17th August 2013 Magic in the Med (7nights)

[hairmajesty]

sounds awesome good choice!

 

[tobyjasper1970]

I just booked myself, DH, DS15, DS11, DD7 on this cruise. We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary. My Aunt, Uncle and their two kids DS11, DD8 and my Mom and Dad are all sailing with us as well! My Aunt will be celebrating her 50th bday.

Hi Tracy & Mike joining for our 5th cruise to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Celebrating our birthdays with the Galveston to Barcelona TA in May, can't wait for both trips TTxx

 

[HallsofVA]

Hi all! We have been booked on this cruise since bookings opened, but weren't sure if we were still going to be going. Looks like we are, so I thought I'd finally stop by and say Hi!

We have a few other friends and families who are booked on this cruise too. Haven't done the med cruise before, but did the 2010 WBTA cruise, so we've at least boarded the ship in Barcelona once before.

Anyway, its me, my husband, and 2 kids, DS 9 and DD 6. This will be our 9th disney cruise, and 5th on the Magic.

 

[LisaHK]

Hi Tracy & Mike joining for our 5th cruise to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary. Celebrating our birthdays with the Galveston to Barcelona TA in May, can't wait for both trips TTxx

Hi all! We have been booked on this cruise since bookings opened, but weren't sure if we were still going to be going. Looks like we are, so I thought I'd finally stop by and say Hi!

We have a few other friends and families who are booked on this cruise too. Haven't done the med cruise before, but did the 2010 WBTA cruise, so we've at least boarded the ship in Barcelona once before.

Anyway, its me, my husband, and 2 kids, DS 9 and DD 6. This will be our 9th disney cruise, and 5th on the Magic.

Hi and welcome

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Did anyone start booking online? I booked our excursion in Villefranche and got a Palo dinner & brunch. We're doing private tours in Italy with Rome in Limo.

If there's anyone whose booking window hasn't opened yet and has questions about excursion times, I can look them up for you.

I can't wait to get our docs in the mail!!

 

[LisaHK]

Hi


We are first time cruisers so have to wait until 3rd June to book. Can you have a look and tell me what time the half day to Pompeii tour starts.

Many thanks

Lisa

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hi


We are first time cruisers so have to wait until 3rd June to book. Can you have a look and tell me what time the half day to Pompeii tour starts.

Many thanks

Lisa

8:30 am is the only option

 

[LisaHK]

8:30 am is the only option

Thanks

 

[HallsofVA]

Figured I better focus on this cruise a bit, since our booking window opens tonight. What is everyone doing? We have 2 kids, 6 and 9, so somewhat concerned about 3-4 days in a row of long excursions. I know others (from prior years) have reserved their own tour guides which helped to cut the time down a bit. Anyone have recommendations on when and how to do that?

With Pirate Night being on Naples day, I was sort of hoping for a shorter tour that day, but the DCL ones all go 9-10 hours.

Also, we finally booked our travel plans, and will be spending a few days in Barcelona in advance of the cruise. We'll be arriving in Barcelona on Wednesday the 14th. Let me know if anyone else will be around and want to plan a get together. Haven't decided where we are staying, though.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Figured I better focus on this cruise a bit, since our booking window opens tonight. What is everyone doing? We have 2 kids, 6 and 9, so somewhat concerned about 3-4 days in a row of long excursions. I know others (from prior years) have reserved their own tour guides which helped to cut the time down a bit. Anyone have recommendations on when and how to do that?

With Pirate Night being on Naples day, I was sort of hoping for a shorter tour that day, but the DCL ones all go 9-10 hours.

Also, we finally booked our travel plans, and will be spending a few days in Barcelona in advance of the cruise. We'll be arriving in Barcelona on Wednesday the 14th. Let me know if anyone else will be around and want to plan a get together. Haven't decided where we are staying, though.

I was a little worried about that too. Not so much for my kids since they are eager to see everything & they are teenagers with longer legs than ours, but more for our own exhaustion of 4 consecutive 9-hour days.
We'll be doing the DCL Nice & Monaco tour to use up some credits then using Rome In Limo for the Italian ports: Florence & Pisa, Highlights of Rome, then Sorrento & Positano. I'm sure by that last sea day we'll be too tired to do anything but there's no way I'm flying home Saturday regretting that we spent time in Italy hanging out on the ship. I considered doing a 4-hour tour of Monaco so we could have some down time & ds16 thought I was crazy, saying we've already spent plenty of time on the ship; this trip is all about the ports. I had to agree so I switched to the 8-hr Nice & Monaco.

