August 25, 2013 Dream - Who's here

[baleeve]

The Fe's sound fun? But is it more for little ones ? my DD's are in their teens ?
Just started thinking about port excursions and wondered if anybody had done or was considering doing one in Nassau ? I was looking at another thread and lots of people seem to stay onboard but I think it would be nice to have an explore just don't know what ?

Hi Sam.diss

I am thinking we (me and 2 boys) will do the Blue Lagoon adventure. I thought I would stay on the ship but then figured I better take advantage of the Bahamas as much as I can.

I've heard that cruisers need to be cautious in Nassau so I am heading the advice and staying with a DCL adventure. Many caution not to just get off the ship and wander so I would say that you may want to do some research yourself.

Happy planning.

 

[disneytheway]

My boys found the DCL brochure and now know we are going. So no surprise here. But honestly, I don't think I could have kept it secret because I'm busting at the seams excited!

We always do something the last week of August too, however it started as a way to celebrate my remission anniversary. I'll be 4 years this August - surviving Stage IV head and neck cancer. My boys and I have been through the ringer and as a way to appreciate how far we have come we decided to mark the date with celebrations. And this is our biggest celebration yet!!!

Yes I am going to sign them up for the clubs. They enjoyed the Neverland Club at the Polynesian when we last went to Disney so I think they will enjoy it. I'll give them sign in and sign out privileges but under strict conditions and rules. They are very trustworthy and we will go over the drill before the cruise.

Looking forward to hearing about how you reveal the surprise and hope that our kiddos can meet in the clubs.

Hello Balleve,
I wish you continuos blessings in your life and for sure we'll make one of the most beautiful experience
I have been thinking of how to surprise the boys and i am kind of thinking of asking a help from a cast member since we are staying the night before the cruise in OKW (something like a letter being given to them or a phone call) my husband is not very enthusiastic about it because he said i'll put too much time into it and blablabla... but my mind is set now i have to make it happen any ideas are welcome.

 

[disneytheway]

Hi all -

I'm so excited to be on this cruise too. I was just reading some of the posts with FE questions and I thought I would try to help.

Feel free to ask any questions about it on the board or private message me.

Basically the FE is a gift exchange onboard that people sign up for prior to their cruise through the meet thread (since you are already here you are on the right track!) Usually what happens in the thread is someone volunteers to coordinate the FE for the sailing and you send them your basic info. This person then keeps the master list and sets the cutoff date for the last date you are able to sign up for the sailings.

In our cruises case "MyCathryn" has taken this on and this is a copy/paste from her earlier post on how to sign up:

I started a closed FB page. If you want to join please feel free... http://www.facebook.com/groups/488555754542262/.

I dont think a FE group has officially started yet either. If you are interested in participating, please email me at CathrynsCloset@aol.com.
Please send the following information that will be shared with everyone participating as we get closer to the cruse...
Name
DisName
Cabin Number
Age/Genders of the kids going
Which Dinner seating you were assigned
Favorite Characters
Allergies
Special Needs/Special Event you are celebrating
Would you like to participate in an on-board meetup?

The final date to participate is July 25th. I would need all the info in by then so it can be distributed and the magic can begin!!

As far as your actual FE (fish extender....gets its name becuase it hangs from the fish shaped clip outside your stateroom door). You can either make one or order them on etsy, ebay or other places online. Do a quick google search for fish extender and you will find them! There are also threads with all this information and how to make FE's (along with their maximum dimensions) on the boards here.

For the gifts, this is really where it is up to you as the gift giver. Some people give gifts to each cabin on the list, some people give gifts to each person in each cabin, depending on their ages. Some people make gifts, some people buy gifts. Some people put their gifts in bags with tags who they came from, some are anonymous. Some gifts have significance to the hometown of the giver, some do not. Some people give gifts multiple times during the cruise, some do it one time per trip.

My best advice is to give what you are comfortable with, any gift is appreciated! Part of the fun for our family is just coming back to the room and seeing what is in our FE...

