He got Alaska, I get Denmark - EBTA May 2015 - UPDATE 5/10/15 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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He got Alaska, I get Denmark - EBTA May 2015 - UPDATE 5/10/15
Hello again!! Been so long since I've had any kind of TR to write about. Its been more than a year since we've been to WDW - and our last cruise was July 2014. Life has been getting in the way around here with work and other stuff... but when I saw Nana Tink had started her report - I said - "Why not!! Get to it". So off we go!!!
What: Terri's 45th birthday trip - early (for reasons to be explained). East Bound TransAtlantic from Port Canaveral to Copenhagen, Denmark on the Disney Magic
Who: DrDolphin (me) 44 on the trip; 10th DCL cruise; DH (Chris) 47, turning 48 right before the cruise - 6th DCL cruise; DM (my mom) and DD (my dad) - 5th DCL cruise for both. Ages not to be posted.
When: May 15 - May 31
A bit o' background.
As some of you may remember, back in 2012 - I surprised DH with a 2 week trip to Alaska for his 45th... and as my 45th birthday quickly approached, DH asked me what I wanted to do. We discussed New Zealand and Australia and we discussed the UK and Ireland to do family tree research. For awhile we even settled on the UK/Ireland trip. So much so that I bought books and posted about it on Facebook. Well - digging back into my emails to remember the history of how we got here almost a year ago, there is one to our fave TA, Sara (Belle* on the boards) asking her what was up with Disney in 2015... I think I had just listened to her and Jennifer on the PPer mom's podcast discussing new itineraries... so she responded back in early March and DH and I talked about it, read about the plans on the DCL website and finally settled on the 12 night which had 3 days in Iceland (Iceland is on my bucket list, and I really want to see the active volcano)....Since it was so pricey - we decided on an inside cabin (pretty much unheard of for us as we love verandahs) and I put down the deposit immediately. Although my birthday is at the end of September, I decided that I wanted to travel in May and leave September open for one of our National Park touring trips.
About a month later, DH came home and told me we had to change the dates of the cruise. The hospital does not allow the full time pharmacists (DH is one) to take more than a week off between June - Aug because the new class of residents has just arrived and many of them have not passed their licensing exams, in addition - they don't know the computer system, etc - so cannot sign off on patient's medications...
Ok - so back to the drawing board. I went back onto DCL's website - and decided to look at the 15-night EB relocation. We could actually save about $2,000 by switching to this plan and getting a verandah. Of course we also had to purchase airfare, but now that would only be one-way back from Copenhagen. We will be back on the Magic. We haven't been on her since our honeymoon in 2010, when we did the EBTA from Port Canaveral to Barcelona - and we will get to see all the refubs and redos!! I think I might even be persuaded to take a ride on the aqua-dunk!
So - on April 4, 2014 we were booked and assigned cabin #7112.
Not long after that - I was telling DM about our cruise plans for my 45th birthday instead of the family tree detective trip (I know enough about 2 families to visit where they were from - but on mom's dad's side - I only know "Ireland" at this point - so still need more digging....) and she mentioned that seeing the fjords of Norway was on my dad's bucket list. She asked if we would mind her and DD joining us on the cruise. We have cruised with my parents before when we were still engaged back in 2009 - and we know that they won't be doing the same types of excursions and our at sea days we will probably not do much with them - which means we all meet up at dinner and chat - and maybe see the some of the shows together. That works for me and DH - so we told her "come on along". They contacted Super TA Sara (they love her like we do) and she booked their cabin as well (they are on deck 8).
Not too long after we booked and I posted about it on Facebook, I PMed Miss Nana Tink to ask her if she and her DH were traveling with family - or just the two of them. If it was just the two (and it was) - which dinner seating had they opted for - she answered back the late seating... and so I asked if they would be interested in joining the 4 of us - she said they would love to - so we linked our reservations. I have no problem with dining with strangers - and we probably would have ended up at a 4 top with just DD, DM, DH and I - but I love the idea of dining with friends and sharing our different perspective on the trip.
Next up - Now that we know we are going to Copenhagen - how do we get home?
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Glad you were able to switch to a cruise with dates that worked for DH. This sounds like a good one, with different options than the usual Trans Atlantics.
And, your parents sound like perfect travel companions.
Signing on so I can follow both perspectives!
We were in Copenhagen as part of the Baltic cruise on the Magic in 2010. We really enjoyed it! Nyhaven is like a postcard! And I really felt you could feel Walt (and understand his inspiration) at Tivoli Gardens.
Looking forward to more!
Glad to see another TR from you, Terri! This sounds like a fantastic trip. I love the ports on this cruise and you can't beat a repo for value and SEA DAYS! Copenhagen is a wonderful city, and Oslo, too, but Copenhagen has a more approachable feel to it. I think your dinner table will be the "fun table" in the dining room!
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I am so glad you've started a PTR for this cruise. It does sound like some very interesting stops. I'll be closely following both yours and Stephanie's.
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Now that we are going to Copenhagen - how do we get home?
After booking our cruise, we realized that we had to get back to the USA. This was a similar situation with what we had back in 2010 when we did the transAtlantic. At first I started researching options... and was finding that either we would be paying $1,400 each with one change of planes, or we could change planes 3 times and change airlines 3 times to get home for half that much.
In the end - I opted to go with the Disney option, just like we did last time. Total added to the cruise was about $1,600... Still less than the $2000 we saved by changing cruises.
I started reading about things that might be excursions on trip advisor and cruise critic, bought a book about Copenhagen and my dad got a Rick Steves "Scandinavia" DVD and Blu-ray set. He doesn't have a blu-ray, so when we went to New Mexico for Christmas, dad gave it to us.
We had our July 2014 cruise on the Fantasy and I remember emailing Sara and asking her if we should cancel and rebook while we were onboard as I heard there was a 10% discount and on-board credit. She sort of laughed (as you can in an email) and told us that the price of the cruise had increased significantly and that any 10% savings we would get would not get us as cheap as we were booked at now... OK then. never mind.
We had a great cruise on the Fantasy - and ended up meeting a former Navy boot camp classmate of Chris' (25 years ago) while we were in the check in line. WOW!! We ended up chaining our dining reservations to dine with David and his friend Jeff. And we recently learned that David and his sister will be onboard the Magic in May as well.
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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
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Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Sounds like a great trip.
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