Hi everyone,
What a crazy busy day!! First day of school (or first week of school) is always busy, but the boys loved their first day, and they like their teachers, so all is off to a good start.
I finally had time to read through the posts from the weekend. Sounds like everyone had a good weekend.
Well, with the exception of an inservice day at school once between now and November, the next time our boys will have time off school is Nov 5 - 12!
I sent out revised copies of all the lists today. So if you didnt receive a new CM list please let me know.
Kathy
Thanks for sending this out, Kathy! I got the list and all the info (stateroom, names, ages) for our family looks great. I'm just waiting for a free upgrade to the Walt Disney Suite...
Oh, what wishful thinking!!! LOL!!!!!
So I checked the
DCL website and they have several more room available than the last time I checked. Does anyone have an explanation? Is it they have opened up rooms that they placed on hold (if they even do that) or did lots of people cancel? Boy, it is tempting to upgrade. We are on deck 6 and their are 2 porthole rooms available in the forward, that are separated by only 1 room. (we don't have adjoining rooms anyway) Although we did choose mid ship due to less motion in that area.
(Kids and their gma's 1st cruise..ever)
I think there is a period between when you have to pay your balance and when cancellation fees actually set in. So, it's common to see rooms open up just before the window where cancellation fees set in for people who decide last minute to cancel without penalty. So, I'm guessing those are the rooms you are seeing. As for mid-ship vs. foward, we've stayed in both locations. I think it might be a little more stable mid-ship, but truly, it really just depends on the seas. The cruise where we were in the Forward, the seas were SO calm the entire cruise... so we felt no motion... because there was no motion! But, we've been mid-ship in rough seas (where the captain actually had to announce through the entire ship to hold onto railings when walking and be very careful), and when it's like that, you can definitely feel motion mid-ship!! But, I think in just normal/typical seas (a little waves, but mostly calm), you really feel nothing mid-ship, and maybe a tad wave here or there forward. BUT, I am not bothered one bit by motion, so maybe it also really depends on the person and how sensitive they are to motion.
So, did you decide to upgrade?
We have the Disney Visa Rewards card and use it to pay for everything (and pay it off each month). We've been saving up our points for the last 2 years and should have about $800 worth (at least) by the time of the cruise. We are going to put that on our on board credit account so with that, plus the $50 for charging the cruise with the card, then $200 from the TA, we'll have about $1000 for our on board credit---Thank Goodness!! Or we would be in big trouble with this new alcohol policy.
That is so cool you do this to save up for On Board Credit on the ship!! There is nothing MORE fun to spend than free money!! And, that is a lot you will have to spend.
It is amazing, though, how fast you can rack up your on board account!! But, as you saw, Disney cancelled the "new" alcohol policy, and it's back to what it was, so luckily, you don't have to use a big chunk of your $1,000 on board credit on alcohol now, and you can bring your own.
Kathy (lovestorun) i think you are right Emma and Tyler will be considered tweens! There is a tween club onboard,"The Edge", i am hoping Emma will want to go, what about Tyler?
Well it is back to school for my kids tomorrow, Josh is starting 3rd grade and Emma is starting middle school
Good luck to all the kids going back to school tomorrow
Tyler definitely wants to go to the Tween Club (The Edge), but he also wants to go to the Lab (I think because that is all he knows). But, I found out that the 11-12 year olds can choose to go to the Lab instead of the Edge, but if they do that, they'll have to wear a wrist band. And, if they get a wrist band, they cannot go to the Edge because the Edge the kids check themselves in and out, so they don't have wrist bands. So, what Tyler said he'll try is go to the Edge and the Lab apparently has certain times each day where the kids from the Edge can come into the Lab, and he said he'd do that. But, from what I've read on the main Dis Boards is that the kids new to the Edge usually are unsure before they get on the ship, but once they are on the ship and go into the Edge for the first time, they have no desire to go back to the Lab because there are so many fun things to do at the Edge, plus all the kids in the Edge are their age.
So, they do have the option to do both... but I have a feeling Tyler will want to be at the Edge. We'll see!
How was Josh and Emma's first day at school, and Emma's first day in middle school??? She must be in 6th grade, then, right? Tyler is in 5th, but he is a November birthday, so that is why he's in 5th and almost 11 years old... just the birthday cut off thing. I think it's good for him, though, especially size wise... he's small for his age (just a genetic thing... lots of small people in our family), so if he were in 6th grade right now, he'd look REALLY small for his grade. So, he fits in better size-wise with 9 and 10 year olds. But, you never know.... he may have a big growth spurt coming on sometime soon!!
Kathy,
Great photos. They look so excited to go, bandaids and all
Hope they had a great first day.
Kathy
Thanks!!
Well, I think that about catches me up!!
Kathy
And, here I was in labor FEELING like I was about to give birth to an elephant! 
It was so sad, and actually, very hard on Tyler because Hansa was his birthday buddy, and he loves animals, too. But, we have a book the zoo had on sale all about Hansa the baby elephant (we bought it when Hansa and Tyler were just 1 year old), so Tyler keeps that book in his room. So, that is our zoo story. 
