January 8, 2011 - 7 Night Western Caribbean Sailing

[cmclaura]

Great idea! There should be plenty of opportunity to get Capt Mickey in the atrium before dinners. I understand he also visits tables in Parrot Cay when you first board the ship. We've never done that but are thinking about doing it this time!

 

[moonvxn]

ack!! Sorry.. I haven't been reading these pages, I was just paying attention to the facebook pages. Laura you got my room number from there 6068 right? I'm so sorry....I'm such a mess...I have like three pages of lists in front of me...pull it together!!!!! man o man do we need this vacation. I can't wait to leave. See you all on Sat. Laura, will you please still send me your spreadsheet? Thanks!!


OH OH OH ALSO---- ARE THERE ANY PEANUT ALLERGIES IN THE GROUP!!???


Chesha

 

[anneliesemt3]

Does anyone have college kids going? My cousin and I are both freshman in college and are both too old for the teen club, and we are hoping there will be some college kids we can hang with!!!

 

[TiggerAllie]

OK-- one more craft project to post: Door Art! Check out our magnet collection! Now I just have to finish that FE.

Oh yeah, and start packing.

 

[lbgraves]

Great idea! There should be plenty of opportunity to get Capt Mickey in the atrium before dinners. I understand he also visits tables in Parrot Cay when you first board the ship. We've never done that but are thinking about doing it this time!

We have had lunch in PC the first day 5 times & have never had the characters come around then but Captain Mickey is out one night in the atrium. They have him set up off to the side and they allow one picture per family because it is such a popular shot. Make sure you tell the photographer you want a vertical shot. That will only be available as a 8x10 for purchase but you can print the release off online and have a smaller print made to fit the matt when you get home.

 

[lbgraves]

Does anyone have college kids going? My cousin and I are both freshman in college and are both too old for the teen club, and we are hoping there will be some college kids we can hang with!!!

You can check the first post for ages of kids going. Also there is a meet & greet for young adults the first day that will be noted in the navigator. They usually have at least one activity planned each day.

 

[Amy Fran]

Does anyone have college kids going? My cousin and I are both freshman in college and are both too old for the teen club, and we are hoping there will be some college kids we can hang with!!!

Yes! Our daughter, Dani, & her boyfriend, Patrick, are 21 and - although, Dani just graduated SIUC - they consider themselves part of the college crowd

 

[micandkay]

Does anyone have college kids going? My cousin and I are both freshman in college and are both too old for the teen club, and we are hoping there will be some college kids we can hang with!!!

My daughter is 19 and a freshman in college. She would love to have someone besides her old mom to hang out with. It's tough to be too old for the clubs and too young for the bars.

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

We are just 4.5 hours from departure and are completely stoked!!! We are packed, loaded and ready to rumble!!!!!

I wonder if Fred the Goat will make an appearance?

 

[carreyw]

I wonder if Fred the Goat will make an appearance?

I'll cross my fingers!

 

[speedo]

I've seen a lot about tipping on board the cruise but what about tipping on excursions. I am going on a tour and snorkel trip, should I bring cash to tip the guides for these excursions?

 

[Tatiana]

Wow! TiggerAllie, your magnets are beautiful!

 

[TiggerAllie]

Ok-- last one, the FE!

Now we really need to start actually packing... Tomorrow will have to be the day for a last minute trip to the store if anything is missing!
Oh yeah... and somewhere in there we need something to wear for Pirate Night!

Safe travels to everyone who is already on their way! Fingers crossed that there are no travel problems!

 

[cmclaura]

I'm sitting at work, with 20 minutes left to tick away before I leave for home to fetch my bags and go to the airport. We're beating the snow by one day, whew! Wooo hooo, I think I can officially start singing, "I'm on vacation!"

Safe travels, one and all. See you on the flip side for a MAGICAL cruise!

Whoever is last in here, please be sure to click off the light!

 

[w-family]

Cannot beleive we pulled it off - 18 hours until we leave and we managed to keep it a surprise from the kids.

