*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* From Spain to Space Mountain - Part 3

[Julie2009]

Mel, I wasn't bothered about Gibraltar either but I really enjoyed the tour we did there (thanks to granmaz who organised it). I really liked the shops in the town too - and I don't usually like shopping. Morrisons was the same as my local Morrisons. I bought champagne there for the champagne girls thing and some coke zero to keep in my room as they didn't have it on the ship.

I didn't see much of Madeira at all. Just did an open top bus thing that wa disappointing. I'd quite like to do the toboggan thing this time

 

[karentan]

we'll probably have a wander round gibraltar, go to morrisons, then be back onboard late morning or early afternoon. not really that bothered about gibraltar, done it twice now and didnt think a huge amount of it before

 

[LindaBabe]

Yes, you can see Africa from other vantage points; we did an "official" taxi tour without Europa Point and felt like we had seen what little there was to see of the other continent (somewhat hazy that day). Since DD hasn't been to Gib, we'll be doing the same type of tour this year but may not bother with the cave or tunnels (unless she wants to). The roads are definitely scary at times (at least our driver was scary!), but it was well worth the "adventure" and the views were excellent from the rock. DCL-sponsored tours were on buses, which couldn't get as close to some of the sites and meant quite a bit of uphill walking for their passengers. The taxi tours went right up to each site; much less walking involved. As far as the cable car, you couldn't pay me enough!!!

I don't seem to be that interested in Gibralter The only thing I'm looking forward to is Morrisons

I'm not sure about the cable car, I don't do heights And the mountainous roads aren't floating my boat either

I feel that I SHOULD go and have a look but I'm not that enthusiastic about it.

Actually feel the same about Madeira too

Welcome to the new guys

Mel x

That would be exactly why i'm NOT going up on any mountains in Gibraltar OR Madiera! Mel, you can come with me to tour gardens in Madiera if you like.

 

[JessicasMom]

Now, Madeira is an absolutely beautiful island and well worth a tour around, really!!! If you don't like cable cars, then you can take a taxi up to Monte where the toboggan run is and wander round(perhaps over to the top of the cable car) to get a view down to the port where the Magic will be docked.

Madeira is absolutely stunning...not a port where you'd stay on the ship, to be sure! We did a private taxi tour, hitting the southern coast and nun's valley, but I'd like to do a western tour this time (maybe eastern...I can't decide). We did see Monte, but the line for the toboggan was lengthy and it was their quitting time, so I have no idea if everyone got to ride or not. I had no desire to ride anyway. This is the one port I'm excited about seeing again....just beautiful. As much as I dislike heights, the views from the cliffs are worth the spike in blood pressure !

 

[JessicasMom]

Well they had a Fish Extender competition ... where a group went around and judged the Fish Extenders and gave prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. We also gave out the DIS Scavenger Hunt prizes. I'm not sure if they did a best decorated door prize aswell. It was all just a bit of fun

On the EB, there were also a few prizes, although I can't remember what the categories were (except for best decorated door). It seemed like a lot of bother to organize and judge , but I'm sure it was enjoyed by those most involved. It appeared most of the Dissers were just having fun being together and meeting their SMs ; not too many really cared about prizes. Of course, we were all becoming quite depressed about, well, you know......

 

[squitty]

I don't seem to be that interested in Gibralter The only thing I'm looking forward to is Morrisons

I'm not sure about the cable car, I don't do heights And the mountainous roads aren't floating my boat either

I feel that I SHOULD go and have a look but I'm not that enthusiastic about it.

Actually feel the same about Madeira too

Welcome to the new guys

Mel x

Mel I feel the same as you do.
We're doing the dolphin tour that Sarah has organised for Gibraltar and then we're going to go to Morrisons.
Madeira is just not appealing at all to us. DH doesn't do heights or cable cars. I don't really fancy the toboggans either.
Well just go with the flow for Madeira.

