Sept 18 2010 WB TransAtlantic Pirates/Capt Jacks Re-Repoing Repossession Cruise Pt.5

[su_kraft]

Weather wise, think Florida in May. We can be very humid here.

Hopefully you are coming after the July 4th holiday. We are hosting a G20 summit June 24-27 and it will be crazy here. My store is closed 24-27th as the U of Toronto campus is closed as well, they have placed the "official" protest site right next door to the main campus. Several areas of the city will require access passes to enter.

Evening activities, not really my kind of knowledge, I live out in the suburbs. If you are looking for shopping, The Eaton Centre has lots of shops and is right downtown. There are harbour tours, we have a Hippo boat tour company. Some great restaurants, check this site out http://www.seetorontonow.com. I have eaten at and liked, Bymark, Far Niente

For downtown activities, this is a great site to look at.


Pj

Thanks PJ - and a huge hug for the Summitt warning. I want to avoid that for sure.

Sue

 

[su_kraft]

My dd suggested the Eaton Centre as well. She is really still a tourist too. She lives south of Toronto and rarely gets into town. We were thinking of the CN tower (eating there perhaps), a
baseball game, the ROM, and just wandering about. At the end of the month the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is getting the Terracotta Warriors exhibit.

My mom wants us to go see Casa Loma as she remembers it fondly from a trip 50 to 60 years ago to visit relatives who lived on Toronto's island. Not sure if it is still

Still thinking about getting down to Niagara Falls one day too.

The G20 is going to be a logistical nightmare. I just hope we can leave YYZ without a hitch. I am afraid that they will be closing airspace from time to time on Friday to allow the bigwigs to land.

I wish I could stay for a weekend and really see Toronto... But DH will be home with the kids - and truthfully, I will miss them!

So, my goal now is to avoid the 20 and see anything that is open in the evenings (thus avoiding the 20 something crowd of consultants that we have on the ground (as they are young enough to stay up all night and still function the next day...)

 

[su_kraft]

I think we should ask if they have them onboard at embarkation, and if not all lie down and have a terrible two's paddy on the floor until they get them!!

If I tell my kids no Mickey bars, they may lead the tantrum!! ('Course, I might be close behind...) Some things just need to be there... I can deal with them running out of some things, but not Mickey bars...

I'm off for a day or so now, as I'm taking dd back to her Uni house in Bristol. She starts her summer job tomorrow and I'm crossing everything I have that she's ok living on her own again. Most of her housemates will be away on a field trip so I am very anxious about her being alone, though she seems much better. I'm staying overnight anyway, and will probably 'pop' back a couple of times over the next few weeks (it's a 200 mile round trip...)

I will keep Becky in my prayers!

Sounds like a plan! Bella (my DD) can head up the "wobbly lessons", even though she's 8 she can still chuck a great tantrum!
Do we need another list?

Here's hoping no one backs onto the laundry this time!
Dis Family Rocks!

AND For any of my Dis friends, I ordered the Passporters DCL 2010 book today, It is meant to ship by the end of the month. Anyhoo, I got a code for 30% off AFTER ordering my book. So if anyone would like the code just PM me, DOn't know whether I should post it, Might be breaking some rules?

I am sure that Bella and Becca would make quite the pair... However... That is one list I hope NOT to have...!

I too hope that no one shares a wall wtih laundry (and if they do, remember no trainers - personal or footwear - in the driers...)

Not sure about posting a discount code - heaven knows people post them for rental cars all the time! I know that personally I would love to have it - I was going to order the book, but then they couldn't get it together... Glad to see it is out now...

 

[gismo1554]

I understand the general idea of the fish extenders and I see that we are breaking down the groups into 15 - 20 staterooms. I'm trying to decide if I have time to get it all together to participate. Is a gift being given per stateroom? or per person within the stateroom? Can the gifts be delivered at anytime prior to the last day during the cruise?

Thanks for your help!

It can be either really. Either per room or per person in the room. People do different things depending on time, resources etc. Also yes it can be delivered any time during the cruise!

