Dec. 7, 2008 4 nite Mousefest Cruise - who's all going?

[Jazmine8]

I was just reading somwhere about the dinner seatings and wondered what everyone here was doing in terms of dinner seating times. So first or second and why you chose it? I had first seating but changed it to second, but now I'm rethinking it.........I was thinking less kids at second seating but then I'e be full a not ready for any late buffets.

 

[mkmommy]

I was just reading somwhere about the dinner seatings and wondered what everyone here was doing in terms of dinner seating times. So first or second and why you chose it? I had first seating but changed it to second, but now I'm rethinking it.........I was thinking less kids at second seating but then I'e be full a not ready for any late buffets.

I have early, but I am thinking that I will most likely bail out of dinners. I am morning person and I love going out for breakfast so I will do that, but there is so much that I want to do that I am not sure I want to spend 2 hours on dinner.

Lisa

 

[sssteele]

First DCL cruise for my wife and I. We did documents online, but still expect something to be sent to our home before we leave on 12/2. What should we be looking for? Somebody mentioned luggage tags.

 

[memobrien]

I know what you mean. We've been to Nassau many times and after the second visit, I told me husband that if I hear, "Lady, braid your hair?" one more time I was going back to the ship! I tried to be nice at first and say "No, thank you" but after the fifth time, I just starting ignoring them.
The last few times, I've worn a hat with my hair tucked up underneath the hat.
But this time we are only getting off the ship to have Emily's passport stamped and then we are spending the rest of the day on the ship.

Oh i didn't even think of the passport stamp. Honestly I wasn't even going to get off the ship in Nassau. Maybe I should just to get the stamp. Where can you have that done?

 

[memobrien]

I was just reading somwhere about the dinner seatings and wondered what everyone here was doing in terms of dinner seating times. So first or second and why you chose it? I had first seating but changed it to second, but now I'm rethinking it.........I was thinking less kids at second seating but then I'e be full a not ready for any late buffets.

Personnally we got stuck with 2nd seating and i'm not happy about it. My daughter usually goes to bed at 7:30. I can push it some, but she will be starving if we have to wait until 2nd.

Any ideas on how or if we can change this to first?

Maura

 

[memobrien]

As you can see we are preparing our daughter for meeting the characters.

We haven't received our cruise docs yet either but we did checkin on-line.

I've been busy planning Emily's Christening this Sunday but on Monday I will be back in full cruise planning mode!

None of use own anything lime green but I will print some stickers, that's a great idea! And we will be wearing out Mousefest lanyards.

I'm so excited they have photopass on the ships now. I'll probably be spending half the cruise in-line getting photos of Emily with the all the characters.

your daughter is sooo stinking cute!!! I love that picture!

They have photopass on the cruise?!?! i thought they didn't offer that?

 

[Jazmine8]

First DCL cruise for my wife and I. We did documents online, but still expect something to be sent to our home before we leave on 12/2. What should we be looking for? Somebody mentioned luggage tags.

I just got off the phone with CM Caleb and he said that DCL will mail out the luggage tags 10-14 days before the sailing date.

 

[Jazmine8]

Personnally we got stuck with 2nd seating and i'm not happy about it. My daughter usually goes to bed at 7:30. I can push it some, but she will be starving if we have to wait until 2nd.

Any ideas on how or if we can change this to first?

Maura

Oh that's too bad. But the DCL CM said there's food available everywhere like deck 9 and also room service. I know you probably wouldn't want to miss eating in one of the restaruants on your rotation but you could have room service bring you something light or small to eat to curb hunger before that time. Also call DCL 800-951-3532 and be added to the main dining waitlist.

 

[memobrien]

Oh that's too bad. But the DCL CM said there's food available everywhere like deck 9 and also room service. I know you probably wouldn't want to miss eating in one of the restaruants on your rotation but you could have room service bring you something light or small to eat to curb hunger before that time. Also call DCL 800-951-3532 and be added to the main dining waitlist.

Thanks!!! I called. They couldn't switch it now. But he was very nice and said worse case scenario when i check in they should be able to help me out, especially because i'm travelling with a little one alone.

This trip is part of my daughtersbirthday celelbration as well. Has anyone done the DCL birthday celebration where they decorate the room and all?

