May 18, 2013 Magic EBTA Part Two - From Tejas to España

[NancyIL]

I leave on the 20th for 9 nights at WDW. First resort is BWV with 3 friends for 5 nights. We're going to Flower Power Concert on the 21st...Village People. How about you?

I'll be at the Swan, and may go to the last Village People show on the 21st. Off Kilter isn't playing their usual Wednesday-Friday sets this week (boohoo!) - so I definitely won't miss any of their sets on the 20th or 21st.

A good place to find me is at Off Kilter's stage in Canada - just before or after one of their sets. Just ask anyone for Nancy from Illinois.

 

[Yvet]

My daughter and I went out yesterday and had a blast shopping for our secret Mickey gifts!!! We spent the whole afternoon going from shop to shop to find the best deals and make our money stretch!! We were on the fence about doing the secret Mickey, but I'm so glad Yvette talked us into it...what fun!!!

Thank you so much for this compliment.
You made me blush...

I'm so glad people are enjoying the shopping!!!

 

[gramfrog]

It's great that DCL lets you bring on "reasonable personal consumption" of alcohol.We've never had a problem with packing and carrying on board our stash. But we've never gone on a 14 day cruise, either. Question: how much (beer, wine, hard alcohol, etc) have you brought on board an EBTA or WBTA before? Does Disney ever say "That's too much?"
Thanks!

 

[EjeG]

I have done so many cruises now, too many to count on RCCL and the EBTA will be my 5th with DCL, I no longer really bother with the formal stuff. It's great if you want to dress up, but I've never really had any problems not being overly formal on formal nights and I worn everything from my Black Tie to a Suit, to Trousers and a Blazer, to Trousers and Shirt, to Jeans and a T-Shirt. Only thing I won't go to on formal night is Shorts. But either way I think there should be no pressure - We've all spent a lot of money to be there so we should have the choice (within reason) of what we wear.

And don't get me started with Airline baggage polcies. I have 3 flights to contend with this trip.
BA from LHR to DFW - Club (Business) so 3 x 23kg with 'free' upgrade to 32kgs per
UA from DFW to IAH - Business/First so 2 x 50lbs
Then BA from BCN to LHR - Economy (and this is the stinger) 1 x 23kgs. I've already paid 40 euros per bag for another bag each, but that still only makes 2 x 23kgs.

These conflicted baggage policies are difficult to handle, either I have to go with the lowest common denominator (2 x 23kg) or lose some baggage along the way - We all know it usually goes the other way.

BA's excess weight baggage policy is quite costly (but not as much as the 600 euros quoted above).

European flights used to include everything but every year they seem to find something else they can charge you for. I suppose you've heard that at one point Ryan Air considered charging to use the toilets on board...

Paul

Ouch.. Yeah the bags tend to get heavier on the way back for some odd reason #darnsand

Ryan is nuts IMO.. More airliners should look at Southwest Airlines in the us. They are a budget airline, but they give you 2 free bags, thanks to that it's fairly easy to find overhead bin storage since people don't try to cram as much as possible in their carry on and avoid checking a bag. Also you still get free soda AND peanuts. Their air fairs are normally one of the cheapest.. Now for the kicker they are the largest budget airliner now in the US and 2012 marked their 40th year of PROFITABILITY.... low fares with no annoying fees, one of if not the friendliest customer Service of any airliner and have a very safe and reliable operations record... Sure the cattle call boarding can be a bit annoying but I can live with that and if someone don't want to move I guess they can watch my kids during the flights and I can enjoy a flight without them ... Ohh and if your frequent flyer with them from time to time you get drink coupons for free drinks and if you fly on some "holidays" you get a free drink (recently we flew during St Patricks and first drink was supposed to be free, somehow we never ended up needing to pay for our second drink.. which isn't the first time that happened to us).

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'll be at the Swan, and may go to the last Village People show on the 21st. Off Kilter isn't playing their usual Wednesday-Friday sets this week (boohoo!) - so I definitely won't miss any of their sets on the 20th or 21st.

A good place to find me is at Off Kilter's stage in Canada - just before or after one of their sets. Just ask anyone for Nancy from Illinois.

That's the set we are planning to go to, the last show on the 21st....before Illuminations! I should be wearing my Disboard bobbiwoz button.

Bobbi

 

[EjeG]

It's great that DCL lets you bring on "reasonable personal consumption" of alcohol.We've never had a problem with packing and carrying on board our stash. But we've never gone on a 14 day cruise, either. Question: how much (beer, wine, hard alcohol, etc) have you brought on board an EBTA or WBTA before? Does Disney ever say "That's too much?"
Thanks!

