10/19/2013 An Eastern Fantasy

[Scotty69]

Hey everyone can I make a suggestion. I would like to suggest that whoever is going to run the Fe set up an email account and post the link to it here. Then when someone wants to join the Fe they just send an email to whoever is running it. That person can keep a master list. Then once a month send out updates to everyone. I did this 13 months ago when I ran the Fe for our October of 2011 cruise. It worked out quiet well.

 

[BLeeS]

Scotty, you have been very positive and cordial...we certainly appeciate your efforts. Thanks and look forward to meeting you too!

And to our friend who originally stepped up to do this with the original list, should get a pat on the back...so to both of you, our thanks!

 

[Scotty69]

Scotty, you have been very positive and cordial...we certainly appeciate your efforts. Thanks and look forward to meeting you too!

And to our friend who originally stepped up to do this with the original list, should get a pat on the back...so to both of you, our thanks!

Aww thank you very much. I try to be positive in everything I do. All I want to do is have fun and enjoy myself. That's what vacations are for. Not all this drama that's for sure.

 

[padalyn]

wow...I stop reading for 5 days...and look what happens! Lots of changes. So, there is a new FE list - I will add us to it once I get a better internet connection (at work right now - very slow due to double encryption).

We are confirmed sailing in cabin 5526. Unless our TA manages to find us one of the other cabins we are interested in - we are set up.

My Finacee Cathy (Halloween_Gryl) was wondering if anyone knows the name on of the company/woman who makes floral deliveries to the DCL fleet. I saw it many years ago, but haven't seen it recently. I know that DCL does flowers, but I am also under the impression that an outside vendor has been vetted by DCL. Can anyone confirm this - or PM me the name/number?

Since this is our honeymoon, we are hoping to make the cabin very special!

Thanks in advance!

Cayla & Cathy

 

[padalyn]

I'm confused with all the FE lists. I am willing to take over the lists, combine, and repost to DIS and FB. If it helps I am a librarian who is on FB and DIS daily. I am thinking the PIF date can be the cutoff date for deciding whether to split the list or not. And then we can have a second cutoff date for those who book after the PIF date. If we split the list then those who book after the PIF date but before the second cutoff will get split between the two FE lists.

Wendy, I think the main issue that was bought up was that people were complaining that someone was in charge of the list, thus 'making the rules'. If you are 'in charge' I think it would leave you open to being the one who gets the earache if things are not going the way people want it. And let's be honest, this is inevitable really. I was happy with the way it was going the first time around tbh. Why people are talking about splitting when there are barely 15 cabins, I have no idea.

Maybe the way to do this is by having one list on FB and one open document - this way people will get to choose, for themselves, the group they want to be in (maybe from the friends they have on the list) and if someone wants to put their name on both lists then they can and then they are not in the split and can do a gift for everyone.

Then everyone is happy. Maybe.

For the record, I did not and have not deleted/erased the old FE list. I simply removed the URLs from my posts here and on FB. If anyone still has the URL bookmarked or simply looks at the quotes in other folks DIS posts, one can find my managed list. The URL is still active and the list has not changed since my last update.

Stepping up on my suitcase: The current FE experience seems to be going the way of Xmas - too commercial with everyone trying to get everything and everybody happy and getting too stressed and creating rules for the sake of sanity. Over the years, it has grown from as a simple 20 cabins (maybe bigger on the special cruises) to now regularly over 50-80 cabins on normal cruises. (I wish I could find that post again), the original thought (which seems to have been forgotten) was not to give gifts, but a little pixie magic -with no expectation of a return gift- and only to a few friends, not everyone. No one gives everyone they know a xmas gift just because they are on the family tree or in the same phonebook (that would be insane), they select/choose the few people they will give a personal gift to because those are the people they know personally.

I for one will not be participating in a formal FE list, while I will still be hanging our FE because I like being able to see my cabin from halfway down the hall (just like my custom mailbox on my street). If we do any FEing it will be with a select group of family and friends that I have met and will get to know over the next 11 mos. not because they were put on a list (and maybe in random group) with 50+ other random people I do not know and who may never know because they will not be on FB only DIS or vice versa.

:Stepping off my suitcase now.. (otherwise, I will never be able to pack it).

wow...quite the discussions...

