May 18, 2013 MAGIC EBTA - Who is with us?

[Kirbo]

That's great news!

And I meant to say that Disney did not charge a deviation fee or for the hotel stay.

Great. We are also staying at the Marriott. We have a non-stop evening flight from Chicago on United. We will be using Disney transportation from the hotel in the morning. Look for us!!

I'll be the harried one with twins

Repeat after me....a good travel agent is worth her weight in gold. Way too many people forget about the service aspect and focus only on OBC.

Agreed!

We will be at the Marriott also using Disney, we should all try and meet maybe breakfast?

That could be fun. But if our flight the day before is super late, I may bag out of it. We're coming from PDX, so we'll be on Pacific time.

 

[heatherb819]

My travel agency rocks! She called today after finally having spoken with the air department. Our itinerary with them, flights not yet booked, did show they were going to fly us in on the day of. My travel agent pointed out the folly of that, it being the transatlantic, and they have switched it. They will be flying us in the night before and putting us up in the Marriott. So relieved!

Holy moly! That is quite the story. So glad it had a happy ending!

WTG!

Kirbo-
Did you have to pay deviation fees & what was cost of Marriott if you don't mind me asking or you can PM me! Thanks!!

 

[Kirbo]

Kirbo-
Did you have to pay deviation fees & what was cost of Marriott if you don't mind me asking or you can PM me! Thanks!!

I meant to put this in my post and forgot. We will not get charged the deviation fee or for the hotel. Disney is picking up those. We are coming from the PNW, so that may have factored into their decision.


I am going to update my other post with that information.

 

[Raspberry Beret]

Cool, Posting under my DH's screen name. Sorry!

 

[kaseyC]

I'll get this right this time under my own screen name!

We will be at the Marriott also using Disney, we should all try and meet maybe breakfast?

We should try as long as it's not too early.

 

[MandyGirl]

Thanks, Mandy. I was having a horrible time with their web site....but I'm working on it!

It took some getting used to.

 

[MandyGirl]

I headed to the cabin and had a BIG tumbler of Amaretto. ‘Gin was amazing, Michael was amazing and I was exhausted.

My planes, trains, and auto trip explains WHY I ALWAYS BOOK MY AIR 2 DAYS BEFORE I SAIL!! But even the best plans of women go awry sometimes. The cruise was amazing, the Dream was beautiful and we both had a blast.

Wowsers! Glad you made it --- and understand that BIG tumbler you most definitely needed!!

 

[MandyGirl]

I am quite aware that there are no insects living out in the middle of the ocean as I do hold a minor in Entomology.

Very cool!! These posts have made me realize I need to look up an upcoming trip we have to Costa Rica in the Arenal Volcano region.

 

[MandyGirl]

We're spending a few days in Barecelona and then a few days in Madrid, and flying back from Madrid to DC on United using miles. It's only 30,000 miles one way, which is way cheaper (on a miles per dollar basis) than the flight would have cost in cash. It might be late to start the planning now, but it's amazing what you can accomplish by taking advantage of credit card sign up offers. My wife and I got 55,000 miles each for opening up United credit cards, which was basically enough to get our family from DC to IAH and from Spain back to DC.

Gotta love those credit card points!!!

 

[MandyGirl]

Called our TA today and we are PIF now, I am so excited.

Congrats!!

 

[MandyGirl]

We are PIF too.
For the airfare we also prefer flying at least one day before, this time it's gone a be a week before to visit Texas.

Congrats on PIF! Which parts of Texas are you planning to visit?

 

[MandyGirl]

My travel agency rocks! She called today after finally having spoken with the air department. Our itinerary with them, flights not yet booked, did show they were going to fly us in on the day of. My travel agent pointed out the folly of that, it being the transatlantic, and they have switched it. They will be flying us in the night before and putting us up in the Marriott. So relieved!


ETA We will NOT be charged the deviation fee or for the hotel. We are flying in from the PNW, so that may have influenced the no charge.
Holy moly! That is quite the story. So glad it had a happy ending!

WTG!

Awesome news!! Sometimes they just need someone to remind them of the common sense side of things versus what a computer spits out. So glad DCL listened to your TA - and that you made that call!

