Panama Canal Eastbound Sept. 14, 2013--it'll be WONDER-ful

[youalleverybody]

Scroll down this page to post #14 for Roll Call updates.

Have a Wonderful cruise, everybody! Sorry we had to back out.

 

[Tinkerbell0614]

Hey all!!! Who is joining us in this sure to be amazing cruise across the panama canal???? It will be me, the DH, and our two DS's who will be 9 and 7 at the time of the cruise! By the way I am open to changing the name of the thread if anyone has a much more clever idea!!!

 

[JanDave]

We're joining you! It'll be me, DH and cruise buddy, Carla. We also are booked on the 9/6/13 repo from Vancouver to LA!

Jan

 

[JanDave]

Just wondering if either of you has contacted Irish Cowboy so that our thread gets listed on the Wonder 2013 list.

Jan

 

[youalleverybody]

deleted

 

[Denine]

We are currently booked on this cruise and I truly hope it happens. DH is really unsure about taking 2 weeks off of work, so we will see.

If we do get to go, it will be our 2nd full transit of the canal on DCL. We did a partial transit on Princess a number of years ago.

It will be me, Dh and Dd who will turn 11 on the cruise.

We did the EB in 2005 when DD was 2, almost 3, so she doesn't remember anything. She really wants to go and 14 days on the ship is AWESOME!

 

[youalleverybody]

deleted

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[Denine]

I am amazed more people haven't booked this cruise. Except for Cartegena, the ports aren't terribly interesting, but Cabo is gorgeous and the day through the canal is fasciniating. We just love all the sea days.
I remember back in '05, that you had to call as soon as the cruise was open or you weren't getting on. I guess things have changed.

Looks like 2 birthdays will be celebrated on board. I sure hope we get to go.

 

[JanDave]

I am amazed more people haven't booked this cruise. Except for Cartegena, the ports aren't terribly interesting, but Cabo is gorgeous and the day through the canal is fasciniating. We just love all the sea days.
I remember back in '05, that you had to call as soon as the cruise was open or you weren't getting on. I guess things have changed.

Looks like 2 birthdays will be celebrated on board. I sure hope we get to go.

DCL has a special for the December 2012 PC cruise - inside cabin GTY for $985/person. Great deal! This tells me that the ship isn't filling up and this cruise has been available for booking for a while. I'm hoping deals are offered on our cruise. I remember the craziness in 2005 with people posting on the DIS about getting or not getting staterooms. Of course, 2005 was the first PC itinerary, so the excitement was there. Same thing happened with the May 2012 Hawaii cruise. My co-worker was on that cruise, booked the first day she could. Cruise was not full but the staterooms were booked as many were traveling solo or with just 2 adults in a stateroom.

Denine, I assume you were on the 2005 PC cruise. How crazy was it with the pins? I heard people were line up the night before the pins went on sale and sleeping on the floor.

Happy 4th to all!

Jan

 

[youalleverybody]

deleted

 

[Denine]

DCL has a special for the December 2012 PC cruise - inside cabin GTY for $985/person. Great deal! This tells me that the ship isn't filling up and this cruise has been available for booking for a while. I'm hoping deals are offered on our cruise. I remember the craziness in 2005 with people posting on the DIS about getting or not getting staterooms. Of course, 2005 was the first PC itinerary, so the excitement was there. Same thing happened with the May 2012 Hawaii cruise. My co-worker was on that cruise, booked the first day she could. Cruise was not full but the staterooms were booked as many were traveling solo or with just 2 adults in a stateroom.

Denine, I assume you were on the 2005 PC cruise. How crazy was it with the pins? I heard people were line up the night before the pins went on sale and sleeping on the floor.

Happy 4th to all!

Jan

We were on the 2nd PC cruise. Thankfully they had worked out a different system for the pins by then. It was a nightmare the first PC cruise.

It is a tough time of year for a 2-week cruise for families. School is just starting again and most people don't want to or can't take their kids out of school for that period of time. We home school, so that is not an issue for us. DH and I were wondering how many kids would be on the cruise. Our last PC cruise was in August, so kids weren't missing school, but then we had a little one, so I don't know how many older kids there were. But with so few families being able to cruise, it really decreases the base of people going on a DCL cruise.

 

[Denine]

We were hoping for a westbound transatlantic, but Disney didn't announce it, so we opted for this one. The more I think about it, the more excited I get. We wanted a longer cruise, with several sea days. Our honeymoon was in Cabo San Lucas, so we can't wait to take the kids there. I'm very excited about Columbia, and can't wait to see what shore excursions they offer. Plus the canal.....what a wonderful learning opportunity.

