4/24/2010 Med cruise: Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your Ears

[auntlynne]

H A P P Y - T H A N K S G I V I N G - E V E R Y O N E

 

[mrosen]

Mediterranean shore excursions are now listed on the Disney Cruise website!!

There are some great options! Very hard to choose.

How great they are now out there to review. I agree there are some great choices and hard to choose.

I do think these are rather expensive and wondering if these are worth the costs Disney is asking. Anyone have any experience on this as we've never done a cruise before

Also, when will Disney let you book excursions for April 24th cruise as I also see a reference to book early as there is limited availability and they could fill up.

 

[auntlynne]

...Also, when will Disney let you book excursions for April 24th cruise as I also see a reference to book early as there is limited availability and they could fill up.

Pre-reservation booking windows open:
First Time Guests 75 days prior to sail date (Feb 8)
Silver Castaway 90 days prior to sail date (Jan 24)
Gold Castaway 105 days prior to sail date (Jan 9)
Platinum Castaway 120 days prior to sail date (Dec 25)

 

[auntlynne]

Just checked when my balance was due - and finally remembered I paid in full when I booked in September.

However, the $1998 per person for a Cat 12 GTY is now $999, so I made a new reservation and put it on a 3-day hold (it was after Disney business hours). Half price sale - can't beat that. Anyone else in a Cat 12 may want to look into this.

 

[skoi]

Howdy everyone and a belated Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been sick, plus I had a crowd of family and my Arabic teacher here for dinner, so it was nuts.

I'm seriously tempted to do the Berber day in Tunis, which was the one port I was dead set on doing on my own. Now I'm not sure. It is pricey, but we rebooked into a Cat 10 from our 7 and saved a lot of money.

That $999. deal looks great, but if we ended up in a 12 or an 11, it would be tight with three practically adults, I think, especially without the split bath. Any thoughts?

The time is getting close for the booking window to open on reservations for the platinum members among us, so if anyone's interested in doing the Palo group for brunch, let me know. We'd need I think 11 adults, and I can't request it until 30 days out. Every group I'm with has gotten the room, but there's always a chance we won't. So let me know what you think.

Julie

 

[shushh]

Hello all! Wow, that cat 12 price looks good. Julie, how much would you save by booking a cat 12 rather than a 10. Don't know how much smaller the bathroom is so can't comment. It is for 11 nights though.

Berber Village (and so many others) sound really exciting but we are restricted by age limits. Never mind.

When were you thinking of doing brunch?

 

[skoi]

Hello all! Wow, that cat 12 price looks good. Julie, how much would you save by booking a cat 12 rather than a 10. Don't know how much smaller the bathroom is so can't comment. It is for 11 nights though.

Berber Village (and so many others) sound really exciting but we are restricted by age limits. Never mind.

When were you thinking of doing brunch?

Well, we did the 12, and even having to pay for Sig, we saved over $4000.00 easy. That's a lot of tips for crew, covers air fare, and maybe that excursion. But the kids really want to go to Carthage so...

Julie

 

[shushh]

Julie, well done! Yes $4000 covers a lot of other "extras". Maybe you could organise something on your own that will cover similar thing to the DCL excursion AND include the carthage as well. The one that we are doing ourselves in Tunis is $150 cheaper than DCL. Maybe show the tour operators that you had contacted earlier the DCL excursions and ask them to match??!?!

It has been SO hot here. 42 degrees yesterday and 35 today. I am glad we have a air-conditioning!

 

[mrosen]

I see these prices on Cat 12. We could save quite a bit of money if we switched from our Cat 10 room to a Cat 12. And I thought we got a pretty good deal already when we booked with kids sail free. But these Cat 12 rooms are quite a bit cheaper on total cost. We have 4 in the room so wondering what thoughts anyone has on this as we have 2 girls (11 and 10 at time of sail) plus my husband and I. Not sure if hanging on to the split bath is important given how many nights on the ship. We also like the location of our room (few doors down from the laundry facilities, and not near alot of noise given the reviews I've read on staterooms online). So weighing the tradeoff of giving this up to get a Cat 12 GTY to save some big money.

Anyone know when Disney would give the room assignment on Cat 12 guarantee? Any comments on the split bath vs none?

