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

[padalyn]

we are booked at the Best Western in Texas City - any comments on that one?

In Barcelona we are at Hotel Gaudi...seems pretty good!

 

[padalyn]

Just an observation - this will be my third time to Gibralter via DCL. I found that just walking around was perfect! One can walk through the gates, see the fort area (there are some really cute little pubs INSIDE the walls!), wander around downtown. This area is mostly shopping (some is very overpriced...be careful!) and take the cable car to the top of the rock then walk down. If you want to hire a car, they will be at the port entrance. I did the whole walk in less than 4 hours. I really enjoyed doing it on my own. The first time I did the excursions - found that I covered more ground on my own on the second visit. There are caves that one can walk around in for a small fee (about 10.00 each) and they offer guided tours. At the top, there are a self guided tour as well. All very reasonable and interesting. The second time I was there I just walked as I said earlier - I found some pretty interesting things that DCL and the other tours didn't get to at all!

Just sayin'

Cayla

 

[mellers]

Hi,

I'm Mellers, and while I won't be taking this cruise, my parents are, and I'm looking forward to reading all the tips and tricks!

 

[dee slack]

Thanks Cayla, that was very useful info and we will definitely be following your advice.

Hello and welcome Mellers and your parents, looking forward to 'seeing' you around this thread.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Just an observation - this will be my third time to Gibralter via DCL. I found that just walking around was perfect!
<snip>
Cayla

Padalyn, are you saying that even for your first trip that just walking on your own would have been as good? I have no idea what the area is like so I'd appreciate your thinking. We've never been to Giblraltar and my wife's never even been to Europe. In my opinion, if the area is such that a guide is just for getting from point A to B, then I like to do it myself to get the freedom (and considering I walk fast the ability to cover more area). But if there's lots of interesting things to talk about and no particular way (signs, displays, etc) to learn about it, we'd generally find a guide better. I did the Tower of London recently and realized that if I'd just walked around without the guide I would not have gotten nearly the same out of it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[MandyGirl]

Welcome aboard, Mellers' parents. Very cool of you to be doing the research for them.

Thanks for the tidbits, Cayla. Last year in Gibraltar we used a guide for an abbreviated tour (didn't make it out to Europa Point). Having a 15 month old with us, I was afraid to do too much on our own. Of course now that she is a "sprinting toddler" we may be strapping her in a stroller. Our 6 year old is a pretty good little hiker. Loved the history we learned from our guide last year. Not sure what we will do this year though.

Still trying to talk my parents into the cruise, but they think it is too long to be away from home. Curt's mom has indicated she would like to join, so we will see if that works out. Hope she can - I know any grandparent would love seeing their grandbabies love on Mickey and Friends! She'll get to see that in October for a short trip to WDW, but the cruise is different.

Back to work for me now. Have a great day everyone!

 

[Tink1987]

Hi all, need your help please if possible!

Does anybody know if the spa offers the Shellac for nails?? Hoping to get mine done on board so it lasts for the whole cruise!

I can't see the port adventures yet as I haven't paid in full as of yet :-(

I think we have definitely decided to just stay in Galveston for 2 nights before the cruise. All we want to do is some cheap shopping really as everything is SO much cheaper then the UK!

Hotels are looking pretty expensive so far for the two nights. For us, it just seems a hassle to be going to Houston for a night and then moving again to Galveston. I've called DCL in the past and they told me they aren't offering air transportation options for people coming from the UK, so guessing they aren't offering us the hotel packages either!

 

[NancyIL]

Hi all, need your help please if possible!

Does anybody know if the spa offers the Shellac for nails?? Hoping to get mine done on board so it lasts for the whole cruise!

I can't see the port adventures yet as I haven't paid in full as of yet :-(

I think we have definitely decided to just stay in Galveston for 2 nights before the cruise. All we want to do is some cheap shopping really as everything is SO much cheaper then the UK!

Hotels are looking pretty expensive so far for the two nights. For us, it just seems a hassle to be going to Houston for a night and then moving again to Galveston. I've called DCL in the past and they told me they aren't offering air transportation options for people coming from the UK, so guessing they aren't offering us the hotel packages either!

Anyone can see the Port Adventures: http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/shore-excursions/ You just can't book them until you are paid in full AND your booking window opens.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We're thinking of doing the tea in Gibraltar! Anyone else?

 

[NancyIL]

We're thinking of doing the tea in Gibraltar! Anyone else?

We're in Gibraltar from 7:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (6:00 onboard). The tea sounds like fun, but it depends on the time of the excursion. I don't want to waste time on the ship waiting for the excursion to depart if it is in the late morning.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We're in Gibraltar from 7:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (6:00 onboard). The tea sounds like fun, but it depends on the time of the excursion. I don't want to waste time on the ship waiting for the excursion to depart if it is in the late morning.

I don't walk very well, so it's something I can do! I actually haven't mentioned this to DH, he's away this week. I also am considering the dolphin tour another mild activity.

 

[mellers]

Hi all, need your help please if possible!

