Dec 4, 2011 Dream

[dvc deernut]

I've updated the list to put our newest cruising buddies Karen89 and her family on the list!

Dynamic DisneyDuo (Dan) and Imanazd (Mandy)
Weich1001—party of 20-25
Dvc deernut (Ian) and DW Laura
MickeyBella and DH
Buckeye Princess, DH, DD2, and DS1
Mlissa88 (Melissa) plus DH and DS3
Rhode Island Quahog (Valerie) and DBF Joe
MoranClan
CherylSue (Cheryl) plus DH Sean, and DD13
Donutday (Joan) and DH Kevin
Jennybinflorida (Jenny) plus DH Angelo, and 2 DS Keegan and Landon (ages 10 & 4)
Gydell, DD and DGS
CruznLexi (celebrating her birthday)
BethC1952 (Beth) and DH Jim
Matheke (Dan) and DW Sue
Sistert plus DH, in-laws, and mom (Roadweaver)
JacksMama (Olivia) plus DH, and DS, who will be turning four on the cruise!
Cardidog (Sue) and 3 friends
DZ mom plus DH, and DS, who will be turning five on the cruise!
Tessasmom (Julia) plus DH Sam, and DD Tessa, 21 months
TLinden16 (Karen) plus my friend Masayo in another cabin
Eeyore77 (Jennifer) and her Grandmother
Karen89 plus her DH and DS5

I hope Weich1001 lets me know who the 20 to 25 are. Need to know who they all are if they are doing the FE.

 

[TLinden16]

I hope Weich1001 lets me know who the 20 to 25 are. Need to know who they all are if they are doing the FE.

I wonder if Weich1001 even ended up booking. She said she thinks she is in, but she only posted on the thread once, so perhaps they aren't coming now.

 

[tessasmom]

Yeah, I'm officially booked! Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.

dvc deernut - Thanks for the tips, and feel free to keep them coming! Now that I don't have to research which trip to take, which room to get, and which dining time is best...... I can read more about the little tips and tricks so that I won't ask TOO many newbie questions! At least I'll try not to.

Beth - Thank you for the tip, I will absolutely bring some green apples if that's allowed. Of course they probably have green apples on the ship, right? I'll have to read up on that one too!

TLinden/Karen - Small world. I'm also north of Boston, north west actually. I will make sure to read back a few pages to see what other kids are going to be on the cruise. My son can sometimes be shy and it helps to talk about who we'll see once we get there.

tessasmom - I'll be curious to hear how you compare the Disney cruise to other cruises, since you've been on so many. As for the fish extender exchange, I'll have to admit I'm intrigued. When I first read something about it I thought "What the heck is that?" so I searched and found a thread about it. I'm curious as to how many people are usually involved? Do you give a gift for each pocket? Say 20 families are involved and each has 4 people in their family, is that 80 gifts you should be bringing, or 20? Do you bring age appropriate gifts for kids, such as something for babies, toddlers, teens, etc or the same thing for each cabin? You know, I really should research this a bit more, as I just said I wasn't going to ask so many newbie questions!

Karen

Hi Karen!

SO exciting that you are now booked!! Now comes the hard part! LOL! PLANNING!!! If you are a obsessive planner like me, you will be on these boards every free minute. I've already started putting things aside for the trip and have a list of things in my wallet for when I run across things that are only around seasonally here in Chicago. As far as your question about DCL vs. Other cruise lines, I won't really be able to answer you fully until we meet on the ship. I can tell you that DCL is the only cruise line I know of that has a board like this and such awesome veteran cruisers willing to share their knowledge and experiences. I am positive that my family and I are going to love cruising DCL and will quickly be hooked! In fact I'm already saving the $ so we can rebook our next DCL inboard!
Now as far as the FE goes, this is the way I understand it. This will be our first one and I need to get to ordering our FE holder off ETSY pretty soon! From what I am told, we get a list of the participants. In fact if you go back a few pages on this thread there is already a list started for our cruise. Now you can pretty much do what YOU want to do as far as gifts. Some people do a joint gift for the parents and then age appropriate gifts for the kids. Others do all individualized gifts for each person in the cabin. You can do it simple or detailed. The fun of it is just giving the gifts and discovering the ones left in your FE! Also, I have heard of people giving gift related to where they are from. Like from Chicago I could do something we are known for. I think I plan on definitely personalizing our FE gifts in some way and have some ideas, but nothing done yet. Also, if you haven't read about this, I found this little tidbit of info very important. I guess on DCL a lot of passengers give little tokens to the wonderful people who serve them in the dining room and the room stewards. Since DCL frowns on or does not allow tipping (which I did not know) it's a great way of showing your appreciation! These tokens must be small though because space is limited in the crew quarters. I'm SO GLAD I read that so we are prepared!

