05/09/2009 May 9, 2009 7-Night Eastern St Maarten... Watch Out!

[dollysmom]

It's over, it's really all over. The kids, okay all of us are missing the ship. It was our very first cruise and now can't wait to go back. My oldest daughter had some tears on Friday night while we were packing up to leave the ship. We told her that we will be back and very soon.

I want to thank everyone for the great FE gifts that we received. The kids enjoyed checking everytime we came back to the room.

The bracelets were a great way to locate people from the DIS. Wish we could have met more people, but the ones we met were fabulous.

Now I just have to the dreaded part of unpacking and laundry. But first I need groceries so we have food to eat for the week.

Hope to keep chatting to you all. Thanks for all of the tips and advice for a cruise newbie. It really helped make our cruise alot better. I'm sure there will always be questions because Disney is forever changing.

Anyone book onboard? If so when are you going?

 

[moebear]

Good Morning everyone,

I was at the grocery store this morning and Phil Collins' "Welcome" came on and I almost started balling......so pathetic. When I see anything Disney my eyes glaze over and I am on the ship. Wish we were all still there. I had to call Gerry at work and tell him and he agrees - I am pathetic.

Later,
Bonnie

 

[don604]

It's over, it's really all over. The kids, okay all of us are missing the ship. It was our very first cruise and now can't wait to go back. My oldest daughter had some tears on Friday night while we were packing up to leave the ship. We told her that we will be back and very soon.

I want to thank everyone for the great FE gifts that we received. The kids enjoyed checking everytime we came back to the room.

The bracelets were a great way to locate people from the DIS. Wish we could have met more people, but the ones we met were fabulous.

Now I just have to the dreaded part of unpacking and laundry. But first I need groceries so we have food to eat for the week.

Hope to keep chatting to you all. Thanks for all of the tips and advice for a cruise newbie. It really helped make our cruise alot better. I'm sure there will always be questions because Disney is forever changing.

Anyone book onboard? If so when are you going?

We booked onboard for a 4 night Bahama cruise on the Disney Wonder for November 14, 2010 We plan to do a week at Disneyworld, get exhausted and then RELAX on the cruise! We had such a blast on this past cruise. I'm sure I'll probably re-book again while on the 4 night for another cruise

 

[enchantednana]

Hi Everyone,

We finally got home after a 15 hour drive. Nice to be home and see the kitties.

It was great to meet so many nice people. The FE's were very cool....even if I did finish ours on board! My parents had a blast, and my dad - Brent - enjoyed our server - Mehendra - calling him the cruise director the whole cruise.

Ok going to procrastinate, then get something washed for the girls to wear to school tomorrow.

We miss you all already! Let's do it again soon!!!!

Take care,
Bonnie, Gerry, Morgan and Emma (and Lorraine and Brent)

We all made it home safely. Got in late last night & was raining & cold, oh boy I really wanted to go back.To bad it wasn't for 2 weeks now that would of been really great. It's nice to get away but always nice to get home too. Met some very nice people, the bracelets were a great thing. The FE were a great idea. My grchildren thought that sooooo cool & so did I. Like everything all good things come to an end. But I sure hope everyone will keep this thread alive, its great just talking with you all. This was my first disney Cruise but it certainly won't be my last.

Thanks again for helping me make my dream vacation the best ever & I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Enchantednana
Eva

 

[MouseNDaHouse]

Well we finally have most of the unpacking and laundry done. It was pretty depressing but helped that we had a couple of new music CD's to help out.

Thanks to everyone for the awesome FE gifts. Some of you are waaayyy to crafty. The kids (young and grownup) got a big kick out of seeing the new pirate booty each day.

I also apologize for switching Ka-chow and our room numbers. What a putz, I hope it didn't cause too much confusion. Rest assured that everyone received their proper gifts.

It was great to meet the people we did and wish we could have met more.

Steve (1stime74) : I still have the cigar, but I guess it will be a little difficult to set up a smoke session now. I will get you on the next trip.

Josie (vtinkerbell) : Thanks for the glow bracelets on pirate night.

Steve (airtime247) : Thanks again for the website work. We saw a group of CC 5k'ers but I didn't spot you. Did you end up running?

chubbyjen : Our kids were a little taken also. I have a confession that DW had already pointed you out so I knew the picture was a match.

Dilma : It was great that you guys were like our pixie dust and kept popping up. It helped that our dining tables were close.

lyn9856 : Hopefully I wasn't too much of the obnoxious American (which I can be) when I knocked on your door that first day. Also thanks for holding the door when I had the arm full of sodas.

