FE .. Problems with People Taking Stuff

[PrincessShmoo]

Ok so I will ask what is FE

It's sort of a "secret Santa" gift exchange. Usually set up on your Cruise Meet thread for those who wish to participate.

Outside your door onboard is a message holder (shaped like a fish)


If your cruise meet has a FE exchange, then the participants make a hanging pocket holder that goes over the fish (Fish Extender = FE)



and people in the FE group will place gifts in it, and you place gifts in their FE

 

[tlwfun89]

It's sort of a "secret Santa" gift exchange. Usually set up on your Cruise Meet thread for those who wish to participate.

Outside your door onboard is a message holder (shaped like a fish)
View attachment 79465

If your cruise meet has a FE exchange, then the participants make a hanging pocket holder that goes over the fish (Fish Extender = FE)
View attachment 79466


and people in the FE group will place gifts in it, and you place gifts in their FE

so where do you get this fish thing ?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

so where do you get this fish thing ?

Are you asking about the hanging gift holder? Most people make theirs. But, you can buy anything that works for you. I've seen a plastic grocery bag used for a FE holder.

Check the FAQ sticky for a link to making a FE.

 

[Deb T.]

The Magic and Wonder ships have a silver fish message holder outside each stateroom door. The Dream and Fantasy have a silver seahorse by port-side cabins, a silver starfish on concierge decks, and the regular silver fish on the starboard side. When FE Exchanges started, only the Magic and Wonder were built, hence the name "Fish Extender".

I highly encourage everyone to participate in the FE Exchange for your sailing. It is a LOT of fun.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

it is entirely possible that you will get people taking stuff from your FE. usually kids goofing around, since there may be a lot of unattended kids on the ship (teens and tweens can come and go from their clubs as they please). There have also been a few isolated incidents of vandalized or stolen FEs. One cruise I was on (I don't do FE) a neighbor had someone put a fistful of fruit into their FE and squash it.

 

[MunFam]

My cabin is on deck 2 near the teen club. I am taking extra care in ensuring that all of our magnets have our names on them...as in the XXX Family and we have a weird last name. That way if they turn up elsewhere, they will be recognized as someone else's magnets. I hate to use the word stolen because I like to think of everyone on a Disney Cruise as good people but I know every once in a while you get two kids/teens/drunk adults who play off of each other and egg each other on to be destructive, so I am hoping our name on everything will deter any funny business. Our Door Finder/Anti-Fish Extender has our names on it and will be zip tied down.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My cabin is on deck 2 near the teen club. I am taking extra care in ensuring that all of our magnets have our names on them...as in the XXX Family and we have a weird last name. That way if they turn up elsewhere, they will be recognized as someone else's magnets. I hate to use the word stolen because I like to think of everyone on a Disney Cruise as good people but I know every once in a while you get two kids/teens/drunk adults who play off of each other and egg each other on to be destructive, so I am hoping our name on everything will deter any funny business. Our Door Finder/Anti-Fish Extender has our names on it and will be zip tied down.

Unfortunately, putting names, etc on them isn't necessarily a deterrent. We had 2 magnets stolen (yes, I will use that word) and I had our names, room #, date of sailing prominently placed on the front of the magnet where trying to remove that information would significantly damage/change the magnet. We never did find them.

 

[MunFam]

Unfortunately, putting names, etc on them isn't necessarily a deterrent. We had 2 magnets stolen (yes, I will use that word) and I had our names, room #, date of sailing prominently placed on the front of the magnet where trying to remove that information would significantly damage/change the magnet. We never did find them.

That is not cool. We are going on the 14 day WBPC, so I am also hoping that with fewer kids, we will get to know everyone w kiddos a bit better. Probably a pipe dream, but whatever.

 

[jlynch924]

We participated in our first FE on our last cruise, and I wondered if the gift that we did for each stateroom was stolen. For the few people that posted pics of their FE haul on FB after the cruise, I didn't see the cute dry erase boards we had made in any of the pics. The sad thing about that is that if they were stolen, I feel bad that those cabins may have felt like we didn't deliver something.

 

[Dug720]

The Magic and Wonder ships have a silver fish message holder outside each stateroom door. The Dream and Fantasy have a silver seahorse by port-side cabins, a silver starfish on concierge decks, and the regular silver fish on the starboard side. When FE Exchanges started, only the Magic and Wonder were built, hence the name "Fish Extender".

I highly encourage everyone to participate in the FE Exchange for your sailing. It is a LOT of fun.

