08/08/07 Well, Olbia Monkey's Uncle! We're cruisin' on the 10nt Med Cruise!

[JamesF408]

There had been some talk earlier in this thread of coming up with a catchy name for our cruise. These two came to mind:

"Cannes You Dig It?" 8/8 10nt Med cruise

"Olbia a Monkey's Uncle - We're Cruisin' the Med!"

Anyone else have any ideas?

I agree, I like "Olbia a Monkey's Uncle - We're Cruisin' the Med!"
Catchy and Funny

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

Well Olbia a monkey's uncle - this thread was stuck back on Page 3!

Bump!

 

[UMTerp]

Thanks Nancy!

This thread doesn't seem to be too active. I'm sure it will pick up as we get closer!

Have a great day everyone!

UMTerp

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

Yes, I am surprised as this cruise (8/8) is supposedly the most sold of all the 10/11nt Med cruises.

 

[nordkin]

Our family of four will be joining you on this one. Unfortunately we did not book when it was released and booked on board on the 11 night Southern Caribbean. We were only able to get a category 9 GTY and a category 10 GTY, but at least we will be on the ship.

 

[UMTerp]

Welcome nordkin!

You look familiar. Did you go on the Panama Canal repo?

Have you looked at airfare yet? The cheapest I'm finding is out of Philly instead of the DC area.

UMTerp

 

[nordkin]

Welcome nordkin!

You look familiar. Did you go on the Panama Canal repo?

Have you looked at airfare yet? The cheapest I'm finding is out of Philly instead of the DC area.

UMTerp

Yes, we were on the Panama Canal repo and I remember talking to you and your family in the elevator. I have not starting looking at airfare yet, but will start this weekend. I am glad there will be some familiar faces on this one and look forward to meeting new DISers.

 

[JamesF408]

Hello to everyone again, and welcome nordkin.

It has been pretty slow on the board but hey we are still here. Arica, was recently busy on a honeymoon. I am sure that went well. I just got back from a 1 year wed anniversary from Tahiti, AMAZING!

Hope everyone else is doing good. I was going to wait for airfare and see what happens, hopefully I wont pay the price for it. Usually you can find some good deals last minute.

Can always book through disney, that way you have the transfers already arranged.

10 months left!

 

[nordkin]

We are also waiting on airfares. Right now they are running around $1000 per person from Washington DC and I think we can do better later. When I booked on board on the 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise I was told DCL was no longer allowing airfare to be added, but to keep checking with them. I will continue to monitor the airfares and book when I think they are as low as they are going to go.

It is great to be booked and I am looking forward to getting to know all of you.

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

I was told DCL was no longer allowing airfare to be added, but to keep checking with them.

This is true! My FIL and SIL and family are on a waiting list with DCL for airfare for the MED. Seems DCL only has so many seats contracted with the airlines. Once they are gone, they're gone! So if you are at all interested in DCL airfare, you best might want to get your name on that waiting list NOW. You can always cancel before 90 days if you change your mind. But if you wait you may not get the DCL air at all. Just FYI.

 

[bellelinus]

I'm bumping this back to the first page . . . another thread for this cruise has reappeared with some new posts.

 

[jrabbit]

I'm in Washington, so it'll be about 17 hours for me. AHHHHHHHHHH!!! Does anyone have any suggestions for me as I'm a little leary of flying. It makes me nervous.

Look at flying out of Portland instead of SeaTac. It can be "only" 13.5 hours - check on Expedia or Obitz.

We checked both SeaTac and Portland and found a flight on Lufthansa out of Portland to be the most convienent (but NOT the cheepest - we feel the extra $100 or so per person is worth cutting out some the the time / hassel of getting to Barcelona.

 

[jrabbit]

I've been reading about Barcelona. Seems like there is a good deal of crime. One travel book I bought says that crime can be a problem in the low and high end hotels. They suggested brining a padlock to secure your luggage in your room! I'm not sure that's the kind of environment I want to subject my kids to! And the info about pickpockets - scarey! I can just see that really starting off our trip badly. Maybe I'm being paranoid! I don't know!
UMTerp

Muggings and violent crimes are very rare - it's the pickpockets that you need to be concerned about.

And I would not leave any valuables in any hotel in Europe.

We've been reading Rick Steves and Frommers books on Italy and Spain. In the Italy books they say that Naples is the worst for pickpockets in Europe. In the Spain books they say the Barcelona has the worse pickpockets. In Rome on the bus (and or train) from the airport to downtown all of the books say that 1/2 of the people on it are tourists and the other half are pickpockets!!

How to combate this. Moneybelt under your clothes with shirt tucked in. Only carry in your billfold a small amount of money (that you are willing to loose - but you need some Ee (Euros not $$ ) for your daily use - you obviously don't want to be getting into your money belt in public. Keep your wallet in your front pocket - and you still need to make sure that you "keep an eye on it". Ladies, don't be out with a purse - purse snatchers will grab it from you as they walk or DRIVE by!!! If you must take a purse - take a small backpack type of bag - doesn't look like a purse and you will be less likely to be robbed. But there again, don't keep much cash in it.