 

[WeLuvDCL]

We got stuck with second seating too becasue we didn't book until June. Emily usually goes to bed at 8pm so I don't know what we are going to do. I love to go to dinner and we are cruising with my parents and my in-laws. We will have to see how it goes.
Before we were blessed with Emily, we always had second seating and I loved it. We never had to worry about getting back to the ship in time for dinner while at port.

Maura,
According to some postings on the DIS cruise threads, DCL just started the photopass on the ships. I think it was either this week or next. So, they should have all the kinks worked out by the time we cruise!

In Nassau, they stamp your passports in the building right next to the tall yellow building at the port, I think they are connected. You don't have to walk far, you can see it from the ship. This will be the first time we are having our passports stamped.

 

[memobrien]

We got stuck with second seating too becasue we didn't book until June. Emily usually goes to bed at 8pm so I don't know what we are going to do. I love to go to dinner and we are cruising with my parents and my in-laws. We will have to see how it goes.
Before we were blessed with Emily, we always had second seating and I loved it. We never had to worry about getting back to the ship in time for dinner while at port.

Maura,
According to some postings on the DIS cruise threads, DCL just started the photopass on the ships. I think it was either this week or next. So, they should have all the kinks worked out by the time we cruise!

In Nassau, they stamp your passports in the building right next to the tall yellow building at the port, I think they are connected. You don't have to walk far, you can see it from the ship. This will be the first time we are having our passports stamped.

Oh that's awesome about the photopass. so that would mean that if we get the CD we can add cruise pix to it too, i would assume. We went in Jan and got the CD and it was a great deal. I think our CD had 600 pics on it. hehe My daughter likes to pose. hehe Plus you can add all the graphics and stuff too. So i was thinking about doing it for this trip, but wasn't sure because of the cruise.

My passport was stamped when we went to Guatemala. but this will be Georgia's first trip with her US passport. So it would be especially fun to get hers stamped. I think we'll have to go check that out. Thanks!!!

 

[mvlimmex]

Hi,

We have second seating too and actually prefer it over first. We like it because there is no rushing back to get dressed after Castaway for supper and also, when you have breakfast on debarkation day--you have the later breakfast(8:00 or so versus having breakfast at first rotation of 6:30 or so) We are usually up late the last night on the ship--so a little extra sleep is good for us. Plus the longer on the ship --the better

To hold the kids over until our 8:00 or so eating time, we usually go up to deck 9 and grab a bite there or order room service. Our youngest -who will be almost 17 months old at the time usually goes to bed around 8:30 - 9:00, so we will make sure he gets something to eat before then.

Maura, I know when it was my birthday on the cruise a couple of years ago--my husband secretly let our server know ahead of time and the server brought out a birthday cake after our meal and sang Happy Birthday. You may want to do that for your daughter too.

WeLuvDisney---I like the picture of your daughter with all her Disney friends. She's a real cutie!

I started checking in online for our cruise, but haven't quite finished yet. I think I will do that this afternoon. I am sure our documents will be here by the end of this week or next week for sure.

Vicki

 

[WeLuvDCL]

First DCL cruise for my wife and I. We did documents online, but still expect something to be sent to our home before we leave on 12/2. What should we be looking for? Somebody mentioned luggage tags.

You will receive a small "book" about 3x6 for each memeber of your party. It will have all the forms in it that you filled out on-line (you do not need to fill them out again) and luggage tags. The only other paperwork you will need to fill out at the port is a small custom form. I'm not sure why they don't let us fill that out ahead of time.

 

[J_LO]

Hello All!

We will be doing our first disney cruise (land and sea package) in less than a month now!! We have been counting down for some time now!! It is getting pretty cold here in Michigan so the troops are ready!! (first trip for the 7 year old he is SOOO excited!)

I have a couple of questions...does anyone know when the pirate deck party is? I think we scheduled our dinner at Palo on the night we are in Castaway Cay not knowing about the pirate party!! YIKES!!

My boys are 11 and 7 so they will be in different groups with the oceaneer lab/club does anyone know if they ever make exceptions for siblings? We are not counting on it, but just wondered if anyone had this come up.

Lastly we are going to drive into the port from Orlando, is there anywhere else to park other than right there at the port that may not be as expensive???

I appreciate all of your help, thanks so much!
Jennifer

 

[WeLuvDCL]

My boys are 11 and 7 so they will be in different groups with the oceaneer lab/club does anyone know if they ever make exceptions for siblings? We are not counting on it, but just wondered if anyone had this come up.

