09/05/09 LABORless MAGICal Meanderers

[Scottly83]

Ibela, suits are definetly not a must, a lot of the people wear a nice sportcoat or jacket. It is possible to even get away with a shirt and tie. Although, if your going to go on a cruise isn't kind of the point to get all decked out?

Aussie, The luggage reason is definetly a good one. Any way you can cut down on the weight of your luggage is always good when it's a factor on the overall cost, or at least that way you'll have more room for souvenirs.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Not everyone wears a tux, maybe 1/2. Dark suit is just fine too. I just like him to wear a tux for the sole purpose of getting nice pictures!

New additions to the cruise, my in-laws will be cruising with us. They're 60. I'll steer my mil to this thread, she's suddenly become computer savvy.

Yeaaa for your in-laws joining the cruise! I hope your MIL makes here over and joins us here!

Love to meet up and get a group shot with all of us. Was going to ask about this and about meeting up on the ship but didnt know if it was too early - is there such a thing with us??

Missy, Mike's suit sounds great. The only reason Jay is getting the tux is that we really have to watch with the luggage what we take and we are paying for the convenience of having it available to hire on the ship. Although Im sure he'll complain when its time to get dressed up in it

I think a group shot is a great idea. I'm definitely up for it if everyone else is! I think it would definitely be a great memory for all of us!

Ibela, suits are definetly not a must, a lot of the people wear a nice sportcoat or jacket. It is possible to even get away with a shirt and tie. Although, if your going to go on a cruise isn't kind of the point to get all decked out?

Aussie, The luggage reason is definetly a good one. Any way you can cut down on the weight of your luggage is always good when it's a factor on the overall cost, or at least that way you'll have more room for souvenirs.

Thanks y'all for the reassurance on the suit. I agree about getting decked out for the cruise. And I'm sure the DH wouldn't complain if I did ask him to wear a tux. Guess I'm just trying to be a little "budget-minded" by going with the suit and not renting!

 

[ibela]

Yeaaa for your in-laws joining the cruise! I hope your MIL makes here over and joins us here!



I think a group shot is a great idea. I'm definitely up for it if everyone else is! I think it would definitely be a great memory for all of us!



Thanks y'all for the reassurance on the suit. I agree about getting decked out for the cruise. And I'm sure the DH wouldn't complain if I did ask him to wear a tux. Guess I'm just trying to be a little "budget-minded" by going with the suit and not renting!

She's trying to but it's taking forever on her PC!

There were plenty of people on our last cruise that weren't dressed up at all. Personally, I think it's nice but do NOT ask on the main forum what appropriate attire is because it ALWAYS stirs up a debate between "you should dress up" to "it's my vacation and I can wear whatever I want", exhausting! Just everyone can wear what they want so long as they stay out of my pictures! Note: except for our now group shot, I want one of those!

 

[sbo123]

Hi everyone I am the mother-in-law of Irene . My name is Sheila. This is the first time my husband and myself are going on a disney cruise. I am 61 and my husband 62. I hope it won't be to much for us being around so many children. I love them all especially my grand-kids Asher ansd Fallon. I have a slight handicap. Now I walk with a walker and I hope soon I will have surgery to correct my hip. I do not let this stop me from having a good time. I have been on many cruises before. My daughter did a disney intership in orlando for 6 months and it was great.

 

[UGAFan0829]

There were plenty of people on our last cruise that weren't dressed up at all. Personally, I think it's nice but do NOT ask on the main forum what appropriate attire is because it ALWAYS stirs up a debate between "you should dress up" to "it's my vacation and I can wear whatever I want", exhausting! Just everyone can wear what they want so long as they stay out of my pictures! Note: except for our now group shot, I want one of those!

You're not kidding...I've seen some of those threads on the main board!

Hi everyone I am the mother-in-law of Irene . My name is Sheila. This is the first time my husband and myself are going on a disney cruise. I am 61 and my husband 62. I hope it won't be to much for us being around so many children. I love them all especially my grand-kids Asher ansd Fallon. I have a slight handicap. Now I walk with a walker and I hope soon I will have surgery to correct my hip. I do not let this stop me from having a good time. I have been on many cruises before. My daughter did a disney intership in orlando for 6 months and it was great.

Welcome, Sheila! It's nice to have you here!! I am sure that you and your husband will have a wonderful time on the cruise!! It sounds like you're a lot of fun! I can't wait to meet everyone in person!

 

[kileybeth]

Hi Everyone, funny thing, even though I'm a long time Disboard fan and post whenever I have questions or feel like offering up a suggestion I am suddenly feeling a bit shy this morning! Just tried to read through most of this thread (okay skimmed!)

