Wonderful Panama Canal Sept 2014

[Baysurf]

I cannot open the Linked Dining on page 1; anyone else having trouble? If I could open it, I could try to find or figure out some sort of group seating. First, I need to open it!
On a cruise I went on with my sister, there was a large group who sat near us - maybe 40 people. They were assigned several tables, with the same wait staff, and on different nights they moved seats/tables just amongst their own group to mix and mingle. Would people be ok with that? Again, someone who can open the document would need to try to arrange this. If I can get into it, I will do it.

That sounds like a great idea Maria!

 

[missjudit]

I have the list of those who would like to dine together. If you have previously signed up, please add your DisBoard name to that list and then PM your cabin #, reservation # and any other info you deem relevant that is not on that list! The sooner the better so that I can contact DCL and try to coordinate!

We are all set with our dining arrangements and are really excited about this cruise
Judi

 

[kayaker35]

I seem to have had a serious memory lapse . Many months ago when I volunteered to set up a spreadsheet of those who wanted to sit together, I guess I had the thought that it would be easy to pair people up with other compatible tablemates. As it turns out, the Googledoc I came up with didn’t really have enough information on it to do any kind of matching up. This was totally my own fault, of course. In my quest to keep the information private, I eliminated any chance of being able to do logical match-ups .

As time went on, my own thinking evolved into the list being simply a reference list for those who wanted tablemates from the forum group. Each person could look at the list and find people from the forum whose posts they’d read or responded to…. So that they felt they knew them well enough to be able to judge whether or not they wanted to spend 14 nights dining with them. I believe that most of the people who requested the url of the spreadsheet…… at least those who signed up in the past few months….got that impression. Because the default settings on the forum are evidently set to not save sent private messages , I don’t know when I started making this clear.

In my recent posts on the subject, I’ve said that people should decide who from the list they wanted to join for dining and forward their reservation numbers to one TA or DCL for each table that was completed. I’m sorry that this deviated from what the original intent of the list was stated to be on Page One. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you all better so that I could have actually made logical table groupings. It is my fault for not making the spreadsheet information more comprehensive. To make good on the original intent of the list; if anyone on the list would still like me to make random assignments, please forward me your reservation numbers by private message and I will contact DCL to make up the tables in groups no larger than eight people, depending on how many people want me to do this. Keep in mind that this will be random. If you have made an acquaintance with anyone on the forum and would like to sit with them, it would make sense for you get together and forward your reservation numbers to your travel agent or DCL on your own.

It appears that Maria (mmbl) has an alternative idea on how to handle the seating as well….with flexible seating that will periodically rotate people from one table to another during the cruise. I don’t know how this will work with DCL, but if that’s entirely up to the people concerned, and those interested in that should contact Maria directly. What you decide to do is entirely up to you.

The bottom line is that I’m sorry about not being able to follow through with the original intent of the list as stated on Page One. In retrospect, I should have either revised the spreadsheet to include much more information so that logical matches could have been made on age, table size preference, etc….. or I should have had the mission statement on Page One changed to reflect the reality of the situation. If I just went down the list and made up tables of four, six, or eight at random, it wouldn’t be any different than if DCL did the same thing.

Karen

 

[Futurist]

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

to all the Americans on our cruise!

 

[Cruisin]

HAPPY 4th of JULY!

to all the Americans on our cruise!

Enjoy your day!

 

[firepuppy]

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

 

[mesta]

We live in north Orange County, just about 15 minutes from Disneyland. What about you? The kids will be excited to have playmates at the club!

We are in north san diego! what type of shore excursions (if any) are you planning with your 3 yr old. (we are going to attempt to teach our kids to snorkel in the pool today) I have high hopes but... we will see
-megan

 

[KyCruisinSusan]

I have the list of those who would like to dine together. If you have previously signed up, please add your DisBoard name to that list and then PM your cabin #, reservation # and any other info you deem relevant that is not on that list! The sooner the better so that I can contact DCL and try to coordinate!

I sent you a PM Maria but it really doesn't matter who we sit with for meals. If it easier to just leave it to DCL that is fine as well. As long as mother and I are together we will be happy.

