7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[Missesjoyce]

Hello everybody !!

@slg I have checked it with some people living nearby dlrp and it's right ; explorer does have this rule !! It is indeed new for 2 months, sorry...you were right !!

But All disney on site hotels like newport bay club, new york and seqouia lodge don't have these rules and you can just go swimiing, this is what I found out for you.

If anyone has any other questions about Paris or disneyland paris, feel free to ask, it is a second home for me ;-)

Another question to you guys ; anyone knows if there is a bathrobe in the stateroom ?! Can't remember from last time... otherwise I have to open the door for roomserice breakfast naked in the morning lol

 

[slg]

Well I emailed the hotel, and this is the response. Sounds like a new policy everywhere?

"Thank you for your email. We understand your confusion over our swim wear policy. It is true that in our pictures the men are wearing swim shorts, those photographs were taken at the opening of the hotel when the policy did not exist.

In compliance with new French health and hygiene laws we have a strict swim wear only policy. Our swim wear policy for men is either swimming briefs, or swimming boxers (please see the photos below taken from the Decathlon website).



I hope these pictures will help to clear up any confusion, but if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact our guest service department on either; 0033.1.60.42.60.15, or; frontoffice@explorershotels.com.

We look forward to welcoming you all at the end of this month.

Best regards,"

 

[bellelinus]

Hello everybody !!

Another question to you guys ; anyone knows if there is a bathrobe in the stateroom ?! Can't remember from last time... otherwise I have to open the door for roomserice breakfast naked in the morning lol

I believe that robes are provided only for concierge . . .

 

[bellelinus]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3124303

Yay! Thanks for the link! I can't wait to read the ones for the "twin" of our cruise, leaving this Saturday.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3124303

Thanks momma.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Got my documents.

 

[LovesToRun]

My parents finally got their docs today!

Ok, I'm starting to get into the "nesting" mode trying to get so many things done! We leave in 3 weeks from today!! wow!!! I can't believe it's almost here.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

LovestoRun - you booked St. John's in Mykonos right? Do you know what time you are being picked up? I was thinking of doing the same.

Having trouble deciding on that or going to another beach with a restaurant on the beach. I am sure the kids would like the pool though.

 

[LovesToRun]

LovestoRun - you booked St. John's in Mykonos right? Do you know what time you are being picked up? I was thinking of doing the same.

Having trouble deciding on that or going to another beach with a restaurant on the beach. I am sure the kids would like the pool though.

Yes, we did book St. John's in Mykonos. We requested they pick us up at 9:30 AM and then return at 2:00PM. It should be fun! There is a beach at the resort, too, BUT from all the reviews, it's a VERY small beach, so if you are wanting the "full beach" experience, then the beach there may not get that for you. But, yes, the pool will be nice for the kids. There aren't any water slides, or fun "kid" things at the pool... it's just a regular pool.

There are a couple restaurants at the resort, too, so there are places to eat there.

We're really looking forward to it.... We've done so many public beaches on different cruises, that we've just found if we can go to a resort for the day vs. a public beach, it just seems to be a nicer and more relaxing experience for us all together. Also, with the resort, you won't have anyone coming up to you every 10 minutes trying to sell you stuff. And, my youngest son is a red head, so he can only tolerate so much sun before he needs to be in the shade (yes, even with 75 SPF sunscreen, long sleeve SPF swim shirt, a hat and sunglasses!), so he doesn't always have the best experiences when we spend the whole day at the beach where there isn't a lot of opportunity for relief from the sun because he gets sunned out too fast and just wants to go back to the ship before the rest of us are ready to go back. At the resort, there will be shaded spots (in doors, etc.), which will be perfect for him.

How old are your kids.... I forget. My boys will be 10 (turns 11 early August) and 12 1/2.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Yes, we did book St. John's in Mykonos. We requested they pick us up at 9:30 AM and then return at 2:00PM. It should be fun! There is a beach at the resort, too, BUT from all the reviews, it's a VERY small beach, so if you are wanting the "full beach" experience, then the beach there may not get that for you. But, yes, the pool will be nice for the kids. There aren't any water slides, or fun "kid" things at the pool... it's just a regular pool.

There are a couple restaurants at the resort, too, so there are places to eat there.

We're really looking forward to it.... We've done so many public beaches on different cruises, that we've just found if we can go to a resort for the day vs. a public beach, it just seems to be a nicer and more relaxing experience for us all together. Also, with the resort, you won't have anyone coming up to you every 10 minutes trying to sell you stuff. And, my youngest son is a red head, so he can only tolerate so much sun before he needs to be in the shade (yes, even with 75 SPF sunscreen, long sleeve SPF swim shirt, a hat and sunglasses!), so he doesn't always have the best experiences when we spend the whole day at the beach where there isn't a lot of opportunity for relief from the sun because he gets sunned out too fast and just wants to go back to the ship before the rest of us are ready to go back. At the resort, there will be shaded spots (in doors, etc.), which will be perfect for him.

