4/10/2010 eb ta "bound for barcelona"

[dizmomof2]

I've had a REALLY bad day today. I was suppose to have an MRI but the idiots at Shands booked me at the wrong MRI and I didn't find out until last night. When I called today, I can't get into the right MRI until March 19th.

Some personal stuff occurred and I had to go ahead and take today off work to deal with them (the phone counselor I talked to was not really all that helpful - he sounds like he was reading from a script).

Anyway, I'm a bit better now (4pm) after a LONG nap - just drained.

Thanks for listening, I promise I won't have ISSUES on the cruise. That's what the cruise is for.... leaving all the "......" behind.

Kristi

 

[bound2travel]

Here is a picture of Madison and main Sleeping Beauty. No wig for Maddy as her hair is already blonde. Brooklyn has so many costume changes I can never seem to nail her down for a picture. The main sleeping and my girls all have dresses similar to the one the main SB is wearing. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can get a picture of all three of them together in their dresses that are similar. It is just so hard bc the main SB also changes a million times!!!

Madison just got her microphone for the first time in this picture so she was so excited!

Her dress will be different in the show but is still having alterations done.

The teddy bear in this picture is the bear she has had since the day she was born. She just LOVES it. It too will be making its stage debut! hehe

Too cute.

 

[grlzmom]

Hi everyone!
All of the Secret Mickey information has been all assigned and sent out to the emails that were on the questionnaire.

Thanks Michelle!

I just booked this cruise with my dh and 21 month son. We're excited. Can't wait to meet people and have a great time. I'm sure to see you at the book exchanges you have lined up.

Since you have unlimited global wireless..... does that mean we can find you and borrow it to check emails and flight changes?

Yes, they are ususally describing themselves. One person (many years ago) called me a "stupid ......". Um..... you dropped out of high school and I have a Master's degree completed in one year. Who is the stupid one?

I will be fighting my teenagers for the laptop, if I manage to snag it I will of course share (3 teenage girls, odds are small)

I am on Main dining. Get dinner out of the way so the partying can begin.

Kristi

My family is main dining too.

 

[Ginamarie]

Great minds (or at least above-average)!


They are "beverage coolers." My sister and I were discussing this just a few days ago (I'll be using that phrase again in this post). If they were "refrigerators," they probably would have to do a daily check on temperatures to assure they were cold enough to keep food safe. - Can you tell I'm a nurse who has had to meet imposed requirements like this? If you are ever in a hospital and can't find a nurse, they are probably doing some sort of daily check-list for equipment.

Good call! You're right. I never thought of it that way since most people use them to hold drinks or some leftovers.


Besides DISboards and cruisecritic, are there any other forums out there for DCL? Do the people from cruisecritic (or other) get together and wear matching lanyards, t-shirts?


Cruisecritic is the largest of the cruise messageboards. There is another one called cruisemates, which is fairly popular, but overshadowed by cruisecritic. I'm sure there are others as well, but those are the largest ones I know of. Cruisecritic often has get togethers and meetings. As someone mentioned earlier, some cruiselines are very accommodating for having officers attend the meetings to answer questions. As here, some groups are larger and more active than others. I was one of the organizers for a Panama Canal cruise on the NCL Sea, and that was the best group of people I've sailed with. We had a lot of get-togethers and parties and basically took over the ship at some points because it was a small ship. I've never seen them organize quite the same way as the Disboards though. Disboards does a better job of things like Fish Extenders, secret mickey, etc. I've found that the cruisecritic groups for DCL never get off the grond because most of them wind up referring back over to Disboards. I've had very active threads for NCL and Carnival, but not for DCL cruises. I actually started a thread for this cruise on cruisecritic, but it was quickly eclipsed and I don't think it's there anymore. Someone else started one more recently and it has a few replies. Nothing like what goes on here. I was behind by 10-12 pages when I logged on this afternoon, and that's just since yesterday!

Room tag will be simple - and involve very little of your time. Although you will be checking your door closely every time until you get that Mickey head.

I found most of my mingling last cruise came in 2 places: Promenade Lounge (Disney games) and Rockin Bar D' for BINGO! and nighttime adult shows.

The fun of having a bunch of DISers near each other is looking down the long hallways of same-white-doors, only to spot the FEs and magnets of "your" fellow cruisers.


