Magic cruises Dover to Barcelona August 3-10, 2015

[Caropooh]

Didn't see a cruise meet thread started yet for Dover to Barcelona, so I'm doing it!
Join in the fun as we wait 16 months and 8 days until set sail!

It will be me (Carolyn or Caro), my husband Andrew and 2 daughters. Alana will be 21 and Kathryn will be 16. It will be Andrew and my 7th cruise and the girls 6th. We were able to get a Secret Porthole room (5520)!

7-Night Dover to Barcelona Cruise on Disney Magic
Sail Date: August 3 to August 10
Ship: Disney Magic
Day Port Ashore Onboard
1 Dover, England - 4:00 p.m.
2 At Sea
3 At Sea
4 Vigo, Spain 8:00 a.m. 4:45 p.m.
5 Lisbon, Portugal 8:00 a.m. 4:45 p.m.
6 Gibraltar, U.K. 12:15 p.m. 5:45 p.m.
7 At Sea
8 Barcelona, Spain 7:00 a.m.


PRIVATE COACH FROM LONDON TO DOVER

Planning on organising a private coach from Central London to Dover Port for £20 per person (roughly US$30pp)

Please send a Private Message to ReadingFC (Paul) or my DW Celestine if you would like to sign up.

ROLL CALL

Caropooh (Carolyn or Caro)
DH-Andrew (Alanapapa)
DD21- Alana
DD16- Kathryn

Grimbold (Neil)
DGF-Jane
DS5 Tom
DD12 Kate

Socababy (Christina)
DBF- Rob
DS12
DS10
DD7
DMIL
DFIL

Rachelsmom (Diane)
DH- Perry
DD17- Rachel

jbrockwell5081 (Jacqui)
DH- Rob
DD7- Holly
DS4-Ethan
DM/GM
DD/GF

Dizney 73 (Jami Ann)
DH
DD9
DS6

Foobus
2 adults
3 kids (8, 11, 14)

Herman Triplets+1
DW
DH
DD18
DD18
DS18
DS16

Peppermintangel
2 adults
DD5

redsox13
DW
DH
DD4
D?1

Celestine (Celestine)
DH- Paul (ReadingFC)
DD15 Lauren
DD10 Hermione

LisaHK (Lisa)
DH- Andy
DS13- Joshua
DS11- Charlie
DS7- Zachary
DD4- Heidi

MissMorningStar (Amanda)
DD16- Cameron-Jayne

twopeasonepod
DH
DS9
DS9

MacDisney
group of 17

waltcanada
DW
4 kids



Mummy lee
DS17- Jordan
DD14- Alice

disfamilyfun (Malikah)
DM/DGM
DD18

Princess Runner (Elcka)
DH- Carlos
DD11

Stevens

Claire2015 (Claire)
DH- Matt
DS11- Rhys
DS7- Lex


Lark

mlandon (Michael)
DW- Shannon
DD4- Portia

SMFFMS (Shannon)
DH- Paul
DD17- Jessica
DS9- Erik

Disnylvr77 (Stephanie)
DH-Alex
DD12- Sidney

DisneyNurse19 (Donna)
DD Louisa

Tig83

Doppler

Nemo87 (Jim)
DW- Jen
DS15- Jamie

kails26
DM
DDad
DSister
DBF
DU

sstein38 (Shannon)
DM- Donna
DS8- Micah

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

We are silver so no booking until tomorrow.

Sean(47), Wife Crystal(37), Daytona(12), Geoffrey(9) and mother Shelagh.

We are doing this back to back most probably with the first 5 day Med cruise but also possibly with an 11 night NCI cruise leaving Barcelona with an unbelievable price.

Went on a Med cruise in 2012 and loved it. Can't wait to go back to Barcelona. Loved that city.

Our fourth cruise - see signature.

Caro - your almost a neighbor. We usually go out of SeaTac for long flights.

 

[alanapapa]

We are silver so no booking until tomorrow.

Sean(47), Wife Crystal(37), Daytona(12), Geoffrey(9) and mother Shelagh.

We are doing this back to back most probably with the first 5 day Med cruise but also possibly with an 11 night NCI cruise leaving Barcelona with an unbelievable price.

Went on a Med cruise in 2012 and loved it. Can't wait to go back to Barcelona. Loved that city.

Our fourth cruise - see signature.

Caro - your almost a neighbor. We usually go out of SeaTac for long flights.

Welcome Neighbor,
We will have to schedule some sort of DisMeet. I am the quieter half of Caropooh, her DH Andrew.

