9/16/2017 Magic Transatlantic from Barcelona

[RedSox68]

The 24th, Sunday.

From looking at the reports for both Hurricane Jose and Hurricane Maria, they don't seem a threat that far north, especially by Sunday, so it's interesting they made that decision so early.

 

[dencord7]

Okay, I am not going crazy. Someone who is participating in the FE group for this cruise posted on the other thread, and their names are Nate and Jen and are in SR6650.

@dencord7, if you see this, please let us know your correct stateroom number.



I am so sorry this happened to your family. I hope you were able to make the best out of a disappointing and frustrating situation.

Hi this is dencord7 Brenda and James Cordova we were in room 6550 sorry for the confusion

 

[Chirple]

Hi this is dencord7 Brenda and James Cordova we were in room 6550 sorry for the confusion

As soon as I got your postcard I went up to your cabin. Thanks!

For anyone scratching their heads about the photo of Dunkin Donuts that I included, it's a local staple in this area; and someone in this group commented that a picture of it would be something they don't see at home. It was kind of a joke picture but in a way it is very part of my home state. My town is small, and we have two of them!

I loved getting the postcards, even my husband got into it. Thank you all for taking the time getting them and distributing them. I will be keeping them with all of navigators and my journal.

Sad to see the cruise end. We were just a wee bit bummed we could not get to St. John's, but it all worked out fine. Instead of spending $99 each on an excursion there, we spent $3.00 on a bottle of water in NYC.

 

[Aanna]

For anyone scratching their heads about the photo of Dunkin Donuts that I included, it's a local staple in this area; and someone in this group commented that a picture of it would be something they don't see at home. It was kind of a joke picture but in a way it is very part of my home state. My town is small, and we have two of them!

It made me laugh so hard!

 

[Chirple]

It made me laugh so hard!

I think it's even funnier that the shopping cart parked outside of the shop is from the wine & liquor store a few doors down. Someone might be pumping up their coffee!

 

[olafLover]

.

 

[elvispursley]

Having withdrawal already! I am almost fully unpacked (a record for me)! I was somewhat disappointed that we didn't get to stop in St. John but was starting to have buyers remorse about booking such an active excursion (we were doing the kayak tour to see puffins) and it was a lot of $$. I was able to convince DH instead to use the $ on our OBB for next cruise!

I loved loved loved Barcelona. It's my new favorite city and I can't wait to go back with my kids next time. I also really loved the postcard exchange--DH got into it as well and we've decided that that's a better way of doing an exchange rather than packing an entire suitcase full of stuff (although I still have a few ideas for compact gifts for next FE). Next time I'll include more than one postcard--feel slightly embarrassed that I didn't think to do more, so so sorry ya'll!

 

[Aanna]

Next time I'll include more than one postcard--feel slightly embarrassed that I didn't think to do more, so so sorry ya'll!

lol I felt bad, too, but I had trouble even finding for my town at all! (And we don't even have a Dunkin Donuts)

 

[Chirple]

Next time I'll include more than one postcard--feel slightly embarrassed that I didn't think to do more, so so sorry ya'll!

lol I felt bad, too, but I had trouble even finding for my town at all! (And we don't even have a Dunkin Donuts)

Aww, neither of you should feel bad. I appreciate all of them. One wasn't signed so I didn't know who dropped it off.

Speaking of Dunkin Donuts, Barcelona had Dunkin Coffee. Same brand but different name. My husband had to try a small cup of coffee. He said it was okay. They used a stronger blend of coffee so only about 1/3 of the cup was actual coffee. The rest was steamed milk. Of course, I took a picture of it!

I fully unpacked when we got home. I ran two loads of wash and took a shower. Then we had to attend a wake about an hour away. I got a text message while we were on the ship that my best friend's stepson had passed away at the age of 21. His funeral mass is tomorrow.

I went back to work yesterday, and now I feel like I didn't have two weeks off. The positive is that I do not have to travel to my client's office next week, which is what I expected when I returned.

My husband is counting down to our DCL cruise out of NYC in November.

