May 14, 2011 - Eastbound TransAtlantic

[owensjro]

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_e4tiGoDjDYs/TIqHlJO8t5I/AAAAAAAAA7M/6Cjx8MjPlbM/s400/EBTA_Logo_1-1.jpg

Welcome to the Magic on the Atlantic Eastbound TransAtlantic cruise thread!

This first post will be updated with all of the information you need to join your fellow DISers in having fun throughout the cruise (and even before!).

If you are on the cruise please add your information to our roll call spreadsheet:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag20a4WhJwJxdHdGRnU3OENTSUlEUUVjVFl3MXlGL Xc&hl=en&authkey=CJvH6MoK

There are columns on the spreadsheet for the following activities:

FE/Fish Extenders: A fun gift-giving activity. Search for Fish Extenders on the main forum if you need more info

Shots Around the Ship: We'll try to hit all of the open bars one night (and hope the ship isn't rocking too much!)

Photo Scavenger Hunt: Teams will have lists of items to find and photograph all over the ship

***Update Whiteboard and Book Exchange will be located at stateroom #6092***

If you have ideas for more group activities suggest them in the thread and we can add them on in.

We have a FACEBOOK page here:
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/home.php?sk=group_177251978979903&ap=1

http://i1021.photobucket.com/albums/af333/owensjro/EBTA%20May%2014%202011/CruiseItinerary-1.png

Navigators and other info from 2010 EBTA: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2061536&id=1139906413&l=1bdcf464f3

Suggested tipping per person for 14 days:
$168 (Server $56, Assistant Server $42, Head Server $14, Stateroom $56)

Average Temps:
Madeira : http://www.climatetemp.info/portugal/madeira.html
Cadiz : http://www.climatetemp.info/spain/cadiz.html
Barcelona : http://www.climatetemp.info/spain/barcelona.html
Nassau/Castaway Cay : http://www.climatetemp.info/bahamas/


http://www.mickeypath.com/id/1305356455.jpg
('http://www.mickeypath.com/')
Jim and Amanda

[heatherb819]

Great job! Thank you for doing that, I had to keep going back to page 15 or whatever it was to look at the spreadsheet :surfweb: and it was driving me crazy.

[surf2di4]

Thanks for taking on this responsibility. pirate:

Karl

[DW2DH&DS]

Thanks!! popcorn::

[sehandiph]

Thanks from the UK too :)

[owensjro]

Ok, added the cruise itinerary along with the dinner menus from the 2010 EBTA. Not sure if it will be the same for ours but for initial planning purposes it should help.

Also added the tipping info and a link to the facebook page of someone who was on this year's EBTA and scanned in the navigators. Figured everyone might want to poke around at those :)

Let me know if there are other things you'd like on the first post.

Jim

[surf2di4]

Ok, added the cruise itinerary along with the dinner menus from the 2010 EBTA. Not sure if it will be the same for ours but for initial planning purposes it should help.

Also added the tipping info and a link to the facebook page of someone who was on this year's EBTA and scanned in the navigators. Figured everyone might want to poke around at those :)

Let me know if there are other things you'd like on the first post.

Jim

a place for people to donate $$$ to my cruise fund, with a paypal #:rolleyes1

Karl

[surf2di4]

Ok, added the cruise itinerary along with the dinner menus from the 2010 EBTA. Not sure if it will be the same for ours but for initial planning purposes it should help.

Jim
Robin & i sailed with Krisann on the '08WBPC.

Karl

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list :thumbsup2

[heatherb819]

Good thinking Karl :rotfl2: wish I would have beat ya to that thought!

[Happy Wanderers]

from David and Adele in :cool2:Scotland

[runswithscissors]

Just booked our return flight today. :) Found an incredibly reasonable price for one-way ticket and jumped on it. Still have to book our flight from DC to Orlando but won't do that until February.

Swiss Airlines
Barcelona (BCN) to Washington, DC (IAD)
2 Adults 1 Child
$1,547.57 total

Boards have been quite busy lately. Have to remember to check 'em every once-in-a-while.

Less than 8 months to go!

[heatherb819]

Wow!:cool1: Congratulations on your airline bargain! I checked for us again as I do about every other day and it's still cheaper to stick with Disney for air. It's alot of work to keep checking that, I have to pull up my currency exchange calculator. LOL Have a great weekend everyone.

[owensjro]

That is great airfare. We've booked one of our tickets back from London so far...it had gone up a lot since I started watching so I finally booked it. So stupid...I should have done it a long time ago. The other two we'll be using miles for once we have them saved up.

Jim

[surf2di4]

Air with Disney was ONLY $980. pp from LAX. but we booked it way back when this cruise first became available.

Karl

[Winstanik]

We booked our air portion through Disney also and it was $1050 pp. (from Montreal to Orlando and Barcelona to Montreal). It's seems like a bargain because I checked lately online with a few websites and I got quotes at $2000 pp ! :eek:

[owensamo]

We would have probably booked through Disney, but we plan to fly to London for a few nights before coming home. I doubt Disney would be keen on booking that for us. :)

[surf2di4]

We would have probably booked through Disney, but we plan to fly to London for a few nights before coming home. I doubt Disney would be keen on booking that for us. :)

its called a deviation and Disney does them all the time. we checked about going out of Madrid a few days after we get off the ship and it would be $300 total more for coach and Only $1200 total for Business class.

Karl

[heatherb819]

Well, I saw that the Magic was back across the Atlantic, they were docked in St. Marteen. It's ready for us to board and take her back:rotfl2: This has been a quite board lately:rolleyes1 I guess everyone if off working hard on those FE:thumbsup2

[heatherb819]

Jim/Amanda
I called Disney today and linked our dining reservations:cool1:I kept forgetting to look our resv# so I called and had them look up my number, it was just as easy. Keri if you still want to join us, we'd love to have you:grouphug: it was very easy to do. All you have to do now is call them and give them one of our resv numbers and our names and we will be one big happy table of 10!:banana::banana:

[sehandiph]

Hi all

I was wondering if some of our more seasoned Disney cruisers could help me.

I use a 'fitbug' in an effort to lose weight and get fitter for our Hols to Florida and so that I can eat all those desserts on the cruise. I am so looking forward to them :)

The fitbug only remembers 14 days worth of steps -and as we will be away for almost 5 weeks in total - does anyone know if the onboard computers would allow me to plug my bug in using a USB port so I could upload my steps to the website? (I know its sad - but I get loyalty points for reaching certain targets and the points go towards getting most of my Christmas food shopping for free.) :santa:

we won't be taking our laptop due to a small luggage allowance on the flight back to the UK from Barcelona - and my ipod touch for accessing the web doesn't have a USB port.

If noone here can help I will ask on the main boards

Thanks
Sharon

[surf2di4]

Hi all

I was wondering if some of our more seasoned Disney cruisers could help me.

I use a 'fitbug' in an effort to lose weight and get fitter for our Hols to Florida and so that I can eat all those desserts on the cruise. I am so looking forward to them :)

The fitbug only remembers 14 days worth of steps -and as we will be away for almost 5 weeks in total - does anyone know if the onboard computers would allow me to plug my bug in using a USB port so I could upload my steps to the website? (I know its sad - but I get loyalty points for reaching certain targets and the points go towards getting most of my Christmas food shopping for free.) :santa:

we won't be taking our laptop due to a small luggage allowance on the flight back to the UK from Barcelona - and my ipod touch for accessing the web doesn't have a USB port.

If noone here can help I will ask on the main boards

Thanks
Sharon

this is probably something you'll want to ask on the regular DIS board. about the on board computers. but if it has a usb port and it has not been disabled, it would probably work. just remember they don't want people uploading virus to their systems. but i would think that if you were able to upload pictures this wouldn't be much different unless it required an app on the computer to do this.

Karl

[heatherb819]

Those of you with 8 & 9 year olds...what are your views on letting them have their own check in/out for the clubs? I'm a little concerned about letting Hannah do this and didn't know what everyone else's thoughts were for their own children to do it. Let me know your thoughts!:confused:

[owensamo]

Those of you with 8 & 9 year olds...what are your views on letting them have their own check in/out for the clubs? I'm a little concerned about letting Hannah do this and didn't know what everyone else's thoughts were for their own children to do it. Let me know your thoughts!:confused:

I've been thinking about this a bit while reading some of the threads on the main board lately. I'm kind of iffy on it. I know that on our most recent 5-night B2B cruises in June, Hannah saw some of the Out-n-About groups doing some really fun stuff (especially the pool games in the mickey pool - that looked like a blast) and I know she wanted to join in. But at just-turned-8, we weren't ready to let her have sign-out privileges.

I know there will be stuff on the EBTA that she'll want to do that will require sign-out privileges. I'm not sure what we'll do.

[owensjro]

I've been thinking about this a bit while reading some of the threads on the main board lately. I'm kind of iffy on it. I know that on our most recent 5-night B2B cruises in June, Hannah saw some of the Out-n-About groups doing some really fun stuff (especially the pool games in the mickey pool - that looked like a blast) and I know she wanted to join in. But at just-turned-8, we weren't ready to let her have sign-out privileges.

I know there will be stuff on the EBTA that she'll want to do that will require sign-out privileges. I'm not sure what we'll do.

The only way I will do this is if Hannah has friends who also can check out. Then my rule would be that she has to always be with a friend. This is basically how we do it at dance competitions too. They can wander around back stage and in the dressing room but only if they stick together.

I'd also ask them to have the youth counselors page us with where they were heading if they checked out. I understand this is a common thing.

Jim

[DW2DH&DS]

Those of you with 8 & 9 year olds...what are your views on letting them have their own check in/out for the clubs? I'm a little concerned about letting Hannah do this and didn't know what everyone else's thoughts were for their own children to do it. Let me know your thoughts!:confused:

Jack will be 9 on this cruise and we are giving him the privilege. We gave him a test run on our 12/09 4 nighter (he turned 8 on that cruise) and he proved to be responsible. We then let him in/out on the 12 night Baltic over the summer. Again, he proved to be responsible. Our rules were simple...

Page us when you get there.
page us when you leave and tell us where you are going. He knew where he was allowed to go and where he wasn't. If we didn't get the page or message on the board...no more in/out privileges.

We had a white board inside the cabin as well so we could leave him messages telling him where we were or he could leave a message telling us where he would be as well.

It is really a personal decision. Every child's maturity level is different. It is easier for us because we only have one child and he is on the mature side for his age.

My advice is to give it a try, set the boundaries, and then let Hannah prove herself to you. You can always change the privileges if it doesn't work out.

Beth

[heatherb819]

I guess if our "Hannahs" become friends and stick together :hug: we can give this a try, I just don't want her wondering the ship alone. I'd much rather prefer a group of 4 or 5 sticking together. I didn't realize they would page you and let you know where they are going. I guess I need to add a wipe board to my packing list. LOL URGGHHH, the "un"joys of parenting, letting them grow up.:sad1:

[gerryspeirs]

I just secured our flights from BCN to LAX via Dusseldorf for $1400 for family of four, thats a really good price and I jumped on it as I dont think I will find cheaper, real short layover and great take off/landing times also. Now I just have to get LAX to MCO and a hotel at the port aand a hotel in Barcelona....

[DW2DH&DS]

I just secured our flights from BCN to LAX via Dusseldorf for $1400 for family of four, thats a really good price and I jumped on it as I dont think I will find cheaper, real short layover and great take off/landing times also. Now I just have to get LAX to MCO and a hotel at the port aand a hotel in Barcelona....

LAX? Where in LA? We are in Snata Clarita!!!! How old are your kiddos? Jack will be 9 at time of sailing.

[heatherb819]

Happy Monday! I survivied Hannah's birthday party weekend. :banana::banana: Now time to start packing for our cruise this month. It's started to get colder here, so I can officially pack our shorts and summer clothes for the trip and not have to dig them back out of a suitcase. I think we've switch over the jeans and long sleaves for the year now.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

[DopeyFan1966]

Anyone doing a back to back with this cruise? If you are doing the transatlantic and then staying on the Magic for the Med please go to our thread and join us.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2478407

I'll be happy to add you to our list.

Enjoy your cruise everyone.

[Winstanik]

Hi everyone !

Quick question : How many of you are getting all dressed up for Pirate's night ? DH and I will be going to shop this weekend for a halloween costume with DD and was wondering if we should get pirates costumes for us. DH is usually shy, but seems to want to dress up ! This is the best time of the year to get it. And since I am working one weekend on two, I am off this weekend and we are planning to go tomorrow.

Thanks !
Anik :)

[surf2di4]

Hi everyone !

Quick question : How many of you are getting all dressed up for Pirate's night ? DH and I will be going to shop this weekend for a halloween costume with DD and was wondering if we should get pirates costumes for us. DH is usually shy, but seems to want to dress up ! This is the best time of the year to get it. And since I am working one weekend on two, I am off this weekend and we are planning to go tomorrow.

Thanks !
Anik :)

Anik speaking of pirate night Guess what day POC#4 comes outpirate:pirate:pirate:pirate: Friday (a sea day) May 20 2011.. so we get a premEAR on board and get to see it only for the cost of a cruise....:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Karl

[Winstanik]

Anik speaking of pirate night Guess what day POC#4 comes outpirate:pirate:pirate:pirate: Friday (a sea day) May 20 2011.. so we get a premEAR on board and get to see it only for the cost of a cruise....:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Karl

I did not know that ! pirate: That's so cool ! :yay::cheer2:

[sehandiph]

Anik speaking of pirate night Guess what day POC#4 comes outpirate:pirate:pirate:pirate: Friday (a sea day) May 20 2011.. so we get a premEAR on board and get to see it only for the cost of a cruise....:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Karl

wow - didn't know this either - but sounds like a great place to watch it.

Ian & I may dress up for pirates night - but we are limited by our small luggage allowance - so it may be more suggestions of pirates rather than actual pirates - a bit like the pirates code being guidelines rather than rules.

I must admit to being excited and am already counting down to May - been looking at our ports of call and what to do there.

Also debating whether we should try out the spa on board.

Sharon

[heatherb819]

We'll be dressed up for pirate night! We'll take as much attire as possible considering the luggage restrictions.

[sehandiph]

Does anyone know if there likely to be any other dress up nights besides pirate night?pirate:

Sharon

[Winstanik]

Does anyone know if there likely to be any other dress up nights besides pirate night?pirate:

Sharon

From what I read on other Transatlantic cruises threads from previous trips, on the prince and princess night, women are wearing their tiara ! I will bring mine from my wedding. (It doesn't take much room in the luggage !)Also, this weekend, my DH and I got our pirates costume. pirate: It was the highlight of the weekend, beside celebrating Thanksgiving with our family of course !

[owensamo]

Since there are 2 formal and 1 semi-formal nights, we'll plan to dress for them. I'm just hoping I can pack for it without needing a garment bag!

[heatherb819]

The simple black dress is my plan for both of those formal nights and possibly the semi-formal night, a simple change in the jewelry and bibbi bobbi boo:wizard:we have a new outfit. I do this on every cruise we've gone on, it resolves the problem of only having to have that one pair of black shoes too.

