Sept 18 2010 WB TransAtlantic Pirates/Capt Jacks Re-Repositioning Repossession Cruise

[Thistle]

Anyone else sailing before we cruise in 2010?

We're doing a girls only cruise in Jan, just a little get away, maybe hit a jewelry shop or two or three.....

 

[Buckeye Gal]

I'm tossing my hat in the ring. I finally caved and booked this cruise on Saturday. Looks like a great group of people and I see many familiar names from the Sept Double Dip

LISA!!!!!!!! I saw your post and thought for a moment that I was on the 9/27 Double Dip Delight thread! I'm so glad you're taking the plunge! WELCOME!!!

.... Last cruise, I was the one that never posted so this time I am trying to post!!!!

Shirley

I'm so glad you're going to make yourself more known with this group! I would have loved meeting you a few weeks ago...so now I get another chance!

 

[NHdisneylover]

I'm tossing my hat in the ring. I finally caved and booked this cruise on Saturday. Looks like a great group of people and I see many familiar names from the Sept Double Dip

Hi Lisa

 

[pit303]

I'm tossing my hat in the ring. I finally caved and booked this cruise on Saturday. Looks like a great group of people and I see many familiar names from the Sept Double Dip

Welcome!!

 

[Thistle]

Please add my name Kathy, it's Bronwen. I hope I get to know more of you this cruise. The PC cruise was so large and moved so fast I never was able to get to 'meet' people and the last TA I was involved more in another group of cruisers... so I hope ya'll will have me.

 

[ibouncetoo]

I'm tossing my hat in the ring. I finally caved and booked this cruise on Saturday. Looks like a great group of people and I see many familiar names from the Sept Double Dip

Welcome!


Kathy, don't see me on your list: ibouncetoo = Jackie
Don't know who I'll be traveling with yet...waiting to see if big sister enjoys cruising when we 'do' the Sept Tortola cruise next year. Also TiggersPal, Peggy Jo (my little sister) will be with her DH, Jose.

 

[got2travel]

Here's what we did in a few ports.


Barcelona
Fat Tire Bike Tour - private tour arranged by our group. About 20 or so of us. Took a bike tour around the city and saw many of the major sites, Sagrada Familia, Barri Gotic, Olympic Village, Barcelonetta, and Parc de la Ciutadella. It was about 4 1/2 hours. It was an easy ride, not at all strenous, although our guide would pick up a good speed at times. I will either do this again (so I can see the beginnign of the tour**see footnote), or a Segway tour. http://www.fattirebiketoursbarcelona.com/

Parc de la Ciutadella

Sagrada Familia

The steps Christopher Columbus climbed to ask the Queen for money to sail to the new land

Museu de la Xocolata (Chocolate Museum) - another private tour arranged by our group. We had about 12 people. We were allowed time to wander the museum and see all the statues and figures made entirely of chocolate. Then we gathered for a lecture on the history of chocolate which included tastings of hot chocolate (white, milk and dark) and solid chocolate (white, milk, and dark).

I also spent some time wandering the city. I had heard all the warnings about pick pockets and the need to be extra careful. Honestly I did not ever feel threatened or intimidated. As with any big city, you need to be aware of your surroundings. There is a huge semi-outdoor market that I wanted to visit. It was featured on the Travel Channel Show, Bizarre Foods. I didn't necessarily want any of the 'foods' I saw featured, but I did want to see the market. Unfortunately I left that activity for my Sunday there and the market was closed. In fact many shops were closed on Sunday.


Gibraltar
Toured the "Rock" - our group arranged for the cable car to open early. We rode the cable car up and walked back down. The fare for the cable car included a round trip, but we chose to walk. I had my 74 yr old mother with me who is afraid of heights. She was nervous when she saw the cable car, but didn't have any issues during the ride. She was also able to walk the entire way down. We did take our time and stopped several times though. I gave her the option of taking the tram back down, but she chose to keep on going. Next time I'll probably just grab a taxi and go up that way. The taxi drivers know the mountain and the monkeys. They'll stop wherever you want and they'll even carry food to attract the monkeys so you can interact with them. If you're afraid, they will handle them for you.

Cable Car cables

Barbary Apes

After reaching town we found an English style pub for fish and chips. Wow, was that good, and a lot of food. We could have shared a plate but we didn't know how big it would be.

Afternoon Tea - in the afternoon we did a DCL tour, which we could have done without. It was a bus tour of the far side of the area in which we saw a lighthouse and a shipwreck. The shipwreck had just happened a few days prior to our arrival. Tea was served at a cliffside hotel. We had a beautiful view of the Straights. The food and tea were good, but not overly impressive.



