May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[Florida Princess]

My dh and I will be sailing alone this trip. Is anyone interested in dining with us? We have late seating. I know DCL will group us with another group of adults but thought it might be fun to request a group of disers

dfsc---I sent you a PM last night

 

[Travelbee]

This has got me thinking - i wonder if we can link the two sets of groups - so Jeff and the single ladies have a big group linked for dining. Wonder if you can then link their group to our group to get us all in the same dining rotation - or would DCL worry we were going to be "too crazy"

Yes, it can be done. On our last cruise, they group the Disers in the same rotation and same section. It's the same process as linking your dining reservations.

 

[Travelbee]

I just heard back from disney! Wine tasting is a go. They will plan it for one of the at seas days but no exact day or time yet. We will need at least 25 people confirmed and they can bill this to your stateroom account (KTTW). The cost is $15. I will need exact names and reservation numbers to proceed. I would prefer if people could PM me since it is difficult to keep a running list off the boards. Here is a list of who has expressed interest.

Sent you a PM with our info. Thanks again!

 

[sayhello]

I just heard back from disney! Wine tasting is a go. They will plan it for one of the at seas days but no exact day or time yet. We will need at least 25 people confirmed and they can bill this to your stateroom account (KTTW). The cost is $15. I will need exact names and reservation numbers to proceed. I would prefer if people could PM me since it is difficult to keep a running list off the boards.

Sent you a PM. Thanks!

Let's hope so!! Wouldn't mind a room with porthole...i have an amazing ability to sleep so need all the help i can get to wake up

I love how you put that! I've had that ability since I was a kid. Somehow, my parents & teachers weren't impressed!

Sayhello

 

[AlohaJoe23]

Has anyone ever used one of the international cell phone rental companies? If so, which companies offer the best rates for the areas that we will be traveling to, and which ones offer a U.S. phone number?

Our plan is with Verizon. With them you can request an international phone rental. Which if you keep for only 30 days all you pay is the shipping and one month international plan. I think it was $5 for the international plan which you had to cancel when you returned the phone. It allowed us to keep our same number and all our contacts. We would only use on land as the roaming charge on the boat is crazy expensive. The land cost was the standard per minute charge for those countries which was affordable if not cheap. We plan on doing the same this trip I plan on calling 1st of May as we leave on the 7th for London.

 

[sayhello]

Our plan is with Verizon. With them you can request an international phone rental. Which if you keep for only 30 days all you pay is the shipping and one month international plan. I think it was $5 for the international plan which you had to cancel when you returned the phone. It allowed us to keep our same number and all our contacts. We would only use on land as the roaming charge on the boat is crazy expensive. The land cost was the standard per minute charge for those countries which was affordable if not cheap. We plan on doing the same this trip I plan on calling 1st of May as we leave on the 7th for London.

Oh, cool! Thanks. I have Verizon, also. How much was the shipping? I kept meaning to check into this, as using my regular cell phone is just *SO* not going to happen, but I'd like one with me for emergencies, contacting folks in Barcelona, etc.

Sayhello

 

[moneyhappy]

Hi all-
I am just curious how many other military families are coming aboard this cruise? Active, Reserve, Retired, etc?

My husband is active duty Army National Guard out of Reading, MA. He has been in for 13 years and the reason we decided to go on this trip (besides the great discount) is because he is being deployed to Afghanistan after the Winter holidays. Plus he has been in or will be in training on and off for about 6 months this year.

We are hoping for a awesome family trip that will help us get through the times when he is away

My husband is a veteran. He was stationed in Germany for 4 years before going to the first Gulf War.

Wish you an awesome family trip!!!

 

[moneyhappy]

Hey Everyone,

We are just trying to figure this out so hope we are doing this right . We are Mom and Dad and awsome son, 10. We are from San Diego, CA going on our second Disney Magic cruise . We do not have a cabin currently assigned, but we do have late dinner seating.

Any suggestions on hotels in Barcelona?

We are staying at the Eurostar Grand Marina before the cruise (the hotel is located at the port) and the Novotel Barcelona Cornella after the cruise (close to the airport).

We happen to get a good deal on Expedia

 

[AlohaJoe23]

Oh, cool! Thanks. I have Verizon, also. How much was the shipping? I kept meaning to check into this, as using my regular cell phone is just *SO* not going to happen, but I'd like one with me for emergencies, contacting folks in Barcelona, etc.

Sayhello

It was nominal $10 or something. Here is the website. Looks like they have changed from 30 days to 21 days or less.

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Global_Travel/index.html

I will need it for 28 days so I will have to call and see what they recommend for that. If you sign up for the international plan you save about $1.40 per minute over not having the plan. So you need to use the phone at least 4 or 5 minutes on the trip to save the cost for one month. We plan on doing 2 so we can split up on land if we want to and still find each other.

 

[Greg M]

Our plan is with Verizon. With them you can request an international phone rental. Which if you keep for only 30 days all you pay is the shipping and one month international plan. I think it was $5 for the international plan which you had to cancel when you returned the phone. It allowed us to keep our same number and all our contacts. We would only use on land as the roaming charge on the boat is crazy expensive. The land cost was the standard per minute charge for those countries which was affordable if not cheap. We plan on doing the same this trip I plan on calling 1st of May as we leave on the 7th for London.

Great thanks for the info! We are with Alltel (which was recently bought out by mostly AT&T and Verizon in our area). Still trying to get a direct answer from them about it. Just for curiosity, what are the rates per minute for that option? Our TA suggested renting a global phone (around $60-$70 for a month) with rates around $0.49/min incoming and $0.79/min outgoing. It's really been a chore to find reliable info on this and I really appreciate your input!

