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

[sdlong329]

Now, that kind of move I could deal with.

That's a DCL Concierge level perk (I believe) ... and I believe is also included with all Azamara cruises (upgraded Celebrity cruise line), where each stateroom has a BUTLER ... not a stateroom host. For now, I'll just have to SLUM it with a stateroom host.

Steven

 

[kaseyC]

That's a DCL Concierge level perk (I believe) ... and I believe is also included with all Azamara cruises (upgraded Celebrity cruise line), where each stateroom has a BUTLER ... not a stateroom host. For now, I'll just have to SLUM it with a stateroom host.

Steven

LOL! Unfortunately, that is not a DCL Concierge perk. It seems only the cruise lines that offer Butler service with their suites provide packing and unpacking as an option.

 

[heatherb819]

I think she was just being nice & helping me due to the fact we were upgraded for DCL convenience. It was in the middle of a sea day and she was extremely helpful!!

 

[GoofyNewfie]

There will be at least one formal and most likely two informal nights. On a few of the longer cruises we had two formal and two informal nights. So be sure to bring your fancy clothing!!

When/how will we find out what evenings are what? Will everyone have the same formal night? As in, will all the restaurants do formal night on the same night?

 

[GoofyNewfie]

We were good in our DIS group to send out texts when cool things were going on. Gotta love those wave phones!

When we sailed in 2010 there were no wavephones. We can call each other's phones and text too? That sounds awesome. I guess you just need the room number? Is there 1 or 2 phones per room though? would a call go to both? Sorry for the ignorance.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

That's a DCL Concierge level perk (I believe) ... and I believe is also included with all Azamara cruises (upgraded Celebrity cruise line), where each stateroom has a BUTLER ... not a stateroom host. For now, I'll just have to SLUM it with a stateroom host.

Steven

I have a friend that only does Azamara. It seems that not all rooms have butlers as I know he has sometimes had one and sometimes not. I know he talked about it being an upgrade. But he certainly did enjoy have one. Me, I'd probably die of too much embarrassment. I don't even really enjoy being served in a restaurant.

 

[GoofyNewfie]

I was looking at Galveston's website and there's a theatre company called Island ETC (http://www.islandetc.org/tickets.html) that's doing a play called Harvey. Anyone ever been to one of their shows? Think it might be worth checking out Friday night?

 

[MandyGirl]

When/how will we find out what evenings are what? Will everyone have the same formal night? As in, will all the restaurants do formal night on the same night?

Yes - all have the same formal night no matter which restaurant rotation. We have been able to find out those "key nights" 1-2 months prior to the cruise, which helps immensely in planning other non-DCL events (such as pub crawl... don't really want that on formal night or pirate night since up late).

When we sailed in 2010 there were no wavephones. We can call each other's phones and text too? That sounds awesome. I guess you just need the room number? Is there 1 or 2 phones per room though? would a call go to both? Sorry for the ignorance.

Yes - they are fantastic! They don't ring but vibrate instead. And you can text, which is what we preferred. When we had the "Character Campout" for ages 5-10 at Kids Club, they sent out a mass text the next morning when it was time to come collect our children. But at $250 apiece if lost/damaged, you have to be careful. 2 come with your stateroom, and it was just room number and a 1 or 2 with it (for phone 1 or 2). On our cruise in November, my parents and I just left them by the charger and never once used one. Hubby and I definitely used them on the WBTA though, along with our rollcall friends. Very handy. Here's a good link I found.

 

[MandyGirl]

BTW - Although no casinos onboard, here is what I am gambling for start of the cruise....

Saturday - embarkation
Sunday - first formal night (??)
Monday - Pirate Night (??)
Tuesday - Castaway Cay
Wed - at sea
Thurs - at sea
Fri - at sea
Sat - at sea
Sun - at sea
Mon - at sea
Tues - Madeira
Wed - at sea
Thurs - Gibraltar
Fri - at sea
Sat - disembarkation in Barcelona

Maybe some former EBTA'ers can input their predictions! Wasn't there a "Welcome to Europe" party previously? But I am thinking that Pirate Night is normally the night before arriving at Castaway Cay?

 

[Tink1987]

BTW - Although no casinos onboard, here is what I am gambling for start of the cruise....

Saturday - embarkation
Sunday - first formal night (??)
Monday - Pirate Night (??)
Tuesday - Castaway Cay
Wed - at sea
Thurs - at sea
Fri - at sea
Sat - at sea
Sun - at sea
Mon - at sea
Tues - Madeira
Wed - at sea
Thurs - Gibraltar
Fri - at sea
Sat - disembarkation in Barcelona

Maybe some former EBTA'ers can input their predictions! Wasn't there a "Welcome to Europe" party previously? But I am thinking that Pirate Night is normally the night before arriving at Castaway Cay?

Are the formal night and Pirate night normally so close to each other then? Was hoping they would be have been spread out more so you have two big nights to look forward too!

Do you think there will only be one formal night then?

And thanks for the answer about the dining rotation/formal night! I am stressing about which night to book Palo on as I don't want to miss our favourite restaurant on the night we are in Palo if that makes sense?

Although my DB has read somewhere that Palo on the night is nowhere near as good as the Palo brunch so he wants to skip it! Not sure where he has got that idea from

 

[Tink1987]

I was looking at Galveston's website and there's a theatre company called Island ETC (http://www.islandetc.org/tickets.html) that's doing a play called Harvey. Anyone ever been to one of their shows? Think it might be worth checking out Friday night?

Thank you for sharing that link - we are going to take a closer look at that

 

[MandyGirl]

Are the formal night and Pirate night normally so close to each other then? Was hoping they would be have been spread out more so you have two big nights to look forward too!

Do you think there will only be one formal night then?