As long as you can carry it I never seen any issues.. LOL... I think record for us was 4x six packs of beer, 5x bottles of wine, 3 bottles of hard alcohol, add to this mixers (4x Tonic water, 2x bloody mary). That was for two b2b 7 day cruises.. We still racked up a fairly large drinks tab on our onboard ship account and ended up giving away 2 bottles of wine/champagne since we didn't manage to finish it all before the end of the last cruise. One of the bottles went to the room cleaner. We also gave a few bottles of beer to try to one of the Bartenders (got in a conversation about lemon flavored beer and he liked it and we happened to have a brand that he never tried).

From our experience the crew gets very humbled when you recongice them by offering and giving them a bottle of Wine or champagne.

 

[WVURunner]

My DH is bringing his Tux, glad to hear he can wear it for Palo as he isn't bringing another smart jacket. I will have one long evening dress and a couple of short ones for semi-formal. I love the chance to dress up!

Palo is as formal as you want to make it! Since we had the tux, might as well dress up again and make the most out of a nice meal.

Need help with those photos, let me know. I'll get you some really nice once.

Thanks for the offer, we might take you up on it! Who needs shutters when you are onboard.

I'm flying to Orlando tomorrow for 8 days at WDW. I am taking a carry-on roller bag and a backpack, as t-shirts and shorts don't take up much space. I think I can get by with the same suitcase for this cruise - with the addition of a pair of dress pants and a few dressier tops. It will also make going through customs at JFK a whole lot faster if my suitcase is a carry-on rather than checked baggage, as I have just under 2 hours between flights.

If you only take a carry-on roller bag on your trip, how I am suppose to stow away on it????

It's great that DCL lets you bring on "reasonable personal consumption" of alcohol.We've never had a problem with packing and carrying on board our stash. But we've never gone on a 14 day cruise, either. Question: how much (beer, wine, hard alcohol, etc) have you brought on board an EBTA or WBTA before? Does Disney ever say "That's too much?"
Thanks!

I have brought a backpack with over 30 beers (bottles) and a roller bag filled with bottles of wine and booze, the only thing I heard from CMs was them jokingly asking what my stateroom # was and when they should come by. We had a few fellow passengers ask the same thing too!

 

[nitrame]

As long as you can carry it I never seen any issues.. LOL... I think record for us was 4x six packs of beer, 5x bottles of wine, 3 bottles of hard alcohol, add to this mixers (4x Tonic water, 2x bloody mary). That was for two b2b 7 day cruises.. We still racked up a fairly large drinks tab on our onboard ship account and ended up giving away 2 bottles of wine/champagne since we didn't manage to finish it all before the end of the last cruise. One of the bottles went to the room cleaner. We also gave a few bottles of beer to try to one of the Bartenders (got in a conversation about lemon flavored beer and he liked it and we happened to have a brand that he never tried).

From our experience the crew gets very humbled when you recongice them by offering and giving them a bottle of Wine or champagne.

We have brought 2 cases of beer and the security group that scanned that bags just laughed at us. ! case of 24 cans fits a standard roller bag.

Understand it was the 14 night PC that we did that on and even with that we still had a bar bill

 

[birkner]

Hey.

So my name is Erica and DH to be is mark. This is our first transatlantic but will be our 4th Disney cruise. We currently live in England. What other cruises have you done and have you been with Disney before? Xx

John and I have been numerous cruise with other lines but this will be our 8th cruise with DCL. I love the longer cruises so it is taking us FOREVER to become platinum!!

 

[WVURunner]

John and I have been numerous cruise with other lines but this will be our 8th cruise with DCL. I love the longer cruises so it is taking us FOREVER to become platinum!!

I hear ya! At the end of this cruise, I will have 50 nights on DCL and will just be Gold but what can I say, I love the longer cruises so it is worth it to me.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is our first longer than a week DCL cruise, but depending how we like it, we are thinking of booking the May 4th 2014 WBPC cruise while on board. We are Gold on DCL. We have been on "longer than a week" Princess and RCCL cruises.

 

[Kirbo]

I could have sworn I saw a 2 bag pp limit somewhere from DCL. I found this on their site.

Thanks for clarifying that!

When you check in online, it's in the cruise contract.

Woody

I looked that over and missed the bag limit. I don't know how I've never realized they have one.

