August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[jd99]

Alright peeps...PAGE 4!!! We need to step it up here!!!

Jeff - ya back from FLA yet?! How was it?!

I found another small 17" "international size" carry-on bag the other day on clearance at Target for like $55. It was one of those Swiss Army brand ones - looks pretty well made - better than some of that 'el cheapo no-name stuff anyway. And if it's just going to be used as a carry-on it won't get so much abuse. So now we all 3 have lightweight 17" size carry-ons so there shouldn't be any problems with our carry-ons anywhere. THEN I wandered thru TJ Maxx - found a really nice 16" Atlantic brand shoulder tote for $25 that is perfect for me to carry as my "personal item". It will fit under the seat and is big enough to hold my DSLR camera and my "anti-theft" purse that I bought to bring. OH, DH got ME a Kindle now for Xmas so it has a place for that, brochures, other travel guides, a bottle of water and one of those squishy neck pillows!! It also has a velcro strap on the back that will slide and fasten over the handle of the 17" suitcase so I won't have to CARRY it all the time. LOL... I did another "test pack" of the 2 bags together then weighed them. I must say that I am impressing myself more all the time with my packing skills!! I got 8 tops, 4 shorts, 3 capris, 2 pr sandals, PJ's, 3 days of undies, a bathing suit + a cover-up into the 17" bag and altogether the 2 bags weighed 27 or 28 Lbs (the bathroom scale kept flipping around). This was just throwing junk in so if I REALLY plan it right I am sure I can do this!! Somebody please remind of this around August 5 when I am talking about HOW MUCH STUFF I HAVE PACKED!!! Bookmark this post will ya!? NOW if only I could find cheap flights to go with my cheap bags!!!

Yes we are back.
We are back from a great (but exhausting) holiday trip to WDW. I'll try to post some photos later after I download but right now I'm trying to get caught up on work and feeling overwhelmed.

No trip report, but some highlights from our trip included: We got up three days in a row to hit the parks EARLY - either right at rope drop or close to it (earlier if there were EMH). We rode EVERYTHING we wanted to ride - some of it more than once at MK, Epcot and DHS on those three days. And we were out of the park early. The downside was that it was 32 degrees two of those mornings. Brrrrrrrrr. But so worth it when we saw how crazy busy the parks got by late morning, early afternoon.

We also did the DVC Merry Mixer that was way fun and then we did a DVC presentation for members at BLT's Top of the World Lounge on NYE (our off-park day) and scored 12 magical Fast Passes for our trouble. So on New Year's Day, we ran into some folks checking out who gave us six more of those fast passes. We put them to good use and rode TSM, TOT (just me), Rockn Roller Coaster at DHS, then went to Epcot and rode Soarin and Test Track.

The weather warmed up by our third day there (even went into the pool and hot tub) and the sun was shining brightly the entire week.

Stayed at BCV and loved it as always. Had a one bedroom which really helps with comfort.

Had some great meals - LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Italian place (Via Napoli), had a great NYD dinner at Tutto Italia, NYE at the Yachtsman, an early week dinner at Narcoosees (one of our faves).

New Year's Eve was our day to NOT go to a park. And what a good decision it was. I decided to head into Epcot around 3:30 or so to get a piece of pizza at Via Napoli's "takeout window." There were people camped out on the bridge between France and England at that hour - picnic blankets and all. And then there was what looked like a homeless encampment on the grass next to France. It was truly crazy and the crowd was shoulder to shoulder. I couldn't get out of there soon enough! On NYE at dinner we told the kids about this cruise - they were SOOOOOOOO excited! Now we can all talk about it!

Ok back to work. Hope to get some pix up later.

Happy New Year!

Jeff

 

[Anal Annie]

Yes we are back.
We are back from a great (but exhausting) holiday trip to WDW. I'll try to post some photos later after I download but right now I'm trying to get caught up on work and feeling overwhelmed.

