August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[jd99]

GTY = Guarantee. Cruiselines typically oversell each category by a few cabins because they know that in the end there will be a certain percentage of cancellations. So once all of the cabins are assigned if you book a cabin in this category they call it a "guarantee" status. They guarantee that you will get a room in AT LEAST this category BUT if they can't find a room for you in this category then they'll upgrade you to another category for free!! I think it improves your odds for an upgrade. The downside is that you don't get your room number until they mail out the documents...and even then sometimes they change it again later. When we booked a GTY we did so at 11 months out & then 30 days before our sail date they sent us a cabin # in the category we booked. I was a little bummed but we did get what we paid for. THEN, 2 weeks before we sailed they called my cell phone & left a message that they'd changed the room # and they left the new number & just said to change it on our luggage tags. We were upgraded from a porthole to a balcony for free! It ended up being worth the gamble.

OK, so who among us is thinking that we should plan for a DIS meet on our first day?! We haven't planned anything extra yet. No T-shirts or FE's going on it seems...but should we plan to meet up somewhere & meet in real life & have a toast or something? Any takers?! And for any of you who have done one before do you have any suggestions on WHERE to do it?! Last time I cruised we all had matching t-shirts & we met up in the terminal before we boarded. Two of the families in our group were sailing in the Roy & Walt Suites so they managed to get us all on early with the concierge boarding group. Obviously, none of us fall into that category this time around but so not sure when & where? Deck 10 at the sail-a-way party? I first thought of the "secret deck 7" (far aft on deck 7) and I called DCL to see if the door would be unlocked but the CM didn't know if it would be open while we were still in port or not. So we could meet by a bar or up on deck...OR open for other suggestions!! Is there anything else you'd like to see us plan?! We seem to be a little lacking on planning here...... BTW they said the terminal would open at 10:30 and that boarding would start at 1:00 (but I thought I'd heard of people getting on earlier so we'll have to double check on that once the other Meds start). The Safety / Lifeboat drill will be at 4:00 and the Sail-a-way party / departure will be at 5:00.

Kelly?
Jeff?
Luke?
Karen?
Mikki?
Joanne?
SharonL?
Shereen?
Cheryl?
Jon?
JP?
LNRP?
Esther?
MJWBCV?
NJ_Ohana? (Are you still cruising with us?)

We generally have had our cruisemeets at the Promenade Lounge at 2:30 p.m. on Sailaway day - gives folks time to eat lunch and get cabins and then a quick meeting and drink b4 the drill. For the European sailing last year, we met at the Goofy pool on the side near Pinocchios so the kids got to swim while the adults met and mingled. it was nice but I find it easier for kids to connect with each other when at the PL. But we will be up for anything - happy to meet whereever - but would like it to be on that first day so that any kids of similar ages can meet in person.

 

[Anal Annie]

YAY! Jeff's in!! I was wondering if the Promenade Lounge was a good spot... 2:30 - 3:00 sounds OK to me (although I may be in my bathing suit / coverup)! And in case ya'll couldn't tell by now I am always up for or 2 or 3. I can certainly see tho why the pool area would attract those with younger kiddos so I am open to whatever the majority wants to do. Long as I can have a cocktail in one hand and shake your hand with the other!! I agree that it should be the first day... Who else is in?!

DS has a swim meet this weekend - first Long Course meet...and FOR ONCE his age group gets to go for the afternoon session!! Warm-ups are at Noon so we don't have to leave home until around 11:00 both days!! YIPEE!! Payback tho on the NEXT meet in May - warm-ups will be at 6:00 am!! And it's in DC so we'll have to leave home by like 5:10 because parking will be a bear!! I am going to SAVOR this one!!

 

[west&east]

We're in for a meet and greet wherever!

Been working quite a bit lately, catching up on all the time I was out sick. Need to get some tours booked before we miss out! 3 lacrosse games for DS8 this weekend! 1 soccer game for DD11 (12 in 1 more month!)
Having my parents over for dinner tomorrow night and letting my mom help me plant my herbs and some new plants. Supposed to be a stunning weekend.

So were all the UK folks into the wedding today. I was most impressed with the wedding cake!

 

[mikki.young]

We are up for a meet. Would prefer Promenade lounge as Andrew is better off with shady options and hopefully cooler. Don't you just love smart phones that let you stay in touch! Sale starts this morning. We are only general Disney stall which is good but there is a collectible shop that has stuff I am bound to buy!

