April 17, 2011 on the Dream

[svcutler]

I felt like a true addict today going through a withdrawal because i left my iPad at home when we took DD to her dance class; travel plus class time = 3.5 hours not being able to log in...

Congratulations on your back to school! Luckily, the next storm we are getting is on a weekend......but unluckily for our DD if her art, tennis, and craft classes she takes on Sat. morning would get cancelled...

....that post made me think it is Elizabeth....

I am sticking with my second guess; that was not really rejected, right ?


P.S. - I just noticed in your signatures - you both sailed in 2008!

Oh, I think you are right! Deb?? Ness???


Thanks for the well wishes about school! I am bummed about Saturday's weather not to mention next week again....

School officially took Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday away from our Spring Break week due to all the snow days-
But, I have two words for them - Bon Voyage!! Or...
See ya, wouldn't want to be ya! Or...
my favorite from the boys from 'nsync... Bye Bye Bye!

 

[guarn3md]

Oh, I think you are right! Deb?? Ness???


Thanks for the well wishes about school! I am bummed about Saturday's weather not to mention next week again....

School officially took Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday away from our Spring Break week due to all the snow days-
But, I have two words for them - Bon Voyage!! Or...
See ya, wouldn't want to be ya! Or...
my favorite from the boys from 'nsync... Bye Bye Bye

Ok great - now I will be singing 'nsync all night...
That stinks! I get it but it still stinks. What about all the parents who have made plans and I am sure there are plenty of teachers with plans, too! I remember last year when we had all those snow days in MD - some of them were considered State of Emergencies and the school board appealed to the State and had them waived. So we had 10 snow days - four built into our calendar, four were waived due to State of Emergency and we had to add two to our calendar. The worst part was the Board decided that the waiver didn't apply to teachers and they were going to add 6 days to the end of the year for us! Our union got involved and so they ended up adding only two and then the hours of two more were tacked onto our work hours for the Months of May and June.
Are you all expecting more snow this weekend?? Wow...
Debbie

 

[svcutler]

We could sing together because I have it in my head for the last 20 minutes!!!

More snow Saturday and Tuesday. Ugh!!

Night!

 

[Donnaksmj]

I have a question for everyone...
After the cruise we are all going to WDW for a few days. We have dinner booked at 1900 Park Fare - w/ Lady Tremaine, step sisters, prince and I think Cinderella. Anyway, I was going to order a custom cake for my parents from GF bakery to be delivered after dinner. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this summer... I don"t know what to have written on the cake - I don't think I should put Happy 50th since it isn't till July. I am not creative - anyone have any suggestions of what to write... I follow the custom cake thread and I just love the cakes I have seen. We got one for Connor last summer at Wolfgang Pucks, celebrating his success at AAU Nationals in Taekwondo. I had to order it in advance of the competition - thank goodness he came in 2nd in forms and 3rd in sparring. Anyway... my parents upcoming anniversary seemed like a good opportunity to order another cake.
Thank you for any suggestions/help...
Debbie

"Almost Golden" or "On Our Way to the Gold" or something like that???
50th is Golden anniversary right?

 

[KerryDVC]

Ok great - now I will be singing 'nsync all night...
That stinks! I get it but it still stinks. What about all the parents who have made plans and I am sure there are plenty of teachers with plans, too! I remember last year when we had all those snow days in MD - some of them were considered State of Emergencies and the school board appealed to the State and had them waived. So we had 10 snow days - four built into our calendar, four were waived due to State of Emergency and we had to add two to our calendar. The worst part was the Board decided that the waiver didn't apply to teachers and they were going to add 6 days to the end of the year for us! Our union got involved and so they ended up adding only two and then the hours of two more were tacked onto our work hours for the Months of May and June.
Are you all expecting more snow this weekend?? Wow...
Debbie

That's interesting...I teach and we are up to 10 snow days (2 due specifically to dealing with snow clearing off of roofs and inspections). We are supposed to start to lose April vacation after 7 make up days are added to the end of the school year. But, there is a possibility of February being taken away first. According to some meterologists, we will continue to get snow every few days for a while...I hope not!!!

I am not so sure this trip is going to happen for us !

 

[pershing]

Hey all! Just checked the DCL site and sadly we are still gty! It's 72 days to go, give me a room! Maybe we will have to use one of the life boats!

Ditto

Our ship is booked up, surely they should have rooms to assign us now???

