May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 4

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

I can't just sleep in either. DH always wants to have a morning of sleeping in, and I can't do it!

Sleeping in!!!!
Nightowls Unite!!!

 

[granmaz]

Lovely pictures last night - thanks for posting. It is great seeing you all.

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

I was also the oldest in my family, and the first to go to college . . . I had no one to mentor me, or be a role model for what I was doing.

At the time to me it was normal - only now do I know what I missed.

Of course, that is why I can now retire from this job with 30 years too . . .

Nose To The Grindstoners, Unite!!!!!
Reitred at 56, with 34.5 yrs in the system!!
Whooo Hoooo!
Life is good!!!

 

[been2marceline]

Oh some of my favorites on there!


Here's something cool....I won an MVP award at work this week and one of the prizes is dinner for two. When my department head asked me which restaurant I would like a gift certificate from I jokingly said "Napa Rose at Disneyland". So, guess what...I'm getting a Disney gift card to bring with me next week! So I'll be using that to probably cover three dinners for me on the trip (I think it's $100, maybe $150).

You kids sure were chatty last night!

Tried to reply to this last night, but the DIS went down.

We had an amazing dinner our first nigth in DL, Wednesday, and DD and DH surprised me with another amazing Brunch there again today!!

Really, one of THE BEST restaurants, EVER!!

Karen

 

[granmaz]

Wow the Dis takes so long to do the daily maintenance.

Going to have a straightening up day today and spend a bit of time web browsing for future hols, including this one!!

Starting the diet AGAIN!!!

5 weeks today we will be flying to Madeira for a week - John's 60th birthday trip.

http://www.madeira-tourist.com/

 

[disneylover5]

Yesterday we went wine tasting in nearby Temecula for a friend's birthday. She rented a Mercedes limo bus. It was a ton of fun. My favorite winery was was Leonesse (http://www.leonessecellars.com/). They had a wonderful White Merlot, which is a type of wine I've never had before. We tried it later in the day at several other wineries but Leonesse had the best one. I also enjoyed their Muscat Canelli. I'm normally not a sweet wine person, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe it was my mood...who knows but it was yummy. Their port was also good, which they served with the most delicious truffle I'd ever had. I'm ready to go back!!! Their winery was in the most beautiful setting. I could have stayed there all day!
How fun!!!!

Lisa, You look you had so much fun!! A good time was had by ALL!!

I love WHITE MERLOT!! My favorite. I am going to see if I can order from here...I think VA is one of the states you can not hsip wine too....maybe I will have to have it shipped to the DL house....I worry about that as I am not usually there.

Oh well.....Thanks for the great pics....

I LOVE your hair as well. Your cut looks like the one my DD13 just got when she donated her hair. Hers is thick and red and I tell her...when you are older you will love your thick hair....and then she ROLLS her eyes...just like any 13 year old would!!

Has anyone every flown into Tampa vs Orlando??

We just decided to do such for our cruise in October.

Lowest airfare into Orlando was $1556 for our family of four.

Found a perfect flight into Tampa at $742. Went ahead and purchased these tickets. Saw that it is about a 75 minute drive to Orlando.

Was this a bad move or actually smart??

I would have jumped on this deal!! We are driving to JFK (New York) instead for flying out of a DC airport for for the MED cruise ... 6 tickets we are saving almost $3000!! You will love the drive across the state of FL....

Not sure if you guys are following the live Med trip report thread but the person writing it stated that there are 1900 people on board....300 of that are kids and 400 are cast members! I was hoping that would be our situation but since we're already sold out and they never did....it doesn't look super promising for us. I think our kid count will be low though.

I think that cruise would be so exciting!! I am having so much fun reading it!! We get to go in 75 days!! This morning was the third teir reservations....but I still did not get any Palo Brunch.....Tough reservation to get!!

 

[UKANGEL]

Hi everyone!

Back from our wonderful cruise and Orlando holiday at last! Had an awful flight home, delayed for hours on Saturday night, so I'm now trying to wade through a very large pile of laundry etc

I can't beleive there are over 100 pages to catch up on, I'll never get through that so forgive me all that I've missed!

we were so sorely tempted to just stay on the Magic on Saturday instead of flying home, really wish we'd done just that! Our server was saying that they were even closing the late seating at dinner because there were so few people on board! Guess we'd have got a really good deal if we'd been able to book it onboard

Anyway....the best bits of the trip.....

The couples spa villa....out of this world!!
Seeing dolphins swim alongside the ship as we entered Cozumel harbour...
The great service by Disney staff on board....
Palo, as always....
The beautiful weather.....
Disney Dreams...the enhanced version....made me cry several times....
Our lovely table mates at dinner...the wonderful MacDonald family from Washington State (hi Lisa & Doug)....


