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

[bellelinus]

We're flying in Thursday late night and looking into somewhere on the beach to have a nice relaxing day on Friday before the cruise. My husband works for an airline, so we are flying standby and want to leave nothing to chance with not making it down for the cruise. The way home doesn't concern me too much, there are worse things than being stranded in Florida!

The beach sounds nice . . . this will be the first time we haven't added on to a cruise vacation either before or afterwards, but we are going to Disney World in late March and have another fairly long vacation at the beginning of the summer, so that one week will be enough.

Did anyone see that we now don't have to get up early on St. Thomas day for immigration?????? There was a thread about it on the main board yesterday. Apparently they can now just submit the information without having everyone show up.

 

[TonytheWop]

We are driving down ( only a short 24 hour excursion ) and staying at our timeshare at Daytona Beach Shores for the week prior to the cruise. That gives us our relaxing time plus we are only a short 1 hour drive from DISNEY WORLD.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

The beach sounds nice . . . this will be the first time we haven't added on to a cruise vacation either before or afterwards, but we are going to Disney World in late March and have another fairly long vacation at the beginning of the summer, so that one week will be enough.

Did anyone see that we now don't have to get up early on St. Thomas day for immigration?????? There was a thread about it on the main board yesterday. Apparently they can now just submit the information without having everyone show up.

I saw that thread yesterday and told my DW and DD's and they seemed relieved

Now we only have to get up in time to enjoy the Island and to do some shopping

Anybody know if Del Sol is in St. Maarten or St. Thomas I saw pictures somewhere related to the Eastern Itinerary but I can't remember.

Joe

 

[Cinderella1001]

Hello everybody...I just booked our trip through DVC.

Cast:
Me: 41
DH: 42
DD: 15 (but turning Sweet 16 a few days earlier)

For the majority of our DD birthdays, I have been able to pull off some pretty sweet parties. However, as she got older and since her birthday is in the summer it has been harder to plan a party when everyone is still on vacation and when school starts right away there really is no time to put a party on the weekend with cheerleading practice and other sports. So as a guilty parent I told my DH that we really should do something special for her 16th and decided on the vacation with the cruise. So we will be checking in on Thursday at the GF for 2 nights. Having dinner at GF with a cake so she thinks that this is her present. DD thinks we will be at Disney for the week as she doesn't start back to school until after Labor Day. We plan to send her to the pool or breakfast on Saturday morning and then we will pack everything up and tell her that they messed up our reservation and are relocating us to another room. I want to get a limo to pick us up but I don't want to spend too much on that either. I am going to get tee shirts made for us and have actually have hers wrapped and slip it into the limo/car and as we drive off let her open it with the surprise of the cruise in the present. Any other ideas this group may have PLEASE send me them....I would love to hear from you. DD has for the last few years been like it's just a birthday and all my friends are on vacation. It's no big deal....well this year it is a big deal and we are not going to let her think that we forgot. I may even contact gifts of a lifetime and have them do something. Not sure yet.

Anyway, I just wanted to say we are joining your group and can't wait to set sail.

 

[TonytheWop]

Hello everybody...I just booked our trip through DVC.

Cast:
Me: 41
DH: 42
DD: 15 (but turning Sweet 16 a few days earlier)

For the majority of our DD birthdays, I have been able to pull off some pretty sweet parties. However, as she got older and since her birthday is in the summer it has been harder to plan a party when everyone is still on vacation and when school starts right away there really is no time to put a party on the weekend with cheerleading practice and other sports. So as a guilty parent I told my DH that we really should do something special for her 16th and decided on the vacation with the cruise. So we will be checking in on Thursday at the GF for 2 nights. Having dinner at GF with a cake so she thinks that this is her present. DD thinks we will be at Disney for the week as she doesn't start back to school until after Labor Day. We plan to send her to the pool or breakfast on Saturday morning and then we will pack everything up and tell her that they messed up our reservation and are relocating us to another room. I want to get a limo to pick us up but I don't want to spend too much on that either. I am going to get tee shirts made for us and have actually have hers wrapped and slip it into the limo/car and as we drive off let her open it with the surprise of the cruise in the present. Any other ideas this group may have PLEASE send me them....I would love to hear from you. DD has for the last few years been like it's just a birthday and all my friends are on vacation. It's no big deal....well this year it is a big deal and we are not going to let her think that we forgot. I may even contact gifts of a lifetime and have them do something. Not sure yet.

Anyway, I just wanted to say we are joining your group and can't wait to set sail.

WELCOME to our group !!!
I do not know how sociable your teenager is but she will have plenty of company her age . My son turns 16 three months later so this is an early Sweet 16 present for him.

 

[Cinderella1001]

WELCOME to our group !!!
I do not know how sociable your teenager is but she will have plenty of company her age . My son turns 16 three months later so this is an early Sweet 16 present for him.