On the Dream and Fantasy, port side has a fish - P-O-R-T/F-I-S-H.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I hate to use the word stolen because I like to think of everyone on a Disney Cruise as good people

They are no different than any other people.

One of the issues that may arise is if you happen to be dealing with persons who are more interested in playing pranks than in keeping the magnets, etc. So they wouldn't care whether the magnets have names on them or not.

 

[PryncessLace]

One of the issues that may arise is if you happen to be dealing with persons who are more interested in playing pranks than in keeping the magnets, etc. So they wouldn't care whether the magnets have names on them or not.

This is what I was thinking probably happens more than magnets getting stolen for people to keep. That teens/preteens take them and then just throw them in trash cans. I sadly don't have a lot of faith in the niceness of teenagers, when they are in groups especially. I know that is a generalization that I probably exaggerate in my head, but I do think of it.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This is what I was thinking probably happens more than magnets getting stolen for people to keep. That teens/preteens take them and then just throw them in trash cans. I sadly don't have a lot of faith in the niceness of teenagers, when they are in groups especially. I know that is a generalization that I probably exaggerate in my head, but I do think of it.

Whether they are stolen to keep or stolen to "be funny" and then trashed, the issue is they are stolen.

 

[PizzieDuster]

This is what I was thinking probably happens more than magnets getting stolen for people to keep. That teens/preteens take them and then just throw them in trash cans. I sadly don't have a lot of faith in the niceness of teenagers, when they are in groups especially. I know that is a generalization that I probably exaggerate in my head, but I do think of it.

We had teens ding dong ditch. Know that because my husband was getting off the elevator and saw them running.

I had a teen girl knock on the door and tell me she had something in her eye, could she get some water or something, in a fake crying voice (all the while hearing all the laughing in the stair hallway). But that was ok. I saw her and her mother walking along the beach at Castaway Cay and I got up asked her if she was okay? Her mother looked at me very puzzled. I told her what her daughter did the night before. The daughter was stunned. "Yeah, you were hanging in the hallway and needed some water for your eye and you were crying. Is your eye okay now?" She's lucky I didn't tell her mother I saw that boy hit first base with her.

Security was wonderful once I complained. They took the comfy chairs out of the elevator lobby on Deck 8 and were always telling the teens not to hang out on the stairs.

Same cruise, I had room service delivered to me once. Ouch, like THAT hurt. Yummy. I did not do a FE on that cruise. Then, on other cruises, no problems.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I have to admit, this thread shocks me. My first reaction was "Of course no one ever took anything from our FE or anything we ever gave to someone. Why on earth would they? It's a bloomin' DISNEY CRUISE". I mean come on! It's gotta be one of the safest places on the planet. It's DISNEY. It's a CRUISE. It's a DISNEY CRUISE.

Reading the responses, I guess I am just horribly, horribly naive, and want to think that only Disney fans would sign up for a cruise and that all Disney fans are like me.

I guess a large part of it is probably kids that are un-escorted by parents. Or maybe that is still the above naivety that just won't quit.

 

[Take-the-cards]

Has anyone had anything stolen out of their FE pouches? I've heard of this happening before, but I would like to know if it was common... Thank You

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Has anyone had anything stolen out of their FE pouches? I've heard of this happening before, but I would like to know if it was common... Thank You

It's difficult to know for sure whether stuff get taken. Although, I'd surprised if it didn't happen. As the gift giving is (basically) anonymous, unless someone supplied a list of all FE gifts given on any particular exchange, how would you know?

 

[Take-the-cards]

Very true... Just trying to gather as much info as I can before my trip!! Too excited to wait! Thank you.

 

[yorkieteacher]

There have been some concerns here that are valid and bother me-maybe this belongs in another thread so feel free to move it. Several have mentioned unaccompanied teens running in groups around the ship. Are parents NOTIFIED if their child checks themselves in or out of the clubs? I can see some kids getting into serious issues if they tell parents they are going to the clubs and wander/wind up elsewhere. Kids from ages 11-15 have such a "herding" mentally to hang with the cool kids and do whatever they cool kids tell them to do. Disney may need to rethink this policy unless security regularly confronts groups of kids and "redirects" them.

 

[Minniemiss]

That is not cool. We are going on the 14 day WBPC, so I am also hoping that with fewer kids, we will get to know everyone w kiddos a bit better. Probably a pipe dream, but whatever.

On a past PC cruise there were a couple of teens that were trouble. I think the older kids got bored and got into quite a bit of mischief. They posted Youtube videos of their antics and Disboarders contacted DCL.