March 4, 2007 Wonder - Anyone Else?

[eagercruiser]

No I am not taking you seriously at all. I have got one like you at home.So am used to all this.

 

[FrazzledDad]

Okay. Just wanted to make sure. You know how these anonymous message board chats can get. The only difference here is we all might actually meet each other and I don't want any bad feelings. Life's too short.

 

[doug46]

Hey, wait a minute. I was serious. No wait, no I wasn't. Oh heck, now I can't remember. What were we talking about?

 

[rpclmc]

Uh, oh I think Doug is a corporate guy or is in politics with his answer

I just got home from being out all day. But part of my being out was picking up my docs. I have them in my grubby (well not so grubby) hands

Now time to actually do a little work and then I think I may start packing.

Can't wait to meet everyone.

Linda

 

[doodlesmommy]

Linda; so glad you found the link. I hope that made you feel better. I know it helped me. I guess since I paid extra for the service I might as well use it.

My user name is after my Son and Daughter. I call them my doodlebugs. I just decided to be doodlesmommy; well, cause I am. That was a fun question. It's always fun to look at all of the names people have chosen. I too wander where some of them came from.

I just found out we have a room assignment on the ship. They moved us from a cat. 12 to a cat. 9. Wooo Hoo! Now if they could only keep that room resv. for us I'll be plain happy!

Does anyone have an idea of how much Disney charges to upgrade your park tickets to the kind that have no expiration date? We thought that is what we originally purchased but I was just told the other day that we didn't. We would have to pay a "nominal" fee to have them upgraded. The word "nominal" gets used a lot which is why I'm working a lot of overtime these days. LOL!! I hate to see 4 days worth of passes go to waste after this trip.

~Michelle

 

[rpclmc]

Linda; so glad you found the link. I hope that made you feel better. I know it helped me. I guess since I paid extra for the service I might as well use it.

My user name is after my Son and Daughter. I call them my doodlebugs. I just decided to be doodlesmommy; well, cause I am. That was a fun question. It's always fun to look at all of the names people have chosen. I too wander where some of them came from.

I just found out we have a room assignment on the ship. They moved us from a cat. 12 to a cat. 9. Wooo Hoo! Now if they could only keep that room resv. for us I'll be plain happy!

Does anyone have an idea of how much Disney charges to upgrade your park tickets to the kind that have no expiration date? We thought that is what we originally purchased but I was just told the other day that we didn't. We would have to pay a "nominal" fee to have them upgraded. The word "nominal" gets used a lot which is why I'm working a lot of overtime these days. LOL!! I hate to see 4 days worth of passes go to waste after this trip.

~Michelle

Your doing the land/sea right? That is what we are doing and I thought ours was hopper with 14 day expiration. Is that right? And you want upgraded to no expiration? Are you thinking of coming back, if not the 14 days gives you time to extend your vacation out for after the cruise also.

I would suppose you could either call your TA or Disney (whoever you bought the package from) and upgrade.

We have not been upgraded and I am kind of thinking we won't since we have already been assigned our cabin #. That is o.k., it seems to be at a good location on the ship. I am also going with the thought that if I make do with a cat 12, then I won't expect more (thus pay more) when we cruise in the future. In other words, I'm cheap.

Linda

 

[eagercruiser]

Hey Nothing came make me angry these days.We are so close to the cruise.how can I be angry?

Have a test tommorrow and I am still reading these posts.

Hey doodlemommy we have also been upgraded from cat.12 to cat.9.We might be neighbors on the ship.
Did your assigned room number change more than once.Mine did as we were in guarantee cat. 12.

 

[rpclmc]

Hey Nothing came make me angry these days.We are so close to the cruise.how can I be angry?

Have a test tommorrow and I am still reading these posts.

Hey doodlemommy we have also been upgraded from cat.12 to cat.9.We might be neighbors on the ship.
Did your assigned room number change more than once.Mine did as we were in guarantee cat. 12.

So, you can get assigned a cabin # in cat 12 and still be upgraded? It is not like I don't want an upgrade, just trying to not get dissappointed if I don't get one. But, I am like you, it really doesn't matter what happens, I am just sooo excited and happy it is so close.

Linda

 

[eagercruiser]

An idea just popped up in my mind.This is just for the ladies as I don't think men would have anything to do with this thing(sorry guys cannot help it.hee hee heee).Lets start posting a check list of all the nitty gritties we need besides the clothes.Things like night lights,alarm clock,shoe holder........
This way we can help each other remember something we might be forgeting.I promise to post mine after sunday.Let this test of mine get over with.
Gonig to my brother's place in CT for the weekend.Will be back on Monday.

