MR October 28, 2012 "Halloween Time"

[kindsoul73]

Ty kidlette

Is anyone planning on trying to upgrade at port?

I was thinking of it, because we have an inside room. But honestly, I chose such expensive excursions that I probably won't.

 

[Shoshie]

We have friends on the ship right now who are taking the Coastal Cruise (one was upgraded to the WED Suite. So jealous....

 

[MickelMouse]

We have friends on the ship right now who are taking the Coastal Cruise (one was upgraded to the WED Suite. So jealous....

How do you get upgraded? How much extra did they have to pay?

 

[Shoshie]

How do you get upgraded? How much extra did they have to pay?

I have to check when they get back. She is a TA, so she might have asked when they checked in if it was available. I'll have the scoop for you next week.

 

[MickelMouse]

20 Days WHOOT WHOOT!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. I feel like a little girl and I just want to jump up and down. Are we there yet? But I think I can wait to the Mickey Deck Party.

 

[sica1799]

20 Days WHOOT WHOOT!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. I feel like a little girl and I just want to jump up and down. Are we there yet? But I think I can wait to the Mickey Deck Party.

It will be official when I have my sail away drink in my hand!!


LOL yes I know I went a little smiley crazy too!


I can't wait! Its 19 days for the start of our vacay with DLR the day before.....SO excited! EVERYONE knows my countdown!

 

[sica1799]

We have friends on the ship right now who are taking the Coastal Cruise (one was upgraded to the WED Suite. So jealous....

Amazingly cool!

 

[kjvillasenor]

Hi! This is Karla and this is our first time going on a cruise!?!? So excited! We will be celebrating my sons 8th bday. I have arranged for our room to be decorated for him when we get there and have a cake for him. I see that you have been on this cruise a couple of times and wanted to see if you have any information on other "birthday" things I can do for him? Can I arrange other things for him at our formal dinner? Also he has a peanut allergy and carries and epipen, should I notify anyone of this prior to sailing?
thank you so much and cant wait to go on our cruise!!
karla

 

[kjvillasenor]

We are doing the same thing!!!! we are going to go hang out at Downtown Disney have dinner watch fireworks.......

 

[MickeyMinnie2Kids]

Hi! This is Karla and this is our first time going on a cruise!?!? So excited! We will be celebrating my sons 8th bday. I have arranged for our room to be decorated for him when we get there and have a cake for him. I see that you have been on this cruise a couple of times and wanted to see if you have any information on other "birthday" things I can do for him? Can I arrange other things for him at our formal dinner? Also he has a peanut allergy and carries and epipen, should I notify anyone of this prior to sailing?
thank you so much and cant wait to go on our cruise!!
karla

Hi Karla,

We are "almost" the same...we'll be celebrating my daughter's 8th bday in this cruise and she has a peanut allergy as well.

As for the allergy - I have informed Disney when we made our booking online.

As for the birthday "things" - how did you arrange your room to be decorated? Is this something extra and how much is the cost?

Thank you.

~mickeyminnie2kids~
<a href='http://www.**************/'>
<img src='http://www.**************/id/1351407780.png'>
</a>

 

[MickelMouse]

Hi Karla,

We are "almost" the same...we'll be celebrating my daughter's 8th bday in this cruise and she has a peanut allergy as well.

As for the allergy - I have informed Disney when we made our booking online.

As for the birthday "things" - how did you arrange your room to be decorated? Is this something extra and how much is the cost?

Thank you.

~mickeyminnie2kids~
<a href='http://www.**************/'>
<img src='http://www.**************/id/1351407780.png'>
</a>

Can you put on the list who has allergies to what. I would hate to gift something and the person can't eat it.

 

[MickeyMinnie2Kids]

Can you put on the list who has allergies to what. I would hate to gift something and the person can't eat it.

Are you asking for the FE? We are not participating in the FE.

 

[CastMember 02]

It's getting soooooo close, cant wait to meet everyone!!!!!

 

[kindsoul73]

I still haven't gotten my cruise documents, and I've emailed my TA twice now for them.
I know I don't NEED them. but I really love having them. What do you suggest? Should I contact DCL directly?
Do return cruisers get them? Or only 1st timers?

 

[AmanduhAnn]

I still haven't gotten my cruise documents, and I've emailed my TA twice now for them.
I know I don't NEED them. but I really love having them. What do you suggest? Should I contact DCL directly?
Do return cruisers get them? Or only 1st timers?

Hmmm... I would be pretty annoyed with my TA if they didn't get them to me.
This is not our first time and we got some. Everyone should.

 

[Kidlette]

Ty kidlette

Is anyone planning on trying to upgrade at port?

Yes, we are going to ask. This is our 4th or 5th Disney cruise and we have only received a complimentary upgrade once. As long as the ship isn't full (and it's not), the always offer upgrades that you pay for, but it's expensive. We did this exact cruise last year and an upgrade from our inside to outside was over $500 and the upgrade to a balcony was over $1100 Ryan and I were looking at ship availability and cash difference between categories about a week ago and noticed that $500 and $1100 are the current price differences. Therefore, I don't think the upgrade options are discounted. In any case, if you are curious just ask at check-in.

