LovesToRun
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2009
- Messages
- 772
Good morning everyone! Wow, less than 3 weeks... I cannot believe it! Oh, I'm SO ready to go on our cruise. 
I'm consolodating my responses to a bunch of posts here:
This has happened to us before... had fraud on our credit card, and it's a royal pain!! But, it is good you got it fixed right away! The times we've had fraud on our credit card, I've discovered it when I was trying to purchase something and my credit card kept getting denied! So embarrassing!! But, we carry an xtra credit card as a back up just in case.
Your daughter is SO cute!!!! All of the kids going on this cruise must be SO excited! It will be fun for all the kids to meet.
Claire, I can't remember if you are originally from Enland?? Sorry my memory is fuzzy. If you are, what part are you from? I have a friend who lives in London, and her name is Claire, and I LOVE how she says her name with her British accent. I can now say her name with a British accent... haha. She always laughs at me when I say, "Hi Claire" but with my Americanized British accent. 
Tanya, oh, you are way too kind! I need to post some of my "normal" pictures of myself on the forum so you can see what I look like 99.9% of the time! haha!! But, I do tend to get "you look young" comments, which I know is a good thing... I think when I hit about age 35, I really appreciated those comments, but in my 20's and early 30's, I didn't like when people said I looked young, even though people older than me said I need to appreciate it. Now I get it, and I do appreciate it, but really.... in "real life" I just literally get up and go, and am not one of those who primps in the mirror, so I always tell people, "what you see is what you get!" haha!!! So, when I dress up like in those pictures, my friends can't believe it's the same person!! haha!!
I bet you are SOOOOO excited to see your sister!!
I can't imagine being apart for so long, especially since it seems like you two have a great relationship. So, I'm very happy for you that you guys get to spend this quality time together.
As for travelers checks, I would have the same answer as Kathy (gma). Just keep in mind that on the ship, there is no cash, you just use your Key to the Wold Card to buy everything. Not sure if you can use Travelers checks to pay off your account, though. As for ports, just like Kathy said, if a place take regular checks, then they probably take traveler's checks, but credit cards are probably the more common route poeple take these days.
Kathy (gma) is right... it is $2.00 per wash and dry. The dryers are really big, so what I do is I do a load of whites and a load of darks in seperate washers, but at the same time so they both finish at the same time, and then I throw all the whites and darks in the dryer all together because there is room, and so for one load of laundry to wash and dry, it costs me $6.00. One tip with laundry, if you do it, is sea days are C--R-A-Z-Y to try to find a washer or dryer that is free and available, so I avoid doing laundry on Sea Days. The best times/days to do laundry are days you are at port, OR, if you are a night owl, to do it really late at night, like 10 PM or 11 PM. For whatever reason (I think it's because of all the kids) people on Disney ships seem to go to bed early like 10 PM, and the ship really quiets down after 10 PM. So, that is a good time to do laundry, if you can stay up late.
Also, it's too hard to explain in writing, BUT I think the buttons on the washer and dryers are confusing as to WHICH washer and dryer you are paying for. It's something where I'd have to show you what I mean, but there have been a few times where I've swiped my Key to the World card on the wrong washer or dryer, and then went to push the "start" button on the washer or dryer I was using, and nothing happened, so I "thought" I didn't swipe the card right, and then swiped it again, and nothing happened, only to figure out the 2nd time, I was swiping on the wrong washer or dryer, so I just transferred my clothes to the washer or dryer I was swiping, BUT I ended up paying for 2 loads, if that makes sense. Anyway, if something like this happens (where you lose money on a machine, even if it's your fault because you swiped the wrong washer or dryer), just go to guest services and tell them what happened, and they will take the accidental charge off your account. I remember the first time that happened, I felt funny going to guest services asking them to take the $2.00 off my account, because it was my fault for swiping the wrong dryer... but I decided to just give it a try, and I told guest services it was my fault, and if they didn't remove the charge because of that, I'd be fine, but I jsut wanted to see.... and they didn't even bat an eyelash, and totally took the charge off, and they told me this happens a lot!
So, before you swipe your card on your washer and dryer, really look and make sure you are about to swipe the card on the washer or dryer you are planning to use.
