PreTrippie (aka King Charming Takes Hypermommy (and family) on another cruise)

[Hypermommy]

One has to have patience with the muggles in the world. They just don't get it. And I'm past the point of caring! ..... you should see the looks I get becuase of my office

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msb70E2ENjQ

And that video's over a year old... I've got more stuff now! And visitors to the office just stand there with their mouth open for a few minutes. Oh well, maybe Tink'll fly in and sprinkle some pixie dust on their toungue and they'll get it.

 

[Alice_on_WONDERland]

[/QUOTE]

Or .... as a very wise man once said (although you'll never get me to admit it in public ) ... investing in family always brings high returns. You can only spend a dollar once; memories last a lifetime.

[/QUOTE]

I really like that part about "investing in family always bring high return" part! Our cruise in March is all about family together-time and memories that will last a lifetime...can't wait!

 

[jollytammy]

You won't believe how excited I was to see that you're going on another cruise, and that means there will be another trip report! You guys rock!!!

 

[Hypermommy]

You won't believe how excited I was to see that you're going on another cruise, and that means there will be another trip report! You guys rock!!!

Awwwwwww....
/hypermommy blushes

It's only fun becuase you guys are contributing as well. Y'all make it fun to hang out here!

 

[King Charming]

When I finally settled on what week to sail, I knew a travel agent should be consulted. They know where to look for the best price and availability and have several advantages. One of these is that they buy blocks of rooms during first (private?) offering, then later price them lower than what DCL is increasingly selling them for. That being said, I still ran out to the web and checked PricesJimWillPay.com or whatever to find out if it really was a bargain. Darned if most every one of them quoted the same rate (except DCL itself). I was happy with the consistent number and went to tell Hypermommy. When she quickly realized I was serious and settled down a bit (ie. stop crying), she said let me try. Oh yeah Baby, you just go ahead and I'll trot out the well used 'I told ya so' in a few minutes.

Whatta ya mean she's on-line? A travel agent? At night? You're talking with a real TA? Come on, really? So quickly? Yes, a Cat 11, four people. How much? REALLY? Wait a minute, that's nearly $400 under the other quotes. Whoa, have her check again. Dang, how long is that quote good for? DW's Dec 07 week at the parks w/ her Mom was arranged by this TA, and the Pop Century rate she got was fantastic. I see now that this TA really delivers her customers bottom line pricing, and I couldn't be happier. Type in 'NoPlugIntended' for the name of this fine agent. My point is that the price is fluid, and you really should check many sources before you commit to a $XXX onboard credit. Like a car, there are many pricepoints throughout the year and looking around can save you hundreds of dollars. Besides, most all of them offer some amount of onboard credit anyway. I missed out on that last time, but not this time.

 

[Hypermommy]

Yippie for onboard credit!!!!! Otherwise known as free money!!!! Now those of you that read our previous trippies will remember that I'm the queen of spending the same dollar several times. I wonder how many times these dollars will get spent. Shhhhhhhh, don't tell KC. Actually, it's not usually intentional but I do realize it's something that I do.

And yes, it was quite fun to actually get the TA on IM and start asking about pricing and stuff. Especially when the price came in so much lower. I get so few chances to be right when going up against KC because he really is right about 95% of the time. So believe you me I revel in those times when I win. Of course, I know I should just stop trying but there just a little bit (a bit!?!?) of a competative streak in me.

Well, it turns out DS13 (have to get used to typing that) wants to go to Hell again. I'm not quite sure why, but since this was the least expensive of our excursions I'm willing to agree to it (thanks to KC's research and knowing that if we walk just a few blocks we can get a ride out there for significantly less money). But I have to ask KC if he can ask the cabbie (hope we get Mr. Beep-Beep again) if we can have more than 15 minutes there. Last time the only thing I had time to do was to mail some postcards. I still want to mail postcards -- it's just too cool to pass up the opportunity to send mom a card that's postmarked from Hell. But I want to get some of my own pictures of the rock formations and actually lay eyes on them this time.

