Cruising on the Wonder Jan.29, 09

[Pakey]

Hi Everyone.

I'm late joining the thread but we are going to be on this 3 day cruise also. We are going to WDW, first, staying at Beach Club, and then heading over to the Wonder.

Our group is a total of 11: myself, husband, son 32 and his wife, son 29 and his wife and 3 year old son, son 27 and his girlfriend and my husband's ex-wife and her husband.

We have done other cruises but this will be the first Disney cruise for all of us. We are going to celebrate our grandson's first Disney experience.

 

[hm21999]

Welcome Coasterfiend and Pakey!!!!!
Nat - AWESOME news on your airfare! I am too watching SW and they are gradually decreasing - last i checked (weds) it was 1100 for 4 of us - down from 1400 - although our airport is called Albany (Capital of NY) International - the upsate NY definition of International must mean crossing the Hudson River. We just really like SW as they are the only ones who offer the nonstop anymore from wayyy up here so i keep checking the flights - now i am going to say a "just like NAT" mantra before logging in to SW each time.... Hey Samily - I am loving your trip report!!!

 

[Pakey]

I am really fortunate in that I get the miles from my corporate credit card account so I was able to get all of my airline tickets just for the conversion fee. Thank goodness as the rates from here are about 800 per ticket.

I think this will be the last vacation where we take all of our kids together at once. Hopefully it will be a great one.

 

[samily]

Welcome aboard Pakey!

Guitardiva, glad to hear you are feeling better!

hm21999, you and Nat both caught me- lol- I was going to post our trip report here when I was done, but haven't quite finished it up yet!

So, I guess I may as well post it here for anyone who wants to read about our 3 night cruise last month (it's not quite finished though)
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1987392

 

[natale1980]

Welcome Pakey!

hm21999 - good luck with the airline tckets! I only fly SW! I love them!

-nat

 

[natale1980]

Well now I'm paid in full & I booked Skylar for 2 hours one day for 'baby sitting'. I figured it would be nice o drop Dexter off at his club and Skylar off at hers and then spend some alone time with Shawn.
We'll see if it works! I'm not even sure if Shawn will want to drop Skylar off to the baby-watchers.

-nat

 

[guitardiva]

Hi Everyone.

I'm late joining the thread but we are going to be on this 3 day cruise also. We are going to WDW, first, staying at Beach Club, and then heading over to the Wonder.

Our group is a total of 11: myself, husband, son 32 and his wife, son 29 and his wife and 3 year old son, son 27 and his girlfriend and my husband's ex-wife and her husband.

We have done other cruises but this will be the first Disney cruise for all of us. We are going to celebrate our grandson's first Disney experience.

Wow what a crowd.
Welcome aboard.

 

[guitardiva]

Well now I'm paid in full & I booked Skylar for 2 hours one day for 'baby sitting'. I figured it would be nice o drop Dexter off at his club and Skylar off at hers and then spend some alone time with Shawn.
We'll see if it works! I'm not even sure if Shawn will want to drop Skylar off to the baby-watchers.

-nat

Whoot! PIF feels good.
Hey I hear ya about the kids. They are all going to clubs at some point so that me and Ken can have some grown up time.

 

[Pakey]

Hi all. Thanks for the warm welcomes. Finding you guys is the first thing that has made me excited about this cruise. Yes, coordinating a vacation for 11 people, mostly adults with strong opinions, has exhausted me. Add in the ex-wife (who I do adore, she has been in my life 25 years now) so I feel extra pressure to put together the perfect vacation.

I'm interested in this fish extender swap you guys are doing. That is, if I can make the fish extender. If I participate, I wouldn't want to toss all 11 of us into the mix so I was thinking about doing it for myself, my husband and my grandson (he's 3). We are not in the same cabin, not even on the same deck, so I'd have to do 2 fish extenders, one for us and one for his room.

And I don't sew.

 

[natale1980]

Pakey - I've heard people doing things as simple as useing a tote bag as their fish extender.
I'm glad more people are joining!

 

[DisBiff]

Hello all...we've just booked and will be sailing with you on the 29th...Our party consists of my GF, DS (8), DD (5) and myself. My mom and aunt will also be joining us for our first Disney cruise. As with many others we'll be visiting the World for 5 days before our cruise and are looking forward to a great time. The cruise portion is also a surprise for my girlfriend and the kids...hope it goes over well...don't want the kids too bummed after checking out of WDW after only 5 days!

