7/25/2013 Med. Mickey's 12 Night Italian Job - with Nice, Valletta and Dubrov !

[honeybear66]

Originally Posted by thestewarts

Hi honeybear66, glad to hear there are other Scots on board. We were on the Med cruise last year and loved it. Have just booked up today for this cruise. Can't wait. Happy to provide any planning info - we did all our excursions on our own and survived.
See you there!

Hi there neighbour I may well take you up on that offer nearer the time, all the different options for excursions seem a bit daunting at the moment but we also plan on doing them on our own.

[GarakDS9]

This news came as a shock initially given my loyalty to Disney, but we have decided to cancel our Disney Med. cruise next year. It all started with getting comfortable with the price vs. the reward. Out of curiosity, I checked on other lines and itineraries. Surprisingly I found that quality companies like Princess and Celebrity were not that much cheaper but they did have better itineraries, or at least more varied from our last Med. trip. That led to a frank family discussion that we booked the trip because of DCL rather than a desire to repeat the Med. After more discussion we all agreed we wanted to visit London/British Isles the most. So, we booked a 12 night Princess cruise to the British Isles which we will precede with a multi-night stay in London.

Check it out:

http://www.princess.com/find/searchR...IR&pageOffset=

It visits 3 ports in Ireland, 3 ports in Scotland, 2 misc. islands, and Normandy. Normandy and Guernsey are key points of interest in WW II, an area of interest for DS and me and the islands north of Scotland are important to prehistoric history which is of great interest to DW. Suddenly the fire is back into the trip for us not to mention an opportunity for me to put together my own visit to London and surroundings.

I find it ironic making this announcement in this thread given the location of many participants in the U.K. Please feel free to PM me with any tips, advice, or suggestions. At any rate, I wish you all a great trip and happy planning.

[Pavilion 2000]

Hello everyone!

Just wanted to introduce ourselves: Myself (DW), DH and DD (8 at time of cruise)

We were hoping to do the Disney med cruise this year (2012) but they didn't sail there. Thus, when they decided to put it back in their itinerary for 2013, we jumped at the chance and booked it.

We are in the early stages of planning and hoping to learn alot from all you wonderful people, especially those who have been to the Med before.

[Doingitagain]

Hi! We just moved to this cruise today (from June 27). It will be me, DH, DD24 and DS21 (at time of cruise).

[jdybnsn]

Very sorry but I am pretty well definitely off this cruise now, so need removing from the roll call list.:

So sad, but the: pricing is just not working out at all ..... the fact that we have now booked 8 nights in Antigua (Oct) and 10 nights in Barbados (Feb) for considerably less than the price of the two cabins we'd choose for this one cruise (1 verandah / 1 inside) has been the final nail in my dream of taking this cruise.

Praying & hoping for a late bargain (please someone PM me if that happens !!!) ...and/or winning the lottery !!

I'm sure you will all have a great time......I look forward to some great trip reports later next year

Judy B xxx

[tinkerbell_29]

Hi everyone haven't posted much lately because I've been having some issues with my health and weren't sure if we would be able to actually go on this cruise. Went back and forth for a while but decided we were going to go ahead and go. Bought plane tickets yesterday so now i can actually be excited about this trip!
Melissa

[K8T]

Hi Everyone, long time now post! Welcome to the new additions!

Judy, sorry to see you go, but I know exactly where you are coming from. We are off to Disneyworld in October and then OH wants to go skiing after Christmas and it all starts to look a bit extravagant and expensive. We still have our inside cabin, but would love to change it to a window, not sure that will happen though

Garak, have a great trip, friends go on the Princess all the time and really enjoy it. I don't see Liverpool anywhere on your itinerary and the ships usually stop there, which is a shame, as I could have shown you around. dd goes to school very near and I travel in most days. You will find lots do to and probably will be more varied than the Med., especially as you have done some of the ports before. If I can help with ideas, do let me know, I have travelled most of the UK with work in the past and when it comes to choosing what to do somewhere, may be able to help.

Mel, it was interesting to hear how cold it was on your cruise, we had originally booked Alaska and then moved it, OH was thinking he wanted sun, and dd wanted to swim. We did think New York cruise, but thought it would be too hot. Pleased we didn't do either now!

