April 1 2010 cruise meet

[bobo_UK]

A little story about us and this cruise. When we booked to visit Disney again in 2010 we had decided we couldn't afford to cruise again this year as we are hoping to move home soon and wanted to cut costs a little. As we are from the UK we tend to do long 3 week trips to Florida so as you can imagine it costs us quite a lot.

I explained to our 5 year old princess that we wouldn't be going on the big Disney boat this year before she went to Grandads for tea.

When I went to pick her up later my mum told me that Jessica had asked grandad if she could go on the big Disney boat and he said of course and that he would make sure it happened.

So without realising what he had agreed to my dad was now going to pay for our cruise. Even when I told him how much he said he would pay for our princess to go....What a guy. Thanks Dad your the best.

So the reason for this post is to say Dad gave me the money last week so we are all payed it and ready to go.

I also booked Palo this morning for the second night at 19:30

Sign us up for the Fish extender exchange thingy please.
We are :-
me = Deano
DW = Katie
and DD = Jessica aged 5

Look forward to meeting you all soon.

Deano

 

[Deb T.]

A little story about us and this cruise. When we booked to visit Disney again in 2010 we had decided we couldn't afford to cruise again this year as we are hoping to move home soon and wanted to cut costs a little. As we are from the UK we tend to do long 3 week trips to Florida so as you can imagine it costs us quite a lot.

I explained to our 5 year old princess that we wouldn't be going on the big Disney boat this year before she went to Grandads for tea.

When I went to pick her up later my mum told me that Jessica had asked grandad if she could go on the big Disney boat and he said of course and that he would make sure it happened.

So without realising what he had agreed to my dad was now going to pay for our cruise. Even when I told him how much he said he would pay for our princess to go....What a guy. Thanks Dad your the best.

So the reason for this post is to say Dad gave me the money last week so we are all payed it and ready to go.
Deano

Such a sweet story! Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

[Deb T.]

Sign us up for the Fish extender exchange thingy please.
We are :-
me = Deano
DW = Katie
and DD = Jessica aged 5

Hooray! Thanks for signing up for the Fish Extender Exchange! All we need now is your cabin number so we'll know where to deliver your surprises!

We now have three families participating in the FE Exchange!

 

[bobo_UK]

Hooray! Thanks for signing up for the Fish Extender Exchange! All we need now is your cabin number so we'll know where to deliver your surprises!

We now have three families participating in the FE Exchange!

Thats a very good point our cabin is 7127

 

[Deb T.]

Thats a very good point our cabin is 7127

Thanks!

Are you, by any chance, in the London area? I need a very detailed description of the best way to go from Heathrow to the Marriott County Hall. We've heard it would be very expensive to use a taxi cab. We're not at all familiar with the "tube", but hear it's easy to use. I tend to panic when lost, especially in an unfamiliar city. What would you suggest?

 

[bobo_UK]

I'm not from London but I do work in London occasionally. I've just had a quick look at your journey and by Taxi I think it would be around $120 or £75.

Another Option would be the heathrow express which is a train from Heathrow to paddington station in London which is around $25 or £16 Each. Once at Paddington it would be around a$25 or £16 taxi fair to your hotel.

You could get the Tube from Paddington but I'm not sure how practical that would be with luggage depending on the time of day you are traveling or how many bags you have.

London is extremely expensive unfortunately which is why I only go when works pays me to....

I'm not a London expert but have plenty of friends who are so if you need anything else let me know

 

[Deb T.]

Thanks for the info! I really appreciate it!

 

[CarolinaBlue]

We just booked this cruise tonight! Actually, my DH and I were booked on the May 20th cruise, but decided to switch cruise dates for our DD's 16th birthday.

We would like to participate in the FE, too. We had so much fun doing that on our last cruise!

Karen (me)
Steve
Kelley (19)
Caroline (15, turning 16 right after the cruise)

Cabin #2592 (we're actually in a cat. 9 and cat. 12 gty., but the FE will be outside the cat.9)

 

[Deb T.]

We just booked this cruise tonight! Actually, my DH and I were booked on the May 20th cruise, but decided to switch cruise dates for our DD's 16th birthday.

We would like to participate in the FE, too. We had so much fun doing that on our last cruise!

Karen (me)
Steve
Kelley (19)
Caroline (15, turning 16 right after the cruise)

Cabin #2592 (we're actually in a cat. 9 and cat. 12 gty., but the FE will be outside the cat.9)

Welcome aboard, Karen and crew! We're so glad you're joining us!

And, thanks for signing up for our FE Exchange! We're up to four families participating now!

 

[Isi]

We would like to participate in the FE, too. Our cabin is 6051..

Isabel (me)
Jose (DH)
Bryan (8)
Brianna (8)

 

[Deb T.]

We would like to participate in the FE, too. Our cabin is 6051..

Isabel (me)
Jose (DH)
Bryan (8)
Brianna (8)

Hi Isabel!! Welcome aboard! Wow - that makes three of us from the same cruise last April - you, me, and Gert (ppiew)! I'm glad you're doing the FE Exchange again!

So far, these are the families participating in the FE Exchange:
ppiew: Gert & Jack, Lori & Rob, Sophia (13) and Olivia (8),
Bobo_UK: Deano & Katie, Jessica (5)
CarolinaBlue: Karen & Steve, Kelley (19) and Caroline (almost 16)
Isi: Isabel & Jose, Bryan (8) and Brianna (8)
Deb T.: Deb & Jeff

Anyone else? You can either post your information here on this thread or send me a private message by clicking on my screen name at the top left side of this post and then click on "Send Deb T. a private message".

