09/18/11 - DVCers Take Over the Dream (S.S. Member Cruise 2011) - Thread #3

[Carmouse10]

Hi Everyone,

We are back home safely in Indy.

Welcome Home!!! It is good to have you back.

When I went to the D2D event I was speaking with a gentleman who will be working on the Dream. I told him that I was going on the SSMC and he said "you guys have no idea what kind of things they have planned for you!" He went on to say that this was going to blow away anything else they had ever done before. I don't know exactly what that means but I got a little tingle just thinking about it.

Is it September yet?

 

[Hoosier John]

Love that pizza!! Like Giordanno's better though. Lou Malnati's isn't bad either.

I couldn't remember how to spell Giordanno's, and it never fit well with "What's the best restaurant at Disney" question, but when we have a car at WDW, we usually go to Giordanno's.

We did just eat at one of the Gino's in Chicago, but I couldn't say which was better.

 

[Hoosier John]

Welcome Home!!! It is good to have you back.

When I went to the D2D event I was speaking with a gentleman who will be working on the Dream. I told him that I was going on the SSMC and he said "you guys have no idea what kind of things they have planned for you!" He went on to say that this was going to blow away anything else they had ever done before. I don't know exactly what that means but I got a little tingle just thinking about it.

Is it September yet?

Thanks Andy,

And I'm glad we are all going now, hearing this!

 

[Hoosier John]

The guy that wrote "A Christmas Story" grew up in Hammond IN which is a couple towns to the west from us. The town is called Hohman in the movie but it was about Hammond.

I saw that for an Indiana History class at Purdue. The professor also indicated the relation to Hammond.

The only history class K thru college that I ever enjoyed. History is different when the text isn't written and approved by the state.

 

[mlholster]

Okay, here is a clicky thumbnail pic (click for full size picture) of Michael, Nancy, Sue, Duffy, and me showing off Duffy's Thanksgiving sweater.



Mike and Nancy came to visit us this weekend, and thought that Duffy needed a new sweater!

Nice picture. Dan and Sue hope you had luck shopping this weekend!

 

[Carmouse10]

I couldn't remember how to spell Giordanno's, and it never fit well with "What's the best restaurant at Disney" question, but when we have a car at WDW, we usually go to Giordanno's.

We did just eat at one of the Gino's in Chicago, but I couldn't say which was better.

OK, as a New Yawker who has access to NY style pizza on pretty much every block and works in Brooklyn so I can get the "real thing" here is my take on the pizza discussion.

Please do not tell anyone or my New Yawker card might be taken away: I really like Chicago style pizza a lot. I was not very impressed by Giordano's. Gino's East was outstanding as was Uno's. These were all in Chicago BTW.

There you go, the final word!

 

[mlholster]

Hi Everyone,

We are back home safely in Indy. Thought I'd take a minute to compare DCL and Princess (Emerald):

The three things that the Princess Emerald wins on are: Food quality, Any-time dining, and Debarkation process. We both felt that the food in the dining rooms was a notch above DCL. Not true for the Buffet, which I would say was a half notch below. You can choose Traditional (early or late) dining or Anytime dining, which is what we chose. We only waited 5-10 minutes twice, and less for all other dinners. If we were in a hurry, we asked to be seated alone, and when we had plenty of time we joined other couples at a larger table. We found this arrangement very flexible and convienent. This would not be possible on DCL for Animators and Enchanted Gardens due to the staging of the experience. I believe all 3 of their main dining rooms are identical (except for artwork), so DCL wins in this respect.

The debarkation process allowed us to sleep in longer and still have breakfast at 9 am. There weren't people sitting on stairs waiting for their number to be called. I hate getting up so early on DCL. Sure embarkation is also delayed, but it's a lot easier getting up at 8 rather than 6 am. DCL might do this because of their proximity to the airport. At Ft. Lauderdale, from the ship to your gate was about an hour, and less than $20 cab fare.

Now what DCL does right: Their port is much better designed. Princess' port was strictly utilitarian, concrete floors, and no regard for separating the guests from baggage handling functions. There was no, "Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the Smith family.", but more than that there was a little more confusion/congestion than I remember on DCL. Princess did load on two separate decks to help with this ... DCL will probably need to do something similar on their new, larger ships.

