Who's in for GREECE and TURKEY, June 15 2003????

[TDC Nala]

Because of work schedules Barcelona will have to be post cruise, not pre-cruise, but the observations as to which it should be are interesting.

 

[Lynn G]

That's awesome! So far, we have a great representation from all states. We have never met anyone of Nebraska or South & North Dakota on our previous cruises.

My most memorable memories of Wyoming was when DH and I stopped in Afton, Wyoming. He had to have the best berry pie. We still talk about our trek from Salt Lake City through Idaho Falls. Then, we visited Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Afton, and Park City. We did it all in three days.

Thanks to everyone's ideas for hotels. I am going to work on it this weekend.

By the way, if you are taking Spanair or Halvan Airlines, they have completely closed and no longer in operation as of yesterday. I just read it. It stranDed over 7000 people.

We lived in Jackson Hole for 25 years, now we are the other side of the state in Cheyenne. Glad you enjoyed your visit, if short, to Wyoming!

 

[MinnieDiva]

Last day of the itinerary but Malta has some free wifi spots at the Port. There's a British pub that has free wifi...and you can pick up another free wifi at other places in the port. LOL I went around with my iPhone trying to pick them up on our way back to the ship. On our 2011 cruise, Malta was our first stop.

LOL! I did the same thing!

 

[justhat]

Yay! My boys will be very excited to hear there are more on board! The 9 year olds seem to be well represented, but I'm happy to see another 6 year old!

I'm a little worried about how my youngest will do in the ports - he has always hated to walk! My oldest is the Energizer bunny and could go forever - especially if motivated by gelato or chocolate along the way! I am hoping that they will make it through the first few ports, then we'll maybe leave them in the kid's club for one or two. Hard to say what he will be like a year from now...

My son will be 6yo on the cruise too. His birthday is 2 months after the trip so he'll be almost 7, which seeing in print is scary!

My older 2 were 3.5yo and 11 months the last time we did a DCL Med cruise, but we did the Baltic in 2010 when they were 6.5 and almost 4yo. We only had a stroller for the baby then, and the other 2 did fine walking. Granted, we lived in Washington, DC at the time, so they were both used to walking regularly, but my son was still young. They were both okay. The 6yo never once complained to my recollection (about walking that is, she had plenty of other complaints!!), and I think we only carried my son a few times and it was late at night.

I think, even if he's not a big walker, he'll be okay cause there are enough sea days to give him a break from port extensive days.

 

[rossjen2]

My older 2 were 3.5yo and 11 months the last time we did a DCL Med cruise, but we did the Baltic in 2010 when they were 6.5 and almost 4yo. We only had a stroller for the baby then, and the other 2 did fine walking. Granted, we lived in Washington, DC at the time, so they were both used to walking regularly, but my son was still young. They were both okay. The 6yo never once complained to my recollection (about walking that is, she had plenty of other complaints!!), and I think we only carried my son a few times and it was late at night.

I think, even if he's not a big walker, he'll be okay cause there are enough sea days to give him a break from port extensive days.

Just curious about what you and others have done regarding car seats/booster seats for your children on the flights and various modes of transportation in Europe? My son will be 4yrs2mths on the cruise....I've been thinking (and I know I have WAY too much time to figure it out) that at some of the ports, we might just grab a taxi or such and explore stuff on our own. While I know safety is of the most importance, the idea of lugging around a booster seat is not fun.

 

[mindelmouse]

Just curious about what you and others have done regarding car seats/booster seats for your children on the flights and various modes of transportation in Europe? My son will be 4yrs2mths on the cruise....I've been thinking (and I know I have WAY too much time to figure it out) that at some of the ports, we might just grab a taxi or such and explore stuff on our own. While I know safety is of the most importance, the idea of lugging around a booster seat is not fun.

I don't know for sure, but I don't think the laws for booster seats are the same in Europe as they are here. I don't remember seeing a lot of people with them last time.

 

[mehaul]

Yay! My boys will be very excited to hear there are more on board! The 9 year olds seem to be well represented, but I'm happy to see another 6 year old!

