I'm on a boat! Disney Dream TR 0ct 20-23 (last update pg 7 12/1)

[pinkxray]

Oh Diane I love your new signature - looks like you have two awesome trips in process!!!

Isn't it beautiful? Too bad they are so far away, but it's better than nothing. I keep thinking about going back in 2012 but with the TTC plans I am not pushing it. If Aug. or Sept. rolls around and I am still not pregnant I might try to convince DH to let me take Caitlin for a weekend in Dec, but I would much rather be pregnant and go to Disney in 2013.


Did you get the email from the new Disney baby store? They had the cutest bedroom sets. They have a whole Lion King set- bedding, wall decals, and the most adorable lamp

 

[happenin2you]

Just finished reading your TR and it looks like you had a great time! My husband and I just booked a 4 night cruise on the Dream for Jan 2013. When you were on Castaway Cay, was the food for charge or included like the food on the ship? Thanks!

 

[pinkxray]

Just finished reading your TR and it looks like you had a great time! My husband and I just booked a 4 night cruise on the Dream for Jan 2013. When you were on Castaway Cay, was the food for charge or included like the food on the ship? Thanks!

Thanks for reading.

The food is all included on Castaway Cay. I thought the buffet food was really good, and have seen on other reports that the adult beach buffet has a few other items like steak. The only thing you would have to purchase would be adult beverages and things like that.

 

[dtr_angel]

Isn't it beautiful? Too bad they are so far away, but it's better than nothing. I keep thinking about going back in 2012 but with the TTC plans I am not pushing it. If Aug. or Sept. rolls around and I am still not pregnant I might try to convince DH to let me take Caitlin for a weekend in Dec, but I would much rather be pregnant and go to Disney in 2013.


Did you get the email from the new Disney baby store? They had the cutest bedroom sets. They have a whole Lion King set- bedding, wall decals, and the most adorable lamp

I know what you mean though. I'm so hoping our January 2013 trip works out. It's so hard to plan vacations when you are TTC! We had been trying for so long and I always got so nervous trying to plan a trip, but had we not booked them and hoped for the best we would've missed out on 3 great trips together! I'm a little bummed we aren't getting a vacation at all this year, but in the long run it's better. We get to save money, and I'd rather wait and go back when the Fantasyland expansion is complete and AoA is finished so we can stay at a new resort. Our last vacation was after almost a 2 year break and as much as it killed me to stay away that long, it was amazing being there since we hadn't just been there, if you know what I mean.

Haha my mom asked me the same thing! Somehow I had stumbled on it a few days before I got the email. I LOVE the Lion King bedding, and the Cars Jr. bedding. Since we're going to wait until July to find out what we are having, we painted the room green last summer and I bought neutral Winnie the Pooh bedding that matched the walls since it was being discontinued.

 

[jenseib]

It took me a couple of days, but I read through all of it and it's fantastic. I really like how honest you were about everything. I know some people seem to have the perfect trip with no problems (wish that was me) and yet it's hard to believe that all children are angels 100% of the time. Or husbands for that matter! Thanks for sharing!

 

[pinkxray]

I know what you mean though. I'm so hoping our January 2013 trip works out. It's so hard to plan vacations when you are TTC! We had been trying for so long and I always got so nervous trying to plan a trip, but had we not booked them and hoped for the best we would've missed out on 3 great trips together! I'm a little bummed we aren't getting a vacation at all this year, but in the long run it's better. We get to save money, and I'd rather wait and go back when the Fantasyland expansion is complete and AoA is finished so we can stay at a new resort. Our last vacation was after almost a 2 year break and as much as it killed me to stay away that long, it was amazing being there since we hadn't just been there, if you know what I mean.

Haha my mom asked me the same thing! Somehow I had stumbled on it a few days before I got the email. I LOVE the Lion King bedding, and the Cars Jr. bedding. Since we're going to wait until July to find out what we are having, we painted the room green last summer and I bought neutral Winnie the Pooh bedding that matched the walls since it was being discontinued.

