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

[Perdie]

Local Beaches in Olbia?
Has anyone taken the local city bus to the beach in Olbia?
Does anyone have any details? What bus? What beach? Is this difficult?
Thanks!!!
13 days to go!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AnnaS]

Local Beaches in Olbia?
Has anyone taken the local city bus to the beach in Olbia?
Does anyone have any details? What bus? What beach? Is this difficult?
Thanks!!!
13 days to go!!!!!!!!!!

I wanted to do a beach here and our own. We chose the LaCinta in the morning w/dcl since I have not read any feedback regarding transportation to and from. Early on I read that taxi might not be too dependable. Now I read you can probably hop on a bus to the beach. I know on our own we would have a lot more time at the beach for half the cost. I am afraid to take chances though

 

[Perdie]

I wanted to do a beach here and our own. We chose the LaCinta in the morning w/dcl since I have not read any feedback regarding transportation to and from. Early on I read that taxi might not be too dependable. Now I read you can probably hop on a bus to the beach. I know on our own we would have a lot more time at the beach for half the cost. I am afraid to take chances though

We looked at a book in the bookstore today on Olbia and it seems there are a few buses, but they seem limited-3-6 a day to Costa Smeralda, and not really sure what other beaches to go, so we are confused right now....

 

[AnnaS]

We looked at a book in the bookstore today on Olbia and it seems there are a few buses, but they seem limited-3-6 a day to Costa Smeralda, and not really sure what other beaches to go, so we are confused right now....

I know there are at least two other families on our cruise meet thread who are planning on doing a beach on their own. They also mentioned via bus/train or cab. Perhaps even a short walk.

 

[Perdie]

I know there are at least two other families on our cruise meet thread who are planning on doing a beach on their own. They also mentioned via bus/train or cab. Perhaps even a short walk.

We are on the same cruise as you-so I'm going to check out that thread and see what those people are planning Thanks!!

12 more days.......

 

[Belle2002]

Anyone do "Rome on your own" through DCL?? We are currently booked for this excursion and we are wondering where the bus drops off and picks up and how many hours you get in Rome. I would like to be brave and do it totally on our own with the train, but I am travelling with my parents who seem to be a bit skeptical about that!! Any info on the bus with Disney would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

 

[Hanover]

We got back from our 7/7/07 cruise just after midnight this morning. We did the "Rome On Your Own" through DCL. Though we had a good time, I'd recommend doing it on your own through a driver or train. It took our tour bus2.5 hours to get to the city because of traffic. We did not get to our original drop off/meeting point because people were asking to be let off the bus. We were told to be back at 4:15 and some people on the back of the bus said "no, 6 hours...4:30" so the guide said "4:30" no later. Pick up would also be there. Fortunately I took a picture of the drop off spot which came in handy later when needing to tell our taxi driver where to go. We walked to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish steps, and had lunch nearby. We took the metro to the Coliseum and did an hour long tour there. We paid 11 Euro for the tour plus the 10 Euro for the entrance fee. We only had to pay 1.5 Euro for our 10 year old's tour and 10 Euro for the entrance fee. Our 6 year old was free "as long as he stayed in his umbrella stroller." The tour guides we used were asking outside if anyone wanted to skip the line and do the tour. We had ear pieces/radios to listen to our guide who spoke very good English. We left after the hour long tour to head to the Vatican, but they were also going to take the group across the street to tour Palatine Hill. By the time we got to the Vatican, it was 3:45 so after some quick photos we took a taxi by the Piazza Novona and went to our tour bus meeting spot. They left at exactly 4:36. We do know a couple that were across from our hall that were left in Rome. They said they took a taxi back to the port which cost them 140 Euros. I met several Dis friends that did Rome by train/driver and paid less and did more than we were able to do. We were back to the ship in time for our early dining dinner, but we'd rather have had an extra hour or two in Rome.

 

[Hanover]

sorry double post

 

[AZDisneyDan]

Has anyone done this excursion? Does it basically fulfill the desire to have some nice beach time? Would love any feedback as I just booked it and would love opinions. Thanks.

