any November 15th eastern 7 ngt cruisers out there?

[alexturner74]

Originally posted by lbgraves
Has Jessica started classes yet?

She has her first class on Monday and we're both excited. Her last day of work was yesterday and was a little emotional for her.

She's out shopping right now for some new "school clothes" whatever that means. I'm on to her though, another excuse to go shopping!

I've got an interview on Tuesday for a new job (same company, different department). Time to move on in my career too.

Alex

 

[lbgraves]

Good luck to you Monday, Alex! Gosh you both have alot of exciting things happening in your life right now.

 

[lbgraves]

Just had to post to see what the countdown clock says. LOL! Under the 80 day mark!!!!! Today Kaitlyn was too cute. She was jumping on the couch watching the Wiggles when I came back into the family room. Before I could grab her & give her a swat, she looked at me, clenched her fists, smiled really big, and said "I want to go on the Mickey boat!" LOL! She out of that one. She found a postcard from her preschool teacher from last Christmas when she went to WDW. It has Mickey giving Minnie flowers. She has been carrying it around with us and told me yesterday that she wants to give Mickey a hug and he will give her pretty pink flowers. William is even getting excited about seeing Mickey. I keep telling him that Mickey will be as big as daddy. He seems to think that he will be fine since he will be 5 yo on the cruise.

I have been tearing up while reading about the cruise lately...the kids show, boarding & hearing our names, looking at the 360 of our room. I can't wait to get on that ship! Of course I will be all excited again once those dresses I ordered from Jcrew show up. This is giving me an excuse to update my prekid wardrobe.

 

[nedleycan]

I better get the kid's passports done! I have all the paperwork, everything signed, just have to drop it off. Better do this in the next week.
I just bought a new dress for Meghan for the cruise. It is so pretty! Cam will be wearing the same pants and shirt from last year (they were big on him last year) and the same tie. He looked so cute last year! Wish me luck putting it on my though. He will not wear any shirt that isn't a t-shirt. He hates buttons. Hopefully being on the cruise will make him accept it.

 

[lbgraves]

I picked up the kid's BCs last week. Now I am just waiting on mine to show up. I have the plastic card that was issued the year I was born but have never had a paper copy. The card has the raised seal & all but I would rather not take any chances. It's been about a month since I sent it out so it should show up soon.

Maybe Cam will be encouraged by the other kids dressing up? William will be in a double breasted jacket with his suit. We will have a wedding in October for him to get use to wearing it. I would like to find him a new tie too.

 

[mkauffman]

Hey everyone!! We're in the 70's now! Boy, if we just take this 10 days at a time we'll be cruisng with Mickey in no time!

Lisa, I wish I could be there the moment that you board the ship. That excitement never goes away and watching through the eyes of someone else is amazing.

Linda, how long does it take to get the passports back?

Michelle

 

[mcampbell_22]

Hello fellow cruisers!

I've been AWOL for the summer. We have a beach house and I'm just back in the loop. The kids start school this week. Conor started 1st grade yesterday and Devon starts Kindergarten tomorrow. I'm going to have 3 hours all to myself for the first time in 5 years. What to do first!!!

Hope the summer was good to all of you. We are getting really excited about the cruise. It's going to be here before we know it. Got some good news in the mail yesterday from our travel agent. DCL upgraded our cabin. We had #7035 (a category 11 inside stateroom on deck 7) and they upgraded us to #7512 (a deluxe ocean view stateroom with split bath and picture window porthole)!! Yippee!! Takes away some of the "sting" of Delta cancelling all our flights and having to scramble to rebook new ones!

Have a great rest of the week everyone.

 

[mkauffman]

Welcome back Mary!! I've wondered where some of our fellow cruisers were. I hope you had a wonderful summer!

What flights did Delta cancel and are you still flying Delta? We're flying Delta out of Harrisburg, PA very early Saturday morning. We just have our fingers crossed that everything goes well.

Also, big congrats on your upgrade! I love to hear when people get lucky!

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

Great news Mary!!! We got upgraded from an 11 to an 8 too!!! Room 7010...opposite side of the ship from you. Doesn't that just make it even more exciting?

 

[Jo-Anne]

Hi everyone - can't believe it's the end of summer already, but isn't it great to have a Nov cruise to look forward to!! Linda - I just took my kids applications to the passport office last Friday and can pick them up Sept 5...looks like its about 2 weeks turnaround if you hand them in. I had a panic a month ago when I couldn't find my passport and I had to go to Cincinatti next day! Searched high and low and finally took out dresser drawer where I kept it and lo and behold it had fallen down at the back of the dresser! Whew! Congrats to everyone on their upgrades! I phoned Dreams Unlimited to pay off my balance last night and asked if, by any chance we'd been upgraded, and no such luck! She said that if an upgrade was coming it would most likely be 30 days out...don't think so as so many folks appear to be getting upgraded really far out! C'est la vie! :0) Can't wait to be on our way! Not long now!

 

[nedleycan]

Congrats to everyone on their upgrades. No upgrade for us! I have heard that cat. 11 gets upgraded a lot. We are cat. 5, so I really doubt that they would upgrade us to the Disney Suite.... would they! haha If they do, then you are all invited to a party!

Jo-Anne, thanks for the info about the passports. I will go next week. Hear the new thing, where you are not allowed to smile in your passport photo? Apparently there is a grace period for people who have already got their pictures taken... otherwise we would have had to start all over with the kids.

Linda

 

[mkauffman]

Linda......are you serious about the not smiling thing?? That's just silly. What would the reason behind that be?

Michelle

 

[Jo-Anne]

Sigh, yes it's true about the not smiling on Canadian passport photos...something about the future of face imaging for security purposes? We have until November and then anyone after that wanting a new passport has to have a "neutral look"! Hey Linda wouldn't that be great to get the Disney suite!! We're still in category 11, but I'm happy about being mid-ship as I can tend to get motion sickness!