I cannot wait to see the kids' faces tomorrow. Their teachers even smuggled their homework out to me this afternoon without them seeing and DDs teacher is giving the class both tests scheduled for tomorrow, first thing so she can take them before she leaves!

I love it when a plan comes together! Even the snow is holding off for us! See you all on the boat! safe travels!

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Wow, it is a little windy and chilly down here! We had a fun afternoon waiting for the Dream to pull out of port... its a funny story, if anyone cares to hear it my freind Mondo and I will be near the smoking area enjoying a fine stogey most nights!!!!

 

[TiggerAllie]

I think we're the last one to leave (at the airport now)!

See you all on the ship-- I'm turning out the lights.

 

[Bakerteam]

This is going to sound crazy but my family & I were just on the Holiday cruise. I regret not buying the scrapbooking pages and album for 2010. Also, the 2010 ornament my daughter bought me as a xmas gift broke in our luggage on the way home.

It's highly unlikely these are still available, but just in case, I was wondering if some fellow Dis' member could look and buy these for me. I'd reimbursed you.

I tried DCL guest relations but since it's a ship they cannot export anything to me.

I live in states, up in New England.

Please PM if you're able to do this for me.

Don't be like me, if you see something you want just buy it "no regrets".

Enjoy your cruise!!!!

 

[AverysMommy]

Welcome back Cruisers - if you have a few moments - can you answer a few questions for us:

1. Did you find the condition of the ship as bad as some people were saying back in December - pails to catch water, smells, etc?

2. The feedback on the servers is still pretty mixed. How were your Servers? If you had good service, can you share names as we may ask for specific people. How were the rest of the Cast Members?

3. Castaway Cay - how was the air temperature? how was the water temperature? Were people swimming?

4. Other Ports' Weather?

5. Was Brent the Cruise Director?

Thanks so much

 

[lbgraves]

Reality stinks!!! It was great meeting all of you. So many of you were so generous with the FE gifts. The kids loved them all. Thank you so much!

We saw nothing run down inside and no smells. Paint needs to be touched up outside near the waterline though but we only saw that when on the tender.

No problems with CMs. We have had fantastic servers in the past and never expect new ones to be as great as they were [Marco from Palo was our assistant server in 2004 so that would be impossible to top ] but our servers were fine. We had Anita from the Phillipeans and Solvodon from Serbia. Our assistant from our 2006 cruise was next to our station and he is now a server. His name is Putu and is fantastic! He remembered the kids and stopped by our table to talk a few times. If you get him tell him the Graves family says hello. Guest services was great. Shutters photographers were friendly and great with the kids. We loved so many of the pictures that we had to get the CD.

As far as the weather, that is going to vary from cruise to cruise. This is the first time we have had poor weather at CC. It has rained before in the afternoon so we had to return to the ship early but this time we were in shorts & sweatshirts the entire day. It was overcast with a few moments of sunshine. The winds from the cold front that hit the states earlier in the week. I think that it was 65? We didn't get in the water but there were some. There were much fewer than our past cruises, 5 that have been in December or January. The water is always too cold for me but the kids and DH always get in...not this time though. Cozumel was very windy. Our fury excursion was cancelled. They closed the harbour to all boats late morning due to the conditions. We spent a relaxing day onboard though and DD stayed in the pool. Key West and Grand Cayman were beautiful & sunny/warm as was our first sea day. Wednesday we had 15 foot swells when we left Cozumel which made for a very rocky ride. The captain had to turn the ship around complete and almost stop for the pirate show and fireworks. Mickey did not zip between the funnels however due to the wind. Right after the show he turned the ship back around, which with the waves created quite a mess on deck 9 since the ship was leaning. They closed deck 10 due to the conditions and the Mickey pool was not only turned into a wave pool but water was pouring over the starboard side leaving several inches of water on deck.

Peter is the current cruise director. Brent is on the Dream at the moment helping Rachel with the inagural sailings. I was told this was so that he would know what to do on the Fantasy.