 

[Lyn]

Has anyone done this excursion? Does it basically fulfill the desire to have some nice beach time? Would love any feedback as I just booked it and would love opinions. Thanks.

we just came back last night from the 11 day cruise and did the La Cinta beach - it was one of the most beautiful places I've seen in my life - you only get about 2 hours beach time but it was worth every minute - water is deep emerald green and crystal clear - there is a snack bar where you can get food and drinks - you also get a lounge chair

 

[Hanover]

We did Palermo through a local taxi driver we found at the port. We paid 80 Euros for 5 of us for 2 hours and hit all the major sites on the DCL map they gave out plus the catacombs (6 euros for the 5 of us to enter). We saw several old churches, operas and the Ballaro Market. We entered a couple of the churches but drove by the market. We took our boys to the club/lab and my MIL was going to stay on the ship and rest up. Dh and I headed out to the Ballaro Market to walk through it. I lived in Sicily as a child when my dad was in the military and wanted to see if the market was the same as in the late 70's/early 80's. We had several drivers tell us they'd take 10 Euros to drive us from the port to the market. One offered 15 and that he'd wait for us an hour and return. He showed my DH a 10 and 5 Euro note. We walked through and when we went back to the car, he tried to show us more sites, but we told him we had already seen everything and wanted to go back to the ship. When we returned, he tried to tell us we owed him 50 and not 15 and his English was bad. DH wasn't going to let him try and sucker us with that one. Fortunately we video taped all our "aggreements" with the drivers we had on our trip and we weren't about to pay the 50. Hopefully no one else fell for his ruse that day. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the corner near the port and it was very good. They had great desserts and gelato too.

In Naples we paid 250 Euros for a driver to take us until 5:00 PM. We drove to Sorrento where we shopped and then went to Pompeii. We spent a few hours there before heading towards Mt. Vesuvius and then back to Naples where we were driven around for a good hour and shown local sites. We had a late lunch at a pizzeria and then headed back to the ship. The drivers in Naples and Palermo both spoke decent English and were excited to show us around and point out different sites.

In Sardinia we did the Coda Cavallo beach tour in the morning. It was only in the low 70's with wind gusts so until it heated up around lunch, not too many people on our tour were in the water. I walked in up to my waist and got used to the chill pretty quickly. The water was beautiful. Reminded us a lot of St. John. We saw the prettiest royal blue jellyfish but made sure to stay far enough away from it. This was the only time on the cruise we actually wore our windbreakers. DCL had a huge stack of sand toys for the kids to play with. The area was beautiful and we could have stayed there all day. Locals started coming in about 10:30 and by the time we left the beach, it was much more crowded and the sun was getting hot. We liked the grassy areas with the lounge chairs. The "snack" was quite filling...all sorts of sandwiches on a couple different types of breads (ham/cheese; tomato/cheese; tuna; ham/cheese/lettuce; a salami one and a veggie one), local goat cheese/Sardinian flat bread, sodas, water, wine, and cookies for dessert. When we were back on the bus, they provided olive crackers and water. After showering, we dropped our ds6 off at the kids club and headed out to the town via the free shuttle, but most of the shops except restaurants were closed until 4, several 5PM. The regular touristy shops were open, but none of the clothing stores or pharmacies. I noticed the prices really differed on cork bottles of mirto (local liquor) and other local items so look around before you buy. The cheapest ones were in a small shop that sold gelato on the left side of the road on the main street. It looked like they were really improving the aesthetics of the area with lots of new street lights, sidewalks, new palm trees and landscaping, painting of buildings, etc.

After doing the DCL Florence and Pisa tour, we really wished we'd done it on our own. We originally just had Pisa and my MIL really wanted to add Florence. I saw negative reviews beforehand and warned her, but she thought they'd have changed them from the complaints. We thought about a private driver from DCL but the thought of paying nearly $2,000 was a bit too much. We were on the wait list for Florence and Pisa and were called the night before the tour to let us know we could go. We had a nice lunch in Florence after a brief tour of Florence where the guide spoke in front of the replica of David for about 45 minutes. We did not do half of the tour description. Our boys were very bored and were happy to watch a horse eat it's hay in a nearby carriage. We did get to see the beautiful old churches and were given maybe 25 minutes to shop. We went to the gelato shop that was supposed to be the best and it was very good. On the way to Pisa, the bus had no air conditioning. We asked the driver to put down his window for some kind of air and he told the guide it wouldn't go down further than the crack he had it. People were standing up trying to breathe
the cooler air near the ceiling. We had water bottles we kept on our neck and wipes to try and cool ourselves. I'm not exagerating when I say almost everyone on the bus were either nauseous or faint it was so hot. We all shut the curtains to keep out the sun and fanned ourselves, but it was beyond miserable. When the driver pulled away, he opened his window all the way to the bottom, which was a kicker because having had that opened would have atleast given us fresh air. We felt like we were under a giant maginfying glass. My MIL went straight to the shore excursion desk to complain, but no one was there. She left a written complaint and called the next day. One of the managers said he'd get back to her and that there had been mulitple complaints. The last day of the cruise she hadn't heard back so she tracked him down and he gave us each 20% off the tour. He did say that the tour guide was not the usual one and that they'd never use her again since she skipped out on so much. We were in Pisa about 20 minutes and had a great time walking around taking pictures and shopping for souvenirs.