I can't believe you are going to wait until July to find out what you are having. The suspense is too much to bear!

Winnie the Pooh sounds perfect for a nursery

It took me a couple of days, but I read through all of it and it's fantastic. I really like how honest you were about everything. I know some people seem to have the perfect trip with no problems (wish that was me) and yet it's hard to believe that all children are angels 100% of the time. Or husbands for that matter! Thanks for sharing!

Hi Jen! Thanks for reading. I had followed along your last cruise TR and never thought I would end up on the Dream. I see you are going back again and I am so jealous!

I have read most of your TR's and I am sure Claire is 100% percent angel 100% of the tme.

 

[jenseib]

I do remember you reading my cruise TR. I still have a long time till I cruise again. But I will have plenty of time to plan. I am thinking of adding a few WDW days after too.

 

[TinksThree]

Isn't it beautiful? Too bad they are so far away, but it's better than nothing. I keep thinking about going back in 2012 but with the TTC plans I am not pushing it. If Aug. or Sept. rolls around and I am still not pregnant I might try to convince DH to let me take Caitlin for a weekend in Dec, but I would much rather be pregnant and go to Disney in 2013.


Did you get the email from the new Disney baby store? They had the cutest bedroom sets. They have a whole Lion King set- bedding, wall decals, and the most adorable lamp

Good luck on those TTC plans! I know what you mean by planning around that! Pretty much has changed my October birthday trip plans! And now my trouble is Keith doesn't want to think about taking a baby anywhere which means who knows when I would be able to go back!!

I got that e-mail! There were so many cute things! Loved the Lion King! I wish they had that line when I was buying years ago!

 

[pinkxray]

I do remember you reading my cruise TR. I still have a long time till I cruise again. But I will have plenty of time to plan. I am thinking of adding a few WDW days after too.

A few extra Disney days sounds great. I don't know how people get off the DCL and go right back to the airport. It's so sad not to have any Disney time afterwards.

Good luck on those TTC plans! I know what you mean by planning around that! Pretty much has changed my October birthday trip plans! And now my trouble is Keith doesn't want to think about taking a baby anywhere which means who knows when I would be able to go back!!


I got that e-mail! There were so many cute things! Loved the Lion King! I wish they had that line when I was buying years ago!

Okay, I'm confused. Who's having a baby? Did I miss something?

 

[happenin2you]

Thanks for reading.

The food is all included on Castaway Cay. I thought the buffet food was really good, and have seen on other reports that the adult beach buffet has a few other items like steak. The only thing you would have to purchase would be adult beverages and things like that.

