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

[SailingSeas]

Currently the Pirate Night is on Day 9 in Santorini, complete with fireworks. I have more itinerary information at http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=47633849&postcount=76

Hmmm... Toga's & tortuga's?

 

[mstee777]

Yes, they do! They did pirate night the evening of Mykonos on this past July Med cruise. It was all the same as the do on all their other cruises. We loved it! And, they did the buffet afterwards, too. They also had a Greek party (it was nothing compared to the pirate party at all... was much smaller, much less elaborate (no food or buffet), but was still really fun, and people were dressed up in togas they did it on deck 9, and it was really fun). I think it was in the late afternoon (I forget which day they did it). So I'm guessing they will do the Greek party also on this cruise.

That's great news. I'm one of the ones who love pirate night. And I still ooh and aah at fireworks like I'm 5 years old. I'll be packing my pirate shirt and on for DH too.

A yoga party, huh? That sounds cool too.

 

[LovesToRun]

A yoga party, huh? That sounds cool too.

Not yoga... Toga.

The cast members wore Toga's (the guests did not), and they did a little show (at the same place where they do the pirate party show), and then they taught everyone a Greek dance... it was really fun. And, there continued to be music, and dancing... Oh, and they gave out headpieces that you wear with a Toga (I don't know the official name of them, but they are made of leaves, like a little wreath on your head), but they were made of a sturdy paper (so it wouldn't rip easily), and everyone wore those on their heads.

Like I said, it was pretty low-key... nothing compared to the pirate party, but it was still fun! A fun way to celebrate the Greek culture a little. They also had a Greek menu in the MDR one night! Was SO good!!

 

[denise]

for those of you who are not on FB....

been reading some interesting stuff on Venice lately. The residents are not happy about cruise ships in their canals. Here is something I found. Makes me want to wait to check airfare to there just yet...wonder if they will have an impact on the cruise ship and what will happen....I will let you know if I find out more information..

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/venice-residents-canal-protests-cruise-ships

 

[SailingSeas]

Hi Denise,

Thank you for the article, I appreciate it. We talked about it here too (a few pages back) and it has certainly been interesting to watch. Keep an eye on the ban limits; one is 40K gross tons. Another is 100K gross tons. The Magic now (pre-renovations) is 84K gross tons.

Also on the table is a move for the cruise ships from Venice to the Port of Maghera, a port right along the mainland, very nearby (4mi or 6.7km), and where the commercial ships for Venice sail in and out of. It is right next to Mestre, and would not impact our plans much at all.

It could however, give us cheaper lodging on the mainland!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Sorry, I've been out of the loop for a while and will be on this cruise. Is there a realistic possible change in store for where the Magic will depart from? I would assume if Disney is doing pre stays at Danielli and Europa, they're thinking nothing will change in 2014. Has anyone compared what Disney is charging for the pre nights vs booking on your own. I can't imagine it getting much more expensive.

Also, how's everyone planning on getting to the terminal from your hotel? I assume water taxi? I wonder how the Disney transportation will be arranged. Think they'll play the DCL arrival video on the water taxis?

 

[mstee777]

Also, how's everyone planning on getting to the terminal from your hotel? I assume water taxi? I wonder how the Disney transportation will be arranged. Think they'll play the DCL arrival video on the water taxis?

We booked DCL flights and transportation just for the peace of mind that our transportation is taken care of. It's our first trip to Europe, and I just feel better knowing that everything is handled and we won't have to stress about any of the details. Now if some excellent flight deals come along before PIF, we would cancel Disney air. But from what I've seen so far, we would end up paying more for air, hotels, and transfers than they are charging us right now.

 

[SailingSeas]

Sorry, I've been out of the loop for a while and will be on this cruise. Is there a realistic possible change in store for where the Magic will depart from? I would assume if Disney is doing pre stays at Danielli and Europa, they're thinking nothing will change in 2014. Has anyone compared what Disney is charging for the pre nights vs booking on your own. I can't imagine it getting much more expensive.

Also, how's everyone planning on getting to the terminal from your hotel? I assume water taxi? I wonder how the Disney transportation will be arranged. Think they'll play the DCL arrival video on the water taxis?

