Special 5 night Bahamas 9/1/08 Are you going?

[Hygiene99]

Guess what...WE ARE COMING!! Just sent off the email to the travel agent!

Didn't have to work too hard to persuade the hubby!!

Don't have a cabin yet, I'm supposed to get back with the travel agent with our choices.

Anyway, add us to the list! It's me (Judy), DH (Kenneth), and DD who will be 10 at the time of the cruise. This will be #6 for us!!

List of People on cruise...

Here's who I have on the list....

1. dvcnewgirl - Kristen & Tim - DD-5 DS-2
2. tynkerbell - Dody & Sam - DD14 DS11
3. tigger2on - Suzanne & Michael - DD11 DD3.5 DS2 - Friend-31 - 6145 & 6154
   
4. Tammymacb - Tammy & Angus - DS-15 DD-10 .... 5024 and 5022
5. Tammy's parents - Frank & Audrey -
6. Tammy's friends - Kathi & DH - 3kids. 2-4-10
7. Tammy's Sil & Bil - DD-5
   
8. twinmom108 - Sharon & Allen - 6594
9. justhat - Justine & Joey - DD- 4.5 - 8016
10. Luv2travel -Jessica & David - DS-14 DD-14 DD-12
11. oybdshoi - Brenda & Jason -
12. winotracy - Tracy & Bill - 8530
13. Hygiene99 - Jenn & Peter - 8530
14. TheTXTaylors5 - Bill & Jennifer - DD-8 DD-5 DS-3 - Cat 3
15. goiu - Lisa & Geoff - DD2 - Surprising Mom & Dad - 5524 & 5522
16. nordkin - Donna & Joi - DD-22 Alessa & Guest - 2122 & 2124
17. first timers - Alex & Carolyn -
18. elaineteresa - Elaine & Ken - DS 7 DD 7 - MIL?
19. 2canadianfans - Sharon & JM ( Jean Marc) - 6040
20. Deb Wills - Deb & Linda - -
21. Steve Barrett - Steve & Wife -
22. Verandah Man - Hazel & Andy - 7063
23. WebmasterRegina - Gary & Regina - 8532
24. Webray & WaltsNephew - Cheryl & Bob -
25. SeaSpray - Terry & John - 2 kids?
26. MississippiMom - Martha & DH - DD7, DD6
27. Mackey Mouse - Marsha & Tommy - Not yet booked
28. PlutosMom - Lacy & Terry - 5520
29. PBader - Paula & Alan - DS-18 Adam - 7509
30. iluvdisney - Mary & KarenNY - "Whenever they call me a dreamer, I think of Walt Disney and smile"
31. Rob_b - Rob & Amber - *See Rob's latest video Here - Awesome
32. Two-Foxes - Jill & Tim - And the new fox! - 6632
33. Bob and Lee - Bob & Lee... Not yet Booked.
34. annrae - Barbara & Ken - 2570
35. KarenNY - Karen with Mary -
36. colbrit -
37. LCTsMom - Lisa & Chris - DD8, DS15 & DS17
38. purplern - Vicki & Rich - DD10 - 6078
39. Seaulater - Linda & ? - 8032
40. Krdisneybound - Kay & Sisters - Brenda and Linda - 8032
41. Zakerdog - Carol & Gary - 6134
42. beccawes7471 - Rebecca & Eric - DS
43. meema1098 -
44. Ju Ju Bean - Judy & Kevin - DD8 DS5
45. Grandma4ever - Janet & Lois - 2584
46. tevagirl - Denise & DH - 6082
47. Scott H - Scott & Lynn - 7566
48. disneylady - Sandy & -
49. ScrapBookQueen - Kellie & DD - MOM & DAD - two friends
50. Mom2Trey - Melissa & Dh - DS4 - 5020
51. bonzie1 - Georgie & Joe -
52. EnnisB - Bryan & Barb - 6584
53. SweetSue - Sue, Barbara, Christina - 8534
54. Pappy - Liz and Neil -
55. JNorris - Judy & Kenneth - DD10 -

Dis Name in Red = Main Dining
Dis Name in Blue = Late Dining

If your First names are in Magenta, It indicates that you are doing Back 2 Back cruises, That would be the 15 Night repo before this cruise.
Maybe not the same cabin!!!

Oh Justine
let me know when you are done with the post vacation blues, and I will give you this list so you can keep it!!!!

 

[tevagirl]

My dh overpacks. He's way worse than me.

 

[winotracy]

hmmm.... I asked my travel agent for it on the first day of booking. maybe it was booked and then opened up.

I hate not doing things for myself and finding out things might have turned out differently. oh well.

Look at 5520. It has been booked and released at least 4 times for this cruise. Sometimes it is just about timing.

