Disney Fantasy, August 18, 2012 - Western Caribbean

[PrincessBelle39]

Time is moving quickly. I can't believe so much time has gone since we first booked.
I'm also suprised there isnt more of us here. On our last cruise we had 35 families, most on the on the cruise thread from very early on.
I was looking at the prices for 2013 also - not that we will be cruising then. They are expensive. The cruise on 17 August 2013 was more than $1000 more on opening day than when I first booked this cruise. That seems like a huge jump to me.

 

[smile750]

It's been quite some time since first appearing on this board - just busy busy busy like everyone else! DS6 started 1st grade and it's been quite a transition with having homework every night (it's seriously cramping my style )

We're heading down to Disney for a quick 4 day trip after visiting my mother near Clearwater,FL. She's a little miffed that we're not staying longer to visit her (only 2 days) but I have to get my Disney fix! She's working so rather than find things to do around the house, I'd rather be riding Space Mountain! We'll also be going to one of the MVMCP's so we're looking forward to that. I was at a MNSSHP last year and it was awesome.

Just got through some crazy weather here in NJ. Last week was the snowstorm and my DS6's school was closed on Mon-Wed. So much for the extra snow days this winter. I'm a little worried they may start taking back the spring break days (hoping to get back to FL at that point for the week). We didn't lose power, though many of the houses around the neighborhood did.

After my short trip to Florida, will be taking a trip into NY to see the new Anderson Cooper show. Hopefully he'll have some good guests! We're only about 50 minutes from NYC so I'd be happy to recommend some yummy restaurants. Off the top of my head - try Virgil's Barbecue on West 44th - if you like barbecue.

Since last checking in, my sister and I took the kids on Celebrity Summit from NJ to Bermuda. We were supposed to leave the day of Hurricane Irene, but we were delayed a day. No problem though - we got a $300 credit that we used some of in the casino and were able to walk away with an extra $65. So... we booked some spa treatments and still left with $200 cash in hand because of other onboard credit we had when we originally booked. I'd do the cruise again in a heartbeat - it was great to just drive from home and get on the boat within an hour! Kids loved the kids club! This will be our first Disney cruise so I'm sure it will only be better.

Well back to my very unexciting Friday night at home. DS5 is watching Cars 2 for the 10th time since Wednesday when my DH bought it for him.

Talk to you all soon!

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Time is moving quickly. I can't believe so much time has gone since we first booked.
I'm also suprised there isnt more of us here. On our last cruise we had 35 families, most on the on the cruise thread from very early on.
I was looking at the prices for 2013 also - not that we will be cruising then. They are expensive. The cruise on 17 August 2013 was more than $1000 more on opening day than when I first booked this cruise. That seems like a huge jump to me.

I saw that, too. We're planning on going to US/IOA for 2-3 days before the cruise. I was pricing everything out so I was thinking that we might have to push the trip back a year. Then the 2013 prices came out. WTH?! OK, $1,000 cheaper to keep our 2012 sailing.

So I'm working on my FE gifts and looking at all the fabulous excursions and trying to not implode with anticipation.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

It's been quite some time since first appearing on this board - just busy busy busy like everyone else! DS6 started 1st grade and it's been quite a transition with having homework every night (it's seriously cramping my style )

We're heading down to Disney for a quick 4 day trip after visiting my mother near Clearwater,FL. She's a little miffed that we're not staying longer to visit her (only 2 days) but I have to get my Disney fix! She's working so rather than find things to do around the house, I'd rather be riding Space Mountain! We'll also be going to one of the MVMCP's so we're looking forward to that. I was at a MNSSHP last year and it was awesome.

Just got through some crazy weather here in NJ. Last week was the snowstorm and my DS6's school was closed on Mon-Wed. So much for the extra snow days this winter. I'm a little worried they may start taking back the spring break days (hoping to get back to FL at that point for the week). We didn't lose power, though many of the houses around the neighborhood did.

After my short trip to Florida, will be taking a trip into NY to see the new Anderson Cooper show. Hopefully he'll have some good guests! We're only about 50 minutes from NYC so I'd be happy to recommend some yummy restaurants. Off the top of my head - try Virgil's Barbecue on West 44th - if you like barbecue.

