August 16, 2011 – 7 Night Alaska Sailing

[ICollectBelle]

Could you please add us to the FE list too?
Me - Gretchen
DH - Chuck
We are both 30-ish, staying in room #5642.

I was wondering if everyone was doing first or second dinner seating? We are doing the second, but it was all that was left when I booked so there wasn't really a choice.

We are in late seating as are our friends. We always request the late seating as we have no small children traveling with us. You still see quite a lot of children at the late seating but I think more are in the early seating. I think the parents of the little ones prefer early. I think it gives us more time on port days and a more relaxed dinner as the servers are not hurrying for the next seating. I know everyone has their own reasons for picking one over the other, these are just my reasons for picking late.

 

[dkmjgal]

We have late seating. It's the first time doing late seating but our kids are now 15 and 12 so they are fine with it. I also feel like it is going to give us maximum time in the ports...especially Ketchikan...since we don't dock until 1:30 and leave at 7:30.
We've always done early because I don't like eating dinner that late...but on our last cruise we were always rushing to get ready for 5:30 seating. Hopefully late seating will work out for us.

 

[kgsmith]

We have late seating. When I booked the cruise, late seating was the only option. I toyed with the idea of getting on the waitlist for early seating, but then I decided late seating would give us more time in port. Then, when we added the ABD portion to our reservation, DCL told me that we had to have late seating.

This will be the first time DS9 is out of our time zone (eastern), so late dining could prove to be very interesting!

We plan to take full advantage of the Dine-n-Play option!

 

[disneymath]

Well ... it's really REAL now ... just paid in full!
(including insurance ... note to self, next cruise, book the insurance the day you book the deposit!!)

Thanks Mellers for your insurance input on a bunch of threads ... we ended up with CSA Luxe because of some PECs that we didn't want to leave to chance.

We have late seating ... originally by choice since we're 3 adults and then by requirement of the ABD.

 

[mellers]

Well ... it's really REAL now ... just paid in full!
(including insurance ... note to self, next cruise, book the insurance the day you book the deposit!!)

Thanks Mellers for your insurance input on a bunch of threads ... we ended up with CSA Luxe because of some PECs that we didn't want to leave to chance.

We have late seating ... originally by choice since we're 3 adults and then by requirement of the ABD.

You're very welcome--with three people with PECs in my family, constant attention to changing insurance laws is necessary to ensure our continued access to medical care in the United States. I've had some friends bankrupted because they didn't read the fine print on their medical insurance, and made a mistake. I don't ever want anybody else to go through that.

 

[mellers]

Sorry--accidentally duplicated the message (computer trouble)

 

[CubCatsK&D]

We usually do the 2nd seating, but with having our 12 yr old nephew along, we went with the early seating (we're also in the central time zone)
We love 2nd seating, but after weighing it all out we went with first. Our logic was there were only 2 nights out of 7 where it would be a possible problem, and since we will have eaten in all three dining rooms one already, if we had to go to the buffet the other two times it wouldn't be the end of the world. All that said, were hoping for the latest of the 3 early seatings.

 

[mellers]

There's a Groupon for a Whale Watching trip in Vancouver today:

http://click.e.groupon.com/?qs=eec7...50c4e0a823a2d19aff273c5a4cae10969340c2703cf56

 

[mellers]

Just to make sure--I think I have all requests for list changes done, and everyone's celebrations added--if I've missed anybody's request, or celebration, let me know:

Mickey group

Mellers, stateroom 7631, Mellers (41), DH (44), DD (15)
Mrs. Gumdrop (Happy Birthday and Anniversary!) & (DH) V.I.N.CENT, 6102, Lauren (32) & (DH) Rich (34)
DumboFan, Stateroom 6090, Debbie, Kenny, Kate (13)
BishopFamily, Stateroom 5524, Nancy, Richard, DS(13), DD(8)
msnoble, Stateroom 6034, Maureen, Brian, Erica (age 12 (2 weeks from 13 ) and Russell (age 10)
MonicaW, Stateroom 2629, Mike and Monica (adults), Kimberly (14)
CubCatsK&D (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom 7134, Kim and Deb (adults), Cameron (12)
Aby, Stateroom 7126, Kim and Chuck (30-somethings)

