ppin trading

[nuala]

Can anyone tell me if Cast Members trade pins on the Disney Cruise like at Disney World? Thanks!

 

[Regina]

Yes they do.

You'll find DCL exclusive pins in the shops, both on the ship and on Castaway Cay.

Also keep an eye on special pins being available for purchase on specific evenings. They sell them from a cart. The information of where/when will be in the Navigator.

 

[Favorite Auntie]

You can also buy pins from the stores on board, not just the cart in the evening. Every night after dinner we lost my dad to the cart though...

 

[markey]

I think you were asking about trading vs buying, and yes it is done on the ship, but only at certain times. I traded pins which we received for the Mickey 200 (4) and 1 CC pin because we had others from previous cruises. The pin trading is done at the cart, from a book, also the offices have pins between 7:30 and 8:30 and will also trade with you. I think it is handled the same way, can only trade if they don't already have your pin. The navigator will tell you the times for pin trading.

 

[Mjasp]

Are the pins on the cart the special pins of the day? Do they have enough for everyone or is it a mad dash?

Do all the castmembers in the shops where lanyards/pins to trade?

Thanks

 

[max123]

Hi,

We just came back today from the Western cruise, where my DD became quite familiar with pin trading.

She first read about this activity on this message board and bought a small selection of pins in the Orlando airport.

As already mentioned there will be organized times for trading. On our cruise I think it was 7:30 to 8:30pm most nights. Then there was a special day to trade with just the ship's officers, but many of the crew wear their pins all day and will trade on the spot.

As a matter of fact, as we were welcomed onto the ship, my DD saw a pin she liked on one of the welcoming crew members and he traded with her right then and there. As for cast members specifically, I do not remember any of the characters having pins, but some of the other perfomers did, and when my DD saw them around the ship they were glad to trade. Even some of the shop keepers in Grand Cayman had pins to trade.

My DD collected quite a few unique pins from the cruise and the crew were more that willing to trade.

Considering she was a novice at pin trading she avoided the our fellow passengers who were more serious about their trading.

There were many folks with books and bags full of pins, they were most experienced than my DD and she prefered to trade with others in a less organized manner.

She seemed to have alot of fun with it.

thanks

 

[brack]

I found several crew members (Officers) with pins to trade. Also, the clerks in the stores usually had pins to trade as well.
I have a few pins that I picked up at Disneyland Paris to trade on our cruise in January. Looking forward to it

 

[Lisa F]

You shouldn't be scared or intimidated to trade with people other than CM's. I know that my husband and myself look like serious pin traders but we always keep a section of pins that we allow kids to trade from like CM trades (basically will trade one of those pins for any disney pin the kids want to trade). Sometimes at the parks we find people who are mean to kids but I have to tell you that on the cruise we have never found any of the "pin sharks" to come to the trading times. The people there have always been very nice and not at all scary. If nothing else it can be fun to look at some of the interesting pins other people have! Plus, it's a great way to meet passengers on the ship and it's nice to run into a friendly face and have someone to say hi to when you're going around the ship.

Lisa

 

[Mjasp]

Lisa...On the ship, it seems they have a pin of the day. Is there enough to go around or are they limited? And is there a mad rush to get them?

Thanks

 

[swede63]

I suggest getting your pins early on that day, if it is popular one like the ones that have the little lights on them, some people snatch up alot of them. I missed out on one last year and was able to trade for it later on.

 

[Lisa F]

Amazingly enough, we had releases of more limited pins (LE 750 and 1000) on our cruise and had no problem buying them every night we were there (they make great traders so we bought all we could). the christmas/new year's pins were still available even on our early January cruise in spite of the low LE. I would say that no, you don't need to make a mad rush to buy them but if they are important to you I would buy them the first night just to be sure. They won't sell out in minutes or anything but I wouldn't count on them being there at the end of the cruise either (though they very well could be). It really depends on how many pin trading nuts (like myself, who will buy as many as we are allowed for trading) are there.

