommy, ehtpnt - We will also be staying at the Radisson on 4/16. All 15 of us - 11 from Mass and 4 from MN. We hope to get to the pool that evening so the kids can have a quick swim.

MargaretMary and Skuba2 - I also have a DD(10) who will be the odd man(girl) out with our group of 4 boys and 3 girls. She would love to meet other girls her age.

For excursions we are planning on 2 Scuba diving in St. Maarten and a bunch of us on the Atlantis in St. Thomas. It should be fun.

Dianne (cruisecrazy)
:jumping1:

[lsutigger2]

amtmommy: Thanks for the advice. I did call DCL on Monday(??), actually I called twice. They have changed it so that my KTTW card will have the name that matches my DL/Passport. I feel better. Do you think I need any other type of identification? The second person (a very nice gentleman) said I was going to be okay.

The Mickey Mouse shape cut outs can be used as name tags. They are very easy for me to do. I was offering them for anyone who was planning to join the DIS group at any point in time. I'll probably make several and folks have have some if they wish. I'll try to remember in all the excitement to bring them to the sail away party. Rae mentioned that name tags might be helpful as she is "name challenged."

Lynn: Enjoy your week at WDW. Hopefully the crowds will settle down some as the week progresses. I've not been at that time of the year before.

I plan on putting the outfits together this weekend. Just in case I need to make any trips to the mall before we leave.

Later,
Janie

[Luv2Dream]

Hello Janie...I understand about putting it all together. I realized today that I didn't have a light coverup in case A/C is too cold at night. So I went to the local store and bought a generic khaki sweater. It isn't dressy, unfortunately, but it will do. Other than that, I believe I'm almost completely done. I've just got to copy the passport, etc. I'll wrap it up tomorrow morning and then we start the "tour" bringing the dog to "camp" (our special term for boarding) and my car to the auto body shop to get repaired while I'm gone. Then Mary has dance class at 5pm and then we are ALL in bed for the 5 am pickup by the Airport Limo service. I don't need a name tag as we have the Passporter pins, but thanks for the offer. Have a great night everyone....I'll talk to you tomorrow.

[rae519]

Originally posted by lsutiggeratwk
Rae: Missed your mom's special day yesterday, but am planning to send a greeting in just a few. It was also my mom's b'day yesterday! She was 83!!


How wonderful! I hope God blesses her in great abundance! Please give her a big Disney hug from all of us here in cyberspace!!!

Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by lsutigger2
Rae mentioned that name tags might be helpful as she is "name challenged."
Janie


And I have challenges in a few other areas as well! I have that dreaded disease "forktomouth"!!!!!!

Yes, the name tags would be great at that first meeting and if you want to keep wearing it, fine - if not, no biggie!!! Yes, I am very name challenged and honestly, it's not out of disrespect or disinterest - I even forget the horses names and you know how much I love my furbabies!

By the way, I am back to 3 horses. Tytefit has been sold. Long story, suffice to say, three is enough!!!!!

Rae

[ehtpnt]

Rae-- I totally understand being name challenged. My DH never remembers names. Took him a year to figure out that I was Estelle and the eldest was Elza. Long story.
Janie-- I also understand about the problem with names. My legal name is Ethel. Never use it. Except for those legal documents. People who know me see the signiture and immediately want to know who Ethel is.
We leave on Thursday morning. So that is 6 days I am so physched. Have to go and iron some shirts. DH says he can't go until he gets his shirts ironed.
Talk to you later. Estelle

[outahere]

And I have challenges in a few other areas as well! I have that dreaded disease "forktomouth"!!!!!!

Rae......... that's no where near as severe as "footinmouth"!! :eek:

We're going to spend the weekend packing............ we fly out Wednesday afternoon........ only 4 more days!!!!!

Ed

[Luv2Dream]

H E L L O everybody! I'm totally packed.....and then some. If I don't have it, I probably don't need it. Or I can buy it in Florida. Anyhow, who cares about packing ! Tomorrow I'll be at WDW!!!!!!!! WAAAAAHHOOOOO!!!!!! I'm going to miss this thread and all the anticipation and tip gathering. I anxiously await meeting everyone. I hope we have calm seas and warm sunshine. I'll see you at the Port. Bye ! :wave:

[ehtpnt]

We are officially ready. Dinner at the Taylor household tonight was SHRIMP boil. Our eldest has a friend who taught her the recipe for the boil. Boy was that good.

We are set to start the packing tomorrow after I finish ironing the short sleeved shirts. Then we'll have to put that aside on Sunday so the grandkids can get their Easter baskets.
Monday our friends arrive in the morning to drop off clothes for the garment bag and to decide what channel the radios will be on so they can let us know when the bus arrives at the port. Things are moving right along around here. I am getting really ready for this cruise.
Got to go and finish the ironing so the packing can begin. Talk to you all later.

Lynn-- have a great trip and enjoy WDW. See you in a week and hours! Estelle

[rae519]

Shrimp Boil.......know what I really miss? New England clambakes - you know the kind......ahhh, you New Englanders, don't ever leave home because you will end up like me a Dorothy in Oz longing for Auntie Em!

We leave on Friday noon - can you believe it's almost time!!!!!

Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by Luv2Dream
H E L L O everybody! I'm totally packed.....and then some. If I don't have it, I probably don't need it. Or I can buy it in Florida. Anyhow, who cares about packing ! Tomorrow I'll be at WDW!!!!!!!! WAAAAAHHOOOOO!!!!!! I'm going to miss this thread and all the anticipation and tip gathering. I anxiously await meeting everyone. I hope we have calm seas and warm sunshine. I'll see you at the Port. Bye ! :wave:


Have a wonderful time!!!!!!!!
Rae

[Phrebert]

Bon Voyage Everyone, Have a great trip. We're going on the 24th so don't break anything.:D

[rae519]

Originally posted by Phrebert
Bon Voyage Everyone, Have a great trip. We're going on the 24th so don't break anything.:D

Nothing will be broken, but you may not find any shrimp or orange-mango soup left!

Rae

[outahere]

Ok........ I'm going to cheat a little here........... without going back and reading this entire thread............

Is anyone in the Mass. group from the Westford area?

The reason I ask, is that when DW went to get her hair done yesterday (in Westford), the beautician told her that 2 of their customers were on the same cruise we are, and they had both been in yesterday morning.

Well......... we're almost packed. Arriving in Orlando Wednesday evening......... can't wait to get to the condo and really go into vacation mode!

I just love the time showing on my countdown timer.......... :bounce:

Ed

[rae519]

Ed - you rock! So do the rest that are getting in before us on Friday night!!!! Do I envy you!!!!

