July 20th, 2011 – 10 Night Mediterranean "Mickey's European Explorers"

[Anal Annie]

Oh you booked using points!! WOW. We are "points challenged"! We used points for our 4 nighter last summer & paid cash for our 3 nighter. That wiped us out of about 1 and 3/4 yrs worth of points! We won't be cruising on points again! Let's go! Let's do it! July 20 Med here we come!! Call 'em now Mike!!!! Go on!! Do it before EVERYBODY does & snags all the rooms & the prices go up!

 

[msabol01]

Thanks. That's my debate do I switch now and guarantee a reservation or risk it in hopes Disney offers some kind of compensation. By terms of the contract they don't need to do anything so I'm wondering if this has happened in the past. I'm also thinking if they would offer something they would have done so with you like not needing to kick in the extra points.

 

[Anal Annie]

Make mine a double tonight!! Good grief did we have a mess with DS's bathroom flood. It was worse than I orig. thought it was. I just now sat down again. We started getting a wet spot along the tape seam on the ceiling in the kitchen which is under his bathroom. Went back upstairs & pulled off the cove base under the cabinets. There was a space between the cabinet & the wall on one end big enough for me to get my pinky finger into. So it APPEARS that some of the water went under the base & into this crack! So now we're watching this wet seam grow across our kitchen ceiling!! We had a dehumidifier hooked up to a drain in the basement so DH unhooked that & brought it up while I tried to stuff paper towels into this little crack to absorb whatever I could. Then we put a fan in the room. There is a big linen closet in there too & I had a BUNCH of old crap stored in there that I had to go thru & pitch 'cuz it got wet. I still have everything sitting in the hallway while we leave the dehumidifier run. But DOH!!!


It is my gut feeling that with the cruises being SO far away still they will not likely offer any extra compensation. It wouldn't be like people had booked flights yet or anything. I think many that were booked on these 4 or 5 cancelled cruises if they really want to go, will gravitate to the 2 that are offered in July (1 - 10 nighter & 1 - 11 nighter). Since Keever and I both wanted SPH rooms we knew we'd have to book ASAP to snag one.

BTW I JUST now looked at the DCL website...they are still showing 4 SPH rooms as available - Keever it does not appear that you got 5520 again like you had before as 5024 + all 3 of the 55__ rooms are still there. We are supposed to have 5020 so it looks like you are currently right next door to us in 5022. (Just wanted to make sure you knew which one you were in.) That one will have the steamer trunk that 5520 does not have but it adjoins to 5024. 5020 & 5520 have the least obstructions... Call DVC again if that's not what you thought / wanted!!!

Just realized it's after 11:00. Guess it's bedtime! Nite ya'll.

 

[msabol01]

Make mine a double tonight!! Good grief did we have a mess with DS's bathroom flood. It was worse than I orig. thought it was. I just now sat down again. We started getting a wet spot along the tape seam on the ceiling in the kitchen which is under his bathroom. Went back upstairs & pulled off the cove base under the cabinets. There was a space between the cabinet & the wall on one end big enough for me to get my pinky finger into. So it APPEARS that some of the water went under the base & into this crack! So now we're watching this wet seam grow across our kitchen ceiling!! We had a dehumidifier hooked up to a drain in the basement so DH unhooked that & brought it up while I tried to stuff paper towels into this little crack to absorb whatever I could. Then we put a fan in the room. There is a big linen closet in there too & I had a BUNCH of old crap stored in there that I had to go thru & pitch 'cuz it got wet. I still have everything sitting in the hallway while we leave the dehumidifier run. But DOH!!!


It is my gut feeling that with the cruises being SO far away still they will not likely offer any extra compensation. It wouldn't be like people had booked flights yet or anything. I think many that were booked on these 4 or 5 cancelled cruises if they really want to go, will gravitate to the 2 that are offered in July (1 - 10 nighter & 1 - 11 nighter). Since Keever and I both wanted SPH rooms we knew we'd have to book ASAP to snag one.

BTW I JUST now looked at the DCL website...they are still showing 4 SPH rooms as available - Keever it does not appear that you got 5520 again like you had before as 5024 + all 3 of the 55__ rooms are still there. We are supposed to have 5020 so it looks like you are currently right next door to us in 5022. (Just wanted to make sure you knew which one you were in.) That one will have the steamer trunk that 5520 does not have but it adjoins to 5024. 5020 & 5520 have the least obstructions... Call DVC again if that's not what you thought / wanted!!!

Just realized it's after 11:00. Guess it's bedtime! Nite ya'll.

Maybe I will go for the SPH rooms to offset the increase in price. Stay tuned.

 

[Keever]

Too bad about the flood Annie. What a mess!

I left the post it note with all my details on my desk at work, but I do know we are not in the same SPH room. The Disney supervisor checked the views and selected what she thought was the nicest. I'll verify the cabin on Monday.

Great idea about boking a SPH room to offset the cost. We'll be quite a club in that area!

 

[Keever]

Annie,
Where do you check out the room availability? Some site?

 

[msabol01]

So unless something really cool and European is announced for Aug 10, I am now sailing on the Jul 20th! We also got the SPH rooms. Thanks for the advice Annie.

 

[Anal Annie]

We are officially transferred & booked on the July 20 now as well. Bottom line ended up costing us $396 more. I thought it would be a little less than that but I don't have an exact breakdown pp from DU. I am also still waiting to see what our alternative choice might be for August...but at least we all have our SPH rooms! WHAT a secret porthole party we have here!! OK, so I know Keever has 2 boys around my DS's age...How about you msabol01 - you bringing kids??

