6/26/2014 - 9 Night Mediterranean Cruise, Venice, Italy

[2PrincesseInTow]

I was just looking at Paris to Venice options. It is 525 miles so it is drivable. So here are a few options we're looking at:

1. Get rental car in Paris and drive aboue 1/2 day and spend the night in Austria or Switzerland. Then drive the rest of the way down to Venice the following day. This would give up much flexibility on seeing things between Paris and Venice

2. Taking a day train from Paris to Venice - just take in the scenary from the train.

3. Take an overnight train and get a sleeper car. They are about $200 pp but we'd sleep on the train and not have to pay for a hotel for that night.


As a minimum, the things I want to see in Paris:

Eifel Tower
Notre Dame
Arc de Triumph
Louvre
Versailles


Anyone have a sense of how much there is to see/do in Venice? I know the obvious, gondola ride....but what are the 'must do' in Venice items?

We did Paris post Med cruise in 2011. Doing it pre cruise is a great plan as my kids were ready to go home after getting off the ship. We found a great tour company in Paris called Paris Muse tours. They are pricey but excellent. Versailles can take most of a day but was a definite must do for us as well.

In Venice I really want to go to Murano Island and see the glass operation there. We didn't have time last time. Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Square for people watching and of course the gondola!

I think at one year out DH won't think I'm so crazy when I talk about the trip

 

[JoAnne19]

I was just looking at Paris to Venice options. It is 525 miles so it is drivable. So here are a few options we're looking at:

1. Get rental car in Paris and drive aboue 1/2 day and spend the night in Austria or Switzerland. Then drive the rest of the way down to Venice the following day. This would give up much flexibility on seeing things between Paris and Venice

2. Taking a day train from Paris to Venice - just take in the scenary from the train.

3. Take an overnight train and get a sleeper car. They are about $200 pp but we'd sleep on the train and not have to pay for a hotel for that night.


As a minimum, the things I want to see in Paris:

Eifel Tower
Notre Dame
Arc de Triumph
Louvre
Versailles


Anyone have a sense of how much there is to see/do in Venice? I know the obvious, gondola ride....but what are the 'must do' in Venice items?

You're looking at three days in France: two in Paris, one at Versaille. The Louvre is insanely huge if you've not been before? IMHO I'd do Louvre and Notre Dame one day and the Arc and Tower the next--they are mostly grouped together if you want to walk it. We did Tower and Arc and Champs Elysee on the same day and that was pretty tiring (two teenagers, baby in stroller and five year old).

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Hi everyone! We booked this cruise awhile back, but it's just starting to sink in that we are really going! I haven't been to Europe since I was a teenager and DH and DD have never been. To say that we are excited would be a huge understatement. The current plan is to fly into Rome a few days before the cruise and then take the train to Venice. We'll probably stay one extra day in Venice since, even with the overnight, the ship won't be there for long. It'll be me, DH, and DD (who will have just turned 11 at that time). Soooo excited!

 

[SpaceEngTM]

Did everyone see the announcement about the Magic upgrades happening this year? My girls are going to love the new kid slide and the water play area. I am really happy with the changes, we are going to have a great cruise!

 

[littleacceb]

Did everyone see the announcement about the Magic upgrades happening this year? My girls are going to love the new kid slide and the water play area. I am really happy with the changes, we are going to have a great cruise!

OMG! I just saw and I'm so excited. It's awesome to get the vacation you hoped for, but when it's plussed, that's even better!

 

[Rogillio]

Hi everyone! We booked this cruise awhile back, but it's just starting to sink in that we are really going! I haven't been to Europe since I was a teenager and DH and DD have never been. To say that we are excited would be a huge understatement. The current plan is to fly into Rome a few days before the cruise and then take the train to Venice. We'll probably stay one extra day in Venice since, even with the overnight, the ship won't be there for long. It'll be me, DH, and DD (who will have just turned 11 at that time). Soooo excited!

Help me out here, what is there to see/do in Venice? I know it's a cool looking city with the gondolas and such but I'm trying to figure out how much time to allocate for Venice? Depending on what time we get to Venice, we'll have embarkation day till about 3 pm and then from 6 pm the last night of the cruise until our flight home the next morning to explore the Venice night life.

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Help me out here, what is there to see/do in Venice? I know it's a cool looking city with the gondolas and such but I'm trying to figure out how much time to allocate for Venice? Depending on what time we get to Venice, we'll have embarkation day till about 3 pm and then from 6 pm the last night of the cruise until our flight home the next morning to explore the Venice night life.

I bought the book "Top 10 Venice," which is part of the Eyewitness Travel series, to get an overview of what Venice has to offer. According to the book, the top 10 things to see in Venice are as follows:

1. Basilica San Marco
2. Doge's Palace
3. Piazza San Marco
4. Grand Canal
5. Accademia Galleries
6. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
7. Rialto Market
8. Island of Torcello
9. Camp Santa Margherita
10. Peggy Guggenheim Collection

We would like to see at least the first 5. I was disappointed to see that the ship won't dock in Venice until 6:00 p.m. for the overnight. That doesn't leave a lot of time to see the sites, even if we skip the MDR and eat a quick dinner on the ship. We're flying into Rome before the cruise and are planning to take the train to Venice either the evening before embarkation or the morning of, so we won't have time to see Venice at the front end. People flying into Venice a day or two before the cruise should have plenty of time to explore the city.

