10 day Med vs. ABD Italy

[funnybunny921]

I know I am posting this on a cruise board, but I just want some opinions. Assuming ABD is offered in 2007, my DH and I would have two different ways to see Italy through Disney.

The land tour (ABD) would get us to Rome for 3 days, Florence for 3 and Venice for 3, the cruise starts in Barcelona and goes about the western coast of Italy and then briefly to france.

Both seem nice and for the cost of ABD we could add a few days on at the beginning/ end of the cruise to enjoy either barcelona or rome. However, seeing as neither of us have done a cruise and we were originally thinking land tour, do you think we will be disappointed? do you think either of these trips is worth the price tag of about 10,000 for the two of us once all is said and done?I know we could do europe cheaply, but disney has a way of making trips special, unique and easy.

Basically I am looking for feedback because if I ask my family they will think I am nuts. (we have been to the world twice in the last 7 months, once for a hooneymoon).

TIA!

 

[sjcubedofct]

Do the land tour. Europe is too amazing to experience from a cruise ship because you don't get to spend enough time any place. Venice on a day without cruise ships is so much more amazing than on a day with cruise ships in port. See Italy by land, save the cruise for someplace you've been, or some place you don't need a lot of time to see, like the carribbean....in my humble opinion, of course.

 

[NancyIL]

Please enlighten me - what is ABD? I have been e-mailing/phoning my husband about the DCL Mediterranean cruise because he is away on business. He said he would prefer to visit Italy on a land tour, rather than on a cruise. One can certainly get a more in-depth exposure to an area on a land tour than on a cruise, but I'm in cruise mode right now! Anyhoo...after DH mentioned land tour - I sent him a link for one of Rick Steves' tours in Italy that I would love to do - kind of an "if we aren't going to cruise then THIS is what I want to do" type of message: http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours06/product.cfm/rurl/code/VFR06/

I think you should do what you want to do now. Once you have kids, it will be harder (and more expensive) to visit Europe - whether by land or sea!

 

[DCL~Dreamer]

Two years ago, my husband and I toured mostly all of Italy. We considered booking with DCL, but after seeing the cost, and the ports, we decided we would rather do a land tour again. We are planning to go in the summer of 2008. We spent 4 days in Rome, and saw a lot, but there was so much we did not get to see. There is so much in Rome to see, that I personally think it is a shame to only spend a few hours on an excursion or on your own. The Vatican alone took us almost a day to see, there is the Basilica, then the Museum, and also the elevator/stairs to the top of the Basilica (not to be missed). The catacombs are something I highly recommend. The Colosseum, Spanish Steps, Roman Forum, Piazza Venezia, all not to be missed. You can't possibly see the best of Rome in a few hours. In Pompeii, we were there for almost 5 hours and did not get to see everything....it is huge! Venice is soooo beautiful, but especially beautiful at night. Florence was a beautiful area, but I don't think I would go back, same goes for Pisa. Sorrento was beautiful and I would go back there again. Capri and Ana Capri were beautiful, but be prepared for uphill walking; the Blue Grotto was nice to see, but very touristy. San Marino I recommend highly, it was beautiful!!! In Northern Italy, you can go and see the Matterhorn, a beautiful sight! There is so much that you won't be able to see because of limited time at each port. You could do a fantastic land tour and see much, much more, and still have money left over for some shopping....

My vote would be for a land/rail tour....this is what we are now planning, and hopefully our daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter will be joining us.

 

[slindamood]

Agree - the best way to see Europe is on land traveling by train. The first time we went to Rome, with 6 year old in tow, we spent a week. We decided to see fewer cities in our three weeks but to experience each one a bit deeper. We liked getting to know our neighborhood in each place and to do day trips (Pompeii, Florence) to see more of the region. We stopped in a small grocery each day and after the second day, the grocer met our daughter with a handful of candy. Same with the restaurant down the block from our hotel - on our second visit, no more tourist menu - they took us into the kitchen to show us what they were cooking and had us choose there. We took trains from city to city, which was perfect for a young child (for anybody for that matter).

I have never been on a ricksteves tour, but have used his guidebooks. I would like to take a tour sometime.

I have a room on hold for the western repo, but will likely cancel. We can do three trips to Europe for the cost of one DCL cruise, and experience more .

 

[sjcubedofct]

We're taking the Western Repo so we can spend several days in Spain, then primarily to spend a LOT of time on the ship.

 

[karylrocks]

Please enlighten me - what is ABD?