Moebear : If you wouldn't have mentioned beer at CC, I might have noticed that you also had a bracelet on.

Jeremy : I saw you several time across the pool or a couple of decks below but never seemed to get in the same spot.

ufcabear : Our second bag of pixie dust that was fun to run into many times.

Yensid : It was close but we managed a quick chat before heading off.

And finally, many thanks to Scott, Kristen, and everyone else who helped organize and distribute the many aspect of this cruise.

Ok, I sound like I am at an awards show so I will sign off.

I'm sorry that we never connected! I heard great things though...so, you know, at least your reputation and I got know each other.

 

[moebear]

Well we finally have most of the unpacking and laundry done. It was pretty depressing but helped that we had a couple of new music CD's to help out.

Thanks to everyone for the awesome FE gifts. Some of you are waaayyy to crafty. The kids (young and grownup) got a big kick out of seeing the new pirate booty each day.

I also apologize for switching Ka-chow and our room numbers. What a putz, I hope it didn't cause too much confusion. Rest assured that everyone received their proper gifts.

It was great to meet the people we did and wish we could have met more.

Steve (1stime74) : I still have the cigar, but I guess it will be a little difficult to set up a smoke session now. I will get you on the next trip.

Josie (vtinkerbell) : Thanks for the glow bracelets on pirate night.

Steve (airtime247) : Thanks again for the website work. We saw a group of CC 5k'ers but I didn't spot you. Did you end up running?

chubbyjen : Our kids were a little taken also. I have a confession that DW had already pointed you out so I knew the picture was a match.

Dilma : It was great that you guys were like our pixie dust and kept popping up. It helped that our dining tables were close.

lyn9856 : Hopefully I wasn't too much of the obnoxious American (which I can be) when I knocked on your door that first day. Also thanks for holding the door when I had the arm full of sodas.

Moebear : If you wouldn't have mentioned beer at CC, I might have noticed that you also had a bracelet on.

Jeremy : I saw you several time across the pool or a couple of decks below but never seemed to get in the same spot.

ufcabear : Our second bag of pixie dust that was fun to run into many times.

Yensid : It was close but we managed a quick chat before heading off.

And finally, many thanks to Scott, Kristen, and everyone else who helped organize and distribute the many aspect of this cruise.

Ok, I sound like I am at an awards show so I will sign off.

I have never done a 'reply quote' before so hope this works....

How mean am I? I hand an ice cold beer to you in ankle deep water at Castaway Cay. You are good people my friend.

 

[airtime247]

Hey everyone, I'm just checking in from the Boardwalk Villas. We are getting hit with a lot of rain so we are calling it an early night.

We are definitely ready to go home but we won't be leaving until Wednesday morning. We are having fun but after more than two weeks since leaving home, we are ready to get back to a normal schedule and normal eating!

I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to pack our green wristbands. I'm sure I would have met a lot more people had I been wearing mine. I guess I wasn't very observant as I hardly noticed anyone wearing one during the week. I was really looking forward to meeting so many of you and I'm bummed I missed out. It was so nice to meet the few of you I did have the pleasure of meeting.

MouseNDaHouse - It was such a blast getting to know you and your family. Your girls are adorable and Emma loved them and still talks about "her friends" from the Mickey Boat. Thanks for the great dinner conversation and fun at Castaway Cay as well as brews at the pub while being blasted by the gut-busting, rib-tickling, knee-slapping comedy. I'll be sending you those pictures of Castaway Cay when I get home. We'll definitely be keeping in touch.

1stime74 - It was great getting to know you and Josie as well. Thanks for letting us set up camp with you at Coki Beach. Emma had so much fun feeding the fish with Josie. Emma really adored her and asked about her a lot after we left.

j2bmickey - Yes, I did run (okay, crawled) the Castaway Cay 5K. It was fun but much harder than I expected. I'm not used to running in temps warmer than 50 degrees so it was tough on me. I'm sure the few extra pounds I put on the last two weeks didn't help either! It was nice getting back to my cabin later that night and finding the Magical Moments certificate wating in my FE for completing it.

To everyone else, thank you so much for your generous FE gifts. You have no idea how excited Emma got every night seeing something in our FE.

Keep in touch everyone!

-steve

 

[YenSid1222]

Well, made it back to Texas after a very WET morning at the Magic Kingdom today. Still was able to get a good ride in on Splash and Thunder this morning, but did not get to see the new Stitch show in the weather.

It was great meeting at least a few of you guys! I know we had a blast. Now I just have to figure out when my next cruise will be...

