Dream - 6/20/12 - 4 nt - Great Start to the Summer of 2012!!! FE #217 DIS Meet #216

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Took the leap and booked a 4 day cruise. 1st time cruise for whole family.
My 10 year old daughter can't wait. I have the countdown app on my phone and we check everyday.

WOOHOO! Welcome! My DS who is 8 is so stinkin' excited it's not even funny. It will be his first cruise and we watch youtube stuff all the time. We're so excited!

DCL has become an addiction I've enjoyed since I first sailed on a 4 day Magic cruise in 1999. I feel so fortunate to have had so many memories of DCL cruising. I was on the 10/1/11 Magic and I'm still in post-DCL cruise withdrawal. Getting back to reality has been difficult this time!

My DH Dave and I are so looking forward to cruising on the Dream. Within the last month, Dave has decided to retire from Ford Motor and his last day of work will be sometime in March 2012. So, we will be celebrating the new next phase of his life by cruising on the Dream. We are extending our vacation by staying at WDW 3 days before and 3 days after the cruise (thanks to DVC).


Jan

Congrats going out to Dave! What an awesome accomplishment and something you can celebrate in 223 days - but who's counting?

Jan - what do you estimate the size of our FE group will be? I know it's really hard to judge because we still need participants but I've been reading some other posts where they had 50 in a group! IS that the norm? Just want to be prepared and I've started gathering some ideas and buying things here and there. Thanks

Heather

 

[JanDave]

Heather, so far we have 5 staterooms signed up for FEs. Below is a list of those in the participating staterooms. If no one objects, I prefer to keep the FE group small - not so much $$$, weight in suitcase and delivery time. So, if we get more than 10 staterooms signed up by next May, we can divide the group in half. One year, we had 20 staterooms in our FE exchange. That was a lot of planning and walking all over the ship to deliver.

No other rules that I can think of - you can give an FE gift per person or per stateroom. Whatever works for you. The FE sign up list will be open until May. Just let me know if you want to get on the list. As we get closer to our sail date we can pick which day each wants to deliver their FE gifts.

Any suggestions???!!!

JanDave
Jan
DH Dave

lostatdisney
Shannon
DD- Elisabeth - 18(?)

Nickyda
Nicky
DH Bill
DD Jazlyn - 7
DSD Danielle - 13

DMIL Kathy
DFIL Danny
DS Trei - 12

IBelieveInTheMagic
Heather
DH
DS - 8

Jan

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Heather, so far we have 5 staterooms signed up for FEs. Below is a list of those in the participating staterooms. If no one objects, I prefer to keep the FE group small - not so much $$$, weight in suitcase and delivery time. So, if we get more than 10 staterooms signed up by next May, we can divide the group in half. One year, we had 20 staterooms in our FE exchange. That was a lot of planning and walking all over the ship to deliver.

No other rules that I can think of - you can give an FE gift per person or per stateroom. Whatever works for you. The FE sign up list will be open until May. Just let me know if you want to get on the list. As we get closer to our sail date we can pick which day each wants to deliver their FE gifts.

Any suggestions???!!!

JanDave
Jan
DH Dave

lostatdisney
Shannon
DD- Elisabeth - 18(?)

Nickyda
Nicky
DH Bill
DD Jazlyn - 7
DSD Danielle - 13

DMIL Kathy
DFIL Danny
DS Trei - 12

IBelieveInTheMagic
Heather
DH
DS - 8

Jan

Sounds perfect Jan!!

Thanks again for organizing and handling this for us too!

....I'm off to get my friend and we're headed to the world...right now!! First time for a girls trip

Heather

 

[JanDave]

Have fun at the World, Heather, and your first girls' trip.

Jan

 

[JanDave]

Attention!!! - imagine hearing the DCL chimes playing "when you wish upon a star" just before the captain or cruise director speaks - on Monday,November 21 - it will be less than 7 months before we board the beautiful Dream!!!

Jan

P.S. If anyone wants to feed their DCL addiction, I can email the "DCL chime" to you.

 

[JanDave]

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! And, if you are planning to shop, may you get great bargains!

On Thanksgiving morning, we are headed to Morgantown, WV to spend the weekend with 2 of our 6 grandkids and their parents. Can't wait!!!