 

[gismo1554]

I just finalized my Fish Extender gifts. I will give two goodie bags per cabin in my group (one early on in the cruise and one on Pirate Night, but that is entirely my choice). Both goodie bags will be a mix of stuff that I made and things I bought. I have found in the past that the most time consuming part was labeling the gift so that people know who it is from. This time I am lazy. I had cards printed with my real name, DISBoards name and my email address which I will add to the gift. That way people know who it is from and if they want to keep in touch after the cruise, they have my email address as well.

Corinna

Im gutted Im not in your group now Corinna! I love goodie bags lol!

 

[gismo1554]

That does it!1 I'm going to have to see about coming in earlier than I expected. Much to much to see and people to meet up with. BTW, just to let you know, I did not find ANY Ranch dressing anywhere in Barcelona EXCEPT for the Hard Rock Cafe so if anyone needs a fix before we get on the ship, bring your own or eat at the Hard Rock which is at the top of Las Ramblas and about 1 minute from El Cortes Ingles.

I'm full of useless facts like that.

BTW, how many of you know that there is no bacteria in urine?

See what I mean....useless facts.

LOL that's why urine works on snack bites!

Ranch dressing isn't a European thing at all! I love it but I don't know many non-American style places that do it. Subway may

 

[gismo1554]

OK....things that I am concerned about right now about this cruise....
1. We still have no stateroom assignment....and I am sure we will eventually get it but we want it now.....

2. We still have no idea who we will be flying, what time we will be flying and if it will be a non-stop to Barcelona on Friday night.

3. We are seasoned travelers but I am a little concerned about all the pick pocketing we are hearing about in Barcelona....whats the deal with that?

Barcelona is no worse than any major city honestly! Its crowded and so you need to be on your guard but I don't think its any worse than say New York or London.

4. Lastly, and most importantly I am really stressed out about the Mickey bar situation. My DW and I figured last week I could probably knock off about 20 of those suckers on a 14 nighter....14 at dinner....about 5 or 6 at sit down lunches and a couple from room service....PLEASE....tell me I will get Mickey bars....I'm begging here OK.....

Seriously, the only concern is the pick-pocketing. We fly into Barcelona and then Disney transportation to the port.....Do the Disney reps meet you like they do in the Orlando airport?

Thanks all....see you all soon....OK...in about 15 weeks....

Tom & Marilou

The Mickey Bars Im sure theyll sort out this time fingers crossed.

The DCL reps meet you in the terminal and are very visable! Youll easily find them I'm sure!

 

[gismo1554]

Does anyone know if there was a Mickey Mouse Club night on the EBTA? We had one on the last PC crossing and the cast members were so shocked that so many of us came prepared. A lot of us had made our own MMC shirts and brought our mouse ears. Just wondering if I should consider making some shirts again.

I don't think they do it anymore but not 100% sure. Think the Villans menu replaced it

 

[tig82174]

Here's a tip for anyone who hasn't booked their excursion: click add to my favorites before your date and on that date it will be easier to book it. Saves a lot of time. The only thing you can't do is Palo but you can do spa.

That's what we do/did. We went online earlier this week and booked a couples Spa Villa for the Med portion of the cruise and did all our online paperwork for the Med piece. (We had to book on Day 2 of the Med which SUCKS because we'd rather have our spa day closer to the end of our trip and our Med cruise is already so jam packed with activities-----but we're really hoping that at midnight on Friday when we log on to do our WBTA bookings that there will be afternoon or early evening openings on Sea Days for the WBTA portion---in which case we will cancel the one during the Med...it's just a back up plan/placeholder right now.) While we were on we also created our "favorites" list with the excursions we want to do in each of the WBTA ports so that when we log on on Friday night at midnight we'll be able to just go in and do the bookings quickly. We're not doing Palo during the WBTA (because a Palo night is included in our Adventures by Disney package on the Med portion and we only really like dinner in Palo and only really need to eat it once per trip). So we just have to book spa and excursions. I think the excursions we are going to be doing are:

