KC's Western PRE trip report

[King Charming]

And even though I've been steadily moaning about the (high) cost of everything, it should also be obvious that I would prefer to do things this way. Yes, we COULD have done this for half as much, and (probably) would have if the tax money was not available. But as I implied before, if you can do it, do it right. Regrets are for others when it comes to opportunies like this. I can think of no scenario that will EVER take me to the Cayman Islands again, so getting off the ship for a good look around is mandatory. Books and the internet are excellent sources of info, but seeing and doing are the easiest way of learning. So it is going to cost an arm and a leg (or ear), so what? I long ago decided that it was more important to have a happy family than scads of money. Investing in us always brings high returns, and I have the photo's and T-shirts to prove it. You can only spend a dollar once, memories last a lifetime.

 

[King Charming]

And even though I've been steadily moaning about the (high) cost of everything, it should also be obvious that I would prefer to do things this way. Yes, we COULD have done this for half as much, and (probably) would have if the tax money was not available. But as I implied before, if you can do it, do it right. Regrets are for others when it comes to opportunies like this. I can think of no scenario that will EVER take me to the Cayman Islands again, so getting off the ship for a good look around is mandatory. Books and the internet are excellent sources of info, but seeing and doing are the easiest way of learning. So it is going to cost an arm and a leg (or ear), so what? I long ago decided that it was more important to have a happy family than scads of money. Investing in us always brings high returns, and I have the photo's and T-shirts to prove it. You can only spend a dollar once, memories last a lifetime.

 

[Hypermommy]

KC After lurking in the background for the past several weeks, I felt I had to jump in an empathize with your situation. Like you, I would like to try and resemble the common sensical "frugalness" <-is that a word? of what you are trying to do, and like you, have seemingly failed miserably.

I just wanted to pop in and let you know that KC and I read your message with great interest. It's good for me to hear that he's not the only one that tries to squeeze poor Mr. Lincoln until he cries. And he does very much enjoy the feedback that shows that folks are enjoying this essay.

I have resigned myself to the fact that as long as the DW is happy, life is good. A long term mentor of mine once told me, "Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy", it's difficult to have both.

And I'll bet you're quite happily married!

She seldom spends our money unnecessarily

Awww... thanks dear. At least I try not to. Now, we may disagree sometimes on what is the exact meaning of "necessary", eh?

 

[MassDisLovers]

Investing in us always brings high returns, and I have the photo's and T-shirts to prove it. You can only spend a dollar once, memories last a lifetime.

This is about the best thing I've ever read on these boards - wait - it might just be the best thing I've ever read all together. Hypermommy should put that saying on shirts for all of you!

 

[King Charming]

I couldn't help myself and asked DW to send one of her sweet as syrup Emails to the TA about the availability of a verandah. I just had to know. Quick as a wink they said no. I guess we were not the first to ask this month. Equally as polite, they explained that there were not any more 4 person staterooms available for our cruise and went so far as to explain that there were NO more empty staterooms period! The ship is officially full and we really are darn lucky to be included. Of all the prizes that could be won but not shared (ie money), this has got to rank near the top on the jealousy scale. Sailing and touring the Caribbean with Mickey will always give me a leg up in playing "Can you top this?" when the subject of fabulous vacations comes up. Thanks again to all those folks who made this possible.

 

[King Charming]

We finally arrived at "Milk Day". I'm sure you have seen dates stamped on the milk containers denoting spoilage date. Whenever I am anticipating an upcoming event, I am always eager to see that date printed on the milk jug. When I finally see it, I know that I can stop being so blase' about it and start preparing for the good times. Of course this time I jumped the gun (a little) as far as the excitement level goes, (I had help), but it is so nice to hit this milestone anyway.

 

[King Charming]

Man oh Man, has our printer been getting a workout. First it was magnets for the stateroom door. When we ran out of those sheets, we printed the images on regular paper, laminated them, then put smaller "sticky" magnets on the back. I didn't realize that different graphics were needed for each day! DW has apparently been having way too much fun creating new images, and our cabin door will be covered top to bottom. Most of them are personalized, and all will have our room number on them in the event they wander off. Then she kicked it up a notch by personalizing our fish-extender. The Mickey Mouse fabric wasn't enough so she added our "adopted" characters. Mine is of course Grumpy due to my tendency to grumble about Mickey's share of my money. So there should be no doubt about who is occupying our deck two room.

 

[hayanyujah847]

This is about the best thing I've ever read on these boards - wait - it might just be the best thing I've ever read all together. Hypermommy should put that saying on shirts for all of you!