Jan

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Attention!!! - imagine hearing the DCL chimes playing "when you wish upon a star" just before the captain or cruise director speaks - on Monday,November 21 - it will be less than 7 months before we board the beautiful Dream!!!

Jan

P.S. If anyone wants to feed their DCL addiction, I can email the "DCL chime" to you.

WOOHOO!!! We are getting closer and closer!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! And, if you are planning to shop, may you get great bargains!

On Thanksgiving morning, we are headed to Morgantown, WV to spend the weekend with 2 of our 6 grandkids and their parents. Can't wait!!!

Jan

Thanks Jan! I think we might brave some of the BF deals and see what we can find. Not really desperate for anything but we usually stumble on great finds. Have a safe, wonderful trip!

Heather

 

[mbrogers98]

Jan -

Just sent you a PM with our information. Wanting to join the FE Exchange. I'm new to this so I hope you get it!

Ann

 

[JanDave]

Hello Everyone!

Yikes -- Six months from today - June 21, 2012, we may still be in Nassau or already back at sea! The time is going fast. I found a post on the main DCL DIS board about FE deliveries. I posted the DISer's comments below as a suggestion. Also, so far, we have 6 cabins participating:

lostatdisney
Nickyda
Nickyda - Inlaws' room
IBelieveInTheMagic
Mbrogers98
JanDave

Let me know if you want to participate but are not on the list.


Posted below is what another DISer wrote on the main board about FE gift delivery. I will also put this in post $57 - the FE info post.

Before leaving home, I organized my FE stuff in three seperate grocery store bags, seperating them by forward, midship, and aft. We had about 18 cabins in our exchange. Since the Dream is so big, I thought this made more sense than doing it by deck. My cabin was all the way forward, so I started with the forward cabins. I started on my deck (deck 8) and used the stairs to go to the other forward cabins.

I then went back to my room and picked up the bags for the midship and aft rooms. I started on deck 10, and worked my way down the midship rooms (using the stairs). I then took the elevator back up to 10, and moved on to the aft staterooms.

I was wearing a pedometer when I delivered my FE gifts, and when I was back in my room after delivery, I had walked 1.5 miles to deliver all of my gifts! It took me about a half hour to deliver all the gifts.

I was glad I thought to seperate them by forward, mid, and aft instead of by deck. It took a lot less than it did when I did a FE exchange on the Wonder and seperated them by deck.

Jan

 

[JanDave]

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone has a great holiday season. For those traveling, have a safe trip. We are headed to Morgantown, WV to spend several days with 2 of our grandchildren and their parents. We celebrated Christmas with our Michigan kids and grandkids last weekend. What fun!

I'm heading to Florida in early January! My DD and family will be on the January 3 Dream (5 day cruise). I fly down a day before they get off the ship; spend a day in Cocoa Beach (granny on the loose!); then DD, grandkids and I are headed to 2 days at Disney's Vero Beach; then 2 days at Animal Kingdom Kidani; then 1 day at the new Legoland theme park. Then home

Looking forward to some tropical sunshine for a few days.

Jan

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone has a great holiday season. For those traveling, have a safe trip. We are headed to Morgantown, WV to spend several days with 2 of our grandchildren and their parents. We celebrated Christmas with our Michigan kids and grandkids last weekend. What fun!

I'm heading to Florida in early January! My DD and family will be on the January 3 Dream (5 day cruise). I fly down a day before they get off the ship; spend a day in Cocoa Beach (granny on the loose!); then DD, grandkids and I are headed to 2 days at Disney's Vero Beach; then 2 days at Animal Kingdom Kidani; then 1 day at the new Legoland theme park. Then home

Looking forward to some tropical sunshine for a few days.

Jan

Happy Holidays to you Jan! I just came here to post something to everyone and I didn't get an update there was a post last week

I hope you continue having a great time with your family! My DS and I were just talking at breakfast and we said soon (after New Years) we'll be able to say, "we're going cruising THIS year!"

Thanks again for organizing the FE for us - we're getting so excited!!!

Ps - I'm going to jump in your suitcase so I can travel with you - lol

All the best to everyone,
Heather

 

[JanDave]

Heather - come on down to Cocoa Beach next weekend! I'd love to meet you pre-cruise! My DD and her family are leaving Detroit tomorrow morning and will board the Dream on January 3rd. They are so excited!

