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

[debsters41]

We have iPhone 4 in Europe Why would an iPhone 5 be better than 4? Can you tell I am not an iPhone user?

 

[mindelmouse]

We have iPhone 4 in Europe Why would an iPhone 5 be better than 4? Can you tell I am not an iPhone user?

Its not that it's better. It's just that on the verizon network they did not configure the 4 to be able to work there. At&t and other network phones are different

 

[debsters41]

Oh, I get it. I forget that phones are set for each company there. Sorry for the interruption, please continue with your fabulous med planning

 

[pixie08]

I've done some more research and I think using my credit union atm card may be the best way to go. Can take out $1,000 Usd equivalent per day. 1.50 per withdrawal (atm fee) and 1% transaction fee. Anyone see drawbacks to this?

That's a great deal!

 

[MinnieDiva]

I had an iphone 4 which will not work in Europe (i have verizon btw). I upgraded to iphone5 and they said all I have to do is stop in or call the day before I leave and the day after I get back and they could put the Europe service on and off and I'll only have to pay for it during the two weeks I have it.

I believe, from what others tell me that the at&t phones can be "unlocked" and the sim card changed out. Kim can speak to that. Because she has direct knowledge.

I called today and had my old AT&T iPhone 3GS unlocked. I don't have a SIM yet...at this rate it'll be bought at a local store in Barcelona.

 

[MinnieDiva]

We have iPhone 4 in Europe Why would an iPhone 5 be better than 4? Can you tell I am not an iPhone user?

Verizon, up until the iPhone 5, did not run on a GSM network. It was something else that escapes me at the moment (CDMA??). The iPhone 5 has a dual chip that can run on both networks.

 

[MinnieDiva]

So.....an update:


I spend a great deal of today on cruise activities!! As I just stated, I got the old phone unlocked. I know there has been discussion about pre-purchasing SIM cards, and if I have the chance, I'll read up on it and get one, otherwise I'll fly by the seat of my pants and buy one on our arrival. Or...I'll just go phone-less. Don't really need it....and I can find wi-fi just about anywhere...

I FINALLY finished the last embarkation day shirt!!! I finished it today, washed it, ironed it and our 3, and will send it out to it's recipient on Wednesday. Rather, DH will, he just doesn't know it yet . I am so glad to be done with that project. In the last year (or however long ago it was I started it), I've made 8 embarkations day shirts, 1 pirate night shirt (for dad), 2 formal dresses and 2 semi-formal dresses for DD and I, as well as some other sundry alterations and projects for others. I. Am. Done. I also ironed all the Pirate Night stuff and neatly folded them together into tidy little bundles.

I started what I affectionately refer to as "the pile". The spare room bed is as clear as it's going to get for a while, so the laundry stuff, the TSA locks, the pirate stuff, embarkations shirts, and the money belts are on the bed. The formal wear for DD and I are in the adjoining closet, but I need to fold up my dress and place it in a ziplock bag. Otherwise there will be red sparkles on EVERYTHING!

We shopped this weekend. Well, Sunday, anyway, after a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for Ashleigh's b-day celebration! It's not Disney, but it did the trick ! Believe it or not...Nordstroms failed me. I usually buy Ashleigh's shoes there...not because I enjoy spending a ton on her shoes, but because the kid has the world's narrowest feet and they seem to have the best selection. Well.....they had none, zip, zero, zilch in the way of silver dress shoes. So, we figured out her size and trusty old Amazon had the same make in stock and should arrive on Friday!!! I got new heels to go with my dresses as well, and we all got a few new items of clothing to round out our selection of outfits. I wasn't as successful as I'd like, but ultimately I need to lay out stuff and really see what I lack.

Magnets: Started printing, and am on a hold until more magnet paper arrives this Wednesday (a la Amazon, again). The only place in town that carried it was Office Max at a tune of $15/5 sheets. Yeah...I just waited and added it on to another order that got me free shipping and a $9-something/5 sheet cost.

Money: Ordered and picked up some Euros at AAA. My new fear is that were I to leave it to getting all my cash from an ATM that I'd be unable to get the $1k/transaction that my card allows. Just cause the card says so doesn't mean the ATM will. So now I have some leeway.....I'm good with that. The nice thing is that when I went into the office they let me choose the breakdown of denomination. Very helpful in reducing bulk!

Tickets: Pisa, precisely. More on that later this week. The date looms.....

Mail hold placed, parking garage reservation made and coupon printed out. Got a notification from the airline that we could pre-select our meals for our outgoing flights, so we did that!!! Not very kid-friendly selections, but we can figure out something at the airport. Dad's job is to find/arrange transport from his house to the airport the day we depart from his place. Called one credit card to day to place an out-of country notification, but need to do the other one during a weekday that is not a holiday, apparently.

