May 12, 2007 -- Taking the Magic to the Mediterranean -- 14 day Repo Cruise!

[KathyOnA1A]

Just checking in.

I had a wonderful cruise, and the DisBoard events contributed to that.

If anyone is wondering if a trans-atlantic cruise might be boring, think again! Disney had so much going on, I fell behind in my reading schedule -- what with wine tastings and beer tastings and martini tastings and tequila tastings and rum tastings and, oh yeah, cooking demonstrations!

And, I won one of Ducky's lithos at the auction!

Two of the three of us made trips to the medical center on board -- one of us was put on 48 hour restriction. Fortunately, no rotovirus. However, what with one thing and another, I spent most dinners sitting at my table alone! I think I will have to find different traveling companions

We spent two nights at the Barcelona Renaissance hotel, also. We had plans to use the tourist bus for two days, but, the "Full Day Montserrat" tour on Friday plus two round trips on the Blue Line on Saturday, left me so exhausted that I was wiped out on Sunday.

Early to BCN on Monday via Swiss Air. Had to pay 100 euros to buy a seat for my third checked bag . The flight to Zurich wasn't bad, but the flight to Chicago was the pits. My seat just felt cramped and the seat back wouldn't stay up, so I ended up flying the whole way kind of half-reclined. Takes all the fun out of air travel. I remember O'Hare being much more traveler-friendly than it is now. It all started to build up to a panic attack, which I NEVER experience while traveling. Bummer.

Got into MCO about 10:30 pm. After filing a lost-luggage report, I made it home to Vero Beach about 2:00 AM. Got to work about 9:45 am (had to pick up the cat) but only lasted till 1:00 when I guess the jet lag hit and I had to go home. I'll take a sleeping pill tonight and hopefully be ready to face the IRS audit at work tomorrow.

 

[ssnyder]

AMEN!!!! I was so proud of myself for being able to stay awake through 7pm last night! Sunday night I about went face first into my spaghetti at 3pm. My kid thought it was hysterical!

LOL - same here. I told my husband I was going to take a nap at 3pm on Sunday. I never got back out of bed even for dinner. I got up at 3:30am because I was so hungry. I have been trying for a little later each night, but not sure if I'm going to make 7pm tonight even. The nine hours difference for us West coasters is really taking its toll.

 

[Hoagie Pie]

LOL - same here. I told my husband I was going to take a nap at 3pm on Sunday. I never got back out of bed even for dinner. I got up at 3:30am because I was so hungry. I have been trying for a little later each night, but not sure if I'm going to make 7pm tonight even. The nine hours difference for us West coasters is really taking its toll.

Hey Susie - yes, the 9 hours is killing us, but I seem to be waking up at 5:30 with tons of energy and I cannot get back to sleep. I HATE IT! I hated our flight because the little boy behind me kept kicking my chair VERY HARD and PAINFUL and I could not sleep at all. Does anybody have a tactful way of telling people you just cruised with that your son needs to keep his feet off my seat? Does that ever come across nice? I didn't say anything so of course I paid for it for 9 hours. I never thought kids had THAT much energy. Glad to hear that all of you got home okay and if anybody wants the article and front page of the newspaper, let me know. Today I mailed out 6 of them - including yours Hadley! MISS ALL OF YOU! Sweet dreams!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Well we made it home last night

I do have to agree with BCN being a mess and also DeGaulle being a mess. (But not as bad as BCN)

Jerry (JW2736) and his wife Sherry made the adventure through BCN a bit easier as we played "Which gate will it be" roulette. And found out that a smile and being pleasant will go a long way with the agents at check in. I did not have to pay the fee for being overweight. By the time she got to me she did not care anymore and just threw the bags on and didn't weigh them!

Had a nice time at Disneyland Paris. It is a nice place but can not get over how dirty it is! All we kept saying was "we are not in WDW". It RAINED ALOT while we were there, but made the best of it. Went into Paris for the day on Monday until the skies opened up and rained buckets.

Then the return trip to the US was fine. The flight to Cleveland was delayed because a sensor came on and said we had no speed brakes. Ummm... kinda important So back to the gate and we arrived back to Cleveland 90 minutes late.

It was a GREAT trip! Met so many great people and wished I had met everyone. I will post some more thoughts later. I am up with a blazing sinus infection that I got on the plane. And am REALLY happy I called off for today.

Not really sure what day or time it is LOL

Debbie

 

[Scott H]

First day back at work was 14 hours, not a DVC Welcome Home LOL.

