February 26, 2011 - 7 Night Caribbean Sailing

[Time4disneynow]

Hi Susan...my name is Monika...my husband Michael and I will be cruising--ALONE---just the 2 of us. It's nice to be chatting with you and looking forward to meeting you.

Our daughter is in college and our son and our daughter in law became parents to a beautiful little girl 9 months ago. Our daughter isn't into Disney in any way. Our son and daughter in law love Disney....looking forward to taking our granddaughter to WDW or a Disney cruise.

As for the fish extenders...we made ours. You can also buy them on Ebay. There are quite a few threads on the Dis on Fish extenders. If you have a question...please ask. Have you ever participated in a Fish Extender gift exchange? It is alot of fun. I've purchased some of the gifts from Oriental Trading...www.orientaltrading.com It is so exciting to arrive at your cabin and see goodies in your Fish Extender. The best part is delivering the gifts without being caught.

It was 51 degrees here today and pouring rain. The 20 + inches of snow we got is pretty much gone now.

Have a good evening and take care.

 

[SalCat1027]

Cannot believe how close the trip is getting! We're all excited (and freezing cold here!) and cannot wait to get on the ship! My kids have never cruised before and I can only imagine their faces when they see how big the ship is!!!

We managed to find 4 snorkel sets at Costco over the weekend...which is joyful!

No excursions or Palo for this crew. We're wingin' everything, just seeing what the kids want to do...

A QUESTION: My 11 year old daughter is too old for Oceaneers Club? I guess I'm not surprised...but what is fun for "tweens" onboard the Magic? Any tips?

Very excited to get started on FE gifts too! Some great ideas! Thanks!

A belated happy new year to everyone!!! See you soon!

Very cold Catrons in Iowa...

 

[GRITS]

I know I am a bit late to the board but as they say, better late than never!

LOL

My name is Alice and we are going on our first Disney Cruise along with the rest of you all!!

My husband will be celebrating the big 4-0 while we are at St. Johns,

The kids and I would love to participate in the Fish Extender thing. So, here are their names/ages....
Alex (DS) age 9 (10 in April)
Elana (DD) age 7
Luke (DS) age 6

I'm 39 and DH will be 39 until 3/2/11.

Looking forward to this amazing adventure! I have been reading like a hound about all the stuff to do, etc....

oh, and we are hailing from the great mid-west, Missouri. However, we are really native Atlanta, Georgia peeps. We've only lived in MO for a little over a yr (job transfer).

 

[GRITS]

okay, our stateroom number is 8512


getting so excited!!!

 

[Time4disneynow]

Hi Alice and family.... aboard.

Looking forward to chatting and finally meeting you. It won't be long now. The kids as well as the grown ups (bigger kids ) will love participating in the FE. Lots of fun!!!!

Take care and have a great day.

 

[SalCat1027]

I know I am a bit late to the board but as they say, better late than never!

LOL

My name is Alice and we are going on our first Disney Cruise along with the rest of you all!!

My husband will be celebrating the big 4-0 while we are at St. Johns,

The kids and I would love to participate in the Fish Extender thing. So, here are their names/ages....
Alex (DS) age 9 (10 in April)
Elana (DD) age 7
Luke (DS) age 6

I'm 39 and DH will be 39 until 3/2/11.

Looking forward to this amazing adventure! I have been reading like a hound about all the stuff to do, etc....

oh, and we are hailing from the great mid-west, Missouri. However, we are really native Atlanta, Georgia peeps. We've only lived in MO for a little over a yr (job transfer).

Welcome from your neighbor to the North...in Des Moines, IA!!! Looking forward to meeting you and your family on the cruise! My DH and I turned 40 in 2010! Good times...

 

[Alexis Green]

Hello everyone! Welcome Alice as well!!

Sorry I have not been on the past while. I am in Chicago, sadly it's my last day here. I have updated the front page we now have 14 families!

-------
Fish extenders:
I have been getting a few questions about fish extenders. One was if we were going to have any guidelines. Since this is my very first fish extender, I need help from the experienced ones! If anyone thinks we should have guidelines or rules for FEs please let us know!
Would it be helpful to split up in groups since we have quite a few people involved? Do we want to do fish extenders only a few times?

Stats
Rooms: 11
Cruisers: 43
Girls: 21
Boys: 22

1 month and 3 weeks to go!!!

 

[Time4disneynow]

Hello everyone! Welcome Alice as well!!

Sorry I have not been on the past while. I am in Chicago, sadly it's my last day here. I have updated the front page we now have 14 families!

-------
Fish extenders:
I have been getting a few questions about fish extenders. One was if we were going to have any guidelines. Since this is my very first fish extender, I need help from the experienced ones! If anyone thinks we should have guidelines or rules for FEs please let us know!
Would it be helpful to split up in groups since we have quite a few people involved? Do we want to do fish extenders only a few times?

