MAGICal Christmas 2008 - December 20, 2008

[tinksmom]

I booked (and have been lurking) last January.
It me, DH (Joe), and DD (Carly, 15). This is our 4th Disney cruise and we can't wait! It's been way too long since the last one.
We're in stateroom 6096 with second seating for dinner -- though we're waitlisted for main. I did request a specific dining rotation. Has anyone had any luck with doing that?
We're thinking of the Cozumel Beach Break, Dune Buggy and Beach Snorkel Combo, or the Jeep Exploration. At Grand Cayman we're looking at the Seven Mile Beach Break. At CC we're looking at the stringray adventure, Wild Side on the second day, and couple's cabana massage on the second day. Any feedback is more than welcome.
I've rambled enough . . .
Tenya

 

[nzdisneymom]

duplicated below.

 

[nzdisneymom]

So we are soo excited to be going on our first 7 day cruise this Christmas! But I am curious as to what the fish extenders are all about. What do people do with them? How do you get involved with this activity. I am so excited to meet some of my fellow disers! Can't wait!

Perdy1234 - welcome to the MAGICal Christmas 2008 Cruise! I'm Cindy D., wife to Gary, mom to Nathan (12) and Zachary (11 next Wednesday). This cruise is a surprise for the boys, so sssshhhh... don't tell them (LOL). It will be our 3rd time on the Magic, 4th with DCL.

Fish Extenders are things like pocket-organizers that you can hang from the "fish" that is outside your cabin door. Your fellow-DISers who are participating will drop things off for you in your "fish extender" -- treats, gifts, goodies, etc. They don't have to be fancy - our last trip we used a small fabric bag and it worked fine. I'll see if I can link some threads from the main board that have examples and more info - but in the meanwhile, if you search for "fish extender" you'll get some threads. It's a lot of fun and a way to share a little of where you're from or some Disney magic or whatever with your fellow DIS passengers

oh - here's a link for a fish extender picture... http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=27567759&postcount=3527

 

[nzdisneymom]

Tenya - welcome! We're in stateroom 6116 so we're just down the hall from you! We have main dining. What rotation did you request? We didn't make any requests and will just see how it turns out.

 

[perdy1234]

Thanks for the info Cindy D. That sounds like alot of fun! So do you just go up and down the halls looking for people with a fish extender? We defintaly will be participating in it. There is just me, Melissa and my husband Curt on the cruise. We are in room #6107. Thanks again!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thanks for the info Cindy D. That sounds like alot of fun! So do you just go up and down the halls looking for people with a fish extender? We defintaly will be participating in it. There is just me, Melissa and my husband Curt on the cruise. We are in room #6107. Thanks again!

Usually you just do it with the people that you meet here on the DIS We'll have a list of who's in which cabin and who is participating in the fish-extender exchange pretty soon so we'll all know how many things to bring and where to deliver them during the week. Some people deliver on embarkation day; others deliver throughout the week. Some folks bring things and just pass them out at the first Meet.

BTW, a "Meet" is a scheduled time for DISers onboard to get together. Our official Meet will be on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Promenade Lounge on Deck 3 (between midship and aft). It's a great time to put faces to the names we've seen (some of us since Feb. 07) on the thread. There is a list of who's going on the very first post, so for those that are just joining us, be sure to PM Amy (Alikat99) so she can add you to the list.

 

[Az Pirates]

We did request a specific dining rotation once. I really wonder if they pay much attention to those kinds of requests though. We didn't get assigned the rotation we requested, but we were able to make the switch once onboard.



I think the FE exchange can vary quite a bit from cruise to cruise since each Dis group decides how they want it to work. Some groups have really specific rules, others keep it a much more loosely organized thing.

I think there's been lots of interest on our thread, but I haven't seen too much discussion about details yet. Whatever we decide, I definitely think we need to have a list of people/cabins participating.

