September 22, 2012 Fantasy Eastern "From Fantasyland to the Fantasy"

[Drew770]

Roll Call

Drew (Dad) age 40, Jillian (Mom) age 37, Alexa (Daughter) age 11. Hometown Atlanta, GA (Metro). Dining Second Seating.

 

[Drew770]

Question about dress code.

My family and I have never been on a cruise before. I noticed that Sunday night dinner is listed as "Formal" and that later in the week dinner is "Semi-Formal."

In my experience "Formal" is tuxedo. Do I need to go and rent one for the cruise? I have dark suits etc. but since I came off of active duty my dress uniform will not fit! LOL

Do the wife and daughter need to have gowns or will a nice dress suffice?

Please pardon my ignorance on this subject!

 

[Patrickprincess]

Camella, We are right next door to you! We have family in cabins 2520, we are in 2522, and more family across the hall in 2523! So hello neighbor!



We did this on our last cruise and it worked out great. It was so easy and our FE's found their way to the correct cabins



Not sure about the transfers, as we only live a couple hours away and drive. As far as not missing anything on the cruise, I always go with the understanding that there is no way that we are able to do absolutely everything. If so, I would be running myself ragged and then wouldn't be able to have any relaxation time at all. I tend to go through the navigator the night they give it to us and make sure I highlight what I/DH/kids REALLY want to do. Then we fill in the rest of the time with other activities, swimming, eating, more swimming, more eating...you get the picture. Plus, when I don't get to do everything, it gives me another reason to come back and sail on the Fantasy again! LOL!



Welcome Drew! We are a great group...welcome to it! How excited is your daughter going to be?!!!! That's great that you're surprising her. We did that with our oldest DD when she turned 5 and surprised her with a weekend trip to WDW. She thought we were going to school and had to make a couple side trips first...she figured it out when we were right outside Orlando

The time is allmost here! The tempture here in washingto has gotten to be 93. Is mother nature trying to get me used to the caribbean? I 've gotten all my Disney gift cards. I've bought a new mickey suitecase. I've even gotten a mickey minnie tattoo on my ankle. If i counted right we have six weeks i've started packing and i think that i'll have more than enough. I have shorts polo shirts two long formal dresses a short black beaded three dresses and shoes underthings. i even have a new tooth brush. I've been checking my flight resveration and so far nothing has changed. see ya oh so soon

 

[Paul2003]

Question about dress code.

My family and I have never been on a cruise before. I noticed that Sunday night dinner is listed as "Formal" and that later in the week dinner is "Semi-Formal."

In my experience "Formal" is tuxedo. Do I need to go and rent one for the cruise? I have dark suits etc. but since I came off of active duty my dress uniform will not fit! LOL

Do the wife and daughter need to have gowns or will a nice dress suffice?

Please pardon my ignorance on this subject!

First of all welcome aboard What a surprise for your daughter.

Formal night does no mean you have to get a tux. I plan on renting a tux on this cruise but this will be a first for me. I've been in a tux just once and want to try it again. My past seven cruises I wore a suit and that worked out just fine. A nice dress is suffice for your wife and daughter. If you wear something a little nicer than the casual nights you'll look fine.

You are going to love Disney Cruise Line, they are second to none. If you have any more questions feel free to send me a private message I'll be glad to help you.

 

[Nikki'sMommy]

To my fellow Florida residents-have you seen the discounts on the 3&4night Bahamas trips in sept- - great deals!! Can anyone speculate if there is any chance they will come around with carribean discounts? our 1st bahamas cruise 2 years ago we booked, a FLR came around and we got a nice refund back...a girl can hope....

 

[livingis2me]

To my fellow Florida residents-have you seen the discounts on the 3&4night Bahamas trips in sept- - great deals!! Can anyone speculate if there is any chance they will come around with carribean discounts? our 1st bahamas cruise 2 years ago we booked, a FLR came around and we got a nice refund back...a girl can hope....

