Calling All 8/19/06 Special Western Cruisers! AKA "The Cruisin' Castaways" Part 2

[Reenieny18]

JOANNA,
I looked at the sleep number on QVC this weekend and then on line.. This is our 2nd set of mattresses in a yr. We had that temperpedic type last MARCH and it was not right for us.. I am so afraid now to buy anything and spend so much more money. We are buying a new pillowtop from a local store that makes them here in SYRACUSE for over 92 yrs..I bought JACLYNs there 9 yrs ago and it was a 3/4 size mattress for a bed from my great grandfather. It is so soft and comfy... it was before pillowtops were popular and yet she has one. And it still feels brand new today...

SHOP AROUND for the best kind. SLEEP NUMBER has some mattresses in local hotels in NYC... great late ANNIVERSARY get away for you and DH.. and other locations too!!

DOREEN

 

[Reenieny18]

LORI, you and I were thinking the same thing...
How close are you to ST CHARLES, ILL? My husband and I are going to ST CHARLES near CHICAGO on the 22 of JUNE to PHEASANT RUN RESORT....Do you know anything aobut the place? Hey I wonder if they have sleep number mattressses,,lol

TERRY.. did I miss this or did you get that job?

BEV?? are we all set for the shuttle from RADISSON?? and what else do we need to get that all settled??

Now I am really getting excited here. My frist trip is coming soon... and than its DCL...
WAHOO!!!!

DOREEN

 

[Steve's Wife]

Doreen --

We're about 45 miles south west of St. Charles. When we were kids we vacationed at Pheasant Run a few times. Mind you, that was in the 1970's, but it was a lovely place. I remember an indoor/outdoor swimming pool where you just had to swim under a glass wall to get to the other side, an expansive driving range that seemed to go on forever, and a spiffy little faux Bourbon Street with shops, a restaurant, and a theatre. Now-a-days they also host a lot of conventions. What brings you to our neck of the woods?

Lori

 

[AboutTheMouse]

Lori - I'm in Buffalo Grove. We could try to set up a midwest meet. I'm not sure how many other cruisers live in this neck of the woods? Anyone else interested?

Terri - I figure that if I leave on Saturday morning, I might just make it to NJ by Sunday. Wish I could meet you all, but I'll have to just wait for the cruise

Darlene - my thoughts are with your family during this trying time. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Doreen - when are you leaving Pheasant Run? We will be there starting June 26 for DD's national dance competition. Maybe we can meet somewhere for coffee.

When do we start the daily countdown? I do belive that we're only 74 days away from sailing!

 

[Steve's Wife]

We're in. Anybody else out there?

 

[RobinMarie]

Southwest airlines has reduced their fares today. I just happened to check my email and looked at the fares - 59 dollars each way! I logged in and was able to alter my existing reservation and got a 180 dollar credit. I had no plans for flying in the next year, but I might have to. I think I only have a year to use the credit. Anyone else know anything about this?

Doreen - we'll have fun at the tasting. Promise me you won't dance on the tables? I don't want you to get hurt.

 

[Steve's Wife]

Has anybody done a marguerita/tequila tasting before? I did the wine tasting "stem to stern" on the Wonder and really enjoyed it, but I'm unclear on how a m/t tasting would work...

Lori

 

[flexsmom]

Hello everyone! I've been reading.....and reading.....and reading, but haven't chimed in here much. But, I find myself looking for some advice. I have 2 Castaway Ray stingray visits booked on the 1st CC visit and want to release one for someone else to have it. This would be for me, DH, and DD(7), with DS(3) hanging out at OC. My problem is that this is the first real day of the cruise, and DS will not have had any real time alone at OC, since we can't leave them alone on the 1st night anymore to get acclimated and comfortable ALONE. My first ressie at 11am and the second is 1pm. I'm inclined to cancel the second, so we can drop off DS at OC on CC, head to the excursion, pick him up, do lunch, then do family time together at the beach. I don't know - maybe I'm overengineering the problem and he'll be fine right off the bat? But - thought I'd ask for opinions so I can decide and let one of these go.

Started to pick up some deep discount Disney stuff at Disney Store to send to Shirley for a basket - hard to believe it's less than 11 weeks out!

Oh - and we're 1 year into a Sleep Number bed - we love it! But it did take some time to figure out who liked what number best!

 

[Caren90]

Good Morning Everyone!
I am not sure if this old info or not, but last night I checked the DCL website and my Mom's cat 12 stateroom was $320 less than when she booked which was last summer. Soooo, I e-mailed DU and they responded immediately that yes it was lower and she would be getting a credit for the difference!. Now I booked two summers ago so the price now is still more than double what I paid, but I felt like a good daughter and saved her some BINGO cash!
ALSO I was just looking to see what cat 10 cabins were still available and the SPH room 5520 WAS available. I do not know if anyone is looking for it but if so I would act FAST to try to snag it. I was very surprised because I thought it was booked by someone on this thread (maybe they got upgraded!) I have 5020.
Like I said maybe you all know this already but I just thought I would share
Have a great day.
Caren

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

Well I booked later than some but I was early enough

My rate is 36% lower than what it costs today for the same cabin

 

[SeaSpray]

We booked the day the rates were released (Sept. 2004) and the total price today for our 2 cabins is OVER 50% more than what we're paying

Caren: Thanks for that info, hopefully it can help someone else!