It's gonna be interesting, that's for sure. What are they gonna do with us GTYs?

 

[goofy4tink]

I have a question for everyone...
After the cruise we are all going to WDW for a few days. We have dinner booked at 1900 Park Fare - w/ Lady Tremaine, step sisters, prince and I think Cinderella. Anyway, I was going to order a custom cake for my parents from GF bakery to be delivered after dinner. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this summer... I don"t know what to have written on the cake - I don't think I should put Happy 50th since it isn't till July. I am not creative - anyone have any suggestions of what to write... I follow the custom cake thread and I just love the cakes I have seen. We got one for Connor last summer at Wolfgang Pucks, celebrating his success at AAU Nationals in Taekwondo. I had to order it in advance of the competition - thank goodness he came in 2nd in forms and 3rd in sparring. Anyway... my parents upcoming anniversary seemed like a good opportunity to order another cake.
Thank you for any suggestions/help...
Debbie

How about 'Celebrating 50 years together!!'?


The really strange thing about my life right now???? I'm in the show 'Anything Goes' here in our community theater group. It's the story of a bunch of passengers on a cruise ship. Our shows are the two weekends just before we cruise. And my theater tote bag is my DCL red/blue tote bag. The song 'Bon Vogage' takes on all new meaning for my dd and I!!!! It's almost like we're preparing to cruise the next weekend!!!

But, back to getting together my FE stuff. The list is getting longer and longer. Not sure I'm going to have room in my bags for this stuff. It may be time to think about two smaller groups....just a thought. It can be so time consuming to trudge around the ship handing these out...the Wonder was bad enough, but the Dream??? Yikes!!!!

 

[sarac]

Hi this is our first time cruising... Have been going back through some of the posts and saw the FE Exchange. What is that and how do you join? I know there is probably a post out there that describes but hard to sort through 140 pages... If someone wouldn't mind, could you please re-post. Sounds like fun!

Thanks!!!

 

[Ness2289]

Beside every cabin door is a large metal silver fish (or starfish or seahorse) with an indentation in the back for cruise personnel to leave information, invitations, etc. Teenagers receive invitations to Teen Club activities and we've also received "rebooking onboard" price quotes tucked in our fish.

DISboarders have taken the silver fish (starfish, seahorse) one step further... by creating hanging pockets (much like cloth letter holders) to hang from the fish (or starfish, or seahorse) - 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 had always been just a plain canvas bag on which I'd added a tropical scene, the names of the Disney ships, and our names. But recently, a very sweet DISer surprised me with a beautiful "real" FE for this cruise!!!

On each "Cruise Meets" thread (such as this 4-17-11 one) someone usually 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 on the main cruise boards 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. You can either post your information here in this thread or send me a private message by clicking on my name in the upper left hand corner of this post and then clicking "send a private message to Deb T.". I will only post your DIS name and gender/ages of children on the public forum. However, I will send private messages with names and cabin numbers to all participants to keep everyone up-to-date. Since some people travel earlier in the week prior to cruising, we will close the list on 4-1-11 in order to give everyone time to purchase/prepare 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 speak from personal experience that it really is a LOT of fun to participate!

Sarac, here's a quoted explaination from our Fish Extender Exchange Coordintator, Deb T!

 

[jilljill]

I have a question for everyone...
After the cruise we are all going to WDW for a few days. We have dinner booked at 1900 Park Fare - w/ Lady Tremaine, step sisters, prince and I think Cinderella. Anyway, I was going to order a custom cake for my parents from GF bakery to be delivered after dinner. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this summer... I don"t know what to have written on the cake - I don't think I should put Happy 50th since it isn't till July. I am not creative - anyone have any suggestions of what to write... I follow the custom cake thread and I just love the cakes I have seen. We got one for Connor last summer at Wolfgang Pucks, celebrating his success at AAU Nationals in Taekwondo. I had to order it in advance of the competition - thank goodness he came in 2nd in forms and 3rd in sparring. Anyway... my parents upcoming anniversary seemed like a good opportunity to order another cake.
Thank you for any suggestions/help...
Debbie

Did you call 1900 Park Fare and see if they have anything in house that would be comparable rather than order a cake from the bakery?

I'm very supersticious and wouldn't put Happy 50th Anniversary on a cake that far out - but that's just me.

I like the suggestion of putting celebrating XX years together. If they've been together 52 years and only married coming up on 50, then put the 52 on the cake.