Barcelona----we're not sure....since we're doing the B2B we'll be on the ship and so we're considering talking to them at the excursions desk during our Med cruise and seeing what they recommend as a nice morning excursion so we can get off the ship early, do a quick excursion and still be back to the boat in time to meet everyone, have lunch, do the safety drill, distribute lanyards, etc. We may even decide not to do any excursion. We'll have to see.
Gibraltar----we're doing the "Rock on your own" tour. We did the full tour with the cable car, rock, apes, cave and great siege tunnels last time....this time we really only care about riding the cable car up, spending time on the rock, seeing the apes and then maybe walking around Gibraltar. We also went and explored the botanical gardens last time and they have this cute little make-shift zoo in there, too....so we might do that again. (i'm a big fan of zoos and any excursion that involves animals)
Madeira---we're doing the canyoning excursion that involves hiking and swimming and rapelling down waterfalls and stuff. Looks interesting/exciting...plus we're pretty sure that the port activities on our Med/AbD package will be lower physical activity level so we decided to book some more active/athletic stuff for our WBTA portion.
St. Maarten---we're doing the jungle/rain forest hike where you go to the top of the mountain and then hike all the way down. (We like high places with cool views---like Gibraltar's rock----and we like physical activity---like hiking---and we like animals---and the descprition for this excursion said you would probably see monkeys and tropical birds and iguanas and mongoose...so sign me up!! )
Tortola---We're hoping to do the Dolphin Swim. We've never done one of these before and know we want to at some point so figured this is as good a time as any....plus it's the animal factor again.
Castaway---we're just doing the getaway package that gets you bike, float and snorkel rentals. When we have a full day we usually try to do another activity----we've done cabana massages, parasailing, jetski tour, and the kayaking tours before----but with such as short day scheduled on the island we figure we'll just enjoy the beach and water....and maybe "borrow" someone's kids so we have an excuse to play on the new Pelican's Plunge slides and stuff! (Sandi----so you better tell Abby I might be drafting her for that!)

Here is the info I supplied to the EBTA from my October cruise - I will double check the prices with my laundry ticket from the EBTA:

ONBOARD LAUNDRY, DRY CLEANING, PRESSING & SELF LAUNDRY: DCL offers several options when it comes to laundry.

Guest self-laundry facilities are available on the ship (I believe on decks 2, 6 & 7). Cost was $2 for a load of laundry (washer or dryer). Some guests have mentioned having to use the dryer for 2 cycles (room charge, use your KTTW card). Laundry detergent and fabric softener are available for purchase within the guest laundry (room charge, use your KTTW card).

Ok so just to confirm/clarify----I haven't done laundry on the boat in a very long time.....but you don't have to have coins/quarters to run the laundry machines? For some reason I thought you did so I've been making Jason save all quarters that come through our house for months now! So you pay for laundry (both wash and dry) by swiping your KTTW card?? That's fancy....and will alleviate the need for me to bring ziploc baggies full of quarters!

 

[pilk]

I am trying to plan a work trip to Toronto. I will be going end of June or after the 4th of July holiday. I will be there about 2.5 - 3 days. My days are booked with work, but wondering about weather, and if there are any must do;s that can be done in the evenings. I don't think that the Loblaw folks will care if I don't sit in the hotel... Ofcourse, I can just DIS all night...

TIA!

Pj beat me to it. As she said the end of June isn't going to be a good time. The core area around the summit will seem like it is in a "lockdown" state.

My dd suggested the Eaton Centre as well. She is really still a tourist too. She lives south of Toronto and rarely gets into town. We were thinking of the CN tower (eating there perhaps), a
baseball game, the ROM, and just wandering about. At the end of the month the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is getting the Terracotta Warriors exhibit.

My mom wants us to go see Casa Loma as she remembers it fondly from a trip 50 to 60 years ago to visit relatives who lived on Toronto's island. Not sure if it is still

Still thinking about getting down to Niagara Falls one day too.

The G20 is going to be a logistical nightmare. I just hope we can leave YYZ without a hitch. I am afraid that they will be closing airspace from time to time on Friday to allow the bigwigs to land.

If you do plan on heading to Niagara Falls let us know. We are about 25 min from there.

Jon

 

[Belle1997]

OK....things that I am concerned about right now about this cruise....
1. We still have no stateroom assignment....and I am sure we will eventually get it but we want it now.....

2. We still have no idea who we will be flying, what time we will be flying and if it will be a non-stop to Barcelona on Friday night.

3. We are seasoned travelers but I am a little concerned about all the pick pocketing we are hearing about in Barcelona....whats the deal with that?

