09/05/09 LABORless MAGICal Meanderers

[UGAFan0829]

Wow, y'all have been quiet since Saturday!
Just checking in on my fellow cruisers...Hope everyone is having a good week so far!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hi everyone,

Busy work at week, Ive been a bit of a slacker on the Dis..... loving the photos. That water at Castaway Cay looks beautiful. Cant wait!!!
The DCL virtual house party was absolute madness. So many people, it was so hard to keep up. Shame that none of us won anything, never mind. Anyway, something interesting that I only caught half the information of. Regarding the Character breakfast,are they stopping that now? I might have my wires crossed but I thought they said something about it.
I knew about bringing the alchohol on board. We plan to bring on water too and soft drink. This might sound ignorant, but do you guys have Pepsi Max over there? Thats the only softdrink DH drinks. He also has his heart set on buying Cuban Cigars. Dont know what the rules are, I know US citizens are not allowed to bring them back but wondering if it makes a difference that we will be flying out to Sydney on the day we come back from the cruise. Mmmmmmmmmm. I think Cigars stink, but he's got his heart set on it.
I just know we are going to spend a fortune at Shutters... Im scared The lifestyle portraits that people have posted here look fantastic, and I couldnt think of a better time to get them done. Anyway, thats what our budget will go on being that we will have duty free alchohol that we'll be bringing on anyway.

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hey, maybe I have my wires crossed but I half caught a snippet of information that maybe there might be a discount code for those that had a DCL House Party. Anyone know anything?

 

[UGAFan0829]

Hi everyone,
That water at Castaway Cay looks beautiful. Cant wait!!!
The DCL virtual house party was absolute madness. So many people, it was so hard to keep up.

The water at CC is beautiful! I am hoping that it will be a lot warmer than the last time that we were there...but I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that we cruised in January!!!

I definitely agree with the house party being madness. It was almost impossible to be able to read everything. I had a hard time just finding out how to register to have a shot at the prizes! At least we made an effort though, right!

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Forgot to post this last night. This is one of my favorite pics from the cruise:

 

[aussieinvasion]

That looks Awesome!!! The weather looks absolutely perfect!! I hope we get some great weather when we go. Someone suggested packing a light cardigan or something but Im thinking it may be too hot.

 

[ibela]

Hey, maybe I have my wires crossed but I half caught a snippet of information that maybe there might be a discount code for those that had a DCL House Party. Anyone know anything?

Hi everyone,

Busy work at week, Ive been a bit of a slacker on the Dis..... loving the photos. That water at Castaway Cay looks beautiful. Cant wait!!!
The DCL virtual house party was absolute madness. So many people, it was so hard to keep up. Shame that none of us won anything, never mind. Anyway, something interesting that I only caught half the information of. Regarding the Character breakfast,are they stopping that now? I might have my wires crossed but I thought they said something about it.
I knew about bringing the alchohol on board. We plan to bring on water too and soft drink. This might sound ignorant, but do you guys have Pepsi Max over there? Thats the only softdrink DH drinks. He also has his heart set on buying Cuban Cigars. Dont know what the rules are, I know US citizens are not allowed to bring them back but wondering if it makes a difference that we will be flying out to Sydney on the day we come back from the cruise. Mmmmmmmmmm. I think Cigars stink, but he's got his heart set on it.
I just know we are going to spend a fortune at Shutters... Im scared The lifestyle portraits that people have posted here look fantastic, and I couldnt think of a better time to get them done. Anyway, thats what our budget will go on being that we will have duty free alchohol that we'll be bringing on anyway.

Did I somehow miss the fact that you guys hosted parties? How'd that go?? Sounds like madness, I read a bit of the thread about the planning and people went all out, kinda made me wish like I had gone. Disney fans sure are hardcore!

I'm pretty sure that you can't bring Cuban cigars back onto US land but he can definitely smoke it on the islands and, I'd imagine, back on the ship. Our first cruise ever (non-Disney) some people were being arrested for bringing Cuban cigars through customs. I think they had a lot that they wanted to sell so not just a few, but I really don't know the full story.

That looks Awesome!!! The weather looks absolutely perfect!! I hope we get some great weather when we go. Someone suggested packing a light cardigan or something but Im thinking it may be too hot.

Definitely bring a cardigan. A few evenings were a little cool when strolling on deck plus the air conditioning may make you feel a little chilly. Also, don't forget to add an umbrella to your packing list. . .

I doubt that they're stopping the character breakfast entirely but there are a lot of people unhappy with the new format. DCL changed it last year so that instead of the characters going from table to table, kids are invited to go up and dance with the characters in the middle of the restaurant so everyone else feels left out.

Never heard of Pepsi Max . . .?

The NY area is hoppin' this morning after last night's Super Bowl win by the Giants. I only saw the last quarter but it seemed exciting, and tomorrow there's a parade. OK, back to our regular scheduled Disney planning, lol . . .

