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

[MissAndrea]

We just purchased our tickets for the flight home!!! We will spend time in Paris and London after the cruise, then will be flying out of London on 6/7 to Iceland for two days, then flying out of Iceland to Boston on 6/10, then to Houston where our car will be waiting for a 12 hour drive home. I know I've already said it but thank you Mandy for mentioning this deal! We are saving $200 pp by flying IcelandAir which we can now use to see Iceland. I've been watching prices for several months now. In fact, I watched prices in March for June 2012 just so I'd know what the going rate was. Then once they opened up for June 2013, I've watched them waiting for it to go under a certain price. They had not hit my buy price yet so when I checked IcelandAir and it was well below my buy price, I was pretty excited. And we get to see a country that we might not have gotten to see otherwise! EEEK!!! Let the planning begin!!

 

[MandyGirl]

My sweet 2-year-old daughter and I are on the Magic in about 13 days... anyone need me to check out anything specific while onboard? Hubby and our 6-year-old will be staying back since she is in school, so I am trying to pretend like it will be a boring cruise and they're not missing a thing...

Oh sorry, missed that ;-)

Unfortunately, due to the longer trip we are taking over NYE 2013 and for the month of January for my partners 30th birthday, we can't take any more leave from work.....

I hear ya! Can't believe employers limiting yearly vacation days

Excited to say I am going!!!!!

Joining me will be my mom and sister and then my family friend Ray.


Looking forward to sailing in 208 days!!!

Congratulations! Welcome aboard!

We just purchased our tickets for the flight home!!! We will spend time in Paris and London after the cruise, then will be flying out of London on 6/7 to Iceland for two days, then flying out of Iceland to Boston on 6/10, then to Houston where our car will be waiting for a 12 hour drive home. I know I've already said it but thank you Mandy for mentioning this deal! We are saving $200 pp by flying IcelandAir which we can now use to see Iceland. I've been watching prices for several months now. In fact, I watched prices in March for June 2012 just so I'd know what the going rate was. Then once they opened up for June 2013, I've watched them waiting for it to go under a certain price. They had not hit my buy price yet so when I checked IcelandAir and it was well below my buy price, I was pretty excited. And we get to see a country that we might not have gotten to see otherwise! EEEK!!! Let the planning begin!!

Yay!! That is awesome! I'm excited to fly that airline just to check them out. And who would've ever thought a cruise from Galveston, Texas would have you routing through ICELAND on the way home?!? We are excited! I always love looking for the cheaper deal. My philosophy is the more places I can cut corners, the more vacations we can take (assuming we are blessed with good health and jobs).

 

[MissAndrea]

Yay!! That is awesome! I'm excited to fly that airline just to check them out. And who would've ever thought a cruise from Galveston, Texas would have you routing through ICELAND on the way home?!? We are excited! I always love looking for the cheaper deal. My philosophy is the more places I can cut corners, the more vacations we can take (assuming we are blessed with good health and jobs).

We are the EXACT same way! Cut corners where we feel comfortable doing so. We drive to all of our vacation destinations because 1- We like road trips and 2- We save money and get to vacation more often!! If I can drive for $400 or fly for $1400, I'm flying because now I can take that $1000 and use it for another vacation!

 

[padalyn]

No problem. I came across a tour operator that picks up and drops off at the airport, especially if going to the Blue Lagoon area. Are tour operators able to also accommodate carryon luggage in their vans? I know we've had that done in St Thomas and elsewhere - luggage stays in van while we are doing the tour parts.

We also ended up getting an Enterprise car rental one-way with no drop fee. Called their 800 number. I think it depends on the Rep you get because the other time they tacked on the $100 drop fee. Email sent afterwards to confirm the reservation did not have the drop fee.

since we are only there for 7 hours, we were thinking of doing the HO/HO bus - do you have further suggestions? I would love to see it all, but in 7 hours....not happening!

Excited to say I am going!!!!!

Joining me will be my mom and sister and then my family friend Ray.


Looking forward to sailing in 208 days!!!

congrats and welcome!

 

[MandyGirl]

since we are only there for 7 hours, we were thinking of doing the HO/HO bus - do you have further suggestions? I would love to see it all, but in 7 hours....not happening!

With 7 hours, I might consider looking into a private tour. You might be able to see more, and really be sure of making it back to the airport in time to go through security, etc -- as well as have a place for your carryon baggage. Extra cost for a private driver/tour, but when is the next time you will be in Iceland?

 

[Ladyshopper]

welcome - I think we have cruised together before!

Yes we have, will be nice to see you again if indeed we do "jump ship" onto this cruise!

Still haven't made a definite decision, but looking at flight options etc. Those from UK, who have you booked flights with? Cheapest one way I can find to Houston us £432 each, and cheapest from Barcelona to London is around £50 each. Was hoping to use our Avios for that leg, but no points flights available on 1st June so will have to pay. Can't stay in Barcelona for a few days as have to get the kids back to school, as DS definitely has some exams that week after half term.

 

[kaseyC]

Excited to say I am going!!!!!

Joining me will be my mom and sister and then my family friend Ray.


Looking forward to sailing in 208 days!!!

Welcome!!

 

[Tink1987]

Excited to say I am going!!!!!

Joining me will be my mom and sister and then my family friend Ray.

Looking forward to sailing in 208 days!!!

Welcome

 

[Tink1987]

Yes we have, will be nice to see you again if indeed we do "jump ship" onto this cruise!

