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

[WishesFT]

Hi Everyone. I've been sooo very busy that I had several pages to catch up on. I tried to cast my logo vote but couldn't get into the yahoo site. My girls are loving the girls chat! That was a great idea, thank you!

No pirate costumes this week at the outlet. I'll keep checking.

I have my passport but need to get them for my dh & girls. We don't have to have them for cruise travel until 2008 but if something happens and you have to take a flight back into the states you might have difficulty getting back. DCL is strongly encouraging passports, but they are not required by law yet. Only for air travel.

Does anyone know if we can buy the DCL champaign to take home or can we only get it served on the ship?

Is anyone planning on doing a dive excursion? My dh is a diver. I plan on reading six or seven books during the cruise. I want to relax! Work has been so hectic and with my new business... I need a big dose of pixie dust!

I hope everyone is well.

Shellie

 

[margaritaqueen]

Yeah, well, I am having a passport nightmare. My husband came to the US from Guatemala as a 10 year old and became a citizen while in the Marines. We moved 2 1/2 years ago and cannot find his naturalization papers since then!! Of course, he cannot get a passport without them. Oh yeah, he CAN get one, but he has to get a signed letter from the person who originally signed his papers 20 years ago and a receipt showing that he paid to get a new one. (Which, by the way, costs $220 and takes up to a year to get.) With the cost of passports, and now this, I think I am going to scream!

Do you have any idea how many drinks on the ship I may have to give up just so my husband can get a passport?? I shudder at the thought!!

My DD is loving the girls chat, too. She keeps begging me to get my email to see if she got anything. It'll be so fun for us all!

I wish I knew how to scuba dive. We are really hoping to do the dolphin excursion in St. Maartin, and not sure yet about St. John/Thomas. We will be broke after the dolphin excursion, anyways. (Boy, I need to get off the money kick, tonight, huh??)

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Good morning to all you "Cruise-A-Palooza" people

To you all that fly out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport; Sun Country has finally posted their October schedule to Orlando

I have seen sales from other airlines going for a little cheaper than SC but they all had a least one lay over. To me it is worth paying a little extra to have a direct flight. Especially when the layover is an hour or more. Also most of the flights home were for late in the afternoon, 5:00 PM or later getting to the airport 10:00 PM or later.

So I booked our flight two day ago

Now we just wait I think I've read all the cruise books I bought at least three time.

 

[davidls]

How bout that beginning! A bit o' the Irish and good ol' down home southern greeting.
Hope everyone will have a good week-end.
I've been reading about the passport situation everyone is having. I've got to give it to DW, she insisted last fall that we go ahead and get our passports early. They are good for 10 years for adults and 5 years for our little ones. I thought at the time it may be a little early but, what the hey, why not!! Now I'm glad we did go ahead and get ours. DW had to send hers back because they misspelled our last name on her passport. We got ours at the same time and we got them back in the mail at the same time and mine was correct. It took another 3 weeks for them to correct her name. Just take a deep breath and everything will be ok.
Well, it is the week-end, and ma has chores for pa to do here at the ranch. Slop the hogs, mend the fence in the back 40, get the steers that got out of the fence in the back 40. (More like, mow the lawn, pull the weeds in the flower bed, trim the hedges & clean the pool.) I don't think she is doing anything while I'm working away outside. (Just between you & me! )
You guys have a good one.

 

[WishesFT]

Good morning! I have been after my dh for weeks to get his photos & set up a time that we can both go down to the court house to get the girls passports. I am just glad that we don't have to have them for this trip. I have had the forms filled out for months. I can't do it myself because both parents have to sign in the presence of the passport dude.

It is a rainy day here in SC. I would definately pay a little more for non stop flights! It makes a huge difference! We will be driving to the port since it is only an 8 hour drive for us.

We have all read Passporter a dozen times. That is a great guide book and it is the one I give away to my cruise clients.

 

[bevtoy]

When we got our passports my littlest daughter wanted one for her doll Kirsten who she takes everywhere. We found a passport for under $2.00 at a scrapbook display at Walmart and had a miniature picture of the doll taken at the the foid(gun permit) application counter for another 2 or 3 dollars so she is very happy!
The oldest wants to take her build-a-bear giraffe (Dexter) in a pirate outfit and build-a-bear had animal size passports and I think they were only 3 dollars!

We are having so much fun preparing for this trip.

 

[davidls]

How ya'll doin'?

Hey Bev, that is a great idea , passport for the kids stuffed animals. DGD has a favorite stuffed bear she got when she was just a baby. She sleeps with him,"Teddy" eveynight. For her birthday we got her some clothes for Teddy for the cruise. A pirate's outfit and of course swimming trunks a cover up & sunglasses. I just went online at Build a Bear's website and ordered a passport for Teddy. She is going to be soooooo suprised!!!
DW and I were talking a week ago about the winning logo and putting it on a shirt for the first day. I will probably need a little help in doing this. Never done that before. Not sure on downloading so I can print it out. I already bought the transfer sheets at my favorite, and I should say America's favorite place to shop, Wal - Mart. Soooo, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Well I guess we're going to some more cruise clothes shopping today. I love shopping.

