Oct 3, 2009 Wester Carribean

[HeatherD]

Hello, all! We will be on this cruise as well and I just discovered y'all today. I spend most of my Disney online time at Passporter.com, but there are only a handfull of folks over there on this cruise.

I'm not planning on making it hard on you - we won't be doing FE or SM. Just looking for some familiar faces and perhaps some friends for the kids to know before the cruise. So, let me introduce us:

Me, HeatherD (38) 4th cruise, 2nd DCL
DH (37) 4th cruise, 2nd DCL
DD (9) 2nd DCL cruise
DS (5) 2nd DCL cruise
MIL (I'm not sayin'! But her birthday is Oct 9) 2nd DCL cruise
FIL (I'm no fool, nosiree!) 2nd DCL cruise

If you read that carefully, you can see that we convinced the rest of the family to cruise on DCL (Dec 2007) and they were hooked! So, this is the first 7-day cruise for all of us and we are so very excited

As West-Coasters, therefore able to log in at 9PM, I sacrificed some fireworks time on Independence Day and made all of our ressies. Here's what we've got:

Palo Brunch on Monday @11:00
Palo Dinner on Thursday @ 6:30
Hot Rocks Massage on Monday @ 2:00 (MIL and I are both doing it then)

We're doing Key West on our own (Conch Trolley via internet purchased tickets)
Grand Cayman - Seaworld Semi Sub (originally planned to do the fully submerged, but this got better reviews) @ 8:15 scared1:that's early!)
Cozumel - Dolphin Kids for, well, the kids! DH is getting concerned about the depth of the water being too high for the shortness that is our DS (he'll be about 41 or 42" then). I've been trying to find reviews of the Kids program specifically, but haven't seen anything....
Castaway Cay - Stingrays @ 10:00

We're staying at the Radisson on Thursday and Friday before the cruise and going to KSC on Friday. I have not made ressies for transportation, yet, but plan to use a car service with a van for the 6 of us (and luggage).

I'm sorry about not sharing names yet. DH isn't as open as I am and I try to respect his needs for family privacy as he respects the time I spend online at Passporter and Facebook! We won't be at the currently scheduled meet 'n greet at 3:00 on Saturday, I think, because it looks like that's when a Spa drawing is, so we're going to try to be there for our tour at that time (MIL wants to check out the onboard specials being offered).

 

[kimmcbee]

Ok guys I need help

A few weeks ago, Kyle(14) asked about his girlfriend coming with us for the week. Of course we said no. Thought that was the end of it. Today he text me at work, her grandparents are booking cruise with us, so she can see him that week he really does not want her there because "it wont be fun for me" Not sure what I tell the grandparents. If she is there will be no fun for us either worried about the two of them all week.

What suggestions do you all have? Sorry to be like this but really fustrated. would cancel cruise at this point, but other boys looking forward to it. This is what I get for telling them ahead of time i guess.

Kim

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Kim, at this point you all kinda know I am very upfront and tell it like it is, so take this for what its worth, BUT to me this is my FAMILY vacation and I would plain and simple tell them that is what it is and my son(daughter for me) will be hanging with his family. They get all year and U are asking for 1 week to just be family. U have to tell these grandparents its a free world they can book but don't do it to see Kyle cause that won't be how it is! Kim I think 14 is young to be going on vacation together I mean come on,,they can live without each other. I can't believe the grandparents....who's running the show the kids or the PARENTS/Grandparents.? OMG this just makes me cringe! I know Sydney is only 9 but there will be NO vacations w/boyfriend until they are outta school! I think I would be worried too. That's to much unsupervised freedom for a 14 yr girl/boy!

Ok ....Welcome Heather. I saw ya over at Passporters but people (like 5) checked it but then I didn't see anymore talking. I will put you on our web page. Welcome to the "there are a bizzilion 9/10 yr old girls on this cruise"!! I would say we are putting photos of us on our web page and ask ya for one however I will assume that's a no since we don't know the names...LOL That pic u had on passporter, are those ur kids?
If so cuties!


Well everyone I have worked on my FE today...I think I am almost done. 2/3 more girls left and a couple boys...then adults closer to cruise! Oh only 18 more days!!
Though everytime I think we are done, I am doing more....LOL Couple more weeks and I start my job......I so have to be DONE by then. Ahhh OK well I guess I am off to make one more girl FE. I will TTYL
TTFN

 

[HeatherD]

Ok ....Welcome Heather. I saw ya over at Passporters but people (like 5) checked it but then I didn't see anymore talking. I will put you on our web page. Welcome to the "there are a bizzilion 9/10 yr old girls on this cruise"!! I would say we are putting photos of us on our web page and ask ya for one however I will assume that's a no since we don't know the names...LOL That pic u had on passporter, are those ur kids?
If so cuties!

