March 29th, 2014 Fantasy Cruise

[DarthKarl]

Just wanted to introduce myself and my family. I'm Karl and my wife is Laura Anderson and we have two girls 7 and 12. We just made our final payment for the trip. This will be our 4th DCL cruise. We last sailed on the Fantasy in June of 2012 on the eastern Caribbean route (where we booked a dummy date we eventually used for this sailing).

We are looking forward to seeing the Fantasy again, it's a fantastic ship.

 

[klepton]

Welcome Brenda and Karl! Happy to have you and your respective families aboard!

 

[kmom]

Hi ya'll! We are the Peace family party of four. Hubby, myself, DD 12 and DS 6. Huge Disney fans but always on land! This will be our 1st time at sea and we cannot wait. Been reading and looking for all the tips and tricks I can get my hands on! We live in Canton GA - anyone else?? It will be our Spring Break.

I have signed up for the FE - but have zero clue what that is yet!!

THANKS!!

 

[JohnDS]

Hi ya'll! We are the Peace family party of four. Hubby, myself, DD 12 and DS 6. Huge Disney fans but always on land! This will be our 1st time at sea and we cannot wait. Been reading and looking for all the tips and tricks I can get my hands on! We live in Canton GA - anyone else?? It will be our Spring Break. I have signed up for the FE - but have zero clue what that is yet!! THANKS!!

We're not from GA, but it is our spring break too. Welcome aboard.

 

[tkelly71]

The Kelly family is ready for cruise #2. We are so excited we can't stand it!!! Last year we did a 3 night on the Dream and I booked this cruise while on that one. I surprised everyone Christmas day with it. You have no idea how hard it was to keep a secret since April.

Top Tips the first timers:
1. pack light, pack your suitcase then take half of it out.
2. Parking at the port will be $120 or $140 if want preferred parking which is right next to the door.
3. You don't need a lot of cash unless you plan to use cash to settle your bill at the end
4. do the tour when you first get on board you can get half price spa treatments ( massages are great!)
5. do the 5K on Castaway Cay just to say you did 6. Take some refillable drink bottles with you for the free drinks on deck, they only provide Dixie cups
6. Don't miss the two for one happy hour daily
7. Have your bags packed and ready before dinner on the last night- they must be sitting in the hall by 10 pm unless you want to carry them off yourself.
8. When you board on day 1 go straight to lunch in the Enchanted Garden (it's buffet)
9. room service is all day everyday EXCEPT on the last morning order your coffee the night before, breakfast is in Enchanted Garden before debarkation. 10. If you are going out on excursions that don't include meals order rooms service to take with you (bring baggies you will need them)
11. bring water with you or pre-order it to be in your room on arrival
12. TIP TIP TIP these folks work hard and are always smiling, I prepay my tips so I don't have to worry about it. For this cruise servers and room attendant will be about $25 per day per person.
13. TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES!!!!
14. Pictures are expensive at Shutters, be prepared that was the most expensive part of the trip.
15. you will walk A LOT!!! be prepared.
16. Do the Fish Extenders if you have small kids they will love it, we did last year it was fun but a lot of work.
17. Decorate your door ( I think it should be a requirement) you can find great stuff on ETSY and Ebay or make your own magnets we did all of the above.
Look forward to sharing this experience with all of you.

 

[tkelly71]

Hi ya'll! We are the Peace family party of four. Hubby, myself, DD 12 and DS 6. Huge Disney fans but always on land! This will be our 1st time at sea and we cannot wait. Been reading and looking for all the tips and tricks I can get my hands on! We live in Canton GA - anyone else?? It will be our Spring Break.

I have signed up for the FE - but have zero clue what that is yet!!

THANKS!!

Welcome you will LOVE it!!! Fish Extenders are fun we did it on our first cruise last year. You can order a fish extender on Ebay, I did. Once the list of participants is complete it will be sent out to all of those that signed up. What you do is leave little gifts for the kids and adults if you want in the fish extender hanging on their door. Some people do daily gift some just one for the entire cruise. We got lots of neat stuff some home picture frames to a bottle of bubbles and tons of pirate gear. It's totally up to what to give. On person gave each of my kids 3 trading pins they were thrilled with that.

 

[tkelly71]

Just wanted to introduce myself and my family. I'm Karl and my wife is Laura Anderson and we have two girls 7 and 12. We just made our final payment for the trip. This will be our 4th DCL cruise. We last sailed on the Fantasy in June of 2012 on the eastern Caribbean route (where we booked a dummy date we eventually used for this sailing).

We are looking forward to seeing the Fantasy again, it's a fantastic ship.

Hi Anderson's
I am originally from Green River. Now West Virginia. Small World LOL. Enjoy this cruise we are very excited.

 

[klepton]

***FISH EXTENDER UPDATE***

After three new signups in the past two days (yah!) I wanted to get an updated list out. Here is a list of everyone who is signed up:

https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid...False&wdHideGridlines=True&wdHideHeaders=True

As I did last time, I took out all real names and email addresses. But please check to make sure your Disboard screenname is listed if you want to participate. As of right now, every family has two adults as well.

If you are not included, but want to be, please let me know ASAP either via FB private message (Nathan Pond) or Disboard private message (klepton). Include the following info:

Stateroom #
DisBoard Name
Family name (Last Name)
First Names
Ages of Children
Email address (if you want the list emailed to you)

As we get more families signed up, we'll talk about how to manage the groups for those who only want to be a part of a smaller group.

 

[DarthKarl]

Hi Anderson's I am originally from Green River. Now West Virginia. Small World LOL. Enjoy this cruise we are very excited.

