Disney Fantasy, August 18, 2012 - Western Caribbean

[DVC_Chris]

Hello everyone! Just introducing my party!
Me- Lori
DH - James
DD -Marnie -18
DD- Natalie -16
DD Nicole -14
MOM- Mary
Twin Sister- Cindy
DBIL - Pat
DN- Jarret -16
this is our 2nd cruise ( we did the 3 day in 2010 )
But this is the first for my Mom and sister.

Hi Lori, welcome aboard. I will add you and your party to the meet and greet list later. Are you going to want to participate in the FE exchange?

 

[PA Princess]

I am just stopping in to say hello to my fellow cruisers. I had jumped on the roll call probably a year ago, but I have posted little since then.

I will have 4 kids (ds17, ds16, dd12, dd7), dh, and my mom on this cruise and we are all super excited. I am trying to determine excursions, but I have not settled on our plans just yet.

We have done FE in the past and I think my girls would enjoy doing it again, but I am still hesitant. Is it just one night we place items or multiple nights? Our last Disney cruise (5 day on the magic), the list was huge and the task rather overwhelming with the numbers.

Do I know any plans for this trip? have decided not to do any special dining since we really want to enjoy the main dining rooms and special events there. Okay, so that is one small decision. Now to figure out the rest.

Happy planning and counting down the days!

 

[It'sWDW4me]

I am just stopping in to say hello to my fellow cruisers. I had jumped on the roll call probably a year ago, but I have posted little since then.

I will have 4 kids (ds17, ds16, dd12, dd7), dh, and my mom on this cruise and we are all super excited. I am trying to determine excursions, but I have not settled on our plans just yet.

We have done FE in the past and I think my girls would enjoy doing it again, but I am still hesitant. Is it just one night we place items or multiple nights? Our last Disney cruise (5 day on the magic), the list was huge and the task rather overwhelming with the numbers.

Do I know any plans for this trip? have decided not to do any special dining since we really want to enjoy the main dining rooms and special events there. Okay, so that is one small decision. Now to figure out the rest.

Happy planning and counting down the days!

Welcome back Elizabeth!!

We're planning on doing the FE. I have some more studying up to do on that but, from what I've read, some people do one FE gift per cabin, some people do one gift per person, and some people do multiple things on multiple nights per person! Whatever you're comfortable with. We don't have too unwieldy of a FE list right now and the plan is to shut the list down at 75 days out (early June) so that everyone can get a good feel for how much & what to bring.

Exactly one month from tonight until I can check in and book excursions. After several months of being overwhelmed to buckling down and looking at what's offered to "argh, I can't even look at this stuff anymore" to buckling down... I think we finally settled on what we'd like to do. Now I just hope that everything we want will be available!

 

[my4girls]

Sorry we won't be participating in the FE exchange. It sounds very stressfull and I'm not very crafty.

 

[Trinity88]

I'm excited to see more joining this thread (I just joined a few weeks ago)! I didn't give all our info then, so I'll do it now.

My mom is taking my family and my sister's family on this cruise. None of us have been before. Here's our group (I'll give my family's names, but don't want to give my mom's or sister's since I don't know if they'd be comfortable with me doing so):

Me (Kelly)
DH (Mark)
DD1 (Nicole) - age 8
DD2 (Julia) - age 6
DD3 (Megan) - age 22 months
My mom
My mom's husband
My sister
My nephew - age 15
My niece - age 14
My nephew - age 5

I'm already overwhelmed with all the reading I've done, so we're not going to do the FE.

We haven't decided on excursions yet. I have a toddler who needs an afternoon nap so I'm struggling with the planning. I've heard the turtle farm is good for younger children (under age 10), so I'm leaning towards that. We may stay on the ship one of the days to enjoy quieter pools (I keep reading that the pools are too busy on sea days), I'm not sure.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you!

 

[Cruisebound]

Please bear with me. This is my first cruise ever and starting to get in fierce planning mode since June 4th is rapidly approaching and I have to figure out what to do and when.

When you board the ship - will they give you a time or do you sign up for that on a certain date?

We will be in Orlando the week before the Cruise. I want to be down to Canaveral early and be in the first boarding group.

Please share your knowledge on how all this works!

 

[olympia]

Sorry we won't be participating in the FE exchange. It sounds very stressfull and I'm not very crafty.

i think equal. it is stressfull.

my suitcase is small and i can not to return to Spain with more weight…
even so it makes me feel sad
les tengo mucho cariño a todos

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Sorry we won't be participating in the FE exchange. It sounds very stressfull and I'm not very crafty.

i think equal. it is stressfull.

my suitcase is small and i can not to return to Spain with more weight…
even so it makes me feel sad
les tengo mucho cariño a todos

Awww, don't be upset or think that you can't participate in this thread if you don't participate in the FE!!

Post away..... get tips/tricks/thoughts from the others sailing with you..... let's meet up on the ship so I know who I'm "talking" to on the DISboards!!

