franandaj
I'm so happy, I could BOUNCE!
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
Hi! My name is Alison and welcome to my PTR. This is me and partner Fran at the DestinationD event at the Disneyland Resort in August this year.
For those of you who know me you will completely understand the title of this PTR, for those that might need some explaining, Ill try to give you the short version. We have been Disneyholics since before we met. In fact some say it was a match made in Disneyland! Weve traveled to WDW together seven times and we couldnt even count the number of trips to Disneyland, suffice to say its A LOT! We had three trips planned to WDW in the past year, all have had to be canceled due to something called a venous ulcer which is a nasty thing that grows inside the leg and we didnt even know it was there when we had booked this trip.
Suffice to say, last years F&W trip at WDW was canceled just days before we were leaving, but at the time we didnt know about the venous ulcer, just that there was a bad rash/outbreak on her leg. This time I was assured that Fran would be healthy enough to travel in May and again, we canceled the day before leaving. Today we decided that our October F&W trip to WDW will be rescheduled as a non F&W trip in January. Now convincing her to take this cruise was no small feat. Our last cruise was on the Wonder in 2001 when she was a fairly new ship. This is us on our last cruise.
She had a hard time navigating Castaway Cay, plus it was our first WDW trip where she broke down and rented a scooter. After that cruise, she decided that she didnt want to go on any more cruises until she got better. You see she suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and has a very difficult time getting around. Well over 10 years later and only a small amount of better, I finally convinced her that we could watch our lives go by waiting to get better or just start cruising now and watch it get better. Seeing that Disney was going to discontinue their Mexican Riviera cruises and I didnt want to miss out on a cruise from my home port, so I was able to seal the deal.
So rewind back to March, we had been hmmming and hawing over whether or not to take the cruise and what level of stateroom to get. I really wanted to stay on the Concierge level because I have become spoiled like that and justified it with the fact that its been so long since we took a cruise, that we needed it. Plus being handicapped, she would enjoy the extra services and not have to run around and wait in lines for everything I wanted to do. I was able to compile this list from the DIS of perks you get staying on CL.
" 120 Days prior to sailing, access to the Concierge Team, to assist with planning all dining, shore excursions and any questions regarding the sailing.
" On the day of sailing, upon arrival for check-in, Concierge Guests have their own, separate check-in station and seating are, and are given Priority Boarding, with no waiting (unless you arrive prior to the commencement of boarding at 1pm).
" Private reception with food upon boarding
" On board 24 hour access to the Concierge Team for any concerns, questions, problems.
" Concierge Guests receive 100 minutes of free internet time
" Special Concierge Reception with the Senior Officers with drinks & hor dourves
" Daily treats delivered to the room
" In-Room dining from the PALO menu delivered to the room, and the Palo $20 surcharge is waived
" Larger staterooms than all others
" robes and slippers (not to keep)
" DVD player list of DVD's to watch
" popcorn with DVD's
" lithograph
" Hot breakfast via room service all days except continental breakfast in room on last morning
priority tendering
" soda/water and they stock the fridge daily with requested beverages.
" excursion booking and reservations for tastings. All tickets delivered to stateroom
" tour of the bridge
The sodas were nice, the priority boarding and the receptions were also nice. You know what was the clincher&.
" Concierge Guests receive 100 minutes of free internet time
Do I know my wife?????
We are booked on the November 25 sailing, just a couple days after Thanksgiving. I had considered doing Thanksgiving on the cruise because every year we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving sharing my parents with my sisters family. They leave near Seattle and it is much too cold for someone with RA to visit at that time of year. They also have a few kids and no money so they cant travel for holidays, so were kind of stuck. This is our year for Christmas with the folks, so well travel around Thanksgiving. Last year we spent Christmas in Las Vegas and liked the idea of getting out of town around the holiday that we would be spending alone, so well continue that tradition, but the cruise on the week of Thanksgiving was so much more expensive, I crossed that off the list.
Since we passed the 120 day mark already, Ive made my Palo reservations. We are doing Brunch there at 11:30AM on the first morning at sea (thanks Alicia for that idea!). Ive also booked 6PM for dinner on Thursday which I hope will be Pirate night. According to other MR TRs that Ive read the Pirate dinner is heavy on coconut and other ingredients that I dont like to eat so Im hoping by booking Palo that night we can avoid menu items I dont like, plus Fran and I can both be pretty big party poopers. Shr has a lot of pain and usually hurts a lot. I never expect her to go out to parties or areas where there are crowds so Im thinking we will avoid Pirates night. We will go out on our balcony and see if we can see any fireworks.
Im told that our CL folks will book any tastings that we want once we get on the ship. I want to do the wine, martini, tequila, and Im not sure what else, but if they have any culinary demos Id like to do that too. Ive signed us up for the Fish Extender Exchange and our little group is building day by day. I have no idea what to get for kids under 10 so the next few months will be quite a challenge for me to figure it out! Oh yeah, and today I mailed off the passport renewals so hopefully we will have them in plenty of time for the cruise!
