Just Back from the EB Transatlantic 4/10

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Hi! For all those curious about the Eastbound Transatlantic Repo trip I wanted to share some info and fun. We had a wonderful sailing with mostly calm seas and mild weather. Ready for some fun?

Here is a LINK to the 2 week overview we were given at the beginning of the trip (PDF).

At Castaway Cay, my DH and I had a great time testing out Pelican Plunge! We both tried the "slow slide" (TWICE!) and found that it was anything but slow if you lay down flat as directed by signage.

We took a TON of Photos, some of which I will post later, but now I have video!

See the fireworks in Barcelona displayed in honor of the Magic returning to the Med HERE.

Slightly less spectacular, HERE is a video of the Pirates IN the Caribbean fireworks.

I hope you enjoy these tidbits. I am happy to answer to any questions you might have about this sailing. I will post more photos once I sort through the 2400 or so we took!

 

[carmie3377]

Thank you so much! We are doing the 15nt PC cruise in Jan and it's good to see some of the things they are doing on the recent extended sailings.

 

[Donald_Quackers]

Wow, thanks for posting! Sounds like you had a fantastic time!

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

We did have a wonderful sailing.

Stlkeeler has already covered a lot of ground with her "Live from the Magic" thread, so I will try not to be redundant here.

 

[clten]

I just wanted to note something about the Voyage Navigator that they gave us at the beginning of the EBTA. On the schedule, I think it notes 2 Formal nights and 3 Semi-Formal nights. In reality, it was only 3 nights that were Formal/Semi-formal. (I think it was one formal and two semi-formal but I could have it reversed. I know the first sea day was formal and the last sea day was semi-formal; I just can't remember if the one in the middle was formal or semi!)

 

[gismo1554]

I just wanted to note something about the Voyage Navigator that they gave us at the beginning of the EBTA. On the schedule, I think it notes 2 Formal nights and 3 Semi-Formal nights. In reality, it was only 3 nights that were Formal/Semi-formal. (I think it was one formal and two semi-formal but I could have it reversed. I know the first sea day was formal and the last sea day was semi-formal; I just can't remember if the one in the middle was formal or semi!)

Oh thanks for this! If anyone has managed to scan in the daily navigators or any menus they might have got photos/copies of I would love to see them?

 

[crafty91]

Was the cruise relatively full or was there noticable breathing room on board? Considering one in the future and just wondering. Also how were the seas?

 

[clten]

You could tell that there were less passengers than normal. The dining room (we had late seating) seemed half empty each night. (Our dining team only served 11 people on 3 tables that could seat 18 at our seating.) The shows were not as crowded.

But that's not to say that there weren't crowds. There were times that events were very crowded (it was difficult to find seats in the WD Theater for Alfred and Seymour's adult cabaret show). Sometimes it was difficult to find a seat inside (the chairs around the atrium and the promenade lounge) but that was more because the weather was cool than that the ship was crowded.

The seas themselves were relatively calm. It wasn't until the 3rd sea day that you really felt any movement or saw whitecaps. But even then it wasn't what I would consider rough seas. (It was never "walk down the hallways bumping into both sides of the walls" rough.) But we were lucky, I think we were just out in front of some weather. If the ship had sailed one day later, the story would have been completely different.

 

[abubu919]

I noticed that there are obviously a lot of days at sea clumped together. Did you ever find that was too much time on the boat without getting off?

 

[ibouncetoo]

I noticed that there are obviously a lot of days at sea clumped together. Did you ever find that was too much time on the boat without getting off?

It was heaven! For me, one day was packed with DCL shipboard activities, the next I chose not to do any and just relaxed, played with DIS friends, read and stared at the ocean! It was nice to be able to go to a movie or play games in Diversions and not feel like you were missing out on other things because you were spending several hours just hanging out.

It was also nice to have time to chat with CMs and hear about their life on board.

.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

It was heaven! For me, one day was packed with DCL shipboard activities, the next I chose not to do any and just relaxed, played with DIS friends, read and stared at the ocean! It was nice to be able to go to a movie or play games in Diversions and not feel like you were missing out on other things because you were spending several hours just hanging out.

It was also nice to have time to chat with CMs and hear about their life on board.

.

Glad everyone had a great time. I really want to do one of these. Maybe 2012, if I can last that long.

 

[kileybeth]

Nice to see so many threads about our awesome 14 day adventure!

Sooo hard to be home to this bed that will just not rock me to sleep at night and no one to tidy up my bathroom

Just a note, and I remember well as I was able to get my DH to wear a tux for the first time since I married him 25 years ago

Sea Day 1 and Sea Day 6 were both Formal nights. I think all the guys at our table showed up in tuxes the first night (Prince and Princess Night) with lots of tiaras for the ladies as well. We saw Twice Charmed that evening. The second formal night was a mix of suits and tuxes for the men and dressy attire for the ladies with the Transatlantic Menu which was "Dated"(meaning we got to take it home with us)We saw the new The Dream Goes On show that night. We did only have one Semi-Formal night (last day at sea) for the Captain Gala menu with Disney Dreams being our show.

I was a bit disappointed not to have a few more semi formals but was able to wear the extra clothing we brought to Palo anyway!

I am still a bit overwhelmed at how incredible the 2 weeks were as it was just our 2nd cruise (1st one, DCL western 7 nite) and I know I am now incredibly spoiled and will find it hard to do a 5day or shorter cruise.

