June 16, 2007 MedHead Cruisers

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi Silver,

How old is your DS. I could send him my fathers memoirs diary. He was in Omaha Beach. He good writer & his diary is excellent.

PM me if your interested.

Patricia

 

[silver7]

Hi Pat

Thanks so much! sent you a pm

Can y'all believe we are getting closer all of the time?

I talked to DH last night. It is 100 at midnight almost every night there in Kuwait.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Happy weekend everyone! I'd like some imput on this plan. Is this a horrible idea...

Book flight from Cincinnati to JFK on Delta for $200/person
Book flight on Aer Lingus from JFK to Dublin for $234/person
Book flight on Aer Lingus from Dublin to Barcelona for $81/person

It is three different flights, so would we have to check-in 3 times and check our bags 3 times? It comes to $515/person which is HALF the price it would be if I booked a flight with just one stop through Delta or United. Is this even possible to do 3 seperate flights?

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We had very nice weather and I got to enjoy being outside a lot.

I went ahead and booked airfare on Delta for $1069 with just one stop at JFK. This seemed to be the going rate and I wanted to take advantage of everyone's advice to book early! It is such a burden off of me to have the air done. I was really stressing out about it and I am so glad to have it out of the way!

Next up is hotels! My initial travel agent contacted me and told me there is availability for us June 14th and 15th at the Aetena Mar through Disney. After reading through this thread I was under the impression that all the rooms Disney had blocked were sold out. Maybe TA's have a block of rooms through Disney? I don't know, but she said it is available and our family of 5 would only need 2 rooms at this hotel so I might go ahead and book that. Where is everyone else staying in Barcelona? Does anyone know anything about this hotel?

I think if we stay at the Aetena Mar I will go ahead and add Disney transfers to the hotel and port. I was looking into towncar services but it seems like if we do a Disney hotel Disney transfers would be easy and convenient.

I booked our air to come home on the 28th instead of the 27th. Maybe I am just paranoid, but I just don't like the thought of possible problems getting off the ship and missing our flight home and being stranded in Barcelona! So now I need a hotel for that night too!

All of this planning is pretty stressful, but it's a lot of fun too! I can't wait to see what the excursions are going to be as well as more details about the cruise in general!

 

[mndisfam]

Help!

I just called DCL and the only room they have available is at the Gran Marina - we would need 2 a night for almost $1200 a night! I am trying to book other hotels in Barcelona that are much more reasonably priced, but can't get any dates for 6/14 to 6/16...Is it too far ahead or is Barcelona just sold out?

Yikes. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...K

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi There~

Just wanted to let you know, when I booked last month there were no rooms left either with Disney.

They put me on a waiting list, & sure enough my TA called, Disney had the Hilton.

Put your name on a waiting list. I am sure, that that you will find a Hotel with Disney.

Let us know how you make out.

Patricia

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We had very nice weather and I got to enjoy being outside a lot.

I went ahead and booked airfare on Delta for $1069 with just one stop at JFK. This seemed to be the going rate and I wanted to take advantage of everyone's advice to book early! It is such a burden off of me to have the air done. I was really stressing out about it and I am so glad to have it out of the way!

Next up is hotels! My initial travel agent contacted me and told me there is availability for us June 14th and 15th at the Aetena Mar through Disney. After reading through this thread I was under the impression that all the rooms Disney had blocked were sold out. Maybe TA's have a block of rooms through Disney? I don't know, but she said it is available and our family of 5 would only need 2 rooms at this hotel so I might go ahead and book that. Where is everyone else staying in Barcelona? Does anyone know anything about this hotel?

I think if we stay at the Aetena Mar I will go ahead and add Disney transfers to the hotel and port. I was looking into towncar services but it seems like if we do a Disney hotel Disney transfers would be easy and convenient.

I booked our air to come home on the 28th instead of the 27th. Maybe I am just paranoid, but I just don't like the thought of possible problems getting off the ship and missing our flight home and being stranded in Barcelona! So now I need a hotel for that night too!

All of this planning is pretty stressful, but it's a lot of fun too! I can't wait to see what the excursions are going to be as well as more details about the cruise in general!

When are you leaving? June 14 or June 15th. What time are you leaving from JFK? We are leaving on June 14th at JFK around 7pm.

I think you got a great price!!! You done good!!!! LOL

We are also leaving on the 28th, but we are flying into London on the 27th & spending the night in London, & the next day. We are leaving London around 8 pm for NYC.

Yes, I am looking forward to the tours. I wonder if they will have tours for the older children? Do they do that? I think I read some wear that they do that.

I have 3 trips to Disney planned before our June cruise. YIKES

Can't wait.

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

When are you leaving? June 14 or June 15th. What time are you leaving from JFK? We are leaving on June 14th at JFK around 7pm.

I think you got a great price!!! You done good!!!! LOL

We are also leaving on the 28th, but we are flying into London on the 27th & spending the night in London, & the next day. We are leaving London around 8 pm for NYC.

Yes, I am looking forward to the tours. I wonder if they will have tours for the older children? Do they do that? I think I read some wear that they do that.

I have 3 trips to Disney planned before our June cruise. YIKES

Can't wait.

We leave June 13th but then don't get there until the AM of the 14th. Our flight from JFK on the 13th leaves at 8:20pm and gets in at 10:25am on the 14th. Our flight on the 28th leaves at 12:25pm.

I like to think I got a good price after all this stressing, my parents are still complaining and telling me it seems unbelievably high despite the fact that I have assured them that everyone on the DIS says it's perfectly normal!