[MegaMouseHouse]

Fantastic!!! :cool1: One more reason to be so excited!! Now I just need to get to working on some fab FE gifts and a great new FE!

Anik speaking of pirate night Guess what day POC#4 comes outpirate:pirate:pirate:pirate: Friday (a sea day) May 20 2011.. so we get a premEAR on board and get to see it only for the cost of a cruise....:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

Karl

[MegaMouseHouse]

So I was thinking with 6 sea days I will get some relaxation and reading done. (Not to mention that transatlantic flight) This got me thinking that taking too many books will be heavy and take up too much space, space I need for souviners. I am now on a mission to see if my hubby will take my clues and get me a Nook (eReader) for my birthday or Christmas so I can download a bunch of books for my trip! :rotfl:

Anyone else putting out sneaky suggestions for gifts that will make the trip even more fun! :idea:

Also someone once mentioned that gift cards work like cash on the ship so I decided to ask for Disney gift cards for both the Bday and Christmas from my family so I can build up my shipboard credit. :santa:

[heatherb819]

I ALWAYS think I'm going to get to relax and read while onboard and what happens...I sit in a chair on deck with my book and either end up in the pool with DD or...next thing you know I'm waking up an hour later. But the TA flight may require a good book, I'm not looking forward to that. I'd rather cruise back.

[platinumcruzer]

I just secured our flights from BCN to LAX via Dusseldorf for $1400 for family of four, thats a really good price and I jumped on it as I dont think I will find cheaper, real short layover and great take off/landing times also. Now I just have to get LAX to MCO and a hotel at the port aand a hotel in Barcelona....
Are you flying Air Berlin by chance?

[seawyse]

Having just come off the westbound transatlantic we are booked on this cruise and are flying out a week early so we can do a 4 day cruise on Disney Dream.

Hope the weather is better than our 2010 transatlantic eastbound on Independence of the Seas to Southampton

Chris & Yvonne
Disneyholics

[heatherb819]

Having just come off the westbound transatlantic we are booked on this cruise and are flying out a week early so we can do a 4 day cruise on Disney Dream.

Hope the weather is better than our 2010 transatlantic eastbound on Independence of the Seas to Southampton

Chris & Yvonne
Disneyholics

So you are only cruising one week of this cruise????:confused3 Are you just coming along for the sea days?

Glad to have you aboard!

Well, I'm signing out for a week or so...we leave tomorrow night to travel to Mobile, AL for our Carnival Cruise (yes, we're cheating on the mouse):rotfl2:
Pray for good weather, it's been kinda bad down in the gulf for the past two weeks but I hope it's all passed by the time we get there. Paula has been hanging over dropping some rain on them, I hope she's finished! We want warm and SUNNY! A few last minute shopping trips and :laundy: and we're ready to head south!

[gerryspeirs]

Are you flying Air Berlin by chance?

Yes we are.

[edwardsail]

Does any body know the formal night dates for this 2011 EBTA? Sorry if this has already been post somewhere. Thank you!

[owensjro]

Does any body know the formal night dates for this 2011 EBTA? Sorry if this has already been post somewhere. Thank you!

Not sure...I didn't put those in the first post. You might be able to find that out looking at the navigators from this year. There's a link to them in the first post.

Jim

[sehandiph]

So I was thinking with 6 sea days I will get some relaxation and reading done. (Not to mention that transatlantic flight) This got me thinking that taking too many books will be heavy and take up too much space, space I need for souviners. I am now on a mission to see if my hubby will take my clues and get me a Nook (eReader) for my birthday or Christmas so I can download a bunch of books for my trip! :rotfl:


maybe we can have a book swap whilst at sea.

we have a really small luggage allowance on our plane from Barcelona to England - so maybe an ereader may be a good idea - or else I may download some talking ones to my ipod then I don't even have to have my eyes open and hold a heavy book.

Sharon

[MegaMouseHouse]

Thursday I got off the Wonder, it was a fantastic 4 day sailing. Now I am busy getting ready for our trip that is now in just 6 months! Woo Hoo!! Today I picked up fish extender gifts.

On another note, my hubby came through with a Nook for my birthday. I was able to take it on the last trip and having the ereader on the plane and ship was fantastic. I recommend it to any of you that do a lot of reading. I hear you can even purchase refurbished ones for less.

Well now to get the FE made for this special sailing and figure out the rest of my FE gifts. Can't wait to see you all at the meet on board. Let the countdown begin . . .


maybe we can have a book swap whilst at sea.

we have a really small luggage allowance on our plane from Barcelona to England - so maybe an ereader may be a good idea - or else I may download some talking ones to my ipod then I don't even have to have my eyes open and hold a heavy book.

Sharon

[Winstanik]

maybe we can have a book swap whilst at sea.

we have a really small luggage allowance on our plane from Barcelona to England - so maybe an ereader may be a good idea - or else I may download some talking ones to my ipod then I don't even have to have my eyes open and hold a heavy book.

Sharon

I will download a few books also to my ipod. It doesn't take no room at all and I love that I can close my eyes and listen to it or when I am at work, I usually go for a walk on my lunch hour and kill two bird with one stone !! :cool2:

[heatherb819]

I wanted to wish all of my fellow cruises a Happy Thanksgiving and a Happy and Safe Black Friday :santa:

[sehandiph]

To all those celebrating today - have a very happy Thanksgiving - Enjoy party:

[brannose]

Wifey and I did the EBTA back to back with the Med cruise this year and we are thinking of doing the EBTA again next year. This year, the EBTA was priced as low as $699 for the guarented rate (it was $999 when we booked). The ship had around 1600 guests for our crossing, so it was obviously no where near capacity. I'm sure that the many vacancies were the reason they cut the price in early 2010.

I doubt that we can do as well with our airfares as we did last year, so that will be an issue also.

[twokings]

Absolutely need to get focused for this trip. Cruise is paid for but still need to book flights, plus I need to focus on post vacation details. My daughter and I are planning a 1 week road trip when we get off the ship in Barcelona. We plan to stay in the French Riviera for 3 days, then the Italian Riviera for 3 days, followed by a stop to see the leaning tower of Pisa and then home. If anybody has hotel recommendations or must see locations I would love your feedback. Plus I still need to plan my flights home. Way to much to plan.

[twokings]

So looking quickly at flight prices last night from Pisa Italy area, I found it was cheaper to book a round trip flight from Florence to Boston, rather than a one way flight to Boston.

Does anybody know if there are any issues it I never complete the last leg of my flight?

[owensjro]

So looking quickly at flight prices last night from Pisa Italy area, I found it was cheaper to book a round trip flight from Florence to Boston, rather than a one way flight to Boston.

Does anybody know if there are any issues it I never complete the last leg of my flight?

I can't imagine there would be a problem with it. You may want to call and cancel the last leg just so they have the tickets freed up.

We ended up getting an American Airlines credit card and with the initial free points and the points we've earned since then we are using those to book two of our three tickets and only paying for one.

We also found coming back from London was a lot cheaper than coming back from Barcelona so...road trip to London :) Of course we keep adding days to our trip and making it more expensive so it was probably cheaper to fly back from Barcelona after all :)

still surprised this thread is so slow. Where is everyone?? Must be the holidays. Or there is just no one going on this cruise so it will be empty :)

Jim

[heatherb819]

I hope after the New Year the thread starts to pick up as the holidays will be past us and we can all build up the anxiety for this trip!

[owensjro]

I hope after the New Year the thread starts to pick up as the holidays will be past us and we can all build up the anxiety for this trip!

And the online check-in will be getting close. :) January 29th, woohoo!

I'm hoping Santa is bringing us lots of great packing/trip things so we can kick off the last few months till the trip!

Jim

[Winstanik]

I hope after the New Year the thread starts to pick up as the holidays will be past us and we can all build up the anxiety for this trip!

I'm with you on this ! With the holidays coming quickly, I don't have time to dream about the cruise ! But I am getting so anxious for May to come around ! :cool1:

Especially since we got a snow storm on Monday (about 25 centimetres)... :sad2: And we are expecting another 20 to 30 centimetres next Sunday. :crazy2: So it will be a white Christmas for us !

[sehandiph]

Getting excited about the cruise now (not that I wasn't before !)

too many options - I have picked up a few travel guides for the places we stop at (from charity shops) and now looking through them as to what we should do when we are in port. Great bedtime reading. :)

I have looked at the documentation that I have received from DCL and it doesn't seem to mention which dining option we are on. Also looked round the website and can't find it either. Is there a way of checking without me having to ring the US?

Sharon

[owensjro]

I have looked at the documentation that I have received from DCL and it doesn't seem to mention which dining option we are on. Also looked round the website and can't find it either. Is there a way of checking without me having to ring the US?

Sharon

I thought they used to have it on their online check in but last cruise I never managed to find it. This time we used Dreams Unlimited and they have it listed on their cruise info page.

Instead of calling you could maybe try email?

Jim

[slcmom]

Hi everybody
I'm still here - just lurking instead of posting. I go to sleep everynight thinking about the trip! Crazy, huh?

In the meantime, I costume, market, and schedule for my brother who does Santa gigs. So it's a busy time around here, not to mention (theoretically) getting this household ready for Christmas! Still no tree; but my ds's are done with finals, so maybe tomorrow they'll haul it in from the garage for me!
Ann

[KevieKev05]

It's December 14th, which means we are just 5 months away! Yay!

[kcashner]

It's time for me to check in and introduce myself. Hi, I'm Kathryn, and I'm a DCL addict. This will be 20+ sailings on the Magic for me starting with the maiden voyage. I've only been on the Wonder for 7 nights total on a B2B sailing. I don't like short cruises!

I did both crossings in 2010, but my darling daughter was in college. In 2011 the dates fit with her schedule, so we will be sailing together and doing a B2B with the first Med sailing. I've noticed a few people I recognize from 2010 crossings are posting here--nice to see you again!

A couple of you have AMAZING air fares. We're on Disney air (much as I hate it), and I haven't been able to find anything even close in fare for us. Oh well.....

One activity I didn't see on the list that we did on both TAs in 2010 was a book exchange. We did it 2 different ways--one was to meet in the Promenade Lounge on sea days...if you had a book you were finished with you put it on the table, if you saw one you wanted you took it. On the way home, one Dis-er had a canvas bag outside her cabin; same deal--drop in a book and take whatever you wanted. It was probably easier to do the canvas bag method; that way we could swap books any time we wished. In each case at the end of the cruise we donated the books to the crew library. I was there when we gave them to a high ranking CM on the April sailing so I know those did get to the crew.

The ship has a bookshelf in the Cove Cafe where you can check out books; it does tend to be busy on the longer sailings also.

Others have posted info from the 2010 crossings...I'm happy to answer any questions I can.

[sehandiph]

Hi Kathryn,

sounds like you are an experienced trans Atlantic sailor :)

there has been a small discussion on taking books or just ereaders/ talking books - but this sounds good.

I always pack some books to go on holiday and we have a larger weight allowance on our flight to Florida than our flight home from Barcelona (by quite a bit) so swapping books at sea and then donating them to the Crew library sounds great to me.

also on our previous cruise I never had time to find a bookshelf - let alone read a book - mind you it wasn't a 14 day cruise :rotfl:

Sharon

[owensamo]

Jim and I both have nooks, and we're considering a third e-reader so we can load one up for Hannah - since she can go through a shelf of books in a week! :rotfl: We're flying ezJet to London, so weight restrictions are tight but we could certainly bring some books down to Orlando for the cruise portion!

I don't know if we'll have adult books to swap, but would anyone be interested in a kids book swap? I'm not sure who we could donate them to at the end - do the kids clubs have a library at all? :confused3

[sehandiph]

Instead of calling you could maybe try email?

Jim

thanks - found a contact us form today and emailed them - now why didn't I think of that earlier? :)
Sharon

[kcashner]

I don't know if we'll have adult books to swap, but would anyone be interested in a kids book swap? I'm not sure who we could donate them to at the end - do the kids clubs have a library at all? :confused3

Early on, there was a nice library (where Ocean Quest is now) with kids books, games, and adult books. Sorry, I don't know if there are any kid books available now. However, there have been instances where officers brought young children (pre-schoolers) on board for long periods.

Another thought--I wonder if DCL could facilitate a donation of kid books to either the children's hospital or a local school (yes, I know it's a Spanish speaking country and most of the books would be in English, but that could be an advantage to them in their language studies). I do know that on the 2010 TA we completed a piece of art which was donated to the local children's hospital....so the connection is already there.

[KrisannB]

hello everyone - we are considering taking this cruise :)

We sailed both the 2010 EBTA and 2010 WBTA and was just looking for the heck of it and the prices are almost too good to pass up. If we come we will have 2 cabins and bring my MIL along with us. I will possibly book this on our upcoming cruise to get OBC stuff.

I wanted to know when the FE cut off date is though as I do not want to miss it.

Thanks!

Krisann

[TheCheshireCat]

My Fiance and I will be on this cruise as our Honeymoon. We got engaged on our first disney cruise last May on the Wonder. We will most likely be doing a FE and we are in 6049.

We booked our flight the other day for May 29th back to Canada, it was the best deal to wait the extra day. We're now searching for a hotel to stay at for the extra day, any suggestions?

[owensjro]

hello everyone - we are considering taking this cruise :)

We sailed both the 2010 EBTA and 2010 WBTA and was just looking for the heck of it and the prices are almost too good to pass up. If we come we will have 2 cabins and bring my MIL along with us. I will possibly book this on our upcoming cruise to get OBC stuff.

I wanted to know when the FE cut off date is though as I do not want to miss it.

Thanks!

Krisann


Well, welcome to the cruise....almost. ;)

Not sure we have set a cutoff for the FE yet. I imagine it would be in April? Give everyone a month to prepare or something like that.

Jim

[owensjro]

My Fiance and I will be on this cruise as our Honeymoon. We got engaged on our first disney cruise last May on the Wonder. We will most likely be doing a FE and we are in 6049.

We booked our flight the other day for May 29th back to Canada, it was the best deal to wait the extra day. We're now searching for a hotel to stay at for the extra day, any suggestions?

Welcome and congrats!

I know there have been some threads on the main forum about hotels in Barcelona. I didn't really pay attention to them since we aren't staying overnight there but are instead heading up to London. You may want to do a quick search and see if the thread pops up.

Jim

[kcashner]

Hotels in Barcelona:

First, DO NOT book them thru DCL. While US hotels give Disney a discount, the European hotels seem to charge Disney their normal rate and then DCL adds their surcharge. In all cases, you could book the hotel cheaper on your own than thru Disney just by going to the hotel's website.

Point 2--the taxi rates in Barcelona are quite confusing. There is a base rate. Then there is a Saturday/Sunday surcharge. And a surcharge for travel to either the cruise port or the airport. We were quite surprised to find that what we were told would be "about 7 Euros" for a ride came to 25 Euros and would have been higher if I had not INSISTED that the driver let us out "right here" at the airport. There was a huge traffic jam, and the driver wanted to sit in it while the meter rolled. Since I'd been there before, I KNEW which side of the airport I wanted, and it was where we already were.