How old are your kids.... I forget. My boys will be 10 (turns 11 early August) and 12 1/2.

Daughter is 10, Son is 7. I am kind of torn. I would rather do something that is more what the locals would do but the kids would probably have a better time at the resort. Given we are on a floating resort for twelve days I am not sure which way I am going to go.

 

[LovesToRun]

Daughter is 10, Son is 7. I am kind of torn. I would rather do something that is more what the locals would do but the kids would probably have a better time at the resort. Given we are on a floating resort for twelve days I am not sure which way I am going to go.

Yah, I totally understand your dilemma. We actually were originally planning on the beach, but it was actually our red-headed son that made us decide on the resort. We're going to have a lot of full days in the sun on this trip, so we decided the resort would at least give him the option to sit inside the lobby were it's also air conditioned to just cool off and get out of the sun... and since we won't have that many sea days, going to the resort didn't seem like too bad of an option. If this cruise had a lot of sea days, and less ports, then we would have picked something different.

But, yes... for sure you will get more of the culture at the beach!

In all honesty, this resort does not really seem geared toward kids (ie, no water slides, or fun "kids" things at the pool.) It looks kind of more like one of those quiet relaxing resorts that would attract adults. We were fine bringing our kids there because we all decided just a relaxing day by the pool where we could also go in doors to get some A/C and shade for a sun break sounded the most fun this day given we have so many packed days on the rest of our ports.

But, I'm expecting a few times to tell my boys to be quiet or to not splash... just from the atmosphere... but maybe I won't have to. We'll see. They are pretty good if they are mostly around adults.

That said, you know your kids.... if your kids are expecting a day of action and activity and more of a kid-oriented atmosphere, plus more culture, the beach might be better. But, if they are fine with a more relaxing quiet atmosphere (with just a regular pool... no slides, etc), and a small beach then the resort may be better (just minus the culture you would get at the beach), but you'll still be around locals at the resort, too.

yes, tough decision! Good luck!!

 

[slg]

I'm not sure about "culture" on the beach. When we were in Greece, the locals eat between 1-3 and then have a siesta. They swim after 5 (because they eat dinner very late in Greece, usually around 10).

The "culture" we saw on Greek beaches was rather...hmmm...questionable.

If you want Greek culture, eat a big lunch in a tavern...and perhaps in the morning do some strolling and shopping!

For little kids, they might enjoy a relaxing day at a resort...

Just my two cents! (We're going to Delos..we're not beach people and my kids prefer a pool with shade any time...even in hawaii!)

 

[LovesToRun]

The "culture" we saw on Greek beaches was rather...hmmm...questionable.

This comment made me laugh out loud.

Yah, from the reviews I read about the beaches in Mykonos, that was another deciding factor for us to do the resort... the questionable "culture".

Although, it truly was being able to have some shade and A/C at the resort is what our real deciding factor was.

I agree... the real culture will be where the food is...

 

[Eleblanc]

We stayed in a Disney hotel at Disney Paris in August of last year (2012) and the speedo requirement seemed to be in place, though there were no males in our party swimming. It just appeared to me that the only guys swimming were wearing them. This is also where we bought the vending machine swim suit. I know that people have gotten turned away at water parks when they tried to go down slides with swim trunks in Europe, but they could walk around the water park in whatever they liked. (This was even the case at one water park when we lived in Ohio!!!)

Either way the vending machine is an option!

 

[happy_momma]

Daughter is 10, Son is 7. I am kind of torn. I would rather do something that is more what the locals would do but the kids would probably have a better time at the resort. Given we are on a floating resort for twelve days I am not sure which way I am going to go.

We are planning to do the beach at Mykonos as well. I figure we will do that in the morning for a few hours, then when it gets too hot we will leave and go explore the town a little bit before heading back to the ship. Hopefully we'll be able to rent a couple of the chairs with the umbrellas for a bit of shade.

Our kids will be getting some 'culture' too, I guess, haha. I'm not sure which beach we will go to, but I remember reading about some that were more family-friendly, so we'll choose one of those.

 

[FloridaMom3461]

We are planning to do the beach at Mykonos as well. I figure we will do that in the morning for a few hours, then when it gets too hot we will leave and go explore the town a little bit before heading back to the ship. Hopefully we'll be able to rent a couple of the chairs with the umbrellas for a bit of shade.