The not so good bits...

Disney staff not enforcing their own rules (mainly about dress, smoking, and under 18's in Quiet Cove...

...oh and having to come home!

Missed you all...Deb (Ellaenchanted), thought of you as I sipped my mimosa on our anniversary!

 

[disneylover5]

Travel
Nightmare​

I was just notified from Travelocity that my flights for my MED Cruise has been cancelled. I made these reservations months ago. What a nightmare.

 

[granmaz]

Hi everyone!

Back from our wonderful cruise and Orlando holiday at last! Had an awful flight home, delayed for hours on Saturday night, so I'm now trying to wade through a very large pile of laundry etc

I can't beleive there are over 100 pages to catch up on, I'll never get through that so forgive me all that I've missed!

we were so sorely tempted to just stay on the Magic on Saturday instead of flying home, really wish we'd done just that! Our server was saying that they were even closing the late seating at dinner because there were so few people on board! Guess we'd have got a really good deal if we'd been able to book it onboard

Anyway....the best bits of the trip.....

The couples spa villa....out of this world!!
Seeing dolphins swim alongside the ship as we entered Cozumel harbour...
The great service by Disney staff on board....
Palo, as always....
The beautiful weather.....
Disney Dreams...the enhanced version....made me cry several times....
Our lovely table mates at dinner...the wonderful MacDonald family from Washington State (hi Lisa & Doug)....


The not so good bits...

Disney staff not enforcing their own rules (mainly about dress, smoking, and under 18's in Quiet Cove...

...oh and having to come home!

Missed you all...Deb (Ellaenchanted), thought of you as I sipped my mimosa on our anniversary!

Welcome back Mandy. Glad you had such a great time.

Travel
Nightmare​

I was just notified from Travelocity that my flights for my MED Cruise has been cancelled. I made these reservations months ago. What a nightmare.

Oh wow! Sorry to hear this. Hope you can quickly find flights to suit.

 

[disneylover5]

Hi everyone!

Back from our wonderful cruise and Orlando holiday at last! Had an awful flight home, delayed for hours on Saturday night, so I'm now trying to wade through a very large pile of laundry etc

I can't beleive there are over 100 pages to catch up on, I'll never get through that so forgive me all that I've missed!

we were so sorely tempted to just stay on the Magic on Saturday instead of flying home, really wish we'd done just that! Our server was saying that they were even closing the late seating at dinner because there were so few people on board! Guess we'd have got a really good deal if we'd been able to book it onboard

Anyway....the best bits of the trip.....

The couples spa villa....out of this world!!
Seeing dolphins swim alongside the ship as we entered Cozumel harbour...
The great service by Disney staff on board....
Palo, as always....
The beautiful weather.....
Disney Dreams...the enhanced version....made me cry several times....
Our lovely table mates at dinner...the wonderful MacDonald family from Washington State (hi Lisa & Doug)....


The not so good bits...

Disney staff not enforcing their own rules (mainly about dress, smoking, and under 18's in Quiet Cove...

...oh and having to come home!

Missed you all...Deb (Ellaenchanted), thought of you as I sipped my mimosa on our anniversary!

Sounds like you had a wonderful time....can't wait to hear more!!

I bet you wished you could have stayed onboard for the next 14 days....there is a thread you should follow with the folks onboard posting live....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=18654771#post18654771

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Hi everyone!

Back from our wonderful cruise and Orlando holiday at last! Had an awful flight home, delayed for hours on Saturday night, so I'm now trying to wade through a very large pile of laundry etc

I can't beleive there are over 100 pages to catch up on, I'll never get through that so forgive me all that I've missed!

we were so sorely tempted to just stay on the Magic on Saturday instead of flying home, really wish we'd done just that! Our server was saying that they were even closing the late seating at dinner because there were so few people on board! Guess we'd have got a really good deal if we'd been able to book it onboard

Anyway....the best bits of the trip.....

The couples spa villa....out of this world!!
Seeing dolphins swim alongside the ship as we entered Cozumel harbour...
The great service by Disney staff on board....
Palo, as always....
The beautiful weather.....
Disney Dreams...the enhanced version....made me cry several times....
Our lovely table mates at dinner...the wonderful MacDonald family from Washington State (hi Lisa & Doug)....


The not so good bits...

Disney staff not enforcing their own rules (mainly about dress, smoking, and under 18's in Quiet Cove...

...oh and having to come home!

Missed you all...Deb (Ellaenchanted), thought of you as I sipped my mimosa on our anniversary!

YEAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! Angel, you're back!!!!!!!! It's been such a long time and I have really missed you!!!!!!! I'm so glad you had such a nice long vacation with my favorite mouse!

Whenever I drink champagne again, I will toast to the Champagne Girls and think of you......Cheers to your anniversary!!!!!!