We are hoping for the same!! Although our rate is most likely as low as it can be since we booked on the first day they released our date. Plus we have a 10% rebooking discount and $700 obc between our 2 rooms. If we switch to FLR I think we'd lose the obc so it would have to be a big discount for it to work out. But my fingers are crossed...

Ron

 

[livingis2me]

Speaking of rebooking discounts, what is everyone rebooking onboard? We will most likely book a dummy and move it to Thanksgiving week 2014 since we are cruising RCL Allure again next year.

Ron

 

[HollandmillerFamily]

Question about dress code.
My family and I have never been on a cruise before. I noticed that Sunday night dinner is listed as "Formal" and that later in the week dinner is "Semi-Formal." In my experience "Formal" is tuxedo. Do I need to go and rent one for the cruise? I have dark suits etc. but since I came off of active duty my dress uniform will not fit! LOL Do the wife and daughter need to have gowns or will a nice dress suffice?

Drew, the formal and semi-formal nights are optional; you can choose to dress up or not. "Cruise casual" will suffice if you're not into dressing up. We've done two DCL cruises (both on the Wonder) and dressed up for formal and semi-formal night on one and didn't on the other. We felt totally comfortable both times. When we did formal my husband and little boy did suits with jackets and ties; on semi-formal night they just lost the jackets. I'm thinking this time we might go all out and do tuxes on formal night and suits on semi-formal night. Bottom line, do what's comfortable. If you and the family like having an opportunity to get snazzy then go for it! If you hate dressing up, don't bother. It's all about having fun!
Look forward to seeing you all... No matter how you're dressed!

 

[livingis2me]

Roll Call

Drew (Dad) age 40, Jillian (Mom) age 37, Alexa (Daughter) age 11. Hometown Atlanta, GA (Metro). Dining Second Seating.

Welcome and congrats on your first cruise! I've added you to the roll call. Be sure to check out post one. It should give you a pretty good rundown of some of things we've got going on like fish extenders (read up on this!!! it is a lot of fun and definitely enhances the Disney Cruise experience), onboard Dis meetings and port excursions that some of us are taking.

Also, we have a few "tween" girls on this cruise who are looking forward to meeting each other and hanging out in the Edge together. So if you come to the Dis meet on the first day, be sure to bring her along so they can all make quick friends to hang with throughout the cruise. My daughter is Savannah, she's 11 too and she has made friends on cruises that she still keeps up with

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Ron

 

[Tinnibop]

Speaking of rebooking discounts, what is everyone rebooking onboard? We will most likely book a dummy and move it to Thanksgiving week 2014 since we are cruising RCL Allure again next year.

Ron

Hey Ron!

Hope this isn't a silly question...but how and what is a dummy cruise?
And how do you like the RCL allure compared to Disneys? My husband only wants to sail Disney but I heard good things about RCL too.

Thanks!
- Tina

 

[livingis2me]

Drew, the formal and semi-formal nights are optional; you can choose to dress up or not. "Cruise casual" will suffice if you're not into dressing up. We've done two DCL cruises (both on the Wonder) and dressed up for formal and semi-formal night on one and didn't on the other. We felt totally comfortable both times. When we did formal my husband and little boy did suits with jackets and ties; on semi-formal night they just lost the jackets. I'm thinking this time we might go all out and do tuxes on formal night and suits on semi-formal night. Bottom line, do what's comfortable. If you and the family like having an opportunity to get snazzy then go for it! If you hate dressing up, don't bother. It's all about having fun!
Look forward to seeing you all... No matter how you're dressed!

I love this attitude towards formal night! I feel exactly the same way!

Dress up if you'd like. If not, as long as you are not in shorts (which really wouldn't bother me, but it may leave some bent out of shape) you'll be fine.

Ron

 

[michigan829]

Speaking of rebooking discounts, what is everyone rebooking onboard? We will most likely book a dummy and move it to Thanksgiving week 2014 since we are cruising RCL Allure again next year.

Ron

We're going to look into rebooking for August or September 2013. Definitely going to need another cruise fix!

 

[livingis2me]

Hey Ron!

