August 29th, 2009--Eastern Magic...Let's Get it Started!

[justhat]

Michelle, in my defense, I only mentioned her and not you cause I hadn't actually booked you yet. Figured I should wait till it was official. Glad to see you made it over here, snarky and all!

 

[ryan840]

Michelle, in my defense, I only mentioned her and not you cause I hadn't actually booked you yet. Figured I should wait till it was official. Glad to see you made it over here, snarky and all!

You know I can't let snarkiness slide, that would be no fun! I meant it all in good fun though, hope everyone knows that!

 

[justhat]

You know I can't let snarkiness slide, that would be no fun! I meant it all in good fun though, hope everyone knows that!

Not knowing us, they probably just think you're mean to your wonderful friend who stood in line over an hour at midnight on my vacation to book this cruise for you!

But yes, for everyone else, we're just naturally sarcastic wth each other, but we're really the best of friends. If it means anything, we shared a room at the Poly for 5 nights this June with our (combined) 4 kids under 5yo! And we're still speaking, how's that for friendship!?!

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

I probably won't sleep tonight because Philly finally won a major sport championship.

Finally have something to take my mind off the cruise for just a minute

Joe

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

This may seem a ways off, but that means that you have less than 30 weeks to pay off your cruise if you are a castaway member and to get your Palo and excursion reservations at the 90 day mark.

I have been looking at the car rentals, airfaires and hotels. A news station in Philly reported that Disney was discounting some of their resorts due to the economy. Something like, Stay 7 Nights at a 4 night rate. I don't know if this will extend into the summer but its worth looking into.

I was thinking of booking National Car Rental and dropping it off in Cocoa Beach before I read on the boards that National is closing that office in November.

What's going on with everybody? It has been very quiet the last few weeks

Joe

 

[mrs_potatohead]

Hello everyone! I've been away from this thread for way too long. Anyway, I'm glad to be back and hope to have more time over the next 10 months to chat more about our upcoming cruise!

We're all getting really excited about the trip!!

Joe, thanks for keeping us in mind, I noticed you mentioned our family a few times in "speaking" to some of the other members about twins. I guess twins have to stick together!

I was going to update my info on the roll call with my cabin #s but I'm not sure if someone is still looking after updating that?

I'm also glad to see a few other Canadian families! Looking forward to cruising with all of you!

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Joe, thanks for keeping us in mind, I noticed you mentioned our family a few times in "speaking" to some of the other members about twins. I guess twins have to stick together!

I was going to update my info on the roll call with my cabin #s but I'm not sure if someone is still looking after updating that?

I'm also glad to see a few other Canadian families! Looking forward to cruising with all of you!

No problem, since this is a cruise meet thread I just want to make sure that we are not strangers when we cruise

We also might have to start a new page with everyone's info so that we can keep track of cabins and FE's participants.

Any volunteers

Joe

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Has anybody pick up a one way car rental after the cruise to go to MCO

If so, what rental agency did you use and were you able to take an early flight home (12:30 p.m.) while going through this process?

Joe

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Thank you to all our Veterans past and present. If it wasn't for all of you, we couldn't live the way we do.

Happy Veterans Day.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Thanks Joe for keeping this thread alive.

I think many have ended up canceling this cruise. Glad that we won't have to. Been busy so I haven't been around. Haven't started planning for this cruise yet. We have another one to plan in April first.

Holidays are coming up - hope everyone has a joyous one - I know I have a LOT to be thankful for especially since we are so fortunate to have jobs and income coming in.

 

[CruisinEars]

I'm baaack! Well, we have decided not to cancel this cruise after all. Yah!!!

Since I told my dh not to be hasty and cancel the booking, we just left it as is and did some talking about our options. We decided the kitchen can wait another year and in the mean time we will get the car paid off. My dh did some thinking and decided he really wants to cruise. (I did the whole time ) So, we will do a scaled back vacation with only a few days before the cruise and stay at a disney resort. Prices are dropping nicely due to the economy.

 

[CruisinEars]

Has anybody pick up a one way car rental after the cruise to go to MCO

If so, what rental agency did you use and were you able to take an early flight home (12:30 p.m.) while going through this process?

Joe

Budget seems to be pretty popular. We used them last time and had a good experience.

 

[justhat]

Has anybody pick up a one way car rental after the cruise to go to MCO

If so, what rental agency did you use and were you able to take an early flight home (12:30 p.m.) while going through this process?

