August 7th, 2010 Mediterranean Cruise

[IrishCowboy]

Subscribing

 

[Allesma]

Welcome!

I'm wondering who's still around and if we should start a list of members/dining time/participating in the FEE etc?

Have a Disney Day!

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Hi -

Now that the port excursions have been posted for our cruise it finally feels real! I am a little disappointed that some of the port excursions have an age requirement that starts at age 8 since my youngest DS will be turning 8 that next month. I did send an email to DCL to see how strict they are on that, but from what I hear, they stand by the age requirement. We have private tours already scheduled for three of the ports (Naples, Florence, Rome), but I am having fun going through the others to see what fun things there are to do.

As for the kids clubs, my boys have been on two other Disney cruises, but on the Wonder for a short period of time. They did enjoy the clubs and we have only good things to say about our experience. We hope to use them a bit more this time around so me and my DH can go out in the evening more often.

I had booked airfare a while back when I was watching it increase a bit. I couldn't take it anymore, so my DH and I agreed to book it. The hotel is booked too at Hotel 1898. We arrive the morning of 8/5 for two nights. So we are in pretty good shape. We also have friends who are moving to Barcelona next month, so we will be visiting with them as well.

I would love to participate in a FE for those who are interested! If you want me to keep track, I can organize it. Just forward me the following info:

Names
Kids Ages
Stateroom

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[jd99]

Started looking at excursions last night. Since we've never been to Europe before (well.. my wife has but not me or the kids) we are looking seriously at some of the cool family friendly excursions that DCL is offering, especially in Rome and Florence. Wow are they expensive but worth it to know that it's safe and we'll make it back to the ship in time AND that there are kids' activities geared to the location.

Heading off tomorrow for WDW and a Western Caribbean sailing. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Started looking at excursions last night. Since we've never been to Europe before (well.. my wife has but not me or the kids) we are looking seriously at some of the cool family friendly excursions that DCL is offering, especially in Rome and Florence. Wow are they expensive but worth it to know that it's safe and we'll make it back to the ship in time AND that there are kids' activities geared to the location.

Heading off tomorrow for WDW and a Western Caribbean sailing. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Have fun...so jealous!

 

[NCDISFAM]

We are on the Aug 7th 11 night Med. This will be our 7th DCL cruise and first one in Europe. Dad, Mom, 2 girls (20 and 15), and boy (12). We plan on doing all ports on our own using trains, buses, subways, and taxis. The excursion prices are outragous. It is going to take a lot of planning, but will save us thousands. If anyone is interested in working on this together let me know. It might be fun to be a traveler rather than a tourist.

 

[dustermom02]

Hello!

It looks like we really will be joining you in August. I booked at this time last year, but I just traded in ALL our frequent flyer miles we've been saving up for the last 17 years for 5 tickets to Barcelona, so I feel like its really going to happen now.

We will be a group of 9. My family of 5 and both my parents and my inlaws. We're on deck 6 with my parents. They have a veranda and we're inside across the hall. My in-laws don't yet know where they will be as they signed on a few months after us and will get a cabin number later. We are big chickens and will be doing all Disney tours rather than attempting it on our own. And I just added up the cost of the tours - ouch - but it should be worth it because the ports look fabulous.

We'll be flying in a day early and staying at the Marriott -with points again - the night before we depart. And dh and I will be celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary on 8/8 so that should be a wonderful time. I saw someone else is celebrating 30 years on this cruise - just amazing!

I'm a big worrier and am already thinking about packing. We did a Thanksgiving cruise to the eastern Caribbean last month and I was horribly embarrassed by how many suitcases we had. We just didn't know wether it would be hot or cold or what, so I over packed in a really bad way.

I'm not on the boards very often but will check in every couple weeks. Please do count us in for FE's and we would love to meet up with the group. We had such fun with the group at Thanksgiving with the FE's and matching t-shirts to identify everyone. It was a real treat and we'd love to do it again.

 

[Allesma]

Hi Paula,
Altough we are fom Europe we also do not want to take the risk in Tunis o Italy because we do not speak the language etc. and decided to go for some Disney excursions, also because the price did not differ that much from the local euro prices.

Nice to see that so much people are joining the FEE!

New question for everybody do you have main or late dining? And why..
We took main, but I'm doubting now because of the many nice excursions in the ports......

ps I also tend to overpack, but because we fly in we only can carry 2 bags/suitcases each so I'm also already planning. Plan for hot/humid weather with thin vest for the evenings/inside the ship.

