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

[FSU88]

Graphical FEE list
Hopefully the link goes to an image that is large enought to see. I may have to edit if the print is too small.
http://i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag12/fsu88/FFEDeckplan2.jpg

Too small on photobucket..lets try imageshack
http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8858/ffedeckplan2.jpg

Yep- that's better. You can click on the image and it enlarges.
Gives you an idea where everyone is located.
Jeff

 

[dgmommie]

My DD, Julia, (11) wants to know if any of the other girls her age want to chat via email before the cruise. I know some of you are saving the cruise as a Christmas surprise though so I told her she may have to wait a bit.

I'm positive my daughter would love to. I don't know how to PM on here, so if you do, send me a message.

 

[Gina]

I actually do remember talking about this once upon a time. Despite my many DCL sailings, I'm a little rusty on my nautical terms. What is muster? Is that the safety drill?

Yes, sorry, the safety drill.

I'm thinking, though, that we might have it before that. I remembered last time that several people had wished they could have gone to the spa raffle drawing, and that's at 3:15. Safety drill is at 3:45. So what would y'all think about having the DIS meet at about 2 or 2:15? That would give people plenty of time to get onboard and have lunch, go to the youth clubs open house and registration beforehand, and still make the spa raffle after the meet. Thoughts?

Once the 8-night sailings begin next month and we start seeing more accurate Navigators, I'm going to try and do a few activity-centered meets like bingo or whatnot.


-gina-

 

[Tass]

I'm positive my daughter would love to. I don't know how to PM on here, so if you do, send me a message.

I just sent you a PM

 

[Kimbo71]

My DD, Julia, (11) wants to know if any of the other girls her age want to chat via email before the cruise. I know some of you are saving the cruise as a Christmas surprise though so I told her she may have to wait a bit.

I'm pretty sure my 11 YO DD will love chatting-after she finds out in 2 weeks!

 

[FloridaFun]

Love the graphic with everyone’s cabin placement on it! Thank you, Jeff! It is cool that a bunch of you have rooms right close together. This will help me plan my gift drop off. It is starting to feel real!

I am good with an earlier meet time, Gina. I too would like to make the spa drawing.

Beth

 

[betsy2010]

hi jeff we have 111 & 7 yr old boys. Your son will love DCL! And I'm 44 and love the font size ;-)

Hi Everyone.
I'm new to these boards, after finding it while doing searches for our upcoming Cruise on the Magic. I'm just getting used to all of the abbreviations and unique tags you guys use, so bear with me as I get familiar with them.

My name is Jeff, and along with my wife Linda and son Bryce, we will be sailing on the Feb 15th cruise from Galveston. Our son will be turning 11 on the cruise so that makes this one all the more special.

First let me thank this site and the forums for offering some very useful advice. I can sit and read trip reports until the wee hours of the morning. I find the TRs very fascinating and hope to get one posted after our trip. We have some prior history with Disney, having gone to WDW in 2009, staying at the Wilderness Lodge and then again in 2011, staying at The Boardwalk Villas. We love the park and we have been looking at cruises for a few years now and decided to make our first one on DCL. We were not really planning on going during this time of year, but after I saw the KSF offer for the Galveston sailings, and that it included a day at WDW, we pulled the trigger. I did find getting to the Port of Galveston more challenging than if we were planning a trip from Canaveral, but I was able to get some decent airfare from Columbus OH. We have to drive a bit farther than if we flew from Detroit, but RT fares were over $150.00 less per person from CMH. We are flying in the day of the cruise, which was not ideal, but too many other factors prevented us from flying in the day before.

The whole FE exchange really intrigues me. I've read through most of the posts here and have done some other research as to what they are and we are in if you do get a 3rd group going. I understand the need to put a cut off on the participation and know that date has now passed, so if an opening to be on the list does not open up, no worries at all. If we do get on the list, just let me know and I'll gear up. We will definelty be decorating the door, those add-ons to the room number plaque look pretty cool.

Let me know if changing the font size is bad etiquette. I'm 46, and as sad as it makes me, my eyes are just not what they used to be and if I sit far enough away from the screen to see, I can no longer reach the keyboard to type. A bit of an exaggeration, but you get the drift.

Anyway, thanks again for all the members on here that take time to help newbies like me.

Jeff

 

[tryin08]

I'm so excited!
I just booked my first ever cruise! This is also my first post at Disboards!
i am a mom of four 20DS, 9DD, 3DD and infant DD.
This will be my second disney trip. I had to book this trip when I saw the one day in WDW. I thought I'd never get there. We did Disneyland in 2008 and I have always wanted to go back, but reluctant since baby is so little. I think the cruise is the best considering the difference in ages of my children, something for everyone to do at their own level.

I haven't read through this thread yet, but will soon. I hope to meet with some of you and participate in some of the activities you all have planned. I hope we are welcome.

 

[FloridaFun]

Welcome tryin08! This is a great group of people here for our cruise and I am sure that everyone would love to have you join in.

I think your family will love cruising. We were hooked after the first one. Everyone here is a wealth of knowledge, so please ask if you have any questions.

Looking forward to getting to know you better.

Beth

 

[Kimbo71]

Yes, sorry, the safety drill.

I'm thinking, though, that we might have it before that. I remembered last time that several people had wished they could have gone to the spa raffle drawing, and that's at 3:15. Safety drill is at 3:45. So what would y'all think about having the DIS meet at about 2 or 2:15? That would give people plenty of time to get onboard and have lunch, go to the youth clubs open house and registration beforehand, and still make the spa raffle after the meet. Thoughts?

Once the 8-night sailings begin next month and we start seeing more accurate Navigators, I'm going to try and do a few activity-centered meets like bingo or whatnot.


