MICKEY'S PARTY PIRATES! September 7th 2008 - Disney Wonder

[tinkerbell34]

Hi All,
I just found this forum - I'm new to cruising and forums. I've been scanning thru all the info, and I am completely overwhelmed.

How did you all find out your Stateroom #s?

I have made reservations for Palo - there were only 2 times left. Still not sure about excursions. We are thinking that we will spend family time on Nassau, and then have the kids, 5 & 8, stay at the kids beach on Castaway Cay. It is also our big 10 year anniversary trip, so that would be our alone beach day.

I saw somethign about decorating our door.
And tipping $11 per person per day.

Anything else I should know? hee hee.

We are very excited about this vacation. I can't wait - well actually I can. I would like to lose some more weight before the trip. I'm down 13#s so far.
Looking forward to responses.

It is a first cruise for many of us....myself included. I learned my stateroom number when I booked my cruise. Did you book through the website or throught a travel agent?
Happy 10th anniversary! My son's are 9 (turning 10 on the cruise) and 4. I think they will have lots of fun in the kids club!
Congradulations on loseing 13lbs! Your in good company as many here are getting in shape. Patricia is a true inspiration as she just went from just starting to exercise to running two 5ks in two months! I am not as ambitious. I'm just trying to walk up the stairs at work without passing out.
As I said before, I have never been on a cruise before but I sure have researched myself silly so if you have any questions just ask away. If the crew here doesn't know we will try to find an answer together. I will tell you, I found out if you bring a plain pillow case, t-shirt, matting, ect and put it in a zip lock bag w/ a sharpie (along w/ your room number and name) and give that to guest services in the beginning of the cruise that they will return it to you at the end of the cruise w/ all of the characters signatures. I also read that it is recommended to bring an extra power strip cord for plugging cameras and cell phones into as there is only one plug in the room. Another recomendation is to bring an over the door shoe organzier to put your tolitries in. Some of us are also getting fish extenders and doing a gift exchange. If your interested just let us know! So nice to meet you and glad you found us!

 

[pjstevens]

Hi All,
I just found this forum - I'm new to cruising and forums. I've been scanning thru all the info, and I am completely overwhelmed.

How did you all find out your Stateroom #s?

I have made reservations for Palo - there were only 2 times left. Still not sure about excursions. We are thinking that we will spend family time on Nassau, and then have the kids, 5 & 8, stay at the kids beach on Castaway Cay. It is also our big 10 year anniversary trip, so that would be our alone beach day.

I saw somethign about decorating our door.
And tipping $11 per person per day.

Anything else I should know? hee hee.

We are very excited about this vacation. I can't wait - well actually I can. I would like to lose some more weight before the trip. I'm down 13#s so far.
Looking forward to responses.

First, welcome to the DIS!!! Your first post and you are on our crusie, yea!!! Welcome aboard. I too am a first time Disney cruiser. Hubby and I are renewing our vows onboard for our 25th wedding anniversary!

We got our stateroom when we booked, our TA (travel agent) selected for us and asked if it was ok. When you logged in to do your Palo reservations, does it have a room number on there?

We are making magnets for our door (to decorate our door) and we are also doing the Fish Extender gift exchange. If you want to know more about this, there is an entire thread about those and about the types of gifts people do for them.

We are also talking about doing a meet (and greet) at some point either shortly after boarding or maybe later that first evening.

Where are you traveling from? Will you be coming in the day before and staying somewhere? Some of us who aren't staying on property before the cruise are staying at the Radisson in Port Canaveral.

Like Dawn said, any questions please ask. Some of us (in the group) are experienced cruisers, while some of us are brand new to this. We are learning together.

And congrats on losing 13#, I have been working out but the weight is not coming off (get so tired of hearing I am building muscle and losing fat), but I know it's true, cause I can see a difference. Keep up the good work.