OK, I got our hotels on Priceline in the airport area. One time we were at the Tryp and the other at the Hesperia Tower. Both were VERY nice. Both advertise a free shuttle to/from the airport, however the shuttle from the Hesperia doesn't start till 7 am so if you have an early flight you'll be using an overpriced cab. Also, there is NOTHING near the Hesperia except a metro station; I mean nothing. No restaurants, etc. except in the hotel. The Tryp was far easier--it is right on 3 bus lines and 2 metro lines. The Tryp was a 4*, the Hesperia was a 5* I paid $75 (USD) each time. However, I later found another site where I could have paid $79 at the Hesperia and had a breakfast for 2 included.

Other alternatives--La Rambla area. There are lots of hotels here; you will need to take a taxi to the airport. This is the area where you will have easy access to all the things to see and do in Barcelona. The hotels nearest to the port are VERY nice also, but very costly.

I never found any public transportation from La Rambla or port area to the airport. Either the hotels provided something or you were at the mercy of the cabs. However, except for getting to the ship terminal or the airport, the public transportation system is very good and very easy.

Another point--most hotel rooms are for 2 people ONLY. No "kids free" as in the US. In fact, in most cases you'll have to either get a "family suite" or an additional room if you have more than 2 people. Some of the very upscale places will allow a roll away bed for a child.

[sehandiph]

hello and welcome to the cruise and congratulations TheCheshireCat.

love you user name - we live in Cheshire and have two Cheshire cats :ccat: :ccat: - I also first got together with my husband at a pub / nightclub called the CheshireCat :ccat: :yay:

Hi KrisannB,

hope you also decide to join us

we are soooo excited - the trip is getting so close. :)

Sharon & Ian

[TheCheshireCat]

Hotels in Barcelona:

First, DO NOT book them thru DCL. While US hotels give Disney a discount, the European hotels seem to charge Disney their normal rate and then DCL adds their surcharge. In all cases, you could book the hotel cheaper on your own than thru Disney just by going to the hotel's website.

Point 2--the taxi rates in Barcelona are quite confusing. There is a base rate. Then there is a Saturday/Sunday surcharge. And a surcharge for travel to either the cruise port or the airport. We were quite surprised to find that what we were told would be "about 7 Euros" for a ride came to 25 Euros and would have been higher if I had not INSISTED that the driver let us out "right here" at the airport. There was a huge traffic jam, and the driver wanted to sit in it while the meter rolled. Since I'd been there before, I KNEW which side of the airport I wanted, and it was where we already were.

OK, I got our hotels on Priceline in the airport area. One time we were at the Tryp and the other at the Hesperia Tower. Both were VERY nice. Both advertise a free shuttle to/from the airport, however the shuttle from the Hesperia doesn't start till 7 am so if you have an early flight you'll be using an overpriced cab. Also, there is NOTHING near the Hesperia except a metro station; I mean nothing. No restaurants, etc. except in the hotel. The Tryp was far easier--it is right on 3 bus lines and 2 metro lines. The Tryp was a 4*, the Hesperia was a 5* I paid $75 (USD) each time. However, I later found another site where I could have paid $79 at the Hesperia and had a breakfast for 2 included.

Other alternatives--La Rambla area. There are lots of hotels here; you will need to take a taxi to the airport. This is the area where you will have easy access to all the things to see and do in Barcelona. The hotels nearest to the port are VERY nice also, but very costly.

I never found any public transportation from La Rambla or port area to the airport. Either the hotels provided something or you were at the mercy of the cabs. However, except for getting to the ship terminal or the airport, the public transportation system is very good and very easy.

Another point--most hotel rooms are for 2 people ONLY. No "kids free" as in the US. In fact, in most cases you'll have to either get a "family suite" or an additional room if you have more than 2 people. Some of the very upscale places will allow a roll away bed for a child.

Thanks so much for the great info, I looked up the Tryp and found some ok prices, nothing as cheap as $75, but still workable. I would like to have the peace of mind knowing I have transportation to the airport. We are saving hundreds on our flight back by waiting the extra day that we are fine paying a bit more for a hotel.

Hello sehandiph, I'm seems like my name would be more fitting for you. I was thinking of my sneaky kitty while choosing my name.

We're really looking forward to getting away for the cruise and everything is coming up so fast. I've been so busy doing wedding planning that I haven't had a chance to really get into doing much trip planning yet.

I was looking at the different excursions, we haven't made any choices yet. Have anyone picked anything yet or any suggestions?

[kcashner]

Thanks so much for the great info, I looked up the Tryp and found some ok prices, nothing as cheap as $75, but still workable. I would like to have the peace of mind knowing I have transportation to the airport. We are saving hundreds on our flight back by waiting the extra day that we are fine paying a bit more for a hotel.

?

The way I got the $75 was to book thru Priceline. I selected the Barcelona airport area and 4* level. I don't remember what I used as a starting bid, but was successful at something that ended up being $75 when any fees were added. It is a decent hotel with an OK restaurant in the hotel. I just needed a place to crash and recover from my jet lag when I flew in a day early, but found the transportation options to be great.

[TheCheshireCat]

The way I got the $75 was to book thru Priceline. I selected the Barcelona airport area and 4* level. I don't remember what I used as a starting bid, but was successful at something that ended up being $75 when any fees were added. It is a decent hotel with an OK restaurant in the hotel. I just needed a place to crash and recover from my jet lag when I flew in a day early, but found the transportation options to be great.

Oh I looked at priceline again, I've never used it before, didn't notice the spot to bid. I don't know if I would be comfortable doing the bid thing and not knowing what I would end up with. Will probably pay the bit more to know what I am getting.

[kcashner]

No problem...I was a little nervous using it for international stuff, but I'd done it for years on US hotels. It did work just fine for the international as well. Good luck with your selection.

[twokings]

I can't imagine there would be a problem with it. You may want to call and cancel the last leg just so they have the tickets freed up.

We ended up getting an American Airlines credit card and with the initial free points and the points we've earned since then we are using those to book two of our three tickets and only paying for one.

We also found coming back from London was a lot cheaper than coming back from Barcelona so...road trip to London :) Of course we keep adding days to our trip and making it more expensive so it was probably cheaper to fly back from Barcelona after all :)

still surprised this thread is so slow. Where is everyone?? Must be the holidays. Or there is just no one going on this cruise so it will be empty :)

Jim

I did the same thing. I didn't realize I was only short 12,000 miles to get two tickets. For roughly $400 I manage to get my daughter's and my flight home. We used our Southwest points for the flight down.

Trip plans changed due to not being able to use miles to fly out of Italy. We are flying out of Madrid on June 5. Trip plans still need to be determine.

[yorkshire disney fan]

We are looking forward to celebrating our Silver Wedding Anniversary on board the Disney Magic :love:

[kcashner]

Unless something totally Magical comes up next week, I'd doing Disney air (groan). I wish they'd let me book just one way, but they won't (I checked). I can get myself to Orlando cheaper and better than they will. Hate that 6 am flight they always use. However, the one way or multi-city tickets have been more than double what the DCL air is costing.

[Winstanik]

Merry Christmas everyone :santa: ! My daughter had us up at 5:25 to see if Santa had been by yet. He had been by ! I got a Sony reader !! Woo Hoo ! :woohoo: I am all ready for the cruise now, but it seems so far away...

[platinumcruzer]

Merry Christmas to everyone...Hope it is a magical day full of surprise and delight!

[twokings]

Now that Christmas is over, I plan to really start focusing on this cruise. It is just a little over 5 months away!

[owensjro]

Now that Christmas is over, I plan to really start focusing on this cruise. It is just a little over 5 months away!

That makes it sound too far away. :) The next milestone we should use if the online check-in date!

Jim

[heatherb819]

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas :santa: Now time to ring in the New Year and then we can officially say we are going on a cruise "this" year instead of next year! Doesn't that sound wonderful!

We are also using Disney Air, we have yet to find anything cheaper :confused3

Happy and safe New Year to everyone! party:

[twokings]

That makes it sound too far away. :) The next milestone we should use if the online check-in date!

Jim

Not when ya need to plan 7 days in Spain. I really need to decide where I am going.

[platinumcruzer]

It's time for me to check in and introduce myself. Hi, I'm Kathryn, and I'm a DCL addict. This will be 20+ sailings on the Magic for me starting with the maiden voyage. I've only been on the Wonder for 7 nights total on a B2B sailing. I don't like short cruises!

I did both crossings in 2010, but my darling daughter was in college. In 2011 the dates fit with her schedule, so we will be sailing together and doing a B2B with the first Med sailing. I've noticed a few people I recognize from 2010 crossings are posting here--nice to see you again!

A couple of you have AMAZING air fares. We're on Disney air (much as I hate it), and I haven't been able to find anything even close in fare for us. Oh well.....

One activity I didn't see on the list that we did on both TAs in 2010 was a book exchange. We did it 2 different ways--one was to meet in the Promenade Lounge on sea days...if you had a book you were finished with you put it on the table, if you saw one you wanted you took it. On the way home, one Dis-er had a canvas bag outside her cabin; same deal--drop in a book and take whatever you wanted. It was probably easier to do the canvas bag method; that way we could swap books any time we wished. In each case at the end of the cruise we donated the books to the crew library. I was there when we gave them to a high ranking CM on the April sailing so I know those did get to the crew.

The ship has a bookshelf in the Cove Cafe where you can check out books; it does tend to be busy on the longer sailings also.

Others have posted info from the 2010 crossings...I'm happy to answer any questions I can.
Kathryn,
Just realized we will be cruising on the inaugural as well as this cruise...looking forward to meeting you in 4 weeks.
Cindy

[twokings]

I wish this group had more activity!. Anybody else out there spending a week in Spain? I would love to know what towns/cities your plan to visit and the mode of transportation you have chosen.

[owensjro]

I wish this group had more activity!. Anybody else out there spending a week in Spain? I would love to know what towns/cities your plan to visit and the mode of transportation you have chosen.

It is one of the quieter threads I've seen for the cruises we've been on. :) Not sure what happened!

We're spending the following week in England so can't help you there.

My parents have decided to come on the cruise as well. My dad just retired and wants to spend his last bonus on the trip. My mom has never really been out of the country (Canada doesn't count since we grew up a few minutes from the border) beyond the one Eastern Caribbean trip we took them on last year. It should be interesting! :)

Has anyone started checking out excursions?

We sat down with my folks yesterday and went through everything currently offered. Didn't find much in Madeira or Cadiz that we felt we could do on our own. We're hoping to do the dolphin cruise and the walking tour in Gibraltar. And we have no idea what to do in Barcelona.

Jim

[twokings]

It is one of the quieter threads I've seen for the cruises we've been on. :) Not sure what happened!

We're spending the following week in England so can't help you there.

My parents have decided to come on the cruise as well. My dad just retired and wants to spend his last bonus on the trip. My mom has never really been out of the country (Canada doesn't count since we grew up a few minutes from the border) beyond the one Eastern Caribbean trip we took them on last year. It should be interesting! :)

Has anyone started checking out excursions?

We sat down with my folks yesterday and went through everything currently offered. Didn't find much in Madeira or Cadiz that we felt we could do on our own. We're hoping to do the dolphin cruise and the walking tour in Gibraltar. And we have no idea what to do in Barcelona.

Jim

Cadiz, I plan to do the Seville on our own bus trip. Everywhere else we plan to go on our own. In Barcelona, we will be there at least 2 days. , I plan to do the following:

Picasso Museum
Rambalas - This is like the Champ Elysees of Barcelona.
Sagrada Familia Cathedral - Antoni Gaudi Catherdral.
Casa Milo - Also Antoni Gaudi
and possibly the Daili Museum in Figueres, Spain which is about a 2 hour train ride each way. I probably will do this on May 27 since I can just get off the ship and head straight to the train station. While on Saturday I will need to worry about getting off the ship and then getting settled into a hotel room.

[heatherb819]

I agree, quite board, the quitest I've been on! :rolleyes1 We were looking at the excursions as well this weekend, not quite sure yet on what to do. Having never been there before we are a little lost and feel the need to stick with Disney. I've been lurking on the WBTA board and was noticing they had set up a few private tours for their DISers that sounded interesting. A few of our past Dis cruisers were on that cruise so I've contacted them to find out how they enjoyed those excursions.

[Happy Wanderers]

Hello all

We hope that everyone enjoyed the holidays and wish you all a happy new year.

We have been quiet on this thread because we are now:) recovering from our torrid time subsequent to our return from our recent vacation on The Brilliance of The Seas. Prior to joining the cruise we were to learn on arriving at LHR from GLA that our onward flight to Barcelona had been cancelled; much later and after a wait in a loooooong line we learned that there would be no flights out of LHR that day and would we like to be re scheduled on a flight for the next day? We were from that time to arrival back home a captive audience for one "adventure" after the other.

If you would like to know the whole "nine yards" of our yarn then holler but suffice to say we have learned something of our ability to:

Be resilient - example threat of no change of clothes for a 12 day cruise and additional to our intended stays in Barcelona of four days, three days etc.

Be resourceful - see above

Be brave - according to reports we experienced a serious incident at sea

Learn to cope with the aftermath - the physical stress and strain on an old worn out torso etc. (well somewhat worn out anyhow LOL), and emotional stresses that anyone might encounter during such events.

We are both hoping that our forthcoming adventure on this cruise will not be as testing. We are both looking forward to some lively chat from you all pre cruise.

Best wishes David and Adele :)

[kcashner]

Kathryn,
Just realized we will be cruising on the inaugural as well as this cruise...looking forward to meeting you in 4 weeks.
Cindy

Cindy, I was on the MV of the Magic, not sailing on the Dream. In fact, we have not booked the Dream at all as we like longer cruises;we are booked on the Fantasy.

OK....today was the day that I had to have final payment for this cruise to my TA (they ask for it early so there's no last minute problem). 10 days till we can start making reservations!

I'm not spending any time in Spain on this trip as we did that last year...and this time we are doing B2B with the first Med cruise. 25 days of bliss!

On the one hand, it is coming closer; on the other, DD has a whole semester of classes before we sail. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

[twokings]

Cindy, I was on the MV of the Magic, not sailing on the Dream. In fact, we have not booked the Dream at all as we like longer cruises;we are booked on the Fantasy.

OK....today was the day that I had to have final payment for this cruise to my TA (they ask for it early so there's no last minute problem). 10 days till we can start making reservations!

I'm not spending any time in Spain on this trip as we did that last year...and this time we are doing B2B with the first Med cruise. 25 days of bliss!

On the one hand, it is coming closer; on the other, DD has a whole semester of classes before we sail. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

What did you do in Spain during your last visit. More interested in town/cities and method of transportation you chose.

[heatherb819]

Madeira seems to be the toughest to find a tour, especially with a kid. :confused3 Alot of the tours are for older kids. I don't want to go whale watching as we will have been on a boat for the past six days, any suggestions? The Culture & History tour sounds wonderful, but $155 per adult is a little steep :scared1: Has anyone tried to experience Madeira on their own, is it safe?

[platinumcruzer]

Cindy, I was on the MV of the Magic, not sailing on the Dream. In fact, we have not booked the Dream at all as we like longer cruises;we are booked on the Fantasy.

