June 14, 2011 - Father's Day on the Wonder in ALASKA!

[Smileneyes]

Hi guys!

I am alive, but have been off the boards for months. We are still going--made the final payment w/ DU today. Please put us on the FE list Scott, Mary, Liam (14), & Patrick (turning 11 on the cruise).

I will try to read & get caught up when I can. I am overwhelmed by the excursion choices & comparing them to private tour companies. I am overwhelmed at life. I spent the Fall trying to figure out a recurring rash on my hands & unrelated health problem that turned out to be hyponatremia. It made me weak, dizzy, etc. My thyroid went out of whack & while they increased the dose, I spent multiple periods a day in the nurse's office or at home getting my BP checked b/c while my boday adjusted to the increased doses. After multiple biopsies on my wrist, I eventually went to the Mayo Clinic over New Years & I've been trying to get caught up ever since. The boys have bball constantly or scouts. It's just a really busy time. Busier than normal b/c of a new athletic director who scheduled us for way too much.

You'll love this, my rash is b/c of a new allergy & one that has become much more severe.

I'm allergic to work.

I'm not kidding. I'm allergic to the ink on the papers I have to grade & make copies. I'm allergic to all the door handles in the school, my podium, my desk drawers, file cabinets, & the list goes on.....

I'm allergic to cobalt chloride & my nickel allergy has become extremely severe.

Long story--I'll explain more of how I'm handling this if anyone's interested.

Sorry for being so out of touch. I'm trying to psyched for Alaska again while I try to get healthier so I can be stronger for all the great excurisons I want to do.

I can't wait to read about which ones everyone plans to go on & get as much advice as possible. Dog mushing is a must, but after that my family is all over the place of what they want to do in such a short time frame.

Mary!!! We have missed you! Glad you're back with us, and sorry to hear of your recent woes. Hope you are on the mend!

Since you've been gone for a while, you've got some reading to do to catch up...but I'm sure you'll be up-to-date in no time.

You're on the FE list as well. Knowing us, we'll bump into each other numerous times delivering gifts!

Give our best to the family...and you are in our thoughts!

--Drew

 

[mmmears]

Joining the "paid in full" list as of yesterday. Hard to be excited about it since soooo much $$$. But we're really excited about the cruise.

Now we just have to wait to book the excursions (it doesn't help to be so far down on the list). Hopefully there will be something left for us.

If you are able to book early, please let the rest of us know if you find out anything "interesting" while booking.

 

[Smileneyes]

Joining the "paid in full" list as of yesterday. Hard to be excited about it since soooo much $$$. But we're really excited about the cruise.

Now we just have to wait to book the excursions (it doesn't help to be so far down on the list). Hopefully there will be something left for us.

If you are able to book early, please let the rest of us know if you find out anything "interesting" while booking.

Congrats on the "paid in full"!

I received your PM and added you to the FE list at the beginning of the thread. I did forget to ask you what city in CA you're from (if you wanna share).

I don't know how many platinum members we have among us. They'll be the first to be able to book ressies, and they would be ready to book on Monday 2/14, I believe.

We're next at gold level, and will be on DCL's website at midnight 3/1/11.

Believe it or not, we're kicking around the idea of the really expensive helicopter/dogsledding excursion (it's on the bucket list, don'tchaknow)....

Congratulations again!
--Drew

 

[mmmears]

I don't know how many platinum members we have among us. They'll be the first to be able to book ressies, and they would be ready to book on Monday 2/14, I believe.

We're next at gold level, and will be on DCL's website at midnight 3/1/11.

Believe it or not, we're kicking around the idea of the really expensive helicopter/dogsledding excursion (it's on the bucket list, don'tchaknow)....

Congratulations again!
--Drew

Thanks!

Hopefully we'll hear more about excursion times/availability starting this week, then.

We booked a Mendenhall glacier trek in Juneau through an independent tour company, so at least I'm not worried about that day. My DD does want us to book one excursion through DCL though. I hope you get your helicopter/dog sled excursion!