This will be our first cruise EVER for any of us and it is a huge deal in more ways then one! I'm almost afraid it won't happen. But I am determined to make it happen sooooo, here I am!

Our decision to cruise: two teens who are a bit tired of going to Disney every year and two toddlers who love Disney like their second home and a Mom who appreciates Disney's way of making it all easier on me and a DH who, um, likes Disney, appreciates quality, wants something all the kiddos will enjoy this year but is also very budget conscience. Did you hear the huge sigh? That's a lot of people to get to agree on anything let alone put on a boat! HA!

Here's How old we are: DH, 49 DW(me) must I say??! 46 DS16 (who will turn 17 while cruising) DD14 , DS6, and DD4 Those ages are all adjusted up to what they will be September.

Here is who we are: DH, Corporate Real Estate, Facilities Management for a Bank (yeah, wonderful place to be in this economy ) Me, stay at home mom to 6 kids, 2 DS27&21grown (1 married, 1 just graduated from college) and the rest still in our roost, DS16 our quiet somewhat bookish one, very typical middle child, DD13 the socialite of our family and my right hand most days, DS6 this one defies explaination, he rasies our eyebrows everyday over new things and DD3, the baby who shouldn't be here and nearly took Mama with her when she came. Those were fun times. She is the extra blessing on the END, VERY END of the package! Princess in every form who can run with her 4 big brothers like nobodys business.

And we just booked our FIRST EVER CRUISE did I mention that? And now the fun begins, errr, I mean adding and subtracting and saving, saving, saving. So reading through this thread so far I am a bit hesitant to post as I can see our trip is going to be somewhat more "budget conscience" then some of yours but I am fine with that and hope everyone here will be as well. One of my favorite things over the years has been to see what bargains I can find for the nicest stuff (POLY for a week anyone?!) . I quickly realized after a bit of research I had no interest in other cruise lines for our family so it was on to figuring out how to make DCL work for us!

I guess I've rambled enough but I am sure I will be back with tons of questions soon! Thanks for listening!

Oh and only 208 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ibela]

Hi everyone I am the mother-in-law of Irene . My name is Sheila. This is the first time my husband and myself are going on a disney cruise. I am 61 and my husband 62. I hope it won't be to much for us being around so many children. I love them all especially my grand-kids Asher ansd Fallon. I have a slight handicap. Now I walk with a walker and I hope soon I will have surgery to correct my hip. I do not let this stop me from having a good time. I have been on many cruises before. My daughter did a disney intership in orlando for 6 months and it was great.

You made it over here, welcome mamacita! We'll have lots of fun, you'll see. Well, most of us will.

Hi Everyone, funny thing, even though I'm a long time Disboard fan and post whenever I have questions or feel like offering up a suggestion I am suddenly feeling a bit shy this morning! Just tried to read through most of this thread (okay skimmed!)

This will be our first cruise EVER for any of us and it is a huge deal in more ways then one! I'm almost afraid it won't happen. But I am determined to make it happen sooooo, here I am!

Our decision to cruise: two teens who are a bit tired of going to Disney every year and two toddlers who love Disney like their second home and a Mom who appreciates Disney's way of making it all easier on me and a DH who, um, likes Disney, appreciates quality, wants something all the kiddos will enjoy this year but is also very budget conscience. Did you hear the huge sigh? That's a lot of people to get to agree on anything let alone put on a boat! HA!

Here's How old we are: DH, 49 DW(me) must I say??! 46 DS16 (who will turn 17 while cruising) DD14 , DS6, and DD4 Those ages are all adjusted up to what they will be September.

Here is who we are: DH, Corporate Real Estate, Facilities Management for a Bank (yeah, wonderful place to be in this economy ) Me, stay at home mom to 6 kids, 2 DS27&21grown (1 married, 1 just graduated from college) and the rest still in our roost, DS16 our quiet somewhat bookish one, very typical middle child, DD13 the socialite of our family and my right hand most days, DS6 this one defies explaination, he rasies our eyebrows everyday over new things and DD3, the baby who shouldn't be here and nearly took Mama with her when she came. Those were fun times. She is the extra blessing on the END, VERY END of the package! Princess in every form who can run with her 4 big brothers like nobodys business.

And we just booked our FIRST EVER CRUISE did I mention that? And now the fun begins, errr, I mean adding and subtracting and saving, saving, saving. So reading through this thread so far I am a bit hesitant to post as I can see our trip is going to be somewhat more "budget conscience" then some of yours but I am fine with that and hope everyone here will be as well. One of my favorite things over the years has been to see what bargains I can find for the nicest stuff (POLY for a week anyone?!) . I quickly realized after a bit of research I had no interest in other cruise lines for our family so it was on to figuring out how to make DCL work for us!

