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 The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk.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!
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(And that sweet bundle of joy is my new granddaughter, Gracie)
Take a good look as there are not many pictures of me at all in this TR.
So who is Julie McCoy? Well if you don’t know who she is you either grew up with no TV, had mean parents, grew up on a desert island, or you are just plain too young! She was the cruise director on the popular series from the late 70’s into the mid 80’s called “The Love Boat”. Growing up this show…along with Fantasy Island…could not be missed. At least in the early years. The later years were not so good. The Love Boat had a cast of regulars who played the crew and then many stars weekly would join the crew for a sailing. Of course they had love issues as well as many other life issues, but by the end of the show everything pretty much worked out and all lived happily ever after. They also had a few stars that came back for recurring roles, such as Charo…who I am pretty sure I saw on this sailing as well. They sailed on the Pacific Princess each week out of California….usually.
Growing up and watching this show had made me want to cruise. It looked like so much fun. My sister and I used to play “cruise” at times and we always put on my mom’s fancy gowns and pretended to drink pina coladas. Had I known what they were back then I would’ve switched to another drink….I hate coconut! LOL!
My first cruise was in the late 90’s and it was on a NCL ship. I had a great time. It was neat to see that things on the show actually really were on ships….Like the promenade and lido decks.
My 2nd cruise was also with NCL in 2003 for my belated honeymoon with my husband, Skip. We had a great time once again, but for some reason Skip doesn’t remember that. He came home and within weeks he had some delusion about the cruise and said he wasn’t going to sail again for a long time. I have been working on getting him back on a ship since then and finally in 2011 I had us booked on Disney….only to have him have to cancel a few weeks prior because his brother and business partner broke his leg. Since they are dairy farmers, he had to stay home and take care of the cows. My mother took his place. I have now sailed 4 Disney cruises and I can’t tell you enough about them. They are fabulous and I have written reports on each of those sailings. (currently working on my most recent one) I did finally get Skip on the Disney Magic this past March and he loved it. Right before we sailed he asked me why he didn’t like the NCL cruise …..and my reply to him was “I have no idea…something you made up in your head”. LOL!
So you know my love for cruising and its roots and you know I love DCL. So why did I finally try Princess? Well there are several really. Without going into too much detail, I am working on a certification that requires me to travel and one of the travel requirements was that I sail on more than one cruise line. Secondly, I had a free Princess cruise sitting in my back pocket for years now. Yes, I had this baby since 2011 and I just could never fit it in my schedule. Also by sailing Princess I was earning a 2nd certification besides the other one I am working on. So it all fit in nicely.
Now how did I decide on my dates? Well, I had certain cruises I could choose from and I went down the list and I had to fit it in at a time I wasn’t too busy. I had a business trip to Disney World in Aug and I really tried to make it work with that, but it didn’t. I thought Sept. would be good, but then we had my nieces 5th b-day party coming up and my sister was surprising her with a trip to Disney World for her birthday…I couldn’t miss that party. My oldest daughter Paige was expecting a baby, due Oct. 14, so it had to be before that.
In the end, the Sept. 29th cruise looked like the best date. It was a 5 night cruise on the Caribbean Princess. Being that I had not sailed on any Princess ships to date, I wasn’t too worried about which ship I sailed on and I read some decent reviews of it. The ports however were not my favorite, but I could live with it. Costa Maya is basically a junk hole as far as ports go, but we could get off the ship for a short time and then back on and enjoy the day. Cozumel is one I do like and I didn’t mind going again, though this would be my 3rd time there.
Now who would go with me? Well I asked my best friend Lisa, who had sailed with me on a girls trip in 2012. That was her first cruise and we had a great time. But she was remodeling her house and though the cruise was free, she would still have to pay for air and anything extra and she decided she better not go. So I asked my Mom. She is easy to travel with and I knew she had been wanting to cruise again. She said yes and I booked us and then we had a few months to wait.
Now we had to find airfare. We found a good price for our flight home on Southwest….which I also had a lot of points for, so I could get a free flight. We booked that one early on.
So we waited and watched and the Sunday flights down (our cruise started on a Monday) were just way too high. So we decided to fly down on Saturday in the end and stay at the Fairfield Inn near the airport for 2 nights, which was cheaper than paying the higher flight prices.
So we’re all set. But this cruise and several surrounding it were not selling out. I really debated adding the cruise beforehand and making it a 9 day cruise, but Mom wouldn’t be able to take the time off and my husband was going to be watching our daughter Claire as it was, so I didn’t make that move and kept it as a weeklong trip instead.