Actually, it will be hard to pull away from the horses. I plan on calling the stable from St. Thomas on the cell to see how they are doing! Probably enjoying their time away from us!

Still need to put things inside the suitcase......tomorrow!!!!

Need to rest up tonight from the wonderful Easter we had with our Church family and then our stable family!

Hope you had a wonderful Easter time also!

Rae

[cruisecrazy]

Deb~My daughter's name is Michelle. She is also fairly shy at first but very friendly and easy going. Hopefully the girls will meet and hit it off. When we went last year DD spent most of her time in the kids program and had a great time. The Regatta in St. Maarten sounds like lots of fun. Wednesday will be here before you know it. Have a great time. Hope to see you on the ship.

Dianne:D

[Skuba2]

Thanks Dianne---we'll look for her on the first night and at the sailaway party. Yes--we are going to try and make it to the sailaway party. It will be the first one in this our 5th cruise that we actually go to. LOL! Usually, we are sipping champagne on our balconey. It takes time to get used to the crowds. LOL!

On a side note---everyone file their taxes? Trying to get through that today and in the mail. We owe--so we wait until the last minute. Did turbo tax this year and let my tax guy do them to test out turbo tax. It turned out he was the one needing testing.

Tried on clothes on the girls yesterday and of course my older one went through a growth spurt in the last month. Grew out of some capri pants I got her last month. So, I need to try to make it to Sears to get some new Capris for her. Land's end seems to be all that fit her.

Happy travels guys---I probably will only check one more time before I leave if I am lucky. So I'll see you at the shrimp table.

Deb

[rae519]

Originally posted by Skuba2
On a side note---everyone file their taxes? Trying to get through that today and in the mail. We owe--so we wait until the last minute. Did turbo tax this year and let my tax guy do them to test out turbo tax. It turned out he was the one needing testing.
Deb

I did ours in January. I have everything ready and just wait for those official papers to come in and send it all out (by mail)! RE: the tax guy vs Turbo Tax.....A few years ago I tested this theory out myself using my best friend's return that a "professional CPA" did. I proved that by using all the legal deductions and following simple directions, anyone could use the program AND get back more than the professional had!

Rae

[outahere]

On a side note---everyone file their taxes?

I used Tax Cut for the third year in a row and electronically filed about 6 weeks ago. Our returns aren't all that complicated, so Tax Cut works pretty well. Our federal refund was deposited into the bank 15 days later! The state refund was deposited in 3 days!!

If we had owed anything, we would have waited until now to file.

Hope everyone had a great Easter.

We're getting closer by the minute!!!!!!! I hope they ordered extra shrimp to load onto the ship Saturday. I can almost taste it already!!

Ed

[ehtpnt]

Interesting. Our accountant did our taxes and DH went over them and found a couple of mistakes. One that white out took care of and one that had to be fixed by the accountant. So it really pays to go over those returns before you send them. And yes we also send ours. The youngest DD does hers by phone. Must be nice.
We had a lovely Easter. The three girls, two grands and one boyfriend and one husband who will be an ex sometime. Don't ask. They are sepparated but nothing else.
Going to pack today and tomorrow. Laundry will be done finally tomorrow. And then I can move into vacation mode. Just today and tomorrow and then I have Wed. off. We leave Thursday morning and arrive Port Canavarel on Friday afternoon. Oh Joy oh rapture. Sun and warm breezes.
Everyone leaving before that have a great trip. Estelle

[ehtpnt]

Oh forgot one thing anyone interested in the recipe for the shrimp boil? Let me know and I will get DD to write it out for me.
Estelle

[dianthus]

I am jealous of everyone leaving before Friday too! Have a safe trip & we'll see you onboard! Don't get too tan to make us North Easterners look day glow white!! LOL!

Estelle~ would love the recipe!

Rae~ those horses are going to miss you too! Maybe they'll show "Home on the Range" on the ship, so you'll get a horse fix!

Our taxes go on extension every year. We Have K-1s that never get here on time. We always write the check (ugh) & send it in 4/15 with the extension...

A quick trip to the mall for a few things & I'll be packing. Friday's coming up quick! Yay!

Take care! Looking forward to meeting all if you!

~ Linda :boat:

[kzfamily]

Is anyone arriving on the 17th or is everyone going down early?

:wave:

[ZebraStripes]

We are headed out Friday morning....PVD via Chicago of all places. Got 3/4 of my stuff and all of DD stuff packed. Hopefully DH can get moving on his. Got the downey wrinkle releaser...not sure I did it right on a pair of pants I had...didn't work to well. Can't believe it is almost here!!

[sheilacat]

Hi Everyone. We've got just two more days to struggle through and then we are on our way! Has this been a long week or what? Today was our "quiet opening" at work, Friday's grand and boy am I glad to be missing it!

Ed, this doesn't help solve your mystery about people from Westford going, but we have a summer place in Groton, as well as family in Chelmsford, Shirley, Tyngsboro, and Ashby. Don't know of anyone that's going though! I love going every summer and always have since I was a kid.

You're going weds. right? You and your family Have a safe trip as well as all of you other cruisers, can't wait to see you all at sailaway!

Sheila

[lsutigger2]

Okay, who sent the "cooler" weather our way?? It is going to be in the 40's tonight and maybe tomorrow. Hope it is the last of it.

Started packing, DH is almost finished. He's never packed this early before. I'm piling stuff up so we can figure out which suitcases to bring.

Estelle: We'll maybe see you Friday evening at the Radisson. Hope to get in about 5:00 pm?? Don't really know since we haven't done this before! If not, see you at the sailaway party on board.

Those of you leaving earlier - take care! and see you there!!

Janie

[ehtpnt]

Okay Linda will bring the recipe with me.

Janie-- we should be in the Rad about 4 PM on Friday. So maybe we will see you there. If not then surely sailaway.

Anybody leaving before Thursday you have a safe trip. Our friends DS doesn't know that he is going to be at day care for 1/2 day on Friday and then go directly to the airport. He keeps trying to figure out the day they are leaving but his parents have only told him after Easter.
Thank goodness I am packed for the cruise part now all I have to do is pack for WDW and then I have to worry about the carry on. Hope to have all done by Wednesday morning so I can relax and get the last load of laundry done so that I will be ready for the huge pile to be done when we get home.
Off to dream land now, will dream of a big ship. Estelle

[SCOTTOHIOCPA]

Me, my DW, DD 11 and DS 6 are going on the April 18th Wonder. We'll be sitting out on the dock at Grill's seafood (in the channel Starboard side) Saturday at 5:00 to watch the Magic sail off with all of you lucky DISer's. Enjoy!

