Is anyone cruising with me on the August 27th 2011 Meditteranean Cruise? Hellooooo?

[TJFrack]

Welcome jrs mommy! I've added you to the FE list. There are only 3 cabins right now but I'm sure a few more will join us as we get closer to the sail date!

Please count us in on the FE List

Thank you!

 

[RoniBoBoni]

We just booked this cruise and are soooo excited!!!(Me my MIL, DH and DS3) We want to be a part of everything so please count us in for a FE exchange! We do not have a cabin number yet. Does anyone know when we will know what room we have? We picked a guaranteed Deluxe inside room. Thanks and can't wait to get to know everyone!!

Welcome aboard!! We also booked a 10C. At first our cabin was assigned, but now my TA paperwork says TBA.... so does that mean it's a GTY as well?

 

[jrs_mommy]

Welcome aboard!! We also booked a 10C. At first our cabin was assigned, but now my TA paperwork says TBA.... so does that mean it's a GTY as well?

It sounds like it..Maybe we will be neighbors!!

 

[delauzons]

Count us in! We just booked today! Also Cat 10C's. It will be me-Stephanie-45, my husband, Chris-45, our 3 daughters-16,7, and 12 and my parents Anna and Jim. This is our 2nd Disney cruise but our first time to Europe. Would love to be in on Fish extenders. Anybody else from Long Island? We are so excited!
Stephanie

 

[MimiSiang]

Hello everybody,
we're cruising also!!! We are: me 31, my husband 30 and our 2 daughters 3 and 2 years. Nice to read about the cruise and learn about fish extenders. It seemed we al booked a category 10c stateroom, we have also booked this garuanteed stateroom.
Still a lot to learn before cruising, but there's time

 

[jrs_mommy]

Count us in! We just booked today! Also Cat 10C's. It will be me-Stephanie-45, my husband, Chris-45, our 3 daughters-16,7, and 12 and my parents Anna and Jim. This is our 2nd Disney cruise but our first time to Europe. Would love to be in on Fish extenders. Anybody else from Long Island? We are so excited!
Stephanie

YAY!! Welcome! It was a great deal wasn't it?? My DH is Chris too

We are americans living in England. (DH is a civillian contractor) We are living out here in the UK for a few years, so we are taking advantage of all the travelling perks of being on this side of the pond! (dirt cheap airfare)

My mother was born in Long Island!

 

[jrs_mommy]

Hello everybody,
we're cruising also!!! We are: me 31, my husband 30 and our 2 daughters 3 and 2 years. Nice to read about the cruise and learn about fish extenders. It seemed we al booked a category 10c stateroom, we have also booked this garuanteed stateroom.
Still a lot to learn before cruising, but there's time

Hello!! My son is 3 too! It will be easy doing the fish extenders, because we will probably all be neighbors! LOL!

 

[delauzons]

YAY!! Welcome! It was a great deal wasn't it?? My DH is Chris too

We are americans living in England. (DH is a civillian contractor) We are living out here in the UK for a few years, so we are taking advantage of all the travelling perks of being on this side of the pond! (dirt cheap airfare)

My mother was born in Long Island!

That's really funny! Where on Long Island was your mom from? We live out East-in a small town called Wading River. We were originally doing the 5 night Dream Aug 16th but then the price for this one was so good and we have never been to Europe. We are SO excited! Any pointers? Are you doing any tours or doing the ports on your own? Do you know how hot is it at that time of year? Sorry for all the questions!
Stephanie

 

[jrs_mommy]

That's really funny! Where on Long Island was your mom from? We live out East-in a small town called Wading River. We were originally doing the 5 night Dream Aug 16th but then the price for this one was so good and we have never been to Europe. We are SO excited! Any pointers? Are you doing any tours or doing the ports on your own? Do you know how hot is it at that time of year? Sorry for all the questions!
Stephanie

I am not sure exactly where she was born. She grew up on Staten Island i know that. I have no clue about the excursions or anything yet. I only booked yesterday and am just starting to research. i went to Rome last summer over 4th of July week and boy was it HOT! Very hot LOL!!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hello everyone. We were on the cancelled September 3 cruise and have shifted our vacation forward a week to be joining in and sailing with you now. I plan to take some time today to read the thread but wnated to dive right in and introduce ourselves first.