Really disappointing, but I read a recent trip report from someone who said they passed out tons of FE goodies, but they got very few in return. But it also sounded like they just wandered the halls looking for FE's.

That worked for us on the first PC cruise, since a Dis-er generously provided matching FE's as a gift to everyone on our thread (although we also had a list of Dis-er's staterooms to use) Now that FE's are more popular, I don't think you can do that anymore.

 

[DisneyZell]

Hello everyone...it has been awhile since we last posted. We just paid off our cruise! We should be ready to book everything on Sunday. We have to get up early Monday to book what we want b/c we will actually be in Germany at that time. Luckily we are staying with my sister-in-law so we won't have a problem getting to a computer. We still have to figure out when we want to do Palo. I am trying to keep track of everyone's staterooms, so I am going to start a list. I can add anyone, so you can pm me to add your room. So far I have: (and I didn't go back and check to see who had written down their number)

DisneyZell: 6528
SailingShamu (our friends): 6530
tinksmom: 6096
nzdisneymom: 6116
perdy1234: 6107
tinkerbell 29: 8586
ShannonR: 2571 & 2573

Hope this will help everyone. I need to know where to drop off all my goodies! Well, off to football practice with the boys. Have a great day everyone.

 

[perdy1234]

That sounds great DisneyZell. Thanks everyone for the wonderful info. I can't wait to go shopping for fe gifts and to make my fish extender! Just a little over 3 months to go everyone!!!

 

[perdy1234]

That sounds great thanks so much for the help. I have pm to be added to the list Look forward to meeting you in the Promenade!

 

[ShannonR]

Good afternoon everyone!! We are closing in on that 90 day mark! YAAAHHHOOO!!!

I have the next 6 nights off (I am working night number 7 in a row tonight) and plan to be 100% cruise oriented. FE gifts, new clothes, Christmas gifts, etc... Poor DH probably wishes I would keep working (he gets dragged around to all these shopping excursions ) We have one stateroom paid for and plan to pay off the other room this week as well as the WDW portion of our vacation!!

We will be booking our excursions this weekend!! We don't plan to do too many, but definately the parasailing and the dolphin encounter!

Talk to everyone soon!
Shannon

 

[tinkerbell_29]

I know it was mentioned before but i can't reember who mentioned it. Are people still intrested in booking the dolphin excursion as a group? I'm trying to make sure I know what excursions I need to book through DCL on the 21st. We are only doing excursions at Cozumel as we will just get off and do a little shopping at Grand Caymans.

Lissa

 

[perdy1234]

What excursions is everyone thinking of doing? WE did the dolphin thing in Nassau and loved it. Do people normally book through dcl or on their own? We are thinking about doind 7 mile beach in the cayman's anyone else?

 

[alikat99]

I know it was mentioned before but i can't reember who mentioned it. Are people still intrested in booking the dolphin excursion as a group? I'm trying to make sure I know what excursions I need to book through DCL on the 21st. We are only doing excursions at Cozumel as we will just get off and do a little shopping at Grand Caymans.

Lissa

It's me, it's me!!! I've been crazy busy, but yes, I'm going to look into booking the Cozumel Dolphin Encounter at Chankanaab in Cozumel. Now, for those interested, I'm just interested in the encounter, not the swim. My girls are only old enough for the encounter, so that's what I'm trying to book. Now, if anyone is looking into doing one of the other 2, I can certainly ask about that when I contact them, to see if I can get a discount on that too.

I need to calculate how many are interested, and contact them with that info to see what they can do for us.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Amy - I was looking at the Dolphin Encounter, too, and here's what I saw online today at their site:

Isn’t it time to go out with all your family and friends?!

