Northern Sights and Mickey's MAGICal Delights-1st Baltic Cruise-June 12,2010-Pt 2

[rotary2808]

Just looking at the cost of the airfare, we are looking at possibily flying in the morning of the cruise.....

The Air Canada direct flight we are looking at arrives in Gatwick at 6:25 am.....that should give us 6+ hrs to get to the ship.....

Anyone else doing that?

We have our 'Disney Hotel' booked for the two days before the cruise as a fall back position

If you can avoid flying in the day of I'd avoid it at all costs. We did that for the TA in '07 and were completely exhausted from jet lag for the first couple of days of the cruise.

It should be a fun trip!

We will probably take a car service to the airport. Check out staying the night before. Some of the hotels at the airport give free parking if you stay 1 night.

I might have to look into that. I know Jason's parents wouldn't mind following us over there and meeting us back over there, but if I could find free parking that would be a huge help. Do you know of any specific hotels that offer that?

 

[MJGirl]

Just looking at the cost of the airfare, we are looking at possibily flying in the morning of the cruise.....

The Air Canada direct flight we are looking at arrives in Gatwick at 6:25 am.....that should give us 6+ hrs to get to the ship.....

Anyone else doing that?

We have our 'Disney Hotel' booked for the two days before the cruise as a fall back position

I looked at Air Canada as well and for the 2 of us out of Toronto, the cost would be $2800. I checked Kayak, and found a flight out of Toronto for $2000 with Icelandair. The flight has a stopover in Iceland. Only problem is the flight leaves London on the 24th at 1:00 pm. Anyone heard anything about them? Is the departure time doable?

 

[gydell]

I might have to look into that. I know Jason's parents wouldn't mind following us over there and meeting us back over there, but if I could find free parking that would be a huge help. Do you know of any specific hotels that offer that?

I'm leaving town in the morning for a few days(going to Ghost Town in the Sky) but I will check when I get back. When are you planning on going to London?

 

[sbell111]

Are tentativie plan is to fly into London (LHR or LGW) the day before the cruise and then spend about four days in Paris after. Therefore, we're looking for the best deal on air travel that goes into London and out of Paris. Flying out of Nashville rather than Atlanta allows me to possibly put in most of a day's work on the day we leave, which is good because the trip is going to put a huge dent in my annual leave bank.

I can't wait for all the airlines to open up June dates so I can make good comparisons. So far, it looks like a Delta/Air France connection through Atlanta with a return on Air France/Delta through Detroit may be my best bet.

The waiting game is killing me. The '07 Med Cruise was so much easier. We decided to go not more than a couple weeks out. Everything was convenient to book, but boy was it spendy.

 

[Scott H]

Are tentativie plan is to fly into London (LHR or LGW) the day before the cruise and then spend about four days in Paris after. Therefore, we're looking for the best deal on air travel that goes into London and out of Paris. Flying out of Nashville rather than Atlanta allows me to possibly put in most of a day's work on the day we leave, which is good because the trip is going to put a huge dent in my annual leave bank.

I can't wait for all the airlines to open up June dates so I can make good comparisons. So far, it looks like a Delta/Air France connection through Atlanta with a return on Air France/Delta through Detroit may be my best bet.

The waiting game is killing me. The '07 Med Cruise was so much easier. We decided to go not more than a couple weeks out. Everything was convenient to book, but boy was it spendy.

Would you be ahead $$$$ wise to fly in and out of the same city??? usually the way it is. Unless time is short. You could rail back to London.

 

[rotary2808]

I'm leaving town in the morning for a few days(going to Ghost Town in the Sky) but I will check when I get back. When are you planning on going to London?

Have a great time!!!! I'm looking at somewhere around June 8 or 9, that way we'll have a few days to spend in London before hand. Preferrably the 8th so we'll get there on the 9th and have the 10th and 11th to sightsee. This of course is all subject to dad.

Are tentativie plan is to fly into London (LHR or LGW) the day before the cruise and then spend about four days in Paris after. Therefore, we're looking for the best deal on air travel that goes into London and out of Paris. Flying out of Nashville rather than Atlanta allows me to possibly put in most of a day's work on the day we leave, which is good because the trip is going to put a huge dent in my annual leave bank.

