May 18, 2013 MAGIC EBTA - Who is with us?

[heatherb819]

Yes Kasey they helped us move. And it was to a Verandah, we had never had a verandah before so we were more than thrilled to pack up & move! I just left everything on hangers & they brought a luggage cart to move them, everything in drawers went into each suitcase & onto the luggage cart. DH & DD never helped me so fast lol!! It was a nice treat!! Our new room Stewart came into the new room & helped me put things away as we chatted.

[kaseyC]

Originally Posted by heatherb819

Yes Kasey they helped us move. And it was to a Verandah, we had never had a verandah before so we were more than thrilled to pack up & move! I just left everything on hangers & they brought a luggage cart to move them, everything in drawers went into each suitcase & onto the luggage cart. DH & DD never helped me so fast lol!! It was a nice treat!! Our new room Stewart came into the new room & helped me put things away as we chatted.

Now, that kind of move I could deal with.

[MandyGirl]

Originally Posted by heatherb819

Yes Kasey they helped us move. And it was to a Verandah, we had never had a verandah before so we were more than thrilled to pack up & move! I just left everything on hangers & they brought a luggage cart to move them, everything in drawers went into each suitcase & onto the luggage cart. DH & DD never helped me so fast lol!! It was a nice treat!! Our new room Stewart came into the new room & helped me put things away as we chatted.

Sweeeet, Heather!!

I know the first thing I do when luggage arrives is kick everyone out, unpack, and place luggage under the beds. Now that we are so into packing cubes, I can literally place specific packing cubes in drawers versus taking everything out (especially with 4 of us). But in the old days before packing cubes, I would have gotten a stomach knot to re-pack LOL.

We offered to put Curt's mother in a verandah, but she stuck with her deck 2 oceanview. She's afraid that if she had a verandah she would spend too much time there and not get out and see the ship. I always keep an eye on any deals, and am currently on our third booking of this cruise LOL. After final payment I pretty much stay set, so just a few more weeks of watching for any deals! Do you think the verandah kept you more IN your cabin versus out and about doing things on the EBTA?

Sidenote - I have some friends on a cruise this week - they needed 5 cabins, one of which needed to be a balcony handicap accessible (grandfather in wheelchair). Let me tell ya, finding a cruise with just ONE handicap balcony available for them was craziness. I had told them about our cruise as an idea if Christmas week didn't work out for them, but all handicap verandahs of our EBTA sailing were already sold out at that point. Luckily I found them space on NCL that had an accessible verandah cabin, so they had Christmas in the Caribbean.

[heatherb819]

Honestly we weren't out there as much as I thought we would be! Pulling in and out of ports we would go out and take a look or while one of us was getting ready DD would order a PBJ and eat out there. We like to be out & about!

[Tink1987]

Originally Posted by heatherb819

Honestly we weren't out there as much as I thought we would be! Pulling in and out of ports we would go out and take a look or while one of us was getting ready DD would order a PBJ and eat out there. We like to be out & about!

This is why I can't justify the extra money to upgrade - on one hand I think I would love to sit out there and read but at the same time I think I would rather be out of the room doing stuff on the ship......

[MandyGirl]

Originally Posted by heatherb819

Honestly we weren't out there as much as I thought we would be! Pulling in and out of ports we would go out and take a look or while one of us was getting ready DD would order a PBJ and eat out there. We like to be out & about!

That's what I am hoping as well - to really be out and about again this time. We have had a verandah a few times, but once was Alaska so we were doing lots of glacier watching then. I had the verandah with my parents in November, and seemed to use it when going into ports or while the kiddo napped. I know I could sit and read for hours if I could!

Originally Posted by Tink1987

This is why I can't justify the extra money to upgrade - on one hand I think I would love to sit out there and read but at the same time I think I would rather be out of the room doing stuff on the ship......

That's us! We had an inside booked for this cruise, but when the interline rates came out they only offered them for oceanview and verandah - no insides. We prefer to be on the ship (or vacation) more often, so save a few bucks, get an inside, and enjoy the pitch black for sleeping in. Had an inside category been available, we would have booked that to save even more money. (ie reallocate money to spend elsewhere LOL) I had been looking forward to the inside sideways we had booked.

[heatherb819]

I enjoy being up by the pool, DD loves to swim so I can sit there & read, sleep, people watch etc. you can't beat that verandah!!! 2011 on EBTA it was nice being up there because if anyone saw dolphins, turtles or anything else interesting, word traveled fast & you could go see too!

