We're off tonight!!! (updated with MVMCP and lots of new photos in post #63)

[sandshal]

there are 3 of us,me,hubby & our 10 yr old grandaughter.
i have seen the radio city apartments,recommended on here,for bigger families.might be worth,a look!
tracy

Thanks Tracy .... I'll take a look xxx

 

[irisheyes123]

Thats interesting ..... The Doubletree Times Square was my second choice (missed out because it was slightly more expensive and you had to pre-pay) What did you think of it? and if you stayed again would you pay the extra to stay in Manhattan?

I have stayed in it twice now this February and march 09 I loved it both time off peak so we got a good price I booked direct through hotel site a few weeks before we went as the price was higher when we first start looking

 

[wayneg]

Have a great trip.
I saw a bargain on the QM2 for next month to NYC, £284pp leaving 10th Nov. Then she was leaving for an 11 night Carribean cruise which was on offer at £558. Both incl all taxes. Very cheap for that ship.

 

[Neoshoegal]

And so it begins...

More photos on here

 

[sandshal]

The ship looks amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have fun and keep us posted as much as you can.

Sharon xx

 

[dbriggsq]

Have a great trip.
I saw a bargain on the QM2 for next month to NYC, £284pp leaving 10th Nov. Then she was leaving for an 11 night Carribean cruise which was on offer at £558. Both incl all taxes. Very cheap for that ship.

Wow those are fantastic prices- where did you see them if you don't mind me asking?

 

[dbriggsq]

And so it begins...

More photos on here

Fabulous photos - what a fantastic trip. QM2 looks fantastic - very classy.

 

[jackieleanne]

Wow what a ship that looks amazing. Have a great trip.

 

[wayneg]

Wow those are fantastic prices- where did you see them if you don't mind me asking?

The 10th Nov Transatlantic crossing is direct with Cunard, just checked and still available, shows £299pp but when you click to buy it drops to £568 balance due for 2 people(£284pp) http://book.cunard.co.uk/find/pb/find.do

Unfortuately the 11 night Carribean part has increased to $1,070pp (£677) The best offer is on the Dec 8th sailing now at $795pp (£503) both based on 2 people in an inside cabin. These prices are with Cruisedirect.com who I use for my RCCL bookings.

Possibly cheaper elsewhere these are the only 2 I checked.

Cruising is very cheap at this time of year, I got cruisedirects weekly email today (same offers on their homepage) 7 night carribean cruise next month for $299pp = £233pp incl tax or a 4 night crusie for $129pp = £140pp incl tax.

 

[Sapper383]

Have a great time

 

[Neoshoegal]

Quick update

The Queen Mary 2 was AMAZING!!! What a way to cross, beats flying anytime, even in Upperclass. So relaxing, most days we had 25 hours, so no feeling of jetlag when we arrived in New York. The shows were a bit disappointing, Royal Caribbean shows are way better. But the food on the QM2 beats Royal any day.
Sailing into New York was so cool. Monday morning, we got up at 4.15am, went to the top deck and to get a view of the ship going under the verrazano-narrows bridge. WOW!!! That looks like a close call, it actually has about 4 metres spare going under, but it looks way less. Then seeing the Statue of Liberty appear, it's quite surreal. Well worth getting out of bed for.

a few photos of the QM2

We had 2 days in New York. The weather was gorgeous, around 20C. We took a hop on hop off tour around the city. We decided to just try to take as much in as we could. First day we did the down town tour, although after getting up at 4.15am, we didn't feel like hopping "off" much. So we stayed on the bus for most of the tour. We were staying right on Times Square in the buzz of it all, at the Crowne Plaza hotel. We had a room on 33rd floor overlooking Times Square, amazing views.
On the 2nd day we went uptown with the hop on hop off bus. We got off at the Metropolitan museum, which we quickly visited and then went on to explore Central Park. Well, we fell in love with Central Park and pretty much spent our whole afternoon there, took a little boat trip on the lake and just walked and walked and walked around. Walked back to the hotel via 5th Avenue (didn't really go into the stores ).
A couple of months ago I ordered tickets to go see Wicked. MrNeo loves musicals and really wanted to go see it, I don't really like musicals, so made up an excuse that tickets were way too expensive for us. So I made up a fob story about going to see another show. We just had to go pick up the tickets, walking all the way to the theatre, he still hadn't figured it out, it wasn't until we went through the doors of the Wicked theatre that he asked "SERIOUSLY???". The smile on his face for the rest of the evening made it well worth it

A few New York photos

Wednesday morning we left New York, took a flight with JetBlue to Orlando. We've flown JetBlue before in August, and even though there was a slight delay on this flight, I can really recommend them. They are very efficient and friendly. (this coming from the person who's usually kicking and screaming at airports).

Arrived at Saratoga Springs, checked in, went to our room (studio) and were a bit disappointed when we walked in as it smelled a bit mouldy and looked rather worn out. A trip back to reception and we received another room which was far nicer. We are now staying in the Grandstand area.
I'll update with a few photos of our first 2 days and lots of food photos later. We're now off to the Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner!

