10/4/08-Buccaneers Take the West! Cruiser List in Post #1
- Thread starter JanDave
- Start date
Eeeek! How exciting!We'll be at the Raddison!!
Everyone say a little prayer for me as I start my new job in earnest tomorrow! My biggest concern is getting the room put together.I'll let you know how it goes.
Getting closer everyone!!
Good Luck!!! I have orientation with my students and parents tomorrow night and then we start Wednesday. I'm almost ready, but still have much to do.
Two months from today we will be park hopping.
Hope everyone has a great week.
Gena
yensidtlaw
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2007
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- 89
momm2four
<font color=CC0066>We all have those little "skele
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
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- 1,799
2 months to go ladies and gentlemen!
I went back to work on Friday and had a great day getting to see my old colleagues and getting to meet some ones as well. One of my teammates jokingly said, "Oh no, we have to listen to Lori talk about her trip all fall" so I guess I will try to tone down my excitement at work. You guys will have to be my outlet.
Ginger, I'm sure you're room will look great. I got my room arranged, but there wasn't as big a push this year, b/c at Christmas, they're moving us into a new building.
I am so excited about having up-to-date things like running water in our team office sink, lol.
Lori P.
I went back to work on Friday and had a great day getting to see my old colleagues and getting to meet some ones as well. One of my teammates jokingly said, "Oh no, we have to listen to Lori talk about her trip all fall" so I guess I will try to tone down my excitement at work. You guys will have to be my outlet.
Ginger, I'm sure you're room will look great. I got my room arranged, but there wasn't as big a push this year, b/c at Christmas, they're moving us into a new building.
I am so excited about having up-to-date things like running water in our team office sink, lol.Lori P.
Tiggerfan14
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2005
- Messages
- 342
Hi Everyone , have a great time, and when you guys get back can some one put up the navigators somewhere haven't seen a recent one lately and wanted to see what is happening ! Thanks !
kimmcbee
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2006
- Messages
- 438
Think I got busted last night. DS13 was playing on computer and found where I had the door magnets in a file. He jsut had a big smile and saaid thanks, you could not surprise me again.
Gave him a line about just playing around and wishing, but I really think I am busted with him. he says he wont tell his brothers, guess we will see.
off to work
Kim
Gave him a line about just playing around and wishing, but I really think I am busted with him. he says he wont tell his brothers, guess we will see.off to work
Kim
mollygirl13
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 2,022
Think I got busted last night. DS13 was playing on computer and found where I had the door magnets in a file. He jsut had a big smile and saaid thanks, you could not surprise me again.
off to work
Kim
Well, hopefully he doesn't tell the other boys!
mollygirl13
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 2,022
Good Morning, Fellow Buccaneers!
A wonderful member of the DIS, FUTURIST, put together this list of DCL tips. It is very long but I thought I would post it here for us to look over! It has some very helpful tips!
Tips, Hints, Secrets, and Suggestions
Preparing ahead of time
Veranda - Get one! It was so awesome to sit out there in the mornings with our coffee. The kids loved to go out each morning and see what the ocean looked like and to watch as we entered the various ports.
Order a gift basket from The Perfect Gift, one that includes snacks, juice boxes, sand toys, sunscreen, champagne, beer, etc - so you don't have to pack all of that in your suitcase! And Shirley is a generous and amazing resource for information about DCL, the port, and the Canaveral area! Contact information for The Perfect Gift: Shirley R., 1-800-950-4559, email: theperfectgiftcc@aol.com
Photocopy your critical documents and store them somewhere besides where you keep those items (driver's license, passport, etc.).
When you fill out the cruise forms on Disneycruise.com (which saves you having to fill out pages of forms when you check in at the port), they only ask for the signature pages when you arrive in person. Everything else is sent to them electronically. But be sure to bring the signature pages or you'll have to do it all over again!
The emergency number for people to reach you while at sea: 1-888-DC-AT-SEA (1-888-322-8732)
Put identical distinctive colored or patterned ribbons on your luggage in case one of your bags is misplaced in the terminal. It happened to us, and the wild confetti ribbon on our bags saved our bacon.
Prepare “return address labels” before you leave home. That way you don't spend 15 minutes filling out your luggage tags on the last day of the cruise! Stick on a sticker and your stateroom number and you're done!
Prepare pre-written address computer labels for post cards.
When you fill out the cruise forms on Disneycruise.com (which saves you having to fill out pages of forms when you check in at the port), they only ask for the signature pages when you arrive in person. Everything else is sent to them electronically. But be sure to bring the signature pages or you'll have to do it all over again!
Book as much online as soon as you are able; you will save a lot of time once onboard.
Make sure you have plenty of one-dollar bills! It’s the only cash you need onboard for room service tips, as well as cash for stamps for Castaway Cay.
You can call up to a week before you sail and find out which movies are showing during your cruise. Call 1-888-325-2500, choose the “reservations” option, and then ask what movies will be showing.
If you're interested in knowing where your cabin is in relation to other parts of the ship, say if you're on deck 8 and want to know what's above you on deck 9, or if you're forward and want to know how far you'll need to travel to get to Topsiders, there's a website now that allows you to start with one deck, and then take a 2nd deck, make it transparent, and then lay it on top of the first. Here's how you do it. First, go to website http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/Main/shipsdisney.php/. Select either Magic or Wonder, depending on which ship you're interested in. On the RHS you'll see two lines highlighted in green. For once, read the instructions first by clicking the lower of the two lines, the one that says “Click here first for Instructions”. (I know, I never read the instructions, either. I tried doing it without, and eventually had to go back and read them.) Then click on the line that says “Click here for DRAG IT DECKS!”
Now select the LOWER of the two decks you want to see, such as deck 8, from the list at the top left of the window. When the image appears, select it by clicking once. Now you can enlarge or reduce the image. Let's say you want to see your stateroom, for example the Walt Disney Suite. Move the image so you can see that suite, and enlarge, say, by clicking the enlarge button three times on the tools at the top right of the window. Keep track of the number of clicks you use.
Next, select the SECOND or upper deck, for example, deck 9. This will appear on screen overlaid and transparent, on top of the first deck you selected. Now click on it to select it with your cursor, and enlarge or shrink it with the same number of clicks as you did the other deck.
Finally, line the elevators up, one over the other. The elevators are (naturally) in exactly the same place on each deck, so when they're lined up, everything's lined up. You can now see through the upper deck (deck 9 in our example) and see what's directly above the Walt Disney Suite. Turns out its Cove Cafe, a ping pong table, and a couple of tables and chairs from Signals bar.
Category 1, 2, and 3 suites (with concierge service)
Concierge phone number: 1-866-784-1654
Email address: DCL.Concierge.Services@Disneycruise.com
DCL concierge services can be hit or miss at times. Our last experience in December on the Magic was wonderful, Connie was an absolute gem.
If you’re staying in a suite, the last morning you can have breakfast in your cabin! LOVED that!
On the Magic and Wonder, there are two category 1 suites, two categories 2's, and 18 categories 3's (I think). If you assume maximum occupancy, and assume that you can fit 5 people in each cat. 3 (which you can’t), that means the concierge-level suites can accommodate only a theoretical maximum of 118 people: (2x7) + (2x7) + (18x5) = 118. That works out to about 4% of the passengers onboard, which is one of the main reasons why the suites always sell out first, why they are so expensive, why Disney requires a non-refundable deposit to book a suite, and why suites get first dibs on Palo and excursion reservations.
Travel to the port & before boarding
For hotels at the airport, one very experienced DCL cruiser notes she easily finds hotels through Priceline at the airport for $25/night.
You can stay at an Orlando airport hotel the night before the cruise (after your flight in). All the airport hotels have free shuttles to and from the airport. Then on the morning of your cruise, take the hotel shuttle back to the airport and use the Disney bus from the airport to Port Canaveral. If you don't want to rent a car or arrange for a town car, it works out very well. Then, after the cruise, you can also take the Disney bus back to the airport. Lastly, once Disney has your bags, you don't have to deal with them any longer - give it to them at the airport, next time you see them is in your cabin (at least that's how it was last time we went).
If you're looking for absolutely the EASIEST way of coming in a day ahead, then book the Hyatt at the Orlando airport with DCL transfers to the ship. The hotel is right in the airport, and you can get a porter to carry your luggage over to the Hyatt lobby. Then put your luggage out the next morning with your DCL transfer tags and go to the lobby to meet the DCL folks to board the bus to the ship. This may not be the least expensive but it is definitely the LEAST HASSEL way to do it.
Plan to stay in the Cape Canaveral area the night before (I recommend the Radisson, with free shuttle service, even took us off site for dinner & picked us up...GREAT people there) then take the earliest shuttle (10AM) to the boarding area to ensure being the first onboard. Once onboard, enjoy the lunch & get a feel for the ship & locations.
Get to port early if you need to book Palo or spa services on board. They book up quickly.
When you check in, always ask whether there are upgrades available, and at what price. There are often bargains available at boarding that isn’t available any other time. Of course, you need to ready to decide on the spot whether to spend a few hundred dollars extra for a better stateroom. But it never hurts to ask.
What do you do after you check in, but before you board? Most people opt to stand in line and wait to board so they get on early. But if you want another alternative, there are seats with TV's playing Disney cartoons. You can also go out on a deck and see the ship.
They are going to take a family picture as soon as you walk on board. If you are each carrying 2 bags or toting a wheelie bag, you are going to look like a family of packhorses. We did.
Just before you board the ship, a picture is taken of your family and/or group. If it matters to you, you may want to dress in something special or matching for the picture. We didn't our first cruise and we looked weird together...the outfits clashed (I know, I know PUH-leezze! hey, I'm an artist...these things matter to me.) So now we wear matching, or at least coordinating, outfits or something to tie us all together for our embarkation photo. For our '05 Christmas cruise we all wore Santa hats. It was cute. The hats came out later during the cruise too.
Stateroom door decorations
Many people make magnetic signs for their stateroom doors for the fun of it and for a little extra magic for their families. (The doors are metal, and DCL prohibits adhesives, so magnetic signs are the way to go.) They can also come in handy if you had a few too many drinks, because even without having any drinks, that hallway has a lot of doors and they all look alike. You also want to personalize them, or they have an unfortunate tendency to disappear.
First tip on door signs: don't bother w/that special magnetic paper, go to Wal-mart and get a roll of self-stick magnetic tape for about $1 and it will do all your door signs and pics for much less than the special paper. Second tip: get the program “Magic Artist” and it will allow you to make just about any Disney scene picture you can think of. Third tip: use the Home Depot paint chips...they are great!
We got the Disney paint chips from Home Depot in lots of different colors, cut them out so we had the Mickey head shape, and stuck them on the door in the order of the colors of the rainbow. Effective, simple, and inexpensive! I put our room number on it in a few places in case someone was thinking about “borrowing” it! I had them laminated at Office max for $1.50 each. I printed them on legal size paper to make a little larger. I got some Disney paint chips at Home depot and cut them out and put a piece of sticky magnetic tape on the back. Some I added ribbons to look like balloons.
Because we didn't have much time I didn't bother with magnetic paper. I found some darling scrapbooking cardstock at Michaels. They were very bright and had Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and “boxes” to insert photos. DD wrote our first names and sailing dates in some of the boxes and glued a photo of the Magic in another box. I bought magnetic clips at Target and easily attached the signs to the doors. They were very cute and helped us find our doors, especially since all the doors are identical.
There is LOTS of information about door decorating in specific threads on the DIS Forums. Here’s one of the best:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=925792
Packing & Things to Bring
Bring an over-the-door shoe organizer - This was AWESOME for keeping all of our stuff off of horizontal surfaces which helped us stay organized and tidy. We used it for sunscreen, brushes/combs, sunglasses, batteries, makeup pouches, jewelry, etc.
Divide your family's clothes between bags in case one gets lost. I have underwear for everyone spread between bags, casual clothes, swimsuits, and dress up clothes spread between bags. If you see me in the same outfit for dinner all the time, one of the bags got lost, but at least I won't be wearing my husband's underwear.
Bring bathing suits and sunscreen for when you board the boat. You won't see your bags until about 4:30, at which point it is time to get ready for dinner.
I always pack my swimsuit in my carry on - it takes me forever to find suits that fit me and I feel comfortable in - I could never just buy off the rack on the ship - or at the hotel gift shop!
The door is metal so I took a couple of magnetic clips to hold navigators and other papers.
Get a water wallet for Castaway Cay. It'll hold your Key to the world, ID, plus a couple of bucks for stamps or small trinkets on the way back.