 

[JNorris]

I wish there was room to live out of the suitcase. If you don't do all the unpacking right away then you have to live with the suitcases in the room.

.

I wish that too. My DH will squirrel stuff away in every available cabinet and hole, and you just have to hunt everything the whole time! It drives me nuts. On our last cruise we stayed in a cat 3, and there was literally too much storage! We lost several items because I think they got left behind in some of those cabinets and drawers!

This is what we do: I use one of those hanging toiletry bags for makeup, lotions, etc. You just take it out of the suitcase, open it up, and hang it on the towel bar in the bathroom. And we also bring the over-the-door shoe holder, so that all the little things are out of the way and organized, but visible. DD and I put our folding clothes in the drawers at the vanity, and DH uses the drawers next to the closet. And big bulky stuff goes in the stand-up chest, like cameras, snorkle stuff, etc. I always bring some extra hangers and hang as much as possible in the closet, and shoes go in the bottom of the closet. And we always bring a power strip and extension cord, because of all the stuff you have to plug in, and not enough outlets.

 

[two-foxes]

I just took a few minutes to read through the cruiselist....Looks like some Dis celebs are on this one! How fun!!! Peter, if you want to list it, we are late dining.

I finally got a nasty cold. I say finally because between the inmates and my coworkers, I was fighting fate! I am trying to muscle through it with no cold medicine, but I may break down and take some of the "approved baby friendly" meds if I just can't take it!

Are most folks doing a stay at WDW before this cruise? (Except you luckys doing back to backs!) We may have to look at our points...our UY is Sept and I think we may wipe out most of our points during our Christmas stay this year.....we may have to hold off until after the cruise, although I LOVE following a stay at WDW with a cruise much better!

Good night to all! I have to sleep on how those guys did on Idol tonite...all but Blake just seemed to be off. It helps he sang some 311 though

 

[JNorris]

Are most folks doing a stay at WDW before this cruise? (Except you luckys doing back to backs!) We may have to look at our points...our UY is Sept and I think we may wipe out most of our points during our Christmas stay this year.....we may have to hold off until after the cruise, although I LOVE following a stay at WDW with a cruise much better!

I'm pretty sure we are...probably coming in on Friday night or Saturday, and spending either 2 or 3 nights at WDW, or maybe one of those nights at the port.

 

[LCTsMom]

Thanks everybody, wow, what a friendly bunch!

My DD will be looking for email buddies, girls around her age (8 now, will be 10 at time of cruise), to get to know ahead of time, so if there are any out there, let me know!

My DD is currently 6 going on 16...I'm sure she'd love to correspond if your DD doesn't mind someone a bit younger . She'll be 8 when we cruise. Purplern's DD will be 10. We met her in September, she's a blast! I'm sure she'll be up for it too!

 

[Luv2Travel]

I'm pretty sure we are...probably coming in on Friday night or Saturday, and spending either 2 or 3 nights at WDW, or maybe one of those nights at the port.

Hi Judy! Welcome, the more the merrier!

I think my family will be in the minority as we'll probably just be coming in the day before and staying at the port. Then we'll have to return back to reality pretty soon too - my kids will already have been in school for a few weeks.

 

[LCTsMom]

I think my family will be in the minority as we'll probably just be coming in the day before and staying at the port. Then we'll have to return back to reality pretty soon too - my kids will already have been in school for a few weeks.

Yup, same here. My kids will also be in school so this will be an abbreviated trip.

 

[elaineteresa]

I wish that too. My DH will squirrel stuff away in every available cabinet and hole, and you just have to hunt everything the whole time! It drives me nuts. On our last cruise we stayed in a cat 3, and there was literally too much storage! We lost several items because I think they got left behind in some of those cabinets and drawers!

This is what we do: I use one of those hanging toiletry bags for makeup, lotions, etc. You just take it out of the suitcase, open it up, and hang it on the towel bar in the bathroom. And we also bring the over-the-door shoe holder, so that all the little things are out of the way and organized, but visible. DD and I put our folding clothes in the drawers at the vanity, and DH uses the drawers next to the closet. And big bulky stuff goes in the stand-up chest, like cameras, snorkle stuff, etc. I always bring some extra hangers and hang as much as possible in the closet, and shoes go in the bottom of the closet. And we always bring a power strip and extension cord, because of all the stuff you have to plug in, and not enough outlets.

ok very helpful to read what others have done. I put everything away so that we could easily find stuff but is just took forever. I wasted too much onboard time packing and organizing the stuff.

We did use the hanging shoe bag but I didn't find that to be that helpful because we don't really use a lot of toiletiries, makeup etc. I do like your trick of packing that at home and just hanging it. I keep travel sizes of things in my suitcase permanently but then I had to transfer these to the hanging shoe holder. It would be way faster just to hang it up.

