June 27, 2007 10 Night - The Rodney Dangerfield of Med Cruises

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Me likey da spreadsheets!

Let's see ... names, kid's names, home state, stateroom numbers, first or second dining, favorite sailaway drink, hotel night before sailing, ATM PIN number, etc. Sound good?

This is the slacker cruise

Vacationeers, yes. Slacking? No, you will run yourself ragged like the rest of us - and LIKE IT

I am all for avoiding that plague and any Med dread-gomboo that might be lurking. You part the sea and I'll take the pictures!

 

[RJAYL]

My children are occupied & I am free Hooray!

One Of my favorite parts of my last Disney Cruise was the Pool side waiter who followed my meanderings around the pools adult-family-children's bringing drinks fortified with 151 Totuga Rum

Come to think about it he also tracked me down during the shows at the WDT & always brought me drinks there as well.

I do like the ATM & Pin numbers idea however! Free internet access for everyone!

Yo Ho Yo Ho a Slacker's life for me!

 

[Honu13]

Me likey da spreadsheets!

Let's see ... names, kid's names, home state, stateroom numbers, first or second dining, favorite sailaway drink, hotel night before sailing, ATM PIN number, etc. Sound good?

You forgot age/dates of birth, theme for DIS door magnet, and shoe size...

I agree that some of the organizing for these cruises is ALOT, it does seem helpful to look in one place - especially if we want to "lose" the kids with others their age!! That being said, we seem to be the "slacker" cruise. I like that...it means I won't plan myself to death and exhaustion.

So far, I'm planning beach days - except for Rome. Who's with me under the umbrella with (like we say in Vegas): cocktails? cocktails? cocktails?

 

[RJAYL]

So far, I'm planning beach days - except for Rome. Who's with me under the umbrella with (like we say in Vegas): cocktails? cocktails? cocktails?

Drinks did some one mention Drinks!

But remeber this isnt Vegas! What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

I am there!

But I do not think that Palermo or Civita (Pisa) have to get picture of family in front of leaning tower! will be a beach day! That leaves the French Ports & Sardinia for the Beach!

Gotta see what type of excursions are offered!

 

[RJAYL]

Vacationeers, yes. Slacking? No, you will run yourself ragged like the rest of us - and LIKE IT

I am all for avoiding that plague and any Med dread-gomboo that might be lurking. You part the sea and I'll take the pictures!

I am planning now so I be Slacking then!

Med dread gombo I thought you got that on the NewOrlean's cruise or one of Emeril's Restaraunts!

Again everybody sing!

YoHoYoHo a slackers life for me!
We cruise the Med looking for Rum & nary a sovenier stand!

YoHoYoHo a Slackers life for me!
We go to first seating and get two desserts & hit the Midnight Buffet Too!

YoHoYoHo a Pirates (oops Slackers) life for me!

 

[BigBlueMan]

Nevermind on this question. I found I can't post yet, so no biggie. If one of you long term folks want to take a look at it and then post it, let me know.


I belong to a Disney Cruise line Yahoo group, and the guy who moderates it just came back from a Carnival Med Cruise that is similar to the one we're taking.

Is it ok to put a link to his trip report in here? He offers a lot of insight to the ports, as well as ideas for operators to use for shore excursions, etc.

 

[BigBlueMan]

Just curious if any of you fine folks are Disney Vacation Club members?

We're members since '95 at Old Key West, but we're not using points for the cruise.

We're also doing the September 2nd Eastern Caribbean Cruise, which we ARE using points for.

 

[Doingitagain]

We are DVC members. We just joined in 2004 and are staying at Saratoga for the first time this summer. We are not using points for the cruise either. We looked into using points for pre and post stays, but other than in Austria and Italy, you have to book a full week in one place.

 

[BigBlueMan]

We looked into using points for pre and post stays, but other than in Austria and Italy, you have to book a full week in one place.

One alternative, you can use your points at the hotels at Paris Disneyland. Congrats on joining the club! DVC is the best PERSONAL investment I ever made. I can spend hours working those points, massaging them to their fullest.

You probably know this, but there will be some DVC get togethers on board the ship as well. Thats always good for some good trivia, as they like to get that DVC stuff showing around the ship so people will ask questions.

 

[Doingitagain]

Thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't thought about being able to use the Disneyland Paris hotels for a night or two.

We have cruised on "cash" before, and have stopped by to let the DVC staff know we are on board. They write down our stateroom and we get included in the invitations.

I am excited to finally see SSR ... only two more weeks! We are following that up with the second Double Dip cruise, so I am busy planning and looking forward to our trip.

 

[BigBlueMan]

We have cruised on "cash" before, and have stopped by to let the DVC staff know we are on board. They write down our stateroom and we get included in the invitations.

I am excited to finally see SSR ... only two more weeks! We are following that up with the second Double Dip cruise, so I am busy planning and looking forward to our trip.

