booked DCL Med Cruise - HELP!

[wen-tom]

HI everyone,

I rather impulsively booked at 11 night med cruise over the weekend. We hadn't given it much thought but I saw a good price and just went for it

Now that's not like me at all. I usually think, think and then think about thinking about it but for some reason my finger clicked book and now I'm panicking

I'm excited and worried all at the same time. The cruise is June 18th and I have never cruised before.

Can anyone help me. I posted in the cruise board but I wanted to see if any of us UK-ers has experienced it.

I will hopefully fly into Barcelona on the 17th June so will need a hotel for a night.

I just dont know where to start...

what do i need to plan. All I have decided is that I wanted main seating for dinner and I dont even know why I decided that

Do I need the port adventures or are there some ports than you can do alone? I have been to Rome and Naples before so I can probably manage these 2.

DH is seriously worried about the formal night and semi formal nights onboard as he hates dressing up and I dont even think he owns a suit How formal is formal and what is semi formal?

ohh my... why have i done this

 

[mandymouse]

Wendy, I am going to pop this over on the UK Trip Planning forums, where I am sure you will get lots of help.

I think your first stop should be to read some of last years trip reports, as a few people sailed from Barcelona

Corinna did a Med cruise here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=36586225&posted=1#post36586225

Then Corinna and Sarah wrote trip reports from Barcelona back to Port Canaveral

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2575858

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2579423

My trip report was from the Caribbean, but you will see how we coped with formal night here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2611407

I'm sure there are more reports, just check out the index at the top of the Trip Report forums

Happy planning, and I'm hoping to get hubby to take the 11 night Med Cruise at the end of May

 

[wen-tom]

thank you Mandy

Of course I should have posted in trip planning My head is all over the place with the panic

I'm heading right to those threads now....

 

[mandymouse]

Don't forget to check out your Cruise Meets thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2411375 you will pick up lots of advice and ideas on there too

 

[wayneg]

Probably the best snap decision you have ever made. If anything like us you will love cruising, especially Disney cruising.

Can't help much with European ports as our cruises have been from Port Canaveral.
Dress code is not as strict as it is with other cruiselines, formal night you will see some dressed in a tux, others in polo shirts, personally I wear a shirt and tie, no jacket. Pic below how we looked for one formal night.
Many of us have cruised so just ask anything you want to know. someone will answer.

 

[disneyholic family]

we're like Wayne - formal night is more of a guideline than a rule for us...
DH refuses to bring a suit on holiday - so that rules out a tux

although if you do want a tux, i think there might be a tux rental on board....i know some cruise lines have that.....anyone know if disney does?

and i agree - great decision!!! you're going to LOVE cruising!!!!!! especially disney cruising!!!!

is this the cruise that visits tunisia? i would guess that might not be included this time...

 

[wayneg]

This is the site DCL direct you to for formal wear rental.

http://www.cruiselineformal.com/cf_pages/packages.php?c=dcl

 

[janiebubble]

we rather impulsively booked a Med cruise for this summer too

we're not going till July though so I'm not going to be much use to you ..

we're staying at the Novotel Barcelona City which many people seem to recommend and it wasn't very expensive http://www.novotel.com/gb/hotel-5560-novotel-barcelona-city/index.shtml

there is a great trip report on the DCL Section from someone who did the 11 day Med cruise last year and did all her own port trips - it is what inspired me to book ... have a read http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2485312

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

HI everyone,

I rather impulsively booked at 11 night med cruise over the weekend. We hadn't given it much thought but I saw a good price and just went for it

Now that's not like me at all. I usually think, think and then think about thinking about it but for some reason my finger clicked book and now I'm panicking

I'm excited and worried all at the same time. The cruise is June 18th and I have never cruised before.

Can anyone help me. I posted in the cruise board but I wanted to see if any of us UK-ers has experienced it.

I will hopefully fly into Barcelona on the 17th June so will need a hotel for a night.

I just dont know where to start...

what do i need to plan. All I have decided is that I wanted main seating for dinner and I dont even know why I decided that

Do I need the port adventures or are there some ports than you can do alone? I have been to Rome and Naples before so I can probably manage these 2.

DH is seriously worried about the formal night and semi formal nights onboard as he hates dressing up and I dont even think he owns a suit How formal is formal and what is semi formal?

ohh my... why have i done this

Ohh I think you will love it!! We did a Caribbean cruise in 2009 and have another one booked for 2012 . . . we got on so well with a lot of the people from our DIS cruise thread we are doing it with them again!!!

Formal night is fun - my husband wore a suit rather than a dinner jacket and was fine in that. If he is really worried though you can also go to the counter-service type places that night. I loved dressing up for it though!!!

Do you have children? I must confess we booked the late dinner seating just because we figured most parents would book the earliest one to get their children to bed at a reasonable time! Plus it gave us time in the ports without having to worry about getting back and getting ready for dinner too soon.

Haven't done the Med cruise so no help on the specifics but you will have a fab time - customer care on the cruise was the best I have ever received anywhere!

 

[gemmybear83]

Another one here who loved our disney cruise! It was our first cruise experience and it was amazing, the customer service is better than anything we have had - we were so spolit!

For formal evenings we did not see anyone wearing tuxes, my husband wore a suit and I work a maxi evening dress, everyone made an effort but I didnt see any ladies in ballgowns etc. I would have felt very out of place if I was that dressed up.

