2010 news from the Magic

[Pluto 2]

Well Capt Henry was pretty close mouthed. But he did say that when they announce the 2010 itineraries, that they'll also provide a glimpse of what the Wonder and Magic will be doing in 2011 and 2012 after the new ships come online.

Also, he specifically mentioned that Disney would become a GLOBAL cruise line!

And finally, Jim Lewis said they are looking into a 7 nt Member cruise possibley as early as 2010.

Can't wait to find out more, this is really getting interesting!

i wouldnt count on a 7 night dvc member cruise until the new ships come out.
so probaly in 2011 we will see it and it will probaly be on the magic or wonder not on the new ship.just my guess

 

[Gr00vyChc]

For those of you on the Med cruise in '07, what kind of excursions did you do in each stop? Are we going to be able to do a "hop on hop off tour bus" during ANY of the stops? When we travel, we usually do this first to get the quickest info and we use the bus as a form of transportation to different tourist spots.

Also, we plan to fly in 3-4 days ahead to do a LITTLE sightseeing before our cruise and then fly home directly after the cruise.

 

[JsMom2]

i wouldnt count on a 7 night dvc member cruise until the new ships come out.
so probaly in 2011 we will see it and it will probaly be on the magic or wonder not on the new ship.just my guess

I didn't mean to imply it would be on one of the new ships. But since the DVC President was the one who brought up the subject, I'm pretty sure it'll happen. And I think regular DCL bookings will be slow in 2010 anyway, as everyone waits for the new ships. I'm sure they'd be happy to charter the Magic to DVC for a week.

 

[denise]

For those of you on the Med cruise in '07, what kind of excursions did you do in each stop? Are we going to be able to do a "hop on hop off tour bus" during ANY of the stops? When we travel, we usually do this first to get the quickest info and we use the bus as a form of transportation to different tourist spots.

Also, we plan to fly in 3-4 days ahead to do a LITTLE sightseeing before our cruise and then fly home directly after the cruise.

Arriving before is the best idea....We were on the 070707 Med cruise..We arrived in Greece 3 weeks before Barcelona and our suitcases arrived 2 weeks 3 days before Barcelona! We got to Barcelona 1 1/2 days early...There were MANY people on the Magic with no luggage the entire trip....their suitcases never caught up to them.. Even castmembers didn't have luggage. Maybe it was just the way things were that summer, but it was bad...

The excursions were many...very hard for a family of three to agree on. My daughter and husband wanted to do the Ferrari one. It was very expensive but it sold out fast so we didn't get to do it. Disney did a good job but we found the tours we booked on our own were the best.
I met a nice family here on the disboard and shared the most wonderful trip in Italy. We actually did two trips with this family and the 7 of us had so much fun. We had our own driver who took us to many different places. The places we wanted to go to. The driver had also arranged a tour guide when we went to Pompai and the 7 of us were on our own private tour.
We did a few Disney excursions and they were fine too but more structured. They were more rushed because of the amount of people who had to get from one place to another. The ones we shared were less expensive too it seemed.

There were so many options it was hard to choose...We met people who did their own thing and had fun (hop on hop off)...and others who hired someone who also had fun..then of course those that let Disney plan it all and they had fun too...

Many of the ports were a long distance from where you really wanted to be. And you needed transportation to that city...Others you could just walk to the town....

Just depends how much planning you want to do. I was lucky to meet Sheri and she had the time to search and find the perfect guides....

Once the ports come out the research starts...getting travel guides....and searching the internet.. there was enough time to plan before booking with Disney.....or a private guide....

It will almost become a fulltime job planning this trip.....but well worth it....I can't wait....

 

[RJAYL]

Gotta wait till next week to book!

Must control the urge

But in the end

Eat your heart out Andrew!!!

 

[Gr00vyChc]

In '07 how much did the med cruise cost for a family of 3 at a cat 6?

