Who's in for GREECE and TURKEY, June 15 2003????

[DL1957]

Just want to stop in and say hi! We booked this trip on Day 1 along with two other families but wasn't sure if we'll actually do it. With the PIF date next week, we finally committed! It'll be me, DH Sean and DD10 Allison. I'm sure our friends will chime in soon as well - they are Casa Martinez and Double Trouble. Is there a centralize place where all Dismeet, FE, and other things are posted, like a website? 90+ pages are a lot to go through!

Welcome
I am not very good with links nzdisneymom aka Cindy has links to the FE and list of Disers along with Facebook if you follow FB at the bottom of her postings. Sue

 

[Meum]

We are doing a walk-about in Mykonos, and for Kusadasi, we've settled on the DCL excursion that is Ephesus, Didyma, and Miletus. We always pay attention to see if someone is on an excursion that is by themselves so that when the tour guide starts counting and checking, we check to see that they are present as if they were part of our family - ever since when we were in Pisa and a lady on our excursion who was by herself got left behind at the restroom at the cafe stop. Our tour guide didn't count properly and some other tourists had mingled into our group and by the time the guide sorted those people out of his count, he miscounted. Thankfully the DCL CM that was with us recounted as we were pulling away on our little train and came up short and realized that we'd left someone. We had to wait 1/2 hour for her to be fetched and when we got back to La Spezia, they had held the last tender for us - other people were glad because they'd have been left behind if our DCL excursion had not been late!:

That's a great idea, will have to remember to do that as well for any singles on tours! And it would be my luck to be left in the restroom

Marianne
If you are on your own in those ports I will let you know what we book and you are welcome to join us. BFF is traveling as a single with us so she would love to have someone to talk with on the bus. Not sure about Mykonos because I have a live long friend who lives in Berlin and might meet us there and give us his own tour. He is a flight attendant for Luftansa so have to wait for his schedule before we know for sure. Sue Less than 60 days to opening day on 4/5 in SF and I will be home!

awwww thanks!!!

we are now joining the PIF club

 

[poohmomof5]

Just want to stop in and say hi! We booked this trip on Day 1 along with two other families but wasn't sure if we'll actually do it. With the PIF date next week, we finally committed! It'll be me, DH Sean and DD10 Allison. I'm sure our friends will chime in soon as well - they are Casa Martinez and Double Trouble. Is there a centralize place where all Dismeet, FE, and other things are posted, like a website? 90+ pages are a lot to go through!

HII!!!!!!

Welcome!!

 

[burma]

129 days to Embarkation

 

[nzdisneymom]

Just want to stop in and say hi! We booked this trip on Day 1 along with two other families but wasn't sure if we'll actually do it. With the PIF date next week, we finally committed! It'll be me, DH Sean and DD10 Allison. I'm sure our friends will chime in soon as well - they are Casa Martinez and Double Trouble. Is there a centralize place where all Dismeet, FE, and other things are posted, like a website? 90+ pages are a lot to go through!

Welcome! I have a link in my sig to a post in this thread that has the list of who is sailing with us and links to the roll call form which populates the roll call spreadsheet. There's an option there to indicate if you want to participate in Fish Extenders or not. There is also a link for how to join the Facebook Group if you're so inclined. Not everyone is over there, but I think when it's time to put the FE list together, it will be a combined effort - so if you sign up here or there, it doesn't matter. I'm not sure if we have someone who is coordinating the FE list when the time comes or if we've set a sign-up-by date or not (we're sailing B2B and I know one has an April 1st sign up day but I can't remember which is which).

For quick reference - http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43894659&postcount=214 which contains this information:
ROLLCALL FORM

SPREADSHEET

If you want to join the Facebook group, go here to request to join the group.

 

[nzdisneymom]

This morning I ordered street maps for Barcelona and Rome as well as the AAA tour book for Europe and country maps for Spain, France, and Italy. I love maps!

Since we are in BCN for a few days pre- and post-cruise, I wanted to study up ahead of time - we did this when we went to London and having my bearings before we ever got to the hotel was so helpful in us finding our way and not looking so much like tourists. I could plot out our route ahead of time and we could walk with confidence.

For Rome, since we are doing Rome in Limo and have some ideas for what we'd like to see, I wanted to plot out on the map where the sites are to see what looks feasible for doing so when we start finalizing things with RIL, we won't have unreasonable expectations about what we can do.

 

[DL1957]

[/QUOTE]we are now joining the PIF club[/QUOTE]

YEA!!

