09/21/08 SSMC08 S.S. Member Cruise 2008 - Part 3!

[TnRobin]

Well, we are headed to Nassau. Last night on the BTB 3 day we had pretty rough waves from the low front up north. This morning it is much better.

I have a question for you guys. Did they give out DVC wine glasses at dinner the last night? We got Wine glasses in Palos on Wed night. Couldn't you Mary on Thurs morning, to ask, guess we has bad timing.

 

[mohrt2]

Well, we are headed to Nassau. Last night on the BTB 3 day we had pretty rough waves from the low front up north. This morning it is much better.

I have a question for you guys. Did they give out DVC wine glasses at dinner the last night? We got Wine glasses in Palos on Wed night. Couldn't you Mary on Thurs morning, to ask, guess we has bad timing.

Kathy and I got ours at the private dinner we got through being among the first 15 to add on at the beginning of the cruise. I am not sure if they gave them out at any other time.

 

[WDWLVR]

I believe they give them out for Palo dinner but sadly not for Palo brunch. I know they used to give them out at the parties in the Cat 1 suites as well but don't know if they even had those this year. If they did no one I came across was invited.

Robin enjoy your 3 day cruise with Matt. We are having beautiful weather here at WDW. Got to see the lot where our friends are building as well as the model home there and their rental. Hoping to meet up with them again today for Food and Wine.

 

[njprincess]

I posted this on the LIVE thread, but looks like more people are posting here. So, here it is again!

Hi Everybody!

Trixie Pancake reporting live from dreary, rainy NJ. Hope you guys who are still at WDW are having great weather!

Thanks to Mary for colluding with my co-workers! Thanks to the live thread, not only were they able to view the pictures online, they actually held a photo caption contest for the pancake sister's picture:

1) At least this pancake won't go straight to my hips!
2) Fr. Frank employs a new punishment for those who snickered during the 'Arrrgh Father'.
3) Oolong the Performance Bunny strikes again!
4) The latest cruisewear - pancakes a la tete.
5) Although allowed by the Vatican, pancake coverings are frowned on during the Pirate Mass.
6) Weight Watchers new reminder to not overeat during your cruise!
7) Does this pancake make me look fat?

I MISS YOU GUYS ALREADY!!!

 

[Alex's Mom]

Craig and I made it back to Alabama last night about 9 pm CDT. We had a great time meeting all of you and can not wait for next year. You are the greatest group of people I have ever meet!!!! Thanks for all the fun and friendship!
I miss you all already.

 

[kamgen]

Well I am back to work. Steve and I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed meeting everyone and making some new friends!

I will try and post more later, but I did want to say that we think that a 4nights was way too short!!!! We are still debating going next year. We know we will go on a cruise, but not sure if we will use our points up for the members cruise or not. We better decide soon though!

 

[mohrt2]

Yes, Carol, I already miss you guys too. The weather here in CT is cold and rainy. What a difference a day makes.

Anyone doing cruise chat tonight? I might drop by if I don't go to bed early.

 

[tikimack]

Two days ago at this time Mimi and I were sitting in the water at Castaway Cay with 4 of our new friends from this board. What a day! What a trip! I had a great time!

Thanks to all for making us part of the "gang". It was so much fun to see people we knew from the board. Instant friends everywhere we went. We hope to meet with you again on a future cruise or maybe we'll just run into some of you in the parks some day.

 

[WDWLVR]

Time to answer my own questions.

So what did you think about the cruise? I was asked this last night by a friend who used to work for DVC and I'll give you the same answer I game him. It was real good, not great but real good. To me the 2005 and 2007 cruises were the best, 2006 the worst, and I would tie this one with 2003.

What did you like? I liked the little touches DVC put everywhere especially on Route 66. Seeing Deevey Cee's face everywhere was a hoot! I also really liked the line-up as far as the Imagineers, Ducky and the Ladies of Broadway.

Anything you didn't like? On the cruise itself I could have done without the Sports Inspirations...just didn't do much for me. I liked all the people personally and did go to the one presentation but just really didn't care for it as part of the theme. Also I didn't like the delay getting into Castaway Cay for the sales pitch. Wasted time. You have great incentives and some great prizes so some people will come. To hold everyone else hostage and not let them on the island just isn't cool. Last but not least the thing I disliked most was the communication (or should I say lack there off) before the cruise. DVC if you are going to have a website at least please update it regularly.

What is your favorite memory? I have to say that I have lots of wonderful memories from the cruise but my absolute favorite memory happened before the cruise. It was having Mass said for by Fr. Frank. Sharing that time with Frank, Kathy, Elllen, Tom, Joanne, Karen and Mark was special beyond words.

A great big thanks to Robin for organizing the pre-cruise dinner meet at Cape May. We had a great time.

Another big thank you to Robin for organizing the fun game at the onboard DIS meet. It was a great way to have people mix and mingle.

Thanks to Gary for keeping all us and in line and for doing all the tally work even while on the road!

