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

[susie2]

THE U.S. MILITARY DISCOUNT IS OUT FOR THE WBTA!!!!!

Sorry to shout there, but this is what I've been waiting for!! And I wanted to share the info with anyone else who can use it.

I just got off the phone w/ DCL. They transferred our original deposit to the new ressie and gave us our same cabin number. Easy peasy!! Okay, I had to wait on "hold" for a while, but they were playing music from "Lilo & Stitch," so I was fine with that.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me! We're saving a ton of money. Now I don't have to feel so guilty about spending the money on this.

Oh, and Karen, please remove the ? from our names on the roll call. WE ARE GOING!!

So please excuse my exuberance here, but...

wonderful news, glad you got such a good discount, you can start making plans now, susie

 

[susie2]

Military deal IS OPEN!!!!!!!! I got my Reservation moved over. saved me $2000.00

great news, glad you got your discount, susie

 

[Tod&Copper]

Military deal IS OPEN!!!!!!!! I got my Reservation moved over. saved me $2000.00

THE U.S. MILITARY DISCOUNT IS OUT FOR THE WBTA!!!!!

Sorry to shout there, but this is what I've been waiting for!! And I wanted to share the info with anyone else who can use it.

I just got off the phone w/ DCL. They transferred our original deposit to the new ressie and gave us our same cabin number. Easy peasy!! Okay, I had to wait on "hold" for a while, but they were playing music from "Lilo & Stitch," so I was fine with that.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me! We're saving a ton of money. Now I don't have to feel so guilty about spending the money on this.

Oh, and Karen, please remove the ? from our names on the roll call. WE ARE GOING!!

So please excuse my exuberance here, but...

Absolutely brilliant news well done on the fantastic discount. Hats off to DCL for doing military discount for you

It's definitely your round Pat

 

[Tod&Copper]

Thank you all for your welcome !!
I'm very happy to join the community

I have just book a 3nights in Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW, a beautiful way to end up our cruise!!!!
I'm very excited cause it will be our first time in a deluxe at Disney..
Iestyn fell in love with this resort when we had a dinner at Boma 2 years ago, so I surprised him with this good news

Tod&Copper and Granmaz thank you for the compliment about my name!
It's a very classic name in France and because I love Disney and the parks everyone tease me
Granmaz to pronouce Iestyn it's quite simple : Yes-tin, and for me you can say Aurora it's fine

I'm happy to help !! Iestyn and I we live in Antibes (between Cannes and Nice)

It's a very charming place...there is a beautiful old town with it's old Provencal market, a great marina with crazy Billionaires Boat, the Picasso Museum and some beaches

As for Nice and Monaco I'm not a big fan (there are the "big cities" for me ) but if you want to go there you shoud visit the Old Town of Nice and try for lunch la Socca, or la Pissaladière, or le Pan Bagnat and of course la Tapenade who are Nice food specialities !! And I LOOOVE them!! lol

In Monaco the Palace, the Casino and the Oceanographique museum are great place to visit, when I was a child I loved this place!
But be aware that Monaco is a bit more expensive than the other cities on the Riviera

And to get there from Villefrance the easiest way is the train

I hope it help you a little bit and please feel free to ask me anything

Thank you so much Aurore for the information, that's a great help You are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of France, DH and I would love to retire to France, our friends have a place bordering the Loire Valley/ near Poitiers which is gorgeous, we have spent some great family summer holidays there.

Your English is fantastic, I wish my French was as good.... not a patch

I'll do a bit more research now on the tips you have given me

Great you've booked Animal Kingdom, we love it there too

 

[MandyGirl]

Question: Family of 4 with two kiddos under age 5. What is the price per day you would pay to upgrade from Inside 11B to Verandah category 5C midship?

We've cruised in both before, but not with kids, and not longer than 7 days. Just curious "what it is worth" to different people if you were in our situation (family of four with kids to upgrade). $25 a day? $50? 100?

We could rebook for interline rates that came out today, but would lose the $500 Expedia OBC. Also, insides are not offered so we would have to go to Deck 1 oceanview or Deck 6 verandah. Have a couple days to decide as we have a verandah on courtesy hold, and I know what it comes out to for our price increase per day... just thought I would tap into the brains of you guys who have done WBTA before.

I won't name names... but one of us is saying "I like inside better - darker room, sleep better" and the other is saying "I like verandah better - can be outside while kids nap or go to bed early, breakfast outside".

And I believe plexiglass is on the verandahs, right? So no climbing on the rails by the little ones, right?

Help!!!

 

[granmaz]

Reminder number 7 has just arrived. Thankfully they don't send them at the weekend or it would have been number 9!!

