February 11, 2012 Eastern Caribbean on the Disney Magic***

[youalleverybody]

This is our first cruise as a family. We've been to WDW twice. DH and I took a Royal Caribbean cruise before we had the little darlings....and have always wanted to cruise again. We can't wait.

We have two adjoining staterooms down in steerage, I mean Deck 2.
It will be myself, Anja, DH Bruce, and our children George (12), Josh (10), Abigail (8), Anne (5) and Francesca (3). Those will be their ages at cruise time.

I feel like I know WDW inside and out and know how to maximize our time there. I'm looking forward to learning all about Disney cruises, Castaway Cay, and the ports of call. I have heard about Fish Extenders and want to read more about them, and participate if others are interested. I also want to do the Castaway Cay 5K if they still have it. I'm a walker, mostly, but it would be fun to up the training a bit to be able to complete the run.

Can't wait to hear from others on this trip!!

 

[wdwmickey]

Hi I'm Cheryl and my DH (Robert) and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary with an Eastern Carribean cruise departing on February 11, 2012 I have never been on a cruise (DH was in the Navy for 11 years).

I feel like I could be a travel agent for WDW or DLR, but, am totally clueless about cruising I know a little about FE's and that's about it. We're so looking forward to our trip

 

[youalleverybody]

Hi Cheryl,
I'm a scrapper too. I hope to get the pictures from our two previous WDW trips in the scrapbook before the cruise!! It's over a year away. I have no excuse.
Cheers!

 

[wdwmickey]

Anja, have you visited the DIS scrapping board? We're a friendly bunch and love to meet new peeps!

I would love to to the 5K on Castaway Cay, I just walk, but, I'm trying to work up to jogging

Maybe we can learn all about Disney cruising together. This board seems to be a great place to start

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

 

[youalleverybody]

Dare I ask???? How do I find the Dis scraping board?

 

[wdwmickey]

Oh it's very easy The scrapping threads are under the "Just for fun" banner--just under the cruise boards. Click on cooking,crafting & scrappin' and it will take you to the "crafty" threads. There are scrapping, cooking, swaps and a creative community board.

 

[simo]

Hello all-
We just placed a deposit for this cruise - still somewhat tentative but hopeful that we'll be able to make it work. We are from (chilly) Minnesota and will be 36 and 38 at the time of this cruise. We will be bringing the grandparents to help with our 4 children (DD 12, DS 9, DD 5, DD 2 - ages at time of cruise). We have sailed on Disney Magic once before with the two older kids and it was our best cruise ever! We loved this itinerary and have been to the E. Caribbean stops without the kids. We just returned from RC Freedom of the Seas with all 4 kids and found ourselves missing Disney, especially in all aspects of the kids' programs and entertainment.

Looking forward to getting to know those going and setting up the fish extender exchange, etc., that we enjoyed so much last time.

 

[youalleverybody]

Welcome Simo!!

I told my kids another family has joined the thread. They were on clould nine! Especially my older two...sons age 12 and 10 at cruise time.

It sounds like you have participated in FE already. Maybe you can help those of us who have only heard about it.

Cheers!

 

[wdwmickey]

Welcome So excited to have a very experienced cruiser joining us!!!

 

[simo]

I am by no means an expert on this, having only done it one other time - but I do know that the kids just loved it and so did we! Every day when we came back to the room, we'd have little gifts in there for our family. Everyone who wants to participate signs up and then you divide up the days and everyone takes one day to hand out little gifts to everyone else on the list. When we did it, we ended up having about 24 people to give gifts to and some of the gifts we received that I can remember were: CDs of cruise music (still listen to these), treasure boxes filled with gems, magnets, recipes, candy and food items, small toys, little notepads, pens, etc. You make a thing to hang by your door (fish extender because your room number is a fish and then you hang this on there - we used a shoe holder that we got from the Dollar Tree and decorated it - however, I know there are whole threads on this board about people who make these real fancy and personalized!). We also made signs for our door and used magnets to hang them, that was a lot of fun for the kids too.

We loved so many things about our first Disney cruise - some of the ones I can think of right now:

character breakfast with the different Disney characters (they come around and say hi to the kids, take pictures, sign autographs)

character meetings at other spots around the ship - I'd recommend something for them to sign on - my daughter had broken her arm the day before we left last time (and I wouldn't recommend that!) but a journal or notebook or something, with pens, would be a good thing to bring

you can bring a pillowcase or a t-shirt and leave it with customer service, with fabric markers in a ziploc, and they will have all the characters sign it and you get it back on the last day or something

sail away party - streamers and music and the works, this was really fun!

pirate night - complete with fireworks (amazing), bandanas for everyone at supper

sitting in the pool and watching movies on the big screen - there also was a movie night where we got to go see a new Disney movie in the theater

the shows at night are unbelievable - these are the best we've seen on any of our cruises and the kids loved them

laundry ON THE SHIP!! - loved this one, pack half of what you need and wash during the week (and bring home clean clothes too if you want)

the kids clubs are amazing!!! this is why we are going back on Disney, they really are the gold standard in my opinion

a split bathroom in the room and bathtubs (I think this is right) - so one person could shower and another person could get ready at the same time

dining rotation in the different restaurants and the food and wait staff were unbelievable- our daughter had food allergies and they were soooo good


I'm sure there's more - if you have questions, just ask! Looking forward to having some friends before we set sail for us and the kids!

 

[youalleverybody]

Woo Hoo!!!

13 months until we set sail, lol.

We made a little countdown chart already, because we are so excited.

 

[HuskerMouseketeers]

Hi! I'm new to DISboards, but am excited to join this thread and look forward to 2-11-12.
We just returned from the Magic last Saturday--back to reality. It was our first cruise--loved it!!
_______________

Me DH DD(11)

 

[youalleverybody]

Oh, do tell all! We want details. What was the best part? What made you decide to book again on the same ship?

Glad you joined us and can't wait to meet you and your family next Feb.

 

[HuskerMouseketeers]

We loved it all!!

In particular we loved the fact that we could allow DD to roam the ship with a wave phone and not worry about her.

We loved the Disney feel but NO LINES. The only time we stood in line was for a character greeting during the Princess Gathering. The opportunity to interact with the characters was awesome!! If you stand in line, they make sure you get to see the character.

We really liked all the food--lots of variety! Shows were great! Phenomenal service across the board And, of course a break from this awful weather helped too.

We went to the Western and decided for variety to try the Eastern.

 

[Chiasgirl]

We will be on your cruise as well. We just got off the Wonder on Sunday and booked while on board. I think my husband knew it was the only way he was going to get me off the ship!

 

[Tigger1313]

Just booked this cruise last week while on the MR Wonder cruise. It will be me Cathy and DB Dave. We are in room 2570

 

[HuskerMouseketeers]

Welcome all!

I went to HS in Annapolis!! And my name is Cathy too!

How was the MR?

 

[Chiasgirl]

We really enjoyed the MR. There were a few things that were less than perfect due in part to the last minute schedule change. That said, we had wonderful servers, fabulous meals and a lot of great family time. This was my first cruise and it did not disappoint.
I really liked having 3 port days and 3 sea days which is part of the reason why we chose the Eastern Caribbean. (Plus neither Nassau or Key West are all that appealing to us.)

 

[Tigger1313]

We will be on your cruise as well. We just got off the Wonder on Sunday and booked while on board. I think my husband knew it was the only way he was going to get me off the ship!

We were on the same cruise last week how funny. We booked this trip on board as well. I waited for over an hour on Saturday to book. That's what I get for waiting until the last minute.