Is it too late to sign up for the room tag? I hadn't signed up my group yet, but we'd like to play!

(Here's my other reference to talking to my sister the other day)...and I was saying it was strange to have men on the boards - Whoa! don't get worked up yet. As I've gotten older (and still single), I just don't have that much "talking" with men (usually husbands). But then I realized I live in a town of married male engineers and they are not the most communicative group. My DS said maybe these men (you guys) are the artistic or sociable type and not the type of men who keep their wives in the dark - my concern - (or they wouldn't let them go on a cruise, would they?).

I mentioned how Mrs. Young was going to take over the postings and realized I hadn't read anything from y'all.

We have some people who showed up on the boards and then haven't been heard of from in awhile. Wondered if it was long posts (like this one) that take up too much time or if they happened to start posting right when a controversy brewed (and subsequently died, forgotten by most). Or maybe they have just become lurkers.




And those calendars would be a big THANK YOU to Stephanie (Brooklyn) who created them for her daughters and let the rest of us join in the fun!

- Lynne

I've been checking and rechecking to make sure the upgrade was still there.... and just realized something - does anyone know why there is no category 7?

There is a cat 7. You're right that I haven't seen people upgraded into cat 7s, at least not yet. Those cabins to not fit 4 passengers, so anyone with 4 in their cabin wouldn't qualify anyway.

One more thing... Is there an unlimited WiFi pass available? If so I'm sure it is quite expensive... Would it be posibly for a group of us to get together and purchase this together and then we could make a schedule of who can use it each day at what time? Is this a possibility? I basically only use it to check emails & track my ticket sales on StubHub (I own season Mets, phillies & Yankees tickets) and have a bunch of April games for sale for obvious reasons!

There is no longer an unlimited internet option. We will be buying minutes.

How many are bringing netbooks/laptops? What are you doing on them? Surfing or work? Or will you use the computers on the ship? Will you keep up with all our DISfriends on the cruise board with a "live from the Magic" type thread? (I think we should) How many minutes are you buying? Or are you just bringing it for downloading pictures maybe?

I have been going back and forth. Bring the netbook, leave it at home. I think I finally decided to bring it. I will buy one of the packages as I surf all the time. Well, mostly play on the disboards.

I'm bringing my laptop and DH is bringing his netbook. We both need to be able to check in with work and will not be paying the exorbitant phone charges, so it will be our lifeline back home. I'm also participating in an online writing contest, and assuming I'm not eliminated by the time we leave, I'll be posting my entries for the contest while we're onboard. I usually keep a journal of what we do onboard, but I probably won't post that online until I can get pictures uploaded to the internet, and I doubt I'll spent our precious internet time on that while we're onboard. THe laptop is a good vehicle for downloading our photos though.

Slightly off topic - but not really ... seemed practical for those of us online ...



MY LIVING WILL

Last night, I was talking to my wife, and said, 'I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug.'

DW Donna got up, unplugged the Computer, and threw out my beer!

LOL! I write living wills for my clients all the time, so this really made me laugh.

I just booked this cruise with my dh and 21 month son. We're excited. Can't wait to meet people and have a great time. I'm sure to see you at the book exchanges you have lined up.

WELCOME!!

I've had a REALLY bad day today. I was suppose to have an MRI but the idiots at Shands booked me at the wrong MRI and I didn't find out until last night. When I called today, I can't get into the right MRI until March 19th.

Some personal stuff occurred and I had to go ahead and take today off work to deal with them (the phone counselor I talked to was not really all that helpful - he sounds like he was reading from a script).

Anyway, I'm a bit better now (4pm) after a LONG nap - just drained.

Thanks for listening, I promise I won't have ISSUES on the cruise. That's what the cruise is for.... leaving all the "......" behind.

Kristi

*****HUGS*****

 

[Ginamarie]

Oh, I forgot to ask.... on the last cruise, some of the passengers left pillowcases and sharpies at the guest services desk for autographs. I had forgotten to do it, and was hoping we could do it on this cruise instead.

For anyone who's done this before... do you wash the pillowcases beforehand?

 

[sdlong329]

You're gonna love this!

