May 2, 2009~~~Magical MAYniacs!~~~ 7 day Western....Updated, April 3,2009!!

[zerog]

And so the list begins. I'll try to keep up with this the best I can. The April 26, 2008 "Crazy Cruisers" had over 100 people. Many joined in the last 2 months prior to cruising. I suspect we'll experience the same here.

Dis ID – Location – Names & Ages – Stateroom - Other

Laura001 – Niagara Ontario – Scott50, Laura46 - cabin #2578 - Celebrating 25th Anniversary; First DCL Cruise
Ashlotte – Pacific NW – DH, DW, DS4.5, DD2.5 - cabin #7012 - Celebrating 10th Anniversary; First DCL Cruise
Itutorfortravel – DH, DW, DD
Zero G – Florida – Randy49, Steph35, DS9, DD6 - cabin #2608
Colleenlg - San Diego - Phil41, Colleen35, Karissa4, Leo1
- - Colleen's Parents - Scottsdale, Arizona - Ellen64, Tom65
toribelle - Pennsylvania - DH38, DW38 - Celebrating 20 years together


Apparently, each roll call takes on a personality of it's own. The Crazy Cruiser board went well for 51 out of 52 weeks. The one week we went out of kilter was when someone innocently asked if it would be offensive to tablemates to say a prayer at the table before their meal. Well, all 'heck' broke loose - people really DO have some strong opinions about religion. I mean, countries fight wars over it. Some cruisers started sending nasty private messages and some cruisers asked to be dropped off the list. Then we finally got things back on the positive.

Early this year, a thread was started on the main board about the Magic not being able to dock at Castaway Cay (due to weather). It was written that certain passengers aboard that cruise were screaming and swearing at the DCL crew - in front of children no less. So, the Crazy Cruisers all agreed that unless the ship was sinking, we would try our best to have a good vacation. In other words, all of us have plenty of time to plan this cruise to the nth degree, but nothing really ever goes perfect.

 

[laura001]

And so the list begins. I'll try to keep up with this the best I can. The April 26, 2008 "Crazy Cruisers" had over 100 people. Many joined in the last 2 months prior to cruising. I suspect we'll experience the same here.

Dis ID – Location – Names & Ages – Stateroom - Other

Laura001 – Niagra Ontario – DH, Laura - cabin #2578 - Celebrating 25th Anniversary; First DCL Cruise
Ashlotte – Pacific NW –DH, DW, DS4.5, DD2.5 - cabin #7012 - Celebrating 10th Anniversary; First DCL Cruise
Itutorfortravel – DH, DW, DD
Zero G – Florida – Randy49, Steph35, DS9, DD6 - cabin #2608
Colleenlg - DW35, Colleen41, DD4, DS1


Apparently, each roll call takes on a personality of it's own. The Crazy Cruiser board went well for 51 out of 52 weeks. The one week we went out of kilter was when someone innocently asked if it would be offensive to tablemates to say a prayer at the table before their meal. Well, all 'heck' broke loose - people really DO have some strong opinions about religion. I mean, countries fight wars over it. Some cruisers started sending nasty private messages and some cruisers asked to be dropped off the list. Then we finally got things back on the positive.

Early this year, a thread was started on the main board about the Magic not being able to dock at Castaway Cay (due to weather). It was written that certain passengers aboard that cruise were screaming and swearing at the DCL crew - in front of children no less. So, the Crazy Cruisers all agreed that unless the ship was sinking, we would try our best to have a good vacation. In other words, all of us have plenty of time to plan this cruise to the nth degree, but nothing really ever goes perfect.

That is great if you want to keep up with the list! Sounds like you have some experience with all of this. Can you do me a favour and change the spelling of where we are from...it is "Niagara".....
DH (Scott) is (50) and I am (46) (actually, we aren't that age yet, but will be when we sail- at this age every year counts...lol)

Thanks!!!

It would be great if we had a big group of us going....hopefully that is what will happen! Also, hoping we can all behave....lol , I guess the biggest thing is for everyone to remember that we are all entitled to our opinions, we can discuss them as adults : )

 

[colleenlg]

Welcome Colleenlg!!!! Awwww.....a 9 week old, I LOVE LITTLE babies!!

Does the cruiseline offer childcare for little, little one's too? That would be great I bet.

I hope that the cruise lives up to our expectations too, although we really don't know exactly what to expect so it shouldn't be too hard.

