Disney Magic 12 nt. British Isles Cruise 2017

[JenTen1585]

I love, love, loved the 12 day length! In the beginning of the cruise, I was so happy that we had so much time stretched out in front of us. It made me giddy! I remember thinking at the 7 day mark that we would just be beginning a normal cruise, and the ship already felt like home! But that last 7 days flew by and on the last day I was truly, deep down depressed it was over. I wanted to cry all day. I can't get away from work any longer than 2 weeks at a time, but I would LOVE to do another long cruise again! When I retire, I plan to spend as much time on a cruise ship as possible!!!

 

[OurLuce]

reading along as it's nice to see what others think of us...

ok vat ... it's easy, much easier than sales tax. it is included in the ticket price. if you are a company or a non eu tourist you can claim it back.

tipping ..10 % if service not included and service ok. if exceptional then you can add a bit more. only in proper sit down restaurants. also tip taxi drivers, they get taxed on an assumed 10% tip.

the tube is fine. there will always be another one in a few minutes. try and avoid rush hours as it becomes hell and the commuters know what they are going and expect everyone else to too. I used to be able to read a book whilst travelling through kings cross every morning (Victoria line to circle up escalator and down stairs) but only at rush hour as everyone is going with the flow.

I'm really impressed with the amount you saw in a day outside London. I'd take at least a day in any of the destinations, maybe even do a weekend.

looking forward to the rest of the report.

 

[poison ivy]

I love, love, loved the 12 day length! In the beginning of the cruise, I was so happy that we had so much time stretched out in front of us. It made me giddy! I remember thinking at the 7 day mark that we would just be beginning a normal cruise, and the ship already felt like home! But that last 7 days flew by and on the last day I was truly, deep down depressed it was over. I wanted to cry all day. I can't get away from work any longer than 2 weeks at a time, but I would LOVE to do another long cruise again! When I retire, I plan to spend as much time on a cruise ship as possible!!!

Same here. I thought wow! we have so much time to stretch things out. But as soon as we left Liverpool things started to go in reverse for me. I was looking at it as oh no! we're losing days and the cruise will be over before we know it. In our case, it probably had to do with all the planning and anticipation involved to go overseas on a trip like this. Once you start cruising, you know it will come to an end in the near future.

Hard to say if I'd feel the same way on a 9 or 12 nt. Caribbean sailing. Touring the islands is not as appealing to us as visiting Europe. (except maybe the South Pacific & Hawaii)
But we are thinking about the Transatlantic and Panama Canal cruises more these days since we enjoyed this longer cruise so much.

We're still holding out on Disney offering that 12nt. Italy w/ a stop in Croatia itinerary again. Last time they sailed there was in 2015 I believe. If it happens for 2019, we're booking!

reading along as it's nice to see what others think of us...

ok vat ... it's easy, much easier than sales tax. it is included in the ticket price. if you are a company or a non eu tourist you can claim it back.

tipping ..10 % if service not included and service ok. if exceptional then you can add a bit more. only in proper sit down restaurants. also tip taxi drivers, they get taxed on an assumed 10% tip.

the tube is fine. there will always be another one in a few minutes. try and avoid rush hours as it becomes hell and the commuters know what they are going and expect everyone else to too. I used to be able to read a book whilst travelling through kings cross every morning (Victoria line to circle up escalator and down stairs) but only at rush hour as everyone is going with the flow.

I'm really impressed with the amount you saw in a day outside London. I'd take at least a day in any of the destinations, maybe even do a weekend.

looking forward to the rest of the report.

Thanks so much for this post and Welcome! So glad to have you here.

I can totally understand the problem with our US sales tax compared to the vat now that I've visited the UK. We don't tell you how much the full price really is if a tax is applied until you actually check-out at the register. I don't know why this is our practice here, but we are so accustomed to it, we've come to expect the amount we pay to always differ from the price tag.

Your tipping advice is invaluable and I'm very glad we tipped our taxi driver now.
Really appreciate the help with the 10% tip as being standard for proper sit down restaurants. The whole service charge vs vat tax when dining was so foreign to us when first introduced that we definitely made a few mistakes.

The one area I'm still not clear about is how to tip when on a coach tour. The drivers seem to be contracted independent from the companies providing the tour guides. So we were very confused if tipping the tour guide meant the money was pooled between both driver and guide or if we were supposed to tip a bus driver separate if we wanted some of the money to go to that person.

 

[OurLuce]

the coach tour people must love Americans . we wouldn't tip them.... when I'm in the UK I only tip restaurants and taxis.

