Anyone Booked on April 15 2012 Dream

[morgansmom2000]

Yippee! More Patriots coming out!

On eBay, Gradysmommy made ours, here's a link to her listings, Click me. I will be hiring her to make us a new one for this cruise. We also got personalized pillow cases from her, and had Morgan's autographed while on the cruise.

 

[mhawk4]

Yippee! More Patriots coming out!

On eBay, Gradysmommy made ours, here's a link to her listings, Click me. I will be hiring her to make us a new one for this cruise. We also got personalized pillow cases from her, and had Morgan's autographed while on the cruise.

Thanks for that link, I see a few things I like.

I am SOOOOOOO excited. I know it is over a year away, but we have not taken many vacations and I am so happy to be taking this one. In May we went to Disney and then we were hooked on taking vacations. After that great trip we decided that life is too short and we need to take more time for us and our family. We don't have tons of money but can still find ways to save for trips.

YEAH!!!!!

 

[morgansmom2000]

I would love to participate in the FEs. Do we each have to make something? Any additional information would be great.

I live in Lexington and work in Wellesley. I know my girls would love to meet other people going on the cruise. This will be our first one.

You don't have to MAKE something. A lot of things we got were store-bought. There were a few people giving out hand sanitizer (B&BW had those Halloween ones), we got "local" candy from a few people, small puzzles, pencils, pens, stickers galore, candy candy candy (it was Halloween), a "cruise kit" of bandaids, a marker, and a few other small items. I made a bag up for each cabin, it had a (handmade) bookmark and a postcard for each person in the room, one magnet, a tip card for each adult, a hand sanitizer, some stickers and/or tattoos or pencils for each child in the room. I also had a whole bunch of leftover party favor things (mainly for girls, since I only have one who is a girl), so I put a few little goodies in the bags for the girls too. One thing I thought to get (before I decided to go the handmade route), was a small sewing "emergency" kit. They sell them in the Dollar Spot at Target, or at one of the many dollar stores.

Some of the handmade things we got were things like ornaments, magnets, coasters, bookmarks (aside from my own), a 2011 CD calendar of DCL photos, a gorgeous handmade tote bag with our last name and a ship embroidered on it, CDs of pirate/beach/cruise music, a painted picture frame, beaded pendants and key chains, lots and lots of fun stuff!

Thanks for that link, I see a few things I like.

I am SOOOOOOO excited. I know it is over a year away, but we have not taken many vacations and I am so happy to be taking this one. In May we went to Disney and then we were hooked on taking vacations. After that great trip we decided that life is too short and we need to take more time for us and our family. We don't have tons of money but can still find ways to save for trips.

YEAH!!!!!

I know what you mean. We didn't really start vacationing until 2005, when we took our first Disney trip (as a family - I had been lots of times as a kid, because I had lived in Florida). For one thing, we got hooked on the magic. For another, it was really really great to get away and be a family and just have fun!

We are planning on adding a couple park days after this cruise. We haven't been to the World since 2008, and we're really missing it.

 

[pkoles]

Welcome MHAWK4.
You are absolutly right in your philosophy that life is too short and devote time to family vacations. Soon after marrying my wife and I decided that we would adopt this philosophy as both sets of our parents passed away in their late 50's. As such we spend what would be our retirement money on vacations at least two travel weeks a year, one to WDW
We have little retirement and our children will have no large inheritance, but we will all have the precious memories of our vacation family time. Just ask the kids everytime Dad pulls out the old video tapes.
I know you will have fun on the cruise and create your own family memories.
You have over a year to get well versed on the cruise lingo from these boards.

 

[mhawk4]

You don't have to MAKE something. A lot of things we got were store-bought. There were a few people giving out hand sanitizer (B&BW had those Halloween ones), we got "local" candy from a few people, small puzzles, pencils, pens, stickers galore, candy candy candy (it was Halloween), a "cruise kit" of bandaids, a marker, and a few other small items. I made a bag up for each cabin, it had a (handmade) bookmark and a postcard for each person in the room, one magnet, a tip card for each adult, a hand sanitizer, some stickers and/or tattoos or pencils for each child in the room. I also had a whole bunch of leftover party favor things (mainly for girls, since I only have one who is a girl), so I put a few little goodies in the bags for the girls too. One thing I thought to get (before I decided to go the handmade route), was a small sewing "emergency" kit. They sell them in the Dollar Spot at Target, or at one of the many dollar stores.

We are planning on adding a couple park days after this cruise. We haven't been to the World since 2008, and we're really missing it.

Thanks for getting back to me. It is nice to know that it does not have to be made, but it can be. Now I have time to think of a project or find something.

My daughters are so excited to go. They keep telling everyone they are going on a cruise in April and when people say something about it coming up shortly we have to tell them it is a year from now!

We are very excited!

 

[mhawk4]

Welcome MHAWK4.
You are absolutly right in your philosophy that life is too short and devote time to family vacations. Soon after marrying my wife and I decided that we would adopt this philosophy as both sets of our parents passed away in their late 50's. As such we spend what would be our retirement money on vacations at least two travel weeks a year, one to WDW
We have little retirement and our children will have no large inheritance, but we will all have the precious memories of our vacation family time. Just ask the kids everytime Dad pulls out the old video tapes.
I know you will have fun on the cruise and create your own family memories.
You have over a year to get well versed on the cruise lingo from these boards.

