February 27, 2010 Eastern Cruise on the Magic

[scrapycruiser]

Joanne

Does this mean we get back to the ship at 2:30 or 4:30 ? It's confusing.This is from Sonny's website :

"For those who are swimming you will get at least 2 hours at the beach where you can Swim, Snorkel, Jet Ski, Parasail or whatever your heart impels you to do. Your purchases can be secured safely in the vehicle while you swim. Those who do not want to stay at the beach to swim or snorkel will be taken back to the ship between 2:00 pm and 2:30pm. On our way back to the ship we will travel around by the Red Hook Ferry Dock area, where the ferry to St. John leaves from. You will see two of our marinas and also a chance to see how some of our locals live. Your tour ends back at the ship on time between 4:00pm and 4:30 pm."

 

[bigturkey12]

Joanne

Does this mean we get back to the ship at 2:30 or 4:30 ? It's confusing.This is from Sonny's website :

"For those who are swimming you will get at least 2 hours at the beach where you can Swim, Snorkel, Jet Ski, Parasail or whatever your heart impels you to do. Your purchases can be secured safely in the vehicle while you swim. Those who do not want to stay at the beach to swim or snorkel will be taken back to the ship between 2:00 pm and 2:30pm. On our way back to the ship we will travel around by the Red Hook Ferry Dock area, where the ferry to St. John leaves from. You will see two of our marinas and also a chance to see how some of our locals live. Your tour ends back at the ship on time between 4:00pm and 4:30 pm."

i have already sent an email to sunny in the past to ask some questions
in his reply it says you have a choice of staying at the beach for 2 hrs or 15 minutes. i will send him another email and ask him directly if we chose to only stay 15 minutes at the beach to take some pictures what time would we arrive at the ship. i do believe he goes back to the beach a second time to pick up the swimmers later. i will explain we have to be back by 3:30pm and that we are on the disney magic where ever it may dock. he is very good at replying promptly. ill know by tomorrow. ill send my question tonight and ill be back to you im sure tomorrow. have a nice evening joanne and josh

 

[scrapycruiser]

Joanne, Sounds good. We would like to do the tour Gina

 

[ErieCruiser08]

So....is there anyone willing to organize the fish extender gift exchange?
Please?

I agree with the others on the boards--I don't want to buy any f/e gifts if we don't know for sure if we will be giving them away. I am excited to start shopping for it though!

Anyone? lol

 

[scrapycruiser]

So....is there anyone willing to organize the fish extender gift exchange?
Please?

I agree with the others on the boards--I don't want to buy any f/e gifts if we don't know for sure if we will be giving them away. I am excited to start shopping for it though!

Anyone? lol

I will be happy to organize the Fish Exchange. Not sure what I'm doing...but willing.
I suppose I'll need the names and cabin #'s of those participating. How many adults and how many children (ages).
In the past the participants were assigned a day to pass out their FE's. So not everyone was passing them out on the same day.
If you have a preference what day you want let me know. Some may have Pirate things so they'll need to be distributed b4 Wed.

Let me know if there is anything else I'll need to do !

 

[seashell724]

Scrappy Cruiser!
That is awesome that you would do the FE! It is just my husband and I and we are in our late twenties. Eeks, I just had my birthday and it sounds so weird to say that!
I have a question for scrappycruiser, for an FE can we use something else instead of an official FE? I am thinking of a recyclable bag but that may look to ugly for our tastes.

I would just like to add in a word that I have also read about Sonny Liston tours on another cruise website and he seems reputable, in case that eases anyones mind.

Hurray for going to the U.S. to get cheaper flights! We are saving over $1000 by doing this! I don't think we'd be able to afford it if we didn't go to the states first.

I got a package from DCL in the mail the other day about our cruise, just some reading material. That was pretty exciting since I wasn't expecting anything!

Did I read earlier that someone is staying at Hyatt the night before? This is what we are dong and are throughly confused about if we take our own luggage to the DCL bus and where to get to the bus and what time. Anyone know about this?

 

[ErieCruiser08]

scrapycruiser--Thank you so much for volunteering to do the f/e exchange! It will make everyone's cruise much more memorable!