Tell us more about your trip and post some pics when you can, we'd all LOVE to see them.

 

[MrsMork]

You've never had to go shopping with my mom! Need drugs....lots and lots of drugs to do that! Or maybe the husbands need drugs to get through those all day shopping trips with the wives!

Maybe that's it!

 

[nskjerven]

Travel
Nightmare​

I was just notified from Travelocity that my flights for my MED Cruise has been cancelled. I made these reservations months ago. What a nightmare.

eek! What will you do? Did they offer an alternative?

This is why I think we can't fly out on that red-eye the day of the cruise. I think we just have to bear the wrath of an angry school and leave a day before just in case.

 

[LiserAnn]

Lisa, You look you had so much fun!! A good time was had by ALL!!

I love WHITE MERLOT!! My favorite. I am going to see if I can order from here...I think VA is one of the states you can not hsip wine too....maybe I will have to have it shipped to the DL house....I worry about that as I am not usually there.

Oh well.....Thanks for the great pics....

I LOVE your hair as well. Your cut looks like the one my DD13 just got when she donated her hair. Hers is thick and red and I tell her...when you are older you will love your thick hair....and then she ROLLS her eyes...just like any 13 year old would!!

Thanks Lisa! 13 was about the age I really was not liking my hair. But I do appreciate it now. Tell her it's true...I can vouch at almost 42 years old, I really do love my thick hair!!!

So, I wonder why you can't ship wine to VA? We tried the White Merlot at several other wineries and it was not as good as Leonesse. Of course, we don't have Napa wineries here in Temecula but there are a few that are pretty good. Not only did I like the majority of wines at Leonesse but the location and winery itself was beautiful. They had a wine there, Lana Lisa, which I wasn't crazy about, but it was named after the two owner's wives and I thought that was very special!

 

[disneylover5]

eek! What will you do? Did they offer an alternative?

This is why I think we can't fly out on that red-eye the day of the cruise. I think we just have to bear the wrath of an angry school and leave a day before just in case.

Yes, I guess the good news is I have found out 75 days before our flights so I have a chance to process this information.....

10 of us have no flights.......and the mom of the family we are flying with went to the hospital for surgury this morning and will be there for several days.

We had great deals....$590 round trip....now the least expensive is about $1100.

That is $5000....I did not have budgeted.....and we are past the 90 days to cancel now.......

Any suggestions.....I have never flown internationally before

 

[LiserAnn]

I was just notified from Travelocity that my flights for my MED Cruise has been cancelled. I made these reservations months ago. What a nightmare.

WHAT? How does that happen...what do you do now?

 

[nskjerven]

lisa, what airline?

we flew virgin from sfo to london last summer for <$500 each.

How much are the flights you are looking at?

Checkout aerlingus to get to europe, and then ryan air for inter european.

also, did they refund you completely? I assume you'll need the money back to buy again right?

 

[disneylover5]

lisa, what airline?

we flew virgin from sfo to london last summer for <$500 each.

How much are the flights you are looking at?

Checkout aerlingus to get to europe, and then ryan air for inter european.

also, did they refund you completely? I assume you'll need the money back to buy again right?

I will check Virgin....good tip...I had not thought of them.

The flights we are looking at are $1100 Air France Dulles (IAD) to Barcelona (BCN)

I did check Aerlingus....JFK (New York) to BCN.....they were $1,200 round trip.

They said it will take 30-60 days for the refund to process....in the mean time I need to come up with a quick $10,000 to buy new tickets.....

If anyone wants to look and likes to find airfare....

We will fly from IAD - Dulles, BWI - Baltimore, JFK - New York, or Philadelphia.

We need to be at our cruise on Sat July 28th...so the 26th or 27th.

We need to fly to BCN Barcelona

Returning - the cruise ends on 8-8-2007...disimbark at 7am

 

[nskjerven]

I think flying into Barcelona will be expensive. I suggest that you look at a "hub" city and get a connection. Ryan Air was what we took from orly (paris) to barcelona. I wish we could hide in your suitcase....barcelona is wonderful.....

that freaks me out about how long you will wait for your money back. do you think this is because you booked thru travelocity rather than with the airline direct? some people wouldn't have the resources to rebook, so this seems just to really suck.

I've booked airfare only thru airlines direct (usually web) except for the tour deals (but I worry about those too) our tour to china seems too cheap to believe, but i guess if we get screwed on that at least it's not a ton of money per person, in total it would stink but oh well, that's why we are doing it, it's so cheap.

 

[nskjerven]

that sounded stupid, I know Barcelona is a hub city of sorts, but I think the flights there are $$$$ (from looking at it last summer). anyways, good luck my fingers are crossed for you and I'm wishing you good flight karma.