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

[Bunless]

Well, current thinking is HoHo and the Blue Grotto. The first definitely goes on a Sunday (although shorter hours), and I think the grotto is open but the site is not clear either way. My girls aren't into dead rocks or churches, but the boat trip swings the grotto, so this is a bit of a compromise agenda. Haven't got that far with detailed planning yet as it is late into the cruise - I'm still finalising Barcelona, lol!

Celestine

What is HoHo?

 

[Celestine]

What is HoHo?

Hop on Hop off!!!

 

[Celestine]

Hi. My husband is a little apprehensive as we will have limited space in our bags. Do we do this for every night of the cruise? Is the gift per person or per cabin? Thanks. Kelly.

How you play it is up to you but on the whole it is 1 gift for the whole of the length of the cruise. Whether you gift a gift/person or 1/cabin is up to you. Some people do gifts for the kids others do lots of little things. Gifts i have received include candy, tattoos, first aid kit, pens, tissues, postcards, wipe boards, magnets, notebooks. Usually I have to consider packing as I'm in the UK, and even on the panama canal cruise where over 100 cabins took part I managed to provide tattoos for all the cabins.

I have never been delegated a delivery day but you find most deliveries occur on sea days unless you having willing teens.

I try to deliver around the time people will head back to their cabin as sadly I have been on cruises where gifts were pilfered

Any other questions, ask away & I'll see what I can answer!

Celestine

 

[thestewarts]

How you play it is up to you but on the whole it is 1 gift for the whole of the length of the cruise. Whether you gift a gift/person or 1/cabin is up to you. Some people do gifts for the kids others do lots of little things. Gifts i have received include candy, tattoos, first aid kit, pens, tissues, postcards, wipe boards, magnets, notebooks. Usually I have to consider packing as I'm in the UK, and even on the panama canal cruise where over 100 cabins took part I managed to provide tattoos for all the cabins.

I have never been delegated a delivery day but you find most deliveries occur on sea days unless you having willing teens.

I try to deliver around the time people will head back to their cabin as sadly I have been on cruises where gifts were pilfered

Any other questions, ask away & I'll see what I can answer!

Celestine

Thanks Celestine, we appreciate the info. It'll help us make a start. I'm still working on the FE hanging pockets.
Fiona

 

[Celestine]

Thanks Celestine, we appreciate the info. It'll help us make a start. I'm still working on the FE hanging pockets.
Fiona

They do not need to be elaborate, just functional! You don't need multiple pockets either. I spent time on mine as it goes on every cruise - staff will leave notes or things from kids clubs in them too.

Celestine

 

[Melcatfish]

Paid in full and now waiting to book palo \ excursions etc... 11th April for booking those I think. Who is else is waiting to book things with DCL and what are you wanting to book?

Mel
x

 

[Celestine]

Paid in full and now waiting to book palo \ excursions etc... 11th April for booking those I think. Who is else is waiting to book things with DCL and what are you wanting to book?

Mel
x

We're April 11 too - is it phased according to castaway status? Anyway, skipping Palo this time, but want to book some spa time and the scavenger hunt at Herculaneum. Everything else we are doing ourselves, and are skipping Rome altogether and staying on the ship.

Celestine

 

[Kellycanada]

To all my fellow uncrafty cruisers. I checked online at Ikea and they sell a wall pocket organizer for $5(Canadian). It has 3 pockets. It's white with blue and red trim. I haven't checked it out in person yet, but I figure I could decorate it with some Disney iron patches and write our names on it with fabric paint, and I will have a really easy to make FE to hang up by our cabin.

 

[Celestine]

To all my fellow uncrafty cruisers. I checked online at Ikea and they sell a wall pocket organizer for $5(Canadian). It has 3 pockets. It's white with blue and red trim. I haven't checked it out in person yet, but I figure I could decorate it with some Disney iron patches and write our names on it with fabric paint, and I will have a really easy to make FE to hang up by our cabin.

That sounds ideal!

Celestine

 

[Celestine]

As PIF date looms couldn't resist checking the DCL site - looks like rooms are opening up. Last time I looked for 2A, 2C there was practically nothing, now availability in 11B - 9A and a few in cats 4 & 5 so looks like the cost is factoring out some folk now

Celestine

 

[Melcatfish]

As PIF date looms couldn't resist checking the DCL site - looks like rooms are opening up. Last time I looked for 2A, 2C there was practically nothing, now availability in 11B - 9A and a few in cats 4 & 5 so looks like the cost is factoring out some folk now

Celestine

I have been checking quite frequently and since they opened up 2014 for bookings there has been quite good availability across category types. Before 2014 opened there was nothing inside and the cheapest rooms were approaching $11k for an ocean view. Now there is a lot from $8.5k up which is not much above opening day prices. Our 11b was $7.5k after a 10% OBB discount so the cost is only about $200 more for the cheapest rooms.

Maybe some port upgrades available?

Mel
x

 

[mom_rules]

Anyone able to check in today?

 

[yogitxtx]

I checked in at 11:00 PM last night(central time) and was able to get everything we wanted.

Sandy

 

[Celestine]

Anyone able to check in today?

