May 30, 2009 - Western Cruise Magic

[erinlees_mommie]

Welcome to the Disney Cruisin' Budgeteers! Glad to have you and boy is that a big surprise!
I've only RECENTLY become granny to 3 hamsters (because my kids are their parents ofcourse LOL) -it wasn't something I ever planned on having in my house and had no idea they don't live long! I'm not looking forward to the day when one of them dies.... fortunately they were rescued babies- so hopefully we'll have 2yrs with them. I'm sorry for your daughter's hamster loss.

Thanks so much...
It was tough .. esp answering all of the why's that came along with telling her.We had the Robo one.They are very tiny.When we got her the pet store said she was a new batch etc.That would have been a year ago in Feb.I am so sad about it.But we will remember her in a good way.Congrats on the grandfurbabies!!

 

[erinlees_mommie]

Can y'all tell me about the FE exchange ? I don't know how to participate or anything? And meets ?? How do we meet some or all of you that will be on board with us !?

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Thanks so much...
It was tough .. esp answering all of the why's that came along with telling her.We had the Robo one.They are very tiny.When we got her the pet store said she was a new batch etc.That would have been a year ago in Feb.I am so sad about it.But we will remember her in a good way.Congrats on the grandfurbabies!!

ours are russian dwarf hamsters- atleast I think comparing to pictures online. They have the dark lines on the back and they are completely identical (3 sisters). We can't tell them apart now. We tried putting a dab of fingernail polish on the bottom of their feet- but they cleaned that off and I figured that wasn't a good idea to put more of that on there so we have no who idea who is who. LOL

Can y'all tell me about the FE exchange ? I don't know how to participate or anything? And meets ?? How do we meet some or all of you that will be on board with us !?

It's on this thread somewhere. Sorry... I can't remember the pages and to be honest I'm going to have to hunt down the info again myself I guess because I don't remember all the details about the meet.
Oh wait- we decided meeting somewhere around the sailaway and dinners wasn't so easy (or comfortable up on top deck in the hot sun) that we'd just all meet up before getting on the ship- since most (if not all) are planning on being there early? I may be remembering the details wrong.

Brucechase is the one doing the list for the FE exchange. There are many threads about this as well as many discussions about it on this thread. Do you have any specific questions? I'm not sure what you're asking? If you're just wanting to be on the list to be involved in the FE exchange- just let brucechase know.

 

[erinlees_mommie]

ours are russian dwarf hamsters- atleast I think comparing to pictures online. They have the dark lines on the back and they are completely identical (3 sisters). We can't tell them apart now. We tried putting a dab of fingernail polish on the bottom of their feet- but they cleaned that off and I figured that wasn't a good idea to put more of that on there so we have no who idea who is who. LOL


It's on this thread somewhere. Sorry... I can't remember the pages and to be honest I'm going to have to hunt down the info again myself I guess because I don't remember all the details about the meet.
Oh wait- we decided meeting somewhere around the sailaway and dinners wasn't so easy (or comfortable up on top deck in the hot sun) that we'd just all meet up before getting on the ship- since most (if not all) are planning on being there early? I may be remembering the details wrong.

Brucechase is the one doing the list for the FE exchange. There are many threads about this as well as many discussions about it on this thread. Do you have any specific questions? I'm not sure what you're asking? If you're just wanting to be on the list to be involved in the FE exchange- just let brucechase know.

They are very difficult to tell apart I am sure..LOL I look at them in the stores all the time and think how would I tell 2 apart.DD names every animal and wants to know who is who.Lucky for us the guinea pigs *all 3* are very different..LOL And then we have Koi who are all different.So that is no biggie

I'll search this thread for the meet THANKS I wasn't sure if there was a separate one or if this it the main on to get all of the info.

How does the FE work .... Do you gift every day for every person on the list? Including all family members ? Is there a price limit ? I would love to get involved but need to know what the details are before committing Is there a separate thread for this for our cruise date ?

