Magic - May 29, 2016 - 7 Night Norwegian Fjord

[mrsb2009]

Oh and we are UK peeps as well, fish and chips - its possible to get in a pub but not the same, most people just get from the numerous fish and chip takeaway shops you will see lining pretty much every high street

 

[tidefan]

Tidefan
Howdy! I don't mind sharing notes - but I am not on the Alaskan Members cruise (wish I was!) - I am on the Members Cruise to the Bahamas in August. Are you on the Alaskan cruise? I went to Alaska on a Disney Cruise in 2013. It was the Best vacation! I LOVED Alaska! What have you got planned so far? We did a couple of Nature tours (got to see bears!) / Glacier Sled Dog (that was so much fun) and shopping! I would love to go again! I would really like to do a land/sea tour.

...
Lynn

Hi Lynn,

We have a tour with T N Tours in Skagway going up to Carcross/Emerald Lake, we will be doing Whale Watching in Juneau, and then we plan on just going on our own in Ketchikan. We've never done a Member cruise, so we are looking forward to it. As an added benefit, we figured since we were already on the West Coast, we would fly straight from Vancouver (Bellingham, WA) to Honolulu and spend a week at Aulani. We can't wait!!!

We plan on surprising DD at Christmas with this trip. My parents will also be going. My mother is a full Norwegian descendant (which makes me 50% of Norwegian descent), so this will be a special trip for our family. I have never been to Norway and my Mom has only been once before. Lefse here we come!

MRSB2009, Glad to have you on board!

BERINA - Let me know if we need to get the Fish Extender list going. We will definitely participate!

SHELLB8585 - What are the logistics of getting from the Ferry to the SNCF trains in Calais (figure that may be easier since we are already in Dover)? Do they run often to Paris? Conversely, would it be better to backtrack to Ashford/Folkestone and catch the Eurostar?

 

[graf]

Hi - we're another UK family who're taking advantage of this cruise coinciding with 1/2 term. It'll be me and my wife, our son (who'll be 8) and daughter (who'll be 5), and probably my in-laws too.

Does anyone know if there'll be a Pirate night on the cruise? (It's probably very early to say, but I heard there's not going to be one on the Baltic cruise we're going on this year). This will be our 4th Disney cruise - we were thinking of having a break next year but couldn't resist the itinerary and the 1/2 term timing.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Tidefan
Your plans sound wonderful! Can I tag along in your luggage? You are going to have a great time! I loved shopping in all the ports - Skagway and Ketchikan were my favorites - maybe Ketchikan being the winner. You will need to post and let us know all about your trip. Aulani sounds wonderful! You will get the best of both climates!
Lynn

 

[mdwoodman]

My wife, Michele, and I will be joining you on this cruise. We'll be B2B with the EBTA, so we'll be firmly entrenched in our stateroom! Looking forward to our first visit to Norway.
Michael

 

[bellaandmatthewsmum]

Hi all,

Just booked onto this cruise today. Will be myself and my daughter (11) and son (6) and our second Disney cruise after doing a med one 2 years ago.

Have also booked with my sister, brother in law and their 4 children ,it will be their first Disney cruise.

Very excited already!

Any ideas yet on what the deal is with Pirate night, Frozen day or Star Wars thing? Really am hoping there is a pirate night as its my favourite.

 

[tidefan]

Hi all,

Just booked onto this cruise today. Will be myself and my daughter (11) and son (6) and our second Disney cruise after doing a med one 2 years ago.

Have also booked with my sister, brother in law and their 4 children ,it will be their first Disney cruise.

Very excited already!

Any ideas yet on what the deal is with Pirate night, Frozen day or Star Wars thing? Really am hoping there is a pirate night as its my favourite.

I don't believe that there will be a pirate night on a Northern Europe cruise. It will be the Feozen Deck Party I believe...

