Sept 18 2010 WB TransAtlantic Pirates/Capt Jacks Re-Repoing Repossession Cruise Pt.3

[2canadianfans]

We too are very excited about this cruise.So much to plan ( which is half the fun ) Air is unreal from Canada! Will keep a eye on that. For now we have Mickey Air. We also have a ressie on hold for the Panama cruise . What to do !!! The Transatlantic is our first choice..but so hard to actually cancel the other.We did the May 2005 Panama cruise..what fun we had !! Off to work..just wanted to say hi...sharon

 

[Carys]

Hi everyone

I'm just ducking on over from the September 2011 WD TA thread to ask whether anyone would please be willing to save all their navigators from this cruise so we can take a sneak preview of what might be planned for our cruise? Over-planners unite!

Cheers!

 

[gismo1554]

this is what I am hoping for - and if I don't get an upgrade I will try and pay for one at the port! I ahve an upgrade fund but so far it only has £48.50 in it - so not quite a verandah yet!

LOL well were happy inside but it would be nice to get a little bump up to a Cat 10! Either way Im happy with our room and Dan knows no different so doesn't care

 

[gismo1554]

We too are very excited about this cruise.So much to plan ( which is half the fun ) Air is unreal from Canada! Will keep a eye on that. For now we have Mickey Air. We also have a ressie on hold for the Panama cruise . What to do !!! The Transatlantic is our first choice..but so hard to actually cancel the other.We did the May 2005 Panama cruise..what fun we had !! Off to work..just wanted to say hi...sharon

Its hard letting the other one go. I know when we were looking at the repo cruise from LA to Vancouver we really didn't want to say no but after adding up things thought it would just eat into how much we could spend on this one - which we didn't want!

 

[gismo1554]

Hi everyone

I'm just ducking on over from the September 2011 WD TA thread to ask whether anyone would please be willing to save all their navigators from this cruise so we can take a sneak preview of what might be planned for our cruise? Over-planners unite!

Cheers!

Don't worry I am planning on keeping anything and everything as per normal so will have some!

 

[jewelmicky]

Now that I have the funds pretty well in hand.....i am worried I will not be able to get the time off!!!!!!

The hospital has REALLY cut back....we will lose one week of CTO (combined time off.) I had colitis a few months ago, and that really ate into my time bank. We have to book all of our time off for 2010 on Dec. 1st, and I won't have enough time saved up by then. I will have the time by the cruise, but if those days are already booked by people that have the time now, I am SOL!

Oh well, I have until May to figure it all out!

 

[gismo1554]

Now that I have the funds pretty well in hand.....i am worried I will not be able to get the time off!!!!!!

The hospital has REALLY cut back....we will lose one week of CTO (combined time off.) I had colitis a few months ago, and that really ate into my time bank. We have to book all of our time off for 2010 on Dec. 1st, and I won't have enough time saved up by then. I will have the time by the cruise, but if those days are already booked by people that have the time now, I am SOL!

Oh well, I have until May to figure it all out!

Oh God I hope it all works out for you. Are you not allowed to anticipate the leave then? We can here as long as we aren't anticipating a whole years worth.

 

[GOS]

Evening all

BA flights booked flying out from Gatwick at 9.30 approx on 17th.

Hotel booked - 1 night in Hotel Continental Barcelona (following a recommendation on this thread).

Just need to sort out the hotel in FL, car hire and flights home.

 

[gismo1554]

Evening all

BA flights booked flying out from Gatwick at 9.30 approx on 17th.

Hotel booked - 1 night in Hotel Continental Barcelona (following a recommendation on this thread).

Just need to sort out the hotel in FL, car hire and flights home.

Well done! I still need to look at hotel in Barcelona and Flights home!

 

[Walt & Di]

Evening all

BA flights booked flying out from Gatwick at 9.30 approx on 17th.

Hotel booked - 1 night in Hotel Continental Barcelona (following a recommendation on this thread).

Just need to sort out the hotel in FL, car hire and flights home.

Hi Heather,

Booked 3 nights at Le MERIDIEN

Maybe we can do Dinner ...

Walt

 

[sandiedvc]

Hi all!

Haven't posted on here since I first booked. I wasn't really sure if we would be able to go, so I thought I would stay away until we knew for sure!

We have arrangement with DCL to book our flight and hotel, but I am hoping to do it myself a little cheaper!

I went ahead and booked the AC Barcelona for the night before the cruise. It was 120 euros for 2 adults. Including VAT, about $187. DCL had us at the Hilton Diagonal Mar for $415 per night!

I will have to look at flights in a couple of weeks when the booking window opens. Has anyone used vayama and cheapoair before. The prices are good, but are they reputable?

Right now though, I am busy thinking about our first trip to London!!!! DH had to go on business and I had a flight voucher that was about to expire, so it was meant to be.

