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

[JessicasMom]

Hi all

We booked yesterday

We are me, Mel 39, DD Paris 16, DD Chanelle 14 and DS Ethan 10. We are from just outside London, England and this is our first cruise.

I trying really hard to keep this as a surprise We'll see how long thats lasts.

I would really like to join in with you guys especially as I'm the only adult in my group, apparantly

see ya soon

What an incredible cruise for your very first! Welcome aboard.

 

[melonz]

What an incredible cruise for your very first! Welcome aboard.

Thank you. I am a bit nervous as I don't really like boats

But I'm so excited

 

[karentan]

you'll be fine! you wont want to get off the ship at the end of the two weeks! have you got a room assigned yet? if you're prone to seasickness, then midship is better.

 

[auntlynne]

SECOND WEEKLY CATCH-UP FOR WBTA

New Cruisers

lovingthemouse - "Just wanted to jump in and post below my friend Linda. I am late to sign on, and have so much reading to do on the cruise and its ports. This is my retirement gift to myself after 34 yrs in education. Look forward to connecting with many of you. Caroline"

melonz - "We booked yesterday We are me, Mel 39, DD Paris 16, DD Chanelle 14 and DS Ethan 10. We are from just outside London, England and this is our first cruise. "


Illnesses

Brookspayne (Burnice from Perth, Australia) - "Mum was taken into hospital yesterday (March 15) with breathing difficulties, all tests so far are good but they will keep her in for a few days for observation, she of course is worried that the cruise might be cancel, but we have 6 months to go so told her not to worry, we will be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary and 82nd birthday on the Magic, she just has to work on getting better." update: Mum has been told she has a heart leakage so she needs to rest and to take things easy, the cruise and the 10 day stopover at the Boardwalk is still on (for the moment), the week in Las Vegas, we will decide near to September.

goofieslonglostsis - "Had a silly fall recently and dealing with a concussion,"


Congratulations

goofprincess - gave her 2 weeks retirement notice

Happy Birthday Marilyn

I hope you have a lovely day, have you got anything planned?

Thank you Claire. We should be going for a walk at Harlow Car, our local National Horticultural Society gardens which are asolutely beautiful, then go to Betty's Tea Shop for a Fat Rascal!!!

Room Assignments

Pinky166 (Claire) 6321
susie2 6309
karentan 6011 sideways
Tod&Cooper (Mary) Deck 6
TotallyAngelic (Sarah/Tony) 6003 sideways
binkytell 5009
MandyGirl 5513
goofprincess Deck 5 starboard
LindaBabe - Deck 5 port

Sideways Cat 11 on Decks 5 and 6 available - have steamer trunks (extra storage with shelves)


Hotels in Barcelona

Pixie Dust for Me! - " Hotel Continental Palacete"
LindaBabe - Hotel Paral-lel

Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona

csgraves
auntlynne
goofprincess
GA-yaya - "Since it is a Disney-recommended hotel, they have the Cruise check-in available in the hotel lobby."


Kids' Thread

karentan - "someone mentioned a few days back about the kids being able to talk to each other before the cruise. do you guys want me to start a kids only thread?"
binkytell - "hi, karen that was myself, i have exchanged email addresses with leanne, mayb others would prefer a kids thread too so younger kids could join in with parents help, i know there is not many kids on board so i dont know how active it would be."
Pixie Dust for Me! - "We'd be in for kids thread...or at least Andrew would be!"

Kids' Thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2680262


Exercise - just to hold you accountable

Dgentrysim (DisneyDeb) "I wondered if anyone would be interested in working out/walking with me?"

granmaz - "You know, on the WBTA last year, and also on this year's Panama Canal cruise, the Spa did a 'walk a mile' every morning. I think it was about 9am or so. Meant you could at least walk with others and i think all abilities were there."

Pixie Dust for Me! - "I'm in for walking! Not a runner"

PFlamingo - "I'm going to need to do something, too."

LindaBabe - "Always do water exercises and I'm in for a walk, too. Might try to do the 'walk-a-mile' this time."

granmaz - "I remember they also did Aqua aerobics on the Panama Canal cruise, so perhaps they will do that on this one."

TotallyAngelic - "I hope so .... I would love that !! "

GA-yaya - "Debra, I'm in! Walking only, no running for this chick." Oooooo...Aqua Aerobics would be FUN!

Tod&Copper - "aqua aerobics would be fun"

goofprincess - "No running for me either and DH walks way too fast for me. I'll give it a shot."

DISNEYFAN_SD - "I would love water aerobics...That would be fun... I'm not a runner either"

Namspuk - "Water aerobics sounds like a lot of fun though so I'd definitely be in."


Airfare

GA-yaya - "Have you tried Kayak.com or Airfare.com? We were seeing the same amounts to fly to Barcelona as you are, but kept watching these websites. On Wednesday night, the flight that we wanted showed up under "Secret Carrier/Airline" designation on Airfare.com - and we were able to determine that was indeed the flight we wanted by adjusting the flight parameters. So we bought it!!! Our one-way direct flight was under $800pp , as opposed to $2100pp if we had actually bought it from the airline website."


