Oct 3, 2009 Wester Carribean

[dismom73]

Robin--you are so sweet to do some digging for me . I've actually looked into those rooms, they are called family suites and they are the same price as two regular rooms, so it's kind of a wash as far as saving money. But thank you so much for thinking of me!
Thank you everyone for the nice comments on the backyard. It was a lot of work, but it's paying off. The girls have been in it non-stop since we finished and last night we all went out there and did smores in the fire pit. Our patio set is going to have to wait until everything for the cruise is paid for, but it's still very nice out there.
Well, I'm off to do some laundry and pick up the house....good times!

 

[wareagle]

Hey Everyone,

School is finally over. We originally were to get out last Friday (the 22nd), but due to the swine flu days, we had to add 2 additional days. So Thursday was my last day. Then I went yesterday on an overnigth trip with the ladies from church. We went to Chattanooga and to northern Georgia. We shopped at some outlets and ate at the Station House at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. It was a lot of fun. All of the servers sing while you eat. This morning we got up and toured Rock City. I had not been there since I was 10 years old. It was really beautiful. We got back this afternoon and then went to Payton's first tournament game. They won 8-6, but one of the parents had a seizure after the game. Hopefully everything is okay. The ER doctors think it may be a reaction to some medicine recently prescribed to her.

On a happy note, when we got home from the game there was a nice suprise in our mail box. We receive our travel kit for the cruise. It makes it seem so much closer now that we have received this. I still have not started on my FE gifts. I have ideas, but just have not had time to put them together. We also booked our flights this week. Due to Patrick having to march at a football game on Friday night, we are taking a risk, but plan to fly out Saturday morning from Atlanta. We will drive after Patrick marches on Friday night. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 7:55. We are going to hire a town car to take us to the port. I would rather fly in Friday afternoon, but due to band and restrictions on missing games, we have to go this other route.

Andrea, the yard looks great.

Hope everyone has a restful evening and a great Sunday.

Gena

 

[jude]

Hi all,

Thought I would post to let you know a bit more about us. Also ask some questions.
There are 3 of us travelling from Dundee Scotland.My DH Chuck Me Jude and DD Ashleigh 9. We leave home on 2nd Oct at 3.00am our time go to Glasgow then Gatwick then on to Orlando flight lands at 5.00pm US. We have to decide wether or not to hire a car from Orlando International or get transport. Do you think I will need to go to a supermarket thought about picking up a couple of phone cards for calling home some drinks and snacks or would I be better to get these when we get in to the different ports. Still to book the hotel for the night before we sail. Can any one recomend one been looking at the radisson at the port as we won't arrive at the hotel until about 7.00 or 8.00 pm so does n't have to be too fancy. Won't sleep much think we might be a bit too excited.

We are thinking about doing a dolphin excursion but not sure which one to go on also do I book it myself or through DCL. Would also like to visit each port if we were to do this excursion would we miss out ondoing this.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We are trying to see how much we will need with the dollar rising would like to start paying for these extras also the cruise while we are getting a good rate.
Love reading all your posts you all seem to be so busy don't know how you can keep up with it all.

speak again soon

Only 17 weeks and 4 days to go

 

[MinFan55]

Hi all,

Thought I would post to let you know a bit more about us. Also ask some questions.
There are 3 of us travelling from Dundee Scotland.My DH Chuck Me Jude and DD Ashleigh 9. We leave home on 2nd Oct at 3.00am our time go to Glasgow then Gatwick then on to Orlando flight lands at 5.00pm US. We have to decide wether or not to hire a car from Orlando International or get transport. Do you think I will need to go to a supermarket thought about picking up a couple of phone cards for calling home some drinks and snacks or would I be better to get these when we get in to the different ports. Still to book the hotel for the night before we sail. Can any one recomend one been looking at the radisson at the port as we won't arrive at the hotel until about 7.00 or 8.00 pm so does n't have to be too fancy. Won't sleep much think we might be a bit too excited.

