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

[GA-yaya]

So far only a few people have replied to my sad, pathetic, bitter poll about room assignments, but as I suspected I am the ONLY person who has not gotten a room assignment!!

Awww....don't cry....We haven't gotten our room assignment yet either.
Patiently waiting...no, actually NOT patiently waiting - more like anxiously awaiting the assignment.

I'm certain they are about to block me from signing on to the DCL website to check it. I am a little OCD...

 

[Dgentrysim]

So far only a few people have replied to my sad, pathetic, bitter poll about room assignments, but as I suspected I am the ONLY person who has not gotten a room assignment!!

Oh no.....you're not starting this pity party without me! No room assignment for me (passing the box of tissues to you!)!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Do you ever wonder if someone at DCL is monitoring the site keeping track of your logons and and laughing "HA HA HA here she is AGAIN, checking for her room assignment!"?

Awww....don't cry....We haven't gotten our room assignment yet either.
Patiently waiting...no, actually NOT patiently waiting - more like anxiously awaiting the assignment.

I'm certain they are about to block me from signing on to the DCL website to check it. I am a little OCD...

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Okay, between Ga-yaya in Georgia and Dgentryism and myself in NC, this is clearly a conspiracy against those of us in the Mid to Southern Atlantic States...

Oh no.....you're not starting this pity party without me! No room assignment for me (passing the box of tissues to you!)!

 

[Donaldcp98]

As promised, here are a couple of pictures from Funchal when walked around last April. Hope you enjoy.(And this was an "off year" according to the locals because of the floods.)

 

[GA-yaya]

Do you ever wonder if someone at DCL is monitoring the site keeping track of your logons and and laughing "HA HA HA here she is AGAIN, checking for her room assignment!"?

That's what I'm thinking.

Okay, between Ga-yaya in Georgia and Dgentryism and myself in NC, this is clearly a conspiracy against those of us in the Mid to Southern Atlantic States...

Hahahahahahahaha!!!

 

[tojam]

Okay, between Ga-yaya in Georgia and Dgentryism and myself in NC, this is clearly a conspiracy against those of us in the Mid to Southern Atlantic States...

Pass the tissues to Ohio! No room assignment here either. We booked a long time ago but in February changed to the outside GTY. Wonder if the booking date affects the assignment date.

Pixie me baby.....

 

[tojam]

I'd like to join the get together. I'm from the north east and travel to NYC frequently. I'm not a speech person either, more reflective. i'd like to grab a soda, watch cnn and be with people. 8:30EST would probably be the most appropriate, depending on which time zone we're in.

I'll try to pack my I<3 NY shirt for patriot day.

My wife and I are former law enforcement and have some very vivid memories from that day. I am currently an investigator and one of my partners was with NYPD on 9/11. While he is a HERO, he is impacted by that event to this day as are we all.

Will try to be there but with a 10 month old our arrival may be soft!

 

[kj_connections]

Pass the tissues to Ohio! No room assignment here either. We booked a long time ago but in February changed to the outside GTY. Wonder if the booking date affects the assignment date.

Pixie me baby.....

I don't think the booking date affects the assignment date because I booked in April but already got my assignment. It might be the type of GTY you booked...maybe the ones with restrictions will be assigned later? I am still under the belief that they are saving the best for last because I barely got an upgrade with my assignment.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Aren't all GTY considered "with restrictions" because they are supposed to be in a certain category?

I don't think the booking date affects the assignment date because I booked in April but already got my assignment. It might be the type of GTY you booked...maybe the ones with restrictions will be assigned later? I am still under the belief that they are saving the best for last because I barely got an upgrade with my assignment.

 

[pkicinski]

After a bit of research by a pharmacist last year, we found that TRAVELeeze(spelt like that) has Meclizine in which is what Bonine has. Works for me.

Do use it! It works! We both take it one day before and every day on the cruise, and one or two days after. No problems. Husband stopped taking it 2 cruises ago when things seemed mild and ended up getting sick. Won't do that again.

 

[dylan'smom]

]I don't think the booking date affects the assignment date because I booked in April but already got my assignment. It might be the type of GTY you booked...maybe the ones with restrictions will be assigned later?[/B] I am still under the belief that they are saving the best for last because I barely got an upgrade with my assignment.

Aren't all GTY considered "with restrictions" because they are supposed to be in a certain category?

Yep - restricted gets assigned last, apparently.

The restricted option is relatively new with the DCL GTYs - it is much less money because it has specific restrictions (pay in full when booked, no changes/upgrades/refund allowed)...and now here's a new one...wait longer...lol

They do the special restricted fares to give them flexibility...doesn't mean they won't upgrade you, but since you can't make changes, they seem to wait to see what will serve them best, unfortunately. Hang in there - I know, easy for me to say...LOL


.

