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

[yow]

... And DW was making fun of me for already having a packing list going! She can see here that I'm not the only one... why, some have even started the actual packing!

I wish I could be like Eva, losing that much weight leading up to the cruise -- well, at least I'm not gaining.

Been getting in some practice with the new camera -- was in Washington, DC a couple of weeks ago, and today caught some nice images on a beautiful day here in Ottawa. Looking forward to so many photo ops on our upcoming journey!

 

[lovestotravel28]

We are booked for the Magic August 28th Med 11 night cruise and have secured a private tour company/guide for Naples (71 euros PP), Civitavecchia (85 euros PP), LaSpezia (71 euros PP) and Villefranche( 75 euros PP). We have room for 3 individuals on the Italian tours and room for 4 in Villefranche. If you are interested in finding out more about what the tours entail-please contact me.

Anyone inquiring on these tours-please send me your email via private message-for some reason I am not able to send messages.

To mgrant -Very interested in private tours. It is just two of us myself and husband. Wasn't able to private message or send email yet. Would love to hear details.

 

[lovestotravel28]

We were in Rome a couple years ago. And if I were going for the first time and only had a day, I would buy tickets for the tour buses that you can hop on and off all day long. We did that the first day of our trip and it gave a us a great over view of Rome. We rode the bus completely through the first time (less than 2 hours) then we started deciding where to jump off at. On the bus you are given headsets and there is a narrative tour that you can plug in to. Just turn to the English station and you are set. Of course, you will need a guide book of Rome and have a good idea of where you want to visit ahead of time. You don't want to spend too much time trying to decide what to do. I highly suggest taking a good hour for lunch and eat al fresco in a nice piazza (courtyard). Don't forget a gelatto in the afternoon!

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[lovestotravel28]

We are booked for the Magic August 28th Med 11 night cruise and have secured a private tour company/guide for Naples (71 euros PP), Civitavecchia (85 euros PP), LaSpezia (71 euros PP) and Villefranche( 75 euros PP). We have room for 3 individuals on the Italian tours and room for 4 in Villefranche. If you are interested in finding out more about what the tours entail-please contact me.

Anyone inquiring on these tours-please send me your email via private message-for some reason I am not able to send messages.

Definitely interested in tours. Perhaps you could try to private message me, I was unable to private message you.
Barb

 

[Jpinto]

Hello again,

I have been follwing this and other DISboards for a while, now, and one item that has been calling my attention is FE ( found out today it stand for Fish Extenders) . Some kind of mail/gift exchange?! Can you people exclaim to me how it works. It sound like fun.

 

[Ready to Travel]

We are a family of 5, myself, husband, son 21, daughter 19 and daughter 16. Sailing on the Magic on August 28. We got some prices on private tours to the Amalfi coast without Pompeii. Don't really want to walk around in the hot September sun in Pompeii and also we have visited it over 20 years ago. Would like to get more of an overview of the Amalfi Coast this time. We saw part of it last time and it was quite stunning. Wondering if anyone might want to join us to fill a bigger vehicle. Some of the companies we got prices from have van that can take up to 8 to 10 people. That will bring the price down. In Rome we are going to take the train in and see the city ourselves. Unless someone has come across a terrific deal and want people to share, please let us know. But the prices we have got for Rome are quite high. I am thinking Amalfi coast is harder to do on your own because it covers a certain distance. In La Spezia I am hoping to see part of Cinque Terre and see Pisa as well. We have seen Pisa before, but it's the first time the kids are in Europe. Just thought although Pisa is touristy, but it is really symbolic of Italy after having seen so many pictures of the leaning tower. Looked into the train schedule and it's probably doable but we will only have half a day to see Cinque Terre. We were not thinking of doing any hiking, but perhaps just to take the ferry or train to see one or two towns. I have contacted one company and they want 500 Euros to take us to Pisa and Cinque Terre. I think that is too expensive. But I just started investigating hiring a private company to take us to both places, so I haven't compared prices yet. Is there anyone who is thinking about the same thing about wanting to visit Pisa and Cinque Terre on the same day? Do you have a good plan in place for that? We are open for suggestions for all of these ports. Please share your opinions with us regarding DIY tours. We are not booking any with Disney. Already broke open our piggy bank just to pay for the cruise. Please let us know if anyone is looking for 5 people to share a tour somewhere, especially for Naples, if we can get a good deal we will consider going with another family who wants to see Pompeii, but we prefer just to do the coast at this moment in time.

To gamm888

I am interested in the Naples tour. This is something we might be interested in. We wanted to do Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and Positano and were not interested in going to Pompeii. Can you please send me some details.

Can you e-mail me with all the details

Thanks
Martha
readytotravel@hotmail.com

 

[eva]

... And DW was making fun of me for already having a packing list going! She can see here that I'm not the only one... why, some have even started the actual packing!

I wish I could be like Eva, losing that much weight leading up to the cruise -- well, at least I'm not gaining.

DH makes fun of me too! But I will start preliminary packing in a week or so. We have decided to check two suitcases and carry on two smaller ones. So I really need to think this whole thing through. The carry ons must have the things I can't live without. And we are going to divide our clothes equally into the checked bags, just in case one is lost. I am even going to make sure that each suitcase contains color coordinated clothes and shoes.

We really learned from another couple's lost baggage woes on our ABD trip to Italy two years ago. The poor couple didn't get their bags until 6 days into the tour. And "misplaced" luggage is handled much differently than lost luggage when it comes to insurance. They were only given $200 each for clothing while their bags were being located. And with the tour moving around, I think that the bags were always a day or two behind us. Try buying clothes for a 9 day tour with only $200, and in Rome! Plus it wasn't like a cruise where you have a handy laundry facility. Everyone was trying to find clothes to donate to them. They were a newlywed couple and the trip was a gift. So they had very little money to buy things with.

