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

[Tink1987]

Thanks for the Holiday Inn port transfer info.

How exciting to be in London during the Olympics. The city looked at it's best. Your photos were great. Did you get to any of the stadium venues? We were in Atlanta during their Olympics and I know just being in the city was exciting.

How much you can expect to spend is really a hard thing to say. You can anticipate the tips but the rest depends on you. On our first DCL cruise our final statement was so big they couldn't slip it under our door, and that was only a 7 day cruise. But if you don't make optional purchaes, i.e. drinks, Palo, excursions, tastings, merchandise, bingo, snacks, it can be almost nothing (like your not going to buy anything)

We have used Disney Gift Cards (before the cruise and once on board), Disney Visa Rewards cards and we have put extra money on our account before the trip. They will take your money anyway you want to give it to them.

You mention buying art on board. In the past there has been a lot of grief posted about the companies DCL used as their art gallery contractor. So much that they have taken over running the gallery. I wanted to mention that we bought a piece during the Hawaii cruise silent action. We had it shipped to our home and it arrived in about 4 weeks. The only issue was when we followed the instructions we were given and called WDW Merchandise for shipping info they had no idea what we were taking about and even on the morning the art arrived, they had no record of our purchase, although we were given one of their receipts. The art appeared to be shipped directly from the ship, when it docked in Seattle after it's repositioning cruise from LA. It arrived safe and sound, well packaged, in a very reasonable time.

Thanks very much for the tips Valbob, I completely forgot about adding money to your onboard account before you cruise!

We didn't actually get any tickets for any of the events, although we tried so hard Was awesome to be in the city though, I love London so much anyway and it was just at its complete best.

Thanks for the info about the art too, I hope ours find its way home to the UK.....

 

[Tink1987]

We have been pretty busy planning a trip to New York and the DCL NY - Canada cruise and then a West Coast Pixar cruise.

Once we get back from our upcoming cruises I'll get serious about this cruise and post a poll on the interest in group shirts and the overall design. My questions would be:

Are you interested in a group shirt?


Do you prefer:
Smaller images all over versus one large image on the back?

Mickey head flags versus walking Mickey flags?

Color choice - cream, black, some other color?

We are definitely interested in the group shirt!

We personally prefer the one large image on the back and a white/cream colour so the images stand out. I liked both of the designs so happy to go with the majority.

If the image is on the back could we have a little something on the left hand side of the tee maybe with the dates and the official DCL logo?

Just an idea - thanks so much for all of your effort!

 

[Tink1987]

Visited Amsterdam the past weekend - thought I would share the pics, especially for anyone who is considering visiting post cruise!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markcollettephotos/sets/72157631325510552/

Enjoy

 

[shellbelle1971]

We'll all be on the EBTA in 2013 except for my oldest DS (19, serving a Mormon mission in Chile for 2 years.)
Planning on spending a night in Barcelona, then 3 in Paris, then 4 in London post cruise. The kids are SO excited! The elementary-aged ones aren't worried about missing the last 2 weeks of school, and the Jr. High/High Schoolers are doing online this year, so they can finish their courses before we leave.
Any suggestions for my one unfortunate child (DS, 12 now, 13 on cruise) who is prone to seasickness?

 

[krispykreme97]

We'll all be on the EBTA in 2013 except for my oldest DS (19, serving a Mormon mission in Chile for 2 years.)
Planning on spending a night in Barcelona, then 3 in Paris, then 4 in London post cruise. The kids are SO excited! The elementary-aged ones aren't worried about missing the last 2 weeks of school, and the Jr. High/High Schoolers are doing online this year, so they can finish their courses before we leave.
Any suggestions for my one unfortunate child (DS, 12 now, 13 on cruise) who is prone to seasickness?

Try the sea bands or the patch behind the ear. I heard ginger works as well and also comes in gum. I'm trying to plan an itinerary similar to yours only pre-cruise. Do you mind sharing your transportation plans from Barcelona to Paris to London?

Thanks

 

[shellbelle1971]

Do you mind sharing your transportation plans from Barcelona to Paris to London?

