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

[PFlamingo]

Nice update, Lynne!


Okay, I just thought of something that's probably a really stupid question, but...

Do cell phones work in the middle of the ocean? How about WiFi? I know I'll want to check on my dogs (neurotic, I know) while we're away, and if we're going to be incommunicado, I want to prepare myself for that. Okay, I know that sounds weird, but they've all been abandoned and rescued, so I tend to angst over them.

I'm one of those people who can't stand to read a book or watch a show where the dog gets hurt or dies. Blow up the whole city, I don't care, but don't hurt the dog.

 

[Tod&Copper]

Well done you two, keep up the good work.

It's taking a lot to keep me motivated, I had forgotten how "sharp" a mountain bike saddle is but I just keep thinking about my cruise and it makes the pain worth it

Ohhhhhhhh - and there's a Marks & Sparks in Gibralter? I'm on it! (in it?)

Okay, I just thought of something that's probably a really stupid question, but...

Do cell phones work in the middle of the ocean? How about WiFi? I know I'll want to check on my dogs (neurotic, I know) while we're away, and if we're going to be incommunicado, I want to prepare myself for that. Okay, I know that sounds weird, but they've all been abandoned and rescued, so I tend to angst over them.

I'm one of those people who can't stand to read a book or watch a show where the dog gets hurt or dies. Blow up the whole city, I don't care, but don't hurt the dog.

Pat they definitely work. I am not sure what network it was but there seems to be a some sort of satellite signal in the middle of the Atlantic.

On last year's WBTA when we were at the midway point across the Atlantic, we were getting ready to go out to see Don Ducky Williams and I heard my cell phone going off in the drawer, it was DD calling I completely panicked thinking it was an emergency of some sort at home.

She then proceeded to say, "Hi Mum, it's lunchtime, and BFF wants me to sleepover at her house tonight, is that okay ? " once I had recovered from the shock I proceeded to tell her that (1) it was great to hear her voice and I was missing her, (2) I was in the middle of the Altantic and it was costing me a fortune cellphone to cellphone, and (3) did she forget that Grandad was at home and he was in charge? Ooooops, was the reply she had forgotten, force of habit just calling me classic!! Don't we just love our children, you have to laugh

I used the Disney wifi connection which was the only one available mid Ocean.

Weekly Recap April 27 - May 4, 2011 - 128 days until cruise

Thanks Lynne, good recap

 

[granmaz]

Well I have now had 4 reminders from DU for our final payment. Even had 2 in one day. Maybe they have a cash flow problem or something?

Anyway we have to wait till the 10th to pay, so I guess we will have a few more by then.

 

[karentan]

i'll be waiting til the 13th to pay mine off...

 

[karentan]

Blow up the whole city, I don't care, but don't hurt the dog.

as a dog owner too, i second that!

 

[LindaBabe]

Hi all. We arrived in Anaheim last night and had dinner with friends from our PC cruise.

It's in the 90s here so I'm thinking splash mountain will be popular. First off heading to the Rapunzel line while DH does the FP runs. We have ressies at Ariels Grotto and tickets for WOC.

This is going to be ........."best day ever."

Ooh Ariel's ! It's YUMMY! And you'll be SO glad you have those tickets!

 

[Chirpee]

You support my favourites don't forget about Paul di Resta the rookie this year, he's Scottish

Would love to see your photos

Hi Mary, did you know that Lewis Hamilton is appearing in Cars 2 which is being released this summer? Love the way his character has been "drawn"

Looks like there may be quite a few good Disney movies being shown during the WBTA

 

[Pinky166]

Well I have now had 4 reminders from DU for our final payment. Even had 2 in one day. Maybe they have a cash flow problem or something?

Anyway we have to wait till the 10th to pay, so I guess we will have a few more by then.

They definately don't want you to forget!!!!

as a dog owner too, i second that!

Me too!!!

Hi Mary, did you know that Lewis Hamilton is appearing in Cars 2 which is being released this summer? Love the way his character has been "drawn"

Looks like there may be quite a few good Disney movies being shown during the WBTA

Boring fact alert - Lewis Hamilton was born & raised in my hometown....not that i've ever met him but my sister & nephew have.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

We are having an exciting day today.... We are in London as DD Taryn is attending an appointment at the USA embassy. She is inside there now and I am sitting in Starbucks in Mayfair killing time and people watching. Diet is going to the wall today as we are going to Hummingbird Bakery when she comes out !!!!