Hi Pavilion, our dd will be 8 this weekend, so hopefully they can meet and play together, there are a few children around this age on the cruise, some of which our dd has met before and it was very easy them all going off to the club together, whilst us adults went to have a chat , especially when like ours it is an only child - stops all the worrying about them being on their own.

Tinkerbell, glad you got the tickets, we were very much like that with our Florida trip in October, having moved it once, but then booked the flights and have to go now (what a shame!! ) It will give you something to look forward to, especially if you haven't been too well.

To be honest, we haven't thought much about this trip yet, have no idea what we will do and where, we had thought about getting married on board but not done anything about it yet, probably need to look into it, but I fear that will be expensive. Maybe when our October trip is out the way, I will have more time. Having said that, I have done no planning, apart from book MNSSHP for one night. I need to get a move on, we still have three days where we have no accommodation booked!!

Wow - what a long post, probably won't hear from me again for another month

Kate

[Figment_Fan]

Jdybnsn and GarakDS9 sorry to see you go, but sounds like you have other plans and other fun. That's what counts.

I (obviously) have not thought that much about this trip yet. Still seems so far away. I printed out all of the pages at work so that I could accurately update the role call - yeah, the page are all still sitting on the corner of my desk.

I started to arrange for my work schedule to be covered for the dates of the cruise. This will span over a three work week period. This will be the longest I have ever gone on vacation.

Anyway, I had a small medical procedure done and am home but still groggy from the stuff they gave me. The nurses said I would be in "twilight" sleep. So, I had to ask if I would dream about vampires? Doc said he was going to knock me completely out. I was good with that. Now I just want to go back to sleep.

Anyway, welcome all newcomers.

I will get to the stack on my desk soon and update the list.

Take Care All,
John

[Pavilion 2000]

Kate, it would be great if our dds can get together... this way she'll have someone to hang out with at the clubs and we can have some downtime to hit the spa or whatever...

John, hope you're feeling better. Take your time updating the roll call... No big rush since the trip is still so far away.

I've started booking things (can get very productive when I'm trying to avoid work during the late night hours). My husband and I have enough points combined with United to get 3 tickets to Barcelona. YAY! They had award tickets available with the Super Saver points (required a lot less points than normal for a one way trip) so I pounced on it.

I also booked our hotel for before and after in Barcelona (again, using hotel points). We're staying at the Le Meridien which I believe is a starwood property.

Lastly, I purchased the newest edition of the Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Ports guide book and have been reading up on all the different ports and trying to figure our which ones I think we can do on our own and which ones we'll want to book excursions for. However, before we make up our minds, we'll need to see what Disney is offering and how much it'll all cost. Ahhh, if only I can win that lottery before next July...

Have a goodnight all.

[Gecko1]

Just confirmed a Cat5 for this cruise. The $ will be a challenge, but we have been wanting a Med cruise for quite a while.

[thestewarts]

Garak, any info you need on the Scottish ports let me know. We live about 20minutes away from Greenock so can certainly point you in the direction of loads to do and see when here. Edinburgh too as I spent a fair amount of time there with work a while ago.

John, wish you a speedy recovery.

Not done much on the planning side as it still seems so far away, suppose since we've done some of the ports last year we have an idea on some bits and pieces but haven't seriously thought about anything so far.

Alex

[jgura]

Originally Posted by K8T

Hi Everyone, long time now post! Welcome to the new additions!

Judy, sorry to see you go, but I know exactly where you are coming from. We are off to Disneyworld in October and then OH wants to go skiing after Christmas and it all starts to look a bit extravagant and expensive. We still have our inside cabin, but would love to change it to a window, not sure that will happen though

To be honest, we haven't thought much about this trip yet, have no idea what we will do and where, we had thought about getting married on board but not done anything about it yet, probably need to look into it, but I fear that will be expensive. Maybe when our October trip is out the way, I will have more time. Having said that, I have done no planning, apart from book MNSSHP for one night. I need to get a move on, we still have three days where we have no accommodation booked!!

Wow - what a long post, probably won't hear from me again for another month

Kate

I like your thoughts!!!! Birthdays and weddings? Why not? You could do it at one of the ports perhaps too. You only have a 2 1/2 hour direct flight to Austin for those 3 nights of accommodations!

[jgura]

Originally Posted by Pavilion 2000

Kate, it would be great if our dds can get together... this way she'll have someone to hang out with at the clubs and we can have some downtime to hit the spa or whatever...