 

[Kels Sem]

Morning, we're up for the meet as well Happy to go with the majority although Jeff is probably right about meeting in the promenade lounge as it's probably better place for the kiddies to meet each other.

Karen - I was watching the wedding yesterday. I thought Kate's dress was beautiful and very elegant. She reminded me of Grace Kelly.

DH is taking the kids to their swimming lessons this morning and this will be DD first lesson. I have a nice couple of hours to myself and I'm going to meet my Mum for coffee and some shopping

 

[Cumbley]

Hi All, we are up for a meet and happy to go with the majority.......

Getting excited now......

 

[MallenBeadle]

Morning all, happy to have a meetup and happy to be guided by the more experienced cruisers as this is our first time

Jon

 

[Anal Annie]

Morning, we're up for the meet as well Happy to go with the majority although Jeff is probably right about meeting in the promenade lounge as it's probably better place for the kiddies to meet each other.

Karen - I was watching the wedding yesterday. I thought Kate's dress was beautiful and very elegant. She reminded me of Grace Kelly.

DH is taking the kids to their swimming lessons this morning and this will be DD first lesson. I have a nice couple of hours to myself and I'm going to meet my Mum for coffee and some shopping

YAY! It begins with lessons!! Hope she takes to them! Getting ready to pump DS full of eggs in a few minutes with a late breakfast so he has some protein to hold him until after his swims this afternoon. His session starts around lunchtime and we have to leave home around 11:00 so it makes meal planning tough...

I also watched bits & pieces of the wedding...I really liked her dress as well and the sisters dress was pretty too (I liked the simple style). I especially liked the 2nd kiss and the Aston Martin all decorated up.

GLAD to see we're getting some interest in a quick DIS meet!!

 

[jd99]

YAY! Jeff's in!! I was wondering if the Promenade Lounge was a good spot... 2:30 - 3:00 sounds OK to me (although I may be in my bathing suit / coverup)! And in case ya'll couldn't tell by now I am always up for or 2 or 3. I can certainly see tho why the pool area would attract those with younger kiddos so I am open to whatever the majority wants to do. Long as I can have a cocktail in one hand and shake your hand with the other!! I agree that it should be the first day... Who else is in?!

DS has a swim meet this weekend - first Long Course meet...and FOR ONCE his age group gets to go for the afternoon session!! Warm-ups are at Noon so we don't have to leave home until around 11:00 both days!! YIPEE!! Payback tho on the NEXT meet in May - warm-ups will be at 6:00 am!! And it's in DC so we'll have to leave home by like 5:10 because parking will be a bear!! I am going to SAVOR this one!!

We have our first long course meet of the season this weekend too! Alas, it's an "all in one" meet - smaller kick off event at our home pool so we have to be there for 7:30 a.m. warmups. But the good thing is I was home by noon. DD did okay - took time off (from last summer) two events but not in the third (50 free which is a tougher one to drop of course). three more events tomorrow. Based on her short course times, should be huge time drops in all of them barring any weirdness.

 

[Joanne Hollyoak]

Hi count us in sounds great
Annie I can just imagine you reserving the seats for us
Had a lovely day yesterday my parents had a garden party to celebrate the wedding. I agree the Dress was beautiful and the pageboys looked lovely. Aaron said I want to dress up like the characters mummy bless him been watching too many Disney films

 

[Anal Annie]

We have our first long course meet of the season this weekend too! Alas, it's an "all in one" meet - smaller kick off event at our home pool so we have to be there for 7:30 a.m. warmups. But the good thing is I was home by noon. DD did okay - took time off (from last summer) two events but not in the third (50 free which is a tougher one to drop of course). three more events tomorrow. Based on her short course times, should be huge time drops in all of them barring any weirdness.

