August 29, 2016 4 night Bahamian on Disney Dream

[burne99]

Hoping that this is better now

 

[Twilight Terror]

This is my first cruise so I'm still not 100% sure how this works so I'd love to hear from someone who has done fish extenders before. From what I've read you just say you want to do them and everyone makes little gifts for all the people that sign up so I assume we'd need to share first names of people in our group and room numbers?

Hi there Vici2016,

We are just doing some more planning today for our upcoming trip, and thought I would get back to you on your questions. Every FE group is different, and works in different ways, as BelleInBlue can probably attest. So, I'll take you through how our last FE was organised. We initially had one big list, with a cut off date that everyone had to register by. Everyone who wanted to participate signed up by providing: family name, cabin number (if known), number of people in the cabin, first names, age and gender (age was sometimes generic for us grown ups 18+, but more specific for children) and if anyone was celebrating anything important. You can have more or less information, depending. Some families made one family gift, others made individual gifts - that was a personal choice - but knowing ages and genders sometimes helped with that. Also, as our thread carried on, 'favourite Disney character' also got asked quite a lot!

As the list grew, we began to get divided up into smaller FE groups so that people were not making or buying gifts for 100s of people, although even our 'small' groups averaged 20 cabins and up to 70 people! Even at $1 per person, it soon mounts up, especially for those travelling from overseas like myself, who have to consider luggage allowance. We were divided into areas of the ship where possible, so one group had members who we situated in the aft and midship, whilst another group covered midship and forward. The only amendments that were made after the cut off date were to cabin numbers of those who had booked the 'any category #' cabins, because they do not necessarily know their cabin allocation until the last minute.

For those who had not confirmed by the cut off date, they were removed from the groups, and added to a third list, the 'latecomers' list. This had anyone who had not confirmed their involvement at the cut off date, and any one who booked their cruise/joined the group after the cut off date. This group of people made their own small group, with the condition that they could additional make gift for anyone else on the two lists, but may not necessarily receive anything in return. Those of us in the predetermined groups included the latecomers if and when we could, but there was no obligation to.

It seemed to work really well in the end. I don't think we necessarily ended up receiving gifts from all group members, but it was good fun. Just remember to check your FE frequently, as people were dropping off gifts at various times. We tried to set a deadline of ensuring all group members delivered by the third night, so that families could pack up on the fourth night without having to worry about missing out. Again, as the trip went on we kept receiving less and less. When the groups are large and spread across many decks, it does become difficult to deliver to everyone, so I'm sure a few people might have realised that on board and gave up!

Here is a copy of our decorated door and fish extender:

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

Hi everyone!! I just switched our booking from the 3 day cruise to this one and we would love to participate in FE. Our plan is to drive from northern Canada, visit some of my family and friends on the way, then make it to PC a day ahead of time. This time it will be DH, DD (7), DS (9), and myself.

 

[Lreip]

Hello everyone. I was just off the Magic last week and booked my 6th Disney Cruise for this August. Woohoo finally Gold Member! Would love to join the FE group. It will be my mom, son (13) and myself.

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

I realize I am probably really early for this, but is someone organizing the FE for this group? The kids and I are coming up with ideas as well as some celebration items since it looks like we have a couple on this cruise. I'm a planner and the kids are really excited, so we are already ironing out the details. It's a great distraction from the cold outside.

 

[Twilight Terror]

I realize I am probably really early for this, but is someone organizing the FE for this group? The kids and I are coming up with ideas as well as some celebration items since it looks like we have a couple on this cruise. I'm a planner and the kids are really excited, so we are already ironing out the details. It's a great distraction from the cold outside.

More keen DISsers!!!! I am happy to get started with planning the FEs as my sister and I are planners too; we like to have everything sorted and I'm itching to get this going. My sister and I already have our spreadsheet reasonably complete for our upcoming trip, even though its still months away! Hopefully she will be along to introduce herself shortly. We can either carry on in this thread, or I can start a new one specifically for the FEs and provide a link in here in case anyone is joining this thread later. What do you say?

 

[PlutoDisney]

Hello everyone Twilight Terrors sister here.
As my sister has said we are very keen to to FE's as we had a lot of fun doing them on our last cruise. Look forward to making a list of cruisers and getting together gifts.

