Another MAGICal Adventure - WBTA 2015

[wdrl]

Just 365 days to go before we board the Disney Magic and begin our cruise. Time is getting short!

 

[wdwgoose]

Tomorrow I will be on the M A G I C



garRy

 

[rockandreel]

Just 365 days to go before we board the Disney Magic and begin our cruise. Time is getting short!

Less than a year! Yeaaaa!

 

[gismo1554]

Just checkin in as signed up for this cruise on the WBTA. Hope to see a lot of familiar faces

 

[Lisa]

Please add us on the roll call. There will be three of us; myself, my husband, Roy, and my mother, Eilean. We so enjoyed this year's WBTA, looking forward to another next year.

I booked and paid deposit. So I'm in.
I go alone this time and that's a little bit strange.

Liesbeth, we were only two cabins down from you (as you walked to the elevator) for this last WBTA 2014 but didn't meet up with you in the hallway. I saw arms over the balcony a few times but felt it would be odd yelling window to window outside to get your attention.

 

[epcot1stfave]

Just checking in to catch up with all the new cruisers, We are just back from a 2 week stay at, SSR our home resort. We had a great time despite a few wet afternoons. We were celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this year. . We had an excellent dinner at our favourite restaurant, Citricos were our server spoilt us, afternoon tea at the GF which was nice, dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe, which we always enjoy. One place we did not enjoy for dinner was the Wave, it took 35 minutes from ordering to being served, we did go up to the Top Of The World lounge after at BLT though to watch the fireworks so we did have a nice end to the evening We were sorry to see that some of our favourite rides/attractons/shows were finishing this month so we did them all a few times while we could. Sorry this is almost turning into a trip report so I will finish now. Once again welcome everyone.

 

[msbiscuit]

Hi Everyone!
I booked this while on board the Wonder for the California Coastal repositioning cruise. Love sea days!


Barb

 

[wdwgoose]

Im back
WELCOME NEW CRUISERS

garRy

 

[wdwgoose]

FINALLY A

T . O . P

was on MAGIC for the first southern out of San Juan, last minute cruise. I can ONLY SAY I hope its gets better !!!!!
To me it was NOT a normal DISNEY CRUISE !!!!!!!!

NOT THINKING I will EVER cruise out of there again NOT even on Disney.

okay enough VENTING before I say the WRONG THING.

still booked on this one . From the B2B cruisers this sounded like a GREAT TIME.


garRy

 

[PFlamingo]

FINALLY A

T . O . P

was on MAGIC for the first southern out of San Juan, last minute cruise. I can ONLY SAY I hope its gets better !!!!!
To me it was NOT a normal DISNEY CRUISE !!!!!!!!

NOT THINKING I will EVER cruise out of there again NOT even on Disney.

okay enough VENTING before I say the WRONG THING.

still booked on this one . From the B2B cruisers this sounded like a GREAT TIME.


garRy

Really?? Do tell!

The WBTA in 2011 had some issues that made it somewhat less magical than our previous DCL experiences. My theory is that they pulled the more experienced crew for the new ship (can't recall if it was the Dream or Fantasy that launched then, and I'm too lazy to look it up), and ours effectively became a training cruise. It was okay - we cut our servers some slack because I think the kitchen was having problems. There were other small things, too - customer service not as efficient as usual and all.

Was it leaving from San Juan that was the issue or the cruise in general?

 

[gismo1554]

Was it leaving from San Juan that was the issue or the cruise in general?

Just to chip in as came back through San Juan on the WBTA this year and I'm sure at least some of the frustration came from the inept efficiency of immigration! It took almost 3 hours to get off the ship on debarkation day because the customs people just seemed to be on a go slow. It was like they had never had a cruise ship arrive before as the systems seemed to be breaking all over the place and nothing was going smoothly. I'm sure that some people must have missed connecting flights. My flight was 1:45pm and I finished breakfast at around 9 and headed straight off the ship. There was a queue from deck 4 mid ship back through D lounge around along by the lifts and back past the shops that just didn't seem to move. Outside the ship it went miles too and I heard there was an issue with people being sent down the escalators to the customs area when the queue was already backed up causing a pile up. After that they started stopping people outside D lounge and sending groups of around 20 down at a time. They also had Natalie (cruise director) running up and down the line on the ship checking for people who had flights earlier that 12pm to try and get them through as soon as possible. After all that I finally checked in at the airport about 12 - 12:30pm (used DCL transportation so had a little bit of a wait but nothing major)! I don't think I've ever known it to be so slow. I really don't know what happened. I definitely will be in no rush to ever cruise through San Juan again!

