wickesy
<font color=royalblue>Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love y
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2006
- Messages
- 3,797
Cast:
Me David (41)
Dad Ray (66)
In June 2010 Dad and I did a cruise around the Baltic on the Disney Magic and got bitten by the Disney cruise bug. In March of last year we were lucky enough to be on the maiden cruise of the Disney Fantasy and whilst on board we decided to book our third Disney cruise. I have always wanted to go to Venice and, since Disney had announced just before our cruise that they would be going to Venice in 2013, a Disney cruise seemed to be the ideal way to do it. Unfortunately the Disney itineraries were just too expensive and so we ended up booking for the Eastbound Transatlantic leaving from Galveston on the 18th May 2013 and ending up in Barcelona on the 1st June 2013.
Once we got home I started looking for flights to Galveston but because we only needed one way flights everything I looked at was extremely expensive (around £2,000 EACH!) and I began to think of booking a return flight and just not using the return portion. In the end I realised that we had a load of Avios points (air miles) that we might be able to make use of but at that time flights using air miles hadnt been released, so I checked for the nearest dates I could find. I found that by buying some more air miles we could get a reasonable one way flight so I sat back and waited for flights to be released. By spotting the pattern in the way flights were released I was ready on the 28th May when ours were available and, after buying 13,000 Avios points for £223, I was able to get flights for the two of us for 37,500 Avios plus £911.38, which I was more than happy with. That flight leaves Heathrow at 10:25 on the 17th May, arriving in Galveston at 2:35pm.
At the beginning of July I started looking at flights from Barcelona to London and they were coming in at around £75. There was no rush so I decided to wait and see if prices would come down at all. They dipped as low as £51 but then started to rise and rise, so on the 25th August I booked the flights we ended up paying 147 Euros, which was somewhere around £125, so much for waiting
That flight leaves Barcelona at 1:55pm, which I thought would give us plenty of time to have breakfast, get off the ship and get to the airport, and arrives in London at 3pm.
Everything then went quiet until the 16th December when I had an email informing me that the flight time of the Barcelona flight had changed and the flight was now departing at 10:30am! That seemed a bit tight to me so I phoned BA who told me that the original flight had been cancelled but they booked me on the flight leaving at 2:55pm instead which I was happy with.
I had been looking at hotels and since a lot of people on our cruise meet thread were staying at the Tremont Hotel in Galveston I booked a twin room there. The hotel is right next to the port so well actually be able to walk to the ship on the morning of the cruise.
Ive also booked a night at the Travelodge at Heathrow we like to get our holiday started the night before we fly and it makes things so much more relaxed on the day of the flight.
On the 13th February my attentions turned to sorting out t-shirts for us to wear on boarding day its become a bit of a tradition for me to order personalised t-shirts for boarding day and thanks to a mention of a site called tagxedo and the talents of somebody on our cruise meet I ended up creating and ordering this from Vistaprint.
Front
Back
On the 17th February we reached the 90 day point on the countdown, which meant I was able to do online check-in for the cruise and I managed to get an 11:00 boarding time so well be onboard nice and early. Later that week I decided it was time to organise transport from Houston Airport to the Tremont and I ended up going with Texas Airport Car, which cost us $135 for a private car.
So this is how things look at the moment:
Thursday 16th May Taxi to the Travelodge at Heathrow Terminal 5
Friday 17th May Fly from Heathrow to Galveston and transfer to the Tremont Hotel
Saturday 18th May Sail from Galveston at 4pm
Sunday 19th May At sea
Monday 20th May At sea
Tuesday 21st May Castaway Cay
Wednesday 22nd May At sea
Thursday 23rd May At sea
Friday 24th May At sea
Saturday 25th May At sea
Sunday 26th May At sea
Monday 27th May At sea
Tuesday 28th May Madeira, Portugal
Wednesday 29th May At sea
Thursday 30th May Gibraltar
Friday 31st May At sea
Saturday 1st June Arrive in Barcelona at 7am, have breakfast, leave the ship and travel to the airport, flight leaves at 2:55, arriving in Gatwick at 4:10pm, get a taxi home.
You will have noticed theres a lot of sea days in the middle there, which is both good and bad good because it makes a nice, relaxing holiday and bad because in July of last year I met my girlfriend. We live about an hours drive away from each other, see each other every weekend and speak on MSN every night so a week of expensive ships internet or satellite phone charges means were hardly going to have any contact with each other but Im sure well survive.
So all thats left to do now is sort out my fish extender gifts and then it will be a case of sitting back and waiting for departure day.
