Was "Live" now great memories from the 2006 DVC Member Cruise

[ohiominnie]

The cruise itself has been wonderful, even moreso with our great DIS friends. Some disappointments on the DVC side but nothing that really spoiled the trip for us.

I'll give a much more detailed recap once we are settled in at Boardwalk.

So glad you had such a WONDERful time!!
4 days are just to short, aren't they?

 

[TAKitty]

I had no idea that a members cruise was so magical! I just thought it would be the regular cruise with DVC members.

Anyway, to take a member cruise do you have to pay only with points? We don't have enough points for our whole family to cruise.

 

[keishashadow]

Keeping in mind that the price was higher but all of your tips were "included" in the cruise fare.

Makes it suddenly a better deal...What amount do they give to the staff/same as suggested?

 

[basketrn]

That's it....I wanna go next year!!!!!! ME ME ME!!!

 

[ohiominnie]

Makes it suddenly a better deal...What amount do they give to the staff/same as suggested?

I believe so. You have the option at the end to up the tip above and beyond.

 

[ohiominnie]

Anyway, to take a member cruise do you have to pay only with points? We don't have enough points for our whole family to cruise.

Don't have to do it on points. Can do points. Can do cash. Can do a combination of the two....i.e. adults on points, kids on cash, whatever

 

[keishashadow]

sounds like so much fun, might have to work on DH & switch over our one planned for Dec.

there's a week in Oct. that isn't scheduled so far...would think it'd be the likely suspect.

 

[cobbler]

Glad everyone had a great time. Would love to hear more reports when everyone returns.

It looks like you had some fabulous gifts.

 

[Credit Man]

Thanks for the great reports! Awaiting the happy recaps.

 

[BWVPam]

Hi Mark and Mary


Loved all of your reports, sounds like you had an awesome time. Loved all the pictures of your special gifts. Makes me really want to do a member cruise next year. Not sure -- we have tentatively booked a short 3 day cruise for our anniversary in November.

 

[WDWLVR]

Greetings from Boardwalk as we do the final leg of our trip. Before I discuss today I want to try and recap what I said this morning that ended up in cyber-space.


I know a number of my fellow cruisers were really disappointed in this years cruise and I can't say I blame there. There were some disappointments here as well, but also some wonderful things. So here is one woman's opinion on what was great, what was good, and what was not so great.


The good:

The gifts this year were very nice, but while the thought was there DVC missed the boat on a few things. For one thing these large and heavy boxes make it hard for those flying (we don't have that problem as we drive). Also while the family scrapbook is a wonderful idea it is not scrapbook friendly as it used the cling pages that were popular years ago. These pages actually ruin pictures.

The decorating of the ship and terminal. The welcome home signs were really nice but again they lacked the extra something we had in past years. There was a 15th birthday cake in the resturant the first day but that was it. I really miss the little white chocolate disks wth the Member Cruise logo on it that we got on SSMC03. The banners etc. were nice but the them was a hard one to follow.

Michael Collier's presentation. Michael is on of two 2006 WDW Ambassador's. He gave a presentation normally reserved for cast members. It was really realy good and covered a lot of the company history.

The not so great:

The hard sell. One thing I always loved about DVC was that there was no pressure. Well I think this cruise they went a little overboard. At the game show "On The Nose" it seemed like each question turned into a sales pitch. At the end when they talked about what you would get for adding on it go so bad that I half expected them to say "and if you buy in the next 20 minutes you will get a set of ginsu knives".

The Jim Lewis talk. While it was really nice to get to see the whole executive team it was disappointing that there were no announcements made and even more so that there was no time for questions and answers.

The lack of communication before the cruise. We all love surprises but are monthly e-mail updates too much to ask? We don't need to know everything but knowing if there is a pre-cruise party before the dining booking window in the parks opens would be helpful. Knowing when the group picture on CC will be before the excursions booking opens would also be helpful. As we were lining up on the beach we saw a group go out on the echo tour. Sad that they missed the picture.

Most of all it was the lack of attention to details. Our embarkation photo had a normal 4 day digital frame around it that said we were going to Nassau and Castaway Cay. How hard would it be to have a special digital frame made with the cruise logo?

Last but not least the merchandise. Last year we could pre-order what we wanted and it was in our room waiting. The special Member Cruise pin was available before sailing with a certificate from your welcome packet. This year both were sold through the stores which opened at 6pm while first seating was at dinner. After dinner I hear it was crazy up there and for a time they thought things were sold out.



The great:

Loved the special entertainment on this cruise. The conversation with Roy Disney was second to none! Hearing about growing up with his Dad and Uncle Walt was amazing. We even got to see one of his newest shorts that hasn't been seen by the general public yet.

The concert featuring Jodi Benson and Jennifer Hudson. What a great mix of talent. Jodi is true class and has a beautiful voice. We loved her. Jennifer has definately matured in her talent since her Idol days and I think she will go far.