I hope to do all the proper cheesy touristy stuff!

I went to our local Wal-Mart today and a busload of Japanese tourists had stopped there and were taking pictures of the Wal-Mart. I laughed a little, then stopped and thought to myself that I will be doing the same thing in London! What is commonplace to me can be something exotic to someone from another country.

I will probably be popping in and out of the thread for the next couple of months. We have a lot going on right now, but I will try and check in.

 

[disney minnie]

We are currently booked on the Eastern Transatlantic but we may have a few problems with the dates. I would like to hear from anyone that has done both the Eastern and the Western. Obviously the route is in reverse, but what are the other differences - good and bad? I would love to hear your input so it can help us make up our mind. So far we like the schedule of the Eastern, but we have a lot of things going on during that time and I am already feeling the pressure.

Thanks

 

[ibouncetoo]

We are currently booked on the Eastern Transatlantic but we may have a few problems with the dates. I would like to hear from anyone that has done both the Eastern and the Western. Obviously the route is in reverse, but what are the other differences - good and bad? I would love to hear your input so it can help us make up our mind. So far we like the schedule of the Eastern, but we have a lot of things going on during that time and I am already feeling the pressure.

Thanks

Well, I like the Western over the Eastern because the transatlantic flight (and subsequent hassle) is at the beginning of the trip...once you are on the ship you can relax. I also like ending the trip with some time in the Caribbean.

.

 

[MrsMork]

We are currently booked on the Eastern Transatlantic but we may have a few problems with the dates. I would like to hear from anyone that has done both the Eastern and the Western. Obviously the route is in reverse, but what are the other differences - good and bad? I would love to hear your input so it can help us make up our mind. So far we like the schedule of the Eastern, but we have a lot of things going on during that time and I am already feeling the pressure.

Thanks

Well, I like the Western over the Eastern because the transatlantic flight (and subsequent hassle) is at the beginning of the trip...once you are on the ship you can relax. I also like ending the trip with some time in the Caribbean.

.

And golly! On The WB you get to sail with US!!!

 

[tig82174]

Well, I like the Western over the Eastern because the transatlantic flight (and subsequent hassle) is at the beginning of the trip...once you are on the ship you can relax. I also like ending the trip with some time in the Caribbean.

.

This is a great point about about having that long TransAtlantic flight at the BEGINNING of the trip (if you live in the US, that is----for our sailing mates from across the pond it's different, of course) rather than at the end.

Another advantage of doing the western instead of the eastern is the time difference----headed East you lose an hour each day at sea while you're sailing and so you end up getting up an hour earlier every day (and even though your'e on vacation, you'd be surprised but you actually DO miss those hours!!).....doing it headed West it's like you get 6 hours of extra vacation at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!

 

[MrsMork]

.....doing it headed West it's like you get 6 hours of extra vacation at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!

 

[Bareacuda]

I just love your positive attitude Erik !

Ann

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Now that I have the funds pretty well in hand.....i am worried I will not be able to get the time off!!!!!!

The hospital has REALLY cut back....we will lose one week of CTO (combined time off.) I had colitis a few months ago, and that really ate into my time bank. We have to book all of our time off for 2010 on Dec. 1st, and I won't have enough time saved up by then. I will have the time by the cruise, but if those days are already booked by people that have the time now, I am SOL!

Oh well, I have until May to figure it all out!

Heyyy, that stinks that they do it that way!
DH has to book all time off at the beginning of the year so he can use THAT years vacation time for what time he books to have off. True, if he hadn't "earned it" yet he would have to wait till he earned it then try to book it and hope the time wasn't taken already. But that's only like if he passes a 'milestone' year (meaning he was hired in June- and let's say that's a 5th year or 10th year or 15th year where another extra week of vacation is added, for example. He'd have to wait till june- to get that extra week off).

But in most cases he can just book off all his vacation time at the beginning of the year- the vacation time he gets THAT year. So they cut back on time off and you have to book it before you have it. That's a bummer! I hope it works out for you though!

How is anyone booking flights already?
Honestly how are you booking the hotel already? Are you just finding it somewhere and then booking it by calling BARCELONA? (do they have 800#'s or are you guys calling long distance international to book these?)

I can't get anywhere to show the dates before WBTA yet. I figured people were finding a way to book the rooms but some have booked flights already too? How?

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Ditto - we changed to main dining for this cruise - I found with the late dining that we were just wandering about aimlessly after dinner and at least with the main dining you can see the show after dinner and then take it from there. Gives you more time to enjoy the evenings. Plus with less ports to visit there will be less rushing back to get ready for dinner on the main dining, which was what made me choose the late dining last time - but we ended up rushing anyway to get to the show and we missed a couple of them.