I'm a little worried about how my youngest will do in the ports - he has always hated to walk! My oldest is the Energizer bunny and could go forever - especially if motivated by gelato or chocolate along the way! I am hoping that they will make it through the first few ports, then we'll maybe leave them in the kid's club for one or two. Hard to say what he will be like a year from now...

I'm a big proponent of strollers. We purchased lightweight umbrella strollers prior to our earlier cruises. Don't forget it can get pretty hot in Italy and Greece in the summertime. A lot depends on the excursion you select. If you use Disney for your excursions there is very little walking involved, but if you do ports on your own it will be pretty difficult to cover a lot of ground.
Just to get out of the port areas to the train station can be 10-20 minutes of walking.
The Baltic was a lot easier since the ship pretty much parallel parked to The downtown area in 1/2 the ports we stopped at, similar to Castaway Cay.

 

[mehaul]

Because of work schedules Barcelona will have to be post cruise, not pre-cruise, but the observations as to which it should be are interesting.

We did Barcelona for 2 nights post cruise in 2011. Worked out great. Grabbed a taxi to the hotel. Then went to la Rambla for an hour to eat at la Boqueria, walked around for another hour and then let the kids swim at the hotel pool. With everyone rested the next day we did a full day of sightseeing with the HoHo bus - we did Casa Batllo, La sagrada familia, Gaudi park, and mixed in some tapas and gelato.

 

[gailg3horses]

I booked this cruise as well for myself (Gail 37) and my mother Florencne (68). It'll be our 5th Disney cruise (gold status here we come!). But our first European cruise. It's always been my dream to travel Europe with my mother as an adult. So excited. I'm thinking we'll do most of the tours with a group or on our own. Love reading others' recomendations on which ports are easier to do and which to do with Disney. We have main seating now. Booked the cheapest inside cabin for the first time ever. Hoping for discounts like last time dcl went to Europe.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Gail, welcome to the list! I wish my folks were able to travel, but alas, they are not. My grandfather told DH and me when we were newly married to not wait before we traveled, to do it while we were young and able as long as we could afford it. It's why I work - so we can travel! We've been married 20 years this year and traveling nearly the whole time. Even when the children were infants. Our boys have a love of travel and we love traveling with them - I hope when I'm in my 60s, they'll want to take me places!

There's a link to the list of DISers cruising on this sailing in my sig line, and also in that same post is the link to the Roll Call form at google docs to add yourself to the master list of DISers sailing. For those who've recently joined, take a look.

 

[rossjen2]

Wow! Lots of people have done the Med cruises before! We were on the April/May 11 night Med in 2010. It was amazing. We did every port on our own and saved a ton as well as had a great time. We even did Tunisia on our own and I never felt uncomfortable. Sidi Bou Said was so beautiful, I'm kind of sad (although I understand) we're not going back.

I certainly don't have anything against DCL's excursions, we were just trying to save money.

I've got a trip report around here somewhere if anyone's interested. I reread it last night just for the memories and to get even more excited!

Disneyfalcon - Thanks for writing and sharing the photos on your wonderful trip report! I was excited to see how you explored each port on your own. It sounds like you and your family had a wonderful relaxing trip and still managed to explore all of the highlights at your own pace! Once the trip gets closer, I'm sure I will be asking you for some tips and tricks - like purchasing tix to the vatican and such ahead of time! Thanks again!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Disneyfalcon - Thanks for writing and sharing the photos on your wonderful trip report! I was excited to see how you explored each port on your own. It sounds like you and your family had a wonderful relaxing trip and still managed to explore all of the highlights at your own pace! Once the trip gets closer, I'm sure I will be asking you for some tips and tricks - like purchasing tix to the vatican and such ahead of time! Thanks again!

Thanks, Rossjen! We had such an incredible trip last time. This time Dh and Ds get to go, so we can't wait to show it to them and see some things that are new for all of us.

 

[canadakath]

My son will be 6yo on the cruise too. His birthday is 2 months after the trip so he'll be almost 7, which seeing in print is scary!

