2010 news from the Magic

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Do you think it's possible that the gap actually means that the repos are pushed forward to allow more people to book? Because so many people want to go but can't take their kids out.
We took my son and DD out for the Panama Canal Repo in 2005 when he was in 7th grade and it was fine except he felt he didn't have time to study for an upcoming math test and did poorly when he returned. Needless to say that was the last time we took him out. However, my DD will be the same age for 2010 and I have no qualms about taking her out; I just don't know if the school will go for it this time.
So if they pushed the repos out a little it would be perfect as they don't do much in school after the state testing is done!

It is a possibility, but I personally do not think so, the E/bound repo through Panama had loads of kids on it and was basically the same time, and why rush back to the possibility of hurricanes in the Caribbean.

I still think the August repo will leave mid August.

Now it leaves various options, one being.

• Transatlantic into say Barcelona as before,
• Cruise Barcelona up to Harwich, via Gibraltar and Cadiz, and Madeira.
• Baltic cruises.
• The above in reverse. Cruise to Barcelona from Harwich, via Gibraltar and Cadiz, and Madeira. Then Repo back.

 

[pillow]

It is a possibility, but I personally do not think so, the E/bound repo through Panama had loads of kids on it and was basically the same time, and why rush back to the possibility of hurricanes in the Caribbean.

I still think the August repo will leave mid August.

Now it leaves various options, one being.

• Transatlantic into say Barcelona as before,
• Cruise Barcelona up to Harwich, via Gibraltar and Cadiz, and Madeira.
• Baltic cruises.
• The above in reverse. Cruise to Barcelona from Harwich, via Gibraltar and Cadiz, and Madeira. Then Repo back.

Well, I don't like that at all! I like the idea of traveling around England and then doing the TA out of Southampton. I hope you are wrong on this one, Andrew. As for Barcelona - been there done that. Great city, but would like to go somewhere new.

Oh, and Steph,

Our June 16th Med did eventually fill up. When we checked in at the port, I asked about upgrades and was told the ship was full. I think the cat 12 sale worked and pulled in a lot of people.

Jodie

 

[riggins]

Our June 16th Med did eventually fill up. When we checked in at the port, I asked about upgrades and was told the ship was full. I think the cat 12 sale worked and pulled in a lot of people.

Jodie

Jodie your comment made me think of a question. Does anyone know which of the Med cruises were most popular? From Jodie's comment, it makes me think that the 6/16 was the least popular, but that's just an assumption. Aside from school schedule issues, I don't think I care which Baltic we do, but I'm curious how the Med bookings went.

 

[pillow]

Jodie your comment made me think of a question. Does anyone know which of the Med cruises were most popular? From Jodie's comment, it makes me think that the 6/16 was the least popular, but that's just an assumption. Aside from school schedule issues, I don't think I care which Baltic we do, but I'm curious how the Med bookings went.

Yes, I think ours was one of the slower ones to book up. I'm guessing that its because some school systems let out JUST before cruise time and people wanted a week or two to decompress before taking off. Interesting to note that it was also a little cheaper than the July trips. Maybe some folks wanted warmer weather, and waited for July. Our weather in June was great, and as a matter of fact, we had 2 days where it was unseasonably hot (too hot for me really). I think that more people will prefer July for the Baltic for the warmer temperatures, so the early June cruises may be even slower filling up - maybe more chance of some sales?? Who knows, but thats where my thoughts are going.

Jodie

 

[mmouse37]

Yes, I've heard very good things about Virgin Atlantic. I think I would prefer a one way over + the WB TA. In that case, I've found a carrier - Aer Lingus - who offers a decent one way fare - better than any other carrier out there. Although I'm getting ahead of myself here. It will primarily depend on the cruise pricing, but I'm encouraged by finding the relatively cheap one way fare.

On another note, what is there to see and do in Southampton? I was thinking that we would fly over and spend a few days in London and then drive up to the Cotswolds for a few days before making our way to Southampton. Should we allow for some time in Southampton? Also, how many days should we allot for the Cotswolds? We're not really drive by and look people and aren't really into tours. We would like to take our time - maybe hike a little on the Cotswold way (but not too much cause we'd have the kidswith us). What do you think?

Jodie

P.S. Of couse, this is all contingent on us NOT crashing our rental car due to driving on the opposite side of the road.