In Marseille, we took the free DCL shuttle to the drop off. We walked a few minutes until we saw the little train ride. We paid 21 Euros for all of us to do the train tour which took us up to the Notre Dame de la Garde where we had a wonderful view of the city. We spent an hour there just taking photos and looking at the church. Everything was just gorgeous. We returned to the port where we had ice cream and shopped a bit before heading back to the ship and an afternoon swimming at the Mickey pool/Goofy pool.

In Villefranche we walked to the train station and took the 7 minute train ride to Nice. We had about a 15 minute walk to the beach (we were slowed down by an awesome bakery) where we spent a good couple of hours. It was 5 Euros each round trip. We took the return train and walked through the port area shops before heading back to the ship.

Overall we had a wonderful time. We spoke with several Dis friends that did everything on their own and were very happy with their drivers/trains and had no problems.

We felt safe everywhere except the Barcelona airport. Both my DH and I had people try to pick pocket us in the revolving doors at the airport. As we walked towards the transfers from baggage, a huge group of people looked to be waiting on arrivals. I took a picture of the mass of people and the Disney transfer people (I later noticed that the woman that tried to get in my bag was in the picture). We waited about an hour at the airport for our transfer before they had us head outside. While we were at the revolving doors, a woman pushed me so hard I nearly lost my footing. I realized she tried to open my camera bag outside pocket (with only autographs books inside). I turned to glare at her and realized her partner in crime had his bag zipped open and tried to get in my dh's backpack which had an empty outside pocket. My husband felt him and quickly pulled the bag off. The transfer lady asked if we'd just been robbed like it was nothing. She said it happens all the time. DS6 loudly asked dh if he had his gun in his pocket (he's a police officer) and would arrest him. I'm sure they went right back inside the airport. On the way home, dh kept his back pack in front of him. I didn't have anything in the outside pocket but autograph books again, but I was pushed again by someone cutting through the line and the zip tie I had on the outside zippers was taken off while I waited in the VAT return line. No wonder so many people there were paying to have their bags saran wrapped! We were telling our stateroom host the story and she said her friend that was also a stateroom host had her purse stolen with her passport, visa and money on her arrival and had to fly back to Thailand to get new ones issued. Mike at DVC said he saw someone's camera get stolen as she took a picture in Rome and his memory card and battery for his camera were stolen on a crammed bus. Please be careful with your valuables. We saw a couple of shady people get rather too close to tourists while on tours, especially the areas a lot of people look up to glance at like churches. Most of these shady people seemed to either talk or pretend to talk on cell phones and had open bags on their side. The only other thing I saw I was dismayed at was a man at the Trevi Fountain had a magnetic expandable baton he was reaching in to grab out Euros. I told him he was stealing wishes but he didn't even flinch and kept doing it. I had my boys throw their coins as far as they could. He must have had 200 in his pocket and none of the nearby police did anything.

Overall we enjoyed ourselves tremendously and can't wait to get back on the Magic!

 

[skibum]

