August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

Hello All, Sorry I've been MIA. We have a couple of trips before our cruise and I've been working on them. We are headed to the States in June. Hopefully it will include a trip to Florida to see the last shuttle launch. Might include a day or two to WDW.

I've also recruited two friends that live in Beijing to come on our cruise. Just need to get them to join the Mickey's Marauding Mates.

Still cold and snowing here in Moscow.

I was just wondering yesterday where you've been - welcome back! And YAY! More peeps!! What an international group we will have!! That will be quite a long trip for your friends!! It is still cold here too. Snowing in New England. Just drizzly & dreary here. We had 1 good warm week then spring got fickle on us. How late in the year does it snow in Moscow? Is it like Canada there?

We had bad servers on our 3 night cruise too - such a relief to go to Palo on the 3rd night.

Andrew can cope with walking (usually arm in arm with me for guidance) but can be a little slow. He is looking forward to Pompeii as somewhere he would like to visit. Not sure he would be up to climbing the volcano but Pompeii should work. However maybe the question should be whether you think we might slow you down too much and you would prefer not to go together? I should have mentioned Andrew's eyesight before but we are so used to it and he copes so well we often don't mention it.

Mikki - I'm sure everything will work out fine - the guides are probably used to having to deal with all sorts of different situations...I just wanted to be sure you knew that Pompeii was probably going to involve a lot of walking in case he had any limitations... Wasn't trying to insinuate anything. We didn't plan to go to the volcano - guess we'll just see it off in the distance. I am also looking forward to visiting Pompeii. We have friends that went 2 summers ago & thought it was amazing and highly recommended getting the private guide. Some things are just worth the splurge. I will email romeinlimo again today. Is it cool with you to just bring us your part in Euros when we meet this summer?

 

[Anal Annie]

So DS is off from school today. The last day of the 3rd semester was yesterday and they always have off the next day so the teachers can do grading & update their online stuff. He has a swim meet this weekend in Virginia - last short course meet of the season and all of the kids are making posters for other swimmers. Coaches assigned each kid to another kid to make a poster to support them so they can put them up on the wall at the meet around the team banner. So that is our project for today. Lots of Sharpie Markers & creative juices flowing. We ordered pizza after practice last night & DS asked me if he could have his OWN pizza! I had my doubts on how much my little 85 pound water goblin could really eat but he ate 7 slices!! All but 1 slice out of the whole pie!! The kid uses 2 gallons of ice cream a week in making milkshakes & doesn't gain a pound!! He eats entire platefuls of pasta at a time. He asked me the other day how we could fatten him up because he knows how cold the outdoor pool will be once that team practice starts up the beginning of June. I was like if you can't gain weight on all that pasta, pizza & ice cream then I don't know what to feed you!! He should be in heaven in Italy with all the yummy pasta & pizza right!! I guess this is the start of the bottomless pit teenage years?!

 

[Joanne Hollyoak]

So DS is off from school today. The last day of the 3rd semester was yesterday and they always have off the next day so the teachers can do grading & update their online stuff. He has a swim meet this weekend in Virginia - last short course meet of the season and all of the kids are making posters for other swimmers. Coaches assigned each kid to another kid to make a poster to support them so they can put them up on the wall at the meet around the team banner. So that is our project for today. Lots of Sharpie Markers & creative juices flowing. We ordered pizza after practice last night & DS asked me if he could have his OWN pizza! I had my doubts on how much my little 85 pound water goblin could really eat but he ate 7 slices!! All but 1 slice out of the whole pie!! The kid uses 2 gallons of ice cream a week in making milkshakes & doesn't gain a pound!! He eats entire platefuls of pasta at a time. He asked me the other day how we could fatten him up because he knows how cold the outdoor pool will be once that team practice starts up the beginning of June. I was like if you can't gain weight on all that pasta, pizza & ice cream then I don't know what to feed you!! He should be in heaven in Italy with all the yummy pasta & pizza right!! I guess this is the start of the bottomless pit teenage years?!

