August 13, 2011 Med - Mickey's Marauding Mates

[Anal Annie]

Annie - i think you mentioned you are staying in the St. Germain area of Paris....we are very near Jardin Louxembourg so not too far away? We will probably do the following:

Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Parc Asterix, Disneyland, Notre Dame, Musee D'Orsay, Versailles, maybe a tour to see Loire Castles plus just wandering and enjoying the parks/food. We have 8 days in Paris so time to do a lot.

We'd love to join you in the promenade lounge the first day.

My older daughter comes back from camp today and then we have a swim meet.

i think you asked about our flights. We fly directly from San Francisco to Paris on Air France; i'm hoping the kids might sleep!

Diane (getting excited!)

WOW that will be a long flight - almost like going from Atlanta to Hawaii!! I have been paranoid about the Air France carry-on rules so I've been doing test packs in the ittttty bitttty luggage I bought for this flight. Want to make sure I can keep to their weight limits too. I've read that they may or may not chose to enforce their restrictions...it apparently depends on what side of the bed the person got up on.

I really do need to get back to planning more in Paris - DH said to just plan for the Eiffel Tower in mid-afternoon so we could do other stuff at our leisure in the morning - but I still need to order the tickets...and yes, we're in the St. Germain des Pres area - inbetween the Luxembourg Gardens and the Seine - about a block off of St. Germain Blvd. http://www.hotelparisodeonsaintgermain.com/. We were originally going to book the Hotel du Pantheon but then found out their "triple" is really more for little kids than teenager/adult size kids so we bounced over to the Odeon. That is nice you have 8 days. We'll be cramming everything in over 4 days!!

Hope DD had a good meet!!

I have been consumed the past couple of weeks with doing the photography for the swim team. I REALLLLLY need to learn to NOT TAKE SO MANY pictures!! I am behind going thru them & was gone all day today again so haven't even LOOKED at the ones I took last night.

Hi Gang,
Summer has been quite busy so far. We hosted the middle school dance team here for a "team building" event this morning. 21 girls, 2 activities, breakfast and done at 11am. Whew. I am tired. We leave tomorrow to celebrate the 4th with my inlaws in Arkansas. Looking forward to watching fireworks from the boat. Last year, we were stuck in a parking lot somewhere for 2 hours after the fireworks!

Had some friends return from the Dream and saw their photos. Definitely putting me in the Disney mood! Do any of you have the Disney Visa card? Got an offer for $200 rewards after the first purchase. Kind of wishing I had it before we booked the cruise because you have more time to pay, but I could use it if we do go back to Disney World this winter.

Karen

Welcome back - and have a good trip to Arkansas! I HATE the traffic after fireworks! It's always bad regardless of where you go! We also don't have one of those Disney Visa cards but I have been REALLLLY tempted to get one. I just threw out 2 offers that had $200 gift cards after the first use. I was thinking DCL onboard account of course. But I didn't apply. Mistake?!

I SHOULD be planning port adventures on our own but I've been a bit preoccupied. My beloved 5 year old dachshund Casey had his back go out earlier this week and is, at this point, paralyzed in his hind legs. He's at the vet's office, getting IV steroids and being looked after but when he comes home it will be 8 weeks of strict confinement while he heals. Of course, we have the cruise - guess I'll board him at the vet's office so they can look after him, while my other dachsie goes to our standard kennel.

We're hoping he will regain some use of his back legs but we won't know until the 8 weeks confinement is over. UGH!

So, I'm guessing I'll just pick some of the DCL excursions and be done with it. Taking care of my little dachshund is going to consume a lot of my time and he is way more important than planning any sightseeing in Europe. Cross your fingers and send up some positive thoughts for Casey, if you would.

Awww. That is so sad. I knew they were prone to back problems but I didn't realize at that age already - I thought when they were older. That's so young! We lost our cat, Buzz's brother, Woody, a couple of years ago at age 5 due to kidney problems. It was so sad. He was so young it didn't seem right. Sending pixie dust for Casey! I hope he regains his legs.

Hi everyone!