And thanks for the answer about the dining rotation/formal night! I am stressing about which night to book Palo on as I don't want to miss our favourite restaurant on the night we are in Palo if that makes sense?

Although my DB has read somewhere that Palo on the night is nowhere near as good as the Palo brunch so he wants to skip it! Not sure where he has got that idea from

There are multiple formal/informal nights. I did not look past the beginning of the cruise (just laid out what we know are facts) because they could fall any time, especially having so many sea days. I believe I have seen several cruises with a formal night on the first full sea day. Pirate night happens often the night before Castaway Cay as the "party" of entering the Caribbean.

 

[MandyGirl]

Here is how it was laid out on our WBTA 2011:

Calendar of events
Date Day Port Event
10-Sep Saturday (Barcelona) Promenade Lounge meet-up 3pm
11-Sep Sunday (At Sea) (formal night) toddler meet-up, deck 9 splash area 10am
12-Sep Monday (Gibraltar) Morrisons shopping trip! (opening hours approx 9-7pm)
13-Sep Tuesday (At Sea)
14-Sep Wednesday (Madeira, Portugal) Madeira Tour (Birkner)
15-Sep Thursday (At Sea) (theme night - probably villains) The Magic Pub Crawl (Chris&Jeremy/Cliffy97)
16-Sep Friday (At Sea) (formal night)
17-Sep Saturday (At Sea) Champagne Girls!! (Pinky166)
18-Sep Sunday (At Sea) Pajama Breakfast (MandyGirl)
19-Sep Monday (At Sea) Mickey Mouse Club night
20-Sep Tuesday (St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles) (pirate night) St Maarten Shark dive (txmermaid1)
21-Sep Wednesday (Tortola, British Virgin Islands) Jost VanDyke excursion (Beach Day and Snorkeling) (MandyGirl) ; Tortola scuba diving (txmermaid1)
22-Sep Thursday (At Sea) (semi formal) farewell lunch 12.15pm, location to be decided
23-Sep Friday (Castaway Cay, Bahamas)
24-Sep Saturday (Cape Canaveral, Florida)

 

[MandyGirl]

And here is some previous EBTA info:

Navigators 2010
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1445490774161.2061536.1139906413&l=1bdcf464f3

And EBTA 2011 rollcall, schedule, etc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...uthkey=CJvH6MoK&hl=en&authkey=CJvH6MoK#gid=58

 

[MandyGirl]

Ahhhhhh.... or Arrrrgh... they had Pirates in the Caribbean on a previous EBTA the night of Madeira! So after the crossing.... not in relation to Castaway Cay. (Looking at the spreadsheet link above) My bets are off for the above

 

[Tink1987]

There are multiple formal/informal nights. I did not look past the beginning of the cruise (just laid out what we know are facts) because they could fall any time, especially having so many sea days. I believe I have seen several cruises with a formal night on the first full sea day. Pirate night happens often the night before Castaway Cay as the "party" of entering the Caribbean.

How does the dress code lay out on DCL then? The only cruise we have been on was a P&O one and they had:

Formal - obviously dress for women and tux for men

Semi formal - dress or smart suit/separates for women and shirt, jacket and tie for men

Casual - dress or smart separates for women, collared short for men.

Thanks as always

 

[NancyIL]

I got by with one carry-on sized rolling bag (that I checked) plus 2 carry ons for 10 nights at WDW and a Fantasy cruise this month. I'd like to get by with the same smaller rolling bag on the TA, too. After dragging my larger rolling bag around Europe a bit last summer, I swore I wouldn't do that again. Therefore, I will not pack "formal" clothes. I wore black dress pants and a nice top on formal night on the Fantasy, and it will work for the Magic as well.

 

[MandyGirl]

And thanks for the answer about the dining rotation/formal night! I am stressing about which night to book Palo on as I don't want to miss our favourite restaurant on the night we are in Palo if that makes sense?

Although my DB has read somewhere that Palo on the night is nowhere near as good as the Palo brunch so he wants to skip it! Not sure where he has got that idea from

I think lots will have the same questions when reservations open for Palo bookings.

We knew a lot of the planning information for our WBTA 2011 over a month in advance, and at 30 days out had all of our PALO groups for private room brunch booked. However, it has been reported in this thread that DCL will no longer take dining requests more 30 days out and it has to be the month of the cruise. That being May 1, some folks will already be enroute to Texas. (However, I have already linked 5 cabins together with no issues for dining with this cruise.) On WBTA 2011 we had families linking together for dining, as in same table, and then multiple tables linking together to all have the same rotation / section of dining room. So we were able to request our dining groups in advance and still also sit in the same vicinity of others from the boards. It was quite fun.

As far as Palo brunch versus dinner, we only did brunch as a group. Did not do dinner, so I don't have a personal comparison. With my parents last month, we just ate in the dining room each night.

 

[wickesy]

How does the dress code lay out on DCL then? The only cruise we have been on was a P&O one and they had:

Formal - obviously dress for women and tux for men

Semi formal - dress or smart suit/separates for women and shirt, jacket and tie for men

Casual - dress or smart separates for women, collared short for men.

Thanks as always

DCL are pretty relaxed when it comes to dress code, except for Palo where men are always required to wear jackets.

For casual a t-shirt and shorts will be fine, semi-formal would be collared shirt and for formal night shirt and tie would be fine - that's for men obviously, you can get an idea of the women's from that.

 

[NancyIL]

DCL are pretty relaxed when it comes to dress code, except for Palo where men are always required to wear jackets.

For casual a t-shirt and shorts will be fine, semi-formal would be collared shirt and for formal night shirt and tie would be fine - that's for men obviously, you can get an idea of the women's from that.

DCL asks that people NOT wear shorts in the dining room for dinner, although apparently they don't enforce it.