Stats
Rooms: 11
Cruisers: 43
Girls: 21
Boys: 22

1 month and 3 weeks to go!!!

Cassie...

We have participated in several FE gift exchanges...the most we had was 36 cabins. We usually provide a bag of goodies...1 per stateroom. If there are children in the stateroom, we put in gifts for the kids.

In my opinion...we do not need to divide it. We've never seen or had any rules or guidelines. It's to be fun and no pressure. We received hand made gifts, themed gifts (pirate,beach,Disney), inexpensive gifts. There are many threads on the Dis with ideas and suggestions. Do a search on Fish Extenders. As for deliving the gifts...each night or afternoon, we would grab a handful of the gifts and deliver. Usually by the 2nd or 3rd day all the gifts have been delivered.

The most fun about delivering the FE gifts is not getting caught.

We plan to deliver our FE gifts to all the participants.

 

[90byrd]

Hi everyone, just found this thread. I've been lurking on the boards for quite a while.

We're sailing our first cruise. FIL is treating us and joining us. My kids have never been to the parks, so are only familiar with Disney movies, Disney Store, etc.. this will truly be a shock to them. They're 3 and 5.

Going back to read what I may have missed in this thread.

--Janine

 

[Time4disneynow]

Hi Janine and Family

aboard. Looking forward to chatting with you and meeting you.

 

[90byrd]

Just read through this whole thread! Gets me so excited.
DS Trevor is 5 and DD Skye is 3. Are you all enrolling them in the Oceaneer Clubs? I enrolled both of them.
I booked Palo for Wed night at 6pm. There weren't many times left.

Do kids participate in Formal Night? I assume so.. I just read somewhere ours is Sunday night and semi is Thursday, is that correct?

We're not booking any excursions. Probably just hit the beach or even stay on board and take advantage of quiet pools. We'll see, whatever the kids want to do.

We won't be doing FE. It sounds awesome, but being a newbie, I don't want to add to the craziness of packing, buying, finding staterooms, etc... Hopefully on the next cruise, cause I'm sure we're gonna love this!

Oh and I'm Janine, 34, DH is Bob 43.

Can add me to the list of Feb 20 birthdays!

 

[Alexis Green]

Welcome onboard Janine!!

So no guidelines or rules? If everyone agrees we can do it that way?

 

[zaz]

Hi all,

I have seen quite a few new additions over the last few days, so welcome!

I am about to go get some US funds from my bank for tips and cabs, St-Marteen private excursion, car service, etc. I know, it's early, but in my small town, they kind of give me this odd look everytime I say I want 100 in 1 $ bills.

My oldest daugher is 12 and will participate in the Edge. Any other pre-teen girls around? Maybe they could exchange e-mails a few times prior to the cruise; or we could organize a meet once onboard? The Edge seems odd, in the sense that from what I gather, they do 'activities', they don't necessarily have their own space to 'hang out'. So maybe it's less conductive to make friends?

My youngest is 3. She is registered for Oceaners Club. I'm worried because she has very little English and is a bit shy. I also wish with all my heart that she won't be scared of the Princesses or characters and that she'll want to take pictures with them. Right now, when we see a new character (baseball games or during other activites), she tends to say that she doesn't 'know' them... Oh well, we'll have to see how that goes.

We will have late dining. Anyone else? I think it'll fit perfectly with my girls... they are night owls. On New Year Eve, they easily stayed up until 1 AM. Not as much fun on days like today when I have to get them out of bed at 6 AM as the regular schedule is starting up again and they are totally unhappy and grouchy!

 

[90byrd]

Zaz-- My kids are opposite, in bed before 8 most nights. I'm hoping we can reverse that on the cruise. My daugher "acts" shy when she doesn't know people, but I know she's really not. Maybe they'll hook up in OC.
We have the early seating.

How many princess dresses should I bring? And should I bring an outfit for DS too?

 

[Alexis Green]

Mike and I have the late seating. We are night owls and really like to eat a late lunch and late dinner. I also know with my belly full of yummy food I'd fall right asleep in the dark theater.

 

[mismal]

Didn't see all that many 'princess' outfits last cruise but it was 4 night. What I wished we would have done last time was dressed up for pirate night. my son was 5 at the time and did have a costume and most of the kids/adults in our group did wear costumes and the kids esp were sooo cute! I wished we as adults would have dressed up so I am currently searching for the prefect 'puffy shirt' and 'bar maid' outfit for myself and husband and need to find something for the 14yr old dtr. and thanks to some super Godmother shopping, my son has a costume already! (thanks Dana)

 

[SalCat1027]

Hi all,

I have seen quite a few new additions over the last few days, so welcome!

