August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

Try to stay in touch & chat when you can!! Are you gonna get your parents on the DIS?! I'll check out the video in a bit...

(PS) You're missing a real scorcher here in DC!! 99 degrees yesterday & 100 today!! It was still 93 at 9:00 last night in Rockville when DS & I left his swim practice!!

My Mom has been lurking, but not on this thread... She's been looking at trip reports from last year's sailings.

I am so glad not to be in DC right now. I can't imagine what it must be like at Congressional (where I used to work) with the US Open coming next week! I'd be knee deep in golf merchandising and not making any money teaching! Add to that the heat, and the impending goat apocalypse...

Here in Bucharest there is a 24% VAT Tax! Luckily we can get it back quarterly if we request the Factura (invoice). Every three months we have spreadsheets that we have to submit to the Romanian government to get it refunded to us, usually about 3 months later. I'm actually in the middle of submitting our second batch... It is great fun... Maybe working a golf tournament wouldn't be too bad afterall...[/QUOTE]


Ahhh...Congressional Country Club....lifestyles of the Rich & Famous! I actually used to work on Connecticut Ave. in Chevy Chase sort of right across the street from there (@ B.F. Saul Company wich was right there by the Chevy Chase Lake Shopping Center) and Mr. Saul was a member at Congressional of course. Those were the good old days tho - before the bank & Saul Co. moved over to Bethesda. Back before he got to be on Forbes richest list etc. Now of course he sold the bank out (Chevy Chase) to Captital One. I'm an idiot. I left all my profit sharing money there now it's worth squat. I really need to do something with what's left sometime.

I bought our tix yesterday for the Colosseum. Vatican next week. Gotta check to see if we need to buy anything for Pompeii. I don't think so. Gonna email romeinlimo to double check tho.

OK, where's Karen these days?! My Keurig is making a mess all over the place - it seems to only be happening with the Kona coffee cups. DH thinks they're overfilled or something (I bought them thru Costco). Have you ever had this happen?

 

[janetfk]

We're planning a quick DIS meet on embarkation day around 2:30-3:00 in the Promenade Lounge which you are welcome to come to. It won't last too long 'cuz the lifeboat / safety drill is at 4:00. Just pop in to sort of just meet & say hi & put a face to a name...let the kids meet so they'll recognize others in the clubs.

Have fun planning! There's a lot to think of!!

Sounds cool! We'll try to join if we can find you.
It'll be great for the kids to meet some others early on!

 

[Kels Sem]

Hey LeeAnn,

I see someone has started their trip report from the first Med cruise. They did DLP first, only Day1 posted so far but hopefully you should get some good tips

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks for the heads up Kelly - I'll have to go scout around for it.

OH, BTW, I just found out the other day on here that the Hotel Cheyenne DOESN'T HAVE AIR CONDITIONING guys!! Nobody told me THAT before I booked!! Now I'm thinking I gotta pack a freaking FAN!! I was sure to look for A/C when I booked all of our other hotels in Europe but it never, ever occured to me that Disney would build properties in this day and age WITHOUT A/C!! Didn't even THINK of that one when I booked.


So we had summer team Time Trials this morning. GOSH it was HOT and MUGGY but DS did OK. A couple of our officials noticed how much he'd improved. I had told him to swim hard but not at 100% because the season is too short & then it's too hard for the year round swimmers to have any time drops or new "personal bests" as the meets pass. So I am HOPING he did save something for the first meet. He said he swam at 97%. Yeah, OK, whatever. We have a TON of 9/10 and 11/12 boys but not so many 13/14 boys. There was a new kid that nobody knew & he was really FAAAST. DS should defintely have room to drop time on his 50 free. I was surprised he wasn't a second faster actually 'cuz he only dropped like 2 seconds on his seed time. And I think he should be able to drop on his breaststroke. That is definitely his worst stroke tho. He dropped like 8 whole seconds on his 50 Fly, which on a 50 is a LOT. I know he can drop more on that too bcuz he was breathing on every stroke. That drives me absolutely NUTS when he does that. Almost as much as breathing on the first stroke. He will skip fly strokes in practice but not in a meet. What is that? So I am going to HOUND HIM on that bit. He dropped 5 seconds on his 50 back...and I think he could've had a stronger turn so I am hoping for some improvement there too.

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend....I am ready for a nap!

 

[kerrykerr]

I can't believe how quickly this trip is approaching!

