Sept 5 2010 "Labor Day Getaway"

[Minnie_Mom]

Hi, everyone! We are tentatively booking this cruise. Our baby girl turns 1 on Sept 9 so this would be her birthday celebration! Coming on the ship with us are... myself, DH, DS (2... can't wait to go on Mickey's Boat), DD (turning one on 09/09), Dmom, Ddad!

I will repost when we confirm our booking, but count us in on the FE!

Sounds like we are in for an exciting cruise!

 

[dodle]

Welcome aboard! I'll add you to our list. I think the cruise is going to be great. We'll have a 19 month old with us.
If everyone could PM me with their cabin numbers I can get a list together to hand out at the meet. I know not everyone is comfortable posting their cabin numbers, so this might be a better way. I'll put the list together and print copies for everyone.
What does everyone think of having the meet at about 1:30 or so? Will this work? Please let me know.
May is almost here, then just June, July and August left. Almost there!!

 

[Minnie_Mom]

Thanks for the welcome! We do not have a room number assigned yet... but as soon as I get it I'll let you know. Thanks for volunteering to get a list together!

1:30 is fine with me if it works for everyone else!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Hi, everyone! We are tentatively booking this cruise. Our baby girl turns 1 on Sept 9 so this would be her birthday celebration! Coming on the ship with us are... myself, DH, DS (2... can't wait to go on Mickey's Boat), DD (turning one on 09/09), Dmom, Ddad!

I will repost when we confirm our booking, but count us in on the FE!

Sounds like we are in for an exciting cruise!

Is it final yet? Regardless --

I'm not sure the secret deck at the end of deck 7 would work. That is where we're having the wedding and we've been told it only accomodates 20 people. I realize this would be sitting down, but we have 47 so far. What about Studio Sea? That would give us more room. It's inside but the only other place I see that might be a possibility is the Outdoor Sports area on deck 10. What does everyone think? We also need to set a time. What about 2:30? How would that work for everyone?

What a great place for a wedding! What day is it? Hopefully not as the ship sails from Castaway Cay. We enjoy standing on Deck 7 watching us pull away from Castaway Cay. We even did this on our last cruise even though we had a verandah.

Studio Sea sounds fine to me, I'm pretty much open for time and place because we're driving and planning on getting there as early as possible.

Just let us know what everyone decides regarding the meet...we may stop by for a bit. From our experience, I think either Deck 7 or Studio Sea would be fine. Deck 7 would be big enough, but since it's outdoors, that can be good or bad in early September, especially since there's not much shade! Studio Sea may be too big of an area and the organizer may get "stuck" indoors for too long on Day 1. I doubt if the meet will be that big, but hope everyone will stop by for even a few minutes to say hi. It helpful to put faces with names as you find yourself running into each other throughout the cruise itself. It really helps with conversation starters and as my DW can attest, I can be quite shy. We've been on Day 1 meets on our last two cruises and no matter how many are on the meet thread, it seemed that, unfortunately, the meet itself was sparsely attended.


We have our room assignment, but have decided to be low key on this cruise. This is our first cruise without the kids and we plan to relax and not commit ourselves to much. We will not be doing the FE, we won't be seeing the evening shows and we aren't doing Pirates Night. We do plan to relax, spend some time in the adult only areas especially in the evening and enjoy our anniversary celebration cruise! We also look forward to seeing everyone on board!

 

[Minnie_Mom]

Is it final yet? Regardless --

Yes, we are finalized. Thanks for the welcome!

 

[gdulaney]

I'm trying to read all of the posts to catch up.... but there are ALOT of pages.

I can't believe it's under 4 months!! I wonder when I can start bugging my husband about bringing down the suitcases??

Ginny

 

[fiegel037]

Hey there to everyone on the Sep 5th cruise! I just found out about this site and thought it'd be a great way to get introduced to some co-cruisers. I went on my first cruise back in '99 and it was only until the last day of the cruise that I met some folks to hang out with. It was still fun, but it would have been better to have some buds the entire time. This is a great way to meet some people pre-cruise. Nice!

This cruise is actually for our 5th anniversary, as well as my daughter's 1st birthday. We also have a son who is 3 who will be coming along. Anyone else out there that have kids? I'm at work right now, so I couldn't go through all the posts... We will also be doing 3 days at WDW pre-cruise. Look forward to hearing from you!

 

[Minnie_Mom]

I'm trying to read all of the posts to catch up.... but there are ALOT of pages.

I can't believe it's under 4 months!! I wonder when I can start bugging my husband about bringing down the suitcases??

Ginny

It is never too early! I started picking up supplies at Target yesterday! Gettng ready for the trip is half the fun... So go ahead and bring down those suitcases!

 

[Minnie_Mom]

Hey there to everyone on the Sep 5th cruise! I just found out about this site and thought it'd be a great way to get introduced to some co-cruisers. I went on my first cruise back in '99 and it was only until the last day of the cruise that I met some folks to hang out with. It was still fun, but it would have been better to have some buds the entire time. This is a great way to meet some people pre-cruise. Nice!

