June 22, 2013 FANTASY 7 night western cruise *UPDATE FE signup

[Mike&JanHuff]

Seems like there will be a lot of us with teens on this cruise. Do any of you have any interest in having the kids "meet" beforehand, so they have company on the cruise? I was thinking I could set up a Facebook event that they could all join or something similar. My daughter really enjoyed it last summer when she had "met" a friend before the cruise, they did a lot together on the ship. My kids will be dd17 and ds14. Plus my ds3.

Or, you could have your teen PM me on here (through you) and I'll have my kids respond, if that is more comfortable for everyone.

As for excursions, I'm not really sure what we'll be doing since we'll have a 3yo to entertain. We might have to split up as a family and have the teens do something different than a parent/toddler. And I'm hoping to snag a cabana on Castaway Cay.

I would love this!! My son will be 13 at the time of sailing... would love for them to have a little place to "chat" and meet virtually before the actual meet!

 

[Mike&JanHuff]

my posts broke it :-(

 

[1princess1prince]

Got through our 9 days at WDW - now it is time to focus on the cruise!! Me, dh, dd (she will be 2 weeks shy of 11 on cruise) and ds (9) will be joining all of you. Yeah!!

I have been looking at excursions this week. I am actually considering trying the Grand Cayman beaches on our own - anyone who has done that, I would love input. I think we will do the ruins in Costa Maya (dh's must do) and snorkeling in Conzumel. So any input on those would be appreciated too. We would love to get a cabana at Castaway Cay but wonder what our chances are. I assume they get grabbed up pretty quickly.

And any info on Shutters on the 7 day cruise?...I have seen the 349.95 price with the extra $50 for prints but I also so a lot of people complaining about no photographers around. We had plenty of pictures on our 5 day cruise, but the prise is considerably higher. We dont do family portraits around home, so I do have some justification

Well here is to less than a year to sailing!!

 

[kimsue68]

just updated our list!! IT'S GROWING!!!!!

 

[socababy]

I just sent an email to my TA to book my kids and I on this cruise. I had orginally planned on doing the June 29 cruise with a WDW stay before the cruise. I just happened to go on the kid's school website to confirm their last day of school only to find out they are getting out 2 weeks earlier than normal!! You have got to love public school budget cuts! So I immediately hopped onto the DVC site to make my WDW reservation and emailed my TA to book this cruise! It will be myself, ds10, ds8, and dd5.

gloria1016, my Dh will also be with us in spirit! You and your kids will have so much fun. I have found that Disney cruises have been the best vacation for the kids and I. I don't have to cook or clean and I get some quiet time while they are in the clubs. The kids and I both LOVE DCL!

 

[Mike&JanHuff]

And any info on Shutters on the 7 day cruise?...I have seen the 349.95 price with the extra $50 for prints but I also so a lot of people complaining about no photographers around. We had plenty of pictures on our 5 day cruise, but the prise is considerably higher. We dont do family portraits around home, so I do have some justification

I purchased the cd plus prints for the first time our last cruise and I will do it again every time. I will take advantage of more of the photo opportunities next time for sure. I am a photographer and I am so ashamed to say that we never have family pics done of ourselves at home. I look at my walls and everything is from Disney. They really do a beautiful job. It always just has broken my heart to leave even a single picture behind when we have purchased photos in the past... so it was so nice to walk away this cruise with all the pics... the good , the bad and the ugly...LOL

 

[dpuck1998]

We are booked on this cruise with our 3 kids that will be 14, 12 and 8 on sail date. Also we are bringing my Mother and my Mother in law and her husband are coming along as well. We have 3 rooms booked so we have our own party crew already

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi everyone!

Last weekend marked 11 months until the cruise... which meant our DVC home resort window opened!
We've booked two nights at BWV - standard studio - before the cruise on June 22nd, hoping to have a couple of days to check out the new Fantasyland


Emma x

 

[Timster]

The Landryclan is booked. Now the wait...