Seashell--My husband and I are both in our late 20s as well--eek! I know, its weird to say 'late 20's'. We will both be 28 on the cruise. We are traveling with my parents and bro and sis.
This is our 2nd DCL cruise on the Magic and we participated in the f/e exchange last time, too! It was a blast! We saw all sorts of fish extenders. You could use the recyclable bag but there are alot of better options out there if you are interested. We bought ours on eBay for about $30 and its great! If you search the boards, you will see all kinds of pics people have posted of their extenders. Other people have just bought an over the door shoe organizer and put Disney stickers on it to decorate it. You can really do whatever you want--just have fun with it!


Another thing: Last time we stayed at the Hyatt at the airport and DCL picked up our luggage from our room. We didnt have to take it onto the bus. Very nice and easy!
This time, our TA suggested we stay at a Disney resort (its actually cheaper than the Hyatt if you stay at a value resort). SO, we will be arriving 2 days early and staying at one of the value resorts at WDW.

Amy

 

[scrapycruiser]

seashell.... anything is fine to use for a FE. But as Amy suggested, do a search

for Fish Extenders and you can get some ideas.

Hyatt...we are staying at the Hyatt and will be using DCL transportation
Just let the Hyatt know when you check -in that you're using DCL
transportation and they'll tell you where to meet the bus and what to do w/ your luggage. The last I heard, you just leave your luggage in your room and someone will pick them up. Just be sure the Disney luggage tags are on them. I believe you will also be able to check in for the cruise at the Hyatt. So when you get to the port you're ready to board. We did this in Barcelona prior to going on the DCL Med '07 cruise. They gave us our KTTW card,too.

I will confirm this with DCL and get back with you


Erie....Amy,
We have used Tiffiney Town Car for years and they've always been on time and very professional. Some people use Happy Limo, but I never have.


Everyone that is doing the Fish Extender, let me know :

1. #adults & #kids
2. cabin #
3.If you have a preference of what day to pass out your "goodies"

Thanks,
Gina

 

[SUPER NERVOUS ERIE]

Hello!
We are in the traveling party with ErieCruiser08 and Cowgirl0524! My name is Debbie. This is our first cruise ever! We are so excited!

We would LOVE to join in the fun with the fish extender gift exchanges! My family just picked out all the material to make our f/e. Can't wait to start it and start getting ideas of gifts to pass out.

I will have one of us post our cabin numbers asap.
(For the master roll call, you could just put us next to Cowgirl0524--we are sharing a cabin with her).

Can't wait to learn all I can on these boards and meet everyone in just 4 months!

 

[scrapycruiser]

FE GIFT EXCHANGE

We,officially have an FE Gift Exchange underway !
Let me know if you want to be included and I'll add you to the list. I'll need the names, how many adults & children and childrens' ages. Also, your cabin #. You can decide if you want to give one gift per cabin, or to give to adults only, kids only or a gift to each person. It's up to you. There are no rules.You can put your name on the gift or give anonymously. Let me know if you prefer to pass out gifts on a certain day.I'll assign everyone a day so everyone is not doing it at once.

Cowgirl0524 - Erie,PA - Larry,Debbie,Greg & Bethany

ErieCruiser08 - Erie,PA - Amy&Chris

Seashell 724 - Canada - 2 adults

Big Turkey 12 - New Brunswick,Canada - Joanne & son, Josh (14)

Scrapycruiser - Newport News,VA - Bruce,Gina cabin # 6140
Cindy #6142
2nd Seating
Hyatt at MCO nt b4 cruise / flying home after cruise

Let me know if I'm incorrect. Thanks ! What a FUN cruise this will be !!Gina

 

[seashell724]

This will be fun Gina!
Can I ask, how do people already know what cabins they will be in?

Thanks for the info eriecruiser! Are there multiple times that DCL picks up at Hyatt or is it just a one time that we have to be waiting?

 

[scrapycruiser]

Seashell...the DCL bus will run several times because it not only takes those staying at the Hyatt but those coming in on flights that day.

Some passengers were given cabin assignments when they booked and some were booked with a guarantee status. If the later is the case,it could be a few weeks prior to sailing when you find out.Maybe someone that has experienced this type booking can explain better than I.

 

[lornak]

I just discovered this group! Is it too late to join in the fun? My name is Lorna and I will be traveling with my 11 year old daughter Olivia. I know she would love to participate in the FE! Please let me know if you are still accepting new group members!!!

