North to Europe - EBTA 2015 Updated 04/26/2015 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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So, I’ve been quietly reading trip reports in the background, vicariously following along on cruises and trips ‘home’ and all that fun stuff! I have tried in the past to do a trip report, but always, something happens and it falls off the scope. That said, I decided if y’all are willing to give me a shot, I’d like to try one more time….
North to Europe!
Our Eastbound Transatlantic MAGICal Cruise PTR
Dates: 15 May – 30 May
Travelers: Me – NanaTink (aka Stephanie) 57 at cruise time…. Married for 36 years to --
DH – Sulley (aka Dave) also 57 at cruise time
Our adventure got its roots when they released the May 2015 cruise schedule for DCL. Immediately, our eyes were caught by the 11 night North Norwegian Fjords and Iceland Cruise due mostly to the two days in Iceland.(A little back history, my DH was in the Navy for 22 years and I too served.My duty station before my accident that led to my discharge was Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland.After marrying Dave, he took me to Iceland twice more during our military travels.Our youngest son was born on Kef.)I was so excited and we talked it over the night before the rates were released. As platinum Castaway Club members, we were one of the first to be able to book. But our dreams came CRASHING down when the price was revealed…AND we had to fly to and from the US to Europe, not a cheap proposition. Back to the drawing board. Then I noticed the Transatlantic was less than HALF the price and had the added advantage of starting in the US so there was only a one-way flight from Europe…I quickly called Dave at work(shhhh…I was at work too…but it was my lunch hour)and we decided to grab it. If the numbers didn’t work, we could always cancel later. So we took the plunge and booked a 5 B stateroom. I tried for 7112, but it was not available, so I grabbed our second favorite, 7114. Our first cruise was on the Wonder in 7112 and we had bounced back and forth between 7112 and 7114 on the Wonder and Magic ever since. Boy, are we glad we decided to book it ‘in case’! The price jumped by the end of the week when Disney saw just how popular this cruise was becoming. It is now almost DOUBLE what we paid! I was so excited! We were going back to Iceland, albeit not for the two days, but at least a couple of hours, enough time to get some Ysa and ice cream! We wouldn’t have time for any extended tours to the sites we remembered, but we were getting to also see some new countries and also get to sail on the new re-imagined Magic!
So, our itinerary looks like this:
May 15 Port Canaveral -- 4:00 pm
May 16 At Sea -- --
May 17 At Sea -- --
May 18 New York NY 8:00 am 4:45 pm
May 19 At Sea -- --
May 20 At Sea -- --
May 21 St. John’s Newfoundland 8:00 am 5:00 pm
May 22 At Sea -- --
May 23 At Sea -- --
May 24 At Sea -- --
May 25 Reykjavik, Iceland 7:30 am 1:45 pm
May 26 At Sea -- --
May 27 At Sea -- --
May 28 Oslo, Norway 10:30 am 4:15 pm
May 29 Copenhagen, Denmark 9:30 am --
May 30 Copenhagen Denmark 8:00 am
We are soooo excited!!
Up next: Flight arrangements and wondering about excursions.
How fantastic! The repositioning cruises are always such great bargains, especially when you book right when they open. I never even looked at the itinerary for the repos this year, but this one looks great, and you get ALL those sea days!
Ooh, this looks wonderful! I would love to do a TA, but am not sure DH and I could handle it. Too much togetherness! Maybe I'll just do one alone, ya never know! Can't wait to read all about your travels, since I'll be boarding the Magic just one week after you get her over there for the first Norwegian trip.
Sounds fabulous!! I remember looking at the prices the day they came out and being shocked at some of the prices (like Norway), but amazed at the relative bargain price for a transatlantic. Unfortunately, those will never work for me while I have kids in school. Maybe in 4 or 5 years.
How fantastic! The repositioning cruises are always such great bargains, especially when you book right when they open. I never even looked at the itinerary for the repos this year, but this one looks great, and you get ALL those sea days!
The sea days are the best! Though this cruise it won't be warm enough for lying by the pool reading (my most FAVORITE THING) It was quite the bargain, to be sure!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Doing a Transatlantic is high on my bucket list.