Hope this isn't a silly question...but how and what is a dummy cruise?
And how do you like the RCL allure compared to Disneys? My husband only wants to sail Disney but I heard good things about RCL too.

Thanks!
- Tina

I love the Allure! Check out my wife's (nenner1) trip report. She has a link to it on her signature.

A "dummy date" is when you book a cruise date that you do not intend on going on. The reason to do this is because you want to take advantage of the incentives of rebooking (10% discount, half price deposit and onboard credit) but don't neccesarily have a particular date in mind, or the date you want is not available yet. I think the rules have changed a bit since we did it last, but as long as you book the same type of cruise as you are planning on eventually taking you will be able to transfer your dummy date and incentives to your desired date once available. Got it? a little long winded I'm sure...

Ron

 

[DLW8]

Forgot to update that our room number is 8580. So excited to sail on our first Disney cruise!!

Also, a first timer question. How will we know the new room numbers to deliver the FEs to if people upgrade at the port?

My thoughts are consumed with all things Disney cruising. Can't wait!

We are directly below you in 7580. No jumping in the room!

Getting my ducks in a row...
First, livingis2me/nenner1 and mickip, we've reserved our spot on the Random Winds and are excited to be sailing with you! It's my husband and me and our 3.75 year old (at time of sailing) so it sounds like we'll have three kids in the same age range, which I'm hoping will make it more fun for them... and easier on all of us!
Second, I've been following along on many of the posts for our meet and have gotten such great tips. Thank you, all! This is our third Disney cruise but, being from the Bay Area in California, our first two cruises were out of LA and didn't require much coordination. This time we're flying into FL late on Friday night (confirmed flights this week) and are planning hotel/transportation to port. It appears that the Hyatt MCO in the airport is by far the most popular option for those of us flying in and I'm wondering how many others are planning to stay there. Is transportation to port included? Do I book transportation at the same time as making reservations? Is there a better option?
I know many people are shipping FE boxes, etc. to the ship beforehand, which sounds like a great idea. How do you do that?
Here's another random question... Last time we brought my husband's suit in a garment bag and carried it on the plane. It was such a pain! Does anyone else pack suit/tux jackets in a suitcase and does it work out? Silly question, I know.
Finally, I'm wondering what one thing you've learned from past cruises that you wish you had known beforehand. For me, it was probably that the Navigator was priceless and we should check that thing first every morning so we don't miss anything. I know that's a pretty obvious one but even on the second cruise, we found out too late that we'd missed things, like kids' events. Bummer!
Okay, that's it. Thank you again to all of you who have been posting helpful tips and tricks as well as cranking up the anticipation for our cruise. In reality, it's only seven short days so all the months and weeks of anticipation really contribute to the memory! Thanks.

Transportation through Disney is not free as it is for the parks. I believe it is about $70 per person for the round trip (MCO to port and back to MCO). We do a car service as it's cheaper for our family of 4 than the DCL busses. Plus, we like the complimentary stop so we can purchase our beer, wine and alcohol to bring on the ship.

Hi folks!

First time cruisers here! We just found this site after being referred by a friend! I am a bit overwhelmed to say the least!

My wife, daughter and I will be joining you all. I have spent the last hour or so going through this thread and all I can say is I need to spend a lot more time on it!

This is a surprise for our daughter (aged 11). We are not planning on telling her anything until the last possible second. Something like "here is a list of things to pack in a bag. We leave in an hour." We have already scheduled the character call to ring us the afternoon we are driving down and that is when she will find out it is a Disney Cruise!

My wife and I are huge and big Disney fans, respectively. I have to get back to reading this thread some more! Y'all look like a bunch of fun folks that we need to get to know!

Don't get overwhelmed! It's all good and fun! What a great surprise for your daughter! My DD will be almost 11 when we sail and I know she has been emailing with Savannah and I think also with Amanda. We also have a FB page where the girls have traded emails if she would like to chat with them beforehand. As someone else mentioned, we do have quite a few girls in that age range.

Question about dress code.