OK....today was the day that I had to have final payment for this cruise to my TA (they ask for it early so there's no last minute problem). 10 days till we can start making reservations!

I'm not spending any time in Spain on this trip as we did that last year...and this time we are doing B2B with the first Med cruise. 25 days of bliss!

On the one hand, it is coming closer; on the other, DD has a whole semester of classes before we sail. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Kathryn,
Sorry, I must have been reading another post and got confused. My daughter and I normally do the longer cruises as well and have been planning on doing a TA for the past two years but unfortunately life happens, however,this one is written in stone. We have not decided whether we are flying straight home or not.

Only 10 days before the activity window opens up....were there any excursions that you'd recommend or did you venture on your own?

Cindy

[platinumcruzer]

I wish this group had more activity!. Anybody else out there spending a week in Spain? I would love to know what towns/cities your plan to visit and the mode of transportation you have chosen.

I wish I was able to extend the vacation out for another week, but 17 days in a row off of work was the maximum.

[heatherb819]

David and Adele, sorry to hear about your not so pleasant recent vacation, we'll have to make this EBTA even better to make up for it!

Is anyone interested in planning a pajama breakfast while at sea? I noticed a few of the other TA cruises have done this and it sounds like it could be fun. I've been lurking the others' boards to get a few ideas to get a few activities going. The WBTA group had alot going on (also had someone who is a much better organizer than I):rotfl2:

Any suggestions? We can add it to our handy spreadsheet Jim and Amanda prepared for us.

[TheCheshireCat]

My fiance and I are really excited about the cruise, we are having a hard time picking excursions since we don't know how our funds will look after our wedding. I was hoping to book something not too expensive at each port and do something on our own too. Does anyone know if you are able to cancel excursions once booked and if there is a cost or cut off date?

In Barcelona we are staying only one extra day. (We too have limited time off). I was looking at a private tour that we could book that would pick us up from the ship with luggage bring us on a tour then drop us off at our hotel. This is through Hola Barcelona tours, does anyone have any experience with them?

My fiance and I do something called geocaching, are there any other geocachers on the cruise? (If you are curious what it is: http://www.geocaching.com/)

We're open to any fun activities that our group would like to plan like the pajama breakfast.

We are going to be booking Palo's at least once on the cruise, does anyone recommend a good day to go, or have any idea what a typical dinner rotation will be like?

[DH2DW&DS]

My fiance and I do something called geocaching, are there any other geocachers on the cruise? (If you are curious what it is: http://www.geocaching.com/)


Me, the DW and DS do geocaching as well. Make sure you find the one on Castaway Cay. It is our goal to find one in each country we visit. We were successful last year on the Magic while in the Baltic.

Our name on Geocaching is SBJA - what's yours?

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

See you on the cruise.

[MandyGirl]

I've been lurking the others' boards to get a few ideas to get a few activities going.

:rotfl: Back atcha! Seems both cruises are researching the same unique ports of call!

Check with Noel on our thread for Madeira. Apparently last year she had an awesome tour put together that went really well, and many are doing the same exact tour again. Details would be on our first page of WBTA 2011 roll call thread.

[heatherb819]

I will check that out, thanks for the info!

[TammyAlphabet]

Can anyone tell me the final payment date for an inside cabin on the cruise?

[TheCheshireCat]

Me, the DW and DS do geocaching as well. Make sure you find the one on Castaway Cay. It is our goal to find one in each country we visit. We were successful last year on the Magic while in the Baltic.

Our name on Geocaching is SBJA - what's yours?

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

See you on the cruise.

Hello, our name on the geocaching site is emptybook. I was really looking forward to finding some geocaches on our last cruise but lost our gps just before we sailed. Would you want to me up and search for a couple together at port?

[Can't wait to cruise]

We did the EBTA in May 2007 and had a fantastic time. Flew to Italy for a week afterwards but don't have that third week off work this time. Going to overnight in London on the way home Saturday after getting off the ship and hopefully be able to go visit Big Ben, etc that evening.

Haven't been to Madeira but see the cable car ride and basket ride back down as something that look interesting. In Cadez, we bought the all day double decker bus passes and did the tour of town. The tour bus provides earbuds and their audio system allows you to select a variety of languages to listen to the narration of what you're driving by. I took one of the earbuds and held it up to the mike on my vidio camera so we could get the narration on the video. Was much nicer for our friends watching our videos later to know what they were seeing too.

In Gibralter, we didn't book the "rock" tour on the ship at the advise of a friend that has been there before. Once you get off the ship, the tour vans at the dock will take you on the same tour for about half the price. Just need to make sure they don't limit your time once you get in the tunnels. Spent the afternoon walking thru the downtown areas and did some shopping. Easy walk from downtown back to the ship and felt very safe (without letting our guard down) in the city. Gibralter was my farorite port call on the 07 trip and I'm really looking forward to spending a day there again. Great view to the south across the straits of seeing Africa.

In Barcelona, we'll do the usual stroll up Las Rambles and then to the cathedrals. We didn't do our homework last time and did more wandering. Bought a pocket size tour book at AAA on Barcelona this time and will have a plan for the day. Be sure to stop in the market going inland about 3/8 mile up Las Rambles on the left side. I'd love to have a produce and seafood/meat market like that here in Charlotte.

Other threads trash the idea of carrying walkie-talkies. We've always had success with ours for the four of us. If you don't want to depend on the new Wave radios the ship provides if you have more than two wanting to communicate, walkie talkies are still a good idea. Just make sure you have the sub-codes so you don't have to listen to your ship mates. We also bought one of the small waterproof card cases in the gift shop and stash our reserve supply of cash while in port. Just secure the string on a belt loop and tuck the case inside the waist band. Keep out just what you need for any small purchases.

Looking forward to start booking Palo's at month end. Enjoy the planning and we'll see you all on board.

West Carribean July 03
East Carribean Nov 03, Nov 04, Nov 05
EBTA May 07
EBTA May 11

[Winstanik]

Can anyone tell me the final payment date for an inside cabin on the cruise?

We have an inside cabin and our final payment is due next Friday, January 14th. I imagine that it's the same date for you.

But that means that we are getting closer to the cruise ! :thumbsup2

[owensamo]

I started trying to pull together the stuff I need to for the FEs and wanted to double-check everyone who's signed up. Here's the current list from the Roll Call spreadsheet:

Yes
kwork11 - 4 (2 adult, 2 child) - 1 stateroom
leftcoastlady & surf2di4 - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
owensjro, owensamo - 3 (2 aadult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
twokings - 2 (1adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
Platinumcruzer - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
MegaMouseHouse - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
heatherb819 - 3 (2 adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
slcmom - 17 (11 adult, 6 child) - 5 staterooms?
TheCheshireCat - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
Sharkbait - 5 (5 adult) - 2 staterooms?

Maybe:
kcashner - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
DW2DH&DS - 3 (2 adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom

Including the Maybes, that's a total of:

17(?) Staterooms
47 people - 35 Adults, 12 children

Is this info correct? I know some people do individual gifts and some do cabin gifts, so I wanted to start getting the information out there for people to start putting things together! :cool1:

Amanda

[twokings]

I started trying to pull together the stuff I need to for the FEs and wanted to double-check everyone who's signed up. Here's the current list from the Roll Call spreadsheet:

Yes
kwork11 - 4 (2 adult, 2 child) - 1 stateroom
leftcoastlady & surf2di4 - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
owensjro, owensamo - 3 (2 aadult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
twokings - 2 (1adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
Platinumcruzer - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
MegaMouseHouse - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
heatherb819 - 3 (2 adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
slcmom - 17 (11 adult, 6 child) - 5 staterooms?
TheCheshireCat - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
Sharkbait - 5 (5 adult) - 2 staterooms?

Maybe:
kcashner - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
DW2DH&DS - 3 (2 adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom

Including the Maybes, that's a total of:

17(?) Staterooms
47 people - 35 Adults, 12 children

Is this info correct? I know some people do individual gifts and some do cabin gifts, so I wanted to start getting the information out there for people to start putting things together! :cool1:

Amanda

TwoKings - FYI my child is 19. Make that two adults.

Just curious since I have never participated in FE before what kind of gifts to people usually give?

[twokings]

How many of you out there have done an Eastbound TA cruise before? What was it like? Can somebody point me to a good trip report to read?

[owensamo]

TwoKings - FYI my child is 19. Make that two adults.

Just curious since I have never participated in FE before what kind of gifts to people usually give?


Thanks!

For the FE gifts, we've gotten everything from stickers to CDs of music and recipes to christmas ornaments to small bottles of alcohol - pretty much anything goes! My favorites are hadmade items (recipe books, ornaments, bookmarks, etc.), things that originate from where people are from, or relate to the ports. Candy is popular, as well as anything related to Disney.

In the past we've done one gift per stateroom, with a little bit in it for everyone (some kid-related things, stuff for the adults, etc). This time since there are so few children so far, I'll probably do individual gifts for them.

[Happy Wanderers]

[QUOTE=heatherb819;39412378]David and Adele, sorry to hear about your not so pleasant recent vacation, we'll have to make this EBTA even better to make up for it!

Hi Heather
thanks for the kind words, we are sure the Disney experience will be great:cool1:

We are both looking forward to the beginning of May and the start of our holiday, with the EBTA a new and novel way for us to return home:thumbsup2

we are looking forward to more discussion on this thread and meeting all of you when we get on board

David and Adele

[heatherb819]

we have also done a FE before and gotten just a variety of items. Ranging from cups, coolie cups to book marks, disney related items or items related to the area you are from. Some people get really creative and some give out handy items you may have forgotten to bring.

[slcmom]

Yes, it's still a good time to wish folks a happy new year. I know this because I haven't quite finished getting all my Christmas cards out yet, therefore it must still be the Christmas season.:cool1:

Amanda (I love Charlotte, by the way!) we (slcmom and crew) will have 6 staterooms.

DH, DS and I did the 2010 EBTA. I haven't read any trip reports, so I can't recommend one. If you find a good one, let me know. That would be great to read. It was sure a great trip, though - obviously since we're going again!

We did the FE exchange on that cruise and loved it. We had 54 cabins (I think) which was overwhelming, but great fun. There was always something waiting for us in our FE. Like others have said, I enjoyed the homemade things most of all, especially an incredible photo album that one woman made. We got several cd's of Disney music that ds still listens to every day. I hope we get more action on this thread and more fe folks - I've started organizing things since I'll be the prime mover behind all 6 rooms' fe's. But I've been basing my plans on a much bigger number, because that's what we had last year. If not, I'll be set for fe gifts for the rest of my cruising life!

My guess is that once final payments are in, Disney may open it up like they did last year with an even more discounted price for GTY. If that happens, then I bet we'll get lots more action on this thread as new people sign up. If the number of people on this thread is representative of the number of people booked on the cruise, then they'll definitely need to get their numbers up with a new discount or something. Did that sound like I think 100% of passengers are affiliated with DIS? I don't, but there's probably a correlation, don't you think?

About excursions - I got the idea that lots of people just looked around on their own. There were groups from the thread that rented a van and driver together to see things.

We had a room tour which I liked a lot. People signed up who didn't mind opening up their stateroom. Someone organized it so that we had at least one room from every level but 1 & 2, and some sideways rooms and 2 handicap rooms. I found it fascinating to see the differences. (My personal opinion was that I didn't think the higher categories were worth the extra money, except for the verandas. Boy, the suite we saw was sweet, though.

We also had Secret Mickeys. Anyone that wanted to sign up was given the name, age, etc of someone else who signed up. The idea was to anonymously give them 3-4 gifts over the course of the cruise, with a total value of (I think) $20.

We had a lunch together the last sea day of the cruise and discovered who the secret Mickeys were, and also awarded prizes for best decorated door.

Krissann B brought a number of board games and they were often going in the Promenade Lounge for anyone interested.

Well, perhaps I'll go address Christmas cards now.....:laughing:
Ann

[runswithscissors]

We also had Secret Mickeys. Anyone that wanted to sign up was given the name, age, etc of someone else who signed up. The idea was to anonymously give them 3-4 gifts over the course of the cruise, with a total value of (I think) $20.


I like this idea. Much easier for me to do than the FEs (although I love the idea). I'm FT student/stay-at-home Mom and I don't want to commit to the FE gifts if I can't give it 100%. Having one person to buy a few gifts for is much less time consuming and I'd be up for this if anyone else is interested...

When is everyone thinking about flying into Orlando prior to the cruise (those of us who have booked/are booking airfare ourselves)? We'll be at Disney in July so no pre-cruise park-hopping for us but we've decided to fly down Friday evening and stay at the airport Hyatt overnight. We'll then take Disney transport to the port Saturday morning.

We've been planning this cruise for so long that I can't believe it's now only 4+ months away! Looking forward to meeting y'all!

Sarah

[heatherb819]

My guess is that once final payments are in, Disney may open it up like they did last year with an even more discounted price for GTY. If that happens, then I bet we'll get lots more action on this thread as new people sign up. If the number of people on this thread is representative of the number of people booked on the cruise, then they'll definitely need to get their numbers up with a new discount or something. Did that sound like I think 100% of passengers are affiliated with DIS? I don't, but there's probably a correlation, don't you think?




Oh I hope this is the case, I've been watching the price twice a day and how I'd love to see it drop!

As far as flying to Orlando, we are flying in the day of the cruise. We normally don't like to do this as it is rush rush rush but with this being a 14 dayer, DH can't take more time off. Our last Disney cruise we flew in the day before and stayed at the Hilton at the airport and really enjoyed it. DH and DD swam on the roof top pool, we shopped in the airport shops and had time to relax before the "big day" Their shuttle service was very organized and we were on the first shuttle to the port! (just to go sit at the port and wait anxiously) but heh it was our first Disney cruise. This time we know the routine and don't feel like we have to be the 1st ones on the boat to get every minute of enjoyment out of it, after all we have 14 days right!!!:banana::banana::banana:

[stsomewhere]

Hi everyone!

I made my reservation today! I just need to double check with my husband that he is really ok with me going by myself. I know he would love to go, but can't get time off of work. Plus, the kids can't miss that much school.

I am nervous and excited about going by myself. But, a fellow disser has assured me that I will have fun and meet lots of new friends.

I have sailed on the Wonder for a 3 night and Magic 7 night.
We met some wonderful people on our cruise meet in the past. Some I still keep in touch with.

We are booked on thw Wonder for August to Alaska.

Christi

[sharkbait]

How nice! Yes, we're sharkbait and we will be in two cabins. The girls will be with my mil. We're so excited... Husband thinks we're crazy... looking for tiara's for princess night...

I started trying to pull together the stuff I need to for the FEs and wanted to double-check everyone who's signed up. Here's the current list from the Roll Call spreadsheet:

Yes
kwork11 - 4 (2 adult, 2 child) - 1 stateroom
leftcoastlady & surf2di4 - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
owensjro, owensamo - 3 (2 aadult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
twokings - 2 (1adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
Platinumcruzer - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
MegaMouseHouse - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
heatherb819 - 3 (2 adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom
slcmom - 17 (11 adult, 6 child) - 5 staterooms?
TheCheshireCat - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
Sharkbait - 5 (5 adult) - 2 staterooms?