Pluto Group

Godalejr (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom????, Jenn (40), Jeff (39), DS (9)
Wisegal (Happy Birthday to the little guys!), Stateroom 6111, Nicole (34), DH - Dave (40), DD - Brooklyn (5), DS - Michael (4)
Kgsmith (Happy Anniversary!), Stateroom 7092, Karen (40), Stuart (39), Bennett (9)
Mrs. Gumdrop's DSIL, 6100, Melissa (30-something)
AppleGuy, Stateroom 5138, Gary and Donna (adults)
AppleGuy's Friends, Stateroom 5136, Lee and Sharon (adults)
Dancing Mickey's (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom ????, Dancing Mickey's, DH, DD (4) DS (10)
Pops711, Stateroom ???, Jerry, Melanie, Faith (10.5 months), Bella (10.5 months)
MercoBear, Stateroom #5462, Gretchen, Chuck (30-Something)

No sticky, chewy candy for Erica, and no food, please, for Mellers family (all 3 have MAJOR dietary issues)

And here's the Day-Before Meet List:

Mellers (5 people)
Scothen (1 person)
Mrs. Gumdrop (2 people, maybe)

 

[MercoBear]

Just to make sure--I think I have all requests for list changes done, and everyone's celebrations added--if I've missed anybody's request, or celebration, let me know:

Mickey group

Mellers, stateroom 7631, Mellers (41), DH (44), DD (15)
Mrs. Gumdrop (Happy Birthday and Anniversary!) & (DH) V.I.N.CENT, 6102, Lauren (32) & (DH) Rich (34)
DumboFan, Stateroom 6090, Debbie, Kenny, Kate (13)
BishopFamily, Stateroom 5524, Nancy, Richard, DS(13), DD(8)
msnoble, Stateroom 6034, Maureen, Brian, Erica (age 12 (2 weeks from 13 ) and Russell (age 10)
MonicaW, Stateroom 2629, Mike and Monica (adults), Kimberly (14)
CubCatsK&D (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom 7134, Kim and Deb (adults), Cameron (12)
Aby, Stateroom 7126, Kim and Chuck (30-somethings)

Pluto Group

Godalejr (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom????, Jenn (40), Jeff (39), DS (9)
Wisegal (Happy Birthday to the little guys!), Stateroom 6111, Nicole (34), DH - Dave (40), DD - Brooklyn (5), DS - Michael (4)
Kgsmith (Happy Anniversary!), Stateroom 7092, Karen (40), Stuart (39), Bennett (9)
Mrs. Gumdrop's DSIL, 6100, Melissa (30-something)
AppleGuy, Stateroom 5138, Gary and Donna (adults)
AppleGuy's Friends, Stateroom 5136, Lee and Sharon (adults)
Dancing Mickey's (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom ????, Dancing Mickey's, DH, DD (4) DS (10)
Pops711, Stateroom ???, Jerry, Melanie, Faith (10.5 months), Bella (10.5 months)
MercoBear, Stateroom #5462, Gretchen, Chuck (30-Something)

No sticky, chewy candy for Erica, and no food, please, for Mellers family (all 3 have MAJOR dietary issues)

And here's the Day-Before Meet List:

Mellers (5 people)
Scothen (1 person)
Mrs. Gumdrop (2 people, maybe)

Ha, ha, so I was reading this and checking out the info, only to read that I posted DH's name wrong! His name is actually Dustin. Serves me right for copying and pasting... And here's hoping that he never reads this!

