July 30, 2010 - Wonder

[Wondermom1965]

Hello new friends, we all set sail in 3 more days! Not sure if we are having a meet and greet at the Promenade @ 3 or not. Usually, we are whisked away by our DD to the kids area and of course to eat lunch, but I will try to make it there. Be safe getting to the port. Next time we are on here, we can talk about all the fun we had!

 

[asmith1113]

Great, we got pirate stuff, silly bands, glow sticks, candy, etc. This will be our first FE, so we are so excited! I know it will probably just be a few of us. When should we put the things in, morning, evening? We are second seating. Does Zach pin trade?

I have no advice on when to put things in. We did ours late the first night, but we had about 20 participants last time and we got something every day, so it just worked out. Zach has pins from the past and likes them, but not sure he ever traded. See you soon!

 

[asmith1113]

I think this is all the data I have on FE. If I missed your post, very sorry and add yourself if you haven't left yet - I'm finishing up my buying Thursday night, so not too late! Really, I think once you do it once, you see it's not a lot of work and kinda fun! If you didn't do it this time, try it next as I KNOW you'll be on another Disney cruise -- it's addictive! If anyone wants to meet, the time is 3:00 and place is Promonade Lounge -- let's say the side by the internet access pc's. I'll be there at 3:00. I know it's prime Mickey Pool time for little kids, so may not work for those with the little guys...

FE Participants:
Wondermom1965, 6323, DH-Frank, DW-Patricia, DD-Anna-age-8
Asmith1113, 2556, DH-John, DW-Amy, DS-Zach-13
dcrocks6 (aka Melodie) #7627 (Isaac-8), #7629 (Eli-6), #7625 (Jada-7)

 

[skylynx]

Hi, Everyone
Didn't realize a thread had started for this cruise...this will be our 11th Disney cruise. DH and I have a very social 17 year old daughter and 14 year old son who will be looking for friends. They will doubtless be at the teen club the first night. DS just wants someone to play basketball and stuff with...it's his first time being too old for the Lab, which he loved. If you've got a match...PM me and we'll make sure they have a chance to meet each other straight away (4 day cruises go by so fast).

 

[asmith1113]

This was a special cruise for us as we met so many nice people!

We had the BEST dinner companions ever! Thank you Sean, Kerri, Brendan, Kevin and Brian for keeping your first seating and sharing meals with us; we so enjoyed getting to know your lovely family! I look forward to seeing what I know will be amazing custom door magnets on a future cruise!

We were constantly being amazed at the generosity and creativeness of "WonderMom!" My son said, "She really is a "Wonder MOM!" after being overwhelmed by the FE gifts. Patricia, please know you have set the bar high for us on our next cruise with your individually-wrapped, thoughtful gifts! I'm so sorry we never got a chance to meet you and thank you in person.

We ran into the dcrocks6 family so often, I sometimes thought we could be the 4th cabin in their group. Melodie, it was a pleasure meeting you and your family and hope that you enjoyed your first Disney cruise!

And, Denise (skylynx), you are all that I aspire to be -- Platinum with children who enjoy going to the club ! It was a pleasure meeting you and John and hope we make another of your cruises someday!

I know some folks dropped off things for us without a name; thank you very much!

Well we are booked on Dream for 4 days next June (6/3) and there are already 4 pages of posts for folks on that cruise. Hope you can join us or maybe we'll see you on a future one...

Wishing you Disney Dreams!

Amy (John and Zach)

 

[Wondermom1965]

Amy, I am so glad Zach liked the FE gifts! Anna enjoyed helping me do them up and then pass them out. She was thrilled to arrive back to find goodies in her pocket! Loved the handmade picture from John! And so sorry that we didn't meet up on the cruise. It's funny, we are also from Jax! We probably run into each other all the time without knowing it. We also got to see Melodie (dcrocks) and her sweet families several times. We had a blast visiting with Jocelyn and Larissa (Disney 24/7)! Anna was chosen as Honorary Pin Trader and was invited to trade with the officers. I bet we saw each other several times and just didn't know it. Thanks to Stingfancb for the cute lil' bag on the first night. That was so sweet of you! It was great to meet new people and look forward to new friendships

 

[skylynx]

Hard to believe it has all come and gone. It was so nice to meet fellow Disboarders. Hi, Amy, John and Zach! Thanks again for the great picture from John!

