Disney Magic 12 nt. British Isles Cruise 2017

Thank you so much poison ivy! I checked that website and it sounds like exactly what we need! BTW, after the 7 nt BI cruise, we then sail back to the states on the Magic 11 nt WBTA cruise!

Great. I like the look of that company. We would have done the same and they seem to offer several discounts which is a plus.
You guys have a long drive port to port but I'm sure the anticipation of a Disney cruise will help pass the time!

and OMG!?! A b2b2b with a British Isles cruise sandwiched between 2 Transatlantics. That's gotta be the winner for most exciting upcoming cruise vacation ever.

This 12nt. was the longest cruise for JQ and I so far and we weren't sure how it would go. It was so jam packed we hardly had any time on the ship. I love the idea of following it with a WBTA since you can relax and really enjoy the Disney Magic so much more. Excellent choices.

So you will have 25 days at sea if I'm calculating correctly? But you're switching things up with the two cruise lines and the itineraries are really good with Disney. So much to plan! What a trip!

I'm loving all the info you are providing. Anxiously waiting the 2019 itineraries, hoping to do this cruise then. ThankYou!!

great plan. I hope they come through for 2019! This cruise is a hidden gem.

Love all the details. Thank you.

Thank you. Glad you're enjoying it. Dover England coming up!
 
Disney Magic
Sunday July 9, 2017

British Isles Embarkation Day
(weather – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)

Are we There Yet? PART II
It's 11am. Finally on our way to Dover! :cheer2:

We wave goodbye to the Sofitel as we hit the road.

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This was gonna be a 2.5 hr. ride with the stop.
Some Disney trivia helps pass the time. It feels right at home on this bus.

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At 12:05 we pull in to the maidstone service area on M20.

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They gave us 25 minutes here. Gotta love Disney! (All 3 busses made this stop and I think that silver van may be the HA part of our convoy as well)

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It was a nice break. Clean bathrooms. A few stores. Quick service food.

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We ran in SPAR to purchase several bags of crisps and a few other snacks to pack for excursions.
(highly recommend doing this. Yes there’s food on the ship BUT you are going to want essentials on hand when you’re out touring all day that you can’t get onboard.
Much easier to stock up here if possible)

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and there’s JQ carrying said snacks on the ship.

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Back on the bus, we're gazing out the window looking and longing for clues of anything and everything to indicate we're nearing the port.

PI: "White cliffs??"
JQ: "not quite."

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PI: "We have to be close. Can you see anything??"
JQ: "No. we're in a tunnel."
PI: "Princesses?"
JQ: "What?"

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Notice the clock? It's 1:30. This tunnel is your landmark. Ship sighting in 8 mins.

Next up: A view of Dover cruise terminal 2.
 


We stopped at that rest area too. Nice and clean

Agree. this was a pretty nice place to stop. I'm happy we did with such a long road trip.

Good to know you guys went there too. So it would appear all DCL Heathrow busses stop here for both the airport and the Sofitel transfers.
Do you remember when you arrived at the port?
 


Agree. this was a pretty nice place to stop. I'm happy we did with such a long road trip.

Good to know you guys went there too. So it would appear all DCL Heathrow busses stop here for both the airport and the Sofitel transfers.
Do you remember when you arrived at the port?

Ugh, a long time ago.... trying to remember....

We landed at Heathrow 7:30am, just over 2 hrs going through passport control, ggrrrr. That was a nightmare. And I’m guessing we were at the port by noon and on board eating lunch at 1pm.
 
Following!

Great! :welcome:

Love your report. Can't wait to hear about the cruise

Thanks and :welcome: Yes the cruise is coming up next. Can't wait to share it.

Ugh, a long time ago.... trying to remember....

We landed at Heathrow 7:30am, just over 2 hrs going through passport control, ggrrrr. That was a nightmare. And I’m guessing we were at the port by noon and on board eating lunch at 1pm.
Thanks. That's what I thought. The LHR busses left as the passengers arrived at the airport. That's such a bad situation to have that 2hr ordeal slow you down when you're just trying to get to the DCL bus! We weren't at the port until almost 2pm. You guys were done lunch and relaxing on the ship by then.
 
Disney Magic
July 9, 2017

British Isles Embarkation Day
(weather – sunny high 77 °F / 25 °C)



Are we There Yet? PART III


Forgot to mention that right before we cleared Round Hill tunnel we passed the Channel Tunnel entrance.

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Check this out.
You can take the Eurostar Rail from that Ashford (Kent) station via the Channel Tunnel straight to the Disneyland Paris station in less than 2 hrs. Much faster than the DCL excursions by coach from the Port of Le Havre.

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I told JQ to add this to our bucket list. If we ever sail out of Dover again, we could easily spend a couple days at the Dover Harbor and day trip it to France from here. Or fly into Paris and work our way back to Dover. 50 miles between England and France via the Channel Tunnel in 35 mins. That’s less time than we spent trying to get to London Heathrow from Earl’s court on the Tube. Even coaches can fit on the rail thru this tunnel.