 

[gismo1554]

Dear cruisers,
We apologize for not writing you before but we were in shock!

When me and my family arrived to embark, Disney told us that we needed a Canadian visa even to be on board.
Neither our travel agent or Disney were clear at this point. Our TA told us that we did not need it if we stayed onboard, and Disney never sent us the traditional booklet were it was explained. It was the sadness moment in my life... stay in the port and see our magic dream go away!

Besides the sad and angry moment, we also have your FE gifts (see picture) prepared by my kids! We also feel bad because you have prepared gifts for us...

Sorry for that, but we never expected to live this moment.

Have nice cruise and enjoy it!!!


View attachment 270557

So so sorry to hear this! I hope to God that you have complained to your TA as this is crazy! Even more gutting as we never even went there so it wouldn't have mattered! Try not to let one bad experience like this (which to be fair I would say was caused by your TA not giving you the correct information) cloud your opinion more generally.

I am back home and have washed and unpacked all clothes but everything else has just ended up in a bag in the living room lol. I need to sort more out but I'm back in work tomorrow and have a busy one ahead.

Did love the cruise even if some things weren't as good as previous (mainly the variety of entertainment and the food). I booked a placeholder (came through yesterday) but not sure whether I would do a cruise to New York before. The change of port was just a bit of a let down for me and I think its more likely with the northern route. Who knows though as I may change my mind when they release them

 

[Aanna]

Did love the cruise even if some things weren't as good as previous (mainly the variety of entertainment and the food). I booked a placeholder (came through yesterday) but not sure whether I would do a cruise to New York before. The change of port was just a bit of a let down for me and I think its more likely with the northern route. Who knows though as I may change my mind when they release them

It's interesting that you say that. This was our first cruise, but our impression going in was that these exact things would be just a bit better than we found them. Not having any previous experience, though, we just weren't sure if it was our expectations that were out of line or if it was an actual difference from the usual.

We also had a paperwork snafu that led to some bad results, but no where near being turned away at check-in! It makes me sick just to think about that. In our case, I tried to submit the Child Debarkation authorization form when we checked in. The woman who checked us in told me it was not necessary and refused to take it. When I insisted, she said I could hand it in to Guest Services. So, after the initial rush at Guest Services was over, I handed it in -- carefully asking if this really meant that my children could go off the ship with anyone in our party. I was assured that everything was taken care of.

Fast forward to Ponta Delgada. I left on the Highlights excursion with my parents at 8:15. At 8:45 my husband and children tried to debark for the Whale and Dolphin watching, but were denied because my daughter was registered in my parent's room and the permissions had not been correctly entered into the database. By the time Guest Services had found the form I submitted and grudgingly allowed my family to debark, the excursion had already left. My husband was livid, my son in tears. They ended up staying on the ship all day for lack of anything to do on land. What did guest services do? The best they offered my husband was a refund on the excursions that had left without them. That meant six straight days at sea with the itinerary changes.

I didn't find out until about an hour after we had left port (my DH and DD vowed not to tell, but my DS was too upset to keep it quiet). If anyone saw a hysterical woman at Guest Services on Ponta Delgada day... yeah, that was me when I found out. How embarrassing.

All that to say, if I flipped out over that missed port, I cannot imagine missing the entire cruise!

 

[RedSox68]

It's interesting that you say that. This was our first cruise, but our impression going in was that these exact things would be just a bit better than we found them. Not having any previous experience, though, we just weren't sure if it was our expectations that were out of line or if it was an actual difference from the usual.

We also had a paperwork snafu that led to some bad results, but no where near being turned away at check-in! It makes me sick just to think about that. In our case, I tried to submit the Child Debarkation authorization form when we checked in. The woman who checked us in told me it was not necessary and refused to take it. When I insisted, she said I could hand it in to Guest Services. So, after the initial rush at Guest Services was over, I handed it in -- carefully asking if this really meant that my children could go off the ship with anyone in our party. I was assured that everything was taken care of.

