Embedded ABD on the Med Cruise

[EllinK]

Having been on a med cruise, and taken excursions, as well as DIY, but not ABD, here's my IMHO:
getting off the boat early for all ports would be too taxing for me and certainly my teens. If you're an early riser, not an issue. But being on a bus at 7 likely means meeting at 6:45 or 6:30 and eating by 6.
From the video, you do get to see A LOT (vatican AND colosseum). However, we much prefer mixing long and short days. $5K for 5 ports for 2 is $500 PP/port. The guides look great. But, is it worth the extra $ for getting off the boat 1st, (let's assume) a more engaging guide and the same group of people for each port. On other shore excursions, all of the details are typically taken care of for you, as well, but the guides might be from vendors. I have been on 5 European cruises, both DCL and others and I don't ever recall a "bad" guide and many were excellent. They might be more about imparting historical knowledge, but all were fine, IMHO.
Also, in hot summer, my family wanted to do a shorter day and get back to the boat and enjoy-such as Pompeii without going to Sorrento also.

 

[EllinK]

getting off the boat early for all ports would be too taxing for me and certainly my teens. If you're an early riser, not an issue. But being on a bus at 7 likely means meeting at 6:45 or 6:30 and eating by 6.

I'm with you. What I love about DCL is that you can book great tours in each port but it doesn't have to be as exhausting as an ABD. We actually prefer touring this way -- alternating a long day with a short day -- and we prefer the price point.

 

[bonnielynn]

Speaking for 2 people who just did private tours in 2 ports (Livorno and Civitavecchia)...it IS expensive for just 2. We spent, between the tours and the tips (cause yes, I'm an American an overtip) around $1100-1200 (depending on the Euro, I was able to prepay one in Dec; can't remember what the rate was so estimating). That's about $300/per person/per port.

The pros for doing 2 people tours: 1)total control. I'd had a migraine the first two days of the trip so it was a relief to tell the drivers-"we're done, take us home." 2)Riding in a nice sedan v. a bus. 3) Less walking in Rome...our driver knew Rome's twisty turny roads and alleys very well so he could get us very close (say 1/2 block) from where we wanted to be, park ?illegally and be waiting for us when we were done.

The cons: 1) The expense (see above). 2) No other people...since I'd been ill we really didn't interact with anyone else (missed dinner every night) and if you're a people person...well...3) Someone still has to research and contact the company and make arrangements and decisions. I didn't want to go to Florence in the summer (crowds!) so we went to Cinque Terre and that was sort of a disappointment. So a day in port kind of wasted.

That said, ABDs are still more expensive than private tours (looks like for a 7 day cruise there are 4 port days and it's a little more than $2400/pp so $600/per person/per port. Pros as above-more excursions, ABD guides, snacks, lunches, and as you said a sort of preview of the ABD concept. Cons-$$, still traveling with a group, buses, no control over what you do. Noting that you don't expect to return to the area anytime soon, it might be a definite advantage to doing as much as you can.

Good luck making your decision and have a great cruise

Thank you for the perspective and good wishes.

 

[mathgeek]

We did the first Med ABD embedded of this year. Might have been timing but different from SayHello's experience our meeting times each morning at port between 6:30 and 7:30am. Yes it was early, but Cabana's opens at 6 and then we rested our eyes on the bus journey's to our destination. We were always the first ones walking off the ship and close to the last ones getting back on the ship. They did put us all on late dinner, because no way we would have made it to early dinner. I will say of all of our cruises, this one we probably needed a vacation from after the cruise. We never did spend as much time doing things on the ship as we have done on other cruises, but somehow we did manage to get a lot of Disney ship photos (which is part of our DCL package) We felt the ABD embedded was worth every penny we paid and did not regret doing it. 1) We had multiple Port exerisons in one (Yes you can probably arrange to do this on your own at a cheaper rate), but you don't get the Disney Story telling with this. 2) we made good friends with our fellow adventures, which lead to doing more together on the ship and great discussion during dinners 3) some little surprises that your adventure guides have that you would not get from most tours 4) they are quick to make accommodations (we had several people that could not walk from Lunch to Colosseum , so they arranged a taxi for them and covered the cost)

I was on the 6/30 Med with the embedded ABD and completely agree with this.

My other thoughts...
1. I did this as a solo traveler and am so glad I did since it gave me the opportunity to be with the same people every day and not get lost somewhere in Italy. I also got so many more pictures from the excursions than I would have had I been in some random DCL excursion. Plus I also took advantage of the Shutters package on board and got way more character pics than I've probably ever gotten on my 10 previous cruises.

2. I was concerned about the "on your own" time that was listed on the general itinerary b/c that's often one of my least favorite parts of the land ABD tours. In reality, it was just enough time in Florence to go back to shop at the Disney Store and back to the Duomo to get a few more pics as well as wander around near Monte Carlo and decide I didn't need to pay the 17 euro entrance fee just to say I went on the casino floor.

