March 30, 2014 Disney Dream

[Apsychmommy]

We booked this cruise a couple of weeks ago and I'm excited to meet some people who will be sailing with us! This is our first Disney Cruise (we previously sailed on Carnival and Holland). I'll be with my husband, two boys (5 and turning 3 on the cruise), cousin, and mother-in-law. Looking forward to meeting you and learning some tips from the experts!

Here's the private Facebook page set up for this group: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/1386290841611902/

We're going to do a FE exchange on this cruise. Here's some info on what a FE is http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3221387 We're doing either a cabin gift and/or individual gifts with drop off any day (but perhaps it would be nice to deliver at the latest before dinner on the last night as many cruisers would want to pack everything up before we have to set our luggage out). If you are interested in participating, please PM me or (message me on Facebook) the following info: Cabin number First name of those traveling in your group (some people like to personalize their gifts) Ages and gender of kids Any food allergies (please specify) Is alcohol ok for the adults? Email address to send the list to I think we are going to cap the list at 15 cabins. We can always decide on splitting to two lists if needed. As of 1/25, we have 13 cabins participating

FE Update 2/16--we reached our max of 15 cabins so the list is officially closed. Updated lists will be sent out in the next few days.

FE Update 2/18--looks like we have several new cruisers who would like to participate in the FE list. I am starting a second list for cabins that are just joining us that want to participate. Please send me the info above and I will get your list started for you. Thanks!

FE Update 2/20--there are currently 4 cabins participating in FE Group #2. The group has requested to close their list on 2/28/14. If you would like to participate in the FE exchange, please let me know before then--thanks!

FE Update 3/2--The FE Group #2 is officially closed. Please let me know if there are any changes to your cabins.

 

[nancy drew]

Yay! I booked this cruise last week and have been looking for a thread! Glad I looked at the end of the "Meet" thread and found you

This will be our first cruise. DD will be 10, DS will be 8, and I'll still be older than they are.

 

[Apsychmommy]

Hi Nancy Drew! I'm hoping more people will find us once this thread is linked. I was beginning to worry that it would just be me

 

[nancy drew]

Hey maybe we will be the only 2 families on the ship! That would be awesome!

Just kidding. I'm so surprised no one else has joined yet, though! It looks like we aren't linked in the meet thread so maybe that's it?

So let's chat anyway! Do you think you guys will be doing Fish Extenders? I would like to, though it might be a logistical problem for us since we will be at my mom's house for a week before the cruise. Maybe it will be OK, though.

Have you thought about what you're going to do in Nassau? Are you doing any park days before or after the cruise?

 

[Apsychmommy]

We're traveling during our Spring Break (my husband and I both work in public schools) so I thought that this cruise would be packed with Spring Breakers--guess we'll see how many join!

I'd love to do the FE, but I have no clue how to organize it. I'm so new to the DIS cruise lingo that I had to search for what it even was. I'm sure my kids would love it and I already have some ideas brewing

We just went to Disney World in June so my Dh vetoed the idea of tacking on a few days in the parks. I'm the huge fan and he kinda just goes along, but this time he said it would be too soon to go back again. We're just going to fly in the day before, stay the night at the port, then fly back after our cruise. It'll actually be nice to be home a couple of days before going back to work instead of stumbling around jet lagged for a week (three hour time difference for us).

I have no clue what we're going to do for Nassau--I'm sure my oldest son would love to do the dolphin encounter, but it seems so pricey. Atlantis also seems cool, but I didn't really expect to spend my time in port at a resort. We have a lot of opinions in my group though between my husband, mother-in-law and cousin, so it'll be interesting to see if we even can agree on a port adventure or head separate ways.

What are your thoughts on Nassau? Have you been to the Bahamas before?

 

[nancy drew]

I'm a teacher too (right now I am subbing; I had stopped teaching when my oldest was born and am slowly working my way back into it). This will be week 2 for our spring break.

We have never been to the Bahamas. I laughed at your comment about spending port time at a resort, I had never thought of it that way!! You are totally right! But I was thinking it would be a good "taste" of staying at Atlantis without having to spend a fortune to actually stay there. If we like it, then we could go back. If we feel like we've seen what needs to be seen, we don't have to go back. But then I was reading that it will be packed with spring breakers, so maybe we will skip it? I don't know. The kids would love to do the dolphin thing, but I have issues with that. I also have issue with how expensive it is, lol. And DD seems to hate the beach (well, she hates getting sand in her shoes and can't seem to find a good solution; we are trying water shoes in December when we visit my mom). My son would probably like to see the fort, and I've read something about a nature park, so those are my other ideas.