Would love to do that someday, but the airfare was outrageous!

We were supposed to go to Cartegena on one of our cruises, but it was canceled because it wasn't safe at the time. It is supposed to be really pretty and I was looking foward to going then. I hope we get to go this time. We missed Cabo on our 1st PC cruise because of a hurricane. We finally got to go last October when we did a MR cruise. It is gorgeous! We didn't see much of PV in October because we did a pirate cruise excursion which lasted for 6 hours! It was fun, but we would do something else next time.

 

[twokats]

Planned Events

Meet & Greet September 15 @ 12:30 pm tentatively on Secret Deck 7 Aft or an indoor location TBA

Wine Tasting September 20 @ 4:00 pm tentatively Secret Deck 7 Aft


ClosedFish Extender Exchange Deadline to join August 1, 2013Closed

ClosedPostcard/Recipe Exchange deadline to join August 14, 2013

Roll call!!!!


1. Tinkerbell0614
Tinkerbell
DH
DS 9 and 7

2. Denine
Denine
DH
DD 11
DD birthday
late dining

3. Twokats
Kathy
Le
DD Kati
DD birthday
stateroom 6080
late dining

4. MPS516
Mike
Donna
DD - Jessi 22
Stateroom - 6570
Main Dining

5. MommaluvsDis
From Louisiana
Denise 50
Steve 54
Stateroom #7512
platinum members
Late dining
Celebrating 30th Anniversary

6. pahrumpgirl
From Ohio
Carol 66
Doug 70
Stateroom #7514
Gold members
Main Dining

7. Crusinlattas
Renee
Alan
Anna (9)
AJ (7)
Stateroom 1037

8. Paragd911
Mark
DW Joy
DMIL Ruth
Bingo
Stateroom 6654
Early dining
Platinum members

9. Caniac27
Michelle 43
Derek 43
DD Maggie 11
Allison 11

10. MissingFigment
Kathy
Jeremy

11. Readyplayer
Nancy
DH Bill

12. Catdreams
Catherine
DD Brenna (10)
Stateroom 6638
late dining

13. JustUsAndJellybean
Jessica(25)
DH - Phil (31)
DD - Alina (2)

14. graysonsmom

15. disneymiracleand2
Todd
Lisa
DD Savanna (23 mths)

16. MelSpees
Melanie
Gary

17. WAMUMOF4
DW
DH
DS (16)
DD (14)
DS (12)

18. Alirob
Ali
Rob

19. Michelle1969
Michelle
DH
DS (15)
DS (17)

20. knabebug
Jack
Nobbi

21. Dagny
Dagny
DH
Celebrating 25th anniversary

22. Sharan56
Sharan
Dave
Celebrating Sharan's Birthday the 22nd
early dining

23. eblong
Bruce
Rita
Cabin 6582

24. goiu
Lisa
DD (7)
DS (4)

25. grizmom
Jeanne
DD (12)
DS (10)

26. Thekoeppens
Sharon
DH
Stateroom 5502

27. cmesq61
Carolann
Gib

28. Sparky47
Linda
Don

29. Grumpy57
Chuck
Denise

30. disfaninca / RanCan
Candy
Randy
24th anniversary

31. jlovesj
jlovesj
DSis

32. iminakilt
Mike
Chris
Deanna

33. iminakilt friends
Jeremy
Brittany

34. TheMadCruiser
Larry
Tracy

35. lbolt123
Terry
Larry

36. denamo
denamo
friend

37. GatorMomInNC
Danae
DM Phyllis
DS Jonas (9)
DS Carter (6)

38. dta87

39. CruzOle
Brenda
Evelyn
Stateroom 7110

40. fltink
Jenn
DH

41. ImprovGal

42. sinado4
Mel
Jessica
DS Mateo (2)
DD Maya (2)

43. gooscar
Russ
Janice

44. twinrx
Bill

45. MomtoAlexnWilliam
Mom
DH
DD (11)
DS (9)
Celebrating Mom's B/D

46. DisTurtle
Andy
Tamera
DD Ahna (10)
DD Vivian (5)
Stateroom 2124
Late Dining

47. umbriagal

48. LyndaC
Lynda

49. KellyKat
Dan
Kelly
DD Catherine (11)
stateroom 7620
late dining

50. chdheart
Rita

51.Kimlovescruising
Kim
Craig

52. friends of Kimlovescruising
Janice
Vernon

53. HEIDIELIZABETH
Heidi
John
DS Jack (14)
DD Lauren (12)
DS Jesse (9)
DS Justin (7)
DD Annabella (4)

54. parents of HEIDIELIZABETH
Judy
Gary
celebrating 50th wedding anniversary

55. SocalMufasa
Mark
Mary

56. AlisonM
Alison
Richard
Holly 15
Jack 11
Ben 7
Stateroom 8538











Just moved to this cruise this morning from a ressie we had made when we left the Fantasy in May!!

