December 11, 2010 7 Night Western Magic (Part DEUX)

[Tanooki]

Another shout out from Canada here!
We're still here, waiting for our first experience on a DCL ship
I've been on 3 Carnival cruises and dh went on the last one with me. We can't wait to go with the kids. I've always said that I thought cruising was the perfect family vacation so I'm very anxious to prove my theory

I saw we were partialy on the roll call so here's a little bit more info on us. I'm Caroline and, at cruising time, I will be 40 (yikes!) and Dh will be 42. We are currently looking forward to our 3rd trip to WDW in 18 months, in just a few weeks. This will be our first time driving so can't wait to see how it goes with the kiddos

I love the idea of having stickers to decorate the cabin's doors, how do you make these?

Looking forward to getting to "know" you all

 

[SILLYANDI]

Caroline, welcome to the new meet! I printed my cabin decorations on magnetic paper and cut it out. I've also printed it on cardstock and glued magnets to the back, which I think worked better- the magnetic paper lost it's magnetic abilities if they overlapped?!

How long of a drive will it be for you all the way to WDW? We've gone 2 weeks 8-10 hrs driving a day with the kids in the motorhome, but I can't imagine something like that in a car with them! Good luck!

One last thing- we have travelled quite a bit with our kids and I would concur that a cruise is the ultimate family vacation- that is why we keep coming back!

 

[krisngreg]

Hey everyone I need as much good luck and pixie dust you guys can toss at us. Our furnace went to heaven yesterday and we had to get a new one which unfortunately cost as much as getting on the boat. Not sure if we are going to be able to swing the vacation still. Here is hoping my husband can get a ton of overtime!!!

Kristin

 

[Tanooki]

Hi again!

Krisngreg : Pixie dust going your way so you can still do the cruise!

Andrea : it's a 24 hour drive which we are planning to do in 2 days. I know many people do it one shot but we just cannot drive that long without a rest and it's just the two of us driving. I'm sure the kids will do fine with the Nintendo DS, the DVDs, the books and everything else to keep them occupied, we just have to stay awake ! Hopefully, with lots of coffee (and Redbull), good music and good conversation, we should be ok. After all, we're going to DisneyWorld, that should be enough to keep us alert!

I'm a little more worried about the drive back...
But since we are planning on meeting a friend when we stop for the night in VA, that should keep things interesting for that part of the drive

I'll let you know how it went. I'm getting very excited about it

Would you be willing to share your decoration patterns? Since I have no idea what size they should be (I guess they go on the door's window/sign?), it would be easier. They do look great

Caroline

 

[poohbear111]

Made it to the new post. I will reintroduce meself. Nichole & DH Shawn this will be our 3rd disney cruise late anniversary cruise for us. Can't wait to meet everyone!!!! With over 35 inches of snow in less then 5 days here in DE i can't wait to be on this ship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Made it to the new post. I will reintroduce meself. Nichole & DH Shawn this will be our 3rd disney cruise late anniversary cruise for us. Can't wait to meet everyone!!!! With over 35 inches of snow in less then 5 days here in DE i can't wait to be on this ship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome Nichole! Glad you found us. I will update your info on the front page.

We have had our share of rain and a little sleet, no snow. Although the hills behind our house are covered, my kids would love to try to hike up there and play in it!

 

[SILLYANDI]

I'm here

Has anyone started thinking about excursions?

We definetly want to do the Tulum tour at Cozumel, and will probably got 7 mile beach at Grand Cayman.

What are you planning?

We did Chankanaab (sp?) in Cozumel and Sting Ray City in GC, both on our own, so I have no idea what to do this time. I think we might go back to Chankanaab and not do the dolphin experience (it was awesome, but the park itself would be fun to hang at even without the dolphins!)

I haven't even looked at anything else. I just don't have the planning bug this time. I think I'm too bogged down with day to day stuff to even go there!

 

[Inkmahm]

Okay, we're definitely keeping this cruise as it isn't just DH and me any longer. My MIL and FIL are also joining us on this cruise! It will be great. We cruised together in Alaska two years ago and all went well. I'm looking forward to another long vacation with them as we don't get to see them nearly enough. We're in Wisconsin and they are in Pennsylvania.

 

[jennifita2]

Hi,

My husband (35), myself (33), DD (12) and DS (10) will be cruising in December for the first time. I am excited but not sure where to start so I am so thankful for all of these great threads.