Lol it must be all the swimming or a boy thing Aaron does not stop eating and as lots and lots of energy he wears me out just looking at him.
We work full time and he goes to Nursery everyday but he still wants to play and play of an evening.
Can't wait for the warmer weather so we can sit in the garden of an evening and the house will stay tidy for longer

 

[mikki.young]

Mikki - I'm sure everything will work out fine - the guides are probably used to having to deal with all sorts of different situations...I just wanted to be sure you knew that Pompeii was probably going to involve a lot of walking in case he had any limitations... Wasn't trying to insinuate anything. We didn't plan to go to the volcano - guess we'll just see it off in the distance. I am also looking forward to visiting Pompeii. We have friends that went 2 summers ago & thought it was amazing and highly recommended getting the private guide. Some things are just worth the splurge. I will email romeinlimo again today. Is it cool with you to just bring us your part in Euros when we meet this summer?

Agh - typing on these things makes it far too easy to say the wrong thing. I wasn't trying to suggest you had meant anything, just realising I should have been talking about potential issues sooner! That probably still comes over wrong Anyway, us bringing euros is fine - will need to get some for the trip anyway and will bring extras to hand over.

So when does your grand tour actually start? Where else are you hitting apart from DLP?

 

[LNRP]

I was just wondering yesterday where you've been - welcome back! And YAY! More peeps!! What an international group we will have!! That will be quite a long trip for your friends!! It is still cold here too. Snowing in New England. Just drizzly & dreary here. We had 1 good warm week then spring got fickle on us. How late in the year does it snow in Moscow? Is it like Canada there?

It is like Canada. But last year at this time the snow was pretty much gone. Everytime I say anything about it's getting warmer and the snow is finally melting it snows the next day. LOL It's suppose to hit 49 F on Monday.

It is a long trip for them. But they are so much fun.

I need to start working on our port excursions. I don't think we will do something in every port. DH and I have traveled through Italy so we are definetly skipping those ports. I hear that the pool is empty when the ship is in port.

Still interested in doing the FE. Now that our list of peeps is growing maybe we'll have enough.

 

[Anal Annie]

Agh - typing on these things makes it far too easy to say the wrong thing. I wasn't trying to suggest you had meant anything, just realising I should have been talking about potential issues sooner! That probably still comes over wrong Anyway, us bringing euros is fine - will need to get some for the trip anyway and will bring extras to hand over.

So when does your grand tour actually start? Where else are you hitting apart from DLP?

We leave for Paris on Sunday, August 7 (arrive EARLY Monday morning - by 6:00 am). We're spending our first day & night at DLP and then our 2nd day there as well. But then we are moving into the city that evening for our 2nd thru 4th nights so that we'll then have 2 full days for sightseeing in Paris. Then we leave on Friday morning to go from Paris to Barcelona so we'll have the afternoon in Barca before the cruise. Staying over for 2 more nights before heading home on Monday, August 22. That departure has me worried because it's REALLLLLY early (7:35). We'll have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the airport. I booked it for 2 reasons (it was the shortest total trip duration and it was $100 cheaper) but I still question my decision to go so darned early.

I was just wondering yesterday where you've been - welcome back! And YAY! More peeps!! What an international group we will have!! That will be quite a long trip for your friends!! It is still cold here too. Snowing in New England. Just drizzly & dreary here. We had 1 good warm week then spring got fickle on us. How late in the year does it snow in Moscow? Is it like Canada there?

It is like Canada. But last year at this time the snow was pretty much gone. Everytime I say anything about it's getting warmer and the snow is finally melting it snows the next day. LOL It's suppose to hit 49 F on Monday.

It is a long trip for them. But they are so much fun.

I need to start working on our port excursions. I don't think we will do something in every port. DH and I have traveled through Italy so we are definetly skipping those ports. I hear that the pool is empty when the ship is in port.

Still interested in doing the FE. Now that our list of peeps is growing maybe we'll have enough.

We have also been hovering in the 30's & 40's this past week. Supposed to be an average daytime temp of 61 now tho. I think if I lived any further north I'd have to buy my own tanning bed!!

So are your friends old friends from Texas who have also moved? You should be able to get your reservations linked together for dining if you want (so they will seat you together). That would go for you too, Karen - you could request to be seated with your friends as well.

