November 12, 2005....7 Night Eastern...Who Else?

[PrincessHaleysMom]

Allison, YOU are a riot!! No wonder you have lurkers!!!!

You know I remembered JayPD's/Jayson's name about an hour after I signed off!!! I'm sooo glad you guys are going to be on the same cruise again. Who else from our little group is going?? Where's 4Mickey??

C&D&F, glad to know all is well!

PrincessHayley'sMom - how are you feeling????????????????????

I feel great! Thanks for asking! One week from tomorrow and we will know boy or girl! I need names people!

 

[DIS NURSE]

My favorite NOT-overdone names I see go through the NICU........

Boys

Spencer
Austin
Colby
Jackson
Liam
Collin
Trevor
Reece
Cole
Carson
Andrew
Aaron
Quinn
Jay (Jayce)



Girls

Audrey
Alexis
Anniston
Ruby
Grace
Allie
Lucia
Kelsie
Nicole
Sophia
Josie (Jospephine)
Caroline
Whitney
Julia
Steele
Rachel
Jade

DD sat here and helped me think of those lists! She is all of 9 years old now and proud of her opinions!

 

[awoltoday]

You think Disney will go to Alaska??? I think they need a new ship - keep one on the West Coast for Mexican Riviera and then move it up to Seattle for Alaska in May thru October. They still need the Wonder & Magic in FL - those sailings sell out all the time - the demand is there. We loved Alaska and do plan on going back in 2008 - of course Haley asks us every morning if we are leaving for the Disney cruise today..... the girl is rotten!

Yeah, I do. There are too many "rumors" flying about for it not to be true. The question for me is WHEN will they do it... I'm rooting for 2008, but I'm not sure it's really likely to happen before 2009. It could be 2025, though.

I was thinking about the new ship thing. Somebody made the point that the DCL ships are about as big as they can get and still navigate through the Panama Canal. So, I hope they build a couple of big ships and station them permanently in the carribean. Then they could move the Magic/Wonder however they wished. And I hope they would station one or both on the west coast, sailing to AK, HI, & Mexico on a semi-permanent basis. And then they need to buy Catalina island

How often do you tell Haley 'yes' when she asks? That's too cute!

 

[chip&dale&fun]

Here's more for the rumour mill ---- Disney has a contract with Holland American Lines - I wanted to use DVC points for Alaska in 2007 - HOL has long posed the dates but you cannot yet book on Disney - why? After some calling, Disney has not yet finalized the contract with HAL....Is it an annual contract or multiple years? Don't know - more rumours....

More likely - price of points, price of gas etc.

Everything I read says the Magic is just not built to cruise Alaska....or any other cold port.

Cool thread though AOWL...

A long time ago I came up with "Gregory Eric" for a friend of a cousin of a friend....They did not use the name and I still like it..... nothing to add for girls names. sorry!

Thanks for all the well wishes....A very disruptive day here for a puff of wind. Good lck to Mexico (john) and the Caolinas (ernesto).

 

[chip&dale&fun]

............. Haley asks us every morning if we are leaving for the Disney cruise today..... the girl is rotten!

Hee - hee - heee --- and who raised her???????

I personally think she is a smart kid!!!!!

And at such an early age......

 

[PrincessHaleysMom]

My favorite NOT-overdone names I see go through the NICU........

Boys

Spencer
Austin
Colby
Jackson
Liam
Collin
Trevor
Reece
Cole
Carson
Andrew
Aaron
Quinn
Jay (Jayce)



Girls

Audrey
Alexis
Anniston
Ruby
Grace
Allie
Lucia
Kelsie
Nicole
Sophia
Josie (Jospephine)
Caroline
Whitney
Julia
Steele
Rachel
Jade

DD sat here and helped me think of those lists! She is all of 9 years old now and proud of her opinions!

Very good! I'll keep those all in mind - maybe our kid will have a name after all!

 

[PrincessHaleysMom]

Yeah, I do. There are too many "rumors" flying about for it not to be true. The question for me is WHEN will they do it... I'm rooting for 2008, but I'm not sure it's really likely to happen before 2009. It could be 2025, though.

I was thinking about the new ship thing. Somebody made the point that the DCL ships are about as big as they can get and still navigate through the Panama Canal. So, I hope they build a couple of big ships and station them permanently in the carribean. Then they could move the Magic/Wonder however they wished. And I hope they would station one or both on the west coast, sailing to AK, HI, & Mexico on a semi-permanent basis. And then they need to buy Catalina island

How often do you tell Haley 'yes' when she asks? That's too cute!

I think we do tell her yes way too often when it comes to vacations! We figure once she (and her sibling) are grown, we can take our big grown up trips filled with love and romance. For now we enjoy the insanity!
I will try to find some insider information about any new ships/itineraries. No one tells me anything though - but I can beg!

 

[PrincessHaleysMom]

Hee - hee - heee --- and who raised her???????