Since last checking in, my sister and I took the kids on Celebrity Summit from NJ to Bermuda. We were supposed to leave the day of Hurricane Irene, but we were delayed a day. No problem though - we got a $300 credit that we used some of in the casino and were able to walk away with an extra $65. So... we booked some spa treatments and still left with $200 cash in hand because of other onboard credit we had when we originally booked. I'd do the cruise again in a heartbeat - it was great to just drive from home and get on the boat within an hour! Kids loved the kids club! This will be our first Disney cruise so I'm sure it will only be better.

Well back to my very unexciting Friday night at home. DS5 is watching Cars 2 for the 10th time since Wednesday when my DH bought it for him.

Talk to you all soon!

Welcome back! Ah, I think back fondly on the elementary days' homework! It gets worse.... MUCH worse. Sorry.

I was very lucky too, in that my electric only blinked off and then right back on during the storm that Saturday. A lot of my co-workers didn't have power back until Thursday or later! Yeesh. There's at least one school district around here that was without power/no school through Thursday. I don't know if they made it back on Friday or not. What stinks is that, since the summer was so very rainy, I fear we'll have a wet winter too. Kids will be going to school until the end of June!

Has everyone seen the new water features that will be added onto the Fantasy? Looks very cool - even for those "big kids" like me!

 

[DVC_Chris]

Things have been hectic here too, with an almost 4 month old (the time really does fly), and everything else, I have not had time to post as much as I would like. I am kind of shocked Disney priced things as high as they did, but I guess they are not having many problems filling the ships.

In just 26 days I will be heading down for my quick little weekend WDW trip, which I am really looking forward to. It has been over a year since I have been down there, and for me that is an eternity (I know I am spoiled). Flying down Thursday night, coming back Sunday morning, but it will be enough to satisfy for a while. Looking forward to seeing the Christmas decorations, and the new Star Tours.

I am also going down in January to run the WDW Half Marathon. It was a last minute trip that I did not think I would be able to go on, but got permission from the DW last week.

Only 285 days to go until we set sail on the Fantasy. Really looking forward to it, and I have a good idea what my FE gift was... I did something for my gift on my last cruise and I think it went over well.

Is anyone else planning on doing crazy door decorations? We did last time, and it was great.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Hmmmm that sounds neat. What qualifies as a "crazy" door decoration?

I saw a few threads about the Mickey ears for the door and I was planning on making a sort of garland with the Home Depot paint chips but I don't think those sound too over the top.

Oh, BTW - I'm totally in for the cabin crawl! We're in an 8C - room 8512.

 

[DVC_Chris]

What qualifies as a "crazy" door decoration?

Here is a pic of my door on my Mexican Riviera cruise in Feb.

Some of the magnets I brought, some ended up as FE gifts from fellow DISers.

 

[Cruisebound]

Hi, My family will be cruising this week. I would love to talk to other families that have 10-12 yo daughters. My twin girls will be 12 during the cruise and would love to make some friends. I also have a 7 yo daughter.

Me (Tonya) husband (Greg)
Nicole(12)
Renee(12)
Erin (7)

 

[Cruisebound]

Could someone please explain to this Disney Cruise newbie what FE means?

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Here is a pic of my door on my Mexican Riviera cruise in Feb.

Some of the magnets I brought, some ended up as FE gifts from fellow DISers.

VERY nice, Chris!!

Hmmmmm, looks like I'll need to start working on a magnet collection.

Hi, My family will be cruising this week. I would love to talk to other families that have 10-12 yo daughters. My twin girls will be 12 during the cruise and would love to make some friends. I also have a 7 yo daughter.

Me (Tonya) husband (Greg)
Nicole(12)
Renee(12)
Erin (7)

Welcome to our thread Tonya! If you take a look at the first post on this thread, Chris keeps an up-to-date list of everyone in our meet.

Could someone please explain to this Disney Cruise newbie what FE means?

