August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

Welcome aboard the cruise meet thread for the MAGIC sailing the Med on August 13, 2011!!

Well, so I know I am not entirely alone on this boat as I just transferred my ressie from SPH cabin # 5020 on the July 20 10-night Med to #5020 on this 7-night Med and there's only 1 other SPH cabin left!! So I hope someone will join in here soon so I don't have to talk to myself for TOOOOO long!

I decided to name this meet thread based on my own bouncing around from one date to another for this Med cruise. The third time MUST be the charm!! I started out booking on day # 1 of the itinerary release for the original 10 night August 10 cruise. Then DCL suspended sales & we flipped to the July 20 one to preserve our SPH cabin. Then they announced the 7 night cruises and we became torn about staying with the 10 night or flipping again back to August (which is a better month for us to vacation). But we really wanted to try to do the 10 night cruise so we hung in with that one for awhile. THEN DH's car blew up last week (oil pump, timing chain, timing belt, valves, cylinders - the whole engine)!! The repair bill is going to be over $7 grand!! So with a heavy heart this car repair has pushed our decision to switch to 7 nights while we could still snag "our" SPH cabin. HENCE the reason I had to use "marauding" in the title!!!

So who else is with me on this beeg 'ole boat!? Me = DH and 1 DS (who will be 14 when we go) and myself.

I am a planning fanatic!! I keep telling myself that the 7 night will work out just fine as we plan to sandwich it inbeween a few nights in Barcelona pre-cruise and a few nights in Paris post-cruise (or vice versa). The money saved from the extra 3 nights will certainly help pay for several excursions!

Cruise website:

http://mickeysmaraudingmates.weebly.com/


PEEPS NOW CRUISING ON THIS AUG. 13 DATE (Names & ages at cruise time):

Me, Anal Annie (50) with DH Daryl (41) and DS Jared (14) / From Maryland, USA / 4th DCL

Kels Sem - Kelly (35) with DH Gary (39), DS Nathan (6) and DD Keira (4) / From Bangor, N. Ireland / 1st DCL

Luke - no AKA, just Luke (29), sailing with DW, Paula (29) / From Liverpool, England / 2nd DCL

jd99 - Jeff along with DW Mina and DD Elizabeth (12, ALMOST 13) and DD Emily (7) / From Pittsburgh, PA, USA / will be 10th DCL!!!

west&east - Karen (41) with DH Harvey (42), DD Leah (12) and DS Aaron (8) / From Charlotte, NC, USA / 1st DCL

NJ.Ohana - Liza (37) with DH Jeremy (41), DD Alexis (9) and DD Isabella (5) / From Hawaii but living in New Jersey, USA / 1st DCL

CastwayJP - Jeremy along with DW Lindsey, DD Alyssa (12), DD Regan (4) & DS Joshua (3) / from Falls Church, VA but recently moved to Bucharest, Romania / 7th DCL
Also sailing with JP's parents - Jerry and Mickey from Richmond, VA, USA / 1st DCL

Mikki.Young - Mikki (50) with DH Andrew (60) and Figaro (a trip report writing toy cat ) / From Lincolnshire, England / 2nd DCL

Joanne Hollyoak - with DH Derek and DS Aaron (4) / From Birmingham, England / 1st DCL

LNRP - Lisa with DH Mark, DD Caitlyn (6) and DS Zach (4) / Originally from Houston, TX but living in Moscow, Russia / 1st DCL

Goofygoof - Sheeren with DH Dave and DS Youssef (5) / From Essex, UK / 1st DCL

MallenBeadle - Jon (41) with DW Amanda (37) and DD Charlotte (9) & DD Katie (5) / From England / 1st DCL

Esther1403 - Esther (36) with DH Juan (36) and DS Oscar (5) and DD Sandra (5) / From Spain / 3rd DCL

SharonL - Sharon (45) with DH Steve (47) and DS Jake (5) / From Kent, England

Cumbley - Cheryl with DH Grant and DD (8) and DD (5) / From Staffs, UK / 1st DCL

MJWBCV - Marcus with DW Emma and DS Ben (14) and DS Matty (11) / From Kent, UK / 2nd DCL
(celebrating DW's birthday)