 

[karentan]

After months of to-ing and fro-ing about whether we can actually afford this cruise, we're ready to book airfare! Just waiting to get confirmation from people we're staying with after the cruise, then hopefully we'll have airfare by the end of tonight!
Has anyone used either cheapoair or travelpapa before? The latter one has been recommended by someone on here, they're both coming up at least £1000 cheaper for the one way flight home than booking direct with the airline. As usual there's some horrific reviews on the net but there always are for moat companies, would much rather have first hand recommendations from people on here if poss.
Anyone used them before?

 

[col1]

I don't seem to be that interested in Gibralter The only thing I'm looking forward to is Morrisons

I'm not sure about the cable car, I don't do heights And the mountainous roads aren't floating my boat either

I feel that I SHOULD go and have a look but I'm not that enthusiastic about it.

Actually feel the same about Madeira too

Welcome to the new guys

Mel x

Hi

For what it's worth here is our experience.

Yvonne and the kids were very keen to see the monkeys so we decided to go up on the cable car to see them.

Yvonne is not scared of heights but did not like the cable cars one bit.

The cost for us was approx £70 and the visit broke down as follows.

Cable car up 5 mins

3 minutes Photographing monkeys from a far after one went crazy for a bag of cheese puffs a mother thought would be the ideal time and location to give to her toddler(seriously they warn you a million times from the minute you join the q in every possible language)

2 minutes trying to see Africa from the viewing point through the mist (we didn't see it)

5 minutes photographing the ship (the most fun bit)

5 minutes trying to coax my daughter past a big bad monkey on the wall so we could get to the exit she wouldn't go past it and we were not going back for her

10 seconds pondering if we should stay longer to get our money's worth

2 minutes plucking up the courage to get back on cable car or to just jump down the rock instead

5 minutes in cable car back down.

Honestly that is about how long we spent an how it actually went, if it is something you have long wanted to do then you should go and do it and will love it, if only doing it as something to do while in port I cannot honestly recommend it from our experience.

One thing for sure though it's dolphins all the way for us this time

Col

 

[melonz]

Hi

For what it's worth here is our experience.

Yvonne and the kids were very keen to see the monkeys so we decided to go up on the cable car to see them.

Yvonne is not scared of heights but did not like the cable cars one bit.

The cost for us was approx £70 and the visit broke down as follows.

Cable car up 5 mins

3 minutes Photographing monkeys from a far after one went crazy for a bag of cheese puffs a mother thought would be the ideal time and location to give to her toddler(seriously they warn you a million times from the minute you join the q in every possible language)

2 minutes trying to see Africa from the viewing point through the mist (we didn't see it)

5 minutes photographing the ship (the most fun bit)

5 minutes trying to coax my daughter past a big bad monkey on the wall so we could get to the exit she wouldn't go past it and we were not going back for her

10 seconds pondering if we should stay longer to get our money's worth

2 minutes plucking up the courage to get back on cable car or to just jump down the rock instead

5 minutes in cable car back down.

Honestly that is about how long we spent an how it actually went, if it is something you have long wanted to do then you should go and do it and will love it, if only doing it as something to do while in port I cannot honestly recommend it from our experience.

One thing for sure though it's dolphins all the way for us this time

Col

Col, that was hilarious. Kind of makes me want to do it

 

[Chirpee]

We're experiencing typical Spring Canadian weather at the moment...it was 21 Celsius the other day, today we are having sleet/snow showers....

 

[melonz]

Mel I feel the same as you do.
We're doing the dolphin tour that Sarah has organised for Gibraltar and then we're going to go to Morrisons.
Madeira is just not appealing at all to us. DH doesn't do heights or cable cars. I don't really fancy the toboggans either.
Well just go with the flow for Madeira.

I think the dolphin tour is probably what we'll do, followed by Morrisons lol

Now, Madeira is an absolutely beautiful island and well worth a tour around, really!!! If you don't like cable cars, then you can take a taxi up to Monte where the toboggan run is and wander round(perhaps over to the top of the cable car) to get a view down to the port where the Magic will be docked.

