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Old 9 Feb 18, 07:37 AM  
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Gill H
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Beyond the Sea: Day 12 - going home

<<<Day 11

Firstly an apology to all those who, like Gaston, don't read anything without pictures. I'm afraid there are no photos today, but do check out Peter's video instead!



Let’s start today with a small confession. I’ve struggled with whether to refer to ‘debarkation’ or ‘disembarkation’ for so long, that today ended up being called ‘going home’ instead of either! A quick glance at various forums reveals both are correct, which doesn’t help my dilemma.

Anyway, whatever it’s called, our day starts at 6am when our alarm goes off, but we take our time getting ready and packing up the last few things into our hand luggage. We also take time to watch the deba… the disem… the getting off the ship presentation on the cruise TV channel to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything.

I forgot to mention it in yesterday’s report, but after dinner last night we asked our servers if it was possible for us to have the second seating breakfast the next day, even though as first seating diners we should go to the earlier one. They said this was fine, just to turn up about 8.15 and mention it when we arrive.

The reason for this is that our transfer to the airport with Suntransfers is booked for 10.30 am, and since we have to get off the ship pretty much as soon as breakfast is over, an early breakfast would have meant a lot of kicking our heels in the cruise port.

Incidentally, the other thing I forgot to tell you about last night, is that we dropped off a little package at Guest Services for GopherLass and Poot, who will be arriving soon for the transatlantic cruise. The package contains the postcards we promised Poot, plus a Ratatouille magnet from DLP, as Poot appreciates good food just like Remy! Obviously we’ve written their real names on it rather than GopherLass and Poot, and their stateroom number too, but I learn later that they don’t get it until half way through the trip. Still, glad it got to them in the end. And by the way, if you want to read their account of their very eventful trip, check it out here:

The Uttermost Parts of the Sea

So anyway, back to this morning, and we are outside Carioca’s about 8am waiting for them to let in the second seating. And of course it’s not just us. Seemingly half the ship’s passengers are squeezed into the area outside the lifts. I’m stood near a woman who is trying to organize taking a group of 20 children into the nearest restroom, which has only 3 toilets. Boy, am I glad I am not the CM on cleaning duty there today.

It becomes apparent that, even with a later breakfast, we will be off the ship far earlier than our 10.30 transfer, and so we decide to try and phone Suntransfers and see if we can change the time. There follows a frustrating few minutes where I wander around trying to get a decent 3G signal so I’m not paying ship prices for the call. Eventually I manage to find a spot and give them a call, and they say they are happy to change our pickup time to 9.30 which is a lot better. OK, so we’ll have longer hanging around the airport, but at least there will be more to do there than the cruise port.

At just after 8.15 we’re allowed in to Carioca’s, and all the waiting staff applaud as we enter! We’re shown to a table and given our menus (which are entitled the ‘See Ya Real Soon’ menu – oh, we wish!) We choose the ‘For a Sweet Journey’ option which is basically various pancakes – buttermilk, blueberry and wholewheat – and a waffle, with syrup. Most of this is fine, although the wholewheat pancakes aren’t quite cooked, but frankly the poor kitchen staff must be run ragged this morning, so we just leave those and eat the rest. With apple juice and coffee, it’s plenty for us.

The hugs and goodbyes are genuinely friendly, but there’s definitely an undercurrent of ‘we love you but please leave now!’ going on. It’s understandable – there will be crazy amounts of work needed to get the ship ready for the next contingent to arrive. Already the stateroom areas have been roped off, and really the only place you can go apart from the restaurant is off the ship.

So by 9am we find ourselves back in the real world again (sigh) picking up our luggage at the cruise port. The labels we’ve been given by DCL have Goofy on them with an orange background, and this indicates the section we need to go to for our cases. These are easily found, and we head outside to wait for our taxi. We’re already glad we changed the time to 9.30 as there really is nothing else to do here.
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WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14

Edited at 07:47 AM.
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Old 9 Feb 18, 07:41 AM  
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Gill H
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As it turns out, the taxi arrives slightly later than 9.30, but soon we are heading off to the airport. Farewell Barcelona, I’m sure one day we’ll come back and see a bit more of you!

About 20 minutes later we arrive at Barcelona’s wonderfully named El Prat Airport. We’ve already checked in online yesterday in Marseille – another bonus of yesterday not being a sea day! So we find our way to the bag drop desk. Now, you may remember that on our way out, BA offered to check in one of our cabin bags for free, so we had to faff about with deciding what went where at the last minute? We’ve suspected something similar may happen today, so we have made sure that only one cabin bag contains stuff we absolutely don’t want put in the hold – mostly our cameras. As it turns out, the lady at the desk offers to check in all four bags for free, but we say just three will be fine, thanks.

This done, we find our way to security, and for once we are through quickly and easily. However, then comes passport control, which is a crazy melee of confused passengers who have arrived from various queues but now all seem to be thrown together in the same limited space. It’s very frustrating, particularly as not everyone shares the British obsession with queueing! However, after a truly horrible 20 minutes or so, we are eventually through, and free to explore the delights of the airport.

Which apparently consist of a couple of shops and a café. Oh. Seriously, is it only us Brits who have realised that once airside you are a captive audience and can easily be persuaded to spend money? So many airports we’ve been to seem to be like this. Anyway, we get a drink and a baguette each at the café with our FairFx card (as we don’t have enough cash Euros left now!) and settle down to wait for our gate to be called.

