August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

This morning - no packing done. Tonight almost done. Which is just as well as we leave home tomorrow morning!

Booked our Barcelona excursions (Dali museum here we come) and then plan on the tourist bus for our two free days there.

Total cruise planning mode will commence on return from bermuda

HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!!! We'll miss ya!!

My we have been slow here lately. I logged on thinking there would be pages to catch up on but not much chatter.
DH left for Brazil Saturday night so spent Mother's Day with the kiddos and my mom. Saw the movie Soul Surfer and then bought a whole bunch of yummy cheeses, meats, and salads at Dean and DeLuca. That is such a fun store to shop in. They were very generous with the samples even with the items that are like $30 a pound or whatever.

I am so excited: I just bought myself a new camera for the trip! I got a Nikon Coolpix S9100. It is more camera than I ever have had with a 18x zoom. It has great reviews from all the official reviewers although some every day people have had some issues. I am hoping to take some time to really learn how to use with before the trip so I can get some great shots.

I swear sometimes I come out here & talk to myself!! Congrats on the new camera...I'd sorta like a new point & shoot myself BUT....now is not the time. I have a Canon Rebel XT DSLR and a Canon Powershot that we'll be bringing...both are a few years old now but C'est La Vie!!

I think I found us a new peep on the main cruise board...I posted the link to our thread & hope they'll come chat!!

 

[DoeWDW]

Add us to the list!

Me (Doreen, age 47) and DH (Todd, age 49) will be onboard. My husband's dream has been to see the architecture and history of Italy. We are DVC members who are often at WDW multiple times a year (gotta get good use out of those annual passes!). We've done one other Disney cruise - a 4 night to the Bahamas - when the kids were still at home. By the time we sail, they will both be out of college and on their own. We're looking forward to seeing a little bit of Europe while still enjoying that Disney Magic.

 

[Kels Sem]

Add us to the list!

Me (Doreen, age 47) and DH (Todd, age 49) will be onboard. My husband's dream has been to see the architecture and history of Italy. We are DVC members who are often at WDW multiple times a year (gotta get good use out of those annual passes!). We've done one other Disney cruise - a 4 night to the Bahamas - when the kids were still at home. By the time we sail, they will both be out of college and on their own. We're looking forward to seeing a little bit of Europe while still enjoying that Disney Magic.

Welcome to our little group

 

[Kels Sem]

This morning - no packing done. Tonight almost done. Which is just as well as we leave home tomorrow morning!

Booked our Barcelona excursions (Dali museum here we come) and then plan on the tourist bus for our two free days there.

Total cruise planning mode will commence on return from bermuda

This is probably a little late but I hope you have a great time

 

[jd99]

Add us to the list!

Me (Doreen, age 47) and DH (Todd, age 49) will be onboard. My husband's dream has been to see the architecture and history of Italy. We are DVC members who are often at WDW multiple times a year (gotta get good use out of those annual passes!). We've done one other Disney cruise - a 4 night to the Bahamas - when the kids were still at home. By the time we sail, they will both be out of college and on their own. We're looking forward to seeing a little bit of Europe while still enjoying that Disney Magic.

Welcome!

 

[DoeWDW]

I'm starting to read back through this thread (77 PAGES!!!!) and saw that an embarkation day meet is in the works? Count us in! Whatever location you decide to have it is fine by me.

We were originally booked on the Sept. 3rd Med cruise but that's the one that Disney cancelled - they rented out the entire ship to a private party, I think. So here we are on the Aug. 13th sailing.

I just switched our flights - cost a LOT more than when I booked them last winter for the Sept. 3rd sailing. Not sure if Disney will reimburse for the total amount of the change or just the $250 per ticket change fee.

We arrive in Barcelona on Friday so I'll need a hotel for Friday night. Haven't sorted that out yet. I'm hoping as I read through this thread and some of the other cruise board threads there will be some suggestions. I have to figure out transfers too.

I'm just starting to pore over all the shore excursion options since we get to start booking this Sunday. At this point I'm leaning toward all DCL excursions - not sure I'm daring enough to book my own - but as I gather more information that could change.

I see there are lots of DVC'ers here. Our home resort is our beloved BCV, but we've also stayed at SSR, BLT and AKL. DH and DD have also stayed at BWV and our best friends own there so we visit a lot.