I have a few more questions for our experienced DCL people.

1. What's the deal with pirate night? Should I be packing costumes of some kind? Is there anything I should be prepared for with pirate night?

2. DH and I have purchased a Rapunzel costume and wig for DD as a surprise to give her on the ship. In your opinion, when should we give it to her? Which night would be most appropriate? Do other little ones dress up in Disney costumes on the ship?

3. DH read somewhere that there is hair braiding available on some of the cruises. Has anybody had this done and remember (approximately) the cost?

We're totally in Disney mode right now because my parents are leaving for their Alaskan cruise on the Wonder next week. It will be their first cruise ever and I'm so excited for them!

 

[luke]

Just read through the VAT thread, what a bummer!! As if holidays in Europe aren't expensive enough without the "American" part being less cheap (or value £ vs $)

Was all ready for a serious push on our Barcelona hotel booking last weekend before one piece of poor depth perception in the Asda (Walmart) car park last week had me crashing my poor little Nissan Juke into a defenseless (parked) Peugeot!! Had to send Paula into the store to get them to announce the car license plater over the PA system so we weren't just waiting outside for ages for them to return to their car and we could give them the bad news! The damage wasn't huge and I'm going to pay cash for the repairs for their car (about £150 hopefully - got a colleague's relative to work on it so can trust them) rather than get the insurance involved - should save me money in the long run that way.

Oh and the weather has decided to turn miserable and rainy here too. Roll on 6 weeks time when school breaks up and the summer holidays start

 

[Anal Annie]

I can't believe how quickly this trip is approaching!

I have a few more questions for our experienced DCL people.

1. What's the deal with pirate night? Should I be packing costumes of some kind? Is there anything I should be prepared for with pirate night?

Not sure how many people will dress up in the Med....seems to be a few on the Caribbean cruises. We were clueless about it on our first DCL (before I had ever discovered the DISboards). On our Wonder back-to-backs in 2008 we dressed "in the theme" of it on the 4 nighter. DH & DS both wore matching skull t-shirts, eye patches, hoop earrings & headgear stuff that we'd bought at the POC store in WDW. I wore a white peasant type blouse & a black tiered skirt & lots of necklaces & a Mickey pirate ears hat so I had sort of a wench look going. It was fun but we had a really active DIS meet thread & we all had the late dining & had linked our dining reservations together so that we were all seated in 2 stations that were adjacent to each other. So there about 36 of us dressed up in the theme in one way or another. I kind of don't expect there will be a lot of folks dressing up in the Med somehow. (Jeff might recall from his Med cruise last year?!) It seems to be a lot of first timers on our cruise so at this point I am not planning on packing special stuff to dress up. I mean, we still have the stuff we wore last time and I COULD bring it but I wasn't really planning on it. DH & DS really only went along with it because we were hooked up in this large group with a lot of people doing it so they felt more comfortable I think.

2. DH and I have purchased a Rapunzel costume and wig for DD as a surprise to give her on the ship. In your opinion, when should we give it to her? Which night would be most appropriate? Do other little ones dress up in Disney costumes on the ship?

I know lots of little kids like to dress up so I really don't know if there's 1 night more appropriate over another?! I wonder if there's a themed dinner night where the princess look would be more fitting?! Could be. Perhaps we can find out what our 7 night themes will be once the July 30 cruise gets back?! You might be able to get some scoop from someone who posts about that cruise and then you could decide which night would be best.

3. DH read somewhere that there is hair braiding available on some of the cruises. Has anybody had this done and remember (approximately) the cost?

I don't know about it being done on the ship. I know it's all over in the Caribbean in the ports. I don't have a little girl so it's not something that's ever been on my radar. Maybe Jeff or JP know...they're our resident cruise experts as I think they've taken the most DCL cruises and they both have girls so they may know.

We're totally in Disney mode right now because my parents are leaving for their Alaskan cruise on the Wonder next week. It will be their first cruise ever and I'm so excited for them!

Oh fun!! Let us know how they get along!!

Just read through the VAT thread, what a bummer!! As if holidays in Europe aren't expensive enough without the "American" part being less cheap (or value £ vs $)

Was all ready for a serious push on our Barcelona hotel booking last weekend before one piece of poor depth perception in the Asda (Walmart) car park last week had me crashing my poor little Nissan Juke into a defenseless (parked) Peugeot!! Had to send Paula into the store to get them to announce the car license plater over the PA system so we weren't just waiting outside for ages for them to return to their car and we could give them the bad news! The damage wasn't huge and I'm going to pay cash for the repairs for their car (about £150 hopefully - got a colleague's relative to work on it so can trust them) rather than get the insurance involved - should save me money in the long run that way.

