05.26.2007 - LIVE Mediterranean Questions/Answers

[calif disney 1]

Has anybody heard yet about the VIP Vatican tour?

 

[Funfoody]

I'm curious about tipping tour guides, too. How much would an appropriate tip be? Do you have to do %15 (which seems very high, considering the prices of these tours), or are we talking $2-5/ per person?

 

[MrsG]

I just started a new thread where maybe you can post the excursion you went on and likes/dislikes about it all in one place.

Thanks

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1474234

 

[tupperny]

We had a great server that last time that we were on the Magic--Jesse from Phillipines (Real name is Ijesse).

Is he still there? How likely is it that we could request him?

Thanks

Bill

 

[disneyfamilyforever]

Hi my family is currently on the first cruise out of the Med. It has been fantastic!!! We have been so busy and I have not had time to write on the boards. So I am going to try to help give information that I have collected so far to maybe answer some of your questions.
Shows
Night 1 All Aboard Let the Magic Begin---Sail Away Deck Party---Cruise Casual
Night 2 The Golden Mickeys---Formal
Night 3 Michael Harrison---Cruise Casual
Night 4 On the Nose Game Show 7:45 and the Pirates 3 Movie 9:00---Cruise Casual
Night 5 The Art of the Story---Cruise Casual
Night 6 Movie Night Pirates 3---Cruise Casual
Night 7 Twice Charmed—Semi Formal
Night 8 Crew Talent Show and Joey Fatone(dancing with the stars)---Cruise Casual
Night 9 Mickey Dreams---Pirate Deck Party and fireworks show---Pirate night
Night 10 Disney Dreams---Party Paradiso Deck Party---Semi Formal night and fireworks from Villefranche at our sendoff
Night 11 Remember the Magic Farewell---Cruise casual
Just FYI stuff
Restrooms---really not a problem for us because using Disney for excursions they had drinks or snacks paid for at places so that we could use the restrooms. I still would suggest bringing a small travel size roll of toilet paper.
Pick pockets---I had read this could be a problem and you really need to watch this. I did hear of several that did lose a lot of things due to pick pocketing. What we did to protect our items….I had bought from Target a great zipper case for passports. It was big enough to hold the whole families things as well as the key to the world cars. Then I put that zipper pouch inside another zipper compartment in my bag. Then the main bag was zipped too. My DH had a backpack that he wore most of the time on his front.
Kids food---On two of our excursions with lunch, everybody got the same thing. But we did ask for a kids item and they were able to bring me plain pasta for my picky eaters. So just ask.
Waiter---my waiter was William and he is the best on the ship with kids. He said that several people from the Disboards have requested him so others must feel the same way. I just told him this morning that I was going to recommend him. He said make sure they are ready for a fun experience. He wants to have groups that want to have fun---get up and dance with characters at the breakfast and things like that. Amazing experience for the kids...tell him you want to see tricks and he has tons of them.
Weather---yes ours was cool. In fact for Villefranche everyone on port was dressed so cute in sleeveless tops because we finally were able to wear them. It is not so cold you need a winter coat like someone asked. My kids had a sweatshirt hoodie that they wore all the time. It is in every picture we took this whole time.The really funny thing is how many people did not bring a sweatshirt for the cold wind….so everyone on the ship was wearing a Italia sweatshirt that were sold in the ports. I personally only had a denim jacket and wish several times it was more like a hoodie.
Kids on board---We were told that approximately 350 kids were on our cruise where as the next one after us has closer to 800 kids with most of those ages 12-17. Wow!
Picture info…Disney has cute borders around pictures that label the ports of call we were at. Disney had photographers at every important monument on all the excursions. I just learned that I can take down my camera disk and they can put the border around my pictures in case I like mine better than what they got.
Barcelona---customs was nothing at all for us since we had a connection through Paris. In fact when we walked out of the Barcelona airport and wondered if we missed something because we walked right out. We got to the port at around 11:30 and were check completely in within 15 minutes. We left the port and went back into town. The lifeboat drill said mandatory but tons were in town or flying in. I think all aboard was around 9:00. We came back to the ship around 3:00 hoping to get Palo reservations and Spa cabana couples also. We easily got both even though they were booked for months on the website. There were plenty of nights to choose from for Palo and also the spa. Sea days were hard to get for either one but the rest all had openings.
Pirate night---I was very surprised at how many dressed up and went all out on this.
Early vs Late---the big question. I had late and begged for late but after getting here I wish it was early. We picked late thinking of all the excursions that would get us in late and then we could still go to dinner. In the end I think we skipped just as many late seating as we would have skipped for the early seating.
Dressing for dinner---a lot more casual than I have seen on our other cruises. We have always gotten dressed up for dinner but there were a couple times that we went in jeans or jean Capris even though we had dressy clothes for all night. We did this just because we were too tired to change and did not have the time either.
Taxi---for a family of five or more be prepared they will not take more than 4 people. From Barcelona we booked online a transfer company that took all 5 of us and the extra luggage.
This was my first thought when trying to give you all hints about our experience. Hope it helps! We are headed to Paris and then London for time after the cruise. I will start posting other things I can think of when I get home.
Also put notes about our excursions under that thread.