[outahere]

OK.......... I can do this.............. last day at work............ BUT, this "to do" list has got to go!! :crazy:

Oh well............ if I don't get it done today, it will just have to wait !! Someone will probably decide, while I'm gone, that it wasn't all that important anyway!

We'll be sure to wave to everyone at Grills on Saturday.

Whenever you're all leaving, please be careful and have a safe trip. We have a LOT of shrimp to eat and will need everyone's help to do it!!

Ed

[rae519]

Originally posted by SCOTTOHIOCPA
Me, my DW, DD 11 and DS 6 are going on the April 18th Wonder. We'll be sitting out on the dock at Grill's seafood (in the channel Starboard side) Saturday at 5:00 to watch the Magic sail off with all of you lucky DISer's. Enjoy!


It won't miss us - we will be the ones with the smiles on our faces!! Enjoy!


Very excited about leaving now that the temperature is 35 and it's overcast - COLD!~

Michael is completely packed - he even has his pirate outfit ready!
Tom and I are going to pack tonight.

Michael is going to be at the pool after embarkation - anyone else going to join him?

Rae

[ehtpnt]

Rae--I think young John (our friends 5 year old) may very well join Michael at the pool.
John doesn't realize that the trip is starting for him and his parents on Friday. Tonight when his Mom picked him up she told him we were all going to have dinner together on Saturday because she doesn't have to work this weekend. He was delighted. We both had trouble not laughing out loud that we'll be on the Magic and not in Pa.
Cruise suitcases are packed and in the mini van. Tomorrow is the suitcase for WDW and the motel and figuring out the very heavy carry on. Can't go on a cruise without books to read in the deck chairs. Plus all those things they tell us to be sure and pack in the carry ons... like chocolate Juniors.
Oh well off now to watch a movie. Estelle

[rae519]

I picked up the new Stuart Woods book for the cruise. I love to read and hopefully will get a second book. I also got my St. Thomas/Marten/John material and Passporter to DCL out tonight to have ready.

I THINK I am packed!!!! Probably "OVER" packed! Gotta watch that weigh in at the airport!!!

Glad to know that Michael may have some pool companionship - first we drop off the carryon, then we hit the shrimp and make some "mango tango"!! Yes, I got my small bottle of Bacardi!!!

Anyone check the weather lately? Michael says it's supposed to be "Perfect"! From his lips to God's ears!

Rae

[april1998]

Hi Everyone. Although I haven't posted much I've enjoyed keeping up with what's going on and look forward to meeting everyone (although I don't think I'll approach anyone at the shrimp table...it might be dangerous!). We're leaving Providence Thursday evening and are spending 2 nights at Port Orleans Riverside, having breakfast at Chef Mickey's on Saturday and driving over to Port Canaveral after that. I hope everyone has a safe trip south and I look forward to meeting you! Kim

[Catnip0113]

We are on the 04/17/2004 Eastern Cruise too! It is myself, 44; my DH, 44; and our DD, 12. This is our 2nd cruise, first Disney one and DD's first. I am hoping for calm seas and nice weather. We have been counting down for a year now. We are in a Cat 5, I have been learning the lingo by reading the posts, too bad I only discovered this website a few weeks ago. I am looking forward to meeting lots of nice people, see you this weekend!
:earsboy:

[rae519]

WElcome catnip0113! So glad you found us! We will be getting together on the starboard side, overlooking the Goofy family pool at Sail Away and at the Lumiere's Luncheon - Sunday noon (we meet at 11:45 to get a head count).

Please consider joining us!

I echo your weather wishes!!!!

Rae

[rae519]

http://www.paradisepointtramway.com/index.html


Here's the site for the ST. Thomas Tramway - if you go to the Bar, there's a web coupon for $1.00 off their famous Bushwacker drink. Never had it, but who knows?!

Bird shows are at 10:30 and 1:30!

Rae

[RobinMarie]

Thanks for the coupon Rae!

We are going to work/school today then heading to the airport for a 7:30 flight. We are so excited! I packed Monday night and decided the luggage wasn't big enough. Now I have a colorful rainbow of luggage to take rather than the matching set I had envisioned. Oh well, it will look like every other trip now.

It seems like I packed an awful lot. I never take this much stuff anywhere. I don't even think I moved into my home with this much stuff. :p

We are water logged here. It rained non stop for close to 24 hours. I'm looking to dry out and get reading those books the Bunny put in my basket.

My last day at work before vacation, it's always soooooo busy. I'm hoping THIS trip I was effective in preparing so many days ahead.

We are looking forward to meeting all of you. See everyone on the ship!

[klStacker]

RobinMarie - I hear you about the rain! It would be pretty depressing if we weren't leaving soon. We're not leaving until Friday morning. Hopefully, I'll be finished packing by then! Rachel wanted me to tell Victoria that she can't wait to meet her on the ship and she's looking forward to playing together in the club. Have a safe trip!

[ZebraStripes]

Hey Catnip0113....Another Connecticut family :wave: Have we outnumbered Massachussetts yet? I've really got to finish packing. Time is running out!

[dianthus]

Has the CT people outnumbered Mass? It's going to be a mass exodous out of New England, that's for sure!

Welcome Catnip! Where in CT are you from? Meet us for the sailaway- look for the tropical shirts & really happy faces!

Have a good trip Robin Marie! Enjoy the non soggy weather!

Rae~ Those Bushwackers sound good! Maybe a trip up the Mountain is in order...

See everyone Saturday!!! Can't wait!

~ Linda :boat:

[outahere]

Well........... as my screen name says............. we're OUTAHERE!!!

Leaving for the airport in about 1 1/2 hours. Gotta pick up DS from school soon, grab some lunch and head out.

I hope everyone has a safe trip. See you all on Saturday.

Ed

[BCVOwner in MA]

Hi, Ed.... have a safe trip down!

My son is looking forward to meeting your son on Saturday.

Mark

[ehtpnt]

Welcome Catnip! We are a wild bunch but there is always room for more. Hope to see you at sailaway. We're the ones in loud shirts and looking very full of shrimp.

Everything is packed. I can just pick up my carry on. I think it weighs about the same as the last time. Thank goodness we aren't flying. I'm way over weight. Have three books (paperbacks) and my small needlepoint work so I am set.

Everyone who is leaving today have a good trip. Estelle

[nipster]

:sunny:

OMG... It's almost time... I wish I was packed like many of you.. but i'm not <g>

First meeting is at the Sailaway Party Goofy Pool Starboard side??
Is this right...

Is it too late to get in on the brunch, when was that again?

Anything else I need to get signed up for to meet up with everyone.???

