August 2, 2011 disney dream

[Deb in IA]

The fish extender thing was faboulous, I love your bag, Jeanne, Alena and I am still fighting who is gonna keep it. And all the other great presents, I can not thank you all enough for the great gifts, they made it so special.

Andrea, I have to tell you that one of your gifts got us in "trouble" at security at the airport!

It was the "mooing can". I put it in my carry-on. When we went through the X-ray machine, the TSA people could not figure out what that was!!

So, they searched my bag, pulled it out, and then started playing with it, turning it upside down and back, to hear it "moo"!!

 

[swissgirl66]

PUT IT ON YOUTUBE!!!!

We have GOT to see this!!

Yepyepyep. We Sant to See that Video too. So sorry we missed that.

Cheers and farewell, ready to board in a few minutes

 

[scooter7487]

Just wanted to echo that we had a great time! Was nice meeting those that we were able to catch up with. I am sure Coachycp and I will be on the boards hoping to keep in touch with everyone. For those that are still in the place where dreams come true safe travels as you head home. Swissgirl I really hope you got your photos worked out!!!! Have a safe trip home!!!

Scott

 

[kathleena]

SOrry I'm late to the party here, and really sorry I didn't get to a DIS meet. I was on deck for the party, but not knowing what anyone looked like - Duh!!! - well, I decided to deliver the nametags. Unfortunately, I didn't have a couple of room numbers so I almost got everyone.

Thank you all so much for the FE gifts!!! I don't have my list with me or I would mention a few, but loved them all. And *I* have the bag!

Nicole loved the cruise, but wanted to stick right with me the whole time. Nice for a 16 year old to love her grammie so much! I had to BEG her to go into Vibe to check it out, but there was no getting her to participate. We did have a 16yo at our dining table, but she was very sullen ("what does sullen mean grammie?". rolled her eyes at her dad all the time and I referred to him as "Mr. Negativity". I know more about his job, his pay, his personal life than I ever want to know.

Anyway - we had a great trip. We did the jet skis on Tuesday - it was hair raising to say the very least. Very choppy just outside of the cove and hard for Nicole to keep up with the group as she was nervous about the driving. Oh and me screaming behind her surely didn't help. Stayed on board Nassau day. Went ashore 2nd CC day cuz we had a stingray thing, but they cancelled it by the time our time came around. So we snorkled a lot and left right when the sand storm started.

When my brother was in Viet Nam, they would have mortars explode and it would imbed the fine sand particles in the skin of anyone nearby. He told me that the victims would just bleed if you touched them afterward and they had to soak them in briney water to get it out of them. Ouch. Ok, so the sandstorm on CC was NOT the worst it could be but man, did it hurt!

OK, so Saturday started off bad but ended awesome with me winning the BINGO snowball jackpot!

If any of you were there - yes, that was little 'ole me jumping up and down and then later being terrified I would lose almost $6000 in cash. It is now safe and warm in my savings account, waiting to pay for my next cruise and a few other things including my new phone and Xmas presents of 7 day park tickets for the family. And yes, I celebrated with Nicole and bought her a few extra things once we got to Downtown Disney!

Once again, sorry I missed you all, glad to hear your trips were awesome!

 

[Deb in IA]

SOrry I'm late to the party here, and really sorry I didn't get to a DIS meet. I was on deck for the party, but not knowing what anyone looked like - Duh!!! - well, I decided to deliver the nametags. Unfortunately, I didn't have a couple of room numbers so I almost got everyone.

Thank you all so much for the FE gifts!!! I don't have my list with me or I would mention a few, but loved them all. And *I* have the bag!

Nicole loved the cruise, but wanted to stick right with me the whole time. Nice for a 16 year old to love her grammie so much! I had to BEG her to go into Vibe to check it out, but there was no getting her to participate. We did have a 16yo at our dining table, but she was very sullen ("what does sullen mean grammie?". rolled her eyes at her dad all the time and I referred to him as "Mr. Negativity". I know more about his job, his pay, his personal life than I ever want to know.

Anyway - we had a great trip. We did the jet skis on Tuesday - it was hair raising to say the very least. Very choppy just outside of the cove and hard for Nicole to keep up with the group as she was nervous about the driving. Oh and me screaming behind her surely didn't help. Stayed on board Nassau day. Went ashore 2nd CC day cuz we had a stingray thing, but they cancelled it by the time our time came around. So we snorkled a lot and left right when the sand storm started.