 

[mellers]

Don't want to cause any marital issues--here's the new list

Mickey group

Mellers, stateroom 7631, Mellers (41), DH (44), DD (15)
Mrs. Gumdrop (Happy Birthday and Anniversary!) & (DH) V.I.N.CENT, 6102, Lauren (32) & (DH) Rich (34)
DumboFan, Stateroom 6090, Debbie, Kenny, Kate (13)
BishopFamily, Stateroom 5524, Nancy, Richard, DS(13), DD(8)
msnoble, Stateroom 6034, Maureen, Brian, Erica (age 12 (2 weeks from 13 ) and Russell (age 10)
MonicaW, Stateroom 2629, Mike and Monica (adults), Kimberly (14)
CubCatsK&D (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom 7134, Kim and Deb (adults), Cameron (12)
Aby, Stateroom 7126, Kim and Chuck (30-somethings)

Pluto Group

Godalejr (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom????, Jenn (40), Jeff (39), DS (9)
Wisegal (Happy Birthday to the little guys!), Stateroom 6111, Nicole (34), DH - Dave (40), DD - Brooklyn (5), DS - Michael (4)
Kgsmith (Happy Anniversary!), Stateroom 7092, Karen (40), Stuart (39), Bennett (9)
Mrs. Gumdrop's DSIL, 6100, Melissa (30-something)
AppleGuy, Stateroom 5138, Gary and Donna (adults)
AppleGuy's Friends, Stateroom 5136, Lee and Sharon (adults)
Dancing Mickey's (Happy Birthday!), Stateroom ????, Dancing Mickey's, DH, DD (4) DS (10)
Pops711, Stateroom ???, Jerry, Melanie, Faith (10.5 months), Bella (10.5 months)
MercoBear, Stateroom #5462, Gretchen, Dustin (30-Something)

No sticky, chewy candy for Erica, and no food, please, for Mellers family (all 3 have MAJOR dietary issues)

And here's the Day-Before Meet List:

Mellers (5 people)
Scothen (1 person)
Mrs. Gumdrop (2 people, maybe)

 

[Aby]

I have a question about the FE gifts. I've been looking at lots of other threads and have seen that there are many ways that people hand out gifts. Some do a gift for each cabin, some do a gift for each person in each cabin, and some do one gift for the adults and one for the kids.

Do we have a particular set up for our FE groups? Or is it just going to be up to each cabin to decide how they are going to do their gifts for the other cabins? Also, are we delivering on a certain date or just whenever we want during the cruise?

Or....is it too early to be worrying about these things?

Aby

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

This is a good question!

Since our FE groups will be no more than 15 staterooms, I vote for letting people give how and when they want. Sometimes if you designate a specific giving scheme the best gift idea a participant has doesn't jive with that style.

That said, I am nearly positive that last year on the EBTA we didn't receive gifts from all of the participants. Our group was huge and I think there were some items snatched from our FE. So perhaps knowing that only 2 or 3 drops would be made each day, there would be less chance of over flowing FEs. Just my 2 cents.

 

[mellers]

I have a question about the FE gifts. I've been looking at lots of other threads and have seen that there are many ways that people hand out gifts. Some do a gift for each cabin, some do a gift for each person in each cabin, and some do one gift for the adults and one for the kids.

Do we have a particular set up for our FE groups? Or is it just going to be up to each cabin to decide how they are going to do their gifts for the other cabins? Also, are we delivering on a certain date or just whenever we want during the cruise?

Or....is it too early to be worrying about these things?

Aby

I'm trying to avoid having "hard and fast" rules on when to deliver gifts, or how many to deliver. I would say it's up to each cabin to do their gifts for the other cabins in their own way, and when they want to deliver them.

Basically, nobody should feel like they have to "break the bank" on gifts, neither in the gifts themselves, nor in shipping or luggage fees. We're all here to have fun.

 

[kgsmith]

Or....is it too early to be worrying about these things?

Aby

I don't think so! But this is coming from someone who spent quite a bit of time this morning ordering FE- related supplies!

To answer your question, I am going to do a gift for each person.

 

[Aby]

Okay, thanks! I was hoping to do a package gift for each stateroom, but wasn't sure if that was okay or if gifts were expected for individuals. But I agree with Mellers that everyone just needs to have fun! Just the surprise of getting a gift, no matter how small or large, handmade or not, will make me smile every day of the cruise!

