June 27, 2013 - Magic in the Med (Venice)

[MrsScooby]

Originally Posted by gydell

We're still doing the Fantasy and we also have Hawaii. Stalk all you want!

Cool
I just did Hawaii though, chaperoning my son's marching band trip in December 2011. The kids were very well behaved so it was actually better than one would think

Originally Posted by ame

Hi all,

Just moved our booking to this cruise! We are myself, DH, DS1 who turns 15 on the last day of the cruise, DS2 who will be 13, DS3 who turns 11 on the last day of the cruise and DD who will be 9.

We booked the Christmas 2012 Mexican cruise in April last year while on the Wonder. That was our first cruise and we fell in love with cruising! My kids (and me too ) were devestated when the cruise was cancelled but excited when we heard that Europe was on the cards. We are from Australia and travel a lot. We have all travelled extensively throughout Australia, South Pacific, Asia and North America, but none of us have been to Europe. So... we are very excited to have our cabins booked and let the planning begin...

Our Christmas 2012 plans have been scaled back to accomodate nearly 4 weeks in Europe. We're also planning to go to Paris and London. My husband and DS1 are interested in history, DD & I just like pretty scenery

My DH and I are planning a trip to Paris this summer to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Found tons of great info on Tripadvisor
My DH is also a big history buff as well. I just don't seem to remember the dates and names very well

Originally Posted by nzdisneymom

Welcome MrsScooby, Yensidfan and Ame! Glad to have you all with us!

We've looked at TAs and PCs but they are always during the school year, so we're excited about having another great opportunity to "see the world" in the summer. What I'm really excited about is that both boys have had World History, one has had Euro History and will be taking Art History next year, so Florence is going to be AMAZING for them. I'm so glad we did Pisa in 2007 - they wanted to climb the leaning tower, so we did! (Gosh, that sounds so cool - like we're the best parents ever to grant their wish!)

What we're sacrificing for doing these cruises is not going to WDW for two years - we are season passholders and always use our DVC points to stay. Instead we've used points for the Greece itinerary and our season tix money towards the trip.

We usually do air/hotel/transfers through the cruise line but this time we may do it on our own. We do plan to arrive in Barcelona two nights before sailng to give us time to acclimate - the jet lag gets us and we'd like to see Barcelona without being asleep the whole time!

Hey
Also looking to get to Barcelona a couple days before we sail
I'm trying to talk my DH into squeezing in a visit to both Pisa and Florence. Are the port times shorter for the 2013 Med cruise compared to previous ones? He's worried we won't get enough time in Florence.

Originally Posted by jel0511

WE booked yesterday!!! WE are myself (Lori) DH (Darren) DD 15(Julianna) and DS 12 (Brandon). I'm so excited to sail into Venice with Mickey!!!! It has always been my dream to sail to Venice and now I get to do it with my favorite cruise line!! Linda, we're on the Maiden Fantasy also!!!! Our friends also traveling with us to Venice are also on the maiden! There is also another person from the Maiden going to Venice with us. We should arrange a mini-meet on board the Fantasy!!!!

Ok, my lurking DH tells me go look at post #13 to see something funny...so I look at your post and it took me a couple minutes to realize what he was talking about
Welcome Lori and Darren from ...us, Laurie and Darren

Originally Posted by nzdisneymom

Jel - welcome to the thread! We had started looking at other cruise lines for possibilities for this itinerary - we were looking at RCCL and Carnival which both have good itineraries and comparable prices, but since this is for our older DS's "BIG TRIP" and he's (ok, we!) are such Disney fans, it seems perfect for this to be a "last hurrah" for his youth! And that doesn't mean we won't do any more Disney cruises because I know we will - we were thinking that once the boys have aged out of the youth activities, we'd be more open (and not stuck on their school schedules) to other lines. We have sailed with both RCCL and Carnival in the last couple of years (just off Carnival Dream for Christmas) and while we liked them both as cruiselines, the boys say Disney is HANDS DOWN the best when it comes to youth activities! Definitely get what you pay for!

We also checked out RCCL and Carnival after we saw the DCL prices thinking maybe it was time to try another cruise line...
RCCL only had their 2012 prices out and they were pretty close to DCL's, in fact the same if you had the 10% discount.
DH said the the rates he saw for Carnival were half compared to DCL (not sure how close he looked)...but I'm also not sure that I want to cut corners that much and risk having a disappointing time on the Carinval ship DCL has spoiled us

[jel0511]

Laurie that's pretty funny!!!!!

[MrsScooby]

Originally Posted by hawaiian mickey

aloha,
My wife Brenda (hawaiian minnie) and myself Henry (hawaiian mickey) are also on the cruise.

aloha,
hawaiian mickey

Hey Henry and Brenda
DH and I remember you from the Baltic cruise

Originally Posted by SerbianPrincess

Do you think this will sell out? My TA says I should be able to book on Hawaii to get my discount

Originally Posted by gydell

Go ahead and book in case the price goes up. You can always rebook on your next cruise if the price is better. You also will have a better choice of rooms now.

