December 13, 2008 Western Caribbean!! Let's get acquainted!

[Stinasmom]

Hey all!

If you want to participate in the Magnet Exchange- PM Andrea (Sillyandi) with your family name and Cabin #. A few weeks before we sail Andrea will send you the list of Names/Cabin #'s and sometime while you are on the cruise you are to deliver a magnet to each door. Your magnets should represent where you are from (ie a Grand Canyon magnet for AZ!) They don't have to be fancy, i fact you can make your own if you'd like!

If you want to participate in the Fish Extender Gift Exchange- PM Andrea (Sillyandi) with your cabin # & names/ages of people in cabin AND include if you have a preference of which day you want to deliver (ie Pirate Night, Grand Cayman Day, etc). A few weeks before we sail Andrea will send you the list of names/cabin #'s and your assigned day for delivery. You should plan to deliver 1 gift per person in each cabin, about $1 value per person. It doesn't have to be the same for everyone, doesn't have to be extravagant, just something fun!
Ideas for FE Gifts- Pirate tattoos, eye patches, candy (CHOCOLATE !), Disney stickers, pens or anything Disney. Oriental trading always has fun little stuff!

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE SPREADSHEET FOR FE EXCHANGE:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=phlM75-8Q1XzeVMmOWRwuPA&hl=en
OK, we are down to the wire so I will be closing both lists on FRI Nov 7th. If you want to be in either or both exchanges then you will have to tell me by Friday. This way we will all have enough time to make or buy our FE gifts & magnets.

So far everyone who has contacted me has said they want to do both the Magnets AND the Fish extender gifts so I have only made one list. If I am wrong, please let me know ASAP so that I can make separate lists.

So, here's who's with us:

As of Nov, 2008 we have the following:

Stinasmom (Marcy 41), DH42 (Vijay), DD12ish (2 weeks shy at cruise time!), DS 7

PenskeSth1 (Michele 42), David DH46, TiffanyDS10, DaveyDD19

SillyandI (Andrea 35), DH 36, DD10, DD8, DS7, DD4, (+ friends w/boys 8 & 5)

STLDisneyFreak (Michael & Sandra), DD6, DD4

dweitzel0 David and Fairyduster Hillary, MollyDD6 & KatieDD4

Dr. G 40, DW 39, DD 13, DD11, DS15, DS9, DS6

Katiesmommy (Lucinda), DH46 (Casey), Katie DD4, Carrie DD2.5

Mom2grlys (Elizabeth 36), DH 39, DD12, DD10, (+extended family)

Skallywag (Brenda) DH, + 2 grown DDs

IndyDisneyFan (Laura) DH, DD22, DS12

disnyrcks (Leslie & Joe) DD14,DS7,DD6,DD4,DS3

tmk0730 (Tracy & Bill) DS2

aleickwort (Audrey 32) DH33, DS7

momtocutestdogever & DH

cripps626 (Sommer), DH, DS22mo

grumpy-gramps (John & Barb)

WDWPirates Kerri & Jim

AuntKatKat Katherine, Jim DH, Kelly DD6, Daniel DS 5

friendw/boys Mandy, Brian DH, Zachary DS9, Benjamin DS5

Brad98 DebZ, Dmom(75), DS10

cmw02j Courtney & Lovell--Honeymooners!

1char Charliebeth, DH (Jim), DD Kathie, SIL Chad, GD9 Katelynn, GD4 almost5 Hailey

vabchmom456 and DS11

CKB3 Curtis & Kim Honeymooners also!!

fbtbdisney Teri & Frank

Amy01867 DGM, DGD, 2 DMs, 2 DDs, DS9, 2 DD6s, DS4

TanCharLeo Tania & Charlie

KC-Disney Karen, Troy, DS12 Jeremy, DS10 Justin

KerriL Kerri, Richard, DS19 Nicholas, DD 17 Jordan, DD 7 Lilly

lynnj DH, DS7, DD4


Join in if you are on this cruise!!

Marcy

 

[PenskeSth1]

We are there with ya! We also have been on two other DCL cruises. Our last cruise we booked nearly two years out. Dh is already excited about this cruise.
We are in Cat 5 room 7564.

Cruising will be DH (46) at time of cruise, Myself (42) DS (10) and maybe DD (19) not sure if she will be able to go as she will be at college. She's not happy that she may not be able to go. We have her on the cruise, but we may have to take her off.

IT IS NEVER TO EARLY TO GET EXCITED ABOUT A DCL Cruise.

Michele

 

[Stinasmom]

Hi Michele!

When I found our thread buried back on page 3, I wondered if anyone else was as anxious as me!

We will be me (41 at time of sailing), DH (42), DD(12) and DS(7). Sounds like we are almost the same age! (I have the BIG 4-0 B-day in about 5 weeks... )

I am jealous of you already for living in Florida! I tried to talk DH into it as he could likely get a job there, but with our family all here and the weather... Although the weather is one reason WHY I would love to live there. We are finally having temps above freezing this week, melting the snow.
Were you close to the tornado destruction of last week? That was really a tragedy. We have some family friends who live in the Villages, but they were spared.