When my brother was in Viet Nam, they would have mortars explode and it would imbed the fine sand particles in the skin of anyone nearby. He told me that the victims would just bleed if you touched them afterward and they had to soak them in briney water to get it out of them. Ouch. Ok, so the sandstorm on CC was NOT the worst it could be but man, did it hurt!

OK, so Saturday started off bad but ended awesome with me winning the BINGO snowball jackpot!

If any of you were there - yes, that was little 'ole me jumping up and down and then later being terrified I would lose almost $6000 in cash. It is now safe and warm in my savings account, waiting to pay for my next cruise and a few other things including my new phone and Xmas presents of 7 day park tickets for the family. And yes, I celebrated with Nicole and bought her a few extra things once we got to Downtown Disney!

Once again, sorry I missed you all, glad to hear your trips were awesome!

Nancy!!! That was YOU???!?!??

Not that we were there, but we heard about you!

We met a woman at the first 5 K, and turns out, she was one table over from us at dinner on the last night at Palo. She told us her son had won $600 at Bingo. We were impressed. She said that was nothing; some lady won $6000!!!

Wow, CONGRATULATIONS Nancy!

 

[Deb in IA]

Forgot to add:

So, did they give you the $6000 in cash?

Because our friend's son, who won the $600, just got it credited to their stateroom account.

Which was tough, because the son wanted to see "his" money!

 

[jham]

I am totally suffering from PDD!

Andrea, I have to tell you that one of your gifts got us in "trouble" at security at the airport!

It was the "mooing can". I put it in my carry-on. When we went through the X-ray machine, the TSA people could not figure out what that was!!

So, they searched my bag, pulled it out, and then started playing with it, turning it upside down and back, to hear it "moo"!!

My kids LOVE the mooing can!

SOrry I'm late to the party here, and really sorry I didn't get to a DIS meet. I was on deck for the party, but not knowing what anyone looked like - Duh!!! - well, I decided to deliver the nametags. Unfortunately, I didn't have a couple of room numbers so I almost got everyone.

Thank you all so much for the FE gifts!!! I don't have my list with me or I would mention a few, but loved them all. And *I* have the bag!

Nicole loved the cruise, but wanted to stick right with me the whole time. Nice for a 16 year old to love her grammie so much! I had to BEG her to go into Vibe to check it out, but there was no getting her to participate. We did have a 16yo at our dining table, but she was very sullen ("what does sullen mean grammie?". rolled her eyes at her dad all the time and I referred to him as "Mr. Negativity". I know more about his job, his pay, his personal life than I ever want to know.

Anyway - we had a great trip. We did the jet skis on Tuesday - it was hair raising to say the very least. Very choppy just outside of the cove and hard for Nicole to keep up with the group as she was nervous about the driving. Oh and me screaming behind her surely didn't help. Stayed on board Nassau day. Went ashore 2nd CC day cuz we had a stingray thing, but they cancelled it by the time our time came around. So we snorkled a lot and left right when the sand storm started.

When my brother was in Viet Nam, they would have mortars explode and it would imbed the fine sand particles in the skin of anyone nearby. He told me that the victims would just bleed if you touched them afterward and they had to soak them in briney water to get it out of them. Ouch. Ok, so the sandstorm on CC was NOT the worst it could be but man, did it hurt!

OK, so Saturday started off bad but ended awesome with me winning the BINGO snowball jackpot!

If any of you were there - yes, that was little 'ole me jumping up and down and then later being terrified I would lose almost $6000 in cash. It is now safe and warm in my savings account, waiting to pay for my next cruise and a few other things including my new phone and Xmas presents of 7 day park tickets for the family. And yes, I celebrated with Nicole and bought her a few extra things once we got to Downtown Disney!

Once again, sorry I missed you all, glad to hear your trips were awesome!

Sorry we missed you too! And DH wants me to tell you that was HIS money! He was there and told me about it. Now he is super jealous since his nickname from CMs was Bingo Mike after all. That's great that you won!

Forgot to add:

So, did they give you the $6000 in cash?

Because our friend's son, who won the $600, just got it credited to their stateroom account.

Which was tough, because the son wanted to see "his" money!

They give you a receipt saying it is on your on-board account but you can go anytime and change it to cash!

 

[Dizzyworld]

WOW Nancy!! Congrats on your big bingo win! Happy spending. Thanks again for the wonderful name tags. Sorry we didn't get to meet you and your GD.

It was nice meeting so many of you. This is what makes a Disney cruise so special to us. Sorry we didn't get to meet all of you, especially the guys from Maryland. So close, yet so far.

