Our first cruise and with the buildup (17 months worth?) we really thought there would be a let down on the cruise as it could not possibly live up to the hype...
We were wrong, between the
DCL staff, our fellow DIS'ers, and of course the Podcast Crew and DU team all expectations (which were sky high) were exceeded. So nice to renew friendships and to have started so many new ones...
We are so-o-o-o impressed with DCL. All other Disney experiences pale in comparision. The quality of service is just incredible! We left the ship with 8 crew member e-mails and even booked a future trip when a couple of these crew members will be on board as guests with thier families.
A new standard in vacation fun has been achieved and we will not let a year go by without at least a 4 day cruise being a part of our life from now on. I figure we can put $25 a week aside and the cruising will go on and on.
For all of my friends who like to plan and like to worry about the "what if" factor. We would have no problem in the future flying in the morning of cruise and flying back afternoon of disembarkation. Both boarding and disembarkation of the ship can be accomplished in less than an hour (we woke up, ate, and were in car within a 60 minutes on Thursday)
We know what a labor of love carting all of the FE gifts were and appreciate everyones efforts. It was like Christmas every time we came back to room!
The experience was certainly a "sea change" in our lifes, we must now make up for lost time (need more cruises). The mental health aspects of disconnecting from the cell phone, the laptop, and the daily news were amazing (Much to Rick's surprise the world really does go on without our intervention for 4 days!). It is also amazing to really get to spend concentrated time whith your loved ones and see all the small things that make them the wonderfull quality life partners they continue to develop into. In our case, we are all to often consumed with our busy lives and miss the little changes!
Thanks to all for the best vacation EVER!
Figure a way to make the 2010 podcast cruise (or any cruise for that matter)... We would gladly give up a Disney trip (or two) for a DCL cruise.
I could do that! 
(I'm not so into Costa Rica and I definetly don't do zip lines! 
)
. As I understand it, we are working on a pricing sheet for the waitlist and once that it ready you can put you names in for me to get you quotes when I get home. I'm home on May 30, but the Groups Department isn't open on weekends so we'll have to wait until June 1. 
