August 7th, 2010 Mediterranean Cruise

[Travelbee]

What a bummer... so many are jumping/have jumped ship. Are the prices for other ships REALLY that much better? The last I checked, I found I could get a balcony for the same price as our Cat 10, but that's about it. We are also considering the Alaska cruise in 2011 but will keep this one as well. We can't book until Monday but we're hoping to still snatch a SPH... anyone know if they are still available for any of the sail dates?

 

[bellelinus]

What a bummer... so many are jumping/have jumped ship. Are the prices for other ships REALLY that much better? The last I checked, I found I could get a balcony for the same price as our Cat 10, but that's about it. We are also considering the Alaska cruise in 2011 but will keep this one as well. We can't book until Monday but we're hoping to still snatch a SPH... anyone know if they are still available for any of the sail dates?

If the only people booking are on Disboards, there are, since you can look at the list of what people booked and see that there are only a few snagged -- but of course there are others who would book. I'm not sure how widely those SPH are known, though. I hope you get what you want!

 

[jd99]

Hi all.
We are finally into real planning mode now. Travel agent telling me it's time to get our air, hotels, etc as we are heading to greece for a week before this cruise. Wondering where folks are staying in Barcelona. We are looking at the Hotel Arts Barcelona (the Ritz). Anyone else with any suggestions?
jeff

 

[bellelinus]

Hi all.
We are finally into real planning mode now. Travel agent telling me it's time to get our air, hotels, etc as we are heading to greece for a week before this cruise. Wondering where folks are staying in Barcelona. We are looking at the Hotel Arts Barcelona (the Ritz). Anyone else with any suggestions?
jeff

I think that's one of the hotels DCl uses, and fairly close to the port (near the end of Las Ramblas) but this time I may not be staying at a hotel in Barcelona (will already be on the ship and may leave the day we get off). For my Med cruise in 2007 I stayed at Hotel Continental Palacete, at the top of Las Ramblas just north of Placa Catalunya, and loved it. It was easy to get a taxi from there to the port.

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Well, there is no turning back now. We booked our airfare for the cruise yesterday to Barcelona! Now the trip actually feels not as far away...at least I can say less than a year now . We are also booked at Hotel 1898 for two nights before the cruise. Can't wait!

 

[Travelbee]

Well, there is no turning back now. We booked our airfare for the cruise yesterday to Barcelona! Now the trip actually feels not as far away...at least I can say less than a year now . We are also booked at Hotel 1898 for two nights before the cruise. Can't wait!

That's awesome. I'm monitoring airfare. So far we're looking at $1200/pp so we're hoping for a sale between now and August!

 

[Travelbee]

We've decided to postpone this trip because the same itinerary is $2000 cheaper in 2011. I just email my TA to cancel this one. Hope you all have a great trip... I'll be looking for the trip reports. Anyone wants to snatch up a SPH room (5020), it should be back in the inventory in a day or so when TA process the cancellation.

 

[bellelinus]

We've decided to postpone this trip because the same itinerary is $2000 cheaper in 2011. I just email my TA to cancel this one. Hope you all have a great trip... I'll be looking for the trip reports. Anyone wants to snatch up a SPH room (5020), it should be back in the inventory in a day or so when TA process the cancellation.

That is strange that it is so much cheaper in 2011 . . . maybe we will end up seeing some discounts on this one?

 

[RJAYL]

That is strange that it is so much cheaper in 2011 . . . maybe we will end up seeing some discounts on this one?

 

[Travelbee]

That is strange that it is so much cheaper in 2011 . . . maybe we will end up seeing some discounts on this one?

I don't understand it either. My guess is the fuel price has come down drastically and with the new ship in 2011, there's more inventory? Well, we're getting the same stateroom category for much less, I just couldn't pass up. Besides DD will be another year older (almost 9) and may get more out of a trip like that. We did have to cancel our Alaska reservation to make room for it though.

 

[gpb_1]

For those of us still on this cruise, I just realised that we could be in for a bit of a treat over a couple of nights. The Perseid meteor shower is due on the 12-13 August 2010, and being out to sea on the 13th may be the perfect place to see the shooting stars, which peak at about one a minute.

 

[bellelinus]

For those of us still on this cruise, I just realised that we could be in for a bit of a treat over a couple of nights. The Perseid meteor shower is due on the 12-13 August 2010, and being out to sea on the 13th may be the perfect place to see the shooting stars, which peak at about one a minute.

You are right -- that could be spectacular! Let's hope for clear skies . . .

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Not sure if any of you have done the Fish Extenders for past cruises...we haven't. Though I have been reading a lot about it and how fun it is. I was out today shopping and saw a bunch of great gifts and picked them up. Am I crazy? Our cruise is 9 months away! I am hoping we can get some more people committed to this cruise so we can organize a Fish Extender Exchange...or I am going to have a lot of Disney gifts hanging around

 

[bellelinus]

Not sure if any of you have done the Fish Extenders for past cruises...we haven't. Though I have been reading a lot about it and how fun it is. I was out today shopping and saw a bunch of great gifts and picked them up. Am I crazy? Our cruise is 9 months away! I am hoping we can get some more people committed to this cruise so we can organize a Fish Extender Exchange...or I am going to have a lot of Disney gifts hanging around

I've always participated and would love to on this one, too . . .

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Cool Julie...so we have two cabins

 

[Allesma]

Our family is also joining this cruise DH,DD14(at the time of cruise) and DD8 and me. We live in Europe, and in Feb we will do our first cruise evera four night Bahama cruise and this cruise will be our second.
Booked first tier, dec 2008 so I'm following this thread for some time now. Read a lot the past weeks, at several boards. We would also like to join the FE. See if we can bring some DLP items for you or some typically Dutch.

 

[bellelinus]

Our family is also joining this cruise DH,DD14(at the time of cruise) and DD8 and me. We live in Europe, and in Feb we will do our first cruise evera four night Bahama cruise and this cruise will be our second.
Booked first tier, dec 2008 so I'm following this thread for some time now. Read a lot the past weeks, at several boards. We would also like to join the FE. See if we can bring some DLP items for you or some typically Dutch.

Welcome aboard!

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Glad to see more people joining this sailing! Allesma I will have two boys traveling on this cruise around your daughters age (ages 7 and 9)

 

[jd99]

Hey everyone. This thread was on page four so I thought I'd bump us. We are now looking at airfare (yikes) and though we originally planned to go to Greece for a week to visit the relatives before the sailing, the logistics are proving to be a little too complicated and the time away from my business (i'm a sole proprieter) a bit too much. So it is with a lot of sadness that we are going to skip Greece this time and just cruise. Greece will have to be our next summer's trip. The good news is that my DD11 has (for sure) one and possibly 2 friends from our community who are also on this cruise!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are heading to WDW and a 7 night Western Caribbean next week!

 

[Allesma]

Oops did not visit this page for some days. Lisa, our DD8 is a girl scout and has a lot of boyfriends so she probably will get along with your sons. I expect them to have a lot of fun during the cruise. Does anyone have experience with the kids clubs?

Oh, and we booked our flight. We are arriving in Barcelona on the 6th late in the evening, stay at the Frontair Congress near the airport (shopping Mall right across for the Cava and other spirits) for aprox 100 $ for the four of us. Next morning we will take a taxi to the boat.

Are you already making reservations in the ports? We've decided to go to Herculaneum, do a trip in Tunesia, wander around in Malta, but I haven't made reservations yet.