 

[momtoleasawav]

Hi everyone,
My daughter is making fun of our thread saying all we talk about it the weather! I laughed at her!
So this is pretty much my first cruise- My DH and I went once but many years ago. I have learned so much from these boards but I am looking for any tips from experienced cruiser.

we are driving down (crazy, I know but airfare is ridiculous) and staying at the country siutes inn. I only recently learned that you need to make a reservation for the shuttle.
I would like to get to port early as I can and board early for lunch
we are undecided what to do in Bahamas... any suggestions?
at castaway cay we have reservations for stigrays and parasailing both at 10 am. If i do that do you think we will be able to find seats on the beach?

any other tips you can think of?
thanks

 

[Deb T.]

....that post made me think it is Elizabeth....

I am sticking with my second guess; that was not really rejected, right ?


P.S. - I just noticed in your signatures - you both sailed in 2008!

Oh, I think you are right! Deb?? Ness???

Bingo!

Ness was one of the two new DIS friends who took pity on me and my sad dinner tale on our 2008 spring break cruise. It was an absolute pleasure getting to know her and I'm really looking forward to seeing her again on this cruise!

I find it pretty amazing that on each of my last 5 cruises, I've sailed with at least one other family that we've cruised with before. It's especially nice to look forward to seeing "new" friends again!!

School officially took Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday away from our Spring Break week due to all the snow days-
But, I have two words for them - Bon Voyage!! Or...
See ya, wouldn't want to be ya! Or...
my favorite from the boys from 'nsync... Bye Bye Bye!

 

[Deb T.]

That's interesting...I teach and we are up to 10 snow days (2 due specifically to dealing with snow clearing off of roofs and inspections). We are supposed to start to lose April vacation after 7 make up days are added to the end of the school year. But, there is a possibility of February being taken away first. According to some meterologists, we will continue to get snow every few days for a while...I hope not!!!

I am not so sure this trip is going to happen for us !

Sending a blizzard of pixie dust that you will be able to come on this cruise!!!!!!!!

 

[Deb T.]

The really strange thing about my life right now???? I'm in the show 'Anything Goes' here in our community theater group. It's the story of a bunch of passengers on a cruise ship. Our shows are the two weekends just before we cruise. And my theater tote bag is my DCL red/blue tote bag. The song 'Bon Vogage' takes on all new meaning for my dd and I!!!! It's almost like we're preparing to cruise the next weekend!!!

Very cool!

But, back to getting together my FE stuff. The list is getting longer and longer. Not sure I'm going to have room in my bags for this stuff. It may be time to think about two smaller groups....just a thought. It can be so time consuming to trudge around the ship handing these out...the Wonder was bad enough, but the Dream??? Yikes!!!!

I had offered to split the group a couple of months ago, but everyone indicated they wanted to stay in the bigger group. I do understand that some might be concerned with how large our FE Exchange is getting. So, anyone who would like to be in a smaller FE group please let me know and I will be happy to accommodate.

 

[KerryDVC]

Sending a blizzard of pixie dust that you will be able to come on this cruise!!!!!!!!

How sweet! Thank you!

I really can't complain since we will be on the Magic this month. But, of course we are certainly looking forward to the Dream. Time will tell!

 

[guarn3md]

Hi everyone,
My daughter is making fun of our thread saying all we talk about it the weather! I laughed at her!
So this is pretty much my first cruise- My DH and I went once but many years ago. I have learned so much from these boards but I am looking for any tips from experienced cruiser.

we are driving down (crazy, I know but airfare is ridiculous) and staying at the country siutes inn. I only recently learned that you need to make a reservation for the shuttle.
I would like to get to port early as I can and board early for lunch
we are undecided what to do in Bahamas... any suggestions?
at castaway cay we have reservations for stigrays and parasailing both at 10 am. If i do that do you think we will be able to find seats on the beach?

any other tips you can think of?
thanks

We are driving down too! My Dad really wants to drive so I am letting him have his way - this time. Where are you leaving from? My parents & Sis live in NJ and I live in Maryland. They will come to me and then we will all leave from here 4/14 around 5am - so we can miss DC traffic. I am kind of looking forward the the drive, we used to do it all the time when we were kids and my parents took us to WDW.
We are also staying at the Country Inn and I would also like to know about the hotel shuttle. We booked the park & cruise package. I did the online check-in and got a time of 11am so I definitely want to ge there by then!
We are doing the Blue Lagoon Dolphin encounter in Nassau. It got good reviews and figured my son, Connor and sis Asia would love it! We also have reservations for the stingrays but at 12:00. I am going to do the 5k in the morning and I figured I would need time to recover, relax, etc...
I don't know what I would have done without these boards and especially this thread!! I am a WDW pro but a cruise newbie!