Maybe:
kcashner - 2 (2 adult) - 1 stateroom
DW2DH&DS - 3 (2 adult, 1 child) - 1 stateroom

Including the Maybes, that's a total of:

17(?) Staterooms
47 people - 35 Adults, 12 children

Is this info correct? I know some people do individual gifts and some do cabin gifts, so I wanted to start getting the information out there for people to start putting things together! :cool1:

Amanda

[heatherb819]

Welcome Aboard Christi! I'm sure you'll meet plenty of great people here and onboard. I have kept in contact with several of the Disers from our Oct 09 cruise. A bunch of them are actually taking a Mexican Riviera cruise this fall and wanted us to join them but we saw that we could go for 14 days for the price of 7, we had to choose this option.

[stsomewhere]

Thanks for the welcome! I may have a friend joining me. I spoke with her this evening and she was quite interested. My husband spoke to hers and convinced him that she should go ,too.

Either way I am excited.

[twokings]

[QUOTE=slcmom;39476228]

DH, DS and I did the 2010 EBTA. I haven't read any trip reports, so I can't recommend one. If you find a good one, let me know. That would be great to read. It was sure a great trip, though - obviously since we're going again!

What was the weather like and how were the seas?

[sbassgva]

Well, I paid the balance of the trip last night. So, with that, I am finally allowing myself to acknowledge that I might actually make this trip. I have been reading the boards for months, but refused to comment, for fear that we might change our mind. Now...with fingers crossed, it is a go!

I'm trying not to get too excited, but at the same time I can't wait for the planning to begin. This will be the second Disney cruise for my partner and I. We did a 10 night Mediterranean cruise in 2007 as our 1st ever cruise. It was amazing. We decided on this cruise in an attempt to force ourselves to relax a little bit.

Looking forward to meeting fellow DIS folks...and ready for this board to finally come alive. It's not far now!!

[owensamo]

Thanks for the updated details slcmom and Sharkbait! I count us at 18 cabins so far! That's the largest FE exchange I've been involved in - with probably the smallest number of kids! :rotfl: I think it'll be a lot of fun!

As for travel, we're flying into Orlando on Friday night, then renting a car to drive to a hotel near the port. We got a great rate at CI&S for the night. The current big debate is whether to bother going to the ABC store that night or just wing it on the ship! :confused: I'm starting to think the extra money may be worth the convenience of not having to carry stuff on. :confused3

Is it May yet? :rotfl2: I'm currently iced into my house, so I'm *sooooo* ready to be sailing across the ocean instead!

Amanda

[heatherb819]

We have 4 inches of snow on the ground so I'm ready for :beach: I can hear CC calling my name now! Looks like I need to start working on my FE gifts. We have quite a group! Is anyone interested in having T-shirts printed with our logo on them. There's a website where we can upload our logo and then each person can order as they please. Just an idea :idea:. We had shirts on our last dis cruise for day of boarding and then wore them one other time for a get together.

[heatherb819]

ok I added a page to our roll call spreadsheet called events, it has two events listed, one being breakfast in PJ's. We can pick the date come closer to the cruise but a sea day and meet up for breakfast at Luminers in our Pj's. I also added Champagne Girls, I was told about this by another Diser. She said that the ladies got together one afternoon an all dressed in pink with pink feather boa's and had champagne/wine. They did this after their stop in Madeira so they could all purchase a bottle of wine. If there's any interest please sign up. Any other ideas, please feel freet to add to the events page!

[owensamo]

Is anyone interested in having T-shirts printed with our logo on them. There's a website where we can upload our logo and then each person can order as they please. Just an idea :idea:. We had shirts on our last dis cruise for day of boarding and then wore them one other time for a get together.

Depending on the price, we could be in for shirts. What site did you use last time?

We usually get a DCL shirt on each cruise, but we have *sooo* many t-shirts we don't wear regularly anymore than I'm wondering if something like this wouldn't be a better use of my money! :rotfl: At least it's less generic than "DCL 2011"!

[Happy Wanderers]

Is anyone interested in having T-shirts printed with our logo on them. There's a website where we can upload our logo and then each person can order as they please.

good idea:cool1:, if they post to the UK we would be interested
David and Adele

[heatherb819]

They used cafepress.com, i'm guess the price will be $15-$20...I tried to upload our logo to it but it's too small, I think you have the original so if you want to try it out and see what it looks like feel free. If you know of another website you can try it out too.:surfweb:

Where has Karl & Robin been??? :rolleyes1 They were the ones who were experienced in all of this stuff.:rotfl2:

[sharkbait]

We're flying into Orlando Friday morning. Hoping to make it to Downtown Disney. Havent' booked one night stay yet, but hoping for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We'll see. I'll be booking that hopefully next month.

Can't wait! It seems so close and yet so far!

I will agree with you.... I have enough T shirts to cover all at CC when we arrive. I'm all T Shirted out.

As far as a small group of kids... it seems like these are the ones that can afford to miss alittle bit of school. We've only done one other European 12 day cruise 2008 with RCL and loved it. I'm sure we will have an equally great time!

Thanks for the updated details slcmom and Sharkbait! I count us at 18 cabins so far! That's the largest FE exchange I've been involved in - with probably the smallest number of kids! :rotfl: I think it'll be a lot of fun!

As for travel, we're flying into Orlando on Friday night, then renting a car to drive to a hotel near the port. We got a great rate at CI&S for the night. The current big debate is whether to bother going to the ABC store that night or just wing it on the ship! :confused: I'm starting to think the extra money may be worth the convenience of not having to carry stuff on. :confused3

Is it May yet? :rotfl2: I'm currently iced into my house, so I'm *sooooo* ready to be sailing across the ocean instead!

Amanda

[stsomewhere]

We have 4 inches of snow on the ground so I'm ready for :beach: I can hear CC calling my name now! Looks like I need to start working on my FE gifts. We have quite a group! Is anyone interested in having T-shirts printed with our logo on them. There's a website where we can upload our logo and then each person can order as they please. Just an idea :idea:. We had shirts on our last dis cruise for day of boarding and then wore them one other time for a get together.

It has started snowing here too. We are getting 4-6 inches. Yuck!

[runswithscissors]

Hi everyone! I made my reservation today!

Welcome, stsomewhere! I'm sure you're going to have a great time regardless of whether you're solo or if your friend decides to come along. Every mom deserves a little time away...



Well, I paid the balance of the trip last night. So, with that, I am finally allowing myself to acknowledge that I might actually make this trip. I have been reading the boards for months, but refused to comment, for fear that we might change our mind. Now...with fingers crossed, it is a go!

We decided on this cruise in an attempt to force ourselves to relax a little bit.

Welcome, sbassgva! This is our 2nd Disney Cruise as well...first Transatlantic. Like you, we're looking forward to some serious down-time.

We're flying into Orlando Friday morning. Hoping to make it to Downtown Disney. Havent' booked one night stay yet, but hoping for the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We'll see. I'll be booking that hopefully next month.

As far as a small group of kids... it seems like these are the ones that can afford to miss alittle bit of school.

Our son is in third grade and we figure this is probably our last chance to take him out of school for an extended period of time. Spoke to the headmistress at his school and all of his teachers today to give them a head's up and they agreed that his grades are proof that he'll be just fine to miss two weeks at the end of the year.

Hoping for a few more boys his age to join the group...

[stsomewhere]

I am getting very excited! Usually, we book our cruises pretty far in advance.

This was a spur of the moment cruise. I was looking at our cruise of August and ran across this cruise. It will be a great time since my kids won't have after school activities that would require multiple trips to school. He will just have to worry about Boy Scouts (son is 12) (his is Scoutmaster) so that doesn't really affect him.
But, will have to take my daughter (turning 10 on 1/22) to Girl Scouts and Pom. I am hoping that she will not have a competition while I am gone. If so, I will have to ask Grandma to come over and fix her hair and makeup.


I can not wait to recharge. I am hoping they will run a special on the Rainforest room.

Still waiting for an answer from my friend.

Christi

[stsomewhere]

ok I added a page to our roll call spreadsheet called events, it has two events listed, one being breakfast in PJ's. We can pick the date come closer to the cruise but a sea day and meet up for breakfast at Luminers in our Pj's. I also added Champagne Girls, I was told about this by another Diser. She said that the ladies got together one afternoon an all dressed in pink with pink feather boa's and had champagne/wine. They did this after their stop in Madeira so they could all purchase a bottle of wine. If there's any interest please sign up. Any other ideas, please feel freet to add to the events page!

These sound great!

[runswithscissors]

It will be a great time since my kids won't have after school activities that would require multiple trips to school. He will just have to worry about Boy Scouts (son is 12) (his is Scoutmaster) so that doesn't really affect him.
But, will have to take my daughter (turning 10 on 1/22) to Girl Scouts and Pom. I am hoping that she will not have a competition while I am gone. If so, I will have to ask Grandma to come over and fix her hair and makeup.

Exactly what I mean by "moms deserve a chance to unwind." ;)

I'm a fulltime student and stay-at-home mom and plan on doing a lot of relaxing on this cruise. My last final of the semester is Thursday the 13th (packing is going to be a nightmare) and am sure I'll be ready for a drink and lounge chair after we're settled on the ship.

[owensamo]

ok I added a page to our roll call spreadsheet called events, it has two events listed, one being breakfast in PJ's. We can pick the date come closer to the cruise but a sea day and meet up for breakfast at Luminers in our Pj's. I also added Champagne Girls, I was told about this by another Diser. She said that the ladies got together one afternoon an all dressed in pink with pink feather boa's and had champagne/wine. They did this after their stop in Madeira so they could all purchase a bottle of wine. If there's any interest please sign up. Any other ideas, please feel freet to add to the events page!

Since some of the the stuff on the first sheet are really events (Shots 'round the ship, Photo scavenger hunt), I'm going to move those (and all signed up) to the second tab.

For all new cruisers - be sure to add yourselves to the roll call! It's a google doc at:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag20a4WhJwJxdHdGRnU3OENTSUlEUUVjVFl3MXlGL Xc&hl=en&authkey=CJvH6MoK

Amanda

Edited to add: I also added an "Event Descriptions" tab, where we can describe the events and note the organier, date/day and time we plan them for. If anyone wants to organize an event, please feel free to add them to the tabs!

[twokings]

It has started snowing here too. We are getting 4-6 inches. Yuck!

We are getting 12 - 18 inches. Looking forward to a snow day. Pretty much everything has already cancelled here and it hasn't even started snowing.

[stsomewhere]

[QUOTE=twokings;39504599]We are getting 12 - 18 inches. Looking forward to a snow day. Pretty much everything has already cancelled here and it hasn't even started snowing.[/QUOTE

My kids are hoping for a snow day tomorrow.

[slcmom]

Someone asked about weather and seas on the EBTA 2010 - my memory is that the seas were calm and the weather was surprisingly warm. I had assumed that we wouldn't be swimming much after CC because it would be too chilly. But people were enjoying the pools everyday. Some days were a little rainy, and cool, but not all of everyday, and it was lovely.

If lots of you feel that you have sufficient tee-shirts, perhaps we should consider just doing custom lanyards. It worked very well for us. Several people went in to pay for them (as their contributions to FE's), one person was in charge of ordering and distributing them. Someone else made the blank using our thread logo. Our dis name and real name were each on there. I loved it. We wore ours the whole cruise, as did most people, I think. It made it very easy to recognize other dissers all over the ship. I'll try to insert a photo here that shows the lanyards. And of course, it was easy to carry the KTTW card in the lanyard, too.http://s788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/slcmom/?action=view&current=RA.jpg

[owensamo]

They used cafepress.com, i'm guess the price will be $15-$20...I tried to upload our logo to it but it's too small, I think you have the original so if you want to try it out and see what it looks like feel free. If you know of another website you can try it out too.:surfweb:
Apparently the logo is natively small - I merged a couple of images I found online to make it and they weren't big to begin with. I'll see if I can find some higher-res starting points.

The logo should work on smaller things, tho. Like keychains! And coffee mugs! :rotfl:

[TheCheshireCat]

Hello, I would like to confirm that my fiancé and I will be doing FE. I haven’t decided yet what I will do but I will add it to my very LONG list of various wedding and Hunnymoon things to do.

We’re flying in at least on the 12th to do a couple of days at Disney before the cruise. We may do a bit more but it all depends on getting more time off work.

It's snowed a lot here last night, school buses are all cancelled.

[sbassgva]

I love the idea of lanyards in lieu of t-shirts. I would be willing to purchase them in advance as my FE gift. Is there someone else who can do the design, printing, etc?

I'm currently sitting at home recovering from ankle surgery last week. I will be glad to do some research on the internet during my free time. Are there suggestions for colors, or possibly a printed message, etc?

[babystar]

Hello.... I have been lurking round for the last few months but I have just paid the balance so feel like it is real and that I can now "drop in!"

I am new to Disney cruises so have a few questions - any help would be sooo appreciated!

When can I book Palo? My DH and I would really like to dine here at least once.

I have a very small 4 year old, we dont usually use a pushchair so I dont really want to bring one with us, is there anywhere either on the ship or on CC and other ports that I can hire one so my DH and I can go for longer walks and not have to carry her?

We have not booked with Disney direct, but if the price of the cruise drops (it seems v.quite) do you get the difference refunded? (i have only ever cruised with carnival and I know they do something very similar to the above)

I have gazillions more questions but im hoping that the more lurking I do the more I will learn!

Thanks!!!

[stsomewhere]

I love the idea of lanyards in lieu of t-shirts. I would be willing to purchase them in advance as my FE gift. Is there someone else who can do the design, printing, etc?

I'm currently sitting at home recovering from ankle surgery last week. I will be glad to do some research on the internet during my free time. Are there suggestions for colors, or possibly a printed message, etc?

Sorry to hear about your surgery. My husband had knee surgery just before Christmas. He had to have his meniscus and ACL repaired. It was a LONG 2 weeks for both of us since he was on crutches and could not carry anything. Good thing I am a stay at home mom. I was able to help him out.

Lanyards sound GREAT!

Christi

[heatherb819]

Welcome aboard newcomers! Guess the ship won't be as empty as I thought! Babystar, feel free to ask questions, we'll do our best to answer. I've only been on one other Disney Cruise but will try to help. We have also cruised Carnival more but you're going to LOVE Disney.

Amanda, thanks for editing the spreadsheet :thumbsup2

Lanyards sound wonderful instead of shirts to me also, I was throwing out ideas from our previous cruise, and we also did lanyards. One of the ladies did this as her FE gift. Color doesn't matter to me. She met most of us at the port and handed them out and those she didn't see, she handed them out at our first M&G.

It's so cold here, they've called school off because of extreme cold and probably will again tomorrow. I guess Hannah will end up missing more school than I intended for this cruise due to snow days. Oh well, it'll be worth it, she's a straight "A" student.

I'm getting really excited to have more and more join our group!:banana:

[stsomewhere]

No snow day for us! YAY!

My daughter wanted her room redone for her 10th birthday.
I just got done painting it. It is no longer pink but SAILOR MICKEY ( light turquoise blue)

Getting ready to pick her up from school and take her shopping for new bedding, curtains, and accessories.

