Magic Christmas Cruise 2010 (Dec 18th - 29th) - PART II

[Marcy Mouse]

Hi everyone!

I just booked one of those gty 12 cabins. I was on the Dec 29th wonder but when I saw that we could do the Christmas cruise for just a bit more I jumped on it.

It will be me, the mom - 36, DH 38 and DS 17)

I haven't gone through part 1 of the thread yet but I did get through all of part 2. I see that many of you are excited like me!!!!

 

[disneycruising]

No divers here, sorry. But we surprised our kids with a cruise this summer to the Baltic. I think I had more fun with it than they did at the time, but now they can't stop talking about how we broke the news.

We had to take them out of school several days early. So I conspired with five of their teachers to put together a scavenger hunt that integrated what they had learned throughout the year with stuff we would see or experience on the cruise. For example, they had had units on art and explorers. So they had to answer a question about the Vikings exploration of North America and identify the name of "The Scream". One DD had done a unit on earth science, so had to tell her teacher how glaciers formed the fjords. The other had done a unit on forces like gravity, etc. so had to tell her teacher how boats float.

At the end, the last clue told them to say good bye to their teachers because they would be traveling that night. When they got home there was a big sign on the door that said we were going on a Disney cruise!

I had fun putting all the clues together and surprising the kids.

Regardless of how you surprise them, let us know! I love to live vicariously!

I love how you told your kids about the trip!

I am not sure when we will tell them or how. I would love to keep it a secret for as long as possible. I am concerned about their reaction... to not going to Grandma & Papa for Christmas. We have gone to Grandma & Papa's every year for 16 years. I might have to tell them early enough to get over that part. I also have to break the new to my parents and sisters.

A few years back we surprised the kids with a cruise over Thanksigving. We woke them up the morning of our flight (6 am) and told them to get dressed...we are going on a cruise! They didn't believe us, until my DH brought all the suitcase down stairs. My oldest DD ask the whole drive to the airport if I had: clothes, toothbrush, favorite "lovies", etc. It was fun because the whole flight, the kids talked all about what they were going to do on the ship.

 

[disneycruising]

Hi everyone!

I just booked one of those gty 12 cabins. I was on the Dec 29th wonder but when I saw that we could do the Christmas cruise for just a bit more I jumped on it.

It will be me, the mom - 36, DH 38 and DS 17)

I haven't gone through part 1 of the thread yet but I did get through all of part 2. I see that many of you are excited like me!!!!

We just book the cruise recently too! We got a great price on 2 cat 12 GTY.

 

[bigAWL]

GTY = guarantee cabin category... E.g., you can't get any worse than the category that you paid for, but could end up in a Cat 6 after paying for a Cat 11. A gamble, but one that may pay off!

The attraction is that it is cheaper than booking a specific room assignment. You pay a little less (sometimes a lot less), and DCL gets the flexibility to move you around if they need to. So if they are able to sell more cat 12s and 11s than they are 10s and 9s, they can bump people up to open more 12s and 11s for new bookings. Helps fill the ship.

 

[BBQMommy]

Got the fixings for a no-sew fish extender -- we'll see! Hobby Lobby had some great vintage Mickey fabric that I could not resist.

 

[IceSk8ersMom]

BBQ Mommy, please post a picture of your FE when you are finished. I know it will look fabulous

 

[IceSk8ersMom]

I believe that I am finally caught up with work and most importantly the DISboards We have such a great group. I am getting excited to meet you.

Welcome aboard disneycruising and Marcy Mouse.

It looks like we are getting a nice size group of teenagers onboard. My DD (15) is happy about that. It would be nice if we could get some of them chatting before the cruise.

The t-shirts from Cafe Press are so cute. We got our shirts last week. Thank you, bigAWL. The design looks great.

Excursions! Excursions! Excursions! We are starting to take a good look at them to make some decisions. I appreciate all the information that I get from the DISboards. I will let you know about our progress.

tinksmischief, I PM'ed you with the information. I will get you the stateroom assignments ASAP.

