August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

Hello!

Were booked on the 13th August med cruise 2011

Looking forward to getting to know you all

Justine

OH Yay!!! Another newbie!! Welcome aboard!!! Looks like my peep patrol is working!! Where ya from & how many in your family (kids? ages?) Have you cruised before? Come tell us your story!!

 

[veludo]

Hi

We are from Lancashire in England and this will be our first ever cruise and we are VERY excited!!

There will be myself (Justine - 36), DH Martin 37 and our son Matthew who will be 6 when we cruise.

We love WDW and have been to Orlando several times (last time was Christmas and New Year just gone) but felt like a change next year and we are looking forward to the short flight and no jet lag when we get back!!

We have booked one of the Secret Verandah rooms - I think its 6134.

I wish it would hurry up and get t cruise time - I cant wait!!

Justine xx

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi

We are from Lancashire in England and this will be our first ever cruise and we are VERY excited!!

There will be myself (Justine - 36), DH Martin 37 and our son Matthew who will be 6 when we cruise.

We love WDW and have been to Orlando several times (last time was Christmas and New Year just gone) but felt like a change next year and we are looking forward to the short flight and no jet lag when we get back!!

We have booked one of the Secret Verandah rooms - I think its 6134.

I wish it would hurry up and get t cruise time - I cant wait!!

Justine xx

Oh that's a great room too! Well done!! Look at us early bookers - snapping up all of the good bargains! I considered booking one of those when we transferred our ressie from the 10 night to the 7 night but since it was a financial move, even though it would still cost less than the 10 night, I figured we should stick with our SPH room to maximize our savings. The other thing about the SPH room is that it has the pull-down bunk so DS can sleep up there & we can still have the couch "free" so I liked the idea of him being "out of the way". The only real drawback with the SPH room we booked is there is no steamer trunk. But I suppose with all the luggage restrictions when you travel now that will force me to pack more efficiently too. I hope so anyway! Ask me again in about 17 1/2 months from now how the packing situation looks!

I can pretty much tell you that after doing ONE DCL you will be "hooked" and will want to do more!! We thought our first one that we did back in 2005 would be the only one we'd ever do...but we really, really enjoyed it a LOT. Next thing you know we're trying to figure out how to get back on that boat!! I don't blame you for wanting to stay on that side of pond to do it. That makes perfect sense. We can't afford to cruise more than once about every 3 years. Especially by the time we add in other vacations we want to do. We own DVC so we usually go to do WDW about 2 or 3 times a year. But our next trip down at the end of March will be our last to FL for awhile. It will be our 3rd trip on our AP's which expire in May & we've decided to just go to the DVC resort at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina for a beach vacation this year. (Not that I expect you to know where that is.) Just trying to save money for NEXT years trip - which means saving on park tickets for a change!!! Once we get on that boat next year I don't us to be penny pinching over every little thing. I want to book private tours in Naples & Rome & possibly LaSpezia too.

Anyway, glad to have a new peep on board!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey ya'll - I am going to go back to my first post on this thread & edit it to start adding our cruisers to the first post so new peeps can see who's crusing. MRAven is a lurking visitor and hoping Hockeychic will switch from her Sept. cruise to ours but so for now I am just posting those officially booked on our Aug. 13 cruise date. I still need a little more info. from Floridasunshine & Kels Sem (names, ages etc. if you want to share that info.) but so I will just post what I have for now.

Oh, and tell me if we have any birthdays or anniversaries or any special celebrations!

 

[MRAven]

Hi A Annie just to give you a weekly Bump Up and a Cheer Up and a What's Up !

And why not, also a Bottom's Up !

 

[Kels Sem]

Hi,

Anal Annie - FYI on the 1st post - cruising will be me Kelly (35) DH Gary (39) DS Nathan (6) and DD Keira (4) and we're from Bangor in N Ireland!
I am soo looking forward to this cruise and I think more so than this year's trip to WDW.
Like Veludo I'm looking forward to the short haul flight. Veludo and I have already met over on the DIBB boards.

Justine - if you read this I couldn't get the same user name as mine on the DIBB as it was already in use which is why I'm Kels Sem on these boards.

I have wanted to cruise with Disney since I found out that they have a cruiseline and this is now possible with the Med. I'm just not sure if we could afford it when combining with a trip to WDW with the transatlantic flight prices especially now we have 2 little people to pay for as well!!

Chat soon.

 

[veludo]

Hi,

Anal Annie - FYI on the 1st post - cruising will be me Kelly (35) DH Gary (39) DS Nathan (6) and DD Keira (4) and we're from Bangor in N Ireland!
I am soo looking forward to this cruise and I think more so than this year's trip to WDW.
Like Veludo I'm looking forward to the short haul flight. Veludo and I have already met over on the DIBB boards.