We will be sailing in 10Bs--we went with what let us get 4 staterooms in a row (2 connect) even at this late date

Our family itself consists of
me, Hadley (38)
DH David (37)
DD14 Marika
DS12 Rio
We will be in the two connecting cabins. This will be our 9th Disney cruise.
We are Americans but live in Germany now. My husband actually works for a German company and we are the only Americans we know of in our area who are neither millitary nor here on "ex-pat" contracts (which have limits to how long you can stay, you are paid in dollars, etc). We are basically treated like any other German by the system (we even have German insurance which throws doctors when the hear our accents) other than having to renew our visas every year. The kids attend a German speaking school, etc. We have been here 2 years and are really feeling like after the first year of confusion we have things mostly figured out now--and we do really like.

Traveling with us are:
Hatice (around 40)
Thomas (around 40)
our German friends. This is their second Disney cruise (and second cruise!). We took them with us on the Med last May and the fell in love.

and
Hank (72)
Jan (68)
My lovely in laws (seriously--great people) who are coming in from Colorado to cruise with us (and spend some time together on land too.
This is their 4th Disney Cruise (all with us).

Our entire group plans to head to nothern Germany and tour the shipyard where they will be building the Fantasy in the week before this cruise--which should be a fun tie in.

Anyway, we are looking forward to meeting you all and chatting more on the thread once I have read it all. We are certainly in for Fish Extenders and I will know more of what is going on to say what else we are in for later

 

[andyhp]

Yes! We booked the 6:25am flight on the 27th tho.. We figured it would be plenty of time to get on the boat. We are on the same flight back at 11:40. These are British Airway flights from what I read. How are you getting from the boat to the airport? Are you taking a DC transfer? I am not sure what will get us there the fastest. We are in a Cat 10C room (GTY) and those are some of the last to disembark I believe..

Hey Casey
Haven't really thought about the transfer back to the airport, assumed I take a taxi.
I guess it's one of the last two travel plans - Transfers and a Hotel in Barcelona for the night before the cruise.

 

[NHdisneylover]

mkmommy -I read about the bathroom breaks on one of the other threads, that Disney doesn't make time for bathroom breaks, you have to find a restroom on your "freetime". I've been reading so much, I can't really pin point where I read it to be honest, but I do know it was on this forum.

gusdmh - Hi Gus! glad to see you will be joining us!

Polyluvr - it's almost thursday! I can't wait to see if you and your family will be our shipmates.

All - I was thinking of working on a website for our cruise. To list all of us that will be sailing, maybe a fish extender if anyone is interested? This is our first cruise, so I am flying by the seat of my pants here. ??? What do you all think?

Do you have the website started yet???? I would love to see a roll call for this cruise Thanks for doing this by the way. I generally jump in to keep a roll call when no one else does--but I am not tech savvy at all so if someone who is can do things that is better

Is anyone else considering just touring on your own? Even the "on your own" packages are a little pricey, but I guess it would be less worry than getting back and forth on your own. It seems way over priced and it looks like somewhat a waste of time to book with Disney. I visited cruisecritic.com, but all I saw was info on the ports. Some good stuff, but I pretty much know what I want to see in each port. Where would I go to book a tour outside of Disney?

We did all of the ports on our own in May--except for Rome where we booked a private tour from an outside company. The plans now are do to them all on our own this time. Most of these ports are VERY VERY VERY easy to navigate on your own. Heck even Tunis wasn't hard (of course we aren't going there on this cruise--and in the current situation that is a very good thing) and I had worried about that port. Getting to Pompeii on the train was super easy and cheap. Same for Nice (and Monte Carlo looks equally easy in the other direction--we will go there this time). Le Spezia was lovely and super easy to get around in too and from there you can easily catch trains to anywhere in the area you want to go. You get the benefit of being on your own time schedule, not being in a huge group and spending only about 10-20% of what Disney would charge you.
In May we went to Nice (and played on the beach at Ville Franche), Pompeii, and just enjoyed the town of Le Spezia (of ports being repeated here).

I just read that the Accademia where Michelangelo's David statue is at, is closed on mondays. That and the Uffizi (where I really wanted to go in Florence) are both closed on mondays. I am so bummed! Those are the top 2 attractions in Florence I am a BIG art fan, especially renaissance art. Well, I guess there is so much more to see and do.

