Podcast 4.0 Fantasy 7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise 12/8/2012

[mdvlprof]

We are sailing Dec 8th to the 15 2012 on Disney Fantasy for our DisneyMoon. We are very excited as he has never been on A cruise. I have but not Disney. StateRoom 8559. We are looking forward to meeting new people. We are celebrating alof of things on this trip, Our 1st wedding annivasary, our baby girl being born, our DisneyMoon and my husband birthday. I already started to pack.

 

[tink576]

BTW, the cruise this morning was once again showing IGT and VGT. I can't recall the last time it showed an OGT rate, so I think those must be pretty full. A couple days ago it was only VGT and not very much available if you looked at the inside cabin selection. Now, lots of availability in the inside cabins. I'm wondering if a lot of people got upgraded to make room for more IGT. We have an IGT, and I am torn because it is always cool to get an upgrade, but my kids have told me they want an inside room. I haven't told them about this cruise yet, I'm going to surprise them next week. Until we get a room assignment, I better not tell them what category room we have just in case we get upgraded.

Cannot believe that we are sailing in just a little over 3 weeks!!!! We are heading down to Florida in 15 days, and I haven't even thought about packing or anything yet!!! OMG, just remembered, I haven't even found a hotel for the week before the cruise!!

So excited to see the Fantasy for the first time, I have heard so many great things about her here on the DIS....

Don't tell your kids what category till you are at the port...I've been surprise upgraded at the port before...once they split us from our interconnecting rooms, major problem with young kids...it a huge problem to get fixed. I would hate or surprise pixi dust to damper the excitement

 

[JohnathanS]

Hi Everyone,

I am taking my mom on the 12/8 Fantasy, in cabin 8534, and can't wait to see the new ship! We will be staying 4 nights at SSR, then 1 night at the Radission at the Port. After the cruise, we will return to WDW for 6 nights at Kidani Village. Like all of you, I can't wait for the cruise!!

 

[luvdamouse91]

Hi Everyone,

I am taking my mom on the 12/8 Fantasy, in cabin 8534, and can't wait to see the new ship! We will be staying 4 nights at SSR, then 1 night at the Radission at the Port. After the cruise, we will return to WDW for 6 nights at Kidani Village. Like all of you, I can't wait for the cruise!!

Welcome! See you onboard

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Neither attempt went through, and DCL's responses to my e-mails were not helpful. It's okay, because we decided we weren't interested enough in the menu to spend an extra $50 pp + tip.

After trying to book the Remy brunch several times without success, even though the website shows available times, I called DCL yesterday. After about 25 minutes on hold the CM very apologetically told me that it is showing availability in error, there is no availability. I looked again today and it is still up, but still doesn't work.

That's terrible I know there were other posts about this too so I'm sorry it might have gotten anyone's hopes up!

BTW, the cruise this morning was once again showing IGT and VGT. I can't recall the last time it showed an OGT rate, so I think those must be pretty full. A couple days ago it was only VGT and not very much available if you looked at the inside cabin selection. Now, lots of availability in the inside cabins. I'm wondering if a lot of people got upgraded to make room for more IGT. We have an IGT, and I am torn because it is always cool to get an upgrade, but my kids have told me they want an inside room. I haven't told them about this cruise yet, I'm going to surprise them next week. Until we get a room assignment, I better not tell them what category room we have just in case we get upgraded.

Cannot believe that we are sailing in just a little over 3 weeks!!!! We are heading down to Florida in 15 days, and I haven't even thought about packing or anything yet!!! OMG, just remembered, I haven't even found a hotel for the week before the cruise!!

So excited to see the Fantasy for the first time, I have heard so many great things about her here on the DIS....

3 weeks from now we should be sitting on the bus to the port!! WOOHOO!! Agreed - I looked yesterday (I think) and noticed they had the military rate again although you aren't able to book your cabin number now. It shows as a guarantee this time.

We are sailing Dec 8th to the 15 2012 on Disney Fantasy for our DisneyMoon. We are very excited as he has never been on A cruise. I have but not Disney. StateRoom 8559. We are looking forward to meeting new people. We are celebrating alof of things on this trip, Our 1st wedding annivasary, our baby girl being born, our DisneyMoon and my husband birthday. I already started to pack.

Welcome!!

Hi Everyone,

I am taking my mom on the 12/8 Fantasy, in cabin 8534, and can't wait to see the new ship! We will be staying 4 nights at SSR, then 1 night at the Radission at the Port. After the cruise, we will return to WDW for 6 nights at Kidani Village. Like all of you, I can't wait for the cruise!!

Welcome!! Awesome - I'm also taking my Mom

Have a great weekend everyone,
Heather

 

[Smileneyes]

Hi, all.

In anticipation of this sailing, we were fortunate to reserve Cabana #19 on Serenity Bay at CC. After thinking about it further, it's highly probable that I'm going to cancel the cabana ressie. Long story short, I'd probably keep it in the heat of summer, but I just don't see the value for DS and me in keeping it. We'd do just fine under an umbrella on the beach, I think.