Their sail away party was dismal. Kids were dangling their feet in the pool while a couple dozen people danced to the live band. Almost can't compare to DCL stage show. If DCL was a 10, Princess was a 3 maybe. Still upbeat, but not even in the same league. Part of this might have been due to the age of the guests? I'd guess nearly 70% retired (over 60), 25% working ages, and 5% kids. There were 140 under 20 yrs old and between 3100-3300 passengers onboard.

The upper staff were just as good on Princess, but the "hidden" staff might have been a half notch below DCL. Respectful, but maybe less friendly. Our room steward was worthy of an extra tip, and even though we did Anytime dining, we were still greeted by some of our previous wait staff.

Some said their stage productions were the best they had seen on several cruise lines, but we felt like they were a notch or two below DCL. And the Princess Emerald didn't have a separate movie stage, rather using a large bar. They have easier access to drinks, but only two levels as opposed to ampetheatre seating.

Their private island, Princess Cay, is also several notches below Disney's. They had private cabanas, clamshells, floats, waterbikes, personal sailboats, snorkeling, as well as excursions. But the beach becomes rocky about 10 feet offshore, the ship anchors offshore so we had to line up to be tendered ashore, and the lunch was a notch below. Their north beach was terribly crowded, luckily we went south. Their island is too small and narrow to hide the behind the scenes activity (heavy equipment) like Disney does. It wasn't active while we were there, but it detracts from the view (not the ocean view). The various huts seemed a little too crowed and the live band was pretty much ignored. Their island is too small for walking and bicycle trails.

I think DCL allows you to bring any personal alcohol onboard, whereas Princess only allows wine and champaign (officially). But no free soft drinks on Princess. After 8 pm though, all the bars had $2.99 Pina Coladas, Long Islands, and house liquors.

All in all, for the bang for the buck, we enjoyed Princess. We may sail DCL with kids and Princess without?

Welcome back! Thanks for the comparison of the cruise lines, it was interesting to read.

 

[mlholster]

OK, as a New Yawker who has access to NY style pizza on pretty much every block and works in Brooklyn so I can get the "real thing" here is my take on the pizza discussion.

Please do not tell anyone or my New Yawker card might be taken away: I really like Chicago style pizza a lot. I was not very impressed by Giordano's. Gino's East was outstanding as was Uno's. These were all in Chicago BTW.

There you go, the final word!

Smart man there is nothing like Chicago Pizza. Really we have traveled all over and we crave our pizza. We even took frozen pizza on dry ice from a local place when we drove to Disney a couple of times.
We had our Christmas parade Friday night in town. Santa arrived and it was cold. After the parade we went to GIno's and some great pizza. Also love Lou Malnates (sp)

 

[Carmouse10]

Smart man there is nothing like Chicago Pizza. Really we have traveled all over and we crave our pizza. We even took frozen pizza on dry ice from a local place when we drove to Disney a couple of times.
We had our Christmas parade Friday night in town. Santa arrived and it was cold. After the parade we went to GIno's and some great pizza. Also love Lou Malnates (sp)

Lynn, when I saw you post right after me, I knew there was no way you would like this topic slide without a response.

I really wanted to try Lou's pizza but just ran out of time and meals while I was in Chi-town. I am going to make that a priority whenever I return. I probably could have squeezed it in one day, but I was hanging out on the Transformers set and decided I could eat at Lou's another time...

 

[dvc deernut]

WE ARE HERE. CANT WAIT UNTIL WED TO MEET LAURA and JIM

 

[M & N Potter]

Hi Everyone,

We are back home safely in Indy. Thought I'd take a minute to compare DCL and Princess (Emerald):

Welcome home we missed you!
Having never been on a cruise I found this interesting and I am glad that you took the time to share. Thanks!
I am even more excited for September.
Nancy

 

[Hoosier John]

I will be joining you in my kitchen. This will be my first Thanksgiving dinner I will make. Never had to before. We will have some of our kids and their families, 10 adults and 5 kids. Kinda of scared I have frozen pizzas in the freezer just in case

This reminds me, they were going to have a Turkey Carving Demonstration on the Princess, but evidently didn't realize you couldn't cook the bird in an hour and had to cancel it until the next day.

