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

[kaseyC]

Posted this on FB and wanted to also post it here as final payments are being made by some. Pre-booking schedule for excursions and such. You must be paid in full.

120 days out - Concierge and Platinum CC - 1/18/2013
105 days out - Gold CC - 2/02/2013
90 days out - Silver CC - 2/17/2013
75 days out - First Timers - 3/04/2013

Hope this helps!

 

[Ladyshopper]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

I checked prices today, and they have definitely come down. We are booked in an inside guarantee, and the price is showing about $300 cheaper. I have asked my TA to apply it, so hopefully that will be a good saving.

I have to go to London next week for a follow up to my operation, then I have another operation in January, so its all go here! Am glad I've got my flights, hotel etc booked so I don't have to worry about it all.

 

[valbob89]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

I checked prices today, and they have definitely come down. We are booked in an inside guarantee, and the price is showing about $300 cheaper. I have asked my TA to apply it, so hopefully that will be a good saving.

I have to go to London next week for a follow up to my operation, then I have another operation in January, so its all go here! Am glad I've got my flights, hotel etc booked so I don't have to worry about it all.

Sending good wishes to you for good health.

 

[heatherb819]

Do they have Gty rates out?? I need to go check, that saved us a lot of money last time!

 

[Tink1987]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

I checked prices today, and they have definitely come down. We are booked in an inside guarantee, and the price is showing about $300 cheaper. I have asked my TA to apply it, so hopefully that will be a good saving.

I have to go to London next week for a follow up to my operation, then I have another operation in January, so its all go here! Am glad I've got my flights, hotel etc booked so I don't have to worry about it all.

Good Luck with the follow up, hope you are OK. Take good care of yourself and have a good Christmas. x

 

[Tink1987]

Posted this on FB and wanted to also post it here as final payments are being made by some. Pre-booking schedule for excursions and such. You must be paid in full.

120 days out - Concierge and Platinum CC - 1/18/2013
105 days out - Gold CC - 2/02/2013
90 days out - Silver CC - 2/17/2013
75 days out - First Timers - 3/04/2013

Hope this helps!

That does help, thank you so much! As a first timer, I thought we could just book when we had PIF

 

[NancyIL]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

I checked prices today, and they have definitely come down. We are booked in an inside guarantee, and the price is showing about $300 cheaper. I have asked my TA to apply it, so hopefully that will be a good saving.

I have to go to London next week for a follow up to my operation, then I have another operation in January, so its all go here! Am glad I've got my flights, hotel etc booked so I don't have to worry about it all.

It's not that prices have dropped, but rather that 11c cabins are available again. The price is the same for an 11c now as when I booked ours last January.

I hope your January operation will be successful and you'll have a speedy recovery.

 

[Ladyshopper]

Thank you Nancy.

And yes, had come back on to say that I have moved from an 11B GTY to an 11C GTY, which wasn't available when I booked. So it isn't that prices have gone down, but they have for me as I moved to the 11C. I've only ever gone inside cabins anyway (can't afford higher!) and am perfectly happy with them, although obviously a free upgrade wouldn't go amiss!

Sorry if I confused anyone - I definitely read somewhere else that prices had gone down slightly though (think it was a much higher room category) which is why I checked in the first place, so am glad that I did. A couple of hundred dollars saved is a lot to me, so am really pleased.

 

[heatherb819]

Ah I checked too! We had an 11c booked as well and those are the same prices we had. I'm hoping they drop after PIF date. We always book those as well too! Last time we were blessed with some Pixie dust and upgraded to a verandah, not expecting that this time but crossing fingers!

 

[kaseyC]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

I checked prices today, and they have definitely come down. We are booked in an inside guarantee, and the price is showing about $300 cheaper. I have asked my TA to apply it, so hopefully that will be a good saving.

I have to go to London next week for a follow up to my operation, then I have another operation in January, so its all go here! Am glad I've got my flights, hotel etc booked so I don't have to worry about it all.

Good thoughts sent your way for a successful surgery and quick recovery.

 

[MandyGirl]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

Prayers for a speedy recovery! And coughs and colds... ugh... so much is going around. Our house had a confirmed flu and a confirmed pneumonia this week for 2 of the 4 of us, and at all four separate doctor visits it was mentioned that "the season" has started earlier this year, at least in Texas.

Do they have Gty rates out?? I need to go check, that saved us a lot of money last time!

No gty rates out... yet... but knowing this past week DCL released military, interline, and travel agent rates, I'd be betting gty rates will come out. The big question is if it will be before or after final payment. Had the rates not come out this week, I was most likely going to cancel our original booking and rebook after final payment when rates dropped. Galveston has not been selling well overall, hence DCL pulling out of there after the end of 2013. Based on this rollcall and when I have been spot-checking cabins, I don't believe our EBTA is selling well at all either.

It's not that prices have dropped, but rather that 11c cabins are available again. The price is the same for an 11c now as when I booked ours last January.

Ditto here. The categories I have been keeping an eye on have not increased either from opening day (when we originally booked).

Ah I checked too! We had an 11c booked as well and those are the same prices we had. I'm hoping they drop after PIF date. We always book those as well too! Last time we were blessed with some Pixie dust and upgraded to a verandah, not expecting that this time but crossing fingers!