I can't wait for all the airlines to open up June dates so I can make good comparisons. So far, it looks like a Delta/Air France connection through Atlanta with a return on Air France/Delta through Detroit may be my best bet.

The waiting game is killing me. The '07 Med Cruise was so much easier. We decided to go not more than a couple weeks out. Everything was convenient to book, but boy was it spendy.

I know what you mean about '07 being easier. We booked the TA a week out. No year and a half of fretting over every detail, well there was until we backed out and then fate worked that we were able to go anyway. So there was only a week of fretting, much there wasn't much time for that since there was so much to get done at work.

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

I would be really hesitant to fly in the day of the cruise, we run into enough delays in the states, I would hate to think of the delays possible on overseas flight. If it is a direct flight it might not be as bad (we cannot go very many places on a direct flight!) I think what it looks like so far for us is that Paris is the cheapest to fly into and out of. But that may change.

Have a great day all!

 

[sbell111]

Would you be ahead $$$$ wise to fly in and out of the same city??? usually the way it is. Unless time is short. You could rail back to London.

Of course, I won't know for certain for a few more weeks, but it looks like it will be cheaper to go multi-city than to fly in and out of either London or Paris and buy the extra eurostar tickets. It will also be easier to do the multi-city with the baby, I think.

 

[rotary2808]

Good Morning Cruisers!

I would be really hesitant to fly in the day of the cruise, we run into enough delays in the states, I would hate to think of the delays possible on overseas flight. If it is a direct flight it might not be as bad (we cannot go very many places on a direct flight!) I think what it looks like so far for us is that Paris is the cheapest to fly into and out of. But that may change.

Have a great day all!

You could also have breakdowns that cause delays even on a direct flight.

 

[cquick]

Just looking at the cost of the airfare, we are looking at possibily flying in the morning of the cruise.....
The Air Canada direct flight we are looking at arrives in Gatwick at 6:25 am.....that should give us 6+ hrs to get to the ship.....
Anyone else doing that?

Yes, my DH wants to do that. We can leave here on the afternoon or early evening Virgin flight out of Orlando and arrive at Gatwick in the morning in plenty of time to get to the ship. If you DO end up arriving at Gatwick, please let us know, and we can share a ride to the port, unless there's a train from Gatwick to Dover.

Connie

 

[cquick]

I just looked at Virgin Atlantic,andthey are not booking through June of 2010 yet. So I looked at May, and it looks like there's still the same flight we took before that leaves Orlando in the evening and arrives Gatwick at 7am the next morning.

That is prpbably the one we'll take, unless we feel worried, and decide to come a day early, which I think is the better choice....I would HATE to miss the ship!!!

 

[cquick]

I just checked for train travel to Dover from Gatwick,and the train goes up to London Victoria station and then to Dover. Once you arrive in Dover, you need a taxi to get to the actual port......it seems much more expensive than hiring a car and driver......about 80 british pounds each for the train, not considering the taxi. One of the chauffeurred car sites was less than that, because they charge per car,not per person.

So much to think about!

 

[Arizona Rita]

I just know that if I have my way we will not use Delta. We had a terrible experience with them on the flight back from our first DCL and I just dont want to use them. Chris likes playing with all the flights so as long as I get there I'mn happy!

 

[hawkaye19]

Yes, my DH wants to do that. We can leave here on the afternoon or early evening Virgin flight out of Orlando and arrive at Gatwick in the morning in plenty of time to get to the ship. If you DO end up arriving at Gatwick, please let us know, and we can share a ride to the port, unless there's a train from Gatwick to Dover.

Connie

Connie,

I suspect that DCL will have a shuttle from the airport to the ship...we're hoping anyway...perhaps we could grab the shuttle together (always like the fact that your bags end up in your cabin)

So far we are only looking at direct flights, in and out of Ottawa.....

If our direct flight is canceled or delayed, there are 4 other non-direct flights we could get on......but......

