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

I saw this blog and found good info on Malta. http://www.thepreismans.com/. The info is under the lastest cruise from May 2012. They used a private tour guide. http://www.touringmalta.com/. I'm researching for our cruise as I want to make we see the best things in each port. Happy planning.

I'd bookmarked this and have finally gotten around to giving both links the attention they deserve!! Wow! These are great! I haven't read the whole TR as not all the ports are applicable. I'll get there, though...

Anywho, If you're looking at what to do in Malta, y'all may want to take a gander at the different tours this company does. Here's my thoughts....

If you remember back to my thoughts on Corsica (insert dream sequence and/or flashback music here...:rotfl:), I thought that there was a LOT more that could be fantastic on the inside of the island. I get the feeling that Malta is much the same way. We were able to entertain ourselves on our own in Valletta for a few hours, but without taking the time to plan an outing outside of Valetta's walls, there was much left unseen in this most historical of locations. I just emailed this stuff to Mindy, so I'm figuring she'll peruse it and give me an opinion. I did get a quick "cool" back from her. Silly work, getting in the way of her trip planning...:rotfl2: The prices aren't bad, either (IMO). It works out to about $40E/pp, but admissions are extra, I think. I know there are those who swear by taking buses and whatnot, and could probably end up paying half that for transportation, but there's the whole peace of mind thing...And I'd love to hear the history of stuff while looking at it. They state on their site that a licensed tour guide could be hired for $85E. I wonder how that would work with a group of 8...hmmm...

Still waiting for the 2nd bag to be delivered. It left IL yesterday and it's supposed to be delivered on Thursday...
 


I'd bookmarked this and have finally gotten around to giving both links the attention they deserve!! Wow! These are great! I haven't read the whole TR as not all the ports are applicable. I'll get there, though...

Anywho, If you're looking at what to do in Malta, y'all may want to take a gander at the different tours this company does. Here's my thoughts....

If you remember back to my thoughts on Corsica (insert dream sequence and/or flashback music here...:rotfl:), I thought that there was a LOT more that could be fantastic on the inside of the island. I get the feeling that Malta is much the same way. We were able to entertain ourselves on our own in Valletta for a few hours, but without taking the time to plan an outing outside of Valetta's walls, there was much left unseen in this most historical of locations. I just emailed this stuff to Mindy, so I'm figuring she'll peruse it and give me an opinion. I did get a quick "cool" back from her. Silly work, getting in the way of her trip planning...:rotfl2:

Yea some of us have to work to pay for the cruise....and what are you talking about, I bet dollars to donuts we won't hear hide nor hair of you for the next 3 days...someone else I know is working...:goodvibes

The prices aren't bad, either (IMO). It works out to about $40E/pp, but admissions are extra, I think. I know there are those who swear by taking buses and whatnot, and could probably end up paying half that for transportation, but there's the whole peace of mind thing...And I'd love to hear the history of stuff while looking at it. They state on their site that a licensed tour guide could be hired for $85E. I wonder how that would work with a group of 8...hmmm...

I would like to get the guide as well.

Still waiting for the 2nd bag to be delivered. It left IL yesterday and it's supposed to be delivered on Thursday...

Our new luggage came yesterday. Our new firepit (cost us $20..had lots of Kohl's cash) came today....we'll have fun with it when you are all out here...:thumbsup2
 
Our new luggage came yesterday. Our new firepit (cost us $20..had lots of Kohl's cash) came today....we'll have fun with it when you are all out here...:thumbsup2

Mwahahahaha! Here I am again! But you're right...probably won't hear from me again until Friday...11 hour shifts are pretty well time-consuming!

And how is said luggage? Worth it's weight in Groupon?

And can't wait to see the fire pit. There's one in our future when the whole yard project is complete. Sean and some of his buddies are working on a side/back yard overhaul. The cement footer is curing and the retaining wall blocks get delivered (and installed?) on thursday. I, however, will be at work. :thumbsup2

I showed Sean the tour website tonight and he's all for it. Sent it to dad as well, and briefly spoke to him earlier, but he hadn't yet perused it. But, I'll be t he's on board. Now, to email and get some info...
 
Mwahahahaha! Here I am again! But you're right...probably won't hear from me again until Friday...11 hour shifts are pretty well time-consuming!

And how is said luggage? Worth it's weight in Groupon?

DH was very happy with it.