In anticipation thereof, I thought I'd put a "shout out" in the DisMeet thread to anyone who might want the ressie. I'd be happy to try to "schedule" a time to be on DCL's website at a time that's mutually convenient, if it will help a thread member have a better chance of securing the ressie after I hit the "cancel button". Of course, no guarantees here...but we can try, anyway.

If you're interested in the cabana ressie, I'll be happy to work with the first person who PM's me (only way I can think of to be fair). I'll probably cancel the cabana ressie by the close of Thanksgiving weekend.

Looking forward to sailing in 20 days!
--Drew

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Hi, all.

In anticipation of this sailing, we were fortunate to reserve Cabana #19 on Serenity Bay at CC. After thinking about it further, it's highly probable that I'm going to cancel the cabana ressie. Long story short, I'd probably keep it in the heat of summer, but I just don't see the value for DS and me in keeping it. We'd do just fine under an umbrella on the beach, I think.

In anticipation thereof, I thought I'd put a "shout out" in the DisMeet thread to anyone who might want the ressie. I'd be happy to try to "schedule" a time to be on DCL's website at a time that's mutually convenient, if it will help a thread member have a better chance of securing the ressie after I hit the "cancel button". Of course, no guarantees here...but we can try, anyway.

If you're interested in the cabana ressie, I'll be happy to work with the first person who PM's me (only way I can think of to be fair). I'll probably cancel the cabana ressie by the close of Thanksgiving weekend.

Looking forward to sailing in 20 days!
--Drew

I just wanted to comment that I think this is awesome of you to offer this head's up to your fellow cruisers! I'm sure it will find a good home very soon!

Heather

 

[Smileneyes]

I just wanted to comment that I think this is awesome of you to offer this head's up to your fellow cruisers! I'm sure it will find a good home very soon!

Heather

Thank you for the kind words, Heather! As it turned out, I received a PM from someone interested in the cabana within an hour or so of posting.

--Drew

 

[ssanders79]

The FE List has been updated with a deletion. 1 family, 4 cruisers.

 

[Namsupak]

Got our room assignment today! So excited we did the VGT and got a 4B So glad we have the extra space for the baby in the pack-n-play.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

We got our room assignment!!! We did an IGT and got a 10a - sideways cabin on Deck 9 - room 9579. Looks like a great location, close to the elevators which is good because of my mom's mobility issues. Now when I surprise the boys with the cruise on Thursday I can tell them what room we will have!!

 

[3Adevas]

Surprised to get our room assignment today
booked VGT and ended up with 7106 category 4C
really getting excited now!!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Got our room assignment today! So excited we did the VGT and got a 4B So glad we have the extra space for the baby in the pack-n-play.

We got our room assignment!!! We did an IGT and got a 10a - sideways cabin on Deck 9 - room 9579. Looks like a great location, close to the elevators which is good because of my mom's mobility issues. Now when I surprise the boys with the cruise on Thursday I can tell them what room we will have!!

Surprised to get our room assignment today
booked VGT and ended up with 7106 category 4C
really getting excited now!!

Awesome guys!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Heather

 

[NancyIL]

For those of you who booked IGT or VGT rates - are you part of the Podcast group?

At 2.5 weeks before our ship sails - DCL is still selling IGT and VGT cabins. I don't know where Disney is putting all the people who book IGT, because we are still in our 11C.

I booked our cabin at the lowest tier price in March 2011. After the onboard booking discount and onboard credit, our price is only ~ $35 pp less than the current IGT price. The onboard booking incentives are not enough of a savings compared to the restricted fares for me to book more Disney cruises onboard.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

For those of you who booked IGT or VGT rates - are you part of the Podcast group?

I booked an IGT 50 days out and am not on the Podcast. I originally booked this cruise in January of 2012 using an OBD and getting an OBC, and after finding out it was a podcast I considered switching my booking through DU before final payment, but my booking was complicated for various reasons, and they don't have a phone number so it was just too much work to book through them and I decided against it. Then I cancelled this cruise because we decided to do a Pixar Cruise on the Wonder. THEN the IGT rates were so good - I think about $700-800 less than when I had it reserved with the OBD, that I decided to do re-book this cruise

At 2.5 weeks before our ship sails - DCL is still selling IGT and VGT cabins. I don't know where Disney is putting all the people who book IGT, because we are still in our 11C.
And it looks like there might be a lot of verandahs still available based on the options you get if you go to book

I booked our cabin at the lowest tier price in March 2011. After the onboard booking discount and onboard credit, our price is only ~ $35 pp less than the current IGT price. The onboard booking incentives are not enough of a savings compared to the restricted fares for me to book more Disney cruises onboard.