RIL offered us the opportunity to pay in full by the end of March for a small discount. I'm kind of relieved since it's that much less cash (they accept TCs too) we have to be carrying around on us.


This is where we're staying in Barcelona:
http://www.hispanos7suiza.com/photogallery/index.html

I like that it's a 2BR/2Bath condo with kitchen so plenty of room for 4 of us. Also within walking distance of Sagrada Familia. They also give a discount to prepay. They offer shuttle to the port for 55E (for 6 of us).

 

[jennorthernireland]

Hi everyone! We are very excited to be joining you all on this cruise - our first ever! My family is made up of my husband, my 14 year old daughter, my 13 year old son and me. We have been to Disneyland Paris several times and love all things Disney (still need to make it to the US)! I am glad to see these forums as we are fairly clueless about what to expect.

I am really interested to hear what people have to say about excursions. I like the idea of our family taking time out by themselves and doing our own thing as much as possible, but I am aware that there may be logistical problems I haven't taken into account. Ville Franche and Nice should be fine as my French isn't amazing but will get me by. We would like to go to Cinque Terre from La Spezia ourselves - again it isn't far away. We will definitely do a shore excursion for Rome and I haven't decided yet about Naples. My feeling is I would like to go to Pompeii ourselves in the morning, but I'm open to what people have to say about that. As a first time cruiser, I was also shocked at the prices for some of the excursions! For those who have been on them before, are they really worth it?

I am also slightly concerned that as we have to wait until June before booking anything or checking in online, that we might not get to go on the excursion we would like in Rome and that we won't be able to get on board in Barcelona until late in the day as all the early slots will be gone - we were hoping to be there as early as possible! Are my fears unfounded?
I sound very negative - I don't mean to do so. Overall, I can't wait! I'm spending far too much time getting over excited instead of doing everything else I am supposed to be doing in life - my pile of ironing is growing mountainous!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Hi everyone! We are very excited to be joining you all on this cruise - our first ever! My family is made up of my husband, my 14 year old daughter, my 13 year old son and me. We have been to Disneyland Paris several times and love all things Disney (still need to make it to the US)! I am glad to see these forums as we are fairly clueless about what to expect.

I am really interested to hear what people have to say about excursions. I like the idea of our family taking time out by themselves and doing our own thing as much as possible, but I am aware that there may be logistical problems I haven't taken into account. Ville Franche and Nice should be fine as my French isn't amazing but will get me by. We would like to go to Cinque Terre from La Spezia ourselves - again it isn't far away. We will definitely do a shore excursion for Rome and I haven't decided yet about Naples. My feeling is I would like to go to Pompeii ourselves in the morning, but I'm open to what people have to say about that. As a first time cruiser, I was also shocked at the prices for some of the excursions! For those who have been on them before, are they really worth it?

I am also slightly concerned that as we have to wait until June before booking anything or checking in online, that we might not get to go on the excursion we would like in Rome and that we won't be able to get on board in Barcelona until late in the day as all the early slots will be gone - we were hoping to be there as early as possible! Are my fears unfounded?
I sound very negative - I don't mean to do so. Overall, I can't wait! I'm spending far too much time getting over excited instead of doing everything else I am supposed to be doing in life - my pile of ironing is growing mountainous!

Welcome to the disboards & our cruise meet. These boards can be addicting & can make it hard to get anything done at home.

We are also a family of 4. We've cruised enough to say that excursions can definitely be the highlight of a cruise. That doesn't mean you have to book through the ship. Some people like to because it offers some security: if your DCL-sponsored excursion should run late, they won't sail without you & the group. For Caribbean cruises where you just go to a beach a few miles from the ship, it's a no-brainer, go on our own. For more involved excursions like on the Med cruises, travel is longer & more complicated.
You have to find a balance & comfort level that works for you. I personally don't feel like navigating in large cities, getting lost or finding out later that we wasted a lot of precious time by going the long way trying to get from point A to point B. I'm also not wanting to pay the outrageous prices for DCL excursions.
That's why we chose to compromise & book through Rome in Limo. Their prices are much less than DCLs and while they don't guarantee to get us back to the ship in time, they do say none of their customers have ever missed their ship. They were recommended here on disboards by past Med cruisers & get high ratings on tripadvisor.com. They list all the places that will be visited and though they don't include admission to attractions, they do give links to buy & offer for what time to reserve tickets. For example our Florence/Pisa day they tell us if we want to climb the leaning tower of Pisa to buy tickets for 9:30am & to choose the 2pm tickets for Accademia (museum with statue of David). This allows us to buy a few items at a time & we don't have to pay it all at once.
Our driver doesn't enter each attraction with us but they do offer guides to accompany us & highly recommend guides for the Vatican & Pompeii.
They also have a group website if you don't mind it being a semi-private tour you can sign up to share with another family to keep costs down. My parents are cruising with us so I didn't look much into that.