I still haven't gotten my cruise documents, and I've emailed my TA twice now for them.
I know I don't NEED them. but I really love having them. What do you suggest? Should I contact DCL directly?
Do return cruisers get them? Or only 1st timers?

I used to be a TA. EVERYONE gets docs - you can't get on the ship without them. Don't email, call them ASAP and make sure they received them and have sent them. Docs can be arranged for pier pickup if you have to, but the TA has to do that. You can call disney but they won't help you - they will only work with your TA when you use one. For future reference to anyone reading this - as a past TA myself - DO NOT BOOK DISNEY VACATIONS THROUGH A TA. Unlike other cruise line's and vendors, Disney does not allow discounting of their product. Therefore, unless a TA has a group held on a sailing, they will ALWAYS be the exact same price as calling Disney directly.

Hi! This is Karla and this is our first time going on a cruise!?!? So excited! We will be celebrating my sons 8th bday. I have arranged for our room to be decorated for him when we get there and have a cake for him. I see that you have been on this cruise a couple of times and wanted to see if you have any information on other "birthday" things I can do for him? Can I arrange other things for him at our formal dinner? Also he has a peanut allergy and carries and epipen, should I notify anyone of this prior to sailing?
thank you so much and cant wait to go on our cruise!!
karla

You need to contact DCL and notify them (your TA if you booked through one). You should have been asked about medical issues at the time of booking. For people with medical needs they provide a fridge and sharps container (where needed) AND they customize your meal choices based on allergies. Your waiter will say hi, but the 2nd thing he/she will do is go around the table and confirm with you any food allergies. It's amazing, given the info on your reservation they even deduce who is who and kind of know already which person is which when they approach you. For example, last cruise they went around our table and instantly came up to me, asked if I was Mrs McIntosh and asked about my diabetic needs. Anyway, make sure you tell the cruise line about the allergy before sailing!

 

[Claud22]

We booked through costco, prices were the same but I will be getting a$250 cash card and I was allowed to make payments, no complains so far

 

[Kidlette]

We booked through costco, prices were the same but I will be getting a$250 cash card and I was allowed to make payments, no complains so far

That's good! I used to work for Sam's Club's Travel department a loooooong time ago, before they outsourced it to Expedia. Large companies such a Expedia, Costco and Sam's Club book groups on just about every cruise imaginable. When they do that there are 2 benefits: (1) the priced they booked at remains even if the cruise price increases everywhere else (the only way to get the discount I was talking about) and (2) agents get "incentives" for booking groups and it's based on how many cabins they sell. The incentive can be anything from ship-board credit for your clients to a list of other things they can leave as a surprise for their clients in their cabin - like wine or chocolates. Typically though, when it comes to ship-board credit it's something that the cruise line is already offering. Not always - but usually it is. Also, so you know for future sailings, you can make payments anywhere, even through the cruise line. Agencies have to follow the cruise line's payment and cancellation schedule - typically a $250 per person deposit which is fully refundable until the final payment date (usually about 70 days prior). In that time you can make as many payments as you want. I'm glad booking through Costco worked out for you! My warning was more for smaller agencies who don't book groups on sailings like the "big box" places do.

 

[Kidlette]

I see that you have been on this cruise a couple of times and wanted to see if you have any information on other "birthday" things I can do for him? Can I arrange other things for him at our formal dinner?

The in-room gifts and shopping link through Disney has room decorations (put up in your cabin before you board), and you can even have a cake ordered. Most people will order a cake and choose which night to have it served to their whole table, but you could probably have it sent to your cabin instead if you want.

Here's the link: http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/planning-center/in-room-gifts-and-shopping/

No, there aren't really any other things you can do - at least - not that I can think of. Some one else please correct me if I'm wrong.

It's not birthday related, but you can do things like take a pillow case and markers that you leave with the front desk to have all of the character's on board to sign. I think they only sign and not write happy birthday (not sure), but you can write happy birthday on it before hand so he thinks they wrote it Good luck with birthday surprises for him!

 

[Kidlette]

2 weeks from today and our vacation begins!!

For anyone interested in staying close to the pier Saturday before the cruise, we were able to priceline the Westin Long Beach for only $69! It's less than 1 mile from aquarium of the Pacific (great fun for kids - that's where we're going Saturday) PLUS, it's only 5.3 miles from the cruise terminal.

(If you choose to priceline I recommend ONLY doing a 3.5 star and nothing lower! Areas and hotels get shady, plus - priceline has the Queen Mary as a 3 star and you DON'T want to stay there. Yeah, cool to visit once in your life but it's awful otherwise. It's creepy, dirty, and when we went I got sick.)

Oh yeah - we have friends leaving tomorrow on the Dream and they got a phone call that they were given a complimentary upgrade to a concierge suite!! Soooo jealous!!!

. . . I started packing . . . SO EXCITED!