Most of all thanks to all of you who participated in the threads and got to know your fellow cruisers before the cruise. That's what these threads are all about!

 

[gjw007]

So what did you think about the cruise?

I'm still up in the air about cruises as this was mostly about going to the beach with 2 days at Castaway. If you like going to the beach, I think you would enjoy this but I'm not generally a beach person and I liked the day at Sea. My first thought is the cruise is too short.

what did you like?

The attitude of the crew in general. This was best seen at Bingo and during the dance parties. They looked like they were having fun but I also don't think it rubbed off onto a lot of people.

Most of the shows were very good

I liked the day at Sea.

Getting on and off the boat was very quick and efficient.

anything you didn't like?

Cleanliness in the room, especially the bathroom. There was some dirt in the toilet and in the bathtub when I first entered the room when I first embarked on the ship and the bathtub was left dirty a couple days later.

As a first time cruiser, I messed up the schedule for the first day and missed most of the first show as I had misread the navigator to think that it went through diner. There should have been a short orientation for new cruisers.

The day at sea had a setup (food) for Castaway Cay members. In theory, everybody on board had been at Castaway Cay the day before but the invitees were only members who had been on previous cruises. Over 1600 out of 2000 cruisers were invited. Did DVC really intend to discriminate against those who hadn't cruised before? Given the small percentage who hadn't cruised before, it would seem that DVC should be promoting inclusiveness among its members rather than exclusiveness.

My head waiter kept messing up orders with the members at the table. Not a major item as it was quickly corrected as it occurred but it happened periodically up to the morning that we disembarked.

what is your favorite memory?

Getting up early on the day at sea and watching the sun rise.

 

[njprincess]

So what did you think about the cruise?

I loved it! We had never been on a Member Cruise before, so we can't compare it to others. But we have been on other Disney cruises before, and this one was a lot more fun.

what did you like?

Since we participated in the DISboard, we got to know so many people before the cruise (Thanks to Mary & Mark for making this so!). I loved cruising with so many new friends. I loved walking into a room and having people call my name and shout 'come sit with us!'.

The DVC theme everywhere! I loved the 'members have claimed the island!' sign at CC, inserting DeeVee Cee into all the ads on Route 66 and all the extra DVC decorations in the terminal.

anything you didn't like?

The boat drill!!! We were on the sunny side of the ship and I felt like an ant under a magnifying glass! Last April, we were on a Princess cruise and they have passengers muster inside the ship. Their point is that if there is an emergency (weather, fire, etc.), it might not be a good idea to have passengers wandering around on deck. This makes a lot more sense to me.

what is your favorite memory(s)?

Sitting in the water, at the end of the family beach, drinking a Konk Kooler with a bunch of DISers...

Brunch in the private room at Palo (also with fellow DISers). Our adorable waiter Sean fetching us 4 buttermilk pancakes and some waxed paper without asking any questions

Watching Ducky draw and listening to his story...

Seeing Disney animation shorts that no one (outside of Disney) had ever seen before (One by One was my favorite!)...

 

[tinkerbelle77]

Hi everyone, we had a great time and can't wait until next year! We are still at AKV, but leave tomorrow night for home. (Return to normal life ), but there's always next year to look forward to! I believe next year we are going sans kids, but we shall see! Hope everyone else has a safe trip back to reality!

 

[danandnan]

Dan & I got home last night. Our flight was smooth & uneventful but when we got to Boston it was raining very hard. It made the 2 hour drive to Maine slow & tedious but we made it OK. I think it was the same system that caused the rough seas Wed. night. What with unpacking, doing laundry, & getting food this is the first chance we've had to look at the thread. We too had a great time (if you don't count the rough seas on Wed. night!). Getting to know so many of you in person was wonderful. Our state room was always clean & tidy. Guess you had a lax host/hostess. I'm with you Mary about holding people back from the island while they made their sales pitch. But then if they didn't do that, maybe no one would go to the meeting! And Kathy, we agree wholeheartedly with the Konk Koolers & the pancakes!! What a hoot! Glad the Palo brunch worked out. Thanks to Joanne for making it happen. Our table mates were all nice & I think we were very compatible. Again thanks to Joanne for making that happen too. Finally to Mark & Mary & Robin, a huge thank you for all the work you did organizing meets & dinner.

As for future cruises, the Coersion in the Tropics is working. Some are pushing for us to go on the members cruise while some are pushing a 7 day. We haven't quite decided yet but are leaning toward the long one. (Sorry Mary) Either way we will keep in touch.

Nancy and Dan

 

[WDWLVR]

As a first time cruiser, I messed up the schedule for the first day and missed most of the first show as I had misread the navigator to think that it went through diner. There should have been a short orientation for new cruisers.

Gary - you had one of the best orientations available to you in the DISboards. That's one of the main reasons these boards exist is to answer questions people have. Sorry you got things messed up the first day. I've always found the navigators really easy to read.