There's so much to think about and plan!!! It's starting to feel a bit overwhelming but I'm sure if I just take one thing at a time, I'll get through it all. I'm taking lots of deep breaths.

 

[Anal Annie]

Welcome Doreen in PA!! I see from your post count that you're on the DIS quite a bit...but I don't think I've ever seen you on the DVC boards (my other haunt besides the cruise board). I will add you to the roll call on the first post and count you in for the DIS meet!! Sorry you got booted off your first choice of sail date...I went thru a bit of a transition too because we were orig. booked on a 10 nighter that they cancelled waaay back in the beginning. Then we flopped to July then ultimately back to August. It was really disturbing to us when they cancelled that first 10 nighter so I almost know how you feel - at least they pulled the rug out from under us in the beginning & didn't wait until we had flights booked. I hope you can get something else out of DCL for your trouble. Flight prices have been CRAZY high for awhile now.

jd99 (aka Jeff) is also from PA - he lives in Pittsburgh... depending on where you live up there I may not be TOO far from you...I live just north of D.C. - about an hour from the MD - PA line.

I think that most of us have settled on our hotels in Barcelona and for the most part everyone will be arriving at least a day ahead of time as well. I think there's at least 3 of us at the Novotel for that one night. Jeff is at Hotel Arts... I'm not sure if everyone has actually said where they booked. We're staying at the Hotel Jazz for a couple of nights after the cruise. We'd be happy to help you weed thru stuff if you have questions. Most of us have been researching like heck. Jeff is also booking DCL excursions and I think others are doing a mix. We've booked private tours with romeinlimo for Rome & Naples (Mikki and her DH are going in with us for Naples) so we have to cut back in the other ports & are going to try them on our own. There's definitely a lot of planning to do for this trip!!

 

[Goofygoof]

hello,

sorry been MIA since coming back from Egypt which was lovely , unfortunately too much washing ironing gardening to do on top of that lots of things seems to break down after we came back cable / ds LCD / lawnmower (this one my fault really) need to start the ball rolling wz our planning and bookings still need to book our hotel in bcn. Annie we're up for meet up as well count us in I think it's important for the kids to get to meet each other as early as possible.
Shame iam the only one getting excited in this household

 

[DoeWDW]

Annie, thanks for the warm welcome! I used to be on the DIS a lot more but these days I'm hanging out more on some other sites on the net. No worries, though - the DIS is still the best place for Disney planning!

My husband has lots of Hilton Hhonors points so we may stay at one of the Hilton hotels using those points - free is good! Anyone know anything about the 2 Hilton hotels in Barcelona? I need to hit tripadvisor.com and check out their reviews. I'll look at the other hotels you mentioned too.

I'm in the Hershey/Harrisburg area of PA - a little closer to Philly than Pittsburgh but my husband travels in the MD/DC/VA area a lot for business and our airport of choice is BWI. I grew up on the PA side of the PA/MD line off I-83 and our families are still in that area.

OK, off to do some Barcelona hotel research!

 

[Kels Sem]

Hi all,

I had a very good friend of mine round for coffee today and she lives in Italy. I told her that we would be in La Spezia on 15th August which is an italian holiday for those who don't know this. She told me that there will be very little opened in the way of shops and restaurants that day as most Italian's head to the beach (she said beaches will be packed). They take this holiday very seriously.

Annie - I also asked her about the running of the trains as I know you want to go to Pisa & Cinque Terre. She said that the trains will run but on a holiday timetable which will less frequent than the normal timetable. She said that the timetable tables will be divided into Mon-Fri, then Saturday, then a Sunday/holiday which will be the one you are looking for.

 

[mikki.young]

Greetings from Gatwick Airport!

Doreen - we are at Barcelo Raval and have transfers to the port booked. Would be very easy to change it to 4 people (have done similar for return ro different hotels as Annie knows!) Let me know if you fancy it.

Hope I can get Internet on Sunday to make bookings!