I am still undecided about the FE (because of the luggage issues not because I don't want to do it). Jeff has said definitely NO....who else is a definite YES?! How many peeps do we have??? I need to know how many cabins are involved before I can decide!! I think a lot of meets put a date on when to join so people can start planning. If you / we do it we should have a cut off date for signing up...like 6 or 8 weeks before maybe?! I just don't know!!


So we had day # 1 of DS's swim meet this morning - he did really well in his relay and had 3 more good swims - didn't drop on his 50 Free (picked up about 1/2 of a second on that) but then he DID drop a solid 4 seconds each on his 100 Back and 100 Breast. We'll take every micro second we can get!! Now to get up at 5:00 again tomorrow and hope for a great finish.

 

[west&east]

Checking in with the group from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I arrived here on Tuesday evening and have been attending 4 full days of professional workshops. I fly home tonight on a redeye.
I'm not too interested in today's topics so I have been catching up on these threads, looking at shore excursions, etc. I'm thankful for a laptop with wireless in this windowless hotel meeting room!

 

[Goofygoof]

Just a quick note to say Happy Mother's Day to all mums have a great weekend ( weather here is lovely 18 degrees we had a lovely day yesterday picnic in St James park in London then went to see DrWho experience at The olympia ds was blown away really brilliant if your a fan of the show . Relaxing at home today after a lovely roast having tea in my I love u mum new mug

 

[mikki.young]

It does seem odd that the US has mothers day in May while in the UK it is always 3 weeks before Easter. Hope everyone has a great one today wherever they are!

Now onto cruise thoughts - even though we are in Europe am I going to need lots of dollar bills for tips eg if I use room service?

 

[Kels Sem]

Yes, Happy Mother's Day to all the Mummies.. I've had a lovely day. My kids made me several cards and I got flowers and chocolates. DS brought me tea & toast in bed this morning (with DH help) Just relaxing now after a lovely dinner courtesy of M&S! UK peeps will know what I'm talking about.

Mikki - In answer to your question as far as I know we will need dollars on board for tips etc My mum's friend is in Florida at the moment and I have asked her to bring me home $1 bills as I can't get them when I convert currency at the bank. i'm sure one of our experienced cruisers can clarify.

 

[Joanne Hollyoak]

Yes, Happy Mother's Day to all the Mummies.. I've had a lovely day. My kids made me several cards and I got flowers and chocolates. DS brought me tea & toast in bed this morning (with DH help) Just relaxing now after a lovely dinner courtesy of M&S! UK peeps will know what I'm talking about.
Thankyou, glad you have had a nice day, Ive had a lovely mothers day too Aaron made me a pasta bracelet at Nursery and we went to the Theatre to see Roary the Racing Car.
You can't beat m&s meals we had the Gammon with honey glaze.

Mikki - In answer to your question as far as I know we will need dollars on board for tips etc My mum's friend is in Florida at the moment and I have asked her to bring me home $1 bills as I can't get them when I convert currency at the bank. i'm sure one of our experienced cruisers can clarify.

Thanks for this info as we was only going to take euros. When we booked we were told the tips were automatically charged to your card when you buy drinks and you pay for this at the end of the cruise.

 

[SharonL]

Hi all. Have literally just booked myself Sharon (45), my DH Steve (47) and our DS Jake (5) onto this cruise so still waiting for confirmation booking from DCL. So excited. We will be staying in BCN for 2 nights prior to the cruise. Booked hotel but no flights or transfers yet...must do this tomorrow. Haven't even thought about port trips yet!

Can anyone answer a couple of questions for me please?

(1) What time do DCL want you off the ship by on disembark' day?

(2) Is it dollars or euros on the cruise?

(3) Do they have formal nights i.e. Tux and dress and is this compulsory?

Thanks.

 

[Anal Annie]

Hi all. Have literally just booked myself Sharon (45), my DH Steve (47) and our DS Jake (5) onto this cruise so still waiting for confirmation booking from DCL. So excited. We will be staying in BCN for 2 nights prior to the cruise. Booked hotel but no flights or transfers yet...must do this tomorrow. Haven't even thought about port trips yet!

Can anyone answer a couple of questions for me please?

(1) What time do DCL want you off the ship by on disembark' day?

(2) Is it dollars or euros on the cruise?

(3) Do they have formal nights i.e. Tux and dress and is this compulsory?