 

[ibela]

The water at CC is beautiful! I am hoping that it will be a lot warmer than the last time that we were there...but I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that we cruised in January!!!

I definitely agree with the house party being madness. It was almost impossible to be able to read everything. I had a hard time just finding out how to register to have a shot at the prizes! At least we made an effort though, right!

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!!

We went around the same time and it was very warm, about 80 degrees I'd say.

How did your parties go? Did you guys have many people?

 

[aussieinvasion]

We just went to the DCL Virtual House Party that DU ran in the chat room. It was crazy. Up to nearly 200 people at one point. Everyone typing so fast it was so hard to keep up. They gave away a free cruise on the Wonder and some gift cards but we didnt win anything unfortunately They basically just stated facts about the cruises, the staterooms etc. No new information.I thought that DCL were going to make some sort of special announcement but it didnt happen.

Pepsi Max is like Diet Pepsi but has no sugar and no sweetners. OK I think its safe to say it wont be on the boat if no one's heard of it !!

OK now Im scared about the whole Cuban Cigar thing. If he gets some, he's smoking them on the island. Im not taking the risk

 

[ibela]

Pepsi Max is like Diet Pepsi but has no sugar and no sweetners. OK I think its safe to say it wont be on the boat if no one's heard of it !!

OK now Im scared about the whole Cuban Cigar thing. If he gets some, he's smoking them on the island. Im not taking the risk

Seriously, DON'T risk the cuban cigar thing!! You can probably take it back on the boat so he doesn't have to smoke it that day, just be done with them before debarking. I think the arrest we saw was because they had a fairly large quantity that they wanted (we assume) to sell in the US but it can't be worth the risk (says a non-cigar smoker) . . .

I thought of you the other day! I only watched the last 45 minutes of the Super Bowl but the commercials are always a big deal and discussed for days (yet normally everyone skips through commercials, go figure). ANYWAY, my point is that someone on the radio mentioned a commercial for Pepsi Max. I guess it's entering the US market (in my Marketing classes they said often products are introduced elsewhere to tweak before coming to the US since it's such a big market) so, assuming it's liked here and kept around, it should be readily available by the time you guys come for your trip!

On a WDW note, I switched around my ADRs taking into account EMH and I started putting together a tentative 'touring plan'. Would you guys believe I wanted to change my breakfast Chef Mickey ADR to a Friday morning and the ONLY time they had available was 7:20? I'm not committing to having a 2yr old at CM that early so I ended up going with Thur. morning instead.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Just checking in on my fellow cruisers. Hope everyone is doing well. It's gottan quiet around here again, but I know that everyone's busy making $$ to spend on the cruise, right??
And while I'm here, I may as well add another picture:

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hey, how are you going? Its very quiet around here. I think this is the first time Ive gone days without checking the DIS
I am so jealous you guys are going this year to DW. Ive been looking at your counter thinking wow, its not long now.
I love hearing about all your plans and ADR's etc that you and Ibela have got cooked up. Being able to check the EMH and make the reservations must be so exciting.
On that note, in April I would be able to book room only for our trip but what do you guys do? I know there is much debate that usually goes on about whether or not its worth booking room only then switching to a package? If it was Christmas or Thanksgiving or something I could understand but do you think its worth it for late August/Early Sept when we are going? Also, does it work out to be the same cost roughly if you book room only plus tickets or a package? Obviously if theres free dining offered when we go we would want to switch to this.
Anyway, hope you are all good. The whole trip still hasnt sunk in to hubby yet but in saying that he has never ever experienced anything Disney so its hard to explain to him my overwhelming excitement. He'll get it once were there. We organised our passports this week. A bit early but I wanted to get it out of the way. Have DCL asked for your passport numbers or does this only apply to us seeing as we are non US residents?

 

[NYCDisneylovers]

So we booked our first ever cruise today, and we are sooo excited.We ended up booking a CAT 6, and loving the double OBC with DU !! Anyone coming along too?

We will be there too

Myself-Stacy (40) DH-Scott (40) DD-Brittany (17) & DD-Madison (4). And we can't wait. We booked a cat. 4 on the 8th deck with our points from DVC.

Stacy

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hi Stacy,

Welcome aboard!! Its great that another family is joining us That makes 5 families in total for our little group now.
For our family it will me me (Mel 31), DH (Jay 33), DS (Travis 3) and DD (Amelia 18 mnths) although they will be 5 and turning 3 onboard when we go.
Is this your first cruise with DCL? This is my first cruise ever so its all new to me. Great that you've got points to use. Will you be going to DW as well?

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hey everyone, I think Ibela suggested this before but does anyone mind if I edit my first post to list the members that are in this group?

