9 Magic nights in Norway 6/20/2015

[minniefaye]

Hello All! we booked this morning :good vibes

This will be our first time on the Magic-- it will be me, my dh, and dd(11yrs)-- we're leaving the two boys home with the grandparents

 

[890537]

Glad to see others on the b2b with the 11n repo to Dover. DCL is very sly about only repeating one port between the 11 and 9 night. When the new itineraries came out on Monday, I thought this trip would surely be the top seller but the repo through Iceland by far was the most booked.

We chose this cruise because we couldn't decide between the 11 night with Iceland and 12 night Baltic. Briefly considered doing as b2b but thought that was a bit crazy. b2b with the 7 night Baltic is much more manageable and we just miss Iceland.

 

[Yensidfan]

Hi, we also booked this cruise Wednesday along with the 11-night Norway/Iceland cruise. The two cruises make a great B2B adventure. Great seeing past cruising friends on this cruise.

Pete & Faith

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list
Have a great cruise!

 

[quinnc19]

Hi! We are joining as well! I also hoped for a SPH, but settled for a 9C instead. I loved our DCL Alaska cruise last year, and we are doing one of the Meds this year, so I am excited about returning to fjords next year! My DD will be turning 8 the day before we cruise, so hopefully she will be spending her birthday in Tivoli Gardens!

 

[zmom]

DS13 and I will also be there- our first cruise as Gold- yay! So excited!

 

[Steve 144]

Hello Everyone,

We are Peter and Steve and we also booked this cruise. We are just back from a Bahamian cruise on the magic. The magic is my favorite Disney ship and it wil be are third cruise on the magic.

 

[gwmom]

Husband and I excited to be on this cruise, have been waiting to go to Norway for years...

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Wow… we have so many people already :good vibes

I know this is kinda early but I thought I would ask. Is anyone interested in doing a FE? My husband and I had such a great time with it last time. Though being that we will have to fly home from Norway I think we might want to make some limitations on gift size and quantity. I would sure hate to have to leave something behind due to suitcase being too full

If people are interested I do not mind heading up the group

 

[DreaMer2625]

Just finalized our room!!!!!!!! Beyond excited to see Norway - it was so hard choosing between the 9 day and the 11 day. It took all of 5 minutes to win over my mom Our sailing party is Mom (ageless), me (26), younger sis (12) and - hopefully - my friend Bridget (26). This will be our first time on one of the classic ships, we've been on the Dream and Fantasy several times.

 

[zmom]

Wow… we have so many people already :good vibes I know this is kinda early but I thought I would ask. Is anyone interested in doing a FE? My husband and I had such a great time with it last time. Though being that we will have to fly home from Norway I think we might want to make some limitations on gift size and quantity. I would sure hate to have to leave something behind due to suitcase being too full If people are interested I do not mind heading up the group

We would love to participate in the FE. Looks like this is going to be a big group, so quantity limits would be great. Thanks for offering to lead!

 

[gerryswifehlt]

Hi everyone! We booked Wednesday morning! This won out over NYE to Jamaica for my girls who will be 13 & 15 and my husband and me (still have to cancel that one!!). We are super excited!! This will be our first trip to Europe! We love the Magic and FE but I do not like Disboards!! Sorry, but it just confuses me!! Lol Hope to see a Facebook group maybe?? It's going to be a long 15 months!!

 

[BelleLvsBooks]

We're in so excited! Have been waiting for Norway for a while. This will be our 6th Disney Cruise (2nd in Europe). Me, DH and DS (13).

 

[alagille]

Hi everyone! We booked Wednesday morning! This won out over NYE to Jamaica for my girls who will be 13 & 15 and my husband and me (still have to cancel that one!!). We are super excited!! This will be our first trip to Europe! We love the Magic and FE but I do not like Disboards!! Sorry, but it just confuses me!! Lol Hope to see a Facebook group maybe?? It's going to be a long 15 months!!

Disboards on the regular computer is cumbersome and confusing. I love it on my ipad, though. It cuts out the ads and fluff.

 

[GarakDS9]

Disboards on the regular computer is cumbersome and confusing. I love it on my ipad, though. It cuts out the ads and fluff.

I agree once I started using the DIS on the ipad I never went on it with a computer again.

 

[GarakDS9]

I added the itinerary to the first post.

I added a link to booger73 thread on Norway planning.

