Thanksgiving 2014--Nov 22 to Nov 29, 2014 Disney Fantasy 7 Night Eastern Caribbean

[pandamil]

It is like a secret Santa gift exchange with others on the cruise. You sign up through the message board and exchange information. You'll be given details of everyone in the group and any specifics to preferences or allergies. You can decide to give a gift to the whole cabin or to each individual, the choice is yours. Here is a link to a gift idea thread.


You will make or buy a pocket organizer to hang on the fish hook that is outside of your cabin door. Most will make one pocket per person in the cabin. If you google or search on this board, you'll find a lot of pictures.

This sounds like so much fun! Has anyone ever had an issue with items being stolen from their pocket organizers?

 

[racingfandj]

This sounds like so much fun! Has anyone ever had an issue with items being stolen from their pocket organizers?

Yes, there have been some suspected issues of items missing, just like reports of magnets being stolen off of doors. It is good to get by and check them regularly.

In my opinion, there's not really a way to tell though what you should get and shouldn't get, so it would be hard to tell if something had been taken. I don't personally keep a list or count of how many deliveries we received compared to how many we took. The kids and I are just excited every time we look and find something in it.

 

[chiburple]

I posted on facebook, but I wanted to share here as well. I'm looking into the possibility of setting up a Champagne Girls event for us (My opinion is that men should be welcome too). If you're interested, please sign up here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...MGl5dC1EQXI5enlqd1paWTJWalE&usp=sharing#gid=0

We need at least 30 participants before DCL will do this for us.

 

[txmommy34]

We would like to be included in the FE list also!

Scott

Scott-sent you a PM. I've added you but need a little more info, please.

 

[txmommy34]

Hi Everyone,

we just moved a dummy booking to this sailing!!! yes!! We did this bc my DH's boat SHOULD be in, and my kids have off from school!!!

Me: (41 at time of sailing) Disney freak foreva!!! (think slight boston accent) was a SAHM, just recently got a job.. yay me!!! so, now I am an Accountant again. this will be my 10th Disney cruise!!!

DH: (40 at time of sailing) AD Coast Guard, also Disney freak (though, not as big as me ).. 7th cruise

DS: (5 at time of sailing) Loves all things Cars and Disney.. oh and Pirates, LOVES pirates, (esp Jake) 5th cruise (I know.. I have an issue)

DD: (4 at time of sailing) loves all things princess... and randomly kissing people in the hallways of the ship.. (yes, this happened for real on our last cruise (10/12/13) 5th cruise (now you know I REALLY have a problem)

We are interested, my DH and I in the mixology class for sure and the FE group.

Wanted an 8a but they were sold out, went with a 9A I believe... In any event, we have a room number and all..

We currently live in Orlando, but I am originally from MA, DH was born in FL (traveled around and spent the majority of his childhood in WI) and now my kids are I suppose gypsies.. thanks CG.. all joking aside... they haven't spent much time in one place.. seriously!

We are excited to have moved our booking to this cruise!!!

Hi, Kelly!
I would love to add you to the FE group, but I need more information. I think I sent you a PM. Can you check & respond?
Thanks!

 

[rnylin]

Hey guys,
We are so excited to be cruising for Thanksgiving this year. Its our 3rd cruise. We will have a 2 year old and a 5 year old! I would love to sign-up for a FE. Do y'all have a FB group?

 

[pdarrah]

Eeek! Southwest just opened their schedule up yesterday through the rest of the year. Flying home from this cruise is going to be expensive!

Do to high school schedule, we need to be home before Monday, so looks like we will have to bite the bullet and pay. My parents are thinking of staying in Florida until Tuesday to visit family since the airfares go back to normal by then...

 

[txmommy34]

Hey guys,
We are so excited to be cruising for Thanksgiving this year. Its our 3rd cruise. We will have a 2 year old and a 5 year old! I would love to sign-up for a FE. Do y'all have a FB group?

We do have a FB group. Here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/529905517044759/
You'll have to request an add but Joanna or I will usually confirm pretty quickly.