We are thinking about doing a dolphin excursion but not sure which one to go on also do I book it myself or through DCL. Would also like to visit each port if we were to do this excursion would we miss out ondoing this.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We are trying to see how much we will need with the dollar rising would like to start paying for these extras also the cruise while we are getting a good rate.
Love reading all your posts you all seem to be so busy don't know how you can keep up with it all.

speak again soon

Only 17 weeks and 4 days to go

Jude - We will also be sailing with a 9 DD. This will be our first DC and are very excited too! We are staying at the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach the night before the cruise, as are several others on this board. We are also seriously considering a dolphin encounter, probably in Cozumel, but not absolutely sure yet. As far as your other questions I will leave it up to all the veterans to answer.

Keep me posted on your dolphin plans...maybe we'll end up on the same excursion.

I'm traveling to Atlanta tomorrow morning for work, wish I was flying a little bit further and it was October

I hope everyone has a good week.

Terri

 

[dismom73]

Hi Jude! There will be lots of girls for your Ashliegh to hang out with. I also have one in that age rage, she will have just turned 10 two weeks before we cruise and there are a few others that are 9.
Our last cruise we stayed at the Raddisson and it worked out perfect! It's a really easy drive from the airport to the port, and a lot cheaper to rent a car than it is to hire one. I don't know if you or your DH feels comfortable driving in the US, but it does work out well. It's how we've done it every time and then you have the freedom to stop and get snacks/drinks or anything you might have forgotten to pack. (Last time we forgot shoes for formal night for one of our DD's) I would suggest getting any extras likes snacks and drinks near the port before you get on, that way you aren't wasting any "cruise time" shopping for them in the port cities. We always bring bottles of water, but we gave up on bringing snacks as we are NEVER hungry on the ship!
If you can start paying for things now (ie excurssions, tips, etc) while the dollar is better I would do so! I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can purchase onboard credit ahead of time, I know you can pay your tips in advance.
I can't help you with any of the dolphin excurssions, as we haven't done any. I only hear good things about them though, so I'm sure you'll love whatever one you choose!

Well, I'm off to take Riley to school. Hope everyone has a good day!
Andrea

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Ok Jude I too have a 9 yr old! seems the 9 yr old girlls are taking over the boat!...I agree with Andrea...renting a car is cheaper and you can arrive at the port when U want ---not be forced to be there on the bus! I looked into the dolphin thing on cozumel and it was cheaper to book directly through the place. We were gonna do it but thinking of waiting till DD(5) is oder!

Ok so we are staying at all sta sports resort the thurs we fly in and comtemplating doing MNSSHP that night! gotta go get Sydney and go to PTO meeting....TTFN

 

[jude]

Hi all

Thanks for all your replies just got home from work only four days to work before the weekend again.

Quote
"Keep me posted on your dolphin plans...maybe we'll end up on the same excursion."

Terri will let you know once we decide do you know if we would still have time to see cozumel once we have done the excursion.

I have priced the Residence at Cocoa Beach but its about $40 dollars more than the Radisson and we get breakfast free for 2 of us there as well.

Will have to make up our mind soon.

Andrea my DH does n't mind driving in the US and I drove last year not too keen but could do it again. We can put our money on a pre paid mastercard when the rate is good and spend it when we want bit wary of leaving it on the card too long though as if the company get in to financial problems we would lose our money so will probably load it and use it the same day hoping we can get $1.70 to the pound before we buy it makes a huge to difference to the price of the cruise. If we had bought them back in February the cruise would have cost us an exta £400

Michelle

Is booking the excursion direct easy to do also how do we get there.

We stayed at all star movies in sept 2007 it was nice.
Have you done MNSSHP before we did it in 2007 this was our first trip to Orlando it was good to see but quite expensive on top of your park ticket.

Can't beleive there are so many girls age 9 Ashleigh can't wait to go to the kids club she thinks her dad and me should do Palo and go on a date lol. Still have to see if we will do it or not.

Well off to have my supper.

