February 12th, 2005 Western. Who's going???

[JenGang]

So, is everyone ready for the kids to go back to school??? I sure am but of course that means I have to go back to work. Oh well, I guess I just have to consider that when I'm working, I'm earning spending money for our cruise!

Anyway, I hope everyone has had a great summer and now that it's less than 6 months from the cruise, I sure hope we get more people posting here so we can get to know more people before we sail!

 

[MImom]

Well, here goes. I've been lurking for a while- OK, OK about 3 yrs. Never felt the need to post until now. We are also cruising during this time. We = me, DH, DD (9yo), DS (turning 8 day after cruise), SIL(best friend from high school), BIL(DH's brother), DNiece (9yo), DNephew (7 yo). Noticed that one poster was from Plymouth too. Small world.

 

[bassoongirl]

Hi MImom!

It is a small world! On our cruise last February, we met a family from Canton who also posted on the DIS boards.

Welcome to our group! I am glad you finally found the need to post!

We may have a change of plans as far as this cruise goes. We have free airline tickets from Spirit Air that we are trying to use for our flights between Detroit and Orlando. Unfortunately, we can't get a flight home after the cruise using our free tickets. So we may have to change our plans to either a week at WDW or the Feb. 13-17 Wonder. I will be extremely disappointed if we can't work out this airfare problem! The only way my DH would allow me to book this cruise was if we could use the free tickets. Ugh!

Gayl

 

[rifgirlsmom]

Hello to everyone,

I have been looking at the boards for quite a bit and now I'm going to post.

My family & I are on this cruise, my family includes dh & 2 dd ages 11 & 8 at time of cruise. We will be cruising with close friends their famliy includes cf & cf husband, ds age 10 & dd age 8.

After the summer we had here in michigan, I hoping for lots of sun

Looking forward to meeting all. It appers that other michiganders will be with us

 

[MImom]

Hey everyone ,

Reading the boards has me even more pumped for the cruise!

Gayl, hope it works out that you can cruise on the Magic, but I know how airfare can play havoc on the best laid plans.

I am with you rifgirlsmom re:sunshine. Although today it is sunny and nice, that has not been the case most of the summer.

Read some earlier posts about excursions. Not too sure what we will do. Not into snorkeling - kids had a bad experience- so that limits us. Thinking about Dolphin Discovery in Cozumel. Would like to do dolphin swim, but my ds and nephew will not be 8yrs at that time.

Anyone heard about Royal Palms on 7 mile beach in Grand Cayman?

Ahhh, so much fun to plan.

 

[JenGang]

Originally posted by rifgirlsmom
Hello to everyone,

My family & I are on this cruise, my family includes dh & 2 dd ages 11 & 8 at time of cruise. We will be cruising with close friends their famliy includes cf & cf husband, ds age 10 & dd age 8.

After the summer we had here in michigan, I hoping for lots of sun

Welcome to the board! My dd's are the going to be the same age as your girls when we cruise.

We've had kind of a crappy summer here in MN too. My garden is just now producing lots and lots of yummy goodies because the weather has been so cool. Oh well, only a few more months to go!

 

[JenGang]

Welcome to the board! I'm excited to see more people posting here. I look forward to getting to know more about you and your family in the upcoming months.

 

[JenGang]

I sure hope you can figure out a way to stay on the cruise. I totally understand why you'd want to use those free tickets though because airfare can really run up the cost of a vacation!

 

[MImom]

Hi,

I too am looking forward to getting to know the others here.

It will make cruising even more fun.

My kids don't know we are going yet. They know their cousins are going and are envious. DH and I plan to wait until Christmas before telling them that we too are going. Think I will wrap up a Disney scrapbook for them to open at Christmas. The 1st page will read something like "DD and DS's 1st Disney Cruise", with the dates. I am open to other suggestions.

Thanks

 

[bassoongirl]

Hello,

Well, it is official. We will not be going on this cruise.

We just couldn't get the flight times to work out. My kids would have had to miss two days of school in order to use our free tickets. My DH and I would also miss two days of work. Since I am a CPA, missing additional days of work during tax season is a bad thing! It is hard enough to take one week off.

On the bright side, we were able to book a room at the WL for that week using my parents' DVC points. So we will have a relatively inexpensive vacation instead. Our trip won't be anything like the wonderful cruise we had last year, but at least we will travel out of Michigan in February!

I am sorry that I won't get a chance to meet all of you. I do encourage all of you to plan and attend a DIS meet on the first day. Part of what made our cruise so special last year, was all the DIS friends we made. It was nice to run into familiar people on the ship. A group of 12 of us DISers ate dinner together every night. We all had a wonderful time talking about our days and getting to know each other. A group of DIS women met in the Rain Forest one afternoon for a couple hours of relaxation and conversation. It was great! I am not suggesting that you spend every minute of the whole week together - it was just fun to see each other at shows, at the parties or for the kids to play together in the Lab or Club. Okay, my lecture is over!

