Dec 5, 2009 -- now traveling to Tortola

[mommyoftwinfants]

Saturday - mommyoftwinfants
Sunday - deebits
Monday - carmie3377
Tuesday - fluvannaj
Wednesday - NHdisneylover
Thursday - hurley03
Friday - Available

Ok if anybody else joins in they can just deliver what ever day they want to

One last post for the evening and then I am done--I promise

I was just logged into my DCL account and thought I would check for those of you still making plans and finally able to book Palo in (I think) 5 days.

Brunch--fully booked already (sorry; I didn't take one I promise)
Tea--openings on Sunday
Dinner--openings every day except day 3. Days 2 and 5 have less availability than the others.

Just checked and only had Day 1 (Port Canaveral) left

 

[Tower]

Just checked and only had Day 1 (Port Canaveral) left

Hi Mommy,

was that for tea, or for dinner?

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hi Mommy,

was that for tea, or for dinner?

Must have been tea. I just chcecked again and all the openings are the same as my previous post (at least for tables for two)

 

[Tower]

the openings are the same as my previous post (at least for tables for two)

Hey, I love my mommy, but 2 is all I want for the evening at Palo.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hey, I love my mommy, but 2 is all I want for the evening at Palo.

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

Hi Mommy,

was that for tea, or for dinner?

It was for a table of 3, wanted to do brunch or tea with the 'rents, but alas they only had dinner available

 

[NHdisneylover]

It was for a table of 3, wanted to do brunch or tea with the 'rents, but alas they only had dinner available

sorry 'bout that. I guess they jsut don't have many bigger tables available. Funny, we only have dinenr there anymore in big groups (usually 8 of us) when we dine with friends. But tea, we prefer just the two of us. Anyway, maybe you will be able to get a reservation once you are onboard.

 

[amyngary]

DH, DD9, and DD4 are joining me on this cruise. DDs don't know about the trip yet. We want to tell them in advance so we can all have fun counting down the days and planning activities, but we haven't figured out a way to tell them yet.

Feel free to give me some ideas for surprising them!

We've already had Cinderella (a friend of ours) call them to surprise them with a WDW trip a few years ago, and this past year, we got the free Christmas Day call from Mickey.

 

[Tower]

Welcome Amy & Gary!

Less than 11 weeks to go! Can't wait!

As one idea to surprise them, this is what we're doing for our kids.
Our 3 kids (8,6 & 2.5) all know about the cruise. We're doing 2 nights at CBR prior to the cruise, and that the kids don't know about yet. The Canadian Thanksgiving is in 3 weeks so we figure on our Holiday Monday we'll tell them. I will be sitting at the computer looking at the DCL website and then do a zoom from Bing maps to the Caribbean Beach Resort (It's very colourful from a satellite view). I'll ask them if they would like to stay there sometime and in their positive response, we'll tell them about the one day at MK that they will have.

It's kind of lame, but we don't want our kids bragging to their cousins while we're together with family on Thanksgiving and it will be a nice surprise.

 

[Tower]

Well,

Got an 8:30PM dinner at Palo on Thursday's day at sea.

Got on at midnight and tried to book a lunch/tea for the 3 of us adults, but both categories were totally full!

Oh well, at least I have dinner with my bride at Palo

How'd you do Carmie?

 

[carmie3377]

Well,

Got an 8:30PM dinner at Palo on Thursday's day at sea.

Got on at midnight and tried to book a lunch/tea for the 3 of us adults, but both categories were totally full!

Oh well, at least I have dinner with my bride at Palo

How'd you do Carmie?

Oops, I forgot to look! Too bummed by the Cowboys horrible performance last night. Thanks for the reminder, heading there right now!

BTW, sorry you didn't get the brunch. Maybe you can once you get onboard.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Welcome Amy and Gary Can you please PM so I can add you to the roll call? Go to the link in my signature to see what I am talking about.
For a surprise idea, can you "rent" a movie for the night and pop it in and it is the DCL promotional DVD and then tell them you are going on the cruise?

Tower, sorry you could not get tea, I am glad you got a dinner though

Carmie--I do not follow sports at all, but I am sorry for you that your team did poorly last night.

My TA should be on hold (or better yet IN) with DCL now trying to book us for August 2011; anyone else booking today?

 

[carmie3377]

Okay, I booked for 9PM on Thursday. I don't want to miss the AP show and since we won't get our dining rotation until we check in, I didn't want to book on a possible AP show night. Also didn't want to miss formal or pirate night. Really only other current option would be Friday and since it's the last night with the farewell show, thought the kids might not want to miss that.