Here's a link to Rick Steves Travel Tips Page with lots of information.

This Rick Steves page has 3 videos to watch (less than 2 minutes each). 1) Money Belt, 2) Packing and 3) Itinerary Planning (not really needed for us on the cruise - we pretty much know our itinerary). Watch the Money Belt one for sure!!

 

[jrabbit]

Hope everyone else is doing great, and less than a year now YES! My wife found some books online at Amazon.com cheap about all the ports we are going to be stopping at. She also, got another book about personal walking tours around the area's we are stopping at as well. So we have started the research, well my wife has. I am waiting for what kind of excursions are going to become available through disney so we have an idea of what to look for in each port.

What books / information on the "Personal Walking Tours" did she find? Thanks.

We're reading Rick Steves Italy 2005 book - it has some information / help on walking tours - but I'm interested in anything else anyone can come up with.

THis book does not have anything about Sicily (Palermo) in it. Have you found out anything to do in Palermo?

 

[jrabbit]

Also, any idea on how much shore excurrisions are going to cost? My guess is alot. Rome, Florence, Pompeii, etc, won't be cheap trip.
Any suggestions to save $ on these?
Anyhow, hope to read a lot more on here. Be back soon when we confirm.

I'm sure the DCL excursions will be spendy.

At Naples if you're planning on going to Pompeii there is a train that runs several times per hour between Naples and Pompeii. About 30 minute trip each way and around 5 euros per person each way. I'm not sure how far the train station is from the port, but I don't think that it's very far. Paying for admission to Pompeii is an additional fee (I don't remember how much). Put it together and you will spend next to nothing compared to whatever DCL will provide. You might be able to join a tour or hire a private guide if you would like.

Here's the link to the Italian Train system web page. You can only look at dates / times / prices only about 2 months out.

The train from Civitavecchia to Rome runs several times per hour. The trip is between 1 and 1 1/2 hours depending upon which train you take. The cost will cost between 4 and 10.50 euros each way depending upon the train and time of day. There's a "tourist bus" that will take you around Rome with hop on / off priveleges. Depending upon what you want to see will depend upon the cost.

At La Spezia - if you are going to Pisa, the cost for the train is less than 5 euros each way per person and it's less than an hour trip. Going to Florence I'm sure is just as convienient on the train, but I would consider doing a DCL excursion here because of the time and distance = more potiential problems and I would feel better with DCL "on the hook" if something went wrong.


I found this thread that someone put together here on the DIS with Tours and Guides

 

[UMTerp]

jrabbit - Thank you so much for all of the valuable information!

I purchased our plane tickets over the weekend. Got tickets on British Airways with one stop. Just have to make a hotel or apartment ressie in Barcelona for one night before the cruise.

I need to start reading some of these travel books to get more familiar with the areas we will be traveling to.

Happy Halloween everyone!

UMTerp

 

[scrapycruiser]

UMTerp...I see you are from Virginia. We're from Newport News and will also be on the Aug 8 cruise with our 10 yr old Grandson.

Just curious...what's everyone doing from La Spezia ? It's a long way to Florence...

 

[UMTerp]

Hi scrapycruiser - we are in Fairfax but have family in the Hampton area.

Our DS is 12 and DD will be 9 for this cruise.

UMTerp

 

[jrabbit]

UMTerp...I see you are from Virginia. We're from Newport News and will also be on the Aug 8 cruise with our 10 yr old Grandson.

Just curious...what's everyone doing from La Spezia ? It's a long way to Florence...

Short train trip south to Pisa (30 min) or a short train trip (30 min again) north to Cinque Terre (pronounced Chinka Terra - I think )

We all know whats at Pisa, but what the heck is Cinque Terre? In short its a "national park" with 5 villages perched on a rugged and beautiful coast line. There are hiking trails between the towns. There are boat "rides" between the towns too. I think that you could get some spectacular photos from the boats of the villages! The villages are also linked by train.

We are going to go to Pisa. If our time there is short after seeing the Leaning Tower, the Baptistry and the Dumo on the "Field of Miracles" we might head up to Cinque Terre for some outdoor activity.

Here's the link to Rick Steves Italy page (up one level from the Cinque Terre page).

Note: as you can tell from my posts that I'm a Rick Steves fan!! I recommend his Italy 2006 (2007 might be out now). It covers Naples / Pompeii / Amalfi Coast in the south, north to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Tuscany as an area, Cinque Terre, and on up to/through Venice, Milan, Lake Como, the Dolomites etc. It unfortunatly does not cover Sicily (but I KNOW that I've seen Rick's take on Sicily somewhere) and it does not cover Sardiana (Olbia).

 

[nordkin]

jrabbit - Thank you so much for all of the valuable information!

I purchased our plane tickets over the weekend. Got tickets on British Airways with one stop. Just have to make a hotel or apartment ressie in Barcelona for one night before the cruise.

I need to start reading some of these travel books to get more familiar with the areas we will be traveling to.

Happy Halloween everyone!

UMTerp

Are you flying out of Dulles? I am still looking at airfares and am on the fence between British Airways and Luftansa. What day are you flying home?