I just got off the phone with a DVC representative. I politely explained the concerns of several hundred people on DISboards, about the seemingly unusual DCL upgrades. Granted, we never booked a cruise demanding, or insistant upon an upgrade ... BUT ... when someone books a cruise 1 year ago, pays $1600 for a CAT 9 room, and sees a new $600 CAT 12 GTY reservation being automatically upgraded to a CAT 5 - one begins to wonder if, in the future, we should refrain from booking in advance, and/or booking anything but a CAT 12 GTY (T/A).

This is where is gets good ...
DVC rep called DCL ... they talk amongst themselves. DVC comes back to the lline with me. Get ready ... DVC tells me that DCL NEVER automatically upgrades ANYONE - EVER - NADA - ZILCH - ZIPPO. You must request (and pay for) an upgrade.


I guess some people think we're morons. I mean, If you book a GTY room, they will often be required to upgrade the CAT. Aside from thet, I was cautioned that DISboards is not an official WDW website, and many people on DISboards have never sailed (ever) before, and are not familiar with an upgrade. In addition, not everyone on DISboards tells the truth.


Here's my question to the board ...

"Which of the following statement best describes you?"

a) You are on DISboards, and have no idea what you are doing
b) You are on DISboards, and don't know what an upgrade is
c) You are on DISboards, and don't tell the truth about being upgraded

NO, I AM NOT KIDDING! Makes me want to rethink the whole idea of a meet-n-greet with DCL onboard. It also makes me want to rethink about booking future cruises?

VENT = OFF. Talk amongst yourselves.

 

[Ginamarie]

You're gonna love this!

I just got off the phone with a DVC representative. I politely explained the concerns of several hundred people on DISboards, about the seemingly unusual DCL upgrades. Granted, we never booked a cruise demanding, or insistant upon an upgrade ... BUT ... when someone books a cruise 1 year ago, pays $1600 for a CAT 9 room, and sees a new $600 CAT 12 GTY reservation being automatically upgraded to a CAT 5 - one begins to wonder if, in the future, we should refrain from booking in advance, and/or booking anything but a CAT 12 GTY (T/A).

This is where is gets good ...
DVC rep called DCL ... they talk amongst themselves. DVC comes back to the lline with me. Get ready ... DVC tells me that DCL NEVER automatically upgrades ANYONE - EVER - NADA - ZILCH - ZIPPO. You must request (and pay for) an upgrade.


I guess some people think we're morons. I mean, If you book a GTY room, they will often be required to upgrade the CAT. Aside from thet, I was cautioned that DISboards is not an official WDW website, and many people on DISboards have never sailed (ever) before, and are not familiar with an upgrade. In addition, not everyone on DISboards tells the truth.


Here's my question to the board ...

"Which of the following statement best suits you?"

a) You are on DISboards, and have no idea what you are doing
b) You are on DISboards, and don't know what an upgrade is
c) You are on DISboards, and don't tell the truth about being upgraded

NO, I AM NOT KIDDING! Make me want to rethink the whole idea of a meet-n-greet with DCL onboard. It also makes me want to rethink about booking future cruises?

VENT = OFF. Talk amongst yourselves.

That is really moronic. They must think we have no idea what's going on.


The upgrade question comes up A LOT, not just on DCL but on all of the cruiselines. It's the ones that don't sell well that have the most discrepancies. This is one of the things where it pays to be more savvy about cruises... just like Disboards makes us more savvy about disney. TA cruises are the slowest sellers (again, on DCL as well as other cruiselines). To get the best price, you're better off waiting until the last minute and taking a guarantee cabin. This only works if you don't care about what cabin you get onboard. If you DO care about your cabin, you either book early for the early booking discount (which is never as good as the last minute deal) or you wait for the last minute prices and hope the cabin you want is still available. On cruises that are great sellers (see the first cruises on the Dream, the Alaska itinerary, the Panama Canal cruises or cruises during the holiday period) you're a lot better off taking the early booking discount, because there probably won't be a great last minute deal or a bunch of upgrades (if any).

It's not necessarily fair, but that's the name of the game with cruises.

DCL should just be honest about the way they handle things instead of lying about it. That's not cool at all.

