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

[Gina]

Howdy all..

I tell you what: Living close to the port is convenient and I love that part of it, but the huge downside is no transition time... One minute, you're standing on that gorgeous ship, and the next you're sitting in your living room wondering how the hell you got there. It's jarring and depressing. But the best cure is booking the next cruise, so that's my next task -- after all the piles of laundry, lol.

Tyler Dean and I both had *such* an amazing time... he pronounced it the best cruise yet, and I think I'm with him on that. As envious as I sometimes get of couples having wonderful romantic times together on cruises, I'm just as thankful to be single sometimes. It allows me to really get to know the cruise staff, and this time around they were my favorite bunch yet. We had SO much fun together, and I feel like I said goodbye to friends and not just staff.

And this DIS group was such a ball... Debbie, Beth, I had such a great time hanging out with you and your families!! So fun doing Magic Quest, trivia, Wheel, etc. with you guys. And yes, Beth, my coconut-rum-smelling bag will forever remind me of good (crazy!) times.

Beth, thanks again so much for organizing the FEE -- And thank you to everyone for all the amazing gifts, trinkets, souvenirs, and memories. I cherish each one of them.

I hope everyone else had as incredible of a time as we did!!!


-gina-

 

[FSU88]

After a lengthy day of travel yesterday, we are back to the ice and cold. I'll post some of my pictures after I get some sleep, we did not get home until 2AM and a nap is in order.
Sorry I did not get to the first day meet and after that seemed like a whirlwind. While I'm sitting here now, I still feel like I'm going back and forth a bit.

 

[dgmommie]

I had a great time on the cruise! Could have done without so much of the nonstop rocking motion in the Gulf that first couple of days, but even that wasn't too bad.

Loved meeting new friends and hanging out with them. Magic Quest with Gina and Beth is an experience I will not soon forget. ;-) Running into Gina all over the ship and Magic Kingdom constantly... Hanging out with Dorothy and her daughter Maggie (why did our girls wait until that last day to hang out together???)... I saw Julie and her husband Monte around often, Katie a few times. Saw many I recognized from the meet and greet but didn't get to talk with, so didn't know them.

The FE gifts we received were fun and welcomed. My daughter's favorite gift of all was the little trunk with her name on it - she loves things like that (can't get much with her unusual spelling unless it it personally personalized, not store bought - Elyssa is an uncommon spelling) and thought it was great to be able to keep most everything she got from the FEE in it. It was the most fun coming back to our room and finding things in the holder pretty much everyday except WDW day. Items we received included things such as Hershey Kisses, postcards, Mardi Gras items, pirate swords and other pirate items, wave phone holders, luggage tags, pins, door sign, lots of cool door magnets, wristbands for our cruise, glow sticks, and so much more!

I didn't zip tie our FE holder to the fish but wrapped it several times around the fish since the ribbon was long enough, making it a little harder to get off. When we came back from WDW, it was partially unwrapped, so someone had messed with it, but either gave up or were scared off. We were at the end of the forward deck 7, and our stateroom host told us not much happens in that hallway normally because it leads to the captain's cabin. Our hanger is personalized so I will definitely zip tie it next time.

I loved all the sea days! We really got to enjoy the ship. We did do the Shutters CD with the added printed photos and took full advantage of it, both on the ship and at WDW. Husband told me this morning that there are 113 photos on there, so that puts the per picture cost down to something reasonable. That package is not worth it unless you do tons of photos. We are still missing one photo from WDW with Belle my daughter really wanted, but they are working on finding it for us. It is on the card they gave us, but for some reason hasn't transferred to the CD package.

I love the length of the cruise - can't wait until someday when we can do an even longer one. For now, we rebooked for March 2014 on the Fantasy - including our oldest son who didn't get to go with us this time.

 

[KPetty725]

I had a great time on the cruise! Could have done without so much of the nonstop rocking motion in the Gulf that first couple of days, but even that wasn't too bad.

Loved meeting new friends and hanging out with them. Magic Quest with Gina and Beth is an experience I will not soon forget. ;-) Running into Gina all over the ship and Magic Kingdom constantly... Hanging out with Dorothy and her daughter Maggie (why did our girls wait until that last day to hang out together???)... I saw Julie and her husband (John?) around often, Katie a few times. Saw many I recognized from the meet and greet but didn't get to talk with, so didn't know them.