Just keep reading like I do, you will find you have little DCL notes plastered throughout the house! Don't hesitate to ask questions here, everyone is so helpful? Happy planning!!

 

[tessasmom]

Karen, check out post #116 on this thread. That is the current FE list.

 

[TLinden16]

The Fish extender is fun. Some people gave out nice keepsakes for our trip.

Ian, did we ever decide on a definite cutoff date to sign up for FE.

 

[Karen89]

Tessasmom/Julia - I am absolutely an obsessive planner, and quite frankly it's stressing me out that I can't buy my FE gifts now! (would hate to have too few) My vacations are usually quite laid back with little planning necessary, so this is a world away from what I'm used to. I have been taking notes and so far I have power strip, shoe caddy, water, and pirate costumes noted. It appears I have the late seating for dinner and I'm not happy about that but hopefully I'll be able to change it later. My 5 year old could never wait that long to eat. As far as tipping, I thought they did allow tipping but at the end of the trip? I heard they give you little envelopes and you tip your servers then. I certainly could have missed something though, as I've been dedicating most of my time to reading about the whole FE thing.

 

[TLinden16]

As far as tipping, I thought they did allow tipping but at the end of the trip? I heard they give you little envelopes and you tip your servers then.

Yes, you do tip the servers, and stateroom host. This is the page on the Disney site where you can find the information (including suggested tips):

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faqs/onboard-services/gratuities/

You can go to guest services and prepay the trip to your onboard account at any time or pay in cash if you want. I had prepaid the last time on the first or second day, and we regretted doing it because we had uncharacteristically horrendous servers. I wouldn't have given them the full suggested amount they were so bad.

 

[dvc deernut]

The Fish extender is fun. Some people gave out nice keepsakes for our trip.

Ian, did we ever decide on a definite cutoff date to sign up for FE.

No we havent , Im assuming sometime in Oct so it gives us time to organize. Once the day get close I will send a list to everyone on it. Well back in the pool . The water is 90 today.

 

[TLinden16]

Thanks, Ian. I just want to make sure that I have enough for everyone. I really love my main fish extender gift (and I hope that everyone else does). I will have a little bit of work to do after the fact, so I want to make sure we have plenty of time to do that

I actually have a drawer in my old bureau with Fish Extender stuff. I have a collection of stuff that I had purchased on clearance a couple of years back, and I also have the items I bought this year. In fact, I love the stuff that I bought this year so much, that I may buy another 50 pieces just to have to give people (and I got such a great deal on it, it's not even funny--I found this item for about 75% less than anywhere else I've seen it--I didn't get my first color choice, but I did get a nice color). I just hope people like this item as much as I do I think it's a very useful thing for Disney fans.

 

[dvc deernut]

Dont thank me yet im new at keeping track of FE list Hopefully I dont screw it up. Well back outside I go. Its sunny HOT HOT HOT and I have work around the pool to do. Oh and I will be water the Garden from the pool with the hose while holding my KONK KOOLER(my disney favourite) drink MMMMMMMMMMM

 

[TLinden16]

Dont thank me yet im new at keeping track of FE list Hopefully I dont screw it up. Well back outside I go. Its sunny HOT HOT HOT and I have work around the pool to do. Oh and I will be water the Garden from the pool with the hose while holding my KONK KOOLER(my disney favourite) drink MMMMMMMMMMM

Just remind everyone to double and triple check their cabin number on the list. On my last FE exchange, someone had the wrong cabin number (actually a non-existent cabin number), and nearly didn't get anything until I found out his true cabin number and spread the word.

 

[tessasmom]

Oops! Sorry Karen! I am wrong about the tipping. I knew I would be nicely corrected if I was mistaken. Karen we are stuck with late seating also and are hoping to change it once on board, so get ready to duke it out with me! Hehehehe! No, maybe we can get the same table? That's probably too much to ask though. I hope we can both get it changed. It will take a lot of my stress away trying to keep Tessa awake for dinner.

I'm stressing a bit about the FE stuff too. I have a few ideas, but really don't feel like I can work on them until closer to the cruise. I am however, keeping busy getting my magnets for our cabin door ready!

It was HOT, HOT, HOT here the last 2 days and today it's rainy and in the 50's with nasty storms last night and this morning...I just want it to stay HOT!

 

[TLinden16]

I also currrently have the late dining, but I'm actually hoping to switch to early as well, in an attempt to get at a table with my friend who is also travelling alone.

I am actually very excited about my FE gift (in case you didn't notice in the five billion times I've mentioned it on this thread so far). I am just so excited that I found such a good deal on it, and the site actually had a couple of other things that worked for the FE as well (I don't want to share the site here now because I don't want to risk duplication of gifts, but I will after the fact

We had some crazy rain storms here today. I walk part of the way to work, and I had to run for cover a few times. I was very happy when someone offered me a ride home tonight (especially after the thunderstorms got worse by the end of the day).

