Trip Number Ten ~ We're Going Again! Plus a side trip!

[Momof2Disneyboys]

good night Shelly! I just saw how many posts you have!!!!!!


I know, I'm quite chatty!!


Hope your boys have a great first day!!

Thanks! I'm nervous for them. First day of HS and MS. It's going to be a long day for me...

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

I am sure they will be fine! Those are both daunting to enter into, but your kids are good kids and will find their way!! I remember how nervous we were entering High School!! By the 2nd day it was so much easier...we didnt really have anything before school started to ease us into being in the new building or anything...not like they do now....the school our boys' are in has a Launch day the day before it starts, they go to each classroom and get their books, are assigned the locker #, get their yearbook photo taken and all the moms are wandering around visiting and meeting any new teachers...it makes Day one so much easier!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I hope that you keep busy today so you won't be worried about the boys. Your boys seem to be those that will get along with anybody so I'm sure they will be fine. This is an exciting time for them but as mothers, it's hard for us to see them grow up so fast.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Please let us know when you do a TR! I'd love to hear all about your cruise. An Alaskan cruise is something I've been dying to do for a few years. I know my DH would love it, but there is one big hurdle: he gets very seasick and I can't get him to agree......yet! Neither of us has ever been on a cruise before. He's such a nature lover and outdoorsman that I just know he would love the scenery in Alaska. And me too! (to explain, he has never been on a cruise but has been very seasick on off-shore fishing trips). Everyone keeps saying you shouldn't feel anythig on a big ship. Was that true for you?

I do tend toward motion sickness and use dramamine (non drowsy) on our other cruises. I even take it if I know I'm going on some of the wilder rides (for me that's BTMRR). BUT on this cruise, you are in very calm waters for the most part. I have been on the Wonder to the Bahamas, and the Dream too, and felt it more there. In the inside passage to Alaska, it's very calm and I did not take Dramamine but one day when we were in more open waters and the Captain said it would be a little rougher - it was only for 1/2 a day. It's definitely a lot calmer than any fishing boat would ever be! Alaska is the one to try!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Shelly - best of luck to both your boys at the new schools today! We are still at our same schools this year. Paige's last year of elementary school! We missed the meet your teacher and all that being on vacation, but she knows her teacher anyway. She just had to lug her supplies today. Sarah got her schedule and locker info from a friend so she has had the weekend to review it and get ready. A neighbor girl told her all her teachers are great! I'm home today, so I can't wait to hear how their days went.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I am sure they will be fine! Those are both daunting to enter into, but your kids are good kids and will find their way!! I remember how nervous we were entering High School!! By the 2nd day it was so much easier...we didnt really have anything before school started to ease us into being in the new building or anything...not like they do now....the school our boys' are in has a Launch day the day before it starts, they go to each classroom and get their books, are assigned the locker #, get their yearbook photo taken and all the moms are wandering around visiting and meeting any new teachers...it makes Day one so much easier!

I hope that you keep busy today so you won't be worried about the boys. Your boys seem to be those that will get along with anybody so I'm sure they will be fine. This is an exciting time for them but as mothers, it's hard for us to see them grow up so fast.

Thanks! I know they will be fine, it's just hard. Lots more for them to do and remember on their own, new buildings, new buses, etc.

DS14 did have a Freshmen Day, last Thursday. That's actually the reason that we went to WDW the week before, otherwise we would have been there last week! So, he had a short run through of his schedule and classes and locker assignment and all that. And the MS had an Open House one night last week. I still think DS11 is going to get lost! But, he's not he type to really get too upset over things like that, so I'm sure he will be fine!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Shelly - best of luck to both your boys at the new schools today! We are still at our same schools this year. Paige's last year of elementary school! We missed the meet your teacher and all that being on vacation, but she knows her teacher anyway. She just had to lug her supplies today. Sarah got her schedule and locker info from a friend so she has had the weekend to review it and get ready. A neighbor girl told her all her teachers are great! I'm home today, so I can't wait to hear how their days went.

Thanks Sheree!

It's just a big transition year for them both, so I'm a little nervous. Tell Paige to enjoy her last year of elementary school!! It goes by so fast.

I'm home today too, probably would have been better if I had worked!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I hope Shelly doesn't mind us getting off topic here, but since we're just sort of hanging out and waiting for her TR to begin, I'll chime in on this one...

