August 28, 2010 Pirates of the Barbary Coast - 11 nights in the Mediterranean

[eva]

Air France are good (used to be Richard's fave business class airline) kinda like British Airways - they were partners on the much-missed Concorde...

Sadly I can't not justify the cost when flying long haul anymore - 8+ hours in economy = 2+ days off my vacation time waiting for my back to recover. Not to mention jet-lag... The upside is we accumulate lots of airmiles and get quite a few free flights - which is great!!!

I think that we are going to go with Air France. Out of Chicago roundtrip is $981 per person right now. The layovers in Paris are not too bad. Going over it is only 1 hour and 45 minutes. Do you think that will be enough to get through customs. Going through customs on our trip to Italy was easy and took very little time.

 

[CustardTart]

Which airport in Paris? Charles de Gaul (CDG) is huge and busy so I can't help but think 1 hour 45 mins might be cutting it fine... If it's Orly (ORY), more likely to be OK as it's a much smaller airport...

 

[eva]

Which airport in Paris? Charles de Gaul (CDG) is huge and busy so I can't help but think 1 hour 45 mins might be cutting it fine... If it's Orly (ORY), more likely to be OK as it's a much smaller airport...

It is CDG. But I just found a flight out of our hometown (Peoria, IL) that is only $200 more per person. That will save us over $300 in parking. So we may take it. Funny but part of the return flight is on British Airways. There are 2 hour layovers each way. I think that I will do what you are doing and wait a few more weeks. But these rates I am seeing are not bad at all.

 

[eva]

Picking flights is going to be more difficult than I thought. When we went to Italy last year, we flew Delta. They had a flight that left Peoria with only a two hour layover in Atlanta before going direct to Rome. Going to Barcelona is more complicated. Peoria flights only go to Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, or Atlanta. Unfortunately no airlines that fly from Peoria go direct to Barcelona from any of those cities. So now we are either looking at driving to Chicago and paying for gas both ways and $30 a day in parking (in Peoria parking is free) or taking flights with at least 2 layovers.

PS - The great flights I saw with Air France, weren't so great. I didn't realize that the times for the flight from Paris to Chicago included an overnight layover. I was just looking at the times and didn't see the +1 day. Darn!

 

[eva]

Boy, am I silly. I completely forgot to check on flights out of Bloomington, IL. It is only 45 minutes from our house. We are flying from there for our WDW trip in May. How silly is that? Well there are a number of flights to choose from. And they have free parking!

Update: I think I've found our flights. Delta is running flights very similar to the ones we took to Italy last year. The only issue is that we will need to stay an extra night in Barcelona after the cruise. All the flights back to the States leave too early. That's too bad!

 

[jhryb]

Hello Karen and Eva,
I'm jumping ship so to speak. I discovered that if I move our cruise by one year (to Aug 20 2011 I will save $2000 plus our rooms are much nicer.
I'm excited because we are going to do a land based tour this summer instead. It will go from England to Venice. This is perfect because the Disney Cruise the following summer will cover the Med Cities. I like the idea that my family will get to experience European hotels this summer and we will save $ overall.
Take Care and I hope that you enjoy your Cruise.
Jennifer

 

[CustardTart]

Hello Karen and Eva,
I'm jumping ship so to speak. I discovered that if I move our cruise by one year (to Aug 20 2011 I will save $2000 plus our rooms are much nicer.
I'm excited because we are going to do a land based tour this summer instead. It will go from England to Venice. This is perfect because the Disney Cruise the following summer will cover the Med Cities. I like the idea that my family will get to experience European hotels this summer and we will save $ overall.
Take Care and I hope that you enjoy your Cruise.
Jennifer

Sounds a great plan, Jennifer - tho' sorry we won't get to sail together... Have fun arranging your England to Venice tour and a magical Med cruise in 2011...

 

[eva]

Hello Karen and Eva,
I'm jumping ship so to speak. I discovered that if I move our cruise by one year (to Aug 20 2011 I will save $2000 plus our rooms are much nicer.
I'm excited because we are going to do a land based tour this summer instead. It will go from England to Venice. This is perfect because the Disney Cruise the following summer will cover the Med Cities. I like the idea that my family will get to experience European hotels this summer and we will save $ overall.
Take Care and I hope that you enjoy your Cruise.
Jennifer

I agree with Karen. Your trip sounds wonderful. You will love Venice. Sorry we won't be meeting you on the cruise.