 

[AlohaJoe23]

Great thanks for the info! We are with Alltel (which was recently bought out by mostly AT&T and Verizon in our area). Still trying to get a direct answer from them about it. Just for curiosity, what are the rates per minute for that option? Our TA suggested renting a global phone (around $60-$70 for a month) with rates around $0.49/min incoming and $0.79/min outgoing. It's really been a chore to find reliable info on this and I really appreciate your input!

With Verizon you sign up for the International value plan which when added to our Family plan was just $4.99 a month. Rates are .99 per minute for most of the countries we will be in. Tunisia will be $2.29. We used it to check voice mails and called home once or twice. We wanted to transfer contacts etc. Probably spent under $50 but was worth it to know we had if we needed it. The link I posted earlier has a phone number and they were very helpful last time. I think I had the phone here in Hawaii in like 2 days.

 

[jedijill]

Another option is to buy an unlocked GSM phone on Ebay and then just buy a SIM card for it. I know you can get SIM cards ahead of time so you have your phone number before you leave but you can also pick them up pretty cheap in country as well.

Here is a good article by Rick Steves on the subject.

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/mobilephones.htm

Jill in CO

 

[abird]

In addition to the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel, there's also a deal for the 4-star Hotel Avenida Palace through Travelzoo. The cost is $127 (92€) per night and includes a free guaranteed upgrade to a suite and buffet breakfast. It's supposed to be two blocks from Las Ramblas.

Follow the direction on this link to get the deal: http://hotels.travelzoo.com/international-hotels/773298

Connie, are you (or anyone else on the boards) staying at Hotel Avenida Palace? We finally booked this today. The Travelzoo promotion was only available for 5/13, so we took it hoping they would have more availability later for 5/14. Well today I saw two rooms at 1800 hotels for the date of 5/14 and grabbed them, so I have different booking companies but at least in the same hotel. I hope they let us stay in our rooms and not move. Anne

 

[Greg M]

With Verizon you sign up for the International value plan which when added to our Family plan was just $4.99 a month. Rates are .99 per minute for most of the countries we will be in. Tunisia will be $2.29. We used it to check voice mails and called home once or twice. We wanted to transfer contacts etc. Probably spent under $50 but was worth it to know we had if we needed it. The link I posted earlier has a phone number and they were very helpful last time. I think I had the phone here in Hawaii in like 2 days.

Wow! That sounds like a pretty good deal! I just got my answer from Alltel, they do not offer over seas coverage and AT&T has not "officially" taken over for my region.

Also thanks to Jill, I will go check that out now.

 

[aldapl]

Our plan is with Verizon. With them you can request an international phone rental. Which if you keep for only 30 days all you pay is the shipping and one month international plan. I think it was $5 for the international plan which you had to cancel when you returned the phone. It allowed us to keep our same number and all our contacts. We would only use on land as the roaming charge on the boat is crazy expensive. The land cost was the standard per minute charge for those countries which was affordable if not cheap. We plan on doing the same this trip I plan on calling 1st of May as we leave on the 7th for London.

Do you know if there is a benefit to renting a phone instead of using my regular phone and adding the international plan?

 

[jenandmartin]

Another option is to buy an unlocked GSM phone on Ebay and then just buy a SIM card for it. I know you can get SIM cards ahead of time so you have your phone number before you leave but you can also pick them up pretty cheap in country as well.

Here is a good article by Rick Steves on the subject.

http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/mobilephones.htm

Jill in CO

Another option for those taking their laptops/notebooks/etc is Skype. You can call a landline from your computer for about 5 cents a minute.

Here's a link...
http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/callphones/

It's the only reason I'm considering lugging our 17" laptop with us. I really want one of those little notebooks!

 

[jedijill]

Another option for those taking their laptops/notebooks/etc is Skype. You can call a landline from your computer for about 5 cents a minute.

Here's a link...
http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/callphones/

It's the only reason I'm considering lugging our 17" laptop with us. I really want one of those little notebooks!

You won't be able to use Skype on the ship. They block it because the connection is slow and takes up a lot of bandwidth. You could use it onshore at an internet cafe if needed.

Jill in CO

 

[dawne577]

rashdecision - thanks for arranging this. I'll pm you our ressie #. Do you know if we'll have the scheduled day before we board. I don't want to sign up for two wine tastings in one day...or do I?

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hey all! Made it back after a 10 hour drive.

On the phone situation, we bought one of the world phones from Mobal prior to our last Med cruise for $49. Being the cheaper model, it doesn't have a US number but that doesn't matter to us. Having it was great...we could call home and check on our dog (babysat by my mom). We were also able to link up with our tour guide at Pompeii after we came out a different exit than he expected. Also used it when our driver didn't show up in Florence when he was supposed to. We found out he had had a flat tire and what his new arrival time would be versus just standing around and not knowing what was going on. We'll be taking it again this year.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

This has got me thinking - i wonder if we can link the two sets of groups - so Jeff and the single ladies have a big group linked for dining. Wonder if you can then link their group to our group to get us all in the same dining rotation - or would DCL worry we were going to be "too crazy"

First of all, for those new to the thread (and my wife, who reads this) "Jeff and the single ladies" is actually Jeff, HIS FAMILY, and the single ladies.

As Steven Tyler (lead singer of Aerosmith) says during the intro for Rock'n Roller Coaster - "I like that idea!"

I think it would be really cool to have the DISers in early and late seating (who want to of course) be in the same dining rotation and seated in the same area. Anyone who would like to do this, send me a PM or email as it's too hard to keep up with in the thread. And we still have 1 spot at our table if there are any singles left like would like to join my family, jedijill, sarahgirl and sayhello.

I say one spot, assuming that 8 is the max at a table. Anyone know if that's the max or are there bigger tables?