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

[alltheparks]

Thanks - will look out for any private tours to share on the boards. have got loads of guide books for each port but not sure thats helping me - lots to see and little time to see it. Dont want to spend all day on excursions as children love the boat.

looks good that there are children close to mines ages *** was a bit worried there would be few given its not school holiday time. Also on the lookout for books particularly for my daughter so she can read before we go. Got a wii game for my son - ruthless romans and a Cows in Action book which takes place in ancient Rome.

Was anyone on the 2007 med cruise - *** just wondered if they heat the pools. Never been to med outwith Summer months so not sure how warm it will be

We love the Cows in Action books! I wasn't on the last cruise, it is our first time on Disney, but I did check the boards, and they do heat the pools for the transalantic, so hopefully that will continue!

 

[TheCruisers]

Hi we are joining you on this cruise, booked cat 12s with kids sail free so taking kids out of school (educational trip). Two children - 8 years girl and 6 years boy. Wondered if anyone else had children of this age travelling and whether anyone has done Rome on their own with this age of children before. Cant decide between DCL tour or on our own - huge price difference but do want to see the vatican and colliseum at least.

Also if anyones done the disney or other tour how long do you spend in the vatican as really only want to see the sistine chapel and dont know if the kids will be able to bear hours in the museums.

Cant wait fourth disney cruise but rest have been caribean 7 days

lynne

Hi Lynne, WELCOME!

Im curious abou the "kids sail free" with a cat 12. I booked this cruise when kids sail free first came out but it was only for cat 4-11. I did just check on DCL's website and they don't have the "kids sail free" in the offers any more. Did you book directly with Disney or go through a Travel Agent?

We have a DS who will be 8 next week. Let's hear it for Educational Travel!

I don't have any previous experience with the tours, but we are currently booked on the Disney tour in Rome.

Thanks!
Eleasa

 

[TheCruisers]

WELCOME! To all the other folks joining the Med cruise.

Sorry, didn't mean to leave you out of the welcome on my previous post!

Eleasa

 

[Brooklyn]

Hi Lynne, WELCOME!

Im curious abou the "kids sail free" with a cat 12. I booked this cruise when kids sail free first came out but it was only for cat 4-11. I did just check on DCL's website and they don't have the "kids sail free" in the offers any more. Did you book directly with Disney or go through a Travel Agent?

We have a DS who will be 8 next week. Let's hear it for Educational Travel!

I don't have any previous experience with the tours, but we are currently booked on the Disney tour in Rome.

Thanks!
Eleasa

We booked kids sail free in CAT 12. We booked at the beg of decemeber. The kids sail free in CAT 12's went away a few days after we booked it. Then it was only offered for CAT's 4-11. We got the cruise for $2200 for 4 of us. We really want to upgrade our room to a verandah with the military discount but it would be $1200 more bc we did so good with kids sail free. We did upgrade my moms with the military discount. DH and I will move to an inside room from a verandah on the TA. The girls and grandma will stay in the same verandah.

 

[lynnemcb]

booked in November 2009 - think they took the kids sail free offer from the cat 12s shortly after. Havent posted on the board till now *** up to mid January was considering changing - internal debate about keeping kids off school!!!

 

[grlzmom]

Hi we are joining you on this cruise, booked cat 12s with kids sail free so taking kids out of school (educational trip). Two children - 8 years girl and 6 years boy. Wondered if anyone else had children of this age travelling and whether anyone has done Rome on their own with this age of children before. Cant decide between DCL tour or on our own - huge price difference but do want to see the vatican and colliseum at least.

Also if anyones done the disney or other tour how long do you spend in the vatican as really only want to see the sistine chapel and dont know if the kids will be able to bear hours in the museums.

Cant wait fourth disney cruise but rest have been caribean 7 days

lynne

We have never been to Rome and debating doing it on our own vs. DCL vs. private tour

We have daughters 8 and 7 and son 7 (along with four teenage daughters).

 

[grlzmom]

Brooklyn, do you mind sharing the title of the book you got your DD? Was planning to get one for DS but haven't found anything that was quite right.

Can you get Amazon shipped to Australia? We got a bunch off Amazon and they have them for just about every age group. We got travel guides and historical fiction type books. Usborne makes a kids guide to Rome too. My son loves the Pompeii fictional books

 

[Happy Goofy]

Was there anything else decided on doing sweatshirts- tee shirts for the btb

I keep waiting for them to release Fl residents rated for the TA and Med but so far nothing.

Disney as of now still plans to dock in Madeira

 

[mrosen]

Hi Lynne, WELCOME!

Im curious abou the "kids sail free" with a cat 12. I booked this cruise when kids sail free first came out but it was only for cat 4-11. I did just check on DCL's website and they don't have the "kids sail free" in the offers any more. Did you book directly with Disney or go through a Travel Agent?

We have a DS who will be 8 next week. Let's hear it for Educational Travel!

I don't have any previous experience with the tours, but we are currently booked on the Disney tour in Rome.

Thanks!
Eleasa

Based on what I saw, there was a small window of time when they let you book at Cat 12 GTY with kids sail free. We had a Cat 10 room booked with kids sail free in Sept and noticed this offer in Nov for Cat 12 GTY and changed our reservation. We changed our reservation in Nov to save money though we are taking a gamble on our room assignment going the route we ended up going. Sometime in December, I think they modified their site and went back to kids sail free was only valid for Cat 4-11.

