A rabbi, a priest, and a pastor board the Wonder: we're back!

[rentayenta]

I do hope she was able to figure it out. That would be heartbreaking. I must check my organizer at least five times before leaving the house that I have all the documents I need. Even if I just looked I look again.

She had her passport overnighted. Her cruise leaves today. Her Carnival ship looked a little sad compared to the big beautiful Disney ships but I'm sure she'll have an awesome time. It looks and sounds like it will be one big party. ​

It's a 14 night cruise starting in Barcelona and ending in Puerto Rico. Ports are Malaga Spain, Canary Islands, St John Antigua, St Maartan, and St Kitts, including 8 days at sea.

I agree, I'm sure you'll love cruising

OMG, that sounds amazing! What a trip you're going to have. So you fly to Spain first? Do you have time there to explore before the cruise? And 8 ship days? How cool is that!! What activities do they have for a 14 night cruise? What ship?
​

Its both of our countdowns. We'll definitely have to meet for a drink.​

 

[jedijill]

She had her passport overnighted. Her cruise leaves today. Her Carnival ship looked a little sad compared to the big beautiful Disney ships but I'm sure she'll have an awesome time. It looks and sounds like it will be one big party.






OMG, that sounds amazing! What a trip you're going to have. So you fly to Spain first? Do you have time there to explore before the cruise? And 8 ship days? How cool is that!! What activities do they have for a 14 night cruise? What ship?





Its both of our countdowns. We'll definitely have to meet for a drink.​

Yay! Glad she got her passport and was able to go.

Jill in CO

 

[rentayenta]

Yay! Glad she got her passport and was able to go.

Jill in CO

Me too. She's recently gone through a nasty divorce and really needs a break. From her photos of last, I'm guessing she's already fairly hungover. It's a girls only trip.​

 

[Pinkocto]

She had her passport overnighted. Her cruise leaves today. Her Carnival ship looked a little sad compared to the big beautiful Disney ships but I'm sure she'll have an awesome time. It looks and sounds like it will be one big party. ​

I'm so glad!!!! I'm my humble opinion the DCL ships are the prettiest but she'll still have a fabulous time. I know I don't know her but I'm so glad everything worked out

OMG, that sounds amazing! What a trip you're going to have. So you fly to Spain first? Do you have time there to explore before the cruise? And 8 ship days? How cool is that!! What activities do they have for a 14 night cruise? What ship?
​

This is one of my dream trips, I'm so excited about it. It's on the Magic, which is the only one I haven't been on yet so that's even better. My plan is to leave 3 days before the cruise so that will leave me two full days in Barcelona. From the TRs I've read of the longer cruises there's all sorts of special shows and dinners. It's going to be fantastic whatever they have.

Its both of our countdowns. We'll definitely have to meet for a drink.​

I know, I'm doubly excited!

 

[Sherry E]

Really?! I stayed logged in all over. iPad, work, phone, and Macbook. Guess I've got some logging out to do. How did the other people log into their accounts?

Were you hacked? I've never looked to see if it's really me. Would it say someone else's name? Glad nothing got posted. That's scary. Someone could post anything as you.​

It would be terrible!

It sounds like a glitch. This site rarely has them though which makes me happy as I spend far too much time here.

I dod love that movie. It's one of my all time favorites. What were they saying? Was it a thread on this site? How can anyone not love that movie? Of course the Wisconsin scene was exaggerated as was the porn couple, it's a movie. I love the message. It always makes me smile and I cry at the end every single time.

DH likes it too now. He sort of put up with it but after seeing it so many times, it grew on him. He knows if I've had a long or bad work day that Love Actually will always cheer me up.

I can't believe the price difference between the Deluxe and the Premium. Of course the week I'm looking at is literally the only blocked week. The girls have proven they are no longer able to miss school so off season trips are no longer a part of our reality.

