-=*September 10 2011, Westbound Transatlantic from Barcelona to Port Canaveral*=-

[Carys]

WELCOME ABOARD!

This is the planning thread for the Westbound Transatlantic Cruise, Barcelona to Port Canaveral, 10 September 2011. Please, don't be shy, just say hi! :flower3:

Disney Cruise Line Transatlantic cruise website (http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/transatlantic/14-night-transatlantic-westbound-cruise/)

Itinerary
Day, Port, Guest Ashore, Guest Onboard
Saturday Barcelona, Spain — 4:00 p.m.
Sunday At Sea — —
Monday Gibraltar, U.K. 7:30 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday At Sea — —
Wednesday Madeira, Portugal 8:30 a.m. 9:30 p.m.
Thursday At Sea — —
Friday At Sea — —
Saturday At Sea — —
Sunday At Sea — —
Monday At Sea — —
Tuesday St. Maarten, Netherland Antilles 7:15 a.m. 5:30 p.m.
Wednesday Tortola, British Virgin Islands 7:30 a.m. 3:45 p.m.
Thursday At Sea — —
Friday Castaway Cay 11:15 a.m. 4:30 p.m.
Saturday Port Canaveral, Florida 7:30 a.m. —

Current list of cruisers
Carys(Sandra), Taiwan (NZ expat)
Ontariomonkey + DH, Ontario, Canada
KSDisneyDad(Chris) + DW(Junesgoofy/June), Thornton, Colorado
Wheelerkids3(Shannon) + DH(Mark) + DS1(Dustin) + DD(Lauryn) + DS2(Nick) + DS3(Collin), New York State
FriendOfFanatic
Schimj + DW(TiffanyD), Brandon, FL
AnkaG (Anne-Karine, 27) + DH (32), Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
Cingularone(Dennis + Donita), Atlanta area
KiwiMatt (Matthew) + DW(Hanneke) + DD (Arwen), Virginia
Goofy Adpi, Scottsdale, AZ
Jennifer in MI (Jennifer) + DH (Steve), +DS (Sam, 15) +DS (Andrew, 14) + DS (William, 11) + DD (Margaret, 5 1/2), Grosse Pointe Park, MI
EllaEnchanted (Deb) + DH (John/1Grumpy John), Pocono Mountains, PA
Meliador (Melia) + DH, Sweet Home Chicago
Nick262 (Nickole) + DH (Dom) + DD (Kirsten, 8), San Diego, CA

Sections/links to be added(?):
Google map of cruisers
Fish Extender information
Shore exercusions
Previous trip reports
Barcelona guide
Air travel links
Cruise tips

Images for signatures, t-shirts, magnets etc

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82b8fc37ece00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signature2.jpg

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/thumbs/AnkaGStamp2Siggy_copy.jpg

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82bf019bf8300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://www.mickeypath.com/id/1315638002.png

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82f0255f33500000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/TABanner-1-1.jpg

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82e4b8c122c00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://photopost.wdwinfo.com/data/500/thumbs/WestboundTABrown.jpg

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82ae8d59f0f00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82a5fd6dfcf00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[ontariomonkey]

Hi there! We have a long wait for this vacation don't we lol. I booked today, wanted deck 6 midship or forward but nothing was available at 9:30 this morning. We got deck 7 midship 5a. I know that other cabins will come up later when people cancel but we booked with DVC points so we don't have much flexibility without wasting $95 so we just booked the best that was in our budget.

Anyway, it will be me and DH. It will be our 5th cruise. It will be our 2nd transatlantic. By then, we will have done one 7 day eastern and one 7 day western with Disney.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

[KSDisneyDad]

We also booked the 9-10-11 WBTA cruise today.

It will be my DW(Junesgoofy) and me. This will be either cruise #5 or #6 for us. We've currently been on three cruises (2 Westerns and the 2008 EBPC cruise.). We're going on a 4-night cruise with extended family next March with the kids sail free promotion.

This TA cruise will be our first one without the kids!

712 days and counting...

[wheelerkidz3]

We also booked the 9-10-11 WBTA cruise today.

It will be my DW(Junesgoofy) and me. This will be either cruise #5 or #6 for us. We've currently been on three cruises (2 Westerns and the 2008 EBPC cruise.). We're going on a 4-night cruise with extended family next March with the kids sail free promotion.

This TA cruise will be our first one without the kids!

712 days and counting...

hi chris and june! we sailed with you guys thru panama last year, and we are also booked on this cruise!! i'm not sure if we will actually be able to go on it or not due to kids school, but i didn't want to not get it booked at the early prices.
anyways, hi everyone else that has posted too!:wave2: if we are able to go on this one, it will be: me-shannon, dh-mark, ds1-dustin, dd-lauryn, ds2-nick, and ds3-collin.

[Carys]

Good to see I won't have the ship to myself (although a monopoly on Mickey bars could have been exciting)! It's a long way away but much like my August cruise I'm sure it'll be here before we know it.

The PC itinerary looks great but Jan 11 doesn't work for me since I'm doing Christmas '10 (and will then need to get back to work), otherwise I would have eyed that one up too. Very jealous of you guys who have done it :thumbsup2

[KSDisneyDad]

hi chris and june! we sailed with you guys thru panama last year, and we are also booked on this cruise!! i'm not sure if we will actually be able to go on it or not due to kids school, but i didn't want to not get it booked at the early prices.
anyways, hi everyone else that has posted too!:wave2: if we are able to go on this one, it will be: me-shannon, dh-mark, ds1-dustin, dd-lauryn, ds2-nick, and ds3-collin.

Hi Shannon- we'll probably never be able to duplicate the whole Pirates cruise. It was truly our family's TOAL. Regardless, we are looking forward to 14 nights aboard the Magic on this TA cruise. I hope every thing works out for your family to join us! Compared to other cruises this is a great per-day "bargain" for a DCL cruise.

Good to see I won't have the ship to myself (although a monopoly on Mickey bars could have been exciting)! It's a long way away but much like my August cruise I'm sure it'll be here before we know it.

The PC itinerary looks great but Jan 11 doesn't work for me since I'm doing Christmas '10 (and will then need to get back to work), otherwise I would have eyed that one up too. Very jealous of you guys who have done it :thumbsup2

from a prior TA trip report, it doesn't look like that we will get Mickey-head ice cream bars as they aren't available in Spain. :(

I hope they have the rice krispy treats, but I'm not counting on it.

Did anyone else price Disney airfare? It was over $1,900 each for us- that's more than the cruise itself?!? I guess we will be doing airfare on our own. In that case, I'd like to arrive early to see Barcelona and make sure we don't miss the boat!!

[HallsofVA]

Hi there. Just paid the deposit for this cruise though we'll need to look at finances, school schedules, etc. as the date gets closer to make sure we're still coming. We're also booked on the 2010 WB repo cruise so that may also determine whether we're on this one as well or not. We're also hoping to reprice this one when onboard in December to get a better deal.

It'll be me, DH, DS7 and DD4.

Take care!

Cathleen

[FriendOfFanatic]

I also looked at the DCL quote for airfare, but thought it was too expensive. I have started looking at prices for 2010 airfare every week, and I hope to fine when it will be best to book for 2011. From To/From Boston I hope to buy a round trip to Barcelona for about $800-1000 (and only use one leg) and a one way from MCO for $150.

Anyone have a signature for the 2011 WBTA?

[KSDisneyDad]

I also looked at the DCL quote for airfare, but thought it was too expensive. I have started looking at prices for 2010 airfare every week, and I hope to fine when it will be best to book for 2011. From To/From Boston I hope to buy a round trip to Barcelona for about $800-1000 (and only use one leg) and a one way from MCO for $150.

Anyone have a signature for the 2011 WBTA?

I hadn't thought of checking into roundtrips. I did that today and found roundtrips from Denver throughout 2010 starting at around $625 pp. That gives me hope that we can afford the airfare!!! I set up a weekly search on kayak.com to monitor airfares to Barcelona so I'll know what a good price is come next 2011.

As far as a signature...I haven't seen one yet and I'm not that original. I like the classic DCL one that someone created for the 2010 EBTA. The 2011 EBTA signature is completely original.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/Other%20Cruise/EastboundTransatlanticBannercopy-1.jpg

Here's the one for the 2010 WBTA. We could use the flags from it and combine it with the EBTA.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/Other%20Cruise/TABanner2.png

I'd like to be original but have no creativity myself. We could also use some other DCL artwork such as this to create one.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/Other%20Cruise/DisneyMagicPoster.jpg

Anyone else that creative?

[IrishCowboy]

I have added a link to your thread on the main index page. Have a great cruise!:thumbsup2

[schimj]

Hi there!

DW (TiffanyD) & I will be on this cruise as well...we are a married couple, no kids and at this rate the TA will be our 5th DCL sailing if we keep with our current plans. This should be fun!!!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Hi Everyone,

This is the cruise I am wanting to book. I am hoping a year and half ahead of time will be enough time to save up for it! I just returned from a trip to WDW so will probably not book for a couple of months to make sure my Disney Visa has been completely paid off.

Update - I booked the cruise end of October!!

I will be traveling solo. I am an expat American living in Turkey and go to the States anyway - so I thought a Disney cruise would be a really fun way to travel! I have never cruised before - hoping I won't get motion sickness - planning to get some sea bands! The last ferry I took - Turkey to Greece - I was not a happy camper - but it was a small boat - so I am hoping!!

It's good to meet everyone! :goodvibes:goodvibes

[Carys]

EDL, welcome on into the thread - I'm another expat (kiwi living in asia) who will be travelling solo on the cruise. In 2004 I took an overnight ferry from Italy to Greece and my Disney cruise in August this year was to say the least a vastly different experience. This time I didn't need any sort of seasickness aid so I'm sure with some bands you'll be right as rain!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

EDL, welcome on into the thread - I'm another expat (kiwi living in asia) who will be travelling solo on the cruise. In 2004 I took an overnight ferry from Italy to Greece and my Disney cruise in August this year was to say the least a vastly different experience. This time I didn't need any sort of seasickness aid so I'm sure with some bands you'll be right as rain!

Good to meet another expat! Thanks for the word about sea sickness - that's good to know. I have no idea how a big cruise ship would feel and I am encouraged to know it might not at all be like my last "sea voyage"! I will be bringing the sea bands!:thumbsup2

[AnkaG]

Hi everyone,

we returned yesterday from our first DCL cruise (western carib.) and we booked this 2011 transatlantic cruise onboard!!!!! :woohoo:

We are excited, and can't wait for the next one, now that we went cruising, we are definitely hooked.

So it's me (27) and DH (32), we were on our honeymoon last week on the magic :hug: so we will be celebrating our 2nd anniversary on the transantl. cruise! :thumbsup2 We are from Canada, from Gatineau,in the province of Quebec, a city close to Ottawa.

I am looking foward to getting to know you guys!!!

Anne-Karine

[KSDisneyDad]

Hi everyone,

we returned yesterday from our first DCL cruise (western carib.) and we booked this 2011 transatlantic cruise onboard!!!!! :woohoo:

We are excited, and can't wait for the next one, now that we went cruising, we are definitely hooked.

So it's me (27) and DH (32), we were on our honeymoon last week on the magic :hug: so we will be celebrating our 2nd anniversary on the transantl. cruise! :thumbsup2 We are from Canada, from Gatineau,in the province of Quebec, a city close to Ottawa.

I am looking foward to getting to know you guys!!!

Anne-Karine

Welcome! DCL can be addictive! This cruise will be our 21st anniverary. Since we won't have the kids, we tell everyone that it's a very belated 20th anniversary cruise. We had hoped to do the September 2010 WBTA to celebrate our 20th, but it just doesn't work for us in 2010.

I have a feeling that the WBTA will be completely opposite of our next cruise-spring break with kids sail free. I wonder how many will be travelling sans kids on the WBTA.

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Hi everyone,

we returned yesterday from our first DCL cruise (western carib.) and we booked this 2011 transatlantic cruise onboard!!!!! :woohoo:

We are excited, and can't wait for the next one, now that we went cruising, we are definitely hooked.

So it's me (27) and DH (32), we were on our honeymoon last week on the magic :hug: so we will be celebrating our 2nd anniversary on the transantl. cruise! :thumbsup2 We are from Canada, from Gatineau,in the province of Quebec, a city close to Ottawa.

I am looking foward to getting to know you guys!!!

Anne-Karine

What a great anniversary trip!!:cheer2: Have a ton of fun planning!:woohoo:

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I hadn't thought of checking into roundtrips. I did that today and found roundtrips from Denver throughout 2010 starting at around $625 pp. That gives me hope that we can afford the airfare!!! I set up a weekly search on kayak.com to monitor airfares to Barcelona so I'll know what a good price is come next 2011.

As far as a signature...I haven't seen one yet and I'm not that original. I like the classic DCL one that someone created for the 2010 EBTA. The 2011 EBTA signature is completely original.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/Other%20Cruise/EastboundTransatlanticBannercopy-1.jpg

Here's the one for the 2010 WBTA. We could use the flags from it and combine it with the EBTA.




http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/Other%20Cruise/TABanner2.png

I'd like to be original but have no creativity myself. We could also use some other DCL artwork such as this to create one.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii112/CTreece2/Other%20Cruise/DisneyMagicPoster.jpg

Anyone else that creative?




I really love the classic designs here - I am a newbie at design but after doing some t shirts for my last trip, I am game at trying.

I was trying to rework the brown design - got all the text off but can seem to put it back on with our cruise info. Anyway - I will keep trying.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82d11deeb0300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/


This is one I was able to do - still a work in progress - too busy?

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82c3e7b8b6500000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Or something more simple - I'll have to work on the text though -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82da3bbeb3f00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Plus the tags come in lots of colors so if you like the tag design we could do it in different colors.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82dae9bab8100000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Anyway - creative design people please advise!!!:wizard:

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I finally got this one to work! I really like the design - whoever did it first!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82cb83e8b6300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[schimj]

I finally got this one to work! I really like the design - whoever did it first!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82cb83e8b6300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I like the way that one look! :thumbsup2

I might try to re-size it a bit so I have room for it in my signature with the other stuff, if ya don't mind pirate:

[AnkaG]

it's nice, however it's the same as the 2010 transatlantic!!! but it's ok, we can copy other cruises! :P

[AnkaG]

Hi,

here's one I have been working on.... still not sure about the border, but it's a start... what do you guys think?

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signature_westbound.jpg


without the border:

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signaturev2.jpg

Obviously, I would make it smaller for the signature size..

AK

[KSDisneyDad]

I really love the classic designs here - I am a newbie at design but after doing some t shirts for my last trip, I am game at trying.

Or something more simple - I'll have to work on the text though -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82da3bbeb3f00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Anyway - creative design people please advise!!!:wizard:

Great job.....I really like this design as it's unique. I agree that the text still needs a little work, but it's a wonderful start. Is Barcelona misspelled? I couldn't tell if the ending letter was an "a" or not. What does it look like signature size? I think the text needs to be bolder in order to stand out when smaller.

Hi,

here's one I have been working on.... still not sure about the border, but it's a start... what do you guys think?

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signature_westbound.jpg


without the border:

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signaturev2.jpg

Obviously, I would make it smaller for the signature size..

AK

I also really like this one, but I also like flags. I have a picture of the flag flying in every port I've visited on DCL. Because this is more vertical than horizontal, what does it look like in a signature?

[KSDisneyDad]

I finally got this one to work! I really like the design - whoever did it first!

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce09b3127ccef82cb83e8b6300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

I agree that this is a great classic design and kudos to the original designer. I know many of the repo cruises use the same general logo, so who's to say we can't have more than one. Could the port names be made bigger as I noticed they're a little hard to read when signature size? Again, great job on cleaning this up and adding our cruise information!

[AnkaG]

I agree that this is a great classic design and kudos to the original designer. I know many of the repo cruises use the same general logo, so who's to say we can't have more than one. Could the port names be made bigger as I noticed they're a little hard to read when signature size? Again, great job on cleaning this up and adding our cruise information!

I also like this one, do you think we could maybe get a font similar to the one they used? perhaps we could ask for the original picture from the guys who made the 2010 eastern signature?

not that it's a rush, we still have lots of time to figure it out!!! :)

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Great job.....I really like this design as it's unique. I agree that the text still needs a little work, but it's a wonderful start. Is Barcelona misspelled? I couldn't tell if the ending letter was an "a" or not. What does it look like signature size? I think the text needs to be bolder in order to stand out when smaller.



I also really like this one, but I also like flags. I have a picture of the flag flying in every port I've visited on DCL. Because this is more vertical than horizontal, what does it look like in a signature?



Wow Fantastic work everyone!!!!:cheer2: I think all of us together and a lot of help and we will have lots of great designs to choose from!

I do like the stamp design too - it goes with the travel theme - very nautical - very classy - maybe there are lots of different kinds of stamp borders or ways you can filter it so it looks more sleek.

The black tag design I made has errors in the text - Barcelona is misspelled - its' an s not and a - LOL! Plus even though I like the text design - I don't think it necessarily works because it is just too hard to read - at least for my eyes. It is definitely a rough draft!!!

I was looking for the font they used on the original brown scrolly design too and couldn't find it - so if anyone knows the font they used please let me know!!

Whoo Hoo - how fun!!! Keep working everyone - also we could use the designs for t shirts if you all wanted - so be thinking about that! :goodvibes:goodvibes

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I agree that this is a great classic design and kudos to the original designer. I know many of the repo cruises use the same general logo, so who's to say we can't have more than one. Could the port names be made bigger as I noticed they're a little hard to read when signature size? Again, great job on cleaning this up and adding our cruise information!

I have some time today - I'll see if I can make it easier to read - change some sizes - If anyone knows the original font they used let me know! I went through everything on photoshop and couldn't find it - of course there are so many fonts it could be there and I don't know it!:lmao:

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Here is a normal font -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82fbea3f39d00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

A reworking of the simple tag design -


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82f315b328a00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

With Flags -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82ec0d752aa00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

And one more luggage design -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82eb647d33100000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Ok - folks - all for now! Happy trip planning and designing!

[AnkaG]

hello!

by the way, I saw a spelling mistake on a few ones... it's MadEIra, not MadIEra!

;)

[ExpatDisneyLover]

hello!

by the way, I saw a spelling mistake on a few ones... it's MadEIra, not MadIEra!

;)

Good thing we've got lots of people looking at these!! Thanks! I'll have to make more changes!! This photoshop work is fairly addictive!:surfweb: I keep thinking of more designs.

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Ok - here they are with hopefully correct spelling - let me know if you see any more errors! I tried to just switch them out but I took too long and it wouldn't let me - so I'll have to post again.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82e4b8c122c00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82ef838d36900000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce08b3127ccef82f0255f33500000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82ae8d59f0f00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82a5fd6dfcf00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
:wizard: Man this is addicting - I had better stop now!! LOL! I keep posting more because I have just formed an addiction to designing and need a 12 step program! I like all the designs so please forgive my uncontrollable posting!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Hi,

here's one I have been working on.... still not sure about the border, but it's a start... what do you guys think?

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signature_westbound.jpg


without the border:

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx25/psycho_dalia/disney/signaturev2.jpg

Obviously, I would make it smaller for the signature size..

AK

I like what you have done with these too. After seeing yours, I started playing with the border - you said you weren't sure about it - but I really like the idea of a stamp so I started working on the border - not sure my version really shows up. I think your flags and text look much better than mine - especially since the ports are listed. If you want me to post my version let me know. The border looks like this.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82b3230bfcb00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

Ok - this designer has got to go into therapy now! LOL! Jeeesh! The kids were out of school this week in Turkey because of swine flu and a national holiday - they cleaned every school top to bottom - every bus - so may be I'll have less free time now to spend designing!

[Carys]

Wow! I havent checked in since page 1 and come back to all this talent! I'm so impressed :thumbsup2

[AnkaG]

Ok - this designer has got to go into therapy now! LOL! Jeeesh! The kids were out of school this week in Turkey because of swine flu and a national holiday - they cleaned every school top to bottom - every bus - so may be I'll have less free time now to spend designing!

this border is nicer than mine actually.... did you use it with my design? we could put the two together?

AK

[ExpatDisneyLover]

this border is nicer than mine actually.... did you use it with my design? we could put the two together?