My children had so much more fun on the second leg of our B2B than the first leg. They have spent more time on the computer and phones with their new cruise buddies than their local friends. I'm glad they had so much fun that they are having a hard time moving on. Tomorrow should help with the
re-entry with soccer try-outs at the high school, and an Eagle Scout project for a scout buddy. I hate that school is right around the corner. I'm not ready to give the kids up.

Sadly like many of you, we are home. We have unpacked and put everything away. Now we can savor the memories and start planning our cruise on the Fantasy next June. Yippee!!

It has been crazy since we got hom though. On the first load of laundry the washing machine died. New one works terrific. On that same Monday, the fan for the house AC died. Luckily our repair guy is our neighbor. As of today, it is fixed. Thank heavens it wasn't one of those hot and humidy Maryland weeks we often have here, although we did put a room AC unit in the bedroom for a few days. DH was able to fix the garage door that my DS jammed minutes before we left for the airport. I thought I would die at that moment. I had locked it physically and electronically. DS didn't hear me. He couldn't understand why it wouldn't go up and kept pressing the button? It was jammed so badly, and we couldn't get out, I figure nobody would be able to get in too. Of course all of my neighbors were away too. And today I took my van in for an oil change and new wiper blades. If only it could have been that easy. I now own new front brakes. I'm hoping we are done. I think I have spent more this week than on the cruise. Good thing I accepted a new job the day we left for the cruise.

C'est la vie. I hope everyone else's return to the real world has gone better.

 

[kathleena]

Forgot to add:

So, did they give you the $6000 in cash?

Because our friend's son, who won the $600, just got it credited to their stateroom account.

Which was tough, because the son wanted to see "his" money!

Ahahah you mean I'm famous? LOL Too funny! Yes - they gave me cash. An officer came to get me from DLounge, I assume she was the ship's financial officer. She took me to the Guest Services desk and then went and got papers for me to sign (eg SSN for the IRS) and then handed me an envelope and told me to count it. Back in the lounge I was told it would be a check, but all cash.

As for the shipboard credit - you can request a cash out as long as it is before midnight of the last night of the cruise, instead of having it applied to the balance.

 

[kathleena]

Sorry we missed you too! And DH wants me to tell you that was HIS money! He was there and told me about it. Now he is super jealous since his nickname from CMs was Bingo Mike after all. That's great that you won!

Tell him I'm sorry!!!! Well, not really......I mean after all........

When they said how much the jackpot was (biggest one I've ever heard, never been higher than about $3500), I turned to Nicole and said - if I win that, we are going on another cruise and we'll take everyone. She said - OK......and I don't mean to be moochy, but can I have $100 for helping? I said sure!

B12 is so my favorite number and vitamin. Oh and B1 too as that was my second to last number.

 

[scooter7487]

Dizzyworld,

When we got home our ac had crashed and burned as well. I could certainly use the bingo winnings as I have quotes ranging fro 2-5000 bucks to repair replace. Ok off to school. Sports start today so have to get set up for al the kids that did nothing over the summer and will get injured today.

Scooter

 

[Dizzyworld]

When they said how much the jackpot was (biggest one I've ever heard, never been higher than about $3500), I turned to Nicole and said - if I win that, we are going on another cruise and we'll take everyone. She said - OK......and I don't mean to be moochy, but can I have $100 for helping? I said sure!

Love the story. So where are you going?

Dizzyworld,

When we got home our ac had crashed and burned as well. I could certainly use the bingo winnings as I have quotes ranging fro 2-5000 bucks to repair replace. Ok off to school. Sports start today so have to get set up for al the kids that did nothing over the summer and will get injured today.

Scooter

Yikes on the AC price! Since we only needed a fan and switch replaced on the inside unit, and they were able to find one that fit (the unit was 19 years old), it only cost $651. Good luck.

I had a hard time trying to explain to my DS that the Foo Fighter tickets that went on sale yesterday, that by the time they opened, they only had seats in the top sections. Thanks scalpers. Different sites had tons of tickets available before the seats became public. So not fair. I wish they could fix this somehow. Disney would find a way.

Good luck with the sports. DD had her first day of soccer. Good thing she did some running this summer. Since she is a junior, she can only play varsity. I'm not sure how many spaces are even available this year. I don't think we had many seniors on the team last year. I hope she makes it. I just love watching soccer.

Happy Saturday!

 

[Deb in IA]

Dizzyworld,

When we got home our ac had crashed and burned as well. I could certainly use the bingo winnings as I have quotes ranging fro 2-5000 bucks to repair replace. Ok off to school. Sports start today so have to get set up for al the kids that did nothing over the summer and will get injured today.