Have you read rumors of an increase? I definitely want to buy vouchers before then. If we can't get the GCV then I will have to give a holiday trip some more though. Wait list or stay at the DLH on points or rent mine out and pay cash for the GHC or DLH? So many decisions.​

She got so lucky. Good for her. I think I can book an hour earlier online than I can if I call. I'll be a mess on 5/22. Did she love it? The GCH is so amazing during Christmastime. I love it and that overly mushy couch in the Hearthstone Lounge.​

The anti-Love Actually article (and subsequent comments of hate) is not on this site at all. I don't even know how I found it the other day, to be honest. I can't recall which steps I took to get to it!

I would happily give you the link to the page, but I think that we are not supposed to actually link to other pages that contain cursing and what not. As you will see, some of the comments under the article contain some curse words. So, in the absence of a link, I will give you explicit information on where to find the anti-Love Actually article and you can search for it if you want to read the madness that I read!

The article is on Salon.com, and is called: "Love, Actually": The worst Christmas movie ever, by Mary Elizabeth Williams. The date on it is December 19, 2012, 08:44 AM PST (so this is a very recent hate article - not like an article from years ago or something!). Underneath the title is says "'Love, Actually' may be one of the nastiest, most depressing commentaries on love in film history."

Reading the comments from people under the article, it is clear that there is a lot of repressed hate for this film! It seems like people were just waiting for an excuse to come forth and admit they couldn't stand the movie! I think that every single one of the storylines gets slammed by someone, with the exception of the 'aging rock star and his manager' story. I think I only saw 2 or 3 sensible comments (translation: comments that were in favor of the movie!).

Anyway, about the DVC/GCV - Liza/funatdisney and her family love the GCH in general, but they love, love, love their Villa time each year. They use their points to rent a Villa at that 11-month mark (or whatever it is) and they stay in a Villa every year, in October and December (sometimes other times too). They invite friends over and they cook in the Villa. That's part of their whole DLR experience (you know how we all have our 'things' that make our trips special for us).

But, as you said, if you can't snag a Villa then maybe you can use the points for a regular hotel room at one of the hotels, or rent yours out and pay cash. It's better than no holiday trip at all!

I love the mushy couch in the Hearthstone Lounge! Even though I think I established that I was on the opposite couch from the one you were sitting on during your 11/2011 trip, I suspect they are all pretty mushy. Even though that mushy couch is a reminder of my (mostly) disastrous DLR trip in Dec. 2011 (and you remember that mess!), I still can't help but laugh when I think about sinking into it -- and then watching other people sink into it too! If only a hidden camera were trained on that couch -- it would be funny to see the different reactions as people's butts disappeared into the seat and they crawled to get out!

I think there were some rumors of ticket and AP increases floating around recently, but I just assumed the tickets would go up in May. The prices used to go up in August or September. Then I think it was June. Last year, Disney raised the AP and ticket prices in May, just in time for the masses to descend upon the parks to see the new DCA! They do not want to wait a second longer than necessary to get more money and capitalize on the summer crowds. So I expect an increase next month -- and we will probably only find out about it on the DLR site 2 or 3 days in advance, which will send many people into a frenzy as they scramble to buy tickets and passes before the increases kick in.

I don't think I was hacked on the DIS. If anything, the DIS'er whose account I somehow was signed into was probably hacked. But I tend to lean more towards thinking that it is all due to some server hiccups. All I know is that as soon as I noticed I was signed in as another person, I signed right out. Then I remembered that the same thing happened to other people last year. Deejdigsdis was one of the ones who noticed that she was signed in as another person, after she had already posted or sent a PM from that account. She then sent a PM to the person whose account she had found herself in and explained what had happened.

So I just sign out all the time now, to be on the safe side! I don't trust keeping the account open.

 

[franandaj]

I might be persuaded. Let me dig..think I wrote about Remy from last fall too in my Dining report that I abandoned last year.

Jill in CO

I wondered what happened to that report, I was reading it!

Are you FE gifts all finished? Have you posted pics of your FE before?