MImom,
Your kids will have a great surprise at Christmas!

Take care and have fun cruising!! I will be thinking of all of you that week!

Gayl

P.S. If anyone needs a hotel room near the Orlando airport on Friday, February 11, I already booked one at the Crowne Plaza through Hotwire for $72. I wanted to give Hotwire a try and never thought we wouldn't be doing this cruise. Now unfortunately, we have a reservation for a room we cannot use! Please let me know if you are interested in the room. From what I found in checking hotel room rates for that night, $72 is a really good deal!

 

[lotsofboys]

Gayl:

Sorry it didn't work out for you, and of course I hear you on taking any more time off during tax season. Maybe we'll catch up on another cruise another time. We are still holding on to this one. I'm a little nervous with all the hurricane activity and the prediction for the same next year. We would have been coming back to Port Canaveral the day Frances hit this year. Kind of scary to think about. Have a good prebusy season rest on your vacation, as I told you previously (I think) I fretted about taking the week off for a year and a half and after we got back it couldn't have been better timing and we were rested and ready to hit those tax returns!

Michelle

 

[JenGang]

<Think I will wrap up a Disney scrapbook for them to open at Christmas. The 1st page will read something like "DD and DS's 1st Disney Cruise", with the dates. I am open to other suggestions.>

That's a great idea. I kind of told my kids the same way last year. A friend of mine actually wrote a little poem for them and then I gave them a big box of scrapbooking stuff. Here's the poem she wrote.

Have you ever heard of Castaway Cay?
I heard if you go you get to see Mickey
Know who I'm talking about?
The mouse with the ears.
You have watched him on TV for many, many years.
Your dad and I wanted something fun to do,
And wanted to share it with the two of you.
Which sounds better, school or a trip?
How about a week on a really big ship?
Come February when it's cold with snow,
You can be on a ship watching a Disney show!
No school, homework or teachers to teach,
How about playing and swimming on a beautiful beach?
Arts and crafts, plenty of things to do,
This is something we wanted to share with you.
So enjoy your Christmas and share the news,
The four of us are going on a DISNEY CRUISE!

 

[JenGang]

I'm so sorry that it didn't work out for you and your family. I was really looking forward to meeting you! And I totally agree with planning a DIS meet on the first day. On our cruise in Feb, a bunch of the DIS people all had brunch at Palo and it was really wonderful.

 

[MImom]

Jen,

Great minds think alike! The poem is fantastic Thanks so much.

I appreciate you posting it.


Gayl,

So sorry you won't be joining us. We stayed at WL a few yrs ago and it was great, hope you have a wonderful time. And you are right, anywhere at Disney is better than up north in Feb.

 

[5boysplus]

MImom,

Looks like all us Michiganders love leaving in Feb. From reading the post I think the Feb 12th cruise so far is looking more and more like a Michigan cruise. I'm 5boysplus and I live in Commerce (about 20 minutes from Plymouth) First ever Disney cruise......I am so EXCITED... Time seems to be going by sooooo slooooow. Cruising is, Myself, DH, DS 10, DS 4.

 

[JenGang]

<Time seems to be going by sooooo slooooow>

It really does seem like time has slowed down! Right now it seems like Feb. is so darn far away! I sure hope that by Feb. Grand Cayman is recovered enough so we can still go there.

 

[MImom]

5boysplus,
I too noticed that many posters were from the midwest, especially Michigan. Must be our lovely Feb weather
We all want to get away.

Jen,
I am trying not to think too much ahead about where we will stop during the cruise, if ports change. Trying to be patient, I repeat...trying. Is Grand Cayman your favorite port? Why? Would like to know.

Maybe looking into other ports will pass the time quickly?
I hope so. Even if the ship keeps the original schedule, it's always fun to research new places. Or am I the only neurotic vacation planner?

 

[JenGang]

<Is Grand Cayman your favorite port? Why? Would like to know.>

I've never been there but I've heard how beautiful it is/was and am really hoping to get to see it. I was also really looking forward to doing an excursion like Captian Marvins where you can swim with the sting rays. I just feel so terrible for all the people that live there. How heartbreaking it must be to look around and see everything in ruins.

But when all is said and done, if we don't get to go to GC, I'll still be happy because just going on the cruise is a wonderful experience!

 

[MImom]

I agree. My heart (and much prayer) goes out to those whose lives have been altered by all the damage done by the hurricanes.

It is interesting to read all the reports of cruises lately.
Thanks for your reply about GC.

 

[JenGang]

Just a quick post to bump us up to the top of the list again.