Judith

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Jude....If u book directly through the dolphin place U can pick your time and I don't think it's a long excursion...I honestly think U are with the dolphins an hour or so. From what I have read on here there are a TON of taxis in cozumel right at the port for $10 each way. They have a website with loads of info and a live chat to ask questions from one of their cistomer service reps. really cool!

We are at the Residence Inn too along with Terri and a few more. I like the free breakfast just one less thing I have to worry about!

We did MNSSHP in 2007 as well. We loved it. We don't go during normal park hours we just buy the MNSSHP ticket cause u can get in at 4pm and honestly get on anything without waiting in line like during the day. I don't think ya need to go during the day if you have a special event ticket cause we did everything we wanted to between 4-midnight! Also my girls don't eat a ton of candy so we hit maybe 1-3 trick or treat spots and skip the rest. Mine like the dance parties with the characters and rides and parades!

BTW Jude are you partaking in our FE? If you need info u can go to our DIs website(link in my signature) and check it out and let me know!

Well had a good PTO meeting......fed the kids and relaxing for a moment before I get a load of laundry going! DH is off golfing....oh the life...LOL It seems our DIS board is a bit quiet....I guess alot of us have found each other on Facebook....that FB has killed our thread!! LMAO Well everyone have a goodnight. Off to update our web page..TTFN

 

[dismom73]

Jude- be careful buying those pre-paid mastercards. I don't know if it works the same over there as it does here, but the ones here charge a monthly "service charge". So for each month that you still have a balance on it they deduct the charge from your balance. So you could be loosing money each month you hold onto it.
We are thinking of doing MNSSHP on Thursday night too. I know I know, I keep "adding on" to our vacation. But DL doesn't have a party like WDW does, so since we're going to be out there..... anyway, I am looking into staying at Port Orleans Riverside. It's the only moderate that sleeps 5 and we can get it for about $20 more than we could get two rooms at one of the value resorts. My parents have stayed there before and they LOVED it. We'll see.... (Laura, this wont affect our Friday plans) You must have been busy at work today, cuz I tried to call you...call me when you can.
Well time to go get Ashley from her friends and then get some dinner on the table.
Andrea

 

[kpflillirpf]

Howdy all!

As with alot of other people, I've been busy on Facebook. Sorry ya'll. Hard to believe it's just 3 months 4 weeks and 1 day til our cruise! WOW! Kinda starting to sneak up on me and I'm panicing a bit. Still so much to do and I'm finding the funds aren't cooperating. Well, it'll be a day by day thing I guess.

My family is looking into to the dolphin encounter in Cozumel as well (although the funds issue could certainly end that idea). If we do it, we'll probably book directly instead of through DCL. Definitely cheaper.

Lilli's last day of school is Thursday (it's a 1/2 day). She is so excited. Today she gets to student teach and is going to teach the kids how to make tissue paper flowers (made with tissue paper and pipe cleaners). She's looking forward to it. This is a relatively normal week for us here so that is nice.

We spent the weekend down in Virginia visiting my parents. We had a great time.

This weekend we are doing a DUI walk in memory of all the many people who have been killed due to drunk drivers. We've done this in the past and find it very humbling to be standing in the gardens where all the bricks that you're walking on have names on them of people who have been killed. It chokes me up seeing the names of infants and children and then also seeing names of women and the date that their unborn child would have been born.

Next week my ladies ensemble has a "gig" and I have an all day paralegal seminar to attend (boring ). Next Saturday is Katie's birthday party! My 1 year old!

That's all to report for now. Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Will talk to you all soon!