 

[MouseNDaHouse]

Hey everyone, I'm just checking in from the Boardwalk Villas. We are getting hit with a lot of rain so we are calling it an early night.

We are definitely ready to go home but we won't be leaving until Wednesday morning. We are having fun but after more than two weeks since leaving home, we are ready to get back to a normal schedule and normal eating!

I'm still kicking myself for forgetting to pack our green wristbands. I'm sure I would have met a lot more people had I been wearing mine. I guess I wasn't very observant as I hardly noticed anyone wearing one during the week. I was really looking forward to meeting so many of you and I'm bummed I missed out. It was so nice to meet the few of you I did have the pleasure of meeting.

MouseNDaHouse - It was such a blast getting to know you and your family. Your girls are adorable and Emma loved them and still talks about "her friends" from the Mickey Boat. Thanks for the great dinner conversation and fun at Castaway Cay as well as brews at the pub while being blasted by the gut-busting, rib-tickling, knee-slapping comedy. I'll be sending you those pictures of Castaway Cay when I get home. We'll definitely be keeping in touch.

1stime74 - It was great getting to know you and Josie as well. Thanks for letting us set up camp with you at Coki Beach. Emma had so much fun feeding the fish with Josie. Emma really adored her and asked about her a lot after we left.

j2bmickey - Yes, I did run (okay, crawled) the Castaway Cay 5K. It was fun but much harder than I expected. I'm not used to running in temps warmer than 50 degrees so it was tough on me. I'm sure the few extra pounds I put on the last two weeks didn't help either! It was nice getting back to my cabin later that night and finding the Magical Moments certificate wating in my FE for completing it.

To everyone else, thank you so much for your generous FE gifts. You have no idea how excited Emma got every night seeing something in our FE.

Keep in touch everyone!

-steve

Hi all,
I'm sorry it took me so long to write back 'officially' to everyone. Just been slammed here.

First, I want to say thank you to all of you for the wonderful FE gift exchange. I knew that it would add something to our trip, but I was thrilled each and every time by the reactions of my two oldest. You all gave me indelible memories of squeals of delight and huge eyes. Big props especially for the wonderful crafted pieces, the terrific CDs and the amazing array of goodies and notes from home states and countries. The care and attention you each paid was truly staggering. And for the many wonderful pirate gifts...please join me in a collective AAARRRGGGHHH, me hearties!

Second, I do hope we can find ourselves cruising together again sooner than later. I am so sorry that we weren't able to get a group meet together, but those green bracelets certainly came in handy. In case anyone is considering their next cruise (Don, sorry we won't be on yours!), we have already slotted ourselves in on the June 18, 2010 Wonder 4-night Bahamas...join us!

Finally, let me send my individual props to those who made our time extra-special:

Steve and Amy (Airtime) - Your company at dinner was always a blessing and Emma is a doll. You are welcome in our home any time...just try to make sure that we're there at the same time so we don't get suspicious that you're going after the electronics. We're so glad that we all got to share Nebojsa and Igor with you! I'm looking forward to our families staying in touch and sharing many experiences together in future! You have my number, man, call me!

Scottie - Thank you for all the great advice and assistance leading up to the cruise - everything you said always turned out to be right and your help was invaluable in getting the most out of our cruise...and making this dad's life infinitely easier. AND thanks for joining me as we Primary Grinders led Canada II to victory over Stars n' Stripes! We HAVE to do that again! Don't lose my info, bro!

Steve (1stime) - Short but sweet - It would have been great to meet you guys earlier as your kind spirit came through in the short time we talked. Thank you for helping keep my wife upright on her way back to the ship from Castaway Cay - she really appreciated it as she fought off that singularly rough bout of food poisoning. You're a gentleman.

Jen (NotSoChubbyJen) - Thank you for sharing your space and time with us on the Cay - Brandon was a huge part of Hannah and Sarah's enjoyment that day (along with Emma) and I'm so glad we got to meet you guys. I hope we can share some childcare in the future!

Rominet, Dilma, EnchantedNana, DollysMom, Don - Thank you to you and your families for the greetings and smiles. How cool would it be to actually get to know each other better on the next cruise...maybe when my kids are older and require less time from mommymommymommy and daddydaddydaddy!

Last but not least - Bonnie (Moebear) - We are totally gonna hang out and mock people in the future. 'Nuff said. (And if you can hook me up with some black and white cookies, I'll be forever indebted to you!)

