7/25/2013 Med. Mickey's 12 Night Italian Job - with Nice, Valletta and Dubrov !

[Celestine]

Last time we opted to go to Herculaneum. I'd never heard of it until someone on the DISboards had mentioned it but it is a similar site to Pompeii but it's closer to the port and many of the buildings are more intact. We travelled there on a Sunday on the circumvesuiviana Italian train service which was relatively easy to negotiate, especially without a word of Italian between us! We easily negotiated the site and found it very interesting and got an easy to follow map on entry.

I see Disney are doing a family scavenger hunt there which may be more appealing to the 8 year old. That said she is adamant she is not getting off anywhere in Italy because of "the volcano"!

 

[newfamilyman]

Do you mean Hermione? Remember how she and our Christopher were secret Mickeys during the Panama Canal cruise? That was fun for him, as I recall.

 

[pixie3]

Hello.

My name is Kimberly and my family I will be traveling with you on this cruise.
(My husband Mark, FIL John, and our two boys: Shane 10 and Riley 8).

I have some reading to do here in order to catch up!!! If someone hasn't already signed up to take care of FE, then I would be more than happy to do that. I've done it before.

I"ll be back soon. I'm going to try to read through this.

 

[thestewarts]

Hello.

My name is Kimberly and my family I will be traveling with you on this cruise.
(My husband Mark, FIL John, and our two boys: Shane 10 and Riley 8).

I have some reading to do here in order to catch up!!! If someone hasn't already signed up to take care of FE, then I would be more than happy to do that. I've done it before.

I"ll be back soon. I'm going to try to read through this.

Welcome to the DISBoards 25/7 cruise forum Kimberly and family.

 

[newfamilyman]

That would be great if you would volunteer. We've talked about doing FE exchange, but nobody has yet volunteered to set it up.

 

[Celestine]

Do you mean Hermione? Remember how she and our Christopher were secret Mickeys during the Panama Canal cruise? That was fun for him, as I recall.

Yes - what a great memory! I couldn't comment earlier as although I recognised your DIS name, reality is some what of a blur! Still undecided on Naples, but will DIY on all the other ports

Celestine

 

[Celestine]

Hello.

My name is Kimberly and my family I will be traveling with you on this cruise.
(My husband Mark, FIL John, and our two boys: Shane 10 and Riley 8).

I have some reading to do here in order to catch up!!! If someone hasn't already signed up to take care of FE, then I would be more than happy to do that. I've done it before.

I"ll be back soon. I'm going to try to read through this.

Hi Kimberley!

If you're the FE queen I'm in. Having been planning my gifts for a while, but can not act on the plans until after my final exam in May

Celestine

 

[waltcanada]

Hey Vancouver! I can recommend a couple of excellent private tours in Franfort/Rhine area for you. We just did this last summer.

We r from Saskatchewan!

 

[waltcanada]

Hello.

My name is Kimberly and my family I will be traveling with you on this cruise.
(My husband Mark, FIL John, and our two boys: Shane 10 and Riley 8).

I have some reading to do here in order to catch up!!! If someone hasn't already signed up to take care of FE, then I would be more than happy to do that. I've done it before.

I"ll be back soon. I'm going to try to read through this.

Our family absolutely adores FE! Since we have such a long way to travel, we will have to be extra-creative with our gifts.

Thanks very much for organising this,

Walt's Wife

 

[Celestine]

Our family absolutely adores FE! Since we have such a long way to travel, we will have to be extra-creative with our gifts.

Thanks very much for organising this,

Walt's Wife

I know that one only too well, especially since the economy baggage allowance was slashed to 1 bag each rather than 2 for transatlantic flights!

Celestine

 

[Kellycanada]

We r from Saskatchewan!

Next door in Manitoba!

 

[pjc4925]

My travel agent said Disney contracts with the renaissance hotel and another one (but forgot which she said) for ground transfers to the port. Anyone else making arrangements from hotel to port yet?

 

[mom24cuties]

We were on a wait list and our names came to the top this week. 505$ per room for the night before the cruise. This included 6 roundtrip transfers which are 90 dollars per person. We need two rooms as each room is for three people only. We tried to add my MIL and FIL to the room but this would not work as they were not on our reservation and the TA says four to a room is unusual in Europe. This was at the Hilton Diagonal del Mar. I probably would have kept the Disney recommended hotel if we had been able to add my in laws. We found another Hotel recommended by trip advisor that will sleep 4 per room so are happy with this new plan.