It indeed is a small world. I'm originally from Salt Lake City but moved to Wyoming nearly 20 years ago. I've been to Green River many many times. It's good to know that another wyoming'er (even an ex) will be onboard.

 

[shesthe1foru]

Happy New Year!
We are finally getting close enough to really get excited!
I was added to the FE list way back when I first joined this group.
When is the cut-off date for that list, and is there a link to who is on that list?
Thanks!

 

[klepton]

Happy New Year!
We are finally getting close enough to really get excited!
I was added to the FE list way back when I first joined this group.
When is the cut-off date for that list, and is there a link to who is on that list?
Thanks!

I just updated the list a few days ago, here's the most up to date:

https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid...False&wdHideGridlines=True&wdHideHeaders=True

You're still on it.

The cut-off probably isn't for quite a while, much closer to sailing. As the list grows (if it does grow a lot more) we might talk about splitting into two lists, we can tackle those issues as they arise.

 

[shesthe1foru]

Awesome, thanks!!!

 

[lsmith311]

I am excited to try this. This will be our second cruise. See ya real soon

 

[dencord7]

I got airfare booked this weekend. We are spending three days in the Orlando area before our cruise. My MIL is coming on this cruise with us and does not like any rides, so we will need to skip the parks. I am looking for some fun things to do around Orland.
I have been wondering what everyone is doing in the ports if you care to share? I booked things that we all can do but don't want it to be to boring for our Daughter who will be Just turning 18 yet not to much for my MIL. I am still looking for things I can do on our own so suggestions welcome.
I currently have Grand Caymen- booked Duck boat but reviews are not that good.
In Cozumel- booked the salsa & salsa- but still looking at the Fury Catamaran but worried about MIL.

booked Chacchoben Mayan Ruins adult only trip.

In the past we were able to do things cheaper on our own in groups are there any group trips planed from this group.

 

[klepton]

I got airfare booked this weekend. Were a spending three days in Orlando before our cruise. My MIL is coming on this cruise with us and does not like any rides so we will need to skip the parks so looking for some fun things to do around Orlando.
I was wondering what everyone is doing in the ports? I booked things that we all can do but don't want it to be to boring for our Daughter who will be Just turning 18 yet not to much for my MIL.
Grand Caymen- booked Duck boat but reviews are not that good.
In Cozumel- booked the salsa & salsa- but still looking at the Fury Catamaran but worried about MIL.

booked Chacchoben Mayan Ruins adult only trip.

In the past we were able to do things cheaper on our own in groups are there any group trips planed from this group.

Yah for getting flights booked!

You asked a lot of questions, I'll answer the ones I can.

1) There is plenty to do in Disney without riding any rides, so that's always an options. There's also Gatorland, Universal Studios, etc you could check out. Orlando has a number of tourist destinations. We're getting there two days ahead of time and heading straight out to Cape Canaveral. We're going to do Kennedy Space Center the first day, and just chill at the hotel pool the second day. Our kids are probably too young for Kennedy space center, but we're doing it anyway. Your daughter is a good age, and your MIL would probably enjoy it too.

2) I don't know of any group excursions planned. You can save some money that way.

3) If you join the facebook group there's been some talk there about what people are doing in the ports. Depending on MIL's mobility, I highly recommend sting ray city in Grand Cayman. You don't need to be too mobile, just mobile enough to get in and out of a boat. When you do the sting ray encounter you'll be on a sand bar, so there isn't really any swimming required.

 

[JohnDS]

I got airfare booked this weekend. We are spending three days in the Orlando area before our cruise. My MIL is coming on this cruise with us and does not like any rides, so we will need to skip the parks. I am looking for some fun things to do around Orland. I have been wondering what everyone is doing in the ports if you care to share? I booked things that we all can do but don't want it to be to boring for our Daughter who will be Just turning 18 yet not to much for my MIL. I am still looking for things I can do on our own so suggestions welcome. I currently have Grand Caymen- booked Duck boat but reviews are not that good. In Cozumel- booked the salsa & salsa- but still looking at the Fury Catamaran but worried about MIL. booked Chacchoben Mayan Ruins adult only trip. In the past we were able to do things cheaper on our own in groups are there any group trips planed from this group.

In Orlando, Gatorland is fun. We've also always wanted to do an airboat tour.

We've looked at several port excursions and changed our minds several times so far.

 

[dencord7]

Thanks for the suggusting MIL is very Mobile but has issuse with small boats, she wont get in the Ocean, and wont go on any rides fast or slow. I am leaning towards Cape canaveral for when we are in Orlando as hubby would enjoy.

 

[JohnDS]

Thanks for the suggusting MIL is very Mobile but has issuse with small boats, she wont get in the Ocean, and wont go on any rides fast or slow. I am leaning towards Cape canaveral for when we are in Orlando as hubby would enjoy.

we've been to the space center a few times, it's a good time. Watch out for the birds if you eat outdoors, my son had his hotdog snatched there.

 

[katieg999]

Hello!

I just sent a message asking to be added to our FE group for our Fantasy March 29 cruise.

I am looking forward to this!!!
Katie

 

[thouston72]

This is our second Disney cruise but first time trying to figure out the FE groups. Just getting on DiSboards for the first time and trying to find a group. We actually have 2 rooms including 3 adults, 18yo girl, 15yo boy and 5 yo boy. The most impt for us to include are the 2 boys. The rest of us can be involved or not. Whatever works best. Are y'all still organizing groups or can you tell me how to find a group... Thanks... I tried to private msg klepton but it would not allow me to do that
Thank you for any help