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

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks Mrs. Mork and Krista!!! Mrs. Mork - looks like we were both on the WB PC 2008 cruise. I love the repositioning cruises - more bang for my buck. I may even book the Los Angeles-Vancouver repo cruise in 4/11. The prices for this cruise are great.

We are booked on that repo as well (we love repos too--we did the May 2007 repo and it was the BEST vacation of our lives). Erik and Jason (Erik should be posting again soon--he is the lanyard guy) are on it as well

Just got an email from Travelzoo about a airfare sale from JFK to BCN on Orbitz.

Air Berlin was showing a fare of $455 inc taxes. Price before taxes was only $260. Stop in Dusseldorf. I assume this is a good airline?

Aer Lingus was showing $630 inc taxes, but their website shows $591 inc taxes. $566 before taxes.

Both fares are from Thurs, 9/16/10.

I have only flown Air Berlin for short flights in Europe, but they were good. Aer Lingus is fine too. It does see, to attract Irish school groups which can be loud at times though

I've found some of the really low cost airlines don't allow (or didn't when I have tried in the past) non-US citizens to book flights on them, I usually now use Expedia or Travelocity for my booking within the US.

:

I thought at that point they were talking about getting from Paris to Barcelona. Airlines like Ryanair cater to Europeans. The transatlantic flights all seem to be open to at least EU and US citizens. I do not know for sure about others

I know this is totally off topic, but I had to share a link with everyone.

Last year there was a live webcam of Shibu Inu puppies that was all over the Internet. Well, a new liter was born on Saturday, January 16! Here is the link if you would be interested in seeing some really cute puppies!

http://www.ustream.tv/sfshiba

Aawwww thanks.


Marika has asked me to post here and let everyone know she and Rio are going to be active on the kids' thread now. It looks like the last poster gave up trying to get an answer back in November so if anyone knows any kids how have wanted to post let them know they will have someone to converse with now

 

[KermitRocks]

Yes! There are several on this cruise that were on the 2008 PC. PJ and Marilyn that I can think of right now. What an amazing trip that was!

Did you participate in any DIS gatherings?

We were on that cruise, also!

Didn't know anything about DISing at that time.

It was an amazing trip indeed! Canal day was also my birthday and we dined at Palo that night. It was so much fun! Oh and the weather was perfect for the entire cruise! I could go on and on!!!!

I wasn't a member of the Dis yet and didn't participate in any activities for that trip. I am looking forward to participating in Dis gatherings/activities for this cruise though.

Aboard Mate

Welcome to the group.

Hi and welcome! Not too bad a price on the flights from the sounds of it. Were doing BA to Barcelona but only from London as we live in the UK.

Thanks DisneyVegas1, pilk and gismo!

I was pleased with the price. Some of airlines wanted double that amount if you booked directly through them. Totally ridiculous and doesn't make any sense to me. But I'm happy there are sites offering good rates.

We are also considering doing similar - thinking about the last Alaska cruise and then the repo back to LA. At least there isn't a 33 hour flight to get to LA

We are booked on that repo as well (we love repos too--we did the May 2007 repo and it was the BEST vacation of our lives). Erik and Jason (Erik should be posting again soon--he is the lanyard guy) are on it as well

It would be fun to have a big Dis group on the first voyage to Canada/Alaska.

Hi Kermit and welcome aboard ..... we are also staying at the Praktik Rambla ....there are quite a few of us, we will probably be taking over the hotel
QUOTE]

Thanks TotallyAngelic! I look forward to meeting everyone at the Praktik.

I booked at the Pratik Rambla and also had purchased the transer package separate from airfare. I spoke with the Disney TA about using Disney transfer even though I was not staying at a Disney hotel. Since we are only a short distance from Le Meridien, she said that we needed to check in with the Disney desk at Le Meridien to find out the exact details and get ourselves and our luggage there at the designated time that we can use the transfer from hotel to port. We plan to take the Aerobus to Placa Catalunya and walk the distance to our hotel. Its 5 euros per person and we have to handle our own luggage, but we pack lightly anyway, so it is doable. Hope the info helps.