Here's a link to our Trip Report in case anyone is interested! There's another link at the end of the TR to some photos and the video of the "reef" at Serenity Bay with the underwater camera.

Now time to start dreaming about the next cruise!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=37721755#post37721755

 

[Wondermom1965]

Hi Skylynx, Sorry we didn't get to meet you all. We were not able to make it to the meet and greet at Prom. I bet you are a wealth of information after having 11 cruises under your belts. Loved your pictures. You can check ours out on my Facebook page @ Patricia Kincaid Ceballos. You will have to friend me because I have our pictures as view by friends only. So sorry that you didn't have great service this trip. And you guys know what to expect for dinner. Did you ever have service like this before or has it always been good? Last trip, we weren't really happy with our server, but LOVED our assist. server, so we requested her this time. She was with a different server, thank goodness and we loved him too. Hope your # 12 is even better.

 

[skylynx]

Hi, Wondermom. Sorry we missed you, too. I'd love to see your pictures!

On the subject of servers...

Our servers were very ok, but not "excellent". They regularly messed up who got what. I never make a big deal out of things like that at a restaurant and have long since stopped going out to eat with people who do, but when you are primed to keep giving "excellent" reports, it gets noticed. And here's the thing...maybe it's just me. I do not want to be put in the position of being a food service critic on my vacation. I don't want to have to analyze and report on everything that happens with my appetizer, entree, and dessert. I don't want to feel obligated to pay a lot of attention to the people bringing me my food, much less critique their every performance and deliver scores afterwards. I have to do stuff like that at work...on vacation, I really don't care if I got the creme brulee when my daugher ordered it. We just swap plates, for crying out loud. And I don't feel compelled to announce at the dining table that I received the wrong dessert and the service team better shape up!

Interestingly, for the first time on the survey everyone gets the last night, there was a question about whether or not we felt pressured to give an "excellent" rating. I said absolutely yes. Our last cruise was over a year ago, so the question may not be brand new, but it is relatively new. Some folks must have complained for that question to make it on the survey.

Our server pretty much said if we didn't tell them how to make their service excellent, they'd be expecting an excellent rating. Sometimes it isn't something you can put your finger on, you just feel it. A kind of an attitude of "I'm really above pouring ketchup on your kid's plate" or "I'm only doing this because the country I come from is poverty stricken". How would you provide feedback on that? And who wants to? We have had many servers who take genuine pride in what they do, and it shows. They do an excellent job and deserve the highest ratings.

I know from reading the Disboards for so long that the performance of servers is very important to some people. It's just not to me. Naturally I'd like the right order, at the right temperature, and in synchronization with the rest of the people I'm eating with, but mistakes happen and a steak cooked the wrong way isn't going to impact the happiness of my vacation one iota; it will be forgotten in minutes.

Just a reflection.

 

[Wondermom1965]

I noticed the question as new too. We were on 4 months ago and didn't have it. It's funny, the people who don't ask you to give them an "excellent" rating are the ones that really deserve it. We want to enjoy our family vacation, not worry about the service. When our server gave us the wrong things once, we just traded and then my husband had a ball messing with him the rest of the cruise..all in fun.. and our server was so great about it. I really thought the food was just ok this time, so I did mention it on the survey. What really makes the cruise great is not having to worry about anything. I don't want to have to think about who gave me good service. These people go to Disney University and have been trained on how to give us a wonderful time. Maybe some are losing sight of that and that's why they have added it to the questionnaire. You guys could be our table mates any day. We just like to have fun.

Hi, Wondermom. Sorry we missed you, too. I'd love to see your pictures!

On the subject of servers...

