May 8th 2008 cruise

[MODisneyfan]

Welcome Floridanative..

 

[mdhkitten]

Welcome floridanative! We look forward to meeting everyone!

 

[mdhkitten]

Alright, I bought cruise insurance last night! Woohoo! $66 for all 3 of us!

BTW, am I the only one who is going the birth certificate route? Just wondering. That's what me and dd are doing, but my mom has a passport. Our trip was sort of last minute and I worried about not getting them back in time since last year it took my mom well over a month for hers. Hopefully it will be fine!

 

[floridanative]

No we are going the birth certificate route as well.

 

[Grumpymom73]

We are also going with birth certificates. We had the same issue with time and of course $$! LOL

Wow, mdhkitten that's a great deal on insurance. I bought ours through DCL.

Well, I was just working on packing some stuff. I afraid to get too much done too early because with nothing to do at the end I might go crazy. Of course I don't want to go crazy trying to get everything done last minute. I guess I'll be crazy either way! According to my DH I have vacation issues and really need to talk to a professional about them.

 

[DisDee]

Welcome floridanative! Its nice to have another family in our group.

Well I'm happy to say I got all the FE gifts ready last night. I plan to ship them on Wed. I finished the actual FE today. I'm not 100% happy with it, but it suits the purpose, and actually looks pretty good for just winging it. Next time I do a craft project, I'll follow a pattern, and be sure to get my sewing machine in tip-top shape beforehand. Does anyone know how long the ribbon that hangs from the fish should be?

DH and I have been packing a little at a time. As each day passes, we get more excited. We're really trying to pack a little lighter this time, but that's kind of hard for 9 days. We will be able to do some laundry once we get back to WDW, so I have to take that into consideration. The worst problem is the shoes...sneakers, water shoes, dressy shoes, sandals, crocs...where does it end?

This will be our first trip with our new passports. We plan to do some more traveling, so bit the bullet and finally bought them.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

 

[mdhkitten]

Yeah, from what I've read on here it seems that DCL at least used to use Access America, and some say that they still do. I'm not sure though, but it was a great deal! My biggest fear was my dd getting sick before we leave, especially since she's 3 and kids that age seem to pick up everything! Fortunately we've been very lucky with her and she's been very healthy overall (knock on wood!), but you just never know. We've had so many different weird bugs going through the area, even recently, and with my luck if I didn't have insurance something would happen! LOL

I've made lists for packing, but generally I never pack until the day before and then I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Usually I make sure I'm off the day before a trip. This time I'm working the two days before!! I only work 3 days a week and only had 7 hours of vacation time, so I needed to work a day to help make up for the time lost. This means that I'll have to start packing about 3 days before and just leave the last minute things for the night before/morning we leave.

BTW, I generally don't really get excited about a trip until a couple of days before hand, and then it REALLY hits me!!

 

[TinkRose]

I'm going to be on this cruise too! Most of my whole family will be cruising to celebrate our mother's 75th birthday. It's actually closer to mother's day than her birthday, but this is a time when we could all get together. There will be 13 of us in 5 staterooms. This is our (DH & me) first cruise. The rest of my family has been on cruises. Just last week my sister and I were finding out how much we don't know. Found this site and bought the Passporters guide to be more prepared and informed. Now I just need time to read the Passporters.

 

[Grumpymom73]

Welcome TinkRose! What a great way to celebrate your mother's birthday!

Wow our little group is growing!

 

[mdhkitten]

Welcome tinkrose! We will be celebrate my dd and mother's birthdays on the cruise, too! Their b'days are both at the first of June (2 & 7), but it's close enough!

 

[MODisneyfan]

Welcome TinkRose..

I keep reading that most of you are packed yet.. The only thing I have to do is make a copy of my passport and get on my flight.. I have been packed for about a week now..

 

[degrapevine]

Yikes! You all are WAY ahead of me ...
I have not even begun packing yet, but we aren't going to WDW before the cruise, just driving over in the morning. It's about a 2-2 1/2 hour trip, so I am planning for us to leave around 8 AM. I am a substitute teacher and have been pretty busy lately, but I am taking off the 7th and plan on packing then and doing any last minute running around that I might need.
I'll start on a packing list soon and set aside clothes for the kids so they don't end up in the hamper right before the trip.
Our FE arrived yesterday and is beautiful. I'm so glad I splurged and let somebody do the work ... It's just too crazy at the end of the school year to try to do a craft project! That's why this cruise comes at the perfect time, just when I'll need it to relax and "refuel" me for that last month.
I am all for the two meets ... Although my DH thinks it's a bit weird, but I am looking forward to meeting some new people that aren't part of my school/church family.
I will definitely join everyone for the karaoke in Wavebands on Pirate Night, after we put the kids in the clubs, of course! I teach our children's choir at church and used to be a music teacher before the job of Mom took over, so I think I can carry a tune, but I've never done karaoke before. No better time to do it than in front of a whole crowd of strangers!
I did have one question ... I am planning on doing an FE gift each day (the last gift being the aforementioned CD I am working on). Is that what everyone else is doing or are we just doing one gift per family? I don't want to go crazy if that's not what everyone is doing. Also, there won't be any "gift giving" on Sunday, right? I think some of us will want to pack our FE's the night before, so if I'm planning on one gift per day, it would be three, right?
Well, the days are passing slowly until the cruise, but there is plenty to keep me busy (got to get those magnets done!).
I'm glad to see we have some new cruisers joining us. The more, the merrier!
Rose

 

[Mrs.CaptJackSparrow]

Since Delta changed to one checked bag per person I have been going crazy! I bought the kids new luggage back in February but now I am afraid that I won't have room to bring stuff home so I just got back from borrowing a suitcase from my son's aunt. It's huge!!!