Oh and the weather has decided to turn miserable and rainy here too. Roll on 6 weeks time when school breaks up and the summer holidays start

Awwww. That sucks Luke! Sorry you banged up your new car!! That really bites. Was this the amount of damage to YOUR car or to their car?! The next 2 months are going to fly by! Get that hotel booked ASAP!!!!!!!


Meanwhile I have been watching that thread about what people are wearing on formal & semi-formal nights & now I'm having 2nd thoughts about my dresses. To save packing space I had thought I'd just bring 2 shorter dresses...1 little plain black number for formal night & another black one with some big bold blue & aqua flowers for semi-formal night. Then I'd bought DH & DS shirts to match the flowers on the one dress thinking it would make for some good pictures. But now I think I should wear the LBD on semi-formal night & get something a little flashier maybe for formal night. I wonder if my OLD LBD still fits me?! Seriously doubt it. I have the urge to go shopping again! Somebody needs to STOP ME!!

 

[luke]

The damage to their car, mine wasn't really hurt that much, but it is a fair bit bigger than the one I hit

Like the look of the Ohla Hotel, still about £180 a night so maybe have that for one night and the AC Diplomatic for one night.

Yep, 6 more weeks in school (well, 5 as I don't really count that last week when it's more just fun stuff being done) then a few weeks to relax before the cruise - it's going to fly by...

For formal night I'm probably going to wear my (only ) suit and probably more casual linen stuff for semi formal, or maybe a shirt and tie but no jacket.
Just hoping we have enough room in our luggage - we only have one checked in bag and two cabin suitcases with us, although Paula just bought a brand new Radley suitcase for her cabin baggage which is quite roomy

 

[DoeWDW]

LeeAnn, I'm packing light so my thoughts for semi-formal and formal night were to take one longer black skirt and two dressier tops/blouses. I plan to pack a dressier pair of sandals to wear with both outfits. I'm definitely not dressing "to the 9's" for formal night - just can't justify taking a whole separate outfit for one dinner.

Do whatever suits you - not saying you shouldn't dress up. Just wanted you to know that if you decide not to go all out, you won't be the only one.

 

[Kels Sem]

LeeAnn, I haven't finalised what I'm wearing on these nights yet but I won't be wearing what I would normally wear to a formal night as it's just too much to pack. I will probably wear a knee length black dress for formal night & team it with nice jewellery and I might just wear a maxi dress on semi formal night. DH will probably just wear a suit (as his tux doesn't fit him anymore) When it comes to packing and I don't have the room for the suit then I'm afraid I'll just have to leave it behind and a nice pair of trousers, shirt & tie will have to do. I have trousers, shirt & tie for Nathan and a pretty dress for Keira. Keira might dress up in one of her princess outfits.

Kerrykerr - My DD age 4 will bring one of her princess outfits (Belle or Cinderella) Formal night might be a nice night to wear it.

DS age 6 is going to bring his pirate outfit for pirate night, DH is going to wear a pirate t-shirt and at the moment I'm not sure what DD is going to do. I bought her a girls Jack Sparrow t-shirt from the disney store thinking that she could wear that but she told me to take it back to the shop. Little madam She says she wants a pirate outfit but TBH I'm reluctant to get her one as she probably won't get much wear out of it.

Luke - sorry to hear about your bump.

My kids only have 2.5 weeks left of school and then I'll have to entertain them for 6 weeks before we sail I really hope the weather improves here as it really helps when the kids are off school.

 

[luke]

Damn only 2.5 weeks till your schools break up!! Wish we did do they get less holidays throughout the year or should I be moving to Nothern Ireland?

 

[Kels Sem]

Damn only 2.5 weeks till your schools break up!! Wish we did do they get less holidays throughout the year or should I be moving to Nothern Ireland?

We probably get less throughout the rest of the year but 8 weeks off in the summer as a kid is paradise! I imagine the same for teachers! We get 1 week at Halloween, 2 weeks at xmas, a few days half term in feb & 2 weeks at easter and the usual stat days.

 

[kerrykerr]

Kerrykerr - My DD age 4 will bring one of her princess outfits (Belle or Cinderella) Formal night might be a nice night to wear it.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I thought formal night might be a good night to surprise her.