I agree the 50 is a tough drop to get - tell DD good job on her drops. We're always glad for any micro-second he can get when he does a 50. DS did NOT have the best swims today. This was his first LC meet that had times recorded with USA Swimming (we have 1 LC meet in the summer that our summer team goes to but it's the summer league with our county and is not part of USA Swimming). Anyway, so I had converted all of his SCY times to LCM times so we could compare. His first event was the 200 IM. His fly looked great and his back was so-so (his kick slowed down in the last 1/4) then he LOST it with his breast. That is probably his worst stroke to start with but today it looked awful...then he came back a little bit with his free (his best stroke). His finish time was about 6 seconds off his converted time. Turns out he LOST HIS GOGGLES AGAIN at the end of the fly. So he had to swim the last 3 strokes with them around his neck (he puts the strap under his cap now so he didn't LOSE them altogether). But so I'm sure the 6 second gain came mostly from that. Then he did the 100 back & gained 1 second on that. At least the time was CLOSE tho - I can accept 1 second gain on a 100, esp. with it being his first time doing LC in almost a year. Finally he did the 100 breast and it was AWFUL again. I am not sure what his problem was but he picked up like 10 seconds on it!! No goggle problems - just a crappy swim - he thinks because there were fewer turns. I think he was grasping for an excuse. Tomorrow he does 200 Free, 100 Fly and 200 Breast. He doesn't have a time for the 200 Breast but since it's his worst stroke me thinks it will not be a pretty way to end the day! He had said he wanted to do that one again in the NEXT meet too but I'm thinking that might not such a good plan. Guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow. The meet entries aren't final until next week so he could switch it out for the 200 Free or a 400 IM. Not sure that he's ready for the 400 IM tho.

HEY, BTW - how was your trip to Cali?! Did you have fun? Did the weather cooperate??

Hi count us in sounds great
Annie I can just imagine you reserving the seats for us
Had a lovely day yesterday my parents had a garden party to celebrate the wedding. I agree the Dress was beautiful and the pageboys looked lovely. Aaron said I want to dress up like the characters mummy bless him been watching too many Disney films

I am glad to see our new DIS'ers planning to attend!

 

[MallenBeadle]

Swimming is clearly the in thing for all our kids at the moment then, as we spent all morning at their lessons

 

[liberty6201]

Hi there
Just deciding whether to stick with our current reservation (Dream next April) or move to a Med cruise this year instead!! I'd like the whole Florida thing and all the parks but my head is having difficulty because really we could get 2 holidays for the price it would cost to do Florida. Hmmm still got some thinking to do!
I haven't had a chance to read the whole thread so can someone tell me if there is a FE group ? (this was seriously the highlight of the trip fot my 6yo last year!! was llike Xmas every day!)
Any other advice??

 

[jd99]

I agree the 50 is a tough drop to get - tell DD good job on her drops. We're always glad for any micro-second he can get when he does a 50. DS did NOT have the best swims today. This was his first LC meet that had times recorded with USA Swimming (we have 1 LC meet in the summer that our summer team goes to but it's the summer league with our county and is not part of USA Swimming). Anyway, so I had converted all of his SCY times to LCM times so we could compare. His first event was the 200 IM. His fly looked great and his back was so-so (his kick slowed down in the last 1/4) then he LOST it with his breast. That is probably his worst stroke to start with but today it looked awful...then he came back a little bit with his free (his best stroke). His finish time was about 6 seconds off his converted time. Turns out he LOST HIS GOGGLES AGAIN at the end of the fly. So he had to swim the last 3 strokes with them around his neck (he puts the strap under his cap now so he didn't LOSE them altogether). But so I'm sure the 6 second gain came mostly from that. Then he did the 100 back & gained 1 second on that. At least the time was CLOSE tho - I can accept 1 second gain on a 100, esp. with it being his first time doing LC in almost a year. Finally he did the 100 breast and it was AWFUL again. I am not sure what his problem was but he picked up like 10 seconds on it!! No goggle problems - just a crappy swim - he thinks because there were fewer turns. I think he was grasping for an excuse. Tomorrow he does 200 Free, 100 Fly and 200 Breast. He doesn't have a time for the 200 Breast but since it's his worst stroke me thinks it will not be a pretty way to end the day! He had said he wanted to do that one again in the NEXT meet too but I'm thinking that might not such a good plan. Guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow. The meet entries aren't final until next week so he could switch it out for the 200 Free or a 400 IM. Not sure that he's ready for the 400 IM tho.

HEY, BTW - how was your trip to Cali?! Did you have fun? Did the weather cooperate??



I am glad to see our new DIS'ers planning to attend!

Day two of swim meet done. Decided to ignore the swim converter i was trying to use and to just celebrate time cuts from last year's long course season. Here is what we ended up with for the weekend.

