20060902--Eastern Sept 2nd, 2006

[HollyTyler]

Holly: Congrats on your final. Good luck with the one on Friday. Don't bring too many books on the cruise. I found that I bring them, but they end up staying in the suitcase or on the dresser and NEVER touched.

Thanks! I had to bring books last cruise too and just stayed up late after Tyler was asleep to do my studying. Unfortunately, I have to because if I get behind, it's miserable trying to get caught up. Bummer, but will be worth it in the long run (I hope).

 

[CourtneyMc]

Courtney: My hubby said he would talk with your hubby about the judo work out. He is currently working on a form of Karate(Pi Lum) that is a low to the ground form and believes that working out with your hubby could help him too. Maybe they will work it out at the cruise meet...

RACRJ: Pai Lum is like Kung Fu, and not really compatible with sport Judo. I wouldn't mind talking to your husband anyway, but I'm not looking for any atemi waza. PCM

 

[CaptainJack]

Thanks! I had to bring books last cruise too and just stayed up late after Tyler was asleep to do my studying. Unfortunately, I have to because if I get behind, it's miserable trying to get caught up. Bummer, but will be worth it in the long run (I hope).

Look on the bright side. The alternative is staying home and studying the same books.

 

[HollyTyler]

Look on the bright side. The alternative is staying home and studying the same books.

Exactly! That's why I don't really mind too much bringing my books. What better place to have to study?!

 

[CourtneyMc]

I guess that you won't have the ship to yourselves, it's come a long way since March of 2005!!

You booked in March of 2005?? I don't think I could stand to book it so far in advance, i'd go nuts with the waiting. I booked Aug. 30th last year and could barely stand it. I think I've convinced myself next time I won't book way in adv b/c the waiting is too hard! I'll just wait until they offer a FL resident rate at a date I can do it. But then again, if DH is having as good a time as I hope he will, maybe we'll rebook on board for the discoutn. I'm really hoping the cruise turns him into an addict as well...he's not all that into the idea of a cruise but let me talk him into it anyway.

As an aside, I'm flying to Chicago tomorrow...I wonder how early I'll need to get to the airport. There's also another brush fire burning along the main highways to Orlando airport, so I wonder if they'll close the roads tomorrow morning again.


Hope everyone's having a good day. Holly must've really buckled down to study today- it's been more than 12 hours since her last post- hope it's going well! =)

-Courtney

 

[racrj]

I noticed the recommended tip for, let's say, the head waiter is approximatley 25.75. Is that what each person is to pay? Would that include children? We are traveling with DD 7 and DS 3, would I also pay the 25.75 for each of them. Therefore the recommended tip for a family of 4 would be 103.00. How does anyone else do the tipping thing? I know it is based on service and each tip is a personal choice, but I would like to be prepared I'm just starting to get my final decisions made and I am getting more and more confused......

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions....

 

[joshua121301]

Actually March of 2005 was when LuckyMommy started the thread. We booked in December of 2004!! We had booked and cancelled previously due to several years of constant pregnancies. so at the onset of our most recent pregnancy, we booked a cruise way out. Hense the kids are a little older and hopefully able to enjoy the experience a bit more. Our youngest will be ringing in her first birthday this month. A whole year and we aren't pregnant, imagine that!!

Go Holly, Go!!!Buy the books now and cram before you cruise.

16 more days until we fly to WDW, we can't wait.

Courtney,

I hope that the airport delays aren't too bad for you. Do you do business in Chicago? I am there frequently anymore. I have grown to really like that town.

 

[joshua121301]

I noticed the recommended tip for, let's say, the head waiter is approximatley 25.75. Is that what each person is to pay? Would that include children? We are traveling with DD 7 and DS 3, would I also pay the 25.75 for each of them. Therefore the recommended tip for a family of 4 would be 103.00. How does anyone else do the tipping thing? I know it is based on service and each tip is a personal choice, but I would like to be prepared I'm just starting to get my final decisions made and I am getting more and more confused......

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions....

The chart below (from the DCL Website) explains the "suggested" tipping for each position.


What about gratuities?