Justine - if you read this I couldn't get the same user name as mine on the DIBB as it was already in use which is why I'm Kels Sem on these boards.

I have wanted to cruise with Disney since I found out that they have a cruiseline and this is now possible with the Med. I'm just not sure if we could afford it when combining with a trip to WDW with the transatlantic flight prices especially now we have 2 little people to pay for as well!!

Chat soon.

Hi Kelly!

Great to see you on here - only 18 months to go! Im sure once this August is here the time will fly - I have already been buying some "cuise" items! I probably wont be able to find them when the time comes lol!

Justine x

 

[veludo]

Will we be doing Fish Extenders on our Cruise???

I will need 18 months to get organised if so

I need to think about lovely sunny cruises - its freezing here and has been snowing - its horrible brrrr

Justine

 

[Kels Sem]

Will we be doing Fish Extenders on our Cruise???

I will need 18 months to get organised if so

I need to think about lovely sunny cruises - its freezing here and has been snowing - its horrible brrrr

Justine

I will need to get up to speed on what the Fish Extender involves! I would also need the 18 months to organise!

it's just cold and wet here today but DH says it's snowing where he is. He's working in Blackpool at the moment which isn't too far from you Justine I believe.

You mentioned before that you were thinking of extending your hols either before or after the cruise with a few days at the beach. Any ideas where that might be yet?

Kelly

 

[veludo]

I will need to get up to speed on what the Fish Extender involves! I would also need the 18 months to organise!

it's just cold and wet here today but DH says it's snowing where he is. He's working in Blackpool at the moment which isn't too far from you Justine I believe.

You mentioned before that you were thinking of extending your hols either before or after the cruise with a few days at the beach. Any ideas where that might be yet?

Kelly

Hi Kelly

we will probably stay beforehand - we will probably stay at one of the resorts close to Barcelona - I think Sitges is not far and also Salou, dont really want to be more than about an hour away from the port by taxi. I need to get investigating properly and get a shortlist. Matthew will be happy anywhere there is a beach so he is easy to please

When we booked I was originally hoping to fly to Barcelona on Jet2 from Blackpool - how easy would that have been!! BUt they are not operating that flight any longer so we will fly from either Liverpool or Manchester, either way its still a nice quick flight!!

Justine x

 

[Kels Sem]

We will be able to fly from Belfast to Barcelona with Easyjet (providing they don't pull the flight!) based on this years timetable we will need to spend a night in Barcelona on either side of the cruise.

I'm not sure yet if we will spend any more time at the beach it will depend if we get away for a weeks holiday at Easter or not but plenty of time to think about it.

Kelly

 

[Anal Annie]

Yay! The new peeps are chatting it up!

We are planning to probably go to Paris first for at least 3 nights pre-cruise. (We HAVE to visit DLP while we're in Europe plus I'd like a day to go into the city.) I have been looking into our options then of getting from Paris to Barcelona (flying vs taking the over night train). We have never used a train before and while that might be a new adventure for us I hear iffy things about train travel with lots of luggage. Have any of you done this before?

I have been looking at flights too...I saw this EasyJet airline but am not familiar with them...but they sure are the cheapest! What should I know about them? Are they reliable? How are their luggage fees?? Are there pitfalls we need to know about?? I was thinking that HERE we would not fly to the port on the day of the cruise - we would go to FL at least a day before...so I figured if we fly we should plan for that there too. Interesting idea to go to a beach area rather than in the city of Barcelona. I LIKE that idea as I figured we'd add 3 nights in Barcelona AFTER the cruise. But that would only be worthwhile if we had an early flight. I heard the best beaches are not IN Barcelona but outside the city an hour or so. I would like to hear more about what you know about that too! One of the things I was thinking about with the train is it would not only be our transportation but it would be our "hotel" for the night too. Then we would just go to Barcelona to arrive the morning of the cruise.

The FE exhanges are quite fun. I participated in one on our back-to-backs that we did in summer 2008. I had not decided yet though if I will do it on this cruise. I think it may depend on how many people sign up for it - if it gets too big then it would consume too much luggage space. I am concerned about trying to fly with excess luggage as it is since this will be a 2 week trip for us. When I did it before it was only 11 cabins (36 people) so my FE stuff fit into one carry-on bag to bring with us. Then of course we had to have room to bring home all the stuff we collected. The luggage restrictions have gotten worse since then. I'd like to do it BUT will have to see later. If it starts turning into more than a doz. or so cabins then I will definitely have to think hard about it so it doesn't turn into a monster I can't control. I would likely only bring one or 2 SMALL items per cabin. Last time I made goody bags for each cabin with about 6 items or so in each. I made luggage tags, frig magnets, bought picture frames, stickers, magic towels, pens.... Oh, and then there's the cost of going overboard. Can I just say that planning TOOOO early only leads to more ideas...and more FE goodies!! Look at my screen name - I am an obsessive planner to that ranks right up there with the best of them! But some things just get me into trouble!!