Our original cruise was for Alaska, but the deal and the dates for this PC Repo were just too good to pass up. Plus it is on my bucket list of cruises I wanted to do! Hopefully I will get to do Alaska in 2014 (hope they keep up that itinerary)

Cruising will be me (Kathy), DH (Le) and DD (Kati) who will be celebrating her birthday while on the cruise.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone. This will be our fourth cruise, our third for the Wonder plus the one we just did on the Fantasy.

 

[youalleverybody]

Welcome everyone!!!

I'm getting excited, even though it's still a looonngg way away. I've read a couple fun trip reports from previous PC cruises.

Denine, we homeschool too! I imagine there will be a fairly low kid's census onboard, expecially for older kids. That will actually be kind of nice.

 

[JanDave]

Our original cruise was for Alaska, but the deal and the dates for this PC Repo were just too good to pass up. Plus it is on my bucket list of cruised I wanted to do! Hopefully I will get to do Alaska in 2014 (hope they keep up that itinerary)

Cruising will be me (Kathy), DH (Le) and DD (Kati) who will be celebrating her birthday while on the cruise.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone. This will be our fourth cruise, our third for the Wonder plus the one we just did on the Fantasy.

Welcome Kathy and Family!!!

The PC cruise has been on my bucket list for a while, as well. We're hoping to do an Alaska cruise in 2014, too. It most likely won't be with DCL, though. Through much internet searching, I am finding better itineraries and less $$$.

What kind of deal did you find for this PC cruise?

Jan

 

[JanDave]

Denine, we homeschool too! I imagine there will be a fairly low kid's census onboard, expecially for older kids. That will actually be kind of nice.

Four of my six grandchildren re homeschooled - 2 in Michigan and 2 in West Virginia.

Jan

 

[twokats]

Welcome Kathy and Family!!!

The PC cruise has been on my bucket list for a while, as well. We're hoping to do an Alaska cruise in 2014, too. It most likely won't be with DCL, though. Through much internet searching, I am finding better itineraries and less $$$.

What kind of deal did you find for this PC cruise?

Jan

We had booked the 9-2 Alaska when we were on board the Fantasy in May and booked a catagory 5b (verandah). When they finished changing everything over I only had to give another $50+ to my deposit, which I was very pleased with. I was amazed with the pricing of this two week over the Alaska one week. It was a no brainer to go ahead and get this one off my list first. I will probably stay with Disney for Alaska no matter the cost, just because we love the Disney ambiance.

 

[JanDave]

I know that I say we'll probably book an Alaska cruise on another cruise line, but I foresee us booking it while onboard one of our upcoming cruises. We are spoiled by DCL. Just got off the Dream a few weeks ago, and it was definitely a "wow" feeling throughout the cruise.

Kathy - I see that you are a DVC member. We are, also. Our "homes" are Saratoga and Hilton Head. We bought both contracts on the Disney Magic.

Jan

 

[twokats]

I know that I say we'll probably book an Alaska cruise on another cruise line, but I foresee us booking it while onboard one of our upcoming cruises. We are spoiled by DCL. Just got off the Dream a few weeks ago, and it was definitely a "wow" feeling throughout the cruise.

Kathy - I see that you are a DVC member. We are, also. Our "homes" are Saratoga and Hilton Head. We bought both contracts on the Disney Magic.

Jan

I agree with you on the "wow" feeling, we felt that on the Fantasy. I just loved it. It was big, but there was so much to explore and even though I knew there were more people on it than on the smaller sister ships, it really did not seem like it except in the dining rooms and theater which were so much larger.

After learning about the booking on board, I know I will always try to book a future cruise before leaving a cruise. The discount and the lower deposit are great and getting an OBC is just icing on the cake. My DH did not expect to like cruising. He went on the first cruise just to keep peace in the family, but when we got back he was very quick to say. . . when are we going on another cruise!!!

We joined DVC in 2004 when SSR was being built. We did several add-ons and then my sweet DH bought me another large add-on on our first Wonder cruise. All those add-ons were also SSR. Then a year ago we bought a resale at VWL. And on our cruise on the Fantasy in May DH surprised me with points at AKL. That gives us homes at Saratoga, Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom. Our absolute favorite is VWL, but we have stayed at AKL Jambo House and the kids and I have stayed at SSR.