We just got back from the 11 night cruise, and had an awesome time. We had thought that this would not be a "Disney" cruise, but were pleasantly surprised that we were able to experience Europe, and have a relaxing Disney vacation at the same time. It was our best vacation ever!
We did not do any shore excursions with DCL. We did them all on our own, using proir advice from this thread (especially jokicha - THANKS!) and from Rick Steve's book. Had an awesome time with no real hassles. Rome turns out to be a tiring day, and Florence/Pisa together is a long day with tight connections.
We walked Palermo on our own - DD15 thought it was the most authentic Italian town we visited. Had some (not very good) gelato.
At Naples, we did Pompeii and Sorrento with a taxi driver. Had a tough time getting a cab to just take us to the train station, and finally gave in to getting driven to each place. Would do the train on our own next time and save the money. Ate lunch at Pizzeria Aurora in Sorrento, which is recommended by the ship and the taxi driver. Heads up - you must order a pizza for everybody in your party if yu want sit-down service, and one pizza is huge. After they would not take our order for two pizzas, we went to the take-out window, where you can order what you want. We then at at a local park. Note - for our family of four, one pizza was enough - gave the other one to the cab driver. Also, each pizza was 8-10 euro, and although they were good, certainly not to-die for! We were back to the boat about 3:15.
In Olbia, we took it easy and got off the ship after lunch (kids slept in late). By this time, most of the shops were on siesta. This port is just getting ready to be something, with lots of construction going on at the port area. We saw brand new palm trees getting watered (and still wrapped-up), and they were assembling street lights. Not much here, but it will be something soon. Lots of nice beaches nearby, although it was very windy when we were there.
At Civivatecchia, we walked to the train station, but just missed the 8:02 train. Caught the 9:06 (9 euro/pp/rt) into S. Pietro, and stood in line 20 minutes to go through security to get into St. Peters Basilica. We did the "Tombs of the Popes", and saw John Paul's tomb, as well as St. Peter's tomb - pretty cool. The church itself is huge, and very pretty. We attempted to get reservations (via e-mail and fax) to the Sistine Chapel, but had no success. While we were waiting in line, independent guides offered us the opportunity to tour the Sistine Chapel with them, but we declined. For our family, I am glad we just spent time at St. Peter's, although I am sure the Sistine Chapel would have been awesome. From there we started walking, and did the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon. About 2 short blocks away from the Pantheon we had the most incredible gelato at Giolotti's (spelling?) - well worth back-tracking. We then walked to the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Colosseum. At the Colosseum, we walked by about an hour-and-a-half line since we had advance reservations (by phone) for 3:00. We toured the Colosseum, got on the subway to Termini, and caught a train to Civivatecchia, arriving back at the boat between 5:30 and 6:00. Incredible day - we saw more than most others, and paid a lot less!
Enjoyed our sea day, and felt sorry for those on the 10-day who do not have this day to recoup.
At La Spezia, ended up on the third ferry out. It appears that DCL has this better organized than they did earlier, as we did not follow their rules (went upper right as jokicha recommended), and missed the first two, although we were there. Caught a taxi to the train station, and had plenty of time to figure out what we needed to do, with the help of a lady selling tickets. Took the train to Florence (changed trains in Pisa), and then took a cab to Ponte Vecchio. From there we walked back towards the train station, giving us just under two hours to check things out. Really saw everything we wanted to, but little time for shopping, although we did have to stop for gelato. Caught a train to the main station in Pisa (schedule said Livorno), and took a cab to the Leaning Tower (we had been there before, but the kids really wanted to go - as did most kids (and teens) that we talked to). Spent some time there (photos, souvenirs) and tried to get a taxi to a different train station, with no success. Started talking with a police officer, and told him we wanted to go to the Pisa Sossore(spelling?) train station, and he said it was an easy walk - maybe 1 km. We took off not knowing exactly where it was, but found it easy enough. The first train on the schedule said it would go to La Spezia, but the conductor said no. Next train was only 10 minutes later, and it did go to La Spezia, arriving in La Spezia at 5:08. We walked through the town of La Spezia on the way back, stopping to call home, buty some Italian shoes, and a stop at a grocery store to pick up a treat called Happy Hippos (by Kinder). Very nice town. Again, we saw more and paid less than people on the tours.
Marseilles, we just did the panoramic Little Train up to Notre Dame de la Garde (spelling?). Very nice city, but no big deal.
At Villefranche, we got an early start, and waited for an hour in the Buena Vista Theater before we could get a tender. The first tenders all went to guests who had DCL shore excursions, so we got the first tender for independent travelers. After a quick 5-minute walk to the Villefranche train station, we took the train into Monaco-Monte Carlo. Spent some time at the Palace, and caught the 'Changing of the Guard'. Took the train back, and stopped at Eze Sur Mer, taking time to go to a local beach. Got back onto the train into Villefranche, and decided to go back to the ship and get a bite to eat, and get our swimsuits. After a snack, we walked to the local Villefranche beach, and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and sunning in the Med. It was an awesome way to end the trip (think Castaway Cay).
We were so happy with this cruise. Great weather - blue skies, no clouds, and 85 degrees every day (except the start of the Naples day). We unpacked once, got to see the highlights of Europe, come back to familiar surroundings, eat very good food with great service, and be entertained every night. What a way to go!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

 

[scrapycruiser]

Did anyone go to Lerici Beach from La Spezia ??

