Who's in for GREECE and TURKEY, June 15 2003????

[mehaul]

Originally Posted by canadakath

That's great. Thanks!!!

Do previous Med cruisers remember if some of these excursions were hard to book / filled up quickly?

We did most of the ports on our own, but to answer your question - no. The only time I noted that excursions that were sold out was on the boat a day or 2 before that port.

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone! I'm sorry to say that we are cancelling our reservation for this cruise. We've decided that last year's 10 night Med cruise with our kids was the experience of a lifetime, and we don't want to do something so similiar again this soon. Plus we want to split our vacation time into a couple of week-long trips.

Howard and I have just returned from a fabulous, romantic week at a couples-only resort in Jamaica and are desperate to return. So we will do that next spring and then do a late-summer week-long family vacation with our best friends and their 5 kids and our two adult children in a waterfront rental somewhere in the northeastern US.

I hope you all have a fabulous trip!

Matt and Cheryl - We will really miss sharing this amazing adventure with you. You are going to have such an awesome time!

[nzdisneymom]

Originally Posted by canadakath

That's great. Thanks!!!

Do previous Med cruisers remember if some of these excursions were hard to book / filled up quickly?

In 2007, the 1/2 day excursion to Pisa sold out, but a few weeks later, DCL added an afternoon excursion that was identical. So if the excursions you want are sold out, keep checking back because DCL may add some more slots or people may cancel as they firm up their plans. What typically happens is that DCL releases only a certain percentage of slots with each group that can do their excursion booking, so there may be slots later that you can get. People also book what they think they want to do but then will come back and cancel because they decide to do something different or on their own.

Keenercam, sorry to see you all go.

[mehaul]

Originally Posted by canadakath

Thanks for the reply MinnieDiva. Does anyone know if there are details of excursions from previous Med cruises anywhere? Not trip reports, but the DCL list of excursions and pricing. I know there will be changes, but just want to start getting an idea.

On another note, I cna't believe how full our cruise appears to be! There is nothing but Oceanview cabins left, and not all that many of those either! I have resigned myself to the fact that we are unlikely to see a good deal before paid-in-full date comes along, but I will keep my fingers crossed for a port upgrade if folks jump ship for cheaper options. I will be happy with my verandah cat 5B, but this is likely a once in a lifetime trip so we might be willing to pay a bit for an upgrade.

Here are the 2011 Med Excursions with pricing. www.worldofmouse.com/2011-med-excursions.html

Here are the 2007 Med Excursions with pricing http://www.worldofmouse.com/disney-m...xcursions.html

Get your calculators out

[OurDogCisco]

Originally Posted by canadakath

That's great. Thanks!!!

Do previous Med cruisers remember if some of these excursions were hard to book / filled up quickly?

For our 2007 cruise in the Med, the Exclusive VIP visit to the Vatican and hightlights of Rome sold out. This tour had a limited number as we got a private viewing of the Sistene Chapel and Museum.

[DL1957]

Originally Posted by OurDogCisco

For our 2007 cruise in the Med, the Exclusive VIP visit to the Vatican and hightlights of Rome sold out. This tour had a limited number as we got a private viewing of the Sistene Chapel and Museum.

We took that tour as well. When DSIS and DBIL went in 2011 and this excursion was not offered. Hopefully they will offer again it was great!

[Monstro]

Originally Posted by mehaul

Here are the 2011 Med Excursions with pricing. www.worldofmouse.com/2011-med-excursions.html

Here are the 2007 Med Excursions with pricing http://www.worldofmouse.com/disney-m...xcursions.html

Get your calculators out

This is great. Thank you!

[tinkagain]

Is their a facebook page set up for this cruise yet? I found it helpful for the MV fantasy cruise and the May Hawaii cruise.

[nzdisneymom]

Originally Posted by tinkagain

Is their a facebook page set up for this cruise yet? I found it helpful for the MV fantasy cruise and the May Hawaii cruise.

I don't think so.
I'm just curious about how a facebook page is helpful compared to the meet thread here on DIS? I know more and more meet groups are going to facebook in addition, but I've never understood how it's helpful besides being able to see faces and that people tend to work on their handhelds vs computers (although the DIS's app for iPad/iPod is really easy to use...not sure if there is an android version, anyone know?).

[drlaurafsu]

I read through your thread yesterday...all of it! We are on the July cruise but I thought I might get some good info from this one since you'll be ahead of us.

Cindy - I grew up in Tally and my parents are still there so we are in town frequently especially during football and baseball seasons.