 

[eva]

I'm beginning to wonder how many formal nights we will have on the cruise. I'm hoping that they will stick to one formal and one semi-formal. Packing for two weeks in Europe is already tough enough. It will be nice if Steve can get away with only packing one suit. Maybe we'll bite the bullet and pay the extra charge to bring another suitcase with us. Delta already charges $15 for the first bag, each way. That adds $60 for the two we always take. But the next bag they are charging $25. That will add another $50. I may need to go find some old trip reports to see what they did on the last Med cruises.

 

[CustardTart]

My Passporter says that there are usually 2 Formal Nights (days 3 & 7) and 1 Semi-Formal (day 9) on the longer cruises but I don't know how accurate this is. As we have 3 'At Sea' days I guess that could be plausible... Let me know what you find out!!!

1 Sat Barcelona, Spain.......... 4:00 p.m.
2 Sun At Sea.........
3 Mon Valletta, Malta... 8:30 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
4 Tues Tunis, Tunisia.... 8:30 a.m. 4:00 p.m.
5 Wed Naples, Italy.... 8:30 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
6 Thurs Civitavecchia.... 7:45 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
7 Fri At Sea..........
8 Sat La Spezia, Italy.. 7:30 a.m. 7:30 p.m.
9 Sun Ajaccio, Corsica.. 7:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
10 Mon Villefranche.... 8:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
11 Tues At Sea
12 Wed Barcelona, Spain 7:00 a.m.

ETA: I found this dining info posted from 2007...

1 Cruise Casual.
2 Formal.
3 Cruise Casual.
4 Cruise Casual.
5 Cruise Casual.
6 Cruise Casual.
7 Semi Formal.
8 Cruise Casual.
9 Pirate Night/Cruise Casual.
10 Semi Formal.
11 Cruise Casual.

 

[eva]

My Passporter says that there are usually 2 Formal Nights (days 3 & 7) and 1 Semi-Formal (day 9) on the longer cruises but I don't know how accurate this is. As we have 3 'At Sea' days I guess that could be plausible... Let me know what you find out!!!

1 Sat Barcelona, Spain.......... 4:00 p.m.
2 Sun At Sea.........
3 Mon Valletta, Malta... 8:30 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
4 Tues Tunis, Tunisia.... 8:30 a.m. 4:00 p.m.
5 Wed Naples, Italy.... 8:30 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
6 Thurs Civitavecchia.... 7:45 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
7 Fri At Sea..........
8 Sat La Spezia, Italy.. 7:30 a.m. 7:30 p.m.
9 Sun Ajaccio, Corsica.. 7:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
10 Mon Villefranche.... 8:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m.
11 Tues At Sea
12 Wed Barcelona, Spain 7:00 a.m.

ETA: I found this dining info posted from 2007...

1 Cruise Casual.
2 Formal.
3 Cruise Casual.
4 Cruise Casual.
5 Cruise Casual.
6 Cruise Casual.
7 Semi Formal.
8 Cruise Casual.
9 Pirate Night/Cruise Casual.
10 Semi Formal.
11 Cruise Casual.

Thanks for the info. Maybe I will look into renting a tux for Steve. If I remember right, someone said that you could still do this on the Med cruises in 2007. Then Steve can get away with bringing only one suit. Although Steve says he could wear his black suit a number of times if needed. I'll have to think on this. It's funny how guys can wear the same suit over and over. I guess he could bring three shirts and ties to match the dresses I'll be wearing. I doubt if anyone will even notice.

 

[CustardTart]

Thanks for the info. Maybe I will look into renting a tux for Steve. If I remember right, someone said that you could still do this on the Med cruises in 2007. Then Steve can get away with bringing only one suit. Although Steve says he could wear his black suit a number of times if needed. I'll have to think on this. It's funny how guys can wear the same suit over and over. I guess he could bring three shirts and ties to match the dresses I'll be wearing. I doubt if anyone will even notice.

I'm pretty sure that's possible. Here's the website... Let me know if you're thinking of doing this as I'll do the same for Richard - it would be kinda nice to see them all dressed up... Otherwise, Richard will bring one dark suit, a smart shirt and tie plus 2/3 alternative dressy shirts which he'll wear without a tie for the semi-formals and/or Palos... And of course, this all means I'll have to dress up for 3+ dinners too...