 

[yazee1]

Hi, Everyone,

We're back from the beach. It was so much fun, I wish we could have stayed another week. Leah and I have never had that much time together without the boys and my husband. I was afraid Leah might be bratty because I've seen little girls get that way on mother/daughter vacations, but she wasn't. She was great. I suffered a bad back the day before we left, and she didn't whine at all about us not going fishing like we had planned. We still went to the beach and she figured out a way to carry the chair (it has backpack straps), her boogie board, and her sand toys. Keep in mind she's not even four feet tall.

Yes, those brownies were delicious, but like Mary, I ate the lion's share of the batch, and now I'm paying for it. I weigh four more pounds than when I left for the beach. Is that even possible to gain four pounds in one week?? I admit it wasn't the result of one night's binge of brownies and ice cream. Cheese steak hoagies and french fries on the boardwalk could have added to that. And, there was also the seafood feast my dad treated us to when he came to our condo to visit. And, there was the special dinner, on our last night of vacation, at the buffet at Harrah's Casino. I didn't think I was that bad. We only had a little dessert. A little gelata, a little pie, a little chocolate cake, a little tiramasu, a little creme puff....

I'm almost caught up reading what's been going on while I was gone. Welcome to the newbie. It won't take long to feel well-educated on Disney cruises. This is our third cruise as you can see from my signature line. I joined Disboards before the first one, and by the time we cruised, we had all the bases covered. I'd suggest buying a Passporter's Guide as well as reading the board. It's a great book to have on hand before and during the cruise.

Patty, it's good to see Abbey looking energetic and happy. I wonder if she'll have any memory of being blind for a while. If only dogs could talk. While we were at the beach, we took the ferry down to Rehoboth. We saw a lot of pedigree dogs there. Leah saw a black pug, and she said a little to loud, "That dog looks funky!" I told her, "You might hurt his owner's feelings when you say that. Some people love their dogs like a family member. You wouldn't want to hear someone say that about you or your family, would you?" She said, "But we're people, mom. Don't you think putting people clothes on a dog makes them look funky?"

I can't wait to see the magnets you all are working on. Let me know what your room numbers are so I can come by and steal them/ oops I mean see them. As for dancing, no liquor courage for me. I'm a one drink woman. Anymore than that and I zonk out. I think it has to do with being hypoglycemic but I don't know for sure. No worries. Patty and I will watch and take pictures. Then she can make you all scrapbook/blackmail pages. What do you think?

 

[tinkerbell34]

Hi, Everyone,

As for dancing, no liquor courage for me. I'm a one drink woman. Anymore than that and I zonk out. I think it has to do with being hypoglycemic but I don't know for sure. No worries. Patty and I will watch and take pictures. Then she can make you all scrapbook/blackmail pages. What do you think?

As long as I don't end up on utube.

So glad to hear you had a nice trip! I live around tons of beaches and I still never get sick of a beach vacation. I love the places that you can just open your door or window and hear that ocean rolling in. Nothing better! I wonder if we could get away with doing that w/ the verendah?

 

[pjstevens]

Patty, it's good to see Abbey looking energetic and happy. I wonder if she'll have any memory of being blind for a while. If only dogs could talk. While we were at the beach, we took the ferry down to Rehoboth. We saw a lot of pedigree dogs there. Leah saw a black pug, and she said a little to loud, "That dog looks funky!" I told her, "You might hurt his owner's feelings when you say that. Some people love their dogs like a family member. You wouldn't want to hear someone say that about you or your family, would you?" She said, "But we're people, mom. Don't you think putting people clothes on a dog makes them look funky?"

Monica,

So glad you and Leah had a great time, but sorry you hurt your back. Hopefully it'll be back to normal in no time. My mom has outfits for her dog (lots of them, lol) but Abbey doesn't care to be 'dressed up'. Our previous pug, my daughter would put pj's on her and paint her toenails, lol.

 

[vkbangus]

I hope I answer all questions:

We are coming ( driving ) from Ohio. We are doing the 3 nights Land/4 nights Sea. We are staying at NOFQ. My youngest, 5, hasn't been to Disney yet. This was how this vacation came about. We really wanted to do a cruise for our 10th anniversary, but didnt' want another year to go by before getting Connor to Disney. Our oldest had been to Disney when he was 3, but only for 1 day.

