OurOhana
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2009
Aloha everyone
I feel like I know you all already. I've spent so much time on this forum for about a month now, trying to learn all I can for our upcoming cruise. I can't imagine going on the cruise without learning from all of you at least a little of what to expect.
A little about us:
Me, 36, native Floridian. I've been to WDW too many times to count, and I still love it!
DH, turns the big 5-0 on Jan. 31, the first day of our cruise, a native Hawaiian.
DD, 3 (though we're pretty sure she's going on 23) If she could introduce herself, she would tell you she's a "big pink Cinderella."
Now the start of our pre-trip report:
A little more than two years ago, I decided to quietly start saving money to take my husband somewhere special on his 50th birthday. But just a few months later, we needed to dip into my secret stash.
Fast forward to earlier this year and my procrastination pays off. I have a flexible spending account through my office. The money I spend on health and child care expenses comes out of my paycheck before taxes. I'm supposed to submit a receipt to get money out of the account to reimburse our health and child care expenses. A few months into this year, I had not submitted any receipts. I quickly realized my husband hadn't asked about it. He didn't even realize the money wasn't there. So I decided to open a separate bank account and divert the money into it. Save a major emergency, I had no intentions of telling him about it, so we wouldn't be tempted to use it on something else. It worked. By the end of the year, I had enough money for a trip.
Now, do we go on a Holland America Line Cruise or Disney? We took a HAL cruise for our honeymoon, plus one other trip, both back in 2003. We loved the ships and the cruise line. But we also love Disney and we always wanted to try it. I checked out Disney and realized we could afford it with what I had in savings.
By the way, DH still had no idea I had money in savings for a trip.
But it was now December, his birthday was coming up soon and I needed to make a decision. I feared that if I didn't tell him about the trip before I booked it, he might have a tough time scheduling his work around it. Plus, it was his birthday, I wanted to make sure he wanted a Disney Cruise, not HAL.
So just a week before that promo ended that allows you to take a 3-day cruise later in the year if you booked by mid-December, I told him that I had been stashing away money. He was thrilled! And he didn't hesitate - WE WERE GOING ON DISNEY!!
We can't wait to go on the cruise. DD has no idea we're going. She loves all things Disney, so she'll be thrilled. I'm starting a trip report in hopes that our experiences will help some other people out the way all of your reports helped me as I've planned our trip. Plus, it seems like a great way for me to keep myself busy while I wait for the big trip. I've never written on a forum before, so I hope you'll bear with me as I learn the ropes
Aloha
I feel like I know you all already. I've spent so much time on this forum for about a month now, trying to learn all I can for our upcoming cruise. I can't imagine going on the cruise without learning from all of you at least a little of what to expect.
A little about us:
Me, 36, native Floridian. I've been to WDW too many times to count, and I still love it!
DH, turns the big 5-0 on Jan. 31, the first day of our cruise, a native Hawaiian.
DD, 3 (though we're pretty sure she's going on 23) If she could introduce herself, she would tell you she's a "big pink Cinderella."
Now the start of our pre-trip report:
A little more than two years ago, I decided to quietly start saving money to take my husband somewhere special on his 50th birthday. But just a few months later, we needed to dip into my secret stash.
Fast forward to earlier this year and my procrastination pays off. I have a flexible spending account through my office. The money I spend on health and child care expenses comes out of my paycheck before taxes. I'm supposed to submit a receipt to get money out of the account to reimburse our health and child care expenses. A few months into this year, I had not submitted any receipts. I quickly realized my husband hadn't asked about it. He didn't even realize the money wasn't there. So I decided to open a separate bank account and divert the money into it. Save a major emergency, I had no intentions of telling him about it, so we wouldn't be tempted to use it on something else. It worked. By the end of the year, I had enough money for a trip.
Now, do we go on a Holland America Line Cruise or Disney? We took a HAL cruise for our honeymoon, plus one other trip, both back in 2003. We loved the ships and the cruise line. But we also love Disney and we always wanted to try it. I checked out Disney and realized we could afford it with what I had in savings.
By the way, DH still had no idea I had money in savings for a trip.
But it was now December, his birthday was coming up soon and I needed to make a decision. I feared that if I didn't tell him about the trip before I booked it, he might have a tough time scheduling his work around it. Plus, it was his birthday, I wanted to make sure he wanted a Disney Cruise, not HAL.
So just a week before that promo ended that allows you to take a 3-day cruise later in the year if you booked by mid-December, I told him that I had been stashing away money. He was thrilled! And he didn't hesitate - WE WERE GOING ON DISNEY!!
We can't wait to go on the cruise. DD has no idea we're going. She loves all things Disney, so she'll be thrilled. I'm starting a trip report in hopes that our experiences will help some other people out the way all of your reports helped me as I've planned our trip. Plus, it seems like a great way for me to keep myself busy while I wait for the big trip. I've never written on a forum before, so I hope you'll bear with me as I learn the ropes
Aloha