Those of you who have been on a
Disney cruise before will probably have come across Fish Extender exchanges. For those of you that have not, on the classic ships there is a fish next to each door which is really there so that crew can leave notes tucked behind it. The two new ships have the same set up, but there it is not just fish, but also other sea creatures. Many years ago, it has become a tradition on the DIS to hang a pocket organiser from this fish and use it for a gift exchange. If I remember correctly, this started on the first ever Panama Canal cruise. Other internet communities have now adopted this as well, but this remains a integral part of any cruise meet thread.
I have been involved in Fish Extender exchanges from my first cruise onwards and actually have a whole bunch of different Fish Extenders. I had a special Fish Extender made for what was supposed to be our vow renewal cruise and another one for our Hawaii cruise. As Stitch is my favourite character, I could not resist it.
I make jewellery in the broadest term as a hobby and I have always had great fun making my Fish Extender gifts. For me this is part of the cruise planning process. It is often also the only excuse I get to get my workbox out. On the ship, it is great to walk down the the hallways and see all the different Fish Extenders and decorated doors. It is also great to come back to the room and check what surprises have appeared, well up to a point.
When we went on our Hawaii cruise last year, we ended up with so many gifts that they completely overrun our cabin to the point that very spare millimetre was taken up with gifts and we could not find anything else anymore. At the end of the cruise, I had to buy an extra duffle bag just for the gifts and then pay excess baggage to get them all home. At that point, Graham said "No More". He had always humoured me, but I could understand where he was coming from after this particular experience and respected his wishes. So my Fish Extender days were over - or were they?
The getting gifts part was easy to let go off. I have received so many thoughtful and wonderful gifts over the years and I still treasure gifts that I got on my first cruise 5 years ago. However, packing them all and especially with luggage becoming more and more of a premium is something I don't miss. What I knew I would miss is making gifts. I enjoy plotting what to make, find the materials and then make the goodies. I could not imagine letting go of this. Of course, there was a way around this. There was nothing stopping me making gifts and giving them out as random acts of kindness. I have been on three cruises since the Fish Extender embargo and for two of those cruises I actually organised the Fish Extender exchange and for the third one I shared with the organiser what I was planning to do and it was no problem to receive the Fish Extender list.
So that just left one issue. I could not imagine not having anything hanging from my fish. Even Graham, who is generally bemused by the Fish Extender exchanges, likes to have something hanging from our fish. So I needed to find something suitable. I was worried that if I just take one of my Fish Extenders, people would drop things in it even if I am not signed up for the Fish Extender exchange. Last year, before our November cruise, I browsed on Etsy and I found that the person who I always got my Fish Extenders from has branched out. She now offered something called door spotters. They are embroidered and personalised panels of fabric with magnets on the back so that they stick to the doors. I liked the idea, but my door is always full of magnets anyway on cruises so there would not be room for a door spotter. I contacted her to see if this could be modified with a dowel so that it could be hung from the fish. She was happy to oblige. My first doorspotter had Stitch on it. I then had a special door spotter made for the Alaska cruise with Mickey in his fisherman's outfit.
Of course, I needed a special door spotter for this cruise, too. This will probably be my only holiday cruise as December is a difficult month to get leave. So I may as well do it in style. If this had all gone belly up, this would still have made a nice door decoration for the holiday season on our door at home. In any case, I always knew thatat some stage, a holiday cruise would be on the cards. So nothing was lost. She has a Christmas door spotter in her Etsy shop, but that was a little plain for me. I asked her if the had any holiday themed characters and she came up with this beauty:
I can't wait to hang this from my fish.