 

[Tod&Copper]

Hi Mary, did you know that Lewis Hamilton is appearing in Cars 2 which is being released this summer? Love the way his character has been "drawn"

Looks like there may be quite a few good Disney movies being shown during the WBTA

OMG that is soooo exciting, I loved Cars and can't wait to see Cars 2 now

Boring fact alert - Lewis Hamilton was born & raised in my hometown....not that i've ever met him but my sister & nephew have.

Not boring at all I suppose you would only ever bump into him off-season. That would really make my day, I think he is an amazing driver

We are having an exciting day today.... We are in London as DD Taryn is attending an appointment at the USA embassy. She is inside there now and I am sitting in Starbucks in Mayfair killing time and people watching. Diet is going to the wall today as we are going to Hummingbird Bakery when she comes out !!!!

Enjoy yourself today in the ambience of London and getting Taryn organised with her visa and be extra good tomorrow When my friends' DD did it for joining DCL, they couldn't believe that she actually came out with the visa straight away, hence why all the waiting around on the day, for it to prepared and printed

 

[Tod&Copper]

We are so excited our cruise documentation arrived this morning by Fed-ex, just been having a look through it

This time next month we will be on the Magic

I officially started packing as soon as May arrived with a month to go, you know you're going on holiday when the Disney t-shirts come out of the holiday clothes drawer

 

[granmaz]

We are having an exciting day today.... We are in London as DD Taryn is attending an appointment at the USA embassy. She is inside there now and I am sitting in Starbucks in Mayfair killing time and people watching. Diet is going to the wall today as we are going to Hummingbird Bakery when she comes out !!!!

Now, tell me about the Hummingbird Bakery!!! Hope Taryn gets her visa quickly and simply.

 

[Pinky166]

We are having an exciting day today.... We are in London as DD Taryn is attending an appointment at the USA embassy. She is inside there now and I am sitting in Starbucks in Mayfair killing time and people watching. Diet is going to the wall today as we are going to Hummingbird Bakery when she comes out !!!!

Ooooh have fun! Yum to Hummingbird Bakery....i've always wanted to go there but in all the times I go to London I never have.

Not boring at all I suppose you would only ever bump into him off-season. That would really make my day, I think he is an amazing driver

Probably not much chance of that now, unsurprisingly he moved away a few years back when he started earning the big bucks!

My sister & nephew didn't see him locally, they spent the whole day with Lewis & Jenson on a photo shoot for Marks & Spencers last year. They said he was really nice, in fact both were.

We are so excited our cruise documentation arrived this morning by Fed-ex, just been having a look through it

This time next month we will be on the Magic

I officially started packing as soon as May arrived with a month to go, you know you're going on holiday when the Disney t-shirts come out of the holiday clothes drawer

Woooo hooooooooooooo you lucky thing!!!! I wish it was a month from our cruise!

 

[Chris&Jeremy]

Made the final balance payment with DU for the WBTA today!

 

[Seraphine]

Well, I tried to get the WBTA price drop room swapover thingee, but as we'd paid our final payment, our TA said that Disney wouldn't honour it without us cancelling outright and sacrificing our down payment.

No thank you.

She said that the Disney people were less than helpful when she first asked them... she said getting them to admit there was even a price drop, or any special offers, on our cruise was like pulling teeth. She saw the website before she called, so she knew they were available. When pushed, the rep she spoke to said "oh yes! That deal! I'd forgotten about that being available".

Oh.

She also asked what sort of inventory on rooms were available, and he told her "there's no way for me to know that". Um, isn't that sort of information available on their computers?

So, we are still in our inside on Deck 6, and I am thrilled beyond words we are going in the first place - I just wanted to try to pull a wee surprise out of the hat for my family.

 

[Pinky166]

Made the final balance payment with DU for the WBTA today!

Congrats!!!! It feels good doesn't it!!!

 

[Pinky166]

Well, I tried to get the WBTA price drop room swapover thingee, but as we'd paid our final payment, our TA said that Disney wouldn't honour it without us cancelling outright and sacrificing our down payment.

No thank you.

She said that the Disney people were less than helpful when she first asked them... she said getting them to admit there was even a price drop, or any special offers, on our cruise was like pulling teeth. She saw the website before she called, so she knew they were available. When pushed, the rep she spoke to said "oh yes! That deal! I'd forgotten about that being available".

Oh.

She also asked what sort of inventory on rooms were available, and he told her "there's no way for me to know that". Um, isn't that sort of information available on their computers?

