EBTA 2014...Across the Atlantic we go!!!

[TotallyAngelic]

Hi

yeah I remember you from WBTA 2010 nice to hear from you again - going west bound was great I am looking forward to trying the east bound ..really looking forward to doing a cruise again ... been travelling around the world and done Disneyland LA, Disneyland Toyko and just come back from Disneyworld about a month ago. Back working as a contractor in ICT .. I hope your well.

I recall you were planning a big trip around the world and I hope it was all you hoped it would be. I would love to do something like that once the mortgage is paid off We are planning the EBTA as a total relaxation trip ... no major plans, just kick back, rest and enjoy. Absolutely can't wait.

 

[Missesjoyce]

Hi there,

We will be joining you all on our transatlantic voyage ! Myself, hubby and 2 little boys of 4 and 6 yrs old. This is our 3rd cruise wit dcl.
We are very muchlooking forward to this trip, we live in Europe, so we first do the long haul flight, and returning home will be a 2 hr flight for us

Anyone any idea how crowded this cruise is ? All the med cruises we have done where fully booked.
And anyone with experience who can tell me....any idea what kind of weather to expect...are there sunny days, or mostly bad weather on the big ocean

Hope to meet you all, I also did send a request to join on facebook !!

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Hi there,

We will be joining you all on our transatlantic voyage ! Myself, hubby and 2 little boys of 4 and 6 yrs old. This is our 3rd cruise wit dcl.
We are very muchlooking forward to this trip, we live in Europe, so we first do the long haul flight, and returning home will be a 2 hr flight for us

Anyone any idea how crowded this cruise is ? All the med cruises we have done where fully booked.
And anyone with experience who can tell me....any idea what kind of weather to expect...are there sunny days, or mostly bad weather on the big ocean

Hope to meet you all, I also did send a request to join on facebook !!

Welcome aboard. I haven't done the EBTA before but plenty on here have so I am sure they can give you info re the weather etc. It should be warm in the Med in May though and certainly in the Caribbean.

 

[Jetsetter42]

So, I have a question about fun things to do in Funchal. This is our third time doing the DCL transatlantic and we are looking for something new to do in Funchal. Any suggestions? After 6 days at sea, I'm sure we'll want to get off the ship and stretch our legs, but what have the past TA sailors done in Madeira that they enjoyed?

 

[TotallyAngelic]

So, I have a question about fun things to do in Funchal. This is our third time doing the DCL transatlantic and we are looking for something new to do in Funchal. Any suggestions? After 6 days at sea, I'm sure we'll want to get off the ship and stretch our legs, but what have the past TA sailors done in Madeira that they enjoyed?

There are boat trips .... we have done the Santa Maria one which was good.

http://www.madeira-boat-trips.info

Also you can go up the mountain in the cable car and come down on the basket toboggan ride which is a bit touristy but good fun. You can wander round the lovely old town and visit the market.

 

[Viking_53]

Hi there,

We will be joining you all on our transatlantic voyage ! Myself, hubby and 2 little boys of 4 and 6 yrs old. This is our 3rd cruise wit dcl.
We are very muchlooking forward to this trip, we live in Europe, so we first do the long haul flight, and returning home will be a 2 hr flight for us

Anyone any idea how crowded this cruise is ? All the med cruises we have done where fully booked.
And anyone with experience who can tell me....any idea what kind of weather to expect...are there sunny days, or mostly bad weather on the big ocean

Hope to meet you all, I also did send a request to join on facebook !!

Hi! Welcome to the cruise!

We were on the EBTA last May that sailed from Galveston to Barcelona.

The weather was great. I'm not sure it rained much at all. It took us 3 days to get from Galveston to Castaway Cay. All that time around the Gulf and the Florida Keys were warm. The day we arrived on Castaway Cay it was cloudy, and not all that warm - maybe it was in the 80's. I was a bit surprised that they had the water temperature at 72 degrees. It was a bit colder on our snorkel adventure than I thought it would be, but it was not uncomfortable.

During the 6 day crossing, we had a lot of sun, but it was cooler when you were out on deck. That didn't stop our dinner mates kids from being in the pool most of the time (it was too cold for us, but my daughter (age 5 then - age 6 when we sail this time) had not issues getting into the kids pool). The seas were calm as well. I took a picture one night of the ocean that was a smooth as glass. The only really bad weather we had was the day between Funchal, and Gibraltar. There was a bad storm off the coast of France that was causing us to really rock and roll in the ship - it was not very warm that day either, but it was beautiful when we arrived in Gibraltar the next day.