3. I did manage to do early dining. This worked b/c I planned accordingly. I knew I'd be late on Rome night and figured I'd eat in Cabanas if need be, and I booked a later Palo dinner for the day we were in Florence since those were the two days that had 6:45 pm all aboard times.

4. I went on this cruise for two reasons, to tour these specific locations and do it on DCL. So I wanted to do the ABD to get the most out of it, and I'm very glad I did it this way.

 

[mathgeek]

How is the pace when you add this to the cruise? Do you end up with down time or is it go go go the entire trip?

I found that I had down time, but really only on the sea days and in the evenings because I made time for it. But this was not my first cruise or my first time on the Magic, so I didn't feel it necessary to do as much on the ship as others might have tried to do. You have the Welcome Reception and Farewell Reception on the sea days, but those are each only an hour to 1.5 hours. I managed to see the sail away party and the 3 main theater shows, do a character breakfast, do both the Frozen and princess gatherings, and saw the premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp the night it was released. I also managed to do a lot of character meet & greets. I did however skip the Pirate night fireworks to get some sleep.

 

[bonnielynn]

Thank you to all for your thoughts. I really am leaning towards pulling the trigger and doing it. I have found one vlog, but not many reviews on this kind of ABD and that is what prompted the question. There isn't much out there, that I could find anyway.

 

[AgentMama]

Thank you to all for your thoughts. I really am leaning towards pulling the trigger and doing it. I have found one vlog, but not many reviews on this kind of ABD and that is what prompted the question. There isn't much out there, that I could find anyway.

Oh, could you post a link to the vlog (is that allowed?)?

 

[sayhello]

Thank you to all for your thoughts. I really am leaning towards pulling the trigger and doing it. I have found one vlog, but not many reviews on this kind of ABD and that is what prompted the question. There isn't much out there, that I could find anyway.

I have a trip report for the Med Cruise add-on, the link is in my signature. It's from 2010, though, so I don't know how much it's changed since I took the trip. But I figure it can give you an idea of what it's like.

Sayhello

 

[mathgeek]

Thank you to all for your thoughts. I really am leaning towards pulling the trigger and doing it. I have found one vlog, but not many reviews on this kind of ABD and that is what prompted the question. There isn't much out there, that I could find anyway.

I have a trip report for the Med Cruise add-on, the link is in my signature. It's from 2010, though, so I don't know how much it's changed since I took the trip. But I figure it can give you an idea of what it's like.

Sayhello

Definitely read through sayhello's TR. It really helped me get an idea of the Adventure side of things even though she was on a longer cruise. But the Adventure has changed a bit since that first year.

I think what I found most difficult in my research here was that most of what was posted on this board was from people who are avid ABD travelers, which was wonderful, but it was sometimes difficult to get the specific info I wanted about the DCL side of things. I've done more DCL cruises than Adventures and really didn't want to miss out on the DCL portion of this trip. But during the Adventure I felt like Dusty and James did a great job of making sure we knew what was happening on the ship in the evenings and what not to miss, which I greatly appreciated.

 

[indytarheel]

This is all great info! I logged onto Disboards today to ask this same question and this is just awesome detail. It sounds like this option is perfect for my family. We're hoping to go in 1-2 years with what will then be 2 high school aged boys who love to visit new places... I think we will love this!

 

[bonnielynn]

Here is another question and I really need to pull the trigger because there are 8 places left... do you have to eat with everyone after the day is done? Although I am not anti-social and I do get what they are trying to accomplish having everyone stay together, I do want some alone time with my husband. Would it look bad if we opted out of the dinners?

 

[mathgeek]

Here is another question and I really need to pull the trigger because there are 8 places left... do you have to eat with everyone after the day is done? Although I am not anti-social and I do get what they are trying to accomplish having everyone stay together, I do want some alone time with my husband. Would it look bad if we opted out of the dinners?

Have you cruised DCL before? I find that eating in the Main Dining Rooms is a big part of the DCL experience for me. The shows in Rapunzel's and Animator's are not to miss IMHO, so I would not opt out of the dinners.

They did seat everybody near each other in the dining room, but it was across like 9 different tables from what I heard. However, two of the nights, Rome and Florence, were 6:45 all aboard times, and Cabanas was open as a buffet on those two nights, so many people skipped the MDR and ate at Cabanas.

Also, it's your cruise, so do what you want. I wanted first seating b/c I knew I'd be way too hungry by the time second seating came around at 8:30, so I made sure to keep that since I had booked it in my initial booking of the cruise. I had requested a specific server, which put me on a different dining rotation than the rest of the ABD. I also ended up with a solo table, which was exactly what I needed after the long excursion days (no offense to my fellow Adventurers b/c I enjoyed spending the days with you). But it was neat to run in to other people I knew from the ABD on board the ship in the evenings and the last sea day. It seemed like the kids really got to know each other and had fun together on board in the evenings.