No trip report, but some highlights from our trip included: We got up three days in a row to hit the parks EARLY - either right at rope drop or close to it (earlier if there were EMH). We rode EVERYTHING we wanted to ride - some of it more than once at MK, Epcot and DHS on those three days. And we were out of the park early. The downside was that it was 32 degrees two of those mornings. Brrrrrrrrr. But so worth it when we saw how crazy busy the parks got by late morning, early afternoon.

We also did the DVC Merry Mixer that was way fun and then we did a DVC presentation for members at BLT's Top of the World Lounge on NYE (our off-park day) and scored 12 magical Fast Passes for our trouble. So on New Year's Day, we ran into some folks checking out who gave us six more of those fast passes. We put them to good use and rode TSM, TOT (just me), Rockn Roller Coaster at DHS, then went to Epcot and rode Soarin and Test Track.

The weather warmed up by our third day there (even went into the pool and hot tub) and the sun was shining brightly the entire week.

Stayed at BCV and loved it as always. Had a one bedroom which really helps with comfort.

Had some great meals - LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Italian place (Via Napoli), had a great NYD dinner at Tutto Italia, NYE at the Yachtsman, an early week dinner at Narcoosees (one of our faves).

New Year's Eve was our day to NOT go to a park. And what a good decision it was. I decided to head into Epcot around 3:30 or so to get a piece of pizza at Via Napoli's "takeout window." There were people camped out on the bridge between France and England at that hour - picnic blankets and all. And then there was what looked like a homeless encampment on the grass next to France. It was truly crazy and the crowd was shoulder to shoulder. I couldn't get out of there soon enough! On NYE at dinner we told the kids about this cruise - they were SOOOOOOOO excited! Now we can all talk about it!

Ok back to work. Hope to get some pix up later.

Happy New Year!

Jeff

YAY! Peep back on track! I cannot imagine WDW on NYE!! Glad you had a great time (even tho it was cold)!! We have only ever stayed in studios - but I WAS considering the idea of a 1 bedroom std. or island view at Aulani if we only stay for 4 nights on Oahu when we go. If we end up staying 5 nights then we'll probably try to book an OV studio. I am afraid we'll get spoiled by the extra space and we really have to use studios to stretch out our points - but this would be a special trip & might splurge. Keeping our fingers crossed we can even get in at 7 months when the time comes!

I have a DIS peep from our back-to-backs on the Wonder in '08 who's doing the Wonder PC cruise...I am living vicariously thru her texts & posts and pics on Facebook...she's at the port now....I'm so excited for her!! Her kids are both younger so not such a big deal for her to take a 2 week long vacation in January (youngest isn't even IN school yet). I can only dream of ever getting to do such a fabulous cruise!! <sigh> I don't know how she managed to get ready - they just built a new custom home that was ready the week of Christmas - so she just moved too! I am in awe of her organization skills!! Is it time for us to go yet?! I just wish our airfares would come down a little bit. I realllllly need them to drop about $100 each so I can book 2 of us on miles. We are shy what we need to cover 2 of us at the current prices and it's got me in a bit of a tizzy...not sure when to book...they keep talking about domestic air going up...fuel keeps rising...not sure what to do!! Am I the only one who hasn't booked air yet??

 

[Anal Annie]

OK, so for my US peeps here - have u all booked your airfare yet?? How much did you pay (pretend you were paying CASH not using miles)! I have been pricing multi-city from Dulles to Paris...then Paris to BCN then home. So far doing it this way has been the cheapest (all on Air France). Fhe flight from here to Paris was direct (NICE). There is nothing coming home from BCN direct so that will HAVE to xfer somewhere. OK so TODAY I found round trip on Iceland Air (thru Iceland of course so it was 10.5 hrs. rather than 7 hrs) for $902 pp. I don't know a THING about Iceland Air!! ie good, bad, indifferent. The round trip flights between Paris & BCN are running $194 on Air France (I feel like we'd be less likely to get "stuck" with some unknown luggage fees on them than we would with Easy Jet or something but that's just an assumption I've developed on my own.) SOOO, IF I booked this itinerary we'd have enough miles to cover 2 of the Iceland air tix and 2 of the Air France tix 'cuz the bottom line would be $1,096 pp. The round trips on Air France (for all flights) have been running around $1,235 this week... WWYD?! I almost called my friend's TA sister but didn't (she only works PT so it's too late now). The layover in Iceland is 1 hr 20 min. going over...do you think that's long enough?? Sigh...I really wanted direct...but this pricing is more in line with what I'd hoped to find!!