Looking forward to meeting all the Disers at the Pratik. Looks like a big crowd.

Thanks grmmybtty for the info on Disney transfers. I'm going to look into it. Maybe we can have a huge group walking from the Praktik to Le Meridien. It could be our own parade through the streets of Barcelona!

 

[LittleDisneyLovers]

The Hilton Diagonal Mar is a Disney hotel. Part of the reason we chose it as we (me) are international novices! Besides I can't speak more than two words in Spanish and those are so horribly pronounced I cause native speakers to laugh at me!

My kids were trying to teach me Spanish in a cab in Cozumel, and we had the cab driver in stitches. We all agreed that for the sake of international relations I should refrain from trying.

So back to question, we were told that we couldn't book just the hotel to the port transfer by our travel agent. However, I seem to remember that I saw that someone had done just that. I guess we could ask some of the Med cruisers when they start returning. Failing that, I am going to check with the Disney desk when we check in.

We tried to get into the Hilton, but it was all booked, we needed a room for 4. My spanish is completely non-existant! We arrive on the 17th, Friday arvo and leave for port Saturday morning, so hopefully we can get through less than 24 hours with no spanish! I will look into the port transfer, Hopefully we can do it, Although by the time we get to your hotel from ours by Taxi, it may just be better to go straight to port??? More research to do!

I booked at the Pratik Rambla and also had purchased the transer package separate from airfare. I spoke with the Disney TA about using Disney transfer even though I was not staying at a Disney hotel. Since we are only a short distance from Le Meridien, she said that we needed to check in with the Disney desk at Le Meridien to find out the exact details and get ourselves and our luggage there at the designated time that we can use the transfer from hotel to port. I booked air using miles and will be arriving on 9/9, we will not be able use the airport to hotel part of the transfer. We plan to take the Aerobus to Placa Catalunya and walk the distance to our hotel. Its 5 euros per person and we have to handle our own luggage, but we pack lightly anyway, so it is doable. Hope the info helps.

Looking forward to meeting all the Disers at the Pratik. Looks like a big crowd.

Thanks for that great info. I will look into Taxi costs vs getting to the Hilton and paying transfer costs. Is there any other advantage or disadvantage to going by Disney transfer? Besides meeting some fellow cruisers

 

[sandiedvc]

We tried to get into the Hilton, but it was all booked, we needed a room for 4. My spanish is completely non-existant! We arrive on the 17th, Friday arvo and leave for port Saturday morning, so hopefully we can get through less than 24 hours with no spanish! I will look into the port transfer, Hopefully we can do it, Although by the time we get to your hotel from ours by Taxi, it may just be better to go straight to port??? More research to do!

Hmm... we just booked the Hilton on our own in Jan, but we only needed room for two. Guess that is the difference. If you are at the Novotel Barcelona City, it looks like you are closer to the port than you are the Hilton. We may be on the same road, but we are a lot further east and on the coast.

Thanks for that great info. I will look into Taxi costs vs getting to the Hilton and paying transfer costs. Is there any other advantage or disadvantage to going by Disney transfer? Besides meeting some fellow cruisers

Here is some information from the Barcelona Taxi Bureau:

http://www.taxibarcelona.cat/Portals/0/pdfs/Tarifes%20Taxi%202009.pdf

There is English on the pdf. Just takes some time to find!

We will be on the T-1 tariff schedule to go to the port because it is a Saturday. So 1.1 euro per km. To take us to the port they will charge an extra 2.1 euro on top of the mileage fee. They also charge 1 euro per bag larger than a small carryon. I think they will also charge a fee if you have to call for a cab.

Never done a Disney transfer, so maybe someone else can weigh in on that.

 

[MrsMork]

Are these taxi rates per taxi, not per person?

