June 27, 2013 - Magic in the Med (Venice)

[marlaymike]

By the way, this is the first time for our DN in Europe, so we will be a few days in Disneyland Paris and Barcelona.

 

[Bellecruiser]

Hey Meg
Welcome aboard

Hey Mrs Scooby! (looks like we are neighbors)
Hey NZdisneymom!

Looking forward to this cruise. I am starting to gather info on our ports. I went to Rome when I was a teen-ager (long ago) and was chased in and out of St Peters by gorgeous Italian men...of course I remember NOTHING about the cathedral. Wow, was I dumb. I'd really like to see that cathedral this time. Also, I went to Dubrovnik in my 20s and remember thinking it was one of the most amazing places on the entire planet. How about a visit to the Murano glass factory??? The most beautiful glass in the world!!!!! Can't wait to take this trip!!! Looking forward to making new friends also. I wouldn't mind more BFFs too. We can always use more of those...Talk about pixie dust.

Meg

 

[MrsScooby]

Tell me I am going on a Disney cruise and all I need is time to go to the bathroom and I will BE in the CAR. I will DEAL with necessities LATER
Jan

My DH is that way. He would prefer to just wing it. I'm the one that has to plan everything out. I had a blast planning my more complicated trips. Even started looking at hotels and excursions for this one

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

Have a great cruise!

Thanks so much

Hey Mrs Scooby! (looks like we are neighbors)
Hey NZdisneymom!

Looking forward to this cruise. I am starting to gather info on our ports. I went to Rome when I was a teen-ager (long ago) and was chased in and out of St Peters by gorgeous Italian men...of course I remember NOTHING about the cathedral. Wow, was I dumb. I'd really like to see that cathedral this time. Also, I went to Dubrovnik in my 20s and remember thinking it was one of the most amazing places on the entire planet. How about a visit to the Murano glass factory??? The most beautiful glass in the world!!!!! Can't wait to take this trip!!! Looking forward to making new friends also. I wouldn't mind more BFFs too. We can always use more of those...Talk about pixie dust.

Meg

Yes, I was glad to see you were so close by
Definitely gonna have some DIS meets in our area
Have heard only great things about Dubrovnik so I am really looking forward to that port too

Hi we are also in.... Special Disney Cruises - Western Caribbean in 2006, Med in 2007, Mex Riviera 2008, Baltic 2010 and Alaska 2011... Among this, we have taken two Disney additional cruises!

Me, DH (Mike) and DN (13).

Welzome aboard Marla
We also did the Baltic in 2010
What a great cruise that was!!

 

[jel0511]

For those asking about excursions, I found a list from 2007 it look like, but they were the same in 2010. Pricing looks similar to what I remember from 2010. Just click on each city we're going to, as they are some different ones.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-repo-med.html

 

[MrsScooby]

For those asking about excursions, I found a list from 2007 it look like, but they were the same in 2010. Pricing looks similar to what I remember from 2010. Just click on each city we're going to, as they are some different ones.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-repo-med.html

That's great

From what I read Rome is going to be a bit challenging for our cruise.
We are in Rome on a Sunday and normally the Vatican is closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of the month when admission is free.
The good news is that we are there the last Sunday of the month and apparently the Pope usually makes an appearance to give a blessing. The bad news is that it will be even more crowded than usual
Probably best to either go with a DCL excursion or a private company's excursion A DIY seems a little risky given the circumstances.

We did a mix of DIY and private companies on our Baltic cruise and that worked great for us so most likely will do the same with this cruise.

My DS was in Rome back in the summer of 2009 and his advice was to research a bit the restaurants as he found that the touristy place they ate at was pretty bad (he couldn't remember the name of it). When they went off the beaten path a bit, they found a pizza place they liked alot (Anni Cinquenta). My DH and I liked the idea of eating lunch at a place that my DS visited but this pizzeria is a bit out of the way and with time being short, and extra crowds to deal with, not sure if we can do it or not.

 

[MrsScooby]

Finally bought trip insurance and was not happy to see how much it had gone up since last I bought it.
Wondering if the recent cruise accident is the reason.
Our insurance for other European trips had been much lower for the same coverage.
Anyone else???

 

[jel0511]

That's great

From what I read Rome is going to be a bit challenging for our cruise.
We are in Rome on a Sunday and normally the Vatican is closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of the month when admission is free.
The good news is that we are there the last Sunday of the month and apparently the Pope usually makes an appearance to give a blessing. The bad news is that it will be even more crowded than usual
Probably best to either go with a DCL excursion or a private company's excursion A DIY seems a little risky given the circumstances.