Yes, those are my kids - is it the one of them sleeping? That was on DS' 5th birthday, having spent the day at Animal Kingdom, dinner at T-Rex and then Skyping grandparents before crashing. I'll talk to DH about putting their names on the website and a photo (photos he's not too bad about, since I've done 5 TRs on Passporter). Can I add it myself or do I need to give you the info?

Kim, I'm going to poke my nose in here. My usual "thing" I do is I be the bad guy. I'd let Kyle tell her that "my mom says we're going to be busy doing a lot of stuff and I won't get to see you too much". If it's a done deal, then maybe, in the interest of keeping the peace, you can work out scheduled times for them to get together that don't interfere with family time (and you can pad your family time to make it fill up more). But, with their ability to come and go from the teen club, it could be difficult (on him and you) if you plan on trying to give him any freedom. I know that probably doesn't help. Hope it doesn't affect your vacation too much.

 

[kimmcbee]

Ok so I talked to the granmother tonight. Told he my concerns, and they are not going as of now. She said she understands my concern and will respect it. The kids were suppose to see each other tomorrow(we live an hour apart) now all teh sudden he is not welcome at their home. I hate it for him because he is so upset, but not much I can do. He understands about the cruise, and is actually happy to be with us for the week. He also knows he will ahve freedom on ship, and not have to worry about her, or spending to much mom and dad time. thanks for letting me vent, I feel much better tonight.
Kim

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Kim----I am glad you had ur say! Hopefully they will take into account that this is ur vacation. Good Luck with that!

OK so I am starting to feel accomplished! Woohoo! I have to go to the craft store for a couple supplies to finish the boys FE's! I think(tired so not sure) I finished the girls FE's woohoo! I have 3-4 more boys to do and I am done...(knock on wood) I was up late doing that and then since I have been having fun with mom's laminator, I decided to laminate a few of the girls momentos...report cards, preschool grad form , etc. Actually I did like 30 something pages! I am gonna do somemore today! Then work on some laundry and pack for camping tomorrow! I will take my laptop and hope for internet connection, ahh maybe I won't LOL since it's camping..LOL

Kristi---hope you are having fun camping....I know it's not always my cup of tea, I mean if u said camping or cruise, well duh! But I love sitting around the fire and cooking my dinner over it! I hate my sleeping arrangements but hey only so much room in a motorhome!

Well I hope you all have a great weekend! TTFN

 

[MinFan55]

Hello, all! We will be on this cruise as well and I just discovered y'all today. I spend most of my Disney online time at Passporter.com, but there are only a handfull of folks over there on this cruise.

I'm not planning on making it hard on you - we won't be doing FE or SM. Just looking for some familiar faces and perhaps some friends for the kids to know before the cruise. So, let me introduce us:

Me, HeatherD (38) 4th cruise, 2nd DCL
DH (37) 4th cruise, 2nd DCL
DD (9) 2nd DCL cruise
DS (5) 2nd DCL cruise
MIL (I'm not sayin'! But her birthday is Oct 9) 2nd DCL cruise
FIL (I'm no fool, nosiree!) 2nd DCL cruise

If you read that carefully, you can see that we convinced the rest of the family to cruise on DCL (Dec 2007) and they were hooked! So, this is the first 7-day cruise for all of us and we are so very excited

As West-Coasters, therefore able to log in at 9PM, I sacrificed some fireworks time on Independence Day and made all of our ressies. Here's what we've got:

Palo Brunch on Monday @11:00
Palo Dinner on Thursday @ 6:30
Hot Rocks Massage on Monday @ 2:00 (MIL and I are both doing it then)

We're doing Key West on our own (Conch Trolley via internet purchased tickets)
Grand Cayman - Seaworld Semi Sub (originally planned to do the fully submerged, but this got better reviews) @ 8:15 scared1:that's early!)
Cozumel - Dolphin Kids for, well, the kids! DH is getting concerned about the depth of the water being too high for the shortness that is our DS (he'll be about 41 or 42" then). I've been trying to find reviews of the Kids program specifically, but haven't seen anything....
Castaway Cay - Stingrays @ 10:00

We're staying at the Radisson on Thursday and Friday before the cruise and going to KSC on Friday. I have not made ressies for transportation, yet, but plan to use a car service with a van for the 6 of us (and luggage).