So many land and sea possibilities from Kent and the port of Dover. Sign me up!!

We’re now on the A20 from the M20 heading to the cruise terminals (western docks) - 10 mins. away

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And when you’re that close you’re there.
Now we see cliffs.

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And a glimpse of the harbor. Judging from the looks of traffic, a ferry must have just unloaded.

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Everybody’s looking for the Magic to come into view.

There she is! What a great sight to see! (grinning from ear to ear)

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I can’t think of a better vessel to cruise the British Isles than the Disney Magic. No matter how many times we’d exit and re-board this ship - It never gets old.
For the entire cruise, this feeling of happiness and joy stayed with us.

Let’s drive into the terminal.

Enter roundabout 1 - and there's our beautiful cruise ship waiting at the pier.

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Enter roundabout 2 - And there's the White Cliffs and Dover Castle! (where has this been all my life?)

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The terminal entrance breaks to the left around the bend. Disney uses Terminal 2.

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This is not a place you’d want to walk to IMO. It’s pretty far from everything with a major redevelopment project in the works.

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more to come!


Next up: Welcome to Dover. This way to the ship!
 
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Ok, I'm adding the Eurostar to the bucket...its getting heavy. We had better do something soon...oh yea, British Isles/Transatlantic to NYC B2B, with a day trip to Paris on the Eurostar Premier class. Now that's a bucket full!

:music:Music to my ears!:music: Hey what's this "we" stuff? I think "you" had better do something soon..................... (PI's got to finish this trip report!) :rotfl:
 
You can take the Eurostar Rail from that Ashford (Kent) station via the Channel Tunnel straight to the Disneyland Paris station in less than 2 hrs. Much faster than the DCL excursions by coach from the Port of Le Havre.

Even from London St Pancras it's a 2 hour 15 min ride. I tried to convince my DH and DM to do this when we were in London, vice taking the looong bus ride from Le Havre but noooooo they didn't want to do that. I think in retrospect they realized it would have been a better plan. Sometimes you have to let people live and learn, though.


Enjoying your trip report, can't wait until you get to the ship...and the ports :)
 
Even from London St Pancras it's a 2 hour 15 min ride. I tried to convince my DH and DM to do this when we were in London, vice taking the looong bus ride from Le Havre but noooooo they didn't want to do that. I think in retrospect they realized it would have been a better plan. Sometimes you have to let people live and learn, though.


Enjoying your trip report, can't wait until you get to the ship...and the ports :)

They should have listened to you. I would have trusted the judgement of a well seasoned traveler. 2h 15 is nothing compared to the amount of travel time we spent each day getting around on this cruise.

I heard the DCL day trips to Paris from the ship were even longer than stated.
But this was such a big undertaking. We're doing a lot of living and learning on this end too.

I'm serious about taking the Eurostar though. Prices were decent if you book early and research the schedule for express trains. This could easily be worked into any Dover cruise.
 
We've taken the train from Paris to London on a previous trip. It's fantastic. Pretty quick trip and you go from city center to city center, so none of that extra time you need to get to/from an airport. It is really a great option if you want to head on over to Paris. :)
 
We've taken the train from Paris to London on a previous trip. It's fantastic. Pretty quick trip and you go from city center to city center, so none of that extra time you need to get to/from an airport. It is really a great option if you want to head on over to Paris. :)

Excellent...I really love this option. Wish we had been able to take advantage of it. Hopefully there's a next time for us and if so We're there.
 
I'm loving all the info you are providing. Anxiously waiting the 2019 itineraries, hoping to do this cruise then. ThankYou!!
This cruise has been on my bucket list since it was first announced a couple of years ago. However, both years it has completely booked on the first day of bookings for Gold and platinum CC levels. Some rooms seem to open up as final payment / last day to cancel dates hit, but in reading this I am thinking that is too late for all of the planning that needs to go into this cruise. As I am only at the silver CC level, I don’t think I will be able to get on this one until after I get higher on the CC levels to get first day booking.
 
I too remember the joy seeing the Magic in Dover- and you are right, that joy stayed with us the whole cruise. I felt so lucky to be there the whole time - so blessed! The port sendoffs really reinforced that feeling of great blessings.

As for taking the train to Disneyland Paris, that would have been a much better plan! We did the Disneyland Paris excursion from Le Havre, and I would categorically NOT recommend it. It was really our only disappointing day of the whole 12 day cruise. And not because of Disneyland Paris, of course, which was beautiful and fun! But because it took us almost 5 hours in the bus each way!!!! The tour guide said 3 when we got on the bus- the shore excursion description said 3, but it took us 5 hours both ways! Which meant we had about 5 hours by the time we got there, in 2 parks =(! AND we had to eat during that time. They had to hold the ship for us on our return. It was frustrating and not the best way to start our first shore excursion. A very, very long day! But we really did make the most of our 5 hours in Disneyland and loved being there! Live and learn!
 

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