 

[Skallywag]

Thank you so much for all of the information in your wonderful report. We are off on the 16th June. Sorry to hear the weather has not been so good for you think it has been pretty bad all over europe for the past couple of weeks.

So glad inspite of this you had a great time and safe onward journey.
Brenda

 

[kidcoos3]

Hi my family is currently on the first cruise out of the Med. It has been fantastic!!! We have been so busy and I have not had time to write on the boards. So I am going to try to help give information that I have collected so far to maybe answer some of your questions.
Shows
Night 1 All Aboard Let the Magic Begin---Sail Away Deck Party---Cruise Casual
Night 2 The Golden Mickeys---Formal
Night 3 Michael Harrison---Cruise Casual
Night 4 On the Nose Game Show 7:45 and the Pirates 3 Movie 9:00---Cruise Casual
Night 5 The Art of the Story---Cruise Casual
Night 6 Movie Night Pirates 3---Cruise Casual
Night 7 Twice Charmed—Semi Formal
Night 8 Crew Talent Show and Joey Fatone(dancing with the stars)---Cruise Casual
Night 9 Mickey Dreams---Pirate Deck Party and fireworks show---Pirate night
Night 10 Disney Dreams---Party Paradiso Deck Party---Semi Formal night and fireworks from Villefranche at our sendoff
Night 11 Remember the Magic Farewell---Cruise casual
Just FYI stuff
Restrooms---really not a problem for us because using Disney for excursions they had drinks or snacks paid for at places so that we could use the restrooms. I still would suggest bringing a small travel size roll of toilet paper.
Pick pockets---I had read this could be a problem and you really need to watch this. I did hear of several that did lose a lot of things due to pick pocketing. What we did to protect our items….I had bought from Target a great zipper case for passports. It was big enough to hold the whole families things as well as the key to the world cars. Then I put that zipper pouch inside another zipper compartment in my bag. Then the main bag was zipped too. My DH had a backpack that he wore most of the time on his front.
Kids food---On two of our excursions with lunch, everybody got the same thing. But we did ask for a kids item and they were able to bring me plain pasta for my picky eaters. So just ask.
Waiter---my waiter was William and he is the best on the ship with kids. He said that several people from the Disboards have requested him so others must feel the same way. I just told him this morning that I was going to recommend him. He said make sure they are ready for a fun experience. He wants to have groups that want to have fun---get up and dance with characters at the breakfast and things like that. Amazing experience for the kids...tell him you want to see tricks and he has tons of them.
Weather---yes ours was cool. In fact for Villefranche everyone on port was dressed so cute in sleeveless tops because we finally were able to wear them. It is not so cold you need a winter coat like someone asked. My kids had a sweatshirt hoodie that they wore all the time. It is in every picture we took this whole time.The really funny thing is how many people did not bring a sweatshirt for the cold wind….so everyone on the ship was wearing a Italia sweatshirt that were sold in the ports. I personally only had a denim jacket and wish several times it was more like a hoodie.
Kids on board---We were told that approximately 350 kids were on our cruise where as the next one after us has closer to 800 kids with most of those ages 12-17. Wow!
Picture info…Disney has cute borders around pictures that label the ports of call we were at. Disney had photographers at every important monument on all the excursions. I just learned that I can take down my camera disk and they can put the border around my pictures in case I like mine better than what they got.
Barcelona---customs was nothing at all for us since we had a connection through Paris. In fact when we walked out of the Barcelona airport and wondered if we missed something because we walked right out. We got to the port at around 11:30 and were check completely in within 15 minutes. We left the port and went back into town. The lifeboat drill said mandatory but tons were in town or flying in. I think all aboard was around 9:00. We came back to the ship around 3:00 hoping to get Palo reservations and Spa cabana couples also. We easily got both even though they were booked for months on the website. There were plenty of nights to choose from for Palo and also the spa. Sea days were hard to get for either one but the rest all had openings.
Pirate night---I was very surprised at how many dressed up and went all out on this.
Early vs Late---the big question. I had late and begged for late but after getting here I wish it was early. We picked late thinking of all the excursions that would get us in late and then we could still go to dinner. In the end I think we skipped just as many late seating as we would have skipped for the early seating.
Dressing for dinner---a lot more casual than I have seen on our other cruises. We have always gotten dressed up for dinner but there were a couple times that we went in jeans or jean Capris even though we had dressy clothes for all night. We did this just because we were too tired to change and did not have the time either.
Taxi---for a family of five or more be prepared they will not take more than 4 people. From Barcelona we booked online a transfer company that took all 5 of us and the extra luggage.
This was my first thought when trying to give you all hints about our experience. Hope it helps! We are headed to Paris and then London for time after the cruise. I will start posting other things I can think of when I get home.
Also put notes about our excursions under that thread.