DoeWDW - Doreen (47) with DH Todd (49) / From Southcentral PA, USA / 2nd DCL
(celebrating their 26th anniversary)

KerryKerr - Kerry with DH Andrew and DD Emma (5 almost 6) / From Ontario, Canada / 1st DCL

Criscoloo - Chris with DH Martin and DD Aisling (13) and DD Ciara (8) / From NYC, New York / 4th DCL

UKWIZARD - Andy (41) with Hayley (38) and Jen (niece - 13) / From Sales, UK

janetfk - family of 4 (DS8 and DD3) / Originally from South Africa but living in Germany / 1st DCL

Canadian Crew - Lorne with DW Carrie, DD Cassidy (16) and DS Logan (8) / From Calgary, Alberta / 4th DCL

fongds - Diane with DH Spencer, DD (11) Alyssa, DD Britney (6) and DD Kaitlyn (6) / 3rd DCL
(celebrating their 25th anniversary on August 16th)

SailingSeas - 2 adults + DS20 and DD14

rexalite - 2 adults (38) and DS3 / First DCL

chrssher - Sherri with DH Chris, DS Justin (10), DS Michael (7), DM and DB / expats living in Germany / 2nd DCL

 

[jilljill]

Moving this to the meets section. You can also post a link to this thread on the Magic meets thread for IrishCowboy to add to the first post.

 

[Hockeychic]

Hi there, we where looking at booking Sept 3rd but we might be changing that already to this cruise. What is a SPH room?

Kim

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey there Hockey Chic - didn't you cruise with the DISFunctional peeps before?! (RJ, Cheri, Betsy, Johnna et al)?? I went on back-to-backs with them last summer!! Come on over!!

SPH = secret porthole. They are essentially obstructed view rooms (and there are only 6 of them) and DCL sells them as inside Cat 10's - so you basically get a free porthole!! They are reclassified Cat 8's! We stayed in 5520 on the Wonder last year - I can post pics if you want!!! It's a real bargain of a room but no steamer trunk!!

 

[Hockeychic]

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.

We are trying to plan this cruise with a trip to England and France so playing around with dates but I am liking mid August.

Yes I did cruise with the gang, quite awhile ago in 2005. It was my first ever cruise and well the gale force winds kept me out of action for a day or two All awesome people, would like to meet up with them again some day they where alot of fun.

 

[MRAven]

Hi A Annie and every one else. I'm not booked on your exact date of cruise but just one week later (08 20 2011); that is, I get on as you get off !

Do you mind if I share info with you guys since on my cruise there's little (actualy there's none) persons whom to talk etc etc ?

 

[Anal Annie]

Hockey Chic - I THOUGHT I remembered you popping in to say hi on our old Wonder thread... That was the Halloween cruise, right? They are all cruising together again on the Dream...July 10, 2011 I think...well, Johnna is going on the PC repo but RJ, Cheri, Betsy, Sean & Sue Ellen are on the Dream. We really wanted to cruise on the Dream too but I wanted longer than 5 nights and someplace beyond the Bahamas. Soooo we went our own way. They are indeed a fine bunch of fun peeps! They have a meet thread going again too! I hope to see you come back here to stay!! I need peeps!!!

MRAven - of course you can hang out here! I saw your thread...it does look a little lonely over there! I will probably pop back into my old July 20 thread too to stay in touch... Everybody is very friendly around here and all are welcome!!

Are we there yet?

 

[Hockeychic]

Oh that is awesome, I might have to pop by and say hi to see if anyone remembers us. That was the only cruise we did on DCL, we made the switch to Carnival, we could get balconies for what we paid for inside on DCL and since we go to disney 2 or 3 times a year we where getting our disney fix and also my kids, well really aren't kids anymore so they stay home While researching a med cruise, I thought wow lets see what DCL charges and they are the same price for a 7 night as Carnival is for the 9 night, but since we are also going to England and France the 7 nighter fits better. Really excited about coming back to DCL. Still deciding on the week, Sept is about $400 cheaper but we have to wait to see when we can book our Normandy Battle Fields tours, that will help us decided, but I would love to come back and chat until we decide if that is OK.