Denna
dh, myself and ds (4)

[kzfamily]

Has anyone checked the forcast for the Carribean on our week????????

[rae519]

Originally posted by nipster
:
First meeting is at the Sailaway Party Goofy Pool Starboard side??
Is this right...

Is it too late to get in on the brunch, when was that again?

Anything else I need to get signed up for to meet up with everyone.???

Denna
dh, myself and ds (4)


Hi Denna - yes, first meet is starboard, overlooking the Goofy Pool.
Brunch is now Lunch at Lumiere's on Sunday Noon - meeting at 11:45 to get a head count.
I think that's all we have planned - we could get together Friday evening for a good-bye if anyone is interested? Play that one by ear since it is the last night and packing has to be done!

See you soon!
Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by kzfamily
Has anyone checked the forcast for the Carribean on our week????????

I did but wasn't going to mention it.
30-50% chance of showers for the US Virgin Islands while we are in the area.

BUT Orlando is looking good on Saturday!! That's always great! One cruise had it raining so hard and windy that we had to delay the departure for over an hour. Really wasn't a great way to leave, but we did get better weather during the week.

OHHHH, must tell you that my surprise for Tom (besides the REAS that he doesn't know about) is going to be PERFECT! He thinks we are leaving here at 12:30 Friday by car to drive the 2 hours to the airport! Little does he know that I have arranged for a limo to drive us there!!!! Both he and Michael will flip out! Mom is coming over at 11:30 so she can see their faces! You know even after all these years, I love that man so much that I just want him to have the best vacation ever and let him know how much I still love him. (Sappy, but hey, it's a marriage that works!!!!)

Hugs to all,
Rae

[ZebraStripes]

Heres a bit more on the weather forecast from accuweather.com (http://www.accuweather.com)

St. Martin 4/20
Partly sunny, hot, humid
88-79 F

St. Thomas 4/21
rather cloudy, humid
85-74 F

Castaway Cay (used Marsh Harbor)
mostly sunny
77-66 F

[rae519]

I like your forecast better than the weather channels!!!!

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/local/USVI0006?from=search_city

Rae

[kzfamily]

Thanks for the weather update everyone! Let's all keep our fingers crossed for sunny skies!

We'll see you all at the shrimp fest!

Bye:wave2: pirate:

[Catnip0113]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I will plan to meet you on Saturday. We have had a lot of rain in CT lately, but I just keep thinking about next week. I dedicated our guest room to be the cruise packing room this week. There is more planning involved because I don't usually have to be formal, semi-formal and tropical on vacations (and no jeans for dinner). I am excited to dress up more though! My DD12 loves to shop so she was very happy to have to buy some clothes and sandals. Someone had asked, I am from Hebron, CT which is 30 mins. southeast of Hartford. We aren't leaving until Saturday morning with the crowds of school vacation families. At least this year there won't be displaced blizzard passengers like 2/03. :D :D

[ehtpnt]

Catnip0113 have a great flight. Those hoards of vacationers will get you ready for the shrimp quest on Saturday.

Thanks for the weather info everyone. Can't wait for the humidity. LOL But am truely looking forward to Sun and sea breezes. We've had 5 days of gray skies and intermittent rain. Due to stop tomorrow around 8 AM.

Guess who is leaving tomorrow at 8 AM? Everything is done and we are set to GOOOOO!! See you all Saturday morning and Friday afternoon at the Rad if we run into anyone. Everyone have good trips and safe ones. Estelle

[rae519]

Bye Estelle! Godspeed and safe traveling!
See you at the Port!

Catnip0113 - gotta love those "preteen" girls! Makes me glad to know our womanly tradition lives on! Safe traveling to you also - I'll try to save a shrimp for you.

Rae

[rae519]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=546096


NEW Excursion at CC! Jetski eco tour, $95 single, $180 for double.
I am very interested!!!!!

Rae

[sheilacat]

Goodbye All see you at port! We leave in 4 hours!

Bon Voyage!!!!

Sheila

:wave2:
:bounce:
:Pinkbounc
:smooth:
:sunny:
:wave:

[amtmommy]

Well this is probally my last post before the cruise. The car is picking us up at 4:30 this afternoon to take us to Logan.

Looking forward to meeting everyone by the Goofy Pool, Starboard at the sailaway party.

Safe traveling to all.

Time to unpack and repack for the fourth time.

[klStacker]

catnip0113 - We're from Tolland! I grew up in Marlborough and went to High School in Hebron (RHAM). My parents still live in Marlborough. Small world!

[lsutiggeratwk]

This is my last post. WE leave BR at 9:30 ish in the morning for our drive to New Orleans to catch the plane for Orlando and then to port!!!! Can hardly believe that it is really here!!!!!

See everyone at the sailaway party on Saturday. DH and I will be the ones who look like we don't know what we're doing!! Will still need help from all you veterans once on board.

Last one on the boards,

Turn out the lights!!!!


:Pinkbounc :bounce: :Pinkbounc :bounce: :Pinkbounc :bounce:

[rae519]

Will the last person left in New England please turn off the light and lock the door - thank you!

Leaving in less than 17 hours, who can possibly sleep?????????

Linda - read your PM from me!

Rae

[Catnip0113]

I can't believe it is here finally! We leave early Saturday morning (before the sun comes up). Of course the rain finally ended as we are leaving, and it will be in 80 next week, but it will still be prettier where we are as there are no leaves yet here. Bon Voyage!! :bounce: :earsboy: :earsgirl: :earsgirl:

[Disney1fan2002]

To everyone who hasn't left yet and still has time to read this thread, have a GREAT TIME, a safe trip and I will be waving to you from The Grills. Then I will wait for the Wonder to pull into dock Sunday so I can board!

[dianthus]

We're outta here!!! Bon Voyage guys! See you onboard! Have a great trip down!

~ Linda :boat:

[LAMPSKIES]

O.K. 4/17 cruisers..........who has paid for the internet service on board!!!!

[Verandah Man]

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/552/62magic_4-17-04-med.jpg
Disney Magic sailing up the Port Canaveral channel 4-17-04

http://www.wdwinfo.com/photopost/data/552/62401704.jpg
Disney Magic sailing past the Two Palms cam 4-17-04

[brendapap]

:wave: we have onboard internet service. The first three days the sea was very rough. 13 to 20 foot swells. Tuesday was better at St. Maarten. Went to Orient Beach. Water was great, skies were sunny and the view was fun. (European Sun Bathing) Today, Wednesday, St. Thomas. Skies were overcast all day. No sunshine. But we took a catamaran to St. Johns on the Allura. www.sailallura.com Had a beautiful sail to the island, snorkeled in crystal clear waters, had a wonderful lunch on the vessel with champayne and an open bar. We recommend this excursion to anyone who enjoys sailing. Capt. Jamison, Ken and Robin will take great care of you. A special thank you to Estelle from PA. for bringing Tastykakes to our room for our 25th wedding anniversary. :Pinkbounc You helped make our fantastic day even better. Will post again later.::MickeyMo

[jeanie]

How do I stop this rocking!! Is anyone else feeling like they are still on the ship!



