May 14, 2011 - Eastbound TransAtlantic

[dylan'smom]

For those of you who have sailed to or previously visited Gibraltar, is there anything else to do other than seeing the "monkeys". Any suggestions would be fantastic, as all the Disney excursions are monkey see monkey do...

We did a DCL excursion of high tea there last year. It was not the usual choice I know, but we had a great time & enjoyed chatting with others at tea in a local hotel with a lovely view.

They also gave us a brief tour around the bend & we stopped at the point where you can see 3 different countries which was interesting. It was low key - we just roamed around a bit on the rocks & there were telescopes to see Africa or Spain. It was the only organized excursion we did & we figured we'd do something we would never do on our own. Doing that, we didn't really see any monkeys though....

 

[yorkshire disney fan]

In our 2007 EBTA, a DISer made lanyards for everyone. Just a thought. They put the names of everyone in our cabin and their usernames under their names so it would look like this:

Allie
allie7​

If you can access the FB page, there are pictures of the name tag mock-up and lanyard mock-up. Anyone who is interested in helping out with the cost as their FE, please feel free to contact me. At this point, I am doing the name tags for those in both FE groups. The lanyard distribution is yet to be determined.

Hi,

I would be willing to help with the cost of the lanyards.

Eric

 

[WClayton]

Does anyone know how full the ship is at this time? Do TA's normally sail full?

 

[TxMermaid1]

Just a reminder for those of you wanting to join in the Secret Mickey... I need you to sign up on the first page and send me your info via PM.. Thanks

 

[kcashner]

Does anyone know how full the ship is at this time? Do TA's normally sail full?

The ship is nowhere near full. All categories are still available for booking, and either the TA or the first Med had a military rate available a couple weeks ago. The TAs do not normally sail full. Last year there were 1500 people on the ship including just under 400 children. A totally full cruise (every stateroom at max capacity) is 2700, normal cruise is about 2500 with 1000-1200 kids. We had lots of single women and a huge number of couples without kids on both TAs last year.

It was totally lovely! On Castaway, I planned to "plunge" and then hit Serenity Bay. Well, the beach felt really empty and I never made it to Serenity...this despite lovely weather. In the afternoon, there wasn't any line at all for the plunge.

Last year the weather on the TA was wonderful. It was warm and lovely all the way across--fair skies and following seas. We had heard horror stories from the previous EBTA, so weren't at all sure how this would work And, last year it was in April, so we should have warmer weather this year.

I'm on the first Med also--for the person who asked that.

DCL's policy is to make space available for a non-denominational Christian "do it yourself" service on Sunday mornings as well as on Friday evenings for Jewish services. If a member of the clergy volunteers to hold services, they will list that in the Navigator. Just volunteer at Guest Services or let the Cruise Director know.

 

[stsomewhere]

I copied this from the cruise board .


Wow I'm Worried: Announced Airport Strikes in Spain
I just got word thru one of my cruise meets posters that there has been an announcement of proposed airport strikes in Spain, starting in April and going thru August. They have specified particular dates for the strike. Right now, my date is not one listed for August. But, this has me really worried. I also have a feeling this will NOT cause Disney to cancel the cruises, as people still can get to the port by car. Lets hope this all gets resolved soon!!!

The dates specified are 20, 21, 24, 25 and 30 April; 2, 14, 15, 19 and 20 May; 13, 23 and 30 June; 1, 2, 3, 4, 15 and 31 July; and 1, 15 and 31 August.

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/...-2236591.html#



Do you think we should be worried? May 28 is not on the list.
__________________

 

[kcashner]

No, I wouldn't worry, especially if you bought air thru DCL. Even if you did it on your own (as we did last year), it won't be an issue. We went thru this last year--we were booked on British Airways and they were doing the "pre-strike" announcements. I honestly wonder if they don't do it to get the traveling public all stirred up as they think that somehow benefits them.

Bottom line--it probably won't happen. Our dates are not listed. Dates immediately before ours are not listed. Chill time. Check passports, order Euros.