Yes, DCL usually makes exception for siblings if one of them is within one year of the "cut off". Since the age groups are 3-7 and 8-12 you should have no problem moving your 7 yo into the 8-12 group. Just talks to the kids club CM when you get on the ship. We travelled with my couins and their sons last year and they accomodated them since the age was so close.

Lastly we are going to drive into the port from Orlando, is there anywhere else to park other than right there at the port that may not be as expensive???

No, unfortunately. I think it's up to $12 a day? You may want to add up the rental car expense plus the parking and see if it's worth it versus getting Disney transportation.

 

[Hanover]

My DH got me the birthday celebrations cake/decorations 2 years ago on my birthday (Dec 7). It was nice but we never got around to eating the cake because we were so full from lunch and then we were afraid to eat it since it wouldn't fit in the fridge and hadn't been refrigerated overnight (it looked like it was whipped cream icing). We saved the decorations to use at home on our birthdays. We cruised last year on my b-day and will again next month, but I told him to just put the magnet up that came with the package and not worry about getting the package again.

I did order my sons and our friend's children gift baskets from Shirley at the Perfect Gift. We've used her before and she's really great at making nice baskets which the kids love to find when they open the stateroom door.

J-lo, my boys are 7 and 11 too. The 11 year old loves the sports deck the most on the ship. Our friends are traveling with a 12 year old ds, ds8 and dd6. I may bump up our 7 year old to the 8/9 group because he's been in the 5-7 group 5 times already and prefers the oceaneer's lab to the club.

Are you staying at a hotel near the port? I know we are staying at a Marriot the night before we cruise in February and taking a shuttle to the port. It's $6 each for the shuttle with free parking.

Memobrien, your daughter is adorable!!!! Once you board, you can ask (or it should be on the navigator) where/when they are making changes to dining reservations. I know we've added people to our table, changed seatings, etc. once we've boarded. We'll be adding our friends to our table at Palo this trip. I think the last time we did it, they had it about 2PM in Beat Street.

We have early dining this cruise. We have done 2nd dining on past cruises and enjoyed that too. They both have pros and cons. I liked not having to rush back to change for dinner with 2nd seating. On the other hand, we really liked having the show after dinner instead of before dinner. Our boys also tend to fall asleep during the end of the shows or dinner, whatever is 2nd on our trip. I also felt really full at bed time with 2nd dining but that's because I ate way more every night than I usually do, I just couldn't pass up trying so many great items.

 

[memobrien]

I did order my sons and our friend's children gift baskets from Shirley at the Perfect Gift. We've used her before and she's really great at making nice baskets which the kids love to find when they open the stateroom door.

Perfect gift? What's that?

 

[Hanover]

Perfect gift? What's that?

It's a flower/gift shop in Port Canaveral. 1-800-950-4559. Shirley often posts here on Disboards and is very, very nice. She makes all kinds of gift baskets, does flowers, wine/champagne, etc. You can send her items to add to baskets too. The ones I buy for my boys are sand buckets that have sand toys, movie size candy, a couple packs of chips/cheetos/pretzels (she'll put in whatever is their favorites) and drinks. There's 3 different size baskets. Small ones start at $25, medium ones at $35 and large ones $45. They are full of tatoos, stickers and other little things. You can add autograph books, pens, glow necklaces, balloons, etc (for an additional price). To deliver them to the stateroom, there is a $13 port charge per room. She will tie 2 together so you don't have to pay double. Since we live out of state and fly, we usually donate the buckets or give them to someone else sailing the day we get off the ship. Our boys love coming in the room and spotting the nicely wrapped baskets and rummaging through them. With the medium basket, they get 6 drinks and with the large baskets they get 8 drinks. I get a mix of water, caprisun and gatorade. They come in handy for shore excursions and the movie candy is great for them to snack on during the shows and movies.

 

[Hanover]

These aren't the best pictures, but here's 2 different sets of medium sized baskets the boys got from Shirley:

 

[memobrien]

These aren't the best pictures, but here's 2 different sets of medium sized baskets the boys got from Shirley:

OK those are AWESOME!! I'll have to order one of those for my daughter. I'm sure she will LOVE it! I was wondering about sand things for the beaach. Sounds like this is the perfect solution.