November 17, 2013 - 4-night Dream Cruise to Bahamas

[dizzyr]

Is anyone planning on doing any excursions on the cruise?

My oldest dd and I are planning on parasailing at Castaway Cay and I have a secret goal of being able to do the 5K so I think that's enough that day. Was thinking about a Cabana if we could book one but not sure it's worth the $$. Would love to find someone to split it with.

For Nassau we booked the comfort suites so we could spend the day at Atlantis but now after reading more and more reports about the crime in Nassau I'm not sure I want to be taking a taxi there and back (which is not like me at all - normally I'm a throw caution to the wind kind of gal)

My dh suggested I cancel the hotel and book a massage or something at the spa since that day will be my birthday. I hate the idea of not getting off the ship and seeing somewhere new and really want to check out the straw market though so I might just get off and do a little shopping then take advantage of the smaller crowds on the ship - still undecided.

 

[rgcook]

I feel the exact same way! At first I was so excited to stop at Nassau but after doing some research, I'm a little scared to get off the ship with my kids

Not really sure about other excursions yet! We'll be at Disney World for 10 days before so we may just try to relax and wing it on the Cruise!

 

[rgcook]

Are any adults thinking of participating in the FE Exchange???

 

[dizzyr]

I will be! If everyone who originally said they would like to participate (before I said I would organize it) does I think we'll have quite a few adults participating. Fingers crossed

 

[rgcook]

Oh goody!! I've got some great ideas for the adults too!!

Maybe it's too early for most people to be planning their trips?? I'm Disney crazy and because we are DVC Members, I'm used to planning a year before! LOL!!

Hopefully if we keep some activity on this thread and keep it bumped to the first page, people will find us

I thought to make the FE easier to keep track of, those who are interested can copy and paste the below info, with the persons info ahead of them, to keep it in all one place Just add entries for additional children.

Family Name: Cook
Room#9590
Names of Adults Participating: Glenn & Rebecca
#1 Childs Name: Cassie
Age: 11
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Stitch, Ariel & Tigger

#2 Childs Name: Jesse
Age: 9
Girl/Boy: Boy
Favourite Characters: Buzz, Fantasmic Mickey, Lightening McQueen
________________________

Family Name:
Room#
Names of Adults Participating:
#1 Childs Name:
Age:
Girl/Boy:
Favourite Characters:

#2 Childs Name:
Age:
Girl/Boy:
Favourite Characters:

 

[dizzyr]

Thanks that's awesome! I got an excel spreadsheet from someone who's organized a bunch so I can pop the info in the file and then send it to everyone.

 

[rgcook]

FISH EXTENDERS: Copy and Paste the entire list to keep it in all one place
______________________

Family Name: Cook
Room#9590
Names of Adults Participating: Glenn & Rebecca
#1 Childs Name: Cassie
Age: 11
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Stitch, Ariel & Tigger

#2 Childs Name: Jesse
Age: 9
Girl/Boy: Boy
Favourite Characters: Buzz, Fantasmic Mickey, Lightening McQueen

Special Notes:
________________________

Family Name: Taylor
Room#5546
Names of Adults Participating: 2
#1 Childs Name: Emily
Age: 10 (will be 11 the day after the cruise)
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Merida and Piglet

#2 Childs Name: Sarah
Age: 7
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Mickey, Rapunzel and Pascal

Special Notes: With the exception of Merida and Rapunzel neither one of them are "into" the princesses.
________________________

Family Name:
Room#
Names of Adults Participating:
#1 Childs Name:
Age:
Girl/Boy:
Favourite Characters:

#2 Childs Name:
Age:
Girl/Boy:
Favourite Characters:

Special Notes:

 

[jgscott55313]

We are really excited for the cruise. We are trying to pull this off as a total surprise for the kids. Waking them up early in the morning the day before and not telling them anything until we get to the airport and then giving them T-shirts on the plane. Hopefully we can keep it a secret until November.

I also just put in a request to join the Facebook site, can't wait to see how all this works out.

Family Name: Scott
Room# 8524
Names of Adults Participating: Joel & Amy
#1 Childs Name: Connor
Age:14
Girl/Boy: Boy
Favourite Characters: Captain Jack, Buzz

#2 Childs Name: Anabelle
Age: 4
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Cinderella, Belle, Ariel

Special Notes:
________________________

Family Name: Cook
Room#9590
Names of Adults Participating: Glenn & Rebecca
#1 Childs Name: Cassie
Age: 11
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Stitch, Ariel & Tigger

#2 Childs Name: Jesse
Age: 9
Girl/Boy: Boy
Favourite Characters: Buzz, Fantasmic Mickey, Lightening McQueen

