A little announcement
Following our last holiday in WDW I suggested to Helen that she should invite her parents to come to USA and WDW to find out what it was like. We talked about how we could do this as both her parents are divorced and re-married. We knew that we could offend one set for one reason or the other set for another reason so we sent a letter to them at the same time. They both responded positively but thankfully, there was no disagreement as to who would go in 2008 and who would go in 2009.
Helen's mother and her husband are to go this year. The plan was that we get off the cruise on 1st September and that afternoon, we would meet them at Orlando airport and they would stay with us at Old Key West using our DVC points.
So far so good.
A few weeks ago, they started asking questions about the cruise. They have done a few cruises in the Mediterranean and enjoyed them so they were VERY interested in a
DCL cruise. When I went into details, dates and prices about our 15 day Eastern Repo, it was apparent that they couldn't do that (time-off work etc - he doesn't work for the Government like me ).
To cut a long story short, they asked (begged would be more appropriate ) if we would change our plans so they could do a DCL cruise with us as well. Helen and I tried every way to get them to come to LA with us but at this stage we couldn't even get them on the cruise. It also came to light that they were nervous about flying the Atlantic on their own for the first time as well.
It has taken several days before I was comfortable with "announcing" this but I have now cancelled our place on this cruise and instead will now be going on the 5 day cruise on the 1st September instead. The flights have all been re-arranged and car rental cancelled and re-book, hotels altered etc. etc. It was surprising as to how much I had already done.
Helen and I are very disappointed that we won't be cruising with you, especially with some people we know as friends. The most upset is probably Alex who was looking forward to spending time with so many friends he has come to know and keep in regular contact with. He had agreed to sing with some of these friends and even drink coffee - he doesn't even like the stuff!!
All this is a result of a fairly open and generous offer by me to my in-laws which has been turned around but not to our advantage. I'm not angry just extremely disappointed (more so as I had paid for the cruise in full).
In closing, the night before the cruise I have booked us all into the Radisson at Port Canaveral with the intention of getting up early to hopefully meet some of you getting off the Magic and leaving the port. This is a small price to pay in order for us to see so many of you we were looking forward to meeting again. This has been the only way I have been able to console Alex.
After the 5 Day, we will be returning to WDW to stay for another week so if any of you are free and available on Saturday 6th September onwards, PLEASE, PLEASE, let me know.
Best wishes
David