You'll love Oslo & Copenhagen. Hope you're planning some time in Tivoli Gardens!
Maybe....we shall see what did we book for an excursion
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pris
Ooh, this looks wonderful! I would love to do a TA, but am not sure DH and I could handle it. Too much togetherness! Maybe I'll just do one alone, ya never know! Can't wait to read all about your travels, since I'll be boarding the Magic just one week after you get her over there for the first Norwegian trip.
We've done two EBPC and had a blast! Even the one last year that was nicknamed the Hurricane Avoidance Cruise where we did not get off the ship for 9 days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad you've started a TR for this cruise, Stephanie! The itinerary for this cruise looks incredible with a lot of relaxing at sea days.
Sea days are the best! DCL can keep you as busy as you want them to!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Sounds fabulous!! I remember looking at the prices the day they came out and being shocked at some of the prices (like Norway), but amazed at the relative bargain price for a transatlantic. Unfortunately, those will never work for me while I have kids in school. Maybe in 4 or 5 years.
I know, I was quite surprised, pleasantly so! I think the timing has something to do with the price as well, most kids are in school. I know on the cruise facebook page, there was quite a bit of angst about school and homework. Most were able to push it off as educational and the fact it was later in the school year. Though I do wonder now with all the bad weather and snow days, how much of an issue it might be. Unfortunately, PIF was Jan 15. Before all this MESS!
North To Europe PTR continued. Time for Airline planning!
I thought this might be a good time to introduce more fully our intrepid adventurers. Some of you may know us, some not so much. It’s been quite a few years since I have really posted here, mostly I lurk.
Anyway, I’m NanaTink, aka Stephanie in the real world, Mom to two grown sons and Mema to four special grandkids, ages 8 -2. (Now you know, each and every one of them has been to Disney, all but the 2 year old more than once. And they have all been on a Disney cruise. We are a family of Disney nuts! But, this trip, they won’t be joining us. ) I work full time downtown DC and say I work so I can play at Disney.
Traveling with me is my loving DH, Sulley, aka Dave, Dad and Papa respectively. ( He’s a very good Papa…the little ones have him wrapped TIGHTLY around their fingers ) He also works full time to pay the bills and allow me to work for our Disney time. He retired after 22 years in the US Navy and is on his second career.
We celebrated our 36th anniversary this past December and love to travel. So that is the reason for this cruise…new places to explore, but still with that Disney special touch! So that is us in a nutshell.
HOW MUCH???
After booking the cruise, we started to look at how much the airline tickets were going to cost us. We are frequent fliers on United (due to Dave’s business travel, it makes sense for us) so that is where I started. The price quoted was over 2,500 PER PERSON ONE WAY!Say WHAAAA? That made the one way flight from Denmark for the two of us to cost MORE than the cruise! Surely I could find something better than that! Then Dave came up with a great idea! Icelandair just recently started flying into our airport of choice, Dulles, so we decided to take a peek at their price. Plus, they had a neat deal that any flight through Iceland, you could break into two different flights with a stay of up to a week in Iceland for no extra cost! BONUS! Perhaps we could get a hotel and rental car with what we were saving and spend a few extra days looking around and visiting old haunts! So I logged onto Icelandair and once I figured out their website, I quickly found out that the flights were looking to be about $400 each. Quite a bit of savings! But it was too early to book anything so I calmly (ok, maybe not THAT calmly---I was PETRIFIED that a whole ship of people were going to find out my secret and I would not be able to get tickets!! ) waited until booking opened up.
In the meantime, I started looking at hotels and rental cars in Iceland. It was hard to tell exactly where the hotels were (it’s been 25 years since we were there) and the prices were quite high. We didn’t give up on it until we figured out we would have to stay at least two nights to go ANYWHERE because of the flight schedule. And truth be told we would want two days to tour. Since we were already taking over two weeks off from work, we thought that might be pushing it just a little too much. It was worth a thought. We still have a few hours to renew our acquaintance with that beautiful country.