And can't wait to see the fire pit. There's one in our future when the whole yard project is complete. Sean and some of his buddies are working on a side/back yard overhaul. The cement footer is curing and the retaining wall blocks get delivered (and installed?) on thursday. I, however, will be at work. :thumbsup2

I showed Sean the tour website tonight and he's all for it. Sent it to dad as well, and briefly spoke to him earlier, but he hadn't yet perused it. But, I'll be t he's on board. Now, to email and get some info...

So consumate planner....DH was laughing because you told him he was overplanning your trip for August...overplanning...really? From you? He's consumed with the food aspect...agreed....he's actually trying to make sure that visually you have a good time, since he knows your love of picture taking....Ok...defending DH is done...momentary lapse...:rotfl2::beach:
 


mindelmouse said:
So consumate planner....DH was laughing because you told him he was overplanning your trip for August...overplanning...really? From you? He's consumed with the food aspect...agreed....he's actually trying to make sure that visually you have a good time, since he knows your love of picture taking....Ok...defending DH is done...momentary lapse...:rotfl2::beach:

He's over feeding me. I'm full and I haven't even arrived. And if you're gonna make fun of me I'm not gonna tell you what the Malta people said! Pppbbbbbtttttt!
 
He's over feeding me. I'm full and I haven't even arrived. And if you're gonna make fun of me I'm not gonna tell you what the Malta people said! Pppbbbbbtttttt!

Be like that :upsidedow No biggie...you know me....just tell me where I have to be and what time to be there...it's all good..:thumbsup2
 
There was a question on another thread and since some of you have done the Med cruise before, hopefully, you can answer.

There are a couple of us that are trying to catch flights that leave betweekn 11:40-11:55 on deparkation day. Do you think this is do-able? According to Disney, they don't recommend taking Disney transfers if your flight is before 12:30 and use a private service (or taxi) insteand.

Thank you for any insight you can give.
 
There was a question on another thread and since some of you have done the Med cruise before, hopefully, you can answer.

There are a couple of us that are trying to catch flights that leave betweekn 11:40-11:55 on deparkation day. Do you think this is do-able? According to Disney, they don't recommend taking Disney transfers if your flight is before 12:30 and use a private service (or taxi) insteand.

Thank you for any insight you can give.

I think it's doable. We were off the ship by 9 am and we were one of the last off. I would however arrange private transportation to the airport. If you wait online for a taxi - it could take 1-2 hours. We were waiting about an hour when my husband found a private service to take us to our hotel. We probably were a good hour away from getting a taxi at that point.
 
I think it's doable. We were off the ship by 9 am and we were one of the last off. I would however arrange private transportation to the airport. If you wait online for a taxi - it could take 1-2 hours. We were waiting about an hour when my husband found a private service to take us to our hotel. We probably were a good hour away from getting a taxi at that point.

Thank you so much for the reply. Do you recall the names of any private services?
 
No sorry. We never needed a private service because we stayed an extra day. We found the guy we used hangong.in the lot
 
There was a question on another thread and since some of you have done the Med cruise before, hopefully, you can answer.

There are a couple of us that are trying to catch flights that leave betweekn 11:40-11:55 on deparkation day. Do you think this is do-able? According to Disney, they don't recommend taking Disney transfers if your flight is before 12:30 and use a private service (or taxi) insteand.

Thank you for any insight you can give.

I went back and looked at the navigators, and they were asking for those with flight time before 10:30 to come to guest services with tickets or proof of times. I figure that by doing so, they were the 1st off the ship once it was cleared, but there was no indication whatsoever whether or not there was any Disney transfer involved. First off the ship would mean first in line for a taxi, I guess. Hopefully someone will pipe up that was actually in this situation.
 
I went back and looked at the navigators, and they were asking for those with flight time before 10:30 to come to guest services with tickets or proof of times. I figure that by doing so, they were the 1st off the ship once it was cleared, but there was no indication whatsoever whether or not there was any Disney transfer involved. First off the ship would mean first in line for a taxi, I guess. Hopefully someone will pipe up that was actually in this situation.

Yikes, 10:30 - that would send me over the moon with stress, but it is making me feel better about the 11:40 time. Thank you for checking.
 
