2/21/10 4 Nights on the Wonder

[msnoble]

Yes, welcome rotterdam!

I booked our excursions late last night (right at the stroke of midnight EST ), but because I am traveling without my husband no Palo for me this trip. I also registered the kids for the Oceaneer's Lab...now I guess I just have to wait for a cabin assignment!

Allesma--I think meeting up is great, though I'm not sure how crowded the pool will be especially as the afternoon wears on. Does anyone know about the pool or if there is somewhere else to meet up? Also meeting up in the evening sounds fun; I wasn't sure if you and your husband would want to hang around with us husband-less moms

 

[tigger2on]

Msnoble...
what excursions did you book? :O)
Bring on the 2 for 1 drinks for the husband-less cruise!

 

[tigger2on]

Looks Like I will be lining up with 2 VERY tired little people to try and change out seating to main. My son really does NOT do well after 8pm... I mean, if we can't change it, I won't be eating dinners at all.... except by the pool. He'll only just be over 3. My 5 yr old can run on empty for weeks...
Plus he has told me to make sure that there is a big bed so he can sleep with me... doesn't he realize that this is a rare opportunity when I get to sleep alone????

 

[Allesma]

Yes, welcome rotterdam!

I booked our excursions late last night (right at the stroke of midnight EST ), but because I am traveling without my husband no Palo for me this trip. I also registered the kids for the Oceaneer's Lab...now I guess I just have to wait for a cabin assignment!

Allesma--I think meeting up is great, though I'm not sure how crowded the pool will be especially as the afternoon wears on. Does anyone know about the pool or if there is somewhere else to meet up? Also meeting up in the evening sounds fun; I wasn't sure if you and your husband would want to hang around with us husband-less moms

We booked bikes at Castaway Cay,and the brunch. I do not expect us to do a lot at Nassau , we probably will be back at the boat soon. As this is our first cruise I do not want to schedule to much. I signed DD8 up for the club.

Option or a meet-and-greet could also be deck 7 aft?

Bnoble, Marc has been in High School with 40 boys among 700 girls (actually learned to cook pretty well there) so is used to lots of women. At home he's always surrounded by his girls and their girlfriends.


Allesma

 

[tigger2on]

Yeah... I was thinking the secret deck on 7 too? or even Topsiders??

 

[msnoble]

Msnoble...
what excursions did you book? :O)

We're going to do the Blackbeard's Cay excursion in Nassau, and if there's time/we're up for it we might run over to the Pirate Museum afterwards (though that seems unlikely).

At CC we're doing the extreme getaway thing--the bikes/float/snorkels rental along with the Stingray experience. My DD is allll about the snorkeling . I'm not sure we'll do it all, but didn't want to decide for it later and then have it booked up.

Plus he has told me to make sure that there is a big bed so he can sleep with me... doesn't he realize that this is a rare opportunity when I get to sleep alone????

This cracked me up!!!

I think the Deck 7 aft area sounds promising for a meetup--with Topsiders as a backup if weather is bad? What time do these things usually happen?

I'm starting to get really excited for our first cruise--how to wait out the next 74 days??!!
Maureen

 

[DMRick]

Hi all. I never thought of renting the bikes early (we'll bring a cheap blow up from Walmart or dollar store and our own snorkel stuff). Do they usually run out of them? Do they assign you a time when you sign up?
Thanks.

 

[tigger2on]

I don't think the whole bike thing is an issue as they are only rent them out for an hour and they have TONS! you may have to wait a bit though...
I think the issue with the Extreme Package is the string ray thing and snorkel as they only have a certain # of spots per hour.
I am doing that too when the kids are at Skuttle's Landing.
Nothing in Nassau...but hoping to meet my friend Joe for lunch... he works there.