Well, my parents are just back from their first cruise EVER and it was on the Wonder in Alaska. They, of course, loved it! I'm hoping this means they'll want to do cruises with us in the future. In addition to the spectacular views of the icebergs, they got to see whales and other sea life. They did an excursion on one of the boats used in that deep sea crab fishing show.

Hearing about their experiences on the ship is making me even more excited to get on our cruise! They couldn't stop raving about the service and the overall Disney experience.

I'm curious: What's everyone doing in Monte Carlo? We've booked the Little Train excursion, but I'm wondering if that's a port we could do on our own just getting off the ship and walking around. Has anybody ever been there before?

Kerry

Glad your parents had a good time & are HOOKED!!!

We are still undecided on a firm plan for Villefranche but are leaning toward taking the train to Monte Carlo in the morning & possibly going to Eze then heading back to the little beach area in Villefranche for the afternoon.

We're going away to a friends house at the Chesapeake Bay for Sat. night for the 4th of July weekend. Well, it's an early July 4 celebration since the 4th is on a Monday. So I'll be even MORE behind with my swim pics after the 'A' meet on Saturday morning because we'll practically head straight to our friends after the meet. It is like a giant slumber party! They're expecting about 40 people on Saturday (can you say Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs?!) and most will spend the night and then hang out all day on Sunday. They are right on the bay across from Annapolis - with a pool, dock, jet skis (and I think a new boat).

 

[fongds]

Annie - your Paris hotel looks very nice. we are closer to jardin luxembourg
on Rue Honore Chevalier. We are renting a 2 bedroom apartment so the kids have their own room plus a kitchen and washer/dryer. We are so close we could walk right by you....keep looking out for a family of five with 3 girls!

Swim meet went well....just very long...especially since i was a timer standing in the sun.

We are going down to Carmel for the long weekend. its a beach town probably most famous for having had Clint Eastwood as mayor awhile back....right next to Pebble Beach Golf Course. We'll be enjoying the beach and parks tho.

yes it is a long flight. 10 or 11 hours. We have stopped before at JFK or Dulles but that makes it even longer.

Happy 4th of July.
Diane

 

[SailingSeas]

Diane, Carmel has to be the most beautiful place on earth. I envy you.

Doe, my heart goes out to you, your family, and Casey. Our border collie freaked during a thunderstorm and ran wild one night. We found her two days later with a broken back, but so happy to see us. surgery, recovery, and learning to live with a disabled dog for a long time afterwards sure taught me a lot about life. PM me if you wish any commiserative support.

As for shore excursions, don't worry about it - it will all happen, like in a dream. It will be okay.

Annie, you still can get the Disney Visa, if you want. the card should take ten days for you to receive, and have DCL reverse the charges back on the card you used, then charge the Disney Visa in full. Unless you are one of the REALLY organized people and your cruise is totally paid off your credit card, too! (somehow thinks this is the case )

 

[kerrykerr]

Happy Canada Day!

 

[Keever]

Annie, I thought I'd check in and see if you were still trying to drum up peeps for this cruise. Was I ever surprised that I had to go all the way to the end of this LENGTHY thread to send you a message!
Wow! What a wonderful group. What fun you will have!!!!!
We have 18 more sleeps to our ABD trip. School was out yesterday so now I am really excited!
I'll check back. I'm living your trip vicariously so share all the details!
Keever

 

[jd99]

Hi All,


Jeff- Hope you and your family have a great trip and I'll look forward to hearing about it. I hope you will post some pics of your DD dancing in Main Street. I would love to see it.

I will definitely post some photos and video after I get everything downloaded at home. At Beach Club right now post-cruise for two nights. We are exhausted and pretty well ready to go home but glad to have these transition days before heading back to the real world.

The Dream is amazing, but silly me, I do prefer the intimacy of the Magic and the Wonder.


I just realized I answer posts on this forum just so that I can daydream myself...

We are just off the Dream this morning - I will do a trip report with tons of photos- but long story short - ship is beautiful and so well done in many ways...but it's too crowded for me - and the staff hasn't developed a "culture" of any kind yet - which made it seem a bit disappointing in the customer service area after 8 sailings on the Magic (and one on the Wonder). We had a great time but we can't wait to get back on the Magic.