My family and I have never been on a cruise before. I noticed that Sunday night dinner is listed as "Formal" and that later in the week dinner is "Semi-Formal."

In my experience "Formal" is tuxedo. Do I need to go and rent one for the cruise? I have dark suits etc. but since I came off of active duty my dress uniform will not fit! LOL

Do the wife and daughter need to have gowns or will a nice dress suffice?

Please pardon my ignorance on this subject!

I know others have commented on the fact that a tux is not required, but not sure if the gowns were covered. They do NOT need gowns. You will see some people in gowns and tuxes, but I'd say the majority are in suits or just shirt & tie and dresses for the ladies.

Welcome to all our new additions - we have a fun little group here....the more the merrier!

 

[alohabob]

Welcome aboard to all the new cruisers and first time cruisers, this group is getting huge! we may end up filling up the lobby for the picture

 

[Tinnibop]

I love the Allure! Check out my wife's (nenner1) trip report. She has a link to it on her signature.

A "dummy date" is when you book a cruise date that you do not intend on going on. The reason to do this is because you want to take advantage of the incentives of rebooking (10% discount, half price deposit and onboard credit) but don't neccesarily have a particular date in mind, or the date you want is not available yet. I think the rules have changed a bit since we did it last, but as long as you book the same type of cruise as you are planning on eventually taking you will be able to transfer your dummy date and incentives to your desired date once available. Got it? a little long winded I'm sure...

Ron

Thanks for the info Ron! I'll definitely have to look into it...maybe for next March/April. However Jen's trip report for Allure was so thorough and amazing...it's gonna be a tough choice!

 

[DLW8]

Thanks for the info Ron! I'll definitely have to look into it...maybe for next March/April. However Jen's trip report for Allure was so thorough and amazing...it's gonna be a tough choice!

Tinnibop....I highly recommend booking a dummy date, even if you aren't 100% sure you will use it. You can always cancel it (or keep moving it out), but once you leave the ship, you won't have an option for the 10% off, 1/2 deposit and OBC. If your TA offers OBC, name them on the reservation and you will get the Disney OBC plus the TA OBC. We have $400 in OBC for this cruise from booking onboard.

You do NOT need to wait in line for the CM to be at the booking desk. There are quote cards that you can fill out and drop off with your info. They will return the quote to your room and then you call the phone # to confirm you want to book it. We didn't know this our first cruise (3 night) and waited in line for over 2 hours on the last night to book the next one. Total waste of time!

 

[poohbear926]

Just booked this today. Going to be Celebrating My birthday as well as my Mom's birthday on here. as its tradition to celebrate our birthdays on a disney cruise.

So im signing us up for Roll Call:
Names- Bev and DD Lindsay (Turning 25)
-Hometown: Philly PA
-Stateroom(s) GTY
-Dinner Seating - Late as of now

 

[fluffsmom]

Just booked this today. Going to be Celebrating My birthday as well as my Mom's birthday on here. as its tradition to celebrate our birthdays on a disney cruise.

So im signing us up for Roll Call:
Names- Bev and DD Lindsay (Turning 25)
-Hometown: Philly PA
-Stateroom(s) GTY
-Dinner Seating - Late as of now

Welcome to the cruise. We are from SHillington and my cousins are from Pottstown.

 

[Tinnibop]

Tinnibop....I highly recommend booking a dummy date, even if you aren't 100% sure you will use it. You can always cancel it (or keep moving it out), but once you leave the ship, you won't have an option for the 10% off, 1/2 deposit and OBC. If your TA offers OBC, name them on the reservation and you will get the Disney OBC plus the TA OBC. We have $400 in OBC for this cruise from booking onboard.

You do NOT need to wait in line for the CM to be at the booking desk. There are quote cards that you can fill out and drop off with your info. They will return the quote to your room and then you call the phone # to confirm you want to book it. We didn't know this our first cruise (3 night) and waited in line for over 2 hours on the last night to book the next one. Total waste of time!

That's fantastic! Thanks! Wish we would have known this last year on our first Disney cruise. That's why this group is so great!