Me David (41)
Dad Ray (66)
In June 2010 Dad and I did a cruise around the Baltic on the Disney Magic and got bitten by the Disney cruise bug. In March of last year we were lucky enough to be on the maiden cruise of the Disney Fantasy and whilst on board we decided to book our third Disney cruise. I have always wanted to go to Venice and, since Disney had announced just before our cruise that they would be going to Venice in 2013, a Disney cruise seemed to be the ideal way to do it. Unfortunately the Disney itineraries were just too expensive and so we ended up booking for the Eastbound Transatlantic leaving from Galveston on the 18th May 2013 and ending up in Barcelona on the 1st June 2013.
Once we got home I started looking for flights to Galveston but because we only needed one way flights everything I looked at was extremely expensive (around £2,000 EACH!) and I began to think of booking a return flight and just not using the return portion. In the end I realised that we had a load of Avios points (air miles) that we might be able to make use of but at that time flights using air miles hadnt been released, so I checked for the nearest dates I could find. I found that by buying some more air miles we could get a reasonable one way flight so I sat back and waited for flights to be released. By spotting the pattern in the way flights were released I was ready on the 28th May when ours were available and, after buying 13,000 Avios points for £223, I was able to get flights for the two of us for 37,500 Avios plus £911.38, which I was more than happy with. That flight leaves Heathrow at 10:25 on the 17th May, arriving in Galveston at 2:35pm.
At the beginning of July I started looking at flights from Barcelona to London and they were coming in at around £75. There was no rush so I decided to wait and see if prices would come down at all. They dipped as low as £51 but then started to rise and rise, so on the 25th August I booked the flights we ended up paying 147 Euros, which was somewhere around £125, so much for waiting
That flight leaves Barcelona at 1:55pm, which I thought would give us plenty of time to have breakfast, get off the ship and get to the airport, and arrives in London at 3pm.Everything then went quiet until the 16th December when I had an email informing me that the flight time of the Barcelona flight had changed and the flight was now departing at 10:30am! That seemed a bit tight to me so I phoned BA who told me that the original flight had been cancelled but they booked me on the flight leaving at 2:55pm instead which I was happy with.
I had been looking at hotels and since a lot of people on our cruise meet thread were staying at the Tremont Hotel in Galveston I booked a twin room there. The hotel is right next to the port so well actually be able to walk to the ship on the morning of the cruise.
Ive also booked a night at the Travelodge at Heathrow we like to get our holiday started the night before we fly and it makes things so much more relaxed on the day of the flight.
On the 13th February my attentions turned to sorting out t-shirts for us to wear on boarding day its become a bit of a tradition for me to order personalised t-shirts for boarding day and thanks to a mention of a site called tagxedo and the talents of somebody on our cruise meet I ended up creating and ordering this from Vistaprint.
Front
Back
On the 17th February we reached the 90 day point on the countdown, which meant I was able to do online check-in for the cruise and I managed to get an 11:00 boarding time so well be onboard nice and early. Later that week I decided it was time to organise transport from Houston Airport to the Tremont and I ended up going with Texas Airport Car, which cost us $135 for a private car.
So this is how things look at the moment:
Thursday 16th May Taxi to the Travelodge at Heathrow Terminal 5
Friday 17th May Fly from Heathrow to Galveston and transfer to the Tremont Hotel
Saturday 18th May Sail from Galveston at 4pm
Sunday 19th May At sea
Monday 20th May At sea
Tuesday 21st May Castaway Cay
Wednesday 22nd May At sea
Thursday 23rd May At sea
Friday 24th May At sea
Saturday 25th May At sea
Sunday 26th May At sea
Monday 27th May At sea
Tuesday 28th May Madeira, Portugal
Wednesday 29th May At sea
Thursday 30th May Gibraltar
Friday 31st May At sea
Saturday 1st June Arrive in Barcelona at 7am, have breakfast, leave the ship and travel to the airport, flight leaves at 2:55, arriving in Gatwick at 4:10pm, get a taxi home.
You will have noticed theres a lot of sea days in the middle there, which is both good and bad good because it makes a nice, relaxing holiday and bad because in July of last year I met my girlfriend. We live about an hours drive away from each other, see each other every weekend and speak on MSN every night so a week of expensive ships internet or satellite phone charges means were hardly going to have any contact with each other but Im sure well survive.
So all thats left to do now is sort out my fish extender gifts and then it will be a case of sitting back and waiting for departure day.
will do Joh 
