7/14/2014 - 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece) Venice to Barcelona

[keenercam]

MPS516 and sisterville-
I copied the Facebook PM I received from the Ephasus tour operator and forwarded it to each of you in a PM.

So, question for all of you about the Facebook page. I have received two new requests to join the group. I haven't had a chance yet to make a list of everyone here who is on our cruise.

If you are Erin or Jackie, please confirm here that you are on our cruise sailing date, and I will add you to the Facebook group.

 

[keenercam]

Yay! Our Facebook group is growing! We now have Erin and Jackie among us over there!!!

OMG! I cannot believe how time is flying toward our cruise date!

 

[sistersville]

Just finally finished reading through all the posts! We did the Med Cruise in June 2011 and loved it. Excited to see some different ports this time. Currently checking into hotels in Venice and flights. So far, going on recommendations, the Palazzo Guardi seems like a good option for a family of 5. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

We would like to do a private tour in Athens and Ephesus so welcome any private tour suggestions there. I think in Mykonos we are going to head to a resort hotel and spend the day at the beach. The last time we went to Malta, we chartered a sailboat for a very reasonable price and spent the day sailing and swimming around the island. Anyone been to the other ports and have suggestions for must-do/see? I am a little stressed out about so many port days in a row, so looking for suggestions for things to do that children will also enjoy and a mix of educational things with fun/relaxing mixed in.
We had a terrible experience with our one and only Disney excursion in Sicily, so we will never do another Disney excursion again. However, I have found it helpful to check out their excursions just to get ideas for things to see and do in those ports.

Definitely would like to do the FE again. Kids love it and it is so much more fun on the Med cruise with people from all over the world bringing neat stuff from their countries.

Time to get planning! (I am Erin on the facebook page)

 

[Tony Cadwallader]

Yay! Our Facebook group is growing! We now have Erin and Jackie among us over there!!!

OMG! I cannot believe how time is flying toward our cruise date!

what can I do as I don't do facebook would like to put our names down, Maria, Tony and daughter Anna 13 cheers me dears

 

[Lynn G]

what can I do as I don't do facebook would like to put our names down, Maria, Tony and daughter Anna 13 cheers me dears

Quite a few of us are on both places, and most will post in both places if there is some important info to post. There are a few more who do not do facebook as well, so you are not alone.

 

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone! Cross-posting this here. I just put it on the FB page:

Hi, everyone! I continue to get requests from individuals to be part of this group and there is no way for me to tell if they are legitimate.

If you know of anyone who wants to join and whose request I have not yet accepted, please let me know.

The other DCL FB groups are having problems with private tour operators and people NOT going on the cruises "infiltrating" their groups. I don't want to offend anyone by not accepting their requests, but if they do not respond to my message asking them if they are on this cruise, then I am just letting their request go unanswered. As always, I am open to advice, suggestions, etc.

 

[keenercam]

We have now booked our pre-cruise and post-cruise hotels.

We are booked at Hotel Antiche Figure for our 2 nights in Venice pre-cruise. I took the advice of others, as far as the neighborhood in which we should stay. I like that it is walking distance from the train station and close to the people mover. Howard and I both enjoy walking, so we won't mind walking to St. Mark's, etc., and we'll use the vaporetto whenever necessary, and certainly to go to Murano and Burano.

In Barcelona, we will stay at the Renaissance for Saturday night. It is one of the hotels that DCL is using, though we booked it on our own.

 

[keenercam]

Sometime in the next several months, I'll be checking to see if anyone who is going to be in Venice Sunday night before the cruise wants to have dinner together. I coordinated a dinner in Barcelona the night before our 2011 cruise and 42 cruisers attended. It was wonderful to meet people before the cruise and then to say "hello" when we ran into each other on the Magic or even in a lot of the ports.

 

[SailingSeas]

Hey Tony, i'm not on Facebook either, so I'll keep up with you here.

I forget who was asking, but I have a ton of information about the ports in my post at the top of page 6. i'm looking forward to getting the ports set in stone.

