Eastern Caribbean Fantasy Oct. 5, 2013

[pixiehallow]

We had our monthly planning party a little early this month

Our oldest is a sign spinner /waver for Liberty Tax
and we are in the middle of tax season, with the out look only calling for more hours for him . So, we took the opportunity to party (plan) when we could.

This month was outfit planning... I know, that sounds a little detailed and a lot early, but we have always done our trips with themed days. In other words we are those annoying people that the entire family matches And, to pull that off, we have to decide early on what we want to wear each day.

With a little over 6 months to go, we know what we are going to wear Now, I have to get busy making shirts, getting formals, and costumes together....
My goal is to have everything ready for our Mustard Drill party in July (then packing party in Aug, and bon voyage party at the end of Sept.)....More about those later.

Anywho...not to insight panic........but we are almost at the 6 month mark

Which brings up another point for an upcoming post...GROUP SHIRTS Any thoughts. I will post my ideas after school today hopefully.

~Tink~

 

[goofydvc]

Here's a little birthday song for your special day

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to Nile...
Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

P.S. How was spring training???

We are still down here. Having a good time.

 

[samanthapwnsall]

Hey all!

I don't know if you guys remember me, I was planning on using this cruise as a honeymoon, and then we had to postpone things but had hope we still may be able to join. Well, I'm sad to say I will not be rejoining you all on this cruise, but am happy to say my family will be growing by one ! I am expecting and due mid-October, so I never would have been able to make it anyways!

Hope you all enjoy the cruise!

 

[pixiehallow]

Hey all!

I don't know if you guys remember me, I was planning on using this cruise as a honeymoon, and then we had to postpone things but had hope we still may be able to join. Well, I'm sad to say I will not be rejoining you all on this cruise, but am happy to say my family will be growing by one ! I am expecting and due mid-October, so I never would have been able to make it anyways!

Hope you all enjoy the cruise!

Congrats Samantha
I had been thinking about you recently, and hoping things worked out so that you would be able to go, but a new baby is just as exciting.

I still need to connect with you. Our oldest was excepted to Full Sail since our last talk, and so we will be coming back out in January to help him get settled in (plus go to the parks of course )

Take care of yourself and your newest Disney Fan

~Tink~

 

[Viking]

Anywho...not to insight panic........but we are almost at the 6 month mark

Which brings up another point for an upcoming post...GROUP SHIRTS Any thoughts. I will post my ideas after school today hopefully.

~Tink~

For us there's really no reason to incite panic with nearly seven months to go: we have another vaction to look forward to in 38 days and we're not even going into panic mode for that one
The only thing we're presently doing is looking into buying new luggage. With the airlines lowering the baggage allowance from year to year and jacking up the prices for excess weight or additional pieces of luggage we're thinking about buying new suitcases from Rimowa. Those are kind of expensive -they start at about €400/$520 for a suitcase- but they are extremely light and nearly indestructable. Our present large Samsonites weigh about 12lb empty whereas a comparable Rimova comes in at just 8 lbs. That's 4lbs of extra clothes per suitcase!!!
When we started to travel to the US in 1988 we had a baggage allowance of two times 70lbs per person - now it's just one piece of 50lbs That calls for smart packing

When it comes to the group T-shirts we'd prefer to either make them ourselves using iron-on prints or go to a local shop here in Germany.

 

[pixiehallow]

When it comes to the group T-shirts we'd prefer to either make them ourselves using iron-on prints or go to a local shop here in Germany.

Shirts,

Oh my...I totally forgot I was going to post....

I got side tracked with the Science Fair and it slipped my mind. I am out the door right now, and will be occupied with doctors tomorrow.

I promise I will post ideas soon....