WIll be into the office soon and then on the road for a couple of days , maybe just one day.

Getting used to Mt Time has me up early.

Debbie did you think DLP needed a lot of rehab work?, that was our impression in Feb. crowds were light when we were there and it was clean.

It was great to see the pups.

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Debbie did you think DLP needed a lot of rehab work?, that was our impression in Feb. crowds were light when we were there and it was clean.

It was great to see the pups.

YES! I just could not get over the chipped paint and broken things. I really wish I had taken a picture of Newport Bay that need a paint job BADLY.

I still can not get over the tile floors in the arcade, that when wet it was VERY slippery.

Debbie

 

[OH 6]

Hi All!

We too had such a great time on the cruise and enjoyed meeting so many dis-boarders.

We did have a great time in all the ports on the excursions. We parasailed for the first time in Castaway Cay...and my jet ski died on the ecotour - Mike has a picture of me way off in the distance flating around in the ocean all alone - with the ship way off in the distance behind me. Tenerife, Gbiraltar and Cadiz all very nice - and of course Barcelona was wonderful. We will get a web site put together soon with our pictures so we can share them.

Thanks for all of your compliments on the fish extender and door and t-shirt designs. We'll post pictures for anyone who might have missed them...eventually.

Our trip home was actually the opposite of stressful for once - we were both amazed and had to pinch ourselves to see if we were dreaming. Won't bore you with the details, but through a series of 'lucky' events, and flying standby because Mike works for Delta, we got home 7 hours sooner that we had expected. We always set our expectations very low travelling standby - but this trip far exceeded expectations in all respects - so it was fitting that the flight home did so also.

We have to wait and see if Disney does any great rates for the double dip before we book it, but we'll watch for that date and likely lurk on that thread so we're not way behind if we jump in at the last minute.

Thanks again for making this such a great trip and all the little gifts...we checked our little treasure chest a lot - it was exciting!!! We're so glad we found the disboards and joined in the fun!! There is no better way to travel.

 

[tig82174]

We have to wait and see if Disney does any great rates for the double dip before we book it, but we'll watch for that date and likely lurk on that thread so we're not way behind if we jump in at the last minute.

Thanks again for making this such a great trip and all the little gifts...we checked our little treasure chest a lot - it was exciting!!! We're so glad we found the disboards and joined in the fun!! There is no better way to travel.

Oh whatever, boys! Just jump onto the Double Dip....two adults in a Cat. 6 is under $3000 for a 7 day cruise with TWO stops at Castaway? Sounds like a steal to me....and you have over a year to save up and pay it off....can you FEEEEEEL the peer pressure! I'm using my Jedi mind tricks on you RESERVATIONS ON DOUBLE DIP BOOK YOU WILL!

 

[Scoobypop]

Hi All,
Catching up on these last few pages for the first time since returning, and started to cry here on my last day off before returning to work. Seeing all these familiar screen names and posts--I miss everything about the trip already.

Thank you ALL so much for all the fun, the memories, the meeting of so many new friends and acquaintences. And there are so many we didn't even get to meet, but just seeing your posts makes me feel a part of this wonderful, incredible community.

Our return journey was painless and rather enjoyable so I feel for those of you with less than pleasurable experiences.

I also made a disaster of the shower and entire bathroom at the Marriott. Those of you who stayed there know what I'm talking about.

Well, I know many of you are already back to work, and tomorrow it will be for us as well. Thank you again, and I hope to see many of you on future trips and journeys. You made our cruise experience all the more wonderful.

Take care all!
Chris and Rob

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

Scoobypop, that sounded like goodbye and I just couldn't bear that, so please, both of you pop in ever so often to say hello. Whenever you guys popped into a room, my day seemed brighter. I hope work is pleasant tomorrow.

Deanna

 

[Scoobypop]

Scoobypop, that sounded like goodbye and I just couldn't bear that, so please, both of you pop in ever so often to say hello. Whenever you guys popped into a room, my day seemed brighter. I hope work is pleasant tomorrow.

Deanna

oops, hehehe. Nope, not goodbye forever.

And same with YOU whenever we saw you and your husband on the ship!

 

[gismo1554]

Did anyone buy the pins onboard (the limited edition ones)? Have you had your credit card statement yet? Was it charged under Disneyshoneymoonreg? I'm trying to work out what a random charge on my online statement is and unfortunately it only shows me it in £ not in $ so I'm not sure whether this was for something else (although not sure what it would be???)