Are you heading down just for the cruise or are you adding something else to your trip?

We will be doing a week at Disneyworld either before or after the cruise. I'm thinking of staying at the camp-like Disney property in one of the cabins. Anyone else doing Disneyworld as part of their trip?

 

[colleenlg]

And so the list begins. I'll try to keep up with this the best I can. The April 26, 2008 "Crazy Cruisers" had over 100 people. Many joined in the last 2 months prior to cruising. I suspect we'll experience the same here.

Dis ID – Location – Names & Ages – Stateroom - Other

Laura001 – Niagara Ontario – Scott50, Laura46 - cabin #2578 - Celebrating 25th Anniversary; First DCL Cruise
Ashlotte – Pacific NW –DH, DW, DS4.5, DD2.5 - cabin #7012 - Celebrating 10th Anniversary; First DCL Cruise
Itutorfortravel – DH, DW, DD
Zero G – Florida – Randy49, Steph35, DS9, DD6 - cabin #2608
Colleenlg - DW35, Colleen41, DD4, DS1

I forgot to mention that my parents will be traveling with us as well. We're from San Diego & they're from Scottsdale, AZ. So it's Colleenlg(35), DH(Phil - 41), DD(Karissa-4), DS(Leo-1), DGma(Ellen-64), DGpa(Tom-65)

 

[laura001]

We will be doing a week at Disneyworld either before or after the cruise. I'm thinking of staying at the camp-like Disney property in one of the cabins. Anyone else doing Disneyworld as part of their trip?

I have already posted that we will be doing disney after, I wanted to have something to look forward to after getting off the ship. Hoping to stay DVC at The Boardwalk, keeping our fingers crossed!

We stayed in the cabins years ago............they are GREAT!!!! We had my DH's Mom with us and our 3 kids, I loved having the extra room and the fact that the kids could run in and out. We didn't use the kitchen a lot because of being in the parks all day, but breakfast was good and I think one night we had a late dinner of just soup and grilled cheese (or something) which was a nice change from the HUGE meals. We also loved the fact that we could take the boat to MK, that was AWESOME!!!

 

[zerog]

So what is Mal De Debarquement Syndrome?

Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (or MDDS) is an imbalance or rocking sensation that occurs after prolonged exposure to motion (most commonly after a sea cruise or a long airplane flight). Travelers often experience this sensation temporarily after disembarking, but in the case of MDDS sufferers it can persist for 6-12 months or even many years in some cases.

The imbalance is generally not associated with any nausea, nor is it alleviated by typical motion-sickness drugs such as scopolamine or meclazine. Symptoms are usually most pronounced when the patient is sitting still; in fact, the sensations are usually minimized by actual motion such as walking or driving.

Here is a good thread on cruise critic:
- - - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/archive/index.php?t-347041.html

My DW complained of that swaying sensation after our 3-nite cruise in 2007. She said it took 2 weeks to go away. Now she is feeling the same thing again. She doesn't get motion sick. Other crazy cruisers have returned to the old board to report the same. I'm not feeling it, though.

I'm really not trying to discourage anyone from cruising (although it sure must seem that way). But I just found this to be an interesting phenomenon.

Here are some interesting responses from the board above:

It's perfectly normal. Your brain "reprogrammed" itself while you were on board to try to "ignore" the constant signals telling it your body was moving. (Your body WAS moving, of course, but your brain got tired of dealing with the sensation! It also got mixed signals - visually you were in surroundings that did not appear to be moving.) Now your brain has to undo that little bit of extra programming. This is just another example of how amazing our brains really are and how little we understand about them even in the 21st Century.

I just thought it meant I was destined to be on water, not land!

 

[colleenlg]

So what is Mal De Debarquement Syndrome?

Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (or MDDS) is an imbalance or rocking sensation that occurs after prolonged exposure to motion (most commonly after a sea cruise or a long airplane flight). Travelers often experience this sensation temporarily after disembarking, but in the case of MDDS sufferers it can persist for 6-12 months or even many years in some cases.

FONT]

My DH & I both experienced this during our med cruise last summer. We'd had a particularly rough night at sea (which, strangely enough didn't cause me any seasickness although I do get sick on smaller boats & sometimes on planes)...anyway...the next day we were in Nice, France. My DH kept saying, "Nice is a lovely town...if we could just get it to quit rocking!"