You WILL feel the ship moving but nothing like you do on a deep sea fishing boat. I too get very seasick (found that out on my first cruise), but my doctor gave me a motion sickness patch to wear behind my ear for our second cruise and I didn't feel sick at all on that sailing. I never even felt queasy or disoriented. It was FABULOUS! I will never again sail without that patch!

My cruising advice would be to start small. I'd go on the 3 night cruise or something like that. Then you won't be trapped on the ship for an entire week if it turns out not to be your thing. You also won't have much money invested in it either if it's a bust! I would also HIGHLY recommend the staterooms with verandas. It helps tremendously to be able to step outside your room to get some fresh air (the cabins are small) and to be able to see the horizon line. Just having that as a steady focal point makes a huge difference in how the movement of the ship makes you feel. We stayed in an inside cabin on the first cruise and I always felt so disoriented because I had no point of reference for where we were.

Anyway, I hope you can talk your hubby into it. I swore after the first cruise (without the patch and in the inside stateroom) that I would never sail again! Thankfully my DH pushed me to give it another shot, and the second time was the charm! We love it so much that we are going for our 3rd cruise next month!

Good luck!!!

Rinky, I'm so happy to hear that you gave cruising another try and loved the outcome. As you may remember, our first cruise ended on a sour note but only because of John's epilepsy problems. I really really want to try again but haven't quite talked John into it yet.

Which cruise did you take the second go-round?

**Shelly, thanks for letting us chat about cruising.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I hate the first day of school!!! I worry about DS12 all the time. I'll be glad when this day is over too.

I'm sure your boys are fine.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

We did the 3-night Bahamas cruise both times and that's what we are doing next month too. That one just seems like the right amount of time for us and it's the least expensive option too. I'd like to try the Eastern Caribbean because I really like the ports but I'm just hesitant about being on the ship for a week. I'm not worried so much about motion sickness now that I know about the patch, but more concerned that we would get bored. I know that must sound crazy to some people but after you are used to the go, go, go of WDW, a week on a ship just seems 'limiting'. Who knows though, we might give it a go. I'd really like to do the Alaska cruise but getting there is a major issue. The airfare would almost cost as much as the cruise.

I hope you can talk John into trying another cruise. Sometimes it's just one of those things that needs more than one run at it. I'd say if you go twice and it doesn't work out, then you can say that you gave it a fair shot and it's just not your thing. I hate your husband had health problems on the ship though. I know that had to be scary. I always worry about stuff like that. When you are that far away from civilization, those types of issues become much bigger than they are on land. But give it some more time and maybe he'll soften up to the idea.

 

[JoBird]

What up y'all?!?!



I'm in AK and its so uncrowded we feel like we have the park to ourselves! Rode EE, Safari, Dinosaur, primeval hurl twice, triceratops spin, Belle got her face painted, and now we are having lunch-- all before 11 am!!

Hope everyone is having a good week! Shelly let me know how the first day goes!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I was just coming on here to say that I have been talking to Jodi all morning and that they are having an awesome day at AK, but I see she beat me to it!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

We did the 3-night Bahamas cruise both times and that's what we are doing next month too. That one just seems like the right amount of time for us and it's the least expensive option too. I'd like to try the Eastern Caribbean because I really like the ports but I'm just hesitant about being on the ship for a week. I'm not worried so much about motion sickness now that I know about the patch, but more concerned that we would get bored. I know that must sound crazy to some people but after you are used to the go, go, go of WDW, a week on a ship just seems 'limiting'. Who knows though, we might give it a go. I'd really like to do the Alaska cruise but getting there is a major issue. The airfare would almost cost as much as the cruise.

I hope you can talk John into trying another cruise. Sometimes it's just one of those things that needs more than one run at it. I'd say if you go twice and it doesn't work out, then you can say that you gave it a fair shot and it's just not your thing. I hate your husband had health problems on the ship though. I know that had to be scary. I always worry about stuff like that. When you are that far away from civilization, those types of issues become much bigger than they are on land. But give it some more time and maybe he'll soften up to the idea.

Rinky, we are in the same boat. (no pun intended) I would like to have a bit more time on the ship but aren't sure that we'd want to have that much "relaxation" while on vacation. I wish that the three night Bahama cruises would leave on a Sunday and not Thursday. It would make planning our two week trip a lot easier. I priced out a short stay at WDW, the cruise and then return to WDW and it's a lot higher than just staying at WDW the whole time or even going on the cruise and then staying at WDW when we are done.