 

[Luckymomoftwo]

Welcome Home!!! It is good to have you back.

When I went to the D2D event I was speaking with a gentleman who will be working on the Dream. I told him that I was going on the SSMC and he said "you guys have no idea what kind of things they have planned for you!" He went on to say that this was going to blow away anything else they had ever done before. I don't know exactly what that means but I got a little tingle just thinking about it.

Is it September yet?

After reading what the CM said to you, I am SUPER EXCITED!

Hi Everyone,

We are back home safely in Indy. Thought I'd take a minute to compare DCL and Princess (Emerald):

The three things that the Princess Emerald wins on are: Food quality, Any-time dining, and Debarkation process. We both felt that the food in the dining rooms was a notch above DCL. Not true for the Buffet, which I would say was a half notch below. You can choose Traditional (early or late) dining or Anytime dining, which is what we chose. We only waited 5-10 minutes twice, and less for all other dinners. If we were in a hurry, we asked to be seated alone, and when we had plenty of time we joined other couples at a larger table. We found this arrangement very flexible and convienent. This would not be possible on DCL for Animators and Enchanted Gardens due to the staging of the experience. I believe all 3 of their main dining rooms are identical (except for artwork), so DCL wins in this respect.

The debarkation process allowed us to sleep in longer and still have breakfast at 9 am. There weren't people sitting on stairs waiting for their number to be called. I hate getting up so early on DCL. Sure embarkation is also delayed, but it's a lot easier getting up at 8 rather than 6 am. DCL might do this because of their proximity to the airport. At Ft. Lauderdale, from the ship to your gate was about an hour, and less than $20 cab fare.

Now what DCL does right: Their port is much better designed. Princess' port was strictly utilitarian, concrete floors, and no regard for separating the guests from baggage handling functions. There was no, "Ladies and Gentleman, please welcome the Smith family.", but more than that there was a little more confusion/congestion than I remember on DCL. Princess did load on two separate decks to help with this ... DCL will probably need to do something similar on their new, larger ships.

Their sail away party was dismal. Kids were dangling their feet in the pool while a couple dozen people danced to the live band. Almost can't compare to DCL stage show. If DCL was a 10, Princess was a 3 maybe. Still upbeat, but not even in the same league. Part of this might have been due to the age of the guests? I'd guess nearly 70% retired (over 60), 25% working ages, and 5% kids. There were 140 under 20 yrs old and between 3100-3300 passengers onboard.

The upper staff were just as good on Princess, but the "hidden" staff might have been a half notch below DCL. Respectful, but maybe less friendly. Our room steward was worthy of an extra tip, and even though we did Anytime dining, we were still greeted by some of our previous wait staff.

Some said their stage productions were the best they had seen on several cruise lines, but we felt like they were a notch or two below DCL. And the Princess Emerald didn't have a separate movie stage, rather using a large bar. They have easier access to drinks, but only two levels as opposed to ampetheatre seating.

Their private island, Princess Cay, is also several notches below Disney's. They had private cabanas, clamshells, floats, waterbikes, personal sailboats, snorkeling, as well as excursions. But the beach becomes rocky about 10 feet offshore, the ship anchors offshore so we had to line up to be tendered ashore, and the lunch was a notch below. Their north beach was terribly crowded, luckily we went south. Their island is too small and narrow to hide the behind the scenes activity (heavy equipment) like Disney does. It wasn't active while we were there, but it detracts from the view (not the ocean view). The various huts seemed a little too crowed and the live band was pretty much ignored. Their island is too small for walking and bicycle trails.

I think DCL allows you to bring any personal alcohol onboard, whereas Princess only allows wine and champaign (officially). But no free soft drinks on Princess. After 8 pm though, all the bars had $2.99 Pina Coladas, Long Islands, and house liquors.

All in all, for the bang for the buck, we enjoyed Princess. We may sail DCL with kids and Princess without?

I'm glad you enjoyed your non DCL cruise. Now if we could just figure out how to get DCL to serve $2.99 Pina Coladas!

 

[erionm]

Welcome Home!!! It is good to have you back.