And Sean likes it, so I guess it's a keeper! It is far lighter than the previous one, and I was able to pack all my camera gear in it but one lens, and that lens could have gone in the top pouch area had I put it there. The iPad fits, but it's far from ideal. I'm thinking that that perfect bag is just not out there. Were I to take the iPad out of it's case, it might fit in the hydration area, but I'm not wanting to do that...Here's some pics:

Much better for my torso:

f8198497.jpg


And Sean's:

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It took some finagling to get the wide angle lens to fit properly. I'm thinking that whoever designed this wasn't obsessed with this lens the way I am....:

e296249c.jpg


I'd stolen the inserts from my Lowepro bag to get the size I wanted. In this next pic, the 55-25 is in the back by itself,:

ca7f1f9a.jpg


But I was able to squeeze in the flash underneath it (just to see if it would work, I rarely use it and usually don't feel the need to bring it):

29057eae.jpg


And to the right of the camera body is the 18-55 and on the left is my camera cleaning kit:

8895f012.jpg


Little flappy do-dad under the cover for SD cards and whatnot:

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And I ended up putting the battery charger and the filter holder (that I had to fold up to get it in there) in here:

c0e466b5.jpg


The iPad fit in the top area, but sits at an angle wedged in there:

e6ab3d9d.jpg


There's more than enough space in there for some 12-oz water bottles, hand sanitizer, travel toilet paper, or whatever else you might want to ferry around.

I didn't take a pic of Sean bring to access it from the side , but he seemed pleased. If I were to pack it the way I'd travel to Europe with it, I think I'd only bring the wide angle and the 55-250. Fully loaded, accessing the camera regularly would be tedious, but if the intent is to bring it on the airplane and then switch out lenses day to day on the cruise leaving the ones you wouldn't need in the safe, it would work fine. If, someday, the camera fairy blesses me with a 70-200, there is room for it. And, in bags, the other lenses could be in the space where the iPad went.

LOL...Sean kept asking me if I was happy with the bag. I asked him "are you going to be carrying it and not complaining?", to which he replied yes, so I respond with "then I'm happy". :rotfl:
 
Yikes, 10:30 - that would send me over the moon with stress, but it is making me feel better about the 11:40 time. Thank you for checking.

Me too! The last thing I want after a fantastic vacation is to ruin it with stress about getting to the airport!
 
WOW! You guys are so organized. I just spent some time reading through this thread....

We are on the 6/1 (I think that's the date LOL!) sailing. using DVC points and didn't have enough for the longer cruises, plus we have done a lot of those ports on another cruise or on other vacations.

I know that in "Florence" (not that we are near Florence) we are probably doing a DIY tour of the Cinque Terre (if I spelled that right) We have missed that on both of our earlier Italy trips so it's on the list (and the main reason I conned my mother into agreeing to do this)

Booked some of her airfare today. We are flying into London for a week before the cruise, spending a few days there and then heading to Barcelona to tour it. I have her Business seats from her home to London and Barcelona to her home. My seats... well this took more miles then it should have so I am holding. Mine will be low mile seats (actually I will monitor her flights every few days too and if I can get them at the "cheap" rates" then I can just rebook. I have enough status that I don't have to pay for those changes)

But I have not even started thinking about hotels. LOL! (We will rent an apt in London.) I did see the apartment rental options in Barcelona and may look into that option too...
 
OrangeCountyCommuter said:
WOW! You guys are so organized. I just spent some time reading through this thread....

We are on the 6/1 (I think that's the date LOL!) sailing. using DVC points and didn't have enough for the longer cruises, plus we have done a lot of those ports on another cruise or on other vacations.

I know that in "Florence" (not that we are near Florence) we are probably doing a DIY tour of the Cinque Terre (if I spelled that right) We have missed that on both of our earlier Italy trips so it's on the list (and the main reason I conned my mother into agreeing to do this)

Booked some of her airfare today. We are flying into London for a week before the cruise, spending a few days there and then heading to Barcelona to tour it. I have her Business seats from her home to London and Barcelona to her home. My seats... well this took more miles then it should have so I am holding. Mine will be low mile seats (actually I will monitor her flights every few days too and if I can get them at the "cheap" rates" then I can just rebook. I have enough status that I don't have to pay for those changes)

But I have not even started thinking about hotels. LOL! (We will rent an apt in London.) I did see the apartment rental options in Barcelona and may look into that option too...

Organized? That may be the nicest way of saying absolutely nuts I've ever heard! Lololol!

We LOVED Cinque Terre! So very beautiful, picturesque.....insert all amazing adjectives here! Sigh.......so much to see.....

That would be so fun to do London before! Sean's already pushing it in terms of annual leave. He's already going to have to finagle stuff....

Which Orange county? CA or FL??
 
Organized? That may be the nicest way of saying absolutely nuts I've ever heard! Lololol!

We LOVED Cinque Terre! So very beautiful, picturesque.....insert all amazing adjectives here! Sigh.......so much to see.....

That would be so fun to do London before! Sean's already pushing it in terms of annual leave. He's already going to have to finagle stuff....

Which Orange county? CA or FL??

There's also an Orange County in NY
 

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