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

[skoi]

Updating post one and title very shortly.

I'm making a full five course Moroccan dinner tonight for my Arabic teacher and will be busy all day. Oldest ds volunteered me for this to the teacher, since we'll be staying with his family for 5 days in Fes, and he had been saying he missed homemade Moroccan food last time he was here.

I read Herculeum was easier to see, very well preserved, etc. Some guides recommend it over Pompeii due to the fact that it's smaller and easier to get around/see and less crowded. We're not doing either, just Amalfi Coast.

Anyone who wants to be in roll call and hasn't sent me info, please send dis name, who's in your party, dining, and if you want cabin number to me by PM.
Jeanne- I don't think I have your whole horde.

Julie

 

[auntlynne]

Julie - Jeanne's family info is on the website.

Did I get the quote wrong? Will have to get it right before sending off the lanyard order.

 

[auntlynne]

Belinda - you might want to determine where you are staying in the Washington DC area before you determine which flights to take. You might even consider renting a van (left-hand drive) and staying outside the city (Virginia, perhaps) and driving to one of the park and ride subway stations into the city. Kind of depends on your budget and what you are hoping to accomplish on this trip.

Both NYC and DC are expensive towns for hotels. Or should I say very expensive.

And how will you get to Orlando? Is this just the 5 of you, or will you have extended family with you?

 

[TheCruisers]

the people frozen in that moment of terror seems a bit creepy (Pompeii).

My thoughts also. Thanks for the comments.

Eleasa

 

[TheCruisers]

Updating post one and title very shortly.

I'm making a full five course Moroccan dinner tonight for my Arabic teacher and will be busy all day. Oldest ds volunteered me for this to the teacher, since we'll be staying with his family for 5 days in Fes, and he had been saying he missed homemade Moroccan food last time he was here.

I read Herculeum was easier to see, very well preserved, etc. Some guides recommend it over Pompeii due to the fact that it's smaller and easier to get around/see and less crowded. We're not doing either, just Amalfi Coast.

Anyone who wants to be in roll call and hasn't sent me info, please send dis name, who's in your party, dining, and if you want cabin number to me by PM.
Jeanne- I don't think I have your whole horde.

Julie

I think we are going to go with Herculaneum. Less crowded is fine with me.

Good luck with your dinner.

I will PM you with our details for the roll call.

Thanks
Eleasa

 

[linkandclover]

Thank you linkandclover! That is very generous of you. Our trip is still a fair way away but I thought I'd start looking into transport so that I know what kind of specials I should be looking out for! I have to be honest, it took me a while to work out where all the different airports were (eg 3 in NY). This plus the combinations of the different airlines gave me a big headache. One of the joys of Australia having a small population is 1 major airport per major city (and there's not too many of those too...) with limited airline options! Easy to plan but not so competitive with price.

What would be nice to know though are your recommendations of good places to go for food!

Food is an easy one depending on your budget and where exactly you plan on staying. When you look at flights I would agree with the Jet Blue suggestions as it is a very reasonably priced airline and is one of the more comfortable ones to travel on. You obviously have plenty of time to think about what you want to do and where you plan on staying (DC vs. Virginia) will likeley determine how and where you want to fly to.

 

[goofprincess]

Updating post one and title very shortly.

I'm making a full five course Moroccan dinner tonight for my Arabic teacher and will be busy all day. Oldest ds volunteered me for this to the teacher, since we'll be staying with his family for 5 days in Fes, and he had been saying he missed homemade Moroccan food last time he was here.

I read Herculeum was easier to see, very well preserved, etc. Some guides recommend it over Pompeii due to the fact that it's smaller and easier to get around/see and less crowded. We're not doing either, just Amalfi Coast.

Anyone who wants to be in roll call and hasn't sent me info, please send dis name, who's in your party, dining, and if you want cabin number to me by PM.
Jeanne- I don't think I have your whole horde.

Julie

Julie--I sent you a PM with all our info.

I am over on the TA site but wanna start chatting over here to. I am so excited to be cruising but also very uncomfortable with unknown places. I am reading what everyone is doing and trying to make decisions based on past experiences. So thank you; keep the info. coming.

Lynne----Aloha. Are you still on Maui? Say hi to my starbucks

 

[guynwdm]

With the death of Roy E Disney the Golden Mickeys show is going away. Does anyone know if the new show will be on the ship or if they are doing special shows like they did on the repositioning cruises?

I am tired of the snow and cold, I think I am giving up on waiting for the cost of airline tickets to drop and just booking to get things ready to go for the trip. I think once I have an airline ticket it will be more real. I have a $400 voucher on Delta since they bumped me off a flight due to overbooking to use. That will help the cost of the ticket. I need to get the shore excursions booked as well. I just haven't had much time to see my dad and get from him what he would like to see. I have been teaching on Saturdays and all of those are booked from now to the trip (except Easter weekend) and it is hard to connect and talk about it.

I need to book my stay in Paris as well. Thinking I will just use the DVC points and stay at DLP for the stay and make a day trip into the city.

 

[Brooklyn]

With the death of Roy E Disney the Golden Mickeys show is going away. Does anyone know if the new show will be on the ship or if they are doing special shows like they did on the repositioning cruises?

I am tired of the snow and cold, I think I am giving up on waiting for the cost of airline tickets to drop and just booking to get things ready to go for the trip. I think once I have an airline ticket it will be more real. I have a $400 voucher on Delta since they bumped me off a flight due to overbooking to use. That will help the cost of the ticket. I need to get the shore excursions booked as well. I just haven't had much time to see my dad and get from him what he would like to see. I have been teaching on Saturdays and all of those are booked from now to the trip (except Easter weekend) and it is hard to connect and talk about it.

