January 15, 2011 - Magic

[lori123]

I don't have kiddos that young - sorry!
My kiddos will be 1 1/2 shy of their 11th birthday. I am hoping they can join the 11-13 club instead of the 3-10. Can everyone share the ages of their kids at cruise time?

 

[accola]

Can everyone share the ages of their kids at cruise time?

Lilly - 9 (will turn on 1/5/11)
Ben - 6 (turns 6 in October)

 

[weavers1995]

We also have a daughter who will be in the 11-13 year old area...Gracie , a nine year old daughter, Lily , and an almost 5 year old, Frankie !

Is anyone interested in the Fish Exchanges? I know our family is!! If I can figure it out, I would be willing to set up the spreadsheet with all our information...

 

[lori123]

We may be interested. I still need to read a bit more about them on the FAQ page. Does it take up much time? Searching out people's cabin and "depositing" the goodies?

 

[accola]

Does it take up much time? Searching out people's cabin and "depositing" the goodies?

Not really - it depends on the number of people participating, but I'm not expecting too many based on who has checked in on the meets thread here so far. We organized it one year (I can probably find that stuff and pass it on to our volunteer here!) - just a listing of the Disboard name, real names of family members, ages (kids ), cabin numbers and then also if anyone was celebrating anything special (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.). We also included a map of the ship / cabins and where the participants were. It was something fun for the kids to do and they were always excited when we would come back to the cabin and find a surprise.

 

[weavers1995]

If you want, you are welcome to do the whole spreadsheet again!!! I have NO clue what I am doing!! If not, though, I will try! I just wanted to make sure we had it for those who wanted it!!! My kids have never done the fish game and they are excited for it!!!

We can't wait for the cruise! Has anyone done the Eastern before? Any recommendations for the ports???

Looking forward to it!!! Have a great week!

 

[TimmyTown]

First off, this is my first post to any discussion board, EVER, so let's hope it works.

My family (spouse Amanda and 11 y.o. son Nate and I) cannot wait for our 3rd Disney cruise. This will be the 2nd Eastern Caribbean cruise aboard the Magic. We did the same cruise last year on the same week and loved it so much, we decided to book it again while we were aboard.

We love the ports and the days at sea as well. Great relaxation and a wonderful escape from frigid temps and snow. I wish EVERYONE a very happy cruise, Disney-style! Tim

 

[croppincolburn]

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/the-magic/p58518-fejan2011.html doesn't seem to be working so here is the link

Hope this works. Our TA made a FE for us to use on our upcoming cruise. The red fabric are pockets.

 

[tw2123]

Hi everyone that has joined this cruise. I haven't been on for a while, but starting to get thinking about the cruise and that leads me here. I am happy to see more people joining and talking about the FE. I have previously said my family would like to participate we have done it twice before and it is a lot of fun. It would be great if someone would like to start a spreadsheet so we can keep it all organized. I know a couple of the pp have mentioned doing it, but if you don't want to I will just let me know.

Just curious has anyone started planning excursions or things they want to do on the islands? I would love to hear what some of you have planned.

 

[LuvtheEars]

I was just looking online at our reservation and realized we get to book excursions and Palo's next week! This year has flown by!

We were at WDW 2 weeks ago and that was so much fun!

We're in for the FE exchange! My kids are DS Grady 10 and DD Megan 7.

We were looking at excursions today, but it's hard to decide.

 

[croppincolburn]

We, dh and I, want to try parasailing at CC. I'm leaning toward one of the excursions to St John when we are at St Thomas. No clue what to do at St Mareen. Last time I was there (mid 90's) I did snorkeling at Pinel Island. My mom was going to try and figure out what they had done on previous visits. Between my 82 yo stepfather and my 7 yo son we are limited in activities.

 

[accola]

Was out of town, got back tonight.

Looking through the posts, here is who I noted as wanting to participate in a Fish Extender so far:

Accola
Weavers1995
croppincolburn
LuvtheEars
Ralsmom
Tw2123

If I missed anyone or put you on the list by accident let me know. If you aren't on the list and would like to participate, also let me know. At some point we will need to determine a cut-off date....thinking maybe around the first week in December - long enough for others to join but still enough time for participants to get things put together.

Anybody have any thoughts??

Thanks.

 

[weavers1995]

Hi everyone that has joined this cruise. I haven't been on for a while, but starting to get thinking about the cruise and that leads me here. I am happy to see more people joining and talking about the FE. I have previously said my family would like to participate we have done it twice before and it is a lot of fun. It would be great if someone would like to start a spreadsheet so we can keep it all organized. I know a couple of the pp have mentioned doing it, but if you don't want to I will just let me know.

Just curious has anyone started planning excursions or things they want to do on the islands? I would love to hear what some of you have planned.