I'm sorry about not sharing names yet. DH isn't as open as I am and I try to respect his needs for family privacy as he respects the time I spend online at Passporter and Facebook! We won't be at the currently scheduled meet 'n greet at 3:00 on Saturday, I think, because it looks like that's when a Spa drawing is, so we're going to try to be there for our tour at that time (MIL wants to check out the onboard specials being offered).

Welcome Heather and family! We will also be visiting KSC on Friday with 9 year old and I've been wondering if she'll enjoy it. We are also traveling with MIL and her brother. Have you visited KSC before? We were able to get tickets from our congressman and I'm looking forward to it. I've been feeling a little guilty because it sounds like a lot of people are doing MNSSHP which I know she'd rather be doing. Where on the west coast are you from? I'll keep my eye out for you guys at KSC so the girls can meet, what are the chances...it's probably a big place.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Terri

Terri

 

[dolphingirl47]

I never thought abot that for the SM, I thought that Ya'll were gonna have them put in each others staerooms and then when we got home guess on here who had ya....LOL Whatever U guys all wanna do! We have a till we meet again good night set up after the characters till we meet again...ya coould always do it then or well any other time you SM's like!

I must be getting confused. I thought we had been discussing this at some stage, but with three cruises in the planning stages and being on multiple cruise meet threads for some of them, it is difficult to keep track.

Yeah I know it's been awhile. I read all your posts, just don't take the time to add any myself.I don't think I was thinking that the cruise won't happen, just so much going on right now. I had knee surgery in April & its lokks like I need to have surgery on the other one also. The short term disability insurance people are demanding more info on my condition & haven't sent me a check for the past month. My dad was dianoised with lung cancer & given 6 months. The cancer is also in his liver & possibbly brain. So I have been a little preocupied. Well now that I have depressed everybody, I'll get with the program & start getting some stuff done.
Thanks Kristi for getting that picture of us to Michelle. It turned out pretty good.Thank goodness that even though it was my birthday I wasn't in by birthday suit! That would have scared everybody away.
I am working on my magnets today and just removed another link from my countdown chain.
I promise to try to do better with posts in the future.

I am sorry to hear that there is so much difficult stuff going on in your life at the moment. You definitely have deserved a vacation.

I have my FE for the adults Nothing to terrible special but something that will come in handy for sure. I'm not making anything like the rest of you crafters. Not enough hours in my day. I even know what I'm getting for the kids, I just have to go pick it up. I can't wait for that deadline. With all the new people, I was beginning to get worried if I would have enough but, so far, so good. Now I'm anxiously awaiting our room assignment. I check daily like it's going to magically appear before the 30 day mark. Oh how I wish for the upgrade fairy.

Room assignments can happen at any time. Last year we got ours at 39 days out and on my Westbound Transatlantic cruise people are starting to get theirs with more than a year still to go.

Hello, all! We will be on this cruise as well and I just discovered y'all today. I spend most of my Disney online time at Passporter.com, but there are only a handfull of folks over there on this cruise.

I'm not planning on making it hard on you - we won't be doing FE or SM. Just looking for some familiar faces and perhaps some friends for the kids to know before the cruise. So, let me introduce us:

Me, HeatherD (38) 4th cruise, 2nd DCL
DH (37) 4th cruise, 2nd DCL
DD (9) 2nd DCL cruise
DS (5) 2nd DCL cruise
MIL (I'm not sayin'! But her birthday is Oct 9) 2nd DCL cruise
FIL (I'm no fool, nosiree!) 2nd DCL cruise

If you read that carefully, you can see that we convinced the rest of the family to cruise on DCL (Dec 2007) and they were hooked! So, this is the first 7-day cruise for all of us and we are so very excited

As West-Coasters, therefore able to log in at 9PM, I sacrificed some fireworks time on Independence Day and made all of our ressies. Here's what we've got:

Palo Brunch on Monday @11:00
Palo Dinner on Thursday @ 6:30
Hot Rocks Massage on Monday @ 2:00 (MIL and I are both doing it then)

We're doing Key West on our own (Conch Trolley via internet purchased tickets)
Grand Cayman - Seaworld Semi Sub (originally planned to do the fully submerged, but this got better reviews) @ 8:15 scared1:that's early!)
Cozumel - Dolphin Kids for, well, the kids! DH is getting concerned about the depth of the water being too high for the shortness that is our DS (he'll be about 41 or 42" then). I've been trying to find reviews of the Kids program specifically, but haven't seen anything....
Castaway Cay - Stingrays @ 10:00

We're staying at the Radisson on Thursday and Friday before the cruise and going to KSC on Friday. I have not made ressies for transportation, yet, but plan to use a car service with a van for the 6 of us (and luggage).