May I just give some information in general (not aimed at anyone at all - this is just info!)

Deb (EpkotKilterFan) began the FE thing as a little fun for a small group of people on the first Panama Cruise. The whole idea was for folks who all were on the Dis to be able to pass along small (I mean SMALL) gifts to others. At no time were gifts "expected" in return. Nor were they supposed to be expensive. Deb and I have discussed this a few time with how the lists and process has morphed over the years. To commercially created FE pockets and large expensive gifts. This was never really her intent - she just wanted her Dis Buddies to have a little suprise at their cabin door!

Ok - now that the history lesson is over...The FE process has been picked up by other companies and agencies. At least 3 different TA's tell their folks to do the FE thing...so, in some folks defense here - if the cabin number isn't on the list - be careful - those folks may not be Dis affiliated.

As far as spliting the lists - I get both sides of this one - when making gifts (or purchasing the whole gift or supplies) one needs to have an amount. So, in the past the cutoff has often been 2 or 3 months prior to sailing. With the proviso that late additions occur, but will not be on the "primary list". I have participated in lists with over 100 cabins a few times and enjoyed it a lot. I have also been on very small lists (smallest was 8 cabins). To me - it is more about exploring the ship, seeing all the awesome door decorations, and giving out a small bit of fun to folks.

When "managing" a list - notice I didn't say organizing because it really isn't organinzing, only making sure that the list doesn't become messed up (who remembers the first Hawaii list??? resorted so many times that all the info was skewed!) Otherwise the split should be by a vote IMHO. I did that with the list for the Nov 8 cruise - we had some who wanted to split and other who didn't. So when I printed the lists - I had the cabins split, and those who were wanting to/willing to give to all got lists of all the cabins. That seemed to meet everyones satisifaction.

That being said - how many cabins and how to split? well that is a quandry - the manager will have to make some decisions. I suggest that whoever is managing the list be well aware of how the ship is laid out. Running from fore to aft or up and down is fine - but if you split by family/ non-kids well then you are all over the ship! Just sayin'


<climbing down off my suitcase now>

Cayla

 

[oienfam5]

Hello we are booked for this cruise. I am Ben, cruising with me will be my DW Miranda, DD Mackenzie (16), DS Brayden (13) and DS Tanner (7).

This will be our fourth Cruise. Have been on the Eastern before and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to doing it again.

I have requested entrance into the FB page and I am nervous about the interview process. I heard it is intense.

Haven't read all the posts yet but will catch up soon.

TTFN

 

[koquinn]

I have requested entrance into the FB page and I am nervous about the interview process. I heard it is intense.

This made me laugh.

 

[JKMJ441724]

Hello we are booked for this cruise. I am Ben, cruising with me will be my DW Miranda, DD Mackenzie (16), DS Brayden (13) and DS Tanner (7).

This will be our fourth Cruise. Have been on the Eastern before and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to doing it again.

I have requested entrance into the FB page and I am nervous about the interview process. I heard it is intense.

Haven't read all the posts yet but will catch up soon.

TTFN

The written exam is WORSE!

Glad to have you here.

 

[ppartekim]

The written exam is WORSE!

Only because you have to actually spell correctly and not use auto-correct.

 

[ShannonR]

Hi everyone!

My name is Shannon (MorganR's mom) and along with my husband Rick, we have 3 AMAZING children: DD20 Morgan, DS17 Mitchell and DD9 Melissa . We also have DSIL20 Joel and our newest addition DGS1 Jordan . We will also have DS Mitchell's best friend with us DBF16 Stevie.......so a total of 8 of us WOW!!!!

We have been on 4 Disney cruises, but this will be our first Eastern itinerary. We were originally planning on sailing the 10/26 cruise with a trip to WDW prior to the cruise (this is how we have vacationed in the past). This way, we could sail at Halloween, but frankly, we are tired of the Western itinerary and ready for a change!! So this cruise it is and Halloween at WDW instead haha

We are scheduled for the 1/5/13 cruise and can't wait! We are spending New Year's Eve at WDW followed by a cruise.

We will not be participating in the FE exchange, simply because we feel
it takes up way too much time, energy and money. We have found it takes away from "family time" with all the running around we were doing to leave all the gifts in the individual staterooms. It became exhausting and left little time to relax (which is the whole point of our vacations haha)

It will be good to get to know everyone between now and October.