 

[SweetDolly]

We joined the 'paid in full' club today, but I can't even pretend to be doing the happy dance. I think that was the single largest purchase I've ever put on a credit card. I know it will be all worth it when we're taking in the majesty of Alaska from our verandah!

As more families join FE, I'm starting to realize my boys may be amongst the youngest on this cruise. They will be 6 1/2 and 14 months at time of sailing. Anyone else out there with kids under 10? I'm hoping Jackson won't find himself alone in the Oceaneer's Club!

 

[wendy151950]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to stop in and say hello. My daughter Sarah and I are now reserved on the cruise and are excited to be going. We live in Hudson, Ohio which is near Akron and Cleveland and Sarah is 15. We'll be in cabin on deck 5 which is the same deck we were on when we cruised to the Mediterranean in 2007.

I did a land trip to Alaska years ago (1982) but have never done a cruise which is why we chose this option instead of another trip. Being able to use DVC points also made the decision easier!

Looking forward to hearing more from everyone as we get closer, particularly on the excursions.

 

[Smileneyes]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to stop in and say hello. My daughter Sarah and I are now reserved on the cruise and are excited to be going. We live in Hudson, Ohio which is near Akron and Cleveland and Sarah is 15. We'll be in cabin on deck 5 which is the same deck we were on when we cruised to the Mediterranean in 2007.

I did a land trip to Alaska years ago (1982) but have never done a cruise which is why we chose this option instead of another trip. Being able to use DVC points also made the decision easier!

Looking forward to hearing more from everyone as we get closer, particularly on the excursions.

Welcome, fellow Buckeyes!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Wendy - welcome to the group!

We put the balance on our Disney visa credit card a few weeks ago so we could get the reward dollars for our spring break trip to WDW I needed to be sure it posted in time to use them. And now we're sending $$$$ to Chase to pay off the balance. Seriously hurts every time we take a trip like this - but then we have such a good time and experience that we realize that the frugal living for the majority of the time is worth it to be extravagant with the Disney life

 

[ward3]

4 months until sail away. Chase visa is doing triple bonus points on purchases over 3 thousand until March 31st. I got a card in the mail but you could probably call visa and reward center to get points on your balance.

 

[kde175]

We joined the 'paid in full' club today, but I can't even pretend to be doing the happy dance. I think that was the single largest purchase I've ever put on a credit card. I know it will be all worth it when we're taking in the majesty of Alaska from our verandah!

As more families join FE, I'm starting to realize my boys may be amongst the youngest on this cruise. They will be 6 1/2 and 14 months at time of sailing. Anyone else out there with kids under 10? I'm hoping Jackson won't find himself alone in the Oceaneer's Club!

We'll be there. Emma will be 4 1/2. Not too close in age to your two, but I'm sure she's love hanging out with Jackson. She has a thing for older men.

 

[DVC Mary]

I don't know how many platinum members we have among us. They'll be the first to be able to book ressies, and they would be ready to book on Monday 2/14, I believe.

We're next at gold level, and will be on DCL's website at midnight 3/1/11.

Believe it or not, we're kicking around the idea of the really expensive helicopter/dogsledding excursion (it's on the bucket list, don'tchaknow)....

Congratulations again!
--Drew

Eeeek!

I only have 13 more days to pick my excursions!!!!! We are also probably going to do one of the dog sled excursions. Which one are you looking at?

I'm totally overwhelmed by the choices. We didn't do Christmas presents so we'd have $$ for the much pricier than normal excursions. The problem is that everyone wants to do different excursions. I'm trying to find ones that meet several people's desires.

Has anyone done any research on the excursions & have any recommendations?

Besides dog sledding, one of DS's really wants to ACTUALLY fish, but he's only 10 turning 11 onboard, so he's not exactly ready for big game fishing. Note again he doesn't want to just SEE the fish, he wants to actually catch them. He doesn't care if has throw them back.