I agree with Kathy, that I don't think it'll be as humid in November... I would think summer months are worse than the winter months. BUT, with the exception of getting dressed up in the evenings, I've discovered anything I try to do with my hair during the day on the ship is worthless.... if you're up on deck 9 or 10, you'll be in the wind, unless you are in a protected area near the pools, or you'll be getting wet from the pool. Or, if you go for a stroll on deck 4, you'll hit the wind at some point, etc. etc. I have a flat iron I use on my hair IF I'm feeling like I want to do anything with my hair (which isn't often), and my first cruise, I brought the flat iron, and used it, but my hair got so messed up from the wind, that I realized it was just a waste of my time to flat iron my hair, so that is why I just put it up in a hair band almost all the time during the day... I just give up on my hair while on the ship.
Also, just a warning for you ladies who use hair dryers, the hair dryers on the ship, I think, are not good, but they do the job! They remind me of using a vacuum cleaner tube to dry your hair!
Some people bring their own hair dryers and plug in by the mirror at the desk, but I just don't bother taking up space in my suitcase to bring my hair dryer from home, because like I said, if you go to any length to make your hair look nice, I guarentee it'll get all messed up if you spend any time out on the deck, so I just use the "vacuum cleaner tube" 
to dry my hair, and it does the job! Btw, in the hair salon, they use real hair dryers... they don't pull out vacuum cleaner tubes to dry your hair... That would be funny!
Regarding the A/C, everyone is different, but if you get cold easily, I would make sure you have a little jacket to wear inside because it can get cold in doors from the A/C. But, I don't remember it being freezing cold... so I don't think it's too bad.
-Kathy
I'm consolodating my responses to a bunch of posts here:
Well I'm officially mad at all Canadian's (Not Really). Acutally glad my credit card company is proactive. Someone got my number and tried to run transactions of $850.00, $750, and $700 through a single store at a beauty supply store. Hopefully that helps them catch the person.
Luckily it I won't have to pay it and I'll have my new cards this week, but I was like WOW!What if this happened the week of the cruise.
The only real different merchant online I had used is for my DD costume. Oh well, I still like shopping online too much to stop.
To top that off I can't get into the disboars.com on in firefox this weekend. I tried Internet Explorer and it works so I switched for now.
Besides that is has been a great weekend going to the Bob Evans Farm Festival.
This has happened to us before... had fraud on our credit card, and it's a royal pain!! But, it is good you got it fixed right away! The times we've had fraud on our credit card, I've discovered it when I was trying to purchase something and my credit card kept getting denied! So embarrassing!! But, we carry an xtra credit card as a back up just in case.
Your daughter is SO cute!!!! All of the kids going on this cruise must be SO excited! It will be fun for all the kids to meet.
Claire, I can't remember if you are originally from Enland?? Sorry my memory is fuzzy. If you are, what part are you from? I have a friend who lives in London, and her name is Claire, and I LOVE how she says her name with her British accent.
I can now say her name with a British accent... haha. She always laughs at me when I say, "Hi Claire" but with my Americanized British accent. Tanya, oh, you are way too kind! I need to post some of my "normal" pictures of myself on the forum so you can see what I look like 99.9% of the time! haha!! But, I do tend to get "you look young" comments, which I know is a good thing... I think when I hit about age 35, I really appreciated those comments, but in my 20's and early 30's, I didn't like when people said I looked young, even though people older than me said I need to appreciate it. Now I get it, and I do appreciate it, but really.... in "real life" I just literally get up and go, and am not one of those who primps in the mirror, so I always tell people, "what you see is what you get!" haha!!!
So, when I dress up like in those pictures, my friends can't believe it's the same person!! haha!! I bet you are SOOOOO excited to see your sister!!
I can't imagine being apart for so long, especially since it seems like you two have a great relationship. So, I'm very happy for you that you guys get to spend this quality time together.As for travelers checks, I would have the same answer as Kathy (gma). Just keep in mind that on the ship, there is no cash, you just use your Key to the Wold Card to buy everything. Not sure if you can use Travelers checks to pay off your account, though. As for ports, just like Kathy said, if a place take regular checks, then they probably take traveler's checks, but credit cards are probably the more common route poeple take these days.