I need to book my stay in Paris as well. Thinking I will just use the DVC points and stay at DLP for the stay and make a day trip into the city.

It is not going away bc he died. It has been in the works for awhile. It is being replaced with a new Villians show.... My girls are not even interested in watching it. You can google it and watch a video about it. I don't mind so much a villians show but WHY replace something so great as Golden Mickeys?!?!?!?!? They had auditions for the roles months ago...I was so sad when reading the character breakdowns for the new show. I was hoping it was not all going to be villians but it was/is! UGH!

 

[carpenta]

It really helps! So the Rome tour you went on where you had the private tour inside the Sistine Chapel, was that through Disney? Did you know that it was going to be private before you got there? I would LOVE to get pictures/video of it!!

Yes the tour was through Disney and did list a private tour of the Sistine Chapel. I went over the shore excursions listed for this trip and did not find something that sounded similar. We booked Eternal Rome because we did not get to see some of the Roman ruins last time. Yet you can't go wrong touring Rome for every turn there is something to see.

 

[carpenta]

carpenta - is that the way you pronounce "carpenter" in New England?

Mighty nice to meet more of our fellow cruisers - Welcome y'all

Lynne

Yes maam ( as they say south of the Mason-Dixon) Thanks for the warm welcome.

 

[linkandclover]

I hope my family is not the only one looking forward to the villain show but we are a group of 3 males.

 

[Michelle2]

Yes the tour was through Disney and did list a private tour of the Sistine Chapel. I went over the shore excursions listed for this trip and did not find something that sounded similar. We booked Eternal Rome because we did not get to see some of the Roman ruins last time. Yet you can't go wrong touring Rome for every turn there is something to see.

Thanks so much! I am sad because there is nothing similiar this time around. I have been to Rome before, but have never been private in the Sistine Chapel and able to take pics and video.


Who was it that gave reviews on barcelona and about the taxis and getting your luggage out quickly? Was that on this thread of on the TA thread? I am thinking the TA thread....that luggage surcharge is so stupid, and wanted to know a way around it. I have no problem beating them to my luggage if it will save the extra charge....

 

[linkandclover]

Yay this is my 10th post!!!!!

 

[skoi]

Lynne,

You were right. I fixed it. It is Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears.

Sorry.

I'll do the roll call tomorrow. I'm so tired and my back hurts from standing and cooking, chopping, wrapping filo dough, etc all day.

Julie

 

[auntlynne]

Don't be sorry. You will notice I was going to check bacause once I get something in my head, that's the way it stays until something or someone shows me the error of my ways.

Ahhh, phyllo. Flaky with butter baked on (as in Greek tyropitakia - ricotta-like cheese filled golden phyllo triangles - yum).

Hey, a lot of the roll call info is on the website. TheCruisers and goofprincess are listed on the EB Cruisers list, I am pretty sure.

 

[shushh]

Lynne, good to see you back! Julie hope the dinner party went well. It's been nice reading reports from the previous med cruisers. I sometimes wish we were doing the DCL tours. I'm still trying to work out when I should book Flounders, not sure how quickly it goes. I suppose try Palo dinner first and then Flounders.

As for DC, there'll be 10 of us, 6 of them being children so we'd rather not drive. Also not keen to drive on the wrong side of the car, the wrong side of the road and possibly in ice/snow. Hence we were planning to stay close to the National Mall. In answer to your question Lynne, we'll be flying down to Orlando.

 

[grlzmom]

Lynne, good to see you back! Julie hope the dinner party went well. It's been nice reading reports from the previous med cruisers. I sometimes wish we were doing the DCL tours. I'm still trying to work out when I should book Flounders, not sure how quickly it goes. I suppose try Palo dinner first and then Flounders.

As for DC, there'll be 10 of us, 6 of them being children so we'd rather not drive. Also not keen to drive on the wrong side of the car, the wrong side of the road and possibly in ice/snow. Hence we were planning to stay close to the National Mall. In answer to your question Lynne, we'll be flying down to Orlando.

Belinda, we have done both, fly/train from NY to DC. My kids love to take the train (weird I know) and with having to get to airport early and stuff it doesn't really end up taking too much more time vs the train. Like others have said it really depends on where you want to end up. You should be able to get really cheap flights. When we do DC we actually stay out by BWI Airport (Baltimore) and take the Metro from there to DC to see what we want to see. Takes about an hour but not crowded and we get great rooms in a nice area. We like the BWI airport.

My kids also LOVE to take the autotrain from Lorton, VA (outside DC) to Orlando (Sanford). We get sleeper rooms and its like an adventure to them. Yeah, long and tedious for me but they love it. I blame it all on the Polar Express movie.

When using the train we always google for amtrak codes and have gotten all kinds of discounts.

 

[grlzmom]

I hope my family is not the only one looking forward to the villain show but we are a group of 3 males.

We are sad that Golden Mickeys is going away, but my group of 8 is totally excited for the Villians show.

 

[grlzmom]

I was leaning toward Herculaneum; the people frozen in that moment of terror seems a bit creepy (Pompeii). If I were to go to Pompeii, it would be that my grandfather was there around 1919 as a soldier aboard a US Army hospital ship.

But now the descriptions of Capri are tempting and a drive along the Amalfi Coast is supposed to be spectacular.

Call me creepy, I'm looking forward to Pompeii. We are doing private tour that includes drive along Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Positano and choice of Herculaneum or Pompeii. Maybe you can get a tour that includes Herculaneum and Amalfi Coast?

I would also would love to see the catacombs and St. Peter's Tomb in Rome but with only a day, just not going to happen as the Vatican/Sistine are musts for us.