May 13.2006 Eastern

[b&bdiscruisers]

DH & myself have second seating, but the first night we'll be at Palos. This will be our 7th cruise & I haven't really gotten out my clothes yet, just new underware, new pj's & a few new tops, etc. are sitting on the guest bed. I pretty much know what I'm going to pack but I think I'm starting to get a little nervous about getting more organized. This weekend I'll be working hard on that! The last few days I've been getting together with my TA for another cruise next year! Going May 20 for a 4 day!

 

[hooksenemy]

Hi everyone - Can't W8 - WELCOME ABOARD - The thread. I am almost ready, I still have some last minute things to pick up - soft sided cooler, air freshener, night light, and lysol wipes being top on the list.

As far as packing, I am not much of a roller, I love the air bags and yes the baggies worked when the kids were smaller however whole outfits just don't fit in the freezer bags anymore I wish they would stay this age 7 & 9 forever, I am really enjoying them don't get me wrong it is stressful but they are so much fun

I pack like this - I hang all my dressy clothes on 1 hanger. I put all pant on first, then tops then dresses - I use the dry cleaner bags to wrap any clothes with sequence including gowns - not only does it protect from snagging it also limits the wrinkles - I still may get some things pressed if they are to wrinkled for shower steam to get out especially since Formal night is day 2

ALL socks underwear and bathing suits go in the large vaccuum bags. Everything else is strategicly place in the duffle bag - shoes are my biggest issue I usually pack all shoes in a separate bag and any nice shoes are put in a shoe box and packed in the box for safe keeping - "like the shoes for my gown"

I think it is clear why I have already started packing I am slightly a neurotic vacation planner

 

[Verandah Man]

It is "a small world after all". I hope that you had a nice break and you're enjoying the weather. I work in an office building in Philly and I'm very jealous right now since I see the sun is shining so brightly but I'm sure it'll be shining even brighter and better once we arrive in sunny FLA. in 17 days. My son's family is coming in from Williamsport Pa. the night before and we're flying out Saturday morning around 8am. So we will be doing the mad dash from airport to the port. We're using Happy Limo, used them 4 years ago and they were quite nice and right on time. BTW, Happy Belated Birthday!

Just arrived home for lunch, it is absoluetly beautiful outside walking around today, temps heading to the mid 60's, bright sunny sky, and a nice cool breeze. What even made is nicer was the fact that today is also payday!!! One more payday to go, then we will be heading to Florida and I can't wait!!!

 

[hooksenemy]

Forgot to mention my pillowcases - I am having 2 embroidered - each will have the names of kids on the hem end on both sides so no matter how I put it on the pillow a name can be seen. The will be done in Disney font that a friends mom has on her sew machine - just washed and dried them so they are ready to be sent over today or tomorrow.

My computer had some problems today , I needed to send it in to be looked at - THANKFULLY - it booted for them right away, and they said it probably encountered a power surge thru the night and just needed to be unplugged and then plugged back in - turning it off did nothing - NOW FOR ALL YOU NON-COMPUTER PEOPLE! Dont' you think powering it down is the same as unplugging it? Apparrently not - it is not the same - how would I have known that I could have been working on my door magnets this morning but NOOOOOOOOO - glad I brought it in though because it was full of dust and needed a good cleaning which they are doing now so I can get right back to the magnet making when I get home

I am working my way through print shop had fun finding all kinds of cool things to do for my magnets - JODIFLA - the one for your cabin door is coming along great

Carolyn

 

[TSirgey]

Hanover- Thanks for the packing tips. I'm going to try to ziploc bag trick. It should make it easier to see how many outfits I have for dd. Also, she can pick out a bag and get herself dressed instead of making a mess of her drawer. Cool!

I am going to take our pillow case over to my Mom's and see if she can use her embroidery machine on it. She used to be in the craft business and doesn't do it anymore, but still uses the machine sometimes. It isn't easy to work with, so I'm hoping she agrees (she has my dress to hem too ).

We have second seating dining. Palo ressies are Wed night at 8:30.

TSirgey...DW went shopping, again, yesterday as she wasn't sure what to do for Pirate night. My DD's are kind of "girly-girls"...so pirate stuff doesn't go over as well as a pink dress. DW found some basic black skirts/skorts & tops at Target,$5.99 each, then they accessorized with necklaces and a pirate hat. This went over very well! They were a cheap solution to our Pirate costume challenge. And technically they can wear the skirt on another day of the cruise.

That sounds neat! Our dd just plain loves to dress up. She loves the princess stuff, but also fell in love with Pirates of the Carribean. She saved all her money and bought the costume in WDW last year. She is wearing the Belle formal gown on formal night. I keep catching her with it on, so I better take a close look at it tonight!

 

[TDS'93]

I am hoping someone knows the answer to my question. How is the Pirate Night buffet? What is served? Is it worth missing our reg. dining rotation for? Or should we just go for desert? We have late dining and don't really want to miss any of the Pirate happenings.

Linda

 

[DrCavin]

NOW FOR ALL YOU NON-COMPUTER PEOPLE! Dont' you think powering it down is the same as unplugging it? Apparrently not - it is not the same - how would I have known that

From a computer person, yes turning it off is different. Without getting into the geeky details, rebooting does not "reset" some of the components, but powering off for a few minutes does reset everything. Amazing what PC issues go away when you power-down & back up, our users hate when we tell them to try that first & report back if problem still occurs, 99% of the time I dont get a return phone call

You really run into those kind of issues when you have a wireless router connected to your internet connection, those need to be reset from time-to-time. You will notice you cant connect to the net or it may be very slow...