***footnote***The bike tour was scheduled for our 2nd day in Barcelona. I forgot to set my alarm or arrange for a wakeup call. The group was meeting at 8:15am. I figured I'd wake up in time. Well, I woke up at 8:15. So I threw on some clothes and headed out. Our group was meeting on the pier then heading over to the meeting point for the bike shop. Of course they were already gone, so I grabbed a taxi. I had the name of the square that they were meeting in, but not the address of the bike shop. My driver spoke no English and my limited Spanish did not help me. He could get me to the square but couldn't understand what I was asking for when I asked about the bikes. So standing in the middle of the square, there were alleyways in multiple directions. I just started walking around looking at the signs. I turned down one alley and low and behold a few people on bikes started riding towards me. Then I see more and more and I see Todd! This was my group! We were just around the corner from the shop so the guide had everyone wait and took me back to get a bike. I think they had only visited one other place before I found them. What luck!

 

[got2travel]

Add me to the list please, although my name is in my signature, so you don't have to refer anywhere. I'm Monica.

I'm not submitting info for the roll call yet since I'm not entirely sure things will work out for this cruise. And if it does, not entirely sure who will be sailing, although right now it's my son and I on the ressie. He missed the last TA and really wants to go on this one.

 

[AlexandNessa]

Thanks to those of you who posted your pics of the ports and what you did as far as excursions. I have really enjoyed those posts.

 

[lenzs4]

I am loving the trip reports and pictures. As if I wasn't excited already!!!!! I can not wait. I started my "I want to see" list based on your input... keep it coming!
I sent my parents on the Eastern TA in 07 and your descriptions and pictures are much more exciting than theirs were and they loved it too. (those of you that went on that cruise may remember my parents story - left AZ at 10PM the night before the cruise, flight delayed then layover in Atlanta - no seats two flights in a row, did not arrive in Orlando until 4:00 PM - DCL was there waiting for them - thank goodness they had Disney air travel arrangements - rushed them to the ship and the ship pulled out immediately. - they missed fire drill and sail away party but made the ship)

OH I am also hoping for international SW flights. WE usually fly SW but have tried Airtran (not happy) and would be willing ot try it again.

 

[CACruisin']

I am loving the trip reports and pictures. As if I wasn't excited already!!!!! I can not wait. I started my "I want to see" list based on your input... keep it coming!
I sent my parents on the Eastern TA in 07 and your descriptions and pictures are much more exciting than theirs were and they loved it too. (those of you that went on that cruise may remember my parents story - left AZ at 10PM the night before the cruise, flight delayed then layover in Atlanta - no seats two flights in a row, did not arrive in Orlando until 4:00 PM - DCL was there waiting for them - thank goodness they had Disney air travel arrangements - rushed them to the ship and the ship pulled out immediately. - they missed fire drill and sail away party but made the ship)

OH I am also hoping for international SW flights. WE usually fly SW but have tried Airtran (not happy) and would be willing ot try it again.

Wow! I never heard the story, but I do remember we were delayed leaving PC. We watched some people get on about 5:30pm and then we set sail! So glad your parents made the ship. It really was an awesome trip!

 

[BoosGram]

After about an hour of meandering and taking in the earlier sights we made it to the cable car and took that to the top of "the rock" where we were treated to views like this:

And saw many of the Barbary Apes (a misnomer as they are actually monkeys with very short tales and not apes). These apes are AGRESSIVE and have no fear of humans at all. They will try to take any shopping bags you have, grab food from hands if you are crazy enough to eat in front of them, etc. However, they are cute:

We wandered around up top for an hour and a half enjoying the views and the trails (lots of very scary drops with no gaurd rails be careful) before walking down to St. Michael's cave (lovely and COOL--it was a hot day--very fun) where we whiled away another hour:

From there we took the cable car down from the mid point stop and walked back to our beloved Magic for chicken fingers and Mickey Bars

Hadley, those pics are breathtaking (the rock-wow!); thanks for sharing.

Kathy, I've got the list in Excel if you want it. I think the "other" Kathy is sandiedvc. I'm still checking the earlier pages; only got into the 70s so far (together we will conquer this ).

Cap'n Todd, thanks for the recommendation. I think I'll call Cox tomorrow and see if they can reset the local dns server.

To all of our new shipmates, WELCOME. This sure feels like it's going to be a great group.

