*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* - From Spain to Space Mountain - Part 5

[PFlamingo]

Pat, you guys are booked in at a discount rate right? I just wanted to check b/c if not, you want to keep your eye on that specials & discount codes thread on the resorts board.

Yep, we booked with the Military Salute discount - 40% off rack rate at deluxes. I'm really surprised they haven't sent me a pin code for this time. I usually have one by now. Not that it matters, as it's the same discount as the pins. I wonder if they're doing less of this now.

I was going to offer to do this, but....I see you no longer need me too! Just thought I would repost in case anyone else is in the same situation & needs something ordered in dollars.

Same here. If anyone needs help with this, I can do it, too.

This is what we had happen at our Ape visit. They went into the giftstore and "freed" one of the "trapped" Monkeys.

Little ape to big ape: "What did they do to him???? The fiends!!!"

Big ape to little ape: "See what happens to bad monkeys?"

Personally, I am going to take about 100 GBP as I don't want to pay the credit card or debit card conversion rates.

I got a Capital One card just for this trip. It's the only company I found that doesn't charge a fee for international purchases. I asked about the exchange rate and was told they use whatever the "going rate" is.

I guess I need to figure out how much cash I should bring for walking around. I definitely don't want to have to draw cash advances on any of my credit cards - the interest rates on those are insane.

So we'll need cash for taxis, buses, the JVD excursion, coffees and snacks while wandering around, a few meals, room service tips,... Anything else? Our hotel and any major purchases (Morrison's, El Corte Ingles) will go on the credit card. Does anyone remember how we pay for the horseback riding in St. Maarten? I don't remember, but I think I had to use a credit card to guarantee the ressie. Guess I need to look that up.

 

[fly4free2]

May I ask how much of each currency you ordered and will you get charged for shipping?
I can't believe that my financial institution doesn't deal with foreign currency! At least AAA does- but I'm trying to convert without major fees.

TIA....

I don't mind at all. I ordered 400 euros, which was $610.48 and 100 British Pounds which was $172.69. I will be in Barcelona 2 days before sailing, I prepaid the hotel ( for a better rate), so I just need spending money. I can use my CC if need be. In Gibraltar I want to go to Morrisons, mainly to just check it out and I am going with GatorMom in NC on a tour in a mini van, so will need a little for that, so that is why I got 100 GBP's. I would prefer not to use CC much because of exchange rates. Any way, I figure if I have ant left over I will go back to the countries that take them I am sure. I am not charged shipping, my bank will call me when they come in and I will go pick it up. I have done that before.

 

[LindaBabe]

Interesting, I just looked at my AAA receipt - no extra fees were charged, but it did say Travelex Currency online! She did say it comes through Wells Fargo, but the receipt clearly says Travelex Online. When I went to their site online after getting home from AAA, the rates listed were more than AAA charged me.
I determined the amount I needed based on the number of days we'll spend in Barcelona and Madeira. Gibraltar does not use Euros.

The sites I visited said "Euros are widely accepted" for Gibralter. I didn't pay any fees, either. Got ~$500. worth.

 

[birkner]

The sites I visited said "Euros are widely accepted" for Gibralter. I didn't pay any fees, either. Got ~$500. worth.

Last year when I compared to what they charged in Euros versus GBP, I decided to buy the pounds.

Just my thoughts....

 

[JessicasMom]

I've used International Currency Express in the past.
http://www1.foreignmoney.com/

Thanks for the info. I checked it out and found the euro rate to be 1.5208, which is about the same as AAA (today, anyway), but with a s/h fee of $20. I'm just too frugal (cheap, stubborn...your choice) to pay fees if I don't have to! I'll check with my bank but will probably pick some up at AAA this week. I definitely want some cash in pocket before departure, and I only have about 30 euro left from the last trip.

 

[Donaldcp98]

May I ask how much of each currency you ordered and will you get charged for shipping?
I can't believe that my financial institution doesn't deal with foreign currency! At least AAA does- but I'm trying to convert without major fees.

TIA....

We got ours from Bank of America this weekend. *Flower* email me tomorrow if you want to work something out for that. We had a rate of $1.50 I think (my DH bought them and you know how specific men can be) We got 200 Euros which is about $300. They charged us a $7 processing fee. We figure that we have already paid for the hotel in advance. We are not huge shoppers and even if we do shop, I would rather put it on my Capital One card (I don't like walking around with a lot of money...lost or stolen money can ruin a trip real quick). I seem to remember that I used Euros in Gibraltar last year without a problem but again I didn't buy much.

I agree with whomever posted about the rates going up. I was thinking the same thing myself which is why I had my DH go and pay for them this weekend. I have a feeling it is only going to go up from here.