All that being said, I wore shorts a lot of the first part of the cruise, and pants in the second week, but always had a short sleeve shirt. I'm not sure if that's that norm and we lucked out, but we did have really great weather.

As for the crowds, I think that our cruise was about 70-80% full. They didn't allow any upgrades at port, however. I think they had moved some of the crew to passenger staterooms, as they were already starting some of renovations that were completed on the Magic last fall. We certainly did not feel crowded at all on this ship.

Hope that helps

Chuck

 

[Viking_53]

So, I have a question about fun things to do in Funchal. This is our third time doing the DCL transatlantic and we are looking for something new to do in Funchal. Any suggestions? After 6 days at sea, I'm sure we'll want to get off the ship and stretch our legs, but what have the past TA sailors done in Madeira that they enjoyed?

Hi,

We took the EBTA last year, and we had a couple of different Disney port adventures our family took.

My wife and daughter did the "Charms of old Madeira". They took an old time bus ride on a tour of the town, and then had some time to shop. It was a short, 1/2 day tour that they both really enjoyed (and it is listed on the schedule for this year's cruise as well in the port adventures section).

I took the tour "Hiking Rabacal". It was a hike (walk mainly) on the other side of the island. We walked around the "levadas" (irrigation canals) that have been preserved over the years. We also went to a couple of different waterfalls. It was about an 8 mile walk. It was downhill or flat - no uphill climbs, and took all day. I don't see that one listed on the Disney Cruise website for this year though. It did take all day, and for some reason, we are scheduled into Funchal at 12 noon this year - we came in at 10:30 AM last May, so not sure if that's why it's not on there. There were about 40 of us on the tour, so there was definitely interest.

A couple of notes on that one - prepare for rain, as it's the rainy side of the island. You start at about 5000 feet up, but quickly descend into the forest. to about 3000 feet. It was a bit chilly to start, but it was fine once you were down in the forest.

Also, if you are claustrophobic or afraid of heights or the dark, then this one isn't for you. First off, some of the walks are over some quite high cliffs - you are protected by wires on the paths, but if you are nervouse with heights, then this one is not for you. Secondly, we ended the walk by taking a short cut through a dark tunnel (it's a water pipe carrying water to the other side of the island). We were only provided flashlights for ourselves - no light in the tunnel, and they said it was about a 1/2 mile long, so just want to warn you of that.

I had a great time on this tour - I hope it runs again



Chuck

 

[gramfrog]

Several on the Facebook page for this cruise had asked about the possibility of setting up a Meet-n-Greet for all DISboards and Facebook cruisers on sail-away day in Promenades. I wanted to check with all of you whether someone has started that process or created an event for that-- I don't wish to step on anyone's toes by setting one up….. Please let me know if you've got it in the pipeline already! thx

 

[JLSE50]

I hope you all have a great time.

Due to the cold and snow, we could not fly back to Indianapolis after our early January visit with family in Florida so Tom has to use vacation days to cover our extended stay. He has no extra vacation days so we moved our deposit to a shorter cruise-- an Eastern Caribbean cruise with our kids in October.

Bon voyage
Jan



.

 

[geffric]

I hope you all have a great time.

Due to the cold and snow, we could not fly back to Indianapolis after our early January visit with family in Florida so Tom has to use vacation days to cover our extended stay. He has no extra vacation days so we moved our deposit to a shorter cruise-- an Eastern Caribbean cruise with our kids in October.

Bon voyage
Jan



.

Boo. we will miss you! Hope you had fun on your extended stay. Have fun with the kids.

Several on the Facebook page for this cruise had asked about the possibility of setting up a Meet-n-Greet for all DISboards and Facebook cruisers on sail-away day in Promenades. I wanted to check with all of you whether someone has started that process or created an event for that-- I don't wish to step on anyone's toes by setting one up….. Please let me know if you've got it in the pipeline already! thx

Great idea! If you need any help, just let me know.

 

[Missesjoyce]

Hi! Welcome to the cruise!

We were on the EBTA last May that sailed from Galveston to Barcelona.

The weather was great. I'm not sure it rained much at all. It took us 3 days to get from Galveston to Castaway Cay. All that time around the Gulf and the Florida Keys were warm. The day we arrived on Castaway Cay it was cloudy, and not all that warm - maybe it was in the 80's. I was a bit surprised that they had the water temperature at 72 degrees. It was a bit colder on our snorkel adventure than I thought it would be, but it was not uncomfortable.