I would assume that the delays in getting people off the ship would have had a real knock on to getting people back on the ship too! It just seemed so slow I really don't know what they were doing. And it wasn't like the immigration officers were actually reacting to the lines being huge. They still had a good old chat with people. The scanner for finger prints broke down on me on my line so they ended up having to combine 2 lines into one window and this wasn't the only line having those issues. I was surprised how calm people were keeping as I was starting to feel quite stressed after being told the machine had broken on me and I'd have to wait again! Was so glad to get through and just get to the airport. I know there is little to do at San Juan airport but it would have been nice to have had enough time to relax a bit before the flight rather than rushing through, grabbing some postcards and a landshark in Margarittaville and then having to board.

 

[stringbag22]

Just checking in. Cannot wait for Sept 19th. WBTA 2014 was our first ever cruise and we loved it, especially the sea days. My first intro to your Disboard group was at HRC Barcelona which was pretty hectic and crammed with cruisers. Over the course of our cruise we have met and talked to many friendly travellers who have been very helpful to us newbie cruisers. Thanks you to Sue and Richard (BabyDiver) who have led us by the hand and alerted us to the many tasting sessions coming up. Hope to see some of the same faces on the WBTA 2015

 

[PFlamingo]

Just to chip in as came back through San Juan on the WBTA this year and I'm sure at least some of the frustration came from the inept efficiency of immigration! It took almost 3 hours to get off the ship on debarkation day because the customs people just seemed to be on a go slow. It was like they had never had a cruise ship arrive before as the systems seemed to be breaking all over the place and nothing was going smoothly. I'm sure that some people must have missed connecting flights. My flight was 1:45pm and I finished breakfast at around 9 and headed straight off the ship. There was a queue from deck 4 mid ship back through D lounge around along by the lifts and back past the shops that just didn't seem to move. Outside the ship it went miles too and I heard there was an issue with people being sent down the escalators to the customs area when the queue was already backed up causing a pile up. After that they started stopping people outside D lounge and sending groups of around 20 down at a time. They also had Natalie (cruise director) running up and down the line on the ship checking for people who had flights earlier that 12pm to try and get them through as soon as possible. After all that I finally checked in at the airport about 12 - 12:30pm (used DCL transportation so had a little bit of a wait but nothing major)! I don't think I've ever known it to be so slow. I really don't know what happened. I definitely will be in no rush to ever cruise through San Juan again!

I would assume that the delays in getting people off the ship would have had a real knock on to getting people back on the ship too! It just seemed so slow I really don't know what they were doing. And it wasn't like the immigration officers were actually reacting to the lines being huge. They still had a good old chat with people. The scanner for finger prints broke down on me on my line so they ended up having to combine 2 lines into one window and this wasn't the only line having those issues. I was surprised how calm people were keeping as I was starting to feel quite stressed after being told the machine had broken on me and I'd have to wait again! Was so glad to get through and just get to the airport. I know there is little to do at San Juan airport but it would have been nice to have had enough time to relax a bit before the flight rather than rushing through, grabbing some postcards and a landshark in Margarittaville and then having to board.

Wow!! I had that happen in Seattle once, coming in from Seoul. The airline personnel were completely inept and rude. Not so much the immigration people, but it was a nightmare. Pretty much everyone on the flight missed their connections thanks to the airline staff.

Yeah, the Caribbean is a whole different world. It's all on island time. It's why I planned on staying in SJ for a night when I was booked on that cruise. I figured immigration would be, shall we say, a leisurely exercise.

 

[gismo1554]

Wow!! I had that happen in Seattle once, coming in from Seoul. The airline personnel were completely inept and rude. Not so much the immigration people, but it was a nightmare. Pretty much everyone on the flight missed their connections thanks to the airline staff.

Yeah, the Caribbean is a whole different world. It's all on island time. It's why I planned on staying in SJ for a night when I was booked on that cruise. I figured immigration would be, shall we say, a leisurely exercise.