We have such issues with dining times. We tried late dining first cruise- and it didn't work out well for us (primarily due to the kids activities were more "fun" during the late dining so we spent each dinner with the kids rushing to finish their food and one of us taking turns taking them to the club/lab as soon as they finished).
Then we tried late again- not forcing the kids to eat with us (except for a few nights on a 15nt cruise). Really didn't work well then either- DH is not a late night person and eating that late just tended to make him want to go straight to bed since his tummy was all full that late. LOL I was not happy with this because I don't want to go see show, eat and go straight to bed! LOL

Last cruise we ended up with early dining (didn't say a preference and got main dining) and we only did it once- then gave it away for someone to take that was hoping for it and ate in the room the entire cruise (we had a cat 3- but it was bargain upgraded at the port and we can't afford to do that every cruise.) That really worked best for us though. Way easier to eat when we wanted and just round up the kids to come eat- with no one having to get dressed up either! It was great! LOL

we'll see how main dining works though because we don't have a cat 3 this time and I can't see us eating "everywhere else" instead of the dining room every night. We thought late dining would give us more time- but it really doesn't because you still have to get all ready (and there) for the show before late dining anyway. Plus I think with late dining the dinner tends to take longer sometimes and I think that's part of the problem for us- we're really not into dining for 2hrs. (probably partially due to the fact that our family of 5 always ends up at a table for 6 by ourselves!) So we're thinking maybe main dining will be a little more sped up since they need to get us out for the late dining time.

We'll see... we're hoping it works for us.. hope hope hope.

 

[TotallyAngelic]

We too are very excited about this cruise.So much to plan ( which is half the fun ) Air is unreal from Canada! Will keep a eye on that. For now we have Mickey Air. We also have a ressie on hold for the Panama cruise . What to do !!! The Transatlantic is our first choice..but so hard to actually cancel the other.We did the May 2005 Panama cruise..what fun we had !! Off to work..just wanted to say hi...sharon

Hi Sharon! You're right - planning is half the fun! I am really looking forward to starting work on my door designs, FE gifts etc etc.
and with only 11 months to go I had better start thinking about it pretty soon - last time I was sooooo last minute!

LOL well were happy inside but it would be nice to get a little bump up to a Cat 10! Either way Im happy with our room and Dan knows no different so doesn't care

We were happy with the inside cabin - so it is only a bonus if we get the verandah.

Now that I have the funds pretty well in hand.....i am worried I will not be able to get the time off!!!!!!

The hospital has REALLY cut back....we will lose one week of CTO (combined time off.) I had colitis a few months ago, and that really ate into my time bank. We have to book all of our time off for 2010 on Dec. 1st, and I won't have enough time saved up by then. I will have the time by the cruise, but if those days are already booked by people that have the time now, I am SOL!

Oh well, I have until May to figure it all out!

How annoying - that must be a real pain. We also have to book all of our annual leave for 2010 and up until April 2011 by the end of October 2009 - it means booking last minute bargains is difficult as your annual leave is more or less fixed once you have booked it unless you can swap with someone. Perhaps your colleagues will swap with you to give you the dates you need once you have the time accumulated. It sounds a complicated system - makes me appreciate working for the UK NHS a bit more, although I get miffed at having to book all my annual leave now for the next 18 months. Hope you manage to get something sorted out.

Evening all

BA flights booked flying out from Gatwick at 9.30 approx on 17th.

Hotel booked - 1 night in Hotel Continental Barcelona (following a recommendation on this thread).

Just need to sort out the hotel in FL, car hire and flights home.

Help! Everyone is booking things and I have to wait! Why do I have to live in such a out of the way place! Bring on November and then I can book some flights and everything will seem much more real!

Hi all!

I went ahead and booked the AC Barcelona for the night before the cruise. It was 120 euros for 2 adults. Including VAT, about $187. DCL had us at the Hilton Diagonal Mar for $415 per night!

$415 Pleased to hear you got a better deal! Hope you have a great time in London when you visit? We do touristy stuff when we visit London and we live in the UK !!!!! I can highly recommend the open top hop-on, hop-off bus tours - you can get off at all the major sights and have a look around and their routes cover everything really. Some of them also include a river trip on the Thames. They all give a running commentary and it is really informative.

Well, I like the Western over the Eastern because the transatlantic flight (and subsequent hassle) is at the beginning of the trip...once you are on the ship you can relax. I also like ending the trip with some time in the Caribbean.

I wish we could get the long flight over at the beginning - that said the avantages of the WB still outweighed the EB for us, and I wanted to spend time in the Caribbean at the end of the cruise and the one day in MK which will make leaving the Magic less of an ordeal.

Another advantage of doing the western instead of the eastern is the time difference----headed East you lose an hour each day at sea while you're sailing and so you end up getting up an hour earlier every day (and even though your'e on vacation, you'd be surprised but you actually DO miss those hours!!).....doing it headed West it's like you get 6 hours of extra vacation at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!!

Do you know I never actually thought of that - that's a real bonus