Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful day with their family and loved ones yesterday.
With all of the rush and excitement of the holidays, the past several Mondays have just been a blur, and when I was thinking about what to type today, I checked my Monday count down calendar, and did a double take at the
'Only 3 Mondays to go' note. Aaaaaah! It is almost time to go (I mean that in both an excited way, and a panicked way.....by the way, the past tense of panic did not look right the way spell check said it should be spelt, so I did double check it and panicked is right.....sorry for the off topic Tink moment, but that one threw me for a looo).
With only 3 Mondays left, I thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone to download the
Disney Cruise Line Navigator App to what ever hand held device they will be using on board. You can get the link here
https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/featured/navigator-app/
Or, you can go to the planning center where you did your online check in and click on the Navigator Mobile App link. It is in the middle of the page, about half way down (looks like this).
This app is a very helpful tool. For those of you that have been on any type of cruise before, you will remember getting a paper guide for each day of the cruise that lays out everything there is to do for that day by the hour (and Disney does still have the paper version for those who love to bring their highlighter to plan out the days activities). For those who are first time cruisers, the Navigator contains all the information you need to get the most out of every moment on board. This app is the digital version of Disney's daily paper Navigator plus several other handy tools.
Before the cruise, you can utilize the app for a vacation count down clock.
All other uses are locked until you sign in once on board (make sure when on board, your device is in airplane mode - believe me, you will not want the phone bill if you forget). After signing in (the app will have an instruction page to help walk you through the sign on), you will have access to maps for each deck, menus for that evenings dinners (you can look at the restaurant you will be dining in that night to make plans before heading to the dining room), along with the hours that food is available at each of the dining locations, an introduction to that evenings entertainment, information about the ports for the different port days, and a chat / messaging feature. You also will have a schedule that is broken down by the hour, and by the age group covering everything that is available to do throughout each day. A feature that I loved on our last cruise, was once I decided what I wanted to do, I could save it to my schedule, and have it marked on the map so that it was easy to find.
The chat / message function is not as easy as you may be used to on your phone. When you sign in once on board, you will be given a code for your device. In order for someone to message you they will need the code (kind of like dialing a number or a specialized number for text messaging ). Once you have messaged someone, you can return to that conversation to message them again (and visa versa). If you want to message someone in, let's say your FE group, you will first need to use the wave phone, or their cabin phone to talk with them and get their code (or talking in person works too, I guess). For example, I have a special pirate night FE for my group that my cabins may need to contact me for. If that is how I decide to handle it, I will share my code with those cabins. Once you get the conversation going it is a convenient way to check in with your family members or friends you have made plans with.
The reason I am reminding you about this now, is because the internet at the port is not that good. A few people we were traveling with last cruise said the download took over 2 hours. Also, if you do not have free data, downloading when you can connect to wifi would be better. So if you download it now you will be set to go as soon as you board. One other tip, you may want to wait until you board to open the app and log in. We tried to logging while waiting to board, and it was a 50 /50 thing. Half of us were able to sign in and get going, however the other half (my half) were just frustrated.
Have a great week, and a happy New Year!
~Tink~
or 
or 
or 
or 
or 
or 
in prep mode currently. If you raised your hand for any of them, take a deep breath and remember that planning is supposed to be HALF the fun, not ALL the anxiety. Since it is Monday, I am going to step into teacher mode for a minute. We are going to let P = Planning, C = cruise, and F = Fun (oh, and we can not forget S = stress). In a balanced equation, 1/2 P + 1/2 C = 1F. Now if you try to add -1SP + 1/2 C it will not = 1F. The result will be -1SP + 1/2 C = -1/2 F. If I lost you with all of the algebra 
, basically, what I am saying is don't let yourself get so stressed with your planning and packing that it takes away from the fun of anticipation, and the fun of the vacation.
)