Lyndzi and I still have to put the pockets on our FE but other than that it is together. I planned on only doing 1 present per person for the FE exchange. I did find a little something from our home town to give also.

I am happy to meet up on both days to get together and meet everyone. I am so very excited that the time is about here. I really need this!

Right now I am just working out little details, like finding the missing gameboy and charger (Mason) and purchasing a new MP3 player (Lyndzi) to replace the second broken one since Christmas (never realized they were disposable) but hey that's just the little things to keep them busy on the airplane otherwise as I quote myself "you better be playing with Mickey Mouse or throwing a stick for Pluto"!

 

[mdhkitten]

Degrapevine- you're like me and the FE gifts..........I guess I went a little overboard and got thing for each night. I won't be giving anything away on Sunday, but will on the other days. Don't worry, they're nothing huge or expensive! Actually, I think that I'll have a fourth "gift" to give thanks to the DISer that's taking us to the port!

 

[Grumpymom73]

I just sent out an email with the final FE list to all who supplied their email address. Let me know if I missed you, or if you can't open the file, or if you see anything that needs to be corrected. Thanks for all your help!

 

[mdhkitten]

Grumpymom- I can't get the attachment to open from the email, so can you just post the participants on here? I can then just put it on a Word document and print it out. Thanks!

 

[fredms]

Welcome aboard Tinkrose and floridanative!

Looks like our cruise still isn't full as I was doing online check in this weekend and lots of the excursions are still available.

Managed to start packing for me this past weekend. I plan to try and do the girls this coming weekend although its a little tricky as its a surprise for them! My plan is they are sleeping at my house the night before and we are taking a car service Wednesday morning to JFK. I plan to tell them the car is taking them to school and dropping me off first. When we get to the airport I plan to kiss them goodbye, look at them and say, "Okay, you can either go to school today or come with me on a Disney Cruise. Which is it?" It gives me butterflies just thinking about it. Definetly open to any suggestions anyone else has? I wish I had the Mickey ears I bought them our last trip.

Other big news is I was reading a trip report over the weekend who raved about the Atlantis Aquaadventure (where you get to use the slides, pools etc). The girls would love that and as much as I wanted more of an R&R vacation, am thinking about doing it. I've been to the Atlantis but not since the most recent build. I plan to do some research over the next couple days.

How's everyone else's packing coming along?

 

[MODisneyfan]

I wasn't able to open up the email either...

I'm so excited.. Would anyone like to go shopping in Nassau about 2pm ??

I am going with a friend but she is in a wheelchair and doesn't really want to go ashore but I don't really know about going around by myself.. I found a really neat walking tour and thought about doing some of it..

 

[mdhkitten]

I wasn't able to open up the email either...

I'm so excited.. Would anyone like to go shopping in Nassau about 2pm ??

I am going with a friend but she is in a wheelchair and doesn't really want to go ashore but I don't really know about going around by myself.. I found a really neat walking tour and thought about doing some of it..

I may be able to go. We're doing the Discover Atlantis tour at I think 11:15, and pretty much were just going over to check out the aquarium and Atlantis and head back. I doubt we'll be there more than a couple or hours or so, but I could be wrong (unless of course I manage to wind up in the casino! ). Can you go any later than that if nobody else can meet up with you?

 

[Grumpymom73]

Here you go. Sorry the file didn't open for you.

Fish Extender Gift List
May 8 – 11, 2008

Deck One
• Cabin 1077 or 1075 – The Devine Family -Rose, David, Eric-13, Patrick-10, Gina-7 (degrapevine)

Deck Two
• Cabin 2508- The Nelson Family - Janine, Mike, Andrew-14, Justin-9 (Grumpymom73)

• Cabin 2602- Andrea, Lyndzi-11, Mason-7 (MrsCaptJackSparrow)


Deck Five
• Cabin 5013- The White Family -Craig, Laura, Connor-15 months (capntavis)

• Cabin 5520- Denise and Gary (DisDee)


Deck Six
• Cabin 6154- Carrie Lynn (MODisneyfan)

• Cabin 6515- Michelle, Emily-3, Patricia (mdhkitten)

• Cabin 6608- The McRae Family -Kim, Mike, Aiden-1, Brodie-1, Breanna-21, Sara-20
(DbleTheFun)