FE stands for Fish Extender. There is a clip on the wall outside your stateroom door in the shape of a fish (or seahorse, I've heard) that is generally used for announcements and other paperwork from DCL. The FE is a series of pockets (2-4 usually) that you hang on the fish. You then join a meet group - like this one - and sign up for the FE exchange and exchange small prizes/presents with others in your group. There are quite a few threads on the Cruise Line Forum about FEs and gifts so you can get a good idea of what it's all about.

 

[Cruisebound]

VERY nice, Chris!!

Hmmmmm, looks like I'll need to start working on a magnet collection.




Welcome to our thread Tonya! If you take a look at the first post on this thread, Chris keeps an up-to-date list of everyone in our meet.



FE stands for Fish Extender. There is a clip on the wall outside your stateroom door in the shape of a fish (or seahorse, I've heard) that is generally used for announcements and other paperwork from DCL. The FE is a series of pockets (2-4 usually) that you hang on the fish. You then join a meet group - like this one - and sign up for the FE exchange and exchange small prizes/presents with others in your group. There are quite a few threads on the Cruise Line Forum about FEs and gifts so you can get a good idea of what it's all about.

This sounds like a lot of fun. I have found some blogs that explain it in detail. I would love to join.

BTW my daughters are in Girl Scouts and they love SWAPS - this sounds similar so I am sure they will be super excited about doing this.

 

[DVC_Chris]

Welcome aboard! I have added you to the list on the first page. Sorry it took a few days to greet you, I just got back from WDW... nice, quick, little weekend trip. Only thing I wish is that I was still there!

 

[Cruisebound]

Thanks! I will be checking in periodically. I figure the board will get very busy a month before the cruise?

 

[DVC_Chris]

Just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Haunnkakah, and a Joyous Festivus.

 

[boundfordisney]

merry christmas everyone!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all had a great day. Christmas was great for us. The kids must have been really good this year as Santa spoilt them. Christmas Day was hot here so the kids were in and out of the pool all day.
Hi to Tonya and family. Nice to have you as part of our group. We are growing slowly. I feel that I can get stuck into my planning now that Christmas is over. In 5 days it will be just 7 months until we leave.

 

[olympia]

hello all!
merry christmas and happy new year from Spain: Abrazo:
my best wishes to you all: Grouphug:

 

[FRENCHTINK]

Hello, it's our first Fish Extender group, but 7th cruise since 2001. We're french and we don't understand all about FE. Can you give us informations ? Thanks

 

[boundfordisney]

welcome Frenchtink and happy new year to all! The fe is kinda like a secret santa exchange, you purchase or make a little bag to which hangs out side your cabin ,door , others that have joined in on the exchange will then fill it with little gifts for each member in your family or may leave 1 gift per family. the bag that is used is something like an over the door shoe bag that has pockets .,you can find pictures of the fe here on the board even instructions to make your own. The gifts can be anything from stickers , magnets , candy anything you would like to give or make its totally up to you, in the past we have gotten stickers pirate things for pirate night onboard, pencils, sticky pads, highliters to use to highlight things on the personal navigator, candy , cd s , all kinds of different things. I made magnets for the cabin doors last cruise and gave little purses to little girls and pirate things to the boys, teen girls I gave journals and teen boys candy and tattoo sheets for pirate night. Hope this has helped. Wow 7 cruises! this will be our 3rd all with disney cruiseline and I know it wont be the last as we are already looking at 2013 dates for another. How about you ? how many are in your party and what ages if you have children coming along? Looking forward to meeting on the cruise if we do a get together once onboard and chatting with you.

 

[FRENCHTINK]

Thank you for your answer, it's more clear for me now. I think I can take a little French present for the FE.

We must take present in FE at the pirate's party, correct ?

We are a party of four :
Dad : Bruno 33 years old
Mom : Fanny 32 years old
First boy : Loucas 9
Second boy : Maxime 7
Our STATEROOM number is 2038Last cruise on Disney Dream, Back to back August 2011
First cruise : Honeymoon on August 2001

We're French and LOVE DISNEY !

This saturday, we're happy to go to Papenburg ( Germany ) for the floatout of Fantasy ship !

See you on August !