Debbie

 

[svcutler]

Yelena wins the $1000 gift for guessing that it was Ness!


Great news for us over here in CT. school board changed their mind and...wait for it, wait for it.......they decided to take away the February break!!! yippee!!!! Not that it would have made a lick of difference because if you remembered my last post....., Bye Bye Bye!! But at least we won't feel guilty about having to pull our kids out of school!

 

[alenushka]

Yelena wins the $1000 gift for guessing that it was Ness!

I now have money for a deposit for Fantasy!
Who is paying?

news for us over here in CT. school board changed their mind and...wait for it, wait for it.......they decided to take away the February break!!! yippee!!!! Not that it would have made a lick of difference because if you remembered my last post....., Bye Bye Bye!! But at least we won't feel guilty about having to pull our kids out of school!

Congratulations!
We got a call very early today - all recreational activities for tomorrow are cancelled For DD: art, tennis, and craft classes....

 

[jilljill]

We're driving down too...we are in DE. Last year DD & I drove down 3 times....but we had to drive back 4 times. The one trip was a flight down and drive back. So far for this year we will drive at least 2 more times after this cruise.

 

[Deb T.]

Hi everyone,
My daughter is making fun of our thread saying all we talk about it the weather! I laughed at her!
So this is pretty much my first cruise- My DH and I went once but many years ago. I have learned so much from these boards but I am looking for any tips from experienced cruiser.

we are driving down (crazy, I know but airfare is ridiculous) and staying at the country siutes inn. I only recently learned that you need to make a reservation for the shuttle.
I would like to get to port early as I can and board early for lunch
we are undecided what to do in Bahamas... any suggestions?
at castaway cay we have reservations for stigrays and parasailing both at 10 am. If i do that do you think we will be able to find seats on the beach?

any other tips you can think of?
thanks

We are driving down too! My Dad really wants to drive so I am letting him have his way - this time. Where are you leaving from? My parents & Sis live in NJ and I live in Maryland. They will come to me and then we will all leave from here 4/14 around 5am - so we can miss DC traffic. I am kind of looking forward the the drive, we used to do it all the time when we were kids and my parents took us to WDW.
We are also staying at the Country Inn and I would also like to know about the hotel shuttle. We booked the park & cruise package. I did the online check-in and got a time of 11am so I definitely want to ge there by then!
We are doing the Blue Lagoon Dolphin encounter in Nassau. It got good reviews and figured my son, Connor and sis Asia would love it! We also have reservations for the stingrays but at 12:00. I am going to do the 5k in the morning and I figured I would need time to recover, relax, etc...
I don't know what I would have done without these boards and especially this thread!! I am a WDW pro but a cruise newbie!

Debbie

The DIS Boards certainly are a wonderful thing! I feel very fortunate because we've all already easily become friends! Some of the meets threads aren't nearly as active as this one has been. For example, my 4/21/11 3-night cruise thread is only at page 4.

I would suggest calling the CI&S directly (not the reservation number, but the actual hotel) to ask about reserving their shuttle and if you can do that now or after you check in.

We always liked to get to the port at 10am just to secure the earliest boarding number possible. However, DCL seems to keep changing the boarding process around on us. It's hard to predict what the best strategy is now. Your next decision will be where to eat your embarkation lunch. Some prefer eating outside (Cabana's), but you have to get your own drinks. Others prefer eating indoors (Enchanted Garden) where servers will bring you your drinks. Cabana's has different food stations and Enchanted Garden is a buffet.

I'm no help with the Bahamas, sorry. Seven of our Disney cruises have stopped there, and the most we've ever done is walk around their downtown area and brave our way through the Straw Market. Nowadays, we just stay onboard and enjoy the ship. I've always heard good reports about the dolphin encounter.

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find beach chairs on CC after your excursions. You might want to designate a meeting place/time after your excursions and then look together. Most people report that the farther down the beach you go, more spots will be available.

As far as other tips, we'll try to post them as we think of them. In the meantime, please ask about anything you think of and want to know more about.