!!!! Early Roll Call for January 21 2006 Eastern Magic Cruise !!!!

[need_a_Disney_fix]

I have been watching Airtran's rates and the flights I am looking at just went up $10 per ticket. I am getting VERY close to booking.

Skybuffalo, welcome aboard! Our group is growing slowly, but surely. You will find one of the best part of the cruise is talking and planning with fellow DIS cruisers (at least that is what I am finding). Come visit often!!

SandieT, I gave my scales to my hubby and told him to hide them! It is sooo frustrating, BUT I am determined. I went over to the DISH Wish board and joined the challenge. That may be the extra umph I have needed. I will continue to do WW, drink TONS of water and keep hitting the track and my balance ball. Thanks for asking!!

 

[JLDSMD]

skybuffalo,
Welcome to the DIS Boards and our Cruise Meets thread. I will update the "children's list" with you grandchildren.

need_a_Disney_fix
The two airlines we are watching both jumped $10 per ticket yesterday around mid-day. I think there must have been an industry wide fuel surcharge or something. I'm hoping one of the carriers will buck the trend and remove it. All should follow suit, hopefully.

the4nitz's and plenam,
Did you notice the increase in NWA's fare today? Guess hoping for a Midwest match isn't going to happen. We might have to burn some FF miles if they lower the fares before Oct 1. That's our drop dead date.

SandieT,
I have heard of Frontier. They are actually a code share partner with Midwest Airlines (based here in Milwaukee). How do you like them? We were thinking of using some FF miles to fly them to Mexico (unfortunately with the stopover in Denver). They are 5K miles less to Mexico than American (non-stop to Mexico from Chicago) through Midwest. Just curious. Don't you have Continental/NWA as well as United hubbing in Denver? That should give you some good competition out there.

As for getting to WDW while down for the cruise, why not go the Friday before and hit Kennedy on the Saturday after? That's what we are thinking of doing. We figure we can get a whole day in the parks that Friday and don't have to worry about rushing off the boat when we get back. Kennedy isn't far from port. Just a thought.

Jeff

 

[the4nitz's]

Jeff,

I see the NWA sale did not last long. We did not want to make a comitment to flight times that did not fit our plans the best. We will just have to wait and see if Midwest comes down as we get closer. Their flight times fit our plans much better. Time will tell if we are doing the right thing. What about you? Did you buy NWA or still waiting?

Craig

 

[JLDSMD]

Craig,

DW really wants to go on Midwest because of the schedule. DS starts K this fall (full-time) and they do all the main learning in the a.m. She doesn't want to pull him out before noon (that's why we're looking at the 3:15 p.m. flight). She also doesn't want to go on Friday (due to the storm that hit the day before last year), so we are looking at Thursday at 3:15. We're a little pigeon holed.

If it were my decission, I would have done the NWA on Friday morning and came back either of the two nights after we got off the ship. Oh well.

We went to the State Fair today and MW had a booth for their Credit Card. They are offering with the one that is $49/year, 12,500 FF miles and a $99 companion ticket. I figured if we were going to blow 20K in miles for one free companion ticket, if DW's account can have the 12,500 deposited into it, burn 25K for a "straight" free ticket. I just have to make sure I can use my voucher from last year on the $99 companion ticket.

The lady at the booth said "no", but she also said the "offer" I mentioned above was only if we signed up at the fair. Which, I found by reading the FF newsletter, is not the case. You have until Sept 30 to sign up and get the bonus. I'm going to call MW directly and ask them since my voucher should be just like cash.

So I'm trying to figure this out. $295 right now for one ticket, $99 companion ticket less $60 voucher, $5 processing fee for 25K free ticket and $49 annual fee on the Credit Card comes up to $388 or $129 per ticket. If they say for sure I can use the voucher, I will probably book this week. DW's FF account will actually go up 7,500 miles. I guess you can look at the $49 fee another way and that DW purchaed the 7,500 miles with it. That is a return of 0.65% (less the 1.0% I try to get for a return when I use the miles). Using that way of thinking, the 3 tickets cost only $339 or $113 per ticket.

Wish me luck in dealing with MW.

