MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[minnie1]

Thanks for the welcomes! I am sure I will have lots of questions for all of you during the next 11 months since this our first time on Disney.
Angie

 

[DisneyZell]

Hello everyone one, and again, welcome Angie and family. It is so good to get more people involved in our thread. We have been busy organizing our Christmas decorations and getting rid of stuff we don't use anymore. That sure is a project. At least we had a nice couple of days and the ice melted off of our roof so we could get our Christmas lights down. Of course tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to get 10 - 14 inches of snow again. I am so ready for the snow to be gone, and yet this is really only the beginning. I sure do miss the California weather! At least in a little over a month we will be down in Orlando for the kids Feb. break! Well, it's off to the grocery store before the snow actually starts. Hope everyone has a great week.

Deanna

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Hi everyone and welcome Angie and Family! I've been busy trying to convince my brother that 13 nights at WDW is not the end of the world. He is not happy that we are not going to LA this summer. Oh well he is an adult and will have to get over it besides he should be happy mom still pays for vacations or neither one of us would go any where.

Has anyone looked at flights for December yet? I was trying to remember when we booked our flights for last Christmas but can't find what i did with all the paper work. We are going to book our own I don't like anybody else making arrangements for me I like to do all the planning.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Lissa

 

[minnie1]

Ok, here it goes. My first question of probably a million. I was reading some other posts and saw that DCL let you bring your own alcohol onto the ship. Is that still true or something they did away with? My dh and I just went on RCCL in October and we were not allowed.
Thanks for any information

 

[Diana Lyn]

Ok, here it goes. My first question of probably a million. I was reading some other posts and saw that DCL let you bring your own alcohol onto the ship. Is that still true or something they did away with? My dh and I just went on RCCL in October and we were not allowed.
Thanks for any information

Yes, I believe you can still take alcohol onboard. Last I knew, they required you to carry it on yourself though (like not in the bags you leave for them to deliver to your room). Also, they charge a corkage fee if you bring your own wine to drink with dinner. I've heard this can be avoided by just bringing a glass in yourself but I've also read debates on how this is tacky. But what isn't debated around here. I don't drink wine, so I've never experienced any of this firsthand.

 

[alikat99]

I personally haven't brought on any alcohol, but only because we're not big drinkers (but all bets are off for a Christmas cruise). Anyway, I know of several people that have bought stuff onboard Disney. I would say that the biggest problem is that you need to hand carry it on the ship (you wouldn't want to pack it in your bags and have something break and ruin your clothes).

We'll probably bring some wine & champagne on this cruise, since it's our anniversary & Christmas & Diana's birthday!!!

 

[Diana Lyn]

I personally haven't brought on any alcohol, but only because we're not big drinkers (but all bets are off for a Christmas cruise). Anyway, I know of several people that have bought stuff onboard Disney. I would say that the biggest problem is that you need to hand carry it on the ship (you wouldn't want to pack it in your bags and have something break and ruin your clothes).

We'll probably bring some wine & champagne on this cruise, since it's our anniversary & Christmas & Diana's birthday!!!

Ooooh---so we should save those 2 bottles of Dom and get a giant bottle of Pama.

 

[alikat99]

Ooooh---so we should save those 2 bottles of Dom and get a giant bottle of Pama.

Ooohh, that's right, sista!!! We definitely have to do that. And, if we're going away for a week, we might need to pick up even more!!!

 

[minnie1]

I have been reading all of your posts from when you first started this post a year ago. Took me a while but I finished. My dh calls me obsessive but I am so excited.
I saw you were talking about Dec. birthdays. We have two December birthdays in our family. I am Dec. 11th and my dd will be 8 years old on 12-29so I know what you were all talking about with the double gifters. I love the "Can I get you just one gift for birthday and Christmas".
Also, we are also a major Disney obsessed family. Actually my dh and I met while we were working in Fantasyland. I worked on Dumbo and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and he worked on 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. We also both worked in Tomorrowland in Space Mountain. After we got married he went on to work at the Yacht and Beach Club and I stayed home. We left Florida in 2001 and miss it so much that when we decide on a vacation every year we always say we should go somewhere else but always end up going back to Disney. That is why I am so excited to go on DCL.
My girls are so excited about this cruise and my older dd is so hoping to find a good friend. She will be 10 in July so if anyone has a daughter that would start talking to her before the cruise please let me know.
Anyway, enough about us.
Angie

 

[DisneyZell]

Angie, your dd is in good company...my birthday is Dec. 29th as well...although I'm slightly older Sorry we don't have any other girls in my household...just a bunch of boys! Even our new dog is a boy!

