September 3, 2005 --- Who is going?

[captaincrash]

Pogo....

NOAA shows no tropical cyclones being tracked in the Atlantic or Carribean at this time. So far so good .... but if anything threatens then HERE is were they will post the forecasts and storm track maps... http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

We are going to be just fine. Even if a storm is in the region it would have to be in exactly a certain place and at specific times to effect our sailing. Granted it disrupted embarkation for our Labor day sailing last year - but I figure the odds of two years in a row being disrupted are pretty remote.

 

[pogopossum]

i know about the labor day cruise, we were there with you last year, forecasts are very unreliable at this point, but it does bear watching, it is forecast to be a tropical cyclone by next week, one forecast even calls for it to curve off almost due north to the azores, and that 's the one i'm going to believe, you know kick in that disney magic. like i've said before this is our third try for the virgins on the magic, so it must be the charm. i'm kicking my optimism into overdrive. and www.wunderground.com is another very good source for tracking.

 

[captaincrash]

Oh yeah...

Pogo ... I had forgotten you shared the same sailng last year. I guess I don't need to gloss the experience from last year with you. Yeah... we definately don't want any of lastyears' thing this year. But we're prepared to deal with it if it recurrs.

Not wanting to dampen any of the good vibes here though with gloom fears before anything manifests.

So... I could offer to burn a photo CD for anyone who wants one before the cruise ends. I will have a notebook computer and it doesn't take me very long - I just start it with about 5 minutes and come back about 20 minutes later to check each CD. That is, for those who want a complete unedited photo set.

Aside from all that - my spouse added - OMG! to OMAPCW1s' posting #651 from Sunday morning.... Alicia added you poor thing - we hope your travel proves tolerable since you're flying all the way up until a couple days prior to sailing. We'll be wishing you Happy landings for the trips!

So - is there anything else that needs doing? Oh yeah... DUH... pack. Plus ~ I was thinking - for DIS meet snacks maybe we could get the galley to whip up some lobster tails, champaigne and prime rib for snacking rather then the usual chips and dip. What do you folks think?

Gettin' to 11 days or so ! Yahoooo!!!!!

 

[pogopossum]

i've been increasing the dosage of jimmy buffett to the dw and ds in preparation for the cruise, can't wait to get a look at last mango in paradise, when we get down there, i was looking for a pirate parrot flag on his website and other parrotphrenalia sites and don't see the flag anymore, rats.

we will be more than prepared for some chillin' with boat drinks in two weeks. i am so ready to be one of those tourists covered with oil.

 

[pogopossum]

and i am now looking in on that live from the repo cruise site and will try to look out the hotel in cocoa beach to see their return on 9 - 3, if i can wake myself that early, , like i will be asleep.

 

[Mom2boyz2000]

pogo...Zach too is ready to meet Jordan. We are going to have such a nice group of 4 year old and they are going to LOVE being together in the Oceneer lab!! Watch out Captain...our boys can be little Romeo's. Also Captain...I'm afraid that my husband would be more than willing to join you with the togo thing. Great picture...both of you with your laptops in your togas Between that and his shirts I'm afraid hhevy quantities of alcohol may be necessary. (We too rarely drink in real life, however, I'm thinking that may not be the case on vacation. And I'm really looking forward to tasting all those yummy tropical drinks.

Take care all. Can't wait to be

Suzanne

 

[captaincrash]

Suzanne....

Yeah.... I noticed earlier on our roster that we had 4 or 5 four year old boys and just a couple little girls at 4 (our Julianna being one)... However with Tucker99 we now have 4 and 3 year old girls to add. So I think we have 3 to 4 four year old girls not counting Tucker99s' 3 year old which probably can be included. Our numbers seem somewhat even now!

So as for with any of the boys... well, our 1st DCL sailing was with a wonderful Canadian family as tablemates. They had a little boy the same age as Julianna and the spouse was pregnant in the 2nd trimester the same as my spouse! What coincidance eh? Or someone at DCL matched us out of sharing identical family dispositions!??

At any rate - if Julianna found just one good pal in a little girl or boy on the cruise we counldn't be more pleased. We still KIT with emails and photos to our Canadian pals from 2 years ago. Of course - if she ended up with several good pals in the wake of our sailing that would be unprecedented!

As such... I'm a bit groggy since one of my girls got me up for a bit... guess she woke up feeling surprised and alone... so I'm pecking at the keyboard one handed and half asleep while semi-watching the beginning of Stargate on cable with a sleeping little girl on my lap and cradled with one arm.

At any rate... I'm fixin' to confirm when our dining assignment is... and check into obtaining contact methods towards trying to get a charcter visit to our private DIS meet or the hidden Mickeys treasure - or at least something extra from the ship. Oh, I know the odds are remote if not extremely unlikely but what the heck. If we can day dream about havin' a toga party then why not gettin' something like a character visit? How tough would it be for the ship tp swing a 15 minute visit if we ask the right people?

OK... I gotta try an' put my daughter back to sleep - and me too to catch some shut eye.

Pardon any typo-errors as i'll not be proofing this posting....

