4/5/2003 - anyone going?

[skeegan]

I gave in and called DVC today. They said not to expect the documents until 2 weeks before the cruise.

The good news is that an upgrade was now available. We went from Cat. 8 to Cat 5. Now our room is only two doors down from the room we had two years ago. My DH is the most happy as he spends alot of time on the verandah.

 

[Hersh]

The time is growing closer. How is everyones plans going? Has anyone picked any exciting excursions?

It's our first cruise, so we are just going to go with the flow!

Anyone else?

Hersh

 

[skeegan]

We prebooked the Golden Eagle Catamarron on St. Maarten. We did the butterfly tour on the last cruise and St. John on our own.

 

[dvrcraig]

We have booked the package deal at castaway cay, but will be winging it for the other ports.

 

[RachelTori]

It sounds like there will be a number of us "winging it"!! Have y'all gotten your packing lists ready? Bought the green ribbons? Less than 3 weeks to go!!!!

 

[JLSM97]

I've been working on my packing list most the morning. It's times like these that I miss my single days when I packed for ONE instead of FOUR!

I think I've mentioned before that my mother-in-law has handled all of our reservations, and as I've found useful info here I call her and she passes questions on to the travel agent. This TA has been very UNhelpful from day one (don't get me started!), but this last thing was just too much...

The more I read about transportation options to and from the port, the more I realized that there were lots of methods cheaper than the 12 Disney transfers we'd purchased. Last week I suggested my MIL ask the TA about cancelling/returning our transfers so we could handle transportation on our own. The TA told her it was too late, we had already paid for them so we were committed. I said I thought that sounded odd, and encouraged my MIL to call DCL directly. Of course, someone there told her that NO, we could easily cancel the transfers and find our own transportation. We're saving more than $400 doing this.

Guess what TA isn't getting a big fat thank-you from 12 irritated clients???

Having our own transportation makes the whole packing thing a little easier since we don't have to feel guilty for hogging all the cargo space ourselves. Of course, now we'll just fight amongst ourselves and stew over it the whole week long...

Going through the Calgon packing list I discovered that I still have lots of shopping to do! Off I go...

 

[GoofDad1]

Hi there!

We're new to the DIS Forum

We just received our packet. Our immediate family is DW, DD (17), and DS (13). Also along is my DSister-in-L and her son (6).

We have cruised before, but never w/ Disney.

It sounds like there will be a bunch of us from Atlanta. Does anyone have a cast of GA characters? <G>

I found out we have to book excursions thru DVC and will look into that tomrw.

Starting to get excited........

GoofDad1

 

[DisneyGalKaitlyn]

Hey there!

I'm also new to the Forum - GoofDad1 (his post is above) is my dad! I'm his DD(17).

I was just wondering if any older teens will be on the ship during the 4/5/03 cruise. I'm kinda stuck in the middle -- not 18 til August, but a senior in HS. So I can't get into the "adult" stuff, yet I'm at the upper end of the 13-17 group. Just hoping to meet some people my age! E-mail me or post a reply!!

Anyway - so excited for the cruise!!! I've been reading the PassPorter guide and posts and web info for the past few weeks now, and I cannot wait!

Also, we're from Marietta, GA too, going during our spring break.

Hope to chat with some people before we leave!

 

[RachelTori]

Kaitlyn, where do you go to school? My daughter, Rachel, is a senior at Lassiter. Unfortunately, she will not be joining us on the cruise - just her 9 yr old sister (sorry!). If you don't meet any older teens on this board, don't despair! From what I've heard, we have a pretty full ship and I know there will be other teens your age; you'll have a GREAT time!! Is your family driving down? Will you be @ a hotel the night before? There will be a group of us at the Radisson. Rachel & Tori's Mom, Laura.

 

[DisneyGalKaitlyn]

Hey Laura,

I'm a senior at Walker. Too bad your daughter isn't going - does she not want to go or does she have other plans? I would NOT want to miss out on any Disney cruise (even if it's with my family ). But again, that's just me, hehe (my friends don't always seem to get my Disney obsession -- "You're going to Disney World AGAIN?!?")

I'm trying to convince my parental units to let us (me and my 13y/o bro) skip the whole day that Friday before the cruise so we can have a leisurely drive down (can you say senioritis?). So yeah, maybe we'll stay at the Radisson if we don't stay with family down there.

 

[RachelTori]

Hey Kaitlyn! Rachel loves Disney and Cruising, but felt she got a better offer with 6 or 7 of her friends! Guess I can understand!! If your family does make it down to the Radisson, you'll probably find many of us by the pool! Otherwise, look for the families wearing lime green ribbons at the Terminal on Saturday (don't forget to get ribbon for yourselves!). If I remember correctly "ladypam" from Atlanta, will be wearing a shirt covered in Disney pins (I can't wait to see that!) I look forward to meeting you and your family; it's going to be a GREAT week!! See ya soon! Laura

 

[nuthut]

My son Casey will be on this cruise, he is 17 going on 18 next January. Watch for a six foot- two kid, skinny as a board on the basketball court.

