August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

That's something I haven't looked at yet. I think in the back of my mind I am hoping one of our kind neighbours will take us to the airport as we are going to a relatively near one in East Midlands.

We are actually flying out on the Monday evening so will have 4 full days in Barcelona to explore. Choice of flights was Monday or Thursday so we went for the longer trip as we have not seen Barcelona before.

I'll take the book to the sale - if no-one wants it maybe we can reconsider I found looking at it ahead of time did help me plan what I wanted to do as my memory was a bit fuzzy.

I wasn't going to ask any of our neighbors to give us a ride because we live about an hour away from airport. But you just gave me an idea DH has a friend who lives in Virginia (about 15 minutes from the airport I think). I've not been to his house so I don't know how their driveway / street are laid out but maybe DH could ask his friend if they'd have room for us to leave our car at their house while we're gone. Since it's for 15 days I wouldn't want it to be in the way or anything...but we could get a shuttle or car a little cheaper from that point. MAYBE they could even drop us off at the airport on that Sunday when we leave and then we'd only need a ride back to their house on that Monday when we come home. I was actually surprised when I priced the shuttle services that they were only about $25-30 cheaper than from home. Kinda odd huh?! Hummmmmmm.

Glad to hear everyone is having a nice spring break. Our weather here has been sooo fickle. Wednesday (the day Karen was going to the zoo) was soooo perfect! mid-80's. TODAY tho is drizzly and in the 40's!! It IS supposed to warm up tho to the 70's again tomorrow and then back to the 80's on Sunday. I need to cook my eggs. DS still likes to color a few and I like pickled eggs & deviled eggs. Just going over to MIL's on Sunday for dinner but I told her I'd bring the eggs. I think I have like 4 doz. in the frig. I have found that "older eggs" peel better for deviling so I bought a couple doz. a couple of weeks ago for that reason. Then I asked DS if he still wanted to color some & he looked at me like I had 2 heads so I took that as a yes so I bought more. Then I realized I was almost out of eggs just to have around so I bought more! Oh Lordy! Just call me the crazy egg lady!

 

[Joanne Hollyoak]

I took a peek at your links...I have emailed the "contact us" link on the last site looking for suggestions on beaches and the best way to get to them. I would really like to be able to have a leisurely start to the day with a nice breakfast in Lumiere's before we rush off the ship and then about 5 or 6 hours for a nice family beach with restroom facilities, some sort of food & perhaps some snorkeling opportunities. I am afraid to try to just grab a taxi at the port and then not have an arranged ride back to the port. Palma Nova is probably a good choice but there may be others worth considering too - and at a savings over what DCL is charging just to ride a bus to & from.

That's cute about your DD's...they must be SOO excited...sorry they ruined your surprise!


Next subject...back to dining at DLP...can anybody tell me about any of the buffet restaurants? I was thinking those might be a better value than say Walts or something. Any in particular that any of you would recommend or avoid?!

Hi Annie in Walt disney Studios we had a lovely Buffet at Restaurant des stars its french and international cuisine including tea and coffee. It was 23 euro adults and 17 euro child. The studios do close at 6pm
Annettes Diner American Diner was good value in Disney village and so was cafe mickey because you do not have to have a set menu and the steak was exceptional. We buy the vouchers before we go as you get a discount and these are taken off your bill, you might need to reserve tables as you are going in the main school holidays so will be busy.
I know you like to be organised lol
Have a great Easter everyone

 

[Anal Annie]

Happy Easter peeps! The sun is out again here and we're supposed to have about 3 or 4 days in the low 80's so I am HAPPY about that! Heading to MIL's later this afternoon for Easter dinner. Will have a quiet day until then. Just gotta devil my eggs & am making some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.

Annettes & Restaurant des Stars huh? I will take a look for those menus.