 

[TamieH]

WishesFT - I was struggling to get us all at the Post Office to get the family passports as well, but our schedules weren't matching at all since the kids are still in school. I found out that you don't "have" to have both parents there when applying for the kids passports. You can download a form from the government's passport website that your spouse can have notorized somewhere in advance that gives you permission to apply for the kid's passports w/o the other parent present. This worked great for us. DH just went to apply for his own one morning (post office is across the street from his police dept) and I took both girls with me to the post office on a Saturday morning when he was at work. I had to make a special appt for a Saturday application, but it was the only way to get them since normal post office passport hours are 9-3/M-F and the kids are in school until 4pm. Hope this helps with your situation. They said it is still taking 10 weeks to process and return which puts us in July to receive them. End of July/early August is also about the time Disney will want our passport numbers, so I wouldn't wait too much longer.

 

[bevtoy]

How about we split a "buy one get one free drink special?

Do you have any idea how many drinks on the ship I may have to give up just so my husband can get a passport?? I shudder at the thought!!

 

[Kruegs]

So I just recently scrapped our DCL-arranged hotel and flight, and we're heading down to the Radisson on the 12th. Saved some money and some peace of mind. Anyone else heading down a day early?

 

[bevtoy]

To the other Girl Scouts planning to go on this cruise:

I am going to look into earning a badge as long as we are on the cruise, I bet it would not be hard! Pm me if you are interested!

 

[U2FanHfx]

We are heading down for a week before hand. Will be driving to the port for 10 am on Saturday. Anyone know what you can do at the term for two hours?

Regs,

CJM

 

[TamieH]

My DD6 would like an email friend (typing help from M&D) before the cruise. Any DD's that will be in Kindergarten or 1st grade next year that would like to chat & play with her?

Please PM me so that we can help them make friends early. Thanks

 

[d'Isigny]

We are heading down for a week before hand. Will be driving to the port for 10 am on Saturday. Anyone know what you can do at the term for two hours? Regs, CJM

We are also going to the parks the week before. We always leave Orlando very early to get to Port before it opens. It makes for a long day….but we love to embark as early as we can. We are hoping for a #2 boarding card to get on the ship right after concierge class and persons needing extra assistance. I must admit, the boarding cards are a grand improvement over the process a few years bask. The first thing you did when you got to the terminal…was to send someone in your party to the boarding line…1 to 2 hours.

Well…I digress and need to get back on topic. Waiting at the terminal can get a little boring. It’s a beautiful building with movies playing to entertain the kids, an awesome scale model of the ship and a few characters will make an appearance for photos/autographs. There is a small balcony to watch them load luggage/food/etc. They have a mini DCL store offering lanyards and a small selection of items sold on the ship. Lastly…there is a small counter restaurant offering sandwiches, snacks and coffee.

I hate the wait….just get me on board. Ahhhh – dining al fresco near the Goofy pool with a plate full of peel-n-eat shrimp…GOOD TIMES!!!

K

 

[tidoublegger]

Hi everyone! Anyone *not* planning on getting passports? We don't have them and I'm on the fence because of the expense. We still have a little left to pay off on the cruise, then tips, excursions, spending money, etc. I guess we should decide soon!!

I cast my vote for the logo....thanks to all of you for your designs!!!!

I can't believe how close it is!! Our hotel is booked for CS&I, rental cars are booked from the airport to the port to be returned before the cruise and then another rental for the 20th to get us back to the airport. We used codes from mousesavers to get some great rates. Whoo hoo, !

Hope everyone has a great day!!

Tracy : )

 

[magmom]

We're also on the fence about passports because of the expense. I really don't think I'll be able to afford 5 passports. We may just get them for my DH and myself. (I read a report on MSN.com that they have changed plans and are now going to allow children 15 and under to cross land and sea entry points with certified copies of their birth certificates rather than passports.)

The cruise seems to be coming up so soon (especially since we booked 14 months ago)! We also booked CS&I for Friday night and have our air and rental car all set (Costco travel also had good rates for Budget.) And we also booked our pirate ship trip for St. Maarten.

Only 5 months and 5 days to go!!!

 

[Kruegs]

And we also booked our pirate ship trip for St. Maarten.

Ooh... "what's the pirate ship trip"?

Me = loves pirates.

 

[magmom]

The pirate trip is the"Pirates of St. Maarten Day Cruise". It sounded like fun for adults and kids. The website is www.lordsheffield.com. I think I originally read about it on disboards, and then saw great reviews on cruise critic.

Good luck!

 

[bevtoy]

I read that there is a launch scheduled for October the 20th at 12:30. Anyone else know anything ?

 

[jenmack]

magmom, I just looked at the lordsheffield website. Thanks! That looks like so much fun! We were planning on doing the Doubloon Sail in St Thomas, but now we might have to re-think. I think the kids would have so much fun!