Todd, who is the Jerry you refer to? Jerry Garcia? Just wondering.
I'll try to answer a lot of the questions/concerns as they related to the 2005 cruise:
How to pay - all points, all cash or a combination. I paid all cash because of uncertainty of my job at the time of booking. With cash you can cancel I believe up to 6 months before with no penalty. There are some penalties as you get closer and under 60 days it gets significant (can't remember what the penalties were). With points if you cancel they go into a holding account. Also, if paying with the Disney Visa, the 0% and onboard credit did not apply because DVC charters the boat so no special offers allowed. I asked these questions because enquiring minds want to know.
Do tips matter? Yes and no. Depends on your stateroom category. For us in a Cat 11 it made more of a difference in price paid. For a Cat 3 or 4 it wouldn't make as much because of the difference in money paid. I'm not sure if I'm stating my point correctly here.
Pleasure Island party - It rained during this and that took some away from it. There was lemonade and iced tea and donuts in both Mannequins and 8Trax. Everything else was a cash bar. Comedy Warehouse did 3 shows, 1 each at 4:30, 5:30 and 6:30. CW was also a cash bar and that was worth going to. The 5:30 show lasted about 50 minutes. This was a nice effort to provide those arriving early an alternative to going into the parks or just hanging at the resorts.
Lisa0503 - You asked about paying cash vs. points. Also you mentioned having a veranda. I found the Cat 11 perfectly adequate. I was barely in the room other than to use the bathroom, change or sleep. There are so many activities you can't do all of them. I did Art Linkletter, and Ducky Williams during the day and all four nightly shows and the 3 deck parties. Also, Who wants to be a mouseketeer (Millionaire with DVC questions). I barely had time to sleep (overslept Jim Lewis speech but of course heard about it). On a 7 day cruise I can see having a veranda or bigger stateroom with the split bath but not for the shorter cruises especially for the difference in money/points.
Sneaky3 - You asked about dry dock. I asked Captain Henry on the way off if our next cruise would be the first after dry dock. I think he said yes, he said the ship goes into dry dock on October 2nd then I couldn't hear what he said (I didn't want to hold up the line and we had a plane to catch). If it's not the first it will be among the first few.
Johnnie Fedora, jekjones1558 and anyone else on the bubble - This was a truly special cruise and DVC and DCL went above and beyond to make everything perfect for us. Art Linkletter was a very special event and I watched it all night long on channel 15 the last two nights as both it and Jim Lewis' speech were played continously. The personal touch that has sometimes been lacking at WDW the last few years was not at all lacking on this cruise. It was like visiting WDW in the 70s and 80s when the top priority was the guest, not the bottom line. On the last night I met up with Deb Wills by the Internet Cafe and we talked about this very subject. This whole cruise was like the Magic Kingdom night at Member Homecoming, perfect in every way.
I almost forgot to list what we received as gifts (help if I missed something):
Mickey SS Member Cruise Fan/Waving Hand
Mickey Sketch and Pencil Set
DVC Member "I Know the Secret" Beach Bag
Members are Magical Beach Towel
DVC Beach ball (if you took them from the beach at
Castaway Cay)
Mickey Mouse Club ears with Member as the name stitched on the back
Mickey and Minnie Alarm Clock
The Art of DVC book (mine is still sealed so I can't describe what is inside)
SS Member Cruise DVC Members Magnet on the door to each stateroom
Pins each night: black and white marching mickey, pirate mickey with pirate mickey doll, fantasy mickey and sorcerer mickey
Pirate bandanna in your dining room on pirate night
King Crown or queen tierra on fantasy night in your dining room
Don "Ducky" Williams signed Mickey and Minnie DVC Print
I will definitely be calling whenever the day is to try and book it. This time the whole family may come (we're still working on my dad-it is during hunting season).
Copper3
We will be calling on all 3 phones to try to get in again. We had the best time on the cruise. Next year we are going to bring our dd's. They can't wait. We will be bringing an extra piece of luggage next time. We had a hard time fitting everything in ours even with the new bags.