So I talked to the inlaws, and we are going to book the private tours on the three Italy ports. There are three seats open in a seven seat van if anyone else is interested (mkmommy might be interested in Rome, so that leaves 2 seats open for that port, 3 seats in la spezia, 3 seats in naples). If anyone else is interested, please pm me and I will give you the details.

I am sorry that the things you really care about in Florence are not available that day. Mondays are bad days for touring all around in Europe.
Le Spezia truly is beautiful and there are so many places to visit that are much closer to it than FLorence that, under the circumstances I would suggest skipping the looooong commute to Florence all together (we will skip it--and I LOVED Florence).

That's great! My first cruise was with Disney. Maybe all of us Dis'ers can meet up in Barca. I'd love to see a match at Camp Nou.

I'm willing to be in charge of the FE exchange if someone who is posted on page 1 can edit a note to my first post on page 8. I have two teenage daughters who have never done the FE before and are already planning what they are going to make for it. (and they really should be studying for exams!!!)

Let me know if anyone else would like to participate! (If anyone else would like to run it I would not be offended at all! )

Thank you. Please include us in the exchange.
David & Hadley (2 adults) in one cabin
Marika and Rio (14 year old girl and 12 year old boy) in the other

Bad news guys! My mom has come down with a long term illness. So, she won't be ablet to watch the kids. We are having to cancel this trip now. Hope you guys have a great time!

Oh I am very sorry. I hope your mother will be okay

Well DF just let me know the Navy will probably be re-training him in the next few months and he could be stationed anywhere after that.
So we are getting married sooner than we planed. Best case scenario this trip turns into out honeymoon, worse case we have to cancel and lose 300+ DVC points. Middle ground we cancel but have time to use those points somewhere else (although it will be somewhere less than optimal). Trying really hard not to freak out to bad right now!

I am hoping you will be joining us for your honeymoon

 

[jrs_mommy]

Hello everyone. We were on the cancelled September 3 cruise and have shifted our vacation forward a week to be joining in and sailing with you now. I plan to take some time today to read the thread but wnated to dive right in and introduce ourselves first.

We will be sailing in 10Bs--we went with what let us get 4 staterooms in a row (2 connect) even at this late date

Our family itself consists of
me, Hadley (38)
DH David (37)
DD14 Marika
DS12 Rio
We will be in the two connecting cabins. This will be our 9th Disney cruise.
We are Americans but live in Germany now. My husband actually works for a German company and we are the only Americans we know of in our area who are neither millitary nor here on "ex-pat" contracts (which have limits to how long you can stay, you are paid in dollars, etc). We are basically treated like any other German by the system (we even have German insurance which throws doctors when the hear our accents) other than having to renew our visas every year. The kids attend a German speaking school, etc. We have been here 2 years and are really feeling like after the first year of confusion we have things mostly figured out now--and we do really like.

Traveling with us are:
Hatice (around 40)
Thomas (around 40)
our German friends. This is their second Disney cruise (and second cruise!). We took them with us on the Med last May and the fell in love.

and
Hank (72)
Jan (68)
My lovely in laws (seriously--great people) who are coming in from Colorado to cruise with us (and spend some time together on land too.
This is their 4th Disney Cruise (all with us).

Our entire group plans to head to nothern Germany and tour the shipyard where they will be building the Fantasy in the week before this cruise--which should be a fun tie in.

Anyway, we are looking forward to meeting you all and chatting more on the thread once I have read it all. We are certainly in for Fish Extenders and I will know more of what is going on to say what else we are in for later

Hi Hadley!
I am so sorry to hear your cruise got cancelled. Hopefully everything is sorted for you now, and you can enjoy the anticipation of this cruise. My father in law lives in Germany with his wife and 2 young children. He is also American, and he loves it there. He is very settled and has no intentions of ever moving back to the states. Funny, his wife's name is Marika! Sounds like you will have alot of tips for us first-time Med cruisers which is AWESOME!
Nice to meet you!
~Casey

 

[MimiSiang]

Hello everyone. We were on the cancelled September 3 cruise and have shifted our vacation forward a week to be joining in and sailing with you now. I plan to take some time today to read the thread but wnated to dive right in and introduce ourselves first.

