May 18, 2013 MAGIC EBTA - Who is with us?

[mellers]

We are staying at the Hilton Barcelona, not to be confused with the hilton Disney is using (that hilton is sold out). It's a beautiful hotel.

I'll apologize ahead of time. How are folks getting to the port from a hotel (Hilton) by the airport. I'm able to stay at a Hilton property on points instead of paying for the Marriott.

Thanks for the help

JenDen

My parents are flying into IAH, and staying at the airport Sheraton. They purchased transfers from IAH, and plan to head back to the airport the morning of the cruise to leave on the coach from there. The hotel offers a shuttle to and from the airport. If you have a big family, you might want to look for a different option, but there's only the two of them.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

I was just doing some scouting around. It's interesting to see levels of activities of the other meets threads around us. We're certainly much more active than the 7 day cruises before and after us. They're probably around 30 pages of posts but don't seem to be many people - for example, 12 people signed up for FEs. The 12 day Venice cruise has a close number of cruises - 50ish vs our 70 (yes, either count may be off because of people dropping out).

Just goes to show what a good time this cruise is going to be filled with so many Dis-ers.

While looking around, I found a thread talking about Barcelona hotels a few people were quoting on different threads.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2870617

 

[rbw5t]

Does anybody know how much we can expect it to drop? I appreciate that may be like asking how long a piece of string is.....

So, this is our first Disney Cruise, and I'm new to all the pricing strategies. We're PIF of course at this point, but would love to save a little $ if possible. There is a penatly for any changes at this point right? So, a price drop would have to be more than the amount of the penalty to justify cancelling/rebooking. Is the penalty 10% (I read the rules online, and it said from between 119 and 56 days the penalty is the amt of the deposit, which for us was 10%). So, basically, the idea is to watch, and if prices go down by more than the amt of our deposit, we cancel and rebook, and otherwise we hold tight? Do I have all that right?

Thanks!!!

 

[MandyGirl]

While looking around, I found a thread talking about Barcelona hotels a few people were quoting on different threads.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2870617

Here is a link to some pre-cruise hotels that were used for our WBTA if that helps anyone see some options. Then you can google or search that hotel name on DIS to see more feedback.

 

[mikimous]

We just starting booking our activities and I noticed on the DCL site, they have added some tour options in Barcelona. So, if you haven't looked at the Port Adventures section recently... take a look now. They specifically have tours that finish with a drop at the airport or the hotel. Bookings will be available on ship... not online.

 

[MandyGirl]

I've never done this trip before so I have no idea what the "right" thing to do is but taking a tour from the port seems like an excellent idea to me.

If you are heading out that same day it's worth it IMHO. We plan to go to a cafe for late brunch (chocolate and churros) or heck an early sangria --- someplace local to where we need to check in.

 

[MandyGirl]

Does anybody know how much we can expect it to drop? I appreciate that may be like asking how long a piece of string is.....

It looks like on EBPC that they dropped to about the same as military rates (list). Of course that's ballparking it... not exact... but gives an idea. That linked list shows all current military rates.

For WBTA 2011 there was a special European rate out (MEO) that was really good as well, and we had the *GT cabins come out closer to sailing as well.

The big question is: when. Before or after the penalty increases from being just the deposit to the next level up of 50%.

 

[MandyGirl]

So, this is our first Disney Cruise, and I'm new to all the pricing strategies. We're PIF of course at this point, but would love to save a little $ if possible. There is a penatly for any changes at this point right? So, a price drop would have to be more than the amount of the penalty to justify cancelling/rebooking. Is the penalty 10% (I read the rules online, and it said from between 119 and 56 days the penalty is the amt of the deposit, which for us was 10%). So, basically, the idea is to watch, and if prices go down by more than the amt of our deposit, we cancel and rebook, and otherwise we hold tight? Do I have all that right?

Thanks!!!

I would tend to believe so, but there was a thread about this on the main forum sharing otherwise - 20% normal deposit fee for cancellation - but I quit following it. Apparently someone got conflicting info ---- did anyone happen to follow that thread to know?

 

[Kirbo]

Lol, you really don't want to see me jumping around

Of course we do!

When can the lowly this is my first Disney cruise members book?

I think Silver books at 90 days out and first time cruisers at 75 days out. So I'm looking at February 18, I think, and first timers would be two weeks later. Or there abouts.

Just for kicks, here is a photo of the boys' first Halloween. My friend is hosting an Austin Powers party this weekend and we are resurrecting our costumes for it, so I looked up the pic.

