*Sept 10th 2011 WB Transatlantic* From Spain to Space Mountain-Taking the Magic Home

[Chirpee]

Sounds great!

And by the way - if I don't answer PMs soon... just learned my aunt passed away from a brief but strong battle with a brain tumor we learned of at Christmas. About to travel home to my family, and will be gone several days. Internet is sketchy there.

Our condolences to you and your family.

 

[GA-yaya]

6 Months Today!!!! ​

How exciting...6 Months from Today!

We took a little over a week off to go to New Orleans - to visit my ailing Mom, and also to celebrate Mardi Gras. I am now something like 15 pages behind in reading. WOW!!! So much has happened in a week, so much good information! Keep it coming.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Wow, what a week. Just one more day and then my project will be done!

Mandy, we are sorry for your loss and wish you and your family the best. Thank you for adding us to the Tortola excursion group.

I'm not sure who was having a hard time with the accessible cabin, but that is outrageous! I got one when I called...had to book an 11A...but I indicated when booking that I would gladly give it up for anyone with a wheelchair.

No, I'm not booking the accessible cabin for the "extra room," (though they are very roomy). My problem is vertigo that strikes me at the oddest of moments and is typically tied to the onset (or after effects) of migraine...though not always. I've had it since I had a brain infection 5 years ago and it comes and goes with not much predictability. The only reason I requested the accessible cabin is that when it does strike, my ability to navigate a step over in the shower (or a step up into a restroom)...well, let's just say it's not pretty (yes, I've actually crawled up steps and when I'm really dizzy, I've even crawled across the floor!).

Can't believe that we are only 6 months away! Andrew and I are studying the tour books and the web about Barcelona and are thrilled to be flying in the Wednesday before the cruise so that we can do a bit of sight-seeing.

Finally, at Noel's suggestion, I contacted the individual that coordinated the tshirts last year and am waiting for a response. As soon as I hear something, I will let everyone know.

Take care....and more soon,

Karen

 

[tojam]

A very good friend of mine, that I met while in Gibraltar on the first WBTA, is a commanding officer with the Gibraltar Police. He is state side and coming by to spend a day with our family. Will check with him as well to see if he has an insiders perspective on what to expect and what may be options given the holiday. Will post when I know.

 

[Chirpee]

or at the very least even if they dont open up the whole store, just let us down the booze aisle!!

This is too funny!!

Talking of Gibraltar, did any of you who were on the WBTA last year visit the siege tunnels? Were they interesting? DH is quite keen to see them.

 

[JessicasMom]

Hi all....We've been booked on this sailing since the 2010 EBTA and are now coming out of the shadows. Actually, we (DH and I) recently cancelled our original on-board booking to take advantage of the verandah GTY deal. Using Cruise Compete, I booked through Cruiseadventuretravel.com and got the great GTY price along with $350 OBC, if anyone is still looking. Transferred my original booking to a Dream cruise next summer.

We're thrilled that DD (age 26) will be traveling with us this time. We're in PA, she's in TX, so any time spent together is great. Flight to BCN...check. Hotel in BCN for two nights...check. Travel insurance...check. Now to figure out the excursions and arrange a flight home...plenty of time for that.

We're definitely game for FEs and SMs...had a blast doing both on the EBTA (not our first cruise, but the first with Disney). We did RCL western Caribbean in Jan and really missed those "little things". Getting excited......!

 

[birkner]

Hi all....We've been booked on this sailing since the 2010 EBTA and are now coming out of the shadows. Actually, we (DH and I) recently cancelled our original on-board booking to take advantage of the verandah GTY deal. Using Cruise Compete, I booked through Cruiseadventuretravel.com and got the great GTY price along with $350 OBC, if anyone is still looking. Transferred my original booking to a Dream cruise next summer.

We're thrilled that DD (age 26) will be traveling with us this time. We're in PA, she's in TX, so any time spent together is great. Flight to BCN...check. Hotel in BCN for two nights...check. Travel insurance...check. Now to figure out the excursions and arrange a flight home...plenty of time for that.

We're definitely game for FEs and SMs...had a blast doing both on the EBTA (not our first cruise, but the first with Disney). We did RCL western Caribbean in Jan and really missed those "little things". Getting excited......!

Welcome aboard!! We are Noel and John and this will be our 5th cruise on DCL. Our last cruise was the 2010 WBTA so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask or PM me. We also have a DD who is turning 26 this year who is living in Hawaii until she starts law school in September.

