The MAGIC is Back!!! - 6th Sept 2014 WBTA - Come & join the fun! - PART 2

[mdwoodman]

I checked out Barcelona Day Tours and they got INCREDIBLY good reviews in Trip Advisor. My partner and I are planning to use them on 9/5 to take a 1/2 day tour to Montserrat leaving from the Hilton Diagonal Mar. Is anybody interested in doing something like that? The website indicates that for groups of 7 or less, it's 69 Euros per person.

We already made arrangements for them to pick us up at the airport and take us on a tour of Barcelona before dropping us at our hotel, since we get in way before check-in time!

They do get really great reviews and are nice to work with. We are having them pick us at the airport. Would have done the tour but for two people it was incredibly expensive.

I considered them for Montserrat, but it apparently is not hard to do by going to the train station and buying tickets - and MUCH cheaper. My friend and I plan to do this tour, just not sure what day yet. Either the Thursday or Friday.

Here is a guide to tickets:
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/tour/barcelona-montserrat.html

We used Barcelona Day Tours last June and they were great. I liked having a guide that was able to answer all of our questions and point out things we never would have noticed.

We used Barcelona Day Tours in 2010. We were picked up at the airport with all of our luggage in a private car, taken on a 1/2 day tour of Montserrat, then a driving tour of the city, and finally dropped off at our hotel. The whole thing wasn't much more than paying for a taxi from the airport to the hotel!

 

[lovingthemouse]

...as I was one of Linda's roommates, the only real interesting part of the train ride was the number of older students who "took over "our section of the train car. We all knew they were there - but once they got off, there was no problem. It was so easy and convenient to take the train!!

 

[ludari]

I will be in Barcelona three full days prior to our cruise. Although I haven't planned out my schedule for those three days I have seen a lot of the major sites before and I look forward to visiting some of my favorites sites. I will definite try to make my way over to Montserrat and over to the Hard Rock for the meet up.

 

[babydiver]

.
My sister arrives Weds afternoon, and the rest of us on Thursday morning, so we would have to do a tour from the hotel to get all of us together. I think I found it would be about $85/pp for a 4hr tour, or $150 for an 8hr tour. I would rather save that money, do the HoHo bus on Thursday then revisit any areas on friday.

We did just that - got the HoHo bus tour one day and made a note of the places we wanted to revisit. We made sure we had a good look around the areas that were on the outer edges ie Parc Guell and Sagrada and Montjuic and then the next day we visited those places nearby on foot.

As you have the time - Definitely go inside Gaudi's two houses and you can pre-book your tickets on line before you go (a must to save lots of time)

Nice!

I want to get the prices for the Hawaii cruise....

The WBTA itinerary next year is horrible!! Makes me even gladder I'm going THIS year, and I didn't even think it was possible to be happier about that!

We phoned on Day 1 of booking and asked the price for Hawaii but with return tickets from the UK the cost was just too high. We asked the price for the WBTA 2015 even though it was the worst itinerary ever but we do like the sea days with so much going on and the price sold it to us....

We were glad to see so many familiar names doing it too.

Would have liked to do the EBTA next year but are committed to the Westbound Panama next May and the ship docks in San Diego the same day that the Magic leaves Florida....if only it had been a day later we could have flown across and got on for the journey back to Europe...hey ho...

 

[CDNDisneyMom]

i thought the same as you when we looked at the WB
what do you mean by B@B
i checked hawai and the re is one leaving on the 7th from canada and the other on the 17th of september ( same month) but from honolulu.
which one looks better you?

and what does B2B stands for?
thank you
Alex!

B2B stands for back to back. We are taking both Hawaii cruises. They both hit the same islands so you could choose by where you would like to be at the end.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Wishing all you Golden peeps all you want and when you want when you book in 5 hours and 10 minutes!

 

[camptraveler]

I have a ways to go. This is my first cruise.

 

[camptraveler]

We were informed today by Disney that the Mojito tasting will no longer be available for the WBTA. Sorry to those who signed up.

Why are they canceling them? Is it because it takes away from their plans for things to do?

 

[camptraveler]

O dear

When you go to the Disney cruise line website and look at the WBTA page for 2015 it talks about enjoying a relaxing 14 night cruise and all the wonderful ports you get to visit like st kitts and Tenerife....

Do you think someone ought to point out that in fact you do none of those things it looks like the ship just races back to Miami ....

What a shame... WBTA is my favourite....

Isn't it now a shorter cruise? Thought it was only around 10 days now. I honestly can not remember. It did not seem like an exciting cruise though.

 

[lovingthemouse]

Hi everyone!
Just a reminder that if any of you want to join our candy swap, refer back to page 1, and read all about it.
You can send along a PM to me with your information. I have kept a spreadsheet with all the preferences you have given me.
Can you believe how little time we actually have left - the past year seemed like an eternity!!