Thank you - who did you use for your transfer company?

 

[kugalbelle]

do they still have the college club for 18-21 year olds to go to if they want in diversions?

Was wondering the same thing ... my DD was involved in setting this up while on the Panama Eastbound cruise and as she'll be with us, we were also wondering if the College Club was still going?

Hi my family is currently on the first cruise out of the Med. It has been fantastic!!! We have been so busy and I have not had time to write on the boards. So I am going to try to help give information that I have collected so far to maybe answer some of your questions.
Shows
Night 1 All Aboard Let the Magic Begin---Sail Away Deck Party---Cruise Casual
Night 2 The Golden Mickeys---Formal
Night 3 Michael Harrison---Cruise Casual
Night 4 On the Nose Game Show 7:45 and the Pirates 3 Movie 9:00---Cruise Casual
Night 5 The Art of the Story---Cruise Casual
Night 6 Movie Night Pirates 3---Cruise Casual
Night 7 Twice Charmed—Semi Formal
Night 8 Crew Talent Show and Joey Fatone(dancing with the stars)---Cruise Casual
Night 9 Mickey Dreams---Pirate Deck Party and fireworks show---Pirate night
Night 10 Disney Dreams---Party Paradiso Deck Party---Semi Formal night and fireworks from Villefranche at our sendoff
Night 11 Remember the Magic Farewell---Cruise casual
Just FYI stuff
Restrooms---really not a problem for us because using Disney for excursions they had drinks or snacks paid for at places so that we could use the restrooms. I still would suggest bringing a small travel size roll of toilet paper.
Pick pockets---I had read this could be a problem and you really need to watch this. I did hear of several that did lose a lot of things due to pick pocketing. What we did to protect our items….I had bought from Target a great zipper case for passports. It was big enough to hold the whole families things as well as the key to the world cars. Then I put that zipper pouch inside another zipper compartment in my bag. Then the main bag was zipped too. My DH had a backpack that he wore most of the time on his front.
Kids food---On two of our excursions with lunch, everybody got the same thing. But we did ask for a kids item and they were able to bring me plain pasta for my picky eaters. So just ask.
Waiter---my waiter was William and he is the best on the ship with kids. He said that several people from the Disboards have requested him so others must feel the same way. I just told him this morning that I was going to recommend him. He said make sure they are ready for a fun experience. He wants to have groups that want to have fun---get up and dance with characters at the breakfast and things like that. Amazing experience for the kids...tell him you want to see tricks and he has tons of them.
Weather---yes ours was cool. In fact for Villefranche everyone on port was dressed so cute in sleeveless tops because we finally were able to wear them. It is not so cold you need a winter coat like someone asked. My kids had a sweatshirt hoodie that they wore all the time. It is in every picture we took this whole time.The really funny thing is how many people did not bring a sweatshirt for the cold wind….so everyone on the ship was wearing a Italia sweatshirt that were sold in the ports. I personally only had a denim jacket and wish several times it was more like a hoodie.
Kids on board---We were told that approximately 350 kids were on our cruise where as the next one after us has closer to 800 kids with most of those ages 12-17. Wow!
Picture info…Disney has cute borders around pictures that label the ports of call we were at. Disney had photographers at every important monument on all the excursions. I just learned that I can take down my camera disk and they can put the border around my pictures in case I like mine better than what they got.
Barcelona---customs was nothing at all for us since we had a connection through Paris. In fact when we walked out of the Barcelona airport and wondered if we missed something because we walked right out. We got to the port at around 11:30 and were check completely in within 15 minutes. We left the port and went back into town. The lifeboat drill said mandatory but tons were in town or flying in. I think all aboard was around 9:00. We came back to the ship around 3:00 hoping to get Palo reservations and Spa cabana couples also. We easily got both even though they were booked for months on the website. There were plenty of nights to choose from for Palo and also the spa. Sea days were hard to get for either one but the rest all had openings.
Pirate night---I was very surprised at how many dressed up and went all out on this.
Early vs Late---the big question. I had late and begged for late but after getting here I wish it was early. We picked late thinking of all the excursions that would get us in late and then we could still go to dinner. In the end I think we skipped just as many late seating as we would have skipped for the early seating.
Dressing for dinner---a lot more casual than I have seen on our other cruises. We have always gotten dressed up for dinner but there were a couple times that we went in jeans or jean Capris even though we had dressy clothes for all night. We did this just because we were too tired to change and did not have the time either.
Taxi---for a family of five or more be prepared they will not take more than 4 people. From Barcelona we booked online a transfer company that took all 5 of us and the extra luggage.
This was my first thought when trying to give you all hints about our experience. Hope it helps! We are headed to Paris and then London for time after the cruise. I will start posting other things I can think of when I get home.
Also put notes about our excursions under that thread.

