July 18, 2007 07-18-07 Med Cruise

[ariel39]

Hi all! Sorry it's been a few days since checking in. My sister, BIN, DNephew came in on Sat. and we were preparing for this week's visit last week.

Starting to panic about the kids passports now. I called again on Friday because we still had not received the two of the three that were completed last Tuesday. Apparently, the passport office has no clue how to send out overnight envelopes quickly, as they were still sitting in their mail room!!! Then, they told me the 9 year old's was being held up for some unknown reason and that it had been days since the file had been updated. I have ordered another birth certificate just in case I need to drive to Miami. Not really my first choice... If nothing has happened with any of them by tomorrow, I will be calling our Congressman and will be a nuisance until all three passports are in our hands!!!

Well, hopefully I will have more time to write tomorrow! Talk to you all soon...can't wait to meet everyone!

Diana

Hi Diana, I know the feeling about the passports. I just got mine a week ago and it took 15 weeks. I don't think I would have them by now if our Senator's office didn't get involved. I called his office on week 13 since the state dept states we should have them 10-12 weeks. They got right on the phone and the kids were in my hands in one week. Mine got separated from theirs and it took a week longer.

Call your Senators office, I know they will get it for you. Sure hope you don't have to go to Miami to get it.

 

[ariel39]

Hi Everyone, Looks like everyone is mostly from the East Coast or from Europe. I was just wondering how long the travel time is for you. Our is 16 hours barring no delays. We have a 4 hour trip from Las Vegas to Philly and then 4 hour layover and then 8 hours to Barcelona.

Will yours be just as long?

 

[ariel39]

Hello, Is everyone going to the formal night dinner? If so what are you wearing? How formal is formal? I don't have any "formal" clothes and don't really want to purchase any since I will never wear it again.

 

[sharper_fin]

Hi Everyone, Looks like everyone is mostly from the East Coast or from Europe. I was just wondering how long the travel time is for you. Our is 16 hours barring no delays. We have a 4 hour trip from Las Vegas to Philly and then 4 hour layover and then 8 hours to Barcelona.

Will yours be just as long?

No kathie, you beat ous on that one by just a little bit! Our flight from northern England is just over 2 hours. I guess this make up for the 20 hours (door to door) that it takes us to get to Disneyland!



Don;t worry. It's a long journey but it's going to be worth it, right?

Shaun

 

[sharper_fin]

Hello, Is everyone going to the formal night dinner? If so what are you wearing? How formal is formal? I don't have any "formal" clothes and don't really want to purchase any since I will never wear it again.

I'll be wearing some nice trousers (pants), a shirt & tie and a smart linen jacket. Jill has got a pretty dress for the formal night, nothing fancy at all just very nice. And of course she'll look gorgeous in it!

I think the main thing is to dress up to the level you feel comfortable. It's your vacation, enjoy it! I certainly won't be in full dinner jacket and bow tie (though I'm sure some guys will, and that's great).

Shaun

 

[ariel39]

No kathie, you beat ous on that one by just a little bit! Our flight from northern England is just over 2 hours. I guess this make up for the 20 hours (door to door) that it takes us to get to Disneyland!



Don;t worry. It's a long journey but it's going to be worth it, right?

Shaun

Hi Shaun,
I guess you are right. It only takes us about 4 hours by car to get to Disneyland. I know it is going to be worth it, just dreading the long trip.

 

[scottishwee35]

No kathie, you beat ous on that one by just a little bit! Our flight from northern England is just over 2 hours. I guess this make up for the 20 hours (door to door) that it takes us to get to Disneyland!



Don;t worry. It's a long journey but it's going to be worth it, right?

Shaun

Hi shaper_fin, Kathie, Shaun

Your flight is longer than my flight is short but next year we are going to have another cruise at Cape Carnival for Pamana Canal so it is long flight for us too.

As we love Florida and didn't bother us with long flight.

Look like another way round for you. But yes like Shaun said it is worthing when you arrive in Europe and see all the country!!

Cannot believe it is near the times

Scottishwee35

 

[ariel39]

I have a question for everyone.

Are you all dressing up for Pirates Night or not. My DD wants to dress up but is frightened she will be the only one and this is putting her off. We have not made a final decision so your comments will be greatly appreciated.

Andrea

Andrea, My 9yr old daughter is going to dress up for the Pirate night!

 

[sharper_fin]

Most definately we're dressing up for pirate night! Looking forwards to it very much

Two adults, no kids, costumes almost done.

Shaun

 

[nzdisneymom]

Cindy,

How many cruise casual nights are you planning on for Gary? Is it every night besides, semi-formal, formal and Palo nights? I think I packed too formal of clothes for Jarrett for the casual nights. I had packed 3 pairs of dress pants and 5 dress shirts (to be rotated) some can worn with a tie and some without for the casual nights, but now I am realizing that he will be to dressy and as he says too uncomfortable. (I just like seeing him dressed up, he wears Khakis and a polo everyday to work and it gets boring) I just need to chill!!!