 

[NYCDisneylovers]

Hi Stacy,

Welcome aboard!! Its great that another family is joining us That makes 5 families in total for our little group now.
For our family it will me me (Mel 31), DH (Jay 33), DS (Travis 3) and DD (Amelia 18 mnths) although they will be 5 and turning 3 onboard when we go.
Is this your first cruise with DCL? This is my first cruise ever so its all new to me. Great that you've got points to use. Will you be going to DW as well?

Thanks for the warm welcome. This will be our second DC, the first one we went on was the 4 day and still had a great time but wanted something longer this time around. I'm not sure yet about DW because I don't know how much vacation my husband will have at that point. But we are going to DW this august for a few days after our RC cruise in August. And I can't wait.

 

[UGAFan0829]

I am so jealous you guys are going this year to DW. Ive been looking at your counter thinking wow, its not long now.
We organised our passports this week. A bit early but I wanted to get it out of the way. Have DCL asked for your passport numbers or does this only apply to us seeing as we are non US residents?

Well, it looks like you won't be the only one not going to WDW this year. The DH and I have decided to take a break from Disney until our cruise next year. Granted, I'm not happy about it, but I think it's the best decision for us. I think we're just gonna head to the beach for a few days which should still make for a good vacation, but of course, nothing compares to Disney!! Of course, we still have the cruise to look forward to, thankfully!

We will be there too

Myself-Stacy (40) DH-Scott (40) DD-Brittany (17) & DD-Madison (4). And we can't wait. We booked a cat. 4 on the 8th deck with our points from DVC.

Stacy

Glad to have you here, Stacy!! Is this your family's first cruise?

Hey everyone, I think Ibela suggested this before but does anyone mind if I edit my first post to list the members that are in this group?

I think that's a great idea...espceially since our group is growing!!!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Well, it looks like you won't be the only one not going to WDW this year. The DH and I have decided to take a break from Disney until our cruise next year. Granted, I'm not happy about it, but I think it's the best decision for us. I think we're just gonna head to the beach for a few days which should still make for a good vacation, but of course, nothing compares to Disney!! Of course, we still have the cruise to look forward to, thankfully!

I think that's a great idea...espceially since our group is growing!!!

Ahh well missy, never mind. Im sure you will still have a great time at the beach and it will just make planning the cruise all the more special and exciting. Now I have someone else to whine and complain to that we cant go just yet I think Ive just about driven DH crazy with my impatience.

Well I adjusted the first entry so I hope thats ok.Its got all of our usernames on it but I didnt list numbers in parties or anything like that.

NYCDisneylovers, where are you going with RC? We almost went with them but decided DCL was better for our kids being the ages they are but it was tempting there for a while....

 

[NYCDisneylovers]

NYCDisneylovers, where are you going with RC? We almost went with them but decided DCL was better for our kids being the ages they are but it was tempting there for a while....

Last summer with RC we went to the western caribbean on the Mariner which went to: Ladadee, Haiti, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Caymen & Cozumel.

This summer we are doing the Eastern caribbean which goes to: Bahamas, St. Thomas, St. Maarten on the Mariner too.

We all had a great time the boat was great and so was the staff.

 

[ibela]

Hey, how are you going? Its very quiet around here. I think this is the first time Ive gone days without checking the DIS
I am so jealous you guys are going this year to DW. Ive been looking at your counter thinking wow, its not long now.
I love hearing about all your plans and ADR's etc that you and Ibela have got cooked up. Being able to check the EMH and make the reservations must be so exciting.
On that note, in April I would be able to book room only for our trip but what do you guys do? I know there is much debate that usually goes on about whether or not its worth booking room only then switching to a package? If it was Christmas or Thanksgiving or something I could understand but do you think its worth it for late August/Early Sept when we are going? Also, does it work out to be the same cost roughly if you book room only plus tickets or a package? Obviously if theres free dining offered when we go we would want to switch to this.
Anyway, hope you are all good. The whole trip still hasnt sunk in to hubby yet but in saying that he has never ever experienced anything Disney so its hard to explain to him my overwhelming excitement. He'll get it once were there. We organised our passports this week. A bit early but I wanted to get it out of the way. Have DCL asked for your passport numbers or does this only apply to us seeing as we are non US residents?

No idea about prices but definitely price it out online all different ways. Who knows how these things work?!

Yes, we need to provide our passport #s. Um, I think we do . . ? Anyway, we did. Now everyone needs a passport for cruise travel, unless they changed the date again . . . ok, sorry, this post was totally useless.

We will be there too

Myself-Stacy (40) DH-Scott (40) DD-Brittany (17) & DD-Madison (4). And we can't wait. We booked a cat. 4 on the 8th deck with our points from DVC.

Stacy

Welcome! We're thinking about rebooking to a cat 4, I'm waiting for the DVC point chart to come out b/c we're using our points too. And we're from your area too . . . anyway, welcome!