 

[Babs417]

Hi everyone Im KimSue's Mom and I just cant wait. Its been to long since our last cruise. Are we going to be giving out little gifts to the kids? Just woundering.I love these little people.

 

[dpuck1998]

Hi everyone Im KimSue's Mom and I just cant wait. Its been to long since our last cruise. Are we going to be giving out little gifts to the kids? Just woundering.I love these little people.

Do you mean doing fish extenders? I'd be interested if we have a group that wants to take part.

 

[LVaughn]

We've participated in the FE group on the last couple of cruises. I would hope that this group wants to do them as well. Someone needs to start the list of people interested in it. Our last cruise meet thread was incredibly busy, and they had people organizing all kinds of things. So far, this group seems a lot smaller and quieter. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. We had over 200 pages in the last meet thread.

The last group used Google docs to create a spreadsheet for the info, and they even created forms to enter the information. I can get a list of the information needed for the FE list if someone wants to start one. I can help with the technical side of using Google docs if someone needs it as well.

By the way, the FE isn't usually just for kids. Ours has spots for all four of us, but we don't ever expect something for each of us. On the last cruise, we had a full range of things in the FE. Sometimes it was a gift for the whole family, sometimes there was something in each pocket, probably about half of each I'd guess. We had over 50 cabins on that FE group. The cruise meet group actually had three different FE lists. They'd start a new one after closing off the previous one for those that wanted to participate.

Just to get the good vibes going, here's a link to pictures (and a few videos) from the 6/23/12 Fantasy Western sailing: http://andyr.smugmug.com/Disney/Pirates-Return-To-The

 

[stl82]

.Just to get the good vibes going, here's a link to pictures (and a few videos) from the 6/23/12 Fantasy Western sailing: http://andyr.smugmug.com/Disney/Pirates-Return-To-The

Thanks for the great photos. These provide a very good "picture" of the ship and activities.

My wife and I have not cruised with Disney before so the FE and gifts is still a bit of a mystery. Not sure if we will participate but I think our daughter and grandson are interested. She'll be checking in on this thread when she has time.

 

[Babs417]

Well now we have something started.What did the Moms and Dada get, when we went it was just for the kids. Just saying I like the idea!

 

[LVaughn]

It's really wide open as far as what gifts to give the adults. Some of the gifts we've received/heard about are:

• Little bottles of booze
• CDs with cruise music (or whatever else you can put on a CD/DVD)
• Cruise "survival kits" with sunscreen, band-aids, etc
• Pens
• Dry erase boards/markers
• Magnets
• Something representing your home town

For the kids, we've seen activity books, stuffed toys, notepads, knick-knack items, candy, etc.

There aren't any requirements for the type of gift or amount to spend. Some people give pieces of candy and some have even given jewelry (charms, bracelets, etc). It really runs the gamut. Unfortunately, there are even some people that don't give any gifts at all, and use the FE exchange to get stuff from other people. For us, the enjoyment is in what we give, so we don't let those few people bother us.

There are threads on the DIS showing homemade gifts. There are some incredibly creative people on this board. If you want me to find some links for anyone, let me know.

 

[kimsue68]

I am way to unorganized to be in charge of the FE's. I am all in though!!

Does anyone have a catchier slogan for our cruise besides June 22, 2013 FANTASY 7 night western cruise ?

 

[kimsue68]

 

[jlawall]

Hey all! We are booked as well and looking forward to the newest ship. This trip will make us a 4 DCL ship family! We just need to see if all our adult children will be able to work out their work and school schedules to join us!

We love to do FEs as well, they can be a lot of fun! We are me, Jo, my DH and then our 3 DDs and DSIL. Less than a year to go!!

 

[kimsue68]

 

[socababy]

Well there is no going back now...cruise is booked, WDW stay is booked and I just booked my flights today! Really looking forward to seeing this beautiful ship for the first time!

We would love to participate in the FE as well! I wish I could volunteer to organize but there are many more people more computer savvy than myself!