 

[MandyGirl]

I'm flying into DFW on the Friday, staying in the Hyatt courtesy of Hotwire and an unbelievable rate, then flying United in the AM to IAH and driving down to Galveston. I should be at Galveston for around 1pm I think.

That's a good hotel and convenient being right there at DFW.

 

[Kirbo]

Awesome news!! Sometimes they just need someone to remind them of the common sense side of things versus what a computer spits out. So glad DCL listened to your TA - and that you made that call!

Me, too!

 

[belle2011]

Congrats on PIF! Which parts of Texas are you planning to visit?

Thanks,
We have plan to visit San antonio, seaworld, and then houston.
We also plan to go to the beach, maybe you know which one we should go from Houston ? (we were thinking to galveston not sure if it's the closest beach from Houston)

 

[Viking_53]

We're spending a few days in Barecelona and then a few days in Madrid, and flying back from Madrid to DC on United using miles. It's only 30,000 miles one way, which is way cheaper (on a miles per dollar basis) than the flight would have cost in cash. It might be late to start the planning now, but it's amazing what you can accomplish by taking advantage of credit card sign up offers. My wife and I got 55,000 miles each for opening up United credit cards, which was basically enough to get our family from DC to IAH and from Spain back to DC.

We are also using my United miles to head back from Europe. I'm a million miler flyer on United.

It's been awhile since I have posted (although I expressed interest in a post about poker earlier this week). It will be me (turing 50 in April!), DW, Marci (she'll be 45 just after this trip), and DD, Alyssa (5).

The only think that was a surprise for me using miles was that you have to pay the taxes on flights out of the US. The taxes are determined by what country you are flying out of. It turned out the UK and Germany were the most expensive, but I believe Spain, Portugal - even Luxembourg were quite cheap - around $50pp. My wife's heritage is in Germany, so we are flying there the day we disembark, and will be flying out of Germany a few days later (Frankfurt). The taxes added up to just under $400 for the three of us, but well less than the $1500pp I was finding to get us home!

We're flying Southwest from Denver the night before - cheapest option for us (it's actually more that what I paid for the trip back). I'm a little nervous about Southwest, but United's fares just aren't competive down there right now, which is odd since both Denver and Houston are hubs for them. I could have gone to Austin or San Antonio for about the same price, but then would have to rent a car, so that wasn't feasible either. We're taking the DCL transportation from Hobby on Saturday morning.

Chuck

 

[MandyGirl]

Thanks,
We have plan to visit San antonio, seaworld, and then houston.
We also plan to go to the beach, maybe you know which one we should go from Houston ? (we were thinking to galveston not sure if it's the closest beach from Houston)

Beach - yes, Galveston is the closest to Houston. There is parking along the seawall. It's not the white sand and clear blue water you see in the Caribbean, but it is sand and ocean. You will think Castaway Cay is much prettier. (When we took my daughter in September she opted to skip the beach - six years old - which was a surprise because she love swimming.)

San Antonio - Riverwalk - we always love eating at Boudro's. You can dine along the river or indoors, lunch is less expensive, and they do take reservations. Reviews are here.

Sea World is smaller than Orlando but still good. It now has the new water park integrated.

 

[MandyGirl]

We are also using my United miles to head back from Europe. I'm a million miler flyer on United.

It's been awhile since I have posted (although I expressed interest in a post about poker earlier this week). It will be me (turing 50 in April!), DW, Marci (she'll be 45 just after this trip), and DD, Alyssa (5).

The only think that was a surprise for me using miles was that you have to pay the taxes on flights out of the US. The taxes are determined by what country you are flying out of. It turned out the UK and Germany were the most expensive, but I believe Spain, Portugal - even Luxembourg were quite cheap - around $50pp. My wife's heritage is in Germany, so we are flying there the day we disembark, and will be flying out of Germany a few days later (Frankfurt). The taxes added up to just under $400 for the three of us, but well less than the $1500pp I was finding to get us home!

We're flying Southwest from Denver the night before - cheapest option for us (it's actually more that what I paid for the trip back). I'm a little nervous about Southwest, but United's fares just aren't competive down there right now, which is odd since both Denver and Houston are hubs for them. I could have gone to Austin or San Antonio for about the same price, but then would have to rent a car, so that wasn't feasible either. We're taking the DCL transportation from Hobby on Saturday morning.