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

I found a thread on the DIS - Europe and DCL Transfers - If you all are interested I will post a link so you can read it. I found it very interesting and think it may help with planning. Has anyone on here done a Europe cruise before and used DCL for transfers? Would love to hear any feedback. I have never used public transportation (except Disney) and find it a bit scary. I am thinking it may be easier for me to just let Disney handle everything - but if you all have done it and can tell me how easy and cheaper it is - I may brave up and do it on my own!
Lynn

I'm not on this sailing but I am on the 6/17/16 cruise which has a couple of similar ports (always looking for more info ). Are you planning on staying in London pre-cruise? If so, I believe the only way you can use Disney transfers to London is if you stay at one of their preferred hotels. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Their preferred hotels are crazy expensive! There is some discussion on the "tips" thread (from post 2) about transportation options. From what I can tell, it is fairly easy to take public transport from the London airports. However, I think I would rather not schlep all of my luggage that way, so we wil probably hire a private car both to our hotel in London and then on to Dover.

I did use the Disney transfers when we did the Mediterranean cruise in 2013 and it was pretty seamless (worth it in this case). But again, we used the Disney preferred hotels too (mostly because we were starting in a non-English speaking country).

 

[WDWEPCOT]

MeeskaMooska
You can never have too much information! I have read that Disney was doing the transfers from their hotels for 2014 and maybe 2015. That would be a pain as I don't plan on staying at one of them as they are a bit expensive! I am wanting to do a few days pre cruise in London - but have not picked a hotel yet. You can do the transfers with Disney I believe - You just have to get yourself to their hotels or the airport. At least you were allowed to do that in 2014 if I read that correctly. I am waiting to hear how it goes for 2015. I did purchase a book on London and a map to study up on it - maybe I can get brave and do it on my own! (yeah right!). When you say hire a private car - are you saying rent a car or like a cab service? I planned on taking a cab from the airport to the hotel. Not sure about getting to Dover. If I can figure out the trains / tubes - then I would try those. I read about them and then I get so confused. I taped a Rick Steves special on London and have watched it several times - he covers the tube and he makes it sound so easy! I think it is just me making it harder than what it is. I am sure our UK friends are laughing reading this!!!!
I really like doing Alaska in Vancouver - the port was right across the street from my Hotel. The hotel cost a fortune - but was worth it for one night! Saved me a ton of stress. I tried for the hotel above the port - but it was booked. Hard to get a room for 3 adults! This is the problem I am having looking for rooms in London.
I would enjoy chatting with you about planning - please feel free to contact me if you would like to share info!
Lynn

 

[mrsb2009]

We are heading down from Manchester and Liverpool so not laughing at you, I have similar dilemmas, we are thinking we will get the train to Dover and stay the night before in a cheaper hotel rather than stay in London. But I can understand why you my might want to do that if you're from the US.

 

[Mr Ferret 88]

Howdy Y'all
Just booked this cruise today and are super excited about it
There will be the 4 of us with two state rooms.
Myself Matt and my DW Donna are one half and my Mother Val and father Tim are the other part of our group.
This is a first cruise for all of us even though we have been to WDW multiple times ( 11 for me and Mrs Ferret) and DLP also.
Looking forward to chatting with you all and we are well interested for Fish extenders also.

Happy sailings
Matt

 

[MeeskaMooska13]

MeeskaMooska
You can never have too much information! I have read that Disney was doing the transfers from their hotels for 2014 and maybe 2015. That would be a pain as I don't plan on staying at one of them as they are a bit expensive! I am wanting to do a few days pre cruise in London - but have not picked a hotel yet. You can do the transfers with Disney I believe - You just have to get yourself to their hotels or the airport. At least you were allowed to do that in 2014 if I read that correctly. I am waiting to hear how it goes for 2015. I did purchase a book on London and a map to study up on it - maybe I can get brave and do it on my own! (yeah right!). When you say hire a private car - are you saying rent a car or like a cab service? I planned on taking a cab from the airport to the hotel. Not sure about getting to Dover. If I can figure out the trains / tubes - then I would try those. I read about them and then I get so confused. I taped a Rick Steves special on London and have watched it several times - he covers the tube and he makes it sound so easy! I think it is just me making it harder than what it is. I am sure our UK friends are laughing reading this!!!!
I really like doing Alaska in Vancouver - the port was right across the street from my Hotel. The hotel cost a fortune - but was worth it for one night! Saved me a ton of stress. I tried for the hotel above the port - but it was booked. Hard to get a room for 3 adults! This is the problem I am having looking for rooms in London.
I would enjoy chatting with you about planning - please feel free to contact me if you would like to share info!
Lynn