Shannon

 

[All Things Simba]

Hi everyone!

My name is Shannon (MorganR's mom) and along with my husband Rick, we have 3 AMAZING children: DD20 Morgan, DS17 Mitchell and DD9 Melissa . We also have DSIL20 Joel and our newest addition DGS1 Jordan . We will also have DS Mitchell's best friend with us DBF16 Stevie.......so a total of 8 of us WOW!!!!

We have been on 4 Disney cruises, but this will be our first Eastern itinerary. We were originally planning on sailing the 10/26 cruise with a trip to WDW prior to the cruise (this is how we have vacationed in the past). This way, we could sail at Halloween, but frankly, we are tired of the Western itinerary and ready for a change!! So this cruise it is and Halloween at WDW instead haha

We are scheduled for the 1/5/13 cruise and can't wait! We are spending New Year's Eve at WDW followed by a cruise.

We will not be participating in the FE exchange, simply because we feel
it takes up way too much time, energy and money. We have found it takes away from "family time" with all the running around we were doing to leave all the gifts in the individual staterooms. It became exhausting and left little time to relax (which is the whole point of our vacations haha)

It will be good to get to know everyone between now and October.

Shannon

Hi, and welcome!
We also have a large group on this cruise and DH and I are going to do the MNSSHP party before we sail at WDW.
My neice is getting married on Castaway Cay!
I think we have 8 cabins booked so far.
You should join the Facebook Group!....
http://www.facebook.com/groups/175932702507202/

 

[truck1]

The written exam is WORSE!

Glad to have you here.

The review committee is just as bad

 

[Prose]

Hi, everyone! We just booked this cruise this morning and are very excited . It will be me, DH and DD (turning 14 onboard), Cat 5E GTY. Probably not going to do the FE, but will join the FB group. Looking forward to obsessing together!

 

[Mickey02]

Good Morning!
Just booked this cruise. Havent been on a Disney cruise since 2004.
Looking forward to seeing the Fantasy and meeting new friends

 

[Stephanie1]

Hi! I just recently booked this for my honeymoon. It'll be my first cruise. I'm super excited and currently obsessing more over this trip than I am over my wedding...lol. I look forward to meeting everyone. :]

 

[Scotty69]

Good Morning!
Just booked this cruise. Havent been on a Disney cruise since 2004.
Looking forward to seeing the Fantasy and meeting new friends

Hi and welcome aboard. We look forward to meeting you. Fyi if you have Facebook you should come and join us on our Facebook page. There is a link to it a bit farther back. It's a lot more active there than here.

 

[Scotty69]

Hi! I just recently booked this for my honeymoon. It'll be my first cruise. I'm super excited and currently obsessing more over this trip than I am over my wedding...lol. I look forward to meeting everyone. :]

Hi and welcome aboard. Congrats on your upcoming wedding. Just so that you know we have a Facebook page that is a lot more active than here. Feel free to come over and join us. Being that this is your first cruise don't be afraid to ask questions here or on Facebook. There are a lot of veteran cruisers going on this trip. This cruise makes number 4 for my wife and I. Hope to talk to you soon.

 

[truck1]

Hi! I just recently booked this for my honeymoon. It'll be my first cruise. I'm super excited and currently obsessing more over this trip than I am over my wedding...lol. I look forward to meeting everyone. :]

Congrats and welcome aboard. My wife and I were married on the Magic so we know how you feel.

 

[padalyn]

Hi! I just recently booked this for my honeymoon. It'll be my first cruise. I'm super excited and currently obsessing more over this trip than I am over my wedding...lol. I look forward to meeting everyone. :]

OOOHHH good!!! Another honeymoon couple!!!! Welcome, this cruise will be our honeymoon as well - we were engaged on the Fantasy during the Maiden Voyage.

 

[Stephanie1]

OOOHHH good!!! Another honeymoon couple!!!! Welcome, this cruise will be our honeymoon as well - we were engaged on the Fantasy during the Maiden Voyage.

Aw. That sounds incredibly sweet! When I've told some people what we were thinking of doing for our honeymoon (originally it was just going to be Disney World), I've gotten some strange looks. I'll just have to take tons of pictures to show them what they're missing. :] When is your actual wedding?