 

[PFlamingo]

We don't know if we get seasick or not, as we've not wanted to take a chance that one minute of our cruise is spent being unwell. Starting the night before cruising, we use the one a day Bonine. By taking it at night before going to bed, any drowsiness that may occur is slept off. We've never had a single problem

That might be worth a try. In spite of being "non-drowsy," I still had problems when I took Bonine. (I also have problems with "non-drowsy" allergy meds.) It made me feel so funky - almost like being really drunk, but not in a good way - wobbly, dizzy, disoriented. I tend to be prone to motion sickness, though, so I need to do something. Both times crossing from Port Canaveral to the Bahamas we had some rocking that I noticed. I took ginger capsules, which seemed to help, but if the motion had been any worse I probably would've needed something stronger.

for people who have done funchal on their own before (not on a tour), is there much within walking distance from the port? anything you suggest doing that doesnt involve a tour or a taxi? leaning towards a bit of freestyle touring...

I think we'll do that, too. We'll probably check out the wine at Blandy's. (Is that the place to go?) I know it's a bit on the sweet side, but I don't think we can go to Madeira without bringing home some wine. We can always use it for cooking.

The flower market sounds lovely! I think Dennis would really enjoy that. I love the pictures of the orchids. Every so often I buy an orchid plant - and proceed to kill it! So sad, really.

 

[pkicinski]

Karen - We did this in Jan. The wak to the start of town which you can see from the ship is about a 20 min walk and to the cable cars which I believe is the far edge of town is about a 30 min walk.

There is a garden area that is pretty cool and shopping and eating available.

We spent about 4 hours on shore and really enjoyed it. Also there is free wifi all around town and you can gte it from the where the ship docks as well.

can someone please tell me where funchal is?

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Okay, I thought that a GTY was a GTY (within category of course). I didn't realize you could get a GTY that you didn't have to pay in full and couldn't make changes - I thought all DCL GTYs were that way.

Well, if that is the holdup, I guess I shouldn't (note: SHOULDN'T not WON'T) complain, because we did get a really good deal, and I did purchase the basic room I would like to have. My only real concern is that we might get the 2 porthole (the lowest we can get vs. the 1 porthole). When I booked it I thought from what I had seen and heard that a 2 porthole would be fine, but I recently saw more pix of the 2 porthole and I don't think my youngest son will be able to look out of them, even if he stood on the coffee table, which wouldn't be prudent

I arranged for the call from Mickey for this weekend some time ago, thinking that by now we would definitely have our assignment and be going into the homestretch. Whenever we watch the DVD that DCL sent us my kids always ask me what floor we are going to be on and I tell them I'm not sure exactly...it will be nice to start showing them the room on the ship layout and planning the best route to get to dinner, the pool, laundry room, etc...

I booked this cruise in April and I CANNOT believe that we are flying to Barcelona 5 weeks from tomorrow!!

Yep - restricted gets assigned last, apparently.

The restricted option is relatively new with the DCL GTYs - it is much less money because it has specific restrictions (pay in full when booked, no changes/upgrades/refund allowed)...and now here's a new one...wait longer...lol

They do the special restricted fares to give them flexibility...doesn't mean they won't upgrade you, but since you can't make changes, they seem to wait to see what will serve them best, unfortunately. Hang in there - I know, easy for me to say...LOL


.

 

[Chris&Jeremy]

can someone please tell me where funchal is?

Funchal is in the Madeira region of Portugal, where we are stopping. It's the main city it appears.

 

[MandyGirl]

So far only a few people have replied to my sad, pathetic, bitter poll about room assignments, but as I suspected I am the ONLY person who has not gotten a room assignment!!

I responded. The one thing that may have made it more detailed was asking if someone booked a Category GTY versus IGT / OGT / VGT (or whatever they use for "inside guaranty with restrictions"). My speculations is that those with category gty bookings are getting assigned sooner than the other. Like we booked 10Cgty versus IGT.

I don't think the booking date affects the assignment date because I booked in April but already got my assignment. It might be the type of GTY you booked...maybe the ones with restrictions will be assigned later? I am still under the belief that they are saving the best for last because I barely got an upgrade with my assignment.

We cancelled a previous reservation and booked a new one in May when interline rates came out, so we are technically a "newer" booking. Of course the original booking was last October, but this is my third (yes, THIRD) reservation number for this cruise. Jumped on the Expedia $500 OBC in March, then cxl that when interline rates came out right before penalty period.

