The MAGIC is Back!!! ~ WBTA 2014 ~ Come & join the fun!

[TeamH5]

Yes. Our 15 month old was on our first 14-night transatlantic crossing with Disney. Also, if you are booking with a rate that includes prepaying gratuities, then the infants are included with prepaid gratuities.

Even for the Servers? I'm not trying to be cheap or anything, but why would I tip the servers for an infant? I'm the one serving the baby.. Lol At most the only thing we would need from the servers is an extra chair to set the car seat in, and if I bring the baby in a sling we wouldn't even need that.

I would include the baby for tips for the room steward because they would also have to set up the pack n play every night and take it down every morning, empty the dirty diapers, etc. He'll probably get extra for the baby.

I just don't get the servers and why I'm tipping them, for the baby.

 

[wdwgoose]

I think all tipping is done automatic added to your stateroom on board charges


I will know for sure after the cruise on Nov 6 th MAGIC I do know the DREAM and FANTASY started it so pretty sure all ships are doing it,




garRy

 

[Pinkocto]

Yes, they do add them automatically, but you can change them to any amount you want.

 

[thedonduck]

Even for the Servers? I'm not trying to be cheap or anything, but why would I tip the servers for an infant? I'm the one serving the baby.. Lol At most the only thing we would need from the servers is an extra chair to set the car seat in, and if I bring the baby in a sling we wouldn't even need that. I would include the baby for tips for the room steward because they would also have to set up the pack n play every night and take it down every morning, empty the dirty diapers, etc. He'll probably get extra for the baby. I just don't get the servers and why I'm tipping them, for the baby.

Have you ever cruised before? If not here is my completely unsnarky answer. Whether or not your DS eats he is taking a place in the MDR. If he wasn't at your table someone else would be. You are taking a spot (a TIP) from the servers having him there. When you watch the amount of work your servers do for EVERY single person at the table, hopefully you will see why.

Our DS cruised at 13 weeks. Obviously we didn't really need anything for him besides milk. Our servers went out of their way to set up our stroller by our table (he couldn't sit up in the high chair) and would entertain him so I could actually eat. A few times our assistant server would help him hold is bottle, other time the main server would cut my meal up while I feed DS. We also had to leave a few times and they sent up our desserts to our room.

So while it may not make sense to you that you tip them because "your son doesn't eat" I would wait to make that judgement until you are the ship.

 

[TeamH5]

Have you ever cruised before? If not here is my completely unsnarky answer. Whether or not your DS eats he is taking a place in the MDR. If he wasn't at your table someone else would be. You are taking a spot (a TIP) from the servers having him there. When you watch the amount of work your servers do for EVERY single person at the table, hopefully you will see why.

Our DS cruised at 13 weeks. Obviously we didn't really need anything for him besides milk. Our servers went out of their way to set up our stroller by our table (he couldn't sit up in the high chair) and would entertain him so I could actually eat. A few times our assistant server would help him hold is bottle, other time the main server would cut my meal up while I feed DS. We also had to leave a few times and they sent up our desserts to our room.

So while it may not make sense to you that you tip them because "your son doesn't eat" I would wait to make that judgement until you are the ship.

Ok, I can give you that. Lol we have sailed before but all of our children were well of eating age and thus required quite a bit of server interaction. I never saw the servers interact with an infant. I view infants differently, but I can see your point of view if the servers do do all of that, I've personally never had anyone offer to cut my meat for me while nursing an infant, and we went out to eat the day I left the hospital with my last son...

Probably what I'll end up doing is budgeting for the tips for baby, and wait till we're on board to decide how much needs to be tipped for him based on the amount of service he (or she, we don't know yet! ) requires.

Than you for pointing out another view of the situation.

 

[darjohn]

Ok, I can give you that. Lol we have sailed before but all of our children were well of eating age and thus required quite a bit of server interaction. I never saw the servers interact with an infant. I view infants differently, but I can see your point of view if the servers do do all of that, I've personally never had anyone offer to cut my meat for me while nursing an infant, and we went out to eat the day I left the hospital with my last son... Probably what I'll end up doing is budgeting for the tips for baby, and wait till we're on board to decide how much needs to be tipped for him based on the amount of service he (or she, we don't know yet! ) requires. Than you for pointing out another view of the situation.

We cruised a couple of years ago with a single mother and 2 young children. The children received more attention than anyone - from cutting their meals, helping feed them, and entertaining them so mom could enjoy her meal. Tipping was a bargain for her!

 

[mdwoodman]

I haven't gone through this entire thread but earlier on a person by the name of Sue was helping with reservations for hotels and transportation in Barcelona. I expressed interested and sent her credit card information (which I plan on canceling) but I haven't seen any posts from her in months and months. I don't mean to stir up anything but does anyone know what happened?