 

[xangav]

We did the 6/16/07 med and we booked a cat 6 for two adults, a 15 year old and a 10 year old child. We paid 12368. After looking for airfare and planning the post trip of 5 days in Ireland I was having serious doubts and sticker shock. Then they released the cat 12 cabins at a substantial savings and we decided we could live with what ever cabin they gave us. We downgraded saving ourselves about 8000 and were upgraded to a cat 10 secret porthole. We were thrilled!

Because I was also planning Ireland, I was a little burned out; it did seem like a full time job, we were the ones who did all our excursions through Disney. I dont' know how much better it would have been doing them on our own because I have none to compare to, but they did take good care of us and fed us well on the all day excursions, such as our tour of Rome and Pompeii. We also enjoyed our day where we split up with the guys doing Monaco and the Car museum while my dd and I went to the perfumerie and Eze. It was a fantastic trip.

Oh, and we flew Aer Lingus, stopping in Dublin overnight, and luckliy had no luggage problems whatsoever.

 

[Subi WRX]

Wow that would be some sticker shock. Don't blame you a bit for downgrading your cabin. That's a boat load of cash (pun intended).

I wonder if the TA crossings are a better value than the straight med/Baltic cruises? Anyone know?

 

[mom_rules]

We paid 7600 for a cat 6 - 2 adults for the TA.

 

[hawaiian mickey]

aloha,
Make sure your connection are at least 2 hrs or more. Why just in case there is a delay on your first flight. Lots of people on our cruise 07/07/07 had less than 2 hrs connection in London or other airports to Barcelona lost their luggages. Our cousins lost almost all their luggages except what they carried on board. To this day they never recovered their luggages. Making your connections close is never good. It might be a little inconvience to have to stay a little bit longer stay at the airport but in the long run it'll help save you a lot of headaches.

aloha,
hawaiian mickey

 

[gydell]

Wow that would be some sticker shock. Don't blame you a bit for downgrading your cabin. That's a boat load of cash (pun intended).

I wonder if the TA crossings are a better value than the straight med/Baltic cruises? Anyone know?

We paid $1800 for the EB TA for a cat 12 and got a cat 8. This was for 2 adults and 1 child. It included tips. It was a bargain!

aloha,
Make sure your connection are at least 2 hrs or more. Why just in case there is a delay on your first flight. Lots of people on our cruise 07/07/07 had less than 2 hrs connection in London or other airports to Barcelona lost their luggages. Our cousins lost almost all their luggages except what they carried on board. To this day they never recovered their luggages. Making your connections close is never good. It might be a little inconvience to have to stay a little bit longer stay at the airport but in the long run it'll help save you a lot of headaches.

aloha,
hawaiian mickey

I so ..... agree!



9 more days!!!

 

[denise]

aloha,
Our cousins lost almost all their luggages except what they carried on board. To this day they never recovered their luggages.

aloha,
hawaiian mickey

WOW, I would have thought they would have gotten by now...even if it took a slow boat...
I remember some on our cruise that their suitcases were always a port behind them!
I know our out flight got delayed out of SFO to NY because of rain. ...then we had to run after getting in NY to catch a later flight and again in London to catch a later and different carrier to Athens....our suitcases just stayed in NY for a few days....we were so lucky to get them...We have never ever taken out insurance but I think we will the next time....

Can't wait to hear about the 2010, are the 2 of you thinking about it?
BTW, Ko'Olina was a blast in June...going back again next September...


denise

 

[kmaclou]

We had heard of a lot of people who lost the luggage on the Med cruises before we did the 6/26 cruise. We flew from Richmond to Lisbon to Barcelona. We knew our suitcases made it to Lisbon, because when we were getting on the plane to Barcelona my brother saw my pink suitcase sitting next to our plane waiting to be loaded. Despite that, I've never been so happy to see my huge pink suitcase come through the shoot in baggage claim in my life!

 

[tksbaskets]

We paid $1800 for the EB TA for a cat 12 and got a cat 8. This was for 2 adults and 1 child. It included tips. It was a bargain!

I must admit I'm late coming into this thread. Is the Magic going to Europe in 2010? I thought it wasn't published yet. I'd love to do the crossing. Why was the price so reasonable??