Jeff

 

[SandieT]

Jeff,
We really like Frontier, aside from the fact that they lost all our luggage last year. I am not a great flyer and I like the fact that Frontier has all newer planes. They have the airbusses with a TV for each passenger and they have a Disney movie for the kids. The prices are usually less than the other airlines. Aside from weather delays we have always left on time an had very easy flights. They are up to $1400.00 for the four of us, last week one day it was around $1000.00. I should have grabbed them. Oh well, I'll just keep checking.
Sandie

 

[JLDSMD]

Just an update.

Not good news for me from MW. The voucher I have is only good on a "published" fare. The $99 companion ticket I mentioned above is not considered a published fare. So now I'm back to square one.

We were planning on using FF miles for one of the tickets, but if the prices stay as high as they are, I might use 2 FF tickets.

I hope there is a sale sometime soon. They have 120 open seats on the flights we want to take. I don't think they'll fill too many at $300 a pop. Especially when their competition is at least $40 less.

 

[gydell]

Tickets from Atlanta are running $281 so I know where you are coming from. At least we can drive if prices don't come down but you really don't have that option. Good luck!

 

[JLDSMD]

The surprsing thing is that Midwest is a financially troubled airline. With the increase in fuel costs, it may kill them. You'd think they'd want to fill their seats. Granted not at a rediculous fare, but at least at one matching their competitors. It would be sad to see them go under because they are Milwaukee's Home Town airline. Plus, I think if Midwest goes under, Northwest will end their non-stops out of Milwaukee.

It may be in my best interest to use up all of our FF miles so we don't lose them. If Midwest gets purchased, then the miles would hopefully still be good, but if they just fold, then they are gone.

I think that with the "baggage" (no pun intended) that comes with Midwest, I don't think anyone would want to buy them. They would instead opt to get the open gate at our airport for a discount. You'd probably see JetBlue and Southwest come in here as an alternative to O'Hare.

 

[the4nitz's]

I sure would hate to see Midwest go under. I'm far from a frequent flyer, but they sure treated us good. I would also hate to see the non-stops to Orlando end. It sure is nice to get on one flight and not have to worry about any connections. To me that is worth a little extra $$$$$. I keep checking to see if they come down, but they only go up. Just have to wait and see.

Craig

 

[JLDSMD]

Craig,

I agree. If Midwest would fold, it would be bad for air travel from Milwaukee. I'm not saying they are going under, but the current economic conditions that the airlines are facing and not being able to fill the planes (again, charging more than NWA isn't going to help) doesn't make the situation for an airline that has known financial trouble any better.

At least with us living down here, we can get to O'Hare within 90 minutes. For you, it would be about 4-5 hours. You'd have to look into going out of Minneapolis possibly for a non-stop.

I do still think that they'll run a sale sometime after school starts. They always do. They want to get the parents thinking about their winter vacations now that summer is over. I just hope they come down to around $200. Even under $225 would be worth it. I just can't see why they are not matching NWA. Their service is not like it used to be. Back then they could charge the extra $. Now, they have the same seating and no gourmet meals (in fact, no meals at all). At least they still have the chocolate chip cookies.

There is nothing like the non-stop flights, especially in January. We have a connection this October and I'm hoping everything goes smooth.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

I just checked Allegiant Air out of Madison into Orlando-Sanford. They are still running $196. It would be $216 if you wanted the assigned seat.

Doesn't work for us since they leave Madison at 10:25 a.m. (DW wants Thursday afternoon). The return would have to be on Sunday. They leave Orlando at 8:00 a.m. and get back to Madison at 9:50 a.m.

Just another option.

 

[plenam]

The surprsing thing is that Midwest is a financially troubled airline. With the increase in fuel costs, it may kill them. .

I think it all depends on which airline out of MKE would go under first, if Delta, which is also in trouble, would go first, that might help Midwest. But again, this is all speculation. I got our tickets a week ago and I'm not worried at all.

Brett

 

[JLDSMD]

Brett,

I'm not worried short-term. I think we'll be fine for January, and maybe for some time after that. I'm just contemplating using all the FF miles we have this January for 2 tickets. At $300 a ticket, it is a pretty good return. If I don't use them and they do go under, the miles are lost. I figure, use them while I can.

My bigger concern is my Northwest flight next month. The mechanics are threatening a strike this Saturday. I haven't heard anything new about it, but if that happens, and it's prolonged, it will kill NWA. Can't fly a plane without the mechanics.

