All in one place: Please Post info from your DCL Med excursions HERE

[MPV]

Hi: I have a few excursions questions:
1- Has anyone done Mondello Beach? Is it worth doing? Should I do it on my own or with DCL?
2-In Sardinia, I want to do both Costa Smeralda and a beach. If a take the excursion to Costa Smeralda, is there a beach nearby that I can walk to? Could I then easily get a taxi back to the ship? (everyone keeps saying that this area is very remote and that cabs are not easily found)

To everyone that has taken the time to put their comments down, Thanks! This Thread has been extremely helpful to me!

 

[miclen]

They may be taking people to another place for shopping. At Marseilles, the excursion described a 30 min motor coach ride and it was the free shuttle for the rest of us.

Jokicha -

Thanks again. We are going to cancel our excursion in Palermo and do it on our own. I have a tourist book and it looks very easy to walk and see everthing we wanted. Thanks again for your information. I really feel fortuante to have so many of you from the first cruise willing to share your experience and help those of us on later cruises! Thanks!!

 

[misseulalie]

Hi,

I wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I didn't have time to read all the posts but here's my opinion. In Marsaille; you can do the little train on your own. No need to pay the $40 while you can do it for $5. The train is right in front of you as you get off the shuttle. You can also do the soap factory for free. We went to the shop and the owner did a private tour for the 4 of us. We told them we were on the ship and he gave us a tour. We paid around 1.35 euro for each soap instead of the 3 euro that they charge in the markets.

I would love to know if anyone has done the "make your own perfume."
I was the one who was told on the ship that it was one per family, not per person.

 

[Hygiene99]

In Villefrance we did the Nice and Eze with wine and cheese tour. This was my second favorite. In Eze we had only 35 minutes of free time. We found a great shop up on the hill that sold vinegars, oils and liquors. He let us sample everything and he wrapped our purchases up really good for packing in our luggage. I have had a couple great salads the last few days!! In Nice we walked past the antique market (for the 11 night cruises). For the 10 night it will be a floral market. Kind of neat. We went in the basement of a little restaurant and had three kinds of wine, bread and five cheeses. We then had about 30 minutes on our own, but it took about 20 minutes to casually walk back. Enough time for some ice cream though!!

The Mans name is Horst!

We strongly Suggest you visit this shop..
Ask for the Moon shine...

Tell him you are from the Disney Ship..

He was an awesome Man..

The name of the shop is LES TROIS ETOILES
it is about half way up on the left...


It was really KEWL.. it is all in Glasss bulb type canisters with spouts on it..
and he will pour you a Sample of the different Liqueurs and oils he offers...

Peter

Oh and we were ten minutes late arriving back at the tour bus, because of this!!!
but everyone appluaded!

We gave him one of the First MED Pins..

 

[panamaprincess]

Your Post:

Rome --- again, we were off the ship as soon as they let us, walked to the train station and took the 8 am train into Rome (about an hour). We got off at S. Pietro and started our day at the Vatican. We had a reservation at Vatican Museum for 10:30 and were able to skip the line that went around the block a few times. You do pay extra for the reservation (about 10-12 E more) but well worth it. Send a fax to the Vatican, check out their website at Vatican.va. We hadn’t received our conf code when we left the US but we emailed home and got the number. The tour lasted about two hours and you do get to go into the Sistine chapel. After the tour, we had a nice lunch and took a bus to the Colosseum where we also had a reservation. Again, we skipped the line and were able to just walk in. We chose to see it on our own to save time and not follow the guide. We then took the metro to the Spanish Steps and walked to Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. After shopping and walking around, we took the train at the termini station back to the port.

I went to the Vatican.va site and could not figure out how to get a reservation. Other sites claim that you can only get a reservation by booking through a tour operator??? Also, is there a specific site for the Coliseum? And the train? ** We are on the July 18 departure

 

[jokicha]

Your Post:

Rome --- again, we were off the ship as soon as they let us, walked to the train station and took the 8 am train into Rome (about an hour). We got off at S. Pietro and started our day at the Vatican. We had a reservation at Vatican Museum for 10:30 and were able to skip the line that went around the block a few times. You do pay extra for the reservation (about 10-12 E more) but well worth it. Send a fax to the Vatican, check out their website at Vatican.va. We hadn’t received our conf code when we left the US but we emailed home and got the number. The tour lasted about two hours and you do get to go into the Sistine chapel. After the tour, we had a nice lunch and took a bus to the Colosseum where we also had a reservation. Again, we skipped the line and were able to just walk in. We chose to see it on our own to save time and not follow the guide. We then took the metro to the Spanish Steps and walked to Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. After shopping and walking around, we took the train at the termini station back to the port.

