T-Day Cruisers 2011, November 19-26th, 2011

[PrincessFAN2006]

We just booked our air travel Cannot wait for this cruise. Cruise for thanksgiving in 2008 and it was awesome. This will be our third Disney cruise

Kim

 

[Snowwhyt]

Snowwhyt - We are going this week in 2012. What was everyone wearing? Caribbean clothing or Winter/Holiday clothing?

We had great weather last year, except for departure day. Started out sunny and we left just as it started to rain.
We had been told the week before us had ROUGHER sea's and at somepoint the passengers were required to stay in cabins for safety. Our week had rough sea's till we got to St. Maarten on Tue, and we were never grounded to cabins. (Funny opportunity: See Goofy pool during rough sea's. It would crash against the walls with a 10-12 foot splash. Wish I had my camera I would love to relive the memory).

As to your question: Yes to both, and one thing you forgot.
Women - Girls I purchased, what I considered to be fall colors, 5 summer dresses for our daughter after the summer season. 2 were casual knits to cover swim suits that we used for island trips. Paid under $20 for each summer dress at Kohls and JCPenneys. A little more difficult was the dressy Bolero Jackets to go over the dresses to keep her warm in the air-conditioning. Dresses/dressy casual looked great with the character photo's each night. I also brought/had fall colored summer things for myself. Also I found that Princess dresses are often used as dinner attire for younger girls.
On formal night we selected to wear Christmas hues in front of the Christmas tree for our holiday photo. That was the only thing we took in the way of "Winter/Holiday" clothing. I had the best Christmas photo cards of my life that I sent this year. I recommend you get the photo disk. Sorry its 399.00 but the photographers (most) are so good they took 25 lbs off me and my husband with the shots they took when I asked them to make me look slim. I made cards with 3 great photo's of our trip last year(Mickey/Minnie not included). I can make great large photo's 11x14 or 4x6 if I wanted at Sams Club. Fraction of the cost. I had 105 pictures taken so each picture was $4. I had more opportunities for photo's. I didn't have any photo's with Princesses just us and some with Dana and characters(Mickey, Stitch, Peter Pan, Donald...)
Men - Boys It was noticeable when men wore shorts or printed t-shirts to dinner. People will watch them as they walk to their table(except on pirate night) I noticed 2-3 tuxedo's during Formal night. If you wear tuxedo's on a regular basis you will feel comfortable wearing one. If you wear suits just to weddings or funerals, bring a suit. I would advise 5 cotton Golf shirts with collars and only 2 dress slacks(beige, blue, black) with a belt for dinners unless you can swing the dress shirts and ties without attitude. One Suit Jacket for men, to wear for formal night, that can be used again for Thanksgiving. Use last nights golf shirt for tomorrows day wear with shorts or swim suit incase it gets dirty. We sat with a Dr. and real estate broker, they were not dressed to impress anyone either.
Pirate Night Get comfier ! Wear shorts and sandals to dinner. Put on the bandanna provided by Disney. Pick up a ton of pirate stuff at any store the day after Halloween. Give it as FE gifts. Pirate bubbles, Pirate candy, Pirate cards, single big hoop earring, eye patch, swords(get the foam swords where possible most will get searched at the airport so the faker they look, the better the chances it will not be confiscated).... Wear a sash, get some red fabric and tie it around your waist. Wear a printed t-shirt about pirates.

Characters have different costumes:Formal, Island wear, Pilgrim, pirate... (princess always the same). I only wish I would have known about the Goofy photo on the white background. He wore bright colors and if your kid wears bright colors on that day, casual or dressy, its a striking photo. Ask at the photo desk if you can find out what day they have planned for that photo. I also liked the Captain Jack Sparrow photo, got that one printed there with the pirate boarder. I'll see if I can post a copy of that for you. You'll want to get that with the boarder.