LOL the same thing happened in our cabin - hubby put his clothes closest to the bathroom, closet, bed and I had to climb into the room to get to my stuff each time - a pain. All the kids clothes just fit in the steamer trunk. All the dress clothes got hung up.

Luckily for the 5 day it will be easier to bring less stuff. But if we do WDW before we will need extra things for that. We got weighted down with all our toys like snorkel equipment etc. - it might just be simpler to rent it at CC. They had the second day for 50% off on our last DD.

 

[elaineteresa]

I'm pretty sure we are...probably coming in on Friday night or Saturday, and spending either 2 or 3 nights at WDW, or maybe one of those nights at the port.

we will definitely arrive early for some WDW time - not sure how crowded the Labor day weekend usually is but that is part of their slow season. Even if we don't spend a lot of time in the parks we will definitely use some tan time and hang out at the pool. I am looking forward to it - we usually go in Sept. or October so it will be fun to see the parks in summer. ugh?

We stayed last time at the Resort on Cocoa Beach and had a large 2 bedroom condo about 3 miles from the port. We loved it. They had a small movie theater right on premises, tennis, pool etc. We did all our pre-cruise last minute shopping and a few sites around Cocoa Beach. It was a nice relaxing pre-cruise time.

We spent sat. nite at the Nick hotel in Orlando before heading home - maybe we will do that again. One of the other DIS families was there as well. The water activities are fun there.

 

[elaineteresa]

Look at 5520. It has been booked and released at least 4 times for this cruise. Sometimes it is just about timing.

yes I agree with you. that's why I decided to just let the agent do it. But I am sure my Cat. 8 was not the first cabin she tried to book and if I had tried myself I might have gotten the secret verandah and then just switched it over. I decided to leave it to chance and you never know it may become available again. LOL. I actually like the idea of saving some money with the Cat.8 - I think the secret verandah would be several hundred dollars more and I am hoping the weather will be good enough to be out on deck a lot more than on our Dec. cruise anyway.

 

[elaineteresa]

I wish that too. My DH will squirrel stuff away in every available cabinet and hole, and you just have to hunt everything the whole time! It drives me nuts. On our last cruise we stayed in a cat 3, and there was literally too much storage! We lost several items because I think they got left behind in some of those cabinets and drawers!

This is what we do: I use one of those hanging toiletry bags for makeup, lotions, etc. You just take it out of the suitcase, open it up, and hang it on the towel bar in the bathroom. And we also bring the over-the-door shoe holder, so that all the little things are out of the way and organized, but visible. DD and I put our folding clothes in the drawers at the vanity, and DH uses the drawers next to the closet. And big bulky stuff goes in the stand-up chest, like cameras, snorkle stuff, etc. I always bring some extra hangers and hang as much as possible in the closet, and shoes go in the bottom of the closet. And we always bring a power strip and extension cord, because of all the stuff you have to plug in, and not enough outlets.

I asked our steward for extra hangers and he made it seem like it was a big deal and he wasn't sure where he would get them. I think I will carry some child size ones next time because my kids dress up clothes got a bit stretched trying to get the big hangars into the shoulders.

We brought a lot of dress up clothes on our first cruise in Dec. but I ran out of energy and interest in getting everyone to the photographer etc. I think I will minimize this. Plus, this trip I am counting on being WARM and we will be more interested in being in bathing suits I hope.

Can some of you experienced cruisers tell us what you did to simplify after your first cruises?

 

[JNorris]

We brought a lot of dress up clothes on our first cruise in Dec. but I ran out of energy and interest in getting everyone to the photographer etc. I think I will minimize this. Plus, this trip I am counting on being WARM and we will be more interested in being in bathing suits I hope.
?

I wonder if we will have a formal and a semi-formal night, since it is only 5 nights? On our last cruise, we went overboard on the dressy stuff (DH had just bought a tux and was dying to wear it!). I'm planning to bring just one dressier outfit, then a couple of pairs of capri pants, and wear them twice. Honestly, since we will be gone off the ship 3 of the 4 "days", we can probably cut down on some clothes, and just be in swimsuits.

 

[JNorris]

My DD is currently 6 going on 16...I'm sure she'd love to correspond if your DD doesn't mind someone a bit younger . She'll be 8 when we cruise. Purplern's DD will be 10. We met her in September, she's a blast! I'm sure she'll be up for it too!

That would be great! I'll send you a PM.

 

[sweetsue]

WHOOOOAAAA ... I'm here but having to start an Excel spreadsheet just to keep track of all the cabin changes!! LOL! Congrats to all of you that have upgraded your cabins! JustThat, I have you and your Cat 2/8016 listed on the Cabin Tour. Thanks!!