 

[Twinparents]

We just got back from our 7/7/07 cruise and thought we would recap our excusion experience. First of all our party consisted of myself, DH, DD age 10, DS age 10, DD age 5 and Grandma and Grandpa. The kids went on all of the exursions with us.

Palmero: We did the Boat ride to Zingo Park and the only people who really liked the excursion where grandma and grandpa. We took a long bus ride to the place where we caught the boat. Once on the boat we drove for about forty five minutes looking at the beautiful scenery and briefly stopped to look at two shallow caves. We then stopped in the water for the swimming time. The first thing that caught our attention was that we were told there were no life jackets on the boat, only four life preservers. I was pretty surprised that DCL would allow us to take a five year old child on a boat with no life jackets but by this time it was too late. The water was pretty chilly and took a while for everyone in the boat to get down into the water. Just as everyone was getting in the water they said it was time to go. Overall there was only thirty minutes of swimming time. We then spent another thirty to forty mintues boating over to the town where we going to have lunch. They gave us an hour of free time but the town was so small that there was nothing really to look at. We spend fifteen minutes looking at some small local shops and then walked down to the beach. It was ninety degrees and the sand was so hot you could not walk on it. We ended up walking back to the place we were to have lunch. Lunch was pretty good but it was served outside in the baking hot and took over two hours so we were pretty hot and tired and ready to go back to the ship. Then we were told that we had another hour in the town. We got some gellato which took ten minutes and then just sat on the curb until it was time to go. Overall the experience would have been much better if they would have given us less town time and more swimming time. Grandma and Grandpa like it because there was not a lot of walking and they liked the boat ride.

Naples: Grandma and Grandpa took DD who was 5 to the Herculaneum scavenger hunt. Overall they liked the exercusions but thought the scavenger hunt could have been tailored a little bit better for kids.

DH, and the ten year old twins and I did the hike up Mt. Vesuivius and tour of Pompeii. Overall this was a fantastic excursion even thought the weather did not cooperate. We started with the stop to the cameo factory to use the restrooms and then headed up Vesuivius. We had a great guide and she gave us a lot of history of the eruptions. The hike itself was not that bad. The gravel was pretty loose so you had to watch your step but none of us thought it was difficult. The problem was we got to the top and it was so cloudly we could not see a single thing more than one foot in front of us so we could not see the crater or the smoke coming out of the volcano. The guide at the top of the volcano showed us pictures of what we should have been seeing but it was bitter sweet. The kids enjoyed picking up lava rock which the guide told us we could take and they bought some souveniers at the shops. We then took the bus to a very nice lunch and on to Pompeii. The whispers that were used were very good and the guide did a great job of explaning what we were seeing. It was very hot in the afternoon and of course the clouds had cleared up so when we looked at Mt. Vesuivius we all wanted to go back to see what we had missed. We were given a little free time to look at the shops outside of Pompeii but had to be careful because they sell alot of inappropriate items that we did not want our children to see.

Obia: Grandpa took DS to make ravoli and it was the best excursion of the trip for both of them. They loved the country side, their experience making pasta, the lunch was fantastic and then toured a museum. The rest of us took the DCL excursion to La Cinta beach. It was a very clean beach with good restrooms and a bar to buy snacks. The beach chairs were adequate and the water and views were fantastic. It was extemely windy but it satasified the kids need for a little beach time. The two hours on the beach was plenty of time for us because of how windy it was.

Rome: We did the Highlights of the Rome and Vatican tour because the description said we would get two hours of free time which we did not get. The ride over to Rome was pretty long and my personal pet peeve is that we stopped to use the restroom fifteen minutes into the trip. Once in Rome we drove around and saw a lot of the monuments of which the Colleseum was the highlight. Hint: we think you have a better view if you sit on the left hand side of the bus as you are entering the bus (not the driver side). We stopped at the Trevi fountain and were given thirty minutes of free time to look at the fountain. Next, we stopped for lunch and when my kids declined to eat their tuna salad and declined to order the vegetable lasagna the waiter made them some plain noodles (they do not like sauce) which I thought was extremely nice. We then headed to the Vatican where we met a different tour guide. The whipers used by this tour guide were not very good and the kids ended up not using them. The success of the trip is very dependant on the tour guide and we were not lucky with this one. She stopped every ten minutes to count everybody and was a little too windy in some of her explanations. The Sistine Chappel was amazing and the highlight of the day. We next went to St. Peters Basillica where our tour guide did a good job on some things but not on others. We then had twenty minutes of free time in the Vatician shop. We met and then went to have our gellato which they conisdered to be thirty minutes of free time. Breaking up all of the free time kind of defeated the purpose in my opinion so we wished we would have done the VIP tour of the Vatican and Rome as our tour of the Vatican and the Sistine Chappel was very crowded and the only reason we picked it over the VIP tour is we thought we were getting some shopping time.

