7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[WDW Princess 71]

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.

Update: it seems everything is confirmed with St. John. Right after I posted above, I got an email response and she said she did find my reservation form and everything was right. I asked about the 30 euro thing and she said mine was definitely in fact booked for that, so it appears they are honoring our original booking. I will bring our confirmation email and form just in case and probably just pay in cash to avoid any chance of overcharging. This representative was much better than the previous one. The other guy would take days or weeks to respond to my inquiries, but she and I went back and forth a few times this morning with email questions/answers and she replied almost instantaneously each time, in much better English too. She confirmed our 8:00 AM pickup time and gave me instructions on where to meet the driver depending if we port or tender, so I feel a lot better about the whole thing. And, as you said, as annoying as it would be since we are so looking forward to this resort, at least if it falls through that day, we haven't lost any money and we can always take a taxi to another beach as you said.

 

[happy_momma]

I hope St. John works out for you guys!

On another note, for anyone planning a DIY in Villefranche, like we are. We have friends from that area, and have been in touch with them about our visit. Their advice: avoid Nice that day, because of the holiday...apparently it will be crazy busy and crowded. Their recommendation is to stick to the small towns. We had thought about taking the train in, but have decided to spend our time in Eze and Villefranche instead.

 

[LovesToRun]

Update: it seems everything is confirmed with St. John. Right after I posted above, I got an email response and she said she did find my reservation form and everything was right. I asked about the 30 euro thing and she said mine was definitely in fact booked for that, so it appears they are honoring our original booking. I will bring our confirmation email and form just in case and probably just pay in cash to avoid any chance of overcharging. This representative was much better than the previous one. The other guy would take days or weeks to respond to my inquiries, but she and I went back and forth a few times this morning with email questions/answers and she replied almost instantaneously each time, in much better English too. She confirmed our 8:00 AM pickup time and gave me instructions on where to meet the driver depending if we port or tender, so I feel a lot better about the whole thing. And, as you said, as annoying as it would be since we are so looking forward to this resort, at least if it falls through that day, we haven't lost any money and we can always take a taxi to another beach as you said.

Oh, good! I'm glad you are confirmed. The person I have only communicated with was a woman, too, and I have always felt like she gave prompt and detailed responses, so it might be the same person you now have communicated with.

I hope St. John works out for you guys!

On another note, for anyone planning a DIY in Villefranche, like we are. We have friends from that area, and have been in touch with them about our visit. Their advice: avoid Nice that day, because of the holiday...apparently it will be crazy busy and crowded. Their recommendation is to stick to the small towns. We had thought about taking the train in, but have decided to spend our time in Eze and Villefranche instead.

we are not doing a DIY excursion for Villefranche.... we are just going to do it on our own starting out in Villefranche itself and pretty much just eat French food and drink good French wine that day as our own "excursion". YUM! Good to know about Nice! We weren't planning to go to Nice, but it's good to know in case we changed our mind last minute.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/kiki_304/slideshow/Disney Med Navigators

Navigators have been posted from the initial 7 day med cruise.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

I hope St. John works out for you guys!

On another note, for anyone planning a DIY in Villefranche, like we are. We have friends from that area, and have been in touch with them about our visit. Their advice: avoid Nice that day, because of the holiday...apparently it will be crazy busy and crowded. Their recommendation is to stick to the small towns. We had thought about taking the train in, but have decided to spend our time in Eze and Villefranche instead.

Thanks. We were going to Monaco to the aquarium first and then debating about returning to Villefranche or Nice.

 

[Stimpy]

Glad everything is working out!

Thanks for posting the navigators. Can't wait to pour over them. I've been reading the trip reports. Seems everyone that posted so far has been doing their own thing in the ports. I was hoping for a few DCL excursion reports too. Sounds like good times by all though

I have to stop reading the newspaper LOL. Today they had 2 articles on the same page...1 about Turkey unrest, the other about Greece...and a sidebar about the air traffic controller strike in France...UGH! Last time we were in a panic about the Iceland volcano right up until our departure. Anybody keeping an eye on that sucker?! That would certainly be my luck

 

[slg]

OH no. I remember the scare about the Volcano right before my baltic cruise...hope everything will be okay for our trip.

We are flying in an out of Paris so I don't want to hear about an air traffic strike. I'm freaked out.

 

[KYDIZFAN]

Has anybody used tours by locals? We are arriving in Barcelona on the 12th at 08:00 and want to do a 1/2 day guided tour. Most of them start at 09:00 and I don't think we can make that. Also if anyone used a different private tour in Barcelona and had a great experience that would be welcomed info too. See ya in a month.