 

[Karen89]

TLinden/Karen - I got caught in the same crazy storms today on the way home. I get to work so early that I managed to just catch a little rain, but the ride home was insane. I'm lacking on the FE gift ideas, but the girl I work with just returned from a cruise and hopefully I can get a full report of things she received. That ought to help.

Tessasmom/Julia - It has been very hot here as well, but for me it's a welcomed change. This past winter was SO long! How old is your daughter? My son will be turning 5 this summer. I am hoping he'll really enjoy the kids club. I hear it's wonderful, and he'll love the fact that the little babies are in another area and that he's with the older kids.

DVC deernut - count me in for the FE. I think it sounds like a lot of fun and I'm sure my son will love the little surprises waiting to be discovered. I don't have enough posts to send (or reply to) private messages yet, so I'll send you whatever info you need when I can.

 

[TLinden16]

TLinden/Karen - I got caught in the same crazy storms today on the way home. I get to work so early that I managed to just catch a little rain, but the ride home was insane. I'm lacking on the FE gift ideas, but the girl I work with just returned from a cruise and hopefully I can get a full report of things she received. That ought to help.

Tessasmom/Julia - It has been very hot here as well, but for me it's a welcomed change. This past winter was SO long! How old is your daughter? My son will be turning 5 this summer. I am hoping he'll really enjoy the kids club. I hear it's wonderful, and he'll love the fact that the little babies are in another area and that he's with the older kids.

DVC deernut - count me in for the FE. I think it sounds like a lot of fun and I'm sure my son will love the little surprises waiting to be discovered. I don't have enough posts to send (or reply to) private messages yet, so I'll send you whatever info you need when I can.

I think you'll be able to send messages when you get one more post, Karen. I think it's 10, but I could be wrong, as they do change it from time to time.

Karen, the storms sure were crazy yesterday! I got caught in them on the way into work, and would have been caught on the commute home if a co-worker didn't offer me a ride. What city/town are you in? I'm in Wakefield.

I got such a good deal on my FE stuff that I just bought extra (as a matter of fact, I think I'm going to place another order and get more extra stuff so that I can have it for future use). But I figure if I'm short on anything, I'll just buy something else. I figure not everyone has to get everything exactly the same.

Right now, we have under 20 people in the FE exchange. Hopefully it won't get much more than that.

 

[TLinden16]

Oh, and one more thing, I'm still doing my debate on how to get to port. As I mentioned, the people were thought were going to ride with us have decided to take Disney transport, so at this point, it is looking like we will be doing that as well.

Right now, one of the things we are considering is taking ME to the airport, and then checking in for DCL and taking the bus from there. We're not 100% sure on this but we figure we aren't going to go in the parks that morning, so we may just do that instead.

Of course, I may just change my mind again in five minutes ;-)

 

[tessasmom]

Karen, Tessa is almost 15 months. By the time we cruise she will be 20 months. Your little guy will be in the kids club, Tessa will still be in the nursery age group. We are planning on one night booking her in there so we can check out the adult area clubs, even though neither one of us are really drinkers. I don't think we will be doing Palo or Remy this time around. We love doing things as a family and seeing things through Tessa's eyes!

TL- I think 20-25 is a good number for the FE. Not too big, not too small! Thanks again for taking on the organizing!

 

[TLinden16]

TL- I think 20-25 is a good number for the FE. Not too big, not too small! Thanks again for taking on the organizing!

That's all on DVC deernut.

Oh, and I apologize in advance to all of you when you have to deliver my gift, as my cabin is as far forward as you can go.

 

[dvc deernut]

HI KAREN no hurry when ever you can give the info for FE would be great. I still dont know our cabin yet.

Here is a suggestion for KAREN and JULIA. I think I read this right. Both of you are on late dinning. If you want to be at same teble why dont you LINK your ressies. We do that every year on our member cruise so we can sit with the same 8 people. You have to know each others ressie number and one of you call DCL and have the 2 ressies linked together.

 

[dvc deernut]

Oh, and one more thing, I'm still doing my debate on how to get to port. As I mentioned, the people were thought were going to ride with us have decided to take Disney transport, so at this point, it is looking like we will be doing that as well.

Right now, one of the things we are considering is taking ME to the airport, and then checking in for DCL and taking the bus from there. We're not 100% sure on this but we figure we aren't going to go in the parks that morning, so we may just do that instead.

Of course, I may just change my mind again in five minutes ;-)

Just curious why you dont take Disney transportation right from your Disney resort.