It is customary to give gratuities in recognition of service, which you will most likely be treated to in abundance aboard the ship. As a guideline, may we suggest the following:

Per Guest per cruise 7-Night
Dining Room Server $25.75
Dining Room Asst. Server $18.75
Dining Room Head Server $6.50
Stateroom Host/Hostess $25.25
Dining Manager Your Discretion
Room Service Your Discretion
Palo Gratuity included
Vista Spa & Salon Your Discretion
Babysitting Gratuity not expected
Shore Excursions Optional; not included in shore excursion price.
For your convenience, a 15% gratuity is automatically added to bar, beverage, wine and deck service tabs. All gratuities can be charged to your room charge.


Using the above chart and applied to your family the suggested amounts are:

Dining Room Server $25.75 X 4 = $103.00
Dining Room Asst. Server $18.75 X4 = $75.00
Dining Room Head Server $6.50 X4 = $26.00
Stateroom Host/Hostess $25.25 X 4 = $101.00

Total Tip = $305.00

I hope that this helps,

Brian

 

[CourtneyMc]

Actually March of 2005 was when LuckyMommy started the thread. We booked in December of 2004!! We had booked and cancelled previously due to several years of constant pregnancies. so at the onset of our most recent pregnancy, we booked a cruise way out. Hense the kids are a little older and hopefully able to enjoy the experience a bit more. Our youngest will be ringing in her first birthday this month. A whole year and we aren't pregnant, imagine that!!

Go Holly, Go!!!Buy the books now and cram before you cruise.

16 more days until we fly to WDW, we can't wait.

Courtney,

I hope that the airport delays aren't too bad for you. Do you do business in Chicago? I am there frequently anymore. I have grown to really like that town.

Hi Brian-
Congrats on not having a pregnancy impeded cruise this time There are ways to prevent that you know...

Have you decided if you're going to try to catch a launch while you're here? It looks like if you leave in 16 days you must be getting down plenty early- nice vacation.

I'm going to Chicago for my grandmothers 90th birthday party! How many of those do you get to attend? My DH actually suggested I skip it if the airport delays were too bad. No way. I lived in Chicago from 1982-2000 so I consider it my hometown and love to get back there for any excuse!

-Courtney

 

[BigBlueMan]

I noticed the recommended tip for, let's say, the head waiter is approximatley 25.75. Is that what each person is to pay? Would that include children? We are traveling with DD 7 and DS 3, would I also pay the 25.75 for each of them. Therefore the recommended tip for a family of 4 would be 103.00. How does anyone else do the tipping thing? I know it is based on service and each tip is a personal choice, but I would like to be prepared I'm just starting to get my final decisions made and I am getting more and more confused......

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions....

We always do the suggested amount, although a couple of years ago we had an outstanding waiter named Sasha Sasic. We'd just won a chunk of change playing Disney Bingo, so Sasha got a hundred bucks for his efforts.

He's working at Palo now, so check him out when we cruise.

 

[joshua121301]

Hi Brian-
Congrats on not having a pregnancy impeded cruise this time There are ways to prevent that you know...

Shelley's OB?GYN is always asking me if I am aware of what is causing it!!!

Have you decided if you're going to try to catch a launch while you're here? It looks like if you leave in 16 days you must be getting down plenty early- nice vacation.

I think that we will miss the launch. We planned our days at WDW and all of our ADR's based on the original date and since they moved it up I think that we will just stick with our original plan. I do want to thank you for all of the info regarding it. Maybe next year.

I'm going to Chicago for my grandmothers 90th birthday party! How many of those do you get to attend? My DH actually suggested I skip it if the airport delays were too bad. No way. I lived in Chicago from 1982-2000 so I consider it my hometown and love to get back there for any excuse!

-Courtney

I do very much like it there, I always stay right downtown and Chicago is one of the few towns that I want to go to. Nothing against others, it's just that I travel too much and it is rare for me to be happy going anywhere that's work related.

Good luck with ORD coming home, I hope that things are a little smoother by then, that airport can really stack up sometimes. When it runs, it runs great. When it doesn't, it really doesn't...

Brian

 

[quangr]

Actually March of 2005 was when LuckyMommy started the thread. We booked in December of 2004!! We had booked and cancelled previously due to several years of constant pregnancies. so at the onset of our most recent pregnancy, we booked a cruise way out. Hense the kids are a little older and hopefully able to enjoy the experience a bit more. Our youngest will be ringing in her first birthday this month. A whole year and we aren't pregnant, imagine that!!