I'm also assuming that Disney is having trouble with not having enough bookings and why they have dropped again the Cat 12 pricing. Is there any chance they could cancel this cruise if they are having trouble filling it? I've never sailed on a cruise before any why all these questions. And we were also going to book our airfare before we have to make final payment for cruise which is coming in about 4 weeks.

 

[shushh]

mrosen, my understanding is that the cat 12 only fits 3 so if you book a 12GTY with 4, you'll get an automatic upgrade to cat 11. I think room allocations are given around 30 days out? Someone please feel free to correct me.

I hope they don't cancel the cruise!

 

[auntlynne]

... Is there any chance they could cancel this cruise if they are having trouble filling it? ...

...I hope they don't cancel the cruise!

The day they cancel a cruise for low numbers is the day they can pull up anchor and float into the sunset. They would lose too many customers. All they can do is sail the dates they've picked and don't offer them again in the future if they don't seem to work.

 

[auntlynne]

Trying to come up with a logo. My niece probably won't like the "fairy godmothers;" too much like magic to her.

 

[shushh]

I like the design of the logo! No princesses, no pirates!

Which reminds me...Was there a pirate night on the 2007 med cruises? Do people really dress up. I don't really want to drag all these extra gear for one night. In other words, will we look out of my place if we don't dress up?

 

[auntlynne]

Whoops! (wrong cruise - forgot which this one was - the EB Transatlantic will probably follow course and have a pirate night).

Okay - in 2007, they one night's activity was the showing of the last Pirates movie; however, they did not have a pirate-themed dinner (yeah!)

Perhaps a pirateless Disney cruise, afterall (sorry, pirate people).

 

[auntlynne]

2007 Med Dinners: location - attire - menu theme - nighttime entertainment

Day 1 Barcelona Cruise Casual Let the Magic Begin Welcome Aboard! let the Magic Begin
Day 2 Sea Day Formal The Golden Mickeys The Golden Mickeys
Day 3 Palermo Cruise Casual Rotation Dinner Comedy & Ventriloquism
Day 4 Naples Cruise Casual Rotation Dinner On the Nose Game Show
Day 5 Olbia Cruise Casual Rotation Dinner The Art of the Story
Day 6 Civitavecchia Cruise Casual Master Chef Movie Night: Pirates of the Caribbean
Day 7 Sea Day Semi-Formal Prince & Princess Twice Charmed
Day 8 La Spezia Cruise Casual Flavours of the Mediterranean Crew Talent Show
Day 9 Marseilles Pirates/Cruise Casual Pirates IN the Caribbean When Mickey Dreams
Day 10 Villefranche Semi-Formal Captain’s Gala Disney Dreams
Day 11 Sea Day Cruise Casual Till We Meet Again Remember the Magic: A Final Farewell

So, there is a pirate dinner.

For newbies, the Rotation Dinner is the Show Dinner in the Animator's Palate; Island Dinner in Parrot Cay; and a French Dinner in Lumiere's. You will visit each of these restaurants one time for the rotation dinner.

 

[mrosen]

We went ahead and switched our reservation to Cat 12 GTY from the Cat 10 room assignment we had. Taking a gamble now on the room assignment but money savings was too much to not take this chance on. Hope I don't regret this choice when we get our room assignment.

We do have a hold on another Cat GTY on the ship give what a great deal this is. I invited my parents to come on the cruise and waiting to see if they decide to join before deposit is due.

 

[mrosen]

The day they cancel a cruise for low numbers is the day they can pull up anchor and float into the sunset. They would lose too many customers. All they can do is sail the dates they've picked and don't offer them again in the future if they don't seem to work.

Thanks for reply. I would be very disappointed if something happened to cause this cruise to cancel as I am very much looking forward to this.

 

[shushh]

auntlynne, thanks for all the extra info!

mrosen I'm sure things will work out well! I hope your parents can come along as well. The more the merrier!

 

[auntlynne]

If the fairy godmothers are too girlish, I worked on these designs:

 

[shushh]

Wow, I like these too! Do you come up with these from scratch? It's very creative! I like the clean lines of the first and because it's looks unique without any maps like the others I've seen! I like the second because I really like huey dewey and louis (however it is that you spell that!). Earlier we were discussing how perhaps we could Aladdin on our logo along the lines of "Magic in the Mediterranean".