12/10/05 ~ Anyone else cruising.....??

[lbgraves]

John, Mike talked to one of the lifeguards when he was snorkling & they told him that it is in storage. The ship's wheel broke off during the hurricanes and they removed it to repair it. Hopefully they will put it back out this year.

Linda, it was a beautiful day when we were there with John & his family last December. Perfect really....not too hot so you could sit in the sun all day & once you got use to the water it was fine. It didn't seem to bother the kids much though. They were in & out of it all day long.

 

[MrsMork]

We have sailed 4 times in Dec. First 3 times were early in the month, last year was Christmas. We had beautiful weather the first 3, last year could not swim at CC as the shark net had been blown out by a storm the night before. We did get some sunning and a Konk Kooler in though.

 

[cristit14]

Needed to bump us back up to page one.

I am really pathetic. This morning when I woke up I was thinking about adding on the REAS package and trying to figure out when to do my Palo ressies and my spa ressies. Then I was trying to figure out when the character breakfast would be. All of this before I even looked at the clock to see what time it was. Can you all be my support group for this addiction?

 

[lbgraves]

Sure! Why not!?!?! After all, aren't we all in the same boat...wanting to be on the same ship. That is one thing that I'm not going to worry about though. We had APL the first cruise eastern so we were in PC for formal, AP for tropical, & L for formal. We had a blast! Last cruise we were assigned to "the" rotation of APL but changed it to be with our favorite server who was on PLA. We had formal in AP, Pirate night in L, and, semiformal in AP. Thanks to our great servers and fantastic company we all enjoyed ourselves. Next time, Rudy wont be on the ship so I think that we will just roll with it. I KNOW that I want to do brunch, but not sure about dinner this time. We will just book it for one of the two sea days that we don't have our character breakfast...doesn't really matter.

Honestly, if I didn't have this new WDW trip in June & the school fall carnival planning going on now, I would be concentrating on this cruise. I have promised not to start packing yet.

 

[missmulan]

hi everyone! sorry i "jumped ship" from this thread. i'm participating in a DCL cruise scrapbooking swap on another forum. I have to make 46 paper piecing so i'll be busy.

last night i made reservations at the courtyard marriott for friday night. this trip is going to happen. announcements were made at DH's company about the sale of his division. looks like the new company will hire DH to stay on board.

lisa, i would be sooooo grateful if you would pick up some WDW antenna toppers/balls for me while you are there. i'm a big collector of these little round foams. in fact, i might have my collection displayed at our county fair this year (september). i will send you cash & you can just hang on to them until we meet. or if you want, i'll be happy to prepare a shipping box. let me know if this is alright. if not, no hard feelings...i understand. i'd be willing to return the favor for something you might need out here.

Jenny

 

[lbgraves]

That sounds like alot of fun, Jenny! Wish that I had caught that one.

Great news about DH's job! I know that can be a stressful time. We will be going thru that in May when BRAC makes its decision about which of the three NADEPS to close down. It's fantastic that you will still be able to cruise.

LMK what to look for & where I might find them & I will be happy to pick some up for you. Also, how many do you want?

 

[Jhalkias]

MissMulan,

You might want to tell Lisa what toppers you might be interested in - Disney has really jumped on these as of when we were there in February. They had a whole display of them at the big Disney store in DTD. We even bought a package of "All Seasons" toppers, that had one in the pack for several holidays! There are many, many types available now, even some selection depending on the holiday (several Christmas ones as an example).

John

 

[lbgraves]

Thanks for letting me know where to find them, John! I know that we will be going there on Monday &/or Friday.

 

[missmulan]

thank you soooo much Lisa for doing this!! I'm not going to overdo it so I think I'll just buy 4....3 of the latest ones (ask a CM which are the newest ones) and 1 Stitch. DS5 LOVES Stitch!! In fact, he will be singing the Lilo & Stitch tv theme song on karaoke night. hmmm...we'll see if he gets shy... As we get closer, I'll send you a PM to get your address. I think they are about $4.50 each. The good thing is that they are small and light!

John, you are right about those toppers! You can actually find them in all the shops by the cashiers. Does anyone know how far DTD is from the airport? I would love to rent a car for a few hours to go there and pick some more up. By that time they will have new styles. This is very exciting!

Lisa, I'm sorry to hear about a potential NADEPS closing. News like that always bum people out for a while. Keep us posted!

 

[cristit14]

Hey, guess what! I just hit 500 post and became a DIS cast member. It's the little things that make me happy.

