11/22/2009 3 Night Wonder Cruise

[ilovecraigandcooper]

im now following you on blogger! (i heart blogs and trip reports)!

We just got our passport so we are now officially ready to go on the cruise. I can't wait, even though it is 5 month's away.



Welcome to the cruise Shannon and family. <><

 

[nydisfan]

THANKS GUYS! we havent gotten our passports yet. i did get the paperwork to fill out, i just havent done it yet.

Just to let you know, it took us exactly 4 weeks to get our passports. So no big rush just yet.

 

[bekkio]

We'll be going! Myself, DH (who's probably going to be parked on our veranda the whole time), DD-14, and DD-11. This will be our first cruise; we all can't wait.

 

[MelissaE1]

Good morning everyone, and welcome Shannon and Bekkio!

How has everyone been? It's been a little crazy around here, when we got off our cruise in March it was to find that my husband's contract here in FL (he is contracted to the military) was cancelled while we were on the cruise and he didn't have a job here! He's been working out of his head office in NH for a couple of months now so we've only seen him a couple of times since then. They are assigning him temporarily to another job here for a few weeks while they finish trying to get his contract renegotiated, so we're pretty glad to be getting him back. His new contract is still not formally approved, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

Guess I should be thinking about passports, too. DH and I have them, but the kids don't. I know they can technically sail without them since it is a closed loop cruise, but I think it's better if they have them, just in case. That way we are covered no matter what.

Hope everyone is enjoying beautiful early summer weather and activities!

 

[bekkio]

Hello, and thanks for the welcome.

We're still in school here - just another week, so we're waiting for the girls to be out of school before we go get their passports. I have mine already and my DH needs to renew.

I'm still debating between paying the extra for the regular passport vs. the cheaper passport card. We don't have any international trips planned for the next few years. Which one did you guys choose and why?

Bekkio

 

[MelissaE1]

I'm still debating between paying the extra for the regular passport vs. the cheaper passport card. We don't have any international trips planned for the next few years. Which one did you guys choose and why?

We are going for the full passports, and here's my thinking. The main reason we are getting them for our kids is in case of emergency. Since you can still technically cruise without one, and the Bahamas is unlikely to deny my kids entry (at this point, of course that could change) the real issue for me is if we had to fly for some reason (i.e. home in an emergency, etc.) Because the passport cards are good for land/sea entry only, we are going to get the full deal for that reason. Also, we do have another Caribbean cruise planned in November of 2010, so that adds to the decision as well. Not sure I'd be doing that if we had to get four instead of two and I didn't have any definite future travel plans.

 

[ilovecraigandcooper]

i know its early but is anyone interested in doing the fish extenders exchange? (is that what its called?) since this is my first disney cruise i have no experience but after reading about them they sound like fun! and im all about the fun

 

[disneypoor]

Hi, everyone! Just wanted to let you know that we will be joining your cruise. There are 29 of us, and this is the second time we've done a "group" cruise. My husband and I have taken our two children on many DCL cruises. We did the double dip last November, and it was fabulous! My name is Susan, my husband is Brian, my daughter is Brianna (age 14), and my son is Brandon (age 11). We are cruise junkies and absolutely love Disney Cruise Line! We have kids of all ages going on this cruise.

We all just booked our air Tuesday morning. I also bought tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party that will be taking place at Magic Kingdom on Friday, Nov. 20th. We did it last year, and it was the best experience we've ever had at the parks---NO LINES! My kids stayed on Splash Mountain and rode several times in a row! We are flying in early Friday morning in order to go to a couple of parks.

I briefly read through all of the other posts and will read them more carefully later. Let me know if you have any questions about cruising at Thanksgiving time. We just did it last year, so I may be able to help out. We did a huge fish extender gift exchange on our last cruise as well.

Can't wait to get to know you all better and am really looking forward to this trip! I'm currently working on my master's and will definitely need a break by November!

Susan

 

[disneyfan03]

My friend and I are going on this cruise and we can't wait. This will be my 2nd Disney Cruise and her 1st. We are so excited!!!! I'm trying to get my parents and sister to come but my mom's afraid to be on a ship. So we'll see. Look foward to cruising with yous.

 

[stitch and co]

Hey all!

Just got a packet yesterday from DCL with a folder with little booklets. Now I feel like the cruise date is finally getting closer.

Anyone else get one?

 

[disneyfan03]

Does anyone know if this cruise will be decorated for the holidays?

 

[ilovecraigandcooper]

Hey all!

Just got a packet yesterday from DCL with a folder with little booklets. Now I feel like the cruise date is finally getting closer.

Anyone else get one?

i did! i was so excited (even though i had read all the same info online i went through and read it all again)! woo hoo! i love it to get home and find a disney envelope in the mail!

 

[nydisfan]

Hi everyone, we also received our packet and was very excited...means the trip is getting a little closer...

Disneypoor....welcome to the cruise...wow 29 of you that will be fun for you all! You mentioned you have been at Thanksgiving...we are wondering where the best place to have Thanksgiving dinner is...we have heard Liberty tree tavern and heard Chef Mickey's too....perhaps you could give us a bit more input.

We also are doing the Very Merry Christmas on the 20th as well

disneyfan03...welcome to the cruise as well

I am also wondering if the ship will be decorated for the holidays?

Hope you are doing well and hey we are under 140 days now

 

[kelly_green_eyes_23]

Hey everyone,

I will be cruising for the first time ever on the 3 Night leaving Nov 22. My friend and I will be celebrating our 30th birthdays!

We're just wondering if there will be any other single Christian people cruising.

Hope to year from ya!