DD is pretty sociable as she has been a all-star cheerleader for 8 yrs. and we have sailed with Disney for 4 other times. The last was the Mediterranean 10 night so she hung out with friends she met on board and still talks with them. I know she will just die with excitement when she finds out we are cruising. I had her do the math for our trip with the points from DVC using GF as our only hotel and she could see that we were using a lot of points for a week with none leftover so I know she will have no idea that we booked the cruise with the points. The docs will come to my office so again no idea of a cruise. In the past we usually do the cruise and then the parks so it will not even come into play. Hope it works out.

 

[bellelinus]

Hello everybody...I just booked our trip through DVC.

Cast:
Me: 41
DH: 42
DD: 15 (but turning Sweet 16 a few days earlier)

For the majority of our DD birthdays, I have been able to pull off some pretty sweet parties. However, as she got older and since her birthday is in the summer it has been harder to plan a party when everyone is still on vacation and when school starts right away there really is no time to put a party on the weekend with cheerleading practice and other sports. So as a guilty parent I told my DH that we really should do something special for her 16th and decided on the vacation with the cruise. So we will be checking in on Thursday at the GF for 2 nights. Having dinner at GF with a cake so she thinks that this is her present. DD thinks we will be at Disney for the week as she doesn't start back to school until after Labor Day. We plan to send her to the pool or breakfast on Saturday morning and then we will pack everything up and tell her that they messed up our reservation and are relocating us to another room. I want to get a limo to pick us up but I don't want to spend too much on that either. I am going to get tee shirts made for us and have actually have hers wrapped and slip it into the limo/car and as we drive off let her open it with the surprise of the cruise in the present. Any other ideas this group may have PLEASE send me them....I would love to hear from you. DD has for the last few years been like it's just a birthday and all my friends are on vacation. It's no big deal....well this year it is a big deal and we are not going to let her think that we forgot. I may even contact gifts of a lifetime and have them do something. Not sure yet.

Anyway, I just wanted to say we are joining your group and can't wait to set sail.

What a wonderful idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love planning big surprises like that!

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Hello everybody...I just booked our trip through DVC.

Cast:
Me: 41
DH: 42
DD: 15 (but turning Sweet 16 a few days earlier)

For the majority of our DD birthdays, I have been able to pull off some pretty sweet parties. However, as she got older and since her birthday is in the summer it has been harder to plan a party when everyone is still on vacation and when school starts right away there really is no time to put a party on the weekend with cheerleading practice and other sports. So as a guilty parent I told my DH that we really should do something special for her 16th and decided on the vacation with the cruise. So we will be checking in on Thursday at the GF for 2 nights. Having dinner at GF with a cake so she thinks that this is her present. DD thinks we will be at Disney for the week as she doesn't start back to school until after Labor Day. We plan to send her to the pool or breakfast on Saturday morning and then we will pack everything up and tell her that they messed up our reservation and are relocating us to another room. I want to get a limo to pick us up but I don't want to spend too much on that either. I am going to get tee shirts made for us and have actually have hers wrapped and slip it into the limo/car and as we drive off let her open it with the surprise of the cruise in the present. Any other ideas this group may have PLEASE send me them....I would love to hear from you. DD has for the last few years been like it's just a birthday and all my friends are on vacation. It's no big deal....well this year it is a big deal and we are not going to let her think that we forgot. I may even contact gifts of a lifetime and have them do something. Not sure yet.

Anyway, I just wanted to say we are joining your group and can't wait to set sail.

Your daughter will be easy to spot! She will be the sixteen year old with the biggest smile on the entire ship

Awesome Gift!

Joe

 

[Waltworshiper]

Glad to have you join us! We're suprising our kids too. They know we are going on another cruise, they just have no idea when. We will pick them up from school and tell them that dad's car broke down at the airport and we need to pick him up. Hopefully, they will be surprised, I am trying to lead them to believe the cruise is sometime after Nov. They are still young and easier too fool than a 16 year old!
If you'd like to join our FE group there is a post back on p27.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Did anyone see that we now don't have to get up early on St. Thomas day for immigration?????? There was a thread about it on the main board yesterday. Apparently they can now just submit the information without having everyone show up.

That will be so much more convenient! I do like my sleep.

Hello everybody...I just booked our trip through DVC.

Cast:
Me: 41
DH: 42
DD: 15 (but turning Sweet 16 a few days earlier)

For the majority of our DD birthdays, I have been able to pull off some pretty sweet parties. However, as she got older and since her birthday is in the summer it has been harder to plan a party when everyone is still on vacation and when school starts right away there really is no time to put a party on the weekend with cheerleading practice and other sports. So as a guilty parent I told my DH that we really should do something special for her 16th and decided on the vacation with the cruise. So we will be checking in on Thursday at the GF for 2 nights. Having dinner at GF with a cake so she thinks that this is her present. DD thinks we will be at Disney for the week as she doesn't start back to school until after Labor Day. We plan to send her to the pool or breakfast on Saturday morning and then we will pack everything up and tell her that they messed up our reservation and are relocating us to another room. I want to get a limo to pick us up but I don't want to spend too much on that either. I am going to get tee shirts made for us and have actually have hers wrapped and slip it into the limo/car and as we drive off let her open it with the surprise of the cruise in the present. Any other ideas this group may have PLEASE send me them....I would love to hear from you. DD has for the last few years been like it's just a birthday and all my friends are on vacation. It's no big deal....well this year it is a big deal and we are not going to let her think that we forgot. I may even contact gifts of a lifetime and have them do something. Not sure yet.

