March 12, 2011 Eastern Caribbean, Let's rock the Magic!

[jennyh2829]

Hey all, where are people staying before the cruise, if anywhere? We always like to come in the night before just in case weather is bad and flights are delayed. I was thinking about the Hyatt at the airport. Anyone ever stayed there before?

 

[needAcruise]

We just booked two staterooms and are ready to hang our fish extender!

There are 7 of us. Me and DH are in our mid 30's, DD1(8), DD2(10), DNiece (14) and my in-laws who are in their mid 70's.

Whoever is organizing the fish extending (can that be made into a verb like that?) count us in!

 

[Cheryllynn74]

We just booked two staterooms and are ready to hang our fish extender!

There are 7 of us. Me and DH are in our mid 30's, DD1(8), DD2(10), DNiece (14) and my in-laws who are in their mid 70's.

Whoever is organizing the fish extending (can that be made into a verb like that?) count us in!

Welcome! I don't thing anyone has started organizing the FE's yet, but I definately want to do it too.

 

[jennyh2829]

We just booked two staterooms and are ready to hang our fish extender!

There are 7 of us. Me and DH are in our mid 30's, DD1(8), DD2(10), DNiece (14) and my in-laws who are in their mid 70's.

Whoever is organizing the fish extending (can that be made into a verb like that?) count us in!

My daughter is 10, she'll turn 11 on our crusie...glad ya'll are coming.

 

[candizfan]

Hi Everyone!

Just enjoying my lunch and checking out the planning to see how it is going for others.

Has anyone started to price flights yet? I can't believe how expensive they are for next March. I sure hope they come down.

 

[jennyh2829]

We booked our flights and got them for about $470ish/person. Last year we traveled on the same week and they never came down. Spring Break here so lots of people travelling.

 

[azrealtor]

Hi Everyone,
Just booked our cruise...So excited...This is second cruise on Disney and will be first cruise for my str & mother. Booked two connecting rooms which was really a chore but all is working out. It took me over 3 hours on the phn to get our rooms booked through Costco. Traveling myself (40's will hv birthday on cruise), dd 9, dd 11, str (50's), her son, & our mother (70's).
Jennyh2829 - we have dtrs same age. Make sure to chk the groups she will be in. Magic has a group called the Edge but I think it is for 11 - 13 Since she will turn 11 not sure how they will put her in Lab or Edge. Also, we did stay at the airport hotel. Was great for location.
Can someone give example of the fish extender gifts to give??

Not sure about the shore time yet. Last time we just shopped, took a cab ride, and went to the beach. We did all booking separate from line.

 

[farmfam]

Hi everyone! We'll be adding to the Canadian content on the cruise on March 12! It's our first cruise ever...myself, hubby (30's), DD10 and DD7. Our oldest daughter is looking forward to meeting others around her age before we sail.
Any advice for first time cruisers would be helpful, too!

 

[Ashansen]

We just got signed up for this trip! My family has done the 4 night Wonder Cruise at Thanksgiving (twice) and loved it. Since the first sale, I wanted to try the 7 night and here we are!

It will my me, DH and my daughters (ages 10 and 8). We have some friends coming that will have two younger kids too.

On our last cruise (11/2009) we participated in the FE...soo much fun! My kids LOVED it! Hopefully someone will be willing to get that organized for this trip!

Can't wait for Spring Break!!

Ashley

 

[azrealtor]

What is FE??

 

[Ashansen]

FE stands for "Fish Extender". On the ship, there are poles that stick out from the wall beside each door and rather than a knob on the end, they have a "fish"....

An FE exchange is a swap that gets organized on many of the cruises between people on this board. Here's what you do:

1) If you want to participate, you "sign up" on the list, tell your stateroom number, and the names/ages of everyone in the cabin (generally it just says Ashley-adult and then lists the ages of the kids).

2) You make or buy a "fish extender"...it's essentially a "pouch" you hang from your "fish extender". It has pockets for each person in your group. You can either make these yourself, or there are several people who can make them (check this board or ebay. We bought ours on ebay and I'd be happy to share the name of the person if you PM me). Here's a picture of a "fish extender" (this is not mine, but a picture I found on ebay).

3) You make or buy little gifts for everyone participating in your FE swap and bring them to the cruise..then you get to deliver them whenever you want during the cruise. My 9 year old and her friend delivered all of ours and had a blast...kinda like playing Santa. Here's an example of some of the items we gave:

FE gifts for adults

FE gifts for kids

4) Now whenever you return to your cabin, you could have a goody in one of your pockets! I'd say it was fun for the kids, but the adults in our group loved it too! Here's a picture of what we got:

There are several threads too on FE gifts to make or buy. Oriental Trading Co is a good source. Also, since Halloween is coming up, you can get some inexpensive pirate items for Pirate night if you want!

HTH! Ashley

 

[Ashansen]

Here is my advice to first time cruisers.....Seriously pare down what you are bringing....you don't need that much! There are several lists of things to pack...but again, use your judgement..not everyone needs every size bandaid and type of pain reliever that is on these lists!

The one item I will not travel without on a cruise is my over the door shoe hanger...Must be clear pockets, so you can see what you are bringing. I found mine at Target. Once I arrive, I hang this over the door and give each family members some pockets. Keeps our stuff organized and within reach and we don't have to be dragging out toiletry bags and such.

This board has a wealth of information for cruisers.....just keep reading it and you'll find out whatever you need to know!

Can't wait for Spring Break!

Ashley

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Hi!

It's confirmed! Airline tkts purchased (for our family) two cat 9s booked (halfway paid) for DH (Rob) Me (Priscilla) 16 year-old DD (Rachel) and most likely 16 year-old BF (Kristen.)