I think it's time to start a packing list.... I'll have to start that soon and then post it here for everyone's comments. I know that everyone says pack what you think you'll need and the take about half of that out. I dunno... we had a bit more clothes than we needed but not a lot. We'll just have to see. Lawd knows we have the luggage now! I now own more luggage of various types than I've ever owned in my entire life!! Sounds like a reason to travel to me ... wouldn't want it to go to waste!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I'm adding two items to our packing list for our upcoming cruise that we haven't used before -- actually, it's two of the same -- small magnetic dry-erase marker boards -- one for inside the cabin door to leave msgs for the DS's to know where we are and for them to let us know where they are, and the other for outside the cabin door for our DIS friends (and others) to leave us msgs (and hope it doesn't walk away).

 

[Hypermommy]

I'm adding two items to our packing list for our upcoming cruise that we haven't used before -- actually, it's two of the same -- small magnetic dry-erase marker boards -- one for inside the cabin door to leave msgs for the DS's to know where we are and for them to let us know where they are, and the other for outside the cabin door for our DIS friends (and others) to leave us msgs (and hope it doesn't walk away).

Great idea! We had a DE board inside the room last time and James did use it a time or two to let us know where he was. I've seen them on doors and have been considering it. I'll be interested to know how it works out for you (whether people actually use it or if it stays blank most of the time). When is your cruise again? Let me know how it goes, could you? Thanks.

 

[mommyarewegoingback]

Wow am I already behind? You have a PreTrip Report already! Just kidding, now I can follow your plan and make sure I keep up with you since this will be my first Disney Cruise. You're great Hypermommy. You make it "okay" for me to think about what I want to do for FE's and really? can I really start a packing list for 11/09? my DH will think I'm insane. I'll be looking forward to your pretrip report!

 

[nzdisneymom]

We're going Christmas -- and sssshhhhh... it's a surprise for the boys so don't tell your DS13 (yikes - that is weird to type teenager numbers). We are going to Port Canaveral as soon as school is out for the holidays - we'll go 10 to 95 which is how we go when we visit grandma, so hopefully they won't notice that we head south at Jax instead of north Of course at just over 90 days to go, I've still got plenty of time to blab.

One tip we found that worked well for us was to hang wet swimsuits on hangers and then hang those in the bathroom with the tub - they seems to dry better that way than any other way we would hang them. We do that at hotels now, too. Maybe it's just a girl thing, but I don't like putting on a wet swimsuit. As much as the boys have grown, I'm glad I have their next-size-up swim trunks already just in case they need them.

The one thing I haven't seen is water shoes - I looked briefly at Walmart yesterday but might've missed them. They both need a new pair, especially since I am pretty sure we'll end up doing a dolphin encounter at Cozumel. Although DH might rather do a historic / sight-seeing tour -- remind me, did you guys do your Cozumel ruins tour through DCL? If so, which tour was it?

 

[Hypermommy]

Wow am I already behind? You have a PreTrip Report already! Just kidding, now I can follow your plan and make sure I keep up with you since this will be my first Disney Cruise. You're great Hypermommy. You make it "okay" for me to think about what I want to do for FE's and really? can I really start a packing list for 11/09? my DH will think I'm insane. I'll be looking forward to your pretrip report!

Girlfriend, trust me.. they already think we're insane. I figure with nothing to lose I might as well play on the insanity angle! So what are your FE plans? Gonna make it or buy it? I made mine last time. I ran out of time to sew it so I just used a hot glue gun to put it together. And then I printed out a picture for each of us, laminated it and then hot glued that to the front. Some of the glue didn't make it through the whole week so I had to go down to guest services and borrow a stapler to do some repairs. I'm gonna use the same FE this time except I'll redo the pictures on the front and I'll sew it. Hopefully 13+ months (ha ha ha!!! we're not at 14 months anymore!!!!!) will be enough time for me to find an hour or so in which I can do some sewing.

