June 27, 2013 - Magic in the Med (Venice)

[jel0511]

We were in a SPH cabin on the Magic in early Sept going to Canada. We had the one that was the least obstructed with no connecting door. It worked out well, those cabins are 5020 and 5520. On the Med we also have the least obstructed cabin with no connecting door. We loved that cabin and are looking forward to June 2013. We have not thought about any land tours except Rome. I want to do The Classical Rome excursion with DCL which is $250+ per person. The other ports we are open to hooking up with other travelers. We seniors age 67 an 68 with no kids .
We are retired, on a fixed income, and by golly I want to get to Rome before I am too old to travel, so yes we are also doing the save everything we can to pay for this cruise route, but we are OK except for the expensive land excursions. We are doing a pre and post hotel also with DCL, have DCL air and hope they put us on a non stop from EWR to BCN.
Michele

I think that non stop is wishful thinking at this point. I daily check air prices to/from PHL, EWR and JFK to see if I did in fact get the best price. Air is currently still higher than I paid, and currently the non stop out of EWR is at 1678 pp, a little less than I believe DCL is charging, but Lufstansa is 1200 for a one stop. DCL will for sure put you on that one, to make more money on your fare, especially if you didn't pay the air deviation fee to pick your flights. Now this is pricing 8 1/2 months out. DCL won't lock in your air until about 45-60 days prior to sailing, when pricing is bound to be more than this...........

 

[carpenta]

Lufstansa is a far superior airline than Delta or Continental IF it is Lufstansa fight per se. Love flying Lufstansa!

 

[DenverVal]

What I've seen is "Lufthansa operated by Air Canada".

 

[carpenta]

What I've seen is "Lufthansa operated by Air Canada".

I would prefer that over anything that states "Delta, United, or Continental" Three of THE WORSE IMHO. So long as there are Lufstansa crew you are golden.

 

[shoes99]

When we did the Baltics on Princess we flew SAS out of Newark to Copenhagen , nonstop, with an upgrade to Economy Plus (using Optiontown). I liked Sas.

I'm still shopping for air, but cannot really pay for any flights until January, that is why I have added DCL air to our current reservation just in case.

 

[MrsScooby]

So...I pretty much have Rome, Florence/Pisa and Naples planned with Rome in Limo.
Now for the rest of the ports...

My family is no help

Villefranche --I am thinking of Nice or Eze

Dubrovnik will be walking the wall, and probably shopping

Malta, will be Mdina and Valletta

Venice, will be as much as I can squeeze in, (definitely mask shopping) and a gondola ride

Anyone else making DIY plans???

 

[jel0511]

So...I pretty much have Rome, Florence/Pisa and Naples planned with Rome in Limo. same thing here, but going to Portifino while in La Spezia.
Now for the rest of the ports...

My family is no help

Villefranche --I am thinking of Nice or Ezedid both last time on a DCL excursion. Spent the morning in Monaco. An option if you are interested.

Dubrovnik will be walking the wall, and probably shoppingsane thing prob.....

Malta, will be Mdina and Vallettahopefully Blue Grotto in the am and Valletta in the pm.

Venice, will be as much as I can squeeze in, (definitely mask shopping) and a gondola rideprob going to do the palace party at night the bog mentioned. Wander around a bit, and a gondola ride is a MUST!!!!

Anyone else making DIY plans???

Posted our plans above.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Villefranche --I am thinking of Nice or Eze

Dubrovnik will be walking the wall, and probably shopping

Malta, will be Mdina and Valletta

Venice, will be as much as I can squeeze in, (definitely mask shopping) and a gondola ride

Anyone else making DIY plans???

We went to Nice in 2007 and enjoyed the morning there, and then DH and I dropped the boys back onto the ship and explored Villefranche itself. It's a beautiful little place.

This time I want to go to both Monaco and Eze - so we will decide which we'll do on the Greece cruise and which we'll do on this one... it will likely be a matter of which one costs more if we do it through DCL and which one we feel more comfortable doing on our own. On this one, we'll be doing a full-day in Florence the following day, so we will want an easier day in Villefranche - so I'm thinking Eze on our own - it looks pretty easy to do - and when we go through the first time around, we'll check out what we think we're going to do to make sure we can do it in our allotted time.

For Venice, definitely a gondola ride, some shopping, and what else? I don't know yet - but I'm pretty sure we'll just do it all through DCL. Venice is an important stop to Nathan and he feels much more comfortable when we do ship-sponsored tours.

For Dubrovnik, we'll do that on our own - haven't gotten the plans made yet, but it looks like a great port to do on our own - unless DCL has a pretty inexpensive guided tour - we do like to do a short guided tour and then explore the area on our own afterwards if there is time and the port is situated so that we can easily get back to the ship.

We haven't thought about Malta yet, but as with Villefranche, we'll have a second go at it by the time we get there on this voyage, so it might be a hang out on the ship and do laundry day!

 

[emmah16]

Hi Everyone

Does anyone have an idea on how many formal nights there will be?
On our 10 night Med cruise back in 2010 there was just 1 but on our 14 night WBTA last year we had 2 and this cruise is in between with 12 nights.

Any guess's?

 

[jel0511]

Hi Everyone

Does anyone have an idea on how many formal nights there will be?
On our 10 night Med cruise back in 2010 there was just 1 but on our 14 night WBTA last year we had 2 and this cruise is in between with 12 nights.