AK


Good Idea - let's see what we can do! Here is your design, two different stamp border designs -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82bf019bf8300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82b8fc37ece00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

What do you think?

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

To all-

600+ days to the cruise and this board is this active, amazing. We booked yesterday, Donita and I will be joining you. This will be our 4th Disney cruise, and by the time it happens, at least our 12th cruise, who knows what we will do between now and then. We leave in a few weeks for a 21 night TA on Princess, quite excited.

We have lived in the Atlanta area for a year, prior to this we lived in Orlando for 8+ years. One of the hardest things about living here in Atlanta is not living in the backyard of the mouse. We look forward to the wonderful communication that will come up in the next 22+ months.

Hope all is well-

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

To all-

For a point of reference - We booked airfare through a consolidator for our Upcoming TA cruise. 1 way from Atlanta to Rome was $380. FLL back to ATL was $89.

Who knows what will happen in the airline industry by then, but the $1900 airfare is slightly elevated.

Hope all is well-

[KSDisneyDad]

To all-

600+ days to the cruise and this board is this active, amazing. We booked yesterday, Donita and I will be joining you. This will be our 4th Disney cruise, and by the time it happens, at least our 12th cruise, who knows what we will do between now and then. We leave in a few weeks for a 21 night TA on Princess, quite excited.

We have lived in the Atlanta area for a year, prior to this we lived in Orlando for 8+ years. One of the hardest things about living here in Atlanta is not living in the backyard of the mouse. We look forward to the wonderful communication that will come up in the next 22+ months.

Hope all is well-

Welcome. That's quite a long TA cruise! What ports are you visiting?

My DW leaves with her Mom and Sister for a girls only cruise this Friday. It's a Princess cruise through the Panama Canal. It'll be my DW's first non-Disney cruise, so I'm anxious to see how she likes it.

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Welcome. That's quite a long TA cruise! What ports are you visiting?

My DW leaves with her Mom and Sister for a girls only cruise this Friday. It's a Princess cruise through the Panama Canal. It'll be my DW's first non-Disney cruise, so I'm anxious to see how she likes it.

We start in Rome, visit Cannes (France), Pisa (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Gribraltar (UK), Casablanca (Morocco), Tenerife (Canary Islands), Fortaleza (Brazil), Barbados and Dominica. 11 sea days, 4 continents, and a bunch of kids (just kidding on that part). Donita and I will be some of the youngest on board, as we generally are on Princess ships. The price was right, balcony cabin, mid ship, for less than $2,000 apiece. We also were able to get a double shipboard credit of $600. Almost too god of a deal to pass up. We are lucky that we are able to take off almost a month of work to enjoy the cruise. I assume that there will be many retired people on the ship, somehting we really enjoy. Watching people get fall down drunk is not a highlight of a any cruise.

As far as the Princess Panama canal cruise, we have done it twice, loved both passages. We won a Princess DVD on the last voyage, going through the canal, our sing won -"Looking for David Lee Roth". The cruise staff loved the sign, not too many of the passengers knew who David Lee Roth was. The Princess experience is compeltely different than the Disney cruise. The passengers are definetly different, the staff not quite as attentive the food not the same. Different doesn't neccesarily mean worse, just different.

Is your DW on the Coral or the Island? Boh ships are identical, both are great. The ships nevef feel full, the layout is quite nice. Make sure she gets up early in the morning for the passage.

Did not mean to write a book......

Hope all is well-

[KSDisneyDad]

We start in Rome, visit Cannes (France), Pisa (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Gribraltar (UK), Casablanca (Morocco), Tenerife (Canary Islands), Fortaleza (Brazil), Barbados and Dominica. 11 sea days, 4 continents, and a bunch of kids (just kidding on that part). Donita and I will be some of the youngest on board, as we generally are on Princess ships. The price was right, balcony cabin, mid ship, for less than $2,000 apiece. We also were able to get a double shipboard credit of $600. Almost too god of a deal to pass up. We are lucky that we are able to take off almost a month of work to enjoy the cruise. I assume that there will be many retired people on the ship, somehting we really enjoy. Watching people get fall down drunk is not a highlight of a any cruise.

As far as the Princess Panama canal cruise, we have done it twice, loved both passages. We won a Princess DVD on the last voyage, going through the canal, our sing won -"Looking for David Lee Roth". The cruise staff loved the sign, not too many of the passengers knew who David Lee Roth was. The Princess experience is compeltely different than the Disney cruise. The passengers are definetly different, the staff not quite as attentive the food not the same. Different doesn't neccesarily mean worse, just different.

Is your DW on the Coral or the Island? Boh ships are identical, both are great. The ships nevef feel full, the layout is quite nice. Make sure she gets up early in the morning for the passage.

Did not mean to write a book......

Hope all is well-

They are on the Coral Princess. This will be my DW's second time through the Panama Canal. We were on the Disney EBPC repo cruise last August. This is her sister's first ever cruise and her Mom has been on two Alaskan cruises on Princess in the past. Her Mom is paying for the trip which is great.

[KSDisneyDad]

As you can see, I borrowed a couple of the great signature banners to try out for a while. I also like the blue one with the flags and DCL scrollwork on the bottom.

What do they look like in the signature? I'm not good at shrinking them to fit, but I tried. I wish the signature line was bigger.

[AnkaG]

Good Idea - let's see what we can do! Here is your design, two different stamp border designs -

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82bf019bf8300000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/


http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9ce10b3127ccef82b8fc37ece00000030O00AZs2LFs1cM2 QPbz4M/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

What do you think?


I really like them, especially the second one, it's what I wanted to do (the stamp), but you made it much better! perfect teamwork! :thumbsup2


I put it in my signature, but I think that the problem is that it's vertical, so it's too big... maybe I'll make it vertical. find another picture not as tall...

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I really like them, especially the second one, it's what I wanted to do (the stamp), but you made it much better! perfect teamwork! :thumbsup2


I put it in my signature, but I think that the problem is that it's vertical, so it's too big... maybe I'll make it vertical. find another picture not as tall...

Glad you like them - it is a great design and deserves a great background! Teamwork Yay!:thumbsup2 I like the second one too - really makes it "pop"! I haven't tried to put any in my signature yet - maybe try it today. I need to go help a student this afternoon - and can you believe it is almost snowing. (I know you are from Canada - call me a whimp really - my family is from Texas!:rotfl:)

Anyway - I think the stamp looks good in your signature. Hopefully we are still within the limits! LOL!

Addition - I've been fighting to put a couple of designs in my signature and can't make it work at all - right now it chops half the pictures off of both! Argh! This is definitely a work in progress! Anyone know how to upload photos to signatures? Mine says permissions are off and when I put the image in as an image there is just not enough room for it - does that make any sense?

[ExpatDisneyLover]

To all-

600+ days to the cruise and this board is this active, amazing. We booked yesterday, Donita and I will be joining you. This will be our 4th Disney cruise, and by the time it happens, at least our 12th cruise, who knows what we will do between now and then. We leave in a few weeks for a 21 night TA on Princess, quite excited.

We have lived in the Atlanta area for a year, prior to this we lived in Orlando for 8+ years. One of the hardest things about living here in Atlanta is not living in the backyard of the mouse. We look forward to the wonderful communication that will come up in the next 22+ months.

Hope all is well-

Welcome! Nice to have a veteran cruisers aboard and I look forward to hearing how your upcoming transatlantic will be!

You said you booked flights through a consolidator - how does that work? Do they do flights within Europe as well or do you mainly save when booking transatlantic flights?

Thanks!

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Welcome! Nice to have a veteran cruisers aboard and I look forward to hearing how your upcoming transatlantic will be!

You said you booked flights through a consolidator - how does that work? Do they do flights within Europe as well or do you mainly save when booking transatlantic flights?

Thanks!

The basic premise behind the consolidator is that they sign a large agreement to purchase x amount of tickets on a particular airline. The discounted fare is substantial, they pass the savings to the end user (us). Generally consolidators stick to international airfare, but some are beginning to offer domestic airfare as well. I have not researched flights within Europe proper.

There are numerous consolidators that you can find on the internet. Care should be taken to find a reputable company, the concern is always there. We booked our travel through the consolidator, within minutes of receipt we were able to log into the airlines reservation system (USAIR) and make seat selections.

A note - Because we purchased one way air, a few extra steps needed to be taken (post 9-11 contingencies I am sure). The difference between what we paid and what the airline was asking (for the same flight) was considerable (I think it was close to a $1500 difference at the time). The consolidator was less expensive that Expedia, and Travelocity as well.

I hope this information will act as a guide for you. We have many months before we have to begin looking for airfare for this cruise.

Hope all is well-

[ExpatDisneyLover]

The basic premise behind the consolidator is that they sign a large agreement to purchase x amount of tickets on a particular airline. The discounted fare is substantial, they pass the savings to the end user (us). Generally consolidators stick to international airfare, but some are beginning to offer domestic airfare as well. I have not researched flights within Europe proper.

There are numerous consolidators that you can find on the internet. Care should be taken to find a reputable company, the concern is always there. We booked our travel through the consolidator, within minutes of receipt we were able to log into the airlines reservation system (USAIR) and make seat selections.

A note - Because we purchased one way air, a few extra steps needed to be taken (post 9-11 contingencies I am sure). The difference between what we paid and what the airline was asking (for the same flight) was considerable (I think it was close to a $1500 difference at the time). The consolidator was less expensive that Expedia, and Travelocity as well.

I hope this information will act as a guide for you. We have many months before we have to begin looking for airfare for this cruise.

Hope all is well-

Thank you! This is something to consider. I had not looked into this option before.

[KSDisneyDad]

The basic premise behind the consolidator is that they sign a large agreement to purchase x amount of tickets on a particular airline. The discounted fare is substantial, they pass the savings to the end user (us). Generally consolidators stick to international airfare, but some are beginning to offer domestic airfare as well. I have not researched flights within Europe proper.

There are numerous consolidators that you can find on the internet. Care should be taken to find a reputable company, the concern is always there. We booked our travel through the consolidator, within minutes of receipt we were able to log into the airlines reservation system (USAIR) and make seat selections.

A note - Because we purchased one way air, a few extra steps needed to be taken (post 9-11 contingencies I am sure). The difference between what we paid and what the airline was asking (for the same flight) was considerable (I think it was close to a $1500 difference at the time). The consolidator was less expensive that Expedia, and Travelocity as well.

I hope this information will act as a guide for you. We have many months before we have to begin looking for airfare for this cruise.

Hope all is well-

Thanks for the heads up. I've also been watching Kayak for one-way fares to Barcelona just to see what the prices might be next year. It's been hovering around $725 the last few weeks for us. That's a little less than I had budgeted, so I hope the fares stay at that level or lower through next year.

Well, today my DW and her Mom and sister will be boarding the Princess Coral (or do they call in the Coral Princess?). Anyway, they're very excited for their 15 night Panama Canal cruise. Princess has a bridge cam that I plan to look at frequently while they're on their trip and save the pictures for them. I also plan to look at the Panama Canal webcams and hopefully will be able to capture some of the High Res Web cam pictures for them.

This morning they eat breakfast with a fellow DISer that we met on our Panama Canal cruise meet thread last year. Many of the DISers, including my DW, from that cruise have stayed in touch via Facebook. I haven't taken the Facebook plunge yet.

Is anyone here planning to take a short trip on the Dream before our TA cruise? Our kids are begging us for a trip.

Just 672 days left for us!

[TifffanyD]

Is anyone here planning to take a short trip on the Dream before our TA cruise? Our kids are begging us for a trip.

Just 672 days left for us!

I haven't ruled it out! I checked dream rates for a 3-night in "value" season and the prices are right in-line with what we've paid on the Wonder. We'll see how vacation time and funds run though.

[HallsofVA]

I had my TA cancel our reservation for this cruise for now. If something happens with our 2010 WB TA then we'll look to come back. Have a wonderful cruise!!

[Carys]

I had my TA cancel our reservation for this cruise for now. If something happens with our 2010 WB TA then we'll look to come back. Have a wonderful cruise!!

Likewise, I hope you have a wonderful TA in 2010 :) Maybe even an inspiring enough cruise to write a trip report for us? :thumbsup2

[IrishCowboy]

subscribing

[KiwiMatt]

Hi everyone

We (myself, my wife Hanneke and daughter Arwen 5yrs old) just got of the Magic last Sat and have booked this cruise as our next one. Very excited, even though it is a long way into the future.

Look forward to getting to know everyone.

Cheers
Matthew

[Carys]

Welcome aboard to you and your family (I Love your daughter's name!!) Do you mind if I ask where the "Kiwi" part of your name comes from? Are we getting another NZer aboard? :)

[KiwiMatt]

Yes indeed, Im originally from NZ. We live in Virginia now.

[AnkaG]

Welcome KiwiMatt! You were on the magic on what cruise?

we got off 4 weeks ago from our first cruise... already 4 weeks!!!

well, only 657 days until our cruise! :P

[KiwiMatt]

We did the Western Caribbean cruise 7 - 14 November, which stopped at St Croix.

The going was a bit rough the first two days (in fact I have some great footage of my daughter in the pool first thing on the Sunday morning playing in the waves) but then as we got further south it was calmer. Unfortunately when we returned to Castaway Cay it was still rough and a lot of the water based excusions were cancelled.

We had a magical time anyway and are trying very hard to convince our friends to join us for this one.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend (I nearly made a reference to Thanksgiving, now considering the audience I think that would be a faux pas :=)


Cheers
Matthew

[karentan]

hi everyone! after lurking for a while, i can officially join in!! (my DH was supposed to be booking this as a surprise, but he sucks at surprises so i know now!!)

anyway, it's going to be me (karen, 29 at mo), and my DH gary (28 at mo), we've been on two 3 night wonder cruises, and this will be our first long cruise. can't wait!!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Welcome Karen! Oh my goodness I love the picture in your avatar!!! :)

[karentan]

thats a piccy of my 5 year old german shepherd when he was a puppy, he's a bit bigger now!! (about 88 pounds!)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3626229&l=eed2e53d2c&id=666811354
so excited to be coming on this cruise though!!

[Carys]

Welcome aboard Karen! Oh my goodness, the picture was So cute I assumed it was a stock photo from somewhere, he's is such a cutie!! How sweet of your husband to try to surprise you, I'd love to be surprised with a cruise :thumbsup2 This will be my second long one as I'm booked on the Jan '11 PC, 2011 is going to be a fabulous year!

KiwiMatt, it sounds like your family had a great cruise! Living in expat circles we celebrate every holiday going, I'm looking forward to an american friend's pie baking skills later this week:)

[karentan]

2011 is certainly going to be a packed year for us too, cruising in september, and in february we're planning a family trip to singapore for my dad's 70th birthday (he was born over there and moved to the UK in his 20s). he doesnt know anything about it so its going to be a big surprise for him :)

we were lucky when cerby was little, we had a photographer friend who was training his son and needed "models", so we got a photoshoot for our little bundle of fluff for free :)
http://www5.snapfish.co.uk/slideshow/AlbumID=43196352/PictureID=1266243024/a=35043970_35043970/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/
http://www5.snapfish.co.uk/slideshow/AlbumID=43196352/PictureID=1266243794/a=35043970_35043970/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/
http://www5.snapfish.co.uk/slideshow/AlbumID=43196352/PictureID=1266243793/a=35043970_35043970/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/

[karentan]

oh by the way have you guys seen this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2329651

wonder what they're doing with the last of the med cruises before our TA?

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

oh by the way have you guys seen this thread:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2329651

wonder what they're doing with the last of the med cruises before our TA?

Sort of hoping that we get the ship after a dry-dock visit.

Hope all is well-

[Carys]

Getting the boat after a drydock would be great, I'm more than willing to do the hard yards to give the ship a good testing :lmao: I'll leave no bar or deck chair unvisited in my selfless quest! :dance3:

That second picture of cerby (short for cerberus?) sitting on the chair is so precious! He's looks like he's saying Look mum! I did what you said! Treat time now?? Ooh butterfly!!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Welcome aboard Karen! Oh my goodness, the picture was So cute I assumed it was a stock photo from somewhere, he's is such a cutie!! How sweet of your husband to try to surprise you, I'd love to be surprised with a cruise :thumbsup2 This will be my second long one as I'm booked on the Jan '11 PC, 2011 is going to be a fabulous year!

KiwiMatt, it sounds like your family had a great cruise! Living in expat circles we celebrate every holiday going, I'm looking forward to an american friend's pie baking skills later this week:)

Hee hee - Oh my! Enjoy those pies! I have been pounding the streets of Ankara searching high and low for a turkey to roast - none to be found!!! Argh! I will be roasting turkey parts this year!:rotfl2: Holidays and Expats do go together- I am having friends from Germany, the UK and Korea at my "American" Thanksgiving Dinner-LOL. They are real troopers for coming!

Karen -Your Cerby is soooo adorable - thanks for sharing the photos!

[karentan]

That second picture of cerby (short for cerberus?) sitting on the chair is so precious! He's looks like he's saying Look mum! I did what you said! Treat time now?? Ooh butterfly!!

yeah, when we were thinking of getting a dog, gary thought cerberus (2/3 headed mythological dog that guards the gates to hell) would be a great name for a big black dog. unfortunately for him, he didnt really work out that way, so it kinda got shortened to cerby. he's the biggest softest lump ever, and just wants cuddles all the time!
that shot took a LOT of effort (as did the one in the basket), he kept jumping off the chair as soon as we let go, so eventually it was:
hold him, you ready?, still holding him, hold him, hold him, quickly let go, TAKE THE PHOTO!!! unfortunately at that point in cerby's life (about 9 or 10 weeks old) he was not anywhere near as food oriented as he is now. right now as long as i've got a biscuit he'll sit there for ages :)

and i am kinda hoping for the drydock theory to be right too!! but i do hope that the date change wont happen as we probably wont be able to cruise if it was pulled forward

[AnkaG]

thanks for the thread... could they do that, change the date? I would hope they would tell us at least a year in advance, some ppl could get their plane tickets in advance.......
Well, we still have 655 days to figure it out I guess! :)

[KiwiMatt]

Can someone educate me as to why a dry dock would be a good thing to follow?

Because the ship is clean and fresh?

[karentan]

yeah i think so, fresh, clean, new coat of paint, if they do any enhancements they'll be new. basically you dont get as much of the "ship looks tired and in need of work" thing

[karentan]

we've decided to do the 7 night western instead now, but have a great cruise everyone!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

we've decided to do the 7 night western instead now, but have a great cruise everyone!

Sad that you won't be joining us but we know you'll have a great cruise! Post some pics if you go before us - when is your sail date?

[karentan]

we're thinking of going on the october 1st 7 night, so you guys will be cruising before us, take good care of the magic for us!

[Goofy Adpi]

Greetings! After a lot of lurking (for helpful hints and suggestions) I can officially make my first post to say, I'm going on the Cruise!!!!:woohoo: I booked this afternoon, and can't wait for the cruise.

This is my first Disney Cruise, and first post. Any helpful hints you can suggest, I welcome with open arms.

Yeah for Disney Cruises!!

[KSDisneyDad]

Greetings! After a lot of lurking (for helpful hints and suggestions) I can officially make my first post to say, I'm going on the Cruise!!!!:woohoo: I booked this afternoon, and can't wait for the cruise.

This is my first Disney Cruise, and first post. Any helpful hints you can suggest, I welcome with open arms.

Yeah for Disney Cruises!!

Welcome!! :thumbsup2 What a great first cruise - 14 nights across the Atlantic!!

This will most likely be our 6th Disney cruise. We're hoping to do a short cruise on the Dream earlier in 2011 with the kids.

Here's a thread on DCL tips and hints. The thread was closed as it had some outdated info, but I still think there are a lot of tips on this thread that you can't find elsewhere:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=834700

And here are a few more tips:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1732005&page=4

We have quite a long time to plan. Enjoy every minute!!

[Carys]

Greetings! After a lot of lurking (for helpful hints and suggestions) I can officially make my first post to say, I'm going on the Cruise!!!!:woohoo: I booked this afternoon, and can't wait for the cruise.

This is my first Disney Cruise, and first post. Any helpful hints you can suggest, I welcome with open arms.