I heard back from someone at one of Jon's links that he posted for Mallorca. I had emailed them to ask if there were any other family beaches to consider besides Palma Nova & to see if a taxi was the best way to go and this is what they said:


Hi LeeAnn,

no problem, the nearest beach to the port is Cala Mayor which is actually within walking distance:
http://www.discover-majorca.com/cala_mayor.htm

However, the beach at Palma Nova is much better and has more facilities. If you do take a taxi it's only a 10 minute journey away and there's always plenty around in Palma Nova for the return to port:

Also the cheapest option will be to make to journey by bus. The L103 service passes the port on the way through Palma Nova. This is a link to the timetables and route:
http://www.consorcidetransports.org/web/ctm/autobus/linia/103
I hope this is useful,

kind regards,

Mike

So I guess it's safe enough to plan to just use a taxi to Palma Nova if we don't want to mess with a bus. If it's only a 10 minute drive from the port the fare shouldn't be THAT bad, right?! I was just concerned about being stranded at the beach once we got dropped off. I must confess that I don't know how to read this bus route that he gave the link for. I am not comfortable with the bus thing since I can't understand what to do with it! LOL

 

[luke]

The bus route seems ok to follow, even tho my Catalan isn't up to scratch that much.
Tho I agree, a taxi **shouldn't** be too much, certainly cheaper than the DCL trip

 

[Cumbley]

Hi All, we're back from a few sunny days in Wales so back to planning for our cruise! DH is going away twice between now and then but it's my next holiday so I'm free to get excited!

I'm starting to look at excursions and am really not sure what to do! My eldest DD Eleanor is desperate to see Rome so thats a definite but thinking of just getting transport in and doing our own thing. Not sure about other ports, feel like we should make the most of being there but the temptation to spend the week doing not alot is very strong!

What is everyone else planning?

Also can someone explain to me how embarkation works?

Cheryl

 

[mikki.young]

Wow, the thread is on page 3!

Getting to Rome on your own should be one of the easy ports to do with trains being quite quick and direct and cheap (or so I am told by those who have done it!) We are not planning on going to Rome as we have been a couple of times before. We are hoping to go to Florence with Disney transport and then do our own thing. We have also joined with Annie for a private tour of Pompeii and Sorrento. Apart from that not doing much may be our aim too! I suspect there are a few fun things on the boat to do.

I'd be interested in the answer to embarkation as well as I suspect it is not only different to the US but also different to when we did it years and years ago!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey peeps! Sorry I was MIA for a day. We spent Easter afternoon at MIL's then yesterday it was GORGEOUS here so I just relaxed out on the patio for awhile in the afternoon then DS's swim practices started back up last night. It was DS's last day of spring break yesterday. Back to the grind for him today. We're in the home stretch of the school year now.

Cheryl - some of us have been planning our port excursions for a long time. Personally we're not planning to book much thru DCL as I think most of their excursions are simply budget busters for us. We're planning to do Villefranche, La Spezia & probably Mallorca on our own with public transportation. We've booked private drivers & guides with romeinlimo for Rome & Naples as they were not a whole lot more than using DCL and we can move at our own pace.

For Villefranche we're not set in stone yet but we'll probably go to either Nice or Monaco (I need to get DH's input on that) by train in the morning then will likely hang out on the little beach in Villefranche for the afternoon. By going back to the port for the afternoon it would be possible for DS to go back to the ship & hang out in the teen club if he'd prefer that to hanging on the beach. The biggest complication there will be that it's a tender port so that will eat up time if we go back to the ship at all (like for lunch or something). But it might be just as practical to go back to change for the beach & eat then go back to shore for the beach. I don't know. JEFF!? What did you do there last year?! How did the tender thing work out?! Are you booking everything thru DCL again?!