I'm sorry about not sharing names yet. DH isn't as open as I am and I try to respect his needs for family privacy as he respects the time I spend online at Passporter and Facebook! We won't be at the currently scheduled meet 'n greet at 3:00 on Saturday, I think, because it looks like that's when a Spa drawing is, so we're going to try to be there for our tour at that time (MIL wants to check out the onboard specials being offered).

on board. I also posted on the thread on the Passporter site when we first booked this cruise, but I have given up as it is so quite.

Well, one of the three components for my FE gift arrived yesterday and I rather like it. For that I had not seen a proof and it is a custom item so I was slightly nervous, but there was no need to be. It looks great. Now I just have to find and order the third component and wait for that and the second part to arrive and I can start to put them together. I am also tempted to make something else so that I can still do a fish extender run.

Today I signed up DH for the Race for the Taste on the day after we get back from the cruise. DH has taken up running and we were looking at this a while ago. He had originally planned on waiting until September to make up his mind, but he asked me yesterday if I could register him, which I did this morning. So it will be the race for him and the commemorative pin for me. I will go to the starting line at Wide World of Sports with him and once the race is under way, they will take spectators by bus to the finishing line. There is a post race picnic near Epcot and he got me a ticket for that as well.

Tomorrow I can start making my ADRs, but as we have a split stay, I might only be able to do the ADRs for the first 4 nights.

Corinna

 

[disneyjunkie99]

Hi All! Only 7 more days until I can finally book excursions!!

Being part of the 9/10-year-old girl group, I have a question...

Are your girls wanting to dress up for pirate night? We are not telling Reece about the cruise until the day we leave. It is a surprise for her birthday. She has been begging for the past 2 years to go on a cruise. I am leaning towards getting her a costume "just in case" but I was wondering what the other girls this age thought of dressing up??

Tammy

 

[MinFan55]

Hi All! Only 7 more days until I can finally book excursions!!

Being part of the 9/10-year-old girl group, I have a question...

Are your girls wanting to dress up for pirate night? We are not telling Reece about the cruise until the day we leave. It is a surprise for her birthday. She has been begging for the past 2 years to go on a cruise. I am leaning towards getting her a costume "just in case" but I was wondering what the other girls this age thought of dressing up??

Tammy

Tammy - Amaya (9) is dressing up. I got a cute Pirate costume for her that she will also be wearing for Halloween. She wanted to make sure that other girls would be dressed up too. I assured her that I knew for sure one other girl (Riley) would be but I'm sure there are many others too.

Terri

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

Tammy, My Sydney is dressing up....found something at halloween that is kind of a hip teen pirate so of course she loved it! Was gonna do Elizabeth swain from Pirates of the Carr. however she was more into the stylin pirate...LOL We are loaded with 9/10 yr old girls.....they are so gonna rule the club....LOL Actually we have a few in the 5-7 room too.......I think if they actually all meet early they can wind up havin loads of fun together!

well ok so the storm has passed over---boy that was some wicked lightning!! Now time to get out to the craft store. Though I am not feeling motivated today!

 

[HeatherD]

To make things easier, I'll share names:
Me - Heather
DH - Carmine (pronounced Carmen)
DD - Sam (9)
DS - Josh (5)

We will be in 6044 (and 6046). We're going to ask about upgrading to Cat 3 (not worth it to move to cat 4), but I have a feeling it will be a bit more than what we consider "worth it" to separate from the in-laws.

Sam won't be dressing up for pirate night, but we will all have MM pirate hats on (found on sale at the Disney Character Outlet irate. She will be hanging out in the Lab for a good portion of the evening, since we are in Palo that night.

For formal/semi-formal night, I originally bought a Cindy dress (Target version, not Disney Store version), but then I found some really cute dresses at the after Easter sales and bought one. So, I'm not sure if she's going to want to wear the Cindy dress now (it was only $7, so if she doesn't take it, no biggie), since it seems too fancy for semi-formal night.

 

[disneydiva16]

My girls are dressing up for pirate night. Gabrielle is going to be 10 and is very excited about it. She knows that some of the other girls are dressing up so this has made it easier for her to decide to do it.

I guess I dont care how we do secret mickey. I thought we did discuss leaving it with the room steward to put in the room, but whatever. I am easy.