I am really happy about the weight loss. I just wish I would have moved a bit sooner and lost another 20 pounds. I really needed to lose 40 total. Now the trick is to lose a few more pounds before the cruise and to keep from gaining the weight back over the cruise! I have promised to workout as much as possible, to practice portion control, and to limit my drinks of the day. But I won't give up everything on the cruise!

 

[lonegungirl]

Hey, thanks to everyone who mentioned their cabin upgrades. We got our cruise book and tags this last week, and I noticed it still said cat 12, so I figured we were just traveling in steerage as usual...but then I read that some people had gotten upgraded without having the cat. changed on the papers, so I checked, and we appear to be in a cat 6! Reviews say it's noisy, but whatever--I'll sleep out on the veranda if I need to! Squee!

 

[amackay]

If anyone is looking for more people to go on a private tour to Rome, me and my girlfriend would be interested. PM me with details if you have any space for 2.

 

[madmum63]

Hi there,

My DS 13 Elliott and DD 10 Lydia are wondering if they can chat to any friends who may be going into the relative clubs before they get aboard.

If anyone is interested it would be great to get to know who else will be onboard and then we can meet in club.

Thanks Andrea

 

[Jpinto]

Hi there,

My DS 13 Elliott and DD 10 Lydia are wondering if they can chat to any friends who may be going into the relative clubs before they get aboard.

If anyone is interested it would be great to get to know who else will be onboard and then we can meet in club.

Thanks Andrea

Hi

My DS João (11), and DD Carlota (9), will be delighted to meet new friends. We are portuguese but both my kids speak English ( specially DS). Carlota is a bit shy at first but she opens uo after a while. We will be arriving at Barcelona Port arround 12, I guess since ou plane lans at 10:15 Am.
Look forward to meet you

João

 

[Ready to Travel]

Can anyone tell me if there is a page with the Roll Call for this cruise. If there is could you let me know what page it is on.
We did the transatlantic in May of 2007 and there was a page with every ones
Dis board name, cabin number, number of children in the cabin and ages.
I am trying to get my FE gifts and would like to know approximately how many to get.

Thanks
Martha

 

[MGrant]

Joao and Andrea-
Answering to both posts
We have an 11 year old and 10 year old...we are Portugese as well; we live in the states but will be traveling to Barcelona on late friday evening from Santa Maria ( I was born there)...not sure of the best way to get in touch-I am new to Disboards

 

[Jpinto]

Joao and Andrea-
Answering to both posts
We have an 11 year old and 10 year old...we are Portugese as well; we live in the states but will be traveling to Barcelona on late friday evening from Santa Maria ( I was born there)...not sure of the best way to get in touch-I am new to Disboards

I am preatty new to Disboards also... I hope one of the DB Veterans can light things up for us.

Now a welcome message for Grant in our home language ( apologies for other DB members).... Bem vindo a BORDO. Será um grande prazer conhece-los durante a viagem
João Pinto

 

[eva]

Can anyone tell me if there is a page with the Roll Call for this cruise. If there is could you let me know what page it is on.
We did the transatlantic in May of 2007 and there was a page with every ones
Dis board name, cabin number, number of children in the cabin and ages.
I am trying to get my FE gifts and would like to know approximately how many to get.

Thanks
Martha

Unfortunately, no. It had been just Karen and me for so long that we really didn't need one. But over the last two or so months everyone started coming out of the woodwork. If someone would like to start one, that would be great!

 

[Jpinto]

I don´t know if this is supposed to be done this way, but I volunteer to start roll calling.
Are we supposed tro give first names also? If so I will add mine later bellow.

Jpinto Cabin 2620 4 people : me, DW, DS 11, DD 9.

 

[liberty6201]

I don´t know if this is supposed to be done this way, but I volunteer to start roll calling.
Are we supposed tro give first names also? If so I will add mine later bellow.

Jpinto Cabin 2620 4 people : me, DW, DS 11, DD 9.

LOL i was just logging on to say i don't mind either!! Not sure what to do but i copied and pasted your details and then added mine so it keeps all the names together- hope it works ok...

Jpinto Cabin 2620 4 people : me, DW, DS 11, DD 9
Liberty6201 Cabin 2110, 3ppl: me(Nikki), DS6 (Jackson), DS2 (Ethan)

Looking forward to seeing who we have!! We are getting mega excited now!

 

[eva]

It will be DH (Steve - 46) and me (Eva - 47). We are empty nesters, so no kids.

 

[MGrant]

LOL i was just logging on to say i don't mind either!! Not sure what to do but i copied and pasted your details and then added mine so it keeps all the names together- hope it works ok...

Jpinto Cabin 2620 4 people : me, DW, DS 11, DD 9
Liberty6201 Cabin 2110, 3ppl: me(Nikki), DS6 (Jackson), DS2 (Ethan)
Looking forward to seeing who we have!! We are getting mega excited now!

Jpinto Cabin 2620 4 people : me, DW, DS 11, DD 9
Liberty6201 Cabin 2110, 3ppl: me(Nikki), DS6 (Jackson), DS2 (Ethan)
Grant Cabin 2632 4 people me, BG, DS 11, DD 10

 

[MGrant]

I am preatty new to Disboards also... I hope one of the DB Veterans can light things up for us.

Now a welcome message for Grant in our home language ( apologies for other DB members).... Bem vindo a BORDO. Será um grande prazer conhece-los durante a viagem
João Pinto

Joao, I am incredibly embarassed, my Portugues is not as good as your English-we are looking forward to meeting your family.. the kids are very close in age. Have you booked any tours?