I hope this helps somehow. Have fun planning!!

ps: We went to Ireland for our honeymoon back in 1995. Beautiful!!!! We'd love to return again someday.

 

[jennorthernireland]

Welcome to the disboards & our cruise meet. These boards can be addicting & can make it hard to get anything done at home.

We are also a family of 4. We've cruised enough to say that excursions can definitely be the highlight of a cruise. That doesn't mean you have to book through the ship. Some people like to because it offers some security: if your DCL-sponsored excursion should run late, they won't sail without you & the group. For Caribbean cruises where you just go to a beach a few miles from the ship, it's a no-brainer, go on our own. For more involved excursions like on the Med cruises, travel is longer & more complicated.
You have to find a balance & comfort level that works for you. I personally don't feel like navigating in large cities, getting lost or finding out later that we wasted a lot of precious time by going the long way trying to get from point A to point B. I'm also not wanting to pay the outrageous prices for DCL excursions.
That's why we chose to compromise & book through Rome in Limo. Their prices are much less than DCLs and while they don't guarantee to get us back to the ship in time, they do say none of their customers have ever missed their ship. They were recommended here on disboards by past Med cruisers & get high ratings on tripadvisor.com. They list all the places that will be visited and though they don't include admission to attractions, they do give links to buy & offer for what time to reserve tickets. For example our Florence/Pisa day they tell us if we want to climb the leaning tower of Pisa to buy tickets for 9:30am & to choose the 2pm tickets for Accademia (museum with statue of David). This allows us to buy a few items at a time & we don't have to pay it all at once.
Our driver doesn't enter each attraction with us but they do offer guides to accompany us & highly recommend guides for the Vatican & Pompeii.
They also have a group website if you don't mind it being a semi-private tour you can sign up to share with another family to keep costs down. My parents are cruising with us so I didn't look much into that.

I hope this helps somehow. Have fun planning!!

ps: We went to Ireland for our honeymoon back in 1995. Beautiful!!!! We'd love to return again someday.

Thank you so much for your advice! I will definitely check out Rome in Limo - I am veering towards excursions for both Rome and Naples now.

Aside from my job, I am studying part time for a degree in history and I am going to have to seriously limit the time I spend getting far too excited about our holidays. I have an assignment due in this week and an exam in another few weeks and I get the feeling that if I am not careful that instead of writing about the Napoleonic Wars, I will start telling the examiner all about my plans for the summer! One thing I don't want to be doing is revising for a resit while I'm on the Magic!

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to Ireland - I live about 20 miles outside of Belfast and I love it here. My drive to work in the morning takes me through some of the most beautiful scenery - it's good for the soul. Even in the neverending rain! I've got to admit, I'm looking forward to some Mediterannean sun, even with my pale Irish complexion!

 

[Corwin]

Hi! We booked this cruise back in January 2012 the day it opened up. I bought plane tickets about a month ago, but really haven't done any other planning before today. Our booking window opens tonight, so I've spent the day researching excursions, etc.

We also still need to book a hotel in Barcelona for one night prior to the cruise, as well as a hotel in Paris post-cruise.

Looking forward to the trip, but planning is getting a bit overwhelming...

 

[Corwin]

...With Pirate Night being on Naples day...

Out of curiosity, how do you find out when Pirate Night is?

ETA: Never mind--I see that it shows up on the "Cruise Activites" once those open up.

 

[jennorthernireland]

Hi! We booked this cruise back in January 2012 the day it opened up. I bought plane tickets about a month ago, but really haven't done any other planning before today. Our booking window opens tonight, so I've spent the day researching excursions, etc.

We also still need to book a hotel in Barcelona for one night prior to the cruise, as well as a hotel in Paris post-cruise.

Looking forward to the trip, but planning is getting a bit overwhelming...

Hi Corwin

Paris is probably my favourite city in the world - how lovely that you are heading there after the cruise! My husband loves Paris too. I have had to work hard to persuade him that a few days in Barcelona followed by our Disney cruise is also going to be brilliant! If you haven't been to Paris before, the St Germain area in the left bank is great to stay in as you can get to most places very easily from there.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the availablity like for excursions/Palo etc. when your booking window opened? This will be our first time with DCL (or on any cruise for that matter) so we can't book anything unitl the 75 day mark. The Disney booking agent told me that everything fills up quickly so I am slightly concerned we won't get many, if any of our planned choices. She did say that closer to the time, some people pull out of some excursions and to keep on checking the website. I think I would be quite sad not to get to go to Palo, it looks lovely!

