April 17, 2011 on the Dream

[jilljill]

One year mark for us too. To fly down that is!

It seems almost in reach, doesn't it!

I'm paid off too, though from my end it's more like there's so many other places my tax refund could go....the list is endless. So if I don't put it toward the cruise now, then I won't have the final payment in January when the due date is. ESPECIALLY not in January when Christmas was the month before!

I'm also in a 10A Guarantee Catagory and I hear you're more apt to get an upgrade if you're paid off. I've never been upgraded and since this cruise is sold out for 4 people up to cat. 5B now, I figure if ever their was a time to be upgraded....

I'm working on the passports now. That's another chunk of change.

I'm debating on whether to get the travel card with the passports as its just a little more. It seems kinda useless for many instances.

If you are getting the passport books there is no need to also get the passcard for border crossing, don't waste the money for that since the passport book is all you will need.


DCL doesn't care if you paid off your cruise early or not or who you booked it with when it comes to upgrades. They do all upgrading based on their inventory needs.

 

[scootch]

We got an upgrade last time from a 9 to a 5(or 6?) There were alot of people on our cruise that had gotten a $99 bounceback. I am sure they are hoping once you have had a nicer cabin, it is hard to go back down. For us this is the case at WDW as we love the deluxes and only tried a moderate once and never went back to moderate again. But for the cruise, we got upgraded to a verandah. We used it all of 20 min. We never spent much time in the room. So thus, I went to an 11B this time as I like the layout of walking into the living room and the bedroom at the end. The new "virtual windows" will be a nice touch too. Will cross my fingers you get the upgrade. I am sure with 4 in a room, any extra square footage would be nice too.

 

[Mom2BCCC]

Welcome Wendy!! Yes a very active thread there.

Well we hit the one year mark. In exactly 365 days from now we will be landing in MCO. Dh gave me this years income tax check and said to cash it for the Dream cruise... since interest is nearly nonexistent, I went ahead and paid off this cruise. Our change savings jar will go to saving for Atlantis. Might even hit it twice with the B2B.

Congratulations! I just got done efiling my return and we have to pay
Next year we are expecting a refund. I was just thinking we could file early and use it for Atlantis.

 

[Deb T.]

I'm paid off too, though from my end it's more like there's so many other places my tax refund could go....the list is endless. So if I don't put it toward the cruise now, then I won't have the final payment in January when the due date is. ESPECIALLY not in January when Christmas was the month before!

Wow! Congratulations on your paid-in-full cruise! That's pretty amazing! We just made the final payment for our Baltic cruise last month, so it will be a looooong time before we have the $$ for this one.

 

[Deb T.]

Congratulations! I just got done efiling my return and we have to pay
Next year we are expecting a refund. I was just thinking we could file early and use it for Atlantis.

We're right there with ya... having to pay taxes for the last three years in a row.

 

[scootch]

We lucked out as we bought a van last March, that $3,000 deduction(van tax) along with some child one really helped. They just raised our school tuition for dd's.... hmm... catholic tuition or cruise... well lets just pay off the cruise first, we will always find the money for catholic tuition... but maybe not the other way around

 

[WPoohgirl]

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone.

Wow, I am still paying off the cruise we just took!! We have the Disney card so I still have interest free for a few months.

Good for you guys that have it paid in full already, seriously, great accomplishment. It urges me on to keep aggressively paying off our last one so I can begin paying on the new one! When I booked on-board they did not have anything left except the cat 5c. We had a balcony on our first cruise and unfortunately were next to some smokers and it blew right in. We were so busy we didn't really use it anyway. I just go with an ocean-view now typically

ON the March 21st cruise they did try to upgrade us, we were in a cat 8 but I had already picked out our room far forward on the starboard side and didn't want to give it up for a room in the back on a lower deck even though it was an upgrade. I was worried I was crazy after but I do like being forward as there seems to be less traffic.

How is it in mid-ship or aft? I have never stayed there. Hope you all have a great day!!! Wendy

 

[pershing]

Will cross my fingers you get the upgrade. I am sure with 4 in a room, any extra square footage would be nice too.

Thanks so much. Yeah, the boys are getting bigger (my oldest is now taller than me! )

Wow! Congratulations on your paid-in-full cruise! That's pretty amazing! We just made the final payment for our Baltic cruise last month, so it will be a looooong time before we have the $$ for this one.

Ooooooh, I so wanted to do that cruise as I studied in St. Petersburg in my twenties when it was still Leningrad. (I'm dating myself!) I would have loved for the kids to see it, but....apparently it's changed alot!

