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

[grlzmom]

Jeanne your farm is impressive!!! I love all the decorations. Darn Julie for getting me hooked...

The farm is addictive. My daughter got me started on it When I can't sleep I farm and play Cafeworld.

I am up for any and all activities being planned or thought about!

If anyone is interested in Palo dinner, please let me know otherwise I will be going solo. Platinum gets a freebie and I'm not missing out on my chocolate souffle.

Lynne, I think you are right about the cruise prices, can't see them being any cheaper unless they offer travel agent or military rates. But for us, I think we got a great price!

My week here is getting stressful. I told dh if he dumps any more on me this week he will have to send me on a cruise to recover

 

[skoi]

Anyone out there ever book the private room in Palo? What is the procedure?

I've done it. I did it on our last cruise. You need at least 10. And you put in the request 30 days before sailing.

I would be willing to start the process. The only problem is that at the 30 day mark I'll be in Morocco and will have to depend on dh, who isn't even coming on the cruise, to take care of the faxing and dealing with DCL.

It's a simple process of gathering the names, reservation numbers, and I think cabins of everyone who wants to do it. Emailing or faxing the contact at DCL, then she calls and confirms if you get the room at 30 days out. When you get on board the first day, you need to go to Rockin'D and check in with Palo staff to reconfirm.

Drawback is this: you don't know for sure if you get the room before 30 days out. I've been involved with this set up twice, and we had no trouble getting the room either time.

So if we're interested in this, let me know, and we'll do a head count.

I'm in, so that's one. I'll be the only adult in my party, and I don't want to eat alone.

Also- I found last time that the system won't let you book for people who aren't eligible for booking. For example, I could book at 105 because I had the romance package on my cabin. My cabinmate was our oldest dd. I couldn't book anything with dh (like couples treatment at the spa, or any excursions) because his cabin wasn't eligible to book until 90 days. They wouldn't let me link the two. So if we wanted to just do a table for 8 or so, we'd have to wait until the people with the latest booking window could make reservations.

So here's another suggestion:
PM me if you're interested, and when your booking window opens. Then we can figure out if we can get enough tables for four or something like that.

Julie

 

[skoi]

Again for facebook, anyone who wants to exchange info just pm me with your full name.

Someone also mentioned having kids exchange info. If you're interested, pm me.

Julie

 

[DISNEY_DEPRIVED]

Hello, thanks for adding me to the Palo's list... Lynne, i saw the website.. Your way more creative then i am.. i live in Italy, i'm 6 hours ahead of the east coast... I actually live in Naples, a port of call on the cruise... i know it sounds crazy, i'm taking the cruise while living in italy but, there's not many disney options around here. So needless to say, i'm not getting off the boat in Naples.

Early i read a tip from Lynne about the lower prices being offered for the cruise. I called disney and they refunded me the difference with the new prices, and it was a SIGNIFICANT difference. So if someone hasn't called disney, maybe you should look into it.

 

[NC_Tink]

I'm reading the posts backwards, trying to see who's expressed an interest in a Palo Brunch. So far:

Solo adult:

Jeanne (grlzmom)
Sherry (DISNEY_DEPRIVED)
Lynne (auntlynne)
Julie (skoi)

Non-solo adult:

Lara & Chris (alltheparks)
John & Charlotte (happygoofy)

That's 8. Private room holds 12-14. It doesn't have to be only soloists. It just won't be an "intimate" meal for couples. But then, it's daylight and you're in the view of everyone, so really?

Add us to the Palo brunch list - please! Brian & Lubi (NC_Tink) - we're only silver though and can't book until 90 days.

 

[shushh]

Put us in for brunch at palo as well. That makes 12.

 

[auntlynne]

So we do have enough for private.

For newbies, here's some info on Palo: (correct me if I'm wrong)
adults only - 18 & older
brunch and tea only offered on sea days
dinner every night
seating is at table of 1-4
one private dining room with a table for 12-14
online reservations sell out fairly quickly
if you can't get a time, go to designated location/time on check-in day (using Wave Bands, Rockin' Bar D or Palo itself at)
Private room request can be submitted and notification of availability is at 30 days prior to cruise (must have 12-14 people).
Individuals can online reserve one brunch, one tea, and one dinner
fee for meal (it has been around $10-15 pp)

Here are some photos:
at brunch time:

and at dinner (more romantic lighting):

they are known for their chocolate souffle (only at dinner):

Brunch is a buffet with a seafood section, breads, desserts. Plus cooked to order Italian: chicken parmigiano with risotto, pizza, and other good stuff.