Scooter

Ours too! The compressor is fried.

We got a quote of $1900, but it is still a chunk of change.

Good luck with the sports. DS Mark came home to 2-a-days for cross country. They had the traditional 1/2 marathon on Saturday, but he twisted his leg during the cross country campout Wednesday night, and couldn't run it, so coach had him keep times.

He's hoping the leg will be better by the time the season starts for real in a couple of weeks.

 

[Dizzyworld]

Ours too! The compressor is fried.

We got a quote of $1900, but it is still a chunk of change.

Good luck with the sports. DS Mark came home to 2-a-days for cross country. They had the traditional 1/2 marathon on Saturday, but he twisted his leg during the cross country campout Wednesday night, and couldn't run it, so coach had him keep times.

He's hoping the leg will be better by the time the season starts for real in a couple of weeks.

Good luck with your AC. Of course now that ours has been fixed it has been very nice weather.

Hope Mark is feeling better soon.

 

[Dizzyworld]

Is anyone else having major cruise withdrawl? We had such a good time, and we don't want it to be over. I have registered for the cruise meet next year. but it is just not the same yet. I guess it will give me something to do with my mind as I start my new job and the kids get ready for school. No wonder I want to live in my vacation bubble.

 

[Deb in IA]

I hear ya, Shirley!!!!


I was just saying to Eric that we were not planning to cruise until 2013, BUT it sure would be nice if we could still add something for next year . . . .

He said OK!

I'll have to start looking. Unfortunatetly, a lot of what we want is filled, but I'll keep trying!!

 

[Dizzyworld]

I hear ya, Shirley!!!!


I was just saying to Eric that we were not planning to cruise until 2013, BUT it sure would be nice if we could still add something for next year . . . .

He said OK!

I'll have to start looking. Unfortunatetly, a lot of what we want is filled, but I'll keep trying!!

Good luck Deb. My kids are trying to talk us into going on the Fantasy and NY to the Bahamas in July. We are scheduled for June. I think some of the kids they met are traveling on those later dates. Alli (16) has been on the computer chatting away with cruise buddies every night for serveral hours since we've been home.

At least I got her to work on her summer reading today. This has been a nightmare. Part of the assignments is to read 15 Op. Ed. articles. No biggie there. Each article is suppose to be at least 1200 words and fit on the front of a single side of paper. An average single sheet from Newsweek is about 600+ words. And you know the teachers are not even going to read them. They just check them off. No teacher is going to start off the year reading about 1,800 papers plus all the work from the one book.

Last year they assigned a book to her grade that was part of a series of 10 books. I sent a picture of the first book along with the title to make sure that was the right one. They said yes. She returns to school and the teachers are surprised the students read book #1 instead of book #2. One more summer, only one more summer....... Alex is glad he is off the hook this summer. I am too. I hope I survive my children's education.

 

[scooter7487]

Having some withdrawal but really busy so that helps. I will say the only negative was our wait staff. They were horrible and I am being nice. Not sure how they got on the dream. We had such great servers on the wonder. When I got home I thought maybe I was being a little harsh but then I talked to anther teacher that went 2 weeks prior and horrible is being nice. The stuff their server did for them as well as chef and head server make my servers look like first week mcdonalds staff. Their chef actually showed up at one of the other rest. To make sure they got their added steak fry app. And brought them a special desert. Mine were tripping over each other and after every meal she would make excuses like I have so many tables sorry it was slow......
Every meal someone gotntge wrong food and drinks there were several times I was spitting dust lol as it took so long to fill refills and we had to ask. Other than that great food awesome company and other than second cc day great weather I thought. Someone didnask me the other day which ship classic or new did in like better and in have to say classic. Dream is beautiful and has all the bells and whistles but at times felt like same activities with 2000 more
people. Ok off to school.

Hope mark feels better! Do you have an athlEtic trainer at the school? If yesnhe should be seeing them.

 

[scooter7487]

Wow my typing is really bad this morning. Sorry about that.

 

[Rob_Misses_Fla]

Hello everyone!

Just a quick note to say that we got back to our home in NY last night. I have enjoyed reading the last weeks worth of posts, catching up on all of your comments and adventures. We did another full week in FL after the cruise, doing the parks and then down to Miami to visit with family and do some diving. I'll follow this up with individual replies and some photos later today.

Thanks again to you all for making this one of our most memorable and fun cruises yet!

Robert