Far and away the greatest thing about this cruise were the wonderful friends we sailed with. Some are old friends of ours having sailed with us on past Member Cruisers or being with us at Member Homecoming. Some were brand new friends we met on the cruise meets board. All made it a wonderful experience. We had 91 people linked at early dining and it made dinner magical every night. The little gifts, the fun door magnets, and just running into each other all over the ship and island made it great fun!


Recap:

Had a great time on the cruise and loved everyone we met from the DIS group. DVC you let us down with your hard sell and missing the little things that made past cruises fun. Will we do the next one? We really want to, but would be very very sad if many of our friends chose not too.

Well that's it - one woman's opinion.

 

[BWVPam]

Mary - great report. and here I was thinking I wanted to do the member cruise next year.

Can't wait to plan another cruise. We will just have to wait and see what happens. I will be curiuos next week to see if they start releasing 2008 dates as it has been reported will be released in early November.

Have a safe trip home.

 

[tinytink]

Greetings from Boardwalk as we do the final leg of our trip. Before I discuss today I want to try and recap what I said this morning that ended up in cyber-space.


I know a number of my fellow cruisers were really disappointed in this years cruise and I can't say I blame there. There were some disappointments here as well, but also some wonderful things. So here is one woman's opinion on what was great, what was good, and what was not so great.


The good:

The gifts this year were very nice, but while the thought was there DVC missed the boat on a few things. For one thing these large and heavy boxes make it hard for those flying (we don't have that problem as we drive). Also while the family scrapbook is a wonderful idea it is not scrapbook friendly as it used the cling pages that were popular years ago. These pages actually ruin pictures.

The decorating of the ship and terminal. The welcome home signs were really nice but again they lacked the extra something we had in past years. There was a 15th birthday cake in the resturant the first day but that was it. I really miss the little white chocolate disks wth the Member Cruise logo on it that we got on SSMC03. The banners etc. were nice but the them was a hard one to follow.

Michael Collier's presentation. Michael is on of two 2006 WDW Ambassador's. He gave a presentation normally reserved for cast members. It was really realy good and covered a lot of the company history.

The not so great:

The hard sell. One thing I always loved about DVC was that there was no pressure. Well I think this cruise they went a little overboard. At the game show "On The Nose" it seemed like each question turned into a sales pitch. At the end when they talked about what you would get for adding on it go so bad that I half expected them to say "and if you buy in the next 20 minutes you will get a set of ginsu knives".

The Jim Lewis talk. While it was really nice to get to see the whole executive team it was disappointing that there were no announcements made and even more so that there was no time for questions and answers.

The lack of communication before the cruise. We all love surprises but are monthly e-mail updates too much to ask? We don't need to know everything but knowing if there is a pre-cruise party before the dining booking window in the parks opens would be helpful. Knowing when the group picture on CC will be before the excursions booking opens would also be helpful. As we were lining up on the beach we saw a group go out on the echo tour. Sad that they missed the picture.

Most of all it was the lack of attention to details. Our embarkation photo had a normal 4 day digital frame around it that said we were going to Nassau and Castaway Cay. How hard would it be to have a special digital frame made with the cruise logo?

Last but not least the merchandise. Last year we could pre-order what we wanted and it was in our room waiting. The special Member Cruise pin was available before sailing with a certificate from your welcome packet. This year both were sold through the stores which opened at 6pm while first seating was at dinner. After dinner I hear it was crazy up there and for a time they thought things were sold out.



The great:

Loved the special entertainment on this cruise. The conversation with Roy Disney was second to none! Hearing about growing up with his Dad and Uncle Walt was amazing. We even got to see one of his newest shorts that hasn't been seen by the general public yet.

The concert featuring Jodi Benson and Jennifer Hudson. What a great mix of talent. Jodi is true class and has a beautiful voice. We loved her. Jennifer has definately matured in her talent since her Idol days and I think she will go far.

Far and away the greatest thing about this cruise were the wonderful friends we sailed with. Some are old friends of ours having sailed with us on past Member Cruisers or being with us at Member Homecoming. Some were brand new friends we met on the cruise meets board. All made it a wonderful experience. We had 91 people linked at early dining and it made dinner magical every night. The little gifts, the fun door magnets, and just running into each other all over the ship and island made it great fun!


Recap:

Had a great time on the cruise and loved everyone we met from the DIS group. DVC you let us down with your hard sell and missing the little things that made past cruises fun. Will we do the next one? We really want to, but would be very very sad if many of our friends chose not too.

Well that's it - one woman's opinion.

Mary,

Thanks for th pro/cons of this cruise, it's great for those of us who have not been on one before. It gives us an idea of what to expect if we ever get lucky enough to do one the member cruises. Glad to hear you guys had fun!

 

[WDWLVR]

I realized I never gave a recap of today.

We awoke a little after 5:30 to the sounds of the ship being unloaded. We had already made the decision that we would skip early morning breakfast in the dining room and instead head up to Beach Blanket. We did alert our servers to this fact when we gave them their tip envelopes. This is the first time we opted for the buffet and we would definately do it again.

