Wonder ~ February 6 2011 ~ Mexican Riviera

[bethnkatesmom]

I was in my reservations today and realized that our cruise is 100 days out!
That means tomorrow we will be in the double digits

1. Are we going to do fish extenders?

2. Does Disney send any information with excursions and stuff prior to being able to book? I asked when I made my final payment and they said they should be sending something mid October but I have yet to see anything. I know you can view everything on line but I was hoping for something that we could sit down with as a family and decide.

3. Do all of you have passports? My husband and I have them but the girls don't. We keep tossing it around and I think at this point we are going to skip theirs but I am nervouse about them changing the policy or something. Just looking for reassurance from others I guess.

 

[moomy-san]

1. Are we going to do fish extenders?

2. Does Disney send any information with excursions and stuff prior to being able to book? I asked when I made my final payment and they said they should be sending something mid October but I have yet to see anything. I know you can view everything on line but I was hoping for something that we could sit down with as a family and decide.

3. Do all of you have passports? My husband and I have them but the girls don't. We keep tossing it around and I think at this point we are going to skip theirs but I am nervouse about them changing the policy or something. Just looking for reassurance from others I guess.

1.
I would LOVE to try fish extenders. I'm thinking we should decide soon- 100 days isn't really that long!
2. We checked out what we could on the Disney cruise line site- Do you know if there are more 'disney' port excursions than what Disney lists under "port adventures' in each port?
3. We are coming from Canada so can't help you there- we have to have passports!

 

[Twohsieh]

Hello everyone! We just booked our 1st Disney cruise to sail to the MR on Feb 6th. We can't wait to sail! Our family consists of Me, DH, DS (5), DS (3) & DD (1.5). We are also taking my parents along for their first cruise. We booked a 2BR Suite so that we can all stay in one cabin. My kids will so excited when they get on the ship-I can't wait to see their little faces light up. Wishing everyone a fabulous time on the cruise.

 

[sduffee]

Hey everybody!
We're complete newbies to the cruise experience, so the family is super excited! Our family consists of, me, DH, DD(15) and DD(13)!

Has anybody else been on Disney's Mexican Riviera cruise before? If so, are there any shore excursions you would recommend? Also, is anybody else concerned about the recent violence thats taking place in Mexico, and the potential safety concerns? (Not that it's stopping us from going)

We were also wondering what a fish extender is? We've been seeing the word a lot on the forums and are curious.

Any tips for first time cruisers?


We're all super excited!

Sonya

 

[klees81]

Were also cruising for our first time and I'm interested in doing the fish extenders. But I'm unsure how it works? Can anyone give a brief description of what your suppose to do? Thanks!!!

 

[familyfun5]

We have more people!!!! Hi all and welcome.

Here is the overall understanding I have. Right outside your cabin will be a metal fish. This is where the ship may deliver mail to you; in the fish’s mouth. Way back when someone had the idea to hang pockets from the fish, thus a fish extender(we have brought slip ties to hang). Some of these attachments are very creative and include names, dates……. some can be purchased on line, homemade; I have also seen people just use a bag.

The “fish extender” group is where people have agreed prior to cruising to participate in a kind of secret Santa, dropping these items in the “fish extender” right outside someone’s door. People have given their room number, names, kids ages and sex. Some give all the information some less. It is really your comfort level. If someone is doing a customized gift they can personal message someone for specific personal information rather than sharing it to everyone. For instance one trip someone made luggage tags that were awesome and I have them still on waiting for our next trip. Someone else did customized shirts. Others just some pirate items from Oriental Trading. All is fun, exciting and thoughtful.

Some people get very extensive and pricey. Some do individuals for everyone in the cabin. Others may just put together a “cruise safety pack” with a snack, highlighter (for the activity schedule) band aids, seasickness… I have had door magnets, post cards from home towns, maple syrup from someone in Main. Some do one item for everyone in the cabin, others have focused only on kids (or adults if only adults are cruising and participating).

I have done three; there has never been any frowning on those who do more and those who have done less. Just the excitement is great and should fit your budget with no pressure to be more extensive than comfortable. It adds a nice excitement to the trip. Careful though as It can be time intensive especially with a large group. To combat larger groups people have divided groups up. Also to remember is a little goes long ways so no need to be crafty if you don’t want to be or pack a ton.

Search back through the pages and you will find a lot of information and I hope others will join in with their thoughts.

I would like to do it as we are bringing my sons 12yr friend and I think the experience will add some magic.

 

[bethnkatesmom]

Familyfun5 thanks for your reply. You seem to be the only one of us that has experience in this area. Are you assigned a family and you give that family something every day or are you assigned a day and give everyone who is participating something? Sorry I am still not that clear.