... hmm... catholic tuition or cruise... well lets just pay off the cruise first, we will always find the money for catholic tuition... but maybe not the other way around

Gotta have your priorities straight!

How is it in mid-ship or aft? I have never stayed there. Wendy

I like both, actually we really liked aft 'cause it seemed like everything was easier to get to, but the Dream may be a whole new ball of wax with extra floors and being larger in general.

 

[scootch]

. We had a balcony on our first cruise and unfortunately were next to some smokers and it blew right in. We were so busy we didn't really use it anyway. I just go with an ocean-view now typically

How is it in mid-ship or aft? I have never stayed there. Hope you all have a great day!!! Wendy

We got an upgrade to a verandah and didn't spend hardly any time there. With the new virtual porthole, we even went down to an 11B.
We were aft last cruise though and since we take the stairs alot, I did like it. Seems like we spent alot of time at Topsider area. I have chosen midship for this cruise, trying to guess that that might be a good option too. Thinking with the ship bigger, we're halfway to each end. I did have a bit of motion sickness too and supposedly midship is a bit better for that.

 

[WPoohgirl]

Oh I forgot to let you guys know if anyone is interested... when we were at castaway cay in March they opened the Pelican Plunge for about 4 hours for us to use. They were really careful to let everyone know it wasn't "officially" opened.

It was really fun, you had to swim a little ways to get to it and there were two slides on the plunge, one fast and one slow my kids report. There is also a huge bucket that empties down every couple of minutes like a title wave. Also there are a few water guns on an observation deck to shoot at the Raft. Although the water on CC was really cold when we were there, my kids spent a full hour on it. You can see that they are doing lots of work and there are some area's that are fenced off. It did not look drastically different in any way except the beach was noticeably extended.

I have to admit to being fascinated about a B2B. I had never heard of such a thing until I was reading this thread!

 

[scootch]

I have to admit to being fascinated about a B2B. I had never heard of such a thing until I was reading this thread!

I think more people are thinking B2B with the Dream since it is new and it has no longer sailings(except 5 day in summer). For us, since we are used to going to WDW in quiet November, I might as well be on a cruise where the number of people does not really differ from other times of the year. Already planning my Nov 2011 WDW trip. Won't tell hubby about that one yet.

 

[NYDisneyfamily]

Just booked the April 17th Dream for 1 year from today! Me, DH, DS13, DS8. Anniversary gift today for anniversary next year! Need to read through this thread to see who we are joining.

 

[Ness2289]

Just booked the April 17th Dream for 1 year from today! Me, DH, DS13, DS8. Anniversary gift today for anniversary next year! Need to read through this thread to see who we are joining.

Welcome!!! We're glad to have you! I will add your name to our roster. I hope you will join our fish extender exchange as well. Deb T. can add you to that list if you are interested!

HappyAnniversary!!

 

[Ness2289]

Disney Dream- April 17, 2011

1. Outahere, DW, DS(16)
2. Lildeb724 (Debbie), DH, DD(10) DS(7)
3. Verandah Man, DW, DD, DD’s BF (Bryan) (I think there's a wedding now...Delete?)
4. Mom 3 mouseketeers, DH, DS(10/11), DD(9), DS(7)
5. Castlegazer, DH, DS(9), DD(6)
6. Muhhhrrisssa (19), Mom, Dad
7. CSX2, DW, DD(15)
8. Curlybop (Amanda), DH (Mark), DD(8), DD(2)
9. Irishone21 (Chris), DH (Mike), DS(7), DD(3)
10. Rdevine10 (Robin), DH, DD(5), DD(8)
11. Scootch(Amy), DD-Mattisyn(11), DD-Kenzey(9)
12. Akjtmax, DH, DS, DD
13. Freddyfishsticks, DW, DD(12), DS(9)
14. MissMousey, DH, DD(14), DS(11)
15. Mom2Elliot, DH, Kids(13,9,3)
16. Deb T., DH(Jeff)
17. Ness2289, DD(12)
18. Jilljill, DH, DD(16)
19. Pershing (Sue), DS(16), DS(14), DS(13)
20. Tiger1313 (Cathy), DGD (17)
21. Cleopahd, DH
22. jel0511, Dh, DD(13), DS(10)
23. Disney1fan2002 (Marie), DH, DS(14), DD(12), and DS(11)
24. Mom2BCCC (Barbara) DH, DS(14), DS(12), DS(10), DD(5)
25. KerryDVC, DH, DD(7), DD(5), DS(3), DM, DF
26. Golfnsuch, DH, DS(11), DS(7)
27. WPoohgirl (Wendy), DH, DD(14), DS(12)
28. NYDisneyfamily, DH, DS(13), DS(8)

 

[pershing]

Just booked the April 17th Dream for 1 year from today! Me, DH, DS13, DS8. Anniversary gift today for anniversary next year! Need to read through this thread to see who we are joining.