I was not a Castaway member but did get every thing I wanted. Here's what I did...On the stroke of 12 midnight I went onto the web site and signed up for every thing I could possibly want. I know it was easier to delete than to add. I even signed up for 3 snorkel events, one for each island. 1st)Our St. Maarten was canceled because of High Wind weather. Good thing we had the second one planned at 2nd)St. Thomas/St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Doubloon Turtle Cove Sail & Snorkel. Don't miss that if you want to snorkel with kids! 3rd)Castaway Cay, I recommend for only adults. All the kids got back on the boat right away and the gear fit badly. I set my self up for a brunch, High Tea and Dinner. Only went to dinner since daughter was afraid to attend Disney Edge until we met a girl on the Doubloon Sail event, then she was afraid to play again with the girl. So it was our only time alone. But thats ok because its a family vacation and we wanted her to feel safe more than anything.

 

[IrishCowboy]

Mean Queen,

I read your Dream back-to-back report and guess you are now a back-to-back veteran

This will be the 2nd leg of our back-to-back cruises. DW and I are on the Nov 12 Western cruise and our children, my parents, and my brother and his family will join us for this cruise.

We are still debating on if we should get off ship and embark with rest of our family. Want to have a nice family pic when we all get onboard and ensure that our children (DD 21 and DS 15) make it onboard. But, I do like the idea of getting back onboard ASAP and hanging out in pool areas or maybe catching up on laundry.

Any tips or suggestions?

 

[Mean Queen]

Mean Queen,

I read your Dream back-to-back report and guess you are now a back-to-back veteran

This will be the 2nd leg of our back-to-back cruises. DW and I are on the Nov 12 Western cruise and our children, my parents, and my brother and his family will join us for this cruise.

We are still debating on if we should get off ship and embark with rest of our family. Want to have a nice family pic when we all get onboard and ensure that our children (DD 21 and DS 15) make it onboard. But, I do like the idea of getting back onboard ASAP and hanging out in pool areas or maybe catching up on laundry.

Any tips or suggestions?

When we were rushed back on board, we did not get any pictures before boarding the second time. So if you really want that boarding picture together, then I'd say wait. If you do want to rush back on board and enjoy being the first at everything (like going to guest services and booking anything you didn't get online before, like tastings), there will be plenty of chances for great family portraits. There are all the standard cruise background pictures plus Minnie and Mickey in holiday attire.

 

[lck33]

Just over 5 months to go!!!! Can't wait!!! Welcome everyone and thanks for all the information and photo tips Snow whyt. Never thought about the colors before. Great tips!!! And last time we all dressed up as pirates for pirate night and loved the photos!! Also good tips on the booking.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

 

[Mean Queen]

Just over 5 months to go!!!! Can't wait!!! Welcome everyone and thanks for all the information and photo tips Snow whyt. Never thought about the colors before. Great tips!!! And last time we all dressed up as pirates for pirate night and loved the photos!! Also good tips on the booking.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

We almost always re-book on board. This Turkey day trip we have two trips we want to book for next year. I hope waiting doesn't end up biting us in the rear. I'm worried one of the cruises will sell out.

 

[lck33]

Mean Queen - we want to re-book on this cruise as well. We want to look at our options though as we would like to change itineraries. I guess we should start looking? Never thought of looking in advance for our next cruise either as this one still seems so far away. In your experience, are the ships filling up fast for next year already? Maybe I need to spend more time on these boards.

Well, as soon as this next course I am taking is over and before the next one begins, I should spend some time looking. I always seem to be behind. Just like I should of completed my degree when I was young, instead of waiting so long... Live and learn!

Elsie

 

[Mean Queen]

Mean Queen - we want to re-book on this cruise as well. We want to look at our options though as we would like to change itineraries. I guess we should start looking? Never thought of looking in advance for our next cruise either as this one still seems so far away. In your experience, are the ships filling up fast for next year already? Maybe I need to spend more time on these boards.

Well, as soon as this next course I am taking is over and before the next one begins, I should spend some time looking. I always seem to be behind. Just like I should of completed my degree when I was young, instead of waiting so long... Live and learn!