 

[carmie3377]

Carmie--I do not follow sports at all, but I am sorry for you that your team did poorly last night.

Thanks! If they could have just hung on to that ball I guess they deserved to lose.

My TA should be on hold (or better yet IN) with DCL now trying to book us for August 2011; anyone else booking today?

Well, not now anyway. I guess we need to see if we enjoy cruising first! What itinerary are you interest in???

 

[Tower]

Okay, I booked for 9PM on Thursday. I don't want to miss the AP show and since we won't get our dining rotation until we check in, I didn't want to book on a possible AP show night. Also didn't want to miss formal or pirate night. Really only other current option would be Friday and since it's the last night with the farewell show, thought the kids might not want to miss that.

Probably see you in Palo then since we're 1/2 hour ahead of you. We'll probably meet up prior to that though.

Are we all meeting on day 1 somewhere?

 

[texdisneygal]

You've gotta love lawyers! The Master sure gets a lot of power, be sure to make friends with him/her!

(from the Disney Cruise Line Contract)
Carrier may refuse to transport or may disembark at any port any Guest ... whose presence in the opinion of the Master may be detrimental to the comfort or safety of other Guests or the crew... In such cases, the Guest shall not be entitled to any refund of fare or compensation whatsoever.

Carrier may substitute another vessel for the one named herein, whether owned by the Carrier or not ... The Vessel ... may proceed to and stay at any places whatsoever ... for any purpose whatsoever that the Carrier or Master may deem advisable.

If the performance of the proposed voyage (... in the opinion of the Carrier or the Master, is likely to be hindered or prevented) by ... any other cause whatsoever, ... the Guest and his property may be landed at ... any port or place at which the Vessel may call; and in that event, the responsibility of the Carrier shall cease and this Cruise Contract shall be deemed to have been fully performed

THE CARRIER DOES NOT EXPRESSLY OR IMPLIEDLY WARRANT, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY AS TO, (a) THE FITNESS, CONDITION OR SEAWORTHINESS OF THE VESSEL AND (b) THE FITNESS, CONDITION OR MERCHANTABILITY OF ANY FOOD OR DRINK PROVIDED ON BOARD THE VESSEL. THE CARRIER SHALL NOT BE STRICTLY LIABLE IN TORT FOR ANY DEFECT, LACK OF FITNESS, IMPURITY OR CONTAMINATION OF ANY FOOD OR DRINK PROVIDED ON BOARD THE VESSEL.

 

[amyngary]

OK, so I have finally read through the entire 50-page thread to see what I've missed so far.

I PM'd NH with the info. for the rollcall and FE gift exchange (do I need to PM someone else too?). How many FE gifts do I need to bring?

I LOVE the MouseSurfers logo. I hope to have time to put it on some T-Shirts or something.

Thanks to those of you who have given me ideas for how to tell DDs about this trip. I will keep your ideas in mind as I continue to figure out how we want to do it. We historically have had a lot of fun doing a countdown chain, so I know I want to tell them at least 30 days before our trip....

We really wanted several Palo reservations, but only got one dinner res. on Sunday at 9pm. If any of you decide to cancel a brunch and/or tea, I hope you'll let the rest of us know so we can try to get it before anyone else does

Here are our answers to the weekly questions, but I have to warn you that I did not ask my family, so hopefully I know them well enough to answer for them
1. Fav. Character:

a. Olivia (4) – Sleeping Beauty (she loves pink)
b. Julia (9) – The Fairies
c. Amy (39) - Mary Poppins and Sebastian
d. Gary (48) – hmmm – I’d have to ask him​

2. Job?

a. Olivia – Giving Mom a heart attack from always climbing
b. Julia – Learning that you should learn new things at school
c. Amy – Management, but will likely be between jobs on this trip (being laid off 9/30)
d. Gary – Database Administrator​

3. Hobbies?

a. Olivia – Gymnastics
b. Julia – Reading, exploring, origami, science experiments
c. Amy – travel, travel planning, reading fiction, having friends over
d. Gary – reading nonfiction, computer geek stuff​

4. Favorite food?

a. Olivia – Cheese
b. Julia – Crab legs
c. Amy – Crab legs
d. Gary – filet mignon​

5. Fav. Dessert?

a. Olivia – cupcakes. On her 3rd b-day she had a cupcake with a candle in it. We told her to close her eyes and make a wish. She closed her eyes tight as she said aloud “I wish for a cupcake!”
b. Julia – Key lime pie or lemon bars (not a huge fan of chocolate)
c. Amy – Chocolate Soufflé or bread pudding
d. Gary – German chocolate cake or crème brulee​

