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!
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.
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 know a little about FE's and that's about it. We're so looking forward to our trip 
DH 
DD(11) 
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.
