Any 2013 Transatlantic reports?

[topsy]

I'm looking for reports, photos or feedback from anyone who sailed on this year's Estbound Transatlantic.

I have a deposit down for next year's cruise and am excited to hear about what it was like! I'll be re-shopping it on my Alaska cruise in September.

Specific questions -

1) Is an inside cabin ok for such a long trip? Currently reserved a deluxe inside but LOVE verandahs. Price is our reasoning here.
2) Do they offer Palo brunch nd if so can you book more than once seeing as it is a long cruise?
3) Weather/sea conditions
4) Activities offered/things to do
5) Any good spa deals?!

Thank you!!!

 

[Live2Travel]

I'm looking for reports, photos or feedback from anyone who sailed on this year's Estbound Transatlantic.

I have a deposit down for next year's cruise and am excited to hear about what it was like! I'll be re-shopping it on my Alaska cruise in September.

Specific questions -

1) Is an inside cabin ok for such a long trip? Currently reserved a deluxe inside but LOVE verandahs. Price is our reasoning here.
2) Do they offer Palo brunch nd if so can you book more than once seeing as it is a long cruise?
3) Weather/sea conditions
4) Activities offered/things to do
5) Any good spa deals?!

Thank you!!!

Hello Topsy,

Myself, DH and DD just came back from that trip.

It was awesome.

1. I cannot attest to the inside cabin as we had a balcony. But I have met people who had insides and they did not complain.
2. They offer Palo brunch on sea days and it is fabulous. You may only book one brunch and one dinner while at home. But the TA cruises are hardly full. So you can reserve more brunches once on-board.
3. The ocean was very calm for the first ten days. We had one rough-ish day after Madeira but if you stayed horizontal - it was not that bad. It was pretty chilly and windy after Castaway Cay.
4. We did not partake in any activities other than evening shows. Disney shows were outstanding (A +, as always). Other evening shows were very good (B+).
But don't forget that you will be losing an hour almost every day, so you will be waking up late in the morning. (10am in our case ).
Late breakfast, gym, then sit outside and read your books. Very nice!
There were things like ballroom dance lessons and trivia games in the mid-day.
You could catch a movie in Buena Vista.
5. Did not do a spa.

You will have a fabulous tome on EBTA. Remember to write down your passwords and things to do for after cruise. As it is a total mental detox.

 

[dee slack]

We were also on this cruise, and were in an inside cabin, 10c on deck 1 and have no complaints at all as we were hardly in our cabin due to being so busy!! We found the temps were fine for us being British and didn't get affected by the rocking of the ship for that day, but I know some people did.
Do you ever go on the DIBB? David has scanned all the Navigators for the trip for you to check out the daily activities.
Can't help with Palo or the spa as we don't 'do' either of them.

 

[topsy]

Thanks for your replies.

Dee_slack, how did you get on with one-way flights to Orlando and from Barcelona? I've been looking already for next May and they're far more expensive than I thought they would be!

 

[scothen]

In researching my Westbound TA cruise next year, my travel agent suggested round trip ticket to/from Barcelona, and a one-way to Orlando (although my cruise ends in San Juan, but you get the idea).

 

[dee slack]

Thanks for your replies.

Dee_slack, how did you get on with one-way flights to Orlando and from Barcelona? I've been looking already for next May and they're far more expensive than I thought they would be!

The most cost effective was a return to Houston which we cancelled just before we sailed and then just a one way from Barcelona. The one way to Houston was a crazy price.

 

[twopeasonepod]

My responses below:

I'm looking for reports, photos or feedback from anyone who sailed on this year's Estbound Transatlantic.

I have a deposit down for next year's cruise and am excited to hear about what it was like! I'll be re-shopping it on my Alaska cruise in September.

Specific questions -

1) Is an inside cabin ok for such a long trip? Currently reserved a deluxe inside but LOVE verandahs. Price is our reasoning here.
We always book a verandah (for the light and ability to go out there), but my parents stayed in an 11A and were fine with it. The space is fine, it's the lack of windows that I don't like. They like it though. I don't think the length of the cruise would affect it much -- like a PP said, you lose an hour so will sleep in, and you will have plenty to do!
2) Do they offer Palo brunch nd if so can you book more than once seeing as it is a long cruise?
Yes, the brunch was great. You can book more once you board. I prefer the dinner, but I think I'm in the minority.
3) Weather/sea conditions
Sea was calm, except for that one day. The crew mentioned several times how smooth this sailing was. They did empty the Mickey pool, because it was sloshing around so much. It did get chilly and windy on the top decks, but not chilly enough to stop anyone from having fun!
4) Activities offered/things to do
There are plenty of things throughout the day. Note that they do NOT repeat any of the big ticket items (shows, adult entertainment like Match Your Mate, trivia, etc.), but they do have The Disney Wheel, The Feud, Karaoke, etc. many, many times. They didn't have as much music trivia (I only saw two -- TV Tunes and 70's), and that bummed me out. The trivia was more random adult factoids.
5) Any good spa deals?!
Did not do any of these, but DH did get a personal trainer for three sessions, and I believe that was money well-spent. He learned a lot and actually lost 15 lbs. on the cruise! I wouldn't have done it that way (he only ate chicken or salmon, no carbs, etc. -- talk about the wrong time to torture yourself haha)

Thank you!!!