I would love to get a pic of the ship! I don't fancy the toboggan run, not my thing but the kids will love that.

That would be exactly why i'm NOT going up on any mountains in Gibraltar OR Madiera! Mel, you can come with me to tour gardens in Madiera if you like.

Ooh thanks, that might be more me! I love looking at flowers local to the population. I must be getting OLD

Madeira is absolutely stunning...not a port where you'd stay on the ship, to be sure! We did a private taxi tour, hitting the southern coast and nun's valley, but I'd like to do a western tour this time (maybe eastern...I can't decide). We did see Monte, but the line for the toboggan was lengthy and it was their quitting time, so I have no idea if everyone got to ride or not. I had no desire to ride anyway. This is the one port I'm excited about seeing again....just beautiful. As much as I dislike heights, the views from the cliffs are worth the spike in blood pressure !

You've convinced me

 

[melonz]

I see that some of you guys have changed staterooms. Can I ask how you do that? I can see my booking with Disney but I can't view available staterooms. Is this only available if booked direct with Disney? I booked with Virgin.

 

[Tod&Copper]

Actually, he bought an Indiana Jones hat on our last trip to the Studios! I have no doubt he'll bring at least one (if not several) of his hats on the trip. Dennis and hats are like me and shoes. In fact, one item I used to entice him on this trip is the fact that there are a couple of old-fashioned hat shops in Barca, near Placa Catalunya. You should've seen his eyes light up when I told him that.

Oh, and An Officer and a Gentleman was Navy. Dennis was Air Force. You don't want to confuse the two!

I'm looking forward to seeing Dennis in one of his hats

Ooops sorry about the confusion, I will remember from now on that we all have retired Air Force DH's

WE are deliberately avoiding seeing Tangled so we can see it in board the Magic. We won't be able to avoid Pirates 4 though, as we will be there on the first day to see that ... can't wait I'm sure we will see it on the ship a few more times though.

For those in the UK .... the best credit cards to use are those without currency exchange charges and the ones I use are Nationwide

We haven't seen Tangled yet either. Rapunzel is one of my favourite children's stories. Can't wait to see it and POTC 4 on the Magic in June I noticed that they do Tangled on DVD triple play, so I can get the digital copy for my iphone

Sarah, we just jumped ship from Nationwide credit card to Halifax Clarity credit card, they don't charge you for the USA conversions

That is our plan for Gib too.

This will be our 3rd time at Gib. If Tony & Jane (Pooh's Pals) come with us, we will probably do the rock again with them, otherwise we will be doing the Dolphin Trip, Morrisons (early on so that we don't miss the early closing time) and then a wander up the High Street

Well I had some good news yesterday. Our son, David, got a good promotion another step up the ladder and a lot more £££. He works for British Airways and has worked really hard for it. I'm so thrilled, and proud of him and my DH would have been too

Well done to your Son Julie

Madeira - no mountain roads for me, especially if I am not front seat. I was going to look into the botanical gardens as well for the four of us. Hoping the little one counts as an infant being so young.

Mandy, we didn't do any of the tours on Madeira last year, but just wandered up the main street to the cable cars. The main town is beautiful and we went into the Botanical gardens too. The cable cars were fantastic and seeing the Magic from so far up the hill was brilliant. I don't do heights or cable cars usually, but this was worth it

Thanks hun, i'll come up and have a boogie with you all whilst my laundry is on the go.

Me too, I'll join you both too

Shouldn't it be Highland dancing with so many Scots onboard?

We did indeed ... only we all met up at Parrot Cay for a farewell lunch, where the SM participants did a reveal and we gave out prizes for the various activities we had been doing during the cruise. It was lovely to have an official get-together on the last sea day.

Sarah was that a farewell lunch for all DISers or just SM people?

Has anyone used either cheapoair or travelpapa before? The latter one has been recommended by someone on here, they're both coming up at least £1000 cheaper for the one way flight home than booking direct with the airline. As usual there's some horrific reviews on the net but there always are for moat companies, would much rather have first hand recommendations from people on here if poss.
Anyone used them before?