Had a great time! Thanks for all the help planning this great trip!

[M&CKing]

I am home now & everything is unpacked. I really enjoyed meeting a few of you from this group. My DD & I are still feeling the rocking motion. I took my patch off after St. Martins & didn't feel like I needed to put another one on. I felt fine until we got off yesterday.

Thanks for all the tips before our trip. We really enjoyed our trip. I'm trying to talk DH into booking another trip. He wants to wait & see what new plans Disney has. It is thundering real close now, so I'd better get off the computer.

Carolyn

[Luv2Dream]

It's Sunday night at 8:52 pm and I'm still rocking....this is unbelievable. When we came off the ship we went to AKL for a night and flew home today. I just can't seem to recover from the rough seas. I'm still "green" as you can tell. Hello everyone and it was great meeting so many nice people. I wish we all lived closer and could meet on a more regular basis. The best part of the whole cruise was meeting up with other DISers. Thanks for making a "rough" cruise more magical. Oh, by the way, I did get my lithograph at the silent auction. I can't wait for it to arrive in a couple weeks. Hope everyone had a calm and pleasant trip home.

[rae519]

Lynn - so glad you got your lithograph!

Slept 12 plus hours on Saturday night, then went to Mass, then back to bed yesterday. Seems I can't get enough sleep right now.
We are all still "moving", by the way.

Must say the weather/seas were the worst in 8 cruises that we've had with DCL. Spoke to crew members who echo'd that with their own stories of feeling ill.

It was wonderful to meet so many from this thread and the times we shared with them are so precious in our memories!

Special thank you to Janie and Tom for the best gift I have ever received in my entire life.....a shrimp lei! I was "crowned" shrimp queen and now I have the jewelry to prove it!!!! You two rock!!

Also thanks to our dining mates and their fantastic daughters, Linda and Taylor and Deb and Becky - with teenagers like that, the world had better look out!!!!

Alex, again, proved himself to be the BEST SERVER ON THE MAGIC and outdid himself with his choices! Gaspare gets a big hug and thanks for all he did to keep me in mango soup!! And Shantol our assistant server was great keeping me in my chocolate milk and ginger ale (depending on the condition of my stomach)!

We received a Magical Memories Certificate from the Merchandise Department - Daina from Lithuania made sure we were taken care of!!! She is one of my own!

Thankfully we were on the last cruise for Andrea and Zoran. They have left the Magic to return to Hungary to begin their family. I have a funny feeling that they had already started, but it would have been impolite to mention it to Andrea!!!!! (If you know what I mean!!!) They will be missed greatly!

Sylvester was there and as funny as always. Roberto from Peru, and MacLean from India were on vacation. Erwin from St. Vincent lost his mother and was on an emergency leave. So many new faces in the serving teams - very hard to spot a familiar server!
Melina was our wine expert and we had a great time talking over the old times with Fidelio at OffBeats. Also, it was great to have some time to talk with Donna, scheduling CM, she is always the best person to chat with and find out what's going on. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to discuss the May-August 2005, but hey, that was fine with us since we had other things to chat about. She is always worth stopping to talk with!!!
We did get time before embarkation to visit with some CM's at the Port who have become friends. One in particular was absent, please keep Tanya in your prayers.

Didn't see Shirley or Norm but left a note in their van that I heard they found! Sure would have liked to seen them!!!!

Alina from Shutters left for QE2. She was a great photographer and always made sure the details were taken care of before snapping the picture. Will miss her!!

The REAS (Romantic Escape at Sea) Package is worth every nickel. GET IT! No Ressie Rush, great gifts in the room and it was everything you could have expected and more. I don't think I'll cruise without it ever again.

Big story is no one is talking about Panama Crossing on the ship but everyone is smiling a whole lot. Might be something we will end up doing.

I am sure I left things out and forgot to mention or thank but will try to get it all together for the next time!!!!

Heading to chiropractor now!
Rae

[outahere]

I am glad I got a chance to meet some of you last week. Unfortunately, my DS was very seasick on Sunday, so we missed the lunch DIS meet.

After planning this trip for 19 months, I can' t believe it's already over!! We did book another 7 night while on board, but will change the dates after they announce the summer 2005 schedule.

We went to Ducky Williams second presentation on Thursday and DW won his sketch of Donald Duck!! Now we just need to get it properly framed so we can hang it in the family room.

We went to DTD on Saturday, and just took it easy. Stayed at the MCO Hyatt that night, and lounged in the pool for quite a while. Got home yesterday about 3:30. We highly recommend Jet Blue for anyone who can use them.

I hope everyone had a safe trip home.

lsutigger.......... did you take the Budget shuttle Saturday morning? We were in the shuttle with a couple from Louisiana, and it didn't "click" that it might have been you until about an hour later.

Ed

[kzfamily]

We are still rocking also!!!!!!!! When will it stop!

While on board we booked the Nov. 19, 2005 Western cruise! Thanksgiving... anyone else going???????????

It will be making two Castaway stops and skipping Key West.

[oreo's mom]

Hi everyone. It was so nice to meet the few of you that we(cruze crazy) and I met at the sailaway party. Sorry we did not get a chance to meet others and see more of you on the ship.
The rough seas took their toll then the ports kept us busy. My grandson left his favorute stuffed animal behind in the cabin and has cried himself to sleep the last two nights. We are working with lost and found but no luck yet. Any suggestions on how to locate it? It would be greatly appreciated.

Rae I understand you were under the weather for a few days so sorry to hear that hope everyone has stopped rocking now.

How was the luncheon? How many were there? Wish we could have made it.

One of my granddaughters met up with Deb's daughter Christene and had a good time. Wish we could do it all again.

Eileen

[RobinMarie]

After all of that planning, I could not believe it was time to return to work today. And blech, it seems we brought back the yucky rainy weather!

We had a wonderful time. We joined the sailaway party rather late and could not meet everyone due to volume of noise but had a great time. I was fortune to meet Rae at the party but missed her the next day at lunch. Victoria loved meeting Rachel and Mary and spent a lot of time with them at the clubs. Rachel and her mother, Kathy, were part of a very lovely family. I hope they purchased some of the fabulous pictures I spotted at Shutters.