Yeah for Disney Cruises!!

Welcome aboard Goofy Adpi - kind of a pun because I mean both aboard the ship and aboard the boards :lmao: (Ladies and Gentleman, I'll be here all week, thank you!)

We've got plenty of time before we set sail so spend some time browsing the cruise discussion boards to get a sense of how we roll, I'll give a special shout out here to the thread of pictures of cruise food http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=886187. Don't read it when already hungry!!!

[CastMember 02]

Hi all, Steve here we are thinking of booking this cruise on our DVC member cruise in september does anyone know the current promos associated with this sailing?

[Carys]

Hi Steve :yay: I'm not aware of any promos, except for getting to sail with us cool cats ;) If you spot any please let us know though!

[Jennifer in MI]

We just booked this cruise on our back to back sailings last week!!!! I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and to meet you eventually. I haven't read the previous six pages, but I will! I'm still unpacking from our vacation.

We have connecting cat 9A rooms. It's me, dh (Steve), Sam (15 when we cruise), Andrew (almost 14), William (11), and Margaret (5 1/2).

I've already got some GREAT fish extender gift ideas!!

[AnkaG]

We just booked this cruise on our back to back sailings last week!!!!

Welcome Jennifer in MI! :cheer2:

Now that we are in 2010, we can say that we are sailing NEXT YEAR!! WOOHOO!!! :)

[Meliador]

Hi there!!

First thank you so so much for all the useful tips posted here...it's incredible! DH and I have already booked a 3-Day Bahamas on the Wonder in December just the 2 of us (WooHoo!). Though it's going to be our first cruise, we're major fans of WDW and the Parks!

To celebrate our anniversary, we have also decided that we want to take the WBTA in Sept 2011. I read somewhere that you can get a 10% reduction if you book your next cruise while you're on the ship. We're interested in booking either a Cat 4 or 5. So, ok here's my question: is it better to book our WBTA soon (and presumably get the room we want) or wait 'til next December to book the 09/11 WBTA while we're on our cruise (and therefore get the 10% reduction)? I am so so excited and cannot wait to meet you all (and my fellow Quebecoise AnKaG! :-) )

Thank you again!!

Melia :wizard:

[TifffanyD]

Hi there!!

First thank you so so much for all the useful tips posted here...it's incredible! DH and I have already booked a 3-Day Bahamas on the Wonder in December just the 2 of us (WooHoo!). Though it's going to be our first cruise, we're major fans of WDW and the Parks!

To celebrate our anniversary, we have also decided that we want to take the WBTA in Sept 2011. I read somewhere that you can get a 10% reduction if you book your next cruise while you're on the ship. We're interested in booking either a Cat 4 or 5. So, ok here's my question: is it better to book our WBTA soon (and presumably get the room we want) or wait 'til next December to book the 09/11 WBTA while we're on our cruise (and therefore get the 10% reduction)? I am so so excited and cannot wait to meet you all (and my fellow Quebecoise AnKaG! :-) )

Thank you again!!

Melia :wizard:

Congrats on your first cruise!!! I would book now and then check on the ship and see if it's cheaper. This is what we did - we booked the first day it was available via a travel agent and then % and get the $200 shipboard credit (don't forget that part!) :)

[KSDisneyDad]

Hi all, Steve here we are thinking of booking this cruise on our DVC member cruise in september does anyone know the current promos associated with this sailing?

I hope you decide to join us. Not sure of any new promotions though. I believe the TA cruises don't go up much in price and are generally priced as about the least expensive DCL cruise available on a per-day basis.

We just booked this cruise on our back to back sailings last week!!!! I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and to meet you eventually. I haven't read the previous six pages, but I will! I'm still unpacking from our vacation.

We have connecting cat 9A rooms. It's me, dh (Steve), Sam (15 when we cruise), Andrew (almost 14), William (11), and Margaret (5 1/2).

I've already got some GREAT fish extender gift ideas!!

:welcome: You're almost making me feel guilty for leaving our 3 boys behind! We're looking forward to our first kid-free vacation since 1999.

Hi there!!

First thank you so so much for all the useful tips posted here...it's incredible! DH and I have already booked a 3-Day Bahamas on the Wonder in December just the 2 of us (WooHoo!). Though it's going to be our first cruise, we're major fans of WDW and the Parks!

To celebrate our anniversary, we have also decided that we want to take the WBTA in Sept 2011. I read somewhere that you can get a 10% reduction if you book your next cruise while you're on the ship. We're interested in booking either a Cat 4 or 5. So, ok here's my question: is it better to book our WBTA soon (and presumably get the room we want) or wait 'til next December to book the 09/11 WBTA while we're on our cruise (and therefore get the 10% reduction)? I am so so excited and cannot wait to meet you all (and my fellow Quebecoise AnKaG! :-) )

Thank you again!!

Melia :wizard:

We're celebrating our anniversary on this cruise as well.

You can always book your room now and then book another room on-board in December and cancel your exisiting room reservation. I don't believe you can "swap" your reservation for a new one on-board. You do run the risk of the price going up by more than 10%, but I don't believe that happens much with the TA cruises. As TiffanyD stated above, another huge advantage to booking on-board is the higher on-board room credit.

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Are we there yet?

Hope all is well-

[Meliador]

Thank you TiffanyD and KSDisneydad for the great tips!! I will definitely go ahead and make a reservation.

Other questions: (1) I've seen a couple of Disney-authorized travel agencies that seems to have great perks to offer if you book via them (e.g. onboard credits etc) vs booking online. Is there any reason why travel agents are able to offer a better "package" than booking on the official DCL website? Seems a bit strange to me, but then, i'm not in that business, so maybe something i'm missing there...:confused3

(2) I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to go for a Cat 4 instead of a Cat 5, considering that it's a 14 days cruise after all. Are the few additional square feets worth it? I thought of checking how much more $$ a Cat 3 (1 bedroom) would be, but I'm afraid to ask...:eek:

Thank you all again!!

/Melia :wizard:

[KSDisneyDad]

Thank you TiffanyD and KSDisneydad for the great tips!! I will definitely go ahead and make a reservation.

Other questions: (1) I've seen a couple of Disney-authorized travel agencies that seems to have great perks to offer if you book via them (e.g. onboard credits etc) vs booking online. Is there any reason why travel agents are able to offer a better "package" than booking on the official DCL website? Seems a bit strange to me, but then, i'm not in that business, so maybe something i'm missing there...:confused3

(2) I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to go for a Cat 4 instead of a Cat 5, considering that it's a 14 days cruise after all. Are the few additional square feets worth it? I thought of checking how much more $$ a Cat 3 (1 bedroom) would be, but I'm afraid to ask...:eek:

Thank you all again!!

/Melia :wizard:

1. I have no idea how this works either. I have read that you can even book on-line through DCL's website or on-board with the 10% discount/OBCs and then later move your reservation to a travel agent and get additional OBCs. They must be giving up part of their commission from Disney to offer the OBCs. Personally, we like to use a travel agent primarily because we want to have someone we know that we can call if something goes wrong.

2. Can't help here either as I've never sailed with a balcony (We will be in a cat 4 next month though on a 4-night Spring Break cruise). We did a 15-night Panama Canal cruise in connecting Cat 8's with 5 of us and had plenty of room without the balcony. It's a personal choice, but for two, I think the Cat 5-10 rooms are fine space wise. We may look into upgrading our current transatlantic reservation to a balcony room while on-board next month, but I'm not yet convinced it will be worth it. Perhaps I'll change my mind after sailing next month.

Good luck deciding!

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Well Folks,

Looks like I am going to have to cancel the Transatlantic for now - so sad but my Disney budget has diminished greatly - must console myself with a short and inexpensive jaunt to DLP. I do look forward to reading the trip reports though!:goodvibes

[EllaEnchanted]

Hi Everyone! We're booked on this cruise. We are DH John/1Grumpy John and myself DW Deb/EllaEnchanted. This will be our 14th cruise. Wow...we have only done 8 so far but we have a total of 6 booked for this year and next. September is our anniversary month. We will be celebrating our 21st together on this cruise.

We're travelling with friends, another anniversary couple, that we met on our first cruise in 2001. This will be our 3rd cruise with them.

We would like to sit together at dinner and have another couple or two join us. Are there any other couples celebrating an anniversary....why don't you join us. We do the late seating. PM me if you're interested.

I'm really looking forward to participating in some organized events with all of you. I suppose we have plenty of time to figure all that out. haha.:lmao:

[EllaEnchanted]

Hi there!!

First thank you so so much for all the useful tips posted here...it's incredible! DH and I have already booked a 3-Day Bahamas on the Wonder in December just the 2 of us (WooHoo!). Though it's going to be our first cruise, we're major fans of WDW and the Parks!

To celebrate our anniversary, we have also decided that we want to take the WBTA in Sept 2011. I read somewhere that you can get a 10% reduction if you book your next cruise while you're on the ship. We're interested in booking either a Cat 4 or 5. So, ok here's my question: is it better to book our WBTA soon (and presumably get the room we want) or wait 'til next December to book the 09/11 WBTA while we're on our cruise (and therefore get the 10% reduction)? I am so so excited and cannot wait to meet you all (and my fellow Quebecoise AnKaG! :-) )

Thank you again!!

Melia :wizard:

You could probably book it now and then try to rebook it onboard when you see the discounted price and the additional shipboard credit. You might have to cancel the first one when you book it the second time. At least you could lock in a specific room or location onboard this way.

Do you like the second seating for dining? You should consider joining me and my husband and our friends for dinner. We love meeting new people and we'll all be celebrating our anniversaries.

[EllaEnchanted]

Congrats on your first cruise!!! I would book now and then check on the ship and see if it's cheaper. This is what we did - we booked the first day it was available via a travel agent and then % and get the $200 shipboard credit (don't forget that part!) :)

I should have continued reading before posting my answer. Well great minds think alike.

[EllaEnchanted]

I hope you decide to join us. Not sure of any new promotions though. I believe the TA cruises don't go up much in price and are generally priced as about the least expensive DCL cruise available on a per-day basis.



:welcome: You're almost making me feel guilty for leaving our 3 boys behind! We're looking forward to our first kid-free vacation since 1999.



We're celebrating our anniversary on this cruise as well.

YEAH another couple celebrating an anniversary. If you like the second seating, would you like to sit with us as well. I say, the more the merrier.

You can always book your room now and then book another room on-board in December and cancel your exisiting room reservation. I don't believe you can "swap" your reservation for a new one on-board. You do run the risk of the price going up by more than 10%, but I don't believe that happens much with the TA cruises. As TiffanyD stated above, another huge advantage to booking on-board is the higher on-board room credit.

Like I said, I should have kept reading. Well now I know how it works for sure. Thanks for the great info.

[Meliador]

Like I said, I should have kept reading. Well now I know how it works for sure. Thanks for the great info.



Hi Ella!! Sure sounds like a plan!! I think we'd prefer the second seating, I would rather not rush to dinner to catch a show (I know I would fret if I were on the early dining time). I have to first book the cruise!

Based on the recommendations I've gathered on this board, I'll use a TA for this. Imagine, while I was booking online our Disney Wonder December cruise about 2 weeks ago, the DCL site crashed...I called to finish the reservation by phone, and got a confirmation that the other online reservation never came through. Ha! Checked my credit card bill and I had 2 DCL reservation deposits taken *plus* got a second reservation by mail! Thankfully, it was easy to sort out with the DCL folks.

All this to say that for a transatlantic cruise and considering the $$ invested, I'm definitely going to use a TA.

So much fun to plan though....

/Melia :wizard:

[EllaEnchanted]

Hi Ella!! Sure sounds like a plan!! I think we'd prefer the second seating, I would rather not rush to dinner to catch a show (I know I would fret if I were on the early dining time). I have to first book the cruise!

Based on the recommendations I've gathered on this board, I'll use a TA for this. Imagine, while I was booking online our Disney Wonder December cruise about 2 weeks ago, the DCL site crashed...I called to finish the reservation by phone, and got a confirmation that the other online reservation never came through. Ha! Checked my credit card bill and I had 2 DCL reservation deposits taken *plus* got a second reservation by mail! Thankfully, it was easy to sort out with the DCL folks.

All this to say that for a transatlantic cruise and considering the $$ invested, I'm definitely going to use a TA.

So much fun to plan though....

/Melia :wizard:

Hi Melia, I'm so happy that you're going to sit with us for dinner. There will be a lot of celebrating going on at our table. WOOHOO! We'll wait until final payment is made and then we can link our reservations. But we have plenty of time for that.

I agree that planning is all the fun!

:cutie::cutie::cutie:

[Meliador]

Hello fellow DIS-ers....

Am now ready to take it to second base... ;)

I'm sure this is something that has been probably asked many times before (and if so, please don't hesitate to send me to the link that talks about this)...but any suggestions as to TA to use for the WBTA reservation? I would probably give a shot to our sponsor (it's just fair), but if there is anyone amongst that team that you've worked with and really like, I'd love to get their names!

Thankyou Thankyou!!

Melia:wizard:

[TifffanyD]

Hello fellow DIS-ers....

Am now ready to take it to second base... ;)

I'm sure this is something that has been probably asked many times before (and if so, please don't hesitate to send me to the link that talks about this)...but any suggestions as to TA to use for the WBTA reservation? I would probably give a shot to our sponsor (it's just fair), but if there is anyone amongst that team that you've worked with and really like, I'd love to get their names!

Thankyou Thankyou!!

Melia:wizard:


I have used Kelsie and Tracey and both have been good. I was assigned Tracey on my first cruise and it was great so I request her now. Kelsie was assigned to the one I am going on in October this year - have had no problems with her either! :)

[Meliador]

Thank you TifannyD for the tip! i will get in touch with them in the next weeks. Will let you all know how it goes.

Cheers,

/Melia :wizard:

[Meliador]

I've just asked for a quote for the WBTA...I should hear from the TA in 2 business days. Yay!

Was wondering about the following: if you're 2 adults traveling (no kids), is it worthwhile to get the Family Room with Verandah? (cat 4), or should we be just fine in a midship regular Verandah stateroom (cat 5A)? As I am celebrating an anniversary, I asked how much $$ a one bedroom suite would cost. I still don't know if it's worthwhile...that is, should I put the extra money on the stateroom or on the excursions.

I'm much excited about the EU ports of call (can't wait to try Madeira wine!), though less impressed with St-Maarten or Tortola. Seems like it's very expensive for a day on an island. I've been to Tortola probably 10 times now (sailing), so I guess once there, I'd hit Pussers' for my collection of Painkillers (awsome drink!) mugs and my fix of English chocolate bars at "All Things British" (a store within walking distance of the dock!). If any of you have any questions about Tortola, don't hesitate to shout!! :banana:

Comments/suggestions always welcome!!

thank you again for all of your input!

/Melia :wizard:

[Meliador]

Duh! As I was rereading my posts, I noticed that some of you already provided comments (thank you KSDisney Dad!!)...

If anyone has stayed in the verandah balcony for a longer cruise, that would be great if you could let me know whether the room was spacious enough...not that I'm ordinarily living in a castle (far from it, mind you, rather a 100-year old beach shack!), but I like my "personal space..." :thumbsup2

I'm just trying to gage whether I can call 260' sq ft (or so) my home without (i) suffering from claustrauphobia, or worse...(ii) driving DH crazy!!

thanks again!!

/Melia

[Meliador]

Please officially count me in!!:woohoo:

Ended up booking a Cat 5A. Price delta for a Cat4A was about $500 (not bad), however I wanted to be midship, but not on the highest floor for staterooms. So we are on 7th deck, which is just perfect...

I am so so excited!!

I began reading on Barcelona, and all the stuff there is to see there...I thought I could spend just a day, day and a half, but seems like a 2-3 pre-cruise would be in order.

Curious about what your WBTA's cruisers pre-cruise plans are?

Yay!!

/Melia :wizard:

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Please officially count me in!!:woohoo:

Ended up booking a Cat 5A. Price delta for a Cat4A was about $500 (not bad), however I wanted to be midship, but not on the highest floor for staterooms. So we are on 7th deck, which is just perfect...

I am so so excited!!

I began reading on Barcelona, and all the stuff there is to see there...I thought I could spend just a day, day and a half, but seems like a 2-3 pre-cruise would be in order.

Curious about what your WBTA's cruisers pre-cruise plans are?

Yay!!

/Melia :wizard:

We did a 21 night Trans-Atlantic from Rome to FLL late last year aboard the Grand Princess. We stopped in Barcelona, had a nice visit. The city really is spread out. We bought (on our own) a ticket for the city sight seeing bus, we did 2 of the 3 'loops'. We thought that Barcelona would be a city that we would re-visit.

This brings us to our current dilemma. We lived in Orlando for 8+ years, recently moved to the Atlanta area. This cruise is in 20 months, not sure that we will be spending a considerable amount of time between now and then in Orlando. I have put my foot down, we can either spend some time in Barcelona pre-cruise, or stay on property (Grand floridian most likely) and enjoy the magic of Disney World. In all the time we lived in Orlando, we never had a need to stay on property, something that is missing out of 1000 places to visit before you die. Don't get me wrong, we had annual passes for 8 years, we would sometime go to EPCOT for a drink and walk a few laps around the lagoon. We are true Disney lovers.

If you decide on Barcelona, there was a cable car that looked amazing, if we end up just doing one day pre-cruise, it is something we will consider partaking in. The big sights are amazing as well.

Hope all is well-

[Meliador]

Wow...what an interesting dilemma! The Grand Floridian is of course stunning. I haven't stayed there, but I visited its grounds and had High Tea there (heartily recommend it too!). Barcelona seems to be a vibrant city with top notch architecture and great food. I too would be torn between these great opportunities! I guess it boils down to price and opportunity. What's the price difference between the 2, and how likely you are to go to Barcelona in the future if you decided to instead go to the Grand Floridian, and vice-versa. Isn't it great to have choices though!!

I will definitely check out into the cable car. So far, I have looked at the top history/architecture spots. It seems logical to book a room on La Rambla, to be on the center of everything. I saw that there were excursions for Montserrat, but that seems to be a whole day. Not sure I want to spend pre-cruise days in excursions outside of Barcelona...

Good luck with "solving the dilemma"....either way, it's going to be fantastic I'm sure!!

/Melia

[nick262]

Hello All,

My family has just booked this cruise. We could not be more excited. It will be me (Nickole) DH (Dom) and DD (Kirsten). Our DD will be 8 at the time of sailing. We are in a cat 4B and have 2nd seating.

I look forward to getting to know all of you.

[nick262]

I asked how much $$ a one bedroom suite would cost. I still don't know if it's worthwhile...

Meliador,

Just curious what the price was for the one bedroom. Did you mind sharing the quote?

TIA

[Meliador]

Meliador,

Just curious what the price was for the one bedroom. Did you mind sharing the quote?

TIA

Welcome on board Nikole!! I too have second seating!! No, I don't mind at all sharing it...if I recall I think it was a little over 10k. In the grand scheme of life, it's about the same that it would cost for 2 ppl to do a 6 days Cunard Transat from Southampton-NY in Queens Grill staterooms...but much more fun to spend 15 days on a ship with the Mouse!!:banana:

Do you plan to do a pre-cruise in Barcelona?

/Melia :wizard:

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Wow...what an interesting dilemma! The Grand Floridian is of course stunning. I haven't stayed there, but I visited its grounds and had High Tea there (heartily recommend it too!). Barcelona seems to be a vibrant city with top notch architecture and great food. I too would be torn between these great opportunities! I guess it boils down to price and opportunity. What's the price difference between the 2, and how likely you are to go to Barcelona in the future if you decided to instead go to the Grand Floridian, and vice-versa. Isn't it great to have choices though!!

I will definitely check out into the cable car. So far, I have looked at the top history/architecture spots. It seems logical to book a room on La Rambla, to be on the center of everything. I saw that there were excursions for Montserrat, but that seems to be a whole day. Not sure I want to spend pre-cruise days in excursions outside of Barcelona...

Good luck with "solving the dilemma"....either way, it's going to be fantastic I'm sure!!

/Melia


This will be brought up many times, be careful on La Rambla. Thievery is rampant (pick pocketing), slightly higher than that of most other high metropolitan areas. Nothing to be overly concerned about, be aware of your surroundings.