So, we have months to chat! But, I am so glad to have gotten a response so quickly! We're the smart ones who got the lowest prices for this trip!

Oh, we are in 6610, Cat. 6. It is our first time with a verandah, had cat. 9s before. We are really looking forward to that!

Marcy

 

[Stinasmom]

Anyone else out there
sailing with us?
It's never too early to be planning!

 

[PenskeSth1]

Hello Marcy

We are south of where the Tornado touched down. That was definitely a scarey deal. You never can tell with weather down here.

DH and I are from the North East area and sometimes we get to saying how much we miss winter and the snow. After living down here where it is warm "most" of the time, I don't think either one of us could deal with the frigid temps anymore.

I recentely made a reservation for a friend of ours to cruise with us. She is in a cat. 11 room right across from our room. This will be her first cruise, and she is extremely excited. She is going to be 46 at the time of sailing. It looks like we are all around the same age.

We are the smart ones booking early. I like the idea of getting to pick my own room #. We have had a verandah for all of our cruises as I am highly claustaphobic. I do spend alot of time relaxing on the verandah, that is my quiet place.

Looking forward to chatting more and meeting fellow cruisers.

Michele

 

[Stinasmom]

OK, it's been a month since I started this thread...
Anyone else out there sailing with us yet? C'mon! It will be the best!! You get DCL at Christmas time and can still be home with the extended family for the actual holiday!

Hey Michele-- We are one month closer to sailing!!

Marcy

 

[Stinasmom]

Time to bump up again!
Anyone else out there sailing with us?
It's never too early to plan! Besides, the anticipation is so much more fun when you share it with others!

Marcy

 

[SILLYANDI]

I didn't want to start my own thread and be lonely, so I waited patiently... and here you are!!

I'm Andrea (35 at time of cruise...OH OUCH!) and I'll be bringing along DH36, DD10, DD8, DS7 & DD4. Yes we've been busy(for some reason that's the first thing out of most people's mouths when they hear how many kids we have.)

We are also bringing along our dear friends and their 2 boys- 8 & 5 at sailing. We've been trying to convince our extended family to come along for a family reunion, but no one else is a planner like me, so I'll have to wait a year to get firm commitments.


We're from Sunny So Cal and I have to say I am totally Disney crazy, and my family is pretty darn close to as obsessed! After the last cruise DH said "yep" we're never cruisin another line again. Bought & Sold Disney forever!"

He's never been passionate about anything, so that is a true proclamation!

Anyway, nice to meet you all, looking forward to getting to know all of you, and obsess with you!

Andrea

 

[Stinasmom]

Yeah! Welcome Andrea!
I love to hear about other Disney crazed families. Around here it is mainly me... although the kids are regular Mouse lovers!
DH claims to get Disney'd out! Which made something he did recently all the more surprising...
We are going to Disneyland this May 26-30th!! He booked it all by himself! Shocker, really.

I am leaving the day after tomorrow for WDW!
It will be a quick 4 day trip with a friend for a mini Jazzercise convention (I am an instructor). I am thrilled to be going to WDW and DL within the same two months!

So, welcome again, Andrea!

Marcy

 

[SILLYANDI]

Wow, maybe we can meet up at DL in May, we have passes and go just about once a week. If you need any tips, etc, let me know!
Have fun at WDW!

 

[SILLYANDI]

Marcy, I just read your signature and realized that we were on the SAME wonder cruise in December 06! How did we not meet through the last cruise meet? WEIRD!
We had such a good time we re-booked on board knowing we would switch to Dec 08 when rates came out. When the news of panama canal came out I was thrilled-but DH was worried about spending that many days on a ship with the kids (we live with them 365 days a year and he's worried about 2 weeks?!)
Anyway, we have had such good luck with WDW in early Dec that we picked this cruise-How funny that we were both thinking alike!
kinda Scary....

 

[Stinasmom]

Hi Andrea!

Back from WDW yesterday... Whew! I was exhausted!

It is likely that we didn't meet on our December '06 Wonder cruise because we actually arrived in Orlando on December 10th for a week at the parks, then sailed on the Dec. 17th departure. I don't know about you but I found that on a short cruise it was hard to find time to meet up with any others. Our cruise meets was practically a bust!

We actually tried to get on the eastbound repo for August '08, but DCL's system kicked out our reservation and by the time our TA realized it the cruise was sold out. She felt really bad and DCL managers were trying to figure out something for us... but we decided to put the agony to rest and just book this Western for 12/08 instead. Saved a TON of money too!

We also love to travel in December... My DH teaches at a college so he is done by the end of the first week. We have found the second week of December to have really low crowds but still have all the Christmas decorations and LOTS of CMs training for the big crowds.

I am meeting two other friends and kids at Disneyland who live in southern Calif. on May 29th as they have APs and can't go over the weekend. If you are going to go that day, I will definitely want to make the effort to meet you too! We are going to go on May 28th too, but realize it will be busy!!