This cruise is actually for our 5th anniversary, as well as my daughter's 1st birthday. We also have a son who is 3 who will be coming along. Anyone else out there that have kids? I'm at work right now, so I couldn't go through all the posts... We will also be doing 3 days at WDW pre-cruise. Look forward to hearing from you!

Welcome aboard! It sounds like we have lots in common! We will also be celebrating our daughter's first birthday while onboard and our little boy will turn 3 in October. We are planning a 3-day WDW stay in conjunction with the cruise, but we will be at WDW POST-cruise, instead of pre-cruise. What is your park schedule for your 3-day stay?

Looking forward to meeting you and your family!
Looking foward to meeting you and your family!

 

[fiegel037]

Welcome aboard! It sounds like we have lots in common! We will also be celebrating our daughter's first birthday while onboard and our little boy will turn 3 in October. We are planning a 3-day WDW stay in conjunction with the cruise, but we will be at WDW POST-cruise, instead of pre-cruise. What is your park schedule for your 3-day stay?

Looking forward to meeting you and your family!
Looking foward to meeting you and your family!

Thanks for the welcome! I actually have pretty specific plans made for the pre-cruise stay. This whole trip is actually a surprise for my wife. I want to hold off from telling her, but I'm too excited about it. I'm not sure how long I can hold out.

We arrive on Sep 2nd, which is actually the day of our Anniversary, and we always like to start at MK, so I made reservations at the Royal Table. We will be doing HS and probably Downtown on the 3rd. And then to finish off, AK in the morning and Epcot at night on the 4th. Pretty full schedule, but we've done it before (although not with 2 in tow...).

Did I read in an earlier post that your daughter's BDay is Sep 9? So is mine!

 

[KSDisneyDad]

I'm trying to read all of the posts to catch up.... but there are ALOT of pages.

I can't believe it's under 4 months!! I wonder when I can start bugging my husband about bringing down the suitcases??

Ginny

I noticed from your signature that you're doing B2B2B! Wow! I also see that you're doing the DVC Members only cruise as part of that. We are new DVC members and I was wondering if that cruise had special pricing or did you have to book it with points? How do those cruises work and is there anything unique or special about the cruise itself? Perhaps we can do one in the future.

On our last cruise (March 2010) we literally brought the suitcases up from the basement around 9:00 pm the night before we left. We finished packing around midnight the night before. I would NOT recommend waiting until the last minute like that.

Hey there to everyone on the Sep 5th cruise! I just found out about this site and thought it'd be a great way to get introduced to some co-cruisers. I went on my first cruise back in '99 and it was only until the last day of the cruise that I met some folks to hang out with. It was still fun, but it would have been better to have some buds the entire time. This is a great way to meet some people pre-cruise. Nice!

This cruise is actually for our 5th anniversary, as well as my daughter's 1st birthday. We also have a son who is 3 who will be coming along. Anyone else out there that have kids? I'm at work right now, so I couldn't go through all the posts... We will also be doing 3 days at WDW pre-cruise. Look forward to hearing from you!

We too are celebrating an Anniversary on this cruise -- #20!

We have three boys -- our youngest is 8, but none will be joining us this cruise. It's funny because the main thing they're jealous about is that we'll be gold CC members after this cruise and they'll still be silver CC members. They're looking forward to the fact that my parents are coming out to watch them while we're gone.

Where are you staying pre-cruise? We'll be at the Boardwalk Villas for just two nights and visiting Epcot the Saturday before we leave.

 

[dodle]

Welcome aboard! I'll add you name to our lists. You can find them on page 3, post 43, and on page 6. If you can PM me you names, the kids ages and your stateroom number to add to the list for the fish extender exchange. I'm going to print it up to give everyone a copy at our meet. Right now we're planning the meet for around 1:30 in Studio Sea. Hope to see you there.

 

[dodle]

Could you possibly let us know how old Justin, Kelsey and Megan are? It might help when getting the exchanges together. Thanks

 

[fiegel037]

We too are celebrating an Anniversary on this cruise -- #20!

We have three boys -- our youngest is 8, but none will be joining us this cruise. It's funny because the main thing they're jealous about is that we'll be gold CC members after this cruise and they'll still be silver CC members. They're looking forward to the fact that my parents are coming out to watch them while we're gone.

Where are you staying pre-cruise? We'll be at the Boardwalk Villas for just two nights and visiting Epcot the Saturday before we leave.

Congrats! It'll be nice when my kids are old enough where they can actually stay with someone while we go off on our own. I really don't mind too much. I want my kids to get as much culture and experience as possible while they still think we are pretty cool to hang out with.

We'll be staying at the Contemporary. I wanted to be close to transportation, and what better way?

 

[fiegel037]

Welcome aboard! I'll add you name to our lists. You can find them on page 3, post 43, and on page 6. If you can PM me you names, the kids ages and your stateroom number to add to the list for the fish extender exchange. I'm going to print it up to give everyone a copy at our meet. Right now we're planning the meet for around 1:30 in Studio Sea. Hope to see you there.

