June 5,2010 Relocation Cruise

[karentan]

Hi Karen, PM me! We have second seating and we'll link with you - Dwight (39) & MM (36).

MMM

anyone else want to join in the second seating party table??!

 

[disneymom7851]

I can't wait for the party in the bar at Novotel. I am getting the fish extender out tonight and start making my plans. I printed the list from post *359 and just noticed that Yensid 1222 (my charming offspring) felt the need to list MY age on the thing. Just goes to show you can never trust your children. I will get him back before the cruise is over

 

[K8T]

We had reservations at the Casp 74 apartments for Sat June 5th. It is very spacious and new. A 10 min walk to Las Ramblas. Of course, I am cancelling this as I just added this repo cruise.



I tentatively booked a B&B in Dover for June 12th. Do you think the Queen's BD procession is something not to be missed? DS wants to see the Cliffs of Dover and I would like to tour Dover castle since we are right there. Do you think Dover is worth spending the night for?

Appreciate any feedback as I am not having time to research as I am still in the throws of finalizing all of our med plans. We are doing all DIY except for Tunisia.

Hi Sinnika

The Pomp and Ceremony that goes with the Birthday parade is incredible. It really is amazing to watch, but it does mean London will be busy - in a good way though!!!

Dover is Ok, but apart from the castle, I don't really think there is a lot to see there. There are far more amazing castles and buildings in London.

Am I crazy to think it might be possible to do all of this on Saturday:

1. Get off the Magic
2. Get to London
3. Check into hotel
4. Go see the Queen
5. Get to Leicester Square for half price tickets to a matinee (hopefully "Sister Act")
6. Get to said theater
7. See "Love Never Dies" evening performance
8. Meet up for food and drinks with my work colleague's daughter who is in school in London
9. Sleep

Yes, you could do this, but think you may be pushing the matinee! London is only just over an hour or so from Dover and I would think we would be off early. You may have to wait to check in, not be able to check in, as most hotels it is after lunch, but you can usually 'stash' your bags at the hotel and go out and about and come back to check in.

The Parade starts at 11.00 from Horseguards, so you could catch that, Leicester Square is a short walk from Horseguards. so you could try to get your half price tickets, during the parade. The only problem is if you get caught up in the traffic getting into London, as some roads will be closed.

To get to a 3.00 Matinee could be done, as you can walk to the Pallidium from Pall Mall/Horseguards area. Would take 10 minutes or so.

Wondering how we can be added to the FE list and the roster?

Our information is as follows:

Orest (44 yrs old)
Sinthia (43 yrs old)
Zoe (9 yrs old)
Dana (6 yrs old)

We also booked a 12 GTY and was assigned Stateroom #6537, it's been a long time since we were in an inside stateroom without the split bathroom.

Has anyone been successful upgrading to an oceanview or balcony once they were on board? If so, what was the cost to upgrade?

Hi Sinthia, our dd is 5yrs 9 months (mustn't forget the 9 months!), so she will be pleased to meet your daughter too.

anyone else want to join in the second seating party table??!

I think we are going to try to swap to early seating if we can, but otherwise would have loved to have joined you, although some people may not feel comfortable with dining with children!!!! She is very housetrained!!!. I think we will have to wait and see on this one, but thanks.

Kate

 

[bode]

Karen, I sent you a PM. I have a 10 DD who is great so if you guys want kids involved at the table count us in.

 

[karentan]

yay, everything's coming together really nicely. just waiting for confirmation from yensid/disneymom about the coach then i'm going to book that

 

[desparatelydisney]

The Goring arranged a transfer for us from the dock to the hotel!

That means
(1) I don't have to worry about my new bag &
(2) we will get to London much quicker than boat to dover priory to victoria station to hotel.

Hubby is gone for the day so I'm gonna try to work on my FEs if the kids will let me.

Quick question for you gals - are you wearing hose on formal night? Everyone here keeps telling me hose are out but it doesn't seem right to go bare legged on formal night. What are y'all doing?