 

[JenTen1585]

Since my first cruise, no matter what country or city I am in, I almost always tipped the bus driver on any tour 1 dollar or Euro or pound or whatever the denomination is and the tour guide 3 dollars or euros or pounds. I have no idea if this is appropriate or not, it's just what I've always done and of course they've always just smiled and said thank you.

The only time I deviate is if I really didn't like the tour guide, in which case I will lower their tip to 1 or 2$. If I really, really, really love them, I may go up to 5$. If the bus driver is funny or impressive, I will also raise his or her tip to 2 or 3$. But 80% of the time I stick with my formula.

 

[poison ivy]

the coach tour people must love Americans . we wouldn't tip them.... when I'm in the UK I only tip restaurants and taxis.

Thanks so much for answering this. If it's customary not to tip the UK coach tours then I agree they must really love this about us!
And some did solicit - probably because they know our habits so well we're easy targets to take advantage of.

Tipping is such a standard here in the states it was really hard to figure out what the norm was in the UK.

Since my first cruise, no matter what country or city I am in, I almost always tipped the bus driver on any tour 1 dollar or Euro or pound or whatever the denomination is and the tour guide 3 dollars or euros or pounds. I have no idea if this is appropriate or not, it's just what I've always done and of course they've always just smiled and said thank you.

The only time I deviate is if I really didn't like the tour guide, in which case I will lower their tip to 1 or 2$. If I really, really, really love them, I may go up to 5$. If the bus driver is funny or impressive, I will also raise his or her tip to 2 or 3$. But 80% of the time I stick with my formula.

Well we tipped way more than you (I think 10 pounds) whenever it was an all day tour and they made a big effort on our behalf. We meant it for the driver and guide but we never tipped the driver separate - only gave the tour guide the money so I feel bad if it wasn't shared. who knows?

 

[poison ivy]

btw - updates are coming right up. Sorry for the delay.

But we've been in San Diego visiting our daughters and saw a beautiful sight last Friday - October 27, 2017

that's my granddaughter waving goodbye to everyone up on deck of the Disney Wonder as they leave the West Coast and head to Galveston on a 14-nt Halloween on the High Seas Eastbound Panama Canal cruise.




Very jealous but so happy to see them off. I love that the ship visits this port. We saw her in May on her way to Alaska and now this. Promised by DGD we'd take her on her 1st Disney cruise from here very soon.

 

[poison ivy]

Disney Magic
British Isles Cruise
Day 1 – Dover, England
July 9, 2017

(weather – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)

Dover Cruise Terminal

Looks like DCL has only 5 sailings using Dover in 2018. There are so many cruise possibilities from here, so hopefully this will expand.

Let’s review our port experience so far:

Disney collected us from the London airport hotel at 11 am and did not get us to Dover until 1:45pm - way beyond the 11:30 am call for boarding time.

We cleared a security check downstairs, and proceeded upstairs to bag screening & check-in.



The main security queue begins as you reach the top of the stairs.



Screening is set up next to the check-in area so it’s easy to see how the lines would back up during peak arrival times as @tink1970 described. (of course by the time we arrived, it was pretty empty.)



At 2:00 pm – we cleared security and were ready to check-in.
(note: it took 15 mins. to get to this point from the time we exited the bus - but we were hours behind most cruisers)



There were 4 designated sections for check-in:

1. General guest check-in (new cruisers) – enter left of the “guest check-in” banner. We chose this queue since there weren’t that many using it. But it’s serviced by fewer DCL reps at the counter so it may not be faster.

2. Silver & Gold CC line – most popular (line formed between the 2 banners)



A red divider separated Gold & Silver CC (left side in photo) from us "guests" (right side).
Compared to everything so far, the check-in area was really busy. So I’m guessing a few DCL busses may in line ahead of us - but we were moving.



The remaining two areas were designated for:

3. Platinum Castaway Club
4. and Concierge guests

Both had their own lines set up a little farther down.





By 2:15 pm – we finally reached the counter. (so 15 mins. for that line)



continued in next post...

 

[tlynk]

btw - updates are coming right up. Sorry for the delay.

But we've been in San Diego visiting our daughters and saw a beautiful sight last Friday - October 27, 2017

that's my granddaughter waving goodbye to everyone up on deck of the Disney Wonder as they leave the West Coast and head to Galveston on a 14-nt Halloween on the High Seas Eastbound Panama Canal cruise.


View attachment 281382

Very jealous but so happy to see them off. I love that the ship visits this port. We saw her in May on her way to Alaska and now this. Promised by DGD we'd take her on her 1st Disney cruise from here very soon.