Fast forward to Ponta Delgada. I left on the Highlights excursion with my parents at 8:15. At 8:45 my husband and children tried to debark for the Whale and Dolphin watching, but were denied because my daughter was registered in my parent's room and the permissions had not been correctly entered into the database. By the time Guest Services had found the form I submitted and grudgingly allowed my family to debark, the excursion had already left. My husband was livid, my son in tears. They ended up staying on the ship all day for lack of anything to do on land. What did guest services do? The best they offered my husband was a refund on the excursions that had left without them. That meant six straight days at sea with the itinerary changes.

I didn't find out until about an hour after we had left port (my DH and DD vowed not to tell, but my DS was too upset to keep it quiet). If anyone saw a hysterical woman at Guest Services on Ponta Delgada day... yeah, that was me when I found out. How embarrassing.

All that to say, if I flipped out over that missed port, I cannot imagine missing the entire cruise!

OMG, Disney is really dropping the ball lately. I am so sorry that this happened to your family! No, it's not as bad as missing the whole cruise, but it is still a huge bummer to basically miss the whole port because they didn't get the paperwork right! They should have given your kids some onboard credit to buy something fun!

 

[Aanna]

OMG, Disney is really dropping the ball lately. I am so sorry that this happened to your family! No, it's not as bad as missing the whole cruise, but it is still a huge bummer to basically miss the whole port because they didn't get the paperwork right! They should have given your kids some onboard credit to buy something fun!

If my son hadn't slipped and told me, my family would have gotten nothing. As it was, it took more than half an hour of my tears before the Guest Services supervisor offered anything beyond the bare refund. She had some Star Wars items sent up to the room for the kids and comped the up-charge on DH and my Palo dinner that night. I was shocked that, on something that was so obviously their fault, it took them that long to offer to make things better. For a while the supervisor just stood there asking what we thought she could do about it at that point.

The only thing that makes me feel better about it is that my son wore the gifted Star Wars lanyard and baseball cap for the rest of the cruise. Those two things really did seem to make him feel better about what had happened.

 

[elvispursley]

Did anyone else find that their excursion was shortened in Cadiz after the "surprise" low tide situation delayed debarkation? They made a big deal of stating that they would make sure that those who had "all day excursions" would still get the full time they were supposed to; we had Seville (on our own) booked and it was supposed to be an 8-hr excursion. Well, we don't leave until 10:00 and when we get to Seville after the 90-min drive, we are told we had to be back at the bus at "15:45...quarter to 3." The tour director stated this several times and my DH and I kept asking, "is she meaning 2:45 or 3:45??" Well, she meant 2:45, saying we had to get back to the ship by 16:30/4:30. GRRR!! So, they shortened our excursion, despite the fact that they said they would hold the ship and let those who had all-day excursions have the FULL excursion and they wouldn't shorten the excursion. Yeah, well they did and I wasn't very happy about it. I was going to complain to Guest Services but DH made me hold back since we weren't super excited about Seville. We should've stayed in Cadiz and explored. Still...I don't appreciate them stating one thing and then doing another.

I also have to write them an email regarding Guest Services this trip. We had issues with having a Palo reminder card being delivered the day of embarkation in Barcelona stating we had reservations for that night (uh, no, we did not). I noted it was the wrong name on the card so I called to inform them they delivered the card to the wrong room (although I couldn't make out the state room #). When I explained that our reservations were scheduled for Wed. night, 9/20, GS tells me they have no record of our reservation. I ask how I can have a print-out from DCL stating we do indeed have reservations. Their only answer is to transfer me to Palo--which no one answers. So I walk all the way over there to find no one there. So I walk all the way down to GS with the written time in our booklet and the incorrect card. When I get up to the counter, the CM was able to find the reservation immediately. I explained I was not too pleased with being led on a wild goose chase all over the ship to clarify an error that was their fault. I barely got an apology. But for the next 5 days, at least 3x/day, I would get a call about the mixed p reservation. But when we reported a clogged toilet issue, no one called to ensure it was resolved. And at the end of the cruise...no final bill was delivered. But because DH and I needed to be off the ship first thing, we didn't think of it until we were already off. So I never did see what our final charges were (and judging how the errors on the cruise went, who knows what errors were on the bill). So I graded them a 2 on the survey (compared to a couple of issues we had on the Fantasy on our last cruise, GS sent up a bouquet of Rice Krispy Mickey Bars as a courtesy).