2 weeks 2 days.....I suppose I should email the school and let them know DD will be missing the last 2.5 days of school?

 

[debsters41]

Way to go on the final preparations! You must be very excited! I know every time I read your updates it only gets me more excited about mine! Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a wonderful trip! I am half tempted to go to the Piraeas port on the two days the Magic is coming just to say hi to the Dissers!

 

[mindelmouse]

So.....an update:


I spend a great deal of today on cruise activities!! As I just stated, I got the old phone unlocked. I know there has been discussion about pre-purchasing SIM cards, and if I have the chance, I'll read up on it and get one, otherwise I'll fly by the seat of my pants and buy one on our arrival. Or...I'll just go phone-less. Don't really need it....and I can find wi-fi just about anywhere...

I FINALLY finished the last embarkation day shirt!!! I finished it today, washed it, ironed it and our 3, and will send it out to it's recipient on Wednesday. Rather, DH will, he just doesn't know it yet . I am so glad to be done with that project. In the last year (or however long ago it was I started it), I've made 8 embarkations day shirts, 1 pirate night shirt (for dad), 2 formal dresses and 2 semi-formal dresses for DD and I, as well as some other sundry alterations and projects for others. I. Am. Done. I also ironed all the Pirate Night stuff and neatly folded them together into tidy little bundles.

I started what I affectionately refer to as "the pile". The spare room bed is as clear as it's going to get for a while, so the laundry stuff, the TSA locks, the pirate stuff, embarkations shirts, and the money belts are on the bed. The formal wear for DD and I are in the adjoining closet, but I need to fold up my dress and place it in a ziplock bag. Otherwise there will be red sparkles on EVERYTHING!

We shopped this weekend. Well, Sunday, anyway, after a trip to Great Wolf Lodge for Ashleigh's b-day celebration! It's not Disney, but it did the trick ! Believe it or not...Nordstroms failed me. I usually buy Ashleigh's shoes there...not because I enjoy spending a ton on her shoes, but because the kid has the world's narrowest feet and they seem to have the best selection. Well.....they had none, zip, zero, zilch in the way of silver dress shoes. So, we figured out her size and trusty old Amazon had the same make in stock and should arrive on Friday!!! I got new heels to go with my dresses as well, and we all got a few new items of clothing to round out our selection of outfits. I wasn't as successful as I'd like, but ultimately I need to lay out stuff and really see what I lack.

Magnets: Started printing, and am on a hold until more magnet paper arrives this Wednesday (a la Amazon, again). The only place in town that carried it was Office Max at a tune of $15/5 sheets. Yeah...I just waited and added it on to another order that got me free shipping and a $9-something/5 sheet cost.

Money: Ordered and picked up some Euros at AAA. My new fear is that were I to leave it to getting all my cash from an ATM that I'd be unable to get the $1k/transaction that my card allows. Just cause the card says so doesn't mean the ATM will. So now I have some leeway.....I'm good with that. The nice thing is that when I went into the office they let me choose the breakdown of denomination. Very helpful in reducing bulk!

Tickets: Pisa, precisely. More on that later this week. The date looms.....

Mail hold placed, parking garage reservation made and coupon printed out. Got a notification from the airline that we could pre-select our meals for our outgoing flights, so we did that!!! Not very kid-friendly selections, but we can figure out something at the airport. Dad's job is to find/arrange transport from his house to the airport the day we depart from his place. Called one credit card to day to place an out-of country notification, but need to do the other one during a weekday that is not a holiday, apparently.

2 weeks 2 days.....I suppose I should email the school and let them know DD will be missing the last 2.5 days of school?

YEA!! You've pretty much caught up to me. I did the school notifications on Friday and don't have to pick meals because I'm going in the cattle car end of the plane, will be lucky if they give me water...LOL

 

[MinnieDiva]

Today was the long-stalked day for Pisa tickets. Precisely at 3pm PST I logged on and found that, as predicted (stalked, planned, obsessed about...whatever), they released the bookings for June 17th. I now possess tickets for a 2pm climb!!! YAY!!

Oh...and those shoes I ordered off Amazon 2 days ago......arrived today. The magnet paper I ordered a week and a half ago...to be delivered tomorrow. Go figure. BTW, the shoes fit!

 

[mindelmouse]

Today was the long-stalked day for Pisa tickets. Precisely at 3pm PST I logged on and found that, as predicted (stalked, planned, obsessed about...whatever), they released the bookings for June 17th. I now possess tickets for a 2pm climb!!! YAY!!

Oh...and those shoes I ordered off Amazon 2 days ago......arrived today. The magnet paper I ordered a week and a half ago...to be delivered tomorrow. Go figure. BTW, the shoes fit!