I seem to have had a serious memory lapse . Many months ago when I volunteered to set up a spreadsheet of those who wanted to sit together, I guess I had the thought that it would be easy to pair people up with other compatible tablemates. As it turns out, the Googledoc I came up with didn’t really have enough information on it to do any kind of matching up. This was totally my own fault, of course. In my quest to keep the information private, I eliminated any chance of being able to do logical match-ups .

As time went on, my own thinking evolved into the list being simply a reference list for those who wanted tablemates from the forum group. Each person could look at the list and find people from the forum whose posts they’d read or responded to…. So that they felt they knew them well enough to be able to judge whether or not they wanted to spend 14 nights dining with them. I believe that most of the people who requested the url of the spreadsheet…… at least those who signed up in the past few months….got that impression. Because the default settings on the forum are evidently set to not save sent private messages , I don’t know when I started making this clear.

In my recent posts on the subject, I’ve said that people should decide who from the list they wanted to join for dining and forward their reservation numbers to one TA or DCL for each table that was completed. I’m sorry that this deviated from what the original intent of the list was stated to be on Page One. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you all better so that I could have actually made logical table groupings. It is my fault for not making the spreadsheet information more comprehensive. To make good on the original intent of the list; if anyone on the list would still like me to make random assignments, please forward me your reservation numbers by private message and I will contact DCL to make up the tables in groups no larger than eight people, depending on how many people want me to do this. Keep in mind that this will be random. If you have made an acquaintance with anyone on the forum and would like to sit with them, it would make sense for you get together and forward your reservation numbers to your travel agent or DCL on your own.

It appears that Maria (mmbl) has an alternative idea on how to handle the seating as well….with flexible seating that will periodically rotate people from one table to another during the cruise. I don’t know how this will work with DCL, but if that’s entirely up to the people concerned, and those interested in that should contact Maria directly. What you decide to do is entirely up to you.

The bottom line is that I’m sorry about not being able to follow through with the original intent of the list as stated on Page One. In retrospect, I should have either revised the spreadsheet to include much more information so that logical matches could have been made on age, table size preference, etc….. or I should have had the mission statement on Page One changed to reflect the reality of the situation. If I just went down the list and made up tables of four, six, or eight at random, it wouldn’t be any different than if DCL did the same thing.

Karen

Karen don't beat yourself up so much, your intentions were good.

 

[kerstfan1]

I sent you a PM Maria but it really doesn't matter who we sit with for meals. If it easier to just leave it to DCL that is fine as well. As long as mother and I are together we will be happy.

Karen don't beat yourself up so much, your intentions were good.

Same here it will all work out

 

[mmbl]

I seem to have had a serious memory lapse . Many months ago when I volunteered to set up a spreadsheet of those who wanted to sit together, I guess I had the thought that it would be easy to pair people up with other compatible tablemates. As it turns out, the Googledoc I came up with didn’t really have enough information on it to do any kind of matching up. This was totally my own fault, of course. In my quest to keep the information private, I eliminated any chance of being able to do logical match-ups . As time went on, my own thinking evolved into the list being simply a reference list for those who wanted tablemates from the forum group. Each person could look at the list and find people from the forum whose posts they’d read or responded to…. So that they felt they knew them well enough to be able to judge whether or not they wanted to spend 14 nights dining with them. I believe that most of the people who requested the url of the spreadsheet…… at least those who signed up in the past few months….got that impression. Because the default settings on the forum are evidently set to not save sent private messages , I don’t know when I started making this clear. In my recent posts on the subject, I’ve said that people should decide who from the list they wanted to join for dining and forward their reservation numbers to one TA or DCL for each table that was completed. I’m sorry that this deviated from what the original intent of the list was stated to be on Page One. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you all better so that I could have actually made logical table groupings. It is my fault for not making the spreadsheet information more comprehensive. To make good on the original intent of the list; if anyone on the list would still like me to make random assignments, please forward me your reservation numbers by private message and I will contact DCL to make up the tables in groups no larger than eight people, depending on how many people want me to do this. Keep in mind that this will be random. If you have made an acquaintance with anyone on the forum and would like to sit with them, it would make sense for you get together and forward your reservation numbers to your travel agent or DCL on your own. It appears that Maria (mmbl) has an alternative idea on how to handle the seating as well….with flexible seating that will periodically rotate people from one table to another during the cruise. I don’t know how this will work with DCL, but if that’s entirely up to the people concerned, and those interested in that should contact Maria directly. What you decide to do is entirely up to you. The bottom line is that I’m sorry about not being able to follow through with the original intent of the list as stated on Page One. In retrospect, I should have either revised the spreadsheet to include much more information so that logical matches could have been made on age, table size preference, etc….. or I should have had the mission statement on Page One changed to reflect the reality of the situation. If I just went down the list and made up tables of four, six, or eight at random, it wouldn’t be any different than if DCL did the same thing. Karen