Please check this first page link of the thread to orient yourself about the cruise, DIS members on the cruise and all the activities planned.

To help you with all the activities that are planned, here is some information to help you decide if you want to participate:

01. If you are interested in participating in the Fish Extender Exchange (FE), please PM Pat (PFlamingo) with the following details:
Send her your stateroom number, Disboard name, first name of each person in the stateroom, realtionship to you (DH, DW, DD, DS, etc) ages and gender of children. You can cut and paste the format below.
Stateroom #:
Disname:
First name:
Age:
Disname:
First name:
Age:

02. If people are interested in being in the same area as other DIS'ers to send Dan (Cliffy97) a PM with Lead Passenger name, your booking number and if you are Early or Late seating. Dan was told by Disney today that this is all they need to put folks together. .

03. If you are interested in the Candy Swap, please PM Jacqueline (goofieslonglostsis).

04. If you are interested in Secret Mickey Exchange, please PM Karen (karentan).

05. If you are interest in getting a WBTA lanyard, please PM Noel (birkner). See this lanyard link for example of the previous 2010 WBTA lanyard.

Hopefully, a group of DISers will volunteer to underwrite the lanyards as they did last year so they will be free to the rest of the DISers. We already have several people offering to be part of the lanyard underwriting group. If you wish to join, please send Noel (Birkner) a PM. If we get enough members, the cost should be $10 or less per member.

06. If you are interested in a WBTA lanyard pin, please PM Noel (birkner). See this pin link for example of the previous 2010 WBTA pin.Cost will be approximately 4,5 or 5 Euros per pin.

07. If you are interested in purchasing a WBTA t-shirt printed with a variation of the cruise meet logo, Karen (Pixie_Dust_For_Me) has kindly offered to organise this for our cruise. Price will be approximately $7 per t-shirt, and sizes range from Youth XS (size 2) to Youth XL; Adult S to Adult 4XL.

08. If you are interested in participating in a Mickey Mouse Club night, please check out this Mickey Mouse club post.

09. I am thinking of organizing the same tour I did last year in Madeira. Here is the Madeira link to a PDF file that gives more information about the 2010 tour. If you are interested, please send Noel (birkner) a PM.

10. We are also going to do a Champagne Girls meet. The Champagne Girls event originated on the WBPC cruise in 2008. Women get together dressed in pink to drink champagne or non alcoholic bubbly and chat. Pictures of the first meet are in this post and pictures from the last WBTA are in this post. Please PM (Clare)Pinky166 to add you name to the list.

11. If you would like to join in the Scrapbooking Exchange, please PM Clare (Pinky166) with your name and room number. The idea is to give your fellow exchangers some scrapbooking embellishments for use in your scrapbooks after you return home! For more info check this post.

12 Join us for a Pajama breakfast on September 18 at 10:00 AM at Lumiere's. We will meet outside Lumiere's at 9:50 AM to take group pictures. If you are interested, please PM Mandy (MandyGirl) with the number in your party.
Here is the picture from the PJ breakfast on last years WBTA.

13. Sarah (TotallyAngelic) is organizing a Gibraltar Dolphin Watching Expedition if you are interested in joining. Please PM Sarah with the number in your party if you are interested.

14. Mandy (MandyGirl) is organizing a Tortola Excursion of a private day sail on a power catamaran to Jost VanDyke with Tortola Charters. Please PM Mandy with the number in your party if you are interested.

15. We hope to organize a Stateroom Tour of all the SR categories but we do yet have an organizer. Stay tuned for more details!!

16. If anyone wants to organize a postcard exchange, please feel free to start one. What we did las year is bring a postcard from where we lived and left in each other's FE. It is best to limit the number of participants no more than 25 as cost and weight to bring become an issue.

 

[karentan]

so sorry to hear about your aunt mandy, i hope she is at peace now

 

[JessicasMom]

Great to see such an active group! Thanks for all the info.

 

[birkner]

This is too funny!!

Talking of Gibraltar, did any of you who were on the WBTA last year visit the siege tunnels? Were they interesting? DH is quite keen to see them.

My DH John was quite keen as well and enjoyed them very much as he is a WW2 History buff. My Dad was involved in a lot of interesting WW2 exploits and we have all of his memorabilia from his service in the war.


