Planning a HOT time in the Mediterranean August 2013

[jennorthernireland]

You must be getting so excited, it's nearly time! 2 weeks until we go on holiday for us and just less than 3 weeks until we get on the Magic - we don't seem to think or talk about much else in our house right now! I'm thinking of printing off this entire thread and using it as a checklist for our own trip - would save me a lot of time trying to work out what I need to do, lol!

 

[texasgirl29]

You must be getting so excited, it's nearly time! 2 weeks until we go on holiday for us and just less than 3 weeks until we get on the Magic - we don't seem to think or talk about much else in our house right now! I'm thinking of printing off this entire thread and using it as a checklist for our own trip - would save me a lot of time trying to work out what I need to do, lol!

Ha ha! I wrote out an entire document with all the info I could gather about the flight, the hotel, tours we're doing, ship reservations. I felt better having it all in one place. I sent a copy of it to my husband and to my father in law. Between the two of them, they are sorting out who owes for what! I prefer to stay out of that conversation....

Yes, definitely excited. We leave in a week from tomorrow and I've been telling everyone that we'll be gone (coworkers, customers, church friends) so they won't be depending on me to do stuff.

JoAnn

 

[debsters41]

I hope you have a wonderful trip and I for one am looking forward to your impressions afterwards!

 

[texasgirl29]

I hope you have a wonderful trip and I for one am looking forward to your impressions afterwards!

Thank you! I always enjoy doing a photo review--I've done some on cruise critic but not on DIS because I didn't have enough posts to post photos. Now I can. From what I've seen you can post more than six images per posting on DIS--cruise critic limits you.

Today my real countdown begins--one week!

 

[texasgirl29]

My packing cubes are packed. My FE and FE gifts are ready. Still fussing around with magnets for the door. I fear I have too much for my new carry-on suitcase. I think I need a suitable tote or something that I can carry on.

Watched Rick Steves DVDs last night and wonder if we should try to go to Lucca as well as Leaning Tower of Pisa. I think the girls will be disappointed we don't have tickets to climb the tower. They might be up to it but not me, and probably not dh.

My trip report has begun! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3161128

 

[mkdmom]

Wow, you are so organized! We are leaving in 5 days for Barcelona, and I am still looking at what we should do in the ports.

I still don't know what we are doing when we get to Villefranche. Part of our group booked a Disney excursion.

At La Spezia port we decided to go to Cinque Terre. I just printed out the schedules for the ferry and the train.

We have booked with CMT for Pompeii as well. We asked about returning at 5:00 and the ship leaving at 5:30. He reassured us that we will be back on the Magic in plenty of time. He is planning on having us back at 4:30 instead of 5:00.

I am wondering how crowded Rome is going to be. I am thinking I might contact CMT and see if they still have room for us.

Were you able to purchase your HOHO ticket for Barcelona already?

 

[texasgirl29]

Wow, you are so organized! We are leaving in 5 days for Barcelona, and I am still looking at what we should do in the ports.

I still don't know what we are doing when we get to Villefranche. Part of our group booked a Disney excursion.

At La Spezia port we decided to go to Cinque Terre. I just printed out the schedules for the ferry and the train.

We have booked with CMT for Pompeii as well. We asked about returning at 5:00 and the ship leaving at 5:30. He reassured us that we will be back on the Magic in plenty of time. He is planning on having us back at 4:30 instead of 5:00.

I am wondering how crowded Rome is going to be. I am thinking I might contact CMT and see if they still have room for us.

Were you able to purchase your HOHO ticket for Barcelona already?

Thanks! I do so love the planning aspect, and my family including my in-laws are happy for me to do the research and make the recommendations. After the cruise, not sure what I'll be looking forward to!

For Villefranche we have a private tour with Ingrid. I read many recommendations for her on cruisecritic.com and contacted her many months ago. Others I have read on disboards and cc say that this port is the easiest to do on your own so maybe all you need to do is wander around.