I guess I've rambled enough but I am sure I will be back with tons of questions soon! Thanks for listening!

Oh and only 208 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome!! WOW, 6 kids?! I have my hands full with 2, I can't imagine 6. And I'll admit it, it's MUCH harder being at home than going into the office. Whew, I'm pooped just thinking about your everyday life.

No need to be hesitant, post away. Me and mil (sbo123) could give you a run for your money (pun intended) with the bargain hunting, trust me, she's good. Your family sounds great and our dds are the same age!

I think we're at 206 days now . . .

 

[kileybeth]

ibela,

Thanks for the reply, I was begining to think I was a thread killer! oy!

I usually like to think about my kiddos as 3 sets of 2 kids each, makes it a little easier to handle! two in their twenties, whew! we made it most of way through that family! two in their teens, okay, lots of drama BUT we've been here before we can get through it and those two preschoolers, my word! all I ever think here is I am raising two two very spoiled, Mommy's soooo tired, aren't they cute kiddos. oh dear! The older 4 laugh at me and say they never got away with or got half the stuff these two do! hehe. but the built in babysitting over the years? awesome perk!

so back to the cruise! I am currently trying to transfer my DCL reservation to DU and having a not so good time of it. Finally got answers I needed to make the commitment to do it but now can't get it to go through on line. ugh! I really need those two $100 OBC's!

trip insurance is my next thing to figure out/firm up. any thoughts?

wondering about ports but feel like I have to figure out everything about onboard first.

overwhelmed with amount of information to learn! I am one who likes to know what I am stepping into!

and why does 206 days suddenly sound like such a short time to do it all!??

 

[UGAFan0829]

Welcome, kileybeth!
I'm glad that you and your family are going to be cruising with us!
I remember how much research I did when we were planning our first cruise! Kinda like going to the World for the first time.
By no means am I an expert, but I know that all of us here will help as much as we can!
Good luck with getting your reservation transferred to DU. I bet that OBC will come in handy!!

 

[kileybeth]

Thanks Missy! I can't wait! (got your name off your pre-trippie report, hope that is okay?)

I'm sure once I know what questions to ask, you will be hearing from me!

travel insurance? I am looking at insuremytrip.com and looks like access and travel guard are the most affordable. any comments?

as far as OBC, what the heck do we spend them on? can kids get stuff from stores on board? sure hope so, I've been thinking of it as our fun money?

 

[UGAFan0829]

Thanks Missy! I can't wait! (got your name off your pre-trippie report, hope that is okay?)

I'm sure once I know what questions to ask, you will be hearing from me!

travel insurance? I am looking at insuremytrip.com and looks like access and travel guard are the most affordable. any comments?

as far as OBC, what the heck do we spend them on? can kids get stuff from stores on board? sure hope so, I've been thinking of it as our fun money?

Gosh, I can't help you much with the insurance. We always just use Disney's, but I have heard of both Travel Guard and Insuremytrip.

I think that you can use your OBC towards pretty much everything on the ship. The way I understand it, is that it's applied to your room charges as a credit, so it would just offset anything that you charge to your room...the spa, Shutters, purchases from the shops, shore excursions, etc. Hope that makes sense! It's definitely good for using as your "fun money'!

 

[kileybeth]

thanks.

I should not.be.on.here. gotta be out the door and have dinner on the table. .blah blah blah.


Disney's woudl have cost us over $500 and the other policy's offering same thing (from what I can tell so far) are around $110-130. that's a good chunk of change. and yup, I checked, that's for all 6 of us.

such boring discussions tho. can't wait to move on to the fun stuff!!!!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hi all!!!!!

Firstly a big big welcome to sbo123 and kileybeth

Second, sorry for being such a huge slacker and not being on to check sooner that you all had joined the group!! kileybeth you are not a threadkiller, I often think that is what I am at times but after a couple of days someone always answers The great thing is now that the cruise is getting closer and closer we all have so much more to discuss!!

Cant wait for that group shot, it sounds like its going to be a blast!!

Well the reason I have been so busy is that I have just registered to become a franchisee for a work at home travel agency. I am very excited as I have been out of the industry for a little while and was looking to get back into things after having the kiddies. So I have been run off my feet with airline training and the like. Next week I will be heading down to Melbourne for my orientation for 4 days so its all very exciting. You might all have heard Melbourne on the news lately regarding the tragic bushfires, but the actual fires are about 3 hours away from Melbourne so it will be quite safe.


kileybeth I intend to use my OBC on a massage at the spa, photo's from shutters and a few yummy adult drinks!! Looking forward to a nice pineapple mojito

 

[kileybeth]

aussieinvasion,

That sounds so fantastic. I would love to do something like that! I wish you well!