Vibrant city, great, great architecture. The item that surprised me the most about Barcelona was the amount of revitalization that was occurring. It seemed to me that every other block had some building being renovated.....
It might of been just me, there appeared to be quite a bit of this activity going on. it will be interesting returning 21 months later to see if the same still holds true.

Hope all is well-

[nick262]

Welcome on board Nikole!! I too have second seating!! No, I don't mind at all sharing it...if I recall I think it was a little over 10k. In the grand scheme of life, it's about the same that it would cost for 2 ppl to do a 6 days Cunard Transat from Southampton-NY in Queens Grill staterooms...but much more fun to spend 15 days on a ship with the Mouse!!:banana:

Do you plan to do a pre-cruise in Barcelona?

/Melia :wizard:

Hi Melia,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, we will not be able to do a pre-stay. We are taking our daughter out of school and dont want that to be too long. We will arrive in Barcelona on the 9th and say the night before the cruise, so hopefully we will get a bit of a look around.

[Meliador]

This will be brought up many times, be careful on La Rambla. Thievery is rampant (pick pocketing), slightly higher than that of most other high metropolitan areas. Nothing to be overly concerned about, be aware of your surroundings.-

thank you so much for this bit of info!! I've done my share of travels, and it seems that whenever an area is "tourists-heavy," sadly there will always be people trying to take advantage of the situation (e.g. near the Louvre or Eiffel Tower in Paris, or Tower Hill in London). I was under the impression that the frenzy of renovation projects would have been completed a long time ago (after all, didn't Barcelona host the 1992 Olympics?)...however I read somewhere that the Sagrada Familia (Church designed by Gaudi) has never been completed and remains a "work-in-progress," hence all the scaffolding that one sees there. I cannot wait to see all of this Gaudi mosaics work. Which hotel did you stay at when you were in Barcelona? Do you plan to stay at the same place?

Best,

/Melia :wizard:

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

thank you so much for this bit of info!! I've done my share of travels, and it seems that whenever an area is "tourists-heavy," sadly there will always be people trying to take advantage of the situation (e.g. near the Louvre or Eiffel Tower in Paris, or Tower Hill in London). I was under the impression that the frenzy of renovation projects would have been completed a long time ago (after all, didn't Barcelona host the 1992 Olympics?)...however I read somewhere that the Sagrada Familia (Church designed by Gaudi) has never been completed and remains a "work-in-progress," hence all the scaffolding that one sees there. I cannot wait to see all of this Gaudi mosaics work. Which hotel did you stay at when you were in Barcelona? Do you plan to stay at the same place?

Best,

/Melia :wizard:

We were only there for 1 day, we were on another Transatlantic cruise.

Hope all is well-

[Meliador]

Hi Melia,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, we will not be able to do a pre-stay. We are taking our daughter out of school and dont want that to be too long. We will arrive in Barcelona on the 9th and say the night before the cruise, so hopefully we will get a bit of a look around.

Of course...perfectly understandable!! Wow...I wished my parents took me to trips when I was that age...what a formative and memorable experience! She'll come back to school with wonderful memories of places she has been to and visited. At any rate, while she may miss a bit of school, she won't miss a beat in her Geography class i'm sure! :thumbsup2

I'm still not sure how long of a pre-cruise I'd like to do....or rather "how long I will end up doing"...b/c if I didn't have to hold onto a paying gig...I'd travel all the time! :cool2:

It will be fun to prepare the trip and converse with all of the folks here as we get closer to our sailing date. One of my goal in joining this board was to know enough people so that hopefully I can be seated at dinnertime with "friends" versus strangers I've never talked to before. I'm just a bit shy in face-to-face encounters with strangers...but then I get better once that person is no longer a stranger. Thus meeting with fellow DISers online will help break the proverbial ice!!

Best,

/Melia :wizard:

[EllaEnchanted]

Of course...perfectly understandable!! Wow...I wished my parents took me to trips when I was that age...what a formative and memorable experience! She'll come back to school with wonderful memories of places she has been to and visited. At any rate, while she may miss a bit of school, she won't miss a beat in her Geography class i'm sure! :thumbsup2

I'm still not sure how long of a pre-cruise I'd like to do....or rather "how long I will end up doing"...b/c if I didn't have to hold onto a paying gig...I'd travel all the time! :cool2:

It will be fun to prepare the trip and converse with all of the folks here as we get closer to our sailing date. One of my goal in joining this board was to know enough people so that hopefully I can be seated at dinnertime with "friends" versus strangers I've never talked to before. I'm just a bit shy in face-to-face encounters with strangers...but then I get better once that person is no longer a stranger. Thus meeting with fellow DISers online will help break the proverbial ice!!

Best,

/Melia :wizard:


I hear you Melia and completely agree. I cruised in May 08 and that thread is still going....we're all fierce friends to this day. The other friends that we're sitting with for dinner....we met on our first cruise at dinner in Sept 01 and we're cruising with them again on here. In fact they picked this cruise to do. It's going to be a fun table with a lot of good laughs.

Me and DH John are thinking about flying directly into London and doing a DISmeet with some friends there before moving onto Barcelona. We're thinking about 2-3 nights in London then 1-2 nights in Barcelona. It depends on how much time off John can get from his job. I don't work so that's not an issue for me. John has been to London before, but not me. Neither one of us has been to Barcelona.

What is your DH's name? Do you have any kids? Will they be travelling with you? How old are they?

John and I are travelling alone. We don't have any kids together, but he has kids from a previous marriage. His daughter is 36 and his son is 35. He has two grandsons by his daughter. They are 17 and 18. John's daughter lived with us after her marriage failed and the boys were only 2 and 3 years old. So we had kids in the house for many years. John's son still lives with us....in a detached apartment on property.

[Meliador]

Me and DH John are thinking about flying directly into London and doing a DISmeet with some friends there before moving onto Barcelona. We're thinking about 2-3 nights in London then 1-2 nights in Barcelona. It depends on how much time off John can get from his job. I don't work so that's not an issue for me. John has been to London before, but not me. Neither one of us has been to Barcelona.

Wow!! I so wished i could do that too!! I lived in England for about a year...just loved the vibe of the place! It occurred to me that the week leading up to the WBTA is Labor Day Weekend (5 september). Considering that Monday is a holiday, and that I was planning on flying from the US into BCN on Wednesday night for a 2 day pre-cruise, I'm wondering if I shouldn't bite the bullet and take the whole week off, which would mean to add Tue to the days I had already planned to take off (Weds-Thur-Fri). However, that would mean taking 3 weeks off from work...:scared1: Really don't know if I can swing that...Ohwell, maybe by then I will have won the lottery and I won't need to bother with a paying gig...:dance3:

London is a great place to visit Ella!! Whenever I go, I never seem to do half of what I want to do. I'll see a quaint little pub, and will sit by its fireplace, sipping a local Ale and read a good book. Of course, I could probably do that any place (and even at home!), but I still believe there is something special about hanging out in a 500 year old pub!

Because I've been to London before (and so has DH), we have instead opted to spend the whole pre-cruise (whatever days we can squeeze) in BCN. I've started gathering info...and with all the great tips on this board, I'm confident that we can make this a memorable trip!! Happy to exchange/share info! (speaking of info Ella, please check your inbox! :banana:)

Best,

[Carys]

Welcome to the new cruisers since I last dropped in! (I have updated the passenger list on the first page of this thread). It still seems such a long way away, but then again it's already been about 5 months since I booked so I'm sure the time will continue to fly! If I were in my early 20s instead of late 20s I'd be suggesting a pre-cruise tapas/sangria crawl in Barcelona before the cruise, but I'm not sure I have what it takes anymore :lmao:

[Meliador]

If I were in my early 20s instead of late 20s I'd be suggesting a pre-cruise tapas/sangria crawl in Barcelona before the cruise, but I'm not sure I have what it takes anymore :lmao:

Hehehe....I'm all for at least trying to "crawl"!! I used to do it when I was in my 0s...I'm sure I could muster the effort again! :rotfl:

We plan to spend at least 2 day pre-cruise. We're looking at hotels on La Rambla (like Hotel 1898...). I don't think I'll book through DCL. It's pretty straightforward to review hotels through TripAdvisor.

In terms of flight, it seems they don't open up until 10-12 months in advance...so won't be able to look at this until later this year. But, looking at similar flight at that time of the year, it seems that there are no direct flights to BCN from O'Hare. Have to either stop-over in Madrid, or fly through JFK to go then direct to BCN. I'll probably opt for the latter. I'd rather do my stop-over in the US, rather than Europe. Isn't it great that we will only have a shorter continental flight on the way back (through MCO). Yay!!! :yay:

At any rate, count us in for a pre-boarding celebration night!!

Best,

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[scothen]

Hi everyone,

Just booked this cruise 2 days ago. I am looking forward to meeting all of you.

[CastMember 02]

So It seems that most of our cruisers are doing a 2 day minimum PCS, Do you think it is posssible to Fly to Paris, and see Eiffel Tower and Louve, then take train to Disneyland Paris that evening?:confused:

We would then spend the night at Disney Paris and do the park the next day. Leave about 7pm or 8 and take train again to Barcelona

Is it Do-Able?:confused3

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

So It seems that most of our cruisers are doing a 2 day minimum PCS, Do you think it is posssible to Fly to Paris, and see Eiffel Tower and Louve, then take train to Disneyland Paris that evening?:confused:

We would then spend the night at Disney Paris and do the park the next day. Leave about 7pm or 8 and take train again to Barcelona

Is it Do-Able?:confused3

You might be able to 'see' the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, but in 1 days time there is no way to really experience both. I have been to Paris numerous times, have yet to fully 'experience' the museum. The Louvre is incredible. If you were really to race through the museum and see the big highlights, then bee-line to the Eiffel tower and visit all the floors, you could say you saw both, but not sure that you will be happy with either.

Hope all is well-

[mousemansion]

hi , its so exciting !! this will be our 6th cruise , its just keeps getting better:cool1:

[Meliador]

Great to hear you're joining the fun, Scothen & Mousemansion!!! :banana:

As for Pre Cruise Stay....I am with Cingularone on this...for having seen Paris many times, you'd have to rush like crazy to spend a day zipping through the city, then take the RER to Euro-Disney. I'm not sure about the train schedule between France/Spain, but here's something to consider: it's likely that you'll get into Paris early in the morning, after spending a loonngg time on the plane (I'm assuming you'd be leaving out of CA). You may not necessarily be in the mood for rushing around and see in 2 days what can take a much longer time to visit. Plus add the stress of making sure you don't miss your train to Barcelone (and any connections, in case it's not direct)...and boy you might probably *need* the whole cruise time to rest! :eek:

But hey...if you manage to do this, I would love to hear the Trip Report! Especially the Euro-Disney part! :thumbsup2

Best,

[nick262]

So It seems that most of our cruisers are doing a 2 day minimum PCS, Do you think it is posssible to Fly to Paris, and see Eiffel Tower and Louve, then take train to Disneyland Paris that evening?:confused:

We would then spend the night at Disney Paris and do the park the next day. Leave about 7pm or 8 and take train again to Barcelona

Is it Do-Able?:confused3

Ok your question got me thinking. I am now trying to convince DH to take DD out for 2 more school days and then leave on the 4th to fly over to Paris and stay at DL Paris for 3 days :banana: and then fly down to Barcelona on Friday. We can stay on points and by 3 day PH's for not much money. After all, when will we be this close to DL Paris again. This has made me a bit more excited. LOL

[junesgoofy]

We will be celebrating our 21st together on this cruise.

We're travelling with friends, another anniversary couple, that we met on our first cruise in 2001. This will be our 3rd cruise with them.

We would like to sit together at dinner and have another couple or two join us. Are there any other couples celebrating an anniversary....why don't you join us. We do the late seating. PM me if you're interested.

We will be celebrating our 21st anniversary also! How cool. My better half is KSDisneyDad!

I am looking forward to meeting all the wonderful people on the cruise. We still keep in contact with fellow cruisers from our 2008 cruise. It's so much fun to talk Disney to other Disney followers.

[EllaEnchanted]

Wow!! I so wished i could do that too!! I lived in England for about a year...just loved the vibe of the place! It occurred to me that the week leading up to the WBTA is Labor Day Weekend (5 september). Considering that Monday is a holiday, and that I was planning on flying from the US into BCN on Wednesday night for a 2 day pre-cruise, I'm wondering if I shouldn't bite the bullet and take the whole week off, which would mean to add Tue to the days I had already planned to take off (Weds-Thur-Fri). However, that would mean taking 3 weeks off from work...:scared1: Really don't know if I can swing that...Ohwell, maybe by then I will have won the lottery and I won't need to bother with a paying gig...:dance3:

London is a great place to visit Ella!! Whenever I go, I never seem to do half of what I want to do. I'll see a quaint little pub, and will sit by its fireplace, sipping a local Ale and read a good book. Of course, I could probably do that any place (and even at home!), but I still believe there is something special about hanging out in a 500 year old pub!

Because I've been to London before (and so has DH), we have instead opted to spend the whole pre-cruise (whatever days we can squeeze) in BCN. I've started gathering info...and with all the great tips on this board, I'm confident that we can make this a memorable trip!! Happy to exchange/share info! (speaking of info Ella, please check your inbox! :banana:)

Best,

Hi Melia, I'm so excited to be doing London along with this cruise. We're mostly going to meet with some DISer friends. We'll probably pick a place to do tea and everyone can meet there. Then John wants to do Stonehenge. Anything we do is fine with me. We'll pick something as we get closer. But I thought we would spend one day with friends and one day doing one thing that we pick later.....and that would be all we would have time for. Now that you mention that we have a holiday during that week, maybe we can take 3 days in London. We'll have to see what develops.

Thanks for your message Melia....I responded by email.

[EllaEnchanted]

Hehehe....I'm all for at least trying to "crawl"!! I used to do it when I was in my 0s...I'm sure I could muster the effort again! :rotfl:

We plan to spend at least 2 day pre-cruise. We're looking at hotels on La Rambla (like Hotel 1898...). I don't think I'll book through DCL. It's pretty straightforward to review hotels through TripAdvisor.

In terms of flight, it seems they don't open up until 10-12 months in advance...so won't be able to look at this until later this year. But, looking at similar flight at that time of the year, it seems that there are no direct flights to BCN from O'Hare. Have to either stop-over in Madrid, or fly through JFK to go then direct to BCN. I'll probably opt for the latter. I'd rather do my stop-over in the US, rather than Europe. Isn't it great that we will only have a shorter continental flight on the way back (through MCO). Yay!!! :yay:

At any rate, count us in for a pre-boarding celebration night!!

Best,


Count us in for a pre-boarding celebration night too!!! We'll make sure we're available as we make our travel plans. We would love to do this and meet up with some of you before boarding.

[EllaEnchanted]

We will be celebrating our 21st anniversary also! How cool. My better half is KSDisneyDad!

I am looking forward to meeting all the wonderful people on the cruise. We still keep in contact with fellow cruisers from our 2008 cruise. It's so much fun to talk Disney to other Disney followers.

Cheers! We'll definitely be celebrating at our dinner table. I'm glad you'll be joining us. Melia is also sitting with us and celebrating an anniversary. WOOHOO!!!

That makes our table 8 people....I think that's perfect. I love sitting at big tables with lots of people....it makes it so much more fun.

The other couple that we'll be sitting with are not DISers. I have to see if I can convince them to join us on this thread. They usually don't spend much time on the computer, but we'll see. They will also be celebrating their anniversary.

I love the pics in your signature. Is this your first time cruising without the kids?

[scothen]

Great to hear you're joining the fun, Scothen & Mousemansion!!! :banana:

As for Pre Cruise Stay....I am with Cingularone on this...for having seen Paris many times, you'd have to rush like crazy to spend a day zipping through the city, then take the RER to Euro-Disney. I'm not sure about the train schedule between France/Spain, but here's something to consider: it's likely that you'll get into Paris early in the morning, after spending a loonngg time on the plane (I'm assuming you'd be leaving out of CA). You may not necessarily be in the mood for rushing around and see in 2 days what can take a much longer time to visit. Plus add the stress of making sure you don't miss your train to Barcelone (and any connections, in case it's not direct)...and boy you might probably *need* the whole cruise time to rest! :eek:

But hey...if you manage to do this, I would love to hear the Trip Report! Especially the Euro-Disney part! :thumbsup2

Best,
Thank you. Are you from the Windy City, too. I am looking forward to this cruise. Do you suggest arriving 1 or 2 days prior, and which hotel would you suggest?

[Jennifer in MI]

Please officially count me in!!:woohoo:

Ended up booking a Cat 5A. Price delta for a Cat4A was about $500 (not bad), however I wanted to be midship, but not on the highest floor for staterooms. So we are on 7th deck, which is just perfect...

I am so so excited!!

I began reading on Barcelona, and all the stuff there is to see there...I thought I could spend just a day, day and a half, but seems like a 2-3 pre-cruise would be in order.

Curious about what your WBTA's cruisers pre-cruise plans are?

Yay!!

/Melia :wizard:

Hi! Looks like I need to start checking this thread more often to get caught up!!! This thread didn't move for a while there.

Our pre-cruise plans are to spend a week in Rome, a week in Paris, and another few days in Barcelona before we board the Magic. We're going all out!! I'm almost wishing that we could cut back on this trip so that we can do something more in the US, but I know it'll be worth the wait!

Has anyone rented an apartment/condo in Rome or Paris? I was going to use VRBO to rent one, but don't know the areas. Anyone know of nice areas to look for? Stay away from?

It's killing me not to be actively planning a vacation right now. 9/11 seems so far away! Well, we will be traveling to VT this summer for a wedding, so that's something!

I need to go back and see who has kids. Last year when we cruised my kids met people on line before we went and it made their experiences that much more fun. Anyone have kids these ages? DS13, DS12, DS9, Dd4?? Anyone have kids who take karate, play baseball, run, play piano, guitar, or into model rocketry?

[Meliador]

We will be celebrating our 21st anniversary also! How cool. My better half is KSDisneyDad!

I am looking forward to meeting all the wonderful people on the cruise. We still keep in contact with fellow cruisers from our 2008 cruise. It's so much fun to talk Disney to other Disney followers.

Wow....happy to hear that June!! We too are celebrating an anniversary...this is undoubtedly going to be the "Anniversary Table"!!

Ella was kind enough to extend us an invitation to sit at her table...I cannot wait to share with *friends* all of these exciting adventures! Plus it would be so much fun to all meet on Friday night in Barcelona and do a Tapas night. I'm sure everybody will be excited, just like when we were kids on Xmas eve!! :yay: I recall then being so excited that I just couldn't stay still! I have even started looking at all of the excursions that can be done in each port of call...though we're like 1.5 year away....hehe.

I was wondering...on a 14 night cruise, how many formal evenings do you think there will be? I read on another DIS thread that there are like 2-3 formal evenings on a 7 night Caribbean cruise, and possibly none on a 3 day cruise. Just curious. Will any of the DHs be bringing a Tux?

Best,

[Meliador]

Hi! Looks like I need to start checking this thread more often to get caught up!!! This thread didn't move for a while there.

Our pre-cruise plans are to spend a week in Rome, a week in Paris, and another few days in Barcelona before we board the Magic. We're going all out!! I'm almost wishing that we could cut back on this trip so that we can do something more in the US, but I know it'll be worth the wait!

Has anyone rented an apartment/condo in Rome or Paris? I was going to use VRBO to rent one, but don't know the areas. Anyone know of nice areas to look for? Stay away from?

It's killing me not to be actively planning a vacation right now. 9/11 seems so far away! Well, we will be traveling to VT this summer for a wedding, so that's something!

I need to go back and see who has kids. Last year when we cruised my kids met people on line before we went and it made their experiences that much more fun. Anyone have kids these ages? DS13, DS12, DS9, Dd4?? Anyone have kids who take karate, play baseball, run, play piano, guitar, or into model rocketry?

hi Jennifer!! what a wonderful vacation plan!! I so, so wished I could do Rome and Paris too!! I have never seen Rome yet (planning to some time in 2012), but I have spent a fair amount of time in Paris. This being said, I've never rented a condo. I stayed in hotels, on business and for vacation. My preference is to stay in the 9th Arrondissement, which is on the Right Bank, where all of the big department stores are located (Galeries LaFayette, Printemps). There are lots of restaurants in the area, even a McDo, in case one gets a craving of US food!