When I went to the D2D event I was speaking with a gentleman who will be working on the Dream. I told him that I was going on the SSMC and he said "you guys have no idea what kind of things they have planned for you!" He went on to say that this was going to blow away anything else they had ever done before. I don't know exactly what that means but I got a little tingle just thinking about it.

Is it September yet?

I so hope this is true. I know there are members who didn't book the SSMC 2011 because of the rehashing of the theme from the prior couple of years.

2011 marks the 20th Anniversary of DVC and will be the first SSMC on the Disney Dream. I really hope they take both of these things into consideration when planning events.

 

[Hoosier John]

Not us. We always are camped at my MIL's. She loves to cook for a bunch of people. Our oldest daughter will be in attendance, as will my sister, her husband, both of her children, my wife's cousin and his wife along with his sister, my BIL and...
The usual crowd, with a couple exceptions. This year, our party is sort of like the Donner party. Started out with 21 then 20, then 18, 17...

very funny.

Sometimes when there is a wait to be seated, and they announce your name, I am tempted to tell them "Donner", especailly when we are with several people.

 

[Hoosier John]

"FINALLY – A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO BODY SCANNERS:

The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the
privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners at the airports.

It's a booth you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate
any explosive device you have on you. They see this as a win-win for
everyone, with no racial profiling. It also would eliminate the costs of a long
and expensive trial. Case closed!

You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly
thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system . . . "Attention standby
passengers - we now have a seat available on flight 321.”

That is hilarious, and at the same time I really like the idea!

It still won't stop the problem of someone who brings aboard two fluids which mix to an explosive, though.

By the way, every time I go through an airport, I would like to personally thank they guy with the shoe bomb! I have taken to dress shoes that slip on/off just so I don't fall over trying to tie my shoes.

 

[Hoosier John]

I'm heading off to bed too. Must get up early and go pick up my rental car!

Wow! You must be STRONG! Have a great trip!

Oh man, you all were on a roll while I was gone!

 

[Hoosier John]

Hello to all, tis' the time of year
To bestow upon thee Thanksgiving Cheer
Blessing those so near and far
By bus or plane, boat or car
It's the thought and act no less
To see our loved ones to hug and bless
For everyday is sweet at heart
You never know when one may part
Cheers to football and the mall
You'll need some wine, you'll hear the call
Coffee, tea, then we'll plea
"We need the loo! We need to pee!"
And that's the time I bid "adieu"
Bless the DIS, I must "ah-CHOO!"

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jennifer

Very nice Jennifer! I am no artist by a long shot, but I seemed very good to me.

 

[Hoosier John]

Alas, I am caught up with around 40 pages I missed.

Please excuse my inconsideration of not going back and quoting each individually, but Happy Birthday to all those I missed over the last couple of weeks.

And to express my sympathies to all those who lost loved ones. Terri the memories you expressed brought tears to my eyes. I have been through one experience, and there were no words or hugs that really helped much at all. If there were, I would certainly express them now. It took weeks to function as if things were normal and months until they really were. And still years later, it is still very saddening at times. I write this through my own tears, wishing you all and your families memories of the good times spent together.

 

[calypso726]

Welcome Home!!! It is good to have you back.

When I went to the D2D event I was speaking with a gentleman who will be working on the Dream. I told him that I was going on the SSMC and he said "you guys have no idea what kind of things they have planned for you!" He went on to say that this was going to blow away anything else they had ever done before. I don't know exactly what that means but I got a little tingle just thinking about it.

Is it September yet?

Oh I hope that translates to Johnny Depp dressed as Cpt. Jack Sparrow on board

Hi Everyone,

We are back home safely in Indy. Thought I'd take a minute to compare DCL and Princess (Emerald):

Welcome back. Thanks for the side by side comparison.

Alas, I am caught up with around 40 pages I missed.

Please excuse my inconsideration of not going back and quoting each individually, but Happy Birthday to all those I missed over the last couple of weeks.

And to express my sympathies to all those who lost loved ones. Terri the memories you expressed brought tears to my eyes. I have been through one experience, and there were no words or hugs that really helped much at all. If there were, I would certainly express them now. It took weeks to function as if things were normal and months until they really were. And still years later, it is still very saddening at times. I write this through my own tears, wishing you all and your families memories of the good times spent together.

Thank you for your kind thoughts. I know that it will take time before we are back to normal.