Magical EBTA 2017

[m&m's mom]

Hey there!!!
We booked this cruise as well. Not sure if we'll have just one of the kiddos or 2 of them -similar situation to yours but we're booked and we'll figure out who all can go later! LOL
We have the panama canal coming up real soon.. then we can get gungho planning for this cruise! Well as far as cruises go- we still have DL this summer also LOL
It'll be nice to see you again, fellow pirate

Woo Hoo! Texas in the house!!!

 

[Rudisdey]

Wonderful to have a resource in Amsterdam!

I can answer all your questions about Amsterdam. On this forum or next year during the cruise.

 

[scottrob]

Hey y'all....I'm on this cruise as well...solo trip for me. Second EBTA with DCL (2015). New ports!
Thanks Jeff for getting this off the ground.

Bob - on travel insurance: I went thru USAA which sent me to Travel Insured's website and I got $7000 (don't know flight costs yet so I just guessed on totals) for $318. It was the middle package but included pre-existing, medical evac (I watched the US Coast Guard airlift an injured man off the Magic on last year's EBTA so I'm now more interested in that aspect!) and other stuff like lost luggage and missed/delayed flights. Bought policies from them before but thankfully haven't had to use it.

Looking forward to meeting folks!
Peach (aka Lynda)

Thanks Lynda. I will look into that.

Understand about the medical. Penny and I did a B2B Caribbean last September and we had three separate medivacs including a death. I have forgotten what the code word is that Disney uses, but I had never heard it on any previous cruise.

I was getting quotes from Disney via our TA and she said we did not have to get it until our full amount was due. I guess that is because up to that point, our fare is reimbursable.

Looking forward to meeting all of you. I am not sure we have ever booked a cruise so far in advance.

 

[Disneypeach]

Jeff - just as info...some insurance company policies require buying within 30 days of booking to get the pre-existing aspect of the insurance...not sure about Disney's.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Jeff - just as info...some insurance company policies require buying within 30 days of booking to get the pre-existing aspect of the insurance...not sure about Disney's.

Actually, most companies that have the pre-existing waiver available require purchasing within 14-21 days (well, in my experience). Don't know of any companies that allow within 30 days. Not all companies have a pre-exisiting waiver option.

 

[Disneypeach]

The one I just booked had a 30 day policy but I know others I've bought in the past were 14 days. I was surprised by the 30 days but wasn't going to depend on my memory to book in time so booked it that day!

 

[Dismama2]

How great there are repeat TA cruisers to answer questions- I am sure I will have a ton!

How many kids are usually aboard?

DH is concerned that on a longer cruise they may run out of Mickey bars.

When is the best time to book return airfare? Any tips on that would be greatly appreciated - we will be traveling around a bit afterwards, so we won't be flying out of Cophengen.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

How great there are repeat TA cruisers to answer questions- I am sure I will have a ton!

How many kids are usually aboard?

DH is concerned that on a longer cruise they may run out of Mickey bars.

When is the best time to book return airfare? Any tips on that would be greatly appreciated - we will be traveling around a bit afterwards, so we won't be flying out of Cophengen.

They ran out of Mickey bars on the Med cruises before our westbound TA in 2010. By the end of the Med cruises that year they just had some generic ice cream bars they were serving onboard, and for most of the TA cruise.

Once we reached Castaway Cay they had them. I believe they had been left by whatever DCL ship had called at CC just before us.

Typically longer cruises when kids are in school have fewer kids.

From the DCL website re: when to book flights:
Guests Arranging Independent Air Travel
Ground transfers are available for an additional fee for those making their own flight arrangements. To add transfers to your cruise package, call (800) 951-3532 at least 75 days prior to vacation commencement date. Please be prepared to provide your inbound and outbound flight details.

Please allow ample time for all your travel connections. We recommend the following flight-time guidelines:

• Latest arrival time to Copenhagen Airport on Embarkation Day: 1:00 PM
• Earliest departure time from Copenhagen Airport on Debarkation Day: 12:30 PM

For the Copenhagen to Dover sailing on July 13, 2016, we recommend the following flight-time guidelines:

• Latest arrival time to Copenhagen Airport on Embarkation Day: 1:00 PM
• Earliest departure time from London Heathrow International Airport or London Gatwick International Airport on Debarkation Day: 1:15 PM

https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/guest-services/air-ground-transportation/

 

[Dismama2]

Oh, no! I assured him they would have an adequate supply of Mickey bars!

I wasn't clear- we are probably going to tour around Eurpope a bit before we fly home and hopefully see some friends- we may go back to Amsterdam and fly out there. I mean when, as in how long before the trip is a good time to book flights?

 

[goingsouth]

When we sailed on the westbound transatlantic in 2007 they never had Mickey bars. They had pirate bars. Blech. I think they should have enough leaving from port canaveral. We hope to use airline miles for the flight home so I'll be checking as soon as the flights open up for the best availability. We also plan to travel by train for a week once we disembark which has me already thinking about limiting my luggage. So much planning to do! My favorite part.

 

[Dismama2]

When we sailed on the westbound transatlantic in 2007 they never had Mickey bars. They had pirate bars. Blech. I think they should have enough leaving from port canaveral. We hope to use airline miles for the flight home so I'll be checking as soon as the flights open up for the best availability. We also plan to travel by train for a week once we disembark which has me already thinking about limiting my luggage. So much planning to do! My favorite part.

I could understand them having supply issues returning- leaving Port Canaveral shouldn't be a problem!

We will be doing some traveling afterwards as well. How does one figure out the trains?!?