 

[Tod&Copper]

I would have been hysterical .... I am terrified of being in a thunderstorm and really not happy flying so combining the two isn't a good place to be. We had one horrible storm just now in Orlando, when I was driving the car, and I had to pull over and park up as I was hysterical, hyperventilating and shaking ... the lightning was striking all around and it was directly overhead, I have never been so scared in my life:

We had that entertainment system on our way home .. it was much better with the on demand movies .. and I did get a bit hooked in playing the games !! The seats were really uncomfortable though ... very upright and narrow ( or maybe I am too wide !)

Thunderstorms don't usually bother me, but flying into one and having one right about me

We had bulkhead row seats, with extra legroom, so it was a bonus not having cramped legs, but the seats were quite uncomfortable and we had the screen in our armrests, so it makes a big difference, not being able to lift up the armrest and it does seem quite tight for space

I'm a bit excited .... just booked a night away in London with Tony for next weekend, staying at a Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury ( virtually free using priority club points gained from our Orlando trip ). Outward train fare upgraded to first class for £4 extra each and booked tickets to go see "Love Never Dies" before it finishes in August. Can't wait for next weekend now

I hope you have a lovely weekend, wish Tony a happy birthday from us when it comes

Hi guys. Quick post, op went well but havent been able to eat or drink really anything since. Darn hosp sent me home cause protocol is home in 2 days. Was thursday afternoon, ambulanced to own hosp satmorn. Back on ivfluids and trying rebuild my feedings. At least proper care here. Not Sure when can go home.

Get well soon and wishing you a speedy recovery so you get your strength up for the cruise

Okay, I'm back on the DISboards....

My Mother passed away last Saturday after a lengthy battle with MS & ALS...this last month was difficult for her. So sad.... This week was a long, sad one, but it is over. I did find out that I have absolutely wonderful friends...I am so fortunate! Now back to my normal, crazy life. Looking forward to an enjoyable cruise to rejuvenate my spirit.

So sorry to hear of your loss Peggy, our thoughts are with you

Hi Y'all!
Hope I'm on the right thread now. You guys are fast! My daughter and I have finally booked. We did the last Med cruise last year and begged to be able to continued on to Cape Canaveral...no room at the Inn. Oh well. We are doing it this time!! Woohoo!!!
My name is Lisa, 47 and my daughter is JoAnna, 27. We are from Florida. I think it is our 9th Dis cruise but daughter thinks it's out 10th. Booked into a Cat 9 GTY room. Already contacted Pat about the FE. Still trying to figure everything else out with meetups, excursions, tshirts etc. We are going to be flying into London for a few days pre cruise and then off to Barcelona for a night. BTW, if anyone else is going to London. LivingSocial has a 1/2 price 3 hours double decker bus tour for 8 pounds today, roughly $13 I believe. Here's the link they gave me if you need it. http://livingsocial.com/deals/68975?ref=conf-jp&rpi=20171237

aboard. We are Mary and DH Stevie and this will be our 9th Disney cruise. We did last year's WBTA and it was amazing

And it's a good thing I called, too. When the CM asked for my resort ressie number, we discovered they had it booked for November, not October!! I almost had a heart attack! So she got me to a resort ressie CM who fixed it right away. It even came out $100 less! So it's a good thing the dining website wasn't working for me, otherwise I might not have discovered the error for a while.

OMG Pat, that doesn't bear thinking about if you hadn't called

Good news on the reduced price !!

UPS tried to delivery my cruise travel documents Friday but I was not home to sign for them. Hopefully they will leave them on my porch today. I left a delivery signature. I am still showing my same cabin 7512 that we picked. Was hoping for a "pixie dust" verandah upgrade, but I am just so grateful to be actually going on the cruise this year, hopefully, I should not speak to soon, anything can happen. God forbid.

Sue, I've spotted your cups in many places in the Magic Kingdom today, so no need for me to make a trip to DTD. The black Mickey Mouse ones are so cute they are really nice and I didn't realise they would be so sturdy. I'm swithering whether to get some myself

 

[Lionessa]

I am with you! I was so frugal last EBTA in May that in Gibraltar when GS told me there were no pounds to exchange, I stayed on the ship and watched from deck 10 (esp when we sailed away). This time I want to shop, tour so I have to be more prepared.

 

[Beauty & the Best]

I couldn't find a bank that would do it for a non-customer.

I would guess that is true. We are Suntrust & Wells Fargo members so doing it through the bank is no issue. I suppose one could open an account simply to convert Euros but that might be overkill!

After seeing your post I decided to go up to my bank branch (Chase). Their rate is 1.526, but when ahead and ordered mine and some British Sterling as well 1.7269 . You just don't what tomorrow will bring. Mine will come from the downtown Chicago office and I will have them in a couple of days.

So true. Recently we've been thinking of keeping our money in other currencies since the dollar keeps going down down down.