 

[eva]

I'm pretty sure that's possible. Here's the website... Let me know if you're thinking of doing this as I'll do the same for Richard - it would be kinda nice to see them all dressed up... Otherwise, Richard will bring one dark suit, a smart shirt and tie plus 2/3 alternative dressy shirts which he'll wear without a tie for the semi-formals and/or Palos... And of course, this all means I'll have to dress up for 3+ dinners too...

Thanks for the link. As it gets closer I'll let you know. I would love to see Steve in a tux again. But I think he might need to be persuaded.

I just made a reservation at the Renaissance Barcelona Airport Hotel for the night that we return from the cruise. We can't find a decent flight that leaves late enough in the day. So we are planning to fly out on the 9th at 10:00 am. The Renaissance seem handy since it has a free shuttle to the airport.

 

[eva]

Thought I'd give another bump. We were nearly on page 3. Anyone else out there joiing this cruise?

 

[CustardTart]

I can't believe how quiet this thread is... I understand not everyone is a manic planner like Eva but this is a very low key thread... Maybe it'll pick up when we get into the New Year..?

Anyway, to go completely off-topic, I've just been reading about all the plans for the Disney theme parks and OMG they sound FABULOUS!!! Here's a link in case I'm not the only one who missed all this exciting stuff being announced at the D23 Expo... My excuse is I only had ears for what DCL were up to and the rest of the news went over my head... So there!!!

I now have vacations planned years in advance (mentally at least - I don't want to scare Richard too much) so we can take in all these amazing experiences...

 

[eva]

I can't believe how quiet this thread is... I understand not everyone is a manic planner like Eva but this is a very low key thread... Maybe it'll pick up when we get into the New Year..?

Anyway, to go completely off-topic, I've just been reading about all the plans for the Disney theme parks and OMG they sound FABULOUS!!! Here's a link in case I'm not the only one who missed all this exciting stuff being announced at the D23 Expo... My excuse is I only had ears for what DCL were up to and the rest of the news went over my head... So there!!!

I now have vacations planned years in advance (mentally at least - I don't want to scare Richard too much) so we can take in all these amazing experiences...

Karen, Thanks so much for the link. I had heard about Star Tours, but the rest is all new to me. The new areas in MK with the princesses is going to be fabulous. Lexy will be in heaven. She will be 7 in 2013. I better start planning another trip with her. She is going to love the new Little Mermaid attration. Ariel is her favorite.

 

[eva]

Karen, I was reading on the cruise board about hotels in Barcelona and now we are booked for two different hotels for the night before the cruise. The Hotel 1898 looks wonderful. Here's the website: Hotel 1898 I booked a delux room with terrace. I am totally confused as to which hotel to keep for that night. But we have until a couple days prior to decide. The beauty of this hotel is that is it right on La Rambla and still only a few blocks from port. What do you think?

 

[CustardTart]

Karen, I was reading on the cruise board about hotels in Barcelona and now we are booked for two different hotels for the night before the cruise. The Hotel 1898 looks wonderful. Here's the website: Hotel 1898 I booked a delux room with terrace. I am totally confused as to which hotel to keep for that night. But we have until a couple days prior to decide. The beauty of this hotel is that is it right on La Rambla and still only a few blocks from port. What do you think?

Looks lovely, Eva! I had already researched this hotel and discounted it for some reason - tho' I can't think why now!!! I guess as you're only there for one night, it might make more sense to stay in the heart of the action - easy access to the sights/sounds of the city...

I'm not 100% sure what we'll do TBH. I'm now thinking about spending a week or so in southern Spain prior to the cruise... Oh decisions, decisions!!!

 

[eva]

Looks lovely, Eva! I had already researched this hotel and discounted it for some reason - tho' I can't think why now!!! I guess as you're only there for one night, it might make more sense to stay in the heart of the action - easy access to the sights/sounds of the city...

I'm not 100% sure what we'll do TBH. I'm now thinking about spending a week or so in southern Spain prior to the cruise... Oh decisions, decisions!!!

Funny, I said the same thing on the cruise board. Steve and I talked about this new hotel last night. He said that we are going to wait to see what the dollar and euro do before then. A week in southern Spain sounds wonderful. I sure wish I had more vacation time. With our two trips next year I'm using about every day that I have.

 

[CustardTart]

Giving us a *bump* back to page one...

Morning. Not feeling too well these last few days - think I have stomach flu or something... Hope all your planning's going well, Eva! Don't know about you, but I can't believe November is almost upon us - aren't you guys going away for a weekend with Steve's company this month???

Anyway, Happy Monday...