Bring your own wines. ABC Liquor in Orlando has a good selection; more fun when going with a group of wine lovers (we had 8, so every night one couple was responsible for 3 bottles). The corkage fee of $18/bottle is industry standard, but we poured some pretty decent stuff, so it was well worth it to our party.
We brought LED candles for gentle light in the cabin (and a night-light for the bath). They were great. Low light, little flicker, romantic and no fires!
Pack a highlighter to highlight the Daily Navigator things you want to attend, also a pack of post-its or small dry erase board to leave notes for others in cabin. We bring a magnetic one to put on the inside of the cabin door to tell our two DS where we are, and so they can tell us where they will be.
Bring one or two of your favorite books. There are many quiet, cozy places to read. You are on vacation - relax, unwind. Reading gives you an opportunity to NOT follow the Navigator every now and then.
Take earplugs just in case you get a noisy room or have family who want to watch TV when you want a nap.
Take Beano just in case the unfamiliar food disagrees with you. I love broccoli and always order it, but it causes some embarrassing moments, so Beano before eating helped me out.
If you have a veranda, bring about 15' of clothesline and clothespins, there are places high up near the ceiling to tie off the line to hang wet items. This is especially useful after Castaway Cay so you won't need to pack wet items (ours dried by the time we got back to Port Canaveral)
Bring Windex wipes to clean your glass on your veranda - the salt spray accumulates and obstructs the view.
Bring a small memo pad to plan your day - what activities at what times (makes it easier if you have to plan between multiple Navigators - we had 3 kids in different age brackets, plus the adult Navigators to contend with).
We like to make sure to bring a dry erase board...to leave messages for each other in passing. It helped us all meet up at diff times of day on our last cruise.
Bring an envelope to keep your Navigators organized.
If you bring a lot of clothes that need to be hung in the closet, bring extra hangers
Bring an address book, and meet new people! Exchange email addresses with people (especially tablemates) and you can stay in touch, swap pictures and stories!
Bring little flashlights and pass them out to your family. Also keep 1 in the bathroom.
Collapsible hamper – we found this to be very convenient for putting our dirty clothes in and carrying to the laundry room. Also ID holders, which can be found at Wal-Mart for 97¢.
Bring your old socks, underwear, swimsuits, etc., then don't bring them home – just toss them when they're dirty!
Large thick trash bags. Put the dirty clothes in them when you get ready to go home. Gather up the top and hold tight, then have partner roll or smooth from the other end to get the air out. The dirties take up much less room that way and no worry that they will soil your leftover clean clothes or new t-shirts. I have not been able to find one of those airless travel bags that are large enough to handle all our laundry. Also makes room for more new stuff!
We always bring a small pair of binoculars (especially if you have a verandah). It's great for looking at passing islands, dolphins, etc. Be sure that the kids keep the cord around their necks when they're using them so they don't drop them overboard.
Bottles of water. You can refill them with the filtered water available on deck 9.
I found a folder helpful to keep papers you want to take home with you.
We bring table-top fans to drown out the noise from deck 9 above so it doesn't wake us in the AM (sometimes as early as 5:00) when they put out all the chairs. If you bring fans, don't forget extension cords as outlets are not always where you want to place the fan.
Underwater cameras are fun too! We took one with us to Castaway Cay and to Stingray City (on the Western Cruise).
Bring a corkscrew if you bring wine for the romantic evenings on the verandah.
Ladies: bring a small bag/purse/clutch for use around the ship. My regular sized purse was too much and looked odd on formal night. A small camera case with extra pockets for cash/room card can also double for a purse.
Bring a power strip - There is only ONE outlet in the stateroom so it was great to be able to plug in our phones, camera charges, curling iron, etc. I did also bring an extension cord in hopes of plugging in to the desk and using my hairdryer in the bathroom but it was not long enough. It was a 15-foot cord and missed reaching the bathroom by a good 5 feet or more.
An extension cord with 4 outlets weighs less and is generally smaller than a power strip.
Ladies - Bring your own hairdryer. The ones in the stateroom look like they are from the 1960's or something, and barely blow any air.
Clothespins - I had originally read to bring these to help keep the curtains on the sliding door closed when the ship was rocking. We ended up using these to help close the privacy curtain between the bed and living area in our stateroom. This allowed us a way to change clothes with a bit more privacy.
Pillowcases & Sharpies - I bought 3 new white pillowcases (one for each kid). I placed them in a large ziploc bag with various colors of Sharpie markers and gave them to Guest Services the second day of our cruise. They were returned to us on the last day of the cruise signed by all of the characters!
Pop-up Laundry Hamper - This stored easily in the closet and was great to toss our dirty laundry in.
Lanyards for room key - These lanyards have a clear zip-loc type of holder for your Key-to-the-World card. We did not realize how handy this would be! We saw lots of folks with these on the first day of the cruise. We were going to buy some but ended up getting them as a gift from Disney Vacation Club! These were great to grab and put around your neck as we headed out and about.
Bring Address Labels - This made the last night so much easier! You receive luggage tags (one for each bag) on the last day of the cruise. You have to put your name, address and phone # on each of these as well as your stateroom and number each bag. We had pre-made return address labels with most of this info. All I had to do was place a label onto each tag, add our stateroom # and # each bag. We had 9 bags and this made the process much faster!
Seasickness - Bring Bonine and Ginger tablets. I got both at Wal-mart. I was very worried as I do get seasick. I started taking Bonine 2 days before the cruise. I took one tablet twice a day (morning and bedtime) and it worked great!!! One day at sea we were rocking quite a bit and I started feeling a bit queasy so I took a Ginger tablet and I felt much better! I did not feel tired at all and had no effects when I went off of the Bonine after the cruise. Our 11-year-old DS started feeling queasy on the first night so I started him on kids Bonine for the rest of the cruise and he was fine also.
Bring some Pirate gear - We brought some hats, eye patches, etc., from home to dress up in for Pirate Night. Lots of folks were dressed in pirate attire for this event! Pirate Night was a blast!
Digital clock - Ok, I did not bring one but wish that I had. There is a clock in the room but it is not a digital clock and cannot be seen at night.
I know some people mention bringing an alarm clock but I just set the TV to turn on as my wake up call and that worked wonderfully. I left the channel to see the forward camera and it was like our window to the outside world from our inside stateroom with no window!
One Dollar Bills - DH went to the bank before we left and got LOTS of $1 bills to use for tipping. This was VERY handy for the porters, room service, transportation, etc.
Bring walkie-talkies. The boat is big, and just after your spouse leaves to get your book from the room you realize you forgot sunscreen! It's also a great way to stay in touch with large traveling groups.
Take highlighters for character autographs.
Underwater camera is a MUST if you going to snorkel...and if you never have....do!
Take collapsible suitcases. When empty, they can be stuffed in corners or under the beds.
Pack a collapsible duffel bag to use for day excursions. It can double as your extra bag for all those souvenirs you swore you weren't going to buy.
Bring twist-ties to keep the coat hangers from banging around in the closet when the ship rocks.
An underwater camera is a MUST if you are going to snorkel...and if you never have....do!
If you enjoy wine, you may bring it on board. There is a refrigerator in your room. We brought a case of wine for 4 adults. We just asked for glasses in our room and a bucket of ice. We then proceeded to dinner with our own glass of wine or enjoyed a glass on our deck before dinner. Yes you CAN bring alcohol on board to “enjoy” in your room - but we found no problem bringing it to dinner.
There can be occasional power outages, so packing a flashlight makes it much easier to cope – especially if you have an inside stateroom!
I suggest bringing a sweater for dinner and the shows. I don't normally get cold, but my friend suggested I bring a sweater on the cruise. I brought a light cardigan thinking I just needed something to cover my arms. Boy was I wrong! I was so cold at dinner and shivering during the shows. I've actually have been shopping for a sweater that I can use on my next cruise.
Take a magnetic stripped card, like a library or grocery store card, to use as your stateroom safe's “key”. Hide the card somewhere in the room. This eliminates the constraint of waiting for the KTTW cardholder to be with you if you need something from the safe.
I have also brought some of my own beverages and mixers and cups w/lids to mix the drinks.
Save the plastic bags that your dry-cleaning comes home in. I have a HUGE garment bag (holds 3 suits and about 20 dresses) and I packed everything in these bags (I doubled and tripled some items in the bags) and I unpacked virtually “wrinkle free” clothes!!!!
Bring thank you cards for the staff. Take it from a former cast member: it's the little things that keep the pixie dust in your heart alive!
Bring LOTS of extra batteries.
If you bring a lot of clothes that need to be hung in the closet, bring extra hangers
Don't bring so many carry-ons when boarding. We took a bag EACH because we were thinking “what if”. They were very much in the way and not-so-fun to carry around until our rooms opened up at 1:15 PM. Turns out we should have checked EVERYTHING and just ate, toured the ship, then gone to our room
Don't over pack! - I WAY overpacked. During the days at sea we were pretty much in our swimsuits/cover-ups.
Seriously...when you pack, take half of what you've packed out again. It's WAY too easy to over pack. Black slacks for dinner with different tops...you're good to go. During the day you'll probably be in your swim stuff with a cover-up...don't worry about tons of “day clothes”.
Staterooms
The fridge isn't always as cold as we would like it to be, so we have our stateroom host fill up our ice bucket and we put it in the fridge. Helps keep the ice from melting so quickly and also get the fridge colder so you're not drinking lukewarm or semi cool drinks!
If you like ice cold drinks in your room, the first time you see your cabin attendant, ask for a cooler. Out attendant provided us with an IGLOO cooler and kept it filled with ice for 7 days. The fridge in your room is nice, but not ice cold.
Store all life vests under the bed to give yourself more shelf space
If you have soft-sided luggage try storing them under the bed. We were able to put our smaller suitcases and backpacks under the bed. The rest we nested in each other and stored in the closet. With 5 of us in the room it was important to keep it as uncluttered as possible
Your suit cases REALLY do fit under the bed. Just lift up the bed and slide under if they do not slide under.
Get a wake-up call everyday. It is Mickey Mouse calling!
Inside your closet you'll find Velcro to help the closet door stay closed on those rocky nights.
If you are going to charge iPods, batteries, DVD players, etc., do it when you are in the room, especially at night. I remember a few posts where people said they were politely scolded for leaving them on with nobody there. I guess it's a fire hazard. Just charge over night.
Don't forget to latch your closet doors closed! We figured that out on the first night when it slid open, banged and woke us up.
Do NOT feel stupid when you can't open your veranda door. Scientifically-verified studies have shown that 67% of DCL cruises have to have their stateroom host show them how the door works. Of the ones that do manage to open it by themselves, 22% spent 10 or more minutes figuring it out. (Hint: it swings, and there is a lock on top that twists).
The coffee table in the staterooms adjusts up and down, so you can move it to the right height for kids' coloring, snacks, etc.
Things that are good to know onboard ship
If you have a problem of any kind, TELL SOMEBODY. They will fix it, if possible. If you get home and you weren't happy about something, send a letter. DCL is remarkably good about trying to keep guests happy.
There’s an anchor design in the corridor carpet on stateroom decks. The blue part of the anchor points forward, and the red part of the anchor points back to the stern. If you find it hard to remember which color points where, remember Blue points to the Bow. In addition, the carpet outside each bank of elevators varies by deck level. Memorize the carpet pattern outside the elevators nearest to your stateroom and you won’t accidentally get off at the wrong stop again!
Most of the time (but not ALL of the time), the red portion of the anchors point aft (but sometimes, blue is aft). I actually found it easier to look at the room numbers – the first digit is the deck, the second digit is the side (0, 1 are on port; 5, 6 on starboard). The room numbers get lower as you move forward.
Send your clothes for pressing the first night on the ship. It's relatively inexpensive and well worth the line for the iron and the TIME!!
The best time to find characters is during the sail-away celebration, on deck 10.
Go swimming in the pools if there is a brief rainstorm (the pools literally were empty for 30 mins after a brief but heavy 10 minute shower). As long as there is no thunder sounding, you can't get much wetter than while swimming.
Our first night out of Port Canaveral (headed toward the Bahamas or crossing the Gulf Stream) the water can be a little rough, so take ginger or Bonine.
This cruise was the first time I ever went lower than Deck 3 and when I went to the medical facility, I discovered they have motion tabs outside the door, free for the taking. So just know that they are there as well. They have Ginger Ale also on the ship. There is also a hand-out of how to fight against “sea sickness” next to the motion tabs. You can always carry Ginger Tea with you as well.