 

[laura001]

My DH & I both experienced this during our med cruise last summer. We'd had a particularly rough night at sea (which, strangely enough didn't cause me any seasickness although I do get sick on smaller boats & sometimes on planes)...anyway...the next day we were in Nice, France. My DH kept saying, "Nice is a lovely town...if we could just get it to quit rocking!"

Ok...........so now I am freaking out again If DH and I are sick on/after this cruise, it will be awful! I know what you mean by having the weird feeling back on land, I have experienced that when spending time on the boat up north in the summer. Everytime I get myself settled down about the whole being sick thing, it creeps up again and I worry.

I don't want to be at Disney the week after and feel sick either, rats!!!!!

 

[zerog]

Ok....so now I am freaking out again If DH and I are sick on/after this cruise, it will be awful! I know what you mean by having the weird feeling back on land, I have experienced that when spending time on the boat up north in the summer. Everytime I get myself settled down about the whole being sick thing, it creeps up again and I worry.

I don't want to be at Disney the week after and feel sick either,rats!!!!!

Everything will be just fine! Before our 2007 cruise, it was reported that we would be experiencing very rough seas and I was so worried about getting seasick. I even went so far as to call NOAA to ask how the seas would affect cruise ships. And then, I didn't even feel the least bit queasy. Laura, you'll have a great time. There are probably 100s of things to worry about on a day to day basis, but we just put these things aside: like the risk of driving a car, lightning strikes, cancer, shark attacks, local violent crimes, terrorist attacks, missed airline flights, or even satellites falling from the sky and hitting us on the head. It seems that all the folks experiencing this after-cruise sensation are still going about their normal lives, while their brain readjusts itself. So all this excitement, anxiety, and enthusiasm will add up to make this cruise that more wonderful. And those on this roll call get to share those feelings together for the next 51 weeks.

 

[laura001]

There are probably 100s of things to worry about on a day to day basis, but we just put these things aside: like the risk of driving a car, lightning strikes, cancer, shark attacks, local violent crimes, terrorist attacks, missed airline flights, or even satellites falling from the sky and hitting us on the head.

Bring on the satellites......... Just no stomach upset!

share those feelings together for the next 51 months.

I don't know about you, but we are sailing in 11 months and although I am a Disneyaholic....51 months would be a little excessive even in my books (my DH would be so proud of me to hear that )

I am just teasing you, I know you meant weeks....I have a little bit of a sense of humour!

 

[zerog]

I don't know about you, but we are sailing in 11 months and although I am a Disneyaholic....51 months would be a little excessive even in my books (my DH would be so proud of me to hear that )

I am just teasing you, I know you meant weeks....I have a little bit of a sense of humour!

A sense of humor is good! Thanx for the correction.

To put things in perspective, my employer sent out this safety memo last week (I'm still catching up on the 200 emails I received while on the cruise). No need to read it all, but will it prevent you from driving?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) web site has a wealth of information on safe driving and hazards associated with distractions while driving. The following is an excerpt from National Survey of Distracted and Drowsy Driving Report Date April, 2003
Attitudes and Behavior: 2002 The survey findings show that most drivers at least occasionally engage in behaviors that draw some of their attention away from their driving task. The most common of these behaviors include general activities of talking with other passengers (81%), changing radio stations or CDs (66%), and eating or drinking while driving (49%). While it is estimated that more than a billion driving trips are made weekly by drivers engaging in each of these behaviors, fewer than one in four drivers perceive these particular activities as distracting or as making driving much more dangerous.
About one in four drivers uses a cell phone while driving for either inbound (26%) or outbound calls (25%), while a similar proportion deals with children in a back seat (24%). It is estimated that almost 800 million one-way vehicle trips are made each week while drivers engage in each of these behaviors (nearly 20% of all driving trips). Close to one-half of drivers perceive these behaviors to make driving much more dangerous, although drivers who use cell phones are only half as less likely as non-users to feel cell phone use is dangerous.

 

[colleenlg]

Ok...........so now I am freaking out again If DH and I are sick on/after this cruise, it will be awful! I know what you mean by having the weird feeling back on land, I have experienced that when spending time on the boat up north in the summer. Everytime I get myself settled down about the whole being sick thing, it creeps up again and I worry.

I don't want to be at Disney the week after and feel sick either, rats!!!!!

Don't worry! The land rocking sensation didn't make us sick - it was just weird. It went away in like one day. These huge boats have great stabilzing systems too.

 

[zerog]

I should probably clarify my user name - zerog.