As for airfare, I suggest using miles for the long one-way flight (whichever it is for you), and buying a round trip for the other two legs. For example, we bought RT from Honolulu to Houston, then used miles Barcelona to Houston.

Next year, we'll use miles HNL to BCN, then buy flights from San Juan to DC (meeting family there), then back to HNL. That should only cost us $700 pp instead of $3000 if we bought the HNL-BCN portion!

 

[bobbiwoz]

The just completed EBTA DCL cruise was wonderful! One negative, the only one, was that we were out of sync with all of the 23 hour days, and truly were more tired than we thought we would be.

I enjoyed the two guest speakers. Charles Richardson was the lecturer and on sea days he had a lecture (he repeated it and it was shown on in cabin TV) about sea topics such as the ocean, pirates, culture of the areas we visited and more. Stacia Martin often did 2 presentations a day as well. Hers were very informative about Disney Topics or else it was a Draw some Figures workshop. She gave away the sketches she drew or an article of historical significance for Disney Lovers! I won her sketch of Thumper!

I think Disney could update their answers for such shows as the Feud! I think some of the responses came from 10 years ago!

We used air miles for our return trip.

Bobbi

 

[topsy]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your feedback.

Will anyone be doing a TR?! I love the ones with photos!!

 

[Ladyshopper]

I was in an inside cabin on the recent EBTA. In fact, for all 3 of my cruises I have only ever had an inside cabin, so I have nothing to compare to! However, given I am in the room so little it really doesn't bother me at all, I really like them (especially the sideways ones!).

Sea conditions were amazing apart from 24 hours between Madeira and Gibralter where we were swaying all over the place! Didn't bother me at all, the pools had to be emptied though.

Weather was great, but bare in mind I'm from the UK so the slightest hint of sunshine and we've all got our shorts on and are out sunbathing! I did find it a little chilly up on deck in the evening so just wore a cardigan and was fine.

Didn't do the Spa, so can't help you with that.

Trip was amazing, would do it again in a hearbeat if I could, but sadly I can't as my kids have exams next year. They made great friends in Vibe, cried for a week after leaving them, and have been speaking every day on skype, facetime etc.

 

[Karin1984]

Oh good, I thought it was me. I wanted to ask the same question. Any trip reports planned, anyone?

I'm going on the EBTA next year

 

[Kirbo]

I'm looking for reports, photos or feedback from anyone who sailed on this year's Estbound Transatlantic.

I have a deposit down for next year's cruise and am excited to hear about what it was like! I'll be re-shopping it on my Alaska cruise in September.

Specific questions -

1) Is an inside cabin ok for such a long trip? Currently reserved a deluxe inside but LOVE verandahs. Price is our reasoning here.
2) Do they offer Palo brunch nd if so can you book more than once seeing as it is a long cruise?
3) Weather/sea conditions
4) Activities offered/things to do
5) Any good spa deals?!

Thank you!!!

We just did this cruise and loved it. We've only ever done two cruises before, both were 7-night MR cruises on the Wonder. Our first cruise was in a 5B, our second was in a SPH and this cruise was in a 10C on deck 1. There were four of us in the room, our girls just turned nine, and it was fantastic! We actually were in the room for 21 nights as we did a B2B with the first Med. The amount of room is the same as that of a verandah or porthole room. We didn't have natural light, but that didn't bother us at all. For the EBTA deck one was fantastic; I couldn't get over how quiet it was. Also, we vowed to ONLY use the stairs and I didn't gain any weight, even though I ate like a pig the whole time. (My husband gained four pounds.) (For the Med portion of the cruise there was the loudest, most obnoxious family staying across from us. They were in the halls past 1:30am most night yelling, laughing and being LOUD.)

We had two Palo brunches (one group, one just the two of us) and one dinner. I got the impression we could have book a lot more.

Our kids swam every sea day. The only day I was cold was when we were in Madiera. And the only rough night, as mentioned before, was between Madiera and Gibraltar. DH and I didn't have any reaction to it, but our girls ended up needing the meds they give out at guest services. The meds worked quickly and the girls were fine soon after taking them.

We didn't do any spa stuff but there seemed to be lots of things offered.

We also didn't do much of the activities offered. There were a TON of things offered, but we just stuck to ourselves and did the pool or movies every day. But our meet group had a lot of activities and the Navigator was always packed full of things to do. You can be as busy or not as you want. I have a hard time thinking anyone could get bored.