The sea days were the absolute best thing. I truly could have done 6 more sea days after our busy week 2 in Ports.

Not sure what exactly we did with all that time as we only took 1 nap the entire cruise and the whole time change thing didn't seem to catch us until we got home! Never read through any of the books I brought, never played one game I packed, did not learn to knit. . .

Happy to answer questions as well.

 

[stlkeeler]

I noticed that there are obviously a lot of days at sea clumped together. Did you ever find that was too much time on the boat without getting off?

I, too, loved the sea days. I would like to do a cruise with only sea days and no ports! There was more to do during the first week than the second, I thought. I was really busy at first then I slowed down quite a bit. Had time to sit next to my disfriends out on deck and watch the world go by. Of course, the 2nd week had all the ports in them. But if you just happened to want to stay onboard (or come back early), there wasn't much to do. But that was still OK by me!

 

[clten]

I noticed that there are obviously a lot of days at sea clumped together. Did you ever find that was too much time on the boat without getting off?

We absolutely love sea days. (We also could do a long cruise to nowhere with just sea days.) The week flew by. All of a sudden Brent was telling us that we were going to be in Madiera a little earlier than planned. We just looked at each other and said, "how did that week go by so fast???". The only negative we had was that we thought the number of organized Adult activities was really light. Seemed if you eliminated the activities that cost extra (Bingo and alcohol seminars) or the ones that tried to sell you something (DVC, future cruise scrapbooking and spa seminars) there wasn't a lot of selection.

 

[mmouse37]

Ok....I am going to move this over to the Trip Reports section section since it is, in actuality, a trip report. People will still be able to find it with the redirect on the main board.

Thanks.

MJ

 

[Redeemed&Loved]

Hi! For all those curious about the Eastbound Transatlantic Repo trip I wanted to share some info and fun. We had a wonderful sailing with mostly calm seas and mild weather. Ready for some fun?

Here is a LINK to the 2 week overview we were given at the beginning of the trip (PDF).

At Castaway Cay, my DH and I had a great time testing out Pelican Plunge! We both tried the "slow slide" (TWICE!) and found that it was anything but slow if you lay down flat as directed by signage.

We took a TON of Photos, some of which I will post later, but now I have video!

See the fireworks in Barcelona displayed in honor of the Magic returning to the Med HERE.

Slightly less spectacular, HERE is a video of the Pirates IN the Caribbean fireworks.

I hope you enjoy these tidbits. I am happy to answer to any questions you might have about this sailing. I will post more photos once I sort through the 2400 or so we took!

Was there any information of the other new CC "features" opening soon?

 

[tink too]

Checking in so I can get a sneaky preview of what we can expect in September.

Thanks for sharing the Cruise Navigator.

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

Was the cruise relatively full or was there noticable breathing room on board? Considering one in the future and just wondering. Also how were the seas?

During an pre-dinner reception with the officers I was told by one that there were only 1900 folks on board, 400 being kids. There were certainly times when the ship felt half-empty, which was Wonderful!

I noticed that there are obviously a lot of days at sea clumped together. Did you ever find that was too much time on the boat without getting off?

I too loved all those sea days! I never got cabin fever, or wished for land. It seemed most people felt the same. At a few events Brent or other crew members would ask the crowd if we were ready to go ashore, and most I noticed were shaking their heads NO! All those sea days were just so relaxing, but also full with activities. Perfect!

Was there any information of the other new CC "features" opening soon?

I attended an Imagineering presentation where Gary Landum gave a covered the upcoming changes to CC. It looks like the new Cabannas are well underway. I don't think anything other than the slide is done and he didn't give a hard date for any of the other changes. He did talk about the Family cabannas, new massage cabannas at serenity bay and moving the teen beach as well as the new "spring a leak" fresh water play area.

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

One of the greatest surprises we received in this trip were the special gifts Disney gave us.

In addition to the standard Castaway Club gift, there were to other times we came back to our stateroom to find more than a towel animal on our bed.

This cruise was the official debut of the Villains Tonight! stage show. This special edition lithograph by Don "Ducky" Williams was a super gift! Leave it to Disney to know how to spread the pixie dust! With Ducky on board, were we even given the opportunity to get the print signed.

To celebrate guests were given an opportunity to make masquerade masks to wear to the post-show "masquerade" dance party.

Here is mine:

After our final dinner (which was tearful!) we returned to this lovely gift. What a wonderful gift box to store our memories in!

Great, No?

 

[KrisannB]

One of the greatest surprises we received in this trip were the special gifts Disney gave us.

In addition to the standard Castaway Club gift, there were to other times we came back to our stateroom to find more than a towel animal on our bed.

This cruise was the official debut of the Villains Tonight! stage show. This special edition lithograph by Don "Ducky" Williams was a super gift! Leave it to Disney to know how to spread the pixie dust! With Ducky on board, were we even given the opportunity to get the print signed.

To celebrate guests were given an opportunity to make masquerade masks to wear to the post-show "masquerade" dance party.

Here is mine:

After our final dinner (which was tearful!) we returned to this lovely gift. What a wonderful gift box to store our memories in!

Great, No?

they were great gifts! Just wished the box would have been given at the beginning and not the end as it was hard to find a place in the suitcase to put it (I did though) - there was even one cabin that put it outside for "trash" as she did not have room - someone on the Disboards asked her about it and she told her she could have it as she did not have room - so one diser got more than one!

Krisann