 

[rpclmc]

Eagercruiser,

Great idea for those who can use it. There are several sites on this board (under things like lists for cruise, etc) and I actually printed one of those out and just highlight the things I still need and cross out the things that don't apply to me.

I will try to post a link when I get back to that site. It may be a few days. A suggestion I thought was great was a dry erase board (smaller one) to put on your door (with magnets), to leave messages to whoever.

Linda

 

[doodlesmommy]

That's a great idea. I'll post a few ideas below. I'd love to hear what others are bringing. It would help keep me from forgetting things.

As far as our tickets, I called the other night. Disney said I'd have to wait until I went to the park and they could tell me how much $$ they are going to charge to upgrade. We are actually planning to go to The Villages, FL to spend the rest of the weekend with my in-laws following the cruise so we won't have the opportunity to use the remainder of our tickets otherwise. We'd love to know that we could go back in a year and not have to pay so much. I was just hoping someone had done that recently so I could get a price range.

Have you guys wondered why they refer to our cabins as "categories" (as they do with hurricanes)? Just a silly question. Linda; I'm with you. I could care less where my room is. If they move me....Yipee! If not, I'm still where I originally signed up to be. As long as I'm there who cares.

Ok; on to my list:
Glo bracelets (I bought a ton of these at Halloween and still have leftovers so we will bring those so we don't have to buy them at the park Cha Ching)

Over the door shoe holder (to keep things organized)

Extra memory stick for the camera

A little Capt. for my diet coke (Give me a break; I'm on vacation )

quarters/pennies for the penny press machines (Bryce collects them)

We ordered groceries to be delivered to our hotel room so we would have plenty of snacks bottled water for the parks and to take on excersions. We are taking our softside cooler so we can put the drinks in the locker to store all day and save $$ at the park. I'd rather use that $20 in the gift shops than on drinks and snacks.

I also ordered a surprise bucket full of goodies for the kids for the ship. It keeps me from packing their beach toys. It can go in our extra bag for souveniors that I'm packing to go home.

goggles for the older kids for the ocean.

solarcaine and sunscreen

underwater camera (for our stingray adventure and for funny pics at the beach and pool underwater of course)

Imodium, Tylenol, Dramamine (non-drowsy), etc.

That's all I can think of right now. I may post more later if ideas pop in to my head. I'm going to start packing next weekend. It will take me forever to get everything together.

Can you believe its almost here?!?

Michelle

 

[rpclmc]

We use Bonine instead of Driamimine - it doesn't make you drowsy or funny feeling at all. We also are bringing those sickness wrist bands you can get at AAA for about $7.00.

Where did you order the groceries? I was going to do that, but haven't yet. Did you already order and they take a future delivery date?

My husband thinks I am crazy, but I have also boughten some souvenairs for my DD. She loves snow globes and I can get Disney knock offs at Walgreens for $15.00. I will still buy one at Disney, but this will give her more and she won't know the difference.

Don't forget raingear (cheap ponchos). We got caught in the huge rainstorms at Disneyland 2 years ago, so we have the nice Disney (expensive) one's. But, if I didn't, I would be bringing the $1.00 one's.

I have also heard duct tape is a necessity. Torn luggage, doors or drawers that won't stay open or shut on the boat and bang all night, etc. Binonculars, highlighter, large envelope (to keep receipts, etc).

Linda

 

[FrazzledDad]

Don't forget an electric plug in strip. I think there is only 1 or 2 outlets in the rooms. Also, suction cup hooks to hang bathing suits and night light for inside staterooms. Another big tip is to bring a collapsible piece of luggage or a piece that fits inside a bigger piece for all the crap we are going to buy.

 

[FrazzledDad]

I have the packing lists if anyone wants them.

 

[doodlesmommy]

You can order groceries from gardengrocer.com They are the cheapest way to deliver to the resorts. Only $10 delivery fee. The grocery prices weren't much different than our local store. I went ahead and ordered what we needed last night to have them delivered March 1 when we arrive. So convenient! They already have the address and details for all of the hotels.

I'll have to check in to the motion sickness meds. that seem to be better than dramamine. Someone in my office was talking about those too. Even the non-drowsy dramamine affects me. I spent our entire drive through Austria passed out in the back seat. I was woken up long enough to look at the snow capped mountains and say, "nice".....then it was back to sleep. I don't want to go through that again.

