April 8, 2006 Western Magic Cruise

[poconoboatniks]

Thanks Judy!!!!! We're getting in early and heading to the Magic Kingdom. The kids are so pumped.

DH got ressies on the 1st cruise out of Barcelona. I don't know if we'll be on that trip, but at least we have ressies on a Med cruise.

Pocono

 

[UMTerp]

Congrats Pocono! Is that a 10 or 11-day?

Good luck to anyone else wanting ressies today!

UMTerp

 

[Melora]

Good morning all!!!

We leave in 3 days and Im so excited. Its pouring rain in sunny California right now which makes it hard to think about warm weather.

Im still agonizing over which clothes to bring because I dont want to overpack. I always do except a few times and then I needed stuff I didnt pack. I also have to keep our bags under the weight limit which makes me wonder if I should have purchased the BIG luggage.

I havent wanted to pack our formal clothes because of how wrinkled they would get but I guess at this point I gotta get them into the suitcase.

Well off to pack some more!!!! Im just so darn excited!!!!!! (Did I mention that before???)

 

[UMTerp]

Has anyone read the trip report where the cruisers who came home April 1st are reporting stomach flu onboard and after cruising with their kids? This is one of my worst fears! I don't want to be quarantined on my vacation like the one family! My kids will be washing their hands like they don't know what happened to them! I might start everyone on Airborne TODAY!

UMTerp

 

[poconoboatniks]

Um,

I had to find out how many nights are included in the May 26th trip. It's an 11 night trip. Legal Briefs is in the Roy Suite for that trip. We sailed with him in Calif. and had a great time. I understand he had the Roy suite for the 4th of July in Calif. and he had 100 of his closest dis friends.

Have you checked airfare? So far, Alitalia is the cheapest out of Newark, NJ. It's somewhere around $730 pp. Iberia Air has you going to Chicago before heading to Spain and is more expensive. I think they wanted $1,100 pp. YIKES!

Poconoboatniks

 

[poconoboatniks]

Oh NO!! Does Airbourne work against stomach problems? I thought it works against colds. Brett is already on his allergy meds. He had some gook coming out of his one eye. Poor guy! Every spring he has such a problem with his eyes from allergies. He looks like a devil child if I don't put the eye drops in eyes.

Pocono

 

[Vavasmon]

I don't think Airborne works that well on the stomach thing. Also a word of warning that if you are sensitive to zinc - it makes some people nausious and/or diarreah you should not take airborne - it had a lot of zinc in it. DD got the stomach virus on the Wonder in Dec. She was the most careful about the hand sanitizer in the dining rooms and is a good hand washer. I am very happy to read that the crew now serves you on buffet lines. We are almost certain she picked it up either from serving utensils on the buffet line or in the kids club. Washing/Sanitizing hands really needs to be done just before you eat not after touching 5 or 6 serving spoons. We will have hand sanitizer to use immediately before touching any silverware or eating. It should also cutdown on children serving themselves with their hands.

Kids wash their hands when they come into the club but my brief observation is that the staff really didn't supervise the how well and I don't think they enforced hand washing before a pizza snack on night. The DR also mentioned that hand rails on stairs is another great place to pick up Norwalk.

 

[UMTerp]

Pocono - I don't know if it will help or not but I'm willing to try! I haven't looked at airfare for the Med cruise. I'm hoping DCL will have some kind of charter air and/or a tour including Disneyland Paris. I can hope can't I?

UMTerp

 

[poconoboatniks]

Um-We're hoping DCL airfare will be cheaper. I don't think we'll be able to squeeze anymore vacation time out of this cruise. Disneyland Paris is very attractive to us, but that would mean more airfare or some other transportation, more vacation time and much more money. We'll see what they have to offer.

VA, I'm wondering what the kids should be using on their hands. Hot water and soap aren't always easily accessible. The antibacterial soaps won't work on viruses I don't think. Maybe we should give up eating to avoid getting sick. I got sick the last night of our cruise in Calif. I've read that lots of others got sick around the same time.


