5/27/06 "Il pochi il fiero i blabbermouths" We *will* sail again Part 6

[tinksdad]

Ok, Top!!

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[itdjbw]

LOL Pam... well, atleast you tried! And actually I think you did help- with those times for early breakfast I'm going to imagine it's atleast 9am for late character breakfast... so uncool to eat breakfast that late on first day of CC! Not only can't get off at CC right when we port but geesh- we'll still be full by the time lunch starts there! We're used to way more time than that in between breakfast and lunch.
Soemone else said it's the first day at sea after eating dinner at AP- that would be so much better. LOL I guess those with late dining and LAP rotation are going to get the at sea day for character breakfast.

I hate to be a spoiled sport but I hope if we don't go to cozumel that we go somewhere else my husband can scuba dive. It is not likely we will cruise again- atleast not soon and that is what he's looking forward to most. And I heard on another thread that if they go to Grand Cayman they will likely make Cozumel's day at sea and the at sea day (Thursday) at Grand Cayman. That would stink considering that's the formal day, the day I have spa treatments (with and without hubby) and Palo brunch... etc. That would end up being all on Grand Cayman day instead of day at sea... with nothing planned on Wed while we're at sea on that day with that type of change? That would stink.

We just feel like once we paid in full (a couple months ago) it's one disappointment after another. First we heard we probably wouldn't get to do dolphin excursion (the only excursion my older two wanted to do/were really looking foward to), then we booked REAS to book early and turns out it will only let us book early for Jeff and son.. not the whole family so that was a waste of money... then we might not go to Cozumel, then we "might" go to some other port and it might mean at sea/port days change.. after palo and spas are booked (in DH's name- they said Palo was okay for 2 adults anyway, and spa could be changed to me instead of him)... and now character breakfast LATE on the first CC day for us ever... with excursions already booked that morning/etc. There's no turning back now... but we can't help but be disappointed with every little thing (and some big things) adding up little by little as we get close to the cruise. For us it's not just being on a ship... even though it's DCL.. and for us it's not just one of many cruises so no biggie. Yanno?

Okay I'll shut up now. I need to just stop thinking about the cruise at all because instead of being deliriously happy I'm starting to feel disappointment and sadness when I think about it. Things just ain't working out that great.

*back to your regularly scheduled happiness posts* LOL

Why all this stress, it may all amount to nothing, we have been to some wonderful places that weren't planned and for us the ship is the destination, whatever you don't get to do this trip for whatever reason gives you a reason to go back for.

 

[scuba diver]

Now THAT was mean! Matt goes with him, you know. Apologize to Sharon.

What about apologizing to me?

 

[itdjbw]

Hey, Mary...what are you doing up?? I'm just now posting, because Jared blew a circuit breaker and I had to get it taken care of.

If it makes any difference, I have never thought the character breakfast was any big deal. Very disappointing. And I am the biggest kid there is, when it comes to the characters!
We'll miss it on Sunday, too..because we have an early excursion. Too bad they don't make it "open seating"...then people could go as early as they want to. It's never crowded at the later time....I wonder if it is at the early time?

It is a disapointment and I wish they would at least change the characters every year and do something different.

 

[scuba diver]

This is a fun little site. Check out the pink dots illusion. Stacey should love this one!!

Warning, you could go cross-eyed......

That should entertain Stacey for days.

When I post in the morning she will probably still be sitting at her computer looking at the dots.

 

[scuba diver]

Well, I went car shopping today.

It is really tough to find a vehicle that will haul all our dive stuff, be comfortable for our frequent 4-7 hour road trips with the kids, and NOT be a mini-van.

I'm tired of mini-van's but they sure are functional. And they keep everyone quiet and happy. The joy of having second row bucket seats.

Not sure what we are going to do, but I am tired of the old beater that I have....wait....I am going diving on Friday so the beater will come in handy again!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Jeff will be able to dive, no matter where we go. Remember, we're on a ship that's on a great big ocean.....which means diving everywhere!!