Thanks for the info! We are super excited about our cruise. This will be #5 for me and #4 for him, unless we sneak in a quickie out of California late spring or in the fall which I want to do to celebrate his finally finding an accounting job (which is what his degree is in) in this horrible economy, but this will be our first Disney cruise. We've done 3 together on Carnival and I've done 1 Royal Caribbean. I noticed you were contemplating other cruise lines for future, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about my experiences. I've never had a bad time on a cruise ship. I feel like Royal Caribbean was full of really snobby people. I'm not sure if that's typical, or if it was because I was in the Mediterranean and there were so many people from the UK, but many UK people were constantly chatting around the boat about stupid Americans and how they are always drunk, inconsiderate, rude, and a variety of other things. The only other difference I noticed was that people on the RCL ship got way into formal nights, with most of the people I saw going full out and wearing tuxedos and full length evening gowns. It was my first cruise and my formal wear wasn't quite that formal, so I felt a bit out of place. On Carnival, there has been a much bigger variety of formal from evening gowns to nice skirts or pantsuits on ladies and tuxedos to suit pants and shirts on men. I have done super formal and less formal on Carnival and have not ever felt over/ under-dressed. Other than that, there was a ton of stuff to do on board my ship, Voyager of the Seas, which I sailed on in 2006 and was one of the largest ships at the time. It was huge, and I don't think we ever really saw everything. I've been on Carnival in the Western Caribbean and Mexican Riviera twice. Every time we've been on a different ship: Destiny Jan '10, Spirit Jan '11, Splendor Jan '12. My favorite of these three is the Spirit. Carnival ships are full of people who want to have a great time. They have a reputation for being full of drunk, young people, but I think that could be said about any line depending on when you sail. We typically go when school is in, so minimal kids and college students. With Carnival you can get a lot more cabin for your money as compared to other lines sailing during the same times I've sailed. For me, I'd rather spend less on my room and more on other things like excursions and spa. Also, I noticed another poster said something about from their experience Carnival had been full of cheap people from the Bayou area. In my experience, and I've mostly only sailed out of California, that is not the case at all. FYI- a lot of cruise ships are very gaudy, from my research Disney ships are much more beautiful and more like pretty hotels than cheesy cruise ships. If the decor is that important to you, you're probably already too spoiled by the elegance of the Disney ships to go to a different cruise line. The same thing happened to me and my husband: we honeymooned at AKL, then did another trip at CSR and hated. We're spoiled by Deluxe resorts. Luckily, last September we bought DVC, so we'll never have reason to stay anywhere other than deluxe Hope this helps, if you have any questions, just let me know. i'd be happy to share my wealth of cruise knowledge And I hope you can get your husband more onboard with your Disney love I also have a question about your job. You're an x-ray tech, right? Can you tell me anything about it, likes dislikes? It's normally a two year program, right? I'm asking because I'm about to graduate with a "garbage" degree, Spanish. I was going to be a Spanish teacher, but before I could complete my student teaching, which is required to get a degree and teach in NV, UNLV discontinued a number of secondary education programs, including Spanish. So now my plan has backfired and I'm so tired of school, I don't want to invest another 4 years of my time, energy, and money into picking another subject to teach and becoming certified in it, especially when they could just cancel that, too. Such is life... but I'm thinking about some shorter programs in the medical field like x-ray and dental hygienist. I'd really appreciate any info you can share with me. Sorry for hijacking your page, I can get a little long-winded...

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks for the info! We are super excited about our cruise. This will be #5 for me and #4 for him, unless we sneak in a quickie out of California late spring or in the fall which I want to do to celebrate his finally finding an accounting job (which is what his degree is in) in this horrible economy, but this will be our first Disney cruise. We've done 3 together on Carnival and I've done 1 Royal Caribbean. I noticed you were contemplating other cruise lines for future, so I thought I'd tell you a bit about my experiences. I've never had a bad time on a cruise ship. I feel like Royal Caribbean was full of really snobby people. I'm not sure if that's typical, or if it was because I was in the Mediterranean and there were so many people from the UK, but many UK people were constantly chatting around the boat about stupid Americans and how they are always drunk, inconsiderate, rude, and a variety of other things. The only other difference I noticed was that people on the RCL ship got way into formal nights, with most of the people I saw going full out and wearing tuxedos and full length evening gowns. It was my first cruise and my formal wear wasn't quite that formal, so I felt a bit out of place. On Carnival, there has been a much bigger variety of formal from evening gowns to nice skirts or pantsuits on ladies and tuxedos to suit pants and shirts on men. I have done super formal and less formal on Carnival and have not ever felt over/ under-dressed. Other than that, there was a ton of stuff to do on board my ship, Voyager of the Seas, which I sailed on in 2006 and was one of the largest ships at the time. It was huge, and I don't think we ever really saw everything. I've been on Carnival in the Western Caribbean and Mexican Riviera twice. Every time we've been on a different ship: Destiny Jan '10, Spirit Jan '11, Splendor Jan '12. My favorite of these three is the Spirit. Carnival ships are full of people who want to have a great time. They have a reputation for being full of drunk, young people, but I think that could be said about any line depending on when you sail. We typically go when school is in, so minimal kids and college students. With Carnival you can get a lot more cabin for your money as compared to other lines sailing during the same times I've sailed. For me, I'd rather spend less on my room and more on other things like excursions and spa. Also, I noticed another poster said something about from their experience Carnival had been full of cheap people from the Bayou area. In my experience, and I've mostly only sailed out of California, that is not the case at all. FYI- a lot of cruise ships are very gaudy, from my research Disney ships are much more beautiful and more like pretty hotels than cheesy cruise ships. If the decor is that important to you, you're probably already too spoiled by the elegance of the Disney ships to go to a different cruise line. The same thing happened to me and my husband: we honeymooned at AKL, then did another trip at CSR and hated. We're spoiled by Deluxe resorts. Luckily, last September we bought DVC, so we'll never have reason to stay anywhere other than deluxe Hope this helps, if you have any questions, just let me know. i'd be happy to share my wealth of cruise knowledge And I hope you can get your husband more onboard with your Disney love I also have a question about your job. You're an x-ray tech, right? Can you tell me anything about it, likes dislikes? It's normally a two year program, right? I'm asking because I'm about to graduate with a "garbage" degree, Spanish. I was going to be a Spanish teacher, but before I could complete my student teaching, which is required to get a degree and teach in NV, UNLV discontinued a number of secondary education programs, including Spanish. So now my plan has backfired and I'm so tired of school, I don't want to invest another 4 years of my time, energy, and money into picking another subject to teach and becoming certified in it, especially when they could just cancel that, too. Such is life... but I'm thinking about some shorter programs in the medical field like x-ray and dental hygienist. I'd really appreciate any info you can share with me. Sorry for hijacking your page, I can get a little long-winded...