 

[Anal Annie]

Annie - your Paris hotel looks very nice. we are closer to jardin luxembourg
on Rue Honore Chevalier. We are renting a 2 bedroom apartment so the kids have their own room plus a kitchen and washer/dryer. We are so close we could walk right by you....keep looking out for a family of five with 3 girls!

Swim meet went well....just very long...especially since i was a timer standing in the sun.

We are going down to Carmel for the long weekend. its a beach town probably most famous for having had Clint Eastwood as mayor awhile back....right next to Pebble Beach Golf Course. We'll be enjoying the beach and parks tho.

yes it is a long flight. 10 or 11 hours. We have stopped before at JFK or Dulles but that makes it even longer.

Happy 4th of July.
Diane

Not sure how nice our little Paris hotel will actually be - it gets fair reviews on Trip Advisor but it is OLD...I am thinking we'll call it "authentic Parisian"! You are smart to get an apartment for 8 days and a large family!! Definitely a smart move!! You sound like you know Paris well... Any suggestions for places to eat in the Saint Germain / Luxembourg Garden area (moderate - nothing TOOOO fancy as I'm not planning to pack dressy clothes so much in our Paris bags). Have a nice trip for the 4th!!

Diane, Carmel has to be the most beautiful place on earth. I envy you.

Doe, my heart goes out to you, your family, and Casey. Our border collie freaked during a thunderstorm and ran wild one night. We found her two days later with a broken back, but so happy to see us. surgery, recovery, and learning to live with a disabled dog for a long time afterwards sure taught me a lot about life. PM me if you wish any commiserative support.

As for shore excursions, don't worry about it - it will all happen, like in a dream. It will be okay.

Annie, you still can get the Disney Visa, if you want. the card should take ten days for you to receive, and have DCL reverse the charges back on the card you used, then charge the Disney Visa in full. Unless you are one of the REALLY organized people and your cruise is totally paid off your credit card, too! (somehow thinks this is the case )

The last pre-approved offer we got has expired. Figured we'd have to wait on another one to show up. They'll probably make me wait until August now for another offer!

Annie, I thought I'd check in and see if you were still trying to drum up peeps for this cruise. Was I ever surprised that I had to go all the way to the end of this LENGTHY thread to send you a message!
Wow! What a wonderful group. What fun you will have!!!!!
We have 18 more sleeps to our ABD trip. School was out yesterday so now I am really excited!
I'll check back. I'm living your trip vicariously so share all the details!
Keever

Hi Keever!! Nice to hear from you!! I am always scrounging for new peeps! Sent you a PM!!

I will definitely post some photos and video after I get everything downloaded at home. At Beach Club right now post-cruise for two nights. We are exhausted and pretty well ready to go home but glad to have these transition days before heading back to the real world.


We are just off the Dream this morning - I will do a trip report with tons of photos- but long story short - ship is beautiful and so well done in many ways...but it's too crowded for me - and the staff hasn't developed a "culture" of any kind yet - which made it seem a bit disappointing in the customer service area after 8 sailings on the Magic (and one on the Wonder). We had a great time but we can't wait to get back on the Magic.

Hi Jeff - can't wait to hear more details - I was curious which ship you would prefer!! Enjoy Disney for the rest of us!!


I had another super busy day today with errands & cooking & laundry & making a side dish to take this weekend & swim meet pep rally this evening & packing for our short get-a-way to the Bay for Saturday... I just don't know where my day went!! Just WHOOSH it was all gone!! Anyway, probably won't be back on here until late Sunday or sometime Monday 'cuz we have our Saturday 'A' meet in the morning & then we'll pretty much head straight out to the Bay.

Doreen - hope Casey is doing a little better...

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Don't let us slip back toooo many pages!!

 

[DoeWDW]

Thanks, all, for the positive thoughts for Casey. We brought him home from the vet last night. He needs hands-on care every 3-4 hours at least and has 6 different meds. His crate rest will be over the week after we get back from the cruise.

Doe, my heart goes out to you, your family, and Casey. Our border collie freaked during a thunderstorm and ran wild one night. We found her two days later with a broken back, but so happy to see us. surgery, recovery, and learning to live with a disabled dog for a long time afterwards sure taught me a lot about life. PM me if you wish any commiserative support.