 

[Hanover]

Hanover...it's a small world so I'll ask anyway.

My father-in-law was in the Navy as well, about 20+ years. He was in the Class of 1960, and the Cpt. of the Navy Football team. Any chance your dad played ball?

Hi Cali-Mouse,

My dad didn't go to college at the USNA. He started out through boot camp during Vietnam and worked his way up to an Officer over the years, getting a Master's degree in Hospital/Public Administration. Most of the time he was the Officer in Charge of the hospital where ever we were stationed.

I did work at the USNA through college and for a year after while on an internship /scholarship for physical therapy. I had quite a few football players come in post-op. I've been to many Navy football games and still love to drop by Annapolis from time to time.


I am sure your girls will look absolutely adorable in their princess costumes.


TDS'93: I only remember the dessert bar on Pirate night and it looked really, really good. We even took a picture of it. I was too full to eat anything, so this time I'll make sure to leave room.

T-sirgey, good luck packing. The rolling can be time consuming, but it beats having to wait in line before dinner on vacation to do ironing! I did invest in a few travel size downy wrinkle release pump sprays just in case. My boys clothes (shorts for ds8 not pants) still fit in the gallon size zip locks, but I know if they don't you can buy larger zip locks that are a couple gallons plus. They are a little pricy...I think about $6 for 3.

 

[DrCavin]

USPS delivered our docs today. They sure have reduced the amount of stuff they send. We received some advertising for the Med cruises, some dining plan adverstisment, a checklist from DCL, a very detailed listing of what to expect/do from our TA, 4 luggage tags pp, 4 Bahamas immigration forms, and one booklet of documents. Last time we got a booklet for everyone sailing.

Anyone receive an upgrade yet???

 

[Hanover]

I also thought DCL really cut down on the amount of documents compared to what we got for our cruise Feb 2005. I like having only 1 book to worry about!

My parents got their docs from their AAA agent today. They are really excited too. FIL still has yet to get them.

My dh and I were reading someone's trip report from the last Eastern Magic cruise and just can't wait until it's our turn. The op mentioned that the beach they went to was topless in St. Martin. Does anyone know if the excursions with beach outings are to topless beaches? Didn't really think it through before reading her post. I guess our ds8 will really have some interesting stories for his buddies. We better make sure he only takes pictures of the dophins!

Dr. Cavin, if you haven't done the dining plan at the parks, it is certainly worth every penny. I'd double check your luggage tags. I thought we got 4 pp too and actually only had 2 pp because they fold down once you loop them through the luggage. Does anyone know if DCL is really stringent on the 2 pieces per person limit? Do they make you pay more or not allow you to bring extra cases? With SouthWest lowering their luggage weight limit to 50 lbs, it's harder to get everything in suitcases without having to pay more for going over the weight limit. They do allow 3 pieces per person on flights, but if we can't take them onboard the Magic, I guess we'll have to really make sure we pack lighter.

 

[Verandah Man]

Congrats to those who received their docs today!!!!!

We added a new member to our family. We adopted a six year old female cat from our local county animal shelter, her name is Cinnamon and she is very sweet. Our other cat Stefani now has a playmate.

 

[Cali-Mouse]

WE GOT OUR DOCUMENTS!

 

[DrCavin]

Hanover, your right it is only 2 pp. They look identical to each other so I figured they were perforated in the middle. They were not strict on our last cruise, the porters had additional tags. I seem to remember we had to fill out the tags, but maybe that was for the return portion.

We looked into the dining plan, but it requires a minimal stay of like 3 days or something so we werent able to get them.

I am glad I dont have to tote your luggage around if you are getting more than 50lbs in each bag

Did anyone notice that a rocket is scheduled to be launched on May 18?? Hopefully we can get a glimpse of it since we will be heading to CC that night, maybe just a little delay & we will be able to see it. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

 

[jodifla]

The documents are here! The documents are here!

 

[bpd196]

Our docs came today....Our docs came today
YIPPEE

 

[Aquagirl]

Did anyone notice that a rocket is scheduled to be launched on May 18?? Hopefully we can get a glimpse of it since we will be heading back to PC that night, maybe just a little delay & we will be able to see it. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

That would be cool to see, but we will be heading to CC that night not PC. Do you think that we will see anything?

Got our docs yesterday. Now I finally know our cabin #. Unforrtunately we have a cabin with a solid metal verandah instead of a plexin glass verandah.

 

[Verandah Man]

Only 16 more days to sailaway day!!!

And, two weeks from today my family flies to Florida!!!

 

[TSirgey]

Hanover- Where did you find the travel size Downy wrinkle release sprays? I want to bring it, but not the full size bottle.

DD and I were doing a little dance today because our paper chain is so tiny now!! Yippee!!!

 

[bpd196]

[DD and I were doing a little dance today because our paper chain is so tiny now!! Yippee!!! :cool1

TSirgey my DDs are getting excited too. I am going to take a pic of them with their paper chain when it is at 10days and then one day.
They can't believe we started at 100 days of links. It's great!!

 

[Hanover]

My FIL got his documents today. He did not get any kind of confirmation for his round trip Disney bus transfers to/from the port. His Dreams Unlimited TA confirmed to him he's on the list, but he obviously wants something in writing. Did anyone that will be taking the Disney transfers get a confirmation ticket of some sort? He asked his TA, but hasn't heard back. I figured I'd hear quicker from a Dis member....