7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[Stimpy]

We would have to fly out of JFK or Newark so while we have lots of airlines to choose from, we also have a huge price to pay.

When we went through DCL last time, we did have good luck with them. We flew on Virgin both ways, had good flight times, & they did stop in a town in England for an hour or so before going to the ship. Nice for most of the family...not so great for me....my DD fell asleep on my lap & we had to sit on this tiny slanted bench in an outdoor bus station the whole time....the a/c on our own tour bus was broke, European heat wave...long story

 

[Im_A_Princess]

The airfare is scary expensive!
DCL is quoting $1700 pp!
That is almost as much as the cruise!!!!
I hope we do not end up having to cancel at a later time. Maybe airfares will go down!

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

If anybody sees great deals on airfares as we get closer and the airlines start putting up their pricing, I say let's report back on this board. So we can all help each other! When do airlines generally post their pricing -- is it a year before?

Beth

 

[linkandclover]

We flew in 2010 and paid 1000 a person on British airways. We had to rebook because of the Volcano in Iceland and actually got our tickets for 750 each. I am not sure what others have experienced but my sense is that you have to wait for fares to drop and they definitely will.

 

[doberlady]

I anyone is interested in sharing a whole day tour for Rome let me know. We are 2 people.

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

How is everyone doing this evening?

A window into my life and times. It was "celebrate super heroes and/or teachers" at the local elementary school. So one daughter looked prim and proper in garb that resembled her second grade teacher (even borrowed some faux pearls from Mommy), while the other daughter wore a Bat Girl costume and zoomed around the house saving her stuffed animals from countless perils. All of this activity happened before getting on the school bus.

After school, I picked them up at the end of their Young Rembrandt class (an extra hour of art time after school). My Bat Girl still had on her cape crusader gear on full in the mode of still saving the day no matter what. My other Teacher Child had lost her pearls but had a huge smile on her face that her second grade teacher was so pleased that some kids dressed up like her. There were other kids dressed up as heroes in our community, like firefighters, moms and dads in the military, police officers, etc. So it was an interesting day for the kiddos who wanted to celebrate all of this. I was pleased to hear that many of the children did choose their teachers as they certainly are deserving.

My girls will be calling Gram in Colorado in a few minutes to fill her in their day. Just thought I'd share this with all of you -- nothing to do with the Med, but oh well!

Beth

 

[bonnielynn]

If anybody sees great deals on airfares as we get closer and the airlines start putting up their pricing, I say let's report back on this board. So we can all help each other! When do airlines generally post their pricing -- is it a year before?

Beth

I agree.. help each other.. I'm worried about the air myself and if I will have to cancel because of the price..

 

[bonnielynn]

ooop duplicate.

 

[ejw]

If anybody sees great deals on airfares as we get closer and the airlines start putting up their pricing, I say let's report back on this board. So we can all help each other! When do airlines generally post their pricing -- is it a year before?

Beth

Hi Beth,
generally airlines will post the airfare 11 months out.

ellen

 

[ejw]

just wanted to share that costco is again accepting disney cruise reservation transfers and offering costco gift cards. I called costco today and found this out. the rep also said that based on my cruise cost they can offer me about a $500 - $535 gift card. up to this point, the best offer i got from another TA was a $250 OBC.

ellen

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Speaking of travel agents, I have a fabulous t.a. who works for a small travel agency that specializes in Disney. She takes her family on lots of Disney cruises so really knows her stuff. If anyone is interested, feel free to send me a PM and I'll give you her contact information.

 

[DisneyDee27]

The website we used for metro tickets and museum passes is Parispass.com
It was nice to have our train tickets etc before we arrived. Also raileurope.com is an awesome site for European travel.
See you all next year
Dee

 

[disneycrazy2004]

Hello everyone,

count us in - super excited......we booked back to back Greece and Venice and are all so excited.

It will be 4 of us DH, DS( will be 15) DD ( will be 13) and myself. We are from Canada and are so excited. Let the planning begin

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

One thing checked off my to do list: just purchased trip insurance for the cruise. We needed to get it within a two week time frame of making the deposit to waive the pre-existing condition issue (one child has asthma so we have to make sure it gets covered). Tomorrow was that deadline because I had paid my deposit on 1/26, so I got this chore done a day early. Whew.