 

[wayneg]

Great to hear from you. New York is such an amazing city, hope we get back again someday.
Enjoy Florida.

 

[Neoshoegal]

To continue

After checking in we had dinner at the Turf Club here at the Saratoga Springs. I had the NY Strip Steak, MrNeo had the pork chop (as recommended by the chef). We had a great meal. Can really recommend the place.

Yesterday we decided not to set an alarm as we were quite knackered from New York. In the afternoon we went to Epcot and toured the Food and Wine Festival. Oooooh, this is heavenly! We had loads of items, all snacks on the dining plan. Brilliant. We'll be going back later as there is so much we still need to try. So far the scallop from New Zealand and the steak from South Africa were our favourites.
In the evening we went to dinner at Sanaa at Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The food there was possibly the best food we've ever had at Disney World, it was sooooo delicous, really amazing, better than some signature restaurants!!! I can more than highly recommend this place. We both had the fish of the day which was salmon and the desert sampler plate. Brilliant place! We only booked this one at the last minute and were so glad we did.

Today we got up early and caught the opening show at the Magic Kingdom, this one always makes me cry a little, happy tears obviously. The park was not at all busy in the morning, walk on for pretty much everything the first hour (went on Buzz Lightyear 3 times in a row!). We left around lunch time and it was starting to get busier. Had lunch at the Riverside Mill at the POR. Good food as always. Afternoon spent relaxing and had a massage at the spa at the Saratoga. We booked this vacation with Disney directly and received a voucher for the spa for a 15% discount on a "body treatment". Now, it turns out that a massage is not "a body treatment". The common sense in that even escaped the lady at the spa check in. But after talking to her manager I was given a $15 discount. Silly really, it would make sense if they would make this clear on the voucher. Hot stone massage was delightfully relaxing!
Dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. Had the skillet and MrNeo had the cheesecake as dessert, I had the chocolate-caramel bread and butter pudding. Great food but way too much, couldn't even finish half of my pudding.

Tomorrow we're off the Disney Studios!!! TSM here we come!

Lots of food photos here!!!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

wow - thanks so much for your report - and I must say, looks like we will have to do the transatlantic crossing one day into New York - that sounds fab!!

 

[Disneymad]

Wow, fab pictures. Your cruise and New York look wonderful, I'm incredibly jealous but I've always been wary of a transatlantic cruise due to potentially rough seas (I'm not so bad but the other half doesn't have particularly good sealegs). How did you find the crossing in that respect?

I've only been to NY once a few years back en-route to Florida - I've seen quite a few Dis'ers do it recently and I've always wanted to go back but yours and other peoples pictures are really making me want to get back there like...NOW!

Agree with you about both Turf Club and Sanaa - our experiences in them have been great ones.

Thanks for the live report

 

[Tony Toon]

Love the photos and the updates Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Having done our first Disney Cruise this summer, I must say you've given me a notion for doing the transatlantic cruise rather than the flight to start our holiday. Only problem (apart from actually paying for it of course) is how we'd cope with putting yet another half stone

Mrs TT

 

[sandshal]

OMG!!!!!!!!! Now I'm super excited about my first trip to NYC next July .... your photos of Times Square look amazing Sylvia.

Tracy (Kieras Nanna) Took your advice and changed to the Radio City Apartments they seem to be in a far better area and the 2 bedroom apartment should be brill for the 5 of us.

Sharon

 

[Neoshoegal]

Wow, fab pictures. Your cruise and New York look wonderful, I'm incredibly jealous but I've always been wary of a transatlantic cruise due to potentially rough seas (I'm not so bad but the other half doesn't have particularly good sealegs). How did you find the crossing in that respect?

I've only been to NY once a few years back en-route to Florida - I've seen quite a few Dis'ers do it recently and I've always wanted to go back but yours and other peoples pictures are really making me want to get back there like...NOW!

Agree with you about both Turf Club and Sanaa - our experiences in them have been great ones.

Thanks for the live report

The QM2 is a proper ocean liner (not a cruise ship) which means she is much better at cutting through rough waters than other ships. There were a few days that had rough-ish seas but you really hardly notice it at all.
I tend to feel a bit queezy on the first morning of a cruise, but it quickly passes after eating an apple (learned this from some crew members).
Of course, there can be really rough seas, at which point very few people will feel totally ok, but that's rare!

 

[Neoshoegal]

Spent the morning at the Disney Studios. Mainly just walked around looking at all kinds of little details, plenty of little things we hadn't noticed on previous trips.
This afternoon, we're off to Typhoon Lagoon as it closes for a refurb next week.
Tonight dinner at the Wave and off to the MK.

Probably won't be checking in tomorrow. We're going to the MNSSHP!!!

More photos added to the album!

 

[wayneg]

Take some pics in The Wave please, cancelled it this year to do Teppan Edo twice but its back on list as a possibility for next year.

Great pic of Niels in the Donald hat