 

[ErieCruiser08]

Welcome to the group, Lornak! We are absolutely accepting new group members! So glad you joined us! The f/e exchange is so much fun. It makes getting ready for the trip so much more exciting! In my opinion, half the fun of any vacation is the anticipation and excitement thinking and planning for it!

On our last DCL cruise, there were several people with guarantee staterooms or people who got upgraded to a different cabin at the terminal. To make sure everyone knew about any changes in cabin #'s, we arranged a DIS meet and greet for embarkation day. Easy enough--if everyone shows up if they can. Just in case, we arranged for a 2nd meet and greet the next day just to make sure everyone is up to date.

 

[scrapycruiser]

FE GIFT EXCHANGE

We,officially have an FE Gift Exchange underway !
Let me know if you want to be included and I'll add you to the list. I'll need the names, how many adults & children and childrens' ages. Also, your cabin #. You can decide if you want to give one gift per cabin, or to give to adults only, kids only or a gift to each person. It's up to you. There are no rules.You can put your name on the gift or give anonymously. Let me know if you prefer to pass out gifts on a certain day.I'll assign everyone a day so everyone is not doing it at once.

Cowgirl0524 - Erie,PA - Larry,Debbie,Greg & Bethany

ErieCruiser08 - Erie,PA - Amy&Chris

Seashell 724 - Canada - 2 adults

Big Turkey 12 - New Brunswick,Canada - Joanne & son, Josh (14)

lornak - Lorna & daughter,Olivia (11)

Scrapycruiser - Newport News,VA - Bruce,Gina cabin # 6140
Cindy #6142
2nd Seating
Hyatt at MCO nt b4 cruise / flying home after cruise

Let me know if I'm incorrect. Thanks ! What a FUN cruise this will be !!Gina


Lorna...WELCOME to you and Olivia !! So happy to add you to our group and FE Gift Exchange !! When you get your cabin # let me know.Also, if you'd like to share anyother info,ie, Dinner seating, hometown, any plans B$ or after the cruise, shore excursions,etc


Amy... we should plan a get together on Embarkation Day. What about 3pm?
Where ? We'll have a short time before the drill to put faces with names and exchange any cabin # changes and /or upgrades

I liked your idea about the map of the ship to help find the cabins for the FE. Problem...I have no sense of directions, even tho I've been on the Magic 6 times. Maybe I could get my husband to do that

And we should have a cut off, say 2 weeks before we cruise. To give everyone time to do their shopping or time to make their gifts. What does everyone think ???

Well I guess that gives me 4 weeks to make Cindy a pirate outfit, make 2 FEs, make some of the FE gifts, oh and make signs for our 2 doors, plus watch the boards. Guess that doesn't leave time for cooking and cleaning !! Oh, well.
_____

 

[ErieCruiser08]

FE GIFT EXCHANGE

We,officially have an FE Gift Exchange underway !
Let me know if you want to be included and I'll add you to the list. I'll need the names, how many adults & children and childrens' ages. Also, your cabin #. You can decide if you want to give one gift per cabin, or to give to adults only, kids only or a gift to each person. It's up to you. There are no rules.You can put your name on the gift or give anonymously. Let me know if you prefer to pass out gifts on a certain day.I'll assign everyone a day so everyone is not doing it at once.

Cowgirl0524 - Erie,PA - Larry,Debbie,Greg & Bethany

ErieCruiser08 - Erie,PA - Amy&Chris

Seashell 724 - Canada - 2 adults

Big Turkey 12 - New Brunswick,Canada - Joanne & son, Josh (14)

lornak - Lorna & daughter,Olivia (11)

Scrapycruiser - Newport News,VA - Bruce,Gina cabin # 6140
Cindy #6142
2nd Seating
Hyatt at MCO nt b4 cruise / flying home after cruise

Let me know if I'm incorrect. Thanks ! What a FUN cruise this will be !!Gina


Lorna...WELCOME to you and Olivia !! So happy to add you to our group and FE Gift Exchange !! When you get your cabin # let me know.Also, if you'd like to share anyother info,ie, Dinner seating, hometown, any plans B$ or after the cruise, shore excursions,etc


Amy... we should plan a get together on Embarkation Day. What about 3pm?
Where ? We'll have a short time before the drill to put faces with names and exchange any cabin # changes and /or upgrades

I liked your idea about the map of the ship to help find the cabins for the FE. Problem...I have no sense of directions, even tho I've been on the Magic 6 times. Maybe I could get my husband to do that

And we should have a cut off, say 2 weeks before we cruise. To give everyone time to do their shopping or time to make their gifts. What does everyone think ???