The FE gifts we received were fun and welcomed. My daughter's favorite gift of all was the little trunk with her name on it - she loves things like that (can't get much with her unusual spelling unless it it personally personalized, not store bought - Elyssa is an uncommon spelling) and thought it was great to be able to keep most everything she got from the FEE in it. It was the most fun coming back to our room and finding things in the holder pretty much everyday except WDW day. Items we received included things such as Hershey Kisses, postcards, Mardi Gras items, pirate swords and other pirate items, wave phone holders, luggage tags, pins, door sign, lots of cool door magnets, wristbands for our cruise, glow sticks, and so much more!

I didn't zip tie our FE holder to the fish but wrapped it several times around the fish since the ribbon was long enough, making it a little harder to get off. When we came back from WDW, it was partially unwrapped, so someone had messed with it, but either gave up or were scared off. We were at the end of the forward deck 7, and our stateroom host told us not much happens in that hallway normally because it leads to the captain's cabin. Our hanger is personalized so I will definitely zip tie it next time.

I loved all the sea days! We really got to enjoy the ship. We did do the Shutters CD with the added printed photos and took full advantage of it, both on the ship and at WDW. Husband told me this morning that there are 113 photos on there, so that puts the per picture cost down to something reasonable. That package is not worth it unless you do tons of photos. We are still missing one photo from WDW with Belle my daughter really wanted, but they are working on finding it for us. It is on the card they gave us, but for some reason hasn't transferred to the CD package.

I love the length of the cruise - can't wait until someday when we can do an even longer one. For now, we rebooked for March 2014 on the Fantasy - including our oldest son who didn't get to go with us this time.

Seriously! I think this was our best cruise yet! The FEE was our favorite part. The girls would check the FE every time we went in/out of the room (even if we had only been there five minutes!) and we're rewarded for their efforts often. We were right by the entrance to the staff quarters and we got tons of compliments on our door decorations (which got better every day thanks to some awesome FE gifts!) Our neighbors complimented it too. Even DH said it was awesome.

Our day at WDW was simply amazing. We rode 11 rides AND saw the 3:00 parade. We saw the fireworks a bit before boarding the bus but DD6 is scared of them so we didn't stay. It was a fantastic day. We didn't make it in to Be Our Guest for lunch because the line was too long. We decided it would be on our list for next time!

The ship rocking in the gulf did get me a bit. I'm thinking we won't be sailing out of Galveston again. We booked a placeholder cruise while on board and signed up for another 50 DVC points. We can't decide if we're doing Aulani in 2015 or another cruise!

I posted all our pics on Facebook. So many memories!

Thanks to everyone for making this cruise so special. I'm pretty shy so I just smiled and waved when I saw most of you on board but it was nice seeing the familiar faces.

 

[tryin]

I agree. My daughters loved their "treasure chests". It was the only item my DD3 would carry through the airport. I will have to step up my FE gifts next time.

I will never leave from Galveston again, just too much trouble. I told my kids I thought they'd been on every mode of major transportation yesterday, ship, taxi, shuttle,car, SUV, plane.

We had a flawless transition to the ship on Feb. 14th. But, some force didn't want us to get home it seemed. First, we couldn't get a taxi out of the port. Then we basically taxied down the street a bit, got out and luckily, I was able to get out limo service to come at 10AM instead of 1PM. Our flight was supposed to leave at 4:30, but was delayed until 4:50. We get on an experience mechanical problems. That was another half hour or so delay. Then we finally land and we take the shuttle to my car in the airport parking lot and there's a brand new sign on the "Family Friendly" parking spaces that was NOT there when I left. It stated, "After 11:59pm on February 24th the cars will be towed at owner's expense." What! It's a good thing I returned when I did-the day BEFORE. Yes, that's what I consider "Family Friendly".

Well, I go to open my doors and they wouldn't unlock. I put my key in the lock manually, opened the door, stuck key in ignition and you guessed it,-my battery is dead. We wait an hour for the airport emergency service (apparently the guy couldn't find my car-it was on the edge of the lot, right across from the express bag check-in, not some isolated location. Finally, it starts right up and I get to the ticket booth to pay for parking and the machine wouldn't recognize my ticket. I had to back out of that lane and go to another lane with a human inside. Then, after a couple of wrong turns, I finally head home. Whew! Do you think Disney wasn't ready to let go of my family yet?

We all had a great time on our first cruise. Thank you all for making it such a wonderful experience. It took me a while to get the lay of the ship. I am so glad that I had come to disboards and knew some tips already or I would have been completely lost. I was sick the second day-I knew to expect some rough waters thanks to disboards. I get carsick so I knew to expect some seasickness. I was freezing cold the first two nights in my room because the heater wasn't working properly, but DCL fixed it after the second attempt. The rest of the cruise was smooth sailing...I've already placed a dummy booking for the next one.