 

[jd99]

YAY! Peep back on track! I cannot imagine WDW on NYE!! Glad you had a great time (even tho it was cold)!! We have only ever stayed in studios - but I WAS considering the idea of a 1 bedroom std. or island view at Aulani if we only stay for 4 nights on Oahu when we go. If we end up staying 5 nights then we'll probably try to book an OV studio. I am afraid we'll get spoiled by the extra space and we really have to use studios to stretch out our points - but this would be a special trip & might splurge. Keeping our fingers crossed we can even get in at 7 months when the time comes!

I have a DIS peep from our back-to-backs on the Wonder in '08 who's doing the Wonder PC cruise...I am living vicariously thru her texts & posts and pics on Facebook...she's at the port now....I'm so excited for her!! Her kids are both younger so not such a big deal for her to take a 2 week long vacation in January (youngest isn't even IN school yet). I can only dream of ever getting to do such a fabulous cruise!! <sigh> I don't know how she managed to get ready - they just built a new custom home that was ready the week of Christmas - so she just moved too! I am in awe of her organization skills!! Is it time for us to go yet?! I just wish our airfares would come down a little bit. I realllllly need them to drop about $100 each so I can book 2 of us on miles. We are shy what we need to cover 2 of us at the current prices and it's got me in a bit of a tizzy...not sure when to book...they keep talking about domestic air going up...fuel keeps rising...not sure what to do!! Am I the only one who hasn't booked air yet??

We haven't booked air either. Prices are out of control. The couple of itineraries we like are in the $1,400 range (we go from PIT to Athens Greece then Barcelona to PIT). That's not even counting the flight we have to book between Athens and Barcelona. I wish it would go down just a little tiny bit. Like 400 bucks per ticket!

 

[kmc33]

Hi! I am not on your sailing (we sail June 29), but I started looking at the other sailing threads trying to get a scoop on airfare. I have been looking for fares out of Pittsburgh to BCN and then expanded to other European cities to see if I could find lower, but nothing low enough to account for needing to pay more to get from say Paris, London, Dublin, Madrid to Barcelona. I am now starting to look at other US departures, like IAD, BWI, PHI that we could drive to. I even tried JFK thinking we could get low JetBlue flights to/from NYC, but even out of NYC is almost the same at PIT (I thought it would be much lower!)

Anyway, if I get any good leads I will post on your thread, but in the meantime hope you don't mind me keeping an eye on what you guys come up with. By the way, I know on these boards kayak.com price alerts are popular (I get my daily email from them), but have you seen momondo.com? I just saw this one mentioned on the CBS morning show around New Years. They said it's based in Denmark and sometimes come up with good fare finds for European flights.

Good luck!!
Kim

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi! I am not on your sailing (we sail June 29), but I started looking at the other sailing threads trying to get a scoop on airfare. I have been looking for fares out of Pittsburgh to BCN and then expanded to other European cities to see if I could find lower, but nothing low enough to account for needing to pay more to get from say Paris, London, Dublin, Madrid to Barcelona. I am now starting to look at other US departures, like IAD, BWI, PHI that we could drive to. I even tried JFK thinking we could get low JetBlue flights to/from NYC, but even out of NYC is almost the same at PIT (I thought it would be much lower!)