Karen, I only volunteered to try to group when you said you didn't think you could. I have several messages waiting for me, but if you want to handle this, I have no problem NOT doing it. As I said, I was just stepping in to fill a void. If you are going to handle it, I am, hopefully, gracefully backing out! Since it's late and we had a very busy day, I'll check my messages tomorrow and then let them and you know what we need to do with whoever messaged.

Hope everyone had an nice Independence Day! We had the kids, grandkids over; lots of pool fun, sunshine, great food and ending with sparklers and neighborhood fireworks. Our 6 yr old grandson got the historical basics of the Revolution, the Constitution, and exactly why we use fireworks to celebrate. So, a pretty much perfect day!

 

[ozzielee]

Have a very excited 5yr old year old here. This will be our first family trip on a cruise ship not to mention traveling all the way from Australia. Our daughter can't wait to meet other kids and play with them. For shore excursions and idea on what ones a 5yr would like ?

 

[mmbl]

Just sent you a pm with the url. I don't know how confusing the mixing and mingling would be, but would probably have to be done after the fact, depending on how the dining staff felt about it. We did "anytime dining" on our Princess cruises. That was great, since we chose to eat with people we met, or to take a random seating each time we went to the dining rooms.... or we could eat at the buffet and not feel we were deserting our tablemates. Karen

Karen, I'm messaging you about DINING. I think between us, we'll have it figured out.

 

[kayaker35]

Not to worry, Maria. I got your PM. Just to set the record straight, I'm sorry if I came off as critical of you in my previous post.... that wasn't my intention. I was apologizing for obviously dropping the ball on doing what I initially set out to do, but somehow forgot the mission I'd originally set out to accomplish . I didn't want to bow out without offering to do what I said I would do.... but I'm appreciative that you've taken on the task, and I'm sure those who remain on the list are appreciative as well. You undoubtedly know people on here better than I do. Part of the problem is that I was not as active a participant here as I should have been to be able to arrange tables with people who would be compatible with each other.

Karen

P.S. Hope everyone survived Arthur with no or minimal damage. We're running on generator power this morning due to his last hurrah hitting Maine and Nova Scotia. Do you worst, Arthur.... I'm still having my morning coffee !!

 

[mesta]

Have a very excited 5yr old year old here. This will be our first family trip on a cruise ship not to mention traveling all the way from Australia. Our daughter can't wait to meet other kids and play with them. For shore excursions and idea on what ones a 5yr would like ?

Hello, my daughters are 5 and nearly 3, we live in san diego. Since our younger daughter isn't old enough for most of the disney excursions, we are planning a couple of our own. We are going to try for a dolphin encounter in puerta vallerta, swimming with rays in cabo san lucas (place I found on trip advisor, looks cool and good for kids), and we will bring our own snorkling stuff for cozumel (floaties too!) and try to find some cool spots on our own or hire our own guide. The girls are practicing their snorkling in the pool to get ready! My 5 year old is super excited to meet your daughter, she wants to know what it is like to be 5 in Australia! ha so cute Hope we can meet up! -Megan

 

[Futurist]

I just checked with DCL, and the Wonder is scheduled to arrive in San Diego at around 6 a.m. on Sept. 12th. Passenger check-in is expected to begin at 11 a.m., and boarding projected some time at or after noon.

If anyone's interested in watching the Wonder arrive I'm sure there are good vantage points at the port! It will be especially easy for those of us from the East coast as we will probably still be waking up really early by local time!

FYI, sunrise on Sept. 12th in San Diego will be at 6:30 a.m., and sunset at 6:59 p.m., so when the Wonder arrives, it will still be dark, and she'll be lit up. Should make for some pretty photos!