I'm just surprised that MW is selling seats at $295 when NWA has them for $255 (even as low as $165 last week - no match by MW). Escpecially when they still have at least 120 seats open on the planes (I got that from the seat maps available on Orbitz). Also, I can't believe they won't let us use FF miles on one of the flights we want to take with that many open seats.

As for Delta, I don't think they have that big of presence in MKE that would help out MW. NWA, on the other hand, is a huge player here and has been turning the screws on MW for sometime now. Ever since they ended their code share agreement. Also, doesn't Delta code share with someone? They might help them out or at least keep their routes.

I would not be surprised if fuel cost stay as high as they are that 3 airlines don't go under in the next year or two. US Air started having trouble last year, Delta and Midwest this year. It may come down to only a handful of full service domestic carriers with the regional/niche airlines (JetBlue, AirTran, Southwest, etc.) picking up the rest.

Again, I'm not saying MW is going under. Like you said with Delta, it's all speculation. I'm just saying the current economic stituation and their current marketing practices are not going to help them. We usually choose them over NWA, but if there is a huge price difference, we will go with NWA.

Jeff

 

[JLDSMD]

WOW, our boat appears to be far from full. Either that, or everyone booked GTY.

I looked at ALL of the verandah staterooms (except Cat 1 - 3) and there are serveral, in fact over 100, staterooms available. Yes I know, I need a life, or better yet, a vacation.

By going through the DCL site and getting to the page where you can select a specific stateroom, I entered all of the Cat 4, 5, 6 and 7 room numbers to see if the system showed them available or not.

Here's is what I found for each category (summarized):
Cat 7 (Navagator Verandah) 18 Rooms Available out of 30 possible
Cat 6 (Decks 5 and 6) 18 Rooms Available out of 138 possible
Cat 5 (Deck 7) 69 Rooms Available out of 114 possible
Cat 4 (Deck 8) 29 Rooms Available out of 79 possible

I first started looking at Cat 6 and 7, thinking I might change my reservation for one of those rooms and wanted to see what was available. Then I looked at Cat 4 and was surprised to see how many were available there. I was shocked when I went to the Cat 5's. There are more rooms available than are taken.

Another odd thing was that none of the rooms, regardless of category, were available with the solid verandah.

I'm not sure what DCL does with the GTY people at this point, but it just seems like a lot of empty rooms right now.

Maybe some upgrades will be available.

I haven't checked the lower categories, Cat 8 - 12, to see how full those are.

Jeff

 

[PiperG]

Maybe some upgrades will be available.

Jeff

On one of our past cruises, our sailing was originally quite empty. We were also hoping for an upgrade.

Unfortunately, the Norwalk virus hit a couple of sailings before us. The Magic was taken out of commission for a week, and many of the passengers were put on our voyage instead. The boat filled up real quick at that point.

Here is hoping we all get upgraded

 

[PiperG]

P.S.

All the talk about a mechanics strike on NWA is freaking me out. We have a WDW trip in October. . . . I will go nuts if I can't get down to Orlando for my fix of pixie dust!!!!

 

[soccrmom65]

I booked a catg 12 and would love to see the ship less occupied so the chance of an upgrade would be much better. We are still a good ways out. I did notice that the catg 12 has gone up 100.00 pp since I booked. I will need lots of pixie dust for this one.

 

[soccrmom65]

I was just on cruisecritic checking out the latest news and they have an article on the Disney Magic and the dry dock scheduled for October. Updates and new ideas for the spa area as well as a brand new kids space..but to me the most exciting is the larger then life movie screen on the pool deck. I was able to experience this on Caribbean Princess and loved watching movies under the stars. I am not sure how Disney will handle the movie viewing but if it is anything like Princess it will certainly be worth catching. You might want to hop over and read the article. Now I am even more excited

 

[SandieT]

1st day back to school for my 2nd grader.
My little one starts her 1st day of preschool in a couple weeks and it's football season. (GO CU) :
The time is really going to start to fly!!!!!!!!
5 months and counting

 

[crazy4M]

Hello everyone,
I am new to disboards and cruising. My DD10 and I (single mom) will be cruising the 7 day eastern on Jan 21. We look forward to everything we've read about on these boards. We plan to fly in on Friday (coming from Canada - so don't want to risk weather delays) and I think we'll stay at the Radisson at Port for that night so we can get on board early.

Any tips on cruising as a single parent? Should I go to Palo on my own. It sounds so wonderful.

Can't wait. I'm not sure who's more excited, me or DD.