7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[JimmyJackJunior]

Magic just left on its first Med cruise. Right on the Spanish/French border.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?level0=100

 

[calihannah]

With the civil unrest in Turkey, what are the odds that DCL will reroute? When we did the Med in 2011 they switched us away from Tunis for less...there's active rioting in several Turkish cities now.

 

[calihannah]

With the civil unrest in Turkey, what are the odds that DCL will reroute? When we did the Med in 2011 they switched us away from Tunis for less...there's active rioting in several Turkish cities now.

Not being reported much in the US media but widely in the European news: http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22732139 as one example.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Actually, it has been extensively reported on CNN.

Right now the chances are zero as the riotting is in Instabul, not Ephasus. That isn't to say it could not spread but as of right now not where we are headed.

 

[calihannah]

Actually, it has been extensively reported on CNN.

Right now the chances are zero as the riotting is in Instabul, not Ephasus. That isn't to say it could not spread but as of right now not where we are headed.

Good for CNN! I get my news online rather than TV and my news page had links to global media rather than US.

Several stories report riots in many cities, so bears watching IMHO.

 

[LovesToRun]

With the civil unrest in Turkey, what are the odds that DCL will reroute? When we did the Med in 2011 they switched us away from Tunis for less...there's active rioting in several Turkish cities now.

I have been following all of this in the news as well, and it has crossed my mind, "what if the rioting gets close to Ephesus/surrounding areas, will we re-route to a different port?" But, I agree with JimmyJackJunior that as of right now, the chances are zero that we'd re-route because all the rioting is so far away from Ephesus, as of now.

But, I do have full confidence that Disney would keep everyone safe, and if there was any shadow of a doubt that Ephesus (and surround areas) are not safe, they would re-route. But, I sure hope not!! I'm looking SO forward to Ephesus.

 

[bellelinus]

I have a friend in Turkey right now - she was in Ephesus today and said everything was fine . . . fingers crossed that the problem stays out of the Kusadasi/Ephesus area.

 

[calihannah]

I have a friend in Turkey right now - she was in Ephesus today and said everything was fine . . . fingers crossed that the problem stays out of the Kusadasi/Ephesus area.

That's a relief

 

[tajz90]

Ok. I'm questioning my decisions again. Who is taking a private tour in Kusadasi and who is taking a Disney sponsored excursion?

 

[slg]

Disney here all the way.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Ok. I'm questioning my decisions again. Who is taking a private tour in Kusadasi and who is taking a Disney sponsored excursion?

Private tour(melitour) At this point no reason to consider a change.

 

[tajz90]

We have a private tour booked. Much better deal than one with Disney. My mom suggested going with Disney. Just looking for guidance on what to do. Thank you for your replies.

 

[LovesToRun]

Private tour(melitour) At this point no reason to consider a change.

We are also doing a private tour with MeliTour, and we also at this point have no reason to consider a change.

Also, if things suddenly do get bad, and Disney makes the choice to pull out, MeliTour will give a 100% refund on any money we've already paid them if our ship ends up not coming into port.

Hopefully it'll all be just fine when we are scheduled to be there.

 

[bellelinus]

Ok. I'm questioning my decisions again. Who is taking a private tour in Kusadasi and who is taking a Disney sponsored excursion?

Private - Ephesus followed by time at a waterpark!

 

[bellelinus]

We have a private tour booked. Much better deal than one with Disney. My mom suggested going with Disney. Just looking for guidance on what to do. Thank you for your replies.

Just confirm with them that if the ship doesn't dock, you don't get charged and you are reimbursed any deposit money. It will probably be fine.

 

[ky71]

Our group has booked a DCL minivan for 8hrs in Turkey - I pay the $$$ to DCL so I guess it's a Disney port excursion even though they are not choosing where we tour around...

We are leaving in less than 30 days - OMGosh!

 

[LovesToRun]

Just confirm with them that if the ship doesn't dock, you don't get charged and you are reimbursed any deposit money. It will probably be fine.

I agree.

 

[Stimpy]

We're doing Disney. I was wondering about the reroute also. Any guesses as to where they may reroute to?

I'm trying to get our seats for Delta. But since I don't have the reservation number for the airline, I can't access it online. Under the reservation on the DCL site, it only gives the flight numbers & times. I emailed DCL to try to get the Delta ticket reservation numbers. I get a email back today giving me a basic generic check your info on the website & go brought the airline for seat assignments blah blah blah.....not helpful at all! So now I have to try to find time during the week to call the DCL airline desk for help. Of course this is a crazy time of year with kids finishing up school projects, end of year recitals, play rehearsals, field days, I have about 6 meetings etc.

If we can't get seats together, I feel really bad for whoever has to sit next to my DD! She's a talker! Even on the redeye flights LOL. When we flew from JFK to London for the Baltic, it was a redeye and we thought she would sleep. Nope, she literally talked the entire flight! Drove us all insane! We had to take turns sitting next to her. Thankfully there were 4 adults. Even the flight attendants couldn't believe she was still going. And it was the same way back home. We're already fighting over who will sit next to her this time

 

[LovesToRun]

We're doing Disney. I was wondering about the reroute also. Any guesses as to where they may reroute to?

I'm trying to get our seats for Delta. But since I don't have the reservation number for the airline, I can't access it online. Under the reservation on the DCL site, it only gives the flight numbers & times. I emailed DCL to try to get the Delta ticket reservation numbers. I get a email back today giving me a basic generic check your info on the website & go brought the airline for seat assignments blah blah blah.....not helpful at all! So now I have to try to find time during the week to call the DCL airline desk for help. Of course this is a crazy time of year with kids finishing up school projects, end of year recitals, play rehearsals, field days, I have about 6 meetings etc.

If we can't get seats together, I feel really bad for whoever has to sit next to my DD! She's a talker! Even on the redeye flights LOL. When we flew from JFK to London for the Baltic, it was a redeye and we thought she would sleep. Nope, she literally talked the entire flight! Drove us all insane! We had to take turns sitting next to her. Thankfully there were 4 adults. Even the flight attendants couldn't believe she was still going. And it was the same way back home. We're already fighting over who will sit next to her this time

I wonder if you just call Delta and talk to a customer service rep, if they can find your reservation just by your last names, flight numbers and dates? Seems like they should be able to pull up your reservation just by that info. That might be your best bet in trying to get seats together.

How old is your daughter? Is she old enough to sit by herself?

Worst case, if you do end up not all sitting together, I have found that sometimes if you ask another passenger to change seats so you can sit with who you are split up with, they will do that (as long as you aren't asking them to move to a less desirable seat, or you aren't asking them to split from their travel party).

Hopefully it'll all work out!

 

[buddwaur]

We are also doing a private tour in Kusadasi. At this point, I'm not going to worry about it until it gets closer to our cruise date!