50M Free - equaled time from last year.
50 back - dropped 1.4 seconds
50 Breast - dropped almost 2 seconds
100 free - dropped more than 4 seconds
50 Fly - dropped more than six seconds
and in a crazy 100 IM where they change strokes mid pool and it's not an official "USA event" but they only do it at this fun meet - dropped 9 seconds.

So overall a good weekend. This was after not practicing for more than 1.5 weeks. And now she has some good starting times for the long course season - but dropping more should be an attainable goal based on those conversions. Now it's time to get back to practice on a more regular basis.

Ready ready ready for a couple of upcoming vacations but really looking forward to our European adventure which includes this cruise.

 

[Anal Annie]

Swimming is clearly the in thing for all our kids at the moment then, as we spent all morning at their lessons

Awesome!! That's how "we" got started!!

Day two of swim meet done. Decided to ignore the swim converter i was trying to use and to just celebrate time cuts from last year's long course season. Here is what we ended up with for the weekend.

50M Free - equaled time from last year.
50 back - dropped 1.4 seconds
50 Breast - dropped almost 2 seconds
100 free - dropped more than 4 seconds
50 Fly - dropped more than six seconds
and in a crazy 100 IM where they change strokes mid pool and it's not an official "USA event" but they only do it at this fun meet - dropped 9 seconds.

So overall a good weekend. This was after not practicing for more than 1.5 weeks. And now she has some good starting times for the long course season - but dropping more should be an attainable goal based on those conversions. Now it's time to get back to practice on a more regular basis.

Ready ready ready for a couple of upcoming vacations but really looking forward to our European adventure which includes this cruise.

WAY TO GO DD!!!! WELL DONE!!! The 100 IM thing DOES sound crazy!! DS had a MUCH better day today. He brought his head to the game today and it showed. Being that he's still mostly an "All Times" swimmer for most events he managed to get his 200 Free in the 'B" time and he dropped 5 seconds off his converted 100 Fly time. Fly is typically one of his worst strokes but he's improved A LOT this year - now I would say Breast is his worst. He only needs to drop 2 seconds to get his 100 Back into the 'B' time. He didn't have a time for the 200 Breast and as I suspected, it was painfully SLOW. I have offered him an "out" (switch that one to another event) for the next meet but I think he may stick to trying the 200 Breast again. He has a couple more days to mull it over. He will only have 1 more long course meet bcuz we're only signed up to swim thru June 10 with our winter club & the May meet will be the only 1 he does. Then we'll just switch to our regular summer team thru the end of July. I can't afford to keep up with both clubs and he could only practice with one or the other anyway. If he stayed with TIBU for the whole summer his practices would switch to 5:15-7:00 am in an outdoor long course pool after school lets out while our regular summer team practices are from 7:30-9:00 in a regular 25 meter pool. He really didn't want to do the 5:15 gig and frankly, neither did I.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi there
Just deciding whether to stick with our current reservation (Dream next April) or move to a Med cruise this year instead!! I'd like the whole Florida thing and all the parks but my head is having difficulty because really we could get 2 holidays for the price it would cost to do Florida. Hmmm still got some thinking to do!
I haven't had a chance to read the whole thread so can someone tell me if there is a FE group ? (this was seriously the highlight of the trip fot my 6yo last year!! was llike Xmas every day!)
Any other advice??

Hello there! Of course we'd love to have more peeps sail with us...the international airfare prices have been a bit of a problem for most US peeps I think. A few of us have been booked on this cruise since the beginning & many of our crew are pretty new and mostly from the UK and many are first time cruisers.

We've kicked the idea around of doing a FE but nobody took the ball & ran with it to plan it. We also had great fun with ours the last time we sailed but with the luggage & weight restrictions now I think most of us are hesitant to have to try to pack even 1 more pound than we absolutely have to. Personally, we're going to Paris first for 4 nights before we head to Barcelona then are staying in Barca a couple more nights after the cruise so trying to pack for 15 days in one checked bag per person is going to be enough of a challenge. I simply can't go over because a 2nd checked bag will cost us $50 per flight.

We are just in the beginning stages of starting to plan for a little DIS meet on our first day. Beyond that a couple of us are sharing an excursion & transfers...haven't made big group plans. Hope that doesn't stop you from deciding to sail with us. Keep us posted on your thoughts...happy to answer any other questions you come up with!!