We did the Cotswold's on a day bus trip from London. We went to three or four different villages and had lunch in one of the pubs. It was a very nice trip. Next day we took another bus trip to Bath and Stonehenge. Can't remember which one of the bus trips it was but one of those we took also included Windsor Castle. As we were walking in we saw three little girls walking into the castle to take the tour in their Disney princess costumes!! We overhead them talking about being princessess at the castle...too cute! We left the bus depot at 8:00 am and arrived back in London about 7:00 pm

My DD is in London right now. She arrived last night to work London Fashion week....she just called and said she was sitting and listening to Big Ben chime off 6:00 pm. We have been to London twice and I would love to go back to London for some pre-cruise time if it turns out the ship is leaving from the UK.

We flew Virgin Atlantic both times and they were great. We booked the 8:00 am flight out of Newark, NJ and arrived in London Heathrow at 8:00 pm.....it was good because we walked around a bit, had dinner, went to bed and awoke refreshed and ready to do London commando style!!! Virgin has free cocktails and they fed us constantly....even got ice cream bars!!!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Jodie your comment made me think of a question. Does anyone know which of the Med cruises were most popular? From Jodie's comment, it makes me think that the 6/16 was the least popular, but that's just an assumption. Aside from school schedule issues, I don't think I care which Baltic we do, but I'm curious how the Med bookings went.

I know the 7/28 and 8/10 were very popular and full, DCL did one discount at Cat 12 the same as it does in the Carribean some took advantage of this.

 

[Luv2Travel]

Virgin Atlantic is the carrier I use the most and has a second to none on board service. They go into either Heathrow or Gatwick.

Andrew (or any other Virgin Atlantic fliers) - are you a "Flying Club" member? If so, do you know if it's very difficult to use your miles? Meaning, are there lots of black out dates, or is it pretty easy to use you miles if you book far enough in advance? And (sorry for so many questions), how far out can you typically book using miles? TIA

Wait, there's more - I'm looking at getting the Virgin Atlantic American Express Black Card if anyone has any info on that as well.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Andrew (or any other Virgin Atlantic fliers) - are you a "Flying Club" member? If so, do you know if it's very difficult to use your miles? Meaning, are there lots of black out dates, or is it pretty easy to use you miles if you book far enough in advance? And (sorry for so many questions), how far out can you typically book using miles? TIA

Wait, there's more - I'm looking at getting the Virgin Atlantic American Express Black Card if anyone has any info on that as well.

Yes I am a flying club member and I have a lot of miles but haven't used them as I find its cheaper and better to book direct and not use them.

They have flights with special offers for Flying club but they never seem to be when I want to fly so its not to good for VA there.

I have however just booked a FREE flight to Venice with BA British Airways, from my air miles garnered from my flights recently to USA Lax and from Orlando.

VA booking is 11 months from return flight, BA is 12 months from return flight.

 

[Luv2Travel]

Yes I am a flying club member and I have a lot of miles but haven't used them as I find its cheaper and better to book direct and not use them.

Really?! That's interesting to know! I have a family of 5, so I'm looking into anyway I can possibly save money for this trip. I thought maybe by opening up the AmEx card I could accumulate points and at least use the points for "miles with money" to purchase premium economy fares.

Thank you for the good info and please keep it coming!
I'm off to go look into British Air a little more.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Really?! That's interesting to know! I have a family of 5, so I'm looking into anyway I can possibly save money for this trip. I thought maybe by opening up the AmEx card I could accumulate points and at least use the points for "miles with money" to purchase premium economy fares.

Thank you for the good info and please keep it coming!
I'm off to go look into British Air a little more.

I might be that I have to travel a lot I 'school holidays' so there is few deals then but on the UK Dis also from threads I have read the Virgin miles deals are limited and come out later, than first day booking and often you could have got it cheaper on first day prices.

Virgins actual flights and service is second to none.

I have found BA's reward system very easy to use, as said off to Venice on them for free in May 2009.

 

[Luv2Travel]

I have read the Virgin miles deals are limited and come out later, than first day booking and often you could have got it cheaper on first day prices.

When you say "first day booking," how do I find out when that is? Does VA release several months at a time (like quarterly)?

Thank you again for the info!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

When you say "first day booking," how do I find out when that is? Does VA release several months at a time (like quarterly)?

Thank you again for the info!

Its a rolling 335 days ahead so each day there's a release, if you go to the flight booking part and then to the Calender, it shows how far you can book up to as the dates past that are blacked out.

So you can work it out to the day, I have noticed fares go up and down in price, when they release air miles deals the normal price increases and you do not save.

However if booking a return trip you will not be able to book until the return flight is within 335 days.

I can do it a different way by booking a flydrive with its sister company Virgin holidays when I go to Orlando for example for August 09 I was booked in Feb this year.