In La Spezia we've decided that Florence is more of a road trip than what we want to do so we're not going there. Plus we're in that port on a Monday which means some things are closed and then on top of that it's a big holiday in Italy on August 15th so even more things may be closed. DH would like to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa and I would like to go to Cinque Terre so I'm trying to do BOTH on our own if we can. We can't book tickets for the tower until 45 days out so I guess come June 28 I'll find out if it will be open on the 15th or closed for the holiday. If it's closed we'll likely skip Pisa & just do Cinque Terre. Since La Spezia is a tender port my plans may have to be fudged a little bit depending on what time we can actually catch a train to Pisa. Right now I am hoping we can be to Pisa no later than 10:20 and that we can climb the tower at 10:40 then I hope to catch the 11:45 train to the furthest town in Cinque Terre (Monterosso) so we can be there around 1:00 for lunch. Then my tentative plan is after lunch to head back toward the port to the next town (Vernazza). If we can see 2 of the Cinque Terre towns and then head back to the port I'll be happy. We'll likely use the train between the towns to be sure we have plenty of time. If the weather should be bad then all plans may be out the window!

For Rome and Naples we've booked private drivers & guides through romeinlimo.com. We're touring Rome as if we'll never be back (and we may not get the chance again). We'll do everything there from the Coliseum to Circus Maximus & the Baths of Caracalla & the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps & Trevi Fountain to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's. And as Mikki mentioned she & Andrew are splitting our Naples tour which will go to Pompeii, Sorrento & Positano.

We're planning for Mallorca to just be a beach day as the beaches there are supposed to be really nice. Not sure if we'll book thru DCL for the Palma Nova beach thing or if we'll try to grab a taxi & go on our own. I just looked again at the DCL description & price for that. I think they have edited it a little bit since they first put it up on the website. It says it is $35 pp (adult) and $20 (child) for 4.5 - 5 hours. It's just a transfer on a bus to the beach. It would cost us $105 USD to use them & I'll bet we can do a taxi for half that. The DCL description says there are lounge chairs & umbrellas for rent at the beach for about 10 euros and that there is food available for purchase. Their excursion includes nothing but the bus ride so I think $35 pp is a bit steep as are most of their excursions. But it's less planning.

As far as embarkation goes I would assume it would be somewhat similar to Port Canaveral. DCL will send you luggage tags for your checked luggage with your stateroom number on it. Just tag it before you give it to the porters at the port. They have a new system in place now since the Dream started sailing where you have to pick your arrival time at the port when you do your online check-in. I think if it's available I'm going to pick 10:30 since we're planning to leave our hotel around 10:00. After you hand off your luggage to the porters I would guess that then we'll go thru a security screening similar to what they do at the airport with our carry-ons and then will go to a check-in counter where we'll be given our room keys and boarding group number. In Port Canaveral they have a couple of lines. One for returning Castaway Cay members (previous cruisers) and one for first timers. Around Noon-ish I think they will start calling boarding group numbers and we'll be allowed to board. They will start with Concierge guests then the rest of us. Once onboard we'll likely get lunch and then go hang out at the pool until they let us go to our rooms where we can drop off our bags & get settled.

Jeff & JP have done the most cruises so they may some additional info. to add. And Jeff did the Med last year so he may know more about how it works in Barcelona. I'm sure when he returns from his spring break he can elaborate if I've messed anything up with that description!!

 

[Kels Sem]

Does anyone know if I can buy autograph books in the shop on the ship? Our local Disney Store don't sell them I might look at getting pillowcases to leave at guest services but would still like the option of an autograph book as the kids existing ones are pretty full.

We're having a nice week off work and the weather has been fantastic. We have being going on lots of days out and we're just back from a morning at the Zoo. I really need to catch up on some housework & ironing though

 

[Anal Annie]

Kelly - I can't verify for sure but I would think they would have them. You could always start a thread to ask... Enjoy your break!!