When it comes to sea sickness, it tends to affect different people differently. Some people adjust, get their “sea legs” and then never worry about it again on a cruise. Some get sea sick tablets, like Dramamine or Bonine, from their pharmacist and take them every day, and even two days before. Some people get a patch from their pharmacist to deal with it. Ginger candy seems to help as well. You can get tablets on the ship from the medical center, but whatever you do, be prepared to deal with it. They say that sea sickness won’t kill you – but if you get it, you’ll wish it had!
Bonine is the name brand of meclizine. It is an antihistamine, but it does not make you as drowsy as regular Dramamine (diphenydrinate). I believe that meclizine is also the less drowsy form of Dramamine. Truth is, they can both make you sleepy, but I find the meclizine is not as bad as the regular Dramamine. Only the regular Dramamine is approved for use with children 12 and under.
Bring a cocktail to the evening shows...or two.
Walking the stairs at a reasonable pace (up or down) from the moment the elevator door opens will always beat the elevator for anything up to 5 floors up and everything down. I think I got on the elevator a grand total of three times just to say I had done it and get some pictures of the atrium. Between kids playing the “push-every-button” game to people hitting the call button and then walking away, the elevators are typically crowded and slow.
If you're able, take the stairs as much as possible. I gained only 1.5 lb. and ate like a PIG (Palo x 2, ordered more than 1 appetizer, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert at each dinner, and ate more junk foods in 4 days like pizza, fries... than my arteries have seen since college), but took stairs everywhere.
Pack swimsuits in carry-on 1st day...pools were pretty empty first couple of hours. Not just for kids, I was the only adult to cool down in the 88 degree and 79% humidity before the safety drill.
It's good to have a small flashlight in case the power goes off. This happened to us last month while we were eating dinner at Palos. The lights were only off for about 8-10 minutes, and the emergency generators has already kicked in, but we still would have liked to have a flashlight
I bring an extra blanket from the room to the movie theatre with me. I get cold real easily and the movie theatre is really cold.
The therapists at the spa are a bit pushy with the sales pitch. Make a point of putting it on your initial form that you don't want to buy anything...I didn't, and wish I had!
When you sign up for a spa treatment, before starting write in big letters, NO SALES PITCH. It stops them giving you the hard sell on the products
When you see the Shutter's staff, drag them (ask them) nicely over to photograph your kids / you, etc. rather that wait from them to ask - you will have a lot more pictures to choose from later.
At Shutters, stack the pictures you are considering purchasing together each day so you don't have to search through all the displays repeatedly. Shutters staff will keep the stacks together.
Don't show up just-in-time for movies - the Buena Vista Theatre is small and if your party is large, you may not be able to sit together. Same goes for the Walt Disney Theatre - find your seats early (at least 5 minutes before the show) so you will be more successful finding good seating – and as a courtesy to others.
Go to at least one program/activity a day. The cruise staff is great, and you get to meet people other then the ones you see at meals.
Don't leave “Disney Dreams” early. This is a “must-see” show, but at the end, don't join the people who leave before the final bows. There is still one more surprise to see.
If you like the Internet, buy the unlimited access plan while on board. Its $89 but worth it if you on the computer a lot.
For the “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer” show, wait to sit down until everyone else is already seated. Pick out an empty row or one that has very few people. When the computer picks seats for the “Hot Seat”, it's done randomly. If the seat is empty they go to the next closest one. So, if your row is practically empty you have a better chance.
I really wish I had booked another cruise while I was onboard. When it was over, I had serious withdrawal issues. I booked a cruise immediately when I got back, but I would have saved some money and had onboard credit.
I also wish I'd known that if you rebook onboard, you can book a “dummy” date and then transfer the reservation to a new date when more dates are released. Now I'm all the wiser and will definitely rebook and transfer it next time!
Before we went on our last cruise, we decided which cruise we were going to book while on board. I then went to several on-line travel sites and got quotes for that cruise. When we went to book the cruise on board, we took the quotes. The gal was able to match the cost plus give us the $200 credit!
RE-BOOK! We re-booked on board and got a 10% discount and a $200 on board credit for our next cruise. We are going again in October 2009 this time on the 7 night Eastern Cruise!! We requested our same stateroom and our same servers.
I wish we had gotten to Rockin' Bar-D ’WAY before the 10:00 pm show/entertainment starts in order to get a really good seat. The shows are really hysterical. Being our first cruise, we really didn't know what we were doing after dinner was over; we kind of walked around like lost puppies! But on the 7-day, because we spent so much time with DISers, we discovered how much fun this lounge is. We had more laughs in here. Once the shows are over (they last about an hour or so), then the dancing begins and that's when we went back to our room for the night.
The “drink of the day” is not really 1/2 price....but...at certain times onboard they do have two for one specials. They will be announced in your Navigator
It looked like the drink in the collector's cup was $9.09. The only reason I bought one was because the server told us we needed it to get the discount on the drink of the day. Not true.
The drinks are $3.99 basic plus your 15% added. If you buy one in the DCL cup, it is $6.99 plus the 15%. The advantage of this cup is if you buy one of the drinks for $6.99 each time you go back, you can get it refilled for regular price and you get almost twice as much. So you pay the $3.99 plus 15% to get the bigger glass. They really do not refill them; they change them out for you, and rewash to reuse the cups. The same thing for the beer mugs. I think my DH paid $12.99 for the first one and $4.99 for the refill.
If you get the sail away drink, you get to keep the glass it's served in. We didn't know that, not that we really needed more stuff to take home, but it would have been fun to have some to serve summer drinks in at home.
On Formal Night...during the Captain's reception in the lobby before dinner, they offer free drinks
When traveling from Deck 4 to Deck 9 or 10, I'd swear we'd stop on every single floor. By the time we got to Deck 4, the elevator would be full, but we'd still end up stopping on every floor for nothing...since there was no more room for anyone. Use the Forward or Aft elevators whenever possible. We were often able to go from 1 to 10 or 10 to 1 without any stops when using the forward elevator.
We realized that in each store on board there are sale sections, and they have great deals! We found shot glasses for $2.99 and amazing soaps and lotions at 50% off. When I asked some of the folks in merchandising, they pointed out things that I didn't even realize were on sale at all!
My favorite tip was about the teak lounge chairs on deck 4. My DH & I find our selves relaxing there at least twice a day
When coming from air conditioning into warm air, the lens on your camera and camcorder will fog up. Half of my video is my finger cleaning the lens. If you're an early bird, set your camera on your veranda and let it warm up a bit, before pulling into Castaway Cay so you don't miss out on some great photos.
There are Disney music stations on the TV (much like WDW); they make GREAT mood music for the room. Disney music always makes me feel like I am truly on vacation!
If you're trying to get to the Walt Disney theatre during a very busy time ~ like the time between 1st and 2nd dinner seating ~ don't do what we did and go by stairs/elevator to the 4th Floor and then walk all the way through all the crowds in Shutters, etc. On the last night, we walked all the way forward on Deck 2, (by the staterooms) and then took the Forward elevator to the 4th Floor. The elevator doors open right outside the theatre and you bypass all the congestion!
It seemed to take some people about five days to discover they need to lock the public toilet stall doors. LOCK THE DOORS! The secondary tip is - even if the indicator isn't red, you may want to tap on or peek under the stall door for feet. Some people don't catch on fast.
A great time to enjoy the ship and have it mostly to yourselves is between 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. The early diners are eating and the late diners are at the show. DH and I would just walk decks 9 and 10 or hang out in the hot tub. We have SOOO many pics of the ship where there is not a soul in sight. It's kind of fun to try to get these pics. We have some too where deck 4 is completely empty. Pretty cool.
ALWAYS carefully read the Navigator, as veteran cruisers on other lines we were caught off guard that the shows are BEFORE late seating dinner.
READ YOUR NAVIGATOR!!!! Because it was only listed on the very back and in a very small font, we missed the “midnight” dessert buffet. I happened upon it as I was going back to the room for something but they told me I couldn't stay because they were getting ready to close it down. DH and I were very disappointed!
I also have found that showering in the ladies locker room in the spa/gym is so easy....they have shampoo & conditioner right in the shower and I go there straight from the adult pool....shower, wash my hair and then get dressed (temporary clothes...not my evening clothes) and go back to the cabin to dry my hair...saves time for me and this way I don't have to rush hubby in the shower.
Take some time to enjoy the ship. It is just beautiful!
DH and I did the martini tasting. This was lots of fun!
Princess Gathering - If you have a little princess there is a “Princess Gathering” in the main lobby where all of the princesses come out at the same time for photos and autographs. Get there EARLY as the line was VERY long! This is a very popular event!
Shutters - Get to Shutters EARLY in your cruise!! We chose our package and most of our photos about mid-cruise. We wanted to wait to get our last couple of photos after our Castaway Cay day. Shutters was MOBBED on the last night! Many people were there for the first time and choosing their package and such. I was so glad that all I needed were 2-3 photos!
Christmas Cards - Yes, I said Christmas Cards! We had ours made at Shutters so I am all ready for Christmas! (well, at least my cards are ready). We used a family photo from Pirate Night and it says “Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho! Merry Christmas from the _____ Family!”
Family Portraits - There is a wonderful background that is all white and it is called a “Lifetime Portrait”. The photographer takes several different poses and they look amazing with the white background!
Kids' Clubs - The clubs were great! Be sure to leave time though when dropping off your kids. Many times we had to wait in line to drop off and ended up cutting our time close on a couple of things.
Glow-sticks for Pirate night!!
There's a secret deck out behind decks 7 and 8. And don't forget deck 7 private veranda chairs and quiet.
Another favorite tip....use the “secret” aft stairwell from decks 7, 8 right up into Topsiders...very convenient and you miss the buffet line crowds...it is located right after the buffet line (near the doors to the outside eating area in back of Topsiders).
Order room service snacks to take to movies on the ship--saves you from buying regular movie snacks.
Take LOTS of pics (don't forget those towel animal pics every night!!!)
Rainforest: Don't buy the week pass; just pay daily. It's hard to use it the first day, and it closes early Friday night. So, Sunday through Thursday are the only days it is fully available, which is 5 days. If you miss one day, you are paying too much. It's hard to use it on port days as well. I can manage to get about 4 days in, total. I don't think it's worth the $15 to pay for an extra day rather than take the chance and feel like you “have” to go.
Showers: we just got off Magic and our stateroom attendant thought we never showered. We used the spa as relaxation and then showered before going back to our room to get ready for dinner. It's a spacious, pampering experience - such a nice perk. Use it and enjoy it; it's one of the best kept secrets on the boat, excuse me, ship!
You most definitely can use the gym for free and get a free locker. You can also use the sauna in the locker room and the showers for free. It's the
Rainforest you have to pay extra for.
They have four “beds” in the ladies locker room, and last time we were on the wonder they had electric foot massagers that were free too. Not sure if they're still there, but I used one while awaiting my massage and then used one later while waiting for a shower to free up (one of the showers has a great head so I sometimes use it instead of showering in the stateroom).
Don't try to do everything. Just go, do your thing and have fun!
Tipping & Pixie Dust for CM’s
Bring thank-you cards for the staff. Coming from a cast member, it's the little things that keep the pixie dust in your heart alive!
[From a former CM] – Candy is always good as are Wal-mart gift cards. I also know that for me personally there are many times that I would be just as happy with a thank you as I would with a calling card, gift card or candy.
Even just a little card saying thanks meant as much if not more to me.
One of the best tips you can give staff is to mention their name specifically on the evaluation form. Promotions and raises are dependent upon being specifically named as going above and beyond in customer service.
On our last 7-day cruise DW and I finished reading 5 books. Instead of lugging them back through the airport, we inscribed them with “For the wonderful crew of the Disney Magic, from a grateful guest.” We then dropped them off at Guest Services for the crew library. We asked one of our servers at Sessions about doing this.
It's nice to leave some room service fruit etc. for your room steward as a gift one day as they don't get much fresh food, and they appreciate it!
Put the tip $ aside before your trip and had them all labeled and in separate envelopes. It made it so nice at the end of the cruise to just take the $ out of the in-room safe and put them into the little tip envelopes. No standing in line at guest services!
You can go to guest services at anytime during your cruise to take care of the tips.
The lines at guest services get longer towards the end of the cruise, so make sure you get any business (paying tips, etc) done as early as possible. The same applies for shopping.
I ask my friendly CMs if they need anything while I am at port because many times they can't get off the ship to restock on personal necessities. What a bummer that must be.
