Fish extenders!

[Cruise Critic Chris]

I had never heard of Fish Extenders until this past Disney Magic sailing. Here's our story on this lovely phenomenon.

[Crazy Piglet]

Your experience sounds great, but it was quite different than many, or most. I believe most FEs are more generic in that there is no category to the group. You give what you would like to get. It can be magnets, small toys/games, edible treats, first aid kits or whatever you like. FEs vary depending on the cruise and what the group organizing it wants it to be. We have enjoyed giving and receiving a variety of gifts, from reusable Disney shopping bags to Australian biscuits to a home-made "Yacht-Sea" game. It's a great activity.

[moki'smommy]

This description is quite different from anything I've experienced. I've been on cruises with 10 cabins doing FE and 100+ doing it. IMHO, the "right" number is somewhere around 20. If it gets above 30, it is time to split the group as it becomes burdensome in terms of both time and money.

 

The "rules" of the groups are whatever the group leader declares them to be. Some groups are totally "do what you want, but at least one gift to each cabin." while others are "per person," set maximum spending amounts, or whatever. I've never seen anything where the groups were by categories as described in the article, but why not? Seems to be another way to divide the people into smaller groups. After you spend a couple hours delivering gifts, you'll understand why you don't want too many cabins involved!

 

FE gifts range from small pirate themed trinkets to hand made treasures to sweets from a person's homeland. It is rather an "anything goes" thing, and much more fun if there are kids involved.

 

Since the article didn't specify, the mail holders on the classic ships are shaped like fish. Since the holder hangs from the "fish," it became known as a "fish extender."

[Host CJSKIDS]

I had never heard of Fish Extenders until this past Disney Magic sailing. Here's our story on this lovely phenomenon.

 

Thanks Chris! We were talking about this at Seatrade and I said I knew nothing of it. Now I know what it is!

[sharktums]

I was also on this cruise and we had a wonderful lady organizing the FE Groups which is why we had such great participation and many different groups, we've done it before where it's more generic.