Any guess's?

I'm hoping for only 1 actually. We won't dress formally, as I don't want to have to drag the clothes all the way from the states.

 

[tajz90]

Hi Everyone

Does anyone have an idea on how many formal nights there will be?
On our 10 night Med cruise back in 2010 there was just 1 but on our 14 night WBTA last year we had 2 and this cruise is in between with 12 nights.

Any guess's?

Our 11 night med in 07 and the 12 night Baltic both had 2 dressy nights. I can't remember if they were both classified as formal or one formal & the other semi formal.

 

[emmah16]

Our 11 night med in 07 and the 12 night Baltic both had 2 dressy nights. I can't remember if they were both classified as formal or one formal & the other semi formal.

On the 10 night Med there was the formal night and the semi formal but on the WBTA there was 2 formal as well as a semi formal.

 

[shoes99]

Our 11 night med in 07 and the 12 night Baltic both had 2 dressy nights. I can't remember if they were both classified as formal or one formal & the other semi formal.

On the 10 night Med there was the formal night and the semi formal but on the WBTA there was 2 formal as well as a semi formal.

On the Baltics cruise I rented a tux and dress shoes for DH, since I didn't want to have to carry his plus size suit with us. A tux is not necessary but it sure looks good in pictures.

 

[JLSE50]

Hi Everyone

Does anyone have an idea on how many formal nights there will be?
On our 10 night Med cruise back in 2010 there was just 1 but on our 14 night WBTA last year we had 2 and this cruise is in between with 12 nights.

Any guess's?

On past cruises we have taken DH's suit and/or sports coat. On the trips where we took just the sports coat, he paired it with dark pants for Formal and Semi-formal nights and light pants for Palo Brunch.

This time we are thinking about renting a tux since we have to pay for luggage to fly to Europe and back--we will do a cost comparison.

I take a "little black dress" and pair it with different jewelry and shawls for different effects. I live in sandals as often as possible so black flat sandals (never heels--DH is too close to my height) go for day or night. Another pair of sandals is more casual so I do have a change. That also means--no pantyhose! Which means no runs will show. Just some DCL body lotion on my legs and they look as decent as possible.

.

 

[emmah16]

Hi

DH will be taking a tux and DS also has a tux hopefully it will still fit him. I enjoy formal night because it is something different and everyone looks so smart and elegant.

We have a picture in our living room from our Med cruise back in 2010 and its from formal night, DS keeps saying we need a new picture because we now have DD. I am really looking forward to it.

I have also just noticed that we are on the first cruise going to Venice (do not know where I have been lol ) I wounder if we will get any little surprises as it is the first. I don't care if we don't just happy to be back on Magic

 

[MrsScooby]

My DH and DS like the rented tuxes, but won't get them unless there are several others planning to as well. And I agree they make for nice pictures

And I also have a black dress that I bring with me and wear at least one night in the MDR as well as Palo dinner. And a couple of different wraps as well. Great minds think alike

 

[carpenta]

Hi

DH will be taking a tux and DS also has a tux hopefully it will still fit him. I enjoy formal night because it is something different and everyone looks so smart and elegant.

We have a picture in our living room from our Med cruise back in 2010 and its from formal night, DS keeps saying we need a new picture because we now have DD. I am really looking forward to it.

I have also just noticed that we are on the first cruise going to Venice (do not know where I have been lol ) I wounder if we will get any little surprises as it is the first. I don't care if we don't just happy to be back on Magic

We were on the first Med. cruise back in 2007. In every port there is a custom the the mayor and other high officals come on board and do a ceremony and exchange plaques etc. It is an old custom I guess. On the first time we cruised the Magic in 2007 a couple stops had fireworks at night welcoming Disney. I remember a helicopter circling the ship taking video footage in one port. I do wonder if Venice will have a ceremony? It would be nice to see. But Venice is an amazing port and overnight lets you see the main islands as well as Murano and other outlying areas. We have been on another cruise line that ported there.You have to see St. Marks and the Doge(sp ?) palace next door.

 

[emmah16]

We were on the first Med. cruise back in 2007. In every port there is a custom the the mayor and other high officals come on board and do a ceremony and exchange plaques etc. It is an old custom I guess. On the first time we cruised the Magic in 2007 a couple stops had fireworks at night welcoming Disney. I remember a helicopter circling the ship taking video footage in one port. I do wonder if Venice will have a ceremony? It would be nice to see. But Venice is an amazing port and overnight lets you see the main islands as well as Murano and other outlying areas. We have been on another cruise line that ported there.You have to see St. Marks and the Doge(sp ?) palace next door.

This would be really nice if it happens.

 

[kmitchel]

On the first Hawaii cruise earlier this year, we had helicopters around us and throwing flowers in the ocean. We also had a fire boat with the water shooting around follow us into port. Once we left all of the islands, they displayed the gifts that each island had given to the Wonder set up on a table by Guest Services for everyone to see.

 

[JLSE50]

My DH and DS like the rented tuxes, but won't get them unless there are several others planning to as well. And I agree they make for nice pictures

And I also have a black dress that I bring with me and wear at least one night in the MDR as well as Palo dinner. And a couple of different wraps as well. Great minds think alike

yes, we do !!

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