4. Lastly, and most importantly I am really stressed out about the Mickey bar situation. My DW and I figured last week I could probably knock off about 20 of those suckers on a 14 nighter....14 at dinner....about 5 or 6 at sit down lunches and a couple from room service....PLEASE....tell me I will get Mickey bars....I'm begging here OK.....

Seriously, the only concern is the pick-pocketing. We fly into Barcelona and then Disney transportation to the port.....Do the Disney reps meet you like they do in the Orlando airport?

Thanks all....see you all soon....OK...in about 15 weeks....

Tom & Marilou

Hi there of have all your concerns but I do have a room number.

My biggest confession is ................ ready for this .....................



I have never ever had a Mickey Bar. I know I know why? I have cruised many times gone to the parks. But have yet to have one.

So why are they so important. Are they not just a ice cream bar with mickey ears? Does the chocolate taste any different than other icecream bars.

My enquiring mind want to know

Thank you for your understanding

 

[tig82174]

Hi there of have all your concerns but I do have a room number.

My biggest confession is ................ ready for this .....................



I have never ever had a Mickey Bar. I know I know why? I have cruised many times gone to the parks. But have yet to have one.

So why are they so important. Are they not just a ice cream bar with mickey ears? Does the chocolate taste any different than other icecream bars.

My enquiring mind want to know

Thank you for your understanding

Don't feel bad. I haven't either. I've always just assumed that it's basically a Klondike bar or any other generic chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bar only shaped like Mickey-----and I don't like Klondike bars and Ice Cream bars that have that semi-hard chocolate coating around vanilla ice cream....so I've always assumed/known that the Mickey Bars wouldn't appeal to me. Now when they bust out the rice krispy treats shaped like mickey??? You might see me shove 3 or 4 in my pockets and run like heck!

 

[Con5421]

If you do plan on heading to Niagara Falls let us know. We are about 25 min from there.

Jon

Great place to go to, i didn't like it very much. We where there past summer we went also to Toronto liked it better then New York.

 

[granmaz]

Great place to go to, i didn't like it very much. We where there past summer we went also to Toronto liked it better then New York.

I really was surprised and disappointed with with some of the area up from the Falls, but I loved the Falls themselves and along the front there. We did the Maid of the Mist which was amazing, and also went behind the Falls. So glad we have been, but I don't feel a need to go back.

 

[got2travel]

What is the Mickey Mouse Club, I mean I know what it is, but what is it on the cruise?

Not much. Its not even announced, but on the non show night in Animators, the servers all had white Mickey Mouse Club shirts on and there were some decorations that had been put up. What made it fun was that there were 50+ of us that were also wearing club shirts. The non DIS cruisers and even the cast members were shocked that so many of us were dressed the part. Then again, I think we shocked the cast members quite a bit on that cruise, from the moment we boarded and they saw about 500 people in matching Pirates Through the Panama Canal shirts.

 

[DisneyVegas1]

Not much. Its not even announced, but on the non show night in Animators, the servers all had white Mickey Mouse Club shirts on and there were some decorations that had been put up. What made it fun was that there were 50+ of us that were also wearing club shirts. The non DIS cruisers and even the cast members were shocked that so many of us were dressed the part. Then again, I think we shocked the cast members quite a bit on that cruise, from the moment we boarded and they saw about 500 people in matching Pirates Through the Panama Canal shirts.

Here is what they looked like ...this is what my sons Destin looked like

 

[TotallyAngelic]

Here is what they looked like ...this is what my sons Destin looked like

cool shirt

I wonder if they will be having a masquerade ball on the Villains Night ... I'm sure this was mentioned on the EBTA.

 

[birkner]

I'm off for a day or so now, as I'm taking dd back to her Uni house in Bristol. She starts her summer job tomorrow and I'm crossing everything I have that she's ok living on her own again. Most of her housemates will be away on a field trip so I am very anxious about her being alone, though she seems much better. I'm staying overnight anyway, and will probably 'pop' back a couple of times over the next few weeks (it's a 200 mile round trip...)

Have fun and don't work too hard!

I am glad to hear Becky is doing better and is able to go back to University. With you popping in for support, I am sure she will do much better. Lots of prayers and

 

[granmaz]

Should be moving on to our next thread very soon now!!!!!

 

[birkner]

Here is what they looked like ...this is what my sons Destin looked like

I love the idea of the shirts. Is this another thing we are going to do on the cruise?