 

[hopemax]

Yes, that is what our pin charges showed up as.

 

[seaulater]

Hi all! We are home and are back to running everywhere to get caught up on everything.

Had a great time with everyone and hope we can cruise together again soon.

Took us 21 hours to get home. No troubles with any connections or luggage and flying business class and first class makes a world of difference when you arrive at your final destination!

I have woke up at 4 a.m. both yesterday and today. Hopefully I'll get back on the right time zone soon.

Okay, back to work. Talk to everyone soon.

 

[gismo1554]

Yes, that is what our pin charges showed up as.

Great! Thanks! Didn't think I was going mad!

 

[seaulater]

WOW. Went back and read everyone's return trip nightmares.

I do have to say ours went great. The only problems we encountered was that the bus from the Renaissance dropped us all off at terminal "B" even though we told him we were on Air France. So we all had to lug our luggage all the way through all the different areas of the terminal and through what seemed construction stuff to find Air France.

Once we got to Air France, we went to the agents who were checking people in at the auto-check in desk. Gave the guy my passports and he checked us in all the way through to Washington DC and then told us when we arrived in DC we would have to recheck in to get our boarding passes for the rest of the way to SLC.

Since we flew business class/first class, we got to go through the special lines for customs and security. I mentioned to Robert how long the lines were and they only had 4 windows opened to get people out of Barcelona. People were complaining, but we went through really fast and then got to go through the short line again for security, so we didn't have a problem.

When we got to Paris, we walked to the Air France International terminal and then boarded and left on time with no problems. Landed on time in Washington DC. The airport was empty. Don't know if it was because of Memorial Day or what, but we breezed through customs, rechecked our bags, rechecked in, went through security and had 2 hours to spare before our last flight.

We left the gate 5 minutes early, landed 30 minutes early in Salt Lake City. In fact, when we taxied out of DC, there were no planes even ahead of us, so the pilot never even braked before he went to take off. He just kept going, never stopping.

Since we are flying coach in July, I think I will be experiencing more of the customs/immigration nightmares that everyone else is. I will take a taxi to the airport next time so he drops us right off at terminal A in Barcelona so we don't have to schlep our bags across the whole airport. That was the worse part.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hi All,
It has been a crazy day. I thought I would be all caught up and able to start playing online again tonight, BUT instead I spent the day at the hospital with my neighbor. They thought she had apendicidex (sp????) and had me rush her down to the Concord ER (while Marika babysat her 5 year old plus Rio). After many hours, and tests they decided it is just a very badly pinched nerve. I'm glad this happended now while we were home to help her and not when we were enjoying the cruise (her husband travels a lot on business and is in Ca now). So, I am still totally behind, and the house is a bit worse for wear after an afternoon of parent free child play but I just had to at least catch up on the thread and post a bit. I MISS this group of awesome people. Seems we spend a lot of time talking about our new friends and what we miss or who something reminds us of, etc.
I hope everyone has gotten through this first week back well.

 

[DizzneyDAnn]

The loveliest person on the boat was a woman who gave all her Disney things away to a shop girl and who stood with me while I teased Simone and Oscar. She bought ribbon in Cadiz at a yarn store, and we met on the fifth floor by the kids club. I am embarrassed to say that I do have a problem with names and sometimes even with faces. (I even looked it up on the internet--it has a name,but I can't remember it! LOL) Anyway, if she could PM, I would really appreciate it. I really enjoyed her the whole cruise,and I need a name for my memories. Please forgive me.

 

[ssnyder]

The loveliest person on the boat was a woman who gave all her Disney things away to a shop girl and who stood with me while I teased Simone and Oscar. She bought ribbon in Cadiz at a yarn store, and we met on the fifth floor by the kids club. I am embarrassed to say that I do have a problem with names and sometimes even with faces. (I even looked it up on the internet--it has a name,but I can't remember it! LOL) Anyway, if she could PM, I would really appreciate it. I really enjoyed her the whole cruise,and I need a name for my memories. Please forgive me.

I know that Nanaguide gave all her Disney things away one day. I think she said it was the daughter of of shop owner. I don't remember if it was Cadiz or Gibraltar.

 

[tig82174]

I know that Nanaguide gave all her Disney things away one day. I think she said it was the daughter of of shop owner. I don't remember if it was Cadiz or Gibraltar.

Oh that makes sense....Nanaguide was definitely an amazing member (one of MANY, obviously) of our group....she went kayaking at Castaway with Jason and I.