October 13th, 2007~"Cruise-A-Palooza"

[d'Isigny]

Does anyone know which morning and what time we have to get up for customs?

Every passanger (crew included) must clear customs/immigration the morning the ship docks in St. Thomas. Sorry to say...it's the morning after the Pirate deck party...and...it's very early. If my memory is correct...those with 'ship sponsered' excursions are required to report BEFORE 0700. Then, it is requested persons in decks 1 & 2 at 0715 - 3 & 4 at 0730 --- and so on.

As 'ugly' as it sounds...it's very quick and painless. You & your family enter the Walt Disney theater and sit for 5-10 minutes...line up to present your immigration documents (passport - or - birth cert and drivers license) to an immigration officer - that's it. This process takes about 30 minutes total.

Me...I'm an early riser...I'll prob be up well before sunrise each morning. I spend some quiet time on the upper decks taking photos...drinking coffee and enjoying the ship when it's uncrowded....my DW and DD's...this morning is a problem.

Also from memory...no one is allowed to leave the ship till immigration clears - EVERBODY!!! Word to the wise...if you are planning an early excursion for ST. Thomas - spend the few extra $$$ and go with Disney. If you book directly and can't get there when it starts...you may be out your deposit or entire tour.

Funny story...on our Oct 05 trip...we were 'seated' around other DIS'er cruisers. Most enjoyed the Pirate party WAY too much. Some one who is a complete 'crack up' (Paul) and I were firing 'one-liners' (jokes) at each other. People 2-3 rows around us...were in tears - some due to laughter that was funny...others....because the laugher conflicted their hangover.

People come in all forms of dress...some are showered and ready for the day - others are still in PJ's...adults and children.

Hope this helps..........k

 

[bevtoy]

Thanks Kevin, I was getting a prospective itinerary ready and that helps tremendously.

BTW If anyone is interested in a game of DISer tag sign up is at the off website. If you haven't joined yet PM me your e-mail and I will send you and invitation.

The site has links a web links and databases with bits of information you may find helpful or interesting.

 

[seagee]

Bevtoy I saw your post abput Diser tag. Ocotber 2005 we did the big lime green Mickey head also. The person who got it last never did post it for all of us to see it. I'm not 100% sure I understand how this version works. I'm also a little concered with the amount of items I may have to buy. Cathy

 

[bevtoy]

Bevtoy I saw your post abput Diser tag. Ocotber 2005 we did the big lime green Mickey head also. The person who got it last never did post it for all of us to see it. I'm not 100% sure I understand how this version works. I'm also a little concered with the amount of items I may have to buy. Cathy

I guess we need to ask Kevin as he is the DISer tag resident specialist. I think the gifts are token gifts? They could be a clue of the area/state you are from. I am not sure how many you would need.

 

[bevtoy]

There is a new poll up at our website at YAHOO! Voting closes on the 11th.
Vote for :
1) By Kevin:

or 2) By Jenny2:

 

[seagee]

Sothwest has their airfares OUT! Just booked ours. Check that off my list! Please tell me we will be okay with a 12:10 pm flight home on Saturday?!!

Diser Tag
We could have two diser tags going on- one with token hometownish gifts and one with the big lime green Mickey head (magnets of course) for a stateroom tag. Kevin what are you thoughts?

Next on list..
trip insurance (any experts out there?)
Hotwire.com for Hyatt

Have a great weekned. (But I'm sure I'll be back on. It's so hard to say away with our cruise less than six months away.)

Cathy

 

[Samlaw97]

My DS's will be 6 and 8 and they will love to meet some friends!! My older one is quite shy and just turns 8 in August so he will stay with his brother in the 5-7 club. We are also planning on booking the Doubloon excursion!

Ouy boys are also 6 & 8 and our oldest is also a bit shy...We are looking at the Doubloon as well....We wanted to make sure our kids were old enough to handle it.

 

[jenmack]

Sothwest has their airfares OUT! Just booked ours. Check that off my list! Please tell me we will be okay with a 12:10 pm flight home on Saturday?!!

Congrats on the arifare! I have heard that Southwest is MORE than reasonable. I wish they came to Minnesota.

12:10pm should be okay! On our first cruise our flight left @ 11:55am and we were at the airport shortly after 10am.

 

[Samlaw97]

Bevtoy...we are new to this board....what is the address for your website so that we can vote....we are really excited about getting to know everyone leading up to the cruise

 

[bevtoy]

Bevtoy...we are new to this board....what is the address for your website so that we can vote....we are really excited about getting to know everyone leading up to the cruise

The website is by invitation only in order to keep it private so we can share more personal information. Private message me you e-mail and I will send you an invitation.

BTW welcome to the group!

 

[margaritaqueen]

Ok, just when I thought I have read everything on this board imaginable, I have NO CLUE what you are talking about with the DIS tag!

What the heck is it and how do you do it??

(Hope this isn't too stupid of a question!)

Michelle

 

[bevtoy]

OK after all of that it seems we have more entries for the Cruise-A-Palooza Logo contest. So Monday will be the deadline for entries after which we will post a new Poll and you can vote for your favorite.
So get to the design board and submit (post) those entries!

Kevin? Would you explain the DISer tag to everyone? You understand it the best I think.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1432869
This link takes you to a thread about different games of DISer tag

 

[d'Isigny]

OK after all of that it seems we have more entries for the Cruise-A-Palooza Logo contest. So Monday will be the deadline for entries after which we will post a new Poll and you can vote for your favorite.
So get to the design board and submit (post) those entries!

wonderful!!! I've needed a little more time to 'dress up' the one I'm working on. I just can't get the background to go 'clear'....I should finish it up this weekend.