 

[mcampbell_22]

Thanks for the welcome back everyone. It was a great summer but I sure am glad school's back in session!

Michelle, we had a non-stop Delta flight out of Boston/Logan on Saturday 7:15 am and a return non-stop at 2:30pm the following Saturday.

Delta cancelled and changed both our flights. We ended up having to take a flight with 1 stop (Atlanta) that leaves at 6:20 am and arrives at 11:36 in Orlando. They had originally changed the flight to one that left at noon and didn't arrive in Orlando until almost 3:00! Not enough time to get to the ship! Our return flight is still non-stop but it doesn't leave until 4:30 so we may do the Hyatt day rate thing and swim and relax until the flight.

Keeping my fingers crossed that there's no more changes to the flights. Now the cabin, I wouldn't be adverse to another upgrade, possibly with a veranda (Mickey, can you hear me?!!)LOL

Lisa, great to have you just "across the hall." Anyone else thinking of decorating their doors? We're celebrating Conor's 7th birthday and our 15th anniversary so I will probably make up some magnets honoring these events and liven up the door. It will also help us locate the cabin after a long day!

I know I've been out of the loop but have any plans been made for meeting places/times etc. once we're on the ship? I think some of you may also be on the Atlanta to Orlando flight with us (Delta #1451 10:10 departure time). It would be great to hook up there too!

I've already started to put things aside to pack! My husband thinks I'm crazy but with all the school, sport, scout and church activities going on if I don't start now it could be a disaster!

Have a great evening all.

Mary

 

[lbgraves]

Mary, We are celbrating William's 5th birthday on the cruise so I would like to find some of the magnetised paper. I haven't had any luck finding any online & Staples doesn't have any here in town. Have you been able to find something to draw on or cut out yet?

I was just thinking that now that everyone is coming back to the loop we can start planning the meets. Mary, have you seen where the ladies are planning to meet for High Tea at Palo's on Sunday afternoon? Hope that you can join us!!! For those who have cruised before, what is the best time & place to meet on Saturday? I know that the drill is at 4 and the sale away party starts at 5...don't want to miss that!!! I read on one cruise thread that one group is planning to meet on the secret veranda on deck 7 aft and order a couple cheese trays from room service...and bring their own wine / drinks. I know that brunch at Palos was mentioned but have no idea what the response was at the time. We are planning on having Kaitlyn with us since she isn't PTing. I plan on taking her to the club for some of the activities though so she can still enjoy them. There is always the next cruise for Mike & I to enjoy a quiet dinner alone.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Hi Mary - guess your DH thinks I'm nuts too!! I've got a corner in my bedroom that I just keep tossing things into for the cruise...suntan lotion, sand shovels, water shoes...things we're not using anymore this summer. Anyone know if SPF 30 sunscreen will be enough for the Nov Caribbean sun? We also have 50, but would like to get some colour! Jo

 

[mkauffman]

Jo, I would think SPF30 would be enough, but I don't know how fair-skinned you are.

Lisa.....can't miss the sail-a-way party! It's the best. We have early dinner, so we'll be eating not long after we board the ship. I'd be game for just about anything, though. Can't wait for high tea at Palo's. I'm just so excited about meeting everyone!

Mary, we're on that Delta flight from Atlanta to Orlando! It's been changed to an 11:45 arrival time. I think we have about 1 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta. How long is your layover? Will I know you and your family by the big smiles on your faces?? You can usually spot that I'm-going-on-a-cruise smile. Are your pictures on Alex's site? I'll take a look.

Jo and Linda...how can they expect you to not smile on pictures that are specifically being taken so that you can cruise with Mickey??? I'm sure if you explain it to the picture-taker, he'll understand (just kidding).

Michelle

 

[lbgraves]

Michelle, Dinner is at 6 or 6:30? Can't think for certain right now. Hmmm...Hope we aren't delayed for any reason with leaving port! What time is everyone planning on being on the ship? Would a meet between 3 & 4 be possible?

 

[mcampbell_22]

Michelle,

No pics yet on Alex's site. I'm working on it. Seems we don't really have any "family" photos. I'm always the one taking the pictures so I'm not in very many with the kids. I do have the family picture taken at the Kodak(?) exhibit at Epcot that shows us all (although it's a year+ old). That could work. I'll work on it.

I've heard/read of some other cruisers wearing laminated mickey mouse paint chip cards (found at Home Depot) on their lanyards or pinned to their shirts as a way to identify each other. Maybe we could do something like this. I can try to pick up a bunch of the same color and send them to everyone interested if there's not a Home Depot nearby. Let me know.

In regards to the flight from Atlanta, the 1-1/2 layover isn't too bad. It will go by fast what with bathroom, lunch, stretching legs, the wait to board shouldn't feel that long. A nice break for the little ones to move around a bit.

I just picked up a bunch more sunscreen myself. I got the 45 or 50. My kids tan well but I don't want to have the vacation ruined by one bad sunburn. DH is a redhead (well, it's going white now!!) so he burns under a 40 watt bulb! He's the one I have to watch out for! I also made sure to buy a bottle of spray sunscreen for the top of our heads. Mostly for me and DD where our hair parts. Heard people say this can be a major burn spot especially if you get your hair braided. I also just picked up 2 new bathing suits at the end of the season sales. My old ones are pretty worse for wear after a summer at the beach. The old lycra just doesn't hold it all in like it does with a new suit!

Signing off for the night. Talk to you all soon.

 

[lbgraves]

Mary, I think it is a couple pages back, but Michelle designed nametags for us to wear for the cruise. They look great! I'm not sure where it stands on her sending out the files. Michelle???