Personally, I am going to take about 100 GBP as I don't want to pay the credit card or debit card conversion rates.

EEEKS! Our cc rates on Chase are highway robbery. After seeing the statement from our last trip, we will only use the card as a last resort.

Sue, I've spotted your cups in many places in the Magic Kingdom today, so no need for me to make a trip to DTD. The black Mickey Mouse ones are so cute they are really nice and I didn't realise they would be so sturdy. I'm swithering whether to get some myself

They are sturdy & there is rubber around the top and a little bump on the straw that keeps it from falling out.
The only bad point is that they are not dishwasher safe.

 

[seamour]

How much GBP are you guys needing? We are only in Gib for one day; the taxi drivers for the Rock tour take both euros and pounds (sterling or Gibraltar). Morrison's will certainly take credit cards.

the exchange we got from our taxi driver on the euros was not good. I am using pounds this time around.

 

[Chris&Jeremy]

We got ours from Bank of America this weekend. *Flower* email me tomorrow if you want to work something out for that. We had a rate of $1.50 I think (my DH bought them and you know how specific men can be) We got 200 Euros which is about $300. They charged us a $7 processing fee. We figure that we have already paid for the hotel in advance. We are not huge shoppers and even if we do shop, I would rather put it on my Capital One card (I don't like walking around with a lot of money...lost or stolen money can ruin a trip real quick). I seem to remember that I used Euros in Gibraltar last year without a problem but again I didn't buy much.

I agree with whomever posted about the rates going up. I was thinking the same thing myself which is why I had my DH go and pay for them this weekend. I have a feeling it is only going to go up from here.

We too will get a bit of Euros through bank of America before departing. Otherwise I use debit ATM or credit cards. In the UK and France they had banks that were members of the global ATM alliance (Barclays and BNP Parribas) where we could withdraw without fees. Spain and Portugal are not members but st Maarten and the british VI are. We used these without any issue on our last 2 trips.

 

[heatherLOVESmickey]

cruise is showing up as sold out again..... will they please stop teasing us people with GTY rooms?!!?

I know what you mean about wanting to know which state room I'm in. Next time I think it might be worth the extra $$ to get an actual room. We'll see.

 

[heatherLOVESmickey]

That is why I do the welcome wagon post. If you have any more questions, please post!

Noel is a source of GREAT information! Words can not completely express my gratitude for her. I love everything she has put together.

After going through all her information I'm finally able to start reading the posts of others. I can't wait to meet all of you! I have been on vacations and cruises before but nothing compares to the excitement I'm feeling simply because of this discussion board! I just wish I would have been on here longer.

 

[heatherLOVESmickey]

Just watched a special about the Disney cruise line on Netflix instant view - that just gets me more worked up to hurry and go - ha. This is my first cruise around the Caribbean, and they mentioned that the Flying Dutchman was placed at Castaway Cay. It was not the newest of shows so I was wondering if it was still there? And welcome to all the newcomers!
Blake ... but not the Carrington one

My DH and I were watching a video about the Disney Cruise Line on Netflix the other night. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep! He thinks I'm crazy... he's probably right!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

If/when they post the GTY rooms, can I safely assume it will be during normal business hours, i.e., between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday? I just need to set some boundaries for myself about how often I check online...

 

[Goofy Adpi]

The idea of booking a cruise for next year while we're on board is becoming more and more tempting, but I'm still not sure how that works and what the big advantage is

Why is this such a good idea?

 

[Goofy Adpi]

If/when they post the GTY rooms, can I safely assume it will be during normal business hours, i.e., between 9am and 5pm Monday through Friday? I just need to set some boundaries for myself about how often I check online...

I know what you mean! I checked about 30 min ago, because if you can book Palo at midnight on the Xth day before the cruise than surely cabin assignments will be out just after midnight on the 45th day before the cruise. Sadly, no such luck.

 

[birkner]

Noel is a source of GREAT information! Words can not completely express my gratitude for her. I love everything she has put together.

After going through all her information I'm finally able to start reading the posts of others. I can't wait to meet all of you! I have been on vacations and cruises before but nothing compares to the excitement I'm feeling simply because of this discussion board! I just wish I would have been on here longer.

Thank you for your very kind words! I am always glad to help!!

 

[Fontabel]

Have to echo about Capital One. We have a card we have used for about 10 years for traveling because they do not charge conversion fees on currency. Now the rate they use to convert might be a bit higher, but it does not compare with our Visa or our Chase cards. If you can get one before you go, I would advise it.