To all the rest that I barely met (DisneyMommy, thanks for all the input prior to the cruise; NMDisneyMom) and wished I could have met (Yensid - what was that like 3 gifts a day?? - you and your buddies rocked; CWO4DVC - we were only like 6 doors down! Met your son Tyler. Both my wife and I commented that he is a great 11 year old boy; and pretty much EVERYONE else) thank you and maybe we'll get to know each other better next time!

Much love,
J and the entire Chaffin Family

 

[moebear]

Hi all,
I'm sorry it took me so long to write back 'officially' to everyone. Just been slammed here.

First, I want to say thank you to all of you for the wonderful FE gift exchange. I knew that it would add something to our trip, but I was thrilled each and every time by the reactions of my two oldest. You all gave me indelible memories of squeals of delight and huge eyes. Big props especially for the wonderful crafted pieces, the terrific CDs and the amazing array of goodies and notes from home states and countries. The care and attention you each paid was truly staggering. And for the many wonderful pirate gifts...please join me in a collective AAARRRGGGHHH, me hearties!

Second, I do hope we can find ourselves cruising together again sooner than later. I am so sorry that we weren't able to get a group meet together, but those green bracelets certainly came in handy. In case anyone is considering their next cruise (Don, sorry we won't be on yours!), we have already slotted ourselves in on the June 18, 2010 Wonder 4-night Bahamas...join us!

Finally, let me send my individual props to those who made our time extra-special:

Steve and Amy (Airtime) - Your company at dinner was always a blessing and Emma is a doll. You are welcome in our home any time...just try to make sure that we're there at the same time so we don't get suspicious that you're going after the electronics. We're so glad that we all got to share Nebojsa and Igor with you! I'm looking forward to our families staying in touch and sharing many experiences together in future! You have my number, man, call me!

Scottie - Thank you for all the great advice and assistance leading up to the cruise - everything you said always turned out to be right and your help was invaluable in getting the most out of our cruise...and making this dad's life infinitely easier. AND thanks for joining me as we Primary Grinders led Canada II to victory over Stars n' Stripes! We HAVE to do that again! Don't lose my info, bro!

Steve (1stime) - Short but sweet - It would have been great to meet you guys earlier as your kind spirit came through in the short time we talked. Thank you for helping keep my wife upright on her way back to the ship from Castaway Cay - she really appreciated it as she fought off that singularly rough bout of food poisoning. You're a gentleman.

Jen (NotSoChubbyJen) - Thank you for sharing your space and time with us on the Cay - Brandon was a huge part of Hannah and Sarah's enjoyment that day (along with Emma) and I'm so glad we got to meet you guys. I hope we can share some childcare in the future!

Rominet, Dilma, EnchantedNana, DollysMom, Don - Thank you to you and your families for the greetings and smiles. How cool would it be to actually get to know each other better on the next cruise...maybe when my kids are older and require less time from mommymommymommy and daddydaddydaddy!

Last but not least - Bonnie (Moebear) - We are totally gonna hang out and mock people in the future. 'Nuff said. (And if you can hook me up with some black and white cookies, I'll be forever indebted to you!)

To all the rest that I barely met (DisneyMommy, thanks for all the input prior to the cruise; NMDisneyMom) and wished I could have met (Yensid - what was that like 3 gifts a day?? - you and your buddies rocked; CWO4DVC - we were only like 6 doors down! Met your son Tyler. Both my wife and I commented that he is a great 11 year old boy; and pretty much EVERYONE else) thank you and maybe we'll get to know each other better next time!

Much love,
J and the entire Chaffin Family

You are a goof ball and expect us in LV soon enough!!! We miss you all and give my little Leah (minnie Emma) a pinch on the cheek. And cuddles to Sarah and Hannah. And let's get Natalia back to the NY area for a visit!!

 

[scottie]

I know our family had a GREAT time onboard meeting our DIS friends (sorry we didn’t get to meet everyone ) and the FE exchange was a blast... thanks for all the great gifts!

Kristen, was it you that switched rooms? I hope you got our gift bag that we put on your original room number a day or two before we found out you changed rooms.

We had always been on 3/4 night DCL cruises and now are not sure we can ever go back to those after the fun and relaxation of 7 nights on the ship!! It felt like a 2 week vacation to me as I totally lost track of the date and time.

We had a couple of days at WDW after, that didn’t turn out so magical (due to a visit from my wife’s bro) but that’s a long story!

We booked again onboard and won the $100 onboard booking credit they spoke about prior to Tuesday night!!!!
We booked a dummy 7 night cruise for the end of 2010, but have full intentions to flip to a 2011 7 night cruise when those dates are announced. Likely will do the cruise sometime between May and July 2011. We hope the new ship will be doing the 7 night sailings in 2011. If not, there is a slight chance we will kick the reservation to 2012 when the second ship arrives at Port Canaveral.