If, however, the service is good, then I think it would be a great idea to tip the last night and then present an extra gift (e.g., prepaid phone card, etc) as an extra thank you when saying good bye that last morning. Candy is appreciated because it's unexpected and different and not part of the regular food. When you think that they are on the ship EVERY day for somewhere between 5 and 8 months, you can understand why something different is really appreciated.
M&Ms!
In Feb I took a couple of bags of the mini -Hershey's bars or mini -Mars bars. I put them in a gift bag and would take them down to the Oceaneer's Lab a couple nights apart. They loved them and I didn't have to worry about how many to have.
Fresh fruit
Microwave popcorn
Pixie Dust for other guests
Take a few little toy balsa wood airplane kits ($1 each at Michael's) to Castaway Cay for non-swimmers to play with on the beach...They're biodegradable... Pixie Dust...
Pirate night is great but very crowded. We were a large group last year and I took with us a 100 pack of Glow strips (you can make necklaces or bracelets) we could always find our kids in the crowd and people were asking where they could buy them.
Souvenirs
If you're undecided about that beach towel, or t-shirt, or other souvenir... buy it. You'll be mad at yourself later if you don't!
If you are traveling with young kids, bring a pillowcase or t-shirt w/ a few Sharpie markers; drop them off at Guest Services & the last night they will be delivered to your stateroom w/ character autographs, a GREAT cheap souvenir (not many of those).
Bring a plain white pillow case (or t-shirt, hat, whatever -- just with no logo) and a laundry marker, all in a big Ziploc bag. Drop it off at the guest services desk with your child's name, and they will get all the major characters to sign it for you, no charge at all. Great souvenir to take home.
Castaway Cay
Head up to Topsiders as you are pulling into Castaway Cay for some great photo ops! You can see the entire island as you pull in.
If you are an early riser and the weather is nice, get to Top Siders/Beach Blanket buffet on deck 9 early and grab a seat outside overlooking Castaway Cay. Very relaxing
We like to grab breakfast from Topsiders and sit outside by the Mickey pool. The girls go swimming in an EMPTY pool and it is very relaxing.
Get off the boat early at Castaway Cay especially if you are large group that wants to sit together on the beach. The chairs are at a premium.
We finally got off the ship about 11am, and there was plenty of space on beach available if you walk down towards the end of the family beach. Even lots of umbrellas and hammocks. There usually are lots of discarded floats lying around, too.
Consider the wave runner tour on CC: lasted over an hour and played briefly at an isolated beach.
The observation tower is located on the newer bike path off the “airstrip” on the island. It is a nice bike ride - I think it would be a little far to walk. My kids loved using the binoculars at the top to look around the island. At the time we were the only ones up there & it was so quiet & peaceful... Note that the path is off of the middle of the airstrip, not the one at the end (by the adults-only area). Unfortunately, I picked the wrong path when going to look for the tower, and ended up with a very long walk that didn't end at the tower...
If you're into serious swimming/snorkeling, remember a t-shirt to put over your swimsuit. On my first cruise, I had a nasty burn on my back--hard to reach for sunscreen repeat applications and this is the part that was up while snorkeling! I still keep that shirt as my snorkeling shirt!
This is also a perfect time to walk around an empty ship and take photos.
Yoga on the beach at CC
Be sure to check out the merchandise at Castaway Cay. That is the only place you can get it.
The jet skiing on Castaway Cay was very expensive - but MAN WAS IT FUN! That was the highlight of our cruise. Catching air on 3-4 foot swells. Not for everyone but it was for our adventurous group - it was a BLAST!
On Castaway Cay, we came back from the adult beach to eat at Cookies. All around us people had tropical fruit on their plates. I went back to the buffet and looked and looked, but never found any! Figured they had run out. It turned out there was a fruit stand on the other side of Cookies, closer to the ship. By the time I found it after leaving lunch, I was already stuffed. Don't let it happen to you!
Don't forget the “buy one, get one free” drinks on Castaway Cay towards the end of the day!
They quit serving drinks at the eating establishments (except at the bar on the Family Beach) on Castaway Cay when they stop serving food (when the food outlets close at 2:00 P.M.) Make sure you have enough liquids to last the rest of the day unless you want to visit the bars.
Room service
Take advantage of room service. A knock on the door with hot coffee, juice, and rolls is a great way to wake up in the morning, and cheese and crackers before dinner turns getting ready into an “event” to enjoy.
Breakfast room service is an AWESOME thing.
Have room service deliver a hot pot of coffee at night and it stays hot in the carafe 'till morning... viola... hot coffee while sitting on the verandah in your jammies.
We ordered a pot of coffee just about every morning.
Even though it's NOT on the room service menu, they will deliver the Mickey Ice Cream Bars! Yummy!!
The kids ordered Mickey bars and cookies a couple of times and thought this was the coolest thing! We left the boys in the stateroom to work on homework for one hour on one sea day while we took our DD to the Princess Gathering. When we got back we smelled food. They had ordered “snacks” for themselves - Mickey bars and French Fries! I think they wish they could do this at home while doing homework!
Order the 'All Hands on Deck' cheese platter every single night even if you aren't hungry. It is awesome!
Order a pitcher of lemonade from room service each day (no charge) and keep it in the fridge
I wish we had had more meals in our room instead of rushing back from port and getting everybody ready for dinner.
Save some money on food. Order room service and bring it with you on your excursion/day at the beach. Probably need a cooler though.
Food & restaurants
The Welcome Aboard buffet is the same on deck 9 and at Parrot Cay on deck 3. Unless you get to the buffet early, like noon, it is much easier to navigate Parrot Cay dining room. Easier to find a table and a waiter will bring you drinks so you do not have to balance a tray and the drinks. There is also a lot more space at Parrot Cay.
Topsiders Buffet - We ate breakfast here each morning. Sometimes we brought it back to our stateroom and ate on our veranda and other times we stayed at Topsiders. Try to get to Topsiders before 8:30am to avoid the crowds. It was very peaceful early in the morning!
Order anything you want off the menus, your servers will be happy to mix and match menu items, even combining veggies from one entrée, with main course from others. You can also get more than one appetizer, main course, dessert, etc. so you can sample more things. Bring an appetite!
Skip the lunch buffet at least once, and eat at Tritons/Lumiere's instead.
Having your half a bottle of wine from dinner magically delivered to your room is a wonderful way to end a night.
Don't be afraid of leaving food on your plate. There is too much good food to eat something you are not that into.
Some nights, the fun events (such as my personal favorite karaoke) start around 9:30. If you have late seating, it means you'd normally have to pick between either food or singing. But if you ask the waiters to expedite service the night before, they can actually give you the menus and have your food prepared for when you arrive. This way, you get both wonderful food AND singing.
Order as much as you want at dinners. On the night of the “Captain's Gala” they serve lobster. DH ordered a second helping. On two nights we got an extra dessert to try. Our servers, Ollie and May, were fabulous! Ollie did several magic tricks for my kids. The kids looked forward each night to see Ollie and May. DD always had a Sprite waiting for her at the table and May would ask me each night after dinner if I would like my hot tea. They really made us feel special.
My kids want me to add to eat LOTS of ice cream! There is a soft-serve machine on Deck 9 that was frequented by our kids (OK, us too!). You can get some big chocolate chip cookies from Topsiders and then make your own ice cream sandwiches! You can also make your own ice cream sodas!
Believe it or not...check out the kids' menus at dinner...they get some really cool stuff too that's not on your menu, and the wait staff will bring it to you
At dinner, if you'd like seconds, ask for them, or even two different dinners.
Read your Navigator every morning at the restaurant, not buffet during breakfast!
If you enjoy wine, you may bring it on board. There is a refrigerator in your room. We brought a case of wine for 4 adults. We just asked for glasses in our room and a bucket of ice. We then proceeded to dinner with our own glass of wine or enjoyed a glass on our deck before dinner. Yes you CAN bring alcohol on board to “enjoy” in your room - but we found no problem bringing it to dinner.
Speaking of Palo - DO IT! It was such a wonderful meal!
Do not book Palo's for brunch and dinner on the same day ... you will regret it! (Too much good food in too short a period of time.)
Palo secret! Chocolate soufflé! When you arrive @ dinner in a non-Palo restaurant, ask to speak to the table captain. Tell them you'd like the chocolate soufflé from Palo's, slip them a cash tip, and enjoy. The chocolate soufflé from Palo's is the Best Desert on Board, if you enjoy Chocolate.
Disembarking
The last night of your cruise you pack everything up except what you will need in the morning (clothes and grooming supplies). Your luggage needs to be outside of your door by 11pm with the character tags on it that they will give you on that last day (BTW, big tip....take address labels with your name/address on them and then all you'll have to do is fill in stateroom number and your number of bags--i.e. 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3)
Pack early as 11pm comes really soon on the last night. Then DH and I took a turn around the ship. Very happy times.
Pack up what you can on the Thursday night of a 7-night cruise. We waited until the last minute and ended up skipping dinner in order to get done in time!
You can skip the disembarkation talk and watch it on TV in your room anytime until you actually leave the ship. If you have a specific question to ask, just show up in the Disney Theatre foyer 20-30 minutes after the talk starts and ask your question there. The CD doesn't take questions in the theatre, so cut to the chase and go to the foyer - maybe one of the other white suits will be there early.
Set aside a few moments every day to pack up your used clothing and spend the last afternoon of your cruise doing fun things while your fellow passengers are packing to go home.
Start packing up early - All of your luggage must be out in the hall between 9 -11 pm on the last night. There are lots of fun things going on the last night so start packing the day before. I did this and finished up after our day at Castaway Cay and was able to relax and enjoy our last night on the ship.
My tip - on your final morning, don't be in such a rush to get off the ship (unless you have a plane to catch) - your cruise/vacation is not over!
Since there isn't any assigned disembarking order, go last! Skip breakfast in the dining room. I go to Topsiders, load up a tray, take it back to our cabin and everyone has breakfast when they're ready. When we leave, we stroll off the ship without any crowds. Excellent way to end the cruise.
Something I wish I had known previously but actually DID know for our cruise last week on the Wonder (because of reading the DIS)... and that is that you do NOT have to have breakfast in the dining rooms on the last morning. You can actually get a quick breakfast (or even leisurely one) in Beach Blanket Buffet (that's Topsider's on the Magic). They start serving before 7 a.m. so if you have an early departure time, you can grab a quick breakfast or if you have early seating and just want to sleep in a bit more than a 6:30 breakfast time would require, you can do that, too. It's not busy as most people do go to the dining rooms.
We had a nice breakfast and then went back to the cabin to get our stuff (no schlepping it all to breakfast with us) and were able to do final teeth brushing before packing up the toothbrushes before the drive home. We were still out of the stateroom before we would've been if we'd had late dining, and we were disembarking the ship at 7:50 a.m. But the nice thing was that we didn't have to awaken the kids at 6:15 for a 6:30 breakfast -- they slept in ’til after 7 a.m., which made for a much more pleasant morning!
You can also take a tray of breakfast food from the buffet back to your room if you have some who aren't up yet. My at-the-time 10-month-old DS was still asleep when it was time for our early breakfast seating so DH went to the buffet and ended up bringing back breakfast for all of us.
Make sure you take out what you will be needing for the next day! Once your suitcases leave the hallway on the last night, you will not be able to retrieve them the next morning should you forget something. With packing on the last night and trying to fit in the last pieces of your DCL vacation, you do not want to be without clothes/shoes for the morning of departure. I have personally seen a family leaving the cruise ship in their PJ's barefoot!
A wonderful member of the DIS, FUTURIST, put together this list of DCL tips. It is very long but I thought I would post it here for us to look over! It has some very helpful tips!
Tips, Hints, Secrets, and Suggestions
Preparing ahead of time
Veranda - Get one! It was so awesome to sit out there in the mornings with our coffee. The kids loved to go out each morning and see what the ocean looked like and to watch as we entered the various ports.
Order a gift basket from The Perfect Gift, one that includes snacks, juice boxes, sand toys, sunscreen, champagne, beer, etc - so you don't have to pack all of that in your suitcase! And Shirley is a generous and amazing resource for information about DCL, the port, and the Canaveral area! Contact information for The Perfect Gift: Shirley R., 1-800-950-4559, email: theperfectgiftcc@aol.com
Photocopy your critical documents and store them somewhere besides where you keep those items (driver's license, passport, etc.).
When you fill out the cruise forms on Disneycruise.com (which saves you having to fill out pages of forms when you check in at the port), they only ask for the signature pages when you arrive in person. Everything else is sent to them electronically. But be sure to bring the signature pages or you'll have to do it all over again!