Join me as I tell you all about the Caribbean Princess and our other adventures and what I thought about the Love Boat! Be warned…I will probably be comparing this often with the Disney ships…it’s just in my nature.
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Good start. I too liked Love Boat and Fantasy Island growing up. Although I was more of an Adam 12(mostly if not entirely in reruns), C.H.I.Ps, Scarecrow & Mrs. King kid.
Good start. I too liked Love Boat and Fantasy Island growing up. Although I was more of an Adam 12(mostly if not entirely in reruns), C.H.I.Ps, Scarecrow & Mrs. King kid.
LOL. I remember my dad watching Adam 12. I was never into that one at all though. I never really watched CHIPs, but I did occasionally.
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Originally Posted by rhinohunter
Great start. Looking forward to riding along.
Thanks for joining in!
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Originally Posted by chezp
Great start!
Thanks
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Originally Posted by clio
I remember Love Boat and Julie McCoy. I can't wait to read more.
Liz
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So how does one prepare for a cruise on a Princess ship? Well you watch episodes of the Love Boat. I actually have seasons 1 and 2 on DVD and I have been watching them off and on for 2 years. I am still working on watching them in my spare time, but I did watch about 3 more the month before our cruise.
We had to leave fairly early this day for the airport. My Dad brought my Mom over to my house….and he stayed till we left. My Aunt was going to take us and arrive around 7:15 AM. I had to wake Claire up so she could say her good byes to us…well mostly me and she was not too happy about it. There were a lot of tears. Though I think my dad was going to miss my mom just as much and if he could, he would’ve cried and held on to her leg as well. Claire then went off crying over to my mother in laws house next door.
We left around 7:30ish and drove up to Detroit Airport, with one potty stop because my Mom can’t make it anywhere very far when she drinks coffee.
I had done airline check in the day before, and wouldn’t you know it, Mom got the TSA pre-select….I did not. We said goodbye to my Aunt and checked in our bags and headed through security, which for mom was a breeze and for me not too bad, and went to our gate.
I had an email from a client in the morning, so once we found a seat I had to make some calls to get things situated and send off some emails. Then I decided I better eat something since it would be a few hours before I got something decent….and I am not a pleasant person when I am hungry. I remembered the airport had an Earl of Sandwich, though I have yet to visit this location, so I looked on the airport map and found it and walked over and got myself a Full Montagu…MMMMM!
And it was delicious!!!!
After my sandwich was done, the airplane had arrived and we watched them load the bags and saw all 4 of ours go on it. Well we know our bags are making it at least one leg of the journey!
We were a B loading number so once we got on the plane we decided to go to the very last seat of the plane to sit together. Mom has to be on the end as she gets anxious sitting inside. I sat next to her, but then I moved over to the window seat. I had hoped no one would come this far back and sit with us and then we could have the seat to ourselves. The flight attendant told us the flight was not full, but close to it. She said there was a good chance we would sit alone.
We didn’t luck out. There was a lady that made a beeline to the back. We should’ve put a bag on the seat between us to make it look like we were waiting on someone else, but I wasn’t quick thinking. And I think this girl wanted the back row and she bypassed many other seats to come to ours. Oh well you can’t have it all.
Soon we were in the air and on our way to Baltimore for the first leg of the trip.
Once we landed and exited off the plane….being in the last row makes you one of the last to get off….we looked for our next gate number and then headed that way. We had a little time before the flight and Mom was hungry, so she went to find something and I got us a table.
I ended up getting some spring rolls to snack on as I wasn’t super hungry, but I needed a little boost.
Soon it was time to head to the gate and it was packed over there. I stood at one of the recharging stations and charged my laptop and phone. My phone didn’t need much and a lady came over to charge hers only to realize she didn’t have the plug part. I let her use mine so she could at least top it off and we chatted for a bit.
Again we were B boarding and we went for the same row again…and this time we lucked out and had the seat to ourselves. It was nice to have a little bit of extra room.
I think we ended up pulling out a few minutes late, but it wasn’t too bad.
I love to take pictures out the window when I can.
Great start! I remember being glued to the the TV for both Love Boat and Fantasy Island. The Full Montagu is my favorite from EoS. Glad your flights were both smooth.
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The Full Montagu is my favorite from EoS. 
Glad your flights were both smooth.
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