We will be sailing in 10Bs--we went with what let us get 4 staterooms in a row (2 connect) even at this late date

Our family itself consists of
me, Hadley (38)
DH David (37)
DD14 Marika
DS12 Rio
We will be in the two connecting cabins. This will be our 9th Disney cruise.
We are Americans but live in Germany now. My husband actually works for a German company and we are the only Americans we know of in our area who are neither millitary nor here on "ex-pat" contracts (which have limits to how long you can stay, you are paid in dollars, etc). We are basically treated like any other German by the system (we even have German insurance which throws doctors when the hear our accents) other than having to renew our visas every year. The kids attend a German speaking school, etc. We have been here 2 years and are really feeling like after the first year of confusion we have things mostly figured out now--and we do really like.

Traveling with us are:
Hatice (around 40)
Thomas (around 40)
our German friends. This is their second Disney cruise (and second cruise!). We took them with us on the Med last May and the fell in love.

and
Hank (72)
Jan (68)
My lovely in laws (seriously--great people) who are coming in from Colorado to cruise with us (and spend some time together on land too.
This is their 4th Disney Cruise (all with us).

Our entire group plans to head to nothern Germany and tour the shipyard where they will be building the Fantasy in the week before this cruise--which should be a fun tie in.

Anyway, we are looking forward to meeting you all and chatting more on the thread once I have read it all. We are certainly in for Fish Extenders and I will know more of what is going on to say what else we are in for later

Hey Hadley,
seems you had a really great time last year, it must be because you're coming back. Why was your 3th september cruise cancelled, I'm a little curious....We would probably learn a lot from you and your family, we're first time cruisers to, for disney and cruises....I soo hope I won't get seasick, I 'm always looking green when we cross over to England but you can't compare that with a cruise.
Can anyone tell us what you do with the fish extender, what the purpose is? Making small gifts? I will do some research in the meantime....
till next time
Mimi

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hi Hadley!
I am so sorry to hear your cruise got cancelled. Hopefully everything is sorted for you now, and you can enjoy the anticipation of this cruise. My father in law lives in Germany with his wife and 2 young children. He is also American, and he loves it there. He is very settled and has no intentions of ever moving back to the states. Funny, his wife's name is Marika! Sounds like you will have alot of tips for us first-time Med cruisers which is AWESOME!
Nice to meet you!
~Casey

Wow to the other Marika! We love it here in Germany too
Looking forward to meeting you.

Hey Hadley,
seems you had a really great time last year, it must be because you're coming back. Why was your 3th september cruise cancelled, I'm a little curious....We would probably learn a lot from you and your family, we're first time cruisers to, for disney and cruises....I soo hope I won't get seasick, I 'm always looking green when we cross over to England but you can't compare that with a cruise.
Can anyone tell us what you do with the fish extender, what the purpose is? Making small gifts? I will do some research in the meantime....
till next time
Mimi

Hi Mimi

Yes we had a nice time last year. We also took a 7 night (on virtually this same itenerary) in the fall on Celebrity. Tjhat was a lot of fun too but we didn't get to do the ports--Marika got her foot caught in an esclator on her way to school 2 days before that one and was on crutches. Little Italian sidewalks+heavy rain+crutches is just not a good combination so we satyed on the ship nearly that entire week

About seasickness--David tends to get very easily seasick. The big ships like this have A LOT LESS movement than a ferry and are not likely to cause you nearly as much trouble. What Dave has found works the best for him is taking ginger pills. He starts taking them a week before the cruise so it builds up in his system and then he has been fine even when we had really high seas on a trans Atlantic once. That is something cheap, easy and not dangerous to try Otherwise they do keep bowls of (free) bonine down at the Med center on the ship

I am not very good at explaining Fish Extenders but I will try. If you look on the main cruise board there are usually lots of threads about them with photos of them and with photos of gifts too (you'll also be able to read all about our cancelled cruise there). It is just a little fun extra thing that some DISsers do. Gernerally those who want to particiapte hang up some sort of container (mostly fabric pockets) from the fish shaped decoration outside of their door (thus the name "fish extender"). Then everyone else leaves little gifts there throughout the week. The gifts can be VERY simple and small and store bought (chapstick, candy, pencils, stickers, playing cards, etc) or fairly elaborate homemade things. We have gotten a range and have loved everything from pencils and tootsie rolls to awesome handmade Christmas ornaments and the like. What it should NOT be is anything stressful where people feel they have to spend a lot of money and/or time on making something.