 

[auntlynne]

Going on vacation Thursday for a week at Hilton Head, South Carolina.

I'll make any updates to website when I come back - can't take the Mac with me.

Have a good week, everyone and for those who celebrate:

Happy Hanukkah

 

[Happy Goofy]

John and I would like to join you at Palo- we are only at the silver level so we can't book real early

 

[Happy Goofy]

John and I would like to join the Palo group. Don't know if you or SKOI are handling the reservations. Is it for the TA or MED.?

 

[auntlynne]

This is for the Med cruise (it gets hard keeping them separate - I have to check the top of the page to make sure which cruise I'm looking at).

I'm heading out the door soon, will check back in tonight when I reach Georgia.

Lynne

 

[shushh]

Hello all! Just a quick note before I go to bed. I was thinking about FEs today, any thoughts on how to make it manageable ie not having to carry so much around? Maybe we can come up with a creative solution that is fun eg I remember someone mentioning buying a souvenir for each cabin while we're there. Or maybe we can just divide it up so we only have to get FE gifts for half the list.

I suppose we still have time, maybe best just to wait and see what happens after final payment is over (which isn't long to go!)

Jeanne, I hope your week has improved!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Belinda

 

[skoi]

Okay everyone, again. If we want to do the private room we won't know for sure if we'll be getting it until 30 days before we sail.

I won't be here 30 days before sail date to finalize things. I'll be in Morocco, which was a totally unplanned trip when we booked this one. If someone else wants to take over because of this, I would appreciate it.

Or again, if we all want to book separately and link tables, we can do that as well.

I've been in two groups, one I did, one someone else did, and we got the room both times, no problem. However, as someone mentioned, if you book for brunch independently, you can't be part of the group, because you can only have one reservation for each meal.

And we can't get the room for Tea. I asked last time about that since Tea is even harder to get than brunch.

Julie

Just pointing out the bolded part because on the last cruise, a few people booked brunch at the booking window, so when DVC called me, we were three short and I had to find three more people. So if you want to do the private room, you can't book brunch yourself. The people who double booked were worried that we wouldn't get it at 30 days, so they went ahead and booked on their own. Very confusing and thankfully, we had a few people who wanted to join us at the last minute.

 

[shushh]

Julie,

Thanks for clarifying. We're happy to take our chances with the private room. We won't be too upset if we don't end up getting the private room as we're going mainly for the company, having a dining at palo is an added bonus! We're lowly newbies so by the time our booking window opens there'll be none left anyway!

We had a great day today at Luna Park (an amusement park at the harbour). Check out my pre-trip report for some pics! Hope everyone had a great weekend.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2338476&page=2

 

[skoi]

So let's get a count of people who are willing to risk not getting a brunch, and willing to do the private room.

I can't imagine that it would be impossible to get the room on one of the three days.

And Happy Hanukkah (belated) to those who celebrate.

Julie

 

[Lyrah]

Hi all!

We are going on this cruise also. We took our first Disney cruise in November and now we're hooked! Our family consists of Myself, DH, DD 14, and DD 11. It will be all of their birthdays on this trip. DH's is our first day in Barcelona, and both of my DD's will be while we are on the cruise.

I was looking around a little bit on the web today for info on the cruise, and I found that the Magic is going to have a new stage show. It's called "Villains Tonight" and debuts on the March 27th cruise. It looks awesome!

I was wondering what excursions other cruisers were doing? I think we are only doing one in Tunisia. We have been to several of the other ports and think that will explore on our own this trip. Sort of Rick Steves style.

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Charyl Lee

 

[auntlynne]

Hi all! ... Charyl Lee

Are you in the Azores?


WELCOME!

Lynne

 

[skoi]

Welcome aboard!


I think I've finally decided to also "Rick Steves" it.

Any advice on the Italian ports, besides Rome, would be appreciated. We've been to Rome, but nowhere else on the itinerary.

Julie

 

[uwo93]

who rec'd a letter with the $100 pp cabin credit? we have not because we booked after Nov. 27. still hoping!

 

[Brooklyn]

We will be joining you guys on this cruise. We are doing B2B with the Transatlantic.

ME - Stephanie
DH - Craig
DD - Brooklyn (8)
DD - Madison (4)
Grandma - Linda

We are in 2 GTY's - There is no way we could pass up 4 people in a CAT 12 for $2200.

This cruise will make our 5th Disney Cruise.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone.