Dec 5, 2009 -- now traveling to Tortola

[carmie3377]

Good to hear that you escaped damage Tower. I currently live on the Gulf Coast so our eye is always on the tropics this time of year. I lived just north of New Orleans during Katrina and somehow escaped major damage. The storm surge from Lake Pontchartrain stopped one block from our house and our house was about the only house in the neighborhood that didn't have a tree on it. Sure, we had great incoveniences for months, but considering how so many people fared, I feel very blessed. Ike last year (we now live south of Houston) we had no damage again. Fences all over town down, power lines down everywhere and again, we were lucky. Other than being w/o electricty for 9 days, we fared well. I feel like one of these days our luck with hurricanes is going to run out.

 

[DisneyCruisin']

I cannot wait to get on the boat and am constantly thinking about it! This will be our fourth Disney Cruise!!

Is anyone putting a list of all of us together and are we "Fish Extending"???? I'd love to get started on something - but don't want to if we aren't going to do it!!

 

[Tower]

I feel like one of these days our luck with hurricanes is going to run out.

Let's not make that 'running out of luck' during our cruise. It's past hurricane season when we go, but it doesn't mean they don't happen!

I'm sure the line has contingency plans for such occasions.

 

[carmie3377]

Is anyone putting a list of all of us together and are we "Fish Extending"???? I'd love to get started on something - but don't want to if we aren't going to do it!!

It's been discussed and I think someone started a list but she hasn't been on in awhile. I've made an FE and hope that there is an exchange to participate in. I've never cruised so therefore never done an FE but think it will be a lot of fun.

I don't mind doing a list but since I've never even participated in one, I don't know if I'm the best person for it. I don't know if it will be organized enough. I guess as long as it has first names of everyone in cabin, age of children, and cabin number, that's all we need???

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

I will definitely be bringing goodies for everyone. I wish I knew how many to make though

Just to get an Idea could everyone PM me if you are interested in doing the FE... If you could just put in the title how many cabins you have and how many people in each cabin. Thanks, then I will post here tomorrow to give everyone else an idea on how many they need to bring whether if its per cabin or per person....

 

[carmie3377]

Let's not make that 'running out of luck' during our cruise. It's past hurricane season when we go, but it doesn't mean they don't happen!

I'm sure the line has contingency plans for such occasions.

Yeah, me too! It seems to be rather quite this year and I hope that trend continues.

 

[Tower]

It's been discussed and I think someone started a list but she hasn't been on in awhile.

Hadley was going to start a website for listing all for the FE's, but she hasn't been on this thread for a long time. She posted in other threads as recent as last week, but nothing here recently.

Just the same, DW isn't all that keen on FE's, nor publicly posting our names on a board that anyone can access. Just one of those security issues and all. She's our family's 'homeland defence' department and if momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hey Tower--and everybody. Funny I looked up this thread and the last post was about me So sorry I disappeared for such a long time. Forst off life got REALLY crazy and by the time things settled down we were in such a financial mess (due to still owning our house in NH and having to evict tenants who did not pay rent and repair all the damage they caused, etc.) that I was terribly afraid we would have to cancel the cruise. I just could not bring myself to come over here and get excited for the cruise when I thought we could not take it. I should have at least posted that over here and just did not think--sorry everyone.
Anyway, we took the plunge and booked airfare and paid off the cruise yesterday. So we ARE comming. It is probably not the best financial decision we have ever made, but we have done everythign RIGHT forever so we are going to push the envelope just this once and figure we NEED the fun for sanity's sake
I will try to catch up on all I did not read over the past few months and then get on taht list Tower is refereing to (for anyone who does want it--no pressure) by next week.
Again, sorry for just dissapearing on you all

 

[NHdisneylover]

All done catching up (easy on this thread. The 2010 transatlantic is already on its fourth full thread! I am not even trying until after this cruise--this is a more fun group of people anyway)


Now--catching up on Tower's and Carie's FANTASTIC questions of the week

On average, how many pieces of luggage will you bring with you onto the ship including carry-on & actual luggage per person?

.

The kids will each have their backpacks as carry ons and Dave and Iwill share one small carry on between us as well. Additionally we will likely have three full suitcases (two big rolling duffles and one more rolling case) plus a garment bag.

Do you plan to dress up for formal and semi-formal nights and what do you plan to dress in?

We LOVE formal night--it is a highlight of the cruise.

DH (Dave) owns a tux (with tail coat) which he will wear on formal night.
I will probably wear a knee length white beaded dress taht Dave bought me for our 10th anniversary. It is lovely and David just loves it on me.
DD12 (Marika) has a gorgeous floor length, fitted, silk gown in blue that hse can't wait to wear. We managed to find it on clearance a year ago for seomthing like $10 (it was a $200 dress). It does show off all her curves and makes her look 17 instead of 12, but it is lovely on her and she can't help the way she has grown up so soon--so she will wear it and Dad will keep a wary eye on her
DS10 (Rio) also owns a tux with tail coat. I think the sleeves are getting too short but he will have to make due for this trip and we will get hin a new one for hte 2010 trip.

For semi formal night:
Dave will wear a tie and dress shirt but likely no jacket.
I haven't decided which dress I will wear yet.
Marika has a red and black Perry Elis dress (that we got on clearance at teh same time as the blue dress) that she plans on wearing.
Rio will likely have a jacket (navy blue) and tie. He LOVES to dress nicely and will likely wear a tie every night to dinner.

What will you be doing with your shipboard credit?

.

We have a $200 OBC from booking onbaord the last cruise. I did not see anyone else mention this--but we tend to spend very little onboard. Generally about half of our credit ends up going for the tips (which you can charge to your room). We will likely rent bikes (or maybe the pacakge with bikes, snorkle gear and flaots) on castaway cay with some of it as well.

What do plan on doing on embarkation day and what time do you plan on arriving at the port? For example, I hear that some people like to hit a park in the morning or see some things in Cape Canaveral before heading to the port in early afternoon. Others like to get to the port early to try to buy a cheaper upgrade.

We like to get to the port on the early side. The kids like to start finding the friends they have met online in the terminal as soon as possible. We will have Tiffany Towncar pick us up after breakfast to head to the port. If the kids have not finished their homework by then they can also take that time to get it done. After the cruise we head to the airport to fly home.

If anyone is interested in making this our group name let me know, I have other ideas if no one likes this one.

I LOVE THIS You rock

Hi everyone and thanks for the warm welcome. My DD is very social so I will let her know she has a few kids her age to get to know onboard! She will be thrilled!!!

This cruise will be very special to us as I will have just ended chemotherapy and it will be a celebration of my dds 10th bday, we can not wait to just have some FUN! (so if you see a mom with no hair or in hats all the time come say hi it will be me!)

I have a ? for everyone re: hats in the restraunts. This is our 4th cruise and I would never normally wear a hat to dinner...but in this case going bald is not what I had in mind either. Any thoughts??? Is wearing a hat to formal dinner going to be rude?

Look forward to cruising with everyone!
Kirsty

Congrats on finishing chemo My DS wears "caps" (think Oliver Twist" to dinner all the time and no one bats an eye. Honestly a baseball cap on formal night might raise a few eyebrows, but anything else is not even going to be noticed (beyond--"cool hat").

We did Tokyo Dining last December and it was the best meal we had at WDW!

Good to hear. We have booked it (booked all our WDW meals yesterday).

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

Just for reference for those wanting to participate so far I have

Cabin 1 - 2A 1C
Cabin 2 - 2A 2C
Cabin 3 - 2A - 35th
Cabin 4 - 1A 2C
Cabin 5 - 2A 2C -


Tower you do not have to give names in order to participate, you would just need to give the person in charge of the FE your cabin # before they print the list out. My family did not know anyone else's cabin number until we got our FE list.

 

[NHdisneylover]

So Mommyoftwinfants are you handline the FE list now? That works for me We do have our FE and I will send you our info soon (I have to look up our cabin number).

Do we still want a basic roll call list? We could do one with just screen names and real (first) names (and kids ages optional) if everyone wants. I could try to make a seperate website for that--or I ahev seen one post number become the "roll call" and just get edited as needed (I could do either I think if people want me to).