Summer is quickly coming to an end. We buy my DD's textbooks tomorrow for her sophomore year. She starts school next Monday. It has been a busy summer with the wedding and my DD's friend quince (which was yesterday). I have only been to Disneyland twice this summer. I hope I can get there more this fall.

Things that I am looking forward to: First Day of School, Labor Day weekend, Raven's confirmation classes, and my DH's shift change from working swing and graveyard shifts for three years to working the day shift.

Take care and talk to you soon.

 

[BBQMommy]

Thank you - votes of confidence always help Will have time tomorrow night and I promise to post pics

Caryn

 

[3PrincessGrandma]

I also am anxious to see your "no-sew" FE. My sewing machine hasn't come out of the case for over 5 years. Not sure if I even know how to thread it anymore I still need to do my FE. Did some shopping for the trip today taking advantage of TX' "no sales tax" weekend. Now need to get ready for DH's 45th reunion at the Air Force-Navy football game end of Sept before I can really work on cruising. Then, full steam ahead for WDW and the Magic

 

[DVC4US]

Hi All!

I am finally going to jump on board here. We have been signed up for this cruise since day 1. I’ve been lurking on this thread for a while now so I thought it was time to join in.

Our Party Includes:
Me - LeiLani
DD – Alyssa (14)
Cabin 8048

DD – Brittany (21)
DDBF – David (22)
Cabin 5126

DD’s boyfriend’s family
Lee
Angie
Cabin 8032

My Parents
Chuck
Nell
Cabin 6084
I have been on 8 Disney cruises including a 2007 Med cruise and the 2004 - 10 day Christmas cruise. As a matter of fact my daughter met her boyfriend on the 2004 cruise. He lived in Virginia and she lived in Iowa so they had a long distance relationship during high school. Now they both go to college in Virginia. Both of the families are big Disney fans and we have gone to WDW several times and on several cruises. We loved the Christmas cruise in 2004 so when DCL put this one out there we decided to book it.

My DD, Alyssa, would love to meet up with other teens so if your teenager is interested let me know and maybe they can hook-up on face book or by email.

I'm in for the FE and for any DIS-meets. I'm the only DIS'er in our party so I don't know if any of the others will want to join in.

 

[DVC4US]

We will be flying in on the 17th and staying at the Hyatt. We would love to meet up with any DISers staying at the Hyatt.

We will also be extending our trip and staying at WDW from the 29th to Jan 2.

 

[BBQMommy]

Hello LeiLani!

Sounds like a great group and New Years at WDW sounds wonderful! Not sure where we will be yet the night before. Two nights before we will be at Universal visiting Mr. Potter


Caryn

 

[DVC4US]

Hello LeiLani!

Sounds like a great group and New Years at WDW sounds wonderful! Not sure where we will be yet the night before. Two nights before we will be at Universal visiting Mr. Potter


Caryn

Hi Caryn,

Yeah, it is a great group. The last time we were all together on a cruise was the 2007 Med cruise so we are really looking forward to this one.

DD and I were going to try Universal this summer when we were at WDW but the crowds were still pretty big so we decided to wait until another time. Don't know if we will get to it after the cruise or just wait for the next visit.

 

[BBQMommy]

I'm awake and started digging. Found the website with the port schedules and am so happy that at only 1 of our 6 stops will other cruise ships be docked. Less competition for excursions and not so busy and hectic.

Cruise Itinerary
Sat, Dec 18: Port Canaveral, Florida - Norwegian Sun and Carnival Dream (8148 port load)
Sun, Dec 19: At Sea -
Mon, Dec 20: At Sea
Tue, Dec 21: St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles - Adventure of the Seas and Norwegian Epic also docked (9814 port load)
Wed, Dec 22: Guadeloupe, West Indies - only cruise ship docked
Thu, Dec 23: Barbados, West Indies - only cruise ship docked
Fri, Dec 24: Martinique, West Indies - only cruise ship docked
Sat, Dec 25: At Sea - Christmas Day
Sun, Dec 26: St. Thomas/St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands - only cruise ship docked
Mon, Dec 27: At Sea -
Tue, Dec 28: Castaway Cay - only cruise ship docked
Wed, Dec 29: Port Canaveral, Florida

 

[itutorfortravel]

I'm awake and started digging. Found the website with the port schedules and am so happy that at only 1 of our 6 stops will other cruise ships be docked. Less competition for excursions and not so busy and hectic.

