Back from June 16 Med Cruise

[earpiemom]

We are finally back from the 6-16 Med Cruise. We had an amazing cruise. We had difficulties getting home due to problems in New York with storms. We finally made it though. I hope to post a trip report soon but will be glad to answer any questions. I know I clung to every word I could read before we left trying to decide about excursions. Here is what we did and I will be happy to answer any questions.

Palermo - Disney tour Sights of Palermo

Naples - Shared private driver with another family we met on disboards

Olbia - Went into town on our own (There is a free shuttle that takes you according to Disney into town. That is not exactly a good description in my opinion. We were taken to the end of the road that leads to the ship and still had a litttle ways to go into town. There was a lot of construction going on.

Rome - Disney tour of Jumping Back into Eternal Rome

LaSpezia - Disney tour Pisa and we also went into town there on our own

Marseille - Little Train on our own

Villefranche - Disney tour Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze

 

[AnnaS]

We are finally back from the 6-16 Med Cruise. We had an amazing cruise. We had difficulties getting home due to problems in New York with storms. We finally made it though. I hope to post a trip report soon but will be glad to answer any questions. I know I clung to every word I could read before we left trying to decide about excursions. Here is what we did and I will be happy to answer any questions.

Palermo - Disney tour Sights of Palermo

Naples - Shared private driver with another family we met on disboards

Olbia - Went into town on our own (There is a free shuttle that takes you according to Disney into town. That is not exactly a good description in my opinion. We were taken to the end of the road that leads to the ship and still had a litttle ways to go into town. There was a lot of construction going on.

Rome - Disney tour of Jumping Back into Eternal Rome

LaSpezia - Disney tour Pisa and we also went into town there on our own

Marseille - Little Train on our own

Villefranche - Disney tour Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze

Welcome back. Would love to hear about your Pisa tour (this is the dcl short one, yes? We were originally booked on the Florence and Pisa and decided to cancel since no one wanted to be on a bus/car/van for 2 1/2 hrs. Would love to hear your experience on this.

We are also booked on the Monaco, Monte Carle and Eze with DCL. Would love to hear your comments/suggestions/should have known.

How was the weather? Will the men be okay w/shorts on excursions? (yes, below the knees also).

We have all dcl tours booked except for Palermo (we are meeting family). How much euors did you bring? We are a family of five (maybe four, not sure if son can make it) - was it enough? Where did you get the best rate?

Thank you and welcome back.

 

[earpiemom]

Anna,
Yes, the Pisa tour was the short one. We took the tender over and then went into town on our own for about an hour. It was beautiful there in town. Disney had a tent area set up with water and then we signed in at a table just right above it. Boarded the bus for about a hour ride to Pisa. We parked in the public parking area and then walked to Pisa. This was a pretty good little walk. I am guessing maybe 1/2 to 3/4 a mile walk. We had a tour guide meet us at Pisa. She took us into the Cathedral first and then inside the Baptistery. The Baptistery was very simple inside but beautiful as well. At a certain time (maybe 1/2 past the hour or on the hour - someone comes out and sings in the middle of the Baptistery). It was amazing. Then we had free time to walk around, purchase souvenirs or get a snack. Probably about 30 -45 minutes. We did not climb the Pisa. Then we walked back to the bus.

Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze was very good. We toured the inside of Monaco Palace , saw the changing of the guard, ate lunch at Cafe de Paris which was absolutely wonderful. We had about 30 minutes in the Casino and then went to Eze. We chose not to climb up into the actual village and stayed at the bottom and just walked around. It was a very steep climb.This tour was supposed to be around 8 - 8 1/2 hours but ours turned into about 10hours. Our guide didn't realize we were supposed to go inside the palace and tour and we got behind. We didn't get back to the ship until 7 and we were very hot and sweaty so we didn't make it to the show that night and just ate at Topsiders.

The weather was hot and my dh and ds were fine with shorts but they were checked at most of the churches to make sure they were below the knee.

We took $800 euros. We had to pay for our private tour which was $250 euros plus tip. We were a family of four. We also did two other ports on our own which required having Euros. I had got them from our bank before we left as I feared having trouble getting them there. We would have been fine to get them at an ATM machine there. I paid I think the rate of $1.41 from our bank with a $10 handling fee.

If you think of anything else just let me know I will be glad to answer. I am still just jet lagged so please excuse misspellings and grammar.

 

[AnnaS]

Thank you so much.

One more question - just out of curiosity. Did DCL do a great/nice job with the med. experience? Was it worth all the hype.

I can't wait. I don't want to build my expectations too high. I don't want to be disappointed like we were w/the West Coast Cruise. It had absolutely nothing to do with DCL though but rather the weather.

Thank you again.

 

[earpiemom]

Anna,
This probably isn't a good answer to your question but yes and no. For my family we booked this trip like 6 weeks out when the rates dropped. We had done the 7 night last summer and was familiar with the Med cruise. We just really couldn't afford or justify it for us this summer. When the rates dropped though we couldn't hardly not do it. With that said I totally consumed my whole life for 6 weeks trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. This was a "trip of a lifetime" for us. With the airfare being so expensive I knew we may never be able to go back there. We had a fabulous time and for us the Disney experience was great but I don't know that working yourself into a frenzy like I did is a good thing. I think sometimes with Disney we expect the "magic" to be more than we could ever possibly get. The only thing for us that was so negative is with so many ports and thinking in your mind that you may never be able to go back you try to do too much and are just exhausted. I think too that because such a big hype is made about the trip you maybe expect too much to begin with. I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have. I also have all of the navigators and brochures that they gave us with information. If you will pm me with your address I will be glad to mail you copies of those if you would like them.

 

[AnnaS]

Anna,
This probably isn't a good answer to your question but yes and no. For my family we booked this trip like 6 weeks out when the rates dropped. We had done the 7 night last summer and was familiar with the Med cruise. We just really couldn't afford or justify it for us this summer. When the rates dropped though we couldn't hardly not do it. With that said I totally consumed my whole life for 6 weeks trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. This was a "trip of a lifetime" for us. With the airfare being so expensive I knew we may never be able to go back there. We had a fabulous time and for us the Disney experience was great but I don't know that working yourself into a frenzy like I did is a good thing. I think sometimes with Disney we expect the "magic" to be more than we could ever possibly get. The only thing for us that was so negative is with so many ports and thinking in your mind that you may never be able to go back you try to do too much and are just exhausted. I think too that because such a big hype is made about the trip you maybe expect too much to begin with. I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have. I also have all of the navigators and brochures that they gave us with information. If you will pm me with your address I will be glad to mail you copies of those if you would like them.

Wow - we booked ours in April 06 as soon as it was announced. We had heard rumors though even before we went on our 3rd dcl cruise (West coast). We have on-board credit, booked one cabin with our dvc points and have about $450 in disney reward dollars. I have been saving for this "big one" for two years. I know we cannot do everything and we want to enjoy it. One of the main reasons we cancelled the Florence & Pisa. My kids (21, 19 and 14) do not want to sit on a bus more than two hours each way so I now have just the short Pisa tour. I hope I made the right decision. I do not want to have 10 hour excursion each port day. The airfare and excursions are the killer for us. Now my oldest son might not be able to come. He might be getting hired for a permanent f/t position. He is on the third step. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Palermo we are meeting my relatives (my hometown). They will pick us up and we will drive to my hometown. I thank you. I would love to look at the navigators. They have been posted on-line but one site was hard to look at. I would love to look at them when I am in my car waiting for my daughter to come out from one of her practices. I will pm you with my address if you don't mind.