Anyway, if I get any good leads I will post on your thread, but in the meantime hope you don't mind me keeping an eye on what you guys come up with. By the way, I know on these boards kayak.com price alerts are popular (I get my daily email from them), but have you seen momondo.com? I just saw this one mentioned on the CBS morning show around New Years. They said it's based in Denmark and sometimes come up with good fare finds for European flights.

Good luck!!
Kim

Hi Kim!! Jeff is from Pittsburgh too!!

I have been doing the same thing as you - checking any and all east coast cities thinking we could either drive or find a cheap flight on Jet Blue or Air Tran to one of them. I thought about Philly, Boston, NYC, Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, Newark, Pitt etc. - NOTHING!! I have checked with Costco. Nothing. I live in the DC area so I have 3 international airports within an hours drive to us - Dulles appears to offer the most / best at this point. I have looked at Lufthansa, Swiss Air & SAS websites directly too... I am really frustrated as these same flights hovered around $950-$1,000 all last year - right up until the booking schedule came out this fall. I just don't know when to pull the trigger - I am afraid they will just keep going UP!! Again today the Iceland Air flight via Iceland to Paris is still the cheapest option even when I add on a round-trip to Barcelona. Their return flight is especially doable. The Air France return flight is early - we'd have to get up practically in the middle of the night to make our return out of Barcelona...The Iceland Air flight is in the afternoon so that would give us a little more flexibility getting back to Paris. I have started a thread on the cruise board to see if I can find out any more about Iceland Air...

I haven't seen this momondo.com site...have you checked it out?? I sent in a request to join a site called jetsetter.com that I saw mentioned on the Today Show a couple weeks ago. Their reply was that they would put me on their wait list!!

Please do keep visiting us here - we all have to look out for each other since we're in the same boat!!

 

[Kels Sem]

Hey all,

Jeff- Good to hear you had a great time at WDW. I would love to go at christmas and some year we will.

Annie - Good luck with your airfare search! I don't envy you. I'm so glad I was able to book when I did the fares have gone away up since then.

Not much happening with me at the minute so I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Kelly

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey all,

Jeff- Good to hear you had a great time at WDW. I would love to go at christmas and some year we will.

Annie - Good luck with your airfare search! I don't envy you. I'm so glad I was able to book when I did the fares have gone away up since then.

Not much happening with me at the minute so I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Kelly

Hi Kelly!

Afraid we have a pretty FULL weekend...just got home from swim practice. Now trying to decide what we should eat (I think DH wants to go get Chipotle). Tomorrow we are getting up EARLY and going skiing. We figured if we GET THERE by 8-8:30 (it's an hour drive) we can do a 4 hour lift tix then grab a bite to eat & make it back in time for the 3:00-4:30 swim practice. THEN we have to hightail it to go meet DH's family across the county at 5:30 for dinner...there's a family friend in town visiting from San Francisco and DH's adopted brother leaves on Sunday to go back to college and DH's BIL & SIL won't deviate from their kids bedtime schedule so we have to go early...they originally wanted 5:00 but that doesn't give us time to get there after swim practice... 5:30 is like a late lunch for us! We often don't eat dinner until like 9:30 or 10:00 what with evening practices. But SOOO it will be a busy, busy day and I am sure that I will sleep like a baby tomorrow night!!

 

[Kels Sem]

Hi Kelly!

Afraid we have a pretty FULL weekend...just got home from swim practice. Now trying to decide what we should eat (I think DH wants to go get Chipotle). Tomorrow we are getting up EARLY and going skiing. We figured if we GET THERE by 8-8:30 (it's an hour drive) we can do a 4 hour lift tix then grab a bite to eat & make it back in time for the 3:00-4:30 swim practice. THEN we have to hightail it to go meet DH's family across the county at 5:30 for dinner...there's a family friend in town visiting from San Francisco and DH's adopted brother leaves on Sunday to go back to college and DH's BIL & SIL won't deviate from their kids bedtime schedule so we have to go early...they originally wanted 5:00 but that doesn't give us time to get there after swim practice... 5:30 is like a late lunch for us! We often don't eat dinner until like 9:30 or 10:00 what with evening practices. But SOOO it will be a busy, busy day and I am sure that I will sleep like a baby tomorrow night!!

