Fish Extender

[CanadianDee]

This will be our first time on Disney (have cruised Carnival, Princess, and Celebrity) and are prepared for Disney to knock our cruise socks off. We are grandparents traveling with our daughter and son-in-law and their two daughters (aged 6 and 2 at the time of the cruise). We'll be cruising mid-December on the Dream. We will be booking this week, so just starting our research.

 

Fish extenders. These sound like a blast. We would love any information you can give us about them. What exactly are they, how do they work, how do we sign up, examples of fish extenders, etc.

 

Since we're cruising around Christmas, are there special fish extenders you can think of?

 

Thanks in advance, spent the weekend combing this forum for ideas and are SO gunned for this cruise. :)

[moki'smommy]

Fish extenders are a thing arranged by guests. They have no tie in to DCL and are totally unofficial.

 

You meet up with a group on a roll call here, another forum, or social media. Someone suggests that they will organize a FE group and you all set the rules--will you do gifts per person, per cabin, or per kid (you can always give extra gifts, but are obligated to the minimum defined by the group). Will you give once during the trip or more. Will you have assigned days or distribute whenever it works for you? Will you set a maximum price? How many cabins will you allow before the group splits into 2 or more?

 

There are no right or wrong answers although I certainly have opinions.

 

The mail holder on the classic ships is shaped like a fish. The little pouch device used for FE groups is made to hang from (extend) the fish mail slot, thus "Fish Extenders." You can make your own or purchase them on Etsy, etc. They can be as simple or elaborate as you choose.

 

The special thing for Christmas might be that some people might choose Christmas themed gifts...but do remember that not everyone celebrates Christmas.

 

A simple google search will reveal lots of info and photos.

[CanadianDee]

Thanks mokismommy. Great information. Much appreciated. :)

[moki'smommy]

You're welcome.

 

The negatives to FE participation....largely dependent on the size of the group. My opinion is that the idea group is 20-30 cabins. More than that and the negatives start to multiply.

 

Negatives include--cost to purchase or make gifts, weight and space in suitcases, time and energy to distribute gifts (the ships seem HUGE when you are making a trip to many cabins scattered all over the ship)

 

You can also organize a meet and greet activity without doing FE.

[CanadianDee]

You're welcome.

 

The negatives to FE participation....largely dependent on the size of the group. My opinion is that the idea group is 20-30 cabins. More than that and the negatives start to multiply.

 

Negatives include--cost to purchase or make gifts' date=' weight and space in suitcases, time and energy to distribute gifts (the ships seem HUGE when you are making a trip to many cabins scattered all over the ship)

 

You can also organize a meet and greet activity without doing FE.[/quote']

 

All good points. We fly with free luggage space, but the gift distribution/time might be downsides we hadn't fully considered.