 

[Anal Annie]

hello,

sorry been MIA since coming back from Egypt which was lovely , unfortunately too much washing ironing gardening to do on top of that lots of things seems to break down after we came back cable / ds LCD / lawnmower (this one my fault really) need to start the ball rolling wz our planning and bookings still need to book our hotel in bcn. Annie we're up for meet up as well count us in I think it's important for the kids to get to meet each other as early as possible.
Shame iam the only one getting excited in this household

Glad you had a good time on your trip to Egypt...will put ya'll down on the DIS list for our little meet! Speaking of gardening...I am WAAY behind (again...as always). I went out yesterday & today & bought quite a few plants. I have several perennial beds that are a mess and I plant out a bunch of pots. Spent a FORTUNE on the darned things...and I only got stuff for the BACK. The front needs shade stuff & I went to a nursery that's closer to home & cheaper than my favorite one & the selection just wasn't all that great. I may have to make a trip over to my fav. one for the front stuff...I can only plant so much at a time anyway.

Annie, thanks for the warm welcome! I used to be on the DIS a lot more but these days I'm hanging out more on some other sites on the net. No worries, though - the DIS is still the best place for Disney planning!

My husband has lots of Hilton Hhonors points so we may stay at one of the Hilton hotels using those points - free is good! Anyone know anything about the 2 Hilton hotels in Barcelona? I need to hit tripadvisor.com and check out their reviews. I'll look at the other hotels you mentioned too.

I'm in the Hershey/Harrisburg area of PA - a little closer to Philly than Pittsburgh but my husband travels in the MD/DC/VA area a lot for business and our airport of choice is BWI. I grew up on the PA side of the PA/MD line off I-83 and our families are still in that area.

OK, off to do some Barcelona hotel research!

Afraid I don't know anything about the Hiltons but I'm sure they're good - ESPECIALLY if they're FREE!! You're not too far from us. My DS had an away swim meet up in your area in January - it was in Mechanicsburg at Cumberland Valley HS or something like that. VERY impressive school - really nice pool. We have nothing like that down here in our county schools. We should probably check out the skiing at Round Top sometime - I guess it was only a little over 90 minutes from us. We usually go to either Ski Liberty or White Tail which are sister resorts to Round Top...they're both about an hour from us. DS's band is going up to Hershey on Friday, May 27 for a band competition - then they will go to Hershey Park for the day after they finish playing. When his swim team went up they went to the Chocolate Factory for a quick visit bcuz the park was closed of course since it was January...

Hi all,

I had a very good friend of mine round for coffee today and she lives in Italy. I told her that we would be in La Spezia on 15th August which is an italian holiday for those who don't know this. She told me that there will be very little opened in the way of shops and restaurants that day as most Italian's head to the beach (she said beaches will be packed). They take this holiday very seriously.

Annie - I also asked her about the running of the trains as I know you want to go to Pisa & Cinque Terre. She said that the trains will run but on a holiday timetable which will less frequent than the normal timetable. She said that the timetable tables will be divided into Mon-Fri, then Saturday, then a Sunday/holiday which will be the one you are looking for.

Oh DRAT!!! Thanks for talking to her about that. I think I just about have DH talked into skipping Pisa and just going to Cinque Terre...so that should help if the trains are running all wonky - less stress. I was thinking about taking the ferry to Monterosso - spend some time on the beach then work our way back on the train - maybe do lunch in Vernazza. OR take the train straight to Monterosso, beach it for awhile then work our way back with a combination of ferry & train & hiking. I am afraid our port day for this one is not a very good choice. But WHO KNEW!? Sounds like heading to the beach EARLY will be our best bet. Did your friend have any advice for what you should do for the day with your little kiddos?! I have done enough research on it to know that DCL is charging like $129 per adult for the ferry trip and we should be able to do it for about $90 TOTAL on our own. I hope I don't regret not booking their excursion.... Thoughts anyone? They won't give us enough free time. I was also looking forward to a good lunch there as I've heard the food in that region is some of the very best in Italy. Grrrrrr!!

 

[Anal Annie]

Greetings from Gatwick Airport!

Doreen - we are at Barcelo Raval and have transfers to the port booked. Would be very easy to change it to 4 people (have done similar for return ro different hotels as Annie knows!) Let me know if you fancy it.

Hope I can get Internet on Sunday to make bookings!

Bye Mikki!! Have a GREAT time!! Good luck on Sunday!!!