The emergency number for people to reach you while at sea: 1-888-DC-AT-SEA (1-888-322-8732)
Put identical distinctive colored or patterned ribbons on your luggage in case one of your bags is misplaced in the terminal. It happened to us, and the wild confetti ribbon on our bags saved our bacon.
Prepare “return address labels” before you leave home. That way you don't spend 15 minutes filling out your luggage tags on the last day of the cruise! Stick on a sticker and your stateroom number and you're done!
Prepare pre-written address computer labels for post cards.
When you fill out the cruise forms on Disneycruise.com (which saves you having to fill out pages of forms when you check in at the port), they only ask for the signature pages when you arrive in person. Everything else is sent to them electronically. But be sure to bring the signature pages or you'll have to do it all over again!
Book as much online as soon as you are able; you will save a lot of time once onboard.
Make sure you have plenty of one-dollar bills! It’s the only cash you need onboard for room service tips, as well as cash for stamps for Castaway Cay.
You can call up to a week before you sail and find out which movies are showing during your cruise. Call 1-888-325-2500, choose the “reservations” option, and then ask what movies will be showing.
If you're interested in knowing where your cabin is in relation to other parts of the ship, say if you're on deck 8 and want to know what's above you on deck 9, or if you're forward and want to know how far you'll need to travel to get to Topsiders, there's a website now that allows you to start with one deck, and then take a 2nd deck, make it transparent, and then lay it on top of the first. Here's how you do it. First, go to website http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/Main/shipsdisney.php/. Select either Magic or Wonder, depending on which ship you're interested in. On the RHS you'll see two lines highlighted in green. For once, read the instructions first by clicking the lower of the two lines, the one that says “Click here first for Instructions”. (I know, I never read the instructions, either. I tried doing it without, and eventually had to go back and read them.) Then click on the line that says “Click here for DRAG IT DECKS!”
Now select the LOWER of the two decks you want to see, such as deck 8, from the list at the top left of the window. When the image appears, select it by clicking once. Now you can enlarge or reduce the image. Let's say you want to see your stateroom, for example the Walt Disney Suite. Move the image so you can see that suite, and enlarge, say, by clicking the enlarge button three times on the tools at the top right of the window. Keep track of the number of clicks you use.
Next, select the SECOND or upper deck, for example, deck 9. This will appear on screen overlaid and transparent, on top of the first deck you selected. Now click on it to select it with your cursor, and enlarge or shrink it with the same number of clicks as you did the other deck.
Finally, line the elevators up, one over the other. The elevators are (naturally) in exactly the same place on each deck, so when they're lined up, everything's lined up. You can now see through the upper deck (deck 9 in our example) and see what's directly above the Walt Disney Suite. Turns out its Cove Cafe, a ping pong table, and a couple of tables and chairs from Signals bar.
Category 1, 2, and 3 suites (with concierge service)
Concierge phone number: 1-866-784-1654
Email address: DCL.Concierge.Services@Disneycruise.com
DCL concierge services can be hit or miss at times. Our last experience in December on the Magic was wonderful, Connie was an absolute gem.
If you’re staying in a suite, the last morning you can have breakfast in your cabin! LOVED that!
On the Magic and Wonder, there are two category 1 suites, two categories 2's, and 18 categories 3's (I think). If you assume maximum occupancy, and assume that you can fit 5 people in each cat. 3 (which you can’t), that means the concierge-level suites can accommodate only a theoretical maximum of 118 people: (2x7) + (2x7) + (18x5) = 118. That works out to about 4% of the passengers onboard, which is one of the main reasons why the suites always sell out first, why they are so expensive, why Disney requires a non-refundable deposit to book a suite, and why suites get first dibs on Palo and excursion reservations.
Travel to the port & before boarding
For hotels at the airport, one very experienced DCL cruiser notes she easily finds hotels through Priceline at the airport for $25/night.
You can stay at an Orlando airport hotel the night before the cruise (after your flight in). All the airport hotels have free shuttles to and from the airport. Then on the morning of your cruise, take the hotel shuttle back to the airport and use the Disney bus from the airport to Port Canaveral. If you don't want to rent a car or arrange for a town car, it works out very well. Then, after the cruise, you can also take the Disney bus back to the airport. Lastly, once Disney has your bags, you don't have to deal with them any longer - give it to them at the airport, next time you see them is in your cabin (at least that's how it was last time we went).
If you're looking for absolutely the EASIEST way of coming in a day ahead, then book the Hyatt at the Orlando airport with DCL transfers to the ship. The hotel is right in the airport, and you can get a porter to carry your luggage over to the Hyatt lobby. Then put your luggage out the next morning with your DCL transfer tags and go to the lobby to meet the DCL folks to board the bus to the ship. This may not be the least expensive but it is definitely the LEAST HASSEL way to do it.
Plan to stay in the Cape Canaveral area the night before (I recommend the Radisson, with free shuttle service, even took us off site for dinner & picked us up...GREAT people there) then take the earliest shuttle (10AM) to the boarding area to ensure being the first onboard. Once onboard, enjoy the lunch & get a feel for the ship & locations.
Get to port early if you need to book Palo or spa services on board. They book up quickly.
When you check in, always ask whether there are upgrades available, and at what price. There are often bargains available at boarding that isn’t available any other time. Of course, you need to ready to decide on the spot whether to spend a few hundred dollars extra for a better stateroom. But it never hurts to ask.
What do you do after you check in, but before you board? Most people opt to stand in line and wait to board so they get on early. But if you want another alternative, there are seats with TV's playing Disney cartoons. You can also go out on a deck and see the ship.
They are going to take a family picture as soon as you walk on board. If you are each carrying 2 bags or toting a wheelie bag, you are going to look like a family of packhorses. We did.
Just before you board the ship, a picture is taken of your family and/or group. If it matters to you, you may want to dress in something special or matching for the picture. We didn't our first cruise and we looked weird together...the outfits clashed (I know, I know PUH-leezze! hey, I'm an artist...these things matter to me.) So now we wear matching, or at least coordinating, outfits or something to tie us all together for our embarkation photo. For our '05 Christmas cruise we all wore Santa hats. It was cute. The hats came out later during the cruise too.
Stateroom door decorations
Many people make magnetic signs for their stateroom doors for the fun of it and for a little extra magic for their families. (The doors are metal, and DCL prohibits adhesives, so magnetic signs are the way to go.) They can also come in handy if you had a few too many drinks, because even without having any drinks, that hallway has a lot of doors and they all look alike. You also want to personalize them, or they have an unfortunate tendency to disappear.
First tip on door signs: don't bother w/that special magnetic paper, go to Wal-mart and get a roll of self-stick magnetic tape for about $1 and it will do all your door signs and pics for much less than the special paper. Second tip: get the program “Magic Artist” and it will allow you to make just about any Disney scene picture you can think of. Third tip: use the Home Depot paint chips...they are great!
We got the Disney paint chips from Home Depot in lots of different colors, cut them out so we had the Mickey head shape, and stuck them on the door in the order of the colors of the rainbow. Effective, simple, and inexpensive! I put our room number on it in a few places in case someone was thinking about “borrowing” it! I had them laminated at Office max for $1.50 each. I printed them on legal size paper to make a little larger. I got some Disney paint chips at Home depot and cut them out and put a piece of sticky magnetic tape on the back. Some I added ribbons to look like balloons.
Because we didn't have much time I didn't bother with magnetic paper. I found some darling scrapbooking cardstock at Michaels. They were very bright and had Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and “boxes” to insert photos. DD wrote our first names and sailing dates in some of the boxes and glued a photo of the Magic in another box. I bought magnetic clips at Target and easily attached the signs to the doors. They were very cute and helped us find our doors, especially since all the doors are identical.
There is LOTS of information about door decorating in specific threads on the DIS Forums. Here’s one of the best:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=925792
Packing & Things to Bring
Bring an over-the-door shoe organizer - This was AWESOME for keeping all of our stuff off of horizontal surfaces which helped us stay organized and tidy. We used it for sunscreen, brushes/combs, sunglasses, batteries, makeup pouches, jewelry, etc.
Divide your family's clothes between bags in case one gets lost. I have underwear for everyone spread between bags, casual clothes, swimsuits, and dress up clothes spread between bags. If you see me in the same outfit for dinner all the time, one of the bags got lost, but at least I won't be wearing my husband's underwear.
Bring bathing suits and sunscreen for when you board the boat. You won't see your bags until about 4:30, at which point it is time to get ready for dinner.
I always pack my swimsuit in my carry on - it takes me forever to find suits that fit me and I feel comfortable in - I could never just buy off the rack on the ship - or at the hotel gift shop!
The door is metal so I took a couple of magnetic clips to hold navigators and other papers.
Get a water wallet for Castaway Cay. It'll hold your Key to the world, ID, plus a couple of bucks for stamps or small trinkets on the way back.
Bring your own wines. ABC Liquor in Orlando has a good selection; more fun when going with a group of wine lovers (we had 8, so every night one couple was responsible for 3 bottles). The corkage fee of $18/bottle is industry standard, but we poured some pretty decent stuff, so it was well worth it to our party.
We brought LED candles for gentle light in the cabin (and a night-light for the bath). They were great. Low light, little flicker, romantic and no fires!
Pack a highlighter to highlight the Daily Navigator things you want to attend, also a pack of post-its or small dry erase board to leave notes for others in cabin. We bring a magnetic one to put on the inside of the cabin door to tell our two DS where we are, and so they can tell us where they will be.
Bring one or two of your favorite books. There are many quiet, cozy places to read. You are on vacation - relax, unwind. Reading gives you an opportunity to NOT follow the Navigator every now and then.
Take earplugs just in case you get a noisy room or have family who want to watch TV when you want a nap.
Take Beano just in case the unfamiliar food disagrees with you. I love broccoli and always order it, but it causes some embarrassing moments, so Beano before eating helped me out.
If you have a veranda, bring about 15' of clothesline and clothespins, there are places high up near the ceiling to tie off the line to hang wet items. This is especially useful after Castaway Cay so you won't need to pack wet items (ours dried by the time we got back to Port Canaveral)
Bring Windex wipes to clean your glass on your veranda - the salt spray accumulates and obstructs the view.
Bring a small memo pad to plan your day - what activities at what times (makes it easier if you have to plan between multiple Navigators - we had 3 kids in different age brackets, plus the adult Navigators to contend with).
We like to make sure to bring a dry erase board...to leave messages for each other in passing. It helped us all meet up at diff times of day on our last cruise.
Bring an envelope to keep your Navigators organized.
If you bring a lot of clothes that need to be hung in the closet, bring extra hangers
Bring an address book, and meet new people! Exchange email addresses with people (especially tablemates) and you can stay in touch, swap pictures and stories!
Bring little flashlights and pass them out to your family. Also keep 1 in the bathroom.
Collapsible hamper – we found this to be very convenient for putting our dirty clothes in and carrying to the laundry room. Also ID holders, which can be found at Wal-Mart for 97¢.
Bring your old socks, underwear, swimsuits, etc., then don't bring them home – just toss them when they're dirty!
Large thick trash bags. Put the dirty clothes in them when you get ready to go home. Gather up the top and hold tight, then have partner roll or smooth from the other end to get the air out. The dirties take up much less room that way and no worry that they will soil your leftover clean clothes or new t-shirts. I have not been able to find one of those airless travel bags that are large enough to handle all our laundry. Also makes room for more new stuff!
We always bring a small pair of binoculars (especially if you have a verandah). It's great for looking at passing islands, dolphins, etc. Be sure that the kids keep the cord around their necks when they're using them so they don't drop them overboard.
Bottles of water. You can refill them with the filtered water available on deck 9.
I found a folder helpful to keep papers you want to take home with you.
We bring table-top fans to drown out the noise from deck 9 above so it doesn't wake us in the AM (sometimes as early as 5:00) when they put out all the chairs. If you bring fans, don't forget extension cords as outlets are not always where you want to place the fan.
Underwater cameras are fun too! We took one with us to Castaway Cay and to Stingray City (on the Western Cruise).
Bring a corkscrew if you bring wine for the romantic evenings on the verandah.
Ladies: bring a small bag/purse/clutch for use around the ship. My regular sized purse was too much and looked odd on formal night. A small camera case with extra pockets for cash/room card can also double for a purse.
Bring a power strip - There is only ONE outlet in the stateroom so it was great to be able to plug in our phones, camera charges, curling iron, etc. I did also bring an extension cord in hopes of plugging in to the desk and using my hairdryer in the bathroom but it was not long enough. It was a 15-foot cord and missed reaching the bathroom by a good 5 feet or more.
