No wbta 2013

[gismo1554]

Hi Folks!

Can anyone remember how similar/different the cruise prices were for the TA and the PC cruises?

Thanks!
Carolynn

TA was cheaper than the PC cruises but I can't remember by how much. In general TA's cost less because of the extra money required for flights and the less port days. Also the weather can be unpredictable which means they try to make the prices more appealling.

Do one way distant foreign port rules if it starts and ends different places rules apply?. It would make for a unique cruise. They could come up with a fantastic option.

Not sure why, but I am thinking the WBTA 2013 will return to Miami (np Port Canaveral double ship) to both get the WDW advantage and be ready for the winter.

Oh now that's an interesting thought! Wouldn't mind a Miami return as it would mean a flight back to Heathrow making it an hour less journey home which would be fab! Oh why can't it already be Wednesday? Got all these thoughts in my head about it all now!

So, it seems that there are some experienced cruisers on this thread! We have done a 3 night and 2 4 nights. We are looking at doing one of the transatlantic cruises. Why do the westbound over the eastbound....or does it really matter?

Daisy

I've done both a WBTA and an EBTA and I prefer WB! Personally loosing an hour every day felt like agony by day 5! Gaining is a lot easier. Also in 2010 the EBTA had the same ports as the 2007 cruise and the WBTA had different ports which was nice. Also you get Castway at the end of your cruise rather than the beginning. This was good as most of the ports are hours from a decent beach which means Castaway is the best opportunity to get a beach day in at the end of the trip.

Time wise, being from Europe, the time change hits us every time but the loosing over each night just meant we got up later each day. It caused us to miss quite a few activities on the 2007 EBTA. To be fair, on the 2010 one we missed a lot from being too tired but that was just due to being on the sea, or at least that is what I found!

Anyway both are great cruises!

The WBTA in 2007 was rough (end of September) and the EBTA 2007 (May) was lovely. In 2010 the WBTA was loverly (early September). Not sure what an October TA is going to be like but it might still be nice.

 

[JustAnnieNotHazel]

I hope they don't return to Galveston, as that would make TWO flights for me. That would put a big crimp in my WBTA plans....

This would seriously mess up our shopping day plans in Orlando before our same day flight back to the UK!!!!!

But then as Liesbeth pointed out reasonable for Magic and Fantasy to be at St Maarten on same day but not castaway Cay, surely it couldn't handle that many passengers???
Come on dcl, what are you playing at?

 

[NWmom]

If it ends in Galveston, we would be out. Higher airfare.

Also now thinking about the one ways to Hawaii that would leave from practically our back door. Only one way airfare cheaper than getting to Florida.

Am just going to wait and see what is offered and hope they give us 24 hours to process it before booking opens.

 

[poohluv2u]

An extra at sea day would make it fit....

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

You know there is a chance the WBTA isn't leaving from Barcelona? It's just that we think it is, right? And like I said, add an at sea day and that changes a few things towards the end.

We're just going to drive ourselves nuts until it's actually announced with set itineraries.

 

[PFlamingo]

I hope they don't return to Galveston, as that would make TWO flights for me. That would put a big crimp in my WBTA plans....

If it ends in Galveston, we would be out. Higher airfare.

Yeah, I'm not sure how or if we'd do it if it ends in Texas. Last time we drove to Orlando and left our car at my parents house. They drove us to the airport and picked us up at PC, then we drove back to Georgia the next day. That was really perfect for us - much cheaper than flying and parking the car for 2-3 weeks. No way we could do that if it ends in Texas.

Not sure why, but I am thinking the WBTA 2013 will return to Miami (np Port Canaveral double ship) to both get the WDW advantage and be ready for the winter.

I'm thinking the same thing. That might be do-able. We could still leave from Orlando, and maybe rent a car to get from Miami back to Orlando. I don't think Miami is really going to give the WDW advantage, though. It's still a 4 hour drive. Not anywhere near as convenient as PC.

I'm wondering what the point would be of having 3 ships in Florida ports. Where would the Magic be going from Miami that the Fantasy and Dream won't already be covering?

 

[Pinky166]

I love reading all your theories!

COME ON DCL!!!! Please put us out of our misery!

 

[UKANGEL]

You know there is a chance the WBTA isn't leaving from Barcelona? It's just that we think it is, right? And like I said, add an at sea day and that changes a few things towards the end.

We're just going to drive ourselves nuts until it's actually announced with set itineraries.

I know it's not going to happen but I sooo wish it was leaving from the UK....Southampton would be my dream! at least some of us would also only have one long flight home to book too then!

I love reading all your theories!

COME ON DCL!!!! Please put us out of our misery!

Hear hear, Claire!

 

[gismo1554]

OK just scared myself at looking at prices for one way flights from Houston! $1661 per person in economy! My God that would definately rule us out! That's insane! Its $1061 per person for a return which is still over double what I paid for our one way in 2010! Getting worried now that I may need to rethink this cruise as the cost of flights might just push it too far! Anyone else looked at this?

Looking at Orlando:
$1458 1 way on BA
$1017 return on BA
$1431 1 way on Virgin
$944 return on Virgin

Looking at Miami:
$1483 1 way on BA
$1042 return on BA
$1456 1 way on Virgin
$892 return on Virgin

Prices just seem so much higher!

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

The flights scared me too until I looked at 800FlyEurope as Birkner suggested to me. Made me feel a whole lot better. Of course we won't really know until DCL makes this more than a rumor.

