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

[skoi]

Welcome Michele, Chris, Abigail, Madeline, Victoria and William!



Great to have more shipmates.

Julie

 

[shushh]

Julie just sent you an email re: Montserrat

 

[skoi]

Been scanning photos all afternoon, a few of a very early trip to WDW- for the 25th anniversary and oldest dd's first trip, and now currently working on selections from our 1999 trip to Italy. Hopefully I'll get them in a slideshow this weekend and have them up.

Also, we have room for three people in our van in Naples, but we're not going to Pompeii. We're planning to spend a lot of time in Amalfi and Ravello, to look at the architecture and what not. Also, we're planning to go to a small, country restaurant, so if anyone's interested, let me know.

Still haven't decided about doing Tunis on our own, or grabbing a cab, or getting a guide, or even do the Berber day. I haven't seen any reviews of the place. Has anyone else?

Julie

 

[shushh]

Hi Julie,

Not sure if this is the kind of reviews you meant, but I've attached the words of 2 Australian ladies who went on a private tour in Tunis. I emailed them to ask for info on the guide that we are using. Not pushing private tour or our tour guide just hopefully passing on info on Tunis, well their impressions anyway...

He met us outside the gates of the port ( we had his phone number & he ours). He contacted us the day before & on the morning we arrived into port. He was waiting on a tourist pass to allow him in the gates. This was not a problem as it was only a short walk from the ship. He may have this pass now, which will allow him to park a bit closer.

He had a driver with him who could not speak English, but Ben speaks English very well and is easy to understand. The van was air- conditioned. ( I have the feeling he uses different drivers and cars, van etc)

Our first stop was the bank...to change some money. We gave him us$50.00 ( from the original amount quoted for the trip) This was to pay for entrance fees, water etc while on the tour.

He is a very knowledgeable man of Tunis and surrounding areas. He suggested an itinerary for us which we looked into before we travelled and the places he recommended seemed to be the most popular for the short stay we had ( 1 day).

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip with him , historic, interesting, full of information, funny and some time left for shopping in the Medina.. He will accommodate you with any requests. We wanted to shop in the Medina a bit longer, stay in Sidi B. Said longer, which he was happy to do. He also took us into town to a local restaurant ( not tourist). We were all wary at first, but the food was fantastic and the experience was priceless. We were the only women there but never felt unsafe.

Being on the private tour with Ben helped us to see more and move quicker through the tourist places. I would not have liked to be on the big bus tours (they seemed to be waiting on people all the time we came across one) and long queues.

If you can take in all the info that Ben has to offer you will be doing well!

I have no hesitation in recommending him. I hope your trip will be as rewarding as ours.

The highlight in Tunis was abit of everything we did. Loved the ruins at Carthage and the baths. Sidi B. Said was so pretty, the city was interesting. The mosaics are amazing. The medina was interesting also. I love to wander the stalls and people watch..

How are you ? What do you think of this? Can't remember what order we
> did it in but that doesn't matter. Feel free to change and maybe when you
> email her just let her know that we were a group of 4 ladies(!) - no
> children.
>
> Ben was an excellent guide - we saw a lot more in the one day than we
> possibly could, had we done it on our own. He picked us up just outside
> the gates to the port - his vehicle a little old and air conditioned
> but got us safely around. Try to have the right money to pay him at the
> beginning of the day - we didn't and we were sitting in the car waiting
> while Ben went into the bank to organise change for us. After that minor
> hiccup we were on our way firstly to Carthage then the Roman bath ruins
> along the Mediterranean. Both worth seeing. We had to hurry Ben along a
> bit at Carthage - he's a wealth of information but it was a bit of
> information overload (particularly whilst we standing in 30 degree heat).
> A short drive and we were in the absolutely delightful "blue & white city"
> of Sidi Bou Said where we strolled around the streets for an hour or so.
> Then off to the Medina for a cold drink and shopping which was great. If
> you like pashminas this is the place to buy them - make sure you bargain
> hard - we ended up getting them for about AUD8 each. Also bought
> beautiful
> ceramic bowls and again very cheap. Could have filled a suitcase with
> just
> pashminas and ceramics to bring home. Ben then took us for a walk
> through
> the new city and then on to one of his favourite local restaurants for
> lunch. It looked very dodgey - holes in the tablecloths, people
> smoking
> etc. but the beer was ice cold and the food great. All in all a really
> good experience. We then drove around the city and the lake for about an
> hour before heading back to the comfort of our ship. Depending on the age
> of the children you may want to spend more time in the Medina rather than
> going for the drive after lunch. Would definitely recommend Ben for a
> great day on shore in preference to going on one of the ship organised
> tours on a large coach.

 

[grlzmom]

Still haven't decided about doing Tunis on our own, or grabbing a cab, or getting a guide, or even do the Berber day. I haven't seen any reviews of the place. Has anyone else?

Julie

We also can't decide about Tunis Looked all over for reviews on Berber Village but can't find any.

 

[skoi]

Thanks Belinda, but I meant a review of the place where they do the Berber day. I tried to google it, but the words are so common in Arabic, I got so many hits, and none of them about the place. It looks like a living history sort of village or something.