My only real concern is that we might get the 2 porthole (the lowest we can get vs. the 1 porthole). When I booked it I thought from what I had seen and heard that a 2 porthole would be fine, but I recently saw more pix of the 2 porthole and I don't think my youngest son will be able to look out of them, even if he stood on the coffee table, which wouldn't be prudent

I'm also curious what the height is of porthole windows. We are currently assigned to a single porthole on deck two. No way can the toddler see, but our older daughter is pushing 44" (and has already said she wants the bunk bed!).

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Oh yeah - I bought my Euros today! I ended up going to Bank of America because they had a slightly better rate than AAA even though AAA doesn't charge a fee. Plus there is no fee at BOA when you buy over $1k (my mom and I purchased together and with all the "cash" excursions we are going on it came to over $1k).

The weird thing was that I asked the manager how much we would get for x amount of dollars, and he used his calculator and gave me a completely wrong number - I had to explain to him that he had to divide the rate into the US dollars, not multiply, so then his asst mgr gave me a quote.

So then I went to the teller to do the transaction and she actually got on the computer gave me a 3rd quote that was about 100 Euros better! I thought, sweet, the rate just changed, or that other lady did the math wrong. She put my order in and told me they would call when the Euros came in.

Meanwhile my mom is with another teller transferring cash from her account to mine to pay me back for her share of the Euros and I step over there and, as kind of an afterthought, ask the woman how much I now have left in my savings account after taking out the money for the Euros. She writes down an amount for me that is about $3k MORE than I should have in my account!!

But of course, I had to say something, then they were all flustered and asked us to sit in the lobby while they try and straighten it out. I could tell the very nice and helpful manager (who didn't know how to do a conversion) was very upset about the snafu. But I had an appt so I told them I had to go and when the call me to come get the Euros (within 48 hours, apparently) I'll just make sure everything is okay.

I hope I still get that extra 100 Euros...

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Oh thanks Mandy Girl, now I recall. I could have done one or 2 price increase up on the GTY and have been assured of a single porthole but after researching the pix I saw showed 2 portholes, one low and one high. So I thought, that would be perfect for the boys (one big, one little) so I can live with it if we don't get one big one, and went for the lowest GTY.

But I have been perplexed because the pix of the Magic from the outside don't seem to reflect the portholes being different heights. Then just a day or 2 ago I saw some review of a Magic cruise and the poster showed a room with 2 portholes and they were both high. I wish I could recall where I saw that so I could give you the link - I'll try and find it.

So now I am a little more anxious, but again, it is what it is, we'll have a good time either way, and my 4 year old climbs like a monkey so he'll probably get up in the bunk to look out no matter what.

I responded. The one thing that may have made it more detailed was asking if someone booked a Category GTY versus IGT / OGT / VGT (or whatever they use for "inside guaranty with restrictions"). My speculations is that those with category gty bookings are getting assigned sooner than the other. Like we booked 10Cgty versus IGT.



We cancelled a previous reservation and booked a new one in May when interline rates came out, so we are technically a "newer" booking. Of course the original booking was last October, but this is my third (yes, THIRD) reservation number for this cruise. Jumped on the Expedia $500 OBC in March, then cxl that when interline rates came out right before penalty period.



I'm also curious what the height is of porthole windows. We are currently assigned to a single porthole on deck two. No way can the toddler see, but our older daughter is pushing 44" (and has already said she wants the bunk bed!).

 

[PFlamingo]

Oh yeah - I bought my Euros today! I ended up going to Bank of America because they had a slightly better rate than AAA even though AAA doesn't charge a fee. Plus there is no fee at BOA when you buy over $1k (my mom and I purchased together and with all the "cash" excursions we are going on it came to over $1k).

The weird thing was that I asked the manager how much we would get for x amount of dollars, and he used his calculator and gave me a completely wrong number - I had to explain to him that he had to divide the rate into the US dollars, not multiply, so then his asst mgr gave me a quote.

So then I went to the teller to do the transaction and she actually got on the computer gave me a 3rd quote that was about 100 Euros better! I thought, sweet, the rate just changed, or that other lady did the math wrong. She put my order in and told me they would call when the Euros came in.

Meanwhile my mom is with another teller transferring cash from her account to mine to pay me back for her share of the Euros and I step over there and, as kind of an afterthought, ask the woman how much I now have left in my savings account after taking out the money for the Euros. She writes down an amount for me that is about $3k MORE than I should have in my account!!

But of course, I had to say something, then they were all flustered and asked us to sit in the lobby while they try and straighten it out. I could tell the very nice and helpful manager (who didn't know how to do a conversion) was very upset about the snafu. But I had an appt so I told them I had to go and when the call me to come get the Euros (within 48 hours, apparently) I'll just make sure everything is okay.

I hope I still get that extra 100 Euros...

Wow. Sure gives you confidence in the bank.