Orville, I did a cost comparison of my own hotel stays, and it's the same price (right now) as booking direct with the ability to cancel.

I'm sure Disney has alternatives in mind if sailing from Venice becomes conflicted. There's a shipping port nearby.

Like Mstee, we did the Disney transfers and flights - right now. Luggage is anticipated to be transferred by taxi, or small coach. People may be transferred by taxi, small coach/bus, or vap. I'm expecting for us, air would be cheaper booked separately, but I am going to stay with the Disney transfers, since it's lower cost round trip than a water taxi for us.

 

[denise]

this was interesting....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...into-Venices-canal-to-block-cruise-ships.html

 

[danfromca]

I got a quote on the Disney pre-stay lodging and it came out to double what I could do on my own. Partly because they quoted a super luxury hotel, and my tastes aren't quite so fancy.

I'm not booking DCL flights and transportation because on this trip the plan is to be in Venice a couple of days ahead of time, and several days in Rome before that. I'm quite confident that a couple of days will be plenty to figure out the best way to the port, and there will be plenty of time to get there.

If I weren't planning to be there so far in advance, I'd be much more likely to use their transportation and lodging.

We booked DCL flights and transportation just for the peace of mind that our transportation is taken care of. It's our first trip to Europe, and I just feel better knowing that everything is handled and we won't have to stress about any of the details. Now if some excellent flight deals come along before PIF, we would cancel Disney air. But from what I've seen so far, we would end up paying more for air, hotels, and transfers than they are charging us right now.

 

[Cousin Orville]

The pre night stay right now is $1486 per night for 2 rooms. I thought others may be interested. Apparently it's just the Hotel Danieli. Not sure what happened to the Westin Europa. My TA said it's possible they may add hotels, but obviously no one knows for sure. We'll be looking into other options.

 

[LovesToRun]

The pre night stay right now is $1486 per night. As we would need 2 rooms per night, this is not for us, but I thought others may be interested. Apparently it's just the Hotel Danieli. Not sure what happened to the Westin Europa. My TA said it's possible they may add hotels, but obviously no one knows for sure. We'll be looking into other options.

If any of you have ever seen the movie "The Tourist" starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp (great movie, btw!), it's the Hotel Danieli that is in this movie (the hotel where their characters stayed in the movie during the part of the movie when they are in Venice, and was actually filmed at this hotel, so it wasn't a Hollywood set). So, based off that, I can see why this hotel is very high priced... it's a very luxurious hotel. I did actually price it the last time we went to Venice because I thought it would be kind of cool to stay at the same hotel that was in this movie, BUT the price last summer was just as high as the quotes you are getting now. $1486/night is a bit crazy! Unless you are Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp or another celebrity... then sure, it's just pocket change. So, we stuck with a cheaper hotel, and just visited the lobby (which was free of charge. LOL!!)

But, if you have seen that movie, it's kind of neat to actually see the hotel.

 

[Cousin Orville]

If any of you have ever seen the movie "The Tourist" starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp (great movie, btw!), it's the Hotel Danieli that is in this movie (the hotel where their characters stayed in the movie during the part of the movie when they are in Venice, and was actually filmed at this hotel, so it wasn't a Hollywood set). So, based off that, I can see why this hotel is very high priced... it's a very luxurious hotel. I did actually price it the last time we went to Venice because I thought it would be kind of cool to stay at the same hotel that was in this movie, BUT the price last summer was just as high as the quotes you are getting now. $1486/night is a bit crazy! Unless you are Angelina Jolie or Johnny Depp or another celebrity... then sure, it's just pocket change. So, we stuck with a cheaper hotel, and just visited the lobby (which was free of charge. LOL!!)

But, if you have seen that movie, it's kind of neat to actually see the hotel.

For any Bond fans out there, it was also used in Moonraker.

It just drives me nuts that european hotels max out at 3 ppl. We're staying 3 pre nights so that would be 9k. Wow. If you can swing it, it does look like an awesome hotel.

