Florida flowers and Caribbean cruising THIS SECTION COMPLETED 5/7 - Page 18 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
Ahh there's nothing like a Caribbean sunset so beautiful!
I was surprised to see the Castway Cay Challenge shirts on the boat as they are usually just sold on the Island. Then I remembered you were on the cruise that had the special Castaway Cay Challenge after marathon weekend. We are planning on running that challenge after marathon weekend next January. Maybe you and Mark could repeat this same trip next year?
If only.... but next year our plans are to be in the States in the fall. It was going to be April, but then we booked a two week Baltic cruise in June, so we figured a long holiday in April as well might not go down too well. Hopefully we'll see you guys, as it will include Eastern Canada - Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls, before heading to WDW and hopefully another cruise. Can you tell I've been planning this one over the last few days?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amy L
Oops I just realized you were on the sailing after the Princess Half Marathon and not marathon weekend like I had written.
about the family running for the ship! We see that at least once a cruise.
That's actually quite depressing, as I don't know about you, but I'd hope everyone would be as diligent about getting back to the ship on time, as I know we are. I appreciate sometimes things happen that you just can't avoid if you're on your own, but for it to happen that often is just a shame. Now I think about it, I think we had the same thing on the Med cruise last summer and on the Fantasy in December 2012.
Quote:
Ahhhhh, the Skyline!! That is a wonderful place!!
It is - that's something I'd like to see introduced on the older ships.
I sailed the Big Red Boat back when it was contracted with Disney characters. We flew out from San Francisco and did a combo trip - first, WDW, and then the cruise.
It was a lot of fun but it kinda satisfied my need to sail with characters. But your photos of the ship are so gorgeous, we might have to rethink that.
Oh please do - we absolutely love cruising with Disney. It's everything you'd expect from them, in terms of customer service, dining and the design of the ships. We adore the adult only areas, as you may have gathered from this trip report.
Great photos of the sunset, I definitely agree!
I've seen more than a few run the run of shame and know first hand of a couple left behind. (they were 2 of our tablemates)
No way! You can't just leave that story there - did they re-join at a later point in the cruise or was that the last you saw of them?
Quote:
The differences between the Dream and Fantasy...I read in Disney Dining today that the Dream will be getting Satellite Falls during its next re-fit!
Yay!
Quote:
Do you ever look for the Disney touches in the Skyline 'windows' ? We love doing that. In Paris, for example, you can find Gasteau's restaurant sign.
I didn't look specifically for Disney touches, but I did look at it quite carefully, being pretty familiar with the city. Darn, I'm annoyed I missed that now!
Gorgeous sunset photos! I think sitting on the verandah and looking at the open sea is one of my favorite things about a cruise!
CI bet that family was relieved the boat was still there! I think this is why I'd book excursions with the cruiseline and not venture as much on your own.
Gorgeous sunset photos! I think sitting on the verandah and looking at the open sea is one of my favorite things about a cruise!
CI bet that family was relieved the boat was still there! I think this is why I'd book excursions with the cruiseline and not venture as much on your own.
Us too. We usually only venture out on our own if the ship's docked within walking distance of wherever we want to go, as then we know it's within our own gift to get back Ok and we're not relying on buses, trains etc.
Lunch sounded delicious, that chilled Mango Soup....YUM. I think Jasmine would be in heaven as she loves mangos. Even though since her trip to Nicaragua she has decided us in the States are truly being cheated as one you eat the fresh mangos there nothing compares....lol
The sunset pictures are just amazing.....so beautiful.
That's kind of amusing that not only were passengers from the DCL ship cheering on the latecomers, but passengers from the other ship as well.
Wait, you're going to be on the East Coast in the fall? New Hampshire can be beautiful that time of year!
Lunch sounded delicious, that chilled Mango Soup....YUM. I think Jasmine would be in heaven as she loves mangos. Even though since her trip to Nicaragua she has decided us in the States are truly being cheated as one you eat the fresh mangos there nothing compares....lol
That's kind of amusing that not only were passengers from the DCL ship cheering on the latecomers, but passengers from the other ship as well.
Wait, you're going to be on the East Coast in the fall? New Hampshire can be beautiful that time of year!
Well I hope so, as we're going to be visiting New Hampshire!
My school friend, who was one of the bridesmen (and yes, you did read that right ) at my wedding is getting married at the end of September in Boston, so we're having a week in New England. Our main stops in New Hampshire will be Portsmouth and Canterbury. Is that where you're from?
No way! You can't just leave that story there - did they re-join at a later point in the cruise or was that the last you saw of them?
Nope, they never rejoined the cruise! Luckily for them it was in St. Thomas. We heard them being paged several times. We pulled out late, but didn't know they had not made it back aboard til dinner. Our servers said they were told they did not make the ship in time. We never heard anything else.
Quote:
I didn't look specifically for Disney touches, but I did look at it quite carefully, being pretty familiar with the city. Darn, I'm annoyed I missed that now!
Hint: you were on the wrong side of the bar, if I'm judging correctly from your photos. I'm trying to remember what is in what picture and which ship. Paris is easy. there are lots of Star Wars characters walking around if you look closely. And there is the box stacker who is in just about every window somewhere. Mickey is in a couple of windows and in Barcelona (on the Fantasy )The Magic is in one of the pictures. It's a game for us whenever we go into Skyline (every night, it's tradition, before dinner! )
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
I am 10 minutes from Portsmouth! Are you planning on going to Strawberry Banke? Or perhaps the Isles of Shoals? You would probably enjoy the Wentworth by the Sea for a fancy lunch or dinner. But knowing you, it's probably all planned out!
Where in Boston is the wedding? (DH is from around there)
[QUOTE=chezp;4440223]Hopefully we'll see you guys, as it will include Eastern Canada - Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls, before heading to WDW and hopefully another cruise. Can you tell I've been planning this one over the last few days?
Sounds like a great trip you are planning!! Please keep me posted on your dates as a few of your stops are within easy driving distance for us!
Nope, they never rejoined the cruise! Luckily for them it was in St. Thomas. We heard them being paged several times. We pulled out late, but didn't know they had not made it back aboard til dinner. Our servers said they were told they did not make the ship in time. We never heard anything else.
Oh my goodness! I bet your faces must have been classic when you learnt about that...
Quote:
Hint: you were on the wrong side of the bar, if I'm judging correctly from your photos. I'm trying to remember what is in what picture and which ship. Paris is easy. there are lots of Star Wars characters walking around if you look closely. And there is the box stacker who is in just about every window somewhere. Mickey is in a couple of windows and in Barcelona (on the Fantasy )The Magic is in one of the pictures. It's a game for us whenever we go into Skyline (every night, it's tradition, before dinner! )
We've definitely seen the Magic - I thought that was the Barcelona scene, but I might be wrong. We've also seen the Star Wars characters walking around before - phew, glad we haven't missed all the details!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.