We are really looking forward to going. It should be so much fun. Now we just have 15 months to wait! AHHHHH.

 

[mhawk4]

Hi pkoles,

Since this is our first time sailing I am going to be so full of questions. What is the weather like in April?

We are on the 5th floor near the elevators. Should I worry that it will be noise? Maybe I am reading to many posts. We picked it as it is mid-ship and on a lower level and near the kids activities.

 

[pkoles]

Weather in April is usually fine. Actually my daughter got really burnt on the first full day while at Key West. Water was fine Weather ok.
On our first cruise we were on deck 2 lowest inside cabin no real issues
This cruise we are also on 5th floor 5016 I believe ( at work now have info at home). Only issue I can see on fifth deck is this is where the kids clubs are based. May be noise issues with kids going down hallways-- Doubt this would happen late night.
Again welcome aboard.

Pkoles

 

[BVC4us]

I have a question about the FE exchange too. Do you give something every night? , do you give to just one family (a name is given to you/) or do you give to everyone who is participating in the FE exchange? Thanks...I'm interested in this but I want to know a little more about it.

 

[morgansmom2000]

I have a question about the FE exchange too. Do you give something every night? , do you give to just one family (a name is given to you/) or do you give to everyone who is participating in the FE exchange? Thanks...I'm interested in this but I want to know a little more about it.

I'm sure there are different ways to do it, but the way we did it last time (and how I think we are doing it this time), is you get a list of people (name, age, stateroom number, etc.) and you give ONE gift to each stateroom who signs up. It can be a per person gift, or a stateroom gift. For example, I gave postcards and bookmarks to each person in the room, but also included one hand sanitizer for the whole room to share. One of the gifts we got was a box of fudge from England. That was for all of us to share.

HTH!

 

[pkoles]

As to FE gifts, on our last cruise we had a list of all cabins and their occupants who were participating. Our family decided to gather a number of small gifts, items from dollar stores and oriental trading ect and delivered to the list about 3 times on a 7 night cruise. As for gifts recieved it varied where each family member recieved a gift or the stateroom recieved a gift. It appeared some participants gave one gift and others a few. What really spread pixie dust was my daughter 15 at time recieved some nice gifts picked out exclusively for a teenage girl.

Overall I guess it will depend on the level of participation. If we have a large number of participants we could group the list.

The key is to keep it fun and inexpensive. Sometimes the best gifts are handmade momentos of the trip.

 

[SharonLowe]

What are FE's? I am new to all of this.

Short for Fish Extenders. There is a hook/clip outside the door, shaped like a fish, for people to leave notes, etc. Some brilliant DISer thought of the idea of using them to share gifts with fellow DISers on the cruise. Here is a good thread for you to read:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=33184281&postcount=2

People make, if they are crafty, or purchase on Ebay or Etsy, the fish extender but you could also just hang a bag outside your door.

Oops, sorry, I see others answered before me. I got ours for our last cruise on Etsy and it was really nice. We were able to select the fabric and characters we wanted on it. I'll likely do it again since the first was personalized for our cruise. As for gifts, we got things to give each night to each stateroom but I wouldn't do that again. It was a hassle spending time each night on a 3-day running around the ship. This time we'll do once per stateroom. We had gifts for each person and anyone celebrating a special moment also got a personalized magnet for their door.

 

[newmommy_2010]

We were going to sail Oct 2012 but after reading the great reviews, weather and water in April I decided April would be a good time for a 1st cruise for the family! We are waiting to hear back from our TA!

 

[morgansmom2000]

We were going to sail Oct 2012 but after reading the great reviews, weather and water in April I decided April would be a good time for a 1st cruise for the family! We are waiting to hear back from our TA!

Can't wait to hear good news!

 

[newmommy_2010]

Was hoping this thread was still alive!! I can't wait to join the FE swap..I have been reading so much about them.

 

[pkoles]

Welcome Newmommy2010
We are happy to have you in our group, which I know will grow as we get closer to our date. Just imagine not far from one year date

 

[newmommy_2010]

So since we are almost to the 1 year mark this liven this thread up a bit!!! Since we are first time cruisers tell me some of your plans you do at the ports..any excursions or stay on the ship? Also, what is one thing you dont want to forget to pack that someone else may not think of?
One last question any ideas on a meet or just doing FE?

 

[morgansmom2000]

We rented bikes on Castaway Cay, I'd do that again. It was fun. I'd like to do the paddle boats this time too.

As far as Nassau, we may go over to Paradise Island and just poke around. Probably won't plan an "excursion" but just do a little here and there.

We planned a couple meets in October - one was to pick up our lanyards that someone had ordered ($3 each, I think), and there was a PJ breakfast, and a Palo brunch for those who could get in the same time. We didn't do any of the meets, but we were able to recognize people from our thread from the lanyards and met and spoke to quite a few.

The FE gift exchanges were awesome on our trip. My favorite gift was someone hand made a bag and then embroidered a ship on it with our last name. Amazing!

 

[newmommy_2010]

SO EXCITED!!! We are officially booked!!! It will be me (28), DH (30) And DS (1 (21 MONTHS)on the 1st day of the cruise)!! We are in Room #2028
Category 09B!! I am excited!
I can't wait to do the FE! We are going to order ours from ebay! Trying to think of "Spring" ideas!!

 

[morgansmom2000]

Yipppeee!