[MandyGirl]

Originally Posted by heatherb819

I enjoy being up by the pool, DD loves to swim so I can sit there & read, sleep, people watch etc. you can't beat that verandah!!! 2011 on EBTA it was nice being up there because if anyone saw dolphins, turtles or anything else interesting, word traveled fast & you could go see too!

We love the pool too! But only in the shade... hubby has had melanoma a few times, luckily all stage one, plus some other skin cancers, but we try to steer clear of the sun from 10-4. Can't miss my girls though - they are the ones wearing the swimsuits that have sleeves and go to their knees! We did manage to snag a lounge chair in the shade one afternoon on the WBTA to watch a movie while the 2 year old napped. I'm sure we looked funny with three of us piled on one lounge chair next to all the empties that were occupied with a book, pair of shoes and towel. I think our only day in the sun was briefly on St Maartin and the catamaran day to Jost VanDyke from Tortola, continuously lathered in sunscreen.

We were good in our DIS group to send out texts when cool things were going on. Gotta love those wave phones! Maybe it was Gibraltar we were sailing away from with all the dolphins I think. Believe it or not, Galveston had some good sets of dolphins at sailaway.

[sdlong329]

Originally Posted by Tink1987

I wonder if they may do the same on this one then if it is as empty as people say?

There will be MANY who will book this cruise within a 90 or 120 day window (for discount purposes) ... not uncommon for T/A cruises, especially EB T/A cruises.

Remember, capacity rate is not the same as unsold staterooms, and an unsold stateroom is not the same as an available stateroom. Applying upgrades is a fine art ... complicated calculations based upon hoards of factors not known to the public.

Steven

[sdlong329]

Originally Posted by padalyn

another interesting thing - DCL seldom upgrades DVC bookings...we are going to try to get a port upgrade, but we are not hopeful....we are on deck 6 and are happy with that!

Hi Cayla! We moved from the WB Panama Canal Cruise to the EB T/A. We could not do both (they overlap), and we've sailed each before .. so it was a tough choice.

(DVC upgrades) One reason DCL does not frequently upgrade DVC is ... DVC reservations are normally made with / for a specific stateroom. DCL does not typically upgrade someone from a requested stateroom, but it happens. With DCL, I have found there are far more EB TransAtlantic reservations made with GTY (including within the last 90-120 of sailing) ... so more upgrades are made. In our case, we used DVC points to reserve two staterooms. One is a Verandah GTY, while the other is an inside category (not a GTY). We are hoping both will be upgraded. If I get the Roy or Walt Suite, I will show the room in cabin crawl. If we get BOTH the Roy and Walt Suite(s) ... I will play the lottery, and buy a few cases of champagne to share!

Steven

[sdlong329]

Originally Posted by kaseyC

Now, that kind of move I could deal with.

That's a DCL Concierge level perk (I believe) ... and I believe is also included with all Azamara cruises (upgraded Celebrity cruise line), where each stateroom has a BUTLER ... not a stateroom host. For now, I'll just have to SLUM it with a stateroom host.

Steven

[kaseyC]

Originally Posted by sdlong329

That's a DCL Concierge level perk (I believe) ... and I believe is also included with all Azamara cruises (upgraded Celebrity cruise line), where each stateroom has a BUTLER ... not a stateroom host. For now, I'll just have to SLUM it with a stateroom host.

Steven

LOL! Unfortunately, that is not a DCL Concierge perk. It seems only the cruise lines that offer Butler service with their suites provide packing and unpacking as an option.

[heatherb819]

I think she was just being nice & helping me due to the fact we were upgraded for DCL convenience. It was in the middle of a sea day and she was extremely helpful!!

[GoofyNewfie]

Originally Posted by padalyn

There will be at least one formal and most likely two informal nights. On a few of the longer cruises we had two formal and two informal nights. So be sure to bring your fancy clothing!!

When/how will we find out what evenings are what? Will everyone have the same formal night? As in, will all the restaurants do formal night on the same night?

[GoofyNewfie]

Originally Posted by MandyGirl

We were good in our DIS group to send out texts when cool things were going on. Gotta love those wave phones!

When we sailed in 2010 there were no wavephones. We can call each other's phones and text too? That sounds awesome. I guess you just need the room number? Is there 1 or 2 phones per room though? would a call go to both? Sorry for the ignorance.