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

[BBQMommy]

Looking at the recent navigators from late Oct (thanks for that link!) I see they played Nightmare Before Christmas on Ariel Vision. I know it was a Halloween Cruise, but do you think they still might play it for a Christmas Cruise?!? (I have never seen it and really want to.)


and Good Morning
Caryn

 

[kehonuamemano]

What types of gifts is everyone giving their stateroom hosts and servers for XMAS? Price range? Or should we just add this to their tips?

Thanks

 

[Liz Arjay]

Wave Phones
I dont think i would be happy to give my kids something that could cost $250 to run round the ship with! I think its a good idea. I wonder if you can call them off any phone such as the phones on each deck where you can call staterooms.
Looks like we get to test them
Colette

These sound neat, especially for Castaway Cay, when parents are at Serenity Bay and kids are roaming around! We've tried walkie-talkies there before and they were only moderately successful.

Liz

 

[Liz Arjay]

What types of gifts is everyone giving their stateroom hosts and servers for XMAS? Price range? Or should we just add this to their tips?

Thanks

We will be folding cash into origami animal shapes. I think cash is always welcome, but wanted to do something different with it rather than merely adding it to the tip envelope. Plus it is light and takes no space! I was going to do gift cards, but there is always a concern they wouldn't have access to that particular store.

Another thought is putting it in those bright red and gold envelopes the Chinese use for "properity in the New Year". Saw that in this month's Oprah mag. They are really pretty envelopes. I will try to get some in our Oriental district this weekend.
Liz

 

[miatamel]

Yes- as mentioned above Shirley is the owner of The Perfect Gift. I found them online by googling, and I believe that they are at theperfectgift.com. If you want a personal gift like a basket you must call the phone number. I spoke to Melody who is actually in charge of the baskets. She was incredibly helpful personalizing surprise gifts for my boys. I can't wait to see them in the room when we walk in.

Angie

It's theperfectgift.cc

 

[miatamel]

I've gone back several pages and can't find it---
someone posted about their son, I believe, loving Cars so very much and wearing Cars tees and toting Cars stuffed animals. Would someone remind me who you were? I have something for your FE.

 

[kehonuamemano]

We will be folding cash into origami animal shapes. I think cash is always welcome, but wanted to do something different with it rather than merely adding it to the tip envelope. Plus it is light and takes no space! I was going to do gift cards, but there is always a concern they wouldn't have access to that particular store.

Another thought is putting it in those bright red and gold envelopes the Chinese use for "properity in the New Year". Saw that in this month's Oprah mag. They are really pretty envelopes. I will try to get some in our Oriental district this weekend.
Liz

Great ideas! I wish I was crafty...I fear my origami money will look just liked folded, crumpled money.

 

[DVC4US]

Do all the restaurants serve the same dinner on Christmas day? Is it a special menu or is it the regular menu?

Yes & Yes! The Christmas Day menu is like one of the themed nights and it is a special menu which will be served in all the restaurants. Below is a link that "itutorfortravel" started last year and on post number 12 another poster listed what was on the Christmas menu.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2359219&highlight=christmas+menu

 

[DVC4US]

Who is the perfect gift. Is there a website? Or just a phone #?

Below is the link for the website for The Perfect Gift. You can order a basket she has on the website or you can call and customize one.

http://www.theperfectgift.cc/

And here is the link to the main thread with people asking for ideas for baskets.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1723220&highlight=gift+baskets

Shirley does a great job and we always order baskets from her for our cruises!

 

[DVC4US]

What types of gifts is everyone giving their stateroom hosts and servers for XMAS? Price range? Or should we just add this to their tips?

Thanks

We will be folding cash into origami animal shapes. I think cash is always welcome, but wanted to do something different with it rather than merely adding it to the tip envelope. Plus it is light and takes no space! I was going to do gift cards, but there is always a concern they wouldn't have access to that particular store.

Another thought is putting it in those bright red and gold envelopes the Chinese use for "properity in the New Year". Saw that in this month's Oprah mag. They are really pretty envelopes. I will try to get some in our Oriental district this weekend.
Liz

We are going to do pretty much the same thing. I think we might throw in a bag of candy too.

 

[DVC4US]

I just saw this over on the main forum -- how cool!

Disney will offer guests the use of "Portable Wave Phones" on board the ships of the Disney Cruise Line starting in December (December 16th on the Disney Wonder; December 18th on the Disney Magic.) The portable phones can send and receive phone calls and text messages from other Wave phones when used on board the ship or on Castaway Cay. The phones do not work off the ship, and it doesn't sound like they can work with other carriers - you can use the device to call other Wave Phones on Disney's network, but not to call home.

Each stateroom will come equipped with two of the phones; concierge staterooms come with four phones. There is currently no charge to use the service, but you can rent additional units for $3.50 per unit per day if you need more than come with your room. There is a $250 charge per unit if they are lost / stolen / damaged, so that's something to consider before handing them to your pool-bound kids.