We're going Christmas -- and sssshhhhh... it's a surprise for the boys so don't tell your DS13 (yikes - that is weird to type teenager numbers). .......

One tip we found that worked well for us was to hang wet swimsuits on hangers and then hang those in the bathroom with the tub ......

since I am pretty sure we'll end up doing a dolphin encounter at Cozumel. Although DH might rather do a historic / sight-seeing tour -- remind me, did you guys do your Cozumel ruins tour through DCL? If so, which tour was it?

Yes, we did the Cozumel tour through DCL. It was the whole 8 hour thing or whatever. We got off the boat at Cozumel and then took a smaller boat to Playa del Carma (I believe it was). That took about 45 minutes. Then we got on a bus for a 45-60 minute drive to the ruins. We had a few hours at the ruins and an EXCELLENT tour guide for the first part of it and then free time afterwards. It was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it.

However, if you end up doing dolphin encounter please let me know all about it. DS13's thinking about it. We told the boys that we weren't paying for excursions and if they want to do something they have to earn the money for it. 13+ months is plenty of time for him to earn $150 -- if he applies himself. If not, well, consider it a life lesson I guess (and KC, you'll have to keep me strong on this because you know I'm the marshmallow mom). Anyway, but let me know how it goes for you becuase I've heard good and bad about the dolphin encounter, mostly based on the weather. I won't let him spend that much money if I don't think it'll be worth it. Especially when I'm sure he could do something with dolphins elsewhere. Don't they have something at The Living Seas (er, um, the Seas with Nemo and Friends -- they should never have left Seabase Alpha, even though I love Crush's show)?

I haven't said anything to DS13 about your trip and won't because I know he'd slip.

Great idea on the swimsuits!!! I'll defintely have to use it. I'll suggest it to the boys but after that it's up to them to do it and if they don't, they get to wear wet swimsuits. I just realized yesterday how lucky I'm going to be with the timing of our trip. I was at Walmart the other day and they have swimsuit pieces on sale for like $2 or $3 each. I thought about getting one but I didn't want to at the time becuase I'm GONNA lose weight before this trip. I'd resigned myself to not getting a good deal on a swimsuit but then I remembered... we're going in November. I can buy a swimsuit at the end of next season and it'll be one that will definitely make me one hot momma by the pool.

 

[laura001]

Girlfriend, trust me.. they already think we're insane. I figure with nothing to lose I might as well play on the insanity angle! So what are your FE plans? Gonna make it or buy it? I made mine last time. I ran out of time to sew it so I just used a hot glue gun to put it together. And then I printed out a picture for each of us, laminated it and then hot glued that to the front. Some of the glue didn't make it through the whole week so I had to go down to guest services and borrow a stapler to do some repairs. I'm gonna use the same FE this time except I'll redo the pictures on the front and I'll sew it. Hopefully 13+ months (ha ha ha!!! we're not at 14 months anymore!!!!!) will be enough time for me to find an hour or so in which I can do some sewing.



Yes, we did the Cozumel tour through DCL. It was the whole 8 hour thing or whatever. We got off the boat at Cozumel and then took a smaller boat to Playa del Carma (I believe it was). That took about 45 minutes. Then we got on a bus for a 45-60 minute drive to the ruins. We had a few hours at the ruins and an EXCELLENT tour guide for the first part of it and then free time afterwards. It was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it.

However, if you end up doing dolphin encounter please let me know all about it. DS13's thinking about it. We told the boys that we weren't paying for excursions and if they want to do something they have to earn the money for it. 13+ months is plenty of time for him to earn $150 -- if he applies himself. If not, well, consider it a life lesson I guess (and KC, you'll have to keep me strong on this because you know I'm the marshmallow mom). Anyway, but let me know how it goes for you becuase I've heard good and bad about the dolphin encounter, mostly based on the weather. I won't let him spend that much money if I don't think it'll be worth it. Especially when I'm sure he could do something with dolphins elsewhere. Don't they have something at The Living Seas (er, um, the Seas with Nemo and Friends -- they should never have left Seabase Alpha, even though I love Crush's show)?