I'm flying to Orlando tomorrow for 8 days at WDW. I am taking a carry-on roller bag and a backpack, as t-shirts and shorts don't take up much space. I think I can get by with the same suitcase for this cruise - with the addition of a pair of dress pants and a few dressier tops. It will also make going through customs at JFK a whole lot faster if my suitcase is a carry-on rather than checked baggage, as I have just under 2 hours between flights.

As I dragged a large checked bag around train stations in Germany last June, I swore I wouldn't travel in Europe with such a large suitcase again. I'll also be camping in NZ next Feb. after 2 weeks on a cruise, so I'll be packing light for that, too.

Fun! Listen, we've never been to the parks and aren't sure if we want to go, but I'm thinking I need to sit down with one of the diehard park people and get the lowdown. So I might just track you down on board

Ouch.. Yeah the bags tend to get heavier on the way back for some odd reason #darnsand

Ryan is nuts IMO.. More airliners should look at Southwest Airlines in the us. They are a budget airline, but they give you 2 free bags, thanks to that it's fairly easy to find overhead bin storage since people don't try to cram as much as possible in their carry on and avoid checking a bag. Also you still get free soda AND peanuts. Their air fairs are normally one of the cheapest.. Now for the kicker they are the largest budget airliner now in the US and 2012 marked their 40th year of PROFITABILITY.... low fares with no annoying fees, one of if not the friendliest customer Service of any airliner and have a very safe and reliable operations record... Sure the cattle call boarding can be a bit annoying but I can live with that and if someone don't want to move I guess they can watch my kids during the flights and I can enjoy a flight without them ... Ohh and if your frequent flyer with them from time to time you get drink coupons for free drinks and if you fly on some "holidays" you get a free drink (recently we flew during St Patricks and first drink was supposed to be free, somehow we never ended up needing to pay for our second drink.. which isn't the first time that happened to us).

We love Southwest! They have such great customer service and their fares are very reasonable. I always book Southwest when I can.

 

[MandyGirl]

I hear ya! At the end of this cruise, I will have 50 nights on DCL and will just be Gold but what can I say, I love the longer cruises so it is worth it to me.

I will be 35 nights on DCL at end of cruise and still Silver Next DCL cruise booked will put me at 49 DCL nights (WBTA 2014)... and still silver after that one. If DCL would quit offering those longer cruises, I might make it past Silver one day (just kidding - but you know what I mean!)

This is our first longer than a week DCL cruise, but depending how we like it, we are thinking of booking the May 4th 2014 WBPC cruise while on board. We are Gold on DCL. We have been on "longer than a week" Princess and RCCL cruises.

All of our other cruises have been 7-nighters (HAL, Celebrity, NCL) but we have our first "longer than a week" cruise on NCL after the EBTA. Too bad no self serve laundry on that one, but being port intensive we will definitely be appreciative of turning in laundry I think versus doing it ourselves like we will on EBTA.

We love Southwest! They have such great customer service and their fares are very reasonable. I always book Southwest when I can.

 

[Ladyshopper]

We keep getting longer - 1st cruise was 7 nights, 2nd cruise 8 nights, and now our 3rd cruise is 14 nights!

Am not convinced there will be a 4th, having to factor airfare in from UK adds a considerable amount to the cost, and just not sure I can afford it. Plus will definitely be stuck to school holidays only next year, as both kids will be doing exams.

 

[kaseyC]

All of our other cruises have been 7-nighters (HAL, Celebrity, NCL) but we have our first "longer than a week" cruise on NCL after the EBTA. Too bad no self serve laundry on that one, but being port intensive we will definitely be appreciative of turning in laundry I think versus doing it ourselves like we will on EBTA.

IIRC, NCL usually offers one of those flat rate "stuff your laundry bag" specials on the longer cruises. It's pretty reasonable and it's amazing the amount of items I can stuff in a bag when it's a deal!

 

[Ladyshopper]

Just found quite a useful website about Barcelona. Hope I'm allowed to link to it (its nothing to do with me, I was just having a nosey on cruise critic and found it!)

http://carolandbob.info/BARCELONA INDEX.html

Useful info for me as we have the day in Barcelona as our flight doesn't go until 19.30 hours.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Just found quite a useful website about Barcelona. Hope I'm allowed to link to it (its nothing to do with me, I was just having a nosey on cruise critic and found it!)

http://carolandbob.info/BARCELONA INDEX.html

Useful info for me as we have the day in Barcelona as our flight doesn't go until 19.30 hours.

Thank you for the link.