I hope this all helps, but like I said, message me if it doesn't. Also there are lots of FE specific threads, so there is no shortage of ideas and info!

Hi Kristie,
Just saw your post and was wondering if there is any other way to stay up to date with the FE since i dont have a face book page, maybe we can do PM???
let me know. How many families are already signed up???

 

[NovaDog]

Just discovered this group, can't wait for the cruise! It will be our second, following last June's trip on the Magic from NYC to Canada.

Our crew includes two birthday girls, as my wife and oldest daughter (6) are both celebrating on August 28. We'll also have our 4-year old daughter and 2-year old son. We might also have 2 grandparents coming, although they are still up in the air.

I just joined the Facebook group and the FE.

One other idea I'll throw out - on our cruise last June, a bunch of us that met up on Facebook ended up booking the private room at Palo's for brunch. You need at least 12 people, but there is no extra charge beyond the normal Palo's charge. It was a great way to meet up with everyone and a nice way to get a Palo's reservation (which can be difficult!). Anyone interested?

 

[baleeve]

Just discovered this group, can't wait for the cruise! It will be our second, following last June's trip on the Magic from NYC to Canada.

Our crew includes two birthday girls, as my wife and oldest daughter (6) are both celebrating on August 28. We'll also have our 4-year old daughter and 2-year old son. We might also have 2 grandparents coming, although they are still up in the air.

I just joined the Facebook group and the FE.

One other idea I'll throw out - on our cruise last June, a bunch of us that met up on Facebook ended up booking the private room at Palo's for brunch. You need at least 12 people, but there is no extra charge beyond the normal Palo's charge. It was a great way to meet up with everyone and a nice way to get a Palo's reservation (which can be difficult!). Anyone interested?

I think a Palo meet and eat (I'm so clever LOL) would be a great idea. I'm in. I have a friend traveling with us in another cabin who will attend too. So put us down for 2. Which day? Does it have to be sea day, which is not a problem.

 

[baleeve]

Anyone interested in a Fish Extender exchange?

I'll volunteer to be "FE list keeper", and update as others join. Let me know if the link isn't working.

Feel free to share your info if you want - I copied kids' ages from your sig lines, if that's not their age on the cruise let me know and I will update.

~Melissa

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ai_SWtXtJEewdFJ2Rk50VEdsX3ZvSU1jc3dnc21zWUE

Hi Melissa

I've never used google docs before. When I open it and try to add our info it won't allow me to. It says up top "view only".

How do I add us to the FE?

Thank you.
Kelli

 

[princess7070]

Hi everyone. We are a family of 5 cruising also on aug 25th. This will be our first Disney Cruise, or first cruise ever. Anyone else from Jersey??

 

[disneytheway]

Hi everyone. We are a family of 5 cruising also on aug 25th. This will be our first Disney Cruise, or first cruise ever. Anyone else from Jersey??

Hi Princess7070,
Welcome - we are from Sayreville NJ, going on the same cruise for the first time also. We have 2 boys (9 and 6), they have no idea we are doing the cruise

 

[princess7070]

Hi Disneytheway!

We live in Jackson. We have 3 boys, 8, 6, and 3. We surprised our boys for a Christmas present. Sometimes i wish i would of waited and surprised them but I couldnt hold out, lol. So excited I cant wait. Are you flying out the day before? We decided to do that.

 

[cheribelle]

Hi Disneytheway!

We live in Jackson. We have 3 boys, 8, 6, and 3. We surprised our boys for a Christmas present. Sometimes i wish i would of waited and surprised them but I couldnt hold out, lol. So excited I cant wait. Are you flying out the day before? We decided to do that.

Freehold NJ here! Our first cruise! Traveling with my daughters 12 &4, and my 9 year old son. So excited! We are driving, as I am too chicken to fly. But we are surprising my son with Legoland the day before the cruise. This is going to be a long summer as we wait to sail

 

[realfam]

Morning all

Just catching up on my DIS reading with a coffee. Welcome to everyone new joining. You count our family in on fish extenders. I will forward all the info.
Most of our planning is done, but were still searching for a reasonable flight to our MCO on the 25th. The airlines have been fairly expensive lately not offering many deals, whats with that

 

[disneytheway]

Hi Disneytheway!