Wishing all a wonderful and healthy new year. On Sunday, I can say "See you this year"!

Jan

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Heather - come on down to Cocoa Beach next weekend! I'd love to meet you pre-cruise! My DD and her family are leaving Detroit tomorrow morning and will board the Dream on January 3rd. They are so excited!

Wishing all a wonderful and healthy new year. On Sunday, I can say "See you this year"!

Jan

So nice of you Jan! I wish I'm excited for your daughter to be leaving on the Dream, in just DAYS!!

Soon, we're all getting closer and closer and you're right - tomorrow we can say, "we're going Disney Dream'in this year!!!

Happy New Year to all,
Heather

 

[lisaann1170]

Add us to the list of 6/20 cruisers! We've been on a number of Carnival cruises, but this is our first Disney cruise. We're trying to decide what to do before the cruise departure. (Disney World or elsewhere?!) We *always* go to Disney World, so we may need to try something different this time. Or not...

 

[lisaann1170]

I have the countdown app on my phone and we check everyday.

Oooh...great idea! Thanks for the inspiration!!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Add us to the list of 6/20 cruisers! We've been on a number of Carnival cruises, but this is our first Disney cruise. We're trying to decide what to do before the cruise departure. (Disney World or elsewhere?!) We *always* go to Disney World, so we may need to try something different this time. Or not...

Hello and welcome! My DH and I have been on 8 and 5 Carnival cruises respectively, however like you, this will be our first Disney cruise as well as our DS' (8) overall. We have some things in common!

It's been really hard for us NOT to plan WDW this trip, since "we are already there", but we have thrown in a few things to make it worth the time. We knew we wanted to fly down ahead of the cruise so we're arriving on 6/18 and we will do the Kennedy Space Center prior to the cruise. After the cruise we are going to POFQ for one night (no parks) since our flight availability wasn't available on 6/24. We will enjoy POFQ and Downtown Disney, then head home on 6/25. So, we feel like we're doing a little more of Disney and the area, but this will be really hard *not* doing the parks. We're also trying to save up for the Fantasyland expansion and go next year or Europe.

Welcome to our nice little group!

Heather

 

[JanDave]

Add us to the list of 6/20 cruisers! We've been on a number of Carnival cruises, but this is our first Disney cruise. We're trying to decide what to do before the cruise departure. (Disney World or elsewhere?!) We *always* go to Disney World, so we may need to try something different this time. Or not...

Hi Lisa! Welcome to the 6/20/12 thread!!!

I will add you to the list in post #1. Also, if you are interested, check out post #57 regarding FEs.

Jan

 

[JanDave]

Just got home from a fantastic week in Florida! Wow - lots of sun and warmth! I met my DD and two grandchildren after they got off a 5-day Dream. I cannot wait to board the Dream in June! My 7-year old grandson is trying to figure out how he can cruise with us in June.

I flew into Orlando, then took a shuttle to the Radisson in Cocoa Beach. We spent 2 days at Disney's Vero Beach resort; 2 days at Animal Kingdom Kidani; then 1 day at Nickelodeon. We went to Magic Kingdom and the new Legoland theme park.

This granny is now doing laundry, trying to adjust to cold, snowy Michigan and facing the reality of the work world tomorrow morning.

Jan

 

[jisom12]

My DW and I will be joining you on the Dream too. We're actually staying at Bay Lake Towers prior to the cruise to enjoy the world first. And we've booked a back-to-back cruise, so we can stay on board for the Podcast cruise 3.0 (24-29 Jun). We are defintely looking forward to this extended vacation and looking forward to meeting all the DIS friends.

P.S. Jan- I sent you a P.M. for the FE.

 

[JanDave]

My DW and I will be joining you on the Dream too. We're actually staying at Bay Lake Towers prior to the cruise to enjoy the world first. And we've booked a back-to-back cruise, so we can stay on board for the Podcast cruise 3.0 (24-29 Jun). We are defintely looking forward to this extended vacation and looking forward to meeting all the DIS friends.

P.S. Jan- I sent you a P.M. for the FE.

Welcome!

I've added you and your wife to the list of cruisers in post #1.

I love those back-to-back cruises. We were on a B2B Wonder cruise in November 2010. Nice feeling not to have to pack up and leave as the ship empties out on the first of 2 cruises.


Jan