Thanks,
TK

 

[KrisannB]

subscribing - would like to do a TA - we loved the WB Panamal Canal Repo and would love to do another long cruise - unless the TA is only 7 or 8 days - how many days were they last time?

Krisann

 

[OurDogCisco]

While the cruise was a TOTAL sticker shock it was an AWESOME cruise for our family. It is the only way I'd want to see Europe with young children. I don't think I'd want to do the Land travel with them unless it was Adventure by Disney or some other tour group for kids. When we booked the cruise we had a dummy Thanksgiving cruise planned and in a category 6 it was $1000 a day ($7,000) for the week. We booked the day the reservations opened. We paid a little over 11,000 for our Med cruise and it was 11 nights. So, $1,000 day. We are a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids). Our price did not include airfare, trip insurance or transfers.

We did all Disney tours and one semi-private tour. I was disappointed in our semi-private tour. It was a group of 15 people and it was as restrictive as the bigger tours. I had found some private guides but they were the same price as the Disney tours and sometimes more and we weren't sure since it was our 1st trip to Europe. We liked some of the perks we got like the private viewing at the Sistene Chapel. Amazing... I liked not having to wait in line for some of the longer venues. However, some of the smaller ports could have definitely been done on our own. Also, most of the tours included lunch which was way too long. I did learn later that since most of Italy shuts down between 1 pm and 4 pm that it iwas the only option to have a long lunch. All the ports had transportation only tours like in Rome they drove you to a spot and dropped you off and picked you later. Plus, many of the ports had transportation available. So, you can easily sightsee on your own.

Oh and luggage thing is soooo true. We had a one hour layover in Paris and two of our 5 pieces did not arrive in Barcelona. AirFrance promised that our luggage would arrive on the next flight. They had at least one flight per hour. We waited around a few hours but did not have any luck. So, we came back the next morning and got one of our 2 pieces. We were happy as it was the one with all our toiletries. The 5th bag never arrived. We finally got it about 1 month after we got home from the trip. I almost thought we'd never see that bag again especially since they deliever a bag to us earlier in the month that was the WRONG bag. Our 5th bag had all of our evening wear. I was happy I bought trip insurance as we were able to buy a pair of slacks for dh and 2 dress shirts. I also bought a black dress. We spent $350 and all was reimbursed. So, I broke even. Had I loss all my luggage I definitely would have needed more clothes. I know, on my next European trip, I hope to make a direct connection from US to London. Since we are on the West Coast we hope to fly to Minnapolis and then, fly direct from there to London. No more layovers in Europe for us. Funny thing on the way home... the plane in Paris was delayed for 2 hours to wait for everyone's luggage to get onboard. We again had an one hour layover and all of it made it home.

 

[hawaiian mickey]

Can't wait to hear about the 2010, are the 2 of you thinking about it?
BTW, Ko'Olina was a blast in June...going back again next September...


Hi Denise,
We are thinking about it. it just depends on the ports. My sister wants to go to WDW with my nephew and niece. They enjoyed it so much this past Dec 2007.
We just might skip it and maybe save our money for the new ships itineraries.
Hope you guys are doing great. Sure miss the whole gang of Pirates of the Med. Just saw the group picture missed all the great times with everyone.!!!!!

aloha,
hawaiian mickey

 

[bmr12]

In '07 how much did the med cruise cost for a family of 3 at a cat 6?

We were on the 061607 Med Cruise--2 Adults and an 8 year old. I believe our price (no airfare, or insurance) was $10,900. It was a great trip, but certainly no bargain!

 

[Gr00vyChc]

We were on the 061607 Med Cruise--2 Adults and an 8 year old. I believe our price (no airfare, or insurance) was $10,900. It was a great trip, but certainly no bargain!

Thanks! I didn't expect it to be a bargain, at least I have a ballpark figure I can work with now. We plan to arrive earlier and do a little vacationing, so I have to put all the other expenses in mind. We can't wait to book it!

 

[Skallywag]

Still keeping fingers crossed if they do the Med it will be a different itinerary than 2007.