Battered, bruised, and a little bit intoxicated - a Transatlantic Crossing updated 02/13/18 - Page 19 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
You had a very busy day, for sure! I loved the Palo brunch. We've still got our fingers crossed that we can get a brunch for our Panama Canal cruise next month. By the time I tried (the first day of Gold, fairly early in the day) they were all booked. I know they hold some back for embarkation day. Fingers crossed!
Very busy at sea day! Palo for breakfast always looks so delicious, though I can't imagine eating everything I'd want to eat and still being mobile afterwards.
You had a very busy day, for sure! I loved the Palo brunch. We've still got our fingers crossed that we can get a brunch for our Panama Canal cruise next month. By the time I tried (the first day of Gold, fairly early in the day) they were all booked. I know they hold some back for embarkation day. Fingers crossed!
Wow! Can’t believe that everything would be taken up by Platinum members! Hope you get it! That would be my first stop once I was onboard, I think.
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.
I would have been stuffed with just the buffet, never mine items from the menu. You sure had a busy day, you must have enjoyed your nap. The cheddar bacon tartlet looked delicious.
Quite a day for the two of you and an extensive update as I thought it would just be Palo! Great meal and all looks so good. Nice start with the Kir Royale as one of my faves and had it a number of times at the upscale eatery in France's Epcot whether Bistro de Paris or Monsieur Paul and always amazing! Basically Champagne with Pomegranante Juice or Raspberry and varies. Love the spread and especially your salmon eggs benedict and looks like some fancy hard boiled eggs at the buffet! I have so much to comment on!
For dinner the apps don't appeal to me and I like so much food but the salmon and lobster courses look great. I love my panna cotta and as you enjoyed them tonight and at Palo, what can be wrong with that? Funny you mentioned having 4 or 5 drinks in an hour and just crazy at times when it happens, when you're not planning this! Doesn't make you a lush as doing it once in a while is fine and enjoying yourself and having a great time on your cruise! A similar experience for me later in my TR in WDW, just to let you know and you're not the only one! With this it was such an enjoyable day and the drinks just enhanced it!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Oh wow, what a fun packed at sea day! I'm really pleased to see there seem to be so many unique activities put on for the Transatlantic, as on our southern Caribbean cruise, on the at sea days we were like "done that", "done that", as nearly all of the activities were the same old ones you get all the time. It looks as if they do something different for these, which gets my hopes up for our Transatlantic cruise in September.
I particularly liked their gold and platinum reception - very different to anything we've done before, but what a neat idea.
Thanks for the information about the Facebook group - I think I've just found a group to join (Disney Cruise Meet Facebook group?) to see who's on our cruise. I've found Cruise Critic just hasn't worked for us on our recent cruises. There isn't even a roll call for either of our September 2018 cruises right now.
You see, I knew reading this trip report would help with planning for our Transatlantic cruise.
I would have been stuffed with just the buffet, never mine items from the menu. You sure had a busy day, you must have enjoyed your nap. The cheddar bacon tartlet looked delicious.
It was a busy day! Those sea days can sound like they’d be relaxing, but then you’re tempted with so many great activities. That’s why I never get when people say they were bored on a cruise.
Quite a day for the two of you and an extensive update as I thought it would just be Palo! Great meal and all looks so good. Nice start with the Kir Royale as one of my faves and had it a number of times at the upscale eatery in France's Epcot whether Bistro de Paris or Monsieur Paul and always amazing! Basically Champagne with Pomegranante Juice or Raspberry and varies. Love the spread and especially your salmon eggs benedict and looks like some fancy hard boiled eggs at the buffet! I have so much to comment on!
For dinner the apps don't appeal to me and I like so much food but the salmon and lobster courses look great. I love my panna cotta and as you enjoyed them tonight and at Palo, what can be wrong with that? Funny you mentioned having 4 or 5 drinks in an hour and just crazy at times when it happens, when you're not planning this! Doesn't make you a lush as doing it once in a while is fine and enjoying yourself and having a great time on your cruise! A similar experience for me later in my TR in WDW, just to let you know and you're not the only one! With this it was such an enjoyable day and the drinks just enhanced it!