 

[MagicMe]

Well, took the plunge and booked the hotel room for Friday night before the cruise! Joining the praktik ramblas group!!

 

[HallsofVA]

I've been stalking flights from Washington DC to Barcelona, but they've been about $1000 or more for the one way trip, which was the same that DCL wanted, unless I went through a consolidator.

Imagine how excited I was this morning when my fare alert said USAir had dropped the price to $371! ($401 after taxes.) So for $1600, I got our 4 tix, with just one stop in the US just like I wanted! Woo Hoo!!

 

[sandiedvc]

Are these taxi rates per taxi, not per person?

Yep, this is what goes into the fare the taxis will charge your party. They seem to be set by some Barcelona gov't agency.

I can't really tell what they will charge you if you call a cab. It looks like up to an additional 4.2 euro on Saturdays depending on where they have to come from? I don't take too many cabs. Does that sound right?

One thing to note on the fare from the airport is that the minimum charge is 20 euro-- it doesn't matter if where you are going is only 1 or 2 km from the airport.

Also looks like they will only change up to 20 euro in the taxis.

I read that the tipping is only rounding up to the nearest euro. That really doesn't sound like enough. Is that what people really do in Spain?

 

[sandiedvc]

I've been stalking flights from Washington DC to Barcelona, but they've been about $1000 or more for the one way trip, which was the same that DCL wanted, unless I went through a consolidator.

Imagine how excited I was this morning when my fare alert said USAir had dropped the price to $371! ($401 after taxes.) So for $1600, I got our 4 tix, with just one stop in the US just like I wanted! Woo Hoo!!

Congrats!
What a great price! Looks like prices are moving down now.

 

[nacho1337]

book my airfare today and hotel. $459.00 for direct flight to Barcelona from Philadelphia on us air. We are staying at Praktik. It look like the dis boarder are taking over both hotels, One thing we should look in to is maybe renting a bus to take us to the port instead of us all taking taxis, since both hotels are 6 blocks apart.


Stephen

 

[nacho1337]

I've been stalking flights from Washington DC to Barcelona, but they've been about $1000 or more for the one way trip, which was the same that DCL wanted, unless I went through a consolidator.

Imagine how excited I was this morning when my fare alert said USAir had dropped the price to $371! ($401 after taxes.) So for $1600, I got our 4 tix, with just one stop in the US just like I wanted! Woo Hoo!!

What day are fly out. It look like your flight connect in philly We maybe on the same flight from philly.

 

[MagicMe]

book my airfare today and hotel. $459.00 for direct flight to Barcelona from Philadelphia on us air. We are staying at Praktik. It look like the dis boarder are taking over both hotels, One thing we should look in to is maybe renting a bus to take us to the port instead of us all taking taxis, since both hotels are 6 blocks apart.


Stephen

Did you book that direct with us air? When are you flying out? Asking cause we live north of phila and would love to find a direct flight at a decent price since my DIL really doesn't like to fly.

 

[nacho1337]

book it with usairways.com. for the sept 15. it leaves at 06:25 PM amd the flight number is 742

 

[grmmybtty]

That is really helpful thanks Betty. We planned to take the bus to Placa Catalunya and then walk to the hotel too, but I didn't know you could use the hotel transfer at Le Meridien. I wonder how much they charge you to do that, as it might be a better option than taking a taxi. Do you have to book the transfer in advance.

I booked the whole transfer package which was about $130 (forgot the exact amount) for 2 of us, mainly just for the port-MCO transfer. Since the Pratik was so close to Le Meridien, I thought I would call and ask and was pleasantly surprised when they said that it was OK. I will call closer to the date to confirm. If we were arriving a day earlier (9/8 when the last of the Med cruises would be departing) I would have tried to take advantage of the airport transfer to Le Meridien too.

 

[HallsofVA]

What day are fly out. It look like your flight connect in philly We maybe on the same flight from philly.

9/15. Spending 2 nights in Barcelona pre-cruise. We also booked direct with usairways.com.