I guess you are a platinum castaway member? Our booking date is April 11 and we are gold.

On a more positive note, I finally worked out how we are going to get from the airport to our hotel & what we are doing on our arrival day - just 13 more days to plan then!

Celestine

 

[jgura]

Hello All,
I checked in today. Here is what was already full:
Private Charter Boats in Venice
Segway in Malta
Day 6 Palo brunch 11-12 time frame

Other notes:
There is not a Palo brunch on the days we port late.
Pirate night day 9

I only was needing to book 1 excursion for my DH. Diving, anyone else diving in Croatia?
I do feel like there must be a lot of quiet platinum/concierge guests on this cruise. I have never seen a Palo spot or excursion fill up so early, especially for a Europe cruise. Does anyone have recommendations to see professional Flamenco dancing in Barcelona?
In regards to FE holders...on my last cruise, because I though my room was in a high traffic area I used a small canvas tote bag and zipped tied one handle to the hook.. (we received it as a gift in another FE exchange, it was Disney decorated) This was our best functioning holder. With one large "pocket" none of our gifts were ever spilling out. You may receive a lot of gifts at once on sea days. So for those who need to keep things simple, consider a tote bag. It is also fun to give/receive gifts that represent where you are from.

 

[Celestine]

Hello All,
I checked in today. Here is what was already full:
Private Charter Boats in Venice
Segway in Malta
Day 6 Palo brunch 11-12 time frame

Other notes:
There is not a Palo brunch on the days we port late.
Pirate night day 9

I only was needing to book 1 excursion for my DH. Diving, anyone else diving in Croatia?
I do feel like there must be a lot of quiet platinum/concierge guests on this cruise. I have never seen a Palo spot or excursion fill up so early, especially for a Europe cruise. Does anyone have recommendations to see professional Flamenco dancing in Barcelona?
In regards to FE holders...on my last cruise, because I though my room was in a high traffic area I used a small canvas tote bag and zipped tied one handle to the hook.. (we received it as a gift in another FE exchange, it was Disney decorated) This was our best functioning holder. With one large "pocket" none of our gifts were ever spilling out. You may receive a lot of gifts at once on sea days. So those who need to keep things simple, consider a tote bag. It is also fun to give/receive gifts that represent where you are from.

Thanks for the pirate night info. I thought once we finally reached gold, life would be easier in regards to bookings etc. - apparently not!

Celestine

 

[Bunless]

Does anyone have recommendations to see professional Flamenco dancing in Barcelona?

I was very impressed with the dancing and musicians at this place
http://www.tablaocordobes.com/
I also very much enjoyed the setting. Flamenco should be done in close quarters, with low ceilings and small stages. You should feel like the dancers are on top of you... and they were. Is it cramped seating? yes, but that's part of the beauty of it.

It starts with a meal in the front room (I honestly don't remember much of it, it just didn't stand out), then you all move to the back room for the show.

Both my friend and myself (we are both former professional dancers, not Flamenco, but still dancers), thought the quality was excellent.

 

[jgura]

Thank you Bunless!

 

[Melcatfish]

I am pleased to see that the things we wanted are still available, but surprised that there are already slots fully booked for Palo and some excursions.

We just booked our private tours for Naples and Rome. In the end we went with Smart Cruise Tours, much more affordable than RomeinLimo but still getting very good reviews on tripadvisor, cruise critic etc...

http://www.smartcruisetours.com/index.php/book-now/rome-florence-naples-excursions

We are doing a tour of Rome with a visit inside the Colloseum, seeing the highlights, exterior visit to Vatican \ St Peters (DH and I have been inside before and I am not prepared to brave the museums on the Sunday when its open - I fear it may be rammed full! My older daughter has recently learned about ancient Rome and is so excited about seeing the things she learned about. She particularly wanted to see ruins of Roman Baths so Julia at Smart Cruise Tours has created an amended itinerary to include Terme di Caracalla.

In NAples we are heading to Pompeii early for a couple of hours before it gets too hot and then on to Sorrento and Amalfi.

So excited now and really looking forward to booking the rest of our planned trips either with DCL or independently.

Mel
x

 

[starmaker]

Hi there, I hope you got our message about joining the FE. If not, please let us know. As we are new to the FE thing we aren't too sure how many will be in the group or if it is split and how it is split. I'd be grateful for a wee bit of advice. And when do you issue the info to the participants? So that we can organise the gifts in time?
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Thanks
Fiona

Hi The Stewarts, hope you are all well ( I've replied to your message, sorry it's a bit late, haven't been on here in a while ) As you know we took part in the FE on our 2011 DCL european trip and we'll be taking part again this time too! I'm hoping that the FE organiser will do a similar thing to Kate (who did a fine job last time around ) and split us into manageable little groups of around 10-12 staterooms...this made it so much easier with luggage space etc! We made 3 deliveries to each stateroom on our list over the course of the 10 days, although everyone tended to have their own plan and schedule which was fine. It's really good fun and our dd enjoyed making the deliveries! Hi to Helenreed too - looking forward to meeting you all again in the summer - G says hi to both E and L - no need for those huge sunglasses this time around girls!!