 

[betsy2010]

Loved everything - we had a great time. Thanks to all for the thoughtful, creative, personal, lovely FE gifts! Great meeting folks and seeing the green bands around the ship. Sad to be hope but happy to start looking through pics

All the best
Betsy & her boys

I agree. My daughters loved their "treasure chests". It was the only item my DD3 would carry through the airport. I will have to step up my FE gifts next time.

I will never leave from Galveston again, just too much trouble. I told my kids I thought they'd been on every mode of major transportation yesterday, ship, taxi, shuttle,car, SUV, plane.

We had a flawless transition to the ship on Feb. 14th. But, some force didn't want us to get home it seemed. First, we couldn't get a taxi out of the port. Then we basically taxied down the street a bit, got out and luckily, I was able to get out limo service to come at 10AM instead of 1PM. Our flight was supposed to leave at 4:30, but was delayed until 4:50. We get on an experience mechanical problems. That was another half hour or so delay. Then we finally land and we take the shuttle to my car in the airport parking lot and there's a brand new sign on the "Family Friendly" parking spaces that was NOT there when I left. It stated, "After 11:59pm on February 24th the cars will be towed at owner's expense." What! It's a good thing I returned when I did-the day BEFORE. Yes, that's what I consider "Family Friendly".

Well, I go to open my doors and they wouldn't unlock. I put my key in the lock manually, opened the door, stuck key in ignition and you guessed it,-my battery is dead. We wait an hour for the airport emergency service (apparently the guy couldn't find my car-it was on the edge of the lot, right across from the express bag check-in, not some isolated location. Finally, it starts right up and I get to the ticket booth to pay for parking and the machine wouldn't recognize my ticket. I had to back out of that lane and go to another lane with a human inside. Then, after a couple of wrong turns, I finally head home. Whew! Do you think Disney wasn't ready to let go of my family yet?

We all had a great time on our first cruise. Thank you all for making it such a wonderful experience. It took me a while to get the lay of the ship. I am so glad that I had come to disboards and knew some tips already or I would have been completely lost. I was sick the second day-I knew to expect some rough waters thanks to disboards. I get carsick so I knew to expect some seasickness. I was freezing cold the first two nights in my room because the heater wasn't working properly, but DCL fixed it after the second attempt. The rest of the cruise was smooth sailing...I've already placed a dummy booking for the next one.

 

[Ichiban]

tryin, sorry you had such a miserable time coming home.

I am sad to be home and seeing snow. We had a great time overall. The biggest problems we had were with the shuttle service we used to get to and from Galveston and some sickness the first day, but we will definitely go on a Disney cruise again! The service on board was phenomenal. I booked a dummy cruise and will probably wait for 2015 rates to be released to transfer it.

We didn't participate in the FEE, but I enjoyed seeing everyone's cute extenders and gifts when we were walking around the ship. I also loved seeing all of the decorated doors.

 

[dgmommie]

Regarding seasickness, this was my 7th time to cruise in my life and the very first time I have ever had to take Dramamine. I think it was the Gulf waters. I've never had any problems sailing from Port Canaveral and the Caribbean.

 

[duck_widow]

Thank you all!!! We had such a great time and were wowed by the Disney cruise experience. I knew we'd be ruined for other cruise lines after this and I was right. I booked a dummy cruise on the Dream for October 2014, guessing on the school break we'll have at that time. We may need to adjust later. Now I'm trying to plan a trip to Aulani for Oct. 2013. I hope the planets align for that.

Thank you kpetty725 for starting the DIS thread and thank you Beth for organizing the FEE. That was a highlight of the cruise for us. Thank you all for such wonderful and creative gifts!! We love them all. It was nice meeting many of you in person. We saw some of you many, many times on the ship and it was so nice to see familiar faces. We also met a neighbor of ours a couple of streets over while on Castaway Cay. It's a small world afterall...

My DD6 and I were seasick the first night and part of the second day due to all the motion, but laying in bed watching movies all day and ordering room service still felt like a vacation. We were fine after that.

We saw some familiar faces (wshop and others) on our flight home.

Thanks everyone for making a special vacation even more special!