 

[adedward]

DIS is not a DCL site: accurate
Not everyone on DIS has sailed DCL: accurate
Not everyone on DIS tells the truth all the time: I think you all will agree this is accurate

DCL does not "automatically" upgrade. I would say accurate. They do redistribute inventory to absorb GTY reservations, and as a result a number of people end up in higher category rooms.

Is that done in a way that makes everyone happy all the time, clearly no. I imagine it is done instead a manner that results in the fewest people having to be moved. In other words, a 12 might go up a few categories to an open 5 room, rather than always moving a 6 to the 5, than a 7 into the now open 6, an 8 into the now open 7, a 9 into the now open 8, etc. etc. etc. Otherwise the logistics would be impossible.

 

[mjwood77]

Well based on calling DCL several times myself this does not surprise me....seems you can call 3 different times, get three different answers.

Not sure if the DVC person gets to talk to someone "in the know", but if they are talking to the same people we are then I'm not surprised you are getting such a bizarre answer.

I was surprised that DCL upgrades people that book specific cabins. This is my first DCL cruise, but my experience with HAL is that if you book a specific cabinet they might try to up sell you, but rarely upgrade you on your own. So not sure if DCL typically does that, or if it is a special case because the boat is apparently nowhere near full. So maybe that was what the operator was referring to.

But to say they never upgrade anyone ever.....doesn't even begin to pass the goofy test. Why would GTY even be an option if you couldn't get an upgrade....

Melissa

 

[Dishy24]

You're gonna love this!

I just got off the phone with a DVC representative. I politely explained the concerns of several hundred people on DISboards, about the seemingly unusual DCL upgrades. Granted, we never booked a cruise demanding, or insistant upon an upgrade ... BUT ... when someone books a cruise 1 year ago, pays $1600 for a CAT 9 room, and sees a new $600 CAT 12 GTY reservation being automatically upgraded to a CAT 5 - one begins to wonder if, in the future, we should refrain from booking in advance, and/or booking anything but a CAT 12 GTY (T/A).

This is where is gets good ...
DVC rep called DCL ... they talk amongst themselves. DVC comes back to the lline with me. Get ready ... DVC tells me that DCL NEVER automatically upgrades ANYONE - EVER - NADA - ZILCH - ZIPPO. You must request (and pay for) an upgrade.


I guess some people think we're morons. I mean, If you book a GTY room, they will often be required to upgrade the CAT. Aside from thet, I was cautioned that DISboards is not an official WDW website, and many people on DISboards have never sailed (ever) before, and are not familiar with an upgrade. In addition, not everyone on DISboards tells the truth.


Here's my question to the board ...

"Which of the following statement best describes you?"

a) You are on DISboards, and have no idea what you are doing
b) You are on DISboards, and don't know what an upgrade is
c) You are on DISboards, and don't tell the truth about being upgraded

NO, I AM NOT KIDDING! Makes me want to rethink the whole idea of a meet-n-greet with DCL onboard. It also makes me want to rethink about booking future cruises?

VENT = OFF. Talk amongst yourselves.

I have to admit, I am livid at DCL over this... 13 cruises between myself & my parents... ALL in Cat 5 (2 in Cat 4) and NEVER, EVER an upgrade... So yeah, when I find out that the family in the room next door to me paid nearly $4,000 less than my family did, I am pissed. (Again, not at the lucky family... good for you! Pissed at DCL!!!)

 

[bound2travel]

Many people have mentioned enjoying various craft hobbies. How many of you enjoy scrapbooking? Just looking for others that enjoy the same hobby as me.

I'm not bringing scrapbook stuff to work on as there just isn't enough room in an airplane to bring my crap (I'm mean scrap) stuff back.

Kristi

 

[slcmom]

You're gonna love this!

Here's my question to the board ...

"Which of the following statement best describes you?"

a) You are on DISboards, and have no idea what you are doing
b) You are on DISboards, and don't know what an upgrade is
c) You are on DISboards, and don't tell the truth about being upgraded


Well, I'm afraid that it's pathetically obvious to all and sundry that I definitely fall hard into category 'A' in many aspects of my life. I do, however, try to be honest in my dealings with my fellow men, and I have had the pleasure of experiencing upgrades, so there you are. Perhaps it's not too late to organize dis-thread matching t-shirts: they could say, "I'm on Disboards and I have no idea what I'm doing!"