I was thinking the same thing!

 

[King Charming]

Remember my delight at being shut out? No good deed goes unpunished, AGAIN! Even though I still don't have to eat fancy food at Palo, DW scored a most excellent spa ressie around lunch time on a SEA day no less! All the good slots should have been taken months ago, and it was way too easy to say "sure, go ahead and try". Knowing DW, she has been at the online site that covers this many times a day for the past month or so. Persistence paid off and now so shall I. And of course my attitude is all wrong. Rather than dwell on the cost, what I SHOULD be thinking about is how much I'm SAVING since DW found a sympathetic fellow cruiser who will style her hair for formal night AND the extra savings I incur by not getting dragged along into the spa with her. Yeah, I've heard all about the hot rocks and mud, but I don't want to get so relaxed that I can't feel the money disappear from my pocket. (That's what booze is for). Looks like we graduated to expenses that only add another 2%. What's that dear, huh?..you're gonna take what back?

 

[King Charming]

The spreadsheet turned out to have an up-side and an annoying side. In the beginning I was glad to see where all the money was going, and maybe showing off a bit by being so organized in anticipating the range of costs and funding alot of them. It was fun to check off another purchase made. If you got the impression that doubling the amount of a line item, or watching the total cost expand frustrated me completely , I've become a good writer.
The spreadsheet didn't really disappear; I just couldn't look at it anymore. Three and a half months ago I wondered what a free trip could cost. I never EVER dreamed we could run up such a bill on something so free. When you add up everything from the sheet and the spur of the moment shopping ops, plus the income tax due next year, I'm guessing it tops out near $6K for a new cruiser, spouse, and two kids. For those who haven't satisfied their spending jones and have thousands more to run through, there is always booking the next cruise while on-board, or joining DVC so Mickey can meet with your bank on a more consistent basis.

 

[King Charming]

The total cost could have been an even higher number because the list of things omitted was quite impressive. Absent items that fell in the hundred(s) dollar range included trip insurance, organized excursions in KW & GC, port parking, airline ticket/car rental, and park admissions. Lesser costs not paid include new luggage, Palo, organized tastings, the salon, silver jewerly shopping (or does that go in the other cat?), and the host of stuff that shows up on the lists of others. Now that I've been educated in boat travel, I can see how easy it is for a family of 3 or 4 to avarage well over a grand a day, and that's after getting all the first time/one time cruise items. I'd of never thought that being in the parks would be the cheaper half of a vacation, and can understand how it would be cost prohibitive to fly down for only a 3 day cruise. The Land/Sea packages must be very popular. Ahh, dear? Hello? Has anyone seen DW?

 

[Hypermommy]

Ahh, dear? Hello? Has anyone seen DW?

Shhhhhh... y'all don't tell KC I'm at Walmart again.

 

[Hypermommy]

I was thinking the same thing!

First try... not too sure if I like it. I may go with just the saying. But anyway, here's what I came up with.

 

[MassDisLovers]

Beautiful! That saying will be in my mind and heart forever!
Next week at this time we'll be making our approach to Key West!

 

[King Charming]

I'm hearing from fellow cruisers that one grand cash on hand is a good amount to take for a 7 day'er. (tips, shopping, excursions) and if any is left (GET 'em Mic) it can be applied to your ship-board account. We will bring less and rely mostly on plastic. We will load 50 bucks on the kid's cards with the understanding that they will pay any overages. They absolutely love the idea of having their own "charge" card. I plan on charging as much as possible to the KTTW card so the charges will be written down somewhere. I'll write them a check halfway through when I review the damage so far, and let them get happy with my credit card at the end. A different credit card will be used off-ship for shopping and such to help identify and record purchases. Still, I/we will always need some cash, especially smaller denomination bills. I'm thinking of bringing 50 ones, 20 fives, 25 tens, and some twenties. The room safe is a comfortable place to stash our valuables. This should be enough so everyone has a few bucks in their pocket during the week without my being suckered into passing out twenties. I'll also bring 75 bucks worth of dollar and half dollar coins. Most folks enjoy these coins (as tips) since they seldom see them anymore.
To increase your bargaining credibility, be sure to keep money in a couple of different places. You can then "discover" that you can increase your offer another few bucks. A favorite of mine is to make sure the kids have some cash, then "borrow" it back from them and play it off as something that happens all the time. Not for the bargaining aspect, but to observe the reactions from people who "overhear" my pleading and begging. I adore teasing my kids, and if I can get a reaction from somebody nearby, all the better. And when the kids play along we can raise a few eyebrows around us. We will have some fun this trip, for sure.