Also some pins are only available at pin trading that night so you can't get them "early in the day."

Lisa

 

[Mjasp]

Thanks...Seems like me and my girls are going to have fun buying pins. So we could figure adding another couple of hundred bucks to our shipboard account. LOL

Thanks
Joanna

 

[FredS]

Originally posted by Lisa F
You shouldn't be scared or intimidated to trade with people other than CM's........Sometimes at the parks we find people who are mean to kids but I have to tell you that on the cruise we have never found any of the "pin sharks" to come to the trading times.
Lisa

I really hope this is the case for all cruises. In our visits during the last year since he began collecting, my now eight-year-old son has had several instances of sharks at WDW more than willing to trick him into trading something valuable for one of their common pins. Once it was another child (older, but still a child) but most of the time it was adults. Talk about someone being mad -- I was livid. That is why I never allow him to get out of earshot when trading.

My other "favorite" are those adults with a bazillion pins who push him out of the way to get as many as possible of newly released limited edition pins.

I am excited that pin trading on the ship sounds much more pleasant and civilized!

 

[Lisa F]

We have pin traded on 3 cruises and found everyone to be wonderful on all of the cruises. There are also a lot of wonderful pin traders at WDW, but there are some bad ones too who can ruin it for you if you let them. Fortunately I can recognize them now and just steer clear, or I let them make their offers designed to cheat me and say no politely. My guess is that the really rude pin nuts who will push a kid out of the way to get a pin spend all of their money on pins and can't afford to cruise

BTW, on the cruise, LE pins are limited to 2 per person (just as they are in the parks) but it's 2 per person per day. That also helps the pins last longer!

Lisa

 

[Mjasp]

Lisa, when we were at the airport last Friday. The Tinkerbell LE pin was just released that day and I was able to purchase 3 at the Earport store. Didn't know there was a limit and no one said anything either. Glad to see they do that on the cruise.

Joanna

 

[Lisa F]

Joanna,

I haven't been to WDW since January (GASP!) but I am guessing that "pin hoarding" is less of an issue at the airport than at WDW itself. If they didn't have limits in place there are literally people who will be the first in line and clean out all of the racks of pins and then put them up on ebay. Sad, but true! Maybe you had your child or husband with you? The limit as I remember it is 2 pins per person, not per party, but like I said, it could be different at the airport. At one time it was different at DL than from WDW so anything is possible! But in general they will not allow one person to buy everything up and spoil it for everyone else (which was more my point). I would definately budget more for the pins, but I would also try to trade for any of the "rack" cruise pins that you like and buy any that you could not trade for on the last day. We found that people who want to trade will sometimes buy something off the rack and trade it to a CM to get what they want (if they can't buy the pin that the CM has) and we were able to pick up quite a few cruise pins by trading instead of buying. The other thing to remember is these do count as part of your customs allowance (which means no sales tax!)

Lisa

 

[Mjasp]

your right, I was in the store with both my daughters.

This sounds like more and more fun. May have to start working full time instead of part time. NOT!!! What am I saying LOL

 

[Mjasp]

The only thing I am upset about is I was on the Inaugural Western. I didn't buy a pin as I didn't collect then, and figured, why buy them if I don't collect, leave them for the people that collect pins. Now I am sorry I didn't purchase one, as it would be a token of our first cruise.

Joanna

 

[Lisa F]

If they release any of the artist choice series or any other pins that are lower edition size (1000 or below) on your cruise, pick up an extra for trading and you might be able to trade one of those for the inaugural western cruise pin. Have you seen pinpics? http://www.pinpics.com allows you to do online trading. Also http://www.dizpins.com has all the news about pins (and also a reference center so you can have more assurances about online trading!) That's the only way I ever get to trade anymore but I've met some wonderful people. Perhaps you can find your pin there.

Lisa

 

[Mjasp]

Thanks Lisa...You have been very helpful, I will do just that and try to trade for an Inaugural. How do you know if its limited for under 1,000? Can't you tell I'm a novice. LOL

Joanna