 

[Beauty & the Best]

We wil have a laptop or two as well.
a. Check on the kids back home
b. Homework for daughter and friend
c. Download pictures.
d. Keep updated on how our animals are doing back home. (We could have 3 births while we are gone.)
T

Are you a dog or cat breeder or do you have a farm? I just ask b/c of the births

We are neighbors (#6603) and basically same/similar circumstances. Cat 12 to Cat 11, 1st time DCL cruisers and like our location. Mid-ship up-and-down and pretty much mid-ship front-to-back. Also, we are just a short walk to the laundry. I hope we get a chance to meet and get to know each other!

Yay! It will be nice to see a friendly face just next door. Also we are quiet folks

She looks too cute One of my little sisters had a bear like that but he was blue she kept him with her until he lost all his filling and was falling apart. Too cute

I have a winnie the pooh bear that I've had since 18 months - he was the "sears roebuck" winnie so he's a little different then the fat ones nowadays. We now have a little game where we photograph him in different travel spots around the world (like the leaning tower of Pisa or at the acropolis in Greece)...he's definitely going on the cruise!

Thanks. I passed it on. So many little things to keep in mind! And of course I am just addicted to the Disboards

Maybe think of bringing a power strip to make more plugs for electrical devices!

I've had a REALLY bad day today. I was suppose to have an MRI but the idiots at Shands booked me at the wrong MRI and I didn't find out until last night. When I called today, I can't get into the right MRI until March 19th.

Some personal stuff occurred and I had to go ahead and take today off work to deal with them (the phone counselor I talked to was not really all that helpful - he sounds like he was reading from a script).

Anyway, I'm a bit better now (4pm) after a LONG nap - just drained.

Thanks for listening, I promise I won't have ISSUES on the cruise. That's what the cruise is for.... leaving all the "......" behind.

Kristi

That sucks Kristi! I really hope that tomorrow is better

.......DVC rep called DCL ... they talk amongst themselves. DVC comes back to the lline with me. Get ready ... DVC tells me that DCL NEVER automatically upgrades ANYONE - EVER - NADA - ZILCH - ZIPPO. You must request (and pay for) an upgrade.

I guess some people think we're morons. I mean, If you book a GTY room, they will often be required to upgrade the CAT. Aside from thet, I was cautioned that DISboards is not an official WDW website, and many people on DISboards have never sailed (ever) before, and are not familiar with an upgrade. In addition, not everyone on DISboards tells the truth.

I can't believe they lied to you like that. wow

I have to admit, I am livid at DCL over this... 13 cruises between myself & my parents... ALL in Cat 5 (2 in Cat 4) and NEVER, EVER an upgrade... So yeah, when I find out that the family in the room next door to me paid nearly $4,000 less than my family did, I am pissed. (Again, not at the lucky family... good for you! Pissed at DCL!!!)

Just an idea why you haven't ever been upgraded - If you always book Cat5 or Cat4, the ONLY upgrade for your family is to suite level. There are only 18 Cat3 suites, 2 Cat2's and 2 Cat1's making 24 suites total. That's not a lot of suites so they probably are in high demand.

Also, upgrading a room to suite level incurs other costs for the cruise line b/c suites have extra perks that other staterooms don't have.

 

[Beauty & the Best]

Well, I'm afraid that it's pathetically obvious to all and sundry that I definitely fall hard into category 'A' in many aspects of my life. I do, however, try to be honest in my dealings with my fellow men, and I have had the pleasure of experiencing upgrades, so there you are. Perhaps it's not too late to organize dis-thread matching t-shirts: they could say, "I'm on Disboards and I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Hon, I think he was kidding w/ those questions. We're all learning here!

 

[Dishy24]

Just an idea why you haven't ever been upgraded - If you always book Cat5 or Cat4, the ONLY upgrade for your family is to suite level. There are only 18 Cat3 suites, 2 Cat2's and 2 Cat1's making 24 suites total. That's not a lot of suites so they probably are in high demand.

Also, upgrading a room to suite level incurs other costs for the cruise line b/c suites have extra perks that other staterooms don't have.

Actually most of our cruises have been in Cat 5, so I could have been upgraded to a 4... especially on THIS cruise when there seems to be many Cat 4 room available!