I spent a lot of time this morning watching videos on YouTube of previous Med cruises / ports. Getting really excited. I'm sure it will be here before we know it and will be over in a flash!! I feel so ignorant but I want to know how these people make these little videos & make them so fancy to post on YouTube. They add music & titles & some are just spectacular. I suppose one needs some sort of special software?! Anybody know?! I would love to be able to do that for our trip but we don't have a fancy video camera. Just a little Kodak Playsport. Thoughts?! Experience?!

So the USD sank even lower yesterday & I am in a total panic over it not bebounding before our trip so I went ahead & emailed our 2 remaining hotels about pre-paying (the one for our 3 nights in Paris and the Jazz for our post-cruise stay in Barca). I am just going to go ahead & pay them off & be done with it. This way all of our really BIG expenses will be paid for. It's a gamble. The rates could possibly come back down but it was up to 1.468 yesterday - way higher than it's ever, ever been. Our 2 nights at the Jazz have gone up $40 or $45 since I booked and our hotel in Paris has gone up about $60 or $65. So between the 2 that's another $100 right there just because of the crappy exchange rate. Cross your fingers that this was a smart move for me!!

 

[luke]

If anyone else has an iPhone, the Time Out guide to Barcelona is free on the AppStore until 2nd May

 

[west&east]

If anyone else has an iPhone, the Time Out guide to Barcelona is free on the AppStore until 2nd May

Thanks for the tip! Getting it now!

 

[west&east]

Hi All,
Checking back in after a week on the road. DC was fun and busy. Yes, we went to the zoo on Wednesday which was a beautiful day. The zoo and all of DC were quite crowded but we did quite a bit including a private congressional tour of the Capital, Smithosian Air & Space, Natural History and American History museums, and the Spy Museum. Also saw the Disney Earth Day movie African Cats to get inside on a rainy cold day. Saw most of the monuments on the National Mall too. The new WWII memorial was especially beautiful at night. The kids had fun riding the metro and busses and we all walked quite a bit. We were practicing our walking for Europe! The grandparents treated DH and I to a date night so we went out for tapas and sangria to prep for BCN! It was a lot of fun. As we were leaving, the police had the street blocked off due to a suspicious package so we had to stay another half hour or so!

Glad to see the beach tips for Mallorca. A lazy day at the beach sounds so good right now.

Off to be the soccer practice taxi!

 

[mikki.young]

Annie - just seen an Earl Of Sandwich is due to open in DLP this June - hopefully another eating option for you!

 

[luke]

Annie - just seen an Earl Of Sandwich is due to open in DLP this June - hopefully another eating option for you!

You can guarantee it won't be a patch on the WDW incarnation tho

 

[MJWBCV]

Hi Everyone, myself Marcus, Emma (DW) and our two boys Ben (14) & Matty (11) from Kent, UK will be joining you on the 7 day Med cruise - Currently booked as GTY Outside Stateroom, so fingers crossed for an upgrade ! - This will be our second cruise, but first in the Med

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi All,
Checking back in after a week on the road. DC was fun and busy. Yes, we went to the zoo on Wednesday which was a beautiful day. The zoo and all of DC were quite crowded but we did quite a bit including a private congressional tour of the Capital, Smithosian Air & Space, Natural History and American History museums, and the Spy Museum. Also saw the Disney Earth Day movie African Cats to get inside on a rainy cold day. Saw most of the monuments on the National Mall too. The new WWII memorial was especially beautiful at night. The kids had fun riding the metro and busses and we all walked quite a bit. We were practicing our walking for Europe! The grandparents treated DH and I to a date night so we went out for tapas and sangria to prep for BCN! It was a lot of fun. As we were leaving, the police had the street blocked off due to a suspicious package so we had to stay another half hour or so!

Glad to see the beach tips for Mallorca. A lazy day at the beach sounds so good right now.

Off to be the soccer practice taxi!

Welcome back! Glad you had a good time! We have not been to the Spy Museum yet ('cuz it's not free). Did you like it?! I've heard it's pretty good.

Annie - just seen an Earl Of Sandwich is due to open in DLP this June - hopefully another eating option for you!