Actually if you wouldn't mind doing the spreadsheet for the FE that would be great since I have no idea what I am doing for it! This will be our first one to be involved with.

I think the idea of closing it by the first week in December would be perfect so we all have enough time to organize!!!!

We haven't looked that deeply in the excursions either. DD, DD, and DH want to parasail in Castaway so I am pretty sure that is one we will be doing!

Have a great day!!!!

 

[croppincolburn]

Dec 1 sounds like a good cut-off. If we have a sudden rush and the list gets large would be consider breaking it up into groups?

Edited my signature so you can see the whole family. BTW I'm 29 when I'm at any Disney park or cruise. LOL Let's just say we are older parents.

 

[sopandbass]

Greetings, Everyone!

After 5 Disney cruises, we decided to try Freedom of the Seas for January 2011 - booked a nice stateroom, learned about the ship on the Travel Channel, started to prepare for a lovely vacation. Our DD10 was geared up for rock climbing and ice skating and the whole shebang.

Then, a couple of days ago, I mentioned the cruise and she looked at me with very large puppy eyes and said, "It just won't be the same - sailing without the characters." I reminded her of the wave runner and the atrium but to no avail. "Disney cruises are just so wonderful, Mom!"

Clearly, it didn't take much to twist my arm so I got online, saw the kids sail free deal, called Disney and the rest is history. We'll be sailing with you in January and we're all pretty excited.

We would like to be a part of any Fish Extender exchange (DH, DD10 and me).

I'm so glad my daughter pouted...don't tell her I said that, though!!

Sharon

 

[croppincolburn]

Sharon, what a cute story! You know, I think there are Disney genes that we pass on to our kids. Glad you all are joining us.

 

[accola]

On the Fish Extender list so far (deadline will be 12/1):

Accola
Weavers1995
croppincolburn
LuvtheEars
Ralsmom
Tw2123
sopandbass

I can put the list together with more details and will e-mail directly out to participants at a later date with additional information including family members, kids ages and cabin #'s. Looks like I need to change our ticker one of these days...

 

[sopandbass]

Hi, Everyone ~

I guess I didn't realize how much we love DCL. We just made this reservation and my husband and I have gone nuts pouring through previous cruise stuff and reading about the cruise online. I think we're obsessed.

Because we booked so late, we have second seating for dinner which we've had before and it's okay. I do know that dinners are a lot more fun for our DD10 if there's another child at the table and Disney tries to make that happen. We booked one other cruise kind of late in the game and we ended up at a table with a lovely mother and her adult daughter. They were great company but I know it wasn't as nice for our daughter.

Is there anyone else going that has second seating that has a child or children around 10-years-old who would like to request being at the same table? Has anyone used the dine and play option? Our daughter really enjoys the long dinners so I'm not sure that would work for us. I would appreciate feedback about that option.

We enjoy getting to know people at dinner so if you're interested, send me a message.

Have fun planning for the trip! We just realized we can start booking reservations on Saturday - wow, we really did book this at the last minute!

Sharon

 

[LuvtheEars]

Because we booked so late, we have second seating for dinner which we've had before and it's okay. I do know that dinners are a lot more fun for our DD10 if there's another child at the table and Disney tries to make that happen. We booked one other cruise kind of late in the game and we ended up at a table with a lovely mother and her adult daughter. They were great company but I know it wasn't as nice for our daughter.

Is there anyone else going that has second seating that has a child or children around 10-years-old who would like to request being at the same table? Has anyone used the dine and play option? Our daughter really enjoys the long dinners so I'm not sure that would work for us. I would appreciate feedback about that option.

We enjoy getting to know people at dinner so if you're interested, send me a message.

Have fun planning for the trip! We just realized we can start booking reservations on Saturday - wow, we really did book this at the last minute!

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

We have a DS 10 and a DD 7 and have second seating. We love it when Disney seats us with another family with kids our age. We had good luck 2 out of 3 cruises in the past. In fact our last cruises were B2B on the Wonder and the first cruise we had a great family, but the second cruise the family would not even talk to us. We do shower before dinner!

This is our first cruise as Gold Castaway Club members and we get to book excursions this Sat. too! We've been pouring over the options and have finally settled on Fishing in St. Martin and something about an abandoned Plantation for St. Thomas. I'll have to get the exact names before Saturday.

 

[sopandbass]

This is our first cruise as Gold Castaway Club members and we get to book excursions this Sat. too! We've been pouring over the options and have finally settled on Fishing in St. Martin and something about an abandoned Plantation for St. Thomas. I'll have to get the exact names before Saturday.

We're looking through excursions too, Tiffany! Last time in St. Maarten, we took a taxi to a lovely beach but I'm not sure what we'll do this time. I think we'll try to get into Palo for brunch one day as well. And we're drooling over spa treatments! Ah, so many choices!!

Have fun planning the cruise, everyone!!

Sharon