We did a mix of DIY and private companies on our Baltic cruise and that worked great for us so most likely will do the same with this cruise.

My DS was in Rome back in the summer of 2009 and his advice was to research a bit the restaurants as he found that the touristy place they ate at was pretty bad (he couldn't remember the name of it). When they went off the beaten path a bit, they found a pizza place they liked alot (Anni Cinquenta). My DH and I liked the idea of eating lunch at a place that my DS visited but this pizzeria is a bit out of the way and with time being short, and extra crowds to deal with, not sure if we can do it or not.

Boy am I glad that we have no intention of returning to the Vatican this cruise. Didn't even think to look at days we're in port yet. We'll probably hire a driver and a private guide for Rome this time and see it more in depth. Our last time(private tour as well), seemed to glaze over Rome and focus on the Vatican. A word of advice to all of those planning private drivers/tours in Italy. The drivers AREN'T allowed to give tours, just drive. They can give you advice, but that's it. You need to hire an additional private guide for that. It's the law in Italy that a guide MUST be licensed as such, and most drivers aren't.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi all. I've updated the first post with the who's sailing info - if I left someone off (sorry 'bout that Lessa) or you want / need something changed, let me now.

Marlaymike, is DN niece or nephew?

The discussion about the day of the week we'll be in various ports led me to look it up so I can start getting things fixed in my brain about what day we'll be where. From our itinerary (and I will add this to the first post as well):


Thursday, June 27 Barcelona, Spain - 4:00 p.m.
Friday, June 28 Villefranche, France 8:45 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 29 La Spezia, Italy 7:45 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 30 Civitavecchia, Italy 7:15 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Monday, July 1 Naples, Italy 7:45 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 2 At Sea - -
Wednesday, July 3 Venice, Italy 1:00 p.m. -
Thursday, July 4 Venice, Italy - 5:00 p.m.
Friday, July 5 Dubrovnik, Croatia 1:15 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, July 6 At Sea - -
Sunday, July 7 Valetta, Malta 7:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, July 8 At Sea - -
Tuesday, July 9 Barcelona, Spain 7:00 a.m. -


Re: travel insurance - we always just get it through the cruiseline. However, with our Greece one, we will have to insure it with someone like insuremytrip because of the cash portion of that trip - we will insure our DVC points through DVC.

I'm waiting for DCL to decide what they think we'll be able to do re: air with them or not - they did call me yesterday to tell me they still didn't know... I appreciated the follow-up. If we do air on our own, we'll also insure that. I'd like to do all my insurance at the same time but will probably piece-meal it. We don't normally insure just travel on our own - but we are making a big trip to the North Central states this summer and I actually did insure our flights. Not sure what made me decide to do that - maybe because we booked them pretty far in advance.

 

[collectoraholic]

We're in! It's an extended family trip. In our stateroom it is me, DH, DD (17 at the time of sailing) and DD (11 at the time of sailing). In addition to our family of 4, my parents and my DH's parents are coming too. All the adults are VERY excited! I'm sure our girls would be too, but they don't know we're going yet. LOL! Yes, we're mean, but they'd bug the beegeesus out of us about it for the next year and a half. LOL!

My DH and I went on the 11-Night DCL in the Med back in 2007 & had the time of our lives & are so looking forward to going back.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Collectoraholic - welcome to the Roll Call - glad to have you with us. At what point will you tell your children about your plans? I'd have a hard time keeping quiet about it. We did a surprise Christmas cruise in 2008 and it about killed me! I'd never be able to do it with one this big, even this far out!

I posted on the main forum asking about hotels in Barcelona. I linked the thread in the first post on this thread because I compiled a list of recommendations from the thread and linked them to the hotel sites - this way I'll be able to find it later but I also thought you all might be interested at some point along the way when we start pre-cruise hotel shopping!

 

[Wynn]

Hi, Family of 4 myself, DH, DSs (13,10). Hoping to be able to go. Went 3 yrs ago on RC. Very excited about doing it again with Disney. Been trying to keep up but what I wanted to add while all the planning is going on is that it looks like the Tour de France, if I spelled it correctly, will be going on around our time there so I wonder how crowded it will be. I think we will be gone by the time it hits the "main land" but has anyone experienced the reviera around that time. A personal driver may be risky if its too crowded. Might need to stick with something Disney.