 

[lllpath]

Welcome! I have a link in my sig to a post in this thread that has the list of who is sailing with us and links to the roll call form which populates the roll call spreadsheet. There's an option there to indicate if you want to participate in Fish Extenders or not. There is also a link for how to join the Facebook Group if you're so inclined. Not everyone is over there, but I think when it's time to put the FE list together, it will be a combined effort - so if you sign up here or there, it doesn't matter. I'm not sure if we have someone who is coordinating the FE list when the time comes or if we've set a sign-up-by date or not (we're sailing B2B and I know one has an April 1st sign up day but I can't remember which is which).

For quick reference - http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43894659&postcount=214 which contains this information:
ROLLCALL FORM

SPREADSHEET

If you want to join the Facebook group, go here to request to join the group.

Hi! The FE exchange sign-up deadline is April 1. I'm not on Facebook so I'm not sure how that is working with the FE exchange. I am going to work only with the list in the sign-up spreadsheet we established quite some time ago so hopefully everyone will be listed there!

 

[lllpath]

I went through the spreadsheet and removed the people that I knew had said they were no longer sailing with us, but we do have folks on the list that haven't posted in ages, so maybe it's worth sending a PM to those we haven't heard from in a while so they can "check in" if they are still planning to sail and would like to participate in any of the Meet activities we might end up planning.

Speaking of Meet activities, do you all want to schedule a brief meet-and-greet for the first day onboard? And what about for the first Sea Day for those who might not be able to make it to a sail-away meet and greet? I personally love getting to put faces with the names I've become familiar with early on in the cruise as it's nice to have friendly faces to say hi to when passing. We've found that the Promenade Lounge is a good place for a sailing day meet and greet, usually 30-minutes or so before safety drill. We obviously don't have to decide right away but could start thinking about if we want to do something particular.

Also, we'll be staying at the Renaissance Barcelona arriving on Thursday morning and would be happy to Meet and Greet on Thursday and/or Friday evening in the lobby of the hotel for anyone else who is staying there (or makes their way over). If you think you'd be interested, PM me and I'd be glad to host. We've done that before and find that it's a good way to share port-city touring tips ... we got a great tip in London about how to not have a long line to see the crown jewels at the Tower by meeting up with other DISers the first night while we still had a whole other day to tour London.

Thank you SO much! I'm not sure how to identify folks to PM but I'm happy to try. A meet in Barcelona sounds great...we are staying at the Grand Marina (we loved it last DCL cruise...it was a DCL hotel that trip) so I'm not sure we can make it to the Renaissance. We arrive in Barcelona on Thursday and plan to do HOHO on Friday.

I vote for a meet and greet on the ship. We've been to several in the Promenade Lounge and that location worked very well.

 

[mindelmouse]

Hi! The FE exchange sign-up deadline is April 1. I'm not on Facebook so I'm not sure how that is working with the FE exchange. I am going to work only with the list in the sign-up spreadsheet we established quite some time ago so hopefully everyone will be listed there!

I will forward you the face book google doc before then

 

[nzdisneymom]

I will forward you the face book google doc before then

Are there people on the Facebook group that aren't here on DIS? I always have a hard time translating DISnames to REALnames

Lynda, thanks for taking on the FE coordination.

 

[mindelmouse]

Are there people on the Facebook group that aren't here on DIS? I always have a hard time translating DISnames to REALnames

Lynda, thanks for taking on the FE coordination.

I dont know, thats why I'll send her that list as well just to make sure.

 

[justhat]

I understand that was your experience but it absolutely wasn't mine. On every cruise I've been on (6) on 3 different ships, I have been able to make the Palo reservations for my entire group. I never had to give any names, I just had the concierge book a table for how many I needed. I did this in 2008, in the med in 2010 (got a table for 10), in Alaska (8), NY to Bahamas this past August. So I think it depends on how you book it. I'm not concierge this time, so I don't know if I'll get the same ability, but I sure am gonna try.

We've only had this issue on the more recent cruises that I mentioned, prior to those it was never an issue. This will be our 12th or 13th cruise and only maybe those 3 have had that problem, and we were concierge on 2 of the 3. Concierge did accommodate us onboard, but not in advance and they were clear that their services were only for those booked in concierge rooms, but that they would extend our reservations to immediate family members only. We were linked with family and friends, but they wouldn't book everyone at the concierge booking date. So in the Baltic in 2010, we wanted to do this glassblowing excursion, they booked us on our opening date, but it was completely full by our friend's booking date (silver). We ended up having to cancel the excursion because we wanted to be with our friends and they couldn't get on. We actually complained to DCL about this, but, and this is a very valid point, they said it wouldn't be fair to book them at the concierge date when they weren't paying for a concierge room, ahead of the people with gold status who deserved to book ahead of silver.

And with Palo (and Remy on the Fantasy/Dream), they booked our table of 2, then added our friends when their window opened. Only for Palo on the inaugural Fantasy, it was booked for 4 every night, so we had to change it on board (that was the non-concierge cruise, but we were platinum, friends were gold, I think, maybe silver). Remy we were able to switch to 4 at the same time.