So, we are still in our inside on Deck 6, and I am thrilled beyond words we are going in the first place - I just wanted to try to pull a wee surprise out of the hat for my family.

That doesn't sound right to me! I'm booked with DCL direct & paid in full, when I called them a few days ago to get the new reduced price they set up a new reservation, transferred the new amount over in full (and my room number as I wanted to keep my sideways cabin on deck 6) then refunded the £46 savings back to my credit card & cancelled the old reservation number. They could not have been more helpful.

Sounds to me more like your TA won't do it rather than DCL!

Shame you haven't been unable to surprise your family.

 

[Seraphine]

That doesn't sound right to me! I'm booked with DCL direct & paid in full, when I called them a few days ago to get the new reduced price they set up a new reservation, transferred the new amount over in full (and my room number as I wanted to keep my sideways cabin on deck 6) then refunded the £46 savings back to my credit card & cancelled the old reservation number. They could not have been more helpful.

Sounds to me more like your TA won't do it rather than DCL!

Shame you haven't been unable to surprise your family.

Our TA is a age-old family friend so I don't think she's trying to be uncooperative... but she has only been doing this for a year or so and some of this is a learning curve.

I was a little worried if we booked a cabin with restrictions that we'd end up in the back-and-beyond or somewhere really noisy (I'd already changed our assigned cabin due to noise complaints) - if it were just me and my husband I'd be more easygoing, but with the kids it's a bit harder.

I think it's also got to do with that we are using a Canadian TA despite living in the UK... we don't want to rock the boat too much. But she was struck by how unhelpful the Disney rep had been, despite how they are constantly being told what an uphill battle they have on their hands to fill ships in Europe right now.

I'm still happy paying what we are paying for our cruise - any other discounts would have just been gravy, but I'm not worried about it. I still can't wait to meet all of you!

 

[Fontabel]

Our TA is a age-old family friend so I don't think she's trying to be uncooperative... but she has only been doing this for a year or so and some of this is a learning curve.

I was a little worried if we booked a cabin with restrictions that we'd end up in the back-and-beyond or somewhere really noisy (I'd already changed our assigned cabin due to noise complaints) - if it were just me and my husband I'd be more easygoing, but with the kids it's a bit harder.

I think it's also got to do with that we are using a Canadian TA despite living in the UK... we don't want to rock the boat too much. But she was struck by how unhelpful the Disney rep had been, despite how they are constantly being told what an uphill battle they have on their hands to fill ships in Europe right now.

I'm still happy paying what we are paying for our cruise - any other discounts would have just been gravy, but I'm not worried about it. I still can't wait to meet all of you!

Agree that when you book with a TA, DCL is not as nice. My mother-in-law is our TA and she is only a cruise TA and we have booked many other things with her and other cruise lines have been much more helpful with TA's then DCL, and trust me, my DMIL will fight for the deal if she can get it!

I think that if you book directly with DCL you get a much more "friendly" experience when you try to make changes to your reservation or get extra perks.

Not that we are worried that it will impact our cruise experience, just that this is our 14th cruise, first with DCL, and all of our others were booked through DMIL and this has been the most troublesome for her to get information and other things done for us. And she has to do it, I cannot myself, as evidenced by my experience yesterday when I tried to book the ground transportation, they said, we cannot help you, since you booked with a TA, they must contact us to make any changes. This is a first for me, as once booked and paid, I can usually contact the cruise lines directly and make any additions without involving my TA, especially for stuff like ground transport and such.

Just my two cents.

Fontabel

 

[Pinky166]

Our TA is a age-old family friend so I don't think she's trying to be uncooperative... but she has only been doing this for a year or so and some of this is a learning curve.

I was a little worried if we booked a cabin with restrictions that we'd end up in the back-and-beyond or somewhere really noisy (I'd already changed our assigned cabin due to noise complaints) - if it were just me and my husband I'd be more easygoing, but with the kids it's a bit harder.

I think it's also got to do with that we are using a Canadian TA despite living in the UK... we don't want to rock the boat too much. But she was struck by how unhelpful the Disney rep had been, despite how they are constantly being told what an uphill battle they have on their hands to fill ships in Europe right now.

I'm still happy paying what we are paying for our cruise - any other discounts would have just been gravy, but I'm not worried about it. I still can't wait to meet all of you!

That's a shame, maybe they are less cooperative to TA's due to the commissions?

It's our first time in an inside cabin as we are trying to keep the cost down on this cruise, I too am just grateful to be on the ship. It will be a great cruise no matter what. And only 4 months and a few days to go.....