7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[LovesToRun]

Yes it is only April 14 for the silvers!! I was planning on doing a lot of DCL excursions, but got worried that as silvers we would not get exactly what we wanted, especially Athens and Turkey. So now we have gone with private drivers and I know what we are doing and that we will see what we want! Can't wait.


Joan

I am also going to research private tours, because my parents want to do excursions with us, but since we are gold, we can book Disney excursions before them, but then I don't know what to do if by the time they book, the excursion we are on is full, so they can't go with us. It's too bad they don't let everyone traveling in your party all book at the same time (regardless of the tier you are). I suppose we could wait to book until the Silvers book and then my parents and our family just all will book together and get what is left over. We'll have to figure that one out. I'm not too worried... there are so many options if the Disney excursions get sold out.

The only place we ARE considering doing Disney excursions is Athens and Ephesus, which it sounds like may be the two places a lot of people will be mostly booking Disney excursions. But, we may still do private excursions there, or do it on our own... still figuring that one out.

The rest of the ports, we'll be doing on our own.

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

Heather- I am enjoying your pre-trip report, Thank you for all the wonderful info and links.

Thanks Joan - I was wondering if anyone was reading my reports...

I figured I had so much info in my head I had to share it somewhere

 

[calihannah]

The only place we ARE considering doing Disney excursions is Athens and Ephesus, which it sounds like may be the two places a lot of people will be mostly booking Disney excursions. But, we may still do private excursions there, or do it on our own... still figuring that one out.

Sorry if I missed it in this LONG thread, but why are folks doing more DCL in Athens and Ephesus? We are definitely considering a private tour in Athens even though we usually prefer to go with DCL -- just not finding the right tour through Disney this time. Ephesus we'll see what happens when we can book -- we want a DCL trip but will find a comparable tour on our own if we are blocked from it (we are only silver, this is our 4th DCL cruise)...

 

[LovesToRun]

Sorry if I missed it in this LONG thread, but why are folks doing more DCL in Athens and Ephesus? We are definitely considering a private tour in Athens even though we usually prefer to go with DCL -- just not finding the right tour through Disney this time. Ephesus we'll see what happens when we can book -- we want a DCL trip but will find a comparable tour on our own if we are blocked from it (we are only silver, this is our 4th DCL cruise)...

I am not sure why others might do more DCL in Athens & Ephesus, but for us, we are still in the beginning research stage, so we may end up with a private tour (just need to look around and figure it out), but all the other ports we know for sure we'll be doing it on our own and won't be doing a DCL tour, but for Athens and Ephesus, we won't want to do that all on our own, so our choice is either a DCL tour or private... I just need to figure it out. We aren't opposed to a DCL tour, even if it's more expensive than a private tour.

So, I guess that doesn't really answer your question. LOL!!

It might be others want to book DCL because these could be longer days (of touring/exploring), and with DCL you are guaranteed to not miss the ship, but if you go on your own, or a private tour, if things go longer than expected, you could miss the ship. That is my guess why DCL may be more popular at these ports.

The only reason we are nervous to do Athens all on our own (and call my paranoid), but good friends of ours did a Med cruise (not with Disney... different cruiseline), and they chose to do Athens on their own. They took the train from the port to Athens (which they said worked GREAT, easy to get to from port). They did all they wanted to do in Athens, and had a great time, but when they went to get back on the train to get back to port, during the time they were in town, the employees who run the trains went on strike! So, the trains weren't running at all, and everyone was trying to get back to port, so all the cabs were totally full, and traffic was a mess. It's too far to walk back to port. So, they got lucky and went into a local store and asked a local if there is any other way to get back to port, and the local was super nice and he drove them to the port, so they got there, but they had to get very creative in getting back.

That said, the chances of this happening on our trip is very slim, and I know that!! But, my friend's story is one reason I want to maybe go with DCL in Athens... if something like that did happen, then at least I won't have to worry because if the bus is late getting back to the ship due to traffic, etc, I know we'll still make it.

As for Ephesus, we may go with a private tour... I just need to figure it out. I also know we can get off the ship, and hire a driver right there off the ship.... so I just need to research it.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

I am also going to research private tours, because my parents want to do excursions with us, but since we are gold, we can book Disney excursions before them, but then I don't know what to do if by the time they book, the excursion we are on is full, so they can't go with us. It's too bad they don't let everyone traveling in your party all book at the same time (regardless of the tier you are). I suppose we could wait to book until the Silvers book and then my parents and our family just all will book together and get what is left over. We'll have to figure that one out. I'm not too worried... there are so many options if the Disney excursions get sold out.

The only place we ARE considering doing Disney excursions is Athens and Ephesus, which it sounds like may be the two places a lot of people will be mostly booking Disney excursions. But, we may still do private excursions there, or do it on our own... still figuring that one out. Melitours have been awesome - totally professional and you get to go back to their ranch for a real turkish lunch.



The rest of the ports, we'll be doing on our own.