Anyway, I just wanted to say we are joining your group and can't wait to set sail.

Welcome!! What an awesome surprise!!

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

Today is a snow day in Philly and most private, parochial and public schools are closed. Since I worked in Admin. with the Public Schools, I'm at work

I live in the Suburbs of Philly and the schools where I live had a two hour delay to report. With the attendance that they will probably have, they will do better to have cancelled

Well I'm off to check air fares

Joe

 

[Waltworshiper]

We only got an inch down here in Bear, so the kids were dissappointed and had school today!

 

[TVEPFOX]

We're going to WDW the week before the cruise. My TA told me SWA will open up August sometime next week. Keep your eyes peeled for a good deal.

We just received a nice offer in the mail today. Kids 3 to 9 stay, play and eat free March and April. Maybe something better will come along for us. We booked the bounce back last September for a week with free dinning.

Are we there yet?

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

We're going to WDW the week before the cruise. My TA told me SWA will open up August sometime next week. Keep your eyes peeled for a good deal.

We just received a nice offer in the mail today. Kids 3 to 9 stay, play and eat free March and April. Maybe something better will come along for us. We booked the bounce back last September for a week with free dinning.

Are we there yet?

We live in US Airways country because they have a hub in Philadelphia. SWA is adding new gates with demise of other airlines. Usually when they put their rates out, US Airways matches them

And since they have improved their baggage handling problems, they may get my business again. I still don't like those baggage fees

Joe

 

[Waltworshiper]

DH works for USAirways, has nothing to do with the luggage, he is in maintenance, but I know the company has been working hard trying to better their bad rep for loosing luggage. Their ranking has increased greatly from a few years ago.

 

[My4PhillyGirls]

DH works for USAirways, has nothing to do with the luggage, he is in maintenance, but I know the company has been working hard trying to better their bad rep for loosing luggage. Their ranking has increased greatly from a few years ago.

I travel a lot, so much so that my last trip to San Francisco cost me $5.00

I have to admit that US Airways has gotten their act together at PHL. The last two flights my luggage actually beat me to the luggage claim area. That is unheard of at PHL.

Joe

 

[stsomewhere]

Hi everyone.

Dh and I are planning on booking this cruise onboard next week. We are on the 3 night.( As long as we have a good time)

We had orginally booked Aug. 22 but, were unsure paying the price for DCL.
( We have cruised other lines-our fav HAL)

When DCL offered the kids sail free, we moved our deposit from the 7 night to the three.

We are now wishing our 3 night was a 7night.

 

[bellelinus]

Hi everyone.

Dh and I are planning on booking this cruise onboard next week. We are on the 3 night.( As long as we have a good time)

We had orginally booked Aug. 22 but, were unsure paying the price for DCL.
( We have cruised other lines-our fav HAL)

When DCL offered the kids sail free, we moved our deposit from the 7 night to the three.

We are now wishing our 3 night was a 7night.

I know what you mean about a short cruise -- our first was a 4 night, and we haven't done anything less than a 7 since (have done 11, 14, and 15, too!). You might find that the Aug. 29 rate is less than your original Aug. 22, since many kids start school by the end of August -- also, the 10% off and OBC you get for booking on board will help a lot. Let us know if you book it, and have a great cruise!

 

[stsomewhere]

I know what you mean about a short cruise -- our first was a 4 night, and we haven't done anything less than a 7 since (have done 11, 14, and 15, too!). You might find that the Aug. 29 rate is less than your original Aug. 22, since many kids start school by the end of August -- also, the 10% off and OBC you get for booking on board will help a lot. Let us know if you book it, and have a great cruise!

This is exactly what were were thinking. It is a better rate thatat week. Plus, if we go before school starts-we can take the kids out in Feb/March 2010 if we can find a good deal.
We usualy at least a 7.

 

[Cinderella1001]

Just got off the phone with DD best friend parents and they have agreed to let her go with us to WDW and on the surprise cruise. They aren't even going to tell her that she gets to go until the week that we leave. Worst part was that I was supposed to have heard back 2 weeks ago and never did so I thought it was a no. I told DD that they weren't going to let her go. She told best friend that they said no. I decided to call them today to find out why and they were like "we are so excited that she can do this with your DD". I was like "I thought it was a no since I hadn't heard from you." All is fine and they still aren't going to say anything....especially about the cruise as it is a surprise and their daughter turns 16 on Christmas so it is kinda like a Double Sweet 16 Cruise for the 2 of them.