I hope youll join me on this little adventure!
For those of you who know me you will completely understand the title of this PTR, for those that might need some explaining, Ill try to give you the short version. We have been Disneyholics since before we met. In fact some say it was a match made in Disneyland! Weve traveled to WDW together seven times and we couldnt even count the number of trips to Disneyland, suffice to say its A LOT! We had three trips planned to WDW in the past year, all have had to be canceled due to something called a venous ulcer which is a nasty thing that grows inside the leg and we didnt even know it was there when we had booked this trip.
Suffice to say, last years F&W trip at WDW was canceled just days before we were leaving, but at the time we didnt know about the venous ulcer, just that there was a bad rash/outbreak on her leg. This time I was assured that Fran would be healthy enough to travel in May and again, we canceled the day before leaving. Today we decided that our October F&W trip to WDW will be rescheduled as a non F&W trip in January. Now convincing her to take this cruise was no small feat. Our last cruise was on the Wonder in 2001 when she was a fairly new ship. This is us on our last cruise.
She had a hard time navigating Castaway Cay, plus it was our first WDW trip where she broke down and rented a scooter. After that cruise, she decided that she didnt want to go on any more cruises until she got better. You see she suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and has a very difficult time getting around. Well over 10 years later and only a small amount of better, I finally convinced her that we could watch our lives go by waiting to get better or just start cruising now and watch it get better. Seeing that Disney was going to discontinue their Mexican Riviera cruises and I didnt want to miss out on a cruise from my home port, so I was able to seal the deal.
So rewind back to March, we had been hmmming and hawing over whether or not to take the cruise and what level of stateroom to get. I really wanted to stay on the Concierge level because I have become spoiled like that and justified it with the fact that its been so long since we took a cruise, that we needed it. Plus being handicapped, she would enjoy the extra services and not have to run around and wait in lines for everything I wanted to do. I was able to compile this list from the DIS of perks you get staying on CL.
" 120 Days prior to sailing, access to the Concierge Team, to assist with planning all dining, shore excursions and any questions regarding the sailing.
" On the day of sailing, upon arrival for check-in, Concierge Guests have their own, separate check-in station and seating are, and are given Priority Boarding, with no waiting (unless you arrive prior to the commencement of boarding at 1pm).
" Private reception with food upon boarding
" On board 24 hour access to the Concierge Team for any concerns, questions, problems.
" Concierge Guests receive 100 minutes of free internet time
" Special Concierge Reception with the Senior Officers with drinks & hor dourves
" Daily treats delivered to the room
" In-Room dining from the PALO menu delivered to the room, and the Palo $20 surcharge is waived
" Larger staterooms than all others
" robes and slippers (not to keep)
" DVD player list of DVD's to watch
" popcorn with DVD's
" lithograph
" Hot breakfast via room service all days except continental breakfast in room on last morning
priority tendering
" soda/water and they stock the fridge daily with requested beverages.
" excursion booking and reservations for tastings. All tickets delivered to stateroom
" tour of the bridge
The sodas were nice, the priority boarding and the receptions were also nice. You know what was the clincher&.
" Concierge Guests receive 100 minutes of free internet time
Do I know my wife?????We are booked on the November 25 sailing, just a couple days after Thanksgiving. I had considered doing Thanksgiving on the cruise because every year we alternate Christmas and Thanksgiving sharing my parents with my sisters family. They leave near Seattle and it is much too cold for someone with RA to visit at that time of year. They also have a few kids and no money so they cant travel for holidays, so were kind of stuck. This is our year for Christmas with the folks, so well travel around Thanksgiving. Last year we spent Christmas in Las Vegas and liked the idea of getting out of town around the holiday that we would be spending alone, so well continue that tradition, but the cruise on the week of Thanksgiving was so much more expensive, I crossed that off the list.
Since we passed the 120 day mark already, Ive made my Palo reservations. We are doing Brunch there at 11:30AM on the first morning at sea (thanks Alicia for that idea!). Ive also booked 6PM for dinner on Thursday which I hope will be Pirate night. According to other MR TRs that Ive read the Pirate dinner is heavy on coconut and other ingredients that I dont like to eat so Im hoping by booking Palo that night we can avoid menu items I dont like, plus Fran and I can both be pretty big party poopers. Shr has a lot of pain and usually hurts a lot. I never expect her to go out to parties or areas where there are crowds so Im thinking we will avoid Pirates night. We will go out on our balcony and see if we can see any fireworks.
Im told that our CL folks will book any tastings that we want once we get on the ship. I want to do the wine, martini, tequila, and Im not sure what else, but if they have any culinary demos Id like to do that too. Ive signed us up for the Fish Extender Exchange and our little group is building day by day. I have no idea what to get for kids under 10 so the next few months will be quite a challenge for me to figure it out! Oh yeah, and today I mailed off the passport renewals so hopefully we will have them in plenty of time for the cruise!
I hope youll join me on this little adventure!
3 of us? 
I don't think we can take any of the cats. 