They did take the kids sail free offer away though I'm not sure when they did that - think it was still available early into the new year.

 

[mrosen]

Disneyfalcon and group! I too love your photos! Amazing!!



Mary Ellen - this is the only information I could gather regarding movies for you (from a post on 2/16/10):

Lynne on your 1000th post!!

Thanks for input on movies.

 

[mrosen]

I just checked the Navigator from the Feb 11-13 cruise; in the Buena Vista Theatre, they were showing: Old Dogs, When in Rome, Princess & the Frog, G Force and Up (in 3-D).

If you click on Disney Cruise Line Info (top of the page under the red stripe), you can find Navigators and other useful stuff.

This is my 1,000th post!

- Lynne

thanks for input on where to find this information and what is playing. appreciate it.

 

[TheCruisers]

Thanks Brooklyn, Lynne and Mrosen for your responses. Makes sense as I didn't book until January when the free kids offer on cat 11 was more than the regular cat 12.

Certainly not complaining though! Its still a great deal.

Thanks
Eleasa

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Thanks for the welcome everyone! We're trying to decide on plans for Rome, too.

This is a last minute, cheap trip, so I don't want to spend much on excursions. I'm on my way to Walt Disney World right now, so I just haven't had time to research everything yet. Hopefully soon!

 

[Brooklyn]

Thanks for the welcome everyone! We're trying to decide on plans for Rome, too.

This is a last minute, cheap trip, so I don't want to spend much on excursions. I'm on my way to Walt Disney World right now, so I just haven't had time to research everything yet. Hopefully soon!

Your signature makes me really miss the Golden Mickeys! I wish the last time we saw it we knew that it would be gone from the Magic!

 

[linkandclover]

Hi we are joining you on this cruise, booked cat 12s with kids sail free so taking kids out of school (educational trip). Two children - 8 years girl and 6 years boy. Wondered if anyone else had children of this age travelling and whether anyone has done Rome on their own with this age of children before. Cant decide between DCL tour or on our own - huge price difference but do want to see the vatican and colliseum at least.

Also if anyones done the disney or other tour how long do you spend in the vatican as really only want to see the sistine chapel and dont know if the kids will be able to bear hours in the museums.

Cant wait fourth disney cruise but rest have been caribean 7 days

lynne

Welcome aboard!!!!!
We have a 13 and 10 year old son.
We booked some through Disney (Florence on your own and Ferrari museum, as well as Berber village) and hired romeinlimo.com for Rome and Naples (cheaper than Disney and we can see what we want for as long as we want. Other people are booked through different companies or are doing things on their own.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Your signature makes me really miss the Golden Mickeys! I wish the last time we saw it we knew that it would be gone from the Magic!

That was a great show, Brooklyn!

Did you say how you are getting to Rome?

 

[shushh]

Does anyone know if DCL will have special internet packages for the med cruise? Also, any guesses as to what the photo CD will cost for a cruise this length? All the info I can find are for 7 day cruises.

I've asked my TA to hassle DCL but they still have replied. Don't know for sure which is the one causing the hold up...

 

[Becx N Gav]

I was wondering if you can get cell phone recption on the ship while not in port? DH is hoping to do this and use his 3G (buying a European data plan beforehand) instead of using the ships internet connection.

Welcome to all those who have just signed up

Great to have new people

 

[Brooklyn]

That was a great show, Brooklyn!

Did you say how you are getting to Rome?

We are taking the train. I get very very very car sick and the idea of sitting in someone else's car all that time is not for me. (That is the only thing that makes me worried about the Amafali coast ) We also think the girls will like the train the best. I am looking forward to more room and being able to move around on the train.

Does anyone know if DCL will have special internet packages for the med cruise? Also, any guesses as to what the photo CD will cost for a cruise this length? All the info I can find are for 7 day cruises.

I've asked my TA to hassle DCL but they still have replied. Don't know for sure which is the one causing the hold up...

I think the internet may just be their normal rates by the time. I am not sure if they offer a length of cruise package. I wish they did but I can't imagine what that bill would be like! Same goes for the photo cd. It will be interesting to see.

I was wondering if you can get cell phone recption on the ship while not in port? DH is hoping to do this and use his 3G (buying a European data plan beforehand) instead of using the ships internet connection.

Welcome to all those who have just signed up

Great to have new people

We did on the TA last time. I did call my cell phone carrier ahead of time to find out charges, etc. I think the biggest thing to remember is that you have to be a certain amount of miles away from land. Cell phones will pick up the land towers before the ships satelite will be used. Those can incur HUGE charges. I thought somewhere someone mentioned that internet through your phone is not the same rates as making a call. I am not sure though if you switch to the data. The other idea to consider is if DCL is not using a "European satalite" or one covered under your plan. So many what if's out there.

 

[Brooklyn]

I am chatting with a representative from Sprint right now about using my cell phone on board....

Sprint offers wireless roaming service on board the Disney - Magic. Service is available for use when the cruise ship is in international waters, sailing out of range of land-based networks. Cruise ship service is turned down when the ship is in port. All calls placed from the cruise ship are $2.49/minute. I apologize, texting and data is not available while on the cruise ship.

No luck for us using data while at sea....sigh....I was hoping that might work for us.