Sue did make reservations for everyone interested at the Praktik Rambla and also reserved a bus to take everyone to the port.

There was a lot of nastiness on this board a while ago and several people decided not to stay with it; I believe Sue was one of them.

Send me a PM and I'll give you her e-mail address. Rest assured, your info is safe with her.

 

[MandyGirl]

Even for the Servers? I'm not trying to be cheap or anything, but why would I tip the servers for an infant? I'm the one serving the baby.. Lol At most the only thing we would need from the servers is an extra chair to set the car seat in, and if I bring the baby in a sling we wouldn't even need that.

I would include the baby for tips for the room steward because they would also have to set up the pack n play every night and take it down every morning, empty the dirty diapers, etc. He'll probably get extra for the baby.

I just don't get the servers and why I'm tipping them, for the baby.

Yes. On DCL, certain rate codes require prepayment of gratuities in full. I know Interline and Travel Agent Appreciation Rates do - I have cruised on both of those in the past. Not sure about Military MTO rates. Right now we are booked on normal rates (opening day booking for this cruise) so no prepayment of gratuities, but I have been known to cancel and rebook if new rate code comes out to make it more financial sense.

At dinner, I've had my little one on my lap and a server cut my steak for me LOL. I kept saying "no, I'm fine..." and she wouldn't stop. She reminded me this was my vacation. Some have even had to leave the dining room to deal with the baby and the server has delivered the meal to the stateroom.

 

[MandyGirl]

Sue did make reservations for everyone interested at the Praktik Rambla and also reserved a bus to take everyone to the port.

There was a lot of nastiness on this board a while ago and several people decided not to stay with it; I believe Sue was one of them.

Send me a PM and I'll give you her e-mail address. Rest assured, your info is safe with her.

Heck, with that nastiness a while back, I even had spears thrown at me for coordinating Palo brunch. People showing up with new bookings, ticked that there is a waitlist. I finally had to put in the brunch description that the private room size is dictated by DCL (not me) and this is only a request - no guarantee until DCL fills it (usually within 2 weeks of sailing, can't submit until closer to then). It about made me want to throw in the towel and let someone else take over. I've really tried to lay low with all the daggers being thrown around here. So sad because we have had wonderful transatlantic experiences on Disney in the past. And oh my goodness, I better not mention I'm cruising on Princess next month - I will be targeted as a traitor but sometimes have to be careful on DISboards because if you don't have x number of cruises under your belt you are viewed as inexperienced and no nothing about DCL.

 

[TeamH5]

Yes. On DCL, certain rate codes require prepayment of gratuities in full. I know Interline and Travel Agent Appreciation Rates do - I have cruised on both of those in the past. Not sure about Military MTO rates. Right now we are booked on normal rates (opening day booking for this cruise) so no prepayment of gratuities, but I have been known to cancel and rebook if new rate code comes out to make it more financial

Have you ever cancelled and rebooked after PIF date to get the MTO rate?? It seems to me that the MTO rates don't come out until after the PIF date. I thought about canceling now and waiting for MTO rates but I don't want to risk not getting connecting rooms, which is a must for us... Lol

 

[TeamH5]

Heck, with that nastiness a while back, I even had spears thrown at me for coordinating Palo brunch. People showing up with new bookings, ticked that there is a waitlist. I finally had to put in the brunch description that the private room size is dictated by DCL (not me) and this is only a request - no guarantee until DCL fills it (usually within 2 weeks of sailing, can't submit until closer to then). It about made me want to throw in the towel and let someone else take over. I've really tried to lay low with all the daggers being thrown around here. So sad because we have had wonderful transatlantic experiences on Disney in the past. And oh my goodness, I better not mention I'm cruising on Princess next month - I will be targeted as a traitor but sometimes have to be careful on DISboards because if you don't have x number of cruises under your belt you are viewed as inexperienced and no nothing about DCL.

TRAITOR!!!

Hell if its cheaper and what you want to do, go for it!

 

[MandyGirl]

Have you ever cancelled and rebooked after PIF date to get the MTO rate?? It seems to me that the MTO rates don't come out until after the PIF date. I thought about canceling now and waiting for MTO rates but I don't want to risk not getting connecting rooms, which is a must for us... Lol

I've cancelled literally two days prior to PIF. In some cases, paying the cancellation fee works out to still be a better fare based on the original fare booked, but GTY makes it where you want to keep what you have it location is desirable. We did get lucky with one family I booked in VGTY and IGTY for an upcoming Wonder cruise - their staterooms were assigned directly across the hall from one another! In the past, some have cancelled by PIF and wait for *GTY rates to come out, and ended up saving lots of money playing the gamble.