Eventually I nip over to the loo, and as I’m coming out I hear our gate being called. So instead of going back to the café, I start walking towards the gate, assuming Peter will do the same. Hmm… you know what they say about ‘assume makes an ASS of U and ME’? Yeah. After a few minutes frantically looking for Peter, I get a ‘where are you?’ text – he’s been waiting for me in the café and wondering if I got lost! Thankfully all is well and we make our gate just as the passengers start boarding.

Because of this confusion we’re obviously slightly frazzled getting on the plane. We find our row, put our cabin bag in the overhead locker and settle down. But then along come two confused people who say we’re in their seats. A quick glance at our boarding card details reveals that oops, we sat in the wrong row! Fortunately they are very nice people and tell us to stay there and they will sit in our seats in the row behind.

We take off on time at 13.30, and the flight is a smooth one. So smooth that both of us sleep through most of it, and only wake up two hours later when we’re over Heathrow. We land bang on time at 14.55 and are soon reunited with our luggage and heading for the tube.

By 5pm we’re back home and getting a loud welcome from Spikey, who forgives us for going away once we lavish the usual treats and affection on her. Then we phone out for pizza, settle down in front of Strictly and start adjusting to the fact that life is back to normal again.

And that’s pretty much it. Our DLP and cruise trip has been an absolute delight. We’ve seen our beloved DLP sparkling and celebrating, we’ve enjoyed a brief glimpse of Barcelona, and we’ve found a whole new way to enjoy Disney.

There’s only one problem: it’s going to be a long time before we can afford to do DCL again! But we will – oh yes, we will. Maybe it’s not “See you real soon” but at the very least “See ya someday”.

Meanwhile, enjoy the highlights:



And our first ever haul video!



Oh ... and keep an eye out for our next trippie, when we go to Paris (that's actual Paris, not Disneyland Paris) for a brief trip for Peter's birthday.


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WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14

Edited at 07:43 AM.
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Old 9 Feb 18, 09:48 PM  
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I love the "word reports" - but you got me to watch that haul video...Disney hauls are one of my guiltiest pleasures.

Casual Racism Alert:

Forgive me for saying this...knowing you're Welsh, I was hoping for a REALLY Welsh accent. Poot was so taken by the accent when we went to Wales a few years ago..."Mother, it's like they're SINGING! ALL THE TIME!"


PS: I'm glad we didn't do the fish extender thing...but your review of the tat made me smile. "It's a Flash keyring." JUST WHAT YOU NEEDED!


...and maybe one of your FE group was a dentist?...'cause otherwise...HUH?


I got so distracted with the haul, I've forgotten what else I was going to say...other than a "many thanks" for the link. And extra thanks for this outstanding report - it was just fab.
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Old 14 Feb 18, 10:45 AM  
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Jet
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Loved reading it all..especially the haul!
You can tell that you really enjoyed the cruise and have lots of lasting memories.
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Old 16 Feb 18, 10:01 PM  
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I love reading your reports & oh what a fabulous holiday! I really enjoyed reading along.

Hope you both have a lovely time in Paris, looking forward to reading all about it!
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Old 16 Feb 18, 10:09 PM  
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I've enjoyed your trippie, we loved doing the same cruise a few years ago and can empathise about the airport - the chaos was the same then! Hope it's a bit better when we go to Barcelona in May!
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Old 18 Feb 18, 12:13 PM  
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I’ve spent this morning binge reading your entire report! I always love your reports, Gill. Very funny and with a superb level of detail. I’m still smirking at Aladdin’s tiramisu. I had good intentions to comment on each instalment but I couldn’t stop myself from hitting “next” at the end of every day.

What a fantastic holiday. We haven’t been to DLP for many years but I think we’ll be sneaking a trip in at some point between now and 2021 (the anticipated return date to the World). I hope they sort the paperwork and voucher system out before we go as it sounds mind bending. However, we will probably end up staying in Paris and doing day trips out to the parks. I have a not-for-the-family tale of what happened late one night on the train back to Paris when I discovered the train had no working loo and I had had one too many Irish coffees in Planet Hollywood.

I’ve never really been interested in the cruises til now but I have to say you’ve got me thinking about it. Food and shows - I think I’d be in my element. Looks like you had some amazing grub - shame about the temperature of a lot of it but well done for saying something about it.

Love the fact you did the karaoke with your own backup dancer too!

The pirate 80s hair rock disco is basically my dream night out, not going to lie. And on a less shallow note, I really enjoyed reading about Herculaneum.

Oh I have a recommendation for you if you haven’t yet booked Rome. We stayed in this quirky little apartment hotel called the Imperium Suite Navona which was ludicrously inexpensive given the location (a thirty second walk from Piazza Navona), spotlessly clean, and included a cracking breakfast brought to you in your room every day. Highly recommend.

Right... I’m off to watch the videos!
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Old 18 Feb 18, 12:36 PM  
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Oh. And I am ashamed to say I have actually suffered through Camp Rock. Not one of my, or Disney’s finest moments.
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Old 22 Feb 18, 05:35 PM  
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Gill H
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I have a vague memory of seeing it on TV at some point, but I've pretty much blocked it all out!
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WDW: Port Orleans Riverside Dec 10; SSR Nov 14
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Old 12 Mar 18, 11:36 PM  
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daffodil92
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Just read all through your trip report - absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this, I'll be coming back to it a few more times I'm sure before next May when we do the same cruise.
Thanks again
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