That's what we're doing. We're gonna check to see if rebooking on the Fantasy this summer gives us a better deal

Originally Posted by carpenta

We just booked. We did the first Magic in the Med. in 2007 and then again in 2010. We have been in Venice on Royal Caribbean and it is a beautiful city. That is one reason why we booked this cruise so we can spend more time in Venice,. It is I male 54, my wife (less than 54) and daughter 11. We stopped in Malta on our last cruise and it is a wonderful island full of history. Very impressed. Thank goodness we are not stopping in Tunisia. It was very depressing.

All you experienced Med cruisers are going to have to help us newbies with planning

Originally Posted by nzdisneymom

Welcome to Cliffside (Susan), SerbianPrincess (Angel), and Carpenta! Glad to have y'all with us.


We enjoyed the overnight in St. Petersburg so we are really looking forward to having that extra time in Venice!

Us too. Not having to rush back to the ship really made a difference

Originally Posted by Goofy559

In a bar with no children???

Originally Posted by Lifelong_Dreamer

I booked today as well! Not 100% sure we will be able to keep the reservation as I am a Nursing student and you never know what kind of commitments will pop up! Sailing will be myself, Lessa, I'll be 29 at the time of the cruise. Also my mom, Beth, who will be 50. This cruise is going to be a surprise for her 50th birthday in October.

I traveled to Italy for my 16th birthday back in 1999 so I am excited to be returning to some old favourites and also exploring some new and exciting places.

Oh I am so showing this to my DD!! What a great daughter you are

[MrsScooby]

Originally Posted by jel0511

Laurie that's pretty funny!!!!!

Our last name starts with an S so I can go by Laurie S...or my DH and I can go by our DIS names.
He goes by "Nick Charles" on the DIS.

[Dahly]

Hi! We are in! Booked today, and I am going to do my darnest to save my pennies over the next year so we can make this happen!

It is DH (Ray) and I (Leslie).

DH doesn't like cruises (he has never been on a Disney cruise with me) but he said he will go where ever I pick next year..and I pick this cruise!

We have two boys - one is grown and out on his own, the other will be 15 next summer and he has no interest in going..he loves DCL, (he and I have done 4 and have the 5th scheduled on the Fantasy this June) but he doesn't want to go to the Med - so he is staying home with Grandpa!

I see many of you have either done Med cruises, or traveled in Europe, so I am going to be looking for tips and hints from you all!

looking forward to getting to know you all in the next 17 months!

[nzdisneymom]

Originally Posted by Cliffside

when you had the overnight in St Peterburg were there excursions that were held in the evening for you to enjoy

Susan - yes! That was what was so great about it. We had a mid-day arrival like we'll have in Venice, and they had excursions for the afternoon and evening, and then all-day the next day. We booked three in St. Petersburg. The first was a shopping excursion (because we wanted to be sure we had time to shop for souvenirs - we've been on some excursions where there was no time and then nothing at the immediate port area), then an evening boat tour, and then the next day an all day city tour. Other offerings included the ballet and such. I'm betting there will be evening Gondola rides, etc. in Venice. The nice thing about the time of year we are going is that it will be light later in the evenings. That was one thing we had forgotten about when we did the Baltic - I was excited to see St. Petersburg in the evening - until I realized that the "evening" was more like the middle of the afternoon

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome Lifelong_Dreamer (Lessa) and Dahly (Leslie).

Leslie - there is no way I cuold've left my boys at home - they are always packed and ready to go! Guess I've spoiled them. I was wondering at what point I'll feel ok about planning a vacation and not taking them with me even when they are in college!

Laurie and Lori - I noticed the double-Darrens when I was updating the first post with who's traveling - that made me giggle!

I'm starting to look for hotel options since I'm not sure how we will be able to work it out with DCL since one of our cruises is through DVC and the other is through our TA. I hope it won't get complicated. My TA assured me that she'll help me figure it out. Now to find a hotel that will accommodate four - in 2007 we waited too long to add the DCL hotel / air and ended up having to get two rooms at their overflow hotel - we didn't like the hotel much. If we need two rooms this time, at least the boys are older so I'll feel more comfortable splitting up the family.

[winnyis]

Cindy - My kids are the same way... spoiled rotten... no choice for us to leave them home since the main reason for this trip is my DDs highschool graduation plus we have never traveled for longer than 3 days without them (2 cruises on the Wonder - just DH and I). We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year and are taking them with us to Hawaii for 2 weeks in June.

THe way I look at it in a few years they wont want to travel with us... so Im gonna enjoy these family trips as long as I can.

Does anyone know if the Disney pre cruise hotel options are available to be added yet and if not, when they should be.

[jel0511]

Originally Posted by MrsScooby

Our last name starts with an S so I can go by Laurie S...or my DH and I can go by our DIS names.
He goes by "Nick Charles" on the DIS.

