Back to the Med Greece/Turkey in 2013! Complete!

I am in! We are scheduled for June 8th. I will wave to you as I disembark. We plan to tour before and after this trip. It is going to be so expensive, but sooo worth it! We have never been to Europe. I am a sponge and want to learn a lot. Little scared about the language barriers when we are out and about away from DCL. I have OCD, too...especially when it comes to planning. I will take any tips you can give!

Too funny! I'll be looking for the wave! We have friends doing the June 27th cruise we'll be waving at when we get off. They were on the last 2 cruises with us. In fact, it was their fault that Mindelmouse's family and ours went to Alaska last summer.

So, funny you should mention the language issue. You hear that Barcelona is English-friendly. I didn't agree. I have a theory about this, though. Don't Europeans go "on holiday" in August? So the ones that were working in Barcelona while we were there might have been a bit disgruntled that they were working and not on vacation? I don't know, but it was a challenge for me. To the point that I'm thinking about getting that language program at Costco (not Rosetta but similar) to brush up on my Spanish. I took it in college, but clearly was floundering. One of the realizations I had traveling over there was that we do our society a disservice by not introducing and maintaining language education from an early age. Kinda sad...

So today, I went to the library, and got 3 travel books, one on Greece, one on Turkey, and Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. So, I'm lucky in that Rick Steves is from this area. His store (which I've been to) and his classes (that I have yet to attend), are all about an hour and a half drive from my house. He has a Facebook page on which he posts deals occasionally. I just got a dvd set of 8 shows..."Mediterranean Mosaic" for $5 with free shipping!!! LOVE his info! Used his mini-books for Barcelona and Cinque Terre last time; I tore apart the books, removed all the lodging info, and then had them bound up by Office Max so as to have minimal weight for packing. Which reminds me that I need to go figure out where I put it....
 
:wave::welcome:

Stayed up far too late reading the Mediterranean Ports book....

thank goodness for you....I just can't do it....too much time to be excited about a trip....not that I'm not excited...I just have so many more things on my mind...like where will I be living, working....will I still be married????:rotfl: or possibly broke with all the Disney cruises :headache:
 


This was how we celebrated booking the cruise: Spanish wine, Greek yogurt, and Muesli (I love that stuff!!)!


photo.jpg
 
I'm in! I did the Med in May 2010 and was disappointed with the new itineraries. Wish they would have combined Venice and Greece. I priced them out but just too rich for my blood (but then again I got in on the $999 deal in 2010!) so I will live vicariously through everyone else's reports!

Jill in CO
 


:goodvibes Really looking forward to your trip and if DD loves our upcoming 3-day as much as I hope she does, hopefully we'll be on this some day. It sounds amazing. My daughter, now 9, adores Italy so interested to see how your son enjoys himself.

Happy Planning!
 
I'm in! I did the Med in May 2010 and was disappointed with the new itineraries. Wish they would have combined Venice and Greece. I priced them out but just too rich for my blood (but then again I got in on the $999 deal in 2010!) so I will live vicariously through everyone else's reports!

Jill in CO

Didn't the last minute airfare kill you? That's what I would be worried about if we were to try and wait until the last minute...

Oh, and we lived in CO Springs for 8 years prior to moving to WA. Did you know....snow can actually fall vertically, not horizontally?? :lmao:

:goodvibes Really looking forward to your trip and if DD loves our upcoming 3-day as much as I hope she does, hopefully we'll be on this some day. It sounds amazing. My daughter, now 9, adores Italy so interested to see how your son enjoys himself.

Happy Planning!

Looks like you're on the Dream in 2 weeks! Have fun! Our DD was with us in 2010 and had a great time! A lot of the sites were over her head, but when she was cranky and out of it at Pompeii, I related it to dead people and she suddenly got into it! :rotfl:
 
I had so many things I wanted to get done today, but I made the mistake of posting the picture of the wine, yogurt, and Muesli, and ended up going thru photos from 2010. I ended up loading them to Photobucket, so if you are so inclined to look thru a thousand pics from a random stranger, here's the link:

http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff449/skamerrill/

Otherwise, perhaps I should back up a bit and introduce myself and my traveling party?

As I said, I'm MinnieDiva (Kim) and I have a Disney problem.

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I work (sort of) so we can travel. If I worked more, perhaps I wouldn't be sitting here typing this? Hmmm, but I digress. I'm married to DH (Sean):

file-1.jpg


And we have one daughter (Ashleigh):

file-2.jpg


My dad (Jerry):
file-3.jpg

Dad retired last year, and I've been trying to get him to travel with us for a while. He lives in CA, so we see him 3-4 times a year and FaceTime quite a bit.

We currently live in the Pacific NW, closer to Canada than Seattle. We've been here for 4 years after the previous 8 years in Colorado. I'm originally from the Bay Area, so the West Coast is home for me. I'm really happy to be back near the ocean again.

Our 1st Disney cruise, as I said yesterday, was the Med in 2010. I booked the 10-night cruise and told Sean after that we were going. :thumbsup2 We'd planned on going in 2009, but the move here set that back a year. And, after DCL announced they were going back there, it was a done deal, right?
 
So, I just realized that I need to figure out how to resize these pics. I guess there's only so much space allowed per post before you're cut off! Oops. In the meantime, gotta go pick up DD from school....
 