The boys are seven months old. We shaved Jonah's head HAHAHA.

Love, love, love this picture!

(By the way, Roll call hit 70 today )

I was just doing some scouting around. It's interesting to see levels of activities of the other meets threads around us. We're certainly much more active than the 7 day cruises before and after us. They're probably around 30 pages of posts but don't seem to be many people - for example, 12 people signed up for FEs. The 12 day Venice cruise has a close number of cruises - 50ish vs our 70 (yes, either count may be off because of people dropping out).

Just goes to show what a good time this cruise is going to be filled with so many Dis-ers.

While looking around, I found a thread talking about Barcelona hotels a few people were quoting on different threads.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2870617

Apparently, we are just a bunch of cool cruisers

 

[Tink1987]

I think Silver books at 90 days out and first time cruisers at 75 days out. So I'm looking at February 18, I think, and first timers would be two weeks later. Or there abouts.

Thanks so much

 

[Grandma x3]

Okay - PIF and just booked my hotel in Barcelona. The only thing left to do is book a hotel in London for the last couple of days of our trip !!

 

[dee slack]

I wonder if there will be any kind of special celebrations on board to celebrate 15 years of the Magic?

 

[woody73]

I wonder if there will be any kind of special celebrations on board to celebrate 15 years of the Magic?

That would be nice, but the 15th anniversary of the Magic's maiden voyage is July 30th.

Woody

 

[dee slack]

I was just thinking for the year, like they do in the parks for anniversaries. We were aboard in Oct '98 (our first ever cruise) and just thought it would be a nice touch for them to have special merch or something to celebrate.

 

[JenDen]

Sorry for the confusion. I'm asking about ideas for transportation from a hotel (not the Marriott) near IAH to the port in Galveston.

Someone was asking about hotel ideas in Barcelona. We are staying at the Hilton Barcelona Hotel, Avenida Diagonal 589-591. There are two of us and we would be happy to share transportation. PM me if interested.


JenDen

 

[kcashner]

I wonder if there will be any kind of special celebrations on board to celebrate 15 years of the Magic?

For the 10th anniversary there was a big party at the offices in Celebration. I happened to call in on that day to make a reservation and the CMs thought it was neat that I'd been on the MV and called on that particular day. The celebration on the Magic was quite minimal (that's from what I heard--I wasn't on the ship on the big day). There was nothing for surrounding cruises, no year long celebration.....

 

[kcashner]

I've been looking into hotels for Barcelona. It's really hard to find something for a family of four. That said, I'm a deal hunter so I guess if I just booked what I wanted and paid whatever they were asking it would have been a breeze so far.

Figuring out how to get to the hotel from the cruise terminal is another thing too, and renting a car,...This is certainly not as easy as planning a trip to Disneyland. NOT COMPLAINING though, I'm so happy to have these problems.

We got a room on Priceline. In your case, that would have to be 2 rooms, but we got a 5* hotel on one cruise and a 4* on another for $75 each time. It wasn't the best deal because I saw it later on another site--we could have booked the same hotel + breakfast for $79. It was actually nice to book and pay in advance in USD. Rooms for families are hard to get in Europe...as are rooms with 2 beds (even 2 twins).

We just did a cab to the cruise terminal. Not that I loved the Spanish cabs, but it got us there for a safe and reasonable rate (about the same as DCL transfers would have been). The hotel also offered a free shuttle to the Columbus statue, so we could have done that and gotten a cheaper cab ride from there. We saw a German family WALKING! Um....no, that's not how to do it. It is probably about 2 miles, there are sidewalks, but ...no. And they were rolling luggage.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

I think Silver books at 90 days out and first time cruisers at 75 days out. So I'm looking at February 18, I think, and first timers would be two weeks later. Or there abouts.

On our EBTA website, I entered the booking dates from Platinum/Concierge, Gold, Silver, and Regular into the Calendar on the main page. However, please be aware they open at a certain time which I may not have completely correct.

If anyone has any other important dates to add to that calendar, let me know.

 

[Tink1987]

I've finally updated my page on the website for the PJ breakfast.

Please fill in the form to confirm your attendance.....thank you

https://sites.google.com/site/onamagicaltransatlanticjourney/home/organized-events/pj-breakfast

 

[Kirbo]

On our EBTA website, I entered the booking dates from Platinum/Concierge, Gold, Silver, and Regular into the Calendar on the main page. However, please be aware they open at a certain time which I may not have completely correct.

If anyone has any other important dates to add to that calendar, let me know.

Thank you!