Should be paying tomorrow, 2 days early for DU and 3 for DCL so I don't understand the panic!!!! We will wait and see if I get a reminder tomorrow evening!!!

 

[middleofamerica]

Mandy,

We haven't done the transatlantic before, but we have done 3 seven day cruises on Disney with a veranda and just a window on different cruises. The veranda is very nice, it's great to be able to go somewhere while the kids are sleeping or trying to sleep, and the view is wonderful! The oceanview is also great, I wouldn't go below an oceanview for anything! I have to see what's out there. The window coverings are very good, I'm sure some light comes through, but it's worth it to me. We had at least two kids with the veranda, we might have had our third, I can't remember which time that was! We had no issues with the kids, there is plexiglass and we just wouldn't leave them out there unattended. If you can upgrade at a reasonable rate I would jump on it! We have to have two rooms adjoining or we would definitely upgrade to a veranda. How much to pay for it is tough, with 14 days to account for, it adds up. We haven't done it, but if it were mildly affordable I would! Good luck on your decision!

 

[MandyGirl]

Thank you for that! I just read it to DH. Got the "hmph..." Again, not naming ANY names in this "debate"....

 

[auntlynne]

Question: Family of 4 with two kiddos under age 5. What is the price per day you would pay to upgrade from Inside 11B to Verandah category 5C midship?

We've cruised in both before, but not with kids, and not longer than 7 days. Just curious "what it is worth" to different people if you were in our situation (family of four with kids to upgrade). $25 a day? $50? 100?

We could rebook for interline rates that came out today, but would lose the $500 Expedia OBC. Also, insides are not offered so we would have to go to Deck 1 oceanview or Deck 6 verandah. Have a couple days to decide as we have a verandah on courtesy hold, and I know what it comes out to for our price increase per day... just thought I would tap into the brains of you guys who have done WBTA before.

I won't name names... but one of us is saying "I like inside better - darker room, sleep better" and the other is saying "I like verandah better - can be outside while kids nap or go to bed early, breakfast outside".

And I believe plexiglass is on the verandahs, right? So no climbing on the rails by the little ones, right?

Help!!!

I can sort-of answer that with fact, not just hypothetical. I upgraded from a Cat 12 - yes, 12 (was assigned a Cat 11 on the 5th deck) to a Cat 3 (handicapped, biggest verandah on the boat) on an 11-night Med last May for a $2800; that would be $254 / day. Now, we had only paid $2000 for the cabin in the first place. (and when I had originally booked it as a Cat 12, the price was $4000). Our room rate was $436 (2 people) per day in the end (and only $800 more than I had originally expected the cruise to be).

The upgrade price will be based on booking category with no differentiation for number of people.

My cruising friend went from a Cat 12 to a Cat 7 on the same 11-night for $700.

...Having rethought my answer: you're only gaining a verandah, maybe I'd go with $25 / day. Maybe $50/day. So this is a hypothetical, afterall. You're not gaining a lot of usable space like our suite with 2 rooms (and that the second cruise of a B2B 25-night trip).

 

[MandyGirl]

...Having rethought my answer: you're only gaining a verandah, maybe I'd go with $25 / day. Maybe $50/day. So this is a hypothetical, afterall. You're not gaining a lot of usable space like our suite with 2 rooms (and that the second cruise of a B2B 25-night trip).

It would work out to $31/day grand total to go from 11B to 5C. I may have to just do this and ask permission (forgiveness) later... he at least hasn't put his foot down and "said" no...

 

[karentan]

I say if you can afford it go for it

 

[auntlynne]

$31 day total? Inside to verandah? Now - not at the port? I'd be so very tempted with 4 people. My upgrade was a port-side purchase. Can't guarantee there will be any of those available when we get to Barcelona. You also get the split bath; 2 sinks is more convenient.

 

[MandyGirl]

$31 day total? Inside to verandah? Now - not at the port? I'd be so very tempted with 4 people. My upgrade was a port-side purchase. Can't guarantee there will be any of those available when we get to Barcelona. You also get the split bath; 2 sinks is more convenient.

Yep - 31/day so about $430 grand total for the entire cruise for the upgrade for all four of us. I think the argument now is he's picked up OT to cover the cruise, and this would essentially be extra to have to cover... he's also thinking since I planned it, then...

working on it... !!!

 

[Goofy Adpi]

Congrats to those of you getting the Military Discount. You and your families deserve it and so much more. Thank you for your service!!

And since we're talking about amazing cupcakes, I'd like to nominate Cake Love. They're located in DC and the mid-altantic area. They were handsdown the best cupcake I've ever had. The owner, Warren Brown, has a show on the Food Network (Sugar Rush). When I was in DC I walked a mile in the (light) rain to make sure the cupcakes didn't get jostled on the metro. IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!!