Here are two pictures that my DH John took in the caves:

 

[auntlynne]

Was checking on airfare today, had pretty much decided to use Icelandair via Boston with a 2-day stopover. Went to see my niece's high school play, had dinner, and voila! the price went up. ... okay - now it's back down.

I've been waiting to PM about activities until I finished reading the thread, just in case something got dropped or added - then the whole airfare issue started making me think I should just make quick decisions and be happy with them - sort of like booking the restricted GTY status cabin and just knowing it was a done deal.

Was going to PM Mandy until I saw her post; well, I guess I can give her a tentative but fairly-sure put-me-on-the-list message which she can read when she returns.

Always afraid to make plans with unknown people - what if they are all wild, party-harders ? I was hoping to divine some insight by reading posts. So far, nobody has scared me yet.

But the Baths have been on my list of to-be-seens since about 1998, when I visited St John (but didn't have the necessary passport to go over to BVI).

So much to research on the computer, yet I'm only at page 97 of this thread. (but keeping up with current posts from page 160 on).

Just doing a double-check on everyone I have listed for the Tortola excursion (see front page). We have some maybes, definites, under age three... Please PM me to be added or if you have had a change in status!!

For sure paying: 22
Maybe: 4
Possible Paying: 26
Total capacity: 28 (includes under age 3, free)
** Need 40 paying, max capacity of 50. **

And by the way - if I don't answer PMs soon... just learned my aunt passed away from a brief but strong battle with a brain tumor we learned of at Christmas. About to travel home to my family, and will be gone several days. Internet is sketchy there.

Add me to the surrounding you with support.

 

[Pinky166]

Hi all....We've been booked on this sailing since the 2010 EBTA and are now coming out of the shadows. Actually, we (DH and I) recently cancelled our original on-board booking to take advantage of the verandah GTY deal. Using Cruise Compete, I booked through Cruiseadventuretravel.com and got the great GTY price along with $350 OBC, if anyone is still looking. Transferred my original booking to a Dream cruise next summer.

We're thrilled that DD (age 26) will be traveling with us this time. We're in PA, she's in TX, so any time spent together is great. Flight to BCN...check. Hotel in BCN for two nights...check. Travel insurance...check. Now to figure out the excursions and arrange a flight home...plenty of time for that.

We're definitely game for FEs and SMs...had a blast doing both on the EBTA (not our first cruise, but the first with Disney). We did RCL western Caribbean in Jan and really missed those "little things". Getting excited......!

aboard. We are Claire & (DH) Lee, this will be our 3rd Disney cruise. Looking forward to getting to know you.

 

[auntlynne]

As I've been reading, I've been taking notes of old posts with information that piqued my interest:

Tablemates!!!! ...

Oh, and our friend chatted with a solo lady cruiser who DCL had put with a solo male cruiser for dining.

On a recent cruise, a solo male told me they had put him at a table with a nearly-blind, barely-English-speaking female. Yikes. There was a big table behind them with a few other single people! Why didn't they just lump them all together?

Dan cliffy97 - are you taking names of those who want to be in a DIS takeover of a dining room for each seating?

I don't enjoy eating with just my sister and teenage nieces when we travel together, and I certainly don't want to sit at a table by myself. I will try not to talk as much as I type in my posts.

..Someone on our last TA, and on our upcoming PC cruise bought quite a few off Ebay from China and was thrilled with them.

Were the dresses from China or this a special eBay site for China?

Just a picture to put a smile on everyone's faces since we cruise THIS YEAR!!!!

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/maho-beach-st-maarten/

And for those who were wanting to hang onto the fence in St Marten for the thrill of jetblast...

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/mayhem-at-maho-beach-13-photos

I can't help laughing everytime I see those! Never heard of this before - but it looks like fun (seeing the planes, not the risk of death or sandblasting).

...(Mandy & Karen - when I first joined the board I used ckiggins as a username but have changed it since then to chris&jeremy). ...

As I was reading, I kept finding these posts that only contained a "." and then the deleted contents would be quoted by someone in a subsequent post - you can't hide much around here.

When I found Chris & Jeremy's post about being on the cruise, I thought, hmmm, I wonder if this would make ckiggins more comfortable, knowing these other guys were onboard - maybe they can help ease the transition. I guess you guys didn't really need that much reassurance, as you can see, you've got some pretty neat people with whom to cruise.