I went to the Vatican.va site and could not figure out how to get a reservation. Other sites claim that you can only get a reservation by booking through a tour operator??? Also, is there a specific site for the Coliseum? And the train? ** We are on the July 18 departure

The number to send the fax to the vatican is 011 39 06 6988 5100 (the numbers 011 39 are the country codes) Just dial it exactly like that. You will need to state your requested day, names of people and if there are children and a return fax number...also the time of the tour that you want (10:30, 11:30,12:00 or 2pm).

For the colloseum, call 011 39 06 3996 7700. You will speak to someone---look up a few italian words in case--know the day of the week, month and day you need in italian. It helps if you are familiar with the numbers too.They have people who speak english but just in case. You'll need to tell them how many, and what time.

The Rick Steves book has all of this info in detail. I wouldn't travel without it.

For the train, trenitalia.com. Get familiar with the train schedule and print out the schedule for that day right before you leave or from the ship.

 

[booksw]

The Mans name is Horst!

We strongly Suggest you visit this shop..
Ask for the Moon shine...

Tell him you are from the Disney Ship..

He was an awesome Man..

The name of the shop is LES TROIS ETOILES
it is about half way up on the left...

Thank you Peter! I really appreciate those details. It sounds like the kind of place we would love (and our kids would temporarily tolerate). We will go see Horst in August and will let him know that you sent us! I actually read the original posting a couple of days ago and thought "too bad they don't remember the name of the shop - wonder if we can find it..."

Thanks again for taking the time to let a bunch of us strangers know those little pearls.

-Sarah

 

[pharmacy01]

Hi,

We reserved the DVC shore excursion Pisa(LS-05) 4.5-5.5 hours in La Spezia and DVC excursion The Hidden Treasures of Herculaneum (NP-09) 4.5-5.5 in Naples for the August 8th cruise. We will be taking our kids ages 12 and 10 with us on both of these excursions. Any information would be appreciated if you did these excursions.
Thank you!

 

[disneymagic316]

what were people wearing on the excursions?

 

[RJAYL]

For those going to DLP before or after their cruise here is the BBC's Weather Website! http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=0040

 

[Kouris_Family]

Hi,

I wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I didn't have time to read all the posts but here's my opinion. In Marsaille; you can do the little train on your own. No need to pay the $40 while you can do it for $5. The train is right in front of you as you get off the shuttle. You can also do the soap factory for free. We went to the shop and the owner did a private tour for the 4 of us. We told them we were on the ship and he gave us a tour. We paid around 1.35 euro for each soap instead of the 3 euro that they charge in the markets.

I would love to know if anyone has done the "make your own perfume."
I was the one who was told on the ship that it was one per family, not per person.

Hi,
Can you tell me how you got to the soap factory.
Thanks Kay

 

[konslerg]

what were people wearing on the excursions?

A little bit of everything ;-) ...but generally people dressed better than what you would typically see at the Disney parks.

For the most part, the men are wearing long pants or khaki walking shorts and "golf" shirts. Also a number of men were in muted "Hawaiian" shirts, both woven fabric and knitted.

The women were in slacks, lots of capri length pants or walking shorts and short sleeve or long sleeve knit or cotton shirts. We only saw a couple of ladies in sleeveless tops or tank tops, probably because of the church restrictions and I don't remember anyone except kids in short shorts.

...and there were some women on the excursions in beautiful "cruise casual" ...nice slacks or skirts and lovely top and shirt combinations, accessorized by beautiful belts and/or sun hats and scarves.

Shoes were generally sneakers or walking sandals, with a few folks in nicer/dressier sandals.

...but obviously, the more casual the excursion (like the beach excursions) the more casual the clothes.

 

[Hygiene99]

Thank you Peter! I really appreciate those details. It sounds like the kind of place we would love (and our kids would temporarily tolerate). We will go see Horst in August and will let him know that you sent us! I actually read the original posting a couple of days ago and thought "too bad they don't remember the name of the shop - wonder if we can find it..."

Thanks again for taking the time to let a bunch of us strangers know those little pearls.

-Sarah

Horst is a big man..... maybe spelling his name wrong Horset...???



Both Jenn, & Winotracy. Made Some good purchases....

The 50 years old Balsmic is awesome...
so is the olive oil..

And the Liqueurs, they purchased are Great..
Jenn spent 70 Euro's & Winotracy a bit more... worth it...

Kinda one of the highlights of my trip....