 

[dismom73]

I too wanted to express my thanks for all the wonderful FE gifts! This was by far the most generous, creative FEE we have participated in yet! We didn't make it to the meet on day one, and as others stated, it was a whirlwind after that. So, I'm sorry I didn't get to meet any of you, but I'm glad everyone had a great time. Traveling with a party of 12, including 6 kids, we were always doing something.
The motion of the ship the first 2 days (not to mention the cold)did affect a few in our group. My oldest DD was down for the first day, and my middle one ended up getting sick on the last night. I don't think we will be sailing out of Galveston again either, or during Februrary.
I was really wanting to do the Southern Caribbean, but I think that itinerary is just a little too port intense for us. We ended up booking a 7 day eastern on the Fantasy.
Thank you again for all the amazing FE gifts, we had a lot of fun participating and thank you to Beth for orgazing it, and Katy for keeping the front page up to date with all the links, and FSU88 for the FEE map, and juliefsu for starting the FB page! Your time is much appreciated!

 

[elmo2200]

We truly had a MAGICal trip! Thank you for all the wonderful FE gifts and sharing your creativity and talents- and time!!!
Meeting you all was so helpfu, it was nice to recognize faces all over the ship. I heart DIS!!!
We are dreaming of future trips also! It will be tough to decide between cruising next or going straight to Key West. I am looking at cruising to St.Thomas as well... Wishing you all Fantastic Dreams full of Wonder and Magic!!!

 

[Gina]

We are dreaming of future trips also! It will be tough to decide between cruising next or going straight to Key West. I am looking at cruising to St.Thomas as well... Wishing you all Fantastic Dreams full of Wonder and Magic!!!

St. Thomas is one of my favorite places... so pretty!

I have to say... I can't get over how many people have commented on the ship's movement. Tyler Dean and I were complaining because this was some of the *least* movement we had felt, and we hated it!! The worst for us was Western Caribbean from Port Canaveral -- felt like being in a hotel, which is not what I signed up for. Best was Eastern Caribbean from there -- rockin' and rollin', baby!! Was awesome. We were hoping that going from Galveston to Florida, we would at least know we were on a ship without having to look outside, but that didn't really happen outside of that super mild rocking at night at the beginning.

I guess we're just really weird!! Or just need to join the Navy or something.


-gina-

 

[MKCQuilt]

The Crandleys returned to California without a hitch. Reflecting on this, our 8th cruise, I can easily say it was one of the most enjoyable. It was a little odd to be cruising without kids and grandkids, but we adjusted quickly - LOL. This was our first time participating in a FEE. We were so impressed with the creativity and generosity of FEE 4. They really set the bar high! Our next cruise will benefit from their inspiration. Thank you all so much for making our memories special.

 

[FloridaFun]

I just wanted to add a big thank you to everyone in all 4 FEE groups. The creativity was amazing and nearly every time we opened our door or came back to the cabin we had something new to admire. A special thanks to everyone too for going out of their way to keep all the food items for us peanut free. I know how hard that is. This group was beyond amazing!

My mom and I were also sea sick the first night and following morning. We had our character breakfast the first morning. I went, but only stayed about 5 minutes. Picked up the Sea Calm from the medical center and seemed to be fine after that. We sailed out of Galveston a year ago and the gulf was like glass. Never rocked even once, so you just never know.

We are still trying to find the button on our home phone for room service. I love Caesar salad and would order one every night and then eat it for breakfast the next morning since I don’t really care for breakfast foods.

I managed to meet a lot of you and really enjoyed trivia, Magic Quest, and watching people from our group get picked for other shows we attended. When one of you was selected, I would lean over to my husband and say, “They are part of our group”. I especially enjoyed watching Betsy and Peter in “So you think you know your family?” It was really sweet when Peter answered that his best friend was his brother Greg. Playing “The Wheel” against the Thompson family on the last night was a blast too. I wish that Mike and I or Debbie and Allen would have been picked for the “Match your Mate”, but there was no way Mike was going to be giving me a pony ride across the dance floor. Then of course, for those that were there, the Magic Quest had to be one of my favorite events. Plus, I know that Gina will now remember us for a long time. (That was the best graphic I could come up with as there appears to not be one for spilling a drink into a persons purse)

This was such an amazing group and I hope to be able to cruise again with some of you in the future.

 

[Gina]

Then of course, for those that were there, the Magic Quest had to be one of my favorite events. Plus, I know that Gina will now remember us for a long time. (That was the best graphic I could come up with as there appears to not be one for spilling a drink into a persons purse)

 

[dgmommie]

Then of course, for those that were there, the Magic Quest had to be one of my favorite events. Plus, I know that Gina will now remember us for a long time. (That was the best graphic I could come up with as there appears to not be one for spilling a drink into a persons purse)

I have the video of Allen on stage, but if you have pictures, I'd love if you could send them to me. That was so much fun!