Still haven't made a definite decision, but looking at flight options etc. Those from UK, who have you booked flights with? Cheapest one way I can find to Houston us £432 each, and cheapest from Barcelona to London is around £50 each. Was hoping to use our Avios for that leg, but no points flights available on 1st June so will have to pay. Can't stay in Barcelona for a few days as have to get the kids back to school, as DS definitely has some exams that week after half term.

Hi Ladyshopper, I think you replied to another thread of mine about this cruise on another Disney forum you asked about flights there too and I am ashamed to say I haven't replied yet :-( really sorry about that!

We have recently booked our flights, for 2 adults we have paid £460ish each for Birmingham - Amsterdam - Houston. We booked a return which I know is naughty but we couldn't justify the £900pp one way.

Haven't booked back from Barcelona as of yet but back to Birmingham we are looking at £120pp :-( May go back to London for £60pp and then get a National Express coach back.

 

[Tink1987]

Just a quick Shutters question for all you veteran Disney cruisers please if you don't mind....

Am I best to pre-order the Shutters CD before we board? Or wait until halfway through the cruise or even until the end? I want the all full one with every single image on, I know it's expensive but I just love the pictures of us both with characters instead of handing the camera back and forth..

Thanks as always

 

[MandyGirl]

Just a quick Shutters question for all you veteran Disney cruisers please if you don't mind....

Am I best to pre-order the Shutters CD before we board? Or wait until halfway through the cruise or even until the end? I want the all full one with every single image on, I know it's expensive but I just love the pictures of us both with characters instead of handing the camera back and forth..

Thanks as always

We ordered towards the end on the WBTA. However, the staff was always good at taking our camera for us and shooting some pics as well so we could all be in it.

 

[Tink1987]

We ordered towards the end on the WBTA. However, the staff was always good at taking our camera for us and shooting some pics as well so we could all be in it.

Thanks as always Mandy

 

[MandyGirl]

Thanks as always Mandy

No problem!! And I will add that we had over 400 pictures on that CD, so that made the cost under $1 per picture. Justified it in my mind.

 

[twopeasonepod]

Crashing the party here! If I can somehow justify in my mind taking the boys out of school for two more weeks (just had them out for two weeks at the Land and on the Wonder), we will be joining you.

My question is about flights. How do you handle the multi city crazy fares? My thought right now is to book RT to Houston and use miles for Barcelona to Houston. Cost is obviously a huge factor (if I bought HNL-IAH, BCN-HNL, it would be $3600/person! No thank you!)

 

[Tink1987]

No problem!! And I will add that we had over 400 pictures on that CD, so that made the cost under $1 per picture. Justified it in my mind.

Thank you, I never normally have a problem justifying any Disney purchase, it's my DB that has the problem with me justifying it - LOL

 

[Tink1987]

Crashing the party here! If I can somehow justify in my mind taking the boys out of school for two more weeks (just had them out for two weeks at the Land and on the Wonder), we will be joining you.

My question is about flights. How do you handle the multi city crazy fares? My thought right now is to book RT to Houston and use miles for Barcelona to Houston. Cost is obviously a huge factor (if I bought HNL-IAH, BCN-HNL, it would be $3600/person! No thank you!)

Welcome

I am from the UK, but I have had to do the RT fare from London - Houston and then will just miss the RT flight from HOU - LDN a few days later. Saved us a lot of British pounds - around $900! That's a lot of OBC

Luckily, our flight back to LDN from Barca isn't too bad as there is lots of low cost airlines for us to choose from.

 

[RayOfRedondo]

Hi, this is Ray of Redondo.

I live in Redondo Beach, California. This is my first time participating in a DisBoards cruise activity and I am looking forward to it. I will be staying is Stateroom 2066. I want to participate in the Fish Extender activity.

As a novice I am curious to know what the Personal Navigator activity is and what it entails if I were to volunteer to lead this activity.

This will be my 8th Disney cruise; the 5th one on the Magic.

TTFN,

Ray

 

[valbob89]

Hi, this is Ray of Redondo.

I live in Redondo Beach, California. This is my first time participating in a DisBoards cruise activity and I am looking forward to it. I will be staying is Stateroom 2066. I want to participate in the Fish Extender activity.

As a novice I am curious to know what the Personal Navigator activity is and what it entails if I were to volunteer to lead this activity.

This will be my 8th Disney cruise; the 5th one on the Magic.

TTFN,

Ray

Welcome Ray, glad to have you join us.

The Personal Navigator is a collection of the information specific to our group, i.e. rollcall, FE list, Secret Mickey list, schedule of group activities and anything else the creator thinks would be of help. The file is posted for printing close to the sail date. It has been a great help as it is not always easy to access the web while aboard. A lot of the information can be taken from the group website.
I have never taken on the Personal Navigator responsibility but have appreciated those that did and have used it. I may have an electronic copy I can give you if you decide you want to do it.

Has everone sign-in to the rollcall on the website? https://sites.google.com/site/onamagicaltransatlanticjourney/
GoofyNewfie is doing a wonderful job on this document.

Val

 

[Tink1987]

Hi, this is Ray of Redondo.

I live in Redondo Beach, California. This is my first time participating in a DisBoards cruise activity and I am looking forward to it. I will be staying is Stateroom 2066. I want to participate in the Fish Extender activity.

As a novice I am curious to know what the Personal Navigator activity is and what it entails if I were to volunteer to lead this activity.

This will be my 8th Disney cruise; the 5th one on the Magic.

TTFN,

Ray

Welcome Ray

 

[twopeasonepod]

Val

Hey! It's Lauren from the Pixar cruise! Wow, you really do pick the good ones! I hope we end up joining you! We are 98% sure.