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

Welcome Aboard Disneycrazy2004!! You have been addd to our Roll Call.

 

[Im_A_Princess]

FYI There is talk on the Dis about the economic turmoil in Greece.
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news...-ill-literally;
While I am not sure this will make me cancel my cruise it is something to consider.
This is an expensive cruise. With the flights, cost with DCL, excursions, hotels, ...
I did not realize Greece was in this much turmoil. It is not the economy so much as the civil unrest that is the issue with me.
I am no longer sure I want to keep my deposit on this cruise tied up at DCL for a year+. The cruise will not sell out.
How are you all feeling about today's press over Greece?

 

[doberlady]

I am not canceling-need to buy insurance this week.

I booked an all day Athens tour yesterday YIPPEE. Seemed reasonable and the guy had very good reviews on CC and DIS. 230e for the 2 of us.

 

[Stimpy]

It does have me concerned a bit. Greece was the reason we booked this cruise. We really had no interest in cruising the Med for any of the other ports. If they decide to cancel Greece before our final payment is due, we would most likely cancel unless they came up with a great alternative. I know we're in the minority but we aren't really into any of the Italian ports too much...not really sure why....just never had an interest in them. We were always more interested in the Northern & Central European Countries. Greece was what attracted us to this one.

If it was a last minute change, obviously we would make the best of it. Would trip insurance even cover something like that?

 

[slg]

I'm not even going to worry about it...its so far away. So many things can happen at any time anywhere. I'm sure those folks who had a holiday booked in New York Sept. 2001 were upset, but who could have predicted it? Or the volcano eruptions that cancelled flights two years ago? Or the Swine Flu three years ago?

I book all my trips on faith and deal with what happens when it happens. I'm hoping that nothing will happen in Greece, but I'm also hoping that my mom's cancer doesn't come back, that my dad's health doesn't deteriorate and that my granny who will be 95 doesn't pass away.

Part of what I like about planning trips in advance is the planning and dreaming, not the worrying. So, I'm going to just keep going forward and try not to concern myself too much about what might happen, because if I did, I wouldn't book anywhere. I have anxiety disorder so I have been working diligently on not letting it stop me from living my life.

There's plenty of time to cancel before the paid in full date comes up as well

Having said all that, although I've been to Mexico numerous times, I no longer am interested in travelling there. Glad I did my Mexican riviera in 2008. It was a wonderful cruise.

 

[tinkerbelltwins]

It does have me concerned a bit. Greece was the reason we booked this cruise. We really had no interest in cruising the Med for any of the other ports. If they decide to cancel Greece before our final payment is due, we would most likely cancel unless they came up with a great alternative. I know we're in the minority but we aren't really into any of the Italian ports too much...not really sure why....just never had an interest in them. We were always more interested in the Northern & Central European Countries. Greece was what attracted us to this one.

If it was a last minute change, obviously we would make the best of it. Would trip insurance even cover something like that?

I'm no expert on insurance and every policy is different so read the fine print or better yet call the insurance representatives and ask detailed questions. There are clauses in policies about what happens if you want to cancel due to terrrorism, catastrophic events etc. Coverage varies by policy so definitely read the plan's description of coverage for eligibility and limits.

I do know that my policy would not cover a last minute change just because DCL decided not to go to Greece but went someplace else instead and I didn't like the new itinerary. DCL can pretty much decide to change up ports during the cruise if need be, especially due to safety concerns for all kinds of reasons, even the weather and rough seas (that happens at Castaway Cay sometimes!).

Now if DCL changed the itinerary before the cruise and I wanted to cancel, if I had purchased a policy that had the "cancel for any reason clause" I probably would have been okay (again, I think the timing is important) and would have been reimbursed up to a certain percentage of the prepaid, forfeitable, non-refundable payments or deposits. But I didn't buy that "cancel for any reason" policy. My family's main reason for getting insurance when I did within the two week window of paying the cruise deposit was to make sure a pre-existing medical condition would be covered. From what I've also read about this, I probably could have found a policy out there later on that would have covered pre-existing conditions, but it gets even pricier with less insurance carrier choices as time goes by.

My DH was concerned that if we cancelled the cruise at some point, would that mean we'd lose the insurance money we paid out. For my policy, I'm allowed to move it over to another trip within a certain window of time. Again, every policy is different so good luck!