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

[2Tinks]

How cool is that. Yes, we are checking in on the 7th probably around 1:00pm, we will already be well adjusted to the time. Our plans are to do a bit of sightseeing in Barcelona and eating out - maybe we could all join for sightseeing and/or dinner. That would be so great for the girls to meet prior. We are also staying the 18th at the Renaissance.
Let us know. This is really getting exciting! Jocelyne

That is too cool, yes sightseeing and/or dinner would be great, I know our little one can't wait to get on plane and meet her new friend.

Chuck

 

[sharonrs50]

I think the gift exchange needs to be cut off by July 15 to give people a chance to get the gifts. I will also post the counts of people and staterooms when I get home. The gift exchange should be fun and remember, it is up to you whether you want to provide a gift per person or per stateroom.

I too have been reading the blogs and the trip reports and have found them to be very informative. They have changed my mind about a couple of excursions and put me more at ease on others. I think we are fortunate to be the last cruise in the Med because they will have the kinks worked out by the time we go.

Donna

Once again, Donna, thanks for your work for our list.

I got so happy last week because I found some good Disney gifts at the Dollar Store for the exchange. Still no fish extender, though. We will be making one.

I agree, I hope they will have most of the kinks worked out by the time of our cruise.

Which excursions, in particular, have you changed your mind about because of the trip reports?

Sharon

 

[CluelessSanFran]

"Pisa- I booked our tickets to climb the tower on the internet. We had to tender to the pier. We chose to take a taxi to the train station. It was 10 euros. It was supposed to be a 10 min. walk but it looked busy and a lot longer to me. We jumped on the train heading for Pisa Centrale. At the train station there is a tobacco counter- buy your bus tickets 1,80 round trip to get to the tower. The bus stop is across the street the bus line is LAM Rosa. Make sure to validate your ticket on the bus. When you get to the field of miracles you can see the tower and other buildings. We walked around the area and then exchanged our printed voucher for our tickets and climbed the tower. Those not having pre-purchased tickets had to wait a couple hours to climb. The bus back to the train station stops across the street from where you get off. We took the bus back to the station. We along with other made the mistake of getting off the train at Le Spezia the conductor luckily told us to get back on. Make sure to get off La Spezia Centrale. I wanted to see the Cinque Terre Towns so some headed back on board the ship and we caught the train to Riomaggiore. We walked around the town it was pretty." Posted by Parkaroo from the trip report.

I am curious to find out whether anyone has bought tickets online to climb the tower yet? Parkaroo wrote a very informative report on how to maneuver med ports on their own. I am tempted to do likewise. It would be great to have some adventurous DISers to be our travel companions. Any takers?

 

[d3boyz]

"Pisa- I booked our tickets to climb the tower on the internet. We had to tender to the pier. We chose to take a taxi to the train station. It was 10 euros. It was supposed to be a 10 min. walk but it looked busy and a lot longer to me. We jumped on the train heading for Pisa Centrale. At the train station there is a tobacco counter- buy your bus tickets 1,80 round trip to get to the tower. The bus stop is across the street the bus line is LAM Rosa. Make sure to validate your ticket on the bus. When you get to the field of miracles you can see the tower and other buildings. We walked around the area and then exchanged our printed voucher for our tickets and climbed the tower. Those not having pre-purchased tickets had to wait a couple hours to climb. The bus back to the train station stops across the street from where you get off. We took the bus back to the station. We along with other made the mistake of getting off the train at Le Spezia the conductor luckily told us to get back on. Make sure to get off La Spezia Centrale. I wanted to see the Cinque Terre Towns so some headed back on board the ship and we caught the train to Riomaggiore. We walked around the town it was pretty." Posted by Parkaroo from the trip report.

I am curious to find out whether anyone has bought tickets online to climb the tower yet? Parkaroo wrote a very informative report on how to maneuver med ports on their own. I am tempted to do likewise. It would be great to have some adventurous DISers to be our travel companions. Any takers?

I need to talk to my boys. They're waffling a little on the climb just now, but they still want to GO there and get a pix of them 'holding the tower up.' I'm still thinking of doing that and THEN going to Florence to see the Duomo. For these, however, I'm planning to arrange the travel on my own. No need to get hooked into a large tour group that doesn't want to see/do things in the same amount of time that we do. I'd rather more flexibility!

Deb

 

[miclen]

"Pisa-
I am curious to find out whether anyone has bought tickets online to climb the tower yet? Parkaroo wrote a very informative report on how to maneuver med ports on their own. I am tempted to do likewise. It would be great to have some adventurous DISers to be our travel companions. Any takers?

We bought tickets online to climb the tower, but we are taking a private tour.

 

[miclen]

One month from today we will all be on the Magic in the Med!!!