 

[Rogillio]

I bought the book "Top 10 Venice," which is part of the Eyewitness Travel series, to get an overview of what Venice has to offer. According to the book, the top 10 things to see in Venice are as follows:

1. Basilica San Marco
2. Doge's Palace
3. Piazza San Marco
4. Grand Canal
5. Accademia Galleries
6. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
7. Rialto Market
8. Island of Torcello
9. Camp Santa Margherita
10. Peggy Guggenheim Collection

We would like to see at least the first 5. I was disappointed to see that the ship won't dock in Venice until 6:00 p.m. for the overnight. That doesn't leave a lot of time to see the sites, even if we skip the MDR and eat a quick dinner on the ship. We're flying into Rome before the cruise and are planning to take the train to Venice either the evening before embarkation or the morning of, so we won't have time to see Venice at the front end. People flying into Venice a day or two before the cruise should have plenty of time to explore the city.

Awesome. Thanks Lisa.

I will forward this on to Mrs Rogillio who is the planner in the family (I'm the 'idea man' and she is the detailed planner). She usually buys a Frommers travel book on places we will visit and finds the hidden gems. Still a ways out to do any detailed planning but as everyone does more research on the various ports of call, please post details here.

~Mike

 

[Ptwolfman]

We are thinking of booking this cruise while on the Fantasy this September. It'll just be me (James) & DW (Jo). The airfare is really outrageous but Greece is Jo's dream cruise. My birthday is July 3rd. It looks like we are in Venice on the Fourth.

 

[SillyInventor]

First post on the board.

We booked this to be our first ever cruise! Us is me (41) and DW (45+). Both love Disney, honeymooned a week in the Grand Floridian and held Annual Passports to DLP for several years.

Living near Amsterdam the Med cruises are quite close. I told some people we were doing this and booking more than a year in advance. They
Nice to find some people here who are just as who share my insanity. DW already had enough of (my) pre-fun for the next 6 months.

We booked Cat 5a, deck 7 (midship with verandah) as we plan on spending some nice time together watching the Mediterranean. I enjoy reading the DIS board, learning from all experience shared and making the planning.
Back to lurk-mode for a while now

 

[Rogillio]

1 year and 1 week 'till we fly across the pond for our Great Venice/Greece/Turkey Cruise Adventure!

 

[sharksteve]

We booked the 9 Day venice-venice Cruise while onboard the 7 day Western Mediterranean Cruise 06/08-15/2013. We enjoyed our Cruise so much that we booked the next onboard. We (DD Yara- now 7 months old, Iris, Stefan) had a perfect experience on the Magic and are looking forward to next Year!
Is there a Facebook Group for this Cruise? Shall we found One?

 

[sharksteve]

I created a facebook group:

under this adress can you find the group for our cruise:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Magic.Med.2014/


mail adress for the group:
Magic.Med.2014@groups.facebook.com

If you want to join - please feel free to contact me:
stefan.rausch.902@facebook.com

 

[sunshine state kim]

We just got off the Fantasy last week and can now really start the fun of planning this trip! We were on the Magic for the 1st Med cruise long ago and were on the Baltic as well. So excited and will be with DH, DD (20), and DS (17). We're planning on a few days in Venice pre-cruise.

Steve I will contact you about the facebook page. That was great for our last cruise and I think will be even more useful in planning something like this.

 

[Ptwolfman]

I've requested to join the Facebook group

 

[littleacceb]

I've requested to join the Facebook group

Me too I'm Becca Campbell

 

[kmc33]

Hi,
My family is planning to go on this trip too. There are 3 of us, DH and myself, and our DS who will be 15 at the time of the trip.
I am going to request to join the FB group.
Thanks!

 

[Disney_fans]

Hi! My family is very excited to be sailing on "new" Disney Magic next June!

It's me, Michelle, my partner, Sheila, and our two kids DD Jordan (14 - at time of cruise) and DS Cameron (12 - at time of cruise). We are from Colorado but currently living in the U.K.

This will be our sixth Disney cruise - finally gold! We will be sailing with Disney on the 12-night Eastern Med cruise next month. We have stops in Athens, Mykonos and Ephesus, so we will be able to share our navigators with everyone to help plan for next year.

 

[sharksteve]

...We will be sailing with Disney on the 12-night Eastern Med cruise next month. We have stops in Athens, Mykonos and Ephesus, so we will be able to share our navigators with everyone to help plan for next year.

Wow that's great, so you can tell us what to expect!

To all who requested to join the FB Group, I added everyone, have fun.

 

[htmlkid]

Hey everyone, we just booked this cruise. Myself - Glenn, my DW Barbara and my DD - Christina 14.

Has anyone started a Fish extender group yet, if not I will be happy to take charge of that. Also looking for other parents with daughters my age. We did the 12 night med cruise in 2011 and through the boards my daughter and 4 other girls became great friends before, during and after the cruise.

I also did a logo for our past trip and we made shirts if anyone has ideas for a logo.

Glenn