August 18th, 2013 - 4 Night Disney Dream Cruise

[Gary Pinkos]

Hello:

Just booked a 4 day cruise on the Disney Dream for August 18, 2013

My name is Gary, my wife Janet and 3 adult daughters are coming with me.

This will be our 4th Disney cruise. The first two were on the Wonder and the third was on the Dream. Our first was 2001 our second was 2008 third was 2011.

We are from South East PA, not far from Philadelphia.

My oldest daughter Jennifer will be 23, middle daughter Stacey will be 19 and youngest Robin will be 18. I am thrilled that all my girls are still happy to vacation with us old folks.

Really looking forward to this cruise on the Dream!.

We will be in two staterooms 2517 & 2519

We will be joining the Fish Extender.....last cruise was the first time we heard about it.....it was so much fun.

On our last cruise......Donny Osmond was onboard as a guest, so everyone was having "Donny sightings". Have you had anyone special one of your cruises or vacations.....please share.


Gary Pinkos

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[tdmathews]

Hi Gary!!

We were on the August cruise with you guys!!! Decided to do the Dream in August again because last August was the best ever We are Tracy, George and my girls Taylor (age 14 at cruise time) and Hanna (age 13 at cruise time). We are all in a balcony this time so please come up to visit!! Cabin #10158. We want in the fish extenders again also!! We are so excited this will be our 5th and we can't wait already.

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Hi Tracy:
I know who you are.....I remember you and George (I think anyway). You were at the meet & greet when we met as a group on that first day before we left port? Were you guys at the meet Donny event.....my oldest daughter was one on the first in line.....Janet & I met her and got in line with her to meet Donny. I think I remember George being there......unless I have him confused with someone else?

Anyway it appears from your signiture you are going on another cruise this year as well?

This year we are going to WDW in late July & early August. We are going with two other families, so if all my girls go, we will have 14 in our party this summer.

I really enjoyed our dream cruise last August, and we also went to WDW for 6
days. I should have gone on the cruise after WDW......I would have come home more relaxed!

That was our 3rd cruise, but first time with fish extenders. I loved the FE experience, it was just so much fun, my family and I looked forward to seeing what presents we received every time we returned to the cabins. I made the trip journals, Janet made other items depending on ages. I made twice as many journals as I needed (by accident), so I went up on deck a few times and randomly gave them out to children (with their parents permission).....I just loved doing this, I felt like Santa

Last cruise we used vacation points,but next cruise we are paying cash. I signed up on the last cruise using a dummy date to get a discount. Did you sign up then as well?

It will be fun to get this thread started, was starting to think we were going alone

 

[tdmathews]

Hi, Gary!!

Yes that was George in line for they Donny signing and we were at the meet and greet that first night.

My signature is wrong and I don't know how to change it . I need my Hanna to fix it for us. We are planning Disney this summer also. I think end of June beginning of July, however it will depend on finances. August is normally cheaper and we can get better deals.

We loved the last cruise. We did Disney after also and it was great. It was a very exhausting week!

We loved your journals! We did the bags. I know other people did them also. We brought extra kids toys and my girls gave them out too! They love to make other kids happy.

I really had no complaints about our last cruise. Everyone was great. I hope the next one is the same We were really debating between this cruise and the christmas 2013 cruise. They are about the same price and we have never been on a cruise at christmas time. I just know if we are down there then the girls will want to do disney and it is soooo much cheaper during August then Christmas in the parks.

Nice to know you are going to be cruising and I think we are still facebook friends also!!

Have a nice day.

 

[JustineMarie]

I just booked this cruise this morning. It will be Me, DH, my 2 DD, 15 and 12 at sail time, and then my DMIL and DFIL. We are in staterooms 9079 and 9579. First time staying in an inside stateroom but we barely spent anytime in the room so I figure it will be fine.

Never participated in a Fish Extender but we are definitely interested!

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Hello:
Great to have you joining us. It seems so far away, but it will be here before we know it.

We have stayed in inside state rooms on our last two cruises, we are rarely in the room so I like the savings. With a family of 5, it is much easier and more privacy to have two cabins, plus then I don't stress about the daughters not being as tidy as I would like.

How many cruises have you been on in the past and what ships were you on.

 

[britfish]

We just booked our first cruise and I am excited but a little nervous if this will be a good fit for us. We go to Disney every Aug. so we figured why not try a cruise next year too. We were originally going to go Feb. 2013 but DD is a ninny in cold water and I couldn't imagine going on a cruise and having her not go in the water so Aug. it is!
It will be me, DH and DD who will be 9. Gary where are you from in PA? I grew up in Chester County but have since relocated to NH.
Brittany

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Hi Brittany:
Welcome to the cruise and this forum. As more and more people join, this will become a very informative place to gather tips.

On our last cruise, which was our 3rd Disney cruise, because of this forum, we did so much more than we had done on our first two cruises, and had such better insight into all that is available. It will be a while before this forum really gets active, but when it does you will make many new friends.....don't hesitate to ask questions.

We got involved with something called fish extenders.....basically getting and receiving little gifts outside cabin doors......it was a blast, and we had friends on the cruise both because of the fish extenders and this forum.