Hopefully something familiar to eat!!!

You can guarantee it won't be a patch on the WDW incarnation tho

At least it will hopefully be affordable for us tho!!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi Everyone, myself Marcus, Emma (DW) and our two boys Ben (14) & Matty (11) from Kent, UK will be joining you on the 7 day Med cruise - Currently booked as GTY Outside Stateroom, so fingers crossed for an upgrade ! - This will be our second cruise, but first in the Med

Welcome aboard and welcome to the DISboards!! We booked a GTY cabin on our first cruise (what used to be a Cat 8, now a Cat 9A I think) and we were upgraded to one of the aft Cat 6's! Hope you get the same sort of pixie dust!! SOOO glad to finally see some older kids coming!!! My DS will be 14 in May and so far he's the only teen on our thread!! Most of our other peeps have younger kiddos....I will add ya'll to our first post. So your first cruise was out of FL?! Does the BCV ending in your screen name mean you go to WDW and stay at BCV?! Are you another DVC'er?! (Sorry, I always ask a ton of questions to our newbies but I'm harmless, really!!!!)

(PS) We have mostly UK peeps here on this cruise it seems - SharonL is also from Kent!!

 

[MallenBeadle]

Annie - just seen an Earl Of Sandwich is due to open in DLP this June - hopefully another eating option for you!

Earl of Sandwich is always our first (and last ) lunch when we go to WDW, off to look at last year's WDW photos

 

[mikki.young]

I keep hearing GTY cabins mentioned. What are they?

 

[Anal Annie]

I keep hearing GTY cabins mentioned. What are they?

GTY = Guarantee. Cruiselines typically oversell each category by a few cabins because they know that in the end there will be a certain percentage of cancellations. So once all of the cabins are assigned if you book a cabin in this category they call it a "guarantee" status. They guarantee that you will get a room in AT LEAST this category BUT if they can't find a room for you in this category then they'll upgrade you to another category for free!! I think it improves your odds for an upgrade. The downside is that you don't get your room number until they mail out the documents...and even then sometimes they change it again later. When we booked a GTY we did so at 11 months out & then 30 days before our sail date they sent us a cabin # in the category we booked. I was a little bummed but we did get what we paid for. THEN, 2 weeks before we sailed they called my cell phone & left a message that they'd changed the room # and they left the new number & just said to change it on our luggage tags. We were upgraded from a porthole to a balcony for free! It ended up being worth the gamble.

OK, so who among us is thinking that we should plan for a DIS meet on our first day?! We haven't planned anything extra yet. No T-shirts or FE's going on it seems...but should we plan to meet up somewhere & meet in real life & have a toast or something? Any takers?! And for any of you who have done one before do you have any suggestions on WHERE to do it?! Last time I cruised we all had matching t-shirts & we met up in the terminal before we boarded. Two of the families in our group were sailing in the Roy & Walt Suites so they managed to get us all on early with the concierge boarding group. Obviously, none of us fall into that category this time around but so not sure when & where? Deck 10 at the sail-a-way party? I first thought of the "secret deck 7" (far aft on deck 7) and I called DCL to see if the door would be unlocked but the CM didn't know if it would be open while we were still in port or not. So we could meet by a bar or up on deck...OR open for other suggestions!! Is there anything else you'd like to see us plan?! We seem to be a little lacking on planning here...... BTW they said the terminal would open at 10:30 and that boarding would start at 1:00 (but I thought I'd heard of people getting on earlier so we'll have to double check on that once the other Meds start). The Safety / Lifeboat drill will be at 4:00 and the Sail-a-way party / departure will be at 5:00.

Kelly?
Jeff?
Luke?
Karen?
Mikki?
Joanne?
SharonL?
Shereen?
Cheryl?
Jon?
JP?
LNRP?
Esther?
MJWBCV?
NJ_Ohana? (Are you still cruising with us?)