Victoria would have spent a lot more time at the club if I let her. We never once received a page from her.

It was a pretty lonely trip for Yankee fans like us, seems like most of the cruisers were from Boston!

The patch worked well for me, and I am very prone to motion sickness. We missed lunching with other Disers due to motion sickness. Poor Lynn, Luv2Dream, seemed to have a tough time and I felt badly we did not get to spend more 'feel good' time together -we loved meeting the whole family!

We were honored to lunch with Estelle and her family - what great people. We felt like we were with old friends!

What a great treat it was bumping into Janie and her husband over the week and last Saturday at Downtown Disney. Janie shared beads with Victoria and left a lasting impression on all of us. What a warm, wonderful couple!

We really lucked out with the family we dined with. They are not part of this online community, but would have fit in well. They were great people.

I booked another cruise to take advantage of the incentives. I booked for next April but may change the date.

Thanks again to everyone for providing us with advice, tips, and sharing in a very magical adventure!

[dianthus]

Hi Everyone! :wave:
We just got back this afternoon. We stayed a few extra days at the Boardwalk & went to the Parks. We were sad to leave that great Florida sunshine, (yes, we came home to rain too ) but glad to get home to DH/Dad! 10 days without him was a long time!

It was great to meet so many of you at the Sail away party! Such nice families! Taylor & I are fortunate that we do not feel the motion at all, but walking around Sunday on the ship was tough- especially in heels during the formal night! It was the roughest seas we experienced in our 4 cruises as well. We did sleep so well though!

We had terrific tablemates & servers! Everyone at our table helped make our mom/daughter trip & Taylor's birthday so special! Rae~ I hope you are feeling better now! We felt so bad for you, but you are a real trooper dealing with the motion! It was a true pleasure to meet you, Tom and our favorite little pirate- Michael! :) Taylor hopes Michael will be drawing horses as well as he rides them very soon! Deb and Becky ~ you ladies are the best! We will be sure to send you guys some of our Connecticut "Rain" in return for your bottled Oregon's best- hehe! So cute!

Alex is truly superb and is by far the King of the Dining Room Servers in our opinion, along with our main man Gaspare- our longtime fav head server! Shantol had a Cosmos and a Shirley Temple, with mega Cherries in it waiting for us every evening :) You go girl! It's hard to adjust to real life, when you have been treated like royalty for a week! It went by too quick!

Don "Ducky" Williams did a personalized, autographed sketch of Ariel for Taylor and Tinkerbelle for Becky! Their favorites! What a treasure! Thanks to Alex & Gaspare for making that happen!

We want to see if the Canal trip is in DCL's plans. But we don't want to miss Rae's big birthday bash plans now either! Taylor wants to do a back to back Eastern/Western as 7 days is not enough! So we'll see... Another DCL cruise is definitely in our future...

Thanks to all the DISers we met on this trip for making it so much fun!

~ Linda :boat:

[lsutigger2]

Hey there everyone!!

LIke everyone else, we really enjoyed meeting and getting to know all of you that we had the pleasure to spend some time with. I loved visiting with everyone, especially the small fry. It is wonderful to see things thru their eyes!!

Tom and I haven't had any "rocking" problems since our arrival back.

outahere: Yes, we were on a Budget van on Saturday. Your wife and I chatted a good bit while you guys were getting the cars. She did mention that your DS had been seasick. Bet it was you!! Small world! Didn't think to ask about being part of the DIS community.

I've been wearing some of my "cruise" clothes to work. Makes it last just a little bit longer! And anyone who asks gets the whole report, even if they don't want it!! :hyper:

Tom and I will cruise every other year. At least that is what we're saying now. Hope I don't regret not booking while on board!

Take care my friends! See you around the boards!
This was the best vacation that Tom and I have ever taken and it was because of folks like you who made it so special.
If any of you "northerners" ever make to the deep south, would love to get together with you!

[rae519]

Originally posted by lsutigger2
Tom and I will cruise every other year. At least that is what we're saying now. Hope I don't regret not booking while on board!


IF you decide to make it an annual event, would you please consider joining me and the Shrimp King on our birthday cruise (4/30/05)?!

Again, thank you so much for the royal jewels - my shrimp queen necklace lei means more to me than I could ever tell you!!! I am still so proud of it and love it so much! I am glad we had some time together but wished we had more!! Much, much love and thanks again!!!!!!


Hugs,
Rae

[ehtpnt]

Hi all,
Finally back in the real world. We arrived home yesterday about 4 PM. By 4:20 our eldest was home to hear all about the trip and give us all the scoopage on the day care while we were gone. Glad everyone had good trips home.

Janie-- if you read this I pm'd you as you asked.

It was truely awesome to meet all of you. Hope to get to see all of you again on that great Magical boat. Estelle

[rae519]

Estelle - It was such a pleasure to have time with you and your family. I hope we can cruise again (say 4/30/05????)

If I make it back East, I'll call you when we near Bethlehem!!! But don't worry about room at the Inn, I'll get a hotel!!!!

Hugs to all,
Rae

[Luv2Dream]

We are one week post-cruise. It was actually kinda sad to see the Magic in port today on the cam. You guys are probably not going to believe this but I actually sent in for a quote for the repositioning cruise from CA to FL. I SWORE I would never cruise again after that seasick episode, but, give me one week and my "adventurous" spirit returns. I'm not saying I'll definitely go, but at least I want the quote. It's so hard to miss out on this great opportunity. Call me crazy, but I "Luv2Dream" !!!! :teeth:

[juc8]

Hi Post Cruiser's, hope you don't mind my jumping in here, but I am going on my first DCL cruise this July (just a 4 day on the Wonder with my 2 sons). I was wanting to hear your post remarks and except for the seas it sounds like it was great. I see that many of you talk about booking your next cruise while still on board, what are the advantages? are there Big savings? Can you help this first timer, I'm sure we will love it, annd I would really like to do the 7 day Western next year and so if there are many advantages to booking while still on the ship I may do that. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[ehtpnt]

Lynn-- Me too. Our AAA rep called on Thursday, and Phil and I talked it over over the weekend. So tomorrow I'll call her and get the dates for the August return cruise and the more difficult part the costs. And then MAYBEEEEE we'll do it. I am just hoping.
Rae-- get the phone number from Jan cause we're unlisted. But she should have it. Would love to see you and give you a tour of our really lovely Lehigh Valley. And tell Michael we have miniture golf here too.
juc8-- I don't know much about booking a cruise on board cause we've never done it. But I can say that this cruise was great. We did the Western in 2002 and I personally like the Eastern better. But that is purely cause there's an extra day at sea. But do enjoy your 4 day in July and consider doing a 7 day sometime later.