Looked on Disney website, no room number listed for us. Am calling today to see if this is a problem.

Am making a list of things to bring on the cruise.

Alittle nervous about signing up for a gift exchange, as I'm not really an organized person, and sure I would forget stuff for everyone.

Are many people getting off the ship at Naussa? Was planning on have a 'family beach day' at Naussa & adult beach day at CC, is this the way to plan that? Suggestions?

Is there a pirate party on board?

What is the deal with alcohol? Can you, should you, bring some on board?

on the diet front, yes you can gain 4 #s in a weekend and it sucks! My hubby has started the South Beach Diet, a month behind me, and will probably be passing my 13# within the week. Guys stink! It is just not fair.

Have a great day everyone!

 

[pjstevens]

on the diet front, yes you can gain 4 #s in a weekend and it sucks! My hubby has started the South Beach Diet, a month behind me, and will probably be passing my 13# within the week. Guys stink! It is just not fair.

Have a great day everyone!

I agree 100%!!! My hubby thinks about exercise and he drops weight, drives me crazy! I work very hard for every pound and inch!!!!

 

[tinkerbell34]

Looked on Disney website, no room number listed for us. Am calling today to see if this is a problem.

Are many people getting off the ship at Naussa? Was planning on have a 'family beach day' at Naussa & adult beach day at CC, is this the way to plan that? Suggestions?

Is there a pirate party on board?

What is the deal with alcohol? Can you, should you, bring some on board?

QUOTE]

Depending on when you booked, you may not get your stateroom assignment until you check in. I understand that sometimes they can surprise you with an upgrade when this happens, other times not.

We are getting off in Nassau for a short time. I think we are just going to hit the pirate muesum, the straw market, and perhaps do a horse drawn carriage historical tour before we hop back on the boat and hopefully take advantage of not so crowded pools.

Yes, there is a pirate party on the third night of the cruise. Are you dressing up? We are! My boys LOVE to be pirates. I would recommend ordering the Disney promotional video from the Disney cruise line website if you haven't already. It is free. I was watching mine again last night......amazing my son hasn't figured out this surprise yet. Another GREAT resource is to order the passporter book!

Yes, you can bring alcohol on board from everything I have read. From what I understand it has to stay in your room. If you bring wine and bring it to dinner they will charge you a corking fee. I want to say I read the corking fee is around $15. There is a trip report on the other board called something like "Geeks budget cruise". The girl who does those are HYSTERICAL and that particular one speaks about bring alcohol onboard.

I hope that helps!

In other news, I got my magnets made at work and put away in an envelope (thanks for the tip Patricia!) and my fish extender has been mailed so I can't wait to see what that looks like! I'll have to try and open it in the bathroom with the door locked.

I'm back on my diet....trying to keep Patricia in mind as my inspiration. Hopefully I can drop 20lbs by the cruise. I did the low carb thing awhile back and had great success but the downfall is when you finally do go back to carbs...the weight comes back rather quickly and plus some. If you can make it a lifestyle change it is great. Good luck!

Ok, so now I need something new to obsess over in our planning phase. Let's talk fish extender gifts! How many people are participating? Are we just doing two days? When are we getting together before the cruise? I know I know...I am SO needy.

 

[pjstevens]

I'm back on my diet....trying to keep Patricia in mind as my inspiration. Hopefully I can drop 20lbs by the cruise. I did the low carb thing awhile back and had great success but the downfall is when you finally do go back to carbs...the weight comes back rather quickly and plus some. If you can make it a lifestyle change it is great. Good luck!

Ok, so now I need something new to obsess over in our planning phase. Let's talk fish extender gifts! How many people are participating? Are we just doing two days? When are we getting together before the cruise? I know I know...I am SO needy.

Me too!!!! I need to know!!!! I think two days would be good (since it doesn't sound like too many of us are doing them). Any ideas what you are going to get? Are you getting something local (which I've seen other do on cruise threads) or just generic? I have a couple ideas but don't want to say if they don't pan out (in other words, if my butt is too lazy to do the work on them, lol).