another question about OBC's, can they be put toward your gratuities? Now that sounds very boring but hey, whatever it takes to make this work! My DH is a very, very good tipper and most of the time I am very happy about that but sometimes, he just gets nutso! So I was thinkng if I could prepay and tell him that was taken care of (except porters and room service of course) and then he would just add in a bit here or there. . .?

and my big news tonight? I told the DH that indeed I had gone ahead and booked the big cruise already and he did not flip out, he even smiled through most of my ranting and raving about how fabulous it all was. If you knew my DH? You would know how over the moon I am right now! Happy Valentines Day to me! I need to go find an awesome ticker! to add to my signature!

thanks for giving me a place to come with my excitement and questions everyone!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Hey kileybeth,

Just wanted to check with you as Ive added your names on the first post, are your two eldest travelling? Just double checking as I didnt want to leave anyone out

You can use your OBC for tips, apparantly there is a way to also prepay your tips too but Im not sure how its done.

There is also a link somewhere on here to a form where you can pre buy OBC for a nominated amount. We were thinking of doing that to help us budget.

Anyway, what a great Valentine's Day present!! Well done!!

Hope everyone is well, Missy Ive got to get onto your pre-trip report next

 

[kileybeth]

Thanks for adding us to the list.

And no, our oldest is 27, married 8 years and we have a 7 year old grandson. Wouldn't that be fun to have them along but unfortunatly Mama's pockets aren't quite that deep. They are Disney lovers though but the DGS has some special needs that a cruise would make hard to accomadate.

And the second born DS21, is off to southeast asia for a life of missionary work about that time so no Disney cruise for that one this time either. He's been to Russia (x4short term trips) and Cambodia (1.5 years) and loved the people/work in both places so this assignment will combine the best of both of those trips.

So we are "officially" down to a house of 6 again.

 

[ibela]

Thanks Missy! I can't wait! (got your name off your pre-trippie report, hope that is okay?)

I'm sure once I know what questions to ask, you will be hearing from me!

travel insurance? I am looking at insuremytrip.com and looks like access and travel guard are the most affordable. any comments?

as far as OBC, what the heck do we spend them on? can kids get stuff from stores on board? sure hope so, I've been thinking of it as our fun money?

Oh, I'll go look for Missy's pre-trip report now! No idea about insurance but I do know that many on the dis use that web site. And you can definitely use the OBC towards tips. Not exactly sure how as I have no OBC but I'd think you can probably call DCL with a credit card and they'd take care of it over the phone?

Well the reason I have been so busy is that I have just registered to become a franchisee for a work at home travel agency. I am very excited as I have been out of the industry for a little while and was looking to get back into things after having the kiddies. So I have been run off my feet with airline training and the like. Next week I will be heading down to Melbourne for my orientation for 4 days so its all very exciting. You might all have heard Melbourne on the news lately regarding the tragic bushfires, but the actual fires are about 3 hours away from Melbourne so it will be quite safe.


kileybeth I intend to use my OBC on a massage at the spa, photo's from shutters and a few yummy adult drinks!! Looking forward to a nice pineapple mojito

Glad you're safe from the fires and GOOD LUCK on your new business venture!!

 

[aussieinvasion]

Glad you're safe from the fires and GOOD LUCK on your new business venture!!

Thanks Irene, I am so excited about getting started. These boards have given me some invaluable information that I'll be able to draw upon. Very surprisingly, not many agents have even heard of the DCL over here so I will be able to offer information regarding a unique experience to the public here. Anyway, enough about me How are things going for you? Are you going to drive down this time to the port?

We have started to put together a few things to pack now, being that we are coming to the end of our summer here there are a lot of things on sale so Ive bought some new swimmers for the kids, thongs (the type for your feet not sure what you guys call them over there. Maybe you call them flip flops? I dont know, I think thats a New Zealand term haha). Its getting close now, I just wish there is more I could do in the planning stages of things now to pass the time. Being that we are staying at DW beforehand I wish you could still book the ADR's 180 days out but thats changed now so I dont even have that to occupy my mind

 

[smilingmouse]

Hi all! Can I join the thread? I’ll be cruising with my dad for our first-ever father-daughter cruise! Even though the cruise is still a few months away, we can’t wait to cruise!

 

[kileybeth]

Welcome Aboard! Smiling mouse! I'm the newbie who climbed on before you and these ladies are great. Full of information!

I can tell you one thing. . .you will at least be warmer in a few months

(199 days to be exact!!!!!!)

then you are right now! Yikes! Minnesota is one cold place!

What made you choose the 7 day western? I didn't look good at your siggie (just the MN part as I have a son who lives there) so I don't know if you are first timer or not? We are first timers and soooo excited.

ETA: Just read your signature! I'm feeling the Disney love!