It's a small, small world

MandyGirl - "this is where we stayed when we were in Inverness prior to DD1 coming along"

...Mandy, our office is just round the corner from the pizzeria and my DDs orthodontist is right next to your guest house. Know exactly where you were.

Inverness is such a beautiful city. Has lots of fond memories for us too, I am not originally from the North, but moved up here when I married DH, who was stationed here with the Royal Air Force. DH proposed to me in a gorgeous little guest house in Ness Walk

DISactivities

Tortola-JVD Catamaran Excursion Update:

Wednesday 21st Tortola, British Virgin Islands - DCL ashore 7:30 a.m, aboard 3:45 p.m.

I sent our monthly update to the charter company, and passed along the questions on payment. Here is the reply for planning purposes:

Hi Mandy,

Thanks for the update - we will schedule the trip from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm
- its best for each couple to pay separately with cash or travelers checks
(US dollar is the currency used here in the BVI) Our boats are located right at the cruise dock so there is no
long walk or taxi required

We still have room if you are thinking of joining! Just send me a PM.

For sure going: 31 (paying pax)
+ Maybe going: 6 (maybe paying pax)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Possibly going: 37 (paying pax - need 40 minimum)
For sure (under 3): 2 (no charge for under 3)
Total capacity: 39 (includes under age 3, free)
** Need 40 paying, max capacity of 50. **

News You Can Use

• ticker factory has an iPhone app for vacation countdown
• The drink station is aft

...There always seems to be a Monsoon bargain on ebay as well at half the price of the shop ...

and the Number 1 piece of news:
karentan is (again) officially sailing on this cruise thanks to UK discount

 

[karentan]

and the Number 1 piece of news:
karentan is (again) officially sailing on this cruise thanks to UK discount

kinda an important piece of news considering i'm the unofficial thread leader!! does help if that person is actually booked onboard!

and would like to say:
another great recap!!

ps: i'm going to start a new thread over the next two days as i dont think this thread will last til my next day off at the rate we're going! (we're only allowed to go to 250 pages per thread). i'll post the link here when its up, running, and ready

 

[auntlynne]

Are you leaving post for the various activities and news: Jost Van ****, Noel's Welcome Wagon...? etc...

When I set up a part 2 of a thread, we let the appropriate people save a post at the beginning to have them all in the front. If they didn't have time to get all the information in order, they just had to type "saved" or something other and then fill in later. Makes one less step later in that they don't have to go through you to update it.

 

[GA-yaya]

Auntlynne, Thank You!!!

Nice recap. Appreciate the work you put into arranging it.
Also, Woohoo! I was excited to be quoted in the recap. (Silly, I know.)
Okay, I'll be held to the promise to exercise on the cruise....

Again, Thanks Lynne!

 

[GA-yaya]

I don't know what rock I've been under, but don't remember reading much about this.
Mentioned to husband last night and we are interested in doing this.

Thanks!!!!

Apparently, there were 2 of us under that rock!!!
We're now looking into it also - looks very nice...

Peggy

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

Hi Mel,

I too am Karen and am sailing with my DS who will soon be 13!

Karen

 

[MandyGirl]

Hi all

We booked yesterday

We are me, Mel 39, DD Paris 16, DD Chanelle 14 and DS Ethan 10. We are from just outside London, England and this is our first cruise.

Welcome aboard, Mel!! And YES, what an AWESOME first cruise!!

SECOND WEEKLY CATCH-UP FOR WBTA

Room Assignments

Pinky166 (Claire) 6321
susie2 6309
karentan 6011 sideways
Tod&Cooper (Mary) Deck 6
TotallyAngelic (Sarah/Tony) 6003 sideways
binkytell 5009
MandyGirl 5513
goofprincess Deck 5 starboard
LindaBabe - Deck 5 port

Sideways Cat 11 on Decks 5 and 6 available - have steamer trunks (extra storage with shelves)

Tod&Cooper are now nextdoor to us in 5509 - bringing that "small world" even closer!! Yay for sideways cabins! (And I think DD will be so thrilled to see a kilt!)

Are you leaving post for the various activities and news: Jost Van ****, Noel's Welcome Wagon...? etc...

When I set up a part 2 of a thread, we let the appropriate people save a post at the beginning to have them all in the front. If they didn't have time to get all the information in order, they just had to type "saved" or something other and then fill in later. Makes one less step later in that they don't have to go through you to update it.

That sounds like an idea! We just need to be online about at the same time and fill it with the save spots, right? How about 8PM Texas time... you up for that Karen?? Just kidding. But I'm usually up, so could do the Pyjama and Tortola spot - just give me a heads up when you are going to start it (day/time). I'm usually up it seems...

Apparently, there were 2 of us under that rock!!!
We're now looking into it also - looks very nice...