 

[Corwin]

Hi Corwin

Paris is probably my favourite city in the world - how lovely that you are heading there after the cruise! My husband loves Paris too. I have had to work hard to persuade him that a few days in Barcelona followed by our Disney cruise is also going to be brilliant! If you haven't been to Paris before, the St Germain area in the left bank is great to stay in as you can get to most places very easily from there.

Thanks for the info! None of us have ever been to Paris before.

...If you don't mind me asking, what was the availablity like for excursions/Palo etc. when your booking window opened? This will be our first time with DCL (or on any cruise for that matter) so we can't book anything unitl the 75 day mark. The Disney booking agent told me that everything fills up quickly so I am slightly concerned we won't get many, if any of our planned choices. She did say that closer to the time, some people pull out of some excursions and to keep on checking the website. I think I would be quite sad not to get to go to Palo, it looks lovely!

I actually had no trouble last night getting the activities we wanted.

I booked a Palo dinner for Pirate night (since we don't really care about the Pirate dinner menu or dressing as pirates for dinner), as well as a Palo brunch on a sea day (the only days that brunch is offered). I also booked a couples massage at the spa on a sea day. As for excursions, I booked a half-day DCL excursion on the Villefranche day, and a full-day excursion on the Naples day. We're probably going to book non-DCL excursions for the La Spezia day and the Rome day.

Regarding Palo, we've been to Palo on both the Wonder and the Dream, and enjoyed it very much.

As for availability for Palo bookings, keep in mind that not all reservations are released online. You may be able to make a reservation, or at least go on a waiting list once you get on board. Back in 2011, we were sailing with other family members, and I couldn't get reservations for all 5 adults prior to sailing, so I asked to be put on a waiting list once we boarded. Within a day or so after we sailed, I got a call informing me that they were able to accommodate all five of us for both brunch and dinner.

 

[jennorthernireland]

Thanks for the info! None of us have ever been to Paris before.

I actually had no trouble last night getting the activities we wanted.

I booked a Palo dinner for Pirate night (since we don't really care about the Pirate dinner menu or dressing as pirates for dinner), as well as a Palo brunch on a sea day (the only days that brunch is offered). I also booked a couples massage at the spa on a sea day. As for excursions, I booked a half-day DCL excursion on the Villefranche day, and a full-day excursion on the Naples day. We're probably going to book non-DCL excursions for the La Spezia day and the Rome day.

Regarding Palo, we've been to Palo on both the Wonder and the Dream, and enjoyed it very much.

As for availability for Palo bookings, keep in mind that not all reservations are released online. You may be able to make a reservation, or at least go on a waiting list once you get on board. Back in 2011, we were sailing with other family members, and I couldn't get reservations for all 5 adults prior to sailing, so I asked to be put on a waiting list once we boarded. Within a day or so after we sailed, I got a call informing me that they were able to accommodate all five of us for both brunch and dinner.

I may not know much about cruising, but I've been to Paris a fair few times, so if I can help at all with your planning, give me a shout!

Thanks for letting me know about the availability of excursions etc., you have really put my mind at ease!

 

[tobyjasper1970]

Hi,
I have a question for all of you who will be flying back to the US immediately post-cruise. We are considering this cruise but I am limited in the amount of time I can take off work. I have heard that with past Med cruises, DCL was very good about getting guests off the ship and to BCN with plenty of time for early return flights. For our dates, BCN to Philly departs at 10:30am. I worry this is so early but really if we had to stay over another night in BCN we would probably not be able to do this cruise (we would have to be at work the next day.) Past cruisers have said even with 10-something am flights they had plenty of time. We would use DCL transfer to BCN just to keep it simple.

Is anyone doing this?

Disney asked for any guests with flights before 10·30 to provide confirmation and met at 630am to disembark so plenty time for your flight ttxx

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Disney asked for any guests with flights before 10·30 to provide confirmation and met at 630am to disembark so plenty time for your flight ttxx

Thanks. Our flight home is now 10:45am so a tiny bit of extra time; at least they didn't make it even earlier.
There's a DISer sailing June 8 with this same flight to Philly so I'd love to hear her experience.

DCL will not provide transportation for flights before 11 so we will have a private transfer coming at 7:30. This is probably better than dealing with the masses on the DCL bus. They can take us directly to our terminal & no waiting while they unload other people's luggage.

I wish the airlines would understand how many people flying from Barcelona are cruise passengers & just make it a noon flight.
It would be so stress-free!