 

[Figment_Fan]

We are staying the one night before. From what we have researched, the majority, if not all, of their rooms sleep only 2. Disney set us up with 2 rooms for the 4 of us. I did it for the convenience of Disney so that I don't have to juggle, which hotel, and how to get there, find the taxi, then to the port, then back. I'm letting them handle this one.

I wish it were closer to las Ramblas, but, we will explore. We are on the treadmill at least every other day now. Those first days are going to be a marathon. Five straight days - one in Barcelona, the next 4 in a different port each day. I will probably just sleep all day on the first at sea day. Yeah, DW and I used to do WDW commando style - gotta see everything, every time. Go from opening until they close the gates!

Then, children; then, slow down. Now the kids are older, and they like to go, go, go. They just drop sooner than what we used to. And, as for me, not DW, I'm older and with more wear and tear, I've slowed down.

One less day till we go.

 

[thestewarts]

We were on a wait list and our names came to the top this week. 505$ per room for the night before the cruise. This included 6 roundtrip transfers which are 90 dollars per person. We need two rooms as each room is for three people only. We tried to add my MIL and FIL to the room but this would not work as they were not on our reservation and the TA says four to a room is unusual in Europe. This was at the Hilton Diagonal del Mar. I probably would have kept the Disney recommended hotel if we had been able to add my in laws. We found another Hotel recommended by trip advisor that will sleep 4 per room so are happy with this new plan.

Having been to Barcelona for our last Disney cruise, the taxis are plentiful and the hotel staff will happily book them for you. We will probably pre book our airport transfers through one of the few websites available but will ask our hotel to book us the transfer to the port in the morning. We did have trouble booking a room for the 3 of us and that's why we ended up booking the Holiday Inn Express, where we got a family room. It's not really close to Las Ramblas but we are happy to walk and explore the Poblenou district where it is. It's a couple of blocks south of the Hotel Diagonal Mar. Hope to see you there.

 

[thestewarts]

My travel agent said Disney contracts with the renaissance hotel and another one (but forgot which she said) for ground transfers to the port. Anyone else making arrangements from hotel to port yet?

Barcelona taxis are plentiful and seem to be well regulated and your hotel staff should be able to book it for you. That's what we are going to do. We've not booked a Disney hotel as they're just too expensive.



Me , DH & DD (12)

 

[Figment_Fan]

I have gone through the entire thread and updated the roll call. If there are any changes, please let me know.

The countdown continues. More research tonight.

Take Care All,

John

 

[SoThisIsLove]

Hi Everyone....

My DH and I are on this sailing too. This is our first cruise without our daughter. We have the cruise, flights, hotels and transfers booked and now we are trying to figure out shore excursions. We are thinking of using Rome in Limo...is anyone else using them? We were going to use the for all 3 stops...but I don't know if its necessary to have a driver in all ports...any suggestions? We are a party of 2 and the Rome In Limo tours are expensive since we do not have a group...It is going to be our first trip to Europe. I was looking into the Rick Steves books.... Not sure which ones are the best to get...suggestions?

 

[Kellycanada]

My travel agent said Disney contracts with the renaissance hotel and another one (but forgot which she said) for ground transfers to the port. Anyone else making arrangements from hotel to port yet?

Hi. We are just going to grab a taxi to the cruise port. Our hotel is right near an airport bus stop, so we are going to take the airport bus to our hotel. The hotel said its really easy and only costs 5$! We ended up booking 2 rooms and we will each stay with a kid as I don't feel comfortable leaving the kids alone in a hotel room. We are staying at the Pulitzer (got a great rate on Expedia. 130 Canadian and includes breakfast). I hope the hotel is okay!

 

[Celestine]

Hi Everyone....

My DH and I are on this sailing too. This is our first cruise without our daughter. We have the cruise, flights, hotels and transfers booked and now we are trying to figure out shore excursions. We are thinking of using Rome in Limo...is anyone else using them? We were going to use the for all 3 stops...but I don't know if its necessary to have a driver in all ports...any suggestions? We are a party of 2 and the Rome In Limo tours are expensive since we do not have a group...It is going to be our first trip to Europe. I was looking into the Rick Steves books.... Not sure which ones are the best to get...suggestions?

I've got the Meditteranean cruise ports & it is perfectly adequate (I know some people have had issues with the maps not being truly representative). THre only problem is it does not cover Dubrovnik, or Valletta & assumes you Florence/Pisa from Livorno with no mention of La Spezia!!! We are doing everything DIY except Naples as we want to do Vesuvius & Pompeii, but will probably book independent of DCL

Celestine