 

[Vailcruiser]

"Pisa- I booked our tickets to climb the tower on the internet. We had to tender to the pier. We chose to take a taxi to the train station. It was 10 euros. It was supposed to be a 10 min. walk but it looked busy and a lot longer to me. We jumped on the train heading for Pisa Centrale. At the train station there is a tobacco counter- buy your bus tickets 1,80 round trip to get to the tower. The bus stop is across the street the bus line is LAM Rosa. Make sure to validate your ticket on the bus. When you get to the field of miracles you can see the tower and other buildings. We walked around the area and then exchanged our printed voucher for our tickets and climbed the tower. Those not having pre-purchased tickets had to wait a couple hours to climb. The bus back to the train station stops across the street from where you get off. We took the bus back to the station. We along with other made the mistake of getting off the train at Le Spezia the conductor luckily told us to get back on. Make sure to get off La Spezia Centrale. I wanted to see the Cinque Terre Towns so some headed back on board the ship and we caught the train to Riomaggiore. We walked around the town it was pretty." Posted by Parkaroo from the trip report.

I am curious to find out whether anyone has bought tickets online to climb the tower yet? Parkaroo wrote a very informative report on how to maneuver med ports on their own. I am tempted to do likewise. It would be great to have some adventurous DISers to be our travel companions. Any takers?

Hi, we have now canceled all our excursions and are going to try them all on our own. We would be interested in taking the train to Pisa with you if you wanted to leave anytime between 7:30-10am. My dd and I will not be going into the tower (she's 7 and the age is 8 and older), just really want to get the photo like Deb mentions. My DH may be interested. I have printed all the train schedules for the various ports,the itinerary from DCL that now has nothing scheduled and I've written in all the information we have collected from other cruisers. A few of us will be doing Pompeii together from this DIS group, I believe we decided to meet at 8:30am if you are interested. The more the merrier

One month - I can not believe it! Everyone packed?

Also, for those of you with younger children, I read on the cruisecritic DCL board that you can bring an item (pillowcase, fabric frame, t-shirt, etc) and leave it with guest services who will then have all characters or just princesses sign. That sounded really cool. Jocelyne

 

[CluelessSanFran]

"Quote:
Originally Posted by scrapycruiser
We have decided to do Pompeii on our own. We're thinking of making this a half-day tour and relax by the ship's pool so we'll be ready for Rome and Florence. Anyone want to come along ? GINA


Hi Gina, we are right there with you! After reading some of the other reviews and knowing how hot the afternoon sun is, we are going to attempt to do this on our own as well. We were thinking about heading out after breakfast, taking the train to Pompeii and then heading back to swim and relax. We would LOVE to tag along if that works for you. We tend to be early people (although the only time I've ever slept in has been the DCL cruises) and would be interested meeting anytime between 7:30-10am and heading out. Your thoughts?? If we get there and want to go our own way, that would be fine, just nice to leave and navigate the trains with others. It would be really great if we had a few families. I also agree, I would like to rest up for Rome."

It looks like you've all planned this trip very well. We would love to take the train with you guys to Pompeii. We'll cancel our DCL's Herculaneum trip. Great!!! And Pisa sounds great!

 

[CluelessSanFran]

Courtesy of Parkaroo:

"Naples- Beware of the taxi drivers!! They bug you to death. We walked to the end of the port and got a taxi to the train station. We had to repeatedly insist that we only wanted to go to the train station and agreed on a price. It was 10 euros. Once we got in the taxi he still tried to get us to let him take us by taxi to our destination. We finally got to the station. After a couple of trips to the window we got a day train tickets. This was the only train that we couldn’t use our eurorail pass. The train ticket was 6,40 euro to use all day. After you buy your ticket go down stairs to Circumvesia train. Make sure to validate your ticket in the machine. We got on the train to Pompeii make sure you get on the one that stops at Pompeii Scavi. (that is the stop for the Pompeii site) The train was hot! Filled with people. We arrived at Pompeii scavi and walked a short distance to Pompeii. Make sure you pick up a map of the site when you buy your tickets. The site was huge! When they say not stroller friendly they mean it. (lots of steps and cobblestones) We ended up folding the stroller and carrying the baby. Wish we had brought our carrier with us that day! It was so HOT! Next we went back to the train station and caught the train to Sorrento. Sorrento was a pretty town we walked around visted the shops. We looked down from the town and realized that the hydrofoil dock was down at the bottom of the town. We walked down a bunch of steps to get to the dock. (One good thing about taking the train to the town was that we didn’t have to walk up all the steps) We got a ticket to take the hydrofoil back to Naples 9 euros. We had wanted to visit Carpi but we spent too long at Pompeii."

I've been cutting and pasting these great suggestions into Outlook. It's impossible to remember all the little details.

 

[2Tinks]

Is there anyone who is doing a private tour of Rome, not through DCL? If so which tour company are you using? Since a lot of other cruisers are now canceling the excursion through DCL, I was looking to see if anyone else was doing a private tour of Rome. Would it by train or a pick up of the tour company?

Chuck

 

[momma4v3]

Is there anyone who is doing a private tour of Rome, not through DCL? If so which tour company are you using? Since a lot of other cruisers are now canceling the excursion through DCL, I was looking to see if anyone else was doing a private tour of Rome. Would it by train or a pick up of the tour company?