Talk to you all later. Estelle

[rae519]

Originally posted by Luv2Dream
We are one week post-cruise. It was actually kinda sad to see the Magic in port today on the cam. You guys are probably not going to believe this but I actually sent in for a quote for the repositioning cruise from CA to FL. I SWORE I would never cruise again after that seasick episode, but, give me one week and my "adventurous" spirit returns. I'm not saying I'll definitely go, but at least I want the quote. It's so hard to miss out on this great opportunity. Call me crazy, but I "Luv2Dream" !!!! :teeth:

Lynn, out of 8 cruises that was the worst and we've cruised in April before! Just luck of the draw and we sure got the wild card on this one!

Yes, we want the CA to FL cruise also!!!! Maybe we can get together again!

Rae

[rae519]

Originally posted by ehtpnt
.
Rae-- get the phone number from Jan cause we're unlisted. But she should have it. Would love to see you and give you a tour of our really lovely Lehigh Valley. And tell Michael we have miniture golf here too. Talk to you all later. Estelle

Miniature golf?! Well, you got Michael convinced! Weather has been horrible since our return and haven't contacted Jan - she's in Florida right now.

Best part about booking on the ship is discount price and onboard credit - plus it's nice to know when you will be coming back "home"!

Rae

[Luv2Dream]

Rae, that would be awesome. I'm a little leary about 14 days though. I will definitely have medication for it, just in case. The Bonine did work pretty good once I started using it.

Estelle, I'll have to ask AAA for a quote as well. Also Sam's Club. Then I can compare to the DU quote I requested. Now, of course, I'm kicking myself that I just didn't pick a date on board to get the 10%. I just couldn't even think about it with the way I felt. Shame, shame on me.

[ehtpnt]

Seems we'll all have to wait until Wednesday. Rose (AAA) couldn't even give up a for sure date for the Cal to Fla trip. So now I have to wait three days til I know for sure. Darn.
Our weather was great when we got home. Until today. Now we have rain. But at least Phil got the lawn mowed. Looked like a field of hay when we got home. Of course the Dobe is bumbed she'd like it if it only rained between 11 PM and 7 AM. Then she'd never be wet.
Off to work, talk to you all later. Estelle

[cruisecrazy]

It's hard to believe we've been back 10 days already. I was still rocking for the first couple of days back but everything was back to normal after that. My DD and I are both prone to motion sickness. We took Bonine every day starting the day before and didn't have any problems at all on the ship. I guess we were lucky considering the stories we heard.

The 15 of us had a wonderful family reunion celebrating my mother's special ?? birthday. It has been a long time since all of us have been able to vacation together. The adults truly enjoyed our dining experiences (brunch and dinner) at Palo. We had Kristoff and Kristen. They definitely made our dining experiences something we will long remember.

We enjoyed meeting the few of you that we did (Estelle, Rae, Janie and Deb and family).

~Deb we really enjoyed the time we spent with you and your family. Michelle had a great time with Christine. We will be in touch. We have some great pictures.

~Rae it is hard to believe I met you, Tom and Michael at Rockin' Bar D within the first 30 minutes on board the ship. What a warm welcome. Thank you. I'm sorry that you were not feeling well for so much of the trip. I wish we had the opportunity to see more of you.

~Janie I'm pretty sure we met you and Tom at lunch at Topsider's the first day. We were the large group who was looking for more places to sit and enjoy lunch. My sister from MN sat with you and I was at the table next to you. We truly enjoyed the company. Just didn't realize it was you until later in the trip.

~Barb welcome. We have booked on board the last two years. There are definitely some advantages. When we booked last year for this year we received $200 per stateroom credit. When we booked this year for next year we received a $200 per stateroom credit and 10% off the price at the time of booking. It is certainly worth taking advantage of the discounts while on board. If you change your mind you can always cancel. Hope this helps.

This board has been a great experience (my first). So many nice people, so much information and a great vacation to top it off.

Dianne:)

[rae519]

To all, it was a great pleasure to have gotten to known you over the past few months of preparation - I still am not feeling well, getting a cardio workover - JUST IN CASE - Something has to be up for me to still be feeling this way!!

I just wish that I could have had more time with many of you whose friendships over these months have been so warm and loving.

Take care and God bless you all!
Til we cruise again!
Rae

[outahere]

Rae..........

I sincerely hope you find out what is causing you to not feel well. We didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked, getting to know everyone better. I think we had a great group of DISers on our trip, but the rough seas and King Neptune conspired to keep us apart.

I hope you feel well enough to try to book the CA to FL reposition cruise tomorrow.

Take care.

Ed

[rae519]

I put my TA on it and hopefully will have something worked out! I am asking for two cabins so Mom will have no excuse and starting to save up now for it!!!

Would be nice to use that extra 7 days to make up for the 7 I missed this past cruise!! Tom keeps telling me how much I missed and how great the food was! I remind him that I lost 4 lbs and am still losing! That should be some sort of plus when you are a PLUS sized gal!

Rae

[oreo's mom]

Rae, hope you feel better. My prayers are with you.


Eileen

[ehtpnt]

Rae- You take care of yourself. We have to have a reunion on the Magic sometime. Next Aug. I hope. Hope everything goes well with the tests.

Got to go and start dinner. Phil wants to eat at 7:30 when he gets the lawn done. So I am off to grill the chicken. Talk to you all later. Estelle

[RobinMarie]

You guys are a bad influence on my ... pocketbook!

I just got off the phone with All Seasons Travel and they will reserve a hold a room tomorrow and call me at work with price/info.

I am looking into the August 20th, 2005 repositioning cruise. If we DO this cruise, I absolutely MUST cut down next year on vacations. Even I realize I'm getting nuts.

:crazy:

[Luv2Dream]

Rae, I'll be thinking about you. I'm so sorry you are still not feeling well. Unbelievably, I actually felt nauseous all day today. Couldn't understand why either. It finally went away about 4pm. It's been a really tough spring for a lot of viruses. Hopefully that's all you're fighting and will have that spring back in your step soon. Please keep us posted. You take care.

[lsutigger2]

More well wishes Rae - Let us know when you know something.

I've gotten some type of illness - a terrible cough but not many other symptoms. Probably from watching LSU play baseball Sunday in 60 Degree weather with a stiff wind. It was way too cold for May 2 !! At least they won!