Elsie

I think the only reason the one we are looking at is filling up is because it's on the new Fantasy in the middle of Summer vacation. We may decide to not do that cruise in August since we are doing the Alaskan in June. Instead, I want to do another Turkey day cruise but on the Fantasy.

 

[jd99]

Greetings. We just booked this sailing and are happy to join the group - it will be me, DW and DD13 and DD7 (almost 8) on this one. Looks like a small group so far. We generally sail the week after this one but decided due to school schedules to do the Turkey Day cruise. I remember there being a huge contingent of folks who always sail this week - did that group move to another sailing?

 

[Mean Queen]

Greetings. We just booked this sailing and are happy to join the group - it will be me, DW and DD13 and DD7 (almost 8) on this one. Looks like a small group so far. We generally sail the week after this one but decided due to school schedules to do the Turkey Day cruise. I remember there being a huge contingent of folks who always sail this week - did that group move to another sailing?

I remember that group from my past Thanksgiving cruise. I think I saw that some of them are doing a different cruise this year, not this Thanksgiving one.

I am surprised that with a holiday cruise this group is so small. But when it comes to the FE gift exchange, I'm happier when it's not too large. My room on the Spring Break back to back was over taken by FE gifts.

 

[msabol01]

Just stopping in to say hello. We will be on this cruise as well. Myself, DW, DD(10) and DS(6). It's our 3rd Cruise (2nd for the kids) and our first on the Magic!

 

[Mean Queen]

Just stopping in to say hello. We will be on this cruise as well. Myself, DW, DD(10) and DS(6). It's our 3rd Cruise (2nd for the kids) and our first on the Magic!

Welcome aboard! I can't believe we are just short of 4 months away.

 

[Happydog]

Really looking forward to this week-long cruise! Is there already an arranged FE for this cruise? We were on the Dream in June and LOVED it! And I agree, can't believe it is only 4 short months away!!! YAY!

 

[PrincessFAN2006]

It will be here before we know it!!

Everyone have a great weekend

 

[IrishCowboy]

Just completed the online check-in

 

[PrincessFAN2006]

IrishCowboy. You already checked in? I'm super excited. I think I will do that tomorrow!

 

[lck33]

When we did this cruise in 2009 it was a rather large group. i agree, I think alot of those people have switched to a different cruise. We are getting a bit more excited as each week goes by. We seem to be talking more and more about it. Can't wait to check in and book some excursions. Any suggestions from anyone? We did do the snorkeling in St. John. That was nice. We also did the bubba fishing in St. Maarten, but that doesn't seem to be an option any longer. My DD will be 11, and she thinks she would like to go parasailing in Castaway Cay.

We would want to be part of a fish extender exchange, but I do not know how to organize one... Any suggestions?

Have a great week everyone! It's been so humid and hot here in NY, we have lost power several times due to overloads.. thankfully we have a generator. Stay cool!

Elsie

 

[tigger2esq]

this is our first disney cruise too!! we are all booked and very excited! Me DH and DD (age 8)

 

[tigger2esq]

annnnnddd as we are new to Disney Cruising I am just reading all about the whole FE concept--it looks like a lot of fun and will be something DD and I can work on planning while we count down the days. so count us in!!

I also have questions on shore excursions. I saw several that simply take you to a beach.... is there a beach near where the ship docks that we could relax at that wont cost me $150 for the 3 of us to go to via a formal excursion?? I also heard the kayaking tours are fun so I am looking for any and all reviews of the various excursions. My last curise was my honeymoon in hawaii and my DH and I enver did an excursion through the ship--we simply researched the islands and rented a car and did what we wanted...

 

[buckeye-browns-fan]

Hi All. I, my DH, DD 12, and DD 3 will be joining you on the Thanksgiving Cruise. This is our second cruise as we did the 7-night western Caribbean a couple years ago. My DD 12 is afraid she won’t make any friends so hoping to calm her fears before the cruise.

Looking forward to meeting everyone and having a fantastic voyage!