 

[King Charming]

Even though DW has asked me to remind her to stay away from the stores, she hasn't really gone crazy buying new cruise wear or other stuff to drag on board. I think all the planning worked. It is such a good feeling to know we have everything we need after slowly assembling stuff for months. With just 10 days to go, packing is about the only thing left to do. Maybe she's not buying junk because she doesn't want to pack it. Either way, not much expensive stuff has showed up lately, even though she could just as easily say it is for "growing children" as opposed to "cruise ware". I still have her keeping track of it all, because sometime this summer I'm going to want to know what happened to both IRS checks. Or is this just the calm before the perfect shopping storm?

 

[King Charming]

Wow, am I ever flattered by the amount of times this has been viewed and the number of daily readers this has attracted. It is easy to track, so I did. DW sent a link to it to several friends and family, and other curious people quickly ran the count over 50 readers a day. After posting links on other threads, the count galloped past 80. Some more read it during the weekend and got hooked so that there were over a hundred daily readers. The meter is currently at 4.5K views for 28 days. The growth has been steady and there were over 175 views today. Thanks Mom for logging on under so many different names and so often. I'm sure that by posting at least twice a day, there was always something new to read. I hope you liked the pace. With over 27 pages of revelations covering 16 weeks, posting many times a day was easy. Living vicariously through other people's reports and/or comparing it to your own experience is the whole purpose of these forums. And some folks say that the preparation and expectations are as much fun as the actual trip itself because it lasts longer. Look, I'm an amusing guy who had this thrust upon him and found a way to vent about it in a constructive way. Someone should please tell the Fla Lotto folks about the dignity and grace I exhibited while accepting such a fine gift. I hope they are looking for people like me. Hey...HEY.. you there.. yeah you, hey.. make sure she's only there buying drinks, OK?

 

[hayanyujah847]

First try... not too sure if I like it. I may go with just the saying. But anyway, here's what I came up with.

Love it! You know, I actually used the saying today! My mom was giving me a hard time about the amount we spend on vacationing...and I used the quote in response. She then had no further comments on it! lol!

I am *so* jealous of you all that you will be on the cruise next week, wow!

I am in a similar situation whereas I won Disney's Doorway to Dreams and am getting 225 DVC pts (I don't currently have DVC) for the next 3 years. I am still awaiting my final paperwork (*fingers crossed it comes soon*), but as soon as I do, I'm going to book the 7 day Western for Jan 2009 with my first allotment! Your TR is really helping me start to budget for my "free" cruise!!

 

[Hypermommy]

Love it! You know, I actually used the saying today! My mom was giving me a hard time about the amount we spend on vacationing...and I used the quote in response. She then had no further comments on it! lol!

I am *so* jealous of you all that you will be on the cruise next week, wow!

I am in a similar situation whereas I won Disney's Doorway to Dreams and am getting 225 DVC pts (I don't currently have DVC) for the next 3 years. I am still awaiting my final paperwork (*fingers crossed it comes soon*), but as soon as I do, I'm going to book the 7 day Western for Jan 2009 with my first allotment! Your TR is really helping me start to budget for my "free" cruise!!

Glad you could use it! Yep, I've said something similar to my mom a few times too, but KC put it much more eloquently than I ever did.

Congratulations on the DVC win! I'd love to get into DVC, but KC says we should buy a full time house before buying part time real estate. I know he's right (and we probably could if we weren't making so many memories ) but that doesn't make me want it any less. Glad to know the pre-TR is helpful to you!

 

[King Charming]

Shame on me for abandoning them. I was planning on taking the boys out on the long fishing pier and renting poles in the afternoon and only doing dinner if the fish were not biting. I had envisioned meeting 10 or 12 families from the cruise board for dinner on the night before we sailed. Turns out that the idea was not well received and we actually ended up backing out. I thought it would be cool to recognize 20 or 30 familiar faces that I could wave at while on the ship. I guess that meeting will get saved for the Yankee Swap meet on Sat. The photos that our new friends have submitted to DW's secure website will have to do for another few days.
For those of you who mistakenly read this expecting concise reporting of my circumstances (but kept reading anyway) who would like to read similar articles or accounts, please let me know. I will happily accept most/all FREE week or longer exotic vacations and can write about them for you (lets talk). This time please include a check for expenses as DW is TOO good at spending money, (esp O.P.'s) and we would like to have a verandah, also.