7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[WDW Princess 71]

Lurking on your thread for port info (we're on the June 27th sailing) and liked the sound of the Tapas Tour
Just booked it for us for June 25th
Barely got in before it was sold out!
Thanks so much for the tip

You're very welcome! Sharing tips is the best part of these boards. Thanks to tips I received I booked the Playmobil Tour in Malta and a day pass to a gorgeous resort in Mykonos thanks to a DISer on here.

I do hope a few others from this meet join my dad and I on the 7/11 Barcelona Taste tour, sharing tapas sounds like a great way to meet other fellow cruisers!!

 

[disneycrazy2004]

Hi Everyone,

We just booked this cruise two weeks ago, and would love to be added to the Roll Call. We are Tara (42, turning 43 while cruising), Joe (45), Hannah (17), and Ben (6). We've done Disney a number of times, but this is the first cruise for all of us, and we are super excited about the cruise, and taking the kids to Europe. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on, and have read through the entire thread. So much information!

We are from Nova Scotia - hello to fellow Canadian/Atlantic Canadians.

Tara

Hello Tara,
Welcome, We are from PEI - this our third Disney Cruise and first time to Europe for my hubby and the kids...I used to work on cruise ships so have been to Europe before but don't really remember that much! So we are all very excited, it is going to be a blast

Tara! Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising.

My husband is from Nova Scotia also! He is from Cape Breton, where are you from?

Our family goes there often...only in the summer though.

Look forward to meeting you. I have a 17 year old and a 14 year old so perhaps they will become friends.

These are great people. Ask any questions you want.

Hey, my husband is from Cape Breton as well .... small world

 

[Stimpy]

I missed the Playmobile tour info?? I'll have to search for it, looks interesting!


I think we will stick to mostly DCL excursions too. We did for the Baltic & were very happy with them. There was one night when the trains were really late get back from Berlin I think? If they weren't on the DCL excursions, the ship would have left! I don't want to take that chance. When we go on the Caribbean cruises we usually do our own thing but something about being across the world make some more nervous

We may do France on our own since its Bastille day. I think that would be fun!

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

I missed the Playmobile tour info?? I'll have to search for it, looks interesting!


I think we will stick to mostly DCL excursions too. We did for the Baltic & were very happy with them. There was one night when the trains were really late get back from Berlin I think? If they weren't on the DCL excursions, the ship would have left! I don't want to take that chance. When we go on the Caribbean cruises we usually do our own thing but something about being across the world make some more nervous

We may do France on our own since its Bastille day. I think that would be fun!

Stimpy - you need to contact playmobile directly for their factory tour. In a small place like Malta I don't think there is a whole lot of risk but I understand what you are saying for places like Rome. In Malta we are going to do a disney excursion in the morning(historical treasure hunt) and then go on the playmobile tour in the afternoon.

 

[happy_momma]

Thank you all, for the welcome. Looking forward to meeting you!

Tara! Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising.

My husband is from Nova Scotia also! He is from Cape Breton, where are you from?

Our family goes there often...only in the summer though.



Look forward to meeting you. I have a 17 year old and a 14 year old so perhaps they will become friends.

We are in Halifax, but I am a Cape Bretoner as well. I moved here about 15 years ago. What are the chances? It is a very small world...

And I am sure that my daughter would love to meet some new friends. She likes hanging out with us, but will definitely be looking for some time away from the grownups. She loves meeting new people too.

I will definitely have questions as I learn. I am still in the process of trying to absorb all of the information. I am an OCD planner and have loved planning our Disney trips, but we've gone enough times that I don't need to plan much anymore. This is a whole new level of planning for me.

Hoping to do most of the port excursions on our own, with the exception of Rome because there is so much to do in a day.

 

[slg]

Tara:

What a small world! My dh is from River Bourgeouis, tiny little town near St. Peter's. Whereabouts Cape Breton are you from? He'll be delighted to chat with someone from "home". He went to Dalhousie though, so lived in Halifax for a few years before moving out west.

We are going to do all DCL excursions. We've done them in the past and felt we got good value for our money, and hey, I want to make sure we get the best and least stressful vacation!

 

[Eleblanc]

slg - any reason they need to be Disney? Only reason I can think of is guaranteed to return to the boat on time. I have used the Rick Steeves book for recommendations.

We have done some Disney excursions in the past, but for this cruise we are doing every port on our own. Only exception is the Rome On Your Own excursion with Disney. We have been to Rome numerous times previously and feel totally comfortable getting around on our won so I really just want the transportation in and back. Maybe it is because we have lived in Europe for a few years now, but part of the fun for each destination is getting around on our own using local transportation (trains, buses, subways). The problem I have with the Disney excursions is they never include everything I want. If we are in port for 11 hours I want to make the most of it, not go on an excursion that only last 5 hours. I feel cheated that way our of the chance to see and do more.

 

[slg]

That's why I always pick the all day excursions!

I too am comfortable going around Europe on my own. I have not lived there but have been numerous times and have an apartment in Portugal.

I'm just choosing to do the DCL because on a cruise, I don't need the stress and I want someone to look after everything for me. We are going to be in Paris 10 days on our own before the cruise schlepping around on our own, and I know that I am in the one in the family who does all the planning, booking, researching, deciding where to go, when to get up, what to take for the day, where to eat,and frankly, its exhausting and I need a break too!

I also do all the research beforehand and then consult with the family, but ultimately, I pick the excursions too.