Her new bed is in the living ready to assembled. So happy, soon all of her stuff will be out of the dining room.

I am ready for a vacation! So excited!


Christi

[Happy Wanderers]

Welcome to all the new posters:thumbsup2
We will be arriving in Orlando from NYC on the Wednesday and will be staying at the Beach Club.
We have booked the Fantasmic dinner package on Thursday and on the Friday night we are going to the German restaurant in Epcot. We will also try to see Peter Noone, Herman's Hermits former front man, who is performing at Epcot that day. The last time we saw him live was in the 1970's at a village night club in Nottinghamshire.
Adele loves the idea of the ladies champagne get together and we will both enjoy the DIS meet and the photo scavenger hunt.

We still like the tee shirt idea but if the consensus is for a lanyard, we will be delighted to join in.

no snow in Scotland today, we have already had our share and hope there is no more to come:):)

David and Adele

[twokings]

I like the lanyard idea as well. I am willing to buy my own if nobody decides to do them as a FE gift.

Also SCLMOM thanks for the feedback on your prior EBTA cruise.

[sharkbait]

Ok, I believe we beat all with about 16 inches of snow just a bit north of Boston. We're buried! 121 days to the cruise and counting.
I'm so done with the snow! Nice to have the day off don't get me wrong, but I'd rather be in warmer climates.:cool1:

[twokings]

Ok, I believe we beat all with about 16 inches of snow just a bit north of Boston. We're buried! 121 days to the cruise and counting.
I'm so done with the snow! Nice to have the day off don't get me wrong, but I'd rather be in warmer climates.:cool1:

we had at least that and most likely a little bit more and the real heavy kind. But it was great having the snow day. I was able to focus on our trip.

[stsomewhere]

I am paid in full:cool

I am looking forward to my mom vacation!

Sadly, my friend will not be joining me. But, I know I will have a GREAT TIME anyways.

[runswithscissors]

I am paid in full:cool

I am looking forward to my mom vacation!

Sadly, my friend will not be joining me. But, I know I will have a GREAT TIME anyways.

Very exciting! Such a great feeling.

Too bad about your friend, although, you will be surrounded by new friends on the ship, so you'll be just fine!

Sarah

[runswithscissors]

Hello.... I have been lurking round for the last few months but I have just paid the balance so feel like it is real and that I can now "drop in!"

When can I book Palo? My DH and I would really like to dine here at least once.

Hello and welcome, babystar! It looks like our group is beginning to grow a bit.

This being your first Disney Cruise, I believe you can book Palo at 75 days (although don't quote me on that), unless you are cruising concierge which means you'll be able to book tomorrow (120 days). This is only my second Disney Cruise so I'm not an expert my any means...

Can't help you with the stroller rental, although I'm sure others here will be able to assist (and can clarify the Palo ressie as well.)

Anyway, welcome! :)
Sarah

[stsomewhere]

Very exciting! Such a great feeling.

Too bad about your friend, although, you will be surrounded by new friends on the ship, so you'll be just fine!

Sarah

Sarah,
It is a very wonderful feeling. I feel very empowered. I am looking forward to making new friends aboard.

Christi

ETA: My friend was on a cruise on Allure with her family and my son over Christmas. Plus , wrecked her car due to snow. She needs time to save up. She may add on later if possible. Her and her family are going with us in Aug. on DCL to Alaska.

[Winstanik]

We just paid in full too ! So excited ! :banana::banana::banana: Now we are really leaving !!! Can't wait to get onboard and meet everyone ! :goodvibes

[kcashner]

PIF makes it seem close! and it's a whole semester away.....and it's snowing outside....and I'm having MAGIC dreams.

[KevieKev05]

It's January 14th, which means...there's only 4 MONTHS until we set sail!

[heatherb819]

Four month dance :dance3::dance3::banana::banana::banana:

[stsomewhere]

My son(12 1/2) has been begging to go to Europe.HE tried to convince me to take him along. Not happening!

He just found out the cruise was on Disney. He told me the every time he hears about the trip it gets worse... First, Transatlantic.. then, 14 nights.. now , Disney. It is killing him.


Christi

[heatherb819]

awww, poor guy! I feel for him, it would be killing me too if I weren't able to go!

[Winstanik]

My son(12 1/2) has been begging to go to Europe.HE tried to convince me to take him along. Not happening!

He just found out the cruise was on Disney. He told me the every time he hears about the trip it gets worse... First, Transatlantic.. then, 14 nights.. now , Disney. It is killing him.


Christi

I've got a 7 year old daughter that said the same thing ! When we booked last June, I asked my mother if she would mind keeping her for 14 days, because we found this cruise. My daughter wanted to come with us at first and I told her that this time it's mommy and daddy alone time (we brought her everywhere with us before) She was fine with my answer until she found the DCL logo on the paper that I was showing my mother ! :sad2:

[stsomewhere]

I think that we will have a PremEAR at sea. Pirate of the Caribbean : On Stranger tides is scheduled to be released on May 20.

Christi

[twokings]

I think that we will have a PremEAR at sea. Pirate of the Caribbean : On Stranger tides is scheduled to be released on May 20.

Christi

Yes we do. Very excited!! My daughter Arianna is even more excited!

[stsomewhere]

Good morning everyone! Everyone in my house is still sleeping. I am up researching excursions.

Trying to narrow it down.

For those who have been to these ports before, can you recommend any tours?

Also, has anyone mentioned the Dis meet? When and where?

I saw that someone is staying in the Walt Suite that I am so jealous.
On our last cruise, the family staying in the Walt Suite had a party for the Dismeet halfway through the cruise. It was amazing inside.


Christi

[owensjro]

Welcome to the new folks since I last posted (guess I better start checking more frequently now that things are picking up!)

So I think I counted there are 16 weeks till the cruise now. I think I should make my goal of losing 1 pound per week before that so I can then gain 1 pound a day on the ship ;) I may even come out ahead!

I hope they get the new pirate's movie on board. Last time we had a premear at sea it was Toy Story 3 and they kept telling us they weren't sure if they would be able to get it. Maybe that's just their standard line to keep us all guessing. :)

We should do a meet in the port terminal for those planning on being there early (we'll be there as soon as it opens because I am impatient!). And we can plan a meet on the first day if people think that will work. I know it can be a bit crazy...but I also know my daughter would love to meet all the kids and go to the sail away party together.

Jim

[stsomewhere]

Our last cruise we had a quick meet in the promenade Lounge at 3pm.
It worked out very well. The kids got to meet each before the sail away. We saw friendly faces around the ship that evening.

As for meeting at the terminal, I am using DCL air and not sure when I will arrive.

We saw a PremEar of Confessions of a shopaholic on A Wonder cruise.

Christi

[sbassgva]

Still looking for additional input on the t-shirt vs. lanyard option. If we go with the lanyard option, is there someone who has creative abilities with Word or some other electronic creator that would be willing to design the inserts?

As for the on-board 1st meet, we also will be using Disney for our travel and therefore probably won't be in as early as some. However something later in the afternoon, either just before or just after the drill would be fine.

Has anyone gotten any feedback from previous transatlantic cruisers regarding weather and associated attire? I'm kinda starting to think that packing for this cruise may be a nightmare? Anyone?

Starting to get a little excited about this!!

[kcashner]

My son(12 1/2) has been begging to go to Europe.HE tried to convince me to take him along. Not happening!

He just found out the cruise was on Disney. He told me the every time he hears about the trip it gets worse... First, Transatlantic.. then, 14 nights.. now , Disney. It is killing him.


Christi

Ah memories. I did the TAs last year (both while DD was in school). In fact, the reason I'm doing it again ...or one of them...is that she will be out and able to sail with me this time. It was killing her last year!

And....I got ALL my ressies!

[stsomewhere]

My son already has plans while I am gone. He is going on a 4 day trip to Chicago for his 7th grade trip. Then, he has a big Boy Scout Spring Camporee (which my husband is in charge of)

I told him we would take him to Europe in the next few years. But, it had to be during school break.

[stsomewhere]

What does your screen name stand for?

Mine is from a Jimmy Buffet song. ".......I want to go to st somewhere. Ii want to go where its warm."


Christi

[stsomewhere]

Still looking for additional input on the t-shirt vs. lanyard option. If we go with the lanyard option, is there someone who has creative abilities with Word or some other electronic creator that would be willing to design the inserts?

As for the on-board 1st meet, we also will be using Disney for our travel and therefore probably won't be in as early as some. However something later in the afternoon, either just before or just after the drill would be fine.

Has anyone gotten any feedback from previous transatlantic cruisers regarding weather and associated attire? I'm kinda starting to think that packing for this cruise may be a nightmare? Anyone?

Starting to get a little excited about this!!

I was thinking the same thing about packing! I was doing some research on weather.
Castaway between 70-84 degrees.
Other ports were 55-69 degrees.

I am thinking that it might be on the cooler side for transatlantic crossing.

Christi

[Winstanik]

Talking about weather, it's Brrrr over here this morning. Good thing the sun is out !When I got up it was -23 C (which is about -10F) So the temperature in May seems sooo good right about now !!! Can't wait for winter to be over.

On another note, would anywone be interested in a Facebook group page ? Is there other Facebook users in the group ? I've never done one, but can try to do it. I think that I need to have a few friends to invite in order to start one. So if anyone wants to be friend with me, I am under Anik Bergevin-Goundrey. Please leave me a msg to let me know that you are in the Dis group. :thumbsup2

[owensjro]

Talking about weather, it's Brrrr over here this morning. Good thing the sun is out !When I got up it was -23 C (which is about -10F) So the temperature in May seems sooo good right about now !!! Can't wait for winter to be over.

On another note, would anywone be interested in a Facebook group page ? Is there other Facebook users in the group ? I've never done one, but can try to do it. I think that I need to have a few friends to invite in order to start one. So if anyone wants to be friend with me, I am under Anik Bergevin-Goundrey. Please leave me a msg to let me know that you are in the Dis group. :thumbsup2

I was thinking about this last night. Sounds like a great idea to me.

As for weather...we were thinking we will mostly want long pants for this trip so we're reducing the number of shorts we bring. I'm also planning on bringing layers that we can mix and match to get the most out of packing space.

Jim

[stsomewhere]

Talking about weather, it's Brrrr over here this morning. Good thing the sun is out !When I got up it was -23 C (which is about -10F) So the temperature in May seems sooo good right about now !!! Can't wait for winter to be over.

On another note, would anywone be interested in a Facebook group page ? Is there other Facebook users in the group ? I've never done one, but can try to do it. I think that I need to have a few friends to invite in order to start one. So if anyone wants to be friend with me, I am under Anik Bergevin-Goundrey. Please leave me a msg to let me know that you are in the Dis group. :thumbsup2

This is a great idea for facebook. I will send you a message. It is Christi Peer Marlin.

[stsomewhere]

It is cold here today, too. It was 0 F when we woke up. The temp is slowing climbing. We are suppose to get 10 inches of snow tonight. Now , they are saying it could be freezing rain instead. The kids are hoping for a snow day tomorrow.

Lazy day today. The kids are off of school for Martin Luther King Day. Erik is working from home since his client is closed for the holiday.

I worked hard all weekend and finally got my daughter's room finished. So, i decide to relax today,too.

[heatherb819]

A Facebook group page is set up! Come join us and put some faces with the names. Thanks for linking the spreadsheet with the facebook page Amanda!!

[Winstanik]

A Facebook group page is set up! Come join us and put some faces with the names. Thanks for linking the spreadsheet with the facebook page Amanda!!

Thank you so much for doing this ! :yay:

[platinumcruzer]

Got all my resssies set up....:cheer2:

Weather here in FL is unpredictable as usual...yesterday sunny and 75 today 45 and pouring rain. Thank goodness I don't have to worry with snow though.

Busy getting prepared for the Dream sailing next week. Don't know which cruise I'm more excited about.

As to tshirts or lanyards, I vote for lanyards.

[twokings]

This is a great idea for facebook. I will send you a message. It is Christi Peer Marlin.

I was thinking about this last week. Looked quickly into. Notice there was an EBTA page for last years cruise(I believe). Love the idea. just let us know if one gets created.

[twokings]

A Facebook group page is set up! Come join us and put some faces with the names. Thanks for linking the spreadsheet with the facebook page Amanda!!

What's the name of the group?

[twokings]

What does your screen name stand for?

Mine is from a Jimmy Buffet song. ".......I want to go to st somewhere. Ii want to go where its warm."


Christi

Our last name is/was King. I recently took my maiden name back therefore we are technically no longer two kings. :) We are now 1Healy1King

[Can't wait to cruise]

Still looking for additional input on the t-shirt vs. lanyard option. If we go with the lanyard option, is there someone who has creative abilities with Word or some other electronic creator that would be willing to design the inserts?

As for the on-board 1st meet, we also will be using Disney for our travel and therefore probably won't be in as early as some. However something later in the afternoon, either just before or just after the drill would be fine.

Has anyone gotten any feedback from previous transatlantic cruisers regarding weather and associated attire? I'm kinda starting to think that packing for this cruise may be a nightmare? Anyone?

Starting to get a little excited about this!!


Has anyone gotten any feedback from previous transatlantic cruisers regarding weather and associated attire? I'm kinda starting to think that packing for this cruise may be a nightmare? Anyone?

We did the Eastbound TA in May 07. Went back thru our photos to see if it was shorts or long pants along the way. Shorts in FL and CC, each of the port calls was long pants and a light windbreaker depending on the port. We went to Canary Islands instead of Madeira. Remember it was a little cool and would expect Madeira to be about the same. Typical weather in May per the Madeira visitor websites indicates mid 60's.

Started out he day in Cadiz in a windbreaker and ended up with it tied around my waist later in the day. Gibralter was real nice in jeans and a short sleeve shirt. Same in Barcelona.

On the six days at sea, we had one day of rough seas and about 12 foot swells. Otherwise, we had some great days around the pool and don't recall ever needing a jacket on the ship. I do recommend getting a 99 cent plastic poncho (Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, etc) just in case it rains on a port call. Beats carrying around an umbrella and just toss when you get back to the ship.

Only 12 days to book Palo's. Yum Yum...

[heatherb819]

Dis Boards EBTA, I created it under my name Heather Zumwalt-Butkovich if that helps you find it.

[heatherb819]

FB page called EBTA Disgroup is set up. I wasn't sure how to set the FB part of this up so I tried 2 different ways, let me know which works better. If you can see each others pages etc. and which way and I'll delete one or the other.

[twokings]

Dis Boards EBTA, I created it under my name Heather Zumwalt-Butkovich if that helps you find it.

I don't see Dis Boards EBTA. Can you share the link?

[heatherb819]

I need the help of a teenager with FB, LOL

[heatherb819]

Disregard!!!!! Kerri has us up and rolling!

[twokings]

FB page called EBTA Disgroup is set up. I wasn't sure how to set the FB part of this up so I tried 2 different ways, let me know which works better. If you can see each others pages etc. and which way and I'll delete one or the other.

I think the page should be a group rather than a fan page. Try this

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_177251978979903


EBTA - Sailing the Magic - May 14 - 28

[heatherb819]

Thank you Kerri!!!!!!