Thanks.

New peeps!! New peeps!! I will add you to the first post!! Lots of UK peeps here for sure!!!

Will see if I can attempt to answer your questions a little.

1) Early diners eat breakfast EARLY (I want to say at like 6:15 or 6:30 or something like that.) Then you are allowed to leave if the ship has cleared customs (so like 7-7:30ish). Late diners go to the late breakfast seating which is like 7:15-7:30 I think. Then they get off when they're done (between 8:30-9:00). Those are just ballpark times. If you have late dining & want to get off early to catch a flight or something I THINK the breakfast buffet is open so you can go early. In both instances you bring your hand luggage WITH you to breakfast & leave immediately afterward. You are not allowed to return to your room.

2) I think they will take either currency. You can do some currency exchange at Guest Services on the ship but I think it's not the best rate available.

3) We will have 1 formal night and 1 semi-formal night + 1 "pirate night" with a pirate theme. The other nights are "cruise casual". I would not say that a tux is required on formal night - it is totally optional to get THAT dressed up. There will be some who do but many in suits and then some who refuse to even do that and will bring dress slacks, shirts & ties only. We have not decided yet what we're doing for my DH. Might just rent him something from cruiselineformal.com and just have it waiting in the stateroom (shoes and all) so I don't have to pack anything for that night. Will likely just bring a sport coat for him for semi-formal night & Palo. Or maybe just a shirt & tie for semi-formal night. I don't know yet. I am planning on bringing 2 dresses for myself - both short (just above the knee) and not over the top fancy. Plain black for formal night & the other is also black but with some big bold flowers. I just can't pack long dresses with all the luggage restrictions. If we do Palo dinner I will just re-wear one of them. I will bring nice slacks and a jacket + shirt & tie for DS14 for formal night. He will probably only wear slacks & nice shirt for semi-formal night.

HTH (hope that helps)!!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Checking in with the group from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I arrived here on Tuesday evening and have been attending 4 full days of professional workshops. I fly home tonight on a redeye.
I'm not too interested in today's topics so I have been catching up on these threads, looking at shore excursions, etc. I'm thankful for a laptop with wireless in this windowless hotel meeting room!

Hi!! Little ADD going on there?!

Just a quick note to say Happy Mother's Day to all mums have a great weekend ( weather here is lovely 18 degrees we had a lovely day yesterday picnic in St James park in London then went to see DrWho experience at The olympia ds was blown away really brilliant if your a fan of the show . Relaxing at home today after a lovely roast having tea in my I love u mum new mug

It does seem odd that the US has mothers day in May while in the UK it is always 3 weeks before Easter. Hope everyone has a great one today wherever they are!

Now onto cruise thoughts - even though we are in Europe am I going to need lots of dollar bills for tips eg if I use room service?

Yes, Happy Mother's Day to all the Mummies.. I've had a lovely day. My kids made me several cards and I got flowers and chocolates. DS brought me tea & toast in bed this morning (with DH help) Just relaxing now after a lovely dinner courtesy of M&S! UK peeps will know what I'm talking about.

Mikki - In answer to your question as far as I know we will need dollars on board for tips etc My mum's friend is in Florida at the moment and I have asked her to bring me home $1 bills as I can't get them when I convert currency at the bank. i'm sure one of our experienced cruisers can clarify.

Thanks for this info as we was only going to take euros. When we booked we were told the tips were automatically charged to your card when you buy drinks and you pay for this at the end of the cruise.

Happy Mother's Day (belated now) to all you UK "Mums"!! I find it so charming to hear all of you calling each other "mums" and "mummies"!! Here in the US we are just plain old MOM. I can't wait to hear all of you in real life with your accents & all. Makes me realize just how international this trip is going to be!!! Yes, our Mother's Day here is always the first Sunday in May. Funny huh?!

BTW, I don't think you guys need to worry about having USD singles for tipping room service! I think you can just use euros OR if you really want to use USD you can just exchange a few on the ship at Guest Services. I wouldn't go out of the way to get them ahead of time!! I think the CM's can use euros just the same as USD.