I had so many things I wanted to get done today, but I made the mistake of posting the picture of the wine, yogurt, and Muesli, and ended up going thru photos from 2010. I ended up loading them to Photobucket, so if you are so inclined to look thru a thousand pics from a random stranger, here's the link:

http://s1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff449/skamerrill/

Otherwise, perhaps I should back up a bit and introduce myself and my traveling party?

As I said, I'm MinnieDiva (Kim) and I have a Disney problem.

file.jpg


I work (sort of) so we can travel. If I worked more, perhaps I wouldn't be sitting here typing this? Hmmm, but I digress. I'm married to DH (Sean):

file-1.jpg


And we have one daughter (Ashleigh):

file-2.jpg


My dad (Jerry):
file-3.jpg

Dad retired last year, and I've been trying to get him to travel with us for a while. He lives in CA, so we see him 3-4 times a year and FaceTime quite a bit.

We currently live in the Pacific NW, closer to Canada than Seattle. We've been here for 4 years after the previous 8 years in Colorado. I'm originally from the Bay Area, so the West Coast is home for me. I'm really happy to be back near the ocean again.

Our 1st Disney cruise, as I said yesterday, was the Med in 2010. I booked the 10-night cruise and told Sean after that we were going. :thumbsup2 We'd planned on going in 2009, but the move here set that back a year. And, after DCL announced they were going back there, it was a done deal, right?

Have we not qualified as being in your traveling party?:rolleyes1
 
LOL! I said I got cut off! Do I have permission to use your images??

Since when do you need my permission??:rotfl:Type away my friend...image us all you want...and by the way I don't think any of the pictures you put up are actually from the last med cruise...I was with you and probably took some of them, but not on that cruise!!!:rotfl2:
 
Didn't the last minute airfare kill you? That's what I would be worried about if we were to try and wait until the last minute...

Oh, and we lived in CO Springs for 8 years prior to moving to WA. Did you know....snow can actually fall vertically, not horizontally?? :lmao:

My cruise was $1300 and the airfare was $1200. :) I figured it worked out in the end.

And yes...well aware of the snow! We are actually hunkering down for a blizzard to hit here shortly...predicting up to 2 feet of snow and 20-30 mph winds tonight and tomorrow! Wish I was in the Med right now!

Jill in CO
 
Since when do you need my permission??:rotfl:Type away my friend...image us all you want...and by the way I don't think any of the pictures you put up are actually from the last med cruise...I was with you and probably took some of them, but not on that cruise!!!:rotfl2:

I have 1 or 2 from the Med, plenty from last summer and this fall, and access to Facebook...:thumbsup2

My cruise was $1300 and the airfare was $1200. :) I figured it worked out in the end.

And yes...well aware of the snow! We are actually hunkering down for a blizzard to hit here shortly...predicting up to 2 feet of snow and 20-30 mph winds tonight and tomorrow! Wish I was in the Med right now!

Jill in CO

Ug. Have fun with that.
 
I'm in!!! We are on the same cruise. I've been researching today with airline points and trying to figure out where to stay pre-cruise. I think, we are leaning towards Paris. But I'd love to hear about Barcelona. I can't figure out if my kids would love it there are not. Where I know Paris they would be happy with the museums, DLP, etc...
 
I feel the need to defend myself here. We are the friends who've been "abandoned" by mindlemouse and minniediva. I didnt force anyone to go to Alaska with us, though coercion was used on Susan. The two of you joined us on your own accord. Have fun you guys, we'll miss you!!!!!
 
I'm in!!! We are on the same cruise. I've been researching today with airline points and trying to figure out where to stay pre-cruise. I think, we are leaning towards Paris. But I'd love to hear about Barcelona. I can't figure out if my kids would love it there are not. Where I know Paris they would be happy with the museums, DLP, etc...

Oh, I'll start chatting about Barcelona here soon! I didn't go to Paris...but Jel0511 did ...

I feel the need to defend myself here. We are the friends who've been "abandoned" by mindlemouse and minniediva. I didnt force anyone to go to Alaska with us, though coercion was used on Susan. The two of you joined us on your own accord. Have fun you guys, we'll miss you!!!!!

Oh...and here she is!! Abandoned? I think not! And there was a LOT of guilt about Alaska....

And for all of you out there reading this, me, Mindelmouse, Jel0511, and Cliffside (susan) were all strangers before these disboards became our common ground. But more on that as the story progresses...now, to go make dinner!
 
I really enjoyed Barcelona. I stayed at the Novotel (it had just opened and one of the few that have family rooms) and spent the day before the cruise touring the city. I wish I would have stayed another day...it is a beautiful city and very unique due to the Gaudi architecture.

Paris is wonderful too. I'm lucky and got to visit several times when I was stationed in Germany...only a 5 hour drive! I visited for a week back in 2007 and combined a couple of days at DLP and the rest of the week in Paris. I stayed on the Left Bank and it was really easy to get around to see the sights. There is a train between DLP and the City and its super easy to use. If you go to Paris, get the Museum Pass. It saves tons of time by eliminating the need to stand in line. I think it works out to being cheaper too.

The Rick Steves guidebooks are excellent and I really enjoyed his walking tours of both Barcelona and Paris. He also has some great walking tours of the museums in Paris.

HTH

Jill in CO
 

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