Florence: Myself, Grandma and Grandpa took the Florence on your own bus as I was having shopping withdrawls. It took a full two hours to get to Florence and we did not have much traffic. The landscape over to Florence was fantastic and we enjoyed the ride. We only had five hours of free time in Florence but the tour guide on the bus did a good job of giving us maps and then individually answering questions about where we wanted to go. I knew that I wanted to see the David so I prebooked tickets on line before we left and had a twelve o'clock reservation. We did a little shopping, walked to the Dumo and then walked to the Accademia Galleria where the David is. We walked right up to the reservation line, got our tickets, saw the David and the whole thing took us about fifteen minutes versus waiting two hours in line for tickets. We spent the rest of the day shopping and got some fantastic jewelry purchases.

DH and all of the kids were signed up to go on the aquarium and chocolate factory tour and we were notified two days before the excursion that it was cancelled because of lack of interest so they just hung out on the boat and went in to La Spezia for gellato.

Marsailles: We were pretty disappointed to learn that all of the shops are closed on Sunday. We tried to do the soap tour but it was completely booked so we took the free shuttle into the port. We took the little train up to the Notre Dame de la garde and enjoyed the views of the city for 29 euro for all seven of us. It was extremely hot and we were all glad we did not have a formal excursion planning because we needed a little rest.

Villefranche: We were originally signed up for the make your own perfume tour but cancelled it because we had heard that your whole party only makes one bottle of perfume. Instead, we took the city bus from Villefranche to Nice and then Nice to Eze to tour the perfume factory ourselves. The bus was 1.30 euro for each person one way and was very easy to do and only took us about 15 - 20 minutes. When we got to the Galliard perfume factory we told them we were on DCL and they gave us a very good free tour of the pefume museum that they had and told us about how to make soap and perfume. They then had us sample all of the men's and women's perfumes and it was very low pressure. We ended up buying a set of six perfumes for 48 euros. We let each kid pick something they wanted and then my DH and I got the rest. Overall it was a great experience and the kids loved it. You do have to watch the bus schedule because the bus back to Nice only left at 1:30 or 3:30 so we took the 1:30 bus back to Nice and then did some shopping in Nice before we headed back to the boat.

We all had the best vacation of our lives and would be happy to share our experiences with you if you have any questions.

 

[cohartman]

Anyone do "Rome on your own" through DCL?? We are currently booked for this excursion and we are wondering where the bus drops off and picks up and how many hours you get in Rome. I would like to be brave and do it totally on our own with the train, but I am travelling with my parents who seem to be a bit skeptical about that!! Any info on the bus with Disney would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!

We did Rome on our own. The train was very easy to take and it takes half as long to get to Rome; about one hour. We got off near the Vatican and it is a little maze to the main roads from the station, but a short walk. We walked for about 20 minutes and ended up in Plaza Navrona (?not sure that's exactly right). We ate there and shopped on some of the side streets.

Then it got FUN. We found a horse drawn carriage and had it take us to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps ($120euro for 3 of us). So great. Stopped at each briefly for photos and looking. The sights are far apart and it was pretty hot. We saw a lot more from the carriage than we would have from the cab.

We then took a cab to the Vatican. We booked a tour from Presto Tours for 3 hours. Perfect, as it was siesta every where. Also very short lines in siesta. Then shopped around the Vatian and went back to the train.

You also do not need excursions in Villefranche. Trains are easy and the whole area is totally scenic. We went to Nice and there was a great flea market. Had a wonderful lunch. Then back to Villefranche and chartered a small boat for just us. Warning, you will need a boating license to rent a boat. We ended up with a dingy, as my hubby (coast guard) did not have the right documents with him.

It was very easy and much more affordable to do these on your own. For us the following were worth the excursion fees; Boat Ride to Zingaro, Portofino and Santa Margarita and Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri.

The whole trip was great. I would note that it was breathtakingly expensive in Europe. Esp. in London!!!!!

 

[vegs1]

Just returned from the July 7 Med cruise and loved every minute of it. . I will list what we did below and if you have questions...ask away.