If you wish, feel free to email me, and I can share with you the areas which IMHO I would away from in Paris (I don't want to be "flamed" on posts here... :rolleyes1).

I don't have any children....only a cat (who is sound asleep next to me as i write this post). :flower3:

[Meliador]

Thank you. Are you from the Windy City, too. I am looking forward to this cruise. Do you suggest arriving 1 or 2 days prior, and which hotel would you suggest?

Hi Scothen! I actually live in Long Beach IN, next to Grand Beach MI...I work in Chicago though. It's a long commute...but living in the vicinity of the beach (Lake Michigan) makes it worthwhile. :beach:

As i've never taken a transatlantic cruise, I honestly don't know what is the best under the circumstance. I can only speak of what I'm currently mulling over: as of now, planning on flying Weds night to get there on Thurs am, spend the whole of Thur-Fri to visit around Barcelona. If we can leave a day earlier, so much the better. I just don't know yet if DH or I can swing that, job-wise. In terms of hotels...I don't know what my fellow DISers think about booking hotels through Disney as an add-on to the cruise, but my initial sense is that the prices are higher than if I handled that part directly with the hotel. I've started looking at hotels on Trip Advisor. After looking at the map of Barcelona, DH and I concluded that we'd rather be closer to the places we want to visit, versus being by the port or on the beach. So that means a place on Las Rambla, possibly near the Gothic neighborhood. So far I've looked at (1) Hotel 1898, (2) Hotel Casa Camper; and (3) Hotel Montecarlo. The last 2 hotels I found out through reading posts on the DIS board. The first hotel I found out through good reviews in the TripAdvisor website. At the end of the day, it all depends of the number of people traveling, and how much you want to pay. It looks like there are many options at various price-points.

Best,

[Meliador]

Hi Melia, I'm so excited to be doing London along with this cruise. We're mostly going to meet with some DISer friends. We'll probably pick a place to do tea and everyone can meet there. Then John wants to do Stonehenge. Anything we do is fine with me. We'll pick something as we get closer. But I thought we would spend one day with friends and one day doing one thing that we pick later.....and that would be all we would have time for. Now that you mention that we have a holiday during that week, maybe we can take 3 days in London. We'll have to see what develops.

Wow Ella!! I've lived in England for awhile and yet never been to Stonehenge! Please take pictures! I'd love to see that...High Tea is a *glorious* idea!! If there's something I miss from England it's this "custom"....tea, finger food, scones with Devonshire clotted cream.. yum!! Did you ever do the Afternoon Tea at Palo's? Is it similar? I am really hoping we can score Palo reservations for the Tea-thing...but then with at least 6 days at sea, surely we have good chances. :fish:

As I was saying in a previous post, we should try to do a Tapas night the night before embarkation... An early evening, if possible, b/c i'm assuming that everyone will try to go to bed early and *attempt* to sleep the night before boarding the Magic!! (as if..) :earsboy:

[Meliador]

Thank you. Are you from the Windy City, too. I am looking forward to this cruise. Do you suggest arriving 1 or 2 days prior, and which hotel would you suggest?

Scothen, take a look at that thread that started some time ago in connection with hotels in Barcelona....you may find good info in there:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1988958


Hope this helps!

Best,

[EllaEnchanted]

Wow....happy to hear that June!! We too are celebrating an anniversary...this is undoubtedly going to be the "Anniversary Table"!!

Ella was kind enough to extend us an invitation to sit at her table...I cannot wait to share with *friends* all of these exciting adventures! Plus it would be so much fun to all meet on Friday night in Barcelona and do a Tapas night. I'm sure everybody will be excited, just like when we were kids on Xmas eve!! :yay: I recall then being so excited that I just couldn't stay still! I have even started looking at all of the excursions that can be done in each port of call...though we're like 1.5 year away....hehe.

I was wondering...on a 14 night cruise, how many formal evenings do you think there will be? I read on another DIS thread that there are like 2-3 formal evenings on a 7 night Caribbean cruise, and possibly none on a 3 day cruise. Just curious. Will any of the DHs be bringing a Tux?

Best,

Hi Melia, I have done a 15 night PC crossing cruise and we had 2 formal nights, one semi-formal, one tropical, one pirates and one mexican.

For this cruise they may do a Spanish themed night, I'm not sure. But we'll probably have at least 2 formals and 1 semi-formal. I have diser friends that are doing the EBTA next month. I'll find out from them after they cruise what kind of themed nights we will have. The other thing we can do is read some other threads....maybe some trip reports....to find out what they're doing.

On the 7 nights there is just one formal and one semi-formal and one pirates night. I'm not sure about the 3 nights, but the 4 nights have semi-formal and pirates and that's all.

I know my DH will be in his Tux for at least one formal night. For the PC crossing we rented from cruise formal wear....one black and one white. That worked out very well. We'll probably do that again. I can get you the link if anyone is interested. Let me know.

[EllaEnchanted]

Wow Ella!! I've lived in England for awhile and yet never been to Stonehenge! Please take pictures! I'd love to see that...High Tea is a *glorious* idea!! If there's something I miss from England is this "custom"....tea, finger food, scones with Devonshire clotted cream.. yum!! Did you ever do the Afternoon Tea at Palo's? Is it similar? I am really hoping we can score Palo reservations for the Tea-thing...but then with at least 6 days at sea, surely we have good chances. :fish:

As I was saying in a previous post, we should try to do a Tapas night the night before embarkation... An early evening, if possible, b/c i'm assuming that everyone will try to go to bed early and *attempt* to sleep the night before boarding the Magic!! (as if..) :earsboy:


I will take LOTS of pics at Stonehenge if that's what we end up doing.

I LOVE High Tea. Yes, I have done it at Palo's twice. I thought it was great, but I'm not sure how it compares to other High Teas because I have never done it anywhere else. That's why I think it'll be great to do it in London and have all our friends there to share. Can you recommend any places in London where you enjoyed doing High Tea? I've heard Harrods is awesome, but I'm sure it's pricey.

I'm up and ready to do the Tapas night before embarkation. Early is good. Me and John will be there.

[Meliador]

Hi Melia, I have done a 15 night PC crossing cruise and we had 2 formal nights, one semi-formal, one tropical, one pirates and one mexican.

For this cruise they may do a Spanish themed night, I'm not sure. But we'll probably have at least 2 formals and 1 semi-formal. I have diser friends that are doing the EBTA next month. I'll find out from them after they cruise what kind of themed nights we will have. The other thing we can do is read some other threads....maybe some trip reports....to find out what they're doing.

On the 7 nights there is just one formal and one semi-formal and one pirates night. I'm not sure about the 3 nights, but the 4 nights have semi-formal and pirates and that's all.

I know my DH will be in his Tux for at least one formal night. For the PC crossing we rented from cruise formal wear....one black and one white. That worked out very well. We'll probably do that again. I can get you the link if anyone is interested. Let me know.


That's good to know Ella! Thank you so much!! DH will be wearing his tux too during the formals...Do you wear a long gown or can we get by with a nice cocktail dress on the formals? I've checked trip reports, and interestingly enough, there is not as much info on a TA than there are for other trips. We'll have to remediate to that when we're back! Based on what I've read so far for the 3 nights, there is one semi-formal, one that is the Pirate night and one either semi-formal/casual. Definitely for that 3 days I'll only take one or 2 cocktail dresses, no long gown for me. DH will probably bring a jacket, but no tux. Especially as we will have just spent 5 days at WDW resort, I don't want to overpack....

How did you experience your last crossing? What did you do during the days at sea? I understand you did not cruise on DCL, but rather Princess Cruise (PC), is that the case? I'm guessing the activities must be somewhat different, but I guess I'm trying to figure out if you get bored with 5 consecutive days at sea....

Now I need to create a countdown for the WBTA! :idea:

Best,

[Meliador]

I will take LOTS of pics at Stonehenge if that's what we end up doing.

I LOVE High Tea. Yes, I have done it at Palo's twice. I thought it was great, but I'm not sure how it compares to other High Teas because I have never done it anywhere else. That's why I think it'll be great to do it in London and have all our friends there to share. Can you recommend any places in London where you enjoyed doing High Tea? I've heard Harrods is awesome, but I'm sure it's pricey.

I'm up and ready to do the Tapas night before embarkation. Early is good. Me and John will be there.



Thank you in advance for pics at Stonehenge! I'm very curious to get your impressions of the place...some people I know who have been there keep telling me about how interesting an experience that was....like there is a special vibe to the place...

In terms of High Tea, my experience of Harrods is that it was not that great. As if it were an afterthought and they were sort of "dissing" tourists...again, it's just an impression, and based on my going there only a handful of time. So I may have been just unlucky.

When in London, I usually do High Tea at the hotel where I stay. I have stayed at that wonderful boutique hotel that had an incredible High Tea (Hotel 41). Be prepared to fork out some $$ b/c it's not cheap. But if you take it late enough in the afternoon, it can work as an early supper (and then you can have a snack in the evening).

When in London, I like to go to smallish hotels. These 2 hotels I really like. They're not cheap, but then I see this as a special treat (and I save a long time in advance!!).

1) Hotel 41: http://www.41hotel.com/
This is a boutique hotel, adjacent to the Hotel Rubens, and across the street from Buckingham palace, 5 minute walk from Victoria Station (train & subway). Rather central, 15 minute walk from Westminster and the Thames. That's the kind of place where they send you advance emails to ask you about the amenities you'd like in the room, what you like doing, etc etc. At night, they have a "plunder the pantry" concept, where you can eat the snacks that you want for free, and there is an "honor" bar, i.e. you make your own drink and list them up in a book (you pay for the booze). They do have high tea there. Quite good but a bit pricey. Look for packages that include high tea (http://www.41hotel.com/offers-and-gifts/details/get-more-from-your-stay4).

2) Milestone Hotel: http://www.milestonehotel.com/
Owned by the same group as Hotel 41. Now I haven't stayed there yet, but I heard rave reviews. It's in about the same price range as Hotel 41 (at least the standard rooms), and there seems to be a bit more services onsite (exercise room etc). They're located in Kensington, not too far from Albert Hall and the Science Museum.

As I've said, they're not cheap hotels, but then London is not exactly a cheap place to go to. And if you look at the prices of other so-called "reasonably priced" hotels...you may notice that there isn't that much of a price delta, while the service is materially different.

Now for High Tea specifically...there is always the Savoy Hotel (remember..."Stomping at the Savoy"..). Currently closed for renovations (I think it has been closed for over 1.5 year), it's supposed to reopen in the summer of 2010. There will be a room for afternoon tea, along with a store where you can buy tea goodies. Hotel is very well situated, right along the banks of the Thames, not too far from Westminster. While not a small-scale hotel, they're supposed to offer services akin to a boutique hotel. I'm going to wait for a few Trip Advisor reviews before considering saving my money to go there... But I'd definitely splurge for a once-in-a-lifetime High Tea event.. :rolleyes:

At any rate, no matter what you do, where you stay, you will be in London, and I'm sure you will be experiencing something very special! Lucky girl!! :thumbsup2

Best,

[EllaEnchanted]

Our friends Kat and Jim are coming on this cruise too. June and Louise, they are the other anniversary couple sitting at our table. Kat has never been on the Disboards before, but I told her all about it and she wants to try it. So keep your fingers crossed and she will be joining us soon.

[EllaEnchanted]

Our friends Kat and Jim are coming on this cruise too. June and Louise, they are the other anniversary couple sitting at our table. Kat has never been on the Disboards before, but I told her all about it and she wants to try it. So keep your fingers crossed and she will be joining us soon.

[Meliador]

Our friends Kat and Jim are coming on this cruise too. June and Louise, they are the other anniversary couple sitting at our table. Kat has never been on the Disboards before, but I told her all about it and she wants to try it. So keep your fingers crossed and she will be joining us soon.

Excellent!! Keeping my fingers crossed!!

did you tell her it might become addictive? :rotfl:

[EllaEnchanted]

That's good to know Ella! Thank you so much!! DH will be wearing his tux too during the formals...Do you wear a long gown or can we get by with a nice cocktail dress on the formals? I've checked trip reports, and interestingly enough, there is not as much info on a TA than there are for other trips. We'll have to remediate to that when we're back! Based on what I've read so far for the 3 nights, there is one semi-formal, one that is the Pirate night and one either semi-formal/casual. Definitely for that 3 days I'll only take one or 2 cocktail dresses, no long gown for me. DH will probably bring a jacket, but no tux. Especially as we will have just spent 5 days at WDW resort, I don't want to overpack....

How did you experience your last crossing? What did you do during the days at sea? I understand you did not cruise on DCL, but rather Princess Cruise (PC), is that the case? I'm guessing the activities must be somewhat different, but I guess I'm trying to figure out if you get bored with 5 consecutive days at sea....

Now I need to create a countdown for the WBTA! :idea:

Best,

Melia, cocktail dresses are fine for formal night. Some people like to go over the top and others keep it more casual. It depends on what you're comfortable with doing. You'll fit right in either way.

We did a Panama Canal crossing not a transatlantic crossing previously. We have never cruised on any other line except Disney and probably never will. We would miss Mickey too much.

Believe me when I tell you, you will NOT be bored. In fact, usually it's just the opposite. DCL has so many activities planned and all you have to do is check out your Navigator every night after dinner for the following day's activities. Some people like to bring highlighters when picking out what they want to do to keep everything on schedule. You will be overwhelmed. I always pick out so many things that I want to do and then I get to about half of them. I have never been able to do it all. Then there's the adult areas to hang out onboard. Then there's relaxing and reading a book on a deck chair. I have yet to do this. I always want to, but I never get around to it. You definitely will NOT be bored....anything but.

[EllaEnchanted]

Thank you in advance for pics at Stonehenge! I'm very curious to get your impressions of the place...some people I know who have been there keep telling me about how interesting an experience that was....like there is a special vibe to the place...

In terms of High Tea, my experience of Harrods is that it was not that great. As if it were an afterthought and they were sort of "dissing" tourists...again, it's just an impression, and based on my going there only a handful of time. So I may have been just unlucky.

When in London, I usually do High Tea at the hotel where I stay. I have stayed at that wonderful boutique hotel that had an incredible High Tea (Hotel 41). Be prepared to fork out some $$ b/c it's not cheap. But if you take it late enough in the afternoon, it can work as an early supper (and then you can have a snack in the evening).

When in London, I like to go to smallish hotels. These 2 hotels I really like. They're not cheap, but then I see this as a special treat (and I save a long time in advance!!).

1) Hotel 41: http://www.41hotel.com/
This is a boutique hotel, adjacent to the Hotel Rubens, and across the street from Buckingham palace, 5 minute walk from Victoria Station (train & subway). Rather central, 15 minute walk from Westminster and the Thames. That's the kind of place where they send you advance emails to ask you about the amenities you'd like in the room, what you like doing, etc etc. At night, they have a "plunder the pantry" concept, where you can eat the snacks that you want for free, and there is an "honor" bar, i.e. you make your own drink and list them up in a book (you pay for the booze). They do have high tea there. Quite good but a bit pricey. Look for packages that include high tea (http://www.41hotel.com/offers-and-gifts/details/get-more-from-your-stay4).

2) Milestone Hotel: http://www.milestonehotel.com/
Owned by the same group as Hotel 41. Now I haven't stayed there yet, but I heard rave reviews. It's in about the same price range as Hotel 41 (at least the standard rooms), and there seems to be a bit more services onsite (exercise room etc). They're located in Kensington, not too far from Albert Hall and the Science Museum.

As I've said, they're not cheap hotels, but then London is not exactly a cheap place to go to. And if you look at the prices of other so-called "reasonably priced" hotels...you may notice that there isn't that much of a price delta, while the service is materially different.

Now for High Tea specifically...there is always the Savoy Hotel (remember..."Stomping at the Savoy"..). Currently closed for renovations (I think it has been closed for over 1.5 year), it's supposed to reopen in the summer of 2010. There will be a room for afternoon tea, along with a store where you can buy tea goodies. Hotel is very well situated, right along the banks of the Thames, not too far from Westminster. While not a small-scale hotel, they're supposed to offer services akin to a boutique hotel. I'm going to wait for a few Trip Advisor reviews before considering saving my money to go there... But I'd definitely splurge for a once-in-a-lifetime High Tea event.. :rolleyes:

At any rate, no matter what you do, where you stay, you will be in London, and I'm sure you will be experiencing something very special! Lucky girl!! :thumbsup2

Best,

Thanks Melia, this was very helpful and thorough. I really like the Hotel Savoy idea where you can buy Tea goodies. YUM. We can do Tea there even if we don't stay there. Thanks for letting me know about Harrods, I'll skip doing it there.

My diser friends that are going in April are doing London after the cruise because they're going in the opposite direction. One friend is a travel agent and has the inside scoop. I asked her for a copy of her itinerary before she travels. I might just stay where she picks. I'll have to see. I'll let you know where they're staying when I find out. I'm curious to see what you think of it.

[EllaEnchanted]

Excellent!! Keeping my fingers crossed!!

did you tell her it might become addictive? :rotfl:

hahahaha.....I sure hope so!!;)

[AnkaG]

WOW! I haven't been here in a while, I was soooo busy with work.. But I missed a LOT of action! I'll make sure to come back more often!

For our pre-cruise plans, my in-laws are in Portugal, so they'll probably come meet us in spain and we'll spend a week around Barcelona.

We will be celebrating our anniversary on the cruise as well. We were on our honeymoon for our first disney cruise, and we'll be celebrating our SECOND anniversary on this one! Too bad I missed the table organisation... It would have been nice to sit with all of you guys, but I guess 8 is the max. Let me know if some space comes available for my DH and I! :)


I am so so excited and cannot wait to meet you all (and my fellow Quebecoise AnKaG! :-) )

Thank you again!!

Melia :wizard:

Bonjour Melia!!!!

Where are you from in Québec?

[Meliador]

Bonjour Melia!!!!

Where are you from in Québec?

Hi Anka!

I've left Quebec some time ago, but I used to live in Montreal....I don't go back often enough!! Planning on driving this summer to go visit with family!!:drive:

I'm sure there should be tables big enough to accomodate all of the "Anniversary People!" However, I will defer to Ella, who has taken many, many DCL cruises (Hello Platinum CC girl!! :cheer2:)

Best,

[EllaEnchanted]

WOW! I haven't been here in a while, I was soooo busy with work.. But I missed a LOT of action! I'll make sure to come back more often!

For our pre-cruise plans, my in-laws are in Portugal, so they'll probably come meet us in spain and we'll spend a week around Barcelona.

We will be celebrating our anniversary on the cruise as well. We were on our honeymoon for our first disney cruise, and we'll be celebrating our SECOND anniversary on this one! Too bad I missed the table organisation... It would have been nice to sit with all of you guys, but I guess 8 is the max. Let me know if some space comes available for my DH and I! :)




Bonjour Melia!!!!

Where are you from in Québec?

Hi Anka!

I've left Quebec some time ago, but I used to live in Montreal....I don't go back often enough!! Planning on driving this summer to go visit with family!!:drive:

I'm sure there should be tables big enough to accomodate all of the "Anniversary People!" However, I will defer to Ella, who has taken many, many DCL cruises (Hello Platinum CC girl!! :cheer2:)

Best,



Hi Anka and Melia.....YES we would love to have you at the "anniversary table." I always say the more the merrier. DCL can put tables together for us....we can do a big group. YEAH!!!!!

Happy to have you join us....tell us more about yourself. Who are you travelling with? How many cruises have you taken?

It's just me and DH John travelling. This will be number 14 for me. We'll be platinum after our Oct 2010 B2B Bahamas cruises....a four night and a three night. Then we're booked on the maiden voyage of the DREAM and we're doing the La - Vancouver as a B2B with the first Alaska. I'm so excited to be doing those. Then we're doing this one. I have another one that I'm going to book after this....anoter DREAM in Nov 2011. I'm booking that one this week.

Can you tell we just love being onboard DCL.:laughing::laughing:

[EllaEnchanted]

So I see our tablemate and my freind Kat has not popped on her yet. I hope she joins us soon.

