Bringing Home the Magic - Part 2 - 8/18/07 - 9/01/07- list of cruisers on page 1

[GrayFal]

Wow, welcome all you new folks. It is nice to see some excitement in this thread. We, unfortuately, lost many of our posters and the few that were left have struggled to maintain.

Are any of you flying out of Philly on the 17th?

There always seems to be decision to make and changes to rethink. We are in a CAT 4 and the savings would be awesome if we downgrade to a 12. I have thought about this all weekend. With Dh, hopefully, quitting work the end of July having that extra money would be great. I do not know about you guys, but I never turn down money. However, he also has been known to nap on the veranda. We have always had a balcony and I am wondering how it would be without it. DH stays in the cabin and watches movie afer movie after movie. He does leave to eat and then returns to watch movie after movie after movie. Gosh, I am basically travelling alone as well. Maybe I can join some of you. Well I have to do some more research so we can make a decision.

As for the "cocktail" party for the 10-12yr old girls. I would be happy to make arrangements for that. We would also love to have a bunch go to the fountains as well. They do not start till 930pm which works great for all you late diners.

Let me know what I can do.

You already are!

 

[bellelinus]

Wow, welcome all you new folks. It is nice to see some excitement in this thread. We, unfortuately, lost many of our posters and the few that were left have struggled to maintain.

Are any of you flying out of Philly on the 17th?

There always seems to be decision to make and changes to rethink. We are in a CAT 4 and the savings would be awesome if we downgrade to a 12. I have thought about this all weekend. With Dh, hopefully, quitting work the end of July having that extra money would be great. I do not know about you guys, but I never turn down money. However, he also has been known to nap on the veranda. We have always had a balcony and I am wondering how it would be without it. DH stays in the cabin and watches movie afer movie after movie. He does leave to eat and then returns to watch movie after movie after movie. Gosh, I am basically travelling alone as well. Maybe I can join some of you. Well I have to do some more research so we can make a decision.

As for the "cocktail" party for the 10-12yr old girls. I would be happy to make arrangements for that. We would also love to have a bunch go to the fountains as well. They do not start till 930pm which works great for all you late diners.

Let me know what I can do.

Wow, that's a hard decision about the cat 4 -- your husband could sleep on one of those padded deck chairs on deck 4, though! On the one hand, downgrading saves a lot of money, but on the other, with all those sea days, I can see the appeal of a balcony room (that's why I sprang for a cat 6 on the Aug 2008 PC cruise). Personally, I wouldn't have been on the ship this time if not for that GTY 12 rate, so getting a room with an obstructed porthole (SPR) was nothing but bonus.

As for the tween get together, I have a daughter turning 10 (on Thursday!) who would definitely be up for it, and another daughter 12 (turning 13 in October) who probably would, if the fact that her younger sister goes doesn't ruin the appeal!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

I have two 12 year olds and a 10 year old, so I think a party for them would be great. The 12 year olds didn't like kids club last time and swam and watched movies a lot. The 10 year old had herself surgically attached to the ice crean machine. I will also have a 15, 17, and 8 year old on the cruise. That is, if they all come. All girls. The boys (5 and 2) were on the EB. They'll stay home with Daddy. The way they are acting today, August can't come soon enough--jet lagged preschoolers bite.

 

[DenverVal]

idenverval - i was surprised when I saw that SPR available over the weekend on the disney site. glad you were able to get it. i think it was room 5022. we are in 5522.

right now our girls are not emailing but i think they have email pals in common. melanie is currently emailing with sara, hannah, aimee, alexis and veronica-victoria-vanessa(sisters). Is your DD in contact with any of these girls? let me know if your DD would like to email with melanie. over the weekend melanie asked me "what did I get her into?" because she was feeling a bit overwhelmed with emails but, if we stagger them, i think she will be okay.

We did get 5022, and a thank you to Julie for posting the link to the pictures of the views. I knew it was out there, but had forgotten where. Glad to see ours is not bad at all!

I think I was confusing Mmouse1964's DDs with yours. DD12 is emailing Aimee and says that Aimee has talked about Melanie, and my DD, Leia, has talked to Aimee about her friend Lara who is in the SPR next to you. Do you still want to move?? So, yes, she would love to be able to send a general email to all the girls and get the party started. I will talk to Lara's mom to find out if this is ok with her for Lara to share her email too.

I have another DD14 who is chatting happily with others her own age, but it sounds like there are a few more her age in our group!

Welcome DizzneyDAnn!

 

[Linda Bell]

Not sure if my calculations are right - but dont we actually get 12 hours more than the EB cruisers? They lost 6 hours and we gain 6 so that is 12? That's half a day! Much better value.

11 weeks 3 days and counting.

Lorraine

Maybe my daughter will get up early enough for lunch on a few days.

Linda

 

[DenverVal]

Dealing with time changes makes my head ache. I will stick with the notion of having 25 hour days for six days straight.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

Not sure if my calculations are right - but dont we actually get 12 hours more than the EB cruisers? They lost 6 hours and we gain 6 so that is 12? That's half a day! Much better value.

11 weeks 3 days and counting.

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine - you are just picking up the 6 hours we lost - you wouldn't double it! Less hours or more - you will have a blast! DeAnn is a great person to have on your cruise - she is one helluva dancer!!!!

 

[Hoagie Pie]

OK can I just say I liked On the Nose! It was fun! Also if you have kids and win they get a fantastic surprise!!! The prize is brilliant for kids and us adults that haven't grown up yet.

Okay, what was the prize - now I am dying to know. We lost! I felt that it was slow, dragged on and really wasn't funny. The MC guy was trying to hard.