Has anyone thought about getting a group together for any of the private excursions? The Juneau one for 20 people would be $140 a person??? You can choose what you do more on those. I haven't looked at the other cities yet.

 

[IrishBear]

Hello all,

We just booked for Alaska.

Irishbear family comprised of:

Alisa (first half of Irishbear)
Tom (second half of Irishbear)
David (DS - 14)
Katie (DD - 12)

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise.

We are interested in what people are doing for shore excursions. Anybody thinking of doing excursions other than Disney's?

Lastly, when is the meet n greet?

 

[mmmears]

Hello all,

We just booked for Alaska.

Irishbear family comprised of:

Alisa (first half of Irishbear)
Tom (second half of Irishbear)
David (DS - 14)
Katie (DD - 12)

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise.

We are interested in what people are doing for shore excursions. Anybody thinking of doing excursions other than Disney's?

Lastly, when is the meet n greet?

Welcome, neighbor (we live in the Bay Area, too).

We booked an excursion in Juneau that isn't offered by Disney. The company is Above and Beyond Alaska and we have some friends that used them and said that it was their best day ever (2 families, on 2 separate trips, so it should be good). We are going to kayak at Mendenhall Lake then go walking on the glacier. That's the only excursion we have booked so far.

 

[sunshine state kim]

We made it to platinum after our last cruise so I was able to book excursions and pall on Monday. We're going dog sledding in Skagway. We're on our own in Juneau and ketchikan. Just paid off the plane tickets. Haven't seen the visa bill yet with the balance of the cruise but I'm sure it will be horrible. We did get that tripple rewards deal so that will help pay for the excursions!

 

[amyhuffman]

Please add us to your list for sailing 6/14. We are a family of 5 DH, DD (13), DD (10), and DS (8). This will be our 6th Disney Cruise. We are looking forward to meeting you on the trip. We are from Columbus, Ohio. 106 days and counting!

 

[lsutigger2]

Welcome aboard

And thanks for the countdown

Maybe we shold have a big dance when we reach 100 days

 

[amyhuffman]

What is the fish extender list?

 

[amyhuffman]

I looked at some other posts and have learned a little about the FE list. Can you give me details on the gift exchange for this cruise. Is it just for the kids? How much should we spend on gifts and how many for each person/cabin? Please add our family to the FE list:

Amy (A)
Bruce (A)
Catherine (Female-13)
Taryn(Female-10)
Kelan (Male-8)

Columbus, Ohio


Thanks!

 

[wendy151950]

I have a couple of e-mails out to do a whale watching trip in Juneau on a smaller boat. I don't know that we'll do any other private excursions. Still have to do plane tickets and hotel. They're on my list for this week. We're planning on coming in on Monday and then staying over an extra day. Vancouver is a beautiful city and I haven't been there for quite a few years so am looking forward to seeing it again.

I did find a port schedule today and there will be 4 ships in port with us in Juneau and Ketchikan. There is just one other one in Tracy Arm and Skagway (Carnival Spirit). Thought that was interesting tid bit for today!

 

[lsutigger2]

FE info:
we have participated in one other FE and enjoyed it. It is just my Dh and I and he would be so excited when we got back to the room and there would be something in our FE!

Last cruise I had two rounds of goodies to deliver, this time i'll probably only do one. the gifts can be just about anything! Some folks deliver items that are from their state {last cruise we had Mardi Gras beads} or some goodie to remind folks of the cruise. We got a mouse pad {I use it at work everyday } and some post-it notes. We also had things for the children, depending on age. those teens were the hardest for me. Some of the items are home-made from those "crafty" folks, others purchased. It really is "almost-anything-goes".

Any other suggestions from fellow cruisers??

I'm headed off to look over the post adventures again to see if I can narrow down my list.

DREW: do you know of Spencer Ware?? He played high school football in Cincinnati at Princeton HS. He made a good choice and is now an LSU football and baseball player