You're all going to love Kat and Jim, they are good people and a lot of fun and laughs. This will be our third cruise with them. We met in 2001 on our first cruise, an Eastern. DCL sat us at an "anniversary table" at the time. We had such a great time, we sailed with them again in 2001 on a Southern. That was one of my favorite cruises to date. I'm a big turtle lover and collector....plus I have four live ones at home....and we snorkeled with sea turtles in Barbados. That was and still is one of the highlights of my life. I was so thrilled.

Kat called me and said they wanted to do this cruise. I said, if you're doing it then we have to do it also....so here we are!!

[EllaEnchanted]

John and I went out in the hurricane winds and torrential rain yesterday. We had tickets to "Jesus Christ Superstar" at a local Theatre. I love live shows. This one was excellent. Ted Neeley played JC. He was so believeable. He even looked the part. Everyone sang beautifully....very powerful performance. Despite the weather, we had a good time. ;):goodvibes;)

[scothen]

Hi Scothen! I actually live in Long Beach IN, next to Grand Beach MI...I work in Chicago though. It's a long commute...but living in the vicinity of the beach (Lake Michigan) makes it worthwhile. :beach:

As i've never taken a transatlantic cruise, I honestly don't know what is the best under the circumstance. I can only speak of what I'm currently mulling over: as of now, planning on flying Weds night to get there on Thurs am, spend the whole of Thur-Fri to visit around Barcelona. If we can leave a day earlier, so much the better. I just don't know yet if DH or I can swing that, job-wise. In terms of hotels...I don't know what my fellow DISers think about booking hotels through Disney as an add-on to the cruise, but my initial sense is that the prices are higher than if I handled that part directly with the hotel. I've started looking at hotels on Trip Advisor. After looking at the map of Barcelona, DH and I concluded that we'd rather be closer to the places we want to visit, versus being by the port or on the beach. So that means a place on Las Rambla, possibly near the Gothic neighborhood. So far I've looked at (1) Hotel 1898, (2) Hotel Casa Camper; and (3) Hotel Montecarlo. The last 2 hotels I found out through reading posts on the DIS board. The first hotel I found out through good reviews in the TripAdvisor website. At the end of the day, it all depends of the number of people traveling, and how much you want to pay. It looks like there are many options at various price-points.

Best,
Melia,

I actually grew up in Crown Point, IN, and am familiar with the part of the state you are from. Do you ride the South Shore in to the city?
Thank you for the tips. I was looking to come in to Barcelona on Thursday as well. I hope to get to meet all of you on the cruise.

Scot

[Meliador]

John and I went out in the hurricane winds and torrential rain yesterday. We had tickets to "Jesus Christ Superstar" at a local Theatre. I love live shows. This one was excellent. Ted Neeley played JC. He was so believeable. He even looked the part. Everyone sang beautifully....very powerful performance. Despite the weather, we had a good time. ;):goodvibes;)

OMG Ella!! Are you guys doing ok? We read about all of the Eastern Seaboard storms...and how many people are still out of power. I'm praying that you are safe!!

I read on another post today that last week's stop at CC was cancelled due to 50knots wind. Now that's some serious wind!! I've sailed before on smaller yachts, and sailing in 20+ knots can be downright dangerous. However, on ships like DCL with all these fancy stabilizers, we should be ok! Btw, DH hopes he can get an "engineering" tour of the ship. I'm sure they don't let people on the bridge (for safety/security reasons), but I'm wondering if they allow some visits around the ship...

I had no idea you were taking all of these wonderful cruises! (including the Dream Maiden Voyage! Major Yay!!! :banana:).

You know, taking all these cruises carry a great responsibility....you'll have to share your impressions of those travels, and tell us how these trips went!! :chat:

best,

[Meliador]

Melia,

I actually grew up in Crown Point, IN, and am familiar with the part of the state you are from. Do you ride the South Shore in to the city?
Thank you for the tips. I was looking to come in to Barcelona on Thursday as well. I hope to get to meet all of you on the cruise.

Scot

I know where you're from Scot!! Just had my car serviced in nearby Merrillville last week!! And yes, I do take the SouthShore into the city. I have to take a very early train (like 5:50am), but it's very convenient. Come summer though, I like to drive in town. How about you? Do you work in the Loop?

I'm assuming you guys will be flying out of ORD on the Weds night? Do you plan to fly on AA or UA?

I'm already starting to monitor costs for the flight, but it won't open until Sept...so in the meantime, I try to "extrapolate" on the costs, based on what I see for September of this year. I'm so excited....so unbelievable. Let me know which hotel your family ends up choosing! I'd very much like to compare notes... :sail:

Best,

[Meliador]

So I see our tablemate and my freind Kat has not popped on her yet. I hope she joins us soon.

You're all going to love Kat and Jim, they are good people and a lot of fun and laughs. This will be our third cruise with them. We met in 2001 on our first cruise, an Eastern. DCL sat us at an "anniversary table" at the time. We had such a great time, we sailed with them again in 2001 on a Southern. That was one of my favorite cruises to date. I'm a big turtle lover and collector....plus I have four live ones at home....and we snorkeled with sea turtles in Barbados. That was and still is one of the highlights of my life. I was so thrilled.

Kat called me and said they wanted to do this cruise. I said, if you're doing it then we have to do it also....so here we are!!

Nothing better than joining friends and sharing an experience as special as DCL! I love the idea! :banana:

I was in Tortola these past few years, and I saw turtles *every* time I went snorkeling there. Big turtles! Like those that are 2ft in diameter. They're so gracious....how they raise their neck to check you out...and then they might get curious and get even closer...until they bow and dive back in the deep. You're so right Ella...it's very special. If you like doing that...then you may want to consider doing the snorkeling at the Indians in BVI. Norman Island is pretty good too, but I've seen turtles at the end of the day there, not in plain daylight (I've been chartering sailboats in BVI for many years). However, maybe you've already done that....if you haven't...there is a gorgeous secluded beach in BVI that's worth visiting...I don't think it's on DCL excursions...but if a few people share a taxi, we can easily get there. Sort of a secret though... :rolleyes:

OK, I have a question on the "mechanics" of the cruise, and as an expert Ellla, I'm hoping to benefit from your views...I've read many threads/posts about tipping. In general, I think it's fair to say that people can have strong views/be very emotional about it. Some people seem to say that they're not really responsible for the employer/employee relationship between DCL/CM...and tipping should reflect good as well as poor service. Here were my thoughts on that...let me know if I'm plain wrong or else, as the last thing I want is to deprive hardworking individuals from their $$:

1) while it's true that we're not in charge of the employer/employee relationship between DCL/CM, the system is designed in a way where a material portion of the CM's compensation comes from the tips. I think it is something that would be hard to ignore, no matter how much we tried.

What is your experience about service vs tipping? Before we reduce tips, shouldn't we at least try to share our views with GS, and give the chance to the CM to "make it right?" I always err on the "generous" side when it comes to tipping. I'm "knocking on wood" here, but I can't recall an instance where I had to reduce the usual tip I would give b/c of bad service. Sure sometimes we can get a "bad apple"....but I've been taught by my mother that with a smile and a polite demeanor, we could easily get out point across.

Am I mistaken here or am I being totally Polyanna?

What has been your past experiences on DCL, especially on longer cruises?

Thankyou thankyou my friend!!! :flower3:

[Carys]

Well I'm not from a tipping culture, so the easiest and most comfortable thing for me is to pre-purchase tips and then not think about them again until the envelopes come out. I think kiwis in general just want to know what the whole price is, pay it beforehand, and forget about money while on vacation. I think if Disney just made tips compulsory to pre-purchase and included them in the up front price, you'd be hard put to find a kiwi who'd complain.

If I were to get bad service, then I'd be taking up the issue not because of the tips, but because DCL is alot of money to pay to have a mediocre holiday, so I'd expect DCL to sort their staff out. We had wonderful servers on our cruise last year, I hope my luck next year holds :)

[EllaEnchanted]

OMG Ella!! Are you guys doing ok? We read about all of the Eastern Seaboard storms...and how many people are still out of power. I'm praying that you are safe!!

I read on another post today that last week's stop at CC was cancelled due to 50knots wind. Now that's some serious wind!! I've sailed before on smaller yachts, and sailing in 20+ knots can be downright dangerous. However, on ships like DCL with all these fancy stabilizers, we should be ok! Btw, DH hopes he can get an "engineering" tour of the ship. I'm sure they don't let people on the bridge (for safety/security reasons), but I'm wondering if they allow some visits around the ship...

I had no idea you were taking all of these wonderful cruises! (including the Dream Maiden Voyage! Major Yay!!! :banana:).

You know, taking all these cruises carry a great responsibility....you'll have to share your impressions of those travels, and tell us how these trips went!! :chat:

best,

I'm fine. We were lucky. I think people on Long Island in New York don't have power for many days. We are used to living rural in the mountains....we have our own generator, we have a snow plow on a big truck with huge tires, we're ready for whatever the elements bring. Thanks for asking and being concerned.:hug:

DH will be able to take a tour of the bridge, DCL offers tours of a lot of areas of the ship including the galley too. Just check your "Navigators" that are delivered under your door every night while you're having dinner. The following day's activities are listed in each Navigator. Many people bring highlighters to make it easier for them to schedule activities. NOTE: You will want to do many things and only get to about half of them for real. I always want to do so much that I overschedule and never get to everything. That's why I keep cruising though....gotta go back and do it again. Don't forget to schedule some down time to so that you can relax when you want. Deck 4 has lounge chairs and a strolling promenade if you want to sit or walk. It's my favorite deck because it's so close to the water. Deck 9 has all the pools, there are three of them....kids only, families, adults only....with the quiet cove cafe....again adults only. You can get specialty coffees and pastries in there and just sit and read a book or go online because it's a wifi hot spot if you pay for the internet connection. One thing is, you definitely will not be bored.

[EllaEnchanted]

Nothing better than joining friends and sharing an experience as special as DCL! I love the idea! :banana:

I was in Tortola these past few years, and I saw turtles *every* time I went snorkeling there. Big turtles! Like those that are 2ft in diameter. They're so gracious....how they raise their neck to check you out...and then they might get curious and get even closer...until they bow and dive back in the deep. You're so right Ella...it's very special. If you like doing that...then you may want to consider doing the snorkeling at the Indians in BVI. Norman Island is pretty good too, but I've seen turtles at the end of the day there, not in plain daylight (I've been chartering sailboats in BVI for many years). However, maybe you've already done that....if you haven't...there is a gorgeous secluded beach in BVI that's worth visiting...I don't think it's on DCL excursions...but if a few people share a taxi, we can easily get there. Sort of a secret though... :rolleyes:

OK, I have a question on the "mechanics" of the cruise, and as an expert Ellla, I'm hoping to benefit from your views...I've read many threads/posts about tipping. In general, I think it's fair to say that people can have strong views/be very emotional about it. Some people seem to say that they're not really responsible for the employer/employee relationship between DCL/CM...and tipping should reflect good as well as poor service. Here were my thoughts on that...let me know if I'm plain wrong or else, as the last thing I want is to deprive hardworking individuals from their $$:

1) while it's true that we're not in charge of the employer/employee relationship between DCL/CM, the system is designed in a way where a material portion of the CM's compensation comes from the tips. I think it is something that would be hard to ignore, no matter how much we tried.

What is your experience about service vs tipping? Before we reduce tips, shouldn't we at least try to share our views with GS, and give the chance to the CM to "make it right?" I always err on the "generous" side when it comes to tipping. I'm "knocking on wood" here, but I can't recall an instance where I had to reduce the usual tip I would give b/c of bad service. Sure sometimes we can get a "bad apple"....but I've been taught by my mother that with a smile and a polite demeanor, we could easily get out point across.

Am I mistaken here or am I being totally Polyanna?

What has been your past experiences on DCL, especially on longer cruises?

Thankyou thankyou my friend!!! :flower3:



I just wrote a nice long answer and then by accident deleted the whole thing. So this time is going to be shorter.

The jist of it was....Melia, please tell me the name of the beach in Tortola. I will be happy to take a cab and go swimming with the sea turtles. I was in Tortola this past September and just did an island tour. It's breathtakingly beautiful. I would love to see the turtles this time when we stop there.

Tipping vs. Service....DCL has failed if their service is just good....they strive for EXCELLENCE. They are known for providing that personal touch to everyone who sails. They will have earned the recommended amounts that DCL will suggest you tip. I have ALWAYS gone over that amount because the crew deserved it. They have a formula of a recommended amount for each category times the number of days on your cruise times the number of persons travelling with you. The categories to be tipped are the head waiter, the waiter, the assistant waiter and the stateroom host/ess. You will receive an envelope to hand out on the last night of your cruise. You can prepay the recommended amounts if you prefer. Naturally, bartenders and cocktail waitresses are at your discretion.

If, by chance you run into a problem with anything....you contact guest services and they will immediately remedy it. You are treated like royalty on DCL. That's why they cost more than other cruise lines. You can cruise on other lines and pay less, but you won't get the personal attention that you get onboard DCL. We have never crusied with anyone else and we won't. We have lots of friends that have tried and compared. This is what they say.

One example, the first night of dinner I get asked what I would like to drink. When I arrive at the table it's there waiting for me on the rest of the cruise. I'll get asked on the first night how I like to take my coffee after dinner and for every other night of the cruise, it will just show up the way I like it after dinner. If I prefer something different, I just have to let them know and it's no problem, they will get it. If I want mozzarella sticks on my table everynight for dinner, I just have to ask for it once and they will be on my table every night without ever asking again. Also, even if you are not travelling with kids, ask for the kids menu the first night and you will get it every night thereafter. Sometimes you just don't feel like having gourmet and want to keep dinner simple. The key is pamper, pamper, pamper. That's how DCL treats you.

[EllaEnchanted]

Well I'm not from a tipping culture, so the easiest and most comfortable thing for me is to pre-purchase tips and then not think about them again until the envelopes come out. I think kiwis in general just want to know what the whole price is, pay it beforehand, and forget about money while on vacation. I think if Disney just made tips compulsory to pre-purchase and included them in the up front price, you'd be hard put to find a kiwi who'd complain.

If I were to get bad service, then I'd be taking up the issue not because of the tips, but because DCL is alot of money to pay to have a mediocre holiday, so I'd expect DCL to sort their staff out. We had wonderful servers on our cruise last year, I hope my luck next year holds :)

This will be DCL cruise number 14 for me and I have yet to have a bad experience or a problem with anything. At the end of the cruise DCL will give you a survey. They want you to rate them. They listen to what you have to say and they take your suggestions. Every cruise gets the Excellent rating from me right on down the line because they deserve it.

[AnkaG]

[COLOR="Green"]Hi Anka and Melia.....YES we would love to have you at the "anniversary table." I always say the more the merrier. DCL can put tables together for us....we can do a big group. YEAH!!!!!

Happy to have you join us....tell us more about yourself. Who are you travelling with? How many cruises have you taken?


My husband and I will be on our second cruise, for our second anniversary! We got married on aug. 29th 2009, and we had our honeymoon on the magic for a western car. cruise. We didn't have a great weather, but it was sooooo awesome, that the rain didn't bother us too much (other than in Grand Cayman where our tour was canceled, and they only told us once we were on the island... and it was POURING rain!!!) :sad1:

So I am really looking forward to getting to know you guys. Thanks for the spot on the table! By the way, we are French Canadian, but our English is really good, we both work in English (but since it's not my first language, please forgive my spelling and things like that!! :rolleyes1)

Ok, gotta go back to work! I used to come here sooooo much when planning my first cruise, I SERIOUSLY must have read 100 trip reports. Now I try to pace myself, because it CAN be addictive! :)

Bonne journée!
Anne-Karine

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[Meliador]

Welcome on board Sarah!! Must be so much fun to take a family trip...and across the Atlantic like our ancestors (at east mine....though I suspect they were travelling "steerage"... )!!

Anka: I too am French Canadian...so totally hear you re: syntax. Though I "turn on" lights....I still "close" them! :rotfl2:

Hope all is well with everybody getting on board the WBTA. I can't wait 'til we're at the one year countdown, then we'll have to get this thread moving!

Best,

[Meliador]

Hi Ella!! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Beach that I'm referring to in To-To-la is Smugglers' Cove, separated from Long Bay Beach by a mountain called the Sugar Loaf. It's about 2 miles (going through Hills) from Sopers' Hole. So basically it shouldn't be that much more expensive than taking a cab from Road Harbour to Sopers Hole. Take a look: http://www.bareboatsbvi.com/t_beaches_smugglers_cove.html

I read something on another post about Long Bay Beach now being nasty and rocky. I really don't understand what has happened b/c that beach used to be absolutely stunning...so we'd need to be on the lookout for changes to the cove.

Take care!

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Our cruise holiday is now even better!!! :cheer2:

We've booked 6 nights at the 'Wilderness Lodge' and bought a 5 day Park-Hopper ticket (which includes the water parks) - this will be our first time at WDW! I feel ready to explode with excitement! :jumping1:

But some help please - what is the best way to get from Port Canaveral to WDW? Can we add transport to our cruise package for that journey only or is there a bus that goes that way anyway? I did a search but it seems most people go from WDW to Port Canaveral instead and I couldn't find the right info. We really don't want to do car-hire. Thank you for any help/advice given. :flower3:

I am quite surpirsed that you can book this far out. The last I looked, Disney was only taking reservations through December of this year. I guess I will need to book for us as well.

The easiest way is to take the Disney shuttle (bus) from the ship directly to your hotel.

Hope all is well-

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

Thank you for your help :thumbsup2

We booked on the UK WDW site - the 2011 dates only went up in the last week or so and the free dining was added a few days later ::yes::

Very interesting. I can book on the UK WDW site, but not yet the US WDW site.

When the dates are available on the US site, will you look at the price comparison? It would be interesting to know if the conversion from the pound to the dollar would be beneficial. The purchasing power of the pound is not what it was 2 years ago, but I would think that the dollar (post conversion) would still be more economical.

WE lived in Orlando for 8 years, had annual passes, love the parks. We would sometimes just go to EPCOT after work to ride Soarin' (and Test Track) and walk a few laps around the lagoon.

Hope all is well-

[CINGULARONE@YAHOO.CO]

To All-

This is way too early to think about, but.....

Have any of you ever sailed on a cruise with Don "Ducky' Williams? Our first Disney Cruise, Don was on, it was very interesting. I was fortunate enough to win a drawing he did of Grumpy. It is the highlight of our Disney collection.

For those of you who don't know Don, he is a Sr. Character artist for Disney. His story is very interesting, the job he has chosen for himself even more so.

Hope all is well-

[junesgoofy]

To All-

This is way too early to think about, but.....

Have any of you ever sailed on a cruise with Don "Ducky' Williams? Our first Disney Cruise, Don was on, it was very interesting. I was fortunate enough to win a drawing he did of Grumpy. It is the highlight of our Disney collection.

For those of you who don't know Don, he is a Sr. Character artist for Disney. His story is very interesting, the job he has chosen for himself even more so.

Hope all is well-

Yes, we sailed with him through the Panama Canal in August of 2008. I have many pictures of and with him.

He's great.

[junesgoofy]

Cheers! We'll definitely be celebrating at our dinner table. I'm glad you'll be joining us. Melia is also sitting with us and celebrating an anniversary. WOOHOO!!!

That makes our table 8 people....I think that's perfect. I love sitting at big tables with lots of people....it makes it so much more fun.

The other couple that we'll be sitting with are not DISers. I have to see if I can convince them to join us on this thread. They usually don't spend much time on the computer, but we'll see. They will also be celebrating their anniversary.

I love the pics in your signature. Is this your first time cruising without the kids?




Well, we decided not to go on this long trip. We wanted to do it but we just didn't think we could impose on anyone to keep our kids for three weeks. It's also during the school year which would be tough on whoever would keep the boys for us. We rebooked for a shorter cruise this year closer to our actual anniversary date. I was looking forward to the cruise and the 5 straight days at sea. Oh well, we will do it when the kids are gone from the house. I am sure you will all have a wonderful time. Thanks for including us in your table, it would have been fun!:sad1:

[U2FanHfx]

Hi All,

We booked this cruise onboard our 4/11 Wonder cruise. With 50% deposit, 10% off and $200 stateroom credit, who could pass it up! Plus Dreams Unlimited is giving us another $200 stateroom credit.