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

We have always had main dining, but I am also thinking there will be a lot of rushing to dinner this time around. Though, I don't think my boys would make it to late dining, they are use to eating early.

As for excursions, we are doing three private tours - all for Italy. We hired Romeminlimo. We will do a few DCL excursions and then try to hit a beach on our own when we are in Corscia.

Anyone have any DCL excursions they are looking forward too? Would love to hear your thoughts on what is being offered by DCL.

 

[dustermom02]

We are also main dining. My family is used to eating at 5pm. Of course that is EST and I have no idea how mixed up our bodies will be with the time difference in Europe. Our experience has been that the Disney Dining is really fantastic, but we will be concentrating on the ports this time, and we've already discussed it and if we don't make it back for meals on time, we will hit the buffet at Topsiders or if we're really exhausted, room service. I also think we'll be doing a lot of 1/2 day tours - aside from Italy - so we shouldn't miss our scheduled dining too often.

Does anyone know when we can schedule the shore excursions? I know our final bill is due April 8th. Does anyone know if there is an earlier date for Castaway Club members to pay and book the excursions?

And how about schedules for Formal night/Semi-Formal night and Pirate night? I've been meaning to check the Navigators from a couple years ago, but i haven't had a chance. Has anyone else checked into that yet?

 

[Allesma]

We are also main dining. My family is used to eating at 5pm. Of course that is EST and I have no idea how mixed up our bodies will be with the time difference in Europe. Our experience has been that the Disney Dining is really fantastic, but we will be concentrating on the ports this time, and we've already discussed it and if we don't make it back for meals on time, we will hit the buffet at Topsiders or if we're really exhausted, room service. I also think we'll be doing a lot of 1/2 day tours - aside from Italy - so we shouldn't miss our scheduled dining too often.

Does anyone know when we can schedule the shore excursions? I know our final bill is due April 8th. Does anyone know if there is an earlier date for Castaway Club members to pay and book the excursions?

And how about schedules for Formal night/Semi-Formal night and Pirate night? I've been meaning to check the Navigators from a couple years ago, but i haven't had a chance. Has anyone else checked into that yet?

Yep already checked,
7 aug Sat Barcelona, Spain.......... 4:00 p.m.
8 aug Sun At Sea.........
9 aug Mon Valletta, Malta... 8:30 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
10 aug Tues Tunis, Tunisia.... 8:30 a.m. 4:00 p.m.
11 aug Wed Naples, Italy.... 8:30 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
12 aug Thurs Civitavecchia.... 7:45 a.m. 9:00 p.m.
13 aug Fri At Sea..........Shooting Stars The Perseids
14 aug Sat La Spezia, Italy.. 7:30 a.m. 7:30 p.m. Tender
15 aug Sun Ajaccio, Corsica.. 7:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m. Assumption of Mary
16 aug Mon Villefranche.... 8:00 a.m. 7:00 p.m. Tender
17 aug Tues At Sea
18 aug Wed Barcelona, Spain 7:00 a.m.

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.

Sea days are also Semi and Formal days. We intend to pack slacks and smoking for DH and 1 formal and 2 semi dresses for me and the girls. We also plan to dress for Pirates night.

greetings,
Allesma

 

[dustermom02]

Thanks Allesma! I was wondering what the schedule would be. I didn't realize there would be 2 semi-formal nights. And it looks like formal night will be on our anniversary, so that will be fun. We have pirate t-shirts that we will wear to pirate night because I can't convince my family to go in costume.

Lisa - you are on the August 2011 Dream cruise with the group we met on the Eastern at Thanksgiving! They were a wonderful group of people. They probably already have a thread started for the cruise. Icemanpad (Chuck), was the person that started the thread at t-giving. They were a very active group with lots of things planned and a mini-navigator with the whole group listed. And the FE gifts were amazingly creative.

Julie - did you make the Baltic Ballyhoo in your signature? I love it! I was just telling dh we need to come up with a name for this cruise. He's the more creative one when it comes to that type of thing.

Has anyone ever taken the overnight train from Barcelona to Paris? My ds and my dad love trains. Ds has already been checking books out of the library about all the trains in Europe.

 

[bellelinus]

Julie - did you make the Baltic Ballyhoo in your signature? I love it! I was just telling dh we need to come up with a name for this cruise. He's the more creative one when it comes to that type of thing.

Has anyone ever taken the overnight train from Barcelona to Paris? My ds and my dad love trains. Ds has already been checking books out of the library about all the trains in Europe.