Peggy

You mean in 3000+ posts, you missed that one? Just kidding. Yep - just let me know. If those 6 "maybes" become a "YES" and you two book, we will have met our minimum 40 and can cut it off so we don't push the max of 50. (So any of you lurkers out there thinking about this... you better hurry and speak up!!)

AWESOME RECAP, Lynne!! I'm just glad I didn't commit to any weight loss stuff out loud!! There's a pretty good chance I'll make it out to Huntsville with the girls to visit family in Athens. If so, we may have to do a mini-pre-cruise meet!


And YAY - just finished DD's countdown calendar for the cruise - one of those cute $1 spot Princess calendars from my favorite store, Target!! Put some pictures on each month that have Disney characters or her name in Disney fill, and some numbers for the countdown. (But shhhh..... the calendar is really for me... and to remind hubby every day how much longer!)

 

[binkytell]

Hi all

We booked yesterday


see ya soon

to the wbta

this is also our first ever cruise but hopefully not our last

let the planning begin

sarah xx

 

[Dgentrysim]

Apparently, there were 2 of us under that rock!!!
We're now looking into it also - looks very nice...

Peggy

We may come in a little slow to the news but we take off when we finally comprehend whats going on! Just go ahead and sign up Peggy. When Roger wants to know what's going on (as you are getting ready for the excursion)....just tell him "Don't you remember me talking with you about this over a "couple" of drinks one night??????" He'll never be the wiser!

 

[Dgentrysim]

AuntLynne.....my hat's off to you! You do an excellent job of recapping a week's worth of entries!

 

[DISNEYFAN_SD]

Here are photos of the obstructed veranda staterooms. Originally, they were sold as Category 6, but recently they were reclassified as Category 7. However, unlike the Cat. 7 Navigators verandahs, which are more enclosed, these staterooms have the "regular" plexiglass verandah rail. The four staterooms are: 6134, 6634, 7120, 7620. The location photo below courtesy of Dave

I found the pictures on the castawayclub website. Not the Disney Cruiseline version just castawayclub dot com.

For some reason the actual link will not show now matter how I type it.
Drew

Thanks Drew

 

[LindaBabe]

Wonderful recap! Thank you!

Just a note, if there are any "plant people". I don't do mountain roads very well, so i'll be skipping the excursions in Madeira and taking a taxi tour to the Botanical garden, Monte Tropical gardens & the Orchid Gardens. My room mates will probably do Noel's tour, so I may have a couple seats available, if anyone would care to share.

 

[birkner]

Hi all

We booked yesterday

We are me, Mel 39, DD Paris 16, DD Chanelle 14 and DS Ethan 10. We are from just outside London, England and this is our first cruise.

I trying really hard to keep this as a surprise We'll see how long thats lasts.

I would really like to join in with you guys especially as I'm the only adult in my group, apparantly

see ya soon

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.

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.

 

[auntlynne]

Are you leaving post for the various activities and news: Jost Van ****, Noel's Welcome Wagon...? etc...

When I set up a part 2 of a thread, we let the appropriate people save a post at the beginning to have them all in the front. If they didn't have time to get all the information in order, they just had to type "saved" or something other and then fill in later. Makes one less step later in that they don't have to go through you to update it.

...That sounds like an idea! We just need to be online about at the same time and fill it with the save spots, right? How about 8PM Texas time... you up for that Karen?? Just kidding. But I'm usually up, so could do the Pyjama and Tortola spot - just give me a heads up when you are going to start it (day/time). I'm usually up it seems......

We started our new part of the thread ahead of time - notified those who needed to put up info posts - when it was time to move over, we made the announcement of where the new post was and the moderator closed out the old one and moved the new one to the Cruise Meets forum.

I think I started Post 1 with a notice of where the old thread was so people just searching wouldn't think it was the current thread.

I like to think it's less about being a control freak than having all the information in one area.

 

[Chirpee]

With an unexpected 11 inches of snow (yes, 11 , when 2-4 were forecast) greeting us this morning (and 1-3 more coming this afternoon), any thought of warm, tropical beaches is comforting. I'm definitely watching the YouTube video a few times today. Just last Friday, it was almost 70 deg. and Larry was cleaning up the property with a leaf blower. Now, he has to dig out the extension cord he left outside, just to use the snow thrower!

I can empathize...we had snow on the first day of spring (Monday) after having several days of warmer than normal temperatures and being able to see grass for the first time in several months. Luckily we only had 2 inches and it seems to be disappearing rapidly, but we're not out of the woods yet; winter seems to have a way of hanging on. At least planning for this cruise brings warm tropical places to mind

 

[Namsupak]

Welcome Caroline and Mel!!

Lynne- Thanks for another great recap! I wouldn't be able to keep up without you Can't believe you're holding us accountable for saying we'd excercise. Guess I really have to now.

 

[lovingthemouse]

Thanks for the welcome. Thinking I will try and catch up on this awesome cruise once April vacation comes. School is keeping me very busy right now. Caroline