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

[Kellycanada]

Fish extender: there is a metal fish outside each cabin. The crew tucks stuff behind it, like activity books for the kids for each port, etc. People make hangers for the fish, with a pocket for each person in the cabin. Groups form and there is a 'gift swap' during the cruise. Every day you get presents in your fish extender and you leave presents for others.

Tell me more about gladiator school! This sounds like something my kids would enjoy - especially my 10 year old son. I take it you did this independently of the disney excursions?

Carol

Hi. I just booked it online through Viator ?(spelling?). For the 4 of us it was $280 US. It last 2 hours and you learn about the gladiators, train (looks a little like the TV show Wipeout) and then fight your family. There is a great video on you tube. We are touring the colosseum and area first and then heading there. I hope I can move the next day! I have to balance touring with kids stuff and figured that would be fun for everyone.

 

[thestewarts]

Hi all: We are not new to Disney or Disney Cruise line, but we are new to the board. I found out about this site on our most recent cruise (9/3/12 - Alaska). We booked the 7/25/13 cruise while onboard the Alaska voyage. It will be my kids' first time to Europe. I really want to get them to Pompeii! I have a 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son. My daughter loves going to The Edge and my son loves Oceaneer's Lab. They are both bummed that there aren't more days at see on this cruise - less time in their 'clubs'. Has a fish extender group been started for this trip? We have never done it before, but it sounds like a lot of fun! I am looking forward to getting to know some fellow cruisers before we sail. We will be in Edinburgh for 4 days prior to heading to Barcelona. Anyone from Edinburgh making the trip?

Carol

Hi bepheobe our daughter will also be 13 on the cruise. She already knows a couple of girls she met on a previous cruise. We did europe on the Magic last year and she still spent an enormous amount of time in the edge. We're from Scotland, although on the west coast not the east near edinburgh.
If you want any info on what, where etc when you're here drop me a note.

 

[thestewarts]

Okay, I'm probably messing this up and repeating myself, but how else do you learn!! What is a fish extender?
Kelly

Hi Kelly

We were pretty much the same as far as FE was concerned last year. Didn't participate but our DD and her ship board friends had fun trailing the corridors delivering to their FE buddies.

Alex

 

[newfamilyman]

Hi everyone,
We just swapped out a 7-night cruise for this one. Besides my wife and I, there is DD 11 and DS 8. It will be their first time in Europe, and our first time in Venice, so we're excited. I will look for the gladiator tour on Viator; thanks for the suggestion. We have also found fish extender gifts to be fun, so hopefully one can be organized for our group as well. This will be our longest cruise since a DCL Panama Canal cruise a couple of years ago; even though it is two days shorter, this one is twice the price for the same cabin category!
Carl

 

[clairedy6]

Hi we will be on this cruise too, does anyone have any links to previous trip reports??

 

[thestewarts]

Hi we will be on this cruise too, does anyone have any links to previous trip reports??

Hi Clairedy

We did the med last year on the Magic and visited a lot of the ports we're visiting again next year. If you want any info drop me a pm and we will see if we can point you in the right direction.

 

[Legalsmurph]

Hi Everyone. My DH and I just switched to this cruise from the June Venice cruise. Does anyone have any advice on any of the Barcelona hotels?

 

[Kellycanada]

Hi. I can't pm anyone as I don't have enough posts! So an open question to anyone who has been to Florence:
When you were in Florence, did people on the disney tours get to leave first on the tenders, or could people,who were not on a tour, leave as soon as the ship docked? We are thinking of taking the train into Florence. Thanks. Kelly.

 

[thestewarts]

Hi. I can't pm anyone as I don't have enough posts! So an open question to anyone who has been to Florence:
When you were in Florence, did people on the disney tours get to leave first on the tenders, or could people,who were not on a tour, leave as soon as the ship docked? We are thinking of taking the train into Florence. Thanks. Kelly.

Kelly
From last year's port adventure details, if you're not on a Disney tour the tendering process started at 7.30am via ticketing process. The tickets were issued from the Theatre. The ticketing process ran for a couple of hours until open tendering began. Tender transfer could take up to 45 mins. Last tender back last year was 7.30pm hope that helps.
PS: trains to Florence take 2.5 hrs. Italian trains website: http://www.trenitalia.com/homepage_en.html
Happy to help with other queries, Fiona

 

[thestewarts]

Hi we will be on this cruise too, does anyone have any links to previous trip reports??

There are a few of these on the DISboards, hope this helps?

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2519107:jester::jester::simba::simba::santa:

 

[newfamilyman]

Kelly,
Which Gladiator tour are you doing? I am leaning toward the 1.
Carl

 

[Kellycanada]

Kelly,
Which Gladiator tour are you doing? I am leaning toward the 1.
Carl

We are booked for 1 pm.

 

[newfamilyman]

Viator has a lot of tours that look good. It's hard to know whether to book right away or wait for one of the days where you get 10% off all tours if you book on that day. Those don't happen very often, though.

 

[Kellycanada]

Viator has a lot of tours that look good. It's hard to know whether to book right away or wait for one of the days where you get 10% off all tours if you book on that day. Those don't happen very often, though.

I've been burned before, so I book everything early. Well, that's my excuse. I'm just really excited and have fun planning. Also, the Canadian dollar is really good right now (above par), so that's helping the budget right. I'm buying USA $ now to pay for our the cruise in March. Is everyone going to attempt gladiator school? I'm afraid I might not be able to move the next day with all that jumping, etc.! Should be fun.

 

[newfamilyman]

Did you get the e-mail that Wednesday, all tours booked that day are 12% off? It may be hard to find other, family-friendly tours through them, though. I'm not seeing that many others.

 

[bephoebe]

Hi Alex: I wrote a PM, but I don't have enough posts to send it! Drat! I hear you about the Edge obsession. We just did Alaska and my daughter lived there. My son lived in the Oceaneers Lab. They are both bummed that they will only have 3 days at sea on this cruise. Gah!

Hopefully my PM will go when I get 10 posts! if not, I will repeat it and resend. We are in Edinburgh, to visit my sister, from the 20-24th. We are doing the touristy things, lol.

Carol

 

[bephoebe]

So, it seems that many of you book your own excursions, ie not through Disney. Is this the case? When we went to Alaska we booked all of our excursions through Disney. How hard is arranging the transportation, etc (I got spoiled that Disney just took care of everything). Also, is it really that much cheaper? Very curious about this!

Thanks.

 

[bephoebe]

My kids are all over this idea. I am looking into it. I will have to work out before the cruise!

 

[bephoebe]

For those of you who have done this cruise before, what were your favorite excursions, and which would you avoid like the plague?

 

[bephoebe]

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