No, I can't take credit for the Baltic Ballyhoo logo -- a very creative person on that thread (who is now not even going on the cruise) did it . . .

When I went from Barcelona to Paris in 2007, I flew (EasyJet) so I'm not sure about the trains . . .

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Thanks Allesma! I was wondering what the schedule would be. I didn't realize there would be 2 semi-formal nights. And it looks like formal night will be on our anniversary, so that will be fun. We have pirate t-shirts that we will wear to pirate night because I can't convince my family to go in costume.

Lisa - you are on the August 2011 Dream cruise with the group we met on the Eastern at Thanksgiving! They were a wonderful group of people. They probably already have a thread started for the cruise. Icemanpad (Chuck), was the person that started the thread at t-giving. They were a very active group with lots of things planned and a mini-navigator with the whole group listed. And the FE gifts were amazingly creative.

Julie - did you make the Baltic Ballyhoo in your signature? I love it! I was just telling dh we need to come up with a name for this cruise. He's the more creative one when it comes to that type of thing.

Has anyone ever taken the overnight train from Barcelona to Paris? My ds and my dad love trains. Ds has already been checking books out of the library about all the trains in Europe.

Hi -

Yes, I have joined up with a great group for the August 2011 Dream Cruise. It is a very active bunch and boy do they like to chat Someone from the group also created a website for our cruise - it is fantastic! Members of the group have family pages on the site as well. The Fish Exchange also already has a ton of members. I feel like I need to start thinking now of something creative to keep up with them!

My family will also not dress up on Pirate Night, but I found some cute pirate shirts for the kids that they will wear. I am sure I can also come up with something pirate-themed for my DH and I to wear.

My friends just moved to Barcelona today, so I am looking forward to getting all her little tips from her Blog as the months go on. We are lucky to be able to visit them when we stop over to take this cruise.

Happy New Year everyone!

 

[fcspiro]

Hi, Our family will also be joining all of you!!

We just confirmed yesterday and put our deposit down. There will be five of us.....me and DH, DS's ages 5 and 8 (at time of cruising) and my mom.

This is our first Disney cruise. We have been on several Royal Caribbean cruises and a Celebrity cruise last summer to Europe. I have been trying to figure out some of the Disney differences. I finally figured our the Fish Extenders yesterday!

Looking forward to a great cruise with everyone!

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Hi, Our family will also be joining all of you!!

We just confirmed yesterday and put our deposit down. There will be five of us.....me and DH, DS's ages 5 and 8 (at time of cruising) and my mom.

This is our first Disney cruise. We have been on several Royal Caribbean cruises and a Celebrity cruise last summer to Europe. I have been trying to figure out some of the Disney differences. I finally figured our the Fish Extenders yesterday!

Looking forward to a great cruise with everyone!

WELCOME ABOARD!

You are going to love DCL!

 

[abayaflowers]

Due to the bad economy last year, we had to cancel our Carribean cruise. Well, this time, we scrapped by enough money so that we are going! YEAH! 4 of us are going. It's too bad that we can't take our 7 1/2 mos. old Chocolate Lab Anyways, this will be a great vacation for my DH, and my two DDs.

Does anyone know or know someone who have FEDEXed their items over to Barcelona or have it door-to-door delivered? We are traveling from California. We will be arriving a day-before.

See you all there.

 

[emerson7]

Hi All. My family and I will be aboard. myself, my husband, daughter 8 and son 6. We are also traveling with my sister, her daughter 8 and my mother.

We are really looking forward to this trip...

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Hi All. My family and I will be aboard. myself, my husband, daughter 8 and son 6. We are also traveling with my sister, her daughter 8 and my mother.

We are really looking forward to this trip...

Welcome Aboard We also can't wait for the trip!

 

[abayaflowers]

Hi, everyone!

My DH, my DD10, and my DD7 are looking forward to the shore excursions. Has anyone planned their shore excursions. Just curious as to what everyone with children are planning for their children in Malta and Tunis.

If some of you do not know that there is a great packing list that someone put together under Sticky Notes along with other great tips for the shore excursions.

One of my friends who went on a trip to Europe (Adventures by Disney) told me that the suitcases bigger than 2 feet in height were difficult to get them in to the cars and move around the hotels.

I also asked on how to fit in and not stand out as a tourist. She told me that locals do not wear jeans. Women and men wear a lot of black and neutral colors. Leather sandals, shoes.

Also, they did not encounter pick-pocketers or scammers which I am hoping would be also true in our upcoming shore excursions.

Does anyone know if there is a market near the port where we can get a case of bottled water to bring onto the ship?