We've been looking for this Rapunzel wig for over 6 months! It's sold out everywhere. WDW isn't even getting any in stock for another 3 months. We just happened to walk into a Disney store yesterday and there was one hanging on the shelf that had been returned! What luck!

 

[luke]

We probably get less throughout the rest of the year but 8 weeks off in the summer as a kid is paradise! I imagine the same for teachers! We get 1 week at Halloween, 2 weeks at xmas, a few days half term in feb & 2 weeks at easter and the usual stat days.

Seems like you get the same holidays as us then at the other times but a 2 week longer summer!! ....off to check for teaching jobs in N. Ireland...

 

[BWV Dreamin]

LeAnn, I bought 2 sets of packing cubes and two 15" folding things. I am assuming when you fold the clothes they stay inside the sleeve?

 

[Anal Annie]

My DS graduates from 8th grade on Thursday morning! My baby who's almost as tall as me now starts HS next year! I cannot believe...and now his voice is changing too!! Our kids get 10 weeks off for the summer.

OK, so I DID go shopping again today! DH was out golfing so before I left DS tells me "MOM!! Just PRETEND you have a budget!" Toooo funny that kid sometimes! ANYWAY, so I went to my favorite bargain discount store, TJMaxx, and scoured thru every rack and LO AND BEHOLD I found a knee length dress with some sequins so I can be a little bit sparkly AND, AND, AND (best part) it will still match the shirts that I had bought for DH and DS to wear!! OH and the other best part is that it was only $25!!! You can't tell it so much from the way it's hanging on the hanger but it's slightly fitted at the top (and I can still wear my regular bra so no strapless nonesense to deal with) and the skirt is a little flared or swingy so it's FUN too!! So now I am going to wear my little black dress for semi-formal night and my black patent & clear strappy heels with both dresses!!

Not quite sure what I'll do about jewelry for this one....

I threw a black pashima around the hanger on this one too & I'll probably wear it with both dresses as the dining rooms are FRIGID cold!!


Hope - good job on the cubes and yes, I will likely leave everything bundled up in my packing folders. They just keep everything so neat. I'll just open them as I need stuff. Wait until you see just how neat and organized you'll be. (Of course when I first got mine I had to play around with them & then once I saw how valuable they were I ordered more!) I am also bringing some Downey Wrinkle Release too so hopefully we won't have to send tooooo much out to be pressed.

OK, off to get dinner on the table. I cooked again today for the family across the street - used my crockpots to make roasts & potatoes so the yummy smell is making me hungry!!

 

[jd99]

Hey all.
Been MIA - lots going on with the end of school and beginning of summer activities. We dropped DD12 off at swim camp today. She is there for four nights - never been away that long before (2 nights was max b4) - She is staying a huge local university in a dorm and dropping her off made me flash forward to the day when we drop her off at college - weird feeling...some sadness for sure. But she will have a blast and hopefully learn a lot to kick her swimming into high gear.

DD7 is starting a cheer camp tomorrow (half day all week) and also her summer day camp program that she attends 3 days a week while DW is at work. Some girls from her class are attending the same camp this year (which was not the case last year) so I think she'll enjoy it even more than then.

Plus this week our summer swim team has its first 2 meets - DD12 will miss the first but be home in time for the 2nd with all her new mad skills. DD7 can't wait for the first meet.

Busy busy with work but also scouting out a new car and may drive to Cleveland (2 hours) to look at a bunch of the model I'm seeking since none of the dealers in Pittsburgh has any in inventory.

LeeAnn - Love love love the goat story and the pictures - especially the one where he and the cat are nose to nose.

Hair braiding IS available on the ship - our girls both got it done last summer during the med cruise. It's actually VERY cheap compared to what you find on Castaway Cay or other island ports - I can't remember the exact price but I know we are always surprised at how low the cost ends up being. My only advice is to get upstairs on day one (right after you have lunch - if not before) to get an appointment. They sometimes fill up very fast.

Happy new week to all. We are just 10 days from our trip to WDW for DD12 to dance down main street with her dance group in a parade (and at downtown disney too) and our Dream sailing. Ready for it all for sure.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hope DD has a good time at swim camp - I've heard those are good but my DS wasn't interested in going to one. I think girls are more mature than boys at that age & she will be fine being gone that long. My DS actually only elected to go to 1 week of camp this summer. I think he should've done 2 weeks but he didn't want to so I didn't force it. I think he will have a harder time fitting into a group with limited time but too late now.