Thanks

We'll take the overnight train (2 sleeper cabins for our group of 8) from Barcelona to Paris. http://www.elipsos.com/en/ Paris to London on the chunnel train. www.eurostar.com

 

[Tink1987]

We'll all be on the EBTA in 2013 except for my oldest DS (19, serving a Mormon mission in Chile for 2 years.)
Planning on spending a night in Barcelona, then 3 in Paris, then 4 in London post cruise. The kids are SO excited! The elementary-aged ones aren't worried about missing the last 2 weeks of school, and the Jr. High/High Schoolers are doing online this year, so they can finish their courses before we leave.
Any suggestions for my one unfortunate child (DS, 12 now, 13 on cruise) who is prone to seasickness?

Welcome :-D

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I've been MIA for a bit. I'm more than a bit behind on my webmaster duties but I'm going to try to catch up now. Between vacation, catching up on work, and now a computer failure, it's been hard to get online to do anything. I'm working on a crappy laptop that I had to blow cobwebs off but I hope to get my normal machine back up and running soon. I tend to forget how much of your life lives inside a machine. All my passwords were on it for example.

DisneyMouseHouse had provided me a new link to a Private Tasting Survey. I suspect she didn't wait for me (as I took a real long time), but please do have a look at fill it out if you haven't yet.

https://sites.google.com/site/onamagicaltransatlanticjourney/home/organized-events/private-tasting

If anyone has anything they'd like to add or update on the website, please feel free to send me a PM or use the Webmaster contact page on the website which will send me an email.

https://sites.google.com/site/onamagicaltransatlanticjourney/contact-the-webmaster

 

[kaseyC]

We'll all be on the EBTA in 2013 except for my oldest DS (19, serving a Mormon mission in Chile for 2 years.)
Planning on spending a night in Barcelona, then 3 in Paris, then 4 in London post cruise. The kids are SO excited! The elementary-aged ones aren't worried about missing the last 2 weeks of school, and the Jr. High/High Schoolers are doing online this year, so they can finish their courses before we leave.
Any suggestions for my one unfortunate child (DS, 12 now, 13 on cruise) who is prone to seasickness?

Welcome!!

 

[padalyn]

Hi Cayla... Who did you rent your car through to get it one way? I can't find anyone that will do it.
Thanks

sorry for the late reply, Enterprise, but you have to call them, can't do it online.

We'll all be on the EBTA in 2013 except for my oldest DS (19, serving a Mormon mission in Chile for 2 years.)
Planning on spending a night in Barcelona, then 3 in Paris, then 4 in London post cruise. The kids are SO excited! The elementary-aged ones aren't worried about missing the last 2 weeks of school, and the Jr. High/High Schoolers are doing online this year, so they can finish their courses before we leave.
Any suggestions for my one unfortunate child (DS, 12 now, 13 on cruise) who is prone to seasickness?

ginger, bonine, and meclizine (available for free onboard) are the best. I advise caution with the patches, as the side effects are pretty nasty. And they are not recommended for kids as far as I know. Ask your Pediatrician she or he should have a few ideas.

Cayla

 

[kris3kid]

I was just playing on the Disney cruise website and they have the port adventures out for Gilbralter. There are no others at this time but maybe soon. Have fun looking!!!

 

[krispykreme97]

I was just playing on the Disney cruise website and they have the port adventures out for Gilbralter. There are no others at this time but maybe soon. Have fun looking!!!

I see Columbia as well! Is that one of the stops on the transatlantic?

 

[NancyIL]

I was just playing on the Disney cruise website and they have the port adventures out for Gilbralter. There are no others at this time but maybe soon. Have fun looking!!!

Thank you!

I see Columbia as well! Is that one of the stops on the transatlantic?

No - Colombia is a port stop on the Panama Canal cruises. Our other port stops are at Castaway Cay and Funchal, Madeira.

Yesterday I booked my flight to Houston for May 16. I had already booked our flights home from Barcelona on June 4 a few weeks ago.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

I'm glad to see that at least Gibraltar has shown up. I don't think I'll be booking that $3K excursion. Someone else can have it.

It's funny, all the rest seem quite cheap. I would have expected some mid-range ones too.

Anyone know if it'll be possible to book a Disney excursion for Barcelona?

 

[NancyIL]

I'm glad to see that at least Gibraltar has shown up. I don't think I'll be booking that $3K excursion. Someone else can have it.

It's funny, all the rest seem quite cheap. I would have expected some mid-range ones too.

Anyone know if it'll be possible to book a Disney excursion for Barcelona?

I missed seeing the $3K excursion, but I didn't look at any involving boats!