THANKS for all of your help!!!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

They are very difficult to tell apart I am sure..LOL I look at them in the stores all the time and think how would I tell 2 apart.DD names every animal and wants to know who is who.Lucky for us the guinea pigs *all 3* are very different..LOL And then we have Koi who are all different.So that is no biggie

I'll search this thread for the meet THANKS I wasn't sure if there was a separate one or if this it the main on to get all of the info.

How does the FE work .... Do you gift every day for every person on the list? Including all family members ? Is there a price limit ? I would love to get involved but need to know what the details are before committing Is there a separate thread for this for our cruise date ?

THANKS for all of your help!!!!

There isn't a seperate thread. Some threads keep info like that on the first post but ours isn't. sorry! LOL

You don't have to gift every day- you can gift just once if you want. You can include all family members, or just the kids, or one gift for the family or per room- it's really up to you and depending on what you're gifting. I mean yanno? some people gift something for the family or something to keep as a souvenier/etc. Some gift kid things to the kids which would probably need to be per child rather than one per family. It's up to you though. There is no price limit- nor a price minimum. We're really easy going about it and no rules persay. KWIM?

Brucechase is keeping a list for us with who is on the cruise that has "reported" their info to him with the room numbers- as well as a list of those participating in the FE so we know who to give to/ages of children/etc.

I used to have guinea pigs but we gave them to another cavy lover when we moved years ago- to a home that had no room for them and the elaborate cages I'd made for them. LOL They were easy to tell apart as I had all different kinds/length of hair/etc. But these little hamsters are totally identical. And yes my kids want to know who is who- but it's downright impossible! (except at times we can tell their personalities- for instance my son's General Snookums -had to give it a somewhat boy name even though it's a girl LOL- tends to nibble on you when you handle him.. the others do not do that. Rita's likes to sleep in one of the upper "bedrooms" more than the other two- they like to go sleep in the lookout tower. But it's only a few little personality traits and if they aren't doing those things at the time- we can't tell them apart for nothing! LOL

 

[homespun]

Bruce---
Was wondering if the 3/9/09 spreadsheet is the most current one for FEs. I'm just finishing everything up and would like to get it all packed up and shipped to the ship for our departure (hoping for the end of April to be safe).

Thanks again for keeping track of this and keeping us organized.

Karen

 

[dawne577]

It's been a long time since I've posted but my DH and I are also waiting on our cat 12 GTY room assignment. I still pinch myself every time I remember what we paid - this is the lowest pp price we've paid out of 4 Disney cruises and all the other were 3&4 night ones!!! I looked at travelocity this morning and the inside category is showing sold out. How do you think that will effect our cabin assignments?
Couple questions: Any idea why we can't reserve the Palo brunch on line?
Also, will I need to reprint the signature sheets once room is assigned?
We canceled our room at the Radisson pre-cruise and the early shuttle so that we could go back to POFQ for a few nights. Any comments or suggestions on the DCL transfers would be great - we've never used this service before and are hoping we won't get to the port to late.

 

[kcashner]

DH I looked at travelocity this morning and the inside category is showing sold out. How do you think that will effect our cabin assignments?
Couple questions: Any idea why we can't reserve the Palo brunch on line?
Also, will I need to reprint the signature sheets once room is assigned?
We canceled our room at the Radisson pre-cruise and the early shuttle so that we could go back to POFQ for a few nights. Any comments or suggestions on the DCL transfers would be great - we've never used this service before and are hoping we won't get to the port to late.

OK...showing no more availability for inside cabins means that they aren't selling any more. The ship is slowly filling, and if people want our dates, they'll have to pay more for it. Reality is that they've sold a LOT more cat 12s than exist. Most of us will end up sailing in 11s, some of us will receive more pixie dust. At the moment, they're trying to fill the ship with FL res rates, etc....but ours are much better!

As to DCL transfers, they will get you to port about 1:30-2 pm. If you want to be there earlier, you can rent a car or use a towncar service from POFQ.