As for shore excursions, don't worry about it - it will all happen, like in a dream. It will be okay.

Learning how to take care of Casey's bathroom habits is now my new focus. But he is free of pain and will heal. I'm glad you were able to find your border collie and enjoy more time with him/her - they are beautiful dogs! The pups don't seem to mind their "disabilities" and get on with life, from what I've seen.

And thanks for the encouragement about the shore excursions. You are right, it will all work out and we will have a wonderful time.

 

[chrssher]

Hello everyone, you can add us to the list on the 13 August sailing! We are a family of four (myself, DH, DS#1 (10) and DS#2 (7). Last summer was our first DCL cruise - in the Baltics; what a truly amazing experience! We are expats; have lived in Europe for 5+ years now. We will also have my mom and brother along this time, too!

Excited to be sailing the Magic again; looking forward to another amazing Disney adventure!

 

[Kels Sem]

It was DS & DD last swimming lessons this morning as they are now finished for the summer! DS passed his level 5 and DD passed levels 1&2 in the one go! She was just in for level 1 but managed to pass 2 as well. I'm so proud of her. She is such a different child in the water compared to a couple of years ago when she held on to you for dear life!

Tonight in the little village were we live they are holding our annual 4th July celebrations & fireworks display. I'm sure you are wondering why we celebrate this when this obviously is a US celebration but hundreds of years ago ships set sail from Groomsport to America. The kids are looking forward to the fireworks but it just won't be the same as watching the Magic Kingdom ones like we did last year.

Welcome to all the new people.

Doreen - I hope you wee dog will be ok and is on the mend.

Jeff - Good to hear you are having a great time. Looking forward to reading your report.

As you have probably guessed I haven't worked out how to put multiple quotes in my messages.
Anyhow, I'm off to feed my neighbours rabbits as they have gone on holiday.

Hope all our US peeps have a great 4th July weekend

 

[mikki.young]

Hello everyone, you can add us to the list on the 13 August sailing! We are a family of four (myself, DH, DS#1 (10) and DS#2 (7). Last summer was our first DCL cruise - in the Baltics; what a truly amazing experience! We are expats; have lived in Europe for 5+ years now. We will also have my mom and brother along this time, too!

Excited to be sailing the Magic again; looking forward to another amazing Disney adventure!

Welcome aboard!

Sorry I have been AWOL for a few days, have been down to Wimbledon to watch the tennis. Saw the Bryan brothers semi final - wonderful to watch and far closer than the final turned out to be! Picked up some Ralph Lauren shorts for playing tennis in but they are so nice and comfy they may make it onto the cruise too.

 

[DoeWDW]

have been down to Wimbledon to watch the tennis.

Wow, Mikki, how exciting to watch in person! Glad you had a good time and scored some comfy shorts!

Thanks for all the good thoughts for my dachshund Casey. He was up on all 4 paws drinking this morning. He also has started to pee on his own again. This is excellent progress and with 7+ weeks more of strict rest we are hoping he will continue to improve.

I think today I will start planning the wardrobe and figuring out what clothes to pack and whether I need to go shopping. I hesitate to mention the "shopping" word for fear that it will send our dear LeeAnne off to the mall once again.

We are all caught up in the Tour de France here and loving the beautiful scenery as much as the great bike race. It's exciting to think we'll be in Europe in a bit over a month!

 

[mikki.young]

Woo Hoo! Doorbell went at 7.30 this morning and it was our cruise documents being delivered!

Have a good 4th July celebration all our US peeps!

 

[luke]

My docs arrived too

 

[Kels Sem]

Mine too

 

[Anal Annie]

Hey all!! Cruise docs weren't even on my radar (yet). Funny all the UK peeps got theirs first!! Hopefully ours will come this week too!!

We got back late last night from our friends house at the Bay...it was a great time. Just had a quiet July 4th today - swim practice this morning followed by working on editing pics ALLL day (I had somewhere between 900-1000 to finish going thru between all the swim meets & practices & our trip this weekend). I am making progress but still have about 300 or so to go thru. I really have to stick with the ones for the swimming as the girl who's putting the CD together needs them done to work on.

to chrssher! Glad there was still room on the boat for you!!

