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

[Chris&Jeremy]

We are JFK on the 8th. Leaving at 7:15 pm on Delta. Maybe we will be on the same concourse. Nothing like starting the party early!

We're going to be partying in the Admirals Club - buying one day passes since we have a six hour layover at JFK. Internet plus booze (and peace and quiet) = worth it!

 

[hazelandannie]

Love this mask!! Did Hazel paint over the cut out pictures with some kind of glaze? It looks really nice.

She got a bottle of Sparkle Mod Podge from eBay and then put that over the pictures to seal it and also makes it glittery. Very effective and makes a great glue also.

 

[birkner]

Stateroom Assignments

Please, please PM me if you are on the lanyard, lanyard pin or Madeira tour with your stateroom assignments so my spread sheets are current.

I want to be sure I have all this information in case people don't make the on board meet or anything changes on the Madeira tours.

Thanks in advance!!

Noel

 

[*Flower*]

Have a great trip....we start our morning with first flight at 6 am... will be long long day, however well worth it.

Ours starts later- we'll arrive in Barcelona on the 9th at about 9 am. We haven't even thought about what to pack!!

 

[birkner]

I hope this does not affect our flights for the cruise!


Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 -- 7:21 PM EDT
-----

Senate Fails to End Partial Shutdown at F.A.A.

After dealing with the debt crisis, Senate negotiators tried and failed Tuesday to end a stalemate over temporary funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, leaving 4,000 F.A.A. employees out of work and relying on airport safety inspectors to continue working without pay.

The partial F.A.A. shutdown, which began July 23 and is likely to continue at least through Labor Day, has also idled tens of thousands of construction workers on airport projects around the country. Dozens of airport inspectors have been asked by the F.A.A. to work without pay and to charge their government travel expenses to their personal credit cards to keep airports operating safely.

 

[GA-yaya]

I hope this does not affect our flights for the cruise!


Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 -- 7:21 PM EDT
-----

Senate Fails to End Partial Shutdown at F.A.A.

After dealing with the debt crisis, Senate negotiators tried and failed Tuesday to end a stalemate over temporary funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, leaving 4,000 F.A.A. employees out of work and relying on airport safety inspectors to continue working without pay.

The partial F.A.A. shutdown, which began July 23 and is likely to continue at least through Labor Day, has also idled tens of thousands of construction workers on airport projects around the country. Dozens of airport inspectors have been asked by the F.A.A. to work without pay and to charge their government travel expenses to their personal credit cards to keep airports operating safely.

I'm sorry, but that is just absurd!!!! Work without pay and put expenses on personal credit cards....really???
I hope they can work this out quickly - that is just unfair. <<climbing down from soapbox>>...

 

[birkner]

I'm sorry, but that is just absurd!!!! Work without pay and put expenses on personal credit cards....really???
I hope they can work this out quickly - that is just unfair. <<climbing down from soapbox>>...

I TOTALLY agree with your statement!!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

If I HAD a room assignment I would have PM'd it! C'mon DCL, give me my room assignment!!!!

thanks to everyone who's PM'd me their rooms for the secret mickey, have updated the front page with room numbers.

welcome natasha, i've added you to the SM exchange

hope i've replied to everyone's PMs, i've had like 15 or something today, so apologies if i havent, but i have actioned all of them so its all good

 

[tojam]

We're going to be partying in the Admirals Club - buying one day passes since we have a six hour layover at JFK. Internet plus booze (and peace and quiet) = worth it!

Great idea!

 

[tojam]

Any suggestions for purchasing Euros in the states before we leave? Finding a lot of sites but none that I trust. Would appreciate the input.

And yes....NO ROOM ASSIGNMENT!!!!!!

 

[nick262]

The Old Blandy Wine Lodge is in downtown Funchal and is where you can taste and take a tour of who Madeira wine is made.

Here is the Old Blandy Wine Lodge Link

If you decided you want to tour, please sign up for the 4:30 PM tour and let me know so I can note my spreadsheet.

Any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to PM me or post on the thread.
Noel

Ok how did I miss this, LOL. Noel, how much is this tour? What types of wine do they sell? Can my eight year old come with us? I think we would be interested as long as we do not have to be on the afternoon Santa Maria Cruise and the tour was not super expensive.

 

[birkner]

Any suggestions for purchasing Euros in the states before we leave? Finding a lot of sites but none that I trust. Would appreciate the input.

And yes....NO ROOM ASSIGNMENT!!!!!!

I used Travelex. I believe if you go to the AAA website and you have a AAA card you can also get them from Travelex.

 

[Namsupak]

Are you leaving teaching at the university and going into private practice?

I was in a dental residency at the university and graduated. I actually did want to teach and do research but we have an interim dean that would not make any decisions. So I had to look out for myself and couldn't wait for the school to find a new dean. She's had the job for 5.5 years but they just announced a month ago that the new dean is coming in September. So I went out to private practice and I think I'll enjoy myself. Especially after being at the school for 7 years and dealing with all the red tape I definitely need to get away from there for a while. Ok that was my rant for the day.

I seriously need a 12-step program! "Hello, my name is Tammy and I'm a Disney Cruiseaholic..."

So, I had a B2B Dream cruise booked for next May with a few days before and after at WDW. Today I cancelled the WDW portions and booked the July and August "cruise to nowhere" out of New York. I seriously need some help. Total of 18 nights cruising next year vs. 14 this year. Next year is way better for my Castaway Club "rank" though since it is 5 cruises vs. 1!