I am getting myself prepared to book this week just in case. (deposit money, plus travel insurance) Still hoping for a return to PC. Anything else (for me) could be a deal breaker...would have to give it some thought.

 

[Grumpy1234]

OK just scared myself at looking at prices for one way flights from Houston! $1661 per person in economy! My God that would definately rule us out! That's insane! Its $1061 per person for a return which is still over double what I paid for our one way in 2010! Getting worried now that I may need to rethink this cruise as the cost of flights might just push it too far! Anyone else looked at this?

Looking at Orlando:
$1458 1 way on BA
$1017 return on BA
$1431 1 way on Virgin
$944 return on Virgin

Looking at Miami:
$1483 1 way on BA
$1042 return on BA
$1456 1 way on Virgin
$892 return on Virgin

Prices just seem so much higher!

The flights scared me too until I looked at 800FlyEurope as Birkner suggested to me. Made me feel a whole lot better. Of course we won't really know until DCL makes this more than a rumor.

I am getting myself prepared to book this week just in case. (deposit money, plus travel insurance) Still hoping for a return to PC. Anything else (for me) could be a deal breaker...would have to give it some thought.

Looking at sites like 800flyeurope they will not allow you to book this far out. But looking at late October this year it comes out at $400.15 for a oneway from Orlando to London direct and a flight with one connection is $399.70. (I wonder what I could use the 45cents for)

 

[*Flower*]

I'm wondering what the point would be of having 3 ships in Florida ports. Where would the Magic be going from Miami that the Fantasy and Dream won't already be covering?

I wonder if they'd consider porting one in Tampa instead? If they really want all four ships to sail out of FL (just supposing here), why not give Tampa a whack?

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

It's also impossible to look at flights other than ones this October as a suggestion, as lets face it: It is not carved in stone that the WBTA will leave from Barcelona! It seems likely, but it's not impossible that it could start from elsewhere.

 

[gismo1554]

Looking at sites like 800flyeurope they will not allow you to book this far out. But looking at late October this year it comes out at $400.15 for a oneway from Orlando to London direct and a flight with one connection is $399.70. (I wonder what I could use the 45cents for)

Oh thats a lot better!

Had a look at houston on here and it was $486.49 which is so much better (and in fact its on BA)! Feel a lot happier about it now! Few! What a great site! Definately going to add that to my favourites

Anyone know what the authorisation form you need to fax through is?

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

I think the authorization form is for you to actually sign for a credit card. After all, when one books online there isn't an actual physical signature. They want it. (which in my mind is a good thing!)

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Okay, information needed from the experienced TA cruisers. I am going to buy trip insurance.

What figures do you plug in? Cruise fare total, what you think you will pay for airfare, hotel costs? How do you come up with the figure and have it be realistic and not overdo, yet not underdo?

 

[disdel]

Okay, information needed from the experienced TA cruisers. I am going to buy trip insurance.

What figures do you plug in? Cruise fare total, what you think you will pay for airfare, hotel costs? How do you come up with the figure and have it be realistic and not overdo, yet not underdo?

We did "best guesstimates" for the things other than the cruise fare. Airfare, we took comparables for the dates. Use www.farecompare.com, which tracks historic airfares by date. There's also a "trendtracker" feature on Expedia to help with hotel pricing as well as airfares.

Hotels, we also used historic rates for our dates in Barcelona. We insured for about $7,000, of which about $3,600 was cruise fare (we booked a verandah deck 7 on first day of booking, were upgraded in late December to a "family" verandah deck 8). We had splurged on business class flight home on Swiss Air, so our airfare was high - others that flew back to US on AerLingus were reporting airfares around $500pp. Also, interestingly, while we didn't use points to book that airfare, we DID for our flights to Vancouver this year - were told that insurance will NOT cover "reward" flights, something I had not known.

Considering that at the time of our arrival in Barcelona in 2010 was when the volcanic eruptions were disrupting European air traffic, we and others were glad for the insurance! Our flights out in the window without a problem, but others were not as lucky.
hth

 

[PFlamingo]

Looking at sites like 800flyeurope they will not allow you to book this far out. But looking at late October this year it comes out at $400.15 for a oneway from Orlando to London direct and a flight with one connection is $399.70. (I wonder what I could use the 45cents for)

Not much. Seems a bit silly to bother with a connection to save 45 cents, but who knows?

Oh thats a lot better!

Had a look at houston on here and it was $486.49 which is so much better (and in fact its on BA)! Feel a lot happier about it now! Few! What a great site! Definately going to add that to my favourites

Anyone know what the authorisation form you need to fax through is?

I think the authorization form is for you to actually sign for a credit card. After all, when one books online there isn't an actual physical signature. They want it. (which in my mind is a good thing!)

No, it's not for the credit card. It only comes up when booking a one-way fare. I know we signed it and returned it last year, but I don't recall what it said. Couldn't have been anything major. I think they may do that because of 9/11. A one-way fare is considered a "red flag."

 

[gismo1554]

Not much. Seems a bit silly to bother with a connection to save 45 cents, but who knows?

No, it's not for the credit card. It only comes up when booking a one-way fare. I know we signed it and returned it last year, but I don't recall what it said. Couldn't have been anything major. I think they may do that because of 9/11. A one-way fare is considered a "red flag."

Cool ta. Was thinking it must be something of a waiver/declaration type thing to say you are allowed into the country on a one-way ticket but wasn't sure. Does it automically come up to print when you book the flight?

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

Ah gee...here I thought they were protecting my credit card. Turns out they are just protecting themselves from....me.