Jeremy, the excursion was top-notch and I had a blast! Still not sure why I never ran into you guys at the Mickey pool but had no problems everywhere else on the ship?! No worries, we will keep in touch!

Jen, Make sure to come on our next cruise so Meghan has someone her age again to chill with in the clubs! She was so happy to have Mariah onboard!

Allison and Bonnie, Morgan loved meeting Kennedy and Morgan and having some time with them in the clubs!

Don, I couldnt believe how many times we ran into each other on the ship!

Thanks again to everyone for helping to make this our best Disney Cruise ever!

We would love to have all our DIS pals join us for our next cruise! The FE is hanging in the closet ready for its next adventure!

 

[Eeyore77]

Chris and I rebooked for the 7 night repositioning cruise to the med, but we are seriously thinking about changing it to the 10 day Med cruise. I have never been overseas so I am really hoping that it will all work out.

 

[moebear]

Chris and I rebooked for the 7 night repositioning cruise to the med, but we are seriously thinking about changing it to the 10 day Med cruise. I have never been overseas so I am really hoping that it will all work out.

wow that sounds great. We didn't rebook on the cruise but usually do so last minute. It was nice having you and Chris and your grandmother, Betsy as side table mates! I miss 'Hendra and Pierre!!

 

[moebear]

2 questions:

1) has anyone taken off their green bracelets yet? (not me)

2) is anyone doing a trip report?

 

[akl432]

2 questions:

1) has anyone taken off their green bracelets yet? (not me)

2) is anyone doing a trip report?

If you do a trip report, please post the link here! It would be really neat to hear about everyone's experiences and perspectives on our cruise!!

 

[ufcabear]

Hi All -
I have taken off my bracelet and have not had time to unload all "the bounty" from the FE gifts. That was so fun. Each day Cal would say, "Let's go check and see if we got any "Bling." That was the word of the week.

Anyone else thinking, "Oh, last week at this time I was walking around St. Thomas or St. Maarten, or on the ship, or eating dinner, or ...?" I find myself doing it each day.

I bought some great Crocs sandals in St.Thomas. (Cal also became a huge CROCS fan.) I have gotten great complements and a friend of mine at work has found them on sale online. So...now I am ordering another pair but black this time.

I am ready to go back. I think I need to sell our house, retire and just live on the ship. HAHAHA!

 

[akl432]

I want to thank everyone for the neat FE gifts! There were so many creative and neat gifts, and the FE exchange greatly enhanced our cruise experience! Every time we came back to our stateroom, we looked forward to checking our bag. I am already planning my gifts for next time

I am sorry I didn't get to meet more of you in person; things were so hectic and it seemed like every second of our day was planned with something! Next time we will definitely take some time just to relax and walk around the ship and notice what's going on around us (One thing we can definitely skip next time is the ship orientation tour, since we know our way around now )

How do you handle the post-cruise letdown? For so long, this was the primary thing on our minds, and all my free time was devoted to planning and reading the DISboards. Now, we have to wait 17 months until our next one! Do you also find it hard to read the DISboards and hear about others whose trips are coming up, but yours is over?

 

[Eeyore77]

wow that sounds great. We didn't rebook on the cruise but usually do so last minute. It was nice having you and Chris and your grandmother, Betsy as side table mates! I miss 'Hendra and Pierre!!

I know what you mean. I still haven't gone to the store yet to replenish the food supply and there is nothing there. All I think is where are my boys to bring me something fabulous to eat? LOL!!!

So I have to ask, did you finally retrieve your little ones or are they still on the ship in the kids clubs? They were both so cute and we really enjoyed meeting all of you. I wish we were all ther sharing dinner space again right now.

My Nannie loved every minute of the cruise and that was a wonderful thing. She has been every other cruise line and she the service and most of all the food were the best she has had. That is saying alot coming from her. She has always been a fan of Princess!

 

[j2bmickey]

We also booked the dummy date for the 7 night in Dec 2010. We would like to do the Wonder 5 day double dip, but I think we are aiming for returning to the College World Series next year and that would be too much traveling in a short span (And more important, not enough vacation days at work). We will probably do like Scott and see what the 2011 sailings look like.

I'm not sure about a trip report this time, although some members of my crew think I should. There won't be as much to talk about this time since we did a lot more relaxing.

 

[MattM]

Cookies!!!!