Not enough posts to PM...

Not to sound silly, but what is the fish extender exchange all about?
I know what the FE is, but not the etiquette of the process. This is only my second DC and the first for the rest of my family. We're hoping to be seasond vets at some point though...

Anyway, here's the crew:
Tom
Jen
Benjamin (Ben) age 3
Eliana (Ellie) age 1

 

[KSDisneyDad]

Congrats! It'll be nice when my kids are old enough where they can actually stay with someone while we go off on our own. I really don't mind too much. I want my kids to get as much culture and experience as possible while they still think we are pretty cool to hang out with.

We'll be staying at the Contemporary. I wanted to be close to transportation, and what better way?

I agree... Believe it or not, our kids are 14, 12 and 8 and they still aren't embarassed to hang out with us old parents. I keep waiting for that day, but it hasn't happened. They still enjoy our Disney trips and are looking forward to next year when we visit BLT and go to Star Wars Weekends again. They are fortunate to have been on 4 DCL cruises with us including a 15-night trip through the Panama Canal. My son was able to explain the Panama Canal to his class when they talked about Central America.

We enjoy the Contemporary. We purchased points at BLT and thought about using them to stay there this trip, but decided to try an Epcot resort instead since that's the park we enjoy the most when we don't have the kids with us.

Not enough posts to PM...

Not to sound silly, but what is the fish extender exchange all about?
I know what the FE is, but not the etiquette of the process. This is only my second DC and the first for the rest of my family. We're hoping to be seasond vets at some point though...

Anyway, here's the crew:
Tom
Jen
Benjamin (Ben) age 3
Eliana (Ellie) age 1

I don't think there is any "etiquette" for the FE.

We've done it twice. Some people choose to give a single FE gift to each stateroom. Others give a few FE gifts per stateroom. Some give a FE gift to each specific person in the stateroom.

There has been a lot of creativity in FE gifts. We've seen everything from candy, door magnets, customized pens & pins, glow sticks, inexpensive toys - especially pirate or water toys, hand sanitizer, advil (my favorite!), items from the person's hometown, coffee, temporary tattoos, music CD's with cruise/Disney music and even a pocket watch! Some will deliver a themed gift before a particular port (i.e. a sand toy before Castaway Cay) or event (i.e. pirate tattoos before Pirate Night). We still use some of our FE gifts from our 2008 cruise on a regular basis.

You generally get your list ahead of time and when you have time onboard, you can deliver the gifts to others.

On our first cruise, we had about 125 participating cabins (close to 400 separate participants including kids!!). That was a feat to deliver all of the gifts! Fortunately, we had 7 sea days to choose from. On our last cruise, there were about 12 cabins, or around 40 participants. It took me less than 15 minutes to deliver the gifts.

 

[gdulaney]

I noticed from your signature that you're doing B2B2B! Wow! I also see that you're doing the DVC Members only cruise as part of that. We are new DVC members and I was wondering if that cruise had special pricing or did you have to book it with points? How do those cruises work and is there anything unique or special about the cruise itself? Perhaps we can do one in the future.

We've never done a B2B, much less B2B2B! We usually take a 7-night, but the Magic is across the Pond, so we thought we'd try a B2B. It just worked out (fate??) that the member cruise started the day we would disembark. Well, since we NEVER want to disembark, it seemed like a good idea to try and stay onboard.

We booked using points and are really excited about going. It's the 3rd member cruise that we've done and when they say bring an extra suitcase, they mean it! We've received some really neat things. My favorite was a sketch by Don "Ducky" Williams. It's a mixture of appreciation (thank you for being a member) and sales opportunities (usually they have special add on incentives). We added on while on our first member cruise and got to eat dinner at Palo with the DVC President, his wife and about 5 other couples. The add-on incentive was a stay at the Treehouse Villas...which was something I really enjoyed.

If you wanted to cruise and pay cash, I believe they did have special pricing. I'm not sure exactly what it was.

On our last cruise (March 2010) we literally brought the suitcases up from the basement around 9:00 pm the night before we left. We finished packing around midnight the night before. I would NOT recommend waiting until the last minute like that.

I'll admit to it....I am always up REALLY late the night before we leave doing my last minute packing.

I'm looking forward to meeting everybody.

What is the deadline to sign up for FE? We're trying to decide...basically, it's how much can we lug on the ship before they make up sleep in the baggage hold?

Ginny

 

[dodle]

I'm not sure there really is a deadline. If anything I would think a week or two before the cruise. That would give everyone enough time to get things together. I know we're doing things related to our home states of Mississippi and Louisiana, plus adding in things typical to a wedding. And I've already got some special treats for the kids. But then again I like to pick things up a little at a time as I see them.

 

[gdulaney]

Do you know how many families are participating in the FE exchange...so far?

Thank you,
Ginny

 

[dodle]

Right now we have 17 groups on list, and only one has said they are not participating - just relaxing. I think there have been about 7 or 8 that have said they are definately in for the exchange. I haven't heard anything one way or the other from the rest.