Jennifer

 

[gemmybear83]

Did everyone get the pre cruise DCL booklet sent to them? I was so excited, we have the personalised postcard on our fridge!

Just logged into my booking and there is no early dining dinner sitting left so the cruise must be filling up!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Hi,

My husband (35), myself (33), DD (12) and DS (10) will be cruising in December for the first time. I am excited but not sure where to start so I am so thankful for all of these great threads.

Jennifer

Welcome! I have a DD12 who is a Disney Cruising expert so I'm sure she would be happy to show your daughter around! Now that Girl Scout Cookie Sales are over I should be around the DIS more often to answer any questions you have!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Did everyone get the pre cruise DCL booklet sent to them? I was so excited, we have the personalised postcard on our fridge!

Just logged into my booking and there is no early dining dinner sitting left so the cruise must be filling up!

We got ours but I had to hide them away because we still haven't decided if we are going to tell the kids or not...IT's KILLING ME!

 

[Babutz]

Hi all!

This is my FIRST time on this Disboard so please forgive me if I'm a little slow to catch on. This will actually be our 2nd DC. After meeting a couple of other families on the first, I realized I was NOT prepared as far as having daily activities planned. i.e. Tea w/ The Mad Hatter or Decorating Gingerbread Houses. This time I want to know what I'm doing.

The first cruise my husband and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary w/ the kids. While in St. Thomas we renewed our wedding vows.
This time we have 2 other families coming along with us, but in our immediate family, it is myself, Mary, (I'm assuming DH means husband, DD-daughter and DS-son?) DH, Mark, DD -10 and DS- 5

I noticed that many people had decorations on their stateroom doors, and later found out that it was families participating in Cruise meet. Do you guys meet on the ship as well?

I want to ensure I have a good plan for onboard activities for our family as well as the two first timer families going with us. any ideas? Is there anything in specific that should NOT be missed on this one?

Any ideas and/or suggestions will be much appreciated!! Looking forward to meeting some new friends!!

 

[sharen24]

Hi all!

This is my FIRST time on this Disboard so please forgive me if I'm a little slow to catch on. This will actually be our 2nd DC. After meeting a couple of other families on the first, I realized I was NOT prepared as far as having daily activities planned. i.e. Tea w/ The Mad Hatter or Decorating Gingerbread Houses. This time I want to know what I'm doing.

The first cruise my husband and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary w/ the kids. While in St. Thomas we renewed our wedding vows.
This time we have 2 other families coming along with us, but in our immediate family, it is myself, Mary, (I'm assuming DH means husband, DD-daughter and DS-son?) DH, Mark, DD -10 and DS- 5

I noticed that many people had decorations on their stateroom doors, and later found out that it was families participating in Cruise meet. Do you guys meet on the ship as well?

I want to ensure I have a good plan for onboard activities for our family as well as the two first timer families going with us. any ideas? Is there anything in specific that should NOT be missed on this one?

Any ideas and/or suggestions will be much appreciated!! Looking forward to meeting some new friends!!

Yeah Mary! Glad you figured out the Disboard. I talked to Chris last night and he said we just may be joining you after all. I'm still trying to figure out airfare (right now it's pretty yucky, but that could change). Right now I would say there is about a 75% chance that we will be there. Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Hi all!

This is my FIRST time on this Disboard so please forgive me if I'm a little slow to catch on. This will actually be our 2nd DC. After meeting a couple of other families on the first, I realized I was NOT prepared as far as having daily activities planned. i.e. Tea w/ The Mad Hatter or Decorating Gingerbread Houses. This time I want to know what I'm doing.

The first cruise my husband and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary w/ the kids. While in St. Thomas we renewed our wedding vows.
This time we have 2 other families coming along with us, but in our immediate family, it is myself, Mary, (I'm assuming DH means husband, DD-daughter and DS-son?) DH, Mark, DD -10 and DS- 5

I noticed that many people had decorations on their stateroom doors, and later found out that it was families participating in Cruise meet. Do you guys meet on the ship as well?

I want to ensure I have a good plan for onboard activities for our family as well as the two first timer families going with us. any ideas? Is there anything in specific that should NOT be missed on this one?