I have done a lot of research - we are doing Rome, Ephasus and Malta with a private guide. Probably pick up a guide on site in Athens on site. Went with melitours in Ephasus based on Rick Steves and Trip advisor rankings.

 

[LovesToRun]

I have done a lot of research - we are doing Rome, Ephasus and Malta with a private guide. Probably pick up a guide on site in Athens on site. Went with melitours in Ephasus based on Rick Steves and Trip advisor rankings.

Thanks for this! I'm keeping a list of all the recommended private tours/guides I have seen on the DIS boards for the ports we are going to (and will add Melitours to this list), and I'm going to then research and figure it all out from the recommendations I have vs. the DCL tours as to what we'll end up doing. I need to figure it out by March 30 since that is when we can start booking our port adventures (if we do go with DCL).

I also just got the Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Ports book! That will be my reading for the week, too. I'm excited about that book!

We are kind of getting on the "figuring out what to do at each port" bandwagon a bit late, but we've been busy booking our entire Europe trip (hotels, flights, etc), and all of that is now finalized, so now what to do at each port is now on our radar.

Getting excited!

 

[Cousin Orville]

We're doing a private guide in both Athens and Ephesus. Ephesus for us will be a half day tour. Go out and see Ephesus and come back and grab lunch in town probably. On a per hour basis, Ephesus is our cheapest tour. Especially compared to Rome, Villefrance, etc. I wouldn't think an excursion would be that much cheaper if you have a party of 3 or 4.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

We are doing private tours for Rome, Athens, and Ephesus. Doing Barcelona, Nice/Monaco, Cinque Terre, and Malta on our own. Mykonos we booked the St. John's resort day pass for a nice beach/pool/resort and that includes transporation, thanks to a tip from Heather! I agree that our Ephesus tour is by far the cheapest experience and paybable directly in US dollars instead of Euros. Too bad the rest of the ports are so expensive- I still can't believe how much I'm justifying spending for our Rome tour but the DCL comparable one was only very slightly cheaper and not customized for just us, so that's what I keep telling myself.

 

[disneycrazy2004]

Paid in FULL !!!! YEAH, so excited!

Back to Back Mediterranean here we come!

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

- I still can't believe how much I'm justifying spending for our Rome tour but the DCL comparable one was only very slightly cheaper and not customized for just us, so that's what I keep telling myself.

We are exactly the same but I think this will be the one and only time we go to Rome in our life. I want to do what interests me and my family and had the chance to hire a university educated archaologist.

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

We are PIF as well.

Can't wait to hear how all the Platinum's make out in a couple of days on their excursion bookings. Make sure to let us know any tidbits that could be handy...

Now I just gotta wait until our window open's up for bookings and to find out what cabin my brother ended up with on his GTY - hopefully close to the rest of the family.

Oh....and get started on my FE gifts. I have half started two or three items....but haven't nailed down anything yet.

 

[Amy Fran]

Thanks for the input Amy. I'm going to be organizing the meet and greets and right now am planning to have two - one the first day and one during a sea day. I'd be grateful for suggestions of where/when to do each.

Randi

Promenade Lounge on deck 3 is always a good spot. Not many activities are planned there and, if there are, there's still plenty of space to grab a few tables off to the side. Rockin' Bar D is another possible option. I don't remember too many activities there during the day either. Or meet for lunch one day? Everyone meet outside a chosen restaurant & sit together for a meal. I would totally avoid the pool areas because there's way too many people there - too crowded.

 

[FloridaMom3461]

:

Can't wait to hear how all the Platinum's make out in a couple of days on their excursion bookings. Make sure to let us know any tidbits that could be handy...
.

I was so excited today to receive an email from the concierge team reminding us we can book on Friday!

If anyone has questions after that, let me know.

Randi

 

[CaptainandTennille]

Hello! Just joined this cruise. Very excited but feeling a little guilty about leaving my husband and kids home. This is going to be a fun girls trip with good friends. I haven't been able to catch up on all the posts yet, but I wanted to join the roll call and see if it was too late to sign up for the FE?

 

[calihannah]

Promenade Lounge on deck 3 is always a good spot. Not many activities are planned there and, if there are, there's still plenty of space to grab a few tables off to the side. Rockin' Bar D is another possible option. I don't remember too many activities there during the day either. Or meet for lunch one day? Everyone meet outside a chosen restaurant & sit together for a meal. I would totally avoid the pool areas because there's way too many people there - too crowded.

If we're talking about embarkation day, I'd avoid Rockin' Bar D as they do the restaurant rebookings/requests there, and there are often big queues, at least in our experience walking through. Promenade Lounge has always been relatively quiet and good for meets, especially on embarkation day before the lifeboat drill

 

[fabulousoldshoes]

If we're talking about embarkation day, I'd avoid Rockin' Bar D as they do the restaurant rebookings/requests there, and there are often big queues, at least in our experience walking through. Promenade Lounge has always been relatively quiet and good for meets, especially on embarkation day before the lifeboat drill

Yeah every cruise I've been on we've done the embarkation meet up in Promenade before the lifeboat drill. I think that's probably the best choice for a first day meet up and then we can plan other things for later in the cruise.