[sharkbait]

Yes we do. Very excited!! My daughter Arianna is even more excited!

Mine is 19 and she is excited. She can't wait!

As for all whose kids cannot go because of school, its tough! There was only one time we went to Disney without her and it was so hard! We said we wouldn't do it again! It will be our third cruise with Disney, and all on the Magic. We haven't been onboard since she was 10.

Also, having much fun finding goodies for the FE's, especially the little princesses. :cutie:

[twokings]

Mine is 19 and she is excited. She can't wait!

... :

Mine will be 19 in a couple of weeks.

[stsomewhere]

Has anyone gotten any feedback from previous transatlantic cruisers regarding weather and associated attire? I'm kinda starting to think that packing for this cruise may be a nightmare? Anyone?

We did the Eastbound TA in May 07. Went back thru our photos to see if it was shorts or long pants along the way. Shorts in FL and CC, each of the port calls was long pants and a light windbreaker depending on the port. We went to Canary Islands instead of Madeira. Remember it was a little cool and would expect Madeira to be about the same. Typical weather in May per the Madeira visitor websites indicates mid 60's.

Started out he day in Cadiz in a windbreaker and ended up with it tied around my waist later in the day. Gibralter was real nice in jeans and a short sleeve shirt. Same in Barcelona.

On the six days at sea, we had one day of rough seas and about 12 foot swells. Otherwise, we had some great days around the pool and don't recall ever needing a jacket on the ship. I do recommend getting a 99 cent plastic poncho (Walmart, Bass Pro Shops, etc) just in case it rains on a port call. Beats carrying around an umbrella and just toss when you get back to the ship.

Only 12 days to book Palo's. Yum Yum...

Thanks for looking at your pictures from your tip, I was debating brining a jacket. But, now I will.

[sbassgva]

What does your screen name stand for?

Mine is from a Jimmy Buffet song. ".......I want to go to st somewhere. Ii want to go where its warm."


Christi

1st initial, last name and an abbreviation for the place that I work. Not sure when I first created this screenname, but suffice to say it was a LONG time ago and I use it most everywhere.

p.s. we need some more posts so that we can get off of page 13...just for those who might be superstitious !

[heatherb819]

Looks like I'll be jeans shopping in the near future! Let's hope Hannah doesn't grow 2 inches between now and then otherwise she'll be wearing capris.:lmao: I've noticed most of the stores here already have spring clothes out. I've already seen swimwuits out and we are getting 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow:scared1:

[stsomewhere]

I need to go jean shopping, too. How many pairs do you think one person would need? I really don't want to do laundry on my vacation. I would be hard because most of my pants and tops I hang to dry.

I saw swim suits out, too. I do need a new one of those.


Christi

[stsomewhere]

Forgot to mention...

Did you hear that Jennifer HUdson is the Godmother of the Dream?
She use to work on the Wonder.

Christi

[runswithscissors]

Thanks, Kerri, for setting up the Facebook page.

Made all of our reservations for Palo, Spa Villa, and excursions on Friday. This is certainly beginning to feel real...

Spent the weekend in Vero Beach. Mid-60s to low 70s all weekend and back to snow and ice last night. Ugh! Less than 4 months and we'll be in CC enjoying the sun. :)

[njmom23grls]

Hi everyone! I'm a little late to the party :rolleyes1 but I will be joining you all for this trip! I'm very excited about it! I was going to go on the WB in September but needed to make a change for family stuff.

I'm from the Philadelphia area - will be traveling solo this trip (:scared1:) looking forward to meeting everyone

Lisa

[stsomewhere]

Hi everyone! I'm a little late to the party :rolleyes1 but I will be joining you all for this trip! I'm very excited about it! I was going to go on the WB in September but needed to make a change for family stuff.

I'm from the Philadelphia area - will be traveling solo this trip (:scared1:) looking forward to meeting everyone

Lisa

Lisa - Hi! and welcome! I am traveling solo on this trip,too. I am nervous and excited about it at the same time. Would you like to arrange to sit together at dinner? I have second seating.

Christi

[Can't wait to cruise]

I need to go jean shopping, too. How many pairs do you think one person would need? I really don't want to do laundry on my vacation. I would be hard because most of my pants and tops I hang to dry.

I saw swim suits out, too. I do need a new one of those.


Christi

A couple of pairs should be fine. Long cargo pants with the button or velcro pocket flaps is also a good idea onshore. Not pick pocket proof but a little harder to get to your stuff. For as easy as it is to do a quick load of laundry on a sea day, I wouldn't think of packing enough to not need to do a load. We're limited to one free checked bag each on the international flights home so going light and doing some laundry is the way to go. We're all on the cruise to relax and have a good time. Never heard on any previous cruises (5) anyone complain about seeing someone in the same outfit twice. If you want to hang your stuff to dry, there is a laundry string in the tub/shower you can use too.

Only 10 more days to book Palo's!!! Yum Yum.

[stsomewhere]

Well, my husband told his dad that I was going alone. He was not happy about it. My poor DH got an earful. FIL said that would never happen since he likes to travel with family. His parents never went anywhere with out their kids. DH reminded him that we send the kids to camp each summer for a few weeks. This is camp for mom.:cool1:

My inlaws are going to keep my daughter for the second weekend since my husband and son will be at camp out with Boy Scouts.

The day we leave my daughter has a pom pon competition. So, I will have to teach my husband how to do her hair and makeup or ask one of the moms from her team to do it.

Things are starting to come together. I am making a calendar for my husband of everything that needs to be done while I am gone. Plus, I will grocery shop, pay bills, etc. before I leave.

Still concerned about packing. I am an over packer. A few pairs of jeans will be fine. I am trying to compose a list of what I need. Bringing stuff to mix and match.

[heatherb819]

I'm thinking just a 3 pairs of jeans and a 3 pairs of capris, about 6 t-shirts and a jacket or two and some dinner clothes a bathing suit and I'm good to go. We've sent clothes off to be laundered on our past Disney cruise and was happy with ther service so I'll do that again. I'm not doing laundry on my vacation. I'll leave that to someone else.

[njmom23grls]

Quick question for those flying out of Barcelona on 5/28 - does anyone know what time the earliest flight out you can take it? I found info on the DCL website for the Med cruises - which said 12:30 pm - but that was for arrival back into Barcelona on the day of departure. However, the ship will arrive and be cleared on 5/27 so.... wasn't sure - most of the flights I found departed roughly 11:00 am. Just looking for a little advice from other travelers. Thank you

PS - found a terrific one-way fare on US AIR today (one way!) - $92 (incl taxes!) from PHL to MCO on 5/14 if anyone is from this area

[Can't wait to cruise]

Quick question for those flying out of Barcelona on 5/28 - does anyone know what time the earliest flight out you can take it? I found info on the DCL website for the Med cruises - which said 12:30 pm - but that was for arrival back into Barcelona on the day of departure. However, the ship will arrive and be cleared on 5/27 so.... wasn't sure - most of the flights I found departed roughly 11:00 am. Just looking for a little advice from other travelers. Thank you

PS - found a terrific one-way fare on US AIR today (one way!) - $92 (incl taxes!) from PHL to MCO on 5/14 if anyone is from this area

We have a 10am Saturday morning out of Barcelona. Will probably be cutting it tight but we may not leave our bags out the night before and just take them with us ourselves. Will see what guest services says about that to save time on departure. Cabs only take about 20 minutes to get to the airport and there is usually a bunch the morning we get off at the dock.

[stsomewhere]

I just got the call from my grandma. She was upset that I am traveling solo. I get about a 15 minute lecture. Apparently, traveling alone =marriage problems:confused3.

We have been together for 21 yrs. and married for 16 yrs on April 1.

This is why I did not tell anyone until after the paid in full date. I can't get a refund now.
She is hoping that Erik (my DH) will be joining me closer to the sail date. His vacation is spoken for already. Scout camp and Alaskan cruise in August.

[twokings]

I'm thinking just a 3 pairs of jeans and a 3 pairs of capris, about 6 t-shirts and a jacket or two and some dinner clothes a bathing suit and I'm good to go....

I am with you. This trip we are packing light. We have a week in Spain, traveling to a few destination. I don't want to lug tons of luggage on the train. I plan to mix and match. Now I just need to convince my 19 year daughter she has to do the same thing.

[sbassgva]

Stsomewhere:

Your posts have been making me laugh. Maybe this is one of those things that you should print and stick on your refrigerator in 25 years when your kids get older !! You know, they say that we generally end up being exactly like our parents (or other family members). Good luck getting out of town alone...sounds like you might need to work on some escape plan. Thanks for the smiles !!

[stsomewhere]

I will be going ALONE!

The funny thing is my husband use to travel a lot for work. My grandma never had a problem with that or when my husband goes hunting or to scout camp.
Technically, he is traveling alone.

I need to find out who told my grandma and give them a lecture of my own.:furious:


Christi

[stsomewhere]

I wanted to add:
When I told my husband about the conversation I had with my grandma, he laughed.

He said to tell her that he prevented martial problems by allowing me to go. Otherwise, he would be hearing about it for the next 20 yrs....LOL:rotfl2:

Christi

[slcmom]

I really :confused3 over-packed on the 2010EBTA! When I was packing to leave the ship there were maybe 3-4 outfits each that we had never even worn! I hope I don't do that again. I also took 2 different outfits for formal, plus 2 different outfits for semi-formal. True, I don't get to wear them normally, but I don't know that I'll be quite that heavy-handed again.

My dh always traveled for work. I was stay-at-home, and loved going with him sometimes, but he still went alone some. Our marriage survived! Now that he is disabled (and I am his only 24/hour/day caretaker), I try to get away several days a year, to keep myself sane. I've gone to conventions for my profession, I've taken workshops, I've even done medical tourism twice to Thailand. I think being apart from time to time is a wonderful break for all concerned. So there.:banana: And you may tell your grandma that I said so!
Ann

[stsomewhere]

I really :confused3 over-packed on the 2010EBTA! When I was packing to leave the ship there were maybe 3-4 outfits each that we had never even worn! I hope I don't do that again. I also took 2 different outfits for formal, plus 2 different outfits for semi-formal. True, I don't get to wear them normally, but I don't know that I'll be quite that heavy-handed again.

My dh always traveled for work. I was stay-at-home, and loved going with him sometimes, but he still went alone some. Our marriage survived! Now that he is disabled (and I am his only 24/hour/day caretaker), I try to get away several days a year, to keep myself sane. I've gone to conventions for my profession, I've taken workshops, I've even done medical tourism twice to Thailand. I think being apart from time to time is a wonderful break for all concerned. So there.:banana: And you may tell your grandma that I said so!
Ann

Thanks!

[hrhdhd]

I just got the call from my grandma. She was upset that I am traveling solo. I get about a 15 minute lecture. Apparently, traveling alone =marriage problems:confused3.

We have been together for 21 yrs. and married for 16 yrs on April 1.

This is why I did not tell anyone until after the paid in full date. I can't get a refund now.
She is hoping that Erik (my DH) will be joining me closer to the sail date. His vacation is spoken for already. Scout camp and Alaskan cruise in August.

Okay, I've been lurking, but this post almost seems to be from me anyway, so I'm popping in! :yay:

I am also traveling alone, first time on DCL, leaving husband of 16 years (been together for 21, including as prom dates). I've gotten an earful from my mom about leaving my poor husband alone for 2 weeks. What's he going to eat, she wants to know. I figure he's old enough to figure that out. :rolleyes1

I wouldn't mind joining some solo travelers at second dinner. How does that work?

[heatherb819]

FYI: You can send packages ahead of time to the Port, I have done this with my FE and will do again! Hope this helps some of you out.


Boxes Sent the Ship Ahead of Cruise - PLEASE follow these instructions carefully!!!!!! UPDATED AS OF 2/25/2009
• ONE box per stateroom, no exceptions.
• The package must have the guest full name, ship, sailing date, stateroom number or GTY if you have not been assigned a stateroom number.
• The package also must have a packing slip attached to the outside of the box that details the contents of the package. For prescriptions, a copy of the prescription is sufficient. Your list may or may not be read but it must have one. Write packing slip on the outside of the envelope.
• NO FOODS/DRINKS OF ANY KIND, LIQUOR OF ANY KIND, FIREARMS, ETC.. Items that cannot be shipped to the Disney Cruise Line Warehouse and delivered to the ship include: food products (any and all food products including baby food/formula), beverages (liquor, water, etc.), chemicals, and luggage. These items will not be accepted at the warehouse and will be returned. This may cause the dogs to hit on your box and that would be a bad thing.
• The required size of the cartons you are shipping down have to be about the size of a record storage box 12 inches on a side and should not weigh more than 20 lbs. (This has been asked personally by Dave Adams who is the owner)

Address your package(s) to:
Disney Cruise Line Warehouse
Guest Name / Stateroom # (GTY, if you don't know what it is when you send the package)
8633 Transport Drive
Orlando, FL 32832
Phone: 407-566-8196

In the bottom left corner of the top of the package put the following information: ATTN: HOUSEKEEPING
*Name
*Sail Date
*Ship
*Stateroom Number
*Packing slip that details contents of the package (for prescriptions, a copy of the prescription is sufficient)
• Packages must arrive by Friday by 3:00pm for the 7-Night Cruise on the Disney Magic (Saturday).
• Packages must arrive by Friday by 3:00pm for the 4-Night Cruise on the Disney Wonder (Sunday).
• Packages must arrive by Wednesday by 3:00pm for the 3-Night Cruise on the Disney Wonder (Thursday).

If your box is hit on by the screening dog or chosen for additional screening they will open the list and the box and look through it. They will close it back up and provided nothing bad is in it then it will be in your room as usual later after boarding. These boxes will be coming on the ship with the crew mail among other things so they may be in the staterooms later then they were before as they are low priority in the scheme of things for Disney

[heatherb819]

BTW-
You are all cracking me up about the solo traveling! I went to Cancun with my sister last January, I won a trip from a radio station and DH couldn't go so I took her. I wasn't going to forfeit the trip. I also take a girls only trip once a year or every other year. We need it! I don't know that I'm as brave as you to travel solo on a two week cruise (DH wouldn't let me, he loves to cruise and so does DD) but I sure do know that my girls trips are heavenly and I appreciate my family so much more when I've returned from a week away. DH feels the same way he takes weekend trips away now and then. It's even gotten to the point he'll take DD and then I have a long weekend home alone and that's just as nice. I think it's funny when other try to interfere with your marriage.:rotfl2:

[stsomewhere]

Okay, I've been lurking, but this post almost seems to be from me anyway, so I'm popping in! :yay:

I am also traveling alone, first time on DCL, leaving husband of 16 years (been together for 21, including as prom dates). I've gotten an earful from my mom about leaving my poor husband alone for 2 weeks. What's he going to eat, she wants to know. I figure he's old enough to figure that out. :rolleyes1

I wouldn't mind joining some solo travelers at second dinner. How does that work?


Too funny about your post! My husband and I were prom dates ,too. We started dating our senior year in high school.
My grandma asked we who was going to take care of the kids while i was gone. I told her-my husband/ their dad.:confused3 It is not like they are babies. My son will be 13 and my daughter turns 10 tomorrow.