We actually looked into the cost if we booked just the PHL-BCN leg and just drove up from VA, but it was actually cheaper for us to book the connecting flight out of DCA. Oh well, at least we'll have a quicker return after the cruise!

 

[HallsofVA]

We're planning on spending two nights in the Barcelona area before the cruise. I've had a reservation at the Le Meridien Barcelona for those two nights, but my IL's weren't able to get reservation there before they sold out on Friday night, so now we're all staying at the Marriott by the airport on points. Le Meridien has a room available for thursday but not friday night that I can book using points. I was thinking about booking a room there using points to use as a "day room" while we're wandering around or if the kids get tired, so we don't have to head all the way back to the airport to rest.

Good idea? Bad idea? Any thoughts? Anyone know how centrally located that hotel is and whether it would make sense to burn the points in that way?

 

[MagicMe]

book it with usairways.com. for the sept 15. it leaves at 06:25 PM amd the flight number is 742

Rats! I see availability on the 15th but we're not leaving until the 16th and it's sold out!! Guess I'll just keep looking. Thanks for the info!!

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I've been stalking flights from Washington DC to Barcelona, but they've been about $1000 or more for the one way trip, which was the same that DCL wanted, unless I went through a consolidator.

Imagine how excited I was this morning when my fare alert said USAir had dropped the price to $371! ($401 after taxes.) So for $1600, I got our 4 tix, with just one stop in the US just like I wanted! Woo Hoo!!

Is that USairways you're talking about?

I was just coming here to ask if anyone was booking with them. I'm so scared now to book on my own- even though I really want to (cost so much less than what we booked with Disney) - I'm so scared of late/delayed flights and/or they go bankrupt or something. the nonrefundable flights are scaring me!

However- at first I had looked at Lufthansa- which would stop in Frankfurt on the way there- and then AA from MCO to DFW on the way back. Total wold be $3947.40 for the 5 of us.

Our total right now with Disney is $4709.25 plus we'd need to pay atleast $75 each deviation fee (plus our TA said it depends- the flight might cost more on top of the deviation fee as well!) but just with the deviation fee, if we got lucky on that, it would be $5084.25

But now I look and USairways to PHL then to BCN --- and the same flight from MCO to DFW afterwards- would only be $2764.50!

So to recap:
Disney atleast $5084.25 (possibly more)- and transfers at BCN not an issue since we've booked our own apt.... although I suppose transfers at port to MCO would be covered.

Lufthansa- stop in frankfurt, with nonstop to DFW after the cruise is $3947.50 (we'd pay transfers all- including port to MCO)

USAirways- stop in philly, with nonstop to DFW after the cruise is $2764.50

Seems to be a no-brainer right?

Trying to weigh pros and cons....
Disney's only pro is the transfer from port to MCO which is really not an issue- we can do that inexpensively with rentacar. No clue when our flights would be, how many stops, layovers, how much luggage fees, etc.

Lufthansa pros would be I've already asked TA about them and they said it's a good airline- although reviews I've read are mixed (depends on WHICH airbus 340-300 you end up on) but the flight would have us arriving late (after apt check in time- which we'd have to arrange and there is a note that late/early check in and/or late checkout would be an extra fee for the apt- but no clue what the fee would be.

Either way the nonstop from MCO to DFW is with AA, would be late in the evening so we'd have to figure out SOMETHING to do all day (perhaps a day room at the Hyatt again- worked well for us before), and no free baggage at all. so we'd have to pay for each checked luggage (about $100 if we each had one checked bag)

USAirways -the pros are obvious.... PRICE! LOL But we'd arrive awful early in the morning- what would we do all day before we could check in our apt? Also 60% on time is not that hot- so we'd have to pick the one with a longer time between the time we arrive in Philly and when our flight to BCN leaves.

What to do.... what to do.... I want to lean towards the cheapest way- what do you guys think? Have many of you ever flown with USairways before?