NYDisneyfamily: and Happy Anniversary!

Yes, today marks exactly one year until we're standing on the Dream.

'Cause we Disers show up early so we'll have boarded by now, had lunch, walked around, with our kids in the pool and on the Aquaduck as we dressed them in bathing suits this morning, and are now lounging in a pool chair with a drink in our hand watching everyone else runaround! : Cheers to us!

 

[jilljill]

Just booked the April 17th Dream for 1 year from today! Me, DH, DS13, DS8. Anniversary gift today for anniversary next year! Need to read through this thread to see who we are joining.

Welcome

 

[Z'sDisneyMom]

We're going too!

Myself (Robin), DH and DD11 (12 when we cruise)

Booked an 8A GTY today.

It's great to see such an active thread for our cruise.

This will be our 4th Disney Cruise.

I'm so excited about the Dream.

Please add us to the FE list.

That is if Yankee fans from NJ are welcome

 

[Ness2289]

We're going too!

Myself (Robin), DH and DD11 (12 when we cruise)

Booked an 8A GTY today.

It's great to see such an active thread for our cruise.

This will be our 4th Disney Cruise.

I'm so excited about the Dream.

Please add us to the FE list.

That is if Yankee fans from northern NJ are welcome

Welcome, Robin! I've got a DD11 (12 when we cruise) also!! We're glad to have you join our thread. I will add you to our roster. Our FE extraordinaire, Deb T., will add you to our FE list!

 

[Deb T.]

Just booked the April 17th Dream for 1 year from today! Me, DH, DS13, DS8. Anniversary gift today for anniversary next year! Need to read through this thread to see who we are joining.

We're going too!

Myself (Robin), DH and DD11 (12 when we cruise)

Booked an 8A GTY today.

It's great to see such an active thread for our cruise.

This will be our 4th Disney Cruise.

I'm so excited about the Dream.

Please add us to the FE list.

That is if Yankee fans from northern NJ are welcome

Welcome Aboard NYDisneyFamily and Z'sDisneyMom!

Here is the latest FE Exchange list of participants:
Ness2289 & DD12
Deb T. & DH
Tigger1313 & DGD17
Golfnsuch & DH, DS11, DS7
WPoohgirl & DH, DD14, DS12
Z’sDisneyMom & DH, DD12

 

[Ness2289]

Disney Dream- April 17, 2011

1. Outahere, DW, DS(16)
2. Lildeb724 (Debbie), DH, DD(10) DS(7)
3. Verandah Man, DW, DD, DD’s BF (Bryan) (I think there's a wedding now...Delete?)
4. Mom 3 mouseketeers, DH, DS(10/11), DD(9), DS(7)
5. Castlegazer, DH, DS(9), DD(6)
6. Muhhhrrisssa (19), Mom, Dad
7. CSX2, DW, DD(15)
8. Curlybop (Amanda), DH (Mark), DD(8), DD(2)
9. Irishone21 (Chris), DH (Mike), DS(7), DD(3)
10. Rdevine10 (Robin), DH, DD(5), DD(8)
11. Scootch(Amy), DD-Mattisyn(11), DD-Kenzey(9)
12. Akjtmax, DH, DS, DD
13. Freddyfishsticks, DW, DD(12), DS(9)
14. MissMousey, DH, DD(14), DS(11)
15. Mom2Elliot, DH, Kids(13,9,3)
16. Deb T., DH(Jeff)
17. Ness2289, DD(12)
18. Jilljill, DH, DD(16)
19. Pershing (Sue), DS(16), DS(14), DS(13)
20. Tiger1313 (Cathy), DGD (17)
21. Cleopahd, DH
22. jel0511, Dh, DD(13), DS(10)
23. Disney1fan2002 (Marie), DH, DS(14), DD(12), and DS(11)
24. Mom2BCCC (Barbara) DH, DS(14), DS(12), DS(10), DD(5)
25. KerryDVC, DH, DD(7), DD(5), DS(3), DM, DF
26. Golfnsuch, DH, DS(11), DS(7)
27. WPoohgirl (Wendy), DH, DD(14), DS(12)
28. NYDisneyfamily, DH, DS(13), DS(8)
29. Z'sDisneyMom (Robin), DH and DD12