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

[Angie_Ohio]

Hi Everyone! We are in also! Me, Angie and 2 of my 5 DSs (Stephen 16 and Michael 15). My DH is not up for travel out of the US. My DS Alec and I traveled with my parents on the 11 night Med this past summer. I am thrilled to be able to get back so soon with my two youngest sons. Thanks Trevi Fountain!

I am a fan of Rick Steves and his travel advice. I used his books and many DIS trip reports to plan an awesome trip this past summer. We did all the ports on our own.

We arrived in Barcelona 1 day early and used the HOHO bus to see many sights. (We left 2 days early and traveled from Ohio to Montreal to Frankfurt to Barcelona on day 1) Yikes!!

It's never too early to dream and plan. I love to research trips.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Angie - welcome! I'm with you on the whole Trevi Fountain thing - I'm telling everyone that I didn't toss those coins for nothing

Mrs_Scooby - we are lucky that our boys WANT to be there; if they were not interested, I would be hard-pressed to spend the money on them for the trip. But they both love to travel and we've learned a lot in our traveling days about how to NOT over-do it, to build in some down time for them and for me to remember that it's their vacation too! We about over-did it on our first Med cruise and learned so much about traveling then that we've adjusted, so we're getting pretty good at it now.

We're leaning towards one of the apartments for the three days pre-cruise - just for the extra space before boarding for 24 nights in a small confined space. Thank goodness the boys both enjoy the youth programs so they will spend a lot of time out and about - and I'm happy for having the verandah for some extra room. Can't wait to sail on the Magic again!

 

[Cptjackandcrew]

We'll be onboard too. This will be Disney Cruise #9 for us, us being myself, DH, DD (18) and DD (15). We did the Baltic Cruise in 2010. I must admit that I am quite jealous of you B2Bers! I find it hard to do a 7-night after some of our longer cruises. If I were to cruise for 24 nights I might never be able to go on a 7-night again. It's a great idea and definitely worth consideration. Well anyways, we're very excited!

 

[nzdisneymom]

We'll be onboard too. This will be Disney Cruise #9 for us, us being myself, DH, DD (18) and DD (15). We did the Baltic Cruise in 2010. I must admit that I am quite jealous of you B2Bers! I find it hard to do a 7-night after some of our longer cruises. If I were to cruise for 24 nights I might never be able to go on a 7-night again. It's a great idea and definitely worth consideration. Well anyways, we're very excited!

Welcome to the board! When we booked our very first cruise in 2005, we opted for the 7-night because I was afraid a 3- or 4-night would not be enough - I was right - we were hooked from the beginning. Our second cruise was a 10-night in the Med, followed by a 3-night at spring break (which was fun but not nearly long enough - but we got to meet Deb T. on that cruise and she's such a great cruise-buddy!) Then another 2 7-nighters, followed by a 12-nighter in the Baltic in 2010... that was amazing! We did a week in Alaska this summer and 7-nights felt short, but didn't fall short! We just did a week at Christmas on Carnival and it was just about right - although it did seem like the end of the week got there fast. So now to do two 12-nighters - it's ambitious but we are looking at it as one long cruise in terms of planning what we will do at each port so we can relax and enjoy being in the Med but not over-exhaust ourselves as we did our first time around!

 

[Wynn]

I understand how you feel about not over-exhuasting yourselves. Last time we thought we may never be able to do this again, so we tried to see as much as possible. We hired private drivers in order to accomplish that goal and boy did we get our moneys (sp) worth. But by the end of the 12 days, I was so tired. This time I'm telling myself leisure, I hope I am listening.

 

[Wynn]

You know it just dawned on me that I am not listening all that well if I am researching and planning for this one already.

 

[marlaymike]

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.

Hi!! Is niece.

 

[pmm0724]

I am Peggy (pmm0724) and will be traveling with my DD (Kmitchel) and DGS 11.

We are Platinum and were on the 2007 Med, as well as 2 WBPC and are doing Hawaii in May as well as NY in Aug., so seems like we have cruised with a lot of you before.

Has anyone set up a Facebook group yet? We find it easier to track individual conversations there.

 

[JLSE50]

I am Peggy (pmm0724) and will be traveling with my DD (Kmitchel) and DGS 11.

We are Platinum and were on the 2007 Med, as well as 2 WBPC and are doing Hawaii in May as well as NY in Aug., so seems like we have cruised with a lot of you before.

Has anyone set up a Facebook group yet? We find it easier to track individual conversations there.

WELCOME

I skim down posts and forget to check DIS names so am not sure if I have seen you on the April-May Hawaii thread--do you post there ?