Go Holly, Go!!!Buy the books now and cram before you cruise.

16 more days until we fly to WDW, we can't wait.

Courtney,

I hope that the airport delays aren't too bad for you. Do you do business in Chicago? I am there frequently anymore. I have grown to really like that town.

13 days till I fly to orlando for my best man's wedding, then back to maryland on the 28th (my 43rd birthday) then back to Orlando fot the cruise on the 1st. Would have taken the family to the wedding but it's at sunRISE on the beach. Too scary to think about getting 2 and 4 year old daughters ready for a 6:30 ish wedding.

Brian

 

[CourtneyMc]

I noticed the recommended tip for, let's say, the head waiter is approximatley 25.75. Is that what each person is to pay? Would that include children? We are traveling with DD 7 and DS 3, would I also pay the 25.75 for each of them. Therefore the recommended tip for a family of 4 would be 103.00. How does anyone else do the tipping thing? I know it is based on service and each tip is a personal choice, but I would like to be prepared I'm just starting to get my final decisions made and I am getting more and more confused......

Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions....

I think it is wise to budget at least the $305 in suggested tip amounts, and plan to adjust up (or down, but probably not!) along the way. Some people on the tip threads will say they shouldn't have to make up for the fact the cruise lines only pay these people like $50 a week so they're living on their tips. But, that's the way the pay is structured so I figure I'd either be paying it up front and maybe not have my service be as good, or I can pay it on the back end and reward those who go above and beyond. Either way you'd end up paying that $305.

The only other debate I've seen lately has been about tipping for the kids who might have only eaten in the restaurant a couple times- the main consensus being that the server still has to prep for a full table and it isn't fair to stiff him for not having a full table that he might have had with a different group. Does that make sense?

Don't forget to include Palo in your budget if you're going to eat there. They have a per person service charge, some of which is for the server's tip, but as I understand it it's not all for the server so again you might want to allow for an extra.

In the end, like you said, it's a personal choice, but I think you'll find the service on DCL is consistently good and worth at least the suggested amounts. I'd rather budget for it in advance.

-Courtney

 

[CourtneyMc]

Good luck with ORD coming home, I hope that things are a little smoother by then, that airport can really stack up sometimes. When it runs, it runs great. When it doesn't, it really doesn't...

Brian

Yep, I know. I remember standing outside ORD with my then less than 2 year old in the freezing cold in a security line in Nov. after 9/11 for an hour or so. That was before the line even made it inside the airport! Brutal. Fortunately (maybe?) I'm flying in/out of Midway. Keeping my fingers x'd.

-Courtney

 

[racrj]

Thanks guys for helping out with the tipping issue...

I was beginning to overstress with the amount of money, packing, school year starting , etc., etc. I really appreciate all your advice.

We were just trying to get everything organized before we flew down.

Thanks, again!!

 

[ugarxdawg]

Somebody asked a few pages ago about the travel packet that Disney sends out. We got ours yesterday (8/10). My dad got his yesterday also. That means it is getting closer. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ugarxdawg]

We had open house at school last week. Our kids started back to school this past Monday. We talked to all of the teachers about the cruise and the fact that our kids would miss 4 days of school. All of them were OK with it. They all said they would work with us. Thank Goodness. Since we cruise this week every year we have had some teachers that were not so nice about the missed days. The positive attitude we got this year will make the cruise even more fun.

 

[joshua121301]

Wow school starting already!! Our kids school starts late by most standards. They won't start until the 13th of Sept. It does mean a part of June is given up though. We haven't seen documents yet , but are looking forward to that.

 

[BigBlueMan]

Somebody asked a few pages ago about the travel packet that Disney sends out. We got ours yesterday (8/10). My dad got his yesterday also. That means it is getting closer. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

Gotta check my mail today! Went to the American Idols concert last night and didn't go to the box! Soul Patrooooollll.......!

 

[BigBlueMan]

Just curious.. I got my cruise docs today, and included is the standard "entering the Bahamas" form that you get when going to Nassau.

Since we're not going to Nassau, is that needed for Castaway Cay?

(Yet another thing I'll change when I'm King!)