I'm just as bad as you, I'll be in Disney October 11-16, December 26-January 8 and February 25-March 4!! My sister works at the Contemporary and gets 50% off Disney hotels and I have an annual pass so I feel like I can justify it!

I would love to hear what they are offering for teens. My sister will be 16 when we cruise and she is so skeptical about why we have to go on Mickey's boat for this cruise. She thinks we should just take a "normal" (her words!) cruise line because it's going to be all little kids and she's not going to have any fun. Teenagers...sigh.

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

About the hotel...my wonderful disappearing/reappearing TA contacted me again today. After telling me she could book us in the Aetena Mar she says it turns out all she could book us in was the Grand Marina. For the room with me and my 2 sisters it would be $1480 for 2 nights. For the room with my parents it would be $1260 for 2 nights. That's a total of $2740 for 2 nights in a hotel!! I passed on the offer.

A few pages back Brenda posted a link to a site where you can rent apartments. I think that might be a good option for our family of 5, however, they seem to all require a minimum 3 night stay. Since we're only staying 2 nights I don't know what to do! I guess now it's time to stress over the hotel!

 

[Skallywag]

Those hotel prices seem way too high. Will do a bit of investigating this side of the water and see what I can find out.
Brenda

 

[Skallywag]

Havbe just been on to the site we booked through and they have quite a lot of availability for the nights 14th to 16th June at quite reasonable prices.
They are showing the Cristal Palace which is a 4 star at £292 for the two nights which sounds reasonable to me.

We had no problems with booking through them and they email everything to you and you pay by credit card so you are covered.

the site is www.skytravel.co.uk and click on hotels at the top.
I just clicked on Barcelona and typed the dates in and the search showed some good availability.

They actually show an apartment so you can probably pick up more through searching.

Good luck
Brenda

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Brenda, thank you so much for the information, you are always so helpful!!!

How is everyone getting to their hotel/port if they are not staying in a Disney hotel and therefore not using Disney transfers?

 

[Skallywag]

Hi Everyone,

Looking at cruise seailings it seems that another large cruise liner (name escapes me) is sailing same day as us and perhaps this is why hotel rooms are becoming difficult. That linked with the motor-cycle racing at that time I feel is a lot of the problem.

You should find some reasonable hotels on the site I gave you and they are a company used by many. They run our t.v. systems here - dont know if you have the same cannot remember and because we were finding prices of hotels way too high decided to give them a look. The hotel we found was half the price of the one we had reserved at Hillton Diagonal Mar and that is a lot of money to save. Will keep having a look and see if amyting else turns up. Our locl paper is out today and many people do own apartments in Europe and who knows. Will keep you posted.

We have booked our transport through a company called Blai Limosines. They were extremely helpful and converse in English so that helps. This is not cheap either.

Good news from Disney that we do not have to relinquish our passports this time - hope they change the rules for US based cruises as this is the one thing that puts me off going again. Bad enough having to get up before dawn but then to be treated in such a hostile manner was not pleasant.
Would recommend that you try and locate and book a hotel quite quickly as they are becoming difficult and more expensive I think

Weather in our part of the country is wonderful 27 degrees today although not so good up north and Ireland as they are expecting the tail end of Hurricane Gordon.

My friend runs a boarding cattery and she is away at a meeting for a couple of days so I am off up there in a minute to sort the animals out. As we run the local branch of the RSPCA have lots of other animals also and it makes life quite exciting at times and often very distressing.

Brenda

 

[PURTYPAT1]

Hi Brenda,

You have become so helpful. Thank you for all that you have done for many of us.

You went from pouring rain to freezing cold. It is 50 here in NYC today, I am not ready for winter.

What an interesting life. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Time to get my DD up & off to school, on this cold morning lol

Have a good day.

Patricia

 

[PURTYPAT1]

PrincessJasmine08,

I found this link which might find helpful



http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=380847

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Thanks for the link!

I think I am going to book the Hispanos 7 Suiza. For $550/night we get a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen that would accomodate our family of 5. It also includes a buffet breakfast. It looks very nice, it is pretty new and is 5 stars. I am still doing a bit more research, but this really looks like a great option. It is located in central Barcelona adjacent to the Sagrada Familia. Does anyone know if that is a good location?

 

[carolmb]

Thanks for the link!

I think I am going to book the Hispanos 7 Suiza. For $550/night we get a 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen that would accomodate our family of 5. It also includes a buffet breakfast. It looks very nice, it is pretty new and is 5 stars. I am still doing a bit more research, but this really looks like a great option. It is located in central Barcelona adjacent to the Sagrada Familia. Does anyone know if that is a good location?

It sounds like it would be in good location. You could always ask "BCNlady" on the cruise critic Europe posts.

 

[Skallywag]

Check out on Tripadvisor - good reports and think it sounds excellent.
Also if you go to www.barcelona-tourist-gruide.com you can check out best ways of getting there and also other places of interest around.

Do not think you will better that price - is that including the compulsory tax they put on?
Brenda

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

Yes, it includes tax. It comes out to $1126 for 2 nights in a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment with breakfast for 5 people. I am booking it! It's exciting to get all the details in place, it makes it seem more real!

 

[Skallywag]

Think that sounds a very good deal and is situated in a good position.
Well done we are all getting there slowly I think.

Anyone know yet what time the Disney buses are scheduled to pick up at the hotels?

It has been a lovely weekend here and we hd a run out down to Canterbury - that is our nearest Cathedral City and it has lots of ancient tudor buildings and of course lots of visitors.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and I am not looking forward to winter coming on and today we have had some much needed rain.
Brenda