 

[jeanneg]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering why I stopped getting notices about this thread........didn't realize that we're 27 pages into a brand new one! I'm sorry, it's just hard for me to concentrate on more than one thing at a time and we have a cruise coming up in October.

I'm also interested in the airfare. We booked our own flights into Barcelona when we did the European cruise in '07 and that ended up being an absolute nightmare. Delta changed our flights so many times that we wanted to scream. The last straw was when they put us on a 7am flight going back the same day the cruise got into port. I tried explaning that we didn't get off the ship until 9 but they refused to put us on a later flight because they only had business class available. Long story short, they refunded our money and we were left scrambling at the last minute to find flights on another carrier at a much higher cost.
This time I plan to have DCL do the flights, but I think they are charging us about $1,700 per person which seems really, really high. I also think they are flying us in the same day which has me a little spooked. If Dover weren't so far from London we might do all the arrngements ourselves, but it just seems too complicated. Are there any DCL hotels in Dover? I've been to London before and prefer to just get to the port and relax a little before our cruise. At this point I am open to any and all suggestions.

 

[rotary2808]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering why I stopped getting notices about this thread........didn't realize that we're 27 pages into a brand new one! I'm sorry, it's just hard for me to concentrate on more than one thing at a time and we have a cruise coming up in October.

I'm also interested in the airfare. We booked our own flights into Barcelona when we did the European cruise in '07 and that ended up being an absolute nightmare. Delta changed our flights so many times that we wanted to scream. The last straw was when they put us on a 7am flight going back the same day the cruise got into port. I tried explaning that we didn't get off the ship until 9 but they refused to put us on a later flight because they only had business class available. Long story short, they refunded our money and we were left scrambling at the last minute to find flights on another carrier at a much higher cost.
This time I plan to have DCL do the flights, but I think they are charging us about $1,700 per person which seems really, really high. I also think they are flying us in the same day which has me a little spooked. If Dover weren't so far from London we might do all the arrngements ourselves, but it just seems too complicated. Are there any DCL hotels in Dover? I've been to London before and prefer to just get to the port and relax a little before our cruise. At this point I am open to any and all suggestions.

All the DCL hotels are in London. What airline is DCL using? I know from what I've been able to price out so far (they aren't out quite far enough) Delta from our hometown is around $1400 per person.

 

[jeanneg]

I don't think they publish what airlines they use but I know one of them is Delta. When our flight got changed on the return Med flight, we asked them to route us through ATL instead of JFK, but there was no availability because Disney had purchased a huge chunk of the coach seats.

So if DCL is doing my airfare/transfers and I want to fly in a day ahead of time, would I have to stay in London?

 

[rotary2808]

I don't think they publish what airlines they use but I know one of them is Delta. When our flight got changed on the return Med flight, we asked them to route us through ATL instead of JFK, but there was no availability because Disney had purchased a huge chunk of the coach seats.

So if DCL is doing my airfare/transfers and I want to fly in a day ahead of time, would I have to stay in London?

You'd have to stay in London since all of DCL's hotels are in London and they'll also charge you an air deviation fee for wanting to fly in a day early. I think that is pretty high. You might be better off just booking your own flight, hotel and transportation even though it's a lot of work. Plus we'll all be here to help you out and help each other find the best deals.

 

[TammyAlphabet]

You'd have to stay in London since all of DCL's hotels are in London and they'll also charge you an air deviation fee for wanting to fly in a day early. I think that is pretty high. You might be better off just booking your own flight, hotel and transportation even though it's a lot of work. Plus we'll all be here to help you out and help each other find the best deals.

I am planning on staying at one of the Disney hotels both precruise and postcruise in order to have the option of using Disney transfers from the airport to the hotel when I arrive and then from the ship to hotel when disembarking in London. I hope I have this option. I think a big white mickey hand on arrival in Barcelona will be comforting.

 

[hawkaye19]

We are looking at about $1070 cdn each for our aitfare....might be able to get it a bit cheaper...but when you're talking $30 each cheaper (right now)...it's not worth the hassle....

We just might fly in the day before...just to recover from the jetlag....

any other tips that might reduce the effects?