 

[tigger2on]

Hey the 4 day cruise after us is doing this... what do you think?
Here is the explanation they gave
"Hopefully I can explain this - each cabin has a fish mounted on the wall next to the door - DCL uses it to deliver notes and such. DIS members who participate in the exchange make or buy a "holder" or such that has pockets on it - most people have a pocket for each person in the cabin, but some just have one large pocket for everyone. Then each family decides on what they what to "exchange" or give to the other people participating. You can do one gift person or one family gift, you can do something each day of the cruise or just on one day - it is really up to each individual person - the gifts don't have to cost alot and can be store bought or hand made - whatever you want - there are no rules. If you do a search on the cruise forum you will see what others have done and get ideas on what the extender looks like. For our last cruise we gave out hershey cand bars (we are from Hershey) wrapped with a special wrapper designed for our cruise. We only did the 3-night crusie but got a ton of gifts - then you decide when you want to hand out your gifts, and try not to be caught. Hopefully that all makes sense - maybe someone else can help with the details a little more.

I will compile a list of those who want to participate, their cabin numbers and the names of everyone in the cabin along with the ages on kids.

It really is alot of fun - we had a blast running all over the ship and delivery our gifts and my DD just loved checking for gifts every time we returned to the cabin."
Just a thought.. as there are many of us so far..

 

[DMRick]

We'll be kidless.grankidless, but we'd enjoy surprising some of the other kids, as long as I don't have to tote too much stuff LOL.

We did this when we realized people in the room next to us were from the Dis at Pop one year. Had a great time.

 

[IrishCowboy]

Have a great cruise

 

[tigger2on]

Can you use your own inflatable things? I was told due to safety hazards... the only things they allow are floatie arm bands and clear tubes like theirs so that the lifeguards can see.

 

[DMRick]

We've always used our own at Disney and the lifeguards have been fine about it. We also use them at other cruise islands. I'll try to buy the clear ones this trip. So I guess we'll find out. Does anyone know this for sure?

Can you use your own inflatable things? I was told due to safety hazards... the only things they allow are floatie arm bands and clear tubes like theirs so that the lifeguards can see.

 

[DMRick]

It's just my husband and I. We are taking the 3 day and then the 4 day.

On Cruise Critic meets, for most ships, we email someone on the ship and they give us a room to meet in, supply us with coffee/tea/juice and donuts/snacks and often send in officers/housekeeper head/kitchen person, to chat with us. I have run swaps, where each cabin brings something either from their home state (under $10) or something for traveling, or well, just something, and we have the swap. We then, meet and greet each other LOL.

These are our first Disney cruises, so I have no idea how they usually go.

I do plan on enjoying watching all the kids have fun on the ship. Does Disney usually put couples by themselves for diner or do we share with a family, or other couples?

 

[sonogal]

We're doing Blackbeard's Cay too!

I think the gift exchange thing for each stateroom would be really neat. It would be fun to dream up something from our geographical areas to exchange. My one question with that is........ I would like to upgrade at the port, how would we then convey the new cabin number to the rest of the group? Ideas??

 

[tigger2on]

Someone upgraded before too and made a magnet with their new room # on the previously assigned one. Or if we have a "meet" on the 1st day... you can update us all! What room are you in now?

 

[sonogal]

We're currently in 8020, a cat. 4 but hoping to upgrade to a cat. 3. Same deck so no problem there.

 

[tigger2on]

Anyone doing pre-disney/port hotel stays? Are you renting cars or taking the disney buses??

 

[buick86]

Hi all! We just booked our 3rd Disney Cruise - we are so excited! So far we've been on a 3 day & 7 day and are now looking forward to the 4 day cruise. We are Joe, Shelly, Kaylei (6), and Brandon (3) from Ohio. The last 2 cruises Brandon had to go into Flouder's Reef Nursery - looking forward to him going into the Club - hopefully he will stay with his sister while we catch our breath & relax. Anyone doing fish extenders on this cruise?

Looking forward to chatting!
Joe, Shelly, Kaylei & Brandon Kristoff
Stateroom 6514

P.S. How do you all get those cool countdowns?

 

[sonogal]

What are fish extenders?

We will be staying in Orlando at the Nickelodeon hotel for 4 nights pre-cruise. I am looking to book a limo preferably R/T to port and back to MCO. Is there anyone on this cruise that would like to share the limo/costs with us? There are 5 of us. I've mainly been looking at 8-10 passenger limos but of course if we got a larger group, we'd get a larger vehicle.
Hummer limo anyone?

PM me if you are interested and we'll go from there. Hope everyone is not too snowed under.