 

[mikki.young]

Well we are back from the sale and we managed to get rid of a lot of stuff - over half what we took in fact! lots of people got bargains and we got space (and a bit of money). the actual Disney presentations were much better than last year as well - the story behind Phantom Manor in particular was very well done being informative and entertaining.

Next target is Bermuda as we leave home a week tomorrow. A bit of sun practice but it should be much more pleasant temperatures there at this time of year (mid 70s) than the Med in August. Still I can try out some of the possible outfits/ swimming costumes

 

[jd99]

Awesome!! That's how "we" got started!!


WAY TO GO DD!!!! WELL DONE!!! The 100 IM thing DOES sound crazy!! DS had a MUCH better day today. He brought his head to the game today and it showed. Being that he's still mostly an "All Times" swimmer for most events he managed to get his 200 Free in the 'B" time and he dropped 5 seconds off his converted 100 Fly time. Fly is typically one of his worst strokes but he's improved A LOT this year - now I would say Breast is his worst. He only needs to drop 2 seconds to get his 100 Back into the 'B' time. He didn't have a time for the 200 Breast and as I suspected, it was painfully SLOW. I have offered him an "out" (switch that one to another event) for the next meet but I think he may stick to trying the 200 Breast again. He has a couple more days to mull it over. He will only have 1 more long course meet bcuz we're only signed up to swim thru June 10 with our winter club & the May meet will be the only 1 he does. Then we'll just switch to our regular summer team thru the end of July. I can't afford to keep up with both clubs and he could only practice with one or the other anyway. If he stayed with TIBU for the whole summer his practices would switch to 5:15-7:00 am in an outdoor long course pool after school lets out while our regular summer team practices are from 7:30-9:00 in a regular 25 meter pool. He really didn't want to do the 5:15 gig and frankly, neither did I.

Congrats to your son too! DD also has all "all times" at this point except for in the 200 Breast SCY - where she got a B in her last meet of short course season. She is just on the edge of B for a bunch of events in SCY and hoping to make it over that hump during long course season.

 

[jd99]

We've kicked the idea around of doing a FE but nobody took the ball & ran with it to plan it. We also had great fun with ours the last time we sailed but with the luggage & weight restrictions now I think most of us are hesitant to have to try to pack even 1 more pound than we absolutely have to. Personally, we're going to Paris first for 4 nights before we head to Barcelona then are staying in Barca a couple more nights after the cruise so trying to pack for 15 days in one checked bag per person is going to be enough of a challenge. I simply can't go over because a 2nd checked bag will cost us $50 per flight.

We are just in the beginning stages of starting to plan for a little DIS meet on our first day. Beyond that a couple of us are sharing an excursion & transfers...haven't made big group plans. Hope that doesn't stop you from deciding to sail with us. Keep us posted on your thoughts...happy to answer any other questions you come up with!!

We are in the same boat (no pun intended) re luggage restrictions. We are spending 9 days in Greece before the sailing and trying to figure out how to most efficiently pack, planning in a laundry day on sailaway day!

 

[MJWBCV]

Welcome aboard and welcome to the DISboards!! We booked a GTY cabin on our first cruise (what used to be a Cat 8, now a Cat 9A I think) and we were upgraded to one of the aft Cat 6's! Hope you get the same sort of pixie dust!! SOOO glad to finally see some older kids coming!!! My DS will be 14 in May and so far he's the only teen on our thread!! Most of our other peeps have younger kiddos....I will add ya'll to our first post. So your first cruise was out of FL?! Does the BCV ending in your screen name mean you go to WDW and stay at BCV?! Are you another DVC'er?! (Sorry, I always ask a ton of questions to our newbies but I'm harmless, really!!!!)

(PS) We have mostly UK peeps here on this cruise it seems - SharonL is also from Kent!!

Hi Annie - Thanks for the welcome

Yes, our first cruise was out of Florida, four days on board the Wonder in a cat 4 so a cat 9 is going to feel pretty tight, but the price was sooo good we couldnt resist, plus we had been talking about taking another cruise, and in particular around the med for a couple of years so it was a no-brainer.

We are DVC members and our home resort is indeed the BCV - We have been members for quite a while and have been very lucky and have had some fantastic holidays in Orlando - We plan to visit again next year, although this time we will try and use our points to stay at another DVC resort instead of BCV just to liven things up a bit - looking at BLT (obviously!) and WLV


Regards

Marcus