 

[skeegan]

Cruise documents arrived today! Now we just need to start getting ready.

 

[ladypam]

RachelTori,

You are right that will be me with the Minnie Ears and the pins all over my shirt. I will also make room for the green ribbon. I am just hoping I will be able to walk by the time of the cruise. I had a serious surgery to reconstruct my foot(my arch collasped) in May. I had to have another surgery last week to take all of the metal and hardware out of my foot. I don't know why I thought this was going to be a breeze It isn't quite as painful as the operation in May, but a breeze - NO I may have crutches or a cane to go with my Minnie ears, shirt full of pins and green ribbon. I should be very easy to pick out in a crowd! I AM GOING! Even if I have to crawl onto the ship! I am so glad that I have had my passporter and this board to keep me excited. I love reading all the information and everyone's posts.

To everyone who wants to meet my DGNE (9) and my DGNI (7) and I hope my sister (29), my daughter (27) and me (29) (my daughter will soon be older than me ) we have changed cabins. We are now in Cabins 6120 and 6122. This will be the last change unless we are upgraded to category 1,2 or 3. That should only happen to me

We are excited and wish we could go today Can't we? We are looking forward to meeting everyone.

Pam

RachelTori, I have a daughter Rachel, too. Unfortunately, she will not be on the cruise. She had her Spring Break from college last week and she feels that she can't take the time off.

 

[RachelTori]

Pam, I'm sorry to hear about your surgeries. I'm sure we'll all be willing to give you a hand if you need it; but I have a feeling you'll do fine no matter what!! I may need the name of your doctor soon; but I'm not going to even think about my foot until AFTER the cruise!!!

Where does your Rachel go to college? Mine will be going to UGA next year.

Looking forward to meeting everybody!

Laura

 

[skeegan]

Pam,

I hope you are feeling better soon and look forward to meeting you on the cruise. I know recovering from surgery can be difficult, I will keep you in my prayers.

 

[goofydadeo]

GoofDad1 & DisneyGalKaitlyn - Welcome aboard! You're going to have a great time!!! We have quite a group from the Atlanta area on this cruise. Don't forget to wear your lime green ribbons and we'll look forward to meeting soon!

I happen to agree with you about skipping school on Friday. That's what we're doing! Trust me, attempting to leave town on the Friday afternoon before Spring Break is a nightmare. Last year during rush hour it took us almost three hours to crawl out of town -- so you may want to seriously consider leaving earlier on Friday! Maybe we should leave on Thursday night!!!

 

[ladypam]

RachelTori and Skeegan,

Thank you so much for your prayers, good wishes and offer of help. My sister may ask you to carry my purse. She is really tired of carrying it for me !! My daughter, Rachel, attends Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. Neither one of our daughters would go to school in Georgia no matter how much we begged and pleaded. The older one who will be on the cruise with me went to U. of Michigan and now teaches Art in DeKalb County. They both went North. The older had to come back to get out of the cold and snow. We'll see what happens with the younger one.

I am concerned about goofydadeo's post about the traffic. We don't have any choice about leaving Atlanta Friday afternoon. We were going to try to drive straight through. I guess we will have to rethink that

Can anyone tell me where I can get one of those neat counters that most of you have and how to install it in the posts?

Looking forward to meeting everyone soon.

Pam

Life is uncertain so eat dessert first.

 

[RachelTori]

Pam, tell your sister we'll be happy to help carry your purse or whatever else we can help with! Hope you're feeling OK.

I happen to work for the University of Michigan! I work for the Institute for Social Research; interviewing Atlanta area Study participants! (our current study is NSHS - National Survey of Health & Stress funded by NIH. We're in the final stages of the adult interviews; also doing an Adolescent Study, which is fascinating!) Ann Arbor is a really neat college town, but winters are endless!!

We plan to leave Atlanta Friday morning. Since we're up on the north end (near Woodstock), it can take forever to get thru the city. If I remember correctly, if you're not south of Atlanta before 3 p.m., you'll be sitting in traffic for quite awhile. Any chance you can re-work your plans? If you can head out shortly after the Friday morning rush hour, you should be to Port Canaveral by dinner time. If it still has to be Friday afternoon, the earlier the better!

I don't know how to do the "countdown" -- but has anyone else noticed the clock on this site is hours off?!!!

Laura

 

[ladypam]

RachelTori,

Wow, what a small world. I know my daughter will love to hear about your job. She loved Ann Arbor!! I was born and raised in Michigan and my oldest(she will be on the cruise) was born there too while my husband(he won't be on the cruise ) was in law school at U of Mich.

I don't think we can do anything about changing the time we leave. My daughter is a teacher in Dekalb County schools. Even though the kids only have a half day of school that Friday she has to stay the whole day - teacher meetings and staff development. She doesn't think she will finished until 3:30 which puts us right in the middle of the mad exodus out of town. Unless by some miracle she can leave early. We will probably drive part of the way Friday and then get up super early on Sat. to make it to the ship at a reasonable hour.

My sister says thank you for offering to carry my purse. She needs a vacation

Only a little over two weeks until Magic!

I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known

Walt Disney

See you all soon.
Pam