2/15/2013 - 8 Night Western Cruise, Galveston, TX

[SnipsNSnails]

OK we are definately in for the FEE too. I just PM'd FloridaFun and I will look for the FB Group.

We are driving from MI all the way to Galveston. Flights are just so expensive for 5 people. So hopefully the boys do OK in the car. We have a hotel booked in Galveston the night before: Comfort Suites. We got a good rate 99.99 and it has a pull out couch and two beds which is much more comfortable for 5 of us, breakfast too. Then for $30 we can leave the car there during the cruise and they will take us to the ship and pick us up after. That was the best deal we could find.

 

[SunshineCruiser]

We have always done the 7 day cruise not the 8 so I wasn't sure how the dinner schedule goes. Usually one night is pirate night and one night is captains feast (or something like that - seafood). Does anyone know which nights those are? I am going to book Palo and I don't want to book it on either of those nights. Any insight?

Here are the days for formal, semi-formal, Casual, and Pirate dress for the dining rooms each night:
Day One-Cruise Casual, Day Two-Formal Night, Day Three-Cruise Casual, Day Four-Cruise Casual, Day Five-Cruise Casual, Day Six-Pirate/Cruise Casual, Day Seven-Semi-Formal, and Day Eight- Cruise Casual.

I believe the lobster is served on the formal night, but don't quote me on that. Sorry I don't know anything about a captains feast.

The Pirate's night is Wed. Feb 20th which is a sea day.

 

[SunshineCruiser]

Our family of 5 is soooo excited to be on this cruise! Couldn't pass up the kids free offer! I'm so glad to have found this thread full of people as excited to plan as I am.

I am hoping someone can tell me what time we leave the Florida Keys port when we stop there. The itinerary says 12:45 pm (to me that means noon), and that seems early (for a late sleeping family with teens), but I did notice that the only excursions there start early in the morning and do not take long. So is it midnight or noon???

I also know that when I booked the cruise the itinerary said we leave Port Canaveral at 11:45 pm and now if you look on the disneycruise site it states we leave at 12:45 pm, and I know that should read am as in midnight which is 12:45 am because we aren't just going to WDW for half a day and one of the excursions does't start until 8 in the evening.

Am I the only one unsure about the time we have at Key West?


Me and DH DS(16) DS(14) DD(10)

 

[SnipsNSnails]

Welcome!

I think we are only in Key West for the morning. So I think that is 12:45 as in just after noon. It's a long way from Key West back to Galveston. It takes two full sea days to get over to the Bahamas.

 

[Gina]

Hi all! And to the newcomers!!

So sorry I haven't posted in a while, just been so crazy busy. How dare life get in the way of the DIS boards, right?? Lol

So happy... got on at 11pm last night and secured the first bus to Epcot, then got up at 2am to grab the earliest port arrival time. Score!

My boyfriend and I went down to Galveston today for a bit, just to wander the Strand and ride the ferry. I hadn't even thought about the timing -- but look what just happened to sail past while we were on the ferry!!

I was so excited, he thought I was going to cry. I kinda almost did. Just made my day to see her as a surprise like that.

 

[FloridaFun]

Gina, that is totally cool! I can’t wait for my first magic sighting, but don’t expect that to be until February.

SnipsNSnails, great to have you in the FEE. I entered all your information and sent you the link.

Welcome SunshineCruiser – I know you have 17 pages to catch up on of excitement, but wanted to make sure you know that we have a Fish Extender Exchange (FEE) group if you want to join in the echange. If you are not familiar with the FEE on Disney cruises, this like gives a brief overview. http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-cruise-line/meets.htm and I also have a Pinterest Board with homemade FEE ideas at this link: http://pinterest.com/off2wdw/fe-disney-gifts/

Anyone else for the FEE? The cut off date to sign up is this coming Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) so that everyone has time to work on their gifts. We are at 14 families (16 cabins). As everyone expressed an interest in keeping the group small and splitting if we got more than 15 cabins, I will be splitting the group. Please let me know if there is anyone on the list that you want to make sure is in your group or if you want to participate in both groups. I have become a bit of an FEE addict, so will be in both groups.

Once I have a final count on Thanksgiving, I will just make two sections on the same spreadsheet that we are already using (Group A and Group B)

Dawncala – I am doing something with everyone’s name on it. Would your daughter want her full name or the short version of her name?

 

[Dawncala]

Dawncala – I am doing something with everyone’s name on it. Would your daughter want her full name or the short version of her name?[/QUOTE]

I asked her and she'd prefer her nickname "Josi". Thank you for asking.

 

[Belle1967]

This will be our first time on the Magic. Our kids are 11 and 6 so which club do they attend? I've read different age ranges online and want to prepare them ahead of time. Thanks for your help.

 

[KPetty725]

This will be our first time on the Magic. Our kids are 11 and 6 so which club do they attend? I've read different age ranges online and want to prepare them ahead of time. Thanks for your help.

They've changed the way the kids clubs work from the last time we sailed, but from what I understand, any kid between 3 and 12 can go to either the oceaneers club or the oceaneers lab. Kids 8 and up can check themselves in and out but kids under 8 must be checked in by a parent.