My goodness you do have a busy weekend! I would love to go skiing again. We haven't been since before the children were born. We'll probably not go for a long time as we need to ski in Europe and the cost for the 4 of us would be very expensive. I also don't fancy listening to Keira complaining how cold she is! or carrying their skis as well as my own

I was thinking about your flights and I'm sure you have already thought of this but what's the price like just to fly in and out of Barcelona?? Then maybe you could just take internal flights to Paris though I suppose you would lose time time in Paris this way. Anyhow just a thought.

 

[Kels Sem]

Page 3 again! Just giving us a bump

 

[Anal Annie]

My goodness you do have a busy weekend! I would love to go skiing again. We haven't been since before the children were born. We'll probably not go for a long time as we need to ski in Europe and the cost for the 4 of us would be very expensive. I also don't fancy listening to Keira complaining how cold she is! or carrying their skis as well as my own

I was thinking about your flights and I'm sure you have already thought of this but what's the price like just to fly in and out of Barcelona?? Then maybe you could just take internal flights to Paris though I suppose you would lose time time in Paris this way. Anyhow just a thought.

Oh Kelly I have tried pricing stuff every which way. I look EVERY DAY. We could take Iceland Air one-way via Iceland to Paris in a couple of ways. The quickest has a 1 h 20 m layover so the total time is about 10 hrs for $467 pp OR we could stay the night and basically have a 25 hr 20 m layover for $527 pp. The same could work on the return if we wanted to use them from BCN to home - so if we wanted a night in Iceland to see the geothermal spa stuff we COULD. OK but then to go to / from Barcelona we could do that on Swiss Air for $877 pp (thru Geneva I think) and that's only if we travel on Fri or Sun. Sat. was more. AND it was a code-share with United - but if I price it on United the same damn flight is like $2,000 or something ABSURD!! It is a longer layover tho so it would be over 14 hours just to GET to Barcelona...then if we add almost 2 hrs. to get to Paris then we're looking at a 16 hr day rather than direct (7 hrs) or via Iceland (10 hrs). I found Air France round trips between Paris & BCN to go Sat & return Wed. for only $138...but a ONE-WAY trip between on them is $515!!! WTH?! I found a one-way on Iberia for $116 - anybody know anything about Iberia air????? It is all so INSANE.... (Kim - would the Swiss Air RT thing via Dulles work for you??)

Meanwhile....skiing was good yesterday - we'd gotten a nice coating of fresh snow (just a couple inches) so it was nice & fluffy... We skied for 4 hours (about 9:00-1:00) then rushed home to swim practice...in my RUSH tho I locked my keys in my truck at the pool!! Discovered that as we were leaving so had to call DH to come bring his key to open it for me!! Sooo we drove separately to meet his family for dinner...and of course we were 30 min. LATE because of the key thing! Oh well, dinner was good (went to an El Salvadoran place) and the Cornona was ESPECIALLY good after such a long day!!

Now I am off to a parent meeting for the travel meet next weekend!!

 

[luke]

Howdy all! Yes transatlantic airfares are the reason I don't get to WDW as much as I'd like! Our flights last year from Manchester to Orlando were about $1200 each. Compare that to what 'we paid for our Barcelona flights for this cruise were about $90 each!!!

Still looking for a hotel tho. I think we've spolit ourselves with our hotels on our last few holidays (Florida x2 and New York) so the prices for a Barcelona hotel are so high for what would be a comparable one!! Will keep on trying...

 

[Kels Sem]

Howdy all! Yes transatlantic airfares are the reason I don't get to WDW as much as I'd like! Our flights last year from Manchester to Orlando were about $1200 each. Compare that to what 'we paid for our Barcelona flights for this cruise were about $90 each!!!