 

[ReAnSt]

So my foot is healed. Can I redo the EB Panama canal cruise with a healed foot and my parents actually in attendance??

I just hope we all make it on this cruise and are healthy for it. Getting to the Panama canal cruise was enough to put me over the edge and we all did not make it. Plus I had a broken foot. I had a fantastic time, but getting to that point was ridiculous.

I see lots of familiar faces around here.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Yeah I cant wait! Its gonna be good! Im really excited about it all!

Sarah, where did you work at WDW? I did two college programs - I was a character greeter in spring of 2002 and 2003. I loved it!

I'm tossing my hat in the ring. I finally caved and booked this cruise on Saturday. Looks like a great group of people and I see many familiar names from the Sept Double Dip

Yay!!!! I'm happy to hear that you're joining us on this cruise!!!!

 

[eeyorelvr10]

Please add my name Kathy, it's Bronwen. I hope I get to know more of you this cruise. The PC cruise was so large and moved so fast I never was able to get to 'meet' people and the last TA I was involved more in another group of cruisers... so I hope ya'll will have me.

Hi Bronwen, Glad you put your name out there - now I can call you by your name instead of Precious' mom and dad. You and your husband were in Quiet Cove cafe one night when my DH and I were there with our laptops. I'm also the one that put the magnet on your door that was 3-D and foamy. I had several that said: Dreams, Relax, Celebrate, Faith, Smile, Be Happy, etc.

Anyway, glad I can finally put a name to your DIS name.

I am loving the trip reports and pictures. As if I wasn't excited already!!!!! I can not wait. I started my "I want to see" list based on your input... keep it coming!

I sent my parents on the Eastern TA in 07 and your descriptions and pictures are much more exciting than theirs were and they loved it too. (those of you that went on that cruise may remember my parents story - left AZ at 10PM the night before the cruise, flight delayed then layover in Atlanta - no seats two flights in a row, did not arrive in Orlando until 4:00 PM - DCL was there waiting for them - thank goodness they had Disney air travel arrangements - rushed them to the ship and the ship pulled out immediately. - they missed fire drill and sail away party but made the ship)

OH I am also hoping for international SW flights. WE usually fly SW but have tried Airtran (not happy) and would be willing ot try it again.

AH! So that is why the Magic was delayed. I was there - not onboard but I was there to send it off. We were wondering why they were delayed. In fact, here was my view:

This was probably closer to 5:30 then 5 pm. They were last to leave.

Then this was what I got from shore:

 

[Brooklyn]

Could we possibly incorporate this into the website? It would be a very helpful tool to have!!

Krista

I would be happy to post the list on the website!

yeah I can get on the website now ....

See I was not banning you!

Well I have no idea. Im just hoping that the servers all update over the weekend and I can then get in again. Have tried all I can and cant get in.

Me too!

OK, now I'm really frustrated. Not only can I not access the transatlanticpirates site, the email I sent to sign up for the roll call didn't go through . Help! Anyone?

rollcall@transatlanticpirates.com

just incase I typed it wrong before.

If you can't get through just PM me.

I had the same problem. I cant access any of the sites.
so I just sent a PM to the OP of this thread and explained I couldnt access the sites and asked him to please take the info and list it for me.

I havnt heard back yet but I hope all is ok with it.

Kathy

You are on the website. The Captain forwarded me your information.

 

[paulasillars]

That is interesting, I didn't know that decent chicken wings were hard to come by in the UK! I can imagine you are excited to go to Orlando for the wings! My DF got me into wings, before we started dating, I didn't really ever eat wings. I like them, but I try not to eat them too often because I know they aren't that good for me!

LOL the things we crave that we can't get at home ...

For me, its Taco Bell and Reece's Peanut Buttercups - can't get either here so they are first stops when we are in the US. From the UK, its Mr Kipling's Cherry Bakewell Tarts - I love them, can't get them here either

 

[paulasillars]

So my foot is healed. Can I redo the EB Panama canal cruise with a healed foot and my parents actually in attendance??

I just hope we all make it on this cruise and are healthy for it. Getting to the Panama canal cruise was enough to put me over the edge and we all did not make it. Plus I had a broken foot. I had a fantastic time, but getting to that point was ridiculous.

I see lots of familiar faces around here.

I'm thrilled your foot is better and I look forward to seeing you guys again and hopefully meeting your parents too next time!

 

[tink2020]

I can get on the site, too!

 

[ebony]

Hi all, I can get on the site now, looking good.

I am with Virgin media service provider.