My older 2 were 3.5yo and 11 months the last time we did a DCL Med cruise, but we did the Baltic in 2010 when they were 6.5 and almost 4yo. We only had a stroller for the baby then, and the other 2 did fine walking. Granted, we lived in Washington, DC at the time, so they were both used to walking regularly, but my son was still young. They were both okay. The 6yo never once complained to my recollection (about walking that is, she had plenty of other complaints!!), and I think we only carried my son a few times and it was late at night.

I think, even if he's not a big walker, he'll be okay cause there are enough sea days to give him a break from port extensive days.

DS will be turning 7 on the last sea day on the cruise - hopefully by then he will have made some friends and we can have a little party for him! That was one of the things I liked the most with this itinerary - the number of sea days.

I'm a big proponent of strollers. We purchased lightweight umbrella strollers prior to our earlier cruises. Don't forget it can get pretty hot in Italy and Greece in the summertime. A lot depends on the excursion you select. If you use Disney for your excursions there is very little walking involved, but if you do ports on your own it will be pretty difficult to cover a lot of ground.
Just to get out of the port areas to the train station can be 10-20 minutes of walking.
The Baltic was a lot easier since the ship pretty much parallel parked to The downtown area in 1/2 the ports we stopped at, similar to Castaway Cay.

Our umbrella stroller is on its last legs after carting around DS at WDW the last few years. I think he may be well over the weight limit come next year! But it was certainly a necessity for us at WDW! Good to hear that there is less walking with Disney excursions - we are considering biting the bullet and forking out the $$$ for the ABD add on, once it is released.

 

[o&smom]

Hello everyone! We have reserved the possibility of cruising with all of you next summer. We have been planning on returning to the Med with Disney in 2014, but want to hedge our bet in case of itinerary changes, etc. like we saw in 2010/2011. Our party consists of me - Marni, Bill - DH, Owen - DS 9, and Spencer - DD 3 at time of cruise. The Med was our first ever cruise and we can't wait to return to favorite ports and enjoy some new ones!

Marni

 

[2PrincesseInTow]

Just curious about what you and others have done regarding car seats/booster seats for your children on the flights and various modes of transportation in Europe? My son will be 4yrs2mths on the cruise....I've been thinking (and I know I have WAY too much time to figure it out) that at some of the ports, we might just grab a taxi or such and explore stuff on our own. While I know safety is of the most importance, the idea of lugging around a booster seat is not fun.

Last summer we had an inflatable booster seat and it worked very well for us. They weren't selling them in the US at the time so we ordered it from www.easycarseat.com and had it delivered to the hotel in BCN. Now it looks like they sell them via www.goboosterseat.com in the US. We take it with us on all of our trips. It fits in the outside pouch of the suitcase so we just throw it in before we check the bags and easily take it out and inflate it when we get there.

Sara

 

[USUKMama]

Yay! My boys will be very excited to hear there are more on board! The 9 year olds seem to be well represented, but I'm happy to see another 6 year old!

My DS is very excited that there will be other 9 year olds. We have a 6 year old as well - a DD but with 2 older brothers she is pretty much a tomboy!

 

[MinnieDiva]

Hello everyone! We have reserved the possibility of cruising with all of you next summer. We have been planning on returning to the Med with Disney in 2014, but want to hedge our bet in case of itinerary changes, etc. like we saw in 2010/2011. Our party consists of me - Marni, Bill - DH, Owen - DS 9, and Spencer - DD 3 at time of cruise. The Med was our first ever cruise and we can't wait to return to favorite ports and enjoy some new ones!

Marni

Welcome! Where are you all from??

 

[SueTGGR]

MinnieDiva - You look familiar to me. You didn't happen to do the MR cruise last January did you?
Sue

 

[MinnieDiva]

MinnieDiva - You look familiar to me. You didn't happen to do the MR cruise last January did you?
Sue

Not I, said the little red hen.....I'm sure it was lovely and warm, tho??

 

[o&smom]

Welcome! Where are you all from??

We live in Happy Valley, OR - just outside of Portland. My husband grew up in Kirkland and we lived in Kirkland and Everett when we first got married. His mom currently lives in Anacortes. We are practically neighbors!!!

Marni