Richard

 

[mesta]

Hello, my daughters are 5 and nearly 3, we live in san diego. Since our younger daughter isn't old enough for most of the disney excursions, we are planning a couple of our own. We are going to try for a dolphin encounter in puerta vallerta, swimming with rays in cabo san lucas (place I found on trip advisor, looks cool and good for kids), and we will bring our own snorkling stuff for cozumel (floaties too!) and try to find some cool spots on our own or hire our own guide. The girls are practicing their snorkling in the pool to get ready! My 5 year old is super excited to meet your daughter, she wants to know what it is like to be 5 in Australia! ha so cute Hope we can meet up! -Megan

Sorry the stingray park is in cozumel, then snorkling. I'm still working on cabo if anyone has any great ideas for kids, or else we may be at the beach. But honestly my husband and I would like to find something a little more adventurous for our family.

 

[kerstfan1]

well just over 2 months before i leave to go to san diego it will go even faster when i pass the next 3 weeks at work 23 days with only 6 days off is no fun

 

[Dquintero]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this whole forum and discussion board thing. Actually just found it by accident because I had justo heard of fish extenders and started researching. We will be on the Panama Canal cruise and are very excited. So I just wanted to say hi and how I love reading all this new information although I am a little overwhelmed.

 

[davidls]

Heelllloooooooooooo Everybody!!!!.........................I can't hear you.......I said Heeelllllllooooooooooooooooo Everybody!!! Ok, ok, I see some of you there in the back just mouthing the words.........and you here in the front.........who paid you to scream that loud!!!

Anyways, with our cruise coming up pretty fast now and with the Fish Extender Exchange on most everyone's mind, I want to tell you all a little story. So sit back................get your popcorn ..........get your drinks and sit back to read a sad but true story. (It ain't too sad.....but it is oh so true.) It was the best of times, it was the worse of times....................wait a minute, that ain't right.................it all started with our B2B cruise on the Disney Dream back in 2011. (There that is a better beginning.) Our itinerary was for the 4 day cruise first and then the 3 day. On the 4 day cruise we did not participate in the FE exchange. It was not a very active group here on the DIS Board, but the 3 day cruise was a very active group. So we chose to part take in that FE Exchange. So, after reboarding the dream and we got back into our stateroom I put out our Fish Extender on our fish by our door. Everything went well for the cruise. We had a GREAT time, made some wonderful friends, and as usual the cruise went all too fast. So on our last evening on board the ship, Donna and I were in our stateroom. We decided to start the necessary repacking of our clothes, to put our luggage out by the door later that evening. Upon entering our stateroom I checked our Fish Extender to see if we got any more packages. But alas, it was empty. So after we started packing Donna said, why don't you bring in our Fish Extender and pack that away. Maybe 5 minutes...........5 minutes had passed from us entering the room to me going to the door to take the Fish Extender down. I opened the door and our Fish Extender was gone. Someone had stolen it. Neither of us are very crafty so I bought ours from a very nice lady on Ebay. It was not an expensive Fish Extender, but it was the idea that someone stole it from us. I checked with Guest Services but no one turned anything in. I checked several times before we got off the ship. No luck. So, I mention this to all of you to beware and to take along some of those plastic ties to anchor your Fish Extender to the fish outside of your door. If I had done that we probably would still have that Fish Extender to this day. (But, to add a foot note here, after we got back home, I contacted that same nice lady to make us a new Fish Extender. She had changed her designs since our first one, and now we have a new and improved Fish Extender, that we like even better then the first one!!!) Again, remember those plastic ties!!!

 

[dee slack]

well just over 2 months before i leave to go to san diego it will go even faster when i pass the next 3 weeks at work 23 days with only 6 days off is no fun

That sounds tough, but like you say, it won't be long to wait after that!

Got something else to be excited about in the meantime. We are going to the 2nd stage of Le Tour de France tomorrow as it's very close to where we live in the UK - just a 30 min train ride and we will be in Sheffield to see the finish. First time seeing it live but have watched on Tv for the past 20 years so going to brave the crowds and probably rain to hopefully get a glimpse of some of the riders