Still looking for a hotel tho. I think we've spolit ourselves with our hotels on our last few holidays (Florida x2 and New York) so the prices for a Barcelona hotel are so high for what would be a comparable one!! Will keep on trying...

Hey Luke,

I agree.. Transatlantic flights are very expensive.. I'm so glad the the Magic is in the Med this year so that I can get my Disney Fix. I also priced DLP and i think the prices for there are also very expensive this year.

I have gone ahead and booked the Novotel city for us but I'm still not sure if I've done the right thing. I have booked a fully flexible rate in case I find something better. There's not much choice when looking for a room that sleeps 4. If it were just DH & myself I would book the Grand Marina Hotel

 

[luke]

As I said before, Disneyland Paris is ridiculously expensive, has been for ages, not helped by the pound v euro recently. I love DLP, but it really isn't worth it when you price compare with WDW!!

Looked at the novotel, but want near Plaça Catalunya or the port really, and Grand Marina looks pretty good and not too absurd a price. Would love the W but that's pushing it a bit
Praktik Rambla also looks good and is cheap, plus there's another one in Plaça Catalunya which looks good for the money too but can't remember it. Just got a new netbook so I can do some looking while I set it up properly

 

[Anal Annie]

As I said before, Disneyland Paris is ridiculously expensive, has been for ages, not helped by the pound v euro recently. I love DLP, but it really isn't worth it when you price compare with WDW!!

Looked at the novotel, but want near Plaça Catalunya or the port really, and Grand Marina looks pretty good and not too absurd a price. Would love the W but that's pushing it a bit
Praktik Rambla also looks good and is cheap, plus there's another one in Plaça Catalunya which looks good for the money too but can't remember it. Just got a new netbook so I can do some looking while I set it up properly

Luke is alive!! Long time no see!!

Check out Hotel Constanza if you're looking near Placa Catalunya: http://www.hotelconstanzabarcelona.com/ This one gets good reviews on Trip Advisor (currently #23) and has been on my short list but not a likely choice (for us) as it doesn't have a pool. Know we won't likely have time for it but would like to have it available in case we decide to take a couple of hours to just chill out!! But I think it looks like a lovely property, really. And reasonably priced IMO.

Have you looked at the Hotel Jazz? It is definitely a possibility for us 'cuz they have "triples" and it is rated # 8 on Trip Advisor (AND it has a small pool). It is 156 Euro for the triple room when booking 3 nights...And when I look at on the map it is in the L'Eixample District and it doesn't look too far from Placa Catalunya either... http://www.hoteljazz.com/location-en.html

I am also considering the Novotel as a backup as well as the Marriott at the airport if we should arrive in the evening...

 

[kmc33]

... OK but then to go to / from Barcelona we could do that on Swiss Air for $877 pp (thru Geneva I think) and that's only if we travel on Fri or Sun. Sat. was more. AND it was a code-share with United - but if I price it on United the same damn flight is like $2,000 or something ABSURD!! It is a longer layover tho so it would be over 14 hours just to GET to Barcelona...then if we add almost 2 hrs. to get to Paris then we're looking at a 16 hr day rather than direct (7 hrs) or via Iceland (10 hrs). I found Air France round trips between Paris & BCN to go Sat & return Wed. for only $138...but a ONE-WAY trip between on them is $515!!! WTH?! I found a one-way on Iberia for $116 - anybody know anything about Iberia air????? It is all so INSANE.... (Kim - would the Swiss Air RT thing via Dulles work for you??)

I have been checking every day too. This morning, the best fare I have seen for rt to BCN within our driving radius from PIT was out of IAD ($976). One way was Swiss Air via Zurich and the other was on Canadian Air via Montreal. I then went to the Swiss Air website and to go rt on Swiss Air was over $1200.