I'm sure Rome will be hot and crowded. I have no idea what the national holiday means for us but I'm really glad we have a guide because if things are closed or crazy busy he/she will have an alternate plan in mind.

In Barcelona, you might want to look into a "free" walking tour like Runner Bean. You tip what you think it's worth. They have a website and a facebook page.

Tripadviser.com has forums with lots of ideas, too.

 

[Feigned]

Hey JoAnn! I just found this pre-trip report. My sister and I are on the same cruise as your family and we're actually staying in the same hotel in Barcelona prior to the cruise too. You're so organized! I've gotten some good info just from reading your posts.

 

[texasgirl29]

Hey JoAnn! I just found this pre-trip report. My sister and I are on the same cruise as your family and we're actually staying in the same hotel in Barcelona prior to the cruise too. You're so organized! I've gotten some good info just from reading your posts.

Thanks for reading! You are the only one other than our family that i have heard from who are staying at the Tryp Apollo. My I laws stayed there a couple of years ago and recommended we go there. If you see us, you'll recognize us as the middle aged couple with two Asian teenaged daughters.

I'm glad the report helped. It keeps me focused. See you around!

 

[kylmac]

Just found this thread-this is our second European DCL from Barcelona and we are on your cruise! We are bringing our daughter 14 and leaving our 11 year autistic son home with his old teacher. Can't wait! I really appreciate reading all of your planning-sounds like we might run into each other at Palo-I need to check if we are on the brunch or dinner 1st day at sea meal. Love Palo! We have booked our excursions as we tend to stick with Disney because we don't want to miss the ship!
Take care and safe travels-see you on deck!
Elizabeth

 

[texasgirl29]

Just found this thread-this is our second European DCL from Barcelona and we are on your cruise! We are bringing our daughter 14 and leaving our 11 year autistic son home with his old teacher. Can't wait! I really appreciate reading all of your planning-sounds like we might run into each other at Palo-I need to check if we are on the brunch or dinner 1st day at sea meal. Love Palo! We have booked our excursions as we tend to stick with Disney because we don't want to miss the ship!
Take care and safe travels-see you on deck!
Elizabeth

Hi Elizabeth,
Our Palo brunch is the last day at sea... I thought we might appreciate a slow start to the day after all the touring. We have a 13 and a 16 year old -- both girls. This is my first time to venture out with non-ship excursions. I stuck with two very well recommended tour guides -- Ingrid in Villefranche and Can't Be Missed Tours in Italy. I have corresponded several times with each and they are very responsive, so I have confidence we'll be fine. We're doing Pisa on our own... I admit to being just a little more trepidations about that!

We're in stateroom 6618 -- you'll recognize our door. (Got to finish the magnets this afternoon! All this work stuff is impeding my progress!)

JoAnn

 

[sajilunni]

We're leaving tomorrow morning! My husband has been having us wake up at 4AM for the last couple of days to get us acclimated to the time change... I'm packing some chewable melatonin just in case. ;-)

I think we're set. I keep a packing list on my computer, so I've been making adding to it over the last few weeks when I think of something. This vacation is different than every other one we've taken because there's so many occasions for clothes that are a little bit more formal since every port seems to have a cathedral to visit that requires covered shoulders and knees.

Oh and in case you haven't done so, it's a good idea to scan your passport page and keep it either with a friend at home, or in a cloud like Dropbox. When my sister went to India she kept her passport in her luggage, which was in a car that got stolen. It took a crazy amount of work at the US embassy and lots of faxing of documents back and forth because none of us knew what her passport number was.

We arranged for our airport transport to give us a 4 hour tour of Barcelona right when we land (at 8:30AM!) so we can get an overview of the city. Thursday we're going to spend wandering around on our own, and perhaps see a flamenco dinner show. Friday we're planning on taking the train to Monserrat.

I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed for a fun, stress-free and efficient vacation! See you on board!

Sajil

 

[kylmac]

That's a good idea about making photo copies of our passports-I have done that before and you can never be too careful about that. Just finishing up last minute plans...can't wait until Saturday!
Elizabeth