If I could have I would have to be honest but had to get back to work. Just glad I went for the 1:45pm flight and didn't attempt the 11:30am one as I think I would have had to have been first person of the ship to make it. Far too much stress but never mind. At least this one goes into Miami and the flight home from there isn't until 9pm so even if I don't end up spening time somewhere after the cruise I wont be as stressed. I'm sure they thought I was an alcoholic on the plane the speed at which the first drink went down but it was purely medicanal

 

[shadowryter]

Hi everyone! My husband and I are booked on this cruise. I made our deposit on August 30th but due to a lot family things I'm just now finding my way here. I'm monitoring flights from Logan and hotels in Barcelona. This is totally new territory for me but I'm enjoying the challenge. We'll be cruising the WC on the Magic come this December for our 25th anniversary. Can't wait. 71 more days!

 

[bats]

Mick and I will also be joining you, we booked while onboard the WBTA this year. We got married in D Lounge on this past one, so the 2015 WBTA will be for our anniversary!

We've waitlisted on concierge again as we didn't get to enjoy it so much last time .. Long story, won't bore you with it!

San Juan was awful for disembarkation. Our flight was 11:15 with JetBlue and we left the ship, or at least tried to at 8am. Good job we did too or we may not have made our flight to Orlando.
As it was, the staff were just not prepared and it took so,e major shouting and bullying for them to kick it up a gear. Even Captain John was stomping through the terminal when we were there. Big issue for us was DCL not knowing where to get people to queue to get off. They had people queuing in different areas and had no process for who was to get off first. It caused major strops and people were getting very irate with the officers. Luckily, we are pushy British people and just told the officer that we were getting off right now .. He was not happy but we needed off and I'm glad we stood our ground!

Anyway, really looking forward to those sea days as didn't really get to relax this time due to the wedding stuff and having so many friends and family that hadn't cruised before to look after.

This will be DCL number 12 for us with number 11 being the 11 night Fjords/Iceland/Orkney cruise in June 2015.

Forgot to say, for those considering Icelandair .. We just flew home with them and it was great. Keflavik airport is small so if your connection is long, make sure you have books etc. Icelandiar offer free stopovers though so you could take advantage of that and stay in Iceland overnight .. Helps with the jet lag too! You have to pay for the hotel, but there is no charge for splitting your flights.

 

[Aggiegrl]

Hi everyone! My husband and I are booked on this cruise. I made our deposit on August 30th but due to a lot family things I'm just now finding my way here. I'm monitoring flights from Logan and hotels in Barcelona. This is totally new territory for me but I'm enjoying the challenge. We'll be cruising the WC on the Magic come this December for our 25th anniversary. Can't wait. 71 more days!

Hi there! We are is MA too, and I just booked us a flight on Icelandair for around $450 an adult/$400 a child departing on Sept 4. That may be too early for you, but keep an eye out on their website. The fares were running around $700 until recently when this one dropped drastically.

 

[shadowryter]

Hi there! We are is MA too, and I just booked us a flight on Icelandair for around $450 an adult/$400 a child departing on Sept 4. That may be too early for you, but keep an eye out on their website. The fares were running around $700 until recently when this one dropped drastically.

Wow, thanks for the heads up. I would love airfare like that. I've been monitoring British Airways and they have been around the $575 mark. Have to go check this out!

 

[PFlamingo]

[size=+2]Page 1 Roll Call and participant lists for activities have been updated!! (At last!)[/size]

(With the exceptions of the Afternoon Tea and Lanyard lists. Will be getting that info soon.)

Please check the lists to be sure 1) you are on the lists you want to be on, 2) you're not on any lists you don't want to be on, 3) your information is correct.

If you are listed for an activity and do not wish to participate, please PM me and I will take care of it.

Please note, some lists are by Disboard names, some are by first name and last initial, and some have both. This was how the individual organizers wanted to list their participants. If you have any questions, please PM me here and I will pass it on to the organizers. If you listed children on the roll call by designations (e.g., DD7, DS4) I did not include that on the roll call list. For reasons of privacy and security, I listed only first names (and in some cases last initials) on the lists, and no cabin numbers. If your number has changed, we can always edit that right before the final list is posted.

If you would like to organize an activity of your own, please PM me and I'll add it to Page 1.

I'm going to be organizing the Champagne Girls event. I'll be posting the sign-up for that shortly.

We could use someone to organize linked dining.
No volunteers for that yet.

Feel free to be creative in the activities you would like to organize!

 

[UKANGEL]

Just booked our flight to Barcelona feels more real now!