[nzdisneymom]

So you know how I've been watching airfare, and it's getting closer to being able to get the absolute dates we want plugged in, so I checked with our TA to see how much we would have to pay if we do air on our own but want DCL transfers from airport to dcl hotel to port to dcl hotel to airport. She said it is $90 per person. So then I went to insuremytrip dot com to get an idea of how much travel insurance would cost for a flight giving a range of what we have seen so far $1400 - $1600 per ticket. Depending on the company and coverage, we are looking at $50-100 per person

So doing the math,DCL wants $1818 for the flights. Minus the $90 transfers minus the $50-100 for travel insurance, we are
looking at a break-even point of $1600-1650 per ticket. So anything less than that would put us ahead so we have to decide at what point is the savings worth doing the flights on our own? At $1500 per ticket times four tickets, that is $400-600 savings. At $1400 per ticket, that jumps to $800-1000 savings. So I am thinking somewhere below 1500 which I believe we can get and in two weeks should be able to start pricing out and watching for variance on days of the week for booking.

So what am I missing? What else do I need to consider? DH is more comfortable with us going ahead and splurging on the DCL hotel, and having the transfers through them. So while we could do pre stay accommodations for less, he would rather we stick with dcl.

Also, when you get travel insurance for flights, how do you decide what coverage to get?

I am cross posting this with our B2B cruise.

[pxlbarrel]

Originally Posted by nzdisneymom

So you know how I've been watching airfare, and it's getting closer to being able to get the absolute dates we want plugged in, so I checked with our TA to see how much we would have to pay if we do air on our own but want DCL transfers from airport to dcl hotel to port to dcl hotel to airport. She said it is $90 per person. So then I went to insuremytrip dot com to get an idea of how much travel insurance would cost for a flight giving a range of what we have seen so far $1400 - $1600 per ticket. Depending on the company and coverage, we are looking at $50-100 per person

So doing the math,DCL wants $1818 for the flights. Minus the $90 transfers minus the $50-100 for travel insurance, we are
looking at a break-even point of $1600-1650 per ticket. So anything less than that would put us ahead so we have to decide at what point is the savings worth doing the flights on our own? At $1500 per ticket times four tickets, that is $400-600 savings. At $1400 per ticket, that jumps to $800-1000 savings. So I am thinking somewhere below 1500 which I believe we can get and in two weeks should be able to start pricing out and watching for variance on days of the week for booking.

So what am I missing? What else do I need to consider? DH is more comfortable with us going ahead and splurging on the DCL hotel, and having the transfers through them. So while we could do pre stay accommodations for less, he would rather we stick with dcl.

Also, when you get travel insurance for flights, how do you decide what coverage to get?

I am cross posting this with our B2B cruise.

You can probably get the DCL hotels on your own for a LOT less than what DCL will be charging you.... and a taxi to the port will be a LOT less than the transfers too. It's very easy. The amount of money you save can buy a lot of souvenirs.

[mehaul]

Originally Posted by pxlbarrel

You can probably get the DCL hotels on your own for a LOT less than what DCL will be charging you.... and a taxi to the port will be a LOT less than the transfers too. It's very easy. The amount of money you save can buy a lot of souvenirs.

I recall the cab being $60 for our family of 4 in 2011 - from the airport to the port

[nzdisneymom]

Originally Posted by pxlbarrel

You can probably get the DCL hotels on your own for a LOT less than what DCL will be charging you.... and a taxi to the port will be a LOT less than the transfers too. It's very easy. The amount of money you save can buy a lot of souvenirs.

We checked the DCL hotels and the best rate I could find is €203 per room per night which is about $248 per room per night at the Renaissance Barcelona. dCL is asking $408 for the two rooms combined so that's like $204 US and includes all taxes. So right now just going to Marriott website, it's not any less. Unless there is something I am missing for checking the price. We don't have enough points for a free room.

And as a party of four needing transportation from airport to hotel to a port to hotel to airport, if we had to cab it, we would likely need two, doubling our expense unless we made different arrangements.

I think our best bet will be doing the air on our own especially if we can snag a great fare. We were lucky this summer and got $167 round trip Atlanta to Salt Lake City while friends paid over twice hat much for the same light. We just caught it right that day... Hoping for similar luck with next summers transportation.

[pxlbarrel]

Originally Posted by mehaul

I recall the cab being $60 for our family of 4 in 2011 - from the airport to the port

Yeah, that sounds about right...I remember something like 30-35 euro plus tip for our family of 4.

I guess.... if you're a family of 4, the savings are substatial. If you're a couple, the savings might not be that great.