 

[coasterfiend]

DisBiff, Welcome to the thread - and the Boards I'm sure they won't be disappointed about the cruise, so not to worry!!

 

[natale1980]

DisBiff - Awesome! Another Surprise!!!
I'm going to make my family t-shirts that say...

"I WONDER where I'm going on Thursday?
My Wife surprised me with a Disney Cruise!!!"

On the kids shirts it's going to say 'my mommy'

Keeping the surprise is alot of work... but alot of fun.
Where are you staying before the cruise?

Also - Welcome to The Dis!!!

 

[Pakey]

Since I'm not crafty, I have ordered some shirts. I have shirts coming for the Pirate Night on the cruise. They all say Captain Clayton's Crew on them except for my grandson's, which of course says Captain Clayton. The biggest challenge will be getting everyone to agree to wear them. They are getting these shirts as part of their Christmas present.

I'm going this week to the fabric store to look for some stuff to make our fish extender. Wish me luck. I do scrapbooking but have not worked with fabric much and I have no idea how to sew. I'm already planning on begging someone on my staff to do this for me.

 

[samily]

Welcome Disbiff! What a great surprise - I'm sure they'll love it!


Ok everyone, here is the updated fish extender gift exchange list:

natale1980 - 4 people (2 kids - DS3.5, DD1)
guitardiva - 5 people (3 kids - DD17, DS14, DD7)
samily - 5 people (3 kids - DD 10.5, DS7, DS4)
hm21999 - 4 people (1 kiddo - DD9)
pakey - 2 people
pakey's family - 3 people (1 kiddo - DGS3)

Did I miss anyone? Anyone else interested in participating? If anyone has cabin numbers already, let me know & I'll add them to the list...

We are close to 75 days!!

 

[DisBiff]

Thanks all for the welcome!

Yeah...keeping the surprise is tough though...we'll be meeting up with my mom and aunt at the port as the kids don't even know they will be there...I figure when we check out on Thursday morning I'm just going to tell them we are heading to the beach...I will be telling the truth, but the beach will just happen to be in the Bahamas...

What exactly are these "fish extenders" everybody is talking about and how do they work? I guess I could research it a bit...

We are staying at the POP (arriving Saturday the 24th) before our cruise...not my first choice, but I received a PIN code a few weeks back and couldn't pass up the price...$65/night including taxes for a preferred room...have stayed at the Swan, All Star Sports, Caribbean Beach, Port Orleans Riverside and the Animal Kingdom Lodge (my fav) in the past...I find the kids don't really care as much about the hotel as long as it has a pool...they are all about the parks!

 

[samily]

The fish extender exchange was started years ago by a Diser - there is pewter fish that is outside of every stateroom door that is usually used by the ship to leave notices, etc. for the cabin. People hang a pocket organizer on the fish and your fellow participating cruisers on your meets thread leave little surprise gifts in it throughout the cruise.

Here are some threads on fish extenders :

This one talks about the little "gifts":
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1774643

This one has some pics of them hanging outside staterooms:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607

We have never done it before, but thought it looked like fun - my kids don't know about it - that will be their little surprise

 

[Pakey]

The fish extender exchange was started years ago by a Diser - there is pewter fish that is outside of every stateroom door that is usually used by the ship to leave notices, etc. for the cabin. People hang a pocket organizer on the fish and your fellow participating cruisers on your meets thread leave little surprise gifts in it throughout the cruise.

Here are some threads on fish extenders :

This one talks about the little "gifts":
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1774643

This one has some pics of them hanging outside staterooms:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1219607

We have never done it before, but thought it looked like fun - my kids don't know about it - that will be their little surprise

Can we get an updated list of who is participating? I want to make sure that I bring enough loot!!!!

 

[samily]

Can we get an updated list of who is participating? I want to make sure that I bring enough loot!!!!

Just need to add stateroom numbers...

natale1980 - 4 people (2 kids - DS3.5, DD1)
guitardiva - 5 people (3 kids - DD17, DS14, DD7)
samily - 5 people (3 kids - DD 10.5, DS7, DS4)
hm21999 - 4 people (1 kiddo - DD9)
pakey - 2 people
pakey's family - 3 people (1 kiddo - DGS3)

 

[4Ollies]

Sorry I didn't get back on here. Life is crazy as I'm sure it is for everyone else.

We made the final payment today! Now just need to figure out what we really want to do. DH is feeling poor right now so know he will reign me in and that's a good thing. We balance each other well in that respect.

I am going to read up on the Fish Extender. It might be something that the boys would really get into.

Thanks for the nice welcome.