any1 going in december 17 2005 on the west

[lbgraves]

It actually helped us to meet a family over the summer for our upcoming cruise. After I entered their info I sent them the site & he emailed back immediately after seeing where we live. It turns out that they have vacationed 40 minutes from here every summer for the past 16 years! Their next trip was 2 weeks away so we made plans to spend the afternoon together & the kids had a blast. Now both of our 4 yo DDs are excited about going to the club with their new friend. Things will probably be crazy here after we return 12/13 but by Christmas I should be able to have time to wipe out that data to switch it over to this cruise. It is nice to already have another one lined up this time. Maybe it will make leaving the ship easier?

 

[AKB]

Hi Everyone,
Hope everyone had a Happy Thankgiving! We did. I am enjoying the time off work. Also fought the crowds and did some Christmas shopping on Friday.
Has anyone thought about doing the MVMCP before the cruise next year? This year the last party is offered Friday night Dec 17 - if next year's schedule is the same this will be the Fri night before our cruise. We have never been to WDW and won't have much time before or after the cruise to do much. Original plans were to fly in Friday and drive on to the coast, but after reading about the MVMCP thought this might also be an option.
It's getting closer to our turn to cruise each day!
Kathy

 

[cantsitstill]

Hey all! We just booked the Dec 17th Western sailing of the Magic while on the Magic the week before Thanksgiving. It will be myself, my DH, my 2 boys - 13 and 11 (at the time of sailing), my Mom and Dad, sister and her boyfriend, other sister and her husband, AND 2 aunts with 2 uncles........(big deep breath.......) WHEW!!! ... And anyone else we can convince to come along! We were originally booked for the land/sea, but after spending 7 glorious days, we were convinced that 4 days will just NOT do it! So, the research has begun on Western ports and excursions - any input here would be GREATLY appreciated! Looking forward to chatting with all of you and spending this lllllooooonnnnnngggggg wait here on the dis!

 

[princessmomma]

Welcome cantsitstill,

How was your cruise? Did you get a good deal booking onboard? What category did you book?

We booked category 9 a few months ago and they really seem to be disappearing quickly, many people have booked in the last month. I assume in the new year there won't be many cabins left.

We are going to get together a web site for this cruise so we can get to know each other. Should be fun!

 

[cantsitstill]

Thanks princessmomma and YES our cruise was absolutely wonderful. The seas were pretty rough compared to our July 2003 cruise, but with Bonine, I had no problem. We booked 2 cat. 11's (cheaper than a cat. 7) and got a 10% discount and $200 per stateroom credit. Everyone in our party got cat. 11's except for my one sister (they got a cat. 9), so we're all on deck 6 forward - sis and DH are on deck 5 forward. Looking forward to the meet website! We did that one this past cruise and it was great to have all the pics and then pick everyone out so easily in the terminal.......

 

[princessmomma]

Wow!

The prices for this cruise just jumped $300 +.

I knew that they would start climbing around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

[coriedorie]

Hello everyone. I am cantsitstills Mom and was glad to hear that she found this thread. Our pre-Thanksgiving cruise was the first for me and DH. We had such a wonderful time....are definitely hooked!!! I saw mentioned about posting pictures of us all and think that is a wonderful idea. We did that on our last cruise, and really helped to find people on the ship, since we slept through our DisMeet In our defense, we had taken a redeye out of LA, and just couldn't stay on our feet any longer...!! I only meant to rest my eyes a few minutes! Looking forward to spending time here over this next year sharing ideas and getting information...

Corie

 

[princessmomma]

Welcome Corie,

Glad you took the time to check us out. I love talking to fellow cruisers beforehand. I enjoy meeting new people and have had good luck with meeting great people from these boards.

I remember our last cruise, we met some really wonderful people online and had a great time on the ship. Unfortunately, our table mates that we were assigned to were just awful. Just couldn't get a conversion going at all. They wouldn't even let our two children sit beside their two children so they could enjoy each other's company. Just can't allow fun to be had! Good grief! :space:

Anyway, glad to have you aboard and it will be good to meet you and your family.

Colleen

 

[goofyshell]

Hi everyone!

Kathy- I actually had thought about doing MVMCP the night before the cruise. I've been trying to talk my husband into doing MK the day on Friday and was hoping they would do MVMCP that night. What does it cost? I watched the travel channel special on Disney Christmas last night and I sooo want to go.

 

[lbgraves]

Hello everyone!!! Just got home from the 12/4/04 cruise & am already excited about going on this one. I can set up the thread in my bookmarks now too since I told DH about our booking. LOL!! Daniel was great about adjusting our reservation on the ship last week & now I will be shopping for a great TA deal. Our tablemates & now good friends from the board booked for this week too & we are already linked for dinner. The kids had an amazing time together.