Stacey- he can dive no matter where they end up taking us? So if we go to costa maya a 2nd time there is somewhere to dive at Costa Maya? I haven't been able to find anything about diving on Costa Maya and I've asked before and no one has said anything about diving at CM.
If it really is that he can dive no matter where we go- that would be a great relief.

I'm a little lost on the seat discussion. If you're late you really might not have a seat for your entire family? What's this about adult table/kids table?

I'm sure you'll enjoy your time with your family regardless of missing scuba diving.

Okay we'll see... but I'm just going to don my flame suit for this next comment of mine that might not go over well with others... so maybe I should explain a bit. We're not going on this cruise for "family" time. I'm with my kids practically 24/7 (save the amount of time they are at school when I'm NOT volunteering there). DH is with the kids every moment he's not working or sleeping. We don't get to go out without them to do anything- ever- because we don't have a babysitter and my sister who used to watch them now has 3 kids of her own... all 6 of our kids together can get pretty rough plus she ALSO babysits 2 children of her bestfriend- long story... she has already raised her kids but adopted a relative's baby and toddler- my sister is helping her out by watching them for her.. and my best friend also used to watch the kids many years ago but that's when I only had 2 and she only had 2... now we both have 3 kids plus she has had a back injury that has her laid up quite a bit. So the point is... we never get time alone. The only evening we have had alone without the kids with us for over 6 years-- is the one night we used Fairy Godmother to watch the kids in our resort room while we went out to eat at rainforest cafe at DTD and about an hour at pleasure island. That's all.. in atleast 6yrs. Only occasionally (rarely actually) before that.

This cruise was not about spending lots of time together as a family (although we did intend on doing that for all excursions at the various ports -except his diving ofcourse-- and intended on spending time together on CC instead of the kids using the club there)-- it was about a way for the kids to have a blast while we (DH & I) get to finally have some time alone and Dh dive was what sealed the deal for him (especially spending this much).

You're probably right- we'll probably still enjoy ourselves. Whether we enjoy ourselves enough to consider it good money spent when we're spending THIS much money, remains to be seen. I'm not saying it's going to be worse than every day life at home... but if he doesn't get to dive and things get messed up where we can't do the excursions we wanted, can't do the things we planned onboard because the at sea days are changed/etc.- we are NOT going to be oh well... it was still worth spending 10,000+ (a lot +, LOL) just to be with our family... we're with them every day... we're not the type of family that both work and rarely spend time with our children and such that would need that type of vacation. KWIM? And even if we did- we can do that a lot cheaper than a Disney cruise (or any cruise for that matter)

Ok, well, I think it was you who said sailing Disney was a hard sell for your dh....what about another cruise line? One that goes to Cozumel now?

Ohiominnie... I'm not sure I said that exactly. It's not sailing DISNEY that was a hard sell... it's doing anything Disney but he would prefer the cruise over going to WDW again. He'd rather we (me and kids) just go to WDW without him and him only have to go to WDW occasionally instead of as often as we like to go. LOL
I'M the one that is a hard sell for the cruise period- any cruise. I relented because it's Disney and I think the kids would have a lot of fun in the club/lab and thus we'd have some time alone that we never get/etc. He was fine with cruising Disney vs. going to WDW again-for sure... but the diving thing was what really got him into it vs just agreeing to it because it's better (to him) than another trip to WDW. KWIM?
Why I say I'm a hard sell for any cruise is:
A) I'm very frugal... I like to do things inexpensively and this ISN'T inexpensive to cruise. LOL
B) I have had a fear of the ocean practically all my life and I'm still not sure at this very moment if I'm going to enjoy it at all or have a mild panic attack going on pretty much the entire time. Not sure if we'll have seasickness either. Yes I have been in boats (fishing/speed/etc.) around here but we don't have sharks in our lakes! LOL Yes, I have snorkeled briefly in Cancun and Jamaica -- and at the shark thing at TL... but each time I had to work on not freaking out. So my point is that I'm not sure I'm even going to enjoy being on the cruise, even if everything went PERFECT. KWIM?
C) I'd rather be at WDW.
LOL!!!! seriously though!