I just got home (2 am) from the 7 day Eastern to St. Croix. Christiaan said that Brent will be our CD in May. Christiaan will go to the Wonder on May 10. Also, his son is sailing on the April 4 sailing (first trip) as he will be 12 weeks and 3 days old.

A LOT of people are getting off the ship on May 30--our server, our room hostess, and MANY we spoke with. Seems that it's a big change-over date for the crew.

I'll think clearly and tell you more later...and answer any questions. Tired now.

 

[brucechase]

Bruce---
Was wondering if the 3/9/09 spreadsheet is the most current one for FEs. I'm just finishing everything up and would like to get it all packed up and shipped to the ship for our departure (hoping for the end of April to be safe).

Thanks again for keeping track of this and keeping us organized.

Karen

No, there have been several others who want to join.

I will work on the FE list this weekend and into next week and hopefully have it out within the next few days. We have this strange thing going on here called the Masters Golf Tournament (along with our spring break) and things are crazy.

To anyone who wants to join the FE and have never received the spreadsheet that I have privately emailed - I need your information. There are a couple of people who said they want to be part of the FE but I still do not have their email address. If I don't get it soon, then I will have no choice except to drop your name.

I will post a list of all that I have later on today (it's on my work computer) so we can start the final list. We are getting close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW kcashner - welcome back!!!! Are you even going to upack????

 

[loveysbydesign]

OK...showing no more availability for inside cabins means that they aren't selling any more. The ship is slowly filling, and if people want our dates, they'll have to pay more for it. Reality is that they've sold a LOT more cat 12s than exist. Most of us will end up sailing in 11s, some of us will receive more pixie dust. At the moment, they're trying to fill the ship with FL res rates, etc....but ours are much better!

As to DCL transfers, they will get you to port about 1:30-2 pm. If you want to be there earlier, you can rent a car or use a towncar service from POFQ.

I just got home (2 am) from the 7 day Eastern to St. Croix. Christiaan said that Brent will be our CD in May. Christiaan will go to the Wonder on May 10. Also, his son is sailing on the April 4 sailing (first trip) as he will be 12 weeks and 3 days old.

A LOT of people are getting off the ship on May 30--our server, our room hostess, and MANY we spoke with. Seems that it's a big change-over date for the crew.

I'll think clearly and tell you more later...and answer any questions. Tired now.

Is a big changeover for the crew good or bad????

 

[casacoco]

hi everyone - my first post My 3 teenagers are going on our first cruise - yea! I hope to meet alot of you on the cruise. does anyone know what page the info is for our meet and greet? what exactly are fish extenders and what do you use them for?

 

[brucechase]

hi everyone - my first post My 3 teenagers are going on our first cruise - yea! I hope to meet alot of you on the cruise. does anyone know what page the info is for our meet and greet? what exactly are fish extenders and what do you use them for?

Welcome aboard! The meet and greet is somewhere, I just can't find it right now. For the FE, it is a little bag that you put on the fish right outside your door. The bag has pockets for each person (usually). The people who want to participate leave little gifts for the other families. Some leave it per person, some leave per family, some once, some a couple of times per the trip. There is no spending limit, it is just meant to be fun. The kids usually have a blast when they find something left for them in their pocket. Look back a couple of pages and there is some more stuff. If you want to participate, let me know, I am organizing it for everyone. I have a big excel sheet that has all that information and more (like excursions and other stuff). I can send you the sheet whether you want to do the FE or not. There is some pretty good information on it. Since we are getting close, we do need to "close" (if that is the right word) the list soon because a lot of people tend to personalize things and it would be hard to do some of it at the last minute. Just let us know if you want to do it, it is pretty fun.

Ask some more questions and get to know us all, there are some great people here. Let us know where your are from (I see, just read your tag), and what you are doing for shore excursions. You might also have your teens meet up with others that are similar in age so they will know someone on the ship.