This is a precious picture of your granddaughter!

 

[poison ivy]

This is a precious picture of your granddaughter!

Thanks so much. We had such a beautiful day.

 

[poison ivy]

Disney Magic
British Isles Cruise
Day 1 – Dover, England
July 9, 2017
(weather – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)

Dover Cruise Terminal

continued...........


It's 2:15pm and we finally got to the counter.



Fortunately it took less than 5 mins. to check-in.

Here, the CM did several things:

• collected all paperwork. (signature form/health questionnaire)
  
• took a new photo of each of us for the DCL
  
• confirmed the payment method on file
  
• gave us KTTW cards and gold cc lanyards (silver for IM)
• confiscated our passports and handed us a set of copies - along with this letter.

We had a discussion about this on our cruisemeet. It was reported from the 2016 BI cruisers, that this had taken place on their cruise. Their passports were taken at Dover when they checked in and weren't returned to them until after Dublin. So we were aware this might happen. I don't know if it is unique only to cruises with an Ireland port. But this did occur on both the 2016 and 2017 British Isles cruises. So expect it again for 2018.

• we were also given our boarding card. #3 which would have been great three hrs. ago. No need for it now. (but wait 'til you see how great cabin 2550 is)

• Iron Man also picked up the Voyage Navigator from a pile on the counter.

Check this out. It gives an overview of the entire cruise!

Nightly shows in the Walt Disney Theatre.



Featured Activities, Variety Acts and Fun Events onboard



Youth activities and movie schedule for the 1st week of the cruise.
(another reason to love the longer sailings! All this and we’d still have another half week to come.)



Btw - this was the remaining movie schedule



It also included today's Navigator as an insert:

Front



Back




Finally. Time to board the ship!

It’s 2:20 pm.
We’ve been at this since we set the luggage out in our hotel room at 8am.

JQ and Iron Man are done at this point.
The ships in sight, and they’ve been ready to board and are anxious to get to lunch.



continued................

 

[poison ivy]

dup post sorry!

 

[tink1970]

JQ and Iron Man are done at this point.
The ships in sight, and they’ve been ready to board and are anxious to get to lunch.

I know that feeling

Interesting about the passports...when we arrived in Barcelona we got a passport stamped after disembarkation although other itineraries that stay in the Med I guess don't. Interesting how EU/nonEU pan out. I personally liked the cute ship stamp in my passport but I'm odd that way

Glad I know so if we do this itinerary in the future I can warn DH.

 

[Mathmagicland]

btw - updates are coming right up. Sorry for the delay.

But we've been in San Diego visiting our daughters and saw a beautiful sight last Friday - October 27, 2017

that's my granddaughter waving goodbye to everyone up on deck of the Disney Wonder as they leave the West Coast and head to Galveston on a 14-nt Halloween on the High Seas Eastbound Panama Canal cruise.


Very jealous but so happy to see them off. I love that the ship visits this port. We saw her in May on her way to Alaska and now this. Promised by DGD we'd take her on her 1st Disney cruise from here very soon.

I’ve noticed Disney has a lot more cruises out of San Diego -they just released the sailings for the first few months of 2019 & it is the most ever. I will have to try to get down there for one, not really interested in Mexico ports though so I think it will either be a California coast cruise to or from Vancouver, or else the Panama Canal Cruise. Or maybe a short cruise just for the cruise experience to see how the ship is when folks are in port.

Many years ago their first calif cruises were out of Los Angeles port but have not been back there....

 

[Johnny Quest]

I’ve noticed Disney has a lot more cruises out of San Diego -they just released the sailings for the first few months of 2019 & it is the most ever. I will have to try to get down there for one, not really interested in Mexico ports though so I think it will either be a California coast cruise to or from Vancouver, or else the Panama Canal Cruise. Or maybe a short cruise just for the cruise experience to see how the ship is when folks are in port.

Many years ago their first calif cruises were out of Los Angeles port but have not been back there....

We like the California coast from Vancouver...if we go to Vancouver it stops in Victoria but we would have to drive to San Diego after.

 

[poison ivy]

I know that feeling

Interesting about the passports...when we arrived in Barcelona we got a passport stamped after disembarkation although other itineraries that stay in the Med I guess don't. Interesting how EU/nonEU pan out. I personally liked the cute ship stamp in my passport but I'm odd that way

Glad I know so if we do this itinerary in the future I can warn DH.

right and based on the fact this didn't happen for your cruise, it seems to only apply to Ireland ports. Back when we were planning over on the cruise meet thread, several of us were trying to figure out why this occurred at Dover for the 2016 BI cruise. That letter confirms it was Ireland's immigration regulation.