The FE thing sounds like fun, but I wouldn't know how to organize it either! And I see other groups have a Facebook page for their cruise. I could start one of those if we get enough people interested, but someone else might have to take charge of the FE (if we have anyone with experience sailing with us, that is!!!).

I'm not sure if we will tack on park days at the end of our trip. We are doing a quick Disney trip in January at the end of the holiday break. My mom spends the winter in FL so we go and visit her. We fly in to an airport near her, stay there for a week, then she drives us to Disney and we spend 2-4 days there. It makes for a very busy Disney trip, but it works for us. So if the prices are right, we might go again in March. Or we might just go home.

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

 

[Apsychmommy]

Yeah! Looks like we are officially linked now! Sooo...anyone else sailing March 30th or is it just going to be my and Nancy Drew here?

 

[MarieFan]

I'm in!

My name is Jennifer and I'll be traveling with my husband, Dave, and my daughters, Brynne (14) and SeiJin (7). We're staying on for the 3 night following this one for a back to back. I am so excited!

 

[Apsychmommy]

Hi Jennifer! Welcome aboard! That's so awesome that you are on a Back-to-back. I never even thought to do that until after I booked our cruise and made other plans for after we get back or I would have done the same. Glad I found these boards when I did though--I'm learning so much!

 

[MarieFan]

Thanks for the welcome. We looked at doing something else after, but I really just want to stay on the ship! By the time we get tickets and dining at WDW, for just a taste of the parks, we might as well do the cruise. I am a huge fan of the parks, too, of course, but am so looking forward to the slower pace of the cruise.

 

[nancy drew]

Hi Jennifer!

I thought about doing a back to back but decided that since we have never cruised before, it is best to see how we like it first! We might do the parks afterward, for a few days.

I'm trying to talk a friend into joining us with her 2 boys. We shall see how that goes! It would be great for my kids to have friends on the ship, and it would be really great for me to have a friend on the ship so I'm not alone when the kids are in the club (if they go at all), but I'm not sure they will actually join us.

We are getting excited, though! I had a dream about this trip already! Of course it was all dream-crazy, for example we were on the Fantasy, not the Dream, and we had to ride in a private boat with a personal escort to get on the ship... crazy stuff!!!

 

[Fisherfam4]

We're in! We are a family of 4 too! DD will be 7 and DS close to 14 when we sail away.

We are also doing a back to back but with the 3 days before.

We are avid disneyers and this will be our second (and third !) Dream trip.

We can't wait!!! I've had a countdown on my whiteboard in the office since day 295

Stacy

 

[nancy drew]

Welcome, Stacy! Looks like this Back to Back thing is really popular! I'll have to keep that in mind for next time!

So does anyone want to do Fish Extenders?

 

[Apsychmommy]

Good morning everyone and Happy October! Welcome, Stacy!

 

[Apsychmommy]

Good morning everyone and Happy October! Welcome, Stacy!

Ack, posted too soon--my fingers are pretty clumsy on my phone this a.m.

Anyhow, meant to say that turning to Oct in my calendar felt even more exciting since we have this trip planned.

I'm up for doing FE. I have been snooping around other meets and it looks like they usually start another thread and then link that thread to one of the top posts. When we have a thread started, I can edit my top post with the link. Anyone want to take charge of the FE? I'll volunteer to help

 

[TCB in FLA]

Hi all-
We're cruising as well! This will be our fourth Disney cruise, first on the Dream -- we haven't been in a few years, so we're excited to return and get on one of the newer ships. It will be me, DH, DS 13 and DS 11. We booked ages ago -- I kinda put it in the back of my mind so I didn't get overly excited and have to wait wait wait.

I'm totally in with the fish extenders! I think we still have our from our last cruise ... somewhere.

 

[nancy drew]

Yay!!! More people on our cruise!!!

If I had any idea how to run a FE exchange I would totally do it. But I really have no clue what it involves.

 

[TCB in FLA]

Actually, a FE exchange is pretty simple. Someone just needs to update a list of who is interested, what cabin they are in and names/ages. Some folks give general fun gifts (candy, notecards, etc) while others gear more specific (princess stuff for young girls, etc). We enjoyed it last time -- the boys enjoyed checking if we had "mail". This would be a great time to start thinking about it since you can find good little presents around H'ween (glow sticks, stickers,etc) and Christmas. I would love to participate but don't really have the time to check the thread regularly.

 

[chesirecatgirl]

We are going to soooooo excited!!!!! I am all for doing the fish extenders!!!!!! I have looked and so far our cruise does not have a fish extender page. If anyone else has seen it let me know because that way I cxan figure out how many I need. Can't wait for the fun!!!