Pocono

 

[mslinda4him]

OK...I'm almost packed...then I wondered (first timer tht I am)...what about beach towels? Is it worth bringing them? Does DCL provide towels? Are they decent sized? Can you take them ashore? I sure feel like I'm shooting in the dark, here! Thanks for any input!

 

[Melora]

I also was wondering about the towels. I really dont want to schlep mine so I hope the ones are board are nice sized and I can take them ashore. I might have heard that they are available on CC.

In regard to getting sick, I have the whole family on this really great product. It's is anti-virul. It doesnt kill the virus but makes it harder for the virus to replicate itself. It has many other applications but the primary one for us has been its ability to keep us from getting sick. The whole family caught a bug in the last week and we upped our daily dose and no one came down with a full blown sick attack. I could tell I had a virus as I had a very minor sore throat but it never got worse and by the 2nd day it was gone. I keep the kids on it and not only does it keep them from getting sick but it removes heavy metals from their body (lead, zinc, mercury etc) so it keeps them healthy.

 

[UMTerp]

mslinda4him & Melora - DCL does provide towels but they are not that big (somewhere between your larger bath towel and a regular beach towel that you would buy somewhere). They bring a large pile for everyone to grab some if you book a DCL water-based excursion. You can grab some yourself from the bins on deck 9. That's what we do when we do our own excursions. You are expected to return them to the ship yourself. They will usually have a big wire bin to return used towels in. You can use the towels provided, bring your own or buy new ones onboard/at Castaway Cay.

Hope this helps!

UMTerp

 

[windermerejudy]

I got med ressies too. June. Good pricing much better than I was predicting. Actually the same as our Christmas 10 night. We got each room cat 6 for around $8500!!!!! We hope to use FF miles.

Towels are thin and mediam sized but they are a whole lot better than lugging your own and THEY HAVE TO WASH THEM!!!!!

 

[UMTerp]

Congrats Judy!

UMTerp

 

[windermerejudy]

I actually got to start a thread for the med cruise ----YEAH!!!! That is a first.You know I was going to wait and book on board but after getting the tier one pricing, its too good to pass up and it has already gone up $500 so I figure if I wait until Sat. I will be about the same with the 10 % off. No savings.

 

[Vavasmon]

I got med ressies too. June. Good pricing much better than I was predicting. Actually the same as our Christmas 10 night. We got each room cat 6 for around $8500!!!!! We hope to use FF miles.

Towels are thin and mediam sized but they are a whole lot better than lugging your own and THEY HAVE TO WASH THEM!!!!!

Congratulations!!! and I agree about not lugging or washing the towels plus you just put them in a bin when they are wet instead of trying to dry them in the cabin.

 

[UMTerp]

Judy - I started a thread for my Med Cruise too last week but then someone made a new one today and mine got lost!!! It was my first time starting a cruise meets thread too!

I've got everything packed except for DH's stuff (of course)! Just made my door signs. Charging camera batteries now. Not too much left on my to do list. Manicure and pedicure tomorrow evening and hopefully finish with the suitcases and weigh them!

How's everyone else doing?

Can't wait!

UMTerp

 

[poconoboatniks]

Melora,

What are you giving the kids to keep them from catching a virus? Can I buy it over the counter?

Pocono

 

[UMTerp]

We were on page 2! With all of the excitement for the Med cruises we got pushed down! I guess we were all busy packing!

And watching the Maryland game!!! Lady Terps NCAA Champs!!!

Everyone ready to go?

UMTerp

 

[poconoboatniks]

Congrats to Terps fans. I was thinking of you guys this morning while watching the news.

It's snowing and the kids missed the bus because I couldn't get to the bus stop this morning. This snow wasn't expected and the school district got caught with their pants down. I have to drive the kids to the bus stop which is about 1 mile away and includes going down three hills. I slid down the first hill and was stopped by a neighbor before trying the second hill. Another mom had slid down the third hill sideways and was stuck in the middle of the road. Thank goodness that she got stuck sideways and didn't slide into the very busy state route at the bottom. I HATE winter!

Back to cleaning!

Poconoboatniks