Also I have another thing to "ponder" that perhaps some of you might be experienced with and can help me answer this question?
Our apt has to be paid in euros when we arrive- including a 300 euros deposit that is refunded when we check out if there is no damages. our TA said this is customary and usual there- and it will be refunded if there are no damages. But here's the thing... where/how will I get euros to pay when we check in.... and THEN what will we do with 300 euros we'll receive back (the deposit) upon checking out shortly before we head for the ship? are there places to exchange currency like that or will we be stuck with 300 euros and then get on the ship? I'm confused on that. Yes I'm clueless about that type of thing. LOL I've never been anywhere in Europe before!

 

[paulasillars]

The last time I looked, there was a gap between the last Alaska cruise and the repo back to L.A., so one could not do a B2B.

Woody

Thanks for the heads up - I'll look into that a bit more!

Pinky Bars? Buzz bars? Chocolate fish? Jaffas? OMG I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

I think you forgot Moro bars! They are delicious!

I read that the tipping is only rounding up to the nearest euro. That really doesn't sound like enough. Is that what people really do in Spain?

LOL we don't tip our taxi drivers at all here in New Zealand - you pay the exact amount on the meter and they give change - I'd better look this one up!

book my airfare today and hotel. $459.00 for direct flight to Barcelona from Philadelphia on us air. We are staying at Praktik. It look like the dis boarder are taking over both hotels, One thing we should look in to is maybe renting a bus to take us to the port instead of us all taking taxis, since both hotels are 6 blocks apart.

I think a bus would be a great idea - we had a fab group organise buses for our EB Panama Canal picking up from the DL area hotels - its was a real highlight of the trip - including a grocery store stop for grog.

It was highly amusing watching our very own Capt'n Jack trying to get the mountains of luggage into the bus!

 

[LittleDisneyLovers]

Hmm... we just booked the Hilton on our own in Jan, but we only needed room for two. Guess that is the difference. If you are at the Novotel Barcelona City, it looks like you are closer to the port than you are the Hilton. We may be on the same road, but we are a lot further east and on the coast.




Here is some information from the Barcelona Taxi Bureau:

http://www.taxibarcelona.cat/Portals/0/pdfs/Tarifes%20Taxi%202009.pdf

There is English on the pdf. Just takes some time to find!

We will be on the T-1 tariff schedule to go to the port because it is a Saturday. So 1.1 euro per km. To take us to the port they will charge an extra 2.1 euro on top of the mileage fee. They also charge 1 euro per bag larger than a small carryon. I think they will also charge a fee if you have to call for a cab.

Never done a Disney transfer, so maybe someone else can weigh in on that.

I tried to book myself and through Disney back in October when I booked the cruise, Very hard to get rooms for 4, Our DD's are only 8 and 9 so not old enough to have thier own room. Disney had nothing at all available!
Thanks, you are right, I think it may be easier to just catch a taxi straight to port. I just thought there may be some advantages to doing the disney transfers. I was also worried about the Taxi being able to take the 4 of us, plus 4 large suitcases and 4 cabin bags? Hope they have roof racks.

Yep, this is what goes into the fare the taxis will charge your party. They seem to be set by some Barcelona gov't agency.

I can't really tell what they will charge you if you call a cab. It looks like up to an additional 4.2 euro on Saturdays depending on where they have to come from? I don't take too many cabs. Does that sound right?

One thing to note on the fare from the airport is that the minimum charge is 20 euro-- it doesn't matter if where you are going is only 1 or 2 km from the airport.

Also looks like they will only change up to 20 euro in the taxis.

I read that the tipping is only rounding up to the nearest euro. That really doesn't sound like enough. Is that what people really do in Spain?

I love how you all worry about not tipping enough! We don't tip in Australia. I mean, not ever! We may round up a bill to the nearest dollar at a restaurant or in a taxi to avoid the small change, but we never tip.
I am so paranoid about making sure I tip everyone in America, I'm sure I overtip most of the time, but I'd hate to think I had offended someone!