 

[DoeWDW]

Afraid I don't know anything about the Hiltons but I'm sure they're good - ESPECIALLY if they're FREE!! You're not too far from us. My DS had an away swim meet up in your area in January - it was in Mechanicsburg at Cumberland Valley HS or something like that. VERY impressive school - really nice pool. We have nothing like that down here in our county schools. We should probably check out the skiing at Round Top sometime - I guess it was only a little over 90 minutes from us. We usually go to either Ski Liberty or White Tail which are sister resorts to Round Top...they're both about an hour from us. DS's band is going up to Hershey on Friday, May 27 for a band competition - then they will go to Hershey Park for the day after they finish playing. When his swim team went up they went to the Chocolate Factory for a quick visit bcuz the park was closed of course since it was January...

I checked TripAdvisor - the Hilton Diagonal Mar looks very nice but it is northeast of the city on the beach - further from the port, airport, downtown, etc. However there is a HOHO bus stop across the street, a mall across the street, and the Metro just on the other side of the mall. The other Hilton that is closer to the airport and downtown gets extremely poor reviews so I will steer clear of there.

Now I need to check if DH has enough points to book a room at the Hilton Diagonal Mar.

Then I'll start working on the transfer from the airport to the hotel - any suggestions of companies to go with or is everyone just grabbing a random taxi to transfer from the airport to the hotel (or port, depending on which day you're arriving)?

LeeAnn, we are within 20 minutes of Hersheypark. My kids used to work there - they were costume characters so they dressed up like various candy bars and had their pictures taken with park guests. I hope your son has good weather and a great time at the park! We are often at Chocolate World - it's free and they give you a free sample of candy at the end of the ride. Cumberland Valley is a school district with money so I would imagine their facilities are very nice! Believe me, not all the schools here are so well-funded! We aren't skiers so I can't help you with Round Top advice. I'd rather fly south to WDW in the winter!

 

[Anal Annie]

I checked TripAdvisor - the Hilton Diagonal Mar looks very nice but it is northeast of the city on the beach - further from the port, airport, downtown, etc. However there is a HOHO bus stop across the street, a mall across the street, and the Metro just on the other side of the mall. The other Hilton that is closer to the airport and downtown gets extremely poor reviews so I will steer clear of there.

Now I need to check if DH has enough points to book a room at the Hilton Diagonal Mar.

Then I'll start working on the transfer from the airport to the hotel - any suggestions of companies to go with or is everyone just grabbing a random taxi to transfer from the airport to the hotel (or port, depending on which day you're arriving)?

LeeAnn, we are within 20 minutes of Hersheypark. My kids used to work there - they were costume characters so they dressed up like various candy bars and had their pictures taken with park guests. I hope your son has good weather and a great time at the park! We are often at Chocolate World - it's free and they give you a free sample of candy at the end of the ride. Cumberland Valley is a school district with money so I would imagine their facilities are very nice! Believe me, not all the schools here are so well-funded! We aren't skiers so I can't help you with Round Top advice. I'd rather fly south to WDW in the winter!

Hilton Diagonal Del Mar...yes - now that you say the name I've heard of it....you should be good to go there!! I have flip flopped around about what to do from the airport and I think we will just wing it with a taxi. Not sure what everybody else is doing but I'm guessing they will be plentiful there. It's supposed to only be about 25-30 euro (they charge 1 euro per bag too I think). They're small tho so larger families have to book more than 1. Since we're only 3 ppl and I'm only planning on checking 1 bag each + 1 carry-on each I think we'll be OK. Kelly and I WERE going to share a ride from the Novotel to the port but I think we've decided a taxi would work out just as well, right Kelly?! LEAVING the port is when you REALLY need to schedule a transfer...lines are long for taxis and there are several ships in the port that day. I think I am going to book a transfer from our hotel back to the airport tho 'cuz we have to BE at the airport no later than 5:30 am when we leave. I don't want to futz with finding a taxi at that hour.

 

[DoeWDW]

I'm thinking a taxi from the airport to the hotel will work well. The Metro looks easy to navigate and if we only have 1 roller bag and 2 carryons, I may try to take the Metro and then the Blue Bus from the Hilton Diagonal Mar to the ship. It isn't like we have to be at the cruise terminal at a certain time, right? Even a taxi would work for that too.