Are you willing to organize it? I want to get moving on my stuff.

 

[klees81]

@ familyfun5 Thanks so much for explaining Fe's!! Yes, I would love to do this I have a 1 1/2 year old, I think he would love running down the hall ways putting gifts in ppls Fe's!

 

[familyfun5]

Distribution is what everyone decides on. Some do specific days others just when they get to it. Some have chosen to do something small every day. The down side is that it can be time consuming and becomes a lot to pack. The great thing about the fish extender is there are no rules. If everyone decides on specific days then that works. If not, no problem. You can have everyone assigned a family but usually not. I did one fish extender where everyone had a list of say 15 cabins. Some chose to just see each as a cabin, some did something for each individual and others just the kids; all on the same sailing. It did not matter what you individually chose to commit to and no one had to agree. The understanding was to have fun. People do what they are comfortable with. Then a select few (not everyone who did the fish extender) chose to up the ante with an actual “secret Santa” and had a limit of $10 for the cabin they were given.

There are a few fish extender threads going in the first three pages. These have pictures and ideas. It has been a while since I have read through them so I am not sure of what ideas people have found the most enjoyable arrangement.

For instance I would vote on who wants to participate, and then we create a list. It would have dis-name, cabin #, and ages in the cabin. Some add names but that would be a comfort level and is not needed. Then each would participate to the extent that they are comfortable. The only caveat is that if you are on the list to receive you are expected to also give. That does not mean if I give something for each person you are obligated to give something for each person in my cabin. Yet, the very least expected would be something for each cabin on the list. We would also have a cutoff for when to stop adding participants. Some like this so they can order items. Keep in mind that a few will add after this deadline so some anticipate this and have room to add say 3-5 more but then note that they can no longer accommodate more especially when there is only two weeks till sail. Others stay with the deadline. All ideas should be considered and we craft our own event. We can have a fish extender with as little as two cabins and I have heard as much as 100 cabins, but that is a huge commitment.

Ideas?

 

[moomy-san]

Groups of @20 seem like a good number. That would make it much more manageable for us!

I've never cruised before but FE's sound like such fun... Somebody please organize it!

 

[familyfun5]

I would be happy to organize a fish extender if no one else would like to? If anyone wants a cutoff date let us all know. If no one else would like to organize this then just post your desire to participate, and information, then I will compile a list.

Here is my information to get everything started.

Familyfun5 - cabin 1 gty to be announced--- Me (Joleen, 36), DH (Gary 42), DS (Jackson 2 ½), DD (Sailor 1 ½)

Cabin 2 gty to be announced ----DM (my mom Jennifer, 61), DG (my grandmother Dorothy 84), DS (Seth 13), SBF (sons best friend, Mac 12)

 

[moomy-san]

Count us in on the FE's

Here is our info:
First cruise!
Myself- Roxanne
Husband-Mike
DD1 Miss M (10)
DD2 Miss D (6)

Cabin GTY

 

[bethnkatesmom]

We are in cabin 7500
Myself (Dawn age 33)
DH (Pete age 34)
DD (Bethany age 7)
DD (Kaitlyn age 7)

 

[pppiglet]

Woo hoo! I just booked our Palo Brunch and Dinner and an excursion for Puerto Vallarta! We'll be on our way before you know it.

 

[totallymickey]

I booked Palo Brunch, Palo Dinner, Puerta Vallarta and Cabo excursions yesterday also. Which Puerta Vallarta excursion did you book? We booked the Pirate cruise and the whale watching in Cabo.

 

[pppiglet]

We booked the Las Caletas tour. If we get back early enough and aren't too tired we will walk to the Krystal Hotel by the ship and have some Pina Colada's. We've been there every trip to PV so far.

Cabo and Maz. doing on our own. Thought about doing the Pacifico Brewery tour, but we will probably just go to Stone Island and relax. Cabo probably a water taxi to Medano Beach.

 

[bethnkatesmom]

Do you guys know something I don't? I didn't think I could book anything until November 23. Is that because we have never cruised Disney before?

 

[pppiglet]

We've cruised before so we were able to book a few weeks earlier.

 

[totallymickey]

We have never done a Mexican Riviera cruise before. Looks like you know the area well. So ready for a vacation, just staying on the ship with cocktails would be great!

 

[Twohsieh]

We would love to be a part of the FE's! Here is our info:

Room 8016

Myself: Tina
DH: Brian
DS1: Ryder (age 5)
DS2: Hunter (age 3)
DD: Kiara (age 1.5)

Plus, we have my parents with us on their first cruise too.