Special Notes:
________________________

Family Name: Taylor
Room#5546
Names of Adults Participating: 2
#1 Childs Name: Emily
Age: 10 (will be 11 the day after the cruise)
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Merida and Piglet

#2 Childs Name: Sarah
Age: 7
Girl/Boy: Girl
Favourite Characters: Mickey, Rapunzel and Pascal

Special Notes: With the exception of Merida and Rapunzel neither one of them are "into" the princesses.
________________________

Family Name:
Room#
Names of Adults Participating:
#1 Childs Name:
Age:
Girl/Boy:
Favourite Characters:

#2 Childs Name:
Age:
Girl/Boy:
Favourite Characters:

Special Notes:

 

[rgcook]

Keeping this thread bumped for any newbies looking for us

 

[Carolinehammond]

Sorry newbie here again, so sorry for the stupid questions.
What sort of things do people put in the bag!
Is it things from native country, for example we are from the UK, so if we are given a family from Canada for example with a girl into Tigger, would we put maybe a Tigger dressed in a UK flag for example
Then things from the UK, like sweets etc you can only get here! Then nice things for the adults.

I am lost! If I am way off track please someone help, don't want to get it all wrong! Lol
Thanks
Caroline

 

[Carolinehammond]

Sorry me again.
Does anyone have a photo of an FE they took part in before so I can see!

 

[dizzyr]

I'm on my phone so can't link but I will when I get to work.

The ideas you suggested sound great. I know that in the US and probably UK the candy that we in Canada call smarties aren't available so I'll be including a little snack size box in all the kids fe's. (not sure what the rest of it will be yet).

I've never taken part in one but I've done lots of secret Santa exchanges and its like that. It looks like our group will be nice and small so I think that will give us more flexibility - I've seen some threads where they get up to 100 people! Eeek! The things to consider are 1. Cost - some people have hundreds to spend and some have way less - we want everyone to be able to participate at the level they are comfortable. 2. Transporting - they gotta get to the ship somehow so if you are flying size and weight are a big factor 3. Crafty or not - some people (like me) will make all or part of their fe and some will buy it all. 4. Disney or not - a lot of people like to keep it Disney themed since its a Disney cruise but its certainly not required.

I think I made a rough calculation that if everyone in the thread who posted so far signed up we'd have about 23 adults and 15 kids or something like that.

There's a bunch of good threads someone posted for me when u was asking about it, when I get to work I'll find them and link them here.

 

[dizzyr]

This one has some photos of the FE's themselves (the actual pockets you hang)

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33184281&postcount=2

This one shows some things people have given as gifts

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2907032&highlight=fish+extender

 

[Carolinehammond]

Right so can someone tell me if I am correct on how this works.
We either make or buy something for every person who takes part! Then wander around the ship placing the gifts in all the pouches hanging outside doors?

So I presume someone makes a detailed list of everyone taking part, and their room numbers! As I would hate to put something girls in a pouch for a boy, or the other way round!

This is very confusing! But exciting too!

 

[jgscott55313]

Hey, welcome and I can totally relate to your questions and concerns.

First, if you search the web for something like "Disney cruise fish extender" you'll learn a lot. One of the most important things you'll learn is that this is all about the thought and not really the actual gift. I see some of the stuff on line and think, wow that is really over the top. Like dizzyr said, you have to keep in mind how many people/families will be involved and how you will get the stuff to the ship. Ive seen a wide range of things from gifts relating to where people are from to in room survival kits.

To your questions,

It can be either, you decide. Some people do it for each person, some do it for the family, It's your choice.

As far as delivery, I've seen that people do them all on one day or may do a deck or two per day. Again, you and your family decide what works for you.

I believe dizzyr is taking care of collecting the info for those joining. There is a post above to include your info, then well get a final list later on.

Finally keep in mind this should be fun, not stressful. Its about getting back to your room and finding that some thought about you and your family and passing that along to another family.

 

[rgcook]

I've got my orders in for FE gifts! So excited!!

 

[rgcook]

Beginning to wonder if this will be a Ghost Cruise........where is everyone??

Keeping this thread bumped for newbies

 

[dizzyr]

Beginning to wonder if this will be a Ghost Cruise........where is everyone??

Keeping this thread bumped for newbies

I'm holding out hope that as we get closer some of the people who posted originally will come back!

If not we'll have to celebrate enough for everyone!

 

[rgcook]

HA!! Great idea - I'm in!!

I'm sure there will be more people soon - I'm just so excited and am a planner by nature. Meanwhile, I'll have to work more on my patience

 

[dizzyr]

HA!! Great idea - I'm in!!

I'm sure there will be more people soon - I'm just so excited and am a planner by nature. Meanwhile, I'll have to work more on my patience

I think the reason I was so happy my dh finally looked at our planned itinerary and changed it was because I got to plan more! LOL I was getting bored since everything was already planned out.