I am about to go get some US funds from my bank for tips and cabs, St-Marteen private excursion, car service, etc. I know, it's early, but in my small town, they kind of give me this odd look everytime I say I want 100 in 1 $ bills.

My oldest daugher is 12 and will participate in the Edge. Any other pre-teen girls around? Maybe they could exchange e-mails a few times prior to the cruise; or we could organize a meet once onboard? The Edge seems odd, in the sense that from what I gather, they do 'activities', they don't necessarily have their own space to 'hang out'. So maybe it's less conductive to make friends?


My youngest is 3. She is registered for Oceaners Club. I'm worried because she has very little English and is a bit shy. I also wish with all my heart that she won't be scared of the Princesses or characters and that she'll want to take pictures with them. Right now, when we see a new character (baseball games or during other activites), she tends to say that she doesn't 'know' them... Oh well, we'll have to see how that goes.

We will have late dining. Anyone else? I think it'll fit perfectly with my girls... they are night owls. On New Year Eve, they easily stayed up until 1 AM. Not as much fun on days like today when I have to get them out of bed at 6 AM as the regular schedule is starting up again and they are totally unhappy and grouchy!

My oldest daughter is 11...how old do the kids have to be to do the Edge? If you want to exchange e-mails...let me know! I'm sure my daughter would love to know someone on the ship before we get there!
We have night owl kids too...and are at the 2nd seating for dinner too!
WE CANNOT WAIT!!!!! Don't want to wish time away, but hurry up cruise!

OH FISH EXTENDER--we only have pockets for our two kids. So no need to include us adults in the present count. Just in it for the fun for the kiddos!

See y'all soon!!!!!

 

[nokidz]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 more fridays til CRUISE EVE!!!!

 

[peachygreen]

So I had a nice surprise when I went to check my CC statement today. I have a credit of $19.88 and DCL. I'm not sure what for, but I'll take it. (apparently it posted on 12/29)

As for princess Dresses Megan will have at least 2. I have made her a Cinderella Dress for Formal night. I have a sleeping beauty dress I made but I want to remake it for Semiformal night. I am also trying to make a Queen of hearts dress for her for Tea with Alice. Alice will have her Alice in Wonderland Dress, the Cinderella Dress I made and hopefully her sleeping beauty dress as well. So far I have 5-6 outfits for each girl made for the trip to include their pirate princess dresses/skirts. I have a few more outfits planned. I need to take Christmas stuff down today and then I can start working on sewing again. We'll see how much happens in the next 7 weeks.

As for me I have finished my cruise clothes shopping except I still need a sun swim shirt for our snorkeling. I really don't want to get a sunburn so I plan to pretty much cover up completely. I have a new formal dress, semi formal skirt and shirt, and a dress for dinner at Palo. I also went through my closet and found 5 additional dresses in my closet that are packable, accessible for nursing my DD in, look nice and have a tropical feel to them for the remaining dinners and Palo Brunch. So at least nights are figured out. I have a feeling I might repeat some of my dinner dresses for day dresses because they are comfortable sun dresses. But I will also have a few skorts and shirts packed especially for port days.

I decided to cancel my car serivce and get 2 one-way rentals instead. I got such great deals on the rentals that we are going round trip for $100 now. This gives me the flexibility to get dinner, groceries, etc and we don't have to rush back to the airport on Sat. And if we get in on time I could even run over and pick up my race package. I was originally planning to run the Princess Half Marathon on the 27th but changed to a 7 night cruise after I paid the registration. The least I can do is get the race stuff I paid for right. LOL

7 weeks from now we will be leaving for the aiport!

 

[wld4mky]

Hello everyone, Well with Chrismas behind us it sounds like everyone is in full plan mode. We just booked the night before in the CIS at the port. Question, with regards to the shuttle in the am , does anyone know what time it leaves the hotel? As far as the FE goes we have only done one before and I had enough to do each stateroom daily with something for everyone. It was way too much stuff. I like the idea of one drop for the week but I plan to include something for each person in the room in that one delivery. I was just wondering what everyone did so I did not bring enough or too much again this time. No rules necc. just wondering what was enough I guess? The previous poster said they will deliver the things over the course of the week. Sounds good to me. Can't wait to be in the warm sun. I have two princess dresses for my DD for formal and semiformal nite. I did buy a long gown for this cruise b/c My hubby and I are are celebrating 21 years of marriage and I wanted a nice picture of the two of us. Plus it is fun to dress up I also bought a couple of Aladdin (not the prince) drinking cups with lids and straws, they hold 16 oz each to use for the drink station. I drink alot of water and I know the cups there are small. Guess I could do some packing. We also have pirate costumes for pirate night. On our first cruise the party was inside d/t rain. I hope this time it is on deck. Well Happy Friday everyone. See you in 7 weeks