Our kids will be getting some 'culture' too, I guess, haha. I'm not sure which beach we will go to, but I remember reading about some that were more family-friendly, so we'll choose one of those.

We are renting a car in Mykonos and plan to explore and go to the beach as well with our 8 year old DD. Very excited to explore that beautiful island and just plan to avoid the "known" off limits beaches.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

We are planning to do the beach at Mykonos as well. I figure we will do that in the morning for a few hours, then when it gets too hot we will leave and go explore the town a little bit before heading back to the ship. Hopefully we'll be able to rent a couple of the chairs with the umbrellas for a bit of shade.

Our kids will be getting some 'culture' too, I guess, haha. I'm not sure which beach we will go to, but I remember reading about some that were more family-friendly, so we'll choose one of those.

Rick Steves recommended Agios Ioannis as not being too touristy or not family friendly. Has a couple of nice restaurants too.

 

[happy_momma]

Rick Steves recommended Agios Ioannis as not being too touristy or not family friendly. Has a couple of nice restaurants too.

That sounds great! We will probably do that one.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

For those of you who booked St. John in Mykonos, have you emailed them since your initial booking to reconfirm? I emailed them this week to reconfirm and also to ask about their spa services, and the reservation agent (different person than the one I'd been working with back and forth via email previously) replied with the generic response of "thank you for your interest, attached please find the day pass form to complete and send in". Basically the same email that they sent me when I sent my first inquiry to them months ago. This was very concerning to me. I replied stating that I was confused, I had emailed my completed day pass reservation form to them months ago already. I asked her to check their files and please confirm my reservation and date/time/ship info, so hopefully they locate it! Also, I noticed that the form she attached was different than the one that I had filled out before. We chose the basic 30 euro/pp package originally. This form did not have that option- it only had 2 choices, both 70 euro each. One included the resort/transport/massage, and the other included resort/transport/lunch (with a very American looking menu attached). I didn't notice the form was different until after I replied, so I'll wait now until they answer me and then I'll ask them about it and reconfirm that we are still doing the 30 euro option. I hope they still honor it since we booked months ago, even if they don't offer it any more. I dont want to pay 70 euro for a massage or meal I dont want. I hope everything is ok and I'm stressing for nothing but I just want a really nice day in Mykonos with no issues when we get there since its only 1 day!!

 

[LovesToRun]

For those of you who booked St. John in Mykonos, have you emailed them since your initial booking to reconfirm? I emailed them this week to reconfirm and also to ask about their spa services, and the reservation agent (different person than the one I'd been working with back and forth via email previously) replied with the generic response of "thank you for your interest, attached please find the day pass form to complete and send in". Basically the same email that they sent me when I sent my first inquiry to them months ago. This was very concerning to me. I replied stating that I was confused, I had emailed my completed day pass reservation form to them months ago already. I asked her to check their files and please confirm my reservation and date/time/ship info, so hopefully they locate it! Also, I noticed that the form she attached was different than the one that I had filled out before. We chose the basic 30 euro/pp package originally. This form did not have that option- it only had 2 choices, both 70 euro each. One included the resort/transport/massage, and the other included resort/transport/lunch (with a very American looking menu attached). I didn't notice the form was different until after I replied, so I'll wait now until they answer me and then I'll ask them about it and reconfirm that we are still doing the 30 euro option. I hope they still honor it since we booked months ago, even if they don't offer it any more. I dont want to pay 70 euro for a massage or meal I dont want. I hope everything is ok and I'm stressing for nothing but I just want a really nice day in Mykonos with no issues when we get there since its only 1 day!!

I was going to send emails to all my private tours/activities planned sometime in the next 2 weeks to re-confirm (trying to get through the craziness of the last few days of school here first).

But, if there is any issue with the amount they want to charge me, I am bringing my original form I sent to them, which clearly shows 30 Euros, plus, I have an email exchange with someone I communicated with at the resort and in one of the emails they quoted me the 30 euros. I never sent in my CC #, but only my reservation form, so the only way they can charge me is when I give them my CC when I arrive. So, if they want to over charge me, I'll be getting out all of my documentation I've saved showing we agreed already on 30 Euros, and I won't give them my CC unless they will only charge me the 30 Euros promised. i'm not too worried.

And, if worst comes to worst, and it all falls through (they don't show up, or whatever), I'm out no money since they don't have my CC# or any deposit, and we'll just take a taxi to a beach, or just walk around town... play it by ear. Yes, it'd be disappointing if something like that happened, but we'd find a plan B, and I'd write on Trip Advisor after I got home what happened, which won't be good PR for them. So, hopefully (for everyone's sake) it'll all work out just fine!!

I'm getting excited!!!!

But, for sure, good idea to email and reconfirm.