Chuck

I hear you about taxes on FF miles -- that is why we did not cash in on our American miles to fly home. We ended up purchasing tickets for not much more out of pocket, or could have had ridiculous connections.

Don't worry over flying Southwest. It's not your traditional hub-and-spoke airline, but rather point-to-point. Houston has a pilot and flight attendant base for them and is one of their original three airports from when the airline was created, so definitely one of their busier locations. The other pilot base locations are DAL, PHX, BWI, OAK, MDW with the newest being LAS and MCO. Rumor is that eventually DEN will be added as a pilot base, but is not currently. Their AQR ratings are not as perfect as 10+ years ago since adding airports known for delays (versus the smaller in-town airports in their original model) but still pretty good when looking at the US airline rankings. Just be sure to do your online checkin right at 24 hours advance so you get a better boarding pass number, as Southwest is open seating. That said, my kindergartener still prefers to be "a big girl" and sit by herself on a different row to ensure she and little sister don't fight over the window. She's had 100+ flights on Southwest so she thinks she knows the system. When we fly an airline with assigned seating, she complains

 

[Debbru]

We're taking the DCL transportation from Hobby on Saturday morning.

Chuck

Are you sure? DCL told us that they are transporting from Bush only????? That was the only reason we booked a flight on United instead of Southwest!

 

[MandyGirl]

Are you sure? DCL told us that they are transporting from Bush only????? That was the only reason we booked a flight on United instead of Southwest!

When I was calling this summer, I was getting conflicting info from DCL depending on who I talked to.

The good thing is that there are cabs, limos, Super Shuttle, etc that run from Hobby to Galveston regularly. I asked at HOU Hobby for Super Shuttle and was told $110 for a private van for up to 8-10 passengers.

Even parts of this email I received in September were not clear regarding transportation from Hobby (see the blue):

9/13/12

Dear Mandy,

Thank you for choosing another Disney Cruise Line vacation!

I would be happy to assist you.

1) A minimum of 1 pre- and/or post-night can be added with a maximum of
3 pre- and/or post-nights at the following hotel in Galveston, based on
availability:

-Hotel Galvez & Spa

Only one 1 pre-night can be added at one of the following hotels, based
on availability:

-Houston Airport Marriott at George Bush International
-Houston Marriott South at Hobby Airport

Additional information:

*Pre/post-nights can be added up until 31 days prior to check-in date.
*Pre/post-nights are booked at the same hotel.
*Pre/post-nights are purchased for all Guests in the same stateroom.
*If pre/post-nights are requested within the deadline date, the resort
can be waitlisted.

If you are interested in adding pre- and/or post-nights to your
reservation, please call our Contact Center at 800-939-2784 or
407-566-7000 Monday-Friday 8:00am to 10:00pm (ET) or Saturday/Sunday
9:00am-8:00pm (ET). Our reservation agents will be happy to assist you.

2) Round-trip motor coach transportation can be arranged between the
Houston/George Bush Intercontinental Airport or Houston/Hobby
International Airport and the cruise terminal in Galveston for $60.00
per person, 3 years and older. There is no charge for children under 3
years of age.

OR

One-way motor coach transportation can be arranged from the
Houston/George Bush Intercontinental Airport or Houston/Hobby
International Airport to the cruise terminal in Galveston for $30.00 per
person, 3 years and older. There is no charge for children under 3 years
of age.

If you are flying into Houston/Hobby International Airport, you will
need to seek other transportation options to/from the cruise terminal in
Galveston.

If you are interested in adding this transportation option to your
reservation, please call our Reservations Department at 800-939-2784 or
407-566-7000, Monday - Friday 8:00am to 10:00pm (ET) or Saturday -
Sunday 9:00am - 8:00pm (ET) and we'll be happy to make these
arrangements for you.

Mandy, I hope this information has been helpful. If you require
further assistance in planning your visit, please feel free to contact
us.

We look forward to sailing again with you and your family!

Have a Magical Day!

Kaylee
Email Communications Agent
Disney Cruise Line