 

[LadyCP]

Hello cruisers!
After lurking around the boards for a month I figured I officially join the group and introduce myself.
I'm a big Disney fan, growing up miles away from Disneyland it became big part of my childhood memories. As an adult I learned to appreciate Walt's visions and the magic he brought into our life's. Our family (DH,DD12,DD15) now lives in AZ and has been harder to visit DL and maintain our AP passes especially after the price increases.
Anyway, we've cruised several times with different cruise lines and never DCL. It's been our dream to experience it but never could afford it. Till now.. Thanks to a tax refund and some budgeting obviously letting our AP passes expire On the upside, we are going to WDW for 5 days and then sailing in our first DCL on the Fantasy 10/05/13!

DH and I are so excited and can't wait to tell our girls. Yup they don't know yet,
hope to surprise them on Easter weekend. We are technically celebrating two birthdays in the family during the cruise DD12 will be beside herself when she finds out!

Looking forward to keeping in touch with all the cruisers and joining the FE group. Is it too early to pack??

 

[pixiehallow]

Welcome aboard Lady

We are glad you finally took the plunge.

We did a surprise unvale for our 12 year olds b-day trip to Disneyland last year. You will have to let us know how it goes. And you may want to wait to pack until you tell the girls

I will get you on the FE list ( see next post).
And I will send you an invite to our group page shortly. This is a good place to get connected, share pics, and learn more about everyone.

~ Tink

 

[pixiehallow]

NEW .... FE list:

pixiehallow
Tiggerb
TamaraH
Roxy217
Viking
actnkidz
CorEeyore
ARLO1
Mercinursi
jamelynn24
FrozenMinnie
TCCDad
kmronnie3
Ashtonsmom99
Contrady family
Marchetti family
Santam01
JulFromMD
JulFromMD +1
JulFromMD + 2
JulFromMD +3
JulFromMD +4
JulFromMD +5
jbhatch
Jacqueline
Jacqueline +1
Jacqueline + 2
Dowley
goofydvc
Tenn
LadyCP

NOW...30 confirmed and counting.....

Jacqueline, I stillneedtheinfo I emailed you to get them added to the FE list on the group page....THANKS

And just a reminder, if you are not on this list and want to be, just let me know. We don't want to leave anyone out that wants to share in the fun of FE gifts _____________

 

[Viking]

That FE-thing slowly becomes a bit scary for me:
As you know we have to fly across the Big Pond a week before the cruise, do the cruise, and stay for another week before flying back to Good Ol' Germany.
Usually we fly with fairly empty suitcases to the States as we always do a lot of shopping, but we don't need any new stuff for the formal nights and thus will have pretty full suitcases on the way over.

So it may become a weight issue for us. I guess I have to find gifts that are not only typically German, but also very light - stamps perhaps just kidding

 

[pixiehallow]

That FE-thing slowly becomes a bit scary for me:
As you know we have to fly across the Big Pond a week before the cruise, do the cruise, and stay for another week before flying back to Good Ol' Germany.
Usually we fly with fairly empty suitcases to the States as we always do a lot of shopping, but we don't need any new stuff for the formal nights and thus will have pretty full suitcases on the way over.

So it may become a weight issue for us. I guess I have to find gifts that are not only typically German, but also very light - stamps perhaps just kidding

Eric,

As the group continues to grow, we may want to think of splitting the FE in to smaller more manageable groups for all. The larger the group gets, the more concerned I become about how much time will be consumed with distributing gifts.

Also, we are faced with luggage constraints as well if we fly. We will be taking Spirit Air, and their luggage allowance is next to nothing. We have been considering shipping things like FE gifts. Would that be doable from Germany...We would be sending ours to a Fed Ex location. We already talked to them about it, and they said we could send it under my hubbies name directly to a store in Orlando.

~Tink~

 

[pixiehallow]

Time is ticking, and soon will be running slim on our prep time.

So, I think we need to start thinking about group shirts...

Do we want them???
Yes.....
No.....

If yes, there are some decisions we need to make.

First, what type of shirt....

T-shirt or Polo

Next would be what color...