OK, I am really just popping in quickly right now...I don't think we're going to go anywhere to try to watch fireworks - it was nice all day but got really overcast a little while ago & I think it's going to rain. Kinda not in the mood to go get stuck in traffic to have them get rained out. Plus I think we're all still tired from the weekend. I need to go make dinner & stick to my picture editing.

 

[SailingSeas]

Doe!!!!!! That is such wonderfully amazing news! And you are right, they really don't seem to care much if they can't move those legs are not, they are just happy to be with you. I'm thrilled to hear Casey is doing so well, I look forward to your updates.

I'm so happy to hear everyone's getting their documents too, that is so exciting! We were supposed to buy our airfare this weekend but got so caught up in being Fourth of July lazy that we kinda forgot. We'll do it today - getting unnerved that it's so close now that my tummy if flipping with excitement.

Daughter found an aquarium in Palma. We are flying a million trillion quadrillion miles away and she wants to go to an aquarium.

 

[kerrykerr]

An aquarium - that's funny! I can empathize with you. We let our DD (5) pick our excursion for Palma since we didn't really care what we did that day. She chose the turtle hospital. Oh boy. I'm sure she'll enjoy seeing the animals.

There seem to be quite a few of us with 5 and 6 year old daughters in our group. Hopefully we can all find the time to go to the meet and greet on the first day. I know our DD is most excited about the kids' club.

 

[CastawayJP]

OK I'm back... The first three weeks of summer here in Bucharest have been beautiful, but busy! I scheduled some mini tennis camps for some of my daughters class mates at the american school and they exploded with people! Good for business, but bad for cruise planning!

We finally booked our hotel, Novatel Barcelona City. So I guess we are pretty much done... Just have to pre book our Colosseum tickets. Does anybody what the age restrictions are? I don't see children's tickets available. I'm assuming that our 12 year old will need adult fare, but what about the 4 and 3 year old? I guess further research is needed...

We had a great time at the Embassy 4th of July celebration. It was at the Ambassador's house which is gorgeous, and the theme was a Hawaiian Luau. My wife was pretty much in charge of it, so she had a lot of work to do, but after she got off duty we had fun! I hope everyone else had a good 4th!

 

[Anal Annie]

OK I'm back... The first three weeks of summer here in Bucharest have been beautiful, but busy! I scheduled some mini tennis camps for some of my daughters class mates at the american school and they exploded with people! Good for business, but bad for cruise planning!

We finally booked our hotel, Novatel Barcelona City. So I guess we are pretty much done... Just have to pre book our Colosseum tickets. Does anybody what the age restrictions are? I don't see children's tickets available. I'm assuming that our 12 year old will need adult fare, but what about the 4 and 3 year old? I guess further research is needed...

We had a great time at the Embassy 4th of July celebration. It was at the Ambassador's house which is gorgeous, and the theme was a Hawaiian Luau. My wife was pretty much in charge of it, so she had a lot of work to do, but after she got off duty we had fun! I hope everyone else had a good 4th!

Hey JP!! Kelly and I are also staying at the Novotel - I think it shall be fine. Did you also receive your cruise docs already?!

I will post the link we were given from romeinlimo to use for buying our Colosseum tickets. We had to buy 3 full fare adult tix (@ 13.5 euro each) bcuz if I understood the site correctly EU children under the age of 18 get a discount but that's it. I am guessing that you're still US Citizens and would not be eligible either?! All of the discounts appeared to be for EU Citizens only. I really didn't see a separate price for children which is kinda messed up IMO. The 2nd link below lists the various ticket options & prices (print at home, pick up onsite, guided tours, non-guided etc.) I think we DID get a slight discount on DS's Vatican ticket tho if I remember that correctly. Pompeii we will buy onsite she told me and I think she said cash only. I think that's the only admission we will not be buying ahead of time. Mental Note LeeAnn - BUY EIFFEL TOWER TIX THIS WEEK!!

http://www.ticketclic.it/database/B2c__/order.cfm?siteDefID=170&LN=1

http://www.ticketclic.it/gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

OK, I just heard my mail truck go by so I'm gonna go see if our cruise docs came!!
Nope. No cruise docs for Annie today.