Thanks so much for all of your input on other cruise lines. I really loved DCL but I think we will be happy on any of the other major lines. I have been researching most of them and have heard they really aren't too much different. We are more interested in the ports than the ship, but I think we will stay with the newer ships when we can. Our next cruise won't be until Feb or Nov 2014 so I have plenty of time to decide. Right now it looks like RCL will be our next choice but it will depend on the the ships/itineraries and costs when we finally decide our dates. I have been looking at all of the Western/Eastern port options and want to hit all of them. I told DH that my new vacation plan for the next few years is to hit as many islands as I can.

I am an x-ray tech. When I started looking at going back to school in 2006-7? I was interested in nursing but it just didn't suit me. I don't like high pressure situations and I have no desire to do anything that involves needles. I volunteered at my local hospital and went through the CNA training program and after that I decided I needed something other than nursing. A CNA at the hospital told me to look into x-ray. At the time I started the program there were plenty of jobs and you could always find a full time job once you graduated. By 2010 when I graduated the economy had tanked and not many people were hiring. Plus most radiography programs had increased there class size from 10 in 2005 to now 25 by 2010. My class was the first class that graduated from our school's program that didn't have jobs waiting once they graduated. It took about a year before everyone in my class found a job and a lot of people were only per diem(which is what I do, but that is my choice, not lack of opportunity) Out of the 25 in my class, only about 5 had jobs waiting when they graduated (I was one of the lucky ones)

I believe the class that graduated last May still has many people who haven't found jobs. But that could all depend on where you live too.

It does seem to be picking up a bit though. The good thing about x-ray is that you can branch off into different areas and do it through job training. Within the last year about 5 x-ray tech all moved to the CAT scan dept and were fully trained on the job. One guy went to the Cath lab and one girl went to Interventional Radiography where they do things like Picc lines and stents.

You can also go into MRI.2 girls from my class worked as MRI transporters while in school and as soon as they graduated got training positions to become MRI techs. Mammo can be taught on the job. You can also go back to school for an extra year for ultrasound. Ultrasound was also offered as a 2 year program at my school and if I could go back I would have picked that, just because they are always more jobs available around here and you make a good amount more. Also I might I have just picked nursing. I originally avoided it b/c I didn't want to deal with puke, poo or blood but I have been dealing with them anyway.