Disney is planning to use these phones to replace the pager system currently used by the Youth Activities department, which means that one parent/guardian must carry the unit at all times. If you don't have kids in Youth Programming and you don't want to use the phones, you can turn them in and Disney will turn off the service for your stateroom for the cruise.

These sound pretty cool. It will be fun to give them a try on our cruise.

A sign of the times - when I told my DD(14) about them, her first thought was it would be a great way for the teenagers to stay in touch with each other.

 

[VMinick]

Looking at the recent navigators from late Oct (thanks for that link!) I see they played Nightmare Before Christmas on Ariel Vision. I know it was a Halloween Cruise, but do you think they still might play it for a Christmas Cruise?!? (I have never seen it and really want to.)


and Good Morning
Caryn

I just saw someone with a Nightmare Before Christmas shirt in Target as I was walking by a sign about the release of A Christmas Carol and wondered if they might show both of those on the ship? It would make sense! I've never seen either one, so that would be neat.

 

[VMinick]

We will be folding cash into origami animal shapes. I think cash is always welcome, but wanted to do something different with it rather than merely adding it to the tip envelope. Plus it is light and takes no space! I was going to do gift cards, but there is always a concern they wouldn't have access to that particular store.

Another thought is putting it in those bright red and gold envelopes the Chinese use for "properity in the New Year". Saw that in this month's Oprah mag. They are really pretty envelopes. I will try to get some in our Oriental district this weekend.
Liz

I went to the DISign boards and printed out some Christmas-themed tip envelopes from someone's Photobucket and thought we'd use those instead of the provided ones. Maybe with a Godive chocolate bar or something since it's said repeatedly that they enjoy the candies that they can't get on the ship.

 

[disneydash]

I've gone back several pages and can't find it---
someone posted about their son, I believe, loving Cars so very much and wearing Cars tees and toting Cars stuffed animals. Would someone remind me who you were? I have something for your FE.

That would be me. Our 2 year old is a full out Cars fan. I guess with the name Carter, this was destined to be his favorite movie. He now walks around the house saying "I Am Speed".

Last night, we found a fleece at Kohl's with Lightning on it and the "I Am Speed" quote. The perfect thing to wear when going for our walks on deck at night.

We are not doing the FE but thanks for thinking of him. Booking so late and not being creative, I decided not to add this although I know I will regret it as soon as the boys see them hanging on the ship.

 

[mickeyteachers]

Welcome aboard the Magic. Yes, that is what we will be hearing in one month.

 

[Liz Arjay]

Yes & Yes! The Christmas Day menu is like one of the themed nights and it is a special menu which will be served in all the restaurants. Below is a link that "itutorfortravel" started last year and on post number 12 another poster listed what was on the Christmas menu.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2359219&highlight=christmas+menu

This was a helpful link -thanks! Wow, it sounds like there are tons of exciting Christmas activities and specialty foods (although I haven't seen Egg Nog mentioned, and that's my favorite).

I guess it is too much to hope that we find our old servers on this cruise. We had Jessica from Peru and Dennis from Romania (Jeff from Kenya (I think) was the head waiter). Boy, were they all GREAT!

Liz

 

[Liz Arjay]

This was a helpful link -thanks! Wow, it sounds like there are tons of exciting Christmas activities and specialty foods (although I haven't seen Egg Nog mentioned, and that's my favorite).

I guess it is too much to hope that we find our old servers on this cruise. We had Jessica from Peru and Dennis from Romania (Jeff from Kenya (I think) was the head waiter). Boy, were they all GREAT!

Liz

OK - just saw the Egg Nog mentioned, so now I am complete!

 

[ReggieB]

Yes & Yes! The Christmas Day menu is like one of the themed nights and it is a special menu which will be served in all the restaurants. Below is a link that "itutorfortravel" started last year and on post number 12 another poster listed what was on the Christmas menu.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2359219&highlight=christmas+menu

That does sound yummy.

I have to say I didn't really enjoy our DCL Christmas meal in 2007. Luckily we did have some great other meals!

But I'm pretty traditional (in a very British way) so I can't really expect my beloved roast potatoes to turn up on an American table! Mash and turkey always makes me think I've stumbled into a retirement home for people with no teeth!!!

 

[momssurprise]

Last night when shopping DD and I drove by this kids club service in our town where you can drop off your kids and go shop or see a movie, etc. We use it from time to time - it's a great option to have. This led to a discussion of kids' clubs in general and I asked her what her favorite kids club has been over our various vacations. She said without hesitation, Disney. (thank goodness)

So, I pushed it a bit and asked her if she thought she'd be too old for the DCL kids club now and she said, "no, I won't be too old because I'll hang out in the teen club." I said, trying not to laugh, "You're 9, you won't be hanging out in the teen club." she started laughing and said yes she would, then we both got to cracking up.

I can't wait to spring this surprise on her. And apparently I'll need everyone's help to keep her out of the teen club.

 

[momssurprise]

I can't wait to have Lobster on Christmas! I love Kimberley's thread from last year. That was really helpful!