 

[SailingSeas]

I would double check that figure; some of the agents are quoting it as X price, which populates in the system for the entire family and THEN saying 'and you'd need 2 rooms for your family size.' It's not correct, and it appears as a double charge. That $1486 sounds like a good example of it. If it were me, I would ask them to double check. That's about what I was quoted for two rooms at a nightly rate which matches the Danieli's online pricing for the flexible cancellation pricing.

At this time, the Westin's original booking block is sold out and only the Danieli is available.

Disney does not usually add hotels to the list (that's part of the contract they arrange with their partner hotels) but will instead ask the resort for additional room blocks. That may, or may not be at a higher rate.

Basically, if you want the Westin (it ran us about $575 per night per room, two nights pre stay) then you can ask to wait list it. That way, Disney has an idea of numbers to take to the Westin to negotiate with. Does that help?

 

[Cousin Orville]

I double checked my email, and you're right. That was for both rooms. I checked Danieli's website. That appears to correlate with their prices for normal view (not lagoon view). I'm looking into some other hotels on San Marco with good trip advisor ratings that have similar prices but for Grand Canal views.

 

[SailingSeas]

Hi ***, Good, I am glad. Yes, it's the same rate. I am also doing the same, but booked at Westin. I have found http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/veneto/venice/hotels-on-grand-canal.html to be invaluable, when used with TripAdvisor, if that helps.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I booked Palazzo Sant'Angelo. Prices seemed pretty good (for Venice) and they were quick to respond via email. I see that a couple others here have booked Palazzo Sant'Angelo as well. If anyone is staying there and wants to split the cost for a Water Taxi to the ship Monday morning, let me know. We're a family of 5. Gavin-9, Liam-4 and Claire-1.

 

[LovesToRun]

I booked Palazzo Sant'Angelo. Prices seemed pretty good (for Venice) and they were quick to respond via email. I see that a couple others here have booked Palazzo Sant'Angelo as well. If anyone is staying there and wants to split the cost for a Water Taxi to the ship Monday morning, let me know. We're a family of 5. Gavin-9, Liam-4 and Claire-1.

We are staying at Palazzo Sant'Angelo, too! We are a family of 4 and would love to share a water taxi. There is one other family (I think a family of 4) staying there, too, and they also wanted to share a water taxi with us, so that is 13 people so far for one water taxi. I think they can hold even more people than that, but probably depends on the amount of luggage.

But, the more we can get on a water taxi, the cheaper it'll be per family/party.

As the time gets closer to when we leave for the cruise, I can find out where everyone is staying (if they want to share a water taxi), and hopefully people can connect up that way with others who are staying in their same hotel and share water taxi's to the ship.

 

[jd99]

We are staying at Palazzo Sant'Angelo, too! We are a family of 4 and would love to share a water taxi. There is one other family (I think a family of 4) staying there, too, and they also wanted to share a water taxi with us, so that is 13 people so far for one water taxi. I think they can hold even more people than that, but probably depends on the amount of luggage.

But, the more we can get on a water taxi, the cheaper it'll be per family/party.

As the time gets closer to when we leave for the cruise, I can find out where everyone is staying (if they want to share a water taxi), and hopefully people can connect up that way with others who are staying in their same hotel and share water taxi's to the ship.

That's us. We are the other family of four (DD15 and DD10) And we will be the ones with too much luggage....

 

[Cousin Orville]

We are staying at Palazzo Sant'Angelo, too! We are a family of 4 and would love to share a water taxi. There is one other family (I think a family of 4) staying there, too, and they also wanted to share a water taxi with us, so that is 13 people so far for one water taxi. I think they can hold even more people than that, but probably depends on the amount of luggage.

But, the more we can get on a water taxi, the cheaper it'll be per family/party.

As the time gets closer to when we leave for the cruise, I can find out where everyone is staying (if they want to share a water taxi), and hopefully people can connect up that way with others who are staying in their same hotel and share water taxi's to the ship.

Sounds like a plan! I looked up the Palazzo Sant'Angelo on tripadvisor. It gets pretty solid reviews. We're planning on staying 3 nights.