We booked this for next year as well and I hope we can do it. The airfare is a killer. We did DIsney Air this year and it was $1174 each. That flew us from the PNW to TX, put us in a hotel in TX, then transfers to the boat, then transfers to the airport and finally, flight from BCN to the PNW. Next year Disney Air is $1300 But again, it includes air, transfers and hotel for one night. We booked it but will look for other options closer to the sail date.

I will say that the constant loss of an hour a day was hard. Our girls had a really rough time with that!

 

[Wahoo04]

Try doing a google search for DIBB transatlantic. They've got trip reports for the most recent transatlantic .

 

[geffric]

Another EBTA 2013 person who booked the EBTA 2014!

Great time, calm seas, lots of fun

Cat 11 - not missed a verandah at all. I spent most time in the lectures, cooking classes, cove café, deck 9, deck 4.

I did Palo brunch and dinner, both are available for booking when you board.

Trip report with pictures http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3125917

 

[nunzia]

The just completed EBTA DCL cruise was wonderful! One negative, the only one, was that we were out of sync with all of the 23 hour days, and truly were more tired than we thought we would be.

I enjoyed the two guest speakers. Charles Richardson was the lecturer and on sea days he had a lecture (he repeated it and it was shown on in cabin TV) about sea topics such as the ocean, pirates, culture of the areas we visited and more. Stacia Martin often did 2 presentations a day as well. Hers were very informative about Disney Topics or else it was a Draw some Figures workshop. She gave away the sketches she drew or an article of historical significance for Disney Lovers! I won her sketch of Thumper!

I think Disney could update their answers for such shows as the Feud! I think some of the responses came from 10 years ago!

We used air miles for our return trip.

Bobbi

Just a little hijack. Stacia Martin is amazing! Huge amount of knowledge about all things Disney. She did a sketch for us during out ABD..terrific artist as well..and I've run across her at a couple D23 events. Fascinating lady! I'd also like to read a Transatlantic TR..since I really cannot ever imagining myself flying across the ocean, I'll have to live that cruise through others.

 

[graysonsmom]

Ok I'm confused... for those much smarter than me... what if you don't need the round trip ticket flight... you just need to get home... best options money wise... I don't have points! I would love to do this cruise next year but can't justify the money for return flight!

 

[gilsan]

We just did this cruise and loved it. We've only ever done two cruises before, both were 7-night MR cruises on the Wonder. Our first cruise was in a 5B, our second was in a SPH and this cruise was in a 10C on deck 1. There were four of us in the room, our girls just turned nine, and it was fantastic! We actually were in the room for 21 nights as we did a B2B with the first Med. The amount of room is the same as that of a verandah or porthole room. We didn't have natural light, but that didn't bother us at all. For the EBTA deck one was fantastic; I couldn't get over how quiet it was.

I am happy to read this. We are booked on the EBTA and the first Mediterranean. We have only sailed with verandah's before but are in an inside room for these cruises. We don't spend much time in the rooms so we thought it was a good way to save money

 

[Kirbo]

I am happy to read this. We are booked on the EBTA and the first Mediterranean. We have only sailed with verandah's before but are in an inside room for these cruises. We don't spend much time in the rooms so we thought it was a good way to save money

Honestly, I was worried. But in order to afford it, we had to go with an inside room. I had hoped to get an upgrade at the port, but we got there late and there were none. (I did book the room knowing that it might be what we ended up with, I am not so foolish to book something that we couldn't live with.) But I was really pleasantly surprised to find that we loved it! We are hoping to do the EBTA next year and have booked a 10C down on deck 1 again. From now on out, I just can't see spending the money on a verandah room. (And I appreciate that there are plenty of folks out there that can't fathom being in an inside room. For us I'm now sold on the insides. Specifically donw on deck 1 to keep our weights in check )

 

[Kirbo]

Ok I'm confused... for those much smarter than me... what if you don't need the round trip ticket flight... you just need to get home... best options money wise... I don't have points! I would love to do this cruise next year but can't justify the money for return flight!

A lot of folks on our EBTA this year flew on Icelandic Air. I think you have to do a stopover in Iceland, but it seemed that their flights were really cheap!

 

[gilsan]

Honestly, I was worried. But in order to afford it, we had to go with an inside room. I had hoped to get an upgrade at the port, but we got there late and there were none. (I did book the room knowing that it might be what we ended up with, I am not so foolish to book something that we couldn't live with.) But I was really pleasantly surprised to find that we loved it! We are hoping to do the EBTA next year and have booked a 10C down on deck 1 again. From now on out, I just can't see spending the money on a verandah room. (And I appreciate that there are plenty of folks out there that can't fathom being in an inside room. For us I'm now sold on the insides. Specifically donw on deck 1 to keep our weights in check )

We are saving $800 on the EBTA by downgrading and in will cover 25% of the Mediterranean cruise so really it is a no brainer. I am happy to hear that 19 days in an inside cabin isn't to bad