 

[Anal Annie]

Oh that is awesome, I might have to pop by and say hi to see if anyone remembers us. That was the only cruise we did on DCL, we made the switch to Carnival, we could get balconies for what we paid for inside on DCL and since we go to disney 2 or 3 times a year we where getting our disney fix and also my kids, well really aren't kids anymore so they stay home While researching a med cruise, I thought wow lets see what DCL charges and they are the same price for a 7 night as Carnival is for the 9 night, but since we are also going to England and France the 7 nighter fits better. Really excited about coming back to DCL. Still deciding on the week, Sept is about $400 cheaper but we have to wait to see when we can book our Normandy Battle Fields tours, that will help us decided, but I would love to come back and chat until we decide if that is OK.

OOOHH!! A real live DCL vs Carnival comparison!! What did you think? Noticable difference? We have only cruised DCL - I am afraid to be disappointed in others. Although I hear OK things about RCCL and Celebrity. I keep thinking it would be like when we went from staying in a Deluxe resort to a Moderate prior to buying our DVC membership - we didn't like going backwards. We live about an hour from Baltimore, Maryland and they've slowly started adding cruises out of their harbor. They don't go in the dead of winter though...but we could drive to the port or have someone drop us off...it is something I've had tucked in the back of my mind as a cheap(er) vacation since there would be no airfare involved. Carnival sails their old ship the 'Pride' out there.

We also want to add days in France (Paris). I know it's not the best use of our DVC points but we CAN stay at one of the DLP properties on points for 3 or 4 nights and preserve our cash for excursions & a hotel in Barcelona as we also want to add 3 or 4 nights in Barcelona - so yes, the 7 night cruise in the end will probably work out to be a better length than the longer ones when it gets sandwiched in the middle. The Normandy thing sounds neat. We will not have time for that type of thing though. We want a couple of days for DLP and a couple of days for Paris. I went to France & England WAAAY back in high school with my French class. It was a whirlwind of a week with 4 nights in Paris and 3 nights in London. We sure got around though.

 

[Hockeychic]

my DD just did a school trip to Italy and after hearing her stories I wish I had that chance when I was in school.

Honestly....probably not the best place to post this but I prefer Carnival. I liked disney, and am a disney freak but I just find Carnival offers much better ports, food is just as good, I wouldn;t say better but as good, I liked the entertainment better as well. Carnival does have casinos but I have never spent a dime in them. The only thing I liked better on DCL was the restaurant rotation. Carnival you eat in the same dining room each night which is fine, you get to know where your table is but I prefer the rotation. I was a little worried about trying Carnival due to the booze cruise comparison but honestly I have never seen that and I have done 6 Carnival cruises since 2005 when I was on DCL and have 2 more booked 1 to Alaska in a few months and western caribbean in Nov.

Carnival Pride is in the Spirit Class of ships and is my fav' actually my 2 next cruises are on Spirit and Legend....same style of ship.

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

 

[Anal Annie]

Bump!!

 

[MRAven]

Well thank you A Annie for your response. This means I will be having a double thread - double people - double fun.


Well, I will share with you our "1st Nice to Have Itinerary", so sugestions are allway welcome; thats the idea right ?


First of all our main objective is to celebrate DD 18th birthday on the cruise which is on Aug 21st 2011; that is one day after sailing. She knows we are going to Europe but doesn't know about the Disney Cruise.


Vacation plan for about three weeks which include:

4 to 5 days in Madrid with a visit to Toledo (Medievel City). One day sacrifice due to jet lag !

3 to 4 days Barcelona with a visit to Monserrat (Monastery)

And the highly expected DCL Med Cruise for on week somewhere in between. Shore excursions not decided yet.

Still have some days to decide what to do.


Our cruising experience is
DCL Disney Magic December 2002 7 night Eastern Caribbean
DCL Dsiney Magic December 2009 7 nights Western Caribbean

 

[Floridasunshine]

It is great to see this link and people to talk to. I booked the August 13th 7 night Mediterranean Cruise with my DD who will be 25. I got alittle carried away on the last cruise and also booked the Alaskan cruise for July 26th. We will have about 10 days at home between the two cruises and I wonder if I am making a mistake with them so close together. Has anyone else booked so close together?

 

[MRAven]

my DD just did a school trip to Italy and after hearing her stories I wish I had that chance when I was in school.