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

@Twilight Terror and @PlutoDisney This is my first cruise so lead the way and let me know what I can do to help. I'm so happy to have found my people! lol. DH doesn't care that I plan and go all out, but he prefers to just be that guy who tracks down the glue gun or carries the suitcases. I'm not picky about whether we use this thread or have a new one, but I'm thinking that creating a new one might make it easier for people who aren't interested in FE and prep to still talk to people on the same ship. It really doesn't matter to me because either way I will post. I don't have a spreadsheet (although normally I would), but I do have a binder started. Is it August yet!?!

 

[nursetibs]

Hi - this is Twilight Terror and Pluto Disney's Mum
Looking forward to doing FEs again on our 2nd cruise - was great fun last time I loved going around the cabins delivering our gifts and also getting back to our cabin to see what might be in our FE

 

[Twilight Terror]

@Twilight Terror and @PlutoDisney This is my first cruise so lead the way and let me know what I can do to help. I'm so happy to have found my people! lol. DH doesn't care that I plan and go all out, but he prefers to just be that guy who tracks down the glue gun or carries the suitcases. I'm not picky about whether we use this thread or have a new one, but I'm thinking that creating a new one might make it easier for people who aren't interested in FE and prep to still talk to people on the same ship. It really doesn't matter to me because either way I will post. I don't have a spreadsheet (although normally I would), but I do have a binder started. Is it August yet!?!

No problem. I will get onto that shortly, and create a separate thread. Then we can continue to discuss ship/shore-related activities and on-board meet-ups right here. What has anyone got planned for Castaway Day? We are thinking of doing the 5K, then heading to Serenity with our snorkels!

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

That isn't far off from our plan. I'm going to do the 5K and DH is taking the kids and my stuff to go find some chairs and play in the sand. (DH is not a big fan of the ocean, or as he puts it, "not the ocean but the things living in it",lol. After I'm done with the 5K, the plan is to meet up with them and take the kids out to snorkle. I'm guessing the kids will want to ditch us for the kids area at some point and then we'll switch beaches. The day that I'm still debating over is the Nassau day. Atlantis sounds like fun but I'm not sure that it is worth that much additional expense, the conservation area and zoo sound like fun so we considered that, but I think I would be just as happy staying on board. Any suggestions or tips?
@nursetibs !

 

[Lreip]

@Twilight Terror Thank you

 

[Laura Elizabeth]

This is exciting. I'm glad Twilight Terror and PlutoDisney are stepping up to organize a group since this is my first time. I'm also coming from Northern Ontario and I'm looking forward to a warm vacation!

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

@Laura Elizabeth - I'm at the top of Lake Superior and we seem to have ice everywhere right now. I am kicking myself for waiting until August instead of doing a spring break trip, but the prices were so much better. (Especially with the terrible exchange!)

 

[Laura Elizabeth]

@Laura Elizabeth - I'm at the top of Lake Superior and we seem to have ice everywhere right now. I am kicking myself for waiting until August instead of doing a spring break trip, but the prices were so much better. (Especially with the terrible exchange!)

I totally agree with you! WE feel the same way!

 

[Twilight Terror]

The day that I'm still debating over is the Nassau day. Atlantis sounds like fun but I'm not sure that it is worth that much additional expense, the conservation area and zoo sound like fun so we considered that, but I think I would be just as happy staying on board. Any suggestions or tips?

Our last cruise, we did the glass-bottomed submarine tour, which was really interesting. Good to do once, but won't be doing it again. We are probably staying on-board for the Nassau day and making the most of the Disney-offered entertainment

 

[Twilight Terror]

@Twilight Terror Thank you

You are more than welcome!

This is exciting. I'm glad Twilight Terror and PlutoDisney are stepping up to organize a group since this is my first time. I'm also coming from Northern Ontario and I'm looking forward to a warm vacation!

We are coming from Australia, so quite a multi-national team so far!

I am just working on the details on how we are going to run the FE group, and then I will create the new thread. Hopefully, this evening

 

[Twilight Terror]

Done! Anyone who is interested in joining the DisBoards FE group, head over here to sign up:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fe-thread-disney-dream-29th-august-2016.3488978/

Enjoy!

 

[Tiffany johnson]

This is my first cruise so I'm still not 100% sure how this works so I'd love to hear from someone who has done fish extenders before. From what I've read you just say you want to do them and everyone makes little gifts for all the people that sign up so I assume we'd need to share first names of people in our group and room numbers?

I agree....atleast the room #'s

 

[TheGryphonsDen]

@Tiffany johnson - You can find the FE information here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/fe-thread-disney-dream-29th-august-2016.3488978/