For FE, I'm organizing a group-we actually have 2 already. Just message me with the following info, please. (or you can message me on FB after you join that group, if you prefer)
Family Name:
Adults' First Names:
Kids' First Names & Ages at sailing:
Cabin Number (if known):
Any allergies or special celebrations:
Email address:

Eeek! Southwest just opened their schedule up yesterday through the rest of the year. Flying home from this cruise is going to be expensive!

Do to high school schedule, we need to be home before Monday, so looks like we will have to bite the bullet and pay. My parents are thinking of staying in Florida until Tuesday to visit family since the airfares go back to normal by then...

That's a bummer on SW prices. We were pleasantly surprised Monday because we can finally fly nonstop from Dallas to Orlando on SW! Long story, but there was a stupid thing called the Wright Amendment that prevented airlines flying from the Dallas Love Field airport from flying nonstop to any states that aren't adjacent to TX. Gotta love politicians. :roll eyes: Anyway, our flights were a TON cheaper than the last few times we've flown!

Now we just have to purchase our MVMCP party tickets for Nov. 21st and we will be all set until PIF date!

 

[pdarrah]

That's a bummer on SW prices. We were pleasantly surprised Monday because we can finally fly nonstop from Dallas to Orlando on SW! Long story, but there was a stupid thing called the Wright Amendment that prevented airlines flying from the Dallas Love Field airport from flying nonstop to any states that aren't adjacent to TX. Gotta love politicians. :roll eyes: Anyway, our flights were a TON cheaper than the last few times we've flown!

Now we just have to purchase our MVMCP party tickets for Nov. 21st and we will be all set until PIF date!

I remember the Wright Amendment - I used to travel a lot for work & it was always a pain flying to Dallas. Glad it is finally gone!

We usually have reasonably priced flights. We live near Chicago and have under 1 hour drive to either major airport. There are many direct flights to Orlando. The flights we booked yesterday are more than double what we usually pay - ouch! Some frequent flyer points helped a little, but its still far more than I was thinking it would be.

I so wish we could to the MVMCP party. We used to do this every year the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend. Now, with school schedules, we have only managed it once in the last 10 years. We are flying down LATE on the 21st (after school) so not an option. If this past year was anything to go by, he will have all sorts of tests & projects due those last couple days before the holiday week. Last year, he had very little homework over the week off, so my fingers are crossed for that again this year.

 

[txmommy34]

This week I have booked flights, bought MVMCP tix, & reserved our rental car. I couldn't believe how expensive one-way, one-day rentals are! Granted, we need a minivan, but the cheapest I found (after entering lots of different discount codes) was on Budget: 11/21-11/22 for $80 and 11/29 for $115. I don't know why that 11/29 number is so high. I'm trying to figure out what else we could do for that day, but we want to go to DTD for a few hours before our 5:00 pm flight.

 

[Tinkybell14]

Argh! (practicing for this Pirates and Pilgrims theme!). Anyway, I too am shocked by the prices for flights and rental cars around this cruise. I booked on SWA this morning from BWI - MCO for the 21st and that wasn't too bad $196pp). But, I'm still going to have to get a rental car for Friday night one-way to the Port Saturday which I've found for as low as $45. And then another rental car for after the cruise + hotel because we HAVE to spend time at DTD.

The killer is getting home after this cruise. Yikes. Our plan has changed already 4 times today, lol. First we tried flights home on the 30th. WAY too expensive ($450pp). Then we tried a one-way rental from Budget (mini-wan - $600). Then I looked at flying into alternate airports (not worth the effort) and now I think we've settled on leaving here in our own car on Thursday the 20th and driving both directions. This means I'll have SWA $ so I have to plan another trip. Bummer.

Didn't mean to dump all my travel woes on you all, just thought I could commiserate with fellow cruisers who are likely going through the same issues with getting to/from the fun part!

 

[Lucky3]

We are also going going this cruise! So excited! I just requested to join the Facebook page as well.