During the 6 day crossing, we had a lot of sun, but it was cooler when you were out on deck. That didn't stop our dinner mates kids from being in the pool most of the time (it was too cold for us, but my daughter (age 5 then - age 6 when we sail this time) had not issues getting into the kids pool). The seas were calm as well. I took a picture one night of the ocean that was a smooth as glass. The only really bad weather we had was the day between Funchal, and Gibraltar. There was a bad storm off the coast of France that was causing us to really rock and roll in the ship - it was not very warm that day either, but it was beautiful when we arrived in Gibraltar the next day.

All that being said, I wore shorts a lot of the first part of the cruise, and pants in the second week, but always had a short sleeve shirt. I'm not sure if that's that norm and we lucked out, but we did have really great weather.

As for the crowds, I think that our cruise was about 70-80% full. They didn't allow any upgrades at port, however. I think they had moved some of the crew to passenger staterooms, as they were already starting some of renovations that were completed on the Magic last fall. We certainly did not feel crowded at all on this ship.

Hope that helps

Chuck

Thank you Chuck ! That gives me an impression of your experience. Until now, all the photos of Castaway Cay I have seen, was with cloudy weather strange but true, still hoping we will be lucky in May with a lot of sun !!

Did your kids enjoyed themselves those 6 days at sea or were they bored ?! We never had so many sea days , so I hope they will love 6 at once

 

[Viking_53]

Thank you Chuck ! That gives me an impression of your experience. Until now, all the photos of Castaway Cay I have seen, was with cloudy weather strange but true, still hoping we will be lucky in May with a lot of sun !!

Did your kids enjoyed themselves those 6 days at sea or were they bored ?! We never had so many sea days , so I hope they will love 6 at once

Our daughter LOVES the kids club, so no, she wasn't bored. They also had plenty of activities for kids outside the club too.

 

[granmaz]

I hope you all have a great time.

Due to the cold and snow, we could not fly back to Indianapolis after our early January visit with family in Florida so Tom has to use vacation days to cover our extended stay. He has no extra vacation days so we moved our deposit to a shorter cruise-- an Eastern Caribbean cruise with our kids in October.

Bon voyage
Jan



.

It would have been lovely to have seen you again but I am sure you will enjoy your family cruise maybe even more than this one.

 

[Dinglehopper77]

hey there

So , I'm already on the facebook group but thought I'd do a little intro on here and say hi! My name is Hillary and my husband Matt (CaptainMattSparrow) are very excited to be doing this cruise, along with my amazing MIL Julie (Milliesmum) and grandma Pam. This will be my 2nd disney cruise and Matt's 5th

I think I'm most looking forward to the many days at sea to explore the ship, Palo and the Aquadunk (little nervous about it )

Also, gonna start training a bit and going to do the Castaway Cay 5K with Matt and Julie Anyone else doing it?


Thanks and See ya all real soon!

 

[Dinglehopper77]

also, anyone have any recaps from this cruise in past years? just love reading and seeing others Disney Cruise experiences!

 

[Spart02]

Can someone please talk me through how to see the Roll Call spreadsheet? I can pull up the Fish Extender one just fine, but have no idea how to get to the Roll Call one. I know I did it a few months ago, but can't seem to figure it out now.

 

[hmhaase]

Can someone please talk me through how to see the Roll Call spreadsheet? I can pull up the Fish Extender one just fine, but have no idea how to get to the Roll Call one. I know I did it a few months ago, but can't seem to figure it out now.

I had the same problem! If your are on the Facebook page the link there works!

 

[gilsan]

Can someone please talk me through how to see the Roll Call spreadsheet? I can pull up the Fish Extender one just fine, but have no idea how to get to the Roll Call one. I know I did it a few months ago, but can't seem to figure it out now.

The roll call list and the FE list were the same list. I am not sure what has happened, but it appears that anyone that was not participating in the FE list has been deleted from the roll call. Someone else had entered their names in the header, I fixed that, so I think the list has some problems

I think it might be wise to start a new roll call and FE list, after the final payment date. I think we may have names of people no longer on the cruise, so the list is probably not accurate.

Keurigirl was heading up the FE groups, and she and I had the website up and running, but the roll call list seems a little disorganized right now.

 

[gilsan]

I have created a new Roll Call spreadsheet. It can be found herehttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vWv5gDNPcTgb7m7vsAK-Q-3bz5vhT9ehsRP3X9sOVVk/viewform
The list is viewable by anyone with the link so enter only as much information as you are comfortable with.

 

[Disney mam]

Even if you were a maybe for the fish extender you were still removed from the list. So if anyone put themselves as a maybe and have decided on participating, then you should go add your name to the list.