Sometimes on small sailings everyone who has fish extenders plans on bringing gifts for everyone (some people gift per person and some per cabin). Other times (in big groups) to save luggage space someone takes charge and breaks the FE list into smaller groups of 10-15 cabins (we have been on cruises with 125 cabins participating--that is a LOT of stuff you do not break it up). Sometimes people also get to know each other on the boards and bring extra gifts for friends, or the teens start leaving each other gifts and notes throughout the cruise, etc.

It is fun to come back to your cabin and find little surprises day after day. It SHOULD be just silly and fun and truly pencils or stickers or what not are perfectly fine gifts. You wouldn't want anything valuable enough to be likely to be stolen out of the FE before the owners get back anyway.

Some people take a cruise theme and bring stuff related that way, or to Disney and other bring things related to where they are from (we have gotten mini bottles of bourbon from Kentucky and Tabasco from Louisiana).

DISsers made our Fish Extenders for us. Gradysmom (who made one of ours) sells them on ebay and I love her work. here is a link to some of hers so you can see what they look like:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220729526309#ht_4678wt_1371

 

[mkmommy]

Welcome to all the new cruisers This trip is coming up fast, once spring break is done I will get serious about planning.

 

[dizmomof2]

Welcome to all the new cruisers!!

TJFrack- I added you to the FE list. How many people are in your cabin?

delauzons- I added you to the list and I put a seperate cabin for your parents (listed as delauzons2) If they don't want to participate just let me know and I'll take them off.

NHDisneylover- I have your two cabins down as NHDisneylover and NHDisneylover2 for the kids.

Our list is starting to grow!

 

[RoniBoBoni]

Do you have the website started yet???? I would love to see a roll call for this cruise Thanks for doing this by the way. I generally jump in to keep a roll call when no one else does--but I am not tech savvy at all so if someone who is can do things that is better

First off.... I too am curious as to why the Sept 3 cruise was canceled, that was one we considered. I saw your youtube video from the med cruise 2010 and you all are hams! What a fun family you are! It's nice to know that people are returning on the med cruises from last year, that means they are totally worth it!
I do have the website started, but there's a glitch with my computer that won't let me type into the website on my home computer, but I can do it from the computer at the library, it's strange, so it's limited what I can do. But I do have a roll call started that I am maintining, but right now it's in word till I can get it on the website. Want me to email it to you?

 

[TJFrack]

Welcome to all the new cruisers!!

TJFrack- I added you to the FE list. How many people are in your cabin?

delauzons- I added you to the list and I put a seperate cabin for your parents (listed as delauzons2) If they don't want to participate just let me know and I'll take them off.

NHDisneylover- I have your two cabins down as NHDisneylover and NHDisneylover2 for the kids.

Our list is starting to grow!

Hi There are two of us.

Tyson - DH
Jill -DW

Thanks!

 

[NHdisneylover]

First off.... I too am curious as to why the Sept 3 cruise was canceled, that was one we considered. I saw your youtube video from the med cruise 2010 and you all are hams! What a fun family you are! It's nice to know that people are returning on the med cruises from last year, that means they are totally worth it!
I do have the website started, but there's a glitch with my computer that won't let me type into the website on my home computer, but I can do it from the computer at the library, it's strange, so it's limited what I can do. But I do have a roll call started that I am maintining, but right now it's in word till I can get it on the website. Want me to email it to you?

Oh yea PLEASE. I will PM you my email address after I post. Thank you so much for putting the work into the website.

Funny you watched the video. Yeah, we are kind of silly and like to have fun

Welcome to all the new cruisers!!

TJFrack- I added you to the FE list. How many people are in your cabin?

delauzons- I added you to the list and I put a seperate cabin for your parents (listed as delauzons2) If they don't want to participate just let me know and I'll take them off.

NHDisneylover- I have your two cabins down as NHDisneylover and NHDisneylover2 for the kids.

Our list is starting to grow!

Thank you for adding us and for keeping the list