 

[carpenta]

In 2007 we did the tour of the Vatican which included a private tour of the Sistine Chapel. There was only a handfull of us in the Cahpel and we even got to take pictures and video which is normally not allowed. In 2010 we did the "Jumping back into Eternal Rome" excursion through Disney. It was well done but one thing that was great we debarked the ship, boarded a bus to the train station basically at the end of the pier and boarded a private train just reserved for the Disney group. It was a "Bud" type train that wisked us to the station in the shadows of the Vatican. After a wonderful tour we reboarded the same train and returned to the ship. Disney had set up ahead of time the Gladiators in front of the Colusseum so all of us could have our pictures taken with the "Romans". Also lunch was included and we went to a restaurant a couple blocks from St. Peters. It was an excellent tour with a first rate guide. Another time we went to Orvieto for a tour and for everyone already seeing enough Rome than this is a wonderful alternative. Adventure by Disney includes this town in its' land tour.

 

[Deb T.]

I posted on the main forum asking about hotels in Barcelona. I linked the thread in the first post on this thread because I compiled a list of recommendations from the thread and linked them to the hotel sites - this way I'll be able to find it later but I also thought you all might be interested at some point along the way when we start pre-cruise hotel shopping!

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Wynn - welcome to the Roll Call!

We loved our day in Rome in 2007 - it was a super long day, though, and since we are B2B'ing in 2013, we'll do our long Rome day on the first go around, so when we're in Civitavecchia with this one, we'll likely do something that is in the surrounding area - see a bit more of Italy that way.

 

[hawaiian mickey]

aloha,
I'm really excited about our trip. I want to start planning our trip, but my wife says we should concentrate on our trip to Tokyo Disneyland first. It's only 16 days from now.
I'm looking at hotels Barcelona already. Also do you think they will be using the same hotels they used in 2007?
Am I crazy to start planning 510 days before our trip? Are there any crazy ones like me out there?
I'm in Hawaii right now. Got to see Au'lani. It was better than I expected.
Well back to the beach. Got to work on my tan for the Med

Aloha,
Hawaiian Mickey

 

[Doingitagain]

Lots of familiar names! We are in, at least for now, pending work schedules,

It will be me, DH, DD (24 at time of sailing) and DS (21 at time of sailing).

Crossing my fingers that it will work out...

 

[nzdisneymom]

Doingitagain - Welcome! Glad to have you with us. I have a feeling that when our sons are the ages of your children, we'll still be bringing them along on vacation! We love traveling with our boys!

Hawaiian_mickey - I totally get the desire to be working on this trip's planning even with another vacation between now and then. How fun for you all to go to Tokyo Disneyland - have you been before? Be sure to post when you get back and tell us about it. We have a trip to Yellowstone this summer which is pretty much all planned out - but DH reminds me to not let this one overshadow that one because it's going to be fun, too. We're gonna hit 7 states in under two weeks (ok, we're cutting the corners of North Dakota and Nebraska just to say we've been), but we'll be seeing Yellowstone, Battle of Little Big Horn, and Mt. Rushmore while we're out there.

 

[MrsScooby]

Boy am I glad that we have no intention of returning to the Vatican this cruise. Didn't even think to look at days we're in port yet. We'll probably hire a driver and a private guide for Rome this time and see it more in depth. Our last time(private tour as well), seemed to glaze over Rome and focus on the Vatican. A word of advice to all of those planning private drivers/tours in Italy. The drivers AREN'T allowed to give tours, just drive. They can give you advice, but that's it. You need to hire an additional private guide for that. It's the law in Italy that a guide MUST be licensed as such, and most drivers aren't.

Same thing in Germany. Only licensed guides were allowed inside the buildings.
This is our first trip to Italy so we have to hit the highlights. I'm preparing myself for the crowds

The discussion about the day of the week we'll be in various ports led me to look it up so I can start getting things fixed in my brain about what day we'll be where. From our itinerary (and I will add this to the first post as well):


Thursday, June 27 Barcelona, Spain - 4:00 p.m.
Friday, June 28 Villefranche, France 8:45 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 29 La Spezia, Italy 7:45 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 30 Civitavecchia, Italy 7:15 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Monday, July 1 Naples, Italy 7:45 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 2 At Sea - -
Wednesday, July 3 Venice, Italy 1:00 p.m. -
Thursday, July 4 Venice, Italy - 5:00 p.m.
Friday, July 5 Dubrovnik, Croatia 1:15 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, July 6 At Sea - -
Sunday, July 7 Valetta, Malta 7:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, July 8 At Sea - -
Tuesday, July 9 Barcelona, Spain 7:00 a.m. -


Re: travel insurance - we always just get it through the cruiseline. However, with our Greece one, we will have to insure it with someone like insuremytrip because of the cash portion of that trip - we will insure our DVC points through DVC.