It will be my wife and I on our 5th wedding anniversary. We got married on the Magic so for us this is a fitting 5th anniversary gift/trip.

We will be in the aft of the ship on deck 6 in a category 7A. It's a secret verandah room which we have had on 2 previous sailings. We will also be gold Castaway Members for the first time on this sailing. (cruising the Dream for our 5th cruise in April 2011).

We plan on doing a few days in Paris and Barcelona before the cruise. Are there any good threads / links that people know of for pointing out the touristy things in Barcelona?

Thanks!

Chad J.

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[U2FanHfx]

Thanks BigHugs.

Would you mind posting the links to suggested hotels. We were potentially doing the westbound this coming September but decided not to. The one thing I remember in planning was trying to find a hotel was a bit difficult to determine. It's not like the US for us lol.

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[MissErin]

Hi all!

Poking my head in here to say hello! We just got back last night from the EBTA and loved it so much that we booked the WBTA for next fall! We are also hoping to come in a day or so early and do a little exploring before the cruise starts.

We originally planned to do the Med next summer, but decided that the port days were a little long for my kidlets... and that I adored the sea days too much to have to DO something everyday. We'd have considered the EB again for next year, but we decided we'd like to gain a day each day rather than losing one (plus we already have a family vacation booked in December, so we need some time to save up for the mouse!).

Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

[christannj]

Hi Everyone, this is my first posting on the boards.... We made our reservation last week for the 2011 transatlantic cruise.... Thought that it would be a great way to recognize our 30th anniversary... at this point we will be a party of 4.... my husband and I and our two adult children....Will be eventually interested in what everyone is doing for transportation to Barcelona.... from what I have seen, the one way rates at least for this year are ridiculous and almost twice what a roundtrip would cost..... when I mentioned to my brother that we obviously would need to book a roundtrip and then just not return from Barcelona he stated that they will come after us.... I think that he was just being argumentative but does anyone know if there are any problems with this:beach:pirate::banana:

[christannj]

Hi Everyone, this is my first posting on the boards.... We made our reservation last week for the 2011 transatlantic cruise.... Thought that it would be a great way to recognize our 30th anniversary... at this point we will be a party of 4.... my husband and I and our two adult children....Will be eventually interested in what everyone is doing for transportation to Barcelona.... from what I have seen, the one way rates at least for this year are ridiculous and almost twice what a roundtrip would cost..... when I mentioned to my brother that we obviously would need to book a roundtrip and then just not return from Barcelona he stated that they will come after us.... I think that he was just being argumentative but does anyone know if there are any problems with this:beach:pirate::banana:

[Chernabog#1fan]

Hi all!

Poking my head in here to say hello! We just got back last night from the EBTA and loved it so much that we booked the WBTA for next fall! We are also hoping to come in a day or so early and do a little exploring before the cruise starts.

We originally planned to do the Med next summer, but decided that the port days were a little long for my kidlets... and that I adored the sea days too much to have to DO something everyday. We'd have considered the EB again for next year, but we decided we'd like to gain a day each day rather than losing one (plus we already have a family vacation booked in December, so we need some time to save up for the mouse!).

Looking forward to getting to know everyone!
I was on the EBTA also and loved it so much that I am planning on doing this one next year. We are going to do a B2B though so we will be on the ship on September 3 as my 35th birthday is Sept 8. I thought about the eastbound again but decided that I also wanted to gain an hour!

It will be myself, my husband, mother and father, and mother-in-law and father-in-law. We have not actually booked yet as my parents work for Disney and want to wait to see what rates come out then, but as of now, we are planning on eing there!

[MissErin]

I was on the EBTA also and loved it so much that I am planning on doing this one next year. We are going to do a B2B though so we will be on the ship on September 3 as my 35th birthday is Sept 8. I thought about the eastbound again but decided that I also wanted to gain an hour!

The EBTA was frankly the best vacation I've ever had! Lazy days at sea, watching movies with the kidlets from the Goofy hot tub, the awesome mixology class we took, did I mention lazy days at sea... even the couple days that were a bit rougher were fun. I was running on deck 4 on the 5th sea day, rocking all over the place every time I got to the front of the ship and laughing like a kid. I commented to someone on the deck that it was a beautiful day and they looked at me like I was loony.

My husband is focused on our trip to Bora Bora in November, but I am completely dreaming of being back on the Magic!

We'd be game for the b2b if we could find a good deal. (Maybe some last minute cat 12s!) Right now, our plan is to fly into BCN a couple of days early and drive to coast up to France, or perhaps to fly to Rome for a couple of days first.

christannj - They won't come after you! You won't be able to get a refund or anything for the unused ticket, but the airline won't care.

[Chernabog#1fan]

The EBTA was frankly the best vacation I've ever had! Lazy days at sea, watching movies with the kidlets from the Goofy hot tub, the awesome mixology class we took, did I mention lazy days at sea... even the couple days that were a bit rougher were fun. I was running on deck 4 on the 5th sea day, rocking all over the place every time I got to the front of the ship and laughing like a kid. I commented to someone on the deck that it was a beautiful day and they looked at me like I was loony.

My husband is focused on our trip to Bora Bora in November, but I am completely dreaming of being back on the Magic!

We'd be game for the b2b if we could find a good deal. (Maybe some last minute cat 12s!) Right now, our plan is to fly into BCN a couple of days early and drive to coast up to France, or perhaps to fly to Rome for a couple of days first.

christannj - They won't come after you! You won't be able to get a refund or anything for the unused ticket, but the airline won't care.
I agree - they will not come after you. I speak from experience because this is exactly what we did this year. We just made sure that whatever the part we actually needed was the first leg of the trip, so we did roundtrip from Barcelona to Orlando and back to Barcelona. Saved us over $1000 a person...One thing to mention is that once you figure out the actual day you have to be there on, play around with the fake return date. Most airlines will let you stay on a roundtrip for about 15-30 days. I used every day to find the lowest and by doing this, it saved a few hundred more per person.

[Chernabog#1fan]

The EBTA was frankly the best vacation I've ever had! Lazy days at sea, watching movies with the kidlets from the Goofy hot tub, the awesome mixology class we took, did I mention lazy days at sea... even the couple days that were a bit rougher were fun. I was running on deck 4 on the 5th sea day, rocking all over the place every time I got to the front of the ship and laughing like a kid. I commented to someone on the deck that it was a beautiful day and they looked at me like I was loony.

My husband is focused on our trip to Bora Bora in November, but I am completely dreaming of being back on the Magic!

We'd be game for the b2b if we could find a good deal. (Maybe some last minute cat 12s!) Right now, our plan is to fly into BCN a couple of days early and drive to coast up to France, or perhaps to fly to Rome for a couple of days first.

christannj - They won't come after you! You won't be able to get a refund or anything for the unused ticket, but the airline won't care.
Everyone that has asked me about the trip, I have said the exact same thing, best trip of my lifetime. We do not have kids yet, we have been waiting on an adoption from China for almost 4 years. Even without kids, it was the best ever. The staff was amazing and I really enjoyed the sea days.

My parents were on it with my husband and I. They want to do the B2B this year also, but I know I can not do it this year, so planning for next year. I was so relaxed by the time I got back to work that my whole perspective on work has changed. I have not been stressed at all and it has been really nice. I went into absolute relaxation on this trip which has never happened on a trip before because we have only taken one week trips and usually to Vegas or to Disney itself. This was completely different.

[U2FanHfx]

It's funny everyone is mentioning that if you buy a round trip for the cheaper fare that no one will come after you. I thought this same thing until I began to research this on the web. Apparently, depending on your airline, they can charge you the FULL FARE rate at that time if the find you have done this! It's in the Terms and Conditions. They call it "throwaway ticketing". It may still be worth the risk. Some info here on how to risk/get away with it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/934847-what-if-i-dont-use-my-return-ticket-round-ticket.html

Anybody else do the "round trip" for the cheaper fare this or last year that can chime in?

Regs,

Chad J.

[DisneyHeather]

To All-

This is way too early to think about, but.....

Have any of you ever sailed on a cruise with Don "Ducky' Williams? Our first Disney Cruise, Don was on, it was very interesting. I was fortunate enough to win a drawing he did of Grumpy. It is the highlight of our Disney collection.

For those of you who don't know Don, he is a Sr. Character artist for Disney. His story is very interesting, the job he has chosen for himself even more so.

Hope all is well-

He was on the EBTA last month and we loved having him on there.

I really want to go on this cruise with you guys next year but will probably have to wait until next year to decide for sure if I can do it. It would be my mom and I if she can find someone to watch my siblings while we're gone and I'd be using my DVC points. If I don't make it I hope you all have a blast.

[Phil & Deborah]

The EBTA was frankly the best vacation I've ever had! Lazy days at sea, watching movies with the kidlets from the Goofy hot tub, the awesome mixology class we took, did I mention lazy days at sea... even the couple days that were a bit rougher were fun. I was running on deck 4 on the 5th sea day, rocking all over the place every time I got to the front of the ship and laughing like a kid. I commented to someone on the deck that it was a beautiful day and they looked at me like I was loony.

My husband is focused on our trip to Bora Bora in November, but I am completely dreaming of being back on the Magic!

We'd be game for the b2b if we could find a good deal. (Maybe some last minute cat 12s!) Right now, our plan is to fly into BCN a couple of days early and drive to coast up to France, or perhaps to fly to Rome for a couple of days first.

christannj - They won't come after you! You won't be able to get a refund or anything for the unused ticket, but the airline won't care.

I was also on the EBTA with my DW and DS and father-in law. We had a great time and booked the WBTA 2011 (just DW and I). We have yet to go on a cruise alone, so it will be a treat in Cat 3.

[Phil & Deborah]

Please officially count me in!!:woohoo:

Ended up booking a Cat 5A. Price delta for a Cat4A was about $500 (not bad), however I wanted to be midship, but not on the highest floor for staterooms. So we are on 7th deck, which is just perfect...

I am so so excited!!

I began reading on Barcelona, and all the stuff there is to see there...I thought I could spend just a day, day and a half, but seems like a 2-3 pre-cruise would be in order.

Curious about what your WBTA's cruisers pre-cruise plans are?

Yay!!


/Melia :wizard:

We are going down 2 days early to do some sightseeing. We didn't see much this year on the EBTA as we had 2 extra people. Not sure exactly what to see, but the aquarium looked cool and the over-head cable cars.

We booked a Cat 3 as it is nice to have the extra room on such a long trip.

We are staying at the AC Diplomat (booked through Disney).

[MissErin]

We are going down 2 days early to do some sightseeing. We didn't see much this year on the EBTA as we had 2 extra people. Not sure exactly what to see, but the aquarium looked cool and the over-head cable cars.

We booked a Cat 3 as it is nice to have the extra room on such a long trip.

We are staying at the AC Diplomat (booked through Disney).

We did the aquarium this time around and it was... eh. Not the best I've been to. Quite frankly, I'd skip it.

I'm not sure what we'll do pre-cruise. We talked about doing the drive from Barcelona up to Nice, which I think might be fun. We might also fly into London first (or Paris) and explore and then take a flight over. We'd originally planned to go to Rome or Hawaii for a couple of days in April to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Now we're thinking we're going to make this our anniversary trip and just do something in the continental 48 to mark the actual occasion.

Course I'm already missing the mouse... after two trips already since September, we swore we wouldn't do another this year... yet the 40% off deals roll around and I just reserved three nights in September. :rolleyes1 Now I have to figure out how to afford park tickets! We already have a family reunion booked at Hersey Park in July, and the trip to LA (maybe Disneyland!) and Bora Bora booked in November..... DH may kill me yet! ;)

[Phil & Deborah]

We did the aquarium this time around and it was... eh. Not the best I've been to. Quite frankly, I'd skip it.

I'm not sure what we'll do pre-cruise. We talked about doing the drive from Barcelona up to Nice, which I think might be fun. We might also fly into London first (or Paris) and explore and then take a flight over. We'd originally planned to go to Rome or Hawaii for a couple of days in April to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Now we're thinking we're going to make this our anniversary trip and just do something in the continental 48 to mark the actual occasion.

Course I'm already missing the mouse... after two trips already since September, we swore we wouldn't do another this year... yet the 40% off deals roll around and I just reserved three nights in September. :rolleyes1 Now I have to figure out how to afford park tickets! We already have a family reunion booked at Hersey Park in July, and the trip to LA (maybe Disneyland!) and Bora Bora booked in November..... DH may kill me yet! ;)

Thanks for the information. I'll keep looking for other places to visit!

[stlkeeler]

I, too, am just off the EBTA (so long ago). I had booked the Panama Canal onboard but decided it was too expensive so I just transferred over to this WBTA. I decided I'd like to have the extra hour each day, too. Anyway, it is just me, sailing solo. Are there any others? Last time there were a bunch of us. There were 4 of us that linked up (plus an extra couple) so we'd have someone to eat with each night. We had a great time together. Anyone interested?

[FriendOfFanatic]

Hi everyone again, It has been a while since I last checked in. I am still booked.
For a long time I have wanted to take a transatlantic cruise, but my wife will not go with me. Instead I am bringing my friend along. We are staying in a 7a verandah stateroom on the 7th deck.
I am Charlie, and I do not know if my friend allows me to give out his name. I am from NH and this will be my 4th DCL cruise. My family is taking a 3 day cruise Thanksgiving week, and we will also be taking a Dream cruise in April 2011.
We have the early dining time and since there are only the two of us, please let me know if anyone would like to share an early table. I plan on doing Palo dinner twice so we would be away for those two nights.

[Tower]

Just looked at this cruise! Talked to DW and we're thinking about it. DS10 and DD8 would be in school for a week, so we're not sure about taking them away for 2 weeks already. Love the thought of this TA cruise.
DFIL is currently doing a Eastbound TA on Holland America. Once we get his trip report, we may be more convinced. We'd have to cancel the 2011 December cruise (on the same ship) but I think it would be worth it.

Will keep you posted! Hope to meet all of you!

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[Just love Eeyore]

Just wanted to say hello.

We booked this cruise on our March 6. cruise - our first cruise ever.

I has been a dream for my husband to cross the atlantic ocean - So it will be a dream come true for him.

We are a family of 3. My husband Rasmus, my son Thomas and myself Christina. We live in Denmark.

[AnkaG]

Hi guys!

Just wanted to tell everyone that there are ONLY 478 DAYS to GO! That's good right!!! :thumbsup2

My DH and I are thinking of all the great things to do and Barcelona, but we would also like to visit the parks in Orlando.... decisions, decisions... or we can take ONE MONTH of vacation and do it all, right?:confused3

Have a nice day everyone, and see you in 478 days (or less, if we run into each other in Barcelona!!!)

Aurevoir!
Anne-Karine

[bhsddisneynut]

Just got back from 14 transalantic and while on board my wife and I book this one in September now the countdown begins.:cool1:

[U2FanHfx]

Hi All,

We were supposed to on this trip this coming September but decided to go with our friends in April instead so here we are booked for 2011. We are both very excited for the cruise and are actually considering that we may do the 7 night prior or a few days in Paris and Barcelona.

We hail from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Look forward to getting to know everyone.

[CastMember 02]

Is anyone in the thread going to do the last Med Cruise also? If so PM Me

[mom_rules]

We are thinking about this one also.

What are the onboard booking perks these days?

percentage off? Onboard booking credit?

Deposit required?

Does it vary by number of cruises you've taken?

Any done an onboard booking recently?

Thanks-so many questions.....

[AnkaG]

we did an onboard booking last october for this cruise, and we got 10% off and 200$ onboard credit.

Anka

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[mom_rules]

we did an onboard booking last october for this cruise, and we got 10% off and 200$ onboard credit.

Anka

Thanks for the information!

[austraveler]

Hi all. We are a family of 5 (my husband Jason, me(Anna) and 3 boys aged 7(Flynn),10(Campbell),11(Josh) at time of cruise) and this will be our first cruise. We are spending a week in Italy first, then cruising to Florida for a hit of WDW and to see Harry Potter world and then flying back to Sydney via San Francisco. This will be our biggest holiday ever and we are EXCITED. We have booked two Cat 9 interconnecting cabins. Any feedback on whether early or late dinner seating is better?

[stlkeeler]

Hi all. We are a family of 5 (3 boys aged 7,10,11 at time of cruise) and this will be our first cruise. We are spending a week in Italy first, then cruising to Florida for a hit of WDW and to see Harry Potter world and then flying back to Sydney via San Francisco. This will be our biggest holiday ever and we are EXCITED. We have booked two Cat 9 interconnecting cabins. Any feedback on whether early or late dinner seating is better?

:welcome:

I was on this past EBTA and I had late dining for the first time. We kept losing an hour each day so my body was all messed up! I usually don't eat at set times when I'm home-I eat when I'm hungry. The only thing I didn't care for about late sitting was finishing at 10:00-ish. I was usually so tired from losing time I couldn't stay up much to work it off. But I don't think that would stop me from doing it again. I think that's what I have for this one, too. But we won't be losing time, we'll be gaining it! :yay:

[austraveler]

Hi! Looks like I need to start checking this thread more often to get caught up!!! This thread didn't move for a while there.

Our pre-cruise plans are to spend a week in Rome, a week in Paris, and another few days in Barcelona before we board the Magic. We're going all out!! I'm almost wishing that we could cut back on this trip so that we can do something more in the US, but I know it'll be worth the wait!

Has anyone rented an apartment/condo in Rome or Paris? I was going to use VRBO to rent one, but don't know the areas. Anyone know of nice areas to look for? Stay away from?

It's killing me not to be actively planning a vacation right now. 9/11 seems so far away! Well, we will be traveling to VT this summer for a wedding, so that's something!

I need to go back and see who has kids. Last year when we cruised my kids met people on line before we went and it made their experiences that much more fun. Anyone have kids these ages? DS13, DS12, DS9, Dd4?? Anyone have kids who take karate, play baseball, run, play piano, guitar, or into model rocketry?

My boys will be 7,10 and 11 (almost 12) at the time of the cruise. We live in Newcastle, Australia and the boys are into soccer, tennis and computer games.

[AnkaG]

Any feedback on whether early or late dinner seating is better?

Hi!

We had second seating on our previous cruise, and we really liked it. We didn't feel rushed, and if we were a bit hungry, we could always have a snack. It's less busy and there are less children (we were on our honeymoon, and have no kids).

Ak :)

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[TifffanyD]

452 days till the cruise but only 450 days untill we leave home for Barcelona!! :cool1::banana::cheer2::yay::hyper:

How many days in advance is everyone else planning to leave home for Barcelona? What are your pre-cruise plans, if any? :goodvibes

Right now I am tentatively planning to leave home the wednesday before and arrive the Thursday before. But I have already figured on taking the entire week off so we can be a bit flexible on whether we leave tues-thursday. Wouldn't want to leave friday tho since that will get in saturday and be way too close to comfort for me. Hopefully wednesday will work out so we can have a few days to adjust to the time change :)

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[TifffanyD]

We are looking at getting to the airport for 6am to get an early morning flight to Barcelona so we should be at the hotel by lunchtime on the 8th September - well that's the plan, in theory!
Spain is only 1 hour ahead of UK time but I will suffer that day from getting up so early (and probably not having slept much/at all!). :sick:

I'm just as excited about visiting Barcelona, as the hotel we have chosen (but not booked yet) looks beautiful and I can't wait to see all the Gaudi buildings. I studied his work for my GNVQ Art & Design course and have wanted to go ever since (10 years) but I couldn't justify travelling so far just to visit a few buildings! :rotfl:

We booked at around 540 days out - nearly 100 days down and time seems to have sped up! :scared1:

What is the hotel you are planning on staying at? We need some ideas!

Yeah we booked the day the cruise was released (and then rebooked onboard about a month later).

[scothen]

Just looked at this cruise! Talked to DW and we're thinking about it. DS10 and DD8 would be in school for a week, so we're not sure about taking them away for 2 weeks already. Love the thought of this TA cruise.
DFIL is currently doing a Eastbound TA on Holland America. Once we get his trip report, we may be more convinced. We'd have to cancel the 2011 December cruise (on the same ship) but I think it would be worth it.