Please allow time!!!!

for tasting, pouring and packing of your purchases, or you maybe late getting back to the Bus.....

 

[Hygiene99]

what were people wearing on the excursions?

Shorts and t Shirt...

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Is there ANYONE out there who had a good time on the Florence/Pisa excursion? I am really hoping to hear from someone that has been on one of the most recent cruises to hear if DCL improved it? Can anyone out there help? (We cruise on 7/7/07.) Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[konslerg]

Is there ANYONE out there who had a good time on the Florence/Pisa excursion? I am really hoping to hear from someone that has been on one of the most recent cruises to hear if DCL improved it? Can anyone out there help? (We cruise on 7/7/07.) Thanks in advance for the help!

We didn't do that particular excursion (Did Florence and Michaelangelo), but just remember that the day of the excursion was a Saturday and a national holiday of some sort as well. Consequently, both Florence and Pisa were extremely crowded, much more crowded than you willprobably experience on a later cruise.

I know for us and others, the huge crowds really diminished the enjoyment of the experience. Just keep that in mind when you read the not-so-glowing reviews.

 

[mickeyfanmom]

I REALLY appreciate you replying konslerg- I will definitely keep that in mind!!

I am curious as to what those on the cruise right now will say about this excursion when they get back.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Has anyone here done the Costa Smeralda excursion in the morning? I believe the ten day cruises are there on Sundays and I am wondering if any or some of the shops are open during the 8 am excursion? I know someone on the afternoon one reported that most shops were closed for siesta.

I have changed ours to the morning and hoping for the best...

 

[konslerg]

Has anyone here done the Costa Smeralda excursion in the morning? I believe the ten day cruises are there on Sundays and I am wondering if any or some of the shops are open during the 8 am excursion? I know someone on the afternoon one reported that most shops were closed for siesta.

I have changed ours to the morning and hoping for the best...

We did this one in the morning. When we stopped at Baia Sardinia (first stop) a few of the shops were just beginning to open and one or two others were already open, but there weren't too many shops to begin with ...a couple of sundries shops and a couple of jewelry stores. I really can't remember much else, but then, I'm not a shopper.

By the time we got to Porto Cervo where all the designer shops were located (VERY expensive!!), most all of them were open ...at least the ones that were already open for the season. It looked like some of the shops might close for the winter and re-open around June ...or maybe they were just shops that had gone out of business but they didn't want them to look that way ;-)

A few folks on our excursion had purchases. I remember seeing one woman with a small Prada shopping bag. If I recall, I think we had about an hour there. Really beautiful!

 

[memarmay]

We did this one in the morning. When we stopped at Baia Sardinia (first stop) a few of the shops were just beginning to open and one or two others were already open, but there weren't too many shops to begin with ...a couple of sundries shops and a couple of jewelry stores. I really can't remember much else, but then, I'm not a shopper.

By the time we got to Porto Cervo where all the designer shops were located (VERY expensive!!), most all of them were open ...at least the ones that were already open for the season. It looked like some of the shops might close for the winter and re-open around June ...or maybe they were just shops that had gone out of business but they didn't want them to look that way ;-)

A few folks on our excursion had purchases. I remember seeing one woman with a small Prada shopping bag. If I recall, I think we had about an hour there. Really beautiful!

Gloria!!

Mari here! how the heck are you? Raleigh wanted me to have you tell Gary that he finished the book and that some of the places mentioned were a bit off the map.....he is SUCH the perfectionist!!!
How is life at home?! We just cannot stop talking about the cruise. How much fun we had and how awesome our group was....we miss all of our buddies. Lauren is doing ok, misses Dennis and Ati terribly. She still talks about everyone and her excursions. Really made an impression. I was speaking to my son the other day about our outstanding time in the south of France and little pipsqueak pipes up "Bonjour!" We all started laughing! I miss Laurel, our stateroom host...fresh towels, turn down at night, make it up in the AM...oh the life. Reality sucks. Bite me.
Have a new email address...verizon was to update the internet...instead cancelled it. Fools. So my old email is useless. new one..memar.may1@verizon.net. feel free to use it.
We did do the Florence and Pisa trip. Our guide was a bit wordy, but you know DH and me....we were paying attn elsewhere and also wandering off. Always made it back in time. Did have some shopping time in Florence and lots of time in Pisa. Even found a plate for Rome there since we had only 10 min of shopping time there!!! that was my biggest gripe for the Rome excursion. Have some great pix of the two of you. PM me with an email address for you and I'll send them to you.
Our love and best to the two of you, Mari