I'm waiting for DCL to decide what they think we'll be able to do re: air with them or not - they did call me yesterday to tell me they still didn't know... I appreciated the follow-up. If we do air on our own, we'll also insure that. I'd like to do all my insurance at the same time but will probably piece-meal it. We don't normally insure just travel on our own - but we are making a big trip to the North Central states this summer and I actually did insure our flights. Not sure what made me decide to do that - maybe because we booked them pretty far in advance.

Thanks
I have to make a copy of that schedule and put it in my guidebooks so I know what might be closed or not available when we are there

We've never needed our travel insurance (knock on wood) but I know at least 2 families that did for really weird unexpected things that popped up on their trips.

I posted on the main forum asking about hotels in Barcelona. I linked the thread in the first post on this thread because I compiled a list of recommendations from the thread and linked them to the hotel sites - this way I'll be able to find it later but I also thought you all might be interested at some point along the way when we start pre-cruise hotel shopping!

Big help, thanks again
I'm trying to figure out which hotel to go with.
I'd like to have the pre-trip hotel out of the way so I can focus on the ports

Hi, Family of 4 myself, DH, DSs (13,10). Hoping to be able to go. Went 3 yrs ago on RC. Very excited about doing it again with Disney. Been trying to keep up but what I wanted to add while all the planning is going on is that it looks like the Tour de France, if I spelled it correctly, will be going on around our time there so I wonder how crowded it will be. I think we will be gone by the time it hits the "main land" but has anyone experienced the reviera around that time. A personal driver may be risky if its too crowded. Might need to stick with something Disney.

Oh this is good to know, thanks
It's stuff like this that can blindside you when you make plans in advance.

In 2007 we did the tour of the Vatican which included a private tour of the Sistine Chapel. There was only a handfull of us in the Cahpel and we even got to take pictures and video which is normally not allowed. In 2010 we did the "Jumping back into Eternal Rome" excursion through Disney. It was well done but one thing that was great we debarked the ship, boarded a bus to the train station basically at the end of the pier and boarded a private train just reserved for the Disney group. It was a "Bud" type train that wisked us to the station in the shadows of the Vatican. After a wonderful tour we reboarded the same train and returned to the ship. Disney had set up ahead of time the Gladiators in front of the Colusseum so all of us could have our pictures taken with the "Romans". Also lunch was included and we went to a restaurant a couple blocks from St. Peters. It was an excellent tour with a first rate guide. Another time we went to Orvieto for a tour and for everyone already seeing enough Rome than this is a wonderful alternative. Adventure by Disney includes this town in its' land tour.

Sounds great
We're hoping to do one of the ABD one of this days

aloha,
I'm really excited about our trip. I want to start planning our trip, but my wife says we should concentrate on our trip to Tokyo Disneyland first. It's only 16 days from now.
I'm looking at hotels Barcelona already. Also do you think they will be using the same hotels they used in 2007?
Am I crazy to start planning 510 days before our trip? Are there any crazy ones like me out there?
I'm in Hawaii right now. Got to see Au'lani. It was better than I expected.
Well back to the beach. Got to work on my tan for the Med

Aloha,
Hawaiian Mickey

Definitely another crazy planner here too
I'm looking at the Barcelona hotels also.
Checking tripadvisor and there seem to be plenty to choose from...which can also make it hard to make a decision as well

 

[jel0511]

aloha,
I'm really excited about our trip. I want to start planning our trip, but my wife says we should concentrate on our trip to Tokyo Disneyland first. It's only 16 days from now.
I'm looking at hotels Barcelona already. Also do you think they will be using the same hotels they used in 2007?
Am I crazy to start planning 510 days before our trip? Are there any crazy ones like me out there?
I'm in Hawaii right now. Got to see Au'lani. It was better than I expected.
Well back to the beach. Got to work on my tan for the Med

Aloha,
Hawaiian Mickey

It's never too early to plan, that's half of the fun isn't it!!!!

Can't wait to hear a report of your Aulani trip, we're headed there in July!

 

[MrsScooby]

I have a feeling that when our sons are the ages of your children, we'll still be bringing them along on vacation! We love traveling with our boys!

I am so having a hard time leaving my DS18 and DD14 1/2 home for this trip. I "threatened" to make them go with us last night at dinner and the looks of panic on their faces

My DH and I keep telling ourselves that we will have a better time without dragging a teen that doesn't really want to be there...

But it is going to be hard for us to see all you folks with your kids around the same age