An extension cord with 4 outlets weighs less and is generally smaller than a power strip.
Ladies - Bring your own hairdryer. The ones in the stateroom look like they are from the 1960's or something, and barely blow any air.
Clothespins - I had originally read to bring these to help keep the curtains on the sliding door closed when the ship was rocking. We ended up using these to help close the privacy curtain between the bed and living area in our stateroom. This allowed us a way to change clothes with a bit more privacy.
Pillowcases & Sharpies - I bought 3 new white pillowcases (one for each kid). I placed them in a large ziploc bag with various colors of Sharpie markers and gave them to Guest Services the second day of our cruise. They were returned to us on the last day of the cruise signed by all of the characters!
Pop-up Laundry Hamper - This stored easily in the closet and was great to toss our dirty laundry in.
Lanyards for room key - These lanyards have a clear zip-loc type of holder for your Key-to-the-World card. We did not realize how handy this would be! We saw lots of folks with these on the first day of the cruise. We were going to buy some but ended up getting them as a gift from Disney Vacation Club! These were great to grab and put around your neck as we headed out and about.
Bring Address Labels - This made the last night so much easier! You receive luggage tags (one for each bag) on the last day of the cruise. You have to put your name, address and phone # on each of these as well as your stateroom and number each bag. We had pre-made return address labels with most of this info. All I had to do was place a label onto each tag, add our stateroom # and # each bag. We had 9 bags and this made the process much faster!
Seasickness - Bring Bonine and Ginger tablets. I got both at Wal-mart. I was very worried as I do get seasick. I started taking Bonine 2 days before the cruise. I took one tablet twice a day (morning and bedtime) and it worked great!!! One day at sea we were rocking quite a bit and I started feeling a bit queasy so I took a Ginger tablet and I felt much better! I did not feel tired at all and had no effects when I went off of the Bonine after the cruise. Our 11-year-old DS started feeling queasy on the first night so I started him on kids Bonine for the rest of the cruise and he was fine also.
Bring some Pirate gear - We brought some hats, eye patches, etc., from home to dress up in for Pirate Night. Lots of folks were dressed in pirate attire for this event! Pirate Night was a blast!
Digital clock - Ok, I did not bring one but wish that I had. There is a clock in the room but it is not a digital clock and cannot be seen at night.
I know some people mention bringing an alarm clock but I just set the TV to turn on as my wake up call and that worked wonderfully. I left the channel to see the forward camera and it was like our window to the outside world from our inside stateroom with no window!
One Dollar Bills - DH went to the bank before we left and got LOTS of $1 bills to use for tipping. This was VERY handy for the porters, room service, transportation, etc.
Bring walkie-talkies. The boat is big, and just after your spouse leaves to get your book from the room you realize you forgot sunscreen! It's also a great way to stay in touch with large traveling groups.
Take highlighters for character autographs.
Underwater camera is a MUST if you going to snorkel...and if you never have....do!
Take collapsible suitcases. When empty, they can be stuffed in corners or under the beds.
Pack a collapsible duffel bag to use for day excursions. It can double as your extra bag for all those souvenirs you swore you weren't going to buy.
Bring twist-ties to keep the coat hangers from banging around in the closet when the ship rocks.
An underwater camera is a MUST if you are going to snorkel...and if you never have....do!
If you enjoy wine, you may bring it on board. There is a refrigerator in your room. We brought a case of wine for 4 adults. We just asked for glasses in our room and a bucket of ice. We then proceeded to dinner with our own glass of wine or enjoyed a glass on our deck before dinner. Yes you CAN bring alcohol on board to “enjoy” in your room - but we found no problem bringing it to dinner.
There can be occasional power outages, so packing a flashlight makes it much easier to cope – especially if you have an inside stateroom!
I suggest bringing a sweater for dinner and the shows. I don't normally get cold, but my friend suggested I bring a sweater on the cruise. I brought a light cardigan thinking I just needed something to cover my arms. Boy was I wrong! I was so cold at dinner and shivering during the shows. I've actually have been shopping for a sweater that I can use on my next cruise.
Take a magnetic stripped card, like a library or grocery store card, to use as your stateroom safe's “key”. Hide the card somewhere in the room. This eliminates the constraint of waiting for the KTTW cardholder to be with you if you need something from the safe.
I have also brought some of my own beverages and mixers and cups w/lids to mix the drinks.
Save the plastic bags that your dry-cleaning comes home in. I have a HUGE garment bag (holds 3 suits and about 20 dresses) and I packed everything in these bags (I doubled and tripled some items in the bags) and I unpacked virtually “wrinkle free” clothes!!!!
Bring thank you cards for the staff. Take it from a former cast member: it's the little things that keep the pixie dust in your heart alive!
Bring LOTS of extra batteries.
If you bring a lot of clothes that need to be hung in the closet, bring extra hangers
Don't bring so many carry-ons when boarding. We took a bag EACH because we were thinking “what if”. They were very much in the way and not-so-fun to carry around until our rooms opened up at 1:15 PM. Turns out we should have checked EVERYTHING and just ate, toured the ship, then gone to our room
Don't over pack! - I WAY overpacked. During the days at sea we were pretty much in our swimsuits/cover-ups.
Seriously...when you pack, take half of what you've packed out again. It's WAY too easy to over pack. Black slacks for dinner with different tops...you're good to go. During the day you'll probably be in your swim stuff with a cover-up...don't worry about tons of “day clothes”.
Staterooms
The fridge isn't always as cold as we would like it to be, so we have our stateroom host fill up our ice bucket and we put it in the fridge. Helps keep the ice from melting so quickly and also get the fridge colder so you're not drinking lukewarm or semi cool drinks!
If you like ice cold drinks in your room, the first time you see your cabin attendant, ask for a cooler. Out attendant provided us with an IGLOO cooler and kept it filled with ice for 7 days. The fridge in your room is nice, but not ice cold.
Store all life vests under the bed to give yourself more shelf space
If you have soft-sided luggage try storing them under the bed. We were able to put our smaller suitcases and backpacks under the bed. The rest we nested in each other and stored in the closet. With 5 of us in the room it was important to keep it as uncluttered as possible
Your suit cases REALLY do fit under the bed. Just lift up the bed and slide under if they do not slide under.
Get a wake-up call everyday. It is Mickey Mouse calling!
Inside your closet you'll find Velcro to help the closet door stay closed on those rocky nights.
If you are going to charge iPods, batteries, DVD players, etc., do it when you are in the room, especially at night. I remember a few posts where people said they were politely scolded for leaving them on with nobody there. I guess it's a fire hazard. Just charge over night.
Don't forget to latch your closet doors closed! We figured that out on the first night when it slid open, banged and woke us up.
Do NOT feel stupid when you can't open your veranda door.
Scientifically-verified studies have shown that 67% of DCL cruises have to have their stateroom host show them how the door works. Of the ones that do manage to open it by themselves, 22% spent 10 or more minutes figuring it out. (Hint: it swings, and there is a lock on top that twists).The coffee table in the staterooms adjusts up and down, so you can move it to the right height for kids' coloring, snacks, etc.
Things that are good to know onboard ship
If you have a problem of any kind, TELL SOMEBODY. They will fix it, if possible. If you get home and you weren't happy about something, send a letter. DCL is remarkably good about trying to keep guests happy.
There’s an anchor design in the corridor carpet on stateroom decks. The blue part of the anchor points forward, and the red part of the anchor points back to the stern. If you find it hard to remember which color points where, remember Blue points to the Bow. In addition, the carpet outside each bank of elevators varies by deck level. Memorize the carpet pattern outside the elevators nearest to your stateroom and you won’t accidentally get off at the wrong stop again!
Most of the time (but not ALL of the time), the red portion of the anchors point aft (but sometimes, blue is aft). I actually found it easier to look at the room numbers – the first digit is the deck, the second digit is the side (0, 1 are on port; 5, 6 on starboard). The room numbers get lower as you move forward.
Send your clothes for pressing the first night on the ship. It's relatively inexpensive and well worth the line for the iron and the TIME!!
The best time to find characters is during the sail-away celebration, on deck 10.
Go swimming in the pools if there is a brief rainstorm (the pools literally were empty for 30 mins after a brief but heavy 10 minute shower). As long as there is no thunder sounding, you can't get much wetter than while swimming.
Our first night out of Port Canaveral (headed toward the Bahamas or crossing the Gulf Stream) the water can be a little rough, so take ginger or Bonine.
This cruise was the first time I ever went lower than Deck 3 and when I went to the medical facility, I discovered they have motion tabs outside the door, free for the taking. So just know that they are there as well. They have Ginger Ale also on the ship. There is also a hand-out of how to fight against “sea sickness” next to the motion tabs. You can always carry Ginger Tea with you as well.
When it comes to sea sickness, it tends to affect different people differently. Some people adjust, get their “sea legs” and then never worry about it again on a cruise. Some get sea sick tablets, like Dramamine or Bonine, from their pharmacist and take them every day, and even two days before. Some people get a patch from their pharmacist to deal with it. Ginger candy seems to help as well. You can get tablets on the ship from the medical center, but whatever you do, be prepared to deal with it. They say that sea sickness won’t kill you – but if you get it, you’ll wish it had!
Bonine is the name brand of meclizine. It is an antihistamine, but it does not make you as drowsy as regular Dramamine (diphenydrinate). I believe that meclizine is also the less drowsy form of Dramamine. Truth is, they can both make you sleepy, but I find the meclizine is not as bad as the regular Dramamine. Only the regular Dramamine is approved for use with children 12 and under.
Bring a cocktail to the evening shows...or two.
Walking the stairs at a reasonable pace (up or down) from the moment the elevator door opens will always beat the elevator for anything up to 5 floors up and everything down. I think I got on the elevator a grand total of three times just to say I had done it and get some pictures of the atrium. Between kids playing the “push-every-button” game to people hitting the call button and then walking away, the elevators are typically crowded and slow.
If you're able, take the stairs as much as possible. I gained only 1.5 lb. and ate like a PIG (Palo x 2, ordered more than 1 appetizer, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert at each dinner, and ate more junk foods in 4 days like pizza, fries... than my arteries have seen since college), but took stairs everywhere.
Pack swimsuits in carry-on 1st day...pools were pretty empty first couple of hours. Not just for kids, I was the only adult to cool down in the 88 degree and 79% humidity before the safety drill.
It's good to have a small flashlight in case the power goes off. This happened to us last month while we were eating dinner at Palos. The lights were only off for about 8-10 minutes, and the emergency generators has already kicked in, but we still would have liked to have a flashlight
I bring an extra blanket from the room to the movie theatre with me. I get cold real easily and the movie theatre is really cold.
The therapists at the spa are a bit pushy with the sales pitch. Make a point of putting it on your initial form that you don't want to buy anything...I didn't, and wish I had!
When you sign up for a spa treatment, before starting write in big letters, NO SALES PITCH. It stops them giving you the hard sell on the products
When you see the Shutter's staff, drag them (ask them) nicely over to photograph your kids / you, etc. rather that wait from them to ask - you will have a lot more pictures to choose from later.
At Shutters, stack the pictures you are considering purchasing together each day so you don't have to search through all the displays repeatedly. Shutters staff will keep the stacks together.
Don't show up just-in-time for movies - the Buena Vista Theatre is small and if your party is large, you may not be able to sit together. Same goes for the Walt Disney Theatre - find your seats early (at least 5 minutes before the show) so you will be more successful finding good seating – and as a courtesy to others.
Go to at least one program/activity a day. The cruise staff is great, and you get to meet people other then the ones you see at meals.
Don't leave “Disney Dreams” early. This is a “must-see” show, but at the end, don't join the people who leave before the final bows. There is still one more surprise to see.
If you like the Internet, buy the unlimited access plan while on board. Its $89 but worth it if you on the computer a lot.
For the “Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer” show, wait to sit down until everyone else is already seated. Pick out an empty row or one that has very few people. When the computer picks seats for the “Hot Seat”, it's done randomly. If the seat is empty they go to the next closest one. So, if your row is practically empty you have a better chance.
I really wish I had booked another cruise while I was onboard. When it was over, I had serious withdrawal issues. I booked a cruise immediately when I got back, but I would have saved some money and had onboard credit.
I also wish I'd known that if you rebook onboard, you can book a “dummy” date and then transfer the reservation to a new date when more dates are released. Now I'm all the wiser and will definitely rebook and transfer it next time!