 

[KT27]

Quick question for you gals - are you wearing hose on formal night? Everyone here keeps telling me hose are out but it doesn't seem right to go bare legged on formal night. What are y'all doing?

no hose

 

[K8T]

Hi

Glad to hear the Goring are living up to their reputation!!

Hose is something a fireman uses in the UK!

We would call them 'tights' or 'stockings' depending if they have 'suspenders' or not

Yes I always wear tights with formal stuff, doesn't seem to feel right if I don't. However, if my legs were silky smooth, tanned and beautiful, I may feel differently - but they are not!!!!

Semi formal, with summery dresses, probably not, as I would wear open toed sandals and that isn't a cool look

The language divide is going to be so much fun! Although my dd watches too much Mickey Mouse and already call ours rubbish bin a Garbage Can, so she will be able to translate

Kate

 

[desparatelydisney]

Hi

Glad to hear the Goring are living up to their reputation!!

Hose is something a fireman uses in the UK!

We would call them 'tights' or 'stockings' depending if they have 'suspenders' or not

Yes I always wear tights with formal stuff, doesn't seem to feel right if I don't. However, if my legs were silky smooth, tanned and beautiful, I may feel differently - but they are not!!!!

Semi formal, with summery dresses, probably not, as I would wear open toed sandals and that isn't a cool look

The language divide is going to be so much fun! Although my dd watches too much Mickey Mouse and already call ours rubbish bin a Garbage Can, so she will be able to translate

Kate

to make this worse, we use Mexican workers in the winter so we speak American English & Mexican Spanish

Glad to know I am not the only one who doesn't think her legs are "bare worthy"

On another note, thought it would be neat if we could start putting faces with names. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, please don't feel any pressure to do so. I'll start...

Me (Mary-Margaret)

& DH (Dwight) with our DD who won't be with us

You can also send me a friend request on Facebook...Mary-Margaret Sykes McKinney....just be sure to give me your DIS name so I know who you are.

 

[YenSid1222]

yay, everything's coming together really nicely. just waiting for confirmation from yensid/disneymom about the coach then i'm going to book that

PM Sent!

 

[Scott H]

Hi

Glad to hear the Goring are living up to their reputation!!

Hose is something a fireman uses in the UK!

We would call them 'tights' or 'stockings' depending if they have 'suspenders' or not

Yes I always wear tights with formal stuff, doesn't seem to feel right if I don't. However, if my legs were silky smooth, tanned and beautiful, I may feel differently - but they are not!!!!

Semi formal, with summery dresses, probably not, as I would wear open toed sandals and that isn't a cool look

The language divide is going to be so much fun! Although my dd watches too much Mickey Mouse and already call ours rubbish bin a Garbage Can, so she will be able to translate

Kate

Yes we are two countries seperated by a common language

We are keeping our eye on the upcomming BA strike to see how it will effect our LHR to CDG leg

 

[sinnika]

Hoping to get some help from my UK peeps. Any suggestions for where to stay in London for 3 nights post-cruise? Its myself and 2 teens. Looking for something centrally located and reasonable. Under $250/night. Right now I am booked at the Rhodes near Paddington Station for June 13 and 14, they were sold out for the June 12th. We are flying back to the US on June 15th at 10am.
Also, would love any input of how the locals go about getting discount tickets for the theatre. Would love to see Les Miserables on the evening of the 12th. I go to NYC to see Broadway shows and know how to get cheap tickets there. Can discount tickets be charged, or is it cash only for tickets. And are there TKTS offices or a certain area, like Times Square in NYC?