Michelle we just got hit with the storm that rolled over you. Bad lightening!!!!

 

[ForTheLoveOfDCL]

HeatherD----U are now official...thanks for the info. Did u guys manage to get late dining? I would imagine for some of u west coasters that is closer to ur time...LOL

Robin---

I don't care how ya all do it either. I mentioned leaving in the room cause that was a suggestion I read but if some of ya feel better doing it differently I dont think there are any rules...just do what makes u feel comfy! I will start sending some questionaires for ur person in a week about. SM registration ends on July 20th so I will assign then.

ALEX'S MOM---if u are lurking I have sent you PM's about the SM which U said U wanted to join....However if I don't hear back by the cut off date I will have to assume you don't wanna participate. I will see if under ur profile U have an email and try and send it there but after that , that is all I can do!

TTFN

 

[HeatherD]

HeatherD----U are now official...thanks for the info. Did u guys manage to get late dining? I would imagine for some of u west coasters that is closer to ur time...LOL

We're actually doing early seating, because we are early risers, early eaters and have early things scheduled. I think it's better to put ourselves on the ship's time rather than to stay on PDT.

 

[soudersmes]

To make things easier, I'll share names:
Me - Heather
DH - Carmine (pronounced Carmen)
DD - Sam (9)
DS - Josh (5)

We will be in 6044 (and 6046). We're going to ask about upgrading to Cat 3 (not worth it to move to cat 4), but I have a feeling it will be a bit more than what we consider "worth it" to separate from the in-laws.

Sam won't be dressing up for pirate night, but we will all have MM pirate hats on (found on sale at the Disney Character Outlet irate. She will be hanging out in the Lab for a good portion of the evening, since we are in Palo that night.

For formal/semi-formal night, I originally bought a Cindy dress (Target version, not Disney Store version), but then I found some really cute dresses at the after Easter sales and bought one. So, I'm not sure if she's going to want to wear the Cindy dress now (it was only $7, so if she doesn't take it, no biggie), since it seems too fancy for semi-formal night.

Heather....we will be close to you in 6040. Our son and family are in 6032. We couldn't get rooms next to each other. After reading your post I'm thinking....oh no...I'm the mother in law Margaret

 

[HeatherD]

Heather....we will be close to you in 6040. Our son and family are in 6032. We couldn't get rooms next to each other. After reading your post I'm thinking....oh no...I'm the mother in law Margaret

It's nice having connecting rooms because we actually split the kids. They are officially registered to our room, but they will take turns with one sleeping in our room and one sleeping in the in-laws room. Unless, of course, they become really enamoured of the pull-down bed, in which case we'll have to work something out so the steward isn't pulling down beds for no reason!

 

[soudersmes]

Heather,

My niece did that last year with her mother and all three of the kids wanted to stay with them. We did have our grandson come over to our room and sleep over. We didn't have connecting rooms though. They are really tough to get. Margaret

 

[dolphingirl47]

My ADRs for our post cruise stay are done and I got pretty much what I wanted when I wanted. I thought my luck was in as it showed the whole duration of our WDW vacation (Split stay AKV/OKW) as soon as I entered the reservation details for AKV. However, when I tried to make an ADR for October 18th, it told me that I could only make reservations up to the check out date. I wanted three dinners at Boma, a dinner at Jiko, a lunch at Le Cellier and a dinner at Chef Mickey's.

I got :

October 10th Boma 7:00 PM
October 11th Boma 7:10 PM
October 12th Jiko 7:10 PM
October 13th Le Cellier 11:35 AM
October 13th Boma 7:50 PM

I thought I had this wrapped up when I remembered that the dining plan counts until midnight of the day you check out, so I figured that I would be able to make an ADR at Chef Mickey's for the evening of October 14th. Sure enough it gave me a reservation for 7:30 PM so I decided to grab this. Unfortunately right at that moment the online reservation system went down and I did not manage to get this confirmed. When the system was back up and running, unfortunately the 7:30 reservation was gone, but I got one for 6:40 PM, which is also OK.

So I am pretty much all done as far as the planning for this vacation is concerned. I just need to book the hotel in the UK for the night before we fly out and get my Annual Pass. I feel planning withdrawal symptoms coming one.

Corinna

 

[disneyjunkie99]

I am so glad to hear that other girls will be dressing up for pirate night. I know Reece would really enjoy it but she will be overly concerned about what everyone else is doing. I'm glad that I can tell her that others will be too. Thanks everyone!

Off to shop around for a pirate costume....