I would just do a bit of reseach about what you want to do at the ports. Barcelona port for example is in the city so you could do your own thing very easily.

I'm not the biggest fan of organised excursions but we did do one through disney and it was great - incredibly organised.

I would buy the passporter disney cruise guide - it is fantastic for trip planning and provides lots of information on the ports and reviews of the port adventures etc.

 

[wen-tom]

hi everyone

Thanks so much for all of your responses.

I am starting to relax a little

The cruise is set to stop at Tunisia so it will be interesting to see what DCL do there. I was looking forward to this port. I wouldnt have thought that disney have decided anything yet.

I have reassured DH about formal night I think he can manage trousers and a shirt/tie. He has to wear that for work. I think I will quite enjoy getting a bit dressed up.

Can anyone tell me how the meals work? do they assign you a table and table mates and tell you where you eat & when? This is what I am finding really hard to figure out. We dont have children but we do like to relax after we eat and so we thought that we would rather watch a show/go to a bar after we eat than before.

Also, are you allowed to bring things back on board when you stop at the ports? I saw on another thread that people were able to bring wine & spirits back on board - is this right?

sorry for so many questions..

I'm sure i'll have a thousand more before we set sail

 

[wayneg]

When you arrive in your cabin there will be a card, it will have your dinner rotation and table number, you just follow the card which restaurant you will be in, same table number in each, same table mates and same servers.

We prefer to eat around 6pm then goto a show and finish the evening off relaxing, last cruise ended most our evenings in the Promenade lounge.

Not sure what the rules are for Euro cruises but we take onboard a bottle of vodka at Port Canaveral. Don't know about the ports.

 

[gemmybear83]

If you don't want to sit with tablemates for dinner (we didnt!), you can request a table for 2. We had the second sitting as there were far less children and we could stay out longer. There were a few others around us that had tables for 2, and I have not read of anyone that has had their request refused.

I hope the situation in Tunisia calms down and you get to go (if not I am sure DCL will change the route slightly, they did for Mexico during swine flu for example). We went to Tunisia 3 years ago and loved it

 

[wen-tom]

Thanks Wayne, hopefully someone who has done our cruise will be able to help me with what I can take on board at the ports...

oh i'm not sure whether i want table mates or not really

I'll have to have a think about that one. How do you request a table for 2?

I have seen a few reviews of character breakfasts. is that an extra?

Should I book Palo? Is it as good as people say?

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

Thanks Wayne, hopefully someone who has done our cruise will be able to help me with what I can take on board at the ports...

oh i'm not sure whether i want table mates or not really

I'll have to have a think about that one. How do you request a table for 2?

I have seen a few reviews of character breakfasts. is that an extra?

Should I book Palo? Is it as good as people say?

You can just email Disney cruiseline to request sitting alone!

The character breakfast is included! You get one per cruise (or did on the caribbean one!).

Palo brunch is to die for! Dinner was also good, but if I had to choose one it would definitely be brunch . . . I'm pretty sure its the only reason I've booked another cruise!!!!

 

[wayneg]

If you don't want to sit with tablemates for dinner (we didnt!), you can request a table for 2. We had the second sitting as there were far less children and we could stay out longer. There were a few others around us that had tables for 2, and I have not read of anyone that has had their request refused.

This would be DW if she had her way.
Part of cruising to me is meeting other people, we have met some great people at cruise dinner tables, one family invited us to their home in Clermont, took us to their golf club for lunch.

Palo was amazing, we waited until our 5th Cruise and DS was old enough to be left, well worth the wait, like Sonya says go for Brunch.
A few pics here.

 

[wen-tom]

YUM! Palo looks amazing.

DH would prefer to eat alone but I think i would like to chat to other people so I think i will just not tell him that we had the option to dine alone

Do you chose where you eat breakfast or is this on the rotation aswell?

what about snacks? I guess there are quick meal options? sorry to talk about food so much

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

YUM! Palo looks amazing.

DH would prefer to eat alone but I think i would like to chat to other people so I think i will just not tell him that we had the option to dine alone

Do you chose where you eat breakfast or is this on the rotation aswell?

what about snacks? I guess there are quick meal options? sorry to talk about food so much

Ha ha! Me and Wayne are good at discussing food!!! We are soul mates food wise!

Breakfast - if it runs like the Caribbean cruise- you get the one rotered character breakfast. Other than that you can go to any restaurant or buffet, or order it on room service (room service is available 24 hours and is free of charge!). Same with lunch - you can go to a restaurant, buffet, or one of the quick service place around the pool. Snacks are available on room service 24 hours, and the snack / quick service locations have long opening hours - from memory I would say 10am - 11pm? The only place you pay for food is Palo and the snack place outside the theatre where you can buy candies (we got so many sweets in our fish extender we didn't have to buy any though!!) . Dinner - as well as your rotered restaurant they also have a buffet open every night and the quick service places! Sooo much choice. And that's not to mention the midnight dessert buffet . . .!!!

 

[wayneg]

Don't worry about food, there is Breakfast, lunch, Dinner, snacks, Chocolate buffets, pizza, fruit, sandwiches, ice cream....... if your still hungry 24 hour free room service(just tip a couple of $'s)
We goto the buffet for breakfast but you can eat in the TS restaurants either
Have a look here http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/cruise-new/cr-dining.htm

 

[wayneg]

Can you tell myself and Sonya can't post quick enough when it comes to food. Only problem is I put the weight on for both of us, I have no idea how someone so small eats so much