I have been a stay at home mom since my son was 1 yr old. My family is use to me taking care of things for them. It will be interesting to hear how they made it through the two weeks. I am preparing for my house to be in chaos when I get back

You will love DCl! This is my third cruise on them and have another booked for August. I have cruised 12 times on other lines (HAL, RCI, Carnival, and Majesty) But, we have not sailed on any of them since our first DCL cruise.

As for seating together at dinner, I have contacted DCL and are waiting for a response. I will let you know when I have heard back from them.

Christi

[stsomewhere]

BTW-
You are all cracking me up about the solo traveling! I went to Cancun with my sister last January, I won a trip from a radio station and DH couldn't go so I took her. I wasn't going to forfeit the trip. I also take a girls only trip once a year or every other year. We need it! I don't know that I'm as brave as you to travel solo on a two week cruise (DH wouldn't let me, he loves to cruise and so does DD) but I sure do know that my girls trips are heavenly and I appreciate my family so much more when I've returned from a week away. DH feels the same way he takes weekend trips away now and then. It's even gotten to the point he'll take DD and then I have a long weekend home alone and that's just as nice. I think it's funny when other try to interfere with your marriage.:rotfl2:

Heather-
I usually go on a weekend shopping trip with my friends before Christmas. We have a really good time. i thought that Dh would not want me to go since he has wanted to do a transatlantic cruise for a long time. But, he said that I work hard and deserve it.

[stsomewhere]

My DH just called me. He was at the doctor and was discussing my upcoming trip with him. The doctor told him that it was good for a marriage to do things apart. It makes us appreciate our spouse more.

The doctor told DH that he could write me a prescription for a my vacation...:rotfl:



Christi

[Winstanik]

My DH just called me. He was at the doctor and was discussing my upcoming trip with him. The doctor told him that it was good for a marriage to do things apart. It makes us appreciate our spouse more.

The doctor told DH that he could write me a prescription for a my vacation...:rotfl:



Christi

You are killing me ! :rotfl: I am laughing out loud here ! I am so glad that my husband and daughter are not in the house :rolleyes:

Seriously, I don't see the harm of going away without your spouse. I've done it a couple of time and it was good for both of us ! This time, we are going by ourselves for the first time (for more than 1 night) without our daughter. It's been 15 years that we are together and we need "us" time, so we can be better parents ! And I'm not worried about my daughter, she will be with my parents and on weekends, two of my friends already told me that they will each take her for a weekend to give my parents a break !

[stsomewhere]

Lisa- (njmom23grls)
and
hrhdhd

I have sent you a private message about linking reservations for dining.
Please let me know what you would like to do.

Christi

[kcashner]

Last year on the TA, we had a "cougar club" since we had so many women sailing solo. It was a great cruise. I'll have my adult daughter (soon to be age 20) with me this time, but please to not hesitate in the least to sail solo. You will have a great time!

We're waiting to hear if our server from last year will be on the ship this time.....

Weather--we had heard from the 2007 (?) TA people that the seas were rough and it was cold. In 2010, it was smooth seas and sunny most of the time. You will want a sweater or jacket--it wasn't always WARM, but compared to what I have today, 60 and sunny sounds heavenly! We had many days in the 70s in April; I expect this year will be a bit warmer since it is in May. Obviously, September was warmer than April last year, but both were really good weather.

Clothes--somehow I always bring too much. However, I think I might be getting hit with luggage fees on the way to MCO, which WILL mean one case of under 50 pounds. I'll be using all my "tricks" to reduce the amount of "junk" that I bring!

Disembarkation--the ship actually arrives in Barcelona on Thursday night, and is cleared by Customs then. SO, guests are free to disembark whenever they need in order to catch a flight on Saturday. There were even a few people who had to fly back on Friday! DCL set up special disembarkation procedures for those people who had flights before 10 am--they met in Rockin Bar D at a certain time and had transportation just for them before the rest of us were allowed off. We had a 10:30 flight and used the normal procedures. It was really the same; they just wanted to be sure that people with early flights got on the first buses, etc.

[njmom23grls]

Thank you KCashner! I spent 27 minutes on hold with a DCL agent who told me I couldn't catch a flight before 12:30 pm! I explained that the ship cleared the night before so it would be different that just arriving the morning of. She seemed very unsure and scripted so I was sorta waiting to hear from anyone who had actually 'been there, done that'

Christi - I know I told you in my PM = but same grief here over the solo trip. But *who* will take care of the kids? Um, they have a perfectly capable dad and they are old enough (16 & 12) and pizza, spaghetti, and takeout for won't be the end of the world. And none of thats from my mom ( I haven't told her yet) - I'm saving the best guilt trip for last:rotfl2:

I'm very excited! Thanks for keeping me sane today :rolleyes1

[hrhdhd]

But *who* will take care of the kids? Um, they have a perfectly capable dad and they are old enough (16 & 12) and pizza, spaghetti, and takeout for won't be the end of the world. And none of thats from my mom ( I haven't told her yet) - I'm saving the best guilt trip for last:rotfl2:

Heck, I don't have any kids but I'm getting grief about leaving a 40-year-old grown man alone. My mom: "Who's going to do the laundry?" :laundy: Me: "Maybe the one who wore the clothes?"

Question for you experienced DCLers: I know I can't book anything until 2/28 because this is my first cruise, but how can I at least look at the shore excursion descriptions? I can't figure that out.

[njmom23grls]

Heck, I don't have any kids but I'm getting grief about leaving a 40-year-old grown man alone. My mom: "Who's going to do the laundry?" :laundy: Me: "Maybe the one who wore the clothes?"

Question for you experienced DCLers: I know I can't book anything until 2/28 because this is my first cruise, but how can I at least look at the shore excursion descriptions? I can't figure that out.

If you look on the DCL main website - at the top is is a tab "Cruises and Destinations" - if you click on that you have a bunch of choices - in the second column is "Port Adventures" - click on that and it will take you to the main port adventures page/video.

On that page on the right hand side is a little box with Donald Duck at the bottom - you can click on "view all Disney Cruise Line Port Adventures" which you can then filter with a series of check boxes depending on if you want to look at them all at once by you cruise or at individual ports.

[runswithscissors]

Question for you experienced DCLers: I know I can't book anything until 2/28 because this is my first cruise, but how can I at least look at the shore excursion descriptions? I can't figure that out.

hrhdhd, if you click on the links below for each of our ports and then click the tab for "port adventures", you'll find a list of all excursions offered for that particular port. You can save the ones you are interested in so that, when it comes time for you to book online, you'll have them narrowed down a bit.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/europe/ports/barcelona-spain/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/europe/ports/cadiz-spain/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/europe/ports/gibraltar-uk/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/europe/ports/madeira-portugal/

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/bahamas/ports/castaway-cay/

[KrisannB]

Ok I am back from my double dip on the magic and tour of the dream, we still have our dream cruise to do in Feb./March and now this cruise in MAY!!!!!

I found out my favorite server who we have had on 48 nights out of 69 nights will be on this cruise (he will be getting off after for his vacation) so it is a done deal but we decided not to do the 1st med unless some great deals come out.

I know I asked before but where do we sign up for FE's, secret mickey, etc.? Is there someone in charge of this? Do we have a google spread sheet to track info?

Thanks - looking forward to doing this cruise again this year!

Krisann

[stsomewhere]

Thank you for the great info kcashner!
Will DCl be running any specials for the Rainforest room?

Lisa and Deidre- I got off the phone with DCl.
We are all set to dine together:thumbsup2

Christi

[hrhdhd]

Thanks a bunch, njmom23grls and runswithscissors. I was trying to find links once I had accessed my reservation and didn't think to look just on the website. Looks like I have some reading to do this weekend! :surfweb:

[hrhdhd]

Thank you for the great info kcashner!
Will DCl be running any specials for the Rainforest room?

Lisa and Deidre- I got off the phone with DCl.
We are all set to dine together:thumbsup2

Christi

Thanks, Christi.

Looks like we may bump into each other in the Rainforest Room, too! :)

[runswithscissors]

I know I asked before but where do we sign up for FE's, secret mickey, etc.? Is there someone in charge of this? Do we have a google spread sheet to track info?

Thanks - looking forward to doing this cruise again this year!

Krisann

Hi Krisann and welcome! :) Check out the very first post on this thread. There you will find the google spreadsheet with the rollcall and sign up for FEs and other possible activities. Not sure if there has been a final decision on the secret Mickey but it's definitely something I'm interested in doing if we can get a group together.

Sarah

[KrisannB]

Hi Krisann and welcome! :) Check out the very first post on this thread. There you will find the google spreadsheet with the rollcall and sign up for FEs and other possible activities. Not sure if there has been a final decision on the secret Mickey but it's definitely something I'm interested in doing if we can get a group together.

Sarah

Thanks! I have put us on!

Krisann

[platinumcruzer]

Welcome to all the newcomers:welcome:

Spent the lasy 15 minutes catching up as I have been spending more time on the maiden voyage thread. Can't believe we sail in 3 days:cheer2:

Seems as though we will have alot of mom's hanging out together.Like you Kathryn, I am traveling with my 20 year old daughter but only leaving the dog at home , who will be well taken care of at preppy pet suites.:dogdance:

Need to get my act in gear when I get back and make flight reservations.Glad to know we will be able to get off the ship early on sat.

Can't wait to meet everyone and look forward to reading more great posts!

[twokings]

I always cruise with my daughter. Now that she is an adult, we can finally go to Palo. :cool1: I plan to attend dinner, brunch and thinking high tea. Has anybody attended high tea before? If so what is it like?

I noticed the prices are going up again at Palo. Tea will now be $10 and dinner and brunch $20.

[njmom23grls]

Any Dis'ers want to meet up for a brunch, dinner or tea at Palo?

I will be happy to organize if there is any interest

[twokings]

Any Dis'ers want to meet up for a brunch, dinner or tea at Palo?

I will be happy to organize if there is any interest

Tea or Brunch would be nice.

[stsomewhere]

Any Dis'ers want to meet up for a brunch, dinner or tea at Palo?

I will be happy to organize if there is any interest

Lisa,
I would be in for brunch or dinner.
Brunch is my favorite!

On our last cruise in the same day:

We had a character breakfast
followed by brunch at Palo (the only day we could book on board)
Dinner at Palo- reserved online
Then, the kids wanted to go to dinner to get steak.

We were stuffed!

[twokings]

Mine is 19 and she is excited. =

What college does your daughter go to? Mine goes to Keene State.

[sbassgva]

I've posted some other name tag ideas over on the Facebook page. Please take a look at them and let me know your thoughts.

[platinumcruzer]

What college does your daughter go to? Mine goes to Keene State.

Looks like there are quite a few of us traveling with our daughters' . Mine is a junior at Florida Atlantic University.

I'm game for brunch....if we get enough, we can try to reserve the private room!

[sehandiph]

wow - I have been away from the board for a few weeks with a busy Christmas and New Year and I can't believe just how many posts I have had to read.

This has suddenly sprung to life.

Been busy sorting flights back to UK from Barcelona and sorting tickets for Disney for our visit before the cruise.

we are looking at doing the Expedition Everest 5km adventure run and scavenger hunt on May 7th. Anyone else doing this?

just starting to look at trips from the ports of call on the cruise.
Cadiz maybe the moutain villages or hiking in the Brena
Gib - maybe the walking tour
and maybe Monserrat half day on Barcleona
not sure anything really caught my eye in Madeira

Ian doesn't care what we do as long as he can just turn up and doesn't have to do any planning.

Sharon

[stsomewhere]

[QUOTE=sehandiph;39682283]wow - I have been away from the board for a few weeks with a busy Christmas and New Year and I can't believe just how many posts I have had to read.

This has suddenly sprung to life.

Been busy sorting flights back to UK from Barcelona and sorting tickets for Disney for our visit before the cruise.

we are looking at doing the Expedition Everest 5km adventure run and scavenger hunt on May 7th. Anyone else doing this?

just starting to look at trips from the ports of call on the cruise.
Cadiz maybe the moutain villages or hiking in the Brena
Gib - maybe the walking tour
and maybe Monserrat half day on Barcleona
not sure anything really caught my eye in Madeira

Ian doesn't care what we do as long as he can just turn up and doesn't have to do any planning.

Sharon[/QUOT

I am thinking about doing the hiking in Cadiz or Mt. Villages, too.
Gib- walking tour
Barcelona- full Monserrat
Madeira- I was thinking about canyoning but, am worried about it being too cold. Maybe the hiking or beach day


Christi

[sehandiph]

I am only thinking of the walking tours then I won't feel so guilty about eating all those desserts on board :rotfl2:

[braysmommy]

So after reading about this cruise I think we are in! I have contacted my travel agent and I think we will be booking today or tomorrow...it will be myself (43), my mom, Gail, otherwise known as Grammy and my DS, Brayden (4).
Kelli

[twokings]

So after reading about this cruise I think we are in! I have contacted my travel agent and I think we will be booking today or tomorrow...it will be myself (43), my mom, Gail, otherwise known as Grammy and my DS, Brayden (4).
Kelli

Welcome! We look forward to sailing with you.

[braysmommy]

Welcome! We look forward to sailing with you.

THANKS!!! We just booked our flight from CT to MCO!! No turning back now:)
Waiting for our TA to get back from her Dream cruise and then booking the trip through her.

I can't believe we are doing this and I need to start planning!! We are booked on the Fantasy 6/2/12 but it was too far away.

Is it to late to join the FE group?? Hope not:)

[stsomewhere]

My mother in law asked if I was really going on Survivor.....LOL:rotfl2:

I would of loved to if I was younger. I applied a few times.
But, I am over sleeping in elements and camping. Not my idea of a vacation!

[TammyAlphabet]

We have an inside cabin and our final payment is due next Friday, January 14th. I imagine that it's the same date for you.

But that means that we are getting closer to the cruise ! :thumbsup2

Thanks so much for this. I have some work I have to get done, (personal challenge) and if I do I am booking this cruise. Just was curious as I am hoping to snag a deal.

[njmom23grls]

:welcome: to new cruisers or potential cruisers

Hoping it works out for everyone. :thumbsup2

I'm excited... booked my flight today - just wasn't sure if prices were going to get any better so I picked a number I don't like, but can live with. I'm on Iberia air to London and British Air to Newark and then the train to Philadelphia.

Getting ready for more snow tomorrow.... Kids are really hoping for another snow day on Thursday

Lisa

[heatherb819]

Welcome aboard everyone! Please feel free to join the FE as I don't know that we have set an official cut off date yet Have WE????:confused3 Guess as a group we need to make that decision. I haven't even begun to make mine yet but know exactly what I'm doing. Can you believe next week is February? Time is getting away from me. I have a list of "to-do's" for packing and haven't gotten any accomplished yet. I want to go thru our bag of travel medicines etc and get expired items replaced. I also like to at least plan outfits so I know what has to be bought ahead of time. I know sounds OCD but it's tax season and I"ll be working crazy hours and before I know it the cruise will be here.

[heatherb819]

I have added columns to the spreadsheet for girls and boys for the FE. Please go in and edit yours accordingly.