Adventures by Disney - here is the link:
http://abd.disney.go.com/abd/en_US/index

 

[CarolA]

I agree that ABD would be better then the cruise line.

Now, if you are willing to give up some of the luxury of Disney, Rick Steves runs a very indepth tour or you can do it on your own. Italy is very tourist friendly.

 

[NancyIL]

Adventures by Disney - here is the link:
http://abd.disney.go.com/abd/en_US/index

Thanks - I finally figured that out by the posts on another thread. Here I was thinking the Rick Steves' 10-day tour was kind of pricey at $2395/pp in 2006...then saw the Adventures By Disney package with 1 less night was $1300/pp more! If we don't go on the DCL Mediterranean cruise next summer (and that's how it's now looking), we would wait until the fall of 2008 to go to Italy.

 

[CarolA]

I did two weeks in Italy with my mom. Don't really recall how much we spent, but I KNOW it was less then $2,000 total.

We flew into Rome stayed there a few days, trained to Florence, bus to Siena where I rented a car and then we toured Tuscany by car. It was easy and fun. I may try it again next Summer...

As I think about it I am now betting it was around $1,500 total including the rental car. Now we are fine at two star hotels (My mom doesn't need an elevator she has me to haul for her )

 

[Juli]

You've been reading my mind. This is the exact question I've been asking myself for the last few days. Our decision basically came down to whether we wanted to tour Europe from a boat (no), how badly do I want to see Europe now or if we can delay (delay), and if we can stand to be on a boat crossing the ocean. (Yes we can!)

We were on the road home from FL on 4/4 and I asked Tammy at DU quote various DCL/Med cruises for us. My DH & I were interested in the 5/12 crossing, but other family members were interested in going on the 10 or 11 day cruises as a group.

My MIL has been to Europe a couple of times and felt the one port day pace was too little time on the 10/11 day cruises, she also felt she could spend half the price and see twice as much on their own. Other family members balked at the price of the cruises.

My immediate family decided we liked the idea of crossing the Atlantic on the Magic and booked the Eastern Repo. We were lucky enough to be on the Western Repo through the Panama Canal and I have to admit being on the next "first" repo has some draw for me. My DH says he wants to cross the Atlantic, but not in a little sailboat (we're sailors). When I told him I could definitely find cheaper Transatlantic sailings, he said, "For God's sake! If I'm going to do this it had better be on a Dinsey boat!"

And then the ABD brochure showed up! After reading that and looking into other land tours we are definitely going to go on a land tour to see more of Europe, just not right now.

I'm still wondering if we'd rather go on the Italy or London/Paris tours as opposed to the crossing. The Rick Steve's Family Europe tour looks great as well. Wouldn't it be awesome if DCL offered the ABD trips as an add-on, or the dates meshed btwn the two. Fat chance of being able to add that on, but I can dream can't I.

Right now, we are on the 5/12/07 cruise and will have to wait until the summer or fall of '08 to go on a European tour.

The air fares from Barcelona to DTW aren't looking promising and that may be the thing that changes things. If I can't work out a reasonable airfare, even through other gateways, I'll definitely see if I can go on one of the ABD land tours with a reasonable airfare to London or Rome.

That's my rambling story. Nice things to be thinking about though.

Juli

 

[Juli]

I never heard of Rick Steve's Tours or Kayak.com. Great sites. Thank-you!

Juli

 

[funnybunny921]

Thankyou all for your input. That is why i like the forum so much. I think in discussions with my DH we have decided that europe with ricksteves or on our own might be the better choice, since the things that I want for vacations in the near future are to got to Europe (Italy mostly) and go on a disney cruise. talking about it i think i would enjoy the disney cruise more if i didn't feel super pressured to get as much as i could out of every single stop. I think the cruise will have to wait for a good deal or 2 years (which ever comes first). We had been considering rick steves since the begining, but I think when comparing ABD to rick's tours and where we are in our lives (newly married, no children, young) the ABD might make more sincewhen we have a family.

Thanks again!!!

 

[disneyholic family]

we prefer traveling on our own, not in a tour.
that way we can do what we want when we want.

For example, when we were in paris and the kids wanted to go back to the same museum 3 times (Rodin - actually to the gardin of the Rodin museum), we could do that. On a tour we wouldn't have been able to.

or when we decided to have a spur of the moment picnic lunch when the spirit moved us.

We've always traveled on our own, before the kids were born and after (including our 4 month around the world trip).