Lynn,

I haven't checked this thread in a while so sorry for the delayed response! I'm looking at a "car service" (with driver) as ground transport for both getting from the airport and to Dover. I'm trying to make things as seamless as possible! Definitely, not going to book one of the Disney preferred hotels. I'm looking at Premier Inn County Hall as a possibility. I've got a Disneyland trip coming up in a month so my travel focus has been on that. Feel free to contact me!

Kim

 

[JJen]

Hello all!

We have just booked on to this cruise, we are a family of four with two children that will be 4 and 7, although my daughter will celebrate her 5th birthday on the cruise! We are from the UK and this will be our second Disney cruise, previously we sailed on the Fantasy in the Caribbean.

I'm very interested in joining in with the Fish Extenders as we didn't know about them on our first Disney cruise, is this the place to sign up?

Thank you! Jen

 

[flower91882]

Hi Everyone! We will also be joining you on this sailing! We booked back when it opened but I haven't really put a ton of thought into planning yet (trying to plan our Dec WDW trip). We are a family of 3. My husband and I have both been on 3 Disney cruises (including the inaugural Baltic back in 2010). Our daughter will be 4 at this time (just 3 months shy of her 5th birthday). This will be her first cruise and first trip overseas. Can't wait!!!!

 

[janey2000]

After much 'umming' and 'ahhhing' i've booked us on this cruise. I was so pleased it fell within the UK school holiday week but the intial price put me off. This will be our second cruise - First was 10 day Med in 2011 where we met 'Amyren'. We recently waved her and family off onto the Magic in Copenhagen and didnt want to have to do this again when they come and visit us in the UK next year! The plan is not to tell our 7yr old so she can say her sad goodbyes with Amyren's daughter and then we will drop the surprise that we too are going on the boat I'm so not good with keeping secrets!!!

 

[Mr Ferret 88]

After much 'umming' and 'ahhhing' i've booked us on this cruise. I was so pleased it fell within the UK school holiday week but the intial price put me off. This will be our second cruise - First was 10 day Med in 2011 where we met 'Amyren'. We recently waved her and family off onto the Magic in Copenhagen and didnt want to have to do this again when they come and visit us in the UK next year! The plan is not to tell our 7yr old so she can say her sad goodbyes with Amyren's daughter and then we will drop the surprise that we too are going on the boat I'm so not good with keeping secrets!!!

Welcome aboard

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Happy Father's Day to my Fellow Cruise Mates! Is anyone doing any planning? I have been reading reports from the 1st Norway Cruise = I am getting so excited for this cruise!

 

[Mr Ferret 88]

Happy Father's Day to my Fellow Cruise Mates! Is anyone doing any planning? I have been reading reports from the 1st Norway Cruise = I am getting so excited for this cruise!

We are already planning and have got a fish extender for one of our staterooms and booked a nearby hotel for the saturday prior.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Mr Ferret 88
How Exciting! Where are you staying? I have been looking at hotels but have not picked one yet. I do have my FE all ready to go! I have a DVC Member cruise in Aug so have been working on that one - but once it is done - I will be 100% on this cruise. I did pick up some books on London so I can try and learn the lay of the land!
Lynn

 

[Mr Ferret 88]

We are staying in a travelodge about 10 mins up the road.we are coming across from guernsey on the overnight boat and then driving over on the Saturday.
This is our first cruise so i may be bombarding you with random questions

Matt