»»June 16, 2012 Father's Day Cruise on the Fantasy!««

[triplefigs]

Glad you had fun, triplefigs How was the service on RCCL??

We just got back from 9 nights in Orlando - had friends from Ohio here at our house in Tampa for 5 nights, then spent 2 nights in a cabin at Ft. Wilderness and 7 at our friends time share. Spent Father's Day in MK We got the "waterpark after 2pm" FL resident annual passes and had a blast there!!! We went to the waterparks 3 times. Since DD can finally swim, it was soooo fun! That will be a fun alternative this summer since we avoid the theme parks from now until school starts in August/Labor Day.

We are going thru DCL withdrawl ~ 95 days until we set sail on the Magic - CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am probably not going to be popular when I say that I am completely unintersted in sailing on the Dream at all, however, I do love how the Fantasy is progressing. The atrium picures look pretty. I hope hope hope that DCL learns from the problems on the Dream so that we have a dynamite time - which I am sure we will

We all thought the service on the FOS was just as good as on Disney. Great staff, very friendly and helpful. Remembered our names and went out of their way to make sure we had fun. And the cruise director was HILARIOUS- definitley much more "adult" themed game shows and comedy shows which were really fun.

 

[tiggerb]

Just checking in since it has been a while! Crazy busy w/ summer school (fun classes offered), swim lessons, baseball and tourneys, plus scout camping. Hope everyone is enjoying summer!

We just hit 100+ w/ the heat index today. We have really been feeling like it went from winter, to spring, a day of summer, back to spring, and even a bit of fall in the last few weeks. We even got sunshine in the last 4 days! YAY!

We are getting excited now that it is under 1 year! I see the FE list is expanding! Will we stay as one group or break off into smaller groups? Curious since I am going to make most of my FEs this summer!

Enjoy 4th of July!

 

[Silverfox97]

triplefigs - How was your time at the resort in St. Pete??

I see the FE list is expanding! Will we stay as one group or break off into smaller groups? Curious since I am going to make most of my FEs this summer!

I am good for staying one group so far - I'd say we make a cut off date though ~

 

[DisneyOHFan]

I am good for staying one group so far - I'd say we make a cut off date though ~

I like the one group idea and the cut-off date.

 

[Susiesark]

I like the one group idea and the cut-off date.

Agree about the cut-off date. On my MR cruise in April, we had a lot of people that wanted to join in the last month before cruise date, and most of us had already planned/finished our FE gifts. W ended up with about 60 families, and you could choose if you wanted to give to the whole group or half.

 

[Docjason2]

Agreed, you have to think that most, if not all, of the rooms are either booked or pretty close to full by now. We may get a few more stragglers over the next year, but not many. It'd be nice to lock down a number so we can start getting a jump on next year.

Anything to keep my occupied from trying to renovate the basement, as well as NOT get much sleep between feedings and diaper changes.

 

[Susiesark]

Agreed, you have to think that most, if not all, of the rooms are either booked or pretty close to full by now. We may get a few more stragglers over the next year, but not many. It'd be nice to lock down a number so we can start getting a jump on next year.

Anything to keep my occupied from trying to renovate the basement, as well as NOT get much sleep between feedings and diaper changes.

AH, yes, I remember those days. My daughter had a baby this week, my first grandchild, so I get to start over (even though my youngest just turned 7, on the same day baby was born).

 

[GoHerd1028]

What sort of deadline are we thinking for joining the FE?

 

[Susiesark]

What sort of deadline are we thinking for joining the FE?

We could put a date deadline, (such as 2 months before the cruise date) or a number deadline (such as 50 families). Numbers are just for example.

 

[GoHerd1028]

We could put a date deadline, (such as 2 months before the cruise date) or a number deadline (such as 50 families). Numbers are just for example.

How many you think we will get between now and then...not that it matters..just curious ...we seem to have a really great group!!

 

[Susiesark]

How many you think we will get between now and then...not that it matters..just curious ...we seem to have a really great group!!

We had a little over 60 families on my April cruise, really great and active group . I'm on the DIS for my Thanksgiving (11/11) cruise and there is hardly any activity. I could probably count how many families for FE with my fingers and still have some left over.

 

[GoHerd1028]

We had a little over 60 families on my April cruise, really great and active group . I'm on the DIS for my Thanksgiving (11/11) cruise and there is hardly any activity. I could probably count how many families for FE with my fingers and still have some left over.

When we cruised in March of '10 we had a good group. It was our first cruise with DCL and had never done FE before. So, we had no idea what to expect. This time our group seems to be a lot more active and I am hoping that we all get to know each other better between now and then. The Sanchez family was on our first cruise and we are thrilled that they are going to be on this one too!!

 

[triplefigs]

I vote for either, but a cut-off of some type.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Our cruise last month had a cutoff midApril but after that, we had several more families join the meet thread as cruise time approached. For those that wanted to participate, their info was shared with the understanding that some folks had already completed their gifts and might not have enough to add them. Everyone was fine about that.