I work in a hospital as a per diem tech which has worked out well for me. Since I dont have benefits I make a good amount more than I would if I was part time, but sometimes it can be hard to pick up hours. A part time job is being posted next week and I am probably going to stop being lazy and go for it. It will be a pay cut per hour but it will be guarented hours and benefits. My hourly rate is pretty comparable to what an RN would be making right out of school, but will be a little lower once I go part time. However if you move to another modality such as CT or MRI you make more.

As for the actual job, it is much much much different than I expected. The actual schooling is difficult, not hard, but very time consuming. Working in the hospital is very physically demanding doing chest x-rays on patients in ICUs who can't move or having to move patients to the table who have broken hips and sometimes emotionally draining. Last week I got a page to go to the trauma room(when you work in the ER you get paged when there is a trauma to do chest or pelvis x-rays) and there was an infant who had stopped breathing and brought in by ambulance. The baby was pronounced dead a little while later. We have also had many people who have passed away in the trauma room from car accidents and gun shot wounds.

Also in hospital you may have to work nights, overnights or weekends. My hospital is smaller so it doesn't matter how long you have been there, you work alternating weekends. However at the other major hospital I did my schooling in you stop working weekends after being there a certain amount of time and it was easier to find a full time day shift job.

I happen to like Friday and Saturday overnights though b/c we get paid $3 extra for working weekends, $3 extra for working 3rd shift and an $1 if you are in charge (whoever has been there the longest in in charge that shift). So by working those 2 nights you can make $7 extra an hour than you would working a day shift during the week. But you have to wake up in the middle of the night while everyone else is sleeping so there are trade offs.

You can also work in orthropedic offices which I would think is easier, but I haven't done it. I have heard you don't make as much though but it really depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a m-f 9-5 job and are willing to take a hit on pay, it could be better for you.

Okay, I have no idea if that was what you are looking for Overall I like my job, it has some bad moments and bad days but I am sure not everyone has all perfect days at work. I think it was a good choice and I think any healthcare related field like dental, x-ray, nursing, ultrasound would be a good choice. Just try to do your research and if you are interested in xray see if you can shadow for a day or something first. It is MUCH different than it seems.

Oh yeah. It is a 2 year program but you need to take certain classes to apply to get in the program. It is usally about a year of pre-reqs to get in (in my state it is very competive for ANY medical program so there is a chance you won't get in even if you have that year of classes done) so the shortest amount of time you could do it would be 3 years. Also you have clinical and classes so if you need to work it would have to be in evenings or weekends.

 

[happenin2you]

Thanks so much for all the info. It sounds pretty similar to what I thought. I know they have programs at the local community college here that are 2 years, and require a lot of science pre-reqs, which I don't have since I'm a Spanish major. We have a ton of major hospitals here (around 20), and in recent years they've had major issues keeping them staffed. Mostly all hospital positions have constant overtime available and I know there is a pay differential for working the less desirable shifts like nights and weekends. I'm going to be graduating with my bachelors in Spanish in the fall, so at that point I'll probably decide what to do from there. All I know is that all through college I've worked as a pharmacy tech for Walgreen's and I want out so badly. I'm tired of being bombarded by the public after they've already been waiting at a doctors office or hospital and don't want to wait for their drugs at the pharmacy and take it out on us. As a Senior Board-Certified Tech, I don't break $15/ hour, and it's just not enough to deal with what I deal with. Especially since we just lost the Express Scripts contract our volume is down 20%, which means they're going to cut hours and expect me to do more with less help. I'm over it. At least as and x-ray tech or something similar I would be much better compensated financially and would probably not deal with quite as many people day to day (in my pharmacy, we're one of the busiest in Las Vegas, we sell 400-500 rx's per day). Again, thanks so much for all your info. It's really helpful to talk to someone already in the field.