June 10, 2017, Disney Fantasy 7-night Western Caribbean

[sarahste928]

Hello fellow cruisers!

It looks like there hasn't been a thread started yet for this cruise, which I booked yesterday for my family, so I will get things going!

I'll start off by introducing myself and my family:

me: Sarah (Disney fanatic)
DH: Tom (willing to put up with my addiction)
DS: T.J. (age 13 at time of the cruise)
[DD: Shelby (age 18 at time of the cruise) not sure if she will join us]

This will be our fifth Disney Cruise and our first on the Fantasy! Our last cruise was a 14-night Mediterranean on the Disney Magic -- that was fabulous!

We DEFINITELY want to participate in Fish Extender, which I believe we can organize here, or make another thread for it specifically. Also, on our last cruise I organized a Mixology class, and we also had a meet and greet on boarding day -- both were wonderful. As we get closer to our dates, we can firm these up, I imagine.

Can't wait to meet our fellow cruisers!

-- Sarah (sarahste928)

 

[ladyj0212]

Count us in, Sarah!

This will be our seventh Disney Cruise and our third on the beautiful Disney Fantasy. I'm Julie, and sailing along with me will be my husband and two girls age 9 and 4 at sailing. It's going to be a blast! We would be interested in being part of a fish extender as well. Here's to over a year of planning!

 

[sarahste928]

Hello Julie! Welcome! And if you can't tell, I enjoy the planning almost as much as the cruise. Looking forward to lots of great ideas and thoughts coming from this board to help make the week fabulous!!

 

[LAGACPA]

Hi! I'm Rona. My husband and daughter (14 at the time of sailing) are excited for our 3rd Disney cruise (2nd on the Fantasy)! We are thinking about joining a fish extender group, but have never done it before. We are counting down the days!!! Only 418 to go!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We DEFINITELY want to participate in Fish Extender, which I believe we can organize here, or make another thread for it specifically.

We would be interested in being part of a fish extender as well.

We are thinking about joining a fish extender group, but have never done it before.

It's a bit early to start setting up the Fish Extender group. Typically 6-8 months out is a good time to get things going. Before that, generally, there are a lot of people who, when flush with "I've just booked a Disney cruise" excitement who say "I want to participate" and then you never hear from them again. Often it's because they've cancelled the cruise (due to second thoughts or other circumstances) or they've decided they don't really want to invest the time and money into doing it. Then you wind up with a list full of holes (people who've never come back to drop out).

By about 6-8 months out people are more willing to make the commitment.

Until then, this thread is a great place to talk together about your cruise specifics (ports, excursions, activities, whatever).

I'm including a little info I've put together about setting up a FE group here, for anyone interested:
SETTING UP A FE GROUP
There really are no “rules” as to how a FE program runs. Basically someone will step up and say “I’ll maintain the list”. This means they maintain the list of those who wish to participate. The group can decide on what information is necessary to produce FE gifts. A basic list may only have DISname/room number/number of people in the room. A more involved list could be first & last names/ages/room number/ favorite character/ favorite color/allergies/whatever is deemed necessary to know in order to create the gifts. Also a decision can be made as to size of FE group. Some groups break out the list(s) at 10-15 rooms max, so that there are multiple lists (and some people will participate in more than one list). Other groups just make one big list (upwards of 20-30 rooms).

The easiest, most private way to handle the information necessary to prepare the list (many people prefer not to put sensitive information on a public forum), is to use the “Conversation” feature here. There needs to be at least two people to start a conversation. Only the starter of the conversation (usually the organizer) can add additional people into the conversation (as long as they do NOT select “Allow anyone in the conversation to invite others” at the bottom of the reply window). Then when new people express a desire to join, usually by just saying “we want to join the FE”, the organizer can add them by clicking on the “Invite more” button in the “Conversation Participants” window (lower right of conversation page). Only those people participating in the conversation can see what’s posted there, and respond there. I will also note, to participate in conversations, everyone needs to have at least 10 posts. For those who wish to use this option for private conversations that don’t have 10 posts yet, head over to the Test Board to post and up your post count. http://www.disboards.com/forums/test-board.88/

Up to 20 people can participate in any given conversation.

At some point the list will “close”. Typically this happens 30-45 days out from the cruise, so that everyone participating has time to organize/prepare their gifts. Shortly before this time (about 2-3 weeks prior) the organizer will post the list, either directly on the Cruise Meet thread, OR via private conversation, or, possibly, via e-mails. This is to confirm everyone on the list is still participating. It’s important to make a statement about “anyone not confirming by XX date will be dropped” at this time. A little harsh, yes, but often there are people who will post on the cruise meet thread as soon as they reserve the cruise and say “I want to participate”, and are never heard from again.

Once the list closes, the organizer will post the final list. Also, a decision must be made as to whether to allow late additions. Sometimes there is a “pixie dust” list. That is, basically, a latecomers list that gets posted about a week out from the cruise that others may or may not add to their “final” list. Be sure the “pixie dust” list participants realize they may or may not get gifts from others, but are expected to provide gifts for the other FE participants anyway.

The other “biggie” is no other social media sites are allowed to be linked or search directions posted as to how to find that other site here on DISboards. Please read this: http://www.disboards.com/threads/im...uise-meet-and-fish-extender-programs.3353477/

 

[sarahste928]

Thanks for the insight. As we get closer to the date I'm sure we'll have some volunteers ready to step up and organize. And I'm hoping we'll have other events/etc. as well -- that's been one of the most fun aspects to my other cruises. But of course we'll see how that goes once we get a few months under our belts!! Cheers!