We've only had experience with the club but my DD6 LOVES it. Seriously, she only had dinner with us once on the last cruise and that was only because we forced her!!

 

[diannacarole]

We just signed up last night! We only found out about Kids Sail Free this weekend and that was enough to talk my dh and I into it! We have two dd 8 and 11. Happily we talked my sister and her family into joining us as well! They have three dd 9, 11 and 14...so our three cabins will raise the girl count up by five!

We debated on giving the girls the news as a christmas present, but decided we better not. Last year they got a WDW trip and cruise combo for christmas. We are afraid that if we do the cruise this year as a present, they will expect a Disney trip every christmas! Not that my dh and I don't wish that we could do that, but we better start playing the lottery if we hope to make that happen!

I would love to participate in the FEE! I think one of my sister's cabins will also want to join in, but I will need to confirm with her.

Can't wait for February!!
Dianna

 

[Kimbo71]

We just signed up last night! We only found out about Kids Sail Free this weekend and that was enough to talk my dh and I into it! We have two dd 8 and 11. Happily we talked my sister and her family into joining us as well! They have three dd 9, 11 and 14...so our three cabins will raise the girl count up by five!

We debated on giving the girls the news as a christmas present, but decided we better not. Last year they got a WDW trip and cruise combo for christmas. We are afraid that if we do the cruise this year as a present, they will expect a Disney trip every christmas! Not that my dh and I don't wish that we could do that, but we better start playing the lottery if we hope to make that happen!

I would love to participate in the FEE! I think one of my sister's cabins will also want to join in, but I will need to confirm with her.

Can't wait for February!!
Dianna

Oh-this is good news! More 11 YO girls!!! I was begining to wonder if our DD would have any other girls her age!

 

[diannacarole]

My sister and her girls are in for the FEE too! I will update their info in the spreadsheet!

Thanks again for planning this!

Dianna

*Can I please be a part of both groups?*

 

[Tass]

Oh-this is good news! More 11 YO girls!!! I was begining to wonder if our DD would have any other girls her age!

We haven't officially checked in to this meet yet, but we also have an 11 yo DD.

Cruising will be me, DH, DD (16) and DD (11). This will be our second Disney cruise, but our first on the Magic. We cruised on the Dream in May 2011.

 

[Kimbo71]

We haven't officially checked in to this meet yet, but we also have an 11 yo DD.

Cruising will be me, DH, DD (16) and DD (11). This will be our second Disney cruise, but our first on the Magic. We cruised on the Dream in May 2011.

Yeah! Thanks for letting me know! I am hoping she has a really good time! This is her first cruise, so I'm glad to see other girls her age!

 

[duck_widow]

Gina, that is totally cool! I can’t wait for my first magic sighting, but don’t expect that to be until February.

SnipsNSnails, great to have you in the FEE. I entered all your information and sent you the link.

Welcome SunshineCruiser – I know you have 17 pages to catch up on of excitement, but wanted to make sure you know that we have a Fish Extender Exchange (FEE) group if you want to join in the echange. If you are not familiar with the FEE on Disney cruises, this like gives a brief overview. http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-cruise-line/meets.htm and I also have a Pinterest Board with homemade FEE ideas at this link: http://pinterest.com/off2wdw/fe-disney-gifts/

Anyone else for the FEE? The cut off date to sign up is this coming Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving) so that everyone has time to work on their gifts. We are at 14 families (16 cabins). As everyone expressed an interest in keeping the group small and splitting if we got more than 15 cabins, I will be splitting the group. Please let me know if there is anyone on the list that you want to make sure is in your group or if you want to participate in both groups. I have become a bit of an FEE addict, so will be in both groups.

Once I have a final count on Thanksgiving, I will just make two sections on the same spreadsheet that we are already using (Group A and Group B)

Dawncala – I am doing something with everyone’s name on it. Would your daughter want her full name or the short version of her name?

Hi Beth,

I would like to be part of both groups. I am so excited for this cruise!

Thanks!

 

[FloridaFun]

Hi everyone here on DIS and Happy Thanksgiving!

The FEE signup are in and I am working on splitting us into 2 groups. I was going to complete this today, but thought I better wait until Monday as I know some people are traveling or have company in for the weekend and may not have looked at the boards this weekend. My plan is to put the names into a hat and draw them at random to select the groups unless anyone else has a different suggestion.

If you signed up for the FEE I just need to know if you want to participate in both groups and if you have anyone on the list that you want to make sure is also in you group (I know we have some families and friends traveling together).

So far I have me (Florida Fun), DuckWindow, and diannacarole in for both groups. There will be one group on the first sheet of the spreadsheet and the second group on the second sheet of the spreadsheet.

Beth

 

[Dawncala]

Since it looks like there are still less than 20 cabins participating I'd love to also stay on both lists.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

[glorib]

I think I'll just stick with one list - this is my first FEE and I still have no clue what I'm going to do yet!

 

[dismom73]

I think I will stay with both groups also. The last cruise we participated with a group FE I think we had around 50 cabins and only 1 sea day, so this is still a "small" group to me and we have plenty of sea days.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday.

 

[KPetty725]

I'm thinking we'll stay in both groups too. My kids are really excited about it.