I don't know. We could do Tunis on our own, but it would be nice to have a driver. For that, I could just hire a cab.

Julie

 

[shushh]

Is it possible to ask DCL to let you know where specifically they are taking you for the Berber day?

 

[skoi]

They have it on the site, the name of the park, but I can't find anything on it.

 

[uwo93]

For us CC members, is 90 days tonight at midnight? Don't know if I can stay awake until then...

 

[NC_Tink]

Yep - for silver members - tonight, midnight is 90 days. I'm watching some really stupid movie on TV and surfing the internet - reading the DIS - anything I can do to stay awake The problem is I have to be up at 5:30am because my son has a hockey game! Nothing like being cold and tired!

 

[Brooklyn]

Anybody booking there stuff right now?!?!?!?!?

 

[Happy Goofy]

i just booked my excursions but I could not do one for Malta. Did anyone else have trouble with that one? I was able to get all the rest and no tea time was open for Palo.

 

[Brooklyn]

We just booked all of ours! We booked all of our excursions through DCL. In the end I think it is better for us then trying to coordinate on our own. Yes I probably could have saved money but there is just too much to coordinate for me.

We could not book anything for Malta. I wanted Palo dinner on pirate night and could not get it for 3 people but could get it for 2. So we will add my mom to that one after we board.

Yippee!

 

[shushh]

Congrats to all who got their booking! Wow, no more tea time for Palo and Brooklyn could only certain 2 for dinner. I thought judging from the threadmeet that our cruise is near empty...

 

[Lyrah]

We just booked ours also!

I was wondering if anyone else might have teens coming on the cruise? One of my DD's is 11 (turning 12 on the cruise) and I see that quite a few kids her age are going, but I have not seen too many around my other daughters age of 14 (turning 15 on the cruise). I am hoping that she has as much fun in the Stack on this cruise as she had on our last cruise. Things go smoother with a happy teen.

Hope everyone is getting what they want for Palo and excursions!

 

[grlzmom]

We just booked ours also!

I was wondering if anyone else might have teens coming on the cruise? One of my DD's is 11 (turning 12 on the cruise) and I see that quite a few kids her age are going, but I have not seen too many around my other daughters age of 14 (turning 15 on the cruise). I am hoping that she has as much fun in the Stack on this cruise as she had on our last cruise. Things go smoother with a happy teen.

Hope everyone is getting what they want for Palo and excursions!

I have dd15 and dd13 (turning 14). They like to make DIS friends when they cruise!

Yeah for everyone who got their excursions booked today, hoping you all got everything you wanted!

 

[NC_Tink]

We got everything we wanted last night!!

Ended up deciding to do Blue Grotto Boat Trip and Fishing Village in Malta, Medina & Carthage in Tunisia and Highlights of Monaco & Top Car Museum (for my car fanatics ) in Villefranche. The rest we'll do our own thing. I was surprised that there still seemed to be quite a few spots open for Palo Brunch and Palo Dinner last night (at least, for two people that is).

So now we can all do the 90 day dance

 

[Happy Goofy]

Still could not get any Malta trips this morning. I called Disney and was told they forgot to put up the Malta Trips! That does not seem right when other people were able to book days ago. She told me they would try and get them up today and since I had trouble they would book the Blue Grotto for me and give me a call either today or tomorrow.
Someone dropped the ball on this one if the story they told me is true.

We did book our Italy tours but we are still looking at sharing a van with others especially in Italy. Would also be interested in sharing in other ports.

 

[Brooklyn]

I was surprised that there still seemed to be quite a few spots open for Palo Brunch and Palo Dinner last night (at least, for two people that is).

Yes 2 people had a ton! We booked DH and I and then my mom on the same night and same time. I am hoping when we board they will be able to put us together. To be honest I don't even remember all that many tables for 2 in the restaurant! I am just happy to have pirate night so we don't miss a show and we can still take our girls to dinner after the Palo dinner so we don't have to miss out on the fun of the reg dinning room.

Still could not get any Malta trips this morning. I called Disney and was told they forgot to put up the Malta Trips! That does not seem right when other people were able to book days ago. She told me they would try and get them up today and since I had trouble they would book the Blue Grotto for me and give me a call either today or tomorrow.
Someone dropped the ball on this one if the story they told me is true.

We did book our Italy tours but we are still looking at sharing a van with others especially in Italy. Would also be interested in sharing in other ports.

This is the one thing that frustrates me with Disney. They are this amazing company but it never seems to fail that they have a problem or 2 or 3 or 4 when it comes to the website.

 

[NC_Tink]

Still could not get any Malta trips this morning. I called Disney and was told they forgot to put up the Malta Trips! That does not seem right when other people were able to book days ago. She told me they would try and get them up today and since I had trouble they would book the Blue Grotto for me and give me a call either today or tomorrow.
Someone dropped the ball on this one if the story they told me is true.

We did book our Italy tours but we are still looking at sharing a van with others especially in Italy. Would also be interested in sharing in other ports.

Wow - that's weird because I was able to book Blue Grotto last night - just after midnight and even got a confirmation. Hope they fix it for you!