TRAITOR!!!

Hell if its cheaper and what you want to do, go for it!

We enjoy the different itineraries and experiencing different cruiselines. This summer we did a fantastic 12-night itinerary on NCL that was one-way from Barcelona to Venice (stops in France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and a surprise stop in Croatia one day) with only two sea days. Similar itinerary on DCL was more than twice as much in cost $$$ and didn't work well with our calendar of trying to tack on something after the DCL EBTA. But there is no way could we afford the DCL price for our family of four and still afford to travel at other times of the year. After this Princess cruise next month, we will have set foot in 13 different countries in 2013 alone when you add in our land vacations. Saving money on a cruise opens up more opportunities to travel I am all about finding the best deals

 

[TeamH5]

We enjoy the different itineraries and experiencing different cruiselines. This summer we did a fantastic 12-night itinerary on NCL that was one-way from Barcelona to Venice (stops in France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and a surprise stop in Croatia one day) with only two sea days. Similar itinerary on DCL was more than twice as much in cost $$$ and didn't work well with our calendar of trying to tack on something after the DCL EBTA. But there is no way could we afford the DCL price for our family of four and still afford to travel at other times of the year. After this Princess cruise next month, we will have set foot in 13 different countries in 2013 alone when you add in our land vacations. Saving money on a cruise opens up more opportunities to travel I am all about finding the best deals

Yea I looked into the DCL Med cruises and they were just way to overpriced for me, and we wouldn't hardly have to worry about flights since we're already over in this region... I didn't even know NCL, RCL, Princess or any of those guys operated here in the Med.

The only thing that worries me about other cruiselines is that DCL was the very first cruise we ever took, and after seeing I think it was Princess of the seas(one of the 'of the seas' ships from whichever cruiseline has those ships) in port at Nassaeu and not being terribly impressed by it, I'm afraid DCL has just spoiled me and I'd be sadly disappointed if I tried one of them. We're thinking of doing a Greek cruise though over christmas so I'm going to have to bite the bullet somewhere and hop on another cruiseline.. Lol And hell I took the equivelant of a cargo boat basically up to AK from Seattle when I first got stationed there and thought it was a really cool experience, so I guess RCL, NCL and Princess would definetly be a step up from THAT!!

 

[MandyGirl]

Being military, Princess is worth keeping an eye on. They offer OBC for current/past military people, and you don't even have to book with Princess or a certain fare to take advantage of it.

You are right - any cruise is better than no cruise - or cargo ship

 

[emmah16]

Hi everyone

I have been looking at return flights back to the UK from San Juan and the best one so far takes off at 12.54pm. Do you think it would be possible that we would have enough time to catch this flight if we disembarked early enough?

Thanks

 

[Shazzie B]

Hi everyone

I have been looking at return flights back to the UK from San Juan and the best one so far takes off at 12.54pm. Do you think it would be possible that we would have enough time to catch this flight if we disembarked early enough?

Thanks

Should be OK, think Disney advise not to book flights before 12:30pm, who are your flights with? We're looking at a flight time of 1:25pm with American Airlines

 

[twopeasonepod]

Should be OK, think Disney advise not to book flights before 12:30pm, who are your flights with? We're looking at a flight time of 1:25pm with American Airlines

Hmm, I think that is the same flight as us...UA 700 to IAD. Sound familiar?

I didn't know that time was considered "early". I'm usually well off the ship by 9:30, and the port is only 18 minutes away. Anyone else have thoughts?

 

[Shazzie B]

Hmm, I think that is the same flight as us...UA 700 to IAD. Sound familiar?

I didn't know that time was considered "early". I'm usually well off the ship by 9:30, and the port is only 18 minutes away. Anyone else have thoughts?

I asked on the main cruise forum about a week ago, we could fly 11:30 am or 1:30 pm, most seemed to advise the later one just in case of delays. Not sure wether to risk the earlier one or not We're flying to Miami for a few days - rather be on your flight to Honalulu though

 

[emmah16]

Should be OK, think Disney advise not to book flights before 12:30pm, who are your flights with? We're looking at a flight time of 1:25pm with American Airlines

Hi,

It's with American Airlines. It goes to Dulles first then onto Manchester. I did look into one which left later with KLM but when I was taken to the KLM website through Skyscanner it said that there was no flights flying on the 20th.

There are other flights which have two stops but I would rather have just the one with having two kids with me.

 

[emmah16]

Hmm, I think that is the same flight as us...UA 700 to IAD. Sound familiar?

I didn't know that time was considered "early". I'm usually well off the ship by 9:30, and the port is only 18 minutes away. Anyone else have thoughts?

Yes that's the one.