Your under panties! ​

I don't make gifts, I just buy them. I posted a pic of my FE on my last cruise TR. I'll post one of it hanging outside the door when I get on the ship.

How many cruises does it take to become Gold? I'm excited to book our second because we'll get a lanyard. What dates are you looking at?​

After Five Cruises you are Gold and after 10 you are Platinum, this one will be three and the one in October 2014 will be four. That's why we had to plan our Utah vacation out so we would know when to check out cruises. We tend to travel in April and October because most places we tend to go are hot. In 2015 we are going to do Aulani in late Spring and Paris (incl Disney) in September.

 

[rentayenta]

I'm so glad!!!! I'm my humble opinion the DCL ships are the prettiest but she'll still have a fabulous time. I know I don't know her but I'm so glad everything worked out

Her photos are cute on FB but everyone is saying they hope she has a flashlight, batteries, and possibly a generator. I'm not making light of what those poor passengers went through but the comments were pretty funny.​

This is one of my dream trips, I'm so excited about it. It's on the Magic, which is the only one I haven't been on yet so that's even better. My plan is to leave 3 days before the cruise so that will leave me two full days in Barcelona. From the TRs I've read of the longer cruises there's all sorts of special shows and dinners. It's going to be fantastic whatever they have.

I'm glad you'll have some Barcelona time before the cruise. It looks like such a vibrant city.

I bet the long cruises are amazing. I'm so wishing we booked longer than 5 nights but that should be good for a first cruise. I wonder what your special shows and dinner will look like? ​

I know, I'm doubly excited!

I thought more people would have joined our cruise meet thread but maybe it won't be a packed cruise. I really want to participate in an FE exchange though. It looks so fun.

​

The anti-Love Actually article (and subsequent comments of hate) is not on this site at all. I don't even know how I found it the other day, to be honest. I can't recall which steps I took to get to it!

I would happily give you the link to the page, but I think that we are not supposed to actually link to other pages that contain cursing and what not. As you will see, some of the comments under the article contain some curse words. So, in the absence of a link, I will give you explicit information on where to find the anti-Love Actually article and you can search for it if you want to read the madness that I read!

The article is on Salon.com, and is called: "Love, Actually": The worst Christmas movie ever, by Mary Elizabeth Williams. The date on it is December 19, 2012, 08:44 AM PST (so this is a very recent hate article - not like an article from years ago or something!). Underneath the title is says "'Love, Actually' may be one of the nastiest, most depressing commentaries on love in film history."

Reading the comments from people under the article, it is clear that there is a lot of repressed hate for this film! It seems like people were just waiting for an excuse to come forth and admit they couldn't stand the movie! I think that every single one of the storylines gets slammed by someone, with the exception of the 'aging rock star and his manager' story. I think I only saw 2 or 3 sensible comments (translation: comments that were in favor of the movie!).

I understand not being able to post other links here especially of ragging on people. I'll go check out the article, thank you! The movie isn't new so I wonder what all the current hubbub is about? It's so clever and well written, funny and sensitive, with just the right amount of vulgarity and even that is done well (your Natalie and the Prime Minister specifically). Haters always gonna be hatin' They're missing out.​

Anyway, about the DVC/GCV - Liza/funatdisney and her family love the GCH in general, but they love, love, love their Villa time each year. They use their points to rent a Villa at that 11-month mark (or whatever it is) and they stay in a Villa every year, in October and December (sometimes other times too). They invite friends over and they cook in the Villa. That's part of their whole DLR experience (you know how we all have our 'things' that make our trips special for us).

How fun that they invite friends over and entertain in their villa. My chances are looking slim though My friend checked and availability is slim and I've still got another 5-6 weeks before I can book. I need to come up with Plan B.​

But, as you said, if you can't snag a Villa then maybe you can use the points for a regular hotel room at one of the hotels, or rent yours out and pay cash. It's better than no holiday trip at all!