This will be our 7th Disney Magic cruise (8th for Rachel, she went on the Magic Baltic cruise this summer, with one of her friend's and family.) She's one cruise ahead of us!

We're so looking forward to it!

 

[Stinasmom]

HEY FOLKS!

So, I have a tally of 16 families who've subscribed to this thread and said they are on our cruise.
As "life" has been keeping me busy, crazy, and at times relaxed this summer, the coming school year will hopefully offer me a chance to catch up with you all!

Some mention of Fish Extenders and gift exchange has come up. We did this on our last cruise and I have to admit it was super fun to not only come back to the room to find fun gifts each day, but it was also fun when it was our day to "sneak" to each room and deliver our gifts.

Unless someone else has an already foolproof plan for organizing this, (speak up now!), I will volunteer to do so...

Here is the compressed list of our "roll call" at this point...
If you want to change or add any info, just post up!

Stinasmom - Marcy 43, VJ 44, Christina 14, Dominic 10
Cheryllynn74 - Cheryl 35, Ricky 36, celebrating 10th anniversary aboard
M&P's mom
boundfordisney - Grandparents with DD14 & DD 15
Beesmom - 45, DH 39, DS4
tecdavidt - Kathy 53, Dave 53, Steph 18
vkashtap1971 - Veena, Raj, DD Saira 15, DS Nick 3
steveigoe - Steve & Sue
candizfan - mom, DH, DD15, DD11
3Goofy's - Sherri & Greg (40's), DS almost 9
jennyh2829 - DD11
dfamily- me, DH40, DS12, DD9, DS6, DD2 + inlaws
neeedAcruise - me, DH 30's, DD8, DD10, Dniece 14 + inlaws
azrealtor - me 40's, DD9, DD11, sister 50's, son, Mom 70's
farmfan - 30's, DD10, DD7
Ashansen - Ashley, DH, DD10, DD8, + friends
mickeyhugger - Pricilla, Rob, DD16 Rachel, Dfriend 16 Kristin
DisneyDarwin - Mom50, DD18

So.... update the info above as you want. Let me know if you want to participate in the Fish Extender Exchange. NO OBLIGATION!!!

I will figure out how to organize this based on how it worked on our last cruise, even if it means contacting the person who coordinated that one!

I am hoping to help create "glue" to bind us before and during our cruise!!


Marcy

 

[Ashansen]

Marcy-count us in on the Fish Extenders. I'll get together with the other couple we're traveling with and educate them on why they need to participate too! Thanks for agreeing to organize this.

I'll try to look and see if I can find the spreadsheet the person did for our cruise. I do know that the "host" put together an initial spreadsheet and even did some updating, but eventually posted a public document on google docs which people could make changes to, up until the "deadline" to join....

Thanks again!

Ashley

 

[3Goofy's]

Count us in on the FE too! It sounds like lots of fun. Thanks for working on this Marcy - it could get confusing!

 

[DisneyDarwin]

Add two more to the roll call. Myself (crap, I'll be 50!), and DD Bethany (will have just turned 18). I think this is our 7th Disney cruise, and 17th overall. Last year at spring break we took RCCL's Oasis of the Seas to this same itinerary. Loved that ship, but we've been away from Disney for 3 years now and we're ready to get back. Would have liked to have done the Dream, but we no longer bother with cruises less than 7 days! Looking forward to being home; we love the Magic most of all the ships we've been on (although the Oasis IS awesome).

Waiting for Southwest to open up March so we can snag a lower fare. I can't believe the rates, we've never paid this much.

Looking forward to Palo (DD's first time), the shows, movies, late night hot tubbin', onboard shopping where there is actually stuff I want, the Blue B*tch Bar in St. Martin, and jewelry shopping in St. Thomas (deferred B'day present for DD, worked great last year).

 

[Stinasmom]

Add two more to the roll call. Myself (crap, I'll be 50!), and DD Bethany (will have just turned 18). I think this is our 7th Disney cruise, and 17th overall. Last year at spring break we took RCCL's Oasis of the Seas to this same itinerary. Loved that ship, but we've been away from Disney for 3 years now and we're ready to get back. Would have liked to have done the Dream, but we no longer bother with cruises less than 7 days! Looking forward to being home; we love the Magic most of all the ships we've been on (although the Oasis IS awesome).

Waiting for Southwest to open up March so we can snag a lower fare. I can't believe the rates, we've never paid this much.

Looking forward to Palo (DD's first time), the shows, movies, late night hot tubbin', onboard shopping where there is actually stuff I want, the Blue B*tch Bar in St. Martin, and jewelry shopping in St. Thomas (deferred B'day present for DD, worked great last year).

Great to have you aboard DisneyDarwin!
I think it's so great that you are traveling with your DD18! She will be able to be in the Adult areas, Palo, Spa, etc. I am definitely the type of mom to take my DD18 (who is only 13 today, 14 at cruise time) vacationing with me to celebrate (anything )

You all have a great Labor Day weekend! We have the county fair happening here, which we live close enough to walk to. Big deal with a national ranked rodeo and all. School finally starts on the 8th!

Marcy

 

[jennyh2829]

Thanks Marcy for organizing...Me and my DH are 40ish...He's there and I'm not far behind and then DD11(which you already have).

 

[candizfan]

Hi Marcy

I have one correction.

"candizfan - mom, DH, DD15, DD11" should read DD12 not DD11 - I guess I did not count her birthday in.

I too am looking for Southwest. They have fairs available but only until March 11th. The prices are crazy this year. I usually have my tickets paid for by April or May.... It is September and still no tickets purchased.