I can't remember the cost for the three of us to cruise to Alaska but I do remember that airfare was just about the same as the entire cruise. Plus, we'd have to stay in Vancouver for a night before and possibly after.

John was going through some medication changes and we thought that everything would be fine since it had been at home. But, I guess the hustle and bustle of getting to Florida and being someplace totally out of our comfort zone is what threw him off. He's actually starting to come around to the idea of trying it again. I don't think that it will be in 2014 but possibly 2015.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Glad Jodi is having such a great time!!!

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Lisa: Have you considered the 4-night Bahamian cruise? That would give you an extra day. There's no extra port, but you get an additional day on the ship. Some of the itineraries have changed for 2013/2014, but I know the 4-night cruise (Dream) used to set sail on a Sunday (Sun-Thur).

I'm glad to hear that John is warming up to the idea of going again. Hopefully it was just the medication change that gave him problems and not the motion. I'll give you the name of my patch if you think it might be something that would help. You could at least ask your doctor about it if you want to. It's called 'Transderm-Scop 1.5mg/72hr'. It looks like a little round band aid and you stick it behind your ear about 2 hours before boarding the ship. You can hardly see it. You change it every 3 days. I left mine on for an entire day after we got off the ship and I didn't even have that rocking that you feel for days after coming back on land. It was fantastic!!! Never ever ever sailing again without it! I have no idea if John could even use it with his other medical issues, but I think it's worth asking about anyway.



Jodi: So glad to hear you are having a great time! I am so jealous whenever I hear 'it's like we have the park all to ourselves!'. We've experienced that a few times and it is priceless!!! Have fun!!!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

What up y'all?!?!



I'm in AK and its so uncrowded we feel like we have the park to ourselves! Rode EE, Safari, Dinosaur, primeval hurl twice, triceratops spin, Belle got her face painted, and now we are having lunch-- all before 11 am!!

Hope everyone is having a good week! Shelly let me know how the first day goes!

yay! So glad you are enjoying low crowds! Have fun!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Lisa: Have you considered the 4-night Bahamian cruise? That would give you an extra day. There's no extra port, but you get an additional day on the ship. Some of the itineraries have changed for 2013/2014, but I know the 4-night cruise (Dream) used to set sail on a Sunday (Sun-Thur).

I'm glad to hear that John is warming up to the idea of going again. Hopefully it was just the medication change that gave him problems and not the motion. I'll give you the name of my patch if you think it might be something that would help. You could at least ask your doctor about it if you want to. It's called 'Transderm-Scop 1.5mg/72hr'. It looks like a little round band aid and you stick it behind your ear about 2 hours before boarding the ship. You can hardly see it. You change it every 3 days. I left mine on for an entire day after we got off the ship and I didn't even have that rocking that you feel for days after coming back on land. It was fantastic!!! Never ever ever sailing again without it! I have no idea if John could even use it with his other medical issues, but I think it's worth asking about anyway.



Jodi: So glad to hear you are having a great time! I am so jealous whenever I hear 'it's like we have the park all to ourselves!'. We've experienced that a few times and it is priceless!!! Have fun!!!

That's the cruise that I have been looking at. If we were to book that in May, 2014, our two week trip would be approximately $1,750 more than two whole weeks staying at Caribbean Beach, tickets, dining plan and all. The prices went up since the initial booking date by about $200. I know that there's no way that we'd want to stay in an inside stateroom. We stayed in the room with a window with seating and it was great. I'd love to book a verandah but it would be even more. I'm stretching our budget as it is.

Thanks for the info on the patch. I'm going to make a note of it and put it in my Disney cruise file. Yep, I have a cruise file, a Disney World reservations file and a miscellaneous Disney file. Obsessed? Just a tad.

I honestly think that the issues that arose were associated with John's medication change. They were weaning him off one and putting him on another and it's always tricky around that time. But, when we booked, we had no idea that he would be going through the transition. Thankfully, it only caused problems during the last day.


Jodi: I'm super duper jealous that you're in Disney right now and I'm behind this darn office desk. It sounds like ya'll are having a great time and, wow, you're getting a lot accomplished in so little time.

 

[rusafee1183]

I'd love to hear about your cruise, too! Not to hijack Shelly's TR , but can you tell me a little about what cruise line/ship and itinerary you chose?

Thanks!

No problem! If Shelly's OK with the hijack, I could chat cruising all day!