I find it easier to stay caught up if there is only one site. Seems like two groups with one on DIS and one on FB. Some assume everyone reads both so info is not all in one place. JMHO

Jan

 

[pmm0724]

WELCOME

I skim down posts and forget to check DIS names so am not sure if I have seen you on the April-May Hawaii thread--do you post there ?

I find it easier to stay caught up if there is only one site. Seems like two groups with one on DIS and one on FB. Some assume everyone reads both so info is not all in one place. JMHO

Jan

Yes, I am on the Hawaii. It is very active.

 

[JLSE50]

Yes, I am on the Hawaii. It is very active.

I will pay more attention to DIS names over there now!



ETA: Sending you a PM

Jan

 

[nzdisneymom]

I am Peggy (pmm0724) and will be traveling with my DD (Kmitchel) and DGS 11.

We are Platinum and were on the 2007 Med, as well as 2 WBPC and are doing Hawaii in May as well as NY in Aug., so seems like we have cruised with a lot of you before.

Has anyone set up a Facebook group yet? We find it easier to track individual conversations there.

Welcome to the list!

 

[jel0511]

For those of you interested there are now cat T's available for our sailing for the bargain basement pricing of 26k!!! Call your ta's now!!!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

For those of you interested there are now cat T's available for our sailing for the bargain basement pricing of 26k!!! Call your ta's now!!!!!

I'm afraid to ask -what's a Cat T?
I haven't figured out the new categories yet. We just know what cabin we want - it used to be a Cat 6 but is now a Cat 5C.

 

[Deb T.]

I'm afraid to ask -what's a Cat T?
I haven't figured out the new categories yet. We just know what cabin we want - it used to be a Cat 6 but is now a Cat 5C.

It's the 1-bedroom suite, concierge. We stayed in one on the Wonder in '98. It's very, very nice! But definitely not 26k nice!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

So what port is everybody most excited for?

Right now I am really excited for Dubrovnik, Villefranche and Malta, probably because those are the places I have never been before. Dubrovnik looks absolutely charming! I wish we had a full day there instead of the afternoon arrival.

 

[nzdisneymom]

So what port is everybody most excited for?

Right now I am really excited for Dubrovnik, Villefranche and Malta, probably because those are the places I have never been before. Dubrovnik looks absolutely charming! I wish we had a full day there instead of the afternoon arrival.

Dubrovnik, Venice, and Malta are all new ports for us. We booked this one because Nathan has wanted to go to Venice since he was in the 5th grade. DH's boss says that of all the places he's traveled, Dubrovnik is his favorite. He is disappointed we won't have a lot of time there. I'm looking forward to going to Florence and also seeing more of the French Riviera. We went to Nice in 2007 because we needed it to be an easy day - this time we're excited about being able to venture a bit further... and since we're b2b'ing, we get a double-shot of Villefranche... which to this point is my favorite port I've been to.

DH keeps reminding me though that we have a great trip planned for this summer and to not let the cruises of next summer overshadow our trip to Yellowstone this summer. So to pacify him, I picked up a book at the library today about National Parks

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Dubrovnik, Venice, and Malta are all new ports for us. We booked this one because Nathan has wanted to go to Venice since he was in the 5th grade. DH's boss says that of all the places he's traveled, Dubrovnik is his favorite. He is disappointed we won't have a lot of time there. I'm looking forward to going to Florence and also seeing more of the French Riviera. We went to Nice in 2007 because we needed it to be an easy day - this time we're excited about being able to venture a bit further... and since we're b2b'ing, we get a double-shot of Villefranche... which to this point is my favorite port I've been to.

DH keeps reminding me though that we have a great trip planned for this summer and to not let the cruises of next summer overshadow our trip to Yellowstone this summer. So to pacify him, I picked up a book at the library today about National Parks

Your trip this summer will be fabulous! My dad was in the Navy and every time we moved while I was growing up we would take two weeks and drive across the country and stop and explore the national parks. Absolutely beautiful and you will create great memories!

 

[Bullseyebaby]

We're booked too! Glad to see so many familiar Dis friends. At time of the cruise:
me... Janie (49)
DH... Dave (49)
DS... Riley (20)
DD...Sierra (16)

 

[jel0511]

DH keeps reminding me though that we have a great trip planned for this summer and to not let the cruises of next summer overshadow our trip to Yellowstone this summer. So to pacify him, I picked up a book at the library today about National Parks

I'm hearing the same thing!!! We are heading on the Fantasy inaugural next month and heading on a big trip this summer. We are hitting Phoenix, grand canyon, Vegas, Disneyland, and Aulani. He keeps telling me to calm down.....

Malta is awesome!!!! I can't wait for Venice!!!!!!!!!!