This special promotion is for families and friends in groups of 6 people or more. Take advantage of this amazing opportunity and receive a 5% discount for groups of 6 to 9 people, or get 10% off when your group is 10 people or more.
Book online and the discount will automatically be applied to your order in the shopping cart
To receive this promotion, groups must book the same program, schedule, and date
There are no refunds for cancellations made within 4 days prior to your scheduled program
Promotion valid for reservations made from June 3, 2008 for any date of service
To qualify for this promotion, groups must consist of the specified number of paying adults or children
This promotion cannot be used with any other promotion, service or discount
Children from 1 to 5 years old are free at the Encounter program. Please do not include them inside the reservation,refunds do not apply

I was also looking at times and they still have availability for 1:00 and 3:30 -- I think the 1:00 is probably the better time. I was trying to figure out if that's what we would want to do - and with the later start time would be better for my children as they won't want to get up and out early (see my previous posts - hee hee )

We are definitely interested in the Dolphin Encounter - we would be three adults and one child (since one of our children is 12 and the other is 11). I haven't looked to see how the DCL one is set up.

It seems like I read on one of the Cozumel websites about transportation from the cruiseships to the dolphin encounter -- so you might want to ask if they have an option for providing transportation with a group booking. Of course I might've just dreamed that.

I'm off work today so I'm trying to get myself organized for our WDW trip this weekend as well as take care of any cruise planning things I need to do while the boys are at school, especially since we'll be at WDW when our 90 days opens up.

 

[alikat99]

Amy - I was looking at the Dolphin Encounter, too, and here's what I saw online today at their site:



I was also looking at times and they still have availability for 1:00 and 3:30 -- I think the 1:00 is probably the better time. I was trying to figure out if that's what we would want to do - and with the later start time would be better for my children as they won't want to get up and out early (see my previous posts - hee hee )

We are definitely interested in the Dolphin Encounter - we would be three adults and one child (since one of our children is 12 and the other is 11). I haven't looked to see how the DCL one is set up.

It seems like I read on one of the Cozumel websites about transportation from the cruiseships to the dolphin encounter -- so you might want to ask if they have an option for providing transportation with a group booking. Of course I might've just dreamed that.

I'm off work today so I'm trying to get myself organized for our WDW trip this weekend as well as take care of any cruise planning things I need to do while the boys are at school, especially since we'll be at WDW when our 90 days opens up.

Hey Cindy - That's exactly what I found and for those that are interested, children 1-5 are free, as long as there's a paying adult with them. AND, I do remember reading about free transporation before when I was doing research, but I haven't found it at all. So, maybe they're not doing that anymore, but I'll ask. And, I know that I have 3 paying guests (me, DH and DD - the other one is free) and Diana has 2 (her and her DH and both her girls are free). Add your family, and that's 4 more. So, if anyone else is interested, we would get the 10% off.

And, I'm with you that I think that the 1pm time would be the best. It would give us time to get off the ship, and plenty of time after to not worry about rushing back to the ship.

 

[gardengirlco]

Cindy,

If you look at this image, is this the place you were planning on for the meet on the first day? I went and borrowed the image from another meets thread. Hope they don't mind, but it's such a nice graphic.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Gardengirlco - yep, that's it - only move the X up about 1/2 inch But that's so great you found that - it is perfect to show where we'll be meeting.

Zachary (our 11 y.o.) has always loved dolphins so I am particularly excited about making the dolphin encounter happen for him. Our friend recently did one of the excursions there and said it was really good.

 

[tinkerbell_29]

What is the difference between the dolphin encounter and the dolphin swim? If there is no swimming involved I would be able to talk my mom into doing that.

Lissa

 

[Diana Lyn]

What is the difference between the dolphin encounter and the dolphin swim? If there is no swimming involved I would be able to talk my mom into doing that.

Lissa

This link has a really good comparision between the "Encounter" and "Swim". The encounter (what we are doing) is just that an encounter. You're in the water, the dolphin kisses you, sings a song, shakes your hand and moves on his way. Sounds like some of the dates I had in college.

http://www.dolphindiscovery.com/cozumel/cozumel-comparative-dolphins-swim.asp