Dawn good job on starting on the diet. In my case I would love to lose 20lbs but it just does not seem possible. I eat fairly healthy and I work out five days aweek now and the weight is just so soooooo slowly coming off. I hit my first MAJOR milestone on the scale this weekend, and pray it stays DOWN!!!! I hate when it inches up and down all the time.

I can't wait to meet all my new dis friends!!! I am open for when to meet.

 

[tinkerbell34]

Me too!!!! I need to know!!!! I think two days would be good (since it doesn't sound like too many of us are doing them). Any ideas what you are going to get? Are you getting something local (which I've seen other do on cruise threads) or just generic? I have a couple ideas but don't want to say if they don't pan out (in other words, if my butt is too lazy to do the work on them, lol).

Dawn good job on starting on the diet. In my case I would love to lose 20lbs but it just does not seem possible. I eat fairly healthy and I work out five days aweek now and the weight is just so soooooo slowly coming off. I hit my first MAJOR milestone on the scale this weekend, and pray it stays DOWN!!!! I hate when it inches up and down all the time.

I can't wait to meet all my new dis friends!!! I am open for when to meet.

Patricia, you would be amazed at what can savatoge a diet. For me, my morning coffee did me in (since I can't have a little creme and sugar....I have to have international delight creamer and ALOT of it along w/ some splenda for good measure ) Just stupid stuff like that can do it. You are doing amazing though!

As for the fish extender gifts....I was thinking of doing a mixture of local stuff and other stuff. I think it would be neat to get something from where someone lives. It would be a nice momento of the great folks we have met here.
Just my two cents anyway.

 

[pjstevens]

Patricia, you would be amazed at what can savatoge a diet. For me, my morning coffee did me in (since I can't have a little creme and sugar....I have to have international delight creamer and ALOT of it along w/ some splenda for good measure ) Just stupid stuff like that can do it. You are doing amazing though!

I use to drink a little coffee with my cream (LOTS of cream). Recently I switched to fat free cream and can't believe that I can't tell the difference. Actually when I go to Dunkin Donuts and the put cream in, my stomach bothers me, so I think I am getting use to NOT having that much REAL cream. I use equal or splenda. Thanks for the encouragement Dawn, I really appreciate it.

 

[pjstevens]

Ok, this might be confusing, sorry. When we initially decided on the cruise and vow renewal, we were NOT doing any land part due to finances. Hubby mentioned a couple times about adding on a few days at Disney (before or after our cruise), but I had already booked our airfare round trip. With airtran they change you $75 to change or cancel the ticket, plus any additional fee if you are changing. So after a while I started looking and figured we could bite the bullet and pay the $150 to change our flight and stay through the weekend. Free dining came out, so we wouldn't have to pay for hardly any food while at Disney. So, made our reservations (we'll be at Pop Century) for the 11th through the 14th. Air tran had gone up a little so I booked return flights on southwest for the evenign of the 14th. (ok, so that's all the background info you'll need to understand my good news, lol)

The other day I was on air tran's site and saw that they changed our return flight (the one we really weren't goign to come home on though) from 7pm to 8:30 am!!!! That's a big change. I emailed them about this (since I had gotten no notification) and if we were actually flying home on the 11th, there is NO WAY we could make an 8:30 flight when we won't be off the boat at that time. Today, I got an email from airtran saying I could change or cancel my flight without any fee!!!!!!!!!!!!! So the money we were going to lose by not flying home on the 11th is being refunded!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! I am so excited.

 

[tinkerbell34]

Patricia, that is GREAT news! I am so glad things worked out for you!

I got my fish extender in the mail today! It looks REALLY nice! I now know why Patricia has hers in her living room.

Does anyone know what the dress code is for Palo for brunch? I swear a read somewhere that it isn't as fancy as dinner.....that it is cruise casual but for the life of me can't find where I read that.

 

[pjstevens]

Patricia, that is GREAT news! I am so glad things worked out for you!

I got my fish extender in the mail today! It looks REALLY nice! I now know why Patricia has hers in her living room.

Does anyone know what the dress code is for Palo for brunch? I swear a read somewhere that it isn't as fancy as dinner.....that it is cruise casual but for the life of me can't find where I read that.