...We will probably book one night at the Praktik Rambla before we leave as it was such a lovely hotel. ...

Checked them out...did you pick this hotel because they stock the same H2O products as DCL?

We got a Panasonic Lumix TZ10, a little point and shoot that fits in your pocket....and a new DSLR, Canon 550d. ...

The biggest problem with those Panasonic Lumix cameras: so many people have them (in various models) - and they look alike, so you need to keep your eye on your own. goofprincess kept thinking mine was hers on our last cruise

 

[cliffy97]

Dan cliffy97 - are you taking names of those who want to be in a DIS takeover of a dining room for each seating?

I don't enjoy eating with just my sister and teenage nieces when we travel together, and I certainly don't want to sit at a table by myself. I will try not to talk as much as I type in my posts.

AuntLynne-

I will add to the request that you be placed on a table with others. I could not imagine having to sit on your own in the MDR ..

Dan

 

[auntlynne]

...We'd be happy to pass on any information that might help you, maybe over the isles in Asda or Tesco...

I would really like some Tesco's Finest Strawberries and Channel Island Cream yogurt. Couldn't the ship just buy a whole batch and serve it to us on the ship? We'll be so much closer in Barcelona than we are here in the States. And we've got no yogurt that even comes close. Now, the Dannon strawberry yogurt in a glass container at the Barcelona airport was mighty tasty, too.

I just had an email this morning from Eusébia Freitas of Daniel Tours in Madeira about doing a tour. We have a choice to do either last years tour or the tour below....

How to decide? I'll be PMing you soon with a decision about which, but the description of last year's sounds great. On the 2010 EBTA, I ended up on crutches by the end of a visit to Funchal - tore a ligament or something. Looking forward to seeing more of this delightful island.

We're booked into the Novotel Barcelona City for the three of us it is 90 Euro. We are simply planning on a taxi to the port. Across the street from the hotel is a Starbucks, Burger King, McDonalds and in the mall a Disney Store.

Stayed at the Hilton just down the road, walked to the mall for dinner at BK and then shopped at the Disney store. The area felt very safe.

 

[auntlynne]

AuntLynne-

I will add to the request that you be placed on a table with others. I could not imagine having to sit on your own in the MDR ..

Dan

Seems to me there's a post out there that says what information is needed for you to send to DCL - let's see who can find it first.

 

[squitty]

I work for a drinks company and sadly we do do not bring in wines in palstic any longer as there is not really market in the UK.

However, I can get Jameson and other spirits in plastic in plastic minis so I can deal! It worked great on our last cruise.


Cant believe we are 6 months away.. I never thought I would be going on a Disney Cruise!

Dan

So it's Dan's cabin for cocktails then

Well.....let's see......6 months from now, we'll be sitting down to meet our dinner table mates for the first time! Should be a very "happy" crowd with all the talk about suitcases of wine and champagne! Between the long airplane rides, touring Barcelona, celebration drinks.....wonder how many people will make it to dinner!!!!

Deb that could be so true...

I'm having a few glasses of wine tonight in preparation for six months from now.

Good man, nothing like starting the training early

Hi all....We've been booked on this sailing since the 2010 EBTA and are now coming out of the shadows. Actually, we (DH and I) recently cancelled our original on-board booking to take advantage of the verandah GTY deal. Using Cruise Compete, I booked through Cruiseadventuretravel.com and got the great GTY price along with $350 OBC, if anyone is still looking. Transferred my original booking to a Dream cruise next summer.

We're thrilled that DD (age 26) will be traveling with us this time. We're in PA, she's in TX, so any time spent together is great. Flight to BCN...check. Hotel in BCN for two nights...check. Travel insurance...check. Now to figure out the excursions and arrange a flight home...plenty of time for that.

We're definitely game for FEs and SMs...had a blast doing both on the EBTA (not our first cruise, but the first with Disney). We did RCL western Caribbean in Jan and really missed those "little things". Getting excited......!

Hi - Welcome Aboard

 

[Tod&Copper]

Hi,
have just booked this cruise & would love to be include in the Ladies Palo tea if at all possible,
many thanks,
sue

Hi Sue, welcome aboard. We are Mary and DH Stevie. This will be our 9th Disney cruise and we were on the last WBTA in 2010. It was an amazing experience. There is a fantastic crowd on here, so ask away any queries or questions

Some possible, nay probable bad news. A member of a thread on another board gave a heads up.