Aby

 

[mellers]

Okay, here are the rules (more like guidelines) for the FE:

1. You can make (or purchase) any kind of gift you want, any way you want for the other cabins. It can be one gift for everyone, a package gift, one gift for kids and one gift for adults, or individual gifts for each person, or some other combination I didn't list.

2. Nobody should feel like they need to "break the bank"--not on the gifts, shipping, or luggage fees. This should be fun, not a burden on anyone.

3. You can deliver your gifts any day or time you want, as long as they are delivered before noon on 8/22.

4. Nobody will be added to the FE list after 6/18, although latecomers may form their own FE exchange group if they wish

5. Anybody who wants to be on both FE lists, or on the same FE list as somebody else, or on a different FE list that the one they're in, post a message or PM me, and I will make the changes, up to a limit of 15 cabins per FE list, and before the 6/18 cutoff date. After that date, the lists are fixed.

6. Whether or not you are participating in the FE, you are welcome at the cruise get-together. We are planning to have it in Diversions at 3 p.m. August 16th (Children are allowed in Diversions at that hour). If somebody has reserved Diversions (I have not), and it is not available, we'll all meet in the Promenade Lounge at 3 p.m. Kids and teens are welcome.

7. Whether or not you are participating in the FE, you are welcome at the pre-cruise get-together. While you do not have to let me know you are coming, if you know you are coming, it's helpful for me to know so I can get a bigger table. However, if it looks like you can come last-minute, come anyway--it'll be fine . It will be at 5 p.m. August 15th at the White Spot in Richmond, BC (near the airport). If you need something before the cruise, we'll be near a large shopping mall (Lansdowne Center), so that might be of help.

The White Spot is at 5880 No. 3 Road (No. 3 Road and Ackroyd), Richmond, BC V6X 2E1. There are two White Spots on No. 3 Road, so you'll want to make sure you're at the closest to the Lansdowne Shopping Centre, at the Ackroyd cross street. If you are staying at Canada Place, and don't have a car or don't want to drive, take the Canada Line from the waterfront to the Lansdowne Station. It's just a short distance down No. 3 Road past the shopping centre. You'll probably see the big sign when you get down from the station (the station exits onto No. 3 Road). Kids and teens are welcome.

If there are any questions, or a rule becomes a problem for somebody, let me know.

Thanks,

Mellers

 

[mellers]

One more thing--since I may or may not know you're coming to the White Spot gathering, or know who you are waiting to board, here is what we look like:

1. Mellers--white, with brown, curly, short hair, stocky, 5'8", brown eyes. Has a cheap Mickey Mouse ring for a wedding ring. Will either have a cane with her or be seated on an ECV.

2. DH--Asian, about the same height and weight as Mellers, probably folding something out of paper, short hair, glasses.

3. DD--15-Asian/white combo, short hair, glasses, a bit shorter than Mellers and DH, Little Mary Sunshine disposition. Likely wearing or carrying something Disney.

4. Mellers Mom--looks like Mellers sister--it's kind of scary--and rather depressing

5. Mellers Dad--looks like Groucho Marx, but slightly older than the movies. Can, and will, answer and know any movie reference made for a movie before 1980--after 1980, it's about a 50-50 chance.

Needless to say, we're hard to miss

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

In the interest of sharing, here's us!

VINC.E.N.T. and Mrs. Gumdrop
As you can see we are gumdrop-shaped 30 somethings. I have shorter hair these days, but this photo is pretty accurate.

Melissa my DSIL is a prettier, female version of my husband. With redder hair! In order to protect her privacy, I won't include a photo!

 

[ALawley]

Hi Everyone! We are sailing aboard the beautiful Disney Wonder to Alaska and would love to meet other avid Disney Cruisers! We are a large group, my hubby & I, my dad & stepmom and two other families, best friend, BFhubby, BFD (19), BFmom, other best friend, BFhubby & their daughter (19).