 

[LovesToRun]

Hello all!

So, my head is spinning now on the amount of time (probably too much time) I've spent trying to figure out our options (private, on our own, or DCL) for La Spezia. We have been to Florence before, so we want to go to Cinque Terra.

So, I have lots of questions for anyone here who can give any answers.

First off, these are the different plans I keep going back and forth on....

The Cinque Terre DCL excursion is by boat, but I can't quite tell (maybe my brain is just fogged by now) if the boat only stops at ONE town, and the rest of the tour is purely seeing the towns from the water? If this is the case, we don't want to do this (as much as going from town to town via boat sounds fun, we want to be able to look in the towns, etc).

I have the Rick Steve's Med Cruise Ports books, but for this chapter (Florence, Pisa, Luccca) in the book, it discusses from the Port of Livorno, which not our port. So, there is no info (at least that I've seen so far) in his book about ideas if you arrive to the La Spezia port, SO I am having a hard time getting ideas for "doing it on our own" or "private tours" from the Rick Steve's book.

Then, from what I've read so far (both online and books) of doing Cinque Terra on your own from La Spezia, I'm trying to decide if taking our 10 & 12 year old boys, if they will hold up well doing this on our own (ie, all the walking, the crowded train, etc). Plus, my parents may be going with us at this port (and they are both in their early 70's), but they also might do Florence with DCL (they are still deciding). But, if my parents decide to do Cinque Terra with us, I think doing it on our own might be hard.

Now, for my questions...

That said, can anyone here recommend any good private tours from La Spezia Port to visit Cinque Terre (with a private car)?

Also, if my parents do not tag along with us at this port, what do you all think about taking 2 kids (ages 10 & 12) "doing it on our own" to Cinque Terre. Will that be too much? (ie, all the walking, etc. etc.)? They are both energetic kids, but just wondering about not having a car to go back to for a "breather" between towns?

And, as for the DCL tour, has anyone done the Cinque Terre by boat from previous MED cruises, and can give me your opinion on how it was (was it worth it, was it MOSTLY boat, and very little land), etc?

Thanks so much!!!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

Now, for my questions...

That said, can anyone here recommend any good private tours from La Spezia Port to visit Cinque Terre (with a private car)?

Also, if my parents do not tag along with us at this port, what do you all think about taking 2 kids (ages 10 & 12) "doing it on our own" to Cinque Terre. Will that be too much? (ie, all the walking, etc. etc.)? They are both energetic kids, but just wondering about not having a car to go back to for a "breather" between towns?

And, as for the DCL tour, has anyone done the Cinque Terre by boat from previous MED cruises, and can give me your opinion on how it was (was it worth it, was it MOSTLY boat, and very little land), etc?

Thanks so much!!!

I think you will be fine with the train- the ride from La Spezia is supposedly only like 10-15 minutes from what I've read. So even if its crowded, it wouldnt be the hardship it would be like stuck on a crowded train from Civitavecchia to Rome for over an hour. Also, cars are very limited in travel amongst the villages from what I've read- I think some towns in Cinque Terre even prohibit cars altogether. The ones that do allow car travel it says that parking is very scare, so even if you had a private driver, you still may have a lot of walking to meet up with him to go between each town. From everything I've read, it appears the fastest, most cost effective and easiest way to get to/from Cinque Terre and between the villages is the all-day train pass.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

We are exactly the same but I think this will be the one and only time we go to Rome in our life. I want to do what interests me and my family and had the chance to hire a university educated archaologist.

Yes, for me, I was originally planning to sail solo on this trip and was just going to stay onboard for the Rome day, since I've studied abroad in Rome and seen/done most all the highlights there- been inside the Colosseum, St. Peters Square (saw the Pope speak and come around very close to us!), inside the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, and other Rome "top spots". However, once my dad decided to join me on this trip, I knew I had to do Rome again. He has never been outside of the country other than the Bahamas which I hardly consider being "abroad", and this will probably be his one and only chance to visit Rome also. So for that alone, I have to justify the cost of this day's private tour. I know he'll enjoy it and even though I've been to all the places, its been 7 years, and it will be nice to have a "pampered private tour" this time instead of running around as a young student navigating all the trains/metros/etc--that was fine when I had several weeks to see/do it all, but for just having 1 day in Rome, I think this private tour is really the only way to do it.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I've been to Cinque Terre a couple of times. Not sure how beneficial a private guide in Cinque Terre would be. You can't access most of the towns (or at least the interesting areas) with a car with the exception of Monterosso I think. If you're wanting to hike the trails, you don't need a guide for that. I think it's best done on your own IMO. Take the train, go to Vernazza, shop around, find a cafe, get some fresh pesto pasta and fish with some local wine and call it a day.

Your kids should do just fine. There's no need to stay out all day if they get tired or bored. Here's my son enjoying gelato...

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