Well, for starters we sailed on the Norwegian Pearl, and unfortunately it was not a great experience. This was our first time sailing with them, and will definitely never go back. I have sailed Princess once, and my DH and I have sailed DCL twice before. Some people may enjoy the whole "Freestyle" cruising - but to us, it felt like a cop out and it made it so the staff wasn't never really accountable for their actions.

I wrote a report about it on the Dis if you are interested. I went into a little bit of detail, but this still only really glazes over of the bad experiences we all had.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3116247

So - aside from the cruiseline... Alaska was absolutely stunning, and I would recommend for anyone to visit once in their lifetime. Even if you're not a big cold weather person. It's not nearly as bad as you think it will be, even in the very beginning of the season when we were still waiting for some things to thaw. We also chose an itinerary that sailed in Mid-May (12th - 19th) to try and save money. It is the very beginning of the season, so it definitely was cheaper than sailing in July or August. If you can afford it, I would recommend going in August, because that will be salmon spawning season and you will see a lot more wildlife. The bears were not out yet in May, because the salmon weren't moving much while we were there. We did see a few moose, a whale, a few seals and some eagles - but not nearly as much wildlife as if you would go later on in the year.

Our itinerary sailed from Vancouver and we stopped in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Victoria and we ended in Seattle. We also had a day of "scenic cruising" that took us through Glacier Bay, which was probably the best day of the whole trip. I enjoyed every single port for different reasons. In Juneau, we went to see the Mendenhall glacier and it was amazing. In Ketchikan, we just walked around the port area and went to a place called "Creek Street" where all of the businesses are set up on stilts. They even have a mini incline that takes you to the top of the hill, and it felt like home for me (we're from Pittsburgh).... Skagway, we did a wonderful tour up into the Yukon territory to Emerald lake, and saw some absolutely jaw dropping scenery on the way (if you end up going here, let me know and I can recommend the tour company - they were AWESOME! ) ... and in Victoria, we just walked around and went to Fisherman's wharf to see all of the painted houseboats and grabbed some fish and chips. By that day, we were poor and didn't want to spend too much more money. LOL.

When we disembarked, my husband and I spent the day walking around Seattle, and saw Pike Place Market, the Space Needle and a lot of really cool areas around the wharf before flying home late that night.

My absolute biggest recommendation is to try and make sure that you choose an itinerary that sails Glacier Bay. Especially if you have a room with a balcony. The best thing we did the whole trip was have the door open while we sat on the balcony or in the room while sailing between all those glaciers. We grabbed coffee and just sat and watched. It was just incredible.

I'll try to post some pictures tonight!

 

[T*Bird]

Go ahead ladies!! Talk about cruising as much as you want!

Thanks, Shelly! I learn so much about traveling from other Dis'ers!

The kids went back to school this morning , so it's a pretty quiet day here. Maybe I'll get some more done on the TR so I can get it up and running soon!

Oh my goodness, HS and MS! That is a big change for both boys! I remember when you were worried about DS14's first day of MS. Time flies! And if I remember correctly, you were a little concerned after a day or two, but then it was smooth sailing. Speaking of sailing.......J/K I hope they both have great first days! At least you have Jack to keep you company. How sweet that he misses the boys. I bet he goes crazy when they get off the bus. I assume they ride different buses?? So who gets home first?

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Oh my goodness, HS and MS! That is a big change for both boys! I remember when you were worried about DS14's first day of MS. Time flies! And if I remember correctly, you were a little concerned after a day or two, but then it was smooth sailing. Speaking of sailing.......J/K I hope they both have great first days! At least you have Jack to keep you company. How sweet that he misses the boys. I bet he goes crazy when they get off the bus. I assume they ride different buses?? So who gets home first?

Yes, huge changes for both of them this year. DS14 didn't adjust too well to MS. It took about 2 weeks before he wasn't coming home upset everyday. That's why I'm worried. He's not big on change!!

Poor Jack wants to sit in the window all day and wait on them! He HATES the bus and goes completely nuts when he see it!

They will actually be on the same bus now. DS11 will ride a bus from the MS to the HS, and then transfer to our bus home. He will be on the bus for a long time, but he wanted to try it out today to see what it was like and so he would know how to do it. It's pretty likely that I will end up picking him up a lot of the time. I did it for DS14 his whole time in the MS because the bus ride is just too long by the time they bus them over to the HS, then wait on the HS to be let out, and those kids to board the bus, and then start the route home. Plus the MS is like 4 minutes from our house!