Any ideas and/or suggestions will be much appreciated!! Looking forward to meeting some new friends!!

Hi Mary and welcome! This will be our 4th cruise, I'm usually a plan-aholic but I just don't have the same energy this time for some reason. I think it might be because our board is not very active- we do have alot of experienced cruisers though so ask away!
We always decorate our door and HOPEFULLY we will have enough people to do a Fish Extender Exchange. There are some great graphics on the DISign board and on some thread right here in the cruise section too! We have done meets on all of our last cruises-some have been elaborate and others just a 1 time meet & greet. It is kinda neat to place a face with a name! My older girls have always "met" other kids from our meet group and exchanged emails with them before so that they had instant friends once we boarded. I haven't told the kids that we rebooked this one so I'm not sure how I'm going to arrange that this time?!
As far as special events- my kids were not too impressed with the tea and and gingerbread house building is something we do at home so it wasn't a big hit either. My kids LOVE the clubs and the pool even more! I can say that with planning sometimes LESS is MORE! I have spent way too much time planning in the past and have felt a bit let down when things didn't go as planned or the kids decided that they didn't want to do that afterall. It's also stressful when you book too much and feel like you have to "be somewhere" constantly. My favorite family memory of all the cruises (and I think the kids would agree-other than swimming with the dolphins in Cozumel) was sitting at Margaritaville in Grand Cayman for 4 hours. I'm not kidding- the kids swam in the pool there, DH and I had a decent meal, conversation and took in the fresh ocean breezes. It was a nice break from the over booked itenerary that I had planned. and I can honestly say that laying in the hammock with DH was WAY more fun and memorable than the cabana couples massage where I felt rushed to get there on time then rushed to go get the kids from kids club after.
Things I would recommend: Chankanaab dolpin experience (or just hanging out at the resort for the day), parasailing at Castaway Cay, Tequila Tasting (who knew there was more to tequila then mixing it in margaritas?!), sitting down as a family every night for the dining experience, the galley tour & the family competitions in Rockin' Bar D and the shows.
I asked my 10 yr old girl her favorite things and she said 1) swimming with dolphins, 2) playing on the beach at castaway cay 3) Pirate Deck Party and 4) Escargot & Lobster at Dinner (not joking) and 5) Goofy's Galley chicken nuggets with a homemade rootbeer float from across the pool. This cracked me up!
5yr old daughter said: 1)dolphins (she watches her video over & over again), 2) Meeting Ariel, 3)Her Cruise Birthday (we cruise every 2 years during her birthday week), 4) The Friend-ship celebration at the end, 5) all the games they played in the the clubs.

So...of all the things they named only 1 (dolphins) was a scheduled event...hmmm.

 

[SILLYANDI]

OK, maybe now I will be more excited about this trip! I just booked our airfare from CA to MCO for under $300 a person! That is the cheapest rate I have ever got in the 10 trips we have taken to Florida! WHEW HOO!

 

[sharen24]

OK, maybe now I will be more excited about this trip! I just booked our airfare from CA to MCO for under $300 a person! That is the cheapest rate I have ever got in the 10 trips we have taken to Florida! WHEW HOO!

Where in CA are you flying from? We are looking for airfare out of LAX.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Where in CA are you flying from? We are looking for airfare out of LAX.

It was out of LAX on American Airlines- I found it on Kayak.com. I'd rather fly from ONT but couldn't get anything under $400 and I'm too cheap to pay that lol. Where are you from? We are in San Dimas..

 

[SILLYANDI]

Who's in for a FE Exchange? I have to use my homemade fish extender at least one more time or DH will never let me live it down!

What's a FE Exchange you ask? Well, outside of every cabin there is a metal fish clip that DCL will use to leave messages for you. DISer's have made little pouches to hang off the fish (hence "fish extender") to allow for more goodies and fun stuff to be delivered to them! Each day a different DISer delivers little gifty trinket things to each of the FE's on the list. That means everyday YOU get a little fun treat waiting for you!

If you're interested let me know and I'll start a list.

Here's the FE 101 link for more info...
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33184281&postcount=2

 

[sharen24]

It was out of LAX on American Airlines- I found it on Kayak.com. I'd rather fly from ONT but couldn't get anything under $400 and I'm too cheap to pay that lol. Where are you from? We are in San Dimas..

Yorba Linda. We are practically neighbors.