A Magical voyage across the pond TRIP REPORT UPDATED 12/31 - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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It looks like a beautiful morning and sounds like a smooth ride to the port. I have to agree with you that it was not the best way to handle the passport situation. Your next update sounds ominous. I hope things get better once you board the Magic!!
OH no, I would have been quite upset that I had not been told those things in advance. And, yes, we are told to NEVER surrender our passports to anyone.
And oh NO! A bad service team...for a long cruise? Oh please, I hope things were quickly made better!
I would have freaked out if told to relinquish my passport. I would have happily given them a copy of my photo page, but the real one, scary!
At least your check in line was nice and short!
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I got a little behind with your trip report the grounds of the Churchill estate are beautiful . I never knew that Winston Churchill was an artist.
Your garden is beautiful . My roses finally bloomed or maybe the deer just moved on. The only thing still blooming now are the mums.
Disney really messed up that time. You'd think that they would have emailed people so that they'd have the proper paperwork.
Liz
Was that the first time Anne and Sean had ever seen a cruise ship close up? I can imagine the looks on their faces!
I think it was. I'm not sure if the ship we'll be on in May (just a short two night cruise) will be bigger or the same size at the Magic, but at least now they have an idea of how big it will be!
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Oooh, yeah, a little extra info goes a long way. If for nothing else, just to cover their butts! "If you'd check the email, you'd see that we mentioned this" sort of thing! Also good for those who booked with a travel agent, as I'd assume a travel agent tells their clients about these little details. I used to anyway!
A travel agent would definitely pass anything like that along. Disney were quite happy to send us "important information" about what was acceptable for Halloween costumes for the next cruise, but they didn't consider some of this "important information" for this cruise. Hmmmm….
It looks like a beautiful morning and sounds like a smooth ride to the port. I have to agree with you that it was not the best way to handle the passport situation. Your next update sounds ominous. I hope things get better once you board the Magic!!
I promise that honestly, apart from a few early snafus (the worst of which is still to come, I will warn you!) it was a perfect cruise, so yes it definitely gets better!
OH no, I would have been quite upset that I had not been told those things in advance. And, yes, we are told to NEVER surrender our passports to anyone.
I think that's the advice every country gives their citizens and rightly so. All Disney needed to go was to explain what the plan was and why they had to do it - i.e. it'll save you being up at 4:00am the day we come into Ireland. Sure, people may not have been happy, but at least they'd have known beforehand, rather than the Cast Members having to explain it hundreds of time during the course of the day...
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And oh NO! A bad service team...for a long cruise? Oh please, I hope things were quickly made better!
I would have freaked out if told to relinquish my passport. I would have happily given them a copy of my photo page, but the real one, scary!
Yes, I can imagine there were some interesting discussions with the supervisors that day... but of course Disney were probably saying "well, if you don't hand it over, you won't be boarding"... just my guess, but that's the only way I can see it working.
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I got a little behind with your trip report the grounds of the Churchill estate are beautiful . I never knew that Winston Churchill was an artist.
Your garden is beautiful . My roses finally bloomed or maybe the deer just moved on. The only thing still blooming now are the mums.
Well at least the deer left those alone as well...
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Disney really messed up that time. You'd think that they would have emailed people so that they'd have the proper paperwork.
Liz
You'd have hoped so... not good communication on their part!
Disney should have handled the passport situation a lot better by providing more info on this and not creating so much confusion. It's why it's good to use a travel agent for booking cruises.
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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!
Disney should have handled the passport situation a lot better by providing more info on this and not creating so much confusion. It's why it's good to use a travel agent for booking cruises.
Not really. Mari and Raleigh booked through a travel agent and I don't think they were aware their passports would be taken off them at check-in....
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Oh, wow! I'd say someone at Disney slipped up on that one for sure. A simple heads up would have saved a lot of people time and frustration. And, no doubt their folks are the ones having the worst headaches as they continually encounter people who are unprepared.
It's crazy that they don't tell people that ahead of time. And expecting people to hand over their passport? Also crazy.
It is, but Disney Cruise Line have a history of doing this. When we first sailed with them in 2004, they had all non-American passport holders (maybe Canadians were excluded too - not sure on that one...) hand over their passports for the duration of our three day cruise. We then had to get up even earlier than usual on the final day to go and reclaim them. Thank goodness they soon stopped doing that. That was not fun.
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Your next update sounds ominous. I hope things get better once you board the Magic!! 
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All Disney needed to go was to explain what the plan was and why they had to do it - i.e. it'll save you being up at 4:00am the day we come into Ireland. Sure, people may not have been happy, but at least they'd have known beforehand, rather than the Cast Members having to explain it hundreds of time during the course of the day... 
It's why it's good to use a travel agent for booking cruises.
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