-=*September 10 2011, Westbound Transatlantic from Barcelona to Port Canaveral*=-

[birkner]

Sorry, no need to apologise. I did see your first post about sending a PM but you quoted granmaz so thought the question was directed at her. It wouldn't have occurred to me to ask if they were still on the cruise but I've realised now how many change their cruise plans as Disney makes it so easy to do so.

I was just happy there were people finally posting on this board everyday. It's been quite dead the past 6 months and it'll be great to start finally planning things like FE, meets etc

I am glad I didn't offend you. We just saw so many come and go on this years WBTA thread that it just occurred to me that they might have changed their plans.

It is so much work to plan all these activities that I am hoping more will jump in and join in the next few months.

 

[karentan]

i cant wait to join in some of the additional dis related activities on this cruise! i've been scanning through the last WBTA meet thread to see what they got up to so i cant wait to see what we come up with for this cruise!
i'm not sure how i can help but i'd be more than happy to help with some of the planning bits?

 

[birkner]

i cant wait to join in some of the additional dis related activities on this cruise! i've been scanning through the last WBTA meet thread to see what they got up to so i cant wait to see what we come up with for this cruise!
i'm not sure how i can help but i'd be more than happy to help with some of the planning bits?

Many of these activities were organized by one individual who took the time and effort to organize one particular activity.

All the tastings however, were organized by Sue who had a concierge suite and was able to deal with both the land and sea concierge staff.

You might just want to choose one activity that you want to really happen on this cruise and be the organizer.

Just my thoughts...

 

[emmah16]

Hi everyone

I'm just woundering off a little from the above post but do we need visa's for when we arrive in Florida. It has been a while since I was in Florida (2001) and we filled out the green card whilst we was still on the plane. Can anyone give me any advice from their experiances.

 

[granmaz]

Hi everyone

I'm just woundering off a little from the above post but do we need visa's for when we arrive in Florida. It has been a while since I was in Florida (2001) and we filled out the green card whilst we was still on the plane. Can anyone give me any advice from their experiances.

Unless you actually need a proper visa, the Esta has replaced that, and you don't fill in the green form any more(from this summer)

Now, VERY IMPORTANT for any cruisers from countries requiring Esta's. Print off your acceptance part of Esta. The site says you don't need to, just note the number, but DCL in their naivety require a print out, so this last TA had all those without a copy of qcceptance re applying for their Esta's in the terminal in Barcelona. Not a happy start for some cruisers. A friend took 2 and half hours to get accepted. They were not very helpful at all, just saying you would be able to stay onboard until Madeira and then fly home!!! Another friend, whose wife normally did these kind of things had to reapply and reallly had no idea what he was doing, but they wouldn't let anyone else in the room with him. I suppose if you end up being 'pending' you have until Madeira for acceptance to come through, but I really don't know.

We decided that DCL both in Barcelona and at immigration at Port Canaveral don't have the electronic system in place to bring things up online like the airports do, but their customer service was definitely lacking seeing as the Esta site says you don't need to print anything out.

 

[karentan]

oops, i posted the same time as marilyn so i'll just edit mine out as it was nowhere near as detailled as hers!

 

[emmah16]

Thanks Marilyn

Where would I get these from is it the US embassy website? Also is there a charge and is it 1 per person? Sorry for all the questions but like what you said about your friends I dont want to be sent home from Madeira
Also how near to the cruise would you apply for them?

Thanks one again, I knew I could count on you guys for advice

 

[karentan]

you need one ESTA per person and i think the charge is per person, but i havent been to the US since they bought the charge in, so not 100% sure on that one.
you can apply here:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/

 

[2canadianfans]

We are so excited about the idea of a transatlantic. Any idea about the crossing temp wise ? Still waiting for airfare.... Has anyone done a TA before ?

 

[granmaz]

We have just come over on the Magic, arriving on 2nd October. It was just amazing, and I so hope everything is just as perfect for us all next year. We are still in Orlando and enjoying our post cruise stay!!!

The airfares can be horrendous, but it has to be done!!

 

[granmaz]

Thanks Marilyn

Where would I get these from is it the US embassy website? Also is there a charge and is it 1 per person? Sorry for all the questions but like what you said about your friends I dont want to be sent home from Madeira
Also how near to the cruise would you apply for them?

Thanks one again, I knew I could count on you guys for advice

you need one ESTA per person and i think the charge is per person, but i havent been to the US since they bought the charge in, so not 100% sure on that one.
you can apply here:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/esta/

Yes, you need to fill out the Esta application online as Karen said. I believe it is $14 per person. I wouldn't do it yet though as it lasts 2 years, so you can get some more use out of it perhaps. It os easy to fill in with most similar to the green form we used to fill in. Sometimes it comes up acceptance pending, but don't get scared. It seems to be when the system is busy. Note the number, and check later. For future trips you can go into your application and change arriving flight and first night accommodation details.