Well I guess that gives me 4 weeks to make Cindy a pirate outfit, make 2 FEs, make some of the FE gifts, oh and make signs for our 2 doors, plus watch the boards. Guess that doesn't leave time for cooking and cleaning !! Oh, well.
_____

3pm sounds good for a meet. Im pretty sure thats what time we did last time on our cruise too. I think we met in the Promenade Lounge, not sure though. Scrapycruiser, is that a good place to meet or do you know of someplace better? You have a better knowledge of where everything is than I do

I think 2 weeks as a cut off is good. What does everyone else think?

Just as a suggestion, we bought our f/e on ebay for about $30, its really cute too! I'm not talented enough to have sewn one myself, lol. If you dont have time you could always have someone else make one for you. We got a customized f/e from a lady of ebay.

 

[ErieCruiser08]

I wanted to mention this:
On our last cruise--SOMEONE STOLE OUR FISH EXTENDER!!!!
It was filled with goodies and they also took about 5 of our door magnets. We were so upset. We reported it to guest services and they were very helpful. They took a full description of our fish extender and they got security, stateroom hosts, and guest services manager involved and they got it back for us! How's that for Disney going above and beyond!

They said they had a suspicion of who may have stole it, as other things were stolen as well that cruise in other areas of the ship. So, apparently security approached this person and she gave it back. She did not give back whatever was inside the pockets or the magnets though. We were very grateful to get back that fish extender--we were very surprised that we got it back at all.
We later found out by someone else on the DISboards that the person who stole it was a 23 year old woman. Whatever the case may be, we were very impressed that Disney went through all the trouble to get it back for us! Next time, we will definitely zip tie it to the fish!

We never thought it would be necessary to secure our f/e, esp being on a Disney cruise. But, I am going to zip tie it to the fish and I highly suggest others do too.

 

[seashell724]

Thanks for the info on staterooms and on DCL busses.

I am for sure going to Ziptie our FE. As for gifts being stolen from it...maybe this is a bad idea but we should say what time of day we will deliver our gifts. That way people can pop back in to collect them and put them in the room. For example, if I am away from my room all day and only go back at night and someone delivered in the morning then it would give people lots of time to take away the goodies! I also don't want all my hard work for people in our cruise to go to waste because someone decided to help themselves aka steal it. I don't know if that's ever been done before but I am a bit nervous of someone stealing gifts!

 

[scrapycruiser]

I know this sounds like I'm from planet Mars, BUT where do you buy zip ties ? I know what they are, but haven't seen them in the stores.

Also, I've never bought anything on ebay. How would I go about finding a FE on ebay. Would they know what that is ?

Promenade Lounge is perfect !! 3pm it is. I'll get the word out.

Someone suggested cutting off the FE at 3 weeks, since there will be some people going to WDW before the cruise.

Another suggestion I got was to plan on being at the port early & let everyone know where I'll be, in case anyone has a cabin change at the last minute.Then I can update the lists for everyone and give them a copy at the 3 pm mtg.

 

[scrapycruiser]

Thanks for the info on staterooms and on DCL busses.

I am for sure going to Ziptie our FE. As for gifts being stolen from it...maybe this is a bad idea but we should say what time of day we will deliver our gifts. That way people can pop back in to collect them and put them in the room. For example, if I am away from my room all day and only go back at night and someone delivered in the morning then it would give people lots of time to take away the goodies! I also don't want all my hard work for people in our cruise to go to waste because someone decided to help themselves aka steal it. I don't know if that's ever been done before but I am a bit nervous of someone stealing gifts!

Good idea. Maybe we could say we're putting the goodies out in the morning or afternoon or after dinner. I'll be assigning everyone a day and then that person can say morning,afternoon,or evening. It would be difficult to pin it down more than that ???