There isn't a way in the world DH would get me on another cruise line.. I'm not all that interested in cruises and even if we enjoy this cruise, and even if we win the lottery (even though we never buy tickets LOL) so we could afford to go many times... the only way we'd ever cruise again is if it was DCL, because of ME! (I'd probably just plan a bazillion trips to WDW or huge month long ones. LOL)

And other islands do have similar excursions- IF they bump us to GC, they have what I would call the experience of a lifetime for a non-diver, Stingray City. Not dolphins, but just as moving in its own way. Wouldn't be surprised to hear they have some doplphin excursion there too by now, just like more and more ports now have a butterfly one.

Oh Mark, that is so not similar to us. LOL Isn't a way in the world they'd get me in there with stingrays and it wouldn't be the same for them either. Now the dolphins we don't care WHERE we'd end up doing it- but doing stingray instead would just be waste of money... no one in our family is interested in that (and I would veto it right away... I'm not doing that LOL) I was already thinking I'd have to have some long talks with myself to get up the nerve to be around dolphins.. stingrays isn't going to happen. Ever. LOL The closest I have and will ever get to stingrays is barely touching one on the back at Seaworld and that's not IN the water with them. LOL

Interesting. Being we have DVC points for wdw trips, it's been many years since we could actually sit down and do that, so I don't have a good frame of reference. But I'd still say it's not the same, more comparing apples and oranges. You'd be more on a scale comparing to one of those all-incluve resort stays than time at WDW, if anything land based at all.

I'm comparing the two because those are the two things I'd do and I could do WDW three times for one cruise. If apples is the cruise, and oranges is WDW... I'd choose the oranges 3 times over all inclusive cruise - apples (any cruise- see reasons above LOL) one time.

This really isn't known as the high risk time of the year for misses, but honestly if they do, they will still serve the same lunch onboard. When they're docked at CC the Topsiders buffet is closed as they basically move all the staff and food for that day to the island.

Well I didn't know that! Cool...

Btw, with all of this talk about expectations and what is Disney's responsibility to provide...

has anyone ever READ the cruise contract they sign???

It basically says they will take you out on a ship....to somewhere....and they'll try to keep you alive.

But it doesn't even have to be a Disney ship...
It doesn't have to include any of the planned ports.....
It doesn't have to even stay out there the whole time....

YIKES!

Wow, I haven't read a contract yet... but that's not encouraging. LOL But honestly I wasn't saying it was their "responsibility" and they must take me there yada yada... just voicing disappointment about not going where he can dive/etc. Yanno?

 

[itdjbw]

To the person that asked (sorry I can't remember who it was)- I believe 75 days out is March 13th.. someone correct me if I'm wrong.


Hey, I was just trying to find things for me to do on the cruise and not plan spa treatments/etc. during bingo time. LOL But pardon me for laughing out loud at the thought of our family just walking around enjoying sunshine/etc... that's so not us. Not going to happen. LOL

From the posts (thanks btw!) it sounds like character breakfast is something we can go ahead and miss. Youngest DD won't know what she's missing. LOL We have been to many character meals before and we'll be seeing Cindy on the night of our arrival (short stay before cruise) anyway- and that's what matters most to her anyway. So that's cool. Thanks for the advice on that.

As for the meal on CC... sounds great to us! But then I guess that's just who we are/what we like... doesn't sound much different than Mickey's Backyard BBQ and that's one of our favs (and not because of the characters -we liked the food). I have read about the food, seen pictures of people eating the food- it sounds right up our alley... rather than eating breakfast food on the ship I mean. We'll just skip the late character breakfast. No way I'd change our dining-- it works best for us eating late plus we're linked up with some great people from this board!