 

[mousemom11]

I am planning to book the WB Repo online myself the day booking opens. Assuming that I know exactly which categories and cabins I want, what do you think the likelihood of my getting what I want with first tier pricing is online (if I get online right when booking opens that day)?

 

[danielle782001]

I am planning to book the WB Repo online myself the day booking opens. Assuming that I know exactly which categories and cabins I want, what do you think the likelihood of my getting what I want with first tier pricing is online (if I get online right when booking opens that day)?

I would also like to know the same thing

 

[pillow]

I would also like to know the same thing

When I booked our Med trip, I got online right when bookings opened. I booked the room, but received an error message due to the large volume of bookings they were getting. Then I called while still attempting to book online. When I finally got a rep on the phone, she told me that my original booking had gone through, which was good since I was watching the price go up by a few hundred dollars while I was trying to book. It was crazy. I was on both the phone and computer at the same time for several hours. My original booking was definitely an "opening" price and a good room. SO, if I were you, I would get online first thing.

Jodie

 

[mousemom11]

When I booked our Med trip, I got online right when bookings opened. I booked the room, but received an error message due to the large volume of bookings they were getting. Then I called while still attempting to book online. When I finally got a rep on the phone, she told me that my original booking had gone through, which was good since I was watching the price go up by a few hundred dollars while I was trying to book. It was crazy. I was on both the phone and computer at the same time for several hours. My original booking was definitely an "opening" price and a good room. SO, if I were you, I would get online first thing.

Jodie

Thanks Jodie. If booking opens on the 21st, we're going to be in Disneyland. So it looks like I might lose a few park hours booking the trip. But booking a Disney Cruise is the ONLY thing that would keep me out of the park! Oh wait, do you think I can get a wi-fi connection on POTC?

 

[grumpymakesmehappy]

When I booked our Med trip, I got online right when bookings opened. I booked the room, but received an error message due to the large volume of bookings they were getting. Then I called while still attempting to book online. When I finally got a rep on the phone, she told me that my original booking had gone through, which was good since I was watching the price go up by a few hundred dollars while I was trying to book. It was crazy. I was on both the phone and computer at the same time for several hours. My original booking was definitely an "opening" price and a good room. SO, if I were you, I would get online first thing.

Jodie

So what do you think I should do. I've got a 09 cruise that I'm going to transfer over. Should I immediately get online and book then call the TA and tell her to transfer my money over to this cruise or should I just instruct her to book the cruise for me. I'm trying to figure out how I can get the best price.

 

[mousemom11]

So what do you think I should do. I've got a 09 cruise that I'm going to transfer over. Should I immediately get online and book then call the TA and tell her to transfer my money over to this cruise or should I just instruct her to book the cruise for me. I'm trying to figure out how I can get the best price.

Just tell the TA to transfer your 09 cruise so that you don't lose your re-booking discount and OBC.

 

[din]

Of course on any trip visit London, there is so much to do there, so much history, museums, a lot free now, the London eye, all the historic buildings, Buckingham house, Westminster, Tower of London etc, and our theater.

The Olympic village will be worth a visit in 2010 and taking shape for the 2012 games, I counted about 20 high rise cranes on that site on Thursday, and they now have a lot of stuff going up.

Cotswolds, a great choice, I cannot say how long, it depends on what you like some People have two week holidays there, I would say at least 2 days, as long as it isn't raining! Try to add in Oxford while you are there. But do not drive there!!!!!

Southampton, well its a city, and a major cruise port, the best things are actually outside it, the New Forest, and also the Isle of White,are my favorites and if you like walking both of those you will enjoy.

Anyone form Southampton might flame me but, I wouldn't 'stay' there.

On our Med cruise we spent fours day in Barcelona before the cruise. If we make it to the Baltic cruise, we will be spending a few days in London. Once it is confirmed by DCL, can we please check in with you regarding the in and outs of getting around London?

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I am planning to book the WB Repo online myself the day booking opens. Assuming that I know exactly which categories and cabins I want, what do you think the likelihood of my getting what I want with first tier pricing is online (if I get online right when booking opens that day)?

I would also like to know the same thing

The main thing is 'dont panic' these boards can whip up some concern and a feeling of panic. Yes, there have een horror stories, booking online, the applcation freezing, the phones in meltdown, but I feel the transatlantics will not sell out as quick as the Panama repos and there will be good availability. As long as EVERYONE only does ONE applcation, and doesnt submit multiple applcations tier one pricing will stay around far longer.

On our Med cruise we spent fours day in Barcelona before the cruise. If we make it to the Baltic cruise, we will be spending a few days in London. Once it is confirmed by DCL, can we please check in with you regarding the in and outs of getting around London?

No problem.