My suggestions are

black
white
brown
blue
green
or pink (mainly because of the cancer support)

These colors work best with the designs we were voting on.

Another thing to consider is the way we want to decorate the shirts.

We have a few choices.

1. (the most economical and easiest) iron-ons - I can take any of the designs, and convert them to an iron-on format. Then post a form of it on the group page for everyone to download. The draw backs are that if we choose a dark shirt, the transfers for a dark shirt are more pricey, and they do not come out as well. An option would be to transfer to to a light material, and then cut it out. Finish by sewing the cut out on to the dark shirt.

2. embroidery - these would look nice (especially if we choose polo shirts), but we are limited to a max of 3 colors. Thus I would have to rework the pictures a bit and come up with something we all like with fewer colors. Prices vary on embroidery. We could all pitch in and price check in our own local areas and on line to see who can find the best price.

3. silk screening - more durable than iron-on, but we are limited on colors. I have just started screen printing shirts for my family, and I know I would not be able to do shirts for everyone. This is a time consuming process. I have done a little price checking, and this is more cost efficient than embroidery, but I think the max on colors again is only 3.

If the limit on colors has anyone stand offish, don't fret, I do have a few ideas of what can be done to make this happen if the group so decides.

Can everyone spend a little time thinking on this and get back to me as soon as you decide.
The more time we have to get the shirts made, the better they will come out.

Thanks for all your help, and sorry for the delay.

~Tink~

 

[kmronnie3]

Since we are cruising in October and that is Breast Cancer Awareness month I say Pink but not sure how the men will feel about pink?

 

[Viking]

Sorry, but I have to steal from the NRA:
'If you wanna make me wear a pink shirt, you've got to pull it over my dead, cold body!!'

Shipping stuff from Germany to the USA is incredibly expensive. We've long since stopped exchanging gifts with our US-friends via mail because of that.
We'll probably do it like that: We'll just pack our formal wear for the cruise and stuff for a few days. They rest we're going to buy after our arrival in the US. That should hopefully give us enough room to bring gifts for our tablemates, for the FE and for the Sail-Away-Party.

Today I received a bonus at work which will cover the price of the cruise, including tips and excursions

 

[CorEeyore]

Hi!

I'm okay with any color shirt but think the most inexpensive route would be nice

But if the group wants embroidered polos then we'll figure out a way to make it work

 

[Viking]

On the other hand: An embroidered shirt lasts very long and is a great souvenir. I got me a very nice Nike golf shirt with a nicely embroidered DCL-logo on it and it still looks great. OK, I wear it only a few times per year, but it was definetly worth its price - about 45 bucks, if I remember it correctly.

 

[Viking]

I just checked out some online shops here in Germany that do embroidery and they aren't that expensive. Available are up to twelve colours and not only three!!!

I also found a shop here in downtown Frankfurt. I'll check it out soon.

So if our picture is going to be 'embroiderable' we'll go that way.

 

[pixiehallow]

I just checked out some online shops here in Germany that do embroidery and they aren't that expensive. Available are up to twelve colours and not only three!!!

I also found a shop here in downtown Frankfurt. I'll check it out soon.

So if our picture is going to be 'embroiderable' we'll go that way.

12 colors is great if it is not to expensive.
The picture that was the most popular has 10 colors in it.

Thanks for looking Eric

 

[mickeyfan9194]

Finally jumping in here, now that we're getting serious about planning. It's our first time on the Fantasy, but 3rd on DCL.

Just me (Deb, 47) and DH (Kevin, 53), no kids this time.

We've cruised with Viking before (Hi Eric!).

Starting to look into hotels, excursions, transportation, etc. Debating maybe a few days at WDW or Universal prior to the cruise as well.

Can't wait!

 

[pixiehallow]

Welcome to the group Mickeyfan9194

We are glad you are joining us.

Are you going to want to join our FE???

I will send you an invite to our group page shortly.

Tink