Will keep you posted! Hope to meet all of you!
Hey, How are you? I booked this 3 days after the December Eastern Caribbean cruise we were on! It sounds like it is a great itinerary!

I hope all is well.

Scot Henderlong
Chicago, IL

[AnkaG]

we are thinking of staying in barcelona for at least 5 days, maybe a week. My in-laws live in Portugal, so we are hoping they'll come spend some time with us in Spain before we leave.

We didn't chose any hotels or anything yet, we're hoping to find something affordable. We'll try to book thru some sort of priceline.com site, where we can name our own price. We booked with them on many occasions and it's always cheaper than regular prices, and the hotels are always nice.

[austraveler]

We have had to change this cruise due to some holiday leave issues and are going on the 3rd Sept Med cruise instead. Have fun!

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[Paragd911]

We just booked this Cruise! It was be Joy DW & I (Mark). We are trying to talking Joy's Family in joining us..

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh222/paragd911/CCI01092009_00000-1.jpg

[AnkaG]

Welcome Paragd911! Great picture! :thumbsup2

[U2FanHfx]

Hi All,

We are signed up for this cruise as well. We were supposed to go this setptember but it didn't work out as our friends wanted us to go with them this past April. We are definitely doing this one!

We are going over a week prior to visit both Paris and Barcelona. First time in Europe for both of us.

We are doing a double dip in March on the Dream so we will both be gold level Castaway :)

Chad J.

[U2FanHfx]

I should mention that we got married on the Magic on September 7, 2006 and will celebrate our 5th anniversary by visiting the Magic once again. :thumbsup2

[TifffanyD]

It's looking like we might need to cancel this trip :sick:

We are running low on vacation time and the 2 weeks for the cruise plus the time it will take to fly there and everything may just be too much.

I'm sure we will be able to do something else instead, maybe the first 7-night after the magic is back.

[schimj]

It's looking like we might need to cancel this trip :sick:

We are running low on vacation time and the 2 weeks for the cruise plus the time it will take to fly there and everything may just be too much.

I'm sure we will be able to do something else instead, maybe the first 7-night after the magic is back.


It's officail :(

We're out of the WBTA Cruise...guess it's time to take the image out of my signature. Hope you guys have a great and safe cruise!

[2canadianfans]

We just booked this cruise :banana: ! Quick question..where is everyone staying in Barcelona the night before. We booked thru Disney the Ac Diplomatic. Not sure how to get to the hotel ..Any info would be great..Just booked tonight..

[BigHugsForEeyore]

.

[MandyGirl]

Hello everyone! As soon as my Disney Visa arrives in the mail, I'm booking this cruise for me (will be 37), hubby (will be 38), DD1 (5th birthday for cruise) and DD2 (15 months at cruise). It will be our first Disney cruise, first TransAtlantic, first over-seven-night cruise, and first cruise with daughters. Previous seven cruises have all been Caribbean and Alaska 7-nighters on X, HAL, and NCL... including one we married on with about 25 cruising family members (St John, USVI).

Still shopping rates - and the best I've seen is same rate at all online agencies but can get $300 OBC with one agency plus the Disney Visa perks. Booking cheapest 4-person stateroom. We qualify for interline rates, but don't think we should wait until those are released with this being a transatlantic. (Any suggestions you can PM me??)

Hubby has already secured vacation time off (his dept has to bid vacation in August for all of following year, and he got the timeframe in September). I quit teaching to stay at home with the girls - daycare $$$$ - so I have the time off. I'll use AAdvantage miles next month for me and the girls (will have exactly enough after next credit card statement - plus seats should start opening up then on AA) and hubby will hitch-hike (ie ride jumpseat and get there somehow). So yes... me and two kiddos on transatlantic by ourselves, including one lapchild. We are considering going to London first to visit a couple friends with kiddos (just us girls), then meet hubby somewhere. Still trying to decide where to spend 4-5 days PREcruise at. (Any suggestions??)

Except for St Martin and Tortola, all new ports for us. We've only been to London and Scotland previously... never elsewhere across the big pond.

Assuming health remains well, we should be on this wonderful sailing with you guys!! :cool1: Looking forward to meeting you!

[amackay]

My girlfriend (29) and I (28) have just returned from an 11 night Med cruise and booked the 2011 Westbound Transatlantic while we were onboard. Looking forward to meeting you all on board. This will be our 3rd Disney cruise (we did 2 11 night Med cruises this summer)

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[Phil & Deborah]

We just booked this cruise :banana: ! Quick question..where is everyone staying in Barcelona the night before. We booked thru Disney the Ac Diplomatic. Not sure how to get to the hotel ..Any info would be great..Just booked tonight..

My DW and I are also staying at the AC Diplomatic (complimentary mini bar). We are arriving 2 days prior and have Disney transport from Airport to Hotel, and then from Hotel to Port.

Less than 1 year to go!!

[BigHugsForEeyore]

My DW and I are also staying at the AC Diplomatic (complimentary mini bar). We are arriving 2 days prior and have Disney transport from Airport to Hotel, and then from Hotel to Port.

Less than 1 year to go!!


Can you pay for Disney transport from the Airport to Hotel/Hotel to Port if you booked your hotel on your own or can you only get it if you booked your hotel with Disney directly? :confused:

[Phil & Deborah]

Can you pay for Disney transport from the Airport to Hotel/Hotel to Port if you booked your hotel on your own or can you only get it if you booked your hotel with Disney directly? :confused:

You should be able to because they do offer ground transportation as an extra in Orlando to WDW from the airport (if you don't book through them), but I am not sure about Barcelona. You can call and ask them, I don't see that it would be a problem as they are already providing transportation to others that have booked flights through them.

Phil.

[emmah16]

Hi everyone

We have just got back from our first cruise 8-18 Sep Med cruise and enjoyed it that much that we have booked the WBTA. Does anybody know if many English people do this trip? Not that it matters as we found that most guest on board were very nice and only the odd not so nice guest. On this trip we might even join in with the FE. I think we can say that now our family are DCL crazy LOL.

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[emmah16]

Hi Sarah

Have you booked your flights through DCL? If not who are you flying with back from Orlando and on what day?

TIA

Emma

[BigHugsForEeyore]

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[emmah16]

Hi Sarah

I will have a look at Aer Lingus and see what they come up with. I will also check out Virgin Atlantic but their flights for Sep 2011 dont go on sale until Oct. We are going to have to fly back home on the Saturday because my other half Dan does not have enough holidays to extend our stay to WDW :(

Emma

[birkner]

Hello for Tortola on the WBTA. We loved the cruise so much we booked the same stateroom for next year.

Our names and are Noel and John and will be taking our 5th DCL cruise if all goes well. Calm seas, great DISers and activities and so much more convinced us this is our best cruise yet.

Any questions about ports, etc. please ask away.

[granmaz]

Hey Noel, we rebooked too. What a fantastic cruise it has just been.

We are Marilyn and John, a couple of oldies from the UK. Looking forward to this cruise - it helps the sadness of just getting off the ship.

Any questions? We can try and help.

[MandyGirl]

Very cool! I have been wondering how the 2010 WBTA went. To re-book, it must have been great! :)

We have not booked yet, but I did find out about DCL and interline rates. (Hubby is an airline employee). He has already had to bid vacation for 2011, and we have that secured. Just need to actually book it. Me, hubby, DD (will just turn 5 a few days prior) and DD2 (will be 15 months). With me staying home now, I'm definitely having to search around for prices, but they are pretty consistent. I hate booking, see interline rates come out, and new bookings get much better category cabins for cheaper because of new booking deals.

I'd like to fly over a week prior and sightsee. Have only been to London and Scotland previously. Any suggestions for pre-cruise with little ones?

[granmaz]

Very cool! I have been wondering how the 2010 WBTA went. To re-book, it must have been great! :)

We have not booked yet, but I did find out about DCL and interline rates. (Hubby is an airline employee). He has already had to bid vacation for 2011, and we have that secured. Just need to actually book it. Me, hubby, DD (will just turn 5 a few days prior) and DD2 (will be 15 months). With me staying home now, I'm definitely having to search around for prices, but they are pretty consistent. I hate booking, see interline rates come out, and new bookings get much better category cabins for cheaper because of new booking deals.

I'd like to fly over a week prior and sightsee. Have only been to London and Scotland previously. Any suggestions for pre-cruise with little ones?

We flew to Barcelona and spent 4 nights there and loved it, though we are an older couple. It is a beautiful and interesting place, but might not be so to very little ones. I guess it depends on their ages. There is a zoo and great beaches there though as well as all the more architectural places. I know some folk went to DLP for a few days before making their way to Barcelona.

I could ask over on the thread for you though replies will probably be slow to come as folk are still returning.

[grmmybtty]

Can you pay for Disney transport from the Airport to Hotel/Hotel to Port if you booked your hotel on your own or can you only get it if you booked your hotel with Disney directly? :confused:

DH and I just returned from the September 2010 Disney Westbound Transatlantic cruise. You can book Disney transportation separately. We booked our own air and hotel in Barcelona and used Disney transportation from the hotel to port and from Cape Canaveral to MCO. We chose a hotel near Le Meridien and took a taxi from our hotel. We had intended to walked the 3 blocks but it was pouring rain that morning.

[emmah16]

Hi everyone

We did the 8-18 Sep Med and flew to Barcelona the day before we sailed. We stayed in the Aveinda Palace which was very close to Las Ramblas and also very nice. I had pre booked tickets for the aquarium which is on the marina and my DS (2) loved it:rotfl:, after that we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The best bit was yet to come, the morning after when we headed off to get on board Magic:yay:. From the moment we arrived at the terminal to very last time we disembarked back in Barcelona every moment was MAGIC:wizard:. It was so much so that we could not resist rebooking whilst on board so we picked the WBTA and can not wait till Sep 2011:woohoo:.

I have already booked flights to Barcelona and are now just waiting for the flights from Orlando back to the UK to go on sale. Unfortunatly we are unable to spend any time at WDW as DH has not enough holidays to do this:sad1: but I dont mind as long as I am on Magic.:love:

[Phil & Deborah]

Hi everyone

We did the 8-18 Sep Med and flew to Barcelona the day before we sailed. We stayed in the Aveinda Palace which was very close to Las Ramblas and also very nice. I had pre booked tickets for the aquarium which is on the marina and my DS (2) loved it:rotfl:, after that we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The best bit was yet to come, the morning after when we headed off to get on board Magic:yay:. From the moment we arrived at the terminal to very last time we disembarked back in Barcelona every moment was MAGIC:wizard:. It was so much so that we could not resist rebooking whilst on board so we picked the WBTA and can not wait till Sep 2011:woohoo:.

I have already booked flights to Barcelona and are now just waiting for the flights from Orlando back to the UK to go on sale. Unfortunatly we are unable to spend any time at WDW as DH has not enough holidays to do this:sad1: but I dont mind as long as I am on Magic.:love:

Welcome aboard Emma and family.

It sounds like you had a wonderful time, but what else can you expect from Disney. We booked this during our 2010 EBTA cruise (loved all the sea days), and I am so happy to hear that the WBTA this year had wonderful calm seas, let's hope the same for next year.

Phil

[granmaz]

I have already booked flights to Barcelona and are now just waiting for the flights from Orlando back to the UK to go on sale. Unfortunatly we are unable to spend any time at WDW as DH has not enough holidays to do this:sad1: but I dont mind as long as I am on Magic.:love:

Hi and welcome. We live in Harrogate over in White Rose country! There will just be me and my husband John, both oldies, but we love DCL. We are just in Orlando after doing this same cruise and it was amazing.

The service etc on the Magic has spoiled us for general Disney as they can't even come close.

One of the biggest problems is the one way air fares. This time we have used Virgin miles, so hopefully we will be able to next year also.

[wkrider]

Hi,
We'll be there!

buttercup and wkrider (katie and mark) Arizona

[karentan]

hi everyone!
we were booked to go on the october 1st western caribbean cruise but have decided to go ahead and do the longer cruise instead so am coming on the westbound!!
it'll be me (karen), 31 by the time we cruise, and my DH gary (will be 30). we've done two 3 nighters before and did the barcelona to dover repo this year so are super excited to be going on another cruise!
looking forward to the FE too :) i've just emailed my travel agent to confirm the changes so are waiting for them to tell me what room we'll be in, but are looking at a cat 11a on deck 6 or 7.

less than a year to go!

[granmaz]

hi everyone!
we were booked to go on the october 1st western caribbean cruise but have decided to go ahead and do the longer cruise instead so am coming on the westbound!!
it'll be me (karen), 31 by the time we cruise, and my DH gary (will be 30). we've done two 3 nighters before and did the barcelona to dover repo this year so are super excited to be going on another cruise!
looking forward to the FE too :) i've just emailed my travel agent to confirm the changes so are waiting for them to tell me what room we'll be in, but are looking at a cat 11a on deck 6 or 7.

less than a year to go!

Hi there. You have started something now!!!!! It is so hard to go back to shorter cruises after doing a long one!!:lmao: You are going to have a fantastic cruise, believe me.

[emmah16]

Hi and welcome. We live in Harrogate over in White Rose country! There will just be me and my husband John, both oldies, but we love DCL. We are just in Orlando after doing this same cruise and it was amazing.

The service etc on the Magic has spoiled us for general Disney as they can't even come close.

One of the biggest problems is the one way air fares. This time we have used Virgin miles, so hopefully we will be able to next year also.


Hi Marilyn & John, Phil & Deborah & Everyone else:cheer2:

Thanks for the welcome. I will agree with you Marilyn about being spoiled I can't even imagine now going back to how we used to holiday (package to spain etc :rolleyes1) We are now even thinking about 2012 cruises and what we could possible do. Anyway let me introduce my family theres (DH) Dan, (DS) Sam whos is 2 but will be 3 when we cruise and of course the boss me :rotfl:

[MandyGirl]

We flew to Barcelona and spent 4 nights there and loved it, though we are an older couple. It is a beautiful and interesting place, but might not be so to very little ones. I guess it depends on their ages.

The girls will be 15 months and just turning 5 years old for the cruise. Neither have been to WDW, and it's almost 20 years for me since WDW. Curt went to Disney in California while growing up. The cruise will definitely be a new Disney experience! Plus, first cruise for the girls, and first TA for hubby and I (we used to do a week-long cruise each year, and even married while on a cruise -- had to cut back cruising since having children).

Have not booked yet - so afraid of booking and then new deals coming out that we don't qualify for since already booked. I hate the "cruise booking game". Plus, hubby works for an airline (not a pilot) so we qualify for interline rates, but none available right now. We will be category 11 - trying to read about sideways cabins.

I just know life is too short here on Earth, and we need to live it now instead of waiting until retirement. Got vacation time secured, got frequent flyer miles, got the Disney Visa card now - just need to book.

[MandyGirl]

INHALE... EXHALE... INHALE...

Just booked it!!! :) Will try out one of those sideways inside cabins, and my mom just said my dad has expressed interest!!! He'll need anxiety meds for flying - he hates flying, and that's a pretty big pond to cross. :) I will have to keep working on them - would love to have them along.

[granmaz]

INHALE... EXHALE... INHALE...

Just booked it!!! :) Will try out one of those sideways inside cabins, and my mom just said my dad has expressed interest!!! He'll need anxiety meds for flying - he hates flying, and that's a pretty big pond to cross. :) I will have to keep working on them - would love to have them along.

We have quite a few friends who love the sideways cabins so you should be just fine. Yes the flight is a long one but hopefully your dad will feet some sleep which will help.

[we're aliens]

Can you pay for Disney transport from the Airport to Hotel/Hotel to Port if you booked your hotel on your own or can you only get it if you booked your hotel with Disney directly? :confused:

Hi. We just did the WBTA.(and have booked for 2011 WBTA) Arrived in BCN at 10.30 Saturday 18th, got a taxi from the rank outside, and were checking in at the ship at 11.00 all for 30 Euros for two people and all our luggage! Best deal ever, more convenient than waiting for DCL and cheaper too!
Hope this helps.
Jane and Dave.

[emmah16]

Hi. We just did the WBTA.(and have booked for 2011 WBTA) Arrived in BCN at 10.30 Saturday 18th, got a taxi from the rank outside, and were checking in at the ship at 11.00 all for 30 Euros for two people and all our luggage! Best deal ever, more convenient than waiting for DCL and cheaper too!
Hope this helps.
Jane and Dave.

Hi Jane & Dave

Who are you flying with and where from? Thats a good deal for the transfer who is that with?

[CustardTart]

Hi all!

Was on this year's WBTA and I loved it so much, have booked to sail again next year!!! :cool1:

So far it's a solo reservation but I'm hoping I might be able to persuade either my DH or my DD to join me - we'll see... Good to see some familiar faces...

[granmaz]

Hi all!

Was on this year's WBTA and I loved it so much, have booked to sail again next year!!! :cool1:

So far it's a solo reservation but I'm hoping I might be able to persuade either my DH or my DD to join me - we'll see... Good to see some familiar faces...

Hey, so you have booked. I hope you do make the trip. As I do all of us of course.:dance3:

[CustardTart]

Hey, so you have booked. I hope you do make the trip. As I do all of us of course.:dance3:

Thanks, Marilyn! I hope I don't NEED it like I did this year but I'm sure I'll want it... ;)

[we're aliens]

Hi Jane & Dave

Who are you flying with and where from? Thats a good deal for the transfer who is that with?

Hi Emma.
We booked Easyjet from Liverpool then just picked up a taxi from the rank outside arrivals - no waiting at all. We've just arrived back this morning after 5 extra days - Aer Lingus from Orlando MCO, the only people who seem to do a single.
Hope this helps.
Jane & Dave

[Berries97]

Hello!

I was just taking a look at this cruise and it looks great! I am trying to convince DH to book it. We have cruised before (not with Disney) and loved it. He is just concerned that 14 days is too long. Silly DH. And that it is hurricane season. It has been awhile since I have flown overseas.... what is airfare looking like from the East Coast? We are in the Philly area. Any advice or experiences I can share with him?!

Btw.. it would be ME (31) DH (40) and DS (4 at the time). Hoping to join you all!


Thanks!

[emmah16]

Hi Emma.
We booked Easyjet from Liverpool then just picked up a taxi from the rank outside arrivals - no waiting at all. We've just arrived back this morning after 5 extra days - Aer Lingus from Orlando MCO, the only people who seem to do a single.
Hope this helps.
Jane & Dave

Hi Jane & Dave

I booked our flights with Monarch out of Manchester and have been checking out Virgin Atlantic for the return. I could do with a direct flight back as my DS will be 3 and it would be much fun adding a extra 6 hours on the journey. I know it will be a lot more expensive but he would be a nightmare :scared1:

[MandyGirl]

Hello!

I was just taking a look at this cruise and it looks great! I am trying to convince DH to book it. We have cruised before (not with Disney) and loved it. He is just concerned that 14 days is too long. Silly DH. And that it is hurricane season. It has been awhile since I have flown overseas.... what is airfare looking like from the East Coast? We are in the Philly area. Any advice or experiences I can share with him?!

Btw.. it would be ME (31) DH (40) and DS (4 at the time). Hoping to join you all!


Thanks!

We are booked - me (37) DH (almost 39) DD1 (turning 5 a few days before embarkation) and DD2 (15 mon) at time of cruise. To help convince him... my hubby has decided that 7 days is now too short for cruising (have done seven of those) and we also know once DD1 starts kindergarten, we won't be able to take cruises during the school year. To take a transatlantic cruise, we need to do it now or wait another 17+ years when the girls are out of school. We also got the Disney credit card so we could do 6 months to pay off since I am staying home with the baby now - that gives you a $50 OBC and $40 first-time statement credit, in addition to 1% rewards that you can cash in to use on the ship.

Some friends of ours are about to leave on their third transatlantic cruise - they won't do anything shorter! They are totally hooked on them now.

So... get the credit card, book it, and you have until May to cancel. Then tell him about it later. Isn't it always better to ask for forgiveness than permission? ;)

~ Mandy

[karentan]

plus if you book it now, there's a good chance that the prices will go up later, and you might not be able to get the category or room location that you want :) as long as you cancel before the final payment date you can get your deposit back anyway