Keever - to check the cabin availability I just go onto the DCL website & select our cruise type / date / cabin category. Then once that comes up I click the radio button to select a cabin number under the customize cruise options. The available ones will show up on the deck plans / map.

 

[msabol01]

Bringing the kids? Heck we're bringing the entire clan!!!!

My kids are a bit younger, my daughter will be 10 at the time of the cruise and my son 5 (he would have had his 6th B-day on the Magic if we kept our original sail date).

I will also have my in-laws, and my sister-in-law and her family, her kids will be 6 and 3.

In respect of Murphy's Law, I will hold off starting a July 20th thread until Disney releases the Aug 10 plans.

 

[Anal Annie]

Bringing the kids? Heck we're bringing the entire clan!!!!

My kids are a bit younger, my daughter will be 10 at the time of the cruise and my son 5 (he would have had his 6th B-day on the Magic if we kept our original sail date).

I will also have my in-laws, and my sister-in-law and her family, her kids will be 6 and 3.

In respect of Murphy's Law, I will hold off starting a July 20th thread until Disney releases the Aug 10 plans.

Good luck coordinating all that! I tried to plan a trip to WDW last summer with my parents & brother for my parents 50th anniv. & I couldn't get anybody to commit to jack squat! SOOO we went w/o them!

I'll bet you could get the Irish Cowboy dude to just move our thread to the new date & edit our date on the thread title - might work better than having someone else start another new thread before you get around to it!!!! KWIM? We need a name...thinking with all we've been thru already that Mickey's Marauding Maniacs may suit us!! Or should it be Meandering Maniacs?!

 

[msabol01]

How about Micky's Mediterranean Orphans...coming to a sail date & Port near you!

You don't have to tell me about the troubles of coordinating family vacations. I'd rather herd cats!

We had planned a week at WDW for this coming August for all of my in-laws. 17 People in all, my parent-in-laws plus my wife's two brothers and sister and their respective families. So everyone agrees to a date and commit, so I bank and borrow points, call MS first thing the morning of the 11 month mark, and secure all the necessary Savanah View rooms.

Now over the last two weeks, I've had two families back out!

So I'm now stuck trying to figure out what to do with all these borrowed points and going to WDW at a time that was the preference of the group, but not us (August).

I may just cancel the whole trip and use the points to cover the kids' portion of the cruise.

Done Venting lol!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey ya'll - just bumping us back off of page 3!!

Mike - I feel for ya on the family trip thing. OMG. If I were you I'd probably be booking another trip to the world for US if I had borrowed points to use up! In our case I'd given all of my family a deadline to commit of about 2 days before the 7 month deadline. I told them no changes after I booked it! NOBODY would commit so we booked 10 nights for ourselves. We were only providing accomodations - they would've been on their own to GET to FL and for their meals & park tix etc. I'd provided a list of estimated expenses for park tix & CS meals pp so they could make an informed decision. Whatever. I undertand it was more $ than they wanted to spend but I am in no hurry to try to plan it again. (Just curious since you orig. booked the Med for Aug. why you didn't want to go in August? Or am I reading that wrong?)

 

[msabol01]

That was pretty much the same as what I did. Unfortunately they got short sighted on the ticket cost for the parks. Oh well, more for us I say!

So when are we going to learn the fate of the Magic in August???

 

[IrishCowboy]

Subscribing

 

[Anal Annie]

Howdy Cowboy! Whatcha doin'? Just watching us wandering cruisers to see where we go?!

Even tho I swapped dates I am not changing my ticker to the July 20 cruise until we hear more from DCL about what's going on...JUST IN CASE!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Just a bump back off of PAGE 5!! How ya'll doing? I sure hope we find out more scoop SOON from DCL about what's going on with the August cruises!! Stay tuned!!

 

[msabol01]

Yeah, Like you and Andrew waiting to see what's the deal with this cruise!!!! I will be pretty miffed if they do not cancel our original sail date as we were told.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi guys! I sure wish DCL would give us some more scoop soon - I still haven't changed my ticker from Aug to July 'cuz it's a custom one & that's a pain. My cruise fund jar is nearly empty still. My parents were here over Thanksgiving & my Mom emptied all of her change into it! It IS annoying that this July cruise costs more 'eh? I was looking at some of the excursions they posted for the 2010 cruises. They got one that is $2,300 pp to go cook!! Once we get our meet thread going for good I really hope we can find another family to go in with on a van / private tour or with a small group of 12 or so in a couple of the ports. The more I think about it the more I think that's the way to go in Naples & Rome. I'd MUCH rather split $600 Euros or whatever with someone else than pay DCL $180 or $200 pp!! Ahh, well. Back to the dreaming...

 

[Anal Annie]

So nothing announced yet officially, but Andrew has posted some screen shots from his July 30 ressie (he did not switch his date so he still has some sort of access to the July 30 date). It's looking like they may be switching those remaining August Med cruises to only be 7 nighters.... They appear to be dropping the new ports of Malta, Tunis & Corsica.... I am still waiting to see something "official" from DCL about it. I sent a msg. to my TA but she has not heard anything yet. What will ya'll do if that's what they do?? Will you consider switching back to August with fewer nights / ports? I was really looking forward to being on the ship for 10 nights...we will likely stick with the July 20 date but would still like to be able to make an informed decision about it.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey guys! Supposedly tomorrow's the day for the official announcement from DCL that they're changing the July 30 + cruises to 7 nighters.... Who's staying with me on the July 20 one? Shall we ask Irish Cowboy to move our thread to the July 20 date or do we have to start all over again or who's bailing?! I suppose I should consult with DH one more time about this huh?

We need to keep that list of meet name ideas! I just looked back at it and realized HOW MANY TIMES I SPELLED Mediterranean wrong!! I don't think I want that in our title!