We generally go to WDW in August almost every year, with kids still in school this is the best time for our family. We did our first cruise over 10 years ago. We belong to Disney Vacation Club, so in the past we would use our vacation points to go on the cruise......we are paying cash for the next cruise, because we no longer want to not go to WDW, so now we do both.

The kids clubs are fantastic, our girls went to different aged clubs, but all totally enjoyed them. On our last cruise, my oldest who is now a adult was disappointed that she could no longer go to the teen clubs.

My family lives in Montgomery county, actually in a town called Montgomeryville. Basically off the PA turnpike Ft Washington exit, which is two exits from Philly exit, or one exit from where the blue route meets the turnpike in Plymouth meeting......if that makes any sense to you?

If you like Disney.....you will love the cruise!

 

[britfish]

Thanks for the warm welcome Gary! Sometimes I am super excited about the cruise but then I also have moments of panic when I read peoples reviews of croweds and murky pools. I just worry a little because of the $ and I don't want it to be a total flop of an experience.
I've been reading about the fish extenders but I can't really seem to figure out, do you deliver one of these gifts every day or just once during your cruise?

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Hi Brittany:

We don't use the pools every day, but I have never seen them murky. In my opinion, everything on all of our Disney cruises has been first class. I am sure that my glasses can be rose colored, I always see the good, rarely am I disappointed with Disney.

I am no expert on fish extenders, but this is a pretty good explanation.

Outside of your cabin, there is a metal fish mounted on the wall, this has a useful purpose that things can be hung from it and possibly papers slid into it, mabe in a rear slot. I am guessing that Disney's use for this was to drop off papers or other things needed to be given.

So fish extenders are hanging pockets, made from fabric. A strap at the top hangs from the fish, and these pockets (usually one for each member in the cabin) have names, so that those giving gifts know which pocket to fill.

Some people give everyone the same gift, some people make different gifts for children teenagers or adults, some people give little gifts every day, some people give one gift per person per cruise, some people make gifts, some buy gifts......all are good.

Every day we had some sort of treat in our pouches, some give them the first day, some the second or third.

My wife made our fish extenders, she saw pictures of others on the boards and many are sold on eBay, but she is a craft person so she made them. I may encourage her to sell hers on eBay in the future......help pay for the cruise.....lol

 

[britfish]

I wanted to thak all of you for the warm welcome and information but we have changed our cruise date. We are now going on Aug. 25, same cruise, just a week later. Our school calendar changed so we were able to go out another week which will save us a little $$.

 

[Porphyro]

We just booked our August 18th cruise!

My name is Shawn and we are a family of five from Cincinnati, OH. The kids will be 8, 5, and 1 at the time of the cruise!

We will definitely be doing the Fish Extenders, but we'll just have one pocket for family as I don't feel comfortable putting my kids names out there for the world to see. Look forward to meeting everyone.

 

[Gary Pinkos]

Hello Shawn and welcome:
Have you been on a cruise in the past? Your children will have a blast!

I had never heard of the fish extender in the past, but we joined the one for our last cruise and it was a so much fun. I am sure one pocket would work just fine, but I know some days we had so many items in our pockets it would have been hard to fit in just one. But I don't think names are needed, so maybe just have pockets that say the " " family?

Do you go to disneyworld or is this cruise your first disney connection?

It will take a while, but on our last cruise we made many friends and connections through our cruise thread. So when we boarded the cruise, we had frinds to meet and greet. It just added so much to the fun! Plus although that was our 3rd disney cruise, I learned so much and was able to plan ahread so much better for that cruise.

As more and more people join this thread, hopefully you can get any questions answered you might have.

 

[spartankid34]

Hi there!!

Looking forward to what looks like a great group of people so far! Booking this cruise as our first experience with DCL! My mom (Kathy-58) and I (Jamie-24) will be going, staying in an inside stateroom (#9101)...figured we could save a few bucks since we won't be in there that much

Anyway, I am so excited, but a little nervous with this being our first cruise ever...have read about all the fun things to do on a Disney cruise, but still have many questions about what it will be like! We would love to be involved in a FE Exchange as it sounds like so much fun, hopefully someone will volunteer to organize this, since I am a NEWBIE

Can't wait to hear more from you all, and meet you on the cruise

~Spartankid34 (Jamie)

 

[Porphyro]

Wow...I should have checked back on this thread earlier!

We do go to WDW - our third trip is in 29 days! While my wife and I have cruised in the past (Carnival, which we will NEVER do again), this is our first family cruise as well as our first Disney Cruise.

We are all really excited and can't wait to get to know everyone.

 

[spartankid34]

Wow...I should have checked back on this thread earlier!

We do go to WDW - our third trip is in 29 days! While my wife and I have cruised in the past (Carnival, which we will NEVER do again), this is our first family cruise as well as our first Disney Cruise.

We are all really excited and can't wait to get to know everyone.

This will be our first cruise with Mickey, too!! I hope you have such a fun time in Disney soon!! You must be getting so excited!!

 

[Gary Pinkos]

What are the dates you will be in WDW? We are going July 28th and will be flying home August 8th.

 

[Porphyro]

We'll be there from the 4th through the 11th.

 

[spartankid34]

Quick question from the newbie!!
Our cabin room is sort of a different shape than the others, and I've read that it has a different setup than other rooms...any idea what this entails? The review I read says it's the same sq. footage but arranged differently