 

[pgrill]

Hi! Wanted to introduce our group. We will be sailing in 2 cabins on deck 7 aft. This will be my 5th cruise (I see gold in my future)! For everyone else it will be their 3rd cruise. Our group includes:
Grandma Paula (me), my adult son CJ, my daughter Julie, her husband Kevin, and my 3 grandkids Sarah 14, Michael 11, and Adam 9 all ages at time of sailing.
We love doing FE! Also on our other cruises we set up a sub group so the kids could get acquainted before the cruise. Maybe we could try to do that for this one too. Counting the days!!

 

[bmalonef45]

Just booked this cruise today. There will be at least 3 families in our group with a total of 13 people so far. Our group is me Bryan, my wife Theresa, son Dillon 17 and daughter Riley 14. There will be 5 more kids in our group with 2 other 17 year olds (one boy one girl) two 13 year olds (boy and girl) and a 12 year old (boy). I'll let each family add their names soon. We are all 6th deck mid. My family's 5th cruise. 3rd and 2nd for the other two groups.

 

[sarahste928]

Welcome Paula and Bryan! Already sounds like we're building a solid group (with a few people "going gold" this cruise!).

Can't wait to get to know you all as we get closer to the sail date!

-- Sarah

 

[Aithne]

Hi! I just joined DIS so I'm still learning my way around, but hubs and I booked our room for this cruise a few nights ago! I'm so excited! I've wanted to do a Disney Cruise since they first started doing cruises and now I get to! This is my 3rd cruise, but it's my first with DCL. I'm traveling with my hubby and my 2 kids (ages 5 & 8).

 

[jakersmom]

Hello all! I just learned about the FEs and definitely want to participate! We will have two adjoining cabins on Deck 7. One will be for my parents who will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary. My son Jake and I will be in the next one. He will be 18 and will have just graduated high school. I'm a DVC member too, and this is our 5th DCL cruise, second on the Fantasy.

Can I suggest getting started 8 months out which will allow us to take advantage of some Christmas specials and such.

This just makes it more exciting, and I can't wait!

Tina

 

[sarahste928]

Hi Aithne and Tina! So glad to have you join us! I am very excited that we're less than a year away! Can't wait to meet everyone.

-- Sarah

 

[Triplemom 99]

Hello future Disney cruise friends! My name is Julie and my DH, Erick, and my daughters (17) will be celebrating their graduation from high school. This will be our 4th Disney cruise after just booking this 1 week after sailing on the Fantasy to Eastern Caribbean. We sailed on the Dream twice before that. Am I to understand that we cannot have a cruise meet on Facebook because they want us to stay on this forum and not post links to other social media sites or is this ban only for advertisers? I am not really experienced with using this forum to communicate...
Thanks!

 

[LynnieFinnie]

Hello all! I'm Lynn and we just booked our second cruise on the Fantasy (did the Eastern Caribbean the last time). We are in a midship cabin on the sixth deck and sailing with me will be my husband and two kids (boy - 12 and girl - 8). I'm starting to get excited for this cruise despite the fact that it's over ten months away!!!

 

[LittleDragon27]

Hi Everyone! My name is Helene and this will be our first cruise on a Disney ship! We heard so many great things from @LynnieFinnie about Disney Cruise Lines that we decided to book when they did! I will be traveling with my family: husband, 8 year old daughter, and 4 year old son! Looking forward to next summer already!

 

[Ayeegit]

Greetings everyone - we are one of the additional families traveling with Bryan (bmalonef45); excited to have a chance to meet some of you virtually in advance!

I'm Kevin, my (way) better half is Ginger, and we've got two daughters; Kayleigh (17) and Gillian (13). This will be our 3rd Disney cruise, and second time aboard the Fantasy. It's a beautiful ship and we can't wait to get back aboard

 

[kareneve99]

Hi, my name is Karen and I am traveling on my first disney cruise but 4th overall for this trip. My husband Jason and I will be bringing our 3 boys ages 10, 5.5 and 5.5 at time of sailing. I have never heard of the fish extensions but it sounds really fun. We have friends going on this cruise as well and it should be a really fun time. So we aren't strangers to cruising but new to disney so it will be fun to see the differences.

 

[KBtimes3]

New to this board...my family (bride Karena , three boys Braden 17,Seth 13 and Jonah 10) and I are looking forward to going on this vacation/adventure with the Malones and meeting you all as well! This is our second cruise and first of this length...let the planning fun begin!

 

[mygdgirls]

We are excited to come back to a disney cruise - This is our 3rd cruise but we are bringing along first timers - My parents and sister... There is a total of 7 of us coming and would like to also be included in the fish extenders...

Mom and Dad (60+)
Sister (30)
Daughters - J & J - (20 and 17 - Turning 18 on the cruise)
Me & Husband (40+)

So excited - just so excited!!

 

[JRandAJsMom]

Hello!!!

So excited to be booking this cruise! We are DVC-ers and try to do a DCL trip every other year. This will be our fifth overall and our fourth on the Fantasy. It's such a beautiful ship!!! We LOVE the Western itinerary and can't wait to get back there!

DH (Chad) and I (Jen) have two boys (Joey, 14 at cruise time and Alex, turning 13 at cruise time). While we aren't officially booked yet (I'm going to do that this week), one of our favorite parts of DCL is our DisBoards groups! We've done FE's every cruise and the "getting to know you" leading up to the trip and the meets when we get there have been the hi light of our DCL experiences! I'm really looking forward to the months ahead and can't wait to get to know the group!