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

[TammyAlphabet]

I can't believe it is getting so close. 275 days is just around the corner. I am ready to see the excursions they will offer, however, I will probably do most ports on my own.

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Happy belated Birthday Emily!

Tammy, hope you are feeling better!

Gydell - glad to hear you had a good trip.

We had a great trip, it was so good to see some old friends. Scott ran 2 good races, I cheered from the sidelines. Knee is getting better, it survived 3 days of walking around - we did not go into the parks, but we still did a lot of walking around.

Speaking of the knee, I'd better go get the ice for it!

Have a great day all!

 

[MJGirl]

Hi all ... It's been awhile ... I was looking at flights today, and even with the exchange, its cheaper for me to fly out of Orlando on Virgin Atlantic, even with SW to Buffalo. The price for Air Canada out of Toronto is currently $2990 Cdn. The price for Virgin out of Orlando is $2360 US or approx $2540 Cdn. If I can get return on SW for under $425 US or $450 Cdn (which is doable), it works out even.

I'm going to watch the prices, but just to be save, I booked 2 nights at AKV Jambo House. I have an unused ticket for a day at the parks, so I think this may be a great way to start the cruise. I'm going to wait a few months and keep checking ticket prices before I actually book. I might even think about flying out of Orlando on Virgin one way, then back to Toronto on Air Canada.

Oh the decisions?

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Cooling off here in Cheyenne! Weather has been nice since we returned from Disneyland.

Have a great day all!

 

[4boons]

For those of you who booked your air already, you might check the itinerary periodically to make sure that airline schedule changes don't negatively affect you.

I intentionally booked a two+ hour layover at Dallas/Fort Worth so that we'd have some "buffer" before our London flight in case of flight delays on our first leg. On September 6, the AA flight schedules changed and the computer rebooked us to an outbound that allowed for only 45 minutes at D/FW. That's barely enough time to traverse the airport, let alone allow for anything unexpected.

American graciously rebooked me to an earlier departure on our first leg so we have the "buffer" again. No charge for the change since the flight schedule change was their responsibility, not mine. Since the AA schedule will surely change again before next June, I'm going to monitor our itinerary every 2-3 weeks from now on.

Laura

 

[4boons]

Cooling off here in Cheyenne!

Lynn,
Katie (DD15) has a test on the US states and capitals (with spellling & map placement) in Human Geography today. Thought of you each time "Cheyenne, Wyoming" went by in our quiz-her conversations this weekend. Our version of cooling off in West Texas is dropping below 90.
Laura

 

[TammyAlphabet]

For those of you who booked your air already, you might check the itinerary periodically to make sure that airline schedule changes don't negatively affect you.

I intentionally booked a two+ hour layover at Dallas/Fort Worth so that we'd have some "buffer" before our London flight in case of flight delays on our first leg. On September 6, the AA flight schedules changed and the computer rebooked us to an outbound that allowed for only 45 minutes at D/FW. That's barely enough time to traverse the airport, let alone allow for anything unexpected.

American graciously rebooked me to an earlier departure on our first leg so we have the "buffer" again. No charge for the change since the flight schedule change was their responsibility, not mine. Since the AA schedule will surely change again before next June, I'm going to monitor our itinerary every 2-3 weeks from now on.

Laura

Very good advice. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

Yes, I agree with Laura - once they booked us out on a connecting flight BEFORE the first flight even arrived!!!! We, also, try to leave a significant buffer, as delays seem to be more of the rule rather than the exception any more.

Hope Katie does well on her test!

Have a great day all!

 

[carolmb]

I was wondering how it works if you use your DVC pts to help pay for the cruise.
Thanks

 

[4boons]

I was wondering how it works if you use your DVC pts to help pay for the cruise.
Thanks

There is a $95 fee to transfer control of the reservation from DCL to DVC, but it is worth it to save the cash. We've done several short Disney cruises on DVC points for three passengers. DVC has assured me you can also mix points and cash as long as each passenger fare is paid for with either all-points or all-cash. For example, pay for pass 1 and 2 with cash, pass 3 with points. Points charts for 2010 cruises are not in the book, but are on DVC website.

Cruising on some/all points ensures you're invited to the onboard events for DVC members. DVC doesn't seem to know who is a member and who is not otherwise. They can also note in the record that you're a Castaway Club member so you're invited to those parties as well.

The gotcha is that you cannot use DVC points on a reservation controlled by a travel agent. In other words, you can get the TA's onboard credits or use DVC points, but you cannot do both. It is a small feat (I asked once) to transfer an existing reservation controlled by a TA back to Disney so you can use DVC points on it. Hope that helps.

Laura

 

[4boons]

Apparently the cruise line announced changes to the Castaway Club program today that includes tiering customers (and the benefits offered) based on the number of cruises they've completed: Silver, Gold & Platinum.

We're a GOLD with eight cruises, but I'm really disappointed to see that we don't get any more credit for the two Panama Canal transits we've done (14-days each) than the two 3-night Bahamas cruises we've taken.

Sign onto the Castaway Clubs section of the DCL website to see how you've been tiered and the benefits associated with each tier.

 

[LisaG520]

We're silver right now, but luckily are cruising in 3 weeks (7night western) so we'll be gold for booking Baltic excursions, etc.


Hi everyone!!! Yep we're still on this cruise

 

[MJGirl]

Hey everyone ... don't forget .. tomorrow at noon (EST), there will be a podcast at Disneycruise.com that will be announcing the 2011 destinations, including those for the dream!

Here is the link!

Can't wait to see where 2011 is heading!

 

[MJGirl]

I'm only silver ... bummer ... Have to go on two more cruises after ours to make gold .

 

[gydell]

I'm only silver ... bummer ... Have to go on two more cruises after ours to make gold .

How many cruises to be gold?

 

[MJGirl]

How many cruises to be gold?

5 completed cruises to become gold
10 completed cruises to become platinum.

Gold and platinum members get early booking opportunities, 7 days before the rest of us and the general public.

Silver members can book excursions and Palos, etc. at 90 days. Gold can book at 105 days and Platinum can book at 120 days.

Only Gold and Platinum members go to the reception and get special merchandise offerings.

Platinum members get priority boarding, special perks and a Palos dinner.

 

[gydell]

5 completed cruises to become gold
10 completed cruises to become platinum.

Gold and platinum members get early booking opportunities, 7 days before the rest of us and the general public.

Silver members can book excursions and Palos, etc. at 90 days. Gold can book at 105 days and Platinum can book at 120 days.

Only Gold and Platinum members go to the reception and get special merchandise offerings.

Platinum members get priority boarding, special perks and a Palos dinner.

Thanks! I do think that the people that jave taken more cruises should be rewarder but I don't think that my 4 12+ night cruises should count the same as people with 4- 3 night cruises.

 

[sbell111]

Thanks! I do think that the people that jave taken more cruises should be rewarder but I don't think that my 4 12+ night cruises should count the same as people with 4- 3 night cruises.

I agree. It would be better if the tiers were based on number of cruise-nights, rather than raw number of cruises.

 

[MJGirl]

Thanks! I do think that the people that jave taken more cruises should be rewarder but I don't think that my 4 12+ night cruises should count the same as people with 4- 3 night cruises.

I too agree ... I have taken 2 cruises and have this one booked, for a total of 37 nights.

 

[Lynn G]

Good Morning Cruisers!

We had heard about the tiered program when we were at DL last weekend. It is nice that Disney has decided to reward frequent cruisers, but I also think that "cruise nights" would be more fair than "cruises", however I can see that it would be harder to calculate.

Have a great day everyone!