-gina-

Sounds perfect! Can't wait!

 

[juliefsu]

Can someone tell me what page the FE document link is on? I searched through a lot of the pages and I couldn't find it. I know it's on one of them - I just don't have the time or patience to go through every page!

 

[thopkin1]

My DW, DS(6), DD(4), DD(1), and I will be on the Magic on February 15. First Disney Cruise! Can't wait!!

 

[FloridaFun]

Julie – I sent you a PM with the link to the FEE doc.

Welcome thopkin1! Great to have you on the cruise.

 

[Dishy24]

Hi Beth,
I just emailed you with our information.

Thanks for doing this!

Tricia

 

[KPetty725]

Jeff - That graphic is awesome!! Since I hadn't even looked up our cabin, it was even better!! So neat to see where everyone will be!

Gina - Earlier works for us. We plan on being on the ship as early as possible. I have a feeling that, weather permitting, my kids will skip lunch in favor of swimming. Meeting earlier gives us a reason to get them out and dry before the safety drill (which is apparently a muster! HA!)

tryin08 - Welcome! We have a DD3 too!! There aren't too many other littles on here yet so I'm so excited you've got one! Maybe they can play together a bit in the kids' club so their older sibs can have some "big kid time".

thopkin1 - Welcome to you as well! Another little girl! My youngest DD will be 3 the month before we sail but maybe yours will still want to play with her. I know that transition from toddler to pre-schooler is a big one.

 

[Dishy24]

has anybody purchased their airline tickets for February yet? I haven't even begun to look... Where are you flying in to?

 

[Gina]

Welcome to all the newcomers!! Glad you decided to jump on in! As Beth said, this is a great group of people... I can't wait to meet everyone in person!!

Alright, it seems like the earlier Meet time would work best for most folks... I know I would like to try and make the spa raffle this time too! So let's go with 2pm in the Promenade Lounge (deck 3, aft) for the main DIS meet. The Promenade Lounge is definitely family-friendly during the day, in case any of you are actually able to drag your kids out of the kids' clubs. Good luck with that, lol. For reference, the spa raffle is at 3:15, safety drill is at 3:45, sailaway is at 4:30.

Then we could do a 2nd meet for those who couldn't get onboard/settled early enough for the first one, or who would just like to meet up again. We could meet up around Signals, deck 9 midship, right in front of the adult pool. It's also next to Cove Cafe, so people could go grab a cup of coffee and a mid-morning treat if they wanted to. Say around 10:45 or 11am? Would there be any interest in that?

And like I said, once the 8-night Navigators start becoming available next month, I'm going to add some activity-based mini-meets.


Hey Katie, do you think you could maybe add the links and important dates/times to the first page so they're easy to find? I think that would help a lot of people, since the thread has gotten so wonderfully busy and long! (A good problem to have! )


-gina-

 

[dismom73]

I'm so excited!
I just booked my first ever cruise! This is also my first post at Disboards!
i am a mom of four 20DS, 9DD, 3DD and infant DD.
This will be my second disney trip. I had to book this trip when I saw the one day in WDW. I thought I'd never get there. We did Disneyland in 2008 and I have always wanted to go back, but reluctant since baby is so little. I think the cruise is the best considering the difference in ages of my children, something for everyone to do at their own level.

I haven't read through this thread yet, but will soon. I hope to meet with some of you and participate in some of the activities you all have planned. I hope we are welcome.

Welcome! MY oldest DD will be so happy to hear there is someone in her age group, she will turn 19 3 weeks after we sail and she was starting to worry there wouldn't be anyone else her age. I kept telling her, "just because there's no one in your age group on the meet thread, doesn't mean there wont be any on the ship".

Tricia...I know a few people have already gotten airfare, there are 2 choices of airports to fly into, Hobby(HOU)or Intercontinental, also known as Bush(IAH). Both are in Houston, but Hobby is closer to Galveston and transportation might be easier/less expensive. Depending on what airline you are flying Hobby might be a little better, if it's an option. Unfortunately, it's not an option for us, we are flying into Bush and transportation is proving to be very challenging.

 

[FSU88]

has anybody purchased their airline tickets for February yet? I haven't even begun to look... Where are you flying in to?

As much as I'd like to fly in the day before, we just could not swing it logistically. We usually fly from Detroit, but airfare out of Detroit on the 15th was up near 500.00 per person. I also checked Cleveland and Columbus, and found a decent fare from American Airlines that left Columbus early Friday and gets to IAH at 11:00am. I could not find anything inexpensive that flies into Hobby. The AA fare was 250.00 per person , before taxes. I selected the Disney RT ground transfers after looking at other ways to go, but in the end the Disney option was a bit less and also less of a hassle to book.
As long as no major weather catasrophies hit the midwest that day, we should be OK. At least I keep telling myself that.
Jeff

 

[Gina]

As much as I'd like to fly in the day before, we just could not swing it logistically. We usually fly from Detroit, but airfare out of Detroit on the 15th was up near 500.00 per person. I also checked Cleveland and Columbus, and found a decent fare from American Airlines that left Columbus early Friday and gets to IAH at 11:00am. I could not find anything inexpensive that flies into Hobby. The AA fare was 250.00 per person , before taxes. I selected the Disney RT ground transfers after looking at other ways to go, but in the end the Disney option was a bit less and also less of a hassle to book.
As long as no major weather catasrophies hit the midwest that day, we should be OK. At least I keep telling myself that.
Jeff

As long as you have travel insurance, I wouldn't sweat it too much, and odds are you'll be fine. You won't get on the ship until probably 1:30-2 at the earliest, but it's not like you're going to miss the ship or anything. You should be fine!