I'm reasonably sure there will be Barcelona excursions offered for those who have a late flight that day - including airport transportation. However, I wouldn't expect them to offer regular excursions since everyone (except those doing b2b cruises) has to be off the ship. It would be a problem dealing with everyone's luggage.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I missed seeing the $3K excursion, but I didn't look at any involving boats!

I'm reasonably sure there will be Barcelona excursions offered for those who have a late flight that day - including airport transportation. However, I wouldn't expect them to offer regular excursions since everyone (except those doing b2b cruises) has to be off the ship. It would be a problem dealing with everyone's luggage.

We are doing b2b and were told we have to leave the ship. We asked while we were on our Dream cruise last month. We were also told that Disney wouldn't be doing any Barcelona excursions. So, we may be wrong, but that's what we were told.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

With no Barcelona, it's just Funchal that we're waiting on then.

I went exploring the Disneycruise website to see if anything else new was showing up. They've redesigned it since I last looked.

For my Silver status, I get to start booking excursions and do check in on Feb 17th - I guess we still have time.

I did notice that the website reports that Disney does packages for two hotels in the Houston area.

Hotel Galvez & Spa —This historic hotel is located in downtown Galveston and is only a short walk from the city's finest shops, restaurants, galleries, theatres and cafes.

Houston Airport Marriott at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport — The Houston Airport Marriott hotel at George Bush Intercontinental provides a welcome retreat, offering a relaxing and refreshing environment after the rigors of travel.

We still haven't really started trying to decide whether to head to Galveston or stay in Houston but we'll probably fly out the previous day getting to Houston between noon and 5pm I think.

Anyone have comments on those 2 hotels? Maybe I should start up a survey on what hotels people are thinking of staying at? Big party the night before the cruise?

 

[NancyIL]

With no Barcelona, it's just Funchal that we're waiting on then.

I went exploring the Disneycruise website to see if anything else new was showing up. They've redesigned it since I last looked.

For my Silver status, I get to start booking excursions and do check in on Feb 17th - I guess we still have time.

I did notice that the website reports that Disney does packages for two hotels in the Houston area.



We still haven't really started trying to decide whether to head to Galveston or stay in Houston but we'll probably fly out the previous day getting to Houston between noon and 5pm I think.

Anyone have comments on those 2 hotels? Maybe I should start up a survey on what hotels people are thinking of staying at? Big party the night before the cruise?

We'll be at the Galvez, but we didn't book it through DCL.

 

[NancyIL]

We are doing b2b and were told we have to leave the ship. We asked while we were on our Dream cruise last month. We were also told that Disney wouldn't be doing any Barcelona excursions. So, we may be wrong, but that's what we were told.

I meant permanently off the ship...with luggage! If I were doing a b2b, I'd want to get off the ship ASAP to explore Barcelona -just as I do when arriving at other ports.

 

[MandyGirl]

With no Barcelona, it's just Funchal that we're waiting on then.

I went exploring the Disneycruise website to see if anything else new was showing up. They've redesigned it since I last looked.

For my Silver status, I get to start booking excursions and do check in on Feb 17th - I guess we still have time.

I did notice that the website reports that Disney does packages for two hotels in the Houston area.



We still haven't really started trying to decide whether to head to Galveston or stay in Houston but we'll probably fly out the previous day getting to Houston between noon and 5pm I think.

Anyone have comments on those 2 hotels? Maybe I should start up a survey on what hotels people are thinking of staying at? Big party the night before the cruise?

For Funchal last year, we had a great DIS private excursion that was lots cheaper than any Disney offered. Some families did smaller ones, but the DIS one was really inexpensive per person. Can't remember if it was east or west they did last year - it was opposite of the previous year.

As far as where folks are staying, I believe some are staying in the IAH area or the HOU Hobby area to take Disney transport the morning of the cruise (based on which airport they are flying into - which are about 45 minutes apart depending on traffic). Others are staying down in Galveston. Because of the distances between the three general areas, and many not renting vehicles, it is a little more challenging to have one large pre-cruise party (in my opinion). With Barcelona, public transportation was so good, we had no issues with a big pre-cruise meet-n-greet the night before. Houston/Galveston does not have the stellar public transportation options. So when creating a survey - you might consider breaking it into those three geographic areas for starters... since each area has several hotels.

The two hotels you listed from Disney - Galvez and IAH Marriott - are about 70 miles apart on this map.

Hope I didn't step on any toes answering my two cents to this.