John, hope you're feeling better. Take your time updating the roll call... No big rush since the trip is still so far away.

I've started booking things (can get very productive when I'm trying to avoid work during the late night hours). My husband and I have enough points combined with United to get 3 tickets to Barcelona. YAY! They had award tickets available with the Super Saver points (required a lot less points than normal for a one way trip) so I pounced on it.

I also booked our hotel for before and after in Barcelona (again, using hotel points). We're staying at the Le Meridien which I believe is a starwood property.

Lastly, I purchased the newest edition of the Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Ports guide book and have been reading up on all the different ports and trying to figure our which ones I think we can do on our own and which ones we'll want to book excursions for. However, before we make up our minds, we'll need to see what Disney is offering and how much it'll all cost. Ahhh, if only I can win that lottery before next July...

Have a goodnight all.

We stayed at the Meridien after our cruise in 2011. This was the only cab ride (port to hotel) we were ripped off on. MAKE SURE to get a quote BEFORE you get in the cab. I was in such a comfort zone from the cruise, it was the only time I did not state the fare prior to the ride. I fairly know my way around the area and the cabby drove us WAY out of the way and there was no traffic. Maybe you can arrange the transportation ahead of time. The hotel will NOT let you in the room early. So be prepared to leave your bags and sight see. I had booked a room for 4 people and we were supposed to have 2 beds. We had one bed and it was miserable because also the power went out for hours. The hotel was not accommodating at all. Other than all that the location, room and style were very nice. You can not beat anything with points.

My dream is to stay at the tall W by the water, but I'll be dreaming about it from some other hotel I'm sure!

[Pavilion 2000]

Originally Posted by jgura

We stayed at the Meridien after our cruise in 2011. This was the only cab ride (port to hotel) we were ripped off on. MAKE SURE to get a quote BEFORE you get in the cab. I was in such a comfort zone from the cruise, it was the only time I did not state the fare prior to the ride. I fairly know my way around the area and the cabby drove us WAY out of the way and there was no traffic. Maybe you can arrange the transportation ahead of time. The hotel will NOT let you in the room early. So be prepared to leave your bags and sight see. I had booked a room for 4 people and we were supposed to have 2 beds. We had one bed and it was miserable because also the power went out for hours. The hotel was not accommodating at all. Other than all that the location, room and style were very nice. You can not beat anything with points.

My dream is to stay at the tall W by the water, but I'll be dreaming about it from some other hotel I'm sure!

jgura, Thanks for your feedback on this hotel. Do you (or anyone else) know if Le Meridien is a Disney preferred hotel? Does anyone know what the preferred hotels are next year?

I believe there's another Starwood property in Barcelona (Four Points, I think it is)... would this be a better option? It's not too late for me to make changes to the hotels... it's still early, thank goodness.

[DisneyMomJen]

Originally Posted by jgura

We stayed at the Meridien after our cruise in 2011. This was the only cab ride (port to hotel) we were ripped off on. MAKE SURE to get a quote BEFORE you get in the cab. I was in such a comfort zone from the cruise, it was the only time I did not state the fare prior to the ride. I fairly know my way around the area and the cabby drove us WAY out of the way and there was no traffic. Maybe you can arrange the transportation ahead of time. The hotel will NOT let you in the room early. So be prepared to leave your bags and sight see. I had booked a room for 4 people and we were supposed to have 2 beds. We had one bed and it was miserable because also the power went out for hours. The hotel was not accommodating at all. Other than all that the location, room and style were very nice. You can not beat anything with points.

My dream is to stay at the tall W by the water, but I'll be dreaming about it from some other hotel I'm sure!

That is too funny! We stayed at the Meridien also in 2010 and the same thing happend to us. We needed two cabs to get to the port from the hotel since there were six of us and both of our cabs were ripped off!!! When I finally got to the port I had to wait for DH's cab. As I was waiting, I asked another family what their cab charge was and explained that I was just completely overcharged. The husband told me that they had been in Barcelona for a few days with another family who was robbed twice! The first time their purse was stolen with all of their money and passports.
I would highly recommend being extremely aware and cautious while in Barcelona. I saw many people walking around with their backpacks worn on their front rather than back. The car service driver that took us from the port to the airport explained that the unemployment rate was either 21 or 23% which caused alot of pickpocketing.