 

[btrim]

I read all the posts on this thread to get caught up on everything. Now I just have to decide what we want to participate it and get signed up on the spreadsheet. I also want to let someone know who would be planning the lanyards that we want some. It would be my DH and friends Jim and Nancy, and myself. We would be happy to pay for them if need be. I am thinking of signing up for the FE group 2 and probably other things as well, just have to talk to our friends and see what they are thinking of doing. Sounds like we shouldn't be bored on any of the at-sea days. Besides I plan on relaxing and getting some reading done. We made our own flight arrangements back from Barcelona and we are flying Airlingus and then Jet Blue into Orlando. Can't spend extra time on either side of the cruise because DH doesn't have any extra vacation time. Our flight our of Barcelona is at 10:50 a.m. and when I filled out our on-line registration information they gave me a message saying that flight was too early and I should try to change it because I might not be able to get to the airport in time. After reading several posts here and on the FB page, I feel much better about Disney getting us there on time. I had a few sleepless nights over that message. Anyway, I'll get reading and staying in touch for more information about the activities, but we are very excited and can't wait to meet some of you.
Binnie

 

[platinumcruzer]

Binnie and friends

 

[Winstanik]

In our 2007 EBTA, a DISer made lanyards for everyone. Just a thought. They put the names of everyone in our cabin and their usernames under their names so it would look like this:

Allie
allie7​

If you can access the FB page, there are pictures of the name tag mock-up and lanyard mock-up. Anyone who is interested in helping out with the cost as their FE, please feel free to contact me. At this point, I am doing the name tags for those in both FE groups. The lanyard distribution is yet to be determined.

I am not doing the FE, but would have no problem helping out with the cost either.

 

[Can't wait to cruise]

For those of you who have sailed to or previously visited Gibraltar, is there anything else to do other than seeing the "monkeys". Any suggestions would be fantastic, as all the Disney excursions are monkey see monkey do


to all those who have joined us recently. We are going to have a fabulous cruise!!!!!!!!!!!

We did the EBTA in 2007 and my favorite port was Gibraltar. The monkeys are just a small part of being on the rock. We waited until we arrived in port and made arrangements from one of the many tour vans at the doc for the "tour" of the point and then up the rock. They had told us we could spend as much time on the rock as we wanted and then when we got there told us to be back to the van in an hour. This time we'll find someone that will give us the time we want to really explore the caves for a few hours and then take us to town. The main street is a walkway with no cars and lots of shopping and restaurants. Real nice as as safe as you can expect to be anywhere as a tourist. They easily took euros too.

I've downloaded several movies to my i-phone for the flights home since I doubt the'll let me fly the airplane. Don't have a type rating for a 767.

For a Sunday am service, I think it would be pretty neat to have a short service on the beach with some worship songs and a short message. Maybe the ship can help set that up for us.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

So, I finally find a way to get the school to agree to let me take my DD out of school early to take this cruise, and Disney has my airport wait listed!! I have to call tomorrow to see if the air dept. can get us on flights out of Nashville. Just yesterday flights were available. I can't afford the cost of the flights to book on my own, they are twice the cost of disney! I hope to be back on this cruise soon. And, I talked my BFF into going. Wish me luck!

 

[TxMermaid1]

So, I finally find a way to get the school to agree to let me take my DD out of school early to take this cruise, and Disney has my airport wait listed!! I have to call tomorrow to see if the air dept. can get us on flights out of Nashville. Just yesterday flights were available. I can't afford the cost of the flights to book on my own, they are twice the cost of disney! I hope to be back on this cruise soon. And, I talked my BFF into going. Wish me luck!

Good luck Tammy.. I hope it all works out for you... here's a little pixie dust to help you out!

 

[strawberryblonde]

So, I finally find a way to get the school to agree to let me take my DD out of school early to take this cruise, and Disney has my airport wait listed!! I have to call tomorrow to see if the air dept. can get us on flights out of Nashville. Just yesterday flights were available. I can't afford the cost of the flights to book on my own, they are twice the cost of disney! I hope to be back on this cruise soon. And, I talked my BFF into going. Wish me luck!

Hope you can make it!!

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I am on the phone with the air department now and I can barely hear what they are saying the volume is so low and the connection is so bad. LOL. But they are giving me the runaround on the airfare. They are saying, you have to make the reservation first, then they will quote the air. I said, I am not going to book without knowing the price of air. Why did my timing have to be so bad?

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I still don't have air. The air department is going to work on it. They do think that the air will be higher than previously quoted so not sure if it is going to work.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I spent an hour on the phone with DCL and still don't have a reservation. Ugh!!

 

[heatherb819]

Good Luck Tammy! They should be able to work it out for you! Heck they won't even give me my flight info yet so they should be able to book a flight for you! While you have them on the phone could you ask them my flight info. LOL JK Good Luck!

 

[mboekhoff]

DH and I along with BFF Michele are sailing on the TA on the Magic. So excited!!!

Subbing to this thread

Missy

 

[heatherb819]

Missy, please check out our roll call sheet on page 1