Sisterville; we were on another Med cruise previously that had almost every single day in port. It was crazy and the thing I found i wished I had done was plan every third day as a down day, no matter where it was. We have a tendency to do ports on our own too, and I should have known.

Just thought it would be the only time I ever went to Europe. Goofy me.

 

[Cousin Orville]

We have now booked our pre-cruise and post-cruise hotels.

We are booked at Hotel Antiche Figure for our 2 nights in Venice pre-cruise. I took the advice of others, as far as the neighborhood in which we should stay. I like that it is walking distance from the train station and close to the people mover. Howard and I both enjoy walking, so we won't mind walking to St. Mark's, etc., and we'll use the vaporetto whenever necessary, and certainly to go to Murano and Burano.

In Barcelona, we will stay at the Renaissance for Saturday night. It is one of the hotels that DCL is using, though we booked it on our own.

We stayed at the renaissance last summer pre and post. In case anyone is staying in Barcelona and wants to go to Montserrat the day we disembark, we did that last summer. We did I it our own, but I wish we had booked a DCL post cruise excursion. We had to catch a transfer to the renaissance, check in, take the subway to the train station, and then take the train out to Montserrat. The DCL excursion that drops you off at the Renaissance would be so much better.

We're flying back the same day since we've been to Barcelona a couple of times now. In Venice we'll be there for 3 days which I'm really excited about.

 

[KathyInCitrus]

Sometime in the next several months, I'll be checking to see if anyone who is going to be in Venice Sunday night before the cruise wants to have dinner together. I coordinated a dinner in Barcelona the night before our 2011 cruise and 42 cruisers attended. It was wonderful to meet people before the cruise and then to say "hello" when we ran into each other on the Magic or even in a lot of the ports.

I'd be interested.
I'm coming in from Bologna on Saturday and currently have a room booked on the Lido island, close to a vaporetto stop. (Hotel Helvetia)

 

[keenercam]

I'd be interested.
I'm coming in from Bologna on Saturday and currently have a room booked on the Lido island, close to a vaporetto stop. (Hotel Helvetia)

Yay!

 

[Lynn G]

Happy New Year Cruisers!

 

[keenercam]

Thank you, Lynn! Happy New Year, everyone! Just think - we are about to begin the year in which we will take a fabulous 12-night Mediterranean Cruise!!!

 

[keenercam]

Happy 2014, everyone!

I received two more requests to be members on our Facebook page, but I don't recognize the names. They are from Jitendra and Elisa. If you are here, please confirm. Thanks!

 

[corbett744]

Sometime in the next several months, I'll be checking to see if anyone who is going to be in Venice Sunday night before the cruise wants to have dinner together. I coordinated a dinner in Barcelona the night before our 2011 cruise and 42 cruisers attended. It was wonderful to meet people before the cruise and then to say "hello" when we ran into each other on the Magic or even in a lot of the ports.

Keenercam We will arrive earlyto Venice and would be interested in meeting for dinner. Keep up in the loop. Cindi

 

[Lynn G]

Cam, we are also coming into Venice early, overnight train from Paris, let us know if dinner happens.

 

[keenercam]

I'm glad there is so much interest in a dinner in Venice on Sunday night. I know someone on FB suggested doing a late lunch, but since it is our only full day to tour Venice and I want to see Murano and Burano, we will only be available to do a dinner, not lunch. I just wanted to mention it in case someone else wants to coordinate a late lunch. I am still willing to coordinate a late dinner and will look for some ideas to share soon, so that we can research for a dinner restaurant that will be willing to do a reservation at 6 or 6:30 pm.

 

[Lynn G]

Cam, I think the late lunch suggestion was in response to finding a restaurant open early for dinner, at least, that is how I took it. I think the early dinner idea is good, you just might not find anything open before 7pm, but if you can find something open earlier, so much the better, we just may have to settle for a 7pm dinner. Good luck in the restaurant search, and thanks for the work I know you will have to put in to pull this off.

 

[slg]

Did I say yes yet?

If not, then yes. There are 5 of us...2 adults, 3 boys, ages 18,15,13.

Looking forward to it.