 

[kelly_green_eyes_23]

What are they and how do these work?

 

[ilovecraigandcooper]

hi kelly-green-eyes! welcome to the meet! im a Christian but married!

lots of info on fish extenders can be found on the disney cruise forum but basically its like a holder that you make or buy and then hang outside your room and before hand if your group (here on the meet thread) decide to do an exchange someone organizes everyones names, room numbers, etc and then you bring small goodies (apparently anything from pencils to candy to homemade scrapbooks ANYTHING really) and you pass them out at some point so on your cruise, so that its fun, you come back to your room and get to check your fish extender to see if you have any surprises!

 

[prettypixie]

Hi

We are sailing for our first ever cruise this time too. It will be me, DH, DD (12) & DS (7)

I am new to sailing but not new to the boards or to Disney. Me and my kids go once or twice a year, DH is not so much of a Disney fan but he is looking forward to a relaxing vacation on the cruise

There are so many things I think I need to understand before we sail any volunteers out there willing to hold my hand and walk me thru the process?

I am still trying to plan my before and after stays, I wanted to come in early Friday 11/20 to do MVMCP but I don't think we'll be able to swing that due to school, DD is starting Middle school so I think it may be a little tough for her to miss this day especially since it's the Friday before their week long Thansgiving break. I'm assuming the teachers will be testing at least that's how it was when I was in school...anyway we are planning to arrive on Saturday and stay at AKL, we are DVC members, for one nite then drive to the port on Sunday. After the cruise I wanted to come back to Orlando but all the DVC resorts are booked and I really don't want to spend money on property so we are planning to snag a room in Cocoa Beach on Priceline or Hotwire for a couple of nites before heading back home.

We have been fortunate to travel quite a bit this year, I did a solo "mom mental moment" trip to WDW in Feb, I took the kids to WDW in June, all of us drove to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago, I have a class reunion trip planned in Sept and we also won free tickets to US/IOA that we would like to use in Sept and finally the cruise in Nov. Needless to say my vacation budget has been streched to the limit this year so I am looking for ways to save money on the US/IOA trip and the cruise.

I am only budgeting about $2000 for both the US/IOA and cruise trips for the 4 of us which is excluding any vacation items that I may need to purchase before the trips. The bulk of that I will be using for the cruise maybe close to $1200 for the cruise, does that seem like enough? Since my husband wants a relaxing vacation on the ship we are not planning any excursions but I do intend to get off the ship in Nassau to explore a bit with or without him We are bringing adult beverages and water on the ship with us so I am not planning to spend money on the drinks of the day...btw anyone know how much the drinks of the day normally cost I am giving my kids a spending allowance of $50 each is that enough? They typically will buy a small mickey/minnie to commemorate their trip (they have quite the collection going) and maybe something else ship related. Other than tips what else should I expect to pay for on the cruise. Oh photos, we are bring our camera and I know the ship's photographers will take pics for us after they've done their's but is that everywhere? What about the photo when we are getting on the ship and in the restaurants will they take a photo with our camera too? I know we won't have the fancy overlays but I'm sure there are some scrapbooking supplies and frames for sale onboard. What about those special background shots can we use our camera with those too?

TIA
Kim

 

[MelissaE1]

Hi everyone. Hope you are all having a great summer. We have been so busy, for the last 7 weeks we have either been on the road or had company at home. We are hosting a British soccer coach this week for my kids' soccer camp, and then we will be done for the last 3 weeks of summer and can just "hang out". Although we have had a great time traveling and hosting, I confess I am looking forward to that.

We got our tickets for MVMCP for the 20th also. We've never been to WDW around the holidays, so I'm looking forward to seeing it!

If DCL follows their usual method, the ship will be decorated for the holidays, Castaway Cay will not.

I'm definitely in for fish extenders!

Kim, I think your budget is more than enough for you to enjoy yourselves. We usually budget $1,500 for a family of four on the 7 nighter, and that includes souvenirs, onboard activities, bingo, pictures, DH's coffee, other incidentals, and a small to moderate amount of alcohol. Any excursions are usually figured separately.

As far as pictures go, they will usually either take your picture with your camera or at least allow you to take one against the backgrounds, unless they have changed that. Certainly with the characters. You can get scrapbooking kits in the gift shop that are cute. I am an avid photographer and take a ton of my own shots, but you might want to leave yourself the budgeting option of purchasing some of the "lifestyle" portraits that they shoot against a white background. They are awesome shots, you have no sitting fee, and for $20 you can get an 8X10 that you are allowed to copy at Walmart or wherever as many times and in any size you like (you can download a free copyright release online). It's the best deal going in professional portraits IMHO. Last cruise we brought a white photo mat, asked for it to be signed by the main characters, and are using it to frame our picture of us with sorcerer Mickey taken against the white background. Definitely worth the $20 investment. We have a couple of great "lifestyle" family shots and shots of our kids as well. They discount if you get multiple shots, also.

Less than four months to go!

 

[prettypixie]

Thanks Melissa for the information...

I am already looking at rebooking next year...lol

 

[disneyfan03]

Melissa - I hope you have fun at MVMCP. WDW during the holidays is one of my favorite times. Be sure to check out the different hotels they are all decorated and it is beautiful.

I too am in for the fish extender exchange. I just finished making my first fish extender I am not a sewer so I followed the no sew directions and it came out pretty good. It's not as fancy as some I have seen posted but I was happy with it as it was my first try.

Kim - I too think your budget is enough and your kids should be fine with their spending allowance, I was even able to find some things on sale at the gift shop on the ship.

We're almost to the 90 day mark!