 

[stlkeeler]

We are on this flight, also! Looks like there will be a few of us. We have about a 3-hour layover.

I am sitting right next to Disneyheather. At least we can comiserate the end of our vacation together.

Oh, I forgot to ask.... on the last cruise, some of the passengers left pillowcases and sharpies at the guest services desk for autographs. I had forgotten to do it, and was hoping we could do it on this cruise instead.

For anyone who's done this before... do you wash the pillowcases beforehand?

Yes, I would iron them, too.

I don't have a blackberry, but that's the same with my cell phone. Now my ipod iTouch - THAT will have to recharged constantly as I listen to music and play the games I've loaded.

Kristi

Kristi, will you show your itouch to me? I want to get one for my DD for her bday in May and have never seen one in real life.

 

[JessicasMom]

Had to call Disney air today, since no flight info on website as of yet. Satisfied with flights (not crazy about leaving Newark at 6am!...NOT a morning person), but just happy to have details in order now.

My question: Does anyone know how the buses run from MCO to the port? Do they leave at planned intervals (like every half hour) or wait until the bus is full? Just wondering how long we might have to sit and spin (like the snow storm we're getting today!). Also, where do we meet the bus? I know Disney reps will be around to keep us in line but just wondering how far we'll have to walk. The only time I've ever used Disney transp. was many years ago, and the bus was parked quite far away.

I guess I'm just one of the DISSERS who doesn't know anything.

 

[spyles]

They've never made any sense to me.

We did a short 3 nighter in January on the Wonder, and we booked it in December at the last minute. Well within the 45 day window, and at an absolutely insane FL resident fire sale price for the Category 12 GTY. We ended up in two Category 9 cabins.

Fast forward to February, and we're in 2 Category 11 cabins on deck 7 for the EBTA. Absolutely no rhyme or reason. Well, I had to think about it...maybe there is?

We did call and we did complain when the price went down from $799 to $699, and I escalated to a supervisor. It makes me wonder, "If I just shut up, maybe we would have been sprinkled more? Maybe they would have taken pity on me and bumped me up more?"

Maybe if I hadn't gone in to the DCL website, changed the room categories around, and basically forced the discount and the refund on the Category 12 GTY cabins we booked (reducing the price from $799 to $699), maybe we would have been sprinkled more? Sure, the refund was nice, but did that result in me losing out in a balcony or an outside cabin?

I spent yesterday trying to null out my cabin, and force us back into GTY status. I was doing that, thinking to myself, "well, where would we end up if we were back in the GTY bucket, so to speak." I was unsuccessful, but I wondered if anyone has done that successfully.

Then I think to myself that what I got is what I got. It's a category better than what I paid for, and it's better than being at work for two weeks. Of course in the back of my mind I'm not overly happy, but I don't think it's worth me going into Diva Mode for something that's outside my control. Anyway, maybe Disney will still call me and try to upsell me a cabin for $$. If the price is right, maybe I'll bite.

-----

Alpaca Babies? How cute! I'm sure they're just bundles of fur on wobbly sticks!

-Steve

 

[spyles]

Kristi, will you show your itouch to me? I want to get one for my DD for her bday in May and have never seen one in real life.

Three of us have iPhones, basically the iTouch with phone/camera/mail functionality. You are more than welcome to look at ours as well for comparison or review. We may even bring an iPad if they're out before the cruise.

-Steve

 

[KrisannB]

Many people have mentioned enjoying various craft hobbies. How many of you enjoy scrapbooking? Just looking for others that enjoy the same hobby as me.

I'm not bringing scrapbook stuff to work on as there just isn't enough room in an airplane to bring my crap (I'm mean scrap) stuff back.

Kristi

Well I am scrapbooker, but a digital one! I actually do the creative memories digital stuff - hey I could teach a class on that too! I will be creating my cruise albums each evening on my computer - they even have disney digital packages to make Disney themed digital books. The thing I like is I can order them, print them on my own printer or just keep them digital and view them

I missed the scrapbooking event we had on the WB PC in 2008 because of a conflict but had paid for all our stuff from the person who organized it (it was great) but that stuff is still sitting in the bags she gave it to us in I hope to get to it one day - but till then, I keep doing the digital dance - very compact and great results!

Can you tell I love my digital stuff

Krisann