 

[poison ivy]

I’ve noticed Disney has a lot more cruises out of San Diego -they just released the sailings for the first few months of 2019 & it is the most ever. I will have to try to get down there for one, not really interested in Mexico ports though so I think it will either be a California coast cruise to or from Vancouver, or else the Panama Canal Cruise. Or maybe a short cruise just for the cruise experience to see how the ship is when folks are in port.

Many years ago their first calif cruises were out of Los Angeles port but have not been back there....

This would be a great option for you travel wise. San Diego is such a beautiful city with so much to offer. Plus it's practically on the Mexican border so I can see why Disney favors that port over LA.

The Seaport Village area is where I'd recommend staying. It's a beautiful location with some really nice hotels and waterfront shops and restaurants. Sits just a little further down along the water from the cruise terminal.

We're in San Diego so often that these cruises are really tempting but we keep passing on them for the exact same reason - not interested in the Mexican ports. So the Calif. repo cruises are the 2 we liked best as well. I'd prefer to fly into Seattle, take the train to Vancouver and sail her back to the US, but as JQ was saying, the 5 nt. to Vancouver looks better to us with stops in San Fran and Victoria compared to the 4 nt. to San Diego which only stops in Astoria. and both conflict with the school year so it would be just us.

We've been thinking a mini 2nt weekender might work with the grandkids if the price is right. We keep checking those too but so far when you total them up, it always seems pretty expensive for what you're getting.

It would be so great if Disney ran a few longer cruises back and forth from San Diego with more stops all along the West coast: LA / San Fran / Astoria / Seattle etc... They could incorporate quick stops in Victoria or Mexico to comply with the maritime laws.

We'll keep you posted if we book anything.

 

[poison ivy]

Disney Magic
British Isles Cruise
Embarkation Day – Dover, England
July 9, 2017

(weather – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)

It was 2:20 pm by the time we cleared check-in.

According the navigator, Cabanas will stop serving lunch at 3:15pm
This is the latest we’ve ever boarded a Disney cruise and the men are hungry - so we are in motion.

"This way to the ship" (straight ahead)



Now I'm starting to get a few looks as I stop to snap some pics.



No time to visit the snack area.
(This was their menu)



The place was deserted.



Most cruisers were long gone at this point.



Concierge had it's own seating area on the other side of these panels - right near the doorway you enter when called for boarding.



We also noticed a few photo ops in various places on our way to the ship:

#1) was in the main check-in area - next to the concierge counter. (I don't know if characters posed here)



#2) was a designated character meet in the far left corner of the waiting area.





And #3) was the embarkation photo - just beyond the double doors as you exit to board the ship.





continued in the next post...

 

[poison ivy]

Disney Magic
British Isles Cruise
Embarkation Day – Dover, England
July 9, 2017
(weather – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)


........continued

The embarkation photo area is in such a small room with very little spacing. So I can imagine how crowded it gets when boarding first starts.




We were given 2 choices for our first official photo: wait in line for Mickey or get the standard backdrop.

Being pressed for time, we just posed here. And rushed the shot - didn’t even straighten our clothes!
Not my favorite photo, but I loved the caption and border so much I purchased it anyway.



@JenTen1585 has the premium version with Capt. Mickey at the port (very jealous) vs. our lowly runner-up.
But either way, don’t let this opportunity pass by on your way in.

Everything was happening so fast from this point. All that patience and waiting to get here and now rush rush rush.



Or it could have been just me feeling the pressure from JQ and IM..
“ok, ok I’m coming.”



This is one of my favorite parts whenever we cruise.



if you take a look at the portholes - deck 1 (small double portholes) / deck 2 (middle row of portholes) / deck 3 - atrium level w/large portholes along the hallways
you can actually see our stateroom window for #2550 in this photo. It's one of the 3 portholes on the far right of Deck 2 here.
Notice how close it is to the main deck 3 entryway which was used repeatedly for this cruise.



JQ was admiring the views from the gangway:





Get ready. We are about to walk in.
.


Next up: The Magic delivers!




But before then, I’ll leave you with a really good video from 2016 of what it's like to arrive at the port of Dover early and experience a full crowd from within the terminal to when they begin boarding. Big difference from our experience.

 

[85glht]

I can remember it like it was yesterday. We had beautiful weather for our embarkation day.... we were lucky.