Our first "A" meet is next Saturday morning and our first "B" meet will be the following Wed. evening. Does your summer league limit the # of strokes they can swim in a week?? Ours has this silly rule that they can only swim 3 strokes in 1 week + the IM and a relay. And they can't repeat a stroke. So if DS ends up swimming Free and Back on Saturdays then he can only do either Breast or Fly + the IM on Wednesdays. I think he's better at the Fly but it's the LAST freaking stroke of the night so it means staying until the bitter end!! I think there was 1 family who wasn't at Time Trials on Saturday who has a 13/14 boy - so I guess he will come to get timed one night this week if he wants to swim on Saturday. I think he swims with the county during the winter & he typically is just a smidge faster than DS so he might knock him out of swimming Back on Saturday. So DS MAY end up only swimming Free and a maybe a relay then we'll be done. Just depends on if this kid shows up this week. DS will place better if he swims more strokes at the "B" meets tho. It's like you want them to swim fast enough to make the "A" meets but at the same time if they're gonna be almost in last place you'd rather they swim more at the slower meets. KWIM?!

It is cooling off here for this week. NOT good for the outdoor pool water temps!! Practices will be chilly this week when they get out.

 

[jd99]

Hope DD has a good time at swim camp - I've heard those are good but my DS wasn't interested in going to one. I think girls are more mature than boys at that age & she will be fine being gone that long. My DS actually only elected to go to 1 week of camp this summer. I think he should've done 2 weeks but he didn't want to so I didn't force it. I think he will have a harder time fitting into a group with limited time but too late now.

Our first "A" meet is next Saturday morning and our first "B" meet will be the following Wed. evening. Does your summer league limit the # of strokes they can swim in a week?? Ours has this silly rule that they can only swim 3 strokes in 1 week + the IM and a relay. And they can't repeat a stroke. So if DS ends up swimming Free and Back on Saturdays then he can only do either Breast or Fly + the IM on Wednesdays. I think he's better at the Fly but it's the LAST freaking stroke of the night so it means staying until the bitter end!! I think there was 1 family who wasn't at Time Trials on Saturday who has a 13/14 boy - so I guess he will come to get timed one night this week if he wants to swim on Saturday. I think he swims with the county during the winter & he typically is just a smidge faster than DS so he might knock him out of swimming Back on Saturday. So DS MAY end up only swimming Free and a maybe a relay then we'll be done. Just depends on if this kid shows up this week. DS will place better if he swims more strokes at the "B" meets tho. It's like you want them to swim fast enough to make the "A" meets but at the same time if they're gonna be almost in last place you'd rather they swim more at the slower meets. KWIM?!

It is cooling off here for this week. NOT good for the outdoor pool water temps!! Practices will be chilly this week when they get out.

There are only four boys staying overnight at the camp And 12 girls. Then there are 14 boys doing the daycamp version and 12 girls. So it's nice because there are only 42 total kids in the 16 lane pool (if they are set up in short course) which I think they are for this camp.

Summer swim league is VERY casual. They actually don't swim individual events (except for the 25 free for the young kids and the 50 for older kids). It's usually all relays and kids are limited by how many kids are on the team. They try to get the kids in 3 events per meet but sometimes it is only 2 which makes me crazy because it's such a HUGE time commitment for your kid to swim twice. Honestly we do summer team almost solely for my youngest who doesn't swim year round. My oldest is missing a meet this week and then we are all missing 3 meets while we are away later this month because they switched the July 5 meet to June 30 "for people going on vacation." Uh - hello, we'll be on vacation until July 3. So...whatever - oldest DD will only actually be able to make 2 of the meets. ANd then she has a USA Swimming meet on the date when they usually have individual champs for the summer league. Oh well.

DD12 said she was having a lot of fun when we talked to her last night. She didn't want to spend lotsa time on the phone; I noticed she hasn't been on FB at all - and when I texted her late last night she said "GTG" (got to go) after one text. So she must be having a good time!

 

[Canadian Crew]

Hi All!

We are a family of 4 from Calgary, Alberta - Lorne, Carrie, Logan (8) and Cassidy (16).

We are all very excited to be joining you all on this cruise, this will be our 4th.

Our plans are to travel to London, Paris, Norway and Spain and then hop on the ship..!

Please keep in touch, we look forward to see you soon!