I meant it to be read as zero g, 0 g or zero gravity.

That's me.

 

[itutorfortravel]

Yeah! More people have joined the thread! I had been coming back to the thread almost daily and was so disappointed not to see any posts and now bam there are a bunch! I was just thinking to myself yesterday that one year from today we'll be on the cruise

In my earlier post, I mentioned that my family traveled to Grand Cayman last summer - we flew down and stayed a week. So if anyone has questions about Cayman in particular, I may be able to offer some input.

DH and I have done cruises before, but it's been a really long time and never a Disney cruise. Our DD (who will just have turned 7 at the time of the cruise) has been asking to go on a Disney cruise for 2 years so we thought we better do it now while we still feel okay about taking her out of school. Anyone else taking their kids out of school for this?

Currently we have no plans to go to WDW before or after. 5 days of missed school is probably all we can do...plus, we have been to WDW 4 times in the past 3 years and while I absolutely love "the world" it will be okay if we skip it one year. (DH thinks the cruise is going to be the end of Disney vacations for a few years - HA He's funny!)

 

[zerog]

Yeah! More people have joined the forum! I had been coming back to the thread almost daily and was so disappointed not to see any posts and now bam there are a bunch! I was just thinking to myself yesterday that one year from today we'll be on the cruise

In my earlier post, I mentioned that my family traveled to Grand Cayman last summer - we flew down and stayed a week. So if anyone has questions about Cayman in particular, I may be able to offer some input.

Anyone else taking their kids out of school for this?

Currently we have no plans to go to WDW before or after. 5 days of missed school is probably all we can do...plus, we have been to WDW 4 times in the past 3 years and while I absolutely love "the world" it will be okay if we skip it one year.

Hi
Thank you for welcoming me to the thread. I tend to talk too much (errr, post too much) so I hope I don't stick my foot in my mouth. I certainly hope I didn't scare anyone away with my seasickness or post-cruise posts.

I have no idea what to do in Grand Cayman. I have a DS9 and DD6. We live 10 minutes from the beach, so it would not be that bad to miss a beach day. My kids are not strong swimmers (yet), so snorkeling may not be an option. Someone said something about a turtle farm. That might be interesting for the kids. BTW, DW and I used to perform extensive volunteer work locally toward sea turtle conservation efforts. We led nightly 'turtle walks' to allow visitors to watch a nesting sea turtle up close and we drove injured turtles to Sea World, amongst other duties.

We took both kids out of school for the week. However, my DS8's teacher is sending us nasty emails because we are having a hard time getting DS to catch up on all his missed assignments.

I have almost convinced an old friend to join us on the cruise. He wants to go and just yesterday his wife agreed that a cruise would be fun. Next, we'll wait and see if he chooses to join us or choose another date/cruise line. *fingers crossed*

Our last cruise meet had over 100 people, many of whom joined in the last few weeks and months. It may be just the few of us for a while. One of the things that made the last cruise so special was the occasional run-in with fellow dis'ers. Most conversations were short and sweet, but it was great to see people 'we knew' from time to time and to share a quick vacation status.

 

[laura001]

We took both kids out of school for the week. However, my DS8's teacher is sending us nasty emails because we are having a hard time getting DS to catch up on all his missed assignments.

Hmmmm...even at the age of 8 it is the end of the world............NOT!!! We only ever had one problem with taking our kids out of school (they are now 23, 20 and 16) and that was with a Math teacher our DS had in high school. Most of the time we were told to go and have a good time, take some work with you, catch up when you get back. Yet, I have heard some horror stories, it is like there is no other world except the "school" world.

I always find it amazing how the kids can miss school for so many other reasons, ie, DD's school does a huge production (play) every second year. These kids and the ones not even in the play end up missing a TON of school time, tests are post-poned, assignments are put aside etc. Never a problem. Time to tour other schools for a whole week before Christmas with the school band, NO problem missing. At spring break, there was a trip to Italy but didn't arrive back til 2 days back into the school days....NO problem. But, take a few days away to go on vacation with your family, WHOA!!!!

OK...I am done with my rant now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have almost convinced an old friend to join us on the cruise. He wants to go and just yesterday his wife agreed that a cruise would be fun. Next, we'll wait and see if he chooses to join us or choose another date/cruise line. *fingers crossed*

That is awesome!!!!! Unfortunately, most of our friends think "I" am totally nuts for always wanting to do the Disney thing...........so.....that means we are on our own, that's ok cause they don't know what they are missing!!!