The idea of planning every minute of every port day to please everyone in my family would take the fun out of my cruise for me, and if anything went wrong, I'd feel responsible. We travel a lot and when we cruise I need to relax. Also its going to be HOT and it makes it hard to make decisions on where to eat, go, do when everyone is cranky and hot and tired. So, let DCL take it over for me

However, I definitely understand why people would do their own thing in ports.

 

[pirateluv]

HI all: We also lean to DCL excursions. We have been very happy with past ones in the Med and Alaska. I feel the same way, they are just soooo easy. Sometimes it is hard to please all five of us, we have two teens, my mom and Dh and I, so sometimes we can't all agree! And it is just so much easier to let DCL plan it all. Yes I know exactly how it is to plan everything, what we see, where we go, where we eat, when we get up. It is exhausting, it is usually my job too! So I am happy to plan out our DCL excursions with some input from my family. but really let Disney do all the work.
And yes, when it is HOT, people get cranky! lol
Ah well, we are really looking forward to this vactation, and it being stress free!

Joan

 

[slg]

Joan you and I are kindred spirits!

I notice you're planning on going on another New Year's Eve Cruise! It was super fun and I loved it, but DH doesn't want to go back to the caribbean unless its an entirely new port. He said 5 times was enough...

So hopefully there will be something new and interesting next year!

 

[pirateluv]

Hi; Yes I agree about all the planning. Yes we did book the Fantasy again, although I am mixed about keeping it. Something new would be great. We will see ....

Joan

 

[WDW Princess 71]

We are not doing any of the DCL excursions. I've done a few and was very happy with them, but we only did through DCL because in the first case (Puerto Vallarta) it was Mexico and we didn't want to travel alone during some "turbulence" there with the drug issues, and the excursion was exactly what we wanted- my best excursion ever- the Outdoor Adventure which included zip lining, rappeling, raft ride, mule ride, jeep ride, and more. It was the most exciting day ever. Plus, it was only very slightly priced more than on our own so it worked out. The other time was for Costa Rica zip lining, because it was almost 2 hours each way from the port, no way doing that on our own. But for every other port I've done on my 7 DCL cruises, its been on my own. This will be my 5th trip to Europe, one of which was essentially living there studying abroad, so I love taking the public metros and trains. We are doing that in some of the ports and pre/post cruise, but for other stops we have booked private transport and guides. Some of them like Rome and Athens have reputations for public transportation or taxi strikes (that happened during my study abroad- made things difficult at times), so that coupled with the fact of being an hour away from each of those cities, made sense for us to book private transport. At first, I thought, oh my goodness, i can't believe how much some of our tours are costing. Our Rome one for example, is gasp, 600 euros for the 2 of us, which comes out to $810 USD! BUT, the DCL "Highlights of Rome" for example is $345 per person, so $690 for both of us. That is on a bus with 30 other people. So for just over $100 more, we are getting a private mercedes car for just us, private guide for the sites, and totally personalized attention and itinerary. After that I didn't feel as shell shocked from our 600 euros price tag.

Whatever we all choose though, DCL or private, I for one am sure glad we have 5 more months to continue saving for all of these excursions!

 

[slg]

The highlights of rome includes lunch. There is a very similar tour that doesn't included lunch which is only $205. That is the one we're going with...jumping back to eternal rome. For two people its only $410.

 

[WDW Princess 71]

The highlights of rome includes lunch. There is a very similar tour that doesn't included lunch which is only $205. That is the one we're going with...jumping back to eternal rome. For two people its only $410.

I don't think this one includes the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel though? I could be wrong because the way DCL describes thes tours, they aren't always clear. I like how they are descriptive but I think it should also include a summary recap bullet list so you can be sure you are comparing apples to apples. For instance some of them reference the Colosseum but aren't clear if you A) go inside it and B) if you get a tour or not. I can't imagine the "Best of Rome" tour for $345 is nearly $150 more for just the lunch- I'm thinking it has to be because of no Sistine Chapel and because the Eternal one has a lot more people? The "Best of Rome" is the only tour that references featuring a smaller group size of 30 people. If that is considered "small" I can't imagine how large some of these other tours are.

 

[pirateluv]

We like the "Jumping Back into Eternal Rome" for $205. I don't think it includes the Sistine Chapel. We are fine with that, as we did it last time! Or we are also looking at "Pantheon, Squares and Fountains" for $149. Still time to decide!!

That's true, five more months to save!!

Joan

 

[slg]

"Next, embark on a 75-minute tour of the center of the Catholic Church, the Vatican"

this is listed on the jump back to eternal rome, so you do get a peak of the vatican. Whether or not we see the sistine chapel, that I do not know.

I actually would think that a smaller tour and lunch would probably end up costing $150.

The tour busses seat about 50 I think. I have not found them horrible in the past.

I also actually like going with other people. Yes, some of them can be annoying, but sometimes you can make friends and it enhances the experience a lot! Especially for the kids.

 

[slg]

On the "back to eternal rome" you go to Rome by Train which I love as we are all train buffs.

Just hope the train is air-conditioned.

 

[pirateluv]

Yes, certainly hope the train is air-conditioned! The buses are, and you get free water, take it!!! It will be hot. Anyway, the train is our first choice too!

Joan

 

[slg]

did you do this excursion last time? Did they give you advice on where to eat?

 

[pirateluv]

NO, last time we did "Best of Rome" which included the Sistine Chapel, and also included lunch. This time we are wanting to include the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain.

Joan