My only thought is that maybe our cruises were more crowded than yours so they were more willing to accommodate you at the time?

DCL changed last year. I think it was early last year. You can no longer book Palo or excursions using your own CC status for linked staterooms with a lower CC status. Only for the persons registered in your own stateroom.

Don't know what the procedure is for concierge staterooms, it could well be different. But not on non-concierge staterooms.

If the linked staterooms have the same CC status, no problem.

This has been our experience.

 

[MJGirl]

We're staying at a B&B in Barcelona on the 13th and 14th ... We would love to meet up with everyone, but if I had my choice, I would prefer Friday night. Will probably spend Thursday forcing myself to stay awake until I crash, and Friday day will be spent touring Barcelona with friends (yes like you Marianne )

 

[nzdisneymom]

I'll be happy to host a pre-cruise Meet and Greet at the Renaissance Barcelona on both Thursday and Friday night and leave it as a "come if you can" to either one. I'm thinking 7 p.m. on Thursday and then maybe 7:30 or 8 on Friday - we'll hang out in the lobby for half-an-hour and if no one shows up, no worries. We've done that before and had a few folks able to come on the first night and others on the second - and some on both to meet those who can only come one night When it gets closer to time, I'll post again to get an idea if the times would be good and whether or not folks could come by for a bit.

Totally different topic - are any of you going to "live blog" or "live trip report" while on the cruise (either for DIS or just for family and friends)? If so, how are you setting it up? With blogspot or similar? With or without pictures from the road? I was thinking about doing something but trying to figure out what makes the most sense. We did a small one in 2010 that I set up through Blogspot to be able to just email the posts - then I could compose offline and upload when we had free wifi or as part of the internet access we bought onboard. But we didn't do anything with pictures until we returned. I was also thinking I won't do it publicly (like not announce it on facebook) but would just send the link directly to people that I wanted to have it (or who had expressed an interest in it like family and friends and coworkers who already know where we're going and when).

 

[justhat]

We won't be because I don't go on the computer at all while we're gone. Well, maybe once or twice on this trip since we'll be gone 3 weeks, but just to check phone messages and stuff. I sorta wish I would just to have a running summary of the trip cause I'll never want to do it when we get home, but I sorta ban electronic use on vacations so I can't break my own rule.

 

[MoonDaughter23]

I'll be happy to host a pre-cruise Meet and Greet at the Renaissance Barcelona on both Thursday and Friday night and leave it as a "come if you can" to either one. I'm thinking 7 p.m. on Thursday and then maybe 7:30 or 8 on Friday - we'll hang out in the lobby for half-an-hour and if no one shows up, no worries. We've done that before and had a few folks able to come on the first night and others on the second - and some on both to meet those who can only come one night When it gets closer to time, I'll post again to get an idea if the times would be good and whether or not folks could come by for a bit.

That sounds like fun!

 

[MJGirl]

I'll be happy to host a pre-cruise Meet and Greet at the Renaissance Barcelona on both Thursday and Friday night and leave it as a "come if you can" to either one. I'm thinking 7 p.m. on Thursday and then maybe 7:30 or 8 on Friday - we'll hang out in the lobby for half-an-hour and if no one shows up, no worries. We've done that before and had a few folks able to come on the first night and others on the second - and some on both to meet those who can only come one night When it gets closer to time, I'll post again to get an idea if the times would be good and whether or not folks could come by for a bit.

Totally different topic - are any of you going to "live blog" or "live trip report" while on the cruise (either for DIS or just for family and friends)? If so, how are you setting it up? With blogspot or similar? With or without pictures from the road? I was thinking about doing something but trying to figure out what makes the most sense. We did a small one in 2010 that I set up through Blogspot to be able to just email the posts - then I could compose offline and upload when we had free wifi or as part of the internet access we bought onboard. But we didn't do anything with pictures until we returned. I was also thinking I won't do it publicly (like not announce it on facebook) but would just send the link directly to people that I wanted to have it (or who had expressed an interest in it like family and friends and coworkers who already know where we're going and when).

I found this wesbsite www.everlater.com that allows you to journal a trip, then you can have your journal produced into a book. It has a corresponding iPad app that I am going to use on the trip. You can enter journal entries on the iPad and sync the to the Internet whenever you want! It' s not quite a liv blog, but It will hopefully work for me. Oh yea, you can open the journal as public or password protect it for friends only!

 

[NanNan]

subscribing On the July 13th cruise.

Welcome, JimmyJackJunior! We are from Calgary. Looking forward to meeting you and yours! This group is great, lots of helpful ideas from amazing people.

 

[Lynderella]

Just put in the FB request (Gast). Been out of the loop for awhile. Trying to catch up on (gasp) 95 pages. Thank you!