6. Drink on Board the Magic?

a. Olivia – chocolate milk (our kids are deprived and only get milk/water normally)
b. Julia – lemonade
c. Amy – martini tasting or wine tasting
d. Gary – beer, martini or wine tasting​

7. Favorite ride?

a. Olivia – Dumbo
b. Julia – Rockin’ Roller Coaster
c. Amy – Haunted Mansion, Toy Story Mania, Philharmagic….
d. Gary – Space Mtn?​

8. What menu item will we HAVE to order on board?

a. Olivia – Mickey ice cream bar
b. Julia – crab legs
c. Amy – soufflé and crab legs
d. Gary – lobster or crab bisque and crème brulee​

9. Where will you be staying before/after this Disney cruise? Which Disney resort? Off site? How Long?

a. BLT for 4 nights – we are new DVC owners, so we are very excited!​

10. On average, how many pieces of luggage will you bring with you onto the ship including carry-on & actual luggage per person?

a. Total of 3 larger ones, and 5 carry ons….
​

11. Do you plan to dress up for formal and semi-formal nights and what do you plan to dress in?

a. Yes, but I’m not sure what we’ll wear. Our DDs usually look way better than we do – I find myself realizing after we arrive somewhere that I totally forgot to finish my makeup or something… but the kids sure are adorable!
​

12. What will you be doing with your shipboard credit?

a. We don’t have a credit since this cruise is free for buying into DVC!​

13. What do plan on doing on embarkation day and what time do you plan on arriving at the port?

a. We will be coming from BLT and plan to arrive by noon. We’d love to have time to swim in the Mickey pool before it gets crowded.​

14. what one item do you make sure you ALWAYS pack for a cruise that others may not think about?

a. Ziploc bags in various sizes – amazing how many times I use them on trips!​

15. What is your best tip on how to go about packing?

a. If taking multiple suitcases, don’t put all of any one person’s clothes in the same suitcase. We put 1/3 of my clothes in each of 3 suitcases in case 1 gets lost. I’d rather be without 1/3 of my clothes than all of them!​

16. What was/is your favourite school subject?

a. Olivia – climbing
b. Julia – science or math
c. Amy – English
d. Gary - History​

I think I am all caught up now. The only thing I did not see was a time for us to meet in person. It seems that embarkation day will be very busy. Any chance we could meet later that day (9 or 10p) or the 2nd day, which is a Sea Day?

 

[deebits]

My DH and I stayed up until midnight last night to book our Palo reservation and got the day and time we wanted. We are going Weds at 6:30

 

[DeeSanDisneyFan]

Hi everyone!
Just wanted to say hello to everyone b/c I haven't posted in a while and say how excited I am for the cruise. I was able to book the excursion I wanted on St. Thomas but when I tried to book for St. Croix every excursion was full. Is there anyone on the board who has any suggestion on enjoying St. Croix w/o an excursion?

Thanks y'all!

PS to DHDisneyLover...I tried to PM you to be put on the roll callbut b/c I have so few posts it wouldn't let me PM you. Hope you see this so you can add my family to the roll call...

DeeSanDisneyFan

Deena(me)
Nick(DH)
Jonina(DD)
Kathy(my mom)
--wait-listed for early dining

 

[NHdisneylover]

Well, not now anyway. I guess we need to see if we enjoy cruising first! What itinerary are you interest in???

For 2011 we booked two back to back Med cruises. We ended up paying as much for airfare as the cruise for THIS one now that we are in Europe so figured not having to apy airfare if we sail from Europe will save enough to cover the higher cruise fare. What is driving me nuts is that we have to sail in HIGH season (August) and it is $$$$. German school officials can fine you up to 180 euro a day for pulling kids from school for a vacation We just learned that. We are told we should be safe though becuase this was totally booked (otehr than the air) long before we even knew we were moving to Germany.

My DH and I stayed up until midnight last night to book our Palo reservation and got the day and time we wanted. We are going Weds at 6:30

Hurray

Hi everyone!

PS to DHDisneyLover...I tried to PM you to be put on the roll callbut b/c I have so few posts it wouldn't let me PM you. Hope you see this so you can add my family to the roll call...

DeeSanDisneyFan

Deena(me)
Nick(DH)
Jonina(DD)
Kathy(my mom)
--wait-listed for early dining

Got it and Amy's PM (by the way, this post was number 10 for you, so now you should be able to PM). I have to get the kids ready for school, but I will update the rollcall after my German class (which is likely still before most of you are up and reading the DIS)