We got ours as well, not without a lot of hassle. Kim didn't experience some of the internet issues I did, but just want to give people a head's up, the system is very fussy.

Could be that I have the worst internet connection known to man played a part, but who knows. At first it would only let me book one ticket at a time. Then once I had all 4 in my cart, it wouldn't let me pay. Then it wouldn't even let me in. I had to get in on two different browsers because I couldn't get the cookies it created to release fast enough. Finally we went on, on my DH's account and it went through. So I don't know if it was on my end or their's (DH insisted it was them) but it took me 1/2 an hour.

Also I think they book in 10 people groups and have more than one for each time. When I finished booking we had 7 of the 10 tickets booked for our time slot. I went back later last night and it again showed 10 slots, so I'm not sure.

 

[Double Trouble]

Just changed a nominal amount of USD for Euros at the airport at one of those money exchange counters. They were asking about 1.48, which is ridiculously high, but I just wanted to have taxi fare when we arrive in case we have problems. It probably didn't help I was in Canada and not using the local currency.

Mainly just wanted to let everyone know I would not plan on this method for any larger sums of cash...the rate (even with no fee) is just too bad.

We're planning to hit the ATMs during the trip (notified the bank in advance).

 

[MinnieDiva]

Just changed a nominal amount of USD for Euros at the airport at one of those money exchange counters. They were asking about 1.48, which is ridiculously high, but I just wanted to have taxi fare when we arrive in case we have problems. It probably didn't help I was in Canada and not using the local currency.

Mainly just wanted to let everyone know I would not plan on this method for any larger sums of cash...the rate (even with no fee) is just too bad.

We're planning to hit the ATMs during the trip (notified the bank in advance).

Yikes!! Thanks for letting us know!!!

 

[MinnieDiva]

I get to go on a cruise THIS MONTH!!!!!

I love being able to say that! Look back at page 1...started this journey off at 499 days...and now less than 2 weeks until we set sail! I. Am. So. Excited.

Slowly but surely the pile on the spare room bed grows. My swimsuit and coverup have joined the pile as there is virtually no chance I'll wear them prior to leaving. New heels on the pile. Ironed some clothes that will be going that needed ironing. REALLY need to start looking at DD's clothing. Not sure if I need to make a last minute run our for her next weekend to get a few more tops for her to wear. She seems to have grown out of a lot of shirts recently.


Question for anyone out there: Anyone know if DCL is capable of doing gel for their manicures??

 

[debsters41]

You are not the only one who is excited! I can't wait to hear about your adventures after! Have a fabulous vacation and I hope we have good weather here for you!

 

[mindelmouse]

I get to go on a cruise THIS MONTH!!!!!

I love being able to say that! Look back at page 1...started this journey off at 499 days...and now less than 2 weeks until we set sail! I. Am. So. Excited.

Slowly but surely the pile on the spare room bed grows. My swimsuit and coverup have joined the pile as there is virtually no chance I'll wear them prior to leaving. New heels on the pile. Ironed some clothes that will be going that needed ironing. REALLY need to start looking at DD's clothing. Not sure if I need to make a last minute run our for her next weekend to get a few more tops for her to wear. She seems to have grown out of a lot of shirts recently.



Kim. DCL does not do gel manicures. They only do regular ones. Any time I've gone in there to perhaps have something fixed on mine they don't know what to do. While i know I have acrylics and not the gel polish they simply didnt seem to have the supplies. The last I ckd was on August. Perhaps someone has encountered a change since then?&

 

[jedijill]

Question for anyone out there: Anyone know if DCL is capable of doing gel for their manicures??

They had shellac manicures on the Fantasy in October...not sure about the classic ships.

Jill in CO

 

[MinnieDiva]

They had shellac manicures on the Fantasy in October...not sure about the classic ships.

Jill in CO

Thanks..I'm getting mine done the day before I leave, but I'm particularly hard on my hands. I have a manicure booked on formal night, so here's hoping...

 

[MinnieDiva]

You are not the only one who is excited! I can't wait to hear about your adventures after! Have a fabulous vacation and I hope we have good weather here for you!

Me too!! ANYTHING is better than the rain we've been having, though just to spite me this week is supposed to be beautiful here.

 

[MinnieDiva]

Magnets done....ish. Might run out and get 1 more pack of paper, but if that doesn't happen I will survive.

Dad has made the arrangements for our transportation to SFO the morning we leave. They will be picking us up at....get this....about 3:45. AM. Ugh. We won't even get to his house until at least 8:15 the night before. Might I actually sleep on a plane??

Last night I surfed around American Airline's website and found a listing of their onboard entertainment. Looks like there are plenty of movies I haven't yet seen...