Agreed. I really want to stay on property. I know the PPH had a little facelift. If I use points, the PPH is the least expensive way to go. I just don't know.....I really want a villa at the GCV.​

I love the mushy couch in the Hearthstone Lounge! Even though I think I established that I was on the opposite couch from the one you were sitting on during your 11/2011 trip, I suspect they are all pretty mushy. Even though that mushy couch is a reminder of my (mostly) disastrous DLR trip in Dec. 2011 (and you remember that mess!), I still can't help but laugh when I think about sinking into it -- and then watching other people sink into it too! If only a hidden camera were trained on that couch -- it would be funny to see the different reactions as people's butts disappeared into the seat and they crawled to get out!

I love the mushy couches! I sank into it too and could hardly get out. The women across from us had a terrible time trying to get out- we were all laughing.

I do remember your messy trip and am glad you've had better trips since. ​

I think there were some rumors of ticket and AP increases floating around recently, but I just assumed the tickets would go up in May. The prices used to go up in August or September. Then I think it was June. Last year, Disney raised the AP and ticket prices in May, just in time for the masses to descend upon the parks to see the new DCA! They do not want to wait a second longer than necessary to get more money and capitalize on the summer crowds. So I expect an increase next month -- and we will probably only find out about it on the DLR site 2 or 3 days in advance, which will send many people into a frenzy as they scramble to buy tickets and passes before the increases kick in.

I really hope they don't increase before I can make my GCV reservation. I suspect we'll still go but if we're staying with friends vs on property, may be able to do a Deluxe AP instead of the Premium and save myself $1,000. That's a huge chuck of money.​

I don't think I was hacked on the DIS. If anything, the DIS'er whose account I somehow was signed into was probably hacked. But I tend to lean more towards thinking that it is all due to some server hiccups. All I know is that as soon as I noticed I was signed in as another person, I signed right out. Then I remembered that the same thing happened to other people last year. Deejdigsdis was one of the ones who noticed that she was signed in as another person, after she had already posted or sent a PM from that account. She then sent a PM to the person whose account she had found herself in and explained what had happened.

So I just sign out all the time now, to be on the safe side! I don't trust keeping the account open.

I signed out last night.
​

I wondered what happened to that report, I was reading it!



I don't make gifts, I just buy them. I posted a pic of my FE on my last cruise TR. I'll post one of it hanging outside the door when I get on the ship.

Cant wait to see it. I'll be buying my gifts too. I'm even less crafty than I am athletic. Crafting isn't my thing. Chloe has her dance competition this weekend and wanted to make *good luck* prizes for her team. Sadee had to make them for me. ​

After Five Cruises you are Gold and after 10 you are Platinum, this one will be three and the one in October 2014 will be four. That's why we had to plan our Utah vacation out so we would know when to check out cruises. We tend to travel in April and October because most places we tend to go are hot. In 2015 we are going to do Aulani in late Spring and Paris (incl Disney) in September.

Do you or have you cruised any other cruise lines?

Aulani looks amazing. I've never been to Hawaii but Michael lived there for a summer. One day. Do you have dates yet?

I'm in Utah ya know? I may just show up in Cedar.

My good friend, who's hubby works for Disney, took a job with Disneyland Paris and they're living there now. They'll be out this summer to visit in June. She said we need to visit while they're living there. She also said the California Disney perks are WAY better than the Paris Disneyland perks.​

 

[rentayenta]

280 days!!! ​

 

[rentayenta]

279 days!!! ​

 

[Pinkocto]

279 days!!! ​

I somehow missed yesterday's countdown. We're almost at 9 months!

 

[rentayenta]

I somehow missed yesterday's countdown. We're almost at 9 months!

It's so exciting.



I think I want to have an in room surprise for Joshua when we arrive. Have you ever done anything like that? I'm not thinking anything big but maybe like the Disney water bottles or something.​

 

[franandaj]

Do you or have you cruised any other cruise lines?

Aulani looks amazing. I've never been to Hawaii but Michael lived there for a summer. One day. Do you have dates yet?