Darnit! I forgot to watch Gray anatomies last night! Oh poo.... I've only caught that ONCE (last week) and was hoping to see it again. I think I like that show! LOL

You could probably speak to the matri 'd and he can arrange for you to go early, let him know the night before and let him know you have something booked on CC and I'm sure they will go out there way to accomodate you, there are always people who don't show and DCL does want you to have a magical cruise.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Well, I went car shopping today.

It is really tough to find a vehicle that will haul all our dive stuff, be comfortable for our frequent 4-7 hour road trips with the kids, and NOT be a mini-van.

I'm tired of mini-van's but they sure are functional. And they keep everyone quiet and happy. The joy of having second row bucket seats.

Not sure what we are going to do, but I am tired of the old beater that I have....wait....I am going diving on Friday so the beater will come in handy again!

I'm going to post something way un-PC (especially considering gas prices nowadays but I bought mine before the gas hikes! LOL) -- and suggest possibly an SUV type vehicle instead of minivan.
We were in the same "boat" (so to speak haha) last year... I was tired of the mini-van but needed something bigger to haul our stuff, kids stuff, plus the 3 kids. Not sure how many children you have but we ended up getting an Expedition and we love it. Lots of room, serves the same functions as the minivan... a bit less on gas mileage but we enjoy it more than the minivan I had for about 5yrs. Our doesn't have 2nd row bucket seats but the seats can be taken out and what I do is put the middle seat in the 2nd row DOWN... no one sits in it. I can so relate to you on that. LOL The only time all 3 sit in the 2nd row is if I have the back seats down so I can put something large back there.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I hope that works for you.

When I was in Coz in Nov, Dive with Martin left me.

I was 20 minutes late and they did not hold the boat. That is the only time I have ever by left by a boat that I had already paid for. And no refund.

I've been to Coz 3 times and yet to get a dive there. Bad weather and changing port time got me each time.

Maybe 4th time will be the charm.

Oh great..one more thing to worry about! Even if we DO go to Coz- I'll be worrying Martin left him. Well all I know is that he'll be with garry and son... so if he leaves Jeff he'll leave all 3 and like Garry has said now... not paid in full. So he'd be missing the money from all 3 of them if he leaves without DH.

Like someone else said... we know who to blame now if we miss Coz. LOL

 

[Dancind]

BBB, you've been on the main board quite a bit. I hope you're aware that not all kids like the clubs. Some don't want to go at all. On our first cruise, our DD only went a couple of hours a day, until she found some friends later in the week and was willing to stay longer. So if you're counting on being completely kid-free for the week, you may be further disappointed.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

BBB, you've been on the main board quite a bit. I hope you're aware that not all kids like the clubs. Some don't want to go at all. On our first cruise, our DD only went a couple of hours a day, until she found some friends later in the week and was willing to stay longer. So if you're counting on being completely kid-free for the week, you may be further disappointed.

Doubt it. I know my kids... I know what they like and I know they'll like it. They are already talking about how they don't even want to come out for dinner on the cruise. LOL My kids would much rather be in the club/lab than anywhere else on the ship. I've even shown/discussed OQ to my oldest and she's like hmmm, maybe- maybe not. Not her cup of tea (she'd be happy if she was in the club with the 6yr olds even! LOL just how she is..) We will probably have no problems getting them out for the show and/or character greetings and such.. ie: they'll like those things- but anything else they'd probably rather not (like when we make them come eat dinner with us- which I imagine we will since now I have found out that the club/lab takes the kids to eat dinner at the time we'd be at the show with them... meaning they'll have to come eat dinner with us or they won't eat dinner at all LOL)

I'm not counting on being completely kid-free the entire week either. Let's see... they can't be in the club/lab until Sunday night (since first night is only with us with them and no- we're not going to split us up and go spend a large amount of time WITH THEM in the club/lab. no thanks to that). We intended on being with them at each port and CC. So basically we're talking only at sea days in the club/lab (2 days) and some evenings... but only after show/dinner (see above about how they can't eat with the club/lab for dinner as we thought they could ... because then they'd miss the show every night). So 2 days at sea... a couple of late evenings after dinner. I wouldn't call that expecting to be kid-free the entire week.