We were on the four night cruise in January, and one of the conversations I had with the DVC folks was that they didn't automatically get the names of DVC members who weren't cruising on points. They were missing out on a lot of people on board who are natural DVC salespeople.

As for SSR, when you are there, ask for a driver named Angelo. He worked for years at Old Key West and my dad always had a lot of fun with him. I got him a Kentucky Colonel's Certificate last year and now he's known as "Colonel Angelo".

 

[Doingitagain]

We were on the four night cruise in January, and one of the conversations I had with the DVC folks was that they didn't automatically get the names of DVC members who weren't cruising on points. They were missing out on a lot of people on board who are natural DVC salespeople.

As for SSR, when you are there, ask for a driver named Angelo. He worked for years at Old Key West and my dad always had a lot of fun with him. I got him a Kentucky Colonel's Certificate last year and now he's known as "Colonel Angelo".

We make sure to stop by and tell them so we get the DVC notices while on board. They may be missing out meeting these people, but they are still salespeople! We bought in because we heard about it from some DVC members on an excursion with us!

I made a note on my SSR checklist to ask for Angelo!

 

[BigBlueMan]

Heads up to you future cruisers. Over the next few weeks, Travel Channel is running a bunch of episodes of 'Passport to Europe With Samantha Brown'.

Episodes include many of the places our cruise is going, plus some talked about other stops, including -
Paris Culture
Cannes & Nice
Monaco
Naples and
Barcelona

They've already showed several others on Rome & Paris, and I don't see those in the repeats but I'm sure they'll do them aqain soon.

 

[golfinwidow]

thanks BigBlue - they are also showing the Disney Cruise Line show again. We DVR'd it and watched it this morning and got excited all over again.

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

You forgot age/dates of birth, theme for DIS door magnet, and shoe size...

I agree that some of the organizing for these cruises is ALOT, it does seem helpful to look in one place - especially if we want to "lose" the kids with others their age!! That being said, we seem to be the "slacker" cruise. I like that...it means I won't plan myself to death and exhaustion.

So far, I'm planning beach days - except for Rome. Who's with me under the umbrella with (like we say in Vegas): cocktails? cocktails? cocktails?

ME! ME! ME!
and I likey the part about the kids kickin' around with other kids (and not us) - FINALLY! like minded thinkers

... been to the south of France. Beaches are icky, but I'm comparing them to San Diego - where we keep our clothes on

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

I've started inputting da' peeps on the first page. The post will probably end up on the second page by the time everyone is in. Let me know if any of the information is wrong. I'll input shoe size and ATM PIN numbers as I make them up. As we get closer to the date of excursion booking, I can list who is doing what so anyone undecided can see. I will put together a real spreadsheet for emailing that looks purty as we get more info. You can PM me kids' names, and actual ATM #'s ( )

have a great Sunday - going to the beach. Gotta start on the tan

 

[M&C]

Just curious if any of you fine folks are Disney Vacation Club members?

We're members since '95 at Old Key West, but we're not using points for the cruise.

We're also doing the September 2nd Eastern Caribbean Cruise, which we ARE using points for.

We just joined DVC this January. We had to do an add-on in March to cover this cruise. Our first DVC trip will be in December at BCV. Needless to say, we have maxed out our points. I guess this cruise is not the best use of points, but who cares? All I worry about is that we need more points.

Only problem with DVC is that they will only let you add air to the reservation, plus they get you there the day of sailing and back right after. Any pre and post stays are all on your own. I'm waiting a couple of weeks to start looking at what's out there. I'm also hoping DVC will also increase their offerings to members. I heard the flight add-on was a new thing.

I'm reading a lot of good info about what to do, so everyone please continue offering tips.
------------------------
M&C

 

[golfinwidow]

Cheri, that's great! I can't wait to see us up there. I'm in Boston, if that helps.

Can I ask a stupid question? What are ATM PINs??? Are we supposed to be providing bank accounts due to the high cost of the drinks??

 

[Honu13]

Can I ask a stupid question? What are ATM PINs??? Are we supposed to be providing bank accounts due to the high cost of the drinks??

Hehehe! I think she is kidding...read some of our last posts on the organization and planning habits of others! However it does help!!

Cheri...thanks so much! I will forward bank balance, PIN, acct # and transfer info as soon as I'm done paying for Med cruise...won't be much use to you until then, as I am BROKE FOR THE NEXT YEAR!!!!

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Yeah, I'm kidding ... PIN being the 4 numbers you enter into the magic machine that gives you money whenever you want it - at least according to my DD8 I figured we could use RJAYL's for Barcelona souve shopping, BigBlueMan's in Rome, golfinwidow's in Pompeii - you know, spread the luv around. And the last family to join has to buy the sailaway drinks for the drink. So we will need a credit card or ATM # for that as well. See how good I am at spending other people's money ?