Kathy (gma) is right... it is $2.00 per wash and dry. The dryers are really big, so what I do is I do a load of whites and a load of darks in seperate washers, but at the same time so they both finish at the same time, and then I throw all the whites and darks in the dryer all together because there is room, and so for one load of laundry to wash and dry, it costs me $6.00. One tip with laundry, if you do it, is sea days are C--R-A-Z-Y to try to find a washer or dryer that is free and available, so I avoid doing laundry on Sea Days. The best times/days to do laundry are days you are at port, OR, if you are a night owl, to do it really late at night, like 10 PM or 11 PM. For whatever reason (I think it's because of all the kids) people on Disney ships seem to go to bed early like 10 PM, and the ship really quiets down after 10 PM. So, that is a good time to do laundry, if you can stay up late.
Also, it's too hard to explain in writing, BUT I think the buttons on the washer and dryers are confusing as to WHICH washer and dryer you are paying for. It's something where I'd have to show you what I mean, but there have been a few times where I've swiped my Key to the World card on the wrong washer or dryer, and then went to push the "start" button on the washer or dryer I was using, and nothing happened, so I "thought" I didn't swipe the card right, and then swiped it again, and nothing happened, only to figure out the 2nd time, I was swiping on the wrong washer or dryer, so I just transferred my clothes to the washer or dryer I was swiping, BUT I ended up paying for 2 loads, if that makes sense. Anyway, if something like this happens (where you lose money on a machine, even if it's your fault because you swiped the wrong washer or dryer), just go to guest services and tell them what happened, and they will take the accidental charge off your account. I remember the first time that happened, I felt funny going to guest services asking them to take the $2.00 off my account, because it was my fault for swiping the wrong dryer... but I decided to just give it a try, and I told guest services it was my fault, and if they didn't remove the charge because of that, I'd be fine, but I jsut wanted to see.... and they didn't even bat an eyelash, and totally took the charge off, and they told me this happens a lot!
So, before you swipe your card on your washer and dryer, really look and make sure you are about to swipe the card on the washer or dryer you are planning to use.
I agree with Kathy, that I don't think it'll be as humid in November... I would think summer months are worse than the winter months. BUT, with the exception of getting dressed up in the evenings, I've discovered anything I try to do with my hair during the day on the ship is worthless.... if you're up on deck 9 or 10, you'll be in the wind, unless you are in a protected area near the pools, or you'll be getting wet from the pool. Or, if you go for a stroll on deck 4, you'll hit the wind at some point, etc. etc. I have a flat iron I use on my hair IF I'm feeling like I want to do anything with my hair (which isn't often), and my first cruise, I brought the flat iron, and used it, but my hair got so messed up from the wind, that I realized it was just a waste of my time to flat iron my hair, so that is why I just put it up in a hair band almost all the time during the day... I just give up on my hair while on the ship.
Also, just a warning for you ladies who use hair dryers, the hair dryers on the ship, I think, are not good, but they do the job! They remind me of using a vacuum cleaner tube to dry your hair!
Some people bring their own hair dryers and plug in by the mirror at the desk, but I just don't bother taking up space in my suitcase to bring my hair dryer from home, because like I said, if you go to any length to make your hair look nice, I guarentee it'll get all messed up if you spend any time out on the deck, so I just use the "vacuum cleaner tube" to dry my hair, and it does the job! Btw, in the hair salon, they use real hair dryers... they don't pull out vacuum cleaner tubes to dry your hair... That would be funny!Regarding the A/C, everyone is different, but if you get cold easily, I would make sure you have a little jacket to wear inside because it can get cold in doors from the A/C. But, I don't remember it being freezing cold... so I don't think it's too bad.
-Kathy
I had booked a nonDCL excursion for St. Maarten and paid the deposit back in Aug. I emailed them last week to confirm the reservation and they told me they accidentally double booked for that day--us & a private 11 person charter. She is going to see if the charter would mind if we tagged along, but I don't know how *I* feel about that. 1) I don't want to crash their party 2) What if it's a group of rowdy, obnoxious partiers? I'll have my 7yr old DD with me. I don't want to subject her to crazy nonsense, but I don't want them to have to stifle themselves when they booked private charter. UGH! I'm so upset! This has completely ruined my day.
Shoot... that is just too bad. I would totally be thinking the exact same as you, that I don't know how *I* would feel about that, and not knowing who the 11 passengers are.... I certainly would not want to be with a bunch of routy people, either...
Melissa