 

[itdjbw]

Wow, I guess I really did sign my life away for this cruise

Welcome needawdwtrip,
you will have a great cruise, our kids cried when we had to leave the ship after breakfast the last day, we are all addicted and I keep wondering why I waited so long and all the cruises I missed out on.

 

[Dancind]

Hey, is anybody watching the Olympics? Is anyone else really bored with speed skating? I'm not finding boarding all that exciting either. Yeah, they go high up, and they do some spins up there, but big woop. Nice that the US team did so well, though I think it's kind of an American sport. Kevin was watching curling today, he couldn't believe that one.

 

[itdjbw]

No. She won't eat twice. Well, maybe dessert. We'll be sure to stop by and give the servers something if in fact she goes there a decent number of times. After all, when I spend $$$$ on a cruise, what's another $20 or so?

We had late dinner last year and all DD friends had early when we got to the table our server would laugh and say 'all the girls are looking for you' and a little while later in they would troop, have dessert with us and our table of 4 would have 8. DS would go to the room every night and only on the last night did the room stewert tell us DS would go there and watch him make the towel animal and chat with him non-stop. The kids had a blast and different enjoyment as they get older.

 

[justmestace]

I never knew that and guess I just learned something new.

See there? Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks???


An unexpected T.O.P. with an old dog! (You DOG you! )




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[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hey, is anybody watching the Olympics? Is anyone else really bored with speed skating? I'm not finding boarding all that exciting either. Yeah, they go high up, and they do some spins up there, but big woop. Nice that the US team did so well, though I think it's kind of an American sport. Kevin was watching curling today, he couldn't believe that one.

Ahhhhhhh I keep forgetting about watching the Olympics! Thanks for the reminder!

Hey I have a question- on many threads I have seen mention of asking the room stewart for this and that (if needed) -how do you do that? What if you aren't there when they come in... what if you don't see them? How would you ask anything of them if you don't see them? Leave a note somewhere or what?

 

[justmestace]

LEFT YOU


SEE we told him we will pay in CASH GOOTTACHA $$$$$$


I thinks he will be there


you being the great person paid him in full????????

guess I'm cheap. well DW says that ??????

by the way does anyone have 1 chocolate covered cherry wrap of course

I do need a valetines gift when my sweet in florida wife gets home.??????

OR I could get that government HARD CANDY that would work those NEVER xpire




gaRry

I got Jay two huge boxes of chocolate covered cherries. Want me to take a couple out and send them to you???

 

[justmestace]

Ahhhhhhh I keep forgetting about watching the Olympics! Thanks for the reminder!

Hey I have a question- on many threads I have seen mention of asking the room stewart for this and that (if needed) -how do you do that? What if you aren't there when they come in... what if you don't see them? How would you ask anything of them if you don't see them? Leave a note somewhere or what?

You can leave them a note...but you WILL see them, in the hallway coming and going, cleaning the rooms. They will introduce themselves the first day. If you don't see him or her, and you need something, you can call housekeeping, or Guest Services.

 

[itdjbw]

OK..My 2 cents worth!! As a non-diver, I an kinda hoping we go to Grand Caymen..Stingray city sounds really neat!!! I can't believe they wouldn't offer diving there too!! No, I have never been to Cozumel before, but it sure sounds like a real mess with all the tendering problems!!


Mike

OH..AMAZING!! MY FIRST TOP EVER

Stingray city was amazing, I was a bit nervous to go but once I was there I loved it, it is an experience of a lifetime, it sure is different than being at a controlled environment place!!