May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[dawne577]

We're flying with British Airways out of Philadelphia. Leaving on the 26th at 1:45pm so no stress there. Only one connection on both flights and they're both BA to BA with less than a 2 hr. layover. We will have a drive to the airport but we weighed all the pros and cons and felt this worked the best for us. I have to be back to work by noon on the 27th which limited our options.

The only way I know of to add money to your on board account is to call.

Also, Palo is an adult only dining venue that requires reservations and charges an additional fee. Quality is exceptional an even though our last experience wasn't the best we're going to give it on more try but for brunch this time.

Planning on reserving 4 Disney excursions, Palo brunch and possibly a spa treatment - I'll let you know if I have any problems getting anything.

 

[sayhello]

Also, Palo is an adult only dining venue that requires reservations and charges an additional fee. Quality is exceptional an even though our last experience wasn't the best we're going to give it on more try but for brunch this time.

What was your bad experience with Palo?

Sayhello

 

[peterpanstout]

Hi Tripodjw, forgot to ask if you could put us on the FE list. We are in 6576.

Is anyone doing the perfume excursion in Eze. I am thinking about going by myself, can't get DH to go with, and was wondering if anyone else was going. Has anyone found reviews on it? Also wondering about the family day in Rome.


Seven days until we can book!

 

[abdmom]

I'm hoping to do the perfume with dd11. Can't book yet though.

 

[LDSsinglegirls]

Okay boys and girls... We're a fun loving group of "kids" looking to make some friends! I'm not up with all the lingo yet, but here are the names/ages.

Group of 4 lds single girls

Tracy 29
Jenna 28
Ryanne 29
Tamar 33

We're traveling with a group of 4 lds single guys
Peyton 29
Adler 28
Brandon 24
John 31

Rooms GTY

 

[Travelbee]

For the Silver Castaway members, does reservations open on 2/14 or 2/15? For our previous 3 cruises, we'd get a packet in the mail from disney with a cover letter telling us the exact date we can book Palo & excursions, with a brochure of all the excursions offered and other curise tips. We haven't received the packet this time, so we're not quite sure which date reservations open.

 

[jlwhitney]

We are Feb. 14th

 

[ICollectBelle]

FYI- For silver castaway members, you can start booking Palo, shore ex. at 12:00 Am EST on the 14TH. We are gold and some of the times went really fast. If you do not get what you want, check back because some people make and then change reservations. Good luck!

 

[Welsh Girl]

Thanks Jeff! Can you explain the Fe's again....how many gifts do we buy and do we give them to different people every day????

No packet here, though my recollection is that those came closer to the cruise...like within 30 days or so.

Welsh Girl,

Welcome!

Some commonly used acronyms:

GTY - Guaranteed Room (Room Not Assigned)

FE - Fish Extenders - Things that hang on your fish clip outside your room. Disney uses these to leave you notes. Some cruise guests use them to hang bags on so they can exchange small gifts throughout the cruise.

DCL - Disney Cruise Line

DH, DD, DS, DW, DMIL, DFIL, etc - Dear Husband, Dear Daughter, Dear Son, Dear Wife, Dear Mother-in-Law, Dear Father-in-Law (you get the idea)

SR - State Room

If you have any questions, just post them up.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

This thread will explain it better than I could. Also provides some photos of the FE's people have created.

Fish Extender Thread

 

[Welsh Girl]

Great thanks!! Now i have an idea of what you are talking about...

Can you give me some info on tipping....do we need to bring dollars to tip or can we just put everything on card. Am a bit worried about who and when to tip as we are not used to this!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Great thanks!! Now i have an idea of what you are talking about...

Can you give me some info on tipping....do we need to bring dollars to tip or can we just put everything on card. Am a bit worried about who and when to tip as we are not used to this!

Tipping for the room steward, server, assistant server, head waiter can be put on your card. Other tips can as well...it's really up to you. Tips for drinks are automatically added so no worries there. We generally charge everything, including tips, to our shipboard account via our stateroom key.

Regarding tip amounts, there's a nifty little site that calculates the tip amounts for you in case you'd like to know what the recommended amounts come to for your particular length of cruise/cruiseline:

http://cruisetip.tpkeller.com/

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Has anyone received the cruise information packet that Disney sends out before Palo, shore excursion and spa reservations open? We'd be able to book next week and would like to see the shore excursions offered by Disney without having to go to the Disney web site. Don't we ususally get the packet BEFORE our reservation window open?

Connie,

FYI, I received our packet today.

 

[Travelbee]

FYI- For silver castaway members, you can start booking Palo, shore ex. at 12:00 Am EST on the 14TH. We are gold and some of the times went really fast. If you do not get what you want, check back because some people make and then change reservations. Good luck!

Thanks!

Connie,

FYI, I received our packet today.

No packet for us yet, but at least I know when to log in for reservations now!

 

[Hilari Smith]

Just a note in case there are any divers out there. I am planning a dive on the day we are in Malta. There is a company that will pick us up at the cruise ship (no extra charge) and my communication with them has been excellent.

The web address is divesystemsmalta (dot com)

Looks like it is possible to do a couple of dives and still be able to meet up with the family for a few hours of exploring. Malta has some decent diving, with reefs and lots of authentic wrecks. I am a certified Rescue Diver so I can go deep, but I prefer not to go too deep in Malta when there are reefs and walls to dive giving a longer dive plan.

If anyone wants to hook up on this, let me know I would love to have a dive buddy from the boards.

Jason

 

[Welsh Girl]

Thanks Jeff...you have been very helpful.

Count us in for the Fe's and the meet on board, just let us know when and where!

Natalie

 

[pixiedust519]

For the question regarding tipping... you can also pre-purchase your tips by calling DCL. We always do this and then it's built into the price of our cruise and we don't have to worry about it when we're on the ship. On your last night you get little card and envelopes to give to your servers and you don't have to figure out what to give to everyone. Takes one less stress out of your vacation! I guess it's personal preference but we have always done it this way and find it to be much easier. Hope this helps!

Alyssa

 

[pixiedust519]

On another note...


Only 94 more days til we sail!!!! I can't believe we're up to almost 50 families! Thank you so much tripodjw for keeping track of our list. I remember not too long ago when there were only a few of us on here with not much activity. It's great to see such a large DIS group on here now! We're planning our FE gifts and can't wait to meet everyone on the ship!

Alyssa

 

[Welsh Girl]

Thanks Alyssa....we didn't book our cruise through DCL unfortunately. We are new to this so booked through Virgin in the UK, but we will know better next time.

Natalie

For the question regarding tipping... you can also pre-purchase your tips by calling DCL. We always do this and then it's built into the price of our cruise and we don't have to worry about it when we're on the ship. On your last night you get little card and envelopes to give to your servers and you don't have to figure out what to give to everyone. Takes one less stress out of your vacation! I guess it's personal preference but we have always done it this way and find it to be much easier. Hope this helps!

Alyssa

 

[tripodjw]

Thanks Jeff...you have been very helpful.

Count us in for the Fe's and the meet on board, just let us know when and where!

Natalie

I'll add you to the FE list.

It's really good to see so many people in the group - i honestly thought for a long while that there wouldn't be very many people on this cruise, thank goodness for the Cat 12 GTY rates that's brought people in.

Also good to see people signing up for the FE's.

Looking forward to logging in on Sunday as a silver Castaway club member to book Palo etc. I'm setting the alarm so i can get up at 5am (we're 5 hours ahead of EST) to do it - then i'll go back to bed