 

[mickeymom923]

Okay, does anyone want to guess when we'll reach 7000 posts? I'm guessing 6/30/06. What do you think?

Bev

 

[Ct_TiggerFan]

7000 on 6/26/06

45000 on 8/18/06 or bust



We may not chat as much as the blabber mouth crew, but we have quality messages

 

[Steve's Wife]

I can't imagine knowing two years ago that August 19th would be a great time to go on a cruise. We were supposed to be on the return trip from California last year, but a construction project at my school got held up and we wound up having to go back early in August.
We managed to squeeze in a quick 3 day on the Wonder, and pushed our reservation back (maybe a couple of times -- Steve handles that end of things) to this cruise. I'm excited to see the differences between the two boats -- in addition to the whole art deco/art noveau thing.

Lori

 

[mickeymom923]

Doreen - how are you? Hope you received good results today. Hope Jaclyn's doing better.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Bev

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

We had decided on cruising this date even before the itineraries came out. We were pleasantly surprised it turned out to be one of the double-dip cruises.

One downside of not going to Key West is missing a chance to stop at a convenience store and load up on big bags of snacks/chips/pretzels etc. And I prefer pepsi over coke so I would always buy some to bring on the ship.

Always enjoyed seeing others returning to the ship laden down with cases of soda.

......World Cup starts on Friday. My husband has already informed me we will have to schedule our activities around the game schedules. During the last World Cup we happened to be on a DCL cruise and my husband and son would always get up early in the morning and go watch the games in the ESPN zone (now the Stack). My husband really enjoyed discussing the games with all the CM's.

 

[SeaSpray]

I can't imagine knowing two years ago that August 19th would be a great time to go on a cruise.

Well I can tell you right now that I think that ANY time is a great time to go on a cruise Pick a date in the future, any date....Sounds good to me.

But seriously! lol A few of us sailed together on the Magic in August of 2004, and we had such a wonderful time on that cruise that when we got back, we immediately began talk of doing it all over again, and voila' we chose the August 19th 2006 cruise as a "reunion" cruise!

Over the course of the last almost 2 years, a few families have had to drop out for different reasons (unexpected things do come up sometimes), but there are still many families from that original 2004 group, including my family, Reenieny18's family, O'BWV's family, Sandygirl's family, ElliotFan's family, and kap158! And then there are those who we haven't had the pleasure of sailing with *yet*, but they already feel like old friends such as mickeymom92, castoff, and Ct Tiggerfan, and even more recently, Walsh Clan! AND everyone else who posts here! I truly am excited about meeting each and every one of you, and your families!!!

So yes it may seem strange to a lot of people to plan a vacation like this so far in advance, but to a lot of us, it just made sense to do so. Not to mention the great rates we got from booking so early!



Lori: You've sailed on the Wonder... I'll be curious to see if you notice any big differences on the Magic! We're possibly sailing on the Wonder next winter and I'd be looking forward to see the "other" Disney ship!

 

[RobinMarie]

Yet another rainy Thursday.

I booked this cruise fairly soon after the dates were announced. We were knee-deep in Repo cruise planning at the time. The prices were not as good as I wanted but it was the most inexpensive, school-friendly summer schedule we could find. We have many friends from the Ship of Fools on this cruise. Like other folks, some of those families have cancelled for various reasons but we'll be seeing them again next summer on the Med. Transatlantic cruise.

The SPR cabin was gone by the time I checked. Too bad I missed it, thanks for the heads up!

Flexsmom - you bring up a good point. Using the kids club on the first day on CC could be pretty 'iffy' for some children. You might find the children are involved in lunch time while with the other kids, putting a monkey wrench in your family lunch plans. Otherwise I agree with your thoughts and planning family time after your excursion sounds like a great plan!

 

[Caren90]

RobinMarie- SOrry you missed the SPH room. 55520 was available yesterday morning and then when I checked in around noon that was gone but 5022 was available, crazy. I was hoping someone fron the DIS would snag it. Oh well.
SeaSPray- My family was also on the first 10 day hurricane cruise! I knew about the DIS but not all you crazy people meeting up .
Caren

 

[Aurora's Mommy]

We had decided on cruising this date even before the itineraries came out. We were pleasantly surprised it turned out to be one of the double-dip cruises.

One downside of not going to Key West is missing a chance to stop at a convenience store and load up on big bags of snacks/chips/pretzels etc. And I prefer pepsi over coke so I would always buy some to bring on the ship.

I love Key West, but I haven't been there in years. I'm kind of disappointed to miss it, but I think I can choke down two stops at CC.

Flexsmom, there is no guarantee that the activities would be the same, but the Navigators from the first Double Dip cruise indicated that starting at 12:15 in the 3-4 Scuttles Cove will be Bubble Mania, and then Water Games until 2:30. I scheduled the stingrays for my DH and DS at 1, so I was checking the schedule for my 4 year old DD, in case she feels bad being left behind. If you drop off the little one around 12:15, it will give you 45 minutes to see if he's OK. If you decide to keep the AM reservation, they have Sebatian's Sea Search at 10, and then it appears they take the little ones to lunch at 11:15.