1st Cruise- April 3-6, 2008 (3-Night,Wonder)

[nzdisneymom]

It's just six months until we sail! Hooray!

Is anyone doing this as a "surprise" trip for their family?

 

[Ness2289]

It's just six months until we sail! Hooray!

Is anyone doing this as a "surprise" trip for their family?

Hey!! My DD knows all about our plans. No surprises here. At least this go 'round!

I have not done a thing yet! (Well, I do have my ADR's...) I've got to get a move on. Passports...this week...I WILL get it done! How long will it take me to get copies of my DD's and my birth certificates so I don't have to send off my originals? How does all of that work anyway? I'll do some homework and find out!

Who would have thought March/April would start getting here so quickly!!! Wow, time flies!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I got a planning-pack in the mail yesterday from DCL - the Ship to Shore planner with information about shore excursions, what to pack, and the all important travel insurance information. Anyone else get that?

As a repeat cruiser, we can start online registration January 4th according to the planning letter that came with it.

Anyone else get theirs?

 

[Deb T.]

Hello Everyone! Another spring break cruiser here! This will be our 6th Disney cruise (nzdisneymom, we were on the Mediterranean cruise right before yours!) so we're looking forward to a very laid back and relaxing trip.

 

[Pryncesa]

I got a planning-pack in the mail yesterday from DCL - the Ship to Shore planner with information about shore excursions, what to pack, and the all important travel insurance information. Anyone else get that?

As a repeat cruiser, we can start online registration January 4th according to the planning letter that came with it.

Anyone else get theirs?

Yes! I got mine as well. It was a nice surprise/"reminder" of the trip. Not that I have forgotten, but it's seemed so far away for so long. Now it's getting pretty close!

 

[Ness2289]

I got a planning-pack in the mail yesterday from DCL - the Ship to Shore planner with information about shore excursions, what to pack, and the all important travel insurance information. Anyone else get that?

As a repeat cruiser, we can start online registration January 4th according to the planning letter that came with it.

Anyone else get theirs?

I got mine on Monday! I have been so busy, I still haven't had the time to just look through it thoroughly. But I will this weekend!

 

[Ness2289]

Hello Everyone! Another spring break cruiser here! This will be our 6th Disney cruise (nzdisneymom, we were on the Mediterranean cruise right before yours!) so we're looking forward to a very laid back and relaxing trip.

Welcome, Deb! So sorry I took so long to respond to your post! We are glad to have another spring break cruiser to join us!!!

 

[Deb T.]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Ness2289. We are very excited about sailing on the Wonder again! Cruising on DCL is my new favorite thing to do! DH and I went on the same cruise last spring break and enjoyed every minute of it... except the 3-night is never long enough. Awww heck, not even the 11-night Mediterranean was long enough! We're also sailing the Mexican Riviera itinerary next July! I know the DIS boards have a wealth of information, but if anyone has any questions I'd be more than happy to try to answer them.

Since we booked fairly recently, we haven't been fortunate enough to receive the planning pack yet. Hopefully it will arrive soon!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I saw this on another thread:

A new Toy Story musical is to debut on the Wonder in January '08.

That's so cool! We never got to see Hercules, but I'm excited about getting to see the Toy Story one!

 

[Deb T.]

Doing the Planning Packet dance! It arrived today!

We've been fortunate enough to see Hercules twice. It was our very favorite show because of all the quick, witty humor. From what I've heard, no two shows were exactly the same, and I believe it because they always had very current topics in their jokes. Hades is awesome and Pain & Panic are priceless. We will greatly miss that show. Toy Story sure has a hard act to follow, but I'm looking forward to seeing it in April. No doubt it will be a hit with the youngsters.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We're banana-dancing because we had our TA apply our final payment today. We can register online starting Jan. 4th for kid-programming, etc.

 

[Deb T.]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I just made our final payment online, too!

DH gave me a Disney gift card for a massage at the spa! Only 9 more days until I can book it!

And, 98 days until we board! It will be here before we know it!!!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Yay for all those final payments! And I'm excited about being able to do online registration next weekend!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Today's the day we can start online check-in. I was able to get mine and our payment authorization forms done but then when I went to do the forms for DH and the boys, I couldn't get the site to work properly - it kept putting me back to "retrieve your reservation." Ugh. Guess I'll try again later.

Anyone else doing their forms today?

 

[Deb T.]

I'm going to try to fill in our forms today and will report back whether or not I was successful.

Since we're Castaway Club members (5 DCL sailings and counting...) I stayed up until midnight Thursday night to try to book a massage, but when the site opened up, I got two red warning paragraphs instead. They said I couldn't book anything because either my account wasn't paid in full (which it was and I'd already received the confirmation letter in the mail) or my birthday was incorrect (but it was correct on the website AND on all of my confirmation letters by mail). I was soooooooo frustrated! This is the first time this has ever happened! I even tried logging out and then logging back in. It said I had to call DCL in the morning, which I couldn't do until around 10am. By the time it was straightened out (which, by the way, the cm never did give me a reason why this happened despite me asking her no less than 5 times), the only times available were either during the 6:15 show or during my late dinner seating time. Of course, I know there is absolutely no way that is only what have available, so I called DCL back to see if they could help and they said they couldn't. So, I sent DCL an email and am hoping to hear back from them. I'll keep you posted.

We're still looking forward to the cruise!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Deb - that really stinks about the massage times but remember this - just like for excursions, i don't think they make all their times available to be booked online because some guests don't do stuff online. I bet you'll be able to book a more suitable time when you get onboard, but I'd also recommend that you keep checking back as people will cancel their slots as they firm up their plans.

I completed our online check-in today and also printed out the form to sign for the contract / payment authorization. Now to put them in a place I won't forget that I've already done them AND will be able to find them come packing time

I'm going to sign the kids up for the Lab and then I should be done.

 

[Deb T.]

Hi Cindy,

Thanks so much for the encouraging words. You're very sweet! And, I know you're completely right. DCL holds reservation slots for guests once they're on board and also for the non-CC members' 75-day booking window. So, there is hope for me yet! It's the compulsive planner in me who wanted to get this all set up now. If I could have made the spa reservation, then I would have been able to totally relax and just anticipate all the fun we're going to have on our cruise. But now I've got to spend precious vacation time trying to get this all set up. By the time I have the massage reservation secured, I'm certainly going to need it! That's great advice about checking back online often! I'll definitely do that!

I'm glad your online check-in glitch was fixed, too. I completed our online check-in without any trouble. I also printed off all the forms, so we're all set, too! I keep a blue (think: ocean!) folder for all our cruise information. Since this will be our fourth cruise in under two years, the folder is getting well worn. I already had our airline confirmation and DCL's mailed confirmations in there. Plus a packing list. Plus the list of all I want to do on board. Oh yeah, I'm an over-planner alright!

Only 3 more months to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ness2289]

I'm one of the poor souls who has to wait until 75 days out as a newbie cruiser! I'm not going for the massage this time around though, but do want to sign my DD up for the Oceaneer Lab. Still counting down...

 

[nzdisneymom]

Being able to register the kids online for the Lab makes things go quickly at pager-pick-up. Just make sure you remember what password you set for them because they'll ask you for it.

We're letting the kids have check-in and check-out privileges this time since they are a little bit older and also are familiar with the ship (well with the Magic, but the Wonder is pretty much the same with different names for a few places).

 

[Ness2289]

Do you sign up for individual sessions or just for general participation? I was thinking, do you think there are even enough of us to bother with fish extenders? Have any of you ever participated?