Debbie

 

[jzandmeplus3]

Well it has taken me until now to get back on DIS boards to see our family had a great time! The 7 hour wait at the airport waiting for our flight home was not as terrible as I imagined it would be with the kids. They were troopers about it. This was our 3rd Disney cruise, second on the Magic. We love the longer cruises for sure. The best part of the cruising again on the magic was seeing our dining servers from last cruise last March, whom we just loved, and they remembered us. Disney hires some of the best people. The rocking the first two days weren't too bad for us, we all took our Bonine before bed and were okay. Loved the spa and the bootcamp in the fitness center. Castaway Cay was so much fun! Did my first ever 5K and enjoyed a family bike ride and that fabulous beach! Magic Kingdom was nuts! We've been there enough, so we just enjoyed Hollywood Studios and Epcot. We met some great people on board and my kids made new friends which they loved to do. We booked 2 cruises since we got home. A five night of Miami on the Wonder for March 2014 and, this one I am most excited for, a 12 night Mediterranean cruise on the Magic for June 2014! We even bought more DVC points for Aulani, which I am super excited about. If you haven't been to Aulani, put it on your must do list. We went last year and it is amazaing. We are going again this August. Love my DVC points!

 

[glorib]

Playing “The Wheel” against the Thompson family on the last night was a blast too.

This was such an amazing group and I hope to be able to cruise again with some of you in the future.

LOL, playing the Wheel with (or against - however you wanna look at it) was a ball. The Wheel was not our friend and I still think we shoulda had some sort of handicap! Not that I'm a sore loser or anything!

We had an absolute blast! Even though we didn't really meet up with or hang out with anyone, I thought of you all often and we LOVED participating in the FEE!

This was our first cruise, so we were just trying to soak it all in - didn't really have much 'down' time, but still loved every minute!

Now that we're really back to real life (back to school and work today after many snow days and digging/shoveling out of a total of over 2 feet of snow over the course of one week!) I am dreaming of another vacation. All this snow has us thinking of Alaskan cruise in 2015!

So this might sound somewhat stalkerish, but I'd love to 'friend' some of you on FB because I'd love to see vacation photos if you've posted any! I posted a ton! Three albums! Yeah, I'm obsessed!

 

[FloridaFun]

Lori, I sent you a friend request on Facebook.

The odd thing about wheel that night was the couple that came from the back of the room who sat on different sides. I think the wife was actually mad at first that her husband did not sit with her. At least her crossed arms and body language said that. Then, when she decided it would be more fun to win instead of sitting there mad, she came to life. Without her we would have lost as she had 2 of the puzzle solutions that the rest of us had no clue on. So I totally think the group with only 3 adults vs. the one with 6 adults was unfair.

Question for you on the Mick-Tac-Toe: You said is was an embrodiery pattern that you had for your Brother machine. Do you remember where you got the pattern from? I am going to get a Brother machine and wanted to have that pattern to make some gifts for my nieces and nephews.

Beth

 

[glorib]

Lori, I sent you a friend request on Facebook.

The odd thing about wheel that night was the couple that came from the back of the room who sat on different sides. I think the wife was actually mad at first that her husband did not sit with her. At least her crossed arms and body language said that. Then, when she decided it would be more fun to win instead of sitting there mad, she came to life. Without her we would have lost as she had 2 of the puzzle solutions that the rest of us had no clue on. So I totally think the group with only 3 adults vs. the one with 6 adults was unfair.

Question for you on the Mick-Tac-Toe: You said is was an embrodiery pattern that you had for your Brother machine. Do you remember where you got the pattern from? I am going to get a Brother machine and wanted to have that pattern to make some gifts for my nieces and nephews.

Beth

Yes, that was weird! The thing was - I knew almost every puzzle, but the stinking wheel just wouldn't cooperate! Oh well - it was still fun! Plus, we had good luck with the other game shows - Caleb's number got chosen to play Who Wants to be a Mousketeer and he won an awesome trophy!

On the embroidery design - I got it from http://www.froufroubyheathersue.com/
- she had the best designs! They ALWAYS stitch out nicely! Plus, she's a fellow DISer!

Be forwearned: once you start, it's addicting! Heather has so many fabulous designs! Bonus is that at least she usually has a coupon code!