May 18, 2013 Fantasy 7 Night Eastern!

[UncleLarry]

As my lovely wife has said, we are looking forward to sailing on the Fantasy next year. For me, the anticipation of vacation is almost as good as the actual vacation. We might be testing the limits of this scenario as the cruise is so far away. Time will tell. At the very least, I have lots of time to think of memorable birthday presents for my wife and son's cruising birthdays. Suggestions welcome.

 

[MTmomma]

As my lovely wife has said, we are looking forward to sailing on the Fantasy next year. For me, the anticipation of vacation is almost as good as the actual vacation. We might be testing the limits of this scenario as the cruise is so far away. Time will tell. At the very least, I have lots of time to think of memorable birthday presents for my wife and son's cruising birthdays. Suggestions welcome.

I'm with you on the "plan-itis." My friends and co workers all think i'm insane for being booked already. I can't get them to understand that it could be considered "late!" Happy planning everyone!

Also, is anyone planning Kennedy Space Center post cruise? Last time we had free tix, but our travel partners started whineing a half hour into it, so we left early. We are going to attempt a do over this time.

 

[UncleLarry]

I'm with you on the "plan-itis."

Nah, I am not a over planner, I am a "I would rather be there than here" type of guy. Kinda like, "it sucks now, but Christmas is coming" mentality. We make a couple plans for the trip and let the rest of the cards fall where they may.

 

[MTmomma]

If any of you have Android phones, the DCL version of ship mate has been updated to include 2013 Fantasy itineraries.

 

[mammacaryn]

...

 

[MTmomma]

One year, three months, and four days to go. 459 Days, which is a sight better than it was back in October-ish when I booked this cruise!

 

[MTmomma]

Currently debating the wisdom of driving to Florida. From Montana.

 

[UncleLarry]

If we had the time, I would prefer to drive to the cruise instead of flying. Airports, lines, security, delays, cancellations, lost baggage...

All these things stress me out even though I no control over most of them. Obviously, driving for 2-3 days (from Western NY) has its own stressors, but I prefer them over the greater evil that is the airport cattle runs.

 

[MTmomma]

Assuming a rental car would get 19mpg, and assuming gas is $4/gal, we would be sitting at just under $575 each way. (Using conservative estimates) this is cheaper round trip than the 2012 flights for the same week. Total drive time (conservative) is 44 hours.

 

[UncleLarry]

You still have to figure in car rental, hotel costs, and food for the drive down. When you crunch the numbers, I still think driving will be cheaper.

 

[MTmomma]

Not too worried about the hotel option, I have enough friends and family to stay with without going out of route, that it wouldn't cost more than dinner for them.
As for rental car cost, I will already be renting one for our trip while down there, and yeah, I DO pay for it to be sitting and parked the week, just for the convienece (sp?) Factor alone. If we drive, it becomes a different sort of vacation all together, opening up a significant number of learning experiences for my child that while crossing the country in a semi truck didn't afford him earlier.

 

[MTmomma]

14 months from today, I will be asleep either at the Hyatt Regency MCO, or at CI&S in Cape Canaveral.
Also, we nixed the driving down thing. As much fun as we could have, I think flying is the better option as of now. So, we just have to decide to fly from GEG>MCO (with a 200 mile drive) or MSO>MCO without driving, but with baggage fees, and about $100 more (on average) per ticket.

 

[mammacaryn]

......

 

[amandaw]

I just booked today for my family to go on this cruise. We are very excited! This will be our 2nd Disney cruise. We did a 3 night on the Dream last May to test whether or not we would enjoy Disney cruising. Needless to say, we all fell in love with DCL! It'll be myself, my husband and our son who will be 5 on the cruise. Since this will definitely be a longer cruise than our last, I'm already trying to think of everything I want to do & try on the ship that we didn't have time for on the Dream.

 

[MTmomma]

I just booked today for my family to go on this cruise. We are very excited! This will be our 2nd Disney cruise. We did a 3 night on the Dream last May to test whether or not we would enjoy Disney cruising. Needless to say, we all fell in love with DCL! It'll be myself, my husband and our son who will be 5 on the cruise. Since this will definitely be a longer cruise than our last, I'm already trying to think of everything I want to do & try on the ship that we didn't have time for on the Dream.

Welcome to our sailing! I am glad you booked! We also took our first cruise with DCL in May of 2011. It was a 4 night for my DS 9th birthday. He will turn 11 on this next cruise, so we are pretty darned excited! Be sure to subscribe to this thread, as we should see lots more people as we get closer to sailing! I myself can not wait to be under the one year mark, as it will seem more "real" then, saying "oh only 11 more months" instead of 1 year, 1 month, 3 weeks, 6 days...... ish....