Yay for previous pixie dust!! I think last year we rebooked four different times LOL. One time, Expedia was giving $500 OBC for any 14-nt cruise, no matter the category. That was more than a TA commission on our cabin - so we jumped on that. Of course then later another rate came out about 3 days before final payment so we were able to switch to that... which gave us an oceanview for less money overall than what we had our inside for. Hubby prefers the insides... pitch black and the best sleeping he ever gets he says!

 

[MandyGirl]

Also meant to add - be sure to always check into what OBC your TA gives on bookings. Some will split their commissions with clients. If you see a rate on DCL that is what your TA can also get, but may be throwing in the additional unadvertised OBC out of their commission. Definitely shop around prior to final payment.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Hi all. Not been on here for a little while. So much going on in the run up to Christmas, and have been in hospital having an operation this week. That went well, although I now have an awful cough and cold so really not feeling that good!

I checked prices today, and they have definitely come down. We are booked in an inside guarantee, and the price is showing about $300 cheaper. I have asked my TA to apply it, so hopefully that will be a good saving.

I have to go to London next week for a follow up to my operation, then I have another operation in January, so its all go here! Am glad I've got my flights, hotel etc booked so I don't have to worry about it all.

Here's to everything going well!

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Hey Folks,

I'm back from what I hope is my last trip this year. I look forward to getting some progress on this trip over the Xmas time. Between 5 trips to London in 2 months, a car accident, a cold and a flu, I'm so hoping for some quiet time. With any luck (well, considering how it's going, lots of luck) I'll get the car back next week and that pain the neck will be over.

I'm still missing hotels in Barcelona and London and transport to London from Barcelona. Oh my, and excursions, and hotel in Halifax, and, and, and. lol

If any EBTA event planners have anything to update on the website, please let me know. Also, if anyone wants to throw more dates at me, I'll get them up on the EBTA calendar. Or anything else for that matter.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Based on this rollcall and when I have been spot-checking cabins, I don't believe our EBTA is selling well at all either.

All the more cheap cabin upgrades at port and space on the cruise for all of us then?

Our website's roll call is up to 55 people, that seems like quite a few to me. What's a more normal amount? The 1 Disney cruise I did before probably only had 10 people.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

Posted this on FB and wanted to also post it here as final payments are being made by some. Pre-booking schedule for excursions and such. You must be paid in full.

120 days out - Concierge and Platinum CC - 1/18/2013
105 days out - Gold CC - 2/02/2013
90 days out - Silver CC - 2/17/2013
75 days out - First Timers - 3/04/2013

Hope this helps!

Anyone know what time? And what tricks might be necessary to ensure that it works right away? I've seen people suggesting you have to log out and such.

 

[twopeasonepod]

I was going to do the Costco TA switch thing tomorrow to get a $380 Costco card. But am I supposed to stay with DCL for the next month and see if the rate goes down? And if so, how do we cancel and rebook? We are not military or anything, so we would just be relying on price reduction. Or just do the Costco?

 

[MandyGirl]

All the more cheap cabin upgrades at port and space on the cruise for all of us then?

Our website's roll call is up to 55 people, that seems like quite a few to me. What's a more normal amount? The 1 Disney cruise I did before probably only had 10 people.

On the WBTA 2011 we had 85 for the PJ breakfast and 75 for a private catamaran excursion to Jost VanDyke that I coordinated (and still had a waitlist for). Rollcall was around 150 I think, and the Fish Extender group was so large that we had 7 groups of 15-20 cabins per group. Some folks would participate in events but not list their name on the rollcall, so hard to say how many grand total. The meet threads on the DIS ended up being in part 7 by the time we sailed (each part is 200 pages... when part 1 ends, then part 2 is created). Plus we had our Facebook page like this one has. At five months prior to embarkation, we were definitely not still on Part 1.

Several people had been holding out for another WBTA (we originally were - you gain an hour with each timezone change). When it was announced no WBTA basically, some have now planned alternative vacations for 2013, including other cruiselines. There has been no special European fare for this cruise like the WBTA had - it was announced quite early last year that many from Europe were able to take advantage of, but DCL has not done that for this sailing. I think Galveston as an embarkation point has deterred many, as lots of folks like to tie WDW into a Disney cruise. Just my thoughts.

 

[MandyGirl]

I was going to do the Costco TA switch thing tomorrow to get a $380 Costco card. But am I supposed to stay with DCL for the next month and see if the rate goes down? And if so, how do we cancel and rebook? We are not military or anything, so we would just be relying on price reduction. Or just do the Costco?

If you turn your reservation over to a TA, then they will need to cancel and rebook for you if you go that route. If canceling prior to final payment, then they can request a fare change. If it is after final payment when a rate drops, then cancellation fees most likely will apply if not doing an upgrade because most of the new fares are for "new bookings only" - meaning you have to book it as a new booking and get a new confirmation number. Disney has changed several rules in the past 12 months... and each fare has it's own set of rules.

Edited to add: Also check with Costco to make sure if you make changes or cancellations that they don't charge you a fee on top of what Disney does. Some agencies will charge a $25 cancellation/change fee on top of what a cruiseline charges.

 

[MandyGirl]

On the WBTA 2011... The meet threads on the DIS ended up being in part 7 by the time we sailed (each part is 200 pages... when part 1 ends, then part 2 is created).

Correction: We were only on Part 6 when we set sail. This first post of this link shows how long the rollcall was (actually over 200)... and we were actually on Part 3 at 6 months prior to embarkation.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2781817