Cruise Itinerary
Sat, Dec 18: Port Canaveral, Florida - Norwegian Sun and Carnival Dream (8148 port load)
Sun, Dec 19: At Sea -
Mon, Dec 20: At Sea
Tue, Dec 21: St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles - Adventure of the Seas and Norwegian Epic also docked (9814 port load)
Wed, Dec 22: Guadeloupe, West Indies - only cruise ship docked
Thu, Dec 23: Barbados, West Indies - only cruise ship docked
Fri, Dec 24: Martinique, West Indies - only cruise ship docked
Sat, Dec 25: At Sea - Christmas Day
Sun, Dec 26: St. Thomas/St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands - only cruise ship docked
Mon, Dec 27: At Sea -
Tue, Dec 28: Castaway Cay - only cruise ship docked
Wed, Dec 29: Port Canaveral, Florida

That is awesome!

 

[CrusinLattas]

Welcome new cruisers! What a great group we have! Thank you for the port information! Everyone on here has such great information! I searched to see if rates had changed after final payments - and no - still the same - in fact Cat 12 rooms are no longer available so unless something changes soon, it may not be worth while to wait to book! We are using DVC points that we got when we joined DVC on a cruise a couple years ago - they gave us lots of extra points that we had to use in a short amount of time and a cruise seemed like the best way to use them all - Normally points are not the way to go on cruises - since they are such a good deal at WDW and about break even on the cruise. I think it would be fun to go with GTY sometime!

What a great story about meeting a boyfriend on a cruise years ago and now traveling together with families again!

I also am happy to see more excursions added!

Today was the first day of school for us! We spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge - it is the closest thing we get to Disney in Texas - and although it was fun, I always find myself comparing everything else to Disney and seeing it fall short! I wish they would bring more of the Disney magic to the center of the US! We are going camping in Jellystone Park over Labor Day Weekend. The kids really enjoy that too - my son loves to talk about the Hey, Hey Hay ride...smile.

Hope everyone is having a super wonderful Monday!

 

[disneycruising]

My DH and I sat down yesterday and booked our shore excursion.

It was back to school today for our oldest 3. Our youngest will start on Wednesday. She is looking forward to a few days alone with mom!

Have a great day everyone.

 

[DVC4US]

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

With so many coming(me included) and going on this cruise I was wondering if we had a current list of who was going on the cruise. If not, I would be willing to put one together.

I was trying to remember some of the things we did on the 2004 Christmas cruise. It was a much larger group so it was probably eaiser to get at least some people involved.

- We organized it so that all the cruisers with main/late dinning were on the same rotation and at tables next to each other. Some of the cruisers were also put at tables together. It was a lot of fun.

- We booked a DIS brunch party in the private dinning room at Palo. I already have 6 adults in my party so I might do this one of the sea days and just open it up to 6 other people. I'll let you guys know if I decide to do this.

- We had a wine party in Sessions one afternoon. Someone booked Sessions for our group and everyone who wanted to join in brought a bottle of wine to share.

These are just some of the things I can remember. We had a lot of fun.

 

[DVC4US]

I have a question at FEs. In all of our cruises we have never done this. How many pockets do they have? Just the people in your cabin? Is it a gift for every day or just how many you want to bring?

Thanks so much!

 

[Bakerteam]

My family & I did the Holiday Cruise in 2006. It was fabulous. You miss the holiday rush before xmas and it makes you be more organized before you leave.

One of the people on the disboards for that cruise made stockings for everyone. That's what I'm bringing on the ship for our FE.

I believe there is a thread with ideas for things to put into the FE.

Our ornament exchange was great. We all brought ornaments from the areas that we were from and then we did the Yankee swap. If I recall this was like 3pm or 4pm on one of the days were were at sea.