I haven't said anything to DS13 about your trip and won't because I know he'd slip.

Great idea on the swimsuits!!! I'll defintely have to use it. I'll suggest it to the boys but after that it's up to them to do it and if they don't, they get to wear wet swimsuits. I just realized yesterday how lucky I'm going to be with the timing of our trip. I was at Walmart the other day and they have swimsuit pieces on sale for like $2 or $3 each. I thought about getting one but I didn't want to at the time becuase I'm GONNA lose weight before this trip. I'd resigned myself to not getting a good deal on a swimsuit but then I remembered... we're going in November. I can buy a swimsuit at the end of next season and it'll be one that will definitely make me one hot momma by the pool.

I have been bouncing back and forth about this excursion (ruins in Cozomel). Our trip is just DH and I, we love to do tours and history and all that stuff so the ruins seem like a no brainer for us.....BUT....the time spent traveling seems to be a lot, plus an 8 hour day seems to be overwhelming. Also, we have heard of a Mexican cooking class that the reports on are just SUPER, travel time less, and also time that we could be on the beach for awhile too! The other thing about the cooking class is that you have to be over 16 or 18, can't remember and I am thinking that perhaps DH (who I am dragging on this trip for our 25th) could use some time with only adults....hmmmm??? (editing to say....I never thought I should do a pre-trip report, but after typing this perhaps I should...lol)

 

[nzdisneymom]

Also, we have heard of a Mexican cooking class that the reports on are just SUPER, travel time less, and also time that we could be on the beach for awhile too! The other thing about the cooking class is that you have to be over 16 or 18, can't remember and I am thinking that perhaps DH (who I am dragging on this trip for our 25th) could use some time with only adults....hmmmm???

I was thinking it's 14+ for the cooking class - i would love to do it, but I know we'll need Cozumel to be a "family day".... if we'd been to Cozumel before, then I would do the cooking class in a heart-beat.

Hypermommy - I am guessing I should scoot on back over to WM to check out their swimwear clearance -- I didn't even browse through the women's dept.

 

[Hypermommy]

I was thinking it's 14+ for the cooking class - i would love to do it, but I know we'll need Cozumel to be a "family day".... if we'd been to Cozumel before, then I would do the cooking class in a heart-beat.

Hypermommy - I am guessing I should scoot on back over to WM to check out their swimwear clearance -- I didn't even browse through the women's dept.

Unfortunately, I didn't see the racks out by the registers when I was over there at lunch yesterday. Don't know if they got rid of all they thought they were going to or what. But a trip to Wallyworld is never a bad thing, right?

Laura, don't be concerned about your hubby getting only adult time. There really are plenty of places that are adults only. Kids are seldom up around the adult pool (maybe just walking down from the b'ball courts on deck 10 but they don't hang out in the adult area) and you really can't hear the other pools from there. Of course there's Serenity Bay and the entire club area (oh, come on brain... it's not Beat Street...that's on the Wonder, ain't it???). You know.. the area where Rockin' Bar D and all of those clubs are. That's completely adults only and there's only a couple of ways in and out of that whole "block" of the ship.

And yes... you should write a pre-trippie... everyone should!!!

 

[laura001]

Unfortunately, I didn't see the racks out by the registers when I was over there at lunch yesterday. Don't know if they got rid of all they thought they were going to or what. But a trip to Wallyworld is never a bad thing, right?

Laura, don't be concerned about your hubby getting only adult time. There really are plenty of places that are adults only. Kids are seldom up around the adult pool (maybe just walking down from the b'ball courts on deck 10 but they don't hang out in the adult area) and you really can't hear the other pools from there. Of course there's Serenity Bay and the entire club area (oh, come on brain... it's not Beat Street...that's on the Wonder, ain't it???). You know.. the area where Rockin' Bar D and all of those clubs are. That's completely adults only and there's only a couple of ways in and out of that whole "block" of the ship.

And yes... you should write a pre-trippie... everyone should!!!