 

[NHdisneylover]

Looks like we need a new Question on the week! Since we are probably all starting to think about packing and what we may need to buy or find before the cruise how about we do a couple of packing relates questions? So this week, what one item do you make sure you ALWAYS pack for a cruise that others may not think about?

ME--a couple of smaller sized tubes of sunscreen that are easy to throw in a pocket for reapplications to our faces while in port.

Dave--zip ties. He always finds a gazillion uses for them and they are light and take up very little room

Marika--a cute hat. Keeps the sun off her face and she can cover "frizzy deck hair" to look good in all the photos

Rio--magnets for our door (because it is fun and makes it easier to find the stateroom)

 

[mommyoftwinfants]

Looks like we need a new Question on the week! Since we are probably all starting to think about packing and what we may need to buy or find before the cruise how about we do a couple of packing relates questions? So this week, what one item do you make sure you ALWAYS pack for a cruise that others may not think about?

Me: over the door shoe hanger.... to keep all of the little stuff in one spot and the clear pockets makes it easy to see what I need which saves me a ton of time.

oldest DS (by 1 min...lol): his ds weird considering he never plays his.

DS: goggles and swimming trunks.... he says he needs nothing else

 

[carmie3377]

So Mommyoftwinfants are you handline the FE list now? That works for me We do have our FE and I will send you our info soon (I have to look up our cabin number).

Do we still want a basic roll call list? We could do one with just screen names and real (first) names (and kids ages optional) if everyone wants. I could try to make a seperate website for that--or I ahev seen one post number become the "roll call" and just get edited as needed (I could do either I think if people want me to).

Welcome back Hadley!

I think kids' ages are great. Also, whether they're boy or girl. I have already bought a variety of things and while some are great for older kids, other things are great for the little kids. Also, have some things I don't think boys will be too thrilled and vice versa.

 

[carmie3377]

Looks like we need a new Question on the week! Since we are probably all starting to think about packing and what we may need to buy or find before the cruise how about we do a couple of packing relates questions? So this week, what one item do you make sure you ALWAYS pack for a cruise that others may not think about?

Never done a cruise so hopefully I'll be getting some ideas from the responses! But here are things I think are musts for us!

Me: My USB flash drive so I can back up photos each night. I would hate for one of my compact flash cards/SD cards to crap out on me or me loose one and not have my photos. I still won't erase my memory cards til I get home and get the pictures uploaded to my external drive and copied to a CD. I always like to have my pictures saved to 2 different forms of storage.

DH (Jarrod): A good book or 2. Loves to read but doesn't have much time for it at home.

DD (Haley): Her special pillow! This pillow has gone everywhere with her the last 5 years!

DS (Cameron): Ummm... don't know on this one. Probably a Thomas Train. Anything can become a train track!

 

[catwoman25]

Well I guess I can finally post on this thread. I made our final payment last week and our air fare was purchased a couple months ago. My family me(Cathy), DH Chip, DS Chrisitan 12 years old and DD Catrina 9yo are on this cruise. We are travelling with another family (Dale and Cathy, their 3 children DD 16&17 and DS 12 and Cathy's sister) I booked this cruise last year as I was recovering from surgery for breast cancer. I needed to occuppy my mind with something fun during those weeks off of work.

To Kristy, all I have to say is wear whatever feels comfortable for you and congratulations!!

We are staying somewhere near DW as we want to go to the Magic Kingdom on Friday night. Still trying to figure out transportation. We would all like to travel together to the port.

As for the current question:
I am bringing sunscreen and a book
DH: Car magazines and a credit card
DS: swim goggles
DD: her stuffed Minnie

I am so looking forward to this trip!!!!!!

Does anyone know is the 90 day mark at Sept 5 at 11pm central time?

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hello and welcome Cathy

I am not sure when the 90 day mark is I guess I better figure that out as I would like to dine in Palo on my birthday

 

[NHdisneylover]

Group logo (feel free to use for your own purposes or add to your signature, etc.). Thank you mommyoftwinfants for creating these:

Group Activites on board:
1). Saturday from 11:00 until?--pick up lanyards from Amy in cruise terminal.
2). Saturday 3:00 until safety drill--pick up lanyards from Hadley in Promenade lounge on side opposite the computer banks.
3). Sunday 9:00 until?--breakfast and group photo at Lumieres. Please drop by for coffe or juice and a photo even if you are heading to brunch at Palo later on.