That sounds like me. DH would definitely say that I need a 12 step program. Whenever he catches me on the DCL website he wants to know what kind of crazy plans I'm making.

Attention all Daniel Taxi Madeira Cruisers

Thanks for organizing Noel! We do not want to do the Blandy tour.

I am too scared to write out a list of what I still have to do before the cruise ... but I had certainly better get a wriggle on. It will be upon us before we know it

I'm terrified to make our list... but I know I have to do it or we're not going to make it on the boat

For all parties involved, it would be better off if I were not wearing a baby doll T.

I bet you would get lot's of attention... maybe not the kind you want though

I hope this does not affect our flights for the cruise!


Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 -- 7:21 PM EDT
-----

Senate Fails to End Partial Shutdown at F.A.A.

Don't even get me started on the insanity of our government right now. I can't believe this!

 

[birkner]

Ok how did I miss this, LOL. Noel, how much is this tour? What types of wine do they sell? Can my eight year old come with us? I think we would be interested as long as we do not have to be on the afternoon Santa Maria Cruise and the tour was not super expensive.

Last year the tour 5 Euros per adult person when you make your own reservations on the site. You do not pay on the site. This is a reservation only site and you pay on the tour. Minimum age for tasting is 18 and was confirmed by Eusébia who had called Blandy’s about children being allowed to take part in guided tours with their parents, they said “Yes, they are” and they even added that from the age of 6 till they are 15, children pay only 2.50 Euros, under 6 years of age is free. From 15 on then on they pay full price.

As far as I know there in only Madeira wine for sale. If you go the Old Blandy Wine lodge site you can educate yourself about Madeira. Last year John and I bought wine, wine glasses and a honey cake.

All this and more info is available on the West Madeira tour link I made. Link is pretty large so it may take a minute or so to load.

West Madeira tour

Any more questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to post or PM me.

 

[birkner]

Thanks for organizing Noel! We do not want to do the Blandy tour.

Please PM me if you want to go directly back to the ship or if you want to go shopping.

Don't even get me started on the insanity of our government right now. I can't believe this!

I have to agree that things are pretty crazy right now.

 

[Donaldcp98]

For those taking part in the Scrapbook Exchange!

Please can you all check your details on the list below and let me know if there are any mistakes. Also if you are listed as GTY I need to know your cabin number asap.



Pinky166 = Claire, #6507
Birkner = Noel, #8024
Dgentrysim = Deb, #GTY
LindaBabe = Linda #5020
LovingtheMouse = Caroline #5020
Namsupak = Lauren, #8086
Pixie dust for me! = Karen, #7631
Poohluv2u = Karen, #7129
HazelandAnnie = Hazel, #6101
Donaldcp98 = Tabitha, #GTY
HeatherlovesMickey = Heather, #GTY
Sorcerer-Mickey = Natasha, #6020



This exchange is now closed and we have a total of 12 cabins taking part.

Many thanks
Claire

You must of missed my big gigantic letters when I got my room number. I am in 6592

 

[Beauty & the Best]

Super excited for the upgrade from 5C GTY to 4B We are going to have such fun
can't wait.

Evelyn

Yes I think your upgrade is probably the most exciting one I've read. Congrats you guys!!!!!!!

She got a bottle of Sparkle Mod Podge from eBay and then put that over the pictures to seal it and also makes it glittery. Very effective and makes a great glue also.

Thanks for the info. I am on the fence about doing a mask, but since I almost have my magnets completed, I might just need another craft to do before we leave.

 

[DISNEYFAN_SD]

That's kinda why we broke our trip apart. Booking with AA miles, we could do a stopover at a North American gateway, so we're just flying to NYC the first day, spend a few days there, then do the 6.5 hour flight. May just be wishful thinking on easing into the jetlag...

We are hoping to get some winks on the flights

Ours starts later- we'll arrive in Barcelona on the 9th at about 9 am. We haven't even thought about what to pack!!

we fly delta arrive at 8:55 I am juswt going to start clothes shopping this weekend.

Any suggestions for purchasing Euros in the states before we leave? Finding a lot of sites but none that I trust. Would appreciate the input.

We are getting them from our local bank they have them here and available.

 

[JessicasMom]

Any suggestions for purchasing Euros in the states before we leave? Finding a lot of sites but none that I trust. Would appreciate the input.

And yes....NO ROOM ASSIGNMENT!!!!!!

We picked our euros and pounds up at AAA, with no addt'l charge. If you're not a AAA member, there is a $10 fee, but you can still place an order. It took two business days to receive the funds. I requested nothing larger than 20 euro notes, and that's exactly what I received. The day I purchased them, the Travelex rate was just slightly better, but there isn't a Travelex outlet within a reasonable distance, and foreigncurrency.com would have cost me more. I was satisfied. Of course, you should check at your bank, too; ours wasn't the best choice.

No room at the inn for us yet, either .

 

[Donaldcp98]

Well we would be happy to meet up with anybody at the airport but unfortunately we have no idea what day we are flying and/or which airport we will be flying out of. The only thing we know is that we are flying Delta and it will either be JFK or Atlanta. We decided to risk it and fly on buddy passes. I hate flying this way internationally, but since it is about 7x cheaper it was the only way we could afford. Pray for lots and lots of pixie dust

One thing I thought of while making our packing list is to make sure to buy some disposable waterproof cameras for any snorkeling excursions and/or castaway cay. They have them on the ship to buy and I think they were $20 but I saw a sign at CVS the other day advertising them for $10.