 

[Dismama2]

I can answer all your questions about Amsterdam. On this forum or next year during the cruise.

Is a train the best way to get back to Amsterdam from Cophenhegen? What airline do you fly from Amsterdam to Orlando?

 

[goingsouth]

The German rail site is a fantastic reference for schedule information. It's way too soon to book for next year but you can use this years schedule as a kind of guideline to begin planning. The train that goes from Copenhagen to Hamburg travels on a ferry. There are amazing videos of this

 

[Rudisdey]

Is a train the best way to get back to Amsterdam from Cophenhegen? What airline do you fly from Amsterdam to Orlando?

You can better fly from Copenhagen to Amsterdam. SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) is the cheapest and you can book a one-way ticket easily.
For the one-way flight from Amsterdam to Orlando we have a slight problem. Our favorite airline KLM (also Delta) does not offer one-way flight. I can book a return flight and I can cancel the flight back from Orlando to Amsterdam since we go back with the Disney Magic. Since we are frequent flyers I think we will choose for KLM/Delta.
You can also book one-way ticket with stopovers: Air Lingus (via Dublin) or Norwegian (via Oslo).

 

[scottrob]

Actually, most companies that have the pre-existing waiver available require purchasing within 14-21 days (well, in my experience). Don't know of any companies that allow within 30 days. Not all companies have a pre-exisiting waiver option.

Thank you all. I have been doing some research and that indeed appears to be the case. Now to figure out the policies and pick one that works for us. At first, I was figuring out cruise by cruise, but it would probably be best to bundle the entire vacation under one policy although it seems more expensive. I think Disney wanted around $900 total for the three cruises vs. ~$1,200 when i cover start to finish. Of course, I have not compared the details of each policy yet; just getting a feel for the price. Penny, the brains of the outfit, is going to do some research as well. Thank you again.

 

[Ginamarie]

This will be our third TA cruise, so I can answer questions about that no problem! There are definitely fewer kids onboard, but they will be there. I'm bringing a gaggle of them myself :

As for travel insurance, I have used insuremytrip. com in the past. I like that site because there are a lot of options to meet whatever needs you have. Though admittedly, I quoted insurance for our last TA in 2014 and never wound up buying it. Luckily, we did not need it.

I'm also going to be looking at the airfare options, but nothing seems available just yet. This is fine for me. I'm still kind of in shock that I'm booked on the cruise in the first place. I don't think it will be too hard to find airfare from Copenhagen to NYC. That's the benefit of living near a big hub. I know that for our last TA, I staked 1800flyeurope for airfare options. We wound up on LOT Airlines and they were a class act. On our first TA we flew Aer Lingus and I liked them as well. So I've had good luck so far!

DH is still concerned on how we're going to pay for the cruise, but we usually find a way to make it work. Mac and cheese may be a popular dinner for awhile. My income taxes were completed yesterday and luckily, we don't owe anything, so that's a good start. We have been planning to go to WDW for the DisUnplugged 10th Anniversary at the end of July (no park tickets, just hanging out around WDW property and going to the event), but if I have to cancel that reservation to save up for the cruise, I'm prepared to do it. I just want to hear what the big party is first, because I don't want to cancel our hotel and then find out that the birthday event is something I don't want to miss.

Anyway, enough out of me! Time to get ready for another day at the grindstone.

 

[Ginamarie]

This will be our third TA cruise, so I can answer questions about that no problem! There are definitely fewer kids onboard, but they will be there. I'm bringing a gaggle of them myself :

As for travel insurance, I have used ************. com in the past. I like that site because there are a lot of options to meet whatever needs you have. Though admittedly, I quoted insurance for our last TA in 2014 and never wound up buying it. Luckily, we did not need it.

I'm also going to be looking at the airfare options, but nothing seems available just yet. This is fine for me. I'm still kind of in shock that I'm booked on the cruise in the first place. I don't think it will be too hard to find airfare from Copenhagen to NYC. That's the benefit of living near a big hub. I know that for our last TA, I staked 1800flyeurope for airfare options. We wound up on LOT Airlines and they were a class act. On our first TA we flew Aer Lingus and I liked them as well. So I've had good luck so far!

DH is still concerned on how we're going to pay for the cruise, but we usually find a way to make it work. Mac and cheese may be a popular dinner for awhile. My income taxes were completed yesterday and luckily, we don't owe anything, so that's a good start. We have been planning to go to WDW for the DisUnplugged 10th Anniversary at the end of July (no park tickets, just hanging out around WDW property and going to the event), but if I have to cancel that reservation to save up for the cruise, I'm prepared to do it. I just want to hear what the big party is first, because I don't want to cancel our hotel and then find out that the birthday event is something I don't want to miss.

Anyway, enough out of me! Time to get ready for another day at the grindstone.

The web site is insuremytrip

I know the Dis has no issue mentioning them since they do it on the podcast frequently, but whenever you try to type a website, it usually gets blacked out there.

 

[Ginamarie]

OK well- I guess they DO have the website blacked out. In any case, it's an online service where you can quote all different travel insurance. It's not hard to find.

 

[scottrob]

OK well- I guess they DO have the website blacked out. In any case, it's an online service where you can quote all different travel insurance. It's not hard to find.

Hi Ginamarie. Did you mean Squaremouth?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi Ginamarie. Did you mean Squaremouth?

No, https://www.squaremouth.com/ is allowed to be posted here.

Here's sticky about the blocked site:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/filtered-cruise-insurance-link.3331750/

But, doing a google search for "travel insurance comparison sites" will generally bring up the top 3 sites.