Deanna

 

[pogopossum]

we are officially booked for the 2008 magical christmas cruise, we have a party of 7 who will request permission to come aboard as soon as allowed.

i would be phil (49), another of those christmas babies with birthday on the second. with me is dw sherrie (46), dd rachel (14), all of whom have cruised 4 other times with dcl, and ds jordan (7), who is on his third dcl cruise. cabin 2022

the rest of our party is dgp (70), his dw (dsgm) betty (73),
his dsm (86). cabin 6366, unless accessible cabin comes available.

we are really looking forward to the cruise and can't wait for d-day. i know that it seems like it is forever away, but it will be here before we know it and then right up to time to hit the road for fla, preparations will be underway. hopefully nothing will get left behind, but the realist in me knows that is too good to be true.

we'll be stopping in at dfil's house in st. cloud for a couple of days of park time before cruising.

i've only read a couple of pages so far, but i plan to catch up and will let ya'll know more about us as we go along.

for now we're just happy to have this thing on the calendar.

 

[cgcw]

Phil & family

Ok, here it goes. My first question of probably a million. I was reading some other posts and saw that DCL let you bring your own alcohol onto the ship. Is that still true or something they did away with? My dh and I just went on RCCL in October and we were not allowed.
Thanks for any information

Angie, I'm surprised that RCCL didn't let you bring alcohol on board. We did in November without a problem. The only thing we encountered was our room stewardess knocking on our door one evening to say that she moved it to be around the corner from where it was instead of out in the open. She informed us that some people will take it if they happen to come into our room (like maintenance) as it's not something they promote doing. But, no one questioned us carrying it on with us - in fact, I believe my DH just put it in the suitcase.

 

[ShannonR]

Welcome Phil and Sherry!!!

I am Shannon and we also live in Texas! Where abouts in the great Lone Star State do you live? We live in the VERY south of Texas, 10 minutes from the border. We also have a 14 year old daughter, Morgan.

I am so excited that our DIS family is growing! The more people the better, I say!

Well, our sick house is finally getting back to the land of the living! The kids are finally back in school and today we didn't spend every waking minute coughing, hacking, and using up boxes of Kleenex by the hour! That was the worst respiratory flu we have had in YEARS!!! We are are still stuffy, but at least now, after over a WEEK of near death sickness(okay maybe that's being a little dramatic, but I DID want someone to kill me at one point ) we can function.

How is the weather in other parts of the world? IT was cold and rainy here for the past two days (by cold I mean 60 degrees ) but today it is again sunny and the 70's, Thank God!!! Sometimes I feel that I should live somewhere along the equator to be truly happy, because I am ALWAYS cold. When it reaches 100 degrees, I finally get comfortable.

We have already started a little basket of goodies to take with us on the cruise! It still seems like such a long time away, but it helps to start collecting odds and ends for the "cruise basket".

Shannon

 

[Diana Lyn]

Sometimes I feel that I should live somewhere along the equator to be truly happy, because I am ALWAYS cold. When it reaches 100 degrees, I finally get comfortable.

That is so funny, because when we had our cold snap a few weeks ago I was emailing friends back in NY saying I can't handle even 2 days of cold, I need to find a real estate agent somewhere along the equator.

Glad to hear your family is on the mend. Everyone being sick is the worst!

Welcome Phil and family!!

 

[DisneyZell]

Welcome Phil & crew. My son will be so excited that another boy around his age will be on this cruise. He will be 6 1/2 at the time of sailing. So far, the only ones close to his age are girls (which in a few years, he would be happy with, but not so much right now!)

The weather here is COLD! We had a snow day on Monday which is snow day #3 for us so far this school year. Yikes! I have no idea what is in store for us the rest of the winter. Our kids may not get out of school until July at this rate. I am counting down the days until we get down to Orlando for their Feb. break. I need a break in the cold weather so I try to go someone warm each year during the winter.