Before we went on our last cruise, we decided which cruise we were going to book while on board. I then went to several on-line travel sites and got quotes for that cruise. When we went to book the cruise on board, we took the quotes. The gal was able to match the cost plus give us the $200 credit!
RE-BOOK! We re-booked on board and got a 10% discount and a $200 on board credit for our next cruise. We are going again in October 2009 this time on the 7 night Eastern Cruise!! We requested our same stateroom and our same servers.
I wish we had gotten to Rockin' Bar-D ’WAY before the 10:00 pm show/entertainment starts in order to get a really good seat. The shows are really hysterical. Being our first cruise, we really didn't know what we were doing after dinner was over; we kind of walked around like lost puppies! But on the 7-day, because we spent so much time with DISers, we discovered how much fun this lounge is. We had more laughs in here. Once the shows are over (they last about an hour or so), then the dancing begins and that's when we went back to our room for the night.
The “drink of the day” is not really 1/2 price....but...at certain times onboard they do have two for one specials. They will be announced in your Navigator
It looked like the drink in the collector's cup was $9.09. The only reason I bought one was because the server told us we needed it to get the discount on the drink of the day. Not true.
The drinks are $3.99 basic plus your 15% added. If you buy one in the DCL cup, it is $6.99 plus the 15%. The advantage of this cup is if you buy one of the drinks for $6.99 each time you go back, you can get it refilled for regular price and you get almost twice as much. So you pay the $3.99 plus 15% to get the bigger glass. They really do not refill them; they change them out for you, and rewash to reuse the cups. The same thing for the beer mugs. I think my DH paid $12.99 for the first one and $4.99 for the refill.
If you get the sail away drink, you get to keep the glass it's served in. We didn't know that, not that we really needed more stuff to take home, but it would have been fun to have some to serve summer drinks in at home.
On Formal Night...during the Captain's reception in the lobby before dinner, they offer free drinks
When traveling from Deck 4 to Deck 9 or 10, I'd swear we'd stop on every single floor. By the time we got to Deck 4, the elevator would be full, but we'd still end up stopping on every floor for nothing...since there was no more room for anyone. Use the Forward or Aft elevators whenever possible. We were often able to go from 1 to 10 or 10 to 1 without any stops when using the forward elevator.
We realized that in each store on board there are sale sections, and they have great deals! We found shot glasses for $2.99 and amazing soaps and lotions at 50% off. When I asked some of the folks in merchandising, they pointed out things that I didn't even realize were on sale at all!
My favorite tip was about the teak lounge chairs on deck 4. My DH & I find our selves relaxing there at least twice a day
When coming from air conditioning into warm air, the lens on your camera and camcorder will fog up. Half of my video is my finger cleaning the lens. If you're an early bird, set your camera on your veranda and let it warm up a bit, before pulling into Castaway Cay so you don't miss out on some great photos.
There are Disney music stations on the TV (much like WDW); they make GREAT mood music for the room. Disney music always makes me feel like I am truly on vacation!
If you're trying to get to the Walt Disney theatre during a very busy time ~ like the time between 1st and 2nd dinner seating ~ don't do what we did and go by stairs/elevator to the 4th Floor and then walk all the way through all the crowds in Shutters, etc. On the last night, we walked all the way forward on Deck 2, (by the staterooms) and then took the Forward elevator to the 4th Floor. The elevator doors open right outside the theatre and you bypass all the congestion!
It seemed to take some people about five days to discover they need to lock the public toilet stall doors. LOCK THE DOORS! The secondary tip is - even if the indicator isn't red, you may want to tap on or peek under the stall door for feet. Some people don't catch on fast.
A great time to enjoy the ship and have it mostly to yourselves is between 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. The early diners are eating and the late diners are at the show. DH and I would just walk decks 9 and 10 or hang out in the hot tub. We have SOOO many pics of the ship where there is not a soul in sight. It's kind of fun to try to get these pics. We have some too where deck 4 is completely empty. Pretty cool.
ALWAYS carefully read the Navigator, as veteran cruisers on other lines we were caught off guard that the shows are BEFORE late seating dinner.
READ YOUR NAVIGATOR!!!! Because it was only listed on the very back and in a very small font, we missed the “midnight” dessert buffet. I happened upon it as I was going back to the room for something but they told me I couldn't stay because they were getting ready to close it down. DH and I were very disappointed!
I also have found that showering in the ladies locker room in the spa/gym is so easy....they have shampoo & conditioner right in the shower and I go there straight from the adult pool....shower, wash my hair and then get dressed (temporary clothes...not my evening clothes) and go back to the cabin to dry my hair...saves time for me and this way I don't have to rush hubby in the shower.
Take some time to enjoy the ship. It is just beautiful!
DH and I did the martini tasting. This was lots of fun!
Princess Gathering - If you have a little princess there is a “Princess Gathering” in the main lobby where all of the princesses come out at the same time for photos and autographs. Get there EARLY as the line was VERY long! This is a very popular event!
Shutters - Get to Shutters EARLY in your cruise!! We chose our package and most of our photos about mid-cruise. We wanted to wait to get our last couple of photos after our Castaway Cay day. Shutters was MOBBED on the last night! Many people were there for the first time and choosing their package and such. I was so glad that all I needed were 2-3 photos!
Christmas Cards - Yes, I said Christmas Cards! We had ours made at Shutters so I am all ready for Christmas! (well, at least my cards are ready). We used a family photo from Pirate Night and it says “Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho! Merry Christmas from the _____ Family!”
Family Portraits - There is a wonderful background that is all white and it is called a “Lifetime Portrait”. The photographer takes several different poses and they look amazing with the white background!
Kids' Clubs - The clubs were great! Be sure to leave time though when dropping off your kids. Many times we had to wait in line to drop off and ended up cutting our time close on a couple of things.
Glow-sticks for Pirate night!!
There's a secret deck out behind decks 7 and 8. And don't forget deck 7 private veranda chairs and quiet.
Another favorite tip....use the “secret” aft stairwell from decks 7, 8 right up into Topsiders...very convenient and you miss the buffet line crowds...it is located right after the buffet line (near the doors to the outside eating area in back of Topsiders).
Order room service snacks to take to movies on the ship--saves you from buying regular movie snacks.
Take LOTS of pics (don't forget those towel animal pics every night!!!)
Rainforest: Don't buy the week pass; just pay daily. It's hard to use it the first day, and it closes early Friday night. So, Sunday through Thursday are the only days it is fully available, which is 5 days. If you miss one day, you are paying too much. It's hard to use it on port days as well. I can manage to get about 4 days in, total. I don't think it's worth the $15 to pay for an extra day rather than take the chance and feel like you “have” to go.
Showers: we just got off Magic and our stateroom attendant thought we never showered. We used the spa as relaxation and then showered before going back to our room to get ready for dinner. It's a spacious, pampering experience - such a nice perk. Use it and enjoy it; it's one of the best kept secrets on the boat, excuse me, ship!
You most definitely can use the gym for free and get a free locker. You can also use the sauna in the locker room and the showers for free. It's the
Rainforest you have to pay extra for.
They have four “beds” in the ladies locker room, and last time we were on the wonder they had electric foot massagers that were free too. Not sure if they're still there, but I used one while awaiting my massage and then used one later while waiting for a shower to free up (one of the showers has a great head so I sometimes use it instead of showering in the stateroom).
Don't try to do everything. Just go, do your thing and have fun!
Tipping & Pixie Dust for CM’s
Bring thank-you cards for the staff. Coming from a cast member, it's the little things that keep the pixie dust in your heart alive!
[From a former CM] – Candy is always good as are Wal-mart gift cards. I also know that for me personally there are many times that I would be just as happy with a thank you as I would with a calling card, gift card or candy.
Even just a little card saying thanks meant as much if not more to me.
One of the best tips you can give staff is to mention their name specifically on the evaluation form. Promotions and raises are dependent upon being specifically named as going above and beyond in customer service.
On our last 7-day cruise DW and I finished reading 5 books. Instead of lugging them back through the airport, we inscribed them with “For the wonderful crew of the Disney Magic, from a grateful guest.” We then dropped them off at Guest Services for the crew library. We asked one of our servers at Sessions about doing this.
It's nice to leave some room service fruit etc. for your room steward as a gift one day as they don't get much fresh food, and they appreciate it!
Put the tip $ aside before your trip and had them all labeled and in separate envelopes. It made it so nice at the end of the cruise to just take the $ out of the in-room safe and put them into the little tip envelopes. No standing in line at guest services!
You can go to guest services at anytime during your cruise to take care of the tips.
The lines at guest services get longer towards the end of the cruise, so make sure you get any business (paying tips, etc) done as early as possible. The same applies for shopping.
I ask my friendly CMs if they need anything while I am at port because many times they can't get off the ship to restock on personal necessities. What a bummer that must be.
If, however, the service is good, then I think it would be a great idea to tip the last night and then present an extra gift (e.g., prepaid phone card, etc) as an extra thank you when saying good bye that last morning. Candy is appreciated because it's unexpected and different and not part of the regular food. When you think that they are on the ship EVERY day for somewhere between 5 and 8 months, you can understand why something different is really appreciated.
M&Ms!
In Feb I took a couple of bags of the mini -Hershey's bars or mini -Mars bars. I put them in a gift bag and would take them down to the Oceaneer's Lab a couple nights apart. They loved them and I didn't have to worry about how many to have.
Fresh fruit
Microwave popcorn
Pixie Dust for other guests
Take a few little toy balsa wood airplane kits ($1 each at Michael's) to Castaway Cay for non-swimmers to play with on the beach...They're biodegradable... Pixie Dust...
Pirate night is great but very crowded. We were a large group last year and I took with us a 100 pack of Glow strips (you can make necklaces or bracelets) we could always find our kids in the crowd and people were asking where they could buy them.
Souvenirs
If you're undecided about that beach towel, or t-shirt, or other souvenir... buy it. You'll be mad at yourself later if you don't!
If you are traveling with young kids, bring a pillowcase or t-shirt w/ a few Sharpie markers; drop them off at Guest Services & the last night they will be delivered to your stateroom w/ character autographs, a GREAT cheap souvenir (not many of those).
Bring a plain white pillow case (or t-shirt, hat, whatever -- just with no logo) and a laundry marker, all in a big Ziploc bag. Drop it off at the guest services desk with your child's name, and they will get all the major characters to sign it for you, no charge at all. Great souvenir to take home.
Castaway Cay
Head up to Topsiders as you are pulling into Castaway Cay for some great photo ops! You can see the entire island as you pull in.
If you are an early riser and the weather is nice, get to Top Siders/Beach Blanket buffet on deck 9 early and grab a seat outside overlooking Castaway Cay. Very relaxing
We like to grab breakfast from Topsiders and sit outside by the Mickey pool. The girls go swimming in an EMPTY pool and it is very relaxing.
Get off the boat early at Castaway Cay especially if you are large group that wants to sit together on the beach. The chairs are at a premium.
We finally got off the ship about 11am, and there was plenty of space on beach available if you walk down towards the end of the family beach. Even lots of umbrellas and hammocks. There usually are lots of discarded floats lying around, too.
Consider the wave runner tour on CC: lasted over an hour and played briefly at an isolated beach.
The observation tower is located on the newer bike path off the “airstrip” on the island. It is a nice bike ride - I think it would be a little far to walk. My kids loved using the binoculars at the top to look around the island. At the time we were the only ones up there & it was so quiet & peaceful... Note that the path is off of the middle of the airstrip, not the one at the end (by the adults-only area). Unfortunately, I picked the wrong path when going to look for the tower, and ended up with a very long walk that didn't end at the tower...
If you're into serious swimming/snorkeling, remember a t-shirt to put over your swimsuit. On my first cruise, I had a nasty burn on my back--hard to reach for sunscreen repeat applications and this is the part that was up while snorkeling! I still keep that shirt as my snorkeling shirt!
This is also a perfect time to walk around an empty ship and take photos.
Yoga on the beach at CC
Be sure to check out the merchandise at Castaway Cay. That is the only place you can get it.
The jet skiing on Castaway Cay was very expensive - but MAN WAS IT FUN! That was the highlight of our cruise. Catching air on 3-4 foot swells. Not for everyone but it was for our adventurous group - it was a BLAST!
On Castaway Cay, we came back from the adult beach to eat at Cookies. All around us people had tropical fruit on their plates. I went back to the buffet and looked and looked, but never found any! Figured they had run out. It turned out there was a fruit stand on the other side of Cookies, closer to the ship. By the time I found it after leaving lunch, I was already stuffed. Don't let it happen to you!