I started trying to put together a website for us...I am a little challenged with some of the technical stuff & am going to need to get some help from DH on it. Maybe by sometime over the weekend I can get it to the point of sharing. Right now it's still in a construction state. He has classes 3 nights a week and DS swims 3 times a week so it's hard to get time to sit down together during the week.

Can you tell I am excited already??!!

 

[veludo]

Hi Anal Annie!

I think that the coastal resorts close by are on the Costa Dorada (resorts like Salou) - this is sort of South West of Barcelona down the coast and then in the oppsite direction is the Costa Brava (places like Lloret De Mar - I spent many hols here as a small child!!). The nearest resort I can find to Barcelona so far is Sitges which looks quite nice but Ineed to do more research and it looks quite pricey

If you have a look at some UK tour operators websites it might give you afew ideas of what the resorts / hotels are like - this is what Im going to do then book the hotel independatly, Some are Thomas Cook, Thomson, Airtours - they should give you an idea of the area.

You are brave to consider a train with lots of luggage! In the days pre having DS, DH and I took the train and then a bus from Rome Airport to the Via Veneto as someone told us taxis were really expensive - it took us ages and a lot of messing about. Coming home - we found that the taxi was hardly more expensive so took that! Typical!!

It is possible that we will fly with EasyJet if we go from Liverpool - Ive not flown with them before but for such a short flight they surely cant be too bad. Im just hoping that the airline that runs from the airport very very close to our home town (Jet2) start their Barcelona flight again - that would be SOOOO convenient!

Justine x

 

[Kels Sem]

Hi Anal Annie,

I have never experienced the trains in Europe before but I believe they can be quite good. I have a friend who has lived in France, Germany and italy so i could pick her brains if you like. I suppose at the end of the day for me it would come down to the price difference between the train and flying and if it wasn't too much different I would fly. I have also been to DLP twice and there is a train that runs from DLP into Paris. If you have any questions just shout and I will see if I can answer!

I have flown with easyjet alot over the years internally in the UK and also to Europe. I have flown with them from Belfast to Paris & Malaga and my parents have used them to go to Nice. we have never had any probs with them. They are a budget airline so they will get you from A to B with no frills. You will have to pre book baggage with them and the standard weight that you buy per bag is 20kgs. I think that you can also purchase extra weight if you think you will need it. If you do go over the amount of weight you buy the charge will be high! We will defo be flying with them next year.

I had a quick look at spending a couple of nights before the cruise at
Portaventure in Salou. What a price is was shockingly expensive and that was based on this years prices

Plenty of time yet to research and decide what we are going to do

Looking forward to seeing your website.

Kelly

 

[Anal Annie]

Sigh. SOOO much to consider! SOOO many options!! SOOO much time to plan!! I wish we had unlimited time and unlimited funds to go with it so we could really "do" Europe. One day we need to see the UK too!! I know nothing about your geography over there and I really have no grasp of how big England is. My ancestors on my maternal Grandfather's side are from England. They've traced our family tree back to like the 1200's or something. They passed out a bunch of stuff at a family reunion a few years ago. The family name is Lowther & there's an old castle & a park... Some of the names of places mentioned are Cumbria & Penrith in Westmorland or something. Do you know where that is? Is it anywhere you've heard of? I don't think there's any way we can do EVERYTHING in one trip. Guess we'll have to go again!

I am not set on taking the train...I thought it would be interesting but the more I read about it the more hassle it sounds like. Appears the luggage might be the biggest issue unless we could somehow get a private sleeping car or something. I really don't quite get it all. Someone told me since we're a party of 3 we'd have to buy a 4th ticket to get one or otherwise we'd be separated by gender?! Ummm...not liking the sound of THAT!! If we DID buy a 4th ticket that just gets wasted would the luggage thing be solved? Wouldn't we just have it WITH us then in our compartment?

Anybody know how much 20kgs is compared to our American pounds? Our domestic airlines allow 50 pounds per checked bag plus 1 carry-on bag & a "personal item". EasyJet might eat us alive in fees??!! I was thinking that the price for the train may make up the extra price on another night in a hotel if we went to Barcelona on Friday PLUS if we stay at DLP on our DVC points they force us to buy length of stay park tickets. So for example if we leave here on a Tues. night and arrive in Paris on Wed. morning then we'd have most of Wed. and all day Thurs + most of Fri. in Paris. Maybe we should leave here on Mon. tho? Anyway, if we check out on Friday then we'd take the train over night to Barcelona and avoid paying for another night & 1 more day of park ticket. I called & asked & they said even if we're leaving at the crack of dawn on Saturday we'd have to still buy park admission for Sat. THAT is screwy. So the cost may work itself out?! I don't know. I need to check on the price of the train more in depth as well as the park admission.