Karen, my SIL used Cheapoair last year to book her return flights from the US for the WBTA. The flight she got was United and she got a free upgrade to premium ecomony too when she checked in, she couldn't believe it

 

[Tod&Copper]

I see that some of you guys have changed staterooms. Can I ask how you do that? I can see my booking with Disney but I can't view available staterooms. Is this only available if booked direct with Disney? I booked with Virgin.

Hi Mel

That option is only available if you have booked direct with DCL. Our other reservations don't have that option as they were through a TA

 

[melonz]

Hi Mel

That option is only available if you have booked direct with DCL. Our other reservations don't have that option as they were through a TA

Ah I thought so. I'm quite happy with my stateroom, we're #1054 which is midship which I've heard is a good place to be if the ship goes a rockin' and a rollin'

I was just looking to have a nose around and see what's available.

 

[karentan]

For what it's worth here is our experience.
Cable car up 5 mins
3 minutes Photographing monkeys
2 minutes trying to see Africa from the viewing point
5 minutes photographing the ship (the most fun bit)
5 minutes trying to coax my daughter past a big bad monkey
10 seconds pondering if we should stay longer to get our money's worth
2 minutes plucking up the courage to get back on cable car
5 minutes in cable car back down.

ours was kinda similar:
cable car up - 5 mins
walking round building up top trying to figure out how to get onto the actual rock - 10 minutes
looking at monkeys - 5 mins
looking at ship - 2 mins
hanging around looking around trying to figure out if theres anything to do or whether we just wasted a whole lot of money - 2 minutes.

ended up walking the whole way down just to pass more time, otherwise we'd have ended up back on the ship by about 11am.
ended up going into morrisons, didnt want anything just thought we needed to go in and buy a steak bake just for a laugh, kinda like those naff holiday t-shirts "i went all the way to gibraltar and all i got was a lousy steak bake!"

 

[Tod&Copper]

Ah I thought so. I'm quite happy with my stateroom, we're #1054 which is midship which I've heard is a good place to be if the ship goes a rockin' and a rollin'

I was just looking to have a nose around and see what's available.

We were in 1079 last summer and we had no problems, we had a few choppy days and didn't feel much rocking

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Ooops sorry about the confusion, I will remember from now on that we all have retired Air Force DH's


Sarah was that a farewell lunch for all DISers or just SM people?

Except for me .. who has an ex-royal navy DH

The farewell lunch was open to all DISers, plus there were other non-DIS cruisers ( they do exist )in Parrot Cay at the the same time but we all sat in one area.

 

[goofieslonglostsis]

Karen, have you checked out Aer Lingus' site, yet? They actually offer oneways and allthough not half the price of a roundtrip, they are less than a roundtrip. Many have found them very affordable, if not the cheapest by far. I've personally never ever gotten a cheaper deal through any comparing or link-through website and I price out a lot of trips every year.

For those that haven't found anything appealing for Madeira yet, wondering if you guys have already stubmbled upon the fast arrange of options? Hikes, standard tours but also jeep safaris, boattours, whale and dolphin watchings, fishing tours, and multiple other options I've already came across on my search. Seeing the wide variety of options, I'ld think Madeira would not be one of those ports that seems non-appealing, rather think Gibraltar would be the kind (minus the time spend buying booze at Morrisons )

 

[karentan]

i did check out aer lingus, but we're flying out to north carolina after the cruise to see some friends, so going back with aer lingus would have meant 2 stops on the way home.
but great news, just bit the bullet and booked our return flights

managed to get raleigh durham to heathrow (direct!!!) for $1010 for both of us va cheapoair. very happy with that price. i was a bit wary as there are a few bad reviews of the company out there, but most of them were about incorrect name spellings or people not checking the itineraries correctly. i checked, checked and checked again, and everything is good, and everything is spelt right, so all good