 

[FloridaMom3461]

Has anybody used tours by locals? We are arriving in Barcelona on the 12th at 08:00 and want to do a 1/2 day guided tour. Most of them start at 09:00 and I don't think we can make that. Also if anyone used a different private tour in Barcelona and had a great experience that would be welcomed info too. See ya in a month.

We are doing a 1/2 day tour with Barcelona Day Tours and have been very happy with their communication up until now. They are picking us up at the airport one hour after we land and then we have a 4 hour tour and then they will drop us off at the hotel. Check out their website for more info and the email is below also.

Barcelona Day Tours
Top-Day-Tours Group
www.SpainDayTours.com
Tel: +34 931 815 287
Fax:+34 933 728 413
Email: info@BarcelonaDayTours.com

 

[happy_momma]

No civil wars, no strikes, no volcanoes...I am thinking positively, and all will be fine. ;-)

Yes, thank you for the navigators. Although, am I the only one who can't read them, haha? Maybe time for some reading glasses. I tried to Zoom, but it didn't help much.

 

[LovesToRun]

OH no. I remember the scare about the Volcano right before my baltic cruise...hope everything will be okay for our trip.

We are flying in an out of Paris so I don't want to hear about an air traffic strike. I'm freaked out.

Yes, hopefully this strike will be over by the time everyone in our group travels! We are flying in and out of London Heathrow, so hopefully we'll be fine.

I'm not too worried about the issues in Turkey.... I just don't think it'll affect Ephesus and the area where we are going... I think the focus is in the big cities.

I haven't read about any recent Greece issues, but I've been SOOO busy I haven't had a chance to really catch up on any news.

I'm sure all will be OK!

The one GOOD thing with an air traffic strike vs. a Volcano, is a Volcano, that literally stops all air traffic.... but with an air traffic control strike, there are so many other places to fly into besides Paris/France, so it might be if you are headed to fly to Paris, but the air traffic strike is preventing the plane from doing so, they might be able to re-route to London, or something.... I don't know, maybe that isn't possible. But, it just seems like there are a lot more options to get to Europe when there is an air traffic control strike vs. a Volcano that literally shuts down air traffic.

So, that said... I'm sure it'll all work out fine!!

 

[slg]

Just did a google search on the strike issue and as of 1 hour ago, 10 other countries have joined the strikes. My main fear is getting from Paris to Barcelona on Easyjet in time to join up with my ABD. If the planes are on strike as well as the trains, what can we do?

Ach.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

For those that are doing Cinque Terre on your own, have you decided which town to start in? I can't decide whether to start at the closet town (Riomaggiore) or the furtherest (Monterosso) and work backwards. Monterosso has the largest beach, so I'm thinking maybe do that one last so we can swim/relax after sightseeing? What are your thoughts?

 

[happy_momma]

We are planning on heading out to the end and working our way back. We also plan to spend a little bit of time at the beach, but not too much. I don't plan to rush through the towns...if we start running out of time, we will just skip one or two and take the train directly back.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Just finishing wrapping my Secret Mickey gifts! I know they don't have to be wrapped but I just love wrapping lol. Suggestion to other SM participants- please label your gifts as 'from your Secret Mickey'. Otherwise, people could confuse them as regular Fish Extender group gifts. Since not everyone doing the FE labels who they are from, if a gift is unlabeled the recipient can't tell if its from their SM or the FE group. Just a tip I learned from the last time I did this!

 

[FloridaMom3461]

For those who missed the original notice and/or for a reminder: Meet and Greet will be Saturday, July 13, 2013 from 2:30pm until 3:30pm in Studio Sea, Deck 4, Mid Ship.

 

[drlaurafsu]

My plan for Cinque Terre is to go to the far end and make my way back. Shopping, taking photos, and eating along the way.

 

[KYDIZFAN]

Will check them out. Thanks.

 

[Amy Fran]

We are doing a 1/2 day tour with Barcelona Day Tours and have been very happy with their communication up until now. They are picking us up at the airport one hour after we land and then we have a 4 hour tour and then they will drop us off at the hotel. Check out their website for more info and the email is below also.

Barcelona Day Tours
Top-Day-Tours Group
www.SpainDayTours.com
Tel: +34 931 815 287
Fax:+34 933 728 413
Email: info@BarcelonaDayTours.com

We looked into this because we'd love the ease of it, but it would be 250 euros for the 2 of us since it'd be considered a private tour. If someone would like to go together, maybe they'd make a couple pick-ups & drop offs. Our flight comes into BCN at 9:15am on the 12th if someone is coming in around that time?

 

[buddwaur]

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.

We are still deciding on St. Johns in Mykonos. When they sent the form to us, they mentioned that we need to indicate what port the ship will be in (Tourlos or Downtown). I called Disney to ask them and they said it would depend on the water conditons. They mentioned an announcement would be made a day earlier. What arrangements did you make with St. Johns when they asked you about port pickup?