 

[GarakDS9]

Wow… we have so many people already :good vibes

I know this is kinda early but I thought I would ask. Is anyone interested in doing a FE? My husband and I had such a great time with it last time. Though being that we will have to fly home from Norway I think we might want to make some limitations on gift size and quantity. I would sure hate to have to leave something behind due to suitcase being too full

If people are interested I do not mind heading up the group

Thank you for volunteering to head up the FE. My wife and I were discussing these logistics yesterday. Not only flying to and from Europe but also many families are on a B2B. Between luggage limitations and the cost of shipping things ahead it will make the FE challenging but not impossible.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Thank you for volunteering to head up the FE. My wife and I were discussing these logistics yesterday. Not only flying to and from Europe but also many families are on a B2B. Between luggage limitations and the cost of shipping things ahead it will make the FE challenging but not impossible.

So after a bit of research my husband and I came across a great itinerary on Holland America (14-day cruise for about what we are paying now) and now I am not sure what we should do. Is anyone else worried that the cooler weather will restrict the slide and pool use? The Rotterdam has a covered pool. If we switched boats I WOULD DEFINITELY miss all of the Disney stuff, but the other itinerary goes up 4 large fjords instead of two and also has 3 days where the boats just cruising the fjords; talk about a great day to read a book. I am at a loss. I would miss SO MANY things about the Magic but I ask myself, "I am going to Norway, so shouldn't you be more worried about that?" Anyone ever cruised on Holland? I have done Princess, which is decent, and Royal Caribbean, which we hate.

 

[GarakDS9]

So after a bit of research my husband and I came across a great itinerary on Holland America (14-day cruise for about what we are paying now) and now I am not sure what we should do. Is anyone else worried that the cooler weather will restrict the slide and pool use? The Rotterdam has a covered pool. If we switched boats I WOULD DEFINITELY miss all of the Disney stuff, but the other itinerary goes up 4 large fjords instead of two and also has 3 days where the boats just cruising the fjords; talk about a great day to read a book. I am at a loss. I would miss SO MANY things about the Magic but I ask myself, "I am going to Norway, so shouldn't you be more worried about that?" Anyone ever cruised on Holland? I have done Princess, which is decent, and Royal Caribbean, which we hate.

We have sailed on Princess twice in the last year. We were fully dedicated to Disney but we ran out of new itineraries. We first sailed Princess around the British Isles. We chose them strictly for the itinerary. When pre-researching leaving Disney we were told by many friends and agents that our two best choices were Princess and Celebrity. I was curious why not Holland? They have a good reputation. We were told that their demographics were very very senior and the atmosphere very stuffy! We were often warned that Celebrity was nearly in the same situation. We booked Princess with very ordinary expectations. We wanted a floating hotel with good food that brought us to amazing places to visit. That is exactly what we got. Barely! Princess added no magic (pardon the pun) to the trip at all. From dining room staff to room attendant to entertainment staff. I really missed that extra touch from DCL. Full disclosure, we are around 40 with a mid teen child. Regarding demographics on Princess, there was maybe 15% of cabins similar to us. One port guide looked at us after witnessing that days disembarking and commented that "wow you have a young population sailing this time compared to the last few that arrived here". We sailed in August during both USA and Britain school holiday.

Having said all of this. You might think we had a lousy time but it was a wonderful trip. We did private excursions in every port. We were brought efficiently and safely around the country. All of our wonder( pardon the pun) was self fulfilled not because of Princess. My son loved their teen room. Again not because of Princess but because he was with a great set of peers.

Notice that we sailed Princess again in February. I booked it because of a great price and itinerary to Belize and Honduras. Princess redeemed itself with good band music and pleasant entertainment staff. We had a great time but the only thing extra that I found was in my wallet, which I don't minimize. I had pre-priced Princess and they came out about $1500 cheaper for Norway. My wife and son both jumped at DCL when given the option.

I guess a lot depends on what experience you are looking for and at what price point. FYI, I have a customer from Norway. I was telling her that I'll have to bundle up on this trip. She cautioned me otherwise. She said Norway in June is perfect and resembles New England in June. The Gulf Stream keeps them mild. Also my best time ever in a DCL pool was in Juneau Alaska in August. A local told me it was one of the best 10 days of the year. The temperature outside was 65 and the heated pool felt wonderful and we had it to ourselves for a couple of hours. This is coming from a couple with very low tolerance for cold water.

Wow, that was a lot more than I expected. It would have been a lot easier to speak this than type this.

 

[long_time_cruiser]

Anyone ever cruised on Holland? I have done Princess, which is decent, and Royal Caribbean, which we hate.

My husband and I cruised on Holland America to Alaska before Disney did that itinerary. We were on the Zaandam, which is a smaller ship than the Magic. We had a great time. They offered good excursions, but less dining options. The service was good and the ship was well maintained/clean. There were lots of activities on sea days for all ages.