 

[brucechase]

Sorry to change gears here, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed on the FE. We have a total of 74 people in 18 families on our list doing the FE. Maybe one more who just joined us here.

Here are the names:

2BoysMom
Bamabornnemonut
Bibbidybobbidyboo
brucechase
CarolinaBlue
cruisefanz
erinless mommie
Hmurry
Homespun
jpoeling
kcashner
liliagm
loveysbydesign
pooh.kim
PoohFriend#1
sixtiesmum -------- I need your email to get you the list
stlkeeler
Suzepoo

On our list we have the following for ages:

DD-2
DS-2
DD-4
DS-5
DS-5
DD-6
DD-6.5
DS-7
DS-7
DGD-7
DD-8
DD-10
DD-10
DD-11
DS-11
DS-11.5
DD-12
DS-12
DD-12
DD-12
DD-12
DD-12
DS-13
DS-14
DD-15
DD-15
DD-15
DD-15
DS-15
DD-18
DD-18
DF-18
DF-18
DD-18
DD-18
DD-18
DW-29
DM-31
DH-32
DM-33
DW-34
DH-34
DW-35
DW-37
DW-39
DH-39
DH-39
DW-40
DH-42
DW-42
DW-43
DH-44
DH-44
DW-45
DH-45
DW-46
DH-47
DM-50
DGM-51
DGF-52
DW-54
DGM-54
DM-72
DW-
DH-
DGF-
DGM-
DW-
DH-
DW-
DH-
DW-
DH-


If you see anything wrong, let me know. We are off to Carowinds in the AM so I won't be able to do any updates until Tues or Wed.

 

[kcashner]

I don't know if the large number of crew getting off the ship on May 30 is good or bad. My suspicion is that many getting on will be fully trained and coming back from vacation. We just found it interesting that our room steward and 4 servers we spoke with told us that they were leaving the ship on that day! It probably won't affect our cruise at all.

As to unpacking...not totally! I'm actually washing up some clothes and putting them back into the suitcase as "tentatively going." Ditto for the snorkel gear. I'll also try to pack less stuff that I don't need (I say that every time). We're driving in May...I'm hoping to borrow a luggage carrier. Otherwise, luggage space will be at a serious premium. DD asked if we could change our plans and fly--right! I looked at the $1500 price tag as well as the fact that we can't get a flight home until Sunday (so I'd get to feed and entertain the crew another day) and said NO WAY.

 

[BamaBornNemoNut]

Since you didn't mention it, I'm guessing no changes to the menus on the Magic for now. Just thought I would check and see.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Welcome back kcashner. Did you notice if there were new menus?

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Since you didn't mention it, I'm guessing no changes to the menus on the Magic for now. Just thought I would check and see.

Guess you beat me to it!

 

[kcashner]

The Golden Mickeys menu was slightly different from 2/08 when we were last on the Magic, but not much different....just enough to get me to wondering whether they were changed. The others were the same. The breakfast menu was also different than 2/08, but was exactly the same as the Wonder on 2/09 except that the names were changed--Beast's Tower instead of Triton's Tower, etc.

 

[casacoco]

Thanks for the info. we just booked -working on excursions. travel party includes mom 40, ds 18, dd 16, ds14. definitely interested in meeting other teens. i would like to do the FE - it sounds like fun. do i post my email here so you can send me the spread sheet? is the pirate cruise excursion fun for teens? which cozumel dolphin excursion is the best?

 

[mmmagic7754]

Thanks for the info. we just booked -working on excursions. travel party includes mom 40, ds 18, dd 16, ds14. definitely interested in meeting other teens. i would like to do the FE - it sounds like fun. do i post my email here so you can send me the spread sheet? is the pirate cruise excursion fun for teens? which cozumel dolphin excursion is the best?

Welcome aboard casacoco Also have a teen on this cruise(ds15)this will be our 6th Disney cruise.He was in the teen club last year and had a blast.I'm sure they will all hook up and have fun