I personally think she is a smart kid!!!!!

And at such an early age......

She's a tyrant around here!
A good girl with her own opinions! I trained her well!

 

[STB ON THE BEACH]

I saw Dis Nurse and her DD suggested the name Jade - We only had two names we were contemplating when I was pregno: Jade (girl) Sterling (boy) - We called "it" Jadester" until we knew "it" had a little "pee pee". We always said if we had another one we would consider Jade and Skyler (which Skyler could go either way - for "its" with or without a "pee pee"!)

Whatever name is choosen, I'm sure it will be rotten too!!

 

[awoltoday]

Thanks for all the well wishes....A very disruptive day here for a puff of wind. Good lck to Mexico (john) and the Caolinas (ernesto).

I'm so glad your day was disrupted and not the a month or two like last year!

 

[barkley]

oh please don't name a kid 'skyler' (or the alternate spelling 'schyler' thats popular around here)-kids have had 2 or 3 they've attended school with and i think the name's cursed (realy vile children with even more vile parents).
i always laugh when i see 'spencer' show up on the boy's list-ds has in 9 years of daycare and school never encountered another boy with his name (but several girls ).

dd would have been 'spencer' if she had been a boy (don't know what ds would have ended up with-we liked the name so much we may have ended up doing a 'george foreman' and naming a second son by the same name). since dd got our top pick for a girl's name, had ds been a girl he would have been 'kathleen' but called 'katie' (dd had a toddler book at the time about a little child's whose best friend's name was 'katie' and everytime the character refererred to the bf she would call her 'mykatie' ).

re disney and alaska-when we did the cruise with ya'all and i did the focus group we were told that alaska and the mediteranian were in negotiations for ports at that time, that both the magic and wonder when built were designed for 'cold water' cruising and they were still ironing out the details. i'm wondering if there may be a delay given the hub-bub over the laws alaska has voted in that will impact cruiselines (beyond a fee for every passenger the lines bring into port, the lines have to pay taxes to the state for any alcohol that's served while the ships are in port-and if they have a casino an even bigger tax-but the kicker has something to do with the taxes opening the door for the state to have full access to line's financial books to ensure proper accounting).

chip&dale&fun-please reconsider using HAL for alaska, we used dvc points and it was such a terrible line to travel on. esp. if you are taking kids-despite their p/r about how they are becoming 'family friendly' it was so NOT. i think you could rent out your points and book on another line to much better results (the HAL boards with devoted HAL travelers largely believe the line's policy to introduce mandatory tipping from passengers-well it realy is'nt mandatory but you do suffer visable consequences if you jump through the hoops it takes to opt out-has contributed to a major decline in service).

hey princesshaley'smom-remember in selecting a name to pick one that work's well into your user name on the dis boards-how about 'Pez'? you could become princesspez'smom or princepez'smom, and the kid won't have to worry about any other kids having the same name at school (when dh and i were debating potential names for dd i got frustrated one day and told him boy or girl the name would be 'gunter pez' and for the remainder of the pregnancy thats what she was referred to/ds due to his inutero bouncing and kicking was referred to as 'godzilla' ).

 

[chip&dale&fun]

from Barkely --- chip&dale&fun-please reconsider using HAL for alaska, we used dvc points and it was such a terrible line to travel on. esp. if you are taking kids-despite their p/r about how they are becoming 'family friendly' it was so NOT. i think you could rent out your points and book on another line to much better results (the HAL boards with devoted HAL travelers largely believe the line's policy to introduce mandatory tipping from passengers-well it realy is'nt mandatory but you do suffer visable consequences if you jump through the hoops it takes to opt out-has contributed to a major decline in service).

Will look at this recommendation. We are not taking kids, so maybe that is a plus....Will need to look at the HAL boards as well, have not ventured over there - scared......maybe lurkers???

must understand the mandatory tipping comment, a little too coded right now......hum......

 

[PrincessHaleysMom]

from Barkely --- chip&dale&fun-please reconsider using HAL for alaska, we used dvc points and it was such a terrible line to travel on. esp. if you are taking kids-despite their p/r about how they are becoming 'family friendly' it was so NOT. i think you could rent out your points and book on another line to much better results (the HAL boards with devoted HAL travelers largely believe the line's policy to introduce mandatory tipping from passengers-well it realy is'nt mandatory but you do suffer visable consequences if you jump through the hoops it takes to opt out-has contributed to a major decline in service).

Will look at this recommendation. We are not taking kids, so maybe that is a plus....Will need to look at the HAL boards as well, have not ventured over there - scared......maybe lurkers???

must understand the mandatory tipping comment, a little too coded right now......hum......

I reccomend Celebrity or Princess to Alaska - for kids I'd say RCCL. This is based on client feedback. Of course my kid enjoyed her "Celebrity Boat" - as did Ben's grandparent's and all of us in between. I say our Celebrity Alaska trip was my favorite of 12 cruises. But then again, what do I know????