You are probably right about setting up transportation from the port to the airport on the way home. Our flight is at 1:30 so I'm thinking we need to be at the airport by 10:30 or 11 AM. If I arrange transportation for 9:30 AM we should have plenty of time, right? How early can we get off the ship?

 

[Anal Annie]

I'm thinking a taxi from the airport to the hotel will work well. The Metro looks easy to navigate and if we only have 1 roller bag and 2 carryons, I may try to take the Metro and then the Blue Bus from the Hilton Diagonal Mar to the ship. It isn't like we have to be at the cruise terminal at a certain time, right? Even a taxi would work for that too.

You are probably right about setting up transportation from the port to the airport on the way home. Our flight is at 1:30 so I'm thinking we need to be at the airport by 10:30 or 11 AM. If I arrange transportation for 9:30 AM we should have plenty of time, right? How early can we get off the ship?

Here is a link to a website you can use to calculate taxi fare & trip duration in & around Barcelona (you just need your addresses). When I see how SHORT most of them are I really don't want to overpay for a private transfer.

http://www.worldtaximeter.com/barcelona?to=Barcelona+airport&from=Pelai+3&time=4-00&phone_booking=by-phone

I have calculated our trip from the airport to the Novotel to be about 24 minutes and it should run about 23 euro on a weekday + the bag fees. Our run from the Novotel to the port on Saturday should take about 12 minutes and on a weekend should only be about 16 euro + the fees for the bags. (DCL told me the port would open at 10:30 and that boarding would begin at 1:00 but I think that if the ship is ready earlier they will start boarding earlier maybe. Seems they do that in PC anyway.)

I have read before that if you have already calculated what the fare SHOULD be ahead of time you can have solid ground to negotiate your fare before you get into the taxi. I don't think the airport is more than about 30 minutes from the port depending on the day. Since you're heading back on Saturday after the cruise I would think traffic should be light. I have printed out the fares for these trips & will bring them with us. I won't get into a taxi unless the driver agrees to something at least close to them.


On another note - we're having a gorgeous week weather-wise (mid-70's every day) so I've been trying to work outside some. Along with all of my flowers I got a couple of tomato plants, parsley & basil to plant. Today I spent like 2 1/2 hours moving stuff around, pulling weeds & clearing room in one of my perennial beds to plant them. I have worked up a sweat & I stink now! I will work out there another hour or so to get started on my pots then I'll have to stop & shower before we head out to swim practice. DS's birthday is next week & we were thinking about taking him to Six-Flags or Kings Dominion this weekend (he has another meet NEXT weekend) but they're calling for 70% chance of rain all weekend. Not sure what we'll do. I really hate the idea of rides in the rain (when it's anything but Disney) but maybe it would keep the crowds down?! Six-Flags is only about an hour away if that. It's a better park but Kings Dominion is 2 hours away so me thinks Six-Flags would be a better bet if it's icky. Who wants to drive 2 hours to ride rides in the rain?! Sigh. What to do, what to do?!

 

[Anal Annie]

NINETY DAYS PEEPS!! 90 days!!! I can't believe it. First booked this thing in October 2009!! It's been a LONG countdown!!! What will I do without a countdown ticker?!

I am getting really nervous, scared & excited all rolled up in one!! I am sure the time will FLY by now won't it!? Then it will be over in such a WHOOSH!!

Still futzing about where to go tomorrow. Last night when I went to bed the weather on the 11:00 news said 60% chance of rain tomorrow. This morning I get up & the guy on the morning shift says 80% chance!! Really?! How can they be so far off all the time?! I don't think these meterologists really have a diploma do they?!?!

 

[Anal Annie]

OK peeps...just a quick bump up to page 1 before I go to bed....we have decided to go to Kings Dominion in Richmond, VA tomorrow to celebrate DS's birthday. Since it's a little over 100 miles from here the weather forecast is similar but maybe just a tad bit better than up here. Just a little warmer and more like 40-50% chance of storms....soooo I will be heading out EARLY tomorrow morning and will be gone ALLLLL day....hopefully home in time to hit the DCL website at midnight for Palo ressies!!

Have a good Saturday!!

 

[mikki.young]

Greetings from Bermuda! Woke up in the middle of the night so made my reservations! Got Palo for Rome day. Shame you can only book one.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!