Also am including how terrible the food choices for vegetarians were for this cruise. On one night, there was zero appetizer, soup or salad choice for me. And because I am allergic to mushrooms, I only had one entree choice. Ridiculous!!! So glad we had a great server, who anticipated what a crappy night to be vegetarian this was and spoke to the chef to make up some appetizers and a salad. That is inexcusable to have zero choice on a menu. We'll see what DCL says *shrug*

 

[Chirple]

@Aanna, I am so sorry that this happened to your family. I can only imagine how disappointed your husband and children were and how disillusioned you were with the paperwork snafu.

@elvispursley, we were on that exact same excursion. I had other issues with this one. My husband and I both fell asleep on the bus out to Seville so we obviously missed the map handout. When we got to Seville, I asked for a map. It was in Spanish and not very useful to us. My husband decided that he wanted to do the HOHO bus, even though I wanted to walk after sitting on the bus for so long. We didn't get to visit many sights at all in Seville.

Now this was my biggest disappointment, and I put this in the online survey I received yesterday. When Newfoundland got canceled and NY excursions were added, we thought the Aladdin show with the behind the scenes tour would have been great. We saw the show when it first opened and thought this would be a nice added bonus. I went to Guest Services and added enough cash to cover the cost of the tickets and then went to Port Excursions to book it. I was told by the PE Manager that there was a waitlist; the way the waitlist worked was that they would notify you by calling your stateroom to let you know if they were able to secure tickets for you. You were then given a TWO HOUR window to claim the tickets. If you didn't claim them, you still got charged for them...even if they went to another guest. At first I told her to put us on the waitlist, and then I changed my mind. Who can commit to sitting in their stateroom all day?

When I told my husband about the process, he could not believe it. He came with me to Port Excursions where I explained to the person at the counter what was told to me. He said I was correct. He said he would confirm with this manager and call us. He left a voicemail in our cabin stating the exact same thing. Our feeling was that if we are telling you this is what we want to do and you are going to charge us for it anyway then calling it a waitlist is misrepresenting the actual process.

 

[The Cruising Canadians]

I am so glad that people are still posting on this board. I am truly going to miss it when it finally closes. We just go back from New York late last night. I have to share many people's opinions about this cruise. Our only other Disney cruise was a 14 day Panama Canal cruise on Wonder which was absolutely fantastic. We found the port excursions and guest services staff on Wonder to be extremely friendly and helpful. Guest services even went so far as to extend an invitation to Ariel's tea for my daughter who has disabilities even though she is an adult because they said they knew she would enjoy it. Port Adventures staff surprised her in line one day with a special gift because she was so brave about an injury she suffered on a port excursion. The experience we had on Magic was fine but no one seemed really eager to serve us or answer questions. The photographers were very friendly and the cast member who played Cinderella was so special and kind and attentive. She made every guest feel special. The staff in Cabanas was very friendly. The staff highlight for us was the woman in charge of the shops. She went out of her way to greet us and chat with us whenever she saw us. I also thought that there were less activities for adults on this cruise. The only "problem" we had was with a port excursion in New York. We had booked the Brooklyn highlights because it was going to Coney Island. We got on the bus and the tour started out as advertised until the driver is making a left hand turn and the tour guide says, "If we turned right here you would go to Coney Island but we don't have time to do that." Someone went up and told him that we booked a tour to Coney Island and he showed us the itinerary he was given and it didn't include Coney Island. Many people on the bus went to guest services to complain and ask for compensation. The Port Adventures manager left a message on the phone that the vendor told her that Coney Island was closed that day. We knew this to be untrue because the tour guide initially told us he was expecting to take a group of German speaking tourists to Coney Island. They gave us a $20 refund because the Coney Island stop was only supposed to be 30 minutes but she obviously had no idea of how far away Coney Island is and that it was really half of the excursion we missed. DH told me to let it go (his Frozen reference) and he was right. Perhaps if we hadn't had the superior time on Wonder, we would have found this to be a wonderful cruise! I have very much enjoyed reading everyone's comments and suggestions.