 

[socababy]

This is probably the furthest out that I have ever booked a cruise! This cruise will be me, Christina, my boyfriend Rob and my 3 kids who will be 12, 10, and 7 when we cruise. My mother in law and father in law will also be joining us. We will be doing this cruise and the 5 night following this cruise.

This will be my 14th cruise and my kids are a few cruises behind me. This will be our first European cruise. The kids are older and I thought this would be a good time. Can't wait to start doing research!

After this cruise, the kids and I will finally have our Grand Slam, having cruised on all 4 ships!!

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Welcome Neighbor,
We will have to schedule some sort of DisMeet. I am the quieter half of Caropooh, her DH Andrew.

Last time we went to Europe we rented Studio Sea for the meet and greet, I can find out from the person who did it how to go about that.

Socababy - we are doing back to back as well. We did Barcelona, Villefranche, La Spezia and Rome in 2013. If you have any questions about any of the ports go ahead.

 

[rachelsmom97]

Hi,

Looks like there will be a few doing B2B's on this cruise.

Just booked the 7 night Dover to Barcelona and 5 night Mediterranean!

It will be me (Diane), husband (Perry) and daughter (Rachel) age 17. Plan on spending a few days in London before and possibly 2 days in Barcelona after.

Looks like a few of us here from the Pacific Northwest are on the cruise

Diane

 

[jbrockwell5081]

Hellloooo! We are booked on to the Dover repo. We couldn't quite afford to tag the 5 night Med on afterwards, so it's just the one for us.

And someone pinched our secret porthole cabin (5520) We'll come and stalk you, hehe. So we're down on Deck 2 now. Can't moan, we aren't even Silver yet so didn't really have a chance.

There will be me (Jacqui), hubby (Rob), daughter (Holly, 7) and son (Ethan, 4). First Disney Cruise, First cruise, so got some learning to do! We're already in the UK so just have to figure out how to get to Dover in the first place.

 

[socababy]

JimmyJackJunior, I will definitely be picking your brain on tips to those ports you have been to already!

This might turn into a big trip overall for us. My father in law and I were talking last night and he was thinking of flying into NY and stay a few days there before flying to England since most of the flights seem to connect through NY. Then he said lets stay a few days in England before the cruise and a few days in Barcelona after. Sounds great and all but we will see. It's easy for the kids and I to take time off then but not so much for my boyfriend. So we will see.

And I guess I should clarify things about referring to my in-laws and my boyfriend. I have been widowed for 5 1/2 years. I am very close to my late husbands parents, my in laws. I know I have had some people confused when I use in-laws and boyfriend in the same sentence.

 

[Dizney73]

Count us in! I can't actually believe that I am posting here! We had planned on the western Caribbean cruise with friends but when our TA sent us the sticker shock price for that cruise we switched to this one! We already did the western Caribbean one and didn't wish to pay that much to do something we already did! I am so excited! We are a family of 4... myself, my husband, dd9 and ds 6 (at cruise time)! Yippeee! I already can't wait!

 

[Foobus]

Booked today. Like an above poster, did a 7 day out of Barcelona in 2013, loved the city and can't wait to return. 2A and 3C (8,11,14)..... Only 494 days out

 

[alanapapa]

Hellloooo! We are booked on to the Dover repo. We couldn't quite afford to tag the 5 night Med on afterwards, so it's just the one for us.

And someone pinched our secret porthole cabin (5520) We'll come and stalk you, hehe. So we're down on Deck 2 now. Can't moan, we aren't even Silver yet so didn't really have a chance.

There will be me (Jacqui), hubby (Rob), daughter (Holly, 7) and son (Ethan, 4). First Disney Cruise, First cruise, so got some learning to do! We're already in the UK so just have to figure out how to get to Dover in the first place.

Sorry about that (not really), if you are nice, we will let you come up to visit it.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

For those doing back to backs I have confirmed with Disney that unlike US based back to backs you and/or your bags may stay on the boat in Barcelona.

My plan is to leave the bags on and go do the Ramblas. Tried to do it twice last time we went. When we arrived no one in our party could adjust to the time difference on the first day. On our last day, we went to the top of the Ramblas, a police officer directed us in the wrong direction. When we finally got sorted out one of the kids started throwing up.

 

[socababy]

For those doing back to backs I have confirmed with Disney that unlike US based back to backs you and/or your bags may stay on the boat in Barcelona.

My plan is to leave the bags on and go do the Ramblas. Tried to do it twice last time we went. When we arrived no one in our party could adjust to the time difference on the first day. On our last day, we went to the top of the Ramblas, a police officer directed us in the wrong direction. When we finally got sorted out one of the kids started throwing up.

