February 19, 2011 Magic Western - Presidents of the Caribbean!

[vavalynn2]

...hmm, well, that sounds good. I was just not sure that I would be ready to leave the bags out the night before.

 

[choff]

I've been to Cozumel a couple time, and have always felt safe. It's like being dropped into a shopping mall. I don't think I'd go over to Playa del Carmen right now, but there's plenty to do on the island and only a short time to do it.

Maybe a dumb question, but how do upgrades work?

 

[vavalynn2]

I wish I knew how upgrades worked.

It seems to be completely random. Some say odds will increase directly with the amount of ahead of time that you booked. Others will say upgrades happen more frequently for Castaway Club members. There is a thread on these boards somewhere.....

Some will find out upgrades ahead of time, like when you log into my cruise on disneycruise.com. Others will find out when checking in at the port.

So here is hoping for an upgrade- we are cat. 11, but will be happy to be cruising again no matter what.

 

[mdezot]

Welcome to all of the new additions.

I love watching the ticker get smaller everyday!

We also still need to get our passports.

Looks like I need to move that up on the To Do List.

Almost time for the double digit dance

Oh, anyone else flying Southwest???? I have a bunch of drink coupons that I have been told are going to expire. We could NEVER drink enough drinks to use all of these foolish things and I don't want to see them go to waste. So, if you are interested, let me know.

 

[vavalynn2]

We are flying United through DC round trip. Thanks for the offer.

Is it too early to start packing?

 

[nemofans]

I really want to start packing too! I have started my packing list though, especially the items we don't normally bring w/us on vacation.

 

[lisadam]

We've been to WDW many times - but never a Disney Cruise... I'm so excited!

DH and I have been on 2 prior cruises but not since DS(11).

This cruise will be:
Me - Lisa 48
DH - Rich 51
DS - Jacob 11
and my mom Dotty.

We'll have two cabins next to each other but not connecting. DS will be staying with Grandma and we'll get him a key to our room once we settle in.

We're driving through the night from NJ as soon as DS gets out of school. We've done the drive to Orlando a bunch of times in anywhere from 18 - 20 hours - I'm a bit nervous about making it in time - but if we leave at 4:00 on Friday the 18th - we hould be there by noon Saturday.

I haven't decided if we're doing FEs yet - we haven't even told our son - we'll surprise him with it Christmas morning.

I'll be reading this thread from beginning to end now!

 

[Linda Farrell]

Welcome, Lisa!! It should be a great cruise. I'm coming from NY and flying out Friday evening. You should be OK with leaving at 4 pm. You'll notice that a LOT of people on this board are from our area.

I wanted to bring up that when I was on the Disney cruise last year, we had a meet at 3 pm on the day we boarded. It was in the lounge next to Topsider's (can't remember the name right now). Anyone who was interested just showed up, and we all got to put a face with a name. Think that's a good idea for us?

 

[nemofans]

I wouldn't be there due to nap time. I want DS to get a nap in b4 we have to do the safety drill. It would be fun to meet you guys though. Maybe I will meet a few of you on the DCL bus.

 

[lisadam]

Thanks for the welcome Linda. I would probably go to a meet - but if I drive through the night I may need a nap before the muster drill. I can't sleep when DH is taking his turn driving - I try to keep him awake. He, however, has no problem sleeping when I'm behind the wheel.

If I can convince mom to stay awake with him for a couple hours while I nap then I may be ok when we get on the ship.

 

[wcw57]

LISA:

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as for the meet: it seems almost necessary to see IF there have been any upgrades and, thus, room changes for the FE participants.....

you guys arrange it, I'll try to be there.

REMINDER TO ALL:
FE cut-off date is DEC 1 as per Denise, our reigning FE queen....she is doing one heck of a job and deserves a group hug

once we get aboard, I will buy you a hot dog as a special thank you from me.....maybe even a soda, too

 

[travisx4]

For those of you that still have not booked flights or hotels. We live in Mass. but the flights out of Bos or Prov were $330 each way. We are driving down to Philly Thursday night and staying at the Sheraton. The room with 10 nights of parking was $160, and the flight from Philly to Tampa was only $120 and then a rental car to port. We are staying at the Residence Inn on Friday since it is just down the road from port and I believe the closest hotel.

I agree on the fe cutoff and a small meet on the ship is recommended. On our last cruise we upgraded at port and missed a lot of the gifts that were distributed.

 

[Linda Farrell]

So then let's say that everyone involved in the FE and anyone wanting to meet the people they have been chatting with here should meet at the lounge next to Topsider's at 3 pm on boarding day.

The other thing we did as a group was to meet one night for a group photo taken by the Disney photographers. They took about 5 shots, and had many prints available in Shutters for us to pick from. Also a nice idea, and if we make a day and time, anyone from the board can show up. We assumed the last time that if they didn't show up at the spot, they weren't interested. I actually think we met up in that same lounge again, and walked to one of the photographers as a group.

 

[wcw57]

never having been on any cruise,
won't we be busy with other things at 3 on boarding day?

 

[Linda Farrell]

None of us were. We boarded, had lunch, met with the group for about a half hour, and went to our rooms to get ready for the fire drill. If you prefer to do it at a different time, that's OK.

 

[bob315]

I am just posting in for the first time though we actually booked this last January. DW and I are going on this one, our first Disney cruise, with DD (8) and DS (5). We have done 3 other cruises with the kids but are excited to do a Disney one. We are travelling with friends who have a son who is classmates and friends with our DS. For the 9 days before this we are visiting Disney World so it will be the ultimate Disney vacation. My only fear is that having done Disney now we will not want to go back to the other cruise lines. Because of the Canada Games schools in our city are closed for 2 weeks so they are only missing 2 days of school. This is a great way to do a February vacation with minimum impact on schooling.

See you all there!. I like watching the countdown clocks. They make it seem much more real.

 

[wcw57]

BOB:

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kids doing Fish Extender????

OK I'll be the one to ask: what are Canada Games?

 

[bob315]

Thank you. I have to go back through the thread to figure out what the FE is all about and then I will see. I know about the deadline and will try to do it soon.

The Canada Games is like a mini Olympics in which young athletes from across the country gather for competition. It is a great opportunity for young people to travel across the country and meet up through sports. Many people move from here to the National Teams and the Olympic Teams. Because they need the various high school facilities for the events and the high school students to volunteer it was decided to close the schools for the full two weeks rather than the traditional week in March we usually get. Many people we know are doing what we are doing and heading south.

I am Bob, my DW is Joanne. DD is Elizabeth(8) and DS is Daniel(5).

 

[Kris10luvsDisney]

Hello Everyone! It has been quite a while since I have been able to peruse the boards...I think I quickly caught up and I can't believe we will be sending final payment in less than a month! Then we can book shore excursions
Has anyone decided which excursions you may do while in port? We are going to try to do one of the dolphin adventures, I think the kiddos will love it!

Looking forward to February 19th!!!

 

[Kris10luvsDisney]

Bill - I was just looking at your ticker and noticing that we are almost under the 100 day mark until the cruise...when we first started this forum we were OVER 500 days away!! We will be on board before you know it!