I know that he is really concerned that we are going on a cruise ship that is in his words...."for kids", and yes he knows that his wife is a BIG kid! lol That is the reason I thought he would really enjoy the cooking class vs. the ruins. Plus I wanted to have time to do some shopping etc., and I think that after 8 hours of doing the ruins we might not have time to do that.

Oh,.........by the way....just started my pre trip report!!! Link is in my sig!

 

[Hypermommy]

I'm so heading that way right now!

 

[MaryAz]

Hmm, no where do I see "babysit minMaryAz" on the things to do list. Must have been an oversight

Happy belated birthday to the DS 13.

We are thinking of taking the "big one" on a dolphin excursion. She and hubby will go snorkeling at some point. The "mini" taught herself to swim this summer so she will be out swimming too.

We are "supposed" to meet up with in inlaws in Cozumel. They are great "thinkers" but not such good "executers"

I need to subscribe to this so I don not miss updates, I was behind!

 

[Hypermommy]

Hmm, no where do I see "babysit minMaryAz" on the things to do list. Must have been an oversight

Well... not exactly.... my favorite kind of babies are give back babies. You know the kind... when they need changing or are fussy or something you give 'em back to dey mommas! I did my thing with being tied down to watching children and don't want to go back. If I'm doing any tying it's gonna be tying one on!

Besides... there's all the kids activities. Surely she'd much prefer to hang out with other kids than to hang out with an old lady like me? She'd be in Flounders, right? I have no experience at all with that, of course. Is it not somewhere that the kids end up being most of the time or what?

But... that being said... whenever I do see that baby I hope she lets me make just the biggest fuss over her. Here's some naners to make her smile for now.

Happy belated birthday to the DS 13.

I'll pass it along. He's SOOO proud to be a teenager.

We are thinking of taking the "big one" on a dolphin excursion. She and hubby will go snorkeling at some point. The "mini" taught herself to swim this summer so she will be out swimming too.

Where are you thinking of doing the dolphins?

We are "supposed" to meet up with in inlaws in Cozumel. They are great "thinkers" but not such good "executers"

Oh joy... you go on vacation so you can meet up with the inlaws? Is this something that you're about or is it more like or even ?

I need to subscribe to this so I don not miss updates, I was behind!

Well, I'm a bit behind too.... but I've got a while to get my packing lists together. But I do think it's time I start. Maybe I can do some of that this evening.

 

[MaryAz]

Well... not exactly.... my favorite kind of babies are give back babies. You know the kind... when they need changing or are fussy or something you give 'em back to dey mommas! I did my thing with being tied down to watching children and don't want to go back. If I'm doing any tying it's gonna be tying one on!

Besides... there's all the kids activities. Surely she'd much prefer to hang out with other kids than to hang out with an old lady like me? She'd be in Flounders, right? I have no experience at all with that, of course. Is it not somewhere that the kids end up being most of the time or what?

She is actually going to be in the Lab. Hopefully I can keep my 5 year old with her. I will not say much more about that since it cause controversy around her and I know MANY are reading your report. She will be potty trained by then-we started this week.

But... that being said... whenever I do see that baby I hope she lets me make just the biggest fuss over her. Here's some naners to make her smile for now.

She willlet ya love all over her I am sure. She is very friendly and loves people.


I'll pass it along. He's SOOO proud to be a teenager.



Where are you thinking of doing the dolphins?

I guess Grand Cayman since the other days are either sea or CC

Oh joy... you go on vacation so you can meet up with the inlaws? Is this something that you're about or is it more like or even ?

I am kinda in the middle. They are very nice people just not that "hands on" My MIL likes to shop though

Well, I'm a bit behind too.... but I've got a while to get my packing lists together. But I do think it's time I start. Maybe I can do some of that this evening.

Also, we did have a DE board outside the door and we got notes from fellow Diser'smultiple times a day. That was fun. Can't wait to check out ur packing lists.

 

[MaryAz]

Hmmm I am a little lost on the quoting thing. Hope it made sense.