Chuck

We are using limoinrome.com for a tour of Rome and I think we are going with them in Naples, too. It will be a minivan for our group of 7 and the driver will take us to the sites we want to go. The driver will pick us up at the port and return to the port. Their price is comparable to DCL. It does not include admission to the sites. He will reserve tickets to some of the timed places like Vatican or the Coliseum. His email address is claudio@limoinrome.com He will respond quickly.

Linda

 

[d3boyz]

Hi, we have now canceled all our excursions and are going to try them all on our own. We would be interested in taking the train to Pisa with you if you wanted to leave anytime between 7:30-10am. My dd and I will not be going into the tower (she's 7 and the age is 8 and older), just really want to get the photo like Deb mentions. My DH may be interested. I have printed all the train schedules for the various ports,the itinerary from DCL that now has nothing scheduled and I've written in all the information we have collected from other cruisers. A few of us will be doing Pompeii together from this DIS group, I believe we decided to meet at 8:30am if you are interested. The more the merrier

We would LOVE to have folks to do this trek with! Have you guys decided on a time and meeting place for each of them? My husband thinks we should just get the tickets for the tower at Pisa and take the lads up. They'll probably be glad they did it in hindsight. My curiosity is, however, at what time should the climbing tickets be booked? I have NO idea how long it'll take to get there. I've never had to tender to shore and imagine it'll be chaos. Reading about the trials and tribulations in getting to train stations and fending off the cabbies ... well, there's safety in numbers!!

Deb

 

[kugalbelle]

Hi,

Has anyone read the June 27, 2007 Med Cruise Report http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1494971&page=5reporting the following:
"Dinner was the Captain’s Gala, but it was casual. I am bummed, we missed one of the semi-formal nights. Evidently it was on La Spezia night, but the navigator said cruise casual."
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1494971&page=5
I have the same days as listed on this thread as Formal and Semi-formal nights:
Formal Night August 9 - First Sea Day
Pirate Night August 15 - Marseille
Semi- Formal Night August 16 - Villefranche
Have there been any changes to the Formal/Semi-Formal nights on the 10-night cruise that anyone is aware of?

Thanks
Charmaine

 

[UMTerp]

kugalbelle - last information I had agrees with your posting.

Vailcruiser - we had t-shirts done a few years ago and they turned out great. We took the shirts in a zip lock with various color sharpie markers. Characters signed in different colors.

I'm mentally packing (thinking of outfits) but haven't put anything in a suitcase. I still need to download some tunes onto my ipod. I can't decide between calming music (for the flights) or fun music (in case I don't sleep)!

I got my new Capital One card this weekend. Just an FYI for anyone who planning to get one - they said it could take 14 days to get my PIN.

Have a great week everyone!

UMTerp

 

[Vailcruiser]

Is there anyone who is doing a private tour of Rome, not through DCL? If so which tour company are you using? Since a lot of other cruisers are now canceling the excursion through DCL, I was looking to see if anyone else was doing a private tour of Rome. Would it by train or a pick up of the tour company?

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

We booked ICON tours for their Divine Inspiration - Vatican at 12:45. It is 30Euro for adults and DD was free. The tour is 2 hours and they buy your Vatican Tickets (13 Euro) at the tour window saving time from the long line I've read about. One of the other DISers recommended them in a blog. They also have other tours in the Rome area (Florence too I believe). We are meeting them at a set destination once we get there by train and after we explore a bit on our own. So far they have been very easy and TAT time has been excellent. You know us New Englanders need immediate response! Go to www.icontours.com Another reason we changed from DCL is all the complaints about how long lunch is, I can not imagine a two hour lunch - yes it would be nice, but not sure when we'll ever get back.

Good luck!

Jocelyne

 

[Vailcruiser]

We would LOVE to have folks to do this trek with! Have you guys decided on a time and meeting place for each of them? My husband thinks we should just get the tickets for the tower at Pisa and take the lads up. They'll probably be glad they did it in hindsight. My curiosity is, however, at what time should the climbing tickets be booked? I have NO idea how long it'll take to get there. I've never had to tender to shore and imagine it'll be chaos. Reading about the trials and tribulations in getting to train stations and fending off the cabbies ... well, there's safety in numbers!!

Deb

Excellent!!! This is going to be so great! This is like traveling with one BIG family! And I agree safety in numbers! One of the cruisers mentions Tendering and that if you are "on your own" I think he said the Buena Vista Theater (will double check) sit at the far right back rows and you are some of the first guests off the boat. Let me see if they answer a question on how long. J

 

[Vailcruiser]

We had our room assigned today - 6583. It's official!

 

[nordkin]

I have updated all the stateroom assignments I am aware of. The only one without a stateroom number for the gift exchange is astroth. I count 26 staterooms for the gift exchange. Would someone be so kind as to count them as well to double check my number?

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

Yes, I count 26 also.

 

[2Tinks]

Linda (Momma4v3) and Joycelyne (Vailcruiser) - thanks for the tips on the different tour companies, I will take a look to see if this will fit into our plans. The long lunches and food doesn't inspire ones appetite for the DLC excursions.

Chuck