Thank you for all the great info.

 

[3riverscruiser]

Please let us know the name of the transfer company that you booked in Barcelona and whether you would recommend them to us. Thanks.

 

[3mmm]

Where is this thread? I can't find it.

Thanks for all the info

Mary

 

[MrsG]

Mary,

Here's a link to post excursion info to.

Thanks,
Maryann

www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1474234

 

[figment52]

Ok, so I'm just curious if certain crew members are currently onboard, so if anyone could answer if you know who I'm talking about and if they are there, that's be great!

Rhett and Julie (performers from Promenade Lounge)
Charles Marshall Band
Conrad (server from Jamaica)
Sasha (from Palo, I am almost positive, though that he left the ship due to injury and did not return) Yes, Sasha was on board. He will be working regular dining this cruise (1st 10 night) and then returning to Palo.
Cruise Director Rachel Yes
Wesley (Room attendant, goes by "Wesley Snipes")

HTHelps

 

[fltink]

HTHelps

Could someone find out if Sasha will be onboard in September and if so, will be be in Palo or in the diningrooms? We have friends traveling who I'd love to hook up with him and deliver some pictures! Thanks!

 

[figment52]

Could someone find out if Sasha will be onboard in September and if so, will be be in Palo or in the diningrooms? We have friends traveling who I'd love to hook up with him and deliver some pictures! Thanks!

Sasha just returned from vacation and should still be in Palo in September.

 

[fltink]

Sasha just returned from vacation and should still be in Palo in September.

Thanks! I'll let them know!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ms7479a]

Who is currently the captain of the Magic?

 

[figment52]

Who is currently the captain of the Magic?

Captain Tom was on our cruise.

 

[ms7479a]

Does anyone know if someone has posted the Navigators from the Med. cruise?

 

[cruisinluver]

Have they lowered the drinking age to 18 yet?

Has their been any instances of Eurostyle sunbathing?

 

[figment52]

Have they lowered the drinking age to 18 yet?

Has their been any instances of Eurostyle sunbathing?

I saw it on the beaches in Barcelona and Nice. Those were the only beaches I went to. I recall others mentioning it on other beach excursions
but I don't recall which ones.

The beach in downtown Nice did not have a sandy beach but rather a rock beach. I couldn't walk on it once I took off my shoes. I don't know how those people just put down a towel and lie on those rocks. The concrete "stepped" beach we drove by in Monaco was at least level even though hard.