 

[rikimuk]

Gydell, I just read a trip report from someone regarding the EB repo that was fairly negative. I know that nothing could be done about the weather or the seas, but did you find the food to be bad and housekeeping services to be terrible as that trip report suggested? I know that people can go on the same cruise and have vastly different experiences, but that trip report was surprising.

I personnally didnt have any problems with this cruise. Disney did all they could to arrange things during the bad weather which they couldnt help. They were not expecting the weather to be bad. The severs and the food was amazing and my housekeeper was the best. I had the most amazing experience of my life ever and am going again on 18th August because I had such a great time.

Lindsay

 

[bellelinus]

I personnally didnt have any problems with this cruise. Disney did all they could to arrange things during the bad weather which they couldnt help. They were not expecting the weather to be bad. The severs and the food was amazing and my housekeeper was the best. I had the most amazing experience of my life ever and am going again on 18th August because I had such a great time.

Lindsay

Thanks for that positive comment, Lindsay!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Hearing that I am a good dancer was a WONDERFUL way to start my day! Thanks so much Hoagie Pie!!! I wish we could double dip with you. Darn uncooperative school system!

BTW Hoagie Pie and her family won all the contests on the ship! They had like a jillion medals. I saw her husband Darrell on one of the last nights wearing them all, stooped over by the weight of them!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

Yay - new cruisers!! Well practiced cruisers, too! Welcome! I am lovin' all the info from the EB you are giving - more! more!!

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

I read the neg report, too. I just don't get it. I had a wonderful experience.

The taxis in Gibralter seemed to be everywhere, but we picked ours up in the main square just as you enter the shopping area of the town. It sounds complicated, but Gibralter is very simple, once you get there. I found there is only one main road to worry about. Follow the crowds, ask the locals. You really can't get lost with the rock on one side and the ship on the other.

Why did ya'll lose posters? It would be more fun if the thread picked up and organized before the cruise.

As for a veranda for the days at sea...well, I'm not sure what the weather will be like for the return, but if it is like our weather, ummm, you won't use it much. I think the value of a veranda would be before leaving Teneriffe.

We always had a veranda before, but were inside on deck 2 for this one. We didn't miss the veranda and loved the convenience of deck 2.

 

[GaCruisers]

After reading all the great information on Gibralter about the taxi tours, I think we are going to try that route. We like the idea of less walking up a rock
If you have ever been to stone mountain GA, you would know what I mean

Does anyone know if this group is doing any type of arm bands? On our last cruise we all ordered these lime green wrist bands and got them after the sail away party. During the cruise it was easy to spot our fellow disers

 

[Hoagie Pie]

Thanks for that positive comment, Lindsay!

I did not agree with the trip report either! We had a fabulous time - the food was great, entertainment wonderful and the staff went above and beyond to do things for you. I don't think any of you will be disappointed and don't' even think of cancelling! Everybody has a different experience and you get out of it what you put into it. Deann, my husband is already trying to find a place on the wall for the medals! Our Disney Pride! By the way, I posted something last night, I was very tired and didn't even know if it made sense or was the right board, so I apologize. Have fun everyone and we will be thinking of you.

 

[ejw]

As for the "cocktail" party for the 10-12yr old girls. I would be happy to make arrangements for that. We would also love to have a bunch go to the fountains as well. They do not start till 930pm which works great for all you late diners.

Let me know what I can do.

Hi Dee, it would be wonderful if you could arrange a non-cocktail party for the girls. would you have to organize this thru disney? coming up with the time and place might be hard. i think we need more feedback from other parents.

are you sure the fountains start at 9:30? i was looking at the barcelona fountains website and it said starting at 8:00pm. http://www.bcn.es/fonts/

 

[ejw]

Since I did both tours, I really do recommend a taxi. I think the Great Seige Tour would be great, but alas, it was all booked on the internet, so I booked the Rock Tour. The problem with the ship-booked tours is that they have bigger busses that cannot (or will not) reach the highest point on the Rock. The taxis go on up. There is literally a spot the taxis reach that is only the width of the road, where you look down on one side to see the Mediteranean and on the other see the bay/straits of Gibralter, with Spain across the bay and Morocco to the left, across the water, of that. It is the most amazing view.There were also apes up there, one mother with the baby. While the tour gave us good views, it did NOT take us as high as this amazing spot.

I did not do a lot of walking on our ship-booked tour. Perhaps it was a different tour that included the walking.

Selfishly, I will book my excursions tomorrow, and then tell you what I thought was best. I don't want them to be sold out before I have the opportunity to book. Of course, everyone has a different opinion on what is best.

please don't forget to share your opinions on excursions with us.

thanks, ellen

 

[gismo1554]

Okay, what was the prize - now I am dying to know. We lost! I felt that it was slow, dragged on and really wasn't funny. The MC guy was trying to hard.

OK so this is a complete spoiler and if you dont want to read it dont hightlight the next section as I have put the colour as white so you'll need to highlight from the arrow to the second arrow

->You get a private photo and autograph session with around 7 of the disney characters as well as mickey rice crispy treats - hence its fab for kids<-

WOHOW just tried this and it worked! How cool is that!

 

[BearFan]

OK so this is a complete spoiler and if you dont want to read it dont hightlight the next section as I have put the colour as white so you'll need to highlight from the arrow to the second arrow

->You get a private photo and autograph session with around 7 of the disney characters as well as mickey rice crispy treats - hence its fab for kids<-

WOHOW just tried this and it worked! How cool is that!

Gee, whiz, that was so neat that I think you've just earned yourself a new title. How's about the Mistress of Fonts? Impressive!

BearFan

 

[gismo1554]

Gee, whiz, that was so neat that I think you've just earned yourself a new title. How's about the Mistress of Fonts? Impressive!

BearFan

LOL I like that. Maybe I need to add it to my signiture