Over the weekend, the lowest I found directly out of PIT was $1090. But it was Jet Blue to JFK and then Continental from EWR to BCN. Switching airports between JFK and EWR is not that simple and an added cost. SO I try looking at EWR to BCN thinking I can find a low fare flight to Newark, and it comes up at a higher fare from EWR to BCN and it's not direct (I think it wen through BOS). I seems like this happens a lot when I try to check for a direct flight from the Pittsburgh to BCN connenting city. Everyone wants to send me somewhere else

It's starting to getting frustrating checking every day, but I am afraid if I don't, I will miss an opportunity where it dips down for one day.

Good luck!

 

[MRAven]

Hey, hey Mr. A!! Happy New Year to you too!! How were your holidays?!

RE: the anti-theft bag...I got one that is reinforced with steel in the strap so it's slash proof. It also has concealed, locking compartments so the pickpockets can't slip their hands in. And it has a cross-body style strap which is more secure and the strap unhooks so that you can lock it around something (so like if you were to put it on the back of the chair - you can wrap the strap around the chair & fasten it so they can't snatch it).

http://www.overstock.com/Luggage-Bags/Travelon-Anti-theft-Messenger-Bag/3958041/product.html?cid=144222&fp=F&mr:referralID=924e0784-1881-11e0-af68-001b2166becc

DH got a Pac Safe messenger style laptop bag too with similar security features...
http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=detail&id=83

Thank you Annie for the info. And thank you for asking Yes we had a wanderfull Holidays.

I've been reading here regarding air fares and itinerarys and I would consider flying to Barcelona from Orlando and spending some days at WDW. I know, DLP is a major pull but it is something to consider.


Happy Cruise Planning

 

[Anal Annie]

Bump from page 3!! Starting to wonder if we're ever gonna pick up some more peeps!? I think the boat is looking pretty empty still...

 

[Anal Annie]

WOW!! Back onto Page 3 in like 14 hours!

Well, I have spent HOURS this week watching flights. I did a little more research on the whole Iceland Air / Swiss Air thing. I don't think they will solve my problems because they have less luggage allowances than Air France! Iceland Air only allows ONE carry-on up to 13 Lbs for "economy" class!! That is like MY PURSE!! That's not gonna work for me!! Swiss Air says if it's a codeshare international flight (which from Dulles they codeshare with United) then you have to go by the other airlines luggage rules...well, sooo United charges $25 for the first bag & $35 I think for the 2nd...so forget any savings that they may have had by the time we pay for bags. I am now getting alerts from airfarewatchdog.com and farecompare.com along with kayak.com. I noticed that all of the "deals" or "sales" are for "winter travel" and some for "spring travel" so I am hoping that it's just still too EARLY to catch a good deal for summer. But the best rate I saw at the hotel we may book in Paris is very limited but it is non-refundable so I am still not booking. The next best rate is 20 Euro more... I just wish I could book this stuff already and be DONE with it so I could focus on excursions. DH was under the impression that our Villefranche stop would include some sort of a beach. I looked thru last summers excursions & there were no beaches included there so I guess I need to do some independent research to see what's feasible there. Anybody else know anything about beaches on the French Riviera?! Why wouldn't DCL include one for an excursion if it was a good idea?! DH was SHOCKED when I told him we'd probably do something that included a tour to Eze or something. I told him that Majorca would likely be our only beachy type stop & he was upset. I said WHERE did you think we were going when we booked a European cruise? It's not the Caribbean...I think he didn't realize where we were going!

 

[Kels Sem]

As far as I know there is a beach at Villefranche so you don't need an excursion for that. It is walkable when you get off the tender. Maybe you could do a half day excursion and then spend some time at the beach. I've never been to the French Riviera but my parents have been quite a few times over the last few years and they said that there are some lovely beaches. They also said that Villefranche is a lovely little town so I might just explore the town itself and spend some time at the beach. I will probably change my mind quite a few times between now and then. The Passporter mentions a little tourist road train that goes around villefranche and I would definitely do this with the kids but I can't find it mentioned anywhere else.

I'm starting to think about other excursions but I really only want to do half days with the kids. When do you think DCL will update the excursions list? There are still no excursions listed for Palma Looks like I'm gonna have to start researching