I just told my DH about this and he's like WE definitely have to meet up, it will be hilarious!!!! Don't worry, our last name makes my name sound like a cartoon character, so just call me Lois, that's what most people call me anyway......

[Goofy559]

Originally Posted by winnyis

Does anyone know if the Disney pre cruise hotel options are available to be added yet and if not, when they should be.

I would suspect it will be a while before they announce the pre-cruise hotels. However, I will say that last time we did the med with Disney, we booked our hotels and transfers on our own -- much cheaper and very easy! We stayed at Le Meridien right on las ramblas for 1/3 of what Disney wanted, splurged and used the hotel's car service to the port and still were way ahead of the game. Barcelona is an easy city to navigate on your own, and there are lots of options to get to the port.

[jel0511]

Originally Posted by Goofy559

I would suspect it will be a while before they announce the pre-cruise hotels. However, I will say that last time we did the med with Disney, we booked our hotels and transfers on our own -- much cheaper and very easy! We stayed at Le Meridien right on las ramblas for 1/3 of what Disney wanted, splurged and used the hotel's car service to the port and still were way ahead of the game. Barcelona is an easy city to navigate on your own, and there are lots of options to get to the port.

We also stayed at Le Meridien and booked a jr suite for the 4 of us for less than DCL wanted to two rooms. At the time the kids both had to be 12 and under to get all of us in the jr suite, and it also included breakfast the morning of the cruise!!! It was such a nice place, that I'd like to stay there again, but it is pricy! WE are Starwood members, so have SPG points, but might use our Marriott points at one of the AC hotels. SPG doesn't allow you to book 2 rooms on points, where Marriott does.

[nzdisneymom]

I'm making a list of possible hotels for pre-cruise. Our TA and the DVC lady both told me that pre-cruise hotels would be probably a month away from being available and I haven't taken the time to call to ask DCL directly. Someone on TripAdvisor suggested using booking dot com to filter the hotels in BCN for those that accommodate four (either in a single room or in some sort of configuration that would work).

Goofy559 - did you make your car transfer request before you got to Le Meridien? And how many were in your traveling party? I know we don't want to take a cab because we'd need two between us and our luggage.

Gosh, I know we have 516 more days til we travel, but I want to at least have a bit of an idea of what we might be able to do so when the booking window for June 2013 for hotels opens, we'll be ready!

[jel0511]

Originally Posted by nzdisneymom

I'm making a list of possible hotels for pre-cruise. Our TA and the DVC lady both told me that pre-cruise hotels would be probably a month away from being available and I haven't taken the time to call to ask DCL directly. Someone on TripAdvisor suggested using booking dot com to filter the hotels in BCN for those that accommodate four (either in a single room or in some sort of configuration that would work).

Goofy559 - did you make your car transfer request before you got to Le Meridien? And how many were in your traveling party? I know we don't want to take a cab because we'd need two between us and our luggage.

Gosh, I know we have 516 more days til we travel, but I want to at least have a bit of an idea of what we might be able to do so when the booking window for June 2013 for hotels opens, we'll be ready!

We used a cab at Le Meridien. I tried to pre-book the transfers, but the people talked me out of it. They said it was cheaper for a cab and I kept telling them that we were 4 with LOTS of luggage, and they kept saying they'd call for a van cab. They did and it was SO easy with a cab. We were 4 people with 6 pieces of luggage and all got in one cab. It was MUCH cheaper than the hotels transfer service, so they didn't steer me wrong there.

Most of the hotels in Barcelona are only 2 - 3 people per room depending on hotel. My previous research got me a few that did allow 4 per room. The Novatel does, that's the only one on the top of my head that I remember.

[Goofy559]

We didn't book it until we got there. We only did it because of how much we saved on the room -- we were only 2 people, so a cab was definitely an option -- we did that on the way back from the port to the hotel. We also used the hotel's car service from the airport, just for convenience sake...

[Cliffside]

Originally Posted by nzdisneymom

Susan - yes! That was what was so great about it. We had a mid-day arrival like we'll have in Venice, and they had excursions for the afternoon and evening, and then all-day the next day. We booked three in St. Petersburg. The first was a shopping excursion (because we wanted to be sure we had time to shop for souvenirs - we've been on some excursions where there was no time and then nothing at the immediate port area), then an evening boat tour, and then the next day an all day city tour. Other offerings included the ballet and such. I'm betting there will be evening Gondola rides, etc. in Venice. The nice thing about the time of year we are going is that it will be light later in the evenings. That was one thing we had forgotten about when we did the Baltic - I was excited to see St. Petersburg in the evening - until I realized that the "evening" was more like the middle of the afternoon

Cindy

That sounds wonderful that you were able to do so many things...yes I can't wait for the Gondola ride....

I know what you mean about lack of shopping time...when we were in the med in 2010 we did Florence and Pisa through Disney and we had to leave lunch early just so we were able to buy a couple of things we wanted in Florence