Kevin? Would you explain the DISer tag to everyone? You understand it the best I think.

will do...I have information on this but it's on my home computer - alas...I am at work...dreaming of paper umbrellas - and the beverages fitting to shade them. I'll post it on this and our yahoo site later this evening.

yaaaabaaaa daaaaabaaaaaa doooooooooo.....weekend is here!!!!

 

[jenmack]

I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Saturday! It's sunny, relatively warm, and is supposed to be gorgeous here in Minnesota today, so I plan on spending most of today out doors. I hope all of you have a great day too!

gotta run, I'm of to the gym...

 

[seagee]

Okay did not sleep too well last night. I was worried about making our 12:10pm flight home! Just changed our reservation with Southwest.com -easy as pie. Booked 1:45pm. Now I can sleep better at at night until I find something else to worry about like the NOROVIRUS!

We also did the passport "thing" at the post office this am. Also very easy. I chuckled when the told us 10-12 weeks to get them! I won't hold my breath.

Enjoy the weekend. Can't wait to see any other entries for our logo. Thanks to all those who doing this this. We appreciate it. Cathy

 

[TamieH]

We applied for our passports this morning as well. I read somewhere that Disney wants our passports # by day 75 out. If so, how do they get it from you? Do they call or does your Travel Agent contact us for it?

 

[d'Isigny]

Let me use the wonderful words of "Brenda" to help explain DIS-TAG.

Lessee...how do I explain tag without really confusing everyone here, including me?

Well, basically we had a list of people who agreed to play tag on the ship and we had two very nice people who helped organize it: Paul, who set up a secure Yahoo database for the cruise, and Kevin who set up the rules and really pulled the game together.

The game starts out with everyone receiving a list of players and a magnet. The idea is to start with the person / cabin listed just below your name on this list - you tag them by leaving the magnet and a little tag gift (we tried to make it easy by suggesting that people leave something indicative of their hometowns / states). Then you have to wait for someone to tag you in the same manner before going on to tag the next person on your list - you keep going until you reach your name.

It was a blast! And people were very creative - Kevin made a vacation / party mix CD for everyone, Suzie left a diabetic coma-inducing bag of sweets to take to the movies, Wayne and his family left a bag o' stuff from England including some keychains and a recipe for yorkshire pudding (Yum!).

Our tag was a grab-bag of stuff that was supposed to play off the name we'd given our cruise thread - The Molar Express. A bunch of us suffered a rash of broken teeth through the year...so I found little toothbrush / teeth eraser sets, and watermelon flavored billy-bob candy teeth and put those in a bag with some other goofy stuff.

If you can get enough people to agree to play and get it organized it adds a whole extra dimension to the week. Jason and I had so much fun with it - we can only hope everyone else did to!

Kevin's comments - this game can be adapted to suit our needs. So your suggestions and comments are welcome. I can't describe the joy in returning to our cabin to find a little surprise on our door or in the room. It was also great to get notes and cards from fellow cruisers.

Below are the instructions I printed out for everyone playing.

Dis-Tag Participants - start with the person directly below your name. Deliver your ‘item’ and leave the Mickey magnet at the top of their door. Should your ‘item’ be too large to fit in the ‘fish mail holder’, locate any Stateroom Host/ess and request they take your item directly into the room (may not be a bad idea to inform your Stateroom Host/ess you will be expecting deliveries). When someone leaves you an item & mickey magnet, deliver your surprise & received Mickey magnet to the next person on your list – and so on. When you get to the last person ‘participating’ at the bottom of the page...start at the top of the list. Continue until you get to the person listed above YOUR name. If, by end of day Wednesday, you still have ‘item(s) to deliver’, please complete your deliveries by end of day – Thursday (OK – by noon Friday). REMINDER – participating in this game is an opportunity to enhance your cruising experience (period)…have fun with this …have fun 'delivering smiles' to our new friends. Most importantly…cherish the time you will be spending with those you love.

I hope this helps explain DIS-TAG.

 

[davidls]

We can't wait to see all of the logo's for the cruise. Is there a place we will be able to view them all?
The DIS Tag sounds like fun. I know my DGD (greanddaughter wiil have fun with this as we all will.
This is to TamieH - when you are able to enter your information in "My Online Check-In" on the Disney Cruise Line web site, where you enter your name, address, home phone info. there is also a place to give them your passport numbers. This is a secured site so you don't have to worry about sending your personal numbers.

 

[seagee]

TamieH- you're right I forgot about Disney wanting our numbers. Technically, we don't need passports for our cruise. We are getting them for "just in case" there is an emergency and will need to fly outside the U. S. back home. So I think we will be fine.

Michelle thanks for organizing the girls chat.

 

[d'Isigny]

Good evening fellow "Cruise-A-Paloozan's". Hope all enjoyed a great weekend. Me, these two days were a blurr. I am mainly to blame as I volunteered for an extra shift and used ever other spare moment to complete a DVD tribute to my Aunt - who passed late last month. I purchased software that converts photos/video to DVD...and it works great. I can't wait to take our vacation media and put together something easier to watch & bore friends/family.
I've had some trouble completing the logo I'd like to post. I'm having a problem clearing a background every time this image is converted to a jpeg. If anyone has suggestions or can offer some assistance...I'd be grateful. The challenges continue as the site I've used to post images on The DIS does not appear to be responding. Has anyone else had problems with Photobucket(dot)com? AnyHoo...I did post this on our Yahoo Groups site. Hope you all like it.
Well...back to another crazy work week. Am traveling this Wednesday to San Diego and will have plenty to do before/after.

Hope this finds all well. K