 

[lbgraves]

Well, if you were flying in for the cruise it would take you about an hour to get to DTD & then another hour to get to the port. I have heard that you can order from the shop & they will mail it out to you. I'll try to get the number for you when we go. That would be alot less time consuming & costly than renting a car for an extra hour's drive when you just want to get to the ship. Also, I think that there might be someone going to WDW before the cruise. They might be able to pick up a couple more current ones for you in December. We will be spending two days at the parks after the cruise and don't have plans for a stop at DTD then but if they have them at the parks I know that we could pick up a couple for you then too.

BRAC just happens. This is the third one. The first closed down the Norfolk NADEP & that is how we ended up here in NC. DH wont lose his job if they close it down, they will just transfer him.

BTW just thought that for those who don't know, NADEP is the civil service group at the base who designs & maintains aircraft for the military. BRAC is the Base Restructuring and Closure Committe.

 

[missmulan]

Hey, guess what! I just hit 500 post and became a DIS cast member. It's the little things that make me happy.

cool!! I know how you feel!


Lisa: yes they do sell them inside the parks. I wouldn't want you to go out of your way...that would be crazy. I appreciate that you would have done so but I would never impose like that.

 

[Jhalkias]

Lisa,

Really closer to a 1/2 hour to get to DTD in "Driving Time" from MCO- but I am sure that once you had to rent the car, find parking, do all that BS, you would easily have an hour, if not more tied up . . .

Missmulan, are you using Disney transfers or limo to get to the port? You may want to consider renting the car, and getting to the port that way instead. Then you can go to DTD, and drive directly to the port. We only used the DCL bus the first cruise, every time after that we have rented a car, and you can turn it in at the car rental place at Port Canaveral. We used Budget on our last cruise.

John

 

[lbgraves]

If they are in the parks, then it wouldn't be a problem in December either. The kids love DTD so we will get our time there in June. We want to go to MK after getting off the ship then hit MGM on Sunday. IDK what time we will be leaving Monday morning but I doubt that we would have time to stop by DTD on the way out in December...also the kids would have a fit if they couldn't play at lego land then.

 

[missmulan]

John: we used DCL transfers on our first (and only) DCL cruise. that's because FL was foreign to us and we were afraid to venture out. You said that you returned your rental car at the port...how did you get back afterwards?? you are tempting me because it sounds very easy & doable.

Lisa: what lego land?? are you talking about the store?

haven't heard from lillygator....wanna hear more about the baby!

 

[Jhalkias]

Missmulan,

Quick reply for now. All the major car rental agencies in Port Canaveral have shuttles back to the port. They also accomodate all of your luggage. You can drop off the car, and the shuttle will take you to the port - luggage and all, or you can drop off family at the port, with the luggage, and then ride the shuttle back on your own (this is what I have generally done).

Getting to the port (driving) is not that hard. There are also some tolls, but just a few dollars.

Just as in the past, we are flying in the night before, renting a car, and driving to the port. This time though, we are staying at the Raddison rather than at WDW - which Lisa and her family are doing too.

Rental $$ depends on the size of the vehicle, but a one-day, one-way rental of a full-size car is about $40 - you must also pay for gas and fill up when you get there. It is only about an hour or so drive from MCO, a little over an hour from WDW - straight shot on the Beeline, and if you have a car, you can stop at the grocery store for extra's (wine, etc.) on the way.

John

 

[lbgraves]

Yes, that is the Lego store at DTD. The kids call it lego land, so we do too.

 

[Jhalkias]

Time to Bump us UP!

Don't know how it wa in the rest of the world today, but it was sunny, warm (75) and beautiful in Ohio today.

With the daylight savings time, I couldn't get Sophia in the house until 8:00! A nice release of cabin fever!

 

[lbgraves]

It has been nice here too but we can't enjoy the fresh air because it is full of pollen. DS has been having horrible nosebleeds for the past week. I let him stay home from school yesterday and sleep because he had three from 3-6 am. I'm trying to get in touch with the doctor to find out what else we can try for the allergies or if we need to go to the ENT & have his nose cauterized again. Also last night was bad for us because we found out that my SIL's mother was killed in a car crash in Australia where her & her DH were visiting friends for a month. He is in critical condition on a ventilator and was going to have hip surgery this morning. They live in England so this is just making it more difficult for my SIL since they wont be able to plan the funeral for nearly a month while waiting to get her mother's body returned home and praying that her step father recovers enough to travel.

 

[wingawh]

Pixie dust to your entire family!