I'm in Utah ya know? I may just show up in Cedar.

My good friend, who's hubby works for Disney, took a job with Disneyland Paris and they're living there now. They'll be out this summer to visit in June. She said we need to visit while they're living there. She also said the California Disney perks are WAY better than the Paris Disneyland perks.​

I went on the "Big Red Boat" 20 years ago, that was crap. Fran took me on a Carnival Cruise to Ensenada about 15 years ago, then we did a cruise on Celebrity, that was awesome! I would go on that cruise line again in a heartbeat!

Since then I have been on two Disney cruises with Fran, this will be the third.

I've been to Maui as a kid and Kona twice as an adult, but both trips were in the 80s so it's been a while.

I'd love to see you if we are in Cedar, but before you drive four hours there, make sure we're still going there.

 

[Pinkocto]

It's so exciting.



I think I want to have an in room surprise for Joshua when we arrive. Have you ever done anything like that? I'm not thinking anything big but maybe like the Disney water bottles or something.​

I did the birthday package, it had a lot of decorations and a cake, it was really nice. They used to have a cake with it but now it's not included. The also have a Bon voyage package which is really cute.

 

[rentayenta]

I went on the "Big Red Boat" 20 years ago, that was crap. Fran took me on a Carnival Cruise to Ensenada about 15 years ago, then we did a cruise on Celebrity, that was awesome! I would go on that cruise line again in a heartbeat!

Since then I have been on two Disney cruises with Fran, this will be the third.

I've been to Maui as a kid and Kona twice as an adult, but both trips were in the 80s so it's been a while.

I'd love to see you if we are in Cedar, but before you drive four hours there, make sure we're still going there.

Which one is the Big Red Boat? It sounds familiar? The only ones I've done we're the booze cruises on Crnival to Mexico and to be perfectly, I don't remember them all that well. Ive read good things about Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Princess used to be in the game but I don't see much on them anymore. Which one was Kathy Lee Gifford a spokes person for?

Hawaii is a dream of mine. I hope you get to go. It was on the table for our 20th but with the business etc etc....it's just too impossible to take of a good chunk of time this summer. I'll have to live through everyone else. Aulani looks incredible though I'm glad I wasn't there this last week, the beach was closed. I'd be one unhappy camper.​

I did the birthday package, it had a lot of decorations and a cake, it was really nice. They used to have a cake with it but now it's not included. The also have a Bon voyage package which is really cute.

I'll have to look into them more closely. What comes in the Bon Voyage package? I'm thinking I'd like to get one full of stuff I'm going to buy anyway. Two birds with me stone and all that. I'm so excited. He's going to flip. I keep going back and forth between early and late seating. I just can't decide though we've got early now. I figure it's probably easier to change to later than to earlier.​

 

[rentayenta]

278 days!!! ​

 

[rentayenta]

I started my magical one day Disneyland/DCA trip report.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?p=48113459#post48113459

​

 

[rentayenta]

.

 

[rentayenta]

277 days!!! ​

 

[eandesmom]

We did the birthday package as an in room surprise but it used to include the cake for the same price as now without the cake!

It was crummy cake but still. At least now there are more specialty cake options so I'd either do that or waterbottle/backpack/playing cards or something.

There are some fun other options though, they have it all listed on the website

 

[rentayenta]

We did the birthday package as an in room surprise but it used to include the cake for the same price as now without the cake!

It was crummy cake but still. At least now there are more specialty cake options so I'd either do that or waterbottle/backpack/playing cards or something.

There are some fun other options though, they have it all listed on the website

Now no cake and it's the same price? Yikes! No way am I doing that. I would like to acknowledge his bar mitzvah somehow as that's the reason we're cruising. I told the DC people and they seemed to note it. A specialty cake might be nice but with all that food and just the two of us, it seems silly to order a cake but I don't know.

I did see the waterbottle/backpack/cards option and really liked it. That may be the one I choose. I also know he'll have to have a Captain Mickey.​