 

[Seraphine]

So we have paid in full, so I don't know if that limits our options. But....

How does one get an upgrade? How do you do it at the port - who do you ask? I'm not talking about a free upgrade (rare as hen's teeth, I'd imagine), but something like what Mandygirl is talking about. Do you just ask your TA?

 

[MandyGirl]

So we have paid in full, so I don't know if that limits our options. But....

How does one get an upgrade? How do you do it at the port - who do you ask? I'm not talking about a free upgrade (rare as hen's teeth, I'd imagine), but something like what Mandygirl is talking about. Do you just ask your TA?

The one I'm talking about is an interline rate for airline employees. There is also the military rate. Not all cruises have them, and they often come out after the penalty period has started so you often don't come out ahead after the penalties. This has shocked me they came out a few days prior to final payment. (You can kinda think of the interline rate like a travel agent rate - just a rate extended to active employees in parts of the travel industry. We have to submit a copy of the active ID within 24 hours to get it.)

When I inquired about a rate such as the MEO rate when it came out in February, long before final payment, I was told there were Florida specials and US-only specials, but I have never seen a "US only" special. Had we qualified for the MEO rate, we would have saved over $800 on our exact same 11B cabin, but we are not eligible for that.

DCL seems to have a variety of rates that come out with no rhyme or reason. There is also the "upgrade at the port" depending on availability (like what Lynne referenced). It can be a crap shoot, and nobody knows ahead of time what the upgrade charges will be from category X to category Y. You check with a supervisor after arriving at the port (from what I have read here on DIS).

This is our first DCL cruise, as our others have been on Holland America, Celebrity, and Norwegian, but never have we been able to take advantage of an interline rate, so it's kinda exciting we might actually get the chance! Of course, I still don't have hubby convinced we NEED a different cabin. He is quite fond of the sideways cabin we already have. And I am too - just thankful to be on the ship - but I have loved the verandahs we have had on prior cruises. We'll see... I think it is ironic (or perfect timing) because I almost made final payment on Friday, but figured we still have a week, so wait "just in case" since the DCL specials seem to come out on Monday. Never thought it would happen though.

 

[auntlynne]

Sideways cabin - that's where we'll be in about 3 weeks in Alaska. Saw one of them on a DIS open-house cabin tour last year - they seem so much roomier, empty-floor-space-wise.

I am principally a Cat 11B booker. Inside cabin, but up on Deck 5 or 6. My super upgrade was at port and don't know when I'll get that chance again. I attribute my getting it to being a back-to-back cruiser (B2B). When you're B2B, you get to check-in for the second cruise before everyone else. This gives you first dibs on any available rooms.

To get a port-side paid upgrade, first you check in. Then you go over to the supervisor (usually in the Platinum/Concierge area - the CMs will point you in the right direction) and ask if they have any upgrades available. They have a list that shows what it would cost to go from Cat X to Cat Y (as I say, it's a cabin cost, not pp).

 

[JessicasMom]

Yep - 31/day so about $430 grand total for the entire cruise for the upgrade for all four of us. I think the argument now is he's picked up OT to cover the cruise, and this would essentially be extra to have to cover... he's also thinking since I planned it, then...

working on it... !!!

I second the "If you can afford..." vote. That's really not bad for the upgrade, and it's such a long cruise, you will BOTH certainly enjoy it. Last year (our first trip on DCL), we had an inside cabin and were perfectly satisfied, but it was just two of us. This year, we chose a verandah, for the views and because DD will be with us. You're correct, it's much easier to ask forgiveness than it is permission!

And as the old saying goes: "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"

 

[MandyGirl]

I think I have a "YES" although it has not left his mouth yet! Now... do we gamble and take the almost-midship deck 6 or go with a GTY? I'm such a planner, but I'm wondering about the risk. We have never done GTY.

You guys ROCK in helping coerce the hubby!! I just know our last cruise was verandah (southern Caribbean) and I spent every morning and evening out there. Breakfast, wine, pulling into port, etc. Alaska was an aft verandah (mini-suite) and spectacular for glacier viewing and inside passage. LOVED that cruise.

Wow. I can't believe this might happen!! I think I will call first thing tomorrow and get it all straight before he changes his mind. If I make final payment as well (since it's due this week) he can't change his mind then!

 

[PFlamingo]

Now that we have the Military rate, I started working out all the other bits and pieces. I thought this was funny. To board our 5 dogs for the 20 days we'll be gone is only $300 less than our total cruise fare. Okay, they don't have to tip their dinner servers and room attendants, so I guess that counts, too. I sure hope they enjoy their vacation!