Adios! aw:

 

[disneyfanforever]

Thanks captain for offering to make CDs of digital photos. That is a great idea. You better watch out, Brady is already talking all about Julianna (and the way he pronounces her name is hilarious).

Also, no volunteers from our family to wear togas. We wouldn't want to scare anyone.

Two weeks and we'll be waking up to a wonderful day at sea.

Robyn

 

[salbythec]

We have late seating
Captain, great pics!! your daughters are so cute!!! (so is the dog)
We are on deck 7
11 more days!!

Sally

 

[DisneyDadJax]

Here's where we stand so far. It looks like I've got 33 families on my list, give or take 1 or 2 with the same family having multiple DIS names. 9 families have not replied. I'll PM you guys who haven't replied yet to give you one more chance. Our grand total right now, including no replies is 104!

Frank

 

[kde175]

I think I responded...but I'm not sure...the last week or so has been an emotional roller coaster...and quite a blur.

We are:
Tina - Me - 32
DJ - Tina's DH - 34
Linda - Tina's Mom and DJ's MIL - 55
Ruth - Tina's Gram and Linda's Mom - celebrating her 90th birthday on the cruise

I can't believe we're finally on our way in 8 days!!!!! and we hit the ship in 12!!! YAY!!!!

 

[DisneyDadJax]

I've got you guys Tina!

Hang in there! Vacation is almost here!!!

Thanks!

 

[captaincrash]

OK... talked to my travel agent today ... plus our DOCS ARRIVED TODAY... Woooo Hoooo! We are preset for 2nd seating but we had requested 1st seating - so we asked our agent if we could switch. She's contacting her company group rep about making the switch. If not then we're going to be 2nd. And as I said (to me) either way it's OK with me.

Also asked her about getting a character to come toour gathering of 104 DCL enthusiasts. She said I am asking for a private character meet - and that was normally possible if she had booked the group in the party. I said - "well, I'm i your party..." .... but in reality - for any who have done groups for any cruise line - each collection of canins generates a certain number of amenity points which are good for special requests or commission bonuses for the TA. What she really saying was ... if I were the group leader sailng and requested we allocate resources towards a special private character meet then we would have it. SO in effect I said I wanted a "free character meet"... so who is the contact person to make the request for "courtesy" - and I figure this is possible since a formal private meet includes reserved private meeting space. We are not using private space... which is half the usual deal....

At any rate - my TA described how we would try to swing it in mild detail - and I added Qs on detail refinement to achieve this. Still a long shot as a character meet is part of a special resource DCL does for groups - well... we're a "very special" (slightly psychotic) informal group reqeusting half of a formal benefit. What do you think?

OK... gotts run....

 

[Pooter]

Hi everyone...Hope you're all having as much fun as I am packing I've been spending way more time than I should reading different message boards and I have a question regarding tipping.... This is our first cruise ever and we're not sure what the protocal is for tipping onboard a cruise ship. Who gets tips, who gets gifts? When do we tip. I read somewhere about tip envelopes on the last day...What's that?

Thanks for the help! As soon as I figure out how to post a picture, I have one of The Magic pulling out of LA Harbor headed to Florida to take us on our vacation!!!!

 

[MickeyManiac]

captain-
For what ever it's worth. I was reading that DCL put the Dis Meet on the Navigator for the Repo Cruise (that's on it's way to pick us up). Maybe they have a soft spot for the Disers. Maybe that will help convince someone that a character really should come and visit for a few minutes. I don't know, might be worth a try.

Oh and in case everyone has forgotten 11 days and a wake up!

 

[Mom2boyz2000]

Who could forget!!

 

[lisa702]

Time is counting down!

 

[wendyk]

We have early seating.

6 more sleeps for us and we're off!!!

Wendy

 

[tucker99]

Welcome Tucker99! I wonder if you can change dining assignments after you get on board, if they have room, maybe at guest services??

As for our dining arrangements, we have the early seating.

Thanks Ginny, for the drink tips!! Believe me, I will be trying both the Konk Kooler and the Bon Voyage (and probably more than one!) Both sound so yummy!!

Anyone else have any yummy specialty drinks you've gotten? (you can tell its getting close to a vacation, all I can think about is laying in a beach chair with a drink in my hand!!) I think I read somewhere that someone had a Bailey's Banana Colada and that sounded yummy too!

Can you believe its only 12 days? Its going to be hard to work this next 2 weeks!!

Well, our wishes have been met. While the docs we just got the other day say late dining, the web site shows early dining...so I think we are all set.

 

[Drcell01]

Well we are down to less than 10 days left until we leave for FL/WDW and then the cruise.

Some of our crew are headed to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville the night before (Friday night September 2nd) to get in the crusing mood and have a little "pre-sail-away" party of our own...fyi...just in case anyone would like to join us!!!

We will be there from about 6 pm until ??? A musician named John Stevens will be playing from 5 pm until 9 pm. We have listened to John for many years as he used to play over at Port Orleans at the lounge called Scat Kat just off the lobby. He also played as one of the musicians at the Diamond Horseshoe Reveue over at MK. John is like a "human jukebox" and can play almost any popular song you can think of (sorry this is a no-rap zone).

See you all soon...just a few more work days and then its PARTY TIME!!!