Honestly....probably not the best place to post this but I prefer Carnival. I liked disney, and am a disney freak but I just find Carnival offers much better ports, food is just as good, I wouldn;t say better but as good, I liked the entertainment better as well. Carnival does have casinos but I have never spent a dime in them. The only thing I liked better on DCL was the restaurant rotation. Carnival you eat in the same dining room each night which is fine, you get to know where your table is but I prefer the rotation. I was a little worried about trying Carnival due to the booze cruise comparison but honestly I have never seen that and I have done 6 Carnival cruises since 2005 when I was on DCL and have 2 more booked 1 to Alaska in a few months and western caribbean in Nov.

Carnival Pride is in the Spirit Class of ships and is my fav' actually my 2 next cruises are on Spirit and Legend....same style of ship.

At the end of the day it's all about cruising. I've done all kinds of vacations and cruising is the best for me (untill space cruising comes along).

I don't have any comparison among cruise lines but I must say I've seen people (adults, childrens with me included) with tears of joy on our eyes when getting off the Magic at the end of the cruise.

 

[MRAven]

It is great to see this link and people to talk to. I booked the August 13th 7 night Mediterranean Cruise with my DD who will be 25. I got alittle carried away on the last cruise and also booked the Alaskan cruise for July 26th. We will have about 10 days at home between the two cruises and I wonder if I am making a mistake with them so close together. Has anyone else booked so close together?

I don't think you should be concerned about it since the itineraries are totaly diferent. And you will need to change your clothes an gears. Mediterranean and Alaska are completely different worlds and that's where your fun will be.

 

[Anal Annie]

It is great to see this link and people to talk to. I booked the August 13th 7 night Mediterranean Cruise with my DD who will be 25. I got alittle carried away on the last cruise and also booked the Alaskan cruise for July 26th. We will have about 10 days at home between the two cruises and I wonder if I am making a mistake with them so close together. Has anyone else booked so close together?

Yay!! Another peep!! There we go!! FLSunshine, I have never been one to be able to have 2 vacations that close together so I don't know how that will be. Exciting & hectic!! But they will indeed be SOOO different!! Alaska will surely be beautiful but cold. Then you'll come to the Med & get your tropical week. I really want to see Alaska one day but I just don't want to be cold! I will go whenever I can figure out how to do that. I also didn't want to do it on DCL's first year at it. We did the Mexican Riviera on DCL back in 2005 and they really charge a premium for their first year somewhere. At least you got the rebooking discount for both of them, right?

MRAven - your plans sound awesome as well!! I wish we had time for Madrid too but we really want to see DLP & Paris while we're THAT CLOSE! That way we can still get our "Disney Fix"!!

Well, we are currently in the beginning stages of a blizzard (expecting between 20-30 inches of snow over the next 24 hours) so I am going to go outside now with DH to clear some snow before we go to bed & before it gets TOO DEEP. Can we go yet??

 

[Floridasunshine]

so sorry to hear about your weather. We had tornado warnings yesterday and heavy rain but it looks like all has passed for now. I am so ready for a vacation, not sure if I can wait this long. Good luck with the snow, I know how challenging that can be but keep dreaming of a great vaca ---

 

[Anal Annie]

We had about 12" of snow last night by midnight and then we got another 14" over night for a total of about 26" by 8:00 am. Supposed to continue until about 8:00 pm.... Here's a few pics I took this morning (remember, we had cleared it all out once last night)

Looking out a front window at our sidewalk

Looking out of our garage across our court

Our mailboxes

Our front door (it's blowing hard & sticking all over our windows & doors)

Measured 14" from overnight

 

[Anal Annie]

so sorry to hear about your weather. We had tornado warnings yesterday and heavy rain but it looks like all has passed for now. I am so ready for a vacation, not sure if I can wait this long. Good luck with the snow, I know how challenging that can be but keep dreaming of a great vaca ---

There were tornado warnings once when we were at WDW. It was before we bought our DVC membership & we were staying at Corondo Springs - I made DS go sit in the bathtub 'cuz I figured we should be in an interior room. The weather channel specifically named diff. parks at WDW so I was paranoid. Now he is scared to death of storms 'cuz I freaked him out!