DD will be 15
DS will be 10

 

[pdarrah]

Welcome Lucky3! We seem to have a surprising number of mid-teens for this cruise

LOL Tinkybell14, we thought about driving for about 3 seconds. We are near Chicago, so it would be about 20 hrs to drive straight through, so it actually isn't really possible. We can't leave until after school on Friday and I don't want to start our cruise totally exhausted from the drive anyway. We also considered renting a car just to drive back, but although there is a little more time to get back before school on Monday, we would then arrive home from our vacation stressed and exhausted. We ended up shelling out $465 per person for just the return flights. We usually pay under $350 for round trip

I knew this would be more expensive than our other DCL cruises, due to the time of year (we have usually cruised in the fall off-season or in January) but with the kid now in High School that just isn't an option any more. The cost for this trip is starting to approach what we paid for the 15-day Panama canal trip (although that was 6 years ago so it would probably cost more today).

Oh well, this may be our last DCL cruise until he is out of High School, so I'm just rolling with it.

 

[lawflyfish]

I can't believe that we cruise in 5 months! This will be our 5th cruise, and our second on the Fantasy! We love this ship!

I'm Lora, a mom, personal trainer, hypnotherapist, professional dancer and Angel Reader.

Shawn is my hubby, he's a lawyer and he loves to fish.

Connor is my 16 year old son. He's super smart, loves history, violin, trumpet and lives for Marching Band. Computer games are a top priority for him too.

Cody is my 14 year old son. He also lives for Marching Band and he plays clarinet and piano and loves history and everything old fashioned. He should be a costume designer!

Can't wait to chat and to meet everyone!

 

[pdarrah]

Hi lawflyfish,

Welcome

This is also my family's 2nd cruise on the Fantasy (our 6th DCL). My 15yo son also plays the violin and is very into video games. I can't say he loves history in general, but he really likes ancient history (Egypt, China, Rome, etc.) so maybe they can find some common ground

 

[lawflyfish]

I can't believe the prices for airline tickets! From Denver to MCO we are looking at $600-900 per person for crappy times! Why is this year so different!

I just found the FB link, thanks for doing that!

Yes, there are a lot of teens on this cruise which will make it fun for all!

I am at home scrapbooking my last Disney Crusie right now. Every time we take a trip I promise myself not to take too many pictures and every trip I take about 10,000 pictures. Oh well!

have a beautiful day!

 

[racingfandj]

Good news and bad news. We are jumping ship(s). Antlawn and I will both be dropping from the FE...sorry. Airfare finally opened up and was looking outrageous, like others have commented.

I was poking around and found really cheap flights from a close airport, but disembarking and getting to it in AM would be extremely tight. We are moving to the Wonder. Saving thousands between airfare and cruise fare and only losing 2 nights cruising.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[txmommy34]

Good news and bad news. We are jumping ship(s). Antlawn and I will both be dropping from the FE...sorry. Airfare finally opened up and was looking outrageous, like others have commented.

I was poking around and found really cheap flights from a close airport, but disembarking and getting to it in AM would be extremely tight. We are moving to the Wonder. Saving thousands between airfare and cruise fare and only losing 2 nights cruising.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Glad you were able to save money! Sorry we won't get to cruise with you. Best of luck!

 

[myfamilyof3]

Woooo hooooo!

I can't believe we are 153 days from departure time! We are so excited. We are on the website right now making plans. We have never cruised on the Fantasy but we did honeymoon on the Magic and then we cruised to the Mexican Riviera with our then 2.5 years old. Well she is now going to be 6 and has earned her ears! Fully Disney'fied!

It is also going to be our first time participating in the FE... I have no clue what I have gotten myself into but it sounds like fun!

COME ON NOVEMBER!!

- Maribel (me), Jon (dh), & Reagan (dd)

 

[shreaves]

Hey all - it being 5 months to go today I checked back in on the boards. I looked briefly over the past couple pages of posts.

Would love to join others in a Mixology, Rum, or Whiskey class.

I saw something earlier that there were several DISigners in our group - any chance someone much more artistic than me might make up something pilgrims and pirates for this cruise? Would love to make some magnets and shirts like previous cruises. Makes for fun building up to the day for family and boarding pictures!

Any other Masons in the list? Always like to meet another brother.

Hope all is well and the countdown is on!!!!