7/26/2014 - 12-Night Mediterranean Cruise (with Greece)

[Lewis002]

Thanks I am also looking at being a part of the FE group. Never been a part of doing the FE gifts, but looks like everyone enjoys the hobby.

 

[dizneeat]

Thanks I am also looking at being a part of the FE group. Never been a part of doing the FE gifts, but looks like everyone enjoys the hobby.

I will gladly put you on the FE list. Please let me know everyone's first name, ages of kids and your stateroom number so I will be able to actually add you.

 

[Need2Disney]

 

[Need2Disney]

yes I would love to join the FE for this cruise. I ended up putting more information on previous post sorry for the duplicate information. I'll get the hang of doing this!

Connie
Need2Disney

 

[dizneeat]

yes I would love to join the FE for this cruise. I ended up putting more information on previous post sorry for the duplicate information. I'll get the hang of doing this!

Connie
Need2Disney

Hi Connie!
I have already added you to the FE list!

 

[Need2Disney]

How many people are signed up so far for this Med. cruise?

Connie

 

[dizneeat]

How many people are signed up so far for this Med. cruise?

Connie

Hm, that is a good question. There are about 40 on the FB page, but there are several from one family.

As for the FE - there are 42 people (adults and kids) in 13 staterooms.

 

[melni]

I joined the Facebook group a couple of months ago, but realized I never actually posted anything here. This is our 4th Disney cruise, but very first time to travel to Europe. We are celebrating our 20th Anniversary with this trip, so the kids are not coming. (Our kids are 16 and 15, they are not very happy about being excluded.) After our cruise, we're flying to Edinburgh for a few days (my husband's family is originally from Scotland) so I'm beyond excited about this trip.

It's currently snowing, and my kids are on their 12th snow day of the school year so planning for summer is a nice distraction for me!


~~ your Disname: melni
~~ names of people traveling in your party, plus age of children at the time we sail: Melani and Jeremy
~~ where you are from: Arkansas
~~ dining information (first or second seating): Second
~~ stateroom(s) number: not assigned yet, we booked GTY
~~ if you are interested in the FE, SM, and/or candy exchanges. I'm not sure about this--sounds fun, but worried about having enough room in our luggage as it is.

 

[JoyB-UK]

Welcome to all the new people on here

I haven't been on for a while but have just paid in full today which makes me feel both excited and sick at the thought of all that money but now ready to get into full planning mode.

I have decided what I am doing for my FE gifts (a combination of made and bought) so they will keep me occupied for a while. Also each port I have a fair idea as to what I want to do, flights are booked, hotels booked, I am almost set. Just need to get an acceptable photo and finally get a replacement passport.

I wish that they would release summer 2015 dates, need to know if DCL will definitely be in Europe as I am getting mighty tempted by the thought of either Anthem or Allure of the seas whose inaugural Europe seasons will still probably be cheaper than Disney.

 

[dizneeat]

I joined the Facebook group a couple of months ago, but realized I never actually posted anything here. This is our 4th Disney cruise, but very first time to travel to Europe. We are celebrating our 20th Anniversary with this trip, so the kids are not coming. (Our kids are 16 and 15, they are not very happy about being excluded.) After our cruise, we're flying to Edinburgh for a few days (my husband's family is originally from Scotland) so I'm beyond excited about this trip.

It's currently snowing, and my kids are on their 12th snow day of the school year so planning for summer is a nice distraction for me!


~~ your Disname: melni
~~ names of people traveling in your party, plus age of children at the time we sail: Melani and Jeremy
~~ where you are from: Arkansas
~~ dining information (first or second seating): Second
~~ stateroom(s) number: not assigned yet, we booked GTY
~~ if you are interested in the FE, SM, and/or candy exchanges. I'm not sure about this--sounds fun, but worried about having enough room in our luggage as it is.

to the DISboards and our cruise thread, Melani!

I am sure you will enjoy Europe - there is so much to explore here, lots of history too!
Scotland is beautiful!

Welcome to all the new people on here

I haven't been on for a while but have just paid in full today which makes me feel both excited and sick at the thought of all that money but now ready to get into full planning mode.

I have decided what I am doing for my FE gifts (a combination of made and bought) so they will keep me occupied for a while. Also each port I have a fair idea as to what I want to do, flights are booked, hotels booked, I am almost set. Just need to get an acceptable photo and finally get a replacement passport.

I wish that they would release summer 2015 dates, need to know if DCL will definitely be in Europe as I am getting mighty tempted by the thought of either Anthem or Allure of the seas whose inaugural Europe seasons will still probably be cheaper than Disney.

Being paid in full feels pretty good. We have been PIF for quite some time now, I am already working on paying our March 2015 cruise.

We have everything booked as well, just need to finalize our excursions. Guess we will do that when we get back from our next cruise.

So you are thinking about another cruise in Europe? I have not even looked at other cruise lines.

 

[JoyB-UK]

So you are thinking about another cruise in Europe? I have not even looked at other cruise lines. [/QUOTE]

I'm trying to decide what to do for 2015 and I can't really make my mind up. My daughter will be 16 then and finishes exams in June so we have an opportunity to travel at the end of June and not have to pay late July/August prices. I'm very tempted by an Alaska cruise but wondering if DCL might have something new in Europe. However we may just do Florida because flight prices are much cheaper then and I feel it would be a waste not to take advantage. I would like something more exotic but it's not the best weather in Asia in the summer. I just wish they would release all the itineraries so I can make a decision. Royal Caribbean is tempting but again I want to see itineraries and prices.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Welcome all new cruisers do re beer to join the active Facebook group for this cruise.