Cabin 2646 - Cat. 9 Deck 2 - Early Dining

We took the Aerobus on arrival in Barcelona. Straight out the door of the airport and on the right if you're in terminal A. Took us to Placa de Catalunya. Very simple and cheap. (approx. 11 euros for 3 of us.)

Stayed at the Hotel Continental Palacete for the 1st night and the last 2 nights.. Ideal location...close to everything. Snacks, wine, beer and soda included in cost. Also free internet!

Stayed in Category 9 cabin on deck 2 - cabin 2646. Very nice, quiet area.

Shore excursions:

Palermo: Mysterious Palermo - visited the catacombs and a couple of churches. (my 9 year old loved the catacombs)

Naples: Did a private tour of the Amalfi Coast and visited Pompeii for 2 hours with Salvatore Lucibello of Drive Amalfi. Excellent, excellent, excellent is all I can say.

Rome: Ultimate Rome through DCL. Long day but we really enjoyed it. Great lunch! 2 hours of free time was only about 1/2 an hour due to traffic coming into Rome but we didn't mind. The Colisseum was awesome and our tour guide, Francesco, was amazing. Very knowledgeable! The wait to get into St. Peter's Basilica was quite lengthy in the sun but it went by fairly quickly. Our tablemates did the Rome on Your Own through the ship. The bus ride was OK for them but their regret was that they had no guide once in Rome to explain anything to them. They felt they missed out greatly.

Olbia - Gnocchetti Sardi & Ravioli - Went to a countryside restaurant near Agasse, Sardinia. Got to make both ravioli and gnocchi. Very fun. My 9 year old daughter LOVED it! Afterwards, listened to a quartet sing and then went to hear about the local cork trees then inside for a wonderful lunch. Afterwards, toured a local museum displaying various local customs and costumes.

La Spezia - VIP Tour of Pisa. Took the tender ashore and looked around the town. Very nice shops with fairly (for Europe) reasonable prices. Lots of sales. Then left for our afternoon tour of VIP Pisa. Climbed the tower (yes, all 294 well worn marble steps) had 1/2 hour to shop or look in the church or Baptistery and then off for a drink and snack (pastries and cafe) from a local bakery. Then back to the ship.


Marseille - Soap Factory and City Tour Toured the city and then went to the local soap factory. Had a chance to purchase soap and then see how it was made. Went to the Notre Dame de la Gard church. Stopped in Vieux Port for crepes (on our own - yummy) and then shopped at the market set up by the water. Then back to the ship. Nice length of tour and a great overview of the city. Only chance to really shop as the other stores in Marseille were closed. NOTE: We had some folks on this tour in a wheelchair and they were told it was wheelchair accessible. They had to push the wheelchair up a huge incline to get to the soap factory and also had to get a vehicle to take them up to the top at Notre Dame de la Gard. Was not the easiest but I guess it WAS accessible. (not MY idea of accessible!)

Villefranche - Did the train on our own into Monte Carlo. Very easy to do. Visited the Palace (outside only), saw the changing of the guard, visited the Cathedral, had snacks at the Cafe de Paris, photo ops of the Casino (we didn't go inside) then took the local bus 112 to Eze. Visited Eze (very quaint and beautiful perched village). Loved all the little shops and cafes. Stopped at shop called Les Trois Etoiles run by a wonderful gentleman named Horst. He was absolutely fabulous. They sell wonderful liqueurs and olive oils and pack them up really well in bubble wrap for bringing home. We bought both Peach and cherry liqueurs which were absolutely delicious. Also bought some truffle oil and some garlic infused olive oil. (They let you sample...mmmmmmm...yummy! I thought my daughter was going to eat his whole display of bread and oil dip but he kept bringing out more and saying "let her indulge...she's on vacation!" He was really wonderful and we were glad to give him our business. We did pay the 5 euros to go into the garden at the top (kids under 12 were free) and were glad we did. The views were spectacular and you could see all the way to the ship. We took a cab back to the ship as the bus schedule seemed a little more complicated to get back to Villefranche and we were getting tired. Cab ride back to the port from Eze was 35 euros. We didn't mind though as we saved all that money that we would have spent on the shore excursion!

Barcelona:

Again stayed at the Continental Hotel Palacete. Also, took the train to Montserrat. Very enjoyable place. Easy to get to. Took the Metro to Parc Guell and to La Sagrada Familia. Metro in Barcelona is extremely easy to use and fairly reasonable. Great restaurant near hotel called El Raco. Great prices and nice location for people watching. Shopped on Passeig de Gracia...lots of high end stores...Burberry, D & G, Cartier.