Take care all

Janie

[ehtpnt]

Hey Guys It's official!! We are in cabin 7010 on the August 20th back from Cal trip!!! And the cost was really reasonable. Only 4371.78 for Phil and I. I am positively dancing around the house going " we're going we're going." So Robin Marie we'll see you next summer.
Hey Janie, I pm'd you a while back. You guys should think about joining the great trip.
Rae-- get better quick and come join us. Water should be calmer that's why they call it the Pacific.
Talk to you all later. Going to call some people and tell them we're off again. Estelle

[outahere]

We're on the 8/20 homeward bound cruise as well.

I think I'll jump over to the Cruise Meets and start a new thread!

Ed

[Luv2Dream]

Estelle, We're in 8018 but I haven't given a deposit yet. I'm still waiting for the Dreams quote.

[RobinMarie]

What a day! Ok, we're in, category 9 for the three of us - about 4682.00 for the August 20th, 2005 repositioning cruise!

All Seasons Travel has been going nuts today - they provide great service!

[ehtpnt]

WE/I are sooo excited. Really looking forward to this already. Phil says we'll fly in two days early so I can actually get to see Disneyland. We may even stay at a Disney hotel. That way we can do transfers without having to go back to the airport. I can not get over the fact that the prices have gone up to much so fast. I am so glad that Rose (TA) called me this morning as soon as she knew the amount. We are in room 7010. Now we can all start counting the days again. Estelle

[dianthus]

Hi Estelle, RobinMarie, Ed & Luv2Dream- Congratulations on your 8/20 ressies!

We are going in the opposite direction. Taylor, Doug & I are booked on the Westbound 14 day-5/14. Got our favorite room 7544 & got the early booking price before they started climbing. Ours is up $1200 on the DCL site since we booked at 3PM today- yikes!

We can clue you in on what to expect in August when we return.


Rae~ Sending pixie dust your way for a speedy recovery! I hope all goes well. Regards to Tom & Michael!

~ Linda :boat:

[Luv2Dream]

Anyone heard from Rae or Andy? I've been thinking about them.

[Verandah Man]

Andy checking in, I heard from Rae this morning, she has to go and have some blood work done this AM. I'm starting to get around a little better this morning. The meds I got from my doc has helped to settle my stomach and I was able to eat eggs and toast this morning.

Rae and I are booked for the 8-20-05 west to east cruise, but now I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my April 05 cruise, as we can't do both. My DW and I haven't had time to talk it over, as I was in bed all day yesterday, and we are having a rough morning trying to get DD to school, a teenager, and the morning in our house, is a bad mix. LOL!!! More later!!!

[RobinMarie]

Linda I'm excited for you that you got the cruise you wanted, but disappointed it's not on the cruise with us!

Andy, I've read a lot of your posts and love your positive attitude, enthusiasm and generosity - I'd be so excited if we had the opportunity to meet. I hope you are on the cruise from CA to FL with us!

[dianthus]

Robin Marie~ Seems like the 4/17 cruise is going East in 8/05!
We felt taking Taylor out of school for 2 weeks in 8th grade was easier than having her start HS 10 days late, so that is why we chose the FL to CA one, plus it will be DCL's first PC crossing-cool! If she was still in middle school, or already in HS, I wouldn't have thought twice about CA to FL one! Too bad we won't be cruising with so many of you! We had such a nice group onboard on 4/17!

Andy~ Feel like I know you from the boards & from Rae! I hope the 2 of you are feeling better! This will be an even better, longer cruise for your mutual 50th celebration! They better bring 2 shrimp boats along, as this shrimpfest is going to be twice as long & crazy! The CA to FL cruise is a better value for the $$$ than April, 05. Will your DD have to start school late, or does your district start after labor day?

The price for the 3 of us is $800 more than we paid for our 11/03 anniversary cruise & it's double the time- WOW! This morning I checked DCL site for rates. The price is up almost $1600 from our quote! I am glad I reserved a 4th person in the event Taylor wanted to bring a friend- can always cancel it... I wish I reserved a CAT 11 across the hall from us when I called. Then the girls could have their own room. Oh Well!

Now the research begins... Do we do DL for a couple of days after, drive up to SF & fly out of there... I wonder how the transfers will work, etc...

Take care!

[Verandah Man]

Will your DD have to start school late, or does your district start after labor day?


That's the one advantage with the August 05 date, our DD starts school on Sept 8, 2005 there would be no school being missed if we went with that cruise. DW and I are still talking over all the pros and cons. I'm glad we have until May 10th to get our deposit in, gives us more time to think it over.

[Luv2Dream]

Andy, I'm so glad you checked in. Wow, this is fantastic. Both you AND Rae on the same cruise. How can I get so lucky? I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Rae on the 4/17 and now possibly YOU on the big one. And there are so many of us coming back, Estelle, Ed, Robin. This would be a really fun cruise if we all go! I'm getting those postcards out in the mail right now. I finally found your address in my stuff. Hope you are feeling better by the minute.

[ehtpnt]

Rae and Andy-- could we get any luckier? Oh and on top of that Allan and Jen and their John are in too.

Andy we really hope you decide to do 8/20 really would like a chance to meet the guy who looks so good on his verandah.
And Rae the shrimp won't be the same without you. Get better soon. I'm pixie dusting you. And will tell Jan to send some too.
It does seem like all the 4/17 cruisers are doing one of the two 14 day cruises. Can't wait. Now I have a good reason to do my ironing. I was thinking this morning as I did some of the cruise wear that I need to start thinking which ones I want to take... but then I thought, that's all the stuff I wear in the summer. So I'll just have to iron it again. Oh darn. LOL
Later everyone. Estelle

[ehtpnt]

Has everyone seen the main cruise forum thread about passports. Seems they may be required on this trip. Even for kids. Have to tell Jen, cause I know John doesn't have one. Good thing this cropped up before we were only a few weeks out from the cruise.
We are going to start trying to figure out flights in Aug. I want to do a day at DL since I've never been there. Hope to stay the night before in the DL hotel. Our TA recommended that. And we hope that we will be able to get transfers from there right to the boat. Would make life a whole lot easier. Talk to you all later. Estelle

[Verandah Man]

Sorry, but do to family issues, we decided to stay with the April 2005 cruise. I look forward to reading some great trip reports about the CA to FL 8-20-05 cruise!!!

At least you will still have Rae cruising with y'all!!!

[RobinMarie]

Thanks for the info about the passports, I was wondering if we ought to get them since I plan on going to Italy for my 40th and Victoria's 10th birthday!

I haven't looked into the air fares at all yet. I would like to do DisneyLand and something else before the cruise. Maybe we can plan a transport together from a DisneyLand Hotel to the port.

I just LOVE planning!

[outahere]

Hi Andy,

Sorry to hear that you won't be joining us for the CA to FL cruise. We will be sure to have some shrimp and raise a glass or two in your honor.

Ed