As for the Western last week, the ship was great. The ports need some work. By next year it should be much better. GC was of course working on repairing itself from the hurricanes. Cozumel is doing ALOT of road construction along the main road by the water. The lane by the water was blocked off & being dug up for over 10 blocks so we had to make our way along the sidewalk in front of the stores. It was very narrow, had many venders calling you into the stores, and was also being torn up in spots. Not at all easy to get along with a stroller so we were glad that DS had stayed on the ship in the club & we only had DD in the umbrella one. It was nice to stay in Key West later than they had been, though I missed the sunset party while taking the kids to see the characters for pictures.

I will start changing the website during the week inbetween loads of laundry & trying to get things finished up for Christmas this year. I am really excited about being on the ship again for the holidays!!!

We didn't do the MVMCP this time since I knew that we would be on this sailing next year. Since DH's bday is 12/25 I would like us to go to MK that day & see all of the parades & fireworks then. The tickets were 38 for adults & 28 for kids I think...or close to that. IDK if we will keep to this though since I will do some research about the parks that week. I really want to limit the number of days that the kids are out of school though. They will be in Kindergarten & first grade but chose this cruise because they would already be out of school a couple days this week.

Honestly, knowing that we already had a cruise booked did make it easier to get off the ship Saturday morning. I have lots of pictures of the decorations that turned out much better than last year's with our new camera & will post some soon.

 

[princessmomma]

Lisa,

Sounds like you had a great time. Did you just meet your tablemates on this cruise? How old are their children? That is great when you can hit it off with another family.

Thanks for getting everything in line for our group. It will be greatly appreciated by everyone!

Colleen

 

[lbgraves]

Colleen, we met the family on the DIS thread for the cruise. They sent me their info & picture and when I added it to the website & sent them the link I got a big surprise. They live in OH but vacation here in NC about 40 minutes away from us. They have done that for the last 10 years plus. Their trip was two weeks later so I drove down with the kids & they played together all afternoon. It was nice for them to already know someone on the ship & it was probably the only way either of our DDs agreed to go to the club at all.

 

[lbgraves]

xxxxx

 

[Nemo Mom]

This is so cool! I have been doing a year's worth of lurking on the DIS. We are also on the Dec 17 sailing. There are 30 of us booked so far. 8 rooms total. Kids ages are at time of sailing (I think) (2) 8 yo girls, (2) 8 yo boys, (1) 5 yo boy, (1) 5 yo girl, (1) 6 yo girl (1) 4 yo girl, (3) 3 yo boys, (2) 14 yo girls, and (1) 18 yo boy. We are all so excited. Some have cruised before and some haven't. We all have early seating. The website is a great idea. Can't wait to see it!

 

[AKB]

Nemo Mom: Welcome to the Diz Board and to the Dec 17 cruise. How exciting to be cruising with 30 others.

lbgraves Thanks for providing a official web site for the Dec 17 cruise. I'm glad you had a great cruise. I've been admiring some of your pictures on other threads - Great Pictures!

Each day this week I've been telling my family "Today is .... and we would be ...." Well - Today is Wed. and we would be in Cozumel. I can't wait till it's our turn.

Happy Holidays Everyone.
Kathy

 

[lbgraves]

Guys, I am going to leave it to you whether I put a password lock on the website to view it. I have in the past for privacy concerns since it has more information about our locations & family pictures. That is why I have only sent the link to the people who have sent me their information. LMK if you would like to keep it that way or just have it open.

 

[lbgraves]

Oops! I forgot to ask that you save your pictures as web ready before you email them to me. I am on dial up & it can take quite a while for them to come thru. I have to change them before putting them on the website anyway. Thanks to everyone who has sent info so far. It is fun seeing the group grow so early.

 

[AKB]

Just so everyone knows - Today is Thursday and 1 year from now we will be having a fun day at sea!

Also read on the live magic thread that the diz group had an ornament exchange. This sounds like it could be a fun thing to do as a group.

Happy Holidays,
Kathy

 

[lbgraves]

I agree with that idea!!! We also brought Santa hats with us & took a couple pictures with them, but not like I planned. I wanted to get a picture of us in front of the huge tree dressed up but that didn't happen. If we wanted to get a group shot done in front of Lumiere's in the atrium with Santa hats, that would probably look cute. Get those hats after Christmas when things get marked down! LOL! That's when I buy every thing.

 

[AKB]

I like the santa hat idea also - thanks for the idea - I never would have thought about that.
Merry Christmas,
Kathy