We live in Jackson. We have 3 boys, 8, 6, and 3. We surprised our boys for a Christmas present. Sometimes i wish i would of waited and surprised them but I couldnt hold out, lol. So excited I cant wait. Are you flying out the day before? We decided to do that.

Yes we have an early flight saturday morning and staying at the Old Key West, then we decided to rent a car and drive to port, since we are attending church in Orlando area before and after the cruise. For sure my kids will have a blast making new friends, when time comes we will definitely register then in the kids club. Are you doing that? By the way are you doing the FE this time around?

 

[disneytheway]

Freehold NJ here! Our first cruise! Traveling with my daughters 12 &4, and my 9 year old son. So excited! We are driving, as I am too chicken to fly. But we are surprising my son with Legoland the day before the cruise. This is going to be a long summer as we wait to sail

That's funny how close we are. OMG thats one of the reasons why we didnt say anything to the boys, our cruise is booked since last year and it would be too much for them to wait, and now since they dont know we are planing to surprise them the morning of. Are you thinking of joining the FE?

 

[cheribelle]

That's funny how close we are. OMG thats one of the reasons why we didnt say anything to the boys, our cruise is booked since last year and it would be too much for them to wait, and now since they dont know we are planing to surprise them the morning of. Are you thinking of joining the FE?

Not sure about FE. It's our first cruise ever and I think I just want to get a feel for things this time. However based on reviews here, I have a feeling it won't be our last cruise
Trying to find a reasonable hotel for our stay the night before. We are doing Legoland, have dinner reservations at the Yacht Club. I thought that would be nice to walk around the Boardwalk and maybe catch a glimpse of Illuminations. I would
love to stay on the property but just too expensive for one night. Thinking of the Embassy Suites in Lake Buena Vista.

 

[hookedoncrafts]

Hi all - unfortunately, we had to move our family cruise to 2014. Just too much this year.
I hope you have a great time!!!
-Amy

 

[pipertoad]

One other idea I'll throw out - on our cruise last June, a bunch of us that met up on Facebook ended up booking the private room at Palo's for brunch. You need at least 12 people, but there is no extra charge beyond the normal Palo's charge. It was a great way to meet up with everyone and a nice way to get a Palo's reservation (which can be difficult!). Anyone interested?

My wife and would be interested in a Palo meet. It is our first cruise and i expect it to be difficult to get a Palo brunch reservation once we can make are ressies at the 75 day mark. This may help a lot.

I seen people mention tasting/mixology meets too we would be interested in one of those also but i have no idea how to arrange one.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[LissaW16]

Hi Melissa

I've never used google docs before. When I open it and try to add our info it won't allow me to. It says up top "view only".

How do I add us to the FE?

Thank you.
Kelli

disregard the google docs link. MyCathryn has taken over the list. She asked for info to be emailed to her.

~Melissa

 

[LissaW16]

If you are interested in participating, please email me at CathrynsCloset@aol.com.
Please send the following information that will be shared with everyone participating as we get closer to the cruse...
Name
DisName
Cabin Number
Age/Genders of the kids going
Which Dinner seating you were assigned
Favorite Characters
Allergies
Special Needs/Special Event you are celebrating
Would you like to participate in an on-board meetup?

The final date to participate is July 25th. I would need all the info in by then so it can be distributed and the magic can begin!!

Its going to be a fun!

Re-posting this for everyone.

 

[princess7070]

I think we are going to pass on the FE this time. I am def signing my kids up for the kids club. I think they will love it and get to meet some new friends. We are also going to fly out the day before. I priced a shuttle to take us to Cape Canaveral which isnt so bad and then just stay over at a hotel which is half mile to the port.

 

[MyCathryn]

Princess7070 See you on the ship!