Flight home went well. Took Air Transat from Barcelona (stop only in Montreal) and then on to Toronto. Arrived on time...no lost luggage!

That's it in a nutshell other than we wish we were just setting sail!

Happy Travels!

 

[3mmm]

Quick notes on traveling with little ones:

Travelled with DS 6 months, DS barely 3, DD 5 with Down syndrome - developmentally about 2 -3, and DSs 7 and 8. Oh yes we brought extended family and our nanny - I may be crazy but I'm not insane.

Yes I could use my stroller in the Barcelona airport - no problem with the usual gate check.

Disney has strollers to borrow on the boat and they are reasonable - Baby Jogger - fold well, great off road according to the family who used two all cruise (courtesy of their airline losing theirs)

Our room host found a potty seat for us after the travel one we brought broke. I was shocked and quite pleased.

After three cruises and 5 children I found the changing tables - they are in the handicapped restrooms and even have those disposable changing pads. I never could figure out why there were no changing tables!

As usual, everything on the boat was exceptional for the little ones.

The store carries 8 oz ready to feed cans of Enfamil and Similac - great for an emergency, but not practical otherwise. They have small packages of Huggies - size small and either med or large - again great for an emergency. No Swim diapers.


Strollers and excursions- I recommend good off road strollers, not the lightweight umbrella strollers that Disney recommends- we had two bugaboos and never had a problem. Busses and tenders were not an issue - in fact we usually didn't even fold them, just put them under the bus.

Herculaneum was fairly stroller friendly - just lifted over a few areas.
Used backpacks and hip carriers in Pompeii - stroller would be a little harder and definitely would need to use the alternate entrance

Rome - no stroller in St Peters. Okay in the vatican museum, but you do have several flights of stairs to go down -we carried ours with the kids in them - I rec you use stroller as it is very crowded and hard to contain children otherwise. Colliseum was fine and any child in a stroller is free.

Eze was the one place we did not attempt because of the stollers.

I highly rec private tours - we did so in Naples, Rome and Florence/Pisa.
Palermo for kids was good. The beach at La Cinta was hard packed and stroller friendly. The little trains in Marseille and Monaco have large baskets for strollers.

I think that answers most of the questions I had before I went.

And yes, I would do it all again. My six month old was a breeze. The preschoolers were a lot of work. We left them on the boat in LaSpezia and Marseille. My 7 and 8 year olds did everything but Marseille (they needed a break), but their favorite memories are all from the boat. I think they'll appreciate it more as they get older and look back on the memories and Pictures.

Everyone in Italy loved my children and were very accomodating. Marseille less so - turned away from one cafe that obviously wasn't full (and I only had my 6 month old with me) Monaco was pretty good.

I'd be happy to answer any questions

Mary

 

[Bjirka]

hello I'm a 24 year old going on the 10 day med. cruise 8/8. I have been on many Disney cruises before. Was curious if anyone has any ideas or suggestions for someone my age? Also I'm signed up to do the Mt. Vesuvious Hike, any suggestions on what to weat since i read that it's pretty cold? Also i have been hearing great things about the boats activities the night it's in Villefranche, I'm currently signed up to do the "Evening Casino" Which i feel i'll enjoy, but wanted to know what others thought about the ships nightly activites vs. the casino night, also what is proper attire for an evening in the Casino? I wanted to thank you all for your comments and suggestions.......oh and the perfume factory......should we not waste our money i was really looking forward to that, but it sounds like it's a complete waste of money.

Brier (Yes i'm named after Sleeping Beauty)

 

[shortkathleen]

We just got back from the 7-18 cruise. I blogged about it as we went. I have Marsielle yet to do. It is a light hearted look at what it was like with a 4 and 6 year old. www.mammacakes.blogspot.com

I would be happy to answer any questions.

Kathleen

 

[astroth]

We're considering switching our excursion in Olbia to the ravioli-making one, based on the enthusiastic reports about it in this thread. We're wondering, though, what the ravioli end up filled with. Our DSs (8 and 4) both love cheese-filled ravioli, but we don't eat meat and the older boy in particular would be really grossed out if he had to handle any. Thanks for any info you can share on this subject.

Also wondering if anyone can report on the following excursions:

Erice and Segesta (Palermo)
Etruscan Treasures (Civitavecchia)
Hidden Treasures of Herculaneum (Naples)
Lerici's Castle and Dinosaurs (La Spezia)

We're signed up for all of them and haven't seen much (or any, in some cases) discussion of them.

Thanks!