The following rooms will have "DIS info" dry erase boards located on their doors. Please drop by every so often to see if we have anything we need to communicate to one another. If you are participating in Fish Extenders and your room number changes, please stop by all three rooms and leave a note about the change. If you would like to arrange another meet once onboard, please stop by all rooms and leave a message with the information. Etc.

2120--deck 2 aft
6014--deck 6 forward
2560--deck 2 midship


Here is the official thread ROLL CALL. PM me to be added (or tell me about changes to your listing) and I will update frequently. The poster who generally posts under the username is listed in purple. An asterisk* before the DIS name means the family is participating in the Fish Extender exchange.

Mickymania
Wendy
Vallen
late dining

*Mrstbalt
Jen
John
Sam (9)
Alyia (8)
Ruth (Jen's mom)
early dining

*Kathryn Rada
Kathryn
George III (14)
Sean (12)

*NHDisneylover
Hadley
David
Marika (12)
Rio (10)
late dining

Catwoman25
Cathy
Chip
Christian (12)
Catrina (9)

*carmie3377
Carmen
Jarrod
Haley (10)
Cameron (3)
late dining

texdisneygal
Katie
Ben
late dining

Inkmahm
Karen
Douglas
early dining

*DisneyCruisn'
Kim
Tom
Matt (8)
early dining

Tower
Barry
Christine
Betty (Barry's Mom)
Erik (8)
Holly (6)
Peter (2.5)
early dining

*hurley03
Doreen
Bryan

*Hanover
Danielle
Derek
Keegan (12)
Brennan (8)
Joyce (Derek's mother)
early dining

hawaiian mickey
Henry
Brenda
late dining

*FluvannaJ
Fluvanna
Jerry
Jessica (9)
late dining

*deebits
Deidre
Ed
late dining

*mommyoftwinfants
Stephanie
DS7
DS7
Stephanie's parents
late dining

*amyngary
Amy
Gary
Julia (9)
Olivia (4)
late dining


DeeSanDisneyFan
Deena
Nick
Jonina (DD no age)
Kathy (Deena's mom)
wait-listed for early dining

minniekissedme
Bob
Nancy
Nikola (12)
Stana (10)
Sava (8)
Barbara (celebrating 50 years with George)
George (celebrating 50 years with Barbara)
Dane
Marija
Nina (8)
Michael (6)
Sara (3)
late dining

CaptainJack
Lionel
Rebecca
Raquel (15)
Rebekah (15)
Dorothy (Rebecca's mother)
late dining

SDLong329
Steven
Donna

*wuv tigger
*princessdadx2
Judy
David
DD (9)
DD (7)
wait listed for early dining

*rowst3
Rosemary
Ryan
Madalyn (6)
early dining

Scothen
Scot

princess369
Christine
Christine's husband

biggdawg67
beachbratt
Ron
Renee
early dining

PirateMaiden
Ellen
Michael
Rachel (8)
Late dining

JD&LYD
John
Carol
Denise
John
late dining

msmickminn
Sally
Martin
early dining

Addictedtomickey
Frank
Pam
Jamie (12)
Sydney (8)
Brenna (6)
early dining
*note all three kids are girls

 

[texdisneygal]

We are staying somewhere near DW as we want to go to the Magic Kingdom on Friday night. Still trying to figure out transportation. We would all like to travel together to the port.

Hello & welcome! Just to be sure you are aware - Friday night Magic Kingdom will have Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party starting at 7pm until midnight which requires a separate ticket.

More info: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/pa...al-events/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party/

 

[carmie3377]

Hello & welcome! Just to be sure you are aware - Friday night Magic Kingdom will have Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party starting at 7pm until midnight which requires a separate ticket.

More info: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/pa...al-events/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party/

Good Point! Something else to point out about the party is that you can get in as early as 4PM w/o having to purchase a separate ticket for the MK (at least you could in the past). Also, to the OP, if you don't have season passes and were only planning on going to MK in the late afternoon/evening and no other parks before/after the cruise, this turns out to be a good deal as the tickets to the party are cheaper than one day park tickets.