Off to a meeting!

Marcy

 

[SILLYANDI]

Our cruise meet was pretty weak. We had great plans, but we just couldn't seem to get it together at the same time. We had planned on getting together at the sail away party, but one group got delayed at the terminal, my kids all needed naps before dinner, most of the group had early seating so they were rushing around. It really was too short.
We did do something kinda fun, we did a magnet exchange-we all brought magnets that represented the area where we are from and put them on the others' doors. It was fun to see all of the magnets appearing on our door. The kids had fun finding all the other rooms to leave our magnets.

I wrote "Disneyland" on our calendar for the 25th, hopefully we can get together. I am so busy right now with PTA, Girl Scouts & every thing else I volunteer for, everything is winding down and it gets crazy-I might just forget.
We are also doing the March of Dimes Walk this weekend-my son was a little tiny preemie and we do it every year, so I'm out of my mind trying to get everything done, I feel like I'm losing my mind! The baby asked me today if she could wear pants..I was so busy, I took off her pj's & sent her to the bathroom. She came out and didn't have pants on for about an hour before she finally asked me! Mother of the year I tell ya!

 

[PenskeSth1]

Hello everyone,
I haven't had much time to post lately, been pretty busy. DD just had her prom (at the Swan and Dolphin hotel) and we have been making plans for her graduation party May 22nd. She will be going off to college in the fall . I don't look forward to that at all, neither does her brother. I feel like there is always something to be done.

I was just on line looking for activities for DS Cub SCout pack meeting this Thursday and thought I would stop by for a second and say hello!

Hope you all have a good week.

Michele

 

[PenskeSth1]

Bumping back up to page !...

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

We are officially on the cruise. It will be our first Disney Cruise and first cruise ever. I'm super excited. It will be myself, husband, mother, and two daughters which will be 4 and 6 at the time they cruise.

 

[dweitzel0]

Hi all. We just returned from our first Disney Cruise (8/23/07 Wonder Cruise) and had such a good time that we rebooked for the 12/13 Western Caribbean. With me will be my wife (fairyduster) and two daughters 6 and 4 at the time of the cruise. We skipped the meet on our last cruise and regretted it. Hopefully we can meet some of you this time. We also live in Southern California (I saw someone else from here as well), Thousand Oaks to be exact. Now its just waiting 15 more months!

 

[Stinasmom]

Welcome dweitzel0 and STLDisney_Freak!
Looks like you have daughters the same age. That should help insure they all have fun at the kids clubs. You could let them email a bit or send pictures back and forth before cruising, they all be fast friends at embarkation!

I am hoping to find others my kids ages too. DD will be 12 (or 2 weeks shy of it), and DS will be 7 1/2.

This will be our 3rd cruise. Our most recent was also a 4 night Wonder. WAY too short. Our cruise meet really never happened but we wouldn't have had much time to do anything together anyway. We were going to at least meet for wine tasting on the sea day, but we got a surprise double dip to CC due to bad weather the 1st day.
My DD, on the other hand, had 2 great friends she met on this forum and we hardly ever saw her!

On our 1st cruise, 7-night West Coast, we had a big meet, exchanged trinkets from our state or region, kids got together, and I still keep in touch with 2 gals. I have seen them both since while traveling as one lives near Disneyland, and the other in Hawaii.
Sooo... you never know what can happen making friends on a Disney ship!

Marcy

 

[SILLYANDI]

Welcome to both of you!
I live in Sam Dimas-I have relatives in Thousand Oaks...Small world!

I'm glad to see some activity here! It's been dead for quite some time!

My kids will be DD4, DS7, DD8 & DD10 at sailing (I think??) so I have some that are in the same age group as both of you too!
Andrea

 

[Stinasmom]

Welcome to both of you!
I live in Sam Dimas-I have relatives in Thousand Oaks...Small world!

I'm glad to see some activity here! It's been dead for quite some time!
Andrea

Yea, took the summer off from the DIS... Well, almost. I am addicted to the PODcast!!

Also, I got pretty burnt out and just plain burned last January when I thought I was going to get our family on the Eastbound REPO through the Panama Canal for next August. I was trying to keep up with that cruise meets thread that grew to like 100 pages even before the reservations opened up! I had 52 posts and then the fateful day came (January 31st) when we all tried to get the 2008 reservations we wanted...

I had a TA from DU working on transferring ressies I made onboard in December, which she though she did, however, Disney's system kicked us out and by the time she tried to remedy this (just hours later), that particular sailing was completely booked. She though Disney would give us priority on a waitlist due to their screw up, but at top tier pricing.... We were looking at 11K-12K for a Cat. 6....

This Western Caribbean was our second and more logical choice since we can enjoy WDW at Xmas time too... and for WAY less than 11K!

So... I am really looking forward to getting to know you all and chatting about our plans for THIS cruise! By extending the preplanning and planning out for months (just under 15 now?), I feel like I get more value for the $$!

Here's to keeping the thread alive now!