If you are just going for a normal trip to the US, you don't need the copy as they can bring things up online at Immigration. You just seem to need them for the Transatlantic cruises!!

 

[granmaz]

I haven't had a PM back from Carys, our OP as yet. I think we should give her a couple of weeks, but perhaps someone who loves organising things and can keep things up to date might like to be thinking of volunteering to start a new thread in a week or so. I don't think there is any need to wait until this one is at 250 pages, we could just ask a Mod to close this one once one is started. It would be great to get things moving and up the excitement.

Of course all the graphics to do with the cruise would have to be copied or redone and I have no idea how to do that!!! But I bet someone else does.

 

[birkner]

I haven't had a PM back from Carys, our OP as yet. I think we should give her a couple of weeks, but perhaps someone who loves organising things and can keep things up to date might like to be thinking of volunteering to start a new thread in a week or so. I don't think there is any need to wait until this one is at 250 pages, we could just ask a Mod to close this one once one is started. It would be great to get things moving and up the excitement.

Of course all the graphics to do with the cruise would have to be copied or redone and I have no idea how to do that!!! But I bet someone else does.

According to the Cary's signature they were planning to be on the 2011 Panama Canal cruise on the Wonder. Do they happen to be on your thread?

 

[granmaz]

According to the Cary's signature they were planning to be on the 2011 Panama Canal cruise on the Wonder. Do they happen to be on your thread?

Not actively. She did post some weeks ago. She might just be not on the boards much, but really it needs to be a very active poster to keep the thread up to date etc.

 

[granmaz]

Just checked her posts, and the last one was on the PC thread at the end of August, and before that it was in March. I really don't think she has an interest in this thread even if she is still on the cruise, do you?

 

[birkner]

I haven't had a PM back from Carys, our OP as yet. I think we should give her a couple of weeks, but perhaps someone who loves organising things and can keep things up to date might like to be thinking of volunteering to start a new thread in a week or so. I don't think there is any need to wait until this one is at 250 pages, we could just ask a Mod to close this one once one is started. It would be great to get things moving and up the excitement.

Of course all the graphics to do with the cruise would have to be copied or redone and I have no idea how to do that!!! But I bet someone else does.

I think asking for a new thread is a reasonable thing to do if you don't hear back from Carys in a couple of weeks. This is a huge job as you can well imagine. You would need to get the links for all the art work from Carys but they could be copied if necessary.

Not actively. She did post some weeks ago. She might just be not on the boards much, but really it needs to be a very active poster to keep the thread up to date etc.

I agree it should be a fairly active poster but if you remember on our 2010 WBTA, Todd didn't post much but kept the first post updated. I think that as long as the first post stays updated, actual posts don't count as much.

Just my thoughts...

Just checked her posts, and the last one was on the PC thread at the end of August, and before that it was in March. I really don't think she has an interest in this thread even if she is still on the cruise, do you?

She may just have a busy life. I think just like you posted earlier, we should give her a chance to respond. If she is not interested in keeping the first page updated, I agree we should ask the mods to start another thread.

 

[karentan]

i'm on here pretty much a few times every day, so i dont mind starting the new one and keeping it updated if no one wants to do it.

 

[birkner]

i'm on here pretty a few times every day, so i dont mind starting the new one and keeping it updated if no one wants to do it.

I think if Crays don't respond that you offer is very generous. I know how much time it takes to keep people updated as I planned a tour for people in Madeira on the last WBTA.

 

[Pinky166]

I can finally say I am onboard!!!!

I've been booked for a couple of weeks but wanted to wait until i'd seen & told my friend (Karen, CustardTart) in person rather than her seeing my post on here.

I am so looking forward to it! It will be mine & Lee (DH) third cruise. It will complete the trio too, 1st cruise on the Wonder, we are on the Dream's MV & then 2 weeks on the Magic. Hmmmm Fantasy here I come?

I am looking forward to getting to know you all & plan lots of on board activites, I would love to do a Secret Mickey gift exchange. I'd be more than willing to plan & organise it, and anything else.

 

[granmaz]

I can finally say I am onboard!!!!

I've been booked for a couple of weeks but wanted to wait until i'd seen & told my friend (Karen, CustardTart) in person rather than her seeing my post on here.

I am so looking forward to it! It will be mine & Lee (DH) third cruise. It will complete the trio too, 1st cruise on the Wonder, we are on the Dream's MV & then 2 weeks on the Magic. Hmmmm Fantasy here I come?

I am looking forward to getting to know you all & plan lots of on board activites, I would love to do a Secret Mickey gift exchange. I'd be more than willing to plan & organise it, and anything else.

Hi there and welcome!!! I sort of know you in an Internet kind of way!!!

Be aware though that Karen sleeps all day on the verandah!!!! I only saw her a couple of times on the whole 14 nights this last time!!!


Our thread leader is AWOL, so we are waiting a couple of weeks to see if she is still around and if not we will start a new thread and get things moving. We NEED to plan!!