 

[eagercruiser]

Thanks everyone for being so prompt on the packing list issue. I also have the link for those tips but what I meant was that when we actually start putting things in our luggage we start writing them here that this thing has been put in the luggage.Usually when I make my trips to India with kids I have a long list things to take(gifts,kids toys,food etc.)there as it for 30-40 days.I make a list and start shopping for this long before the trip. Than I keep one of the suitcases in my guest room(hoping nobody bothers me) and dump whatever I buy for the trip in that.Reorganize everything a week before my actual flight.Its easier to pack for clothes but you always forget some of the little things.
This is only a 4 day cruise but being my first I am feeling that we'll be surrounded by water with no stores nearby,so I better be prepared.

Raingear,pennies/quarters and suction cup hooksare now added to my list.

Linda thanks for letting me what we need duct tape for.Tell me more about Bonnie.Does it come in chewables.

 

[rpclmc]

I don't know if Bonine comes in chewables. I hadn't even heard of it until about 2 years ago. When my husband goes fishing in Alaska for halibut, on the ocean (he can fish on rivers fine, but doesn't do well in open water), he was the chummer (for those of you who don't fish, he was feeding the fish off the side of the boat by being sick). Someone told him about Bonine and it worked great with no side effects. It is in the store where you buy driamamine, right beside it.

I have also heard ginger works well and you can get ginger in candy like form at health stores. It just looks like dried fruit. I haven't tasted it, but it might be o.k. I also read somewhere that black olives are a good motion sickness remedy.

I have these things "just in case". I have heard the boats are very smooth and you hardly feel any motion. My sister-in-law, who gets motion sick easily, loves cruising and goes on quite a few. She said she only felt sick once and that is when a storm was picking up and she just moved more toward the center of the boat and lower decks and was o.k. The boats also have stabilizer wings that they put out in rougher water. I read about those, they look pretty cool.

I hadn't thought of the suction hooks for swimsuits - that is a great idea. I did, however, pick up one of those cheap plastic, bathtub, suction holders for shampoo, conditioner, razors, etc. It was at Walmart for about $3.00.

Does anyone else have late seating? It seems like most people like the earlier seating, but since it is a 2 hour time change for us, we figured it would be easier to do the late seating and stay closer to our regular eating time (so and 8:00 pm seating will be 6:00 pm for us). Plus we poop out real easiely and figured this way we would see a show first, whereas if we ate first we may have skipped the shows to go to bed. Makes us sound old doesn't it? We really aren't that old.

Linda

 

[FrazzledDad]

SNOW UPDATE

NorEaster is gone. Now the Lake Effect snow starts. 9 more inches today Kids have a 3 day weekend.

OMG. My wife just informed me that the kids do not just have a 3 day weekend but Winter Break starts Monday. 10 days home all day with Dad, and Mom, of course.

 

[doug46]

After reading about a couple of bad incidents on airplanes and knowing several of us are flying in from areas prone to weather delays, we are planning to have plenty of snacks, water and pull-ups in our carry-on bag. You have to buy the water at the airport inside the security check points. I can't imagine being stuck on an airplane on the tarmak for 8-12 hours without food or water.

Other packing itmes we have thought about that might not be on our normal packing list:

Small flashlight (never leave home without one)

2 way radios. We are traveling with another family and kids in two age groups so we expect to split up at times.

Big Ziplock bags. In case suits are wet from the resort when it is time to pack to head to the ship.

Disposable camaras for each kid. They can take pictures of what they find interesting. My wife will create a photo album for each from these. Very interesting to see what kinds of things the chose to take pictures of.

Bungee cord. We have adjoining rooms. Will use this to keep the door between the cabins open.

Autograph books and sharpie pens for the kids to get character signatures.

Large fanny pack. Big enough for sun glasses, a bottle of water, sun screen, bandaids (inevitable blisters on little heels), maps....

Swim shoes/aqua socks. I hear the sand at the beach on CC can be rough on little feet (and big feet)

I am sure I will think of others as we go along. I will post any that I think people might forget.

Oh, and I almost forgot, thanks to Linda's reminder, I have to dig out the fishing equipment. Did your husband ever decide on the appropriate gear for fishing off a cruise ship?

 

[FrazzledDad]

I also have Cruise CM Thank you cards and Luggage Tags that are on MS Word if anyone wants those. Just need to email them.