Thanks, Kathleen

Gary's planning on cruise casual every night except formal night when he'll wear dress pants, dress shirt and a Disney tie. I forced the "dress-up for dinner" thing when we sailed in Dec. 2005 and we all ended up miserable. I enjoy dressing up, but I don't like eating dinner with grumpy guys. I'm not forcing dressing up with the boys for dinners this time, not even for formal night - although they will wear their church pants and a nicer shirt, they will wear their new tennis shoes (as they don't either one have dress shoes right now - they keep outgrowing them and right now, nice tennis shoes are still ok for them for church). FWIW, Gary is not planning to be in the dining rooms every night either - he's planning for some Topsiders nights and some hot dogs and pizza nights with the kids. As for me, I just enjoy having someone put my napkin in my lap and bring me food that is beautifully arranged on the plate.

From the navigators and reports I've seen, it's cruise casual every night but formal and semi-formal nights; then there's Pirate night which is fun. The boys each have a PotC t-shirt that they'll wear for that. I'm glad I found some more casual pants for the boys so that they CAN join us in the dining room if they want.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Our flight from ATL is 9+ hours going and 10+ hours returning. Add the pre-airport time (we'll be there about 4 hours ahead of time so we don't get stuck in rush-hour traffic and such), so I figure it will be about 15 hours from the time we get to the airport until we get to the hotel in BCN.

For formal night, I have a long black skirt and a nice blouse; it will double as my semi-formal outfit. Flat black shoes because I couldn't find any other shoes that I liked.

Hey, I figure if anyone says anything (and they won't), we could just talk about lost luggage and let people think that we were waiting for our luggage with our formalwear to catch up to us rotfl2: ). Just kidding! But seriously, that's why we have some of everyone's clothes in multiple bags - we have five bags and each of us has at least one change of clothes in each of 3 bags. So chances are we'll at least have a change of clothes unless it all gets delayed. Which reminds me that I forgot to leave out a change of clothes for the kids to put in their back-packs. They may be 11 and almost 10, but as sure as I don't put a change where I can get it easily, someone will need it. Same thing for coming home - leave an extra change to go in the carry-on.

Gotta get to work now....

 

[shortkathleen]

Thank you Cindy for settling the clothing issue for me. I was making it way more difficult than it needs to be. I am going to repack the formal clothes for DH, he will be so happy. Have a good day at work.

Kathleen

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Becuase we never get to dress up here at home we plan on dressing up on the cruise. For formal night I have a long dress and semi formal I have a cocktail length dress. My mom has cocktail length dresses for both nights. My brother has a suit for formal night. Mom gave him no choice. Cruise casual for him will be pants and either polos or button up shirts thta don't have to be tucked in. For the Rome excursion and the one to Monoco Monte Carlo and Eze he will be wearing polo and kahakis. We told him if we couldn't wear shorts neither could he. We are also wearing matching shirts that I made on the day we board.

Lissa

 

[sharper_fin]

We are also wearing matching shirts that I made on the day we board.

We plan on wearing matching shirts on boarding day too Lissa. Ours won't be home made though - we're going with our Disney's California Adventure shirts.

Shaun

 

[BarcelonaTiems]

No kathie, you beat ous on that one by just a little bit! Our flight from northern England is just over 2 hours. I guess this make up for the 20 hours (door to door) that it takes us to get to Disneyland!



Don;t worry. It's a long journey but it's going to be worth it, right?

Shaun

Exactly ! Our flight is also a little less than 2 hours.
And no jet-lag.
But If I want to go to WDW we have the problem ...

Hans Tiems

 

[ButterbearUK]

Would that be your sister aka GadgetGirl? Zachary loves doing the quests at WDW, and they are fun for all of us to do together.

It would

 

[ButterbearUK]

I found it on trip advisor too! I checked into staying at a Dis hotel, but was unwilling to pay the amount of $$ they wanted. The price we got at the Torre Catalunya was a 1/4 of what Disney wanted for theirs. And since we were just in Barcelona in May, I felt comfortable booking there since we are familiar with the city (somewhat). With the subway station right there and the hop on/off bus just across the way, figured we couldn't go wrong. We will probably run into you at some point!

Likewise. Given that we've all travelled in Europe a fair bit we figured we could cope with the public transportation etc Very convenient for the metro, and the airport too by the looks of things. Plus it was one of the few hotels that would do triple rooms and has a swimming pool If you see us I'm sure you'll recognise us... We will be the only nutters carrying around a pal mickey (Alice's not mine)!

Milia

 

[ButterbearUK]

Anyone know what date the Harry Potter movie comes out? And what about the book? I think both are occuring soon. I told DH that we should try to buy the book while we're abroad just because. I wonder if they will show the movie on the ship.

In the UK the movie comes out on Thursday this week (the 12th)- we went to buy our tickets yesterday. I think the book is out on the 21st, shops are opening at midnight for people to collect their copies but we shall have to wait til we get home We are having it delivered so that it'll be waiting for us when we get back. I guess it will be available in the ports, if you can find a bookshop and don't mind reading it in Italian...

I doubt that they'll show the movie onboard. Isn't it made by the opposition

Milia

 

[seaulater]

We are in the 110's!

100's here and fires are burning everywhere in the state.

 

[seaulater]

Anyone know what date the Harry Potter movie comes out? And what about the book? I think both are occuring soon. I told DH that we should try to buy the book while we're abroad just because. I wonder if they will show the movie on the ship.

I am looking at my movie tickets right now while I type this. We are going at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, July 11, 2007. Guess that means I have a late night tomorrow night since we are headed to the theater. What was I thinking?