The day at sea had a setup (food) for Castaway Cay members. In theory, everybody on board had been at Castaway Cay the day before but the invitees were only members who had been on previous cruises. Over 1600 out of 2000 cruisers were invited. Did DVC really intend to discriminate against those who hadn't cruised before? Given the small percentage who hadn't cruised before, it would seem that DVC should be promoting inclusiveness among its members rather than exclusiveness.

The Castaway Club is what DCL (not DVC) calls its returning cruisers program. Every cruise line has one. This happens on every cruise it wasn't something special to the DVC cruise. The fact that there were so many returning cruisers shows the popularity of DCL. A small little get together is just a nice thank you to them. Now that you have cruised you too will be a Castaway Club member the next time. That means you get to book at the 90 day window and you'll get invited to the party.

 

[WDWLVR]

As for future cruises, the Coersion in the Tropics is working. Some are pushing for us to go on the members cruise while some are pushing a 7 day. We haven't quite decided yet but are leaning toward the long one. (Sorry Mary) Either way we will keep in touch.

Nancy and Dan

Yeah to a future cruise! No worries Nancy I know you will have a great time on the 7 day.

 

[WDWLVR]

Greetings from TN! We are on our way home and stopped here for the night. Got to enjoy two days in the parks with our friends. Left very early this morning and had a great ride. We'll be up early again tomorrow and should be home tomorrow afternoon. As Tina said - back to normal life as we both go back to work on Monday.

 

[gjw007]

Gary - you had one of the best orientations available to you in the DISboards. That's one of the main reasons these boards exist is to answer questions people have. Sorry you got things messed up the first day. I've always found the navigators really easy to read.

Mary,

Third party sources of information are great but highlights the points that I made that it is something that should be handled by the cruise. It would have taken them a minute or two in the entire process to have touched on the highlights when boarding. I misread somewhere the 6:30 - 8:30 reference thinking that it was the entire time for the show. I saw the last 15 or 20 minutes of the show. My point isn't so much my missing of the show as much as it is a missed opportunity by Disney to highlight activities at at time when the guests are rushing around to familiarize themselves as they checkin. For old hands, its second nature; for those who are new, not so much so.

 

[LWQuestie]

My point isn't so much my missing of the show as much as it is a missed opportunity by Disney to highlight activities at at time when the guests are rushing around to familiarize themselves as they checkin. For old hands, its second nature; for those who are new, not so much so.

I understand exactly where you are coming from, Gary. I had more trouble with this year's Navigator than with the last set on my first cruise. I kept finding activities that would last an hour, but were only represented for 30 minutes of the chart.

I don't think I'll be doing another Member Cruise. I don't like that you have to book so far out and then hope it'll be a theme that you'll find interesting. Along with Mary, I was not really interested in any of the sports stuff that was going on.

I had a great dinner server, but a less than enthusiastic asst. server. Our stateroom host was great. Xenia in the Cove Cafe was AWESOME! The Shorts at Sea showing was excellent. Hallelujah to Dorothy McKim saying that traditional animation production never should have been stopped.

Also, the problem that we had with the Castaway Cay double-dip was that we crept along in the sea, barely going anywhere.... My hubby and I looooooved speeding along the sea last year, so we want to go on cruises that go somewhere!

 

[cherylp3]

Hi everyone, doing a quick check in.

What I liked: Everything. I had absolutely no problems this trip.

What I didn't like: No ship events on our CC 1st day. Also only 1 Floyd norman event was annoying.

Special moments: Meeting Linda Cohn in the gift shop. She is really nice and totally down to earth. Winning 2 of Ducky's sketches!!

Future plans: I'm thinking about a 7day too, or maybe banking and then a 2010 cruise. No member cruise next year, too close to holy days for me.

Ditto to Xenia in cove cafe!

 

[DCL-Fan]

So what did you think about the cruise?

I thought it was great...but I am pretty easy to please when it comes to cruising. We had a very nice time and the weather was fantastic..and to top it off, we added on with points from Bay Lake Tower! We can't wait to stay there! This was our 9th Disney Cruise and there were 9 family members with us. This was our 3rd member cruise; 10th Anniversary, 2005 and now 2008 and we will definitely do it again..but have not done the years consecutively.

what did you like?

I thought everything was great...especially having two days at Castaway Cay...so much better than Nassau! We really enjoyed spending time on the beach and sitting down by the water just relaxing. I thought that the session with Vince Papale and Patrick Henry Hughes was very good and enjoyable. There was so many options that I could not get to do everything. I thought the Broadway show singers were excellent on Tuesday night.


anything you didn't like?

I agree on the lifeboat drill...we were on the sunny side of the ship too and it was warm. The good news is that it was the only thing...it was all good from there on out!

what is your favorite memory(s)?

Sitting our on the back deck on Monday eating breakfast enjoying the breeze and thinking...hmmm...this sure is nice and it sure beats being being at work!

future plans?

DW and I are going next summer on a 7-day on the western itinerary..