 

[PrincessHaleysMom]

Someone wanted to know about a cruise to nowhere - January 4, 2007 - 2 nights from Miami on Celebrity Century.

 

[chip&dale&fun]

So maybe use DVC points for the wine county tour and leave Alaska cruise for 2008 with Disney????

Not sure, not sure....

 

[barkley]

So maybe use DVC points for the wine county tour and leave Alaska cruise for 2008 with Disney????

Not sure, not sure....

is that the one where you bicycle in the napa valley? if so-that's supposed to be realy nice (years ago i worked in the department at one of the resorts that handled the group lodging/events that company used as one of their stops-the participants always seemed to be having a great time and the lodging they booked was some of the best in the region -and we loved working with the company they were so organized and just realy nice to work with). we still encounter people doing this when we go upvalley-people always appear to be having a great time.

i kind of wonder even if the disney ships were built to sail in alaskan type waters how they'de manage to do it. so much of the activities on board are centered on the pool decks (and those pools are such a big draw for the passengers) if they would'nt have to some type of modifications. when we sailed up there we lucked out and hit the warmest week that season (the captain commented over the p.a. about what the temps were as compared to the previous trips and told us we were the only sailing that had'nt encountered at least a few overcast/chilly days ), but even so it still was not so warm that many were using the pools or the outside rec. facicities-and they had allot more wind type guards on the decks so you did'nt get cold sitting out and watching the scenery (maybe they could do some kind of drydock and put in a retractable cover?).

but it would be great-i can just envision goofy in lumberjack gear (but i bet they don't include as one of their excursions choices either the 'red onion brothel' or the 'floating lumberjack martinis on tap bar' ).

'mandatory tipping'-when you board and leave your credit card the line sets it up so the reccommended tips are charged to you each day, you can't opt out at embarkation, only if you personaly go to the purser's desk on board and sign paperwork (and we've heard on board and on-line they realy pressure not to). then all of your assigned staff (stateroom attendants, waiter, asst. waiter....) are notifiied that you have opted out. we heard people being approached by their 'staff' saying they'de been notified and 'please what is the problem, please reconsider, please let us show you how well we can do...", those that did'nt reconsider almost seemed to get snubbed by those staff members and the 'friendly faces' turned very sour when they did get their service. but i got the impression they realy stretch their staff thin-and they don't cover for each other like we've experienced on other lines-if we had an issue with our stateroom and our cabin steward was off duty we had to wait until they were back (and it was almost comical to sit at the bars-and with a mostly adult crowd they were popular venues-i don't know if we just encountered realy bad bartenders or they had pulled some people from non drinking origins to work there, but they had to look even the most basic drinks up. i saw some funny interchanges when people would be shouting 'don't tell me you have to look up how to make me a club soda-it's club soda on ice!!! 'bartender, stop! do not substitute low fat milk for cream in my white russian!" ).

despite everything-it's still one of the best places i could ever imagine cruising and i'de do it again on any line.

 

[PrincessHaleysMom]

We went Thursday to see the specialist. Everything looks good for this little one!

All the parts were clear and like Haley, no shame in showing us the goodies!

I was shocked, but it's a boy! Ben is so very pleased with himself! Haley told us, "I think a good name for my brother would be Cinderella!". This poor kid - we'll find him dressed up with tutu's and fairy wings thanks to his big sister. We get another ultrasound on Tuesday with my regular doctor and go back to the specialist in a month to make sure nothing changed! YAY!!!!

 

[DIS NURSE]

SO happy for you! Congrats on a boy! It is really fun to have one of each......and found it VERY easy to be considered DONE after that! Whew!

SO glad to hear everything is looking good via ultrasound. You have had lots of scares and downers......you deserve nothing but good news and enjoyment out of this! I am sure you and your DH will LOVE having a happy, healthy bouncing boy!

 

[awoltoday]

Great news Jessica! Way to go Ben!

 

[barkley]

We went Thursday to see the specialist. Everything looks good for this little one!

All the parts were clear and like Haley, no shame in showing us the goodies!

I was shocked, but it's a boy! Ben is so very pleased with himself! Haley told us, "I think a good name for my brother would be Cinderella!". This poor kid - we'll find him dressed up with tutu's and fairy wings thanks to his big sister. We get another ultrasound on Tuesday with my regular doctor and go back to the specialist in a month to make sure nothing changed! YAY!!!!

congratulations!!!!

funny you should mention about haley dressing the little guy up-just the other day spencer was teasing his big sister about how when she gets old enough to date he might pull out her 'nakie baby pictures' to share-i told him that might not be such a good idea since we had plenty of him dressed up as tinkerbelle, glinda and most of the other halloween costumes marissa has worn over the years which we could publish in an ad in the yearbook.

so for now can we refer to your little guy as 'cinderfella'?