 

[lisa costa]

We're booked for this cruise as well, counting down the days. It will be our second Disney Cruise on the Wonder and we are celebrating my DD's 13th B'day. What does FE mean, I'm not so active on the threads.

Me- Lisa
Husband- Charles
DD 15
DD 14
DD 13

 

[Deb T.]

We're booked for this cruise as well, counting down the days. It will be our second Disney Cruise on the Wonder and we are celebrating my DD's 13th B'day. What does FE mean, I'm not so active on the threads.

Me- Lisa
Husband- Charles
DD 15
DD 14
DD 13

Welcome Aboard, Lisa!

FE stands for Fish Extender, and a FE Exchange is a lot of FUN! Here's a recap what I've already posted about how a FE Exchange works:

Beside every cabin door is a large silver fish with an indentation in the back for cruise personnel to leave information, invitations, etc.

DISboarders have taken the silver fish one step further... by creating hanging pockets (much like cloth letter holders) to hang from the fish - thus the name, "Fish Extender". The Fish Extenders (FEs) can be made of practically anything (cloth, plastic, paper gift bags, etc.), as long as they have at least one pocket that can hold surprises. My FE is just a plain little canvas bag I purchased at Michael's Craft Store. I traced a Mickey Mouse (three-circle) shape on the front with a black Sharpie and then colored it in with a lime green highlighter. (Lime green is the official color of the DIS Boards.) I'd love to have a "real" FE like some of the creative DISers have sewn, but I've never taken the time to attempt to make one.

Then, each "Cruise Meets" thread (such as this 4-1-10 one) organizes a little gift exchange during the cruise. People sign up by giving their cabin number, names of everyone in their cabin, and ages of the kids so that everyone will know how many goodies to bring and where to deliver them. Some people give one gift per family, some people give a little gift to each person. It's totally up to the giver to decide what to give and when to give it during the cruise.

There are several threads that discuss ideas for FE gifts. Some gifts are from Dollar Stores, some are handmade, and some are bought in bulk from websites that sell trinkets like the Oriental Trading Company. Often, they are stickers, candy, glow sticks, lanyards, etc., with themes such as pirates, beach, cruise, tropical, hometown, holiday, etc. The main idea is just to have fun finding little goodies in your FE throughout the cruise. Kids LOVE running back to their cabin to see if anything's been left in their FE. As an adult, I have to admit that I love it, too!!!

If you'd like to join in on the fun on our cruise, please let me know. Since some people travel earlier in the week prior to a cruise, we should close the list by March 20th to give everyone time to purchase gifts and pack them. You'll also need to print the final list of participants and pack it with your gifts so you'll know where to deliver them once you're onboard the ship.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Also, this thread has tons of info and ideas about FE Gift Exchanges: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607

I hope you'll decide to give it a try!

 

[Deb T.]

Here's a short version of how a FE Exchange works:

Before you leave for the cruise:
*Buy or make little surprises for each cabin (some people give an inexpensive gift for each person in the cabin, some people do one gift per cabin - it's totally up to you!)
*Print a copy of the list of final participants so you'll know which cabins to deliver your goodies to. (I'll send the final list to all participants by Private Message on March 20th.)

Once you're onboard the ship:
*Hang a FE from the silver fish clip outside your cabin door. Your FE can be anything, just as long as it can hold a few treats! I use a small canvas bag, but many people have gorgeous personalized hanging pockets (very similar to hanging letter holders).
*Whenever it's convenient during the cruise, have fun delivering your FE gifts to the other participants.
*ENJOY peeking inside your FE everyday to see what surprises have been delivered to your FE!

I've participated in FE Exchanges with as few as four families and as many as 20! On our Baltic Cruise this summer, I believe we'll have 50+ families participating! It's honestly one of the highlights of the cruise for us!

 

[ppiew]

I can't believe i am asking this question - but I will ask away however stupic i look! I have 2 friends that are on this cruise that want to register on these boards and also on the FE exchange. How do they do that? I feel so stupid!!!

 

[Deb T.]

I can't believe i am asking this question - but I will ask away however stupic i look! I have 2 friends that are on this cruise that want to register on these boards and also on the FE exchange. How do they do that? I feel so stupid!!!

It's been over ten years since I registered on these boards, so I'm going to take a guess here... When your friends pull up these boards, in the top right-hand corner it should say something like, "Log In". If your friends click on that, there should be an option to log in or register.

As far as the FE goes, I don't think new users can use the Private Message option until they've made a certain number of posts. So, they can either supply their information (names, ages of kids, cabin number) on this thread or have you send a private message to me.

I'm so glad to hear we'll soon have more FE participants!

 

[Mouseskis]

Yay - just made the final payment for our cruise today!

Please sign us up for the Fish Extenders!

Stateroom #2105

Kristi (me)
Brian
Matthew (7)
Andrew (4)

We can't wait!!!

 

[Deb T.]

Yay - just made the final payment for our cruise today!

Please sign us up for the Fish Extenders!

Stateroom #2105

Kristi (me)
Brian
Matthew (7)
Andrew (4)

We can't wait!!!

Hooray! Another FE participant!

Congratulations on making your final payment today! Very exciting!!!
We made our final payment last week.

 

[lisa costa]

Just made final payment today as well!!! Counting down the days

 

[Deb T.]

Just made final payment today as well!!! Counting down the days