Currently we have no plans to go to WDW before or after. 5 days of missed school is probably all we can do...plus, we have been to WDW 4 times in the past 3 years and while I absolutely love "the world" it will be okay if we skip it one year. (DH thinks the cruise is going to be the end of Disney vacations for a few years - HA He's funny!)

I think my DH thinks that too!!!!!

 

[toribelle]

Well here is another adult only couple cruising. We just got back from a 3night cruise and of course got hooked. We sailed back in 89 on Carnival so this was very different and very enjoyable. My Husband and I will be 38 when we cruise. We have no kids so it's just us big kids enjoying Disney. We will be celebrating being together for 20 years we met in May 1989, and married April 1997. There were a lot of adult only couples onboard and lots to do, so you will have a great time with or without kids.
Waters were a little rough on the 1st night, but nothing terrible. Lots of people having trouble keeping their balance so watching was very entertaining. My Husband gets motion sickness very easily and he had no problem. Me on the other hand, I got paranoid that I would get sick so I took an antivert pill, (Husband's prescription) and I felt quesy but that I believe was from the pill. I never get motion sickness so next time no pill for me. We are looking forward to snorkeling everywhere we fell in love with it on Castaway Cay. We are doing one night at Disney before the cruise so we do not have to worry about flying in the same day and something delaying us. Not sure were we will be yet but probably the Beach Club as it's our favorite.
It's been fun reading everyone's post, can't wait to read more.

 

[laura001]

Well here is another adult only couple cruising. We just got back from a 3night cruise and of course got hooked. We sailed back in 89 on Carnival so this was very different and very enjoyable. My Husband and I will be 38 when we cruise. We have no kids so it's just us big kids enjoying Disney. We will be celebrating being together for 20 years we met in May 1989, and married April 1997. There were a lot of adult only couples onboard and lots to do, so you will have a great time with or without kids.
Waters were a little rough on the 1st night, but nothing terrible. Lots of people having trouble keeping their balance so watching was very entertaining. My Husband gets motion sickness very easily and he had no problem. Me on the other hand, I got paranoid that I would get sick so I took an antivert pill, (Husband's prescription) and I felt quesy but that I believe was from the pill. I never get motion sickness so next time no pill for me. We are looking forward to snorkeling everywhere we fell in love with it on Castaway Cay. We are doing one night at Disney before the cruise so we do not have to worry about flying in the same day and something delaying us. Not sure were we will be yet but probably the Beach Club as it's our favorite.
It's been fun reading everyone's post, can't wait to read more.

Hey there!!! Welcome!!! It is great to hear from someone that has done the cruise sans kids, I think DH is a little worried about that. I have heard there is a lot to do for adults too! We will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary, guess that was a good time of the year!

I love snorkeling too and would really like to do that while we are away. DH likes it but he can't see a thing without his glasses and everytime he tries to put a mask over his glasses it doesn't work at all, it always leaks. Needless to say he spends all of his time fighting with the mask, so he just gives up. It's too bad because I probably won't do it without him (even though he wouldn't mind). I am going to try to find things that we can do together(although I would love to parasail, and that I would have to do by myself)

We are heading into port 3 days prior to sailing, have a little rest and do the Space Center. The Beach Club sounds like a great pre-cruise night!

 

[toribelle]

I hear you can get prescription masks not sure how much but it may be worth it to see the beautiful things in the water.

Are you doing early or late dining? Maybe we could share a table? I do not remembering seeing tables for just two on board. We were traveling with some friends in April so we got a table of 4 for the 4 of us.

 

[laura001]

I hear you can get prescription masks not sure how much but it may be worth it to see the beautiful things in the water.

Are you doing early or late dining? Maybe we could share a table? I do not remembering seeing tables for just two on board. We were traveling with some friends in April so we got a table of 4 for the 4 of us.

We are dining early, I didn't want to eat and then just end up going to bed because I was tired. We usually eat late at home so this will be a change for us, but I really want to partake in the evening fun.

Which dining are you???

I didn't know that you could buy prescription masks, will look into that. DH can wear contacts if need be, I was going to try talking him into using them. He was worried that he would lose them, but they are disposable's anyway so I said that I thought it wouldn't be a big deal and that we could just bring a couple of pair. I guess I still have a few months to see if he is comfortable doing that.