Joe

We've done it, but our flight was much later in the day, 6pm or so. I am not 100% sure, but I think we used Thrifty. My husband took the shuttle to get it while I waited with the kids and bags. Drove back to the port, picked us up, and we were in DTD by, say, 11am. We spent the day there, ate lunch, shopped, then drove to the airport. We've done this twice and it worked out well and I would think you'd have enough time for a 12:30 flight.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

We've done it, but our flight was much later in the day, 6pm or so. I am not 100% sure, but I think we used Thrifty. My husband took the shuttle to get it while I waited with the kids and bags. Drove back to the port, picked us up, and we were in DTD by, say, 11am. We spent the day there, ate lunch, shopped, then drove to the airport. We've done this twice and it worked out well and I would think you'd have enough time for a 12:30 flight.

Thanks for the replies,

I'm thinking about renting a 10-15 passenger van to take us to MCO. The group will come to Florida on different days so we probably will have two cars to drop off at the port but we will all take the same flight home.

On another note, I just started a second job working for the School District and it truly is making my time go by quickly. Just got my first check and part of it goes to the vacation fund

Anybody else working overtime or have a part time job to help with the cruise

Tuesday, I am off to San Francisco for a few days for a conference. This was planned before I got the new job, so they let me go Any recommendations because I have never been there before?

Joe

 

[justhat]

Thanks for the replies,

I'm thinking about renting a 10-15 passenger van to take us to MCO. The group will come to Florida on different days so we probably will have two cars to drop off at the port but we will all take the same flight home.

Joe

In September we cruised with my husband's family. We got in a couple of days before them, but we all stayed at WDW the night before the cruise (when they flew in). Everyone took ME to WDW, then we had a towncar drive us all from WDW to the Port. It was actually a 15 passenger van cause there were 10 of us, but same idea. Also, we were at different hotels in WDW, but had breakfast at Chef Mickey's the morning of the cruise so we all met there and took the van from there.

On the way home we had the same van pick us up and he stopped at the airport tro drop off my in-laws, then took us to WL where we were spending the night. For the 10 people it cost us, I think, $330 round trip, including the fee for a carseat for my nephew and the stop at the airport before going to WDW on the way back.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

In September we cruised with my husband's family. We got in a couple of days before them, but we all stayed at WDW the night before the cruise (when they flew in). Everyone took ME to WDW, then we had a towncar drive us all from WDW to the Port. It was actually a 15 passenger van cause there were 10 of us, but same idea. Also, we were at different hotels in WDW, but had breakfast at Chef Mickey's the morning of the cruise so we all met there and took the van from there.

On the way home we had the same van pick us up and he stopped at the airport tro drop off my in-laws, then took us to WL where we were spending the night. For the 10 people it cost us, I think, $330 round trip, including the fee for a carseat for my nephew and the stop at the airport before going to WDW on the way back.

I thought about having round trip transportation to take us to the port and back but decided against it for a few reasons.

1) My family will be in the Orlando area for a week and it would be cheaper to pay the drop off fee than to meet everyone at the airport and take a limo to the port.

2) I looked at the one way transfers from limo companies and the cost of renting a van and the rental seemed to be $50.00 cheaper. But when thinking about refueling the van and getting through the MCO security, it might be a wash

Joe

 

[justhat]

Where are you staying the week before the cruise? At a WDW hotel? If so, you could make up a dummy flight and take an ME bus to the airport to meet your family, then do a roundtrip from there. Yes, I know it's 'wrong', but it would be a cheap alternative to consider.

We have done both ways, twice with the rental car and three times with a towncar. We don't have a huge preference either way, pretty much whatever is cheaper. Of course, the towncar was much more convenient.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Where are you staying the week before the cruise? At a WDW hotel? If so, you could make up a dummy flight and take an ME bus to the airport to meet your family, then do a roundtrip from there. Yes, I know it's 'wrong', but it would be a cheap alternative to consider.

We have done both ways, twice with the rental car and three times with a towncar. We don't have a huge preference either way, pretty much whatever is cheaper. Of course, the towncar was much more convenient.

We will be staying at my time share in Kissimmee. The rest of our group won't arrive until a couple of days before the trip or the day before.

Therefore we will have at least two cars.

Joe

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Hello Everyone,

I just got back this evening from San Francisco It was my first time and I almost felt guilty while flying to and from San Fran. When the airlines started having problems and threatened to raise their rates, I cashed in all my frequent flyer miles and bought a ticket for $5.00 round trip

Yesterday, I went down to Fisherman's Warf and there was an ugly Princess Cruise Ship in port. I think it was the Jewel of the Seas. The back of the ship was square and looked weird. It may be beautiful on the inside but I think the DCL ships are beautiful inside and out.

Tomorrow is the 40 week mark

Joe

 

[disneyloveNY]

We just booked !!!! I am so excited but a little worried about my DH. This will be his first cruise ever. I went with the kids on a 4day last time and had the best time ever.
This time it will be me 38, DH 40, DD 13 and DS 10 and can't wait