Okay without me looking it up, please share what the Ramblas is! Also since two of you sailed out of Barcelona last year, is there a lot to walk to around port. I was thinking we'd just walk around port on the 10th before getting back on the ship. I think having lunch in Barcelona sounds much better than lunch on the ship!

 

[rachelsmom97]

For those doing back to backs I have confirmed with Disney that unlike US based back to backs you and/or your bags may stay on the boat in Barcelona.

My plan is to leave the bags on and go do the Ramblas. Tried to do it twice last time we went. When we arrived no one in our party could adjust to the time difference on the first day. On our last day, we went to the top of the Ramblas, a police officer directed us in the wrong direction. When we finally got sorted out one of the kids started throwing up.

Thanks for that info. We are adding a couple extra days in Barcelona at the end of the B2B so was not sure if we had to get off or not.

I wonder if they will let us do laundry during that time

We are scheduling a few days in London before sailing from Dover. This will be our last big family trip as my daughter will be entering her senior year of high school right after the vacation.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Okay without me looking it up, please share what the Ramblas is! Also since two of you sailed out of Barcelona last year, is there a lot to walk to around port. I was thinking we'd just walk around port on the 10th before getting back on the ship. I think having lunch in Barcelona sounds much better than lunch on the ship!

The port is a fair distance from anything but Disney has shuttle buses going to and from the base of the Ramblas to the ship. The Ramblas is a market street. Lots of interesting shops and some of the best food in Barcelona by reputation. There is a fresh fruit and vegetable market and lots of tapas bars. Tapas are snack sized meals. Normally you will go have three or four of the snacks to make a whole meal. You could also get on the metro from the bottom of the Ramblas and get to some of the Gaudi sites, but that might be better served as a day trip if you are spending more days in Barcelona.

The Ramblas is close and both the Rick Steves and Lonely Planet books say three hours is a decent amount of time there. This makes it sound ideal for the amount of time we will have.

That reminds me. If you have a PVR, set it to Rick Steve's Europe Travel program. They are ideal as a primer for some of the cities we will be visiting.

Another great resource is an internet site called Tom's Port Guides. Great instructions for how to get in and out of ports and travel about them to major tourist destinations. I did a great deal of research on useful sites but I left it all in Barcelona thinking it would be years before I would be back. However, Lisbon was on my bucket list and my wife's great grandfather was stationed at Gibraltar in World War 1 so we are headed back.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

I wonder if they will let us do laundry during that time

We are scheduling a few days in London before sailing from Dover. This will be our last big family trip as my daughter will be entering her senior year of high school right after the vacation.

They said the pools and clubs would be closed. You will be able to eat disembarkation breakfast and then topsiders will be available for lunch. I can't see why laundry would not be available as there is no way or reason to block it off. I don't think I will be able to book much time off before the cruise. We will likely be adding some time on the back in Barcelona though.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Is somebody going to start a 5 day thread? I would but the only one I ever started, a double dip to Castaway Cay, got cancelled so the Wonder could go to rehab. Wouldn't want to introduce that kind of luck to our cruise.

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

I did it! I booked, too!
I was a bit hesitant because it's really hard to know if my kids will be available in a year and 1/2, but I've wanted to do this cruise since reading about it a few years ago (when was it? 2010? I don't remember - the last time DCL did the Baltics). I really hope we can do it together. My DH's grandmother, Granny as we called her, was born and raised in Gibraltar and we've always wanted to visit there. It will be my 3rd DCL cruise, and the rest of the family's 2nd. We'll have 4 big teens then, ages 18/18/18 and 16 at cruise time. I was a bit worried because 18 is an awkward age on DCL, neither here nor there. So I was happy to read here that there are a few other families already in the group with that age range teens - hooray! We're on deck 2, between mid and aft - same as we were last cruise together. The kids liked being near that aft elevator, direct to the food and drink.

 

[Peppermintangel]

Hi all! We're all booked in on this cruise It will be our 2nd Disney cruise - though we've not been on our first yet!! Which is on May 31st, 7 nights around the Med - Barcelona, Villefranche, La Spezia, Civitivecchia & Naples

We're two adults and our daughter who will be 5 next year. And we're on deck 2 as well

We're very much looking forward to our first cruise in 2 months and, living in the UK, when this cruise came up from Dover we couldn't resist!

 

[jbrockwell5081]

Sorry about that (not really), if you are nice, we will let you come up to visit it.

Yay