 

[Chirple]

The only "problem" we had was with a port excursion in New York. We had booked the Brooklyn highlights because it was going to Coney Island. We got on the bus and the tour started out as advertised until the driver is making a left hand turn and the tour guide says, "If we turned right here you would go to Coney Island but we don't have time to do that." Someone went up and told him that we booked a tour to Coney Island and he showed us the itinerary he was given and it didn't include Coney Island. Many people on the bus went to guest services to complain and ask for compensation. The Port Adventures manager left a message on the phone that the vendor told her that Coney Island was closed that day. We knew this to be untrue because the tour guide initially told us he was expecting to take a group of German speaking tourists to Coney Island.

 

[Chirple]

Another observation. I expected the adults-only areas to be packed since there didn't seem to be an abundance of children onboard. Twice I tried to find a lounge chair at the adult pool but was unsuccessful. Instead, I went over to the family pool, which was empty. Even though those chairs aren't loungers, they still had reclining backs. I had to leave a couple of times during the day, and not once did anyone move my things because they needed a chair. I saw other adults doing this as well.

I did my first (and last) ride on the Aqua Dunk. Holy moly! Who can keep their arms and legs crossed on that thing? I think I was having a battle with the water while I was in the tube. I had a bruise on my hip the next day.

I will say that I did not see any adults bringing their children to adult-exclusive activities. I agree with you, @The Cruising Canadians, that there didn't seem to be a lot offered considering how many adults were on the ship.

We also didn't watch one single movie in the Buena Vista Theatre, and our stateroom was 4 doors away. Every movie I wanted to see was not playing at a convenient time for us, and then they were only shown early in the cruise.

 

[elvispursley]

@Chirple, Wow!! That is unbelievable about the excursion process for NYC!! I just can I derstamdhow they explain taking money for something you don't get!! Had I not already bought tickets to see this show at home (it's playing for a few weeks here in Seattle later this month) I would've picked this excursion until I heard that ridiculousness!

After hearing this and the @The Cruising Canadians issue with their non excursion to Coney Island, I'm glad DH and I just walked around. We went to Central Park and took a pedi-cab tour (who took some cute pics of us), walked 5th Ave, Times Sq. and back to the ship through Hell's Kitchen.
Tried to get a NYFD t-shirt for my collection but couldn't see any firefighters without totally hunting them down in the fire house. Oh well, maybe next time.

I do agree that the adults-only section was crazy! I actually don't like those recliners for my skinny butt (the hard wood under the mashed-down cushions is NOT comfy)--the regular blue recliners are more comfy for me but I really didn't like being up on deck 10 with all that wind!! I, too, ended up over in the family-area quite a bit. Just wish funnel vision wasn't quite so loud!!

I wish they had more speakers like Jeff Kutti (?sp)--we really enjoyed those talks. But I couldn't get my DH to do much else. We went to a couple of trivia games but nothing that was really just for adults (except the Anyone Can Cook: Lava Cake, and could barely find a place to sit).

Overall, I liked the cruise a lot, just really didn't like 4 sea days all in a row without a lot activities planned.

 

[Chirple]

I wish they had more speakers like Jeff Kutti (?sp)--we really enjoyed those talks. But I couldn't get my DH to do much else. We went to a couple of trivia games but nothing that was really just for adults (except the Anyone Can Cook: Lava Cake, and could barely find a place to sit).

LOL! I got there early for anything with chocolate. That lava cake was delicious! I think I had something chocolate for breakfast 3 days in a row.

I think we hit up every adults-only show in Fathoms, did some trivia, and I went to see a few shows in the WDT on my own (my husband came to a couple). However, there must have been an organized pub crawl via other social media (matching shirts) that was making the rounds just when Dustin started a presentation in O'Gill's. They would not stop talking. When they all filed out, he said "And then there was silence".