I've not gotten a lot of response (PMs) to the Tour invite listed on Page 1. So, this weekend I'm going to go back thru the pages and get the names of folks who were 'interested' in the Tour and PM them to get them in the Tour. HOWEVER, anyone wanting to short cut some work for me can PM me anytime and get their names and cabin number on the list. After this weekend I'll have the list and post it - that should help drum up business!! Shoot me any questions or ideas on the Cabin Tour.

Yep, here is Ankeny, we starting the "thaw" after about 10" inches of accumulated snow. Such dirty fun ...

I have a Cat 3 midship on this cruise and would be glad to give a tour if someone hasn't already signed up for that configuration.

Don't sign me up to visit though - I've already seen everything from a Cat 2 to a Cat 12. And I'll get my first Cat 1 peek in May!

Sue

 

[sweetsue]

I don't think I really overpacked. but we all had clothes that we did not wear - ok maybe everyone except hubby.

But I did spend way too long trying to get the room unpacked and organized, kept organized and then re-packed. any suggestions?

I wish there was room to live out of the suitcase. If you don't do all the unpacking right away then you have to live with the suitcases in the room.

This time when I pack I will give some thought to how I set the room up and hopefully make the unpacking go quickly. Like if I had all the accessories in one bag ie. shoes, toiletries, beach stuff - instead it all got squished in wherever it fit and then it took forever to get it unpacked and arranged so that we could get at things quickly.

I also did the unpacking in prime time because I was anxious to get everything put away - this time I think I will wait until late night to do it and not waste time when other things are going on. Especially on a shorter cruise it will be more important to maximize opportunities for fun.

what do you PROS do? I need help from you repeat cruisers. I have to say that I got a headache trying to operate in that tiny cabin and it made me feel less than positive about cruising.

We usually unpack between the sailaway meet and dinner. A very good helper is to have some of those plastic organizers for your suitcase. It makes it extremely easy to toss a big plastic bag into the appropriate drawer or bathroom area. Since these are usually rectangular, they fit will into the suitcase. The expensive version is the Pack it cubes by Eagle Creek. The least expensive version is the no-name brand at your local Target/Walmart. An added bonus - they help prevent leaks if one of those cosmetic items decides to open in your suitcase. We are usually completely unpacked and organized - door signs in place - in less than 20 minutes (two adults and one child).

Sue

 

[sweetsue]

hmmm.... I asked my travel agent for it on the first day of booking. maybe it was booked and then opened up.

I hate not doing things for myself and finding out things might have turned out differently. oh well.

That's most likley what happened. Rooms seem to turnover a fair amount all the way up to the time people pay 100%. You could keep checking or have your TA check periodically. I don't know if they waitlist specific rooms or not. We have cleared waitlists for suites - often within days of booking.

Sue

 

[winotracy]

That's most likley what happened. Rooms seem to turnover a fair amount all the way up to the time people pay 100%. You could keep checking or have your TA check periodically. I don't know if they waitlist specific rooms or not. We have cleared waitlists for suites - often within days of booking.

Sue

A new DCL change is that you cannot waitlist a particular stateroom number. You can only waitlist suites.

 

[sweetsue]

Can some of you experienced cruisers tell us what you did to simplify after your first cruises?

I'm not that bad on overpacking, but my mother is. I have her bring her suitcase down to my house and then I remove about half of it. Then she's good to go!

A couple of tricks that have helped in the past:

1. Each time I go on a cruise, as I'm packing up I make a quick note to myself of all the things I DIDN'T use. When I get home I put this in my Vacation folder for the next trip.
2. I have an Excel spreadsheet that lists all of the things I pack. I then put a Yes, No or N/A as I am packing. If something gets an N/A it usually ends up being removed from the packing list.
3. Limit shoes. Decide on three pairs - one for dinners, one for walking around town, and then one for the beach. THEN pick your outfits. If they have to go with just those three pairs of shoes it makes it easier.
4. Do laundry (although this cruise is so short I probably won't).
5. Purchase travel size versions of all the toiletries you use. Only pick ONE perfume and limit makeup to one look.
6. Decide what suitcases you want to take then only pack enough to fill those suitcases. Don't pull out that extra bag because something didn't fit - instead, remove clothes until it does.
7. PLAN PLAN PLAN. I finally got my DM to create an attire list for each day. Have a friend review the list to help you slash it down. Do you really need to wear a different outfit ALL nights? Even on the casual ones? Do you really need a different "nice" outfit for formal night, semi-formal night and Palo's? Can you use a nice skirt and swap out dressy and casual tops? Black is great for this.

And most of all - HAVE FUN!

Sue