Just my two cents, but I would not stress about stocking up on cash before you go. ATMs will be available in all of the ports (including the Caribbean--where you can use $$) and I have found that you often get a better rate at an ATM than any money exchange in Europe or even from banks in the U.S. Now I cannot speak to AAA or other membership like places that would provide you a better rate as members, but we have always done fine with ATMs. I have never paid more than $1.45 in an ATM these days. So I am shocked that you all are paying over $1.50 in the U.S. Wow. I know it is only a difference of a few cents, but every little bit helps. Check with your banks to find out the fees for ATMs and do the math, but in my experience it has been a better deal overall.

Also,I agree with those who said use the currency of the country you are in. If you only plan to spend money in Morrisons, then just use a credit card, but it would be better to have a small amount of pounds as you will get ripped off on conversion with the Euro. We have had this happen in other EU countries that do not use the Euro, if you use local currency you get a better rate and better service (Hungary and Czech Republic for example.) I am sure there are ATMs there as well, at least that is what we are planning since we have no way to get pounds in advance.

FWIW,

Amanda

 

[auntlynne]

My DH and I were watching a video about the Disney Cruise Line on Netflix the other night. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep! He thinks I'm crazy... he's probably right!

Someone else was just watching that recently ... was it streaming video or an actual disc?

I know what you mean about wanting to know which state room I'm in. Next time I think it might be worth the extra $$ to get an actual room. We'll see.

Oh, but isn't that part of the excitement?

The idea of booking a cruise for next year while we're on board is becoming more and more tempting, but I'm still not sure how that works and what the big advantage is

Why is this such a good idea?

On applicable cruises (ones that aren't extremely high demand - ie, Hawaii), you will get 10% off room rates

+ an onboard booking credit (OBC) which is linked to your Castaway Club (DCL loyalty program), of which you will be a member at the end of the cruise (and yes, you get it when booking on your first cruise). The OBC is actually tied to the Castaway Club level for the cruise you are sailing on - if you booked 10 cruises while sailing on your first cruise, the OBC credit would be that of a gold member on cruise 6 and of platinum on cruise 11. You are silver castaway until you have completed your 5th cruise.

The current OBC chart:

Silver
$100 for 3-6 nt cruises
$200 for 7 nt or longer cruises

Gold
$150 for 3-6 nt cruises
$270 for 7 nt or longer cruises

Platinum
$250 for 3-6 nt cruises
$350 for 7 nt or longer cruises

Also, the deposit is 10% (instead of 20%) of the cruise fare (not the taxes).

You can book a "dummy" or "future" date if you are unsure of when you will travel. You pay a deposit for a real cruise in the future and then may move that deposit when you make a decision for your cruise, keeping your discount, deposit discount (10%) and OBC. It does not matter how long the dummy date is versus actual cruise for OBC - that is tied to the actual cruise you take. In June, they booked me for a December 2012 cruise on the Magic out of Galveston in the cheapest category, about $160 deposit.

Why? If I had had a dummy date when the Hawaii sailing opened for booking, I could have transferred my deposit and 10% discount. By the time I got on a cruise, all cabins were full (and I had a cabin but couldn't "rebook" the price since that category wasn't available).

I have failed to book onboard and have kicked myself at least twice - and took a cruise in January this year principally to get OBC and discount on our already booked June Alaska cruise. Yes, I ended up spending money to save a little, but it was the principal (and another cruise ).

TMI? Hope this helps.

I just checked my reservation again - couldn't get through to Castaway Club page and the cruise is "sold out." I think tomorrow could be the day.

Have to echo about Capital One. We have a card we have used for about 10 years for traveling because they do not charge conversion fees on currency. Now the rate they use to convert might be a bit higher, but it does not compare with our Visa or our Chase cards. If you can get one before you go, I would advise it.

Just my two cents, but I would not stress about stocking up on cash before you go. ATMs will be available in all of the ports (including the Caribbean--where you can use $$) and I have found that you often get a better rate at an ATM than any money exchange in Europe or even from banks in the U.S. Now I cannot speak to AAA or other membership like places that would provide you a better rate as members, but we have always done fine with ATMs. I have never paid more than $1.45 in an ATM these days. So I am shocked that you all are paying over $1.50 in the U.S. Wow. I know it is only a difference of a few cents, but every little bit helps. Check with your banks to find out the fees for ATMs and do the math, but in my experience it has been a better deal overall.

Also,I agree with those who said use the currency of the country you are in. If you only plan to spend money in Morrisons, then just use a credit card, but it would be better to have a small amount of pounds as you will get ripped off on conversion with the Euro. We have had this happen in other EU countries that do not use the Euro, if you use local currency you get a better rate and better service (Hungary and Czech Republic for example.) I am sure there are ATMs there as well, at least that is what we are planning since we have no way to get pounds in advance.

FWIW,

Amanda

I have often heard that ATMs are the way to go as far as conversion goes (and fees). Ditto about Capital One - apparently they have been international fee-free for years - and you would know, wouldn't you?