Yes, normally I don’t drink like that. It may take me several days to finish a bottle of wine as I’ll have just a glass in the evening. But sometimes it’s fun to be a little crazy - as long as you don’t go too far with it.
I’ve decided one of the trickiest parts of doing a TR is figuring out where the breaks should be. I’ve got my next installment written and pictures inserted but think I’ll have to split it up a bit....you’ll see what I decide later today.
Oh wow, what a fun packed at sea day! I'm really pleased to see there seem to be so many unique activities put on for the Transatlantic, as on our southern Caribbean cruise, on the at sea days we were like "done that", "done that", as nearly all of the activities were the same old ones you get all the time. It looks as if they do something different for these, which gets my hopes up for our Transatlantic cruise in September.
I particularly liked their gold and platinum reception - very different to anything we've done before, but what a neat idea.
Thanks for the information about the Facebook group - I think I've just found a group to join (Disney Cruise Meet Facebook group?) to see who's on our cruise. I've found Cruise Critic just hasn't worked for us on our recent cruises. There isn't even a roll call for either of our September 2018 cruises right now.
You see, I knew reading this trip report would help with planning for our Transatlantic cruise.
From what I hear, the FB groups can be hit or miss too. We just had a great group of people on ours. I’m sure some of them will be on your cruise, too. But I am always happy to hear that YOU get something helpful from MY reports.
There were a lot of things happening that seemed to be TA specific. I think you’ll find plenty of new things to do. Wish we were doing it again!
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.
From what I hear, the FB groups can be hit or miss too. We just had a great group of people on ours. I’m sure some of them will be on your cruise, too. But I am always happy to hear that YOU get something helpful from MY reports.
There were a lot of things happening that seemed to be TA specific. I think you’ll find plenty of new things to do. Wish we were doing it again!
I just joined up for ours and it looks, from first glance, like a really friendly group. There are already lots of people asking questions about London, Dover etc., so I'm already finding out that I can help people out, which is great - given I love to do that, as you know!
You really have opened up a whole new world to me - thank you for that!
I just joined up for ours and it looks, from first glance, like a really friendly group. There are already lots of people asking questions about London, Dover etc., so I'm already finding out that I can help people out, which is great - given I love to do that, as you know!
You really have opened up a whole new world to me - thank you for that!
You’re welcome! With our FB group we signed up for some group activities they did - open bar, drink tastings, even a pub crawl! And then that was how we found our Lisbon tour, too.
You’re welcome! With our FB group we signed up for some group activities they did - open bar, drink tastings, even a pub crawl! And then that was how we found our Lisbon tour, too.
I was looking for activities, but there doesn't seem to be anything yet. I guess it's still a bit early, but I'm hoping we can sign up for a few things....
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
We didn’t have any trouble getting up this morning because of the time change (going Westbound on the Transatlantic was fantastic - a very gentle return to East coast time, with an hour every day or so; not sure I’d like Eastbound as much - unless I was planning to stay in Europe for a while afterward). We watched a bit of the initial sail in to port, and then got ready for the day. DSC03089 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
IMG_1589 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
Buses all at the ready for the excursions. We were the only ship scheduled to be in port today.
After showering and getting dressed we headed up to Cabanas for breakfast. We had agreed to meet 2 of our table mates (the Canadians) at the Walt Disney Theater, because it turned out we were doing the same excursion. We also ended up in the same group/same bus as 2 people we met through the Facebook cruise group, plus two others who were traveling with them.
Today we’d be in the Azores, specifically the island of Sao Miguel. The Azores belong to Portugal. Ponta Delgada is the capital of the islands and has a population of just about 69,000. Apparently it is easy to get a flight there from Boston, likely because of the number of Portuguese living in the Boston area. I think it’s only about a 4 hour flight, and from our experience on the island, it would be well worth it!! We’ve said we’d love to go back to just hang out for a week or so.
IMG_1592 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
Look how green & lush it is there!! Isn’t it gorgeous?!
DSC03104 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
I thought this was kind of cool - they seem to be building up the sea wall with these concrete things - never learned more about it, but thought it looked neat.