In the meantime, I booked our flight to Orlando to meet the ship and booked the hotel at the airport for the night before the cruise. The Hyatt at MCO is a wonderful place to stay, they pick up your luggage from your room the morning of the cruise and transport it to the ship while you head down to the lower level to meet your chariot to the port. I got a great deal on United and only paid $177 each for our tickets! Finally the booking window opened for Icelandair and I jumped online.I was so proud of my savings, I decided to check out SAGA class (business class for us Americans) and found I could get both of us in SAGA for $1,700! Less than ONE economy class ticket on United!Should I do it? I was tempted!Dave is 6’3 or 4 depending on the day and has trouble with long flights if he can’t stretch his legs out. I have arthritis in my knee and hip and the thought of being smushed into a middle seat for a long period of time…. Yes. It is worth it! So we are in SAGA class from Copenhagen to Iceland and Iceland to Dulles. The last thing I booked was transport to and from the airport here. Since we would be gone for such a long period of time and Dave didn’t want the car sitting at the airport, I booked a town car to take us to and from, and it was cheaper than parking at the airport. Win-Win!
So, all our transportation needs are done and all we have to do is wait for the booking date for excursions and Palos. Our PIF and booking date was January 15, 2015. We just needed to know what they were going to offer! Hurry up DCL, we need some excursions! UP Next: What do you want to do? I don’t know, what do YOU want to do?
Wow! Sure sounds like everything is working out for this trip. I didn't realize the pricing on the TA cruises went up after the initial offerings. Thanks for that info.
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Great savings with the flights! It's definitely worth the upgrade for those long flights. I like the idea of flying Icelandic for this trip, too-- keeping with the theme!
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Another amazing adventure on DCL to read about. I will have to keep in mind that the TA cruises are cheaper. Sounds like good research on the transportation.
We're booked on the magic this fall across the hall and on the other side of the elevators (7590 & 7592) so I'm glad to hear you like the location.
You will be very happy you booked SAGA class. I've flown Icelandair 4 times and their seats are tight and they have no leg room. I am short (5/2) and DH is tall (6/2), and the ride was so uncomfortable, even for me. Your trip sounds great.
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Back to the drawing board. Then I noticed the Transatlantic was less than HALF the price and had the added advantage of starting in the US so there was only a one-way flight from Europe…I quickly called Dave at work(shhhh…I was at work too…but it was my lunch hour)and we decided to grab it. If the numbers didn’t work, we could always cancel later. So we took the plunge and booked a 5 B stateroom. I tried for 7112, but it was not available, so I grabbed our second favorite, 7114. Our first cruise was on the Wonder in 7112 and we had bounced back and forth between 7112 and 7114 on the Wonder and Magic ever since. Boy, are we glad we decided to book it ‘in case’! The price jumped by the end of the week when Disney saw just how popular this cruise was becoming. It is now almost DOUBLE what we paid! 
I was so excited! We were going back to Iceland, albeit not for the two days, but at least a couple of hours, enough time to get some Ysa and ice cream! We wouldn’t have time for any extended tours to the sites we remembered, but we were getting to also see some new countries and also get to sail on the new re-imagined Magic!
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Maybe I'll just do one alone, ya never know! Can't wait to read all about your travels, since I'll be boarding the Magic just one week after you get her over there for the first Norwegian trip.
The itinerary for this cruise looks incredible with a lot of relaxing at sea days. 
) I work full time downtown DC and say I work so I can play at Disney. 
That made the one way flight from Denmark for the two of us to cost MORE than the cruise! Surely I could find something better than that! Then Dave came up with a great idea! Icelandair just recently started flying into our airport of choice, Dulles, so we decided to take a peek at their price. Plus, they had a neat deal that any flight through Iceland, you could break into two different flights with a stay of up to a week in Iceland for no extra cost! BONUS! Perhaps we could get a hotel and rental car with what we were saving and spend a few extra days looking around and visiting old haunts! So I logged onto Icelandair and once I figured out their website, I quickly found out that the flights were looking to be about $400 each. Quite a bit of savings! But it was too early to book anything so I calmly (ok, maybe not THAT calmly---I was PETRIFIED that a whole ship of people were going to find out my secret and I would not be able to get tickets!!
) waited until booking opened up.
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
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