September 10th is Gibraltar National Day, but the Monday 12th, when we are there is a day in lieu, so most probably Morrisons and other shops will be closed.

The lady is going to look into it and see if there is anything going on, festivals and the like. Perhaps an email off to the Tourist Board might be in order to actually find out. I would think the cable car etc would still be open as it is a tourist place though.

I've just sent an email off to the Tourist Board. I am thinking the touristy shops would be open as they wouldn't want to miss a cruise ship's business, but Morrisons is another thing altogether!! However in the UK Morrisons would be open for a few hours on a public holiday, but not sure over there.

I have emailed Morissons Customer Services to see if they can confirm whether the store is closed or open .. forewarned is forearmed and we can make alternative plans.

I think we're all going to be going to AA meetings when we get home

DH is on about phoning Morrisons head office in the morning

You guys are so organised and on the case I checked out the Morrisons website and it has the number for the Gibraltar store, was swithering myself to call but it all seems to be in hand

I am an eternal optimist, and do not think for one minute that a port would shut down on the day that a cruise ship was coming in, the would lose £1,000s in revenue... just my opinion. Offices will be closed, not shops just like at home on public holidays

Plan B - if Gibraltar closed - taxi stop between BCN airport and cruise terminal at a supermarket or Plan C - locate a handy supermarket in Funchal

I'm not panicking lol

Hi all....We've been booked on this sailing since the 2010 EBTA and are now coming out of the shadows. Actually, we (DH and I) recently cancelled our original on-board booking to take advantage of the verandah GTY deal. Using Cruise Compete, I booked through Cruiseadventuretravel.com and got the great GTY price along with $350 OBC, if anyone is still looking. Transferred my original booking to a Dream cruise next summer.

We're thrilled that DD (age 26) will be traveling with us this time. We're in PA, she's in TX, so any time spent together is great. Flight to BCN...check. Hotel in BCN for two nights...check. Travel insurance...check. Now to figure out the excursions and arrange a flight home...plenty of time for that.

We're definitely game for FEs and SMs...had a blast doing both on the EBTA (not our first cruise, but the first with Disney). We did RCL western Caribbean in Jan and really missed those "little things". Getting excited......!

Hi Sue, welcome aboard. We are Mary and DH Stevie. This will be our 9th Disney cruise and we were on the last WBTA in 2010. It was an amazing experience. We are travelling without our DD this trip

 

[granmaz]

Hi all....We've been booked on this sailing since the 2010 EBTA and are now coming out of the shadows. Actually, we (DH and I) recently cancelled our original on-board booking to take advantage of the verandah GTY deal. Using Cruise Compete, I booked through Cruiseadventuretravel.com and got the great GTY price along with $350 OBC, if anyone is still looking. Transferred my original booking to a Dream cruise next summer.

We're thrilled that DD (age 26) will be traveling with us this time. We're in PA, she's in TX, so any time spent together is great. Flight to BCN...check. Hotel in BCN for two nights...check. Travel insurance...check. Now to figure out the excursions and arrange a flight home...plenty of time for that.

We're definitely game for FEs and SMs...had a blast doing both on the EBTA (not our first cruise, but the first with Disney). We did RCL western Caribbean in Jan and really missed those "little things". Getting excited......!

Hi and welcome. It is just me and my husband John in our group. We did this cruise last year and loved it so much we rebooked onboard for this one!!

Were the dresses from China or this a special eBay site for China?

They came from China. She was delighted with them. I will get some info if you like.

I am an eternal optimist, and do not think for one minute that a port would shut down on the day that a cruise ship was coming in, the would lose £1,000s in revenue... just my opinion. Offices will be closed, not shops just like at home on public holidays

Plan B - if Gibraltar closed - taxi stop between BCN airport and cruise terminal at a supermarket or Plan C - locate a handy supermarket in Funchal

I'm not panicking lol

I think the same to be honest, though Morrisons might be different. I hope they will open for all your(and others') booze requirements, I just wanted to buy my toiletries as we will be fling low cost airline this time and have a smaller baggage allowance. I was relying on buying my larger heavier things there!

You have a good plan B!!!! Plan C would be buy at the Terminal shop, though the prices might not be the best. There is always Madeira too of course.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

I am so sad watching the horrific news coming from Japan and our thoughts go out to all those affected by this disaster. Now thinking of all our friends on the Western Castline of USA ..... please stay safe