Shannon, glad to hear everyone is feeling better at your household. Those bugs can really hit hard. Hopefully they will miss us completely.

I have also started a cruise basket. We found New England Patriots santa hats after Christmas for 70% off! We will be wearing them when we board. My ds got a snorkeling set for Christmas so that has gone in the basket as well. Of course this is his second set, having lost the mask and fins at Castaway Cay on our last cruise! Hopefully the fish are enjoying the fins at the bottom of sea!

Deanna

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Welcome Phil and family!

It is cold here. Did not get above 20 today. We have already had 3 snow days this year and are looking at another one tomorrow. We have yet to have a full week of school since we came back from Christmas. I'm ready fro summer.

We have a plastic box that lives in the corner of my mom's room. that is where we collect things we need for cruises and other trips. The only thing I'm not allowed to buy is the travel rolls of toilet paper. Our first crusie was last year. We did the ten day med cruise. Everyone kept commenting on the lack of tp on their reports. Every time we went to target I would buy a few of the travel rolls. We flew to barcelona with 39 rolls of tp. Needless to say the majority came home with us.

Lissa

 

[DisneyZell]

OK, Lissa, you made me laugh with the toilet paper ban your family has imposed on you. It sounds like something that would happen in my house. I can't believe it has been that cold in NC. We almost moved there last year, but ended up not having to be transferred. My dh is down there this week for work and said there is supposed to be an ice storm tonight. He is driving from Charlotte to Raleigh in the morning, so hopefully the roads will be fine by then!

Deanna

 

[minnie1]

Welcome Phil and your family. We are very new to this board as well, you will find a lot of great information.

As for our weather. It is very cold here. We usually go to Florida in Feb or March to escape the cold, but this is the first year we skipped going this time of year. I really wish we were going but I couldn't take my dd out of school and kids here don't get a full spring break. I will just have to dream about sunny Florida.

Angie

 

[pogopossum]

thanks for the welcome, ya'll.

shannon, i heard that ya'll were getting all the rain that we need, things are so dry here, burn bans are starting up again, at least the drought broke?. but it got chilly here again last night, mid to upper 20s this morning, 40s today. all in all i wish i was having to worry about what to wear for work at texas stadium is this weekend than what will i do for work this weekend.

we've been on four previous disney cruises, with differing degrees of success, at least we made it to the virgin islands the third try. dd says that she isn't getting off the ship in cozumel, two visits is enough apparently. if anybody has a teen on the boards she set herself up and can post or pm with them about the cruise. maybe they could set up their own thread.

who else is cruising on dvc points? since the add on last year it is nice to have a substantial balance left in 2009, in fact we would have had to use all of those points and buy some more points to be able to do the cruise, once again membership is paying off. as someone said earlier, i wish we had bought earlier. and if you haven't stayed in the new villas at jambo house, you should. sherrie said this was the best so far, and we've stayed everywhere but saratoga. we like them all, but dvc seems to have gone over the top at akl. can't wait to stay at the village.

ds is looking forward to meeting your son, deanna. we thought he would be in the lab full time this cruise, but he still signs in at the club, so having someone close to his age is important. of course, he'll spend most of his time in the pool.

 

[cgcw]

we've been on four previous disney cruises, with differing degrees of success, at least we made it to the virgin islands the third try. dd says that she isn't getting off the ship in cozumel, two visits is enough apparently. if anybody has a teen on the boards she set herself up and can post or pm with them about the cruise. maybe they could set up their own thread.

When we were in Cozumel in November, DS7 & I walked 1/2 way down the dock to get off the ship. He didn't want to at all as he he was much too busy. DH & DS13 were off deep sea fishing and I wanted DS7 to have the opprotunity to say he was in Mexico. So, off we went and it started pouring just as we left the ship. Nothing like getting drenched and then heading right back to the ship.

I have a 13 year old DS who will be 14 in October. I'll have to run the idea by him of getting to know other teens pre-cruise.


We tossed around the idea of using points and we still may. It depends, I'm looking at maybe finding a renter as I know it's better financially to rent the points then use them for cruising. We still have many months to make that decision.