So we had day # 2 of DS's swim meet this morning. Another 5:15 am day (I took a nap on the couch for awhile this afternoon). He did quite well on his part of the relay and 2 of his individual events & had good time drops on both of those but he DQ'd on his 200 IM (messed up on a turn). It happens. So overall a good meet. Dropped time on 4 out of 6 events. Next meet is at the end of April - it's a long course meet so that will be different. Stay tuned!

 

[Goofygoof]

Hi all. Have literally just booked myself Sharon (45), my DH Steve (47) and our DS Jake (5) onto this cruise so still waiting for confirmation booking from DCL. So excited. We will be staying in BCN for 2 nights prior to the cruise. Booked hotel but no flights or transfers yet...must do this tomorrow. Haven't even thought about port trips yet!

Can anyone answer a couple of questions for me please?

(1) What time do DCL want you off the ship by on disembark' day?

(2) Is it dollars or euros on the cruise?

(3) Do they have formal nights i.e. Tux and dress and is this compulsory?

Thanks.

Hello Sharon welcome aboard great to have more children of the similar age group I am Shereen (37) dh Dave (55) and Ds Youssef 5 on the 11th of august we're in Essex not far from you . We're planning to do same have 2 nights at bcn before the cruise was going to book wz easyjet from stansted . Will have to sort the excursion after our easter break as we're off to Egypt next week anyway welcome aboard and happy planning

 

[Kels Sem]

Thanks for this info as we was only going to take euros. When we booked we were told the tips were automatically charged to your card when you buy drinks and you pay for this at the end of the cruise.

Joanne, I was only going to take $1 for room service tipping as I know that we will order things to the room. As for everything else I knew that it would be charged to our account. I didn't realise we could use euros to tip with like Annie said.

 

[jd99]

Hi!! Little ADD going on there?!









Happy Mother's Day (belated now) to all you UK "Mums"!! I find it so charming to hear all of you calling each other "mums" and "mummies"!! Here in the US we are just plain old MOM. I can't wait to hear all of you in real life with your accents & all. Makes me realize just how international this trip is going to be!!! Yes, our Mother's Day here is always the first Sunday in May. Funny huh?!

BTW, I don't think you guys need to worry about having USD singles for tipping room service! I think you can just use euros OR if you really want to use USD you can just exchange a few on the ship at Guest Services. I wouldn't go out of the way to get them ahead of time!! I think the CM's can use euros just the same as USD.


So we had day # 2 of DS's swim meet this morning. Another 5:15 am day (I took a nap on the couch for awhile this afternoon). He did quite well on his part of the relay and 2 of his individual events & had good time drops on both of those but he DQ'd on his 200 IM (messed up on a turn). It happens. So overall a good meet. Dropped time on 4 out of 6 events. Next meet is at the end of April - it's a long course meet so that will be different. Stay tuned!

Nice swims for your son! Congrats. We are on a break - don't necessarily like that the team takes a 2.5 week break between short and long course season but the coaches swear by it - say that it pays off in the long run when it comes to not burning out. The coaches want the kids to run and play and ride bikes outdoors and breath in the fresh air - in the warmth. The problem of course is that (except for this morning) it has been in the 30s since the break started! Well these folks have been quite successful coaching at a major university with a top swim team for 15-20 years so I'll trust them. Looking forward to long course season for sure!

 

[SharonL]

Hi,

Thanks for the prompt reply much appreciated

Sheereen, we are looking at going with EasyJet but from Gatwick as cheaper and more choice of flight times.

No doubt I will be back with more questions.

Take Care
Sharon xx

 

[luke]

New people!!
Finally got to the 'Easter' school holidays, had a lazy day today but am hoping to spend the coming weekend in Spain. Just waiting for my pilot friend to book us some cheap flights!! Very last minute stuff

 

[west&east]

Jealous of all you Europeans who can hop over to DLP, Spain and even Egypt for vacations!

Annie mentioned Pirate Night. What can expect for Pirate Night on the Mediterranean Cruise? What night/ port will it be, do we know yet? (I bet Annie does!) My son just said, "I can bring my eye patch!" You bet kiddo!

Finally getting around to buying trip insurance. USAA has great coverage at great cost but I do wish I bought it when I put my deposit down because then I could have had the preexisting condition coverage. Didn't know I would get a "condition" in the meantime. I'm sure I'll be fine.