Kristi

 

[dismom73]

Good Morning all...well most of you are on the east coast so Good Afternoon. Even my fellow westcoaster (Terri) is on eastern time today. If you are reading this Terri I hope your flight went well. The girls did good last night. Stayed up way to late for a school night but they were being very quiet, so I didn't even know they were awake. They are getting ready for school as I type this.
Well, it looks like we are moving forward with the Thursday night MNSSHP plans. DH didn't shoot the idea down, and that's all I need to take off full speed ahead. I have to pay bills today and then (if there is enough leftover) I will be booking Port Orleans riverside. I'm really excited! The last (and only) time we went to MNSSHP was in 2007 and we LOVED it. I've already told the girls that if we go we wont be doing any trick or treating since it will be our only park time, and we'll be getting on the cruise with all you can eat desserts soon after. I also told Riley and Bailey that they have to go on Splash Mtn since we wont have time to do "child swap". It's a ride they've both been avoiding, but I know they will both love. So right now I'm leaning toward taking the red-eye Wed night and getting to MCO Thursday, late morning (that will all depend on the loads though since we fly stand-by) and then checking in and taking a nap, then heading over to MNSSHP. Sleeping in on Friday then taking magical express back to the airport to pick up our rental car and then head to Ressidence Inn at the Port. Just typing it gets me excited!
Just putting it out there....anyone else who's address I don't have for the FE gifts I'm making if you want to PM me that would be great! I'm trying to stay caught up so I'm not having to rush to finish them the last minute. If you don't want to send me your address, that's OK too.
Well, I hope everyone has a good day!
Andrea

 

[MinFan55]

Hello all. Well the first part of my flight went well, got into Phoenix on time and time to call Amaya at Andrea's before she and Riley left for school. Thanks again for keeping her last night Andrea! Since I landed my gate for my flight to Atlanta has changed twice and the flight will be taking off a few minutes late. Oh well, no hurry...nothing going on until tomorrow.

I am so envious of you all that get to go to MNSSHP, it sounds like so much fun. We were able to get free tickets from our congressman to Kennedy Space Center the day before the cruise so that's what we'll be doing. I'm sure Amaya won't really get much out of it but I'll just keep reminding her that she'll be getting on the ship the next day.

I'm going to try and do a little research on the dolphin encounters when I'm sitting in my hotel room tonight. I'm really thinking we're going to do that so I want to start making plans.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Terri

 

[jude]

Hello

Andrea
thanks for the advice about the prepaid cards we don't pay for it on a monthly basis more worried about the bank that backs them going bust whilst they have our money. My sister is staying at POFQ for 2 weeks she arrives on 18 sept and leaves 2 oct when we arrive.

Terri
Can you let me know how you get on with the dolphin excursion would love to do it we thought about discovery cove but its a £160 each a bit pricey for me.

Michelle
I would loved to have taken part in the FE but don't think I would have enough time also not quite sure what to buy.

Thanks again for your tips speak again soon.

Judith

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Jude.....I am gonna guess that you are opting out of the FE, which is fine I just didn't want to miss someone who could partake.

I will be sending out a bulk PM making sure who is participating. I have to say we have a few who are on our list and who havent been on here since January so I am unsure if we lost them. If people don't respond I will assume they aren't cruising with us anymore. I made some of my boy FE's last night! I hope the boys like, I am a girl mom so I think boys are difficult. U can give girls make-up, jewelry, and little crud for their purse and they are happy..LOL anyhow I am off to be ready to take the kids to school, go to the doctors myself and then dance dance dance tonight! TTFN

 

[dismom73]

Judith, has your sister stayed there before? This will be our first time staying there, we try to stay somewhere new each time (even though this will only be one night) We have to stay on the Riverside, as opossed the French Quaters because it's the side that sleeps 5. My parents have stayed there and they LOVED it. Is your sister going on the cruise too, or is she headed home on the 2nd? Does she live in Scotland too?

Terri, I hope your trip is going well! We dropped Amaya's stuff off yesterday and when we pulled up I opened the door and Allison ran and got a stick and brought it to me while I was still in the car. I love that dog!

Well, I'm hoping we will be getting Baileys passport in the mail pretty soon. I think we are going to go get Riley's on Friday. Then we will probably get Ashley's and Ryan's next month.

Well, off to get Riley to school and then I'm out running errands...
hope everyone has a great day!
Andrea

 

[jude]

Hi everyone hope you are all well,

Michelle
Do you buy a gift for each person in the stateroom for the FE?