 

[twopeasonepod]

Anyone have reviews on the different snorkeling adventures offered? The boys will only be 8, so our options are limited. But I hope to get some input from you before having to sift through them all on trip advisor!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Anyone have reviews on the different snorkeling adventures offered? The boys will only be 8, so our options are limited. But I hope to get some input from you before having to sift through them all on trip advisor!

I would love to hear this also. My boys will be 7 and 10 and I've never take on them snorkeling, but I want to do it this cruise.

 

[babydiver]

CALLING THOSE PLATINUM CRUISERS and from today GOLD too - those who have booked their port excursions. Are there any divers amongst you and did you book with Disney for St Maarten. It's the only port on the WBTA that is offering a 2 tank dive. It's there on the list but when we went into our booking this morning to book our tours (we are Gold) it wasn't on offer. Richard is slightly miffed to say the least as this happened a couple of years ago when we went to Tortola - Disney pulled the Diving packages!!

Anybody know anything before we ring up later?

 

[Roo from Reading UK]

Anyone have reviews on the different snorkeling adventures offered? The boys will only be 8, so our options are limited. But I hope to get some input from you before having to sift through them all on trip advisor!

Would also like any tips on good places to snorkel for this cruise from those of you in the know. We don't have little ones but are interested in any good snorkeling spots or adventures

 

[Buckeye Gal]

Isn't it now a shorter cruise? Thought it was only around 10 days now. I honestly can not remember. It did not seem like an exciting cruise though.

I've also read speculation (that makes sense to me) that the 2015 WBTA will be the first cruise after a drydock. If true, although this wouldn't be a major overhaul, there's still going to be risk that some guest areas may not be quite ready by embarkation time. Again, if the drydock rumor is true, regardless of the price, personally, I wouldn't want to take an international flight over for this cruise, and I LOVE sea days!

 

[JessicasMom]

I've also read speculation (that makes sense to me) that the 2015 WBTA will be the first cruise after a drydock. If true, although this wouldn't be a major overhaul, there's still going to be risk that some guest areas may not be quite ready by embarkation time. Again, if the drydock rumor is true, regardless of the price, personally, I wouldn't want to take an international flight over for this cruise, and I LOVE sea days!

My thoughts, exactly! I thoroughly enjoy the extended sea days, esp. with all the activities Disney offers, but I also like seeing new and interesting ports. As much as I love Madeira , it's not enough to sell me on this itinerary. If I didn't have to spend so much on airfare....well, maybe...

 

[wayneg]

My thoughts, exactly! I thoroughly enjoy the extended sea days, esp. with all the activities Disney offers, but I also like seeing new and interesting ports. As much as I love Madeira , it's not enough to sell me on this itinerary. If I didn't have to spend so much on airfare....well, maybe...

For us its a really cheap route in Sept, this year we have paid about $130 to Barcelona then $350 back from Florida to the UK.
We are not too bothered about ports, never been to Madeira and would enjoy CC.
Everything sounds perfect for us, only sticking point is the dates, would have liked to have spent 2 weeks in Florida after the cruise but its a bit late in Sept to get DS back in time for University early Oct (maybe send him home early and us stay out there)

 

[Buckeye Gal]

I've had some books and vacation videos reserved at the local library. I received notice today that one of the books and videos came in, so I ran to the library before it closed to pick them up. I had planned to do some vacation research this weekend, so it's good timing. I'm enjoying watching the video knowing I'll be at some of these places sooner than later!

Just think........15 weeks from this very moment, we'll all be settled into our staterooms or enjoying the nightlife onboard!

 

[ThePhantomsGirl]

We used Barcelona Day Tours in 2010. We were picked up at the airport with all of our luggage in a private car, taken on a 1/2 day tour of Montserrat, then a driving tour of the city, and finally dropped off at our hotel. The whole thing wasn't much more than paying for a taxi from the airport to the hotel!

We really, really considered this. But the price for the pick-up and then the City Tour just for two people was about a 60 pound difference - basically double. With four people, then the price would have been quite reasonable and a no-brainer.

We tried to see if anyone was coming in at the airport near the time we were (Wednesday at 9 AM) but no one was. However, IF anyone IS coming in on Wednesday morning, we'd still love to share this tour. We are staying at the Pratik Ramblas. Even if it were a bit after when we are coming in.

I do recommend Barcelona Day Tours highly. Any time I've had a question, they are right on top of it and very professional.

 

[Buckeye Gal]

I've been doing some research on St. Kitts. I found Tangerine Tours has AMAZING reviews, and it's only $25USD/per person!! It's a fully guided island tour with many stops in a safari bus. Reviewers have indicated they will be right by the pier. I've sent some reviewers inquiries to learn a bit more in terms of need to book in advance and what time they connected with the tour, so when I hear back, I'll let you know!

If any of you have insight to Tangerine Tours, please share!