After breakfast we headed down to the Promonade Lounge to wait with everyone on the party bus. Soon we got the call that the bus was there and we were ready to go! The ride home was a lot more quiet than the ride there (could it be because Gail and John weren't riding home with us)?

After being dropped off at Beach Club I waited in the Solarium with the luggage (and Gary, Cameron, Walker and all their luggage) for Mark to go check in, get the car and come back for me. This was all done quickly and efficiently and we were soon on our way to Epcot.

Dining around the world is a lot easier on a week day. We also went to see Nemo but it was down - glad we did it last weekend!

By now it was after 3 so we headed back to see if our room was finally ready. It was so Mark got the car and we had our luggage brought up and then we rushed to the bus. We got to Liberty Tree Tavern only a few minutes late and were soon being escorted to our tables. There seemed to be DISers all over Liberty Tree Tavern!

After dinner was a quick ride on Pirates and then we headed out of the park. We decided once again we would skip Illuminations as we were both beat. I've also got blisters on both my feet from the crocs so back to gym shoes tomorrow.

All in all another great day with friends. Hard to believe the vacation part will be over tomorrow and then we head for home.

 

[ohiominnie]

Far and away the greatest thing about this cruise were the wonderful friends we sailed with.

Sad that the NUMBER 1 thing that made this cruise great wasn't orchestrated by DVC. Guess they let the ball drop this cruise.

Of course, with a group like THIS.....how can that NOT be the best thing?????

 

[mrsdon]

I may get flamed for this, but it makes me so mad that people complain about the gifts we were given.
They didnt have to give us a thing. I loved all the signage and thought it was great. Again, DVC didnt have to do anything.
I liked being able to see the merchandise in the gift shop before buying it and found it worked better...
Just because Jim Lewis was on the ship and giving a talk doesnt mean that he had to make a big announcement. It would have been great if he had, but it was still interesting to hear his talk.
I thought the cruise was awesome and cant wait until they announce a new one.

 

[rkdahl]

I may get flamed for this, but it makes me so mad that people complain about the gifts we were given.
They didnt have to give us a thing. I loved all the signage and thought it was great. Again, DVC didnt have to do anything.

We absolutely loved the cruise and the many gifts! However, I have to agree that a bit more thought needs to be given to the logistics of members getting the gifts home. We had no choice but to leave much of our gifts behind. We flew to Orlando and we each had one suitcase with some space available. But there was no way we could get the albums, Mickey boxes, stationary, pin boxes, etc packed so we could travel home. We would be over our limit on volume and weight at the airlines. We gave some of our gifts to others who were driving and left some gifts behind.

So please don't take this as we didn't appreciate or enjoy the gifts. We loved them! But with maybe a 'member home shipping option' we could have kept everything. So with some additional DVC staff thought to the logistics of air travel or to the physical size/weight of gifts this could easily be made a dream come true!

 

[Donna]

We absolutely loved the cruise and the many gifts! However, I have to agree that a bit more thought needs to be geiven to the logistics of members getting the gifts home. We had no choice but to leave much of our gifts behind. We flew to Orlando and we each had one suitcase with some space available. But there was no way we could get the albums, Mickey boxes, stationary, pin boxes, etc packed so we could travel home. We would be over our limit on volume and weight at the airlines. We gave some of our gifts to others who were driving and left some gifts behind.

So please don't take this as we didn't appreciate or enjoy the gifts. We loved them! But with maybe a 'member home shipping option' we could have kept everything. So with some additional DVC staff thought to the logistics of air travel or to the physical size/weight of gifts this could easily be made a dream come true!

You can't ship from the gift shop like you do at disney world? If not, i think i would have bought a small piece of luggage or whatever size it would take to get the stuff home. You paid extra for that cruise and its a shame you couldn't take it all home.

 

[LindaBabe]

We absolutely loved the cruise and the many gifts! However, I have to agree that a bit more thought needs to be geiven to the logistics of members getting the gifts home. We had no choice but to leave much of our gifts behind. We flew to Orlando and we each had one suitcase with some space available. But there was no way we could get the albums, Mickey boxes, stationary, pin boxes, etc packed so we could travel home. We would be over our limit on volume and weight at the airlines. We gave some of our gifts to others who were driving and left some gifts behind.

So please don't take this as we didn't appreciate or enjoy the gifts. We loved them! But with maybe a 'member home shipping option' we could have kept everything. So with some additional DVC staff thought to the logistics of air travel or to the physical size/weight of gifts this could easily be made a dream come true!

I sure hope Disney doesn't pay attentio to this post!!! It would have been a simple matter to buy another bag of some sort, or even ask for a carton one could seal shut and take as luggage.

 

[chrissybear]

Thank you to all the cruisers that posted pics of the gifts and kept me informed of all that was happening on the ship. I was looking foreward to hearing some kind of special announcement from Jim Lewis, so I was a little bummed that that didn't happen. We went last year and had a great time. I loved getting surprises in our cabin every day, it just made it so much more magical.
Thanks again for taking the time to keep us informed!