Dawn,

Glad you got your FE today! So who is on yours? I am not sure about brunch dress code, but I recall seeing photos of ladies in nice capris, if that helps.

 

[tinkerbell34]

Patricia, on our FE we have captian Mickey at the top and it says The Powell Family, the first pocket has Dale w/ Chris written below it and Tinkerbell w/ Dawn written below it. The second pocket has Lightining McQueen w/ Chase written below it. The third pocket has Pocohantas w/ Carleen written below it and Grumpy w/ John written below it. She did a great job!

Thanks for the hint about brunch. Like I said, I SWEAR I read something that said cruise casual but now that I have it booked I wanted to make sure. I broke the news to my mom that her boyfriend is going to have to wear a jacket and tie to dinner when they eat at Palo. I asked her if he even owned one and her answer was "that fits?" Hopefully he can get away with a nice dress shirt and a sport coat.

You know, I was reading Hayley's original post and realized we have A LOT of people MIA

 

[pjstevens]

I gave up jogging for my health when
my thighs kept rubbing together and setting fire to my knicker's.- The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.- My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely

Dawn, oh my goodness, I LOVE THAT!!!!!

Ok, as for Palo, hubby will not be wearing a jacket (or tie). He has a tropical shirt for our vow renewal and nice linen pants. Our Palo night is the evening of the vow renewal.

Your FE sounds adorable! Cant' wait to see it.

I know there are a LOT of missing people and I hope they come out of the woodwork as it gets closer. I really wanted to get to meet some other dis-ers. I've only ever met one (on the bus to the parks, a few years ago, lol).

 

[tinkerbell34]

Thanks Patricia, the advice on Palo helps alot! I'm glad you like my updated signature! I was sent that (along with other funny ones) in an email and they made me laugh so hard that I had to share!

 

[vkbangus]

"Patricia, you would be amazed at what can savatoge a diet. For me, my morning coffee did me in (since I can't have a little creme and sugar....I have to have international delight creamer and ALOT of it along w/ some splenda for good measure ) Just stupid stuff like that can do it. You are doing amazing though"

To all those trying ot drop a few pounds. I have been doing the South Beach Diet, and loving it. The first 2 weeks are alittle hard, but it really does curve your taste for sweets/carbs.
I LOVE my morning coffee with FF 1/2 & 1/2, but have successfully switched to a soy creamer, it doesn't have the high frutosce corn syrup, it has evaporated cane juice. It tastes pretty good. I lost about 10#s the first 2 weeks, and am down to 14#s into the month - without exercise. I'm starting ot exercise b/c of the weight loss - it is encouraging me to wee what changes I can make in my body - almost like an experiment- hee hee.

Anyway, you slowly bring gooc carbs back into your diet - i have even found some bread in the health food section of Kroger, a freezer bread that is made without flour. It is alittle different, but it works on the diet. Some toast with peanut butter and banana in the morning and I'm set. I would suggest the latest SBD book - Supercharged, as it has a workout plan to boost your metabolism.

I'm sorry, this is a cruise board, not a diet board.

It sounds like someone is getting a few extra days at Disney for cheap - Great deal!!!

Okay, going to read my passport guide books I got fromt eh library today.
take care!

 

[yazee1]

Ladies can wear capris and do have flexibility in what they wear to brunch but trust me, NO shorts in Palo. Dh and I have personally witnessed both a woman and a man (on separate occasions) be told to change. The woman was not in our party. She and her husband were in line before us. I know it was embarrassing for them. The other time, we were with another family in which one of the men arrived in shorts. Even though his clothes were, in my opinion, dressy casual, he was told to change before they would let him participate in the brunch.

Tonight, my job took me to Walmart to count certain sections of the meat department. It's during nights like these when I zone out and think about our cruises-past and future.

 

[pjstevens]

Tonight, my job took me to Walmart to count certain sections of the meat department. It's during nights like these when I zone out and think about our cruises-past and future.

Monica,

I am glad you have something happy to thing about when you are counting all that 'stuff'.