DSC03105 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
Random fountain on the way out of the “city” - may have been something I knew more about in September, but didn’t capture anything in my notes!
Our excursion was essentially a bus tour of the island, and it was excellent! We were able to get off and take pictures at a number of spots. And this gave us a chance to see the island, which is just gorgeous!! We had a pretty short time in port, so we felt it was safest to do a DCL excursion rather than finding something on our own.
We saw the 2 lakes that join at a little bridge - one lake is green and one is blue. Legend has it that its to match the eye color of each of the star crossed lovers who met on the bridge, and the lakes are made of their tears. DSC03201 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
We stopped at a spot where you can see both coastlines of the island at once, and our guide pointed out a spa along the water’s edge where they use the volcanic activity in the water for their geothermal spa. The water is well over 120 degrees I believe! In the ocean! Can you imagine swimming along and finding yourself in that water?! You’d really wonder about that warm spot! DSC03256 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
The spa. You can see how black the rocks are down there - it’s all volcanic rock. DSC03263 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
The whole place was just breathtaking. They have hydrangea bushes all along the roads to serve as fences/barriers which made it seem so lush and colorful. DSC03114 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
DSC03150 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
Other flowers we saw in various stops along the way
DSC03110 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
The airport. Assume the Easy Jet comes from the UK or elsewhere in mainland Europe; the other is the flight that comes from Boston.
DSC03123 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr DSC03125 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr DSC03128 by Colleen McLain, on Flickr
Our tour ended at a hotel just across from the pier where the Magic was docked, for a wine and cheese tasting. There are more cows than people on the island (Cheryl you’d LOVE it there!) and our guide says the this is where the happy cows live.
In addition to the cheese, they had some amazing Portuguese breads, including this roll that was filled some kind of fruit. We all wished afterward that we’d grabbed a pile of those rolls for later!
Oh my goodness, I'm in love! Cows, beautiful scenery, cheese and wine - I need to go!
Now this is where it gets interesting... I looked up on EasyJet's website and apparently they don't fly to the Azores... well at the moment anyway! Maybe it's only a seasonal route or they've stopped it, but on their website, the nearest flights in that area are to Madeira and the Canary Islands. It's not as if there are flights from the Azores to anywhere else in Europe. Very strange and a real shame, as reading this, I think it's somewhere I'd really like to go.
Oh my goodness, I'm in love! Cows, beautiful scenery, cheese and wine - I need to go!
Now this is where it gets interesting... I looked up on EasyJet's website and apparently they don't fly to the Azores... well at the moment anyway! Maybe it's only a seasonal route or they've stopped it, but on their website, the nearest flights in that area are to Madeira and the Canary Islands. It's not as if there are flights from the Azores to anywhere else in Europe. Very strange and a real shame, as reading this, I think it's somewhere I'd really like to go.
Oh darn! Can’t imagine an Easy Jet flight was coming from anywhere else?
And the TA this year doesn’t stop there, does it? You could hop over when you go to Lisbon, as being a Portuguese territory, I’m sure they have flights. It was funny when we mentioned our next trip to one of the Tuk-Tuk drivers, as they pronounce Azores VERY differently to what Americans do, so he had NO idea what we were talking about at first!
You’ll have to keep exploring your flight options. But hope you enjoyed your cow pictures!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Great meal and all looks so good. Nice start with the Kir Royale as one of my faves and had it a number of times at the upscale eatery in France's Epcot whether Bistro de Paris or Monsieur Paul and always amazing! 
Basically Champagne with Pomegranante Juice or Raspberry and varies. Love the spread and especially your salmon eggs benedict and looks like some fancy hard boiled eggs at the buffet!
With this it was such an enjoyable day and the drinks just enhanced it! 
PassPorter Guide Author
I'm really pleased to see there seem to be so many unique activities put on for the Transatlantic, as on our southern Caribbean cruise, on the at sea days we were like "done that", "done that", as nearly all of the activities were the same old ones you get all the time. It looks as if they do something different for these, which gets my hopes up for our Transatlantic cruise in September. 
It's not as if there are flights from the Azores to anywhere else in Europe. Very strange and a real shame, as reading this, I think it's somewhere I'd really like to go.
Linear Mode