 

[MRAven]

Hi A Annie regarding your question about train experience my recomendation is for you to considere how many hours is the trip, specially if you are with small kids.

I once took the train from Orlando, FL to New York, NY. This specific trip took 15 hours; so we booked a private cabbin with private bathroom and TV. The train left Orlando at 4 pm and arrived at Penn Station at 9 am next day. Due to the fact that we had the cabbin we were very confortable and very rested and had a great time; but, talking with other passengers that were not in private cabbin they didn't feel the same. The train also had a food/bar carriage and restaurant carriage. This was the AMTRAK experience. Do note, that for us the savings were only US $ 100 oposed to taking an airplane.

In Europe my experience is with the EUROSTAR, Paris --> London --> Paris and also had a great time, this is a fast train so the trip wasn't too long. Also with all comodities: Food bar etc. No private cabbien this time but didn't need it. This trains is not cheap; but it is fast and it also goes to DLP, I think.

So, as final recomendation is to consider traveling party, Kids/elderlys, and like I mentioned before How long it takes.

Considering that at the time of your cruise it's still summer nightfall will come late so the views and the beatiful contrysides will be awsom. This is defenetly a capital PLUS.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi A Annie regarding your question about train experience my recomendation is for you to considere how many hours is the trip, specially if you are with small kids.

I once took the train from Orlando, FL to New York, NY. This specific trip took 15 hours; so we booked a private cabbin with private bathroom and TV. The train left Orlando at 4 pm and arrived at Penn Station at 9 am next day. Due to the fact that we had the cabbin we were very confortable and very rested and had a great time; but, talking with other passengers that were not in private cabbin they didn't feel the same. The train also had a food/bar carriage and restaurant carriage. This was the AMTRAK experience. Do note, that for us the savings were only US $ 100 oposed to taking an airplane.

In Europe my experience is with the EUROSTAR, Paris --> London --> Paris and also had a great time, this is a fast train so the trip wasn't too long. Also with all comodities: Food bar etc. No private cabbien this time but didn't need it. This trains is not cheap; but it is fast and it also goes to DLP, I think.

So, as final recomendation is to consider traveling party, Kids/elderlys, and like I mentioned before How long it takes.

Considering that at the time of your cruise it's still summer nightfall will come late so the views and the beatiful contrysides will be awsom. This is defenetly a capital PLUS.

I believe the over night train is about 12 hours....departs Paris around 8:00 or 8:30 pm I think and arrives in Barcelona the next morning. The Elipsos it's called I think. DS will be 14 when we go. So if we can get a private compartment and we can sleep we would be fine. Especially with a nightcap or two! I read where some of the trains make a lot of stops though and that can be disruptive to sleeping. So I need to investigate that some more too. I want to go straight through. Just get on and GO!!

 

[veludo]

I believe the over night train is about 12 hours....departs Paris around 8:00 or 8:30 pm I think and arrives in Barcelona the next morning. The Elipsos it's called I think. DS will be 14 when we go. So if we can get a private compartment and we can sleep we would be fine. Especially with a nightcap or two! I read where some of the trains make a lot of stops though and that can be disruptive to sleeping. So I need to investigate that some more too. I want to go straight through. Just get on and GO!!

Ive just had a look at Elipsos - it looks great!! Ive always wanted to go on a train with "beds". Have a fab im eif you go on it!!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Ive just had a look at Elipsos - it looks great!! Ive always wanted to go on a train with "beds". Have a fab im eif you go on it!!!

It does look neat doesn't it? Being this far out tho I will likely change my mind about it once a day for the next 9 months or so...or at least until I actually book hotels & airfare.... Although I am thinking of booking some of that stuff this fall... Be nice if we could get thru SPRING first tho before I start talking about fall huh?!

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey there peeps! Just a bump up from page 3!! Page 3 is no way to find more peeps!!

Gettin' ready to go to MIL's for dinner with BIL & SIL. Actually we're going to finally have Christmas with BIL & SIL & baby! BIL is in the Army & WAS stationed in the mid-west however he was actually in Iraq until about the week before Christmas. He came home to Kansas a few days before and then he was transferred here to Maryland in January. We all decided we'd just wait for them to get here to celebrate together rather than mailing the gifts but once they got here they had to get housing & we had those 2 BIG blizzards and it's just been crazy trying to get everyone together! MIL left her tree up waiting for everyone to have time to hook up... But I think she's finally ready to take it down!

(PS) DH showed me how to do what I was stuck on for the website so I hope I'll have time to fool with it again tomorrow!! I don't want to reveal it just yet though!