I personally like a six to eight week precruise cutoff so I can have time to prepare, but I don't mind adding latecomers either. I do like just one list though rather than breaking it up.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We all thought the service on the FOS was just as good as on Disney. Great staff, very friendly and helpful. Remembered our names and went out of their way to make sure we had fun. And the cruise director was HILARIOUS- definitley much more "adult" themed game shows and comedy shows which were really fun.

We did FOS in 2009 and the only thing we didn't like was the youth programming for the Tweens. Was Richard your cruise director? We enjoyed him hands down more than any of the DCL ones.

 

[Silverfox97]

Our cruise last month had a cutoff midApril but after that, we had several more families join the meet thread as cruise time approached. For those that wanted to participate, their info was shared with the understanding that some folks had already completed their gifts and might not have enough to add them. Everyone was fine about that.

I personally like a six to eight week precruise cutoff so I can have time to prepare, but I don't mind adding latecomers either. I do like just one list though rather than breaking it up.

This is what we did on our last cruise (Jan). People wanted Dec 1st cut off (our cruise was Jan 3-8), but there were quite a few that joined last minute and understood that some people wouldn't be able to give to them. Being that we don't have to fly and have plenty of space to transport stuff, that was fine with us. Also, we always have cruises scheduled, so we always have plenty of FE stuff

I second the 6 week cutoff and one list

 

[BelleProfHP]

Hi everyone! I've been gone for awhile, so I'm just going to jump right in to let everyone know what's been going on in my fam's life, and throw in some thoughts on the FE.

Summer started off well for us in ATL, hot but not too bad. We were able to go to the pool fairly frequently. We went camping over Father's Day weekend (1 year from our cruise!!!! ) and then I immediately started a week of training. I'm a HS French teacher (hence my screen name) and the AP French exam is changing. So I went to a week of training at UGA to "learn" about the new exam. I say "learn" b/c we didn't really learn anything new that wasn't already online.

However, on the night before our last day of training, our 13yo dog had a stroke (we think). After a night spent worrying while he was getting treatment at the emergency clinic, we took him to our vet and made the diifficult decision to put him down. That made for a very difficult weekend, especially as our son left two days later to go to Cub Scout camp (he is starting his first year as a Webelo in the fall) and since my DH started back to work on Monday, the house was really lonely and quiet.

In better news though, we're in Puerto Rico on vacation at a beach house in Humacao. So far the weather hasn't been really cooperating, although the view from our patio beats anything at home.

Regarding FEs, I think that both sorts of deadlines should be in place. A "50 families or 8 weeks out, whichever happens first" kind of deal. For the families that join last, they're going to have so much to do to catch up to where we all are, it's almost nicer to just say no so that they don't feel pressured or rushed or anything. ESPECIALLY if it gets to 50 families - that's a LOT of stuff!!

For myself, I am torn. I love the idea but I also know that my procrastination and such will cause it to be more stressfull than it should be. So we are going to pass on the FEs and just do the Secret Mickeys (did we decide to do that also? I think so but am suddenly worried that we decided no). Since I like the idea but need it to be on a smaller scale, the SM is perfect for us.

Our DS will turn 9 tomorrow so we're going to head into San Juan to see if we can find anything special going on to celebrate his birthday! Happy Fourth of July everyone! Stay safe and I'll check back in later!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Happy Independence Day to my fellow-US cruisers! Hope you're having a great day! I've spent part of mine beginning our trip report from Alaska - I'll share a link here or in my sig-line once I get it going good. It's been nice to have the day off from work - going back last week after vacation was tough.

Anyone here from Milwaukee? If so, PM me - DH has a conference there in August and I'm going with him - I'm starting to dive into TripAdvisor for things to see / do, but I often find that fellow-DISers are a better source of information!

We learned that one of our neighbors lived in St. Thomas for a few years so we're looking forward to asking him for things to see / do there - we went once before and did a city tour but thought this time we might try something adventurous or maybe just do some shopping. I'd love to try parasailing but have a lot of weight to lose to do that. Maybe I should set up a goal for myself... ah, that sounds like too much work (LOL).

BelleProfHP - my older son will be a sophomore in high school in the fall. He's taking French for his language requirement - he picked it because he's hoping we'll take him to Disneyland Paris one day

 

[Docjason2]

WOW, so I was doing my "every once in awhile" check to see how the cruise is filling up, and how much my room costs. Our Cat 4 is going for $12,007 today...for the same room I booked for less than half that on our last cruise

That's amazing how much the price goes up from month to month!!!!


Happy 4th of July to all our American cruisers. Hope the summer is going well for you all!

 

[mousemom11]

WOW, so I was doing my "every once in awhile" check to see how the cruise is filling up, and how much my room costs. Our Cat 4 is going for $12,007 today...for the same room I booked for less than half that on our last cruise

That's amazing how much the price goes up from month to month!!!!


Happy 4th of July to all our American cruisers. Hope the summer is going well for you all!

After reading your post, I went and checked on our Cat 8D. There aren't any left, but the Cat 8C's are going for almost double what we booked for. When I mentioned that to DH, his comment was "Thank God that you're obsessed and book on the 1st day!"