Andrea
Sorry gave you the wrong info yesterday my sister is staying at Riverside as well she is there for 2 weeks and got the disney dining plan free we had it when we stayed at all star movies it was fab but they have changed the hotels and the plan slightly. My sister has stayed POFQ but that was in 1991 she was in all star music last year she is hooked as well. She leaves for home on the 2nd Oct so not joining us on the cruise. She lives in Scotland as well
I can walk to her house or my Mums in 5 mins so we are all quite close to each other.

We live in Dundee which is about 80 miles north of Glasgow.

Terri
Did you manage to find anything out about the dolphin excursion I found site last night which is giving 20% off if you book in June for trips at least 60 days in advance but there a few different packages not to sure about it cause when I priced dcl they seemed to be cheaper but I am probably looking at the wrong site.

Off for some supper now then off to bed only 2 days now till the weekend woo hoo.

 

[dismom73]

We have less than 4 months!!!
Just thought I would mention it in case it slipped someones attention...



Judith, I can't believe you and your sister are traveling so far to the same vacation area and your going to just miss eachother by a day! But I guess if you live close and see them all the time it's no big deal. We are taking this vacation with my brother and his famiy (thegreatcornholeo) and I can't wait, but at most we see them once a year, sometimes not even that. This year we will get to see them twice The girls and I are traveling to Boston in July The last time Ryan got to see them was at my sisters wedding over two years ago. (Laura remember the "frog incident" ) Terri might not be able to get back to you for a couple of days. She's on a business trip in Atlanta and I'm not sure how busy she is. She must be pretty busy cuz I haven't heard from her since she was in the airport on her way. (We live right around the corner from eachother)
Well, it's official, we have Port Orleans Riverside booked for Thursday night . I think the plan will be to go to MNSSHP on Thursday, sleep in a bit on Friday. Then we will either enjoy the resort for the afternoon or head over to DTD to walk around and eat before we pick up our rental car and head to the port area. Ryan got stuck working 2 hours of overtime last night (unexpected) and I said "Great! That's two MNSSHP tickets!" I can't understand why I just heard silence on the other end of the line...
I spent some time yesterday on the POR thread, since we've never stayed there and I'm getting really excited.

 

[kboysmommy]

Hello, We just booked on this cruise and we are very excited. I have read though some of this thread, but it a little bit overwhelming. I wanted to introduce myself and my family to you all.. I am 29 and my husband is 29 and my two sons are 5 & 19 months (he'll be turn 2 the month of our trip)! This will be our first experience on a Disney Cruise so I am very anxious to learn all the fun tips and stuff. So all you veterans, I am paying attention. I am excited to meet you ya'll and can't wait for October to get here.

Jennifer Rodriguez

 

[kboysmommy]

Can someone give me some detail on the Fish Extender and the Secret Mickey. I am trying to decide if we want to do it....Also how do we obtain the cruise image you all created? I am ready to be a part of the group....if you'll have me!!

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Jennifer..... Welocome aboard! First off we would love to have u! If you look in my signature U can see a link to our web page which will have the logo on it and you can just save as photo and make one for urself. Also FE/SM. SM is like a secret santa thing but secret mickey. Once our cut-off date is here, I will send out questionaire's for the people in the SM to fill out and answer ??'s, the I will assign each family another family and u will buy something under $25 for ur secret Mickey. Suggestions have been to have it delivered by ur SM's stateroom attendent. The FE is right now about 20 something families. U hang something from your FISH(located outside ur stateroom) and U make/buy or create something for each family meember or family in general. U then deliver your gifts inside people's FE's and thats that. For Ex. I made something for the girls, something for the boys and a little joint something, then I got something for the adults. There is loads of info on our web page...go there and there are tips, photos of us, the group, etc!
I will add you to our page, if you dont mind me asking I need info to add u, names, stateroom number,allergies(if u partake in FE), umm dining (late/main), and if u are participating....

Ok that's all I can think right now....Off to get nelia ready for dress rehearsal for dance tonight!