 

[dizneeat]

I'm trying to decide what to do for 2015 and I can't really make my mind up. My daughter will be 16 then and finishes exams in June so we have an opportunity to travel at the end of June and not have to pay late July/August prices. I'm very tempted by an Alaska cruise but wondering if DCL might have something new in Europe. However we may just do Florida because flight prices are much cheaper then and I feel it would be a waste not to take advantage. I would like something more exotic but it's not the best weather in Asia in the summer. I just wish they would release all the itineraries so I can make a decision. Royal Caribbean is tempting but again I want to see itineraries and prices.

Ah, I can totally see that being able to travel at the end of June is a huge advantage.
We are waiting too - I would love to do another back to back on the Fantasy, our last one was so relaxing, but the way their prices hike (and we need to travel in the height of summer) I don't know if I will be able to pull it off, especially since we are already booked on a 7 night Western Caribbean in March (Easter ) on the Magic for Tom's birthday.
I wish I could bring myself to try another line, but I am so afraid I would miss those Disney touches.

 

[JoyB-UK]

We have been on 3 royal caribbean ships and to be honest it took some getting used to. Our first was Vision which is fairly small, we chose it for the itinerary and a very good price. It was repositioning from Stockholm to Copenhagen via Helsinki, St Petersburg and Tallinn all in five nights and so cheap we had a Grand Suite. But the ship was boring, food fairly terrible and just lacked that extra something that disney has. If we had not already got our next cruise with royal booked we probably would never have sailed with them again. We did a two night taster (booked last minute) on Adventure with my mother who has never done anything like it and were quite impressed. Then we had a 6 night Norway cruise booked on Independence which was really, really good, we loved it. The food was great and the cocktails served in the bar in the crown lounge were better than any I have ever had on disney. So I feel that where Royal is concerned the bigger the ship the better it is, which is why I am interested in the Anthem/ Allure plans for 2015. I love Disney but the itinerary always has to come first for me and DCL prices may force me elsewhere.

 

[luke]

. Then we had a 6 night Norway cruise booked on Independence which was really, really good, we loved it. The food was great and the cocktails served in the bar in the crown lounge were better than any I have ever had on disney.

Was this at the end of May last year?

 

[JoyB-UK]

Was this at the end of May last year?

It certainly was, we booked half term but then my daughter ended up going on holiday with a friend so it was just the 2 of us which is why I got to sample many cocktails

 

[luke]

It certainly was, we booked half term but then my daughter ended up going on holiday with a friend so it was just the 2 of us which is why I got to sample many cocktails

Ha we were on that cruise too!! What a co incidence!

Sadly, we had the exact opposite opinion to you, and although we had a nice time we didn't really have great things to say about food nor service.
We had just been on the Fantasy a month earlier so had a fresh comparison in our mind and Royal Caribbean fell down badly for us!

 

[JoyB-UK]

I suppose that with such a big ship that has so many passengers there is a great variation in experiences, we might have just dropped on the right servers and chose the best items on the menu. I don't think the food is better than disney but compared to our first experience with royal it was much improved. It probably made a difference to us being child free, it was very relaxing being in the adult only areas.

Just received an email from royal with Anthems itineraries, they are doing the canarary route which I'm interested in but the dates aren't right so it looks like that is one option I can cross off my list.

 

[luke]

I suppose that with such a big ship that has so many passengers there is a great variation in experiences, we might have just dropped on the right servers and chose the best items on the menu. I don't think the food is better than disney but compared to our first experience with royal it was much improved. It probably made a difference to us being child free, it was very relaxing being in the adult only areas. Just received an email from royal with Anthems itineraries, they are doing the canarary route which I'm interested in but the dates aren't right so it looks like that is one option I can cross off my list.

We went with my mother in law who is a seasoned Royal Caribbean traveller and she said it was well down on what she is used to.
I think she just got sick of us saying 'well on disney they do this...'

Our service on the Fantasy was absolutely impeccable on the other hand. We had the best head server we had ever had too, usually they show up for their tip only but this guy was incredible - we would see him round the ship in the daytime and he would come and help us then.
One night we had last minute Palo reservations so on passing our rotation restaurant and popped in to tell him. He asked what our son would be eating and we said we'd get him a snack or something at which he ran off (this was before Royal Court opened) and got him a plate of steamer vegetables (which they always had waiting for him on arrival every night anyway) and a yoghurt to take away.
We had made friends with the Food and Beverage director (Daniel from England - he had a son the same age as ours and he was on the cruise too so we became friends with him and the hotel director Lloyd who even left a bottle of wine and a mickey plush in our stateroom on the last night) and made sure we praised our service team highly to him.

So like I say we were so spoilt by disney I think poor RCCL had no chance. Although I also got the email about the Anthem sailing from the uk so I will be checking if any dates match up with school holidays (I'm a teacher)

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We have been on three of the four ships and over ten cruises on DCL, I prefer the smaller ones however they manage queues very well on the larger ones.

I think a main factor in the Med will be getting off the ship quickly as there are some long day trips to places like Rome.

I noticed some price revisions recently on DCL shore trips.

We have private tours in most posts and for a family of four on most of the ports of call my overall cost on a private tour is cheaper than DCL and we direct where we will go and when.

We did the same in the Med in 2007 on DCL and 2011 on RCL in the Med as well as Alaska and the Baltic.


For us being in a suite we are just a month off booking palo and shore trips so it's getting close, we were paid in full last year so no worries there.