 

[sinnika]

i havent heard any talk of palo's brunch but i'm intrigued!

i'm really looking forward to this now, in exactly 3 weeks, about 15 of us (give or take) will be in a bar in the novotel, toasting the upcoming cruise

I coordinated 2 group Palo brunches for the May 26th cruise. We are leaving for our trip in 6 days so can't take on coordinating one for this cruise but its really easy to do. Someone just needs to collect names and DCL reservation #'s for those interested. If you want to coordiate Karentan, I can PM you the letter I used and fax # for DCL. Anyway, here are some more details that I posted on our May 26th website:

"Here's how the private brunch works: the room holds up to 14 people in a private dining area. This is an adults only dining and there is a dress code (no shorts). Capris are fine but men will need to wear slacks and nice shirt (no tie required for brunch). Cost is $15 pp plus tip.

As soon as I get 14 people, I will send the info in. I will also start a waitlist in case we have any drop outs.
Just some things to consider: there will also be a character brunch on this cruise (usually offered on 3 different sea days on cruises of 7 days or longer).
If you are 1st dining, your character breakfast will be early, but if you are 2nd dining, it may conflict with the Palo brunch time if you have kids that want to go to the character breakfast. Of course, if your kids are older, they could go on their own, or you could have one spouse go to the character breakfast and the other to Palo if there is a conflict. However, you will not know your dining rotation until you board the ship. Our last brunch, several of the husbands did not come (they didn't want to dress up! LOL, No, really!)

Keep in mind that if you have made another Palo brunch reservation, you can't join in the group brunch unless you cancel your other brunch reservation. DCL's rule is that you can only have one Palo brunch, one high tea and one dinner per cruise pre-booked."

 

[adrianna_sarah]

Hoping to get some help from my UK peeps. Any suggestions for where to stay in London for 3 nights post-cruise? Its myself and 2 teens. Looking for something centrally located and reasonable. Under $250/night. Right now I am booked at the Rhodes near Paddington Station for June 13 and 14, they were sold out for the June 12th. We are flying back to the US on June 15th at 10am.
Also, would love any input of how the locals go about getting discount tickets for the theatre. Would love to see Les Miserables on the evening of the 12th. I go to NYC to see Broadway shows and know how to get cheap tickets there. Can discount tickets be charged, or is it cash only for tickets. And are there TKTS offices or a certain area, like Times Square in NYC?

We are at the Park Plaza Westminster, which just opened a few weeks ago. It is a DCL hotel, so we were able to use transfers, even though we booked it ourselves. Came in just under $250 per night, but we paid extra for the "Iconic View", which I think is the Westminster Bridge and the Thames. I know it is walking distance from the London Eye, Bid Ben, etc.

 

[adrianna_sarah]

no hose

Me neither, but I do wear the capri length and shorter Spanx to smooth out the imperfections.

 

[karentan]

i got called into work early today and have only just got back so i'm going to call DCL and the coach company tomorrow after work to get that all sorted.

i cant wait til this cruise now, my brain seems to have given up as its so close, and work has just been dragging the last few days.
rotfl: found out today, my ex assistant manager who is on this cruise too is only 4 doors down from me!)

 

[karentan]

oh, and following on from mary-margaret's get to know us idea, here's a photo of me and gary at the grand floridian:

 

[sinnika]

Have anyone planned on doing private transfers from the port back to London? Is anyone planning something like that and looking for others to join in to split the cost? If so, I am interested. I've joined in with others in Port Canaveral for transfers back to the airport or WDW for alot less than DCL transfers. Searching now for private transfers as that would seem to be the most practical for me. If I find a service that will take more than the 3 of us and our luggage, is anyone else interested? I found a hotel by Paddington Station - Rhodes hotel for a good price (105 euro per night including continental breakfast).

 

[karentan]

we've organised one to get TO the port in barcelona (which has now unofficially been named the novotel party bus!) but i dont think anyone's mentioned getting one at the other end?
i live about 2 hours from dover so our plan is to drive 2 cars down, leave one at the port, then drive the other back.

 

[YenSid1222]

To answer the theater questions....

TKTS in London works just like TKTS on Broadway. Day of show, up to half price tickets. The main ticket booth is in Leiscester Square. I plan on being there as soon as I can to TRY and do a matinee of Sister Act when we get off the ship. We have alreay bought tickets to Love Never Dies that night.