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Please bear with me. This is my first cruise ever and starting to get in fierce planning mode since June 4th is rapidly approaching and I have to figure out what to do and when.

When you board the ship - will they give you a time or do you sign up for that on a certain date?

We will be in Orlando the week before the Cruise. I want to be down to Canaveral early and be in the first boarding group.

Please share your knowledge on how all this works!

Us newbies can check in at 3:00 AM EST on June 4th. From what I've read, one of the last steps of the check-in process is selecting your port arrival time. The first possible arrival time is 11:00 am so I'm hoping I'll be able to snag that one. I believe there are 1/2 hour time slots to choose from. You'll get your boarding number at the port when you get there.

We're flying in to Orlando on Wednesday afternoon before the cruise. It's been a few years since we've been to Universal so we'll be heading to "The Dark Side" for a few days before our Disney cruise!

 

[PA Princess]

I decided to do FE...my girls love crafts and finding the various cabins on the ship is fun even for the older kids in our family. That is one more decision made - yippee!

I have also narrowed our excursion choices. We really want to see the Mayan ruins and the best choice for our group seems to be in Costa Maya. The issue there is the port time is so small. I think I will try and book this excursion through Disney when our window opens May 20. Anyone else feeling squished by the port times for this cruise?

I am also pondering a cabana. Do we need a cabana? We have rented cabanas on other types of trips and really enjoyed them? On past trips to CC there have been plenty of chairs and hammocks, but I am reading about more issues now with the bigger capacity ships. Hhhhhmmm...still think on that one.

I received Disney regular mail today - fun! It was all about how I can now book Bippity Boppity Boutique on line. Great, another decision for me to make I am sure the 7 year old would enjoy this again (we did it in the parks when she was 5), and I wonder for older dd would like to do something for pirate night?

I am making progress on our plans thankfully since our date is fast approaching!

 

[Cherokee2504]

I got all my stuff to start making my FE's I am excited. I feel doing this will break up the two days at sea.

I was thinking about the cabanas too, but then I decided that there is so much other stuff to do on the ship that I don't want to feel like I am trapped in the cabana (that I have to stay there since I purchased it).

I love these boards. I had no idea about the early sign in and the times you can arrive. We are going down the day before too.

 

[Cherokee2504]

I have a question for all the return crusers, do they do the pin exchange on the boat like they do in disney world? my son has his and just asked me if he can bring it.

LOL I love using these smiley faces.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

I have a question for all the return crusers, do they do the pin exchange on the boat like they do in disney world? my son has his and just asked me if he can bring it.

LOL I love using these smiley faces.

I've heard that there IS pin trading on board. They even sell DCL specific pins. Maybe my DS will bring some of his collection too.

 

[my4girls]

Hey, I just booked our airfare last night so Things are really starting to come together. I would like to do Captain Marvins sting ray tour. That's nice that they will make a special time for the Fantasy. Will that give us some time to shop also?Still don't know what to do at other ports.
We will be staying at the Hard Rock 2 days before the cruise and Port Orleans for 5 nights after.
Happy Planning!
Lori

 

[olympia]

Hey, I just booked our airfare last night so Things are really starting to come together. I would like to do Captain Marvins sting ray tour. That's nice that they will make a special time for the Fantasy. Will that give us some time to shop also?Still don't know what to do at other ports.
We will be staying at the Hard Rock 2 days before the cruise and Port Orleans for 5 nights after.
Happy Planning!
Lori

lori. we will be at the hard rock also!!: ROTFL:i have a pool view room and we will see blue man group`s show ,universal and islan of adventure: Thumbsup2
how do you arrive to port cañaveral?
my husband and me want to contract a private car . do you want go with us?: Hippie:
sorry ,my english is bad....: Pato:: Bitelip:

 

[It'sWDW4me]

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for any deep discounts at Hard Rock or Royal Pacific. I'd love to stay there but we just can't justify the expense. I've got both the La Quinta and the Best Western Universal Inn booked. I'll be canceling one of them (or both of them if I can get on site for no more than $130 per night ).

We should get a pre-cruise meet organized at Universal!

 

[my4girls]

OLYMPIA, I have a driver picking us up. There is 9 of us so we rented the van that holds 10 passengers. It is through Happy limo.
We are very excited to see Harry Potter World.:

 

[my4girls]

Wouldn't it be funny if some of us ended up as table partners on the cruise. We went on the 3 day one before and ate with a really nice family from France. We had a hard time understanding them because we don't speek french but it was really fun. We still keep touch via facebook.

 

[my4girls]

Mary , keep us posted on the price for Hard Rock. The best I could do was $264.00. I just want to stay there so we can get on the rides with little wait.

 

[olympia]

OLYMPIA, I have a driver picking us up. There is 9 of us so we rented the van that holds 10 passengers. It is through Happy limo.
We are very excited to see Harry Potter World.:

thanks.
We will contract a private transport. we are only two.
Are you Nine ?wow. it is wonderful