Does anybody know if the spa offers the Shellac for nails?? Hoping to get mine done on board so it lasts for the whole cruise!

I can't see the port adventures yet as I haven't paid in full as of yet :-(

I think we have definitely decided to just stay in Galveston for 2 nights before the cruise. All we want to do is some cheap shopping really as everything is SO much cheaper then the UK!

Hotels are looking pretty expensive so far for the two nights. For us, it just seems a hassle to be going to Houston for a night and then moving again to Galveston. I've called DCL in the past and they told me they aren't offering air transportation options for people coming from the UK, so guessing they aren't offering us the hotel packages either!

I don't know if they offer this is the UK, but if you can get a Starwood affinity credit card, you should be able to get about 7K points pretty quickly and easily, and that will get you a free night at the Galveston Four Points Sheraton hotel. Right now, that looks like what my parents will be doing.

 

[NancyIL]

I don't know if they offer this is the UK, but if you can get a Starwood affinity credit card, you should be able to get about 7K points pretty quickly and easily, and that will get you a free night at the Galveston Four Points Sheraton hotel. Right now, that looks like what my parents will be doing.

I have a Starwood credit card, and I'm using my points at the Four Points Sheraton in Barcelona.

 

[mellers]

I have a Starwood credit card, and I'm using my points at the Four Points Sheraton in Barcelona.

That's also a good idea. We may shuffle around the points depending upon which place has the most expensive lodging.

 

[MandyGirl]

For Galveston - I have submitted a group rate request for Wyndham properties (Hotel Galvez or Tremont) and will see what they come back with. I had called them several months ago before they had rates decided, and they came back with a pretty high rate. Will update what they come back with. We already have a reservation at Tremont, but always on the lookout to save a few more bucks.

Another credit card good for points is the Hyatt Visa. Not much help in Galveston, but you can stay at any Hyatt property free for two nights, which includes their Andaz and Park Hyatt properties. That can be helpful, especially if you are hopping over to Paris afterwards (very expensive property there you can stay at for free with the Hyatt card). That card has an annual fee of $75, but for a two-night stay at a $600/night hotel, worth it to me. Of course, how worth it depends on your personal credit score and if you want to have another open line of credit out in your name...

Dolphins in Gibraltar - we tried to do a DIS group excursion with them last year, and the group coordinator gave up. They were not helpful at all. People ended up booking on their own or directly with the company that did the dolphins.

 

[NancyIL]

That's also a good idea. We may shuffle around the points depending upon which place has the most expensive lodging.

Starwood properties in Barcelona range from 3,000-4,000 points/night at the Four Points Sheraton, 12,000 points/night at Le Meridien, to 25,000 points/night at the W! Because I can transfer SPG points to an airline on a 1:1 basis and get a 25% bonus when I transfer 20,000 points - I compare the value of hotel points vs. airline miles. 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 airline miles, and that's a free domestic ticket in the US.

 

[mellers]

For Galveston - I have submitted a group rate request for Wyndham properties (Hotel Galvez or Tremont) and will see what they come back with. I had called them several months ago before they had rates decided, and they came back with a pretty high rate. Will update what they come back with. We already have a reservation at Tremont, but always on the lookout to save a few more bucks.

Another credit card good for points is the Hyatt Visa. Not much help in Galveston, but you can stay at any Hyatt property free for two nights, which includes their Andaz and Park Hyatt properties. That can be helpful, especially if you are hopping over to Paris afterwards (very expensive property there you can stay at for free with the Hyatt card). That card has an annual fee of $75, but for a two-night stay at a $600/night hotel, worth it to me. Of course, how worth it depends on your personal credit score and if you want to have another open line of credit out in your name...

Dolphins in Gibraltar - we tried to do a DIS group excursion with them last year, and the group coordinator gave up. They were not helpful at all. People ended up booking on their own or directly with the company that did the dolphins.

Great tips! Thank you.

 

[mellers]

Starwood properties in Barcelona range from 3,000-4,000 points/night at the Four Points Sheraton, 12,000 points/night at Le Meridien, to 25,000 points/night at the W! Because I can transfer SPG points to an airline on a 1:1 basis and get a 25% bonus when I transfer 20,000 points - I compare the value of hotel points vs. airline miles. 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 airline miles, and that's a free domestic ticket in the US.

That is a good deal on the Barcelona Four Points, isn't it? I'll have to think on that.

 

[NancyIL]

That is a good deal on the Barcelona Four Points, isn't it? I'll have to think on that.

It's a very good deal. However, when I booked it a few weeks ago using 11,000 points for 3 nights (3,000 on Saturday and 4,000 each on Sunday and Monday), I also could've booked the cash price of 79 euros/night. A few days ago I thought about changing my points reservation back to a cash reservation, but now the lowest price is the rack rate of 241 euros/night!

 

[mstinson14]

Hey y'all. We are on this one too. We booked on the July 15-20 NY/Canada cruise. This will be our twelfth disney cruise and our second EBTA cruise!!