Our servers were very ok, but not "excellent". They regularly messed up who got what. I never make a big deal out of things like that at a restaurant and have long since stopped going out to eat with people who do, but when you are primed to keep giving "excellent" reports, it gets noticed. And here's the thing...maybe it's just me. I do not want to be put in the position of being a food service critic on my vacation. I don't want to have to analyze and report on everything that happens with my appetizer, entree, and dessert. I don't want to feel obligated to pay a lot of attention to the people bringing me my food, much less critique their every performance and deliver scores afterwards. I have to do stuff like that at work...on vacation, I really don't care if I got the creme brulee when my daugher ordered it. We just swap plates, for crying out loud. And I don't feel compelled to announce at the dining table that I received the wrong dessert and the service team better shape up!

Interestingly, for the first time on the survey everyone gets the last night, there was a question about whether or not we felt pressured to give an "excellent" rating. I said absolutely yes. Our last cruise was over a year ago, so the question may not be brand new, but it is relatively new. Some folks must have complained for that question to make it on the survey.

Our server pretty much said if we didn't tell them how to make their service excellent, they'd be expecting an excellent rating. Sometimes it isn't something you can put your finger on, you just feel it. A kind of an attitude of "I'm really above pouring ketchup on your kid's plate" or "I'm only doing this because the country I come from is poverty stricken". How would you provide feedback on that? And who wants to? We have had many servers who take genuine pride in what they do, and it shows. They do an excellent job and deserve the highest ratings.

I know from reading the Disboards for so long that the performance of servers is very important to some people. It's just not to me. Naturally I'd like the right order, at the right temperature, and in synchronization with the rest of the people I'm eating with, but mistakes happen and a steak cooked the wrong way isn't going to impact the happiness of my vacation one iota; it will be forgotten in minutes.

Just a reflection.

 

[disneyboys3]

Amy!
Hope you get this message. This is Kerri, your dinner companion from the July 30 cruise. I am so sorry, but I misplaced the contact information you gave me. We left a small gift outside your cabin on the last night of the cruise with our info in it, but it may have gotten taken with the rush of moving off the ship. Apparently I need to leave 10 posts to add an email address to a post on this thread, so I'll try it this way: add gmail.com to the end of this (ka.treacy) and you'll get my email. So if you try to contact me, I'd love to hear from you. Hope all is well with the family. With any luck, this thread will generate an email back to you.

Kerri

 

[disneyboys3]

This was a special cruise for us as we met so many nice people!

We had the BEST dinner companions ever! Thank you Sean, Kerri, Brendan, Kevin and Brian for keeping your first seating and sharing meals with us; we so enjoyed getting to know your lovely family! I look forward to seeing what I know will be amazing custom door magnets on a future cruise!

We were constantly being amazed at the generosity and creativeness of "WonderMom!" My son said, "She really is a "Wonder MOM!" after being overwhelmed by the FE gifts. Patricia, please know you have set the bar high for us on our next cruise with your individually-wrapped, thoughtful gifts! I'm so sorry we never got a chance to meet you and thank you in person.

We ran into the dcrocks6 family so often, I sometimes thought we could be the 4th cabin in their group. Melodie, it was a pleasure meeting you and your family and hope that you enjoyed your first Disney cruise!

And, Denise (skylynx), you are all that I aspire to be -- Platinum with children who enjoy going to the club ! It was a pleasure meeting you and John and hope we make another of your cruises someday!

I know some folks dropped off things for us without a name; thank you very much!

Well we are booked on Dream for 4 days next June (6/3) and there are already 4 pages of posts for folks on that cruise. Hope you can join us or maybe we'll see you on a future one...

Wishing you Disney Dreams!

Amy (John and Zach)

Amy, I posted at the end of this thread that I misplaced all of your information. I thought it was packed away with our passports, but just can't find it anywhere. We left you a gift the night before disembarking with our info, but I'm afraid someone may have taken it. Sean warned me about that... Please try to get in touch via email. I'm at ka.treacy @ gmail.com. (No spaces.) I'd like to send you pictures and hope this message finds you, John, and Zach well.

Take Care,
Kerri