I love the GT rates and even though I booked several "dummy" cruises on my first DCL cruise, I have cancelled them all in favor of doing GT rates. I find that it is usually a better deal for us. Part of this is because we can travel during "off" seasons because my kids attend a year round school and are out of school when most kids are in; part of it is because I only work part-time and I have a great employer who lets me take 2 weeks off at a time with very little notice; and part of it is that for Florida cruises at least, we can drive. For some people the uncertainty and spontaneity of a "last minute" GT cruise is not an option, or they need to travel during high season, and those people will always need to book early

But I too would be frustrated if I had purchased so early and then it turns out that others are getting better deals, or better rooms for the same price. I've certainly heard of people paying more for the same or lesser rooms than people who book GTs end up getting. I think this is going to erode a lot of confidence in people who book DCL early and you will see more and more waiting for a good deal. I don't know what DCL is going to do about it. They have to sell the rooms, and if they haven't sold by the PIF date, the only thing they can really do is lower the price using the GTs, and then the people who booked early feel like they were duped. Ultimately, I think they will have to lower prices initially to get more people to book early, choose their cabins, and then offer the lower prices when the cabins that are left aren't as desirable.

Anyway, this is and has been the topic of other threads here on the DIS, but the good news is you are going on this cruise, and you did pay a little less than even the GT rates and you got to choose your room. Also, you were probably able to book adult dining, etc, whereas by the time the GT came out it was mostly sold out.

 

[NancyIL]

I love the GT rates and even though I booked several "dummy" cruises on my first DCL cruise, I have cancelled them all in favor of doing GT rates. I find that it is usually a better deal for us. Part of this is because we can travel during "off" seasons because my kids attend a year round school and are out of school when most kids are in; part of it is because I only work part-time and I have a great employer who lets me take 2 weeks off at a time with very little notice; and part of it is that for Florida cruises at least, we can drive. For some people the uncertainty and spontaneity of a "last minute" GT cruise is not an option, or they need to travel during high season, and those people will always need to book early

But I too would be frustrated if I had purchased so early and then it turns out that others are getting better deals, or better rooms for the same price. I've certainly heard of people paying more for the same or lesser rooms than people who book GTs end up getting. I think this is going to erode a lot of confidence in people who book DCL early and you will see more and more waiting for a good deal. I don't know what DCL is going to do about it. They have to sell the rooms, and if they haven't sold by the PIF date, the only thing they can really do is lower the price using the GTs, and then the people who booked early feel like they were duped. Ultimately, I think they will have to lower prices initially to get more people to book early, choose their cabins, and then offer the lower prices when the cabins that are left aren't as desirable.

Anyway, this is and has been the topic of other threads here on the DIS, but the good news is you are going on this cruise, and you did pay a little less than even the GT rates and you got to choose your room. Also, you were probably able to book adult dining, etc, whereas by the time the GT came out it was mostly sold out.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I booked this cruise primarily because it's the DIS Podcast cruise, and it's on the Fantasy. Although the *GT rates hadn't yet started when I booked this cruise, I still wouldn't have waited for a better deal - not knowing how quickly the group space would sell.

I am used to other cruise lines dropping prices after the final payment date. When I am going somewhere I've never been before, I like to plan way in advance. Having once been to a particular location, I'd have no qualms about waiting until the last minute to book a great deal - especially if I already had airfare booked and wasn't too picky about the ship or itinerary.

 

[Namsupak]

We're not part of the podcast group. We just booked this cruise because of the great VGT rate we got.

 

[mdvlprof]

I'll re-post. Don't have to be part of Podcast group to join the fun on the following:. [May be others, but these are ones I'm organizing].

Cabin Crawl - Dec 9, Sea Day, 2:00, meet at Atrium, Deck 3.

Meet for lunch - Dec 11, Costa Maya Day, 12:00, Royal Court.

Mixology Class - Dec 10, Grand Cayman Day, 5:00, at D-Lounge, deck 4. PM if someone wants to be added. [DCL charges 20 per person, to your on-board-acccount]. Absolute cutoff for adding name to mixology class - Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Nov 27th. After Nov 27th, NO changes can be made.

 

[ThatsMrsO]

Okay. Let's try this again. I mistakenly posted this on the Dec 7 2013 thread because I wasn't paying attention and I'm new to the meet threads. Anyway...

So, nothing like waiting until almost the last minute to hop into this thread, but I'm also going to be on this cruise with my DH and our five kids (don't laugh!), our babysitter, my mother, her husband and my 2 siblings.

Looking forward to possible meets although with five kids, one never really knows. It may end up just being me waving maniacly while trying to wrangle the children into one place. Imagine trying to herd cats.

I'm sure my kids would love to interact with someone other than their siblings. My son is 8, and the girls are 6, 5, 3 and 16 months.

Hopefully DH and I will get a chance to meet some other parents of youngsters also!

 

[mpls1639]

We are going on this cruise too. We have a daughter who is going to be 4 a week before we leave. Hopefully our girls can play together.