If we wanted to take a guided bus tour, is there something like that available. Does anyone know about companies that do that in Barcelona. We've asked at the hotel we're staying at, and all that seems to be available are "do your own" tours.

Thanks

 

[NancyIL]

Fun! Listen, we've never been to the parks and aren't sure if we want to go, but I'm thinking I need to sit down with one of the diehard park people and get the lowdown. So I might just track you down on board

Yes, I guess I am a diehard Disney theme parks fan. I dont bother to bring a swimsuit to WDW, because so far I've never used a pool while there!

I'll be Gold after this cruise, but I have no plans for a future DCL cruise. I booked onboard the Fantasy in December in anticipation of a 2014 DIS Podcast cruise. However, the Podcast crew has made no plans that I am aware of, and I've lost interest. I just booked my 2nd non-Disney cruise for 2014, so I may cancel my dummy cruise on DCL.

 

[EjeG]

We have brought 2 cases of beer and the security group that scanned that bags just laughed at us. ! case of 24 cans fits a standard roller bag.

Understand it was the 14 night PC that we did that on and even with that we still had a bar bill

LOL we always brought a bunch of booze with us on the cruises but no matter how much we bring it seems that our bar bill always ends up being more than what we spent at the Liquor store. Guess just to lazy to get back to the room and fix ourselves a drink and bring with us
Of course it don't help that we attend a bunch of tasting sessions and somehow always end up staying after for another drink or three.. Seems every cruise I (we) get to a point where we just have to take at least one day to sober up and abstain from any alcohol LOL. Always feel like a alcoholic when cruising, I never drink that much at home (one weeks cruise intake is more than I do in a whole month at home)..

John and I have been numerous cruise with other lines but this will be our 8th cruise with DCL. I love the longer cruises so it is taking us FOREVER to become platinum!!

I hear you there.. We just turned gold. If it hadn't been for our b2b cruise over spring break we wouldn't have hit gold until after the EBTA and that would have put us on 46 cruise days. On one of those cruises we meet a couple that was platinum with 15 cruises under their belt, but they had never taken a cruise longer than 3 nights so they had a total of 45 nights. Kinda don't seem fair.

I hear ya! At the end of this cruise, I will have 50 nights on DCL and will just be Gold but what can I say, I love the longer cruises so it is worth it to me.

We are right there with you. Love the long cruises. It's awesome to get to visit lot of different places but one of the reason we are doing the TA is because of all the sea days. To do a 7 night cruise with 5 or 6 different ports can get a bit "tiresome" it seems since you get no chance of resting up and sleep in and just relax.

I will be 35 nights on DCL at end of cruise and still Silver Next DCL cruise booked will put me at 49 DCL nights (WBTA 2014)... and still silver after that one. If DCL would quit offering those longer cruises, I might make it past Silver one day (just kidding - but you know what I mean!)

Personally I always felt it's bit screwed up that they base the club levels based on number of cruises for this very reason. As mentioned above as example the couple that done 15 cruises and where platinum with a total of 45 nights and us after the EBTA would have done 46 nights over 5 cruises (if I don't count in the 2 recent short cruises, but in all honesty if we could have gotten a 7 night cruise we would done that instead of a 3 night and a 4 night). So we would have done equal amount of nights and they 5 cruises ago would turned platinum and we would just turned gold and yet we have 1 more night than them and we would have spent about equal amount of $ for our cruises but yet not getting the perks. Ohh well... We don't make the rules, just have to live by them but griping about it sure makes me feel a bit better

 

[EjeG]

Thanks for the offer, we might take you up on it! Who needs shutters when you are onboard.

LOL compliments will get you long way Of course I don't have all the nice lights and softboxes that Shutters does in their good setups. But with what I bring I can do some very good work and can generally put the roaming photographers work to shame, granted I'm sure most of the roaming photographers could do a LOT better work if they got free reign but they are very restricted on what they can and can't do and the equipment they get to use and how they get to use it. From my understanding they are not free to be to artistic creative and shooting with "safe" settings and they are also under time crunch so it's fire and move on. I also know that some of them have no photography background and basically just been shown how to take photos "the Disney way", granted many of them do have photography backgrounds and are very skilled but being restricted on what they can do and can't do.

I ended up at numerous cruises strike up conversation with some of the photographers (carrying around a Pro body tends to invite conversations with passionate fellow photographers), during these conversations I learned a bit about being a DCL (actually Disney period) photographer. Did you know that many of the cruise photographers work 14 hour days?