 

[amandaw]

Welcome to our sailing! I am glad you booked! We also took our first cruise with DCL in May of 2011. It was a 4 night for my DS 9th birthday. He will turn 11 on this next cruise, so we are pretty darned excited! Be sure to subscribe to this thread, as we should see lots more people as we get closer to sailing! I myself can not wait to be under the one year mark, as it will seem more "real" then, saying "oh only 11 more months" instead of 1 year, 1 month, 3 weeks, 6 days...... ish....

Thank you! We are very excited that we were able to book on this cruise. In the stateroom category we wanted, there really wasn't too much available. But, I'm happy with where we ended up.

How exciting that you son will have his birthday on the cruise! I thought about doing the Fantasy in March 2013 during our son's 5th birthday. But, we really liked the May sailing better. And this way, I don't have to pull my son out of school. Granted, he'll only be in preschool so it's not like he'd miss anything detrimental to his future. But, he absolutely loves school & hates missing. I'm sure that'll change as he gets older.

I agree.....I can't wait for May 19th just so we can be under a year away! At least we can all chat away here while we're counting down our days.

 

[MTmomma]

Thank you! We are very excited that we were able to book on this cruise. In the stateroom category we wanted, there really wasn't too much available. But, I'm happy with where we ended up.

How exciting that you son will have his birthday on the cruise! I thought about doing the Fantasy in March 2013 during our son's 5th birthday. But, we really liked the May sailing better. And this way, I don't have to pull my son out of school. Granted, he'll only be in preschool so it's not like he'd miss anything detrimental to his future. But, he absolutely loves school & hates missing. I'm sure that'll change as he gets older.

I agree.....I can't wait for May 19th just so we can be under a year away! At least we can all chat away here while we're counting down our days.

I committed one of the ultimate parental sins, and had my chld at a time where he is ALWAYS hit with a holiday weekend. I swore before I had children, I would never do that to my children, because it STUNK being a labor day baby. Hah. I went and had him during Memorial day weekend. Oops? He has YET to have a birthday party that has FRIENDS at it. Poor kid. For his 8th birthday, we went to Silverwood in North Idaho for opening weekend. Got HAILED OUT, and my kid said NO MORE TRYING TO CELEBRATE his birthday. Shortly after that incident, WDW started advertising one of thier Dining plan specials. Started looking into that, and eventually wound up realising that DCL was a better fit for us over WDW. Neither of us really "do" crowds very well, and it just seemed so stressful. We wound up agreeing in 10/10 that his next birthday would be on the Dream. And now, we got bit by that darn DCL bug, and are dragging one of my best friends with us, so we can justify it to ourselves, getting a 4C.... I suspect that we will be sailing in THAT stateroom when we are on both the Dream and the Fantasy, because Ash, Chance, and I all agree, its "home" Welcome to the addiction!

 

[amandaw]

I committed one of the ultimate parental sins, and had my chld at a time where he is ALWAYS hit with a holiday weekend. I swore before I had children, I would never do that to my children, because it STUNK being a labor day baby. Hah. I went and had him during Memorial day weekend. Oops? He has YET to have a birthday party that has FRIENDS at it. Poor kid. For his 8th birthday, we went to Silverwood in North Idaho for opening weekend. Got HAILED OUT, and my kid said NO MORE TRYING TO CELEBRATE his birthday. Shortly after that incident, WDW started advertising one of thier Dining plan specials. Started looking into that, and eventually wound up realising that DCL was a better fit for us over WDW. Neither of us really "do" crowds very well, and it just seemed so stressful. We wound up agreeing in 10/10 that his next birthday would be on the Dream. And now, we got bit by that darn DCL bug, and are dragging one of my best friends with us, so we can justify it to ourselves, getting a 4C.... I suspect that we will be sailing in THAT stateroom when we are on both the Dream and the Fantasy, because Ash, Chance, and I all agree, its "home" Welcome to the addiction!

Well, if he's getting to celebrate birthdays on Disney cruises, I'd say you've more than made up for the holiday birthday!

Oh yes, the DCL bug bites....and hard!

 

[mammacaryn]

 

[MTmomma]

Another family!!! This is the first time we booked this far out so I too cannot wait to be under a year. We have 2 birthdays on this cruise as well! Can't wait to start getting enough folks to put together a Fish Extender exchange, although I have to admit it-I'm already working on some stuff

I may have already started too.