Don't forget the “buy one, get one free” drinks on Castaway Cay towards the end of the day!
They quit serving drinks at the eating establishments (except at the bar on the Family Beach) on Castaway Cay when they stop serving food (when the food outlets close at 2:00 P.M.) Make sure you have enough liquids to last the rest of the day unless you want to visit the bars.
Room service
Take advantage of room service. A knock on the door with hot coffee, juice, and rolls is a great way to wake up in the morning, and cheese and crackers before dinner turns getting ready into an “event” to enjoy.
Breakfast room service is an AWESOME thing.
Have room service deliver a hot pot of coffee at night and it stays hot in the carafe 'till morning... viola... hot coffee while sitting on the verandah in your jammies.
We ordered a pot of coffee just about every morning.
Even though it's NOT on the room service menu, they will deliver the Mickey Ice Cream Bars! Yummy!!
The kids ordered Mickey bars and cookies a couple of times and thought this was the coolest thing! We left the boys in the stateroom to work on homework for one hour on one sea day while we took our DD to the Princess Gathering. When we got back we smelled food. They had ordered “snacks” for themselves - Mickey bars and French Fries! I think they wish they could do this at home while doing homework!
Order the 'All Hands on Deck' cheese platter every single night even if you aren't hungry. It is awesome!
Order a pitcher of lemonade from room service each day (no charge) and keep it in the fridge
I wish we had had more meals in our room instead of rushing back from port and getting everybody ready for dinner.
Save some money on food. Order room service and bring it with you on your excursion/day at the beach. Probably need a cooler though.
Food & restaurants
The Welcome Aboard buffet is the same on deck 9 and at Parrot Cay on deck 3. Unless you get to the buffet early, like noon, it is much easier to navigate Parrot Cay dining room. Easier to find a table and a waiter will bring you drinks so you do not have to balance a tray and the drinks. There is also a lot more space at Parrot Cay.
Topsiders Buffet - We ate breakfast here each morning. Sometimes we brought it back to our stateroom and ate on our veranda and other times we stayed at Topsiders. Try to get to Topsiders before 8:30am to avoid the crowds. It was very peaceful early in the morning!
Order anything you want off the menus, your servers will be happy to mix and match menu items, even combining veggies from one entrée, with main course from others. You can also get more than one appetizer, main course, dessert, etc. so you can sample more things. Bring an appetite!
Skip the lunch buffet at least once, and eat at Tritons/Lumiere's instead.
Having your half a bottle of wine from dinner magically delivered to your room is a wonderful way to end a night.
Don't be afraid of leaving food on your plate. There is too much good food to eat something you are not that into.
Some nights, the fun events (such as my personal favorite karaoke) start around 9:30. If you have late seating, it means you'd normally have to pick between either food or singing. But if you ask the waiters to expedite service the night before, they can actually give you the menus and have your food prepared for when you arrive. This way, you get both wonderful food AND singing.
Order as much as you want at dinners. On the night of the “Captain's Gala” they serve lobster. DH ordered a second helping. On two nights we got an extra dessert to try. Our servers, Ollie and May, were fabulous! Ollie did several magic tricks for my kids. The kids looked forward each night to see Ollie and May. DD always had a Sprite waiting for her at the table and May would ask me each night after dinner if I would like my hot tea. They really made us feel special.
My kids want me to add to eat LOTS of ice cream! There is a soft-serve machine on Deck 9 that was frequented by our kids (OK, us too!). You can get some big chocolate chip cookies from Topsiders and then make your own ice cream sandwiches! You can also make your own ice cream sodas!
Believe it or not...check out the kids' menus at dinner...they get some really cool stuff too that's not on your menu, and the wait staff will bring it to you
At dinner, if you'd like seconds, ask for them, or even two different dinners.
Read your Navigator every morning at the restaurant, not buffet during breakfast!
If you enjoy wine, you may bring it on board. There is a refrigerator in your room. We brought a case of wine for 4 adults. We just asked for glasses in our room and a bucket of ice. We then proceeded to dinner with our own glass of wine or enjoyed a glass on our deck before dinner. Yes you CAN bring alcohol on board to “enjoy” in your room - but we found no problem bringing it to dinner.
Speaking of Palo - DO IT! It was such a wonderful meal!
Do not book Palo's for brunch and dinner on the same day ... you will regret it! (Too much good food in too short a period of time.)
Palo secret! Chocolate soufflé! When you arrive @ dinner in a non-Palo restaurant, ask to speak to the table captain. Tell them you'd like the chocolate soufflé from Palo's, slip them a cash tip, and enjoy. The chocolate soufflé from Palo's is the Best Desert on Board, if you enjoy Chocolate.
Disembarking
The last night of your cruise you pack everything up except what you will need in the morning (clothes and grooming supplies). Your luggage needs to be outside of your door by 11pm with the character tags on it that they will give you on that last day (BTW, big tip....take address labels with your name/address on them and then all you'll have to do is fill in stateroom number and your number of bags--i.e. 1 out of 3, 2 out of 3)
Pack early as 11pm comes really soon on the last night. Then DH and I took a turn around the ship. Very happy times.
Pack up what you can on the Thursday night of a 7-night cruise. We waited until the last minute and ended up skipping dinner in order to get done in time!
You can skip the disembarkation talk and watch it on TV in your room anytime until you actually leave the ship. If you have a specific question to ask, just show up in the Disney Theatre foyer 20-30 minutes after the talk starts and ask your question there. The CD doesn't take questions in the theatre, so cut to the chase and go to the foyer - maybe one of the other white suits will be there early.
Set aside a few moments every day to pack up your used clothing and spend the last afternoon of your cruise doing fun things while your fellow passengers are packing to go home.
Start packing up early - All of your luggage must be out in the hall between 9 -11 pm on the last night. There are lots of fun things going on the last night so start packing the day before. I did this and finished up after our day at Castaway Cay and was able to relax and enjoy our last night on the ship.
My tip - on your final morning, don't be in such a rush to get off the ship (unless you have a plane to catch) - your cruise/vacation is not over!
Since there isn't any assigned disembarking order, go last! Skip breakfast in the dining room. I go to Topsiders, load up a tray, take it back to our cabin and everyone has breakfast when they're ready. When we leave, we stroll off the ship without any crowds. Excellent way to end the cruise.
Something I wish I had known previously but actually DID know for our cruise last week on the Wonder (because of reading the DIS)... and that is that you do NOT have to have breakfast in the dining rooms on the last morning. You can actually get a quick breakfast (or even leisurely one) in Beach Blanket Buffet (that's Topsider's on the Magic). They start serving before 7 a.m. so if you have an early departure time, you can grab a quick breakfast or if you have early seating and just want to sleep in a bit more than a 6:30 breakfast time would require, you can do that, too. It's not busy as most people do go to the dining rooms.
We had a nice breakfast and then went back to the cabin to get our stuff (no schlepping it all to breakfast with us) and were able to do final teeth brushing before packing up the toothbrushes before the drive home. We were still out of the stateroom before we would've been if we'd had late dining, and we were disembarking the ship at 7:50 a.m. But the nice thing was that we didn't have to awaken the kids at 6:15 for a 6:30 breakfast -- they slept in ’til after 7 a.m., which made for a much more pleasant morning!
You can also take a tray of breakfast food from the buffet back to your room if you have some who aren't up yet. My at-the-time 10-month-old DS was still asleep when it was time for our early breakfast seating so DH went to the buffet and ended up bringing back breakfast for all of us.
Make sure you take out what you will be needing for the next day! Once your suitcases leave the hallway on the last night, you will not be able to retrieve them the next morning should you forget something. With packing on the last night and trying to fit in the last pieces of your DCL vacation, you do not want to be without clothes/shoes for the morning of departure. I have personally seen a family leaving the cruise ship in their PJ's barefoot!
glindamood
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2000
- Messages
- 3,726
Thanks Jacquelyn - I added the post number and link to post 4. That is a lot of very good information.
karibritt01
Happiest when I'm planning a trip...!
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2006
- Messages
- 4,208
Good grief, Jacquelyn! It took me FOREVER to read all that!
Good Day Everyone!
I am getting more and more excited as each day passes for our upcoming cruise! I was curious what everyone had planned for their shore excursions. Anything exciting?!!
We have nothing planned but walking and sightseeing in Key West. Hopefully we will be able to find "Henrietta's Art of Baking" for some Coconut Strips! Grand Cayman we have the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion planned with Nativeways. (Wonderful group of people!) Cozumel we are heading to Cankanaab's Dolphin Discovery swim adventure. Castaway Cay is just going to be a relaxing beach day!
My husband and I have cruised twice before on other lines and LOVED it! This will be our kids (ds13, dd11 ds9) and my mom's first time cruising! I am excited about showing them a great new way to vacation!!
Hope to see you all on board!
Dawn
I am getting more and more excited as each day passes for our upcoming cruise! I was curious what everyone had planned for their shore excursions. Anything exciting?!!
We have nothing planned but walking and sightseeing in Key West. Hopefully we will be able to find "Henrietta's Art of Baking" for some Coconut Strips! Grand Cayman we have the Rays, Reef and Rum Point excursion planned with Nativeways. (Wonderful group of people!) Cozumel we are heading to Cankanaab's Dolphin Discovery swim adventure. Castaway Cay is just going to be a relaxing beach day!
My husband and I have cruised twice before on other lines and LOVED it! This will be our kids (ds13, dd11 ds9) and my mom's first time cruising! I am excited about showing them a great new way to vacation!!
Hope to see you all on board!
Dawn
MommaluvsDis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 19, 2001
- Messages
- 3,156
Hi Dawn,
Steve and I are traveling alone this cruise. We plan to get one of the electric cars to tour Key West and I know we'll do the mini golf in cozumel but have no Idea what we'll do for Grand Cayman.
We did the Sting ray City tour the last time we did the Western cruise.
Nice to hear from you!
Steve and I are traveling alone this cruise. We plan to get one of the electric cars to tour Key West and I know we'll do the mini golf in cozumel but have no Idea what we'll do for Grand Cayman.
We did the Sting ray City tour the last time we did the Western cruise.
Nice to hear from you!
momm2four
<font color=CC0066>We all have those little "skele
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2002
- Messages
- 1,799
Thanks for posting the tips, Jacquelyn. Very good info.
Kim, your son sounds like my second son, Jake. He's so quick to pick up on things that it's hard to keep secrets from him. At least you have an ally to plan with now, lol.
Gotta go for a bit. Talk to you later!
Lori P.
Kim, your son sounds like my second son, Jake. He's so quick to pick up on things that it's hard to keep secrets from him. At least you have an ally to plan with now, lol.
Gotta go for a bit. Talk to you later!
Lori P.
yensidtlaw
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2007
- Messages
- 89
Thanks for all the great tips Jacquelyn, very helpful to first time cruisers like us!!
MommaluvsDis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 19, 2001
- Messages
- 3,156
Hi everyone!
We were getting close to the bottom of the page so I thought I'd bump us up!
We were getting close to the bottom of the page so I thought I'd bump us up!
Mindibellcm
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2002
- Messages
- 531
Jacquelyn thanks for all those great tips.
I read somewhere to scan copies of your valuable documents and send them to an email account that you access easily. That way if for some reason you can't get to your copies then you can pull them up on the internet and print another copy. I also read to leave a copy with someone that has easy access to a fax machine. Just some food for thought for those are over obessive about planning and making you cover your bases!
Mindi
I read somewhere to scan copies of your valuable documents and send them to an email account that you access easily. That way if for some reason you can't get to your copies then you can pull them up on the internet and print another copy. I also read to leave a copy with someone that has easy access to a fax machine. Just some food for thought for those are over obessive about planning and making you cover your bases!
Mindi
glindamood
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2000
- Messages
- 3,726
Page two just won't do! Hope everyone has a great day.
Grandma4ever
One day closer and still counting!!!
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2006
- Messages
- 4,484
Happy day everyone. Thought I would do my part to keep us on page one.
46 days and still counting!!!
46 days and still counting!!!
MommaluvsDis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 19, 2001
- Messages
- 3,156
Oh my goodness! Cruise time will be here before you know it! I'm SOOOO ready!!
Grandma4ever
One day closer and still counting!!!
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2006
- Messages
- 4,484
Guess what, I was wrong in my count! It is only 45 days today. OMG I am not ready and work is kicking my butt and I do not know when I will have time to pack, print magnets (or buy the paper) I will make the plane however. See everyone before we know it. Lois
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